He adopted the habit of the Franciscans in
Alcala in 1613, and formally professed in the Third Order in 1616, three
weeks before his death.
There are those who find the mirth and fun of his later works so
inconsistent with these ascetic professions, that they have been led to
believe Cervantes a bit of a hypocrite. But we cannot agree with such.
Literature was at that time a diversion of the great, and the chief aim
of the writer was to amuse. The best opinion of scholars now is that
Rabelais, whose genius illustrated the preceding century, was a man of
serious and severe life, whose gaulish crudeness of style and brilliant
wit have been the cause of all the fables that distort his personal
history.
No one can read attentively even the Quixote without seeing how powerful
an influence was exerted by his religion even upon the noble and kindly
soul of Cervantes. He was a blind bigot and a devoted royalist, like all
the rest. The mean neglect of the Court never caused his stanch loyalty
to swerve. The expulsion of the Moors, the crowning crime and madness of
the reign of Philip III., found in him a hearty advocate and defender.
_Non facit monachum cucullus,--_it was not his hood and girdle that made
him a monk; he was thoroughly saturated with their spirit before he put
them on. But he was the noblest courtier and the kindliest bigot that
ever flattered or persecuted.
In 1610, the Count of Lemos, who had in his grand and distant way
patronized the poet, was appointed Viceroy of Naples, and took with him
to his kingdom a brilliant following of Spanish wits and scholars.
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