Harlan: Moreto’s “El desden” 
11 
Julius Leopold Klein 20 mentions Lope’s Los milagros del 
desprecio first among those plays which may have been models 
for El desden con el desden. 
George Ticknor 21 says that Moreto is indebted to Lope’s Los 
milagros del desprecio for his play. 
Adolf Schaeffer 22 mentions a number of plays by Lope de 
Vega and others, from each of which Moreto borrowed some 
point, or points, for his play. To Los milagros del desprecio 
he attributes the idea of the clever servant and the rival suit- 
ors. 
Henry Butler Clarke 23 says that the play “turns on the same 
central idea” as Los milagros del desprecio, by Lope de Vega. 
Julio Cejador y Frauca 24 says of Moreto: “Su mejor 
comedia — El desden con el desden — esta tomada de Los 
milagros del deprecio, de Lope.” 
Ernest Merimee 25 is sure that “El desden con el desden n’est 
guere que Los milagros del deprecio de Lope.” 
The agreement among the opinions given above is chal- 
lenged, if not counterbalanced, by those that follow. 
Don Luis Fernandez-Guerra y Orbe 26 speaks of the Moreto 
play as follows: “Nada tiene de comun, en verdad, con Los 
milagros del desprecio de Lope.” 
La Senora Carolina Michaelis de Vasconcellos 27 mentions a 
number of plays on the same subject as El desden con el 
desden, pointing out that there is no “gran analogia con Los 
milagros del desprecio .” 
Alfred Gassier 28 asserts, speaking of the two plays under 
discussion, “II n’y a, certes, aucun rapport entre les deux.” 
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly 29 considers the imitation of Los 
milagros del desprecio as a debatable point. 
Narciso Alonso Cortes 30 finds a slight point of contact be- 
tween the two plays. 
20 Geschichte des Dramas. Das spanische Drama, Leipzig, 1871-1875. Vol. XI, Parti, 
p. 412, note. 
21 History of Spanish Literature, Boston, 1888. Sixth edition, Vol. II, p. 489. 
22 Geschichte des spanischen national Dramas, Leipzig, 1890, Vol. II, p. 158. 
23 Spanish Literature, an elementary handbook, London, 1908, p. 213. 
24 Historia de la lengua y literatura castellana, Madrid, 1916, Vol. V, p. 154. 
25 Pr&cis d’histoire de la litter ature espagnole, Paris, (s.d.) , p. 354. 
28 op. cit., Discurso preliminar, p. xxiii. 
27 Pres flores del teatro antiguo espahol, ( Coleccion de autores espanoles) , Leipzig, 
1870, p. 258. 
28 Le theatre espagnol, Paris, 1898, p. 376. 
29 Historia de la literatura espahola, Madrid, 1921, Tercera edicion, p. 274. 
30 Moreto, Teatro ( Cldsicos Castellanos, Vol. XXXII), Madrid, 1916. Prologo, p. 21. 
