and was this The night did shut up with some darknesse yet notwithstanding they travelled on still Sancho believing that since that was the high-way there must be within a league or two in all reason some Inn. Travailing therefore as I have said in a dark night the Squire being hungry and the Master having a good stomack they saw coming towards them in the very way they travailed a great multitude of lights resembling nothing so well as wandring stars Sancho beholding them was struck into a wonderfull amazement and his Lord was not much better The one drew his Asse halter the other held his horse and both of them stood still beholding attentively what that might be and they perceived that the lights drew still neerer unto them and the more they approached they appeared the greater at the sight Sancho did tremble like one infected by the favour of Quick-silver and Don-Quixotes hair stood up like bristles who animating himself a little said Sancho this must be questionlesse a great and most dangerous Adventure wherein it is requisite that I shew all my valour and strength Unfortunate I quoth Sancho if by chance this Adventure were of Ghosts as it seemeth to me that it is where will there be ribs to suffer it Be they never so great Ghosts said Don-Quixote I will not consent that they touch one hair of thy Garmens For if they jested with thee the other time it was because I could not leap over the walls of the yard but now we are in plain Field where I may brandish my Sword as I please And if they inchant and benum you as they did the other time quoth Sancho what will it then avail us to be in open Field or no For all that replyed Don-Quixote I pray thee Sancho be of good courage for experience shall shew thee how great my valour is I will and please God quoth Sancho And so departing somewhat out of the way they began again to view earnestly what that of the travailling lights might be and after a very little space they espied many white things whose dreadfull visions did in that very instant abate Sancho Panca his courage and now began to chatter with his teeth like one that had the cold of a Quartan when they did distinctly perceive what it was then did his beating and chattering of teeth increase for they discovered about some twenty all covered with white a horse-back with Tapers lighted in their hands after which followed a Litter covered over with black and then ensued other six a horse-back attired in mourning and likewise their Mules even to the very ground for they perceived that they were not horses by the quietnesse of their pace The white folk road murmuring somewhat among themselves with a low and compassive voyce Which strange vision at such an hour and in places not inhabited was very sufficient to strike fear into Sancho's heart and even in his Masters If it had been any other then Don-Quixote but Sancho tumbled here and there being quite overthrown with terrour The contrary hapned to his Lord to whom in that same hour his imagination represented 〈◊〉 him most lively the Adventure wherein he was to be such a one as he oft times had read in his books of Chivalry For it is figured unto him that the litter was a Beer wherein was carried some grievously wounded or dead Knight whose revenge was only reserved for him And without making any other discourse he set his Launce in the rest seated himself surely in his Saddle and put himself in the midst of the way by which the white folk must forcibly passe with great spirit courage And when he saw them draw neer he said with a lowd voyce Stand Sir Knight whosoever you be and render me account what you are from whence you come where you goe and what that is which you carry in that Beer For according as you shew either you have done to others or others to you some injury And it is convenient and needfull that I know it either to chastise you for the ill you have committed or else to revenge you of the wrong which you have suffered Wee are in haste quoth one of the white men and the Inn is far off and therefore cannot expect to give so full a relation as you request and with that spurring his Mule passed forward Don-Quixote highly disdaining at the answer took by the bridle and held him saying Stay proud Knight and be better mannered another time and give me account of that which I demanded if not I desie you all to mortall battail The Mule whereon the white man road was somewhat fearfull and skittish and being taken thus rudely by the bridle shee took such a fright that rising up on her hinder legs she unhorsed her Rider one of the Lacquies that came with them seeing him fallen began to revile Don-Quixote who being by this throughly inraged without any more adoe putting his Launce in the rest rann upon one of the Mourners and threw him to the ground very â—ore wounded And turning upon the rest it was a thing worthy the noting with what dexterity he did assault break upon them and put them all to flight and it seemed none other but that Rozinante had gotten then wings hee bestirred himself so nimbly and couragiously All those white men were fearfull people and unarmed and therefore fled away from the Skirmish in a trice and began to traverse that field with their Tapers burning that they seemed to be Maskers that use to runn up and down in nights of jove and recreation The Mourners likewise were so laped up and muffled by their mourning weeds as they could scarce stir them so that Don-Quixote did without any danger of his person give them all the Bastanado and caused them to forsake their rooms whether they would or no For all of them did verily think that he was â—o man but a Devill of Hell that met them to take away the dead body which they carried in the Litter All this did Sancho behold marveilously admiring at his Master boldnesse which made him say to himself my Master is infallibly as strong and valiant as he said There lay on the ground by him whom his Mule had overthrown a wax Taper still burning by whose light Don-Quixote perceived him and comming over to him he laid the poynt of his Launce upon his face saying that he should render himself or else he would slay him To which the other answered I am already rendred more then enough seeing I cannot stir me out of the place for one of my legs is broken And if you be a Christian I desire you not to kill me for therein you would commit a great sacriledge I being a Licenciate and have received the first Orders Well then quoth Don-Quixote what Divill brought thee hither being a Church-man Who Sir replyed the overthrown but my misfortune Yet doth a greater threaten thee said Don-Quixote if thou doest
aloud said Oh my Cousin Montesinos the last thing that I requested you when I was dying and my soule departing was That you would carry my heart to Belerma taking it out of my bosome either with ponyard or dagger which when the venerable Montesinos heard hee kneeled before the greeved Knight and with teares in his eyes said Long since Oh Durandarte long since my dearest Cousin I did what you en-joyn'd mee in that bitter day of our losse I tooke your heart as well as I could without leaving the least part of it in your brest I wiped it with a laced handkerchiefe and posted with it towards France having first layd you in the bosome of the earth with so many teares as was sufficient to wash my hands or to wipe off the bloud from them which I had gotten by stirring them in your entrailes and for more assurance that I did it my dearest Cousin at the first place I came to from Roncesualle I cast salt upon your heart that it might not stinke and might bee fresh and embalmed when it should come to the presence of the Lady Belerma who with you and mee Guadiana your Squire the waiting-woman Ruydera and her seven Daughters and her two Neeces and many other of your acquaintances and friends have beene enchanted heere by Merlin that Wizard long since and though it bee above five hundred yeeres agoe yet none of us is dead only Ruydera her Daughters and Neeces are wanting whom by reason of their lamentation Merlin that had compassion on them turned them into so many Lakes now living in the world and in the Province of Mancha they are called the Lakes of Ruydera seven belong to the Kings of Spaine and the two Neeces to the Knights of the most holy Order of Saint Iohn Guadiana your Squire wailing in like manner this mis-hap was turned into a River that bore his owne name who when hee came to the superficies of the earth and saw the Sun in another heaven such was his griefe to have left you that hee straight plunged himselfe into the entrailes of the earth but as it is not possible for him to leave his naturall Current sometimes hee appeares and shewes himselfe where the Sunne and men may see him The aforesaide Lakes do minister their waters to him with which and many others hee enters Portugall in pompe but which way so-ere hee goes hee shewes his sorrow and melancholy and contemnes the breeding of dainty fish in his waters and such as are esteemed but only muddie and unsavorie farre differing from those of golden Tagus and what I now tell you Cousin mine I have told you often and since you answer mee nothing I imagine you eyther beleeve mee not or not heare mee for which God knowes I am heartily sorry One newes I will let you know which though perhaps it may not any way lighten your griefe yet it will no way increase it Know that you have here in your presence open your eyes and you shall see him that famous Knight of whom Merlin prophesied such great matters that Don-Quixote de la Mancha I say that now newly and more happily then former Ages hath raised the long forgotten Knight Errantry by whose meanes and favour it may bee that wee also may bee dis-inchanted for great exploits are reserved for great Personages And if it be otherwise answered the grieved Durandarte with a faint and low voyce if it bee otherwise oh Cousin I say Patience and shuffle Patiencia ybaraiar A Metaphor taken from Card-players who when they lose cry to the dealer Patience and shuffle the Cards and turning on one side hee returned to his accustomed silence without speaking one word By this wee heard great howling and moane accompanied with deepe sighes and short-breath'd accents I turned mee about and saw that in another roome there came passing by the Christall waters a procession of a company of most beautifull Damzels in two rankes all clad in mourning with Turbants upon their heads after the Turkish fashion at last and in the end of the rankes there came a Lady who by her majesty appear'd so clothed in like manner in blacke with a white dressing on her head so large that it kissed the very ground Her Turbant was twice as bigg as the bigest of the rest shee was somewhat beetle-brow'd flat-nosed wide mouth'd but red lipped her teeth for sometimes shee discovered them seemed to bee thin and not very well placed though they were as white as blanch'd Almonds in her hand shee carried a fine cloth and within it as might be perceived a mommied Heart by reason of the dry embalming of it Montesinos told me that all those in that procession were servants to Durandarte and Belerma that were there enchanted with their Masters and that shee that came last with the linnen cloth and the heart in her hand was the Lady Belerma who together with her Damzels four dayes in the week did make that procession singing or to say truer howling their Dirges over the body and grieved heart of his Cousin and if now shee appeared somewhat foul to me or not so fair as Fame hath given out the cause was her bad nights but worse dayes that shee indured in that enchantment as I might see by her deep-sunk eyes and her broken complexion and her monethly disease is not the cause of these an ordinary thing in women for it is many moneths since and many yeers that shee hath not had it not known what it is but the grief that shee hath in her own heart for that shee carries in her hand continually which renews and brings to her remembrance the unfortunatenesse of her lucklesse Lover for if it were not for this scarce would the famous Dulcinea del Toboso equall her in Beauty Wit or livelinesse that is so famous in the Mancha and all the world over Not too fast then said I Signior Don Montesinos on with your story as befits for you know all comparisons are odious and so leave your comparing the peerlesse Dulcinea del Toboso is what shee is and the Lady Belerma is what shee is and hath been and let this suffice To which hee answered Pardon me Signior Don-Quixote for I confesse I did ill and not well to say the Lady Dulcinea would scarce equall the Lady Belerma since it had beene sufficient that I understood I know not by what ayme that you are her Knight enough to have made mee bite my Tongue before I had compared her with any thing but Heaven it selfe With this satisfaction that Montesinos gave mee my heart was free from that sodaine passion I had to heare my Mistresse compared to Belerma And I marvell said Sancho that you got not to the old Carl aud bang'd his bones and pul'd his beard without leaving him a haire in it No friend Sancho said hee it was not fit for mee to doe so for we are all bound to reverence our Elders although they bee no Knights
a Flute and of a hoarce and untuned Drum all of them were in some amazement at this confused martiall and sad harmony especially Don-Quixote who was so troubled he could not sit still in his seat for Sancho there is no more to be said but that feare carried him to his accustomed refuge which was the Duchesses side or her lap for in good earnest the sound they heard was most sad and melancholy And all of them being in this maze they might see two men come in before them into the Garden clad in mourning weedes so long that they dragged on the ground these came beating of two Drums covered likewise with black with them came the Fife black and besmeared as well as the rest After these there followed a personage of a Gyantly body bemantled and not clad in a cole-black Cassock whose skyrt was extraordinary long his Cassock likewise was gyrt with a broad black Belt at which there hung an unmeasurable Scimitar with hilts and scabard upon his face he wore a transparent black Vaile thorow which they might see a huge long beard as white as snow His pace was very grave and stayed according to the sound of the Drum and Fife To conclude his hugeness his motion his blackness and his consorts might have held all that knew him not and looked on him in suspence Thus hee came with the state and Prosopopeia aforesaid and kneeled before the Duke who with the rest that stood up there awaited his comming but the Duke would not by any meanes heare him speake till hee rose which the prodigious Scar-crow did and standing up hee pluckt his maske from off his face and shewed the most horrid long white and thicke beard that ere till then humane eyes beheld and straight hee let loose and roared out from his broad and spreading brest a majesticall loud voyce and casting his eyes toward the Duke thus said High and mighty Sir I am called Trifaldin with the white beard Squire to the Countesse Trifaldi otherwise called The Afflicted Maâ—ron from whom I bring an Ambassage to your Greatnesse which is that your Magnificence bee pleased to give her leave and licence to enter and relate her griefes which are the most strange and admirable that ever troubled thoughts in the world could thinke but first of all she would know whether the valorous and invincible Knight Don-Quixote de la Mancha bee in your Castle in whose search shee comes afoot and hungry from the Kingdome of Candaya even to this your Dukedome a thing miraculous or by way of Enchantment she is at your Fortresse gate and onely expects your permission to come in thus hee spoke and forthwith coughed and wiped his Beard from the top to the bottome with both his hands and with a long pawse attended the Dukes Answere which was Honest Squire Trifaldin with the white Beard long since the misfortune of the Countesse Trifaldi hath come to our notice whom Enchanters have caused to be stiled The afflicted Matron tell her stupendious Squire shee may come in and that here is the valiant Knight Don-Quixote de la Mancha from whose generous condition shee may safely promise her selfe all aid and assistance and you may also tell her from mee that if shee neede my favour shee shall not want it since I am oblieged to it by being a Knight to whom the favouring of all sorts of her sexe is pertained and annexed especially Matron widowes ruin'd and afflicted as her Ladyship is Which when Trifaldin heard he bent his knee to the ground and making signes to the Drum and Flfe that they should play to the same pace and sound as when they entred he returned back out of the Garden and left all in admiration of his presence and posture And the Duke turning to Don-Quixote said In fine Sir Knight neither the clouds of malice or ignorance can darken or obscure the light of valour and virtue This I say because it is scarce six dayes since that your bounty A forced word put in in mockage purposely hath been in this my Castle when the sad and afflicted come from remote parts on foot and not in Carroches and on Dromedaries to seek you confident that in this most strenuous arme they shall finde the remedy for their griefs and labours thanks bee to your brave exploits that runne over and compasse the whole world Now would I my Lord quoth Don-Quixote that that same blessed Clergy-man were present who the other day at Table seemed to bee so distasted and to bear such a grudge against Knights Errant that hee might see with his eyes whether those Knights are necessary to the world hee might feel too with his hands that your extraordinary afflicted and comfortlesse and great affairs and enormious mishaps goe not to seek redresse to Book-mens houses or to some poor Country Sextons not to your Gentleman that never stirred from home nor to the lazie Courtier that rather hearkens after news which hee may report again then procures to perform deeds and exploixts that others may relate and write the redresse of griefs the succouring of necessities the protection of Damzells the comfort of Widdows is had from no sort of persons so well as from Knights Errant and that I am one I give heaven infinite thanks and I think my disgrace well earned that I may receive in this noble calling Let this Matron come and demand what shee will for I will give her redresse with this my strong Arme and undaunted resolution of my couragious Spirit CHAP. XXXVII Of the prosecution of the famous Adventure of the Afflicted Matron THe Duke and Duchesse were extreamly glad to see how well Don-Quixote satisfied their intentions And then Sancho said I should bee loth this Mistris Matron should lay any stumbling block in the promise of my Government for I have heard a Toledo Apothecary say and hee spoke like a Bull-finâ—h that where these kinde of women were intermedling there could no good follow Duennas Here Sancho takes Duenna in the former sence for an old Waiting-woman Lord what an enemy that Apothecary was to them for since all your Matrons of what condition or quality soever they bee are irksome and foolish what kinde of ones shall your afflicted bee as this Countesse* Three skirts or Three tailes for tails and skirts all is one * Alluding to the name Trifaldi as if shee had been called tres faldes which fignifies three skirts and this was his mistake Peace friend Sancho quoth Don-Quixote for since this Matron-Lady comes from so remote parts to seek me shee is none of those that the Apothecary hath in his bed-roll Besides this is a Countesse and when your Countesses are Waiting-women 't is either to Queens or Empresses who in their houses are most absolute and are served by other Wayting-women To this quoth Donna Rodâ—iguez that was present My Lady the Duchesse hath women in her service that might have beene Countesses if Fortune had been pleased but the