Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was baptized October 9, 1547, at Alcalà de
Henares, a town of New Castile, not far from Madrid. The exact date of
his birth does not appear; and even the locality of it has been disputed
by several towns, as the Grecian cities contended for the honour due to
the birth-place of Homer. Sprung from noble, but not wealthy parents, he
was sent at an early age to the metropolis, to qualify himself for one
or other of the only lucrative professions in Spain, the church, the
law, or medicine; but his attention was diverted from this object by a
strong propensity to writing verses. Juan Lopez de Hoyos, a teacher of
some note, under whom he studied ancient and modern literature, thought
Cervantes the most promising of his pupils; and inserted an elegy, and
other verses of his favourite’s composition, in an account of the
funeral of Queen Isabel, wife of Philip II., published in 1569. These,
like the greater number of Cervantes’ early poems, which are very
numerous, do not rise above mediocrity; though the author, who was a
long time in discovering that his real talent lay in prose writing,
seems to have thought otherwise. He was an indefatigable reader, and
used to stop before the book-stalls in the street, perusing anything
that attracted his attention. In this manner he gained that intimate
knowledge of the old literature of his country, which is displayed in
his works; especially in the “Canto de Caliope,” the “Escrutinio de la
libreria de Don Quixote,” and the “Viage al Parnaso.” Thus he spent his
time, reading and writing verses, seemingly heedless of his future
subsistence, until the pressure of want, and the ill success of his
poetry, drove him to quit Spain, and seek his fortune elsewhere. He went
to Rome, and entered the service of Cardinal Giulio Acquaviva; but soon
after enlisted as a private in the armament which Pope Pius V. fitted
out in 1570 for the relief of Cyprus, then attacked by the Turks. In
1571 he fought in the famous battle of Lepanto, when the combined
squadrons of the Christian powers, commanded by Don Juan of Austria,
defeated and destroyed the Ottoman fleet. On that memorable day
Cervantes received a gun-shot wound, which for life deprived him of the
use of his left hand. Far however from repining, the generous Spaniard
always expressed his joyfulness at having purchased the honour of
sharing in that victory at that price. The wounded were landed at
Messina, and Cervantes among them. Having recovered his health, he
enlisted in the troops of Naples, then subject to the crown of Spain. In
1575, as he was voyaging to Spain, the vessel was taken by corsairs; and
being carried to Algiers, Cervantes became a slave to Dali Mami, an
Albanian renegade, notorious for cruelty. The high-spirited Spaniard
bent all his energies to effect an escape; and contrived to get out of
the city of Algiers, and conceal himself in a cave by the sea-coast,
near a garden belonging to a renegade, named Hassan, whose gardener and
another slave were in the secret. He was there joined by several
Christian prisoners; and the party remained in the cave for several
months, hoping that the opportune arrival of some vessel might deliver
them from their anxious duress. At last a ransomed captive, a native of
Majorca and friend of Cervantes, left Algiers, and returning to his
country, fitted out a vessel, with the intention of releasing his
countrymen. He arrived off the coast in the night, and was on the point
of landing near the entrance of the cave, when some Moors, who were
passing by, spied him, and raised the alarm, on which the vessel stood
out again to sea. One of Hassan’s two servants next day went to the Dey,
and, in hopes of a reward, informed him that fifteen Christians were
concealed in the cave. They were immediately seized and loaded with
chains. Cervantes, who appeared the leader, was closely questioned by
the Dey himself, whether he had any accomplices in the city. He answered
steadily, that the scheme had been planned and carried on by himself
alone. After this examination, he was returned to his master. Nothing
disheartened, he devised other means of escape, which likewise failed;
until at last he conceived the daring scheme of organising a general
rising of the Christian slaves in Algiers, and taking forcible
possession of the town. But by the cowardice of some of them, the plot
was betrayed; and Cervantes was again seized, and carried to the prison
of the Dey, who declared that his capital and his ships were not safe
“unless he kept himself a close watch over the crippled Spaniard.” So
earnest was he in this feeling, that he even purchased Cervantes from
his master, and kept him confined in irons; but he did not otherwise ill
treat the prisoner, partly, perhaps, out of respect for so brave a man,
partly in the hope of obtaining a high ransom for him. Father Haëdo, in
his “Topografia de Argel,” gives an account of Cervantes’ captivity, and
of the repeated attempts which he made to escape. Meantime his widowed
mother and his sister in Spain had not forgotten him, and they
contrived, in the year 1579, to raise a sum of 300 ducats, which they
delivered to two monks of the order of Trinity, or Mercy, who were
proceeding to Algiers for the ransom of slaves. In 1580 they arrived,
and treated with the Dey for Cervantes’ ransom, which, after an
extravagant sum had been demanded, was settled at 500 golden scudi. The
good fathers made up the deficiency in the sum they had been intrusted
with; and at last, in September of that year, Cervantes found himself
free. Early in the following year he returned to Spain. Having met
nothing but misfortunes and disappointment in his endeavours to make his
fortune in the world, he now determined to return to his literary
pursuits. In 1584 he published his “Galatea,” a pastoral novel. At the
end of that year he married Doña Catalina Palacios de Salazar, a lady of
ancient family, of the town of Esquivias. This marriage, however, does
not seem to have much improved his fortune, for he began soon after to
write for the stage as a means of supporting himself. In the next five
years he composed between twenty and thirty plays, which were performed
at Madrid, and, it would seem, most of them with success. A few are
still remembered, namely, “Los Tratos de Argel,” in which he describes
the scenes of Algerine captivity; “La Destruccion de Numancia,” and “La
Batalla Naval.” He ceased to write for the stage about 1590, when Lope
de Vega was rising into reputation. After this he lived several years at
Seville, where he had some wealthy relatives, and where he appears to
have been employed as a commercial agent. He was at Seville in 1598, at
the time when Philip II. died. The pompous preparations for the funeral,
the gorgeous hearse and pall, and the bombastic admiration of the people
of Seville at their own magnificence on the occasion, excited the grave
and sober Castilian’s vein of irony, and he ridiculed the boastful
Andalusians in a sonnet which became celebrated, and which begins
Voto à Dios que me espanta esta grandeza.
“I declare to God that all this magnificence quite overwhelms me,” &c.
He has also given an amusing account of the peculiar character, taste,
and habits of the Sevillians in one of his tales, “Rinconete y
Cortadillo,” in which he describes the several classes of the
inhabitants of that city, which is the second in Spain, and, in many
respects, offers a strong contrast to Madrid. It was in one of his
journeys between these two cities that he resided some time in the
province of La Mancha, which he has rendered famous by his great work.
He examined attentively both the country and the people; he saw the cave
of Montesinos, the Lagunas de Ruydera, the plain of Montiel, Puerto
Lapice, the Batanas, and other places which he has described in Don
Quixote. Being intrusted with some commission or warrant for recovering
certain arrears of tithe due from the village of Argamasilla to the
Prior of St. John of Consuegra, he incurred the hostility of the
villagers, who disputed his powers, and threw him into prison; and he
seems to have remained in confinement for some time, as during that
period he imagined and sketched the first part of Don Quixote, as he
himself has stated in the preface. He fixed upon this village of
Argamasilla as the native place of his hero, without however mentioning
its name, “which,” he says at the beginning of the book, “I have no
particular wish to remember.” After this occurrence, we find Cervantes
living with his family at Valladolid in 1604–5, while Philip III. and
his court were residing there. There is a document among the records of
the prison of that city, from which it appears that, in June 1605,
Cervantes was taken up on suspicion of being concerned in a night brawl
which took place near his house, and in which a knight of Santiago was
mortally wounded. The wounded man came to the house in which Cervantes
lived, and was helped up-stairs by one of the other lodgers whom he
knew, assisted by Cervantes, who had come out at the noise. The
magistrate arrested several of the inmates of the house, which contained
five different families, living in as many sets of chambers on the
different floors. From the examinations taken it appears that Cervantes,
his wife and daughter, his widowed sister and her daughter, his half
sister, who was a _monja_, or domestic nun, and a female servant,
occupied apartments on the first floor; and that Cervantes was in the
habit of being visited by several gentlemen, both on commercial business
and on account of his literary merit. Cervantes was honourably
acquitted; as the wounded man, before he died, acknowledged that he had
received the fatal blow from an unknown stranger, who insolently
obstructed his passage, upon which they drew their swords. Soon
afterwards, in 1605, the first part of Don Quixote appeared at Madrid,
whither Cervantes probably removed after the court left Valladolid. It
seems at once to have become popular; for four editions were published
in the course of the year. But it was assailed with abuse by the
fanatical admirers of tales of chivalry, by several dramatic and other
poets unfavourably alluded to, and also by some of the partisans of Lope
de Vega, who thought that Cervantes had not done justice to their idol.
Cervantes did not publish anything for seven years after the appearance
of the first part of Don Quixote. He seems to have spent this long
period in studious retirement at Madrid: he had by this time given up
all expectations of court favour or patronage, which it would appear
that he at one time entertained. Philip III., although remarkably fond
of Don Quixote, the perusal of which was one of the few things that
could draw a smile from his melancholy countenance, was not a patron of
literature, and he thought not of inquiring after the circumstances of
the writer who had afforded him some moments of innocent gratification.
Cervantes, however, gained two friends among the powerful of the time,
Don Pedro de Castro, Count de Lemos, and Don Bernardo de Sandoval,
Archbishop of Toledo. To the first he was introduced by his friends, the
two brothers and poets Argensola, who were attached to the household and
enjoyed the confidence of the Count. In 1610, when De Lemos went as
Viceroy to Naples, Cervantes expected to go with him; but he was
disappointed; and he attributed his failure to the coldness and neglect
with which his application to that effect was treated by the Argensolas.
It is certain, however, that he received from the Count de Lemos some
substantial marks of favour, and among them a pension for the remainder
of his life. To this nobleman Cervantes dedicated the second part of his
Don Quixote, and other works, with strong expressions of gratitude. The
Spanish biographers say also that he received assistance in money from
the Archbishop of Toledo. These benefactions, added to his wife’s little
property at Esquivias and the remains of his own small patrimony, kept
him above absolute want, though evidently in a state of penury.
In 1613 he published his “Novelas Exemplares,” or moral tales. They have
always been much esteemed, both for the purity of the language and for
the descriptions of life and character which they contain.
In 1614 Cervantes published his “Viage al Parnaso,” in which he passes
in review the poets of former ages, as well as his contemporaries, and
discusses their merits. While rendering justice to the Argensolas, he
alludes to the above-mentioned disappointment which they had caused him.
He complains of his own poverty with poetical exaggeration, and styles
himself “the Adam of poets.” He next sold eight of his plays to the
bookseller Villaroël, who printed them; after observing, however, that
Cervantes’ prose was much better relished by the public than his poetry,
a judgment which has been generally confirmed by critics. These plays
were dedicated to the Count de Lemos, whom he tells that he was
preparing to bring out Don Quixote armed and spurred once more.
Cervantes had then nearly finished the second part of his immortal work;
but before he had time to send it to press, there appeared a spurious
continuation of the Don Quixote, the author of which, apparently an
Aragonese, assumed the fictitious name of Avellaneda. It was published
at Tarragona towards the end of 1614. It is very inferior in style to
the original, which it strives to imitate. The writer was not only
guilty of plagiarisms from the first part of Cervantes’ work, already
published, but he evidently pirated several incidents from the second
part, which was still in MS., and to which, by some means or other, he
must have found access. At the same time, he scruples not to lavish
vulgar abuse on Cervantes, ridiculing him for the lameness which an
honourable wound had entailed upon him, and for his other misfortunes.
This disgraceful production was deservedly lashed by the injured author
in the second part of Don Quixote, which was published in 1615, and
received with universal applause. His fame now stood at the highest, and
distinguished strangers arriving at Madrid were eager to be introduced
to him. His pecuniary circumstances, however, remained at the same low
ebb as before. The Count de Lemos, who was still at Naples, appears to
have been his principal friend.
In October, 1615, Cervantes felt the first attacks of dropsy. He bore
the slow progress of this oppressive disease with his usual serenity of
mind; and occupied himself in preparing for the press his last
production, “Persiles y Sigismunda,” an elegant imitation of
Heliodorus’s Ethiopian story. The last action of his life was to dictate
the affecting dedication of this work to the Count de Lemos. He died
without much struggle, April 23, 1616, in his sixty-ninth year. It is a
singular coincidence, that Spain and England should have lost on the
same day of the same year the peculiar glory of their national
literature: for this was the day upon which Shakspeare died. By his will
he appointed his wife and a friend as his executors, and requested to be
buried in the monastery of the Trinitarios, the good fathers who had
released him from captivity. After the custom of pious Spaniards, he had
inscribed himself as a brother of the third order of St. Francis, and in
the dress of that order he was carried to his grave. No monument was
raised to his memory. The house in which he died was in the Calle (or
street) de Leon, where the Royal Asylum now stands.
Cervantes’ great work is too generally known to require criticism. It is
one of those few productions which immortalize the literature and
language to which they belong. The interest excited by such a work never
dies, for it is interwoven with the very nature of man. The particular
circumstances which led Cervantes to the conception of Don Quixote have
long ceased to exist. Books of chivalry have been forgotten, and their
influence has died away; but Quixotism, under some form or another,
remains a characteristic of the human mind in all ages: man is still the
dupe of fictions and of his own imagination, and it is for this, that,
in reading the story of the aberrations of the Knight of La Mancha, and
of the mishaps that befell him in his attempt to redress all the wrongs
of the world, we cannot help applying the moral of the tale to incidents
that pass every day before our own eyes, and to trace similarities
between Cervantes’ hero and some of our living acquaintances.
The contrast between the lofty, spiritual, single-minded knight, and his
credulous, simple, yet shrewd, and earth-seeking squire, is an unfailing
source of amusement to the reader. It has been disputed which of the two
characters, Don Quixote or Sancho, is most skilfully drawn, and best
supported through the story. They are both excellent, both suited to
each other. The contrast also between the style of the work and the
object of it affords another rich vein of mirth. Cervantes’ object was
to extirpate by ridicule the whole race of turgid and servile imitators
of the older chivalrous tales; which had become a real nuisance in his
time, and exercised a very pernicious effect on the minds and taste of
the Spaniards. The perusal of those extravagant compositions was the
chief pastime of people of every condition; and even clever men
acknowledged that they had wasted whole years in this unprofitable
occupation, which had spoiled their taste and perverted their
imaginations so much, that they could not for a long time after take up
a book of real history or science without a feeling of weariness.
Cervantes was well acquainted with the nature and the effects of the
disease: he had himself employed much time in such pursuits, and he
resolved to prepare a remedy for the public mind. That his example has
been taken as a precedent by vulgar and grovelling persons, for the
purpose of ridiculing all elevation of sentiment, all enthusiasm and
sense of honour, forms no just ground of censure on Cervantes, who waged
war against that which was false and improbable, and not against that
which is noble and natural in the human mind. Nature and truth have
their sublimity, which Cervantes understood and respected.
The best Spanish editions of Don Quixote are that of the Spanish
Academy, in four vols. 4to., 1788; the edition by Don Juan Antonio
Pellicer, with a good life of Cervantes, five vols. 8vo., 1798; and the
edition by Don Martin F. de Navarrete, five vols. 8vo., 1819. The
edition published by the Rev. J. Bowle, six volumes in three, 4to.
London, 1781, contains a valuable commentary, explanatory of idioms,
proverbs, &c. Of the English translations, the oldest by Skelton is
still much esteemed; there are also versions by Motteux, Jarvis, and
Smollet. A new translation was made for the splendid London edition of
1818, four vols. 4to., enriched with engravings from pictures by Smirke.
Le Sage translated Don Quixote into French; but with omissions and
interpolations which render this a very unfaithful version.
Next to Don Quixote, Cervantes’ best works are his ‘Novelas.’ They have
been translated into English. The language of Cervantes is pure
Castilian, and is esteemed by learned Spaniards to be one of the best
models for prose composition.
Don Agustin Garcia de Arrieta published in 1814 an inedited comic novel
of Cervantes, styled ‘La Tia Fingida,’ or ‘The Feigned Aunt,’ to which
he added a dissertation on the spirit of Cervantes and his works. The
best biographers of Cervantes are Pellicer and Navarrete, already
mentioned.
[Illustration:
[Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. From one of a series of designs by
Vanderbanck.]
]
[Illustration:
_Engraved by E. Scriven._