, but few of his plays survive.

In 1605 there appeared the first part of the work which made Cervantes
famous, and which has kept his name before the world ever since. This
was the inimitable _Don Quixote_, which gives the burlesque adventures
of the self-styled "Knight of the Rueful Countenance." This book was not
intended to satirize knight-errantry itself, for that had long before
died out in Spain. What it did aim to do was to make ridiculous the
romances of chivalry over which all Spain at the time of Cervantes
seemed to have gone mad. How well Cervantes succeeded in his aim may be
known from the fact that after the appearance of his masterpiece, no new
romance of chivalry was published in Spain.

The hero of this great work, Don Quixote, is presented as the most
courteous and affable of gentlemen, wise on all points except those
pertaining to chivalry. It was not only, however, the masterly drawing
of the characters of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, which
made the book popular; the inexhaustible fund of humor has made it to
the present day a book which every one delights to read.

The following selections from _Don Quixote_ describe some of the typical
adventures of the gallant "Knight of the Rueful Countenance," and will
serve to give the reader an idea of the book.

DON QUIXOTE PREPARES TO SET OUT ON HIS ADVENTURES

In a village of La Mancha there lived not long since one of those
gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean
hack, and a greyhound for coursing. An olla[433-1] of rather more beef
than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on
Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with
three-quarters of his income. The rest of it went in a doublet of fine
cloth, and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while on
week days he made a brave figure in his best homespun. He had in his
house a housekeeper past forty, a niece under twenty, and a lad for the
field and market-place, who used to saddle the hack as well as handle
the bill-hook. The age of this gentlemen of ours was bordering on fifty,
he was of a hardy habit, spare, gaunt-featured, a very early riser and a
great sportsman. They will have it his surname was Quixada or Quesada
(for here there is some difference of opinion among the authors who
write on the subject), although from reasonable conjectures it seems
plain that he was called Quixana. This, however, is of but