Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/268

244 244 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. PART remarkable, that notwithstanding their repeated edi- . tions in Spain, they do not appear to have ever been performed there. The cause of this, probably, was the low state of the histrionic art, and the total deficiency in theatrical costume and decoration ; yet it was not easy to dispense with these in the representation of pieces, which brought more than a score of persons occasionally, and these crowned heads, at the same time, upon the stage. ^^ Low condi- Some conception may be afforded of the lament- tion of the -^ "^ account given of its condition, half a century later, by Cervantes. " The whole wardrobe of a manager of the theatre, at that time," says he, " was con- tained in a single sack, and amounted only to four dresses of white fur trimmed v^'ith gilt leather, four beards, four wigs, and four crooks, more or less. There were no trapdoors, movable clouds, or ma- chinery of any kind. The stage itself consisted only of four or six planks, placed across as many benches, arranged in the form of a square, and elevated but four palms from the ground. The only decoration of the theatre was an old coverlet, drawn from side to side by cords, behind which the musicians sang some ancient romance, without the guitar." ^° In fact, no further apparatus was employed than that demanded for the exhibition of Storia Critica de' Teatri, torn. vi. Jovellanos, Memoria sobre las Di- pp. 171- 179. — See also Moratin, versiones Publicas, apud Mem. de Origenes, Obras, torn. i. pp. 149, la Acad, de Hist., torn. v. 150. 50 Cervantes, Comedias, torn, i "•9 Propaladia ; see the comedies pr61. of " Trofea " and " Tinelaria."—
 * '*§*• able poverty of the theatrical equipment, from the