that this "child of his sterile, ill-cultured wit" is
no creature of pure fancy, but fashioned in the very likeness of its
parent, drawn out of his life, shaped after his pattern--an image of its
creator. How could Cervantes' romance fail of holding the field against
all the romances? It was his own life from which he drew--that life which
had been a true knight-errantry. The hero himself, the enthusiast, nursed
on visions of chivalry, who is ever mocked by fortune; the reviver of the
old knighthood, who is buffeted by clowns and made sport of by the baser
sort; who, in spite of the frequent blows, jeers, reverses, and indignities
he receives, never ceases to command our love and sympathy--who is he but
the man of Lepanto himself, whose life is a romance at least as various,
eventful, and arduous; as full of hardships, troubles, and sadness; as
prolific of surprising adventures and strange accidents, as the immortal
story he has written? This is the key to _Don Quixote_, which, unless we
use, we shall not reach to the heart of the mystery.

EARLIEST POSITIVE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA

A.D. 1606

LOUIS BECKE AND WALTER JEFFERY

As shown by the authors of the following account, there is no lack of
evidence that it was belief in a great southern land which led early
geographers and sailors to belief in the existence of the Australian
continent. Notwithstanding this, it is held by some students of the
subject to be doubtful whether the first navigators who reached the
shores of Australia set out with any expectation of discovering a
great land in the south.

Whether this was the case or not, it is argued that the earliest
achievements in that quarter were either of no definite consequence
or were imperfectly estimated by those who made or promoted the
discoveries in connection with which not even their names have been
preserved.

The narrative of Becke and Jeffery, with its references to other
leading authorities, furnishes the completest and most recent
information on this subject available within the compass of a
reasonably brief survey.

Learned geographers have gone back to very remote times, even to the
Middle Ages, and, by the aid of old maps, have set up ingenious theories
showing that the Australian continent was then known to explorers. Some
evidence had been adduced of a F