El noble solar que heredo, No lo daré á rico infame, Porque nadie me lo llame En el valle de Carriedo. And again, in the opening of the “Premio del Bien Hablar,” (4to, Madrid, Tom. XXI, 1635, f. 159), where he seems to describe his own case and character:-- Nací en Madrid, aunque son En Galicia los solares De mi nacimiento noble, De mis abuelos y padres. Para noble nacimiento Ay en España tres partes, Galicia, Vizcaya, Asturias, O ya montañas le llaman. The valley of Carriedo is said to be very beautiful, and Miñano, in his “Diccionario Geográfico,” (Madrid, 8vo, Tom. II., 1826, p. 40), describes La Vega as occupying a fine position on the banks of the Sandoñana. [201] “Before he knew how to write, he loved verses so much,” says Montalvan, his friend and executor, “that he shared his breakfast with the older boys, in order to get them to take down for him what he dictated.” Fama Póstuma, Obras Sueltas, Tom. XX. p. 28. [202] In the “Laurel de Apolo” he says he found rough copies of verses among his father’s papers, that seemed to him better than his own. [203] See Dedication of the “Hermosa Ester” in Comedias, Madrid, 4to, Tom. XV., 1621. But though the fortunes of his house were broken, his education was not neglected. He was sent to the Imperial College at Madrid, and in two years made extraordinary progress in ethics and in elegant literature, avoiding, as he tells us, the mathematics, which he found unsuited to his humor, if not to his genius. Accomplishments, too, were added,--fencing, dancing, and music; and he was going on in a way to gratify the wishes of his friends, when, at the age of fourteen, a wild, giddy desire to see the world took possession of him; and, accompanied by a schoolfellow, he ran away from college. At first, they went on foot for two or three days. Then they bought a sorry horse, and travelled as far as Astorga, in the northwestern part of Spain, not far from the old fief of the Vega family; but there, growing tired of their journey, and missing more seriously than they had anticipated the comforts to which they had been accustomed, they determined to come home. At Segovia, they attempted, in a silversmith’s shop, to exchange some doubloons and a gold chain for small coin, but were suspected to be thieves and arrested. The magistrate, however, before whom they were brought, being satisfied that they were guilty of nothing but folly, released them; though, wishing to do a kindness to their friends, as well as to themselves, he sent an officer of justice to deliver them safely in Madrid.[204] [204] In the “Fama Póstuma.”