Note 229 — III The Sixteenth Century [1502-80]

It is customary in Portugal to fix the date of his birth in 1470 owing to the statement of the judge in the Floresta de Enganos (1536) that he—the judge—was already sixty-six. It is a method which might lead to comical results if further pressed in the case of Vicente or other dramatists. Was Mello seventy-three when he wrote the Fidalgo Aprendiz?