El Buscapié

Title: El Buscapié

Author: Adolfo de Castro

Dubious author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Translator: Thomasina Ross

Release date: December 10, 2020 [eBook #64011] Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64011

Credits: Andrés V. Galia, Inatal, Noyster and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

In the text version Italic is denoted by underscores and bold text by =this=.

The book cover was modified by the Transcriber and added to the public domain.

The Table of Contents was added by the Transcriber.

The spelling of Spanish names and places in Spain mentioned in the text has been adjusted to the rules set by the Academia Real Española. However, ancient text quoted in the book has been left unchanged.

At the end of the book, in the original there is an ERRATA section included, which lists misspellings detected during the printing process of the book. The ERRATA has been kept for completeness, but those misspellings have been fixed during the transcription process.

A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants. For the words with both variants present the one more used has been kept.

NEW WORKS OF FICTION

Now Ready.

PUBLISHED BY MR. BENTLEY.

HAROLD: THE LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS;

AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE.

BY SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, Bart.,

Author of “Rienzi,” “The Last Days of Pompeii,” “The Last of the Barons,” &c.

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

CLARA FANE; OR, THE CONTRASTS OF A LIFE.

A Novel. BY LOUISA STUART COSTELLO,

Author of “Catherine de Medicis,” &c.

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

HELEN CHARTERIS;

A NOVEL OF THE PRESENT DAY.

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

THE VICTIM OF THE JESUITS; OR, PIQUILLO ALLIAGA.

FROM THE FRENCH, BY C. COCKS,

Translator of Michelet’s “Priests, Women, and Families.”,

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

MADELEINE;

A TALE OF AUVERGNE. FOUNDED ON FACT.

BY JULIA KAVANAGH.

In post 8vo.

THE TWO BARONESSES.

WRITTEN IN ENGLISH.

BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.

Author of “The Improvisatore,” “The Poet’s Bazaar,” &c.

In Two Vols. post 8vo.

THE BEE HUNTER; OR, OAK OPENINGS.

A ROMANCE OF THE RED INDIANS.

BY J. FENIMORE COOPER,

Author of “The Prairie,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” &c.

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

AMYMONE,

A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF PERICLES.

BY MISS E. LYNN.

Author of “Azeth, the Egyptian.”

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

SADNESS AND GLADNESS.

BY THE HON. ADELA SIDNEY.

Author of “Home and its Influence.”

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

ST. ROCHE.

EDITED BY JAMES MORIER,

The Author of “Hajji Baba.”

In Three Vols. post 8vo.

THE RIVAL BEAUTIES.

A NOVEL, BY MISS PARDOE

Author of “The Court and Reign of Louis XIV.,” “The City of The Sultan,” “Confessions of a Pretty Woman,” &c.

In Three Vols. post 8vo. Second Edition.

CAPTAIN SPIKE; OR, THE ISLETS OF THE GULF.

BY J. FENIMORE COOPER,

Author of “The Pilot,” “The Prairie,” “The Pathfinder,” “Mark’s Reef,” &c.

In Three Vols., post 8vo.

THE PEASANT AND HIS LANDLORD.

FROM THE SWEDISH OF THE BARONESS KNORRING.

BY MARY HOWITT.

In Two Vols., post 8vo.

MR. WARRENNE,

THE MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.

By the Author of “Margaret Capel,” &c.

In Three Vols., post 8vo.

ERNEST SINGLETON.

By the Author of “Dr. Hookwell,” &c.

In Three Vols., post 8vo.

SHAKSPERE,

THE POET, THE ACTOR, THE LOVER, AND THE MAN.

BY HENRY CURLING,

Author of “John of England.”

In Three Vols., post 8vo.

BRIAN O’LINN, OR LUCK IS EVERYTHING.

BY W. H. MAXWELL,

Author of “The Stories of Waterloo,” &c.

In Three Vols., post 8vo.

Joannes Morenus, pinx. London, R. Bentley, 1848. Joseph Brown, sc.

EL BUSCAPIÉ

BY

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

WITH THE ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES OF DON ADOLFO DE CASTRO.

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH,

WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

AND SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS WORKS,

BY THOMASINA ROSS.

LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1849.

LONDON: W. OSTELL, PRINTER, HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE; AND BURLINGTON MEWS, REGENT STREET.

[Pg v]

CONTENTS

PREFACE.

In presenting the Buscapié to the English public, it may not be superfluous, first to explain the title of this literary curiosity, and next to offer a few observations relative to its nature and origin.

The title Buscapié seems to have been suggested by one of those quaint conceits common to the Spanish writers of the sixteenth century. The word etymologically considered, is compounded of busca (seek; from the verb buscar to seek), and pie (foot); and it signifies in the Spanish language a squib or cracker, which, being thrown down in the streets by boys and mischievous persons, rolls about and gets between the feet of passers-by. Towards the close of the Work itself Cervantes thus explains his reason for[Pg vi] selecting this title. “I call this little book Buscapié,” he says, “to show to those who seek the foot with which the ingenious Knight of La Mancha limps, that he does not limp with either, but that he goes firmly and steadily on both, and is ready to challenge the grumbling critics who buzz about like wasps.”

Everyone acquainted with Spanish literature has regretted the disappearance and supposed total loss of this little Work, which was known to have been written by Cervantes after the publication of the First Part of Don Quixote. Whether or not this production ever was submitted to the press by its author is exceedingly doubtful; but, be that as it may, no printed copy of it has been extant for the space of two centuries. Though manuscript copies were supposed to exist among the hidden treasures of the Biblioteca Real in Madrid, or in the unexplored recesses of Simancas, yet the Buscapié has always been alluded to by writers on Spanish literature as a thing inaccessible and[Pg vii] known only by tradition. Great interest was consequently excited a short time ago, by the announcement that a copy of the Buscapié had been discovered in Cádiz. It was found among some old books and manuscripts, sold by auction, previously to which they had been the property of an advocate named Don Pascual de Gándara, who resided in the neighbouring town of San Fernando. Some

writers on Spanish literature have hazarded the conjecture that the Buscapié was a sort of key to Don Quixote, and that in it were indicated, if not named, the persons whom Cervantes is supposed to have satirized in his celebrated romance.[1] But such is not the fact. The Buscapié is a vindication of Don Quixote against the unjust critical censure with which that Work was assailed on the appearance of its First Part, which was published in 1604. In the same year there [Pg viii]is reason to believe that Cervantes wrote the Buscapié. The manuscript copy of this little Work, recently discovered in Cádiz, is in the scriptory character commonly in use about the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. On the title page it is styled:—

“El muy donoso Librillo llamado Buscapié Donde, demas de su mucho y excellente Dotrina, van declaradas Todas Aquellas Cosas Escondidas y no Declaradas en el Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha Que compuso un tal de Cervantes Saavedra.”[2]

Lower down, and in the same handwriting, are these words:—

“Copióse de otra copia el año de 1606 en Madrid 27 de Ebrero año dicho. Para el [Pg ix] Señor Agustin de Argota, hijo del muy noble señor (que sancta gloria haya) Gonzalo Zatieco de Molina, un caballero de Sevilla.”[3]

Next are written the following words in the Portuguese language, and in characters, the apparent date of which may be assigned to the beginning of the eighteenth century:—

“Da Livraria do Senhor Duque de Lafões.”[4]

How this manuscript found its way to Portugal, and came back to Spain, there is no evidence to show. It was, however, purchased in Cádiz, (at the sale of the books and manuscripts of the Advocate Gándara), by its present possessor, Don Adolfo de Castro, to whom literature is now indebted for its appearance in a printed form, ac[Pg x]companied by some valuable and interesting bibliographic notes.

In the following English version of the Buscapié, care has been taken to adhere with all possible fidelity to the spirit of the original; some occasional redundancy of expression has been compressed, and here and there passages have been abridged, which, if literally rendered, would in our language appear prolix and tedious.

With the highly curious bibliographical notes of Don Adolfo de Castro, (appended to the Volume), the translator has used the freedom of embodying additional illustrative matter, derived from sources furnished by her own acquaintance with Spanish literature. In notes affixed to the text, she has supplied information on some points, with which the Spanish reader, being presumed to be acquainted, were very naturally passed over unnoticed by Don Adolfo de Castro. It is, however, hoped that these notes may not appear superfluous to the English reader.

It has been thought desirable that the[Pg xi] publication of this curious Work should be accompanied by some account of the author. The universal celebrity of Cervantes, and the biographical sketches prefixed to the various English editions of Don Quixote, have long since made the reader acquainted with some particulars of the life of that great writer. Nevertheless, it has been deemed advisable to attempt a new narrative of his life. That prefixed to the present Volume has been carefully compiled from the most authentic sources. The writer has drawn largely from the Spanish lives of Navarrete, Pellicer and De los Ríos: she has also attentively perused several German works of high authority; and by carefully comparing and collating the facts recorded by various writers, she has endeavoured to produce a more complete account of the great Spanish writer than has hitherto been offered to the English public.

A more skilful pen would, doubtless, have invested the narrative with that graceful colouring which its subject so well de[Pg xii]serves; but, whilst fully conscious of her own deficiencies, the writer of the following Life feels that she may claim the merit of having industriously put together a number of curious and well authenticated facts relative to Cervantes;—facts the more interesting, inasmuch as they have hitherto been only very partially known.

London, December 1, 1848.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It has been conjectured, though without any satisfactory ground, that Cervantes wrote his Don Quixote as a satire upon the Emperor Charles V. and the Duke de Lerma, the favourite of Philip III.

[2] “The very pleasant little book called Buscapié, in which, besides its excellent doctrine, are unfolded all those things which are hidden, and not declared in the History of the ingenious Knight, Don Quixote de la Mancha, written by one De Cervantes Saavedra.”

[3] “This was copied from another copy in the year 1606, in Madrid, 27th of February of the same year, by the Señor Agustin de Argota, son of the most noble Señor, (now in glory) Gonzalo Zatieco de Molina, a gentleman of Seville.”

[4] “From the library of the Duke de Lafôes.”

[Pg 1]

LIFE OF CERVANTES.

The History of Literature records numberless instances in which genius, regarded with indifference in its own time, has received only from after generations the tribute of just appreciation. Of this sort of contemporary neglect, and posthumous honour, Cervantes is a remarkable example; for even the popularity of Don Quixote which, on its first appearance, met with unparalleled success, did not materially better the circumstances or elevate the position of its author.

It is not very easy to reconcile this literary success with the poverty with which Cervantes struggled even to the latest period of his life,[Pg 2] and of which he oftener than once complains in his writings; for it is a well-known fact that though Don Quixote, in the lifetime of its author, attracted an extraordinary share of public attention, yet Cervantes remained poor and neglected. Whilst the book was universally read and admired, the author would appear to have been a person of so little note, that his early biographers did not even think it worth while to put on record the name of his birth-place.

As if anxious to escape from the reproach of knowing little or nothing of the man who shed such lustre over their literature, the Spaniards of the last century entered upon diligent researches, with the view of elucidating every fact connected with the life of Cervantes. These investigations resulted in the collection of a mass of interesting and curious information, which De los Ríos, Pellicer, and Navarrete have severally embodied in their lives of the great writer. The warm discussions[Pg 3] which have at various times arisen out of the doubtful question of Cervantes’ place of nativity have been likened to the disputes of the seven Greek cities, when contending for the honour of having given birth to Homer. Madrid, Seville, Valladolid and Esquivias by turns claimed Cervantes as their own, until the question was finally set at rest by his latest and most trustworthy biographers. On the authority of indisputable evidence it appears that Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born at Alcalá de Henares, in the year 1547. The day of his birth is not known; but it has been

ascertained that he was baptized on the 9th of October.

The family of Cervantes was of noble descent, Father Sarmiento[5] states, that its earliest [Pg 4]members were settled in Gallicia, and that their place of residence was within the Bishoprick of Lugo. Their rank was that of Ricoshombres, (grandees). Subsequently, a branch of the family removed to Castile, and, in the Spanish annals of the beginning of the thirteenth century, the names Cervates and Cervantes are frequently mentioned with honourable distinction. Gonzalo de Cervantes, the founder of the branch whence the great writer was descended, fought gallantly at the storming of Seville, under Ferdinand III., and was endowed with some estates on the partition of the territories wrested from the Moors. A descendant of Gonzalo de Cervantes married a daughter of the house of Saavedra, from which circumstance some members of the Cervantes family added the name Saavedra to their own. On the invasion of South America by the Spaniards, the name of Cervantes was carried to the New World by the emigration of several members of the family.

[Pg 5]

In the beginning of the sixteenth century we find a Juan de Cervantes filling the post of Corregidor in the town of Ossuna. He had a son named Rodrigo, who, in the year 1540, married Doña Leonora de Cortinas, the daughter of a noble family residing in Barajas.[6] Four children were the issue of this marriage. The eldest was a son named Rodrigo; the second and third, two daughters, named Andrea and Luisa; and the fourth and youngest child was Miguel, who subsequently became illustrious in the annals of literature.

Miguel de Cervantes received from nature a combination of mental endowments such as rarely falls to the share of one individual. To a lively fancy, and great power of inventive genius, he united an extraordinary amount of [Pg 6]sound and discriminating judgment. Such was his inherent fondness for reading, that in his very earliest boyhood he was accustomed to pick up all the little scraps of paper he might find in the streets, and to employ himself in perusing whatever happened to be written on them. His gay and humorous disposition was tempered by refined taste; and, to quote the remark of his biographer, Antonio Pellicer, the character of his mind altogether resembled that ascribed by Horace to Lucilius.

Of the boyhood of Cervantes little is known, beyond the few particulars here and there scattered through his writings. Alluding to his early taste for poetry, he says, in the Journey to Parnassus:—“Even from my earliest years, I loved the sweet art of graceful poesy.”[7] In another of his works he tells us how, when a boy, he was taken to a theatre, where he saw [Pg 7]Lope de Rueda act. That the performance of that celebrated comedian and dramatist made a powerful impression on his mind is evidently shewn in his maturer years: it is not impossible that his taste for dramatic literature received its first impulse from the acting of Lope de Rueda.

It would seem that Cervantes was destined for one of the learned professions, and on attaining a suitable age, he was sent by his parents to the University of Salamanca, where he remained for the space of two years. Some of the lights and shades of his student life are interwoven in the Novelas exemplares,[8] and also in the second part of Don Quixote. The comic interlude, called La Cueva de Salamanca, seems also to have been suggested by some of the author’s college adventures.

The first person who observed and fostered the dawning talent of Cervantes in poetic com[Pg 8]position, was Juan López de Hoyos, who had been his tutor before he entered the University. It happened that Hoyos was commissioned to compose a funeral poem on the occasion of the death of Queen Isabel de Valois, the Consort of Philip II.; and he transferred some portions of this task to his pupils.

Hoyos wrote a narrative of the death and funeral of the Queen,[9] and in that narrative are inserted an elegy, a sonnet, and some redondillas, by Miguel de Cervantes, who is styled by his old tutor, “mi claro y amado discipulo,”—(my clever and beloved pupil). At this time Cervantes was twenty-one years of age; and the praise bestowed on the first effusions of his muse encouraged him to take a [Pg 9]loftier poetic flight. There is reason to believe that about this period of his life he produced Filena, a pastoral romance, in the style of Montemayor and Gil Polo; but this, together with most of his early productions, are now lost; a few only being preserved in the Romancero General.

The time soon arrived when the young poet felt the necessity of directing his talents and energies to the means of obtaining a livelihood; for his father, though in circumstances which enabled him to pay for his education, was not sufficiently rich to maintain him. An opportunity which placed it in his power to gain some little emolument occurred in the year 1568, when Cardinal Julio Acquaviva visited the Court of Castile in the quality of Legate from Pope Pius V. Cervantes entered the service of the Cardinal, and in the same year accompanied him to Rome. He filled the situation of Camarero, which may be presumed to have been an office partaking somewhat of a domestic charac[Pg 10]ter; but it is a well-known fact that even young Spanish nobles did not, at that period, disdain to accept similar appointments in the households of popes and cardinals. The desire of seeing the world, or the prospect of gaining a powerful patron and a good ecclesiastical appointment were inducements for filling situations which otherwise might have been considered degrading.

The vivid impressions produced by this first great journey on the mind of Cervantes are obvious even in the works of his later life. In Persiles y Sigismunda he makes two pilgrims wend their course through Valencia, Catalonia, and Provence to Italy, the route by which there is reason to infer he himself travelled to Rome. The descriptions of scenery in the production just named, bear the stamp of personal recollections. That he was particularly charmed with Catalonia, is evident from the interesting sketches of scenery and manners of that part of Spain, interspersed through the Galatea, as well as from[Pg 11] those in the novel of Las dos Doncellas and Don Quixote.