In the principal garden there are remains from Italica. The orange, lemon and jasmine grow profusely in this sunny, sheltered corner of the city. Here the cultured Duke Fernando Enriquez de Ribera discoursed with his illustrious guests, when the stars twinkled and the air was sweet with the odour of the jasmine and rose. No doubt Francisco Pacheco brought his pupil Velazquez to the symposia. We can picture Cervantes relating the story of his imprisonment in Algiers, or diverting the company with anecdotes of the thieves and sharpers of Seville, whose exploits are recorded in his novel of _Rinconete y Cortadillo_. Góngora, the poet, whose affectations and 'Gongorisms' offended George Henry Lewes, probably read his verses to a critical audience in the salon. Wit vied with wit, scholar discussed with scholar, and artists discoursed upon the new methods of painting. This was the intellectual centre of Seville, where kindred souls uttered their deepest thoughts, assured of sympathy and of comprehension. When the courtly owner of the palace died, his library, his treasures and curiosities were removed to Madrid, and Sevillian men of letters and painters lost a true friend.
In 1588, Miguel de Servantes Saavedra, otherwise Cervantes, lived in the city. In his twenty-first year, while at Madrid, he had written a pastoral poem called _Filena_, some sonnets and canzonets. A few years later he obtained a position as chamberlain to Cardinal Julio Aquaviva at Rome; but he was not long in Italy. The love of adventure inspired him to enlist in the expedition force sent by Philip II. against Selim the Grand Turk. At the famous battle of Lepanto the young soldier received a wound in the left hand, which necessitated amputation. The surgeons bungled, and Cervantes lost the use of his arm. Still, he continued to serve as a private soldier in the ranks.
In 1575, Cervantes was aboard a galley called the _Sun_, and when journeying from Naples to Spain, he and the entire crew were captured, and borne to Algiers as prisoners. For five years he lay in a dungeon until a sum was paid in ransom. Upon returning to his native land, he joined his mother and sister at Madrid, and there he led a studious life for three years. His fighting days were at an end. He had seen strange things in foreign lands, and greatly enriched his store of experience of life. Henceforward he gave of his knowledge of the world, and toiled as a writer of poetry, dramas and marvellous romances. His struggle with fortune was severe. He wrote thirty comedies without gaining recognition. At this time he married Doña Catalina de Solazar y Palacios y Vozmediano.