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Heinemann's International Library

Edited by Edmund Gosse

THE GRANDEE

ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES


THE GRANDEE

     *     *     *     *     *     *

_Heinemann's International Library._

Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.

_Crown 8vo, in paper covers, 2s. 6d., or cloth limp, 3s. 6d._


1. _IN GOD'S WAY._ From the Norwegian of
BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON

2. _PIERRE AND JEAN._ From the French of
GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

3. _THE CHIEF JUSTICE._ From the German
of KARL EMIL FRANZOS.

4. _WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT._
From the Russian of COUNT LYOF TOLSTOI.

5. _FANTASY._ From the Italian of MATILDE
SERAO.

6. _FROTH._ From the Spanish of DON ARMANDO
PALACIO VALDES.

7. _FOOTSTEPS OF FATE._ From the Dutch
of LOUIS COUPERUS.

8. _PEPITA JIMENEZ._ From the Spanish of
JUAN VALERA.

9. _THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS._ From
the Norwegian of JONAS LIE.

10. _THE HERITAGE OF THE KURTS._ From
the Norwegian of BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON.

11. _LOU._ From the German of BARON VON
ROBERTS.

12. _DONA LUZ._ From the Spanish of JUAN
VALERA.

13. _THE JEW._ From the Polish of JOSEPH I.
KRASZEWSKI.

14. _UNDER THE YOKE._ From the Bulgarian
of IVAN VAZOFF.

15. _FAREWELL LOVE!_ From the Italian of
MATILDE SERAO.

16. _THE GRANDEE._ From the Spanish of DON
ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES.


_In preparation._

_A COMMON STORY._ From the Russian of
GONCHAROF.

_NIOBE._ From the Norwegian of JONAS LIE.

_Each Volume contains a specially written Introduction by the Editor._

LONDON: W. HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.

     *     *     *     *     *     *

THE GRANDEE

A Novel

by

ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES

Translated from the Spanish by Rachel Challice






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London
William Heinemann
1894

[_All rights reserved_]




INTRODUCTION


According to the Spanish critics, the novel has flourished in Spain
during only two epochs--the golden age of Cervantes and the period in
which we are still living. That unbroken line of romance-writing which
has existed for so long a time in France and in England, is not to be
looked for in the Peninsula. The novel in Spain is a re-creation of our
own days; but it has made, since the middle of the nineteenth century,
two or three fresh starts. The first modern Spanish novelists were what
are called the _walter-scottistas_, although they were inspired as much
by George Sand as by the author of _Waverley_. These writers were of a
romantic order, and Fernan Caballero, whose earliest novel dates from
1849, was at their head. The Revolution of September, 1868, marked an
advance in Spanish fiction, and Valera came forward as the leader of a
more national and more healthily vitalised species of imaginative work.
The pure and exquisite style of Valera is, doubtless, only to be
appreciated by a Castilian. Something of its charm may be divined,
however, even in the English translation of his masterpiece, _Pepita
Jimenez_. The mystical and aristocratic genius of Valera appealed to a
small audience; he has confided to the world that when all were praising
but few were buying his books.

Far greater fecundity and a more directly successful appeal to the
public, were, somewhat later, the characteristics of Perez y Galdos,
whose vigorous novels, spoiled a little for a foreign reader by their
didactic diffuseness, are well-known in this country. In the hands of
Galdos, a further step was taken by Spanish fiction towards the
