In 1588, Miguel de Servantes Saavedra, otherwise Cervantes, lived in the city. In his twenty-first year, while at Madrid, he had written a pastoral poem called _Filena_, some sonnets and canzonets. A few years later he obtained a position as chamberlain to Cardinal Julio Aquaviva at Rome; but he was not long in Italy. The love of adventure inspired him to enlist in the expedition force sent by Philip II. against Selim the Grand Turk. At the famous battle of Lepanto the young soldier received a wound in the left hand, which necessitated amputation. The surgeons bungled, and Cervantes lost the use of his arm. Still, he continued to serve as a private soldier in the ranks. In 1575, Cervantes was aboard a galley called the _Sun_, and when journeying from Naples to Spain, he and the entire crew were captured, and borne to Algiers as prisoners. For five years he lay in a dungeon until a sum was paid in ransom. Upon returning to his native land, he joined his mother and sister at Madrid, and there he led a studious life for three years. His fighting days were at an end. He had seen strange things in foreign lands, and greatly enriched his store of experience of life. Henceforward he gave of his knowledge of the world, and toiled as a writer of poetry, dramas and marvellous romances. His struggle with fortune was severe. He wrote thirty comedies without gaining recognition. At this time he married Doña Catalina de Solazar y Palacios y Vozmediano. In Seville there lived two relatives of the soldier-dramatist. They were merchants, with a large business, and it is said that they offered Cervantes employment. Mr. J. Fitz-Maurice Kelly tells us that the author obtained a post in the Real Audencia in Seville, probably that of tax-gatherer. Cervantes himself relates that 'he found something better to do than writing comedies.' Whether he sat on a stool in the mercantile office of his relations, or travelled as a tax-collector in Andalasia, is perhaps not quite certain. At anyrate, the dramatist continued to produce plays. He sought an appointment as Accountant-General of the new kingdom of Granada, or as Governor of Secomusco in Guatemala, or as Paymaster of the galleys at Cartagena, or as Corregidor in La Paz. His application was unnoticed, and it was not until 1808 that the document was unearthed. It is a story of hardship, neglect and disappointment. The soldier who had lost an arm in combat with his country's foes, the genius whose name was to reach the far ends of the civilised world, was forced to go begging for situations, which were refused to him. He still plied his pen for poor returns in the way of money. For Rodrigo Osorio he agreed to write six comedies at fifty ducats each. The price was not to be paid unless each play was 'one of the best ever presented in Spain.' Was there ever a more arbitrary contract? It is doubtful whether Cervantes received anything for this work. Then came the quarrel between the Church and the Stage.