That Imaginative Gentleman Don Quijote De La Mancha (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from That Imaginative Gentleman Don Quijote De La Mancha<br><br>IN the prologue Cervantes speaks of this book as the tale of a poor shrivelled Whimsical son teeming with all manner of thoughts never entertained by another even as one engendered in a prison Where every discomfort has its seat and every mournful sound its habitation.'' Hence sprang and ?ourished a tradition that the book Don Quijote was at least begun if not largely written in confinement. And it is possible that portions of the first part were composed in the Seville jail where trustworthy though none too definite evidence places Cervantes for a portion of the year 1602. But it is not at all likely that the opening chapters were so written since a small library must have been at hand for their composition.<br><br>The first book to come down from the shelf was a treatise by Antonio de Guevara entitled Contempt of Court and Praise of Country Life 2 where in the seventh chapter Cervantes found writ ten 0 happy he that dwelleth in the country since for him suffice a lance behind the door a horse in the stable a shield in the hall.'' This sentence forms part of the opening of Don Quijote also from this treatise were derived suggestions as to the knight s diet and dress the matter of the pruning-hook together with his fondness for the chase and for debating with the village-priest. 3 The fairly unusual word Quijote (our cuish or thigh-piece) was probably suggested by its presence (in an emphatic position) in a passage (which for another reason we are sure Cervantes read) dealing with this same Guevara where the hope is expressed that thigh-pieces (quijotes) may again come into use.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.