[18] Frequent attempts were made by the authorities to suppress the scandals and abuses in the theatres, which, although the performances always took place by daylight, were inevitable in such a state of society as that we are now describing. It was forbidden, for instance, for men in the courtyard or pit to converse with women in the cazuela or on the stage; the actresses were not allowed to dress in masculine garb, and an alguacil was always to be on duty in the auditorium during the performance. See Schack's _Historia del arte dramatica en España_; Pellicer's _Tratado Historico sobre el origen ... de la Comedia en España_ (1804); _El Corral de la Pacheca_, by Juan Comba; _Origen Epocas y Progresos del Teatro Español_, by Hugalde (1802), and the valuable MS. _Memorias Cronologicas sobre el origen ... de Comedias en España_, by Antonio de Armona, in the Royal Academy of History, Madrid. [19] Philip's passion for the theatre was so well understood, that a comedy formed part of the entertainment at every place he visited. In the spring of 1624 he made a short but very splendid progress in Andalucia, and every great noble and city that received him gave him a new play. On the 18th March the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the great Andalucian magnate and kinsman of Olivares, entertained the King in his country house near St. Lucar, and presented a new comedy before him every day of his stay. On the 7th April we learn that, during his visit to Granada the King witnessed a comedy in the Alhambra! The King himself wrote some plays, now lost. [20] Leon Pinelo's _Anales Manuscritos de Madrid_ and other contemporary writings describe many such. [21] Now the Senate. [22] The site is now converted into a pretty public garden, called the Plaza de Bilbao. [23] The _auto_ is described by Leon Pinelo (_Anales Manuscritos_), by Montero de los Rios (_Historia de Madrid_), and others. [24] A full account of this little known inglorious episode is given from the Elliot papers in the Camden Society, 1883. [25] British Museum, Egerton MSS. 338, 136. [26] _Memorias de Matias de Novoa; Ayuda de Camara de Felipe IV_. These invaluable memoirs, written by a bitter enemy of Olivares, were formerly supposed to have been written by another favourite courtier of Philip, called Vivanco. Though vivid, they are unfair to Olivares. [27] It is rather a curious fact that the Count-Duke's father, the second Count of Olivares, had been the first councillor in 1603 to speak plainly in the Council of Philip in on the projects of Spain to dominate England. He pointed out very strongly that extension of territory did not mean increase of power, but the contrary, as it meant the distribution instead of the concentration of national strength. See the writer's _Calendar of Spanish State Papers of Elizabeth_, vol. iv. [28] Dormer, _Anales de Aragon_, MS., Royal Academy of History, Madrid. The published portion of the book only covers the sixteenth century.