Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/73

 CERVANTES 43 together for the small remainder of our journey.' The good student did as I de- sired. We then drew bit and proceeded at a more moderate pace. As we rode on, we talked of my illness, but the student gave me little hope, saying : " ' It is an hydropsy, which all the water in the ocean, if you could drink it, would not cure ; you must drink less, Sefior Cervantes, and not forget to eat; for that alone can cure you.' " 4 Many other people,' said I, * have told me the same thing, but it is im- possible for me not to drink as if I had been born for nothing but drinking. My life is pretty nearly ended, and, to judge by the quickness of my pulse, I cannot live longer than next Sunday. You have made acquaintance with me at a very unfortunate time, as I fear I shall not live to show my gratitude to you for your obliging conduct' " Such was our conversation when we arrived at the bridge of Toledo, over which I was to pass, while he followed another route by the bridge of Segovia. As to his future history, I leave that to the care of fame. My friends, no doubt, will be very anxious to narrate it, and I shall have great pleasure in hearing it I embraced him anew, and repeated the offer of my services. " He spurred his ass, and left me as ill inclined to prosecute my journey as he was well disposed to go on his ; he had, however, supplied my pen with ample materials for pleasantry. But all times are not the same. Perhaps the day may arrive when, taking up the thread which I am now compelled to break, I may complete what is now wanting, and what I would fain tell. But adieu to gayety ; adieu to humor ; adieu, my pleasant friends ! I must now die, and I wish for nothing better than speedily to see you well contented in another world." Such was the calm, philosophical gayety with which this long-suffering, heroic man and Christian contemplated his approaching death ; and, in the words of Sismondi, it may be safely asserted that this unaffected fortitude was character- istic of the soldier who fought so valiantly at Lepanto, and who so firmly sup- ported his five years' captivity in Algiers. Cervantes died at Madrid in 1616. It is, perhaps, interesting to reflect that he was a contemporary of Shakespeare, so that the two greatest humorists the world has produced were living at the same time.