PREFACE.

IT has long been my desire to write a Life of Cervantes. When this book was first begun, there existed in English, so far as I know, only the pastiche of Roscoe and the trifling monograph by Mrs. Oliphant; the former merely a rough translation, patched and boggled, from Navarrete; the latter too slight and sketchy for any but very young readers. While correcting the last chapter of the present volume, I have seen - vidi tantum - the more recent work of Mr. Henry Watt, at a period, however, too late to be of any service to me. I have, therefore, contented myself with glancing hurriedly through his pages and, differing as I do from some of his opinions, I venture to hope that there may be room for the two volumes side by side.

My materials, like those of my predecessors, have been derived in great measure from the exhaustive and invaluable Vida de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,

by Martín Fernández de Navarrete, whose wholehearted devotion and minute general accuracy are beyond all praise. His monumental labour and untiring industry have met with but scant recognition from his successors. I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of saying that it would be impossible for me, at least, to exaggerate the immense extent of my obligations to him. From the later contributions of D. Jerónimo Morán and D. Ramón León Máinez I have derived some suggestions, which are, I trust, duly recorded elsewhere. I have conscientiously endeavoured in each case to indicate the exact source of my indebtedness, and any absence of such reference on my part must be taken as being purely accidental. purely accidental. I can only most earnestly say with Alonso de Ercilla that

Si de todos aquí mención no hago

No culpen la intención, sino la mano.

I have greatly regretted my inability to accept, in at least one instance, the conclusions arrived at by D. Pascual de Gayangos; and it may well be imagined with how much hesitation and reluctance I presume to place on record my dissent from the opinion of that ripe scholar and judicious critic.

The bibliography is, I believe, on a larger scale than anything on the same subject which has preceded it. I would fain hope that it may be found useful by many Cervantistas. I am painfully aware of the numerous deficiencies of my modest little appendix;

and I shall be happy to acknowledge any additions and corrections, however unimportant or minute, from those students of Spanish literature who may do me the honour to examine it critically. It would be singular indeed if, in the treatment of a topic which extends over a space of time so considerable, I should not have fallen into many heinous errors both of commission and oversight. But, incomplete and imperfect as this essay undoubtedly is, its blemishes would have been still more marked without the assistance of Dr. Richard Garnett and that of my friend Mr. G. K. Fortescue, to both of whom my thanks are very gratefully rendered. To M. Alfred Morel-Fatio, whose authority as a bibliographer is widely known, I am indebted for service in this matter, as in many others. The death of the accomplished Dr. Pieter Anton Tiele, of the University of Utrecht, who had kindly undertaken to place at my disposal his ample knowledge of Dutch bibliography, has been to me a matter for extreme regret. I am highly sensible of the loss which that portion of the work has sustained in being deprived of his efficient co-operation. M. Jean Théophile Naaké has given me much needful help in the transliteration of the entries in the Slavonic sections; and to the advice of Professor Johan Storm, of Kristiania, I am obliged for direction on points of Scandinavian scholarship. My sincere thanks are likewise due to my friend Mr. Charles Liddell for the leading he has ungrudgingly

lent me on all questions of Italian and Provençal learning. M. R. Foulché-Delbosc, Mr. Gregory W. Eccles, Mr. R. Nisbet Bain, Mr. J. P. Anderson, and Mr. Henri van Laun have aided me in many matters of precise detail. Lastly, let me profess my deep sense of obligation to the learned D. Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo and to the illustrious orator D. Emilio Castelar.

The name of one friend, without whose counsel, encouragement, interest, and unfailing sympathy this book would probably never have been completed, I am compelled to omit; but the omission is in every way against my own inclination.

No cantefable prent fin.

N'en sai plus dire.

Yet my gratitude is none the less profound because of my compulsory silence.

JAS. FITZMAURICE-KELLY.

October, 1892.

Diego Gómez de Cervantes María García de Cabrera y Sotomayor.

Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes Beatriz López de Bocanegra.

=

Ruy Gómez de Cervantes (Gran Prior de la orden de S. Juan).

Juan de Cervantes Rodrigo de Cervantes María Gutiérrez Tello. Diego Gómez de Cervantes

(Card. Arzobispo

de Sevilla,

d. 1453).

(El sordo).

=

Juan de Cervantes
(Veinticuatro de

Sevilla).

(Gran Prior de la orden de S. Juan).

Diego de Cervantes Juana Avellaneda.

Juan de Cervantes (Corregidor de Osuna, 1531-1558).

Rodrigo de Cervantes

Leonor de Cortinas.

Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes (Corregidor de Jerez de la Frontera).

Rodrigo, b. Dec. 1543. Andrea,b.Nov.1544. Luisa, b.Aug.1546. MIGUEL, b. Oct. 1547.