rom obscurity. To this enlightened
ecclesiastic is the world indebted for the undertaking of the Polyglot
Bible, which, in connection with other learned works, led the university
to be spoken of as one of the greatest educational establishments in the
world. From far and near were people drawn to it. King Ferdinand paid
homage to his subject's noble testimonial of labor, by visiting the
cardinal at Alcala de Henares, and acknowledging that his own reign had
received both benefit and glory from it. The people of Alcala punningly
said, the church of Toledo had never had a bishop of greater
_edification_ than Ximenes; and Erasmus, in a letter to his friend
Vergara, perpetrates a Greek pun on the classic name of Alcala,
intimating the highest opinion of the state of science there. The
reclining statue of Ximenes, beautifully carved in alabaster, now
ornaments his sepulchre in the College of St. Ildefonso.

Cervantes shared the honor of the birthplace with the Emperor Ferdinand;
he of "blessed memory," who failed to obtain permission from the Pope
for priests to marry, but who, in spite of turbulent times, maintained
religious peace in Germany, and lived to see the closing of the Council
of Trent, marking his reign as one of the most enlightened of the age.

Alcala also claims Antonio de Solis, the well-known historian, whose
"Conquest of Mexico" has been translated into many languages, as well as
Teodora de Beza, a zealous Calvinistic reformer and famous divine, a
sharer of Calvin's labors in Switzerland and author of the celebrated
manuscripts known as Beza's manuscripts.

Judging from the character of the town and the refining educational
influence that so grand a university must have had over its inhabitants,
we have a right to believe that Cervantes was early imbued with all that
was noble and good, and it is difficult to understand why, with all the
advantages which the College of St. Ildefonso opened to him, he should
have been sent away from it to that of Salamanca. Even allowing that the
supposition of early poverty was correct, it would have appeared an
additional reason for his being educated in his native town,
particularly as liberal foundations were made for indigent students.
The fact of his being sent to Salamanca would seem to disprove the
supposition of pecuniary necessity. In its early days, the university of
Salamanca was justly celebrated for its progress in astronomy and
familiarity with Greek and Ara