[388] C. Pellicer, Orígen, Tom. II. p. 41. Signorelli, Storia, Lib. IX. cap. 8. R. Cumberland (Memoirs of Himself, London, 1807, 8vo, Tom. II. p. 107) speaks of the Tirana as “at the very summit of her art,” and adds that on one occasion, when he was present, her tragic powers proved too much for the audience, at whose cries the curtain was lowered before the piece was ended. Maiquez was the friend of Blanco White, of Moratin the younger, etc. (New Monthly Mag., Tom. XI. p. 187, and L. F. Moratin, Obras, Tom. IV. p. 345). His best character was that of Garcia de Castañar, in Roxas, which I have seen him play with admirable power and effect. But still the old spirit and life of the drama of the seventeenth century were not there. The audiences, who were as unlike those of the cavalier times of Philip the Fourth as were the rude exhibitions they preferred to witness, did as much to degrade the theatre as was done by the poets they patronized and the actors they applauded. The two schools were in presence of each other continually struggling for the victory, and the multitude seemed rather to rejoice in the uproar, than desire so to use it as to promote changes beneficial to the theatre. On the one side, extravagant and absurd dramas in great numbers, full of noise, show, and low buffoonery, were offered with success. On the other, meagre sentimental comedies, and stiff, cold translations from the French, were forced, in almost equal numbers, upon the actors by the voices of those from whose authority or support they could not entirely emancipate themselves. And between the two, and with the consent of all, the Inquisition and the censors forbade the representation of hundreds of the dramas of the old masters, and among them not a few which still give reputation to Calderon and Lope. The eighteenth century, therefore, so far as the Spanish theatre is concerned, is entirely a period of revolution and change; and while, at its conclusion, we perceive that the old national drama can hardly hope to be restored to its ancient rights, it is equally plain that a drama founded on the doctrines taught by Luzan, and practised by the Moratins, is not destined to take its place.[389]