But this is a metaphysical conclusion
drawn from views of the work at once imperfect and exaggerated; a
conclusion contrary to the spirit of the age, which was not given to a
satire so philosophical and generalizing, and contrary to the character
of Cervantes himself, as we follow it from the time when he first became
a soldier, through all his trials in Algiers, and down to the moment
when his warm and trusting heart dictated the Dedication of "Persiles
and Sigismunda" to the Count de Lemos. His whole spirit, indeed, seems
rather to have been filled with a cheerful confidence in human virtue,
and his whole bearing in life seems to have been a contradiction to that
discouraging and saddening scorn for whatever is elevated and generous,
which such an interpretation of the Don Quixote necessarily implies.
* * * * *
At the very beginning of the work, he announces it to be his sole
purpose to break down the vogue and authority of books of chivalry, and
at the end of the whole he declares anew in his own person, that "he
had no other desire than to render abhorred of men the false and absurd
stories contained in books of chivalry;" exulting in his success as an
achievement of no small moment.
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