On being liberated from his brief but vexatious incarceration, Cervantes formally lodged in the hands of the Alcalde, the effects of the deceased gentleman, which had been placed in his care. They consisted of his clothes, a little money and some jewels which he wore on his person. These articles are curiously described in an inventory taken by one of the Alguazils. The dress, which is stated to be the hábito de noche (evening costume) of a fashionable cavalier of the time, was composed of an under vest of satin laced with gold, to which was fastened the badge of the Order of Santiago, a doublet also of satin with sleeves of taffety, black hose ornamented with embroidery, and a cloak of a kind of mixed cloth called mezcla. In the pockets of the deceased were found seventy-two reals, three small keys and two little bags, (bolsillos), the one filled with relics and the other containing a flint, a steel, and some tinder (probably used in smoking). On his fingers were two gold rings, one set with diamonds forming an Ave Maria, the other set with emeralds; suspended from his neck was a rosary of ebony.
The court removed from Valladolid to Madrid in 1606, and shortly after that time we find Cervantes with his family settled in the capital. The poor author’s worldly affairs were in no respect improved, yet nevertheless he continued to maintain his two sisters and his niece, who had now became entirely dependent on him: of his brother Rodrigo nothing is known subsequently to the time when he left Spain to join the army in Flanders. Between Cervantes and his elder sister, Doña Andrea, the most cordial affection always prevailed. That lady had appropriated her little dowry to the pious purpose of aiding the ransom of her two brothers from Algiers, and when in her widowhood, she fell into straitened circumstances, Cervantes gave her and her daughter an asylum in his home. They, together with the younger sister of Cervantes, Doña Luisa, had lived with him and his family in Seville and Valladolid and they accompanied him in his removal to Madrid.
With old age advancing upon him, Cervantes now tranquilly resigned himself to the penury which fate seemed to have irrevocably assigned as his lot. In conformity with a custom very common at that time, he enrolled himself among the members of a religious fraternity, that of the Franciscans of the third class; and he sought in literary retirement to forget the world’s ingratitude. He began to prepare for the press some of the works, which at previous periods had occasionally occupied his pen. The Novelas Exemplares, (Moral or Instructive Tales), several of which had been written during the author’s residence in Seville were published in 1612. These Novelas, which have gained for Cervantes the title of the Boccacio of Spain, are romances in miniature, some serious, some comic, and all written in a light conversational style. No compositions of a similar kind had previously existed in Spanish literature; and the author, to use his own expression, opened a path (abierto camino) for other writers to pursue.
Cervantes, who was prone to comment on his own works, makes the following remarks in alluding to the Novelas Exemplares. “I was the first to write novels in the Spanish language; for though many novels have been printed in Spanish, they have all been translated from foreign languages. These are my own: I have neither copied nor stolen them. They were engendered in my fancy, brought forth by my pen; and they will grow in the fostering arms of the press.”[43] The Novelas Exemplares were speedily followed by the publication of the Viaje del Parnaso (Journey to Parnassus), a work which is regarded as one of the most extraordinary productions of its author. It is a satirical poem directed against the false pretenders to the honours of the Spanish Parnassus. In a prose Appendix (Adjunta) to this poem, Cervantes directs attention to some of his early dramatic writings. He complains of the ingratitude of actors and of the misjudgment of audiences, and he mentions in commendatory terms some of the plays he had written at a recent period. He was evidently desirous once more to try his fortune as a dramatic author; and above all to have his plays successfully performed in the theatres of the capital. But the managers positively declined to bring his dramas upon the stage; and in the hope of turning them to some little profit, he offered a few to the bookseller Villaroel for publication. Villaroel at first hesitated, but at length offered a trifle for the manuscripts, and the result was the publication of the Ocho Comedias y Entremeses,[44] with the celebrated Preface.
About this time the appearance of an extraordinary literary production created a great sensation throughout Spain. This was a pretended continuation of Don Quixote, by a writer who assumed the name of Avellaneda. This production though not absolutely devoid of talent has received from some critics more approbation than it deserves. One marked difference may be noticed as existing between the great work of Cervantes and the spurious production of his imitator; it is that the wild fancies of Don Quixote are prepared by circumstances likely to lead to them, in a mind subject to such aberrations as that of the Knight of La Mancha; whereas Avellaneda’s hero plunges into all sorts of extravagance without any sufficient cause. It is merely a narrative of marvellous incidents, of a nature calculated to gratify puerile taste; but the ingenuity requisite to please the intelligent reader is totally wanting. The work was translated into French by Le Sage, who, as Mr. Prescott justly observes “has given a substantial value to gems of little price in Castilian literature, by the brilliancy of his setting.”[45] The real name of the author of this literary imposture, was never discovered. He was supposed to be an Arragonian priest.
Instead of indulging in idle complaint or bitter invective, Cervantes nobly resented this injury by producing the second part of his Don Quixote. This second part, which was published in 1615, obtained even a greater share of public approbation than that which had greeted the first part. The proceeds derived from the sale, could not have been inconsiderable, and must have proved an acceptable addition to the author’s pecuniary resources. It is also ascertained that at this period his income was augmented by the liberality of the Count de Lemos and the Archbishop of Toledo, whose friendship Cervantes, amidst all his misfortunes, had secured; and there appears reason to hope that his latter years were in some degree exempt from the struggles which at various times embittered the earlier periods of his life.
The leisure which his improved circumstances afforded was employed in completing some of his unfinished works, and in writing those which he had previously only sketched in outline. He gave the finishing touch to his Galatea, and he produced several poetic works, of which the romance of Persiles y Sigismunda is the only one preserved. This poem, an avowed imitation of the style of Heliodorus, was preferred by the author himself to any of his other works; a preference at variance with the unanimous judgment of literary criticism. But with all its faults, its paramount beauties must be admitted;—and the writer, who at the age of sixty-eight could produce so glowing a creation of poetic fancy, may, to borrow Calderón’s simile, be likened to a volcano, in which, beneath a cap of snow, flow streams of fire.
Cervantes dedicated Persiles to his patron, the Count de Lemos, in a prólogo or preface, which is one of the most graceful pieces of writing its author ever produced.
This poem was finished in the spring of 1616, at which time the declining health of Cervantes began to excite the alarm of his friends. Hoping to derive benefit from change of air, he occasionally made visits to Esquivias, where his wife’s family still resided. He went on one of those excursions only a few days prior to his death; and he himself related that whilst returning home to Madrid, in company with some friends, they were overtaken by a student, who joined in their conversation, and they all rode on together. This student, on recognising Cervantes, greeted him with the titles of, “Pleasant writer! the favourite of the Muses!” (¡Escritor alegre! ¡el regocijo de las Musas!). In the course of conversation, Cervantes acquainted the student that he was suffering from dropsy, and that he feared the disorder would speedily reach a fatal crisis, adding, as it were prophetically, he thought he should not live beyond the following Sunday.
The malady speedily assumed so formidable an aspect as to preclude all hope of recovery. On the 18th of April, 1616, Cervantes received extreme unction, and on the day following he finished the dedicatory preface to Persiles. When about to depart on the long journey of death, his memory reverted to some old Spanish coplas, which commence with the words, “Puesto ya el pie en el estribo,” (with one foot already in the stirrup). To these quaint old lines, he playfully alludes in the dedication of his last work, where, addressing the Count de Lemos, he observes:—“These old coplas, so popular in their day, may perhaps come opportunely into this epistle, which I might commence almost in the same words, saying—