Cervantes [pp. 241-245]

PR IL.
CERVANTES.
A S Philip III, of Spain, was one day overA looking the city of Madrid from a balcony
of his palace, he observed a student with a
book in his hand, alternately reading and striking his forehead with extraordinary tokens of
delight. "Either that student is crazy," said
the King, "or he is reading Don Quixote."
Upon inquiry'the latter was really found to be
the case. But notwithstanding the unprecedented success of this remarkable work, Cervantes himself was neglected and went unrewarded. While Lope de Vega, his voluminous
contemporary, amassed a large fortune from the
proceeds of his plays, and lived in affluence,
Cervantes, earning a bare subsistence by the
labors of his pen, occupied a sky-parlor upon
the same street, and acquired fame if not fortune. Poverty obliged him to write, but his
penury has enriched the world.
It is the old story of the res angusta domi of
poets and authors, from Homer, the blind old
bard of Chios singing his ballads and rhapsodies along the streets and at the public festivals,
to Sam. Johnson, the leviathan of literature,
skulking behind a screen to conceal his shabbiness, and munching a plate of victuals, sent
him fiom the table, like a menial, as he listened
with delight to the encomiums of a more favored
guest upon his literary performances. It is the
sad Story of Steele battling with bailiffs-of
Goldsmith welcoming a jail to avoid suicide, of
Thomson, "put to his shifts for a dinner," becoming an inmate of a sponging-house in Holborn-of Mitford, who could not afford threepence for a "den in St. Giles," sleeping upon a
bed of nettles in Bays-water Fields-of the
author of Hudibras starving in a garret, though
his royal master was graciously pleased to carry
VOL. XXX.-x6
a copy of his immortal work in his pocket-of
Savage imprisoned for debt, and leaving his
corpse to the jailer to defray the expenses of
his funeral-of Jean Paul, the penniless youth,
prosecuting his literary pursuits amid the "jingle
of household operations," and enjoying only the
latter half of the prisoner's allowance of bread
and water; or of poor Hazlitt pacing up and
down Paternoster Row, with fire on his brain,
and a volcano in his breast, trying to borrow a
shilling to satisfy the cravings of a hunger that
had not been appeased with a mouthful for the
last eight and forty hours. All this is melanchloly enough; but it is not surprising when
authors lived like the tailor of Campillo, who
worked for nothing and found his thread, that
they should die like Rabelais, whose last will
and testament might serve as a model for them
all-" I owe much; I possess nothing; I give
the rest to the poor."
Of the nativity and early life of Miguel de
Cervantes Saavedra but little is certainly known.
Like Homer, seven cities claimed the honor of
his birth. He was probably born at Alcan. de
Henares, in the province of Castile, in October,
I547. Of poor, though noble parentage, his
real patent of nobility dates from the publication of the incomparable Don Quixote. It is
supposed that he removed, with his parents, in
I554 to Madrid, where he remained until 1568.
Judging from his works, we may infer that lhe
enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education,
an inference that is confirmed by the testimony
of his instructor, Joan Lopez de Hoyos, Professor of Belles-Lettres in the University of
Madrid. At an early age he betrayed a strong
inclination for poetry, which resulted in his
Filena, a pastoral romance, together with several ballads, sonnets, and elegies.
At the age of twenty-two hle obtained the
I