[467] His nephew, in a Preface to the second volume of his uncle’s Poems, (published at Madrid, 1670, 4to), says that Quevedo died of two imposthumes on his chest, which were formed during his last imprisonment. Quevedo sought success, as a man of letters, in a great number of departments,--from theology and metaphysics down to stories of vulgar life and Gypsy ballads. But many of his manuscripts were taken from him when his papers were twice seized by the government, and many others seem to have been accidentally lost in the course of a life full of change and adventure. In consequence of this, his friend Antonio de Tarsia tells us that the greater part of his works could not be published; and we know that many are still to be found in his own handwriting, both in the National Library of Madrid and in other collections, public and private.[468] Those already printed fill eleven considerable volumes, eight of prose and three of poetry; leaving us probably little to regret concerning the fate of the rest, unless, perhaps, it be the loss of his dramas, of which two are said to have been represented with applause at Madrid, during his lifetime.[469] [468] Obras, Tom. X. p. 45, and N. Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 463. A considerable amount of his miscellaneous works may be found in the Seminario Erudito, Tom. I., III., VI., and XV. [469] Besides these dramas, whose names are unknown to us, he wrote, in conjunction with Ant. Hurtado de Mendoza, and at the command of the Count Duke Olivares, who afterwards treated him so cruelly, a play called “Quien mas miente, medra mas,”--_He that lies most, will rise most_,--for the gorgeous entertainment that prodigal minister gave to Philip IV. on St. John’s eve, 1631. See the account of it in the notice of Lope de Vega, _ante_, p. 185, and _post_, p. 324, note 21. Of his poetry, so far as we know, he himself published nothing with his name, except such as occurs in his poor translations from Epictetus and Phocylides; but in the tasteful and curious collection of his friend Pedro de Espinosa, called “Flowers of Illustrious Poets,” printed when Quevedo was only twenty-five years old, a few of his minor poems are to be found. This was, probably, his first appearance as an author; and it is worthy of notice, that, taken together, these few poems announce much of his future poetical character, and that two or three of them, like the one beginning, A wight of might Is Don Money, the knight,[470] [470] Poderoso cavallero Es Don Dinero, etc. is in Pedro Espinosa, “Flores de Poetas Ilustres,” Madrid, 1605, 4to, f. 18.