It may be as well to add at this point a few explanatory words concerning the plan of accentuation adopted here.  There seems to be no valid reason for applying, in a book primarily intended for English readers, the modern Academic system to proper names borne in the sixteenth century by men who lived more than three hundred years before the current system was ever invented.  Except of course in the case of quotations, that system is applied rigidly only to the names of those who have adopted it formally (as on pp. 114 n. and 191 n.).  I have gone on the theory that accents should be sparingly used in a work of this kind, and that, as accents are almost needless for Spaniards they should be employed only when the needs of foreigners compel their use.  It is a fundamental rule in Spanish that nearly all words ending in a consonant should be stressed on the last syllable.  But since nobody, however slightly acquainted with Spanish, is tempted to pronounce such words as Velazquez (p. 79) or Gomez (p. 250) incorrectly, no graphic accent is employed in such cases.  Names ending in s—­such as Valbas—­are accentuated, however, when the stress falls on the last syllable:  this prevents all possibility of confusion with the pronunciation of ordinary plural forms.  Place-names—­such as Bejar (p. 58) and Cordoba (p. 184)—­are accentuated; so are trisyllables and polysyllables such as Gongora (p. 209) and Zuniga (p. 57 and elsewhere).  It will be seen that, in this matter, I have been guided by strictly utilitarian principles.  Inconsistencies are perhaps unavoidable under any system.  The plan followed here, while it tends to diminish the total number of accents, probably involves no more inconsistencies than any other.  It is based on rational grounds, and is, it may be hoped, less offensive to the eye than the current system.  Quotations, I repeat, are reproduced exactly as they stand in the sources from which they profess to be taken.

With these words, I close what I have to say here on this subject and commend these pages to the indulgent judgement of my readers.

The following works, or articles, may be usefully consulted by the student of Spanish.

Editions.  Luis de leon:  Obras, ed.  A. Merino, Madrid, 1804-5-6-16. 6 vols. [reprinted with a preface, by C. Muinos Saenz, Madrid, 1885, 6 vols.]; Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, vols.  XXXV, XXXVII, LIII, LXI, and LXII; De los nombres de Cristo, ed.  F. de Onis, Madrid, 1914-1917 [Clasicos castellanos, vols.  XXVIII and XXXIII]; La perfecta casada, ed.  E. Wallace, Chicago, 1903; La perfecta casada, ed.  A. Bonilla y San Martin, Madrid, 1917; El perfecto predicador, ed.  C. Muinos Saenz in La Ciudad de Dios (1886), vol.  XI, pp. 340-348, 432-447, 527-537; (1886), vol.  XII, pp. 15-25, 104-111, 211-218, 322-330, 420-427, 504-512; (1887), vol.  XIII, pp. 32-38, 106-114, 213-222, 302-312; (1887), vol.  XIV, pp. 9-17, 154-160, 305-315, 449-459, 581-591, 729-743; Exposition del Miserere [facsimile of the Barcelona ed. of 1632], ed.  A.M.  Huntington, New York, 1903.