tician and man of letters J. Echegaray.

Meanwhile, the old religious performances are not wholly extinct in
Spain, and the relics of the solemn pageantry with which they were
associated may long continue to survive there, as in the case of the
_pasos_, which claim to have been exhibited in Holy Week at Seville for
at least three centuries. As to the theatre itself, there can be no fear
either that the imitation of foreign examples will satisfy Spanish
dramatists--especially when, like the author of _Dona Perfecta_ (Perez
Galdos), they have excellent home material of their own for
adaptation,--or that the Spanish public itself, with fine actors and
actresses still upholding the lofty traditions of the national drama,
will remain too fatigued to consume the drama unless bit by bit--in the
shape of _zarzuelas_ and similar one-act confections. Whatever may be
the future of one of the noblest of modern dramatic literatures, it may
confidently be predicted that, so long as Spain is Spain, her theatre
will not be permanently either denationalized or degraded.

(d) _Portugal._

The Portuguese drama.

The Portuguese drama in its earlier phases, especially before in the
latter part of the 14th century the nation completely achieved its
independence, seems to have followed much the same course as the
Spanish; and the religious drama in all its prevailing forms and direct
outgrowths retained its popularity even by the side of the products of
the Renaissance. In the later period of that movement translations of
classical dramas into the vernacular were stimulated by the cosmopolitan
example of George Buchanan, who for a time held a post in the university
of Coimbra; to this class of play Teive's _Johannes_ (1553) may be
supposed to have belonged. In the next generation Antonio Ferreira[70]
and others still wrote comedies more or less on the classical model. But
the rather vague title of "the Plautus of Portugal" is accorded to an
earlier comic writer, the celebrated Gil Vicente, who died about 1536,
after, it is stated, producing forty-two plays. He was the founder of
popular Portuguese comedy, and his plays were called _autos_, or by the
common name of _praticas_.[71] Among his most gifted successors are
mentioned A. Ribeiro, called _Chiado_ (the mocking-bird), who died in
1590;[72] his brother Jeronymo, B. Dias, A. Pires, J. Pinto, H. Lopes
and others. The dramatic efforts of the illustrious poet Luis de Camoes
(Camoens)