rd that we have of
Cervantes, to draw the line where imagination begins and facts end.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the contemporary of Shakspeare, Galileo,
Camoens, Rubens, Tasso, and Lope de Vega, was born obscurely and in
poverty, but with good antecedents. His grandfather, Juan de Cervantes,
was the corregidor, or mayor, of Ossuna, and our poet was the youngest
son of Rodrigo and Leonora de Cortinos, of the Barajas family. On either
side he belonged to illustrious houses. He speaks of his birthplace as
the "famous Henares,"--"Alcala de Henares," sometimes called Alcala de
San Justo, from the saint San Justo having there suffered martyrdom
under the traitor Daciamos. The town is beautifully situated on the
borders of the Henares River, two thousand feet above the level of the
sea.

He was born on Sunday, October 9, 1547, and was baptized in the church
of Santa Maria la Mayor, receiving his name on the fete day of his
patron Saint Miguel, which some biographers have confounded with that of
his birthday.

We may be forgiven for a few words about Alcala de Henares, since, had
it only produced so rare a man as was Cervantes, it would have had
sufficient distinction; but it was a town of an eventful historical
record. It was destroyed about the year 1000, and rebuilt and possessed
by the Moors, was afterwards conquered by Bernardo, Archbishop of
Toledo. Three hundred years later it was the favorite retreat of
Ximenes, then Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, who returned to it, after
his splendid conquests, laden with gold and silver spoil taken from the
mosques of Oran, and with a far richer treasure of precious Arabian
manuscripts, intended for such a university as had long been his
ambition to create, and the corner-stone of which he laid with his own
hands in 1500. There was a very solemn ceremonial at the founding of
this famous university, and a hiding away of coins and inscriptions
under its massive walls, and a pious invocation to Heaven for a special
blessing on the archbishop's design! At the end of eight years the
extensive and splendid buildings were finished and the whole town
improved. With the quickening of literary labor and the increase of
opportunities of acquiring knowledge, the reputation of the university
was of the highest.

The cardinal's comprehensive mind included in its professorships all
that he considered useful in the arts. Emulation was encouraged, and
every effort was made to draw talent f