The prevailing quality of the Spanish drama--Typical examples--_La Dama Melindrosa_--_El Tejedor de Segovia_--_El Condenado por Desconfiado_--The plays on “honour”--_A Secreto Agravio Secreta Venganza_--The _Auto Sacramental_--the _loa_--The _Verdadero Dios Pan_--_Los Dos Habladores_ 91 CHAPTER V. SPANISH PROSE ROMANCE. Pastorals and short stories--The original work of the Spaniard--The _Libros de Caballerías_--The _Amadis of Gaul_--Followers of _Amadis of Gaul_--Influence and character of these tales--The real cause of their decline--The character of the _Novelas de Pícaros_--The _Celestina_--_Lazarillo de Tormés_--_Guzman de Alfarache_--The followers of Mateo Aleman--Quevedo--Cervantes--His life--His work--The minor things--_Don Quixote_ 124 CHAPTER VI. SPAIN--HISTORIANS, MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS, AND THE MYSTICS. Spanish historians--Histories of particular events--Early historians of the Indies--General historians of the Indies--Gómara, Oviedo, Las Casas, Herrera, the Inca Garcilaso--Mendoza, Moncada, and Melo--General histories--Ocampo, Zurita, Morales--Mariana--The decadence--Solis--Miscellaneous writers--Gracian and the prevalence of Góngorism--The mystics--Spanish mysticism--The influence of the Inquisition on Spanish religious literature--Malon de Chaide--Juan de Ávila--Luis de Granada--Luis de Leon--Santa Teresa--Juan de la Cruz--Decadence of the mystic writers 157 CHAPTER VII. ELIZABETHAN POETRY. The starting-point--Italian influence--The opposition to rhyme--Excuses for this--Its little effect--Poetry of first half of Elizabeth’s reign--Spenser--Order of his work--His metre--Character of his poetry--Sir P. Sidney--The _Apologie for Poetrie_--His sonnets and lyrics--Watson--The Sonneteers--Other lyric poetry--The collections and song-books--The historical poems--Fitz-Geoffrey and Markham--Warner--Daniel--Drayton--The satiric poets--Lodge--Hall--Marston--Donne 185 CHAPTER VIII. THE EARLIER DRAMATISTS. The first plays--Resistance to classic influence--Advantages of this--And the limitations--The dramatic quality--Classic, Spanish, and French drama--Unity in the English Plays--_Ralph Roister Doister_--_Gammer Gurton’s Needle_--_Gorboduc_--Formation of the theatre--Lyly--Greene--Peele--Kyd--Marlowe--Character of these writers--Shakespeare--Guesses about his life--Order of his work--Estimates of Shakespeare--Divisions of his work--The Poems--The Dramas--The reality of Shakespeare’s characters 223 CHAPTER IX. THE ELIZABETHAN PROSE-WRITERS.