FERNANDEZ

fernandez, lucas, spanish dramatist, was born at salamanca about the middle of the 15th century. nothing is known of his life, and he is represented by a single volume of plays, _farsas y eglogas al modo y estilo pastoril_ (1514). in his secular pieces--a _comedia_ and two _farsas_--he introduces few personages, employs the simplest possible action, and burlesques the language of the uneducated class; the secular and devout elements are skilfully intermingled in his two _farsas del nascimiento de nuestro senor jesucristo_. but the best of his dramatic essays is the _auto de la pasion_, a devout play intended to be given on maundy thursday. it is written in the manner of encina, with less spontaneity, but with a sombre force to which encina scarcely attained. fernandez' plays were reprinted by the spanish academy in 1867.