The most conspicuous among slightly younger dramatists is Snr. JULIO DANTAS (born in 1876), who published a first volume of poems, _Nada_, in 1896. He is gifted with wit, lightness of touch, an excellent style, and a sense of atmosphere, which enables him to bring a pleasant archaic flavour to reconstructions of the past and observe the true spirit of history in periods the most diverse. His malleable talent is equally at its ease in _O que morreu de amor_ (1899) and _Viriato Tragico_ (1900); in Spain of the seventeenth century: _Don Ramón de Capichuela_ (1911); contemporary Lisbon: _Crucificados_ (1902), _Mater Dolorosa_ (1908), _O Reposteiro Verde_ (1912); the Inquisition-clouded Portugal of the seventeenth century: _Santa Inquisição_ (1910), or its lighter side, with the _bonbon_ marquis: _D. Beltrão de Figueiroa_ (1902); the gentle, romantic Portugal of the middle of the nineteenth century: _Um Serão nas Laranjeiras_ (1904), or the bull-fighting Portugal of the same period: _A Severa_ (1901) with the gallant Marques de Marialva and the beautiful and magnanimous gipsy of the Mouraria. The filigree of his elaborate stage directions is skilfully used to enhance the effect,[685] and some of his scenes are exquisite, especially the simple, very charming, and tragic one-act comedy _Rosas de todo o anno_ (1907). If the characters are usually sacrificed to their setting, here and there a slight sketch stands out, as that of the cynical old cardinal who delights in the mental torture of others, in _Santa Inquisição_, the attractive bishop of _Soror Mariana_ (1915), or the characters in _A Ceia dos Cardeais_ (1902). ERNESTO BIESTER (1829-80) in the middle of last century wrote lively comedies of contemporary Lisbon life. The comedies of GERVASIO LOBATO (1850-95), as _Os Grotescos_, _A Condessa Heloïsa_ (1878), _O Festim de Balthazar_ (1892), _O Commissario de Policia_, _Sua Excellencia_, and many others, are natural, farcical scenes of high spirits and real good humour and good feeling. More literary and charming is the work of Snr. EDUARDO SCHWALBACH, whose _O Dia de Juizo_ (1915) and _Poema de Amor_ (1916) came to crown a long series of plays and _revistas_. There are touches of real comedy in the lightly sketched scenes and characters of Snr. AUGUSTO DE CASTRO’S _Caminho perdido_ (1906), _Amor á Antiga_ (1907), _As nossas amantes_ (1912), _A Culpa_ (1918), as in his slight, attractive essays _Fumo do Meu Cigarro_ (1916), _Fantoches e Manequins_ (1917), and _Conversar_ (1920); thought and character in Snr. AUGUSTO LACERDA’S _O Vicio_ (1888), _Casados Solteiros_ (1893), _Terra Mater_ (1904), _A Duvida_ (1906), _Os Novos Apostolos_ (1918). In Snr. BENTO MANTUA’S _O Alcool_ (1909) and _Novo Altar_ (1911) the problem may be a little too much in evidence, but in his prose plays _Má Sina_ (1906) and _Gente Moça_ (1910) the human interest is insistent. _Má Sina_, apart from the author’s weakness for strained coincidences, is a story