At last, it came upon the stage, for which its original character had so nearly fitted it. Cepeda, in 1582, formed out of it one half of his “Comedia Selvage,” which is only the four first acts of the Celestina, thrown into easy verse;[430] and Alfonso Vaz de Velasco, as early as 1602, published a drama in prose, called “The Jealous Man,” founded entirely on the Celestina, whose character, under the name of Lena, is given with nearly all its original spirit and effect.[431] How far either the play of Velasco or that of Cepeda succeeded, we are not told; but the coarseness and indecency of both are so great, that they can hardly have been long tolerated by the public, if they were by the Church. The essential type of Celestina, however, the character as originally conceived by Cota and Rojas, was continued on the stage in such plays as the “Celestina” of Mendoza, “The Second Celestina” of Agustin de Salazar, and “The School of Celestina” by Salas Barbadillo, all produced soon after the year 1600, as well as in others that have been produced since. Even in our own days, a drama containing so much of her story as a modern audience will listen to has been received with favor; while, at the same time, the original tragicomedy itself has been thought worthy of being reprinted at Madrid, with various readings to settle its text, and of being rendered anew by fresh and vigorous translations into the French and the German.[432] [430] L. F. Moratin, Obras, Tom. I. Parte I. p. 280, and _post_, Period II. c. 28. [431] The name of this author seems to be somewhat uncertain, and has been given in two or three different ways,--Alfonso Vaz, Vazquez, Velasquez, and Uz de Velasco. I take it as it stands in Antonio, Bib. Nov. (Tom. I. p. 52). The shameless play itself is to be found in Ochoa’s edition of the “Orígenes del Teatro Español” (Paris, 1838, 8vo). Some of the characters are well drawn; for instance, that of Inocencio, which reminds me occasionally of the inimitable Dominie Sampson. An edition of it appeared at Milan in 1602, probably preceded--as in almost all cases seems of Spanish books printed abroad--by an edition at home, and certainly followed by one at Barcelona in 1613.