_Death of Cervantes_ (Vol. iv., p. 116.).--No doubt now exists that the
death of Cervantes occurred on the 23rd of April, 1616, and not the 20th
of that month, which Smollett represents as the received date. In the
Spanish Academy's edition, the magnificent one of 1780, as well as in
that of 1797, it is so affirmed. In the former we read that on the 18th
he received the sacrament of extreme unction with great calmness of
spirit. It then adds:
"Igual serenidad mantuvo haste el último punto de la vida. Otorgó
testamento dexando por albaceas á su muger Doña Catalina de
Salazar, y al Licenciado Francisco Nuñez, que vivia en la misma
casa: mandó que le sepultasen en las Monjas Trinitarias; y murió á
23 del expresado mes de Abril, de edad de 68 años, 6 meses, y 14
dias."
The coincidence, however, of the renowned Spaniard's death with that of
our Shakspeare, who certainly died apparently on the same day, the 23rd
of April, 1616, on which, at a singularity, Mr. Frere, with others,
dwells, wholly fails; for, in fact, that day in Spain corresponded not
with the 23rd, but the 13th, in England. It is forgotten that the
Gregorian or Reformed Calendar was then adopted in Spain, and that
between it and the unreformed style of England a difference in that
century existed of ten days:--thus, the execution of Charles I., in our
writers, and in the Book of Common Prayer, is always dated on the 30th
of January, while on the continent it is represented as on the 9th of
February. The Reformed Calendar was adopted and promulgated by Pope
Gregory XIII. in 1582, while rejected by England, though acknowledged to
be correct, until 1751, because coming from Rome. This disgraceful
submission to prejudice in repudiation of a demonstrated scientific
truth, practically sanctioned by a Napier, a Newton, a Halley, &c., is
still pursued in the Greek church and Russian empire, where the present
day, the 17th of September, is the 5th.