ROJAS, Fernando de, Spaniard, the re pnted author of the
peared in French, Latin, Italian, English, Ger man and Dutch. While the work is sparkling with wit and humor and is racy with Spanish idiomatic expressions, customs and descriptions, its grossness is very offensive to modern taste. Yet it was universally read and imitated, not only at the time of its appearance, but for long afterward. It thus came to exercise a very strong and lasting influence upon both the Span ish drama and the Spanish novel. So popular was this work that the name
was on everyone's tongue and it passed into a proverb. Hundreds of the sayings from
tina) passed into current use and are still to be found among the rich and poor, illiterate and educated, alike, throughout Spain. Naturally scores of imitations of it were written, none of them however in any way equal to the original