His family, originally of Gallicia, and afterwards established in Castile, belonged to the same class in society, in which he places Hon Quixote. They were hidalgos (hijos de algo, sons of somebody,) and, therefore, by right of birth, gentlemen, though not noble. The name of Cervantes is honourably mentioned in the Spanish annals, as far back as the thirteenth century. Warriors bearing that appellation fought under the banners of St. Ferdinand, and had a part in the taking of Baeza and Seville, and received a share in the distributions of land conquered from the Moors, then made. Others of that name figure among the first adventurers in the New World. His grandfather, Juan de Cervantes, was corregidor of Osuna. The mother of Miguel was of a noble family of Barajas; she married his father about the year 1540. Four children were the fruit of the union; donna Andrea and donna Luisa, daughters; Rodrigo, and youngest of the four, Miguel. His parents were poor, and he could inherit little from them except his honourable rank.[55] Very little is known of his early life. The town of Henares is but a few miles distant from Madrid, and it contains a university, where it is probable that Cervantes prosecuted his early studies. He tells us, in a poem written late in life, "From my most tender years I loved The gentle art of poesy,-- and this taste gave the bias to his life. While still a boy he was attracted by the drama, and frequented the representations of Lope de Rueda; these recitations, and his taste for reading, which was such that he never passed the meanest bit of paper in the streets without deciphering its contents, were the early proofs he gave of that love of inquiry which always accompanies genius. Having attained the proper age, Miguel repaired to Salamanca, where he entered himself as a student, and remained for two years.[56] It is ascertained that he lived in Calle los Moros. He afterwards returned to Madrid, and was placed to study with the learned Joan Lopez de Hoyos, a theologian, who filled the chair for Belles Lettres in that city. It is conjectured that in giving him a literary education his parents meant that he should pursue one of the liberal professions; but we have no other token that such was intended. He acquired, however, a taste for literature, and aspired in his turn to be an author. He wrote, he tells us, an infinite number of what in Spain are called romances, being ballads and ditties; of which later in life, he says, he considered a few good among many bad. He wrote also a pastoral, called "Filena," which he boasts attained celebrity. "The woods resounded with her name," he says; "and many a gay song was echoed by them;--my many and pleasant rhymes and the light winds were burdened with my hopes, which were themselves light as the breezes, and shifting as the sands."