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In fact Cervantes had no case, or a very bad one, as far as the mere

continuation was concerned But Avellaneda chose to write a preface to

it, full of such coarse personal abuse as only an ill-conditionedold, with having lost his

hand, with having been in prison, with being poor, with being friendless,

accuses him of envy of Lope's success, of petulance and querulousness,

and so on; and it was in this that the sting lay Avellaneda's reason for

this personal attack is obvious enough Whoever he may have been, it is

clear that he was one of the drae Cervantes with attacking him as well as Lope in his

criticism on the drama His identification has exercised the best critics

and baffled all the ingenuity and research that has been brought to bear

on it Navarrete and Ticknor both incline to the belief that Cervantes

kneho he was; but I ests an

invisible assailant; it is like the irritation of aby a

uage

pronounces hionese himself,

supports this view and believes him, moreover, to have been an

ecclesiastic, a Dominican probably

Any merit Avellaneda has is reflected from Cervantes, and he is too dull

to reflect ine, the verdict

of the vast majority of unprejudiced readers He is, at best, a poor