CESPEDES Y MENESES

cespedes y meneses, gonzalo de (1585?-1638), spanish novelist, was born at madrid about 1585. nothing positive is known of him before the publication of his celebrated romance, the _poema tragico del espanol gerardo, y desengano del amor lascivo_ (1615-1617); there is evidence that he had been sentenced to eight years at the galleys previous to the 1st of january 1620, and that the penalty had been remitted; but the nature of his offence is not stated. his treatment of political questions in the _historia apologetica en los sucesos del reyno de aragon, y su ciudad de zaragoza, anos de 91 y 92_ (1622), having led to the confiscation of the book, cespedes took up his residence at saragossa and lisbon. while in exile he issued a collection of short stories entitled _historias peregrinas y exemplares_ (1623), the unfinished romance _varia fortuna del soldado pindaro_ (1626), and the first part of his _historia de felipe iv._ (1631), a fulsome eulogy which was rewarded by the author's appointment as official historiographer to the spanish king. cespedes died on the 27th of january 1638. his novels, though written in a ponderous, affected style, display considerable imagination and insight into character. the _poema tragico_ has been utilized by fletcher in _the spanish curate_ and in _the maid of the mill_. the _historias peregrinas_ has been reprinted (1906) with a valuable introduction by sr. cotarelo y mori. cess (a shortened form of "assess"; the spelling is due to a mistaken connexion with "census"), a tax; a term formerly more particularly applied to local taxation, in which sense it still is used in ireland; otherwise it has been superseded by "rate." in india it is applied, with the qualifying word prefixed, to any taxation, such as "irrigation-cess" and the like, and in scotland to the land-tax. cessio bonorum (latin for a "surrender of goods"), in roman law, a voluntary surrender of goods by a debtor to his creditors. it did not amount to a discharge unless the property ceded was sufficient for the purpose, but it secured the debtor from personal arrest. the creditors sold the goods in satisfaction, _pro tanto_, of their claims. the procedure of _cessio bonorum_ avoided infamy, and the debtor, though his after-acquired property might be proceeded against, could not be deprived of the bare necessaries of life. the main features of the roman law of _cessio bonorum_ were adopted in scots law, and also in the french legal system. (see further bankruptcy.)