[Footnote 138: Haedo, _Historia de Argel_, p. 122; Quarterly Review, vol. xv. pp. 169, 172; Shaler's Sketches of Algiers, p. 77; Short Account of Algiers, pp. 22, 25. It seems to have been supposed, that, according to the Koran, the condition of slavery ceased when the party became a Mussulman. Penny Cyclopædia, art. _Slavery_; Noah's Travels, p. 302; Shaler's Sketches, p. 69. In point of fact, freedom generally followed conversion; but I do not find any injunction on the subject in the Koran.] Nor do we feel, from the narratives of captives and of travellers, that the condition of the Christian slave was rigorous beyond the ordinary lot of slavery. "The Captive's Story" in Don Quixote fails to impress the reader with any peculiar horror of the life from which he had escaped. It is often said that the sufferings of Cervantes were among the most severe which even Algiers could inflict.[139] But they did not repress the gayety of his temper; and we learn that in the building where he was confined there was a chapel or oratory, in which mass was celebrated, the sacrament administered, and sermons regularly preached by captive priests.[140] Nor was this all. The pleasures of the theatre were enjoyed by these slaves; and the farces of Lopé de Rueda, a favorite Spanish dramatist of the time, served, in actual representation, to cheer this house of bondage.[141] [Footnote 139: _De los peores que en Argel auia._ Haedo, _Historia de Argel_, p. 85; Navarrete, _Vida de Cervantes_, p. 361.] [Footnote 140: Roscoe's life of Cervantes, p. 303.] [Footnote 141: _Baños de Argel._] The experience of the devoted Portuguese ecclesiastic, Father Thomas, illustrates this lot. A slave in Morocco, he was able to minister to his fellow-slaves, and to compose a work on the Passion of Jesus Christ, which has been admired for its unction, and translated into various tongues. At last liberated through the intervention of the Portuguese ambassador, he chose to remain behind, notwithstanding the solicitations of relatives at home, that he might continue to instruct and console the unhappy men, his late companions in bonds.[142] [Footnote 142: _Biographie Universelle_, art. Thomas de Jesus; Digby's Board Stone of Honor, Tancredus, § 9, p. 181.]