burlesque _testamento_ of Maria Parda[276] is one of a long list of such wills (of which an example is the mule’s testament in the _Cancioneiro Geral_),[277] but in some of its expressions appears to be copied from the _Testament de Pathelin_. His knowledge of French was perhaps more fluent than accurate, like his Latin which, albeit copious, did not claim to be ‘pure Tully’. But there are many references to France in his plays, as there are in the _Cancioneiro Geral_, and, although the _enselada_ from France with which the _Auto da Fé_ ends (i. 75) and the French song (i. 92) _Ay de la noble ville de Paris_[278] were no doubt some fashionable courtier’s latest acquisition, Vicente in literary matters probably shared the curiosity of the Court as to what was going on beyond the frontiers of Portugal. The great majority of his songs are, however, plainly indigenous. His knowledge of Italian certainly enabled him to read Italian plays and poems. We know that he was a great reader--he mentions ‘the written works that I have seen, in verse and prose, rich in style and matter’. In Spanish he did not confine himself to Enzina. He read romances of chivalry, imitated the _romances_ with supreme success, mentions Diego de San Pedro’s _La Carcel de Amor_, had read the _autos_ of Lucas Fernandez, the _comedias_ of Bartolomé de Torres Naharro probably, and without doubt the Archpriest of Hita’s _Libro de Buen Amor_, possessed by King Duarte, and the _Celestina_. Indeed, for some time past barriers between the two literatures had scarcely existed and Vicente enriched both. Celestina would have spoken many proverbs had she foreseen that he would allow two men (_judeos casamenteiros_) to take the bread out of her mouth, but he copies her in his Brigida Vaz, Branca Gil, the formidable Anna Diaz, and the _beata alcoviteira_ of the _Comedia de Rubena_, although he may also have had in mind the _moller mui vil_ of King Alfonso X’s _Cantigas de Santa Maria_ (No. 64), with the spirit of which--their fondness for popular types and satire--Vicente had more in common than with the _Cancioneiro Geral_, compiled by his friend Resende. With this collection he was naturally familiar, and must have heard many of its songs before it was published in 1516. A line here and there in Vicente seems to be an echo of the _Cancioneiro_,[279] although the fact that it mentions some of his types (as in the _Arrenegos_[280] of Gregorio Afonso) merely means that he drew from the life around him. His satire of doctors and priests, although essentially popular and mediaeval--both are present in the _Cantigas de Santa Maria_--was also due to his personal observation: that is to say, he gave realistic expression to a satire of which the motive was literary (since satire directed against priests had long been one of the chief resources of comic writers in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal).[281] The type of the poor _fidalgo_ or famishing