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As to (b) and (d), the expressions "a few days" and "the beginning of the new year" should evidently be interpreted in a non-natural sense. The Tasa, as we have seen, was not signed at Madrid till March 13, 1585; the next step was to return the printed sheets to the publisher at Alcalá de Henares; the publisher had then to forward the Tasa to the printer, and finally the whole edition had to be bound. In these circumstances, the date of publication cannot easily be placed earlier than April, 1585. Accordingly, the expression (b)—"a few days"—must be taken to mean about ninety or a hundred days: and "the beginning of the year," mentioned under (d), must be advanced from January to April.

Concerning (e), it is true that Sr. Asensio y Toledo was at one time inclined to believe in the existence of a 1584 edition of the Galatea: see Salvá, op. cit., vol ii, p. 124. But Sr. Asensio y Toledo admitted that Salvá's argument had shaken him: "sus observaciones de V. me han hecho parar un poco." This was over thirty years ago. Meanwhile, Sr. Asensio y Toledo has revised his opinion, as may be seen in his latest publication, Cervantes y sus obras (Barcelona. 1902). "En el año 1585 salió á luz La Galatea" (p. 268).... "El libro se imprimió en Alcalá, por Juan Gracián, y es de la más extremada rareza" (pp. 382-383). He now accepts Salvá's view without reserve.