The Madness of Love (1855), in which Juana la Loca, the passionate, love-sick daughter of Isabel the Catholic, figures as the chief personage, established Tamayo's reputation as Spain's leading playwright.

Lo Positivo (1862), imitated from Adrien-Augustin-Léon Laya's Duc Job, is well-nigh forgotten, though the Spanish version is a dexterous piece of stagecraft and contains some elements of original value.

Del dicho al Jiecho (1864) is from La Pierre de touche of Jules Sandeau and Émile Augier, and a pleasing proverb, Más vale Maña que Fuerza (1866) is a great improvement upon Mme Caroline Bertons Diplomatie du Ménage.

[1] The revolution of 1868, which cost Tamayo his post at the San Isidro Library, is indirectly responsible for No hay mal que por bien no venga (1868), a clever arrangement of Le Feu au Couvent, by Henri Murger's friend, Théodore Barrière.

This renascence of an old-world motive has induced many critics to consider Lances de Honor as Tamayos best work, but that distinction should be accorded rather to Un Drama nuevo (1867), a play in which the author has ventured to place Shakespeare and Yorick upon the scene.