Note 647 — Chapter XXIV

“’T is Better than it was” and “Worse and Worse.” “These two comedies,” says Downes, (Roscius Anglicanus, London, 1789, 8vo, p. 36), “were made out of Spanish by the Earl of Bristol.” There can be little doubt that Calderon was the source here referred to. Tuke’s “Adventures of Five Hours,” in Dodsley’s Collection, Vol. XII., is from Calderon’s “Empeños de Seis Horas.” But such instances are rare in the old English drama, compared with the French.