In belief of the good reception and honours that Your
Excellency bestows on all sort of books, as prince
so inclined to favor good arts, chiefly those who
by their nobleness do not submit to the service and
bribery of the vulgar, I have determined bringing
to light The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of la
Mancha, in shelter of Your Excellency’s glamorous
name, to whom, with the obeisance I owe to such grandeur,
I pray to receive it agreeably under his protection,
so that in this shadow, though deprived of that precious
ornament of elegance and erudition that clothe the
works composed in the houses of those who know, it
dares appear with assurance in the judgment of some
who, trespassing the bounds of their own ignorance,
use to condemn with more rigour and less justice the
writings of others. It is my earnest hope that
Your Excellency’s good counsel in regard to
my honourable purpose, will not disdain the littleness
of so humble a service.
Miguel de Cervantes
WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON
QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have
no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since
one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack,
an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.
An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on
most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays,
and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with
three-quarters of his income. The rest of it
went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches
and shoes to match for holidays, while on week-days
he made a brave figure in his best homespun.
He had in his house a housekeeper past forty, a niece
under twenty, and a lad for the field and market-place,
who used to saddle the hack as well as handle the
bill-hook. The age of this gentleman of ours
was bordering on fifty; he was of a hardy habit, spare,
gaunt-featured, a very early riser and a great sportsman.
They will have it his surname was Quixada or Quesada
(for here there is some difference of opinion among
the authors who write on the subject), although from
reasonable conjectures it seems plain that he was
called Quexana. This, however, is of but little
importance to our tale; it will be enough not to stray
a hair’s breadth from the truth in the telling
of it.
You must know, then, that the above-named gentleman
whenever he was at leisure (which was mostly all the
year round) gave himself up to reading books of chivalry
with such ardour and avidity that he almost entirely
neglected the pursuit of his field-sports, and even
the management of his property; and to such a pitch
did his eagerness and infatuation go that he sold
many an acre of tillageland to buy books of chivalry
to read, and brought home as many of them as he could
