From 1616 until 1748 the identity of Cervantes’ birthplace was lost. The place of Don Quixote’s nativity, it will be remembered, was obscured by his inventor, in order that “all the towns and villages of La Mancha might contend among themselves for the honour of giving him birth and adopting him for their own, as the Seven Cities of Greece contended for Homer,” and for over 130 years he was himself the subject of a similar uncertainty. Until 1748, when the discovery of his baptismal registrar in the Parish Church of Saint Mary the Creator, at Alcala de Henares, made an end of the mystery that had existed on the point, seven cities of Spain contended fiercely for the honour of claiming Cervantes for their own. But the pretentions of Madrid, Seville, Toledo, Lucena, Esquívias, Alcazar de San Juan and Consuegra were disposed of by this documentary evidence, and speculation was shifted from Cervantes’ birthplace to his place of education; indeed the little that is known of the author’s [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE FIGURE IN PACHECO’S PICTURE AT SEVILLE, SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT CERVANTES.] early days leaves ample scope for conjecture. Tradition says that he spent two years at the University of Salamanca, and the house in which he is supposed to have resided, in the Calle de Moros, is still regarded as one of the lions of this once famous seat of learning. The city is now without learning, society, or commerce--a ruin of its former greatness. Yet in the fourteenth century its university boasted 10,000 students, and in Cervantes’ youth some 5,000 students resorted thither. But the University of Alcala was also at that time a famous centre of learning, and it is unlikely that Cervantes, having regard to the financial status of his family, would go further afield for his collegiate course. Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, who does not believe that he was a student of any university, regards the assumption that he was sent to the distant University of Salamanca, as something like mockery.