of
the Spanish drama will demand more; but for him who would love Calderon
without making a deep study of his works, these are sufficiently
characteristic of his genius at its highest. The reader in search of
wider vistas should add to these 'Los Encantos de la Culpa' (The
Sorceries of Sin), and 'The Great Theatre of the World,' the theme of
which is that of Jacques's famous speech in 'As You Like It':--

"En el teatro del mundo
Todos son representados."

("All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.")

On the principal feasts of the Church _autos_ were played in the
streets, generally in front of some great house. Giants and grotesque
figures called _tarascas_ gamboled about; and the _auto_, which was more
like our operas than any other composition of the Spanish stage, was
begun by a _loa_, written or sung. After this came the play, then an
amusing interlude, followed by music and sometimes by a dance of
gipsies.

Calderon boldly mingles pagan gods and Christ's mysteries in these
_autos_, which are essentially of his time and his people. But the
mixture is not so shocking as it is with the lesser poet, the Portuguese
Camoens. Whether Calderon depicts 'The True God Pan,' 'Love the Greatest
Enchantment,' or 'The Sheaves of Ruth,' he is forceful, dramatic, and
even at times he has the awful gravity of Dante. His view of life and
his philosophy are the view of life and the philosophy of Dante. To many
of us, these simple and original productions of the Spanish temperament
and genius may lack what we call "human interest." Let us remember that
they represented truthfully the faith and the hope, the spiritual
knowledge of a nation, as well as the personal and national view of that
knowledge. In the Spain of Calderon, the personal view was the national
view.

Calderon was born on January 17th, 1600,--according to his own statement
quoted by his friend Vera Tassis,--at Madrid, of noble parents. He was
partly educated at the University of Salamanca. Like Cervantes and
Garcilaso, he served in the army. The great Lope, in 1630, acknowledged
him as a poet and his friend. Later, his transition from the army to the
priesthood made little change in his views of time and eternity.

On May 25th, 1881, occurred the second centenary of his death, and the
civilized world--whose theatre owes more to Calderon than it has ever
acknowledged--celebrated with Spain the anniversary at Madrid, wher