Espinel, VINCENT DE

Espinel, VINCENT DE, a Spanish poet and musician, was born at Ronda in Granada, 28th December 1551. He studied at Salamanca, and afterwards served as a soldier in Flanders, meeting with some of the adventures which he relates in his Vida y Aventuras del Escudero Marcos de Obregon (Madrid, 1618 and 1804; Eng. trans. by Langton, 1816), a book that was largely drawn upon by Lesage for his Gil Blas. Espinel afterwards returned to his native country, and took holy orders. Although holding the office of chaplain to the hospital at Ronda, he spent most of his time in Madrid, where he died in 1634. He was a friend of Lope de Vega. He also published a volume of poems (1591), chiefly lyrics, and a translation of the Ars Poetica of Horace. He was, if not the inventor, the improver of the ten-line octosyllabic stanza. Verses written in this form have, since his day, been called in Spain espinelas. Espinel was a performer on the guitar, to which he added the fifth string.