The Translator to the Reader
Those who know not who Miguel Cervantes Saavedra was, will be very willing I should say something of this
incomparable
author,
whom the
History
of Don Quixote
will render
immortal.
Miguel Cervantes Saavedra (for that was his name,) was born at Seville, as ‘tis the ordinary sentiment; however, some Spaniards there are who maintain he was born in a village near the imperial city of Toledo. Whether he was, or was not, he was an
ornament
to Spain, but his fortune answer’d not his
merit:
he had been
secretary
to the
Duke
de
Alva;
after that he retir’d to Madrid, where he was treated with that
coldness
by the chief ministers of King Philip III, the Duke of Lerma, Uzeda and Cea, who affected not men of learning, that he betook himself to
arms.
He followed the wars many years, and was present in the famous battle of Lepanto, where he lost one of his hands. This was not the only bad adventure he had in his life; he was taken by the infidels, and, after a long captivity, returning into his own country, he died in so great
poverty
that he wanted necessaries. Behold th’
destiny
of this great man!
The translator has inoculated some Castilian words into our language for decoration and his own pleasure in the doing.
As the Spaniards derive all their gallantries from the Moors, a Spanish novel must have an African relish; for, without that relish not to be adjusted to
rules,
it would be cold and insipid, and hardly read in Spain; there must be none but
marvelous
and surprising adventures in that country to deserve
admiration.
The translator, from the University of Oxford, accompany’d the most accomplish’d Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich and knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, in his extraordinary embassy to the court of Spain, in the year 1666, in the minority of Charles II, king of Spain, who concluded the peace after a long war between the crowns of Spain and Portugal.