in a trifle I shou'd make a Complement to those Honorable Gentlemen whose Liberality has prov'd so substantial an Incouragement to me in this Vndertaking but I must change my note to an Apology for the smallness of the Edition and the best I can make is humbly to beg their Pardon I design'd it a handsom Folio with a fair Letter but there was a necessity of publishing this first Part of the Work immediately being inform'd that while it was supervising with all leisurely Care the Booksellers concerned in the old Translation had got it alter'd with all speed and resolv'd at any Rate to have it come out first I hope my generous Patrons will forgive a Delay which was the effect of my good Fortune I mean the Employment for which with all Thankfulness I am proud to own my self oblig'd to the great Mr. Mountague's Recommendation and the Favor of those noble Patriots Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Frankland This made the Bookseller think of casting this into four little portable Duodecimos and indeed there is this Reason for 't that the Book being more for Diversion than Study is therefore more proper for the Pocket than the Closet I have nothing more to add but the Names of those noble Encouragers of this Translation which I presume to insert in the Order they subscrib'd for my particular Benefit The Right Honorable Charles Mountague Esq The Honorable Colonel Codrington the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorset the Right Honorable Henry Lord Colerane the Honorable Hugh Hare Esq the Honorable Edward Coke Esq Richard Norton Esq Anthony Henly Esq Mr. John Freeman William Bridgman Esq his Grace the Duke of Devonshire the Right Honorable the Lady Vicountess of Weymouth the Honorable Henry Thynne Esq Sir Robert Worsely Bar. the Honorable H. Heveningham and J. Manners Esquires Sir John Smith Bar. the Right Hon. the Earl of Darwentwater the Hon. Charles Boyle Esq Sir Rich. Blackmore Charles Caesar Esq and Sir Godfrey Kneller THE Author's PREFACE TO THE READER YOU may depend on my bare Word Reader without any farther security that I cou'd wish this Offspring of my Brain were as ingenious sprightly and accomplish'd as your self cou'd desire but the mischief on 't is Nature will have its course Every Production must resemble its Author and my barren and unpolish'd Understanding can produce nothing but what is very dull very impertinent and extravagant beyond imagination You may suppose it the Child of Disturbance ingendred in some dismal Prison in the very seat of Wretchedness and amidst all manner of Inconveniences Rest and Ease a convenient Place pleasant Fields and Groves murmuring Springs and a sweet Repose of Mind are helps that raise the Fancy and impregnat even the most barren Muses with Conceptions that fill the World with Admiration and Delight Some Parents are so blinded by a Fatherl Fondness that they mistake the very Imperfections of their Children for so many Beauties and the Folly and Impertinence of the brave Boy must pass upon their Friends and Acquaintance for Wit and Sense But I who am only a Step-Father disavow the Authority of this modern and prevalent Custom nor will I earnestly beseech you with Tears in my Eyes which is many a poor Author's Case dear Reader to pardon or dissemble my Child's Faults For what Favour can I expect from you who are neither his Friend nor Relation You have a Soul of your own and the privilege of Free-will whoever you be as well as the proudest He that struts in a gaudy Outside You are a King by your own Fire-side as much as any Monarch in his Throne You have Liberty and Property which set you above Favor or Affection and may therefore freely like or dislike this History according to your humor I had a great mind to have expos'd it as naked as it was born without the addition of a Preface or the numberless Trumpery of commendatory Sonnets Epigrams and other Poems that usually usher in the Conceptions of Authors For I dare boldly say that tho I bestow'd some time in writing the Book yet it cost me not half so much labour as this very Preface I very often took up my Pen and as often laid it down and cou'd not for my life think of any thing to the purpose Sitting once in a very studious Posture with my Paper before me my Pen in my Ear my Elbow on the Table and my Cheek on my Hand considering how I should begin a certain Friend of mine an ingenious Gentleman and of a merry Disposition came in and surpriz'd me He ask'd me what I was so very intent and thoughtful upon I was so free with him as not to mince the matter but told him plainly that I had been puzling my Brain for a Preface to Don Quixote and that I had made my self so uneasy about it that I was now resolv'd to trouble my head no further either with Preface or Book but rather not to let the Atchievements of that noble Knight be publish'd For continu'd I why should I expose my self to the Lash of the old Legislator the Vulgar They will say that I have spent my youthful Days very finely to have nothing to recommend my Gray Hairs to the World but a dry insipid Legend not worth a rush wanting good Language as well as Invention barren of Conceits or pointed Wit and without either Quotations on the Margin or Annotations at the end which other Books tho never so fabulous and profane have to set 'em off Other Authors can pass upon the Public by stuffing their Books from Aristotle Plato and the whole Company of antient Philosophers thus amusing their Readers into a great opinion of their prodigious Reading Plutarch and Cicero are slur'd on the Publick for as Orthodox Doctors as St. Thomas or any of the Fathers And then the Method of these Moderns is so wounderfully agreeable and full of variety that they cannot fail to please In one Line they will describe you a whining amorous Coxcomb and the next shall be some dry Scrap of a Homily with such ingenious Turns as cannot chuse but ravish the Reader Now I want all these Embelishments and Graces I have neither marginal Notes nor critical Remarks I do not so much as know what Authors I follow and consequently can have no formal Index as 't is the fashion now methodically strung on the Letters of the Alphabet beginning with Aristotle and ending with Xenophon or Zoâ—lus or Zeuxis which two are commonly cram'd into the same Piece tho one of them was a famous Painter and t'other a saucy Critic I shall want also the pompous Preliminaries of commendatory Verses sent to me by the Right Honourable my Lord such a one by the Honourable the Lady such a one or the most ingenious Mr. such a one tho I know that I might have them at an easy rate from two or three Brothers of the Quill of my acquaintance and better I 'm sure than the best Quality
Places before we presume to go to Court Another Thing makes me more uneasy Suppose we have found out a King and a Princess and I have fill'd the World with the Fame of my unparallell'd Atchievements what hopes can I have of ever being discover'd to be of Royal Blood tho' it were but second Cousin to an Emperor For 't is not to be expected that the King will ever consent that I shall wed his Daughter till I have made this out by Authentick Proofs tho' my Service deserve it never so much And thus for want of a Punctilio I am in danger of losing what my Valour so justly merits 'T is true indeed I am a Gentleman and of a noted ancient Family nay perhaps the learned Historiographer who is to write the History of my Life will so improve and beautify my Genealogy that he will find me to be the fifth or sixth at least in Descent from a King For Sancho there are two sorts of Originals in the World Some who sprung from mighty Kings and Princes by little and little have been so lessen'd and obscur'd that the Estates and Titles of the following Generations have dwindled to nothing and ended in a Point like a Pyramid Others who from mean and low Beginnings still rise and rise till at last they are rais'd to the very Top of Human Greatness So vast the difference is That those who were Something are now Nothing and those that were Nothing are now Something and therefore who knows but that I may be one of those whose Original is so illustrious which being handsomly made out after due Examination ought undoubtedly to satisfy the King my Father-in-Law But even supposing he were still refractory the Princess is to be so desperately in Love with me that she will marry me without his Consent tho' I were the Son of a the meanest Plebeian and if her tender Honour scruples to bless me against her Father's Will then it may not be amiss to put a pleasing Constraint upon her by conveying her by Force out of the Reach of her Father to whose Persecutions either Time or Death will be sure to put a Period Ay quoth Sancho your rakehelly Fellows have a Saying that 's pat to your purpose Ne'er cringe nor creep for what you by force may reap Tho' I think 't were better said The Leap of a Shrub is worth more than good Mens Prayers No more to be said if the King your Father-in-Law won't let you have his Daughter by fair means ne'er stand Shall I Shall I but fairly and squarely run away with her All the Mischief that I fear is only that while you 're making your Peace with him and waiting after a dead Man's Shooes as the Saying is the poor Dog of a Squire is like to go long bare-foot and may go hang himself for any good you 'll be able to do him unless the Damsel Go between who 's to be his Wife run away too with the Princess and he solace himself with her till a better time comes for I don't see but that the Knight may clap up the Match between us without any more ado That 's most certain answer'd Don Quixote Why then quoth Sancho happy be lucky over Shooes over Boots let 's e'en take our Chance and let the World rub May Fortune crown our Wishes cry'd Don Quixote and let him be a Wretch who thinks himself one Amen say I quoth Sancho for I 'm one of your old Christians and that 's enough to have me be an Earl And more than enough said Don Quixote for tho' thou wer 't not so well descended being a King I cou'd bestow Nobility on thee without putting thee to the trouble of buying it or of doing me the least Service and making thee an Earl Men must call thee My Lord tho' it grieve 'em never so much And do you think quoth Sancho I wou'd become not my Equality main well Thou should'st say Quality said Don Quixote and not Equality Ev'n as you will return'd Sancho But as I was saying I should become an Earldom rarely for I was once Beadle to a Brotherhood and the Beadle's Gown did so become me that every Body said I had the Presence of a Warden Then howd you think I 'll look with a Duke's Robes on my Back all bedawb'd with Gold and Pearl like any Foreign Count I believe we shall have Folks come a 100 Leagues to see me Thou wilt look well enough said Don Quixote but then thou must shave that rough bushy Beard of thine at least ev'ry other day or People will read thy Beginning in thy Face as soon as they see thee Why then quoth Sancho 't is but keeping a Barber in my House and if needs be he shall trot after me where-ever I go like a Grandee's Master of the Horse How cam'st thou to know said Don Quixote that Grandees have their Masters of the Horse to ride after ' em I 'll tell you quoth Sancho Some years ago I happen'd to be about a Month among your Court-folks and there I saw a little Dandiprat riding about who they said was a hugeous great Lord there was a Man a Horseback that follow'd him close where-ever he went like a little t'anthony Pig turning and stopping as he did you 'd have thought he had been ty'd to his Horse's Tail With that I ask'd why that hind-man did not â—ide by the other but still come after him thus And they told me he was Master of his Horses and that the Graâ—dees have always such kind of Men at their Tail and I mark'd this so well that I ha'n't forgot it since Thou art in the right said Don Quixote and thou may'st as reasonably have thy Barber attend thee in this manner Customs did not come up all at once but rather started up and were improv'd by Degrees so thou mayst be the first Eaâ— that rode in state with his Barber behind him And this may be said to justifie thy Conduct that 't is an Office of more Trust to shave a Man's Beard than to saddle a Horse Well quoth Sancho leave the Business of the Cut beard to me and do but take Care you be a King and I an Earl Never doubt it reply'd Don Quixote and with that looking about he discover'd what the next Chapter will tell you CHAP. VII How Don Quixote set free many miserable Creatures whom some Men were driving to a certain Place against their Wills CId Hamet Benengeli an Arabian and Manchegan Author relates in this most grave high sounding Minute soft and humorous History that after this Discourse between the renown'd Don Quixote and his Squire Sancho Panca which we have laid down at the end of the Sixth Chapter the Knight lifting up his Eyes saw about twelve Men a Foot trudging in the Road all in a row one behind another like Beads upon a String being link'd together by the Neck to a huge Iron Chain and manacled besides They were guarded by two
Which is my Lord Governour quoth he Who but he that sits in the Chair answer'd the Secretary I humble my self to his Worship's Presence quoth the Fellow and with that falling on his Knees begg'd to kiss his Hand Which Sancho refus'd but bid him rise and tell him what he had to say The Country-man then got up my Lord quoth he I am a Husband-man of Miguel-Turra a Town some two Leagues from Ciudad-real Here 's another Tirte a fuera quoth Sancho Well go on Friend I know the Place full well 't is not far from our Town An 't please you said the Country-man my Business is this I was marry'd by Heaven's Mercy in the Face of our Holy Mother the Roman Catholick Church and I have two Boys that take their Learning at the College the youngest studies to become a Batchelor and the eldest to be a Master of Arts. I am a Widower because my Wife is dead she dy'd an 't please you or to speak more truly she was kill'd as a Body may say by a damn'd Doctor that gave her a Purge when she was with Child Had it been Heaven's blessed Will that she had been brought to Bed of a Boy I would have sent him to study to have been a Doctor that he might have had no Cause to envy his Brothers So then quoth Sancho had not your Wife died or had they not made her die you had not been a Widower Very true answer'd the Man We are much the nearer cry'd Sancho Go on honest Friend and prithee dispatch for 't is rather Time to take an Afternoons-Nap than to talk of Business Now Sir I must tell you continu'd the Farmer that that Son of mine the Batchelor of Art that is to be fell in Love with a Maiden of our Town Clara Perlerina by Name the Daughter of Andrew Perlerino a mighty rich Farmer and Perlerino is not their right Name neither but because the whole Generation of 'em is troubl'd with the Palsie they us'd to be call'd from the Name of that Ailing Perlaticos but now they go by that of Perlerino and truly it fits the young Woman rarely for she is a precius Pearl for Beauty especially if you stand on her right Side and view her she looks like a Flower in the Fields On the left indeed she does not look altogether so well for there she wants an Eye which she lost by the Small-Pox that has digg'd a many Pits somewhat deep all over her Face but those that wish her well say that 's nothing and that those Pits are but so many Graves to bury Lovers Hearts in She is so cleanly that because she will not have her Nose drop upon her Lips she carries it cock'd up and her Nostrils are turn'd up on each Side as if they shunn'd her Mouth that is somewhat of the widest and for all that she looks exceeding well and were it not for some ten or dozen of her Butter Teeth and Grinders which she wants she might set up for one of the cleverest Lasses in the Country As for her Lips I don't know what to say of 'em for they are so thin and so slender that were it the Fashion to wind Lips as they do Silk one might make a Skain of hers Besides they are not of the ordinary Hue of common Lips No they are of the most wonderful Colour that ever was seen as being speckled with Blue Green and Orange-Tawny I hope my Lord Governour will pardon me for dwelling thus on the Picture and several rare Features of her that is one Day to be my Daughter seeing 't is meerly out of my hearty Love and Affection for the Girl Prithee paint on as long as thou wilt said Sancho I am mightily taken with this kind of Painting and if I had but din'd I would not desire a better Desert than thy Original Both my self and that are at your Service quoth the Fellow or at least we may be in time if we are not now But alass Sir that is nothing could I set before your Eyes her pretty Carriage and her Shape you would admire But that 's not to be done for she is so crooked and crumpl'd up together that her Knees and her Chin meet and yet any one may perceive that if she could but stand upright her Head wou'd touch the very Cieling and she would have given her Hand to my Son the Batchelor in the Way of Matrimony before now but that she 's not able to stretch it forth the Sinews being quite shrunk up However the broad long-gutter'd Nails add no small Grace to it and may let you know what a well-made Hand she has So far so good said Sancho but let us suppose you have drawn her from Head to Foot What is it you 'd be at now Come to the Point Friend without so many Windings and Turnings and going round about the Bush Sir said the Farmer I would desire your Honour to do me the Kindness to give me a Letter of Accomodation to the Father of my Daughter-in-Law beseeching him to be pleas'd to let the Marriage be fulfill'd seeing we are not unlike neither in Estate nor in bodily Concerns For to tell you the Truth my Lord Governour my Son is bewitch'd and there is not a Day passes over his Head but the foul Fiends torment him three or four Times and having once had the ill Luck to fall into the Fire the Skin of his Face is shrivell'd up like a Piece of Parchment and his Eyes are somewhat sore and full of Rheum But when all is said he has the Temper of an Angel and were he not apt to thump and belabour himself now and then in his Fits you would take him to be a Saint Have you any Thing else to ask honest Man said Sancho Only one Thing more quoth the Farmer but I am somewhat afraid to speak it Yet I cannot find in my Heart to let it rot within me and therefore fall Back fall Edge I must out with it I would desire your Worship to bestow on me some three hundred or six hundred Ducats towards my Batchelor's Portion I mean to help him to begin the World and furnish him a House for in short they will live by themselves without being subject to the Impertinencies of a Father-in-Law Well said Sancho see if you would have any Thing else if you would don't let Fear or Bashfulness be your Hinderance Out with it Man No truly quoth the Farmer and he had hardly spoke the Words when the Governour starting up and laying hold of his Chair You brazen-fac'd silly impudent Country-Booby cry'd he get out of my Presence this Moment or by the Blood of the Pança's I 'll crack your Jolter-head with this Chair you whoreson Raggamuffin Painter for the Devil Dost thou come at this Time of Day to ask me for six hundred Ducats Where should I have 'em mangy Clod-pate And if I had 'em why should I give 'em thee thou old doating
Combats within their Territories Upon that Assurance said Don Quixote with your Grace's Leave I for this time wave my Punctilio's of Gentility and debasing my self to the Meanness of the Offender qualify him to measure Launces with me and so let him be absent or present I challenge and defy him as a Villain that has deluded this poor Creature that was a Maid and now through his Baseness is none and he shall either perform his Promise of making her his lawful Wife or die in the Contest With that pulling off his Glove he flung it down into the Middle of the Hall and the Duke took it up declaring as he had already done that he accepted the Challenge in the name of his Vassal fixing the Time for Combat to be six Days after and the Place to be the Castle-court The Arms to be such as are usual among Knights as Lance Shield Armour of Proof and all other Pieces without Fraud Advantage or Inchantment after Search made by the Judges of the Field But in the first Place added the Duke 't is requisite that this true Matron and this false Virgin commit the Justice of their Cause into the Hands of their Champion for otherwise there will be nothing done and the Challenge is void in course I do answer'd the Matron and so do I added the Daughter all asham'd blubbering and in a crying Tone The Preliminaries being adjusted and the Duke having resolv'd with himself what to do in the Matter the mourning Petitioners went away and the Dutchess order'd they should no longer be look'd upon as her Domesticks but as Ladies-Errant that came to demand Justice in her Castle and accordingly there was a peculiar Apartment appointed for 'em where they were serv'd as Strangers to the Amazement of the other Servants who could not imagine what would be the End of Donna Rodriguez and her forsaken Daughter's ridiculous and confident Undertaking Presently after this to compleat their Mirth and as it were for the last Course in came the Page that had carry'd the Letters and the Presents to Teresa Pansa The Duke and Dutchess were overjoy'd to see him return'd having a great Desire to know the Success of his Journey They enquir'd of him accordingly but he told 'em that the Account he had to give 'em could not well be deliver'd in Publick nor in few Words and therefore begg'd their Graces would be pleas'd to take it in private and in the mean time entertain themselves with those Letters With that taking out two he deliver'd 'em to her Grace The Superscription of the one was These for my Lady Dutchess of I don't know what Place And the Direction on the other thus To my Husband Sancho Pansa Governour of the Island of Barataria whom Heaven prosper as many or more Years than me The Dutchess sat upon Thorns till she had read her Letter so having open'd it and run it over to her self finding there was nothing of Secrecy in it she read it out aloud that the whole Company might hear what follows Teresa Pansa's Letter to the Dutchess My Lady THE Letter your Honour sent me pleas'd me hugeously for Troth 't is what I heartily long'd for The String of Coral is a good Thing and my Husband 's Hunting Suit may come up to it All our Town takes it mighty kindly and is very glad that your Honour has made my Spouse a Governor though no Body will believe it especially our Curate Master Nicholas the Barber and Sampson Carrasco the Batchelor But what care I whether they do or no So it be true as it is let every one have their Saying Though 't is a Folly to lye I had not believ'd it neither but for the Coral and the Suit for every Body here takes my Husband to be a Dolt and can't for the Blood of 'em imagine what he can be fit to govern unless it be a Herd of Goats Well! Heaven be his Guide and speed him as he sees best for his Children As for me my dear Lady I am resolv'd with your good liking to make Hay while the Sun shines and go to Court to loll it along in a Coach and make a world of my Back-Friends that envy me already stare their Eyes out And therefore good your Honour pray bid my Husband send me some Stock of Money for 't is dear living at Court one can have but little Bread there for Six-pence and a Pound of Flesh is worth thirty Maravedies which would make one stand amaz'd And if he is not for my going let him send me Word in time for my Feet itch to be jogging for my Gossips and Neighbours tell me that if I and my Daughter go about the Court as we should spruce and fine and at a taring Rate my Husband will be better known by me than I by him for many can't chuse but ask what Ladies are those in the Coach With that one of my Servants answers The Wife and Daughter of Sancho Pansa Governor of the Island of Barataria and thus shall my Husband be known and I honour'd far and near and so have at all Rome has Pardons You can't think how I am troubl'd that we have gather'd no Acorns hereaway this Year however I send your Highness about half a Peck which I have cull'd one by one I went to the Mountains on purpose and got the biggest I could find I wish they had been as big as Ostrich Eggs. Pray let not your Pomposity forget to write to me and I 'll be sure to send you an Answer and let you know how I do and send you all the News in our Village where I am waiting and praying the Lord to preserve your Highness and not to forget me My Daughter Sanchica and my Son kiss your Worship's Hands She that wishes rather to see you than write to you Your Servant Teresa Pansa This Letter was very entertaining to all the Company especially to the Duke and Dutchess insomuch that her Grace ask'd Don Quixote whether it would be amiss to open the Governor's Letter which she imagin'd was a very good one the Knight told her that to satisfie her Curiosity he would open it which being done he found what follows Teresa Pansa's Letter to her Husband Sancho Pansa I Receiv'd thy Letter dear Honey Sancho and I vow and swear to thee as I am a Catholick Christian I was within two Fingers breadth of running Mad for Joy Look you my Chuck when I heard thou wert made a Governor I was so transported I had like to have fallen down dead with meer Gladness for thou knowest sudden Joy is said to kill as soon as great Sorrow As for thy Daughter Sanchica she scatter'd her Water about before she was aware for very Pleasure I had the Suit thou sent'st me before my Eyes and the Lady Dutchess's Corals about my Neck held the Letter in my Hands and had him that brought 'em standing by me and for all that I thought what I saw and felt was