I have taken some few liberties, omitted some pages, and occasionally shortened a sentence, but I do not think the English reader will feel inclined to quarrel with these abbreviations, and the Spanish student can refer to the original. To those who feel for Cervantes as he deserves,--to those who have enjoyed the rich fund of amusement that Don Quixote affords, I need not apologise further for making them also acquainted with these wondrously beautiful and almost angelic pilgrims, who were the last productions of his lively imagination, for assuredly those blue eyes and golden ringlets must have been most unlike the visions of beauty that dwelt around him, in his own land of Spain. * * * * * _Postscript._--For the Portrait of Cervantes, which enriches the title page, I have to thank the great kindness and friendly aid of one, who has gained a distinguished name as an author, in the service of both Spanish Art and Spanish History, Mr. Stirling of Keir. I have also to acknowledge the courtesy of Sir Arthur Aston, to whom the original picture belongs, from which I have been permitted to take my engraving; it was brought by him from Madrid, and he found it in the possession of a family where it was highly prized, and considered as an undoubted Portrait of Cervantes. _July, 1853._ L. D. S. FOOTNOTES: [A] Mr. Ticknor has, since this was written, bestowed upon us the unwelcome piece of information that this is a mistake, in consequence of the English and Spanish Calendar differing by ten days. [B] Since writing this I find that there was a translation from the French (not Spanish), in 1619, by M. L. printed in London. Florian mentions two French Translations, both bad. [Illustration] DEDICATION TO DON PEDRO FERNÁNDEZ DE CASTRO, COUNT OF LEMOS, ANDRADE AND VILLALVA, MARQUIS OF SARRIA, ETC. There is an old couplet which was famous in its day, that began "With one foot in the stirrup already." I could have wished in this epistle of mine, that this was not so much to the purpose as it is, for I may begin nearly in the same words, saying-- "With my foot in the stirrup already, And the terrors of death before my eyes, I write, noble Marquis, to thee."