He
Refused The Petition Of The Greatest Of Them All, However, And To Soften
The Blow Gave Him A Small Pension, Which He Continued During The Rest Of
Cervantes's Life.
It was a mere pittance, a bone thrown to an old hound,
but he took it and gnawed it with a gratitude more generous than the
gift.
From this time forth all his works were dedicated to the Lord of
Lemos, and they form a garland more brilliant and enduring than the
crown of the Spains. Only kind words to disguised fairies have ever been
so munificently repaid, as this young noble's pension to the old genius.
It certainly eased somewhat his declining years. Relieving him from the
necessity of earning his daily crust, it gave him leisure to complete
and bring out in rapid succession the works which have made him
immortal. He had published the first part of Don Quixote in the midst of
his hungry poverty at Valladolid in 1605. He was then fifty-eight, and
all his works that survive are posterior to that date. He built his
monument from the ground up, in his old age. The Persiles and
Sigis-munda, the Exemplary Novels, and that most masterly and perfect
work, the Second Part of Quixote, were written by the flickering glimmer
of a life burnt out.
It would be incorrect to infer that the scanty dole of his patron
sustained him in comfort. Nothing more clearly proves his straitened
circumstances than his frequent change of lodgings.
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