CALDERON DE LA BARCA

CALDERON DE LA BARCA (1600-1681), the great Spanish dramatist, born at Madrid; entered the army, and served in Italy and Flanders, producing the while dramas which were received with great enthusiasm; took holy orders, and became a canon of Toledo, but to the last continued to write poems and plays; he was a dramatist of the first order, and has been ranked by the more competent critics among the foremost of the class in both ancient and modern times.