CERVANTES, MIGUEL nE SAAVEDRA, an eminent Spanish writer, author of Don Quixote, and one of the most distinguished satirists which modern times have produced.
It appears now to be ascertained, that he was born at Alcala in New Castile ; though the place of his 'lath ity has long been a matter of dispute, Madrid, Seville, and other cities, as well as Alcala, contending for that hon our. The date of his birth is October 9th 1547.
parents were Rodrigo de Cervantes and Lconor de Cor tinas, poor, but of honourable extraction. Whether he was related to Francisco Cervantes, author of a book, entitled, Aliologo de Ociosidad, and published at Alcala in the year 1546, is, we believe, at present unknown.
According to the latest and best accounts, Cervantes received his education under an eminent teacher at Madrid. Ile was destined either for the church or the profession of medicine, but not relishing the methodical application which was required of him, he appears very speedily to have relinquished all severer studies, and betaken himself to the composition of verses. An elegy on the death of Queen Isabella, a poem, entitled Filena, and some sonnets, were his earliest productions. But they seem to have been published only to be neglected. Though rated high in the estimation of the author, they attracted little notice from the friends and patrons of literature. The great and the wise were too indolent or too busy, to attend, while he offered them consolation or amusement. This treatment appeared to Cervantes in the light of the most flagrant and criminal injustice. He considered himself as a young man cruelly dealt with, and resolved, in a paroxysm of resentment natural to a mind conscious of high powers, to bestow his labours no more on a public so ungrateful. Accordingly he quitted Spain, and withdrew himself to Rome. But his fortune was by no means ameliorated by the change ; for he was reduced to such extreme distress, that he was constrained to enter into the service of the Cardinal Aquaviva, in the capacity of valet de chambre.
Such was the early condition of this man, for whose birth imperial cities have contended, and whom the world of letters now unites to honour. His miseries, however, did not stop here. He was quickly disgusted with the employment of the cardinal, and as he was wholly with out friends, and seems to have had little concern or care of life, he enlisted as a soldier. In the latter capacity he served many years tinder Mark Antony Colonna ; he was present at the battle of Lepanto, gained by Don John of Austria A. D. 1571 : and history may record him as one instance at least, of a poet who fought valiantly in actual combat, and who, if compelled to retreat, did not expedite his flight by throwing away his shield. In the battle of Lepanto, he had his left hand struck off by the discharge of an arquebusc. The loss of his limb on this occasion he ever afterwards considered as highly honourable ; regarding it, no doubt, as some proof of valour which had been subjected to trial, and found equal to its severity, or perhaps, as some evidence, that when his left hand was carried away, his right, which grasped his sword, was more actively employed.
In the year 1574, we find Cervantes a slave in Algiers. Here too his fortune was not a little diversified. His first master w as Arnante Marini, the most ferocious as well as the most formidable of all the corsairs. From the rigorous bondage which he endured in the service of this barbarian, he oftener than once attempted to escape. He joined himself to 14 Spaniards, whom he had persuaded to leave the houses of their respective masters, and concealed himself, along with his com panions, in a subterraneous abode not far from the shore. In the mean time, having procured the ransom of a prisoner, a native of Majorca, on whose fidelity he could depend, he dispatched this person to represent the case of the sufferers, and to implore that a small vessel might be sent, in order to convey them to their native country.
The viceroy of Majorca was not inattentive to the request ; a brigantine was immediately dispatched ; but the coast of Algiers was so closely watched, that the vessel could not approach. And to complete the mis fortunes of the captives, they were betrayed by one of their associates, seized in their retreat, and carried be fore the Dey, a ruler seldom known, even to his Mus sulman subjects, by the exercise of mercy. From him therefore. Christians, and Christians who had endeavour ed to escape from bondage, could not expect forgiveness. The prisoners approached the residence of the tyrant, anticipating death in its severest form. Fortunately, however, the event did not accord with their expecta tions. A pardon was offered them ; but it was offered them on this singular condition, that they should instantly declare which of their number was the author and con ductor of the enterprise. Here his companions hesitated, but Cervantes resolutely stepping forward, pronounced with a firm and audible voice, that the fatal but honoura ble distinction belonged to him, and added, m a tone equally firm and audible, that, in order to save his coun trymen, he was ready to die. The barbarian ruler, struck with his intrepidity, refused to punish him ; and even the savage A rnaute Marini, whose property, according to the laws and customs of Algiers, Cervantes was, ap peared unwilling that so brave a man should be put to an ignominious death. In four successive attempts to regain his liberty, the unhappy Spaniard completely failed. Still, however, after each attempt, his life was granted him ; a fact the more difficult of explanation, as such mercy is rarely shewn within the dominions of Algiers. At length Cervantes was purchased from Arnaute Marmi by the Dey himself, and shut up in close confinement as his slave. But amidst all his misfor tunes, the spirit of this extraordinary man continued unbroken and active. Under the eye of the court, and in the condition of a bondsman, he formed a project worthy of his enterprizing character,—a project no less hazardous than that of stirring up an insurrection among the subjects of Algiers, putting himself at their head, and dispossessing, by force of arms, the ruler of the country. This plot, likewise, was discovered before it was ripe for execution ; but Cervantes, by what manage ment or dexterity we know not, still escaped the punish ment of unsuccessful rebellion. Whether the tyrant respected his bravery, and spared him on that account ; whether he had the art to withdraw himself at a con venient season, foreseeing the failure of his scheme ; or whether his condition was too humble to provoke the royal wrath, it is usetus to enquire, because we have not the means of ascertaffleag the fact. If we may believe Cervantes himself, it was to the first or to the second of the causes just mentioned, that he was indebted for the forbearance which he experienced. In the novel of the Captive, the most interesting perhaps of any in Don Quixote, he refers to his own case when he says, " Only one Spanish soldier knew how to deal with him, (the sovereign of Algiers,) his name was Saavedra; who, though he had done many things which will not easily be forgotten by the Turks, yet all to gain his liberty, never received from his master either a blow or a harsh word ; and yet we were always afraid, that even for the least of his pranks, he would get himself impaled ; nay, he himself sometimes was afraid of it too. And if it were not taking up too much of your time, I could tell such passages of him, as would divert the company much better than the relation of my adventures, and cause more wonder in them." Don Quixote, vol. ii. p. 134.