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Not Rodamont the African, The ruler of Argel, And King of Zarza's southern coast, Was filled with rage so fell, When for his darling Doralice He fought with Mandricard, As filled the heart of bold Gazul When, past Sidonia's guard, He sallied forth in arms arrayed, With courage high prepared To do a deed that mortal man Never before had dared.
Ali Basha has a title to fame in the fact that he is mentioned by Cervantes in his Don Quijote de la Mancha under the name of "Uchali" in chapter xxxix., "Donde el cautivo cuenta su vida y sucesos." The captive is supposed to have been no less a person than the famous Cervantes himself, and he briefly describes how Uchali became "Rey de Argel," or King of Algiers.
Only two of them have been preserved, but as they happen to be two of the seven or eight he mentions with complacency, we may assume they are favourable specimens, and no one who reads the "Numancia" and the "Trato de Argel" will feel any surprise that they failed as acting dramas.
It should be remarked that the Algerians pronounce the gīm hard: not Al-Jezaīr. Europeans spelt the name in all sorts of ways: Arger, Argel, Argeir, Algel, &c., down to the French Alger and our Algiers.
He returned fired with animosity against the Moors, and filled with ardent sympathy for those Christians still in slavery. Thus his comedy of "El Trato de Argel, Los Baños de Argel," his tale of the Captive in "Don Quixote," and that of the Generous Lover, were not mere literary works, but charitable endeavors to serve the Christian captives, and to excite the public sympathy in their favor.
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