The twelve _autos_ seem, from internal evidence, to have been written for the city of Toledo, and certainly to have been performed there, as well as in other cities of Spain. He selected them from a large number, and they undoubtedly enjoyed, during his lifetime, a wide popularity. Some, perhaps, deserved it. “The Prodigal Son,” long a tempting subject wherever religious dramas were known, was treated with more than usual skill. “Psyche and Cupid,” too, is better managed for Christian purposes than that mystical fancy commonly was by the poets of the Spanish theatre. And “The Tree of Life” is a well-sustained allegory, in which the old theological contest between Divine Justice and Divine Mercy is carried through in the old theological spirit, beginning with scenes in Paradise and ending with the appearance of the Saviour. But, in general, the _autos_ of Valdivielso are not better than those of his contemporaries. His two plays are not so good. “The Birth of the Best,” as the Madonna is often technically called, and “The Guardian Angel,” which is, again, an allegory, not unlike that of “The Tree of Life,” are both of them crude and wild compositions, even within the broad limits permitted to the religious drama. One reason of their success may, perhaps, be found in the fact, that they have more of the tone of the elder poetry than almost any of the sacred plays of the time;--a remark that may be extended to the _autos_ of Valdivielso, in one of which there is a spirited parody of the well-known ballad on the challenge of Zamora after the murder of Sancho the Brave. But the social position of their author, and, perhaps, his quibbles and quaintnesses, which humored the bad taste of his age, must be taken into consideration before we can account for the extensive popularity he undoubtedly enjoyed.[552] [552] Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 821. His dramatic works which I possess are “Doce Autos Sacramentales y dos Comedias Divinas,” por el Maestro Joseph de Valdivielso, Toledo, 1622, 4to, 183 leaves. Compare the old ballad, “Ya cabalga Diego Ordoñez,” which can be traced to the Romancero of 1550-1555, with the “Crónica del Cid,” c. 66, and the “Cautivos Libres,” f. 25. a. of the Doce Autos. It will show how the old ballads rung in the ears of all men, and penetrated everywhere into Spanish poetry. There is a _nacimiento_ of Valdivielso in the “Navidad y Corpus Christi,” mentioned in the preceding note; but it is very slight and poor.