[446] There is such a Doric simplicity in this passage, with its antiquated, and yet rich, words, that I transcribe it as a specimen of description very remarkable for its age:-- Cata, Gil, que las mañanas, En el campo hay gran frescor, Y tiene muy gran sabor La sombra de las cabañas. Quien es ducho de dormir Con el ganado de noche, No creas que no reproche El palaciego vivir. Oh! que gasajo es oir El sonido de los grillos, Y el tañer de los caramillos; No hay quien lo pueda decir! Ya sabes que gozo siente El pastor muy caluroso En beber con gran reposo, De bruzas, agua en la fuente, O de la que va corriente Por el cascajal corriendo, Que se va todo riendo; Oh! que prazer tan valiente! Ed. 1509, f. 90. Both pieces, like the preceding translation, are in double _redondillas_ forming octave stanzas of eight-syllable verses; and as the two together contain about four hundred and fifty lines, their amount is sufficient to show the direction Enzina’s talent naturally took, as well as the height to which it rose. Enzina, however, is to be regarded not only as the founder of the Spanish theatre, but as the founder of the Portuguese, whose first attempts were so completely imitated from his, and had in their turn so considerable an effect on the Spanish stage, that they necessarily become a part of its history. These attempts were made by Gil Vicente, a gentleman of good family, who was bred to the law, but left that profession early and devoted himself to dramatic compositions, chiefly for the entertainment of the families of Manuel the Great and John the Third. When he was born is not known, but he died in 1557. As a writer for the stage he flourished from 1502 to 1536,[447] and produced, in all, forty-two pieces, arranged as works of devotion, comedies, tragicomedies, and farces; but most of them, whatever be their names, are in fact short, lively dramas, or religious pastorals. Taken together, they are better than any thing else in Portuguese dramatic literature. [447] Barbosa, Biblioteca Lusitana, Tom. II. pp. 383, etc. The dates of 1502 and 1536 are from the prefatory notices, by the son of Vicente, to the first of his works, in the “Obras de Devoção,” and to the “Floresta de Engaños,” which was the latest of them.