to make the most of his popularity and to bring out both sequels in rapid succession. But Cervantes was not an ordinary man, and few points in his history are more inexplicable than the fact that, after the amazing success of _Don Quixote_, he published practically nothing for the next eight years. At last in 1613, the _Novelas exemplares_ were issued. The author was silent as to the continuation of the _Galatea_, but he promised that the Second Part of _Don Quixote_ should be forthcoming--_con brevedad_. We know what followed. The _Viaje del Parnaso_ was published in the winter of 1614; and, though it contains a short Letter Dedicatory and Preface,[85] which might easily have been made the vehicle of a public announcement in Cervantes's customary manner, there is no allusion to the new _Don Quixote_ or to the new _Galatea_. Next year, however, in the dedication[86] of his _Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses nuevos_, Cervantes informed the Conde de Lemos,--with whom the book was a special favourite[87]--that he was pushing on with the _Galatea_. He makes the same statement in the Prologue to the Second Part of _Don Quixote_,[88] and the assurance is repeated by him on his deathbed in the noble Letter Prefatory to _Persiles y Sigismunda_.[89] This latter is a solemn occasion, and Cervantes writes in a tone of impressive gravity which indicates that he weighed the full meaning of what he knew would be his last message. _Ayer me dieron la Extremaunción, y hoy escribo esta: el tiempo es breve, las ansias crecen, las esperanzas menguan._ And, in the Prologue, written somewhat earlier, the old man eloquent bids this merry life farewell, declares that his quips and jests are over, and appoints a final rendezvous with his comrades in the next world. At this supreme moment his indomitable spirit returns to his first love, and once more he promises--for the fifth time--the continuation of the _Galatea_.