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ADELARDO See also: Spanish writer and politician, was See also: born at Guadalcanal on the 1st of May 1828, and at a very early age began writing for the theatre of his native See also: town
.
The titles of these juvenile performances, which were played by amateurs, were Salga See also: por donde saliere, Me voy 4 Sevilla and La See also: Corona y el Fugal
.
As travelling companies never visited Guadalcanal, and as ladies took no See also: part in the representations, these three plays were written for men only
.
Ayala persuaded his See also: sister to appear as the heroine of his See also: comedy, La primera Dama, and the innovation, if it scandalized some of his townsmen, permitted him to develop his talent more freely
.
In his twentieth See also: year he matriculated at the university of Seville, but his career as a student was undistinguished
.
In Seville he made acquaintance with Garcia Gutierrez, who is reported to have encouraged his dramatic ambitions and to have given him the benefit of his own experience as a playwright
.
Early in 1850 Ayala removed his name from the university books, and settled in See also: Madrid with the purpose of becoming a professional dramatist
.
Though he had no See also: friends and no influence, he speedily found an opening
.
A four-See also: act See also: play in verse, Un Hombre de Estado, was accepted by the managers of the Teatro Espanol, was given on the 25th of See also: January 1851, and proved a remarkable success
.
Henceforward Ayala's position and popularity were secure
.
Within a twelve-See also: month he became more widely known by his Castigo y Perden, and by a more humorous effort, Los dos Guzmanes; and shortly afterwards he was appointed by the Moderado See also: government to a See also: post in the home office, which he lost in 1854 on the accession to power of the Liberal party
.
In 1854 he produced See also: Rioja, perhaps the most admired and the most admirable of all his See also: works, and from 1854 to 1856 he took an active part in the See also: political See also: campaign carried on in the journal El Padre Cobos
.
A zarzuela, entitled Guerta a muerte, for which Emilio Arrieta composed the See also: music, belongs to 1855, and to the same collaboration is due El Agente de Matrimonios
.
At about this date Ayala passed over from the Moderates to the Progressives, and this political manoeuvre had its effect upon the See also: fate of his plays
.
The performances of Los Comuneros were attended by members of the different parties; the utterances of the different characters were taken to represent the author's See also: personal opinions, and every speech which could be brought into connexion with current politics was applauded by one See also: half of the See also: house and derided by the other half
.
A zarzuela, named El Conde de Castralla, was given amid much uproar on the 20th of See also: February 1856, and, as the piece seemed likely to cause serious disorder in the theatre, it was suppressed by the government after the third performance
.
Ayala's rupture with the Moderates was . now See also: complete, and in 1857, through the See also: interest of O'Donnell, he was elected as Liberal deputy for Badajoz
.
His political changes are difficult to follow, or to explain, and they have been unsparingly censured
.
So far as can be judged, Ayala had no strong political views, and drifted with the current of. the moment
.
He took part in the revolution of 1868, wrote the " Manifesto of Cadiz," took office as colonial See also: minister, favoured the candidature of the duc de Montpensier, resigned in 1871, returned to his early Conservative principles, and was a member of Alfonso XII.'s first See also: cabinet
.
Meanwhile, however divided in opinion as to his political conduct, his countrymen were practically unanimous in admiring his dramatic See also: work; and his reputation, if it gained little by El Nuevo See also: Don Juan, was greatly increased by El Tanto por Ciento and El Tejado de Vidrio
.
His last play, Consuelo, was given on the 3oth of See also: March 1878
.
Ayala was nominated to the post of president of congress shortly before his
See also: death, which occurred unexpectedly on the 3oth of January 1879
.
The best of his lyrical work, excellent for finish and intense sincerity, is his Epistola to Emilio Arrieta, and had he chosen to dedicate himself to lyric See also: poetry, he might possibly have ranked with the best of See also: Spain's See also: modern singers; as it is, he is a very considerable poet who affects the dramatic See also: form
.
In his later writings he deals with modern society, its vices, ideals and perils; yet in many essentials he is a manifestSee also: disciple of Calderon
.
He has the See also: familiar Calderonian limitations; the substitution of types for characters, of eloquence for vital See also: dialogue
.
Nor can he equal the See also: sublime lyrism of his See also: model; but he is little inferior in poetic conception, in dignified idealization, and in picturesque imagery
.
And it may be fairly claimed for him that in El Tejado de Vidrio and El See also: Tanta por Ciento he displays a very exceptional combination of satiric intention with romantic inspiration
.
By these plays and by Rioja and Consuelo he is entitled to be judged
.
They will at least ensure for him an honourable place in the See also: history of the modern Spanish theatre
.
A complete edition of his dramatic works, edited by his friend and See also: rival Tamayo y Baus, has been published in seven volumes (Madrid, 1881–1885)
.
(J
.
F.-K.)
AYE-AYE, a word of uncertain signification (perhaps only an exclamation), but universally accepted as the designation of the most remarkable and aberrant of all the Malagasy lemurs (see PRIMATES)
.
The aye-aye, Chiromys (or Daubentonia) madagascariensis, is an animal with a superficial resemblance to a long-haired and dusky-coloured See also: cat with unusually large eyes
.
It has a broad rounded See also: head, See also: short face, large naked eyes, large hands, and long thin fingers with pointed claws, of which the
third is remarkable for its extreme, slenderness
.
The 'See also: foot resembles that of the other lemurs in its large opposable See also: great toe with a flat nail; but all the other toes have pointed compressed claws
.
Tail long and bushy . General colour darkSee also: brown, the
See also: outer fur being long and rather loose, with a woolly under-coat
.
Teats two, . inguinal in position
.
The aye-aye was discovered by See also: Pierre Sonnerat in 178o, the specimen brought to See also: Paris by that traveller being the only one known until 186o
.
Since then many others have been obtained, and one lived for several years in the gardens of the Zoological Society of See also: London
.
Like so many lemurs, it is completely nocturnal in its habits, living either alone or in pairs, chiefly in the See also: bamboo forests
.
Observations upon See also: captive specimens have led to the conclusion that it feeds principally on juices, especially of the See also: sugar-See also: cane, which it obtains by tearing open the hard woody circumference of the stalk with its strong incisor teeth; but it is said also to devour certain See also: species of See also: wood-See also: boring caterpillars, which it obtains by first cutting down with its teeth upon their burrows, and then• picking them out of their retreat with the claw of its attenuated See also: middle See also: finger., It constructs large See also: ball-like nests of dried leaves, lodged in a See also: fork of the branches of a large See also: tree, and with the opening on one See also: side
.
Till recently the aye-aye was regarded as representing a See also: family by itself—the Ch'iromyidae; but the See also: discovery that it resembles the other lemurs of See also: Madagascar in the structure of the inner ear, and thus differs from all other members of the See also: group, has led to the conclusion that it is best classed as a subfamily (Chiromyidae) of the Lemuridae, (R
.
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