From his earliest years Quevedo was marked for distinction. When scarcely more than twenty-three he corresponded with the great scholars of Germany and the Low Countries, the great Lipsius hailing him as _magnum decus Hispanorum_, and in complimentary epistles urging him to undertake the vindication of Homer. If we may believe the contemporary records, Quevedo had by this time acquired all profane knowledge and human learning. He was versed in all the languages, even Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic. He began to write early, and continued to write during the whole of his busy and turbulent life, with an industry, energy, and fecundity which made him the wonder of his age. The catalogue of his works embraces every department of authorship, and there appears to be no species of composition, from an exhortation to a holy life to the more than ribald canzonet, which he did not attempt. The gayest themes were as much to his mind as the gravest studies, and from _Paul the Apostle_ he could pass at will to _Paul the Sharper_, with no apparent effort of wit or strain of conscience. Some of his works have been lost, but enough remains to testify to the astonishing vigour, exuberance, and versatility of his genius. There are religious treatises and biographies of saints, a _Defence of the Faith_, and a homily on the sacred cradle and sepulchre. There is a metrical translation of _Epictetus_, and another of (the false) _Phocylides_. There is a life of _Marcus Brutus_. There are letters to kings and statesmen, and tracts on the currency. There are satires in verse and lampoons in prose. There are poems, odes, ballads, and sonnets innumerable. Even the drama he did not leave unattempted, though his comedies have perished, together with many other works, including _Considerations on the New Testament_ and a _Treatise on the Immortality of the Soul_. Finally, there is the _picaresque_ novel here presented to the English reader under the title of _Don Pablo de Segovia_, or _Paul the Sharper_.