THE WANDERINGS OF PERSILES AND SIGISMUNDA;
A NORTHERN STORY.
BY
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA.
LONDON:
JOSEPH CUNDALL, 168, NEW BOND STREET.
1854.
TO
THE HON. EDWARD LYULPH STANLEY,
IN MEMORY OF THOSE DAYS
WHEN HE AND HIS BROTHER
FIRST MADE ACQUAINTANCE WITH
THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES AND TROUBLES OF
THE BEAUTIFUL PILGRIMS,
THIS WORK
IS INSCRIBED BY
THE TRANSLATOR.
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
This Romance was the last work of Cervantes, the dedication to the Count de Lemos was written the day after he had received extreme unction; he died four days after, on the 23rd of April 1616, aged 67. On that same day in that same year England lost her Shakespeare.[A]
In the Preface to this edition, the Editor says, "Not a few are there among the wise and learned, who, notwithstanding the well-known merit of all the works of the famous Spaniard, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and in spite of the oft repeated praises lavished especially upon the Life and Deeds of Don Quixote de la Mancha, which has ever held the foremost place in the estimation of the public, yet give the preference above all to The Troubles of Persiles and Sigismunda, which I am about to present to the public anew in this edition."
It seems, too, that this was the opinion of Cervantes himself; for in his dedication to the Count de Lemos, which is affixed to the second part of Don Quixote, he says, "offering to your Excellency the Troubles of Persiles and Sigismunda, a book I hope to finish in about four months (Deo volente), which is to be either the very best or the very worst hitherto composed in our language, I speak of books of entertainment, and indeed I repent of having said, the very worst, because, according to the opinion of my friends, it will reach the extreme of goodness."