In 1568, an event occurred which altered the trend of Cervantes’ life, and carried him for a period of twelve years from his native land. In that year, the young and cultured Cardinal Acquaviva came to the Court of Philip II. on a ceremonial mission from the Pope. Though received with scant courtesy by the King, the learned envoy was warmly welcomed by the men of letters of Madrid. By one of these, it is suggested by Cardinal Espinosa to whom Cervantes had dedicated some of his verses, the poet was presented to Acquaviva; and when the Papal legate brought his visit to an end, Cervantes returned with him to Rome in the capacity of _camarero_, or page. Mr. Kelly treats at some length, if with scant credulity, the vague legend, that in his early youth Cervantes held some minor post at Court; and while he attaches no importance to the traditions that he left Spain to escape the consequences of having wounded a courtier in a duel, or of having had some love passages with a lady about the Court, he takes it for granted that he “fled to Italy in half-voluntary, half-compulsory exile.” Whether that was so or not, he only remained for little more than a year in the service of his ecclesiastical patron, and in the beginning of 1570 he entered the Spanish Army as a private soldier in the company of the famous captain, Don Diego de Urbina. While it is generally recognised that Cervantes, the author and philosopher, was in advance of his age, Cervantes, the man, was, it would appear, the natural product of his generation and his environment. In the university city of Alcala, “in that fruitful harvest-time of Spanish literature,” he cultivated the muses; in Italy--which, at that period, was dominated by Spain--surrounded, as he was, on all sides by the indomitable Spanish infantry, who “made the earth tremble with their firelocks,” the spirit of Cervantes was fired with military ardour. Christendom, too, was at perpetual war with the Turks, and to a youth of Cervantes’ chivalrous temperament the prospects offered by a career which united the services of both Church and King would prove irresistible. He was present, in 1570, at the ineffectual attempt to relieve the Island of Cyprus, a failure which led up to the formation of the Holy League of Spain, Venice, and Rome against Selim II., and found its crowning glory in the Battle of Lepanto. The troops went into Winter quarters on their return from Cyprus, and Cervantes trod the streets [Illustration: CERVANTES.]