VEGA CARPIO, LOPE FELIX DE, a Spanish dramatist; born in Madrid, Nov. 25, 1562. The story of Lope's life, as commonly told, is full of confusion. That he lost his parents early, was a student and graduate of Alcala; a soldier in the Portuguese campaign of 1580, and in the Armada, 1588; secre tary to the Duke of Alva, Marquis of Malpica, and Marquis of Sarria; had many amours, was twice married, and father of at least six children, three of them illegitimate; was banished from Madrid because of a quarrel, and lived two year at Valencia; took orders, be came an officer of the Inquisition, and died at 73 a victim to hypochondria— all this is indisputable, but the order and relation of the facts are by no means clear.
The mere list of Lope's works presents a picture of unparalleled mental activity from boyhood to old age. He wrote plays, he says, in his 12th year, and certainly wrote some not much later, but his first work of any length was a characteristic attempt in 20 cantos to prove that his was the miglior plettro to which Ariosto left the completion of Angelica's story. It was written at sea in 1588, but was not printed till 1602. The "Arcadia" was written, as book V. shows, before the Duke of Alva's marriage, July, 1590, but it was kept back till 1598. The "Dragontea," a shout of exultation in 10 cantos over the death of the Dragon, Drake, the destroyer of Spanish naval supremacy, appeared at Valencia the same year, but a few months earlier, and was Lope's first publication with his name. But it was as a ballad writer that he first made his mark. The "Flow ers of Romance," the little "Garlands" out of which the "General Romances" was formed, had begun to come out at Valencia when he was there in 1590 1592, and of the contributors of the Moorish and pastoral ballads in vogue "Belardo" (his name in the "Arcadia") was, we learn, the most esteemed. Of
his miscellaneous works some, like those on St. Isidro and his canonization, and on the marriage of Philip III., are merely occasional, and others owe their escape from utter oblivion solely to his name. The more notable are the "Rimas" (1602), comprising the "Angelica," 200 sonnets, and a reprint of the "Dragon tea"; the "Peregrino in His Country" (Seville, 1604), a romance on the model of "Theagenes and Chariclea," with a preface giving his views on the drama, and a list of the 219 plays he had al ready produced; the "Conquest of Jeru salem" (1609), an epic in 20 books in competition with Tasso; the "Pastores de Beldn" (1612), a religious pastoral; "Filomena" and "Circe" (1621-1624), miscellanies in which he tried to rival the "Novelas" of Cervantes; the "Tragic Crown" (1627), an epic with Mary Stuart for heroine; the "Laurel of Apolo" (1630), a poem on the pat tern of Cervantes; "Viage del Par naso"; the "Rimas de Tomd de Bur guillos" (1634), a collection of his lighter verse, with the "Gatomaqtlia," a mock-heroic. The most noteworthy of all is the "Dorotea" (1632), in form of a prose drama, but obviously the story of his own early love adventures from 1583 up to a little before the sailing of the Armada, with a prediction from an astrologer of his marriage, imprison ment, and banishment. In all he is credited with 1,500 comedies, of which more than 500 are extant and about 340 are well known.