VEGA CARPIO, LOPE FELIX DE Span ish dramatist and poet, was born in Madrid. His father and mother, Felices de Vega and Francisca Hernandez Flores, origi nally came from the valley of Carriedo in Asturias. Lope began his studies at the Theatine college in Madrid, and afterwards entered the service of Don Jeronimo Manrique, bishop of Avila, who sent him to the University of Alcala de Henares, perhaps from 1577-81. He took part in the expedition to the Azores in 1582, and from 1583-87 was secretary to the marques de las Navas. In Feb. 1588 he was banished for circulating criminal libels against his mistress, Elena Osorio, whom he has celebrated under the name of Filis. He defied the law by returning to Madrid soon afterwards and eloping with Isabel de Urbina, sister of Philip II.'s herald; he married her by proxy on May 10, 1588, and joined the Invincible Armada, losing his brother in one of the encounters in the Channel. He settled for a short while at Valen cia, where he made acquaintance with a circle of young poets who were afterwards to be his ardent supporters in founding the new comedy. He joined the household of the duke of Alva, with whom he remained till 1595. Soon afterwards he lost his wife. He was prosecuted for criminal conversation in 1596, became secre tary to the marquis de Malpica (afterwards count of Lemos), and in 1598 married a second wife, Juana de Guardo, by whom he had two children (Carlos, who died in 161 2, and Feliciana Felix) ; but she died, shortly after giving birth to the latter, in 1613. Lope then sought a refuge in the church. After having been affiliated to a tertiary order, he took priest's orders.
At this juncture, about 1614, he was in the very zenith of his glory. A veritable dictator in the Spanish world of letters, he wielded over all the authors of his nation a power similar to that which was afterwards exercised in France by Voltaire. At this distance of time Lope is to us simply a great dramatic poet, the founder of the Spanish theatre ; but to his contemporaries he was much more. His epics, his pastorals, his odes, his sonnets, now forgotten, all placed him in the front rank of authorship. Such was his prestige that he dealt with his noble patrons almost on a footing of equality. The duke of Sessa in particular, his Maecenas from 16°5 onwards, was also his personal friend, and the tone of Lope's letters to him is one of frank familiarity, modi fied only by some forms of deference. Lope's fame, too, had trav elled abroad ; foreigners of distinction passing through Madrid made a point of visiting him; papal legates brought him the com pliments of their master; in 1627 Urban VIII., a Barberini, sent him the diploma of doctor of theology in the Collegium Sapientiae and the cross of the order of St. John of Jerusalem (whence the poet's titles of "Doctor" and "Frey"). His last days were full of sadness; the death of his son Lope, the elopement of his daughter, Antonia Clara, wounded him to the soul. Montalban tells us that every Friday the poet scourged himself, so severely that the walls of his room were sprinkled with his blood. His death, on Aug. 27, 1635, was followed by national mourning.
For a rapid survey of the works of Lope, it is convenient to begin with those which the Spaniards include under the name of Obras Sueltas, the title of the large collection of the poet's non dramatic works (1776-79). We shall enumerate the most impor tant of these, as far as possible in the order of publication. The Arcadia (1598), a pastoral romance, inspired by Sannazaro, is one of the poet's most wearisome productions. La Dragontea (1598), is a fantastic history in verse of Sir Francis Drake's last expedition and death. Isidro (1599), a narrative of the life of Isidore, patron of Madrid, is called a Castilian poem on account of the rhythm in which it is composed—qumtillas of octosyllabic verse. The Hermosura de Angelica (1602), in three books, is a sort of continuation of the Orlando Furioso, in octaves after the fashion of the original poem. Finally, the Rimas are a miscellany of short pieces. In 1604 was published the Peregrino en su Patria, a romance similar in kind to the Aethiopica of Heliodorus. Hav ing imitated Ariosto, he proceeded to imitate Tasso; but his Jerusalen Conquistada (1609) has preserved nothing of the art shown in its model and is an insipid performance. Next follows the Pastores de Belen (1612) a pious pastoral, dedicated to his son Carlos, which forms a pendant to his secular Arcadia; and incidental pieces published in connection with the solemnities of the beatification and canonization of St. Isidore in 162o and 1622. It is enough to mention La Filomena (1621), La Circe (1624) and other poems published about the same date, as also the four prose novels, Las Fortunas de Diana, El Desdichado por la Honra, La Mas Prudente V enganza and Guzmcin el Bravo. The great success of the Novelas exemplares (1613) of Cervantes had stimu lated Lope, but his novels have none of the grace, naturalness, or interest which characterize those of his rival. The last important work which has to be mentioned before we leave the narrative poetry of Lope is the Laurel de Apolo (1630). This piece describes the coronation of the poets of Spain on Helicon by Apollo, and it is more meritorious as a bibliographical manual of Spanish poetry at that time than as genuine poetry. One other obra suelta, closely akin to Lope's dramatic works, though not, properly speak ing, a drama, is La Dorotea (1632). Lope describes it as an "action in prose," but it is rather a "romance in dialogue"; for, although divided into acts, the narrative is dramatic in form only. Of all Lope's productions Dorotea shows most observation and study; the style also is unusually simple and easy. Of all this mass of obras sueltas, filling more than 20 volumes, very little (leaving Dorotea out of account) holds its own in the judgment of posterity. The lyrical element alone retains some vitality. From the Rimas and other collections of detached pieces one could compile a pleasing anthology of sonnets, epistles, elegies and romances, to which it would be proper to add the Gatomaquia, a burlesque poem published along with other metrical pieces in 1634 by Lope under the pseudonym of Tome de Burguillos.