* * * *

MIGUEL CERVANTES

Life and Adventures of Don Quixote

Miguel Cervantes, the son of poor but gentle parents, was
born nobody quite knows where in Spain, in the year 1547. His
favourite amusement when a boy was the performance of
strolling players. He learned grammar and the humanities under
Lopez de Hoyos at Madrid, but did not, it seems, proceed to
the university. He was an early writer of sonnets, and tried
his hand on a pastoral poem before he had grown moustaches.
His first acquaintance with the world was acting as
chamberlain in the house of a cardinal, but this life he
presently abandoned for the more stirring career of a soldier.
After incredible sufferings and adventures, the poor private
soldier returned wounded to his family and began his career as
author. He soon established a reputation, and was able to
marry a quite adorable good lady with dowry sufficient for his
needs. However, it was not until late in life that he wrote
his immortal work "Don Quixote," which saw the light in 1604
or 1605. During the remainder of his life he was bitterly
assailed by the envious and malignant, was seldom out of
monetary difficulties, and very often in great pain from the
disease which finally ended his career at Madrid on April 23,
1616--the same day which saw the close of Shakespeare's.

_I.--The Knight-Errant of La Mancha_

In a certain village of La Mancha, there lived one of those
old-fashioned gentlemen who keep a lance in the rack, an ancient target,
a lean horse, and a greyhound for coursing. His family consisted of a
housekeeper turned forty, a niece not twenty, and a man who could saddle
a horse, handle the pruning-hook, and also serve in the house. The
master himself was nigh fifty years of age, lean-bodied and thin-faced,
an early riser, and a great lover of hunting. His surname was Quixada,
or Quesada.

You must know now that when our gentleman had nothing to do--which was
almost all the year round--he read books on knight-errantry, and with
such delight that he almost left off his sports, and even sold acres of
land to buy these books. He would dispute with the curate of the parish,
and with the barber, as to the best knight in the world. At nights he
read these romances until it was day; a-day he would read until it was
night. Thus, by reading much and sl