A virtuous man of mean condition is more to be esteemed than a vicious person of quality. But the over-mannerly looby, fancying he should be hugely well bred and civil in it, scraped, and cringed, and refused, till at last the gentleman, in a great passion, even took him by the shoulders, and forced him into the chair. During his passage through the air, he said that he was tempted to open his eyes, which he did, and found himself, as he thought, so near the body of the moon that he could have laid hold of it with his hand; [Pg 317] but that he durst not look downwards to the earth lest his brain should turn. "God order it as he may, " said Sancho Panza, and helping him to rise got him up again on Rocinante, whose shoulder was half out; and then, discussing the late adventure, they followed the road to Puerto Lapice, for there, said Don Quixote, they could not fail to find adventures in abundance and variety, as it was a great thoroughfare. The duke gradually, as if awaking from a sound sleep, seemed to recover his senses, as did the duchess and [Pg 318] the rest of the party; expressing, at the same time, so much wonder and affright that what they feigned so well seemed almost reality to themselves. Man of la mancha when beating around the bush administration. Being perfectly acquainted with all the avenues, I escaped observation, and concealed myself in the hall behind the hangings, whence I could see all that passed. At last Lucinda broke silence, and addressing Don Fernando, "Let me go, " said she; "unloose your hold, my lord: by the generosity you should have, or by your inhumanity, since it must be so, I conjure you leave me, that I may cling like ivy to my old support; and from whom neither your threats, nor prayers, nor gifts, nor promises, could ever alienate my love. I was mad, now I am in my senses; I was Don Quixote of La Mancha, I am now, as I said, Alonso Quixano the Good; and may my repentance and sincerity restore me to the esteem you used to have for me; and now let Master Notary proceed. "Yes, " quoth he of the Wood, "with one Casildea de Vandalia, one of the most whimsical dames in the world; but that is not the foot he halts on at present; he has some other crotchets in his pate, which we shall hear more of anon. " When they had done, "Let no man stir, " said Don Quixote; "sit still, and hear me with attention. Homer, Hesiod, —names with which the mouths of men have been familiar for centuries, —how little is now known of them! Or is there any of your knights-errant, though never so famed for prowess, that can make such an offer as he has here done?
Be not dismayed to see the flower of knight-errantry carried thus away before thine eyes; for, ere long, thou shalt see thyself so exalted and sublimated as not to know thyself; and thus will the promises of thy valorous lord be fulfilled. Views of Admiral Cervera Regarding the Spanish Navy in the Late War | Proceedings - 1898 Vol. 24/4/88. But seeing him fallen to the ground and the shepherds gone off, he descended from the hillock, and, running to him, found him in a very ill plight, though not quite bereaved of sense; and said to him, "Did I not beg you, Sig or Don Quixote, to come back; for those you went to attack were a flock of sheep, and not an army of men? " It happened that the management of this affair was committed to a steward of the duke's, a man of a facetious humour, and who had not only wit to start a pleasant design, but discretion to carry it on. Answered Sancho; "peradventure he they tossed in a blanket yesterday was not my father's son, and the wallets I have lost to-day, with all my movables, belong to somebody else? "
Charitable and wholesome correction ought to be managed at another rate, and with more moderation. 'My armour is my only wear, My only rest the fray. Man of la mancha when beating around the bush says. And, what is worse, I'll wager a trifle they have not wherewithal to pay for shaving. " "Did not I tell you so, gentlefolks? " DQ/SP meet a man with a green coat; SP buys some cottage cheese, but since DQ doesn't give him time to eat it, SP puts the cottage cheese in DQ's helmet (not knowing what else to do with it); DQ puts the helmet on and yells at SP, who blames the wizards; they meet an oxcart transporting two lions to the royal court; DQ demands the cage to be opened for him to prove his bravery; the lion just yawned; the keeper said that DQ has proved his bravery and promised to tell the king about it. Besides, sinners of good understanding are nearer to amendment than those who are devoid of it; and as your superior sense is manifest, be of good cheer, and hope for your entire recovery.
"Gentlemen, " quoth he, "my master, Don Quixote de la Mancha, once called the Knight of the Sorrowful Figure, and now the Knight of the Lions, is a very judicious gentleman, and talks Latin and his own mother-tongue as well as any of your 'varsity-doctors. Also, that it was the special prerogative of beauty, if heightened by virtue and adorned with modesty, to lay claim to any dignity without disparagement or scandal to the person that raises it. "Fie, my lord governor, " said another; "it is more your fear than your armour that stiffens your legs, and hinders you from moving. Sancho fell to, without waiting for entreaties, and swallowed down huge mouthfuls in the dark. He replied, nine months at seven reals a month. "But stay a little, I will go light my candle, and then I will tell you my misfortunes; for it is you that sets to right every thing in the world. " Could not you, without any more ado, have said our names are so and so, and we stole out of our father's house for an hour or two, only to ramble about the town, and satisfy a little curiosity; and there had been an end of the story, without all this weeping and wailing? Man of la mancha when beating around the bush foundation. " What shall we say of Gasabel, squire to Don Galaor, who was so silent that, to illustrate the excellence of his marvellous taciturnity, his name is mentioned but once in all that great and faithful history? He it was who composed the verses, instructed a page to perform the part of Dulcinea, and personated himself the shade of Merlin.
The lady in the coach, amazed and terrified at what she saw, ordered the coachman to draw aside a little, and set herself to watch this severe struggle, in the course of which the Biscayan smote Don Quixote a mighty stroke on the shoulder over the top of his buckler, which, given to one without armour, would have cleft him to the waist. "Be it so, " said Sancho; "let me talk now, for we know not what will be hereafter. The priest listened attentively to these observations of the canon, which he thought were perfectly just; and he told him that he also had such an enmity to those tales of chivalry, that he had destroyed all that Don Quixote had possessed, which were not a few in number; and he amused the canon very much by his account of the formal trial and condemnation through which they had passed. He then went to the spot where the duke and duchess lay on the ground, and taking the duke by the arm, he said, "Courage, courage, my good lord; the adventure is over without damage to the bars, as you will find by that record. " If a baited cat turns into a lion, there is no knowing what I, that am a man, may turn into; and therefore I warn you, master squire, that all the damage and mischief that may follow from our quarrel must be placed to your account. " WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA. I was born free, and, that I might continue so, I retired to these solitary hills and plains, where trees are my companions, and clear fountains my looking-glasses. Notes on Naïf: An Interview with Antoine Wilson. "I will answer for it, it would, " quoth Sancho; "they would have undone him as you would undo an oyster, and have cleft him from head to foot as one would slice a pomegranate, or a ripe muskmelon.
The mourners were so wrapped up and muffled in their long robes that they could make no exertion; so that the Don, with entire safety to himself, assailed them all, and, sorely against their will, obliged them to quit the field; for they thought him no man, but the devil broke loose upon them to seize the dead body they were conveying in the litter. But he, being a good Christian man, though he desired to give her in marriage at once, seeing her to be old enough, was unwilling to do so without her consent, not that he had any eye to the gain and profit which the custody of the girl's property brought him while he put off her marriage; and, faith, this was said in praise of the good priest in more than one set in the town. "The same author wrote the Garden of Flowers; and, to deal ingeniously with you, I cannot tell which of the two books has most truth in it, or, to speak more properly, less lies: but this I know for certain, that he shall march into the back-yard, like a nonsensical arrogant blockhead as he is. The lady made no return to her compliment, and Dorothea pressed her in vain with new reasons; when the gentleman, whom the footboy signified to be the chief of the company, interposed: "Madam, " said he, "do not trouble yourself to throw away any generous offer on that ungrateful woman, whose nature cannot return an obligation; neither expect any answer to your demands, for her tongue is a stranger to truth. "
Pg 322] "Revile not with words him whom thou hast to correct with deeds: the punishment which the unhappy wretch is doomed to suffer is sufficient, without the addition of abusive language. "It was not such love as your worship imagines, " said the galley-slave; "mine was a strong affection for a basket of fine linen. As he went onward, impressed with this idea, he espied, on the top of a rising ground not far from him, a man springing from rock to rock with extraordinary agility. "Say what thou wilt, " replied Don Quixote, "but think not to intimidate me; for it is thy nature to be faint-hearted—mine, to be proof against all fear. " His master ordered him to examine it.
They will have it his surname was Quixada or Quesada (for here there is some difference of opinion among the authors who write on the subject), although from reasonable conjectures it seems plain that he was called Quexana. Sancho immediately knew them, and resolved to conceal the place of Don Quixote's retreat; he therefore told them that his master was very busy about a certain affair of the greatest importance to himself, which he durst not discover for the eyes in his head. The gentleman in green would have opposed him; but considering [Pg 229] the other much better armed, and that it was not prudence to encounter a madman, he even took the opportunity, while Don Quixote was storming at the keeper, to march off with his mare, as Sancho did with Dapple, and the carter with his mules, every one making the best of his way to get as far as he could from the waggon, before the lions were let loose. If young girls might always choose their own husbands, we should have the best families intermarry with coachmen and grooms; and young heiresses would throw themselves away upon the first wild young fellows whose promising outsides and assurance make them set up for fortunes, [Pg 238] though all their stock consists in impudence. The favours and benefits I promised thee will come in due time; and if they do not come, the wages, at least, thou wilt not lose. "
Sometimes he comes out with such sharp simplicities, that one is pleasantly puzzled to judge whether he be more knave or fool. Sancho followed him at his ass's best trot, but Rocinante stepped out so that, seeing himself left behind, he was forced to call to his master to wait for him. Men famous for their genius, great poets, illustrious historians, are always, or most commonly, envied by those who take a particular delight and pleasure in criticising the writings of others, without having produced any of their own. One of the guards said to him, "Sig or Cavalier, to sing in an agony means, in the cant of these rogues, to confess upon the rack.
So saying, and commending himself with all his heart to his lady Dulcinea, imploring her to support him in such a peril, with lance in rest and covered by his buckler, he charged at Rocinante's fullest gallop and fell upon the first mill that stood in front of him; but as he drove his lance-point into the sail the wind whirled it round with such force that it shivered the lance to pieces, sweeping with it horse and rider, who went rolling over on the plain, in a sorry condition. Once more the gentleman tried to dissuade Don Quixote from doing so mad a thing; telling him, that he tempted Heaven in exposing himself without reason to so great a danger. "Olivante de Laura, " returned the barber. With all this methodical raving the canon was no less amused than astonished. OF THE LAUGHABLE CONVERSATION THAT PASSED BETWEEN DON QUIXOTE, SANCHO PANZA, AND THE BACHELOR SAMSON CARRASCO. I tell thee, they are giants; and therefore if thou art afraid, go aside and say thy prayers, for I am resolved to engage in combat with them all. "
This, however, is of but little importance to our tale; it will be enough not to stray a hair's breadth from the truth in the telling of it.