(Michael de Cervantes), a celebrated Spanish writer, and the inimitable author of Don Quixote, was born at Madrid in the year 1549. From his infancy he was fond of books; but he applied himself wholly to books of entertainment, such as novels and poetry of all kinds, especially Spanish and Italian authors. From Spain he went to Italy, either to serve cardinal Aquaviva, to whom he was chamberlain at Rome; or else to follow the profession of a soldier, as he did some years under the victorious banners of Marco Antonio Colonna. He was present at the battle of Lepanto, fought in the year 1571; in which he either lost his left-hand by the shot of an harquebus, or had it so maimed that he lost the use of it. After this he was taken by the Moors, and carried to Algiers, where he continued a captive five years and a half. Then he returned to Spain, and applied himself to the writing of comedies and tragedies; and he composed several, all of which were well received by the public, and acted with great applause. In the year 1584, he published his Galates, a novel in five books; which he presented to Ascanio Colonna, a man of high rank in the church, as the first-fruits of his wit. But the work which has done him the greatest honour, and will immortalize his name, is the history of Don Quixote; the first part of which was printed at Madrid in the year 1605. This is a satire upon books of knight-errantry; and the principal, if not the sole, end of it was to destroy the reputation of these books, which had so infatuated the greater part of mankind, especially those of the Spanish nation. This work was universally read; and the most eminent painters, tapestry-workers, engravers, and sculptors, have been employed in representing the history of Don Quixote. Cervantes, even in his lifetime, obtained the glory of having his work receive a royal approbation. As king Philip the Third was standing in a balcony of his palace at Madrid, and viewing the country, he observed a student on the banks SAB

Sabæans, banks of the river Manzanares reading in a book, and Sabæans from time to time breaking off and beating his forehead with extraordinary tokens of pleasure and delight; upon which the king said to those about him, "That scholar is either mad, or reading Don Quixote?" the latter of which proved to be the case. But virtus Landauer et alget notwithstanding the vast applause his book everywhere met with, he had not interest enough to procure a small pension, but had much ado to keep himself from starving. In the year 1615, he published a second part; to which he was partly moved by the presumption of some scribbler, who had published a continuation of this work the year before. He wrote also several novels; and among the rest, "The Troubles of Pericles and Sigismunda." He had employed many years in writing this novel, and finished it but just before his death; for he did not live to see it published. His sickness was of such a nature, that he himself was able to be, and actually was, his own historian. At the end of the preface to the Troubles of Pericles and Sigismunda, he represents himself on horseback upon the road; and a student overtaking him, entered into conversation with him:

"And happening to talk of my illness, (says he), the student soon let me know my doom, by saying it was a drop of I had got, the thirst attending which, all the water of the ocean, though it were not salt, would not suffice to quench. Therefore Senor Cervantes, says he, you must drink nothing at all, but do not forget to eat; for this alone will recover you without any other physic. I have been told the same by others, answered I; but I can no more forbear tippling, than if I were born to do nothing else. My life is drawing to an end; and from the daily journal of my pulse, I shall have finished my course by next Sunday at the farthest.—But adieu, my merry friends all, for I am going to die; and I hope to see you ere long in the other world, as happy as heart can wish."

His dropsy increased, and at last proved fatal to him; yet he continued to say and to write bons mots. He received the last sacrament on the 18th of April 1616; yet the day after wrote a Dedication of the Troubles of Pericles and Sigismunda, to the Cordé de Lemos. The particular day of his death is not known.

SABÆANS, in church-history, a sect of idolaters much more ancient than the Jewish law.

In the early ages of the world, idolatry was divided between two sects; the worshippers of images, called Sabæans or Sabians; and the worshippers of fire, called Magi. See MAGI.

The Sabæans began with worshipping the heavenly bodies, which they fancied were animated by inferior deities. In the consecration of their images, they used many incantations to draw down into them from the stars those intelligences for whom they erected them, whose power and influence they held afterwards dwelt in them. This religion, it is said, first began among the Chaldeans, with their knowledge in astronomy; and from this it was that Abraham separated himself, when he came out of Chaldea. From the Chaldeans it spread all over the east; and from thence to the Grecians, who propagated it to all the nations of the world. The remainder of this sect still subsists in the east, and pretend to derive their name from Sabius a son of Seth; and among the books in which the doctrines of this sect are contained, they have one which they call the book of Seth, and which they pretend was written by that patriarch.