Note 684 — Chapter XXIV

Calderon, like many other authors of the Spanish theatre, has, as we have seen, been a magazine of plots for the dramatists of other nations. Among those who have borrowed the most from him are the younger Corneille and Gozzi. Thus, Corneille’s “Engagements du Hasard” is from “Los Empeños de un Acaso”; “Le Feint Astrologue,” from “El Astrólogo Fingido”; “Le Géolier de soi même,” from “El Alcayde de sí mismo”; besides which, his “Circe” and “L’Inconnu” prove that he had well studied Calderon’s show pieces. Gozzi took his “Pubblico Secreto” from the “Secreto á Voces”; his “Eco e Narciso” from the play of the same name; and his “Due Notti Affanose” from “Gustos y Disgustos.” And so of others.