Note 585 — ACTO PRIMERO

587. comenzamos... jugadores, we begin by a 'rifa,' which results, as in a love-affair, that it is the third party who starts the game or at least arouses the interest of the players. The word rifa is usually used in the sense of the English word "raffle" or "auction," as for example the baile de rifa narrated in Alarcón's El Niño de la Bola, but Lope seems to use it here referring to a game of cards. It is used as a term at cards in Portuguese. The same word from another source means a "quarrel"; the author evidently had them both in mind and makes a play upon them.