The autos were performed in the presence of vast multitudes, in the day time. They be gan as a species of miracle play intended to teach the natives what it was considered neces sary they should know of the dogmas and his tory of the Catholic Church. Naturally the priests were the first writers of autos; and they continued to be their most prolific produ cers. But the call for new autos daily and their immense popularity with all classes, from courtier to peasant made the demand much greater than the Church could satisfy; so lay writers soon found a paying field for their liter ary activities in the production of these primi tive religious dramas. 'Thus the Church be came the patron of literature as she became that of art in Mexico. The simple primitive autos, intended for the edification of In dians, with a small admixture of mestizos, were often written in and were almost always performed by Indians. Occasionally one may still come across one of these curious old dramas presented by Indians in some little interior Mexican town during Holy Week, me at the beginning of the present century this were still features of the celebration of this festival in many parts of the republic. But the Church authorities set their stamp of disap proval upon them and they rapidly disappeared The autos intended for the edification the vice-regal court and the Spaniards reside!; in the capital of New Spain, who disdained the amusements of the masses, were of a distint* higher literary value. For the encouragemen of these latter dramas the ecclesiastical aikido and the city council of the capital offered pram for the best literary compositions, and incre especially for those of a religio-draman nature. The coming of a new viceroy, the dedication of a church, the consecration of a bishop, the crowning of a Spanish monarch were taken advantage of for the holding of a literary contest at which, as we have seen, hun dreds of candidates for literary honors pre sented themselves. The plays of the successit competitors were honored by being first re sented before the archbishop of Mexico or the viceroy, or both, in the presence of a chasm audience consisting of the notables of chard and state of the capital. From the blending of the simple native Indian plays and the efforts of the literary purveyors of the court of the viceroy came the noteworthy dramatic acne which has distinguished Mexican literature al most continuously from the Conquest to the present day.
Another class of early post-Conquest Mexi can literature was the canciones divisors or sacred songs, which were distinguished is their chaste language, simplicity, naturalness grace and excellency of metrical form. The best of the Mexican writers in this literary hell fell very little below the mystic Spanish poets of their day, if we except the two great leaden of the movement on the peninsula.
17th With the encouragern given by the ecclesiastical and state authonnes in both Mexico and Spain, the 17th century began with a very notable literary activirx which continued on into the following centurr The names and all or part of the works sf scores of writers of this period have come dear to us and enable us to judge pretty accurately the literary activity of more than a century of intense devotion to literature in the Aztec (v ital. Latin verse was sedulously cultivated ant its influence upon the literature written ii Spanish was very considerable; it helped largely to stamp the characteristics of the pe riod which were marked by increased literary activity in a much broader field than that occu pied by the writers of the preceding centre, and by a tendency away from the naturalnesi which distinguishes the early Mexican literary school. This indicates a certain degenerer
which becomes more marked toward the end of the century. But it is a degeneracy which the Mexican writers share with those of the mother country. Yet the period is character ized by strong intellectual activity express• in an exaggerated style known as Gongorim or culturism, whose distinguishing features are pomposity, grandeur of language and staid ness of versification marching along a bnca! highway leading directly to extravagance. ex aggeration and obscurity of diction. Of the more than 100 writers who, in a century and a half of activity, attained to more or less literary prominence, there are very few who rise above mediocre. They all worship at the shrine of Gongorism and lay upon its altar involved, obscure constructions and ornate de scriptions overloaded with classical references. The literary spirit Was all-pervading, far-reach ing, yet the age has produced comparatively little that is worthy of preservation for its literary merits alone.
Among the poets of this period who, fol lowing in the footsteps of Placid.), made a lit erary cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe, were Carlos de Segiienza y G6ngora, who published three volumes of poems devoted to singing the glories of the' Indian saint in excellent verse and lyrical metre; Francisco Bram6n, 'Songs of the Virgin' (1620) ; Luis Sandoval y Zapata, many high-sounding devotional poems in a decidedly Gongoristic vein; Jose Lopez Avilez, stately Latin poems recounting the glo-. ries of Our Lady of Guadalupe; and Antonio Morales Pastrina, fervid religious poems in praise of the patroness of the Mexican people. All these poems, a small part of a somewhat extensive literature, are touched with the strange, passionate longing of the Indian for his vanished past; and one feels in thein, at times, the presence of that ancient mother of the gods whose spirit, for the Mexican Indian at least, still hovers about the rocky heights of Guadalupe.
Most of the Mexican poetry of the 17th and 18th centuries is touched with the spirit of the age and many poets were profess edly devoutly religious. To this class belong Pedro Mufioz de Castro, Juan de Guevara, who wrote religious poems and motor which were wonderfully popular; Francisco Ayerra, Juana Inez de la Cruz and Francisco Cochero Carreflo. During the 17th century, however, the drama, which, as we have seen, was purely religious, turned to profane subjects, without deserting the autos and miracle plays. Agustin Salazar, who died at the age of 33, had already won for himself the foremost place in Mexico as a dramatist and writer of comedies and autos. Eusebio Vela, a very prolific writer, was con sidered the equal of most of the Spanish writers' of his day in conception, execution and man agement of his plots and characters. Alonzo' Ramirez Vargas also wrote a number of ex cellent dramas, the best of which is Triumph of Diana.' A favorite occupation of the poets of the 17th century was the writing of history in verse. Of these historical poets Gaspar Vil lagra and Pedro Arias Villalobos are the most worthy of note. The former wrote The His tory of New Mexico' and the latter 'History of Mexico,' both of which are prosy and tire some.