descent in the first Act and the soldiers' ascent in the last. The bad
watch kept by the sentinels who guarded their state-prisoner, together
with much else (not all!) that defies sober sense in this wild drama, I
must leave Calderon to answer for; whose audience were not critical of
detail and probability, so long as a good story, with strong, rapid, and
picturesque action and situation, was set before them.




ACT I




SCENE I--A pass of rocks, over which a storm is rolling away,

and the sun setting: in the foreground, half-way down, a fortress.


(Enter first from the topmost rock Rosaura, as from horseback, in man's
attire; and, after her, Fife.)

ROSAURA.
There, four-footed Fury, blast
Engender'd brute, without the wit
Of brute, or mouth to match the bit
Of man--art satisfied at last?
Who, when thunder roll'd aloof,
Tow'rd the spheres of fire your ears