Of course, the zarzuela did not spring into being out of nowhere and nothing, and the true origins are not entirely obscure. It is generally agreed that a priest, Juan del Encina (born at Salamanca, 1468), was the true founder of the secular theatre in Spain. His dramatic compositions are in the nature of eclogues based on Virgilian models. In all of these there is singing and in one a dance. Isabel la Católica in the fifteenth century always had at her command a troop of musicians and poets who comforted and consoled her in her chapel with motets and _plegarias_ (French, _prière_), and in the royal apartments with _canciones_ and _villancicos_. (_Canciones_ are songs inclining towards the ballad-form. _Villancicos_ are songs in the old Spanish measure; they receive their name from their rustic character, as supposedly they were first composed by the _villanos_ or peasants for the nativity and other festivals of the church.) "It is necessary to search for the true origins of the Spanish musical spectacle," states Soubies, "in the _villancicos_ and _cantacillos_ which alternated with the dialogue in the works of Juan del Encina and Lucas Fernández, without forgetting the _ensaladas_, the _jácaras_, etc., which served as intermezzi and curtain-raisers." These were sung before the curtain, before the drama was performed (and during the intervals, with jokes added) by women in court dress, and later created a form of their own (besides contributing to the creation of the zarzuela), the _tonadilla_, which, accompanied by a guitar or violin and interspersed with dances, was very popular for a number of years. H. V. Hamilton is probably on sound ground when he says, "That the first zarzuela was written with an express desire for expansion and development is, however, not so certain as that it was the result of a wish to inaugurate the new house of entertainment with something entirely original and novel." VI