Note 64 — LIFE OF CERVANTES. (continued 2)

At the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century, there lived in Burgos a tavern-keeper named Colmenares, celebrated alike for his wealth, his social humour, and his witty sayings. Many of his jests are collected and published in a volume entitled “Diálogos de apacible entretenimiento, por Gaspar Lucas, Hidalgo.” The inn in Madrid known in the time of Cervantes by the appellation of the Mesón de Colmenares, was probably kept by the witty tavernero of Burgos, or some of his relations.