Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/362

Rh 350 CERVANTES errant. Not Amadis nor Esplandian, nor any of thos whose fabled deeds had kindled his youthful imagina tion displayed a loftier spirit of honour or more worthily discharged his knightly devoir than did Miguel de Cer vantes when in duresse at Algiers. A slave in the power of the bitter enemy of his creed and nation, cut off in the hey-day of his fame from the path of ambition which fortune seemed to have opened to him, no lot could be more cruel than that which in the prime of his manhooc and genius fell to our hero. Nor is there any chapter oJ his life more honourable than the record of the singular daring, fortitude, patience, and cheerfulness with which he bore his fate during this miserable period of five years. With no other support than his own indomitable spirit, forgotten by those whom he had served, unable to receive any help from his friends, subjected to every kind of hardship which the tyranny or caprice of his masters might order, pursued by an unrelenting evil destiny which seemed in this, as in every other passage of his career, to mock at his efforts to live that high heroic life which he had conceived to him self, this poor maimed soldier was looked up to by that wretched colony of Christian captives, including among them many men of higher birth and rank, as their chief counsellor, comforter, and guide. In the formal informa tion laid before the commissary of the Spanish Govern ment at Algiers, Father Juan Gil, of the order of the Redemptorists, very particular testimony is borne by Cervantes s fellow-captives to his character and conduct, as one who bore himself always as a faithful Christian, who cheered those who were despondent, who shared with the poor the little which he possessed, who helped the sick in their necessities, who risked every danger in the cause of the faith, behaving himself always like a true soldier of the king and a noble gentleman, all which good record is confirmed by the honest father himself of his own per sonal knowledge. Captivity The captivity of Cervantes in Algiers lasted five years, in Algiers, during which period he never ceased to plot schemes of deliverance, which, however daringly conceived and skil fully planned, were doomed to be always foiled by accident or by treachery. On such occasions he was invariably the first to come forward to shield his associates and to take the whole blame upon himself, rendering himself liable to the barbarous punishments then inflicted by the Algerines upon such of their slaves as sought to escape from their chains. Twice was Cervantes brought into the king s presence, with a rope round his neck, to be hanged. Once he was ordered two thousand blows with a stick, the penalty being remitted at the last moment only through the prayers of the other captives. The king or viceroy of Algiers at this time was Hassan Pasha, a Venetian renegade, whose name was a terror throughout Christendom. Cervantes himself in Don Quixote calls him &quot; the worst of the apostate race,&quot; and &quot; the homicide of human kind.&quot; Hsedo pronounces him &quot; the most cruel tyrant of all those who have been kings in Algiers.&quot; Over this monster, who had purchased Cervantes from Deli Mami for 1500 crowns, our hero seems to have exercised an extraordinary influ ence. Though repeatedly menaced with death in the most horrible forms, and condemned to witness the torture and mutilation of his companions, Cervantes never actually suffered any ill-treatment in person, beyond being fettered, nor was ever abused by an ill-word, as he himself has borne testimony in Don Quixote. For this exceptional immunity it is not easy to account, even on the theory that his master took him for a person of greater conse quence than he really was, and we must attribute it to the extraordinary influence acquired by Cervantes over the other captives, and to the respect engendered by his magnanimity and daring. Hassan Pasha, according to H&amp;lt;edo, was wont to say that &quot; could he keep hold of that maimed Spaniard he would regard as secure his Christians, his ships, and his whole city.&quot; Hassan Pasha s fears were not wholly unwarranted, although the object of them was but a simple soldier, for Cervantes had conceived the design of a general rising of the captives in Algiers and the seizure of the city. &quot; And assuredly,&quot; says Hsedo, &quot; the plan w r ould have succeeded, and Algiers would have been Chris tian, if his fortune had corresponded to his courage, his zeal, or the greatness of the undertaking.&quot; From the dun geons of Hassan Pasha Cervantes wrote to Mateo Vasquez, the secretary of Philip II., suggesting the enterprise as one befitting the arms of his royal master ; nor was it so des perate as might appear, seeing that the number of Chris tian captives in that day was nearly 25,000. Philip, how ever, was then too much occupied in the conquest of the Christian kingdom of Portugal to bestow any attention on the daring project of Cervantes. In the meantime, while the captive was wasting his heart away in chains and in fruitless struggles for liberty, his friends in Spain were not neglectful of his condition. His family were too poor to be able of their own re sources to raise the sum demanded by Hassan Pasha for his ransom. At the prayer of his brother Rodrigo an official investigation was held upon the conduct of Cer vantes and the circumstances of his captivity, and at the solicitation of the father and mother, the Duke de Sesa wrote a strong letter to King Philip on behalf of the soldier of Lepanto, recounting his services and entreating his majesty s assistance. No other response, however, was vouchsafed to this and other petitions which were ad dressed to the Court by Cervantes s mother (his father being now dead), save a gracious permission to Dona Leonora, dated the 17th of January 1581, to export; licensed goods from Valencia to Algiers, to the value of 2000 ducats. The profit in this venture was only GO ducats. The widow and her daughters having raised 300 more, a sum of 500 ducats was made up with the assistance of friends, and entrusted to the hands of Father Juan Gil, the Redemptorist, who embarked for Algiers in May 1580. Hassan Pasha, however, would abate nothing of his demand, which was 1000 ducats, and threatened to take Cervantes with him to Constantinople, whither he was now recalled on the expiration of his term of govern ment. Cervantes was actually embarked and chained to his place at the oar, when, finally, through the pious zeal of the good friar Juan Gil, aided by the liberality of some Christian merchants of Algiers, the sum required was made up. After a little delay in Algiers rendered neces- Ranso sary to clear himself of some false accusations made against antl re ^ him by his old enemy, Blanco de Paz, Cervantes had at Spam last the joy of arriving, after a long captivity, safe and sound in his native country, landing in Spain towards the close of the year 1580. The captivity in Algiers is worthy of more study than it has received from Cervantes s biographers. Not only did it turn the whole current of his life and influence all his subsequent career, but in it, as the period of his darkest adversity, may be discovered no little of the material on which his character, and even his literary work, was founded. In the hard school of an Algerine bagnio, amidst chains and misery and the constant sight of death in its most appalling forms, were learnt those lessons of humanity which, controlling his heroic spirit and temper- ng his romantic fancy, were turned to so memorable a use in Don Quixote. Like him of La Mancha our knight lad started in his life s adventure with a mind nursed in &amp;gt;he glowing visions of chivalry, impatient of wrong-doing, eager for the good, full of faith in manhood, and quick to ielieve in the ideals of honour which his imagination had