Dante is the best known instance, perhaps; but we
find the method employed in Welsh, as in "The Dream of Paul, the
Apostle," where Paul is led by Michael to view the punishments of Hell
(vide Iolo MSS.). Ellis Wynne was probably acquainted with Vergil and
Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural guidance from them; in fact,
apart from this, we meet with several passages which are eminently
reminiscent of both these great poets.
But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face with the
indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable degree indebted
to the Dreams of Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, a voluminous Spanish author
who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. In 1668, Sir Roger
L'Estrange published his translation into English of the Dreams, which
immediately became very popular. Quevedo has his Visions of the World,
of Death and her (sic) Empire, and of Hell; the same characters are
delineated in both, the same classes satirized, the same punishments
meted out. We read in both works of the catchpoles and wranglers, the
pompous knights and lying knaves--in fine, we cannot possibly come to any
other conclusion than that Ellis Wynne has "read, marked and inwardly
digested" L'Estrange's translation of Quevedo's Dreams.
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