The first point to be decided was the place of his birth: this had been attributed to various cities and towns of Spain--to Madrid, Seville, Esquivias, and Lucena. An allusion in "Don Quixote" led one of his biographers (Sarmiento) to conjecture that he was born at Alcalà de Henares, a town of some consequence, not far from Madrid. Another writer, following up this trace, discovered a baptismal register in the parish church of Santa Maria la Mayor of that town, which certified, that on Sunday, the 9th of October, 1547, the reverend señor Bachiller Serrano baptized Miguel, the son of Rodrigo Cervantes and donna Leonora, his wife. While the question seemed thus put to rest, it was unsettled again by the discovery of another register. This was found in the parish books of Santa Maria, of Alcanzar de San Lugar, a town of La Mancha. It certified, that on the 9th November, 1558, was baptized, by the licentiate Alonso Diaz Pajares, a son of Blas Cervantes Saavedra and Catalina Lopez, who received the name of Miguel. A marginal note to this register declared, "This was the author of 'Don Quixote.'" In addition, there were various traditions in Alcanzar of the house in which he was born. The name of Saavedra was another testimony in its favour. Cervantes always adopted this additional name; and no trace of it is to be found in the town of Alcalà; however, it would seem that the different families of these two towns were connected, as Cervantes had an uncle, Cervantes Saavedra, of Alcanzar. And thus, on minute examination, and bringing the aid of chronology to decide the question, the balance inclined uncontrovertibly in favour of Alcalà: the date of the battle of Lepanto, and the mention Cervantes makes of his own age in several of his later works, prove that he was born in 1547, and not so late as 1558. Another document, hereafter to be mentioned, discovered by Los Rios in the archives of the society for the redemption of captives in Algiers, declares him to be a native of Alcalà de Henares, and the son of Rodrigo Cervantes and donna Leonora de Cortina. [Sidenote: 1547.] Thus the question is set at rest; and it becomes matter of positive history that Cervantes was born at Alcalá de Henares, and baptized (probably on the day of his birth, as is usual in catholic countries,) on Sunday, the 9th of October, 1547.