instrumental, captivated the great mass of the Lisbon public. The higher ranks of society too, and even the court, took an interest in these performances. New dramas in this spirit and style followed each other in rapid succession, more particularly during the ten years which elapsed between 1730 and 1740. But no poet, who had previously acquired reputation, appears to have devoted himself to this kind of composition; and the prolific dramatist, whose anonymous productions were so fortunate as to obtain the chief favour of the public, had probably at the time private reasons for wishing to remain unknown. He was a Jew, whose name, even after it was disclosed, was seldom mentioned, as the public, content with the antonomasia, still continued to call him _O Judeo_, (the Jew).[353] The popularity of the new dramas soon became so great, that manuscript copies were eagerly procured for the purpose of private performance or reading. From these copies collections were printed, the increase of which fell still short of the public demand.[354] To none of the dramas contained in these collections is the name of an author affixed. In spirit and style they so closely resemble each other, that they may all be considered as the production of one individual. If at this period French taste had acquired any decided influence on Portuguese literature, such dramas, though they might, for the sake of incident, music, and decoration, have been tolerated on the stage, would never have been sought for in print. It is impossible to imagine a more rude combination of low jests, with romantic and miraculous events, partly taken from real history, and partly from the Greek and Roman mythology. Had this strange compound been the workmanship of cultivated as well as of inventive talent, then, indeed, might the grotesque medley have been rendered, by the ingenuity of composition, entertaining even to readers of cultivated taste. But in these confused jumbles, called comic operas, the composition is, in general, as inartificial as the wit intended to enliven them is dull. The lowest buffoonery is blended with singular adventures, tournaments, or ceremonies; and trivial airs and songs are successively introduced. Some can lay no claim to any merit of invention, either in arrangement of story or incidents, as is exemplified in a spectacle of this class called Don Quixote, which was represented in 1733. No fewer than thirty-six characters figure in this compilation from the master work of Cervantes, whose spirit is, however, banished from the composition. The _Esopaida ou Vida de Esopo_, (Æsopeid, or Life of Æsop) is one of these pieces which seems intended to be particularly comic. The first scene represents a fair at Athens with all its appropriate accompaniments. The philosopher Zeno appears with Æsop and two other slaves, all of whom he wishes to sell. Æsop soon distinguishes himself by coarse jests and endless