The foregoing list of Lope's exploits in literature, curtailed as it is, suffices for fame; but it would not suffice to explain that matchless popularity which led to the publication—suppressed by the Inquisition in 1647—of a creed beginning thus:—"I believe in Lope de Vega the Almighty, the Poet of heaven and earth." So far we have but reached the threshold of his temple. His unique renown is based upon the fact that he created a national theatre, that he did for Spain what Shakespeare did for England. Gómez Manrique and Encina led the way gropingly; Torres Naharro, though he bettered all that had been done, lived out of Spain; Lope de Rueda and Timoneda brought the drama to the people; Artieda, Virués, Argensola, and Cervantes tore their passions to tatters in conformity with their own strange precepts, which the last-named would have enforced by a literary dictatorship. Moreover, Argensola and the three veterans of Lepanto wrote to please themselves: Lope invented a new art to enchant mankind. And he succeeded beyond all ambition. Nor does he once take on the airs of philosopher or pedant: rather, in a spirit of self-mockery, he makes his confession in the _Arte Nuevo de hacer Comedias_ (New Mode of Playwriting), which his English biographer, Lord Holland, translates in this wise:— "_Who writes by rule must please himself alone, Be damn'd without remorse, and die unknown. Such force has habit—for the untaught fools, Trusting their own, despise the ancient rules. Yet true it is, I too have written plays. The wiser few, who judge with skill, might praise; But when I see how show (and nonsense) draws The crowds and—more than all—the fair's applause, Who still are forward with indulgent rage To sanction every master of the stage, I, doom'd to write, the public taste to hit, Resume the barbarous taste 'twas vain to quit: I lock up every rule before I write, Plautus and Terence drive from out my sight, ... To vulgar standards then I square my play, Writing at ease; for, since the public pay, 'Tis just, methinks, we by their compass steer, And write the nonsense that they love to hear._"