C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza (c. 1580–1639)
Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza, Don Juan (ä-lär-kōn’ ē mān-dō’thä). A noted Spanish dramatist; born at Tasco, Mexico, about 1580; died in Madrid, Aug. 4, 1639. Little is known about his early life, but he came to Spain in 1600 and became royal attorney in Seville. From 1608 to 1611 he was in Mexico; then he took up his residence in Madrid, where he was appointed reporter of the royal council of the Indies, about 1628. The last great dramatist of the old Spanish school, he may be considered also as the creator of the so-called character comedy. Elevated sentiment, harmony of verse, and correctness of language distinguish his works, the principal of which are: ‘The Weaver of Segovia’; ‘Suspicious Truth,’ the model for Corneille’s ‘Liar’; ‘Walls Have Ears’; ‘The Proof of Promises’; ‘The Anti-Christ.’