Topographia de la Villa de Madrid (Topography of the city of Madrid) (Biblioteca Nacional de España) [2]

Miguel de Cervantes, who died and was buried practically alone in the convent of Trinitarian nuns, lives on through his works and his characters – especially Don Quixote, who has become almost a mirror image of Cervantes himself. Both lie dead. One recovered from the madness caused by his constant reading of chivalric novels. The other driven to distraction by words – all those he was never able to write, all those that life dealt him.
Miguel de Cervantes spent his last years in Madrid in a rented house in Calle León, at the corner of Calle Francos (now Calle Cervantes). On 23 April 1833 Mesonero Romanos complained of the haste with this this house, the last trace of Cervantes’s presence in Madrid, was demolished:
“Cervantes’s house…! […] How can it be?!” he exclaimed resolutely. “And who dares to profane the dwelling of the joyful writer, the muses’ delight?
“Interest, sir, no doubt interest.”

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