But when we come to the dramas themselves, though we find a decided advance, in some respects, beyond any thing that had preceded them, in others we find great rudeness and extravagance. Their subjects are very various. One of them, the “Soldadesca,” is on the Papal recruiting service at Rome. Another, the “Tinelaria,” or Servants’ Dining-Hall, is on such riots as were likely to happen in the disorderly service of a cardinal’s household; full of revelry and low life. Another, “La Jacinta,” gives us the story of a lady who lives at her castle on the road to Rome, where she violently detains sundry passengers and chooses a husband among them. And of two others, one is on the adventures of a disguised prince, who comes to the court of a fabulous king of Leon, and wins his daughter after the fashion of the old romances of chivalry;[473] and the other on the adventures of a child stolen in infancy, which involve disguises in more humble life.[474] [473] La Aquilana. [474] La Calamita. How various were the modes in which these subjects were thrown into action and verse, and, indeed, how different was the character of his different dramas, may be best understood by a somewhat ampler notice of the two not yet mentioned. The first of these, the “Trofea,” is in honor of King Manuel of Portugal, and the discoveries and conquests that were made in India and Africa, under his auspices; but it is very meagre and poor. After the prologue, which fills above three hundred verses, Fame enters in the first act and announces, that the great king has, in his most holy wars, gained more lands than are described by Ptolemy; whereupon Ptolemy appears instantly, by especial permission of Pluto, from the regions of torment, and denies the fact; but, after a discussion, is compelled to admit it, though with a saving clause for his own honor. In the second act, two shepherds come upon the stage to sweep it for the king’s appearance. They make themselves quite merry, at first, with the splendor about them, and one of them sits on the throne, and imitates grotesquely the curate of his village; but they soon quarrel, and continue in bad humor, till a royal page interferes and compels them to go on and arrange the apartment. The whole of the third act is taken up with the single speech of an interpreter, bringing in twenty Eastern and African kings who are unable to speak for themselves, but avow, through his very tedious harangue, their allegiance to the crown of Portugal; to all which the king makes no word of reply. The next act is absurdly filled with a royal reception of four shepherds, who bring him presents of a fox, a lamb, an eagle, and a cock, which they explain with some humor and abundance of allegory; but to all which he makes as little reply as he did to the proffered fealty of the twenty heathen kings. In the fifth and last act, Apollo gives verses, in praise of the king, queen, and prince, to Fame, who distributes copies to the