GIL VICENTE, surnamed the Plautus of Portugal, was born about 1485, of an old and distinguished family. Following the wish of his parents he studied law, which however ho soon abandoned for the stage. having access at court by right of birth, he supplied several dramatic productions, adapted to different occasions, which were represented at the solemnities of the court. His plays were enacted at the court of King Emmanuel, and the first of them was performed in 1504. They had great success, which increased during the reign of Emmanuol's successor, John III., who often played a part in them himself. It appears that Gil Vicente acted himself in his dramas, and it is certain that hie daughter Paula (lady of honour to a royal princess) was the first dramatic performer of her time in Portugal, and equally distinguished as a poetess and a musician. Gil Vicente preceded by almost a century Lope de Vega and Shakapere, and being then the only dramatic author of hie time, gained a European reputation. Erasmus, who was probably informed of his fame by the Portuguese Jews who sought refuge in Holland, learned Portuguese in order to read his works.
Gil Vicente may be considered as the creator of the Spanish theatre, having written in the Castilian language his religious drama, which was performed in 1504, on the occasion of the birth of the prince, who was afterwards King John III., and which is anterior in date to all the dramatic productions of Spain. He is also the model that Lope de Vega and Calderon imitated, and on which they improved. His works however are full of the extravagancies which frequently disfigure the productions of Vega and Calderon, without possessing their beauties. These faults are however excusable in the works of
one who, like himself, was creating a new kind of literature; and his poetry is distinguished by richness of invention, brilliancy of imagina tion, and great harmony of versification.
Gil Vicente's works were published by his son in 1562, at Lisbon, in one volume folio, and republished at the same place in 4to in 1586. The editor has divided the dramatic productions of his father into four classes, viz., 1st, the autos; 2nd, the comedies; 3rd, the tragi comedies; and 4th, the farces. The autos, or religious plays, of which there are sixteen, were chiefly intended for the celebration of Chriatmas, and the shepherds perform in them a most important part. The comedies are the worst productions of Gil Vicente, and are, like those of Spain, nothing but dramatised novels, which embrace all the life of an individual, the events of which are ill-connected and devoid of plot and catastrophe. The tragi-comedies may be con sidered as rough aketches of the tragicomedies which were afterwards written in Spain ; they contain some touching scenes : none of them are founded on historical subjects. The farces, eleven in number, are the beat part of Gil Vicente's productions, and may be regarded as specimens of the true comedy. They contain a great deal of merri ment, and some well-drawn characters, but they are generally devoid of plot. It is remarkable that the plot, which is the soul of Spanish plays, is generally neglected in the Portuguese productions of a similar kind.