LUIS VELEZ DE

GUEVARA (1579-1644)  , Spanish dramatist and novelist, was born at Ecija on the 1st of August 1579 . After graduating as a sizar at the university of Osuna in 1596, he joined the household of Rodrigo de Castro, cardinal-archbishop of Seville, and celebrated the marriage of Philip II. in a poem signed " Velez de Santander," a name which he continued to use till some years later . He appears to have served as a soldier in Italy and Algiers, returning to Spain in 16o2 when he entered the service of the count de Saldana, and dedicated himself to writing for the stage . He died at Madrid on the loth of November 1644 . He was the author of over four hundred plays, of which the best are Reinar despises de morir, Has pesa el rey que la sangre, La Luna de la Sierra and El Diablo estd en Cantillana; but he is most widely known as the author of El Diablo cojuelo (1641), a fantastic novel which suggested to Le Sage the idea of his Diable boiteux .