ABSTRACT
From about 1830 to 1850 the historical novel was in vogue. The favor it enjoyed was due in part to the development of historical studies, but more to the influence of Walter Scott. Serafin Estebanez Calderon, a Malaga lawyer, jefe político of the Moderate party in Logrono and later in Seville, reached the honors of judge of the Supreme Court of the Army and Navy and Councilor of State. Ramon de Mesonero Romanos was a pure madrileno. In 1831 he published a Manual de Madrid, and, beginning in 1832, wrote articles for Cartas espanolas and later for El Semanario pintoresco, over the signature El Curioso parlante. Manuel Fernandez y Gonzalez, whose efforts in verse and drama are quite forgotten, was then beginning to flood the market with his inexhaustible prose. There are several imaginative prose works which leave the beaten path and point to an approaching change.
