Excerpt from The History of Don Quixote A few sonnets, of no particular brilliancy, are the only literary productions of which we have any trace as having been written by Cervantes during this period. From his/ departure from Seville in 1598, to his settlement in Valladolid in 1603, we may conclude, in the absence of any reliable or accurate information, that Cervantes was still engaged in tax-collecting and similar work, as well for private individuals as for public and corporate functionaries. There is no reason to doubt that he was on one occasion employed thus by the Prior Of the Order of St. John in La Mancha, and that having attempted to perform his duties in the village Of Argamasilla, he was ill-treated by the inhabitants, and finally thrown into prison. With this incident is connected the scene Of his illustrious knight Don Quixote de la Mancha's early adventures. Bai'ly in 160 3 Cervantes, in Obedience to a summons from the Revenue authorities, arrived at Valladolid, whither the Court had removed some eighteen months previously. During this period Cervantes was engaged upon the first part Of his Don Quixote, which was licensed at Valladolid in the year after his arrival there, and printed the following year (1605) at Madrid. In 1606 the Court went to Madrid; Cervantes returned there also, and resided in various parts of that capital until his death. There is no doubt that Cervantes was, during his residence here, acquainted with his illustrious contemporary, Lope de Vega;* but between the suffering and neglected Cervantes and his prosperous contemporary there can scarcely be said to have existed a friendship. The kindly and generous nature of Cervantes was ever ready to recognise and' laud the genius of his brother poet and dramatist. These feelings, however, were not reciprocated by Lo'pe, who speaks occasionally of Cervantes with a Contemptuous sarcasm, which, we cannot avoid thinking, was the Offspring Of an ungenerous and jealous nature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.