The history of Saavedra has furnished the subject for a Spanish comedy, entitled the "_False Nuncio of Portugal_," in which not only all the unities of time, place, and action are wanting, but the rule which only admits probable events is infringed; but this ought not to surprise in poets, since the hero himself has taken the same liberty in the narrative which he composed for the amusement of Cardinal Espinosa. It is certain that he was imprisoned on the 25th of January, 1541, as he states in his history. But this point, so well established, proves that he imposed in other circumstances; for example, if what he relates of the Jesuit in Algarves is true, it could not have happened until the year 1540, because Paul III. only expedited his bull of approval for the _Society of Jesus_, on the 27th of September, 1540; now the sermon preached by the Jesuit on St. Andrew's day corresponds with the 30th of November in the same year, that is, on the fifty-second day before his imprisonment; this interval would not be sufficient for his journeys to Ayamonte, Llerena, Seville, Badajoz, and in Portugal. Thus Saavedra did not speak truth, either in stating the period of his appearing to the world as a Cardinal, and the motives which induced him to enter into the intrigue with the Jesuit; or when he said that he sustained his part for three months at Lisbon, and during three months which he employed in visiting different towns in the kingdom. Besides, the number and names of the disciples of St. Ignatius were known at that period; and it is certain that before the bull of approbation was obtained, the founder of the order had appointed St. Francis Xavier and Simon Rodriguez, a Portuguese, to preach in Portugal; and that these monks left Rome on the 15th of March, 1540, with the Portuguese ambassador; that on their arrival at Lisbon, John III. wished to receive them into his palace; that they refused that honour, and lodged in the hospital; that St. Francis Xavier embarked for the East Indies, with the new governor, on the 8th of April, 1541, and that Rodriguez remained in Portugal to preach, as he had already done, to the great satisfaction of the inhabitants, who had a high opinion of his virtues: these circumstances render it improbable that the Jesuit would ask for a forged brief, and enter into an intrigue with a layman.