Don Quixote

The object of Cervantes in writing "Don Quixote" was, as he himself declares, "to render abhorred of men the false and absurd stories contained in the books of chivalry."

The fanaticism caused by these romances was so great in Spain during the sixteenth century, that the burning of all extant copies was earnestly requested by the Cortes (or Legislature of the realm).

To destroy a passion that had taken such deep root among all classes, to break up the only reading which (at that time) was fashionable and popular, was a bold undertaking, yet one in which Cervantes succeeded.

No books of chivalry were written after the appearance of "Don Quixote;" and from that time those in existence have been steadily disappearing, until now they are among the rarest of literary curiosities.

This is a solitary instance of the power of genius to destroy, by a well-aimed blow, an entire department of literature.

This romance, which Cervantes threw so carelessly from his pen, and which he only regarded as an effort to break up the absurd fancies about chivalry, has now become the oldest specimen of romantic fiction, and one of the most remarkable monuments of modern genius.

Ten years after its appearance Cervantes published the second part of "Don Quixote," which is even better than the first. It was written in his old age, when in prison, and finished when he felt the hand of death pressing cold and heavy upon him; so that both admiration and reverence are due to the living power of "Don Quixote" and to the genius of Cervantes.

A second intention or application of the poet was to depict in "Don Quixote" all or any forms of ill-judged, visionary enthusiasm, as contrasted with even the simplest solid sense of honest Sancho Panza. So while in one sense it is true that

"Cervantes laughed Spain's chivalry away,"

in a larger view he has presented so telling a satire upon the faults and foibles of human nature, that "Don Quixote" has done great good as a practical treatise and moral philosophy.