and feel death to follow me at my heels Let us leave off and quit all merriments and jesting and let me have a confessor to shrift me and a Notary to draw my last Will and Testament In the extremity whereunto I now finde and feel my self a man must not make a jest of his soule and therefore whilest Master Curate is taking of my Confession let mee have a Scrivener fetch'd They stood all gazing one upon another wondring at Don-Quixotes found reasons although they made some doubt to beleeve them One of the signes which induced them to conjecture that hee was neer unto deaths door was that with such facility hee was from a stark fool become a wise man For to the words already alleaged hee added many more so significant so Christian-like and so well couched that without doubt they confidently believed that Don-Quixote was become a right wise man The Curate made all those who were in the Chamber to avoid and being left alone with him took his Confession The Bachelor Carrasco went to finde out a Notary who not long after came with him and with Sancho Panca This good Squire having understood from the mouth of the Bachelour that his Master was in a very bad estate and finding his Maid-servant and his Neece weeping very bitterly began like a mad-man with his own fists to thump and beat himself and to shead brackish tears The Confession being ended the Curate came forth and was heard to utter these words Verily verily hee is at his last gasp and verily the good Alonso Quixano is become wise and it is high time for him to make his last will and Testament These heavy news opened the sluces of the tears-full and swoln-blubbering eyes of the Maid of the Neeces and of his good Squire Sancho Pansa so that they showred forth whole fountains of tears and fetched from the very bottome of their aggrieved hearts a thousand groaning sighs For in effect as we have already declared else-where whilest Don Quixote was simply the good Alonso Quixano and likewise when hee was Don Quixote de la Mancha hee was ever of a milde and affable disposition and of a kinde and pleasing conversation and therefore was hee not only beloved of all his Houshold but also of all those that knew him In the mean space the Notary came who after hee had written the beginning of his Will and that Don Quixote had disposed of his soul with all the circumstances required and necessary in a true Christian and that hee was come unto the Legacies hee caused this to bee written Item concerning a certain summe of money which Sancho Panca whoâ—â— I made my Squire whilest my folly possessed me hath yet in his custody For so much is between him and me there remain certain odd reckonings and accounts to bee made up of what hee hath received and laid out My will and pleasure is That hee bee not ty'd to yeeld any account at all nor bee in any Bond for it Nay rather if any over-plus remain in his hands having first fully paid and satisfied him of what I owe and am indebted to him which is no great matter my purpose is That it bee absolutely his own and much good may it doe him And as being then a fool I was the cause that hee had the Government of an Island given him I would to God now I am wise and in my perfect sences it were in my power to give him a Kingdome for the sincerity of his minde and the fidelity of his comportments doe well deserve it Then addressing himself unto Sancho hee made this speech unto him My dear friend pardon me that I have given thee occasion to seem a fool as I was in making thee to fall into the same error wherein I was faln that the world there have been and still are Errant Knights Alas and wellady my good Sir answered Sancho throbbing and weeping yeeld not unto death I pray you but rather follow my counsell which is That you endeavour to live many fair yeeres The greatest folly that any man can commit in this world is to give himself over unto death without apparent cause except hee bee wilfully slain or that no other hand bring him to his end but that of melancholy Once more I beseech you suffer not remisnesse or faint-heartednesse to overcome you Rather rise out of your Bed and let us goe into the fields attired like Sheepheards as wee were once resolved to doe It may come to passe that wee behinde some Bush or Shrub shall finde the Lady Madame Dulcinea dis-enchanted so that wee shall have no more businesse If the vexation or irksomenesse you feele to have beene vanquished attempt to bring you unto death let mee undertake the blame who will stoutly maintain in all places and before all men That you were overthrown and quelled because I had not well gyrt your Palfrey Rozinante And you have seen and read in your Books of Chivalry that it is an ordinary thing for one Knight to thrust another out of his saddle And that hee who is to day conquered is to morrow a conqueror It is most true quoth Samson and Sancho Panca relates the very truth of such accidents My Sirs replyed Don-Quixote I pray you goe not on so fast since that in the Nests of the last yeer there are no Birds of this yeer Whilome I was a fool but now I am wise Sometimes I was Don-Quixote de la Mancha but am now as I have already told you the good Alonso Quixano Let my unfained repentance and the truth of what I say obtain this favour at your courteous hands that you will have the same estimation of me now which you have had heretofore And so let Master Notary proceed Item I make and institute my Neece Antoinette Quixana who is here present generall Heir of all my goods whatsoever having first deducted out of them all that shall be necessary for the full accomplishment of the Legacies which I have bequeathed And the first thing I would have discharged I purpose shall bee the wages which I owe unto my Maid-servant and that over and besides shee have twenty Ducats delivered unto her to buy her some good clothes withall Item I appoint and institute Master Curate and Master Samson Carrasco the Bachelour here present to be the Over-seers and Executors of this my last Will and Testament Item my will and pleasure is That if Antoinette Quixana my Neece chance to marry that it bee a man of whom diligent enquiry shall first bee made that hee is utterly ignorant of Books of Chivalrie and that hee never heard speech of them And if it should happen that hee have read them and that notwithstanding my Neece will or take him to her Husband That shee utterly lose and never have any thing that I have bequeathed her as an inheritance all which my Executors and Assigneâ—â— may at their pleasure as shall seem good unto them imploy and
his work which if I can finde among these and that he speaks not his own native tongue I 'le use him with no respect but if he talk in his own language I will put him for honours sake on my head If that be so quoth the Barber I have him at home in the Italian but cannot understand him Neither were it good you should understand him replyed the Curate and here we would willingly have excused the good Captain that translated it into Spanish from that labour or bringing it into Spain if it had pleased himself For he hath deprived it of much naturall worth in the translation a fault incident to all those that presume to translate Verses out of one language into another for though they imploy all their industry and wit therein they can never arive to the height of that Primitive conceit which they bring with them in their first byrth I say therefore that this booke and all the others that may bee found in this Library to treate of French affaires bee cast and deposited in some drie Vault untill wee may determine with more deliberation what wee should doe with them alwaies excepting Bernardo del Carpio which must bee there amongst the rest and another called Roncesualles for these two coming to my hands shall bee rendred up to those of the old guardian and from hers into the fires without any remission All which was confirmed by the Barbar who did ratifie his Sentence holding it for good and discreete because hee knew the Curate to bee so vertuous a man and so great a friend of the truth as he would say nothing contrary to it for all the goods of the world And then opening another booke he saw it was Palmerin de Oliva neere unto which stood another intituled Palmerin of England which the â—icenciat perceiving said let Oliva be presently rent in pieces and burned in such sort that even the very ashes thereof may not be found and let Palmerin of England be preserved as a thing rarely delectable and let such another box as that which Alexander found among Darius spoyls and depured to keep Homers works be made for it for gossip this booke hath sufficient authority for two reasons the first because of it self it is very good and excellently contrived the other for as much as the report runnes that a certain discreet King of Portugal was the author thereof All the Adventures of the Castle of Miraguarda are excellent and artificiall The discourses very cleere and courtly observing evermore a decorum in him that speaks with great propriety and conceit therefore I say Master Nicholas if you think good this and Amadis de Gaule may bee preserved from the fire and let all the rest without farther search or regard perish In the devills name doe not so gentle gossip replyed the Barbar for this which I hold now in my hand is the famous Don Belianis What hee quoth the Curate the second third and fourth part thereof have great neede of some Ruybarbe to purge his excessive choller and wee must moreover take out of him all that of the Castell of Fame and other impertinencies of more consequence Therefore wee give them a terminus Vltramarinus and as they shall bee corrected so will wee use Mercy or justice towards them and in the meane space Gossip you may keepe them at your house but permit no man to read them I am pleased quoth the Barbar and being unwilling to tyre himself any more by reading of Titles hee bad the old woman to take all the great volumes and throw them into the yard the words were not spoken to a Mome or deaf person but to one that had more desire to burn them then to weave a peace of Linnen were it never so great and fine and therefore taking eight of them together shee threw them all out of the window and returning the second time thinking to carry away a great many at once one of them fell at the Barbers feet who desirous to know the Title saw that it was the Historie of the famous Knight Tirante the white Good God quoth the Curate with a loud voice is Tirante the white here Give mee it Gossip for I make account to find in it a Treasure of delight and a copious Mine of pastime Here is Don Quireleison of Montalban a valiant Knight and his brother Thomas of Montalban and the Knight Fonseca and the combat which the valiant Detriante fought with Alano and the witty conceits of the damzell Plazerdeminida with the love and guiles of the widow Reposada and of the Empresse enamoured on her Squire Ipolite I say unto you gossip that this booke is for the stile one of the best of the world in it Knights doe eate and drinke and sleepe and die in their beds naturally and make their testaments before their death with many other things which all other bookes of this subject doe want yet notwithstanding if I might bee Judge the Author thereof deserved because hee purposely penned and writ so many follies to bee sent to the Gallies for all the dayes of his life Carie it home and read it and you shall see all that I have said thereof to bee true I beleeve it very well quoth the Barber But what shall wee doe with these little bookes that remaine These as I take said the Curate are not bookes of Knighthood but of Poetry and opening one hee perceived it was The Diana of Montemayor and beleeving that all the rest were of that stampe hee said these deserve not to bee burned with the rest for they have not nor can doe so much hurt as bookes of Knighthood being all of them works full of understanding and conceits and doe not prejudice any other O good Sir quoth Don-Quixote his Niese your reverence shall likewise doe well to have them also burned lest that mine Uncle after hâ—â— bee cured of his Knightly disease may fall by reading of these in an humor of becomming a Sheepheard and so wander through the woods and fields singing of Rounde layes and playing on a Crowd and what is more dangerous then to become a Poet which is as some say an incurable and infectious disease This maiden saies true quoth the Curate and it will not bee amisse to remove this stumbling block and occasion out of our friends way and since wee begin with the Diana of Montemayor I am of opinion that it bee not burned but only that all that which treates of the wise Felicia and of the inchanted water bee taken away and also all the longer verses and let him remaine with his Proses and the honour of being the best of that kinde This that followes quoth the Barber is the Diana called the second written by him of Salamanca and this other is of the same name whose Author is Gil Polo Let that of Salamanca answered Master Parson augment the number of the condemned in the yard and that of Gil Polo bee kept as charity
my dire pangs I' le only make effusion Mongst those steep Rocks aud hollow bottom lands With mortified tongue but living teares Sometimes in hidden Dales where nought appeares Or in unhaunted plaines free from accesse Or where the Sun could ne're intrude a Beam Amidst the venemous crue of Beasts unclean Whose wants with bounty the free plains redresse For though among those vast and Desart downes The hollow Eccho indistinctly sounds Thy matchlesse rigour and my cruell paine Yet by the priviledge of my niggard Fates It will their force throughout the world proclaim 4 A disdain kils and patience runs a ground By a suspicion either false or true But Iealousie with greater rigour slayes A prolix absence doth our life confound Against fear of oblivion to ensue Firm hope of best successe gives little ease Inevitable death lurks in all these But I O unseen Miracle doe still live Iealous absent disdain'd and certain too Of the suspicions that my life undoe Drownd in Oblivion which my fire revives And amongst all those paines I never scope Got to behold the shadow once of hope Nor thus despaired would I it allow But cause I may more aggravate my moanes To live ever without it here I vow 5 Can hope and fear at once in one consist Or is it reason that it should bee so Seeing the cause more certain is of feare If before mee dyre Iealousie exist Shall I deflect mine eyes since it will shew It self by a thousand wounds in my soule there Or who will not the gates unto Despair Wide open set after that hee hath spy'd Murdring disdain and noted each suspicion To seeming truth transform'd O sowre conversion Whil'st Verity by Falshood is beli'd O Tyrant of Loves state fierce Iealousie With cruell chaines these hands together tie With stubborn cords couple them rough Disdain But woe is mee with bloody victory Your memory is by my sufferance slain 6 I die in fine and cause I 'le not expect In death or life for the least good successe I obstinate will rest in Fantasie And say hee doth well that doth affect And eke the Soule most liberty possesse That is most thrall to Loves old Tyrannie And will affirm mine ever enemie In her fair shrine a fairer soule containes And her oblivion from my fault to spring And to excuse her wrongs will witnesse bring That Love by her in peace his state maintains And with a hard knot and this strange opinion I will accelerate the wretched summon To which guided I am by her scornes rife And offer to the ayre Body and Soule Without hope or reward of future life 7 Thou that by multiplying wrongs dost shew The reason forcing mee t' use violence Vnto this loathsom life grown to mee hatefull Since now by signes notorious thou maist know From my hearts deepest wound how willingly sense Doth sacrifice mee to thy scorns ingratefull If my deserts have seemd to thee so bootefull As thy fayr eyes cleer heav'n should bee ore-cast And clouded at my death yet doe not so For I 'le no recompence take for the woe By which of my Soules spoyles possest thou wast But rather laughing at my funerals sad Shew how mine end begins to make thee glad But 't is a folly to advise thee this For I know in my deaths acceleration Consists thy glory and thy chiefest blisse 8 Let Tantalus from the profoundest deeps Come for it is high time now with his thirst And Sisifus with his oppressing stone Let Ticius bring his Raven that ne're sleeps And Ixion make no stay with wheele accurst Nor the three Sisters ever lab'ring on And let them all at once their mortall moane Translate into my breast and lovely sound If it may bee a debt due to despaire And chant sad obsequies with dolefull ayre Over a Corse unworthy of the ground And the three-fac'd-infernall Porter Grimme With thousand Monsters and Chymaeraes dimme Relish the dolorous descant out amain For greater Pomp then this I think not fit That any dying Lover should obtain 9 Despayring Canzone doe not thou complain When thou my sad soci'ty shalt refrain But rather since the cause whence thou didst spring By my misfortune growes more fortunate Ev'n in the Grave thou must shun sorrowing Chrisostomes Canzone liked wonderfully all the hearers although the reader thereof affirmed that it was not conformable to the relation that he had received ef Marcelaes virtue and care of her self For in it Crisostome did complain of jealousies suspicions and absence being all of them things that did prejudice Marcelaes good fame To this objection Ambrosio answered as one that knew very well the most hidden secrets of his friend you must understand Sir to the end you may better satisfie your own doubt That when the unfortunate Sheepheard wrote that Canzone he was absent from Marcela from whose presence he had wittingly withdrawn himself to see if he could deface some part of his excessive passions procured by absence And as every thing doth vex an absent Lover and every fear afflict him so was Crisostome likewise tormented by imagined jealousies and feared suspicions as much as if they were reall and true And with this remains the truth in her perfection and poynt of Marcelaes virtue who excepting that she is cruel and somewhat arrogant and very disdainfull very envy it self neither ought nor can attaint her of the least defect You have reason quoth Vivaldo and so desiring to read another paper he was interrupted by a marvellous vision for such it seemed that unexpectedly offered it self to their view Which was That on the top of the Rock wherein they made the grave appeared the Sheepheardesse Marcela so fair that her beauty surpassed far the fame that was spread thereof such as had not beheld her before did look on her then with admiration and silence and those which were wont to view her remained no lesse suspended then the others which never had seen her But scarce had Ambrosio eyed her when with an irefull disdaining minde he spake these words Com'st thou by chance O fierce Basilisk of these Mountains to see whether the wounds of this wretch will yet bleed at thy presence Or doest thou come to insult and vaunt in the Tragicall feats of thy stern nature Or to behold from that height like another mercilesse Nero the Fire of inflamed Rome Or arrogantly to trample this infortunate Carkasse as the ingratefull daughter did her father Tarquin's Tell us quickly why thou commest or what thou doest most desire For seeing I know that Crisostomes thoughts never disobeyed thee in life I will likewise cause that all those his friends shall serve and reverence thee I come not here good Ambrosio to any of those ends thou sayest quoth Marcela but only to turn for mine honour and give the world to understand how little reason have all those which make me the Authour eyther of their own pains or of Crisostom's death and therefore I desire all you that be
which may and are wont to bee had of women doe not eftsoones enter into the profound depths of new inconveniences nor take thou any other Pilot to make experience of the goodnesse and strength of the Vessell that Heaven hath alotted to thee to passe therein thorow the Seas of this world but make account that thou art harboured in a safe Haven and there hold thy selfe fast with the Anchor of good consideration and so rest thee untill death come to demand his debt from the payment whereof no Nobility or priviledge whatsoever can exempt us Anselmo rested singularly satisfied at Lotharioes discourse and did beleeve it as firmly as if it were delivered by an Oracle but did intreate him notwithstanding to prosecute his attempt although it were only done for curiositie and to passe away the time yet not to use so efficacious meanes as hee thitherto practised and that hee only desired him to write some verses in her praise under the name of Clori for hee would make Camila beleeve that hee was enamoured on a certaine Lady to whom hee did appropriate that name that hee might celebrate her prayses with the respect due to her honour and that if hee would not take the pains to invent them that hee himselfe would willingly compose them That is not needfull quoth Lothario for the Muses are not so alienated from mee but that they visite mee somtimes in the yeere Tell you unto Camila what you have devised of my loves and as for the verses I will make them my selfe if not so well as the subject deserves yet at the least as artificially as I may devise them The impertinent curious man and his treacherous friend having thus agreed and Anselmo returned to his house hee demanded of Camila that which shee marvelled hee had not asked before that shee should tell unto him the occasion why shee sent unto him the Letter Camila made answer Because it seemed unto her that Lothario beheld her some what more immodest then when he was at home but that now she did againe disswade her selfe and beleeved that it was but a light surmise without any ground because that shee perceived Lothario to loath her presence or be by any meanes alone with her Anselmo told her that she might very well live secure for him for that he knew Lothario's affections were bestowed else-where and that upon one of the noblest Damzels of the Citie whose praises hee solemnized under the name of Clori and that although hee were not yet was there no cause to doubt of Lothario's virtue or the amitie that was between them both Here if Camila had not been premonished by Lothario that the love of Clori was but fained and that hee himself had told it to Anselmo to blinde him that hee might with lesse difficultie celebrate her own praises under the name of Clori shee had without doubt faln into the desperate toyles of jealousie but being already advertised shee posted over that assault lightly The day following they three sitting together at dinner Anselmo requested Lothario to repeat some one of the Verses that hee had made to his beloved Clori for seeing that Camila knew her not hee might boldly say what hee pleased Although shee knew her quoth Lothario yet would I not therefore suppresse any part of her praises For when any Lover praiseth his Ladie for her beauty and doth withall taxe her of cruelty her credit incurs no danger But befall what it list I composed yesterday a Sonnet of the ingratitude of Clori and is this ensuing A SONNET AMid'st the silence of the darkest night When sweetest sleep invadeth mortall eyes I poor account to Heav'n and Clori bright Give of the richest harmes which ever rise And at the time wee Phoebus may devise Shine through the roseal gates of th' Orient bright With deep accents and sighs in Wonted guise I doe my Plaints renew with main and might And when the Sunne down from his Starry seat Directest rayes towards the earth doth send My sighs I double and my sad regret And night returns but of my Woes no end For I finde alwaies in my mortall strife Heav'n without eares and Clori likewise deaf Camila liked the Sonnet very well but Anselmo best of all for hee praised it and said that the Lady must bee very cruell that would not answer such perspicuous truths with reciprocall affection But then Camila answered Why then belike all that which enamoured Poets say is true In as much as Poets quoth Lothario they say not truth but as they are inamoured they remain as short as they are true That is questionlesse quoth Anselmo all to underprop and give Lothario more credit with Camila who was as carelesse of the cause her Husband said so as shee was inamoured of Lothario and therefore with the delight shee took in his compositions but chiefly knowing that his desires and labours were addrest to her self who was the true Clori shee intreated him to repeat some other Sonnet or Dittie if hee remembred any Yes that I doe quoth Lothario but I believe that it is not so good as the first as you may well judge for it is this A SONNET I Die and if I cannot bee believ'd My death 's more certain as it is most sure To see me aâ— thy feet of life depriv'd Rather then grieve this thraldome to indure Well may I in oblivious shades obscure Of Glorie Life and Favour bee deny'd And yet even there shall in my bosome pure The shape of thy fair face iugrav'd bee ey'd For that 's a relique which I doe reserve For the last Trances my contentions threaten Which mid'st thy rigour doth it self preserve O woe's the Wight that is by tempests beaten By night in unknown Seas in danger rife For want of North or Hav'n to lose his life Anselmo commended also this second Sonnet as hee had done the first and added by that means one link to another in the chain wherewith hee intangled himself and forged his own dishonour seeing when Lothario dishonoured him most of all hee said unto him then that hee honoured him most And herewithall Camila made all the links that verily served only to abase her down to the Center of contempt seem to mount her in her Husbands opinion up to the height of virtue and good fame It befell soon after that Camila finding her self alone with her Maiden said to her I am ashamed friend Leonela to see how little I knew to value my self seeing that I made not Lothario spend some time at least in the purchasing the whole possession of me which I with a prompt will bestowed upon him so speedily I fear me that hee will impute my hastinesse to lightnesse without considering the force hee used towards me which wholly hindred and disabled my resistance Let not that afflict you Madam quoth Leonela for it is no sufficient cause to diminish estimation that that bee given quickly which is to bee given if that in effect be good
entred but could finde no body therein but some certain sheets knit together and tied to the window as a certain signe how Leonela had made an escape by that way Wherefore hee returned very sad to tell to Camila the adventure but when hee could neither finde her at bed nor in the whole house hee remained astonied and demanded for her of his Servants but none of them could tell him any thing And as hee searched for her hee hapned to see her Coffers lye open and most of her Jewels wanting and herewithall fell into the true account of his disgrace and that Leonela was not the cause of his misfortune and so departed out of his house sad and pensive even as hee was half ready and unapparrelled to his friend Lothario to recount unto him his disaster but when hee found him to bee likewise absented and that the Servants told him how their Master was departed the very same night and had borne away with him all his Money hee was ready to runne out of his wits And to conclude hee returned to his own house again wherein he found no ceature man or woman for all his folk were departed and had left the house alone and desart Hee knew not what hee might think say or doe and then his judgement began to faile him There hee did contemplate and behold himself in an instant without a Wife a Friend and Servants abandoned to his seeming of Heaven that covered him and chiefly without honour for hee cleerly noted his own perdition in Camilaes crime In the end hee resolved after hee had bethought himself a great while to goe to his friends Village wherein hee had been all the while that hee afforded the leisure to contrive that disaster And so shutting up his house hee mounted a horseback and rode away in languishing and dolefull wise And scarce had hee ridden the half way when hee was so fiercely assaulted by his thoughts as hee was constrained to alight and tying his Horse to a Tree hee leaned himself to the trunck thereof and breathed out a thousand pittifull and dolorous sighs and there hee abode untill it was almost night about which hour espyed a man to come from the Citie a Horse-back by the same way and having saluted him hee demanded of him what news hee brought from Florence The Citizen replyed The strangest that had hapned there many a day For it is there reported publiquely That Lothario the great friend of the rich man hath carried away the said Anselmo's Wife Camila this night for shee is also missing all which a Waiting-maid of Camilaes hath confest whom the Governour apprehended yesternight as shee slipt down at a window by a pair of sheets out of the said Anselmo's house I know not particularly the truth of the Affair but well I wot that all the Citie is amazed at the accident for such a fact would not bee as much as surmized from the great and familiar amitie of them two which was so much as they were called The two friends Is it perhaps yet known replyed Anselmo which way Lothario and Camila have taken In no wise quoth the Citizen although the Governour hath used all possible diligence to finde them out Farewell then good Sir said Anselmo And with you Sir said the Traveller And so departed With these so unfortunate news poore Anselmo arived not only to termes of losing his wits but also well nigh of losing his life and therefore arising as well as hee might hee came to his friends house who had heard nothing yet of his disgrace but perceiving him to arive so wan pined and dried up hee presently conjectured that some grievous evill afflicted him Anselmo requested him presently that hee might bee caried to his Chamber and provided of paper and inke to write withall all was done and hee left in bed and alone for so hee desired them and also that the dore should bee fast locked And being alone the imagination of his misfortune gave him such a terrible charge as hee cleerely perceived that his life would shortly faile him and therefore resolved to leave notice of the cause of his suddaine and unexpected death and therefore hee began to write it but before hee could set an end to his discourse his breath fayled and hee yeelded up his life into the hands of sorrow which his impertinent curiositie had stirred up in him The Gentleman of the house seeing that it grew late and that Anselmo had not called determined to enter and know whether his indisposition passed forward and hee found him lying on his face with halfe of his body in the bed and the other half leaning on the table whereon he lay with a written paper unfolded and held the pen also yet in his hand His Oast drew neere unto him and first of all having called him he took him by the hand and seeing that he answered not and that it was cold he knew that he was dead and greatly perplexed and grieved thereat he called in his people that they might also be witnesses of the disastrous successe of Anselmo and after all he took the paper and read it which he knew to be written with his own hand the substance whereof was this A Foolish and Impertinent Desire hath dispoyled me of Life If the newes of my Death shall arrive to Camila let her also know that I doe pardon her for shee was not bound to worke Miracles nor had I any neede to desire that she should worke them And seeing I was the builder and contriver of mine owne dishonour there is no reason Hitherto did Anselmo write by which it appeared that his life ended in that point ere he could set an end to the Reason he was to give The next day ensuing the Gentleman his friend acquainted Anselmoes kinsfolke with his death the which had already knowledge of his misfortune and also of the Monastery wherein Camila had retyred her self being almost in terms to accompany her husband in that forcible voyage not for the newes of his death but for grief of others which she had received of her absent friend It is said that although she was a widow yet would she neither depart out of the Monastery nor become a Religious woman untill she had received within a few daies after news how Lothario was slaine in a battell given by Monsieur de Lauâ—reâ— to the great Captain Goncalo Fernandez of Cordova in the kingdom of Naples and that was the end of the late repentant friend the which being known to Camila she made a profession and shortly after deceased between the rigorous hands of sorrow and Melanchollie and this was the end of them all sprung from a rash and inconsiderate beginning This Novell quoth the Curate having read it is a pretty one but yet I cannot perswade my self that it is true and if it be a fiction the Author erred therein for it cannot be imagined that any husband would be so foolish as to make
and are not distant from his body the length of a Lance and seeing that if he slipt ever so little aside he should fall into the deepes doth yet neverthelesse with undaunted heart borne away on the wings of honour which spurreth him onward oppose himself as a worke to all their shot and strives to passe by that so narrow a way into the enemies vessell And what is most to bee admired is to behold how scarce is one falne into that place from whence hee shall never after arise untill the worlds end when another takes possession of the same place and if hee doe likewise tumble into the Sea which gapes like an enemy for him also another and another will succeed unto him without giving any respite to the times of their death valour and boldnesse which is the greatest that may bee found among all the trances of war-fare Those blessed ages were fortunate which wanted the dreadfull furie of the devillish and murdering Peeces of Ordnance to whose inventor I am verily perswaded that they render in hell an eternal guerdon for his Diabolicall invention by which hee hath given power to an infamous base vile and dastardly arme to bereave the most valorous Knight of life and that without knowing how or from whence in the midst of the stomack and courage that inflames and animates valorous mindes there arives a wandring bullet shot off perhaps by him that was afraid and fled at the very blaze of the powder as he discharged the accursed Engine and cuts off and finisheth in a moment the thoughts and life of him who merited to enjoy it many ages And whilest I consider this I am about to say That it grieves mee to have ever undertaken the exercise of a Knight Errant in this our detestable age for although no danger can affright mee yet notwithstanding I live in jealousie to thinke how powder and Lead might deprive mee of the Power to make my self famous and renowned by the strength of mine Arme and the edge of my Sword throughout the face of the Earth But let Heaven dispose as it pleaseth for so much the more shall I bee esteemed if I can compasse my pretentions by how much the dangers were greater to which I opposed my self then those aâ—chieved in foregoing times by Knights Adventurous Don-Quixote made all this prolixe Speech whilest the rest of his Companie did eate wholly forgetting to taste one bit although Sancho Panca did now and then put him in remembrance of his Victuales saying That hee should have leisure enough after to speak as much as he could desire In those that heard was again renewed a kind of compassion to see a man of so good a wit as hee seemed to bee and of so good discourse in all the other matters which hee took in hand to remain so cleerly devoid of it when any occasion of speech were offered treating of his accursed Chivalrie The Curate applauded his discourse affirming that hee produced very good reasons for all that hee had spoken in the favour of Armes and that hee himself although hee was learned and Graduated was likewise of his opinion The Beaver being ended and the Table-clothes taken away whilest Maritornes did help her Mistrisâ—e and her Daughter to make ready the Room where Don-Quixote had slept for the Gentlewomen wherein they alone might retire themselves that night Don Fernando intreated the Captive to recount unto them the History of his life for as much as hee suspected that it must have been rare and delightfull as he gathered by the tokens hee gave by coming into the lovely Zoraida's company To which the Captive replyed That hee would accomplish his desire with a very good will and that only hee feared that the discourse would not prove so savory as they expected But yet for all that hee would tell it because hee would not disobey him The Curate and all the rest thanked him for his promise and turned to request him again to beginne his discourse and hee perceiving so many to sollicite him said That prayers were not requisite when commandements were of force and therefore I desire you quoth hee to bee attentive and you shall hear a true discourse to which perhaps no feigned invention may bee compared for variety or delight The rest animated by these his words did accommodate themselves with very great silence and hee beholding their silence and expectation of his Historie with a modest and pleasing voyce began in this manner CHAP. XII Wherein the Captive recounteth his Life and other Accidents IN a certain Village of the Mountains of Lion my linage had beginning wherewithall Nature dealt much more liberally then Fortune although my Father had the opinion amid'st the penury and poverty of that People to bee a rich man as indeed hee might have been had hee but used as much care to hoord up his wealth as prodigalitie to spend it And this his liberall disposition proceeded from his being a Souldier in his youthfull yeers for War is the School wherein the Miser is made Frank and the Frank man Prodigall and if among Souldiers wee finde some Wretches and Niggards they are accounted Monsters which are seldome seen My Father passed the bounds of Liberalitie and touched very neerly the confines of Prodigalitie a thing nothing profitable for a married man who had children that should succeed him in his name and being My Father had three Sonnes all men and of yeers sufficient to make an election of the state of life they meaned to leade wherefore hee perceiving as hee himself was wont to say that hee could not bridle his nature in that condition of spending he resolved to deprive himself of the instrument and cause which made him such a spender and so liberall to wit of his Goods without which Alexander the great himself would bee accounted a Miser and therefore calling us all three together on a day into his Chamber hee used these or such like reasons to us Sonnes to affirm that I love you well may bee presumed seeing I terme you my Sonnes and yet it may bee suspected that I hate you seeing I doe not govern my self so well as I might in the Husbanding and increasing of your stock But to the end that you may hence forth perceive that I affect you with a Fatherly love and that I mean not to overthrow you like a step-Father I will doe one thing to you which I have pondered and with mature deliberation purposed these many dayes You are all of age to accept an estate or at least to make choice of some such exercise as may turn to your honour and profit at riper yeers and therefore that which I have thought upon is to divide my goods into four parts the three I will bestow upon you to every one that which appertains to him without exceeding a jot and I my self will reserve the fourth to live and maintain me with as long as it shall please Heaven to lend me breath
especially if they be the Kings Players and all of them in their fashion and garbe are Gentleman-like For all that said Don-Quixote the Devill-Player shall not scape from mee and bragge of it though all mankinde helpe him And so saying hee got to the Waggon that was now somwhat neere the Towne and crying aloud said Hold stay merry Greekes for I le make yee know what belongs to the Asses and Furniture belonging to the Squires of Knights Errant Don-Quixotes noyse was such that those of the Waggon heard it and guessing at his intention by his speeches in an instant Mistrisse Death leapt out of the Waggon and after her the Emperour the Devill-Waggoner and the Angell and the Queene too with little Cupid all of them were streight loaded with stones and put themselves in Order expecting Don-Quixote with their peeble poynts Don-Quixote that saw them in so gallant a Squadron ready to discharge strongly their stones held in Rozinantes Reynes and began to consider how he should set upon them with least hazard of his Person Whil'st hee thus stayed Sancho came to him and seeing him ready to give the onset said 'T is a meere madnesse Sir to attempt this enterprize I pray consider that for your River-sops Meaning the stones there are no defensive weapons in the world but to bee shut up and inlay'd under a brazen Bell And consider likewise 't is rather Rashnesse then Valour for one man alone to set upon an Army wherein Death is and where Emperours fight in Person and where good and bad Angels helpe And if the consideration of this bee not sufficient may this move you to know That amongst all there though they seeme to bee Kings Princes and Emperours yet there is not so much as one Knight Errant Thou hast hit upon the right Sancho said Don-Quixote the very point that may alter my determination I neyther can nor must draw my Sword as I have often told thee against any that bee not Knights Errant It concernes thee Sancho if thou meanest to bee Revenged for the wrong done unto thine Asse and I will encourage thee and from hence give thee wholsome instructions There needes no being Revenged of any body said Sancho for there is no Christianity in it besides mine Asse shall bee contented to put his Cause to mee and to my Will which is to live peaceable and quietly as long as Heaven shall bee pleased to afford mee Life Since this is thy determination said Don-Quixote honest wise disceet Christian-like pure Sancho let us leave these dreams and seek other better and more reall Adventures for I see this Countrey is like to afford us many miraculous ones So hee turned Rozinantes reines and Sancho took his Dapple Death with all the flying Squadron returned to the Waggon and went on their voyage And this was the happy end of the Waggon of Deaths Adventure thanks be to the good advice that Sancho Panca gave his Master to whom the day after there hapned another Adventure no lesse pleasant with an enamoured Knight Errant as well as hee CHAP. XII Of the rare Adventure that befell Don-Quixote with the Knight of the Looking-Glasses DOn-Quixote and his Squire passed the ensuing night after their Deaths encounter under certain high and shadie Trees Don-Quixote having first by Sancho's entreaty eaten somewhat of the Provision that came upon Dapple and as they were at Supper Sancho said to his Master Sir what an Asse had I been had I chosen for a reward the spoiles of the first Adventure which you might end rather then the breed of the three Mares Indeed indeed a Bird in the Hand is better then two in the Bush. For all that quoth Don-Quixote if thou Sancho hadst let me give the on-set as I desired thou hadst had to thy share at least the Empresses golden crown and Cupid's painted wings for I had taken um away against the haire and given them thee Your Players Scepters and Emperors crowns said Sancho are never of pure Gold but Leaf and Tinne 'T is true answered Don-Quixote for it is very necessary that your Play-ornaments bee not fine but counterfeit and seeming as the Play it self is which I would have thee Sancho to esteem of and consequently the Actors too and the Authors because they are the Instruments of much good to a Common-wealth beeing like Looking-glasses where the Actions of humane life are lively represented and there is no comparison that doth more truely present to us what wee are or what wee should bee then Comedie and Comedians If not tell me hast not thou seen a Play acted where Kings Emperors Bishops Knights Dames and other personages are introduced One playes a Russian another the Cheater this a Merchant t'other a Souldier one a crafty Fool another a foolish Lover And the Comedie ended and the apparell taken away all the rehearsers are the same they were Yes marry have I quoth Sancho Why the same thing said Don-Quixote happens in the Comedy and Theater of this World where some play the Emperors other the Bishops and lastly all the parts that may bee in a Comedie but in the end that is the end of our life Death takes away all the robes that made them differ and at their buriall they are equall A brave comparison quoth Sancho but not so strange to me that have heard it often as that of the Chesse-play that while the game lasts every Peer hath it's particular motion and the game ended all are mingled and shuffled together and cast into a leathern bag which is a kinde of buriall Every day Sancho quoth Don-Quixote thou growest wiser and wiser It must needs bee said Sancho that some of your wisdome must cleave to me for grounds that are dry and barren by mucking and tilling them give good fruit I mean your conversation hath been the muck that hath been cast upon the sterill ground of my barren wit and the time that I have served you the tillage with which I hope to render happie fruit and such as may not gain-say or slide out of the paths of good manners which you have made in my withered understanding Don-Quixote laughed at Sancho's affected reasons and it seemed true to him what hee had said touching his reformation for now and then his talk admired him although for the most part when Sancho spoke by way of contradiction or like a Courtier hee ended his discourse with a downfall from the mount of his simplicitie to the profunditie of his ignorance but that wherein hee shewed himself most elegant and memorable was in urging of Proverbs though they were never so much against the haire of the present businesse as hath been seen and noted in all this Historie A great part of the night they passed in these and such like discourses but Sancho had a great desire to let fall the Port-cullices as hee called them of his eyes and sleepe and so undressing his Dapple hee turned him freely to graze with Rozinantes saddle he
all I will doe is to pray to God to deliver you out of it and to make you understand how profitable and necessary Knights Errant have been to the world in former ages and also would bee at present if they were in request But now for our sinnes sloth idlenesse gluttonie and wantonnesse doe raigne I faith thought Don Lorenzo for this once our guest hath scaped me but for all that hee is a lively Asse and I were a dull foole if I did not beleeve it Here they ended their discourse for they were called to dinner Don Diego asked his sonne what tryall hee had made of their guests understanding To which hee made answer All the Physicians and Scriveners in the world will not wipe out his madnesse Hee is a curious mad-man and hath neat Dilemma's To dinner they went and their meat was such as Don Diego upon the way described it such as hee gave to his guests well drest savory and plentifull But that which best pleased Don-Quixote was the marvellous silence throughout the whole house as if it had been a Covent of Carthusians So that lifting up his eyes and grace being said and that they had washed hands he earnestly intreated Don Lorenzo to speake his Prize-verses To which quoth hee because I will not bee like your Poets that when they are over intreated they use to make scruple of their works and when they are not intreated they vomit them up I will speake my Glosse for which I expect no reward as having written them only to exercise my Muse. A wise friend of mine said Don-Quixote was of opinion that to Glosse was no hard task for any man the reason being that the Glosse could ne'er come neere the Text and most commonly the Glosse was quite from the Theame given besides that the Laws of Glossing were too strict not admitting interrogations of Said he or Shall I say or changing Noâ—â—s into Verbs without other ligaments and strictnesses to which the Glossor is tyed as you know Certainly Signior Don-Quixote said Don Lorenzo I desire to catch you in an absurdity but cannot for still you slip from me like an Eele I know not said Don-Quixote what you mean by your slipping You shall know my meaning said Don Lorenzo but for the present I pray you hearken with attention to my glossed verses and to the Glosse as for example If that my Was might turn to Is If look't for 't then it comes compleat Oh might I say Now now time 't is Our after-griefs may bee too great The Glose AS every thing doth passe away So Fortunes good that erst shee gave Did passe and would not with mee stay Though shee gave once all I could crave Fortune 't is long since thou hast seene Mee prostrate at thy feete I wis I shall bee glad as I have beene If that my Was returne to Is. Vnto no honour am I bent No Prize Conquest or Victorie But to returne to my content Whose thought doth grieve my memorie If thou to mee doe it restore Fortune the rigour of my heate Allayed is let it come before I looke for 't then it comes compleat Impossibles doe I desire To make time past returne in vaine No Powre on Earth can once aspire Past to recall him back againe Time doth goe time runs and flies Swiftly his course doth never misse Hee 's in an error then that cies Oh might I say Now now time ' t is I live in great perplexitie Somtimes in hope somtimes in feare Farre better were it for to die That of my griefs I might get cleere For mee to die 't were better farre Let mee not that againe repeat Feare sayes 'T is better live long for Our after-griefs may bee too great When Don Lorenzo had ended Don-Quixote stood up and cried aloud as if he had screecht taking Don Lorenzo by the hand and said Assuredly genetous youth I think you are the best Poet in the world and you deserve the Lawrell not of Cyprus or Gaeta as a Poet said God forgive him but of Athens if it were extant Paris Bolonia and Salamanca I would to God those Iudges that would denie you the prize might bee shot to death with arrowes by Phoebus and that the Muses never come within their thresholds Speak Sir if you please some of your loftier verses that I may altogether feele the pulse of your admirable wit How say you by this that Don Lorenzo was pleased when hee heard himselfe thus praised by Don-Quixote although he held him to bee a mad-man O power of flattery how farre thou canst extend and how large are the bounds of thy pleasing jurisdiction This truth was verified in Don Lorenzo since hee condescended to Don-Quixotes request speaking this following Sonnet to him of the Fable or Story of Pyramus and Thisbe The wall was broken by the Virgin faire That op't the gallant brest of Pyramus Love parts from Cyprus that hee may declare Once seen the narrow breach prodigious There nought but silence speaks no voyce doth dare Thorow so strait a straight be venturous Yet their mindes speake Love works this wonder rare Facilitating things most wonderous Desire in her grew violent and hastâ— In the fond Maid instead of hearts delight Solicites death See â—ow the Story 's past Both of them in a moment oh strange sight One Sword one Sepulchre one Memorie Doth kill doth cover makes them never die Now thanked bee God quoth Don-Quixote having heard this Sonnet that amongst so many consumed Poets as be I have found one consummate as you are Sir which I perceive by your well-framed Sonnet Don-Quixote remained foure dayes being well entertained in Don Diego's house at the end of which he desired to take his leave and thanked him for the kindnesse and good wellcome he had received but because it was not fit that Knights Errant should bee too long idle hee purposed to exercise his Function and to seeke after Adventures he knew ofâ— for the place whither hee meant to goe to would give him plenty enough to passe his time with till it were fit for him to goe to the Justs at Saragosa which was his more direct course but that first of all he meant to goe to Montesino's vault of which there were so many admirable tales in every mans mouth so to search and enquire the Spring and Origine of those seven Lakes commonly called of Ruydera Don Diego and his Sonne commended his noble determination and bid him furnish himselfe with what hee pleased of their house and wealth for that hee should receive it with all love and good will for the worth of his person and his honourable profession obliged them to it To conclude the day for his parting came as pleasing to him as bitter and sorrowfull to Sancho who liked wondrous well of Don Diego's plentifull provision and was loth to returne to the hunger of the forrests and wildernesse and to the hardnesse of his ill-furnisht wallets notwithstanding hee filled and
Ruydera that shew by your waters those your faire eyes wept The Schaller and Sancho gave eare to these words which Don-Quixote spake as if with great paine they came from his very entrailes They desired him to let them know his meaning and to tell them what hee had seene in that hellish place Hellish call yee it said Don-Quixote Well call it not so for it deserves not the name as straight you shall heare Hee desired them to give him somewhat to eate for he was exceeding hungry They laid the Scholers course wrapper upon the greene grasse and went to the Spence of their Wallets and all three of them being set like good fellowes eat their Bavar and supped all together The cloth taken up Don-Quixote said Sit still Ho let none of you rise and mark me attentively CHAP. XXIII Of the admirable things that the unparalel'd Don-Quixote recounted which hee had seen in Montesino's profound Cave whose strangenesse and impossibilitie makes this Chapter bee held for Apocrypha IT was well toward four of the clock when the Sur ne covered between two clouds shewed but a dim light and with his temperate beams gave Don-Quixote leave without heat or trouble to relate to his two conspicuous Auditors what hee had seen in Montesino's Cave and hee began as followeth About a twelve or fourteen mens heights in the profunditie of this Dungeon on the right hand there is a concavitie and space able to contain a Cart Mules and all some light there comes into it by certain chinks and loop-holes which answer to it a farre off in the Superficies of the earth this space and concavitie saw I when I was weary and angry to see my self hanging by the rope to goe down to that obscure region without being carried a sure or known way so I determined to enter into it and to rest a little I cryed out unto you that you should let down no more rope till I bade you but it seemed you heard me not I went gathering up the rope you let down to me and rowling of it up into a heap sate me down upon it very pensative thinking with my self what I might doe to get to the bottome and being in this thought and confusion upon a suddain without any former inclination in me a most profound sleep came upon me and when I least thought of it without knowing how nor which way I awaked out of it and found my self in the midest of the fairest most pleasant and delightfull Medow that ever Nature created or the wisest humane discretion can imagine I snuffed mine eyes wiped them and saw that I was not asleep but really awake notwithstanding I felt upon my head and my brest to bee assured if I were there my self or â—p in person or that it were some illusion or counterfeit but my tounching feeling and my reasonable discourse that I made to my self certified me that I was then present the same that I am now By and by I saw a Princely and sumptuous Palace or Castle whose walls and battlements seemed to bee made of transparent Cristall from whence upon the opening of two great gates I saw that there came towards me a reverend old man clad in a tawny bayes Frock that hee dragged upon the ground over his shoulders and brest hee wore a Tippet of green sattin like your fellows of Colledges and upon his cap a black Milan Bonnet and his hoary beard reached down to his gyrdle hee had no kinde of weapon in his hand but only a Rosary of Beads somewhat bigger then reasonable Wall-nuts and the Credo-Beads about the bignesse of Ostrich eggs his countenance pace gravitie and his spreading presence each thing by it self and all together suspended and admired Hee came to me and the first thing hee did was to imbrace me straightly and forthwith said It is long since renowned Knight Don-Quixote de la Mancha that wee who live in these inchanted Desarts have hoped to see thee that thou mightest let the World know what is contained here and inclosed in this profound Cave which thou hast entred called Montesino's Cave an exploit reserved only to bee attempted by thy invincible Heart and stupendious Courage Come with me thou most illustrious Knight for I will shew thee the wonders that this transparent Castle doth conceal of which I am the Governour and perpetuall chief Warder as being the same Montesinos from whom the Cave takes name Scarce had hee told me that hee was Montesinos when I asked him Whether it were true that was bruited here in the world above that hee had taken his great friend Durandartes heart out of the midest of his bosome with a little Dagger and carried it to the Lady Belermâ— as hee willed at the instant of his death He answered me that all was true but only that of the Dagger for it was no Dagger but a little Stilletto as sharp as a Nawle Belike quoth Sancho it was of Ramon de Hozes the Sevillians making I know not sayd Don-Quixote but 't was not of that Stilletto-maker for hee lived but the other day and that battell of Roncesualles where this accident happened was many yeeres since but this averring is of no importance or let neither alters the truth or Stories text You say right quoth the Scholler for I hearken with the greatest delight in the world With no lesse doe I tell it you sayd Don-Quixote and proceede The venerable Montesinos brought me into the Cristalline Palace where in a low Hall exceeding fresh and coole all of Alablaster was a great Sepulcher of Marble made with singular Art upon which I saw a Knight layd at length not of Brasse Marble or Jaspar as you use to have in other tombes but of pure flesh and bone hee held his right hand which was somewhat hairy and sinowy a signe that the owner was very strong upon his heart-side and before I asked Montesinos ought that saw mee in suspence beholding the tombe hee said This is my friend Durandarte the flower and mirror of Chivalrie of the enamoured and valiant Knights of his time Hee is kept here inchanted as my selfe and many more Knights and Ladies are by Merlin For so I translate it to shew the Authours mistake that French Enchanter who they say was sonne to the Devill but as I beleeve hee was not so only hee knew more then the Devill Why or how hee enchanted us no body knowes which the times will bring to light that I hope are not farr off all that I admire is since I know for certaine as it is now day that Durandarte dyed in my armes and that after hee was dead I tooke out his heart and surely it weighed above two pounds for according to naturall Philosophy hee that hath the biggest heart is more valiant then hee that hath but a lesse which being so and that this Knight died really how hee complaines and sighes sometimes as if hee were alive Which said the wretched Durandarte crying out
distribute in pious uses Item I intreat the said Executors and Over-seers of my Will that if by good fortune they come to the knowledge of the Authour who is said to have composed an History which goes from hand to hand under the Title of The second part of the heroike feats of Armes of Don Quixote de la Mancha they shall in my behalf most affectionately desire him to pardon me for that I have unawares given them occasion to write so infinite a number of great extravagancies and idle impertinencies for so much as I depart out of this life with this scruple upon my conscience to have given him subject and cause to publish them to the world Hee had no sooner ended his discourse and signed and sealed his Will and Testament but a swouning and faintnesse surprizing him hee stretched himself the full length of his Bed All the company were much distracted and moved thereat and ranne presently to help him And during the space of three dayes that hee lived after hee had made his Will hee did Swoun and fall into Trances almost every hour All the house was in a confusion and uproare All which notwithstanding the Neece ceased not to feed very devoutly the Maid-servant to drink profoundly and Sancho to live merrily For when a man is in hope to inherit any thing that hope doth deface or at least moderate in the minde of the inheritor the remembrance or feeling of the sorrow and grief which of reason hee should have a feeling of the Testators death To conclude the last day of Don-Quixote came after hee had received all the Sacraments and had by many and Godly reasons made demonstration to abhorr all the Books of Errant Chivalry The Notary was present at his death and reporteth how hee had never read or found in any Book of Chivalrie that any Errant Knight dyed in his Bed so mildly so quietly so Christianly as did Don-Quixote Amidst the wailfull plaints and blubbering tears of the by-standers hee yeelded up the ghost that is to say hee dyed which the Curate perceiving hee desired the Notary to make him an Attestation or Certificate how Alonso Quixano surnamed the good and who was commonly called Don-Quixote de la Mancha hee was deceased out of this life unto another and dyed of a naturall death Which Testificate hee desired to remove all occasions from some Authors except Cid Hamete Benengeli falsly to raise him from death again and write endlesse Histories of his famous Acts. This was the end of the ingenious Gentleman de la Mancha of whose birth-place Cid Hamete hath not been pleased to declare manifestly the situation unto us to the end that all Villages Towns Boroughs Hamlets of la Mancha should contest quarrell dispute among themselves the honour to have produced him as did the seven Cities of Greece for the love of Homer we have not been willing to make mention and relate in this place the dolefull plaints of Sancho nor those of the Neece and Maid-servant of Don Quixote nor likewise the sundry new and quaint Epitaphs which were graven over his tombe Content your self with this which the Bachelor Samson Carrasco placed there Here lies the Gentle Knight and stout That to that height of valour got As if you marke his deeds throughout Death on his life triumphed not With bringing of his death about The world as nothing hee did prize For as a Scar-crow in mens eyes Hee liv'd and was their Bug-bear too And had the luck with much adoe To live a foole and yet die wise In the meane while the wise and prudent Cid Hamete Benengeli addrest this speech unto his witty Pen Here it is oh my slender Quill whether thou bee ill or well cut that thou shalt abide hanged upon those Racks whereon they hang Spits and Broaches being there-unto fastned with this Copper Wire There shalt thou live many ages except some rash fond-hardy and lewd Historian take thee downe to profane thee Neverthelesse before they lay hands upon thee thou maist as it were by way of advertisement and as well as thou canst boldly tell them Away pack hence stand a farr off you wicked botchers and ungracious Souters and touch mee not since to mee only it belongs to cause to bee imprinted Cum bono Privilegio Regiae Majestatis Don-Quixote was borne for mee alone and I had my birth onely for him If hee hath been able to produce the effects I have had the glory to know how to write and compile them well To be short He and I are but one selfe-same thing maugre and in despight of the fabulous Scribler de Tordesillas who hath rashly and malapâ—rtly dared with an Estridge course and bungling Pen to write the prowesse and high Feates of Armes of my valorous Knight This fardle is too-too heavy for his weake shoulders and his dull wit over-cold and frozen for such an enterprize And if peradventure thou know him thou shalt also advise him to suffer the weary and already rotten bones of Don-Quixote to rest in his Sepulchre For it would bee too great a cruelty if contrary to all Orders and Decrees of Death hee should goe about to make shew of him in Castila the olde where in good sooth hee lyeth within a Sepulchre layd all along and unable to make a third journey and a new outrode It is sufficient to mocke those that so many wandring Knights have made that those two whereof hee hath made shew unto the world to the generall applause and universall content of all Peoples and Nations that have had knowledge of them as well through the whole Countries of Spain as in all other forreigne Kingdomes Thus shalt thou performe what a good Christian is bound to doe in giving good counsell to him that wisheth thee evill As for mee I shall rest contented and well satisfied to have been the first that fully enjoyed the fruites of his writings and that according to my desires since I never desired any other thing then that men would utterly abhore the fabulous impertinent and extravagant Bookes of Chivalries And to say truth by meanes of my true Don-Quixote they begin already to stagger for undoubtedly such fables and slim-slam tales will shortly faile and I hope shall never rise again Farewell FINIS * O dulces prendas A beginning of a Sonnet in Diana de Monto Mayoâ— which D. Q. here rapâ— out upon a suddain Verses made on purpose absurdly as the subject required and so translated ad verbum a These verses and the former of Altisidora are made to bee scurvy on purpose by the Author fitting the occasions and the subjects so he observes neyther Verse nor Rime * Though these Verses were made on purpose to bee absurd yet sure the authoritie here fell into the common absurditie that I have known many of his Countreymen doe which is that England is in London and not Vice Versa