TIRSO DE MOLINA.--Tirso de Molina was another prodigy of dramatic literature, and his fellow-countrymen assert that he wrote three hundred dramas, of which sixty-five are in existence. All Spanish dramatists were unequal, he more especially; he passed from grossness to sublimity with surprising facility and ease. He particularly delighted in ingeniously complicated intrigue, in surprises, and in unexpected theatrical touches. Yet _The Condemned in Doubt_ is a sort of moral epopee, adapted to the stage, possessing real beauty and not without depth. His most celebrated drama, in so far as it has aroused direct or indirect imitations, and owing to the type he was the first to suggest, was _The Jester of Seville_: that is, Don Juan. All European literatures, utilising Don Juan, became tributaries to Tirso de Molina. FRANCIS DE ROJAS; CASTRO; DIAMANTE.--Francis de Rojas, who must not be confused with Ferdinand de Rojas, author of _Celestine_, though possessing less spirit than his predecessors, is nevertheless a distinguished dramatic poet. The French of the seventeenth century freely pilfered from him. Thomas Corneille borrowed a goodly portion of his _Bertrand de Cigarral_, Scarron a large part of his _Jodelet_, Le Sage an episode in _Gil Blas_. If only for their connection with the French drama, William de Castro and Diamante must be noticed. William de Castro wrote a play, _The Exploits of the Cid in Youth_, which Corneille knew and which he imitated in his celebrated tragedy, adding incomparable beauty. Diamante in his turn imitated Corneille very closely in _The Son who Avenges his Father_. Voltaire, mistaken in dates, believed Corneille had imitated Diamante. PORTUGUESE WRITERS.--In Portugal the sixteenth century was the golden age. Poets, dramatists, historians, and moralists were extremely numerous; several possessed genius and many displayed great talent. Among lyrical poets were Bernardin Ribeiro, Christoval Falcam, Diogo Bernardes, Andrade Caminha, Alvarez do Oriente, Rodriguez Lobo. Ribeiro wrote eclogues half in narrative or dialogue, half lyrical. He also produced a romance intersected with tales (Le Sage in his _Gil Blas_ thus wrote, as is known, and in this only imitated the Spaniards), entitled _The Innocent Girl_, which often evinces great refinement. Christoval Falcam was also bucolic, but his eclogues often ran to nine hundred verses. He also wrote _Voltas_, which are lyric poems suitable for setting to music. Diogo Bernardes also wrote eclogues and letters collected under the title of the _Lyma_. The Lyma is a river. To Bernardes the Lyma was what the Lignon was to D'Urfé in his _Astrea_. Caminha, a court poet decidedly analogous to the French Saint-Gelais, possessed dexterity and happy phraseology. Eclogues, elegiacs, epitaphs, and epistles were the ordinary occupations of his muse.