SPANISH ACTORS. THE troupes of actors who wandered through Spain were described in 1603 by Augustin de Rojas, who was one of their number. They were distinguished by slang names according to their importance in the profession. The Carambaleo, which occupied a middle rank, is thus described. Carambaleo consists of one woman who sings and five men who weep; their baggage comprises one play, two autos, three or four entremeses, and a bundle of clothes which a spider might carry; sometimes they carry the woman on their backs, sometimes in a chair; they give representations at homesteads for a loaf of bread, a bunch of grapes, and a cabbage stew; in villages they charge six farthings, or a piece of sausage, a hank of flax, or whatever else may happen to be offered, counting everything as fish that comes to their net. In hamlets they stay four or six days; they hire a bed for the woman, and, if the landlady takes a fancy to any of them she gives him a sackful of straw and a blanket, and he sleeps in the kitchen. In winter the straw-loft is their constant abode. At midday they eat their olla of beef and six platefuls of broth apiece; they all sit at the same table, or sometimes on the bed; the woman portions out the dinner, gives each his due share of bread, and measures out to each the wine and water; each one wipes his hands and mouth with whatever comes handy, for they have only one napkin between the lot, and the table-cloth is so scanty that it falls short by several inches of covering the table. LOPE DE VEGA CARPIO. IF versatility of talents and marvellous industry count for four-fifths of what is called genius, then must the crown rest on the brow of Lope Felix de Vega Carpio. To have written fifteen hundred plays, seven hundred farces and twenty volumes of miscellaneous literature, including eleven formidable epics, several novels, and sonnets innumerable, fairly entitle the hero of the achievement to claim greatness for his work. He is declared to be "the most voluminous writer of ancient or modern times." His name takes front rank in several classifications of the national literature of Spain. Lope de Vega was born in November, 1562, in Madrid. Early left an orphan and poor, he managed to push his way, probably with the assistance of friends, through the college of his native city and the academy of Alcalà. He married young, and in a few years his wife died. He wounded an opponent in a duel, and was in consequence imprisoned and exiled. Returning to Madrid at the end of two years, he sailed with the Armada, and was one of the few survivors of that ill-fated expedition. He married again, but again lost his wife. He was bereaved of his sons, and an illegitimate daughter, to whom he was tenderly attached, became a nun. He entered the priesthood in 1609, and was afterwards a familiar of the Inquisition, assisting cheerfully at the burning of a poor Franciscan monk who was convicted of heresy. Far from sinking into repose in the calm environments of the church, it was now that dramas of every sort poured torrentlike from his pen. They were often, with different names and under various disguises, merely the passionate records of his own stormy life, experiences through which he had passed and had found bitter or sweet. He died in August, 1635, being nearly seventy-three years of age. His closing years were clouded with misfortunes and melancholy, yet the grandees of Spain felt it an honor to take part in his funeral. Two volumes were needed to hold the laudatory poems of his countrymen, who declared him the greatest of all poets of every age and land. Posterity credits Lope de Vega with being the founder of the popular national drama, "the cloak and sword play," with gallantry for its animating feature. The mass of his stage writings are classified as tragedies, legendary plays, heroic, historical and sacred; comedies of intrigue, of manners, and the picaresque or rogue plays; and autos sacramentales or religious pieces. The method he employs is to involve the main plot in a series of tangles, with counter-plot, under-plot and extraneous incident to a degree too bewildering for readers. Whatever the class from which a specimen may be taken, it will be an olla podrida of topics, characters, adventures and speeches, dignified, buffoonish, heroic, maudlin, indecent, so mixed up that though the story is clear, the dramatic unities are utterly disregarded. Lope boasted that he sacrificed the rules of art for the sake of winning popular applause. "I write according to the method which was invented by those who became candidates for popular favor, for as it is the mob that pays for the play, it is but right to gratify it by speaking in the uncultured language which it understands." He claimed to have created the gracioso character, the comic fellow, usually servant to the hero, whom he amusingly parodies, a character that has won a permanent place on the national stage. While his style is celebrated for its fire and extravagance, and yet again for its simple sincerity, there are, scattered all through his plays, passages of incredible grossness. His direct aim was popularity, and he succeeded. During the forty years in which he lived and wrote an ador THE PROOCYTE MAN HOSPITAL, NEW YORK, N. Ye ing populace refused to tolerate the works of any other author. Even Cervantes remained poor, while Lope amassed wealth, which he scattered in charity, while also indulging his taste for luxury. Lope dedicated his tragedy of "Mary Stuart" to Pope Urban VIII., who in return made him a doctor of theology and an honorary officer of the Papal Court. The lasting power of the genius of Lope de Vega is shown in the fact that he is the master of the theatre in Spain to-day. THE WATER-CARRIER. THE following outline of a play which still holds the stage in Spain is given by Mr. Butler Clarke, and will serve as a fair example of the best style of Lope de Vega. The scene opens in Merida, where Donna Maria de Guzman, a lady of great beauty, is wooed by a host of admirers, all of whom she rejects somewhat disdainfully. One of these suitors, enraged at the treatment he has received, inflicts a blow upon her father. This outrage, according to all the rules of the Spanish stage, demands a bloody reprisal, and Donna Maria herself undertakes the part of avenger of her father's honor. She murders her father's brutal assailant in prison, and in order to escape the consequences of her act, sets out in humble disguise for Madrid. On her way thither she meets with an Indiano, or Spanish American, in whose household she takes service. Her simple dress does not conceal her attractions. While carrying her pitcher to the fountain she is seen by Don Juan, the stereotyped gallant or lover, who, becoming enamored of her, rejects for her sake the overtures of Donna Anna, a lady of great attractions. This lady has another suitor, a nobleman, but she loves Don Juan in spite of his coolness, and her jealousy makes her desirous of seeing the water-carrier, her successful rival. In order to gratify her wish, she contrives to bring Donna Maria to her house. The newcomer takes advantage of the opportunity afforded by the marriage of a fellow-servant to dress herself in the costume which befits her real station and best shows off her charms. Thus attired she is irresistible; Don Juan proposes marriage to her and is accepted, in spite of the protests of Donna Anna. The reason for disguise is now at an end; Donna Maria declares her rank and parentage, and is at last happily married. Recklessness of human life is characteristic of the Spanish stage; in this popular drama the unfortunate, hot-tempered suitor is murdered, not that his death may form the catastrophe of the piece, but incidentally that it may give his murderess an opportunity of obtaining the disguise on which the necessary dramatic situations depend. Donna Maria's crime provokes no moral reprobation, nor is it meant to do so; a lady so careful of the family honor is likely to make the best of wives, and her conduct is considered natural, if not praiseworthy. SANCHO ORTIZ. ACCORDING to Spanish notions loyalty to the king overrides all other obligations, natural or social. At the sovereign's command, the subject must renounce his nearest and dearest relations. In the "Estrella de Sevilla " Sancho Ortiz is thus called to provoke a quarrel with the brother of his betrothed and slay him. I. The King and Sancho Ortiz. Ortiz. I kiss thy feet. King. Rise, Sancho! rise, and know I wrong thee much to let thee stoop so low. Ortiz. My liege, confounded with thy grace I stand; King. Why, what in me To daunt thy noble spirit canst thou see? Ortiz. Courage and majesty that strikes with awe; My sovereign lord; the fountain of the law; In fine, God's image, which I come to obey, Never so honored as I feel to-day. King. Much I applaud thy wisdom, much thy zeal; That which you covet so to learn,-the cause Much it imports the safety of my reign A man should die,-in secret should be slain; This must some friend perform; search Seville through, |