_Len._ Agora bien; Dios bendiga los hombres acogidos á razon! Pero dime, Troico, sabrás disimular con ella sin reirte? _Tro._ Yo? de que me habia de reir? _Len._ No te paresce, que es manera de reir, hacelle en creyente, que tu te la comiste, habiéndosela comido tu amigo Leno? _Tro._ Dices sabiamente; mas calla, vete en buen hora. Las Quatro Comedias, etc., de Lope de Rueda, Sevilla, 1576, 8vo. The ten Pasos are much like this dialogue,--short and lively, without plot or results, and merely intended to amuse an idle audience for a few moments. Two of them are on glutton tricks, like that practised by Leno; others are between thieves and cowards; and all are drawn from common life, and written with spirit. It is very possible that some of them were taken out of larger and more formal dramatic compositions, which it was not thought worth while to print entire.[25] [25] This I infer from the fact, that, at the end of the edition of the Comedias and Coloquios, 1576, there is a “Tabla de los pasos graciosos que se pueden sacar de las presentes Comedias y Coloquios y poner en otras obras.” Indeed, _paso_ meant _a passage_. Pasos were, however, undoubtedly sometimes written as separate works by Lope de Rueda, and were not called _entremeses_ till Timoneda gave them the name. Still, they may have been earlier used as such, or as introductions to the longer dramas. The two dialogues in verse are curious, as the only specimens of Lope de Rueda’s poetry that are now extant, except some songs and a fragment preserved by Cervantes.[26] One is called “Proofs of Love,” and is a sort of pastoral discussion between two shepherds, on the question, which was most favored, the one who had received a finger-ring as a present, or the one who had received an ear-ring. It is written in easy and flowing _quintillas_, and is not longer than one of the slight dialogues in prose. The other is called “A Dialogue on the Breeches now in Fashion,” and is in the same easy measure, but has more of its author’s peculiar spirit and manner. It is between two lackeys, and begins thus abruptly:-- [26] There is a _Glosa_ printed at the end of the Comedias; but it is not of much value. The passage preserved by Cervantes is in his “Baños de Argel,” near the end. _Peralta._ Master Fuentes, what’s the change, I pray, I notice in your hosiery and shape? You seem so very swollen as you walk. _Fuentes._ Sir, ’t is the breeches fashion now prescribes. _Peralta._ I thought it was an under-petticoat! _Fuentes._ I’m not ashamed of what I have put on. Why must I wear my breeches made like yours? Good friend, your own are wholly out of vogue. _Peralta._ But what are yours so lined and stuffed withal, That thus they seem so very smooth and tight?