Don Alvaro_, and gave clear indication
that the literary revolution was complete. The temper of the time was
decidedly Romantic, and the wholehearted applause that resounded through
the Teatro del Principe on the night of Jan. 19, 1837, at the first
performance of _Los Amantes de Teruel_ put an end to the long and
laborious apprenticeship of Hartzenbusch.

A few days later the warm reception given the play and its continued
popularity were justified in a remarkable piece of dramatic criticism by
the rival playwright and keen literary critic, Jose de Larra, known
better by his journalistic pen-name, Figaro, and greatly feared by his
contemporaries for his mordant criticism and stinging satire. In the
opening words of his review of the play, we may see the highly favorable
attitude of the critic and realize the suddenness of the fame that came
to Hartzenbusch. "Venir a aumentar el numero de los vivientes, ser un
hombre mas donde hay tantos hombres, oir decir de si: 'Es un tal
fulano,' es ser un arbol mas en una alameda. Pero pasar cinco o seis
lustros oscuro y desconocido, y llegar una noche entre otras, convocar a
un pueblo, hacer tributaria su curiosidad, alzar una cortina, conmover
el corazon, subyugar el juicio, hacerse aplaudir y aclamar, y oir al dia
siguiente de si mismo al pasar por una calle o por el Prado: 'Aquel es
el escritor de la comedia aplaudida,' eso es algo; es nacer; es devolver
al autor de nuestros dias por un apellido oscuro un nombre claro; es dar
alcurnia a sus ascendientes en vez de recibirla de ellos."[2] Other
contemporary reviews were just as favorable, and all expressed with
Figaro great hopes in the career of a dramatist that had thus begun with
an acknowledged masterpiece. The _Semanario Pintoresco_, for example, a
literary magazine in its second year of publication, ended its review of
the play with these words: "El joven que, saliendo de la oscuridad del
taller de un artesano, se presenta en el mundo literario con los Amantes
de Teruel por primera prueba de su talento, hace concebir al teatro
espanol la fundada esperanza de futuros dias de gloria, y de verse
elevado a la altura que un dia ocupo en la admiracion del mundo
civilizado." (Feb. 5, 1837.)

[Footnote 2: _Obras completas de Figaro._ Paris, 1889. Vol. III, page
187.]

Thus encouraged by popular applause and by the enthusiastic praise of
literary critics, Hartzenbusch produced at varying intervals many
excellent plays, but none of