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First steps in counselling an introductory companion 5th
Edition Pete Sanders Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Pete Sanders; Paula J. Williams; Rogers Andy
ISBN(s): 9781910919385, 1910919381
Edition: 5
File Details: PDF, 1.99 MB
Year: 2021
Language: english
 i

Endorsements for First Steps in Counselling (5th edition)

Since First Steps in Counselling was first published, every new edition has been a core
textbook on counselling and counselling skills training courses. This fifth edition brings the
text up to date with recent developments in the counselling professions. The authors offer
the trainee and novice helper a rich overview of the role, purpose and value of counselling
skills in contemporary helping roles. They also helpfully chart contemporary challenges,
distinguishing professional, social and political features, including the recent tensions in
the counselling and psychotherapy professions between medical and psychosocial, non-
pathologising interpretations of mental health. This is a welcome update that will continue
to provide an excellent foundation text for counselling, counselling skills and mental health
training, as well as an invaluable resource for those who use counselling skills as part of a
helping role.
Lynne Gabriel, Professor of Counselling and Mental Health, York St John University

This is a must-have book for any aspiring or trainee counsellor. Let this book be your mentor
and travelling companion from day one of your training. This was the first counselling book
I ever bought as an aspiring counsellor and it guided me. This new edition speaks to an
evolving profession in acknowledging our cultural context and the inclusion of counsellors
and clients from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The authors do not shy away from
the significant themes and controversies and the role of identity, race, culture, power and
oppression in counselling practice and training. I just wish this edition had been around
when I started my counselling training!
Myira Khan, counsellor and supervisor, founder of the Muslim Counselling and
Psychotherapist Network

This new edition of First Steps in Counselling is a detailed yet accessible companion for all
those interested in counselling. It is important for anyone in the counselling profession to
be alert to issues of power and anti-oppressive practice throughout their career. However,
often students are introduced to these concepts extremely late in their training. It is therefore
great to see an introductory text that examines these topics and invites the reader to explore
their own relationship with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to
explore the world of counselling but is uncertain where to start.
Peter Blundell, senior lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy, Liverpool John Moores
University.

This well-timed fifth edition reflects the critical eye cast by its authors as they observe
our fast-changing world, bringing into view issues such as how we valorise the different
models and approaches, how an intersectional approach to counselling brings into focus
issues of power, and also, in a more subtle way, the relevance of the political to the world of
counselling. Yet, what I most appreciate is the willingness of the authors to lean outside of
their counselling comfort zones and engage with some of the foremost writers in the field
ii

for their views on some of these essential topics. This openness makes First Steps a truly
collaborative endeavour, and an essential text for our field.
Dr Dwight Turner, senior lecturer, counselling and psychotherapy, University of Brighton

First Steps in Counselling offers a comprehensive and robust guide to new and experienced
counselling- informed helpers and trainers at all levels of the UK counselling landscape. This
new edition invites us to explore counselling’s foundations, history, theories, contemporary
practice issues, dilemmas, debates and critiques, and signposts us on to further reading and
future developments. Embedded as a continuous and necessary thread is the insistence that
all helping-relationship practitioners give attention to the impact of difference, diversity,
power relations, and the wide range of social justice and equalities issues that result in
oppressive practice, if left unrecognised. This gem of a book, panoramic in its scope, maps
out the territory of counselling practice in clear, concise, accessible language, using light-
touch, easy-to-follow explanations of sociological and psychological terminologies with
humour and humility. There really is something in this book for everyone, whether you are
learning something new or anew. A great counselling reference guide to have on your shelf
that does not shirk the big issues or contradictions.
Dr Val Watson, independent counselling and psychotherapy practitioner, supervisor,
coach, consultant and trainer

First Steps in Counselling continues to evolve in this fifth edition, ensuring that it remains
the essential introduction to counselling and ‘counselling-informed helping’ for the 2020s.
This fifth edition retains the vision and heart of the original book, thoughtfully restructured,
developed and thoroughly updated. Readers are left in no doubt about current challenges
and debates. This remains an accessible, rich and thought-provoking introduction aimed at
a wide audience of people. It makes a clear and convincing case for the fundamental value
of counselling and counselling-informed helping for each of us as citizens within our own
communities.
Dr Susan Stephen, senior teaching fellow (counselling, psychotherapy and applied social
sciences), University of Edinburgh

First Steps in Counselling has been, for many years, one of those key go-to books for any
trainee finding their way. This fifth edition builds on the many strengths of the previous
editions, drawing on the additional expertise of Paula Williams and Andy Rogers, both of
whom bring their own rich heritage as counsellors to the table. This seminal text continues
to be an essential purchase for anyone embarking on their training and will provide them
key insight, navigation and richness of detail, as it has done the many thousands who have
travelled that road previously.
Dr Andrew Reeves, associate professor in the counselling professions and mental health,
University of Chester
 i

5TH EDITION

First
Steps in
Counselling
A N I N T R O D U CTO RY CO M PA N I O N

PETE SANDERS,
PAULA J WILLIAMS
AND ANDY ROGERS
ii

First edition published 1994

Second edition published 1996
Third edition published 2002
Fourth edition published 2011
Fifth edition published 2021

PCCS Books Ltd, Wyastone Business Park, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth NP25 3SR
[email protected]
www.pccs-books.co.uk

© Pete Sanders, Paula J Williams, Andy Rogers 2021, except page 5 © Carolyn Cassidy; page 7 © Nike Oruh;
page 9 © Rhona Plenderleith; page 11 © Nicola Currie; pages 161–64 © Clare Shaw;
pages 169–72 © Eugene Ellis; pages 178–80 © Igi/Lyndsey Moon.

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or
review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be
reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of
the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent
to the publishers

The authors have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First Steps in Counselling: An introductory companion. 5th edition

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.

ISBNs
paperback – 978 1 910919 38 5
epub – 978 1 910919 80 4

Cover design Jason Anscomb

 iii

Contents

Acknowledgements iv
Preface v
Dedications vii
About the authors viii
1 First steps 1
2 What is counselling? 13
3 The importance of self-development 33
4a Where do ideas in counselling come from? 51
4b Psychoanalysis 61
4c Behavioural and cognitive approaches 71
4d Humanistic psychology 83
4e Integrative approaches 91
5 Counselling attitudes and skills: Ways of being a helper 99
6 Clients: Who they are and what they bring 129
7 Power and oppression 155
8 Ethics for counselling-informed helping 183
9 Limits: what they are and what to do when you reach them 193
10 Support for basic helping 207
11 Counselling connections and settings 215
12 Questions for counselling in the 21st century 235
13 What comes next? 261
14 Endings 269
Index 273
iv

Acknowledgements

We thank Eugene Ellis, Igi/Lyndsey Moon and Clare Shaw for their essential and
substantial contributions to this book. Readers will learn much from their writing here.
The text is further brought to life by the mini-autobiographies written by Carolyn Cassidy,
Nicola Currie, Nike Oruh and Rhona Plenderleith.
Akum Uwahemu read our first draft and wrote a thoughtful and comprehensive report.
It led to learning for us and many improvements to the book. Thank you, Akum.

Pete would like to thank Maggie, his wife, for her assistance, endurance and support
throughout the entire First Steps journey. He also thanks Anja Rutten for helping him
re-light the First Steps in Counselling fire back in 2017.

Paula would like to thank Paul, for rashly agreeing after a glass of wine to be her writing
mentor, and following through. Her favourite girls, Lorna and Kelly, helped with
constant support, encouragement and belief, and brother Laurence with his unwavering
enthusiasm. She’d also like to thank the people who started her off on the journey that
led to here, Ishtar Swaffield and Kevin McGeever of Persona Training and Development,
who told her to read First Steps nearly 20 years ago, and who, over the years, have been
her educators, mentors, cheerleaders, managers and friends, with a lot of love and
laughter and not a little eye-rolling. And she wouldn’t have done any of it at all if she
hadn’t been encouraged from the earliest days right through to today by her first teacher,
Annette Scullion.

Andy would like to thank all those who, in his personal and professional life, have
believed he could write about counselling and that he might have something worth
saying. Also thanks to Pete for trusting us with his baby.
 v

Preface

First Steps in Counselling is essentially a book about helping. Helping is a universal

human activity: people help each other. In the first months of 2020, Covid-19 struck. As
a consequence, many people have learned about helping in ways they could never have
imagined as they endured privations that few were prepared for. This edition was written
through personal and public upheaval and tragedy due to the virus. ‘Helping’ and being
helped took on new meanings for whole communities, and we discovered that, for many,
the act of helping another required courage and sacrifice.
The first edition of First Steps in Counselling was published in 1994 when I was
heavily involved in counsellor training in inner-city Manchester. In subsequent editions,
I tried to track the changes in a burgeoning field that was rapidly developing into a
profession. New initiatives came at an ever-increasing rate and, as my retirement
approached, it was time for me to prepare to pass on the First Steps in Counselling baton.
As I drew close to retirement, I became increasingly disconnected from the
professional counselling scene and its rich network of contacts. This made the quest to
find people to help with the new edition much more of a challenge. However, after some
initial discussions, it was easy to choose Andy Rogers and Paula Williams to work with,
if indeed they would work with me.
Writing a book as personal as First Steps in Counselling has become is not easy. Paula
and Andy needed to use their relationship skills in order to slip in between the pages and
make some of the text their own with care, and without undoing what has made the
book special for readers over the past 27 years. We think we have done that. The change
of voice from the first person to a collective ‘we’ in that last sentence is important. This
new edition has taken content from the previous four editions and blended it with new
material to become a genuine co-production. Our intention is that everyone interested
in counselling-informed helping can feel welcomed and find themselves in this book.
Like the vast majority of authors, we have tried to make it accessible to as many people
as possible and an enjoyable and informative read.
All books are the result of teamwork and, notwithstanding that there are three
co-authors, there is an important group of contributors and colleagues who have made
the book possible. They are listed in the acknowledgements but the contributions of
five people need special mention. First, Anja Rutten helped me get the writing of a new
vi

edition back on the road in early 2017, but she had to pull out a year later due to personal
reasons. I struggled on alone until I was joined in 2019 by Paula and Andy.
We are further indebted to Eugene Ellis, Igi/Lyndsey Moon and Clare Shaw for
their wonderful contributions, which filled in some of the gaps in our ability to write
about some topics with deep understanding, reminding us that books are enterprises
that stretch far beyond the authors. The final special mention goes to Akum Uwahemu,
who wrote a report on an early draft which pointed out where we could do better.
So the fifth edition is done. It is the last one I will have any influence on other than
what we might call ‘legacy content’ and ‘in the spirit of ’. Paula, Andy and other new
co-authors and contributors will, as the nature of this compassionate way of helping
changes in the years ahead, continue to walk alongside those taking their first steps in
counselling.

Pete Sanders
Spring, 2021
 vii

Dedications

Pete

In memory of Alan Frankland, 1948–2020, with appreciation and love.

Paula

For Paul Wilkins – partner, mentor and tea-maker extraordinaire – with love
and gratitude.

Andy

For Muditakari – colleague, comrade and friend since our first day of counselling
training at UEA. For all the non-therapists in my life who keep me grounded,
especially my wife Lou (‘Haven’t you finished that book yet?’).
But most of all, for my daughter Maisie.
viii

About the authors

Pete Sanders (he/him) is white British. He worked as a volunteer at ‘Off The Record’,
Newcastle-upon Tyne in 1972 before completing a degree in psychology at the university
there, and then the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling at Aston University. He practised
as a counsellor, educator and clinical supervisor for more than 30 years. He has written, co-
written and edited numerous books, chapters and papers on many aspects of counselling,
psychotherapy and mental health. He has given keynote addresses at several UK and
European conferences. Although he no longer practises, he continues to have active interest
in developing person-centred theory, the politics of counselling and psychotherapy, and
the demedicalisation of distress. He is a pre-therapy contact work trainer, trustee of Open
Door Counselling Birmingham and Patron of the Soteria Network UK.

Paula J Williams (she/her) is white British. She is a person-centred counsellor, trainer

and supervisor based in Scotland. After several years working in the voluntary sector,
she now works primarily in private practice. She is involved in all levels of counselling
training as a supervisor, tutor and lecturer. She has published articles and book chapters,
and is known for a focus on marginalised identities, structural inequalities and mental
health. She is a Fellow of the National Counselling Society. She has many interests,
including languages, dancing and tea-drinking, but above all, whether it be as vocalist
for a folk band, screeching along to heavy metal in the kitchen, or as first soprano in a
Russian choir, Paula sings.

Andy Rogers (he/him) is white British. He trained as a counsellor in the late 1990s,
initially at Basingstoke College of Technology and then at the University of East Anglia’s
(UEA) Centre for Counselling Studies, completing a Postgraduate Diploma in 1999. For
many years he managed counselling services in further and higher education colleges
and now runs a private counselling, supervision and mental health mentoring practice
in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Andy has published several articles and book chapters,
mainly on the ethics and politics of the psychological professions and the person-centred
approach. Away from counselling, Andy is a half-decent home cook, wannabe music
critic and slow reader of dark novels.
 First steps 1

First steps

INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAN OF THIS BOOK

Most non-fiction books can be read in any order, or in different orders that are appropriate
for different purposes. Perhaps you are already part-way through a course and need
information to help complete an assignment, in which case, you might want to turn
straight to the relevant chapter or section, not bothering with these early chapters.
However, we have a plan for the book – the order and flow of topics and ideas is
intentional. You might want to dive in straight away and look at definitions of counselling
but we think it is important to get a sense of who we are and how we got here before we
go on to look at definitions and theories of helping and counselling. It would be easy
and convenient if we could present a series of incontrovertible absolute facts about what
helping and counselling are, but it is not that straightforward. One view we stand by is
that most definitions and theories of helping and counselling originate in a ‘Western’ (and
white, male, heterosexual, non-disabled and so forth) cultural perspective, and later in the
book we give examples of this. In a diverse, multicultural country, we must look at culture,
language, politics, gender, race and power so that we can see how these factors affect the
definitions and theories that we will all be experiencing as clients and working with as
carers, counsellors and, indeed, everyone helping in a way that is informed by counselling.
We also carefully place the important task of understanding ourselves before theories
and skills. This is because we think that you will need to consider your own needs and
motives and how they might shape your choices when it comes to approaches to helping.
Later on we think it is important to understand what the people we are trying to help bring
to the helping situation. We hope it makes sense to you as you progress through the book.

Counselling-informed helping
That brings us to our first encounter with language (we’ll look at this in more detail in
Chapter 7 and at the end of this chapter). We want to introduce the idea of ‘counselling-
2 First Steps in Counselling

informed helping’, meaning exactly what it says on the tin – helping in a way that is
informed by counselling. There are many ways of helping. Here are some examples, not all
of which are counselling-informed:

• letting a person know that they are loved

• solving a person’s problem for them
• putting your arm around them and giving them a hug
• telling them what has worked for you
• listening to their story
• teaching them a self-help method
• helping them to be grateful and think positively about their life
• helping them come to their own solutions.

Can you add any ways of helping that have worked for you? Which of these ways of helping
do you think might be informed by counselling?
It is important to know (and this is possibly
confusing) that counsellors and their professional
Note – Some people’s interest
bodies sometimes refer to using counselling skills when
in helping stems from their own
experience of needing help and being
they are talking about helping that happens outside of
helped. Being a client can be such a a professional counselling relationship and that uses
restorative, positive, even life-saving some of the same abilities. But ‘skills’ are just one aspect
experience that they want to repay a of what we are calling counselling-informed helping,
debt they think they owe, especially if which is informed by other key elements of how
the help was received from a voluntary professional counsellors work. We will return to this
organisation. and other matters of definition (and the reasons behind
Over the years there has been tension them) in Chapter 2.
between, on the one hand, thinking
that people who want to be helpers
should not use training as a substitute WHY ARE YOU READING THIS?
for therapy and, on the other, realising There are not so many books that begin by asking the
that counsellor training must involve
reader why they’ve chosen to read it. Something, or
personal development. Naturally we
someone, has brought counselling and you together. It’s
require people to change on courses
– some courses have an assignment doubtful that this book was an impulse buy. The book
asking students to account for their self- is aimed primarily at people at the very start of their
development. Where should we draw interest in counselling, or helping in a counselling way:
the line between acceptable growth
and the inappropriate use of training as • You might be thinking of embarking on a career
therapy? as a counsellor.
• Where would you draw the line? • You might be thinking of becoming a client (there
• Why are you doing this course, or are many reasons why this might be so) and would
reading this book? like to know a little more to decide if counselling
is the right kind of help for you.
 First steps 3

• You might be thinking of starting a career that involves counselling or in which

counselling skills might be useful. And you might already be doing a job like this.
• You might be an unpaid carer – either having chosen it as a life path or perhaps
having been reluctantly forced into it by life circumstances.
• You might be working as a volunteer listener.

As you read, we hope you will find the answers to some important questions to help you
decide whether you really do want or need to pursue this interest in counselling any further.

INTRODUCTIONS
Who are you?
Most introductory courses in counselling will start with an activity where each person
in the group has to introduce themselves to the rest of the group. Sometimes the activity
is made a little more complicated and you will be asked to choose another person in the
group to pair up with and talk to for a minute or two. Then you will be asked to introduce
your partner to the group. This can be quite a challenge if you’re not used to speaking in
groups, especially if you feel a little awkward talking about yourself. Counselling training is
a challenging business, so most courses start as they mean to continue. Also, it’s important
for you to get to know each other reasonably well so that you can feel relaxed about talking
in the group. Most of the learning in introductory courses happens through the process of
sharing your ideas with others and listening to what they have to say.
The listening bit here is important, since nearly everyone would agree that it is a skill
that lies at the very heart of counselling, so the more we practise the better.
Would you like to introduce yourself now? It’s just as true for this book as it is for
course groups – if we can form a relationship through the pages of this book, it will be all
the easier for us to write and you to read. So, who are you, and how would you introduce
yourself to us? What kind of information would you include and how do you decide that?

Who are we?

Now you have thought about how you might introduce yourself to us, we want to introduce
ourselves to you:

Pete: I got involved in counselling in 1972 as an undergraduate by joining a phone-in and drop-
in youth counselling agency called ‘Off the Record’ as a volunteer, and decided that I wanted to
do counselling as a job. After my psychology degree, I went to Aston University and completed
the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling in Educational Settings in 1975. In those days there
were only about six courses in counselling in the UK and most ran alongside careers advice or
educational psychology courses. I went from there to work as a counsellor and lecturer in further
education colleges until I took voluntary redundancy in 1993 to go freelance.
I retired from practising as a counsellor, supervisor and trainer after over 30 years in 2004.
I then worked as an author and publisher of counselling books, maintaining an active interest
4 First Steps in Counselling

in counselling and psychotherapy in order to stay up to date with what was happening in the
profession. I have seen the profession of counselling go through many changes and the pace is
quickening, so anyone wanting to learn about counselling and counselling-informed helping
needs to be comfortable with change.
Another chapter in my life began in 2015 after a sudden illness and a close call with death. I’m
trying to retire and, where necessary and possible, pass on whatever batons I am carrying. That’s
why this fifth edition of First Steps has been revised in collaboration with Paula Williams and Andy
Rogers, and, in the early planning of the new edition, Anja Rutten.
Paula: I always find it hard to introduce myself because I try to balance what I think someone needs
to know with what I’d like them to know. Often I get round it by asking people what they want to
know about me, but that doesn’t work in a book. In this context, it’s probably important for you to
know something about me and counselling. After several years of volunteer work, including work
for an HIV charity and with survivors of sexual violence, I decided to train as a counsellor 20 years
ago and have been a counselling trainer and supervisor for more than a decade. I’m passionate
about supporting people on their journey, whether as a client, student of counselling skills or
working counsellor. That’s the 'relevant' part.
I often want people to know that there’s more to me than my career, though. I’m from the
Peak District but have lived in Scotland for 20 years. I was an amateur bellydancer until a serious
accident left me disabled. I sang in a folk band and now sing in a Russian choir. I studied languages
(though not Russian!) before becoming a counsellor. For me these things all fit together because
everything I’ve done has been about connection and communication. Though sometimes I just
do things because they sound interesting – I helped to build a narrow-gauge railway in Wales and
another time I accidentally had a private tour of a warship.
Andy: I’ve been a counsellor for over two decades, with many years working in further and
higher education, and now run a private counselling and supervision practice in Basingstoke,
Hampshire. An important aspect of my professional life since my initial training has been writing
about the things that feel really important to me in the therapy world, from a political as well as
psychological perspective.
I became interested in counselling through being a client myself in the NHS. The chance to
actually talk about everything that I was experiencing – with someone who really listened! – was
liberating, and a few years later I ended up volunteering at a local youth counselling agency. This
led to part-time introductory counselling courses, where I pored over an early edition of this very
book, and then training on the University of East Anglia’s Postgraduate Diploma in Person-centred
Therapy.
Looking back, counselling has been a big part of my adult identity. This was enabled initially
by the privilege of being able to study intensively for a while rather than work full-time, but my life
as a counsellor has also been built on other foundations: an interest in the meaning of distress; a
belief in the inherent value of subjective experience (however strange that experience might at first
seem); a desire for authentic relationship; a keen eye for the misuse of power; and a commitment
to the right to self-determination. Whatever has changed over the years, these remain for me the
heart and soul of all good counselling.
 First steps 5

CAROLYN CASSIDY

Hi, I’m Carolyn, a qualified counsellor. Did I ever think I would reach this point in my life?
The answer is NO. It was a dream, but I made it happen.
I came from a very deprived background. I was an only child. My mother was an
alcoholic and her marriage to my dad was loveless, so it was no surprise when she packed
up and left when I was around 10 years old. I was happy to see her leave, truth be told. I had
no interest in school and school had no interest in me – I just attended for the social aspect;
I left with no grades but with wonderful lifelong friends.
I received rejection from all angles – my mother and other adults, then teachers. I was
sent to remedial classes and eventually told there would be no point in staying at school
as I would not be able to pass any exams. I accepted this and believed it to be true – I was
'stupid'. It wasn’t until my second year at university studying counselling that I was finally
tested and told I was dyslexic, not stupid.
At 23, when I was a young mum, I had decided I wanted to be a counsellor. I was
volunteering with people living with HIV and Aids; I had friends and family who were
affected and I was familiar with the effects of drug and alcohol problems. I craved to be
more than a volunteer; I wanted to make a difference. Unfortunately though, my life took a
different turn, as more trauma erupted, and 20 years passed before I had the courage and
self-belief that I needed to proceed.
I started at the beginning, with an Introduction to Counselling course, thinking surely
I couldn’t mess that up, and if it was too hard then I would know I had tried. To my surprise
it only took one lecturer to believe in me, and that was the catalyst for my next move, and I
continued on to do a two-year HNC in counselling. Being back in education was tough but
manageable. I found the academic side challenging but the social element exciting. I felt
alive, I loved every moment in class, I absorbed theory like a sponge. I changed over this
period of time – I became extremely self-aware, and began to feel proud of myself. I found
even more determination to reach for my dreams.
However, none of this prepared me for what to expect at university, in such a middle-
class environment. Imagine how you might feel turning up for your first day of school but
instantly realising you’re not wearing the same uniform and you don’t speak the same
language. You begin to panic because you can’t blend in and you can’t communicate, as
you don’t understand this foreign language. The sense of treading water looking for safety
was excruciatingly difficult; I had entered this experience class-blind. Once I could see and
understand this difference, though, I became a wonderful swimmer – there was no need to
continue treading water.
I have been asked on numerous occasions if I would do it all again and my answer is
always, ‘YES! Without a doubt’. Please remember throughout your journey that it’s okay to
be different.
6 First Steps in Counselling

Learning about who ‘we’ are

What do you notice about the introductions that we wrote about ourselves? We asked
experienced therapist Akum Uwahemu to review the book and give us feedback. She
pointed out a number of things that needed our attention, including how we had written
our introductions, which helped us realise we had much to learn about how we think
about and present ourselves as therapists and people. First, none of us mentioned that we
are white. That tells us something about how, as white people, we don’t necessarily think
about race as a part of our identity, because as three people who don’t experience racism,
we don’t need to. There is more about whiteness on pages 247–51. Also, we haven’t made
our genders explicit, again assuming you will ‘know’ them from our names. Nor have we
mentioned our sexual orientations or made reference to whether we have partners and
children. Finally, we realised that Andy’s introduction is about his professional life, and
Pete’s is mostly about that but includes information about his health, and Paula mentions
a couple of things about her life beyond her career, but only the ones she thinks you will
find interesting. Now all three of us are challenged to reflect on how we see ourselves and
to introduce ourselves differently, more thoughtfully, the next time we are asked.
This also brings home the fact that we are three different people writing a book
together, with three different voices; you might find that sometimes our individual voices
appear quite distinctly throughout the book, and at other times we might sound more like
one unified voice. This could be unusual compared with the kinds of books you’re used to,
but we believe this mirrors how relationships work, and as we said earlier, we’d like to form
a relationship with you, the reader, through these pages.
What about you? Did you think of who you are in terms of your family and home
life? Your hobbies and the things you enjoy? Values, beliefs or faith? Or work-related things
like the job you do or whether you are in employment? Which are the most important, the
most acceptable, and which would you choose not to tell us? Which are the most private?
How do the questions we have asked sound to you at this stage? Perhaps you feel
puzzled by them, worried by them or pleased to be asked them. Counselling training
tends to emphasise feelings more than other subjects do, so you will find more of these
sorts of challenges as we go along.

Who else learns about counselling?

You might be wondering about other people in the counselling skills field too, just as you
will learn about the other people in your group if you are enrolled on a course. You might
have questions about what sort of people want to learn about helping, and why. You may be
curious about whether you will meet other people like you on this journey, or whether they
will be very different. We asked some people who also decided to learn about counselling to
introduce themselves to you too, and you can read about them in the boxes in this chapter.

HOPES, FEARS AND EXPECTATIONS

At this stage we are guessing that you have a list of questions, and we also guess that there
are questions you haven’t thought of yet. Not only that: counselling as a subject area and
 First steps 7

NIKE ORUH

Hi, my name is Nike. As a therapeutic lead (of a young people’s charity) and counsellor, I
help people to understand themselves and reach their true potential.
The route I took to becoming a counsellor and therapist has been one of many twists
and turns. I believe my search for knowledge and self-awareness directed me towards
counselling and psychotherapy. I’ve always been interested in understanding people
and the role of communication within relationships. Being able to communicate with
people of different backgrounds, ages, class, gender etc. is a strength I’ve subconsciously
developed over many years. Previously working as a dietitian, and in the retail sector and
music industry (as a recording artist), I learned to be flexible and to adapt to challenging
circumstances or unpredictable situations.
As a Black man growing up in the UK, I have regularly faced stereotyping and prejudice,
but this has also led me to be less judgemental and have a greater understanding of others.
My experiences have driven me to become involved in issues and causes I feel passionate
about, such as supporting young people facing emotional difficulties. The lack of diversity,
especially colour, within counselling is an area for much-needed growth and development.
I was invigorated to progress within the field of psychotherapy with the hope and aspiration
of making counselling more inclusive.
Working as project worker for a young person’s charity, I had a role helping young
people to explore reasons for any distress, identify triggers for emotional difficulties and
find coping strategies. During this period of my personal and professional development,
I decided that I wanted to develop a greater understanding and improved practice within
my support work. Following discussions with family, friends and colleagues, I enrolled on a
counselling skills certificate course. The short course fanned the flames of interest towards
counselling and psychotherapy – however, it would be several years before I would take the
next step and progress my journey towards becoming a counsellor.
When I finally decided to take the plunge, I chose a postgraduate course that allowed
me to continue working full-time, which involved a significant degree of work, planning
and preparation, as well as residential and weekend work. Despite some complexities
along the way, I managed to complete my course and placement (practice hours),
qualifying as a person-centred counsellor. In addition to the professional development I
gained through my studies, the most significant learning undoubtedly was my exploration
and development of self. Any training in counselling will require some degree of awareness,
congruence and a readiness to reflect. While completing the various assessments and
coursework was rewarding, it is the investment in self and personal growth I value most.
I learned that, as well as providing the conditions for my clients, I must first embrace the
values and conditions within myself. Self-compassion and patience are two particular
qualities I must continue to practise and embody.
8 First Steps in Counselling

activity tends to generate questions the further you get into it. These will come up for you
as you read on, but right now we can think of questions such as:

• Why am I interested in counselling?

• What do I think counselling is?
• What will counselling be like?
• What do I hope will come of it?
• What are my fears about this course?
• What will be expected of me – what are the demands of counselling and helping,
both as a helper/counsellor and as a client or person being helped?
• Will I be up to it?

It might take some time before you feel satisfied that you can answer these questions fully,
but now is a good time to start. The emphasis is on discovering what is right for you. If you
are thinking about training to become a counsellor, or being a client, we hope this book
will help you learn enough about counselling to weigh up the pros and cons. You might
find that counselling is not for you, or that now is not the right time. Counselling cannot
be for everyone and it might be difficult to acknowledge this if you have set your heart on
becoming a counsellor. This is especially the case when people become interested after
experiencing the benefits of counselling as a client. It might be that you have invested a lot
of your own sense of identity or wellbeing into becoming a counsellor.
Proceed with an open mind, a good helping of curiosity and a pinch of caution. If
you are a carer or already doing a job where you think counselling skills would be helpful,
we expect that learning about a counselling way of helping will have fewer pitfalls.
Over the duration of reading this book and, if you have enrolled on one, completing
your introductory course, we expect that you will not only find out more about what
counselling is, but also find out more about yourself.
You may be wondering why learning about counselling and counselling-informed
helping might involve learning about yourself and your motives. Chapter 3: The importance
of self-development looks in some detail at this issue. Helping people is challenging.
Counselling and using counselling skills are especially challenging, so learning about
counselling is certain to be challenging too. It would be very strange if learning about helping
was a complete breeze, never causing you to break your stride. One of the challenges is that
you will probably have to think differently about yourself, other people and the world.

CONTEXTS AND DEFINITIONS?

The challenge starts now. It is vital to consider some essential background issues before
we can begin to understand how definitions of counselling might work – and that
includes theories of counselling (which we will look at in Chapter 4). We want to build up
understanding by getting the foundations right, or our knowledge will be rather flimsy, and
in the 21st century, when we live in a multicultural society riven with inequality, building
on sound foundations could not be more important. When we say ‘riven with inequality’
 First steps 9

RHONA PLENDERLEITH

I am a carer and will be until one of us dies. I am also a counsellor.

Twenty-seven years ago my oldest son was sectioned for the first time. This followed
countless visits to our GP, reporting on his change of behaviour from a happy young man
to one who had become remote, paranoid and lacking in self-care. He stopped socialising
with friends and spent most of his time in bed. We were told he probably had drug-induced
psychosis, which may wear off, but this did not help us. We wanted our son back, we wanted
help for him. It was only when he held a knife at the throat of one of his brother’s friends
that the GP sectioned him, and four burly policemen entered our home and took him to the
Royal Edinburgh Psychiatric Hospital. After months in the hospital, he came home with a
diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. It felt as if I had lost my son and a different son had
come home to live with us.
It took five years for me to seek some kind of support. I went to a support group for
parents of people who suffered mental health issues. For the first time I felt heard; no one tried
to fix me, they just listened and allowed me to cry. I attended this group for a number of years,
and during this time I decided to look into attending a counselling course. I completed the
introduction to counselling and then two years later completed a certificate in counselling.
I became so interested in the subject of mental ill health, that I applied to be an ‘Out of
Hours Support Worker’ with the Royal Edinburgh Psychiatric Hospital. I got the job because
of my counselling skills qualification, and because of my son’s diagnosis. This work was
pivotal to me; I was entering people’s homes, seeing how they lived, listening to them and
accepting them as they were. I discovered that mental ill health has no social boundaries.
I now had a comparison base, which allowed me to think in a more positive way. My
son may never live the life I wanted for him, but I had to accept that, and support him in
whatever way I could. I felt back on track and realised that, because I had got to a place of
acceptance of the things I could not change, I was more able to continue my own personal
development. I applied for the diploma in counselling, which was one of the very best
things I have ever done.
The diploma course was where I found parts of myself that I was not valuing and
where others shone a light on them. I grew up.
I now work as a counsellor for an organisation that supports carers, whatever that
caring role consists of.

we mean unequal distributions of power in just about every way you can think of, leading
to invisibility, oppression and discrimination at every turn. We will unpack some of these
issues in more detail in Chapter 7: Power and oppression, in which we’ve invited some writers
to contribute their thoughts and feelings on the subjects. In that chapter and throughout the
book, there are signposts to these issues; we do not have the space in this book to do more
than introduce these topics. Yet they are vitally important, regardless of who you are or why
10 First Steps in Counselling

you are reading this book. They help us understand where the definitions, ideas and theories
come from, and unless we have a basic knowledge of that, we cannot properly evaluate and
a choose theory and practice that will suit us. We want you to be able to critically evaluate
ideas and theories so that you can choose for yourself: choose whether you want to train to
become a counsellor, to enter counselling as a client, or to to use some of these counselling-
informed skills to help in your day-to-day caring, or in your job. Is counselling right for you?

• People wanting to become professional helpers will soon find that helping has many
definitions, depending on the context, the status of the helper and the type of help
needed. Similarly, there is more than one theory of counselling. You will have to have at
least a passing knowledge of these issues and areas before moving on in your training.
• People thinking about becoming a client might be in a position to choose which
approach (theory and practice) their counsellor is proficient in. In recent years
prospective clients might encounter the word ‘evidence’ and hear the phrase ‘evidence-
based practice’ meaning that the counsellor will be able to supply evidence about the
effectiveness of the methods they are using. In other words, the counsellor will be
able to tell you that science demonstrates that this or that approach to helping works.
• People who are carers for someone with a chronic condition already have a fair
amount on their plate – looking after the physical and emotional needs of the person
being cared for – without having to worry about understanding and choosing from
a range of theories of helping or counselling. However, you have chosen to read this
book and through it you should learn enough to select the counselling skills you
need to help make you better at your job and enhance the experience of the person
you are caring for.
• This also applies to people who are already doing a job that requires them to be a
‘people-person’, from teaching and social work to policing. Dealing on a daily basis with
distressed, possibly agitated, disturbed and disturbing people is a difficult job, which
can be made easier with the adoption of counselling-informed attitudes and skills.

Defining helping and counselling and choosing useful counselling skills will be different
in each situation.
The question mark in the subtitle ‘Contexts and Definitions?’ is there because many
readers might think it would now be time to look at some definitions of what counselling
is. This usually reveals the variety of ideas, attitudes and opinions regarding counselling,
what it is, what it is not, who it’s for and who should be doing it. At some point this is
necessary since counselling as a term and an activity has risen from almost total obscurity
to become a word on nearly everyone’s lips in the past 40 years – not a week goes by
without items about counselling appearing in the media. However, as we said above –
and it bears repeating – definitions of helping and counselling depend upon who you
are, where you are and many other things besides. Real definitions of helping that lead to
useful understanding are not as simple to write as an entry in a dictionary. We will have to
look at it from many viewpoints and pull together strands of understanding to make sense
of it. So it might not be as easy as you imagined, but we hope it is a lot more interesting.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 REPRESENTACIÓN DE
LA CONJURACIÓN DE VENECIA
año 1310

DRAMA HISTÓRICO EN CINCO ACTOS Y EN PROSA

DE DON FRANCISCO MARTÍNEZ DE LA ROSA

No necesitamos remontarnos al origen del teatro para combatir la

vana preocupación de los preceptistas que han querido reducir á la
tragedia, propiamente llamada así, y á la comedia de costumbres ó
de carácter el arte dramático. La razón natural puede guiarnos
mejor. Con respecto á la comedia sea en buen hora el espejo de la
vida, la fiel representación de los extravíos, de los vicios ridículos del
hombre. Pero con respecto á todo lo que no es comedia,
examinemos un momento cuál puede ser el objeto del teatro. En
todos los pueblos conocidos debe éste su origen al orgullo nacional,
que podríamos llamar el amor propio de los pueblos. La vida de sus
antiguos héroes, y el recuerdo de sus hazañas, fué en Grecia el
primer objeto del teatro. En un pueblo constituido como el griego,
que se suponía hijo de dioses y semidioses, los primeros dramas
debieron participar de esta grandeza y sublimidad á que debían su
origen. No eran los hombres, ni sus pasiones, ni los sucesos hijos
de ellas, los representados: eran acciones sobrenaturales las que
formaban el argumento, y el cielo y la fatalidad eran su máquina
principal. ¿Qué mucho, pues, que los preceptistas, que de aquellos
modelos deducían las reglas, fijasen para este género, no pudiendo
concebir otro, la precisa condición de que no hablasen en la tragedia
sino héroes y príncipes casi divinos, y de que hablasen en aquel
lenguaje, que sólo á ellos podía convenir? Entiéndese esto
fácilmente. Pero, cuando destruidas las antiguas creencias, no se
pudo ver en los reyes sino hombres entronizados, y no dioses
caídos, no se comprende cómo pudo subsistir la tragedia heroica
aristotélica. Para los pueblos modernos no concebimos esa
tragedia, verdadera adulación literaria del poder. Por otra parte,
¿son por ventura los reyes y los príncipes los únicos capaces de
pasiones? No sólo es éste un error, sino que, limitando á tan corto
círculo el dominio de la representación teatral, frústrase su objeto
principal. Los hombres no se afectan generalmente sino por
simpatías: mal puede, pues, aprovechar el ejemplo y el escarmiento
de la representación el espectador que no puede suponerse nunca
en las mismas circunstancias que el héroe de una tragedia. Estas
verdades generalmente sentidas, si no confesadas, debieron dar
lugar á un género nuevo para los preceptistas rutineros; pero que es
en realidad el único género que está en la naturaleza. La historia
debió ser la mina beneficiable para los poetas, y debió nacer
forzosamente el drama histórico. Nuestros poetas, que no sufrieron
más inspiraciones que las de su genio independiente, no hicieron
más que dos clases de dramas: ó comedias de costumbres y
carácter, como el Embustero de Alarcón, y el Desdén de Lope y
Moreto, ó dramas históricos, como el Ricohombre y el García. Á
este género, fiel representación de la vida, en que se hallan
mezclados como en el mundo reyes y vasallos, grandes y
pequeños, intereses públicos y privados, pertenece la Conjuración
de Venecia. Todo lo más á que está obligado el poeta es á hacer
hablar á cada uno, según su esfera, el lenguaje que le es propio, y
resultará indudablemente doble efecto de esta natural variedad;
tanto más, cuanto que el lenguaje del corazón es el mismo en las
clases todas, y que las pasiones igualan á los hombres que su
posición aparta y diversifica.
Venecia, ese fenómeno en política, esa excepción rarísima entre los
gobiernos, esa cuidad prodigiosa hasta en su existencia y
construcción, que esclavizó por tantos años los mares, y que fué la
primera esclava de sí misma, presenta un campo de larga y fecunda
recolección para el historiador y el poeta. El imperio del terrorismo,
por tantos años triunfante contra las leyes de la naturaleza, ofrece
argumentos repetidos de singular efecto teatral, y el autor, al
escoger la célebre conjuración de 1310, no hace sino dar una
prueba del tino que le distingue. El gobierno aristocrático de
Venecia, reducido á un corto número de familias patricias, debía dar
lugar á conjuraciones continuas: el pueblo oprimido no podía menos
de aspirar á reconquistar sus derechos usurpados; y el rebelo y la
desconfianza, inseparables compañeros de la injusticia y la tiranía,
debían hacer cruel al poder. De aquí el atroz sistema inquisitorial,
que ahogaba en el patíbulo, según la expresión del señor Martínez,
las mismas quejas. Razones de alta política impelieron al embajador
de Génova á proteger aquella famosa conspiración. Ábrese la
escena en su casa, donde se reúnen los principales conjurados á
convenir en los medios de derribar la tiranía oligárquica de Venecia,
durante su famoso carnaval: la libertad y confusión de esta
temporada de alegría y festividad parecen prestarse á las ocultas
maquinaciones de los conjurados. El primer acto, pues, no es más
que la exposición del drama, y en él se deja traslucir ya que ha de
ser el protagonista el joven Rugiero, huérfano, de padres y patria
desconocidos, pero veneciano por posición y afecto. En el segundo
acto aparece el panteón de la familia de Morosini, á cuya cabeza se
hallan dos hermanos, Pedro, primer presidente del tribunal de los
diez, y Juan, senador. Pedro conversa con sus espías acerca de
una conjuración que sabe tramarse contra la república, y Rugiero es
uno de los conjurados acechados. Un rumor extraño interrumpe su
conversación; ocúltase, y sobreviene la joven Laura, hija del
senador Morosini: casada en secreto con Rugiero, viene á esperarle
al panteón, donde le ve sigilosamente por tercera vez: en esta
escena, Rugiero confía parte de la conjuración á su amada; uno de
los espías apaga la lámpara que los ilumina, y en medio de la
oscuridad se apoderan los satélites del tribunal del joven conjurado,
cayendo privada de sentido la infeliz esposa. Laura se halla
trasladada á su habitación á principios del tercer acto sin saber por
qué medio: dudosa de la suerte de su esposo, determina confiar el
fatal secreto de su boda á Morosini, en una escena llena de
sentimiento y de interés: el cariñoso padre, después de perdonar su
extravío, le promete emplear su favor en salvar á Rugiero, proyecto
que pone por obra con su implacable hermano, del cual sólo
consigue esta atroz respuesta: «Di sólo una cosa, pregunta Juan
Morosini, ¿vive Rugiero?—Vive.—¡Gracias á Dios!—¡Pero no lo
digas á tu hija!—¿Por qué?—Porque tendría que llorarle dos
veces.»
La plaza de San Marcos, centro de la pública diversión del carnaval,
es el lugar de la escena del cuarto acto. Vénse varios conjurados
disfrazados y repartidos entre la multitud, que esperan el momento
de las doce. Nada más ingenioso, ni más dramático, que un acto
entero transcurrido en la descripción de la algazara del carnaval,
cuando espera el espectador entre angustias mortales ver estallar
de un momento á otro la revolución y la muerte entre la misma
alegría indolente y confiada de un pueblo enloquecido. Suenan las
doce, y al grito de Venecia y libertad, grito que encontró grandes
simpatías en nuestro público, estalla la conjuración, lucen los
aceros, y suceden gritos de muerte á los cantos de regocijo. La
república ha tomado sin embargo medidas preventivas: Rugiero
preso no ha podido acudir con sus tropas, y triunfa el gobierno. «¡Al
tribunal, al tribunal los que escapen con vida!» clama ferozmente el
presidente Morosini, triunfante en la plaza de San Marcos y tendidos
ya á sus pies, muertos ó heridos, varios conjurados.
El tribunal de los diez, juzgando á los reos, se presenta en el quinto
acto. Tómanse declaraciones, Laura es interrogada, pero su razón
está perturbada, y sólo pregunta por su esposo; Rugiero es juzgado;
y en su interrogatorio reconoce en él el presidente Morosini, que ha
de condenarle, á su hijo. Privado de sentido á tan atroz
reconocimiento, retírase del tribunal: es condenado Rugiero: en el
momento de ir al patíbulo, Laura se arroja á su encuentro. «¡Ya
estás aquí!» exclama: frenética alegría se pinta en su semblante;
sepáranla sin embargo de su esposo, y la infeliz «¿dónde te
llevan?» exclama. De allí á un momento ve la desdichada el
patíbulo: entonces sabe qué es de su esposo. «¡Jesús mil veces!»
grita despavorida, cae exánime, y baja el telón á ocultar tan
espantoso desenlace.
El plan está superiormente concebido, el interés no decae un solo
punto, y se sostiene en todos los actos por medios sencillos,
verosímiles, indispensables: insistimos en llamarlos indispensables,
porque ésta es la perfección del arte. No basta que los sucesos
hayan podido suceder de tal modo; es forzoso, para que el
espectador no se distraiga un momento del peligro, que no hayan
podido suceder de otro modo, sentadas las primeras condiciones del
argumento. La exposición hecha por medio del embajador de
Génova, que dicta una nota á su gobierno, es nueva é ingeniosa, de
puro natural. Una conjuración contra la tiranía creará siempre en el
teatro el mayor interés, por lo mismo que es difícil prever su éxito, y
que éste se desea feliz. Supone el mayor conocimiento dramático el
hacer declarar á Rugiero su conjuración cuando es oído de sus
enemigos y en los brazos de su amada: quisiera uno hacerle callar:
es terrible arrojar una escena de amor entre sepulcros: un diálogo
de vida en un sitio de muerte, y complicar la más tierna pasión con
los riesgos de una conjuración; es sublime lanzar la prisión entre
dos amantes felices que se ven solos por tercera vez. ¿Por qué ha
prolongado tanto el señor Martínez la escena de Laura y Rugiero?
¿Por qué pueden hablar una hora sintiendo tanto? El poeta que
hace decir á una mujer: «¡Cómo queman tus lágrimas, Rugiero!
Deja, déjame: yo las enjugaré con mi mano», debiera conocer todo
el valor de una escena corta, cuando reina en ella la pasión. Bella es
la escena de Laura y su padre, y más bella sería á nuestros ojos si
no adoleciera del mismo empeño de desleir demasiado las ideas
tiernas. El sentimiento es una flor delicada: manosearla es
marchitarla. También nos parece que podría suprimirse el monólogo
del padre al fin del tercer acto, ó al menos cortarse; ni le creemos
necesario ni del mayor efecto.
Donde reconocemos el mayor mérito de la composición es en la
disposición y contraste singulares del acto cuarto y del final del
drama: acaso por esa misma razón no ha sido lo más aplaudido: el
terror hace enmudecer; las manos no pueden reunirse y golpear
cuando han de acudir á los ojos. Por otra parte, ¿quién se acuerda
en aquellos momentos de que es una comedia, de que todo es un
artificio del poeta y los actores? Las escenas del interrogatorio son
de aquéllas que por tener bulto parecen satisfacer más al público y
llevarse la palma. Sin embargo, el crítico no puede mirarlas bajo
este punto de vista. Siempre que un poeta represente en la escena
al opresor y al oprimido, éste interesará fácilmente: el mayor número
del público le forman desgraciados, porque ¿quién puede jactarse
de no serlo? Simpatizan con el infeliz, y cualquier respuesta
enérgica de un reo inocente á un juez duro será aplaudida en el
teatro; no es ésta la principal habilidad del señor Martínez; el
elogiarle lo que cualquiera puede hacer sería elogiarle torpemente.
Su mérito está en ese conocimiento del corazón humano con que
prepara los efectos, con que se introduce furtivamente en el pecho
del espectador, con que le lleva de sentimiento delicado en
sentimiento delicado á enmudecer y llorar. Hay sin embargo pasajes
que no esperan y sorprenden en el interrogatorio de Maffei y
Rugiero. Nada más sublime que esas respuestas: «¿Y por qué
nombraste á ésos, y no á otros?—Porque en aquel instante no me
ocurrieron vuestros nombres.—De lo que he dicho en el tormento
responderá el verdugo.» Y aquél: «Concededme esa gracia y os
perdono», de Rugiero.
En la respuesta de Juan Morosini: «Estoy pensando que no tienes
hijos... y que no vas á comprenderme»; y en la de Rugiero: «De
cierto es mi padre, cuando no logro ni al morir el consuelo de verle»,
se reconoce al punto al poeta sensible que ha bebido en el cáliz de
la desgracia, y que concluía una elegía:

Yo aquí no tengo para ornar tu tumba

Ni una flor que enviarte, que las flores
No nacen entre el hielo, y si naciesen
Sólo al tocarlas yo se marchitaran.

No acabaremos este juicio sin hacer una reflexión ventajosísima

para el autor: ésta es la primera vez que vemos en España á un
ministro honrándose con el cultivo de las letras, con la inspiración de
las musas. ¿Y en qué circunstancias? Un estatuto real, la primera
piedra que ha de servir al edificio de la regeneración de España, y
un drama lleno de mérito; y esto lo hemos visto todo en una
semana: no sabemos si aun fuera de España se ha repetido esta
circunstancia particular.
 LAS PALABRAS

No sé quién ha dicho que el hombre es naturalmente malo: ¡grande

picardía por cierto! nunca hemos pensado nosotros así: el hombre
es un infeliz, por más que digan; un poco fiero, algo travieso, eso sí;
pero en cuanto á lo demás, si ha de juzgarse de la índole del animal
por los signos exteriores, si de los resultados ha de deducirse
alguna consecuencia, quisiera yo que Aristóteles y Plinio, Buffon y
Valmont de Bomare, me dijesen qué animal, por animal que sea,
habla y escucha. He aquí precisamente la razón de la superioridad
del hombre, me dirá un naturalista: y he aquí precisamente la de su
inferioridad, según pienso yo, que tengo más de natural que de
naturalista. Presente usted á un león devorado del hambre (cualidad
única en que puede compararse el hombre al león), preséntele
usted un carnero, y verá usted precipitarse á la fiera sobre la
inocente presa con aquella oportunidad, aquella fuerza, aquella
seguridad que requiere una necesidad positiva, que está por
satisfacer. Preséntele usted al lado un artículo de un periódico el
más lindamente escrito y redactado, háblele usted de felicidad, de
orden, de bienestar, y apártese usted algún tanto; no sea que si lo
entiende le pruebe su garra que su única felicidad consiste en
comérsele á usted. El tigre necesita devorar al gamo, pero
seguramente que el gamo no espera á oir sus razones. Todo es
positivo y racional en el animal privado de la razón. La hembra no
engaña al macho, y viceversa; porque como no hablan, se
entienden. El fuerte no engaña al débil, por la misma razón: á la
simple vista huye el segundo del primero, y éste es el orden, el
único orden posible. Désele el uso de la palabra: en primer lugar
necesitarán una academia para que se atribuya el derecho de
decirles que tal ó cual vocablo no debe significar lo que ellos
quieren, sino cualquiera otra cosa; necesitarán sabios por
consiguiente que se ocupen toda una larga vida en hablar de cómo
se ha de hablar; necesitarán escritores, que hagan macitos de
papeles encuadernados, que llamarán libros, para decir sus
opiniones á los demás, á quienes creen que importan; el león más
fuerte subirá á un árbol y convencerá á la más débil alimaña de que
no ha sido criada para ir y venir y vivir á su albedrío, sino para
obedecerle á él; y no será lo peor que el león lo diga, sino que lo
crea la alimaña. Pondrán nombre á las cosas, y llamando á una
robo, á otra mentira, á otra asesinato, conseguirán, no evitarlas, sino
llenar de delincuentes los bosques. Crearán la vanidad y el amor
propio; el noble bruto que dormía tranquilamente las veinte y cuatro
horas del día, se desvelará ante la fantasma de una distinción; y al
hermano á quien sólo mataba para comer, matarále después por
una cinta blanca ó encarnada. Déles usted, en fin, el uso de la
palabra, y mentirán: la hembra al macho por amor; el grande al
chico por ambición; el igual al igual por rivalidad; el pobre al rico por
miedo y por envidia: querrán gobierno como cosa indispensable, y
en la clase de él estarán de acuerdo ¡vive Dios!: éstos se dejarán
degollar porque los mande uno solo, afición que nunca he podido
entender; aquéllos querrán mandar á uno solo, lo cual no me parece
gran triunfo; aquí querrán mandar todos, lo cual ya entiendo
perfectamente; allí serán los animales nobles, de alta cuna, quiere
decir... (ó mejor, no sé lo que quiere decir) los que manden á los de
baja cuna: allá no habrá diferencia de cunas... ¡Qué confusión! ¡Qué
laberinto! Laberinto que prueba que en el mundo existe una verdad,
una cosa positiva, que es la única justa y buena, que ésa la
reconocen todos y convienen en ella: de eso proviene no haber
diferencias.
En conclusión, los animales, como no tienen el uso de la razón ni de
la palabra, no necesitan que les diga un orador cómo han de ser
felices; no pueden engañar ni ser engañados; no creen ni son
creídos.
El hombre por el contrario: el hombre habla y escucha: el hombre
cree, y no así como quiera, sino que cree todo. ¡Qué índole! El
hombre cree en la mujer, cree en la opinión, cree en la felicidad...
¡Qué sé yo lo que cree el hombre! Hasta en la verdad cree.—Dígale
usted que tiene talento.—¡Cierto! exclama en su interior.—Dígale
usted que es el primer ser del universo.—Seguro, contesta.—Dígale
usted que le quiere.—Gracias, responde de buena fe.—¿Quiere
usted llevarle á la muerte? trueque usted la palabra, y dígale: te
llevo á la gloria: irá.—¿Quiere usted mandarle? dígale usted
sencillamente: yo debo mandarte.—Es indudable, contestará.
He aquí todo el arte de manejar á los hombres. ¿Y es malo el
hombre? ¿Qué manada de lobos se contenta con un manifiesto?
Carne pedirán, y no palabras. «El hambre, oh lobos, decidles, se ha
acabado: ahogado el monstruo para siempre...—Mentira, gritarán
los lobos... al redil, al redil, el hambre se quita con cordero...». «La
hidra de la discordia, ó ciudadanos, dice por el contrario un periódico
á los hombres, yace derribada con mano fuerte; el orden, de hoy
más, será la base del edificio social; ya asoma la aurora de justicia
por qué sé yo qué horizonte; el iris de paz (que no significa paz) luce
después de la tormenta (que no se ha acabado); de hoy más la
legalidad (que es la cuadratura del círculo) será el fundamento del
procomún...», etc., etc. ¿Ha dicho usted hidra de la discordia,
justicia, procomún, horizonte, iris y legalidad? Ved en seguida á los
pueblos palmotear, hacer versos, levantar arcos, poner
inscripciones.—¡Maravilloso don de la palabra! ¡Fácil felicidad!
Después de un breve diccionario de palabras de época, tómese
usted el tiempo que quiera: con sólo decir mañana de cuando en
cuando y echarles palabras todos los días, como echaba Eneas la
torta al Cancerbero, duerma usted tranquilo sobre sus laureles.
Tal es la historia de todos los pueblos, tal la historia del hombre...
palabras todo, ruido, confusión: positivo, nada. ¡Bienaventurados los
que no hablan, porque ellos se entienden!
 REPRESENTACIÓN DE
NUMANCIA
TRAGEDIA EN TRES ACTOS

He aquí una de las cosas exceptuadas en el reglamento para la

censura de periódicos, y de que se puede hablar, si se quiere, por
supuesto. Ni un solo artículo en que se prohíba hablar de Numancia.
No se puede hablar de otras cosas, es verdad; pero todo no se ha
de hablar en un día. Por hoy, que es lo que más urge, ¿quién le
impide á usted estarse hablando de Numancia hasta que se pueda
hablar de otra cosa? Tanto más ventilada quedará la cuestión. Dado
siempre el supuesto de que no ha de haber borrones, pena de dos
mil reales; las cosas limpias: el periódico ha de ser impenitente y
pertinaz; sin enmienda como carlista ó pasaporte. Un artículo de
periódico ha de salir bien de primera vez, que al fin no es ningún
reglamento de milicia. Dado también el supuesto de que no se deje
usted nada en blanco, pena de los dichos dos mil reales. No, sino
andarse dando á leer al público papelitos en blanco. ¡Sabe nadie lo
que se puede aprender en un papel blanco! ¡Dado el supuesto
además de que ha de poder usted ser elector, porque al fin gran
talento tendrá el que no ha sabido hacerse una rentita de seis mil
reales!
Abundando en todos estos supuestos, diremos que el teatro estaba
casi lleno en su representación. Parécenos que en decir esto no hay
peligro. Igualmente llena estaba la tragedia de alusiones patrióticas.
Mucho nos gusta á los españoles la libertad, en las comedias sobre
todo. Innumerables fueron los aplausos: tan completa la ilusión, y
tantas las repeticiones de libertad, que se olvidaba uno de que
estaba en una tragedia. Casi parecía verdad. ¡Tanta es la magia del
teatro!—Otra cosa que tampoco exceptúa el reglamento es el señor
Luna: de éste se puede hablar, en cuanto á actor, atendido que el
señor Luna ni es cosa de religión, ni prerrogativa del trono, ni
estatuto real, ni su representación es fundamental, ni tiene
fundamento alguno, ni perturba tranquilidad, ni infringe ley, ni
desobedece á autoridad legítima, ni se disfraza con alusiones, sino
con muy malos trajes antiguos; ni es licencioso y contrario á
costumbre alguna, buena, ni mala; ni es libelo, ni infamatorio, ni le
coge por ningún lado ningún ni de cuantos níes en el reglamento se
incluyen; ni menos es soberano, ni gobierno extranjero. Y á
nosotros, sí nos atañe, por el contrario, no dejar este punto de
nuestro papel en blanco, so pena de la consabida de los dos mil
reales á la primera, del duplo á la segunda, y de dar al traste la
tercera, que va la vencida. Decimos esto, porque no nos ha gustado
el señor Luna: triste cosa es, pero no lo podemos remediar. Hay, sí,
en él, zelo y buena intención; pero esto, todos sabemos ahora más
que nunca que no basta siempre. Su declamación en este papel es
enfática y poco natural: sus transiciones son duras, más duras y
crueles que una censura. Sensible nos es haberle de decir nuestra
opinión: empero tal es nuestro deber, y en eso no somos más que
los intérpretes del público mismo.
Por lo demás, la tragedia, que literariamente hablando no es de
mérito sobresaliente, ha hecho el efecto que debía hacer una
composición, como ella, eminentemente patriótica. Cada cual se fué
á su casa con la triste convicción de que, en política como en
tragedia, lo que más le cuesta á un pueblo es conquistar su libertad.
Es de esperar que tenga mejor fin la nuestra, por esta vez, que la de
Numancia. Á bien que de nosotros depende.
La decoración última nos pareció muy regular, inclusos los
comparsas y aquellas descabelladas doncellas, que chillaban á lo
lejos, huyendo de los feroces Romanos, y que parecían periódicos
perseguidos por algún reglamento.
El telón al caer se detuvo á la mitad del camino á tomar un ligero
descanso; no parecía sino que caminaba por la senda de los
progresos, según lo despacio que iba, y los tropiezos que
encontraba. Tardó más en bajar que han tardado las patrias
libertades en levantarse.
 JARDINES PÚBLICOS

He aquí una clase de establecimientos planteados varias veces en

nuestro país á imitación de los extranjeros, y que sin embargo rara
vez han prosperado. Los filósofos, moralistas, observadores,
pudieran muy bien deducir extrañas consecuencias acerca de un
pueblo, que parece huir de toda pública diversión. ¿Tan grave y
ensimismado es el carácter de este pueblo, qué se avergüence de
abandonarse al regocijo cara á cara consigo mismo? Bien pudiera
ser. ¿Nos sería lícito, á propósito de esto, hacer una observación
singular, que acaso podrá no ser cierta, si bien no faltará quien la
halle ben trovata? Parece que en los climas ardientes de mediodía
el hombre vive todo dentro de sí: su imaginación fogosa, emanación
del astro que le abrasa, le circunscribe á un estrecho círculo de
goces y placeres más profundos y más sentidos: sus pasiones más
vehementes le hacen menos social: el Italiano, sibarita, necesita
aislarse con una careta en medio de la general alegría; al Andaluz
enamorado bástanle, no un libro y un amigo, como decía Rioja, sino
unos ojos hermosos en que reflejar los suyos, y una guitarra que
tañer; el Árabe impetuoso es feliz arrebatando por el desierto el
ídolo de su alma á las ancas de su corcel; el voluptuoso Asiático
para distraerse se encierra en el harén. Los placeres grandes se
ofenden de la publicidad, se deslíen; parece que ante ésta hay que
repartir con los espectadores la sensación que se disfruta. Nótese la
índole de los bailes nacionales. En el norte de Europa, y en los
climas templados, se hallarán los bailes generales casi.
Acerquémonos al mediodía; veremos aminorarse el número de los
danzantes en cada baile. La mayor parte de los nuestros no han
menester sino una ó dos parejas: no bailan para los demás, bailan
uno para otro. Bajo este punto de vista, el teatro es apenas una
pública diversión, supuesto que cada espectador de por sí no está
en comunicación con el resto del público, sino con el escenario.
Cada uno puede individualmente figurarse que para él, y para él
solo se representa.
Otra causa puede contribuir, si ésa no fuese bastante, á la dificultad
que encuentran en prosperar entre nosotros semejantes
establecimientos. La manía del buen tono ha invadido todas las
clases de la sociedad: apenas tenemos una clase media, numerosa
y resignada con su verdadera posición; si hay en España clase
media, industrial, fabril y comercial, no se busque en Madrid, sino en
Barcelona, en Cádiz, etc.; aquí no hay más que clase alta y clase
baja: aquélla, aristocrática hasta en sus diversiones, parece huir de
toda ocasión de rozarse con cierta gente: una señora tiene su jardín
público, su sociedad, su todo, en su cajón de madera, tirado de dos
brutos normandos, y no hay miedo que si se toma la molestia de
hollar el suelo con sus delicados pies algunos minutos, vaya á
confundirse en el Prado con la multitud que costea la fuente de
Apolo: al pie de su carruaje tiene una calle suya, estrecha, peculiar,
aristocrática. La clase media, compuesta de empleados ó proletarios
decentes, sacada de su quicio y lanzada en medio de la aristocrática
por la confusión de clases, á la merced de un frac, nivelador
universal de los hombres del siglo xix, se cree en la clase alta,
precisamente como aquél que se creyese en una habitación, sólo
porque metiese en ella la cabeza por una alta ventana á fuerza de
elevarse en puntillas. Pero ésta, más afectada todavía, no hará cosa
que deje de hacer la aristocracia que se propone por modelo. En la
clase baja, nuestras costumbres, por mucho que hayan variado,
están todavía muy distantes de los jardines públicos. Para ésta es
todavía monadas exóticas extranjeriles, lo que es ya para aquélla
común y demasiado poco extranjero. He aquí la razón por qué hay
público para la ópera y para los toros, y no para los jardines
públicos.
Por otra parte, demasiado poco despreocupados aún, en realidad,
nos da cierta vergüenza inexplicable de comer, de reir, de vivir en
público: parece que se descompone y pierde su prestigio el que
baila en un jardín al aire libre, á la vista de todos. No nos
persuadimos de que basta indagar y conocer las causas de esta
verdad para desvanecer sus efectos. Solamente el tiempo, las
instituciones, el olvido completo de nuestras costumbres antiguas,
pueden variar nuestro oscuro carácter. ¡Qué tiene éste de particular
en un país en que le ha formado tal una larga sucesión de siglos en
que se creía que el hombre vivía para hacer penitencia! ¡Qué
después de tantos años de gobierno inquisitorial! Después de tan
larga esclavitud es difícil saber ser libre. Deseamos serlo, lo
repetimos á cada momento; sin embargo lo seremos de derecho
mucho tiempo antes de que reine en nuestras costumbres, en
nuestras ideas, en nuestro modo de ver y de vivir la verdadera
libertad. Y las costumbres no se varían en un día, desgraciadamente
en un día, ni con un decreto, y más desgraciadamente aún, un
pueblo no es verdaderamente libre mientras que la libertad no está
arraigada en sus costumbres, é identificada con ellas.
No era nuestro propósito ahondar tanto en materia tan delicada:
volvamos, pues, al objeto de nuestro artículo. El establecimiento de
los dos jardines públicos, que acaban de abrirse en Madrid, indica
de todos modos la tendencia enteramente nueva que comenzamos
á tomar. El jardín de las Delicias, abierto hace más de un mes en el
paseo de Recoletos, presenta por su situación topográfica un punto
de recreo lleno de amenidad; es pequeño, pero bonito: un segundo
jardín más elevado, con un estanque y dos grutas á propósito para
comer, y una huerta en el piso tercero, si nos es permitido decirlo
así, forman un establecimiento muy digno del público de Madrid.
Para nada consideramos más útil este jardín que para almorzar en
las mañanas deliciosas de la estación en que estamos, respirando el
suave ambiente embalsamado de las flores, y distrayendo la vista
por la bonita perspectiva que presenta, sobre todo, desde la gruta
más alta; y para pasear en él las noches de verano.
El jardín de Apolo, sito en el extremo de la calle de Fuencarral, no
goza de una posición tan ventajosa, pero una vez allí el curioso
reconoce en él un verdadero establecimiento de recreo y diversión.
Domina á todo Madrid, y su espaciosidad, el esmero con que se ven
ordenados sus árboles nacientes, los muchos bosquetes
enramados, llenos por todas partes de mesas rústicas para beber, y
que parecen nichos de verdura ó verdaderos gabinetes de Flora;
sus estrechas calles y el misterio que promete el laberinto de su
espesura, hacen deplorar la larga distancia del centro de Madrid á la
que se halla colocado el jardín, que será verdaderamente delicioso
en creciendo sus árboles y dando mayor espesura y frondosidad.
En nuestro entender, cada uno de estos jardines merece una
concurrencia sostenida; las reflexiones con que hemos encabezado
este artículo deben probar á sus respectivos empresarios, que si
hay algún medio para hacer prosperar sus establecimientos en
Madrid es recurrir á todos los alicientes imaginables, á todas las
mejoras posibles. De esta manera nos lisonjeamos de que el público
tomará afición á los jardines públicos, que tanta influencia pueden
tener en la mayor civilización y sociabilidad del país, y cuya
conservación y multiplicidad exige incontestablemente una capital
culta como la nuestra.
 REPRESENTACIÓN DE
TANTO VALES CUANTO TIENES
Comedia original en tres actos y en verso

DE DON ÁNGEL SAAVEDRA

Humilde y cabizbajo presentaba un ingenio novel á un gran poeta,

más desvergonzado aún que poeta, un manuscrito suyo, y pedíale
su parecer. Llegó el maestro á un trozo más oscuro que otros.—
¿Qué ha querido usted decir aquí?, le preguntó con sorna de
hombre satisfecho de sí mismo.—Señor, respondió el novel, ahí
quise decir tal cosa. Á lo cual respondió el desvergonzado:—Pues si
tal cosa quiso usted decir, ¿por qué no la dijo usted?
Si el señor Saavedra, autor conocido, que apreciamos, y en quien
reconocemos dotes muy aventajadas, quiso hacer una comedia
suya, ¿por qué no huyó al emprender su obra de toda coincidencia
con comedias anteriores? Tanto más sensible es esto, cuanto que
había encontrado un argumento enteramente nuevo; y
procuraremos probar esta que parece paradoja.
Creemos que el señor Saavedra tenía fuerzas más que suficientes
para crear en el teatro un argumento original: estamos muy seguros
de que ni ha imitado, ni tratado de imitar; y así juzgamos que el no
haber desentrañado bastante la idea feliz que concibió, ha sido
causa de que su obra tenga puntos de contacto con otras de otros
ingenios. Verdad es que ha cumplido con la máxima latina non nova,
sed nove; si, habiéndose apartado desde un principio de la senda
trillada, se ha visto enredado en un argumento también trillado, halo
presentado á lo menos con novedad. Para los que creen que en el
siglo xix todo está dicho en literatura, no le quedaba otra corona que
alcanzar al señor Saavedra. Falta ahora considerar si aquel principio
es absolutamente cierto. Las pasiones son las mismas en todos
tiempos, es verdad, y los vicios y los extravíos; buscar, pues,
caracteres nuevos fuera ardua empresa. Un avaro siempre apagará
de dos luces una: un usurero siempre será cruel: un enamorado
siempre será sublime en la tragedia, ridículo en la comedia; pero las
preocupaciones sociales varían, porque siguen la marcha de los
siglos, y cada siglo tiene sus preocupaciones, como cada hombre su
cara, según ya creemos haber dicho en otra ocasión. Un
supersticioso, un fanático por religión podía ser un carácter cómico
hace un siglo: en el día apenas hay público que encierre modelos
suficientes para encontrar el efecto: Tanto vales cuanto tienes no
debía ser una comedia de carácter: lo era de costumbres. Ahora
bien, en el siglo xix; siglo harto matemático y positivo; siglo del
vapor; siglo en que los caminos de hierro pesan sobre la
imaginación como un apagador sobre una luz, en que Anacreonte,
con su barba bañada de perfumes, Petrarca con sus eternos
suspiros, y aun Meléndez con todas sus palomas, harían un triste
papel, al lado, no de un Rothschild ó un Aguado, pero aun de un
mediano mecánico, que supiese añadir un resorte á cien resortes
anteriores; en un siglo en que se avergüenza uno de no haber
inventado algún utensilio de hierro, en que no se puede hacer alarde
de una pasión caballeresca, ó de una vida poética y contemplativa,
sin ser señalado como un ser de otra especie por cien dedos
especuladores; en un siglo para el cual el amor es un negocio, como
otro cualquiera, de conveniencia y acomodo; en un siglo en que no
se puede amar sin hacer reir; en que la ciencia está reducida á
periódicos, la guerra á protocolos, el valor á disciplina, el talento á
manufacturas, la literatura á declamaciones políticas, el teatro á
decoraciones y fioriture, no se nos diga que no hay argumentos
nuevos para comedias. Molière no podía haber agotado estos
asuntos. Un filarmónico ocupado todo el día en casar armonías y en
combinar puntos, un diplomático redactando notas ambiguas, un
periodista haciendo párrafos y colocando frases, un mecánico
moviendo ruedas, son seres tan ridículos por lo menos como un
poeta apareando consonantes que tiren de una idea cual un juego
de caballos de un carruaje. En este siglo, pues, Tanto vales cuanto
tienes prometía una inmensa originalidad. Que el hombre es
interesado, ciertamente ya estaba dicho: añadir que cuando tiene
dinero todos le hacen buena cara, y cuando es pobre todos le
llaman pícaro, era verdad sabida en tiempo de Homero, porque está
grabada en el corazón del hombre, animal perfecto por otra parte; es
verdad en una palabra que tiene olvidada todo rico, y que todo
pobre tiene presente. Pero manifestar lo ridículo de un ser racional y
poético, como el hombre; de un ser espiritual, que se empeña en
despojarse á sí mismo de su imaginación para limitar el círculo de
sus goces; que se vuelve máquina él mismo á fuerza de hacer
máquinas, y que no sabe dejar de creer en una divinidad, en un
cielo, en una vida de gloria y de idealismo, sino para creer en lo que
toca; de un ser siempre extremado que no puede abarcar en uno la
imaginación y la habilidad; que ha de ser todo fanático en el siglo
xiv, ó todo despreocupado, árido y desnudo en el siglo xix; de unos
hombres que, como los Israelitas, no saben dejar de creer en un
Dios, de que son hechura, sino para creer en un becerro de oro,
hechura suya; eso es lo que no está dicho, ni está hecho; eso es lo
que nos atrevimos á esperar de Tanto vales cuanto tienes; y eso, en
fin, lo que queda por hacer, si es que hay un ingenio que se salve de
la irrupción de las artes y del martilleo de las fábricas.
Si el señor Saavedra había asido una idea tan feliz, si quería hacer
una comedia enteramente original que á nada anterior se pareciese,
¿por qué no lo ha hecho, teniendo sobre todo un talento distinguido
para llevarlo á cabo?
Dirásenos ahora que hay cierta injusticia en juzgar á un autor, no por
lo que ha hecho, sino por lo que uno cree que debía haber hecho.
Esto es verdad hasta cierto punto.
El célebre ideólogo Destutt-Tracy remitió en una ocasión á un
príncipe alemán una obra suya consultándole sobre su desempeño.
Respondióle el príncipe con un largo cartapacio en que, á fuer de
decirle lo que él hubiera dicho en tales y tales casos, y lo que en
tales y tales otros hubiera dejado de decir, desbaratábale la obra, no
perdonando en ella cosa que Destutt-Tracy hubiese imaginado.—
Decid al príncipe, respondió Destutt-Tracy al que traía el mensaje,
que en ese caso no hubiera hecho yo mi obra, sino la suya.
Esto podría respondernos el señor Saavedra: juzguemos, pues, su
obra tal cual es suya, y no tal cual nosotros la hemos imaginado,
quién sabe si equivocadamente.
Doña Rufina, viuda de un marqués, que sólo le dejó al morir una hija
de ella de nupcias anteriores y su vanidad, vive en Sevilla
míseramente. Tiene un hermano, cuya cualidad principal es un
uniforme de comisario ordenador, y un primo militar, jugador y
petardista. En Indias existe un hermano suyo, riquísimo, merced á
cuyos envíos pecuniarios suele reponer de cuando en cuando el mal
estado de sus intereses. La hija es obsequiada por el hijo de un
mercader rico. Al principiar la comedia se recibe una carta en que el
Indiano avisa cómo debe llegar en breve, y que piensa repartir con
sus hermanos sus cuantiosos caudales. Con este motivo doña
Rufina despide afrentosamente al novio de la niña, cuyo origen
plebeyo no conviene ya á su futura posición social, y la familia toda
sobre la promesa de la carta se arroja en brazos del usurero don
Simón, que al ciento por ciento les presta un poco de dinero. De allí
á poco llega el Indiano don Blas, y encuentra á la familia ocupada en
preparar su recibimiento. Prodígansele las finezas y los más
escrupulosos obsequios, pero don Blas parece haberse arruinado,
gracias á ciertos piratas berberiscos: esta peripecia fatal atrae sobre
la casa los insultos del usurero, y sobre el adulado Indiano la
execración y los ultrajes, rota ya la máscara del interés. Sólo la niña
procede generosa con el desgraciado. Sin embargo, don Blas tenía
asegurados sus caudales, y precisamente uno de los comerciantes
de Cádiz, á quien arruina el reintegro de los bienes robados por los
piratas, es el padre del amante de la hija de doña Rufina. Éste viene
á zanjar cuentas; al conocerse en la casa la fortuna renaciente,
quieren comenzar de nuevo las adulaciones, pero ya es tarde. Don
Blas, indignado, rompe con su hermana, con el comisario y con el
primo militar, dota á la niña virtuosa, casándola con su amante, y da
fin la comedia.
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