THE DRAMA: FERDINAND DE ROJAS.--The drama, even apart from Lope de Vega, of whom we have written, was most brilliant in Spain during these two centuries. The Spanish stage was very characteristic, very original among all drama in that, more than the ancient drama, more than in the plays of Shakespeare himself, it was essentially lyrical, or, to express the fact more clearly, it was based on a continual mixture of the lyric and the dramatic; also it nearly always laid stress on the sentiment and the susceptibility of honour, "the point of honour," as it was called, and upon its laws, which were severe, tyrannical, and even cruel. These two principal characteristics gave it a distinct aspect differing from all the other European theatres. Without going back to the confused origins and without expressing much interest in the Spanish drama until the religious dramas of the _autos sacramentales_(which continued their career until the seventeenth century), it is necessary, first, to note, at the close of the fifteenth century, the celebrated _Celestine_ of Ferdinand de Rojas, a spirited work, unmeasured, enormous, unequal, at times profoundly licentious, at times attaining a great height of moral exaltation, and also at times farcical and at others deeply pathetic. _Celestine_ was translated several times in various languages, and especially in Italy and France was as much appreciated as in Spain. CALDERON.--In the seventeenth century (after Lope de Vega) came Calderon. Almost as prolific as Lope, author of at least two hundred plays, some authorities say a thousand, Calderon was first prodigiously inventive, then he was dogmatic, moralising, almost a preacher. Whether in his religious plays, in his love dramas, in his cap and sword tragedies, even in his comedies and highly complicated intrigues, the great sentiments of the Spanish soul--honour, faith, the inviolability of the oath, loyalty, fidelity, the spirit of great adventures--broaden, animate and elevate the whole work. With Calderon the titles are always indicative of the subject. His most celebrated plays are: _In this Life All Is Truth and Falsehood_, _Life is a Dream_, _The Devotion to the Cross_, _The Lady before All_, _The Mayor of Zamalea_, _Love after Death_, _The Physician of his Own Honour_. ALARCON.--Alarcon comes nearer to us owing to his regular and almost classic compositions. Nevertheless he was a man of imagination and humour with an adequate dramatic force. His tragedies must be mentioned: _What Is Worth Much Costs Much_, _Cruelty through Honour_, _The Master of Stars_; his comedies, _The Examination of Husbands_, and that charming _The Truth Suspected_, from which Corneille derived _The Liar_.