Chapter II: Part 2

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 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 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 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 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,) 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 vicissitudes 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 Spaniards.”[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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Bouterwek 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 probably 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, 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 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 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.

“MIGUEL DE CERVANTES.”[42]

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 _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_ 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 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 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--

Puesto ya el pie en el estribo,
Con las ansias de la muerte,
Gran Señor, ésta te escribo.[46]

“Yesterday they gave me the extreme unction, and to-day I write this.”

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 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.”