This memorable day in the history of Spain (April 23, 1616) is also a memorable one in the history of England, the death of Shakspeare being recorded with the same date. Shakspeare, however, dying on the 23rd of April, 1616, survived Cervantes twelve days, England not having adopted the Gregorian calendar till 1754.
The eloquent French writer, M. Viardot, in his Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages Cervantes, thus epitomizes the varied events of Cervantes' career, who he eloquently says was "an illustrious man before he became an illustrious writer, one who was the doer of great deeds before he produced an immortal book:"—"Behold the sum of all that history records of this illustrious man, one of those who purchases by the misfortunes of an entire life the tardy honours of posthumous glory! Born of a family honourable but impoverished; receiving at first a liberal education, then thrown by misery prematurely into the struggle of life; a page, a valet-de-chambre, at last a soldier; mutilated by the loss of his hand at the battle of Lepanto; distinguished at the taking of Tunis; captured by a barbarous corsair; a slave for five years in the bagnios of Algiers; ransomed by public charity after ineffectual efforts of audacity and enterprise; again a soldier in Portugal and the Azores; attached to a lady as wellborn and as poor as himself; led at one moment by love to the pursuit of letters, and then torn away again from them in another by distress; rewarded for his services and his talents by the magnificent appointment of an insignificant collectorship; accused of defalcation in his accounts; thrown into prison by the underlings of the king; released after the proof of his innocence; then again imprisoned by mutinous peasants; becomes poet and commercial agent; doing a little business to earn his bread by making sales on commission, and supplying the theatre with dramatic pieces; discovering at fifty years of age his true vocation; finding a careless public that condescended to laugh indeed, but neither to appreciate nor to comprehend him; jealous rivals who ridiculed and defamed him; envious fiends who were deceitful to him; pursued by want even to his old age; forgotten for the most part, neglected by all, and dying at last in solitude and in distress—such was, during his life, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It was only after about two centuries that the world began to inquire about his cradle and his tomb—that a marble bust of him was placed in front of the house in which he lived—that a statue was erected to his honour in the public square of Madrid, and the obscure name that it bore, being effaced from the corner of the little street in which he died, inscribed thereon the great name that fills the world."
The editions of "Don Quixote" in Spanish are almost innumerable; the best being the magnificent edition printed by the Spanish Academy, Madrid, 1780, 4 tom. folio; that of Pellicer, Madrid, 1797-98, 5 tom. 8vo; and the edition of Clemencin, Madrid, 1833-39, 6 tom. 4to. There are several translations in English of "Don Quixote," of which perhaps that by Motteux is the most spirited. The best edition of this translation is the Edinburgh one, 1822, in 5 vols. 8vo. This contains a Life of Cervantes by the late Mr. Lockhart; and in the notes are given those translations of Spanish ballads which have done so much in England towards keeping alive a taste for Spanish poetry. The "Novelas Exemplares," or Moral Tales, have also been translated into English—a very good edition of them has been given by Mr. Bohn in one of his libraries.—D. F. M'C.
CERVOLE or CERVOLLE, Arnauld de, a famous captain of free lancers, commonly called the Archpriest, was born in Perigord about the beginning of the fourteenth century. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Poitiers in 1356, along with King John. On his return to France, he collected a large body of men-at-arms, and marched into Provence, where they took many strong towns and castles, and wasted and plundered the country as far as Avignon. Pope Innocent VI., who resided there at this time, was fain to enter into a treaty with the Archpriest, whom he entertained with great distinction, gave him absolution from all his sins, and on his departure presented him with forty thousand crowns to distribute among his companions. In 1359 Cervole entered into the service of the dauphin, then regent of France; but next year, after the treaty of Brequigny, he reassembled his band, which now acquired the name of "the white company," from the white crosses on their shoulders, and ravaged the country around Langres, Lyons, and Nevers. The count de Nevers was compelled to enter into a treaty with him in 1361, which was ratified by the king. The Archpriest was faithful to his engagements, and commanded the vanguard of the royal army in the conflict with a strong force of brigands near Brignay, in which the former were defeated with great slaughter, and Cervole and many other knights taken prisoners. He subsequently entered the service of Philip the Hardy, duke of Burgundy, and commanded a corps of Burgundians at the battle of Cocherel. In 1365 we find the Archpriest at the head of a numerous body of brigands, whom he purposed to lead on a crusade against the Turks; but the merciless ravages they inflicted on the countries through which they marched, roused the inhabitants against them, and they were chased from province to province, till the remnant was driven back to France, where the Archpriest was soon after killed by one of his own servants.—(Froissart, chap. 176 and 215.)—J. T.
CESAR or CÆSAR. The more distinguished persons of this name follow in chronological order:—
Cesar, Sextus Julius, prætor b.c. 208, the first of this name of whom mention is made in history.
Cesar, Lucius Julius, consul b.c. 90, in which year he carried a law conferring the citizenship upon the Latins and the Socii, who had remained faithful to Rome in the civil wars of the period. He was put to death by Marius in 87.
Cesar, Caius, surnamed Strabo Vopiscus, brother of Lucius Julius, was curule ædile in 90 b.c., and was slain along with his brother by Marius in 87. He was an orator and dramatist, and renowned in both characters, particularly the former. The names of two of his tragedies are preserved—"Adrastus" and "Tecmessa."
Cesar, Lucius Julius, son of the consul of the same name, and uncle by his sister Julia of Antony the triumvir, was consul b.c. 64. He belonged originally to the aristocratical party, but appears to have deserted it before the year 52 b.c., when he was one of C. J. Cæsar's legates in Gaul. On the death of the dictator he sided with the senate, in opposition to his nephew Antony, and was consequently proscribed by the latter in 43. A son of this person, bearing the same name, joined Pompey on the breaking out of the civil war, and was sent by him to Cæsar with proposals of peace. After serving in Africa, and in Utica, where he was proquæstor to Cato b.c. 46, he submitted to the dictator, and was shortly afterwards put to death.
Cesar, Caius Julius, the father of the dictator, was prætor, in what year is uncertain, and died suddenly at Pisæ in 84 b.c., when his son was at the age of sixteen.
Cesar, Caius Julius, the dictator. See Cæsar.
Cesar, Caius and Lucius, sons of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, and grandsons of Augustus, by whom they were adopted; died, the one in Lycia, a.d. 4, of a wound which he received in Armenia; and the other, a.d. 2, at Massilia, on his way to Spain.
CESARI, Antonio, an eminent Italian grammarian, born at Verona in 1760, entered the order of the oratory in 1798, and studied theology under Bertolini. With a view to reviving a taste for the early purity of his native tongue, he published, after an assiduous study of their style, the works of the Trecentisti, beginning with Passavanti's Specchio di Penitenza, the style of which he particularly admired as a model of simplicity and elegance. He was for many years occupied in annotating the Divina Commedia. His "Selva," a collection of poetical pieces composed about the time his native city was taken by the French, abounds in vituperation of the invaders. After the proclamation of peace, he undertook to revise the famous dictionary of La Crusca. He died in 1828.—A. C. M.
CESARI, Cavaliere Giuseppe, called d'Arpino, and sometimes Giuseppino. This artist was born at Rome in 1560. His father, a painter of very humble pretensions, was a native of Arpino, in the kingdom of Naples. With great desire for fame, but as yet very ill supplied for attaining it, the young Cesari journeyed to Rome seeking employment. A group of artists were hard at work at the Vatican under Gregory XIII. Some one was very much wanted to grind colours and set palettes, and to these humble offices Cesari was only too happy to apply himself. While thus occupied he attempts painting, and is reported to the pope, who protects him, and places him in the school of Niccolo Pomerancio. His success is wonderful, and Pope Clement VIII. follows Gregory in conferring patronage and honour upon the artist. He is made knight of the order of Christ and director of St. John Lateran. In 1600 he accompanied Cardinal Aldobrandini in his mission to France on the
