161

Galdós did indeed travel through the Basque country and Navarre in early 1898 in preparation for the third series of the Episodios nacionales, see Berkowitz, op. cit. p. 335. Berkowitz also says that Galdós visited Paris frecticently, adding coyly «[...] the purely human joys he experienced there were of such an intimate nature that they must remain shrouded in secrecy» (p. 194). El Astillero is a suburb of Santander within easy reach of Galdós' summer residence there.

162

Federico Balart, 1831-1905, poet, critic, and, in the latter years of his life, artistic director, as Sitges says, of the Teatro Español.

163

Presumably 1902. But since Sitges' letter is dated March 1902 it is difficult to reconcile this statement with the last sentence of the following paragraph: «[...] en su última carta de hace meses».

164

The Heraldo de París was a weckly newspaper which ran from October 1900 to May 1904. Edited by Luis Bonafoux, already notorious for his attacks on Alas and other writers, it appears to have been the work largely of expatriate anarchists.

165

Federico Rahola y Tremols (1858-1919), writer, economist, and statesman.

166

In part III of «Desde la última vuelta del camino», Obras Completas, Madrid, 1949, vol. VII, pp. 657-800.

167

Compare Berkowitz's account of Baroja's enthusiastic behaviour on the first night of Electra, op. cit., pp. 351 and 365.

168

Baroja, op. cit., p. 743. The same page-reference applies for all the following quotations from Baroja.

169

Berkowitz, op. cit., p. 242.

170

Baroja, op. cit., p. 743.