[551] The notices of Mira de Mescua, or Amescua, as he is sometimes called, are scattered like his works. He is mentioned in Roxas, “Viage” (1602); and I have his “Desgraciada Raquel,” both in a printed copy, where it is attributed to Diamante, and in an autograph MS., where it is sadly cut up to suit the ecclesiastical censors, whose permission to represent it is dated April 10th, 1635. Guevara indicates his birthplace and ecclesiastical office in the “Diablo Cojuelo,” Tranco VI. Antonio (Bib. Nov., ad verb.) gives him extravagant praise, and says that his dramas were collected and published together. But this, I believe, is a mistake. Like his shorter poems, they can be found only separate, or in collections made for other purposes. See also, in relation to Mira de Mescua, Montalvan, Para Todos, the Catalogue at the end; and Pellicer, Biblioteca, Tom. I. p. 89. The story on which the “Raquel” is founded is a fiction, and therefore need not so much have disturbed the censors of the theatre. (Castro, Crónica de Sancho el Deseado, Alonso el Octavo, etc., Madrid, 1665, folio, pp. 90, etc.) Two autos by Mira de Mescua are to be found in “Navidad y Corpus Christi Festejados,” Madrid, 1664, 4to.
[552] Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 821. His dramatic works which I possess are “Doce Autos Sacramentales y dos Comedias Divinas,” por el Maestro Joseph de Valdivielso, Toledo, 1622, 4to, 183 leaves. Compare the old ballad, “Ya cabalga Diego Ordoñez,” which can be traced to the Romancero of 1550-1555, with the “Crónica del Cid,” c. 66, and the “Cautivos Libres,” f. 25. a. of the Doce Autos. It will show how the old ballads rung in the ears of all men, and penetrated everywhere into Spanish poetry. There is a nacimiento of Valdivielso in the “Navidad y Corpus Christi,” mentioned in the preceding note; but it is very slight and poor.
[553] His works were not collected till long after his death, which happened in 1644, and were then printed from a MS. found in the library of the Archbishop of Lisbon, Luis de Souza, under the affected title, “El Fenix Castellano, D. Antonio de Mendoza, renascido,” etc. (Lisboa, 1690, 4to). The only notices of consequence that I find of him are in Montalvan’s “Para Todos,” and in Antonio, Bib. Nova, where he is called Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza; probably a mistake, for he does not seem to have belonged to the old Santillana family. A second edition of his works, with trifling additions, appeared at Madrid in 1728, 4to.
[554] Alarcon seems, in consequence of these remonstrances, or perhaps in consequence of the temper in which they were made, to have drawn upon himself a series of attacks, from the poets of the time, Góngora, Lope de Vega, Mendoza, Montalvan, and others. See Puibusque, Histoire Comparée des Littératures Espagnole et Française, 2 tom., 8vo, Paris, 1843, Tom. II. pp. 155-164, and 430-437;—a book written with much taste and knowledge of the subject to which it relates. It gained the prize of 1842.
[555] Repertorio Americano, Tom. III. p. 61, Tom. IV. p. 93; Denis, Chroniques de l’Espagne, Paris, 1839, 8vo, Tom. II. p. 231; Comedias Escogidas, Tom. XXVIII., 1667, p. 131. Corneille’s opinion of the “Verdad Sospechosa,” which is often misquoted, is to be found in his “Examen du Menteur.” I will only add, in relation to Alarcon, that, in “Nunca mucho costó poco,” he has given us the character of an imperious old nurse, which is well drawn, and made effective by the use of picturesque, but antiquated, words and phrases.
[556] The plays of these authors are found in the large collection entitled “Comedias Escogidas,” Madrid, 1652-1704, 4to, with the exception of those of Sanchez and Villaizan, which I possess separate. Of Belmonte, there are eleven in the collection, and of Godinez, five. Those of Miguel Sanchez, who was very famous in his time, and obtained the addition to his name of El Divino, are nearly all lost.
[557] The plays of Salas Barbadillo, viz., “Victoria de España y Francia,” and “El Galan Tramposo y Pobre,” are in his “Coronas del Parnaso,” left for publication at his death, but not printed till 1635, Madrid, 12mo.
[558] It is called “El Mayorazgo,” and is found with its loa at the end of the author’s “Alivios de Casandra,” 1640.
[559] These are, “Las Firmezas de Isabela,” “El Doctor Carlino,” and “La Comedia Venatoria,”—the last two unfinished, and the very last allegorical.
[560] The play written to please the Count Duke was by Quevedo and Antonio de Mendoza, and was entitled “Quien mas miente medra mas,”—He that lies most will rise most. (C. Pellicer, Orígen del Teatro, Tom. I. p. 177.) This play is lost, unless, as I suspect, it is the “Empeños del Mentir” that occurs in Mendoza’s Works, 1690, pp. 254-296. There are also four entremeses of Quevedo in his Works, 1791, Vol. IX.