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Cervantes, removing the records of a cause from an inferior to 

 ^T"""'' a superior court, into which the writ is returnable, 

 in order that the party complaining may have the 

 more speedy and effectual justice. 



This writ is usually had, after indictment found, 

 and before trial, to remove the indictment, with all 

 the proceedings thereupon, from any inferior court 

 of criminal jurisdiction, into the Court of King's 

 Bench, which is the sovereign ordinary court in cri- 

 minal causes. A certiorari is frequently issued for 

 one or other of the following purposes. 1. To con- 

 sider and determine the validity of appeals or indict- 

 ments, and the proceedings thereupon ; and to quash 

 or confirm them accordingly. 2. The indictment is 

 removed into the Court of King's Bench, or before 

 the justices of nisi prius, when it is suspected that a 

 partial or insufficient trial will be had in the court 

 below. 3. In order to plead the king's pardon in 

 the superior court. 4. To issue process of outlawry 

 against the offender in those places where the pro- 

 cess of the inferior judges will not reach him. 



A certiorari lies in all judicial proceedings in which 

 .a writ of error does not lie ; and the proceedings of 

 all inferior jurisdictions, erected by act of parliament, 

 are returnable in the King's Bench. When a writ 

 ef certiorari has been issued and delivered to the in- 

 ferior court, it supersedes the jurisdiction of that 

 court, and renders all subsequent proceedings therein 

 erroneous and illegal, unless the record be remanded 

 to the court below by the King's Bench. The writ 

 may be granted at the instance either of the prose- 

 cutor or the defendant ; the former as a matter of 

 right, the latter as a matter of discretion. 



Indictments found by the grand jury against a 

 peer are transmitted by certiorari into the Court of 

 Parliament, or into that of the Lord High Steward 

 of Great Britain. See Blackstone's Comment, b. iv. 

 ch. 24. ; and Jacob's Law. Diet, (z) 



CERVANTES, MIGUEL DE SAAVEDRA, an emi- 

 nent Spanish writer, author of Don Quixote, and one 

 of the most distinguished satirists which modern 

 times have produced. 



It appears now to be ascertained, that he was born 

 at Alcala in New Castile ; though the place of his 

 nativity has long been a matter of dispute, Madrid, 

 Seville, and other cities, as well as Alcala, contend- 

 ing for that honour. The date of his birth is Oc- 

 tober 9th 1547. His parents were Rodrigo de Cer- 

 vantes and Leonor de Cortinas, poor, but of honour- 

 able extraction. Whether he was related to Francisco 

 Cervantes, author of a book, entitled, Apologo de 

 Ociosidad, and published at Alcala in the year 1546, 

 is, we believe, at present unknown. 



According to the latest and best accounts, Cer- 

 vantes received his education under an eminent teacher 

 at Madrid. He was destined either for the church 

 or the profession of medicine, but not relishing the 

 methodical application which was required of him, 

 he appears very speedily to have relinquished all se- 

 verer studies, and betaken himself to the composition 

 of verses. An elegy on the death of Queen Isabella, 

 a poem, entitled, Filena, and some sonnets, were his 

 earliest productions. But they seem to have been 

 published only to be neglected. Though rated high 

 in the estimation of the author, they attracted little 

 notice from the friends and patrons of literature. 

 The great and the wise were too indolent or too 

 busy, to attend, while he offered them consolation or 



amusement. This treatment appeared to Cervantes Cervantes., 

 in the light of the most flagrant and criminal injus- '*-~~Y~ I *~' 

 tice. He considered himself as a young man cruelly 

 dealt with, and resolved, in a paroxysm of resentment 

 natural to a mind conscious of high powers, to be- 

 stow his labours no more on a public so ungrateful. 

 Accordingly he quitted Spain, and withdrew himself 

 to Rome. But his fortune was by no means ame- 

 liorated by the change ; for he was reduced to such 

 extreme distress, that he was constrained to enter in- 

 to the service of the Cardinal Aquaviva, in the capa- 

 city of valet de chambre. 



Such was the early condition of this man, for whose 

 birth imperial cities have contended, and whom the 

 world of letters now unites to honour. His miseries, 

 however, did not stop here. He was quickly disgust- 

 ed with the employment of the cardinal, and as he was 

 wholly without friends, and seems to have had little 

 concern or care of life, he enlisted as a soldier. In the 

 latter capacity he served many years under Mark 

 Antony Colonna ; he was present at the battle of 

 Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria A.D. 1571 : 

 and history may record him as one instance at least, 

 of a poet who fought valiantly in actual combat, and 

 who, if compelled to retreat, did not expedite his 

 flight by throwing away his shield. In the battle of 

 Lepanto, he had his left hand struck off by the dis- 

 charge of an arquebuse. The loss of his limb on this 

 occasion he ever afterwards considered as highly ho- 

 nourable ; regarding it, no doubt, as some proof of 

 valour which had been subjected to trial, and found 

 equal to its severity, or perhaps, as some evidence, 

 that when his left hand was carried away, his right, 

 which grasped his sword, was more actively em- 

 ployed. 



In the year 1574-, we find Cervantes a slave in Al- 



tiers. Here too his fortune was not a little diversi- 

 ed. His first master was Arnaute Marmi, the most 

 ferocious as well as the most formidable of all the 

 corsairs. From the rigorous bondage which he en- 

 dured in the service of this barbarian, he oftener than 

 once attempted to escape. He joined himself to 14 

 Spaniards, whom he had persuaded to leave the houses 

 of their respective masters, and concealed himself, 

 along with his companions, in a subterraneous abode 

 not far from the shore. In the mean time, having 

 procured the ransom of a prisoner, a native of Ma- 

 jorca, on whose fidelity he could depend, he dispatch- 

 ed this person to represent the case of the sufferers, 

 and to implore that a small vessel might be sent, in 

 order to convey them to their native country. The 

 viceroy of Majorca was not inattentive to the request ; 

 a brigantine was immediately dispatched ; but the 

 coast of Algiers was so closely watched, that the ves- 

 sel could not approach. And to complete the mis- 

 fortunes of the captives, they were betrayed by one 

 of their associates, seized in their retreat, and carried 

 before the Dey, a ruler, seldom known, even to his 

 Mussulman subjects, by the exercise of mercy. From 

 him therefore, Christians, and Christians who had en- 

 deavoured to escape from bondage, could not expect 

 forgiveness. The prisoners approached the resi- 

 dence of the tyrant, anticipating death in its severest 

 form. Fortunately, however, the event did not 

 accord with their expectations. A pardon was of- 

 fered them ; but it was offered them on this singular 

 condition, that they should instantly declare which 

 of their number was the author and conductor of the 



