But while the graver works of Quevedo, those which won him the applause of the learned and the favour of the great, have perished or are sunk into oblivion, there have survived enough of those lighter pieces born of his humour or his fancy, which he could scarcely be got to own in his lifetime, to keep his name alive and to secure for him a permanent place in literature. His lyrics are among the best in the language, and still keep their place in every collection of classic Castilian poetry. Those written in his early days, which include odes, sonnets, ballads, _quintillas_, and _redondillas_, mostly cast in a light and graceful mould, are distinguished for elegance of language, delicacy of fancy, and simple, tender expression. His burlesque poems (which include some pieces of a breadth such as excludes them from polite society), written in the _picaresque_ dialect, of which, like Cervantes, he was a past master--the _Jácaras_, in which the people, the _gitanos_, the _jaques_, and the _buzos_, speak the language of _Germania_--the _langue verte_ of Spain--are said still to be heard in the country, sung to the strumming of guitars. His regular verse is chiefly satire in the manner of Juvenal, against the corruption of morals and the evils of misgovernment. Of his prose writings the best are those which are purely sportive and fanciful, without serious intention, as the _Visita de los Chistes_, where he makes pleasant fun of the personages which figure in the old proverbs and popular sayings, as Mateo Pico, who is enshrined in the phrase, _No dijerá mas Mateo Pico_; Agrages, the boaster from _Amadis of Gaul_, who is for ever quoted as saying, _Agora lo verédes_ (see _Don Quixote, passim_); Pero Grullo, the prophet who prophesied only of what he knew had come to pass; Calainos, of the ballad _Cabalgaba Calainos_; Don Diego de Noche; Marta, who is for ever expressing her satisfaction that though she died she died with a bellyful; and Villadiego, whose breeches have immortalized his name; with Juan Ramos, and the rest. The fun which Quevedo makes out of this flimsy material is only to be understood by those who know the proverbs of Spain, and the great part they play in the national talk and literature.