The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-23
C'cHYAnteA Too.

Fitt!-ii>c years MiGJEL ~ CEBvAN.
= SAAvEDRA lived, and then one day
in 1903 he sat himself down, In the
little old house in Valladolid, with
its low doors. lis four homcly front
windows and ridiculous eighteen inch
square dormers winking out of n
rough roof-sat himself down ut Il
table where the sewing gear of the
women folks had been pushed aside
to give him pen room. aud wrote :
In IA village OF La Mancha, whose
name I do not recall" And then
by such trnnsubstantiation as but
some quarter dozen minds have
achieved in the history of mind. he
spun into his web all that he had
seen and heard and read and dreamed
and done in half u century Of mighty
busy living; and so created for US Il
"Classic.'
We do not rare so much about bis
career rs "a soldier Of llittle) fortune.
liiS NClllNlVS III INaily III tINN t'hi
pany nj arms of DIEGO DE URBINo.
his brief service in the household Of
Cardinal ACQUAvIvA. his gallantry In
the battle OF Lepanto. IL for the
accident that made the mutilatinG
wound befall his left hand. sparing
tho quill hand. We do not care so
much that he wrote clever short sto-
ries and >"ne dramas for editors to
dispute over, Is for the shining record
Of his patient courage when borne
into bruising captivity by Algerian
pirates; the unNuenchable fire OF his
spirit kindling duller souls to strike
for freedom, and, foiled, returning
to the first purpose more p~ersistently
than ROBERT the BBUCE's spider. LIB
erty, Sancho. is n Of the most pre-
cious gifts given Of tho skies to men /;
with 1t no treasure that the lei covers
or the earth confines may be COM
pared. For liberty us for honor a
man could and should stake his life,
since the direst Of evils Is capacity"
We do not care whether he studied
at Salamanca, or what his wooing
did to his poetry; We do not give a
ticus how much In 1.-The Dogs Colo
guy" or THE Licentiate Of Glass" or
1.-The Little Gypsy" Is autobiography
cal We listen untouched to analysis
of the merits of "Galatea." SHELLEY
and GOETHE admired "La Numanica"?
We accept their estimate of its hero
ism and It's pathOs, and take at face
value the critics description of the
Exemplary Novels" as Exquisite
gems" We believe every detail the
timorous encyclopaedia says Is "of
doubtful authenticity" In the story
of MIGUEL as a troubled o%ficeholder;
we starve with him, We stand at that
wounded side in his fights. we toll
with him in the care Of n family that
must have hated his litter of papers.
we collect with him stores for the
Great Armada, and languish with him
in prison.
We don't care q hang for the exact
point Mt which his purpose to satirize
chivnlry burst the bud and Powered
IN Inc deafness Don; OF Tor his
Sources" In italian ballad and ro-
nance; or for his digestion Of prov
erb and folk philosophy ; or for iden-
tifcation of the scoundrcl who stirred
his righteous wrath at tho "false Sec
end part" that made hin In 1914
slash ont Of his tccmine bruin the
true one; or whether Don QUIxorE
was the Duke of LEBMA and who were
other originals"
Take M~ACAuLAY's measured judg.
ment NJ a respectable Endorsement :
"The hest novel In the world, beyond
oil comparison" Pack on tina edi.
tors, commentators and annotators "a