El Buscapié, by Miguel de Cervantes—A Project Gutenberg eBook

Author of
“Rienzi,” “The Last Days of Pompeii,” “The Last of the Barons,” &c.

Author of “The Court and Reign of Louis XIV.,” “The City
of The Sultan,” “Confessions of a Pretty Woman,” &c.

Author of
“The Pilot,” “The Prairie,” “The Pathfinder,” “Mark’s Reef,” &c.

EL BUSCAPIÉ

PREFACE.

In presenting the Buscapié to the English public, it may not be superfluous, first to explain the title of this literary curiosity, and next to offer a few observations relative to its nature and origin.

The title Buscapié seems to have been suggested by one of those quaint conceits common to the Spanish writers of the sixteenth century. The word etymologically considered, is compounded of busca (seek; from the verb buscar to seek), and pie (foot); and it signifies in the Spanish language a squib or cracker, which, being thrown down in the streets by boys and mischievous persons, rolls about and gets between the feet of passers-by. Towards the close of the Work itself Cervantes thus explains his reason for[Pg vi] selecting this title. “I call this little book Buscapié,” he says, “to show to those who seek the foot with which the ingenious Knight of La Mancha limps, that he does not limp with either, but that he goes firmly and steadily on both, and is ready to challenge the grumbling critics who buzz about like wasps.”

Everyone acquainted with Spanish literature has regretted the disappearance and supposed total loss of this little Work, which was known to have been written by Cervantes after the publication of the First Part of Don Quixote. Whether or not this production ever was submitted to the press by its author is exceedingly doubtful; but, be that as it may, no printed copy of it has been extant for the space of two centuries. Though manuscript copies were supposed to exist among the hidden treasures of the Biblioteca Real in Madrid, or in the unexplored recesses of Simancas, yet the Buscapié has always been alluded to by writers on Spanish literature as a thing inaccessible and[Pg vii] known only by tradition. Great interest was consequently excited a short time ago, by the announcement that a copy of the Buscapié had been discovered in Cádiz. It was found among some old books and manuscripts, sold by auction, previously to which they had been the property of an advocate named Don Pascual de Gándara, who resided in the neighbouring town of San Fernando. Some writers on Spanish literature have hazarded the conjecture that the Buscapié was a sort of key to Don Quixote, and that in it were indicated, if not named, the persons whom Cervantes is supposed to have satirized in his celebrated romance.[1] But such is not the fact. The Buscapié is a vindication of Don Quixote against the unjust critical censure with which that Work was assailed on the appearance of its First Part, which was published in 1604. In the same year there [Pg viii]is reason to believe that Cervantes wrote the Buscapié. The manuscript copy of this little Work, recently discovered in Cádiz, is in the scriptory character commonly in use about the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. On the title page it is styled:—

“El muy donoso Librillo llamado Buscapié
Donde, demas de su mucho y excellente Dotrina, van declaradas
Todas Aquellas Cosas Escondidas y no Declaradas en el
Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Que compuso un tal de Cervantes Saavedra.”[2]

“Copióse de otra copia el año de 1606 en Madrid 27 de Ebrero año dicho. Para el [Pg ix] Señor Agustin de Argota, hijo del muy noble señor (que sancta gloria haya) Gonzalo Zatieco de Molina, un caballero de Sevilla.”[3]

Next are written the following words in the Portuguese language, and in characters, the apparent date of which may be assigned to the beginning of the eighteenth century:—

“Da Livraria do Senhor Duque de Lafões.”[4]

How this manuscript found its way to Portugal, and came back to Spain, there is no evidence to show. It was, however, purchased in Cádiz, (at the sale of the books and manuscripts of the Advocate Gándara), by its present possessor, Don Adolfo de Castro, to whom literature is now indebted for its appearance in a printed form, ac[Pg x]companied by some valuable and interesting bibliographic notes.

In the following English version of the Buscapié, care has been taken to adhere with all possible fidelity to the spirit of the original; some occasional redundancy of expression has been compressed, and here and there passages have been abridged, which, if literally rendered, would in our language appear prolix and tedious.

With the highly curious bibliographical notes of Don Adolfo de Castro, (appended to the Volume), the translator has used the freedom of embodying additional illustrative matter, derived from sources furnished by her own acquaintance with Spanish literature. In notes affixed to the text, she has supplied information on some points, with which the Spanish reader, being presumed to be acquainted, were very naturally passed over unnoticed by Don Adolfo de Castro. It is, however, hoped that these notes may not appear superfluous to the English reader.

It has been thought desirable that the[Pg xi] publication of this curious Work should be accompanied by some account of the author. The universal celebrity of Cervantes, and the biographical sketches prefixed to the various English editions of Don Quixote, have long since made the reader acquainted with some particulars of the life of that great writer. Nevertheless, it has been deemed advisable to attempt a new narrative of his life. That prefixed to the present Volume has been carefully compiled from the most authentic sources. The writer has drawn largely from the Spanish lives of Navarrete, Pellicer and De los Ríos: she has also attentively perused several German works of high authority; and by carefully comparing and collating the facts recorded by various writers, she has endeavoured to produce a more complete account of the great Spanish writer than has hitherto been offered to the English public.

A more skilful pen would, doubtless, have invested the narrative with that graceful colouring which its subject so well de[Pg xii]serves; but, whilst fully conscious of her own deficiencies, the writer of the following Life feels that she may claim the merit of having industriously put together a number of curious and well authenticated facts relative to Cervantes;—facts the more interesting, inasmuch as they have hitherto been only very partially known.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It has been conjectured, though without any satisfactory ground, that Cervantes wrote his Don Quixote as a satire upon the Emperor Charles V. and the Duke de Lerma, the favourite of Philip III.

[2] “The very pleasant little book called Buscapié, in which, besides its excellent doctrine, are unfolded all those things which are hidden, and not declared in the History of the ingenious Knight, Don Quixote de la Mancha, written by one De Cervantes Saavedra.”

[3] “This was copied from another copy in the year 1606, in Madrid, 27th of February of the same year, by the Señor Agustin de Argota, son of the most noble Señor, (now in glory) Gonzalo Zatieco de Molina, a gentleman of Seville.”

[4] “From the library of the Duke de Lafôes.”

LIFE OF CERVANTES.

The History of Literature records numberless instances in which genius, regarded with indifference in its own time, has received only from after generations the tribute of just appreciation. Of this sort of contemporary neglect, and posthumous honour, Cervantes is a remarkable example; for even the popularity of Don Quixote which, on its first appearance, met with unparalleled success, did not materially better the circumstances or elevate the position of its author.

It is not very easy to reconcile this literary success with the poverty with which Cervantes struggled even to the latest period of his life,[Pg 2] and of which he oftener than once complains in his writings; for it is a well-known fact that though Don Quixote, in the lifetime of its author, attracted an extraordinary share of public attention, yet Cervantes remained poor and neglected. Whilst the book was universally read and admired, the author would appear to have been a person of so little note, that his early biographers did not even think it worth while to put on record the name of his birth-place.

As if anxious to escape from the reproach of knowing little or nothing of the man who shed such lustre over their literature, the Spaniards of the last century entered upon diligent researches, with the view of elucidating every fact connected with the life of Cervantes. These investigations resulted in the collection of a mass of interesting and curious information, which De los Ríos, Pellicer, and Navarrete have severally embodied in their lives of the great writer. The warm discussions[Pg 3] which have at various times arisen out of the doubtful question of Cervantes’ place of nativity have been likened to the disputes of the seven Greek cities, when contending for the honour of having given birth to Homer. Madrid, Seville, Valladolid and Esquivias by turns claimed Cervantes as their own, until the question was finally set at rest by his latest and most trustworthy biographers. On the authority of indisputable evidence it appears that Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born at Alcalá de Henares, in the year 1547. The day of his birth is not known; but it has been ascertained that he was baptized on the 9th of October.

The family of Cervantes was of noble descent, Father Sarmiento[5] states, that its earliest [Pg 4]members were settled in Gallicia, and that their place of residence was within the Bishoprick of Lugo. Their rank was that of Ricoshombres, (grandees). Subsequently, a branch of the family removed to Castile, and, in the Spanish annals of the beginning of the thirteenth century, the names Cervates and Cervantes are frequently mentioned with honourable distinction. Gonzalo de Cervantes, the founder of the branch whence the great writer was descended, fought gallantly at the storming of Seville, under Ferdinand III., and was endowed with some estates on the partition of the territories wrested from the Moors. A descendant of Gonzalo de Cervantes married a daughter of the house of Saavedra, from which circumstance some members of the Cervantes family added the name Saavedra to their own. On the invasion of South America by the Spaniards, the name of Cervantes was carried to the New World by the emigration of several members of the family.

In the beginning of the sixteenth century we find a Juan de Cervantes filling the post of Corregidor in the town of Ossuna. He had a son named Rodrigo, who, in the year 1540, married Doña Leonora de Cortinas, the daughter of a noble family residing in Barajas.[6] Four children were the issue of this marriage. The eldest was a son named Rodrigo; the second and third, two daughters, named Andrea and Luisa; and the fourth and youngest child was Miguel, who subsequently became illustrious in the annals of literature.

Miguel de Cervantes received from nature a combination of mental endowments such as rarely falls to the share of one individual. To a lively fancy, and great power of inventive genius, he united an extraordinary amount of [Pg 6]sound and discriminating judgment. Such was his inherent fondness for reading, that in his very earliest boyhood he was accustomed to pick up all the little scraps of paper he might find in the streets, and to employ himself in perusing whatever happened to be written on them. His gay and humorous disposition was tempered by refined taste; and, to quote the remark of his biographer, Antonio Pellicer, the character of his mind altogether resembled that ascribed by Horace to Lucilius.

Of the boyhood of Cervantes little is known, beyond the few particulars here and there scattered through his writings. Alluding to his early taste for poetry, he says, in the Journey to Parnassus:—“Even from my earliest years, I loved the sweet art of graceful poesy.”[7] In another of his works he tells us how, when a boy, he was taken to a theatre, where he saw [Pg 7]Lope de Rueda act. That the performance of that celebrated comedian and dramatist made a powerful impression on his mind is evidently shewn in his maturer years: it is not impossible that his taste for dramatic literature received its first impulse from the acting of Lope de Rueda.

It would seem that Cervantes was destined for one of the learned professions, and on attaining a suitable age, he was sent by his parents to the University of Salamanca, where he remained for the space of two years. Some of the lights and shades of his student life are interwoven in the Novelas exemplares,[8] and also in the second part of Don Quixote. The comic interlude, called La Cueva de Salamanca, seems also to have been suggested by some of the author’s college adventures.

The first person who observed and fostered the dawning talent of Cervantes in poetic com[Pg 8]position, was Juan López de Hoyos, who had been his tutor before he entered the University. It happened that Hoyos was commissioned to compose a funeral poem on the occasion of the death of Queen Isabel de Valois, the Consort of Philip II.; and he transferred some portions of this task to his pupils.

Hoyos wrote a narrative of the death and funeral of the Queen,[9] and in that narrative are inserted an elegy, a sonnet, and some redondillas, by Miguel de Cervantes, who is styled by his old tutor, “mi claro y amado discipulo,”—(my clever and beloved pupil). At this time Cervantes was twenty-one years of age; and the praise bestowed on the first effusions of his muse encouraged him to take a [Pg 9]loftier poetic flight. There is reason to believe that about this period of his life he produced Filena, a pastoral romance, in the style of Montemayor and Gil Polo; but this, together with most of his early productions, are now lost; a few only being preserved in the Romancero General.

The time soon arrived when the young poet felt the necessity of directing his talents and energies to the means of obtaining a livelihood; for his father, though in circumstances which enabled him to pay for his education, was not sufficiently rich to maintain him. An opportunity which placed it in his power to gain some little emolument occurred in the year 1568, when Cardinal Julio Acquaviva visited the Court of Castile in the quality of Legate from Pope Pius V. Cervantes entered the service of the Cardinal, and in the same year accompanied him to Rome. He filled the situation of Camarero, which may be presumed to have been an office partaking somewhat of a domestic charac[Pg 10]ter; but it is a well-known fact that even young Spanish nobles did not, at that period, disdain to accept similar appointments in the households of popes and cardinals. The desire of seeing the world, or the prospect of gaining a powerful patron and a good ecclesiastical appointment were inducements for filling situations which otherwise might have been considered degrading. The vivid impressions produced by this first great journey on the mind of Cervantes are obvious even in the works of his later life. In Persiles y Sigismunda he makes two pilgrims wend their course through Valencia, Catalonia, and Provence to Italy, the route by which there is reason to infer he himself travelled to Rome. The descriptions of scenery in the production just named, bear the stamp of personal recollections. That he was particularly charmed with Catalonia, is evident from the interesting sketches of scenery and manners of that part of Spain, interspersed through the Galatea, as well as from[Pg 11] those in the novel of Las dos Doncellas and Don Quixote.

The residence of Cervantes in Rome, though not long in duration, was permanent in his remembrance. In his novel of the Licenciado Vidriera he apostrophises Rome as the “sovereign of the world and the queen of cities.” “As the claws of the lion,” he adds, “denote the animal’s bulk and strength, so may the magnitude and power of Rome be judged by her fragments of marble, her ruined arches, her baths and her colonnades, her colossal amphitheatres, and her river—that river which is rendered sacred by the many relics and martyrs buried beneath its waves.”

After the lapse of a short time, Cervantes exchanged the tranquil occupations he pursued in the service of his spiritual patron for the more stirring duties of a soldier’s life. That he always cherished a peculiar predilection for military adventure is evident from many observations scattered through his writ[Pg 12]ings. Like many of his countrymen in that age, his taste seems to have disposed him to the profession of arms no less than to that of letters. Cervantes was of opinion that military courage and literary talent are more nearly allied than is generally supposed. In Persiles he says,—“There are no better soldiers than those who have been transplanted from the field of study to the field of war. There never has been an instance in which students have taken up arms, that they have not proved themselves to be the bravest and best of soldiers, for when courage is joined to genius, and genius is allied to courage, thereby is formed a combination of qualities in which Mars rejoices.”[10]

Cervantes entered the army as a private soldier, and he served in one of the numerous Spanish regiments then in Italy.[11] It would appear that he was quartered either in Naples or its vicinity. In 1571 the threatened incursions of the Turks and the depredations of the African corsairs disturbed the tranquillity of the southern states of Europe, and once more raised up a league of the Cross against the Crescent. Pope Pius V. conjointly with Phillip II. and the Republic of Venice, entered into a coalition, and fitted out a combined fleet of galleys for the subjugation of the common enemy of Christendom. Marco Antonio Colonna had the command of the Pope’s galleys; those of King Phillip were commanded by Giovanni Andrea Doria, and those of the [Pg 14]Republic by Sebastian Veniero. Don John of Austria, son of the Emperor Charles V. was appointed commander of the whole combined squadrons.

Cervantes, with many other young Spaniards, left Naples and proceeded to Messina, then the mustering place of the combined fleets. He enlisted in the corps of Diego de Urbina, which sailed in Colonna’s galleys to the Gulf of Lepanto, and he took part in the celebrated battle fought there on the 7th of October, 1571. During the voyage he had suffered from a fever, and he had not recovered when the action commenced. His commander as well as his comrades recommended him to remain quietly in his cabin; but this he refused to do, declaring his wish to die in the service of God and his King rather than to save his life by ingloriously keeping aloof from danger. He entreated that one of the most exposed posts might be assigned to him. His urgent desire was complied with; and it is[Pg 15] stated that he fought with more resolute courage than any man on board the vessel. By the fire of that galley alone it is said more than five hundred Turks were killed. Cervantes, who exposed himself to the fiercest assault of the enemy, received three wounds from arquebus balls, two entered his breast, and the other so dreadfully shattered his left hand that he subsequently had it amputated. But so far from regretting this mutilation, he prided himself on it, and regarded it as an insignia of honour. In his preface to the second part of Don Quixote, he declares that he views his maimed hand as “a memorial of one of the most glorious events that past or present ages have seen, or that the future can hope to see;[12] and,” he adds, “could an [Pg 16]impossibility be rendered practicable, and could the same opportunity be recalled, I would rather be again present in that prodigious action than whole and sound without sharing in the glory of it.”

The memorable 7th of October, 1571, was to Cervantes like a ray of light beaming through the clouds of his past recollections. Even in the Journey to Parnassus, which he wrote in his latter years, he says, alluding to the battle of Lepanto, “My eye wandered over the smooth surface of the sea, which recalled to my memory the heroic exploit of the heroic Don John; when aided by courage, and by a heart throbbing for military glory, I had a share (humble though it was) in the victory.”[13]

Cervantes was four and twenty years of age when the Battle of Lepanto was fought. The signal courage he displayed on that occasion obtained for him the complimentary notice of Don John of Austria. On the day after the battle that Prince reviewed the combined fleet, and visited the wounded, presenting to each soldier who had particularly distinguished himself, a sum of money over and above the amount of his pay. Cervantes received from the hand of the prince one of these honourable gratuities.

The victory of Lepanto, though for a time fatal to the Turks, was not succeeded by any permanent advantage to the coalesced powers. Sultan Selim speedily found a strong ally in the dissentient spirit which prevailed among the Christian rulers. By command of Philip II. Don John returned to Messina, where the victorious fleet was received with public rejoicings. Cervantes, not yet recovered from his wounds, was consigned to the hospital, and[Pg 18] he remained in Messina whilst most of the troops were dispersed about in the interior of Sicily. In the following year, his military ardour being unabated, he joined another expedition fitted out by the Chiefs of the League, and sailed this time to the Archipelago. He was present at the storming of Navarino; but the expedition having failed in its object, he once more returned to Messina.

The following winter was spent in preparations for a new armament; but owing to the secession of the Republic of Venice from the league, the Spanish and Papal forces alone were found insufficient for attacking the Turks; and in consequence King Philip determined to fit out an expedition against Tunis. The object of the king was merely the dethronement of Aluch Ali in favour of Muley Mahomet; but John of Austria, to whom was entrusted the command of the expedition, hoped to found for himself an independent sovereignty in Africa; and in furtherance of this object, the[Pg 19] pope promised his aid. No sooner did the fleet appear within sight of Goletta than the garrison retired from the fort and the inhabitants of Tunis took to flight. A single regiment then sufficed to take possession of the fortress and the city; and there is good reason to conjecture that Cervantes was in the ranks of that regiment. Don John having erected a new fort took possession of Biserta, and leaving behind him a portion of his force he returned once more to Sicily.

Cervantes, with the regiment to which he belonged, proceeded to Sardinia, where he remained during the winter of 1573 to 1574. He was afterwards sent to Genoa, which was then agitated by insurrectionary movements. To quell those outbreaks, Don John was on the point of leaving Lombardy, when he learned that the Turks were actively assembling their forces with the view of regaining possession of Tunis and Goletta. Without delay the prince embarked at Spezzia, with a[Pg 20] division of his troops, in which was Cervantes. He proceeded first to Naples and Messina, and then sailed for the African coast. But the little armada had not advanced far on the voyage, when a violent storm which threatened destruction to the galleys drove them back to the Sicilian shore. Meanwhile Goletta and Tunis, after a gallant defence, were retaken by the Turks, an event which at once crushed the hopes of Don John of Austria.

Cervantes, with his regiment remained for a time in Sicily, under the command of the Duke de Sesa. It would appear that he was afterwards removed to Naples, for he says in the Journey to Parnassus, “that he paced the streets of that city for upwards of a year.”[14] There is, however, good reason for believing that his time was not spent in idly pacing the streets, but that during his stay in Naples, he employed his intervals of respite from military duty, in studying the Italian language and [Pg 21]reading the works of the best Italian writers; for it is well known that he possessed an erudite knowledge of the literature of Italy.

Urged by an irresistible desire to revisit his native country, and probably dissatisfied with the scanty recompense awarded to his military services, Cervantes solicited leave to return to Spain. His request was granted in a manner highly gratifying to him, in the year 1575, when Don John and the Duke de Sesa furnished him with letters, recommending him to the notice of King Phillip, as a man whose courage had gained the respect of his officers as well as of his comrades.

With a joyful heart Cervantes embarked in the galley El Sol, accompanied by his brother, Rodrigo, who had joined him in Naples. From that port they both sailed on their return to Spain. But the wished for happiness of revisiting his native land was more remote than was anticipated. On the 26th of September, 1575, the Sol was attacked by an[Pg 22] Algerine Corsair. After a brave resistance the galley was captured, and all on board were conveyed to Algiers. In the distribution of the prisoners Cervantes fell to the share of Dali-Mami, a Greek renegade, who, by reason of his lameness, was surnamed “the cripple.” The letters addressed to Phillip II., which Cervantes carried with him, led Dali-Mami to believe that his slave was a Christian knight of distinguished rank; and he treated him with the utmost rigour in the hope of extorting a large sum of money for his ransom. But with the fortitude which marked his character Cervantes patiently endured his misery, whilst his thoughts were occupied by schemes for effecting his own liberation and that of his companions. Having devised a plan of escape to Oran, he prevailed on his friends to join him in carrying it into effect. The fugitives succeeded so far as actually to get away from Algiers, when they were betrayed by a Moor who had undertaken to be their guide. They[Pg 23] were conveyed back to their prison and confined with more rigour than before. Cervantes as the ringleader was treated with so much severity, that as he afterwards observed, “he learned in that school of suffering to have patience under misfortune.”[15]

Two descriptions of labour were assigned to the Christian captives in Algiers. Some were employed in rowing the galleys and chebeques, others, and these shared the hardest lot, were kept within the city, in places called the bagnios or baths, which were in reality prisons, and which received their names from the numerous baths they contained. Most of the captives in the bagnios were the slaves of the dey or king, but private persons were occasionally permitted to send their slaves thither, especially those who were expected to be ransomed; the bagnios being considered the most secure places of confinement. The slaves whose ran[Pg 24]soms were looked for, were not sent out to labour like the rest: but they wore a chain and, moreover, were wretchedly fed and clothed. Of this number was Cervantes, whose condition as a Spanish Hidalgo, gave his master reason to hope that a large sum would be offered for his liberation.[16]

A Spaniard who had passed some years of slavery in Algiers, and who was ransomed in the year 1639, by the monks of the Order of the Santissima Trinidad, drew up, after his return to Spain a narrative of his captivity. He gives a curious description of the treatment of the Christian slaves in Algiers, to[Pg 25]gether with details respecting the manners and customs of the Moors. This narrative has never been printed; but from a manuscript copy of it in the Biblioteca Real at Madrid, the following extracts have been obtained.

“The Christians in Algiers,” says the writer, “have four churches, in which mass is performed. In my time there were twelve priests who officiated daily. In the principal church, which is situated within the King’s Bagnio, and dedicated to the Santissima Trinidad, there are five priests and a Provisor, appointed by his Holiness. There are seven brotherhoods (cofradías), and in each mass is performed daily. Every day alms are begged from the captives for the purchase of wax tapers and altar decorations. Each priest receives out of these alms one real and a half; this with the money paid for masses is all the priests have to subsist on. In the churches the religious service is very properly per[Pg 26]formed, and sermons are always preached. The Christians are very ill-treated, especially the priests, who are frequently pelted with stones and dirt by the boys as they pass through the streets. At this present time, 10th of March, 1639, Algiers contains 20,000 Christian slaves, 10,000 soldiers, and 1000 counsellors-of-war. These counsellors act as judges in all trials relating to matters connected with the army or navy; and they never take longer than two days to deliberate on any question. The inhabitants of Algiers, both men and women, live very miserably. Their principal food consists of rice and wheat boiled, with a very small portion of salted meat. Even the richest individuals do not live much better. The daily food of the captives consists only of a small loaf of bread. They are treated very cruelly, especially by the Tagarinos, the descendants of the Moors, expelled from Spain. To force them to press their friends for ransom, their daily tasks of labour are[Pg 27] augmented, and they are put in chains—the strongest being sent to the galleys. In every part of the city there are mosques, which the women are not suffered to enter: some of these mosques have a tower or minaret, on which a flag is hoisted at noon, lowered at one o’clock, and then hoisted again at dusk. From these minarets the Moors call the people to prayers. The most profound silence prevails during worship in the mosques; no one dares to speak or even to cough. The prayers are short; and whilst they are repeated, the people are squatted cross-legged on the ground, at intervals rising up and then bowing down to the earth. The mosques are hung with great numbers of glass lamps; but they have no other ornaments. The floors are covered with mats, and the walls and ceilings are arched. Within the mosques there are orange trees, and alcoves for the Morabites, who are held in high veneration; they receive presents from the women, whose husbands,[Pg 28] strange to say, do not disapprove of this practice. There is a religious festival on Friday in every week. At their meals the Moors place their food on the ground, without spreading any cloth under the dishes, which are of copper, tinned over; even the richer class do not use utensils of silver. The out-door dress of the women consists of long trousers, reaching to the feet, and fastened round the ankles by rings of gold or silver; their outward garment consists of a large cloak enveloping them from head to foot, and leaving only their eyes uncovered. Their dress is decorous, though their manners are not so. Within doors they wear a long tunic, reaching to the ankle, and made of rich damask, satin or silk; they wear many rich jewels, consisting of bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Many of these Moorish women are very beautiful; but they indulge much in the habit of smoking.”

It happened that a Spaniard, who had been for some time one of the fellow-captives of[Pg 29] Cervantes, having been ransomed, was suffered to return to his native country. On his arrival in Spain, he lost no time in conveying to the father of Cervantes intelligence of the unhappy condition of his two sons Rodrigo and Miguel. The old man, without hesitation mortgaged his little property, though by so doing he reduced himself and the other members of his family to a condition bordering on want, and having raised a considerable sum of money he transmitted it to Algiers. The two brothers were thus placed in a condition to treat for their liberation. But Dali-Mami demanded so high a ransom for Miguel de Cervantes, that the latter generously resigned his share of the money sent from Spain, in favour of his brother Rodrigo, who obtained his deliverance in August, 1577. On his departure, Rodrigo promised to spare no exertions for making known the condition of the captives to persons of influence in Spain, so that some effectual measure might be adopted for their[Pg 30] liberation. It was proposed that a ship, despatched from Valencia or from the Balearic Islands, should cruise along the African coast, keeping watch so as to be in readiness to receive the captives whenever they might have an opportunity of effecting their escape. Rodrigo Cervantes carried with him, on his departure from Algiers, a letter from one of the prisoners, a Spanish nobleman, related to the house of Alba;—this letter, it was hoped, would have great weight in furthering the execution of the enterprise. Cervantes had concocted the scheme for the escape of himself and his friends, and every preparation had been made for enabling them to carry it into effect.

A little to the west of Algiers, there was a garden, close to the sea shore. It was attached to a villa belonging to Aga Hassan, then Dey of Algiers. Hassan, who was a Venetian by birth, had originally been the slave of the celebrated Uchali. He turned Mahometan, and his apostacy helped him to rise to wealth[Pg 31] and distinction in the Ottoman Empire. At the time of the Battle of Lepanto, Aga Hassan filled the high post of Captain-General of the Turkish fleet, and he was afterwards elected Dey of Algiers. This turbulent and cruel man ruled his temporary sovereignty with a rod of iron. His tyranny and barbarity were exercised alike on Moors and Christians; for, as Cervantes makes the captive in Don Quixote remark, “he was the homicide of the whole human race.” Era homocida de todo el género humano.

Aga Hassan’s garden was under the care and superintendence of a gardener, who was a Christian slave and a native of Navarre. Cervantes having made himself acquainted with this man, induced him to make an excavation under the garden in the form of a cave. As early as February, 1577, some months prior to the departure of Rodrigo Cervantes, this excavation was in progress, and several Christian slaves, who had escaped from bondage had[Pg 32] taken refuge in it. The number of the fugitives gradually augmented, and in September of the same year Cervantes himself succeeded in eluding the watchful eye of his master, and joining his friends in their subterraneous retreat. He had accurately calculated the time when the expected ship would near the African coast. It did so on the 28th of September; but stood off during the day, so as to keep out of sight, and at night standing close in shore, the vessel gave the signal to the captives. This being unluckily observed by some Moorish slaves, who happened to be on the spot, they gave the alarm. The vessel immediately put back, but shortly afterwards made a second attempt to near the shore, which ended in failure, and she was captured.

But this disaster, discouraging as it was, did not subdue the hopes of Cervantes and his companions, who determined to remain in their hiding place to await another opportunity for attempting their escape. But their[Pg 33] schemes were frustrated by the treachery of a slave, who had been a renegade from Islamism to Christianity, and whom the fugitives had incautiously admitted to their confidence. This slave, who was surnamed El Dorador, again turned renegade, and by renouncing Christianity entitled himself to the reward of his twofold apostacy and treachery. The Dey, who claimed all runaway slaves as his own, dispatched a troop of soldiers to the garden. The cave was searched and the fugitives captured.

The details of this event are related by Father Diego de Haedo, a Spanish ecclesiastic, who was contemporary with Cervantes, and who wrote a history of Algiers. Alluding to the seizure of the fugitives in the cave, Haedo says, “The Dey’s emissaries took especial care to secure Miguel de Cervantes, a Hidalgo of Alcalá de Henares, who was the contriver of the whole scheme.”[17] He then adds, “It was a [Pg 34]most marvellous thing that these Christians remained hidden in the cave, without seeing the light of day, some for five or six, and others for so long as seven months;—sustained all that time by Miguel de Cervantes; and this too at the peril of his own life, for several times he was on the point of being hanged, empaled, or burnt alive, for the bold adventures by which he attempted to restore his comrades to freedom. Had his good fortune been equal to his courage, enterprise and skill, Algiers would at this day have been under Christian rule; for to no less an object did his designs aspire. The [Pg 35]gardener, who was a native of Navarre, was hanged by the feet. He was a very good Christian. Of the incidents which occurred in that cave, during the seven months that those Christians remained within it—and of the bold enterprises hazarded by Miguel de Cervantes—a particular history might be composed.”[18]

Finding that himself and his friends were in the power of their captors, and that it was fruitless to attempt resistance, Cervantes at once declared himself the sole contriver of the scheme, [Pg 36]and begged that, as he alone was guilty, the whole punishment might devolve on him. This avowal caused him to be put in chains, and amidst the scoffs and insults of the populace, he was conducted to the presence of Aga Hassan. With fearful threats the tyrant sought to intimidate him into a confession that he had accomplices, and to denounce them; for his object was to make it appear that Father Jorge Olivar, the Redentor, or Slave Ransomer, of the crown of Aragón, was implicated in the affair. But Cervantes persisted in affirming that no one could be accused but himself.

Nevertheless, the barbarous Hassan forthwith condemned all the fugitives to death. The unfortunate gardener was hanged, and Cervantes and his friends would doubtless have shared the same fate, but that, luckily for them, Hassan’s cupidity triumphed over his cruelty. The prospect of ransom money saved the lives of the prisoners; but they were thrown into one of the most loathsome prisons[Pg 37] in Algiers, and subjected to all sorts of privation and misery.

But in spite of their bitter sufferings, the captives, most of whom were Spaniards, did not yield to despondency. Each one cheered himself and his companions, by pleasant stories and recollections of their dear native land. The song and the dance, diversions ardently loved by every Spaniard, were not wanting to enliven the gloom of their prison-house. By turns they recited or sang their old national romances, and the heroic deeds of their ancestors inspired them with courage. Their religious festivals, too, were celebrated with all the ceremony which circumstances admitted of, and the prisoners even succeeded in getting up some dramatic representations.[19]

In those palmy days of the Spanish drama, the passion for histrionic performance had [Pg 38]taken firm root in the public mind. So popular and universally admired were the comedies of Lope de Rueda, that Spaniards, who had been for years out of their native country, could recollect and repeat by heart favourite passages and scenes from them.

It is well known that Cervantes drew from his captivity in Algiers the subjects of two plays which he wrote at a subsequent period of his life, and in which he depicts the sufferings of the Christian slaves. In one, Los Baños de Argel, a pastoral dialogue, (Coloquio Pastoril) is introduced. It is stated to be from one of Lope de Rueda’s comedies, and is curious from the fact of its being in verse, whilst all the dramas, or as they are called, comedias, of Lope de Rueda, now extant, are in prose. The other play by Cervantes, founded on the subject of Algerine captivity, is entitled La Gran Sultana. The heroine is a Spanish lady, Doña Catalina de Oviedo, supposed to have been captured by corsairs.

Undaunted by failure, Cervantes determined on the first favourable opportunity to renew his efforts to obtain his own deliverance and that of his companions. Increasing difficulties had no other effect than that of strengthening his resolution to surmount them. He felt an irresistible longing for that freedom, which, to quote his own words, is “the dearest gift which Heaven has bestowed on man. For freedom,” he adds, “as well as for honour, it is our duty to sacrifice life. Captivity, on the other hand, is the greatest misfortune which man can be doomed to bear.” He gained over to his interests a Moorish slave, whom he persuaded to convey a letter from him to the Spanish governor of Oran. The object of this communication was to facilitate a plan for the liberation of himself and three of his fellow-prisoners. The letter was however intercepted, and the messenger, by order of Hassan, was immediately shot. Cervantes, as the writer of the missive, was sen[Pg 40]tenced to receive two thousand stripes; and only by the urgent and repeated intercession of the Christians in Algiers, was the noble slave saved from the infliction of that barbarous punishment. The three Spaniards who were comprehended in the projected plan of escape were put to death; and the extension of Hassan’s mercy to Cervantes may be attributed in a great measure to the influence which an exalted character exercises even on the most uncivilized of mankind.

Another, and to all appearance, a more practicable plan of escape, contrived in 1579, was foiled by the treachery of a Dominican monk. Hassan, to whom the design was disclosed, affected at first to have no suspicion of it; hoping by that means to ensure its detection. The Christians, however, soon learned that their project was discovered. A native of Valencia, settled as a merchant in Algiers, had promised to aid the escape of the prisoners. This man spared no endeavours to prevail[Pg 41] on Cervantes to slip away furtively and unknown to his companions. He even undertook to convey him safely on board a vessel about to sail for Spain; for knowing that the Moors would resort to every extremity to extort a confession, the merchant feared that his own life and property might be endangered. Cervantes had by this time broken from prison, and was concealed in the house of a friend; consequently he might with perfect ease and safety have effected his escape on board the ship in the manner proposed. But he would not listen to the suggestion of deserting his companions, and he quieted the apprehensions of the merchant by the most solemn assurance, that neither the fear of torture or death would wring from him a word of avowal that could in any degree compromise a friend. Meanwhile, an order of the Dey was proclaimed through the streets of Algiers, commanding the Slave Cervantes to deliver himself up, and warning those who might harbour him, that[Pg 42] they would incur the punishment of death. The fugitive, anxious to screen his friends from all risk, surrendered himself. Aga Hassan, without a moment’s hesitation, ordered him to be hanged. After his hands were tied behind his back, and the rope put round his neck, he was informed that he might yet save his own life by the disclosure of his accomplices. But, faithful to that generosity of feeling, which was one of the most prominent traits in his character, Cervantes persisted in declaring that he alone had wished to escape; but to avoid being further pressed by questions, he named as the accomplices of his design, four Spaniards who had, some time previously, obtained their liberation by the payment of ransom-money. The intercession of an influential renegade, who was an attached friend of Cervantes, induced the Dey once more to spare his life; but he was thrown into a dungeon of the Bagnio,[Pg 43] heavily fettered, and watched with the strictest vigilance.

The next project conceived by Cervantes, exceeded in boldness all that he had previously concerted. It was of so wild and romantic a character, that its reality might naturally warrant disbelief, were it not authenticated by trustworthy evidence. This scheme was nothing less than the excitement of an insurrection among the Christian slaves in Algiers, who were to make themselves masters of the city, and transfer it to the dominion of Phillip II. Notwithstanding the rigorous nature of his imprisonment, he contrived to take some steps towards the execution of this bold enterprise. Whether the project was thwarted by discovery, or to what other cause its frustration was assignable does not clearly appear. Certain it is, however, that the Dey of Algiers regarded Cervantes as the boldest and most ingenious of all his Christian slaves. Father Diego de Haedo relates, that so greatly did Aga Hassan fear[Pg 44] Cervantes, that he used to say, “he should consider his slaves, his barks, and the whole city of Algiers perfectly safe, could he but get rid of that one-handed Spaniard!”

At length, the freedom so ardently sighed for, and for the attainment of which so many fruitless efforts had been made, was recovered, at a time when even Cervantes himself, sanguine as he was, had well nigh relinquished all hope of ever again being restored to his country.

In the year 1580, Juan Gil and Antonio de la Bella, two monks of the order of the Santissima Trinidad, were sent from Spain to Algiers; the former as Redentor, or slave ransomer, for the Province of Castile, and the latter in the same capacity for the Province of Andalusia. The father of Cervantes was by this time dead, and the family were left in rather straitened circumstances;—nevertheless they succeeded, by dint of great exertion, in raising some money to assist in ransoming their relative. Doña Leonora de Cortinas, the[Pg 45] mother of Cervantes, contributed two hundred and fifty ducats;—and Doña Andrea de Cervantes, his sister, gave fifty.[20] The family naturally hoped that the high testimonials of courage and merit, furnished in favour of Cervantes by his former military comrades, together with the letter of recommendation from the Duke de Sesa to the king, would gain the interest of the Court in his behalf. But the appeals addressed to that high quarter were responded to with only lukewarm interest, and accordingly the Monks departed with a sum very inadequate to the accomplishment of the object of their mission, which was to obtain the release of some of the principal captives. Doña Leonora de Cortinas furnished the Redentores with a description of her son, setting forth that he was a native of Alcalá, [Pg 46]and the slave of Dali-Mami, the captain of the Dey’s barks,[21] that he was thirty-three years of age and had lost his left hand. A description of himself given by Cervantes to the authorities in Algiers is as follows—“A native of Alcalá de Henares, aged thirty-one, of middle height, having a thick beard (bien barbado), disabled of the use of the left arm and wanting the left hand; captured on board the galley El Sol, when on his passage from Spain to Naples, where he had been long in the service of His Majesty.”[22]

The Redentores arrived in Algiers on the 29th of May, 1580. At that very time the[Pg 47] Dey was on the eve of resigning his authority in favour of another Pacha, who was elected to the government of Algiers. Hassan, who had been recalled by the Sultan to Constantinople, was preparing to return thither. Cervantes, being one of the captives he intended to take with him, was actually on board a galley, and ready to sail for the Turkish capital, when the slave ransomers arrived in Algiers. There was no time to be lost, and negotiations for the ransom were set on foot without a moment’s delay. The amount demanded was more than double the sum which the Redentores were authorised to pay. However, Father Juan Gil made up the deficiency by devoting to the release of Cervantes a portion of the money advanced by the friends of other captives, who being then absent from Algiers, their ransom could not be effected. The Redentores pledged themselves to refund the money on their return to Spain, and by these arrangements, together with some abatement[Pg 48] in the demand of Aga Hassan, Cervantes obtained his release on the 19th of September, 1580.

But joyfully as he hailed the prospect of returning to his native land, he nevertheless resolved, ere he should quit Algiers, to controvert certain calumnies circulated against him, which he conceived were calculated to impugn his honour. The Dominican Monk, who had betrayed the last plan formed by the Spanish captives for their escape, and who had thereby incurred the hatred of all the Christians in Algiers, sought in revenge to cast on Cervantes the odium of having caused the failure of the enterprise. Cervantes, whose nice sense of honour urged him to free himself from even the slightest trace of suspicion, appealed to the testimony of twelve of his fellow captives, all of them men of high character and members of noble Spanish families. Their evidence refuted in the most complete and satisfactory way the calumnious charges[Pg 49] of the Benedictine monk. They unanimously declared that though there were many noble Spanish cavaliers in Algiers, not one was more distinguished for honourable and generous sentiment than Miguel de Cervantes; and that he had invariably manifested the sincerest interest and sympathy for his countrymen and fellow-captives, all of whom regarded him in the light of a brother.

On the 22nd of October, 1580, after five years of detention in Algiers, Cervantes embarked for Spain. He had now before him the cheering prospect of that happiness which he himself has declared to be “one of the greatest that can be enjoyed in this life;—the return to one’s native country after prolonged captivity.” “There is,” he adds, “no happiness like the recovery of lost freedom.”[23]

On his return to Spain, about the end of the year 1580, he repaired straight to Madrid, where his mother and sister were then residing. The reduced circumstances in which he found his family determined him once more to try his fortune as a soldier. At this time, Philip II. was intent on completing his conquest of Portugal by the acquisition of the rich colonial dependencies of that kingdom. It had been determined to maintain a Castilian army in Portugal, for the purpose of preserving public tranquillity, enforcing obedience to the authorities of King Philip, and preparing the reduction of the Azores or Terceras Islands. Rodrigo Cervantes, who on his return from Algiers, had resumed military service, was now in the army of occupation in Portugal, and he was speedily joined there by his brother Miguel.

In the spring of 1581, both the brothers sailed from Lisbon in one of the ships of an armament commanded by General Don Lope de Figueroa. This armament was sent to the aid[Pg 51] of Don Pedro Valdez, who had been commissioned to reduce the Azores Islands to the authority of the Spanish crown. A misunderstanding arose between Figueroa and Valdez, on the subject of an attempted landing at Tercera, and not being able to come to an agreement they carried on their operations separately, and after a short time both returned to Portugal.

The Spanish Government found reason to suspect that the pretensions of Don Antonio, Prior of Ocrato,[24] were secretly favoured by France and England, and that the ships of those powers, and especially those of France kept up the spirit of rebellion in the Azores. Phillip II., determined to repress these proceedings, and to take measures for the protection of the Spanish Galeones employed in transporting the treasures of the colonies to the mother country. He accordingly ordered several armaments [Pg 52]which had been for some time in preparation in the maritime provinces of Spain, to assemble in the Tagus. It was understood that a French squadron had already put to sea with hostile designs on the Portuguese dependencies; and Phillip on receipt of this intelligence gave the command of the Spanish naval force to the celebrated Admiral Don Álvaro de Bazán, Marques de Santa Cruz. The fleet, having on board several regiments of infantry, sailed from the Tagus on the 10th of July, 1582, and the Spaniards soon fell in with the French squadron. The result was an engagement in which the French ships were dispersed or destroyed. Cervantes states that he was himself engaged in this action, together with his brother Rodrigo, but he enters into no particulars respecting it. Both the brothers likewise served in the expedition which sailed from Lisbon in the following year, 1583, under the command of the Marques de Santa Cruz. The Spaniards effected a landing at Tercera, on the 23rd of[Pg 53] June, and the result was the surrender of that island. The submission of the rest of the Azores speedily followed, and the partizans of Don Antonio were finally put down. The campaign being thus gloriously ended, Don Álvaro de Bazán returned to Spain, and on the 15th of September, he entered Cádiz greeted by signal demonstrations of popular triumph.

On the Atlantic, as well as in the Levant, Cervantes had been an eye-witness of the gallant achievements of the great naval hero of Spain. As a soldier he had served under his authority, as a philosopher, he had contemplated his virtues; and he rendered to his glory a poetic tribute of admiration and gratitude. He wrote a sonnet on Don Álvaro de Bazán, which was published by the Licentiate Cristobal Mosquera de Figueroa, in the Comentarios de la jornada de las Islas Azores. In Don Quixote, he also pays an emphatic and well merited compliment to the courage of the celebrated admiral, in that passage where the captive describing[Pg 54] the storming of Navarino, says:—“In this campaign, the galley called the Prize, whose commander was a son of the famous corsair Barbarossa, was taken by the captain galley, of Naples, called the She-Wolf, commanded by that thunderbolt of war, that father of the soldiers,—that fortunate and invincible Captain Don Álvaro de Bazán, Marques de Santa Cruz.”

During the time he remained with his regiment in Portugal, Cervantes mingled freely in society, and made himself familiarly acquainted with the language as well as with the manners and customs of the people of the country. His society was sought, and wherever he went he was kindly and hospitably received. That his sojourn in Portugal impressed him with pleasing and grateful recollections, is evident, from the observations here and there scattered through several of his works, especially Persiles. Contrary to the prevailing taste of his countrymen, (for the Spaniards usually entertain no great partiality for the Portuguese language,)[Pg 55] Cervantes was charmed with it; pronouncing it to be “a sweet and pleasing tongue,” (lengua dulce y agradable). The people he characterizes as agreeable, courteous, and generous. Speaking of the women, he says, their beauty inspires admiration and love, (la hermosura de las mujeres admira y enamora). Lisbon, he calls a great and famous city, and he declares that Portugal may altogether be regarded as the land of promise (tierra de promisión). With such strong predilections in favour of the country and everything belonging to it, it can scarcely be matter of surprise that Cervantes should have become enamoured of a Portuguese lady, and that the attachment should have been reciprocal. His biographers are silent respecting the connections of this lady, nor do they even mention her name; but all concur in stating that the fruit of this attachment was a daughter, who was known by the name of Doña Isabel de Saavedra. This daughter was the companion of Cervantes through all the vicis[Pg 56]situdes of his subsequent life, and after his marriage she constantly resided under the same roof with him and his wife.

On his return to Spain after the successful issue of the Azores expedition, Cervantes’ pecuniary condition would seem to have been very similar to that of Horace after the battle of Philippi.[25] He found himself utterly destitute, and had no means of subsistence save such as he could procure by writing verses. Heretofore his life had been pretty equally divided between war and literature, “now taking up the sword and now the pen,”[26]—like many other eminent Spaniards of that age, who were distinguished equally as soldiers and writers. Even in the dungeons of Algiers, and amidst the most stirring events of war, Cervantes [Pg 57]never wholly relinquished his love of literary composition; and many of his sonnets, and other little fugitive poems, bear evidence that, in seasons of trial and suffering, he courted the solace of the Muse. It has been conjectured, and with much appearance of probability, that many of the sonnets, canzonets, and ballads introduced in the Galatea, were composed amidst the active duties of the author’s military career, and during the weary hours of his captivity.

The Galatea was the first work which Cervantes submitted to the press, and it was published in 1584. It is a pastoral romance, partly in prose, and partly in verse, in the style of the Diana of Montemayor; but exhibiting still greater resemblance to Gil Polo’s continuation of Montemayor’s poem. Very little ingenuity is shewn in the invention of the fable; it is merely an insipid story of pastoral life, in the affected and unnatural style so much in fashion in the sixteenth century.

In this frame-work the author has grouped together a rich collection of metrical compositions, in all the various styles of versification practised by the old Spanish and Italian poets. “The story,” observes Bouterwek, “is merely the thread which holds the beautiful garland together; for the poems are the portions of the work most particularly deserving of attention. They are as numerous as they are various, and should the title of Cervantes to rank among the most eminent poets, or his originality in versified composition be called in question, an attentive perusal of the romance of Galatea, must banish every doubt upon these points.”[27]

Lope de Vega, and other contemporary writers, have affirmed that the shepherdess, who is the heroine of the romance, was not a mere imaginary character; but that under the name of Galatea Cervantes pourtrayed the [Pg 59]lady to whom he was subsequently married. According to the same authorities, Cervantes represented himself in the character of Ercilio, “pastor en riberas del Tajo,”[28] who is enamoured of Galatea, “pastora nacida en las orillas de aquel río.”[29] It is also believed that the pastoral names of Thyrsis, Damon, &c., are merely fictitious denominations for several of the most celebrated poets of his own time.[30]

On the 12th of December, 1584, Cervantes[Pg 60] was united in marriage to Doña Catalina de Salazar, a lady connected with a distinguished Spanish family. She was the daughter of Don Fernando de Salazar y Vozmediano, and of Doña Catalina de Palacios. Doña Catalina brought her husband some little fortune, upon which the newly married couple lived as long as it lasted. After his marriage, Cervantes definitively left the army, and for a time fixed his abode at Esquivias, in which town his wife’s family resided.

The proximity of Esquivias to Madrid, enabled him to make frequent visits to the capital. There he formed acquaintance with most of the distinguished Spanish writers of the day, and he became a member of one of those numerous literary academies which in the reign of Charles V. were established in Spain in imitation of those of Italy. About this time Cervantes began to apply himself zealously to dramatic composition. The taste for theatrical amusements, then so popular in[Pg 61] Spain, rendered play writing a ready mode of turning literary talent to profitable account. But there is reason to infer that inclination no less than the prospect of pecuniary gain, prompted Cervantes to write for the stage; and the complacency with which, at a subsequent period of his life, he looked back to his early comedies proves that he thought himself entitled to no little distinction as a dramatic author. That he should so far have mistaken the true bent of his genius, is one of those unaccountable fallacies of judgment, from which even the shrewdest minds are not always exempt. Those of his plays which in the opinion of Cervantes himself possessed peculiar merit, are of that class which was so popular among the Spaniards of the sixteenth century, and called Comedias de capa y espada.[31] In [Pg 62]his Viaje del Parnaso, alluding to these plays, the author says—“If they were not my own I should declare that they merit all the praise they have obtained.” One of them, la Confusa, he declares to be “a good one among the best.”[32] La Confusa is one of the many dramatic works of Cervantes, which there is reason to fear are totally lost.

Bouterwek, whilst admitting the general failure of Cervantes as a writer for the stage, [Pg 63]nevertheless declares that the high merits of the tragedy of Numancia might well pardon the self-deception under which the author laboured in respect to the limits of his talent in dramatic literature. “With all its imperfections,” observes the celebrated German critic, “the tragedy of Numancia is a noble production, and, like Don Quixote, it is unparalleled in the class of literature to which it belongs. It proves that under different circumstances the author of Don Quixote might have been the Æschylus of Spain. The conception is stamped by the deepest pathos and the execution, at least taken as a whole, is vigorous and dignified.”[33] The tragedy of Numancia and the comedy of El Trato de Argel (life in Algiers), were accidentally discovered in manuscript about the end of the last century; after having been supposed to be irretrievably lost.

During the interval of his alternate residence in Esquivias and Madrid, it is computed that Cervantes must have written between twenty and thirty dramatic pieces. Among those successfully performed at the theatres of Madrid were Los Tratos de Argel, La Numancia and La Batalla naval. In these pieces the author ventured to depart from the forms of the old Spanish drama; and these changes, together with other innovations he introduced, were very favourably received by the public.

But in spite of this partial success, the scanty emolument he acquired by writing for the stage, was inadequate to the maintenance of his family; the more especially as his two sisters were wholly dependent on him for support; for his brother Rodrigo, who was still in the army, was engaged in the wars in Flanders. At this time the position of Cervantes was peculiarly unfortunate and discouraging. He was now upwards of forty years of age and[Pg 65] deprived of the use of one arm; and neither his military services nor his literary labours had obtained for him any adequate reward. These considerations determined him to enter upon some other career of occupation less precarious than that which he had pursued since his retirement from the army; and he thought himself exceedingly lucky when an opportunity occurred, which enabled him to escape from the literary drudgery to which he had for some years been doomed. To quote his own words, he joyfully “laid aside the pen and relinquished play writing.” (Abandonó la pluma y las Comedias.)

Antonio de Guevara had just then been appointed Commissary-General, (Proveedor-General), for provisioning the Spanish armadas fitted out for South America. This post was one of considerable importance, and its extensive and various duties required the aid of four assistant commissaries. Through the influence of Guevara, Cervantes was appointed to one of[Pg 66] the last-mentioned posts, and in April, 1589, he removed to Seville to enter upon the duties of his office.

It is probable that this change of residence was not less agreeable to him than the change of his occupation; for several members of the respective families of Cervantes and Saavedra were settled in Seville, then the most populous and opulent city in Spain. It is a fact worthy of mention, that two of these relatives of Cervantes were distinguished for their literary talent. The author of Don Quixote himself renders an eulogistic tribute to Gonzalo Cervantes de Saavedra, a famous soldier and poet;[34] and Nicholas Antonio mentions another Cervantes de Saavedra, who distinguished himself as a writer. Both were Sevillians.

The subordinate post of assistant-commissary in Seville would appear to have been accepted by Cervantes, only as the stepping-stone to something better; and he probably [Pg 67]counted on advancement through the patronage of Guevara, and the influence of his own relatives, who were persons of some consideration in Seville. Accordingly, we find him, in May, 1590, petitioning the king for one of several posts then vacant in South America. The petitioner, without venturing to express a preference for any particular appointment, declares he shall be satisfied with any one of which he may be considered worthy; his only desire being to serve his king, as he had in the earlier years of his life, and as his ancestors had before him. That Cervantes, at this time, found no great cause to rejoice in the prosperity of his worldly affairs, is obvious in the whole tone of the petition, which he concludes with the declaration of his readiness to “embrace the course of which many unfortunate men in that city (Seville) have availed themselves; namely, to proceed to South America, that last refuge and asylum of despairing Span[Pg 68]iards.”[35] The application for the South American appointment not having been attended with success, he continued in his post at Seville.

In the year 1595 Pope Clement VIII. canonized St. Hyacinthus, in compliance with the solicitation of the King of Poland. The event was celebrated with great solemnity by the Monks of the Dominican convent in Saragossa, and certain poetical prize competitions were proposed on the occasion. The subjects for these competitions having been determined, they were published in all the principal towns of Spain. Cervantes was a successful candidate for one of these prizes, which, from its nature, might have been a more fitting reward for domestic merit than for poetic talent: it consisted of three silver spoons. The umpires, in awarding this prize, styled the winner a son of [Pg 69]Seville, which circumstance, together with the long residence of Cervantes in that city, may explain how it came to be regarded as his native place.

Other events occasionally called forth poetic tributes from the author of Don Quixote during his abode in Seville. In the year 1596, the Earl of Essex made a descent on the Spanish coast, took possession of Cádiz and sacked the city. The gentlemen of Seville formed themselves into a sort of Urban guard and marched to the assistance of the neighbouring city. Whether Cervantes enrolled himself in these martial ranks does not appear; but the event inspired his muse with several poetic effusions, one of which is a sonnet preserved in manuscript in the Real Biblioteca at Madrid. This expedition of the English to Cádiz furnished the subject of La Española Inglesa, one of the Novelas which were written at a subsequent period. On the death of Philip II., in 1598, Cervantes was still in Seville, and he composed[Pg 70] a sonnet on the occasion which he himself mentions favourably in the Viaje del Parnaso.

Cervantes must have resided in Seville for the space of ten years uninterruptedly, with the exception of little intervals spent in excursions to neighbouring places in Andalusia, and in one visit he made to Madrid. In addition to his official occupations, he occasionally transacted business of other kinds, and was sometimes employed as a mercantile agent (agente de negocios.) Though it may be fairly inferred that these pursuits were not the most congenial to his taste, and though they were of a nature to repress rather than to encourage the excursiveness of a poetic imagination, yet the genius of Cervantes turned to fruitful account even the plodding interval of his existence which was spent in business in Seville. That noble city, then the emporium of the wealth of Spanish America, offered in the active life and busy pursuits of its inhabitants a rich field for the study of human nature. That no[Pg 71] object of interest, no trait of character or manners peculiar to this part of Spain, escaped the keen perception of Cervantes is shewn in his novel of Riconete y Cortadillo, and in that entitled, El Zeloso Extremeño. Those animated pictures of Andalusian manners could only have been drawn from actual observation. The peculiar tone which pervades the writings of the author’s latter years, and which distinguishes them in a marked manner from his early productions;—the graceful humour and delicate irony of which he had so masterly a command, may possibly be in a great degree assignable to his residence in the province of Andalusia, and his intercourse with its intelligent and lively inhabitants.

An unfounded accusation, of which he was the object, during his abode in Seville, caused him no little annoyance. He had placed in the hands of a Sevillian merchant, a sum of money, which he had received in the course of some transactions connected with his official[Pg 72] duties. The merchant had undertaken to lodge this sum in the national treasury; but instead of so doing, he appropriated the money to himself and fled. Poor Cervantes, who was unable to make good the sum from his own means, was arrested and thrown into a jail on the charge of embezzlement; and he was only liberated on obtaining security for the repayment of the lost money.

After the close of 1598, we find, during an interval of four years, no clear intelligence respecting the life of Cervantes. His early biographers state, that about that period he made a visit to La Mancha, and there wrote the first part of his Don Quixote,[36] that work indeed bears such unquestionable traces of familiar [Pg 73]acquaintance with the localities of La Mancha, and with traditions, still preserved there, that it cannot be doubted the author at some period of his life must have made a lengthened sojourn in that province. But though the time and circumstances of his visit to La Mancha may he hypothetical, there is every reason to infer that in the interval during which his biographers partially lose sight of him, Cervantes planned and partly wrote his Don Quixote, that bright gem in the literature of Spain.

After the death of Philip II., the Court removed from Madrid to Valladolid, and in 1603 Cervantes became a resident of the latter city. His removal thither appears to have been influenced by two strong motives; one was to facilitate the means of refuting certain calumnious charges brought against him in Seville and now renewed; and the other was to urge on the attention of the government his claim to reward for long public service. In the first object he succeeded, but in the second[Pg 74] he failed; and consequently he was doomed to continue in penury.

The first part of Don Quixote was published in the year 1604,[37] and we have the authority of Cervantes himself for the fact that it was the first book he had written since he “laid aside his pen,” on being installed in his appointment at Seville. The eager interest with which the work was immediately perused by all classes of readers well warranted the remark of the Duchess; “that it came forth to the world amidst the approbation of the public.”[38] The original idea which forms the fundamental principle of the whole work has frequently been the subject of critical controversy; but it appears to have been more accurately understood and defined by Bouter[Pg 75]wek than by any other critic. “It has often been said,” remarks the Historian of Spanish literature, “though the opinion has not, perhaps, been duly weighed, that the worthy Knight of La Mancha is the immortal representative of all men of exalted imagination, who carry the noblest enthusiasm to a pitch of folly. This sort of exaggerated feeling may be accounted for by the fact that with understandings in other respects sound, they are unable to resist the fascinating power of a self-deception by which they are led to regard themselves as beings of a superior order. None but an experienced observer of mankind, endowed with profound judgment,—and a genius to whose penetrating glance one of the most interesting recesses of the human heart had been newly disclosed, could have seized the idea of such a romance with energetic precision. No one but a poet, and a man of wit, could have thrown so much interest into the execution of that idea, and no one but an[Pg 76] author who had at his disposal all the richness and variety of one of the finest languages in the world, could have invested such a work with that classic perfection of style which gives the stamp of excellence to the whole.”[39]

That the Ingenioso Hidalgo made his way to court, and even attracted the notice of the monarch, is shown by an anecdote which, though often related, may be repeated here, since it bears evidence to the general popularity which attended the publication of the great work of Cervantes. The anecdote is as follows: “King Philip III. standing one day in the [Pg 77]balcony of his palace in Madrid, observed on the opposite bank of the Manzanares, a student who was earnestly engaged in reading a book. At intervals the reader raised his eyes from the volume, and striking his forehead with his hand, burst into fits of laughter, and made other movements indicative of extreme pleasure and mirth. ‘That student,’ observed the King, ‘is either crazy, or he is reading the history of Don Quixote.’ The King’s conjecture proved to be correct, for some of the courtiers ascertained on enquiry that it was the masterpiece of Cervantes that occasioned the student’s merriment.”[40]

The first part of Don Quixote was dedicated to Don Alonso López de Zuñiga y Sotomayor, Duke de Bexar, a literary nobleman who was [Pg 78]ambitious to be thought the Mecænas of his age and who patronised Cervantes, though without extending to the poor author the generosity which his wealth gave him the means of exercising. It is related that the duke was at first reluctant to receive the homage of dedication offered by Cervantes. Under the mistaken impression that the book was merely one of those romances of chivalry then so much in fashion, he was unwilling to lend the sanction of his name to a work which he supposed to be of that class. Cervantes requested permission to read a chapter of the book to his patron. The request was granted, and with this specimen of the work the duke was so delighted that he readily consented to accept a dedication, which has transmitted his name to posterity.

The misapprehension of the Duke de Bexar respecting the nature of the work prevailed for a time among a portion of the public; and some individuals of the educated class refrained from reading it, under the supposition that it [Pg 79] was merely a narrative of romantic chivalrous adventure. Others again, and these were the unlearned, perused the book, and were pleased with it, though without perceiving the delicate vein of satire which constitutes its very essence and spirit. Finding that his book was read by persons who did not understand it, and not read by some who were capable of fully comprehending it, Cervantes devised a plan for explaining its real nature and purpose; and for rendering it an object of interest to those who had regarded it with indifference. This plan he carried out in a very effective manner in the manuscript opuscule which forms the principal subject of this volume. Alluding to El Buscapié, Navarrete, the author’s able Spanish biographer, styles it una obra anonima, pero ingeniosa y discreta.

Cervantes was fifty-seven years of age when he completed the first part of Don Quixote; and it is a fact worthy to be mentioned, that several of our eminent English[Pg 80] novelists have produced their best works in the latter part of their lives. Fielding was between forty and fifty when he wrote Tom Jones. Richardson was somewhere about sixty when he produced Clarissa; and Scott was upwards of forty when he commenced Waverley. These facts fully verify the observation of an able literary critic, who says—“The world, the school of the novelist, cannot be run through like the terms of a university, and the knowledge of its manifold varieties must be the result of long and diligent training.”

The gleam of sunshine which dawned upon Cervantes, through the popularity of his Don Quixote, was partially overclouded by the malignity of his literary rivals. Success arrayed against him a host of enemies, whose attacks annoyed him and disturbed his peace. Many of these assailants were men of no literary distinction, and their censure was characterized merely by that petty envy which finds pleasure in depreciating superiority of[Pg 81] every kind;—others, though actuated by unbecoming jealousy, were nevertheless men of talent. Several of them ranked among the most distinguished poets of the time, for example, Góngora, Christoval, Suárez de Figueroa, and Estevan Manuel de Villegas.

The freedom of Cervantes’ literary criticisms doubtless went far to draw upon him the vengeance of a host of poets whose vanity he had offended. It has frequently been alleged that Lope de Vega arrayed himself among the enemies of Cervantes; and that eminent writer is accused of being the author of a sonnet which predicted that the works of his great rival would speedily find their way into the kennel. But there is every reason to doubt the justice of this imputation; Lope de Vega renders due homage to his illustrious contemporary in several passages of his works.

But these literary contests were not the only troubles in which Cervantes was involved during his abode in Valladolid: an affair of a[Pg 82] very serious nature, in which he innocently became implicated, must have caused him more annoyance than the assaults of his poetic adversaries. This new misfortune was nothing less than his apprehension on the charge of being concerned in a homicide, committed by some unknown person in a street affray.

The particulars of this affair, extracted from the magisterial records of Valladolid, are given at great length by the Spanish biographers of Cervantes. They are too curious to be passed over in silence, but without wearying the reader with the details, the following brief recapitulation of the principal facts may be given:—

Don Gaspar de Ezpelete, a young gentleman of Navarre, and a Knight of the Order of Santiago, was in Valladolid in the year 1605. He was a young man much devoted to pleasure, and, according to a phrase then in fashionable use in Spain as well as in our own country, “he followed the Court.” He had pro[Pg 83]bably been attracted to Valladolid merely by the festivities which had a short time previously taken place there, in honour of the birth of the young Infante, afterwards Phillip IV. On the night of the 27th of June, 1605, Don Gaspar was proceeding through the streets of Valladolid, after having supped with his friend, the Marquis de Falces, when he encountered a man who accosted him rudely, and in consequence a quarrel ensued. Both drew their swords, and after interchanging a few passes, Don Gaspar received a severe wound, and cried out for help.

This occurrence took place near the foot of a wooden bridge, (Puentecilla), which at that period crossed the river Esgueva, and in near proximity to the house in which Cervantes and his family resided. This house, which was let in separate suites of apartments, must have been of considerable size, judging from the number of its occupants, whose names appear in the records of the judicial proceedings,[Pg 84] now about to be referred to. Among the fellow-lodgers of Cervantes was Doña Luisa de Montoya, the widow of the celebrated chronicler, Esteban de Garabay; and her two sons resided with her. On hearing the outcries in the street, one of this lady’s sons, Don Luis de Garabay ran down stairs, with the intention of going out to ascertain the cause of the disturbance. Before he could reach the street, he met Don Gaspar de Ezpelete staggering into the portal or porch of the house. He was bleeding profusely, and holding his unsheathed sword in his hand. Don Luis called Cervantes to assist him, and they carried the wounded gentleman to the apartments of Doña Luisa. It was found that he had received a severe thrust in the side. A surgeon immediately attended, and the wound was dressed; but though every effort was made to save him, Don Gaspar died in the course of a few days.

This affair caused much sensation in Valladolid, where it immediately became the subject[Pg 85] of magisterial investigation. The first evidence submitted to the Alcalde, was the deposition of Miguel de Cervantes. It was as follows:—

“The undersigned, Miguel de Cervantes, having been sworn in due form, testifies that he is upwards of fifty years of age,[41] and that he lives in one of the new houses near the Rastro, that he knew by sight a Knight of the Order of Santiago, whose name, he understood was Don Gaspar. That on the night of the 27th of June, about eleven o’clock, the witness, being then in bed, was disturbed by a great noise in the street; that presently he heard Don Luis de Garabay calling to him, and begging he would come to his assistance; that on going out the witness saw a wounded gentleman, whom he recognized to be Don Gaspar. He was helped up stairs, and, shortly after there entered a surgeon (barbero) who dressed the [Pg 86]wound; the gentleman could not answer any questions being scarcely able to utter a word. All this I declare to be true, on my oath, and I hereby sign this deposition.

No evidence of any greater importance was obtained from the testimony of the other deponents, one of whom was Maria de Cevallos, the maid-servant of Cervantes’ family, now consisting of himself, his wife and daughter, with the addition of his two sisters and a niece.

In course of the investigation some circumstances transpired which, it would seem, led to the inference that Don Gaspar, on the night when he received his fatal wound, was on his way to visit either the daughter or the niece of Cervantes, or some other lady residing in the same house with them. The ground of this suspicion is not very clearly made out in the [Pg 87]depositions, but it was deemed a sufficient reason for putting under arrest a considerable number of persons, among whom was Cervantes, his daughter, his niece, and one of his sisters. They were imprisoned for a short time, but after some further examination, they were set at liberty and the Alcalde’s declaration honorably acquitted them of any knowledge of the circumstances which had led to the death of Don Gaspar de Espelete.

On being liberated from his brief but vexatious incarceration, Cervantes formally lodged in the hands of the Alcalde, the effects of the deceased gentleman, which had been placed in his care. They consisted of his clothes, a little money and some jewels which he wore on his person. These articles are curiously described in an inventory taken by one of the Alguazils. The dress, which is stated to be the hábito de noche (evening costume) of a fashionable cavalier of the time, was composed of an under vest of satin laced with gold, to which was fastened[Pg 88] the badge of the Order of Santiago, a doublet also of satin with sleeves of taffety, black hose ornamented with embroidery, and a cloak of a kind of mixed cloth called mezcla. In the pockets of the deceased were found seventy-two reals, three small keys and two little bags, (bolsillos), the one filled with relics and the other containing a flint, a steel, and some tinder (probably used in smoking). On his fingers were two gold rings, one set with diamonds forming an Ave Maria, the other set with emeralds; suspended from his neck was a rosary of ebony.

The court removed from Valladolid to Madrid in 1606, and shortly after that time we find Cervantes with his family settled in the capital. The poor author’s worldly affairs were in no respect improved, yet nevertheless he continued to maintain his two sisters and his niece, who had now became entirely dependent on him: of his brother Rodrigo nothing is known subsequently to the time when he left[Pg 89] Spain to join the army in Flanders. Between Cervantes and his elder sister, Doña Andrea, the most cordial affection always prevailed. That lady had appropriated her little dowry to the pious purpose of aiding the ransom of her two brothers from Algiers, and when in her widowhood, she fell into straitened circumstances, Cervantes gave her and her daughter an asylum in his home. They, together with the younger sister of Cervantes, Doña Luisa, had lived with him and his family in Seville and Valladolid and they accompanied him in his removal to Madrid.

With old age advancing upon him, Cervantes now tranquilly resigned himself to the penury which fate seemed to have irrevocably assigned as his lot. In conformity with a custom very common at that time, he enrolled himself among the members of a religious fraternity, that of the Franciscans of the third class; and he sought in literary retirement to forget the world’s ingratitude. He began to[Pg 90] prepare for the press some of the works, which at previous periods had occasionally occupied his pen. The Novelas Exemplares, (Moral or Instructive Tales), several of which had been written during the author’s residence in Seville were published in 1612. These Novelas, which have gained for Cervantes the title of the Boccacio of Spain, are romances in miniature, some serious, some comic, and all written in a light conversational style. No compositions of a similar kind had previously existed in Spanish literature; and the author, to use his own expression, opened a path (abierto camino) for other writers to pursue.

Cervantes, who was prone to comment on his own works, makes the following remarks in alluding to the Novelas Exemplares. “I was the first to write novels in the Spanish language; for though many novels have been printed in Spanish, they have all been translated from foreign languages. These are my own: I have neither copied nor stolen them. They[Pg 91] were engendered in my fancy, brought forth by my pen; and they will grow in the fostering arms of the press.”[43] The Novelas Exemplares were speedily followed by the publication of the Viaje del Parnaso (Journey to Parnassus), a work which is regarded as one of the most extraordinary productions of its author. It is a satirical poem directed against the false pretenders to the honours of the Spanish Parnassus. In a prose Appendix (Adjunta) to this poem, Cervantes directs attention to some of his early dramatic writings. He complains of the ingratitude of actors and of the misjudgment of audiences, and he mentions in commendatory terms some of the plays he had written at a recent period. He was evidently desirous once more to try his [Pg 92]fortune as a dramatic author; and above all to have his plays successfully performed in the theatres of the capital. But the managers positively declined to bring his dramas upon the stage; and in the hope of turning them to some little profit, he offered a few to the bookseller Villaroel for publication. Villaroel at first hesitated, but at length offered a trifle for the manuscripts, and the result was the publication of the Ocho Comedias y Entremeses,[44] with the celebrated Preface.

About this time the appearance of an extraordinary literary production created a great sensation throughout Spain. This was a pretended continuation of Don Quixote, by a writer who assumed the name of Avellaneda. This production though not absolutely devoid of talent has received from some critics more approbation than it deserves. One marked difference may be noticed as existing between the great work of Cervantes and the spurious [Pg 93]production of his imitator; it is that the wild fancies of Don Quixote are prepared by circumstances likely to lead to them, in a mind subject to such aberrations as that of the Knight of La Mancha; whereas Avellaneda’s hero plunges into all sorts of extravagance without any sufficient cause. It is merely a narrative of marvellous incidents, of a nature calculated to gratify puerile taste; but the ingenuity requisite to please the intelligent reader is totally wanting. The work was translated into French by Le Sage, who, as Mr. Prescott justly observes “has given a substantial value to gems of little price in Castilian literature, by the brilliancy of his setting.”[45] The real name of the author of this literary imposture, was never discovered. He was supposed to be an Arragonian priest.

Instead of indulging in idle complaint or bitter invective, Cervantes nobly resented this injury by producing the second part of his [Pg 94]Don Quixote. This second part, which was published in 1615, obtained even a greater share of public approbation than that which had greeted the first part. The proceeds derived from the sale, could not have been inconsiderable, and must have proved an acceptable addition to the author’s pecuniary resources. It is also ascertained that at this period his income was augmented by the liberality of the Count de Lemos and the Archbishop of Toledo, whose friendship Cervantes, amidst all his misfortunes, had secured; and there appears reason to hope that his latter years were in some degree exempt from the struggles which at various times embittered the earlier periods of his life.

The leisure which his improved circumstances afforded was employed in completing some of his unfinished works, and in writing those which he had previously only sketched in outline. He gave the finishing touch to his Galatea, and he produced several poetic works, of which the romance of Persiles y Sigismunda[Pg 95] is the only one preserved. This poem, an avowed imitation of the style of Heliodorus, was preferred by the author himself to any of his other works; a preference at variance with the unanimous judgment of literary criticism. But with all its faults, its paramount beauties must be admitted;—and the writer, who at the age of sixty-eight could produce so glowing a creation of poetic fancy, may, to borrow Calderón’s simile, be likened to a volcano, in which, beneath a cap of snow, flow streams of fire.

Cervantes dedicated Persiles to his patron, the Count de Lemos, in a prólogo or preface, which is one of the most graceful pieces of writing its author ever produced.

This poem was finished in the spring of 1616, at which time the declining health of Cervantes began to excite the alarm of his friends. Hoping to derive benefit from change of air, he occasionally made visits to Esquivias, where his wife’s family still resided. He went on one of those excursions only a few days[Pg 96] prior to his death; and he himself related that whilst returning home to Madrid, in company with some friends, they were overtaken by a student, who joined in their conversation, and they all rode on together. This student, on recognising Cervantes, greeted him with the titles of, “Pleasant writer! the favourite of the Muses!” (¡Escritor alegre! ¡el regocijo de las Musas!). In the course of conversation, Cervantes acquainted the student that he was suffering from dropsy, and that he feared the disorder would speedily reach a fatal crisis, adding, as it were prophetically, he thought he should not live beyond the following Sunday.

The malady speedily assumed so formidable an aspect as to preclude all hope of recovery. On the 18th of April, 1616, Cervantes received extreme unction, and on the day following he finished the dedicatory preface to Persiles. When about to depart on the long journey of death, his memory reverted to some old Spanish coplas, which commence[Pg 97] with the words, “Puesto ya el pie en el estribo,” (with one foot already in the stirrup). To these quaint old lines, he playfully alludes in the dedication of his last work, where, addressing the Count de Lemos, he observes:—“These old coplas, so popular in their day, may perhaps come opportunely into this epistle, which I might commence almost in the same words, saying—

After an illness of seven months’ duration, Cervantes expired on the 23rd of April, 1616, in his sixty-ninth year. It is a curious fact, and one that will not escape the observation of the English reader, that Cervantes and Shakespeare, two writers whose genius exhibits more [Pg 98]than one trait of resemblance, both died on the same day.[47]

In conformity with his own desire, Cervantes was interred in the Convent of the Trinitarias, situated in the Calle del León, in Madrid, in which street he himself resided at the period of his death. The quiet and unostentatious style of his funeral corresponded with his humble circumstances, and no monument or even inscription of any kind marks the spot where the ashes of Cervantes repose.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] That learned Benedictine wrote an essay entitled Noticias de la Verdadera patria de Cervantes; y conjectura sobre la insula Barataria. (Observations relative to the native place of Cervantes, and conjectures respecting the Island of Barataria). It has never been printed, and is very scarce, but the writer of this memoir has recently had the opportunity of perusing an old MS. copy.

[6] There is some reason to conjecture that this lady was a relative of Isabel de Urbina, the first wife of Lope de Vega. It is pleasing to indulge the belief that such was really the fact, and that the two most eminent writers Spain has produced were allied by family ties, as well as by kindred genius.

[7]

“Desde mis tiernos años amé el arte
Dulce de la agradable Poesía.”

Viaje del Parnaso.—Cap. IV.

[8] In El Licenciado Vidriera, and in La Tía fingida.

[9] “Relacion de la muerte y exequias de la Reyna Doña Isabel de Valois,”—(Published in Madrid in 1569). It is worthy of notice that the first poetic essays of Cervantes were dedicated to the memory of a princess, whose marriage with Phillip II., after having been the affianced bride of his son, forms a romantic episode in history, and is the subject of Schiller’s tragedy of Don Carlos.

[10] “No había mejores soldados, que los que se transplantaban de la tierra de los estudios en los campos de la guerra, y ninguno salió de estudiante para soldado, que no lo fuese por estremo; porque quando se avienen y se juntan las fuerzas con el ingenio, y el ingenio con las fuerzas, hacen un compuesto milagroso en quien Marte se alegre.”

[11] At the period here alluded to, the rank of a private soldier was far from being considered degrading. Young men of birth and fortune, on entering the army, frequently served for some time as private soldiers, before they attained a rank which invested them with any authority or importance.

[12] Cervantes does not here overrate the importance of the Battle of Lepanto, the consequences of which were for a time very fatal to the Turks, and threatened to shake to its foundation the throne of Selim II. When Pope Pius V. heard of the victory, he held up his hands and exclaimed in Ecstasy,—“There was a man sent from God, and his name was John,”—alluding to Don John of Austria.

[13]

Arrojóse mi vista a la campaña
Rasa del mar, que trujo a mi memoria
Del heroica Don Juan, la heroica hazaña
Donde con alta de saldados gloria.
I con proprio valor, I curado pecho
Tuve (aunque humilde) parte en la Victoria.

Viaje del Parnaso, Cap. I.

[14] Piso sus rúas más de un año.

[15] Prólogo to the Novelas Exemplares.

[16] It has been commonly conjectured that Cervantes narrated his own adventures in the history of the “Captive,” in Don Quixote. With that story he has doubtless interwoven some of the incidents of his own life, for example, the particulars relating to the Battle of Lepanto. As to Captain Viedma’s captivity in Algiers and his elopement with the Moorish lady Zorayda, if those events are really founded on fact, the hero of them was probably one of the Spaniards who suffered captivity in company with Cervantes.

[17] In the year 1581, there was published in Grenada, a Narrative of the captivity of 185 Christians in Algiers, by the Fathers Juan Gil, and Antonio la Bella. This work is very scarce, but a copy exists in the Real Biblioteca at Madrid. The narrative contains a list of captives ransomed; and in this list appears the following entry: “Miguel de Cervantes, aged thirty, a native of Alcalá de Henares.” This fact was unknown, until the latter part of the last century, when the narrative above-mentioned happened to be perused by Don Juan de Yriate, Librarian to the King of Spain, who announced the fact, and therefore to him is assigned the honour of having been the discoverer of the birth place of Cervantes.

[18] In the story of the “Captive,” in Don Quixote, there is one passage in which Cervantes alludes, in a direct manner, to himself. It occurs in the description given by Captain Viedma of the imprisonment of himself and his companions in the Bagnios of Algiers, and is as follows:—“One Spanish soldier only, whose name was something or other (un tal) de Saavedra, Aga Hassan treated with greater consideration than the rest. This soldier did things which will remain in the memory of the Algerines for many years to come; all for the sake of recovering his liberty, and that of his companions. For the least of many things that he did, we all feared that he would be empaled alive—and he feared it himself oftener than once.”

[19] Lope de Vega, in his Cautivos de Argel, alludes to the plays acted by the captives in Algiers, and the old Spanish romances which were sung in those plays.

[20] This sister, who was older than Miguel, was at this time married to Sanctes Ambrosio or Ambrosi, a native of Florence.

[21] It will be recollected that he was originally the slave of Dali-Mami; but was forfeited to Aga Hassan, after his capture in the cave.

[22] The discrepancy observable in the statements of the mother and son, relative to the age, might be merely the effect of lapse of memory; or possibly the mother may have reckoned as completed the year which was only commenced, whilst the son may have counted his age by the number of years he had actually completed. This latter supposition would at least account for the difference of one year in the reckoning.

[23] Uno de los mayores contentos, que en esta vida se puede tener, cual es, llegar despues de luengo cautiverio, salvo y sano à su patria: porque no hay en la tierra contento que se iguale à alcanzar la libertad perdida.

[24] Don Antonio, a natural son of the Infante Don Luis, was one of the claimants of the Crown of Portugal, after the death of Cardinal Henry.

[25]

Inopemque paterni
Et laris et fundi; paupertas impulit audax
Ut versus facerem.—Epist. lib. ii.

[26] Tomando ya la espada, ya la pluma. Lope de Vega’s Laurel de Apolo.

[27] Bouterwek’s “History of Spanish Literature.”

[28] A shepherd of the banks of the Tagus.

[29] A shepherdess, born on the margin of that river.

[30] Pellicer is of opinion that Cervantes intended the Galatea as an homage to the lady of his affections; a sort of literary courtship, not uncommon among the writers of that age. “Catalina, the name of the lady in question,” he observes, “might by a slight change, and the transposition of the letters, be converted into Galatea. In like manner,” he adds, “the fictitious names given to the shepherds in the romance, bear some resemblance to the real ones of the persons to whom they are supposed to apply; viz.—Meliso for Mendoza (the celebrated Don Diego de Mendoza), Lauso for Luis (Luis Barabona de Soto being the individual referred to).”

[31] Literally Comedies of the cloak and the sword. Their subjects were taken from the sphere of Spanish fashionable life, and they were pictures of the manners of the age. They were performed in the prevailing costume of the time, to which circumstance they owe their specific classification as plays of the cloak and sword.

[32] These observations occur in the Adjunta or Appendix to the Viaje del Parnaso, in an imaginary conversation between Cervantes and one Don Pancrasio de Roncesvalles, who describes himself to be a poet “by the grace of Apollo.” Don Pancrasio enquires whether Cervantes has written any plays; to which question our author returns the following answer—“Si, muchas, i a no ser mias me parecieran dignas de alabanza, como lo fueron los tratos de Argel, la Numancia, la gran Turquesea, la Batalla naval, la Gerusalem, la Amaranta, el Bosque amoroso, la Unica i la Vizarra Arsinda, i otras muchas de que no me acuerdo. Mas la que yo más estimo i de la que más me precio, fué, i es de una llamado la Confusa, la qual, con paz sea dicho, de quantas comedias de capa i espada hasta hoi se han representado, bien puede tener lugar señalado por buena entre las mejoras.”

[33] Bouterwek’s History of Spanish Literature.

[34] Canto de Caliope.

[35] Se acogía al remedio à que otros muchos perdidos en aquella ciudad (Sevilla) se acogen, que es el al pasarse a las Indias, refugio y amparo de los desesperados de España.

[36] Some accounts state that whilst in La Mancha, Cervantes got involved in a street quarrel in the town of Argamasilla, and that in consequence of that affair he once more became the inmate of a jail. This, coupled with a hint, though a very vague one, thrown out by Cervantes himself, in the preface to the second part of Don Quixote has given rise to the conjecture that the first part was written in a prison.

[37] According to some accounts it was not published till 1605. But 1604 is the date recorded by Don Antonio de Pellicer.

[38] “Salió a la luz del mundo con general aplauso de las gentes.”—Don Quixote, part II.

[39] Everyone who has read Don Quixote in Spanish must be sensible of the peculiar charm of the diction of Cervantes. On this subject, the critic above quoted observes, “It is the style of the old romances of chivalry improved and applied in a totally original way; and only in the dialogue passages is each person found to speak as he might be expected really to do, in his own character.” The speech of the shepherdess Marcella is, by the same high authority, pronounced to be, “in the true prose style of Cicero, and altogether a composition which has seldom been equalled in any modern language.”

[40] Mayans y Siscar and Pellicer quote this anecdote on the authority of Baltasar Porreño, who wrote a work entitled Sayings and Doings (Dichos y Hechos) of Philip III. As the incident, recorded in the anecdote, is stated to have taken place in Madrid, it must have occurred after the year 1606, when the Court removed from Valladolid to the capital.

[41] Cervantes was at this time fifty-seven. The deposition vaguely says, más de cincuenta años (more than fifty years).

[42] The fac-simile engraved with the portrait which illustrates this volume, is from the signature affixed to this document.

[43] Yo soy el primero que he novelado en la lengua castellana; las muchas novelas que en ella andan impresas todas son traducidas de lenguas extrangeras; y estas son mias propias, no imitadas ni hurtadas: mi ingenio las engendró, y las parió mi pluma, y van creciendo en los brazos de la estampa.—Viaje del Parnaso.

[44] Eight Plays and Interludes.

[45] Biographical and Critical Miscellanies, by W. H. Prescott, Esq.

[46] With one foot already in the stirrup, and in the anguish of death, noble Señor I write to you.

[47] It must, however, be borne in mind that the Gregorian Calendar had not at that period been introduced in England.

EL BUSCAPIÉ.

It happened, once on a time, that being on my way to Toledo, just as I was approaching the Toledana Bridge, I descried advancing towards me a student mounted on a most villainous-looking nag. The poor animal was blind of one eye, and not much better than blind of the other; neither was he very sound in the legs, if I might judge from the numerous reverences he made as he wearily moved onward. The student gravely saluted me, and I with all due courtesy returned his greeting. He spurred his poor nag with the intention of advancing more expeditiously, but the miserable animal was so worn out by old age and hard usage, that it was piteous even to behold him.

The rider whipped his horse, but the horse, heedless of the blows, showed no disposition to quicken his pace. He turned a deaf ear to all the commands of his master, who, in truth, might as well have shouted down into the depths of the well of Airon, or up to the summit of Mount Cabra.

This contest between horse and rider had proceeded for some time, to my no small diversion, when, at length, the descendant of Babieca,[48] as though suddenly roused by the severe treatment to which he was subjected, seemed determined not to proceed another foot. In proportion as he was urged to advance, he appeared resolved to stand stock still, or, rather, he shewed more disposition to go backward than forward.

Thereupon the rider flew into a furious rage, and began belabouring the unfortunate horse without mercy, though, as it proved this time, not without effect. Anticipating a smart stroke of the whip, which the upraised arm of his master was preparing to inflict, the animal began to kick and plunge, and after two or three curvets, both horse and rider came to the ground.

I, seeing this mishap, pressed forward my mule, which, by the bye, was anything but swift footed. Having reached the spot where the unlucky student lay rolling in the dust, and uttering a torrent of imprecations, I quickly dismounted, saying—“Compose yourself, señor, and let me assist you to rise. These accidents must be expected by persons who journey on the backs of such crazy animals.”

“Crazy animals!” said he, “your’s appears crazy enough; but I have only to thank the high spirit and mettle of mine for bringing me to this strait!”

Restraining my laughter as I best could, and with as grave a face as I was able to put on, I helped the fallen horseman to rise, which was no easy matter, for he appeared to be much hurt. Having got him upon his feet, I beheld before me the strangest figure in the world. He was short of stature, and on his shoulders there was a graceful hump, which might be likened to an estrambote,[49] tacked to a sonnet, and which brought to my recollection the stanzas in praise of hunch-backs indited by the ingenious Licentiate Tamuriz.[A] His legs were curved like two slices of melon, and his feet were encased in shoes, twelve inches long; and perhaps, without incurring any mistake, I might assign to them even greater magnitude.

The student raised his hands to his head, as if to assure himself that his pericranium had [Pg 103]sustained no fracture. Feeling the effects of his fall, he turned to me, and, in a faint and languid tone of voice, said, that since I was a doctor (which he must have conjectured from seeing that I rode on a mule),[50] he begged I would tell him of some remedy to cure his aching bones.

I returned for answer, that I was not a doctor, but that even if I were as well skilled in the knowledge of medicine as Juan de Villalobos,[B] of the bygone time, or as Nicolo Monardes, of the time present,[C] I could prescribe for him no better physic than rest and sleep; and I added, that as noontide was advancing, the best cure for his aching bones would be to recline for a while beneath the shade of some trees which grew by the road side. There I proposed we should seek shelter against Apollo’s scorching rays, until, [Pg 104]less oppressed by heat and weariness, we might each pursue our course.

“This is strange,” resumed the student in the same doleful tone in which he had before spoken. “Who could have imagined that by reason of the vicious temper of that unruly beast, the whole body of a bachelor of Salamanca should be thus bruised from head to foot! Mark me! I say of Salamanca, not of Alcalá, where none but poor miserable fellows graduate; but by so doing they lose all the privileges and immunities enjoyed by Spanish hidalgos at Salamanca. Alas! what a disaster has befallen me. They told me at the inn that I should find this horse restive and unruly. Nevertheless, he is a fine animal. His smooth sleek skin denotes his high breeding. How finely shaped are his limbs, how black and well rounded his hoofs, and so hollow and dry underneath! His pasterns are short; neither too high nor too low; thereby indicating strength. His fore-legs are sinewy, and his[Pg 105] shins short and well formed; the knees firm, smooth, and large. How full and fleshy are his hind quarters, and how round and expanded his chest. His nostrils are so wide and distended, that one can discern the ruddy tint within them. His mouth is large, and the dilated veins are visible in every part of his fine head.”[51]

Perceiving that my friend the bachelor was preparing to extend still further the catalogue [Pg 106]of excellent qualities which were neither possessed by his horse, nor by any of his horse’s race, I cut the matter short by saying, very composedly, “Pardon me, señor, if I cannot descry in your horse any of the beauties and merits which are so apparent to you. The limbs which you admire, appear to me very ill formed; the sleek skin you extol to the skies, is covered with marks and cuts; and as to his full black eyes, I wish I may lose my own eyes if I see anything in them but the overflowing of the vicious humours inherent in the nature of the miserable beast.”

To these remarks, which were taken in no ill part, my interlocutor rejoined with an air of doubt and misgiving,—“Well, probably it may be as you say, señor, and not as I have fancied; but still you must admit, that though I may be under a mistake, I have advanced nothing at variance with reason; and if I think I perceive what you cannot discern, my error may be occasioned by short-sightedness, a complaint[Pg 107] from which I have suffered from my childhood, and which, being increased by much reading and no little writing, now afflicts me severely. You must know, señor, that on my departure from the inn, I had with me a very handsome pair of spectacles, but this mischievous animal, instigated, no doubt, by some demon that possesses him, made five or six capers (I will not be certain about the precise number), but by one of them I was thrown into the river, from whence I escaped with a good ducking and the loss of my spectacles.”

So saying, the poor fellow heaved a sigh, which seemed to come from his inmost soul; then, after a brief pause, he said,—“But without further delay, let us withdraw from the burning sunshine, to the cool shade of those broad spreading trees. There I may at least find a truce to the miseries which have this day beset me. We will tie the horse and mule to the trunks of the trees, and let them for a[Pg 108] while feast on the grass which, in these parts, affords plentiful pasture for flocks and herds.”

“Be it so,” said I, “and since fate ordains that I am to have the happiness of enjoying your company, here we will tarry until the ardour of Phœbus shall be tempered by the cool breezes of the coming evening.”

“I have,” pursued the bachelor, “brought with me a couple of books wherewith to divert the weary hours of travelling. Both of them contain pleasant entertainment. The one consists of spiritual poetry, better than that of Cepeda.[52] The other is a book of plain prose; and is written with no great judgment or skill. Now had it so happened that instead of going from Madrid to Toledo, we had been journeying from Toledo to Madrid, I could have shewn you two excellent books, which have been sent to me as a present from Señor Ar[Pg 109]cediano. These books are so full of knowledge, and they treat of so many things that are and may be in the world, that with their help, a man may, without much trouble, become wonderfully wise.”[D]

Having reached the umbrageous spot, where we proposed to rest, we tied up the horse and mule, and seated ourselves on mother-earth. My companion then opened a leathern bag, which contained the books he had spoken of. The first he drew forth had for its title Versos espirituales para la conversión del pecador y para el menosprecio del mundo.[53]

“This is very sweet poetry,” observed I, “and it is embued with a truly Christian spirit. I knew the author of this book—he was a friar of the order of Santo Domingo de Predicadores, at Huete, and his name was Pedro de Ezinas.[E] He was a man of genius, and of [Pg 110]much knowledge; qualities manifested in this little work, and in many of his other writings, which are circulated in manuscript, and are much esteemed by the learned.”

“Nevertheless,” said the bachelor, “if I may candidly give my opinion, there is one thing which much offends me in this book. I dislike to see the graceful and pious language befitting to the Christian muse, mingled with the profane phraseology of heathenism. Who can be otherwise than displeased to find the names of God, of the Holy Virgin, and of the Prophets, in conjunction with those of Apollo and Daphne, Pan and Syrinx, Jupiter and Europa, Vulcan, Cupid, Venus and Mars?” He next proceeded to tell me that Father Ezinas, the author of the Versos Espirituales, was himself very fastidious about matters much less objectionable; and he related how annoyed he was, whilst performing mass, by an old woman, who, whenever the Padre repeated the words Dominus vobiscum, devoutly muttered[Pg 111] in a croaking voice, Alabado sea Dios.[54] Father Ezinas bore with this patiently, during several days, but at length finding that the venerable Celestina persisted in her devout contumacy, he turned to her angrily, saying:—‘Truly, my good woman, you have spent your long life to little purpose, since you know not how to respond to a Dominus vobiscum, except by an Alabado sea Dios. Now do recollect that though these are very good and very holy words, yet they are unsuitable where you apply them.’

“You are quite right, friend bachelor, in your remarks on the Versos Espirituales of Ezinas. The fault you have pointed out is very objectionable; but with the exception of that fault, the work is one of the best ever written in Castilian verse, and for elevation of style, it may fairly compete with the most esteemed writings of the poets of Italy.”

“Well,” resumed the bachelor, “greatly as you admire the verses of Ezinas, I must confess that they are not so pleasing to me, nor do they sound so harmoniously to my ear, as the poetry of Aldana, or as that of an Aragonian writer, named Alonzo de la Sierra.[F] The latter is a most admirable poet, and his verses seem as if dictated by Apollo and the Nine. But,” pursued he, closing the volume of Ezinas, and drawing forth the other book from his leathern bag,—“here now is a work which, in my judgment, is not worth two ardites.[55] It is full of fooleries and absurdities;—a tissue of extravagant improbabilities:—in short, one of those works which have an injurious effect on the public taste.”

So saying, he turned over a few leaves of the book, and I, glancing my eye upon it, spied on one of the pages, the words:—el ingenioso hidalgo. For a moment I felt astounded, and [Pg 113]like one, who, by a sudden surprise, is deprived of the power of utterance; but, soon recovering my presence of mind, I said:—

“Pardon me, señor, this book which you declare to be full of absurdity and nonsense, is really very diverting; and instead of being injurious in its tendency, is perfectly harmless. It is a pleasant relation of some very amusing adventures, and its author deserves to be commended, for having hit upon such a device for banishing from the republic of letters, the absurd books of knight-errantry, with their affected sentiment and bombastic phraseology. Moreover, the author of this book is bowed down by misfortunes more than by years; and though he looks forward with hope to the reward that may possibly hereafter crown his labours, yet he is nevertheless disheartened to see the world so pleased with folly and falsehood, and to witness the annoyances and hindrances thrown in the way of talent. In courts and in palaces, and among the great and the[Pg 114] high-born, it has become the fashion to disesteem men who follow the noble profession of letters; and no arguments that can be advanced against this misjudgment, are strong enough to remove it. The consequence is, that when by chance an author of talent gains any influence by his writings, he is speedily cried down, and his life becomes a course of vexation and disappointment.”

“All persons,” said the bachelor, “do not regard books of chivalry as fictions and impostures, and their authors as inventors of falsehood and foolery. Such books, though not approved by sages, are nevertheless admired and accredited by the mass of people. There are even men of wisdom and good understanding who put faith in the reality of the valorous achievements of those knights-errant, who used to sally from their homes in quest of adventures; each devoutly repeating the name of the lady of his thoughts, and invoking her succour in the perils he was about to encoun[Pg 115]ter,—perils voluntarily sought by men who could not behold a grievance without endeavouring to redress it, or a wrong without attempting to right it. Would to heaven! (and these words he uttered with a sorrowful look), that I could meet with some knight-errant who would undertake to right my wrong,—I mean my hump, which is a grievance I should like to see redressed. But for that, and these unshapely limbs, my shortness of stature, a superfluous length of nose, a peculiar stare in my eyes, and too great an expansion of mouth,—but for these trifles, I should be one of the most gallant-looking gentlemen in the world: none would be more admired by the ladies, or more envied by the men. My mother’s neighbours used to tell her when I was a little child that I was the living likeness of my father, who was a brave soldier in the army of the invincible emperor. He served in the war in Flanders, fighting in all the hottest battles and skirmishes; always the last to engage in the attack, and the first to commence the[Pg 116] retreat. It happened one day that Captain Luis Quijada, who held a command in the Lombardy forces, perceiving my father partly concealed behind a tree, thought he was a spy, and ordered him to be seized. But my father excused himself, saying that he was watching the movements of the enemy’s infantry, for he had learned from a wounded Flemish soldier (one of the heretics), that the enemy proposed, after a feigned retreat, to make a sudden assault on our camp at its weakest point. With this, and on the intercession of some soldiers, who knew my father to be a man of courage and honour, Captain Luis Quijada pardoned him, on condition that at daybreak—”

“Stay—stay! Señor Licentiate,” said I, “whither are you straying? You were speaking of the ingenious hidalgo, Don Quixote de la Mancha, and, after fluttering like a butterfly from flower to flower, you have wandered to the heroic deeds of your father in the Flanders war. Between the one subject and the other,[Pg 117] there is as much affinity as that existing between Mingo Rebulgo and Calaynos.”[56]

To this the bachelor replied—“Such as I am, God has made me. Aristotle, you know, condemns taciturn people, and the old proverb says:—‘against the silent man be on your guard.’ Therefore I think it is well to be talkative.”

“But, señor,” I presumed, “if you will do me the favour to listen (this I said, observing his loquacious disposition,) I would remind you of another of our old Spanish proverbs, which is al buen callar llaman sago.[G] And there is another old saying, que dice el pandero no es todo vero.”[57]

“Right,” answered the bachelor, “and no doubt you have heard the proverb andando gana la aceña que no estándose queda.[58] Therefore, sir, with your good leave, I will relate to you how my father came to be made a Captain.

“It happened one day during a violent onset with the Flemish troops, that he was going about the camp, seeking a convenient place wherein he might take refuge (this, you must know, was before I was born or even begotten), for he thought it would be well to preserve himself for greater deeds. Therefore,[Pg 119] he was looking about for a place of safety, where, alike unobserved by the troops of the Spanish camp and by those of the League, he might save his life and person, as I have said, for greater things.”

“Rather say for smaller things,” interrupted I, “since he saved himself to become your father. Now, seeing that you are so very little, and that your father saved himself to beget you, how can it be said that he saved himself for greater things?”

To this my companion replied, that though he knew himself to be very little, yet that he was not so diminutive as some persons affected to think him.

“But,” added he, pursuing his story, “you must know that my father was going about the camp in the way I have described, and seeing that the two wings of the Imperial army were hotly engaged with the enemy, he felt impelled to lay his hand on his sword; a trusty weapon, which, though it had been unsheathed, and had[Pg 120] seen daylight on several occasions of urgent necessity, yet, on all those occasions, it had modestly shrunk back into the scabbard unstained with hostile blood. To tell all my father’s valorous deeds in the battle, would be a long and tedious tale; but the sum of his prowess is well known to fame in my native place, Villar del Olmo, and its environs. Laden with upwards of thirty heads of the heretics whom he had slain, he presented himself, after the victory, to the illustrious emperor, who was at that moment engaged in dictating to his maestre de campo, Alonzo Vivas, the three notable words of Julius Cæsar, which he repeated in Spanish, altering the third, as became a Christian prince, in this wise,—‘Vine, vi y Dios venció.’[H] The emperor, elated with his victory, and thinking it a fitting time to distribute rewards, conferred on my father the rank of captain. And though there were not wanting malicious tongues to declare that my father had cut off the heads from dead bodies, as[Pg 121] they lay on the field of battle, yet nevertheless he was made a captain, in spite of the murmurs of envious slanderers, who are at all times ready to disturb the peace of the community; and in truth, whether my father’s merits were great or small, he did not think it advisable to make them a matter of dispute.”

“Now,” said I, “since you have at length brought your story to an end we will again turn to this book called ‘Don Quixote.’ You say it is full of absurdities and nonsense, but I do assure you that some who have read it, pronounce it to be as entertaining as any work ever written in Spain, and they affirm that it is full of humour and truth. True, it is sailing with no very fair wind over the stormy ocean of criticism; which is only one of the many misfortunes that assail its author; but the tardiness of the learned to approve this work, may possibly redound to its future fame and glory.”

“This book,” pursued my companion,[Pg 122] “which you say is so diverting, and written with so reasonable and praiseworthy an object, appears to me exceedingly silly and irrational. Can anything be more absurd than the idea of curing the taste for reading books of chivalry, (which are objected to because of their falsehood and extravagance) by the perusal of another book still more false and extravagant? Who can imagine a man so infatuated as to put faith in the stories related in such books, and at length becoming so crazy as to sally from his home in quest of adventures, fancying himself to be out and out a knight-errant; and not even the many cudgellings he receives can drive the insane notions from his head. When did the luckless author ever see such lunatics wandering at large through the world?”

Hereupon the bachelor ran into a string of questions worthy of that most indefatigable of questioners the lately defunct Almirante,[I] and he wound up his interrogatories by saying, “Can any one persuade himself into the belief that[Pg 123] Palmerius of England, Florindos and Floriandos are to be seen going about armed cap-à-pie, like the figures in old tapestry on tavern walls?[J] I would advise this author,” pursued he, “to cultivate for better objects the talent he undoubtedly possesses, and to write no more such stupid books as this Don Quixote, which will never out-root from the popular mind the vitiated taste for books of chivalry. I would tell him all this and much more, for I am not at a loss for words, neither am I wanting in memory or information; and I feel a desire to correct and castigate the faults of others, though unluckily I cannot mend my own. Moreover, you must know, that I am a philosopher, and that I have studied in the new school of Doña Oliva,[K] the knowledge of myself; and whosoever acquires self knowledge, may be said to possess no trivial attainment. Let me tell you, moreover, that the doctrine of Doña Oliva is not to be despised because it comes from a woman; for there have been many women in[Pg 124] the world whose learning has entitled them to respect and admiration. Without looking back to remoter times, I may mention the recently deceased Countess de Tendilla, the mother of the three Mendozas, whose names will be proclaimed to remote ages by the voice of Fame.[L] Then there was Madama Passier, whose rare genius and eloquence have been swept away by death, like the vine by the keen wind of October. In honour of her literary attainments that lady was buried with pompous funeral rites, and many learned men have written elegies to her memory. There is a book of letters by Madama Passier, full of erudition and sound morality, which I would recommend to the attention of the author of Don Quixote.”[M]

“How, friend bachelor,” exclaimed I, “do you deny that knights-errant are existing in the world in this our age of iron? And does your memory so far fail that you forget how many persons implicitly believe all the extrava[Pg 125]gant stories related in books of chivalry,—stories which every one, down to the most ignorant of the common people, know by heart? Need I call to your recollection the mad exploits of that famous knight, Don Suero de Quiñones, who, with nine gentlemen, his companions, demanded leave of the most high and puissant King of Castile, John II. to rescue his liberty, (held captive by a lady) by breaking three hundred lances in the space of thirty days, with certain knights and gentlemen who might enter the lists against him. And surely you must remember how the said knight, Don Suero de Quiñones defended the Honroso Paso, near the bridge of Orbigo; and how he was there disburthened of the iron collar which he wore every Thursday round his neck in token of servitude and captivity. And with him fought in defence of the pass, Lope de Estuñiga, Diego de Bazán, Pedro de Nava, and other hidalgos, to the number of nine, all of them devoted knights-errant. They shivered lances with more[Pg 126] than seventy adventurers, who went thither to prove their skill and prowess. Surely these were knights-errant of real flesh and blood, and not mere puppets. The conflict of the Paso Honroso is narrated in a book written by a friar named Pineda, who abridged it from an old manuscript work.[N] Moreover, friend bachelor, have you not heard of the adventure of the Canon Almela, who was at the conquest of Grenada, with two horsemen and seven followers on foot? Such was his veneration for knight-errantry and everything connected with it, that he collected and preserved all sorts of old and worthless objects, because he believed they had belonged to certain renowned heroes of the days of chivalry. He wore girded at his side a sword which he affirmed had belonged to the Cid Ruy Díaz.[O] This he said he knew from certain letters inscribed on the sword, though, in fact, those letters were perfectly illegible, and neither he nor any one else could decipher them.”

“All that you say is perfectly true, Señor Soldado,” replied the bachelor; “and I have only to observe that the events to which you allude are all of old date. Without going quite so far back, let us see what happened in the time of the Emperor Charles V., who directed a certain Bishop of Bordeaux, (and he would have cared as little for saying the same to Archbishop Turpin) to inform the King of France that he had acted with rudeness and discourtesy. Whereupon a messenger was shortly after despatched from the said King of France, and another from King Henry of England, summoning the emperor to meet them in the lists conformably with the laws of chivalry. Now, I recollect having been told by my father, (who was a man well versed in these points of honour, though he did not himself act upon them, for certain reasons of his own,) that the great emperor finding himself challenged with all the solemnity of the laws of the duelo, took counsel of his cousin,[Pg 128] Don Diego, Duke del Infantado, as to the course he ought to pursue.[P] Don Diego advised him by no means to accept the challenge; for seeing that the King of France owed his majesty a large debt, the consequence would be that all debts, known and acknowledged would be settled by recourse to arms, a thing at variance with reason and justice. Rest assured that such absurd encounters have no existence save in silly books of chivalry, and in plays which in our time have been taken from them, but which in the time of Lope de Rueda, Gil Vicente, and Alonso de Cisneros would not have been tolerated on the stage.”[Q]

“Nevertheless,” pursued my loquacious companion, after a brief pause, “methinks I should like to see a return of the good old days of knight-errantry. How I should enjoy setting forth some fine morning to the chase, with hounds and huntsmen, dressed in the cuero,[59] [Pg 129]lined with squirrel skin, such as used to be worn by great lords when they went a-hunting, and with a horn slung round my neck. And when in the thickets of the forest, suppose a storm should come on, the wind blowing and the rain pouring, and in midst of the darkness, suppose I should lose my way in an intricate place, where no one can venture to penetrate for fear of the wild beasts that infest it. And there, perchance, I meet a courteous prince, comely and valiant, who like myself has lost his way. The young prince may have left his court and wandered unattended in quest of adventures. He may be named the Knight of the Griffin, or the Knight of the Red Scarf. He is courteous and fair of speech, and seeing in me a knight of noble comportment, he kindly offers me consolation in my trouble. And lo! all on a sudden there appears an ugly little dwarf, who says, ‘Prepare, Knight of the Griffin, or of the Red Scarf, (or whatsoever surname he may bear,) prepare for the most[Pg 130] marvellous adventure that ever knight-errant encountered. Know that the Princess Bacalambruna, who by the death of her father, Borborifon, (he of the wry nose,) has become mistress of the fair castle whose white walls rise in yonder plain, is deeply enamoured of you, whom she regards as the model of perfection in chivalry. When night draws her dark mantle over the earth, wend your way to the castle, whose gates will be open to receive you; there the beauteous princess awaits your coming.’

“With these words the hideous little dwarf vanishes. Then let us suppose that the Knight of the Griffin, addressing himself to me, declares that he cannot go to the enchanted castle to visit the princess, because he is in love with the beauteous Arsinda, the daughter of King Trapobana Quinquirlimpuz. Hearing this I determine to go in his stead, and to present myself to the lovely Princess Bacalambruna. Mounting my fiery steed I gallop off, and speedily[Pg 131] reach the gates of the enchanted castle. I enter without any one attempting to stop me, and, what is still more strange, without any one coming out to greet me, a thing quite at variance with the laws of courtesy. We will suppose that night has now set in, and I find in the court-yard of the castle a torch ready lighted. Straightway it places itself before my eyes, and moves onward to light me. The torch leading the way, and I following, I soon find myself in a splendid palace, all glittering with gold, silver, and precious stones. I enter a sumptuous chamber, covered with a carpet of silk, embroidered with gold, where I behold the Princess Bacalambruna anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Knight of the Griffin. She is surprised and alarmed on beholding me, and enraged at the disappointment, she rushes from the chamber to give orders for my death. With this, I appeal for succour to a malignant old enchanter, who shews his malice by pretending not to hear me. But my lucky star ordains[Pg 132] that a lady, on whom I never bestowed a thought, though, on her part, she is deeply enamoured of me, and who is one of the noblest ladies in all the realm of Transylvania, (Mari Hernández or Juana Pérez, by name,) at that moment enters the apartment. Taking me by the hand, she conducts me to the great hall of the castle, where several fierce-looking men are waiting in readiness to dispatch me. They are about to draw their swords, but good fortune once more befriends me, and Doña Mari Hernández addresses them, saying,—

“‘Hold, Señores! this is not the knight whom the princess has ordered you to put to death. This is only a squire who is going to travel across the seas. When the knight comes out kill him.’

“With this the lady conducts me to the castle-gate, where I mount my horse. The lady heaves a deep sigh, and I promise to wed her when I return to the castle, which, how[Pg 133]ever, in consideration of the danger I have so narrowly escaped, I resolved never to do.

“Suppose that once more I set out to seek my fortune, and that after journeying for a time I arrive in a town where the lists are prepared for a grand tournament. There I behold the emperor and his daughter. The princess is arrayed in rich brocade, and seated in a chair of state adorned with jewels. She is frightfully ugly, but in spite of that she has come to preside at the tournament, flattering herself that some adventurous knight will enter the lists to compete for the possession of her superlative charms. Seeing that no one is in a hurry to offer, I propose to try my fortune. But at sight of me the spectators immediately begin to shout scoffingly,—‘Here comes the Knight of the Hump—the flower of chivalry!’

“Undismayed, I spur my horse and gallop into the lists, where I shiver a lance in the presence of the emperor and his daughter. Thereupon the princess falls in love with me,[Pg 134] and entreats her father’s leave to bestow upon me her hand. The emperor consents, and calling me to the platform, he rewards my gallantry with the hand of the princess, who has for her dower a kingdom, and for her subjects a nation of dwarfs. Thus, from a bachelor of Salamanca (and not of Alcalá), I become nothing less than a king.”[60]

“Friend bachelor,” observed I, “for the life of me I cannot comprehend how the just and reasonable reply of the Duke del Infantado to the invincible emperor, can warrant the inference that knights-errant were at that period banished from the world. On the contrary, we know that Micer Oliver de la Marcha was then living, though in a very advanced old age. He was a knight of the court of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and he after[Pg 135]wards figured in the court of the duke’s daughter, Doña María, the consort of the Emperor Maximilian, and mother of Philip the Fair. This same Oliver de la Marcha married Doña Juana, a daughter of the King of Castile, and he wrote a book entitled El Caballero Determinado, which like many of the romances of chivalry then circulated, was very ingenious, though full of extravagances. El Caballero Determinado was written in French, from which language it was translated by Don Hernando de Acuña, who transferred it into very graceful Castilian verse.[R]

“Moreover you must also recollect what is related of Mario de Abenante, a Neapolitan knight, who challenged another knight, Don Francisco Pandon, also of Naples. Both entered the lists furiously defying each other. Don Francisco made a thrust at Mario’s horse, and wounded the animal, so that he was well-nigh falling. Mario was unconscious of his danger until his uncle, who was within the lists,[Pg 136] beckoned him to dismount, which he did, and then, with great alertness, he inflicted a wound on the horse of his adversary. The animal became restive, and began to kick and plunge in such a manner that Don Francisco found himself constrained to surrender. Mario’s conduct on this occasion called forth severe censure from all who witnessed it, and he was declared to be a coward and a traitor. Neither can you have forgotten other feats of knight-errantry which have taken place in these present times; as for example, that passage of arms when a knight named Leres challenged another named Martín López. Both met in single combat in Rome, armed with lances and cuirasses. In the midst of the conflict it happened that the horse of Martín López stumbled and fell. López was stunned by the fall, and Leres, thinking it cowardly to strike his adversary as he lay on the ground, was preparing to dismount; but in so doing he also stumbled and fell. Seeing this accident, Martín López,[Pg 137] with an effort, raised himself up, and fearing lest fortune should not grant him such another opportunity, he turned upon Leres, and in that cowardly manner subdued him. Setting aside all these events, you cannot but recollect the happy journey of King Don Philip II. (now in glory), who, when he was Infante, travelled from Spain into his territories in Flanders and Brabant. The whole history is in print, as related by Juan Calvete de Estrella.”[S]

“I know the book you speak of,” eagerly interrupted the bachelor. “It is one of the most entertaining that ever appeared since the world has been the world, or at least since the art of printing has been known. It contains nothing but truth, and that cannot be said of the writings of all historians, some of whom give currency to falsehood by narrating events which never took place.[T] My father was in the suite of the Infante in that journey to Flanders; but in consequence of an adventure[Pg 138] with a lady in which he became entangled, he was forced to return in all haste to Spain. On his road, he encountered more adventures than ever befel that Monster of Fortune,[61] Antonio Pérez.[V] Finally, he was returning home angry and fretful, like one stung by an asp——.”

Here I cut him short, for I was fearful that he was preparing to enter upon one of his tedious and inapt tales. So imitating the serpent, which, with curious perversity, closes her ears when she wishes not to hear the enchanter’s voice, I pretended not to hear what he was saying, and I thus proceeded,

“In Binche, as you probably know, sundry knights who were in that town appeared in the presence of the emperor Semper Augusto, and the prince his son. They stated that a certain [Pg 139]enchanter, a foe to virtue and knight-errantry, and one whom all accounts describe to have been more malignant than Arcalaus,[U] and a greater heretic than Constantino,[W] had taken refuge in Gallia Belgica, and somewhere near to the town of Binche.”

“Do you not recollect the name of that enchanter?” eagerly interrupted the bachelor.

“No, on my faith, I do not,” replied I; “but I doubt not he had a very hideous name; like all those evil spirits whose mischievous doings are narrated in books of chivalry. I have heard of a certain author who, during the space of several days, puzzled himself sorely to fix on a name for an enchanter whom he introduced into one of his stories. His object was to find a pompous, high-sounding name, which would be expressive of the enchanter’s character. The author in question happened one day to be visiting the house of a friend where he and others were playing at cards. During the game, the master of the house[Pg 140] calling to one of the servants, said,—‘Hola Cœlio! trae aquí cantos!’—(Hola Cœlio! bring hither some stones!)[62] These words fell with such sonorous emphasis on the ear of our author, that he immediately rose from the card-table, and, without taking leave of his friends, he straightway hurried home, where he wrote down the name Traquicantos, with which he baptized his enchanter....

“But to return to the magician of Binche, of whom I was just now speaking. By his fiendish arts he spread dismay among the inhabitants of the neighbouring country, doing all sorts of mischief, and threatening still greater harm. The knights ascertained that the said enchanter dwelt in a palace which, being continually enveloped in a hazy cloud, was invisible even to those who had the courage to seek to discover it.[X] But it happened that a virtuous princess, deeply versed in the occult sciences of [Pg 141]foresight and foreknowledge, seeing the mischief wrought by the enchanter, declared that within a certain lofty mountain-peak there was hidden a sword possessing singular power, as was denoted by the following lines inscribed on it:—

“‘Whosoever shall draw forth this sword from the stone within which it is hidden, will terminate these evils, and dispel these enchantments; and will restore to freedom the prisoners now languishing in cruel captivity. Finally, he will hurl to destruction the enchanter’s gloomy castle, and he will, moreover, achieve many other good deeds which, though not here declared, are, nevertheless, promised and predestined.’

“The knights implored the emperor’s permission to undertake this mighty adventure. The permission was accorded, and the knights passed two whole days in performing, in the presence of the emperor and the prince, certain crazy exploits similar to those we read of in books of chivalry—those mischevous creations[Pg 142] of idle imagination. Now, I leave you to weigh and consider (with the sound judgment which must dwell in the mind of a Señor Bachelor of Laws)[63] the fact that the said knights actually performed these feats, or rather these fooleries, and that they were approved by the emperor and the prince Don Philip, who derived therefrom much entertainment. And will it be said that there are not other madmen in the world besides the ingenious knight of La Mancha, when such as these find favour in the eyes of emperors and kings?[Y] But the fools so thickly scattered through this Christian realm cannot endure that the reading of this said book Don Quixote should have the effect of convincing the unlettered common people that romances of chivalry are filled with improbabilities alike adverse to reason and common sense. There[Pg 143]fore it is that they attack the book with such determined fury and perversity, picking faults in it, and seeking to prove that there are no persons in the world so mad as to put faith in the reality of the stories related in books of chivalry. But the courts of kings, to say nothing of more humble places, are full of such madmen, for courts are the birthplaces of madness of every kind. These people say and do all sorts of crazy things: they enter upon insane enterprises to their own injury, and there is no possibility of convincing them of their errors. And these, forsooth, are the persons who find fault with the illustrious knight Don Quixote, the mirror not only of all crazy La Manchians, but of all crack-brained Spaniards; indeed, it may be said, that he is the clear reflection of all madmen throughout the world. For these reasons, instead of being depreciated, the work deserves to be prized and esteemed by all right-judging persons, inasmuch as it is the only one of all the many stories of chivalry[Pg 144] that has been written with an honest and useful purpose. After all, the delusions of Don Quixote are less absurd than many things related in those romances: and from time immemorial there have been numberless lunatics in the world who have not, in the general opinion, been accounted mad. The laudable intention of the author was to banish the false order of knight-errantry, by the highly-seasoned dish of diversion presented in his true history.”

Just as I uttered these words, the bachelor’s unlucky nag, by a sudden leap, snapped the reins by which he was fastened up; he had taken a fancy to sport with the mule who, tied to the trunk of an old oak, was quietly reposing on the grass. The mule, however, with becoming dignity, evinced her dislike of such familiarity by several smart kicks. One of them, aimed at the one eye of the poor horse which still retained some little power of vision, rendered it as blind as the other. In another instant a severe kick laid him prostrate on the[Pg 145] earth, to all appearance bringing to an end the miseries of the horse, and the falls of his rider.

At this unexpected disaster, and naturally expecting that the poor animal, which lay struggling and gasping, was about to draw his last breath, the bachelor vented his grief in a torrent of lamentations, at the same time bitterly reproaching himself for the little caution he had observed in securing the safety of the precious jewel which he had probably hired from the stables of Colmenares.[64] He began to curse the hour when he had set out on his luckless journey.

I, to console him, said, “After all, Señor Bachelor, this misfortune has happened not [Pg 146]inopportunely. But a minute ago you were observing that the book called Don Quixote is full of absurd extravagances. Now, a truce with your lamentations, and recall to your memory that famous adventure of the Knight of La Mancha when he encountered the most disastrous of all his misfortunes—I mean when he met with the Yangueses on his departure from Chrysostom’s funeral, on which occasion Rosinante had a narrow escape with his life.”

“Lléveme el Diablo!” exclaimed the bachelor in a rage. “Truly I wish you and your Don Quixote were a hundred leagues off. Since the moment when I first set eyes on you, as many disasters have beset me as though I were under the ban of excommunication.” So saying, he made an effort, though a vain one, to raise up his horse, which was sorely hurt, and now quite blind; at every tug of the reins he slowly thrust forward one or the other of his feet, with languid movements indicative of expiring life.

Seeing that the disaster was past all remedy, and that the sun, already receding over the mountain-tops, was about to set in his ocean-bed, I took a courteous leave of my luckless companion. But he, wholly engrossed by his great, albeit useless, efforts to raise up his horse, neither heard my farewell, nor saw my departure. There I left him, venting imprecations and uttering complaints against his evil star. I can even fancy that I hear him now. What afterwards became of him I know not, nor did I inquire. Mounting my trusty mule, I forthwith pursued my way to Toledo, and evening had set in when I entered the city gates.

I rode straightway to the house of one of my friends, where I for a time took up my abode. Turning over in my mind what had occurred, I resolved to write this my adventure, hoping thereby to undeceive the many persons who fancy they see in the ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote, that which the ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote is not. Therefore I give to this[Pg 148] little book[65] the name of Buscapié, hoping that they who seek to discover the foot with which the Knight of La Mancha limps, may find (God be praised) that he is not lame with either; but that he stands stoutly and firmly on both, and ready to enter into single combat with the stupid and grumbling critics, who, like wasps, buzz about to the injury of society.

And now, Friend Reader, if I have given you some entertainment, or if any of the observations I have made be worthy your remembrance, I shall be much gratified, and may God have you in his holy keeping.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] Babieca was the name of the Cid’s favourite horse.

[49] The old Spanish poets occasionally lengthened their sonnets by affixing to them a few additional lines. The lines so added were called the estrambote.

[50] In the time of Cervantes the Spanish doctors used always to ride on mules when they went to visit their patients.

[51] The delusion of the student, in respect to the merits of his horse, would seem intended to have some reference to the hallucinations and mistakes of the Knight of La Mancha. It may be mentioned, that minute descriptions of animals, such as that here given above, are of frequent occurrence in the works of Spanish writers, especially the poets. Lope de Vega, in one of his comedies, describes in detail a fish caught in the net of a fisherman on the bank of the Guadalquivir. Another beautiful specimen of this kind of animal painting is given by Antonio Mira Amescua, in his Acteon i Diana: the subject is a pack of hounds, weary with the chase. Villaviciosa, in his Mosquea, pourtrays with eloquent poetic colouring the death of a fly; and there is a celebrated description of a horse by Pablo de Céspedes.

[52] Cervantes here alludes to a little work entitled:—Conserva Espiritual, by Joaquín Romero de Cepeda.

[53] Spiritual verses for the conversion of the Sinner, and for shewing the worthlessness of the world.

[54] “Praised be God.”

[55] The ardite is a small Spanish coin, of about the value of a farthing.

[56] Mingo Rebulgo is an old Spanish eclogue written to satirise the court of King John II. Its supposed author is Rodrigo de Cota, who flourished in the commencement of the fifteenth century. It is written in couplets, and is entitled “Las coplas de Mingo Rebulgo.” The romance of the Moor Calaynos is one of the oldest compositions of its class, and is supposed to have been written in the fourteenth century. It is also in coplas, or couplets. In the course of time, and when the forms of Spanish poetry began to improve, the old fashioned commonplace language of the romance of Calaynos began to appear vulgar and trivial, it gave birth to the proverb, “este no vale las coplas de Calaynos.” (This is not worth the couplets of Calaynos.) A saying which is employed to mark great depreciation of any object. In alluding to the little affinity between Mingo Rebulgo and Calaynos, Cervantes means to draw a very broad contrast between two things not merely dissimilar, but differing very much in worth.

[57] “The talk of the prattler is not all truth.”

[58] “The mill gains in going, that which it loses in standing still.”

[59] A sort of hunting-jacket made of leather, formerly worn in Spain.

[60] This excursive flight into the region of romance would appear to have been interpolated by Cervantes after the Buscapié was written,—it has no direct bearing on the question under discussion between the two interlocutors.

[61] Monstruo de Fortuna is a designation frequently applied by old Spanish writers to the celebrated Antonio Pérez. The term Monster in the sense of prodigy is applied to Lope de Vega by Cervantes, who styles his celebrated contemporary Monstruo de Naturaleza (Monster of Nature).

[62] It was formerly the custom in Spain to use small pebble stones for counters in playing at cards.

[63] This is a stroke of satire aimed at the Spanish lawyers of that period. In the time of Cervantes, the Abogados (advocates) were remarkable only for their ignorance and pedantry.

[64] At the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century, there lived in Burgos a tavern-keeper named Colmenares, celebrated alike for his wealth, his social humour, and his witty sayings. Many of his jests are collected and published in a volume entitled “Diálogos de apacible entretenimiento, por Gaspar Lucas, Hidalgo.” The inn in Madrid known in the time of Cervantes by the appellation of the Mesón de Colmenares, was probably kept by the witty tavernero of Burgos, or some of his relations.

[65] Cervantes here uses the term librillo, the Spanish diminutive for libro (book). Were it allowable to make an English word for the purpose of translating this Spanish term, booklet might be suggested as an appropriate synonym.

NOTES.

(A).

“Which brought to my recollection the stanzas in praise of hunch-backs, written by the ingenious Licentiate Tamuriz.” (Page 102).

Tamariz, who lived in the latter part of the sixteenth century, is noticed in terms of encomium by Don Argote de Molina, in his Discourse on Castilian Poetry, which he published with an edition of the old poem of the Conde Lucanor. Don Adolfo de Castro mentions having seen several works of Tamariz in manuscript, and among them were several novels; but of the stanzas alluded to in the text, he states he has no knowledge.

[Pg 152]

(B).

“Even if I were as well skilled in the knowledge of medicine as Juan de Villalobos of the bygone time.” (Page 103).

The name of this celebrated physician was Francisco, and not Juan, as Cervantes styles him, apparently by mistake. Villalobos was a native of Toledo, and one of the most distinguished men of his age. He was a learned and skilful physician, a profound philosopher, and an elegant poet. He was physician to King Ferdinand the Catholic, and afterwards to the Emperor Charles V., in whose palace he resided until the death of the Empress Isabel, in the year 1539. The cause of the empress’s death is, by some authorities, alleged to have been a malignant fever, whilst others state that she died in childbirth. But, be that as it may, the event was a source of deep grief to Villalobos, who reproached himself for not having succeeded in saving her life. Having become very dejected in spirits, he solicited and obtained the emperor’s permission to remove from court.

In his retirement Villalobos employed himself in writing several works on medical and[Pg 153] philosophic subjects. He conceived that the services he had rendered to the Imperial family, were but inadequately requited, and on this subject he gave vent to his dissatisfaction both in verse and prose. In one of his writings he makes the following reflections in allusion to the neglect with which he felt himself treated: “Having served the court till the age of seventy, I may say that my period of service has extended to my death; for my remaining span of existence can scarcely be called life, being merely the endurance of the pains and miseries of old age. I have studied and exerted my faculties, not to enable poor labourers to wear old men’s shoes, but to secure the blessings of health to the greatest and best princes in the world. And to this object I directed all my thoughts and efforts, often passing anxious nights without sleep, and many times only resting my poor bones on the floor. Their Majesties though knowing these facts which they witnessed with their own eyes, neither afforded me the opportunity of making my fortune nor of securing a subsistence for my son, which might easily have been done. This neglect must be attributed to one or two causes, or to both those causes conjointly. Either I[Pg 154] have not merited the reward to which I imagine myself entitled, or those by whose advice and information their Majesties were guided, forgot me, remembering others more near to them but whom perchance I preceded both in priority of service as well as of age.”

Villalobos was the author of some notes and commentaries on Pliny’s Natural History, which were published, but many other works which he wrote in Latin were never submitted to the press. In noticing these works, he himself says:—“Spanish printers will not print Latin books unless the author himself defrays the expense from his own pocket. And as I am not a bookseller, I hold it to be a hardship to study and labour in the production of the work, and then to spend my money for the advantage of those who after all will shew me but little gratitude.”

In addition to his learning and scientific attainments, Villalobos was distinguished for his humorous and satirical disposition, a quality which is conspicuous in his spirited translation of the Amphytrion of Plautus. Moratin observes, that no other translator has so happily transferred to the Spanish language the jests and humorous sallies of the great comic dramatist of antiquity.

[Pg 155]

(C).

Monardes was a native of Seville, and an eminent physician in the time of Cervantes. He was the author of several works on medicine and natural history which enjoy well deserved celebrity. The following are the titles of a few of his most celebrated writings:—

“Primera Segunda i tercera partes de la Historia Medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales que serven en Medicina.” (First, second, and third parts of the medical history of those objects, the growth of our Western Indies, which are made use of in medicine.)

“Tratado de la piedra Bezoar, i de la yerba escuerzonera.” (Treatise on bezoar stone, and on the poison of the toad.)

“Diálogo de las grandezas del hierro, i de sus virtudes medicinales.” (Treatise on the importance of iron and its medicinal properties.)

“Tratado de la nieve, i del beber frío.” (Treatise on snow and on cold drinks.)

The Historia Medicinal, rendered Monardes[Pg 156] celebrated throughout Europe. It was translated into Italian by Anibal Briganti di Chieti, an eminent physician of the time, and the translation was published in Venice, in the year 1576. Carlo Clusio transferred it to the Latin tongue, and published it at Antwerp, in 1574. An English translation by Mr. Frampton, appeared in 1577, and a French one by Antonio Collin, in 1619.

In the preface Monardes makes the following observations: “From the new regions, new kingdoms, and new provinces, which Spaniards have discovered, they have brought home with them new medicines and new remedies for the cure of many diseases, which if neglected, would prove incurable. These things, though some few persons are acquainted with them, are not known to every one; for which reason I propose to treat in this work of those substances, the products of our Western Indies,[66] which are employed in medicine as remedies against the diseases and infirmities to which the human frame is liable. By this means I may render no small service and benefit to my contemporaries, as well as to [Pg 157]future generations, and my labours will serve as a groundwork for those who may follow me, and who may add their increased knowledge and experience to mine. This city of Seville, being the port for vessels coming from the Western Indies, the products of those regions are brought hither before they reach other parts of Spain, so that we obtain here the earliest knowledge and experience of them. In addition to my own experience in the use of those articles in the forty years during which I have practised medicine in this city, I have carefully collected information from those who have brought them to Spain, and I have with great assiduity and attention observed their effects on many and various individuals.”

Though the works whose titles are quoted, are the most celebrated writings of Monardes, yet he is the author of many others on the subject of Medicine. In the Biblioteca Hispana, the learned Nicolás Antonio, gives a list of his writings.

In the Museum of Gonzalo Argote de Molina, at Seville, there is a portrait of Monardes; and under a drawing of an Armadillo, in the same collection, Monardes himself wrote some lines of which the following is a[Pg 158] translation:—“This drawing is from an animal in the Museum of Gonzalo de Molina of this city; which museum contains a great number of books on various subjects, together with many kinds of animals, birds, &c., from Eastern and Western India and other parts of the world: also a great quantity of coins, antique stones, and different kinds of arms which have been collected together by dint of much curious research and liberal expense.”

The Museum of Argote de Molina, at Seville, was one of the first institutions of its kind in Europe, and at that time probably the only one existing in Spain.

(D).

“Now, had it so happened that instead of going from Madrid to Toledo, we had been journeying from Toledo to Madrid, I could have shewn you two excellent books, which have been sent to me as a present from Señor Arcediano. These books are so full of knowledge, and they treat of so many things that are or may be in this world, &c. (Page 109).”

Don Adolpho de Castro supposes that allusion is here made to two curious old books, respecting which he furnishes the following bibliographical particulars:—

One of the first books printed in Spain was entitled De Proprietatibus Rerum, originally written in Latin, by Father Vicente de Burgos, and afterwards translated into Castilian by the author, under the title of Libro de las Propiedades de las Cosas. It is described as a “Natural History, which treats of the properties of all things—a Catholic and very useful work, containing much theological doctrine in reference to God; and much moral and natural philosophy in reference to his creatures—accompanied by great secrets relating to astrology, medicine, surgery, geometry, music and cosmography, together with other sciences, the whole in twenty books, as here subjoined:—

“I. Of God and his essence. II. Of the angels, good and bad. III. Of the soul. IV. Of matter and element. V. Of man and the parts of the human body. VI. Of ages. VII. Of diseases. VIII. Of heaven, earth, and the planets. IX. Of time. X. Of substance and form. XI. Of the air and its[Pg 160] impressions. XII. Of birds. XIII. Of water. XIV. Of the earth and mountains. XV. Of the divisions of the world. XVI. Of stones and metals. XVII. Of trees, plants, and herbs. XVIII. Of minerals. XIX. Of colours, smells and tastes. XX. Of numbers, measures, weights, instruments and sounds.”

At the end of the work is the following note:—

“Printed in the noble city of Toulouse, by Henry Meyer of Germany, for the honour of God, and of our Lord, and for the benefit of many ignorant persons. Finished in the year of our Lord, one thousand four hundred and forty-nine, and the nineteenth day of September.”

This curious Encyclopædia was reprinted some years afterwards. At the end of this second edition are the following words:—

“Thus ends the Catholic and very useful book of the properties of all things, translated from the Latin into the Romance (Castilian) language, by the Reverend Father Vicente de Burgos, and now newly edited and reprinted in the city of Toledo, by Gaspar de Ávila, printer of books, at the cost and expense of the most noble Juan Tomás Fabio Milanés, of[Pg 161] Segovia. Finished on the tenth day of July, in the year one thousand, five hundred and twenty.”

Hence there is no doubt that the Libro de las Propiedades de las Cosas was originally written in the Latin tongue, by Father Vicente de Burgos, and after being translated into Castilian by the author, it was a second time submitted to the press, with the view of rendering it more accessible to the mass of readers.

The dates of the Latin edition, and of the first Castilian edition, were unknown to Nicolás Antonio, who was also ignorant of the name of the author of this work, to which, in the Biblioteca Hispana, he affixes the word Anonimus.

Indeed, some of the most learned Spanish Bibliographers appear to have known very little about it. It is mentioned by the celebrated Ambrosio Morales, in his narrative of the journey he undertook in the year 1572, by command of King Don Philip II.,[67] when speaking of the MS. works he examined in the [Pg 162]monastery of the Order of San Geronimo de la Mejorada, near Olmeda, says:—“De proprietatibus rerum in Latin, and the same in Castilian; very ancient and rare books.”

Father Vicente de Burgos concludes his work with the following observations:—

“I here protest, as I affirmed at the beginning of this work, that the facts mentioned and contained in it, are not inferred by me, but that I have cited the sayings and opinions of learned saints and philosophers, who are allowed to have been profoundly versed in the subjects of which they treat. I have done this, to the end that persons who, by reason of their indigence, cannot obtain sight of many books, may be made acquainted with the properties of things mentioned in Holy Writ, by having them all brought together in this one book.”

Don Tomás Fabio Milanés, at whose cost the Libro de las propiedades de las cosas was printed in 1529, in his dedication to Don Diego de Ribera, Bishop of Segovia, says:—

“No little honour is due to the author by[Pg 163] whom this book was compiled, for though it does not contain much new information proceeding from himself; yet he has, on every subject, given the best intelligence supplied by ancient authors, and he has served up the whole so free from errors and prejudiced opinions, that it is at once savory to the taste, and wholesome to the understanding.”

The other book supposed to be alluded to by the bachelor in that passage of the text to which the present note refers, is entitled Suma de todas las cronicas del mundo. According to some authorities, its author was Frai Diego de Bérgano, and according to others, Filipo Jacobo Bérgano. A translation from Latin into Castilian, by Narcis Viñoles, was printed in Valencia in the year 1510.

To these two old works, the one a sort of Enciclopœdia, and the other a History of the World from the time of the Creation, there is reason to believe that Cervantes alludes in that part of the Buscapié in which the student mentions the two excellent books sent to him “as a present from Señor Arcediana.”

[Pg 164]

(E).

Father Pedro de Ezinas, a monk of the order of the Predicadores, in the Convent of St. Domingo at Huete, was preparing to submit several of his poems to the press when he suddenly died. Some monks of his order, determined on carrying out the intention of the writer, and the poems were accordingly printed under the following title, Versos espirituales que tratan de la convercion del pecador, menosprecio del mundo, y vida de Nuestro Señor, con unas sucintas declaraciones sobre algunos pasos del libro, compuestos por el Reverende Padre, Fray Pedro de Ezinas de la orden de Santo Domingo. En Cuenca en casa de Miguel Serrano de Vargas, año de, 1597.

(F).

“Greatly as you admire the verses of Ezinas, I must confess that they are not[Pg 165] so pleasing to me, nor do they sound so harmoniously to my ear as the poetry of Aldana, or that of an Aragonian writer named Alonzo de la Sierra.” (Page 112).

Francisco de Aldana, the writer here alluded to was honoured by his contemporaries with the surname of the Divine. He had, however, but little claim to that distinction, for his versification is frequently inharmonious and his language harsh. A collection of his poems was published at Milan, in the year 1589, under the following title, La primera parte de las obras que hasta agora se han podido hallar del Capitan Francisco de Aldana, Alcaide de San Sebastian, el qual murio peleando en la jornada de Africa. Agora nuevamente puestas en luz por su hermano Cosme de Aldana gentil hombre del Rey Don Felipe nuestro Señor, &c. The first part of the works (hitherto found) of Captain Francisco de Aldana, Alcalde of San Sebastian, who died in battle in Africa. Now published by his brother, Cosme de Aldana, Gentleman in the service of King Don Philip, our Lord, &c.

[Pg 166]

(G).

The meaning of this proverb is that it is wise to know when to hold one’s tongue. As sabio, not sago, is the Spanish adjective meaning wise, it has been conjectured that sago is a corruption of some other word. This appears the more probable, as the proverb, both in speaking and writing is frequently quoted thus, “Al buen callar llaman Sancho,” which literally construed is, he who knows when to hold his tongue is called Sancho, possibly in allusion to King Don Sancho of Navarre, surnamed The Wise. But be this as it may, the proverb occurs in the poem of the Conde Lucanor, and in other old Spanish writings with the word Sago, as it is given by Cervantes in the Buscapié.

A shrewd French writer has observed that proverbs are the wisdom of a nation, and with equal truth it may be said that no people possess so large a share of this sort of national wisdom as the Spaniards. There is scarcely one of their countless stock of every day proverbs that is not a wise maxim founded on[Pg 167] experience and truth. Two classes of proverbs with which the Spanish language abounds, viz.: those embodying philosophic and medical maxims, have furnished materials for two curious old treatises, the one entitled La Filosofía vulgar, by Juan de Mal Lara, published at Salamanca in 1568, the other, La Medecina española contenida en proverbios vulgares de nuestra lengua[68] by Doctor Juan Sorapan de Rieros, Granada, 1616.

In the preface to this last mentioned work, the author states that he has opened a new road, previously unknown to any author, ancient or modern, Greek, Latin, or Spanish. For though it is true that many have collected proverbs and made comments on them, yet no one has written a word on the proverbs of the class to which this work refers: no one has collected the Spanish proverbs relating to medicine and formed upon them a system for preserving human health. “I have,” he says, “been the first to enter upon this new path, in which, short and crooked though it be, the reader will find all the essential knowledge transmitted [Pg 168] to us by the Arab and Greek masters of rational medicine; the superfluous knowledge being left to those who are disposed to travel by the broad and even path which learning has opened.”

“Inasmuch as it has been my wish to exempt mankind from the prescription of the physician, the spatula of the apothecary, and the tape of the barber, I have deemed it expedient to write this book in my mother tongue, to render it more useful to my nation, in which though there are many latinists, yet there are many more romancistas;[69] and there is no reason why the latter should not enjoy the benefit of those old Spanish aphorisms on which I have commented. These maxims coming as they do from our forefathers ought to be venerated instead of being despised; and to show that this book is derived therefrom, I have given it the title of Medecina Española. If among my readers there should be any who despise their genuine native language, they will find on the margin in Latin, the substance of what is written in the text, together with references to the [Pg 169]works of learned authors who have written on the subject.”

(H).

“He presented himself after the victory to the illustrious emperor, who was at that moment engaged in dictating to his Maestre de Campo, Alonzo Vivas, the three notable words of Julius Cæsar, altering the third as became a Christian prince, &c.” (Page 120).

In the commentary on the war in Flanders, by Luis de Ávila y Zuñiga,[70] the following passage occurs:—

“This great victory (which terminated the battle fought on the river Albis, on the 24th of August, 1547), his Majesty attributed to God, as a thing wrought by God’s hand, and therefore he repeated those three words of [Pg 170]Cæsar, changing the third as became a Christian prince, acknowledging the favour which God conferred on him, Vine, vi y Dios venció.”

This and other allusions to Charles V., would seem to have given rise to the idea that the Buscapié contained the avowal of Cervantes that his principal object in writing Don Quixote, had been to satirize certain acts of the renowned emperor, no less extravagant than those which are recorded of the knights-errant of old. This idea, though wholly unfounded, received some degree of confirmation from a letter of Don Antonio Ruidiaz, published by Vicente de los Ríos, in his Life of Cervantes. In that letter Ruidiaz mentions having had an opportunity of perusing a copy of the Buscapié,[71] and that it appeared to him to be merely a satire on several celebrated individuals, among whom were the Emperor Charles V., and the Duke de Lerma. Cervantes, doubtless means to censure the taste cherished by those personages for chivalrous entertainments, when, in allusion to the famous festivities [Pg 171]at Binche, he says in the Buscapié:—“The knights actually performed these feats or rather these fooleries, and they were approved by the Emperor and the Prince Don Philip, who derived therefrom much entertainment. And will it be said that there are not other madmen in the world besides the ingenious Knight of La Mancha, when such madness finds favour in the eyes of emperors and kings?”

But because Cervantes has here censured Charles V.’s taste for chivalrous diversions, by what process of reasoning is it to be inferred that he intended Don Quixote as a satire on that monarch? It may also be asked what acts in the life of Charles V. bear any resemblance to the achievements of the Knight of La Mancha? Certainly none! yet, nevertheless, some able critics have racked their ingenuity in endeavouring to discover allusions where none exist.

On the other hand, it must be admitted that in Don Quixote there is no lack of ridicule and censure on many customs and abuses which prevailed in the time of Cervantes. An amusing satire on the Inquisition occurs in vol. iv., where Don Quixote and Sancho are overtaken and made prisoners by the duke’s servants, who ever and anon address them[Pg 172] thus:—“Go on, ye Troglodytes! peace, ye barbarians! pay, ye Anthropophagi! complain not, ye Scythians! open not your eyes, ye muttering Polyphemuses! ye carnivorous lions!” &c. Thereby imitating the language which the ministers of the holy tribunal were wont to address to criminals, or presumed criminals. Then follows the description of the auto de fe which takes place when Don Quixote and Sancho are conducted to the court-yard of the castle, “around which about a hundred torches were placed in sockets, and in the galleries of the court there were more than five hundred lights, insomuch that in spite of the night, which was somewhat dark, there seemed to be no want of the day.”

The arrangement of the place is minutely described, and the seats allotted to the different personages present at the auto are specified thus: “On one side of the court a sort of stage or platform was erected, and on it were two chairs. On these chairs were seated two personages (Minos and Rhadamanthus, the presiding judges in Pandemonium), whose crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands denoted them to be kings, either real or feigned. And now, two great persons ascended the plat[Pg 173]form with a numerous attendance whom Don Quixote presently knew to be the Duke and Duchess whose guest he had been:”—The following passage is intended as a parody on the cruel threats which the inquisitors held out to criminals. “At this juncture an officer crossed the place, and coming to Sancho, threw over him a robe of black buckram, all painted over with flames, and taking off his cap, put on his head a pasteboard mitre three feet high, like those used by penitents, and whispering in his ear bade him not to open his lips because if he did they would put a gag in his mouth or kill him.” A little further on is depicted the refinement of cruelty with which the Inquisition excited the merriment as well as the terror of the populace, by showing the criminals dressed up in masquerade, and covered with fantastic emblems and devices. “Sancho viewed himself from top to toe, and saw himself all covered with flames, but finding that they did not burn him he cared not two ardites. He took off his mitre and saw it all painted over with devils; he then put it on again saying within himself, well these flames do not burn me, nor do these demons carry me away. Don Quixote also surveyed him, and[Pg 174] though dismay suspended his senses, he could not but smile to behold Sancho’s figure.” And in the conclusion of the chapter, the scene descriptive of the resurrection of Altisidora, Cervantes evidently ridicules the fatuity of the inquisitorial judges, who after having tormented a prisoner into the confession of a crime of which he was innocent, would gravely congratulate themselves on having effected a conversion.

Those who wish to verify the truthfulness of the satire dealt out by Cervantes on the Autos de fe, may be referred to a work by a learned Spanish writer, better known to foreigners than to the author’s own countrymen. It is entitled La Inquisicion sin Mascara, by the late Don Antonio Puigblanch, published at Cádiz, in the year 1811; the author screening himself under the fictitious name of Natanael Jomtob.[72]

Clemencin doubts whether, in painting the burlesque scene in the duke’s court[Pg 175]-yard, Cervantes had any intention of ridiculing the Inquisition; but his doubt is grounded merely on the fact that Cervantes, in several of his other works, eulogizes this barbarous tribunal. However, in the chapter of Don Quixote, above commented on, Cervantes pays himself the compliment of saying that all the arrangements for the pretended resurrection of Altisidora were made “so to the life, that there was but little difference between them and reality.” His avowed aim was to exhibit the inquisitors in no less ridiculous a light than Don Quixote and Sancho, for he makes the grave historian, Cid Hamet Benengeli, observe, that “to his thinking the mockers were as mad as the mocked.”—(Afirmando que tiene para si ser tan locos los burladores como los burlados.)

(I).

“Hereupon the bachelor ran into a string of questions worthy of that most indefatigable questioner, the lately defunct Almirante.” (Page 122).

Our author no doubt here alludes to the questions addressed by Don Fadrique Enríquez, who filled the high post of Admiral of Castile, to Luis de Escobar, a Franciscan Monk. Escobar published, at Saragossa, in the year 1543, the first volume of a work, entitled Preguntas del Almirante, (Queries of the Admiral.) The favour with which this volume was received by some of the most learned men of the age, encouraged the author to submit to the press a second part, which terminates with a curious paragraph, of which the following is a translation:—

“To the honour and glory of Our Lord and Saviour, and of his blessed Mother Our Lady, here ends the second part of the four hundred replies to the Admiral of Castile, Don Fadrique Enriques, and other persons answered but not named by the author. To these are added two hundred answers, which, with the four hundred of the first part, and the four hundred of this second part, complete one thousand. This work was printed in the most noble city of Valladolid (anciently called Pincia.) Finished on the second of January of this present year, MDLII.”

This work is a collection of replies, some in verse, some in prose, written in answer to[Pg 177] questions addressed to the Padre Escobar by various individuals. One of the principal interrogators is Dr. Céspedes, who is distinguished by the titles of medico famoso, clérigo i catedrátigo in Valladolid. The names of several monks and Spanish grandees are attached to many of the queries, of which, however, the majority emanates from the Almirante de Castilla, and for that reason the book is called, Preguntas del Almirante. These questions relate chiefly to points of religion and history, and some refer to matters connected with medicine and the phenomena of nature. The task of replying to many of them must have put Escobar’s ingenuity and learning to a severe test.

(J).

“Can any one persuade himself into the belief that Palmerius of England, Florindos, and Floriandos are to be seen going about armed cap-à-pie, like the figures in old tapestry on tavern walls?” (Page 123).

The “History of Palmerin of England” is one of the curious old books of chivalry once popular in Spain. It is entitled, Libro del muy esforzado caballero Palmerin de Inglaterra, hijo del Rey Don Duardos, y de sus grandes provezas; y de Floriano del Desierto su hermano; con algunos del Príncipe Florendos hijo de Primaleon. Toledo, año de MDXLVII.[73]

In the year following, a second part, entitled, Libro segundo de Palmerin de Inglaterra; en el cual se prosiguen y han fin los muy dulces amores que tuvo con la Infanta Polinarda, dando cima à muchas aventuras y ganando immortal con sus muchos fechos, y de Floriano del Desierto, con algunos del Príncipe Florendos. Toledo, MDXLVIII.[74]

Nicolás Antonio makes no mention of[Pg 179] this edition of Palmerin of England. After a time the two publications above-mentioned became scarce, and a Portuguese translation of the work, also published in the sixteenth century, got into general circulation. This circumstance caused the authorship of Palmerin to be by some assigned to Don John II., King of Portugal, and by others to the Infante Don Luis, who claimed the right of succession to the Portuguese crown in opposition to King Philip II.

Neither Pellicer nor Clemencin, in their Commentaries on Don Quixote, mention or allude to the above-cited editions of Palmerin de Inglaterra, which were the first that were printed. Neither do one or the other mention the name of Ferrer, the presumed author of that celebrated book of knight-errantry. Cervantes, when speaking of Palmerin de Inglaterra, says:—“This palm of England should be kept and preserved as a thing unique. A case should be made expressly to contain it, like that which Alexander found among the spoil of Darius, and which the latter monarch had appropriated to the preservation of the works of the poet Homer.”

[Pg 180]

(K).

“Moreover, you must know that I am a philosopher, and that I have studied in the new school of Doña Oliva.” (Page 123).

The Doña Oliva, here alluded to, was a woman of extraordinary talent and learning. Her name was Doña Oliva de Nantes Sabuca Barrera, and she was a native of the town of Alcaraz. This extraordinary woman wrote a curious work, entitled, Nueva filosofía de la naturaleza del hombre, no conocida ni alcanzada de los grandes filósofos antiguos, la cual mejora la vida y salud humana.[75]

“This book,” says Doña Oliva, in her dedicatory epistle to King Philip II. was “wanting in the world, though of many others there are more than enough. The facts contained in this book, are not touched upon by Galen, [Pg 181]Plato or Hippocrates in their treatises on human nature;—nor by Aristotle when he treats of the soul and of life and death. Neither are they mentioned by Pliny, Ælian, or other naturalists of antiquity. It is as clear and as obvious as the light of the sun that the old system of medicine is erroneous in its fundamental principles, inasmuch as the philosophers and physicians of ancient times did not comprehend the nature of the human frame, on the right understanding of which medicine is founded and has its origin. My petition is that my system be tried only for the space of one year: those of Hippocrates and Galen have been tried for two thousand years, and they have proved ineffectual and uncertain in their results. This is evident every day in cases of catarrh, fever, small pox, plague and divers other diseases, against which the old system furnishes no remedies; for out of a thousand individuals who come into the world, not more than three go out of it by natural death. The rest die prematurely, being carried off by diseases, for which medicine, as practised on the old system, supplies no remedies.”

Notwithstanding the bombastic and con[Pg 182]ceited tone in which the Nueva Filosofía is written, the work contains much useful information, and medical science is indebted to the authoress for some anatomical discoveries, especially in relation to the nervous fluid.

(L).

“Without looking back to remoter times, I may mention the recently deceased Countess de Tendillo, the mother of the three Mendozas.” (Page 124).

Cervantes here refers to the three celebrated brothers Mendoza—Don Diego, Don Antonio, and Don Bernardino.

The name of Diego de Mendoza is one of the most illustrious in Spanish literature. Bouterwek pronounces him to be the third classic poet and the first prose writer of Spain. Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was a native of Granada, and was born about the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was descended from one[Pg 183] of the most ancient families in Spain. His parents destined him for the clerical profession, and with that object he studied at the University of Salamanca. Besides the classical languages of antiquity, he made himself master of Hebrew and Arabic, and he became well versed in scholastic philosophy, theology and ecclesiastical law. Whilst a student at Salamanca, he wrote his celebrated romance of Lazarillo de Tormes. The Emperor Charles V., perceiving that his talents might be advantageously employed in public business, drew him from his university studies and appointed him imperial envoy to Venice. Whilst filling this high post, Mendoza cultivated acquaintance with the learned Italians of the age, and acquired an extensive knowledge of Italian literature. But greatly as he admired the Italian poets, he preferred the ancients, and his especial favourite was Horace.

Few poets have divided themselves between literature and politics with so much ability and success as Diego de Mendoza. Charles V. selected him as the fittest person he could make choice of to go to the Council of Trent. This commission Mendoza executed in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the Emperor. In the year 1547, Mendoza[Pg 184] appeared at the Papal Court as Imperial Ambassador, and he was at the same time appointed Captain-General and Governor of Sienna and other strong places in Tuscany. The repeated insurrections in that part of Italy called for severe measures of repression. These measures Mendoza adopted, and consequently the Italians, who were not reconciled to the introduction of Spanish garrisons, regarded him as a tyrant, and repeated attempts were made to assassinate him. But his intrepidity continued unshaken, and he steadily governed Italy for the space of six years, occupying himself, at intervals, with his literary labours. At length, the complaints raised against Mendoza induced the Emperor to recall him to Spain, whither he returned in 1554. He died at Valladolid, in the year 1575.

Some very curious particulars, relating to Diego de Mendoza, have been collected by Don Adolfo de Castro from unpublished documents in his possession. These documents throw considerable light on the conduct and policy pursued by that extraordinary man in the discharge of his important functions in Italy.

It is well known how zealously Mendoza exerted himself in the early sittings of the[Pg 185] Council of Trent. The Emperor Charles V. had solicited the Pope to assemble that Council with the view of effecting certain reforms in the Church, and thereby preventing the dissatisfaction of many of the Princes of Germany, who, with their subjects, were beginning to dissent from the Catholics on some points of faith. Whilst, on the one hand, Charles waged a war of fire and sword against the rebels of the empire, he exerted, on the other hand, his most strenuous efforts to prevail on the Pope to allow the Church to meet in Council. But so little inclination was manifested by the Court of Rome to entertain the question of reform, that the Council was not assembled till the year 1545, and even then not without great reluctance on the part of the Papal Government. After a time the sittings of the Council were transferred from Trent to Bologna; the alleged reasons for this removal being that the plague was reported to have broken out in Trent, and that by reason of the war in Germany the Council could assemble with greater security in Bologna. But Mendoza, who by this time filled the post of Ambassador from Spain to the See of Rome, acted with great sagacity and firmness. Before entering on his[Pg 186] appointment he shewed that he knew perfectly well how to deal with the churchmen of that age. In a conversation between him and his friend, Juan de Vega, (his predecessor in the ambassadorial post) de Vega said—“I warn your Excellency that you must not expect to find truth where you are going; for the principal personages in that Court abjure it.” “Then,” replied Mendoza, “they will meet with their match, and for every falsehood they tell me I will pay them back with two dozen.”

Many were the discussions and arguments maintained between Mendoza and Paul III.; for that Prelate was not on friendly terms with the Emperor, Charles V., and he sought by all possible means to interrupt the meetings of the Council. Diego de Mendoza incessantly remonstrated against this mode of proceeding, and importuned his Holiness to desist from it.

One day, when he was more than usually emphatic in his arguments, and unreserved in his language, the Pope felt offended at the freedom and boldness of his manner. Fancying that sufficient respect was not rendered to his presence, the Holy Father petulantly observed to Mendoza,—“You forget where you are, you speak as if you were at home in your[Pg 187] own house!” To this rebuke the Spanish Ambassador returned for answer, “that he was a Knight, and that his father had been one before him, and as such he felt himself entitled to repeat literally what his sovereign had commanded him to say without fear of His Holiness, though always desirous of observing the reverence due to the Vicar of Christ; but that, as the Emperor’s minister, he felt himself at home and in safety wheresoever he chose to go.”

About this time the Pope had several interviews with the Emperor, and though it was currently reported that these interviews had for their object to bring about peace between the King of France (Francis I.) and Charles V., yet it was well understood that the sole object Paul had in view was that of gratifying his desire of purchasing the State of Milan. The Emperor urged immediate payment of the money, which however the Holy Father would not venture to disburse for fear of being cheated. Charles, moreover, wished to retain possession of the fortresses of Milan and Cremona, but the Pope insisted that the purchase should include both fortresses and territories. However, the negotiations having proceeded very far, and the Pope’s money[Pg 188] coming very opportunely to aid the Emperor in his difficulties, it was found desirable to bring the matter to a close, and the bargain was on the point of being ratified. But Diego de Mendoza, who had the Emperor’s real interests at heart, and who was adverse to this bargain, addressed to Charles V. an eloquent letter, full of forcible reasoning against the sale of Milan, and in consequence, Charles was induced to break off the negotiations.

This letter, which is quoted by Sandoval, in his History of Charles V., bears evidence of Mendoza’s thorough acquaintance with the Papal Court, and his accurate perception of the character of Paul III. The following extract will afford a good specimen of the style of this curious epistle:—

“What prince, or man,” says Mendoza, “ever offered greater offence to your Majesty? Certainly none:—for a little reflection on past events will enable even the blind to see that all the injury that you have sustained from the French was through his (the Pope’s) instigation and scheming; and that all the mischief you may expect from the Turks will have its origin in the same source. And finally, what good service did he ever render you willingly, and not on compul[Pg 189]sion, or for his own interest? Your Majesty may rest assured that if the King of France has three fleurs de lis in his ’scutcheon, the Pope has six in his—and, what is more, he has six thousand in his heart. Besides, he will never see a safe opportunity of gratifying his enmity, but that he will take advantage of it. Much more reasonably may your Majesty trust to the King of France in these affairs; for he was born a Prince, and he will act like a Prince, but the other is a man of low origin, and though raised to the greatness which he now holds, he will never cease to be what he is. Does your Majesty require proof of this? Behold his insolent effrontery; for after having offended you as he has done, he is not ashamed to appear in your presence—and he even moreover makes demands, which he would have no right to make, if he had ransomed your Majesty from the Turk. The cowardly fear which possesses him on seeing you approach with an army, does not diminish his evil and perverse feeling, or change his mischievous designs. But he fears and suspects every one; and since your Majesty has him thus far in your power, I once more implore you not to let the opportunity slip. Pay little[Pg 190] attention to him. Treat him as a man whose safety and greatness depend on your will.”

Mendoza seized every opportunity that presented itself to endeavour to open the eyes of the Emperor to the schemes of Paul III. In the year 1547, Peter Lewis Farnesio, Duke of Placentia, was assassinated by some noblemen who had joined a conspiracy which his tyranny provoked. Farnesio was a natural son of Paul III., who conferred on him the dignities of Duke of Parma and Placentia, Marquess of Novarra, Captain-General, and Standard-Bearer to the Church. On the occasion of Farnesio’s death, Mendoza wrote a clever little work, entitled, Diálogo entre Caronte y el ánima de Pedro Luis Farnesio, hijo del Papa Paulo III.[76] Fenelon and Fontenelle were not therefore, as is generally supposed, the first who wrote dialogues of the dead in one of the modern languages.

The two brothers of Diego de Mendoza, were both eminent statesmen and writers. Don Antonio succeeded Hernán Cortés, and the Licentiate Luis Ponce in the Govern[Pg 191]ment of Mexico; and he was the first Governor who had the titles of Viceroy and Captain-General of New Spain. From Mexico he proceeded to Peru, where he also exercised the vice-regal authority. Antonio de Mendoza is the author of a work entitled, De las cosas maravillosas de Nueva España. (On the Wonders of New Spain.)

Don Bernardino de Mendoza was at once a soldier, a statesman, and a poet. He also wrote a history of the Spanish campaigns in Flanders. (Historia de las guerras de Flandes.)

(M).

“There is a book of letters by Madama Passier, full of erudition and sound morality, which I would recommend to the attention of the author of Don Quixote.” (Page 124).

The volume here alluded to is entitled: Cartas Morales del Señor Narveza traducidas de lengua francesa en la española por Madama Francisca de Passier, dirigidas al excelentísimo[Pg 192] Señor Don Pedro Enríquez de Acevedo, Conde de Fuentes.[77]

The name of Francisca de Passier, is not recorded as it deserves to be in the annals of Spanish literature. The celebrated Nicolás Antonio, makes no mention of her in the Biblioteca hispana nova. Some few particulars of her life are given by Doctor Francisco Garci López, who published an edition of the Cartas Morales. She was a native of Savoy, in which country her father, a man distinguished for his literary attainments, filled a government appointment. She was a great linguist, and she spoke and wrote several languages with perfect fluency and correctness. “She spoke Castilian,” says her biographer, Dr. López, “so correctly and with such purity of accent, that to hear her no one could have imagined she had been born among the snowy mountains of Savoy, but rather would have supposed her to have been a native of Spain, and all her life accustomed to the courteous conversation of noble ladies and knights in royal palaces.” She died [Pg 193]before she had completed her nineteenth year. Her husband, who was a Counsellor of State to the Prince of Savoy, was inconsolable for her loss, and a singular manifestation of his grief was shown in the destruction, instead of the preservation, of his wife’s papers, most of which, after her death, he consigned to the flames. At the urgent solicitation of Dr. Garci López, he was however induced to spare the manuscript of the Cartas Morales. The funeral obsequies of Madama Passier which are alluded to in the Buscapié, lasted nine days. Several eloquent orations in Latin and French were delivered at her interment, and many elegies to her memory were composed in Latin, French, and Spanish.

(N).

“The Battle of the Paso Honroso is narrated in a book written by a Friar, named Pineda, who abridged it from an old manuscript work.” (Page 126.)

In Salamanca, in the year 1588, was published, a curious old book of Knight-errantry, entitled El Libro del Paso Honroso, defendido por el excelente caballero Suero de Quiñones, copilado de un libro antiguo de mano, por fray Juan de Pineda, religioso del orden de San Francisco.[78]

The petition addressed by Suero de Quiñones to King John of Castile ran thus—“It is just and reasonable that prisoners and bondsmen should wish to recover their liberty. Even so it is with me, your Majesty’s vassal and subject, who have long been the captive of a lady, in token of which captivity I wear every Thursday round my neck a collar of iron. This fact is notorious in your Majesty’s court and throughout all this kingdom, as well as in foreign parts, where my heralds have proclaimed it. But now, most powerful Prince, I have in the name of the Apostle St. James, devised a plan for effecting my deliverance, in this present year, of which this is the first day. My proposal is to break three hundred lances, with such knights and gentlemen as may accept my [Pg 195]challenge—breaking three with every and each knight or gentleman who enters the lists;—the first blood drawn to be counted as one lance broken. The combats to be maintained during fifteen days prior to the festival of the Apostle St. James, (the guide and defender of your Majesty’s subjects) and during fifteen days after the said festival, unless my ransom be accomplished before the expiration of that period. The lists to be planted on the high road, along which most persons pass on their way to the city wherein is the Saint’s sacred sepulchre,[79] and that it be certified to all the foreign knights and gentlemen who may there assemble that they will find at the place of encounter, armour, horses, and above all lances with points of such good Milan steel, that it will require no light stroke to shiver them. And I pray that it be notified to every virtuous lady of rank, who may be in the vicinity of the scene of combat, that she must summon a knight to [Pg 196]perform a passage of arms in her behalf, under pain of forfeiting her right hand glove. All these propositions I pray may be agreed to;—saving two conditions, which are—that neither your Royal Majesty nor the most noble Señor Constable, Don Álvaro de Luna, take part in these encounters.”

The petition having been assented to by the King, Suero de Quiñones, accompanied by nine knights his followers, set out on his romantic enterprise. He proclaimed himself the defender of the Honroso Paso of the Bridge of Orbigo. Sixty-eight adventurers, and not seventy as stated in the Buscapié, combated for the conquest of the Honroso Paso, and Suero, on being declared the victor, presented to the Umpires of the Field a petition, which was responded to in the following manner:—

“Virtuous Knight and Señor, we have heard your proposition and appeal, and it appears to us to be just. Considering that we ought no longer to delay pronouncing our judgment, we hereby declare that your arms have been triumphant and that your deliverance has been bravely purchased. And moreover, we hereby notify to you, as well as to all others here present, that of the three hundred lances[Pg 197] specified in your petition to the king there remain only a few unbroken, and that there would not be even those few, but that on several days there could not be any passage of arms by reason of no knights having presented themselves to oppose the challenger. We accordingly decree that you be released from the iron collar, which we forthwith order the King-at-Arms, and the Herald to remove from your neck; and we declare that you have duly accomplished your emprise, and that you are henceforth delivered from bondage.”

In obedience to the command of the Umpires, the King-at-Arms and the Heralds descended from the platform and before the eyes of all present, took from the neck of Suero de Quiñones the iron ring which he wore as the sign and token of his bondage.

The records of Spanish chivalry mention numerous adventures, no less whimsical and extravagant than that of the doughty knight who was the hero of the Honroso Paso.—Several instances of the same kind are narrated by Hernán Pérez del Pulgar in his Claros Varones de Castilla. (Illustrious men of Castile).

[Pg 198]

(O).

“Have you not heard of the adventure of the Canon Almela who was at the conquest of Grenada, with two horsemen and seven followers on foot. He wore girded at his side a sword which he affirmed had belonged to the Cid Ruy Díaz.” (Page 126).

The individual referred to in the above passage is Diego Rodríguez de Almela, who ultimately attained the ecclesiastical dignity of Arcipreste (Archpriest). He was a native of the city of Murcia, and the author of some learned historical works, one of which is entitled: El Valerio de las estorias escolásticas é de España.—(The Valerius of the Scholastic History and of Spain). The first edition of this work is exceedingly rare, and at its close appears the following note.

“To the glory and honour of our Blessed Savior and Redeemer, the printing of this book, called El Valerio de las estorias escolásticas é de España was finished in the noble city of Murcia, by maestre Lope de la Roca, a German and a printer of books, on Thursday[Pg 199] the sixth day of November, in the year one thousand four hundred and eighty-seven.”

In the certificate of the King-at-Arms attached to the royal letters patent conferring the rank of nobility on Don Francisco Xavier de Almela i Peñafiel, there is a paragraph relating to the lineage of the Almela family. It is there set forth that “Diego Rodríguez de Almela, Canon of the Holy Cathedral Church of Carthegena, Chaplain to the Catholic Queen, and Her Majesty’s Chronicler, who served personally with two esquires and six men on foot at the conquest of Grenada, presented to the Catholic King[80] the sword of the Cid Ruy Díaz.”

(P).

“The Great Emperor finding himself challenged with all the solemnity of the laws of the duelo, took counsel of his cousin, Don Diego, Duke del Infantado, as to the course he ought to pursue.” (Page 128).

The letter addressed on this occasion by the Emperor to the Duke del Infantado, and the Duke’s reply to it, are mentioned but not given by Sandoval, in his History of Charles V. These two letters are printed in an exceedingly scarce work, entitled, Diálogos de contención entre la milicia y la ciencia.[81] by Francisco Núñez de Velasco. The following extract from the Duke’s letter, precisely verifies that passage of the Buscapié to which this note has reference.

“Truly, Señor, it would be a fine example, if the great debt which all the world knows is due to you from the King of France, were to be paid by a challenge to your imperial person. Such a proceeding, if sanctioned by your Majesty, would go far to establish throughout your dominions a law to the effect that all debts may be paid by recourse to arms; which would tend more to the shedding of blood than to the vindication of justice and mercy. All this I write to your Majesty that you may deliberate on my opinion, and I beg you will be assured that if, on more mature reflection I see reason to alter my opinion, I will forth[Pg 201]with advise your Majesty thereof, with all the fidelity I owe you. For this is a matter which concerns my honour, together with that of all the grandees of these realms.”

(Q).

“Such absurd encounters have no existence save in silly books of chivalry and in plays which in our time have been taken from them; but which in the time of Lope de Rueda, Gil Vicente and Alonzo de Cisneros, would not have been tolerated on the stage.” (Page 128).

Cervantes highly appreciated the genius of Lope de Rueda, who was a celebrated actor as well as a dramatic writer. He styles him el gran Lope de Rueda, insigne varón, &c. Some curious particulars respecting Lope de Rueda and the state of the Spanish stage in his time are related by Cervantes in the Prólogo or Preface to his Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses[Pg 202] nunca representadas,[82] from which the following extract is translated—

“A short time ago, when I was in company with some friends, our conversation turned on play-writing, acting, and other matters connected with dramatic representation. These subjects were so ably discussed and criticised that in my opinion it would have been difficult to meet with more clever remarks. One of the questions under consideration was to ascertain who first stripped Spanish comedy of its swaddling clothes, dressed it up, and arrayed it with ornament. I, who was the oldest person in the company, observed that I had a perfect recollection of having seen Lope de Rueda act, and that that extraordinary man was remarkable not only for his talent as a writer, but also for his power as an actor. He was a native of Seville, and was by trade a gold-beater, that is to say, his employment was making gold leaf for gilding. He was an admirable writer of pastoral poetry, and in that style of composition no one either before his time, or unto the present day, has surpassed him. When I knew him, I was a mere boy, and therefore I could form no well [Pg 203]grounded judgment respecting the merit of his writing; yet in my present mature age, when I reflect on some of his verses which my memory retains, I think the opinion I have expressed is correct. Were it not for the fear of going beyond the limits of this preface, I would cite some of Lope de Rueda’s verses in support of my opinion.

“In the time of that celebrated man, all the apparatus of a theatrical manager could be packed up in a sack. It consisted of four shepherd’s dresses of white skin trimmed with gilt leather, four beards and wigs, and four shepherd’s staffs. The comedies were composed of dialogues (after the manner of eclogues), between two or three shepherds and a shepherdess. The entertainment was augmented, or rather spun out, by two or three interludes in which sometimes a negro, sometimes a rufián,[83] [Pg 204]a fool, or a Biscayan were introduced. All these four characters, and many others, Lope de Rueda, acted in most excellent style, and with the utmost truth to nature. At that period there was no such thing as stage machinery; no combats between Moors and Christians either on foot or on horseback, no figures rising up from trap doors, and seeming as though they rose from the bowels of the earth; no descending clouds in which spirits and angels came down from Heaven. The stage was constructed of four benches ranged square-wise, and over them were laid a few planks, by which means the stage was raised about four spans above the ground. There were no scenes, but an old curtain was hung across the back part of the stage, and was drawn by two cords from one side to the other. A space behind the curtain served as a dressing-room for the actors. The musicians also stood there. They sang old romances, but without guitar accompaniment. Lope de Rueda died at Cordova, and out of respect for his excellent character and great talent he was buried in the cathedral of that city, between the two choirs.”

Further particulars of the life of Lope de[Pg 205] Rueda may be found in Moratin’s Orígenes del Teatro Español, and in El Teatro Español Anterior a Lope de Vega, by Nicolás Böhl de Faber.

Of the life of Gil Vicente, the Hispano-Portuguese dramatist and comedian, who has not inaptly been styled the Portuguese Plautus, but little is known. No biographical accounts of him furnish any authentic record either of the date or the place of his birth. Some describe him to have been a native of Guimaräes, others assign Barcellos, and others Lisbon, as his birth-place. Don Adolfo de Castro, notices a fact which would appear to have escaped the observation of Gil Vicente’s biographers, both Spanish and Portuguese, viz.: that he himself mentions his birth-place in one of his Portuguese autos.[84] In that piece, one of the characters steps forward and delivers a sort of address commencing thus:—

Then follows a description of the condition and calling of the author’s grandfather and parents, and Alemtejo is mentioned as the place of his nativity.

Bouterwek, who furnishes some particulars relating to the life of this celebrated man, says:—“There is reason to suppose that Gil Vicente was born within twenty years of the close of the fifteenth century. He first studied the law, but speedily relinquished it, and devoted himself wholly to the dramatic art. It is not recorded whether he was a regularly pensioned writer for the Court, but he was most indefatigable in furnishing the royal family and the public with entertainments suited to the taste of the age. He constantly resided at Court, where his poetic talents were held in permanent requisition for the celebration of spiritual as well as of temporal festivals, and no dramatic writer in Europe was more admired and esteemed than Gil Vicente. His early productions were performed with approbation at court in the reign of Emmanuel the Great, but his reputation rose higher in the reign of John III., and that monarch did not, in his youthful years, scruple to perform characters in the dramas of this favourite author. We are not informed whether Vicente was himself[Pg 207] an actor, but he was the tutor of the most celebrated actress of his age, viz.: his daughter Paula.”[86]

Gil Vicente wrote the following epitaph on his wife, to whom he was most affectionately attached, and who was interred in the Franciscan monastery at Evora.

Which may be thus literally construed:—

Gil Vicente died in the year 1577, at Evora, and his remains were interred beside those of his wife, in the Franciscan monastery. He wrote for his own tomb the following epitaph:—

In an old collection of Gil Vicente’s works, this epitaph is given with the addition of the following lines:—

Alonso de Cisneros, a native of Toledo, a famous actor of the sixteenth century, is less known by his proper name than by the appellation of el Tamborillo. He received this nickname because it was a part of his theatrical[Pg 209] duty to beat a drum, which, according to the old Spanish custom, was sounded in the street, to announce that the performances were about to commence, and that the public might assemble in the theatre. It happened that this drum disturbed the siestas of Cardinal Espinosa, who was then officiating as President of Castile, and who stood high in the favour of Phillip II. The Cardinal, irritated by the annoyance, and determined to get rid of it, devised some unfounded pretext for ordering Cisneros to quit Madrid.

This circumstance came to the ears of the Infante Don Carlos, who used to be much diverted by the comedian’s humour and drollery; for at that time the Prince had withdrawn from the court circle, on account of the mortification he suffered from the favour shewn by his father to Rui Gómez de Silva and Cardinal Espinosa.

On hearing of the banishment of Cisneros, and its cause, Carlos resolved on revenge. He ordered the Captain of his Guard to beat four drums daily, from two till five in the afternoon, in front of the Cardinal’s residence. One day when the Prelate went to pay a visit to the palace, his unlucky star brought him face to[Pg 210] face with the Prince, who seizing him by his rocket, and shaking him angrily, exclaimed, “How now, priest!—do you dare to face me, after having sent away Cisneros? By the life of my father, I have a great mind to kill you!” Espinosa would doubtless have been roughly handled, but that, luckily for him, Philip II. at that moment entered the apartment.

(R).

“Micer Oliver de la Marcha was then living, though in a very advanced old age. He wrote a book entitled, El Caballero Determinado, &c.” (Page 135).

El Caballero Determinado, traducido de lengua francesa en castellana, par Don Hernando de Acuña, y dirigido al emperador D. Carlos Quinto, Maximo, Rey de España nuestro Señor.—En Anvers, en casa de Juan Steelsio.—Año de MDLIII.[87]

[Pg 211]

“Cervantes,” observed Don Adolfo de Castro, “has committed an anachronism in that passage of the Buscapié, in which it is affirmed that Oliver de la Marcha was living at the period when Charles V. was challenged by the King of France. He appears to have confounded the author of the Caballero Determinado, who lived in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the translator of the work, Hernando de Acuña, who was contemporary with the Emperor, Charles V. But similar errors are of frequent occurrence in the printed works of Cervantes, as well as in the manuscript of El Buscapié.”

(S).

“The whole history is in print as related by Juan Calvete de Estrella.” (Page 137.)

The following is the title of the work here alluded to—

El felicissimo viage del muy alto y muy poderoso Príncipe don Felipe, hijo del Emperador don Carlos Quinto Maximo, desde España à sus[Pg 212] tierras de la baja Alemaña, con la descripcion de todos los estados de Brabante y Flandes, escripto en quatro libros por Juan Calvete de Estrella. En Anvers en casa de Martín Nucio, 1552.

(The happy journey of the most high and powerful Prince Philip, son of the Emperor Charles V., from Spain to his territories in lower Germany;—together with a description of all the states of Brabant and Flanders. Written in four books, by Juan Calvete de Estrella. Published at Antwerp by Martín Nucio, 1552.)

(T).

“I know the book you speak of——. It contains nothing but truth, and that cannot be said of the writings of all historians, some of whom give currency to falsehood by narrating events which never took place.” (Page 137.)

To the above passage, Don Adolfo de Castro appends the subjoined note, which, though[Pg 213] bearing no direct reference to anything mentioned in the Buscapié, is nevertheless sufficiently curious to claim a place here.

“It cannot be doubted that many unfounded statements, by dint of being frequently repeated, come to be regarded as authentic historical facts. An example of this kind which may be here adduced had its origin in the Marques de San Felipe’s Comentarios de la guerra de España, e historia de Su Rey Felipe V. el animoso.[88] In that work we find the following passage—‘On the 24th of August, 1702, the combined English and Austrian fleet appeared before Cádiz. The vessels formed a line along the coast; some anchoring in the sands, and others slowly plying to windward. The Prince of Armstad, with five hundred English, landed at Rota, and the Governor of that town, after surrendering the place without opposition, went over to the enemy. His treachery was rewarded by the title of Marques, conferred on him by the Emperor of Austria. As soon as the Spaniards regained possession of Rota, the Governor was arrested. He was condemned to death and [Pg 214]hanged by order of the Marquis de Villadarias, Captain-General of Andalusia.’

“Such is the Marquis de San Felipe’s account of the taking of Rota, by the English; and it was repeated by Fray Nicolás de Jesús Belando in his history of the Spanish civil war of that period.

“Don Tomás de Yriarte, in his lessons on the History of Spain (Lecciones instructivas de la Historia de España) relates the event in the same manner as the two writers above-named, adding that the Governor was hanged as a traitor, rather than as a coward.

“Don Antonio Alcalá Galiano, in his recently published History of Spain conforms, in his account of the taking of Rota, with the statements of the writers just noticed.

“And, lastly, to speak of myself,” pursues Don Adolfo de Castro, “in the history of my native city Cádiz, which I published in the year 1845, I adopted the accounts of the writers who had preceded me, presuming them to be correct. But it appears that all have been led into error by the original misstatement of the Marquis de San Felipe. The following is the true account of the affair.

“The Governor and Military Commandant[Pg 215] of Rota was Don Francisco Díaz Cano Carillo de los Ríos, who filled that post from the year 1690 to 1708, when he was appointed Corregidor and Commandant of the City of Arcos. The English did not land at Rota, but between Rota and the Cañuelos. So far from taking part with the enemy, the Governor of Rota was desirous of putting the city in a state of defence, for which object he applied for arms and ammunition to the City of Cádiz and to the Marquis de Villadarias, Governor of Andalusia. But the required assistance not being forthcoming, it was declared impossible to defend Rota, and the Marquis de Villadarias then ordered the Governor, with the few troops he had, to withdraw from the town and proceed to Sanlucar. This order he executed in a manner perfectly satisfactory, and after the enemy had left our shores he returned to Rota, where he discharged the functions of governor until the year 1708, when he was appointed corregidor of Arcos. Such are the real facts of the case, founded on documents of unquestionable authenticity, which have been collected by the Governor’s son, and published at Madrid in a volume entitled, Díaz Cana Vindicado. Of this publication two copies exist in Cádiz; the one[Pg 216] belongs to Señor Don Joaquim Rubio, and the other is in my possession.”

(V).

“On the road he encountered more adventures than ever fell to the lot of that Monster of Fortune, Antonio Pérez” (Page 138).

Antonio Pérez, Secretary of King Philip II., fell into disgrace by engaging in an intrigue with one of the King’s mistresses, and after a series of misfortunes he was obliged to fly to France. He was the author of many able works, historical and political, several of which have never been published.

“That remarkable man,” says Don Adolfo de Castro, “who during his life was so luckless as a statesman, has been, since his death, no less unfortunate as an author, for those of his works which have been printed in foreign countries are full of errors. I have in my possession MS. copies of the following works of Antonio Pérez:”—

[Pg 217]

1. Relaciones i cartas. (“Narratives and Letters.”) This manuscript is in 434 folios, and was written some time in the beginning of the seventeenth century.

2. Monstruosa vida del rey don Pedro de Costilla, llamado comunmente el Cruel.[89] No notice is taken of this history by the learned Nicolás Antonio, nor by any writer, Spanish or foreign, who has commented on the Life of Antonio Pérez.

3. El conocimento de las naciones de Antonio Pérez, Secretario de estado que fué del Señor Rey D. Felipe II., discurso político fundado en materia y razón de estado y gobierno, al Rey N. S. D. Felipe III. de el estado que tenian sus reinos y señorios, y los de sus amigos y enemigos con algunas advertencias sobre el modo de proceder y gobernarse con los unos y con los otros.[90]

[Pg 218]

This work was written in the month of October, 1598, and Antonio Pérez addressed it to Philip III. in the hope of conciliating the favour of that monarch and obtaining permission to return to Spain. It is one of the ablest political essays of which the Spanish language can boast, and it is to be regretted that it has never been published.

4. Máximas de Antonio Pérez, Secretario del Rey D. Felipe II. al Rey Enrique IV. de Francia.[91]

Neither Nicolás Antonio nor any other writer notices this work of the astute politician. In these state maxims, which were written in May, 1600, Pérez betrays the vexation he experienced on finding Philip II. disinclined to permit his return to Spain. In his Conocimento de las naciones, Pérez intimates to King Philip the designs of the King of France, and the best mode of defeating them, and in his maxims, addressed to Henry IV., he recommends to that monarch various enterprises hostile to the King of Spain.

5. Breve compendio y elogio de la vida del Señor Rey D. Felipe II.[92] Nicolás Antonio and [Pg 219] other writers state that Antonio Pérez was the author of this work. It is not an original production but a translation by that eminent man, and is extracted from a History of Henry IV. of France, written in the French language by Pedro Mateo.

(U).

Proper names terminating in us, as Arcalaus, Arcus, and others, met with in books of chivalry are not in accordance with the true spirit of the Spanish language. In adopting Latin words having the terminations us and um, the Spaniards have transferred them to their own language through the medium of the ablative or dative case; thus from tetricus they derive tétrico, from templum, templo, &c. Don Adolfo de Castro observes that he re[Pg 220]collects only one proper name in which the termination us is retained, namely, Nicodemus; but the us is changed to os in the following names;—Carlos for Carolus; Marcos for Marcus; Longinos for Longinus, and some others.

Not only in proper names do we find the terminations us and um converted into o, the same change is observable in compound words; thus cumsecum is converted into consigo; cumtecum into contigo, &c.

The Latin termination has been preserved in the word vade-mecum; and modern writers have attempted to introduce several other words of similar formation, such as album, consideratum, ultimatum, and desideratum, but these terminations are quite at variance with the genius of the Castilian language.

(W).

Cervantes here alludes to a Spanish Lutheran, named Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. This martyr to sincere religious faith is fre[Pg 221]quently mentioned by the old Spanish historians, and it may be presumed the few scattered notices of his life here collected cannot fail to interest the English reader.

In the beginning of the sixteenth century great alarm was created in Spain by the rapidly increasing number of Protestants. In all the principal cities of the kingdom the Jesuits zealously exerted themselves for the discovery of heretics as the Protestants were commonly termed. The crafty brotherhood hoped by this means to recommend themselves to the common people, and also to induce the clergy to regard them as the strongest phalanx on which the Romish Church could rely for upholding the Catholic religion. In Seville, the doctrines of Luther were secretly adopted by many individuals distinguished for their rank and intelligence, and he who laboured most actively and earnestly for their propagation was Dr. Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. This celebrated man was a native of the city of San Clemente de la Mancha, in the Bishoprick of Cuenca, and he studied in the University of Alcalá de Henares, with his friend Dr. Juan Gil de Egidio. After quitting the University, both took up their abode in Seville[Pg 222] where they commenced propounding the doctrines of Luther, Calvin, and other reformers, but with such well concerted secrecy that so far from being suspected of heresy they were regarded as most orthodox and exemplary Catholics. The fame of Constantino’s learning and talents induced several prelates to invite him to reside in their respective dioceses. The Bishop of Cuenca, was desirous of appointing him magistral canon of his cathedral, and he wrote several letters urging him to accept a dignity for which he was so well fitted. But Constantino declined the proffered honour founding his refusal on reasons more or less plausible; the real one however being that his partiality for Lutheran doctrines made him reluctant. Shortly after this, the Emperor Charles V., appointed Constantino his Chaplain of Honour, the duties of which post compelled him to proceed to the Netherlands, where he resided for a considerable time.

Immediately after his return to Spain he was elected Magistral Canon of the Cathedral of Seville where he commenced preaching. His orations, in which Lutheran principles were artfully veiled, and ingeniously interwoven with Catholic doctrines, drew crowds[Pg 223] of listeners to the Cathedral. About this time, the Jesuit Father Francisco de Borja, happening to be in Seville, he went to the Cathedral to hear from the lips of Constantino one of those eloquent sermons, the fame of which was resounding throughout Spain. The Padre was startled on hearing certain propositions, which in his opinion, were anything but orthodox, and turning to some persons near him, he repeated the line: Aut aliquis latet error, equo ne credite Teucri.

Alarmed at Constantino’s popularity Borja recommended Father Juan Suárez (then Rector in Salamanca), to repair to Seville without delay, and there to establish a House of the Brotherhood of Jesus, for the purpose of checking as far as possible the progress of Lutheran opinions. Borja and other learned Jesuits urged the Dominican Friars to attend in the Cathedral whenever Constantino preached for the purpose of noting any observations of heretical tendency in his sermons, and reporting thereon to the Inquisition. Fully aware that he was an object of suspicion, Constantino felt the necessity of holding himself on his guard. On one occasion whilst descanting in the pulpit on some disputed point of belief, he[Pg 224] began to fear that he was too freely unveiling his opinions, and suddenly checking himself in the midst of his discourse he said: Me robaban la voz aquellas capillas. As he uttered these words he pointed to the vaulted roofs of the lateral Chapels pretending to the Catholic portion of the congregation that an echo or some other cause prevented him from rendering himself audible, but in reality alluding to the Dominican monks, whose presence he wished his friends to understand, obliged him to be cautious and reserved.[93]

Shortly after this Constantino took a step which naturally excited great astonishment among the Jesuits. He made a formal application to be admitted as a member of the College which the brotherhood had established in Seville. Whether he took this step with the view of evading the danger of rapidly increasing suspicion; or whether he had con[Pg 225]ceived the design of attempting to convert the Jesuits to Protestantism, it is impossible to determine, but it can scarcely be imagined he was sincere in his wish to join the fraternity. Father Santibañez, in his Historia de la Compañïa de Jesús, furnishes the following particulars relating to Constantino’s application and its result.

“Constantino came to our college and discoursed with Padre Bartolomé de Bustamante, then exercising the functions of Provincial. He declared that his mind was beginning to be disabused of the world and its vanities; at the same time he feigned the utmost contempt for all mundane concerns, and expressed his wish to retire wholly from them. He declared his resolution to devote himself to religion, to do penance for his sins, and to correct the vanity and presumption of his sermons, by which he said he had gained more applause to himself than souls to God.—Several days elapsed, during which the Fathers discussed together Constantino’s proposition, but without coming to any agreement on the question. In the meanwhile Constantino’s frequent visits to our college were observed, and it began to be reported about that some secret scheme was[Pg 226] in agitation. These reports reached the ears of the Inquisitor Carpio, and he desired to make himself acquainted with the facts of the case. He thought it best to address himself privately to Father Juan Suárez, with whom he was on friendly terms. Accordingly he invited Suárez to dinner, and during the repast he turned the conversation on matters concerning the Jesuits. He asked several questions respecting some of the probationers; which questions Suárez answered; and thereupon the Inquisitor said—

“‘I have heard that Doctor Constantino proposes to join the society.’

“‘He has,’ replied the Padre; ‘but what of that, señor, though his proposition has been listened to and entertained, yet we have come to no decision upon it.’

“‘He is,’ resumed the Inquisitor, ‘a person of weight and influence, and much looked up to by reason of his great learning;—yet I doubt whether a man at his age, and one who has always been accustomed to think and act according to his own will and pleasure, could easily submit to the restraints of a noviciate, and to the rigour of monastic rules. Instead of conforming to the regulations of your society[Pg 227] he will, on the plea of his own superior merit, lay claim to, and possibly obtain some of those dispensations so odious in religious communities, whose high character can be maintained only by the perfect equality of duties and privileges. Believe me, when Constantino has fairly entered your college, he will give much to get out of it, and to bid you all farewell. To permit him to remain there with exemptions, would be a dangerous relaxation of the religious discipline so inviolably maintained by your society. It is by this sort of relaxation that monastic laws lose their force, and thereby many congregations suffer in the integrity of their principles. I assure you,’ pursued the Inquisitor, ‘that it gives me pain to communicate these doubts; but if the affair concerned me as it does you, I would decline Constantino’s proposition.’

“These words made a deep impression on Father Juan Suárez, and they excited in his mind suspicions which however he very artfully concealed, and he calmly replied to Carpio—

“‘Your observations are perfectly just, most reverend señor; the affair demands serious counsel and deliberation. I shall think well on what you have said.’

“Suárez then took leave of the Inquisitor,[Pg 228] and on his return to the College he related to the Father Provincial (Bustamente) what had taken place. The next time that Constantino came to visit the College, Father Bustamente gave a decided denial to his application for admittance, and to check any unpleasant rumours that might be spread by those who either knew or suspected his object, the Father Provincial begged that he would come to our college as seldom as possible. Constantino departed much disappointed and mortified, and shortly after he was arrested by order of the Inquisition.”

Such are the details of this affair as given by Father Santibañez, in his History of the Jesuits; but he furnishes no clue whereby we may arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting the real object which Constantino had in view. It still remains questionable whether, by joining the Jesuits, he hoped to conciliate the friendship of those bitterest persecutors of the Lutherans; or whether, finding his own doom sealed, he was desirous of bringing discredit on the College, which, after his reception might have been regarded by the Inquisition as a cradle of Protestantism.

Some time after his arrest, and before the[Pg 229] investigation of his case had brought about any result, an accidental circumstance occurred, which clearly convicted Constantino of being a Lutheran. A widow named Isabel Martínez was declared guilty of heresy, and the Inquisition, according to custom, issued an order for the sequestration of her property. Through the evidence of a treacherous servant, it was ascertained that many of her valuables were concealed in sundry coffers in the possession of her son, Francisco Beltran. Accordingly Luis Soltelo, an alguazil in the service of the Holy Inquisition, was directed to proceed to the house occupied by Beltran, and there to search for the hidden goods. No sooner had the alguazil entered the house, than Beltran, without waiting till a question was addressed to him, said, “Señor, there appears to be some mistake here! You have doubtless been directed to search my mother’s house, where some things are concealed, and if you will promise that no harm shall befal me for not having revealed this matter sooner, I will show you where the articles are hidden.” Without a moment’s delay, Beltran conducted Soltelo to the house of his mother, Isabel Martínez, and taking a hammer, he forced open a trap door,[Pg 230] communicating with a cellar. In this cellar were found hidden a great number of printed books and manuscripts; the books were the works of Luther, Calvin and other Reformers, and the manuscripts were in the handwriting of Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. When denounced by the Inquisition, Constantino knowing that his books and papers would go far to convict him, had bethought himself of this means of preventing them from falling into the hands of his persecutors. With this view he consigned them to the care of his friend Isabel Martínez, a woman of virtuous and honourable character and a Protestant. But through the indiscretion of her son, both she and Constantino were sacrificed. Soltelo, not a little surprised at the booty he had unexpectedly discovered, took possession of the books and papers, at the same time telling Beltran that the objects he had been sent to search for, were his mother’s jewels and money. Beltran was dismayed by this information, and he then saw, when too late, the unfortunate result of his precipitancy. Fearing lest he might expose himself to danger by any further attempt to conceal these valuables, he surrendered them all into the hands of the alguazil Soltelo.

[Pg 231]

Constantino’s books and papers having been conveyed to the Inquisition and examined, it was found that the manuscripts were full of the most decided Lutheran doctrines; treating of the true Church, its spirit and character, and declaring that nothing could be more remote from it than the Church of Rome. Some of these papers contained discussions on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the Sacrifice of the Mass;—others treated of justification, of pontifical bulls and decrees; of indulgences; of rewards of grace and glory; of auricular confession, and various other subjects respecting which Catholics and Protestants are widely at variance. To sum up all, Constantino called purgatory, Una cabeza de lobo inventada por los frailes para tener que comer.[94]

Constantino was now removed from the place in which he had heretofore been confined, and he was incarcerated in one of the secret dungeons of the Inquisition. The manuscripts were shown to him, and he acknowledged them to be in his handwriting, adding that he fervently believed all that they contained. The [Pg 232]Inquisitors urgently pressed him to disclose who had been his coadjutors in disseminating his doctrines in Seville; but all their endeavours were vain. Constantino firmly refused to betray his Protestant friends and associates. After a lingering confinement in a damp subterraneous cell, this noble-minded man was seized with dysentery, which disease speedily terminated his life. Mortified at finding their victim thus wrested from their grasp, the Inquisitors circulated among the public a report that Constantino had terminated his own existence, in order to evade the just punishment which he knew awaited him.[95]

(X).

“The knights ascertained that the said enchanter dwelt in a palace, which, being continually enveloped in a hazy [Pg 233]cloud, was invisible even to those who had the courage to seek to discover it.” (Page 140.)

In writing this passage Cervantes would seem to have had in his thoughts the extravagantly fantastic description of an enchanted palace, which occurs in a romance called La Genealogía de la Toledana discreta. Like the invisible abode of the Magician of Binche, this palace is represented as inaccessible. Its huge columns were of transparent crystal with capitals and bases of purest silver; and on the highest point of its towering arches was a lofty portal which none could enter save he who knew the secret.[96] The First Part of the [Pg 234]Toledana Discreta was published in the year 1604, but prior to the appearance of Don Quixote. The Second Part was never published, and possibly never written; for the satire dealt out by Cervantes on books of chivalry might well have deterred the author from the completion of his task. Almost all the commentators on Don Quixote state that the last book of chivalry published in Spain, was La Crónica del Príncipe Don Policisne de Boecia. But this is a mistake; for the Genealogía de la Toledana discreta appeared in 1604. The name of its author is Eugenio Martínez, and it is one of the most extravagant of the Spanish libros caballerescos.

(Y).

“And will it be said that there are not other madmen in the world besides the ingenious Knight of La Mancha, when such as these find favour in the eyes of emperors and kings.” (Page 142).

A narrative of a visit made to the Netherlands, by Philip II., (when Infante) in company[Pg 235] with his father, the Emperor Charles V., was written by Don Calvate de Estrella. This curious work contains an account of the festivities at Binche alluded to by Cervantes in El Buscapié. During those entertainments many of the jousts and tournaments described in books of chivalry were represented, and great attention was bestowed on the accuracy of the costumes, &c. The reader will find the title of Estrella’s curious work quoted, at length, in Note S, page 213.

FOOTNOTES:

[66] The Spaniards were accustomed to call their South American possessions Indias Occidentales.

[67] This narrative was published in Madrid in the year 1763, by Father Henrique Florez, under the title of Viaje de Ambrosio Morales, por orden del Rey Don Felipe II., a los reinos de León y Galicia, y principado de Asturias, para reconocer las reliquias de santos &c.—(Journey made by Ambrosio Morales, by command of King Phillip II., to the Kingdoms of León and Galicia, and the Principality of Asturias, to discover the reliques of saints).

[68] “Spanish Medicine comprised in the common proverbs of our language.”

[69] Meaning persons who speak and understand the Castilian language, which was called the Romance.

[70] El primer comentario del muy ilustre señor, Don Luis de Ávila y Zuñiga, en la guerra de Alemania en el año de MDXLVI, y MDXLVII. Venice 1550, Antwerp 1552, Venice 1553.

[71] This copy of the Buscapié, Ruidiaz says he read many years prior to the date of his letter to Vicente de los Ríos. He states that it belonged to the late Conde de Saceda.

[72] An English translation of this work was published in London, in 1816, under the following title, “The Inquisition Unmasked”; by Don Antonio Puigblanch. Translated from the author’s enlarged edition, by William Walton, Esq.

[73] “The history of the very valiant knight, Palmerin of England, son of King Edward, and of his great prowess; and the history of Floriano of the Desert, his brother; with some account of Prince Florendos, son of Primaleon.”

[74] “Second Book of the History of Palmerin of England, in which is continued and brought to an end the story of his love for the Infanta Polinarda, shewing how he achieved many adventures and gained immortality by his great deeds.” Also the History of Floriano of the Desert, with some account of Prince Florendos.

[75] “A new system of philosophy, concerning the nature of the human frame, not known or touched upon by the great philosophers of antiquity, whereby human life may be prolonged and health improved.” Don Adolfo de Castro states that he does not know the date of the first edition of this work, but that the second edition was printed in Madrid, in the year 1588.

[76] Dialogue between Charon and the shade of Peter Lewis Farnesio, son of Pope Paul III.

[77] Moral Letters by M. Narveza, translated from the French language into Spanish, by Madama Francisca de Passier, dedicated to Don Pedro Enríquez de Acevedo, Count de Fuentes. Printed in 1605.

[78] The book of the Paso Honroso which was defended by the excellent Knight Suero de Quiñones; compiled from an old manuscript book by Juan de Pineda, a monk of the order of San Francisco.

[79] In the early ages of Christianity the Spaniards claimed St. James as their Apostle, and alleged that his remains were interred in Galicia, contrary to the generally received tradition which assigns Jerusalem as his burial-place. Under the appellation of Santiago, St. James is the tutelary saint of the Spaniards.

[80] Ferdinand and Isabella are the Catholic King and Queen here referred to.

[81] Polemic Dialogues between War and Learning.

[82] Eight Plays and Eight Interludes never performed.

[83] The term rufián is still in use in the Spanish language, though it now bears a signification widely different from that attached to it by the dramatic writers of the 16th and 17th centuries. Quevedo’s “Gran Tacaña,” the “Rufián dichoso,” of Cervantes, and the “Rufián Castrucho,” of Lope de Vega, sufficiently show to what class of characters the term was applied, viz., a compound of the thief and the bravo. In short, the meaning attached to the term in the old Spanish dramas seems to correspond precisely with the English word ruffian.

[84] That which bears the title of Auto Chamada da Lusitania. (The Auto called Lusitania).

[85]

Gil Vicente the author
Makes me his ambassador.

[86] History of Portuguese Literature, by Frederick Von Bouterwek.

[87] The Resolute Knight, translated from the French language into the Castilian, by Don Hernando de Acuña; and dedicated to the Emperor Charles V., King of Spain, &c. (Published at Antwerp in the year, 1553.)

[88] “Commentaries on the Spanish war,” and “History of King Philip V.,” surnamed el animoso.

[89] “Extraordinary Life of King Don Pedro of Castile, commonly called the Cruel.”

[90] “The Knowledge of Nations; by Antonio Pérez, formerly Secretary of State to King Philip II.: A political discourse founded on reasons of state and government, and addressed to the King our Lord, Don Philip III., concerning the condition of his realms and dependencies, and those of his friends and his enemies, together with some hints on the mode of procedure and government to be adopted towards both.”

[91] “Maxims of Antonio Pérez, Secretary to King Don Philip II., addressed to King Henry IV. of France.”

[92] “Brief Notice and Eulogium of the Life of King Philip II.”

[93] It may not be unnecessary to explain, for the information of the English reader, that the Spanish word capilla, chapel, signifies also a monk’s cowl or hood. This double meaning is implied in the observation attributed to Constantino. The words, Me robaban la voz estas capillas might be interpreted two ways, viz: These chapels drown my voice, or these monks cowls prevent me from speaking out.

T. R.

[94] A wolf’s head, invented by the monks in order to obtain food for their own rapacity.

[95] The impeachment of Constantino by the Inquisition spread the utmost dismay throughout Spain. When the event reached the ears of the Emperor Charles V., in his retirement in the monastery at Yuste, he observed:—“If Constantino be a Heretic, he is indeed a great Heretic.” (Si Constantino es hereje, es grande hereje.)

[96] The original passage may be transcribed here, as it affords a good specimen of the Spanish octava rima.

“Sobre gruesas columnas levantadas
De cristal más que el vidrio transparente,
Basas y capiteles de apurada
Plata, que siempre está resplandeciente
Sobre todos los arcos fabricada
Estaba una alta puerta y eminente,
Por donde ningún hombre entrar podía
Sino quien los secretos entendia.”

The Toledana Discreta is written throughout in the octava rima, a form of Spanish verse which originated with Boscan, who first introduced the Italian style into Castilian poetry.

Page
3	(Note)	line 2	for Noticsa	read Noticia.
12		" 10	" instances	" instance.
16		" 23	" Parnado	" Parnaso.
46		" 7	" barbada	" barbado.
63		" 12	" Œschylus	" Æschylus.
68	(Note)	" 2	" ciridad	" ciudad
91	(Note)	" 1	" lenengua	" lengua.
96		" 8	" Eseritor	" Escritor.
109	(Note)	" 1	" convercion	" conversion.
116		" 17	" you are	" you were
121		" 11	" nonsence	" nonsense.
132		" 5	" Hernandex	" Hernandez
141		" 22	" mischevious	" mischievous.
144		" 7	" be	" been.
161	(Note)	" 3	" Ambrosto	" Ambrosio
165		" 16	" poa	" por
167		" 8	" nueutra	" nuestra.
167		" 21	" I have	" “I have,” he says.
173		" 14	" A little on	" A little further on.
178		" 3	" esforzdo	" esforzado.
178		" 12	" muchos	" muchas
180		" 1	" Morever	" Moreover.
186		" 20	" petulently	" petulantly.
191		" 19	" traslucidas	" traducidas
205		" 22	" sen	" seu
213		" 9	" Espaa	" España.
217		" 15	" Felipe II.	" Felipe III.
217		" 17	" praceder	" proceder.
233	(Note)	" 3	" calumnas	" columnas.

	Page
PREFACE	v
LIFE OF CERVANTES	1
EL BUSCAPIÉ	99
NOTES	149
ERRATA	236

EL BUSCAPIÉ

PREFACE.

LIFE OF CERVANTES.

EL BUSCAPIÉ.

NOTES.

(A).

(B).

(C).

(D).

(E).

(F).

(G).

(H).

(I).

(J).

(K).

(L).

(M).

(N).

(O).

(P).

(Q).

(R).

(S).

(T).

(V).

(U).

(W).

(X).

(Y).

ERRATA.