CALDERON DE LA BARCA, Don Pedro, a celebrated Spanish dramatic author, was born in 1600. Having early completed his studies, he attached himself to some patrons about court; but being soon disgusted with this state of dependence he enlisted as a common soldier, and made several campaigns in Italy and the Low Countries. During this time, however, he cultivated a taste for dramatic poetry; and Philip IV., who was a passionate admirer of the drama, hearing people speak highly of the talents of our author, and thinking that he might confer eclat on the court theatre, invited Calderon to Madrid in 1636, made him a knight of the order of St Jago, supplied the expense of the representation of his pieces, and consulted him as to the arrangement of all public festivals and solemnities. It is also said that, during the minority of Louis XIV. Calderon visited Paris, and composed verses in praise of Anne of Austria. In 1652, he devoted him self to the church, and became a canon at Toledo. From this period till that of his death, which happened in 1687, he abandoned dramatic composition, except on sacred subjects. His works are very numerous, exceeding, we believe, fifteen hundred. No nation, in fact, can boast of so prolific writers as Spain. Lopez de Vega, for instance, is said to have composed two thousand comedias ; a fertility which would be less surprising if the pieces themselves were of an inferior order, or destitute of merit; but, though deformed by the most extraordinary faults, they are at the same time enlivened by brilliant coruscations of genius and fancy. It must, however, be admitted that Virvez, and particularly Lopez and Calderon, had begun, even in the age of Cervantes, to corrupt the Spanish drama. Before their time, the productions of Castillejo and of Juan de la Cueva were more regular, though less forcible, spirited, and interesting; but after their appearance, the unities were totally disregarded, and dramatic writers assumed a degree of license which was pushed to the utmost height of extravagance. Cervantes opposed himself strenuously to this innovation, but in vain. Lopez and Calderon were as well acquainted with the established rules as Cervantes himself; but they knew only to despise them. The judicious author of the Bibliothèque Espagnol places Calderon on a footing of equality with Lopez de Vega, and says that this was the general opinion among their contemporaries. But Linguet in his Theatre Espagnol hesitates not to place Calderon in the first rank; whilst Emmanuel de Guerra says that Calderon imitated no one (α ninguno imito}, and drew from his own imagination alone. This is indeed evident; for his delineations are deficient in truth, and his characters are altogether fantastical. The pieces of Calderon, like those of the Spanish theatre generally, are divided into three days or acts, and the scene is often changed. His comedies almost always exhibit vice triumphant; and it cannot with any truth be said of him, castigat ridendo mores. The gracioso or buffoon is, for the most part, one of his principal characters; and sometimes, as in Hcraclius, a couple of these personages are introduced. The piece of Calderon entitled No ai burlas con el Amor appears to have suggested to Molière the idea of his Femmes Savantes; while the one entitled Nunca la peor es cierto has been grossly disfigured by Scarron in his comedy of La Fausse Apparence. Lastly, the infamous Collot d’Herbois caused to be represented, with a certain degree of success, in 1777, on one of the provincial theatres of France, and again in 1789, in the Theatre Français at Paris, the Paysan Magistrat, imitated from the piece of Calderon entitled Alcalde de Zalamea. Besides his plays, Calderon composed a considerable number of Autos Sacramentales, or sacred pieces, analogous to those which are elsewhere denominated Mysteries, Acts of the Saints, and Moralities. Calderon is not relished in France, and but little known in this country. In Germany, however, he enjoys a great reputation. Μ. Schlegel has translated some of his best pieces; while his Constant Prince, and Life is a Bream, have been repeatedly represented with success on the boards at Weimar. The former of these pieces is generally considered as the master-piece of Calderon. The works of this author were reprinted at Madrid in 1726 and 1760, in ten volumes 4to; and a collection of hisAEíŕos Sacramentales appeared at Madrid in 1759, in six volumes 4to. His manuscript Letters are preserved among the archives of the house of Calderon.