Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/256

232 232 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. PART I. meries that had come into vogue, prescribed the legitimate topics for exhibition. ^^ The transition from these rude spectacles to more regular dramatic efforts, was very slow and gradual. In 1414, an allegorical comedy, com- posed by the celebrated Henry, marquis of Villena, was performed at Saragossa, in the presence of the court. ^^ In 1469, a dramatic eclogue by an anon- ymous author, was exhibited in the palace of the count of Urefia, in the presence of Ferdinand, on his coming into Castile to espouse the infanta Is- abella. ^^ These pieces may be regarded as the 32 After proscribing certain pro- fane mummeries, the law confines the clergy to the representation of such subjects as " the birth of our Saviour, in which is shown how the angels appeared, announcing his nativity ; also his advent, ahd the coming of the three Magi kings to worship him ; and his re- surrection, showing his crucifixion and ascension on the third day ; and other such things leading men to do well and live constant in the faith." (Siete Partidas, tit. 6, ley 34.) It is worth noting, that similar abuses continued common among the ecclesiastics, down to Isabella's reign, as may be infer- red from a decree, very similar to the law of the Partidas above cited, published by the council of Aranda, inl473. (Apud Moratin, Obras, torn. i. p. 87.) Moratin considers it certain, that the re- presentation of the mysteries ex- isted in Spain, as far back as the eleventh century. The principal grounds for this conjecture appear to be, the fact tiiat such notorious abuses had crept into practice by the middle of llie thirteenth centu- ry, as to require the intervention of the law. (Ibid. pp. 11, 13.) The circumstance would seem compatible with a much more re- cent origin. 33 Cervantes, Comedias y Entre- meses, (Madrid, 1749,) tom. i. prologo de Nasarre. — Velazquez, Poesia Castellana, p. 86. — The fifth volume of the Memoirs of the Spanish Royal Academy of His- tory, contains a dissertation on the " national diversions," by Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, replete with curious erudition, and exhibiting the discriminating taste to have been expected from its ac- complished author. Among these antiquarian researches, the writer has included a brief view of the first theatrical attempts in Spain See Mem. de la Acad, de Hist, tom. V. Mem. 0. 34 Moratin, Obras, tom. i. p 115. — Nasarre (Cervantes, Co medias, prol.), Jovellanos (Mem de la Acad, de Hist., tom. v Mcmor. 6.), Pellicer (Orlgcn y Progreso de la Comedia, (1801,) tom. i. p. 12.), and others, refer the authorship of this little piece, without hesitation, to Juan de la Encina, although the year of its representation corresponds precise- ly with that of his birth. The