Title: The Historical Gallery of Celebrated Men … Exhibiting a Series of Authentic Portraits by Artists of the First Celebrity, Accompanied by Biogr. Sketches and Observations General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1830 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA. The life of Cervantes presents to the reflecting mind the instability of human happiness, when founded on the will and caprice of others, and not on resources within ourselves. It also conveys another proof, in addition to many others that are on record, of the folly of parents attempting to obstruct the natural bias of their children’, and forcing them to follow an occupation which is not congenial to . their taste. The genius of man may be compared to a river, which, so long as it is allowed to flow within its natural boundary, diffuses plenty and fertility, but, if diverted from its course, commits havoc and destruction. The birth-place of Cervantes is still involved in considerable doubt; Madrid, Seville, and Alcala, each claiming the honor; but the preference is generally given to the latter, and the Spanish Academy, in the elegant edition which they published of the works of Cervantes, and to which a memoir: of his life is affixed, establish the fact that he was the son of Rodriguez de Cervantes and of Leonor de Cohinas, and that he was born at Alcala de Heuares, a city of New Castile, on the 9th November, 1547, in the reign of Charles V. It is, however, generally admitted that he received the rudiments of his education at Madrid; and at an early age he appears to have possessed a valuable stock of acquired knowledge, and was well versed in the philosophy, rhetoric, and divinity of the schoo…