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This is one of the most famous of those lively farces with which Gil Vicente for a quarter of a century delighted the Portuguese Court and which still hold the reader by their vividness and charm. Its fame rests on the portraiture of the poverty-stricken but magnificent nobleman who has been a favourite object of satire with writers in the Peninsula since the time of Martial, and who in a poem of the Cancioneiro Geral is described in almost the identical words of Vicente's prefatory note:

o gram estado
e a renda casi nada

(Arrenegos que que fez Gregoryo Affonsso).

An alternative title of the play is Auto do Fidalgo Pobre, but the extremely natural presentment of the two carriers in the second part justifies the more popular name. The Court, fleeing from plague at Lisbon, was in the celebrated little university town of Coimbra on the Mondego and here Gil Vicente in the following year staged his Divisa da Cidade de Coimbra, the Farsa dos Almocreves, and (in October) the Tragicomedia da Serra da Estrella and SÁ de Miranda, in open rivalry, produced his Fabula do Mondego. But Gil Vicente was not to be silenced by the introduction of the new poetry from Italy and to these two years, 1526 and 1527, belong no less than seven (or perhaps eight) of his plays. Yet what a difference in his own position and in the state of the nation since his first farce—Quem tem farelos? twenty years before! The magnificent King Manuel was dead, and his son, the more care-ridden JoÃo III, was on the throne:

tÃo ocupado
co'este Turco, co'este Papa
co'esta FranÇa.

There was plague and famine in the land. The discovery of a direct route to the East and its apparently inexhaustible wealth had not brought prosperity to the Portuguese provinces. There the chief effect had been to make men discontented with their lot and to lure away even the humblest workers to seek their fortune and often to find death or a far less independent poverty:

atÉ os pastores
hÃo de ser d'el-Rei samica.

The result was that the old rustic jollity which Vicente had known so well in his youth was dying out, and the very songs of the peasants took a plaintive air:

E no mais triste ratinho
s'enxergava hu~a alegria
que agora nÃo tem caminho.
Se olhardes as cantigas
do prazer acostumado
todas tem som lamentado,
carregado de fadigas,
longe do tempo passado.
O d' entÃo era cantar
e bailar como ha de ser,
o cantar pera folgar,
o bailar pera prazer,
que agora É mao d'achar[154].

Nor could it be expected that the rich parvenu, the mushroom courtier, the fidalgo 'que nÃo sabe se o É,' the palace page fresh from keeping goats in the serra, the Court chaplain anxious to hide his humble origin, would greatly relish Vicente's plays which satirized them and in which rustic scenes and songs and memories appeared at every turn. It was much like mentioning the rope in the house of the hanged, and these dainty and sophisticated persons would turn with relief to the revival of the more decorous ancient drama inaugurated by Trissino in Italy and in Portugal by SÁ de Miranda.3 este Arnado. Cf. Bernardo de Brito, Chronica de Cister, III, 18: 'se foi [Afonso Henriquez] ao longo do Mondego por um campo q~ entÃo e no tempo de agora se chama o Arnado, trocado ja pelas enchentes do rio de campo cuberto de flores em um areal esteril e sem nenhu~a verdura.' Cf. Cancioneiro da Vaticana, No. 1014: 'en Coimbra caeu ben provado, caeu en Runa ata en o Arnado.'7 See the Spanish romance (ap. MenÉndez y Pelayo. AntologÍa, t. VIII, p. 124): 'Yo me estaba allÁ en Coimbra que yo me la hube ganado.'8, 9 The sense of these two obscure lines is apparently: 'Since Coimbra so chastises us that we are left without a penny.' Ruy Moniz in the Canc. Geral, vol. II (1910), p. 142, has Çimbrar ou casar. In Spanish cimbrar = 'to brandish a rod,' 'to bend.' In the Auto del Repelon, printed in 1509, Enzina has: El palo bien assimado Cimbrado naquella tiesta (Teatro (1893), p. 236) and FernÁndez (p. 25) No vos cimbre yo el cayado. Cf. Antonio Prestes, Autos (ed. 1871), p. 211: E o vilÃo vindo me zimbra: reprender-me! and JoÃo Gomes de Abreu (C. Ger. vol. IV (1915), p. 304) seraa rrijo Çimbrado. preto = real preto, contrasted with the white (i.e. silver) real.12 Pelos campos de Mondego cavaleiros vi somar were two very well-known lines apparently belonging to a real historical Portuguese romance on the death of Ines de Castro. They occur in Garcia de Resende's poem on her death. See C. MichaËlis de Vasconcellos, Estudos sobre o romanceiro peninsular.13 Cf. Tragicomedia da Serra da Estrella (1527): Pedem-lhe em Coimbra cevada E elle dÁ-lhe mexilhÕes.19 milham, green maize cut young for fodder.32 ratinhos, peasants from Beira. They play a large part in Portuguese comedy.80 azemel = almocreve. Both words are of Arabic origin. Cf. almofreixe infra.93 EndoenÇas = indulgentiae. Semana de EndoenÇas = Holy Week.103 In the Auto da Lusitania Vicente says jestingly, perhaps in imitation of the Spanish romances, that he was born at Pederneira (a small sea-side town in the district of Leiria). He mentions it again in the Cortes de Jupiter and in the Templo de Apolo.109 Cf. Alvaro Barreto in Cancioneiro Geral, vol. I (1910), p. 322: poe~ me tudo em huu~ item.120 It was the plea of Arias Gonzalo that the inhabitants of Zamora were not answerable for the guilt of Vellido Dolfos who had treacherously killed King Sancho:

¿QuÉ culpa tienen los viejos? ¿quÉ culpa tienen los niÑos?
¿quÉ culpa tienen los muertos...?

129 balcarriadas. Cf. Auto das Fadas: Venhas muitieramÁ com tuas balcarriadas; Auto da Festa: tÃo grÃo balcarriada; Auto da Barca do Purgatorio: Nunca tal balcarriada Nem marÉ tÃo desastrada. Couto, Asia, VII, 5, vii: Tal balcarriada (act of folly) foi esta. The Canc. Geral, vol. IV (1915), p. 370, has the form barquarryadas.134 Cf. Auto da Lusitania: um aito bem acordado Que tenha ave e piÓs (= well-proportioned).135 The numerous servants of the starving fidalgos are satirized by Nicolaus Clenardus and others. Like the English as described by a German in the 18th century they were 'lovers of show, liking to be followed wherever they go by whole troops of servants' (A Journey into England, by Paul Hentzer. Trans. Horace Walpole, 1757). Clenardus in his celebrated letter from Evora (1535) says that a Portuguese is followed by more servants in the streets than he spends sixpences in his house. He mentions specifically the number eight.141 AlcobaÇa is the town famous for its beautiful Cistercian convent.161 Alifante. Cf. infra, avangelho. A for e is still common in Galicia: e.g. mamoria (memory). Cf. Span. Basque barri (new), for Fr. Basque berri.165 The Dean was Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas (†1544) successively Bishop of SÃo TomÉ (1534) and Ceuta (1540). See A. Braamcamp Freire in Revista de Historia, No. 25 (1918), p. 3.224 bastiÃes = bestiÃes, figures in relief. Gomez Manrique has bestiones in this sense.247 In Antonio Prestes' play Auto do Mouro Encantado the golden apples prove to be pieces of coal. So Mello in his Apologos Dialogaes speaks of the treasure of moiras encantadas which all turns to coal.269 In Rey, the popular form of El-Rei (the king) is frequent also in the plays of SimÃo Machado, who died about a century after Vicente.272 It is tempting to add the word madraÇo (fool, ignoramus) for the sake of the rhyme. If O recado que elle dÁ were spoken very fast the line would bear the addition.293 Here, as often, the deeper purpose of Vicente's satire appears beneath his fun. The growing depopulation of the provinces was becoming painfully evident to those who cared for Portugal.302 Jorge Ferreira, Ulysippo, III, 5: nÃo haveria corpo, por mais que fosse de aÇo milanes, que podesse sofrer quanta costura lhe seria necessaria; ib. III, 7: temos muita costura esta noite; muita costura e tarefa; Antonio Vieira, Cartas: tambem aqui teremos costura (1 de agosto de 1673).310 trapa in Port. = 'a gin,' 'a trap,' but in Sp., as perhaps here, = 'noise,' 'uproar.'327 Cf. Farsa dos Fisicos: Praticamos ali O Leste e o Oeste e o Brasil and III, 377; Chiado, Auto da Natural InvenÇam, ed. Conde de Sabugosa (1917), p. 74.348 The carrier comes along singing snatches of a pastorela of which we have other examples, of more intricate rhythm, in the Cancioneiro da Vaticana and the poems of the Archpriest of Hita and the MarquÉs de Santillana. A modern Galician cantiga says that

O cantar d'os arrieiros
E um cantariÑo guapo:
Ten unha volta n'o medio
Para dicir 'ArrÉ macho.'

(PÉrez Ballesteros, Cancionero Popular Gallego, vol II, p. 215.)355 Cf. O Clerigo da Beira: Nuno Ribeiro Que nunca paga dinheiro E sempre arreganha os dentes; and Ah Deos! quem te furtasse Bolsa, Nuna Ribeiro. Homem vai buscar dinheiro, A todo ele disse: Ja dinheiro feito É.360 uxtix, uxte. Ferreira de Vasconcellos, Eufrosina, II, 4: Tanto me deu por uxte como por arre.

atafal. Cf. Barca do Purgatorio (I, 258): amanhade-lhe o atafal (not amanhà dÉ-lhe).363 Candosa, a village of some 1400 inh. in the district of Coimbra.369 xulo = chulo, pÍcaro. The derivation of chulo is uncertain (v. GonÇalvez Viana, Apostilas, vol. I (1906), p. 299). While Dozy derives it from Arabic xul, A. A. Koster suggests the same origin as that of Fr. joli, It. giulivo, Catalan joliu [= gay. Cf. Eng. jolly and the Portuguese word used by D. JoÃo de Castro: joliz], viz. the Old German word jol (gaiety). Vid. Quelques mots espagnols et portugais d'origine orientale (Zeitschrift fÜr rom. Philologie, Bd. 38 (1914), S. 481-2). The Valencian form for July (Choliol) may strengthen this view.372 Tareja is the old Portuguese form of Theresa.375 bareja = mosca varejeira.379 Aveiro. A town of about 7500 inh., 40 miles S. of Oporto. It was nearly taken by the Royalists in 1919.398 For the naturalness of this conversation cf. that of the peasants Amancio Vaz and Deniz LourenÇo in the Auto da Feira.410 Pero Vaz' point is that the mules will not stop to feed in the cool shade of the trees but do so in the shelterless charneca.429 Cf. the act of D. JoÃo de Castro (1500-48) as before him of Afonso de Albuquerque in pawning hairs of his beard, and the proverb Queixadas sem barbas nÃo merecem ser honradas.435 O juiz de Çamora. In the romance Ya se sale Diego OrdoÑez Arias Gonzalo of Zamora says: 'A Dios pongo por juez porque es justo su juicio.' So that the judge of Zamora = God.438-9 No one was better situated than Gil Vicente to criticize—and suffer the slights of—the brand-new nobility of the Portuguese Court. The nearer they were to the plough the more disdainful were they likely to be to a mere goldsmith and poet.454 desingulas (= dissimulas). Cf. Auto Pastoril Portugues: nÃo o dessengules mais. Duarte Nunes de LeÃo, Origem da Lingva Portvgvesa (1606), cap. 18, includes dissingular (= dissimular) among the vocabulos que vsÃo os plebeios ou idiotas que os homens polidos nÃo deuem vsar.467 For the form Diz cf. Auto das Fadas: EstevÃo Dis, and O Juiz da Beira: Anna Dias, Diez, Diz (= Diaz).473 Pero Vaz evidently did not know the cantiga:

A molher do almocreve
Passa vida regalada
Sem se importar se o marido
Fica morto na estrada.

Cf. the Galician quatrain (PÉrez Ballesteros, Canc. Pop. Gall. II, 219):

A vida d'o carreteiro
É unha vida penada,
Non vai o domingo Á misa
Nin dorme n'a sua cama.

478 Vicente refers to the Medina fair in the Auto da Feira and again in O Juiz da Beira: morador en Carrion Y mercader en Medina.498 Folgosas. There are two small villages in Portugal called Folgosa, but reference here is no doubt to an inn or small group of houses.506 Vicente several times refers to Val de Cobelo, e.g. Comedia de Rubena: E achasse os meus porquinhos Cajuso em Val de Cobelo, and the shepherd in the Auto da Barca do Purgatorio: estando em Val de Cobelo.529-30 Cf. SÁ de Miranda, 1885 ed., No. 108, l. 261: Inda hoje vemos que em FranÇa Vivem nisto mais Á antiga, etc. Couto (Dec. v, vi, 4) speaking of the mingling of classes, says: 'no nosso Portugal anda isto mui corrupto.'537 Cf. Comedia de Rubena: E broslados (= bordados) uns letreiros Que dizem Amores Amores.

559 The ancient town of Viseu or Vizeu (9000 inh.) in Beira has now sunk from its former importance.560 pertem for pertence.565 arauia = algaravia. So ingresia, germania, etc. (cf. the French word charabia). 586 Cf. O Juiz da Beira: pois tem a morte na mÃo (= not 'there is death in that hand' as was said of Keats, but 'he is at death's door').591 The original reading da sertÃy (rhyming with mÃy in l. 588) is confirmed by the Auto da Lusitania: rendeiro na SertÃe. The town of Certà in the district of Castello Branco now has some 5000 inh.603 Cf. Jorge Ferreira, Aulegrafia, I, 4: Ó senhor, grÃo saber vir.657 tam mancias, i.e. Macias, o Namorado, the prince of lovers. For the form Mancias cf. palanciana used for palaciana.671 los tus cabellos niÑa. Cf. Ferreira de Vasconcellos, Aulegrafia, f. 113: Sob los teus cabelos, ninha, dormiria.675 Cf. Jorge Ferreira, Eufrosina. Prologo: Eu por mim digo com a cantiga se o dizem digÃo, etc.; Cortes de Jupiter: CantarÁ c'os atabaques: Se disserÃo digÃo, alma minha and Barbieri, Cancionero Musical, No. 127: Si lo dicen digan, Alma mia, etc. E wrongly gives the words alma minha to the next quotation.676 Cf. Auto da India: Quem vos anojou, meu bem, Bem anojado me tem.707 Cf. Auto das Fadas: Son los suspiros que damos In hac vita lachrymarum.713 CamÕes, Filodemo, iv, 4, has tudo terei numa palha, 'I will not care a straw' (cf. Vicente in the Auto da Festa: Que os homens verdadeiros nÃo sÃo tidos numa palha), but here the meaning is different.