this romance was the last work of cervantes, the dedication to the count de lemos was written the day after he had received extreme unction; he died four days after, on the 23rd of april 1616, aged 67. on that same day in that same year england lost her shakespeare.[a]
in the preface to this edition, the editor says, "not a few are there among the wise and learned, who, notwithstanding the well-known merit of all the works of the famous spaniard, miguel de cervantes saavedra, and in spite of the oft repeated praises lavished especially upon the life and deeds of don quixote de la mancha, which has ever held the foremost place in the estimation of the public, yet give the preference above all to the troubles of persiles and sigismunda, which i am about to present to the public anew in this edition."
it seems, too, that this was the opinion of cervantes himself; for in his dedication to the count de lemos, which is affixed to the second part of don quixote, he says, "offering to your excellency the troubles of persiles and sigismunda, a book i hope to finish in about four months (deo volente), which is to be either the very best or the very worst hitherto composed in our language, i speak of books of entertainment, and indeed i repent of having said, the very worst, because, according to the opinion of my friends, it will reach the extreme of goodness."
sismondi also says the same in speaking of this work, and of its estimation in spain; but he goes on to observe, "a foreigner will not, i should imagine, concede to it so much merit: it is the offspring of a rich, but at the same time of a wandering imagination, which confines itself within no bounds of the possible or the probable, and which is not sufficiently founded on reality. he has entitled this romance 'a northern story,' and his complete ignorance of the north, in which his scene is laid, and which he imagines to be a land of barbarians, anthropophagi, pagans, and enchanters, is sufficiently singular."
the truth of this cannot be denied; but i believe that it has never yet been translated into english,[b] and, as it certainly possesses great merits in spite of the absurdities, and a good deal of imagination as well as beauty (though i fear much of the latter will be lost in a translation) as a work of cervantes it appears to me worthy of being introduced to english readers.
the plan of the story is plainly imitated from heliodorus, bishop of tricca, in thessaly, who in his youth wrote a romance in the greek language, called the æthiopian history; or, the adventures of two lovers, chariclea, the daughter of the king of ethiopia, and theagenes, a noble thessalian. he lived in the reigns of theodosius and arcadius, about the end of the fourth century.
few modern readers, i imagine, would have patience to read this very heavy romance; but in 1590, when sir philip sidney's arcadia was published, stories of amusement and interest were not as plentiful as in the present day, and it was a short time before that romance appeared, that a translation of heliodorus's æthiopic history was published in england. the edition which i have seen is translated by n.
tate, the first five books by "a person of quality." the date is 1753. the other editions are 1587, 1622, 1686.
but though the plan of persiles and sigismunda is taken from heliodorus, i do not think they have any resemblance in style, and there is far more vivacity and humour in the narrative and characters, and more nature too, in spite of the high flown romance that surrounds them.
i fear the modern reader will find the numerous episodes tedious; and story after story, which every additional personage we meet, thinks it necessary to relate, will perhaps try his patience; yet there is great beauty in many of these, at least in the original language.
the remarkable ignorance which cervantes displays on geographical points has a parallel in our own shakespeare, who makes bohemia a country with a sea coast.
cervantes has evidently formed his ideas of the north only by the voyages and travels that were published at the time he lived. it is more surprising that he should know so little of england, considering how much his own country had been connected with her, and also from the knowledge and information he displays on other subjects.
the chief fault in the work is the remarkable want of keeping; for whereas he at once determines the period and date by bringing in the expulsion of the moors and soldiers who served under charles the 5th, also speaking of lisbon as belonging to spain, at the same time he throws his personages into a perfect land of romance, and speaks of all the northern countries, as if themselves, their manners and customs, were utterly unknown and barbarous; yet elizabeth or james the 1st was reigning in england; the queen of james the 1st was a danish princess, and denmark and sweden were assuredly not unknown to fame.
in fixing upon iceland and friesland as the dominions of his hero and heroine, he gets upon safer ground, though by the way in which he speaks of them, he evidently considers this a sort of mysterious and only half understood land, which might serve a wandering prince or princess of romance, for a home, for want of a better.
the first and second part differ considerably; when cervantes gets home to his own bright clime and sunny skies, you feel the truth of his descriptions, which form a striking contrast to the icy seas and snowy islands among which his pilgrims are voyaging throughout the whole first volume.
i have taken some few liberties, omitted some pages, and occasionally shortened a sentence, but i do not think the english reader will feel inclined to quarrel with these abbreviations, and the spanish student can refer to the original.
to those who feel for cervantes as he deserves,—to those who have enjoyed the rich fund of amusement that don quixote affords, i need not apologise further for making them also acquainted with these wondrously beautiful and almost angelic pilgrims, who were the last productions of his lively imagination, for assuredly those blue eyes and golden ringlets must have been most unlike the visions of beauty that dwelt around him, in his own land of spain.
postscript.—for the portrait of cervantes, which enriches the title page, i have to thank the great kindness and friendly aid of one, who has gained a distinguished name as an author, in the service of both spanish art and spanish history, mr. stirling of keir. i have also to acknowledge the courtesy of sir arthur aston, to whom the original picture belongs, from which i have been permitted to take my engraving; it was brought by him from madrid, and he found it in the possession of a family where it was highly prized, and considered as an undoubted portrait of cervantes.
july, 1853. l. d. s.
