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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #51145 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51145)
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-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 51145 ***
-
-ASMODEUS; OR, The Devil on Two Sticks.
-
-
- By ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE.
-
-
- WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR, By JULES JANIN.
-
-
- [Illustration: Asmodeus and Zambullo fly over Madrid]
-
-
- Illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT.
-
- [Translated by Joseph Thomas.]
-
-
- GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LONDON: BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. NEW YORK:
- 416 BROOME STREET.
-
-
- 1879.
-
-
-
-
-TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
-
-
-When I first determined on the publication of a new edition of "THE
-DEVIL ON TWO STICKS," I had certainly no idea of engaging in a new
-translation. I had not read an English version since my boyhood,
-and naturally conceived that the one which had passed current for
-upwards of a century must possess sufficient merit to render anything
-beyond a careful revision, before passing it again through the press,
-unnecessary. However, on reading a few pages, and on comparing them
-with the much-loved original, I no longer wondered, as I had so often
-done, why LE DIABLE BOITEUX was so little esteemed by those who had
-only known him in his English dress, while Gil Blas was as great a
-favourite with the British public as any of its own heroes of story.
-To account for this, I will not dwell on the want of literal fidelity
-in the old version, although in some instances that is amusing enough;
-but the total absence of style, and that too in the translation of a
-work by one of the greatest masters of verbal melody that ever existed,
-was so striking as to induce me, rashly perhaps, to endeavour more
-worthily to interpret the witty and satirical ASMODEUS for the benefit
-of those who have not the inestimable pleasure of comprehending him in
-his _native_ tongue--for, as Jules Janin observes, he is a Devil truly
-French.
-
-In the translation which I here present, I do not myself pretend, at
-all times, to have rendered the words of the 'graceful Cupid' with
-strict exactness, but I have striven to convey to my reader the ideas
-which those words import. Whether I have succeeded in so doing is for
-others to determine; but, if I have not, I shall at all events have the
-satisfaction of failing in company,--which, I am told, however, is only
-an Old Bailey sort of feeling after all.
-
-I have not thought it necessary to attempt the Life of the Author;
-it will be enough to me, for fame, not to have murdered one of his
-children. I have therefore adopted the life, character, and behaviour
-of Le Sage from one of the most talented of modern French writers,
-and my readers will doubtless congratulate themselves on my resolve.
-Neither have I deemed it needful to enter into the controversy as to
-the originality of this work, except by a note in page 162: and this
-I should probably not have appended, had I, while hunting over the
-early editions there referred to, observed the original dedication
-of Le Sage to 'the illustrious Don Luis Velez de Guevara,' in which
-are the following words: "I have already declared, and do now again
-declare to the world, that to your Diabolo Cojuelo I owe the title and
-plan of this work ...; and I must further own, that if the reader look
-narrowly into some passages of this performance, he will find I have
-adopted several of your thoughts. I wish from my soul he could find
-more, and that the necessity I was under of accommodating my writings
-to the genius of my own country had not prevented me from copying you
-exactly." This is surely enough to exonerate Le Sage from the many
-charges which have been urged against him; and I quote the concluding
-sentence of the above, because it is an excuse, from his own pen, for
-some little liberties which I have, in my turn, thought it necessary to
-take with his work in the course of my labours.
-
- JOSEPH THOMAS.
-
-
-
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS.
-
-
- TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
-
- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LE SAGE.
-
- CHAPTER I. WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS--WHEN AND BY
- WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE
- HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.
-
- CHAPTER II. WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.
-
- CHAPTER III. WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
- FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.
-
- CHAPTER IV. STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE
- CESPEDES.
-
- CHAPTER V. CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
- BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
- CHAPTER VI. NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE ON
- DONNA THOMASA.
-
- CHAPTER VII. THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.
-
- CHAPTER VIII. OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY
- ASMODEUS, WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN HIS DAY.
-
- CHAPTER IX. THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.
-
- CHAPTER X. THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.
-
- CHAPTER XI. OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
- OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.
-
- CHAPTER XII. OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.
-
- CHAPTER XIII. THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
- CHAPTER XIV. THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.
-
- CHAPTER XV. CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
- CHAPTER XVI. THE DREAMERS.
-
- CHAPTER XVII. IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.
-
- CHAPTER XVIII. RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO
- THE STUDENT.
-
- CHAPTER XIX. THE CAPTIVES.
-
- CHAPTER XX. OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE
- CONCLUDING IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE DISAGREEABLE
- MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE
- SEPARATED.
-
- CHAPTER XXI. OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
- HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT
- TO END IT.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: bust of Le Sage between Asmodeus and Gil Blas]
-
-NOTICE OF LE SAGE.
-
-
-I shall at once place LE SAGE by the side of Molière; he is a comic
-poet in all the acceptation of that great word,--COMEDY. He possesses
-its noble instincts, its good-natured irony, its animated dialogue,
-its clear and flowing style, its satire without bitterness, he has
-studied profoundly the various states of life in the heights and
-depths of the world. He is perfectly acquainted with the manners of
-comedians and courtiers,--of students and pretty women. Exiled from
-the Théâtre-Français, of which he would have been the honour, and
-less fortunate than Molière, who had comedians under his direction,
-and who was the proprietor of his own theatre, Le Sage found himself
-obliged more than once to bury in his breast this Comedy, from want of
-a fitting stage for its exhibition, and actors to represent it. Thus
-circumstanced, the author of "Turcaret" was compelled to seek a new
-form, under which he might throw into the world the wit, the grace, the
-gaiety, the instruction which possessed him. In writing the biography
-of such men, there is but one thing to do, and that is to praise. The
-more humble and obscure have they been in their existence, the greater
-is the duty of him who tells the story of their lives, to heap upon
-them eulogy and honour. This is a tardy justice, if you will, but it is
-a justice nevertheless; and besides, of what importance, after all, are
-these vulgar events? All these biographies are alike. A little more of
-poverty, a little less of misery, a youth expended in energy, a manhood
-serious and filled with occupation, an old age respected, honourable;
-and, at the end of all these labours, all these troubles, all these
-anguishes of mind and heart, of which your great men alone have the
-secret,--the Académie-Française in perspective. Then, are you possessed
-of mediocre talents only? all doors are open to you;--are you a man of
-genius? the door opens with difficulty;--but, are you perchance one of
-those excelling spirits who appear but from century to century? it may
-turn out that the Académie-Française will not have you at any price.
-Thus did it with the great Molière; thus also has it done for Le Sage;
-which, by-the-bye, is a great honour for the illustrious author of "Gil
-Blas."
-
-René Le Sage was born in the Morbihan, on the 8th of May, 1668:[1] and
-in that year Racine produced "Les Plaideurs," and Molière was playing
-his "Avare." The father of Le Sage was a man slightly lettered,--as
-much so as could be expected of an honourable provincial attorney,
-one who lived from day to day like a lord, without troubling himself
-too much as to the future fortunes of his only son. The father died
-when the child was only fourteen years of age; and soon afterwards the
-youthful René lost his mother. He was now alone, under the guardianship
-of an uncle, and he was fortunate enough to be placed under the
-tutelage of those learned masters of the youth of the seventeenth
-century, the Jesuits who subsequently became the instructors of
-Voltaire, as they have been of all France of the great age. Thanks
-to this talented and paternal teaching, our young orphan quickly
-penetrated into the learned and poetical mysteries of that classic
-antiquity, which is yet in our days, and will be to the end of time,
-the exhaustless source of taste, of style, of reason, and of good
-sense. It is to praise Le Sage to say that he was educated with as
-much care and assiduity as Molière and Racine, as La Fontaine and
-Voltaire; they one and all prepared themselves, by severest study, and
-by respect for their masters, to become masters in their turn; and they
-have themselves become classic writers, because they reverenced their
-classic models,--which may, in case of need, serve as an example for
-the beaux-esprits of our own time.
-
-[1] According to Moreri, in his "Grand Dictionnaire Historique,"
-(folio, Paris, 1759,) and he cites as his authority M. Titon de
-Tillet's second supplement to the "Parnasse Français," Le Sage was
-born at Ruis in Brittany, in 1677. There is, however, every reason
-to believe that M. Jules Janin is correct, both as to the year and
-the place of his birth, notwithstanding that Mr. Chalmers, in his
-"Biographical Dictionary," while he assigns to the former the year
-1668, places the latter at Vannes, as does also the "Biographie
-Universelle," which he appears to have followed.
-
-But, when this preliminary education was completed, and when he left
-these learned mansions, all filled with Greek and Latin, all animated
-with poetic fervour, Le Sage encountered those terrible obstacles that
-await invariably, as he emerges from his studies, every young man
-without family, and destitute of fortune. The poet Juvenal has well
-expressed it, in one of his sublimest verses: "They with difficulty
-rise, whose virtues are opposed by the pinching wants of home."
-
-    "Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat
-    Res angusta domi."
-
-But what matters poverty when one is so young,--when our hopes are so
-vast, our thoughts so powerful and rich? You have nothing, it is true;
-but the world itself belongs to you,--the world is your patrimony;
-you are sovereign of the universe; and around you, the twentieth year
-touches every thing with its golden wand. Your clear and sparkling
-eye may look in the sun's bright face as dauntless as the eagle's. It
-is accomplished: all the powers of your soul are awakened, all the
-passions of your heart join in one swelling choir, to chant _Hosanna in
-excelsis!_ What matter then that you are poor! A verse sublime, a noble
-thought, a well-turned phrase, the hand of a friend, the soft smile of
-some bright-eyed damsel as she flits across your path,--there is a
-fortune for a week. Those who, at the commencement of every biography,
-enter into all sorts of lamentation, and deplore with pathetic voice
-the mournful destiny of their hero, are not in the secret of the facile
-joys of poetry, of the exquisite happiness of youth,--the simpletons!
-They amuse themselves in counting, one by one, the rags that cover
-yonder handsome form; and they see not, through the holes of the cloak
-which envelopes it, those Herculean arms, or that athletic breast!
-They look with pity on that poor young man with well-worn hat, and
-beneath that covering deformed they see not those abundant, black,
-and tended locks, the flowing diadem of youth! They will tell you,
-with heart-rending sighs, how happy Diderot esteemed himself, when to
-his crust of bread he joined the luxury of cheese, and how this poor
-René le Sage drank at his repasts but pure spring water;--a lamentable
-matter, truly! But Diderot, while he ate his cheese, already meditated
-the shocks of his "Encyclopædia"; but this same clear fountain from
-which you drink, at twenty, in the hollow of your hand, as pure, will
-intoxicate more surely than will, after twenty other years, alas! the
-sparkling produce of Champagne, poured out in cups of crystal.
-
-This is sufficient reason why we should not trouble ourselves overmuch
-as to the early life of Le Sage; he was young and handsome, and as he
-marched, his head upturned like a poet, he met as he went along with
-those first loves which one always meets when the heart is honest
-and devoted. A charming woman loved him, and he let her love him
-to her heart's content; and, without concerning himself as to his
-good fortune, more than would master Gil Blas have done on a similar
-occasion, these first amours of our poet lasted just as long as such
-sort of amours ought to last--long enough that they should leave no
-subject for regret, not enough that they should evoke hatred. When,
-therefore, they had loved each other as much as they could, she and
-he, they separated, still to please themselves; she found a husband of
-riper age and better off than her lover; he took a wife more beauteous
-and less wealthy than his mistress. And blessings on the amiable and
-devoted girl who consented, with a joyous heart, to encounter all the
-risks, all the vexations, and also to expose herself to the seducing
-pleasures of a poetic life! Thus Le Sage entered, almost without
-thinking of it, into that laborious life in which one must daily
-expend the rarest and most charming treasures of his mind and soul. As
-a commencement, he made a translation of the Letters of Calisthenes,
-without imagining that he was himself possessed of more wit than all
-the Greeks of the fourth century. The work had no success, and it ought
-not to have had. He who has the genius of Le Sage must create original
-works, or not meddle in the craft. To translate is a trade of manual
-skill--to imitate, is one of plagiary. However, the failure of this
-first book rendered Le Sage less proud and haughty; and he accepted,
-what he would never have done had he at once succeeded, a pension from
-M. l'Abbé de Lyonne. This pension amounted to six hundred francs;
-and thereupon the biographers of our author are in extacies at the
-generosity of the Abbé de Lyonne.
-
-Six hundred francs! and when we reflect that had Le Sage lived in our
-day, depending only on his Théâtre de la Foire, he would have gained
-thirty thousand francs a year! In our days, a romance like "Gil Blas"
-would not be worth less than five hundred thousand francs; "Le Diable
-Boiteux" would have brought him a hundred thousand, at least: still,
-we must not be angry with M. l'Abbé de Lyonne, for having bestowed a
-pension of six hundred on the author of "Gil Blas." The abbé did more;
-he opened to Le Sage an admirable treasure of wit, of imagination,
-and of poetry; he taught him the Spanish tongue, that lovely and
-noble instructress of the great Corneille; and it is doubtless no
-slight honour for the language of Cervantes to have given birth in
-our land to "The Cid" and to "Gil Blas." You may imagine with what
-delight Le Sage accepted this instruction, and how perfectly at home
-he found himself in those elegant and gracious manners; with what good
-will he studied that smiling gallantry, that loyal jealousy; those
-duennas in appearance so austere, in reality so accessible; those
-lovely women, their feet ensatined, their head in the mantilla; those
-charming mansions, all carved without, and within all silence; those
-exciting windows, lighted by smiles above, while concerts murmur at
-their feet! You may imagine if he adopted those lively and coquetish
-waiting-women, those ingenious and rascally valets, those enormous
-mantles so favourable to love, those ancient bowers so friendly to its
-modest blisses! Thus, when he had discovered this new world of poesy,
-of which he was about to be the Pizarro and the Fernando Cortes, and
-of which Corneille had been the Christopher Columbus, René le Sage
-clapped his hands for joy. In his noble pride, he stamped his feet on
-this enchanted land; he began to read, you may fancy with what delight,
-that admirable epic, "Don Quixote," which he studied for its grace,
-its charms, its poetry, its passion; putting for the time aside its
-satire, and the sarcasm concealed in this splendid drama, as weapons
-for a later use, when he should attack the financiers. Certainly, the
-Abbé de Lyonne never dreamt that he was opening to the light this
-exhaustless mine for the man who was to become the first comic poet of
-France--since Molière is one of those geniuses apart, of whom all the
-nations of the earth, all literary ages, claim alike with equal right
-the honour and the glory.
-
-The first fruit of this Spanish cultivation was a volume of comedies
-which Le Sage published, and in which he had translated some excellent
-pieces of the Spanish stage. It contained only one from Lopez de Vega,
-so ingenious and so fruitful; that was certainly too few: there was
-in it not one of Calderon de la Barca; and that was as certainly not
-enough. In this book, which I have read with care, in search of some
-of those luminous rays which betoken the presence of the man of genius
-wherever he has passed, I have met with nothing but the translator.
-The original writer does not yet display himself: it is because style
-is a thing which comes but slowly; it is because, in this heart of
-comedy more especially, there are certain secrets of trade which no
-talent can replace, and which must be learned at whatever cost. These
-secrets Le Sage learned, as every thing is learned, at his own expense.
-From a simple translator as he was, he became an arranger of dramatic
-pieces, and in 1702 (the eighteenth century had begun its course, but
-with timid steps, and none could have predicted what it would become)
-Le Sage brought out at the Théâtre Français a comedy in five acts,
-"Le Point d'Honneur:" it was a mere imitation from the Spanish. The
-imitation had small success, and Le Sage comprehended not this lesson
-of the public; he understood not that something whispered to the
-pit, so reserved in its applause, that there was in this translator
-an original poet. To avenge himself, what did Le Sage? He fell into
-a greater error still: he set to work translating--will you believe
-it?--the continuation of "Don Quixote," as if "Don Quixote" could
-have a continuation; as if there were a person in the world, even
-Cervantes himself, who had the right to add a chapter to this famous
-history! Verily, it is strange, indeed, that with his taste so pure,
-his judgment so correct, Le Sage should have ever thought of this
-unhappy _continuation_. This time, therefore, again his new attempt had
-no success; the Parisian public, which, whatever may be said to the
-contrary, is a great judge, was more just for the veritable Quixote
-than Le Sage himself; and he had once more to begin anew. However, he
-yet once more attempted this new road, which could lead him to nothing
-good. He returned to the charge, still with a Spanish comedy, "Don
-César Ursin," imitated from Calderon. This piece was played for the
-first time at Versailles, and applauded to the skies by the court,
-which deceived itself almost as often as the town. Le Sage now thought
-that the battle at last was won. Vain hope! it was again a battle lost,
-for, brought from Versailles to Paris, the comedy of "Don César Ursin"
-was hissed off the stage by the Parisian pit, which thus unmercifully
-annihilated the eulogies of the court, and the first victory of the
-author. It was now full time to yield to the force of evidence.
-Enlightened by these rude instructions, Le Sage at last comprehended
-that it was not permitted to him, to him less than to all others, to be
-a plagiarist; that originality was one of the grand causes of success;
-and that to confine himself for ever to this servile imitation of the
-Spanish poets was to become a poet lost.
-
-Now, therefore, behold him, determined in his turn to be an original
-poet. This time he no longer copies, he invents; he arranges his fable
-to his mind, and seeks no further refuge in the phantasmagoria of
-Spain. With original ideas, comes to him originality of style; and he
-at last lights on that wondrous and imperishable dialogue which may
-be compared to the dialogue of Molière, not for its ease, perhaps,
-but unquestionably for its grace and elegance. He found at the same
-time, to his great joy, now that he was himself--that he walked in the
-footsteps of nobody, he found that the business was much more simple;
-this time he was at his ease in his plot, which he disposed as it
-pleased him; he breathed freely in the space which he had opened to
-himself; nothing constrained his march, any more than his poetical
-caprice. Well! at last then we behold him the supreme moderator of his
-work, we behold him such as the pit would have him, such as we all
-hoped he was.
-
-This happy comedy, which is, beyond all doubt, the first work of Le
-Sage, is entitled "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." When he had finished
-it, Le Sage, grateful for the reception which the court had given to
-"Don César Ursin," was desirous that the court should also have the
-first hearing of "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." He remembered, with
-great delight, that the first applauses he had received had been echoed
-from Versailles! Behold him then producing his new comedy before the
-court. But, alas! this time the opinion of the court had changed:
-without regard for the plaudits of Versailles, the pit of the Paris
-theatre had hissed "Don César Ursin"; Versailles in its turn, and as
-if to take its revenge, now hissed "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." We
-must allow that, for a mind less strong, here was enough to confound
-a man for ever, and to make him comprehend nothing either as to the
-success or the failure of his productions. Happily, Le Sage appealed
-from the public of Versailles to the pit of Paris; and as much as
-"Crispin, Rival de son Maître" had been hissed at Versailles, so much
-was this charming comedy applauded at Paris. On this occasion, it
-was not alone to give the lie to the court, that the pit applauded;
-Paris had refound, in truth, in this new piece, all the qualities of
-true comedy,--the wit, the grace, the easy irony, the exhaustless
-pleasantry, a noble frankness, much biting satire, and a moderate
-seasoning of love.
-
-As to those who would turn into accusation the hisses of Versailles,
-they should recollect that more than one chef-d'oeuvre, hissed at
-Paris, has been raised again by the suffrages of Versailles;--"Les
-Plaideurs" of Racine, for instance, which the court restored to the
-poet with extraordinary applause, with the bursting laughter of Louis
-XIV., which come deliciously to trouble the repose of Racine, at five
-o'clock in the morning. Happy times, on the contrary, when poets had,
-to approve them, to try them, this double jurisdiction; when they could
-appeal from the censures of the court to the praises of the town, from
-the hisses of Versailles to the plaudits of Paris!
-
-Now we behold René le Sage, to whom nothing opposes: he has divined his
-true vocation, which is comedy; he understands what may be made of the
-human race, and by what light threads are suspended the human heart.
-These threads of gold, of silver, or of brass, he holds them at this
-moment in his hand, and you will see with what skill he weaves them.
-Already in his head, which bears Gil Blas and his fortune, ferment the
-most charming recitals of "Le Diable Boiteux." Silence! "Turcaret"
-is about to appear,--Turcaret, whom Molière would not have forgotten
-if Turcaret had lived in his day; but it was necessary to wait till
-France should have escaped from the reign, so decorous, of Louis XIV.,
-to witness the coming, after the man of the Church, after the man of
-the sword, this man without heart and without mind,--the man of money.
-In a society like our own, the man of money is one of those bastard
-and insolent powers which grow out of the affairs of every day, as the
-mushroom grows out from the dunghill. We know not whence comes this
-inert force,--we know not how it is maintained on the surface of the
-world, and nothing tells how it disappears, after having thrown its
-phosphorus of an instant. It is necessary, in truth, that an epoch
-should be sufficiently corrupt, and sufficiently stained with infamy,
-when it replaces, by money, the sword of the warrior, by money the
-sentence of the judge, by money the intelligence of the legislator, by
-money the sceptre of the king himself. Once that a nation has descended
-so low, as to adore money on its knees--to require neither fine arts,
-nor poesy, nor love, it is debased as was the Jewish people, when it
-knelt before the golden calf. Happily, of all the ephemeral powers in
-the world, money is the most ephemeral; we extend to it our right hand,
-it is true, but we buffet it with our left; we prostrate ourselves
-before it as it passes along,--yes; but when it has passed, we kick it
-with our foot! This is what Le Sage marvellously comprehended, like a
-great comic poet as he was. He found the absurd and frightful side of
-those gilded men who divide our finances, menials enriched overnight,
-who, more than once, by a perfectly natural mistake, have mounted
-behind their own coaches. And such is Turcaret. The poet has loaded him
-with vices the most disgraceful, with follies the most dishonouring;
-he tears from this heart, debased by money, every natural affection;
-and nevertheless, even in this fearful picture, Le Sage has confined
-himself within the limits of comedy, and not once in this admirable
-production does contempt or indignation take the place of laughter. It
-was then with good cause that the whole race of financiers, as soon as
-they had heard of Turcaret, caballed against this chef-d'oeuvre; the
-cry resounded in all the rich saloons of Paris; it was echoed from the
-usurers who lent their money to the nobles, and re-echoed by the nobles
-who condescended to borrow from the usurers; it was a general hue and
-cry.
-
-"Le Tartufe" of Molière never met with greater opposition among the
-devotees than "Turcaret" experienced from financiers; and, to make
-use of the expression of Beaumarchais in reference to "Figaro," it
-required as much mind for Le Sage to cause his comedy to be played as
-it did to write it. But on this occasion, again, the public, which
-is the all-powerful manager in these matters, was more potent than
-intrigue; Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin, that Prince so illustrious by
-his piety and virtue, protected the comedy of Le Sage, as his ancestor,
-Louis XIV., had protected that of Molière. On this, the financiers,
-perceiving that all was lost as far as intrigue was concerned, had
-recourse to money, which is the last reason of this description of
-upstarts, as cannon is the _ultima ratio_ of kings. This time again
-the attack availed not: the great poet refused a fortune that his
-comedy might be played, and unquestionably he made a good bargain by
-his resolve, preferable a hundred thousand times to all the fortunes
-which have been made and lost in the Rue Quincampoix.[2] The success of
-"Turcaret" (1709) was immense; the Parisian enjoyed with rare delight
-the spectacle of these grasping money-hunters devoted to the most
-cruel ridicule. What if Le Sage had deferred the production of this
-masterpiece! These men would have disappeared, to make room for others
-of the kind, and they would have carried with them into oblivion the
-comedy they had paid for. It would have been a _chef-d'oeuvre_ lost to
-us for ever; and never, that we know of, would the good men on 'Change
-have dealt us a more fatal blow.
-
-[2] In this street, in 1716, the famous projector Law established his
-bank; and the rage for speculation which followed, made it for a time
-the Bourse of Paris. A hump-backed man made a large fortune by lending
-himself as a desk, whereon the speculators might sign their contracts,
-or the transfer of shares. The Rue Quincampoix is still a leading
-street for business, but its trade is now confined to more honest
-wares, such as drugs and grocery.
-
-Who would credit it, however? After this superb production, which
-should have rendered him the master of French comedy, Le Sage was soon
-compelled to abandon that ungrateful theatre which understood him not.
-He renounced,--he, the author of "Turcaret,"--pure comedy, to write, as
-a pastime, farces, little one-act pieces mingled with couplets, which
-made the life of the Théâtre de la Foire Saint Laurent, and of the
-Théâtre de la Foire Saint Germain. Unfortunate example for Le Sage to
-set, in expending, without thought, all his talent, from day to day,
-without pity for himself, without profit for anyone. What! the author
-of "Turcaret" to fill exactly the same office as M. Scribe; to waste
-his time, his style, and his genius upon that trifling comedy which a
-breath can hurry away! And the French comedians were all unmoved, and
-hastened not to throw themselves at the feet of Le Sage, to pray, to
-supplicate him to take under his all-powerful protection that theatre
-elevated by the genius and by the toils of Molière! But these senseless
-comedians were unable to foresee anything.
-
-Nevertheless, if he had renounced the Théâtre Français, Le Sage had not
-abandoned true comedy. All the comedies which thronged his brain, he
-heaped them up in that grand work which is called "Gil Blas," and which
-includes within itself alone the history of the human heart. What can
-be said of "Gil Blas" which has not already been written? How can I
-sufficiently eulogise the only book truly gay in the French language?
-The man who wrote "Gil Blas" has placed himself in the first rank among
-all the authors of this world; he has made himself, by the magic of
-his pen, the cousin-german of Rabelais and Montaigne, the grandfather
-of Voltaire, the brother of Cervantes, and the younger brother of
-Molière; he takes his place, in plenitude of right, in the family of
-comic poets, who have themselves been philosophers. In the same vein,
-he has further composed the "Bachelier de Salamanque," which would be a
-charming book if "Gil Blas" existed not, if above all, before writing
-his "Gil Blas," he had not written this charming book, "LE DIABLE
-BOITEUX."
-
-And now, _sauve qui peut!_ the Devil is let loose upon the town, a
-devil truly French, who has the wit, the grace, and the vivacity of Gil
-Blas. Beware! Look to yourselves, you the ridiculous and the vicious,
-who have escaped the high comedy of the stage, for, by the virtue of
-this all-potent wand, not alone your mansions but your very souls
-shall in a twinkling change to glass. Beware! I say; for Asmodeus,
-the terrible scoffer, is about to plunge his pitiless eye into those
-mysterious places which you deemed so impenetrable, and to each of you
-he will reveal his secret history; he will strike you without mercy
-with that ivory crutch which opens all doors and all hearts; he will
-proclaim aloud your follies and your vices. None shall escape from
-that vigilant observer, who, astride upon his crutch, glides upon
-the roofs of the best secured houses, and divines their ambitions,
-their jealousies, their inquietudes, and, above all, their midnight
-wakefulness. Considered with relation to its wit without bitterness,
-its satire which laughs at everything, and with regard to its style,
-which is admirable, "Le Diable Boiteux" is perhaps the book most
-perfectly French in our language; it is perhaps the only book that
-Molière would have put his name to after "Gil Blas."
-
-Such was this life, all filled with most delightful labour, as also
-with the most serious toil; thus did this man, who was born a great
-author, and who has raised to perfection the talent of writing, go
-on from chef-d'oeuvre to chef-d'oeuvre without pause. The number of
-his productions is not exactly known; at sixty-five years of age, he
-yet wrote a volume of _mélanges_, and he died without imagining to
-himself the glories which were reserved for his name. An amiable and
-light-hearted philosopher, he was to the end full of wit and good
-sense; an agreeable gossiper, a faithful friend, an indulgent father,
-he retired to the little town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he became
-without ceremony a good citizen, whom everybody shook by the hand
-without any great suspicion that he was a man of genius. Of three sons
-who had been born to him, two became comedians, to the great sorrow of
-their noble father, who had preserved for the players, as is plainly
-perceptible in "Gil Blas," a well-merited dislike. However, Le Sage
-pardoned his two children, and he even frequently went to applaud the
-elder, who had taken the name of Monmenil; and when Monmenil died,
-before his father, Le Sage wept for him, and never from that time
-(1743) entered a theatre. His third son, the brother of these two
-comedians, was a good canon of Boulogne-sur-Mer; and it was to his
-house that Le Sage retired with his wife and his daughter, deserving
-objects of his affection, and who made all the happiness of his latest
-days.
-
-One of the most affable gentlemen of that time, who would have been
-remarkable by his talents, even though he had not been distinguished
-by his nobility, M. le Comte de Tressan, governor of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
-was in the habit of seeing the worthy old man during the last year of
-his life; and upon that fine face, shaded with thick white hairs, he
-could still discern that love and genius had been there. Le Sage rose
-early, and his first steps took him to seek the sun. By degrees, as
-the luminous rays fell upon him, thought returned to his forehead,
-motion to his heart, gesture to his hand, and his eyes were lighted
-with their wonted fire: as the sun mounted in the skies, this awakened
-intelligence appeared, on its side, more brilliant and more clear;
-so much so, that you beheld again before you the author of "Gil
-Blas." But, alas! all this animation drooped in proportion as the sun
-declined; and, when night was come, you had before your eyes but a good
-old man, whose steps must be tended to his dwelling.
-
-Thus died he, one day in summer. The sun had shown itself in heaven's
-topmost height on that bright day; and it had not quite left the earth
-when Le Sage called the members of his family around to bless them. He
-was little less than ninety when he died (1747).
-
-To give you an idea of the popularity that this man enjoyed even
-during his life-time, I will finish with this anecdote: When the
-"Diable Boiteux" appeared, in 1707, the success of this admirable and
-ingenious satire upon human life was so great, the public esteemed
-the lively epigrams it contains so delightful, that the publisher was
-obliged to print two editions in one week. On the last day of this
-week, two gentlemen, their swords by their sides, as was then the
-custom, entered the bookseller's shop to buy the new romance. A single
-copy remained to sell: one of these gentlemen would have it, the other
-also claimed it; what was to be done? Why, in a moment, there were our
-two infuriate readers with their swords drawn, and fighting for the
-first blood, and the last "Diable Boiteux."
-
-But what, I pray you, had they done, were it a question then of the
-"DIABLE BOITEUX" illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT?
-
- JULES JANIN.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: a street in Madrid]
-
-ASMODEUS; OR, THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-
-WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS--WHEN AND BY WHAT
-ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF
-HIS ACQUAINTANCE.
-
-
-A night in the month of October covered with its thick darkness the
-famous city of Madrid. Already the inhabitants, retired to their homes,
-had left the streets free for lovers who desired to sing their woes
-or their delights beneath the balconies of their mistresses; already
-had the tinkling of guitars aroused the care of fathers, or alarmed
-the jealousy of husbands; in short, it was near midnight, when Don
-Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, a student of Alcala, suddenly emerged,
-by the skylight, from a house into which the incautious son of the
-Cytherean goddess had induced him to enter. He sought to preserve his
-life and his honour, by endeavouring to escape from three or four hired
-assassins, who followed him closely, for the purpose of either killing
-him or compelling him to wed a lady with whom they had just surprised
-him.
-
-[Illustration: Zambullo fleeing from the hired assassins]
-
-Against such fearful odds he had for some time valiantly defended
-himself; and had only flown, at last, on losing his sword in the
-combat. The bravos followed him for some time over the roofs of the
-neighbouring houses; but, favoured by the darkness, he evaded their
-pursuit; and perceiving at some distance a light, which Love or Fortune
-had placed there to guide him through this perilous adventure, he
-hastened towards it with all his remaining strength. After having more
-than once endangered his neck, he at length reached a garret, whence
-the welcome rays proceeded, and without ceremony entered by the
-window; as much transported with joy as the pilot who safely steers his
-vessel into port when menaced with the horrors of shipwreck.
-
-He looked cautiously around him; and, somewhat surprised to find nobody
-in the apartment, which was rather a singular domicile, he began to
-scrutinize it with much attention. A brass lamp was hanging from the
-ceiling; books and papers were heaped in confusion on the table; a
-globe and mariner's compass occupied one side of the room, and on the
-other were ranged phials and quadrants; all which made him conclude
-that he had found his way into the haunt of some astrologer, who, if he
-did not live there, was in the habit of resorting to this hole to make
-his observations.
-
-He was reflecting on the dangers he had by good fortune escaped,
-and was considering whether he should remain where he was until the
-morning, or what other course he should pursue, when he heard a deep
-sigh very near him. He at first imagined it was a mere phantasy of his
-agitated mind, an illusion of the night; so, without troubling himself
-about the matter, he was in a moment again busied with his reflections.
-
-[Illustration: Lucifer, the mountebank's devil]
-
-But having distinctly heard a second sigh, he no longer doubted its
-reality; and, although he saw no one in the room, he nevertheless
-called out,--"Who the devil is sighing here?" "It is I, Signor
-Student," immediately answered a voice, in which there was something
-rather extraordinary; "I have been for the last six months enclosed
-in one of these phials. In this house lodges a learned astrologer,
-who is also a magician: he it is who, by the power of his art, keeps
-me confined in this narrow prison." "You are then a spirit?" said Don
-Cleophas, somewhat perplexed by this new adventure. "I am a demon,"
-replied the voice; "and you have come in the very nick of time to free
-me from slavery. I languish in idleness; for of all the devils in hell,
-I am the most active and indefatigable."
-
-[Illustration: Uriel, patron of tradesmen]
-
-These words somewhat alarmed Signor Zambullo; but, as he was naturally
-brave, he quickly recovered himself, and said in a resolute tone:
-"Signor Diabolus, tell me, I pray you, what rank you may hold among
-your brethren. Are you an aristocrat, or a burgess?" "I am," replied
-the voice, "a devil of importance, nay, the one of highest repute in
-this, as in the other world." "Perchance," said Don Cleophas, "you
-are the renowned Lucifer?" "Bah," replied the spirit; "why, he is
-the mountebank's devil." "Are you Uriel then?" asked the Student.
-"For shame!" hastily interrupted the voice; "no, he is the patron of
-tradesmen; of tailors, butchers, bakers, and other cheats of the
-middle classes." "Well, perhaps you are Beelzebub?" said Leandro.
-"Are you joking?" replied the spirit; "he is the demon of duennas and
-footmen." "That astonishes me," said Zambullo; "I thought Beelzebub
-one of the greatest persons at your court." "He is one of the meanest
-of its subjects," answered the Demon; "I see you have no very clear
-notions of our hell."
-
-[Illustration: Leviathan, Belphegor and Ashtaroth]
-
-"There is no doubt then," said Don Cleophas, "that you are either
-Leviathan, Belphegor, or Ashtaroth." "Ah! those three now," replied
-the voice, "are devils of the first order, veritable spirits of
-diplomacy. They animate the councils of princes, create factions,
-excite insurrections, and light the torches of war. They are not
-such peddling devils as the others you have named." "By the bye! tell
-me," interrupted the Scholar, "what post is assigned to Flagel?"
-"He is the soul of special pleading, and the spirit of the bar. He
-composes the rules of court, invented the law of libel, and that for
-the imprisonment of insolvent debtors; in short, he inspires pleaders,
-possesses barristers, and besets even the judges.
-
-[Illustration: Flagel]
-
-"For myself, I have other occupations: I make absurd matches; I marry
-greybeards with minors, masters with servants, girls with small
-fortunes with tender lovers who have none. It is I who introduced into
-this world luxury, debauchery, games of chance, and chemistry. I am
-the author of the first cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of
-dancing, music, plays, and of the newest fashions; in a word, I am
-ASMODEUS, surnamed THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS."
-
-"What do I hear," cried Don Cleophas; "are you the famed Asmodeus, of
-whom such honourable mention is made by Agrippa and in the Clavicula
-Salamonis? Verily, you have not told me all your amusements; you have
-forgotten the best of all. I am well aware that you sometimes divert
-yourself by assisting unhappy lovers: by this token, last year only, a
-young friend of mine obtained, by your favour, the good graces of the
-wife of a Doctor in our university, at Alcala." "That is true," said
-the spirit: "I reserved that for my last good quality. I am the Demon
-of voluptuousness, or, to express it more delicately, Cupid, the god
-of love; that being the name for which I am indebted to the poets,
-who, I must confess, have painted me in very flattering colours. They
-say I have golden wings, a fillet bound over my eyes; that I carry
-a bow in my hand, a quiver full of arrows on my shoulders, and have
-withal inexpressible beauty. Of this, however, you may soon judge for
-yourself, if you will but restore me to liberty."
-
-"Signor Asmodeus," replied Leandro Perez, "it is, as you know, long
-since I have been devoted to you: the perils I have just escaped will
-prove to you how entirely. I am rejoiced to have an opportunity of
-serving you; but the vessel in which you are confined is undoubtedly
-enchanted, and I should vainly strive to open, or to break it: so I do
-not see clearly in what manner I can deliver you from your bondage.
-I am not much used to these sorts of disenchantments; and, between
-ourselves, if, cunning devil as you are, you know not how to gain your
-freedom, what probability is there that a poor mortal like myself can
-effect it?" "Mankind has this power," answered the Demon. "The phial
-which encloses me is but a mere glass bottle, easy to break. You have
-only to throw it on the ground, and I shall appear before you in human
-form." "In that case," said the Student, "the matter is easier of
-accomplishment than I imagined. But tell me in which of the phials you
-are; I see a great number of them, and all so like one another, that
-there may be a devil in each, for aught I know." "It is the fourth from
-the window," replied the spirit. "There is the impress of a magical
-seal on its mouth; but the bottle will break, nevertheless." "Enough,"
-said Don Cleophas; "I am ready to do your bidding. There is, however,
-one little difficulty which deters me: when I shall have rendered you
-the service you require, how know I that I shall not have to pay the
-magician, in my precious person, for the mischief I have done?" "No
-harm shall befall you," replied the Demon: "on the contrary, I promise
-to content you with the fruits of my gratitude. I will teach you all
-you can desire to know; I will discover to you the shifting scenes of
-this world's great stage; I will exhibit to you the follies and the
-vices of mankind; in short, I will be your tutelary demon: and, more
-wise than the Genius of Socrates, I undertake to render you a greater
-sage than that unfortunate philosopher. In a word, I am yours, with all
-my good and bad qualities; and they shall be to you equally useful."
-
-"Fine promises, doubtless," replied the Student; "but if report speak
-truly, you devils are accused of not being religiously scrupulous
-in the performance of your undertakings." "Report is not always a
-liar," said Asmodeus, "and this is an instance to the contrary. The
-greater part of my brethren think no more of breaking their word than
-a minister of state; but for myself, not to mention the service you
-are about to render me, and which I can never sufficiently repay, I am
-a slave to my engagements; and I swear by all a devil holds sacred,
-that I will not deceive you. Rely on my word, and the assurances I
-offer: and what must be peculiarly pleasing to you, I engage, this
-night, to avenge your wrongs on Donna Thomasa, the perfidious woman
-who had concealed within her house the four scoundrels who surprised
-you, that she might compel you to espouse her, and patch up her damaged
-reputation."
-
-The young Zambullo was especially delighted with this last promise. To
-hasten its accomplishment, he seized the phial; and, without further
-thought on the event, he dashed it on the floor. It broke into a
-thousand pieces, inundating the apartment with a blackish liquor: this,
-evaporating by degrees, was converted into a thick vapour, which,
-suddenly dissipating, revealed to the astonished sight of the Student
-the figure of a man in a cloak, about two feet six inches high, and
-supported by two crutches. This little monster had the legs of a goat,
-a long visage, pointed chin, a dark sallow complexion, and a very flat
-nose; his eyes, to all appearance very small, resembled two burning
-coals; his enormous mouth was surmounted by a pair of red mustachios,
-and ornamented with two lips of unequalled ugliness.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus revealed to Zambullo]
-
-The head of this graceful Cupid was enveloped in a sort of turban of
-red crape, relieved by a plume of cock's and peacock's feathers. Round
-his neck was a collar of yellow cloth, upon which were embroidered
-divers patterns of necklaces and earrings. He wore a short white
-satin gown, or tunic, encircled about the middle by a large band of
-parchment of the same colour, covered with talismanic characters. On
-the gown, also, were painted various bodices, beautifully adapted for
-the display of the fair wearers' necks; scarfs of different patterns,
-worked or coloured aprons, and head-dresses of the newest fashion;--all
-so extravagant, that it was impossible to admire one more than another.
-
-[Illustration: Detail of the cloak: the Spanish lady and her admirer]
-
-But all this was nothing as compared with his cloak, the foundation
-of which was also white satin. Its exterior presented an infinity of
-figures delicately tinted in Indian ink, and yet with so much freedom
-and expression that you would have wondered who the devil could have
-painted it. On one side appeared a Spanish lady covered with her
-mantilla, and leering at a stranger on the promenade; and on the other
-a Parisian grisette, who before her mirror was studying new airs to
-victimize a young abbé, at that moment opening the door. Here, the gay
-Italian was singing to the guitar beneath the balcony of his mistress;
-and there, the sottish German, with vest unbuttoned, stupefied with
-wine, and more begrimed with snuff than a French petit-maître, was
-sitting, surrounded by his companions, at a table covered with the
-filthy remnants of their debauch. In one place could be perceived a
-Turkish bashaw coming from the bath, attended by all the houris of his
-seraglio, each watchful for the handkerchief; and in another an English
-gentleman, who was gallantly presenting to his lady-love a pipe and a
-glass of porter.
-
-[Illustration: The gamesters]
-
-Besides these there were gamesters, marvellously well portrayed; some,
-elated with joy, filling their hats with pieces of gold and silver;
-and others, who had lost all but their honour, and willing to stake on
-that, now turning their sacrilegious eyes to heaven, and now gnawing
-the very cards in despair. In short, there were as many curious things
-to be seen on this cloak as on the admirable shield which Vulcan forged
-for Achilles, at the prayer of his mother Thetis; with this difference
-however,--the subjects on the buckler of the Grecian hero had no
-relation to his own exploits, while those on the mantle of Asmodeus
-were lively images of all that is done in this world at his suggestion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.
-
-
-Upon perceiving that his appearance had not prepossessed the student
-very greatly in his favour, the Demon said to him, smiling: "Well,
-Signor Don Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, you behold the charming
-god of love, that sovereign master of the human heart. What think you
-of my air and beauty? Confess that the poets are excellent painters."
-"Frankly!" replied Don Cleophas, "I must say they have a little
-flattered you. I fancy, it was not in this form that you won the love
-of Psyche." "Certainly not," replied the Devil: "I borrowed the graces
-of a little French marquis, to make her dote upon me. Vice must be
-hidden under a pleasing veil, or it wins not even woman. I take what
-shape best pleases me; and I could have discovered myself to you under
-the form of the Apollo Belvi, but that as I have nothing to disguise
-from you, I preferred you should see me under a figure more agreeable
-to the opinion which the world generally entertains of me and my
-performances." "I am not surprised," said Leandro, "to find you rather
-ugly--excuse the phrase, I pray you; the transactions we are about to
-have with each other demand a little frankness: your features indeed
-almost exactly realise the idea I had formed of you. But tell me, how
-happens it that you are on crutches?"
-
-"Why," replied the Demon, "many years ago, I had an unfortunate
-difference with Pillardoc, the spirit of gain, and the patron of
-pawnbrokers. The subject of our dispute was a stripling who came to
-Paris to seek his fortune. As he was capital game, a youth of promising
-talents, we contested the prize with a noble ardour. We fought in the
-regions of mid-air; and Pillardoc, who excelled me in strength, cast me
-on the earth after the mode in which Jupiter is related by the poets
-to have tumbled Vulcan. The striking resemblance of our mishaps gained
-me, from my witty comrades, the sobriquet of the Limping Devil, or the
-Devil on Two Sticks, which has stuck to me from that time to this.
-Nevertheless, limping as I am, I am tolerably quick in my movements;
-and you shall witness for my agility.
-
-"But," added he, "a truce to idle talk; let us get out of this
-confounded garret. My friend the magician will be here shortly; as he
-is hard at work on rendering a handsome damsel, who visits him nightly,
-immortal. If he should surprise us, I shall be snug in a bottle in no
-time; and it may go hard but he finds one to fit you also. So let us
-away! But first to throw the pieces, of that which was once my prison,
-out of the window; for such 'dead men' as these _do_ tell tales."
-
-"What if your friend does find out that you are 'missing?'" "What!"
-hastily replied the Demon; "I see you have never studied the Treatise
-on Compulsions. Were I hidden at the extremity of the earth, or in the
-region where dwells the fiery salamander; though I sought the murkiest
-cavern of the gnomes, or plunged in the most unfathomable depths of the
-ocean, I should vainly strive to evade the terrors of his wrath. Hell
-itself would tremble at the potency of his spells. In vain should I
-struggle: despite myself should I be dragged before my master, to feel
-the weight of his dreaded chains."
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus carried off]
-
-"That being the case," said the Student, "I fear that our intimacy will
-not be of long duration: this redoubtable necromancer will doubtless
-soon discover your flight." "That is more than I know," replied the
-Spirit; "there is no foreseeing what may happen." "What!" cried Leandro
-Perez; "a demon, and ignorant of the future!" "Exactly so," answered
-the Devil; "and they are only our dupes who think otherwise. However,
-there are enough of them to find good employment for diviners and
-fortune-tellers, especially among your women of quality; for those are
-always most eager about the future who have best reason to be contented
-with the present, which and the past are all we know or care for. I am
-ignorant, therefore, whether my master will soon discover my absence;
-but let us hope he will not: there are plenty of phials similar to
-the one in which I was enclosed, and he may never miss that. Besides,
-in his laboratory, I am something like a law-book in the library of a
-financier. He never thinks of me; or if he does, he would think he did
-me too great an honour if he condescended to notice me. He is the most
-haughty enchanter of my acquaintance: long as he has deprived me of my
-liberty, we have never exchanged a syllable."
-
-"That is extraordinary!" said Don Cleophas; "what have you done
-to deserve so much hatred or scorn?" "I crossed him in one of his
-projects," replied Asmodeus. "There was a chair vacant in a certain
-Academy, which he had designed for a friend of his, a professor of
-necromancy; but which I had destined for a particular friend of my own.
-The magician set to work with one of the most potent talismans of the
-Cabala; but I knew better than that: I had placed my man in the service
-of the prime minister; whose word is worth a dozen talismans, with the
-Academicians, any day."
-
-While the Demon was thus conversing, he was busily engaged in
-collecting every fragment of the broken phial; which having thrown out
-of the window, "Signor Zambullo," said he, "let us begone! Hold fast by
-the end of my mantle, and fear nothing." However perilous this appeared
-to Leandro Perez, he preferred the possible danger to the certainty of
-the magician's resentment; and, accordingly, he fastened himself as
-well as he could to the Demon, who in an instant whisked him out of the
-apartment.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus and Zambullo flying over Madrid]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-
-WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST FRUITS OF HIS
-ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.
-
-
-Cleophas found that Asmodeus had not vainly boasted of his agility.
-They darted through the air like an arrow from the bow, and were
-soon perched on the tower of San Salvador. "Well, Signor Leandro,"
-said the Demon as they alighted; "what think you now of the justice
-of those who, as they slowly rumble in some antiquated vehicle, talk
-of a devilish bad carriage?" "I must, hereafter, think them most
-unreasonable," politely replied Zambullo. "I dare affirm that his
-majesty of Castile has never travelled so easily; and then for speed,
-at your rate, one might travel round the world nor care to stretch a
-leg."
-
-"You are really too polite," replied the Devil; "but can you guess now
-why I have brought you here? I intend to show you all that is passing
-in Madrid; and as this part of the town is as good to begin with as
-any, you will allow that I could not have chosen a more appropriate
-situation. I am about, by my supernatural powers, to take away the
-roofs from the houses of this great city; and notwithstanding the
-darkness of the night, to reveal to your eyes whatever is doing within
-them." As he spake, he extended his right arm, the roofs disappeared,
-and the Student's astonished sight penetrated the interior of the
-surrounding dwellings as plainly as if the noon-day sun shone over
-them. "It was," says Luis Velez de Guevara, "like looking into a pasty
-from which a set of greedy monks had just removed the crust."
-
-[Illustration: the miser counting his gold and silver]
-
-The spectacle was, as you may suppose, sufficiently wonderful to rivet
-all the Student's attention. He looked amazedly around him, and on
-all sides were objects which most intensely excited his curiosity. At
-length the Devil said to him: "Signor Don Cleophas, this confusion of
-objects, which you regard with an evident pleasure, is certainly very
-agreeable to look upon; but I must render useful to you what would
-be otherwise but a frivolous amusement. To unlock for you the secret
-chambers of the human heart, I will explain in what all these persons
-that you see are engaged. All shall be open to you; I will discover
-the hidden motives of their deeds, and reveal to you their unbidden
-thoughts.
-
-[Illustration: the miser's nephews consulting the sorceress]
-
-"Where shall we begin? See! do you observe this house to my right?
-Observe that old man, who is counting gold and silver into heaps. He is
-a miserly citizen. His carriage, which he bought for next to nothing at
-the sale of an alcade of the Cortes, and which to save expense still
-sports the arms of its late owner, is drawn by a pair of worthless
-mules, which he feeds according to the law of the Twelve Tables, that
-is to say, he gives each, daily, one pound of barley: he treats them
-as the Romans treated their slaves--wisely, but not too well. It is
-now two years since he returned from the Indies, bringing with him
-innumerable bars of gold, which he has since converted into coin. Look
-at the old fool! with what satisfaction he gloats over his riches. And
-now, see what is passing in an adjoining chamber of the same house. Do
-you observe two young men with an old woman?" "Yes," replied Cleophas,
-"they are probably his children." "No, no!" said the Devil, "they are
-his nephews, and, what is better in their opinion, his heirs. In their
-anxiety for his welfare, they have invited a sorceress to ascertain
-when death will take from them their dear uncle, and leave to them the
-division of his spoil. In the next house there are a pair of pictures
-worth remarking. One is an antiquated coquette who is retiring to rest,
-after depositing on her toilet, her hair, her eyebrows and her teeth;
-the other is a gallant sexagenarian, who has just returned from a love
-campaign. He has already closed one eye, in its case, and placed his
-whiskers and peruke on the dressing table. His valet is now easing him
-of an arm and one leg, to put him to bed with the rest."
-
-[Illustration: the valet removing the sexagenarian's wooden leg]
-
-"If I may trust my eyes," cried Zambullo, "I see in the next room a
-tall young damsel, quite a model for an artist. What a lovely form and
-air!" "I see," said the Devil. "Well! that young beauty is an elder
-sister of the gallant I have just described, and is a worthy pendant
-to the coquette who is under the same roof. Her figure, that you so
-much admire, is really good; but then she is indebted for it to an
-ingenious mechanist, whom I patronise. Her bust and hips are formed
-after my own patent; and it is only last Sunday that she generously
-dropped her bustle at the door of this very church, on the occasion of
-a charity sermon. Nevertheless, as she affects the juvenile, she has
-two cavaliers who ardently dispute her favour;--nay, they have even
-come to blows on the occasion. Madmen! two dogs fighting for a bone.
-
-[Illustration: the old lady being unlaced by her maid]
-
-"Prithee, laugh with me at an amateur concert which is performing in
-a neighbouring mansion; an after-supper offering to Apollo. They are
-singing cantatas. An old counsellor has composed the air; and the
-words are by an alguazil, who does the amiable after that fashion
-among his friends--an ass who writes verses for his own pleasure, and
-for the punishment of others. A harpsichord and clarionet form the
-accompaniment; a lanky chorister, who squeaks marvellously, takes
-the treble, and a young girl with a hoarse voice the bass." "What a
-delightful party!" cried Don Cleophas. "Had they tried expressly to get
-up a musical extravaganza, they could not have succeeded better."
-
-[Illustration: the amateur concert]
-
-"Cast your eyes on that superb mansion," continued the Demon; "and
-you will perceive a nobleman lying in a splendid apartment. He has,
-near his couch, a casket filled with billets-doux; in which he is
-luxuriating, that the sweet nothings they contain may lull his senses
-gently to repose. They ought to be dear to him, for they are from
-a signora he adores; and who so well appreciates the value of her
-favours, that she will soon reduce him to the necessity of soliciting
-the exile of a viceroyalty, for his own support. Let us leave him to
-his slumbers, to watch the stir they are making in the next house
-to the left. Can you distinguish a lady in a bed with red damask
-furniture? Her name is Donna Fabula. She is of high rank, and is about
-to present an heir to her spouse, the aged Don Torribio, whom you
-see by her side, endeavouring to soothe the pangs of his lady until
-the arrival of the midwife. Is it not delightful to witness so much
-tenderness? The cries of his dear better-half pierce him to the soul:
-he is overwhelmed with grief; he suffers as much as his wife. With
-what care,--with what earnestness does he bend over her!" "Really,"
-said Leandro, "the man does appear deeply affected; but I perceive, in
-the room above, a youngster apparently a domestic, who sleeps soundly
-enough: he troubles himself not for the event." "And yet it ought to
-interest him," replied Asmodeus; "for the sleeper is the first cause of
-his mistress's sufferings.
-
-[Illustration: Don Torribio soothing Donna Fabula]
-
-"But see,--a little beyond," continued the Demon: "in that low room,
-you may observe an old wretch who is anointing himself with lard. He
-is about to join an assembly of wizards, which takes place to-night
-between San Sebastian and Fontarabia. I would carry you thither in a
-moment, as it would amuse you; but that I fear I might be recognised by
-the devil who personates the goat."
-
-"That devil and you then," said the Scholar, "are not good friends?"
-"No, indeed! you are right," replied Asmodeus, "he is that same
-Pillardoc of whom I told you. The scoundrel would betray me, and soon
-inform the magician of my flight." "You have perhaps had some other
-squabble with this gentleman?" "Precisely so," said the Demon: "some
-ten years ago we had a second difference about a young Parisian who was
-thinking of commencing life. He wanted to make him a banker's clerk;
-and I, a lady-killer. Our comrades settled the dispute by making him
-a wretched monk. This done, they reconciled us: we embraced; and from
-that time have been mortal foes."
-
-"But, have done with this belle assemblée," said Don Cleophas; "I am
-not at all curious to witness it: let us continue our scrutiny into
-what is before us. What is the meaning of those sparks of fire which
-issue from yonder cellar?" "They proceed from one of the most absurd
-occupations of mankind," replied the Devil. "The grave personage
-whom you behold near the furnace is an alchymist; and the flames
-are gradually consuming his rich patrimony, never to yield him what
-he seeks in return. Between ourselves, the philosopher's stone is a
-chimera that I myself invented to amuse the wit of man, who ever seeks
-to pass those bounds which the laws of nature have prescribed for his
-intelligence.
-
-"The alchymist's neighbour is an honest apothecary, who you perceive
-is still at his labours, with his aged wife and assistant. You would
-never guess what they are about. The apothecary is compounding a
-progenerative pill for an old advocate who is to be married to-morrow;
-the assistant is mixing a laxative potion; and the old lady is pounding
-astringent drugs in a mortar."
-
-[Illustration: the apothecary, his wife, and his assistant]
-
-"I perceive, in the house facing the apothecary's," said Zambullo, "a
-man who has just jumped out of bed, and is hastily dressing." "Pshaw!"
-replied the Spirit, "he need not hurry himself. He is a physician; and
-has been sent for by a prelate who since he has retired to rest--about
-an hour--has absolutely coughed two or three times.
-
-"But look a little further, in a garret on the right, and try if you
-cannot distinguish a man half dressed, who is walking up and down the
-room, dimly lighted by a single lamp." "I see," said the Student; "and
-so clearly that I would undertake to furnish you with an inventory of
-his chattels,--to wit, a truckle-bed, a three-legged stool, and a deal
-table; the walls seem to be daubed all over with black paint." "That
-exalted personage," said Asmodeus, "is a poet; and what appears to
-you black paint, are tragic verses with which he has ornamented his
-apartment, being obliged, for want of paper, to commit his effusions to
-the wall." "By his agitation and phrenzied air, I conclude he is now
-busily engaged on some work of importance," said Don Cleophas. "You are
-not far out," replied the Devil: "he only yesterday completed the last
-act of an interesting tragedy, intitled The Universal Deluge. He cannot
-be reproached with having violated the unity of place, at all events,
-as the entire action is limited to Noah's ark.
-
-[Illustration: The poet, composing his dedication]
-
-"I can assure you it is a first-rate drama: all the animals talk as
-learnedly as professors. It of course must have a dedication, upon
-which he has been labouring for the last six hours; and he is, at
-this moment, turning the last period. It will be indeed a masterpiece
-of adulatory composition: every social and political virtue; every
-grace that can adorn; all that tends to render man illustrious, either
-by his own deeds or those of his ancestors, are attributed to its
-object;--never was praise more lavishly bestowed, never was incense
-burnt more liberally." "For whom, then, of all the world, is so
-magnificent an apotheosis intended?" "Why," replied the Demon, "the
-poet himself has not yet determined that; he has put in every thing but
-the name. However, he hopes to find some vain noble who may be more
-liberal than those to whom he has dedicated his former productions;
-although the purchasers of imaginary virtues are becoming every
-day more rare. It is not my fault that it is so; for it is a fault
-corrected in the wealthy patrons of literature, and a great benefit
-rendered to the public, who were certain to be deluged by trash from
-the Swiss of the press, so long as books were written merely for the
-produce of their dedications.
-
-"Apropos of this subject," added the Demon, "I will relate to you a
-curious anecdote. It is not long since an illustrious lady accepted
-the honour of a dedication from a celebrated novelist, who, by the
-bye, writes so much in praise of other women, that he thinks himself
-at liberty to abuse the one peculiarly his own. The lady in question
-was anxious to see the address before it was printed; and not finding
-herself described to her taste, she wisely undertook the task, and
-gave herself all those inconvenient virtues, which the world so much
-admires. She then sent it to the author, who of course had weighty
-reasons for adopting it."
-
-"Hollo!" cried Leandro, "surely those are robbers who are entering
-that house by the balcony." "Precisely so," said Asmodeus; "they are
-brigands, and the house is a banker's. Watch them! you will be amused.
-See! they have opened the safe, and are ferreting everywhere; but the
-banker has been before them. He set out yesterday for Holland, and has
-taken with him the contents of his coffers for fear of accidents.
-They may make a merit of their visit, by informing his unfortunate
-depositors of their loss."
-
-[Illustration: The brigands opening the banker's safe]
-
-"There is another thief," said Zambullo, "mounting by a silken ladder
-into a neighbouring dwelling." "You are mistaken there," replied the
-Devil; "at all events it is not gold he seeks. He is a marquis, who
-would rob a young maiden of the name, of which, however, she is not
-unwilling to part. Never was 'stand and deliver' more graciously
-received: he of course has sworn he will marry her, and she of course
-believes him; for a marquis's 'promises' have unlimited credit upon
-Love's Exchange."
-
-[Illustration: the registrar and Griffael]
-
-"I am curious to learn," interrupted the Student, "what that man in a
-night-cap and dressing-gown is about. He is writing very studiously,
-and near him is a little black figure, who occasionally guides his
-hand." "He is a registrar of the civil courts," replied the Demon; "and
-to oblige a guardian, is, for a consideration, altering a decree made
-in favour of the ward: the gentleman in black, who seems enjoying the
-sport, is Griffael the registrars' devil." "Griffael, then," said Don
-Cleophas, "is a sort of deputy to Flagel; for, as he is the spirit of
-the bar, the registrars are doubtless included in his department." "Not
-so," replied Asmodeus; "the registrars have been thought deserving of
-their peculiar demon, and I assure you they find him quite enough to
-do."
-
-[Illustration: the widow, her lover, and her uncle]
-
-"Near the registrar's house, you will perceive a young lady on the
-first floor. She is a widow; and the man, whom you see in the same
-room, is her uncle, who lodges in an apartment over hers. Admire the
-bashfulness of the dame! She is ashamed to put on her chemise before
-her aged relative; so, modestly seeks the assistance of her lover, who
-is hidden in her dressing-room.
-
-[Illustration: Donoso receives the pages in his apartment]
-
-"In the same house with the registrar lives a stout graduate, who has
-been lame from his birth, but who has not his equal in the world for
-pleasantry. Volumnius, so highly spoken of by Cicero for his delicate
-yet pungent wit, was a fool to him. He is known throughout Madrid as
-'the bachelor Donoso,' or 'the facetious graduate;' and his company
-is sought by old and young, at the court and in the town: in short,
-wherever there is, or should be, conviviality, he is so much the rage,
-that he has discharged his cook, as he never dines at home; to which
-he seldom returns until long after midnight. He is at present with
-the marquis of Alcazinas, who is indebted for this visit to chance
-only." "How, to chance?" interrupted Leandro. "Why," replied the
-Demon, "this morning, about noon, the graduate's door was besieged by
-at least half-a-dozen carriages, each sent for the especial honour of
-securing his society. The bachelor received the assembled pages in his
-apartment, and, displaying a pack of cards, thus addressed them:--'My
-friends, as it is impossible for me to dine in six places at one time,
-and as it would not appear polite to show an undue preference, these
-cards shall decide the matter. Draw! I will dine with the king of
-clubs.'"
-
-[Illustration: The cavalier serenades his inamorata]
-
-"What object," said Don Cleophas, "has yonder cavalier, who is sitting
-at a door on the other side of the street? Is he waiting for some
-pretty waiting-woman to usher him to his lady's chamber?" "No, no,"
-answered Asmodeus; "he is a young Castilian, whose modesty exceeds his
-love; so, after the fashion of the gallants of antiquity, he has come
-to pass the night at his mistress's portal. Listen to the twang of that
-wretched guitar, with which he accompanies his tender strains! On the
-second floor you may behold his inamorata: she is weeping as she hears
-him;--but it is for the absence of his rival.
-
-"You observe that new building, which is divided into two wings. One
-is occupied by the proprietor, the old gentleman whom you see now
-pacing the apartment, now throwing himself into an easy chair." "He is
-evidently immersed in some grand project," said Zambullo: "who is he?
-If one may judge by the splendour which is displayed in his mansion,
-he is a grandee of the first order." "Nevertheless," said Asmodeus,
-"he is but an ancient clerk of the treasury, who has grown old in
-such lucrative employment as to enable him to amass four millions of
-reals. As he has some compunctions of conscience for the means by
-which all this wealth has been acquired, and as he expects shortly to
-be called upon to render his account in another world, where bribery
-is impracticable, he is about to compound for his sins in this, by
-building a monastery; which done, he flatters himself that peace will
-revisit his heart. He has already obtained the necessary permission;
-but, as he has resolved that the establishment shall consist of monks
-who are extremely chaste, sober, and of the most Christian humility,
-he is much embarrassed in the selection. He need not build a very
-extensive convent.
-
-"The other wing is inhabited by a fair lady, who has just retired to
-rest after the luxury of a milk bath. This voluptuary is widow of a
-knight of the order of Saint James, who left her at his death her
-title only; but fortunately her charms have secured for her valuable
-friends in the persons of two members of the council of Castile, who
-generously divide her favours and the expenses of her household."
-
-"Hark!" cried the Student; "surely I hear the cries of distress. What
-dreadful misfortune has occurred?" "A very common one," said the
-Demon: "two young cavaliers have been gambling in a hell (the name is
-a scandal on the infernal regions), which you perceive so brilliantly
-illuminated. They quarrelled upon an interesting point of the game,
-and I naturally drew their swords to settle it: unluckily, they were
-equally skilful with their weapons, and are both mortally wounded. The
-elder is married, which is unfortunate; and the younger an only son.
-The wife and father have just come in time to receive their last sighs;
-and it is their lamentations that you hear. 'Unhappy boy,' cries the
-fond parent over the still breathing body of his son, 'how often have I
-conjured thee to renounce this dreadful vice!--how often have I warned
-thee it would one day cost thee thy life. Heaven is my witness, that
-the fault is none of mine!' Men," added the Demon, "are always selfish,
-even in their griefs. Meanwhile the wife is in despair. Although her
-husband has dissipated the fortune she brought him on their marriage;
-although he has sold, to maintain his shameful excesses, her jewels,
-and even her clothes, not a word of reproach escapes her lips. She is
-inconsolable for her loss. Her grief is vented in frantic exclamations,
-mixed with curses on the cards, and the devil who invented them; on the
-place in which her husband fell, and on the people who surround her,
-and to whom she fondly attributes his ruin."
-
-[Illustration: the expiring duellists]
-
-"How much to be lamented," interrupted the Student, "is the love of
-gaming which possesses so large a portion of mankind; in what an awful
-state of excitement does it plunge its victims. Heaven be praised! I
-am not included in their legion." "You are in high feather," replied
-the Demon, "in another, whose exploits are not much more ennobling, and
-scarcely less dangerous. Is the conquest of a courtezan a glory worth
-achievement? Is the possession of charms common to a whole city worth
-the peril of a life? Man is an amusing animal! The vision of a mole
-would enable him to discover the vices of his fellows, while that of
-the vulture could scarce detect a folly of his own. But let us turn to
-another affecting spectacle. You can discern, in the house just beyond
-the one we have been contemplating, a fat old man extended on a bed: he
-is a canon, who is now in a fit of apoplexy. The two persons, whom you
-see in his room, are said to be his nephew and niece: they are too much
-affected by his situation to be able to assist him; so, are securing
-his valuable effects. By the time this is accomplished, he will be
-dead; and they will be sufficiently recovered, and at leisure, to weep
-over his remains.
-
-[Illustration: the canon's nephew and niece steal his possessions]
-
-"Close by, you may perceive the funeral of two brothers; who, seized
-with the same disorder, took equally successful but different means of
-ensuring its fatality. One of them had the most utter confidence in
-his apothecary; the other eschewed the aid of medicine: the first died
-because he took all the trash his doctor sent him; the last because he
-would take nothing." "Well! that is very perplexing," said Leandro;
-"what is a poor sick devil to do?" "Why," replied Asmodeus, "that is
-more than the one who has the honour of addressing you can determine.
-I know, for certain, that there are remedies for most ills; but I am
-not so sure that there are good physicians to administer them when
-necessary."
-
-"And now I have something more amusing to unriddle. Do you not hear a
-frightful din in the next street? A widow of sixty was married this
-morning to an Adonis of seventeen; and all the merry fellows of that
-part of the town have assembled to celebrate the wedding by a concert
-of pots and pans, marrow-bones and cleavers." "You told me," said the
-Student, "that these matches were under your control: at all events,
-you had no hand in this." "No, truly," answered the Demon, "not I. Had
-I been free, I should not have meddled with them. The widow had her
-scruples; and has married for no better reason than that she may enjoy,
-without remorse, the pleasures she so dearly loves. These are not the
-unions I care to form; I prefer troubling people's consciences to
-setting them at rest."
-
-"Notwithstanding this charming serenade," said Zambullo, "it seems to
-me that it is not the only concert performing in the neighbourhood."
-"No," said the cripple; "in a tavern in the same street, a lusty
-Flemish captain, a chorister of the French opera, and an officer of the
-German guard are singing a trio. They have been drinking since eight
-in the morning; and each deems it a duty to his country, to see the
-others under the table."
-
-[Illustration: the three drinkers]
-
-"Look for a moment on the house which stands by itself, nearly opposite
-to that of the apoplectic canon: you will see three very pretty but
-very notorious courtezans enjoying themselves with as many young
-courtiers." "They are, indeed, lovely!" exclaimed Don Cleophas. "I
-am not surprised that they should be notorious: happy are the lovers
-who possess them! They seem, however, very partial to their present
-companions: I envy them their good fortune." "Why, you are very green!"
-replied the Demon: "their faces are not disguised with greater skill
-than are their hearts. However prodigal of their caresses, they have
-not the slightest tenderness for their foolish swains; their affection
-is bounded to the purses of their lovers. One of them has just secured
-the promise of a liberal establishment; and the others are prepared
-with settlements which they are in expectation of securing ere they
-part. It is the same with them all. Men vainly ruin themselves for the
-sex: gold buys not love. The well-paid mistress soon treats her lover
-as a husband: that is a rule which I found necessary to establish in my
-code of intrigue. But we will leave these fools to taste the pleasures
-they so dearly purchase; while their valets, who are waiting in the
-street, console themselves with the pleasing anticipation of enjoying
-them gratis."
-
-"Tell me," interrupted Leandro Perez, "what is passing in that splendid
-mansion on the left. The house is filled with well-dressed cavaliers
-and ladies; and all seems dancing and conviviality. It is indeed a
-joyous festival." "It is another wedding," said Asmodeus; "and happy
-as they now are, it is not three days since that house witnessed the
-deepest affliction. It is a story worth hearing: it is rather long,
-certainly; but it will repay your patience." The Devil then began as
-follows.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-
-STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
-
-Leonora de Cespedes was passionately beloved by the young Count de
-Belflor, one of the most distinguished nobles of the court. He had,
-however, no thoughts of suing for her hand; the daughter of a private
-gentleman might command his love, but had no pretensions in his eyes to
-rank above his mistress; and such was the honour he designed for her.
-
-Accordingly, he followed her everywhere; and lost no opportunity of
-testifying by his glances the extent of his affection for her person;
-but he was unable to converse with her, or even to communicate by
-letter, so incessantly and vigilantly was she guarded by an austere
-duenna, the lady Marcella. He was almost in despair; yet, incited by
-the obstacles which were thus opposed to his desires, he was constantly
-occupied in devising means for their attainment, and for deceiving the
-Argus who so carefully watched his Io.
-
-In the meanwhile, Leonora had perceived the attention with which the
-Count regarded her; and flattered by that first homage, so delightful
-to the unworn heart, she soon yielded to the soft persuasion of his
-eyes, and insensibly formed for him a passion as violent as his own.
-The flames of love are seldom kindled at the altar but they burn the
-temple. I did not, however, fan those thus lighted in her bosom, for
-the magician had put a stopper on my operations; but Nature, and
-woman's nature especially, is generally potent enough in such cases,
-without my assistance. Indeed, I doubt if she does not manage these
-matters best by herself; the only difference in our modes of procedure
-being, that Nature saps the heart by slow degrees, while I love to
-carry it by storm.
-
-Affairs were in this posture, when Leonora, and her eternal governante,
-going one morning to church, were accosted by an old woman, carrying
-in her hand one of the largest chaplets ever framed by hypocrisy.
-"Heaven bless you!" said she, addressing herself, with a saintly
-smile, to the duenna, "the peace of God be with you! Have I not the
-honour of speaking to the lady Marcella, the chaste widow of the
-lamented Signor Martin Rosetta?" "You have," replied the governante.
-"How fortunate!" exclaimed the old hypocrite; "I have a relation, at
-this moment lying at my house, who would see you ere he dies. He was
-intimately acquainted with your dear husband, and has matters of the
-utmost importance to communicate to you. It is only three days since
-he arrived in Madrid, from Flanders, for the express purpose of seeing
-you; but scarcely had he entered my house when he was stretched on a
-bed of sickness, and he has now, I fear, but a few hours to live. Let
-us hasten, while there is yet time, to soothe the pangs of his passing
-spirit: a few steps will bring us to his side."
-
-[Illustration: Leonora, Marcella and the old woman]
-
-The wary duenna, who had seen enough of the world to be suspicious of
-the best even of her own sex, still, however, hesitated to follow:
-which the old lady perceiving, "My dear lady Marcella," said she,
-"surely you do not doubt me. You must have heard of La Chichona. Why!
-the licentiate Marcos de Figuerna and the bachelor Mira de Mesqua
-would answer for me as for their grandmothers. If I desire that you
-accompany me to my house, it is for your good only. Heaven forbid
-that I should touch the smallest portion of that which is your due,
-and which my poor relation is so anxious to repay to the wife of his
-friend!" At the word "repay," the lady Marcella hesitated no longer:
-"Let us go, my child," said she to Leonora; "we will see this good
-woman's relation;--to visit the sick is among the first of our duties."
-"Verily," said the Demon, "charity does cover a multitude of sins!"
-
-[Illustration: at the house of La Chichona]
-
-They soon arrived at the house of La Chichona, who introduced them to
-a mean apartment, where they found a man in bed: he had a long beard,
-and if he were not really desperately ill, he at least appeared to
-be so. "See, cousin!" said the old woman, presenting the governante;
-"behold the person whom you sought so anxiously; this is the lady
-Marcella, the respected widow of your friend Rosetta." At these words,
-the old man raised himself on his pillow with apparent difficulty;
-and, making signs for the duenna to approach him, said with a feeble
-voice,--"Heaven be praised, for its mercy in permitting me to live till
-now!--to see you, my dear lady, was all that I desired upon earth.
-Indeed, I feared to die, without the satisfaction of seeing you, and of
-rendering into your hands the hundred ducats which your late husband,
-my dearest friend, so kindly lent me in my dire necessity, at Bruges,
-when but for that assistance my honour had been for ever lost:--but you
-must have often heard of me and my adventures."
-
-"Alas! no," replied Marcella, "he never mentioned it to me. God rest
-his soul! he was ever so generous as to forget the services he rendered
-to his friends; and so far from boasting of such kindnesses as these,
-I can declare that I even never heard of his doing a good action in
-his life." "His was indeed a noble mind," replied the sick man, "as
-I have perhaps better reason to know than most persons; and to prove
-this to you I must relate the history of the unfortunate affair from
-which his liberality so happily released me. But as I shall have to
-speak of things which should be disclosed to no other ears than thine,
-honourable as they are to the memory of my deceased friend, it were
-better that we should be alone."
-
-"Oh, certainly!" cried Chichona, "though it would delight me to hear
-of the good Rosetta, whom you are always praising, we will retire to
-my closet;" saying which, she led Leonora into the next apartment. No
-sooner had she done so, and closed the door, than without ceremony the
-old woman thus addressed her companion:--"Charming Leonora, our moments
-are too precious to be wasted. You know the young Count de Belflor, at
-least by sight. Need I say how long he has loved you, and how ardently
-he desires to tell you so? Driven to despair by the vigilance and
-austerity of Marcella, he has had recourse to my assistance to procure
-him an interview; and I, who could refuse nothing to so handsome a
-cavalier, have dressed up his valet as the sick man you have just seen,
-that I might engage your governante's attention and bring you hither."
-
-As she finished speaking, the Count, who was concealed by the drapery
-of a little window, discovered himself, and, falling at the feet of
-Leonora: "Madam," said he, "pardon the stratagem of a lover, who could
-no longer conceal from you the passion that is destroying the life to
-which it alone gives value:--but for this good woman's kindness, I had
-perished in despair." These words, uttered with respectful earnestness,
-by a man whose appearance was far from displeasing, affected, while
-they perplexed Leonora, and she remained for some time speechless.
-But at length recovering herself, she looked, or endeavoured to look,
-haughtily on her prostrate lover, and replied: "Truly you are deeply
-indebted to your obliging confidante for this attention, but I am not
-so sure that I have equal reason to be thankful, or that you will gain
-by her kindness the object you desire."
-
-In saying these words, she moved towards the door; but the Count,
-gently detaining her, exclaimed: "Stay, adorable Leonora! deign to
-listen to me but for an instant. Be not alarmed! my affection for you
-is pure as your own thoughts. I feel that the artifice to which I have
-descended must revolt you; but consider how vainly I have striven by
-more honourable means to address you. You cannot be ignorant that for
-many months, at the church, in the public walk, at the theatre, I have
-vainly sought to confirm with my lips that passion which my eyes could
-not disguise. Alas! while I implore pardon for a crime to which the
-cruelty of the merciless duenna has compelled me, let me also entreat
-your pity for the torments I have endured; and judge, by the charms
-which your happy mirror discloses, of the extent of his wretchedness
-who is banished from their sight."
-
-[Illustration: Belflor woos Leonora]
-
-Belflor did not fail to accompany these words with all the arts of
-persuasion commonly practised with so much success by my devotees:
-tender looks, heart-broken sighs, and even a few tears were not
-wanting; and Leonora was of course affected. Despite herself, she began
-to feel those little flutterings of the heart, which are the usual
-preludes of capitulation with woman; but far from yielding without a
-struggle to her tenderness, or pity, or weakness, the more sensible
-she became of treason in the garrison, the more hastily she resolved
-to vacate the place. "Count," she exclaimed, "it is in vain you tell
-me this. I will listen no longer. Do not attempt to detain me: let me
-leave a house in which my honour is exposed to suspicion; or my cries
-shall alarm the neighbourhood, and expose your audacity which has dared
-to insult me." This she uttered with so resolute an air that Chichona,
-who was on very punctilious terms with the police, prayed the Count
-not to push matters to extremity. Finding his entreaties useless, he
-released Leonora, who hastened from the apartment, and, what never
-happened to any maiden before, left it as she had entered it.
-
-"Let us quit this dangerous house," said Leonora, on rejoining her
-governante: "finish this idle talk,--we are deceived." "What ails you,
-child?" cried Marcella in reply; "and why should we leave this poor man
-so hastily?" "I will tell you," said Leonora; "but let us fly: every
-instant I remain here but adds to my affliction." However desirous
-was the duenna to learn the cause of her ward's anxiety, she saw that
-the best way to be satisfied was to yield to her entreaties; and they
-quitted the apartment with a celerity which quite discomposed the
-stately governante, leaving Chichona, the Count, and his valet as much
-disconcerted as a company of comedians, when the curtain falls on a
-wretched farce, which the presiding deities of the pit have consigned
-to a lower deep.
-
-When Leonora found herself safely in the street, she related, as well
-as her extreme agitation, and Marcella's exclamations of astonishment,
-would permit, all that had passed in the chamber with the Count and
-Chichona. "I must confess, child," said the duenna, when they had
-reached home, "that I am exceedingly mortified to hear what you have
-just been telling me. To think that I have been the dupe of that wicked
-woman! You will allow, however, that I was not without my doubts. Why
-did I yield them? I should have been suspicious of so much kindness
-and honesty. I have committed a folly which is absolutely inexcusable
-in a person of my sagacity and experience. Ah! why did you not tell
-me this in her presence? I would have torn her eyes out: I would have
-loaded the Count de Belflor with reproaches for his perfidy: and as
-for the scoundrel with his ducats and his beard, he should not have
-had a hair left on his head. But I will return, this instant, with the
-money which I have received as a real restitution; and if I find them
-still together, they shall not have waited for nothing." So saying, the
-enraged widow of the generous Rosetta folded her mantilla around her,
-and left Leonora to weep over the treachery of mankind.
-
-Marcella found the Count with Chichona, in despair at the failure of
-his design. Most of my pupils, in his place, would have been abashed at
-seeing her: it is extraordinary what scruples I have to overcome. But
-Belflor was of another stamp: to a thousand good qualities, he added
-that of yielding implicit obedience to my inspirations. When he loved,
-nothing could exceed the ardour with which he followed the devoted
-object of his affections; and though naturally what the world calls
-an honourable man, he was then capable of violating the most sacred
-duties for the attainment of his desires. No sooner, therefore, did he
-perceive Marcella, than, as he saw that their fulfilment could only be
-completed through the duenna's agency, he resolved to spare nothing to
-win her to his interests. He shrewdly guessed that, rigidly virtuous
-as the lady appeared, she, like her betters, had her price; and as he
-was disposed to bid pretty liberally, you will own he did no great
-injustice to a duenna's fidelity: for so rare a commodity will only be
-found where lovers are not over-rich, or not sufficiently liberal.
-
-The instant Marcella entered the room, and perceived the three persons
-she sought, her tongue went as though possessed; and while she poured
-a torrent of abuse on the Count and Chichona, she sent the restitution
-flying at the head of the valet. The Count patiently endured the
-storm; and throwing himself on his knees before the duenna, to render
-the scene more moving, he pressed her to take back the purse she had
-rejected; and offering to add to it a thousand pistoles, he besought
-her compassion on his sufferings. As Marcella had never before been so
-earnestly entreated, it is no wonder that she was, on this occasion,
-not inexorable: her invectives, therefore, speedily ceased; and
-on comparing the tempting sum now offered to her, with the paltry
-recompence she expected from Don Luis de Cespedes, she was not slow in
-discovering that it would be much more profitable to turn Leonora from
-her duty, than to keep her in its path. Accordingly, after some little
-affectation, she again received the purse, accepted the offer of the
-thousand pistoles, promised to assist the Count in his designs, and
-departed at once to labour for their accomplishment.
-
-[Illustration: Belflor bribes Marcella]
-
-As she knew Leonora to be strictly virtuous, she was extremely cautious
-of exciting the least suspicion of her intelligence with the Count,
-lest the plot should be discovered to Don Luis, her father; so,
-desirous of skilfully effecting her ruin, she thus addressed her on her
-return: "My dear Leonora, I have revenged myself on the wretches who
-deceived us. I found them quite confounded at your virtuous resolution;
-and, threatening the infamous Chichona with your father's resentment,
-and the most rigorous severity of the law, I bestowed on the Count
-de Belflor all the insulting epithets that my anger could suggest. I
-warrant that the Signor will make no more attempts of this kind on you;
-and that henceforth his gallantries will cease to engage my attention.
-I thank Heaven that, by your firmness, you have escaped the snare that
-was laid for you. I could weep for joy to think that the deceiver has
-gained nothing by his stratagem; for these noble signors make it
-their amusement to seduce the young and innocent. Indeed, the greater
-part even of those who pique themselves on their honourable conduct
-have no scruples on this point, as though it were no disgrace to carry
-ruin into virtuous families. Not that I think the Count absolutely of
-this character, nor even that he intends studiously to deceive you: we
-should not judge too harshly of our neighbours; and perhaps, after all,
-he meant you honourably. Although his rank would give him pretensions
-to the hand of the noblest at our court, your beauty may yet have
-induced him to resolve on marriage with yourself. In fact, I recollect
-that in his answers to my reproaches, which I heeded not at the time, I
-might have perceived something of the sort."
-
-"What say you, dear Marcella?" interrupted Leonora. "If that were
-his intention, he would have sought me of my father, who would never
-have refused his daughter to a person of his rank." "What you say
-is perfectly just," replied the governante, "and I am quite of your
-opinion; the Count's proceedings are certainly suspicious, or rather
-his designs cannot be good: for a trifle, I would return and scold him
-again." "No, good Marcella," replied Leonora, "we had better forget
-the past, and revenge ourselves by contempt." "Very true," said the
-duenna; "I believe that is the best plan: you are more prudent than
-myself. But, after all, may we not do the Count injustice? Who knows
-that he has not been actuated by the purest and most delicate motives?
-It is possible that, before obtaining your father's consent, he may
-have resolved to deserve and to please you; to render your union more
-delightful by first gaining your heart. If that were so, child, would
-it be a very great sin to listen to him? Tell me your thoughts, love;
-you know my affection: does your heart incline towards the Count, or
-would it be very disagreeable to marry such a man?"
-
-To this malicious question, the too-sincere Leonora replied, with
-down-cast eyes, and face suffused with blushes, by avowing that she
-had no aversion to the Count; but, as modesty prevented her explaining
-herself more openly, the duenna still pressed her to conceal nothing
-from her; and at last succeeded, by affected tenderness, in obtaining a
-full confession of her love. "Dearest Marcella," said the unsuspicious
-girl, "since you desire me to speak to you without disguise, I must
-confess that Belflor has appeared to me not unworthy of my love. I was
-struck by his appearance; and I have heard him so much praised, that
-I could not remain insensible to the affection he displayed for me.
-Your watchful care to guard me from his addresses has cost me many a
-sigh: nay, I will own I have in secret wept his absence; and repaid
-with my tears the sufferings your vigilance has caused him. Even at
-this moment, instead of hating him for the insult he has offered to my
-honour, my heart against my will excuses him, and throws his fault on
-your severity."
-
-"My child," said the governante, "since you give me reason to believe
-that his attentions are pleasing to you, I will endeavour to secure
-this lover." "I am very sensible," replied Leonora, "of the kindness
-you intend me. It is not that the Count holds the first place at court;
-were he but an honourable private gentleman, I should prefer him to all
-others upon earth, but let us not flatter ourselves: Belflor is a noble
-signor, destined, without doubt, for one of the richest heiresses in
-our kingdom. Let us not expect that he would descend to ally himself
-with Don Luis, who has but a moderate fortune to offer with his
-daughter. No, no," she added, "he entertains for me no such favourable
-thoughts: he thinks not of me as one worthy to bear his name, but seeks
-only my dishonour."
-
-"Ah! wherefore," said the duenna, "will you insist he loves you not
-well enough to seek your hand? Love daily works much greater miracles.
-One would imagine, to hear you, that Heaven had made some infinite
-distinction between you and the Count. Do yourself more justice,
-Leonora! He would not condescend, in uniting his destiny with yours.
-You are of an ancient and noble family, and your alliance would never
-call a blush upon his cheek. However, you love him," continued she;
-"and I must therefore see him, and sound him on the subject; and if I
-find his designs as honourable as they should be, I will indulge him
-with some slight hopes." "Not for the world!" cried Leonora; "on no
-account would I have you seek him: should he but suspect my knowledge
-of your proceedings, he must cease even to esteem me." "Oh! I am more
-cunning than you think me," answered Marcella. "I shall begin by
-accusing him of a design to seduce you. He of course will not fail
-to defend himself; I shall listen to his excuses, and shall mark the
-event: in short, my dear child, leave it to me; I will be as careful of
-your honour as of my own."
-
-Towards night, the duenna left the house, and found Belflor watching
-in the neighbourhood. She informed him of her conversation with his
-mistress, not forgetting to boast of the address with which she had
-elicited from Leonora the confession of her love. Nothing could more
-agreeably surprise the Count than this discovery; and accordingly his
-gratitude was displayed in the most ardent manner; that is to say, he
-promised to Marcella the thousand ducats on the morrow, and to himself
-the most complete success of his enterprise; well knowing, as he
-did, that a woman prepossessed is half seduced. They then separated,
-extremely well satisfied with each other, and the duenna returned to
-her home.
-
-Leonora, who had waited for her with extreme anxiety, timidly inquired
-if she brought any news of the Count. "The best news you could hear,"
-replied the governante. "I have seen him, and I can assure you of
-the purity of his intentions: he declared that his only object is to
-marry you; and this he confirmed by every oath that man holds sacred.
-I did not, however, as you may suppose, yield implicitly to these
-protestations. 'If you are sincere,' said I to him, 'why do you not at
-once apply to Don Luis, her father?' 'Ah! my dear Marcella,' replied
-he, without appearing in the least embarrassed by this question,
-'could you, even, approve that, without assuring myself of Leonora's
-affection, and following, blindly, the dictates of a devouring passion,
-I should seek her of Don Luis as a slave? No! her happiness is dearer
-to me than my own desires; and I have too nice a sense of honour, even
-to endanger that happiness by an indiscreet avowal.'
-
-"While he thus spoke," continued the duenna, "I observed him with
-extreme attention; and employed all my experience to discover in his
-eyes if he were really possessed of all the love that he expressed.
-What shall I say?--He appeared to me penetrated by the truest love;
-I felt elated with joy, which I took good care, however, to conceal:
-nevertheless, when I felt persuaded of his sincerity, I thought that,
-in order to secure for you so important a conquest, it would be but
-proper to give him some faint idea of your feelings towards him.
-'Signor,' said I, 'Leonora has no aversion for you; I know that she
-esteems you; and, as far as I can judge, her heart would not be grieved
-by your addresses.' 'Great God,' he cried, transported with delight,
-'what do I hear? Is it possible, that the charming Leonora should be
-disposed so favourably towards me? What do I not owe to you, kindest
-Marcella, for thus relieving me from such torturing suspense? I am
-the more rejoiced, too, that this should be announced by you;--you,
-who have ever opposed my love; you, who have inflicted on me such
-lengthened suffering. But, my dear Marcella, complete my bliss! let me
-see my divine Leonora, and pledge to her my faith; let me swear, in
-your presence, to be hers only for ever.'
-
-"To all these expressions of his devotion," continued the governante,
-"he added others still more touching. At last, my dear child, he
-entreated me in so pressing a manner to procure for him a secret
-interview, that I could not forbear promising he should see you."
-"Ah! why have you done so?" exclaimed Leonora, with emotion. "How
-often have you told me, that a virtuous girl should ever shun such
-secret conversations,--always wrong, and almost always dangerous?"
-"Certainly," replied the duenna, "I acknowledge to have said so, and a
-very good maxim it is; but you are not obliged to adhere to it strictly
-on this occasion; for you may look upon the Count as your husband."
-"He is not so yet," said Leonora, "and I ought not to see him until my
-father permits his addresses."
-
-Marcella, at this moment, repented of having imbued the mind of her
-pupil with those notions of propriety which she found so much trouble
-to overcome. Determined, however, at any rate to effect her object, she
-thus recommenced her attack: "My dear Leonora! I am proud to witness
-so much virtuous delicacy. Happy fruit of all my cares! You have truly
-profited by the lessons I have taught you. I am delighted with the
-result of my labours. But, child, you have read rather too literally;
-you construe my maxims too rigidly; your susceptibility is indeed
-somewhat prudish. However much I pique myself on my severity, I do not
-quite approve of that precise chastity which arms itself indifferently
-against guilt or innocence. A girl ceases not to be virtuous who yields
-her ear only to her lover, especially when she is conscious of the
-purity which chastens his desires; and she is then no more wrong in
-responding to his love, than she is for her sensibility to the passion.
-Rely upon me, Leonora; I have too much experience, and am too much
-interested in your welfare, to suffer you to take a step that might be
-prejudicial to it."
-
-"But where would you have me see the Count?" said Leonora. "In this
-room, to be sure," replied the duenna. "Where could you see him so
-safely? I will introduce him to-morrow evening." "You are not surely
-serious, Marcella!" exclaimed Leonora. "What! think you I would permit
-a man----" "To be sure you will!" interrupted the duenna; "there is
-nothing so wonderful in that, as you imagine. It happens daily; and
-would to heaven that every damsel who receives such visits, had desires
-as pure as those by which you are animated! Besides, what have you to
-fear? shall not I be with you?" "Alas!" said Leonora, "should my father
-surprise us!" "Do not trouble yourself about that," replied Marcella.
-"Your father is perfectly satisfied as to your conduct: he knows my
-fidelity, and would not do me so much wrong as to suspect it." Poor
-Leonora, thus artfully instigated by the duenna, and secretly moved
-by her own feelings, could withstand no longer; and at last yielded,
-although unwillingly, to her governante's proposal.
-
-The Count was soon informed of Marcella's success, of which he was
-so well satisfied, that he at once gave her five hundred pistoles,
-and a ring of equal value. The duenna, finding his promises so well
-performed, was determined to be as scrupulously exact in the fulfilment
-of her own; and, accordingly, on the following night, when she felt
-assured that every one in the house was fast asleep, she fastened
-to the balcony a silken ladder, which the Count had provided, and
-introduced his lordship to the chamber of his mistress.
-
-In the meanwhile, the fair Leonora was immersed in reflections of the
-most painfully agitating nature. Notwithstanding her affection for the
-Count, and despite her governante's assurances, she bitterly reproached
-herself for her weakness, in yielding a consent to an interview which
-she still felt was in violation of her duty; nor could a knowledge of
-the purity of her intentions bring comfort to her bosom. To receive,
-by night, in her apartment, a man whose love was unsanctioned by her
-parent, and not certainly known even by herself, now appeared to her
-not only criminal, but calculated to degrade her in the estimation of
-her lover also; and this last thought tortured her almost to madness,
-when that lover entered.
-
-He threw himself on his knees before her; and, apparently penetrated
-by love and gratitude, thanked her for that confidence in his honour,
-which had permitted this visit, and assured her of his determination to
-merit it, by shortly espousing her. However, as he was not as explicit
-upon this point as Leonora desired, "Count," said she to him, "I am too
-anxious to believe that you have no other views than those you express
-to me; but whatever assurances you may offer must always appear to me
-suspicious, so long as my father is ignorant of your designs, and has
-not ratified them by his consent."
-
-"Madam," replied Belflor, "that would have been long since demanded
-by me, had I not feared to have obtained it at the sacrifice of your
-repose." "Alas!" said Leonora, "I do not reproach you that you have
-not yet sought Don Luis,--I cannot but be sensible of your delicacy;
-but nothing now restrains you, and you must at once resolve to see my
-father, or never to see me more."
-
-[Illustration: Belflor climbs up to Leonora's balcony]
-
-"What do I hear?" exclaimed the Count,--"never to see you more!
-Beauteous Leonora! how little sensible are you to the charms of love!
-Did you know how to love like me, you would delight in secret to
-receive my vows; and, for some time at least, to conceal them from
-your father as from all the world. Oh! who can paint the charms of
-that mysterious intercourse, in which two hearts indulge, united by
-a passion as intense as pure." "It may have charms for you," replied
-Leonora; "to me, such intercourse would bring but sorrow: this
-refinement of tenderness but ill becomes a virtuous maiden. Speak not
-to me of such impure delights! Did you esteem me, you had not dared
-to do so; and were your intentions such as you would persuade me, you
-would, from your soul, reproach me that I could listen to you with
-patience. But, alas!" she added, while tears filled her eyes, "my
-weakness alone has exposed me to this outrage: I have indeed deserved
-it, that I see you here."
-
-"Adorable Leonora!" cried the Count, "you wrong my love most cruelly!
-Your virtue, too scrupulous, is causelessly alarmed. What! can you
-conceive that, because I have been so happy as to prevail on you to
-favour my passion, I should cease to esteem you? What injustice! No,
-madam, I know, too well, the value of your kindness; it can never
-deprive you of my esteem; and I am ready to do as you require me. I
-will, to-morrow, see Don Luis; and nothing shall be wanting on my part
-to ensure my happiness: but I cannot conceal from you, that I scarcely
-indulge a hope." "How!" replied; Leonora, with extreme surprise;
-"is it possible that my father should refuse me to the Count de
-Belflor?"--"Ah! it is that very title which gives me cause for alarm.
-But I see this surprises you: your astonishment, however, will soon
-cease.
-
-"Only a few days ago," continued he, "the King was pleased to declare
-his will, that I should marry: you know how these matters are managed
-at our Court. He has not, however, named the lady for whom I am
-intended; but has contented himself with intimating that she is one
-who will do me honour, and that he has set his mind upon our union.
-As I was then ignorant of your disposition towards me,--for, as you
-well know, your rigorous severity has never until now, permitted me
-to divine it,--I did not let him perceive in me any aversion to the
-accomplishment of his desires. You may now therefore, judge, madam,
-whether Don Luis would hazard the King's displeasure, by accepting me
-as his son-in-law."
-
-"No, doubtless," said Leonora; "I know my father well: however
-desirable he might esteem your alliance, he would not hesitate to
-renounce it, rather than expose himself to the anger of his Majesty.
-But, even though my father had consented to our union, we should not
-be less unfortunate; for, Belflor, how could you possibly bestow on
-me a hand which the King has destined for another?" "Madam," replied
-the Count, "I will not disguise that your question embarrasses me.
-Still, I am not without hope that, by prudent management with the King,
-and by availing myself of the influence which his friendship for me
-secures, I should find means to avoid the misfortune which threatens
-me; and yourself, lovely Leonora, might assist me in so doing, did
-you but deem me worthy of the happiness of being yours." "I assist
-you!" she exclaimed; "how could I possibly enable you to avert an
-union which the King proposes for you?" "Ah! madam," he replied, with
-impassioned looks, "would you deign to receive my vows of eternal
-fidelity to you, I should have no difficulty in preserving my faith
-inviolate, without offending my sovereign. Permit, charming Leonora,"
-he continued, throwing himself at her feet, "permit me to espouse you
-in the presence of our friend Marcella; she is a witness who will vouch
-for the sanctity of our engagements. I shall thus escape the hateful
-bonds they would impose upon me; for, should the King still press me
-to accept the lady he designs for me, I will prostrate myself before
-him, and, on my knees, confess how long and ardently my love has been
-devoted to you, and that we are secretly married. However desirous he
-may be to unite me with another, he is too gracious to think of tearing
-me from the object I adore, and too just to offer so grievous an
-affront to your honourable family.
-
-"What is your opinion, discreet Marcella?" added he, turning towards
-the governante; "what think you of this project with which love has
-so opportunely inspired me?" "I am charmed with it," said the duenna;
-"the rogue, Cupid, is never at a loss for an expedient." "And you,
-dearest Leonora," resumed the Count, "what do you say to it? Can your
-heart, always mistrustful, refuse its assent to my proposal?" "No," she
-replied, "provided my father consent to it; and I do not doubt that
-he will, when you have explained to him your reasons for secrecy."
-"You must be very cautious how you consult him upon the subject,"
-interrupted the abominable duenna; "you do not know Don Luis: his
-notions of honour are too scrupulous to permit him to engage himself
-with secret amours. The proposal of a private marriage would shock
-him; besides which, he is too prudent not to foresee the possible
-consequences of one which interfered with the designs of the King.
-And, once proposed to him, and his suspicion aroused, his eyes will
-be constantly upon you; and he will take good care to prevent your
-marriage, by separating you for ever."
-
-"And I should die with grief and despair," cried our courtier. "But
-madam," continued he, addressing himself to Marcella, with an air of
-profound disappointment, "do you really think, then, that there is
-no chance of Don Luis yielding to our prayer?" "Not the slightest!"
-replied the governante. "But suppose he should! Exact and scrupulous
-as he is, he would never consent to the omission of a single religious
-ceremony on the occasion; and if they are all to be observed in your
-marriage, the secret will be soon known in Madrid."
-
-"Ah! my dear Leonora," said the Count, taking her hand, and tenderly
-pressing it within his own, "must we, then, to satisfy a vain notion
-of decorum, expose ourselves to the frightful danger of an eternal
-separation? Our happiness is in your hands; since it depends on you
-alone to bestow yourself on me. A father's consent might, perhaps,
-spare you some uneasiness; but since our kind Marcella has convinced us
-of the impossibility of obtaining it, yield yourself, without further
-scruple, to my innocent desires. Receive my heart and hand; and when
-the time shall have arrived, that we may inform Don Luis of our union,
-we shall have no difficulty in satisfying him as to our reasons for
-its concealment." "Well, Count," said Leonora, "I consent to your not
-at once speaking to my father, but that you first sound the King upon
-the subject. Before, however, I receive thus secretly your hand, I
-would have this done. See his Majesty; tell him even, if necessary,
-that we are married. Let us endeavour, by this show of confidence,----"
-"Alas! madam," interrupted Belflor, "what do you ask of me? No, my
-soul revolts at the thoughts of falsehood. I cannot lie; and you would
-despise me, could I thus dissemble with the King;--besides, how could I
-hope for pardon at his hands, should he discover the meanness of which
-I had been guilty?"
-
-"I should never have done, Signor Don Cleophas," continued the Demon,
-"were I to repeat word for word all that Belflor said, in order to
-seduce his lovely mistress; I will only add, that he repeated, without
-my assistance, all those passionate phrases with which I usually
-inspire gallants upon similar occasions. But in vain did he swear
-he would publicly confirm, as soon as possible, the faith which he
-proposed to pledge in secret: Leonora's virtue was proof against his
-oaths; and the blushing day, which surprised him while he called Heaven
-to witness for his fidelity, compelled him to retire less triumphant
-than he had anticipated."
-
-On the following morning, the duenna, conceiving that her honour, or
-rather her interest, engaged her not to abandon the enterprise, took
-an opportunity of reverting to the subject. "Leonora," said she, "I
-am confounded by what passed last evening; you appear to disdain the
-Count's affection, or to regard it as inspired by an unworthy motive.
-Perhaps, however, after all, you remarked something in his person or
-manner that displeased you?" "No, good governante," replied Leonora;
-"he never appeared to me more amiable; and his conversation discovered
-to me a thousand new charms." "If that be the case," said the duenna,
-"I am still more perplexed. You acknowledge to be strongly prepossessed
-in his favour, and yet refuse to yield in a point, the absolute
-necessity of which he has so clearly demonstrated."
-
-"My dear Marcella," replied her ward, "you are wiser, and have had more
-experience in these matters, than myself; but have you sufficiently
-reflected on the consequences of a marriage contracted without my
-father's knowledge?" "Yes, certainly," answered the duenna, "I have
-maturely considered all that; and I regret to find you oppose yourself,
-with an obstinacy of which I deemed you incapable, to the brilliant
-establishment which fortune presents so uselessly. Have a care that
-your perverseness does not weary and repel your lover; remember that
-he may discover the inequality of your station and fortune, which his
-passion overlooks. While he offers you his faith, receive it without
-hesitation. His word is his bond; there is no tie more sacred with a
-man of honour, like Belflor: besides, I am witness that he acknowledges
-you as his wife; and I need not tell you that a testimony like mine
-would be more than sufficient to condemn a lover who should dare to
-perjure himself, and attempt to evade a legal contract."
-
-By this and similar conversations, the resolution of the artless
-Leonora was at last shaken; and the perils which surrounded her were
-so adroitly concealed by her perfidious governante, that, some days
-afterwards, she abandoned herself, without further reflection, to the
-will of the Count. Belflor was introduced nightly, by the balcony, into
-his mistress's apartment; which he left again before daybreak, when
-summoned by the duenna.
-
-One morning, the old lady overslept herself; and Aurora had already
-half opened the golden chambers of the east, when the Count hastily
-departed, as usual. Unfortunately, in his hurry to descend the ladder,
-his foot missed, and he fell heavily on the ground.
-
-Don Luis de Cespedes, who slept in the room over Leonora's, had
-that morning risen earlier than usual to attend to some important
-engagements; and hearing the noise of Belflor's fall he opened his
-window to learn whence it proceeded. To his astonishment, he perceived
-a man just raising himself, with difficulty, from the earth, while
-Marcella was busily engaged in the balcony with the silken ladder,
-of which the Count had made such bad use in his descent. Scarcely
-believing his eyes, and rubbing them to make sure that he was awake,
-Don Luis stood for some time in amazement; but he was too soon
-convinced that what he saw was no illusion; and that the light of day,
-although just breaking, was bright enough to discover to him, too
-clearly, his disgrace.
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis de Cespedes looking out of the window]
-
-Afflicted at this fatal sight, transported by a just wrath, he
-instantly sought the apartment of Leonora, holding the light by which
-he had been writing in one hand, and his sword in the other. With a
-frantic determination of sacrificing his daughter and her governante
-to his resentment, he struck the door of their chamber violently, and
-commanded them to admit him. Trembling, they obeyed his summons; when
-he entered with infuriated looks, and displaying his naked sword: "I
-come," he cried, "to wash out, in the blood of an infamous child, the
-stains on the wounded honour of her father; and to punish the crime of
-a perfidious wretch, who has betrayed his confidence."
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis confronts Leonora and Marcella]
-
-They were in a moment on their knees before him; and, as he raised his
-arm, the trembling duenna exclaimed: "In mercy hold, Signor! Before
-you inflict on us the punishment you meditate, deign but to listen to
-me for a moment." "Speak, then, unhappy woman," said Don Luis; "I will
-retard my vengeance but for the instant you require: speak, I repeat!
-tell me all the circumstances of my misfortune. But what do I say,--all
-the circumstances? Alas! I am ignorant but of one; it is, the name of
-the villain who has dishonoured me." "Signor," replied Marcella, "the
-cavalier who has just left us is the Count de Belflor." "The Count de
-Belflor!" repeated Don Luis; "and where did he see my daughter? By
-what means has he seduced her? On your life, hide nothing from me!"
-"Signor," replied the governante, "I will relate the whole history to
-you, with all the sincerity of which I am capable."
-
-She then related, with infinite art, all the conversations she had
-previously narrated to Leonora, as having passed between herself and
-the Count; whom she painted in the most flattering colours, as a lover
-tender, delicate, and sincere, beyond description. As, however, there
-was no escaping the event in which this heroic love most naturally
-terminated, she was obliged to avow the truth. But she managed this
-so adroitly, insisting on the weighty reasons which Belflor had for
-secrecy in his nuptials, and on the regret he had always expressed for
-its necessity, that she gradually appeased the fury of her master. This
-she was not slow to perceive; and, to completely soften the old man,
-she wound up by a peroration that would have done as much honour to a
-wig as to a gown:--"Signor," said she, "I have thus told you the simple
-truth: now punish us if you will, and plunge your sword into your
-daughter's bosom! But what say I? No! Leonora is innocent; she has but
-followed the faithful counsels of her to whom you confided the guidance
-of her conduct. It is my heart against which your sword should be
-directed; it was I who first introduced the Count to her apartment; it
-is I who formed those ties which bind him to your daughter. I would
-not perceive the irregularity of his engagement, although unauthorised
-by you: I saw in him but a son-in-law, whom I was anxious to secure to
-you; but the channel through which the favours of our Court might reach
-you. I forgot all but the happiness of Leonora, and the advancement of
-your family, in the brilliant alliance of the Count. I have erred: the
-excess of my zeal has made me forgetful of my duty."
-
-While the subtle Marcella was speaking thus, poor Leonora was not
-sparing of her tears; and her grief appeared so excessive that the good
-old man could not resist it. He was affected. His anger was changed
-into compassion; his sword fell on the ground; and, quitting the air of
-an irritated parent: "Ah! my daughter," he cried, while tears sprung
-from his aged eyes, like water from the rock of Horeb, "what a fatal
-passion is love! Alas! you know not yet all the causes it will bring
-you for affliction. The shame which a father's presence alone excites,
-can bring tears to your eyes at this moment; but you foresee not the
-woes which your lover is, perhaps even now, preparing for the future.
-And you, imprudent Marcella, what have you done? Into what an abyss has
-your indiscreet zeal for my family plunged us! I allow that an alliance
-with a man like Belflor might dazzle you, and it is that which alone
-excuses and saves you; but, miserable that you are, why were you not
-more cautious with a lover of his station? The greater his credit and
-favour at court, the more guarded should you have been against his
-approaches. Should he not scruple to break his faith with my daughter,
-how shall I avenge the insult? Shall I implore the power of our laws?
-A person of his rank can easily shelter himself from its severity.
-I will suppose that, faithful to his oaths, he would abide by his
-engagements with my daughter: if the King, as you say, has decreed that
-he shall marry with another, is it likely that our sovereign will fail
-to be obeyed?"
-
-"Oh! my father," replied Leonora, "that need not alarm us. The Count
-has assured us that the King would never do so great a violence to his
-feelings--" "Of which I am convinced," interrupted the duenna; "for,
-besides that the monarch loves Belflor too much to exercise so great a
-tyranny upon his favourite, he is of too noble a character to afflict
-so grievously the valiant Don Luis de Cespedes, who has devoted to the
-service of the state the best years of his life."
-
-"Heaven grant," exclaimed the old man, sighing, "that all my fears
-are vain! I will seek the Count, and demand a full explanation of his
-conduct: the eyes of a father, alarmed for a daughter's welfare, will
-pierce his very soul. If I find him what I would hope, and what you
-would persuade me he is, I will pardon what has passed; but," added he
-firmly, "if in his discourse I discern the perfidy of his heart, you
-go, both of you, to bewail in retirement, for the rest of your days,
-the imprudence of which you have been guilty." As he finished, he took
-up his sword, and retired to his own room, leaving his daughter and
-her governante to recover themselves from the fright into which this
-discovery had so unexpectedly thrown them.
-
-[Illustration: The lady, her husband and her lover]
-
-Asmodeus was at this moment interrupted in his recital by the Student,
-who thus addressed him:--"My dear Devil, interesting as is the history
-you are relating to me, my eyes have wandered to an object which
-prevents my listening to you as attentively as I could wish. I see a
-lady, who is rather good-looking, seated between a young man and a
-gentleman old enough to be his grandfather. They seem to enjoy the
-liqueurs which are on the table near them, but what amuses me, is, that
-as from time to time the amorous old dotard embraces his mistress, the
-deceiver conveys her hand to the lips of the other, who covers it with
-silent kisses. He is doubtless her gallant." "On the contrary," replied
-the cripple, "he is her husband, and the old fool is her lover. He is
-a man of consequence,--no less than a commandant of the military order
-of Calatrava; and is ruining himself for the lady, whose complaisant
-husband holds some inferior place at court She bestows her caresses on
-the sighing knight, for the sake of his gold; and is unfaithful to him
-in favour of her husband, from inclination."
-
-"That is a marvellously pretty picture," said Zambullo. "The husband of
-course is French?" "No, no," replied the Demon: "he is a Spaniard. Oh!
-the good city of Madrid can boast within its walls a fair proportion
-of such well-bred spouses: still, they do not swarm here as in Paris,
-which is, beyond contradiction, the most fruitful city of the world
-in such inhabitants." "I thought so," said Don Cleophas; "but pardon
-me, Signor Asmodeus, if I have broken the thread of the fair Leonora's
-story. Continue it, I pray you; it interests me exceedingly; and
-exhibits such variety in the art of seduction as transports me with
-admiration."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-
-CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND
-LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
-
-Don Luis, (continued Asmodeus), on returning to his apartment, dressed
-himself hastily, and, while it was still early, repaired to the Count;
-who, not suspecting a discovery, was much surprised by this visit.
-On the old man's entrance, however, Belflor ran to meet him, and,
-embracing him cordially, exclaimed, "Ah Signor Don Luis; I am delighted
-to see you. To what do I owe this happiness? Am I so fortunate as
-to have an opportunity of serving you?" "Signor," replied Don Luis
-sternly, "I would speak with you alone."
-
-Belflor desired his attendants to withdraw; and as soon as they
-were seated, "Signor," said Cespedes, "I come to ask of you an
-explanation of circumstances in which my honour and happiness are
-deeply interested. I saw you this morning leaving the apartment of my
-daughter. She has disguised nothing from me: she informed that----"
-"She has told you that I love her," interrupted the Count, to avoid
-hearing what he knew could not be very agreeable; "but she can but have
-feebly described all that I feel for her. I am enchanted with her; she
-is an adorable creature: beauty, wit, virtue,--nothing is wanting to
-perfect her charms. I am told you have a son, too, who is finishing his
-studies at Alcala: does he resemble his sister? If he have her beauty,
-and have at all inherited the noble bearing of his father, he must be a
-perfect cavalier. I die with anxiety to see him; and I assure you that
-I shall be proud to advance his fortunes."
-
-"I am obliged to you for so kind an offer," gravely replied Don Luis;
-"but to return to the subject of----" "He must enter the service at
-once," again interrupted the Count: "I charge myself with the care of
-his interests: he shall not grow old among the crowd of subalterns;
-on that you may depend." "Answer me, Count!" replied the old man
-vehemently, "and cease these interruptions. Do you intend, or not, to
-fulfil the promise----?" "Yes, certainly," interrupted Belflor for
-the third time; "I engage faithfully to support your son with all
-the interest I possess: rely on me; I am a man of my word." "This is
-too much, Count," cried Cespedes, rising: "after having seduced my
-daughter, you dare thus to insult me! But I also am a noble; and the
-injury you have done me shall not remain unpunished." In finishing
-these words, he left the Count, his heart swelling with anger, and his
-mind tormented with a thousand projects of revenge.
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis de Cespedes interviews Belflor]
-
-On arriving at home, still greatly agitated, he immediately went to
-Leonora's apartment, where he found her with Marcella. "It was not
-without reason," said he, addressing them, "that I was suspicious of
-the Count: he is a traitor; but I will avenge myself. For you, you
-shall at once hide your shame within a convent: both of you, prepare
-to leave this house to-morrow; and thank Heaven that my wrath contents
-itself with so moderate a punishment." He then left them, to shut
-himself in his cabinet, that he might maturely reflect on the conduct
-it would be proper to observe in so delicate a conjuncture.
-
-How poignant was the grief of Leonora, when thus informed of Belflor's
-perfidy! She remained for some time motionless; a death-like paleness
-overspread her lovely features; life itself seemed about to abandon
-her, and she fell senseless into the arms of her governante. The
-alarmed duenna at first thought that the victim of her intrigues
-was really dead; but, on perceiving that she still breathed, used
-every effort to restore her to consciousness, and at last succeeded.
-Existence, however, had no longer charms for Leonora; and when,
-somewhat recovered, she unclosed her eyelids, and perceived the
-officious governante busy about her person, "Cruel Marcella!" she
-exclaimed, sighing deeply; "wherefore have you drawn me from the happy
-state in which I was? Then, I felt not the horror of my destiny. Why
-did you not let me perish? You, who know so well that life henceforth
-must be but one long misery, why have you sought to preserve it?"
-
-The duenna endeavoured to console her, but her words only added to
-Leonora's sufferings. "It is in vain you would comfort me," she cried,
-"I will not hear you: strive not to combat my despair. Rather seek to
-add to its profundity; you, who have plunged me into the frightful
-gulph in which all my hopes are swallowed:--you it was who assured
-me of the Count's sincerity; but for you I had never yielded to my
-passion for him; I should have insensibly triumphed over it, or at
-least, he would never have had cause to boast of my weakness. But no!
-I will not," she continued, "attribute to you my misfortunes; it is
-myself alone I should accuse. I ought not to have followed your advice,
-in accepting the faith of a man, without the sanction of my father.
-However flattering to me were the attentions of Count de Belflor, I
-should have despised them, rather than have endeavoured to secure them
-at the price of my honour: I should have mistrusted him, you! Marcella,
-and myself. For my folly in listening to his perfidious oaths, for the
-affliction I have caused to the unhappy Don Luis, and for the dishonour
-I have brought upon my family, I detest myself; and, far from fearing
-the state of seclusion with which I am menaced, I would willingly
-conceal my guilt and shame in the most frightful dungeon in the world."
-
-[Illustration: Marcella tries to console Leonora]
-
-While her grief thus vented itself in exclamations, and tears streamed
-from her eyes, she frantically tore her clothes, and revenged the
-injustice of her lover on the beautiful locks which fell around her
-neck. The duenna, also, to appear in keeping with her mistress's
-grief, was not sparing of grimaces; she managed to squeeze out some
-convenient tears, and directed a thousand imprecations against mankind
-in general, and against Belflor in particular. "Is it possible," she
-cried, "that the Count, who had all the semblance of amiability and
-rectitude, should be so great a villain as to have deceived us both?
-I cannot get over my surprise, or rather, I cannot even yet persuade
-myself that he is so."
-
-"Indeed," said Leonora, "when I picture him myself at my feet, what
-maiden could but have confided to so much tenderness,--to his oaths,
-which he so daringly called on Heaven to witness,--to his boundless
-transports, which seemed so sincere? His eyes to me discovered a love
-far more intense than his lips could express; and the very sight of me
-appeared to charm him:--no, he did not deceive me; I cannot believe
-it. My father has not spoken to him with sufficient caution; they have
-quarrelled, and the Count has replied to his reproaches less as the
-lover than the lord. Still, may I not deceive myself? I will, however,
-end this horrible suspense. I will write to Belflor,--tell him I expect
-him here this night: I am resolved he comes to reassure my troubled
-heart, or to confirm, himself, his treachery."
-
-Marcella loudly applauded this resolution; she even conceived a hope
-that the Count, all ambitious as he was, might yet be affected by the
-tears of his Leonora, which could not fail at this interview, and that
-he might determine on espousing her in truth.
-
-Meanwhile, Belflor, relieved of the presence of Don Luis, was revolving
-in his mind the probable consequences of the reception he had given to
-the good old man. He felt certain that all the Cespedes, enraged at
-the injury he had done their family, would unite to avenge it: this,
-however, gave him but little trouble; the possible loss of Leonora
-occasioned him far greater anxiety. She would, he imagined, at once be
-placed in a convent, or, at least, that she would be carefully guarded
-from his sight; and that she was consequently lost to him for ever.
-This thought afflicted him; and he was occupied in devising some means
-to prevent so great a misfortune, when his valet entered the apartment,
-and presented a letter which Marcella had placed in his hands. It was
-from Leonora, and ran as follows:--
-
- "MY STILL DEAREST BELFLOR,
-
- "I shall to-morrow quit the world, to bury myself in a convent.
- Dishonoured, odious to my family and to myself, such is the deplorable
- condition to which I am reduced by listening to you. Still I will
- expect you to-night. In my despair, I seek new tortures: come, and
- avow to me that your heart disowned the protestations which your lips
- have made to me; or come to confirm them by your sympathy, which alone
- can soften the harshness of my destiny. As there may, however, be
- some danger in this meeting, after what has passed between you and my
- father, be sure you are accompanied by a friend. Although you have
- rendered life worthless to me, I cannot cease to interest myself in
- thine.
-
- "LEONORA."
-
-While the Count perused this letter, which he read over several times,
-his imagination depicted the situation of Leonora, in colours more
-sombre even than the reality, and he was deeply affected. He bitterly
-reflected on his past conduct: reason, probity, honour, all whose laws
-he had violated in the phrenzy of his passion, now regained their
-empire in his breast. The blindness which selfishness inflicts upon
-its victims was dissipated; and as the fevered convalescent blushes for
-the follies which, in the access of his disorder, he has committed, so
-was Belflor ashamed of the meanness and artifice of which he had been
-guilty to satisfy his lust.
-
-"What have I done?" he cried; "wretch that I am, what demon has
-possessed me? I promised Leonora to espouse her, and called on Heaven
-to witness for the lie; I falsely told her that the King had designed
-me for another; lying, treachery, perjury,--I have hesitated at nothing
-to corrupt innocence itself. What madness! Oh! had I used, to control
-it, the efforts I have made to gratify my passion! To seduce one of
-whose beauty and virtue I was unworthy, to abandon her to the wrath
-of her relations, whom I have equally dishonoured, and to plunge her
-in misery as a return for the happiness she bestowed on me,--what
-ingratitude! Ought I not then to repair the injury I have inflicted?
-Yes, I ought, and I will; my hand shall at the altar fulfil the pledge
-I gave for it. Who shall oppose me in so righteous a determination?
-Should her tenderness for me at all prejudice her virtue? No, I know
-too well what that cost me to vanquish. She yielded less to my love
-than to her confidence in my integrity, and to my vows of fidelity.
-But, on the other hand, if I resolve on this marriage, I make a great
-sacrifice,--I, who may pretend to the heiresses of the richest and most
-noble houses in the kingdom, shall I content myself with the daughter
-of a respectable gentleman, of small fortune? What will they think of
-me at court? They will say that I have made a splendid alliance indeed!"
-
-Belflor, thus divided between love and ambition, knew not how to
-resolve; but although undetermined whether he should marry Leonora
-or not, he had no difficulty in making up his mind to see her that
-evening, and at once directed his valet so to inform Marcella.
-
-Don Luis was all this time in his cabinet, engaged in reflections on
-the mode he should adopt to vindicate his honour; and he was not a
-little embarrassed in his choice. To have recourse to the laws, was to
-publish his disgrace, besides which, he suspected with great reason
-that justice was likely to be one side, and the judges on the other.
-Again, he dared not to seek reparation of the King himself; as he
-believed that prince had views with regard to Belflor which must render
-such an application useless. There remained, then, but his own sword
-and those of his friends, and on these he concluded to rely.
-
-In the heat of his resentment, he at first meditated a challenge to the
-Count; but on consideration of his great age and weakness, he feared
-to trust his arm; so resolved to confide the matter to his son, whose
-thrust he thought was likely to be surer than his own. He therefore
-sent one of his domestics to Alcala, with a letter commanding his son's
-immediate presence in Madrid, to revenge, as he stated it, an insult
-offered to the family of the Cespedes.
-
-"This son, Don Pedro, is a cavalier of eighteen years of age, perfectly
-handsome, and so brave, that he passes at Alcala for the most valiant
-student of that university; but you know him," added the Devil, "and I
-need not enlarge on the subject." "I can answer," said Don Cleophas,
-"for his having all the valour and all the merit that can adorn a
-gentleman."
-
-"But this young man," resumed Asmodeus, "was not then at Alcala, as
-his father imagined. Love had brought him also to Madrid, where the
-object of his passion resided; and where he had met her for the first
-time, on the Prado, on the occasion of his last visit to his family.
-Who she was, he knew not: and his fair conquest had exacted of him a
-pledge that he would take no steps to inform himself on this head,--and
-although he was as good as his word, it cost him some trouble to keep
-it. I need hardly add, that she was of higher rank than her lover; and
-that, wisely mistrusting the discretion and constancy of a student--no
-offence to your highness--she thought proper to test him as to these
-necessary qualifications for a suitor, before she disclosed to him her
-station or name."
-
-[Illustration: portrait of Don Pedro]
-
-His thoughts were, of course, more occupied by his lovely incognita
-than with the philosophy of Aristotle; and the vicinity of Alcala to
-Madrid occasioned the youthful Pedro to play truant to his studies
-as frequent as yourself; but, I must say, with a better excuse than
-your Donna Thomasa afforded. To conceal from his father, Don Luis, his
-amorous excursions, he usually lodged at a tavern at the other end of
-the town, where he passed under a borrowed name; and only went abroad
-at a certain hour in the morning, that he might repair to a house where
-the lady, for the love of whom he neglected his Ovid, did him the
-honour to wait, in company with a trusty female attendant. During the
-rest of the day he shut himself up in his hotel; but as soon as night
-was come, he wandered fearlessly throughout the city.
-
-He happened one evening, as he was traversing a bye-street, to hear the
-sound of instruments and voices, which attracted his attention, and he
-stopped to listen. It was a serenade, and tolerably performed; but the
-cavalier, who was drunk, and naturally brutish, no sooner perceived our
-student than he hurried towards him, and, without preface,--"Friend,"
-said he, with an insolent air, "make yourself scarce; or your curiosity
-may find you more than you expect." "I would have withdrawn," replied
-Don Pedro, proudly, "had you requested me to do so with civility; but
-I shall now stay, to teach you better manners." "We shall see, then,"
-said the serenading gallant, drawing his sword, "which of us two will
-give place to the other."
-
-Don Pedro also drew his sword, their weapons were crossed in a moment,
-and a furious combat ensued; but although the Student's adversary was
-not wanting in skill, he could not parry a mortal thrust of Don Pedro,
-and fell dead upon the pavement. The musicians, who had already quitted
-their instruments, or stopped their singing, and had drawn their swords
-to protect their patron, now came in a body to avenge his death, and
-attacked Don Pedro all together. He, however, gave them satisfactory
-proofs of what he could do upon occasion; for, besides parrying, with
-surprising dexterity, all the thrusts which they designed for him, he
-dealt furiously among them, and found work for them all to protect
-themselves.
-
-Still, they were so numerous, and apparently so determined on the
-Student's death, that, skilful as he was with his weapon, they would
-have most probably accomplished their object, had not the Count de
-Belflor, who was accidentally passing through the street, come to his
-assistance. The Count was of too noble a nature to see so many armed
-men striving against one man to hesitate upon the part he should take.
-His sword was therefore instantly directed against the musicians, and
-with so much vigour that they were soon put to flight, some wounded,
-and the others for fear they should be.
-
-The field thus cleared, the Student, with what breath remained to him,
-began to express his sense of the valuable service he had so seasonably
-received; but Belflor at once stopped him: "Not a word, my dear Sir,"
-said he; "are you not wounded?" "No," replied Don Pedro. "Then let
-us leave this place at once," said the Count: "I see you have killed
-your man; and it will be dangerous to stay in his company, lest the
-officers of justice surprise you." They immediately decamped as quickly
-as possible, and did not stop until they had gained a street at some
-distance from the field of battle.
-
-Don Pedro, filled with a natural gratitude, then begged the Count not
-to conceal from him the name of a person to whom he owed so great an
-obligation. Belflor made no difficulty in complying with this request;
-but when in turn he asked that of the Student, the latter, unwilling to
-discover himself to any person in Madrid, replied, that he was Don Juan
-de Maros, and that he should eternally bear in his remembrance the debt
-of gratitude which he owed to the Count.
-
-[Illustration: the swordfight]
-
-"Well," said Belflor to him, "I will this night give you an
-opportunity of repaying it in full. I have an appointment, which is not
-without risk; and I was about, when I fell in with you, to seek the
-protection of a friend. However, I know your valour, Don Juan: will you
-accompany me?" "To doubt it, were to insult me," replied the Student:
-"I cannot better employ the life you have preserved, than in exposing
-it in your defence. Go! I am ready to follow you." Accordingly, Belflor
-conducted Don Pedro to the house of Don Luis, and they both entered, by
-the balcony, the apartment of Leonora.
-
-Here Don Cleophas interrupted the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus," said he,
-"impossible! What! not know his own father's house? No, no, no; that
-will never do." "It was not possible he should know it," replied
-the Demon; "for it was a new one: Don Luis had lately changed his
-habitation, and had only taken this house a week before; which was just
-what Don Pedro did not know, and was what I was just going to tell you
-when you stopped me. You are too sharp; and have that shocking habit of
-displaying your intelligence by interrupting people in their stories:
-get rid of that fault, I pray you."
-
-"Well," continued the Devil, "Don Pedro did not think he was in his
-father's house; nor did he even perceive that it was Marcella who let
-him into it; since she received him without a light, in an antechamber,
-where Belflor requested his companion to remain while he was in the
-next room with his mistress. To this the Student made no demur; so
-quietly sat himself down in a chair, with his drawn sword in his hand
-for fear of surprise, while his thoughts ran on the favours which he
-suspected love was heaping on the Count, and his wishes that he might
-be as happy with his incognita,--for although he had no great cause of
-complaint as to her kindness, still it was not exactly paid after the
-kind of that of Leonora for the Count."
-
-While he was making, upon this subject, all those pleasing reflections
-which occur so readily to an impassioned lover, he heard some one
-endeavouring quietly to open a door, which was not that of The
-Delights, but one which discovered a light through the keyhole. He rose
-quickly, and advanced towards it; and, as the door opened, presented
-the point of his sword to his father; for he it was who entered
-Leonora's apartments, for the purpose of seeing that the Count was not
-there. The good old man did not exactly suppose, after what had passed,
-that his daughter and Marcella would dare to receive him again, which
-had prevented his assigning to them other chambers; but he had thought
-it probable that, as they were to go to a nunnery on the following day,
-they might desire to converse with him, for the last time, ere they
-left his roof.
-
-"Whoever thou art," said the Student, "enter not this room, or it may
-cost thee thy life." At these words, Don Luis stared at Don Pedro,
-who also regarding the old man with attention, they soon recognised
-each other. "Ah! my son," cried the old man, "with what impatience
-have I expected you: why did you not inform me of your arrival? Did
-you fear to disturb my rest? Alas! that is for ever banished, in the
-cruel situation in which I am placed." "Ah, my father!" said Don Pedro,
-utterly amazed, "is it you whom I behold? Are not my eyes deceived
-by some fantastic vision?" "Whence this astonishment?" replied Don
-Luis; "are you not within your father's house? Have I not, a week ago,
-informed you where to find me?" "Just Heaven!" cried the Student, "what
-do I hear?--and this then is my sister's apartment."
-
-As he finished these words, the Count, whom the noise had alarmed,
-and who expected that his escort was attacked, came out, sword in
-hand, from Leonora's chamber. No sooner did the old man perceive him
-than, with fury in his eyes, he pointed to Belflor, and exclaimed to
-his son,--"There is the villain who has robbed me of my happiness,
-and who has stained our honour with a mortal taint. Revenge! Let us
-hasten to punish the traitor!" As he thus vented his rage, he opened
-his dressing-gown, and drew from beneath it his sword, with which he
-was about to fall on the Count, when Don Pedro restrained him. "Stay,
-my father," said he; "moderate, I entreat you, the fury of your wrath:
-what are you about to do?" "My son," replied the old man, "you withhold
-my arm. You doubtless think it is too weak to revenge our wrongs. Be
-it so! Do you then exact full satisfaction for the injury he has done
-us: it was for this purpose that I summoned you to Madrid. Should you
-perish, I will take your place; for either shall the Count fall beneath
-our arms, or he shall take from both of us our lives, after having
-blasted our reputation."
-
-"My father," said Don Pedro, "I cannot yield to your impatience that
-which it requires of me. Far from attempting the life of the Count,
-I am now here to defend it. For that my word is pledged,--to that my
-honour is assured. Let us depart, Count," continued he, addressing
-himself to Belflor. "Ah! wretch," interrupted Don Luis, while he
-surveyed his son with anger and astonishment,--"thus to oppose thyself
-to a vengeance, which it should be the business of thy life to
-accomplish! My son, my own son, is leagued, then, with the villain who
-has corrupted my daughter! But think not to escape my resentment: I
-will place a sword in the hand of every servant in my house, to punish
-his treachery and thy despicable meanness."
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro restrains Don Luis from attacking Belflor]
-
-"Signor," replied Don Pedro, "be more just towards your son. Call him
-not despicable or mean--he merits not those odious appellations. The
-Count this night saved my life. He proposed to me, in ignorance of my
-real name, to accompany him here; and I freely consented to share the
-perils he might run, without knowing that my gratitude imprudently
-engaged my arm against the honour of my family. My word is passed,
-then, here to defend his life; that done, I stand acquitted of my
-obligation towards him: but I am not the less insensible of the wrong
-that he has done to you and to us all; and to-morrow you shall find
-that I will as readily shed his blood, as you behold me now determined
-to preserve it from your hands."
-
-The Count had witnessed in silence all that passed, so much was
-he surprised at this extraordinary adventure; he now, however,
-thus addressed the Student: "It is possible that the injury I have
-inflicted might be but imperfectly avenged by your sword; I will,
-therefore, present to you a means much more certain of repairing it.
-I will confess to you that, until this day, I did not intend to marry
-Leonora; but I this morning received from her a letter which touched
-my heart, and her tears have finished what her letter began. The
-happiness of being united to your sister is now my dearest hope." "But
-if the King has destined you for another," said Don Luis, "how can you
-dispense----?" "The King has not troubled himself upon the subject,"
-interrupted Belflor, blushing: "pardon, I beseech you, that fiction,
-to a man whose reason was deranged by love; it is a crime that the
-violence of my passion incited me to commit, and which I expiate in
-avowing to you my shame."
-
-"Signor," replied the old man, "after this frankness, which belongs
-only to noble minds, I cannot doubt your sincerity. I see, with joy,
-that you are anxious to repair the injury you have done us; my anger
-yields to this assurance of your contrition; I will forget it for ever
-in your arms." He advanced towards the Count, who rushed to meet him,
-and they embraced each other cordially. Then, turning towards Don
-Pedro, "And you, false Don Juan," said Belflor,--"you, who have already
-gained my esteem by your valour, come, let me vow to you a brother's
-love." Don Pedro received the Count's embraces with a submissive and
-respectful air, saying, "Signor, in offering to me so valuable a
-friendship, you secure mine for yourself: rely on me, as one devoted to
-your service to the last moment of his life."
-
-While these cavaliers were thus discoursing, Leonora was at the door of
-her chamber, intently listening to every syllable they uttered. She had
-been, at the first, tempted to discover herself, and to throw herself
-in the midst of their swords; but fear, and Marcella, had withheld
-her. But when the adroit duenna saw that matters were arranging very
-amicably, she guessed that the presence of her mistress, and her own,
-would spoil nothing. Accordingly, she appeared, her handkerchief in one
-hand and her ward in the other; and, with tears in their eyes, they
-prostrated themselves before Don Luis. Neither of them, indeed, felt
-perfectly assured; for they recollected the surprise of the previous
-night, and feared the old man's reproaches for this renewal of their
-disobedience. However, raising Leonora,--"My child," said he, "dry your
-tears; I will not upbraid you now: since your lover is disposed to keep
-the faith he has sworn to you, it is fitting that I should forget the
-past."
-
-"Yes, Signor Don Luis," interrupted Belflor, "I will indeed keep my
-faith with Leonora; and as some amends for the insult I had intended,
-as the fullest satisfaction I can give to you, and as a pledge of that
-friendship I have vowed to Don Pedro, I offer him in marriage my sister
-Eugenia." "Signor!" cried Don Luis, "how can I express my satisfaction
-at the honour you confer upon my son? Was ever father happier than
-myself? You overpay me, in joy, for the grief you have caused me."
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis raises Leonora]
-
-Though the old man was charmed with the Count's proposals, I cannot say
-as much for his son. Being sincerely taken with love for his incognita,
-he was so overcome with surprise and chagrin at Belflor's offer, that
-he had not a word to say for himself; when the latter, who did not
-observe his embarrassment, took leave, stating that he should at once
-order the necessary preparations for this double union, and that he was
-impatient to be bound to them eternally, by ties so endearing.
-
-After his departure, Don Luis left Leonora with the duenna, taking
-with him his son, who, when they had reached his father's apartment,
-said, with all the frankness of a student: "Signor, do not insist, I
-pray you, on my marriage with the Count's sister; it is enough for
-the honour of our family, that he should espouse Leonora." "What! my
-son," replied the old man, "can you have any objection to an union with
-Eugenia de Belflor?" "Yes, my father," said Don Pedro; "I must confess
-to you, that union would prove to me the most cruel of punishments; and
-I will not disguise from you the reason. I love, or, rather, I adore
-another: for the last six months she has listened to my vows: and now,
-on her alone depends the happiness of my life."
-
-"How miserable is the condition of a father!" exclaimed Don Luis: "how
-rarely does he find his children disposed to do as he desires them. But
-who is this lady that has made such deep impression on your heart?"
-"That, I do not yet know," replied Don Pedro. "She has promised to
-inform me of her name when I shall have satisfied her of my constancy
-and discretion; but I doubt not she does honour to one of the noblest
-houses of Spain."
-
-"And you think then," said the old man, changing his tone, "that I
-shall be so obliging as to sanction this romantic love!--that I shall
-permit you to renounce an alliance, as glorious as fortune could offer
-to you, that you may remain faithful to an illustrious lady of whose
-very name you are ignorant! Do not expect so much of my kindness. No,
-rather strive to vanquish feelings that are inspired by an object which
-is most probably unworthy of them; and seek, in so doing, to merit the
-honour which the Count proposes for you." "You speak to me in vain,
-my father," replied the Student; "I feel that I can never forget her
-whom I have sworn to love--unknown though she be,--and that nothing
-can tear me from her. Were the Infanta proposed to me----" "Hold!"
-cried the old man angrily; "it is too much to boast thus insolently of
-a constancy which excites my displeasure: leave me, and let me not see
-you again until you are prepared to obey my will."
-
-Don Pedro did not dare to reply to these words, for fear of hearing
-others more unpleasant still; so he retired to his chamber, where he
-passed the remainder of the night in reflections in which sorrow was
-not all unmixed with joy. He thought with grief that he was about to
-estrange himself from his family, by refusing the hand of Belflor's
-sister; but then he was consoled, when he reflected that his incognita
-would worthily esteem the greatness of the sacrifice. He even flattered
-himself that, after so convincing a proof of his fidelity, she would
-no longer conceal from him her station, which he imagined also must be
-equal at least to that of Eugenia.
-
-In this hope, as soon as day appeared, he went out, and directed his
-steps towards the Prado, that he might pass away the time until the
-hour of his meeting with his mistress. With what impatience did he
-count the minutes as they lingered,--with what joy did he hail the
-happy moment when it arrived!
-
-He found his fair unknown with Donna Juanna, the lady at whose house
-they met; but alas, he found her in tears, and apparently in the
-deepest affliction. What a sight for a lover! His own grief was
-forgotten: he approached her with tenderness; and throwing himself on
-his knees before her, "Madam," he exclaimed, "what must I think of the
-condition in which I see you? What dreadful misfortune do these tears,
-which pierce my heart, forbode?" "You dream not," she replied, "of
-the fatal news I bring you. Cruel fortune is about to separate us for
-ever;--yes! we shall meet no more."
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro kneels before his fair unknown]
-
-She accompanied these words with so many and such heart-rending sighs,
-that I know not if Don Pedro was more affected at what she told him,
-than at the affliction with which she appeared oppressed in telling it.
-"Just Heaven!" he cried, in a transport of fury, which he could not
-control, "is it thy will that they prevent an union whose innocence
-is worthy of thy protection? But, Madam," he continued, "you are
-perhaps falsely alarmed! Is it certain that they would snatch you from
-the most faithful of lovers? Can it be possible that I should be so
-unhappy?" "Our misfortune is but too certain," answered the Unknown;
-"my brother, upon whom my hand depends, has bestowed it this very day;
-he has this moment announced to me his decision." "And who is the happy
-man?" exclaimed Don Pedro. "Tell me! In my despair I will seek him,
-and----" "I do not know his name," interrupted the Unknown. "I cared
-not to ask, nor did my brother inform me; he told me indeed that it was
-his wish that I should first see the cavalier."
-
-"But, Madam," said Don Pedro, "will you then yield without resistance
-to your brother's will? Will you be dragged to the altar, without
-complaint? Will you go, a willing sacrifice, and abandon me so easily?
-Alas! I have not hesitated to expose myself to the anger of a father
-for love of you; nor could his menaces for a moment shake my fidelity.
-No! nor threats, nor persuasion, could move me to espouse another,
-although the lady he proposed for me was one to whom I had hardly
-dared aspire." "And who is this lady?" asked the Unknown. "She is the
-sister of the Count de Belflor," replied the scholar. "Ah, Don Pedro!"
-cried the Unknown, with extreme surprise, "surely, you are mistaken;
-it cannot be she whom they propose to you. What! Eugenia, the sister
-of Belflor? Are you sure of what you say?" "Yes, Madam," replied the
-Student; "the Count himself offered me her hand." "How!" cried she,
-"is it possible that you are the cavalier for whom my brother designs
-me?" "What do I hear?" cried the Student in his turn, "is it possible
-that my incognita is the Count de Belflor's sister?" "Yes, Don Pedro,"
-replied Eugenia. "But I can hardly believe it myself, at this moment;
-so difficult do I find it to persuade myself of the happiness you
-assure to me."
-
-Don Pedro now fell again at her feet, and seizing her hand, he kissed
-it with all the transport that lovers only can feel who pass suddenly
-from the depths of despair to the highest pinnacle of hope and joy.
-While he abandoned himself to the feelings of his heart, Eugenia for
-the first time forgot her reserve, and freely returned his caress--she
-felt that her love was sanctioned, and gave, her lips where her heart
-had long been engaged. "Alas!" said she, when her love could form
-itself into words, "what tortures had my brother spared me, had he
-but here named the husband of his choice! What aversion had I already
-conceived for my future lord! Ah, my dear Don Pedro, how I have hated
-you!" "Lovely Eugenia," replied he, "what charms has that hatred for me
-now! I will endeavour to merit it by adoring you for ever."
-
-After the happy pair had exhausted love's vocabulary, and the tumult
-of their hearts was somewhat calmed, Eugenia was anxious to know by
-what means the Student had gained her brother's friendship. Don Pedro
-did not conceal from her the amours of the Count and his sister, and
-related all that had passed the night before. It was for Eugenia an
-additional pleasure to learn that Belflor was to marry the sister of
-her own lover. Donna Juanna was too much interested in the welfare of
-her friend not to partake of her joy for this happy event, and warmly
-congratulated her, as also Don Pedro thereon. At last the lovers
-separated, after having agreed that they should not appear to know each
-other when they met before the Count and Don Luis.
-
-Don Pedro returned to his father, who, finding his son disposed to
-obey him, was the more pleased, inasmuch as he attributed this ready
-compliance to the firm manner in which he had spoken to him overnight.
-They presently received a note from Belflor, in which he informed them
-that he had obtained the King's consent to his marriage, as also for
-that of his sister with Don Pedro, on whom his Majesty had been
-pleased to confer a considerable appointment. He added, so diligently
-had his orders for the nuptials been executed, that everything was
-arranged for their taking place on the following day; and he came soon
-after they had received his letter, to confirm what he had written, and
-to present to them his sister Eugenia.
-
-[Illustration: Belflor presents Eugenia]
-
-Don Luis received the lady with every mark of affection, and Leonora
-kissed her so much that her brother was almost jealous--although,
-whatever he might feel, he managed to constrain his love and delight,
-so as not to give the Count the least suspicion of their intelligence.
-
-As Belflor remarked his sister with great attention, he thought he
-could discover, notwithstanding her reserve, which he attributed to
-modesty, that Don Pedro was by no means displeasing to her. To be
-certain, however, he took an opportunity of speaking to her aside, and
-drew from her an avowal of her entire satisfaction. He then informed
-her of the name and rank of her intended, which he would not before
-communicate, lest the inequality of the stations should prejudice her
-against him; all which she feigned, marvellously well, to hear as for
-the first time.
-
-At last, after many compliments, which were remarkable for their
-sincerity, it was resolved that the weddings should take place at the
-house of Don Luis the next day, as Belflor had arranged. They were
-accordingly celebrated this evening, the rejoicing still continues,
-and now you know why they are so merry in that house. Every one is
-delighted--except the lady Marcella: she, while all else are laughing,
-is at this moment in tears. They are real tears too, this time! for
-the Count de Belflor, after the ceremony, informed Don Luis of the
-facts which preceded it; and the old gentleman has sent the duenna to
-the _Monasterio de las Arrepentidas_, where the thousand pistoles she
-received for seducing Leonora will enable her to repent having done so
-for the rest of her days.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE ON DONNA THOMASA.
-
-
-The Demon now directed the Student's attention to another part of the
-city. "You see," he continued, "that house which is directly under
-us: it contains something curious enough,--a man loaded with debt and
-sleeping profoundly." "Of course then," said Leandro, "he is a person
-of distinction?" "Precisely so," answered Asmodeus: "he is a marquis,
-possessed of a hundred thousand ducats per annum, but whose expenses,
-nevertheless, exceed his income. His table and his mistresses require
-that he should support them with credit, but that causes him no
-anxiety; on the contrary, when he opens an account with a tradesman,
-he thinks that the latter is indebted to him. 'It is you,' said he the
-other day to a draper, 'it is you, that I shall henceforth trust with
-the execution of my orders; it is a preference which you owe to my
-esteem.'
-
-"While the marquis enjoys so tranquilly the sweet repose of which he
-deprives his creditors, look at a man who----" "Stay, Signor Asmodeus,"
-interrupted Don Cleophas hastily; "I perceive a carriage in the street,
-and cannot let it pass without asking what it contains." "Hush," said
-the Cripple, lowering his voice, as though he feared he should be
-heard:--"learn that that vehicle conceals one of the most dignified
-personages in this kingdom, a president, who is going to amuse himself
-with an elderly lady of Asturia, who is devoted to his pleasures. That
-he may not be known, he has taken the precaution of imitating Caligula,
-who on a similar occasion disguised himself in a wig.
-
-"But,--to return to the picture I was about to present to your sight
-when you interrupted me,--observe, in the very highest part of the
-mansion, where sleeps the marquis, a man who is writing in a chamber
-filled with books and manuscripts." "He is probably," said Zambullo,
-"the steward, labouring to devise some means for discharging his
-master's obligations." "Excellent," exclaimed the Devil; "that, indeed,
-forms a great part of the amusement of such gentry in the service of
-noblemen! They seek rather to profit from derangement of their masters'
-affairs than to put them in order. He is not, then, the steward whom
-you see; he is an author: the marquis keeps him in his house, to obtain
-the reputation of a patron of literature." "This author," replied Don
-Cleophas, "is apparently a man of eminence." "Judge for yourself!"
-replied the Demon. "He is surrounded by a thousand volumes, and is
-composing one, on Natural History, in which there will not be a line of
-his own. He pillages these books and manuscripts without mercy; and,
-although he does nothing but arrange and connect his larcenies, he has
-more vanity than the most original writer upon earth.
-
-[Illustration: the author at work]
-
-"You are not aware," continued the Spirit, "who lives three doors from
-this mansion: it is La Chichona, the very lady who acted so honourable
-a part in the story of the Count de Belflor." "Ah!" said Leandro, "I am
-delighted to behold her. The dear creature, so considerate for youth,
-is doubtless one of the two old ladies whom I perceive in that room.
-One of them is leaning with both her elbows on the table, looking
-attentively at the other, who is counting out some money. Which of
-them is La Chichona?" "Not the one who is counting," said the Demon;
-"her name is La Pebrada, and she is a distinguished member of the same
-profession: they are, indeed, partners; and are at this moment dividing
-the profits of an adventure which, by their assistance, has terminated
-favourably.
-
-[Illustration: La Chichona and La Pebrada divide the profits]
-
-"La Pebrada is the more successful of the two: she has among her
-clients several rich widows, who subscribe to her daily register."
-"What do you mean by her register?" interrupted the Student. "Why,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it contains the names of all handsome foreigners,
-and particularly Frenchmen, who come to Madrid. The instant La Pebrada
-hears of an arrival, away she posts to the hotel of the new comer,
-to learn every particular as to his country, birth, parentage, and
-education,--his age, form, and appearance, all which are duly reported
-to her subscribers; and if, on reflection, the heart of any of her
-widows is inclined to an acquaintance, she adroitly manages a speedy
-interview with the stranger."
-
-"That is extremely convenient," replied Zambullo, smiling, "and in
-some sort very proper; for, in truth, without these kind ladies and
-their agents, the youthful foreigner, who comes without introductions
-to Madrid, would lose an immense deal of time in gaining them. But,
-tell me, are there in other countries widows as generous and women as
-intriguing?" "Capital!" exclaimed the Devil--"if there are? Why! can
-you doubt it? I should be unworthy of my demonship if I neglected to
-provide all large towns with them in plenty."
-
-"Cast your eyes upon Chichona's neighbour,--yon printer, who is working
-at his press, alone. He has dismissed the devils in his employ these
-three hours; and he is now engaged, for the night, on a work which
-he is printing privately." "Ah! what may it be?" said Leandro. "It
-treats of insults," replied the Demon; "and endeavours to prove that
-Religion is preferable to Honour; and that it is better to pardon than
-to avenge an affront." "Oh! the scoundrel!" exclaimed the Student "Well
-may he print in secret his infamous book. Its author had better not
-acknowledge his production: I would be one of the first to answer it
-with a horsewhip. What! can Religion forbid the preservation of one's
-honour?"
-
-"Let us not discuss that point," interrupted Asmodeus, with a malicious
-smile. "It appears that you have made the most of the lectures on
-morality you listened to at Alcala; and I give you joy of the result."
-"You may say what you please," interrupted Cleophas in his turn, "and
-so may the writer of this wretched absurdity: but though his reasonings
-were clear as the noon-day sun, I should despise him and them. I am a
-Spaniard, and nothing is to me so delightful as revenge; and, by the
-by, since you have pledged yourself to satisfy me for the perfidy of my
-mistress, I call on you at once to keep your promise."
-
-"I yield with pleasure," replied the Demon, "to the wrath which
-agitates your breast. Oh! how I love those noble spirits who follow
-without scruple the dictates of their passions! I will obey your will
-at once; and indeed, the hour to avenge your wrongs is come: but first
-I wish to show you something which will amuse you vastly. Look beyond
-the printing-office, and observe with attention what is passing in an
-apartment, hung with drab cloth." "I perceive," said Leandro, "five or
-six women, who are with eagerness offering phials of something to a
-sort of valet, and they appear desperately agitated."
-
-"They are," replied Asmodeus, "devotees, who have great reason to be
-agitated. There is in the next room a sick inquisitor. This venerable
-personage, who is about thirty-five years old, is attended by two of
-his dearest penitents, with untiring watchfulness. One is concocting
-his gruel, while the other at his pillow is employed in keeping his
-head warm, and is covering his stomach with a kind of blanket made of
-at least fifty lamb-skins." "What on earth is the matter with him,
-then?" asked Zambullo. "He has a cold in his head," answered the Devil;
-"and there is danger lest the disorder should extend to his lungs."
-
-[Illustration: the inquisitor nursed by two penitents]
-
-"The ladies whom you see in his antechamber have hastened, on the
-alarm of his indisposition, with all sorts of remedies. One brings,
-to allay his apprehended cough, syrups of jujubes, mallows, coral,
-and coltsfoot; another, to preserve the said lungs of his reverence,
-syrups of long-life, speedwell, amaranth, and the elixir vitæ; this
-one, to fortify his brain and stomach, has brought balm, cinnamon, and
-treacle waters, besides gutta vitæ, and the essences of nutmegs and
-ambergris; that offers anacardine and bezoardic confections; while a
-fifth carries tinctures of cloves, gilly-flowers, sunflowers, and of
-coral and emeralds. All these zealous penitents are boasting to the
-valet of the virtues of the medicines they offer; and each by turns,
-drawing him aside, and slipping a ducat in his hand, whispers in his
-ear: 'Laurence, my dear Laurence, manage so, I beg of you, that what I
-bring for the dear man may have the preference.'"
-
-"By Jupiter!" cried Don Cleophas, "it must be allowed that
-inquisitors--even sick inquisitors--are happy mortals." "I can answer
-for that," replied Asmodeus; "I almost envy them their lot, myself;
-and, like the son of Philip of Macedon, who once said that he would
-have been Diogenes, if he had not been Alexander, I can unhesitatingly
-say, that, if I were not a devil I would be an inquisitor."
-
-"But, Signor Student," continued he, "let us go! Let us away, to punish
-the ingrate who so ill-requited your tenderness." Zambullo instantly
-seized the end of the Demon's cloak, and a second time was whirled with
-him through the air, until they alighted on the house of Donna Thomasa.
-
-This frail damsel was seated at table, with the four gentlemen who,
-a few hours before, had so eagerly sought the acquaintance of Don
-Cleophas on the roof of her house. He trembled with rage, as he beheld
-them feasting on a brace of partridges and a rabbit, which, with some
-choice wine, he had sent to the traitress for his own supper; and, to
-add to his mortification, he perceived that joy reigned in the repast;
-and that it was evident, by the deportment of the lady, that the
-company of these scoundrels was much more agreeable to her than that of
-himself. "Oh! the wretches!" he cried, in a perfect fury, "to see them
-enjoying themselves at my expense! Vastly pleasant, is it not?"
-
-"Why, I must confess," replied the Demon, "that you have witnessed
-spectacles more pleasing; but he who rejoices in the favours of such
-fair ones must expect to share them. This sort of thing has happened a
-thousand times; especially in France, among the abbés, the gentlemen of
-the long robe, and the financiers." "If I had a sword, though," said
-Leandro, "I would fall upon the villains, and spoil their sport for
-them." "You would be hardly matched," replied the Demon;--"what were
-one among so many? Leave your revenge to me! I will manage it better
-than you could. I will soon set them together by the ears, in inspiring
-each of them with a fit of tenderness for your mistress: their swords
-will be out in no time, and you will be delighted with the uproar."
-
-[Illustration: The guests quarrel over Donna Thomasa]
-
-Asmodeus had no sooner spoken than he breathed forcibly, and from his
-mouth issued a violet-coloured vapour which descended tortuously,
-like a fiery serpent, and spread itself round the table of Donna
-Thomasa. In an instant, one of her guests, more inflammable than his
-companions, rose from his seat, and, approaching the lady, embraced
-her amorously; when the others, in whom the spirit had begun to work,
-hastened together to snatch from him the dainty prize. Each claimed
-a preference: words ensued; a jealous rage possessed them; blows
-succeeded, and, as the Devil had foretold, they drew their weapons and
-commenced a furious combat. In the meanwhile Donna Thomasa exerted
-her lungs, and the neighbourhood was speedily alarmed by her cries.
-They call for the police; the police arrive: they break open the
-door, and find two of the Hectors extended on the floor. They seize
-upon the others, and take them with the Helen of the party to prison.
-In vain did she weep; in vain did she tear her locks, and exclaim
-in despair:--the tears of unfortunate beauty had no more effect on
-the cavaliers who conducted her, than they had on her former knight
-Zambullo, who almost died with laughter, in which the god of love most
-unnaturally joined him.
-
-"Well!" said the Demon to the Student, "are you content?" "No, no!"
-replied Don Cleophas; "to satisfy me in full, place me upon the prison,
-that I may have the pleasure of beholding in her dungeon, the miserable
-who trifled with my love. I feel for her, now, a hatred which exceeds
-even the affection with which she formerly inspired me." "Be it so!"
-said the Devil; "you shall ever find me a slave to your will, though
-it interfered with mine and my interests,--provided always, that it is
-safe to indulge you."
-
-[Illustration: Donna Thomasa in prison]
-
-They flew through the air, and were on the prison before the officers
-arrived with their captives. The two assassins were at once consigned
-to one of its lowest deeps, while Thomasa was led to a bed of straw,
-which she was to share with three or four other abandoned women, who
-had fallen into the hands of justice the same day; and with whom she
-was destined to be transported to the colonies, which a grateful mother
-country generally endows with this description of female inhabitants.
-
-"I am satisfied," said Zambullo; "I have tasted a delicious revenge:
-my dear Thomasa will not pass the night quite so pleasantly as
-she had anticipated. So, now, if you please, we will continue our
-observations." "We could not be in a better place, then," replied the
-Spirit. "Within these walls is much to interest you. Innocent and
-guilty, in somewhat equal numbers, are here enclosed: it is the hell
-in which commences the punishment of the one, and the purgatory in
-which the virtue of the others may be purified,--you see I'm a good
-Catholic, Signor Student! Of both of these species of prisoners I will
-show you examples, and I will inform you why they are here enfettered."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-
-THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.
-
-
-"And before I commence my memoirs, just observe the gaolers at the
-entrance of this horrible place. The poets of antiquity placed but one
-Cerberus at the gate of their hell: there are many more here, however,
-as you perceive. They are creatures who have lost all the feelings
-of humanity, if they ever possessed any;--the most malicious of my
-brethren could hardly replace one of them. But I observe that you are
-looking with horror on those cells whose only furniture consists of a
-wretched bed,--those fearful dungeons appear to you so many tombs. You
-are reasonably astonished at the misery you behold; and you deplore
-the fate of those unhappy persons whom the law restrains; still, they
-are not all equally to be pitied; and I will enable you to distinguish
-between them.
-
-"To begin, in that large cell to the right are four men sleeping in
-two beds; one of them is an innkeeper, accused of having poisoned a
-foreigner who died suddenly the other day in his house. They assert
-that the deceased owed his death to the quality of the wine he partook
-of; the host maintains, that the quantity, alone, killed him: and the
-accused will be believed, for the stranger was a German." "Well! who
-is in the right, the innkeeper or his accusers?" said Don Cleophas.
-"It is difficult to decide," replied the Devil "The wine was certainly
-drugged; but, i' faith, the Baron drank so largely, that the judges may
-for the nonce most conscientiously acquit a tavern-keeper of poisoning
-his customer."
-
-"His bedfellow is an assassin by profession;--not a soldier, but one of
-those scoundrels who are called _Valientes_, and who for four or five
-pistoles obligingly minister to all who will go to so great an expense
-for the purpose of secretly ridding themselves of some one to whom they
-owe an obligation. The third prisoner is a dancing-master, who has
-been teaching one of his female pupils a step not usually practised
-in genteel society; and the fourth is an unlucky gallant caught by
-the patrole in the act of entering, by the balcony, the apartment of
-a lady, whom he was about to console for the absence of her husband.
-He has only to declare the charitable object of his visit, to withdraw
-himself from the hands of justice; but he nobly prefers to suffer as a
-robber, rather than endanger the reputation of his mistress."
-
-"He is a model of discretion, indeed," said the Student; "but it
-must be allowed that the cavaliers of Spain excel those of all
-other nations in affairs of gallantry; I would bet anything that a
-Frenchman, for example, would never permit himself to be hanged under
-similar circumstances." "And I would back you for that," answered the
-Devil; "he would rather scale the balcony of a lady, of whose favours
-he could boast, in broad day-light, for the express purpose of
-proclaiming her disgrace."
-
-"In a cell near that of the four men I have just spoken of," continued
-Asmodeus, "is a celebrated witch, who enjoys the reputation of doing
-all impossible things. By the power of her magic, old dowagers can
-find, they say, youthful admirers who will love them for their bloom;
-husbands are rendered faithful to their wives; and coquettes sincerely
-devoted to the rich fools who keep them: all which is, I need not tell
-you, absurd enough. Her only secret is in persuading people that she
-has one, and in making the most of that opinion. The Holy Office is
-jealous of the poor creature, so have called her to account; and she is
-likely to be burnt at the first _aúto de fé_."
-
-"Under this cell, in a dark dungeon, lodges a young tavern
-keeper."--"What! another?" cried Leandro,--"surely these people are
-going to poison all the world." "Mine host, in this case," replied
-Asmodeus, "will not suffer for his wine; it is for an illegal traffic
-in spirits that he was arrested yesterday, at the instance of the Holy
-Office also. I will explain the matter to you in a few words.
-
-"An old soldier, having risen by his courage, or rather by his
-patience, to the rank of serjeant, came to Madrid in search of
-recruits, and demanded a lodging in a tavern to which he was directed
-by his billet. The host told the serjeant that he certainly had spare
-rooms in his house, but that he could not think of putting him into any
-one of them, as they were haunted by a ghost who visited them nightly,
-and most shockingly ill-treated those who had the temerity to occupy
-them. The serjeant was not however to be daunted: 'Place me,' said
-he, 'in any room you please; give me a light, some wine, a pipe and
-tobacco, and never trouble yourself for my safety; ghosts, depend upon
-it, have the highest respect for an old campaigner, whose hairs have
-whitened under arms.'
-
-"As he appeared so resolute, they showed the old soldier to a chamber,
-gave him all he had required; and he began to smoke and drink at his
-ease. The hour of midnight sounded, but no ghost appeared to disturb
-the profound silence that reigned throughout the house; it seemed as
-though the spirit did indeed respect the valiant bearing of his new
-guest: but, between one and two o'clock, the wakeful sentinel was
-alarmed by a horrible din, as of rattling chains, and beheld, entering
-his apartment, a fearful spectre, clothed in black, and enveloped
-with iron chains. Our old smoker, not in the least alarmed at this
-spectacle, rose calmly from his chair, advanced towards the spirit,
-drew his sword, and gave him with the flat side of it, a terrible blow
-on the head.
-
-"The phantom, unaccustomed to find such courageous tenants in his
-domain, and perceiving that the soldier was preparing to repeat the
-blow, fell upon his knees before him, crying out,--'Pardon, signor
-serjeant; for the love of Heaven, do not kill me: have pity upon a poor
-devil, who throws himself at your feet to implore your clemency. I
-conjure you by St James, who, like yourself, was a valiant soldier----'
-'If you would preserve your life,' interrupted the serjeant, 'tell me
-who you are, and what you do here. Speak the truth,--or, by our Lady,
-I will cut you in two, as the knights of old split the giants they
-encountered.' At these words, the spirit, finding with whom he had to
-do, saw that he had better lose no time in his explanation.
-
-[Illustration: William kneels before the serjeant]
-
-"'I am,' said he, 'the head-waiter of this inn; my name is William;
-and I love Juanilla, the only daughter of the landlord, and I do not
-love without return; but as her parents have a better match in view,
-my sweetheart and myself have arranged that, in order to compel them
-to choose me for their son-in-law, I shall nightly disguise myself
-in this manner. I clothe myself in a long black cloak, and put the
-jack-chain round my neck; and, thus equipped, I go about the house,
-from the cellar to the garret, making all the noise I can, of which
-you have heard a specimen. When I arrive at the door of my master and
-mistress's bed-room, I rattle my chains, and cry loud enough for them
-to hear,--"Hope not to rest in peace, until you have married Juanilla
-to your head-waiter, William!"'
-
-"'After having pronounced these words in a hoarse and broken voice,
-I continue my clatter, and vanish by a window into the chamber where
-Juanilla sleeps alone, to inform her of what I have done. And now,
-signor serjeant, you may be assured that I have told you the whole
-truth. I know that after this confession you may ruin me, by informing
-my master of the affair; but if, instead of thus injuring me, you are
-inclined to serve me, I swear that my gratitude----' 'Ah!' interrupted
-the soldier, 'what service can you hope from me?' 'You have only in the
-morning,' replied the young man, 'to say that you have seen the ghost,
-and that it has so terribly frightened you,----' 'What, the deuce!
-frightened me!' again interrupted the old warrior; 'do you expect
-that Serjeant Hannibal Antonio Quebrantador is going to say that he
-was frightened? I would rather say that a hundred thousand devils had
-me----' 'That is not absolutely necessary,' in his turn interrupted
-William; 'and after all, it is of no great consequence what you say,
-provided that you but assist me in my design: only let me marry
-Juanilla, and see myself established by the assistance of her father,
-and I promise to keep open house for you and all your friends.'
-
-"'You are a regular seducer, master William,' cried the soldier; 'you
-want to join me in a downright cheat: the matter may be serious,
-and you take it so lightly, as to make me, even, tremble for the
-consequences. But away with you! continue your infernal noise, and go
-to Juanilla to render your account: I will manage the rest.'
-
-[Illustration: the serjeant speaks to his host and hostess]
-
-"Accordingly, on the following morning, the serjeant said to his
-host and hostess: 'Well! I have seen the ghost, conversed with it,
-and found it very civil and reasonable.' "I am," said he to me, "the
-great-great-grandfather of the master of this house. I had a daughter,
-whom I solemnly promised to the father of master William's grandfather:
-nevertheless, despite my pledge, I gave her hand to another, and died
-shortly afterwards. Ever since then, I have remained in purgatory,
-suffering for this perjury; and I shall continue in torment until
-some one of my descendants has married into the family of the head
-waiter. To accomplish this, I come here nightly; but it is in vain
-that I command them to unite Juanilla and young William,--the son of
-my grandchild turns a deaf ear to my entreaties, as well as his wife;
-but tell them, if you please, signor serjeant, that if they do not as
-I desire of them soon, I shall come to extremities with them, and will
-plague them both in a way they little dream of."'
-
-"The host, who is simple enough, was somewhat shaken by this discourse;
-but the hostess, still more silly than her husband, was so much
-affected by it, that she fancied she already saw the ghost at her
-heels, and at once consented to the match, which took place on the
-following day. William shortly afterwards took an inn in another
-part of the town, and serjeant Quebrantador failed not to visit him
-frequently. The new tavern-keeper at first, out of gratitude, filled
-him with wine at discretion; which so pleased the old moustache, that
-he took all his friends to the house: he even there enrolled his
-recruits, and made them drunk at the host's expense.
-
-"At last, therefore, master William became tired of constantly wetting
-so many parching throats; but, on communicating his ideas upon the
-subject to the serjeant, the latter, with a disregard of his own
-infraction of their treaty which would have fitted him to command an
-army, was unjust enough to accuse mine host of ingratitude. William
-replied, the other rejoined, and the conversation ended, as their
-first had begun, with a blow of the serjeant's long sword on the thick
-head of the unfortunate tavern-keeper. Some passers-by naturally
-sided with the civilian: of these Quebrantador wounded three or four;
-and his wrath was yet unsatisfied, when he was suddenly assailed
-by a host of archers, who arrested him as a disturber of the peace.
-They conducted him to prison, where he declared all that I have told
-you; and upon his deposition the ex-head-waiter was encaged also. His
-father-in-law demands a divorce; and the Holy Office, hearing that
-William has acquired some considerable property, has kindly undertaken
-to investigate the matter."
-
-[Illustration: the serjeant is restrained from attacking William]
-
-"Egad!" cried Don Cleophas, "our holy inquisition is ever alive to its
-interests. No sooner do they light upon a profitable----" "Softly!"
-interrupted the devil, "have a care how you launch out against that
-tribunal:--for it, the very walls have ears. They echo even words that
-the mouth has never spoken; and for myself, I hardly dare to mention it
-without trembling."
-
-"Over the unfortunate William, in the first chamber to the left,
-are two men worthy of your pity; one of them is a youthful valet,
-whom his master's wife privately indulged with the use of more than
-her husband's clothes. One day, however, the husband surprised them
-together; when the lady immediately began crying out for help, and
-accused the valet of having violated her person. The poor fellow was
-arrested, of course; and, according to appearances, will be sacrificed
-to his mistress's reputation. His companion, still less guilty than the
-valet, is also about to pay the forfeit of his life. He was footman to
-a duchess who has been robbed of a valuable diamond, which they accuse
-him of having taken. He will be to-morrow put to the torture, until the
-rack wrings from him a confession of the theft; and in the meanwhile
-the lady's maid, who is the real culprit, and whom no one dares to
-suspect, will moralise with the duchess on the depravity of modern
-servants."
-
-"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," said Leandro, "let not the wretched footman
-perish, I entreat you! His innocence interests me for his life. Save
-him, by your power, from the unjust and cruel torture they would
-inflict: he deserves----" "You cannot expect it, Signor Student!"
-interrupted the demon. "What! do you suppose that I would prevent
-injustice?--that I would snatch the guiltless from destruction? As well
-might you pray an attorney to desist from the ruin of the widow or the
-orphan!"
-
-"Oh! and it please you," added the Devil, "expect not of me that which
-is contrary to my interest, unless indeed it be of great advantage
-to yourself. Besides, were I willing to deliver yonder prisoner from
-bondage, how could I effect it?" "How!" repeated Zambullo, "do you mean
-to say that you have not the power so to do?" "Certainly," replied the
-Cripple. "Had you read the Enchiridion, or Albertus Magnus, you would
-know that neither I, nor any of my brethren, can liberate a prisoner
-from his cell: even I, were I so unfortunate as to be within the talons
-of the law, could only hope to escape by bribing my jailer, or my
-judges.
-
-"In the next room, on the same side, lodges a surgeon convicted of
-having, in a fit of jealousy, drained the warm blood which wantoned in
-the veins of his handsome wife, after the model of the death of Seneca.
-He was yesterday tenderly questioned on the rack; and having confessed
-the crime of which he was accused, he let out the secrets of his
-profession, by detailing a very novel and interesting mode which he had
-especially adopted for increasing his practice. He stated that he had
-been in the habit of wounding persons in the street with a bayonet, and
-of then lancing himself into his house by a back-door. Of course the
-patient used to call out lustily at this unexpected operation; and as
-the neighbours flocked around at his cries, the surgeon, mingling with
-the crowd, and finding a man bathed in his blood, very charitably had
-him carried to his shop, and dressed the wound with the same hand that
-had given it.
-
-"Although the rascally practitioner has confessed to this atrocity,
-for which a thousand deaths were not one too many, he still hopes that
-his life will be spared; and it is not improbable that it may be so,
-seeing that he is related to the lady who has the honour of clouting
-the little princes of Spain: besides which, he is the inventor of a
-marvellous wash, of which the secret would die with him, and which
-has the virtues of whitening the skin, and of giving to the wrinkled
-front the juvenile appearance of fifteen. Now, as this incomparable
-water serves as the fountain of youth to three ladies of the palace,
-who have united their efforts to save him, he relies so confidently on
-their credit at court, or rather on that of his wash, that he sleeps
-tranquilly in the soothing hope that he will awaken to the agreeable
-intelligence of his pardon."
-
-"I perceive, upon a bed in the same room," said the Student, "another
-man, who appears to me to be sleeping peaceably enough; his business
-is not a very bad one, I expect." "It is a very ticklish affair,
-though," replied the Demon. "That cavalier is a gentleman of Biscay,
-who has enriched himself by the fire of a carbine: I will tell you
-how. About a fortnight ago, shooting in a forest with his elder and
-only brother, who was in possession of a large estate, he killed him,
-by mistake, instead of a partridge." "A very lucky mistake, that,"
-cried Don Cleophas, laughing, "for a younger son." "Yes," replied
-Asmodeus: "but a collateral branch of the family, the members of which
-would have no objection to see the deceased's estate fall within their
-line, have disinterestedly prosecuted his murderer on the charge of
-having designedly shot him, that he might succeed to his property.
-The accused, however, immediately rendered himself into the hands of
-justice; and he appears to be so deeply afflicted by the death of his
-brother, that they can scarcely imagine him guilty of deliberately
-taking his life." "And has he really nothing with which to reproach
-himself, beyond his fatal awkwardness?" asked Leandro. "No," replied
-Asmodeus; "his design was innocent enough; but when an elder son is
-in possession of all the wealth of his family, I should certainly not
-advise him to make a shooting-party in company with his younger brother.
-
-"Observe attentively those two youths who, in a retreat near to that
-of the fatal shot, are conversing as merrily as though they were at
-liberty. They are a pair of veritable _picaros;_ and there is one,
-especially, who may some day amuse the public with one of those details
-of roguery which never fail to delight it. He is a modern Guzman
-d'Alfarache: it is he who wears the brown velvet vest, and has a plume
-of feathers in his hat.
-
-"Not three months since, in this very town, he was page to the Count
-d'Onato; and he would still have been in the suite of that nobleman
-but for a little piece of rascality, which gained for him his present
-lodging, and which I will narrate to you.
-
-"One day, this youth, whose name is Domingo, received a hundred
-lashes, which the Count's intendant, otherwise governor of the pages,
-directed to be bestowed on him as a reward for some trick which
-appeared to deserve it. Domingo was, however, impatient under such
-a load of obligation; and so, proudly resolved to return it on the
-first opportunity. He had remarked more than once that the Signor Don
-Como, as the intendant styled himself, delighted to wash his hands
-with orange-flower water, and to anoint himself with pastes redolent
-of the pink or jessamine; that he was more careful of his person than
-an old coquette, and that, in short, he was one of those coxcombs who
-imagine that no woman of taste can behold them without loving them.
-These observations inspired Domingo with a scheme for revenge, which he
-communicated to a young waiting-woman who resided in the neighbourhood,
-whose assistance he required for the execution of his project, and in
-whose favour he stood so high that she had none left to grant him.
-
-"This damsel, called Floretta, in order to have the pleasure of an
-unrestrained intercourse with the page, introduced him as her cousin
-into the house of Donna Luziana, her mistress, whose father was at that
-time absent from Madrid. The cunning Domingo, after having informed his
-pretended relative of her part in his design, going one morning into
-the apartment of Don Como, found my gentleman trying on a new dress,
-looking with complacency at his figure in a mirror, and evidently by no
-means displeased with its reflection. The page affected to be struck
-with admiration of this Narcissus, and exclaimed, in well-feigned
-transport: 'Upon my honour, Signor Don Como, you have the air of
-royalty itself. I see, daily, nobles richly clad; but notwithstanding
-the elegance and splendour of their vestments, I discern in none that
-dignity of mien which distinguishes you. I will not assert,' added he,
-'that with the respect I have for you, I may not regard you with eyes
-somewhat prepossessed in your favour; but this I can say, that I know
-of no cavalier at court whom you would not totally eclipse.'
-
-"The intendant smiled at this discourse, which offered so agreeable
-a tribute to his vanity, and graciously replied:--'You flatter me,
-my friend; or rather, as you say, you esteem me so highly, that your
-friendship endows me with graces that nature has refused.' 'I cannot
-think so,' replied the parasite; 'for there is no one who does not
-speak of you in terms which I dare not repeat, lest you should think
-I flattered you indeed. I wish you had heard what was said to me
-yesterday by one of my cousins, who is in the service of a lady of
-quality.'
-
-"Don Como failed not to ask what it was that Domingo's cousin had
-said of him. 'Why,' replied the page, 'I ought hardly to tell you; but
-she enlarged on the majesty of your figure,--on the charms which are
-everywhere visible in your person; and, what is better, she told me, in
-confidence, that the greatest delight of Donna Luziana, her mistress,
-is to watch for your passing her house, and to feast her eyes with
-beholding you.'
-
-[Illustration: The page flattering Don Como]
-
-"'And who is this lady?' said the intendant,--'where does she live?'
-'What!' replied Domingo; 'do you not know the only daughter of general
-Don Fernando, our neighbour?' 'Ah! to be sure I do,' replied Don Como:
-'I remember to have frequently heard of the wealth and surpassing
-beauty of this Luziana; she is not to be despised. But is it possible
-that I can have attracted her attention?' 'Can you doubt it?' exclaimed
-the page. 'Besides, my own cousin told me of the fact; and, though in a
-humble situation, she is incapable of falsehood, and I would answer for
-her word with my life.' 'In that case,' said the intendant, 'I should
-be glad to have a little private conversation with your relative, to
-engage her in my interest by the customary trifling presents to which
-her situation entitles her; and if she should advise me to pay court to
-her mistress, egad! I'll try my fortune. And why not? It is true that
-there is some difference between my rank and that of Don Fernando; but
-still I am a gentleman, and have a good four hundred ducats per annum.
-There are more extraordinary matches than this made every day.'
-
-"The page fortified his governor in his resolution, and procured for
-him an interview with his cousin; who, finding the intendant disposed
-to swallow anything, assured him of her mistress's inclination in his
-favour. 'You have no idea,' said she, 'how often Luziana has questioned
-me as to the handsome cavalier who had made such an impression on her
-heart; and you may be sure that my replies were neither unpleasing to
-her, nor unfavourable to you: in short, Signor, she loves you; and you
-have everything to hope from her affection. Seek then her hand, openly
-and without hesitation; justify her secret passion, by showing that she
-loves a cavalier, not only the most charming and well-made, but the
-most gallant, of all Madrid. Give her, in serenades, the delightful
-assurance that your heart responds to hers; and rely on me to picture
-your devotion in the most pleasing colours,--an office as agreeable to
-myself as I hope it will be useful to you.' Don Como, transported with
-joy at finding the maid so warmly disposed to serve him, almost stifled
-her with his caresses; and, placing a worthless ring upon her finger,
-which he had liberally purchased of a Jew, and which had served the
-same purpose fifty times, he exclaimed,--'Dearest Floretta! accept this
-ring as an earnest of my gratitude, until I have an opportunity of more
-worthily recompensing the favours you are about to shower on me.'
-
-"Never was lover in greater ecstacy than was our intendant at the
-result of his conversation with Floretta; and as he was indebted to
-Domingo for this happiness, the page not only received his thanks, but
-was rewarded by the magnificent present of a pair of silk stockings,
-some shirts trimmed with lace, and a promise of the Signor's losing no
-opportunity which might offer for promoting his interests. 'My dear
-friend,' said he, on leaving Floretta, 'what is your opinion of the
-steps I should take in this matter? Do you think I should commence with
-an impassioned and sublime epistle to my Luziana?' 'Decidedly,' replied
-the page. 'Make her a declaration of your love in fitting terms: I
-have a presentiment that it will not be badly received.' 'Well! I
-think so too,' replied the intendant; 'at all events, I will try the
-experiment.' Accordingly, down he sat to compose the missive; and after
-having torn in pieces at least fifty scrawls, which would have made
-the fortune of a German romancist, he at last succeeded in composing
-a billet-doux which satisfied his scruples. It was conceived in the
-following grandiloquent and affecting terms:--
-
- "'Months have rolled like centuries, oh! lovely Luziana, since,
- inspired by the renown which everywhere proclaims your perfections,
- my too-sensible soul has yielded to the flames of love, to burn for
- you alone! My heart consumed in secret, a willing prey to the fires
- that devoured me; and I never dared proclaim my sufferings to you,
- much less to seek for consolation. But a happy chance has recently
- revealed the soothing secret that, from behind the jealous screen
- which conceals your celestial charms from the eyes of men, you
- sometimes deign to look with pity on me as I pass;--that, directed by
- the divinity who guards you, and the destiny of your star,--oh, happy
- star for me!--you even think of me with kindness. I hasten then in all
- humility to consecrate my life unto your service; and should I be so
- fortunate as to obtain permission so to do, to renounce in your favour
- all ladies past, or present, or to come.
-
- "'DON COMO DE LA HIGUERA.'
-
-"Domingo and Floretta were not a little amused, on the receipt of this
-letter, at the expense of the poor intendant. But, not contented with
-the folly they had already induced him to commit, they set their wits
-to work to compose an answer to the billet which should be sufficiently
-tender. This done, it was copied by Floretta, and delivered by the page
-on the following day to Don Como. It was in these words:--
-
- "'I know not who can have so well informed you of my secret
- sentiments. Some one has however betrayed me. Still, I pardon the
- treachery, since, to it I owe an avowal of your love. I see many pass
- before my window, but I look with pleasure upon you alone; and I am
- too happy to find that I am dear to you. Perhaps I am wrong to feel
- this delight, and still more wrong to dare to tell you so. If it be a
- fault in me, your virtues have caused, and must excuse it.
-
- "'DONNA LUZIANA.'
-
-"Although this letter was rather too warm for the daughter of a
-Spanish general, as its authors had not thought much about ceremony,
-the presumptuous Don Como received it without suspicion. He thought
-sufficiently well of himself to imagine that for him a lady might well
-forget somewhat of the usages of society. 'Ah! Domingo,' he cried,
-with an air of triumph, after having read the letter aloud, 'you see,
-my friend, that the fish bites. Congratulate me! I shall soon be
-son-in-law to Don Fernando, or my name's not Don Como de la Higuera.'
-
-"'It is beyond a doubt,' said the rascally confidant; 'you seem to have
-made a tremendous impression on the girl. But, à-propos,' added he, 'I
-must not forget to tell you that my cousin particularly desired me to
-say, that to-morrow, at latest, you should serenade your mistress, in
-order to complete her infatuation.' 'I will on no account omit it,'
-replied the intendant. 'You may assure your cousin that I will in all
-things follow her advice; and that to-morrow, without fail, in the
-middle of the night, the street shall resound with one of the most
-gallant concerts that was ever heard in Madrid.' And away went the
-intendant to secure the assistance of a celebrated musician, to whom
-he communicated his project, and whom he charged with the care of its
-execution.
-
-"In the meanwhile, Floretta, informed of the intended serenade, and
-finding her mistress in a desirable mood, said to her,--'Madam, I am
-preparing for you an agreeable diversion.' 'What may that be?' asked
-Luziana. 'Why,' replied the waiting-maid, laughing until the tears ran
-from her eyes, 'there is much to amuse you. An original, one Don Como,
-governor of the pages of the Count d'Onato, has taken it into his head
-to choose you as the sovereign lady of his thoughts; and he intends,
-to-morrow, in order that you may no longer remain ignorant of his
-devotion, to gratify you with the sound of music and sweet voices, in
-an evening serenade.' Donna Luziana, whose composition was none of the
-most grave, and who was far from foreseeing an unpleasant consequence
-to her in the gallantries of the intendant, instead of regarding the
-matter seriously, was delighted at the anticipated tribute to her
-charms; and thus, without knowing what she did, assisted in confirming
-the amorous Don Como in an illusion, of which it would have shocked her
-greatly to have been supposed designedly the author.
-
-"The night came, and with it appeared, before the balcony of the
-lady, two carriages, from which descended the gallant Como and his
-confidant, accompanied by six musicians, vocal and instrumental, who
-commenced a very decent concert, which lasted for a considerable time.
-They performed many of the newest airs, and sang all the songs in
-vogue whose verses told the power of love in uniting hearts despite
-the obstacles of fortune, and the inequality of rank; while at every
-couplet, which the general's daughter perceived to be directed to
-herself, her merriment knew no bounds.
-
-"When the serenade was over, and the performers had departed in the
-carriages which brought them, the crowd which the music had attracted
-dispersed, and our lover remained in the street with Domingo alone. He
-approached the balcony, whence, in a few minutes, the servant-girl,
-with her mistress's permission, said to him in a feigned voice: 'Is
-that you, Signor Don Como?' 'Who asks me that question?' replied the
-Don in a languishing tone. 'It is,' rejoined the girl, 'Donna Luziana,
-who would know if the concert she has heard but now, is an offering of
-your gallantry to her.' 'It is,' exclaimed the intendant, 'but a shadow
-of those festivals my love prepares for her who is the marvel of our
-days, if she will deign receive them from a lover who is sacrificed on
-the altar of her beauty.'
-
-"At this brilliant metaphor, Luziana with difficulty restrained her
-laughter; but, coming forward and putting her head partially out of
-the little window from which her maid had addressed him, she said to
-the intendant, as seriously as possible: 'Signor Don Como, you are, I
-perceive, no novice in the art of love; in you, each gallant cavalier
-who would gain his lady's heart, may find a model for his conduct. I
-thank you for your serenade, and feel flattered by your attention;
-but,' added she, 'retire now, lest we should be observed; another time
-we may, unrestrained, indulge in further conversation.' As she finished
-these words, she closed the window, leaving the intendant in the
-street, highly delighted at the kindness she had displayed for him, and
-the page greatly astonished that the lady had herself undertaken a part
-in the comedy.
-
-"This little fête, including the carriages and the enormous quantity
-of wine which its bibulous performers had consumed, cost Don Como
-upwards of a hundred ducats; and, two days afterwards, his confidant
-engaged him in a further outlay, in the following manner. Having
-learned that, on the night of St. John,--a night so celebrated in this
-city,--Floretta was about to join the damsels of her class at the
-_fiesta del sotillo_, Domingo undertook to enliven this dance by a
-magnificent breakfast at the intendant's expense.
-
-[Illustration: Don Como serenades Luziana]
-
-"'Accordingly, Signor Don Como,' said he, on the eve of this festival,
-'you are aware of what takes place to-morrow. I thought, however, you
-would like to be informed that Donna Luziana intends to repair at break
-of day to the banks of the Mançanarez, to witness the _sotillo_. I need
-say no more to the Corypheus of gallant cavaliers;--you are not the man
-to neglect so favourable an opportunity, and I am certain that your
-mistress and her companions will not fare badly to-morrow.' 'Of that
-you may be sure,' replied the governor, 'and I am obliged to you for
-informing me of her intention: you shall see if I know how to kick the
-ball as it bounds.' In effect, very early on the following day, four
-of the Count's servants, conducted by Domingo, and loaded with every
-description of cold meat, cooked in all fashions, with an infinite
-number of small loaves and bottles of delicious wines, arrived on the
-bank of the river, where Floretta and her companions were dancing, like
-nymphs before the golden throne of Aurora.
-
-"Had that goddess herself appeared, she would hardly have been more
-cordially greeted than were the wines and cold collation which the page
-brought on the part of Don Como; offering, as they did, so agreeable
-a repast after the delightful fatigues of the dance, which they so
-agreeably interrupted. The damsels seated themselves on the velvet turf
-of the meadow, and lost no time in paying due honour to the feast, the
-while laughing immoderately at the dupe who gave it; for Domingo's kind
-cousin had not omitted to inform them of their benefactor, and his
-amorous adventure.
-
-"While they were in the midst of their rejoicing and their breakfast,
-they perceived the squire, richly dressed, and mounted on one of the
-Count's steeds, which was ambling towards them. He rode up to his
-confidant, and gaily saluted the ladies, who rose at his approach,
-and politely thanked him for his generosity. His eyes wandered among
-the company in search of Donna Luziana, as he was anxious to deliver
-himself of a speech, glittering with compliments as the sward beneath
-his horse's feet with flowers, and which he had composed during his
-ride in honour of his mistress. Great therefore was his grief, when
-Floretta, taking him aside, informed him that a slight indisposition
-had prevented her lady from joining in the festival. The Don, with
-a proper display of sensibility on the occasion, was particular in
-his inquiries as to the ailment; but when the girl informed him that
-Luziana suffered from a cold, caught on the previous night from
-exposure in the balcony without her veil, talking of him and of his
-serenade, he was not without consolation to find so sad an accident
-proceeded from a cause so good. He therefore contented himself with
-the usual expressions of condolence; and, after praying Floretta to
-continue to interest herself in his behalf with his mistress, took the
-road to his dwelling, rejoicing more and more at his great good fortune.
-
-[Illustration: Don Como at the _sotillo_]
-
-"About this time, the intendant received a bill of exchange for a
-thousand crowns from Andalusia, as his portion of the effects of one of
-his uncles, who had died at Seville. On turning this bill into cash,
-he happened to count it over and place it in a coffer in the presence
-of Domingo, who took so lively an interest in the operation, that, in
-order to repeat it, he was tempted to appropriate, if possible, the
-shining gold; and resolved, if successful in so doing, to escape with
-it into Portugal. He related his project in confidence to Floretta,
-and even proposed to her that she should accompany him. Now this
-proposition was undoubtedly one which most people would think worthy
-of reflection; but the girl, as interested in the matter as the page,
-accepted it without a moment's hesitation. Consequently, one night,
-while the intendant was labouring in his cabinet to compose a touching
-letter to his mistress, Domingo found means to open the coffer in which
-the money was confined, to release it from its captivity, and to hasten
-with the enfranchised crowns into the street. He instantly repaired
-to the balcony of Luziana, and, as a signal which had been agreed
-upon between him and his confederate, commenced a caterwauling, which
-disturbed the gravity of all the tabbies in the neighbourhood. The
-girl, ready to wander with him through the world, promptly responded to
-the amatory call; and in a few minutes they were on the high road from
-Madrid, together.
-
-"They reckoned that, in the event of pursuit, they would have plenty of
-time to gain the frontiers of Portugal before they could be overtaken;
-but, unfortunately for them, Don Como discovered the theft, and the
-flight of his confidant that very night. He gave immediate information
-to the police, whose officers were without loss of time dispersed on
-all sides in pursuit of the fugitives, and Domingo was taken, near
-Zebreros, in company with his lady. They were quickly brought back
-to Madrid: the girl has been sent to join our friend Marcella in _las
-Arrepentidas_, and Domingo is, as you perceive, as gay as ever within
-the walls of this prison."
-
-"And the intendant," added Don Cleophas, "has saved his golden crowns;
-as of course they have been restored to him." "Of course they have
-not," replied the Devil: "the thousand pieces are the proof of the
-robbery, and the officers of justice understand their business too
-well to give them up; so that Don Como, whose loving history is spread
-throughout Madrid, has lost his money and his mistress, and is laughed
-at by everybody into the bargain."
-
-"Domingo and his fellow-prisoner have for a neighbour," continued the
-Cripple, "a young Castilian who has been arrested for having, in the
-presence of too many witnesses, struck his father." "Oh heaven!" cried
-Leandro, "is it possible? Lives there a child, however lost to shame,
-who can raise his impious hand against a father?" "Oh yes," said the
-Demon: "yon Castilian is not without example; and I will cite you one
-whose history is rather remarkable. Under the reign of Don Pedro I.,
-surnamed the Just and the Cruel, the eighth king of Portugal, a youth
-of twenty fell into the hands of justice for the same crime. Don Pedro,
-as much surprised as yourself at the novelty of the case, was curious
-to interrogate the mother of the criminal, and he examined her so
-adroitly as to obtain from her a confession, that the real father of
-this child was a certain reverend prelate. If the Castilian's judges
-were discreet enough to interrogate his mother with equal address, it
-is probable that it would be attended with a similar avowal.
-
-"Cast your eyes into a large dungeon beneath the prisoners I have just
-pointed out to you, and observe what is passing there. Do you see
-those three ill-looking rascals? They are highwaymen. See! they are
-effecting their escape. Some one has furnished them with a dumb-file
-in a loaf of bread; and they have already cut through one of the thick
-bars of a window, by which they may gain the court-yard, and from
-thence the street. They have been more than ten months in prison, and
-it is upwards of eight since they should have received the public
-recompense due to their exploits; but, thanks to the tardiness of
-justice, they are about to begin again their career of robbery and
-murder.
-
-[Illustration: a prisoner being beaten up by his fellow inmates]
-
-"And now look into that low roofed cell where you perceive twenty
-or thirty men, some of them stretched upon straw. They are mostly
-pickpockets, shop-lifters, or professors of other branches of the
-Spartan craft. Do you observe five or six of them worrying a sort of
-labourer, who was introduced to their society this morning for having
-wounded an alguazil with a stone?" "And what are they thrashing him
-for?" asked Zambullo. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "because he has not paid
-his entrance-fees. But," added he, "let us leave this horrible place,
-and the miserable wretches it contains; they are not in my vocation: we
-will go elsewhere, in search of objects less disgusting."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-
-OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS, WHO REVEALS
-TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN HIS DAY.
-
-
-In a few moments, the Demon and his pupil were on the roof of a large
-mansion, at a considerable distance from that part of the city in
-which they had left the prisoners. "I have brought you here," said
-Asmodeus, "because I am desirous of informing you what the mass of
-people who reside in the neighbourhood of the house we are on, have
-been doing in the course of to-day;--it will amuse you." "Doubtless!"
-replied Leandro. "Begin, I beseech you: and first for yonder cavalier
-who is booting in such haste: what weighty matters call him from his
-home in such a night as this, my Mentor?" "He is a captain," replied
-the Cripple, "whose steeds are waiting in the street to carry him to
-Catalonia, where his regiment is stationed.
-
-"Well! yesterday, our hero, being without cash, applied to one of those
-gentry who, instead of giving to the poor, wisely lend unto the lords,
-or captains. 'Signor Sanguisuela,' said he, 'can you not oblige me with
-the loan of a thousand ducats?' 'Signor Captain,' replied the usurer,
-'I have them not; but I think I know a friend who has, and will lend
-them to you:--that is to say, if you will give him your note of hand
-for a thousand ducats, he will give you four hundred; out of which I
-shall be content to receive sixty only, as my commission. Money is so
-extremely scarce, that----' 'What usury!' interrupted the officer,
-hastily. 'What! ask six hundred and sixty ducats for the loan of three
-hundred and forty? Infamous extortion! Such hard-hearted scoundrels
-deserve to be hanged.'
-
-"'Keep your temper, at all events, Signor Captain, and go elsewhere for
-your money,' replied the usurer, with the greatest coolness. 'Of what
-do you complain? Do I force you to take the three hundred and forty
-ducats? Heaven forbid! you are free to take them or to leave them.'
-To this the Captain had no reply to make, and went his way; but, on
-reflecting that he must set out for the camp on the morrow, and that
-he had no time to lose, he resolved to lose his money; so he returned
-this morning to the usurer, whom he met at his door, dressed in a short
-black mantle, a plain collar round his neck, his hair closely trimmed,
-and with a rosary in his hand, garnished with saintly medals. 'Here I
-am again, Signor Sanguisuela,' said he; 'I will take the three hundred
-and forty ducats,--necessity compels me to accept your terms.' 'I am
-going to mass,' gravely replied the usurer; 'on my return, I will
-give you that amount.' 'Ah! no,' exclaimed the Captain; 'I pray you
-give it me at once: it will but delay you for an instant. I would not
-entreat you, but my haste is great as is my need.' 'I cannot,' replied
-Sanguisuela: 'I hear mass daily, before I think of following my worldly
-avocations; it is a rule I have prescribed for my conduct, and I will
-endeavour religiously to observe it while I live.'
-
-[Illustration: the captain and the usurer leaving church]
-
-"However impatient might be our captain to lay his hands upon the
-money, he was obliged to comport himself with the rule of the pious
-Sanguisuela: he therefore armed himself with patience, and even, as
-though he feared that the ducats would escape him, followed the usurer
-to church. Mass performed, he was preparing to leave; when Sanguisuela
-inclined his head towards him, and whispered in his ear: 'Stay! one of
-the most talented men in Madrid preaches here this morning, and I would
-not lose his sermon for the world.'
-
-"The Captain, to whom the mass had appeared over-long, was in despair
-at this further call on his endurance: however, needs must--and he
-remained where he had been driven. The preacher mounted the pulpit,
-and happened to discourse against usury. The officer was delighted;
-and observing Sanguisuela's countenance, he said within himself: 'If
-this Jew is capable of being touched, now,--if he will but give me six
-hundred ducats, I shall really think he is not too bad, after all.'
-The sermon ended, they left the church together, when the Captain,
-addressing his companion, said: 'Well, what think you of the preacher?
-Did you not find his sermon extremely forcible? For myself, I was quite
-affected by it.' 'I am quite of your opinion,' replied the usurer; 'he
-treated his subject admirably. He is a learned man, and deeply skilled
-in his profession; and now, let us go, and show that we understand ours
-as well.'"
-
-"Hollo!" cried Don Cleophas, "who are those two women in bed together,
-and laughing so loudly? Egad! they seem merry enough." "They are
-sisters," replied the Devil, "who this morning buried their father.
-He was an old curmudgeon, who had so great a distaste for matrimony,
-or rather to portioning his daughters, that he would never listen to
-a word about their marrying, however advantageous might be the offers
-made to them. They are at this moment discussing the virtues of the
-dear deceased. 'He is dead at last,' exclaimed the elder; 'he is
-dead,--the unnatural father, who so cruelly delighted still to keep us
-maids: he will, however, no longer oppose our innocent desires.' 'Well,
-sister,' said the younger, 'for myself, I love the substantial; I
-shall look out for a good rich husband,--stupid, if you please; and the
-fat Don Blanco is just the man for my money.' 'Softly, sister,' replied
-the elder; 'we shall have for husbands those to whom we are destined;
-for marriages, they say, are written in heaven.' 'So much the worse
-for us,' replied the younger; 'for if dear papa has the luck to be
-there, he will assuredly tear out our leaf.' The eldest could not help
-laughing at this sally, and it is that which still amuses them both.
-
-[Illustration: the two sisters in bed]
-
-"In the next house to that of these ladies, in a furnished apartment,
-lodges an Aragonese adventuress. You may see her, while others sleep,
-admiring in a glass those charms on which she relies, and which have
-gained for her to-day a conquest to be proud of: like a good general,
-she studies her positions for attack; and she has just discovered a
-new one, which will finish her campaign with her lover to-morrow. He
-is well worth all the pains she can take to secure him, and she is
-well aware of his promising qualities. To-day, for instance, one of
-her creditors calling to remind her of an account, which he insists on
-having settled in cash: 'Wait, my good friend,' said she; 'wait but for
-a few days longer: I am on the point of concluding a most advantageous
-arrangement with one of the principal persons in the Customs.'"
-
-"I need not ask you," said Leandro, "how a certain cavalier, whom I
-perceive at this moment, has been passing his day: he appears to be
-a complete letter-writer. What enormous quantities I behold on his
-table!" "Yes," replied the Demon; "and, what is most amusing, all these
-letters are alike in their contents. He is writing to all his absent
-friends an account of an adventure which befel him this afternoon. He
-is in love with a widow of thirty, charming and discreet; he pays to
-her devotions which she does not despise; he proposes for her hand,
-and she consents to yield it without hesitation. While preparations
-are making for their nuptials, he has permission to visit her without
-ceremony. He went to her house to-day after dinner, and as he chanced
-to meet with no one to announce his coming, he entered the lady's
-apartment, where he found her stretched on a couch, _en déshabille_,
-or, to speak more correctly, almost naked. She was sleeping profoundly.
-What lover could resist the temptation thus offered to his eyes? He
-approaches her softly, and steals a gentle kiss. She starts, exclaiming
-as she wakes, 'What, again! I beseech you, Ambrose, leave me to repose.'
-
-"The cavalier, as an honourable man, made up his mind on the instant
-to renounce all pretensions to the widow. He therefore immediately left
-the apartment; and meeting the servant at the door: 'Ambrose,' said he,
-'stay! your mistress prays you to indulge her with a brief repose.'
-
-[Illustration: the lover about to kiss the widow]
-
-"Two doors beyond the house of this cavalier, I perceive an original of
-a husband, who is sleeping tranquilly,--lulled to rest by reproaches
-with which his wife is upbraiding him for having passed the entire day
-from home. She would be still more bitter against her spouse, did she
-know how he had spent his day." "It has been most probably occupied in
-some amorous adventure?" said Zambullo. "You have guessed it," replied
-Asmodeus; "and shall hear the detail.
-
-"The man is a tradesman, named Patricio: he is one of those wedded
-libertines who live without care, as though they had neither wife nor
-children: the partner of this fellow, nevertheless, is pretty, amiable,
-and virtuous; and he has two daughters and one son, all three still
-in their infancy. He left his family this morning, careless if they
-had bread to eat, which is not unfrequently the case, and directed his
-steps toward the great square, attracted thither by the preparations
-which Were making for the bull-fight of to-day. The scaffolds were
-already erected around the place, and already the more curious in these
-matters began to take their places.
-
-"While gazing at the company, examining first one and then another, he
-observed a lady finely made and very neatly dressed, who discovered, as
-she descended from the scaffold, a well-turned leg and foot; and their
-effect was heightened by rose-tinted silken stockings, and garters
-of silver lace, the ends of which hung down to her ankles: it was
-enough to have tempted a saint, and our excitable citizen was almost
-out of his wits at the sight. He advanced towards the lady, who was
-accompanied by another whose air sufficiently disclosed that they were
-both damsels of easy virtue. 'Ladies,' said he, accosting them, 'can
-I be of service to you? you have only to command me, and it will be
-my happiness to obey.' 'Signor cavalier,' replied the nymph with the
-rose-coloured stockings, 'you appear so obliging, that we will take
-advantage of your kindness: we have already taken our places, but are
-leaving them to go to breakfast, as we were unwise enough to leave
-home this morning without first taking our chocolate. Since you are so
-gallant as to offer your services, may we trouble you to escort us to
-some hotel, where we may eat a morsel of something? but we must beg you
-will select as retired a place as possible, for ladies, as you know,
-cannot be too careful of their reputation.'
-
-"At these words, Patricio, becoming even more civil and polite
-than the occasion demanded, took the princesses to a tavern in the
-neighbourhood, and ordered breakfast. 'What would you like to have,
-sir?' inquired the host. 'I have the remains of a magnificent dinner,
-which took place here yesterday: there are larded fowls, partridges
-from Léon, pigeons from Old Castile, and the best part of a ham from
-Estremadura.' 'More than enough, mine host!' exclaimed the conductor
-of the two vestals. 'Ladies, it is for you to choose;--what would you
-prefer?' 'Whatever you please,' replied they: 'your choice shall be
-ours.' Thereupon the citizen ordered a brace of partridges and a couple
-of cold fowls, to be served in a private room, as the ladies were too
-modest to think of eating in public.
-
-"They were immediately conducted to a small chamber, and in a few
-minutes the host appeared with the chosen dishes, some bread, and some
-wine. Our Lucretias fell to eating with most unfashionable appetites,
-and the fowls rapidly disappeared; while the simpleton, who was to pay,
-was occupied in ogling his Luisita,--the name of the lady who had taken
-his fancy,--in admiring the whiteness of her hand, upon which glittered
-an enormous ring she had gained by her profession,--and, unable to eat
-for joy of his good fortune, in lavishing upon the lady all the tender
-epithets, such as his star or his sun, that his imagination could
-invent. On inquiring of his goddess if she were married, she told him
-she was not, but was living under the protection of her brother;--had
-she added,--by descent from our father Adam, she would not have been
-far from the truth.
-
-[Illustration: breakfast at the inn]
-
-"Good eating is nothing without good drinking; so the two harpies,
-having each demolished a fowl, washed them down with a proportionate
-quantity of wine; and, consequently, the two flagons which had been
-placed upon the table were soon exhausted. That they might be more
-speedily replenished, our gallant left the room with the empty
-vessels; and he had no sooner closed the door than Jacintha, Luisita's
-companion, clawed hold of the two partridges, which were yet untouched,
-and put them in a spacious pocket which her gown conveniently afforded.
-Our Adonis, on returning from his chase of the wine, and remarking
-that the eatables had vanished, was anxious to know if his Venus had
-eaten enough. 'Why,' said she, 'if the pigeons of which the host has
-spoken be very good, perhaps I might be tempted to taste them; or
-else a morsel of the ham of Estremadura will do.' These words were no
-sooner uttered than away went Patricio again in search of provender,
-and quickly returned, followed by three of the loving birds and a
-substantial dish of the ham. The two vultures pounced on their prey
-like lightning; and as the witless citizen was obliged a third time
-to leave the room for bread, they sent a pair of the pigeons to keep
-company with the imprisoned partridges.
-
-"After the repast, which ended with a dessert composed of all the
-fruits the season afforded, the amorous Patricio began to press Luisita
-for that payment in kind which he expected from her gratitude. The
-lady, however, was resolved to look upon it as a treat; but at the same
-time indulged him with the hopes of a return, telling him there was a
-time for all things, and that a tavern was not a fitting place in which
-to testify, without reserve, her satisfaction for all his kindness.
-Then, hearing the clock strike one, she assumed an uneasy air, and said
-to her companion: 'Ah! my dear Jacintha, how unfortunate! We shall be
-too late to find a place to see the bull-fight.' 'Excuse me,' replied
-Jacintha; 'this gentleman has only to conduct us where he so politely
-accosted us, and never fear for our finding a place.'
-
-"Before leaving the tavern, however, it was necessary to settle with
-the host, who presented an account amounting to fifty reals. The
-citizen pulled out his purse; but, as it contained but thirty of the
-requisite pieces, he was obliged to leave, in pawn, his rosary adorned
-with numerous medals of silver. This done he esquired the frail ones
-to the place from whence they came, and obtained for them convenient
-seats upon one of the scaffolds, the proprietor of which, being known
-to him, gave him credit for their price.
-
-"They were no sooner seated, then they demanded further refreshment,
-'I am dying with thirst,' cried one,--'that ham was terribly salt.'
-'And so am I', replied the other; 'I could drink an ocean of lemonade.'
-Patricio, who understood but too well what all this meant, left them,
-in search of what they wanted; but suddenly stopping on his way, he
-exclaimed to himself: 'Madman! where art thou going? Would one not
-think thou hadst a hundred pistoles in thy purse, or in thy house? And
-thou halt not a single maravedi! What shall I do?' added he. 'To return
-to the lady without that which she requires is impossible;--and must
-I, then, abandon so promising an adventure? I cannot resolve on that
-either.'
-
-"While thus embarrassed, he perceived among the spectators one of his
-friends who had frequently tendered him services, which his pride had
-always prevented him accepting. But now, lost to shame, he hastened
-towards him, and without hesitation, begged the loan of a double
-pistole; possessed of which his courage returned, and hurrying to a
-confectioner's, he ordered them to carry to his princesses so many iced
-liqueurs, so many biscuits and sweetmeats, that the doubloon hardly
-sufficed to meet this new expense.
-
-"At length the day ended, and with it the festival; when our citizen
-conducted his lady to her house, in the pleasing hope of at last
-reaping the reward of all his thoughtless extravagance. But as they
-arrived near the door of a house which Luisita indicated, as her
-dwelling, a servant-girl came to meet her, saying with much apparent
-agitation: 'Ah! Where have you been until now? Your brother, Don
-Gaspard Heridor, has been waiting for you these two hours, swearing
-like a trooper.' Upon this the sister, in well-feigned alarm, turned
-towards her gallant, and pressing his hand, said to him in a whisper:
-'My brother is a man of most violent temper, but his anger is soon
-appeased. Wait here awhile with patience: I will soon set all to
-rights; and as he sups from home every night, as soon as he has left
-the house, Jacintha shall inform you, and bring you to me.'
-
-[Illustration: Patricio kisses Luisita's hand]
-
-"Patricio, consoled by this promise, kissed with transport the hand of
-Luisita, who returned his caresses, in order to keep up his spirits,
-and then entered the house with Jacintha and the girl. The poor dupe
-took patience, as directed, and sat himself down on a stone, a few
-yards from the door, where he waited for a considerable time, never
-dreaming of the possibility of their playing him a trick. He only
-wondered at the stay of Don Gaspard, and began to fear that this cursed
-brother had lost his appetite with his passion.
-
-"Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, the hour of midnight, sounded; and not
-until then did his confidence begin to evaporate, and some slight
-doubts of the good faith of his lady to infuse themselves into his
-mind. All was darkness around him; when, approaching the door, he
-entered on tip-toe, and found himself in a narrow passage, in the
-middle of which his hand encountered a staircase. He dared not ascend
-it; but, listening attentively, his ears were greeted with the
-discordant concert which might be expected to proceed from a barking
-dog, a mewing cat, and a crying child, all performing their parts to
-admiration. He felt that he was deceived; and he was convinced of the
-fact when, having explored the passage to its termination, he found
-himself in another street, parallel with that in which he had, so long,
-waited for his love.
-
-"The ghost of his money rose in judgment against him; and he
-returned to his own house, moralising on the deceptive influences of
-rose-coloured stockings. He knocked at the door; it was opened by his
-wife, a chaplet in her hand, and tears in her eyes. 'Ah! Patricio,' she
-said, in a voice which told her affliction; 'how can you thus abandon
-your home? how can you thus neglect your wife--your children? Where
-have you been from six this morning, when you left us?' The husband,
-whom this question would have puzzled to answer satisfactorily, and who
-was, besides, somewhat ashamed of himself, had not a word to say; so
-he undressed, and got into bed in silence. His wife, however, was not
-in want of a text; and she read him a lecture, the continuous hum of
-which, as you perceive, has soothed him to sleep."
-
-[Illustration: Patricio lulled to sleep by his wife's lecture]
-
-"And now," continued Asmodeus, "cast your eyes upon the large house by
-the side of that in which the cavalier is writing to his friends the
-story of his rupture with the mistress of Ambrose. Do you not remark
-a young lady sleeping in a bed of crimson satin, embroidered with
-gold?" "Wait!--oh, yes!--I see a lady sleeping; and I fancy I see a
-book, open, on her pillow." "Precisely so," answered the Demon. "That
-lady is a talented young countess, full of life and spirit: she has
-recently suffered extremely from sleepless nights, and having sent for
-a physician, one of the most dignified of his class, he has prescribed
-for her a remedy, derived, he says, from Hippocrates himself. The lady,
-nevertheless, ridiculed his prescription; at which the physician, a
-crabbed sort of animal, who does not understand joking, said to her,
-with a proper professional gravity: 'Madam, Hippocrates is not a man to
-be laughed at.' 'Certainly not, signor doctor,' replied the Countess,
-with the most serious air imaginable; 'far from laughing at so
-celebrated and learned an author, I think so highly of him, that I feel
-assured the mere opening of his work will cure me of my sleeplessness.
-I have in my library a new translation from the pen of Azero; it is,
-I believe, the best: here! find it for me,' added she, turning to her
-attendant. You behold the magic power of Hippocrates! She had not read
-three pages before she sank into profound repose.
-
-"In the Countess's stables there is a poor, one-armed soldier, whom
-the grooms, out of charity, permit, by night, to sleep upon the
-straw. During the day he begs about the city; and a few hours ago, he
-had an amusing conversation with another mendicant, who lives near
-Buen-Retiro, on the road to the palace. The latter has an excellent
-business, which he manages so well, that his daughter, who is of a
-marriageable age, passes among the beggars for a rich heiress. This
-morning, the soldier accosting the father, said to him: 'Signor
-Mendigo, I have lost my right arm; I can no longer serve the king; and,
-like yourself, I am obliged to gain a livelihood by doing the civil to
-the passers-by. I know well that of all trades there is not one which
-does more for those who follow it; and that all that is wanting to it
-is, that it should be a little more highly esteemed.' 'If it were a bit
-more honourable,' replied the old man, 'it would not be worth following
-at all, as we should have too much competition;--all the world would
-beg if it were not for shame.'
-
-[Illustration: the two beggars in conversation]
-
-"'Very true!' replied he of the one arm. 'Well, now! I am a brother
-beggar; and I should be happy to ally myself with so distinguished a
-member of our profession: you shall give me your daughter.' 'Hold! my
-dear sir,' replied the warm old gentleman; 'you cannot think of such
-a thing. She must have a better match than you will make. You are not
-half lame enough. My son-in-law must be a miserable-looking object, who
-would draw blood out of a stone.' 'Do you think, then, that you will
-find one worse off than I am?' 'To be sure! Why, you have only lost an
-arm; and ought to be absolutely ashamed of yourself, to expect that I
-will give you my daughter. I'd have you to know that I have already
-refused a fellow without legs, and who goes about the city in a bowl.'
-
-"I must on no account," continued the Devil, "omit to call your
-attention to the house which joins that of the sleeping countess, and
-which contains a drunken old painter and a satirical poet. The artist
-left home at seven o'clock this morning in search of a confessor, as
-his wife was at the point of death; but happening to meet with a boon
-companion, he went with him to a tavern, and forgot his wife until ten
-this evening, when he returned to find she had died unshriven. The
-poet, who enjoys the reputation of having frequently received most
-striking proofs of the merits of his caustic verses, was swaggering
-in a _café_ this morning; and in speaking of a person who was absent,
-exclaimed: 'He is a scoundrel, to whom, some of these days, I must give
-a good drubbing.' 'That is kind of you,' replied a wag who heard him;
-'though I believe, by the bye, that you owe him a good many.'
-
-"I had nearly forgotten a scene which took place this morning at a
-banker's in this street. He is only recently established in Madrid,
-having returned with immense riches about three months ago from Peru.
-His father is an honest cobbler of Mediana,[3] a large village of Old
-Castile, near the Sierra d'Avila, where he lives, contented with his
-lot, and with his wife, who, like himself, is about sixty years of age.
-
-[3] It is curious, that in the original of the latest Paris edition,
-as also in the third edition, of 1707, the earliest I have been
-able to consult, and which was published under the superintendence
-of Le Sage, this passage stands, "un honnête _capareto_ de Viejo et
-de Mediana." There is a note to the word "_capareto_" giving its
-translation into French as _savetier_. Being puzzled by the double name
-of the village,--"de Viejo et de Mediana," I sought the assistance
-of a talented Spaniard, Signor Lazeu, and was surprised to find the
-Spanish for cobbler is "_zapatero de viejo_," or, "shoemaker of old
-(things)," and that it should consequently have stood in the original
-"_zapatero de viejo_ de Mediana." It has been doubted by many, among
-others the late H. D. Inglis, whether Le Sage were really the author of
-Le Diable Boiteux and Gil Blas; and it has been asserted that he merely
-translated these works from the unpublished manuscripts of some Spanish
-author. If the error in question were really that of Le Sage, it would
-certainly go far to confirm this assertion.--Trans.
-
-"It is upwards of twenty years since the banker left his father's
-house, for the Indies, in search of a better fortune than he could
-expect from his parents. During all this time, though lost to sight,
-he was ever present in their thoughts, and every night and morning saw
-the poor couple on their knees, praying Heaven to shield him with its
-protection; nor did they fail, on each succeeding Sabbath, to entreat
-their friend the curate to recommend their child to the prayers of
-his humble flock. As soon as the banker had returned to Spain, having
-hastily established his house of business, he resolved to ascertain, in
-person, the condition of his parents, whom, in his prosperity, he had
-never forgotten. With this view, having told his domestics he should
-be absent for a few days, he set out alone, about a fortnight ago, and
-journeyed on horseback towards the place of his birth.
-
-[Illustration: the banker reunited with his parents]
-
-"It was about ten o'clock at night, and the good old cobbler was
-sleeping peaceably beside his spouse, when they were suddenly awakened
-by the noise which the banker made, as he knocked violently at the
-door of their little house. 'Who's there?' cried the startled pair,
-together. 'Open--open the door!' replied a voice; 'it is your son
-Francillo.' 'Tell that to the marines!" replied the ancient son of
-Crispin;--'be off with you, scoundrels! there is nothing here worth
-stealing. Francillo is at this moment in the Indies, if he be not
-dead.' 'Your son is not now in the Indies,' replied the banker; 'he
-is returned from Peru; it is he who speaks to you: will you refuse to
-receive him in your arms?' 'Let us go down, Jacobo,' said the wife; 'I
-think it is indeed Francillo; I seem to recollect his voice.'
-
-"They immediately dressed themselves hurriedly; and, as soon as the
-cobbler had struck a light, they descended, and opened the door. The
-old woman looked at Francillo but for an instant, and, with a mother's
-instinct, recognised her son: she fell upon his neck, and pressed him
-to her bosom; while master Jacobo, as much transported as his wife,
-threw his arms around them, and kissed them both by turns. It was some
-time before the happy family, reunited after so long a separation,
-could tear themselves apart, or cease those expressions of delight
-which filled their throbbing hearts.
-
-"At length, however, the banker was able to think of his horse, which
-he unsaddled and led to a stable, already occupied by a cow, whose
-teeming udders daily yielded their sweet food for his parents. On his
-return to the house, he related the adventures of his life in Peru,
-and told them of the wealth which he had brought with him to Spain.
-The story was somewhat long, and might have appeared annoying to
-uninterested listeners; but a son who unbosoms himself after a twenty
-years' absence, rarely fails to fix the attention of a father and
-mother. To them nothing was indifferent; they greedily devoured every
-syllable he uttered, and the most trifling details of his life made
-upon them the most lively impressions of sorrow or of joy.
-
-"He finished his history, by telling them that his wealth would lose
-all its value unless shared by them, and entreated his father to think
-no longer of working at his stall. 'No, no, my son,' said master Jacobo
-to him: 'no, no! I love my trade, and I will stick to my last.'
-'What,' exclaimed Francillo, 'is it not time you lived in peace? I do
-not ask you to go with me to Madrid; I know well that a city life would
-have no charms for you: I do not propose, then, that you should leave
-the peaceful village where your days have passed; but, at least, spare
-yourself a painful toil, and live here at your ease, since it is in
-your power to do so.'
-
-"The mother joined her son in besieging the old cobbler with
-entreaties; and, at last, master Jacobo capitulated. 'Well! Francillo,'
-said he, 'to satisfy you I will be a gentleman; that is, I will not
-work any longer for all the village; I will only mend my own shoes, and
-those of our good friend the curate.' On this convention, the banker,
-having swallowed a couple of eggs that they had fried for his supper,
-went to bed beneath his father's roof, the first time for many years,
-and slept with a calmness of delight that the good alone are capable of
-enjoying.
-
-"The following day, Francillo returned to Madrid, after leaving with
-his father a purse of three hundred pistoles. But, this morning, he
-was not a little astonished at beholding master Jacobo suddenly enter
-his room. 'Ah! my father what brings you here!' 'Why, my son,' replied
-the old man, 'I bring you back your purse. There, take your money; I
-am determined to live by my trade: I have been miserable ever since
-I left off work.' 'Ah, well! my father,' said Francillo, 'return to
-the village, and continue to work as you will: but, at all events,
-let it be only to amuse you. Take back your purse, too, and do not
-spare mine.' 'And what, then, do you think I can do with so much
-money?' asked master Jacobo. 'It will enable you to relieve the poor,'
-replied the banker: 'do with it as the curate and your own conscience
-shall dictate.' The cobbler, satisfied to accept it on these terms,
-immediately departed for Mediana."
-
-[Illustration: the cobbler attempts to return the purse to his son]
-
-Don Cleophas had listened, with pleasure, to the history of Francillo;
-and he was about to express his admiration of the good-hearted
-banker's filial affection, when, at the very moment, his attention
-was distracted by the most piercing shrieks. "Signor Asmodeus!" he
-exclaimed, "what frightful noises do I hear?" "Those cries, which rend
-the air," replied the Devil, "proceed from a receptacle for madmen,
-who tear their throats with shouting, or with singing." "We are not
-far from the place of their confinement, then," said Leandro; "so
-let us look at them at once." "By all means," replied the Demon: "I
-will afford you that amusement and inform you of the causes of their
-madness." It was no sooner said than done; and, in a moment, the
-Student found himself on the _Casa de los locos_.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-
-THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.
-
-
-Zambullo surveyed, by turns, with much curiosity, the several rooms and
-the unfortunate creatures they contained; and while he was reflecting
-on the scene thus presented to his eyes, the Devil said to him: "There
-they are, my master! You see insanity in every form there;--men and
-women, laughing idiots and raging maniacs, locks grey with age, and
-cheeks which still retain their bloom. Well! now I will tell you what
-has turned their heads: we will go from room to room, but will begin
-with the men.
-
-"The first whom you observe, and who appears so violent, is a political
-fanatic of Castile. He is a proud citizen of Madrid, in the heart
-of which he was born; and he is more jealous of the honour of his
-country than was ever citizen of ancient Rome. He went mad with chagrin
-at reading in the gazette, that twenty-five Spaniards had suffered
-themselves to be beaten by a party of fifty Portuguese.
-
-"His neighbour is a licentiate, who was so anxious to obtain a
-benefice, that he played the hypocrite at court during ten long years;
-and whose brain was turned by despair at finding himself constantly
-
-overlooked among the promotions: his madness, however, is not without
-its advantage; seeing that he at present imagines himself to be
-Archbishop of Toledo. And what if he deceive himself? His pleasure
-is none the less: indeed, I think, that he is so much the more to be
-envied; since his error is a golden dream, which will only end with his
-life, and he will not be called to account in the other world for the
-application of his revenues in this.
-
-"The next in rotation is a ward, whom his guardian declared to be
-insane, that he might have the uncontrolled use of his property: the
-poor youth has become really mad from rage at his unjust confinement.
-After the minor, comes a schoolmaster, who lost his wits in search of
-the _paulo post futurum_ of the Greek verb; and, then again, we have
-a merchant, whose reason was shipwrecked with a vessel that belonged
-to him, although it had stood the shock of two bankruptcies which had
-before threatened to engulph him.
-
-"The person who is lodged in the next room is the ancient captain
-Zanubio, a Neapolitan cavalier, who came to establish himself in
-Madrid, and whom jealousy has settled where he is: you shall hear his
-history.
-
-"He delighted in a youthful spouse, the lady Aurora, whom he guarded
-as the apple of his eye. His house was absolutely inaccessible to all
-mankind; and Aurora never left it but for mass, always accompanied by
-her aged Tithon, or to breathe with him the pure air of the pleasant
-fields, at an estate near Alcantara, whither he sometimes led her.
-Despite his vigilance, however, she had been perceived at church by the
-cavalier Don Garcia Pacheco, who loved her from the instant that he
-saw her: he was an enterprising youth, and not unworthy the attention
-of a pretty woman whom Fortune had badly matched.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio and Aurora at church, observed by Don Garcia]
-
-"The difficulty of introducing himself into the house of Zanubio was
-not sufficient to deprive Don Garcia of hope. As his chin was yet
-unreaped, and he was fair to behold, he disguised himself as a virgin,
-took with him a hundred pistoles, and betook himself to the captain's
-seat, where, he had learned, that gentleman and his lady were shortly
-expected. Watching his opportunity to accost the female who acted as
-gardener in Zanubio's establishment, he addressed her in the style
-of the heroines of chivalry, who fly from some giant's towers: 'Kind
-lady,' said he, 'I come to throw myself within your arms, and to
-entreat your pity. I am a maiden of Toledo, of wealth and name, but my
-parents would compel me to give my hand to one whom my heart disowns.
-To escape this tyranny, I have fled by night; and I now seek shelter
-from a cruel world. Here I shall be safe from pursuit. Do not deny me,
-then, to dwell with you until my friends shall be inspired with more
-kindly sentiments. There is my purse: do not hesitate to receive it,
-it is all that I can give you now: but I trust the day will come when I
-may more properly acknowledge the service which you will render me by
-your protection.'
-
-[Illustration: Don Garcia accosts the female gardener]
-
-"The gentle gardener, especially affected by the conclusion of this
-touching address, replied: 'Dear lady, I will receive you with
-pleasure. I know that there are too many youthful maidens who are
-sacrificed to aged men; and I know, too, that they are not usually
-reconciled to their lot. I sympathize with your afflictions: you could
-not have more fortunately addressed yourself than to me. Come! I
-will place you in a little room, where you may live in confidence of
-security.'
-
-"Don Garcia passed four days, shut up in the gardener's cottage,
-anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aurora. At last she came, guarded as
-ever by her jealous spouse, who immediately, according to his usual
-custom, searched every chamber, from the cellar to the garret, to
-make sure that he was free from the hated form of man, which might
-endanger his honour. The gardener, who expected this visitation,
-anticipated it by informing her master of the manner in which a refuge
-had been sought with her by a youthful female. Zanubio, although
-extremely mistrustful, had not the slightest suspicion of the deceit
-now practised on him; he was, however, curious to see the unknown.
-At the interview which followed, the lady begged him to excuse her
-concealing her name, stating that it was a reserve which she owed to
-her family, which she in some sort dishonoured by her flight. She then
-related to him so pathetic a tale, and in a style so romantic, that the
-captain was charmed; and while he listened to her narration, he felt
-a rising inclination for this amiable damsel, which ended in an offer
-of his services and protection; after which he led her to his wife,
-flattering himself that this adventure would not end disagreeably to
-himself.
-
-"As soon as Aurora beheld Don Garcia, she blushed and trembled, without
-knowing why. The cavalier, who perceived her uneasiness, shrewdly
-guessed that she had observed the attention with which he had regarded
-her at church. To ascertain this fact, as soon as they were alone, he
-said to her: 'Madam, I have a brother who has often spoken to me of
-you. He saw you for a moment at your devotions, and from that moment,
-which he delights to recall a thousand times each day, you have been
-the idol of his heart;--he loves you to madness.'
-
-"As he spoke, Aurora scrutinized the features of Don Garcia, and
-when he had finished she replied to him: 'You resemble your brother
-too closely to permit me to remain for an instant the dupe of your
-stratagem: I see too clearly you are that brother in disguise. I
-remember, one day while at mass, my mantilla fell back from my face; it
-was but for an instant, but I saw that you perceived me: I afterwards
-watched you from curiosity, and your eyes remained fixed on my person.
-When I left the church, I believe that you failed not to follow me,
-that you might learn who I was, and the house where I dwelt. I say--I
-believe you did this, for my head dared not turn to observe you; as my
-husband was with me, jealous of my slightest motions, and would have
-made, of one glance, a deep crime. On the morrow and following days,
-when I went to the church, I always saw you; and your features have
-become so familiar that I know you despite your disguise.'
-
-"'Well, Madam,' replied the lover, 'I must then unmask:--yes, I am
-a man, the victim of your charms:--it is indeed Don Garcia Pacheco
-whom Love brings here in the guise of the gentler sex----' 'And you
-doubtless anticipate,' interrupted Aurora, 'that I, sharing your
-foolish passion, shall lend myself to your design, and assist in
-confirming my husband in his error. You are, however, deceived: I shall
-at once expose the deception; my honour and my peace demand it of me.
-Besides, I am not sorry to have an opportunity of showing my husband
-that vigilance is a less certain safeguard than virtue, and that,
-jealous and mistrustful as he is, I am more difficult to surprise than
-himself.'
-
-"She had hardly spoken when the captain appeared. He had indistinctly
-heard a portion of his wife's discourse, and requested to be informed
-of the subject of their conversation. 'We were speaking,' replied
-Aurora, 'of those youthful cavaliers who dare to hope for love from
-ladies of a tender age, because united to a husband for whom respect
-claims the place of passion. As you entered I was saying, that should
-such a gallant dare to address himself to me,--should he endeavour
-to introduce himself beneath your roof by some of those artifices to
-which such madmen have recourse, I should know well how to punish his
-audacity.'
-
-"'And you, Madam,' said Zanubio, turning to Don Garcia, 'after what
-fashion should you treat a youthful cavalier in such a case?' Our
-assumption of a virgin was so much disconcerted at this question,
-that he was unable to reply; and his embarrassment would certainly
-have attracted Zanubio's attention, had not, at the moment, a servant
-entered the apartment, to inform the captain that a person who had just
-arrived from Madrid wished to speak with him.
-
-"Zanubio had no sooner gone out than Don Garcia, throwing himself
-at Aurora's feet, exclaimed: 'Ah, madam, how can you delight thus
-to perplex me? Could you be cruel enough to expose me to the wrath
-of an enraged husband?' 'No, Pacheco,' replied the lady, smiling;
-'youthful dames who are so unfortunate as to have aged spouses are
-not so resentful. Be not alarmed! I could not resist the temptation
-to amuse myself at the expense of your fears; but that is the sum of
-your punishment; and it is surely not exacting too great a price for my
-kindness in permitting your continuance here.' At these consoling words
-all Don Garcia's alarms were dispelled, and they yielded to hopes, of
-which Aurora was too kind long to delay the realization.
-
-"One day, while their reciprocal affection was manifested in a form
-too clear to be misunderstood, the captain surprised them. Had he been
-the most confiding of men, it would have been impossible, unless his
-confidence were not extended to his own eyes, to doubt that the lovely
-unknown was a man in disguise. Furious at the scene which presented
-itself, he hastened to his dressing-room in search of his pistols; but,
-in the meanwhile, the fond couple escaped,--in their hurry to leave the
-apartment, double-locking the door, and taking with them the key. They
-lost no time in gaining a neighbouring village, in which Don Garcia had
-taken the precaution to leave his valet with two good horses. There,
-our hero, having abandoned his petticoats, and placed Aurora on a
-crupper on one of the steeds, mounted and rode with her to a convent,
-where she prayed him to leave her in the care of an aunt, its abbess;
-after which he returned to Madrid to await the termination of his
-adventure.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio discovers Aurora in Garcia's embrace]
-
-"Poor Zanubio, finding himself imprisoned, shouted with all his
-lungs, and a servant, hearing his voice, hastened to his assistance:
-but, if Love laughs at locksmiths, locks are sometimes extremely
-unaccommodating. In vain did the servant and captain try to force the
-door; and at last the latter, his wrath increasing with his efforts,
-rushed to the window, and threw himself from it, his pistols in his
-hands: he fell upon his back, wounded his head, and when his attendants
-arrived they found him senseless. He was carried bleeding to his
-chamber, and by deluging him with water, and by other gentle torments
-used on such occasions, they succeeded in bringing him to life; but
-his fury returned with his senses. 'Where is my wife?' he cried. To
-this interrogatory they replied, by informing him that they had seen
-her pass from the garden, in company with the unknown lady, by a little
-private door. He immediately demanded his pistols, which they dared not
-refuse him, ordered a horse to be saddled, and without reflecting on
-his wound, set out, but by another road, in pursuit of the lovers. The
-day passed in this fruitless search; and when he stopped for the night
-at a village inn, to repose himself, the fatigue and irritation of his
-wound brought on a fever and delirium, which nearly cost him his life.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio throws himself out of the window]
-
-"The rest is told in a few words. The captain, after being confined to
-his bed for a fortnight, in the village, returned still unwell to his
-country seat; and there, by continually dwelling on his misfortune,
-he shortly afterwards lost his reason. The relations of Aurora were
-no sooner informed of this event, than they caused him to be brought
-to Madrid, and confined where you now see him; and they have resolved
-that his wife shall remain in the convent for some years to come, as a
-punishment for her indiscretion, or, more properly, for a fault which
-their own cupidity placed her in a situation to be tempted to commit.
-
-"The next to whom I shall direct your attention," continued the Devil,
-"is the Signor Don Blaz Desdichado, a worthy cavalier, whose deplorable
-malady is also owing to the loss of his wife, but by death." "That
-indeed surprises me," said Don Cleophas. "A husband whom the death of
-his wife renders insane! Well! that is more than I ever expected to
-spring from conjugal love." "Not so fast!" interrupted Asmodeus: "Don
-Blaz did not lose his reason with his wife; but because, having no
-children, he was obliged to return to the parents of the deceased fifty
-thousand ducats which he had received with her, and which the marriage
-contract compelled him to restore."
-
-"Ah! that is another affair," replied Leandro; "the matter is by no
-means so wonderful as I imagined. But tell me, if you please, who is
-that young man that is skipping about like a kid in the next room, and
-from time to time stopping to laugh until he holds his sides? He is a
-lively fool enough." "Yes," replied the Cripple, "and it was excess of
-joy which made him mad. He was porter to a person of quality; when one
-day, hearing of the death of a rich contador, to whose wealth he was
-sole heir, he was so affected by the joyous news that his head was not
-proof against his good fortune.
-
-"We have now come to that tall youth who is twanging the guitar, and
-accompanying the pathetic strain with his voice: his is a melancholy
-madness. He is a lover, whom the excessive severity of his mistress
-reduced to despair, until they were obliged to enclose him here."
-"Alas! how I pity him," exclaimed the Student; "permit me to express my
-sorrow for his misfortune;--it is one to which every susceptible heart
-is exposed. Were it my own fate to love a disdainful beauty, I know not
-but that I too should love to madness." "I can believe you," replied
-the Demon: "that sentiment would stamp you for a true Castilian. One
-must be born in the centre of that ancient kingdom to be capable of
-loving until reason sinks with a despised heart. Your Frenchman is
-not so tender; and would you appreciate the difference between a gay
-Parisian and a fiery Spaniard in this respect, I need only repeat to
-you the song which yon poor fool is singing, and which his passion
-inspires even at this moment:
-
-                    SPANISH SONG.
-
-    'Mine eyes gush o'er with floods of wild desire,
-      And hopeless love burns fiercely in my breast;
-    Yet not my tears can quench my bosom's fire,
-      Nor passion's fire my scalding tears arrest.'[4]
-
-[4]
-
-    'Ardo y lloro sin sosiego:
-    Llorando y ardiendo tanto,
-    Que ni el llanto apaga el fuego,
-    Ni el fuego consume el llanto.'
-
-
-
-"It is thus sings a true Castilian whom his lady slights; and now I
-will repeat to you the words in which a Frenchman told his griefs, in a
-similar case, only a few days ago:
-
-                   FRENCH SONG.
-
-    'She who within my bosom reigns,
-    A tyrant's stern control maintains;
-    Nor sighs, nor tears, nor prayers can move
-    The least relenting look of love.
-    A kind word, kindly spoken, might
-    Have turn'd my darkness into light;
-    But, since my suit is urged in vain,
-    I fly to feed my griefs with Payen.'[5]
-
-[5]
-
-    'L'objet qui règne dans mon coeur
-    Est toujours insensible à mon amour fidèle,
-      Mes soins, mes soupirs, ma langueur,
-    Ne sauraient attendrir cette beauté cruelle.
-    O ciel! est-il un sort plus affreux que le mien?
-      Ah! puisque je ne puis lui plaire,
-      Je renonce au jour qui m'éclaire;
-    Venez, mes chers amis, m'enterrer chez Payen.'
-
-
-
-"This Payen is undoubtedly a tavern-keeper?" said Don Cleophas.
-"Exactly so," replied the Devil. "But let us continue our
-observations." "Let us then turn to the women," exclaimed Leandro;
-"I am impatient to hear their histories." "I will yield to your
-impatience," answered the Spirit; "but there are yet two or three
-unfortunates on this side of the house, whom I would first show to you:
-you may profit by their unhappiness.
-
-"You observe, close by the melancholy songster, that pale and haggard
-face; those teeth, which gnash as though they would make nothing of the
-iron bars that ornament the window. Yon is an honest man, born under
-influence of malignant star, who, with all the merit in the world, has
-vainly striven, during twenty years, to secure a modest competence;
-he has scarcely, with all his efforts, succeeded in gaining his daily
-bread. His reason fled its seat, on his perceiving a worthless fellow
-of his acquaintance suddenly mount the top of fortune's wheel by a
-lucky speculation.
-
-"His neighbour, again, is an old secretary, whose head was cracked by
-a stroke of ingratitude, which he received from a courtier, in whose
-service he lived during sixty years. No praises were too great for the
-zeal and fidelity of this ancient servant; who, however, never claimed
-their just reward, content to let his assiduity and services speak
-for themselves. His master, far from resembling Archelaus, king of
-Macedonia, who refused favours when demanded, and bestowed them when
-unasked, died forgetful of his merits, leaving him just enough to pass
-his days in misery, and the refuge of a madhouse.
-
-"I will only detain you with one more, and it is with the man who,
-leaning with his elbows on the window, appears plunged in profound
-meditation. You see in him a Signor Hidalgo, of Tafalla, a small town
-of Navarre, which he left for Madrid that he might make the best use
-of his wealth. He was bitten with a rage for surrounding himself with
-the literati of the day; and as these animals are always seen to most
-advantage at feeding-time, he kept open house for their entertainment.
-Authors are an unpolished and ungrateful race; but, although they
-despised and snarled at their keeper, he was not contented until they
-had eaten him out of house and home." "Poor fellow," said Zambullo: "he
-no doubt went mad with rage at his awful stupidity." "On the contrary,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it was with regret at finding himself unable
-to keep up his menagerie. Well! now let us pay our respects to the
-ladies," added the Devil.
-
-"Why! how is this?" exclaimed the Student: "I only see seven or eight
-of them. I had expected to have found them here by scores." "Ah!" said
-the Devil, smiling, "but they are by no means all confined within these
-walls. I will take you instantly, if you wish it, to another quarter of
-the city, where there is a larger house than this, full of mad-women to
-the very roof." "Do not trouble yourself, I beg," replied Don Cleophas;
-"I am by no means anxious for their acquaintance: these will suffice."
-"You are right," replied the Devil; "and these too, are almost all
-youthful ladies of distinction. You may perceive by the attention which
-is paid to their persons, that they are not ordinary subjects. And now
-for the story of their madness.
-
-"In the first room is the wife of a corregidor, who went mad with rage
-at being termed plebeian by a lady of the court; in the second, is the
-spouse of the treasurer-general of the council of the Indies: anger
-also made her mad, at being obliged, in a narrow street, to turn back
-her carriage to make way for that of the duchess of Medina-Coeli. The
-third room is the residence of a merchant's widow, whom regret for the
-loss of a noble signor's hand robbed of her senses; and the fourth
-is occupied by a girl of highest rank, named Donna Beatrice, whose
-misfortunes are worth your attention.
-
-"This young lady was united by the most tender friendship with the
-Donna Mencia: they were indeed inseparable. It happened, however,
-that a handsome chevalier of the order of St. James became acquainted
-with them both, and they soon were rivals for his heart. As he could
-not marry the two, and as his affections inclined towards the Donna
-Mencia, he paid his court to that lady, and she shortly became his wife.
-
-"Donna Beatrice, jealous of the power of her charms, and mortified to
-excess by the preference shown to another, conceived a passion for
-revenge, which, like a woman, or a good Spaniard, she nourished at the
-bottom of her heart. While this passion was yet in its infancy, she
-received from Don Jacintho de Romarate, a neglected lover of the Donna
-Mencia, a letter stating that, being as much insulted as herself by the
-marriage of his mistress, he had resolved to demand satisfaction of the
-chevalier for their united wrongs.
-
-"This letter gave great delight to Beatrice, who desiring but the death
-of the sinner, wished for nothing more than that his rival should fall
-beneath Jacintho's hand. While anxiously awaiting for so christianly
-a gratification, it happened, however, that her own brother, having
-chanced to quarrel with this same Jacintho, came to blows with her
-champion, and fell pierced with wounds of which he died. Although duty
-prompted Donna Beatrice to avenge her brother's death by citing his
-murderer before the tribunals of his country, she neglected to do so,
-as this would have interfered with her revenge; which demonstrates, if
-such proof were needed, that there is no interest so dear to a woman
-as that of her beauty. Need I remind you, that when Ajax violated
-Cassandra in the temple of Pallas, that goddess did not on the instant
-punish the sacrilegious Greek? No! she reserved her wrath until its
-victim should have first redressed the insult offered to her charms
-by the Judgment of the hated Paris. But, alas! Donna Beatrice, less
-fortunate than Minerva, never tasted the sweetness of her anticipated
-vengeance. Romarate perished by the sword of the chevalier, and
-chagrin for her wrongs, still unpunished, drove the lady into this
-asylum.
-
-"The next who offer themselves to your notice are an attorney's
-grandmother and an aged marchioness. The ill-temper of the first so
-annoyed her descendant, that he very quietly got rid of her by placing
-her here: the other is a lady who has ever been an idol to herself, and
-instead of aging with becoming resignation, has never ceased to weep
-the decay of that beauty which formed her only happiness; and at last,
-one day, when her mirror told, too plainly to be doubted, that all her
-charms were flown, went mad."
-
-"So much the better for the ancient dame," added Leandro. "In the
-derangement of her mind, she will no more perceive the ravages of
-time." "Most assuredly not," replied the Devil; "far from beholding
-in her face the marks of age, her complexion seems to her now a happy
-blending of the lily and the rose; she sees around her but the Graces
-and the Loves,--in a word, she thinks that she is Venus herself." "Ah!
-well!" exclaimed the Student, "were it not better that thousands should
-be mad, than that they should know themselves for what they are?"
-"Undoubtedly," replied Asmodeus; "but come, we have only one other
-female to observe; and that is she who dwells in the furthest room,
-and whom sleep has just visited with rest, after three days and nights
-of raving. Look at her well! What think you of the Donna Emerenciana?"
-"That she is beautiful, indeed," answered Zambullo. "What horror, that
-so lovely a creature should be mad! By what fatal accident is she
-reduced to this dreadful situation?" "Listen!" replied the Demon; "I
-will tell you the story of her woes.
-
-"Donna Emerenciana, only daughter of Don Guillem Stephani, lived
-tranquilly at Siguença, in the mansion of her father, when Don Kimen
-de Lizana came to trouble her repose by those attentions with which he
-sought to win her heart. Flattered by his gallantries, she received
-their homage with delight; she even had the weakness to lend herself
-to the artifices to which he resorted that he might speak with her in
-private; and in a short time exchanged with him vows of eternal love
-and fidelity.
-
-[Illustration: the mad-woman Donna Emerenciana]
-
-"The lovers were of equal birth; but the lady was one of the richest
-heiresses of Spain, while Don Kimen was a younger son. But there was
-still another obstacle to their union,--Don Guillem hated the family
-of the Lizana. This he never affected to conceal, whenever they were
-mentioned; and he seemed more averse to Don Kimen himself, than to any
-other of his race. Emerenciana, though deeply afflicted at her father's
-sentiments on this subject, which she felt boded unhappily for her
-passion, could not resolve to abandon its object; and she therefore
-continued her secret interviews with her lover, who from time to time,
-through the assistance of a waiting-maid, ventured even into her
-chamber by night.
-
-"It happened, one of these nights, that Don Guillem chanced to be awake
-when the gallant was thus introduced, and thought he heard a noise in
-his daughter's apartment, which was not far from his own. This was
-quite enough to arouse a father, and especially one so mistrustful
-as Don Guillem. Suspicious as he was, he had never imagined the
-possibility of his daughter's intelligence with Don Kimen; but not
-being of a disposition to place too much confidence in any one, he rose
-quietly from his bed, opened a window which looked into the street,
-and there patiently waited until he saw that cavalier, whom the light
-of the moon enabled him to recognize, descending from the balcony by a
-silken ladder.
-
-"What a sight for Stephani!--for the most vindictive, the most
-relentless mortal, that even Sicily, which gave him birth, had ever
-produced. He controlled the first emotions of his terrible wrath, and
-repressed every exclamation of surprise at what he beheld, that the
-chief victim which his wounded pride demanded might not be warned
-of his fate, and attempt to escape the avenger's hand. He so far
-constrained himself as to wait until the morning, when his daughter had
-risen, ere he entered her apartment. She was alone, as he approached
-her, with fury sparkling in his eyes; and, with a voice that made her
-tremble, he addressed her thus: 'Unworthy wretch! whom not the honour
-of thy race restrains from deeds of infamy, prepare to meet their due
-reward! This steel,' he added, as he drew a dagger from his bosom,
-'shall find a sheath within your heart, unless with truth upon your
-lips you name the daring villain who brought, last night, dishonour on
-my house.'
-
-[Illustration: Stephani threatens Emerenciana with a dagger]
-
-"Emerenciana was so overcome by this unexpected discovery and her
-father's threats, that her tongue refused its office. 'Ah! miserable,'
-continued Don Guillem, 'thy silence and confusion tell me too plainly
-all thy guilt! Dost think, child, whom I blush to call mine own, that I
-know not what has passed? I know too well! I saw, myself, the villain,
-and recognized him for Don Kimen. 'Twas not enough, then, to receive
-a cavalier at night within thy room!--that cavalier must be the man
-whom most I loathe! But come! tell me how much I owe him. Speak without
-disguise,--thy sincerity alone can save thy shameful life.'
-
-"These last words, terrible as they were, brought with them some slight
-hope to the unfortunate girl of escaping the fate which menaced her,
-and she recovered from her fright sufficiently to enable her to reply:
-'Signor, I cannot deny that I am guilty of listening to Lizana; but I
-call Heaven to witness for the purity of his sentiments and conduct.
-Aware as he was of your hatred for his name, he dared not to ask your
-sanction for his addresses; but it was for no other end than to confer
-with me how that sanction might be obtained that he sought, and I
-permitted, his coming here.' 'And who, then,' asked Stephani, 'was the
-willing instrument through which you exchanged your communications?'
-'It was,' replied his daughter, 'one of your pages to whom we were
-indebted for that kindness.' 'Enough,' interrupted the father; 'and
-now to execute the design for which I come!' Thereupon displaying his
-poniard, he made Emerenciana sit down, and placing paper and ink before
-her, compelled her to write to her lover the following letter which he
-dictated:--
-
- "'Dearest Love,--only delight of my life,--I hasten to inform you that
- my father has just set out for his estate, whence he will not return
- until to-morrow. Lose not this happy opportunity. I doubt not you will
- watch for the coming night with as much impatience as your beloved
-
- "'EMERENCIANA.'
-
-"As soon as this treacherous letter was written and sealed, Don Guillem
-said to his daughter: 'And now summon the page who so well performs
-the duties you impose on him, and direct him to carry this note to Don
-Kimen: but hope not to deceive me; I shall conceal myself behind the
-drapery of your room, whence I can observe your slightest movement; and
-if while you charge him with this commission you speak one word, or
-make the smallest sign which may give him suspicion of your message, I
-will plunge this dagger in your heart.' Emerenciana knew her father too
-well to dare to disobey him: the page was called, and the letter placed
-as usual in his hands.
-
-"Not until then did Stephani put up his weapon; but he did not leave
-his daughter for a moment during the day, nor would he let any one
-approach her, so that she could communicate to Lizana intelligence of
-the snare which was spread for him. Accordingly, when night came, the
-youthful gallant hastened to the wished-for meeting; but hardly had
-he entered the door of his mistress's house before he found himself
-seized by three powerful men, who disarmed him in a moment, tied a
-bandage over his mouth to prevent his cries, another over his eyes, and
-bound his hands behind his back. They then placed him in a carriage,
-which was waiting for the purpose, and having all mounted therein for
-complete security of the betrayed cavalier's person, they carried him
-to the seat of Stephani, situated near the village of Miedes, four
-leagues from Siguença, where they arrived before daybreak.
-
-[Illustration: Don Kimen is kidnapped]
-
-"The first care of the signor was to cause Don Kimen to be placed in a
-vault which received but a feeble light from a hole near the top, so
-small, that escape by that was impossible. He then ordered Julio, a
-confidential servant, to feed him with bread and water only, to give
-him but a truss of straw to sleep on, and to say to him every time he
-carried him food: 'Here, base seducer: it is thus that Don Guillem
-treats those who are mad enough to dare to insult him!' The cruel
-Sicilian was hardly less severe in his treatment of his daughter:
-he imprisoned her in a chamber which looked into a small courtyard,
-deprived her of her attendants, and placed her in the custody of a
-duenna whom he had chosen, because she was unequalled for her skill in
-tormenting those committed to her charge.
-
-"Having thus disposed of the two lovers, he was by no means contented
-with the punishment already inflicted on them: he had resolved to
-get rid of Don Kimen, and had only not done so at once because he
-wished to avoid any unpleasant consequences which might follow his
-crime; to manage which, appeared to be somewhat difficult. As he had
-employed three of his servants in the abduction of the cavalier, he
-could hardly hope that a secret known to so many persons would always
-remain undiscovered:--what then was he to do, to shun any impertinent
-explanations which justice might think it necessary to demand? His
-resolve was worthy of a conqueror; he assembled his accomplices in a
-small pavilion, a short distance from the chateau, and after telling
-them how highly satisfied he was with their zeal, he stated that he had
-brought them there to receive a substantial reward for their services
-in money, and that he had prepared a little festival, which he invited
-them to share. They sat down to enjoy themselves, little dreaming that
-it was a feast of death; for when their brains were heated with wine,
-the worthy Julio by his master's order brought in a poisoned bowl,
-which soon ended their rejoicing. The pair then fired the pavilion,
-and before the flames had brought around them the inhabitants of the
-neighbouring village, they assassinated Emerenciana's two female
-attendants and the page of whom I have spoken, and threw their bodies
-into the burning heap. It was really amusing, while the remains of
-these poor wretches were consuming in this infernal pile, which the
-peasants strove in vain to extinguish, to witness the profound grief
-displayed by our Sicilian: he appeared inconsolable for the loss of his
-domestics.
-
-[Illustration: assassination of the maid-servants and page]
-
-"Nothing remaining to be feared from any want of discretion on
-the part of his coadjutors, which might have betrayed him, he thus
-addressed his confidant: 'My dear Julio, my mind is now at peace, and
-the life of Don Kimen is at my mercy; but, before I immolate him to my
-wounded honour, I would enjoy the sweet delight of making him feel how
-much he has offended me;--the misery and horror of a long and solitary
-confinement will be more dreadful to him than death itself.' In truth,
-Lizana was by no means comfortable; and, hopeless of ever leaving
-the dungeon where he wasted, he would have welcomed death as a cheap
-release from his sufferings.
-
-"But, despite his boast of peace, the mind of Stephani knew no rest
-after the exploits he had recently achieved; and ere many days had
-passed, a new source of inquietude presented itself in the fear lest
-Julio, as he daily saw the prisoner for the purpose of taking him
-food, should suffer himself to be corrupted by promises. This fear
-made Don Guillem resolve to get rid of Lizana without loss of time,
-and then to blow out the brains of his friend Julio. But the latter
-was also not without his own misgivings; and, as he shrewdly suspected
-that were Don Kimen once out of the way, he would be found in it, he
-had made his resolution to take himself off some fine night, with all
-that was portable in the house, when the darkness would excuse his not
-distinguishing his master's property from his own.
-
-"While these honest gentlemen were each meditating an agreeable
-surprise for the other, they were one day both unwelcomely accosted
-at a short distance from the chateau, by about twenty archers of St.
-Hermandad, who surrounded, and greeted them in the name of the king
-and the law! At this salutation Don Guillem was somewhat confounded;
-but, calling the colour to his cheeks, he asked the commandant of the
-archers whom he sought. 'Yourself!' replied the officer: 'you are
-accused of having unlawfully seized on Don Kimen de Lizana; and I am
-directed to make strict search for that cavalier within your mansion,
-and further to make you my prisoner.' Stephani, convinced by this
-answer that he was lost, drew from his person a brace of pistols,
-exclaiming that he would suffer no one to enter his house; and that he
-would shoot the commandant without ceremony if he did not instantly
-take himself off with his troop. The leader of the holy brotherhood,
-despising this threat, advanced at once towards the Sicilian; who,
-as good as his word, fired, and wounded him slightly in the face.
-This wound, however, cost the life of the madman who gave it; for the
-archers in a moment stretched him lifeless at the feet of their injured
-chief. Julio surrendered himself without resistance; and, making a
-virtue of necessity, cleared his conscience by a frank avowal of all
-that had occurred,--except that, perceiving his master was really dead,
-he did him the honour to invest his memory with all the glory attaching
-to the transaction.
-
-"He then conducted the archers to the vault, where they found Lizana
-on his straw bed, securely bound. The unfortunate gentleman, who lived
-in continual expectation of death, thought it was come at last when he
-saw so many armed men enter his prison; and was, as you may expect,
-agreeably surprised to find liberators in those whom he had taken
-for his executioners. When they had released him from his dungeon,
-and received his thanks, he asked them how they had learned that he
-was confined in the place where they found him. 'That,' replied the
-commandant, 'I will tell you in a few words.
-
-[Illustration: the liberation of Don Kimen]
-
-"'The night you were entrapped,' said the officer, 'one of Don
-Guillem's assistants, whose mistress resided in the neighbourhood,
-stole a few moments while they were waiting for you, to bid adieu to
-his sweetheart before his departure, and was indiscreet enough to
-reveal to her the project of Stephani. For a wonder, the lady kept
-the secret for three whole days; but when the news of the fire at
-Miedes reached Siguença, as every body thought it strange that all
-the servants of the Sicilian should have perished in the flames, she
-naturally took it into her head also that the fire was the work of
-Guillem himself. To revenge her lover's death, therefore, she sought
-the Signor Don Felix, your father, and related to him all she knew.
-Don Felix, alarmed at finding you were in the hands of a man capable
-of everything, accompanied the lady to the corregidor, who on hearing
-her story had no doubt of Stephani's intentions towards you, and that
-he was the diabolical incendiary the woman suspected. To make inquiries
-into all the circumstances of the case, the corregidor instantly
-despatched orders to me at Retortillo, where I live, directing me to
-repair with my brigade to this chateau, to find you if possible,
-and to take Don Guillem, dead or alive. I have happily performed my
-commission as regards yourself; and I only regret that it is out of my
-power to conduct the criminal to Siguença alive. He compelled us by his
-furious resistance to dispatch him on the spot.'
-
-"The officer, having ended his story, thus continued: 'I will now,
-Signor Don Kimen, draw up a report of all that has happened here; I
-will not, however, detain you long, and we will then set out together
-to release your friends from the anxiety they suffer upon your
-account.' 'Stay, signor commandant,' interrupted Julio, 'I will furnish
-you with matter to lengthen your report: you have got another prisoner
-to liberate. Donna Emerenciana is confined in a dismal chamber of
-this chateau, guarded by a merciless duenna, who upbraids her without
-ceasing for her love of this cavalier, and torments her by every device
-she can imagine.' 'Oh Heaven!' cried Lizana, 'is it possible that the
-barbarous Stephani should not have been contented to exercise his
-cruelty on me alone? Let us hasten to deliver the unfortunate lady from
-the tyranny of her gaoler.'
-
-"Julio lost no time in conducting the commandant, four or five of
-the archers, and Lizana, to the prison of Don Guillem's daughter.
-They knocked at the door; it was opened by the surprised duenna, and
-you may conceive the delight of Don Kimen at again beholding his
-mistress, after having lost her as he supposed for ever. All his hopes
-revived; nor could he reasonably conceive the possibility of their
-non-fulfilment, since he who alone stood between him and his happiness,
-was dead. He threw himself in ecstacy at the feet of Emerenciana;
-when,--picture his horror if you can,--he found, instead of the gentle
-girl who had listened with tender transport to his vows, a maniac.
-Yes! so well had the duenna succeeded in her efforts, that she had
-effaced the image of the lover by destroying the canvas on which it was
-depicted.
-
-[Illustration: Don Kimen discovers Emerenciana has gone mad]
-
-"She remained for some time in apparent meditation, then imagining
-herself to be the fair Angelica, besieged by the Tartars in the towers
-of Albraca, and the persons who filled her apartment to be so many
-Paladins come to her rescue, she received them with much politeness.
-Addressing the chief of the holy brotherhood as Roland, Lizana as
-Brandimart, Julio as Hubert of the Lion, and the archers as Antifort,
-Clarion, Adrian, and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, she said to
-them: 'Brave chevaliers, I no longer fear the Emperor Agrican, nor
-Queen Marphisa: your valour would suffice for my defence against the
-world itself in arms.'
-
-"The officer and his followers could not resist an inclination
-to laugh at this heroic reception; but poor Don Kimen was so much
-afflicted by the unexpected condition in which he found her for whom
-alone he had wished to live, that reason seemed to be on the point
-of abandoning him also. Recovering himself, however, from his first
-surprise, and hoping that she might be brought to recognize the
-unhappy author of her misfortunes, he addressed her tenderly: 'Dearest
-Emerenciana,' said he, 'it is Lizana speaks to thee: recall thy
-scattered thoughts, he comes to tell thee that thy griefs are at an
-end. Heaven has heard the prayer of those fond hearts itself united;
-and its wrath has fallen on the wicked head of him who would have
-separated two beings made for each other.'
-
-"The reply to these words was another speech from the daughter of king
-Galafron to the valiant defenders of Albraca, who this time however
-restrained their mirth. Even the commandant, whose profession was not
-favourable to the kindlier feelings of humanity, was touched with
-compassion, and observing the profound affliction of Don Kimen, said to
-him: 'Signor Cavalier, do not despair! We have, in Siguença, physicians
-celebrated for their skill in curing the disorders of the mind, and
-there is yet hope for your unfortunate lady. But let us away! You,
-Signor Hubert of the Lion,' added he, addressing himself to Julio,
-'you who know the whereabouts of the stables of this castle, take with
-you Antifort and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, bring out the
-fleetest coursers from their stalls and harness them to the car of our
-princess; in the meanwhile I will prepare my dispatches.'
-
-"So saying, he drew out his writing materials, and having finished
-his report, he presented his hand to Angelica and conducted her to
-the court-yard, where he found a carriage with four mules, which had
-been prepared for her reception by the paladins. The lady was placed
-therein by the side of Don Kimen; and the commandant having compelled
-the duenna to enter also, as he thought the corregidor would be glad to
-have some conversation with the dame, he mounted, and they set out for
-Siguença. This is not all: by order of their chief, the archers bound
-Julio, and placed him in another carriage with the body of Don Guillem;
-then mounting their horses they followed the same route.
-
-"During the journey, the daughter of Stephani uttered a thousand
-extravagancies, every one of which was as a dagger in the heart of her
-lover. The presence of the duenna was an additional source of disquiet
-to him. 'It is you, infamous old woman,' said he to her, 'it is you
-who by your cruelty have tortured Emerenciana to madness.' The old
-hypocrite endeavoured to justify herself by pleading the instructions
-of her defunct master. 'It is to Don Guillem alone,' said she, 'that
-her misfortunes are attributable: daily did that too rigid father visit
-her in her room; and it is to his reproaches and threats that the loss
-of her reason is owing.'
-
-"On reaching Siguença, the commandant immediately went to give an
-account of his mission to the corregidor, who after examining Julio
-and the duenna found them lodgings in the prisons of that town,
-where they reside to this time. Lizana, after deposing to all he had
-suffered from Don Guillem, repaired to his father's house, where his
-presence restored joy to his alarmed relations. Donna Emerenciana
-was sent by the judge to Madrid, where she has a kind uncle by her
-mother's side, who desired nothing better than the administration of
-his niece's property, and who was nominated her guardian. As he could
-not creditably do otherwise than appear desirous of her restoration to
-sanity, he had recourse to the most famed physicians of this city; but
-he had nothing to fear, for, after having taken a becoming number of
-fees, they declared her incurable. On this decision, the guardian, no
-doubt very reluctantly, placed her here; and here, most likely, she is
-destined to end her days."
-
-"And a sad destiny it is," cried Don Cleophas; "I am really touched
-by her misfortunes: Donna Emerenciana deserved a better fate. And Don
-Kimen," added he, "what is become of him? I am curious to learn how
-he acted." "Very reasonably," replied Asmodeus: "when he heard that
-the evil was past a remedy, he went to Spanish America. He hopes that
-by change of scene he may insensibly efface the remembrance of those
-charms that wisdom and his own peace require he should forget.----But,"
-continued the Devil, "after having exhibited to you madmen who are
-confined, it is time I shewed to you those who deserve to be so."
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of a physician taking Emerenciana's pulse]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-
-THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.
-
-
-"Run your eyes over the city, and as we discover subjects worthy of
-being placed in this museum, I will describe them to you. There is one,
-already; I must not let him escape: he is a newly-married man. It is
-just a week since, in consequence of reports which reached his ears
-relative to the coquetries of a damsel whom he affected, he went in a
-fury to her house, broke one portion of her furniture, threw the other
-out of windows, and on the next day mended the matter by espousing
-her." "A proper candidate, indeed," said Zambullo, "for a vacant place
-in this establishment!"
-
-"He has a neighbour," resumed the Cripple, "who is not much wiser than
-himself, a bachelor of forty-five, who, with plenty to live on, would
-yet swell the train of some noble pauper. And yonder is the widow of
-an advocate, who, having counted three-score years and more, is about
-to seek the shelter of a convent, that her reputation may not, as she
-says, suffer scandal in this wicked world.
-
-"I perceive also two virgins, or, to speak more properly, two girls
-of fifty years of age. They pray Heaven, in its mercy, to take to it
-their father, who keeps them mewed like minors; as they hope, when he
-is gone, to find handsome men who will marry them for love." "And why
-not?" inquired the Scholar; "there are stranger things than such men to
-be found." "I am perfectly of your opinion," replied Asmodeus: "they
-may find husbands, doubtless; but they ought not to expect to be so
-fortunate,--it is therein that their folly consists.
-
-"There is no country in the world in which women speak the truth
-in regard to their age. At Paris, about a month ago, a maiden of
-forty-eight and a woman of sixty-nine had occasion to go before a
-magistrate as witnesses in a case which concerned the honour of a widow
-of their acquaintance. The magistrate, first addressing himself to
-the married lady, asked her age; and, although her years might have
-been counted by the wrinkles on her brow, she unhesitatingly replied,
-that she was exactly forty. 'And you, madam,' said the man of law,
-addressing the single lady in her turn, 'may I ask your age also?' 'We
-can dispense with that, your worship,' replied the damsel; 'it is a
-question that ought not to be asked.' 'Impossible!' replied he; 'are
-you not aware that the law requires....' 'Oh!' interrupted the lady
-sharply, 'the law requires nothing of the kind: what matters it to the
-law what my age may be? It is none of its business.' 'But, madam,' said
-the magistrate, 'I cannot receive your testimony unless your age be
-stated; it is a necessary preliminary, I assure you.' 'Well,' replied
-the maiden, 'if it be absolutely necessary, look at me with attention,
-and put down my age conscientiously.'
-
-[Illustration: the two ladies before the magistrate]
-
-"The magistrate looked at her over his spectacles, and was polite
-enough to decree that she did not appear above twenty-eight. But when
-to his question, as to how long she had known the widow, the witness
-replied--before her marriage: 'I have made a mistake,' said he; 'for I
-have put you down for twenty-eight, whereas it is nine and twenty years
-since the lady became a wife.' 'You may state then,' cried the maiden,
-'that I am thirty: I may have known the widow since I was one year
-old.' 'That will hardly do,' replied the magistrate; 'we may as well
-add a dozen years at once.' 'By no means,' said the lady; 'I will allow
-another year, if you please; but if my own honour were in question
-instead of the widow's, I would not add one month more to please the
-law, or any other body in the world.'
-
-"When the two witnesses had left the magistrate, the woman said to the
-maiden: 'Do not you wonder at this noodle, who thinks us young enough
-to tell him our ages to a day? It is enough, surely, that they should
-be inscribed on the parish registers, without his poking them into
-his depositions, for the information of all the world. It would be
-delightful, truly, to hear recited in open court,--Madame Richard, aged
-sixty and so many years, and Mademoiselle Perinelle, aged forty-five,
-depose such and so forth. It is too absurd: I have taken care to
-suppress a good score of years; and you were wise enough to follow my
-example.'
-
-'What do you mean by following your example?' cried the ancient damsel,
-with youthful indignation: 'I am extremely obliged to you; but I would
-have you to know that thirty-five years are the utmost I have seen.'
-'Why! child,' replied the matron, with a malicious smile, 'you forget
-yourself: I was present at your birth--ah! what a time it is ago! And
-your poor father! I knew him well. But we must all die; and he was not
-young, either: it is nearly forty years since we buried him.' 'Oh! my
-father,' interrupted the virgin, hastily, irritated at the precision
-of the old dame's tender recollections,--'my father was so old when he
-married my mother, that she was not likely to have any children by him.'
-
-"I perceive in that house opposite," continued the Spirit, "two men,
-who are not over-burdened with sense. One is a youth of family, who
-can neither keep money in his pocket, nor do entirely without it:
-he has discovered, therefore, an excellent means of always having a
-supply. When he is in cash, he lays it out in books, and when his purse
-is empty, he sells them for the half of their cost. The other is a
-foreign artist, who seeks for patronage among the ladies as a portrait
-painter: he is clever, draws correctly, colours to perfection, and is
-extraordinarily successful in the likeness; but--he never flatters his
-originals, yet expects the women will flock to him. Sheer stupidity!
-_Inter stultos referatur._"
-
-"What?" cried the Scholar, "have you studied the classics?" "You
-ought hardly to be surprised at that," replied the Devil: "I speak
-fluently all your barbarous tongues--Hebrew, Greek, Persic, and Arabic.
-Nevertheless, I am not vain of my attainments; and that, at all events,
-is an advantage I have over your learned pedants.
-
-"You may see in that large mansion, on the left, a sick lady surrounded
-by several others, who are in attendance upon her: she is the rich
-widow of a celebrated architect, whose love for her husband's
-profession has extended itself to the most foolish admiration of the
-Corinthian capital of society--the higher classes. She has just made
-her will, by which she bequeaths her immense wealth to grandees of the
-first class, who are ignorant of her very existence, but whose titles
-have gained for them their legacies. She was asked whether she would
-not leave something to a person who had rendered her most important
-services. 'Alas! no,' she replied, with an appearance of regret; 'and
-I am sorry that I cannot do so. I am not so ungrateful as to deny the
-obligation which I owe to him; but his humble name would disgrace my
-will.'"
-
-"Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Leandro, "tell me, I pray you, whether
-the old gentleman whom I perceive so busy reading in his study, does
-not chance to be one of those who merit to be here confined." "He does,
-indeed, deserve it," answered the Demon: "he is an old licentiate, who
-is reading a proof of a book which he is passing through the press."
-"Doubtless, some work on morals or theology?" said Don Cleophas. "Not
-it," replied the Cripple; "it is a collection of amatory songs, which
-he wrote in his youth: instead of burning them, or at least suffering
-them to fall into the oblivion to which he is fast hastening, he has
-resolved to print them himself, for fear his heirs should be tempted to
-do so after his death, and that, out of respect for his memory, they
-should deprive them of their point by rendering them decent.
-
-"There is a little lady living in the same house with our Anacreon,
-whom I must not forget: she is so entirely convinced of the power of
-her attractions, that no man ever spoke to her whom she did not at once
-place in the list of her admirers.
-
-"But let us turn to a wealthy canon, whom I see a few paces beyond
-her. He has a very singular phantasy. If he lives frugally, it is not
-with a view to mortify the flesh, or from a dislike to the grape; if
-his humility does without a coach and six, it is not from avarice. Ah!
-for what object then does he husband his resources? What does he with
-his revenues? Does he bestow them in alms? No! he expends them in the
-purchase of paintings, expensive furniture, and jewellery. Now, you
-would naturally expect he bought these things to enjoy them while he
-lived?--No such thing; he only seeks to swell the inventory of his
-effects when he shall be no more."
-
-"Oh! impossible!" cried Zambullo: "such a madman as you describe cannot
-exist on the earth!" "I repeat, nevertheless," replied the Devil, "that
-such is his mania. The only pleasure he derives from these things is in
-the imagination of how they will figure in his said inventory. Does he
-buy, for instance, a superbly inlaid cabinet; it is neatly packed upon
-the instant, and carefully stowed away; that it may appear quite new in
-the eyes of the brokers who may come when he is dead to bargain for his
-relics.
-
-"I will show you one of his neighbours that you will think quite as mad
-as he,--an old bachelor, recently arrived from the Philippine Isles,
-with an enormous fortune which he derived from his father, who was
-auditor of the court at Manilla: his conduct is extraordinary enough.
-You may see him daily in the antechambers of the king, or of the prime
-minister. Do not fancy, however, that it is ambition which leads him
-there, to solicit some important charge: he seeks no employment; he
-asks for nothing. 'What then!' you will say to me, 'does he go there
-simply to pay his devoirs?' Colder still! He never speaks to the
-minister, to whom indeed he is not even known, nor does he desire to be
-so. 'What then is his object?'--I will tell you. He wishes to persuade
-the world of his credit at Court."
-
-"An amusing original, indeed!" cried the Student, bursting with
-laughter; "he takes great pains to little purpose, truly: you may well
-place him in the list of madmen." "Oh! as to that," replied Asmodeus,
-"I shall shew you many others whom it would be unreasonable to think
-more wise. For instance, look in yonder house, so splendidly illumined,
-and you will perceive three men and two ladies sitting round a table.
-They have just supped together, and they are now playing at cards to
-while away the night, with which only will they leave their occupation.
-Such is the life these gentle cavaliers and ladies lead. They meet
-regularly every evening, and break up like fogs only with the sun; when
-they retire to sleep until darkness again calls them to light and life:
-they have renounced the face of day and the beauties of nature. Would
-not one say, to behold them thus surrounded with waxen tapers, that
-they were corpses, waiting for the last sad offices that are rendered
-to the dead?" "There is no necessity to shut those people from the
-world," said Don Cleophas;--"they have ceased to belong to it."
-
-"I perceive in the arms of sleep," resumed the Cripple, "a man whom I
-esteem, and who is also attached devotedly to me,--a being formed in
-my own mould. He is an old bachelor, who idolises the fair sex. You
-cannot speak to him of a pretty woman, without remarking the delight
-with which he hears you; if you say that her mouth is small, her lips
-rubies, her teeth pearls, her cheeks roses on an alabaster vase; in a
-word, if you paint her in detail, at every stroke he sighs and lifts
-his eyes, and is visibly excited by his voluptuous imagination. Only
-two days ago, passing the shop of a ladies' shoemaker, he stopped to
-look with admiration on a pair of diminutive slippers which were there
-exposed. After contemplating them for some time, with more attention
-than they deserved, he exclaimed with a languishing air, to a cavalier
-who accompanied him: 'Ah! my friend; there now are slippers which
-enchant my soul! what darling feet for which they were made! I look on
-
-them with too much interest: let us away! the very atmosphere around
-this place is dangerous.'"
-
-[Illustration: the old bachelor admires the diminutive slippers]
-
-"We may mark that gentleman with black, at all events," said Leandro
-Perez. "We may indeed," replied the Devil; "and you may tar his
-nearest neighbour with the same brush, while you are about it--an
-original of an auditor, who, because he keeps a carriage, blushes
-whenever he is obliged to put his foot into a public vehicle. He
-again may be worthily paired with one of his own relations, a wealthy
-dignitary of the church here, who almost always rides in a hired coach,
-in order to save two very neat ones, and four splendid mules, which he
-keeps in his stables.
-
-"In the immediate neighbourhood of the auditor and our amatory
-bachelor, I discover a man to whom, without injustice, no one could
-deny his title to a strait waistcoat. There he is--a cavalier of
-sixty, making love to a damsel of sixteen. He visits her daily, and
-thinks to win her affections by a recital of the conquests of his
-youth; he hopes that she will love him now for the charms of which he
-formerly could boast.
-
-[Illustration: the old cavalier wooing the young girl]
-
-"We may place in the same category with the aged swain, another who
-is sleeping about ten paces from us--a French count, who came to
-Madrid to see the court of Spain. This old gentleman, who is nearly
-seventy years of age, shone with great lustre in the court of his own
-sovereign, fifty years ago; he was indeed perfectly the rage; all the
-world envying his manly form, his gallant deportment, and above all
-the exquisite taste which he displayed in his apparel. He scrupulously
-preserved the dresses so much admired, and has continued to wear them
-on all occasions despite the changes of fashion, which in Paris occur
-every day. What, however, is most amusing in the matter is, that he
-fancies himself at this time as graceful and attractive as in the days
-of his youth."
-
-"There is not the slightest doubt," said Don Cleophas, "that we may
-book a place in the _Casa de los locos_ for this French signor." "I
-must reserve another though," replied the Demon, "for a lady who
-resides in a garret, next to the count's mansion. She is an elderly
-widow, who, from excess of affection for her children, has had the
-kindness to make over to them all her property; reserving only a small
-stipend for herself, which, with proper filial gratitude, they take
-good care never to pay.
-
-"I have another subject for the same establishment, in a youth of
-family, who no sooner has a ducat than he spends it; and who, as he
-cannot do without the ready, is capable of anything to obtain it. A
-fortnight ago, his washer-woman, to whom he owed thirty pistoles, came
-to dun him for that sum, stating that she wanted it particularly, as
-she was going to be married to a valet-de-chambre, who sought her hand.
-'You must have more money than this,' said he, 'for where the devil is
-the valet-de-chambre who would take you to wife for thirty pistoles?'
-'Oh! yes,' replied the sudorific dame, 'I have two hundred ducats
-besides.' 'The deuce!' replied our hero, with emotion--'two hundred
-ducats! You have only to give them to me, I will marry you myself, and
-we may then cry quits.' He was taken at his word, and the laundress
-became his wife.
-
-"We must retain three places also for the same number of persons,
-whom you see returning from supper at a celebrated countess's, and
-now stopping before that house on the left, where they at present
-reside. One is a nobleman of an inferior grade, who piques himself on
-his passion for the _belles lettres;_ the second is his brother, your
-ambassador to Timbuctoo, or some such place; and the third is their
-foster-brother, a literary toady who follows in their train. They are
-almost always together, and especially when visiting in the clique
-to which they belong. The noble praises himself only; the ambassador
-praises his brother and himself also; but the toady has three things to
-look after,--the praises of the other two, and the mixing of his own
-praises with theirs.
-
-"Two places more! One for a floricultural citizen, who, scarcely
-gaining his own bread, must need keep a gardener and his wife to look
-after a dozen plants that languish at his suburban villa; the other
-for an actor, who, complaining the other day to his brethren on the
-disagreeables inseparable from a strolling life, observed: 'Well, my
-friends, I am utterly disgusted with my profession; yes, so much so,
-that I would rather be a humble country gentleman with a thousand
-ducats a year.'
-
-"On whichever side I turn my eyes," continued the Spirit, "I see
-nothing but addled brains. There, for instance, is a chevalier of
-Calatrava, who is so proud, or rather vain, of being privately
-encouraged by the daughter of a noble signor, that he thinks himself
-on a par with the first persons of the court. He reminds me of Villius,
-who thought himself son-in-law of Sylla, because he was on good terms
-with the daughter of that dictator; and the resemblance is the more
-striking, because this chevalier, like the Roman, has a _Longarenus;_
-that is to say, a rival of low degree, who, nevertheless, is still more
-favoured by the lady than himself.
-
-"One would be inclined to affirm that the same men are born anew from
-time to time, but under other circumstances. I recognize, in that
-secretary of department, Bollanus, who kept measures with nobody, and
-who affronted all whose appearance was, at first sight, unpleasing to
-him. I behold again, in that old president, Fufidius, who lent his
-money at five per cent. per month; and Marsoeus, who gave his paternal
-mansion to the actress Origo, lives once more in that noble stripling,
-who is spending with a dancer of the ballet the proceeds of a country
-seat which he has near the Escurial."
-
-Asmodeus was about to continue, when, suddenly hearing the sound
-of instruments which were tuning in the neighbourhood, he stopped,
-and said to Don Cleophas: "There are musicians at the end of this
-street, who are just commencing a serenade in honour of the daughter
-of an _alcade de corte;_ if you would like to witness this piece of
-gallantry, you have only to say so." "I am a great admirer of this sort
-of concert," replied Zambullo; "let us by all means get near them;
-there may chance to be some decent voices among the lot." He had hardly
-spoken, when he found himself on a house adjoining that of the alcade.
-
-The serenade was commenced by the instruments alone, which played some
-new Italian airs; and then two of the voices sang alternately the
-following couplets:
-
-    "List, while the thousand charms I sing,
-    Which round thee such enchantment fling,
-    That even Love has plumed his wing
-            To seek thy bower.
-
-    "Thy neck, that shames the mountain snow,
-    Thy lip, that mocks the peach's glow,
-    Bid Cupid's self a captive bow
-            Beneath thy power.
-
-    "Thine arched brows as bows are bent
-    To speed the shafts thine eyes have sent;
-    E'en armed Love's own mail is rent,
-            Resisting them.
-
-    "Thou art, in sooth, a queenly maid;
-    Yet hast thou every heart betray'd,
-    That thee its trusting pole-star made;
-            Thou priceless gem!
-
-    "Oh! would that I some spell possess'd,
-    While painting thee, to touch thy breast;
-    Thou evening star, thou heaven of rest,
-        Thou morning sun!"[6]
-
-[6]
-    "Si de tu hermosura quieres
-    Una copia con mil gracias;
-    Escucha, porque pretendo
-        El pintarla.
-
-    "Es tu frente toda nieve
-    Y el alabastro, batallas
-    Offreciò al Amor, haziendo
-        En ella vaya.
-
-    "Amor labrò de tus cejas
-    Dos arcos para su aljava:
-    Y debaxo ha descubierto
-       Quien le mata.
-
-    "Eres duena de el lugar
-    Vandolera de las almas,
-    Iman de los alvedrios,
-       Linda alhaja.
-
-    "Un rasgo de tu hermosura
-    Quisiera yo retratarla;
-    Que es estrella, es cielo, es sol;
-       No es sino el alva."
-
-
-"The couplets are gallant and delicate," cried the Student. "They seem
-so to you," replied the Demon, "because you are a Spaniard: if they
-were translated into French, for instance, they would not be greatly
-admired. The readers of that nation would think the expressions too
-figurative; and would discover an extravagance of imagination in the
-conceptions, which would be to them absolutely laughable. Every nation
-has its own standard of taste and genius, and will admit no other:
-but enough of these couplets," continued he, "you will hear music of
-another kind.
-
-"Follow with your eyes those four men who have suddenly appeared in
-the street. See! they pounce upon the serenaders: the latter raise
-their instruments to defend their heads, but their frail bucklers yield
-to the blows which fall on them, and are shattered into a thousand
-pieces. And now see, coming to their assistance, two cavaliers; one of
-whom is the gallant donor of the serenade. With what fury they charge
-on the four aggressors! Again, with what skill and valour do these
-latter receive them. What fire sparkles from their swords! See! one of
-the defenders of the serenade has fallen,--it is he who gave it,--he
-is mortally wounded. His companion, perceiving his fall, flies to
-preserve his own life; the aggressors, having effected their object,
-fly also; the musicians have disappeared during the combat; and there
-remains upon the spot the unfortunate cavalier alone, who has paid for
-his gallantry with his life. In the meanwhile, observe the alcade's
-daughter: she is at her window, whence she has observed all that has
-passed. This lady is so vain of her beauty,--although that is nothing
-extraordinary either,--that instead of deploring its fatal effect, she
-rejoices in the force of her attractions, of which she now thinks more
-than ever.
-
-[Illustration: the cavalier apprehended by the watch]
-
-"This will not be the end of it. You see another cavalier, who has
-this moment stopped in the street to assist, were it possible, the
-unfortunate being who is swimming in his blood. While occupied in this
-charitable office, see! he is surprised by the watch. They are taking
-him to prison, where he will remain many months: and he will almost pay
-as dearly for this transaction as though he were the murderer himself."
-
-"This is, indeed, a night of misfortunes!" said Zambullo. "And this
-will not be the last of them," added the Devil. "Were you, this moment,
-at the Gate of the Sun, you would be horror-stricken at the spectacle
-which is now exhibiting. Through the negligence of a domestic, a
-mansion is on fire, which in its rage has already reduced to ashes the
-magnificent furniture it contains, and threatens to consume the whole
-building; but great as might be his loss, Don Pedro de Escolano, to
-whom the house belongs, would not regret it for a moment, could he
-but save his only daughter, Seraphina, who is likely to perish in the
-flames."
-
-Don Cleophas expressing the greatest anxiety to see this fire, the
-Cripple transported him in an instant to the Gate of the Sun, and
-placed him in a house exactly opposite to that which was burning.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION, OUT OF
-FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.
-
-
-In the street beneath them nothing was to be heard but a confused
-noise, arising from cries of fire from one half of the crowd, and the
-more appropriate one of water from the other. As soon as Leandro was
-able to comprehend the scene, he saw that the grand staircase, which
-led to the principal apartments of Don Pedro's mansion, was all in
-flames, which also were issuing with clouds of smoke, from every window
-in the house.
-
-"The fire is at its height," said the Demon; "it has just reached
-the roof, and its thousand tongues are spitting in the air millions
-of brilliant sparks. It is a magnificent sight: so much so, that
-the persons who have flocked from all parts around it, to assist in
-extinguishing the flames, are awed into helpless amazement. You may
-discern in the crowd of spectators an old man in a dressing-gown: it is
-the Signor de Escolano. Do you not hear his cries and lamentations? He
-is addressing the men who surround him, and conjuring them to rescue
-his child. But in vain does he implore them,--in vain does he offer all
-his wealth,--none dares expose his life to save the ill-fated lady,
-who is only sixteen, and whose beauty is incomparable. The old man is
-in despair: he accuses them of cowardice; he tears his hair and beard;
-he beats his breast; the excess of his grief has made him almost mad.
-Seraphina, poor girl, abandoned by her attendants, has just swooned
-with terror in her own apartment, where, in a few minutes, a dense
-smoke will stifle her. She is lost to him for ever: no mortal can save
-her."
-
-"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," exclaimed Leandro Perez, prompted by feelings of
-generous compassion, "if you love me, yield to the pity which desolates
-my heart: reject not my humble prayer when I entreat you to save this
-lovely girl from the horrid death which threatens her. I demand it, as
-the price of the service I rendered but now to you. Do not, this time,
-oppose yourself to my desires: I shall die with grief if you refuse me."
-
-The Devil smiled on witnessing the profound emotion of the Student.
-"The fire warms you, Signor Zambullo," said he. "Verily! you would have
-made an exquisite knight-errant: you are courageous, compassionate for
-the sufferings of others, and particularly prompt in the service of
-sorrowing damsels. You would be just the man, now, to throw yourself
-in the midst of the furnace yonder, like an Amadis, to attempt the
-deliverance of the beauteous Seraphina, and to restore her safe and
-sound to her disconsolate father." "Would to heaven!" replied Don
-Cleophas, "that it were possible. I would undertake the task without
-hesitation." "Pity that your death," resumed the Cripple, "would be the
-sole reward of so noble an exploit! I have already told you that human
-courage can avail nothing on the occasion. Well! I suppose, to gratify
-you, I must meddle in the matter; so observe how I shall set about it:
-you can watch from hence all my operations."
-
-He had no sooner spoken these words than, borrowing the form of Leandro
-Perez, to the great astonishment of the Student, he alighted unobserved
-amid the crowd, which he elbowed without ceremony, and quickly passing
-through it, rushed into the fire as into his natural element. The
-spectators who beheld him, alarmed at the apparent madness of the
-attempt, uttered a cry of horror. "What insanity!" said one; "is it
-possible that interest can blind a man to such an extent as this?
-None but a downright idiot could have been tempted by any proffered
-recompence to dare such certain death." "The rash youth," said another,
-"must be the lover of Don Pedro's daughter; and in the desperation of
-his grief has resolved to save his mistress or to perish with her."
-
-In short, they predicted for him the fate of Empedocles,[7] when, a
-minute afterwards, they saw him emerge from the flames with Seraphina
-in his arms. The air resounded with acclamations, and the people were
-loud in their praises of the brave cavalier who had performed so noble
-a feat. When rashness ends in success, critics are silent; and so this
-prodigy now appeared to the assembled multitude as a very natural
-result of a Spaniard's daring.
-
-[7] A Sicilian poet and philosopher, who threw himself into the crater
-of Mount Ætna.
-
-[Illustration: the rescue of Seraphina]
-
-As the lady was still insensible, her father did not dare to give
-himself up to joy: he feared that, although thus miraculously delivered
-from the fire, she would die before his eyes, from the terrible
-impression made upon her mind by the peril she had encountered.
-He was, however, soon reassured, when, recovering from her swoon,
-her eyes opened, and looking on the old man, she said to him with
-an affectionate voice: "Signor, I should have had more occasion for
-affliction than rejoicing at the preservation of my life, were not
-yours also in safety." "Ah! my child," replied her father, embracing
-her, "nothing is lost since you are saved. But let us thank," exclaimed
-he, presenting to her the double of Cleophas,--"let us testify our
-gratitude to this young cavalier. He is your preserver; it is to him
-you owe your life. How can we repay that debt? Not all that I possess
-would suffice to cancel the obligation he has conferred upon us."
-
-To these observations the Devil replied, with an air which would have
-done Don Cleophas credit: "Signor, I am noble, and a Castilian. I seek
-no other reward for the service I have had the happiness to render you
-than the pleasure of having dried your tears, and of having saved from
-the flames the lovely object which they threatened to devour;--surely
-such a service is its own reward."
-
-The disinterestedness and generosity of their benefactor raised for
-him the highest feelings of admiration and esteem in the breast of the
-Signor de Escolano, who entreated him to call upon them, and offered
-him his warmest friendship. The Devil replied in fitting terms to the
-frank advances of the old man; and, after many other compliments had
-passed, the father and daughter retired to a small building which
-remained uninjured, at the bottom of the garden. The Demon then
-rejoined the Student, who, seeing him return under his former guise,
-said to him: "Signor Asmodeus, have my eyes deceived me? Were you not
-but now in my shape and figure?" "Excuse the liberty," replied the
-Cripple; "and I will tell you the motive for this metamorphosis. I have
-formed a grand design: I intend that you should marry Seraphina, and,
-under your form, I have already inspired her with a violent passion
-for your lordship. Don Pedro, also, is highly satisfied with you,
-because I told him that in rescuing his daughter I had no other object
-than to render them both happy, and that the honour of having happily
-terminated so perilous an adventure was a sufficient reward for a
-Spanish gentleman. The good man has a noble soul, and will not easily
-be outdone in generosity; and he is at this moment deliberating within
-himself whether he shall not give you his daughter, as the most worthy
-return he can make to you for having saved her life.
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro and Seraphina thank Zambullo]
-
-"Well! while he is hesitating," added the Cripple, "let us get out
-of this smother into a place more favourable for continuing our
-observations." And so saying, away he flew with the Student to the top
-of a high church filled with splendid tombs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.
-
-
-Asmodeus now said to the Student: "Before we continue our observations
-on the living, we will for a few moments disturb the peaceful rest of
-those who lie within this church. I will glance over all the tombs;
-reveal the secrets they contain, and the feelings which have prompted
-their elevation.
-
-"The first of those which are on our right contains the sad remains of
-a general officer, who, like another Agamemnon, on his return from the
-wars found an Ægisthus in his house; in the second, reposes a young
-cavalier of noble birth, who, desirous of displaying in the sight of
-his mistress his strength and skill at a bull-fight, was gored to death
-by his furious opponent; and in the third lies an old prelate who left
-this world rather unceremoniously. He had made his will in the vigour
-of health, and was imprudent enough to read it to his domestics, whom,
-like a good master, he had not forgotten: his cook was in a hurry to
-receive his legacy.
-
-"In the fourth mausoleum rests a courtier who never rested in his
-lifetime. Even at sixty years of age, he was daily seen in attendance
-on the king, from the levée until his majesty retired for the night: in
-recompense for all these attentions the king loaded him with favours."
-"And was he, now," said Don Cleophas, "the man to use his influence
-for others?" "For no one," replied the Devil: "he was liberal of his
-promises of service to his friends, but he was religiously scrupulous
-of never keeping them." "The scoundrel!" exclaimed Leandro. "Were we to
-think of lopping off the superfluous members of society,--men that like
-tumours on the body politic draw all its nourishment to themselves, it
-is with courtiers like this one would begin."
-
-"The fifth tomb," resumed Asmodeus, "encloses the mortal remains of
-a signor, ever zealous for the interests of his country, and jealous
-of the glory of the king his master, in whose service he spent the
-best years of his life as ambassador to Rome or France, to England or
-Portugal. He ruined himself so effectually by his embassies that he
-did not leave behind him enough to defray the expenses of his funeral,
-which the king has therefore paid out of gratitude for his services.
-
-"Let us turn to the monuments on the other side. The first is that of
-a great merchant who left enormous wealth to his children; but, lest
-they should forget, in its flood, the humble source from which it,
-like themselves, was derived, he directed that his name and occupation
-should be graven on his tomb, to the no small annoyance of his
-descendants.
-
-"The next stone which surpasses every other in the church for its
-magnificence, is regarded with much admiration by all travellers." "In
-truth," said Zambullo, "it appears to me deserving of its reputation. I
-am absolutely enchanted by those two kneeling figures--how exquisitely
-are they chiselled? Not Phidias himself could have surpassed the
-sculpture of this splendid work! But tell me, dear Asmodeus, what in
-their lives were those whom these all-breathing marbles represent?"
-
-The Cripple replied: "You behold a duke and his noble spouse: the
-former was grand chamberlain to his majesty, and the duchess was
-celebrated for her extreme piety. I must, however, relate to you
-an anecdote of her grace, which you will think rather lively for a
-devotee;--it is as follows.
-
-"She had been for a long time in the habit of confessing her sins to
-a monk of the order of Mercy, one Don Jerome d'Aguilar, a good man,
-and a famous preacher, with whom she was highly satisfied, when there
-suddenly appeared at Madrid a Dominican, who captivated the town by
-the novelty of his style, and the comfortable doctrines on which he
-insisted. This new orator was named the brother Placidus: the people
-flocked to his sermons as to those of Cardinal Ximenes; and as his
-reputation grew, the court, led to hear him by curiosity, became more
-loud in his praises than the town.
-
-"Our duchess at first made it a point of honour to hold out against
-the renown of the new-comer, nor could even curiosity induce her to go
-to hear him, that she might judge for herself of his eloquence. She
-acted thus from a desire to prove to her spiritual director, that,
-like a good and grateful penitent, she sympathised with him in the
-chagrin which the presence of brother Placidus must have caused him.
-But the Dominican made so much noise, that at last she yielded to the
-temptation of seeing him, still however assured of her own fidelity:
-she saw him, heard him preach, liked him, followed him; and the little
-inconstant absolutely formed the project of putting herself under his
-direction.
-
-"It was, however, necessary to get rid of her old confessor, and
-this was not an easy matter; a spiritual guide cannot be thrown off
-like a lover; a devotee would not like to be thought a coquette, or
-to lose the esteem of the director whom she abandons; so what did
-the duchess? She sought Don Jerome, and with an air of sorrow which
-spoke a real affliction, said to him: 'Father, I am in despair: you
-see me in amazement;--in a grief,--in a perplexity of mind which
-I cannot depict.' 'What ails you then, Madam?' replied d'Aguilar.
-'Would you believe it?' she replied; 'my husband, who has ever had
-the most perfect confidence in my virtue, after having seen me for so
-long a time under your guidance, has, without appearing in the least
-suspicious of myself, become suddenly jealous of you, and desires that
-you may no longer be my confessor. Did you ever hear of a similar
-caprice? In vain have I objected that by his suspicions he insulted not
-only myself, but a man of the strictest piety, freed from the tyranny
-of the passions; I only increased his jealous fears by my vindication
-of your sacred honour.'
-
-"Don Jerome, despite his shrewdness, was taken in by this story: it
-is true that it was told with such demonstrations of candour as would
-have deceived all the world. Although sorry to lose a penitent of
-such importance, he did not fail to exhort her to obey her husband's
-will; but the eyes of his Reverence were opened at last, and the trick
-discovered, when he learned that the lady had chosen brother Placidus
-as his successor.
-
-"After the grand chamberlain and his cunning spouse," continued the
-Devil, "comes a more modest tomb, which has only recently received the
-ill-assorted remains of a president of the council of the Indies and
-his young wife. This president, in his sixty-third year, married a
-girl of twenty: he had by a former wife two children, whom he was about
-to leave penniless, when a fit of apoplexy carried him off; and his
-wife died twenty-four hours after him from vexation at his not having
-lived three days longer.
-
-"And now we have arrived at the most respectable monument this church
-contains. For it every Spaniard has as much veneration, as the Romans
-had for the tomb of Romulus." "Of what great personage, then, does
-it contain the ashes?" asked Leandro Perez. "Of a prime minister of
-Spain," replied Asmodeus; "and never did that monarchy possess his
-equal. The king left, with confidence, the cares of government to
-this great man; who so worthily acquitted himself of the charge,
-that monarch and subjects were equally contented. Under his ministry
-the state was ever flourishing, and its people happy; for his maxims
-of government were founded on the sure principles of humanity and
-religion. Still, although his life was blameless, he was not free from
-apprehension at his death,--the responsibility of his office might
-indeed make the best of mortals tremble.
-
-"In a corner, a little beyond the tomb of this worthy minister, you may
-discern a marble tablet placed against one of the columns. Say! shall
-I open the sepulchre beneath it, and display before your eyes all that
-remains of a lowly maiden who perished in the flower of her youth,
-when her modest beauty won for her the love and admiration of all who
-beheld her? It has returned to its primeval dust, that fragile form,
-which in its life possessed so dangerous a beauty as to keep her fond
-parent in continual alarm, lest its bright temptation should expose her
-to the wiles of the seducer;--a misfortune which might have befallen
-had she lived much longer, for already was she the idol of three young
-cavaliers, who, inconsolable for her loss, died shortly afterwards by
-their own hands. Their tragical history is engraven in letters of gold
-on the stone I shewed you, with three little figures which represent
-the despairing lovers in the act of self-destruction: one is draining
-a glass of poison; another is falling on his sword; and the third is
-tying a cord about his neck, having chosen to die by hanging."
-
-The Demon finding that the Student laughed with all his might at
-this sorrowful story, and that the idea of the three figures thus
-depicted on the maiden's monument amused him, said: "Since you find
-food for mirth in the artist's imagination, I am almost in the mind to
-carry you this moment to the banks of the Tagus, and there shew you
-a monument erected by the will of a dramatic author, in the church
-of a village near Almaraz, whither he had retired, after having led
-a long and joyous life at Madrid. This scribe had produced a vast
-number of comedies full of ribald wit and low obscenity; but repenting
-of his outrages upon decency ere he died, and desirous of expiating
-the scandal they had caused, he directed that they should carve upon
-his tomb a sort of pile, composed of books, bearing the names of the
-various pieces he had written, and that beside it they should place the
-image of Modesty, who, with lighted torch, should be about to consign
-them to the flames.
-
-"Besides the dead whose monuments I have described to you, there are
-within this church an infinity of others without a stone to mark the
-spot where their ashes repose. I see their shades wandering solemnly
-around: they glide along, passing and repassing one after another
-before us, without disturbing the profound quiet which reigns in this
-holy place. They speak not; but I read in their silence all their
-thoughts." "I am annoyed without measure," exclaimed Don Cleophas,
-"that I cannot, like you, have the pleasure of beholding them!" "That
-pleasure I can give you then," replied Asmodeus; "nothing is more
-easy." The Demon just touched the Student's eyes, and by a delusion
-caused him to perceive a great number of pallid spectres.
-
-[Illustration: the sculpture of Modesty burning the books]
-
-As he looked on these apparitions, Zambullo trembled. "What!" said the
-Devil to him, "you are agitated! Is it with fear of these ghostly
-visitants? Let not their ghastly apparel alarm you! Look at it well!
-It will adorn your own majestic person some of these days. It is the
-uniform of the shades: collect yourself, and fear nothing. Is it
-possible your assurance can fail you now,--you, who have had the daring
-to look on me? These gentry are harmless compared with myself."
-
-The Student, at these words, recalling his wonted courage, looked on
-the phantoms with tranquillity; which the Demon perceiving: "Bravo!"
-said he. "Well! now," he continued, "regard these shadows with
-attention! You will perceive that the occupant of the stately mausoleum
-is confounded with the inhabitant of the unstoned grave. The ranks
-by which they were distinguished in their lives died with them; and
-the grand chamberlain and the prime minister are no more now than the
-lowliest citizen that moulders in this church. The greatness of these
-noble shades ended with their days, as that of the strutting hero of a
-tragedy falls with the curtain."
-
-"I have a remark to make," interrupted Leandro. "I see a lonely spirit
-hovering about, and seeming to shun all contact with his fellows."
-"Rather say," replied the Demon, "and you will speak the truth, that
-his fellows shun all company with him: and what now think you is that
-poor ghost? He was an old notary, who had the vanity to be buried in a
-leaden coffin; which has so offended the self-love of the more humble
-tenants of the surrounding tombs, that they resolved to black-ball him,
-and will not therefore permit his shade to mix with theirs."
-
-"I have another observation yet to make," resumed Don Cleophas. "Two
-shadows, just now, on meeting, stopped for a moment to look upon each
-other, and then passed each on his way." "They are, or rather were, two
-intimate friends," replied the Devil; "one was a painter, and the other
-a musician: they both drew their inspiration from the bottle; but
-were, otherwise, honest fellows enough. It is worthy of note that they
-both brushed off in the same year; and when their spirits meet, struck
-by the remembrance of their former delights, they say to each other by
-their sorrowful but expressive silence: 'Ah! my friend, we shall drink
-no more.'"
-
-"Grammercy!" cried the Student, "what do I see. At the other end of
-the church are two spirits, who are passing along together, but badly
-matched. Their forms and manners are immensely different: one is of
-enormous height, and moves with corresponding gravity, while the other
-is of dwarf-like stature, and passes o'er the ground like a breath."
-"The giant," replied the Cripple, "was a German, who lost his life in
-a debauch, by drinking three healths with tobacco mixed inadvertently
-in his wine; and the little ghost is that of a Parisian, who, with
-the gallantry belonging to his countrymen, was imprudent enough, on
-entering this very church, to present the holy water to a young lady
-who was leaving it: as a reward for his politeness, he was saluted on
-the same day with the contents of a carbine, which left him here a
-moral for all too attentive Frenchmen.
-
-"For myself," continued Asmodeus, "I have been looking at three spirits
-which I discerned among the crowd; and I must tell you by what means
-they were separated from their earthly companions. They animated the
-charming forms of as many female performers, who made as much noise
-at Madrid, in their time, as did Origo, Cytheris and Arbuscula, in
-theirs, at Rome; and, like their said prototypes, they possessed the
-exquisite art of amusing mankind in public, and of privately ruining
-the same amiable animal. But, alas! all things must have an end, and
-these were the finales of those celebrated ladies: one died suddenly
-of envy, at an apopletic fit of applause, from the pit, which fell upon
-a lovely first-night; another found in excessive good cheer, at home,
-the infallible drop which follows it; and, the third, undertaking the
-dangerous character, for an actress, of a vestal, became so excited
-with her part that she died of a miscarriage behind the scenes.
-
-"But we will leave to their reposes(!) all these shades," again
-continued the Demon; "we have passed them sufficiently in review.
-I will now present to your sight a spectacle which, as a man, must
-impress you with a deeper feeling than the sight of the dead. I am
-about, by the same power which has rendered the shades of the departed
-visible to your sight, to present to you the vision of Death himself.
-Yes! you shall behold that insatiable enemy of the human race, who
-prowls unceasingly in the haunts of man, unperceived by his victims;
-who surrounds the earth, in his speed, in the twinkling of an eye; and
-who strikes by his power, its most distant inhabitants at the same
-moment.
-
-"Look towards the east! He rises on your sight. A million birds of
-baneful omen fly before his advent in terror, and announce his presence
-with funereal cries. His tireless hand is armed with the fatal scythe
-which mows successive generations as they spring from earth. But if, as
-mocking at humanity, on one wing is depicted war, pestilence, famine,
-shipwreck, conflagration, with other direful modes by which he sweeps
-upon his prey, the other shows the priests who offer to him daily
-hecatombs in sport; as youthful doctors, who receive from himself their
-diplomas, after swearing, in his presence, never to practise surgery or
-medicine contrary to the rules of the courts."
-
-Although Don Cleophas suspected that all he saw was an illusion, and
-that it was merely to gratify his taste for the marvellous that the
-Devil raised this form of Death before his eyes, he could not look
-on it without trembling. He assumed, however, all the courage he was
-possessed of, and said to the Demon: "This fearful spectre will not, I
-suppose, pass vainly over Madrid: he will doubtless leave some awful
-traces of his flight?" "Yes! certainly," replied the Cripple; "he
-comes not here for nothing; and it depends but on yourself to be the
-witness of his visitation." "I take you at your word," exclaimed the
-Student; "let us follow in his train; let me visit with him the unhappy
-families on whom he will expend his present wrath. What tears are about
-to flow!" "Beyond a doubt," replied Asmodeus; "but many which come at
-convenience. Death, despite his horrors, causes at least as much joy as
-grief."
-
-[Illustration: Death flies over the poor man's bed]
-
-Our two spectators took their flight, and followed the grim monarch
-in his progress. He entered first a modest house, whose owner lay in
-helpless sickness on his bed; the autocrat but touched the poor man
-with his scythe, and he expired in the midst of his weeping relations,
-who instantly commenced an affecting concert of cries and lamentions.
-"There is no mockery here," said the Demon: "the wife and children
-of this worthy citizen loved him with real affection: besides, they
-depended on him for their bread; and the belly is rarely a hypocrite.
-
-"Not so, however, is it in the next house, in which you perceive his
-grisly majesty now occupied in releasing a bed-ridden old gentleman
-from his pains. He is an aged counsellor who, having always lived a
-bachelor of law, has passed his life as badly as he could, that he
-might leave behind him a good round sum for the benefit of his three
-nephews, who have flocked round his bed on hearing that he is about to
-quit it, at last. They of course displayed an extreme affliction, and
-very well they did it; but are now, you see, letting fall the mask,
-and are preparing to do their duties as heirs, after having performed
-their parts as relations. How they will rummage the old gentleman's
-effects! What heaps of gold and silver will they discover! 'How
-delightful!' said one of these heart-broken descendants to another,
-this moment,--'how delightful is it for nephews to be blessed with
-avaricious old uncles, who renounce the pleasures of life for their
-sakes!'" "A superb funeral oration," said Leandro Perez. "Oh! as to
-that," replied the Devil, "the majority of wealthy parents, who live to
-a good old age, ought not to expect a better from their own children.
-
-"While these heritors are joyfully seeking the treasures of the
-deceased, Death is directing his flight to a large house, in which
-resides a young nobleman who has the small-pox. This noble, one of the
-brightest ornaments of the court, is about to perish, just as his star
-is rising, despite the famed physician who attends him,--or rather
-because he is attended by this learned doctor.
-
-[Illustration: Death approaches the pious monk]
-
-"But see! with what rapidity does the fatal scythe perform its
-operations. Already has it completed the destiny of the youthful lord,
-and its unblunted edge is turned elsewhere. It hovers over yonder
-convent; it darts into its deepest cell, sweeps over a pious monk, and
-cuts the thread of the penitent and mortifying life that he has led
-during forty years. Death, all-fearful as he is, had no terrors for
-this holy man; so, in revenge, he seeks a mansion where his presence
-will be unwelcome indeed. He flies towards a licentiate of importance,
-who has only recently been appointed to the bishopric of Albarazin.
-This prelate is busily occupied with preparations for repairing to his
-diocese with all the pomp which in our day accompanies the princes of
-the church. Nevertheless, he is about to take his departure for the
-other world, where he will arrive with as few followers as the poor
-monk; and I am not sure that he will be quite as favourably received."
-
-"Oh heavens!" cried Zambullo; "Death stoops upon the palace of the
-king. Alas! one stroke of his fatal scythe, and ail Spain will be
-plunged in dreadful consternation." "Well may you tremble," said
-the Cripple; "for the barbarian has no more respect for kings than
-for their meanest slaves. But be not alarmed," he added, a moment
-afterwards, "he aims not at the monarch yet; his business now is with
-a courtier only, one of those noble lords whose only occupation is to
-swell his master's train: such ministers as these are not exactly those
-the state can least afford to lose."
-
-"But it would seem," replied the Student, "that the spectre king is
-not contented with so mean a prize as the parasite you speak of.
-See! he hovers still about the royal house; and, this time, near the
-chamber of the Queen." "Just so," replied the Devil, "and he might be
-worse employed: he is about to cut the windpipe of an amiable dame who
-delights to sow divisions in her sovereign's court; and who is now
-mortally chagrined, because two ladies whom she had cleverly set by the
-ears, have been unreasonable enough to become sincerely reconciled with
-each other.
-
-[Illustration: the grieving wife tears her hair]
-
-"And now, my master, you will hear cries of real affliction," continued
-the Demon. "Death enters that splendid mansion to the left; and a scene
-as touching as the world's stage offers is about to be acted there.
-Look, if you can, on the heart-rending tragedy." "In truth," said Don
-Cleophas, "I perceive a lady struggling in the arms of her attendants,
-and tearing her hair with signs of deepest grief. Tell me its cause!"
-"Look in the room adjoining, and you will see cause enough," replied
-the Devil. "You observe the man stretched on that stately couch: it is
-her dying husband,--to her a loss indeed! Their story is affecting, and
-deserves to be written:--I have a great mind to relate it to you."
-
-"You will give me great pleasure in so doing," interrupted Leandro:
-"the sorrows of this world do not move less than its vices and follies
-amuse me." "It is rather long," resumed Asmodeus, "but it is too
-interesting to annoy you on that account. Besides, I will confess to
-you, that, all Demon as I am, I am sick of following the track of
-Death: let us leave him in his search of newer victims." "With all my
-heart," replied Zambullo: "I am more curious to hear your promised
-narrative Of suffering humanity, than to see my fellow-mortals, one
-after another, hurried into eternity." The Cripple then commenced as
-follows, after having transported the Student on to the roof of one of
-the highest houses in the Strada d'Alcala.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-
-THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
-
-A young cavalier of Toledo, accompanied by his valet-de-chambre, was
-journeying with all possible speed from the place of his birth, in
-order to avoid the consequences of a tragical adventure in which he had
-unfortunately been engaged. He was about two leagues from the town of
-Valencia, when, at the entrance of a wood, he fell in with a lady who
-was alighting hastily from a carriage. No veil obscured her charms,
-which were more than enough to dazzle a youthful beholder; and, as
-the lovely damsel appeared in trouble, it is not to be wondered that
-the cavalier, imagining that she sought assistance, offered her his
-protection and his services.
-
-"Generous unknown," said the lady, "I will not refuse your proffered
-aid: Heaven, it would seem, has sent you here to avert a dreadful
-misfortune. Two cavaliers have met to fight within this wood;--I this
-moment saw them enter. Hasten with me, I entreat you, and assist me
-to prevent their fatal design." As she spoke, she plunged into the
-forest, and the Toledan, throwing his horse's rein to his attendant,
-followed her as quickly as he was able.
-
-They had not gone a hundred yards before they heard the clashing of
-arms, and almost immediately discovered the two gentlemen, who were
-thrusting at each other with becoming fury. The Toledan drew his sword
-but to separate theirs; and by its assistance, and by entreaties
-uttered in exclamations, he managed to suspend their pastime, while he
-inquired the subject of their difference.
-
-"Brave cavalier," said one of the combatants, "you see in me, Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza, and in my opponent, Don Alvaro Ponza. We both
-love Donna Theodora, the lady by whom you are accompanied; but we love
-to little purpose, for, despite our endeavours to win her affections,
-she treats our attentions with disdain. For myself, I should have been
-contented to worship an unwilling deity; but my rival, instead of
-acting with as much wisdom, has resolved to have the shrine to himself,
-and so has brought me here."
-
-"It is true," interrupted Don Alvaro, "that I have so determined; and
-it is because I believe that, my rival away, Donna Theodora might deign
-to listen to my vows. I seek then the life of Don Fabricio, to rid
-myself of a man who stands in the way of my happiness."
-
-"Signor Cavalier," said the Toledan, "I cannot approve of your reasons
-for duelling; besides that, you are injuring the lady who is the object
-of your strife. You must be aware that it will soon be known that you
-have been fighting for her; and the honour of your mistress should
-surely be dearer to you than happiness or life itself. And what, too,
-can he who may be successful expect to gain by his victory? Can he
-hope that, after having staked a lady's reputation on the quarrel, she
-will thank him for his folly? What madness! Believe me, it were far
-better, that, acting as becomes the names you bear, you should control
-your jealous wrath. Be men and pledge me your sacred words to bind
-yourselves by the terms I shall propose to you, and your quarrel may be
-adjusted without a deed of blood."
-
-[Illustration: the Toledan cavalier parts the duellists]
-
-"Ah! but how?" cried Don Alvaro. "Why," replied the Toledan, "let the
-lady determine the question; let her choose between yourself and Don
-Fabricio; and let the slighted lover, instead of seeking to injure
-his more fortunate rival, leave the field at once." "Agreed!" said
-Don Alvaro; "and I swear it by all that is sacred. Let Donna Theodora
-decide between us. She may prefer, if she will, my rival to myself:
-this even would be less unbearable than the dread suspense in which I
-now exist." "And I," said Don Fabricio in his turn,--"I call Heaven
-to witness, that if the divine object of my love declares not in my
-favour, I will fly from the sight of her perfections; and if I cannot
-forget them, I will at least behold them no more."
-
-On this the Toledan, turning to Donna Theodora, said: "Madam, it is
-for you now, by a single word, to disarm these two rivals for your
-love: you have only to name him whose constancy your favours would
-reward." "Signor Cavalier," replied the lady, "try some other means of
-reconciling them. Why should I become the victim of their disagreement?
-I esteem, in all sincerity, both Don Fabricio and Don Alvaro; but I
-love neither: and it were surely unjust, that, to prevent the stain
-with which their disputes may sully my name, I should be compelled to
-excite hopes that my heart disavows."
-
-"It is too late to dissemble, Madam," resumed the Toledan; "you
-must now declare yourself. Although these cavaliers are equally
-good-looking, I doubt not that you can discern more merit in one than
-in the other; and I am confirmed in that opinion by the alarm with
-which but now I saw you agitated."
-
-"You misinterpret that alarm," replied Donna Theodora. "The loss of
-either of these gentlemen would affect me beyond a doubt, and I should
-never cease to reproach myself with his death, although its innocent
-cause; but if I appeared to you greatly agitated, I can assure you that
-it was the peril to which my own honour was exposed that excited all my
-fear."
-
-The impetuous Don Alvaro Ponza now lost all patience. "Enough!" he
-exclaimed, with an air of fury; "since the lady refuses to end the
-matter peaceably, let the fate of arms decide;" and as he spoke, he
-raised his weapon against Don Fabricio, who on his part prepared to
-receive him.
-
-On this, the lady, more alarmed by the fury of Don Alvaro than decided
-by her own inclination, exclaimed wildly: "Hold! noble cavaliers; I
-will do as you desire. Since there is no other means of preventing a
-strife in which my reputation is involved, I declare in favour of Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza."
-
-These words had no sooner escaped her lips, than the discarded Ponza,
-without uttering a syllable, hastened to his horse, which he had
-fastened to a tree, released it, threw himself into the saddle, and
-disappeared, after casting one look of intense fury on his rival
-and implacable mistress. The fortunate Mendoza, on the contrary,
-was in ecstasies; now humbling himself in his joy at the feet of
-Donna Theodora, and now embracing the Toledan, unable to contain the
-satisfaction with which his heart was filled, or to find words to
-express his gratitude.
-
-In the meanwhile the lady, freed from the presence of the burning Don
-Alvaro, had become more tranquil; and it was with grief she reflected
-that she had engaged to permit the addresses of a lover, whom, while
-she truly esteemed his merit, her heart told her she could never love.
-
-[Illustration: Don Fabricio at the feet of Donna Theodora]
-
-"Signor Don Fabricio," she said to him, timidly, "I trust you will
-not abuse the preference I have just avowed for you; you owe it only
-to the necessity in which I found myself placed of declaring between
-yourself and Don Alvaro. I can say with truth that I have ever thought
-more highly of you than of him;--there are noble qualities that you
-possess of which Alvaro cannot boast; I have always looked on you
-with justice as the most perfect cavalier Valencia contains; I have
-even no hesitation in saying that the attentions of such a man would
-be flattering to the vanity of any woman; but, how honourable soever
-they might be to me, I feel bound to tell you that my heart is still
-untouched, and that it is with sorrow I behold in you an affection
-for myself so great as your every action displays. I will not,
-however, take from you all hope of winning my affections; my present
-indifference may arise from the effects of that grief which still fills
-my bosom for the loss of my late husband, Don Andrea de Cifuentes, who
-died about a year ago. Although we were not long united, and although
-he was advanced in years when my parents, dazzled by his riches,
-compelled me to espouse him, I was yet much afflicted by his loss, and
-the wound is still green which his death inflicted.
-
-"Ah! was he not worthy of my regret?" she added. "He was indeed unlike
-those aged and jealous tyrants, who, unable to persuade themselves
-that a youthful wife can be virtuous enough to excuse their weakness,
-watch all her motions with suspicion, or place over her some hideous
-duenna as a spy. Alas! he had in my honour a confidence of which a
-young and much-loved husband would be hardly capable. His kindness was
-unbounded, and his only study, to anticipate my every wish. You may
-suppose, then, Mendoza, that such a man as Don Andrea de Cifuentes
-is not easily forgotten. No! he is ever present in my thoughts; and
-the fond recollection of his amiability and love for me may excuse my
-indifference for objects which might otherwise attract me."
-
-"Ah! Madam," exclaimed Don Fabricio, interrupting Donna Theodora, "how
-great is my delight to learn from those lovely lips that it is from no
-dislike for myself that you have slighted all my cares! I can still
-then hope that the day will come when my constancy may be rewarded."
-"It will not be my fault if that do not happen," replied the lady,
-"since I consent that you should visit me, and will not forbid you to
-speak to me of love. You shall strive, then, to win me to the world
-and to yourself by your attentions; and I promise to conceal not from
-you any favourable impression you may make: but if, Mendoza, despite
-your efforts, my heart refuses to be happy, remember that I give you no
-right to reproach me."
-
-Don Fabricio was about to reply; but the lady, placing her hand in
-that of the Toledan, turned away, and hastened towards her carriage.
-He therefore unbound his horse, and leading it through the thicket by
-the bridle, followed his mistress, and arrived just in time to see her
-enter the vehicle, which she did with as much agitation as she had
-left it, although arising from a very different cause. The Toledan and
-himself accompanied Donna Theodora to the gate of Valencia, where they
-separated,--she taking the road to her own house, and Don Fabricio
-taking the Toledan with him to his.
-
-After a slight repose, Mendoza entertained the stranger with a
-sumptuous repast, and in the course of conversation asked him what had
-brought him to Valencia, and whether he proposed to stay there for any
-time. "For as short a time as possible," replied the Toledan; "I am
-here only on my way to the sea, that I may embark in the first vessel
-that leaves the shores of Spain. It matters little to me in what part
-of the world I go to end a life of unhappiness, except that the more
-distant from this fatal clime the better."
-
-"What do I hear?" exclaimed Don Fabricio with surprise. "What can have
-disgusted you with your native land, and caused you to look with hate
-on that which all men love so fondly?" "After what has occurred to me,"
-replied the Toledan, "my country is to me unbearable, and to leave
-it, for ever, my only desire." "Ah! Signor Cavalier," cried Mendoza,
-affected with compassion, "I am impatient to learn your misfortunes!
-If I cannot relieve them, I am at least disposed to share them. Your
-appearance from the first prepossessed me in your favour, your bearing
-and manners charmed me, and already I feel deeply interested in your
-destiny."
-
-"You afford me, Signor Don Fabricio," replied the Toledan, "the
-greatest consolation I could receive; and in return for the kindness
-you are pleased to express for me, it delights me to be able to say,
-with truth, that on seeing you with Don Alvaro Ponza my heart inclined
-towards yourself. A feeling, with which I never was inspired at the
-first sight of any one before, made me fear lest Donna Theodora should
-decide in favour of your rival; and it was with joy I heard her state
-her preference for you. Since then, you have so gained upon that first
-impression, that, far from desiring to conceal my griefs, I seek with a
-sort of pleasure to unbosom them to you: Learn then my misfortunes.
-
-"I was born in Toledo, and my name is Don Juan de Zarata. I lost my
-parents while almost in my infancy; so that at an early age I found
-myself in the enjoyment of a yearly income of four thousand ducats,
-which I inherited from them. As my hand was at my own disposal, and
-as I was rich enough to be able to bestow it where my heart should
-dictate, I married, early, a maiden of exquisite beauty; careless that
-she added nothing to my fortune, and that her rank was inferior to
-my own. I loved her, and I was happy; and that I might enjoy to the
-full the pleasure of possessing one so dear to me, I had not been long
-married before I sought with her a small estate which I possessed a few
-leagues from Toledo.
-
-"We lived there, for some time, in unity and bliss; when it chanced
-that the Duke de Naxera, whose seat was in the neighbourhood, came
-one day, when he was hunting, to refresh himself at my house. He saw
-my wife, and unfortunately became enamoured of her. I suspected his
-passion from the first; and was not long before I was too certainly
-convinced of its existence by the eagerness with which he sought my
-friendship, that up to this time he had wholly neglected. His hunting
-parties were now never complete without me; he loaded me with presents,
-and still more with his offers of service.
-
-"I became alarmed by his evident design, and prepared for our return to
-Toledo. Heaven doubtless inspired me with this resolution; for, had I
-acted upon it, and thus taken from the Duke his opportunities of seeing
-my wife, I should have avoided all the misfortunes which followed a
-contrary course. My confidence in her virtue, however, soon reassured
-me. It appeared to me impossible that a being whom I had raised from
-obscurity to her present position, from motives of affection alone,
-could be ungrateful enough to consent to my disgrace. Alas! I little
-thought that ambition and vanity, two feelings common to every woman,
-were the greatest vices in the character of my wife.
-
-"No sooner, therefore, had the Duke managed to inform her of his
-sentiments towards her, than she took credit to herself for so
-important a conquest. The attachment of a man approached by all the
-world with the titles of Your Grace and Your Highness tickled her
-pride, and filled her mind with the most absurd notions; so that she
-was indefinitely exalted in her own opinion, and thought the less of
-me. All that I had done for love of her, instead of exciting feelings
-of gratitude, now appeared but a contemptible offering to her charms,
-of which she no longer thought me worthy; and she seems not to have
-doubted that if the noble duke, who flattered her by his homage, had
-seen her before she had thrown herself away on me, he would have
-eagerly sought her hand. Infatuated by these absurd notions, and
-seduced by some well-timed presents which flattered her vanity, she
-yielded to the secret assiduities of his grace.
-
-"Although they corresponded frequently, I had not for some time the
-slightest suspicion of their communications; but, at last, my eyes were
-unfortunately opened to my disgrace. One day I returned from hunting
-somewhat earlier than usual, and went directly to the apartment of my
-wife, who expected nothing less than to see me. She had just received
-a letter from her paramour, and was at the moment preparing a reply.
-She could not disguise her emotion at my unexpected coming; and as I
-perceived on the table paper and ink, I trembled,--for the truth rushed
-on my mind with the speed of all unwelcome conclusions. I commanded
-her to show me what she was writing, which she refused; so that I was
-compelled to use violence in order to satisfy my jealous curiosity, and
-drew from her bosom, in spite of her resistance, a letter which was to
-the following effect:--
-
- "'Must I for ever languish in the despair of seeing thee again? Hast
- thou then cruelty enough to call sweet hopes into my heart, and let
- the short-lived blisses perish from delay? Don Juan leaves thee daily
- for the chase, or to repair to Toledo: would not Love then snatch
- these happy opportunities with eager joy? Think of the passion which
- consumes my life! Pity me, lady! and remember that if the happiness is
- great we hope to share, the greater is the torment which bars us its
- possession.'
-
-[Illustration: The Toledan reads the Duke's letter]
-
-"As I read this epistle, my blood boiled with fury. My hand sought the
-hilt of my stiletto, and my first inclination was to plunge it in the
-unfaithful breast of her who had betrayed me; but a moment's reflection
-told me that I should thus revenge but half my shame, and that another
-victim was demanded to appease my wrath. I therefore controlled myself,
-and, dissimulating as well as I was able, said to my wife: 'Madam, you
-have done wrong in listening to the duke; the splendour of his rank
-should not have been sufficient to dazzle you. However, youth finds
-delight in the trappings of nobility; and I am willing to believe that
-your guilt extends no further, and that my honour is still in safe
-keeping with you. I forgive, then, your want of discretion; but it is
-on condition that you return to the paths of duty, and that henceforth,
-sensible to the affection which animates my bosom, you will think it
-enough to deserve it.'
-
-"I did not wait for a reply, but left the apartment; as much to give
-her an opportunity of collecting herself, as to seek that solitude in
-which alone my mind could free itself from the anger which inflamed
-me. If I did not regain my tranquillity, I at least affected an air
-of composure during that and the following day; and on the third,
-pretending to have business of importance which called me to Toledo, I
-told my wife that I was obliged to leave her for some time, and that I
-did so in full confidence of her virtue and good conduct.
-
-"I set out; but, instead of going to Toledo, as soon as night came
-to assist my project, I returned home secretly, and concealed myself
-in the room of a trusty servant, whence I could observe any one who
-entered the house. I had no doubt that the duke was informed of my
-absence, and that he would not fail to make the most of so desirable a
-circumstance. How I longed to surprise them together! I promised myself
-an ample vengeance.
-
-"Nevertheless, I was deceived in my expectations. Instead of remarking
-any preparations for the reception of an expected lover, I on the
-contrary perceived that the doors were scrupulously closed against
-everybody; and three days having passed without the appearance of the
-duke, or any of his people, I began to think that my wife had repented
-of her fault, and that she had broken off all connection with her
-seducer.
-
-"As this opinion took possession of my mind, my desire of revenge
-dissipated; until, at last, yielding to those emotions of affection for
-my wife which anger had only suspended, I hastened to her apartment,
-and, embracing her with transport, exclaimed: 'Madam, I restore you my
-esteem and my love. I come to tell you that I have not been to Toledo,
-but that I pretended to have gone there only to test your discretion.
-You can forgive this deception in a husband whose jealousy was not
-entirely without foundation. I feared lest your mind, seduced by too
-brilliant illusions, should be incapable of a return to virtue; but,
-thank Heaven! you have seen your error, and I trust that our felicity
-may henceforth be unbroken.'
-
-"My wife appeared affected at these words, and, while tears fell from
-her eyes, exclaimed: 'Unhappy have I been, to give you reason to
-suspect my fidelity! In vain do I detest myself for having so justly
-excited your anger against me! In vain is it that, since I saw you, my
-eyes have unceasingly o'erflowed with tears; my grief and my remorse
-are alike unavailing; I can never regain the confidence I have lost.'
-'I restore it to you,' I replied, interrupting her, afflicted by the
-sorrow which she displayed--'I restore it to you; you have repented of
-the past; and I will, too gladly, forget it.'
-
-"I kept my word; and, from that moment, my love for her was as great
-and as confiding as ever. I began again to taste those joys which had
-been so cruelly interrupted; they came to me, indeed, with redoubled
-zest; for my wife, as though she had been anxious to efface from my
-recollection all traces of the injury she had done me, took greater
-pains to please me. I thought I found more warmth in her caresses; in
-short, I almost rejoiced at the event which had told me how much was
-still left for me to love.
-
-"Shortly after our reconciliation I was seized with illness. Although
-my ailment was not alarming, it is inconceivable how deeply it appeared
-to afflict my wife. All day she was by my side; and at night, as I
-was in a separate room, she never failed to visit me frequently,
-that she might convince herself of the progress of my recovery: her
-whole care appeared devoted to me, and all her anxiety to anticipate
-my every want; it seemed as though her whole life depended solely on
-mine. You may suppose that I was not insensible to all this show of
-tenderness, and I was never weary of expressing to her my gratitude for
-her attentions. However, Signor Mendoza, they were not so sincere as I
-imagined.
-
-"My health was beginning to improve, when, one night, my
-valet-de-chambre came to awaken me. 'Signor,' said he, with emotion, 'I
-am sorry to disturb your repose; but I am too much interested in your
-honour to conceal from you what is at this moment passing beneath your
-roof. The Duke of Naxera is with my mistress.'
-
-"I was so astounded by this information, that I looked for some time at
-my servant without being able to speak; and the more I thought of what
-he told me, the more difficulty I found in believing it. 'No! Fabio,'
-at last I said to him; 'no, it is impossible that my wife can be
-capable of such infamy! You must be mistaken.' 'Signor,' replied Fabio;
-'would to Heaven that I could think so! But my eyes are not easily
-deceived. Ever since you have been ill, I have suspected that the duke
-was introduced almost nightly into my lady's apartment. This evening,
-I concealed myself, to confirm or dispel my suspicions; and I have but
-too good reason to know that they were not unfounded.'
-
-[Illustration: Fabio awakens his master]
-
-"I hesitated no longer; but arose, and putting on my dressing gown,
-armed myself with my sword, and went in a perfect phrenzy towards my
-wife's chamber, Fabio following with a light. As we entered the room,
-the alarmed duke, who was sitting on the bed, rose, and taking a pistol
-from his girdle, aimed at me and fired; but thanks to his confusion,
-he missed me. I rushed on him, and in a moment thrust my sword into
-his heart. Then turning to my wife, who was already more dead than
-alive: 'and you!' said I, 'infamous wretch, receive the reward of your
-perfidy.' And so saying, I plunged my sword, still reeking with the
-blood of her paramour, into her bosom.
-
-[Illustration: The Toledan prepares to kill his wife]
-
-"I am sensible of the crime my fury induced me to commit; and I
-acknowledge, Signor Don Fabricio, that a faithless spouse may be
-sufficiently punished without taking her life; but where is the man
-who, under such excitement, could have preserved the cool temperament
-of the judge? Picture to yourself this perfidious woman attending me
-in sickness; imagine if you can, all that display of affection which
-she lavished upon me; think of all the circumstances,--of the enormity
-of her deception, and then say if her death weighs heavily against
-a husband animated with rage, to whom all this comes suddenly as
-lightning from the cloud.
-
-"My tragical history is finished in a few words. My vengeance thus
-fully satiated, I dressed hastily, certain that I had no time to lose;
-for I knew well that the duke's relations would search for me in every
-corner of Spain, and that, as the power of my own family would be but
-as a feather in the scale to turn their wrath, there was no safety for
-me but in a foreign country. I therefore chose two of my best horses,
-and taking with me all the jewels and money I possessed, I left my
-house before daybreak, followed by the servant of whose fidelity I had
-recently been so well assured, and took the road to Valencia with the
-intention of sailing in the first vessel which should steer for Italy.
-It thus happened that, passing yesterday near the wood in which you
-were, I met Donna Theodora, and, at her entreaty, followed to assist in
-separating yourself and Don Alvaro."
-
-When the Toledan had ended this narrative, Don Fabricio said to
-him: "Signor Don Juan, you have justly avenged yourself on the Duke
-de Naxera. Be not alarmed as to anything his relations can do; you
-shall stay, if you please, with me, until an opportunity offers for
-your passage into Italy. My uncle is governor of Valencia; you will
-therefore be more secure from danger here than elsewhere, and you will
-remain with one who would be united with you henceforth in bonds of
-strictest friendship."
-
-Zarata replied to Mendoza in terms which expressed his grateful sense
-of the former's kindness, and at once accepted the proffered asylum.
-"And now it is, Signor Don Cleophas," continued Asmodeus, "that I shall
-exhibit to you the power of sympathy: such was the inclination which
-drew these two young cavaliers towards each other, that, in a few
-days, there existed between them a friendship not surpassed by that
-of Orestes and Pylades. With dispositions alike formed for virtue,
-they possessed a similarity of tastes which was certain to render
-that which pleased Don Fabricio equally agreeable to Don Juan--their
-characters were identical; in short, they were formed for each other.
-Don Fabricio, especially, was charmed with the deportment of his new
-friend; and lost no opportunity of endeavouring to exalt him in the
-estimation of the Donna Theodora.
-
-"This lady now received them frequently at her house; but, though
-her doors were open at the bidding of Mendoza, her heart was still
-inaccessible to his attentions. Mortified to find his love thus
-slighted, he could not forbear complaining of her indifference to
-his friend, who endeavoured to console him with the assurance that
-the most insensible of women might be won to feeling at the last,
-and that nothing was wanting to lovers but patience to await for the
-favourable moment: he bade him then to keep up his courage, and to hope
-that, sooner or later, his mistress would yield to his assiduity and
-affection. This advice, though philosophical enough, was insufficient
-to assure the timid Mendoza, who began to despair of success with
-the widow of Cifuentes; and the anxiety of suspense so preyed upon
-his spirits, that Don Juan could not behold him without feelings of
-compassion. Alas! poor Don Juan was himself ere long more to be pitied
-than his friend.
-
-"Whatever reason the Toledan had to be disgusted with the sex, after
-the abominable treachery he had met with, he could not long look upon
-the Donna Theodora without loving her. Far, however, from yielding
-to a passion which he felt to be an injury to Mendoza, he struggled
-with all his might to vanquish it; and convinced that this was only
-to be accomplished by flying from the bright eyes which had kindled
-the flame, he wisely resolved to shun the lady who possessed them.
-Consequently whenever Don Fabricio asked his company to his mistress's
-house, he managed to find some pretext to excuse himself from going
-with him.
-
-"On the other hand, Mendoza never went to see the Donna Theodora, but
-she asked him why he no longer was accompanied by Don Juan. One day,
-when, for the hundredth time she put this question to her lover, the
-latter answered, smiling, that his friend had his reasons for absenting
-himself. 'And what reasons, then, can he have for flying me?' said
-Donna Theodora. 'Why, madam,' replied Mendoza; 'yesterday, when I
-pressed him, as usual, to come with me, and expressed some surprise at
-his refusal to do so, he confided to me a secret, which I must reveal
-in order to justify him in your eyes. He told me that he had formed a
-liaison in Valencia; and, that as he had not long to stay in this town,
-every moment was precious to him.'
-
-"'I cannot exactly admit the validity of his excuse,' replied the widow
-of Cifuentes, blushing; 'it is not permitted to lovers that they should
-abandon their friends.' Don Fabricio, who observed the colour which
-tinged the cheeks of the Donna Theodora, thought that self-love alone
-had caused the blush, and that, like all pretty women, she could not
-bear to be neglected, even by a person who was indifferent to her. He
-was, however, deceived. A deeper feeling than wounded vanity inspired
-the emotion she displayed. She loved: but for fear that Mendoza should
-discover her sentiments, she changed the subject, and, during the
-conversation that followed, affected a gaiety which would have deceived
-him, had he not already deceived himself.
-
-"As soon as Donna Theodora was alone, she abandoned herself to
-reflection. Then, for the first time, she felt all the strength of the
-attachment she had conceived for Don Juan; and, little thinking how
-deeply that feeling was shared by its object,--'Oh Love!' she cried:
-'cruel and unjust art thou, who delightest to kindle passion in the
-hearts of those who care not for each other! I love not Don Fabricio,
-and he adores me; I languish for Don Juan, and his heart is possessed
-by another. Ah! Mendoza, reproach me not with my indifference for thee;
-thy friend has indeed avenged thee.'
-
-"As she spoke, grief filled her eyes with tears, and jealousy possessed
-her breast; but Hope, who loves to soothe the sorrows of despairing
-lovers, took refuge in her mind, and filled it with bright images of
-joys to come. It suggested to her that her rival could not be very
-formidable, and that Don Juan was less the captive of her charms than
-the object of her favours, and that the ties which bound them could not
-therefore be difficult to break. She resolved, however, to judge for
-herself, and at once to see the Toledan. With this view she sent word
-that she wished to speak with him: he came; and, when they were alone,
-she thus addressed him:
-
-"'I could never have believed that love could make a gallant man
-forgetful of his duties to a lady; nevertheless, Don Juan, since it has
-possessed you, you have become a stranger to my house. I think I have
-a right to upbraid you for this neglect; I am unwilling, however, to
-believe that you have yourself resolved to shun me, and will suppose
-that your mistress has forbidden your coming here. Tell me, Don Juan,
-that it is so, and I will excuse you. I know a lover is not master
-of his will, and that he dares not disobey the woman to whom he has
-resigned it.'
-
-"'Madam,' replied the Toledan, 'I confess that my conduct may
-reasonably surprise you; but, in pity, ask me not to justify myself:
-content yourself with hearing from my lips that I shun you not without
-good cause.' 'Whatever may be that cause,' interrupted Donna Theodora,
-visibly affected, 'I request you will not conceal it.' 'Well, madam,'
-replied Don Juan, 'you shall be obeyed; but be not angry if you learn
-from me more than you would wish to know.
-
-"'Don Fabricio,' he continued, 'has doubtless related to you the
-adventure which compelled me to quit Castile. In flying from Toledo,
-my heart filled with hatred against womankind, I bade defiance to the
-sex ever to touch that heart again. With this disposition, I approached
-Valencia; I met you, and, what perhaps none have ever sustained before,
-I met your eyes without yielding to their influence. I saw you again
-and again with impunity; but, alas! dearly I have paid for my pride of
-heart. You have conquered! Your beauty, your mind,--all your charms
-were turned against a rebel to your sway; in a word, I feel for you now
-all the love that you were formed by nature to inspire.
-
-"'This, madam, is what has driven me from your sight. The mistress,
-to whom they told you I was devoted, exists but in the imagination of
-Mendoza; and it was to prevent in him a suspicion of the truth, which
-my constant refusals to accompany him here might have engendered, that
-I conjured her into life.'
-
-"This confession, unexpected as it was by Donna Theodora, could not
-fail to fill her bosom with delight, nor could she conceal it from the
-Toledan. It is true she took no great pains to do so, and that, instead
-of regarding him with indignation for his presumption, her eyes beamed
-with tenderness as she said: 'You have revealed to me your secret, Don
-Juan; it is fair that I should discover mine to you: Listen!
-
-"'Regardless of the overtures of Alvaro Ponza, and little affected by
-the addresses of Mendoza, I lived in tranquil joy, when chance brought
-you to the wood where we met. Agitated as I was by the scene which then
-was passing, I was nevertheless struck by the gentle and respectful
-manner in which you offered me your services; and the frankness and
-courage which you displayed in separating the two furious rivals for my
-love inspired me with the most favourable opinion of your character.
-The means by which you proposed to terminate their disputes, indeed,
-displeased me, and it was with repugnance that I resolved to choose
-between the combatants; but, I believe I must not disguise from you,
-that yourself in great part contributed to increase the difficulty of
-my decision. At the moment when, compelled by necessity, my tongue
-proclaimed the name of Don Fabricio, I felt that my heart had already
-declared in favour of the unknown. From that day, which, after what you
-have just avowed, I may call a happy one, your virtues have constantly
-augmented the esteem you then inspired.
-
-"'Why should I affect to hide these feelings from you? I confess them
-with no greater candour than I told Mendoza that I loved him not. A
-woman whose misfortune is to love a being whom she may not hope to
-wed, may bury in her heart the passion which consumes it; but when her
-bosom's lord is one who nourishes an equal tenderness for her, silence
-were weakness, and dissimulation shame. Yes, I am indeed happy that
-your love is mine, and I render thanks to Heaven which I trust has
-destined us for each other.'
-
-"Having thus spoken, the lady waited for Don Juan's answer, and to give
-him an opportunity of expressing all the gratitude which she naturally
-thought the declaration she had made must inspire; but her lover,
-instead of appearing enchanted by the confession he had just listened
-to, remained sad and thoughtful.
-
-"'What means this silence?' she at length exclaimed. 'What! when for
-you, Zarata, I forget my sex's pride; and, what another would have
-deemed a fate to envy, show you a heart all filled with love for
-you,--can you repel the bliss which such a heart bestows;--be coldly
-silent to its fond disclosure, and look with grief when all things
-promise joy? Alas! Don Juan, my kindness for you has a strange effect,
-indeed.'
-
-"'And what other, madam, can it have upon a heart like mine?' replied
-the Toledan, mournfully. 'The greater kindness you avow for me, the
-greater is the misery I suffer. You are not ignorant of all I owe to
-Don Fabricio; you know the tender friendship which unites us: can I
-then build my happiness upon the ruins of his dearest hopes?' 'You
-are too scrupulous,' resumed the Donna Theodora: 'I have promised to
-Mendoza nothing. I can bestow my love, nor merit his reproaches; and
-you may well accept it, nor yet do him a wrong. I acknowledge that the
-sorrows of your friend may cause you some unhappiness; but, Don Juan,
-can that o'erbalance in your mind the destiny which waits you?'
-
-"'Yes, madam,' replied the Toledan, with respectful firmness; 'a
-friend like Don Fabricio has greater weight with me than you can well
-imagine. Could you possibly conceive the tenderness, the strength of
-that feeling which binds us to each other, you would pity me indeed.
-Mendoza has no secrets now with me; my interests have become his own;
-the slightest matter which concerns myself commands his strict regard:
-in a word, madam, I share his soul with you.
-
-"'Ah! if you wished me to profit by your kindness, you should have
-disclosed it ere those ties were formed which bind me now to him.
-Delighted to have won your affections, I should then have seen in Don
-Fabricio but a rival; and my heart, steeled against the friendship
-which he offered to me, would have escaped its bonds; I should then
-have been free from all obligation towards him: but, madam, it is
-now too late. I have received all the services it was in his power
-to render me; I have indulged all the feelings which those services
-induced; gratitude and esteem now unite to reduce me to the cruel
-necessity of renouncing the inestimable prize you present for my
-acceptance.'
-
-"While the Toledan was speaking thus, tears fell fast from the eyes
-of Donna Theodora; and, as he concluded, she hid her face in her
-handkerchief to conceal her distress. Don Juan was of course affected;
-his constancy began to evaporate, and he felt that his stay was
-dangerous. 'Adieu, madam,' he continued, while sighs impeded his
-utterance,--'adieu! I must fly to preserve my honour; your tears
-overcome me--all else I could withstand. I leave you for ever; and go,
-far hence, to deplore the loss of that happiness which my friendship
-for Don Fabricio inexorably demands as a sacrifice.' And as he
-finished, he hastily retired, with as much resolution as just enabled
-him to do so.
-
-[Illustration: the Toledan bids farewell to Donna Theodora]
-
-"After his departure, the widow of Cifuentes was distracted by a
-thousand conflicting emotions. She felt ashamed at having declared her
-love to a man whom its bright temptation had not won; but, unable to
-doubt his affection for her person, and assured that his refusal of
-her hand originated in no other feeling than an unexampled constancy
-for his friend, she was sufficiently reasonable to admire so rare an
-instance of virtue. Nevertheless, as it is in the nature of men, and
-more particularly in the nature of women, to feel annoyed when all
-things do not happen as they wish, she resolved to go into the country
-on the morrow, in order to dissipate her grief, or rather to augment
-it; for Solitude is nurse to Love, and strengthens the young passion
-while he strives to hush its cries.
-
-"Meanwhile, Don Juan, not finding Mendoza on his return, shut himself
-in his own apartment, and gave way to the affliction he had restrained
-during his interview with Donna Theodora; for, after what he had
-sacrificed to friendship, he felt himself at liberty to indulge in
-grief for its loss. It was not long, however, before Mendoza came to
-break on his retirement, and judging by his friend's appearance that
-he was ill, he displayed so much uneasiness that Don Juan was obliged
-to plead a want of rest, in order to account for his altered looks.
-Mendoza left him to repose; but he went out with so much grief depicted
-on his countenance, that the Toledan was still more afflicted by his
-sympathy. 'Oh Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'why is it that the most tender
-friendship should bring to me nothing but misfortune?'
-
-"On the following day, Don Fabricio was yet in bed, when they came to
-inform him that Donna Theodora had set out, with all her establishment,
-for her seat at Villareal, and that it was unlikely she would shortly
-return to Valencia. This information caused him less inquietude on
-account of his severance from the object of his devotion, than because
-a mystery had been made to him of her departure. Without being able to
-determine on its cause, a gloomy presentiment pervaded his mind as to
-its effect on his happiness.
-
-"He instantly arose, that he might seek his friend, as much to converse
-with him on the subject which occupied his mind, as to inquire the
-state of Zarata's health; but, before he had completed his toilet,
-Don Juan entered his room, saying: 'I come to dissipate whatever
-apprehension you may entertain for me; I feel myself again restored
-to health.' 'The good news you tell me,' replied Mendoza, 'consoles
-me somewhat for the unwelcome intelligence I have just received.'
-'Ah! what is that?' asked the Toledan anxiously. 'Why,' replied Don
-Fabricio, after having dismissed his attendants, 'Donna Theodora has
-gone this morning into the country, where they expect she will remain
-for some time. This sudden resolution astonishes me. Why has it been
-concealed? What think you, Don Juan? Have I not cause to be alarmed?'
-
-"Zarata took good care not to communicate his real thoughts upon the
-subject, but endeavoured to persuade Mendoza that Donna Theodora
-might change her residence without giving him any reason for alarm.
-Don Fabricio, however, unconvinced by the arguments of his friend,
-interrupted him, saying: 'That is all very well, Zarata; but you cannot
-remove my fears of having imprudently done or said something which has
-displeased the Donna Theodora; and it is to punish my indiscretion that
-she leaves me without deigning even to inform me of my fault.
-
-"'I will not, however, remain in uncertainty. Let us hasten, Don Juan,
-to follow her; I will at once order our horses.' 'I would advise you,'
-said the Toledan, 'to seek her alone; if it be as you think, witnesses
-are worse than needless.' 'Don Juan cannot be unwelcome,' replied
-Mendoza; 'Donna Theodora is aware that you know all that passes in my
-heart: she esteems you; and far from being in my way, you will assist
-me to appease her anger against me.'
-
-"'No, no, Fabricio,' replied the Toledan, 'my presence will avail
-you nothing. Take my advice, and go alone, I conjure you!' 'Again
-no, my dear Don Juan,' interrupted Mendoza, 'we will go together; I
-expect this kindness of your friendship.' 'What tyranny! exclaimed the
-Toledan, with evident vexation; 'why ask you of my friendship what that
-very feeling should deny you most?'
-
-"These words, which Don Fabricio could not comprehend, and the tone in
-which they were uttered, surprised him greatly. He looked at his friend
-for some time without speaking. At last, he said to him gravely: 'Don
-Juan, what mean you? What horrible suspicion breaks upon my mind? Ah!
-it is too much, to wound me by your terrible constraint! Speak! Whence
-arises this unwillingness to accompany me to Donna Theodora?'
-
-"'I would have concealed it from you,' replied the Toledan, 'but, since
-you compel me to disclose the truth, I will dissimulate no longer.
-Let us, my dear Mendoza, no more rejoice in the similarity of our
-dispositions; it is but too perfect: the shafts which wounded you, have
-neither spared your friend. Donna Theodora----' 'What! you my rival?'
-interrupted Don Fabricio, turning pale as death. 'From the instant
-that my love for the widow of Cifuentes became apparent to myself,'
-replied Don Juan, 'I strove to stifle the passion. I have, as you know,
-sedulously avoided her sight: I at least triumphed over my feelings, if
-I could not destroy them.
-
-"'Yesterday, however, Donna Theodora sent word that she desired to
-see me. I went to her; when she asked me why I seemed to shun her. I
-endeavoured to excuse myself as well as I was able; but, as my excuses
-did not satisfy her, I was compelled at last to avow the real cause of
-my absence. I imagined that, after this declaration, she would have
-approved the motives of my apparent neglect; but my unlucky star had
-decreed--shall I tell you? yes, Mendoza, it is useless attempting to
-deceive you,--I found Theodora disposed to favour my love.'
-
-"Although Don Fabricio was one of the mildest and most reasonable of
-men, yet, at this confession, he was seized with a fury beyond his
-control; and, again interrupting his friend, he exclaimed: 'Hold!
-Don Juan, plunge at once your dagger in my breast; but continue not
-this fatal recital. What! not contented with avowing your passion for
-her whom I adore, must you tell me too that your love is returned?
-By Heaven! this is a strange confidence you dare to venture on with
-me. You put our friendship to a test indeed. But what say I! our
-friendship? You have broken it, in nourishing the traitorous feelings
-you have just imparted.
-
-"'Oh! how have I been deceived! I thought you generous even to excess,
-and find you basely false; stooping to win the heart of her whose love
-were insult to your friend. This is indeed an unexpected blow; and
-falls with double weight since coming from the hand ...' 'Do me more
-justice,' in his turn interrupted the Toledan; 'reflect with patience
-ere you speak: I am not the traitor which you deem me. Hear me. You
-will repent the injuries you heap upon your friend.'
-
-"Don Juan then related all that had passed between the widow of
-Cifuentes and himself, the tender confession she had made to him
-of love, and all the arguments she used to win him to indulge his
-own. He repeated to him then his firm reply; and, as he spoke of
-the determination he displayed, the wrath of Don Fabricio yielded
-by degrees. 'In short,' added Don Juan, 'friendship conquered love;
-and I rejected that of Donna Theodora, despite her tears. But, Gods,
-those tears! what trouble filled my soul at sight of them! I cannot
-recollect them now without trembling at the danger I encountered. I
-began to feel myself relent; and, for a few moments, Mendoza, my heart
-indeed betrayed you. I did not, however, yield to my weakness, but
-escaped those dangerous tears by hasty flight. Still it is not enough
-to have gone safely through the past,--the future must be feared. I
-shall therefore hasten my departure from Valencia; I will no more
-behold the lovely Theodora. And now, will Don Fabricio accuse his
-friend of ingratitude and perfidy?'
-
-"'No!' replied Mendoza, embracing the Toledan; 'my eyes are opened,
-and I find him faithful as my heart could wish. Pardon those unjust
-reproaches to a jealous lover, who in a moment finds himself deprived
-of all his hopes. Alas! should I have expected that the Donna Theodora
-could have long beheld you, and have failed to love?--that she could
-resist the influence of those attractions which at once so drew you to
-myself? No! and I embrace my friend again. I attribute my misfortunes
-but to destiny; and, far from feeling hatred to yourself, my affection
-is increased by your noble conduct. What! can you renounce for me
-possession of the lovely Theodora,--can you yield for friendship's sake
-so great a prize, and shall I be insensible of the sacrifice? Can you
-conquer the passion which consumes you, and shall I make no endeavour
-so to vanquish mine? No! I will not be outdone in generosity of soul.
-Obey, Don Juan, the dictate of your heart; espouse the object of our
-mutual affections; my heart may groan in secret if it will; be it so!
-Mendoza intreats you to consult your own.'
-
-"'In vain do you intreat me,' replied Zarata: 'I love her but too
-dearly, as I have told you; but, Mendoza, your happiness shall never be
-the price of mine.' 'And the happiness of Donna Theodora,' said Don
-Fabricio, 'shall that then count for nothing? Let not false delicacy
-weigh with us now: her passion for yourself has ended all my hopes.
-What though, for me, you shunned those fatal eyes, to lead in distant
-lands a life of woe,--what would it serve me now? She loves me not,
-and never will; Heaven reserved that bliss for you alone. From the
-moment that she saw you, her heart declared for you; nature prompted
-the emotion: in a word, you alone can render her happy. Receive then
-the heart she offers with her hand; crown her desires and your own;
-leave me to my fate; and make not three persons miserable, when the
-wretchedness of one alone is all that destiny requires.'"
-
-Asmodeus was here obliged to suspend his narration, and listen to the
-Student, who said to him: "Well, all that you tell me is sufficiently
-surprising; but are there really such amiable people upon earth? I
-never met within this nether world but friends who strive, not for such
-mistresses as you depict the Donna Theodora, but for the arrantest
-coquettes. What! a lover to renounce the being he adores, by whom his
-love is shared, and all lest he should render some poor friend unhappy?
-That may do well for some romancer's pen, which fain would picture men
-the creatures they should be, for fear of telling them the things they
-are." "I own, with you," Asmodeus replied, "the virtue that I tell you
-of is rare; but still, my dear Cleophas, it exists; not in romances
-only, but in the principles of man's own nature. It is true that, since
-the deluge, I have seen but two examples of the like, and this is one;
-but, let us return to our history.
-
-"The two friends continued still their amicable strife, and, as each
-was still unwilling to yield the palm of generosity to the other,
-their amorous sentiments remained suspended, during several days. They
-ceased to talk of Donna Theodora, each seemed afraid to breathe her
-very name; but, while Friendship triumphed over Love in the city of
-Valencia, Love, as though he would revenge the insult offered to his
-power, reigned with tyranny without its walls, and was there obeyed
-without scruple.
-
-"Donna Theodora was all this time in the solitude of Villareal, which
-was not far distant from the sea. There, abandoning herself to her
-passion for Don Juan, she dreamt of its reward; and nuptial visions
-floated in her mind, despite the friendship the Toledan had recently
-displayed for Don Fabricio, his too much loved rival.
-
-"One day, while the glorious splendour of the setting sun chained her
-to the margin of its bed, she perceived a boat which made towards the
-shore. As it approached, she saw that it contained seven or eight men,
-whose aspect was far from prepossessing; and as they came still nearer,
-she observed that their faces were covered with masks, and that they
-were armed.
-
-"Trembling with fear, for it was not easy to divine any good object
-for this unlooked-for descent, she turned hastily towards her home.
-Looking from time to time behind her as she fled, she saw them land;
-and, as they instantly appeared to be endeavouring to overtake her, she
-began to run with all her might. But as she was not as swift of foot as
-Atalanta, and as the masks were light and fleet, they came up with her,
-just as she had reached the entrance of her grounds, and seized her.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora carried off by the masked men]
-
-"The shrieks of the Donna Theodora, and a girl who accompanied her,
-were loud enough however to attract the attention of some servants
-without the house; and these giving the alarm to those within, the
-whole establishment, to a man, turned out armed with clubs and
-pitchforks. But in the meantime, two of the most robust among the
-masqueraders had taken the lady and her damsel in their arms, and bore
-them towards the boat, while the remainder remained to give battle to
-the domestics, who, albeit not paid for fighting, did their utmost. The
-combat was long, but swords carried the day against pitchforks, and
-the gentlemen in dominoes were fast regaining the vessel to join their
-prize. It was time indeed they did so; for ere their embarkation was
-completed, four or five cavaliers were to be distinguished on the road
-from Valencia, riding at their topmost speed, and apparently anxious
-to be in time for the rescue of the Donna Theodora. The ravishers saw
-them; and made such good haste to get out to sea, that the cavaliers
-arrived too late to attain the accomplishment of their object.
-
-[Illustration: the masked men rowing away]
-
-"These cavaliers were Don Fabricio and Don Juan. Mendoza had received
-a letter, only a few hours before, informing him, on good authority,
-that Don Alvaro was in the island of Majorca; that he had equipped a
-sort of sloop, and that with some twenty scoundrels who had nothing
-to lose, he intended to carry off the widow of Cifuentes on the first
-occasion of her visiting her seat at Villareal. On this, the Toledan
-and himself, with their personal attendants, had set out immediately
-from Valencia, in order to inform Donna Theodora of the projected
-attempt. They had, unfortunately, arrived just in time to discern on
-the sea-shore a number of persons who appeared to be engaged in mortal
-strife; and, suspecting that it might be as they feared, had hastened
-with all expedition to oppose the infamous design of Don Alvaro. But,
-with all their haste, they arrived but to witness the abduction they
-had especially come to prevent.
-
-"In the meanwhile, Alvaro Ponza, joyful at his success, was hurrying
-from the coast with his prey, and was observed to join a small armed
-vessel which was awaiting him in the distance. Words cannot convey an
-idea of the grief of the two friends; the air rang with imprecations
-against Don Alvaro: their grief and rage, however, were alike
-unavailing. The domestics of the Donna Theodora, excited by so laudable
-an example, were not sparing of their lamentations; the shore resounded
-with cries: fury, desolation, and despair reigned where all before
-had been tranquil joy, or the sweet grief of love. The rape of the
-beauteous Helen herself did not excite at the court of Sparta an equal
-consternation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-
-THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.
-
-
-Leandro Perez, at this point of the narrative, could not help again
-interrupting the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus," said he, "I really cannot
-control my curiosity to know the meaning of something which attracts my
-attention, in spite of the pleasure I receive in listening to you. I
-see, in a room near us, two men fighting in their shirts, and several
-others in their dressing-gowns who are hastening to part them: tell me,
-I pray you, what it is all about." The Demon, ever ready to please the
-Student, without further pressing replied as follows:
-
-"The persons whom you behold in their shirts, or so much of them as is
-left in the struggle, are two French authors; and the mediators in the
-strife are two Germans, a Fleming, and an Italian. They all lodge in
-that same house, which is a sort of lodging-house devoted exclusively
-to foreigners. One of these authors writes tragedies, and the other
-comedies. The former, disgusted for some reason or other with his own
-country, has come to Spain; and the latter also, discontented with his
-prospects in Paris, has performed the same journey, in the hope of
-finding in Madrid a better fortune.
-
-"The tragic poet is vain and presumptuous, having obtained, despite the
-opinions of those whose breath should be fame, a tolerable reputation
-in his own country. To keep his Pegasus in wind, he rides it daily; and
-not being able to sleep this night, he commenced a piece, the subject
-of which is taken from the Iliad. He has finished one scene; and as his
-smallest fault is that, so common to his brethren, of cramming into
-other people's throats the trash which he has ejected, he rose from his
-table, where he was writing in his shirt, took a candle, and, as he
-was, went to rouse the comic author, who, making a better use of his
-time, was sleeping profoundly.
-
-"The latter, awakened by the noise made at his door, went to open it
-to the other, who, with the air of one possessed, entered the room
-exclaiming: 'Down on your knees, my friend; down, and worship a genius
-whom Melpomene inspires. I have given birth to poetry--: but, what do I
-say?--I have done it! Apollo himself dictated the verses to me. Were I
-at Paris, I should go from house to house to read the precious lines; I
-only wait for day that I may charm with them our talented ambassador,
-and every other Frenchman who has the luck to be within Madrid; but,
-before I shew them to a soul, I come to recite them to you.'
-
-[Illustration: the tragic poet at the comic author's door]
-
-"'I am much obliged by the preference,' replied the comic author,
-yawning with all his might; 'it is rather unlucky though, that you
-did not choose a better time. I went to bed extremely late,--can
-hardly keep my eyes unclosed,--and I will not answer for hearing all
-the verses you have to read to me, without tumbling to sleep again.'
-'Oh! I will answer for that myself,' interrupted the tragic poet.
-'Were you dead, the scene that I have just composed would recall you
-to life again. In my writings, there are none of your namby-pamby
-sentiments,--none of your common-place expressions, sustained alone
-by rhyme: masculine thoughts, and easy versification, move the heart
-and strike upon the mind. I am none of those wretched poetasters, whose
-pitiable creations glide upon the stage like shadows, and like them
-depart;--which go to Utica to amuse the Africans. My compositions,
-worthy to be consecrated with my statue in the library of Apollo
-Palatinus, draw crowds after thirty representations. But come,' added
-this modest poet, 'you shall hear the verses of which I wish to offer
-you the first incense.
-
-[Illustration: Phoenix assists Achilles's captives]
-
-"'This is my tragedy, THE DEATH OF PATROCLUS. Scene the first, Brisëis
-and the other captives of Achilles appear. They tear their hair and
-beat their breasts, to express the grief with which they are filled
-by the death of Patroclus. Unable even to support themselves, utterly
-prostrated by despair, they fall upon the stage. This, you will say,
-is a little daring; but that is exactly what I aim at. Let the small
-fry who swim in the waters of Helicon keep within the narrow bounds
-of imitation, without daring to o'erleap them; it is well, there is
-prudence in their timidity: but for me, I love invention; and I hold
-that, to move and overcome your spectators, you must present to their
-minds images which they could never have expected.
-
-"'The captives, then, are lying on the earth. Phoenix, governor of
-Achilles, is with them. He assists them to rise, one after another;
-and, having placed them on their feet, he commences the argument of the
-drama in these lines:--
-
-    Hector shall fall; and Troy itself be spread
-    In ruins, to avenge Patroclus dead.
-    Proud Agamemnon, Camelus the grave,
-    Nestor the wise, and Eumelus the brave,
-    Leontes, skilled to hurl the spear along,
-    Smooth-tongued Ulysses, Diomed the strong,
-    Arm with Achilles. Lo! that hero drives
-    Tow'rds Ilium's gates--appalling Ilium's wives--
-    His steeds immortal, urged across the plain
-    So swift, the eye toils after them with pain.
-    But still he cries: Dear Xanthus, Balius, fly!
-    And when around ten thousand corses lie,
-    When pallid Trojans scamper off like fillies,
-    Regain your camp, but not without Achilles.
-    Xanthus replies, bowing his head: You may
-    Be sure, Achilles, we'll your will obey;
-    But, while our pace with your impatience strives,
-    Know that to you the fatal hour arrives--
-    The ox-eyed Juno thus the steed enlightening,--
-    And now the car moves with a speed quite frightening.
-    The Greeks, beholding, utter cries of joy,
-    So loud, they shake the very walls of Troy.
-    Achilles, armed by Vulcan for the war,
-    Appears more brilliant than the morning star;
-    Or like the sun, when, in its bright career,
-    It bursts on earth, dispelling night and fear;
-    Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,
-    To guide poor swains, bewilder'd or benighted.[8]
-
-[8]
-
-    Priam va perdre Hector et sa superbe ville;
-    Les Grecs veulent venger le compagnon d'Achille,
-    Le fier Agamemnon, le divin Camélus,
-    Nestor, pareil aux dieux, le vaillant Eumélus,
-    Léonte, de la pique adroit à l'exercice,
-    Le nerveux Diomède, et l'éloquent Ulysse.
-    Achille s'y prépare, et déjà ce héros
-    Pousse vers Ilium ses immortels chevaux;
-    Pour arriver plus tôt où sa fureur l'entraîne,
-    Quoique l'oeil qui les voit ne les suive qu'à peine,
-    Il leur dit: Chers Xanthus, Balius, avancez;
-    Et lorsque vous serez du carnage lassés,
-    Quand les Troyens fuyant rentreront dans leur ville,
-    Regagnez notre camp, mais non pas sans Achille.
-    Xanthus baisse la tête, et répond par ces mots:
-    Achille, vous serez content de vos chevaux,
-    Ils vont aller au gré de votre impatience;
-    Mais de votre trépas l'instant fatal s'avance.
-    Junon aux yeux de boeuf ainsi le fait parler,
-    Et d'Achille aussitôt le char semble voler.
-    Les Grecs, en le voynt, de mille cris de joie
-    Soudain font retentir le rivage de Troie.
-    Ce prince, revêtu des armes de Vulcain,
-    Paraît plus éclatant que l'astre du matin,
-    Ou tel que le soleil, commençant sa carrière,
-    S'élève pour donner au monde la lumière;
-    Ou brillant comme un feu que les villageois font
-    Pendant l'obscure nuit sur le sommet du mont.
-
-
-
-"'I stop,' continued the tragic poet, 'to let you breathe a moment; for
-if I were to recite to you the whole of my scene at once, the beauty
-of my versification, and the great number of brilliant passages and
-sublime ideas that it contains, would smother you to a certainty. But
-remark the aptness of this comparison,--
-
-    Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,
-    To guide poor swains bewilder'd or benighted.
-
-"'It is not all the world who could appreciate that; but you, who have
-mind, and a clearness of perception,--you must be enchanted with it.'
-'I am so, doubtless,' replied the comic author, smiling contemptuously;
-'nothing can be more beautiful; and I am persuaded you will not fail to
-describe, in your tragedy, the care taken by Thetis to drive away the
-Trojan flies which approach the body of Patroclus.' 'You may spare your
-jests as to that,' replied the tragic poet;--'an author who has talent
-may venture everything. The very incident you mention is perhaps the
-one most capable of being rendered into heroic verse; and I shall not
-lose the opportunity, you may depend upon it.
-
-"'All my works,' he continued complacently, 'bear the impress of
-genius; so that when I read them it would delight you to witness the
-applause they elicit: I am compelled to stop after every verse, to
-receive its laudatory tribute. I remember that one day, at Paris, I was
-reading a tragedy in the house of a wealthy patron of literature, in
-which all the wits of the capital generally assemble about dinner-time,
-and in which I may say, without vanity, that I do not pass for a
-Pradon. The dowager countess of Vieille-Brune was there, a lady of
-exquisite taste--I am her favourite poet. Well, at the first scene,
-the hot tears ran down her cheeks; during the reading of my second
-act, she was obliged to change her handkerchief; her sobs were beyond
-her control in the third; at the end of the fourth she was nearly in
-hysterics; and I expected, at the catastrophe, that she would have
-absolutely died with the hero of my piece.'
-
-"At these words, although the comic author endeavoured strenuously
-to preserve his gravity, a burst of laughter escaped him. 'Ah!' he
-exclaimed, 'how well do I recognize her ladyship by your description!
-The good countess is one who cannot endure comedy: so strong is her
-aversion for the merry muse, that she hurries from her box after the
-dagger or the bowl has done its work, that she may not lose an atom of
-her mimic grief. Tragedy is her pet passion; and be it good or bad, so
-long as it presents unhappy love, so surely may you bid her tears to
-flow. Honestly, did I pretend to the heroics, I should wish for other
-admirers than the countess.'
-
-"'Oh! as to that, I have others too,' replied the tragic poet. 'I am
-the approved of thousands, male and female, of the highest rank----'
-'I should also mistrust the suffrages of the quality,' interrupted the
-comic author; 'I should have no great confidence in their judgment:
-I will tell you why. Auditors of this description are, for the most
-part, too much occupied with themselves to pay great attention to the
-reading of a poem; or are caught for the moment by high-sounding verse,
-or the feeble delicacy of some sickly sentiment. Either is sufficient
-to induce their praise of an author's labours, whatever else of better
-they may lack. On the contrary, let but a line rustle their gentle ears
-too harshly, and it is enough that they exclaim against the piece,
-however good.'
-
-"'Well!' resumed the lachrymose inditer, 'since you would have me
-suspicious of this tribunal, I rely on the applauses of the pit.' 'Bah!
-talk not to me of your pit,' replied the other; 'its judgment is guided
-by caprice. Stupidly won by the novelty of a first representation, it
-will be for months enraptured by a wretched piece. It is true that in
-the end it discovers its folly; and, then, it never forgives an author
-for having received from it an undeserved renown, or cheated it into
-mercy.'
-
-"'That is a misfortune for which I have nothing to fear,' said the
-tragic poet; 'my pieces are reprinted as often as they are played.
-This, now, never occurs with comedies; printing exhibits their
-feebleness. Comedies being but trifles,--the lighter productions of
-mind....' 'Softly! my tragic friend; softly!' interrupted the other:
-'you are getting somewhat warm. Speak, I beg of you, of comedy with
-less irreverence to me. Do you think, now, a comic piece less difficult
-to write than tragedy? Undeceive yourself! It is far less easy to make
-good men laugh, than it is to make them weep. Learn that a subject
-drawn from ordinary life requires talent of as high an order as do the
-stilted heroes of antiquity.'
-
-"'I'faith,' cried the tragic poet with an air of raillery, 'I am
-delighted to hear you so express yourself.' 'Well! monsieur Calidas,
-to avoid disputation, I agree henceforth to as greatly admire your
-productions as I have heretofore despised them.' 'I care little for
-your contempt, monsieur Giblet,' hastily replied the comic author;
-'and in return for your insolence, I will plainly tell you my opinion
-of the rubbish you have just been inflicting on me: your verse is a
-mixture of bombast and absurdity, and the ideas, although borrowed from
-Homer, have, in passing through your brain, become tinctured with its
-vulgarity. Achilles talks to his horses, and his horses reply to him;
-what nonsense! It is a pity they were not asses, for then you could
-have put into their mouths with propriety your splendid comparison of
-the village bonfire on the top of a mountain. It is doing no honour
-to the ancients to pillage them after this fashion: their works are
-undoubtedly filled with beauties; but it requires greater taste than
-you possess to make of them a fitting use, or to enable you to borrow
-from them to advantage.'
-
-"'Since you have not sufficient elevation of soul,' retorted Giblet,
-'to appreciate the merits of my poetry, and to punish you for having
-dared to criticise my scene, I will not read to you the remainder.'
-'What, I wonder, have I done, that I should have been punished by
-being compelled to listen to the beginning?' replied Calidas. 'It well
-becomes you indeed to despise my comedies! Learn that the very worst
-that I could write will be clever compared with anything that you can
-compose, and that it is much easier to inflate the cheeks with hollow
-sentiments and sounding words, than it is to enlighten the mind by
-pointed wit or a delicate irony.'
-
-"'Thank Heaven!' exclaimed the tragic poet, with an awful expression
-of disdain, 'if in its rigour it denies me your esteem, I may easily
-console myself for my misfortune. The court, however, thinks more
-favourably of my tragedies; and the pension with which in its grace
-it has been pleased----' 'Pshaw! think not to dazzle me with your
-pensions,' interrupted Calidas; 'I know too well how they may be
-obtained to esteem your works the more for that. And to prove to you
-your folly, in thinking more highly of yourself than of comic authors,
-and that it is easier to compose serious dramas than comic pieces, I am
-resolved if I return to France, and do not succeed in my own line, that
-I will descend to making tragedies.'
-
-"'For a scribbler of farces,' said the tragic poet, 'you are not over
-modest.' 'For a versifier who only owes his reputation to borrowed
-plumes,' replied the comic author, 'you would fain have one think
-rather too highly of you.' 'You are an insolent scoundrel,' exclaimed
-the sombre genius. 'If I were not in your room, little monsieur
-Calidas, the catastrophe of this adventure should teach you to respect
-the buskin.' 'Let not that consideration restrain you, I entreat, lanky
-monsieur Giblet,' replied Calidas; 'if you wish to receive a thrashing,
-I would as soon give it you in my own room as elsewhere.'
-
-[Illustration: Calidas and Giblet come to blows]
-
-"Immediately, they seized each other by the throat and hair; and kicks
-and cuffs were exchanged with generous ardour. An Italian, who lay in
-a neighbouring chamber, having listened to the overture of this drama,
-and hearing the noise of the incidental combat, judged that it was
-quite time for the spectators to assemble when the play had begun. He
-rose, therefore, and out of compassion for the French authors, although
-Italian, he filled the house with his cries. On this the Fleming and
-the two Germans hastened with himself in their dressing-gowns to the
-theatre of strife, and the piece is, as you see, just terminating by
-the separation of the combatants."
-
-"This squabble is amusing enough," said Don Cleophas. "But, it would
-appear from what you tell me that tragic writers in France imagine
-themselves to be much more important personages than those who devote
-themselves to comedy." "Certainly!" replied Asmodeus. "The former think
-themselves as much exalted over the latter, as are the stately heroes
-of tragedies above the intriguing servants of comic pieces." "Indeed!
-and on what do they found this opinion of themselves?" inquired the
-Student. "Is it then really so much more difficult to write the one
-than the other?" "The question you put to me," replied the Devil, "is
-one which has been a hundred times debated, and is so to this day. For
-myself, this is my decision, with all deference to those who differ
-from me in opinion. I say that it is not more easy to compose a comic
-than a tragic piece; for if it were so, we must conclude that a tragic
-poet would be more capable of writing a comedy, than the best comic
-author; the which is not borne out by experience. According to me,
-then, each of these two descriptions of poem requires a genius of a
-different character, but of an equal capability.
-
-"It is time, however, to end this digression. I will therefore resume
-the thread of the history, which you so unceremoniously interrupted."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-
-CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
-
-Success had not attended the endeavours of the servants of Donna
-Theodora to prevent her being carried away; but they had at least
-opposed it with courage, and their resistance had been fatal to some
-of the companions of Alvaro Ponza. Among others, whose wounds had not
-permitted them to follow their comrades, there was a man, stretched
-almost lifeless on the sand, whom they recognized as one of Alvaro's
-own attendants. Perceiving that he still breathed, they carried him
-to the house, and spared no pains to restore him to his senses. In
-this they at last succeeded, although the quantity of blood which had
-escaped from his numerous wounds had reduced his stream of life to its
-lowest ebb, and left him extremely weak. To induce him to speak, they
-promised to take every care to prolong his days, and not to deliver him
-into the hands of justice, provided that he would inform them of the
-place to which his master had designed to take the Donna Theodora.
-
-Gratified by these assurances, although the state to which he was
-reduced left him but small hope to profit by their realization, he
-rallied all his remaining strength, and, with a faltering voice,
-confirmed by his confession the information that Don Fabricio had
-received. He added, however, that Don Alvaro designed to conduct the
-widow of Cifuentes to Sassari, in the island of Sardinia, where he had
-a relation whose protection and power promised him a safe asylum.
-
-[Illustration: Alvaro's attendant is carried away]
-
-The deposition of the dying man, for he expired a few hours afterwards,
-raised Mendoza and the Toledan from complete despair; and as their
-stay at Donna Theodora's seat was now useless, they at once returned
-to Valencia. After debating for some time on the steps most expedient
-to be taken, they resolved to seek their common enemy in his chosen
-retreat, and in a few days embarked, without attendants, at Denia,
-for Port Mahon, not doubting that they would there find some means
-of transport to the island of Sardinia. It so happened that scarcely
-had they reached their destined port, when they learned that a vessel
-freighted for Cagliari was about to sail, and in it they immediately
-secured a passage.
-
-The vessel left the island of Minorca with breezes friendly to their
-hopes; but five or six hours after their departure there came on a
-calm, and night brought with it winds directly in their teeth; so that
-they were obliged to tack about and wait for a favourable change.
-Three days were thus passed in sailing without progress; when, on the
-fourth, about two hours after noon, they discovered a strange sail, all
-its canvas spread, and bearing down directly upon them. At first they
-took it for a merchantman, bound for the shores they steered from; but
-observing that it came within the range of cannon-shot without showing
-its colours, they began to fear it was a corsair.
-
-They were not deceived: it was a Tunisian pirate, which approached
-them in full expectation that the Christians would yield without a
-blow. As it came near enough, however, for the corsairs to discern what
-was passing on board of their expected prey, and to observe that the
-sails were reefed and the guns run out, they guessed that the affair
-was likely to turn out more seriously than they had expected. They
-therefore shortened sail, wore round, hurriedly cleared the deck, and
-prepared for action.
-
-A brisk exchange of shots soon commenced, and the Christians, taking
-advantage of the surprise which their unexpected resistance had
-occasioned, began to prevail over their opponent; but an Algerine
-pirate, larger and of heavier metal than either of the others, arriving
-in the middle of the action, took part with its brother of Tunis, and
-the Christians were thus placed between two fires.
-
-[Illustration: the slave on the bow of the Algerine pirate ship]
-
-Discouraged by this unlooked-for circumstance, and feeling that it was
-useless to continue the unequal strife, they gradually slackened their
-fire, and at last it ceased altogether. On this a slave appeared on
-the bow of the Algerine vessel, who hailed them in their own language,
-bidding them, if they hoped for mercy, to strike to Algiers. A Turk
-then advanced, holding in his hand a green silk flag studded with
-silver crescents interlacing each other, which he waved in the air.
-The Christians, looking upon further resistance as hopeless, gave
-themselves up to all the grief that the idea of slavery inspires in
-the breasts of freemen, until the master of the vessel, fearing that
-a further delay of submission would only serve to irritate their
-barbarian conqueror, hauled down his colours, threw himself into a
-boat with some of his sailors, and went to surrender to the Algerine
-corsair.
-
-[Illustration: surrender]
-
-The latter immediately sent a portion of his crew on board the Spanish
-vessel to examine, or rather to pillage it of all that it contained.
-The Tunisian pirate gave similar orders to some of his men, so that all
-the passengers it contained were in an instant disarmed and plundered,
-and were shortly afterwards exchanged into the Algerine vessel, when
-the two pirates divided their prisoners by lot.
-
-It would have been at least some consolation for Mendoza and his friend
-to have both fallen into the hands of the same corsair; they would have
-found their chains somewhat the less heavy to have borne them together;
-but Fortune, apparently disposed to make them feel the terrors of her
-caprice, allotted Don Fabricio to the pirate of Tunis, and Don Juan
-to his competitor of Algiers. Picture to yourself the grief of the
-two friends, when told that they must part. They threw themselves at
-the feet of the corsairs, and entreated them that they might not be
-separated. But their entreaties were vain; the barbarians before whom
-they knelt were too much accustomed to the sight of human misery not to
-be proof against the prayers of their present victims. On the contrary,
-judging by their demeanour that the two captives were men of wealth and
-station, and that they would consequently pay a weighty ransom, they
-were the more resolved to divide them.
-
-Mendoza and Zarata, perceiving that they were in the power of men with
-hearts insensible to all but gain, turned towards each other, their
-looks expressing the depth of their affliction. But when the booty had
-been shared, and the Tunisian pirate prepared to return to his own
-vessel with his proportion, and the slaves which it included, they
-seemed as though they would expire with despair. Mendoza rushed into
-the arms of the Toledan, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Must we then
-separate? Cruel necessity! Is it not enough that we should be borne
-to slavery, and unavenged? Must we even be denied to bear in union
-the sorrows to which we are destined? Ah! Don Juan, what have we done
-that Heaven should thus visit us with its terrible wrath?" "Seek not
-elsewhere the cause of our disgrace," replied Don Juan: "I only am
-to blame. The death of two unfortunates, immolated to my revenge,
-although excused to mortal eyes, is deep offence to Heaven; and you, my
-friend, are punished for the fault of loving one who took upon himself
-the vengeance that belongs to God alone."
-
-[Illustration: Mendoza and Zarata are separated]
-
-While they spoke thus, tears, strangers to the eyes of men, streamed
-down their cheeks, and sighs but choked their utterance. So touching
-was their grief, that those who shared their fate were yet as much
-affected by the sight as with their own misfortune. Not so the wretches
-who formed the crew of the Tunisian corsair. Perceiving that Mendoza
-was the last to quit the Algerine vessel, they tore him without
-ceremony from the arms of the Toledan; and, as they dragged him away,
-added blows to insult. "Adieu, dear friend," he cried: "adieu for ever!
-Donna Theodora is yet unavenged! and, parted from you, the miseries
-that these wretches prepare will be the least that slavery can bring to
-me."
-
-Don Juan was unable to reply to the exclamations of his friend; the
-treatment that he saw him endure filled his breast with a horror which
-deprived him of speech. And so, Signor Don Cleophas, as the course
-of my narrative requires that we should follow the Toledan, we will
-leave Don Fabricio, in solemn silence, to be conducted on board of the
-Tunisian pirate.
-
-The Algerine returned toward his port, where, having arrived, he
-conducted his slaves to the house of the superintending basha, and
-thence to the public market. An officer of the Dey, Mezzomorto,
-purchased Don Juan for his master; and the new slave was at once
-employed as an assistant in the gardens of the harem. This occupation,
-although laborious for a gentleman, was however, the less disagreeable
-to Don Juan, on account of the solitude to which it left him; for,
-situated as he was, it was a pleasure to have at least the liberty of
-indulging his own melancholy thoughts. Incessantly occupied with his
-misfortunes, his mind, far from endeavouring to lighten them with hope,
-seemed to delight in dwelling on the past, and to inspire his bosom
-with gloomiest presages for the future.
-
-[Illustration: Mezzomorto approaches Zarata in the garden]
-
-One day he was occupied with his work, murmuring the while one of his
-now usual songs of sorrow, when the Dey, who was walking in the garden,
-came upon him without being perceived, and stopped to listen. Pleased
-with his voice, and moved by curiosity, he approached the captive and
-asked his name. The Toledan replied, that he was called Alvaro; for,
-following the usual custom with slaves, of concealing their station, he
-thought fit to change his name, and, as the outrage upon Donna Theodora
-was ever uppermost in his thoughts, the name of the detested Alvaro
-had come soonest to his lips when suddenly asked his own. Mezzomorto,
-who spoke the Spanish language tolerably well, then questioned him as
-to the customs of Spain, and particularly as to the conduct observed
-by those of its cavaliers who would render themselves agreeable to
-their ladies;--to all of which Don Juan replied in such a manner as to
-greatly please the Dey.
-
-"Alvaro," said he to him at last, "you appear to be intelligent; and I
-judge you to have been a man of rank in your own country: but, however
-that may be, you are fortunate enough to please me, and I will honour
-you with my confidence." At these words, Don Juan prostrated himself
-before the Dey, and with well-affected humility, kissed the hem of his
-master's robe, and after touching with it his eyes and forehead, arose,
-and stood before him in silence.
-
-"To begin by giving you proof of my regard," resumed the Dey, "you
-know, that in my seraglio, I have some of the fairest women which
-Europe can offer for my pleasures. Among these, however, there is one
-whose beauty is beyond compare; nor do I believe that the Grand Signor
-himself possesses so exquisite a creature, although for him the winds
-of heaven daily waft ships with their lovely burden from all quarters
-of the globe. In her visage the dazzling sun seems reflected, and her
-form is graceful as the rose's stem which grows in the gardens of Eram.
-My soul is enchanted with her perfections.
-
-[Illustration: the unhappy beauty of the seraglio]
-
-"Alas! this miracle of nature, all beauteous as she is, maintains and
-nourishes the deepest grief; which neither time nor all the efforts of
-my love can dissipate. Although fortune has yielded her to my will, I
-have ever respected her grief, and controlled my desires; and unlike
-those who, placed as I am, seek but the momentary gratifications of
-sense, I fain would win her heart, and have striven to gain it by
-respectful attentions, such as the vilest Mussulman that lives would
-feel degraded to offer to the fairest Christian slave.
-
-"Still, all my cares seem but to add to her affliction; and I will not
-disguise that its obstinacy begins to weary me. The sense of slavery
-is not imprinted in the minds of others of my slaves in characters so
-deep, but that a look of favour from myself can soon efface or gild
-them; so that I may well tire of this incessant grief. Nevertheless,
-before I abandon myself to the passion which transports me, I would
-make one last endeavour to touch her insensible heart; and I will leave
-this task to you. As my fair slave is Christian, and even of your own
-country, she may confide in you, and you may persuade her to my wishes
-better than another. Go, then! tell her of my riches and my power; tell
-her that among my many slaves, I care for only her; and, if it must
-be so, bid her even hope that she may one day be the honoured wife of
-Mezzomorto. Tell her that I would rather win her love, than receive the
-hand of a Sultana from the grace of his Highness the Sultan himself."
-
-Don Juan threw himself a second time before the Dey; and although not
-over-delighted with this commission, assured him that he would do his
-utmost to execute it to his satisfaction. "Enough!" replied Mezzomorto,
-"leave your work and follow me. I am about, contrary to our usages, to
-permit you privately to see this slave. But, tremble, if you dare abuse
-the confidence I place in you! Tortures, such as even were never yet
-inflicted by the Turks, shall punish your temerity. Strive to overcome
-your own sorrows, and dream of liberty as the reward of ending the
-sufferings that I endure." Don Juan threw down his hoe, and silently
-followed the Dey, who, when they entered the palace, left him, that he
-might prepare the afflicted captive to receive his messenger of love.
-
-[Illustration: the unhappy beauty salutes Mezzomorto]
-
-She was with two aged slaves, who retired as soon as Mezzomorto
-appeared. The beauteous slave herself saluted the Dey with great
-respect, but she could not behold him without greater fear, as indeed
-had ever been the case when he presented himself before her. He
-perceived it, and to reassure her mind: "Amiable captive," he said, "I
-come but to inform you that among my slaves there is a Spaniard with
-whom you would perhaps be glad to converse. If you wish to see him, I
-will give him permission to speak with you, and even alone."
-
-As the lovely slave expressed no objection to receive her countryman:
-"I go," resumed the Dey, "to send him to you: may he, by the
-information he conveys, serve to relieve you of your troubles!" He left
-her as he spoke; and as he went out, meeting the Toledan, said to him
-in a low voice: "Enter! and when you have communicated what I desire,
-come to my cabinet and inform me of the result."
-
-Zarata entered as he was directed, closed the door, and bowed
-before the favoured slave, who returned his salute, without either
-particularly observing the other. When, however, their eyes at last
-met, a cry of surprise and joy escaped them both: "Oh Heaven!"
-exclaimed the Toledan, approaching the captive, "is it not a vision
-that deceives mine eyes? Can it be the Donna Theodora whom I see?" "Ah!
-Don Juan," ere he had uttered these words, cried the lady he addressed,
-"is it indeed yourself who speaks to me?" "Yes, madam," replied the
-Toledan, while he fell upon his knee and tenderly kissed her hand, "it
-is Don Juan. Let these tears, that my eyes, rejoiced to behold you
-again, cannot restrain; let this transport, that you alone can excite
-in the heart of him who kneels before you, witness for my presence! I
-murmur no longer against my destiny, since it conducts me to you--Alas!
-what does my ecstacy inspire? I forget that you are in chains. By
-what unhappy chance do I find you here? How have you escaped from the
-frantic passion of Alvaro? Ah, what horror fills my soul to mention his
-very name! How do I tremble to learn the fate for which Heaven reserved
-you, when it abandoned you to his perfidy!"
-
-[Illustration: Don Juan kisses Donna Theodora's hand]
-
-"Heaven," replied the Donna Theodora, "has avenged me on Alvaro
-Ponza. Had I but time to relate to you----" "Time!" interrupted Don
-Juan,--"you have plenty, and to spare. The Dey himself permitted me
-to see you, and, what may well surprise you, alone. Profit by the
-happy moments which his confidence affords, and inform me of all that
-has happened to you since you were carried off by Alvaro." "And who,
-then, told you that it was by him I was taken away?" inquired Donna
-Theodora. "Alas! madam, I know it but too well," replied the Toledan.
-He then shortly narrated the manner in which he had become acquainted
-with Alvaro's design, and had witnessed its execution; how Mendoza
-and himself had followed him in the hope of preserving her from his
-violence, or to revenge it; and of their unfortunate, but for this
-meeting, encounter with the pirates, and its consequence.
-
-As soon as he had finished this recital, Donna Theodora began
-the story of heir own sufferings, as follows: "I need not dwell
-upon my astonishment at finding myself seized by a masked band of
-ruffians--indeed, I had hardly time to wonder at the outrage, for
-I swooned in the arms of the first who laid hold of me; and when I
-recovered my senses, which must have been after the lapse of some
-hours, I found myself alone with Agnes, one of my own attendants, in a
-cabin on the poop of a vessel, in the open sea, sailing with all its
-canvass spread before the wind.
-
-"The perfidious Agnes, on perceiving my tears, exhorted me to bear my
-misfortune with patience; but from a few words which dropped from her
-as she spoke, I was not long in divining that she was in the confidence
-of Alvaro, who shortly afterwards appeared. Throwing himself at my
-feet: 'Madam,' he exclaimed, 'pardon to a too fond lover the means by
-which he has dared to possess himself of your person! You know how
-deeply I have loved you, and how ardently I disputed with Mendoza for
-your heart, up to the fatal day when you declared your preference
-for him. Had my passion been the cold and empty feeling that mortals
-dignify with the name of love, I might have vanquished it as easily as
-such a feeling is inspired; but my misfortune was beyond consolation.
-I live but to adore those charms; and, despised though I be, I cannot
-free myself from their spell. But, madam, let not the fury of my
-passion alarm you! I have not deprived you of liberty, that I may rob
-you of honour; I seek only that, in the retreat unto which we are
-hastening, a sacred tie may unite our hearts for ever.'
-
-"He continued in this strain for some time, but in terms which I cannot
-remember. To hear him, it would have seemed that, in forcing me to wed
-him, he did me no wrong; and that where I saw but an insolent ravisher,
-I should have beheld alone an impassioned lover. As, however, while he
-spoke thus, I answered him but with tears, and exhibited an evident
-despair, he left me; but not without making signs to Agnes, which I
-plainly understood as directions for her to second, as well as she was
-able, the splendid arguments by which he had sought to dazzle my weak
-understanding.
-
-"She did her best; representing to me that, after the éclat of an
-abduction, I could not do otherwise than graciously accept the
-offered hand of Alvaro Ponza; that, whatever aversion I might feel
-for his excessive tenderness, my reputation demanded of my heart this
-sacrifice. As, however, the necessity which she painted, of a hated
-marriage, was not exactly the way to dry my tears, I still remained
-inconsolable; and Agnes had exhausted all her eloquence, when we
-suddenly heard upon the deck a noise which attracted the attention of
-us both.
-
-"This noise, which proceeded from Alvaro's people, was caused by the
-apparition of a large ship, which was sweeping with its wings all
-spread upon us; and from which, as our vessel was by no means so good
-a sailer, there was no escaping. Down it came, and we soon heard cries
-of 'Lie to, and send a boat aboard!' But Alvaro Ponza and his men, who
-knew what they had to expect from yielding, chose rather to die, or at
-least to run the chance of a combat. The action was sharp, but of short
-duration: I cannot pretend to give you its details, and will therefore
-only say, that Alvaro and every one of his crew perished, after
-fighting like men who preferred death to slavery. For myself and Agnes,
-we were removed into the other vessel, which belonged to Mezzomorto,
-and was commanded by Aby Aly Osman, one of his officers.
-
-[Illustration: Alvaro and his crew are killed]
-
-"Aby Aly looked at me for some time, with much surprise; and
-recognizing me, by my dress, for a Spaniard, he said to me in almost
-pure Castilian: 'Moderate your grief, lady, for having fallen into
-slavery: it is a consolation in our woes to know that they are
-inevitable. But what do I speak of?--Woe! Happiness alone awaits you.
-You are far too lovely for the homage of Christian dogs. Heaven never
-made you for the pleasure of the miserable wretches whom we trample
-under foot. You were formed to receive the admiration of the men of
-the world; a Mussulman alone is worthy to possess such beauty. I shall
-return at once,' he added, 'to Algiers. Albeit I have made no other
-prize, I know our Dey too well not to be persuaded that with you I
-shall not be all unwelcome. I have no great fear that he will condemn
-my impatience to place within his hands a beauty whom our Prophet must
-have sent on earth expressly for his enjoyment, and to be the light of
-his harem.'
-
-"These compliments, Don Juan, told me too plainly all I had to fear,
-and my tears flowed the faster as he spoke. Aby Aly was pleased,
-however, to interpret my fears after his own fashion; and, laughing at
-my timidity, gave orders to sail towards Algiers. Never was port so
-dreaded by the ship-bound habitant of ocean! Sometimes I threw myself
-on my knees, and implored Heaven for its protection; at others, my
-doubting spirit wished for the assistance of man in Christian guise who
-might come to my rescue, or sink the pirate vessel, which contained me,
-in the waves,--or that these in their mercy would engulph us. Then,
-again, I hoped that my tears, and the sorrow which caused them, would
-render me so unsightly that the tyrant to whom they bore me might
-fly my sight with horror. Vain wishes, that my modesty had formed!
-We arrived at the dreaded port; they conducted me to the palace; I
-appeared before Mezzomorto.
-
-"I know not what Aby Aly said on presenting me to his master, nor what
-the latter replied, for they spoke in their own tongue; but I thought
-I could perceive by the looks and gestures of the Dey that I had the
-misfortune to please him. But what, after they had conversed thus
-for some time, was addressed to me in my own language, completed my
-despair by confirming me in the opinion I had formed.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora and Aby Aly before Mezzomorto]
-
-"Vainly I cast myself before him, offering him whatever sum he chose to
-name as my ransom; in vain did I tempt his avarice by the promise of
-all that I possessed, or could command: he answered me by saying, that
-I offered him in my own person more than all the riches in the world
-could bestow. He then conducted me to this apartment, the most splendid
-his palace contains, and from that hour to the present moment, he has
-spared no pains to dispel the grief with which he sees me overcome. All
-his slaves who either dance, sing, or play, have tried by his command
-their skill before me. He removed from me Agnes, because he thought
-that she served to remind me of my home, and I am now attended by two
-aged female slaves, whose sole discourse is of love and the Dey, and of
-the happiness which through his favour I may secure.
-
-"Need I say, Don Juan, that all their efforts to divert my grief add
-but to its intensity, and that nothing can console me? Captive in this
-detestable palace, which resounds from day to day with the cries of
-innocence oppressed, I suffer less from the mere loss of liberty than
-from the terror which the hated tenderness of the Dey inspires. It is
-true I have hitherto found in him but a lover gentle and respectful;
-but I am not the less alarmed. I fear lest, wearied by a semblance of
-devotion, which cannot but constrain him to put on, he should resume
-the rights of power; and this fear agitates me without ceasing, making
-of my life but one long torment."
-
-As Donna Theodora finished these words, she wept; and her tears fell
-like iron on the heart of poor Don Juan. "It is not without cause,"
-he at last exclaimed, "that you look on the future with dread; I am,
-myself, as much alarmed for it as you. The respect of the Dey is
-melting faster than even you imagine; your submissive lover will soon
-abandon all the mildness he assumes. Alas! I know too well the dangers
-which surround you.
-
-"But," he continued, his voice changing as he spoke, "shall I calmly
-witness your dishonour? Slave though I be, he may feel the weight of my
-despair. Before Mezzomorto injures you, I will plunge in his heart----"
-"Ah! Don Juan," interrupted the widow of Cifuentes, "what dreadful
-project do you dream of? For Heaven's sake, think of it no more! With
-what dreadful cruelties would they avenge his death! Torments the most
-refined--I cannot think of them without trembling! Besides, to what
-end would you encounter such a peril? In taking the life of the Dey,
-would you restore me to liberty? Alas! I should be sold to some other
-tyrant who would treat me with less respect than Mezzomorto. No!" she
-exclaimed, throwing herself on her knees, "it is thou, Almighty Father,
-who canst alone protect me. Thou knowest my weakness, and the infamous
-designs of him in whose power I am placed. Thou, who forbiddest me to
-save myself by poison or the steel, Thou wilt save me in Thy justice
-from a crime that is abhorrent in Thy sight."
-
-"Yes, madam," replied Zarata, "Heaven will avert the misfortune with
-which you are threatened! I feel already that it inspires me;--the
-ideas which flash across my mind are doubtless prompted by its mercy.
-Hear me! The Dey has permitted me to see you, only that I might induce
-you to return his love. It is time that I rendered him an account of
-our interview; and, in so doing, I shall deceive him. I will tell him
-that your grief may be overcome; that his conduct towards you has
-already won for him your esteem, and that, from a continuance in that
-conduct, he has everything to hope. Do you assist me in my design? When
-he comes next to visit you, let him find you less sorrowful than usual;
-and appear, at least, to be interested in his conversation."
-
-"What a task would you impose on me!" interrupted Donna Theodora. "How
-is my soul, always frank and open, to assume such a disguise, and
-what will be the fruit of so painful a deception?" "The Dey," replied
-Zarata, "will be flattered by this change in your deportment, and
-will be anxious to complete his conquest of you by gentle means. In
-the meanwhile, I will endeavour to effect your freedom: it will be
-difficult, I acknowledge; but I am acquainted with a slave on whose
-address and enterprise some reliance may be placed.
-
-"I leave you," he continued, "as no time is to be lost: we shall meet
-again. I now go to the Dey; whose impetuous ardour I hope to restrain
-by some well-invented fables. And you, madam, prepare to receive
-him; constrain yourself to deceit. Let your eyes, which his presence
-offends, display neither hatred nor pride; let your lips, which now
-unclose but to express your affliction, form for him honeyed words of
-respect; you must indirectly promise all, in order that you may concede
-nothing." "Enough!" replied the lady, "I will do as you desire, since
-the danger that impends over me compels me to this cruel necessity. Go!
-Don Juan, employ all your thoughts to end my slavery: my freedom will
-be doubly sweet, if owing to you."
-
-As soon as the Toledan repaired to Mezzomorto, the latter cried with
-great emotion: "Well! Alvaro, what news do you bring to me of my lovely
-captive? Have you inclined her to listen to my vows? Tell me not that
-her ceaseless grief refuses to yield to my tenderness; or I swear, by
-the head of the Commander of the Faithful himself, that force shall
-wring from her what affection cannot win." "Signor," replied Don Juan,
-"that oath were useless now: you will have no need of violence to
-gratify your passion. Your slave is young,--has never loved;--and she
-whose pride disdained the offers of the noblest of her native land,
-in which she lived as queen, and here exists in chains, may well ask
-time to reconcile her haughty spirit to her new condition. This, proud
-as she is, habit will soon effect; and even now, I dare affirm, the
-yoke is felt less heavy: the kindness you have shown, the respectful
-cares which she could never have expected from yourself, have already
-lessened her misfortune, and must triumph over her disdain. Continue,
-Signor, this gentle observance; continue--and complete the charm which
-dissipates her grief, by new attentions to each fond caprice; and you
-will shortly find her yield to your desires, and lose her love of
-liberty, encircled in your arms."
-
-"Your words enrapture me," exclaimed the Dey: "the hopes which you
-inspire engage me to what you will. Yes! I will restrain my impatient
-love, that I may satisfy it the more worthily. But, do you not deceive
-me, or are you not deceived yourself? I will this moment see my lovely
-mistress; I will endeavour to discern in her eyes some expression of
-the flattering appearances you speak of." And so saying, he hastened to
-seek Theodora; while the Toledan returned to the garden, where he found
-the slave whose skill he proposed to employ in the liberation of the
-widow of Cifuentes.
-
-This slave, named Francisco, was a Navarrese, and was perfectly
-acquainted with Algiers and its customs, having there served two
-or three masters before he was purchased by the Dey as a gardener.
-"Francisco, my friend," said Don Juan, accosting him, "you see me in
-deep affliction. There is, in the harem of the Dey, a young lady of the
-highest distinction of Valencia: she has entreated Mezzomorto to name
-a ransom of any amount; but he refuses to do so, having fallen in love
-with her." "And why should that annoy you so much?" asked Francisco.
-"Because I come from the same town," replied the Toledan; "her
-relations and my own are intimately connected; and there is nothing
-which I would not do to restore her to liberty."
-
-"Well! though that is no easy matter to accomplish," said Francisco,
-"I dare undertake to bring it about, provided her relations are
-disposed to come down pretty handsomely." "Be assured of that," replied
-Don Juan; "I answer for their gratitude, and especially for her own.
-Her name is Donna Theodora: she is the widow of a man who has left her
-immense possessions, and she is generous as rich. For myself, I am a
-Spaniard, and a noble; my word may suffice to convince you of what I
-state."
-
-"Well, again!" resumed the gardener: "on the faith of your word then,
-I will seek a Catalonian renegade whom I know, and propose to him----"
-"What say you?" interrupted the Toledan, in alarm;--"would you confide
-in a wretch who has not been ashamed to abandon his religion for----"
-"Although a renegade," interrupted Francisco, in his turn, "he is
-nevertheless an honest man. He is rather deserving of your pity than
-contempt; and, if the crime he has committed can be excused at all, I
-think he may be pardoned. I will tell you his history in a few words.
-
-"He was born in Barcelona, where he practised as a surgeon. Finding,
-however, that he was worse off there than his patients, he resolved
-to establish himself at Carthagena, thinking of course to better his
-condition. He accordingly embarked with his mother, for that town;
-but they were taken on the way by a pirate, who brought them hither.
-They were sold; his mother to a Moor, and he to a Turk, who used him
-so badly that he assumed the turban to release himself from slavery,
-as also to enable him to free his parent, who was no better off in the
-house of the Moor, her master. With this view, he entered into service
-with the Dey, and made several voyages, in which he gained four hundred
-patacoons: he employed a portion of this in the ransom of his mother;
-and, to make the best use of the remainder, took it in his head to
-scour the seas on his own account.
-
-"Appointed captain, he purchased a small open vessel, and with some
-Turkish seamen who had sailed with him before, he set out to cruize
-between Alicant and Carthagena, and returned to Algiers, laden with
-booty. He repeated this several times; and succeeded always so well
-that at last he was able to arm a large vessel, with which he made
-several prizes, but was in the end unfortunate. One day, he was
-imprudent enough to attack a French frigate, which so mauled his ship
-that it was with difficulty he escaped, and regained Algiers. As
-pirates are judged here, like their betters elsewhere, according to
-their success, the renegade gained the contempt of the Turks as the
-reward of his misfortune. Disgusted by this injustice, he sold his
-vessel, and retired to a house without the town; where, since then, he
-has lived on the produce of his ship, and what remained of the fruits
-of his former enterprises, in company with his mother, and attended by
-several slaves.
-
-"I often go to see him, for he served with me under my first master,
-and we are intimate friends. He conceals nothing from me; and, only
-three days ago, he told me, with tears in his eyes, that, despite his
-wealth, he had known no peace since he had renounced his faith; that
-to appease the remorse which preyed on him without ceasing, he was
-sometimes tempted to trample his turban under foot, and, at the risk of
-being burned alive, to repair, by a public avowal of his repentance,
-the insult he had offered to the Mediator whom in secret he still
-adored.
-
-"Such is the renegade whom I am about to consult," continued Francisco:
-"surely, a man like him may be trusted by you. I will seek him,
-under pretext of going to the bagnio; I will represent to him, that
-instead of consuming his life in vain regret at his exclusion from the
-bosom of the church, he should act so as to assure his forgiveness
-and reception; that to do this he has only to equip a vessel, as if,
-disgusted with a life of inaction, he intended to resume his piracies;
-and that, with this vessel, we may gain the coast of Valencia, where,
-once arrived, Donna Theodora will give him wherewith to pass the
-remainder of his life in tranquillity at Barcelona."
-
-"Yes! my dear Francisco," cried Don Juan, transported with joy at the
-hope thus raised by the Navarrese slave,--"yes! you may promise all
-this, and more, to your renegade friend; both he and yourself may be
-sure of a rich reward. But, do you conceive it possible to execute the
-project you conceive?" "There may be difficulties," replied Francisco,
-"which I do not contemplate; but, rely on it, that I and my friend will
-overcome them all." "Alvaro," he added, as they parted, "I hope well
-for our enterprise; and I trust that, when we meet again, I shall have
-good news to tell you."
-
-With what anxiety did the Toledan await the return of Francisco! At
-last he came. "I have seen the renegade," he said, "and have opened
-to him our design. After much deliberation, we have arranged that, to
-save time, he shall purchase a vessel already fitted for sea; that, as
-it is permitted to employ slaves as sailors, he shall take with him
-those who now serve him; that, however, to guard against suspicion, he
-shall also engage some dozen others, as if he really designed what he
-pretended; but that, two days before the time fixed for his departure,
-he shall embark, by night, with his own people, and weigh anchor, after
-coming for us with his boat to a little door which leads from the
-garden, close by the sea. This is our plan; of which you can inform
-the captive lady, assuring her that in a fortnight from this time she
-shall be free."
-
-How great was the joy of Zarata, to be able to convey such welcome
-intelligence to the Donna Theodora! To obtain permission to see her, on
-the following day, he sought, without appearing to do so, Mezzomorto;
-and, having met with him: "Signor," said he, "dare I enquire how
-you have found your lovely slave? Are my hopes fulfilled?--" "I am
-delighted," interrupted the Dey; "her eyes no longer shun the tender
-glance of mine; her words, which heretofore presented but the picture
-of her griefs, no longer breathe complaint; and for the first time, she
-seemed to listen to my own without aversion.
-
-"It is to you, Alvaro," he continued, "that I owe this happy change:
-I see," he added, good-humouredly, "that you are in favour with the
-ladies of your country. I will trust you, however, to speak with her
-again, that you may finish well what you have so well begun. Exhaust
-thy fertile genius to attain the bliss I seek, and thy chains are
-turned to gold. Yes! I swear, by the spirit of our Holy Prophet, that
-I will restore you to your home, so loaded with my favours, that your
-Christian friends shall not believe you, when you tell them you return
-from slavery."
-
-The Toledan, although somewhat conscience-stricken, did not fail to
-continue Mezzomorto in the flattering error he indulged. Affecting
-gratitude for his kindness, and under pretext of hastening its
-accomplishment, he left the Dey at once to see the charming slave; and,
-finding her alone in her apartment, he lost no time in informing her of
-what the Navarrese and the renegade intended on her behalf.
-
-The lady was of course greatly delighted to hear that already such
-strides were making towards her deliverance. "Is it possible," she
-cried, "that I may hope again to see Valencia, my own dear native land?
-Joy, joy!" she continued,--"after so many dangers and alarms, to live
-in peace once more with you! Ah! Don Juan, this is happiness indeed!
-Can I doubt that your heart partakes of it? Remember, Zarata, that, in
-snatching me from the Dey, you bear away your wife!"
-
-"Alas!" replied the Toledan, sighing deeply, "how delicious were those
-words to my expecting soul, did not the remembrance of an unhappy
-aspirant for thy love dash their sweet fragrance with alloy! Pardon
-me, madam, that at such a moment I should think of aught but you! But
-you must acknowledge that a friend like Mendoza merits thy pity as my
-own. It was for thee he left Valencia; it was in search of thee that he
-became a slave; and I feel sure that, at Tunis, he is not bowed down so
-much by the weight of his chains, as with despair at failing to avenge
-thee."
-
-"He merited indeed a happier lot," said Donna Theodora; "and I call
-Heaven to witness that I am deeply affected at what he suffers on my
-account. Yes! I accuse myself of the pains which he endures; but, such
-is my destiny, my heart can never be their recompense."
-
-This conversation was interrupted by the coming of the two old dames
-who attended on the widow of Cifuentes. Don Juan immediately assumed
-the confidant of the Dey: "Yes, fair lady," said he to Theodora, "you
-have deprived him of liberty who keeps you in chains. Mezzomorto, your
-master and my own, the most loving and the most amiable of Turks, is
-your slave. Treat him with the favour you now deign to show him, and
-soon will a joyous end arrive to his sufferings and your own." Zarata
-bowed respectfully as he pronounced these words, the purport of which
-was well understood by the lady to whom they were addressed, and left
-the apartment.
-
-[Illustration: portrait of Mezzomorto]
-
-During the following week, affairs remained in this position in the
-palace of the Dey. In the meantime, however, the renegade had purchased
-a small sloop, and was making preparations for its putting to sea; but,
-six days before it was ready, a new subject for alarm occurred to Don
-Juan.
-
-Mezzomorto sent for him, and, taking him into his cabinet: "Alvaro,"
-he said, "thou art free!--free to return when thou wilt to Spain; the
-reward that I have promised now awaits thee. I have seen my lovely
-slave this day;--ah! how unlike the creature whose sorrow filled my
-breast with anguish! Daily does the feeling of captivity grow weaker;
-and so bright are now her charms, that I have resolved at once to make
-her mine: in two days she shall be my wife."
-
-Don Juan changed colour at these words, and, with all the effort that
-he made to constrain them, could not conceal his trouble and surprise
-from the Dey, who asked him the cause of this emotion.
-
-"Signor," replied the Toledan, with embarrassment, "I cannot control
-my astonishment at hearing one of the greatest princes of the Ottoman
-empire avow his intention of so far humbling himself as to wed with
-a slave. I know that this is not without precedent; but, for the
-illustrious Mezzomorto, who might aspire to the daughter of the
-highest in the service of the Sultan, to"--"I agree to what you say,"
-interrupted the Dey; "I might marry with the daughter of the Grand
-Vizier, and even hope to succeed him in his office: but I have great
-wealth, and small ambition. I prefer repose, and the delights I enjoy
-here in my vice-royalty, to the dangerous honours to which we are no
-sooner elevated, than the fear of our sovereign, or the jealousy of the
-envious who surround him, prepares for us a fall. Besides, I love this
-slave; and her beauty and virtue render her worthy of the rank to which
-my affection calls her.
-
-"It is however necessary," he added, "that she should at once renounce
-her religion, to attain the honour for which I destine her. Think you
-that absurd prejudices will induce her to despise that honour?" "No,
-Signor," replied Don Juan; "I am persuaded that on reflection, she will
-hold her faith as too small a sacrifice to your love. But, permit me to
-say that this should not be proposed too hastily. There is no doubt
-that the idea of abandoning the creed she lisped almost on her mother's
-bosom will at first revolt her: give her therefore time to reflect
-on the inducements to a change. When she remembers that, instead of
-using your power over her person, and then abandoning her to grow old
-among the neglected slaves of your caprice, you seek to unite her to
-yourself for ever, by a marriage which crowns her with honour, her
-gratitude--her woman's vanity--will by degrees vanquish her scruples.
-Defer therefore for a week, at least, the execution of your design."
-
-The Dey remained for some time in deep thought: the delay that his
-confidant proposed suited but ill to his desires; nevertheless, the
-counsel appeared judicious. "I yield to your advice, Alvaro," at last
-he said, "impatient as I am to press the lovely captive to my heart. I
-will wait a week, as you request. Go!" he continued, "see her at once,
-and dispose her to fulfil my wishes, when that time shall have passed.
-I am anxious that Alvaro, who so well has tutored the fair one to my
-will, should have the honour of tendering to her my hand."
-
-Don Juan hastened to the apartment of Theodora, and informed her of
-what had passed between the Dey and himself, that she might conduct
-herself accordingly. He also informed her that in six days the vessel
-would be ready; and, as she was anxious to know how, when the time
-arrived, she was to escape, seeing that all the doors of the rooms
-she had to traverse, in the usual way of reaching the staircase, were
-well secured: "Let not that embarrass you," he answered; "a window of
-your ante-room looks upon the garden; and you may thence descend, by a
-ladder which I will take care to provide."
-
-The six days added their units to eternity, and Francisco informed the
-Toledan that the renegade was prepared to sail on the coming night:
-you may guess with what impatience it was expected. It came, and,
-graciously for the fugitives, shrouded in its thickest mantle to cover
-their flight. At the appointed moment, Don Juan placed the ladder
-against the window of the ante-room, and the watchful captive hastened
-to descend, trembling with agitation and suspense. She reached the
-ground in safety, and leaning on the arm of the Toledan, the latter
-lost no time in conducting her to the little door which opened on the
-sea.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora descends the ladder]
-
-They walked with hasty steps, enjoying, by anticipation, the happiness
-of recovered freedom; but fortune, not even now disposed to favour
-these unhappy lovers, plunged them into grief more dire than they had
-yet experienced, and of a nature that they least expected.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora and Zarata hurry away]
-
-They had already left the garden, and were advancing to the shore,
-where the sloop awaited them, when a man whom they took for an
-accomplice in their escape, and of whom, therefore, they had no
-suspicion, came upon Don Juan, sword in hand, and thrust it in his
-breast. "Perfidious Alvaro Ponza!" he exclaimed, "it is thus that Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza punishes a base seducer: you deserve not that I
-should attack you openly as an honest man."
-
-The Toledan could not resist the force of the blow, which stretched
-him on the earth; and, at the same moment, Donna Theodora, whom he
-supported, struck with surprise, with grief and fear, fell in a swoon
-beside him. "Ah! Mendoza," cried Don Juan, "what have you done? It
-is your friend whose bosom you have pierced!" "Gracious Heaven!"
-exclaimed Don Fabricio, "is it possible that I have assassinated----"
-"I pardon you my death," interrupted Zarata; "destiny is alone to
-blame, or rather it has so willed it, to end our misfortunes. Yes! my
-dear Mendoza, I die contented, since I restore to your hands the Donna
-Theodora, who will convince you that my friendship for you has never
-belied itself for an instant."
-
-[Illustration: Zarata stabbed by Mendoza]
-
-"Too generous friend," said Don Fabricio, prompted by a feeling of
-despair, "you shall not die alone; the same point which wounded you
-shall punish your assassin: if my error may excuse my crime, it cannot
-console me for its committal." As he spoke, he turned his sword against
-his breast, plunged it therein nearly to the hilt, and fell upon the
-body of Don Juan, who fainted less from loss of blood, than from horror
-at the frenzy of his friend.
-
-Francisco and the renegade, who were not ten paces from the spot, and
-who had their reasons for not having defended the slave Alvaro, were
-amazed to hear the last words of Don Fabricio, and still more so to
-witness his last act. They had heard enough, however, to know that he
-had been mistaken, and that the wounded pair were friends, instead of
-deadly enemies, as they had believed. They now therefore hastened to
-their assistance; but, finding them both senseless, as also the Donna
-Theodora, they were at a loss how to proceed. Francisco advised that
-they should content themselves with bearing off the lady, leaving the
-two cavaliers on the shore; where, according to him, if they were not
-already dead, they would soon be so. The renegade, however, was not
-of this opinion: he said that it would be cruel to abandon the two
-unfortunates; that their wounds were probably not mortal, and that
-he would look to them when on board his vessel, where he had been
-provident enough to stow away all the implements of his ancient trade.
-
-To this, Francisco made no objection; so, as they both agreed that
-there was no inducement to stay where they were, by the assistance
-of some slaves, they carried the unhappy widow of Cifuentes, and her
-still more unfortunate lovers, to the boat, and soon joined their ship.
-There, no time was lost in spreading the sails; while some upon their
-knees poured forth to Heaven the most fervent prayers which fear could
-suggest, that they might escape the cruisers of the Dey.
-
-[Illustration: Theodora, Zarata and Mendoza are carried to the boat]
-
-The renegade, having left the management of the vessel to a French
-slave whom he could trust, gave his attention to his passengers. The
-lady, of course, claimed his first care; and, having restored her to
-life, he took his measures so skilfully, that Don Fabricio and the
-Toledan also speedily recovered their senses. Donna Theodora, who had
-swooned the instant Don Juan was struck, was greatly astonished on her
-recovery to behold Mendoza; and, although she soon comprehended that
-the latter had wounded himself for having incautiously assailed his
-friend, she could not look upon him but as the murderer of the man she
-loved.
-
-"You would have been affected, Don Cleophas, could you have seen these
-three persons at the moment I speak of: the deathlike stillness from
-which they had emerged would not have commanded half your pity. There
-was Donna Theodora, gazing on Don Juan with eyes which spoke all
-the feelings of a soul filled with grief and despair; while the two
-friends, each fondly turning upon her their dying looks, were striving
-to control the sighs which rent their hearts."
-
-The scene lasted for some time in silence, which Mendoza was the first
-to break. "Madam," said he, addressing Donna Theodora, "I die; but I
-have the satisfaction of knowing you are free. Would to Heaven that
-thy liberty were owing to myself! But it has decreed that you should
-owe that obligation to him whose image you cherish in your heart. I
-love too much my rival to complain; and trust that the blow which my
-blindness dealt may be too light to prevent his sweet reward." The lady
-answered not this touching speech. Insensible, for the time, to the
-fate of Mendoza, she could not restrain the feelings of aversion which
-the condition of the Toledan, over whom she hung, inspired in her bosom
-towards him who had caused it.
-
-The regenade surgeon now examined and probed the wounds of the two
-friends. Beginning with Zarata, he pronounced it favourable, inasmuch
-as the sword had only glanced through the muscles of the left breast,
-without touching any of the vital parts. This report, while it lessened
-the grief of Donna Theodora, gave great delight to Don Fabricio, who,
-turning his head towards the lady, exclaimed, "Madam, I die without
-regret, since the life of my friend is out of danger: you will forgive
-me now."
-
-He pronounced these words with so much pathos, that the widow of
-Cifuentes was moved beyond expression. As she no longer feared for Don
-Juan, she ceased to hate Mendoza, and beheld in him now but an object
-of the deepest pity. "Ah! Don Fabricio," she exclaimed, her generous
-nature resuming its influence, "let them attend to your wound; it is,
-I trust, not more dangerous than that of your friend. Let not your
-feelings interfere to render the cares of those who love you useless.
-Live!--if I cannot yield felicity to you, at least I will never bestow
-it on another. Friendship and compassion shall restrain the hand that I
-would give to Don Juan: I will sacrifice for you, as he has done, the
-dearest wishes of my heart."
-
-[Illustration: Mendoza addresses Donna Theodora]
-
-Don Fabricio would have replied; but the surgeon, fearing that in his
-case, as in trouble generally, talking would only increase the ill,
-imposed silence, while he examined his wound. On so doing, he saw that
-it was likely to prove mortal, as the sword had penetrated the lungs,
-and the consequent loss of blood had been excessive. Having however
-dressed it with care, he left the cavaliers to repose; and that a
-matter so essential to them, in their present state, might be secured,
-he took with him, as he left the cabin, Donna Theodora, whose presence
-seemed likely to disturb it.
-
-But despite all these precautions, Mendoza was seized with fever, and
-towards midnight the wound began to bleed afresh. The renegade then
-thought it right to inform him that all hope of recovery was over, and
-that, if he had anything which he wished to communicate to his friend,
-or to Donna Theodora, he had no time to lose. The Toledan was greatly
-affected on hearing the declaration of the surgeon: for Don Fabricio,
-he listened to it with indifference. He calmly requested that the
-regenade would summon the widow of Cifuentes to his side.
-
-Donna Theodora hastened to the dying man, in a state more easy to
-conceive than to describe: tears streamed down her cheeks, and sobs
-choked her utterance;--so violent was her affliction, that Mendoza
-could not repress his agitation at the sight. "Madam," he exclaimed, "I
-am unworthy of the precious drops which dim those lovely eyes: restrain
-them, I entreat you, and listen to me for a few moments. And you also,
-my dear Zarata," he continued, observing the excess of grief in which
-his friend indulged, "control your feelings for a while, and hear
-me. I well know that to you this separation is a painful shock; your
-friendship is too well assured for me to doubt it; but wait, both of
-you, until the earth shall have hidden me from your sight; and honour,
-with those marks of tenderness and pity, my silent grave.
-
-"Suspend until then your affliction; I feel it now more than the loss
-of life. Let me relate to you the way by which the fate that pursues me
-conducted me this night to the fatal shore which I have stained with
-the blood of my friend, and my own. You must be anxious to learn how it
-happened that I mistook Don Juan for Alvaro; I will tell you, if the
-short time which it is permitted me to live will enable me to do so.
-
-"Some hours after the vessel in which I was had quitted that wherein
-I had left Don Juan, we met a French privateer, which attacked and
-took the Tunisian pirate, and landed us near Alicant. I was no sooner
-free, than I thought on the ransom of my friend; and, to effect this
-I went to Valencia to obtain the necessary funds. There, learning
-that at Barcelona some brothers of the Holy Order of Redemption
-were just about to sail for Algiers, I set out for the former town.
-Before leaving Valencia, however, I begged my uncle the governor, Don
-Francisco de Mendoza, to use all his influence with the court of Madrid
-to obtain the pardon of Zarata, that, on his return with me, he might
-be reinstated in his former possessions, which had been confiscated in
-consequence of the death of the Duke of Naxera.
-
-"As soon as we had arrived at Algiers, I went to all the places
-frequented by the slaves; but in vain did I run them through, I
-found not the object of my search. This morning, I met the regenade
-Catalonian, to whom this vessel belongs, and whom I recognized as a man
-who had formerly attended my uncle. I told him the motive of my voyage,
-and requested him to make strict inquiry for my friend. 'I am sorry,'
-he replied, 'that it is out of my power to serve you. I leave Algiers
-to-night, with a lady of Valencia, one of the Dey's slaves.' 'And who
-is this lady,' I demanded. 'She is called the Donna Theodora,' was his
-startling answer.
-
-"The surprise which I exhibited at this information told the regenade
-at once that I was interested in this lady's fate. He therefore
-informed me of the design which he had formed for her liberation;
-and as, during his recital, he mentioned the slave Alvaro, I had no
-doubt that it was Alvaro Ponza himself of whom he spoke. When he had
-finished: 'Assist me in my resentment!' I exclaimed, with transport;
-'furnish me with the means of avenging myself upon my enemy!' 'You
-shall soon be satisfied,' replied the regenade; 'but, tell me first
-what subject of complaint you have against this same Alvaro.' I related
-to him all our history; which, when he had heard: 'Enough!' he cried,
-'you shall accompany me to-night. They will point out to you your
-rival; and, when you have punished him for his villany, you shall take
-his place, and join with us in conducting Donna Theodora to Valencia.'
-
-"Nevertheless, my impatience did not cause me to forget Don Juan. I
-left the money for his ransom in the hands of Francisco Capati, an
-Italian merchant, who resides at Algiers, and who promised me to effect
-it, if by any means he could discover him. At last, the night arrived;
-I went to the house of the regenade, who led me, as he had promised
-to the sea shore. We concealed ourselves near a little door, whence
-shortly issued a man who came directly towards us, and, pointing to two
-persons who followed him, said 'There are Alvaro and Donna Theodora.'
-
-"Furious at this sight, I drew my sword, ran to meet the unfortunate
-Alvaro, and, imagining that it was my hated rival whom I struck, I
-thrust my weapon into the bosom of the faithful friend whom I had come
-to seek. But, Heaven be praised!" he continued with emotion, "my error
-will not cost him his life, nor cause eternal grief to Donna Theodora."
-
-"Ah! Mendoza," interrupted the lady, "you do injustice to my
-tears; never shall I console myself for your own loss. Even should
-I espouse your friend, it will be only to unite our griefs: your
-love, your friendship, your misfortunes will ever be present to our
-recollection,--the sole topic for our tongues." "It is too much,
-madam," replied Don Fabrido; "I am not worthy thus to trouble thy
-repose. Permit, I entreat thee, Zarata to call thee his, on the day
-when he shall have revenged thy wrongs on Alvaro Ponza." "Don Alvaro,"
-said the widow of Cifuentes, "is no more; on the same day that he
-forced me from my home, he was killed by the pirate who enslaved me."
-
-"Madam," replied Mendoza, "my wavering soul rejoices at the welcome
-news; my friend will be the sooner happy. Follow without control your
-mutual inclinations. I see, with joy, the hour approach which removes
-from you, for ever, the obstacle which your generous compassion has
-raised against your happiness. May your days glide in peace, and in
-an union which the envy of fortune may never dare to trouble! Adieu,
-Madam;--adieu, Don Juan!--think sometimes, in your joy, of one who has
-never loved but you."
-
-Donna Theodora and the Toledan were unable to reply to this
-affectionate address, except by tears, which redoubled as he spoke.
-Mendoza, therefore, perceiving their grief, thus continued: "But I have
-done with earth! Death already points me out my way; and I have not yet
-supplicated the Divine mercy to pardon me for having, by my own folly,
-shortened a life of which it should have alone disposed." He spoke no
-more; but, raising his eyes to Heaven, appeared to be engaged in mental
-prayer for its forgiveness; when a gurgling in his throat told that a
-last outbreaking of his wound had taken place, and he expired.
-
-Don Juan, as he heard the fatal rattling which indicated what was
-passing, was maddened with despair. His hands sought his own wound;
-and tearing it open, he would have soon joined his friend, but that
-the renegade and Francisco threw themselves upon him, and withheld his
-fury: Donna Theodora, woman-like, forgetful of her own woes at sight of
-the transport of the Toledan, hastened to soothe him by her tenderness;
-and--what will not love do?--soon brought him to himself: in short, the
-lover triumphed over the friend. But, if reason regained its sway, it
-was only to resist the insensate frenzy of his grief, and not to weaken
-its sentiment.
-
-The renegade, who, among the many things which he was bearing from
-Algiers, happened to have balsam of Arabia, and other precious
-requisites, undertook to embalm the body of Mendoza, at the request of
-Donna Theodora and her now unrivalled lover; who were anxious to render
-to their friend's remains all proper honours of sepulture at Valencia.
-Love, with them, did nothing but sigh and moan, during the voyage; not
-so, however, with their companions: they were rejoiced by favourable
-winds, which soon brought them in sight of the coast of Spain, to the
-inexpressible delight of those, which included the whole crew, who had
-never expected to behold it again.
-
-When the vessel had happily arrived at the port of Denia, every one
-took his own course. For the widow of Cifuentes and the Toledan, they
-sent a courier to Valencia, with letters for the governor and the
-friends of Donna Theodora. Alas! while the intelligence of the return
-of this lady brought joy to her relations, that of the death of his
-nephew caused the deepest affliction to Don Francisco de Mendoza.
-
-The poor old man, accompanied by the relatives of the released lady,
-lost no time in repairing to Denia; and there, insisting on beholding
-the body of the unhappy Don Fabricio, he bathed it with his tears,
-uttering such deep complaints as melted the hearts of the beholders.
-Then, turning to the Toledan, he requested to be informed of the
-unfortunate events which had brought his nephew to so sad an end.
-
-[Illustration: Don Francisco de Mendoza mourning his nephew]
-
-"I will tell you," replied Zarata: "far from seeking to efface them
-from my memory, I feel a mournful pleasure in recalling them to my
-mind, and in indulging my grief." He then related to Don Francisco
-all that had occurred; and this recital, while it brought fresh
-tears to his own eyes, added to those which flowed from those of his
-aged listener. Meanwhile the friends of Theodora were occupied in
-testifying the delight which was elidted by her unexpected return, and
-in felicitating her on the miraculous manner in which she had been
-delivered from the tyranny of Mezzomorto.
-
-After all things had been satisfactorily explained, they placed the
-body of Don Fabricio in a hearse, and bore it to Valencia. It was not,
-however, buried there, because, as the period of the vice-royalty of
-Don Francisco was nearly expired, that nobleman was preparing to return
-to Madrid, where he had resolved that his nephew should be interred.
-While the preparations for the funeral were making, the widow of
-Cifuentes was employed in loading Francisco and the renegade with the
-fruits of her gratitude. The Navarrese retired to his own province,
-and the surgeon returned with his mother to Barcelona, where he sought
-once more the bosom of the church, in which he lives to this day snugly
-enough. And now, when all was completed, Don Francisco received an
-express from the court, conveying the pardon of Don Juan, which the
-king, notwithstanding his consideration for the house of Naxera, had
-been unable to refuse to all the Mendozas who had united to ask the
-grace. This pardon was the more welcome to the Toledan, inasmuch as it
-gave him liberty to accompany the body of his friend to its last home,
-which he would not otherwise have dared to do.
-
-At last the sorrowful procession, attended by a numerous concourse of
-noble mourners, set out for Madrid; where it was no sooner arrived,
-than all that remained of Don Fabricio was deposited in yonder church,
-where Zarata and the Donna Theodora, with the permission of the
-Mendozas, erected a splendid monument to his memory. Nor did they bury
-their grief with their friend: they bore at least its outward sign for
-the unusual space of an entire year, that the world might know how
-deeply they deplored his loss.
-
-[Illustration: Zarata falls from his horse]
-
-After having exhibited such signal proofs of their affection for
-Mendoza, they married; but by an inconceivable effort of the force of
-friendship, Don Juan for a length of time still preserved a melancholy
-that not even love could banish. Don Fabricio, his dear Don Fabricio,
-was ever present in his thoughts by day; and, by night, he saw him in
-his dreams, and mostly as he had beheld him when the last sigh escaped
-him. His mind, however, began to be relieved from these saddening
-visions,--the charms of his beloved Theodora, which had ever possessed
-his soul, commenced their triumph over his baneful remembrances; in
-short, Don Juan once more touched upon happiness. But, a few days
-since, while hunting, he was thrown from his horse, fell upon his head,
-and fractured his skull. Physicians could not save him; he is just
-dead: and it is Theodora whom you see, in the arms of the two women,
-and who will probably soon follow him to the grave.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-THE DREAMERS.
-
-
-Leandro Perez, as soon as Asmodeus had finished this narrative, said
-to him: "A very pretty picture of friendship have you presented! But,
-rare though it be to see two men so bound by love as the Toledan and
-Don Fabricio, I imagine it were quite impossible to find two rivals of
-the softer sex, who could so generously sacrifice to each other, for
-friendship's sake, the man they love."
-
-"Doubtless!" replied the Devil: "that is a sight the world ne'er saw,
-and one that, as it grows older, it probably never will see. Women have
-no affection for each other. I will suppose two who think themselves
-friends; I will even go the length to suppose that they never speak ill
-of one another when apart,--so extraordinary are the ties which bind
-them. Well! see them together; and incline the least towards the one,
-and rage shall fill the bosom of the other; not that she cares an atom
-for yourself, but because she would be preferred by all. Such is the
-character of woman: jealousy occupies too large a portion of her heart
-to leave room for friendship."
-
-"The history of these peerless friends," replied Don Cleophas,
-"possesses a slight touch of the romantic, and has led us somewhat
-from our object. The night is far advanced, and we shall soon behold
-the brilliant heralds of the coming day: I expect of you, therefore,
-a new pleasure. I perceive a great number of persons still sleeping,
-and wish you to satisfy my curiosity by informing me of their dreams."
-"Willingly!" replied the Demon. "You are, I see, an admirer of _les
-tableaux changeants;_ I will gratify your taste."
-
-"Thanks!" said Zambullo: "I expect that I am about to hear of rare
-absurdities in these same dreams." "And why?" asked the Cripple: "you,
-so well versed in Ovid, do you not know that it is towards break of
-day that dreams visit the mind with presages of truth, because at that
-time the soul is disengaged from the vapours of digestion?" "Oh! as to
-that," replied the Student, "despite of master Ovid, I have no faith
-in dreams." "You are wrong, then," exclaimed Asmodeus: "you should
-neither treat them as fantastic visions, nor yet believe them all; they
-are liars, who sometimes speak the truth. The emperor Augustus, whose
-head had well adorned a student's shoulders, despised not dreams which
-turned upon his fate; and nearly took it in his head, at the battle
-of Philippi, to strike his tent, on hearing of a dream which regarded
-himself. I could cite a thousand examples to you, which would convince
-you of your folly in this respect; but I forbear to do so, that I may
-at once satisfy the new desire which prompts you.
-
-"We will begin by this handsome mansion on our right. Its proprietor,
-whom you see ensconced in that superb apartment, is a liberal and
-gallant noble. He is dreaming that he is at the opera, listening to a
-new prima donna; and that the voice of the syren is just enslaving his
-heart.
-
-"In the next apartment lies the countess, his wife, who loves play to
-madness. She dreams that she has no money, and that she is pawning her
-diamonds with a jeweller, who is lending her thereon three hundred
-pistoles, deducting only a very moderate discount.
-
-"In the next house, on the same side, lives a marquis of the same stamp
-as the count, and who, for the moment, is in love with a celebrated,
-but capricious, beauty. He dreams that he is borrowing largely of an
-usurer for the purpose of securing her to himself; while his steward,
-who is sleeping at the top of the house, is dreaming that he is growing
-rich as fast as his master is hastening to ruin. Well! what think you
-of these dreams? Is there anything in them so extravagant?" "No! on
-my life," replied Don Cleophas, "I begin to think Ovid is right: but
-who is that man whom I see, lying with his mustachios in paper, and
-preserving in his sleep an air of gravity which would indicate that
-he is no ordinary cavalier." "He is a country gentleman," replied
-the Demon,--"a viscount of Aragon, imbued with all the pride of that
-province. His soul at this moment swims in delight; he dreams that
-he is with a grandee who is yielding to him precedence in a public
-ceremony.
-
-"But," continued Asmodeus, "I observe in the same house two brothers,
-apothecaries, whose dreams are particularly unpleasant. One of them
-is reading, in his sleep, an ordinance which decrees that doctors
-shall not be paid, except when they have cured their patients; and his
-brother is occupied with a similar law, which ordains that medical
-attendants shall head the procession at the funeral of all who die
-in their hands." "I could wish," interrupted Zambullo, "that these
-decrees were as true as they would be just; and that your doctor were
-thus compelled to be present at the burial of his innocent patient, as
-a _lieutenant criminel_, in France, is bound to witness the execution
-of the guilty wretch whom he has condemned." "I like your comparison,"
-exclaimed the Devil: "it might be said in such a case, however, that
-the one merely superintends the execution of his own sentence; but that
-the other, having already performed his especial function, pursues his
-victim after death."
-
-"Hollo!" cried the Student, "who is that personage rubbing his eyes,
-and rising in such tremendous haste?" "He," replied Asmodeus, "is a
-noble signor who is soliciting an appointment, as governor, in the
-Indies. A frightful dream has startled him from sleep: he fancied
-himself at court, and that the premier had passed him with averted
-eyes. And there, too, is a youthful damsel, waking to the world,
-not over contented with her dream. She is a lady of rank, and not
-more handsome than discreet. She has two lovers; for one of whom she
-nourishes a passion the most tender, and for the other an aversion,
-almost amounting to horror. Well! in her sleep just now, she saw,
-upon his knees before her, the gallant she detests; and he was so
-impassioned, so assiduous, that had she not awakened, she would have
-treated him with even greater kindness than she ever bestowed on the
-lover whom she favours: nature, during sleep, signor Student, throws
-off the yoke of reason, and of virtue.
-
-"Cast your eyes upon that house at the corner of this street: it
-belongs to an attorney. Behold him and his wife sleeping in twin
-bedsteads, in that room hung with ancient tapestry, embroidered with
-grotesque figures. The man of law dreams that he is about to visit
-one of your hospitals for the charitable purpose of relieving a sick
-client with his own money; while the lady imagines that her husband is
-driving out of his house a sturdy clerk, of whom he has become suddenly
-jealous."
-
-[Illustration: the lady of rank's dream]
-
-"I hear ungentle snorings break on the stillness round us," said
-Leandro Perez; "and I fancy they proceed from yonder plump old man,
-whom I discern in the house adjoining that of the attorney." "Precisely
-so," answered Asmodeus. "It is a canon chanting in his sleep his
-_Benedicite_.
-
-"His neighbour, there, is a silk-mercer, who vends his costly wares, at
-his own price, to titled customers, for their time. His lordly ledger
-is inscribed with debts amounting to above a hundred thousand ducats;
-and he is dreaming that his debtors are bringing him their gold; while
-his creditors are horrified with visions of his own bankruptcy." "These
-dreams," said the Student, "certainly have not emerged from Sleep's
-dark temple by the same gate." "I fancy not, indeed," replied the
-Demon: "the first has passed by the ivory portal of the leaden god, and
-the other from that of horn.
-
-"The house adjoining that of the mercer is occupied by a celebrated
-bookseller. He has recently published a work which has been extremely
-successful. On bringing it out, he promised to give the author fifty
-pistoles, in addition to the price agreed for, should the book run to a
-second edition; and he is at this moment dreaming that he is reprinting
-it without informing the unfortunate scribe of the fact."
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo, "there is no need to ask from which door that
-dream proceeded; and I have not the slightest doubt of its proving one
-of the least deceitful visions he ever had in his life. I am perfectly
-acquainted with those worthy gentlemen, the booksellers. Heaven help
-the poor authors who fall into their hands! To cheat them, is the
-mystery of their craft." "Nothing can be more true," replied the
-Cripple; "but, it appears, you have yet to become acquainted with those
-as worthy gentry--the authors. They are six of one and half-a-dozen of
-the other: it is impossible to decide on their relative merits. By the
-bye, I will relate to you an adventure which occurred not a century
-ago, in this very town, and which will enlighten you on the subject.
-
-"Three booksellers were supping together at a tavern; and the
-conversation naturally turned on the scarcity of good modern authors.
-Thereupon, one of them said to his brethren: 'My friends, I must tell
-you, however, in confidence, that I have been in luck's way within
-these few days. I have purchased a manuscript, for which I paid
-rather dearly, it is true, but it is by an author--oh! it is uncoined
-gold.' One of those whom he addressed now interrupted him; and boasted
-of having been equally fortunate on the preceding day in a similar
-purchase. 'And I, gentlemen,' at last exclaimed the third, in his
-turn,--'I will not be behindhand in confidence with you; I will show
-you the gem of manuscripts, of which I only this morning became the
-happy owner.' As he finished, each drew from his capacious pocket the
-precious acquisition he had made; when these miracles of authorship
-turned out to be as many copies of a new theatrical piece, entitled the
-Wandering Jew, which the astonished bibliopoles found had been sold to
-each of them separately.
-
-"Near the bookseller, in the next house," continued the Devil, "you may
-perceive a timid and respectful lover just awaking. He loves one of
-the most sprightly of widows; and was dreaming, but this moment, that,
-beside her in the covert of a dusky wood, whose shade lent courage to
-his modest spirit, he was so tender,--so gallant in his speech, that
-his fair mistress could not help exclaiming: 'Ah! you are becoming
-absolutely dangerous! If I were not steeled against the flattery of
-men, I should be lost. But you are all deceivers! I never trust to
-words;--actions alone can win me,'--'And what actions, madam, do you
-ask of me?' interrupted the gentle swain: 'must I, to prove the excess
-of my passion, undertake the twelve labours of Hercules?' 'Lord! no,
-Nicaise,' replied the lady, 'much less would content me.' Thereupon--he
-awoke."
-
-[Illustration: the timid lover's dream]
-
-"Prythee, tell me," said the Student, "why yonder man, in that
-dark-coloured bed, tosses about so furiously." "He," replied the
-Cripple, "is a talented licentiate; and his present agitation arises
-from a dream, in which he is disputing in favour of the immortality of
-the soul, with a little doctor of medicine, who is as good a catholic
-as he is a physician. In the same house, over the licentiate, lodges
-a gentleman of Estramadura, named Don Balthazar Fanfarronico, who has
-come post-haste to court, to demand a reward for having valiantly
-slain a Portuguese, by a musket-shot, in ambush. And of what do you
-imagine he is dreaming? Nothing less than that he is appointed to the
-government of Antequera, at which he is very naturally dissatisfied: he
-thinks he deserves a viceroyalty at least.
-
-[Illustration: man on horseback shot by another, in ambush]
-
-"In a furnished house close by, I discover two distinguished
-personages, whose dreams are far from pleasant. One of them is governor
-of a fortress, where he is now sustaining a fancied siege, and which,
-after a faint resistance, he is on the point of surrendering, with
-himself and garrison, at discretion. The other is the bishop of Murcia,
-whom his majesty has charged with the task of eulogising a deceased
-princess, whose funeral takes place in a day or two. He has, in
-imagination, just ascended the pulpit; and there has his imagination
-left him, for he has stopped short in the exordium of his discourse."
-"It is not impossible," said Don Cleophas, "that this misfortune may
-really befall the worthy prelate." "No, truly," replied the Devil;
-"for it is not very long since his grace found himself in a similar
-predicament on a like occasion.
-
-"And now, if you would like to behold a somnambulist, look into the
-stables of this same house: what see you?" "I perceive," answered
-Leandro Perez, "a man walking in his shirt, and holding, what seems
-to me, a horse-comb in his hand." "Well!" replied the Demon, "he is a
-sleeping groom. Nightly does he rise in sleep to curry his pampered
-charge, and then betake himself to bed again. His fellow-servants look
-on the sleek coats of the horses as the frolic work of some wanton
-sprite; and the groom himself shares this opinion with them.
-
-"In the large house, opposite, lives an aged chevalier of the Fleece,
-who was formerly viceroy of Mexico. He has fallen sick; and, as he
-fears he is about to die, his viceroyalty begins to trouble him: true
-it is that he exercised his functions so as to justify his present
-inquietude; the chronicles of New Spain, unless they be belied, make no
-too honourable mention of his name. He has just started from a dream,
-whose horrid visions float before him still, and which will probably
-bring about their own fulfilment in his death." "Ah!" exclaimed
-Zambullo, "that must be something extraordinary." "You shall hear,"
-replied Asmodeus: "there is really something in it rather singular.
-The sickly lordling dreamt he was in the valley of the dead, where all
-the victims of his injustice and inhumanity thronged fiercely round,
-and heaped upon him menaces and insult. They pressed upon, and would
-have torn him limb from limb; but, as their hot breath seemed to burn
-his very brain, he thought he took to flight, and saved himself from
-their fury. He had no sooner escaped, than he found himself in a large
-hall, hung all around with black cloth, where, sitting at a table upon
-which were three covers, he saw his father and his grandfather. His two
-dismal companions solemnly beckoned him to approach; and, with all the
-gravity which belongs to the dead, said to him: 'We have waited for you
-long: come, take your place beside us.'"
-
-"Oh! the wretched dream," interrupted the Student; "I could forgive the
-poor devil, for the fright he is in!" "To make up for it," resumed the
-Cripple, "his niece, who reposes in the apartment over his, passes the
-night in bliss: sleep brings to her its brightest illusions. She is
-a maiden of from twenty-five to thirty, ugly as myself, and not much
-better made. She dreams that her uncle, to whom she is sole heiress,
-has ceased to live; and that she sees, in swarms around her, amiable
-signors, who dispute for the honour of her slightest glance."
-
-"If I do not deceive myself," said Don Cleophas, "I hear some one
-laughing behind us." "It is no deception," replied the Devil; "it is a
-widow laughing in her sleep, a few paces from us. She is a woman who
-affects the prude, and who loves nothing so well as a little friendly
-scandal: she dreams that she is chatting with an ancient devotee,
-whose conversation could hardly fail to delight one of her taste.
-
-"I cannot help laughing in my turn, to see, in the room under that of
-the widow, an honest cit, who lives with difficulty on the little he
-possesses, but who dreams that he is picking up pieces of gold and
-silver, and that the more he gathers the more remain to glean: he has
-already filled a large coffer." "Poor fellow!" said Leandro; "he will
-not enjoy his treasure long." "No!" replied the Cripple; "and when he
-awakes he will be like the really rich, when dying: he will see all his
-wealth disappear."
-
-"If you are curious to know the dreams of two actresses who live near
-each other, I will relate them to you. One is dreaming that she is
-catching birds with a call; that she strips them as she takes them,
-and then throws them to be devoured by a large tom-cat in which she
-delights, and which has all the profit of her skill. The other dreams
-that she is driving from her house greyhounds and coach-dogs, which for
-a long time have sunned themselves in her presence, having resolved to
-confine her affections to a pretty little lap-dog, which has recently
-gained her favour."
-
-"Two dreams absurd enough!" cried the Student; "I fancy that if at
-Madrid, as formerly in Rome, there were interpreters of dreams, they
-would be sadly puzzled to explain these." "Not so much as you think,"
-replied the Devil: "a very small acquaintance with the domestic habits
-of your syrens of the stage, would enable them to render their sense
-perfectly intelligible."
-
-[Illustration: the actress feeding birds to the tom-cat]
-
-"Well! for myself," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "they are past my
-comprehension, and that troubles me little: I would rather be informed
-who is that lady sleeping in a bed with amber velvet hangings,
-bordered with silver fringe, and near which, upon a small table, I
-perceive a book and a wax-candle." "She is a lady of illustrious
-family," replied the Demon, "whose establishment is mounted in gallant
-style, and who loves to see her livery adorned by young and handsome
-men. She is accustomed to read in bed, and cannot sleep without her
-favourite author. Last night she was indulging in the Metamorphoses of
-Ovid: in consequence, she is at this moment dreaming, extravagantly
-enough, that Jupiter has become amorous of her charms, and has entered
-her service in the form of a favourite page.
-
-[Illustration: the actress, lap-dog under her arm, driving out the
-other dogs]
-
-"Apropos of metamorphoses, there is another subject who will amuse
-you. You perceive that man, tasting in the calm of sleep the exquisite
-pleasure of imagined flattery. He is an actor, a veteran of such
-ancient service, that there is not a grey-beard in Madrid who can
-say he witnessed his first appearance. He has been so long behind the
-scenes, that he may be said to have become theatrified. He is not
-without talent, but, like most of his profession, he is so vain that he
-thinks the part of Man beneath him. Of what think you is this hero of
-the slips now dreaming. He imagines that he is on the point of death;
-and that round his couch are assembled all the deities of Olympus,
-to decide on what they are to do with a mortal of his importance. He
-listens while Mercury insists before the council of the gods that a
-comedian so famed, after having so often had the honour of mimicking
-themselves, and Jove's own person, on the stage, should not be subject
-to the common fate of man, but merits a reception as a brother god by
-those who now surround him. Mercury finishes by moving accordingly,
-and Momus seconds the motion; but the male and female members of the
-celestial parliament murmuring at the proposition of so extraordinary
-an apotheosis, Jupiter, to put an end to the debate, is about to
-decree, of his sovereign authority, that the aged son of Thespis shall
-be transformed into a theatrical statue, for the amusement of future
-generations."
-
-The Devil was about to continue, but Zambullo interrupted him,
-exclaiming: "Hold! Signor Asmodeus, you forget that it is day. I am
-afraid they will perceive us from the street. If the gentle public
-should remark your lordship, we shall hear such an uproar as we may be
-glad to put an end to."
-
-[Illustration: the actor transformed into a statue]
-
-"Never fear!" replied the Demon; "they will not see us. I have the
-power ascribed to the fabulous deities of whom I spoke but now; and
-like to the amorous son of Saturn, who, upon Mount Ida, shrouded
-himself in a cloud, to hide from the world the blisses he shared with
-Juno, I am about to envelope you and myself in a misty veil which the
-searching eye of man cannot pierce, but which shall not prevent you
-from beholding those things which I wish you to observe." As he spoke,
-they were suddenly surrounded by a vapour, which, although dense as
-the smoke of a battle-field, offered no obstacle to the sight of the
-Student.
-
-"So now to return to our dreamers," continued the Cripple,----"but I
-do not consider," he added, "that the mode in which you have consumed
-the night must have fatigued you. I advise, therefore, that you let
-me bear you to your home, and leave you to a few hours' sleep. In the
-meanwhile, I will just take a turn round the earth, and amuse myself
-after my fashion; taking care to rejoin you by the time you awake, when
-we will continue our laugh at the expense of the swarming world." "I
-have no desire to sleep, and am not in the least fatigued," replied Don
-Cleophas; "so, instead of leaving me, do me the pleasure to expound the
-various objects which occupy the yawning brains of the persons whom I
-see already risen, and who are preparing as it seems to me, to leave
-their houses: what can possibly call them out so early?" "What you
-ask me is well worth your knowledge," answered the Demon; "you shall
-gaze on a picture of the cares, the emotions, the anguish that poor
-mortal man gives himself during life, to occupy, with the vain hope of
-happiness, the little space which is granted him between the cradle and
-the tomb."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.
-
-
-"Observe, in the first place, that troop of beggars which you see
-already in the street. They are libertines, mostly of good birth, who,
-like the monks, live on the principle of community of property; and
-who pass their nights in debauch at their haunts, where they are at
-all times well supplied with bread, meat, and wine. They are about to
-separate, each to perform his part in the churches of this godly city;
-and to-night, when reassembled, they will drink to the charitable fools
-who piously contribute to their orgies. You cannot but admire these
-scoundrels, who so well know the semblances which art adopts to inspire
-pity: why, coquettes are less adept to elicit love.
-
-"Look at those three rogues who are walking off together. He who,
-leaning upon crutches, trembles as he moves, and seems to halt with
-pain,--who, as he hobbles on, you would momentarily think must fall
-upon his face,--despite his long white beard and wrinkled front, he is
-a youthful scamp, so strong and swift, would head the hunted deer. The
-one beside him, with that awful scald, is a graceful adolescent, whose
-head is covered with a bladder skin which hides as beauteous curls as
-ever adorned a courtly page. The third, who gyrates in a bowl, is a
-comic rascal, that can bring such lamentable noises from his stomach
-as to move the bowels of all ancient ladies, who even hasten from the
-topmost floors to his relief.
-
-"While these mummers, under the mask of poverty, prepare to cheat the
-public into charity, I observe hosts of worthy artisans, who, Spaniards
-though they be, are on the road to earn their bread by the sweat of
-their careworn brows. On all sides you may behold men rising from their
-beds, or dressing hastily, that they may begin anew their various parts
-upon this busy stage. How many projects formed in the visionary night
-are about to be carried into execution, or to vanish with the sober
-light of morn! What schemes prompted by love, by interest, or ambition,
-are about to be attempted!"
-
-"What see I in the street?" interrupted Don Cleophas. "Who is that
-woman loaded with saintly medals, who walks, preceded by a footman,
-in such anxious haste? She has some pressing business in hand, beyond
-a doubt." "Indeed she has," replied the Devil; "she is a venerable
-matron, hurrying to a neighbouring house where her ministry is suddenly
-required. She seeks a fair comedian who suffers for the fault of Eve,
-and near whom are a brace of cavaliers in sore perplexity. One of these
-is her spouse, and the other a noble friend, who is greatly interested
-as to the result: for the labours of your actresses resemble those of
-Alcmena; there being ever a Jupiter and an Amphitryon who share in
-their production.
-
-"Would not one swear now, to look on that mounted cavalier, carrying
-a carbine in his hand, that he was a sportsman about to war with
-the hares and partridges who besiege the neighbourhood of Madrid?
-Nevertheless, it is no love of shooting which calls him forth so early:
-he is after other game; and is bent towards a village, where he will
-disguise himself as a peasant, that he may enter, without suspicion,
-the farm where his mistress resides, under the vigilant eye of an
-experienced mother.
-
-"That young graduate, passing along with such enormous strides, is
-going, according to his daily custom, to inquire after the health of an
-aged canon, his uncle, whose prebendary he has in his eye. Do you see,
-in that house opposite to us, a man putting on his cloak, evidently
-preparing to go out? He is an honest and rich citizen, whom a matter
-of grave interest has kept awake all night. He has an only daughter,
-of marriageable years, and he is unable to make up his mind whether
-he shall give her hand to a young attorney who solicits it, or to a
-proud hidalgo who demands it; and he is therefore going to consult his
-friends on the subject: in truth, he may well feel embarrassed. He is
-justly alarmed lest, by resolving on the gentleman, he should have a
-son-in-law who would despise him; and on the other hand he fears, that
-if he decide for the attorney, he will introduce into his house a worm
-which will consume all that it contains.
-
-"Look at the neighbour of this anxious parent. You may perceive,
-in that house so magnificently furnished, a man in a dressing-gown
-of scarlet brocade, embroidered with flowers of gold: there is a
-wit for you, who affects the lord in spite of his lowly origin. Ten
-years ago, he had not twenty maravedis wherewith to bless himself;
-and now, he boasts an annual revenue of ten thousand ducats. His
-equipage is in the best taste; but he keeps it on the savings of his
-table; whose frugality is such that he generally picks his chicken by
-himself. Sometimes, however, his ostentation compels him to regale his
-illustrious friends: to-day, for instance, he gives a dinner to some
-councillors of state; and, in anticipation, he has just sent for a
-pastry-cook, with whom he will haggle for a maravedi, before he agrees
-with him on the bill of fare, which it will be his next care to display
-to advantage." "You are describing a scaly villain, indeed!" cried
-Zambullo. "Oh! as to that," replied Asmodeus, "all beggars whom fortune
-suddenly enriches become either misers or spendthrifts: it is the rule."
-
-"Tell me," said the Student, "who is that lovely woman at her toilet,
-talking with that handsome cavalier?" "Ah! truly," exclaimed the
-Cripple, "you have hit on a subject which well deserves your attention.
-The lady is a German widow, who lives at Madrid on her dower, and who
-visits in the best society; and the young man who is with her is the
-Signor Don Antonio de Monsalva.
-
-"This cavalier, although a member of one of the noblest families
-in Spain, has pledged himself to the widow to espouse her; he has
-even given her a conditional promise of forfeiture to the amount of
-three thousand pistoles. He is, however, crossed in his love by his
-relations, who threaten to confine him if he do not immediately break
-off all connexion with the fair German, whom they look upon as an
-adventurer. The gallant, mortified to find his friends all thus opposed
-to his design, went yesterday evening to his mistress, who, perceiving
-his uneasiness, asked him its cause. This, after some hesitation, he
-told her, assuring her at the same time that whatever obstacles his
-family might raise, nothing should shake his constancy. The widow
-appeared delighted at his firmness, and they parted at midnight highly
-satisfied with each other.
-
-[Illustration: the cavalier visits the German widow]
-
-"Monsalva has returned this morning, as you see, to pay his devoirs to
-the lady, whom finding at her toilet, he used every effort to beguile
-the time by new protestations of devotion. During the conversation, his
-Saxon mistress was releasing her auburn curls from the papers which had
-confined them during the night; and our cavalier, happening to take
-up one of these, heedlessly unfolded it, and, to his great surprise,
-observed therein his own hand-writing. 'What! madam,' said he, smiling,
-'is this the use you make of these pledges of my affection?' 'Yes!
-Monsalva,' replied the lady; 'you behold the value that I put upon
-the promises of lovers who would marry me in opposition to their
-friends; they make excellent _papillotes_.' When, indeed, the cavalier
-discovered that it was his pledge of forfeiture which his mistress had
-thus destroyed, he was filled with admiration at this unlooked-for
-proof of disinterestedness, and he is now very properly vowing to her
-for the thousandth time, eternal fidelity.
-
-"Cast your eyes," continued the Devil, "upon that tall man who is
-passing beneath us; he has a large common-place book under his arm,
-an ink-bottle hanging at his girdle, and a guitar slung at his back."
-"He is an odd-looking fellow indeed," cried the Student: "I would lay
-my life he is an original." "It is beyond a doubt," replied the Demon,
-"that he is a curious compound enough. There are such things as cynical
-philosophers in Spain; and there goes one. He is walking towards the
-Buen-Retiro, to reach a meadow in which there is a fountain, whose
-refreshing waters form a brook that glides like a silver serpent
-through the flowers. There will he pass the day, contemplating the
-beauties of nature, tinkling his guitar, and noting the reflections
-that the scene inspires in his common-place book. He carries in his
-pockets his ordinary food, that is to say, a piece of bread and some
-onions. Such is the sober life that he has led during ten years past;
-and were some Aristippus to say to him, as was erst spoken to Diogenes:
-'If thou knewest how to pay thy court to the great, thou wouldst not
-eat onions;' this modern philosopher would reply: 'I could pay my court
-to the great as well as thou, if I would abase one man so low, as to
-make him cringe before another.'
-
-"In truth, however, this philosopher formerly mixed greatly with the
-nobility; he even owes his fortune to their patronage; but, compelled
-to feel, as all must who move among persons more exalted than
-themselves, that the friendship of these lordlings was to him but an
-honourable species of servitude, he broke off all connection with them.
-At the time I speak of he kept his carriage; this he subsequently put
-down, on reflecting that, as he rolled along, the mud from his wheels
-was splashed perhaps upon his betters. Distributing his wealth among
-his indigent friends, he reserved for himself no more than would enable
-him to live as moderately as he does; and he kept so much, only because
-it appeared to him no less shameful for a philosopher to beg his bread
-from the people than from the aristocracy.
-
-"Pity the cavalier who follows this philosopher, and whom you see
-accompanied by a dog. He can boast his descent from one of the most
-ancient and noble houses of Castile. He has been rich; but he ruined
-himself, like the Timon of Lucian, by feasting his friends every
-day; and, particularly, by giving splendid fêtes on the births and
-marriages of all the princes and princesses of Spain; in a word, on
-every occasion for rejoicing that he could make or find. No sooner did
-the discreet parasites who flocked round him see the ring slip over
-his purse than they abandoned his house and himself; one friend alone
-remains faithful to him now;--it is his dog."
-
-[Illustration: the ruined cavalier and his dog]
-
-"Tell me! Signor Asmodeus," cried Leandro Perez; "to whom belongs the
-carriage stopping before that house?" "It is the property of a rich
-contador, who comes here every morning to visit a frail beauty, whom
-this ancient sinner of Moorish race protects, and whom he loves to
-distraction. He learned last night that his female friend had been
-unfaithful, and in the fury which this intelligence induced, he wrote
-her a letter full of reproaches and threats. You would never guess what
-part the lady took on this occasion: instead of having the impudence to
-deny the fact, she sent to the treasurer this morning, owning that he
-was justly angered at her conduct; that he ought henceforth to despise
-her, since she had been capable of deceiving so gallant a lover; that
-she acknowledged and detested her fault; and that, to punish herself,
-she had already sacrificed those locks which he had so often admired;
-in short, that she had resolved to consecrate, in a nunnery, the
-remainder of her days to repentance.
-
-"The old dotard was unable to withstand the well-feigned remorse of
-his mistress, and has risen thus early to console her. He found her in
-tears; and so well has she played her part that he has just assured
-her of a full pardon for the past: nay, more, to compensate for the
-sacrifice of her much-prized tresses, he is, at this moment, promising
-to enable her to cut a figure in the world, by purchasing for her
-a handsome country-house, which is just about to be sold, near the
-Escurial."
-
-"All the shops are opened, I perceive," said the Student; "and I
-observe already a cavalier now entering a tavern." "That cavalier,"
-replied Asmodeus, "is a youth of family, who is troubled with the
-prevailing mania for writing nonsense, that he may pass as an author.
-He is not absolutely without talent; he has even enough to enable him
-to detect its want in the dramas which are at present produced on your
-stage; but not so much as to qualify him to write a tolerable one
-himself. He has gone into that house to order a grand repast: he gives
-a dinner to-day to four comedians, whose good graces he would purchase
-in favour of a wretched comedy of his concoction, which he is on the
-point of presenting to their company. What will not money do?
-
-"Apropos of authors," continued the Devil, "there now are two just
-meeting in the street. Do you notice the mocking style of their
-salutes? They despise each other thoroughly: and they are right. One
-of them writes as easily as the poet Crispinus, whom Horace compares
-to the bellows of a forge; and the other wastes a vast deal of time in
-composing works as cold and insipid as a water ice."
-
-"Who is the little man descending from his carriage at the door of
-that church?" asked Zambullo. "He is a person worthy your remark,"
-replied the Cripple. "It is not yet ten years since he abandoned the
-office of a notary, in which he was senior clerk, to shut himself up
-in the Carthusian monastery of Saragoza. At the end of a six-months
-noviciate, however, he left the convent, and re-appeared in Madrid;
-where those who had formerly known him were amazed to see him all at
-once become one of the principal members of the Council of the Indies.
-His sudden fortune is still the wonder of the town. Some say he has
-sold himself to the Devil; others, that he is the beloved of some rich
-dowager; and some, again, insist that he must have found a treasure."
-"Well! you know all about it, of course," interrupted Don Cleophas. "I
-should wonder if I did not," replied the Demon; "but I will unveil this
-mystery for you.
-
-[Illustration: the novice unearths the casket]
-
-"During his aforesaid noviciate, it happened one day that our intended
-monk, in digging a deep hole in his appointed garden, lighted on a
-brazen coffer, which he opened, of course, and within which he found
-a golden casket containing some thirty diamonds of the purest water.
-Although the pious horticulturist knew little enough of precious
-stones, he shrewdly suspected that whoever had placed them there was
-wiser; so resolving on the course which, in one of the comedies of
-Plautus, is adopted by Gripus, who abandons fishing when he has found
-a treasure, he threw off his gown, returned to Madrid, and by the
-assistance of a friendly jeweller, transmuted his diamonds into pieces
-of gold, and his pieces of gold into an office which has procured for
-him an exalted station in society."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-
-RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO THE STUDENT.
-
-
-"I must indulge you with a laugh," continued Asmodeus, "at the cost of
-an amusing character whom you see walking into that coffee-house, over
-the way. He is a Biscayan physician, and is going to sip his cup of
-chocolate; after which he will return to his home to pass the day at
-chess.
-
-"While he is thus engaged, do not be alarmed for his patients; he
-has none: and if he had, the moments he employs in play would not be
-the worst for them. He moves from his chess-board in the evening to
-repair to the house of a rich and handsome widow, with whom he would
-be happy to mate, and for whom he affects a knightly passion. When he
-is with her, a rascally valet, his only domestic, and who is aware of
-his practice with the widow, brings him a false list, studded with the
-names of noble lords and ladies who have sent to seek the doctor. The
-lady dreams not he is playing false, and the Biscayan is therefore fast
-entrapping her into a false move, which will win him the game.
-
-[Illustration: three girls getting up]
-
-"But," continued the Devil, "let us stop a moment at that house close
-by; I would have you remark what is passing there before we look
-elsewhere. Run your eyes over the rooms: what do you observe?" "Why,
-I can discern some maidens, whose beauty dazzles me," replied the
-Student. "Some are just leaving their beds, and others have already
-risen. What charms do they present to my feasting eyes! I can fancy
-I behold the nymphs of Diana, but more lovely than the poets have
-depicted them."
-
-"If those maidens, as you call them, and whom you admire so much,"
-replied the Cripple, "have the graces of Diana's nymphs, they assuredly
-want their chastity to complete the picture. They are a parcel of
-good-natured females, who live upon a common fund. As dangerous as the
-fair damsels of chivalry who arrested, by their charms, the knights who
-passed before their castle walls, they seek to draw your less heroic
-youths within their bowers. And woe betide those whom they ensnare! To
-warn the passer-by of the peril which awaits him, beacons should be set
-before their doors, as such friendly monitors are placed on dangerous
-coasts to mark the places mariners should shun."
-
-"I need not ask you," said Leandro Perez, "whither go those signors
-whom I see lolling in their carriages: they are doubtless going to the
-levée of the king." "You have said it," replied the Devil; "and if you
-also would attend it, I will carry you there before them: we shall have
-amusement enough, I promise you." "You could not have proposed a thing
-more suited to my taste," replied Zambullo; "and I anticipate all the
-pleasure you have promised me."
-
-The Demon, although eager to satisfy Don Cleophas in his desires,
-carried him leisurely towards the palace, so that, in their way, the
-Student, perceiving some workmen employed upon a lofty doorway, asked
-if it were the portal of a church they were constructing. "No," replied
-Asmodeus, "it is the entrance to a new market; and it is magnificent as
-you see. However, though they raised its arch until its point were lost
-in clouds, it would be still unworthy of two Latin lines which are to
-adorn its front."
-
-"What say you?" cried Leandro;--"what a notion would you give me of the
-verses that you speak of! I die with anxiety to hear them." "I will
-repeat them, then," replied the Devil; "and do you prepare to admire
-them.
-
-    'Quam bene Mercurius nunc merces vendit opimas,
-       Momus ubi fatuos vendidit ante sales!
-
-"In these two lines is concealed one of the most delicate puns
-imaginable." "I cannot say I yet perceive its point," said the Student;
-"I do not clearly understand what is referred to by your _fatuos
-sales_." "You are not then aware," replied the Devil, "that on the spot
-where they are building this market for the sale of provisions, there
-formerly stood a monkish college in which youth was inducted to the
-humanities. The rectors of this college were in the habit of getting up
-plays, in which the students figured on the stage. These plays were,
-as you may suppose, flat enough as to effect and language; and were
-enlivened by ballets, so amusingly absurd, that everything danced, even
-to preterites and supines." "There! that is quite enough," interrupted
-Zambullo; "I am quite alive to the stuff of which college pieces are
-composed--excuse my pun--but the inscription is admirable."
-
-Asmodeus and Don Cleophas had scarcely reached the grand staircase
-of the palace, when the courtiers commenced the inflating labour of
-mounting its polished steps. As they passed our unseen watchers, the
-Devil did the honour of announcing them to the Student: "There," said
-he, pointing with his finger as he spoke, "there is the Count de
-Villalonso, of the house of Puebla d'Ellerena; this is the Marquis de
-Castro Fueste; that is Don Lopez de Los Rios, president of the council
-of finance; and here is the Count de Villa Hombrosa." He did not,
-however, content himself thus with naming them; each had his legend:
-and the Demon's sardonic spirit found in the character of each some
-weakness to laugh at, or some vices to lay bare. None passed before him
-unnoted.
-
-"That signor," said he of one, "is affable and obliging; and listens
-to you with an air of kindness. Do you ask his protection, he grants
-it freely; nay, proffers you his interest. It is pity that a man who
-loves so much to assist his fellow-creatures should have a memory so
-bad, that a quarter of an hour after you have spoken to him, he should
-forget all you have asked and he has promised.
-
-"That duke," said he, speaking of another, "is one of the best
-characters that haunts the court. He is not, like most of his equals,
-one man at this moment and another the next; there is no caprice, no
-inequality in his disposition. I may add to this, that he pays not with
-ingratitude the affection that is shown for him, or the services that
-are rendered in his behalf. Unfortunately, again, he is too slothful
-to reward these kindnesses as they deserve: he leaves so long to be
-desired what is so rightfully expected, that when the favour is at last
-obtained, it is felt to have been dearly purchased."
-
-After the Demon had thus exhibited to the Student the good and evil
-qualities of a great number of signors, he conducted him into a room
-in which there were all sorts and conditions of men, but especially so
-many chevaliers, that Don Cleophas could not help exclaiming: "What
-numberless knights! By our Lady! there must be enough and to spare of
-them in Spain." "I can answer for that," replied the Cripple; "and it
-is not at all surprising, since to be dubbed companion of St. Jago, or
-of Calatrava, your vigilants require no five-and-twenty thousand crowns
-in pocket or estate, as did formerly the knights of ancient Rome:
-you perceive therefore that knighthood is an article most admirably
-assorted.
-
-"Observe," continued the Devil, "that common-looking fellow behind us."
-"Hush!" interrupted Zambullo; "speak softly, or the man will hear you."
-"No, no," replied Asmodeus; "the same charm which renders us invisible,
-prevents our being heard. Examine him well: he is a Catalonian,
-returned from the Philippines, where he ranged the seas as a pirate.
-Could you conceive, to look on him, that you beheld a thunderbolt of
-war? Nevertheless, he has performed, in his vocation, prodigies of
-valour. He is here this morning, to present a petition to the king, in
-which he asks, as a recompense for his services, a certain post, which
-is vacant. I doubt, however, if he will succeed, inasmuch as he has
-neglected duly to possess the prime minister with a proper notion of
-his merits."
-
-"I perceive on the right of the pirate," said Leandro Perez, "a tall
-and bulky man, who is sufficiently impressed with an idea of his own
-importance: to judge of his station by the pride of his bearing, he
-is some wealthy grandee, certainly." "Nothing can be further from the
-truth," replied the Demon: "he is one of the poorest of Hidalgos, who
-lives on the profits of a gaming-table, under the protection of one of
-the ministers.
-
-"But I see a licentiate, who must not pass without your notice: it is
-he whom you can perceive near the first window, in conversation with
-a cavalier clad in velvet of a silver grey. They are discoursing of a
-matter yesterday decided by the king; but I will tell you its history.
-
-"Two months ago, this licentiate, who is an academician of Toledo,
-published a work on morals, which shocked the orthodox opinions of all
-your grey-headed authors of Castile: they found it full of vigorous
-expressions and words newly introduced. It required no more to unite
-them against so singular a production; and they therefore instantly
-assembled, and agreed upon a petition to his majesty, praying him to
-condemn the book as one written in a style dangerous to the purity and
-simplicity of the Spanish tongue.
-
-[Illustration: the three commissioners reporting to the king]
-
-"The petition appearing worthy of attention to his majesty, he named
-three commissioners to examine the work; and they estimating its
-style to be really reprehensible, and the more so from its peculiar
-brilliancy, upon their report the king has decreed that, under pain
-of his displeasure, those academicians of Toledo who write after the
-manner of the licentiate shall not dare to publish another book; and
-further that, in order to preserve the language of Castile in all its
-purity, such academicians, after their decease, shall be replaced by
-persons of the first quality alone."
-
-"That is indeed a marvellous decision!" cried Zambullo, laughing: "the
-lovers of our vulgar tongue have henceforth nought to fear." "Excuse
-me," replied the Devil; "but your writers who endanger that noble
-chastity of style which forms the delight of all discerning readers,
-are not confined to the Toledan academy."
-
-Don Cleophas was now curious to learn who was the cavalier in
-silver-grey habiliments, whom he beheld conversing with the hardy
-moralist. "He," said the Cripple, "is a Catalonian, an officer of the
-Spanish guard, and of course a younger son; but he is a youth whose
-tongue is pointed as the sword he wears. To give you an example of his
-wit, I will tell you of a repartee that he made yesterday to a lady
-whom he met in high society. But to enable you to enjoy its pungency,
-I must inform you that he has a brother, Don Andrea de Prada, who was
-some years since, an officer, like himself, in the same corps.
-
-"It happened one day that a farmer of the king's revenues came to this
-Don Andrea, and said to him: 'Signor de Prada, I bear the same name as
-you, but our families are different. I am aware that you belong to one
-of the noblest houses in Catalonia, but at the same time that you are
-not rich. Now, I am of a poor family, and have lots of wealth. Can we
-not find a means, therefore, to communicate to each other that which we
-mutually want? Have you your titles of nobility?' 'Certainly!' replied
-Don Andrea. 'That being the case,' continued the other, 'if you will
-confide the documents to my hands, I will place them in those of an
-ingenious genealogist, who will set to work upon them, and will make
-us relations in spite of our ancestors. On my part, as in duty bound,
-I will make my kinsman a present of thirty thousand pistoles: is it a
-bargain?' Don Andrea, dazzled by the proposition, accepted it at once,
-gave the parchments to the farmer, and with the money he received
-purchased an estate in his native province, where he now resides at his
-ease.
-
-"His younger brother, who gained nothing by the transaction, was dining
-yesterday at a house where the conversation turned by chance on the
-Signor de Prada, farmer of the king's revenues. On this, the lady of
-whom I spoke, turning to the young officer, asked if the wealthy signor
-were not related to him. 'No,' replied he, 'I have not that honour; but
-I believe he is a relation of my brother's.'"
-
-The Student laughed, as well he might, at this family distinction,
-which appeared to him rather novel. But perceiving at the moment a
-little man following a courtier, he cried out: "Bah! but yon homunculus
-will lose nothing for the want of reverence to the signor whom he
-shadows. He has some precious favour to intreat, beyond all doubt." "I
-shall not occupy your time in vain," replied the Devil, "in telling
-you the object of the obsequiousness you observe. The little man is an
-honest citizen, who is proprietor of a country house in the suburbs of
-Madrid, near which are some mineral springs of fashionable celebrity.
-He has lent this house, rent free, for three months to this signor,
-that the latter may drink the waters: he is at this moment very humbly
-beseeching his noble tenant to serve him on a pressing opportunity
-which offers; and the signor is very politely declining to do so.
-
-"I must not let yon cavalier of plebeian race escape me. See, where he
-wades through the expecting throng with all the air of one of note.
-He has become immensely rich by force of calculation, and in his proud
-mansion has as many servants as your first grandee; his table would
-put to shame for delicacy and abundance that of a minister of state.
-He has a carriage for himself, one for his wife, and another for his
-children; and in his stables may be seen the best of mules and the most
-splendid horses in the world. Only yesterday, he bought, and paid for
-on the nail, a superb train of noble animals, that the prince of Spain
-had partially agreed for, but had thought too dear." "What insolence!"
-exclaimed Leandro. "A Turk, now, who beheld that lump of arrogance,
-poised on so dangerous a height, would watch each instant for its
-sudden fall." "I know nothing of the time to come," replied Asmodeus,
-"but think your Turk would not be far from right.
-
-"Ah! what is that I see?" continued the Demon with surprise. "Did
-I wonder at any thing, I should disbelieve my eyes. I absolutely
-discern within this room a poet--the last whom I should expect to see.
-How dares he come within these walls?--he who could write in terms
-offensive to their noblest visitants. He must count indeed on the
-contempt that he is held in!
-
-[Illustration: the chief magistrate and his page]
-
-"But mark particularly that venerable man who enters now, supported by
-a page. Observe with what respect the crowd divides to make way for
-him. That is the signor Don José de Reynaste e Ayala, chief magistrate
-of the police: he comes hither to inform the king of the events of last
-night in the capital. Methinks, signor Student, that we could assist
-him in his report! However, regard him with admiration, for he deserves
-it." "In truth," replied Zambullo, "he looks like a man of worth." "It
-would be well for Spain," replied the Cripple, "if all its corregidors
-would take him for their model. He has none of that intemperate zeal
-which urges those who should administer the law to violate its spirit
-from impetuosity or caprice; and he respects too much the sacred
-freedom of the person to deprive the meanest of his fellow-subjects of
-that blessed right on the mere information of an alguazil, a clerk,
-or even a secretary of police. He knows those gentlemen too well; and
-that, for the most of them, their venal souls will scruple not to
-traffic on the fund of his authority. When a man stands before him,
-accused of crime, he may be sure that justice will be done towards him;
-the evidence is sifted until truth is discovered; and thus the prisons,
-instead of echoing the sighs of innocence, perform their proper office
-of holding the guilty. Even these are not abandoned to the licence
-which ordinarily reigns in gaols. He visits, as a man, those whom, as
-a magistrate, he has condemned, and is careful that inhumanity, in its
-dispensers, shall not add rigour to the law."
-
-[Illustration: the chief magistrate visiting a prisoner]
-
-"What an eulogium!" exclaimed Leandro; "you paint a man whom angels
-might agree to worship! You rouse my curiosity to witness his reception
-by the king." "I am annoyed," replied the Devil, "to be obliged to
-tell you of my inability to gratify a wish that I expected, without at
-least exposing myself to insult. It is not in my vocation, nor am I
-permitted, to intrude myself on kings; their cabinet is the domain of
-Leviathan, Belphegor, and Ashtaroth; I informed you, from my bottle,
-that these three demons preside over the councils of princes. All
-others of our craft are denied the entrée at court; and I know not what
-I could have been thinking of, when I offered to bring you here: it
-was a dangerous flight to take, I can assure you. If my three loving
-brethren should perceive me, they would show me no favour, I promise
-you, and between ourselves, I would rather avoid the conflict."
-
-"That being so," replied the Student, "let us be off as quickly as you
-please: I should die with grief to see you curried by those wretched
-grooms, without being able to help you; for if I lent you a hand, I
-expect you would shine none the brighter for my assistance." "Most
-decidedly not," replied Asmodeus; "they would never feel the blows that
-you could deal them, and you would have the satisfaction of dying under
-theirs.
-
-"But," he continued, "to console you for your exclusion from the
-cabinet of your potent sovereign, I will procure you a pleasure quite
-equal to the one you lose." And as he finished these words, he took the
-Student's hand, and away they went, as fast as the Devil could fly,
-toward the monastery of Mercy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-
-THE CAPTIVES.
-
-
-In a moment they were on a house adjoining the monastery, at the gate
-of which there was a vast concourse of persons, of all ages and of
-both sexes. "Here's a crowd!" exclaimed Leandro Perez. "What ceremony
-can call so many good folks together?" "Why," replied Asmodeus, "it
-is one which you have never witnessed, though it may be seen from
-time to time within Madrid. Three hundred slaves, all subjects of the
-crown of Spain, are expected to arrive each minute: they return from
-Algiers, where they have been recently purchased by some fathers of the
-Redemption. Every street through which they are to pass will be lined
-with spectators to welcome them."
-
-"It is true, indeed," replied Zambullo, "that I have never had the
-curiosity to behold a similar exhibition; and, if this be the treat
-which your worship has reserved to gratify my taste, I must tell you
-frankly that you need not have so boasted of its piquancy." "Oh! I
-know you well enough," replied the Devil, "not to be aware that it is
-no joyous spectacle for you to look upon the misery of your fellows;
-but when I tell you that, in bringing you here to view it under its
-present form, I am about to reveal certain singular circumstances
-attending the captivity of some, and the equally curious embarrassment
-in which others will find themselves on returning to their homes, I
-am persuaded that you will not be unthankful for the amusement I have
-provided." "Certainly not," replied the Student; "you put another face
-upon the matter; and you will afford me much pleasure by your promised
-revelations."
-
-During this discussion, loud shouts were suddenly heard from the
-populace as they beheld the approaching captives, who marched two
-by two, in their slaves' dresses, each bearing his chain upon his
-shoulders. They were preceded by a considerable number of monks of
-the order of Mercy, who had been to meet them, and who rode on mules
-caparisoned in black serge, as if they headed a funeral: one of these
-good fathers carried the standard of Redemption. The younger captives
-came first; the more aged followed; and the procession was closed
-by an aged monk of the same order as the first, who, mounted on a
-diminutive steed, had all the air of a prophet: this was the chief of
-the missionary expedition. To him every eye was attracted, as much
-by his excessive gravity, as by a long white beard which flowed down
-his bosom, and gave to the features of this Moses of the Spaniards a
-venerable aspect, lighted as they were by a heartfelt joy at having
-been the instrument of restoring so many of his Christian brethren to
-their country.
-
-"The captives whom you see," commenced the Cripple, "are not all
-equally rejoiced at their restoration to liberty. If there be some
-whose hearts beat with pleasure at the thought that they are about
-to see once more their dearest friends, there are others not a little
-fearful that, during the time they have been estranged from their
-families, events may have occurred which will bring tortures to their
-minds more cruel than the most refined of slavery itself.
-
-[Illustration: the procession]
-
-"For instance, the two who first approach are in the latter category.
-The one, a native of the little town of Velilla in Aragon, after having
-passed ten years in bondage with the Turk, without once hearing of his
-much-loved wife, comes home to find her bound again in wedlock, and the
-mother of five little ones who can claim no kin with him. The other,
-son of a wool-merchant of Segovia, was carried off by a corsair nearly
-twenty years ago: he returns with a lively apprehension that matters
-have gravely changed during that time with his family, and he will find
-himself a prophet in his loss. His father and mother are dead; and
-his brothers, who shared their wealth, have dissipated it foolishly
-enough."
-
-"My attention is rivetted," exclaimed the Student, "upon a slave whom,
-by his looks, I judge to be delighted that he is no longer exposed to
-the seducing influence of the bastinado." "The captive whom you speak
-of," replied the Devil, "has good reason to rejoice at his deliverance:
-he has learnt, since his return, that an aunt to whom he is sole heir
-has just been released from her troubles, and that he is consequently
-about to enjoy the free use of her brilliant fortune. This it is which
-now occupies his thoughts so agreeably, and gives to his appearance
-that air of satisfaction which you remark.
-
-"How all unlike is he to the unhappy cavalier who walks beside him;
-the tortures of suspense fill his bosom incessantly: I will tell you
-on what they impend. When he was taken by a pirate of Algiers, as he
-was passing into Italy from Spain, he loved a maiden and by her was
-loved: he dreads lest, while he was in chains, his fair one's constancy
-may have failed her." "Has he been long a slave then?" asked Zambullo.
-"Eighteen months," replied Asmodeus. "Pooh!" exclaimed Leandro Perez,
-"I fancy our gallant is a prey to causeless fear; he has hardly put his
-mistress's fidelity to such a test as to have need for great alarm."
-"There you are mistaken," replied the Cripple; "his princess no sooner
-heard that he was captive to the Moor, than she hastened to provide
-herself with a more fortunate lover.
-
-"Would you credit now," continued the Demon, "that the man who follows
-immediately behind the two we have been speaking of, and whom that
-thick and sandy beard so horribly disfigures, was once a very handsome
-man? Nothing, however, can be more certain; and you see, in that bent
-and hideous figure, the hero of a story remarkable enough to induce me
-to relate it to you.
-
-[Illustration: Fabricio]
-
-"His name is Fabricio, and he was hardly fifteen years of age when
-his father, a wealthy cultivator of Cinquello, a large village of the
-kingdom of Leon, died. He lost his mother shortly afterwards; so that,
-being an only son, he became thus early the master of a considerable
-property, the management of which was confided to an uncle, who
-happened to be honest. Fabricio completed his studies at Salamanca,
-where he had been previously placed; he then particularly devoted
-himself to the noble accomplishments of riding and fencing; in a word,
-he neglected nothing which might concur to render him worthy the sweet
-regards of Donna Hippolita, sister of a vegetating signor, whose
-cottage was about a couple of gun-shots from Cinquello.
-
-"This lady was beautiful in the extreme, and about the age of Fabricio,
-who, having seen her from his infancy, had, to speak vulgarly, sucked
-in with his mother's milk the love which occupied his soul in manhood.
-Hippolita, on her side, could not help perceiving that Fabricio was not
-ill-made; but, knowing him to be the son of a husbandman, she had never
-deigned to look on him with attention. Her pride was only equalled by
-her loveliness, and by the haughty bearing of her brother, Don Thomaso
-de Xaral, who was probably unsurpassed, even in Spain, for his lordly
-want of money, and his beggarly pride.
-
-"This inflated country gentleman lived in a small house which he
-dignified by the name of castle, but which to speak properly was a
-ruin, so little had the winds respected his nobility. However, although
-his means did not enable him to repair his mansion, and although he had
-hardly enough to sustain himself, he must needs keep a valet to attend
-upon his person; nay, he even kept a Moorish female to wait upon his
-sister.
-
-"It was a refreshing sight to witness, in the village, on Sundays and
-at every festival, Don Thomaso habited in crimson velvet, but sadly
-faded, and a little hat, overshadowed with an ancient plume of yellow
-feathers, which were carefully enshrined, like relics, on the common
-days of the year. Disporting this frippery, which to him was proof
-apparent of his noble birth, he would affect the grandee, and seemed to
-think that he amply repaid the reverence that was offered to him when
-he condescended to notice it by an approving smile. His fair sister was
-not less vain than himself of the antiquity of her race; and she joined
-to this folly that of such self-congratulation on her charms, that she
-lived in the most perfect confidence that ere long some noble signor
-would come to beg the honour of her hand.
-
-"Such were the characters of Don Thomaso and the beauteous Hippolita.
-Fabricio, aware of their foibles, and in order to insinuate himself
-into the estimation of persons so exalted, lost no opportunity of
-flattering their pride by the most respectful seeming; and so well
-did he manage, that the brother and sister at last were graciously
-pleased to allow him frequent occasions for paying his homage to them.
-As he was as well informed of their poverty as of their vanity, he was
-tempted every day to make offer of his purse; and was only withheld
-from doing so by the uncertainty as to which of their failings was
-the greater: nevertheless, his ingenious generosity found a way of
-relieving the one without causing the other to blush. 'Signor,' said he
-one day to Don Thomaso in private, 'I have a thousand ducats which I
-would entrust in safe hands: have the kindness to take care of them for
-me;--permit me to owe this obligation to you.'
-
-"I need hardly tell you that Xaral consented; but besides being short
-of money, he had the very soul for a trustee. He therefore made no
-scruple of taking charge of the sum proposed; and no sooner was it in
-his possession, than, without ceremony, he employed a good part of
-it in putting his house in order, and adding thereto sundry little
-conveniences. A new dress of splendid light blue velvet was bought, and
-made at Salamanca; and a green plume, also purchased there, came to
-snatch from the olden plume of yellow the glory which had pertained to
-it from time immemorial, of adorning the noble front of Don Thomaso.
-The lovely Hippolita had also her compliment, and was entirely
-new-rigged. And thus did Xaral quickly melt the ducats which had been
-confided to him, not once reflecting that they did not belong to him,
-or that he would never be able to restore them. Indeed, he would not
-have scrupled thus to use them, had such extraordinary thoughts
-occurred to him; he would have felt that it was perfectly proper a
-plebeian should pay for the patronage of so noble a person as himself.
-
-"Fabricio had foreseen all this; but had at the same time flattered
-himself, that out of love for his money, if not for himself, Don
-Thomaso would live with him on terms of greater intimacy; that
-Hippolita by degrees would become accustomed to his attentions, and
-finally pardon the audacity which had inspired him to elevate his
-thoughts to her. In effect, his intercourse with them certainly
-increased, and they displayed for him a consideration that he had
-never before appeared to deserve: a rich man is ever appreciated by
-the great, when he will consent to act for them the part of the wolf
-to Romulus and Remus. Xaral and his sister, who until now had nothing
-known of riches but the name, had no sooner tasted the intoxicating
-draught, than they deemed Fabricio, the source whence it flowed, an
-object not to be neglected; and they therefore exhibited towards him
-such marks of respect, and almost affection, as made him think his
-money well bestowed. He was soon convinced that he had really won upon
-them; and that wisely reflecting it is the lot of the proudest signors
-to be obliged, in order to sustain their pretensions, to graft their
-noble scions on the stocks of the fortunate vulgar, they now looked
-on him without disdain. With this notion, which flattered his own
-self-love, Fabricio resolved to propose for Hippolita to her brother.
-
-"On the first favourable opportunity which offered to speak with Don
-Thomaso on the subject, he informed him that he had dared aspire to
-the honour of becoming his brother-in-law; and that, as the price of
-such concession, not only would he abandon all claim to the money
-deposited in his hands, but that he would add to it a present of a
-thousand pistoles. The haughty Xaral coloured at this proposition,
-which awakened his slumbering pride; and in the excitation of the
-moment, could scarcely refrain from displaying the utter contempt in
-which he held the son of an industrious father. But, however insulted
-he felt at the temerity of Fabricio, he constrained himself; and, as
-respectfully as his nature would permit, replied that in a matter of
-such importance he could not at once determine; that he must consult
-Hippolita, and that it would even be necessary to summon a conclave of
-his noble relatives thereupon.
-
-"With this answer he dismissed the gallant, and forthwith convoked
-a diet composed of certain hidalgos of his neighbourhood, with whom
-he claimed affinity, and who, like himself, were all infected with
-demophobia. With these he consulted, not as to whether they were of
-opinion that he should bestow his sister upon Fabricio, but on the most
-proper steps to be adopted in order sufficiently to punish the insolent
-young man, who, forgetful of the meanness of his origin, had dared
-pretend to the hand of a lady of the rank of Hippolita.
-
-"As soon as he had exposed to the assembly this presumptuous
-demand,--as he mentioned the name of Fabricio, and uttered the words,
-'Son of a husbandman,'--you should have seen how the eyes of all the
-nobles lighted up with fury. Each of them vomited fire and flame
-against the audacious groundling; and with one voice they all insisted,
-that his death beneath the cudgels of their domestics alone could
-expiate the vile affront he had offered to their family by the proposal
-of so scandalous an union. However, on mature consideration, the
-offended members of the diet agreed to spare the culprit's life; but,
-in order to teach him that first and far most useful knowledge--of
-himself, they resolved to play him such a trick as he should have
-reason to remember while he lived.
-
-"Various were the schemes proposed: the one on which they at last
-decided was as follows. Hippolita was to feign a sensibility for the
-passion of Fabricio; and, under pretence of consoling her unhappy lover
-for the refusal which Don Thomaso would have given to his proposal for
-her hand, she was to make an assignation for some particular evening to
-receive him at the castle; where, at the moment of his introduction by
-the Moorish female, the friends of the signor would surprise him with
-the waiting-maid, and compel him to espouse her.
-
-"The sister of Xaral at first inclined to favour this piece of
-rascality; she even joined in thinking that her reputation demanded of
-her to consider as an insult the addresses of a person in a station so
-inferior to her own. But these haughty feelings soon yielded to others
-more gentle, prompted by pity; or rather, love suddenly vanquished all
-pride of heart in the bosom of Hippolita.
-
-"From that moment, she looked on all things with a different eye. The
-obscure origin of Fabricio now appeared to her more than compensated
-by a nobility of disposition; and she perceived in him but a cavalier
-worthy of her tenderest affection. Remark again, Signor Student,
-and with all due admiration, how prodigious are the changes which
-this passion can effect: the very girl who yesterday imagined that a
-monarch's heir scarce merited the honour of possessing her, to-day is
-all enamoured of a ploughman's son, and is flattered by pretensions
-which before she had regarded as disgraceful.
-
-Far therefore from assisting her brother in his purposed revenge, and
-yielding to the new-born passion which now reigned supreme within her
-soul, Hippolita entered into secret correspondence with Fabricio, by
-means of her Moorish attendant, who frequently of an evening introduced
-the gallant into the cottage. Thus baffled in his design, Don Thomaso
-soon became suspicious of the truth; and watching his sister, he was
-convinced by his own eyes that, instead of fulfilling the wishes of her
-relations, she had betrayed them.
-
-[Illustration: Hippolita's Moorish servant admits Fabricio]
-
-"He instantly informed two of his cousins of the discovery he had made:
-'Vengeance! Don Thomaso, vengeance!' they exclaimed, infuriate at such
-baseness in one of their illustrious race. Xaral, who did not require
-urging to exact satisfaction for an indignity of this nature, replied,
-with true Spanish modesty, 'that they should find he knew well how to
-use his sword when its employment was called for to avenge his honour;'
-and he entreated them to come to his house on a particular night.
-
-[Illustration: Don Thomaso and his cousins surprise Fabricio and
-Hippolita]
-
-"They came at the appointed time, and were secretly received and
-concealed in a small room by Don Thomaso; who left them, saying that
-he would return the instant the lover entered his doors, should he
-think fit to come at all that evening. This did not fail to happen; the
-unlucky stars of our lovers had decreed that they should choose that
-very night for their meeting.
-
-"Don Fabricio was already with his dear Hippolita, listening to and
-repeating for the hundredth time those sweet avowals which make up the
-dialogue of lovers, but which, though spoken from eternity, have still
-the charm of novelty, when they were disagreeably interrupted by the
-cavaliers who waited to surprise them. Don Thomaso and his cousins,
-with all the courage of three against one, rushed upon Fabricio, who
-had scarcely time to draw in his defence; but perceiving at once that
-their object was to assassinate him, he fought with a courage which
-makes one equal to three; he wounded all his assailants, and exerting
-the skill he had acquired at Salamanca, managed to keep them at his
-sword's point till he had gained the door, when he made off at full
-speed.
-
-"Upon this, Xaral, maddened with rage at beholding his enemy escape
-him, after having with impunity dishonoured his house, turned all his
-fury against the unfortunate Hippolita, and plunged his sword into
-her heart. After which his two relatives returned to their homes,
-extremely mortified at the bad success of their plot, and with no other
-consolation than their wounds. There we will leave them," continued
-Asmodeus. "When we have passed in review the other captives, I will
-finish the history of this one. I will relate to you how, after
-justice, or rather the law, had possessed itself of his effects on
-account of this mournful event, the pirates seized his person, with
-about as good reason, when he happened to be making a voyage."
-
-"While you were telling me this story of love and pride," said Don
-Cleophas, "I observed a young man whose countenance bespeaks such
-sorrow at his heart, that I wonder I did not interrupt you to inquire
-its cause." "You will lose nothing by your discretion," replied the
-Demon; "I can tell you now all you desire to know. The captive whose
-dejection attracted your notice, is a youth of family from Valladolid.
-Two years was he in slavery, but with a patron who possessed a very
-pretty wife. The lady looked with favour on the slave, and the slave,
-as in duty bound, repaid the lady's favours with interest. The patron,
-becoming suspicious as to the nature of his slave's labours, hastened
-to sell the Christian to the brothers of the Redemption, lest he should
-be irreligiously employed in the propagation of Mahometanism. The
-tender Castilian, ever since, has done nothing but weep for the loss of
-his patroness; liberty itself cannot console him."
-
-"An old man of good appearance attracts my attention there," said
-Leandro Perez; "who, and what, is he?" The Devil replied: "He is
-a barber, of Guipuscoa, who is about to return to Biscay after a
-captivity of forty years. When he fell into the hands of a corsair,
-in going from Valencia to the island of Sardinia, he had a wife, two
-sons, and a daughter. Of all these, one son alone remains; and he,
-more lucky than his father, has been to Peru, whence he has safely
-returned with immense wealth to his native province, in which he has
-recently purchased two handsome estates." "What pleasure!" exclaimed
-the Student, "what delight awaits this happy son, to behold again his
-long-lost parent, and to be enabled to render his declining years
-peaceful and agreeable!"
-
-"You," replied the Cripple, "speak like a child whom tenderness and
-duty prompt; the son of the Biscayan barber is of a sterner mould:
-the unlooked-for coming of his sire to him will bring more grief than
-joy. Instead of welcoming him to his mansion at Guipuscoa, and sparing
-nothing to mark the bliss he feels at pressing him once more to his
-bosom, he will probably be filial enough to make him steward of one of
-his estates.
-
-"Behind this captive, whose good looks you admire so much, is another
-as like an old baboon as are two drops of water to each other: he is
-a little Aragonese physician. He has not been a fortnight in Algiers;
-for as soon as the Turks knew what was his profession, they resolved,
-rather than suffer him to remain among them, to place him without
-ransom in the hands of the fathers of Mercy, who would certainly never
-have purchased him, and who bring him back with compunction to Spain.
-
-"You who feel so sensibly the woes of others, ah! how would you grieve
-for that other slave, he who wears upon his head that little cap of
-brown cloth, did you but know the ills he has endured during twelve
-years, in the house of an English renegade, his patron." "And who is
-this unhappy captive?" asked Zambullo. "He is a cordelier of Navarre,"
-replied the Demon. "I must own, however, that for myself, I rejoice
-that he has suffered so severely; since, by his eternal preaching, he
-has prevented more than a hundred Christian slaves from adopting the
-turban."
-
-"Well! to imitate your frankness," replied Don Cleophas, "I must say
-that I am really afflicted to think that this good father should have
-been so long at the mercy of the barbarian." "As to that," replied
-Asmodeus, "you are as unwise to regret it, as I to rejoice. The good
-monk has turned his dozen years' captivity to so good account, that he
-will find his advantage in having passed that time in suffering instead
-of in his cell, where he would have striven with temptations that he
-would not at all times have vanquished."
-
-"The first captive after the monks," said Leandro Perez, "has a most
-complacent air for a man who returns from slavery: he excites my
-curiosity to know his history." "You anticipate me," replied the
-Cripple; "I was just about to tell you all about him. You see in him,
-a citizen of Salamanca, an unfortunate father, a mortal rendered
-insensible to misfortune by the weight of those he has experienced.
-I am tempted to relate to you the painful details of his life, and
-to leave the rest of the captives to their fates; besides, there is
-scarcely another whose adventures are worth the trouble of telling."
-
-The Student, who began to tire of this sombre procession, stated that
-he asked for nothing better; whereupon, the Devil began the history
-contained in the following chapter.
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of the Aragonese physician and the cordelier
-of Navarre]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-
-OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE CONCLUDING IT, HE
-WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY
-DEMON, IN WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.
-
-
-"Pablos de Bahabon, son of an alcade of a village in Old Castile, after
-having divided with his sister and brother the small inheritance which
-their father, although one of the most avaricious of men, had left
-them, set out for Salamanca with the intention of increasing the number
-of students in its university. He was well made, not without wit, and
-was just entering upon his twenty-third year.
-
-"With a thousand ducats in his possession, and a disposition fitted
-to get rid of them, it was not long before he was the talk of the
-town. The young men, without exception, were eager to cultivate his
-friendship; the strife, was who were to be included in the joyous
-parties which Don Pablos gave every day. I say Don Pablos, because
-he had assumed the Don, that he might live on equal terms with the
-students whose nobility would otherwise have demanded a formality in
-his intercourse with them, anything but pleasant. So well did he love
-gaiety and the good things of this world, and so badly did he manage
-the only thing which can always command them,--his purse, that at the
-end of fifteen months he found it one morning empty. He contrived,
-however, to get on for some time longer, partly by credit and partly by
-borrowing; but he soon found that these are resources which speedily
-fail when a man has no other.
-
-"This having come to pass, his friends perceiving that their visits
-were anything but agreeable,--to themselves, they ceased to call; and
-his creditors commenced paying him their respects, with an assiduity
-which was anything but delightful to poor Don Pablos. For although he
-assured the latter that he was in daily expectation of receiving bills
-of exchange from his relations, there were some who were uncivil enough
-to decline waiting their arrival; and they were so sharp in their legal
-proceedings that our hero was on the point of finishing his studies in
-jail, when one day he met an acquaintance while walking on the banks
-of the Tormes, who said to him: 'Signor Don Pablos, beware! I warn you
-that an alguazil and his archers are on the look-out for you, and they
-intend to pay you the honour of a guard on your return to the city.'
-
-"Bahabon, alarmed at this intended public attention to his person,
-which suited so ill to the state of his private affairs, resolved to
-shun this demonstration of respect, and instantly took to flight and
-the road to Corita. In his anxiety for privacy, he had not walked far
-before he turned off to plunge into a neighbouring wood, in which he
-resolved to conceal himself until night should lend her friendly shades
-to enable him to travel more secure from observation. It was at that
-season of the year when the trees are decked in their proudest apparel,
-and he therefore chose the best dressed in the forest, that it might
-spare a covering for him: into this he mounted, and arranged himself
-upon a branch whose wavy ornaments shrouded him from sight.
-
-"Feeling secure in his elevated seat, he by degrees soon lost all
-fear of the too attentive alguazil; and as men usually make the best
-reflections on their conduct when thought is too late to avail them,
-he recalled all the follies he had committed, and promised to himself,
-that if ever he again should be in fortune's way, he would make a
-better use of her favours. Most especially he vowed to be no more the
-dupe of seeming friends, who lead young men into dissipation, and whose
-attachment finishes with the last bottle.
-
-"While thus occupied with the busy thoughts which come like creditors
-into the distressed mind, night recalled him to his situation.
-Disengaging himself from the sheltering leaves, and shaking hands with
-the friendly branch, he was preparing to descend, when, by as much
-light as the moon could throw into the forest, he thought he could
-discern the figure of a man. As he looked, his former fears returned:
-and he imagined it must be the alguazil, who, having tracked his
-footsteps, was seeking him in the wood. His fears redoubled when he saw
-the man, after walking round it two or three times, sit himself down at
-the foot of the very tree in which he was."
-
-Asmodeus interrupted the course of his narrative in this place: "Signor
-Don Cleophas," said he, "permit me to enjoy for a while the perplexity
-I occasion in your mind at this moment. You are desperately anxious to
-know now, who can this mortal be that comes so inopportunely, and what
-can have brought him thither. Well, that is what you shall learn: I
-will not abuse your patience.
-
-[Illustration: Bahabon watches the bag being buried]
-
-"After the man had seated himself at the foot of the tree, whose
-thick foliage almost hid him from the sight of Don Pablos, he reposed
-for a few seconds, and then rose and began digging the ground with a
-poniard. Having made a deep hole, and placed therein a leathern bag,
-he refilled it, covered it over carefully with the moss-grown turf he
-had removed, and then retired. Bahabon, who had strained his eyes to
-watch these operations, and whose fears were changed to anxious joy
-during their progress, scarcely waited until the man was out of sight
-ere he descended from his hiding-place to disinter the sack, in which
-he doubted not to find a good store of silver or of gold. His knife
-was sufficient for the purpose; but, had he wanted that, he felt such
-ardour for the work, that he would have penetrated with his nails into
-the bowels of the earth.
-
-"The instant that he had the bag in his possession, just handling it
-sufficiently to feel convinced that it contained good sounding coin,
-he hastened to quit the wood with his prey, less fearing to meet the
-alguazil in his altered state, than the man to whom the bag of right
-belonged. Intoxicated with delight at having made so good a stroke,
-our student walked lightly all the night, without caring whither he
-went, or feeling in the least degree incommoded with his burden. But,
-as day broke, he stopped under some trees near the village of Molorido,
-less, in truth, to repose, than to satisfy at last the curiosity
-which burned within him to know what it was indeed the sack enclosed.
-Untying it with that agreeable trembling which you experience at the
-moment you are about to enjoy an anticipated but unknown pleasure, he
-found therein honest double-pistoles, and, to his unspeakable delight,
-counted no less of these than two hundred and fifty.
-
-"After having contemplated them for some time with a voluptuous
-eagerness, he began seriously to reflect on what he ought to do; and
-having made up his mind, he stowed away the doubloons in his pockets,
-threw the bag into a ditch, and repaired to Molorido. He entered the
-first decent inn; and then, while they were preparing his breakfast,
-he hired a mule, upon which he returned the same day to Salamanca.
-
-"He clearly perceived, by the surprise which his acquaintances
-displayed at seeing him again, that they were in the secret of his
-sudden evasion; but he had his story by heart. He stated that, being
-short of money, and not receiving it from home, although he had written
-twenty times to relate his pressing need, he had determined to go for
-it himself, and that, the evening previous, as he entered Molorido, he
-had met his steward with the needful, so that he was now in a situation
-to undeceive all those who had decreed him a man of straw. He added,
-that he intended to convince his creditors that they were wrong in
-distressing an honest man who would have long since satisfied their
-claims, had his steward been more punctual in the remittance of his
-rents.
-
-"In reality, on the following day he called a meeting of his creditors,
-and paid them all to the last maravedi. No sooner did the very
-friends who had abandoned him in poverty hear of these extraordinary
-proceedings, than they quickly flocked around him, to flatter him by
-their homage, hoping to enjoy themselves again at his expense; but he
-was not to be caught a second time. Faithful to the vow he had made in
-the forest, he treated them with disdain, and changing entirely his
-course of life, he devoted himself to the study of the law with zeal
-and assiduity.
-
-"However, you will say, he was all this while conscientiously expending
-double-pistoles not very honestly acquired. To this I have no reply to
-make than that he did what nine-tenths of the world are daily doing in
-similar circumstances. He of course intended to make proper restitution
-at some future time; that is, if he should chance to discover to whom
-the doubloons belonged. In the meantime, tranquillizing himself with
-the goodness of his intentions, he disposed of the money without
-scruple, patiently awaiting this discovery, which nevertheless he made
-before twelve months were over.
-
-"About this time, it was reported in Salamanca that a citizen of that
-town, one Ambrosio Piquillo, having gone to the neighbouring wood to
-seek for a bag, filled with gold and silver coin, which he had there
-deposited nearly a year before, had turned up only the earth in which
-he had buried it, and that this misfortune had reduced the poor man to
-beggary.
-
-"I must say, in justice to Bahabon, that the secret reproaches of
-his conscience were not made in vain. He ascertained the dwelling of
-Ambrosio, whom he found in a wretched chamber whose entire furniture
-consisted of a truckle-bed and a single chair. 'My friend,' said he
-with admirable hypocrisy as he entered, 'I have heard the public report
-of the cruel accident which has befallen you, and, charity obliging us
-to aid one another according to our means, I have come to bring you a
-trifling assistance; but I should like to hear from yourself the story
-of your misfortune.'
-
-"'Signor cavalier,' replied Piquillo, 'I will relate it to you in a few
-words. I had the misfortune to have a son who robbed me. Discovering
-his dishonesty, and fearing that he would help himself to a leathern
-sack in which there were two hundred and fifty doubloons, I thought
-I could not do better than bury them in the wood to which I had the
-imprudence to take them. Since that unlucky day, my son has stripped me
-of all else that I possessed, and he at last disappeared with a woman
-whom he had carried off by force. Finding myself thus reduced by the
-libertinage of my worthless child, or rather by my misplaced indulgence
-for his faults, I determined on recourse to the leathern bag; but
-alas! my only remaining means of subsistence had been cruelly carried
-away.'
-
-"As the poor man recounted his loss, his grief was renewed, and his
-tears fell fast as he spoke, Don Pablos, affected at beholding them,
-said to him: 'My dear Ambrosio, we must console ourselves for all the
-crosses we encounter during life. Your tears are useless; they cannot
-bring back your double-pistoles, which, if some scoundrel has laid
-hands on them, are indeed lost to you. But who knows? They may have
-fallen into the possession of some worthy man, who, when he learns
-that they belong to you, will hasten to restore them. You may yet see
-them again: live at least in that hope; and, in the meanwhile,' added
-he, giving him ten of his own doubloons, 'take these, and come to me
-in a week from this time.' He then gave his name and address, and went
-out overwhelmed with confusion at the benedictions heaped upon him by
-Ambrosio, who could not find words to express his gratitude. Such, for
-the most part, are your generous actions: you would find little cause
-for admiration, could you but penetrate their motives.
-
-"At the week's end, Piquillo, mindful of what Don Pablos had said to
-him, went to his house. Bahabon received him kindly, and said to him:
-'My friend, from the excellent character I everywhere hear of you, I
-have resolved to contribute all in my power to set you on your feet
-again: my interest and my purse shall not be wanting to effect this.
-As a beginning in the business,' he continued, 'what think you I have
-already done? I am intimate with several persons as much distinguished
-by their charity as their station: these I have sought; and I have so
-effectually inspired them with compassion for your situation, that I
-have collected from them two hundred crowns, which I am about to give
-you.' As he finished, he went into his cabinet, whence he returned in
-a moment with a linen bag, in which he had placed this sum in silver,
-and not in doubloons, for fear that the citizen, on receiving so many
-double-pistoles, should begin to suspect the truth; whereas, by this
-piece of management, he effectually secured his object, which was to
-make restitution in such a manner as might conciliate his reputation
-with his conscience.
-
-"Ambrosio, far from thinking that these crowns were a portion of
-his money restored, took them, in good faith, as the product of a
-collection made on his behalf; and, after repeatedly thanking Don
-Pablos for his kindness, he returned to his habitation, grateful to
-Heaven for having created a cavalier who took so much interest in his
-misfortunes.
-
-"On the following day he met one of his friends, who was in no better
-plight than himself, and who said to him: 'I leave Salamanca to-morrow,
-to set out for Cadiz, where I intend to embark in a vessel bound for
-New Spain. I have no great reason to be contented with my position
-here, and my heart tells me I shall be more fortunate in Mexico. If you
-will take my advice, you will go with me; that is, if you have but a
-hundred crowns.' 'I should not have much trouble to find two hundred,'
-replied Piquillo; 'and I would undertake this voyage willingly, were
-I sure to gain a living in the Indies.' Thereupon, his friend boasted
-of the fertility of New Spain, and represented to him so many ways
-of there enriching himself, that Ambrosio, yielding to his powers of
-persuasion, now thought of nothing but the necessary preparations for
-setting out with his friend to Cadiz. But before he left Salamanca, he
-took care to address a letter to Bahabon, informing him that, finding a
-promising opportunity of going to the Indies, he was anxious to profit
-by it, in order to see whether Fortune could be induced to smile more
-kindly on him in another country than in his own; that he took the
-liberty of stating this to him, assuring him that he should gratefully
-preserve during life the remembrance of his goodness.
-
-"The departure of Ambrosio somewhat annoyed Don Pablos, as it
-disconcerted the plan he had formed for discharging the debt he owed
-him. But, when he reflected that the poor citizen might in a few
-years return to Salamanca, he became gradually reconciled to what had
-happened, and applied himself more diligently than ever to master the
-complications of civil and ecclesiastical legalities. So great was the
-progress he made, as much by the powers of his mind and its aptitude
-for his profession, as by the application I have spoken of, that he
-became a shining light in the university, of which he was ultimately
-chosen rector. In this position he was not contented to sustain its
-dignity by the extent and solidity of his scientific acquirements;
-he searched so deeply into his own heart, that he acquired all those
-habits of virtue which constitute a man of worth.
-
-"During his rectorship, he learned that in one of the prisons of
-Salamanca there was a young man accused of rape. On hearing this, he
-remembered that Piquillo's son had carried off a woman by force. He
-therefore made inquiries as to this prisoner, and, finding that it was
-indeed the son of Ambrosio, he generously undertook his defence. What
-deserves most to be admired in the science of the law, Signor Student,
-is, that it furnishes arms for offence and defence equally; and as our
-rector was an adroit fencer with these deadly weapons, he used them to
-good effect on this occasion in favour of the accused. It is true, that
-he joined to his legal skill the interest of his friends, and the most
-pressing solicitation, which, probably, as in most cases, did more than
-all the rest.
-
-"The guilty youth, therefore, came out of this affair whiter than snow.
-On going to thank his liberator, the latter said to him: 'It is out
-of respect for your father that I have rendered you this service. I
-love him; and to give you a further proof of my affection for him, if
-you will live in this town, and here lead the life of an honest man, I
-will take care of your welfare; if, on the contrary, you desire, like
-Ambrosio, to seek your fortune in the Indies, you may reckon on fifty
-pistoles for your outfit: I present them to you.' The young Piquillo
-replied: 'Since I am honoured by the protection of your lordship, I
-should be wrong to quit a place where I enjoy so great an advantage.
-I will not leave Salamanca, and I promise you solemnly that I will
-conduct myself to your satisfaction.' On this assurance, the rector
-placed in his hands twenty pistoles, saying: 'Take this, my friend;
-embrace some honest profession; employ your time well, and rely on it
-that I will not abandon you.'
-
-"Two months afterwards, it happened that the young Piquillo, who from
-time to time paid his respects to Don Pablos, one day appeared before
-him in tears. 'What ails you?' asked Bahabon. 'Signor,' replied the
-son of Ambrosio, 'I have just heard news which cuts me to the soul. My
-father has been taken by a corsair of Algiers, and is at this moment in
-chains: an old Salamancan, lately returned from Barbary, where he was
-ten years in captivity, and whom the fathers of Mercy have redeemed,
-told me not an hour since that he had left Ambrosio in slavery. Alas!'
-he added, striking his breast and tearing his hair, 'wretch that I am!
-it was my infamous behaviour which reduced my father to the necessity
-of burying his money, and afterwards to leave his country! It is I
-who have delivered him to the barbarian who loads him with fetters.
-Ah! Signor Don Pablos, why did you shield me from the vengeance of the
-law? Since you love my father, you should have avenged him, and have
-suffered me to expiate, by an ignominious death, the crime of having
-caused all his misfortunes.'
-
-[Illustration: Piquillo's son before Bahabon]
-
-"These exclamations, evidently betokening an erring mind's return to
-virtue, together with the natural expressions of the young Piquillo's
-sincere grief, greatly affected the rector. 'My child,' he said to him,
-'I see with pleasure that you repent of your past transgressions. Dry
-up your tears: it is enough for me to know what has become of Ambrosio
-to give you assurance of beholding him again. His deliverance depends
-but on an easy ransom, which I shall cheerfully provide; and how great
-soever may have been the sufferings he has endured, I feel persuaded
-that on his return, to find in you a son restored to virtue, and filled
-with tenderness for him, he will not complain of the rigour of his
-destiny.'
-
-"Don Pablos, by this assurance, dismissed the son of Ambrosio with a
-lightened heart; and, a few days afterwards, he set out for Madrid.
-On his arrival in this capital, he placed in the hands of the fathers
-of Mercy a purse containing a hundred pistoles, to which was attached
-a label bearing these words: 'This sum is given to the fathers of
-the Redemption, for the ransom of a poor citizen of Salamanca, named
-Ambrosio Piquillo, now captive in Algiers.' The good monks, in their
-recent voyage, acting in pursuance of the directions of the rector, did
-not fail to purchase Ambrosio, and you beheld him in that slave whose
-tranquil air excited your attention."
-
-"In my opinion," said Don Cleophas, "Bahabon has worthily repaid the
-debt he owed to this luckless citizen." "Don Pablos, however," replied
-Asmodeus, "thinks differently. He will not be contented until he has
-restored to him both principal and interest; the delicacy of his
-conscience even extends so far as to scruple at his retention of the
-wealth he has gained since he has become rector of the university; and
-when he sees Ambrosio, he intends saying to him: 'Ambrosio, my friend,
-do not regard me as your benefactor; you behold in me the scoundrel who
-disinterred the money you had buried in the wood. It is not enough that
-I restore to you the doubloons I robbed you of, since by their means
-it is that I have raised myself to the station I now enjoy: all that I
-possess belongs to you; I will retain so much alone as you shall please
-to----'" Asmodeus suddenly stopped in his relation; a trembling seized
-him as he spoke, and an unearthly paleness overspread his visage.
-
-[Illustration: the magician discovers Asmodeus's absence]
-
-"Why, what's the matter now?" exclaimed the Student; "what wonderful
-emotion agitates you thus, and chains your willing tongue?" "Ah! Signor
-Leandro," answered the Demon with tremulous voice, "what misery for me!
-The magician who kept me prisoned in my bottle, has discovered that I
-am absent without leave; and prepares e'en now such mighty spiritings,
-to call me back to his laboratory, as I must fain obey." "Alas!"
-exclaimed Zambullo, quite affected, "I am mortified beyond expression!
-What a loss am I about to suffer! Must we, then, my dear Asmodeus,
-separate for ever?"
-
-"I trust not," replied the Devil. "The magician may require some
-office of my ministry; and if I have the fortune to assist him in his
-projects, perhaps, out of gratitude, he may restore me to liberty.
-Should that arrive, as I hope it may, rely on my rejoining you at once;
-on condition, however, that you reveal not to mortal ears what has this
-night passed between us. Should you be weak enough to confide this to
-any one, I warn you," continued Asmodeus emphatically, "that you will
-never see me more.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus embraces Zambullo]
-
-"I have one consolation in leaving you," he resumed, "which is, that at
-least I have made your fortune. You will marry the lovely Seraphina,
-into whose bosom it has been my business to instil a doting passion
-for your lordship. The Signor Don Pedro de Escolano, too, has made up
-his mind to bestow her hand upon you: and do you take care not to let
-so splendid a gift escape your own. But, mercy on me!" he concluded,
-"I hear already the potent master who constrains me; all Hell resounds
-with the echoes of the fearful words pronounced by this redoubtable
-magician: I dare not stay a moment longer. Farewell, my dear Zambullo!
-We may meet again." As he ceased, he embraced Don Cleophas, and, after
-having dropped the Student in his own apartment on his way to the
-laboratory, disappeared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-
-OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT HIM; AND OF THE
-MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.
-
-
-Upon the retreat of Asmodeus, the Student, feeling fatigued at having
-passed all the night upon his legs, and by the extraordinary bustle in
-which he had been occupied, undressed himself and went to bed. Agitated
-as his mind may be supposed to have been, it is no wonder that he lay
-for some time restless; but at last, paying with compound interest to
-Morpheus the tribute which all mortals owe to his sombre majesty, he
-fell into a deathlike sleep, in which he passed the whole of that day
-and the following night.
-
-Twenty-four hours had he been thus lost to the world, when Don Luis de
-Lujana, a young cavalier whom he numbered among his friends, entered
-his chamber, singing out lustily, "Hollo! Signor Don Cleophas, get up
-with you!" At this salutation, Zambullo awoke. "Are you aware," said
-Don Luis to him, "that you have been in bed since yesterday morning?"
-"Impossible!" exclaimed Leandro. "Not the less true for that," replied
-his friend; "twice have you slept the clock's dull round. All the
-inmates of the house assure me of this fact."
-
-[Illustration: Zambullo awakened by his friend]
-
-The Student, astonished at the trance from which he emerged, feared at
-first that his adventures with Asmodeus were but an illusion. He could
-not, however, persist in this belief; and when he recalled to himself
-certain circumstances of his intercourse with the Demon, he soon ceased
-to doubt of its reality. But, to make assurance doubly sure, he rose,
-dressed himself quickly, and went out with Don Luis, whom he took,
-without saying why, in the direction of the Gate of the Sun. Arrived
-there, and perceiving the mansion of Don Pedro almost reduced to ashes,
-Don Cleophas feigned surprise. "What do I behold?" he cried. "What
-dreadful ravages has fire made here! To whom did this unlucky house
-belong, and when was it thus consumed?"
-
-Don Luis de Lujana, having replied to these two questions, thus
-continued: "This fire is less spoken of in the town on account of the
-great damage it has done, than for a circumstance which attended it,
-and of which I will tell you. The Signor Don Pedro de Escolano has an
-only daughter, who is lovely as the day: they say that she was in a
-room all filled with fire and smoke, in which it seemed certain she
-must perish; but that nevertheless her life was saved by a youthful
-cavalier, whose name I have not heard;--it forms the subject of
-conversation throughout Madrid. The young man's daring is lauded to the
-skies; and it is believed that, as a reward for his success, however
-humble my gentleman may be, he may well hope to gain a life interest in
-the daughter of the Don."
-
-Leandro Perez listened to Don Luis without appearing to take the
-slightest interest in what he heard; then getting rid of his friend,
-under some specious pretext, he gained the Prado, where, seating
-himself beneath a tree, he was soon plunged in a profound reverie. The
-Devil first came flitting through his mind. "Ah! my dear Asmodeus,"
-he exclaimed, "I cannot too much regret you. You, in a moment, would
-have borne me round the world; and, with you, should I have journeyed
-without any of the usual devilries of travelling: gentle spirit, you
-are a loss indeed! But," he added a moment afterwards, "my loss,
-perhaps, is not quite irreparable: why should I despair of seeing
-the Demon again? It may fall out, as he himself suggested, that the
-magician will shortly restore him to freedom and to me." As the Devil
-left his mind the lady entered it; upon which he resolved at once to
-seek Don Pedro in his temporary abode, moved principally by curiosity
-to see the lovely Seraphina.
-
-As soon as he appeared before Don Pedro, that signor rushed towards
-him with open arms, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Welcome! generous
-cavalier, I began to feel angry at your absence. 'What!' said I, 'Don
-Cleophas, after the pressing invitation which I gave him to my house,
-still to shun my sight! He ill indeed repays the impatience of my soul
-to testify for him the friendship and esteem which fill it.'"
-
-Zambullo bowed respectfully at this kindly objurgation; and, in
-order to excuse his seeming coldness, replied to the old man, that
-he had feared to incommode him in the confusion which the event of
-the preceding day must have occasioned. "I cannot listen to such an
-excuse," resumed Don Pedro; "you can never be unwelcome in a house
-which but for your noble conduct would have been a house of mourning
-indeed. But," he added, "follow me, if you please; you have other
-thanks than mine to receive." And taking the Student's hand, he led him
-to the apartment of Seraphina.
-
-"My child," said Don Pedro, as he entered the room, where this lady was
-reposing from the noon-day heat, "I present to you the gentleman who so
-courageously saved your life. Show to him now, if you can, how deeply
-sensible you are of the obligation he conferred, since the danger from
-which he rescued you deprived you of the power to do so on the spot."
-On this, the Signora Seraphina, opening a mouth of roses to express the
-gratitude of her heart to Leandro Perez, paid him in compliments so
-warm and graceful, as would charm my readers as much as they did their
-blushing object, could I repeat each honeyed word; but as they have not
-been faithfully reported, I think it better to omit them altogether,
-than chance to spoil them by my own imperfect knowledge in such
-matters.
-
-[Illustration: Seraphina thanks Zambullo]
-
-I will only say, that Don Cleophas thought he beheld and listened to
-some bright divinity, and that he was at once the victim of his eyes
-and ears. To say that he loved her, is a thing of course; but, far
-from regarding the beauteous form before him as a possession to which
-he might aspire, his heart foreboded, despite all that the Demon had
-assured him, that they would never pay at such a price the service they
-imagined him to have rendered. As her charms increased in their effect
-upon his mind, doubts, teasing doubts, came threatening to destroy the
-infant Hope, first-cherished child of Love.
-
-What completed his mystification on the subject, was, that Don Pedro
-during the lengthened conversation which ensued, not once e'en touched
-upon the tender theme; but contented himself with loading him with
-civilities, without hinting in the slightest degree that he had any
-desire for the honour of his relationship. Seraphina, too, as polite
-as her father, while she did not fail in expressions of the deepest
-gratitude, dropped no one word whose magic charm would serve Zambullo
-to conjure visions of wedding joys; so that our Student left the Signor
-Escolano and his daughter with Love as his companion, but leaving Hope
-behind him.
-
-"Asmodeus, my friend," he muttered as he walked along, as though the
-Devil still were by his side, "when you assured me that Don Pedro was
-disposed to adopt me as his son-in-law, and that Seraphina burned with
-passion lighted in her heart by you for me, it must have pleased you to
-make merry at my cost, or else you know as little of the present time
-as of that which is to come."
-
-He now regretted that he had ever seen the dangerous beauty; and
-looking on the love which filled his breast as an unhappy passion
-which he ought to stifle in its infancy, he resolved to set about it
-in earnest. He even reproached himself for having desired to gain his
-point, supposing he had found the father all disposed to give his
-daughter to him; and represented to himself that it would have been
-disgraceful to have owed his happiness to a deception like that he had
-projected.
-
-He was yet occupied with these reflections, when Don Pedro, having sent
-to seek him on the following day, said to him: "Signor Leandro Perez,
-it is time I proved to you by deeds, that in obliging me you have not
-to do with one of those who repay a benefit in courtly phrases. You
-saved my daughter: and I wish that she, herself, should recompense
-the peril you encountered for her sake. I have consulted Seraphina
-thereupon, and find her ready to obey my will; nay, I can say with
-pride, I recognized her for my child indeed when I proposed that she
-should give her hand to him who saved her life. She showed her joy by
-transports which at once convinced my soul her generosity responds to
-mine. It is settled therefore that you shall marry with my daughter."
-
-After having spoken thus, the good Signor de Escolano, who reasonably
-expected that Don Cleophas would have gone down on his knees to thank
-him for so great a boon, was sufficiently surprised to find him
-speechless, and displaying an evident embarrassment. "Speak, Zambullo!"
-he at length exclaimed. "What am I to infer from the confusion which
-my proposition to you has occasioned? What possible objection can you
-have? What! a private gentleman--although respectable--to refuse an
-alliance which a noble would have courted! Has then the honour of my
-house some blemish of which I am ignorant?"
-
-[Illustration: the marriage of Zambullo and Seraphina]
-
-"Signor," replied Leandro, "I know too well the space that Heaven has
-set between us." "Why then," returned Don Pedro, "seem you to care
-so little for a marriage which does you so much honour? Confess! Don
-Cleophas, you love some maiden, and have pledged your faith; and it
-is your honour now which bars your road to fortune." "Had I," replied
-the Student, "a mistress to whom my vows had bound my future fate, it
-is not fortune that should bid me break them; but it is no such tie
-that now compels me to reject your proffered bounty. Honour, it is
-true, compels me to renounce the glorious destiny that you would tempt
-me with; but, far from seeking to abuse your kindness, I am about to
-undeceive you to my own undoing. I am not the deliverer of Seraphina."
-
-"What do I hear!" exclaimed Don Pedro, in utter astonishment. "It was
-not you who rescued Seraphina from the flames which threatened her with
-instant death! It was not Don Cleophas who had the courage to risk his
-life to save her!" "No, Signor," replied Zambullo; "mortal man would
-have vainly essayed to shield her from her fate; learn that it was a
-devil to whom you owe your daughter's life."
-
-These words only increased the astonishment of Don Pedro, who, not
-conceiving that he was to understand them literally, entreated the
-Student to explain himself. Upon which Leandro, regardless of the loss
-of the Demon's friendship, related all that had passed between Asmodeus
-and himself. Having finished, the old man resumed, and said to Don
-Cleophas: "The confidence you have reposed in me confirms me in my
-design of giving you my daughter. You were her chief deliverer. Had you
-not thus intreated the Devil whom you speak of to snatch her from the
-death which menaced her, it is clear that he would have suffered her
-to perish. It is you then who preserved the life of Seraphina, which
-cannot be better devoted than to the happiness of your own. You deserve
-her; and I again offer you her hand with the half of my estate."
-
-Leandro Perez at these words, which removed all his conscientious
-scruples, threw himself at the feet of Don Pedro to thank him for
-his generosity. In a few weeks, the marriage was celebrated with
-a magnificence suitable to the espousal of the heir of the Signor
-de Escolano, and to the great satisfaction of the relations of our
-Student, who was thus amply repaid for the few hours' freedom he had
-procured for the Devil on Two Sticks.
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of Asmodeus in his bottle]
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks, by 
-Alain-René Le Sage
-
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 51145 ***
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-/* Poetry */
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-    margin-left:10%;
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-  </head>
-<body>
-
-
-<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 51145 ***</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
-<img src="images/cover.png" width="500" alt="cover" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<h1>ASMODEUS;</h1>
-<h3>OR,</h3>
-<h2>The Devil on Two Sticks.</h2>
-
-
-<h2>By ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE.</h2>
-
-
-<h4>WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR,</h4>
-<h4>By JULES JANIN.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic02andtitlepage.png" width="350" alt="Asmodeus and Zambullo fly over Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h4>Illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT.</h4>
-
-<h4>[Translated by Joseph Thomas.]</h4>
-
-
-<h5>GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,</h5>
-<h5>LONDON: BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.</h5>
-<h5>NEW YORK: 416 BROOME STREET.</h5>
-
-
-<h5>1879.</h5>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h4>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialw.png" width="75" height="78" alt="W" />
-</div>
-
-<p>When I first determined on the publication
-of a new edition of "<span class="smcap">The Devil on Two
-Sticks</span>," I had certainly no idea of engaging
-in a new translation. I had not read an English version
-since my boyhood, and naturally conceived that
-the one which had passed current for upwards of a
-century must possess sufficient merit to render anything
-beyond a careful revision, before passing it again
-through the press, unnecessary. However, on reading
-a few pages, and on comparing them with the much-loved
-original, I no longer wondered, as I had so
-often done, why <span class="smcap">Le Diable Boiteux</span> was so little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>
-esteemed by those who had only known him in his
-English dress, while Gil Blas was as great a favourite
-with the British public as any of its own heroes of story.
-To account for this, I will not dwell on the want of
-literal fidelity in the old version, although in some
-instances that is amusing enough; but the total absence
-of style, and that too in the translation of a work by
-one of the greatest masters of verbal melody that ever
-existed, was so striking as to induce me, rashly perhaps,
-to endeavour more worthily to interpret the witty and
-satirical <span class="smcap">Asmodeus</span> for the benefit of those who have
-not the inestimable pleasure of comprehending him in
-his <i>native</i> tongue&mdash;for, as Jules Janin observes, he is a
-Devil truly French.</p>
-
-<p>In the translation which I here present, I do not
-myself pretend, at all times, to have rendered the words
-of the 'graceful Cupid' with strict exactness, but I have
-striven to convey to my reader the ideas which those
-words import. Whether I have succeeded in so doing
-is for others to determine; but, if I have not, I shall at
-all events have the satisfaction of failing in company,&mdash;which,
-I am told, however, is only an Old Bailey sort of
-feeling after all.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>I have not thought it necessary to attempt the Life of
-the Author; it will be enough to me, for fame, not to
-have murdered one of his children. I have therefore
-adopted the life, character, and behaviour of Le Sage
-from one of the most talented of modern French writers,
-and my readers will doubtless congratulate themselves
-on my resolve. Neither have I deemed it needful to
-enter into the controversy as to the originality of this
-work, except by a note in page <a href="#Page_162">162</a>: and this I should
-probably not have appended, had I, while hunting over
-the early editions there referred to, observed the original
-dedication of Le Sage to 'the illustrious Don Luis
-Velez de Guevara,' in which are the following words:
-"I have already declared, and do now again declare to
-the world, that to your Diabolo Cojuelo I owe the title
-and plan of this work ...; and I must further own,
-that if the reader look narrowly into some passages of
-this performance, he will find I have adopted several
-of your thoughts. I wish from my soul he could find
-more, and that the necessity I was under of accommodating
-my writings to the genius of my own country
-had not prevented me from copying you exactly." This
-is surely enough to exonerate Le Sage from the many
-charges which have been urged against him; and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>
-quote the concluding sentence of the above, because it
-is an excuse, from his own pen, for some little liberties
-which I have, in my turn, thought it necessary to take
-with his work in the course of my labours.</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">JOSEPH THOMAS.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/prefacetailpiece.png" width="100" height="104" alt="dragon tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h4>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left">TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LE SAGE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_xv">xv</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER I.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS&mdash;WHEN
-AND BY WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ
-ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER II.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER III.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
-FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
-BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER V.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
-BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE
-ON DONNA THOMASA.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS,
-WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN
-HIS DAY.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER X.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
-OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC
-AUTHOR.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE DREAMERS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED
-TO THE STUDENT.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE CAPTIVES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE
-CONCLUDING IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF
-THE DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN
-WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
-HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS
-WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_410">410</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/contentstailpiece.png" width="100" height="89" alt="tailpiece: cul-de-lampe with mask" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;">
-<img src="images/lesagenoticebust.png" width="276" height="213" alt="Bust of Le Sage between Asmodeus and Gil Blas" />
-</div>
-
-<h4>NOTICE OF LE SAGE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali.png" width="75" height="73" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>I shall at once place <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span> by the side of Molière;
-he is a comic poet in all the acceptation of that great word,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Comedy</span>.
-He possesses its noble instincts, its good-natured
-irony, its animated dialogue, its clear and flowing
-style, its satire without bitterness, he has studied profoundly the
-various states of life in the heights and depths of the world. He
-is perfectly acquainted with the manners of comedians and courtiers,&mdash;of
-students and pretty women. Exiled from the Théâtre-Français,
-of which he would have been the honour, and less fortunate
-than Molière, who had comedians under his direction, and
-who was the proprietor of his own theatre, Le Sage found himself
-obliged more than once to bury in his breast this Comedy, from
-want of a fitting stage for its exhibition, and actors to represent it.
-Thus circumstanced, the author of "Turcaret" was compelled to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>
-seek a new form, under which he might throw into the world the
-wit, the grace, the gaiety, the instruction which possessed him. In
-writing the biography of such men, there is but one thing to do,
-and that is to praise. The more humble and obscure have they
-been in their existence, the greater is the duty of him who tells the
-story of their lives, to heap upon them eulogy and honour. This
-is a tardy justice, if you will, but it is a justice nevertheless; and
-besides, of what importance, after all, are these vulgar events? All
-these biographies are alike. A little more of poverty, a little less
-of misery, a youth expended in energy, a manhood serious and
-filled with occupation, an old age respected, honourable; and, at
-the end of all these labours, all these troubles, all these anguishes
-of mind and heart, of which your great men alone have the secret,&mdash;the
-Académie-Française in perspective. Then, are you possessed
-of mediocre talents only? all doors are open to you;&mdash;are you a
-man of genius? the door opens with difficulty;&mdash;but, are you perchance
-one of those excelling spirits who appear but from century
-to century? it may turn out that the Académie-Française will not
-have you at any price. Thus did it with the great Molière; thus
-also has it done for Le Sage; which, by-the-bye, is a great honour
-for the illustrious author of "Gil Blas."</p>
-
-<p>René Le Sage was born in the Morbihan, on the 8th of May,
-1668:<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and in that year Racine produced "Les Plaideurs," and
-Molière was playing his "Avare." The father of Le Sage was a man
-slightly lettered,&mdash;as much so as could be expected of an honourable
-provincial attorney, one who lived from day to day like a lord,
-without troubling himself too much as to the future fortunes of his
-only son. The father died when the child was only fourteen years
-of age; and soon afterwards the youthful René lost his mother.
-He was now alone, under the guardianship of an uncle, and he was
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span>fortunate enough to be placed under the tutelage of those learned
-masters of the youth of the seventeenth century, the Jesuits who
-subsequently became the instructors of Voltaire, as they have been
-of all France of the great age. Thanks to this talented and paternal
-teaching, our young orphan quickly penetrated into the learned
-and poetical mysteries of that classic antiquity, which is yet in our
-days, and will be to the end of time, the exhaustless source of taste,
-of style, of reason, and of good sense. It is to praise Le Sage to
-say that he was educated with as much care and assiduity as
-Molière and Racine, as La Fontaine and Voltaire; they one and
-all prepared themselves, by severest study, and by respect for
-their masters, to become masters in their turn; and they have
-themselves become classic writers, because they reverenced their
-classic models,&mdash;which may, in case of need, serve as an example
-for the beaux-esprits of our own time.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> According to Moreri, in his "Grand Dictionnaire Historique," (folio, Paris,
-1759,) and he cites as his authority M. Titon de Tillet's second supplement to
-the "Parnasse Français," Le Sage was born at Ruis in Brittany, in 1677.
-There is, however, every reason to believe that M. Jules Janin is correct, both
-as to the year and the place of his birth, notwithstanding that Mr. Chalmers, in
-his "Biographical Dictionary," while he assigns to the former the year 1668,
-places the latter at Vannes, as does also the "Biographie Universelle," which
-he appears to have followed.</p></div>
-
-<p>But, when this preliminary education was completed, and when
-he left these learned mansions, all filled with Greek and Latin, all
-animated with poetic fervour, Le Sage encountered those terrible
-obstacles that await invariably, as he emerges from his studies,
-every young man without family, and destitute of fortune. The
-poet Juvenal has well expressed it, in one of his sublimest verses:
-"They with difficulty rise, whose virtues are opposed by the pinching
-wants of home."</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 10%;">
-"Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat<br />
-Res angusta domi."<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>But what matters poverty when one is so young,&mdash;when our hopes
-are so vast, our thoughts so powerful and rich? You have nothing,
-it is true; but the world itself belongs to you,&mdash;the world is your
-patrimony; you are sovereign of the universe; and around you,
-the twentieth year touches every thing with its golden wand.
-Your clear and sparkling eye may look in the sun's bright face as
-dauntless as the eagle's. It is accomplished: all the powers of
-your soul are awakened, all the passions of your heart join in one
-swelling choir, to chant <i>Hosanna in excelsis!</i> What matter then
-that you are poor! A verse sublime, a noble thought, a well-turned
-phrase, the hand of a friend, the soft smile of some bright-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span>
-damsel as she flits across your path,&mdash;there is a fortune for a
-week. Those who, at the commencement of every biography,
-enter into all sorts of lamentation, and deplore with pathetic voice
-the mournful destiny of their hero, are not in the secret of the
-facile joys of poetry, of the exquisite happiness of youth,&mdash;the
-simpletons! They amuse themselves in counting, one by one, the
-rags that cover yonder handsome form; and they see not, through
-the holes of the cloak which envelopes it, those Herculean arms,
-or that athletic breast! They look with pity on that poor young
-man with well-worn hat, and beneath that covering deformed
-they see not those abundant, black, and tended locks, the flowing
-diadem of youth! They will tell you, with heart-rending sighs,
-how happy Diderot esteemed himself, when to his crust of bread
-he joined the luxury of cheese, and how this poor René le Sage
-drank at his repasts but pure spring water;&mdash;a lamentable matter,
-truly! But Diderot, while he ate his cheese, already meditated the
-shocks of his "Encyclopædia"; but this same clear fountain from
-which you drink, at twenty, in the hollow of your hand, as pure,
-will intoxicate more surely than will, after twenty other years,
-alas! the sparkling produce of Champagne, poured out in cups of
-crystal.</p>
-
-<p>This is sufficient reason why we should not trouble ourselves
-overmuch as to the early life of Le Sage; he was young and handsome,
-and as he marched, his head upturned like a poet, he met
-as he went along with those first loves which one always meets
-when the heart is honest and devoted. A charming woman loved
-him, and he let her love him to her heart's content; and, without
-concerning himself as to his good fortune, more than would master
-Gil Blas have done on a similar occasion, these first amours of
-our poet lasted just as long as such sort of amours ought to last&mdash;long
-enough that they should leave no subject for regret, not
-enough that they should evoke hatred. When, therefore, they
-had loved each other as much as they could, she and he, they
-separated, still to please themselves; she found a husband of riper
-age and better off than her lover; he took a wife more beauteous
-and less wealthy than his mistress. And blessings on the amiable
-and devoted girl who consented, with a joyous heart, to encounter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span>
-all the risks, all the vexations, and also to expose herself to the
-seducing pleasures of a poetic life! Thus Le Sage entered, almost
-without thinking of it, into that laborious life in which one must
-daily expend the rarest and most charming treasures of his mind
-and soul. As a commencement, he made a translation of the
-Letters of Calisthenes, without imagining that he was himself
-possessed of more wit than all the Greeks of the fourth century.
-The work had no success, and it ought not to have had. He who
-has the genius of Le Sage must create original works, or not
-meddle in the craft. To translate is a trade of manual skill&mdash;to
-imitate, is one of plagiary. However, the failure of this first book
-rendered Le Sage less proud and haughty; and he accepted, what
-he would never have done had he at once succeeded, a pension
-from M. l'Abbé de Lyonne. This pension amounted to six hundred
-francs; and thereupon the biographers of our author are in extacies
-at the generosity of the Abbé de Lyonne.</p>
-
-<p>Six hundred francs! and when we reflect that had Le Sage lived
-in our day, depending only on his Théâtre de la Foire, he would
-have gained thirty thousand francs a year! In our days, a
-romance like "Gil Blas" would not be worth less than five hundred
-thousand francs; "Le Diable Boiteux" would have brought him a
-hundred thousand, at least: still, we must not be angry with M.
-l'Abbé de Lyonne, for having bestowed a pension of six hundred
-on the author of "Gil Blas." The abbé did more; he opened to
-Le Sage an admirable treasure of wit, of imagination, and of
-poetry; he taught him the Spanish tongue, that lovely and noble
-instructress of the great Corneille; and it is doubtless no slight
-honour for the language of Cervantes to have given birth in our
-land to "The Cid" and to "Gil Blas." You may imagine with what
-delight Le Sage accepted this instruction, and how perfectly at
-home he found himself in those elegant and gracious manners;
-with what good will he studied that smiling gallantry, that loyal
-jealousy; those duennas in appearance so austere, in reality so
-accessible; those lovely women, their feet ensatined, their head in
-the mantilla; those charming mansions, all carved without, and
-within all silence; those exciting windows, lighted by smiles above,
-while concerts murmur at their feet! You may imagine if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span>
-adopted those lively and coquetish waiting-women, those ingenious
-and rascally valets, those enormous mantles so favourable to love,
-those ancient bowers so friendly to its modest blisses! Thus,
-when he had discovered this new world of poesy, of which he was
-about to be the Pizarro and the Fernando Cortes, and of which
-Corneille had been the Christopher Columbus, René le Sage
-clapped his hands for joy. In his noble pride, he stamped his
-feet on this enchanted land; he began to read, you may fancy with
-what delight, that admirable epic, "Don Quixote," which he studied
-for its grace, its charms, its poetry, its passion; putting for the
-time aside its satire, and the sarcasm concealed in this splendid
-drama, as weapons for a later use, when he should attack the
-financiers. Certainly, the Abbé de Lyonne never dreamt that he
-was opening to the light this exhaustless mine for the man who was
-to become the first comic poet of France&mdash;since Molière is one
-of those geniuses apart, of whom all the nations of the earth,
-all literary ages, claim alike with equal right the honour and the
-glory.</p>
-
-<p>The first fruit of this Spanish cultivation was a volume of
-comedies which Le Sage published, and in which he had translated
-some excellent pieces of the Spanish stage. It contained
-only one from Lopez de Vega, so ingenious and so fruitful; that
-was certainly too few: there was in it not one of Calderon de la
-Barca; and that was as certainly not enough. In this book, which
-I have read with care, in search of some of those luminous rays
-which betoken the presence of the man of genius wherever he has
-passed, I have met with nothing but the translator. The original
-writer does not yet display himself: it is because style is a thing
-which comes but slowly; it is because, in this heart of comedy more
-especially, there are certain secrets of trade which no talent can
-replace, and which must be learned at whatever cost. These
-secrets Le Sage learned, as every thing is learned, at his own
-expense. From a simple translator as he was, he became an
-arranger of dramatic pieces, and in 1702 (the eighteenth century
-had begun its course, but with timid steps, and none could have
-predicted what it would become) Le Sage brought out at the
-Théâtre Français a comedy in five acts, "Le Point d'Honneur:" it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span>
-was a mere imitation from the Spanish. The imitation had small
-success, and Le Sage comprehended not this lesson of the public;
-he understood not that something whispered to the pit, so reserved
-in its applause, that there was in this translator an original poet.
-To avenge himself, what did Le Sage? He fell into a greater
-error still: he set to work translating&mdash;will you believe it?&mdash;the
-continuation of "Don Quixote," as if "Don Quixote" could have a
-continuation; as if there were a person in the world, even Cervantes
-himself, who had the right to add a chapter to this famous history!
-Verily, it is strange, indeed, that with his taste so pure, his judgment
-so correct, Le Sage should have ever thought of this unhappy
-<i>continuation</i>. This time, therefore, again his new attempt had no
-success; the Parisian public, which, whatever may be said to the
-contrary, is a great judge, was more just for the veritable Quixote
-than Le Sage himself; and he had once more to begin anew.
-However, he yet once more attempted this new road, which could
-lead him to nothing good. He returned to the charge, still with
-a Spanish comedy, "Don César Ursin," imitated from Calderon.
-This piece was played for the first time at Versailles, and applauded
-to the skies by the court, which deceived itself almost as often as the
-town. Le Sage now thought that the battle at last was won. Vain
-hope! it was again a battle lost, for, brought from Versailles to
-Paris, the comedy of "Don César Ursin" was hissed off the stage
-by the Parisian pit, which thus unmercifully annihilated the eulogies
-of the court, and the first victory of the author. It was now full time
-to yield to the force of evidence. Enlightened by these rude instructions,
-Le Sage at last comprehended that it was not permitted
-to him, to him less than to all others, to be a plagiarist; that
-originality was one of the grand causes of success; and that to
-confine himself for ever to this servile imitation of the Spanish
-poets was to become a poet lost.</p>
-
-<p>Now, therefore, behold him, determined in his turn to be an
-original poet. This time he no longer copies, he invents; he
-arranges his fable to his mind, and seeks no further refuge in the
-phantasmagoria of Spain. With original ideas, comes to him
-originality of style; and he at last lights on that wondrous and
-imperishable dialogue which may be compared to the dialogue of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span>
-Molière, not for its ease, perhaps, but unquestionably for its grace
-and elegance. He found at the same time, to his great joy, now
-that he was himself&mdash;that he walked in the footsteps of nobody, he
-found that the business was much more simple; this time he was
-at his ease in his plot, which he disposed as it pleased him; he
-breathed freely in the space which he had opened to himself;
-nothing constrained his march, any more than his poetical caprice.
-Well! at last then we behold him the supreme moderator of his
-work, we behold him such as the pit would have him, such as we
-all hoped he was.</p>
-
-<p>This happy comedy, which is, beyond all doubt, the first work of
-Le Sage, is entitled "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." When he had
-finished it, Le Sage, grateful for the reception which the court had
-given to "Don César Ursin," was desirous that the court should also
-have the first hearing of "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." He
-remembered, with great delight, that the first applauses he had
-received had been echoed from Versailles! Behold him then producing
-his new comedy before the court. But, alas! this time the
-opinion of the court had changed: without regard for the plaudits
-of Versailles, the pit of the Paris theatre had hissed "Don César
-Ursin"; Versailles in its turn, and as if to take its revenge, now
-hissed "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." We must allow that, for a
-mind less strong, here was enough to confound a man for ever, and
-to make him comprehend nothing either as to the success or the
-failure of his productions. Happily, Le Sage appealed from the
-public of Versailles to the pit of Paris; and as much as "Crispin,
-Rival de son Maître" had been hissed at Versailles, so much was
-this charming comedy applauded at Paris. On this occasion, it
-was not alone to give the lie to the court, that the pit applauded;
-Paris had refound, in truth, in this new piece, all the qualities of
-true comedy,&mdash;the wit, the grace, the easy irony, the exhaustless
-pleasantry, a noble frankness, much biting satire, and a moderate
-seasoning of love.</p>
-
-<p>As to those who would turn into accusation the hisses of Versailles,
-they should recollect that more than one chef-d'oeuvre,
-hissed at Paris, has been raised again by the suffrages of Versailles;&mdash;"Les
-Plaideurs" of Racine, for instance, which the court restored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span>
-to the poet with extraordinary applause, with the bursting laughter
-of Louis XIV., which come deliciously to trouble the repose of
-Racine, at five o'clock in the morning. Happy times, on the
-contrary, when poets had, to approve them, to try them, this double
-jurisdiction; when they could appeal from the censures of the
-court to the praises of the town, from the hisses of Versailles to the
-plaudits of Paris!</p>
-
-<p>Now we behold René le Sage, to whom nothing opposes: he has
-divined his true vocation, which is comedy; he understands what
-may be made of the human race, and by what light threads are
-suspended the human heart. These threads of gold, of silver, or
-of brass, he holds them at this moment in his hand, and you will
-see with what skill he weaves them. Already in his head, which
-bears Gil Blas and his fortune, ferment the most charming recitals
-of "Le Diable Boiteux." Silence! "Turcaret" is about to appear,&mdash;Turcaret,
-whom Molière would not have forgotten if Turcaret had
-lived in his day; but it was necessary to wait till France should
-have escaped from the reign, so decorous, of Louis XIV., to witness
-the coming, after the man of the Church, after the man of the
-sword, this man without heart and without mind,&mdash;the man of
-money. In a society like our own, the man of money is one of
-those bastard and insolent powers which grow out of the affairs of
-every day, as the mushroom grows out from the dunghill. We
-know not whence comes this inert force,&mdash;we know not how it is
-maintained on the surface of the world, and nothing tells how it disappears,
-after having thrown its phosphorus of an instant. It is
-necessary, in truth, that an epoch should be sufficiently corrupt, and
-sufficiently stained with infamy, when it replaces, by money, the
-sword of the warrior, by money the sentence of the judge, by money
-the intelligence of the legislator, by money the sceptre of the king
-himself. Once that a nation has descended so low, as to adore money
-on its knees&mdash;to require neither fine arts, nor poesy, nor love, it is
-debased as was the Jewish people, when it knelt before the golden
-calf. Happily, of all the ephemeral powers in the world, money is
-the most ephemeral; we extend to it our right hand, it is true, but we
-buffet it with our left; we prostrate ourselves before it as it passes
-along,&mdash;yes; but when it has passed, we kick it with our foot!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span>
-This is what Le Sage marvellously comprehended, like a great
-comic poet as he was. He found the absurd and frightful side of
-those gilded men who divide our finances, menials enriched overnight,
-who, more than once, by a perfectly natural mistake, have
-mounted behind their own coaches. And such is Turcaret. The
-poet has loaded him with vices the most disgraceful, with follies
-the most dishonouring; he tears from this heart, debased by
-money, every natural affection; and nevertheless, even in this
-fearful picture, Le Sage has confined himself within the limits of
-comedy, and not once in this admirable production does contempt
-or indignation take the place of laughter. It was then with good
-cause that the whole race of financiers, as soon as they had heard
-of Turcaret, caballed against this chef-d'oeuvre; the cry resounded
-in all the rich saloons of Paris; it was echoed from the usurers who
-lent their money to the nobles, and re-echoed by the nobles who
-condescended to borrow from the usurers; it was a general hue
-and cry.</p>
-
-<p>"Le Tartufe" of Molière never met with greater opposition among
-the devotees than "Turcaret" experienced from financiers; and, to
-make use of the expression of Beaumarchais in reference to "Figaro,"
-it required as much mind for Le Sage to cause his comedy to be
-played as it did to write it. But on this occasion, again, the public,
-which is the all-powerful manager in these matters, was more potent
-than intrigue; Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin, that Prince so illustrious
-by his piety and virtue, protected the comedy of Le Sage, as
-his ancestor, Louis XIV., had protected that of Molière. On this,
-the financiers, perceiving that all was lost as far as intrigue was concerned,
-had recourse to money, which is the last reason of this description
-of upstarts, as cannon is the <i>ultima ratio</i> of kings. This
-time again the attack availed not: the great poet refused a fortune
-that his comedy might be played, and unquestionably he made a
-good bargain by his resolve, preferable a hundred thousand times to
-all the fortunes which have been made and lost in the Rue Quincampoix.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
-The success of "Turcaret" (1709) was immense; the Parisian
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span>enjoyed with rare delight the spectacle of these grasping money-hunters
-devoted to the most cruel ridicule. What if Le Sage had
-deferred the production of this masterpiece! These men would have
-disappeared, to make room for others of the kind, and they would
-have carried with them into oblivion the comedy they had paid for.
-It would have been a <i>chef-d'oeuvre</i> lost to us for ever; and never,
-that we know of, would the good men on 'Change have dealt us a
-more fatal blow.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In this street, in 1716, the famous projector Law established his bank; and
-the rage for speculation which followed, made it for a time the Bourse of Paris.
-A hump-backed man made a large fortune by lending himself as a desk, whereon
-the speculators might sign their contracts, or the transfer of shares. The Rue
-Quincampoix is still a leading street for business, but its trade is now confined
-to more honest wares, such as drugs and grocery.</p></div>
-
-<p>Who would credit it, however? After this superb production,
-which should have rendered him the master of French comedy, Le
-Sage was soon compelled to abandon that ungrateful theatre which
-understood him not. He renounced,&mdash;he, the author of "Turcaret,"&mdash;pure
-comedy, to write, as a pastime, farces, little one-act pieces
-mingled with couplets, which made the life of the Théâtre de la
-Foire Saint Laurent, and of the Théâtre de la Foire Saint Germain.
-Unfortunate example for Le Sage to set, in expending, without
-thought, all his talent, from day to day, without pity for himself,
-without profit for anyone. What! the author of "Turcaret" to
-fill exactly the same office as M. Scribe; to waste his time, his style,
-and his genius upon that trifling comedy which a breath can hurry
-away! And the French comedians were all unmoved, and hastened
-not to throw themselves at the feet of Le Sage, to pray, to supplicate
-him to take under his all-powerful protection that theatre elevated
-by the genius and by the toils of Molière! But these senseless
-comedians were unable to foresee anything.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, if he had renounced the Théâtre Français, Le Sage
-had not abandoned true comedy. All the comedies which thronged
-his brain, he heaped them up in that grand work which is called
-"Gil Blas," and which includes within itself alone the history of the
-human heart. What can be said of "Gil Blas" which has not already
-been written? How can I sufficiently eulogise the only book truly
-gay in the French language? The man who wrote "Gil Blas" has
-placed himself in the first rank among all the authors of this world;
-he has made himself, by the magic of his pen, the cousin-german<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span>
-of Rabelais and Montaigne, the grandfather of Voltaire, the brother
-of Cervantes, and the younger brother of Molière; he takes his
-place, in plenitude of right, in the family of comic poets, who have
-themselves been philosophers. In the same vein, he has further
-composed the "Bachelier de Salamanque," which would be a charming
-book if "Gil Blas" existed not, if above all, before writing his
-"Gil Blas," he had not written this charming book, "<span class="smcap">Le Diable
-Boiteux</span>."</p>
-
-<p>And now, <i>sauve qui peut!</i> the Devil is let loose upon the town,
-a devil truly French, who has the wit, the grace, and the vivacity of
-Gil Blas. Beware! Look to yourselves, you the ridiculous and
-the vicious, who have escaped the high comedy of the stage, for, by
-the virtue of this all-potent wand, not alone your mansions but your
-very souls shall in a twinkling change to glass. Beware! I say;
-for Asmodeus, the terrible scoffer, is about to plunge his pitiless
-eye into those mysterious places which you deemed so impenetrable,
-and to each of you he will reveal his secret history; he will strike
-you without mercy with that ivory crutch which opens all doors and
-all hearts; he will proclaim aloud your follies and your vices.
-None shall escape from that vigilant observer, who, astride upon
-his crutch, glides upon the roofs of the best secured houses, and
-divines their ambitions, their jealousies, their inquietudes, and,
-above all, their midnight wakefulness. Considered with relation to
-its wit without bitterness, its satire which laughs at everything, and
-with regard to its style, which is admirable, "Le Diable Boiteux" is
-perhaps the book most perfectly French in our language; it is
-perhaps the only book that Molière would have put his name to
-after "Gil Blas."</p>
-
-<p>Such was this life, all filled with most delightful labour, as also
-with the most serious toil; thus did this man, who was born a
-great author, and who has raised to perfection the talent of writing,
-go on from chef-d'oeuvre to chef-d'oeuvre without pause. The
-number of his productions is not exactly known; at sixty-five years
-of age, he yet wrote a volume of <i>mélanges</i>, and he died without
-imagining to himself the glories which were reserved for his name.
-An amiable and light-hearted philosopher, he was to the end full
-of wit and good sense; an agreeable gossiper, a faithful friend, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span>
-indulgent father, he retired to the little town of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
-where he became without ceremony a good citizen, whom everybody
-shook by the hand without any great suspicion that he was a
-man of genius. Of three sons who had been born to him, two
-became comedians, to the great sorrow of their noble father, who
-had preserved for the players, as is plainly perceptible in "Gil Blas,"
-a well-merited dislike. However, Le Sage pardoned his two
-children, and he even frequently went to applaud the elder, who
-had taken the name of Monmenil; and when Monmenil died, before
-his father, Le Sage wept for him, and never from that time (1743)
-entered a theatre. His third son, the brother of these two comedians,
-was a good canon of Boulogne-sur-Mer; and it was to his
-house that Le Sage retired with his wife and his daughter, deserving
-objects of his affection, and who made all the happiness of his
-latest days.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most affable gentlemen of that time, who would have
-been remarkable by his talents, even though he had not been
-distinguished by his nobility, M. le Comte de Tressan, governor of
-Boulogne-sur-Mer, was in the habit of seeing the worthy old man
-during the last year of his life; and upon that fine face, shaded
-with thick white hairs, he could still discern that love and genius
-had been there. Le Sage rose early, and his first steps took him
-to seek the sun. By degrees, as the luminous rays fell upon him,
-thought returned to his forehead, motion to his heart, gesture to
-his hand, and his eyes were lighted with their wonted fire: as the
-sun mounted in the skies, this awakened intelligence appeared, on
-its side, more brilliant and more clear; so much so, that you
-beheld again before you the author of "Gil Blas." But, alas! all
-this animation drooped in proportion as the sun declined; and,
-when night was come, you had before your eyes but a good old
-man, whose steps must be tended to his dwelling.</p>
-
-<p>Thus died he, one day in summer. The sun had shown itself in
-heaven's topmost height on that bright day; and it had not quite
-left the earth when Le Sage called the members of his family
-around to bless them. He was little less than ninety when he
-died (1747).</p>
-
-<p>To give you an idea of the popularity that this man enjoyed even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span>
-during his life-time, I will finish with this anecdote: When the
-"Diable Boiteux" appeared, in 1707, the success of this admirable
-and ingenious satire upon human life was so great, the public
-esteemed the lively epigrams it contains so delightful, that the
-publisher was obliged to print two editions in one week. On the
-last day of this week, two gentlemen, their swords by their sides,
-as was then the custom, entered the bookseller's shop to buy the
-new romance. A single copy remained to sell: one of these
-gentlemen would have it, the other also claimed it; what was to
-be done? Why, in a moment, there were our two infuriate readers
-with their swords drawn, and fighting for the first blood, and the
-last "Diable Boiteux."</p>
-
-<p>But what, I pray you, had they done, were it a question then of
-the "<span class="smcap">Diable Boiteux</span>" illustrated by <span class="smcap">Tony Johannot</span>?</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">JULES JANIN.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="tailpiece: foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/ch01headpiece.png" width="320" height="170" alt="a street in Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-<h3>ASMODEUS;
-OR, THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS.</h3>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-
-<h5><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS&mdash;WHEN AND
-BY WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO
-FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>A night in the month of October covered with
-its thick darkness the famous city of Madrid.
-Already the inhabitants, retired to their homes,
-had left the streets free for lovers who desired
-to sing their woes or their delights beneath the balconies of
-their mistresses; already had the tinkling of guitars aroused
-the care of fathers, or alarmed the jealousy of husbands; in
-short, it was near midnight, when Don Cleophas Leandro
-Perez Zambullo, a student of Alcala, suddenly emerged, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
-the skylight, from a house into which the incautious son of
-the Cytherean goddess had induced him to enter. He sought
-to preserve his life and his honour, by endeavouring to escape
-from three or four hired assassins, who followed him closely,
-for the purpose of either killing him or compelling him to wed
-a lady with whom they had just surprised him.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic01.png" width="262" height="162" alt="Zambullo fleeing from the hired assassins" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Against such fearful odds he had for some time valiantly
-defended himself; and had only flown, at last, on losing his
-sword in the combat. The bravos followed him for some time
-over the roofs of the neighbouring houses; but, favoured by
-the darkness, he evaded their pursuit; and perceiving at
-some distance a light, which Love or Fortune had placed
-there to guide him through this perilous adventure, he
-hastened towards it with all his remaining strength. After
-having more than once endangered his neck, he at length
-reached a garret, whence the welcome rays proceeded, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
-without ceremony entered by the window; as much transported
-with joy as the pilot who safely steers his vessel into
-port when menaced with the horrors of shipwreck.</p>
-
-<p>He looked cautiously around him; and, somewhat surprised
-to find nobody in the apartment, which was rather a singular
-domicile, he began to scrutinize it with much attention. A
-brass lamp was hanging from the ceiling; books and papers
-were heaped in confusion on the table; a globe and mariner's
-compass occupied one side of the room, and on the other were
-ranged phials and quadrants; all which made him conclude
-that he had found his way into the haunt of some astrologer,
-who, if he did not live there, was in the habit of resorting to
-this hole to make his observations.</p>
-
-<p>He was reflecting on the dangers he had by good fortune
-escaped, and was considering whether he should remain
-where he was until the morning, or what other course he
-should pursue, when he heard a deep sigh very near him.
-He at first imagined it was a mere phantasy of his agitated
-mind, an illusion of the night; so, without troubling himself
-about the matter, he was in a moment again busied with his
-reflections.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic02.png" width="248" height="285" alt="Lucifer, the mountebank's devil" />
-</div>
-
-<p>But having distinctly heard a second sigh, he no longer
-doubted its reality; and, although he saw no one in the room,
-he nevertheless called out,&mdash;"Who the devil is sighing here?"
-"It is I, Signor Student," immediately answered a voice, in
-which there was something rather extraordinary; "I have
-been for the last six months enclosed in one of these phials.
-In this house lodges a learned astrologer, who is also a
-magician: he it is who, by the power of his art, keeps me confined
-in this narrow prison." "You are then a spirit?" said
-Don Cleophas, somewhat perplexed by this new adventure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
-"I am a demon," replied the voice; "and you have come in
-the very nick of time to free me from slavery. I languish in
-idleness; for of all the devils in hell, I am the most active and
-indefatigable."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic03.png" width="262" height="262" alt="Uriel, patron of tradesmen" />
-</div>
-
-<p>These words somewhat alarmed Signor Zambullo; but, as
-he was naturally brave, he quickly recovered himself, and said
-in a resolute tone: "Signor Diabolus, tell me, I pray you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
-what rank you may hold among your brethren. Are you an
-aristocrat, or a burgess?" "I am," replied the voice, "a
-devil of importance, nay, the one of highest repute in this, as
-in the other world." "Perchance," said Don Cleophas, "you
-are the renowned Lucifer?" "Bah," replied the spirit; "why,
-he is the mountebank's devil." "Are you Uriel then?" asked
-the Student. "For shame!" hastily interrupted the voice;
-"no, he is the patron of tradesmen; of tailors, butchers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
-bakers, and other cheats of the middle classes." "Well,
-perhaps you are Beelzebub?" said Leandro. "Are you
-joking?" replied the spirit; "he is the demon of duennas and
-footmen." "That astonishes me," said Zambullo; "I thought
-Beelzebub one of the greatest persons at your court." "He
-is one of the meanest of its subjects," answered the Demon;
-"I see you have no very clear notions of our hell."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 269px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic04.png" width="269" height="225" alt="Leviathan, Belphegor and Ashtaroth" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"There is no doubt then," said Don Cleophas, "that you
-are either Leviathan, Belphegor, or Ashtaroth." "Ah! those
-three now," replied the voice, "are devils of the first order,
-veritable spirits of diplomacy. They animate the councils of
-princes, create factions, excite insurrections, and light the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
-torches of war. They are not such peddling devils as the
-others you have named." "By the bye! tell me," interrupted
-the Scholar, "what post is assigned to Flagel?" "He is the
-soul of special pleading, and the spirit of the bar. He composes
-the rules of court, invented the law of libel, and that
-for the imprisonment of insolvent debtors; in short, he
-inspires pleaders, possesses barristers, and besets even the
-judges.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 203px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic05.png" width="203" height="250" alt="Flagel" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"For myself, I have other occupations: I make absurd
-matches; I marry greybeards with minors, masters with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
-servants, girls with small fortunes with tender lovers who have
-none. It is I who introduced into this world luxury, debauchery,
-games of chance, and chemistry. I am the author
-of the first cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of dancing,
-music, plays, and of the newest fashions; in a word, I am
-<span class="smcap">Asmodeus</span>, surnamed <span class="smcap">The Devil on Two Sticks</span>."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear," cried Don Cleophas; "are you the
-famed Asmodeus, of whom such honourable mention is made
-by Agrippa and in the Clavicula Salamonis? Verily, you have
-not told me all your amusements; you have forgotten the best
-of all. I am well aware that you sometimes divert yourself by
-assisting unhappy lovers: by this token, last year only, a young
-friend of mine obtained, by your favour, the good graces of the
-wife of a Doctor in our university, at Alcala." "That is true,"
-said the spirit: "I reserved that for my last good quality. I
-am the Demon of voluptuousness, or, to express it more
-delicately, Cupid, the god of love; that being the name for
-which I am indebted to the poets, who, I must confess, have
-painted me in very flattering colours. They say I have golden
-wings, a fillet bound over my eyes; that I carry a bow in my
-hand, a quiver full of arrows on my shoulders, and have withal
-inexpressible beauty. Of this, however, you may soon judge
-for yourself, if you will but restore me to liberty."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor Asmodeus," replied Leandro Perez, "it is, as you
-know, long since I have been devoted to you: the perils I
-have just escaped will prove to you how entirely. I am
-rejoiced to have an opportunity of serving you; but the vessel
-in which you are confined is undoubtedly enchanted, and I
-should vainly strive to open, or to break it: so I do not see
-clearly in what manner I can deliver you from your bondage.
-I am not much used to these sorts of disenchantments; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
-between ourselves, if, cunning devil as you are, you know not
-how to gain your freedom, what probability is there that a
-poor mortal like myself can effect it?" "Mankind has this
-power," answered the Demon. "The phial which encloses
-me is but a mere glass bottle, easy to break. You have only
-to throw it on the ground, and I shall appear before you in
-human form." "In that case," said the Student, "the matter
-is easier of accomplishment than I imagined. But tell me in
-which of the phials you are; I see a great number of them, and
-all so like one another, that there may be a devil in each, for
-aught I know." "It is the fourth from the window," replied
-the spirit. "There is the impress of a magical seal on its
-mouth; but the bottle will break, nevertheless." "Enough,"
-said Don Cleophas; "I am ready to do your bidding. There
-is, however, one little difficulty which deters me: when I shall
-have rendered you the service you require, how know I that I
-shall not have to pay the magician, in my precious person, for
-the mischief I have done?" "No harm shall befall you,"
-replied the Demon: "on the contrary, I promise to content
-you with the fruits of my gratitude. I will teach you all you
-can desire to know; I will discover to you the shifting scenes
-of this world's great stage; I will exhibit to you the follies and
-the vices of mankind; in short, I will be your tutelary demon:
-and, more wise than the Genius of Socrates, I undertake to
-render you a greater sage than that unfortunate philosopher.
-In a word, I am yours, with all my good and bad qualities;
-and they shall be to you equally useful."</p>
-
-<p>"Fine promises, doubtless," replied the Student; "but if
-report speak truly, you devils are accused of not being religiously
-scrupulous in the performance of your undertakings."
-"Report is not always a liar," said Asmodeus, "and this is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
-instance to the contrary. The greater part of my brethren
-think no more of breaking their word than a minister of state;
-but for myself, not to mention the service you are about to
-render me, and which I can never sufficiently repay, I am a
-slave to my engagements; and I swear by all a devil holds
-sacred, that I will not deceive you. Rely on my word, and
-the assurances I offer: and what must be peculiarly pleasing
-to you, I engage, this night, to avenge your wrongs on Donna
-Thomasa, the perfidious woman who had concealed within her
-house the four scoundrels who surprised you, that she might
-compel you to espouse her, and patch up her damaged
-reputation."</p>
-
-<p>The young Zambullo was especially delighted with this last
-promise. To hasten its accomplishment, he seized the phial;
-and, without further thought on the event, he dashed it on the
-floor. It broke into a thousand pieces, inundating the apartment
-with a blackish liquor: this, evaporating by degrees, was
-converted into a thick vapour, which, suddenly dissipating,
-revealed to the astonished sight of the Student the figure of a
-man in a cloak, about two feet six inches high, and supported
-by two crutches. This little monster had the legs of a goat, a
-long visage, pointed chin, a dark sallow complexion, and a
-very flat nose; his eyes, to all appearance very small, resembled
-two burning coals; his enormous mouth was surmounted by a
-pair of red mustachios, and ornamented with two lips of unequalled
-ugliness.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic06.png" width="265" height="276" alt="Asmodeus revealed to Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The head of this graceful Cupid was enveloped in a sort of
-turban of red crape, relieved by a plume of cock's and peacock's
-feathers. Round his neck was a collar of yellow cloth,
-upon which were embroidered divers patterns of necklaces and
-earrings. He wore a short white satin gown, or tunic, encircled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
-about the middle by a large band of parchment of the
-same colour, covered with talismanic characters. On the
-gown, also, were painted various bodices, beautifully adapted
-for the display of the fair wearers' necks; scarfs of different
-patterns, worked or coloured aprons, and head-dresses of the
-newest fashion;&mdash;all so extravagant, that it was impossible to
-admire one more than another.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic07.png" width="220" height="296" alt="Detail of the cloak: the Spanish lady and her admirer" />
-</div>
-
-<p>But all this was nothing as compared with his cloak, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
-foundation of which was also white satin. Its exterior presented
-an infinity of figures delicately tinted in Indian ink,
-and yet with so much freedom and expression that you would
-have wondered who the devil could have painted it. On one
-side appeared a Spanish lady covered with her mantilla, and
-leering at a stranger on the promenade; and on the other a
-Parisian grisette, who before her mirror was studying new airs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
-to victimize a young abbé, at that moment opening the door.
-Here, the gay Italian was singing to the guitar beneath the
-balcony of his mistress; and there, the sottish German, with
-vest unbuttoned, stupefied with wine, and more begrimed with
-snuff than a French petit-maître, was sitting, surrounded by his
-companions, at a table covered with the filthy remnants of
-their debauch. In one place could be perceived a Turkish
-bashaw coming from the bath, attended by all the houris of
-his seraglio, each watchful for the handkerchief; and in another
-an English gentleman, who was gallantly presenting to his lady-love
-a pipe and a glass of porter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 260px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic08.png" width="260" height="174" alt="The gamesters" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides these there were gamesters, marvellously well portrayed;
-some, elated with joy, filling their hats with pieces of
-gold and silver; and others, who had lost all but their honour,
-and willing to stake on that, now turning their sacrilegious eyes
-to heaven, and now gnawing the very cards in despair. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
-short, there were as many curious things to be seen on this
-cloak as on the admirable shield which Vulcan forged for
-Achilles, at the prayer of his mother Thetis; with this difference
-however,&mdash;the subjects on the buckler of the Grecian
-hero had no relation to his own exploits, while those on the
-mantle of Asmodeus were lively images of all that is done in
-this world at his suggestion.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER II.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialu.png" width="75" height="78" alt="U" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Upon perceiving that his appearance had not prepossessed
-the student very greatly in his favour,
-the Demon said to him, smiling: "Well, Signor
-Don Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, you
-behold the charming god of love, that sovereign master of
-the human heart. What think you of my air and beauty?
-Confess that the poets are excellent painters." "Frankly!"
-replied Don Cleophas, "I must say they have a little flattered
-you. I fancy, it was not in this form that you won
-the love of Psyche." "Certainly not," replied the Devil:
-"I borrowed the graces of a little French marquis, to make
-her dote upon me. Vice must be hidden under a pleasing
-veil, or it wins not even woman. I take what shape best
-pleases me; and I could have discovered myself to you under
-the form of the Apollo Belvi, but that as I have nothing to
-disguise from you, I preferred you should see me under a
-figure more agreeable to the opinion which the world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
-generally entertains of me and my performances." "I am not
-surprised," said Leandro, "to find you rather ugly&mdash;excuse
-the phrase, I pray you; the transactions we are about to have
-with each other demand a little frankness: your features
-indeed almost exactly realise the idea I had formed of you.
-But tell me, how happens it that you are on crutches?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why," replied the Demon, "many years ago, I had an unfortunate
-difference with Pillardoc, the spirit of gain, and the
-patron of pawnbrokers. The subject of our dispute was a
-stripling who came to Paris to seek his fortune. As he was
-capital game, a youth of promising talents, we contested the
-prize with a noble ardour. We fought in the regions of mid-air;
-and Pillardoc, who excelled me in strength, cast me on
-the earth after the mode in which Jupiter is related by the
-poets to have tumbled Vulcan. The striking resemblance of
-our mishaps gained me, from my witty comrades, the sobriquet of
-the Limping Devil, or the Devil on Two Sticks, which has
-stuck to me from that time to this. Nevertheless, limping as
-I am, I am tolerably quick in my movements; and you shall
-witness for my agility.</p>
-
-<p>"But," added he, "a truce to idle talk; let us get out of this
-confounded garret. My friend the magician will be here shortly;
-as he is hard at work on rendering a handsome damsel, who
-visits him nightly, immortal. If he should surprise us, I shall
-be snug in a bottle in no time; and it may go hard but he
-finds one to fit you also. So let us away! But first to throw
-the pieces, of that which was once my prison, out of the window;
-for such 'dead men' as these <i>do</i> tell tales."</p>
-
-<p>"What if your friend does find out that you are 'missing?'"
-"What!" hastily replied the Demon; "I see you have never
-studied the Treatise on Compulsions. Were I hidden at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
-extremity of the earth, or in the region where dwells the fiery
-salamander; though I sought the murkiest cavern of the gnomes,
-or plunged in the most unfathomable depths of the ocean, I
-should vainly strive to evade the terrors of his wrath. Hell
-itself would tremble at the potency of his spells. In vain
-should I struggle: despite myself should I be dragged before
-my master, to feel the weight of his dreaded chains."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic01.png" width="262" height="286" alt="Asmodeus carried off" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"That being the case," said the Student, "I fear that our
-intimacy will not be of long duration: this redoubtable necromancer
-will doubtless soon discover your flight." "That is
-more than I know," replied the Spirit; "there is no foreseeing
-what may happen." "What!" cried Leandro Perez; "a demon,
-and ignorant of the future!" "Exactly so," answered the Devil;
-"and they are only our dupes who think otherwise. However,
-there are enough of them to find good employment for diviners
-and fortune-tellers, especially among your women of quality; for
-those are always most eager about the future who have best
-reason to be contented with the present, which and the past
-are all we know or care for. I am ignorant, therefore, whether
-my master will soon discover my absence; but let us hope he
-will not: there are plenty of phials similar to the one in which
-I was enclosed, and he may never miss that. Besides, in his
-laboratory, I am something like a law-book in the library of a
-financier. He never thinks of me; or if he does, he would
-think he did me too great an honour if he condescended to
-notice me. He is the most haughty enchanter of my acquaintance:
-long as he has deprived me of my liberty, we have
-never exchanged a syllable."</p>
-
-<p>"That is extraordinary!" said Don Cleophas; "what have
-you done to deserve so much hatred or scorn?" "I crossed
-him in one of his projects," replied Asmodeus. "There was
-a chair vacant in a certain Academy, which he had designed
-for a friend of his, a professor of necromancy; but which I
-had destined for a particular friend of my own. The magician
-set to work with one of the most potent talismans of the Cabala;
-but I knew better than that: I had placed my man in the
-service of the prime minister; whose word is worth a dozen
-talismans, with the Academicians, any day."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>While the Demon was thus conversing, he was busily engaged
-in collecting every fragment of the broken phial; which having
-thrown out of the window, "Signor Zambullo," said he, "let
-us begone! Hold fast by the end of my mantle, and fear
-nothing." However perilous this appeared to Leandro Perez,
-he preferred the possible danger to the certainty of the magician's
-resentment; and, accordingly, he fastened himself as well as
-he could to the Demon, who in an instant whisked him out of
-the apartment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic02andtitlepage.png" width="248" height="174" alt="Asmodeus and Zambullo flying over Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER III.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
-FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialc.png" width="75" height="75" alt="C" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Cleophas found that Asmodeus had not vainly
-boasted of his agility. They darted through the
-air like an arrow from the bow, and were soon
-perched on the tower of San Salvador. "Well,
-Signor Leandro," said the Demon as they alighted; "what
-think you now of the justice of those who, as they slowly
-rumble in some antiquated vehicle, talk of a devilish bad
-carriage?" "I must, hereafter, think them most unreasonable,"
-politely replied Zambullo. "I dare affirm that his
-majesty of Castile has never travelled so easily; and then for
-speed, at your rate, one might travel round the world nor care
-to stretch a leg."</p>
-
-<p>"You are really too polite," replied the Devil; "but can you
-guess now why I have brought you here? I intend to show
-you all that is passing in Madrid; and as this part of the town
-is as good to begin with as any, you will allow that I could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
-have chosen a more appropriate situation. I am about, by my
-supernatural powers, to take away the roofs from the houses of
-this great city; and notwithstanding the darkness of the night,
-to reveal to your eyes whatever is doing within them." As he
-spake, he extended his right arm, the roofs disappeared, and
-the Student's astonished sight penetrated the interior of the
-surrounding dwellings as plainly as if the noon-day sun shone
-over them. "It was," says Luis Velez de Guevara, "like looking
-into a pasty from which a set of greedy monks had just
-removed the crust."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic01.png" width="266" height="227" alt="The miser counting his gold and silver" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The spectacle was, as you may suppose, sufficiently
-wonderful to rivet all the Student's attention. He looked
-amazedly around him, and on all sides were objects which
-most intensely excited his curiosity. At length the Devil
-said to him: "Signor Don Cleophas, this confusion of objects,
-which you regard with an evident pleasure, is certainly
-very agreeable to look upon; but I must render useful
-
-to you what would be otherwise but a frivolous amusement.
-To unlock for you the secret chambers of the human heart,
-I will explain in what all these persons that you see are engaged.
-All shall be open to you; I will discover the hidden
-motives of their deeds, and reveal to you their unbidden
-thoughts.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic02.png" width="220" height="284" alt="The miser's nephews consulting the sorceress" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Where shall we begin? See! do you observe this house
-to my right? Observe that old man, who is counting gold and
-silver into heaps. He is a miserly citizen. His carriage, which
-he bought for next to nothing at the sale of an alcade of the
-Cortes, and which to save expense still sports the arms of its
-late owner, is drawn by a pair of worthless mules, which he
-feeds according to the law of the Twelve Tables, that is to say,
-he gives each, daily, one pound of barley: he treats them as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
-the Romans treated their slaves&mdash;wisely, but not too well. It
-is now two years since he returned from the Indies, bringing
-with him innumerable bars of gold, which he has since converted
-into coin. Look at the old fool! with what satisfaction
-he gloats over his riches. And now, see what is passing in an
-adjoining chamber of the same house. Do you observe two
-young men with an old woman?" "Yes," replied Cleophas,
-"they are probably his children." "No, no!" said the Devil,
-"they are his nephews, and, what is better in their opinion, his
-heirs. In their anxiety for his welfare, they have invited a
-sorceress to ascertain when death will take from them their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
-dear uncle, and leave to them the division of his spoil. In the
-next house there are a pair of pictures worth remarking. One
-is an antiquated coquette who is retiring to rest, after depositing
-on her toilet, her hair, her eyebrows and her teeth; the
-other is a gallant sexagenarian, who has just returned from a
-love campaign. He has already closed one eye, in its case,
-and placed his whiskers and peruke on the dressing table.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
-His valet is now easing him of an arm and one leg, to put him
-to bed with the rest."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic03.png" width="254" height="263" alt="The valet removing the sexagenarian's wooden leg" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"If I may trust my eyes," cried Zambullo, "I see in the
-next room a tall young damsel, quite a model for an artist.
-What a lovely form and air!" "I see," said the Devil.
-"Well! that young beauty is an elder sister of the gallant I
-have just described, and is a worthy pendant to the coquette
-who is under the same roof. Her figure, that you so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
-admire, is really good; but then she is indebted for it to an
-ingenious mechanist, whom I patronise. Her bust and hips
-are formed after my own patent; and it is only last Sunday
-that she generously dropped her bustle at the door of this very
-church, on the occasion of a charity sermon. Nevertheless, as
-she affects the juvenile, she has two cavaliers who ardently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
-dispute her favour;&mdash;nay, they have even come to blows on
-the occasion. Madmen! two dogs fighting for a bone.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic04.png" width="242" height="304" alt="The old lady being unlaced by her maid" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Prithee, laugh with me at an amateur concert which is performing
-in a neighbouring mansion; an after-supper offering to
-Apollo. They are singing cantatas. An old counsellor has
-composed the air; and the words are by an alguazil, who does
-the amiable after that fashion among his friends&mdash;an ass who
-writes verses for his own pleasure, and for the punishment of
-others. A harpsichord and clarionet form the accompaniment;
-a lanky chorister, who squeaks marvellously, takes the treble,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
-and a young girl with a hoarse voice the bass." "What a
-delightful party!" cried Don Cleophas. "Had they tried
-expressly to get up a musical extravaganza, they could not
-have succeeded better."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic05.png" width="254" height="255" alt="The amateur concert" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes on that superb mansion," continued the
-Demon; "and you will perceive a nobleman lying in a
-splendid apartment. He has, near his couch, a casket filled
-with billets-doux; in which he is luxuriating, that the sweet
-nothings they contain may lull his senses gently to repose.
-They ought to be dear to him, for they are from a signora he
-adores; and who so well appreciates the value of her favours,
-that she will soon reduce him to the necessity of soliciting the
-exile of a viceroyalty, for his own support. Let us leave him
-to his slumbers, to watch the stir they are making in the next
-house to the left. Can you distinguish a lady in a bed with
-red damask furniture? Her name is Donna Fabula. She is
-of high rank, and is about to present an heir to her spouse, the
-aged Don Torribio, whom you see by her side, endeavouring
-to soothe the pangs of his lady until the arrival of the midwife.
-Is it not delightful to witness so much tenderness? The cries
-of his dear better-half pierce him to the soul: he is overwhelmed
-with grief; he suffers as much as his wife. With
-what care,&mdash;with what earnestness does he bend over her!"
-"Really," said Leandro, "the man does appear deeply
-affected; but I perceive, in the room above, a youngster
-apparently a domestic, who sleeps soundly enough: he troubles
-himself not for the event." "And yet it ought to interest him,"
-replied Asmodeus; "for the sleeper is the first cause of his
-mistress's sufferings.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic06.png" width="266" height="297" alt="Don Torribio soothing Donna Fabula" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"But see,&mdash;a little beyond," continued the Demon: "in that
-low room, you may observe an old wretch who is anointing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
-himself with lard. He is about to join an assembly of wizards,
-which takes place to-night between San Sebastian and Fontarabia.
-I would carry you thither in a moment, as it would
-amuse you; but that I fear I might be recognised by the devil
-who personates the goat."</p>
-
-<p>"That devil and you then," said the Scholar, "are not good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
-friends?" "No, indeed! you are right," replied Asmodeus,
-"he is that same Pillardoc of whom I told you. The scoundrel
-would betray me, and soon inform the magician of my
-flight." "You have perhaps had some other squabble with
-this gentleman?" "Precisely so," said the Demon: "some
-ten years ago we had a second difference about a young
-Parisian who was thinking of commencing life. He wanted
-to make him a banker's clerk; and I, a lady-killer. Our
-comrades settled the dispute by making him a wretched monk.
-This done, they reconciled us: we embraced; and from that
-time have been mortal foes."</p>
-
-<p>"But, have done with this belle assemblée," said Don Cleophas;
-"I am not at all curious to witness it: let us continue
-our scrutiny into what is before us. What is the meaning of
-those sparks of fire which issue from yonder cellar?" "They
-proceed from one of the most absurd occupations of mankind,"
-replied the Devil. "The grave personage whom you behold
-near the furnace is an alchymist; and the flames are gradually
-consuming his rich patrimony, never to yield him what he
-seeks in return. Between ourselves, the philosopher's stone is
-a chimera that I myself invented to amuse the wit of man, who
-ever seeks to pass those bounds which the laws of nature have
-prescribed for his intelligence.</p>
-
-<p>"The alchymist's neighbour is an honest apothecary, who you
-perceive is still at his labours, with his aged wife and assistant.
-You would never guess what they are about. The apothecary
-is compounding a progenerative pill for an old advocate who
-is to be married to-morrow; the assistant is mixing a laxative
-potion; and the old lady is pounding astringent drugs in a
-mortar."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic07.png" width="264" height="142" alt="The apothecary, his wife, and his assistant" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I perceive, in the house facing the apothecary's," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
-Zambullo, "a man who has just jumped out of bed, and is
-hastily dressing." "Pshaw!" replied the Spirit, "he need not
-hurry himself. He is a physician; and has been sent for by a
-prelate who since he has retired to rest&mdash;about an hour&mdash;has
-absolutely coughed two or three times.</p>
-
-<p>"But look a little further, in a garret on the right, and try
-if you cannot distinguish a man half dressed, who is walking
-up and down the room, dimly lighted by a single lamp." "I
-see," said the Student; "and so clearly that I would undertake
-to furnish you with an inventory of his chattels,&mdash;to wit,
-a truckle-bed, a three-legged stool, and a deal table; the walls
-
-seem to be daubed all over with black paint." "That exalted
-personage," said Asmodeus, "is a poet; and what appears to
-you black paint, are tragic verses with which he has ornamented
-his apartment, being obliged, for want of paper, to
-commit his effusions to the wall." "By his agitation and
-phrenzied air, I conclude he is now busily engaged on some
-work of importance," said Don Cleophas. "You are not far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
-out," replied the Devil: "he only yesterday completed the last
-act of an interesting tragedy, intitled The Universal Deluge.
-He cannot be reproached with having violated the unity of
-place, at all events, as the entire action is limited to Noah's
-ark.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 219px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic08.png" width="219" height="215" alt="The poet, composing his dedication" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I can assure you it is a first-rate drama: all the animals talk
-as learnedly as professors. It of course must have a dedication,
-upon which he has been labouring for the last six hours;
-and he is, at this moment, turning the last period. It will be
-indeed a masterpiece of adulatory composition: every social
-and political virtue; every grace that can adorn; all that tends
-to render man illustrious, either by his own deeds or those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
-his ancestors, are attributed to its object;&mdash;never was praise
-more lavishly bestowed, never was incense burnt more liberally."
-"For whom, then, of all the world, is so magnificent
-an apotheosis intended?" "Why," replied the Demon, "the
-poet himself has not yet determined that; he has put in every
-thing but the name. However, he hopes to find some vain
-noble who may be more liberal than those to whom he has
-dedicated his former productions; although the purchasers of
-imaginary virtues are becoming every day more rare. It is not
-my fault that it is so; for it is a fault corrected in the wealthy
-patrons of literature, and a great benefit rendered to the public,
-who were certain to be deluged by trash from the Swiss of
-the press, so long as books were written merely for the produce
-of their dedications.</p>
-
-<p>"Apropos of this subject," added the Demon, "I will relate
-to you a curious anecdote. It is not long since an illustrious
-lady accepted the honour of a dedication from a celebrated
-novelist, who, by the bye, writes so much in praise of other
-women, that he thinks himself at liberty to abuse the one
-peculiarly his own. The lady in question was anxious to
-see the address before it was printed; and not finding herself
-described to her taste, she wisely undertook the task, and
-gave herself all those inconvenient virtues, which the world
-so much admires. She then sent it to the author, who of
-course had weighty reasons for adopting it."</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried Leandro, "surely those are robbers who are
-entering that house by the balcony." "Precisely so," said Asmodeus;
-"they are brigands, and the house is a banker's. Watch
-them! you will be amused. See! they have opened the safe, and
-are ferreting everywhere; but the banker has been before them.
-He set out yesterday for Holland, and has taken with him the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
-contents of his coffers for fear of accidents. They may make
-a merit of their visit, by informing his unfortunate depositors
-of their loss."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 255px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic09.png" width="255" height="276" alt="The brigands opening the banker's safe" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"There is another thief," said Zambullo, "mounting by a
-silken ladder into a neighbouring dwelling." "You are mistaken
-there," replied the Devil; "at all events it is not gold he
-seeks. He is a marquis, who would rob a young maiden of
-the name, of which, however, she is not unwilling to part.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
-Never was 'stand and deliver' more graciously received: he of
-course has sworn he will marry her, and she of course believes
-him; for a marquis's 'promises' have unlimited credit upon
-Love's Exchange."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic10.png" width="250" height="164" alt="The registrar and Griffael" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I am curious to learn," interrupted the Student, "what that
-man in a night-cap and dressing-gown is about. He is writing
-very studiously, and near him is a little black figure, who
-occasionally guides his hand." "He is a registrar of the civil
-courts," replied the Demon; "and to oblige a guardian, is, for
-a consideration, altering a decree made in favour of the ward:
-the gentleman in black, who seems enjoying the sport, is
-Griffael the registrars' devil." "Griffael, then," said Don
-Cleophas, "is a sort of deputy to Flagel; for, as he is the
-spirit of the bar, the registrars are doubtless included in his
-department." "Not so," replied Asmodeus; "the registrars
-have been thought deserving of their peculiar demon, and I
-assure you they find him quite enough to do."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic11.png" width="265" height="267" alt="The widow, her lover , and her uncle" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Near the registrar's house, you will perceive a young lady
-on the first floor. She is a widow; and the man, whom you
-see in the same room, is her uncle, who lodges in an apartment
-over hers. Admire the bashfulness of the dame! She
-is ashamed to put on her chemise before her aged relative; so,
-modestly seeks the assistance of her lover, who is hidden in
-her dressing-room.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 251px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic12.png" width="251" height="265" alt="Donoso receives the pages in his apartment" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In the same house with the registrar lives a stout graduate,
-who has been lame from his birth, but who has not his equal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
-in the world for pleasantry. Volumnius, so highly spoken of
-by Cicero for his delicate yet pungent wit, was a fool to him.
-He is known throughout Madrid as 'the bachelor Donoso,'
-or 'the facetious graduate;' and his company is sought by old
-and young, at the court and in the town: in short, wherever
-there is, or should be, conviviality, he is so much the rage,
-that he has discharged his cook, as he never dines at home; to
-which he seldom returns until long after midnight. He is at
-present with the marquis of Alcazinas, who is indebted for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
-this visit to chance only." "How, to chance?" interrupted
-Leandro. "Why," replied the Demon, "this morning, about
-noon, the graduate's door was besieged by at least half-a-dozen
-carriages, each sent for the especial honour of securing his
-society. The bachelor received the assembled pages in his
-apartment, and, displaying a pack of cards, thus addressed
-them:&mdash;'My friends, as it is impossible for me to dine in six
-places at one time, and as it would not appear polite to show
-an undue preference, these cards shall decide the matter.
-Draw! I will dine with the king of clubs.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 180px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic13.png" width="180" height="201" alt="The cavalier serenades his inamorata" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What object," said Don Cleophas, "has yonder cavalier,
-who is sitting at a door on the other side of the street? Is he
-waiting for some pretty waiting-woman to usher him to his lady's
-chamber?" "No, no," answered Asmodeus; "he is a young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
-Castilian, whose modesty exceeds his love; so, after the
-fashion of the gallants of antiquity, he has come to pass the
-night at his mistress's portal. Listen to the twang of that
-wretched guitar, with which he accompanies his tender
-strains! On the second floor you may behold his inamorata:
-she is weeping as she hears him;&mdash;but it is for the absence
-of his rival.</p>
-
-<p>"You observe that new building, which is divided into two
-wings. One is occupied by the proprietor, the old gentleman
-whom you see now pacing the apartment, now throwing himself
-into an easy chair." "He is evidently immersed in some
-grand project," said Zambullo: "who is he? If one may
-judge by the splendour which is displayed in his mansion, he is
-a grandee of the first order." "Nevertheless," said Asmodeus,
-"he is but an ancient clerk of the treasury, who has grown
-old in such lucrative employment as to enable him to amass
-four millions of reals. As he has some compunctions of
-conscience for the means by which all this wealth has been
-acquired, and as he expects shortly to be called upon to
-render his account in another world, where bribery is impracticable,
-he is about to compound for his sins in this,
-by building a monastery; which done, he flatters himself
-that peace will revisit his heart. He has already obtained
-the necessary permission; but, as he has resolved that the
-establishment shall consist of monks who are extremely chaste,
-sober, and of the most Christian humility, he is much embarrassed
-in the selection. He need not build a very extensive
-convent.</p>
-
-<p>"The other wing is inhabited by a fair lady, who has just
-retired to rest after the luxury of a milk bath. This voluptuary
-is widow of a knight of the order of Saint James, who left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
-her at his death her title only; but fortunately her charms have
-secured for her valuable friends in the persons of two members
-of the council of Castile, who generously divide her favours and
-the expenses of her household."</p>
-
-<p>"Hark!" cried the Student; "surely I hear the cries of
-distress. What dreadful misfortune has occurred?" "A very
-common one," said the Demon: "two young cavaliers have
-been gambling in a hell (the name is a scandal on the infernal
-regions), which you perceive so brilliantly illuminated.
-They quarrelled upon an interesting point of the game, and
-I naturally drew their swords to settle it: unluckily, they were
-equally skilful with their weapons, and are both mortally
-wounded. The elder is married, which is unfortunate; and
-the younger an only son. The wife and father have just
-come in time to receive their last sighs; and it is their
-lamentations that you hear. 'Unhappy boy,' cries the fond parent
-over the still breathing body of his son, 'how often have I
-conjured thee to renounce this dreadful vice!&mdash;how often have I
-warned thee it would one day cost thee thy life. Heaven is
-my witness, that the fault is none of mine!' Men," added the
-Demon, "are always selfish, even in their griefs. Meanwhile
-the wife is in despair. Although her husband has dissipated
-the fortune she brought him on their marriage; although he
-has sold, to maintain his shameful excesses, her jewels, and
-even her clothes, not a word of reproach escapes her lips. She
-is inconsolable for her loss. Her grief is vented in frantic
-exclamations, mixed with curses on the cards, and the devil
-who invented them; on the place in which her husband fell,
-and on the people who surround her, and to whom she fondly
-attributes his ruin."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic14.png" width="267" height="292" alt="The expiring duellists" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"How much to be lamented," interrupted the Student, "is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
-the love of gaming which possesses so large a portion of mankind;
-in what an awful state of excitement does it plunge its
-victims. Heaven be praised! I am not included in their
-legion." "You are in high feather," replied the Demon, "in
-another, whose exploits are not much more ennobling, and
-scarcely less dangerous. Is the conquest of a courtezan a
-glory worth achievement? Is the possession of charms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
-common to a whole city worth the peril of a life? Man is an
-amusing animal! The vision of a mole would enable him to
-discover the vices of his fellows, while that of the vulture could
-scarce detect a folly of his own. But let us turn to another
-affecting spectacle. You can discern, in the house just beyond
-the one we have been contemplating, a fat old man extended
-on a bed: he is a canon, who is now in a fit of apoplexy. The
-two persons, whom you see in his room, are said to be his
-nephew and niece: they are too much affected by his situation
-to be able to assist him; so, are securing his valuable effects.
-By the time this is accomplished, he will be dead; and they
-will be sufficiently recovered, and at leisure, to weep over his
-remains.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic15.png" width="253" height="201" alt="The canon's nephew and niece steal his possessions" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Close by, you may perceive the funeral of two brothers;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
-who, seized with the same disorder, took equally successful
-but different means of ensuring its fatality. One of them had
-the most utter confidence in his apothecary; the other eschewed
-the aid of medicine: the first died because he took all the
-trash his doctor sent him; the last because he would take
-nothing." "Well! that is very perplexing," said Leandro;
-"what is a poor sick devil to do?" "Why," replied Asmodeus,
-"that is more than the one who has the honour of
-addressing you can determine. I know, for certain, that there
-are remedies for most ills; but I am not so sure that there are
-good physicians to administer them when necessary."</p>
-
-<p>"And now I have something more amusing to unriddle.
-Do you not hear a frightful din in the next street? A widow
-of sixty was married this morning to an Adonis of seventeen;
-and all the merry fellows of that part of the town have assembled
-to celebrate the wedding by a concert of pots and pans,
-marrow-bones and cleavers." "You told me," said the Student,
-"that these matches were under your control: at all events,
-you had no hand in this." "No, truly," answered the Demon,
-"not I. Had I been free, I should not have meddled with
-them. The widow had her scruples; and has married for no
-better reason than that she may enjoy, without remorse, the
-pleasures she so dearly loves. These are not the unions I care
-to form; I prefer troubling people's consciences to setting them
-at rest."</p>
-
-<p>"Notwithstanding this charming serenade," said Zambullo,
-"it seems to me that it is not the only concert performing in
-the neighbourhood." "No," said the cripple; "in a tavern in
-the same street, a lusty Flemish captain, a chorister of the
-French opera, and an officer of the German guard are singing
-a trio. They have been drinking since eight in the morning;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
-and each deems it a duty to his country, to see the others
-under the table."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 194px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic16.png" width="194" height="167" alt="The three drinkers" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Look for a moment on the house which stands by itself,
-nearly opposite to that of the apoplectic canon: you will
-see three very pretty but very notorious courtezans enjoying
-themselves with as many young courtiers." "They are, indeed,
-lovely!" exclaimed Don Cleophas. "I am not surprised that
-they should be notorious: happy are the lovers who possess
-them! They seem, however, very partial to their present companions:
-I envy them their good fortune." "Why, you are very
-green!" replied the Demon: "their faces are not disguised
-with greater skill than are their hearts. However prodigal of
-their caresses, they have not the slightest tenderness for their
-foolish swains; their affection is bounded to the purses of
-their lovers. One of them has just secured the promise of a
-liberal establishment; and the others are prepared with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
-settlements which they are in expectation of securing ere they part.
-It is the same with them all. Men vainly ruin themselves for
-the sex: gold buys not love. The well-paid mistress soon
-treats her lover as a husband: that is a rule which I found
-necessary to establish in my code of intrigue. But we will
-leave these fools to taste the pleasures they so dearly purchase;
-while their valets, who are waiting in the street, console
-themselves with the pleasing anticipation of enjoying them
-gratis."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me," interrupted Leandro Perez, "what is passing in
-that splendid mansion on the left. The house is filled with
-well-dressed cavaliers and ladies; and all seems dancing and
-conviviality. It is indeed a joyous festival." "It is another
-wedding," said Asmodeus; "and happy as they now are, it is
-not three days since that house witnessed the deepest affliction.
-It is a story worth hearing: it is rather long, certainly; but it
-will repay your patience." The Devil then began as follows.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/ch03tailpiece.png" width="100" height="55" alt="tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER IV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA
-DE CESPEDES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leonora de Cespedes was passionately beloved
-by the young Count de Belflor, one of the
-most distinguished nobles of the court. He had,
-however, no thoughts of suing for her hand; the
-daughter of a private gentleman might command his love, but
-had no pretensions in his eyes to rank above his mistress;
-and such was the honour he designed for her.</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly, he followed her everywhere; and lost no
-opportunity of testifying by his glances the extent of his affection
-for her person; but he was unable to converse with her,
-or even to communicate by letter, so incessantly and vigilantly
-was she guarded by an austere duenna, the lady Marcella. He
-was almost in despair; yet, incited by the obstacles which
-were thus opposed to his desires, he was constantly occupied
-in devising means for their attainment, and for deceiving the
-Argus who so carefully watched his Io.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, Leonora had perceived the attention with
-which the Count regarded her; and flattered by that first
-homage, so delightful to the unworn heart, she soon yielded
-to the soft persuasion of his eyes, and insensibly formed for
-
-him a passion as violent as his own. The flames of love are
-seldom kindled at the altar but they burn the temple. I did not,
-however, fan those thus lighted in her bosom, for the magician
-had put a stopper on my operations; but Nature, and woman's
-nature especially, is generally potent enough in such cases,
-without my assistance. Indeed, I doubt if she does not manage
-these matters best by herself; the only difference in our modes
-of procedure being, that Nature saps the heart by slow degrees,
-while I love to carry it by storm.</p>
-
-<p>Affairs were in this posture, when Leonora, and her eternal
-governante, going one morning to church, were accosted by an
-old woman, carrying in her hand one of the largest chaplets
-ever framed by hypocrisy. "Heaven bless you!" said she,
-addressing herself, with a saintly smile, to the duenna, "the
-peace of God be with you! Have I not the honour of speaking
-to the lady Marcella, the chaste widow of the lamented Signor
-Martin Rosetta?" "You have," replied the governante.
-"How fortunate!" exclaimed the old hypocrite; "I have a
-relation, at this moment lying at my house, who would see
-you ere he dies. He was intimately acquainted with your
-dear husband, and has matters of the utmost importance to
-communicate to you. It is only three days since he arrived in
-Madrid, from Flanders, for the express purpose of seeing you;
-but scarcely had he entered my house when he was stretched
-on a bed of sickness, and he has now, I fear, but a few hours
-to live. Let us hasten, while there is yet time, to soothe the
-pangs of his passing spirit: a few steps will bring us to his side."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic01.png" width="258" height="259" alt="Leonora, Marcella and the old woman" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The wary duenna, who had seen enough of the world to be
-suspicious of the best even of her own sex, still, however,
-hesitated to follow: which the old lady perceiving, "My dear
-lady Marcella," said she, "surely you do not doubt me. You
-must have heard of La Chichona. Why! the licentiate Marcos
-de Figuerna and the bachelor Mira de Mesqua would answer
-for me as for their grandmothers. If I desire that you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
-accompany me to my house, it is for your good only. Heaven forbid
-that I should touch the smallest portion of that which is
-your due, and which my poor relation is so anxious to repay
-to the wife of his friend!" At the word "repay," the lady
-Marcella hesitated no longer: "Let us go, my child," said she
-to Leonora; "we will see this good woman's relation;&mdash;to
-visit the sick is among the first of our duties." "Verily," said
-the Demon, "charity does cover a multitude of sins!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 247px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic02.png" width="247" height="163" alt="At the house of La Chichona" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They soon arrived at the house of La Chichona, who introduced
-them to a mean apartment, where they found a man in
-bed: he had a long beard, and if he were not really desperately
-ill, he at least appeared to be so. "See, cousin!" said the
-old woman, presenting the governante; "behold the person
-whom you sought so anxiously; this is the lady Marcella, the
-respected widow of your friend Rosetta." At these words, the
-old man raised himself on his pillow with apparent difficulty;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
-and, making signs for the duenna to approach him, said with
-a feeble voice,&mdash;"Heaven be praised, for its mercy in permitting
-me to live till now!&mdash;to see you, my dear lady, was all
-that I desired upon earth. Indeed, I feared to die, without
-the satisfaction of seeing you, and of rendering into your hands
-the hundred ducats which your late husband, my dearest friend,
-so kindly lent me in my dire necessity, at Bruges, when but
-for that assistance my honour had been for ever lost:&mdash;but you
-must have often heard of me and my adventures."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas! no," replied Marcella, "he never mentioned it to
-me. God rest his soul! he was ever so generous as to forget
-the services he rendered to his friends; and so far from boasting
-of such kindnesses as these, I can declare that I even never
-heard of his doing a good action in his life." "His was indeed
-a noble mind," replied the sick man, "as I have perhaps better
-reason to know than most persons; and to prove this to you
-I must relate the history of the unfortunate affair from which
-his liberality so happily released me. But as I shall have to
-speak of things which should be disclosed to no other ears
-than thine, honourable as they are to the memory of my
-deceased friend, it were better that we should be alone."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, certainly!" cried Chichona, "though it would delight
-me to hear of the good Rosetta, whom you are always praising,
-we will retire to my closet;" saying which, she led Leonora
-into the next apartment. No sooner had she done so, and
-closed the door, than without ceremony the old woman thus
-addressed her companion:&mdash;"Charming Leonora, our moments
-are too precious to be wasted. You know the young Count
-de Belflor, at least by sight. Need I say how long he has
-loved you, and how ardently he desires to tell you so? Driven
-to despair by the vigilance and austerity of Marcella, he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
-had recourse to my assistance to procure him an interview;
-and I, who could refuse nothing to so handsome a cavalier,
-have dressed up his valet as the sick man you have just seen,
-that I might engage your governante's attention and bring you
-hither."</p>
-
-<p>As she finished speaking, the Count, who was concealed by
-the drapery of a little window, discovered himself, and, falling
-at the feet of Leonora: "Madam," said he, "pardon the
-stratagem of a lover, who could no longer conceal from you
-the passion that is destroying the life to which it alone gives
-value:&mdash;but for this good woman's kindness, I had perished
-in despair." These words, uttered with respectful earnestness,
-by a man whose appearance was far from displeasing, affected,
-while they perplexed Leonora, and she remained for some
-time speechless. But at length recovering herself, she looked,
-or endeavoured to look, haughtily on her prostrate lover, and
-replied: "Truly you are deeply indebted to your obliging
-confidante for this attention, but I am not so sure that I have
-equal reason to be thankful, or that you will gain by her
-kindness the object you desire."</p>
-
-<p>In saying these words, she moved towards the door; but
-the Count, gently detaining her, exclaimed: "Stay, adorable
-Leonora! deign to listen to me but for an instant. Be not
-alarmed! my affection for you is pure as your own thoughts.
-I feel that the artifice to which I have descended must revolt
-you; but consider how vainly I have striven by more honourable
-means to address you. You cannot be ignorant that for
-many months, at the church, in the public walk, at the theatre,
-I have vainly sought to confirm with my lips that passion
-which my eyes could not disguise. Alas! while I implore
-pardon for a crime to which the cruelty of the merciless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
-duenna has compelled me, let me also entreat your pity for
-the torments I have endured; and judge, by the charms
-which your happy mirror discloses, of the extent of his
-wretchedness who is banished from their sight."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic03.png" width="239" height="289" alt="Belflor woos Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Belflor did not fail to accompany these words with all the
-arts of persuasion commonly practised with so much success
-by my devotees: tender looks, heart-broken sighs, and even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
-a few tears were not wanting; and Leonora was of course
-affected. Despite herself, she began to feel those little flutterings
-of the heart, which are the usual preludes of capitulation
-with woman; but far from yielding without a struggle to her
-tenderness, or pity, or weakness, the more sensible she became
-of treason in the garrison, the more hastily she resolved to
-vacate the place. "Count," she exclaimed, "it is in vain you
-tell me this. I will listen no longer. Do not attempt to
-detain me: let me leave a house in which my honour is
-exposed to suspicion; or my cries shall alarm the neighbourhood,
-and expose your audacity which has dared to insult
-me." This she uttered with so resolute an air that Chichona,
-who was on very punctilious terms with the police, prayed the
-Count not to push matters to extremity. Finding his entreaties
-useless, he released Leonora, who hastened from the apartment,
-and, what never happened to any maiden before, left
-it as she had entered it.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us quit this dangerous house," said Leonora, on rejoining
-her governante: "finish this idle talk,&mdash;we are deceived."
-"What ails you, child?" cried Marcella in reply;
-"and why should we leave this poor man so hastily?" "I
-will tell you," said Leonora; "but let us fly: every instant I
-remain here but adds to my affliction." However desirous
-was the duenna to learn the cause of her ward's anxiety, she
-saw that the best way to be satisfied was to yield to her
-entreaties; and they quitted the apartment with a celerity
-which quite discomposed the stately governante, leaving
-Chichona, the Count, and his valet as much disconcerted as
-a company of comedians, when the curtain falls on a wretched
-farce, which the presiding deities of the pit have consigned to
-a lower deep.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When Leonora found herself safely in the street, she related,
-as well as her extreme agitation, and Marcella's exclamations
-of astonishment, would permit, all that had passed in the
-chamber with the Count and Chichona. "I must confess,
-child," said the duenna, when they had reached home, "that
-I am exceedingly mortified to hear what you have just been
-telling me. To think that I have been the dupe of that
-wicked woman! You will allow, however, that I was not
-without my doubts. Why did I yield them? I should have
-been suspicious of so much kindness and honesty. I have
-committed a folly which is absolutely inexcusable in a person
-of my sagacity and experience. Ah! why did you not tell me
-this in her presence? I would have torn her eyes out: I
-would have loaded the Count de Belflor with reproaches for
-his perfidy: and as for the scoundrel with his ducats and his
-beard, he should not have had a hair left on his head. But I
-will return, this instant, with the money which I have received
-as a real restitution; and if I find them still together, they
-shall not have waited for nothing." So saying, the enraged
-widow of the generous Rosetta folded her mantilla around
-her, and left Leonora to weep over the treachery of mankind.</p>
-
-<p>Marcella found the Count with Chichona, in despair at the
-failure of his design. Most of my pupils, in his place, would
-have been abashed at seeing her: it is extraordinary what
-scruples I have to overcome. But Belflor was of another
-stamp: to a thousand good qualities, he added that of yielding
-implicit obedience to my inspirations. When he loved,
-nothing could exceed the ardour with which he followed the
-devoted object of his affections; and though naturally what
-the world calls an honourable man, he was then capable of
-violating the most sacred duties for the attainment of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
-desires. No sooner, therefore, did he perceive Marcella,
-than, as he saw that their fulfilment could only be completed
-through the duenna's agency, he resolved to spare nothing to
-win her to his interests. He shrewdly guessed that, rigidly
-virtuous as the lady appeared, she, like her betters, had her
-price; and as he was disposed to bid pretty liberally, you will
-own he did no great injustice to a duenna's fidelity: for so
-rare a commodity will only be found where lovers are not
-over-rich, or not sufficiently liberal.</p>
-
-<p>The instant Marcella entered the room, and perceived the
-three persons she sought, her tongue went as though possessed;
-and while she poured a torrent of abuse on the Count
-and Chichona, she sent the restitution flying at the head of
-the valet. The Count patiently endured the storm; and
-throwing himself on his knees before the duenna, to render
-the scene more moving, he pressed her to take back the purse
-she had rejected; and offering to add to it a thousand pistoles,
-he besought her compassion on his sufferings. As Marcella
-had never before been so earnestly entreated, it is no wonder
-that she was, on this occasion, not inexorable: her invectives,
-therefore, speedily ceased; and on comparing the tempting
-sum now offered to her, with the paltry recompence she
-expected from Don Luis de Cespedes, she was not slow in
-discovering that it would be much more profitable to turn
-Leonora from her duty, than to keep her in its path. Accordingly,
-after some little affectation, she again received the purse,
-accepted the offer of the thousand pistoles, promised to assist
-the Count in his designs, and departed at once to labour for
-their accomplishment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic04.png" width="264" height="203" alt="Belflor bribes Marcella" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As she knew Leonora to be strictly virtuous, she was
-extremely cautious of exciting the least suspicion of her intelligence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
-with the Count, lest the plot should be discovered to
-Don Luis, her father; so, desirous of skilfully effecting her ruin,
-she thus addressed her on her return: "My dear Leonora, I
-have revenged myself on the wretches who deceived us. I
-found them quite confounded at your virtuous resolution; and,
-threatening the infamous Chichona with your father's resentment,
-and the most rigorous severity of the law, I bestowed on
-the Count de Belflor all the insulting epithets that my anger
-could suggest. I warrant that the Signor will make no more
-attempts of this kind on you; and that henceforth his gallantries
-will cease to engage my attention. I thank Heaven that, by
-your firmness, you have escaped the snare that was laid for you.
-I could weep for joy to think that the deceiver has gained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
-nothing by his stratagem; for these noble signors make it their
-amusement to seduce the young and innocent. Indeed, the
-greater part even of those who pique themselves on their
-honourable conduct have no scruples on this point, as though
-it were no disgrace to carry ruin into virtuous families. Not
-that I think the Count absolutely of this character, nor even
-that he intends studiously to deceive you: we should not judge
-too harshly of our neighbours; and perhaps, after all, he meant
-you honourably. Although his rank would give him pretensions
-to the hand of the noblest at our court, your beauty may yet
-have induced him to resolve on marriage with yourself. In
-fact, I recollect that in his answers to my reproaches, which I
-heeded not at the time, I might have perceived something of
-the sort."</p>
-
-<p>"What say you, dear Marcella?" interrupted Leonora. "If
-that were his intention, he would have sought me of my father,
-who would never have refused his daughter to a person of his
-rank." "What you say is perfectly just," replied the governante,
-"and I am quite of your opinion; the Count's proceedings are
-certainly suspicious, or rather his designs cannot be good: for
-a trifle, I would return and scold him again." "No, good
-Marcella," replied Leonora, "we had better forget the past,
-and revenge ourselves by contempt." "Very true," said the
-duenna; "I believe that is the best plan: you are more
-prudent than myself. But, after all, may we not do the Count
-injustice? Who knows that he has not been actuated by the
-purest and most delicate motives? It is possible that, before
-obtaining your father's consent, he may have resolved to deserve
-and to please you; to render your union more delightful by
-first gaining your heart. If that were so, child, would it be a
-very great sin to listen to him? Tell me your thoughts, love;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
-you know my affection: does your heart incline towards the
-Count, or would it be very disagreeable to marry such a man?"</p>
-
-<p>To this malicious question, the too-sincere Leonora replied,
-with down-cast eyes, and face suffused with blushes, by avowing
-that she had no aversion to the Count; but, as modesty prevented
-her explaining herself more openly, the duenna still
-pressed her to conceal nothing from her; and at last succeeded,
-by affected tenderness, in obtaining a full confession of her
-love. "Dearest Marcella," said the unsuspicious girl, "since
-you desire me to speak to you without disguise, I must confess
-that Belflor has appeared to me not unworthy of my love. I
-was struck by his appearance; and I have heard him so much
-praised, that I could not remain insensible to the affection he
-displayed for me. Your watchful care to guard me from his
-addresses has cost me many a sigh: nay, I will own I have in
-secret wept his absence; and repaid with my tears the sufferings
-your vigilance has caused him. Even at this moment,
-instead of hating him for the insult he has offered to my honour,
-my heart against my will excuses him, and throws his fault on
-your severity."</p>
-
-<p>"My child," said the governante, "since you give me reason
-to believe that his attentions are pleasing to you, I will endeavour
-to secure this lover." "I am very sensible," replied Leonora,
-"of the kindness you intend me. It is not that the Count
-holds the first place at court; were he but an honourable
-private gentleman, I should prefer him to all others upon earth,
-but let us not flatter ourselves: Belflor is a noble signor, destined,
-without doubt, for one of the richest heiresses in our
-kingdom. Let us not expect that he would descend to ally
-himself with Don Luis, who has but a moderate fortune to offer
-with his daughter. No, no," she added, "he entertains for me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
-no such favourable thoughts: he thinks not of me as one worthy
-to bear his name, but seeks only my dishonour."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! wherefore," said the duenna, "will you insist he loves
-you not well enough to seek your hand? Love daily works
-much greater miracles. One would imagine, to hear you, that
-Heaven had made some infinite distinction between you and
-the Count. Do yourself more justice, Leonora! He would
-not condescend, in uniting his destiny with yours. You are of
-an ancient and noble family, and your alliance would never
-call a blush upon his cheek. However, you love him," continued
-she; "and I must therefore see him, and sound him on
-the subject; and if I find his designs as honourable as they
-should be, I will indulge him with some slight hopes." "Not
-for the world!" cried Leonora; "on no account would I have
-you seek him: should he but suspect my knowledge of your
-proceedings, he must cease even to esteem me." "Oh! I am
-more cunning than you think me," answered Marcella. "I
-shall begin by accusing him of a design to seduce you. He of
-course will not fail to defend himself; I shall listen to his
-excuses, and shall mark the event: in short, my dear child,
-leave it to me; I will be as careful of your honour as of my
-own."</p>
-
-<p>Towards night, the duenna left the house, and found Belflor
-watching in the neighbourhood. She informed him of her
-conversation with his mistress, not forgetting to boast of the
-address with which she had elicited from Leonora the confession
-of her love. Nothing could more agreeably surprise the Count
-than this discovery; and accordingly his gratitude was displayed
-in the most ardent manner; that is to say, he promised
-to Marcella the thousand ducats on the morrow, and to himself
-the most complete success of his enterprise; well knowing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
-as he did, that a woman prepossessed is half seduced. They
-then separated, extremely well satisfied with each other, and
-the duenna returned to her home.</p>
-
-<p>Leonora, who had waited for her with extreme anxiety,
-timidly inquired if she brought any news of the Count. "The
-best news you could hear," replied the governante. "I have
-seen him, and I can assure you of the purity of his intentions:
-he declared that his only object is to marry you; and this he
-confirmed by every oath that man holds sacred. I did not,
-however, as you may suppose, yield implicitly to these protestations.
-'If you are sincere,' said I to him, 'why do you
-not at once apply to Don Luis, her father?' 'Ah! my dear
-Marcella,' replied he, without appearing in the least embarrassed
-by this question, 'could you, even, approve that,
-without assuring myself of Leonora's affection, and following,
-blindly, the dictates of a devouring passion, I should seek her
-of Don Luis as a slave? No! her happiness is dearer to me
-than my own desires; and I have too nice a sense of honour,
-even to endanger that happiness by an indiscreet avowal.'</p>
-
-<p>"While he thus spoke," continued the duenna, "I observed
-him with extreme attention; and employed all my experience
-to discover in his eyes if he were really possessed of all the
-love that he expressed. What shall I say?&mdash;He appeared to
-me penetrated by the truest love; I felt elated with joy, which
-I took good care, however, to conceal: nevertheless, when I
-felt persuaded of his sincerity, I thought that, in order to
-secure for you so important a conquest, it would be but proper
-to give him some faint idea of your feelings towards him.
-'Signor,' said I, 'Leonora has no aversion for you; I know
-that she esteems you; and, as far as I can judge, her heart
-would not be grieved by your addresses.' 'Great God,' he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
-cried, transported with delight, 'what do I hear? Is it possible,
-that the charming Leonora should be disposed so favourably
-towards me? What do I not owe to you, kindest
-Marcella, for thus relieving me from such torturing suspense?
-I am the more rejoiced, too, that this should be announced by
-you;&mdash;you, who have ever opposed my love; you, who have
-inflicted on me such lengthened suffering. But, my dear
-Marcella, complete my bliss! let me see my divine Leonora,
-and pledge to her my faith; let me swear, in your presence,
-to be hers only for ever.'</p>
-
-<p>"To all these expressions of his devotion," continued the
-governante, "he added others still more touching. At last,
-my dear child, he entreated me in so pressing a manner to
-procure for him a secret interview, that I could not forbear
-promising he should see you." "Ah! why have you done
-so?" exclaimed Leonora, with emotion. "How often have
-you told me, that a virtuous girl should ever shun such secret
-conversations,&mdash;always wrong, and almost always dangerous?"
-"Certainly," replied the duenna, "I acknowledge to have
-said so, and a very good maxim it is; but you are not obliged
-to adhere to it strictly on this occasion; for you may look
-upon the Count as your husband." "He is not so yet," said
-Leonora, "and I ought not to see him until my father permits
-his addresses."</p>
-
-<p>Marcella, at this moment, repented of having imbued the
-mind of her pupil with those notions of propriety which she
-found so much trouble to overcome. Determined, however,
-at any rate to effect her object, she thus recommenced her
-attack: "My dear Leonora! I am proud to witness so much
-virtuous delicacy. Happy fruit of all my cares! You have
-truly profited by the lessons I have taught you. I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
-delighted with the result of my labours. But, child, you have
-read rather too literally; you construe my maxims too
-rigidly; your susceptibility is indeed somewhat prudish.
-However much I pique myself on my severity, I do not quite
-approve of that precise chastity which arms itself indifferently
-against guilt or innocence. A girl ceases not to be virtuous
-who yields her ear only to her lover, especially when she is
-conscious of the purity which chastens his desires; and she is
-then no more wrong in responding to his love, than she is for
-her sensibility to the passion. Rely upon me, Leonora; I
-have too much experience, and am too much interested in your
-welfare, to suffer you to take a step that might be prejudicial
-to it."</p>
-
-<p>"But where would you have me see the Count?" said
-Leonora. "In this room, to be sure," replied the duenna.
-"Where could you see him so safely? I will introduce him to-morrow
-evening." "You are not surely serious, Marcella!"
-exclaimed Leonora. "What! think you I would permit a
-man&mdash;&mdash;" "To be sure you will!" interrupted the duenna;
-"there is nothing so wonderful in that, as you imagine.
-It happens daily; and would to heaven that every damsel
-who receives such visits, had desires as pure as those by
-which you are animated! Besides, what have you to fear?
-shall not I be with you?" "Alas!" said Leonora, "should my
-father surprise us!" "Do not trouble yourself about that,"
-replied Marcella. "Your father is perfectly satisfied as to
-your conduct: he knows my fidelity, and would not do me so
-much wrong as to suspect it." Poor Leonora, thus artfully
-instigated by the duenna, and secretly moved by her own
-feelings, could withstand no longer; and at last yielded,
-although unwillingly, to her governante's proposal.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Count was soon informed of Marcella's success, of
-which he was so well satisfied, that he at once gave her five
-hundred pistoles, and a ring of equal value. The duenna,
-finding his promises so well performed, was determined to be
-as scrupulously exact in the fulfilment of her own; and,
-accordingly, on the following night, when she felt assured that
-every one in the house was fast asleep, she fastened to the
-balcony a silken ladder, which the Count had provided, and
-introduced his lordship to the chamber of his mistress.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, the fair Leonora was immersed in reflections
-of the most painfully agitating nature. Notwithstanding
-her affection for the Count, and despite her governante's assurances,
-she bitterly reproached herself for her weakness, in yielding
-a consent to an interview which she still felt was in violation
-of her duty; nor could a knowledge of the purity of her intentions
-bring comfort to her bosom. To receive, by night, in
-her apartment, a man whose love was unsanctioned by her
-parent, and not certainly known even by herself, now appeared
-to her not only criminal, but calculated to degrade her in the
-estimation of her lover also; and this last thought tortured her
-almost to madness, when that lover entered.</p>
-
-<p>He threw himself on his knees before her; and, apparently
-penetrated by love and gratitude, thanked her for that confidence
-in his honour, which had permitted this visit, and
-assured her of his determination to merit it, by shortly espousing
-her. However, as he was not as explicit upon this point
-as Leonora desired, "Count," said she to him, "I am too
-anxious to believe that you have no other views than those you
-express to me; but whatever assurances you may offer must
-always appear to me suspicious, so long as my father is ignorant
-of your designs, and has not ratified them by his consent."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Madam," replied Belflor, "that would have been long since
-demanded by me, had I not feared to have obtained it at the
-sacrifice of your repose." "Alas!" said Leonora, "I do not
-reproach you that you have not yet sought Don Luis,&mdash;I cannot
-but be sensible of your delicacy; but nothing now restrains
-you, and you must at once resolve to see my father, or never
-to see me more."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 218px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic05.png" width="218" height="263" alt="Belflor climbs up to Leonora's balcony" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What do I hear?" exclaimed the Count,&mdash;"never to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
-you more! Beauteous Leonora! how little sensible are you
-to the charms of love! Did you know how to love like me,
-you would delight in secret to receive my vows; and, for some
-time at least, to conceal them from your father as from all the
-world. Oh! who can paint the charms of that mysterious
-intercourse, in which two hearts indulge, united by a passion
-as intense as pure." "It may have charms for you," replied
-Leonora; "to me, such intercourse would bring but sorrow:
-this refinement of tenderness but ill becomes a virtuous maiden.
-Speak not to me of such impure delights! Did you esteem
-me, you had not dared to do so; and were your intentions
-such as you would persuade me, you would, from your soul,
-reproach me that I could listen to you with patience. But,
-alas!" she added, while tears filled her eyes, "my weakness
-alone has exposed me to this outrage: I have indeed deserved
-it, that I see you here."</p>
-
-<p>"Adorable Leonora!" cried the Count, "you wrong my
-love most cruelly! Your virtue, too scrupulous, is causelessly
-alarmed. What! can you conceive that, because I have been
-so happy as to prevail on you to favour my passion, I should
-cease to esteem you? What injustice! No, madam, I know,
-too well, the value of your kindness; it can never deprive you
-of my esteem; and I am ready to do as you require me. I
-will, to-morrow, see Don Luis; and nothing shall be wanting
-on my part to ensure my happiness: but I cannot conceal from
-you, that I scarcely indulge a hope." "How!" replied;
-Leonora, with extreme surprise; "is it possible that my father
-should refuse me to the Count de Belflor?"&mdash;"Ah! it is that
-very title which gives me cause for alarm. But I see this
-surprises you: your astonishment, however, will soon cease.</p>
-
-<p>"Only a few days ago," continued he, "the King was pleased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
-to declare his will, that I should marry: you know how these
-matters are managed at our Court. He has not, however,
-named the lady for whom I am intended; but has contented
-himself with intimating that she is one who will do me honour,
-and that he has set his mind upon our union. As I was then
-ignorant of your disposition towards me,&mdash;for, as you well
-know, your rigorous severity has never until now, permitted
-me to divine it,&mdash;I did not let him perceive in me any aversion
-to the accomplishment of his desires. You may now therefore,
-judge, madam, whether Don Luis would hazard the King's
-displeasure, by accepting me as his son-in-law."</p>
-
-<p>"No, doubtless," said Leonora; "I know my father well:
-however desirable he might esteem your alliance, he would not
-hesitate to renounce it, rather than expose himself to the anger
-of his Majesty. But, even though my father had consented to
-our union, we should not be less unfortunate; for, Belflor, how
-could you possibly bestow on me a hand which the King has
-destined for another?" "Madam," replied the Count, "I will
-not disguise that your question embarrasses me. Still, I am
-not without hope that, by prudent management with the King,
-and by availing myself of the influence which his friendship for
-me secures, I should find means to avoid the misfortune which
-threatens me; and yourself, lovely Leonora, might assist me
-in so doing, did you but deem me worthy of the happiness of
-being yours." "I assist you!" she exclaimed; "how could I
-possibly enable you to avert an union which the King proposes
-for you?" "Ah! madam," he replied, with impassioned looks,
-"would you deign to receive my vows of eternal fidelity to you,
-I should have no difficulty in preserving my faith inviolate,
-without offending my sovereign. Permit, charming Leonora,"
-he continued, throwing himself at her feet, "permit me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
-espouse you in the presence of our friend Marcella; she is a
-witness who will vouch for the sanctity of our engagements. I
-shall thus escape the hateful bonds they would impose upon
-me; for, should the King still press me to accept the lady he
-designs for me, I will prostrate myself before him, and, on my
-knees, confess how long and ardently my love has been devoted
-to you, and that we are secretly married. However desirous
-he may be to unite me with another, he is too gracious to think
-of tearing me from the object I adore, and too just to offer so
-grievous an affront to your honourable family.</p>
-
-<p>"What is your opinion, discreet Marcella?" added he,
-turning towards the governante; "what think you of this project
-with which love has so opportunely inspired me?" "I
-am charmed with it," said the duenna; "the rogue, Cupid, is
-never at a loss for an expedient." "And you, dearest Leonora,"
-resumed the Count, "what do you say to it? Can your heart,
-always mistrustful, refuse its assent to my proposal?" "No,"
-she replied, "provided my father consent to it; and I do not
-doubt that he will, when you have explained to him your
-reasons for secrecy." "You must be very cautious how you consult
-him upon the subject," interrupted the abominable duenna;
-"you do not know Don Luis: his notions of honour are too
-scrupulous to permit him to engage himself with secret amours.
-The proposal of a private marriage would shock him; besides
-which, he is too prudent not to foresee the possible consequences
-of one which interfered with the designs of the King. And,
-once proposed to him, and his suspicion aroused, his eyes will
-be constantly upon you; and he will take good care to prevent
-your marriage, by separating you for ever."</p>
-
-<p>"And I should die with grief and despair," cried our courtier.
-"But madam," continued he, addressing himself to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
-Marcella, with an air of profound disappointment, "do you
-really think, then, that there is no chance of Don Luis yielding
-to our prayer?" "Not the slightest!" replied the governante.
-"But suppose he should! Exact and scrupulous as he is, he
-would never consent to the omission of a single religious ceremony
-on the occasion; and if they are all to be observed in
-your marriage, the secret will be soon known in Madrid."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! my dear Leonora," said the Count, taking her hand,
-and tenderly pressing it within his own, "must we, then, to
-satisfy a vain notion of decorum, expose ourselves to the
-frightful danger of an eternal separation? Our happiness is
-in your hands; since it depends on you alone to bestow yourself
-on me. A father's consent might, perhaps, spare you
-some uneasiness; but since our kind Marcella has convinced
-us of the impossibility of obtaining it, yield yourself, without
-further scruple, to my innocent desires. Receive my heart
-and hand; and when the time shall have arrived, that we may
-inform Don Luis of our union, we shall have no difficulty in
-satisfying him as to our reasons for its concealment." "Well,
-Count," said Leonora, "I consent to your not at once speaking
-to my father, but that you first sound the King upon the subject.
-Before, however, I receive thus secretly your hand, I
-would have this done. See his Majesty; tell him even, if
-necessary, that we are married. Let us endeavour, by this
-show of confidence,&mdash;&mdash;" "Alas! madam," interrupted Belflor,
-"what do you ask of me? No, my soul revolts at the
-thoughts of falsehood. I cannot lie; and you would despise
-me, could I thus dissemble with the King;&mdash;besides, how
-could I hope for pardon at his hands, should he discover the
-meanness of which I had been guilty?"</p>
-
-<p>"I should never have done, Signor Don Cleophas," continued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
-the Demon, "were I to repeat word for word all that
-Belflor said, in order to seduce his lovely mistress; I will only
-add, that he repeated, without my assistance, all those passionate
-phrases with which I usually inspire gallants upon
-similar occasions. But in vain did he swear he would publicly
-confirm, as soon as possible, the faith which he proposed to
-pledge in secret: Leonora's virtue was proof against his oaths;
-and the blushing day, which surprised him while he called
-Heaven to witness for his fidelity, compelled him to retire less
-triumphant than he had anticipated."</p>
-
-<p>On the following morning, the duenna, conceiving that her
-honour, or rather her interest, engaged her not to abandon the
-enterprise, took an opportunity of reverting to the subject.
-"Leonora," said she, "I am confounded by what passed last
-evening; you appear to disdain the Count's affection, or to
-regard it as inspired by an unworthy motive. Perhaps, however,
-after all, you remarked something in his person or manner
-that displeased you?" "No, good governante," replied Leonora;
-"he never appeared to me more amiable; and his conversation
-discovered to me a thousand new charms." "If that be the
-case," said the duenna, "I am still more perplexed. You
-acknowledge to be strongly prepossessed in his favour, and
-yet refuse to yield in a point, the absolute necessity of which
-he has so clearly demonstrated."</p>
-
-<p>"My dear Marcella," replied her ward, "you are wiser, and
-have had more experience in these matters, than myself; but
-have you sufficiently reflected on the consequences of a marriage
-contracted without my father's knowledge?" "Yes, certainly,"
-answered the duenna, "I have maturely considered all
-that; and I regret to find you oppose yourself, with an obstinacy
-of which I deemed you incapable, to the brilliant establishment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
-which fortune presents so uselessly. Have a care that your
-perverseness does not weary and repel your lover; remember
-that he may discover the inequality of your station and fortune,
-which his passion overlooks. While he offers you his faith,
-receive it without hesitation. His word is his bond; there is
-no tie more sacred with a man of honour, like Belflor: besides,
-I am witness that he acknowledges you as his wife; and I need
-not tell you that a testimony like mine would be more than
-sufficient to condemn a lover who should dare to perjure himself,
-and attempt to evade a legal contract."</p>
-
-<p>By this and similar conversations, the resolution of the
-artless Leonora was at last shaken; and the perils which surrounded
-her were so adroitly concealed by her perfidious governante,
-that, some days afterwards, she abandoned herself,
-without further reflection, to the will of the Count. Belflor
-was introduced nightly, by the balcony, into his mistress's
-apartment; which he left again before daybreak, when summoned
-by the duenna.</p>
-
-<p>One morning, the old lady overslept herself; and Aurora
-had already half opened the golden chambers of the east, when
-the Count hastily departed, as usual. Unfortunately, in his
-hurry to descend the ladder, his foot missed, and he fell heavily
-on the ground.</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis de Cespedes, who slept in the room over Leonora's,
-had that morning risen earlier than usual to attend to some
-important engagements; and hearing the noise of Belflor's fall
-he opened his window to learn whence it proceeded. To his
-astonishment, he perceived a man just raising himself, with
-difficulty, from the earth, while Marcella was busily engaged in
-the balcony with the silken ladder, of which the Count had
-made such bad use in his descent. Scarcely believing his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
-eyes, and rubbing them to make sure that he was awake, Don
-Luis stood for some time in amazement; but he was too soon
-convinced that what he saw was no illusion; and that the light
-of day, although just breaking, was bright enough to discover
-to him, too clearly, his disgrace.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 165px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic06.png" width="165" height="238" alt="Don Luis de Cespedes looking out of the window" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Afflicted at this fatal sight, transported by a just wrath, he
-instantly sought the apartment of Leonora, holding the light
-by which he had been writing in one hand, and his sword in
-the other. With a frantic determination of sacrificing his
-daughter and her governante to his resentment, he struck the
-door of their chamber violently, and commanded them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
-admit him. Trembling, they obeyed his summons; when he
-entered with infuriated looks, and displaying his naked sword:
-"I come," he cried, "to wash out, in the blood of an infamous
-child, the stains on the wounded honour of her father; and to
-punish the crime of a perfidious wretch, who has betrayed his
-confidence."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic07.png" width="264" height="276" alt="Don Luis confronts Leonora and Marcella" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They were in a moment on their knees before him; and, as
-he raised his arm, the trembling duenna exclaimed: "In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
-mercy hold, Signor! Before you inflict on us the punishment
-you meditate, deign but to listen to me for a moment."
-"Speak, then, unhappy woman," said Don Luis; "I will retard
-my vengeance but for the instant you require: speak, I repeat!
-tell me all the circumstances of my misfortune. But what do
-I say,&mdash;all the circumstances? Alas! I am ignorant but of
-one; it is, the name of the villain who has dishonoured me."
-"Signor," replied Marcella, "the cavalier who has just left us is
-the Count de Belflor." "The Count de Belflor!" repeated
-Don Luis; "and where did he see my daughter? By what
-means has he seduced her? On your life, hide nothing from
-me!" "Signor," replied the governante, "I will relate the whole
-history to you, with all the sincerity of which I am capable."</p>
-
-<p>She then related, with infinite art, all the conversations she
-had previously narrated to Leonora, as having passed between
-herself and the Count; whom she painted in the most flattering
-colours, as a lover tender, delicate, and sincere, beyond description.
-As, however, there was no escaping the event in
-which this heroic love most naturally terminated, she was
-obliged to avow the truth. But she managed this so adroitly,
-insisting on the weighty reasons which Belflor had for secrecy
-in his nuptials, and on the regret he had always expressed for
-its necessity, that she gradually appeased the fury of her
-master. This she was not slow to perceive; and, to completely
-soften the old man, she wound up by a peroration that
-would have done as much honour to a wig as to a gown:&mdash;"Signor,"
-said she, "I have thus told you the simple truth:
-now punish us if you will, and plunge your sword into your
-daughter's bosom! But what say I? No! Leonora is innocent;
-she has but followed the faithful counsels of her to whom
-you confided the guidance of her conduct. It is my heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
-against which your sword should be directed; it was I who
-first introduced the Count to her apartment; it is I who
-formed those ties which bind him to your daughter. I would
-not perceive the irregularity of his engagement, although unauthorised
-by you: I saw in him but a son-in-law, whom I was
-anxious to secure to you; but the channel through which the
-favours of our Court might reach you. I forgot all but the
-happiness of Leonora, and the advancement of your family,
-in the brilliant alliance of the Count. I have erred: the excess
-of my zeal has made me forgetful of my duty."</p>
-
-<p>While the subtle Marcella was speaking thus, poor Leonora
-was not sparing of her tears; and her grief appeared so excessive
-that the good old man could not resist it. He was affected.
-His anger was changed into compassion; his sword fell on
-the ground; and, quitting the air of an irritated parent: "Ah!
-my daughter," he cried, while tears sprung from his aged eyes,
-like water from the rock of Horeb, "what a fatal passion is
-love! Alas! you know not yet all the causes it will bring you
-for affliction. The shame which a father's presence alone
-excites, can bring tears to your eyes at this moment; but you
-foresee not the woes which your lover is, perhaps even now,
-preparing for the future. And you, imprudent Marcella, what
-have you done? Into what an abyss has your indiscreet zeal
-for my family plunged us! I allow that an alliance with a
-man like Belflor might dazzle you, and it is that which alone
-excuses and saves you; but, miserable that you are, why were
-you not more cautious with a lover of his station? The greater
-his credit and favour at court, the more guarded should you
-have been against his approaches. Should he not scruple to
-break his faith with my daughter, how shall I avenge the
-insult? Shall I implore the power of our laws? A person of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
-his rank can easily shelter himself from its severity. I will
-suppose that, faithful to his oaths, he would abide by his engagements
-with my daughter: if the King, as you say, has
-decreed that he shall marry with another, is it likely that our
-sovereign will fail to be obeyed?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! my father," replied Leonora, "that need not alarm us.
-The Count has assured us that the King would never do so
-great a violence to his feelings&mdash;" "Of which I am convinced,"
-interrupted the duenna; "for, besides that the monarch
-loves Belflor too much to exercise so great a tyranny upon his
-favourite, he is of too noble a character to afflict so grievously
-the valiant Don Luis de Cespedes, who has devoted to the
-service of the state the best years of his life."</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven grant," exclaimed the old man, sighing, "that all
-my fears are vain! I will seek the Count, and demand a
-full explanation of his conduct: the eyes of a father, alarmed
-for a daughter's welfare, will pierce his very soul. If I find
-him what I would hope, and what you would persuade me he
-is, I will pardon what has passed; but," added he firmly, "if
-in his discourse I discern the perfidy of his heart, you go, both
-of you, to bewail in retirement, for the rest of your days, the
-imprudence of which you have been guilty." As he finished,
-he took up his sword, and retired to his own room, leaving
-his daughter and her governante to recover themselves from
-the fright into which this discovery had so unexpectedly
-thrown them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic08.png" width="264" height="181" alt="The lady, her husband and her lover" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was at this moment interrupted in his recital by
-the Student, who thus addressed him:&mdash;"My dear Devil,
-interesting as is the history you are relating to me, my eyes
-have wandered to an object which prevents my listening to
-you as attentively as I could wish. I see a lady, who is rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
-good-looking, seated between a young man and a gentleman
-old enough to be his grandfather. They seem to enjoy the
-liqueurs which are on the table near them, but what amuses
-me, is, that as from time to time the amorous old dotard
-embraces his mistress, the deceiver conveys her hand to the
-lips of the other, who covers it with silent kisses. He is
-doubtless her gallant." "On the contrary," replied the cripple,
-"he is her husband, and the old fool is her lover. He is a
-man of consequence,&mdash;no less than a commandant of the
-military order of Calatrava; and is ruining himself for the
-lady, whose complaisant husband holds some inferior place at
-court She bestows her caresses on the sighing knight, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
-sake of his gold; and is unfaithful to him in favour of her
-husband, from inclination."</p>
-
-<p>"That is a marvellously pretty picture," said Zambullo.
-"The husband of course is French?" "No, no," replied the
-Demon: "he is a Spaniard. Oh! the good city of Madrid
-can boast within its walls a fair proportion of such well-bred
-spouses: still, they do not swarm here as in Paris, which is,
-beyond contradiction, the most fruitful city of the world in
-such inhabitants." "I thought so," said Don Cleophas; "but
-pardon me, Signor Asmodeus, if I have broken the thread of
-the fair Leonora's story. Continue it, I pray you; it interests
-me exceedingly; and exhibits such variety in the art of seduction
-as transports me with admiration."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 192px;">
-<img src="images/ch04tailpiece.png" width="192" height="158" alt="Tailpiece of a gentleman in a rustic landscape" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER V.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT
-DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiald.png" width="75" height="75" alt="D" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Luis, (continued Asmodeus), on returning to
-his apartment, dressed himself hastily, and, while
-it was still early, repaired to the Count; who,
-not suspecting a discovery, was much surprised by
-this visit. On the old man's entrance, however, Belflor ran
-to meet him, and, embracing him cordially, exclaimed, "Ah
-Signor Don Luis; I am delighted to see you. To what do I
-owe this happiness? Am I so fortunate as to have an opportunity
-of serving you?" "Signor," replied Don Luis sternly,
-"I would speak with you alone."</p>
-
-<p>Belflor desired his attendants to withdraw; and as soon as
-they were seated, "Signor," said Cespedes, "I come to ask of
-you an explanation of circumstances in which my honour and
-happiness are deeply interested. I saw you this morning
-leaving the apartment of my daughter. She has disguised
-nothing from me: she informed that&mdash;&mdash;" "She has told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
-you that I love her," interrupted the Count, to avoid hearing
-what he knew could not be very agreeable; "but she can but
-have feebly described all that I feel for her. I am enchanted
-with her; she is an adorable creature: beauty, wit, virtue,&mdash;nothing
-is wanting to perfect her charms. I am told you have
-a son, too, who is finishing his studies at Alcala: does he
-resemble his sister? If he have her beauty, and have at all
-inherited the noble bearing of his father, he must be a perfect
-cavalier. I die with anxiety to see him; and I assure you that
-I shall be proud to advance his fortunes."</p>
-
-<p>"I am obliged to you for so kind an offer," gravely replied
-Don Luis; "but to return to the subject of&mdash;&mdash;" "He must
-enter the service at once," again interrupted the Count: "I
-charge myself with the care of his interests: he shall not grow
-old among the crowd of subalterns; on that you may depend."
-"Answer me, Count!" replied the old man vehemently, "and
-cease these interruptions. Do you intend, or not, to fulfil the
-promise&mdash;&mdash;?" "Yes, certainly," interrupted Belflor for the
-third time; "I engage faithfully to support your son with all
-the interest I possess: rely on me; I am a man of my word."
-"This is too much, Count," cried Cespedes, rising: "after
-having seduced my daughter, you dare thus to insult me! But
-I also am a noble; and the injury you have done me shall not
-remain unpunished." In finishing these words, he left the
-Count, his heart swelling with anger, and his mind tormented
-with a thousand projects of revenge.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic01.png" width="239" height="234" alt="Don Luis de Cespedes interviews Belflor" />
-</div>
-
-<p>On arriving at home, still greatly agitated, he immediately
-went to Leonora's apartment, where he found her with Marcella.
-"It was not without reason," said he, addressing them, "that
-I was suspicious of the Count: he is a traitor; but I will
-avenge myself. For you, you shall at once hide your shame<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
-within a convent: both of you, prepare to leave this house
-to-morrow; and thank Heaven that my wrath contents itself
-with so moderate a punishment." He then left them, to shut
-himself in his cabinet, that he might maturely reflect on the
-conduct it would be proper to observe in so delicate a conjuncture.</p>
-
-<p>How poignant was the grief of Leonora, when thus informed
-of Belflor's perfidy! She remained for some time motionless;
-a death-like paleness overspread her lovely features; life itself
-seemed about to abandon her, and she fell senseless into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
-arms of her governante. The alarmed duenna at first thought
-that the victim of her intrigues was really dead; but, on perceiving
-that she still breathed, used every effort to restore her
-to consciousness, and at last succeeded. Existence, however,
-had no longer charms for Leonora; and when, somewhat
-recovered, she unclosed her eyelids, and perceived the officious
-governante busy about her person, "Cruel Marcella!" she
-exclaimed, sighing deeply; "wherefore have you drawn me
-from the happy state in which I was? Then, I felt not the
-horror of my destiny. Why did you not let me perish? You,
-who know so well that life henceforth must be but one long
-misery, why have you sought to preserve it?"</p>
-
-<p>The duenna endeavoured to console her, but her words only
-added to Leonora's sufferings. "It is in vain you would
-comfort me," she cried, "I will not hear you: strive not to
-combat my despair. Rather seek to add to its profundity;
-you, who have plunged me into the frightful gulph in which all
-my hopes are swallowed:&mdash;you it was who assured me of the
-Count's sincerity; but for you I had never yielded to my
-passion for him; I should have insensibly triumphed over it, or
-at least, he would never have had cause to boast of my weakness.
-But no! I will not," she continued, "attribute to you
-my misfortunes; it is myself alone I should accuse. I ought
-not to have followed your advice, in accepting the faith of a
-man, without the sanction of my father. However flattering
-to me were the attentions of Count de Belflor, I should have
-despised them, rather than have endeavoured to secure them at
-the price of my honour: I should have mistrusted him, you!
-Marcella, and myself. For my folly in listening to his perfidious
-oaths, for the affliction I have caused to the unhappy Don Luis,
-and for the dishonour I have brought upon my family, I detest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
-myself; and, far from fearing the state of seclusion with which
-I am menaced, I would willingly conceal my guilt and shame in
-the most frightful dungeon in the world."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic02.png" width="265" height="275" alt="Marcella tries to console Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>While her grief thus vented itself in exclamations, and tears
-streamed from her eyes, she frantically tore her clothes, and
-revenged the injustice of her lover on the beautiful locks which
-fell around her neck. The duenna, also, to appear in keeping
-with her mistress's grief, was not sparing of grimaces; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
-managed to squeeze out some convenient tears, and directed a
-thousand imprecations against mankind in general, and against
-Belflor in particular. "Is it possible," she cried, "that the
-Count, who had all the semblance of amiability and rectitude,
-should be so great a villain as to have deceived us both? I
-cannot get over my surprise, or rather, I cannot even yet
-persuade myself that he is so."</p>
-
-<p>"Indeed," said Leonora, "when I picture him myself at my
-feet, what maiden could but have confided to so much tenderness,&mdash;to
-his oaths, which he so daringly called on Heaven to
-witness,&mdash;to his boundless transports, which seemed so sincere?
-His eyes to me discovered a love far more intense than his lips
-could express; and the very sight of me appeared to charm
-him:&mdash;no, he did not deceive me; I cannot believe it. My
-father has not spoken to him with sufficient caution; they have
-quarrelled, and the Count has replied to his reproaches less as
-the lover than the lord. Still, may I not deceive myself? I
-will, however, end this horrible suspense. I will write to
-Belflor,&mdash;tell him I expect him here this night: I am resolved
-he comes to reassure my troubled heart, or to confirm, himself,
-his treachery."</p>
-
-<p>Marcella loudly applauded this resolution; she even conceived
-a hope that the Count, all ambitious as he was, might
-yet be affected by the tears of his Leonora, which could not
-fail at this interview, and that he might determine on espousing
-her in truth.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Belflor, relieved of the presence of Don Luis,
-was revolving in his mind the probable consequences of the
-reception he had given to the good old man. He felt certain
-that all the Cespedes, enraged at the injury he had done their
-family, would unite to avenge it: this, however, gave him but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
-little trouble; the possible loss of Leonora occasioned him far
-greater anxiety. She would, he imagined, at once be placed in
-a convent, or, at least, that she would be carefully guarded from
-his sight; and that she was consequently lost to him for ever.
-This thought afflicted him; and he was occupied in devising
-some means to prevent so great a misfortune, when his valet
-entered the apartment, and presented a letter which Marcella
-had placed in his hands. It was from Leonora, and ran as
-follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">My still dearest Belflor</span>,</p>
-
-<p>"I shall to-morrow quit the world, to bury myself in
-a convent. Dishonoured, odious to my family and to myself,
-such is the deplorable condition to which I am reduced by
-listening to you. Still I will expect you to-night. In my
-despair, I seek new tortures: come, and avow to me that your
-heart disowned the protestations which your lips have made to
-me; or come to confirm them by your sympathy, which alone
-can soften the harshness of my destiny. As there may, however,
-be some danger in this meeting, after what has passed
-between you and my father, be sure you are accompanied by a
-friend. Although you have rendered life worthless to me, I
-cannot cease to interest myself in thine.</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Leonora</span>."</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>While the Count perused this letter, which he read over
-several times, his imagination depicted the situation of Leonora,
-in colours more sombre even than the reality, and he was
-deeply affected. He bitterly reflected on his past conduct:
-reason, probity, honour, all whose laws he had violated in the
-phrenzy of his passion, now regained their empire in his breast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
-The blindness which selfishness inflicts upon its victims was
-dissipated; and as the fevered convalescent blushes for the
-follies which, in the access of his disorder, he has committed,
-so was Belflor ashamed of the meanness and artifice of which
-he had been guilty to satisfy his lust.</p>
-
-<p>"What have I done?" he cried; "wretch that I am, what
-demon has possessed me? I promised Leonora to espouse
-her, and called on Heaven to witness for the lie; I falsely
-told her that the King had designed me for another; lying,
-treachery, perjury,&mdash;I have hesitated at nothing to corrupt
-innocence itself. What madness! Oh! had I used, to control
-it, the efforts I have made to gratify my passion! To
-seduce one of whose beauty and virtue I was unworthy, to
-abandon her to the wrath of her relations, whom I have equally
-dishonoured, and to plunge her in misery as a return for the
-happiness she bestowed on me,&mdash;what ingratitude! Ought I
-not then to repair the injury I have inflicted? Yes, I ought,
-and I will; my hand shall at the altar fulfil the pledge I gave
-for it. Who shall oppose me in so righteous a determination?
-Should her tenderness for me at all prejudice her virtue? No,
-I know too well what that cost me to vanquish. She yielded
-less to my love than to her confidence in my integrity, and to
-my vows of fidelity. But, on the other hand, if I resolve on
-this marriage, I make a great sacrifice,&mdash;I, who may pretend to
-the heiresses of the richest and most noble houses in the kingdom,
-shall I content myself with the daughter of a respectable
-gentleman, of small fortune? What will they think of me at
-court? They will say that I have made a splendid alliance
-indeed!"</p>
-
-<p>Belflor, thus divided between love and ambition, knew not
-how to resolve; but although undetermined whether he should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
-marry Leonora or not, he had no difficulty in making up his
-mind to see her that evening, and at once directed his valet so
-to inform Marcella.</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis was all this time in his cabinet, engaged in
-reflections on the mode he should adopt to vindicate his
-honour; and he was not a little embarrassed in his choice.
-To have recourse to the laws, was to publish his disgrace,
-besides which, he suspected with great reason that justice
-was likely to be one side, and the judges on the other.
-Again, he dared not to seek reparation of the King himself;
-as he believed that prince had views with regard to Belflor
-which must render such an application useless. There remained,
-then, but his own sword and those of his friends, and
-on these he concluded to rely.</p>
-
-<p>In the heat of his resentment, he at first meditated a
-challenge to the Count; but on consideration of his great
-age and weakness, he feared to trust his arm; so resolved to
-confide the matter to his son, whose thrust he thought was
-likely to be surer than his own. He therefore sent one of his
-domestics to Alcala, with a letter commanding his son's immediate
-presence in Madrid, to revenge, as he stated it, an insult
-offered to the family of the Cespedes.</p>
-
-<p>"This son, Don Pedro, is a cavalier of eighteen years of age,
-perfectly handsome, and so brave, that he passes at Alcala for
-the most valiant student of that university; but you know
-him," added the Devil, "and I need not enlarge on the
-subject." "I can answer," said Don Cleophas, "for his
-having all the valour and all the merit that can adorn a
-gentleman."</p>
-
-<p>"But this young man," resumed Asmodeus, "was not then
-at Alcala, as his father imagined. Love had brought him also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
-to Madrid, where the object of his passion resided; and where
-he had met her for the first time, on the Prado, on the occasion
-of his last visit to his family. Who she was, he knew not: and
-his fair conquest had exacted of him a pledge that he would
-take no steps to inform himself on this head,&mdash;and although
-he was as good as his word, it cost him some trouble to keep
-it. I need hardly add, that she was of higher rank than her
-lover; and that, wisely mistrusting the discretion and constancy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
-of a student&mdash;no offence to your highness&mdash;she thought proper
-to test him as to these necessary qualifications for a suitor,
-before she disclosed to him her station or name."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic03.png" width="214" height="280" alt="Portrait of Don Pedro" />
-</div>
-
-<p>His thoughts were, of course, more occupied by his lovely
-incognita than with the philosophy of Aristotle; and the
-vicinity of Alcala to Madrid occasioned the youthful Pedro
-to play truant to his studies as frequent as yourself; but, I
-must say, with a better excuse than your Donna Thomasa
-afforded. To conceal from his father, Don Luis, his amorous
-excursions, he usually lodged at a tavern at the other end of
-the town, where he passed under a borrowed name; and only
-went abroad at a certain hour in the morning, that he might
-repair to a house where the lady, for the love of whom he
-neglected his Ovid, did him the honour to wait, in company
-with a trusty female attendant. During the rest of the day he
-shut himself up in his hotel; but as soon as night was come, he
-wandered fearlessly throughout the city.</p>
-
-<p>He happened one evening, as he was traversing a bye-street,
-to hear the sound of instruments and voices, which attracted
-his attention, and he stopped to listen. It was a serenade,
-and tolerably performed; but the cavalier, who was drunk, and
-naturally brutish, no sooner perceived our student than he
-hurried towards him, and, without preface,&mdash;"Friend," said he,
-with an insolent air, "make yourself scarce; or your curiosity
-may find you more than you expect." "I would have withdrawn,"
-replied Don Pedro, proudly, "had you requested me
-to do so with civility; but I shall now stay, to teach you better
-manners." "We shall see, then," said the serenading gallant,
-drawing his sword, "which of us two will give place to the other."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro also drew his sword, their weapons were crossed
-in a moment, and a furious combat ensued; but although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
-Student's adversary was not wanting in skill, he could not
-parry a mortal thrust of Don Pedro, and fell dead upon the
-pavement. The musicians, who had already quitted their
-instruments, or stopped their singing, and had drawn their
-swords to protect their patron, now came in a body to avenge
-his death, and attacked Don Pedro all together. He, however,
-gave them satisfactory proofs of what he could do upon occasion;
-for, besides parrying, with surprising dexterity, all the
-thrusts which they designed for him, he dealt furiously among
-them, and found work for them all to protect themselves.</p>
-
-<p>Still, they were so numerous, and apparently so determined
-on the Student's death, that, skilful as he was with his weapon,
-they would have most probably accomplished their object, had
-not the Count de Belflor, who was accidentally passing through
-the street, come to his assistance. The Count was of too noble
-a nature to see so many armed men striving against one man
-to hesitate upon the part he should take. His sword was
-therefore instantly directed against the musicians, and with so
-much vigour that they were soon put to flight, some wounded,
-and the others for fear they should be.</p>
-
-<p>The field thus cleared, the Student, with what breath remained
-to him, began to express his sense of the valuable
-service he had so seasonably received; but Belflor at once
-stopped him: "Not a word, my dear Sir," said he; "are you
-not wounded?" "No," replied Don Pedro. "Then let us
-leave this place at once," said the Count: "I see you have
-killed your man; and it will be dangerous to stay in his company,
-lest the officers of justice surprise you." They immediately
-decamped as quickly as possible, and did not stop until they
-had gained a street at some distance from the field of battle.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro, filled with a natural gratitude, then begged the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
-Count not to conceal from him the name of a person to whom
-he owed so great an obligation. Belflor made no difficulty in
-complying with this request; but when in turn he asked that of
-the Student, the latter, unwilling to discover himself to any
-person in Madrid, replied, that he was Don Juan de Maros,
-and that he should eternally bear in his remembrance the debt
-of gratitude which he owed to the Count.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic04.png" width="245" height="276" alt="The swordfight" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well," said Belflor to him, "I will this night give you an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
-opportunity of repaying it in full. I have an appointment,
-which is not without risk; and I was about, when I fell in with
-you, to seek the protection of a friend. However, I know
-your valour, Don Juan: will you accompany me?" "To doubt
-it, were to insult me," replied the Student: "I cannot better
-employ the life you have preserved, than in exposing it in
-your defence. Go! I am ready to follow you." Accordingly,
-Belflor conducted Don Pedro to the house of Don Luis, and
-they both entered, by the balcony, the apartment of Leonora.</p>
-
-<p>Here Don Cleophas interrupted the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus,"
-said he, "impossible! What! not know his own
-father's house? No, no, no; that will never do." "It was
-not possible he should know it," replied the Demon; "for it
-was a new one: Don Luis had lately changed his habitation,
-and had only taken this house a week before; which was just
-what Don Pedro did not know, and was what I was just going
-to tell you when you stopped me. You are too sharp; and
-have that shocking habit of displaying your intelligence by
-interrupting people in their stories: get rid of that fault, I
-pray you."</p>
-
-<p>"Well," continued the Devil, "Don Pedro did not think he
-was in his father's house; nor did he even perceive that it
-was Marcella who let him into it; since she received him
-without a light, in an antechamber, where Belflor requested his
-companion to remain while he was in the next room with his
-mistress. To this the Student made no demur; so quietly sat
-himself down in a chair, with his drawn sword in his hand for
-fear of surprise, while his thoughts ran on the favours which
-he suspected love was heaping on the Count, and his wishes
-that he might be as happy with his incognita,&mdash;for although
-he had no great cause of complaint as to her kindness, still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
-it was not exactly paid after the kind of that of Leonora for the
-Count."</p>
-
-<p>While he was making, upon this subject, all those pleasing
-reflections which occur so readily to an impassioned lover, he
-heard some one endeavouring quietly to open a door, which
-was not that of The Delights, but one which discovered a light
-through the keyhole. He rose quickly, and advanced towards
-it; and, as the door opened, presented the point of his sword
-to his father; for he it was who entered Leonora's apartments,
-for the purpose of seeing that the Count was not there. The
-good old man did not exactly suppose, after what had passed,
-that his daughter and Marcella would dare to receive him
-again, which had prevented his assigning to them other
-chambers; but he had thought it probable that, as they were
-to go to a nunnery on the following day, they might desire
-to converse with him, for the last time, ere they left his
-roof.</p>
-
-<p>"Whoever thou art," said the Student, "enter not this room,
-or it may cost thee thy life." At these words, Don Luis stared
-at Don Pedro, who also regarding the old man with attention,
-they soon recognised each other. "Ah! my son," cried the
-old man, "with what impatience have I expected you: why
-did you not inform me of your arrival? Did you fear to disturb
-my rest? Alas! that is for ever banished, in the cruel situation
-in which I am placed." "Ah, my father!" said Don Pedro,
-utterly amazed, "is it you whom I behold? Are not my eyes
-deceived by some fantastic vision?" "Whence this astonishment?"
-replied Don Luis; "are you not within your father's
-house? Have I not, a week ago, informed you where to find
-me?" "Just Heaven!" cried the Student, "what do I hear?&mdash;and
-this then is my sister's apartment."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>As he finished these words, the Count, whom the noise had
-alarmed, and who expected that his escort was attacked, came
-out, sword in hand, from Leonora's chamber. No sooner did
-the old man perceive him than, with fury in his eyes, he pointed
-to Belflor, and exclaimed to his son,&mdash;"There is the villain
-who has robbed me of my happiness, and who has stained our
-honour with a mortal taint. Revenge! Let us hasten to punish
-the traitor!" As he thus vented his rage, he opened his dressing-gown,
-and drew from beneath it his sword, with which he
-was about to fall on the Count, when Don Pedro restrained
-him. "Stay, my father," said he; "moderate, I entreat you,
-the fury of your wrath: what are you about to do?" "My
-son," replied the old man, "you withhold my arm. You
-doubtless think it is too weak to revenge our wrongs. Be
-it so! Do you then exact full satisfaction for the injury
-he has done us: it was for this purpose that I summoned
-you to Madrid. Should you perish, I will take your place;
-for either shall the Count fall beneath our arms, or he shall
-take from both of us our lives, after having blasted our
-reputation."</p>
-
-<p>"My father," said Don Pedro, "I cannot yield to your impatience
-that which it requires of me. Far from attempting
-the life of the Count, I am now here to defend it. For that
-my word is pledged,&mdash;to that my honour is assured. Let us
-depart, Count," continued he, addressing himself to Belflor.
-"Ah! wretch," interrupted Don Luis, while he surveyed his
-son with anger and astonishment,&mdash;"thus to oppose thyself to
-a vengeance, which it should be the business of thy life to
-accomplish! My son, my own son, is leagued, then, with the
-villain who has corrupted my daughter! But think not to
-escape my resentment: I will place a sword in the hand of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
-every servant in my house, to punish his treachery and thy
-despicable meanness."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic05.png" width="268" height="290" alt="Don Pedro restrains Don Luis from attacking Belflor" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied Don Pedro, "be more just towards your
-son. Call him not despicable or mean&mdash;he merits not those
-odious appellations. The Count this night saved my life. He
-proposed to me, in ignorance of my real name, to accompany<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
-him here; and I freely consented to share the perils he might
-run, without knowing that my gratitude imprudently engaged
-my arm against the honour of my family. My word is passed,
-then, here to defend his life; that done, I stand acquitted of
-my obligation towards him: but I am not the less insensible
-of the wrong that he has done to you and to us all; and to-morrow
-you shall find that I will as readily shed his blood,
-as you behold me now determined to preserve it from your
-hands."</p>
-
-<p>The Count had witnessed in silence all that passed, so much
-was he surprised at this extraordinary adventure; he now,
-however, thus addressed the Student: "It is possible that the
-injury I have inflicted might be but imperfectly avenged by your
-sword; I will, therefore, present to you a means much more
-certain of repairing it. I will confess to you that, until this
-day, I did not intend to marry Leonora; but I this morning
-received from her a letter which touched my heart, and her
-tears have finished what her letter began. The happiness of
-being united to your sister is now my dearest hope." "But if
-the King has destined you for another," said Don Luis, "how
-can you dispense&mdash;&mdash;?" "The King has not troubled himself
-upon the subject," interrupted Belflor, blushing: "pardon, I
-beseech you, that fiction, to a man whose reason was deranged
-by love; it is a crime that the violence of my passion incited
-me to commit, and which I expiate in avowing to you my
-shame."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied the old man, "after this frankness, which
-belongs only to noble minds, I cannot doubt your sincerity. I
-see, with joy, that you are anxious to repair the injury you have
-done us; my anger yields to this assurance of your contrition;
-I will forget it for ever in your arms." He advanced towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
-the Count, who rushed to meet him, and they embraced each
-other cordially. Then, turning towards Don Pedro, "And
-you, false Don Juan," said Belflor,&mdash;"you, who have already
-gained my esteem by your valour, come, let me vow to you a
-brother's love." Don Pedro received the Count's embraces
-with a submissive and respectful air, saying, "Signor, in offering
-to me so valuable a friendship, you secure mine for yourself:
-rely on me, as one devoted to your service to the last moment
-of his life."</p>
-
-<p>While these cavaliers were thus discoursing, Leonora was at
-the door of her chamber, intently listening to every syllable
-they uttered. She had been, at the first, tempted to discover
-herself, and to throw herself in the midst of their swords; but
-fear, and Marcella, had withheld her. But when the adroit
-duenna saw that matters were arranging very amicably, she
-guessed that the presence of her mistress, and her own, would
-spoil nothing. Accordingly, she appeared, her handkerchief
-in one hand and her ward in the other; and, with tears in their
-eyes, they prostrated themselves before Don Luis. Neither of
-them, indeed, felt perfectly assured; for they recollected the
-surprise of the previous night, and feared the old man's reproaches
-for this renewal of their disobedience. However,
-raising Leonora,&mdash;"My child," said he, "dry your tears; I
-will not upbraid you now: since your lover is disposed to keep
-the faith he has sworn to you, it is fitting that I should forget
-the past."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Signor Don Luis," interrupted Belflor, "I will indeed
-keep my faith with Leonora; and as some amends for the insult
-I had intended, as the fullest satisfaction I can give to you, and
-as a pledge of that friendship I have vowed to Don Pedro, I
-offer him in marriage my sister Eugenia." "Signor!" cried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
-Don Luis, "how can I express my satisfaction at the honour
-you confer upon my son? Was ever father happier than myself?
-You overpay me, in joy, for the grief you have caused me."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 269px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic06.png" width="269" height="198" alt="Don Luis raises Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Though the old man was charmed with the Count's proposals,
-I cannot say as much for his son. Being sincerely taken with
-love for his incognita, he was so overcome with surprise and
-chagrin at Belflor's offer, that he had not a word to say for
-himself; when the latter, who did not observe his embarrassment,
-took leave, stating that he should at once order the
-necessary preparations for this double union, and that he was
-impatient to be bound to them eternally, by ties so endearing.</p>
-
-<p>After his departure, Don Luis left Leonora with the duenna,
-taking with him his son, who, when they had reached his father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
-apartment, said, with all the frankness of a student: "Signor,
-do not insist, I pray you, on my marriage with the Count's
-sister; it is enough for the honour of our family, that he should
-espouse Leonora." "What! my son," replied the old man,
-"can you have any objection to an union with Eugenia de
-Belflor?" "Yes, my father," said Don Pedro; "I must
-confess to you, that union would prove to me the most cruel of
-punishments; and I will not disguise from you the reason. I
-love, or, rather, I adore another: for the last six months she
-has listened to my vows: and now, on her alone depends the
-happiness of my life."</p>
-
-<p>"How miserable is the condition of a father!" exclaimed
-Don Luis: "how rarely does he find his children disposed to
-do as he desires them. But who is this lady that has made
-such deep impression on your heart?" "That, I do not yet
-know," replied Don Pedro. "She has promised to inform me
-of her name when I shall have satisfied her of my constancy
-and discretion; but I doubt not she does honour to one of the
-noblest houses of Spain."</p>
-
-<p>"And you think then," said the old man, changing his tone,
-"that I shall be so obliging as to sanction this romantic love!&mdash;that
-I shall permit you to renounce an alliance, as glorious
-as fortune could offer to you, that you may remain faithful to
-an illustrious lady of whose very name you are ignorant! Do
-not expect so much of my kindness. No, rather strive to
-vanquish feelings that are inspired by an object which is most
-probably unworthy of them; and seek, in so doing, to merit
-the honour which the Count proposes for you." "You speak
-to me in vain, my father," replied the Student; "I feel that I
-can never forget her whom I have sworn to love&mdash;unknown
-though she be,&mdash;and that nothing can tear me from her. Were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
-the Infanta proposed to me&mdash;&mdash;" "Hold!" cried the old
-man angrily; "it is too much to boast thus insolently of a constancy
-which excites my displeasure: leave me, and let me not
-see you again until you are prepared to obey my will."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro did not dare to reply to these words, for fear
-of hearing others more unpleasant still; so he retired to his
-chamber, where he passed the remainder of the night in reflections
-in which sorrow was not all unmixed with joy. He
-thought with grief that he was about to estrange himself from
-his family, by refusing the hand of Belflor's sister; but then he
-was consoled, when he reflected that his incognita would worthily
-esteem the greatness of the sacrifice. He even flattered himself
-that, after so convincing a proof of his fidelity, she would
-no longer conceal from him her station, which he imagined also
-must be equal at least to that of Eugenia.</p>
-
-<p>In this hope, as soon as day appeared, he went out, and
-directed his steps towards the Prado, that he might pass away
-the time until the hour of his meeting with his mistress. With
-what impatience did he count the minutes as they lingered,&mdash;with
-what joy did he hail the happy moment when it arrived!</p>
-
-<p>He found his fair unknown with Donna Juanna, the lady at
-whose house they met; but alas, he found her in tears, and
-apparently in the deepest affliction. What a sight for a lover!
-His own grief was forgotten: he approached her with tenderness;
-and throwing himself on his knees before her, "Madam,"
-he exclaimed, "what must I think of the condition in which I
-see you? What dreadful misfortune do these tears, which
-pierce my heart, forbode?" "You dream not," she replied,
-"of the fatal news I bring you. Cruel fortune is about to
-separate us for ever;&mdash;yes! we shall meet no more."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic07.png" width="242" height="255" alt="Don Pedro kneels before his fair unknown" />
-</div>
-
-<p>She accompanied these words with so many and such heart-rending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
-sighs, that I know not if Don Pedro was more affected
-at what she told him, than at the affliction with which she
-appeared oppressed in telling it. "Just Heaven!" he cried, in
-a transport of fury, which he could not control, "is it thy will
-that they prevent an union whose innocence is worthy of thy
-protection? But, Madam," he continued, "you are perhaps
-falsely alarmed! Is it certain that they would snatch you from
-the most faithful of lovers? Can it be possible that I should
-be so unhappy?" "Our misfortune is but too certain," answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
-the Unknown; "my brother, upon whom my hand depends,
-has bestowed it this very day; he has this moment announced
-to me his decision." "And who is the happy man?" exclaimed
-Don Pedro. "Tell me! In my despair I will seek him, and&mdash;&mdash;"
-"I do not know his name," interrupted the Unknown. "I
-cared not to ask, nor did my brother inform me; he told
-me indeed that it was his wish that I should first see the
-cavalier."</p>
-
-<p>"But, Madam," said Don Pedro, "will you then yield without
-resistance to your brother's will? Will you be dragged to
-the altar, without complaint? Will you go, a willing sacrifice,
-and abandon me so easily? Alas! I have not hesitated to expose
-myself to the anger of a father for love of you; nor could
-his menaces for a moment shake my fidelity. No! nor threats,
-nor persuasion, could move me to espouse another, although
-the lady he proposed for me was one to whom I had hardly
-dared aspire." "And who is this lady?" asked the Unknown.
-"She is the sister of the Count de Belflor," replied the scholar.
-"Ah, Don Pedro!" cried the Unknown, with extreme surprise,
-"surely, you are mistaken; it cannot be she whom they propose
-to you. What! Eugenia, the sister of Belflor? Are you
-sure of what you say?" "Yes, Madam," replied the Student;
-"the Count himself offered me her hand." "How!" cried
-she, "is it possible that you are the cavalier for whom my
-brother designs me?" "What do I hear?" cried the Student
-in his turn, "is it possible that my incognita is the Count de
-Belflor's sister?" "Yes, Don Pedro," replied Eugenia. "But
-I can hardly believe it myself, at this moment; so difficult do I
-find it to persuade myself of the happiness you assure to me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro now fell again at her feet, and seizing her hand,
-he kissed it with all the transport that lovers only can feel who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
-pass suddenly from the depths of despair to the highest pinnacle
-of hope and joy. While he abandoned himself to the feelings
-of his heart, Eugenia for the first time forgot her reserve, and
-freely returned his caress&mdash;she felt that her love was sanctioned,
-and gave, her lips where her heart had long been engaged.
-"Alas!" said she, when her love could form itself into words,
-"what tortures had my brother spared me, had he but here
-named the husband of his choice! What aversion had I already
-conceived for my future lord! Ah, my dear Don Pedro, how I
-have hated you!" "Lovely Eugenia," replied he, "what charms
-has that hatred for me now! I will endeavour to merit it by
-adoring you for ever."</p>
-
-<p>After the happy pair had exhausted love's vocabulary, and
-the tumult of their hearts was somewhat calmed, Eugenia was
-anxious to know by what means the Student had gained her
-brother's friendship. Don Pedro did not conceal from her the
-amours of the Count and his sister, and related all that had
-passed the night before. It was for Eugenia an additional
-pleasure to learn that Belflor was to marry the sister of her
-own lover. Donna Juanna was too much interested in the welfare
-of her friend not to partake of her joy for this happy event,
-and warmly congratulated her, as also Don Pedro thereon. At
-last the lovers separated, after having agreed that they should
-not appear to know each other when they met before the Count
-and Don Luis.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro returned to his father, who, finding his son disposed
-to obey him, was the more pleased, inasmuch as he attributed
-this ready compliance to the firm manner in which he
-had spoken to him overnight. They presently received a note
-from Belflor, in which he informed them that he had obtained
-the King's consent to his marriage, as also for that of his sister<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
-with Don Pedro, on whom his Majesty had been pleased to confer
-a considerable appointment. He added, so diligently had
-his orders for the nuptials been executed, that everything was
-arranged for their taking place on the following day; and he
-came soon after they had received his letter, to confirm what
-he had written, and to present to them his sister Eugenia.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic08.png" width="263" height="204" alt="Belflor presents Eugenia" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Luis received the lady with every mark of affection,
-and Leonora kissed her so much that her brother was almost
-jealous&mdash;although, whatever he might feel, he managed to constrain
-his love and delight, so as not to give the Count the least
-suspicion of their intelligence.</p>
-
-<p>As Belflor remarked his sister with great attention, he thought
-he could discover, notwithstanding her reserve, which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
-attributed to modesty, that Don Pedro was by no means displeasing
-to her. To be certain, however, he took an opportunity of
-speaking to her aside, and drew from her an avowal of her
-entire satisfaction. He then informed her of the name and
-rank of her intended, which he would not before communicate,
-lest the inequality of the stations should prejudice her against
-him; all which she feigned, marvellously well, to hear as for
-the first time.</p>
-
-<p>At last, after many compliments, which were remarkable for
-their sincerity, it was resolved that the weddings should take
-place at the house of Don Luis the next day, as Belflor had
-arranged. They were accordingly celebrated this evening, the
-rejoicing still continues, and now you know why they are so
-merry in that house. Every one is delighted&mdash;except the lady
-Marcella: she, while all else are laughing, is at this moment in
-tears. They are real tears too, this time! for the Count de
-Belflor, after the ceremony, informed Don Luis of the facts
-which preceded it; and the old gentleman has sent the duenna
-to the <i>Monasterio de las Arrepentidas</i>, where the thousand pistoles
-she received for seducing Leonora will enable her to
-repent having done so for the rest of her days.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 184px;">
-<img src="images/ch05tailpiece.png" width="184" height="176" alt="talilpiece of a gentleman in a landscape with a tower" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE
-ON DONNA THOMASA.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialt.png" width="75" height="78" alt="T" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The Demon now directed the Student's attention to
-another part of the city. "You see," he continued,
-"that house which is directly under us:
-it contains something curious enough,&mdash;a man
-loaded with debt and sleeping profoundly." "Of course then,"
-said Leandro, "he is a person of distinction?" "Precisely
-so," answered Asmodeus: "he is a marquis, possessed of a
-hundred thousand ducats per annum, but whose expenses,
-nevertheless, exceed his income. His table and his mistresses
-require that he should support them with credit, but that causes
-him no anxiety; on the contrary, when he opens an account
-with a tradesman, he thinks that the latter is indebted to him.
-'It is you,' said he the other day to a draper, 'it is you, that I
-shall henceforth trust with the execution of my orders; it is a
-preference which you owe to my esteem.'</p>
-
-<p>"While the marquis enjoys so tranquilly the sweet repose of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
-which he deprives his creditors, look at a man who&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Stay, Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Don Cleophas hastily;
-"I perceive a carriage in the street, and cannot let it pass
-without asking what it contains." "Hush," said the Cripple,
-lowering his voice, as though he feared he should be heard:&mdash;"learn
-that that vehicle conceals one of the most dignified
-personages in this kingdom, a president, who is going to amuse
-himself with an elderly lady of Asturia, who is devoted to his
-pleasures. That he may not be known, he has taken the
-precaution of imitating Caligula, who on a similar occasion
-disguised himself in a wig.</p>
-
-<p>"But,&mdash;to return to the picture I was about to present to
-your sight when you interrupted me,&mdash;observe, in the very
-highest part of the mansion, where sleeps the marquis, a man
-who is writing in a chamber filled with books and manuscripts."
-"He is probably," said Zambullo, "the steward, labouring to
-devise some means for discharging his master's obligations."
-"Excellent," exclaimed the Devil; "that, indeed, forms a great
-part of the amusement of such gentry in the service of noblemen!
-They seek rather to profit from derangement of their
-masters' affairs than to put them in order. He is not, then, the
-steward whom you see; he is an author: the marquis keeps him
-in his house, to obtain the reputation of a patron of literature."
-"This author," replied Don Cleophas, "is apparently a man
-of eminence." "Judge for yourself!" replied the Demon.
-"He is surrounded by a thousand volumes, and is composing
-one, on Natural History, in which there will not be a line of
-his own. He pillages these books and manuscripts without
-mercy; and, although he does nothing but arrange and connect
-his larcenies, he has more vanity than the most original
-writer upon earth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic01.png" width="259" height="290" alt="The author at work" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"You are not aware," continued the Spirit, "who lives three
-doors from this mansion: it is La Chichona, the very lady
-who acted so honourable a part in the story of the Count de
-Belflor." "Ah!" said Leandro, "I am delighted to behold
-her. The dear creature, so considerate for youth, is doubtless
-one of the two old ladies whom I perceive in that room. One
-of them is leaning with both her elbows on the table, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
-attentively at the other, who is counting out some money.
-Which of them is La Chichona?" "Not the one who is
-counting," said the Demon; "her name is La Pebrada, and
-she is a distinguished member of the same profession: they
-are, indeed, partners; and are at this moment dividing the
-profits of an adventure which, by their assistance, has terminated
-favourably.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic02.png" width="263" height="273" alt="La Chichona and La Pebrada divide the profits" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"La Pebrada is the more successful of the two: she has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
-among her clients several rich widows, who subscribe to her
-daily register." "What do you mean by her register?" interrupted
-the Student. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "it contains
-the names of all handsome foreigners, and particularly Frenchmen,
-who come to Madrid. The instant La Pebrada hears of
-an arrival, away she posts to the hotel of the new comer, to
-learn every particular as to his country, birth, parentage,
-and education,&mdash;his age, form, and appearance, all which are
-duly reported to her subscribers; and if, on reflection, the
-heart of any of her widows is inclined to an acquaintance, she
-adroitly manages a speedy interview with the stranger."</p>
-
-<p>"That is extremely convenient," replied Zambullo, smiling,
-"and in some sort very proper; for, in truth, without these
-kind ladies and their agents, the youthful foreigner, who
-comes without introductions to Madrid, would lose an immense
-deal of time in gaining them. But, tell me, are there
-in other countries widows as generous and women as intriguing?"
-"Capital!" exclaimed the Devil&mdash;"if there are?
-Why! can you doubt it? I should be unworthy of my demonship
-if I neglected to provide all large towns with them in
-plenty."</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes upon Chichona's neighbour,&mdash;yon printer,
-who is working at his press, alone. He has dismissed the
-devils in his employ these three hours; and he is now engaged,
-for the night, on a work which he is printing privately." "Ah!
-what may it be?" said Leandro. "It treats of insults," replied
-the Demon; "and endeavours to prove that Religion is preferable
-to Honour; and that it is better to pardon than to avenge
-an affront." "Oh! the scoundrel!" exclaimed the Student
-"Well may he print in secret his infamous book. Its author
-had better not acknowledge his production: I would be one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
-the first to answer it with a horsewhip. What! can Religion
-forbid the preservation of one's honour?"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us not discuss that point," interrupted Asmodeus, with
-a malicious smile. "It appears that you have made the most
-of the lectures on morality you listened to at Alcala; and I
-give you joy of the result." "You may say what you please,"
-interrupted Cleophas in his turn, "and so may the writer of
-this wretched absurdity: but though his reasonings were clear
-as the noon-day sun, I should despise him and them. I am a
-Spaniard, and nothing is to me so delightful as revenge; and,
-by the by, since you have pledged yourself to satisfy me for the
-perfidy of my mistress, I call on you at once to keep your
-promise."</p>
-
-<p>"I yield with pleasure," replied the Demon, "to the wrath
-which agitates your breast. Oh! how I love those noble
-spirits who follow without scruple the dictates of their passions!
-I will obey your will at once; and indeed, the hour to avenge
-your wrongs is come: but first I wish to show you something
-which will amuse you vastly. Look beyond the printing-office,
-and observe with attention what is passing in an apartment,
-hung with drab cloth." "I perceive," said Leandro, "five or
-six women, who are with eagerness offering phials of something
-to a sort of valet, and they appear desperately agitated."</p>
-
-<p>"They are," replied Asmodeus, "devotees, who have great
-reason to be agitated. There is in the next room a sick
-inquisitor. This venerable personage, who is about thirty-five
-years old, is attended by two of his dearest penitents, with
-untiring watchfulness. One is concocting his gruel, while the
-other at his pillow is employed in keeping his head warm, and
-is covering his stomach with a kind of blanket made of at least
-fifty lamb-skins." "What on earth is the matter with him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
-then?" asked Zambullo. "He has a cold in his head,"
-answered the Devil; "and there is danger lest the disorder
-should extend to his lungs."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic03.png" width="264" height="221" alt="The inquisitor nursed by two penitents" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The ladies whom you see in his antechamber have hastened,
-on the alarm of his indisposition, with all sorts of remedies.
-One brings, to allay his apprehended cough, syrups of jujubes,
-mallows, coral, and coltsfoot; another, to preserve the said
-lungs of his reverence, syrups of long-life, speedwell, amaranth,
-and the elixir vitæ; this one, to fortify his brain and stomach,
-has brought balm, cinnamon, and treacle waters, besides gutta
-vitæ, and the essences of nutmegs and ambergris; that offers
-anacardine and bezoardic confections; while a fifth carries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
-tinctures of cloves, gilly-flowers, sunflowers, and of coral and
-emeralds. All these zealous penitents are boasting to the
-valet of the virtues of the medicines they offer; and each by
-turns, drawing him aside, and slipping a ducat in his hand,
-whispers in his ear: 'Laurence, my dear Laurence, manage
-so, I beg of you, that what I bring for the dear man may
-have the preference.'"</p>
-
-<p>"By Jupiter!" cried Don Cleophas, "it must be allowed
-that inquisitors&mdash;even sick inquisitors&mdash;are happy mortals." "I
-can answer for that," replied Asmodeus; "I almost envy them
-their lot, myself; and, like the son of Philip of Macedon, who
-once said that he would have been Diogenes, if he had not
-been Alexander, I can unhesitatingly say, that, if I were not a
-devil I would be an inquisitor."</p>
-
-<p>"But, Signor Student," continued he, "let us go! Let us
-away, to punish the ingrate who so ill-requited your tenderness."
-Zambullo instantly seized the end of the Demon's
-cloak, and a second time was whirled with him through the
-air, until they alighted on the house of Donna Thomasa.</p>
-
-<p>This frail damsel was seated at table, with the four gentlemen
-who, a few hours before, had so eagerly sought the acquaintance
-of Don Cleophas on the roof of her house. He
-trembled with rage, as he beheld them feasting on a brace of
-partridges and a rabbit, which, with some choice wine, he had
-sent to the traitress for his own supper; and, to add to his
-mortification, he perceived that joy reigned in the repast; and
-that it was evident, by the deportment of the lady, that the
-company of these scoundrels was much more agreeable to her
-than that of himself. "Oh! the wretches!" he cried, in a
-perfect fury, "to see them enjoying themselves at my expense!
-Vastly pleasant, is it not?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Why, I must confess," replied the Demon, "that you have
-witnessed spectacles more pleasing; but he who rejoices in the
-favours of such fair ones must expect to share them. This
-sort of thing has happened a thousand times; especially in
-France, among the abbés, the gentlemen of the long robe, and
-the financiers." "If I had a sword, though," said Leandro, "I
-would fall upon the villains, and spoil their sport for them."
-"You would be hardly matched," replied the Demon;&mdash;"what
-were one among so many? Leave your revenge to me! I
-will manage it better than you could. I will soon set them
-together by the ears, in inspiring each of them with a fit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
-tenderness for your mistress: their swords will be out in no
-time, and you will be delighted with the uproar."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic04.png" width="264" height="232" alt="The guests quarrel over Donna Thomasa" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus had no sooner spoken than he breathed forcibly,
-and from his mouth issued a violet-coloured vapour which
-descended tortuously, like a fiery serpent, and spread itself
-round the table of Donna Thomasa. In an instant, one of her
-guests, more inflammable than his companions, rose from his
-seat, and, approaching the lady, embraced her amorously; when
-the others, in whom the spirit had begun to work, hastened
-together to snatch from him the dainty prize. Each claimed a
-preference: words ensued; a jealous rage possessed them;
-blows succeeded, and, as the Devil had foretold, they drew
-their weapons and commenced a furious combat. In the
-meanwhile Donna Thomasa exerted her lungs, and the neighbourhood
-was speedily alarmed by her cries. They call for
-the police; the police arrive: they break open the door, and
-find two of the Hectors extended on the floor. They seize
-upon the others, and take them with the Helen of the party
-to prison. In vain did she weep; in vain did she tear her
-locks, and exclaim in despair:&mdash;the tears of unfortunate beauty
-had no more effect on the cavaliers who conducted her, than
-they had on her former knight Zambullo, who almost died
-with laughter, in which the god of love most unnaturally
-joined him.</p>
-
-<p>"Well!" said the Demon to the Student, "are you content?"
-"No, no!" replied Don Cleophas; "to satisfy me in full,
-place me upon the prison, that I may have the pleasure of beholding
-in her dungeon, the miserable who trifled with my
-love. I feel for her, now, a hatred which exceeds even the
-affection with which she formerly inspired me." "Be it so!"
-said the Devil; "you shall ever find me a slave to your will,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
-though it interfered with mine and my interests,&mdash;provided
-always, that it is safe to indulge you."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 193px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic05.png" width="193" height="136" alt="Donna Thomasa in prison" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They flew through the air, and were on the prison before
-the officers arrived with their captives. The two assassins
-were at once consigned to one of its lowest deeps, while
-Thomasa was led to a bed of straw, which she was to share
-with three or four other abandoned women, who had fallen
-into the hands of justice the same day; and with whom she
-was destined to be transported to the colonies, which a grateful
-mother country generally endows with this description of
-female inhabitants.</p>
-
-<p>"I am satisfied," said Zambullo; "I have tasted a delicious
-revenge: my dear Thomasa will not pass the night quite so
-pleasantly as she had anticipated. So, now, if you please, we
-will continue our observations." "We could not be in a better
-place, then," replied the Spirit. "Within these walls is much
-to interest you. Innocent and guilty, in somewhat equal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
-numbers, are here enclosed: it is the hell in which commences
-the punishment of the one, and the purgatory in which the virtue
-of the others may be purified,&mdash;you see I'm a good Catholic,
-Signor Student! Of both of these species of prisoners I will
-show you examples, and I will inform you why they are here
-enfettered."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And before I commence my memoirs, just observe
-the gaolers at the entrance of this horrible
-place. The poets of antiquity placed but one
-Cerberus at the gate of their hell: there are
-many more here, however, as you perceive. They are creatures
-who have lost all the feelings of humanity, if they ever
-possessed any;&mdash;the most malicious of my brethren could
-hardly replace one of them. But I observe that you are looking
-with horror on those cells whose only furniture consists
-of a wretched bed,&mdash;those fearful dungeons appear to you so
-many tombs. You are reasonably astonished at the misery
-you behold; and you deplore the fate of those unhappy
-persons whom the law restrains; still, they are not all equally
-to be pitied; and I will enable you to distinguish between
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"To begin, in that large cell to the right are four men sleeping
-in two beds; one of them is an innkeeper, accused of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
-having poisoned a foreigner who died suddenly the other day
-in his house. They assert that the deceased owed his death
-to the quality of the wine he partook of; the host maintains,
-that the quantity, alone, killed him: and the accused will be
-believed, for the stranger was a German." "Well! who is in
-the right, the innkeeper or his accusers?" said Don Cleophas.
-"It is difficult to decide," replied the Devil "The wine was
-certainly drugged; but, i' faith, the Baron drank so largely, that
-the judges may for the nonce most conscientiously acquit a
-tavern-keeper of poisoning his customer."</p>
-
-<p>"His bedfellow is an assassin by profession;&mdash;not a soldier,
-but one of those scoundrels who are called <i>Valientes</i>, and who
-for four or five pistoles obligingly minister to all who will go
-to so great an expense for the purpose of secretly ridding
-themselves of some one to whom they owe an obligation.
-The third prisoner is a dancing-master, who has been teaching one
-of his female pupils a step not usually practised in genteel
-society; and the fourth is an unlucky gallant caught by the
-patrole in the act of entering, by the balcony, the apartment
-of a lady, whom he was about to console for the absence of
-her husband. He has only to declare the charitable object of
-his visit, to withdraw himself from the hands of justice; but
-he nobly prefers to suffer as a robber, rather than endanger
-the reputation of his mistress."</p>
-
-<p>"He is a model of discretion, indeed," said the Student;
-"but it must be allowed that the cavaliers of Spain excel
-those of all other nations in affairs of gallantry; I would bet
-anything that a Frenchman, for example, would never permit
-himself to be hanged under similar circumstances." "And I
-would back you for that," answered the Devil; "he would
-rather scale the balcony of a lady, of whose favours he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
-boast, in broad day-light, for the express purpose of proclaiming
-her disgrace."</p>
-
-<p>"In a cell near that of the four men I have just spoken of,"
-continued Asmodeus, "is a celebrated witch, who enjoys the
-reputation of doing all impossible things. By the power of her
-magic, old dowagers can find, they say, youthful admirers who
-will love them for their bloom; husbands are rendered faithful
-to their wives; and coquettes sincerely devoted to the rich
-fools who keep them: all which is, I need not tell you, absurd
-enough. Her only secret is in persuading people that she has
-one, and in making the most of that opinion. The Holy
-Office is jealous of the poor creature, so have called her to
-account; and she is likely to be burnt at the first <i>aúto de fé</i>."</p>
-
-<p>"Under this cell, in a dark dungeon, lodges a young tavern
-keeper."&mdash;"What! another?" cried Leandro,&mdash;"surely these
-people are going to poison all the world." "Mine host, in
-this case," replied Asmodeus, "will not suffer for his wine;
-it is for an illegal traffic in spirits that he was arrested yesterday,
-at the instance of the Holy Office also. I will explain
-the matter to you in a few words.</p>
-
-<p>"An old soldier, having risen by his courage, or rather by his
-patience, to the rank of serjeant, came to Madrid in search of
-recruits, and demanded a lodging in a tavern to which he was
-directed by his billet. The host told the serjeant that he certainly
-had spare rooms in his house, but that he could not
-think of putting him into any one of them, as they were
-haunted by a ghost who visited them nightly, and most shockingly
-ill-treated those who had the temerity to occupy them.
-The serjeant was not however to be daunted: 'Place me,' said
-he, 'in any room you please; give me a light, some wine, a
-pipe and tobacco, and never trouble yourself for my safety;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
-ghosts, depend upon it, have the highest respect for an old
-campaigner, whose hairs have whitened under arms.'</p>
-
-<p>"As he appeared so resolute, they showed the old soldier to
-a chamber, gave him all he had required; and he began to
-smoke and drink at his ease. The hour of midnight sounded,
-but no ghost appeared to disturb the profound silence that
-reigned throughout the house; it seemed as though the spirit
-did indeed respect the valiant bearing of his new guest: but,
-between one and two o'clock, the wakeful sentinel was alarmed
-by a horrible din, as of rattling chains, and beheld, entering
-his apartment, a fearful spectre, clothed in black, and enveloped
-with iron chains. Our old smoker, not in the least alarmed
-at this spectacle, rose calmly from his chair, advanced towards
-the spirit, drew his sword, and gave him with the flat side of
-it, a terrible blow on the head.</p>
-
-<p>"The phantom, unaccustomed to find such courageous
-tenants in his domain, and perceiving that the soldier was preparing
-to repeat the blow, fell upon his knees before him,
-crying out,&mdash;'Pardon, signor serjeant; for the love of Heaven,
-do not kill me: have pity upon a poor devil, who throws
-himself at your feet to implore your clemency. I conjure you
-by St James, who, like yourself, was a valiant soldier&mdash;&mdash;' 'If
-you would preserve your life,' interrupted the serjeant,
-'tell me who you are, and what you do here. Speak the truth,&mdash;or,
-by our Lady, I will cut you in two, as the knights of old
-split the giants they encountered.' At these words, the spirit,
-finding with whom he had to do, saw that he had better lose
-no time in his explanation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic01.png" width="266" height="291" alt="William kneels before the serjeant" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'I am,' said he, 'the head-waiter of this inn; my name is
-William; and I love Juanilla, the only daughter of the landlord,
-and I do not love without return; but as her parents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
-have a better match in view, my sweetheart and myself have
-arranged that, in order to compel them to choose me for their
-son-in-law, I shall nightly disguise myself in this manner. I
-clothe myself in a long black cloak, and put the jack-chain
-round my neck; and, thus equipped, I go about the house,
-from the cellar to the garret, making all the noise I can, of
-which you have heard a specimen. When I arrive at the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
-of my master and mistress's bed-room, I rattle my chains, and
-cry loud enough for them to hear,&mdash;"Hope not to rest in
-peace, until you have married Juanilla to your head-waiter,
-William!"'</p>
-
-<p>"'After having pronounced these words in a hoarse and
-broken voice, I continue my clatter, and vanish by a window
-into the chamber where Juanilla sleeps alone, to inform her of
-what I have done. And now, signor serjeant, you may be
-assured that I have told you the whole truth. I know that
-after this confession you may ruin me, by informing my master
-of the affair; but if, instead of thus injuring me, you are inclined
-to serve me, I swear that my gratitude&mdash;&mdash;' 'Ah!'
-interrupted the soldier, 'what service can you hope from me?'
-'You have only in the morning,' replied the young man, 'to
-say that you have seen the ghost, and that it has so terribly
-frightened you,&mdash;&mdash;' 'What, the deuce! frightened me!'
-again interrupted the old warrior; 'do you expect that Serjeant
-Hannibal Antonio Quebrantador is going to say that he
-was frightened? I would rather say that a hundred thousand
-devils had me&mdash;&mdash;' 'That is not absolutely necessary,' in his
-turn interrupted William; 'and after all, it is of no great consequence
-what you say, provided that you but assist me in my
-design: only let me marry Juanilla, and see myself established
-by the assistance of her father, and I promise to keep open
-house for you and all your friends.'</p>
-
-<p>"'You are a regular seducer, master William,' cried the
-soldier; 'you want to join me in a downright cheat: the
-matter may be serious, and you take it so lightly, as to make
-me, even, tremble for the consequences. But away with you!
-continue your infernal noise, and go to Juanilla to render your
-account: I will manage the rest.'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic02.png" width="266" height="270" alt="The serjeant speaks to his host and hostess" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Accordingly, on the following morning, the serjeant said
-to his host and hostess: 'Well! I have seen the ghost, conversed
-with it, and found it very civil and reasonable.' "I am,"
-said he to me, "the great-great-grandfather of the master of
-this house. I had a daughter, whom I solemnly promised to
-the father of master William's grandfather: nevertheless, despite
-my pledge, I gave her hand to another, and died shortly afterwards.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
-Ever since then, I have remained in purgatory, suffering
-for this perjury; and I shall continue in torment until some
-one of my descendants has married into the family of the head
-waiter. To accomplish this, I come here nightly; but it is in
-vain that I command them to unite Juanilla and young William,&mdash;the
-son of my grandchild turns a deaf ear to my entreaties,
-as well as his wife; but tell them, if you please, signor serjeant,
-that if they do not as I desire of them soon, I shall come to
-extremities with them, and will plague them both in a way they
-little dream of."'</p>
-
-<p>"The host, who is simple enough, was somewhat shaken by
-this discourse; but the hostess, still more silly than her husband,
-was so much affected by it, that she fancied she already
-saw the ghost at her heels, and at once consented to the match,
-which took place on the following day. William shortly afterwards
-took an inn in another part of the town, and serjeant
-Quebrantador failed not to visit him frequently. The new
-tavern-keeper at first, out of gratitude, filled him with wine at
-discretion; which so pleased the old moustache, that he took
-all his friends to the house: he even there enrolled his recruits,
-and made them drunk at the host's expense.</p>
-
-<p>"At last, therefore, master William became tired of constantly
-wetting so many parching throats; but, on communicating his
-ideas upon the subject to the serjeant, the latter, with a disregard
-of his own infraction of their treaty which would have fitted him
-to command an army, was unjust enough to accuse mine host
-of ingratitude. William replied, the other rejoined, and the
-conversation ended, as their first had begun, with a blow of
-the serjeant's long sword on the thick head of the unfortunate
-tavern-keeper. Some passers-by naturally sided with the civilian:
-of these Quebrantador wounded three or four; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
-his wrath was yet unsatisfied, when he was suddenly assailed
-by a host of archers, who arrested him as a disturber of the
-peace. They conducted him to prison, where he declared all
-that I have told you; and upon his deposition the ex-head-waiter
-was encaged also. His father-in-law demands a divorce;
-and the Holy Office, hearing that William has acquired some
-considerable property, has kindly undertaken to investigate the
-matter."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic03.png" width="264" height="252" alt="The serjeant is restrained from attacking William" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Egad!" cried Don Cleophas, "our holy inquisition is ever
-alive to its interests. No sooner do they light upon a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
-profitable&mdash;&mdash;" "Softly!" interrupted the devil, "have a care how
-you launch out against that tribunal:&mdash;for it, the very walls
-have ears. They echo even words that the mouth has never
-spoken; and for myself, I hardly dare to mention it without
-trembling."</p>
-
-<p>"Over the unfortunate William, in the first chamber to the
-left, are two men worthy of your pity; one of them is a
-youthful valet, whom his master's wife privately indulged with
-the use of more than her husband's clothes. One day, however,
-the husband surprised them together; when the lady
-immediately began crying out for help, and accused the valet
-of having violated her person. The poor fellow was arrested,
-of course; and, according to appearances, will be sacrificed to
-his mistress's reputation. His companion, still less guilty than
-the valet, is also about to pay the forfeit of his life. He was
-footman to a duchess who has been robbed of a valuable
-diamond, which they accuse him of having taken. He will be
-to-morrow put to the torture, until the rack wrings from him
-a confession of the theft; and in the meanwhile the lady's
-maid, who is the real culprit, and whom no one dares to suspect,
-will moralise with the duchess on the depravity of
-modern servants."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," said Leandro, "let not the
-wretched footman perish, I entreat you! His innocence interests
-me for his life. Save him, by your power, from the
-unjust and cruel torture they would inflict: he deserves&mdash;&mdash;"
-"You cannot expect it, Signor Student!" interrupted the
-demon. "What! do you suppose that I would prevent injustice?&mdash;that
-I would snatch the guiltless from destruction? As well
-might you pray an attorney to desist from the ruin of the widow
-or the orphan!"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Oh! and it please you," added the Devil, "expect not of
-me that which is contrary to my interest, unless indeed it be of
-great advantage to yourself. Besides, were I willing to deliver
-yonder prisoner from bondage, how could I effect it?" "How!"
-repeated Zambullo, "do you mean to say that you have not
-the power so to do?" "Certainly," replied the Cripple.
-"Had you read the Enchiridion, or Albertus Magnus, you
-would know that neither I, nor any of my brethren, can
-liberate a prisoner from his cell: even I, were I so unfortunate
-as to be within the talons of the law, could only hope to escape
-by bribing my jailer, or my judges.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next room, on the same side, lodges a surgeon
-convicted of having, in a fit of jealousy, drained the warm
-blood which wantoned in the veins of his handsome wife,
-after the model of the death of Seneca. He was yesterday
-tenderly questioned on the rack; and having confessed the
-crime of which he was accused, he let out the secrets of his
-profession, by detailing a very novel and interesting mode
-which he had especially adopted for increasing his practice.
-He stated that he had been in the habit of wounding persons
-in the street with a bayonet, and of then lancing himself into his
-house by a back-door. Of course the patient used to call out
-lustily at this unexpected operation; and as the neighbours
-flocked around at his cries, the surgeon, mingling with the
-crowd, and finding a man bathed in his blood, very charitably
-had him carried to his shop, and dressed the wound with the
-same hand that had given it.</p>
-
-<p>"Although the rascally practitioner has confessed to this
-atrocity, for which a thousand deaths were not one too many,
-he still hopes that his life will be spared; and it is not improbable
-that it may be so, seeing that he is related to the lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
-who has the honour of clouting the little princes of Spain:
-besides which, he is the inventor of a marvellous wash, of
-which the secret would die with him, and which has the virtues
-of whitening the skin, and of giving to the wrinkled front the
-juvenile appearance of fifteen. Now, as this incomparable
-water serves as the fountain of youth to three ladies of the
-palace, who have united their efforts to save him, he relies so
-confidently on their credit at court, or rather on that of his
-wash, that he sleeps tranquilly in the soothing hope that he
-will awaken to the agreeable intelligence of his pardon."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive, upon a bed in the same room," said the Student,
-"another man, who appears to me to be sleeping peaceably
-enough; his business is not a very bad one, I expect." "It
-is a very ticklish affair, though," replied the Demon. "That
-cavalier is a gentleman of Biscay, who has enriched himself by
-the fire of a carbine: I will tell you how. About a fortnight
-ago, shooting in a forest with his elder and only brother, who
-was in possession of a large estate, he killed him, by mistake,
-instead of a partridge." "A very lucky mistake, that," cried
-Don Cleophas, laughing, "for a younger son." "Yes," replied
-Asmodeus: "but a collateral branch of the family, the
-members of which would have no objection to see the
-deceased's estate fall within their line, have disinterestedly
-prosecuted his murderer on the charge of having designedly
-shot him, that he might succeed to his property. The accused,
-however, immediately rendered himself into the hands of
-justice; and he appears to be so deeply afflicted by the death of
-his brother, that they can scarcely imagine him guilty of deliberately
-taking his life." "And has he really nothing with which
-to reproach himself, beyond his fatal awkwardness?" asked
-Leandro. "No," replied Asmodeus; "his design was innocent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
-enough; but when an elder son is in possession of all the
-wealth of his family, I should certainly not advise him to make
-a shooting-party in company with his younger brother.</p>
-
-<p>"Observe attentively those two youths who, in a retreat near
-to that of the fatal shot, are conversing as merrily as though
-they were at liberty. They are a pair of veritable <i>picaros;</i>
-and there is one, especially, who may some day amuse the
-public with one of those details of roguery which never fail to
-delight it. He is a modern Guzman d'Alfarache: it is he who
-wears the brown velvet vest, and has a plume of feathers in
-his hat.</p>
-
-<p>"Not three months since, in this very town, he was page to
-the Count d'Onato; and he would still have been in the suite
-of that nobleman but for a little piece of rascality, which gained
-for him his present lodging, and which I will narrate to you.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, this youth, whose name is Domingo, received a
-hundred lashes, which the Count's intendant, otherwise governor
-of the pages, directed to be bestowed on him as a
-reward for some trick which appeared to deserve it. Domingo
-was, however, impatient under such a load of obligation; and
-so, proudly resolved to return it on the first opportunity. He
-had remarked more than once that the Signor Don Como, as
-the intendant styled himself, delighted to wash his hands with
-orange-flower water, and to anoint himself with pastes redolent
-of the pink or jessamine; that he was more careful of his
-person than an old coquette, and that, in short, he was one of
-those coxcombs who imagine that no woman of taste can
-behold them without loving them. These observations inspired
-Domingo with a scheme for revenge, which he communicated
-to a young waiting-woman who resided in the neighbourhood,
-whose assistance he required for the execution of his project,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
-and in whose favour he stood so high that she had none left to
-grant him.</p>
-
-<p>"This damsel, called Floretta, in order to have the pleasure
-of an unrestrained intercourse with the page, introduced him
-as her cousin into the house of Donna Luziana, her mistress,
-whose father was at that time absent from Madrid. The
-cunning Domingo, after having informed his pretended relative
-of her part in his design, going one morning into the apartment
-of Don Como, found my gentleman trying on a new dress,
-looking with complacency at his figure in a mirror, and
-evidently by no means displeased with its reflection. The
-page affected to be struck with admiration of this Narcissus,
-and exclaimed, in well-feigned transport: 'Upon my honour,
-Signor Don Como, you have the air of royalty itself. I see,
-daily, nobles richly clad; but notwithstanding the elegance
-and splendour of their vestments, I discern in none that dignity
-of mien which distinguishes you. I will not assert,' added he,
-'that with the respect I have for you, I may not regard you with
-eyes somewhat prepossessed in your favour; but this I can say,
-that I know of no cavalier at court whom you would not
-totally eclipse.'</p>
-
-<p>"The intendant smiled at this discourse, which offered so
-agreeable a tribute to his vanity, and graciously replied:&mdash;'You
-flatter me, my friend; or rather, as you say, you esteem me so
-highly, that your friendship endows me with graces that nature
-has refused.' 'I cannot think so,' replied the parasite; 'for
-there is no one who does not speak of you in terms which I
-dare not repeat, lest you should think I flattered you indeed.
-I wish you had heard what was said to me yesterday by one of
-my cousins, who is in the service of a lady of quality.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Como failed not to ask what it was that Domingo's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
-cousin had said of him. 'Why,' replied the page, 'I ought
-hardly to tell you; but she enlarged on the majesty of your
-figure,&mdash;on the charms which are everywhere visible in your
-person; and, what is better, she told me, in confidence, that
-the greatest delight of Donna Luziana, her mistress, is to
-watch for your passing her house, and to feast her eyes with
-beholding you.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic04.png" width="259" height="279" alt="The page flattering Don Como" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"'And who is this lady?' said the intendant,&mdash;'where does
-she live?' 'What!' replied Domingo; 'do you not know the
-only daughter of general Don Fernando, our neighbour?'
-'Ah! to be sure I do,' replied Don Como: 'I remember to
-have frequently heard of the wealth and surpassing beauty of
-this Luziana; she is not to be despised. But is it possible
-that I can have attracted her attention?' 'Can you doubt
-it?' exclaimed the page. 'Besides, my own cousin told me
-of the fact; and, though in a humble situation, she is incapable
-of falsehood, and I would answer for her word with my life.'
-'In that case,' said the intendant, 'I should be glad to have a
-little private conversation with your relative, to engage her in
-my interest by the customary trifling presents to which her
-situation entitles her; and if she should advise me to pay
-court to her mistress, egad! I'll try my fortune. And why
-not? It is true that there is some difference between my rank
-and that of Don Fernando; but still I am a gentleman, and
-have a good four hundred ducats per annum. There are more
-extraordinary matches than this made every day.'</p>
-
-<p>"The page fortified his governor in his resolution, and procured
-for him an interview with his cousin; who, finding the
-intendant disposed to swallow anything, assured him of her
-mistress's inclination in his favour. 'You have no idea,' said
-she, 'how often Luziana has questioned me as to the handsome
-cavalier who had made such an impression on her heart; and
-you may be sure that my replies were neither unpleasing to
-her, nor unfavourable to you: in short, Signor, she loves you;
-and you have everything to hope from her affection. Seek
-then her hand, openly and without hesitation; justify her
-secret passion, by showing that she loves a cavalier, not only
-the most charming and well-made, but the most gallant, of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
-Madrid. Give her, in serenades, the delightful assurance that
-your heart responds to hers; and rely on me to picture your
-devotion in the most pleasing colours,&mdash;an office as agreeable
-to myself as I hope it will be useful to you.' Don Como,
-transported with joy at finding the maid so warmly disposed
-to serve him, almost stifled her with his caresses; and, placing
-a worthless ring upon her finger, which he had liberally purchased
-of a Jew, and which had served the same purpose fifty
-times, he exclaimed,&mdash;'Dearest Floretta! accept this ring as an
-earnest of my gratitude, until I have an opportunity of more
-worthily recompensing the favours you are about to shower
-on me.'</p>
-
-<p>"Never was lover in greater ecstacy than was our intendant
-at the result of his conversation with Floretta; and as he was
-indebted to Domingo for this happiness, the page not only
-received his thanks, but was rewarded by the magnificent
-present of a pair of silk stockings, some shirts trimmed with
-lace, and a promise of the Signor's losing no opportunity which
-might offer for promoting his interests. 'My dear friend,' said
-he, on leaving Floretta, 'what is your opinion of the steps I
-should take in this matter? Do you think I should commence
-with an impassioned and sublime epistle to my Luziana?'
-'Decidedly,' replied the page. 'Make her a declaration of
-your love in fitting terms: I have a presentiment that it will
-not be badly received.' 'Well! I think so too,' replied the
-intendant; 'at all events, I will try the experiment.' Accordingly,
-down he sat to compose the missive; and after having
-torn in pieces at least fifty scrawls, which would have made
-the fortune of a German romancist, he at last succeeded in
-composing a billet-doux which satisfied his scruples. It was
-conceived in the following grandiloquent and affecting terms:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Months have rolled like centuries, oh! lovely Luziana,
-since, inspired by the renown which everywhere proclaims your
-perfections, my too-sensible soul has yielded to the flames of
-love, to burn for you alone! My heart consumed in secret, a
-willing prey to the fires that devoured me; and I never dared
-proclaim my sufferings to you, much less to seek for consolation.
-But a happy chance has recently revealed the soothing
-secret that, from behind the jealous screen which conceals your
-celestial charms from the eyes of men, you sometimes deign to
-look with pity on me as I pass;&mdash;that, directed by the divinity
-who guards you, and the destiny of your star,&mdash;oh, happy
-star for me!&mdash;you even think of me with kindness. I hasten
-then in all humility to consecrate my life unto your service;
-and should I be so fortunate as to obtain permission so to do,
-to renounce in your favour all ladies past, or present, or to
-come.</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Don Como de la Higuera</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"Domingo and Floretta were not a little amused, on the
-receipt of this letter, at the expense of the poor intendant.
-But, not contented with the folly they had already induced
-him to commit, they set their wits to work to compose an
-answer to the billet which should be sufficiently tender. This
-done, it was copied by Floretta, and delivered by the page on
-the following day to Don Como. It was in these words:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'I know not who can have so well informed you of my
-secret sentiments. Some one has however betrayed me. Still,
-I pardon the treachery, since, to it I owe an avowal of your
-love. I see many pass before my window, but I look with
-pleasure upon you alone; and I am too happy to find that I
-am dear to you. Perhaps I am wrong to feel this delight, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
-still more wrong to dare to tell you so. If it be a fault in me,
-your virtues have caused, and must excuse it.</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Donna Luziana</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"Although this letter was rather too warm for the daughter
-of a Spanish general, as its authors had not thought much
-about ceremony, the presumptuous Don Como received it
-without suspicion. He thought sufficiently well of himself to
-imagine that for him a lady might well forget somewhat of the
-usages of society. 'Ah! Domingo,' he cried, with an air of
-triumph, after having read the letter aloud, 'you see, my friend,
-that the fish bites. Congratulate me! I shall soon be son-in-law
-to Don Fernando, or my name's not Don Como de la
-Higuera.'</p>
-
-<p>"'It is beyond a doubt,' said the rascally confidant; 'you
-seem to have made a tremendous impression on the girl. But,
-à-propos,' added he, 'I must not forget to tell you that my
-cousin particularly desired me to say, that to-morrow, at latest,
-you should serenade your mistress, in order to complete her
-infatuation.' 'I will on no account omit it,' replied the intendant.
-'You may assure your cousin that I will in all things
-follow her advice; and that to-morrow, without fail, in the
-middle of the night, the street shall resound with one of the
-most gallant concerts that was ever heard in Madrid.' And
-away went the intendant to secure the assistance of a celebrated
-musician, to whom he communicated his project, and whom he
-charged with the care of its execution.</p>
-
-<p>"In the meanwhile, Floretta, informed of the intended
-serenade, and finding her mistress in a desirable mood, said
-to her,&mdash;'Madam, I am preparing for you an agreeable diversion.'
-'What may that be?' asked Luziana. 'Why,' replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
-the waiting-maid, laughing until the tears ran from her eyes,
-'there is much to amuse you. An original, one Don Como,
-governor of the pages of the Count d'Onato, has taken it into
-his head to choose you as the sovereign lady of his thoughts;
-and he intends, to-morrow, in order that you may no longer
-remain ignorant of his devotion, to gratify you with the sound
-of music and sweet voices, in an evening serenade.' Donna
-Luziana, whose composition was none of the most grave, and
-who was far from foreseeing an unpleasant consequence to her
-in the gallantries of the intendant, instead of regarding the
-matter seriously, was delighted at the anticipated tribute to her
-charms; and thus, without knowing what she did, assisted in
-confirming the amorous Don Como in an illusion, of which
-it would have shocked her greatly to have been supposed
-designedly the author.</p>
-
-<p>"The night came, and with it appeared, before the balcony of
-the lady, two carriages, from which descended the gallant Como
-and his confidant, accompanied by six musicians, vocal and
-instrumental, who commenced a very decent concert, which
-lasted for a considerable time. They performed many of the
-newest airs, and sang all the songs in vogue whose verses told
-the power of love in uniting hearts despite the obstacles of
-fortune, and the inequality of rank; while at every couplet,
-which the general's daughter perceived to be directed to herself,
-her merriment knew no bounds.</p>
-
-<p>"When the serenade was over, and the performers had departed
-in the carriages which brought them, the crowd which the
-music had attracted dispersed, and our lover remained in the
-street with Domingo alone. He approached the balcony,
-whence, in a few minutes, the servant-girl, with her mistress's
-permission, said to him in a feigned voice: 'Is that you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
-Signor Don Como?' 'Who asks me that question?' replied
-the Don in a languishing tone. 'It is,' rejoined the girl,
-'Donna Luziana, who would know if the concert she has
-heard but now, is an offering of your gallantry to her.' 'It
-is,' exclaimed the intendant, 'but a shadow of those festivals
-my love prepares for her who is the marvel of our days, if she
-will deign receive them from a lover who is sacrificed on the
-altar of her beauty.'</p>
-
-<p>"At this brilliant metaphor, Luziana with difficulty restrained
-her laughter; but, coming forward and putting her head
-partially out of the little window from which her maid had
-addressed him, she said to the intendant, as seriously as
-possible: 'Signor Don Como, you are, I perceive, no novice
-in the art of love; in you, each gallant cavalier who would gain
-his lady's heart, may find a model for his conduct. I thank
-you for your serenade, and feel flattered by your attention;
-but,' added she, 'retire now, lest we should be observed;
-another time we may, unrestrained, indulge in further conversation.'
-As she finished these words, she closed the window,
-leaving the intendant in the street, highly delighted at the kindness
-she had displayed for him, and the page greatly astonished
-that the lady had herself undertaken a part in the comedy.</p>
-
-<p>"This little fête, including the carriages and the enormous
-quantity of wine which its bibulous performers had consumed,
-cost Don Como upwards of a hundred ducats; and, two days
-afterwards, his confidant engaged him in a further outlay, in the
-following manner. Having learned that, on the night of St.
-John,&mdash;a night so celebrated in this city,&mdash;Floretta was about
-to join the damsels of her class at the <i>fiesta del sotillo</i>, Domingo
-undertook to enliven this dance by a magnificent breakfast at
-the intendant's expense.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic05.png" width="245" height="292" alt="Don Como serenades Luziana" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'Accordingly, Signor Don Como,' said he, on the eve of
-this festival, 'you are aware of what takes place to-morrow. I
-thought, however, you would like to be informed that Donna
-Luziana intends to repair at break of day to the banks of the
-Mançanarez, to witness the <i>sotillo</i>. I need say no more to the
-Corypheus of gallant cavaliers;&mdash;you are not the man to
-neglect so favourable an opportunity, and I am certain that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
-your mistress and her companions will not fare badly to-morrow.'
-'Of that you may be sure,' replied the governor,
-'and I am obliged to you for informing me of her intention:
-you shall see if I know how to kick the ball as it bounds.' In
-effect, very early on the following day, four of the Count's
-servants, conducted by Domingo, and loaded with every description
-of cold meat, cooked in all fashions, with an infinite
-number of small loaves and bottles of delicious wines, arrived
-on the bank of the river, where Floretta and her companions
-were dancing, like nymphs before the golden throne of Aurora.</p>
-
-<p>"Had that goddess herself appeared, she would hardly have
-been more cordially greeted than were the wines and cold
-collation which the page brought on the part of Don Como;
-offering, as they did, so agreeable a repast after the delightful
-fatigues of the dance, which they so agreeably interrupted.
-The damsels seated themselves on the velvet turf of the meadow,
-and lost no time in paying due honour to the feast, the while
-laughing immoderately at the dupe who gave it; for Domingo's
-kind cousin had not omitted to inform them of their benefactor,
-and his amorous adventure.</p>
-
-<p>"While they were in the midst of their rejoicing and their
-breakfast, they perceived the squire, richly dressed, and mounted
-on one of the Count's steeds, which was ambling towards them.
-He rode up to his confidant, and gaily saluted the ladies, who
-rose at his approach, and politely thanked him for his generosity.
-His eyes wandered among the company in search of
-Donna Luziana, as he was anxious to deliver himself of a
-speech, glittering with compliments as the sward beneath his
-horse's feet with flowers, and which he had composed during
-his ride in honour of his mistress. Great therefore was his
-grief, when Floretta, taking him aside, informed him that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
-slight indisposition had prevented her lady from joining in the
-festival. The Don, with a proper display of sensibility on the
-occasion, was particular in his inquiries as to the ailment; but
-when the girl informed him that Luziana suffered from a cold,
-caught on the previous night from exposure in the balcony
-without her veil, talking of him and of his serenade, he was not
-without consolation to find so sad an accident proceeded from
-a cause so good. He therefore contented himself with the
-usual expressions of condolence; and, after praying Floretta to
-continue to interest herself in his behalf with his mistress, took
-the road to his dwelling, rejoicing more and more at his great
-good fortune.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic06.png" width="267" height="170" alt="Don Como at the sotillo" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"About this time, the intendant received a bill of exchange for
-a thousand crowns from Andalusia, as his portion of the effects
-of one of his uncles, who had died at Seville. On turning this
-bill into cash, he happened to count it over and place it in a
-coffer in the presence of Domingo, who took so lively an
-interest in the operation, that, in order to repeat it, he was
-tempted to appropriate, if possible, the shining gold; and resolved,
-if successful in so doing, to escape with it into Portugal.
-He related his project in confidence to Floretta, and even proposed
-to her that she should accompany him. Now this proposition
-was undoubtedly one which most people would think
-worthy of reflection; but the girl, as interested in the matter
-as the page, accepted it without a moment's hesitation. Consequently,
-one night, while the intendant was labouring in his
-cabinet to compose a touching letter to his mistress, Domingo
-found means to open the coffer in which the money was confined,
-to release it from its captivity, and to hasten with the
-enfranchised crowns into the street. He instantly repaired to
-the balcony of Luziana, and, as a signal which had been agreed
-upon between him and his confederate, commenced a caterwauling,
-which disturbed the gravity of all the tabbies in the
-neighbourhood. The girl, ready to wander with him through
-the world, promptly responded to the amatory call; and in a
-few minutes they were on the high road from Madrid, together.</p>
-
-<p>"They reckoned that, in the event of pursuit, they would have
-plenty of time to gain the frontiers of Portugal before they could
-be overtaken; but, unfortunately for them, Don Como discovered
-the theft, and the flight of his confidant that very night.
-He gave immediate information to the police, whose officers
-were without loss of time dispersed on all sides in pursuit of
-the fugitives, and Domingo was taken, near Zebreros, in company<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
-with his lady. They were quickly brought back to
-Madrid: the girl has been sent to join our friend Marcella in
-<i>las Arrepentidas</i>, and Domingo is, as you perceive, as gay as
-ever within the walls of this prison."</p>
-
-<p>"And the intendant," added Don Cleophas, "has saved his
-golden crowns; as of course they have been restored to him."
-"Of course they have not," replied the Devil: "the thousand
-pieces are the proof of the robbery, and the officers of justice
-understand their business too well to give them up; so that
-Don Como, whose loving history is spread throughout Madrid,
-has lost his money and his mistress, and is laughed at by everybody
-into the bargain."</p>
-
-<p>"Domingo and his fellow-prisoner have for a neighbour,"
-continued the Cripple, "a young Castilian who has been
-arrested for having, in the presence of too many witnesses,
-struck his father." "Oh heaven!" cried Leandro, "is it
-possible? Lives there a child, however lost to shame, who can
-raise his impious hand against a father?" "Oh yes," said the
-Demon: "yon Castilian is not without example; and I will
-cite you one whose history is rather remarkable. Under the
-reign of Don Pedro I., surnamed the Just and the Cruel, the
-eighth king of Portugal, a youth of twenty fell into the hands of
-justice for the same crime. Don Pedro, as much surprised as
-yourself at the novelty of the case, was curious to interrogate
-the mother of the criminal, and he examined her so adroitly as
-to obtain from her a confession, that the real father of this child
-was a certain reverend prelate. If the Castilian's judges were
-discreet enough to interrogate his mother with equal address, it
-is probable that it would be attended with a similar avowal.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes into a large dungeon beneath the prisoners
-I have just pointed out to you, and observe what is passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
-there. Do you see those three ill-looking rascals? They are
-highwaymen. See! they are effecting their escape. Some one
-has furnished them with a dumb-file in a loaf of bread; and
-they have already cut through one of the thick bars of a window,
-by which they may gain the court-yard, and from thence the
-street. They have been more than ten months in prison, and
-it is upwards of eight since they should have received the
-public recompense due to their exploits; but, thanks to the
-tardiness of justice, they are about to begin again their career
-of robbery and murder.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic07.png" width="266" height="165" alt="A prisoner being beaten up by his fellow inmates" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now look into that low roofed cell where you perceive
-twenty or thirty men, some of them stretched upon straw.
-They are mostly pickpockets, shop-lifters, or professors of other
-branches of the Spartan craft. Do you observe five or six of
-them worrying a sort of labourer, who was introduced to their
-society this morning for having wounded an alguazil with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
-stone?" "And what are they thrashing him for?" asked
-Zambullo. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "because he has not
-paid his entrance-fees. But," added he, "let us leave this
-horrible place, and the miserable wretches it contains; they are
-not in my vocation: we will go elsewhere, in search of objects
-less disgusting."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="tailpiece: foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS,
-WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN
-HIS DAY.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In a few moments, the Demon and his pupil were
-on the roof of a large mansion, at a considerable
-distance from that part of the city in which they
-had left the prisoners. "I have brought you
-here," said Asmodeus, "because I am desirous of informing
-you what the mass of people who reside in the neighbourhood
-of the house we are on, have been doing in the course of to-day;&mdash;it
-will amuse you." "Doubtless!" replied Leandro.
-"Begin, I beseech you: and first for yonder cavalier who is
-booting in such haste: what weighty matters call him from his
-home in such a night as this, my Mentor?" "He is a captain,"
-replied the Cripple, "whose steeds are waiting in the
-street to carry him to Catalonia, where his regiment is
-stationed.</p>
-
-<p>"Well! yesterday, our hero, being without cash, applied to
-one of those gentry who, instead of giving to the poor, wisely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
-lend unto the lords, or captains. 'Signor Sanguisuela,' said he,
-'can you not oblige me with the loan of a thousand ducats?'
-'Signor Captain,' replied the usurer, 'I have them not; but I
-think I know a friend who has, and will lend them to you:&mdash;that
-is to say, if you will give him your note of hand for a
-thousand ducats, he will give you four hundred; out of which
-I shall be content to receive sixty only, as my commission.
-Money is so extremely scarce, that&mdash;&mdash;' 'What usury!' interrupted
-the officer, hastily. 'What! ask six hundred and sixty
-ducats for the loan of three hundred and forty? Infamous
-extortion! Such hard-hearted scoundrels deserve to be hanged.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Keep your temper, at all events, Signor Captain, and go
-elsewhere for your money,' replied the usurer, with the greatest
-coolness. 'Of what do you complain? Do I force you to
-take the three hundred and forty ducats? Heaven forbid!
-you are free to take them or to leave them.' To this the Captain
-had no reply to make, and went his way; but, on reflecting
-that he must set out for the camp on the morrow, and that he
-had no time to lose, he resolved to lose his money; so he
-returned this morning to the usurer, whom he met at his door,
-dressed in a short black mantle, a plain collar round his neck,
-his hair closely trimmed, and with a rosary in his hand, garnished
-with saintly medals. 'Here I am again, Signor Sanguisuela,'
-said he; 'I will take the three hundred and forty
-ducats,&mdash;necessity compels me to accept your terms.' 'I am
-going to mass,' gravely replied the usurer; 'on my return, I will
-give you that amount.' 'Ah! no,' exclaimed the Captain; 'I
-pray you give it me at once: it will but delay you for an instant.
-I would not entreat you, but my haste is great as is my need.'
-'I cannot,' replied Sanguisuela: 'I hear mass daily, before I
-think of following my worldly avocations; it is a rule I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
-prescribed for my conduct, and I will endeavour religiously to
-observe it while I live.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 219px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic01.png" width="219" height="258" alt="The captain and the usurer leaving church" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"However impatient might be our captain to lay his hands
-upon the money, he was obliged to comport himself with the
-rule of the pious Sanguisuela: he therefore armed himself with
-patience, and even, as though he feared that the ducats would
-escape him, followed the usurer to church. Mass performed,
-he was preparing to leave; when Sanguisuela inclined his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
-head towards him, and whispered in his ear: 'Stay! one of the
-most talented men in Madrid preaches here this morning, and
-I would not lose his sermon for the world.'</p>
-
-<p>"The Captain, to whom the mass had appeared over-long,
-was in despair at this further call on his endurance: however,
-needs must&mdash;and he remained where he had been driven.
-The preacher mounted the pulpit, and happened to discourse
-against usury. The officer was delighted; and observing Sanguisuela's
-countenance, he said within himself: 'If this Jew is
-capable of being touched, now,&mdash;if he will but give me six
-hundred ducats, I shall really think he is not too bad, after all.'
-The sermon ended, they left the church together, when the
-Captain, addressing his companion, said: 'Well, what think
-you of the preacher? Did you not find his sermon extremely
-forcible? For myself, I was quite affected by it.' 'I am
-quite of your opinion,' replied the usurer; 'he treated his
-subject admirably. He is a learned man, and deeply skilled
-in his profession; and now, let us go, and show that we
-understand ours as well.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried Don Cleophas, "who are those two women
-in bed together, and laughing so loudly? Egad! they seem
-merry enough." "They are sisters," replied the Devil, "who
-this morning buried their father. He was an old curmudgeon,
-who had so great a distaste for matrimony, or rather to portioning
-his daughters, that he would never listen to a word
-about their marrying, however advantageous might be the
-offers made to them. They are at this moment discussing the
-virtues of the dear deceased. 'He is dead at last,' exclaimed
-the elder; 'he is dead,&mdash;the unnatural father, who so cruelly
-delighted still to keep us maids: he will, however, no longer
-oppose our innocent desires.' 'Well, sister,' said the younger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
-'for myself, I love the substantial; I shall look out for a good
-rich husband,&mdash;stupid, if you please; and the fat Don Blanco
-is just the man for my money.' 'Softly, sister,' replied the
-elder; 'we shall have for husbands those to whom we are
-destined; for marriages, they say, are written in heaven.' 'So
-much the worse for us,' replied the younger; 'for if dear papa
-has the luck to be there, he will assuredly tear out our leaf.'
-The eldest could not help laughing at this sally, and it is
-that which still amuses them both.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic02.png" width="256" height="169" alt="The two sisters in bed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In the next house to that of these ladies, in a furnished
-apartment, lodges an Aragonese adventuress. You may see
-her, while others sleep, admiring in a glass those charms on
-which she relies, and which have gained for her to-day a conquest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
-to be proud of: like a good general, she studies her positions
-for attack; and she has just discovered a new one, which
-will finish her campaign with her lover to-morrow. He is well
-worth all the pains she can take to secure him, and she is well
-aware of his promising qualities. To-day, for instance, one of
-her creditors calling to remind her of an account, which he
-insists on having settled in cash: 'Wait, my good friend,' said
-she; 'wait but for a few days longer: I am on the point of
-concluding a most advantageous arrangement with one of the
-principal persons in the Customs.'"</p>
-
-<p>"I need not ask you," said Leandro, "how a certain cavalier,
-whom I perceive at this moment, has been passing his day:
-he appears to be a complete letter-writer. What enormous
-quantities I behold on his table!" "Yes," replied the Demon;
-"and, what is most amusing, all these letters are alike in their
-contents. He is writing to all his absent friends an account of
-an adventure which befel him this afternoon. He is in love
-with a widow of thirty, charming and discreet; he pays to her
-devotions which she does not despise; he proposes for her
-hand, and she consents to yield it without hesitation. While
-preparations are making for their nuptials, he has permission
-to visit her without ceremony. He went to her house to-day
-after dinner, and as he chanced to meet with no one to
-announce his coming, he entered the lady's apartment, where
-he found her stretched on a couch, <i>en déshabille</i>, or, to speak
-more correctly, almost naked. She was sleeping profoundly.
-What lover could resist the temptation thus offered to his eyes?
-He approaches her softly, and steals a gentle kiss. She starts,
-exclaiming as she wakes, 'What, again! I beseech you,
-Ambrose, leave me to repose.'</p>
-
-<p>"The cavalier, as an honourable man, made up his mind on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
-the instant to renounce all pretensions to the widow. He
-therefore immediately left the apartment; and meeting the
-servant at the door: 'Ambrose,' said he, 'stay! your mistress
-prays you to indulge her with a brief repose.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic03.png" width="265" height="286" alt="The lover about to kiss the widow" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Two doors beyond the house of this cavalier, I perceive an
-original of a husband, who is sleeping tranquilly,&mdash;lulled to
-rest by reproaches with which his wife is upbraiding him for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
-having passed the entire day from home. She would be still
-more bitter against her spouse, did she know how he had spent
-his day." "It has been most probably occupied in some
-amorous adventure?" said Zambullo. "You have guessed it,"
-replied Asmodeus; "and shall hear the detail.</p>
-
-<p>"The man is a tradesman, named Patricio: he is one of
-those wedded libertines who live without care, as though they
-had neither wife nor children: the partner of this fellow,
-nevertheless, is pretty, amiable, and virtuous; and he has two
-daughters and one son, all three still in their infancy. He left
-his family this morning, careless if they had bread to eat, which
-is not unfrequently the case, and directed his steps toward the
-great square, attracted thither by the preparations which Were
-making for the bull-fight of to-day. The scaffolds were already
-erected around the place, and already the more curious in
-these matters began to take their places.</p>
-
-<p>"While gazing at the company, examining first one and then
-another, he observed a lady finely made and very neatly
-dressed, who discovered, as she descended from the scaffold, a
-well-turned leg and foot; and their effect was heightened by
-rose-tinted silken stockings, and garters of silver lace, the ends
-of which hung down to her ankles: it was enough to have
-tempted a saint, and our excitable citizen was almost out of
-his wits at the sight. He advanced towards the lady, who was
-accompanied by another whose air sufficiently disclosed that
-they were both damsels of easy virtue. 'Ladies,' said he,
-accosting them, 'can I be of service to you? you have only to
-command me, and it will be my happiness to obey.' 'Signor
-cavalier,' replied the nymph with the rose-coloured stockings,
-'you appear so obliging, that we will take advantage of your
-kindness: we have already taken our places, but are leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
-them to go to breakfast, as we were unwise enough to leave
-home this morning without first taking our chocolate. Since
-you are so gallant as to offer your services, may we trouble you
-to escort us to some hotel, where we may eat a morsel of
-something? but we must beg you will select as retired a place
-as possible, for ladies, as you know, cannot be too careful of
-their reputation.'</p>
-
-<p>"At these words, Patricio, becoming even more civil and polite
-than the occasion demanded, took the princesses to a tavern
-in the neighbourhood, and ordered breakfast. 'What would
-you like to have, sir?' inquired the host. 'I have the remains
-of a magnificent dinner, which took place here yesterday:
-there are larded fowls, partridges from Léon, pigeons from Old
-Castile, and the best part of a ham from Estremadura.' 'More
-than enough, mine host!' exclaimed the conductor of the two
-vestals. 'Ladies, it is for you to choose;&mdash;what would you
-prefer?' 'Whatever you please,' replied they: 'your choice
-shall be ours.' Thereupon the citizen ordered a brace of
-partridges and a couple of cold fowls, to be served in a private
-room, as the ladies were too modest to think of eating in
-public.</p>
-
-<p>"They were immediately conducted to a small chamber, and
-in a few minutes the host appeared with the chosen dishes,
-some bread, and some wine. Our Lucretias fell to eating with
-most unfashionable appetites, and the fowls rapidly disappeared;
-while the simpleton, who was to pay, was occupied
-in ogling his Luisita,&mdash;the name of the lady who had taken
-his fancy,&mdash;in admiring the whiteness of her hand, upon which
-glittered an enormous ring she had gained by her profession,&mdash;and,
-unable to eat for joy of his good fortune, in lavishing
-upon the lady all the tender epithets, such as his star or his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
-sun, that his imagination could invent. On inquiring of his
-goddess if she were married, she told him she was not, but
-was living under the protection of her brother;&mdash;had she
-added,&mdash;by descent from our father Adam, she would not
-have been far from the truth.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic04.png" width="264" height="155" alt="Breakfast at the inn" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Good eating is nothing without good drinking; so the two
-harpies, having each demolished a fowl, washed them down
-with a proportionate quantity of wine; and, consequently, the
-two flagons which had been placed upon the table were soon
-exhausted. That they might be more speedily replenished,
-our gallant left the room with the empty vessels; and he had
-no sooner closed the door than Jacintha, Luisita's companion,
-clawed hold of the two partridges, which were yet untouched,
-and put them in a spacious pocket which her gown conveniently
-afforded. Our Adonis, on returning from his chase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
-of the wine, and remarking that the eatables had vanished,
-was anxious to know if his Venus had eaten enough. 'Why,'
-said she, 'if the pigeons of which the host has spoken be very
-good, perhaps I might be tempted to taste them; or else a
-morsel of the ham of Estremadura will do.' These words
-were no sooner uttered than away went Patricio again in
-search of provender, and quickly returned, followed by three
-of the loving birds and a substantial dish of the ham. The
-two vultures pounced on their prey like lightning; and as the
-witless citizen was obliged a third time to leave the room for
-bread, they sent a pair of the pigeons to keep company with
-the imprisoned partridges.</p>
-
-<p>"After the repast, which ended with a dessert composed of
-all the fruits the season afforded, the amorous Patricio began
-to press Luisita for that payment in kind which he expected
-from her gratitude. The lady, however, was resolved to look
-upon it as a treat; but at the same time indulged him with the
-hopes of a return, telling him there was a time for all things,
-and that a tavern was not a fitting place in which to testify,
-without reserve, her satisfaction for all his kindness. Then,
-hearing the clock strike one, she assumed an uneasy air, and
-said to her companion: 'Ah! my dear Jacintha, how unfortunate!
-We shall be too late to find a place to see the bull-fight.'
-'Excuse me,' replied Jacintha; 'this gentleman has
-only to conduct us where he so politely accosted us, and never
-fear for our finding a place.'</p>
-
-<p>"Before leaving the tavern, however, it was necessary to
-settle with the host, who presented an account amounting to
-fifty reals. The citizen pulled out his purse; but, as it contained
-but thirty of the requisite pieces, he was obliged to
-leave, in pawn, his rosary adorned with numerous medals of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
-silver. This done he esquired the frail ones to the place from
-whence they came, and obtained for them convenient seats upon
-one of the scaffolds, the proprietor of which, being known to him,
-gave him credit for their price.</p>
-
-<p>"They were no sooner seated, then they demanded further refreshment,
-'I am dying with thirst,' cried one,&mdash;'that ham was terribly salt.'
-'And so am I', replied the other; 'I could drink an ocean of lemonade.'
-Patricio, who understood but too well what all this meant, left them,
-in search of what they wanted; but suddenly stopping on his way, he
-exclaimed to himself: 'Madman! where art thou going? Would one not
-think thou hadst a hundred pistoles in thy purse, or in thy house?
-And thou halt not a single maravedi! What shall I do?' added he. 'To
-return to the lady without that which she requires is impossible;&mdash;and
-must I, then, abandon so promising an adventure? I cannot
-resolve on that either.'</p>
-
-<p>"While thus embarrassed, he perceived among the spectators one of
-his friends who had frequently tendered him services, which his
-pride had always prevented him accepting. But now, lost to shame,
-he hastened towards him, and without hesitation, begged the loan
-of a double pistole; possessed of which his courage returned, and
-hurrying to a confectioner's, he ordered them to carry to his
-princesses so many iced liqueurs, so many biscuits and sweetmeats,
-that the doubloon hardly sufficed to meet this new expense.</p>
-
-<p>"At length the day ended, and with it the festival; when our citizen
-conducted his lady to her house, in the pleasing hope of at last
-reaping the reward of all his thoughtless extravagance. But as they
-arrived near the door of a house which Luisita indicated, as her
-dwelling, a servant-girl came to meet her, saying with much apparent
-agitation: 'Ah! Where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
-have you been until now? Your brother, Don Gaspard
-Heridor, has been waiting for you these two hours, swearing
-like a trooper.' Upon this the sister, in well-feigned alarm,
-turned towards her gallant, and pressing his hand, said to him
-in a whisper: 'My brother is a man of most violent temper,
-but his anger is soon appeased. Wait here awhile with patience:
-I will soon set all to rights; and as he sups from home every
-night, as soon as he has left the house, Jacintha shall inform
-you, and bring you to me.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 183px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic05.png" width="183" height="176" alt="Patricio kisses Luisita's hand" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Patricio, consoled by this promise, kissed with transport
-the hand of Luisita, who returned his caresses, in order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
-keep up his spirits, and then entered the house with Jacintha
-and the girl. The poor dupe took patience, as directed, and
-sat himself down on a stone, a few yards from the door, where
-he waited for a considerable time, never dreaming of the
-possibility of their playing him a trick. He only wondered
-at the stay of Don Gaspard, and began to fear that this cursed
-brother had lost his appetite with his passion.</p>
-
-<p>"Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, the hour of midnight, sounded;
-and not until then did his confidence begin to evaporate, and
-some slight doubts of the good faith of his lady to infuse
-themselves into his mind. All was darkness around him; when,
-approaching the door, he entered on tip-toe, and found himself
-in a narrow passage, in the middle of which his hand encountered
-a staircase. He dared not ascend it; but, listening
-attentively, his ears were greeted with the discordant concert
-which might be expected to proceed from a barking dog, a
-mewing cat, and a crying child, all performing their parts to
-admiration. He felt that he was deceived; and he was convinced
-of the fact when, having explored the passage to its
-termination, he found himself in another street, parallel with
-that in which he had, so long, waited for his love.</p>
-
-<p>"The ghost of his money rose in judgment against him; and
-he returned to his own house, moralising on the deceptive
-influences of rose-coloured stockings. He knocked at the
-door; it was opened by his wife, a chaplet in her hand, and
-tears in her eyes. 'Ah! Patricio,' she said, in a voice which
-told her affliction; 'how can you thus abandon your home?
-how can you thus neglect your wife&mdash;your children? Where
-have you been from six this morning, when you left us?' The
-husband, whom this question would have puzzled to answer
-satisfactorily, and who was, besides, somewhat ashamed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
-himself, had not a word to say; so he undressed, and got into
-bed in silence. His wife, however, was not in want of a text;
-and she read him a lecture, the continuous hum of which, as
-you perceive, has soothed him to sleep."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic06.png" width="264" height="231" alt="Patricio lulled to sleep by his wife's lecture" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now," continued Asmodeus, "cast your eyes upon
-the large house by the side of that in which the cavalier is
-writing to his friends the story of his rupture with the mistress
-of Ambrose. Do you not remark a young lady sleeping in a
-bed of crimson satin, embroidered with gold?" "Wait!&mdash;oh,
-yes!&mdash;I see a lady sleeping; and I fancy I see a book,
-open, on her pillow." "Precisely so," answered the Demon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
-"That lady is a talented young countess, full of life and spirit:
-she has recently suffered extremely from sleepless nights, and
-having sent for a physician, one of the most dignified of his
-class, he has prescribed for her a remedy, derived, he says, from
-Hippocrates himself. The lady, nevertheless, ridiculed his prescription;
-at which the physician, a crabbed sort of animal,
-who does not understand joking, said to her, with a proper
-professional gravity: 'Madam, Hippocrates is not a man to
-be laughed at.' 'Certainly not, signor doctor,' replied the
-Countess, with the most serious air imaginable; 'far from
-laughing at so celebrated and learned an author, I think so
-highly of him, that I feel assured the mere opening of his
-work will cure me of my sleeplessness. I have in my library
-a new translation from the pen of Azero; it is, I believe,
-the best: here! find it for me,' added she, turning to her
-attendant. You behold the magic power of Hippocrates!
-She had not read three pages before she sank into profound
-repose.</p>
-
-<p>"In the Countess's stables there is a poor, one-armed soldier,
-whom the grooms, out of charity, permit, by night, to sleep
-upon the straw. During the day he begs about the city; and
-a few hours ago, he had an amusing conversation with another
-mendicant, who lives near Buen-Retiro, on the road to the
-palace. The latter has an excellent business, which he
-manages so well, that his daughter, who is of a marriageable
-age, passes among the beggars for a rich heiress. This morning,
-the soldier accosting the father, said to him: 'Signor Mendigo,
-I have lost my right arm; I can no longer serve the king; and,
-like yourself, I am obliged to gain a livelihood by doing the
-civil to the passers-by. I know well that of all trades there is
-not one which does more for those who follow it; and that all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
-that is wanting to it is, that it should be a little more highly
-esteemed.' 'If it were a bit more honourable,' replied the
-old man, 'it would not be worth following at all, as we should
-have too much competition;&mdash;all the world would beg if it
-were not for shame.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic07.png" width="264" height="272" alt="The two beggars in conversation" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'Very true!' replied he of the one arm. 'Well, now! I
-am a brother beggar; and I should be happy to ally myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
-with so distinguished a member of our profession: you shall
-give me your daughter.' 'Hold! my dear sir,' replied the
-warm old gentleman; 'you cannot think of such a thing. She
-must have a better match than you will make. You are not
-half lame enough. My son-in-law must be a miserable-looking
-object, who would draw blood out of a stone.' 'Do you think,
-then, that you will find one worse off than I am?' 'To be
-sure! Why, you have only lost an arm; and ought to be
-absolutely ashamed of yourself, to expect that I will give you
-my daughter. I'd have you to know that I have already
-refused a fellow without legs, and who goes about the city in
-a bowl.'</p>
-
-<p>"I must on no account," continued the Devil, "omit to call
-your attention to the house which joins that of the sleeping
-countess, and which contains a drunken old painter and a
-satirical poet. The artist left home at seven o'clock this
-morning in search of a confessor, as his wife was at the point
-of death; but happening to meet with a boon companion, he
-went with him to a tavern, and forgot his wife until ten this
-evening, when he returned to find she had died unshriven.
-The poet, who enjoys the reputation of having frequently
-received most striking proofs of the merits of his caustic verses,
-was swaggering in a <i>café</i> this morning; and in speaking of a
-person who was absent, exclaimed: 'He is a scoundrel, to
-whom, some of these days, I must give a good drubbing.'
-'That is kind of you,' replied a wag who heard him; 'though
-I believe, by the bye, that you owe him a good many.'</p>
-
-<p>"I had nearly forgotten a scene which took place this
-morning at a banker's in this street. He is only recently
-established in Madrid, having returned with immense riches
-about three months ago from Peru. His father is an honest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
-cobbler of Mediana,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> a large village of Old Castile, near the
-Sierra d'Avila, where he lives, contented with his lot, and with
-his wife, who, like himself, is about sixty years of age.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> It is curious, that in the original of the latest Paris edition, as also in
-the third edition, of 1707, the earliest I have been able to consult, and
-which was published under the superintendence of Le Sage, this passage
-stands, "un honnête <i>capareto</i> de Viejo et de Mediana." There is a note
-to the word "<i>capareto</i>" giving its translation into French as <i>savetier</i>.
-Being puzzled by the double name of the village,&mdash;"de Viejo et de
-Mediana," I sought the assistance of a talented Spaniard, Signor Lazeu,
-and was surprised to find the Spanish for cobbler is "<i>zapatero de viejo</i>,"
-or, "shoemaker of old (things)," and that it should consequently have
-stood in the original "<i>zapatero de viejo</i> de Mediana." It has been doubted
-by many, among others the late H. D. Inglis, whether Le Sage were
-really the author of Le Diable Boiteux and Gil Blas; and it has been
-asserted that he merely translated these works from the unpublished manuscripts
-of some Spanish author. If the error in question were really that
-of Le Sage, it would certainly go far to confirm this assertion.&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
-
-<p>"It is upwards of twenty years since the banker left his
-father's house, for the Indies, in search of a better fortune than
-he could expect from his parents. During all this time, though
-lost to sight, he was ever present in their thoughts, and every
-night and morning saw the poor couple on their knees, praying
-Heaven to shield him with its protection; nor did they fail, on
-each succeeding Sabbath, to entreat their friend the curate to
-recommend their child to the prayers of his humble flock.
-As soon as the banker had returned to Spain, having hastily
-established his house of business, he resolved to ascertain, in
-person, the condition of his parents, whom, in his prosperity,
-he had never forgotten. With this view, having told his
-domestics he should be absent for a few days, he set out alone,
-about a fortnight ago, and journeyed on horseback towards the
-place of his birth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic08.png" width="262" height="230" alt="The banker reunited with his parents" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"It was about ten o'clock at night, and the good old cobbler
-was sleeping peaceably beside his spouse, when they were
-suddenly awakened by the noise which the banker made, as
-he knocked violently at the door of their little house. 'Who's
-there?' cried the startled pair, together. 'Open&mdash;open the
-door!' replied a voice; 'it is your son Francillo.' 'Tell that
-to the marines!" replied the ancient son of Crispin;&mdash;'be off
-with you, scoundrels! there is nothing here worth stealing.
-Francillo is at this moment in the Indies, if he be not dead.'
-'Your son is not now in the Indies,' replied the banker; 'he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
-is returned from Peru; it is he who speaks to you: will you
-refuse to receive him in your arms?' 'Let us go down,
-Jacobo,' said the wife; 'I think it is indeed Francillo; I seem
-to recollect his voice.'</p>
-
-<p>"They immediately dressed themselves hurriedly; and, as
-soon as the cobbler had struck a light, they descended, and
-opened the door. The old woman looked at Francillo but for
-an instant, and, with a mother's instinct, recognised her son:
-she fell upon his neck, and pressed him to her bosom; while
-master Jacobo, as much transported as his wife, threw his arms
-around them, and kissed them both by turns. It was some
-time before the happy family, reunited after so long a separation,
-could tear themselves apart, or cease those expressions of
-delight which filled their throbbing hearts.</p>
-
-<p>"At length, however, the banker was able to think of his
-horse, which he unsaddled and led to a stable, already occupied
-by a cow, whose teeming udders daily yielded their sweet food
-for his parents. On his return to the house, he related the
-adventures of his life in Peru, and told them of the wealth
-which he had brought with him to Spain. The story was
-somewhat long, and might have appeared annoying to uninterested
-listeners; but a son who unbosoms himself after a
-twenty years' absence, rarely fails to fix the attention of a father
-and mother. To them nothing was indifferent; they greedily
-devoured every syllable he uttered, and the most trifling details
-of his life made upon them the most lively impressions of
-sorrow or of joy.</p>
-
-<p>"He finished his history, by telling them that his wealth
-would lose all its value unless shared by them, and entreated
-his father to think no longer of working at his stall. 'No, no,
-my son,' said master Jacobo to him: 'no, no! I love my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
-trade, and I will stick to my last.' 'What,' exclaimed Francillo,
-'is it not time you lived in peace? I do not ask you to go
-with me to Madrid; I know well that a city life would have no
-charms for you: I do not propose, then, that you should leave
-the peaceful village where your days have passed; but, at least,
-spare yourself a painful toil, and live here at your ease, since it
-is in your power to do so.'</p>
-
-<p>"The mother joined her son in besieging the old cobbler
-with entreaties; and, at last, master Jacobo capitulated. 'Well!
-Francillo,' said he, 'to satisfy you I will be a gentleman; that
-is, I will not work any longer for all the village; I will only
-mend my own shoes, and those of our good friend the curate.'
-On this convention, the banker, having swallowed a couple of
-eggs that they had fried for his supper, went to bed beneath
-his father's roof, the first time for many years, and slept with
-a calmness of delight that the good alone are capable of
-enjoying.</p>
-
-<p>"The following day, Francillo returned to Madrid, after
-leaving with his father a purse of three hundred pistoles. But,
-this morning, he was not a little astonished at beholding master
-Jacobo suddenly enter his room. 'Ah! my father what brings
-you here!' 'Why, my son,' replied the old man, 'I bring you
-back your purse. There, take your money; I am determined
-to live by my trade: I have been miserable ever since I left off
-work.' 'Ah, well! my father,' said Francillo, 'return to the
-village, and continue to work as you will: but, at all events,
-let it be only to amuse you. Take back your purse, too, and
-do not spare mine.' 'And what, then, do you think I can do
-with so much money?' asked master Jacobo. 'It will enable
-you to relieve the poor,' replied the banker: 'do with it as the
-curate and your own conscience shall dictate.' The cobbler,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
-satisfied to accept it on these terms, immediately departed for
-Mediana."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 198px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic09.png" width="198" height="240" alt="The cobbler attempts to return the purse to his son" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas had listened, with pleasure, to the history of
-Francillo; and he was about to express his admiration of the
-good-hearted banker's filial affection, when, at the very moment,
-his attention was distracted by the most piercing shrieks.
-"Signor Asmodeus!" he exclaimed, "what frightful noises do
-I hear?" "Those cries, which rend the air," replied the
-Devil, "proceed from a receptacle for madmen, who tear their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
-throats with shouting, or with singing." "We are not far from
-the place of their confinement, then," said Leandro; "so let
-us look at them at once." "By all means," replied the
-Demon: "I will afford you that amusement and inform you
-of the causes of their madness." It was no sooner said than
-done; and, in a moment, the Student found himself on the
-<i>Casa de los locos</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecemanrock.png" width="214" height="224" alt="tailpiece of a man in a rocky landscape" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER IX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialz.png" width="75" height="78" alt="Z" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Zambullo surveyed, by turns, with much curiosity,
-the several rooms and the unfortunate creatures
-they contained; and while he was reflecting
-on the scene thus presented to his eyes, the Devil said
-to him: "There they are, my master! You see insanity
-in every form there;&mdash;men and women, laughing idiots and
-raging maniacs, locks grey with age, and cheeks which still
-retain their bloom. Well! now I will tell you what has
-turned their heads: we will go from room to room, but will
-begin with the men.</p>
-
-<p>"The first whom you observe, and who appears so violent,
-is a political fanatic of Castile. He is a proud citizen of
-Madrid, in the heart of which he was born; and he is more
-jealous of the honour of his country than was ever citizen of
-ancient Rome. He went mad with chagrin at reading in the
-gazette, that twenty-five Spaniards had suffered themselves to
-be beaten by a party of fifty Portuguese.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour is a licentiate, who was so anxious to obtain
-a benefice, that he played the hypocrite at court during ten long
-years; and whose brain was turned by despair at finding himself
-constantly overlooked among the promotions: his madness,
-however, is not without its advantage; seeing that he at present
-imagines himself to be Archbishop of Toledo. And what if he
-deceive himself? His pleasure is none the less: indeed, I
-think, that he is so much the more to be envied; since his
-error is a golden dream, which will only end with his life, and
-he will not be called to account in the other world for the
-application of his revenues in this.</p>
-
-<p>"The next in rotation is a ward, whom his guardian declared
-to be insane, that he might have the uncontrolled use of his
-property: the poor youth has become really mad from rage at
-his unjust confinement. After the minor, comes a schoolmaster,
-who lost his wits in search of the <i>paulo post futurum</i> of
-the Greek verb; and, then again, we have a merchant, whose
-reason was shipwrecked with a vessel that belonged to him,
-although it had stood the shock of two bankruptcies which had
-before threatened to engulph him.</p>
-
-<p>"The person who is lodged in the next room is the ancient
-captain Zanubio, a Neapolitan cavalier, who came to establish
-himself in Madrid, and whom jealousy has settled where he is:
-you shall hear his history.</p>
-
-<p>"He delighted in a youthful spouse, the lady Aurora, whom
-he guarded as the apple of his eye. His house was absolutely
-inaccessible to all mankind; and Aurora never left it but for
-mass, always accompanied by her aged Tithon, or to breathe
-with him the pure air of the pleasant fields, at an estate near
-Alcantara, whither he sometimes led her. Despite his vigilance,
-however, she had been perceived at church by the cavalier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
-Don Garcia Pacheco, who loved her from the instant that he
-saw her: he was an enterprising youth, and not unworthy
-the attention of a pretty woman whom Fortune had badly
-matched.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic01.png" width="268" height="281" alt="Zanubio and Aurora at church, observed by Don Garcia" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The difficulty of introducing himself into the house of
-Zanubio was not sufficient to deprive Don Garcia of hope. As
-his chin was yet unreaped, and he was fair to behold, he disguised
-himself as a virgin, took with him a hundred pistoles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
-and betook himself to the captain's seat, where, he had learned,
-that gentleman and his lady were shortly expected. Watching
-his opportunity to accost the female who acted as gardener in
-Zanubio's establishment, he addressed her in the style of the
-heroines of chivalry, who fly from some giant's towers:
-'Kind lady,' said he, 'I come to throw myself within your arms, and
-to entreat your pity. I am a maiden of Toledo, of wealth and
-name, but my parents would compel me to give my hand to one
-whom my heart disowns. To escape this tyranny, I have fled
-by night; and I now seek shelter from a cruel world. Here I
-shall be safe from pursuit. Do not deny me, then, to dwell
-with you until my friends shall be inspired with more kindly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
-sentiments. There is my purse: do not hesitate to receive it,
-it is all that I can give you now: but I trust the day will come
-when I may more properly acknowledge the service which you
-will render me by your protection.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic02.png" width="263" height="219" alt="Don Garcia accosts the female gardener" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The gentle gardener, especially affected by the conclusion
-of this touching address, replied: 'Dear lady, I will receive you
-with pleasure. I know that there are too many youthful maidens
-who are sacrificed to aged men; and I know, too, that they are
-not usually reconciled to their lot. I sympathize with your
-afflictions: you could not have more fortunately addressed
-yourself than to me. Come! I will place you in a little room,
-where you may live in confidence of security.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Garcia passed four days, shut up in the gardener's
-cottage, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aurora. At last she
-came, guarded as ever by her jealous spouse, who immediately,
-according to his usual custom, searched every chamber, from
-the cellar to the garret, to make sure that he was free from the
-hated form of man, which might endanger his honour. The
-gardener, who expected this visitation, anticipated it by informing
-her master of the manner in which a refuge had been
-sought with her by a youthful female. Zanubio, although
-extremely mistrustful, had not the slightest suspicion of the
-deceit now practised on him; he was, however, curious to see
-the unknown. At the interview which followed, the lady
-begged him to excuse her concealing her name, stating that it
-was a reserve which she owed to her family, which she in some
-sort dishonoured by her flight. She then related to him so
-pathetic a tale, and in a style so romantic, that the captain
-was charmed; and while he listened to her narration, he felt a
-rising inclination for this amiable damsel, which ended in an
-offer of his services and protection; after which he led her to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
-his wife, flattering himself that this adventure would not end
-disagreeably to himself.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as Aurora beheld Don Garcia, she blushed and
-trembled, without knowing why. The cavalier, who perceived
-her uneasiness, shrewdly guessed that she had observed the
-attention with which he had regarded her at church. To
-ascertain this fact, as soon as they were alone, he said to her:
-'Madam, I have a brother who has often spoken to me of you.
-He saw you for a moment at your devotions, and from that
-moment, which he delights to recall a thousand times each
-day, you have been the idol of his heart;&mdash;he loves you to
-madness.'</p>
-
-<p>"As he spoke, Aurora scrutinized the features of Don Garcia,
-and when he had finished she replied to him: 'You resemble
-your brother too closely to permit me to remain for an instant
-the dupe of your stratagem: I see too clearly you are that
-brother in disguise. I remember, one day while at mass, my
-mantilla fell back from my face; it was but for an instant, but
-I saw that you perceived me: I afterwards watched you from
-curiosity, and your eyes remained fixed on my person. When
-I left the church, I believe that you failed not to follow me,
-that you might learn who I was, and the house where I dwelt.
-I say&mdash;I believe you did this, for my head dared not turn to
-observe you; as my husband was with me, jealous of my
-slightest motions, and would have made, of one glance, a deep
-crime. On the morrow and following days, when I went to
-the church, I always saw you; and your features have become
-so familiar that I know you despite your disguise.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Well, Madam,' replied the lover, 'I must then unmask:&mdash;yes,
-I am a man, the victim of your charms:&mdash;it is indeed
-Don Garcia Pacheco whom Love brings here in the guise of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
-the gentler sex&mdash;&mdash;' 'And you doubtless anticipate,' interrupted
-Aurora, 'that I, sharing your foolish passion, shall lend
-myself to your design, and assist in confirming my husband in
-his error. You are, however, deceived: I shall at once expose
-the deception; my honour and my peace demand it of me.
-Besides, I am not sorry to have an opportunity of showing my
-husband that vigilance is a less certain safeguard than virtue,
-and that, jealous and mistrustful as he is, I am more difficult
-to surprise than himself.'</p>
-
-<p>"She had hardly spoken when the captain appeared. He
-had indistinctly heard a portion of his wife's discourse, and
-requested to be informed of the subject of their conversation.
-'We were speaking,' replied Aurora, 'of those youthful cavaliers
-who dare to hope for love from ladies of a tender age, because
-united to a husband for whom respect claims the place of
-passion. As you entered I was saying, that should such a
-gallant dare to address himself to me,&mdash;should he endeavour
-to introduce himself beneath your roof by some of those
-artifices to which such madmen have recourse, I should know
-well how to punish his audacity.'</p>
-
-<p>"'And you, Madam,' said Zanubio, turning to Don Garcia,
-'after what fashion should you treat a youthful cavalier in such
-a case?' Our assumption of a virgin was so much disconcerted
-at this question, that he was unable to reply; and his embarrassment
-would certainly have attracted Zanubio's attention,
-had not, at the moment, a servant entered the apartment, to
-inform the captain that a person who had just arrived from
-Madrid wished to speak with him.</p>
-
-<p>"Zanubio had no sooner gone out than Don Garcia, throwing
-himself at Aurora's feet, exclaimed: 'Ah, madam, how can
-you delight thus to perplex me? Could you be cruel enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
-to expose me to the wrath of an enraged husband?' 'No,
-Pacheco,' replied the lady, smiling; 'youthful dames who are
-so unfortunate as to have aged spouses are not so resentful.
-Be not alarmed! I could not resist the temptation to amuse
-myself at the expense of your fears; but that is the sum of your
-punishment; and it is surely not exacting too great a price for
-my kindness in permitting your continuance here.' At these
-consoling words all Don Garcia's alarms were dispelled, and
-they yielded to hopes, of which Aurora was too kind long to
-delay the realization.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, while their reciprocal affection was manifested in
-a form too clear to be misunderstood, the captain surprised
-them. Had he been the most confiding of men, it would have
-been impossible, unless his confidence were not extended to
-his own eyes, to doubt that the lovely unknown was a man in
-disguise. Furious at the scene which presented itself, he
-hastened to his dressing-room in search of his pistols; but, in
-the meanwhile, the fond couple escaped,&mdash;in their hurry to
-leave the apartment, double-locking the door, and taking with
-them the key. They lost no time in gaining a neighbouring
-village, in which Don Garcia had taken the precaution to leave
-his valet with two good horses. There, our hero, having
-abandoned his petticoats, and placed Aurora on a crupper on
-one of the steeds, mounted and rode with her to a convent,
-where she prayed him to leave her in the care of an aunt, its
-abbess; after which he returned to Madrid to await the termination
-of his adventure.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic03.png" width="248" height="284" alt="Zanubio discovers Aurora in Garcia's embrace" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Poor Zanubio, finding himself imprisoned, shouted with all
-his lungs, and a servant, hearing his voice, hastened to his
-assistance: but, if Love laughs at locksmiths, locks are sometimes
-extremely unaccommodating. In vain did the servant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
-and captain try to force the door; and at last the latter, his
-wrath increasing with his efforts, rushed to the window, and
-threw himself from it, his pistols in his hands: he fell upon his
-back, wounded his head, and when his attendants arrived they
-found him senseless. He was carried bleeding to his chamber,
-and by deluging him with water, and by other gentle torments
-used on such occasions, they succeeded in bringing him to life;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
-but his fury returned with his senses. 'Where is my wife?' he
-cried. To this interrogatory they replied, by informing him
-that they had seen her pass from the garden, in company with
-the unknown lady, by a little private door. He immediately
-demanded his pistols, which they dared not refuse him, ordered
-a horse to be saddled, and without reflecting on his wound, set
-out, but by another road, in pursuit of the lovers. The day
-passed in this fruitless search; and when he stopped for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
-night at a village inn, to repose himself, the fatigue and
-irritation of his wound brought on a fever and delirium, which
-nearly cost him his life.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 251px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic04.png" width="251" height="284" alt="Zanubio throws himself out of the window" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The rest is told in a few words. The captain, after being
-confined to his bed for a fortnight, in the village, returned still
-unwell to his country seat; and there, by continually dwelling
-on his misfortune, he shortly afterwards lost his reason. The
-relations of Aurora were no sooner informed of this event,
-than they caused him to be brought to Madrid, and confined
-where you now see him; and they have resolved that his wife
-shall remain in the convent for some years to come, as a
-punishment for her indiscretion, or, more properly, for a fault
-which their own cupidity placed her in a situation to be
-tempted to commit.</p>
-
-<p>"The next to whom I shall direct your attention," continued
-the Devil, "is the Signor Don Blaz Desdichado, a worthy
-cavalier, whose deplorable malady is also owing to the loss of
-his wife, but by death." "That indeed surprises me," said
-Don Cleophas. "A husband whom the death of his wife
-renders insane! Well! that is more than I ever expected to
-spring from conjugal love." "Not so fast!" interrupted
-Asmodeus: "Don Blaz did not lose his reason with his wife;
-but because, having no children, he was obliged to return to
-the parents of the deceased fifty thousand ducats which he had
-received with her, and which the marriage contract compelled
-him to restore."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! that is another affair," replied Leandro; "the matter
-is by no means so wonderful as I imagined. But tell me, if
-you please, who is that young man that is skipping about like
-a kid in the next room, and from time to time stopping to
-laugh until he holds his sides? He is a lively fool enough."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
-"Yes," replied the Cripple, "and it was excess of joy which
-made him mad. He was porter to a person of quality; when
-one day, hearing of the death of a rich contador, to whose
-wealth he was sole heir, he was so affected by the joyous news
-that his head was not proof against his good fortune.</p>
-
-<p>"We have now come to that tall youth who is twanging the
-guitar, and accompanying the pathetic strain with his voice:
-his is a melancholy madness. He is a lover, whom the excessive
-severity of his mistress reduced to despair, until they
-were obliged to enclose him here." "Alas! how I pity him,"
-exclaimed the Student; "permit me to express my sorrow for
-his misfortune;&mdash;it is one to which every susceptible heart is
-exposed. Were it my own fate to love a disdainful beauty, I
-know not but that I too should love to madness." "I can
-believe you," replied the Demon: "that sentiment would
-stamp you for a true Castilian. One must be born in the
-centre of that ancient kingdom to be capable of loving until
-reason sinks with a despised heart. Your Frenchman is not
-so tender; and would you appreciate the difference between a
-gay Parisian and a fiery Spaniard in this respect, I need only
-repeat to you the song which yon poor fool is singing, and
-which his passion inspires even at this moment:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SPANISH SONG.</span><br />
-<br />
-'Mine eyes gush o'er with floods of wild desire,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hopeless love burns fiercely in my breast;</span><br />
-Yet not my tears can quench my bosom's fire,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor passion's fire my scalding tears arrest.'<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></span><br />
-</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="p2"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
-<br />
-'Ardo y lloro sin sosiego:<br />
-Llorando y ardiendo tanto,<br />
-Que ni el llanto apaga el fuego,<br />
-Ni el fuego consume el llanto.'<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
-"It is thus sings a true Castilian whom his lady slights; and
-now I will repeat to you the words in which a Frenchman told
-his griefs, in a similar case, only a few days ago:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FRENCH SONG.</span><br />
-<br />
-'She who within my bosom reigns,<br />
-A tyrant's stern control maintains;<br />
-Nor sighs, nor tears, nor prayers can move<br />
-The least relenting look of love.<br />
-A kind word, kindly spoken, might<br />
-Have turn'd my darkness into light;<br />
-But, since my suit is urged in vain,<br />
-I fly to feed my griefs with Payen.'<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="p2"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
-<br />
-'L'objet qui règne dans mon coeur<br />
-Est toujours insensible à mon amour fidèle,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mes soins, mes soupirs, ma langueur,</span><br />
-Ne sauraient attendrir cette beauté cruelle.<br />
-O ciel! est-il un sort plus affreux que le mien?<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah! puisque je ne puis lui plaire,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Je renonce au jour qui m'éclaire;</span><br />
-Venez, mes chers amis, m'enterrer chez Payen.'<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="p2">"This Payen is undoubtedly a tavern-keeper?" said Don
-Cleophas. "Exactly so," replied the Devil. "But let us
-continue our observations." "Let us then turn to the women,"
-exclaimed Leandro; "I am impatient to hear their histories."
-"I will yield to your impatience," answered the Spirit; "but
-there are yet two or three unfortunates on this side of the
-house, whom I would first show to you: you may profit by
-their unhappiness.</p>
-
-<p>"You observe, close by the melancholy songster, that pale
-and haggard face; those teeth, which gnash as though they
-would make nothing of the iron bars that ornament the
-window. Yon is an honest man, born under influence of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>malignant star, who, with all the merit in the world, has vainly
-striven, during twenty years, to secure a modest competence;
-he has scarcely, with all his efforts, succeeded in gaining his
-daily bread. His reason fled its seat, on his perceiving a
-worthless fellow of his acquaintance suddenly mount the top of
-fortune's wheel by a lucky speculation.</p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour, again, is an old secretary, whose head was
-cracked by a stroke of ingratitude, which he received from a
-courtier, in whose service he lived during sixty years. No
-praises were too great for the zeal and fidelity of this ancient
-servant; who, however, never claimed their just reward,
-content to let his assiduity and services speak for themselves.
-His master, far from resembling Archelaus, king of Macedonia,
-who refused favours when demanded, and bestowed them
-when unasked, died forgetful of his merits, leaving him just
-enough to pass his days in misery, and the refuge of a madhouse.</p>
-
-<p>"I will only detain you with one more, and it is with the
-man who, leaning with his elbows on the window, appears
-plunged in profound meditation. You see in him a Signor
-Hidalgo, of Tafalla, a small town of Navarre, which he left for
-Madrid that he might make the best use of his wealth. He
-was bitten with a rage for surrounding himself with the literati
-of the day; and as these animals are always seen to most
-advantage at feeding-time, he kept open house for their entertainment.
-Authors are an unpolished and ungrateful race;
-but, although they despised and snarled at their keeper, he
-was not contented until they had eaten him out of house and
-home." "Poor fellow," said Zambullo: "he no doubt went
-mad with rage at his awful stupidity." "On the contrary,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it was with regret at finding himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
-unable to keep up his menagerie. Well! now let us pay our
-respects to the ladies," added the Devil.</p>
-
-<p>"Why! how is this?" exclaimed the Student: "I only see
-seven or eight of them. I had expected to have found them
-here by scores." "Ah!" said the Devil, smiling, "but they
-are by no means all confined within these walls. I will take
-you instantly, if you wish it, to another quarter of the city,
-where there is a larger house than this, full of mad-women to
-the very roof." "Do not trouble yourself, I beg," replied Don
-Cleophas; "I am by no means anxious for their acquaintance:
-these will suffice." "You are right," replied the Devil; "and
-these too, are almost all youthful ladies of distinction. You
-may perceive by the attention which is paid to their persons,
-that they are not ordinary subjects. And now for the story of
-their madness.</p>
-
-<p>"In the first room is the wife of a corregidor, who went mad
-with rage at being termed plebeian by a lady of the court; in
-the second, is the spouse of the treasurer-general of the
-council of the Indies: anger also made her mad, at being
-obliged, in a narrow street, to turn back her carriage to
-make way for that of the duchess of Medina-Coeli. The
-third room is the residence of a merchant's widow, whom
-regret for the loss of a noble signor's hand robbed of her
-senses; and the fourth is occupied by a girl of highest rank,
-named Donna Beatrice, whose misfortunes are worth your
-attention.</p>
-
-<p>"This young lady was united by the most tender friendship
-with the Donna Mencia: they were indeed inseparable. It
-happened, however, that a handsome chevalier of the order of
-St. James became acquainted with them both, and they soon
-were rivals for his heart. As he could not marry the two, and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
-his affections inclined towards the Donna Mencia, he paid his
-court to that lady, and she shortly became his wife.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Beatrice, jealous of the power of her charms, and
-mortified to excess by the preference shown to another,
-conceived a passion for revenge, which, like a woman, or a
-good Spaniard, she nourished at the bottom of her heart.
-While this passion was yet in its infancy, she received from
-Don Jacintho de Romarate, a neglected lover of the Donna
-Mencia, a letter stating that, being as much insulted as herself
-by the marriage of his mistress, he had resolved to demand
-satisfaction of the chevalier for their united wrongs.</p>
-
-<p>"This letter gave great delight to Beatrice, who desiring
-but the death of the sinner, wished for nothing more than
-that his rival should fall beneath Jacintho's hand. While
-anxiously awaiting for so christianly a gratification, it happened,
-however, that her own brother, having chanced to
-quarrel with this same Jacintho, came to blows with her
-champion, and fell pierced with wounds of which he died.
-Although duty prompted Donna Beatrice to avenge her
-brother's death by citing his murderer before the tribunals
-of his country, she neglected to do so, as this would have
-interfered with her revenge; which demonstrates, if such
-proof were needed, that there is no interest so dear to a
-woman as that of her beauty. Need I remind you, that when
-Ajax violated Cassandra in the temple of Pallas, that goddess
-did not on the instant punish the sacrilegious Greek? No!
-she reserved her wrath until its victim should have first
-redressed the insult offered to her charms by the Judgment
-of the hated Paris. But, alas! Donna Beatrice, less
-fortunate than Minerva, never tasted the sweetness of her
-anticipated vengeance. Romarate perished by the sword of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
-the chevalier, and chagrin for her wrongs, still unpunished,
-drove the lady into this asylum.</p>
-
-<p>"The next who offer themselves to your notice are an
-attorney's grandmother and an aged marchioness. The ill-temper
-of the first so annoyed her descendant, that he very
-quietly got rid of her by placing her here: the other is a lady
-who has ever been an idol to herself, and instead of aging with
-becoming resignation, has never ceased to weep the decay of
-that beauty which formed her only happiness; and at last, one
-day, when her mirror told, too plainly to be doubted, that all
-her charms were flown, went mad."</p>
-
-<p>"So much the better for the ancient dame," added Leandro.
-"In the derangement of her mind, she will no more perceive
-the ravages of time." "Most assuredly not," replied the
-Devil; "far from beholding in her face the marks of age, her
-complexion seems to her now a happy blending of the lily and
-the rose; she sees around her but the Graces and the Loves,&mdash;in
-a word, she thinks that she is Venus herself." "Ah!
-well!" exclaimed the Student, "were it not better that
-thousands should be mad, than that they should know themselves
-for what they are?" "Undoubtedly," replied Asmodeus;
-"but come, we have only one other female to
-observe; and that is she who dwells in the furthest room, and
-whom sleep has just visited with rest, after three days and
-nights of raving. Look at her well! What think you of
-the Donna Emerenciana?" "That she is beautiful, indeed,"
-answered Zambullo. "What horror, that so lovely a creature
-should be mad! By what fatal accident is she reduced to this
-dreadful situation?" "Listen!" replied the Demon; "I will
-tell you the story of her woes.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Emerenciana, only daughter of Don Guillem Stephani,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
-lived tranquilly at Siguença, in the mansion of her
-father, when Don Kimen de Lizana came to trouble her
-repose by those attentions with which he sought to win her
-heart. Flattered by his gallantries, she received their homage
-with delight; she even had the weakness to lend herself to the
-artifices to which he resorted that he might speak with her in
-private; and in a short time exchanged with him vows of
-eternal love and fidelity.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 238px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic05.png" width="238" height="244" alt="The mad-woman Donna Emerenciana" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The lovers were of equal birth; but the lady was one of the
-richest heiresses of Spain, while Don Kimen was a younger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
-son. But there was still another obstacle to their union,&mdash;Don
-Guillem hated the family of the Lizana. This he never
-affected to conceal, whenever they were mentioned; and he
-seemed more averse to Don Kimen himself, than to any other
-of his race. Emerenciana, though deeply afflicted at her
-father's sentiments on this subject, which she felt boded unhappily
-for her passion, could not resolve to abandon its
-object; and she therefore continued her secret interviews with
-her lover, who from time to time, through the assistance of a
-waiting-maid, ventured even into her chamber by night.</p>
-
-<p>"It happened, one of these nights, that Don Guillem chanced
-to be awake when the gallant was thus introduced, and thought
-he heard a noise in his daughter's apartment, which was not
-far from his own. This was quite enough to arouse a father,
-and especially one so mistrustful as Don Guillem. Suspicious
-as he was, he had never imagined the possibility of his
-daughter's intelligence with Don Kimen; but not being of a
-disposition to place too much confidence in any one, he rose
-quietly from his bed, opened a window which looked into the
-street, and there patiently waited until he saw that cavalier,
-whom the light of the moon enabled him to recognize, descending
-from the balcony by a silken ladder.</p>
-
-<p>"What a sight for Stephani!&mdash;for the most vindictive, the
-most relentless mortal, that even Sicily, which gave him birth,
-had ever produced. He controlled the first emotions of his
-terrible wrath, and repressed every exclamation of surprise at
-what he beheld, that the chief victim which his wounded pride
-demanded might not be warned of his fate, and attempt to
-escape the avenger's hand. He so far constrained himself as
-to wait until the morning, when his daughter had risen, ere he
-entered her apartment. She was alone, as he approached her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
-with fury sparkling in his eyes; and, with a voice that made
-her tremble, he addressed her thus: 'Unworthy wretch! whom
-not the honour of thy race restrains from deeds of infamy,
-prepare to meet their due reward! This steel,' he added, as
-he drew a dagger from his bosom, 'shall find a sheath within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
-your heart, unless with truth upon your lips you name the
-daring villain who brought, last night, dishonour on my house.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic06.png" width="263" height="293" alt="Stephani threatens Emerenciana with a dagger" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Emerenciana was so overcome by this unexpected discovery
-and her father's threats, that her tongue refused its office.
-'Ah! miserable,' continued Don Guillem, 'thy silence and confusion
-tell me too plainly all thy guilt! Dost think, child, whom
-I blush to call mine own, that I know not what has passed?
-I know too well! I saw, myself, the villain, and recognized
-him for Don Kimen. 'Twas not enough, then, to receive a
-cavalier at night within thy room!&mdash;that cavalier must be the
-man whom most I loathe! But come! tell me how much I
-owe him. Speak without disguise,&mdash;thy sincerity alone can
-save thy shameful life.'</p>
-
-<p>"These last words, terrible as they were, brought with them
-some slight hope to the unfortunate girl of escaping the fate
-which menaced her, and she recovered from her fright sufficiently
-to enable her to reply: 'Signor, I cannot deny that I
-am guilty of listening to Lizana; but I call Heaven to witness
-for the purity of his sentiments and conduct. Aware as he was
-of your hatred for his name, he dared not to ask your sanction
-for his addresses; but it was for no other end than to confer
-with me how that sanction might be obtained that he sought,
-and I permitted, his coming here.' 'And who, then,' asked
-Stephani, 'was the willing instrument through which you exchanged
-your communications?' 'It was,' replied his daughter,
-'one of your pages to whom we were indebted for that kindness.'
-'Enough,' interrupted the father; 'and now to execute
-the design for which I come!' Thereupon displaying his
-poniard, he made Emerenciana sit down, and placing paper
-and ink before her, compelled her to write to her lover the
-following letter which he dictated:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Dearest Love,&mdash;only delight of my life,&mdash;I hasten to
-inform you that my father has just set out for his estate,
-whence he will not return until to-morrow. Lose not this
-happy opportunity. I doubt not you will watch for the coming
-night with as much impatience as your beloved</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Emerenciana</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"As soon as this treacherous letter was written and sealed,
-Don Guillem said to his daughter: 'And now summon the
-page who so well performs the duties you impose on him, and
-direct him to carry this note to Don Kimen: but hope not to
-deceive me; I shall conceal myself behind the drapery of your
-room, whence I can observe your slightest movement; and if
-while you charge him with this commission you speak one
-word, or make the smallest sign which may give him suspicion
-of your message, I will plunge this dagger in your heart.'
-Emerenciana knew her father too well to dare to disobey him:
-the page was called, and the letter placed as usual in his hands.</p>
-
-<p>"Not until then did Stephani put up his weapon; but he did
-not leave his daughter for a moment during the day, nor would
-he let any one approach her, so that she could communicate to
-Lizana intelligence of the snare which was spread for him.
-Accordingly, when night came, the youthful gallant hastened
-to the wished-for meeting; but hardly had he entered the door
-of his mistress's house before he found himself seized by three
-powerful men, who disarmed him in a moment, tied a bandage
-over his mouth to prevent his cries, another over his eyes, and
-bound his hands behind his back. They then placed him in
-a carriage, which was waiting for the purpose, and having all
-mounted therein for complete security of the betrayed cavalier's
-person, they carried him to the seat of Stephani, situated near<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
-the village of Miedes, four leagues from Siguença, where they
-arrived before daybreak.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic07.png" width="232" height="181" alt="Don Kimen is kidnapped" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The first care of the signor was to cause Don Kimen to
-be placed in a vault which received but a feeble light from a
-hole near the top, so small, that escape by that was impossible.
-He then ordered Julio, a confidential servant, to feed him
-with bread and water only, to give him but a truss of straw to
-sleep on, and to say to him every time he carried him food:
-'Here, base seducer: it is thus that Don Guillem treats those
-who are mad enough to dare to insult him!' The cruel
-Sicilian was hardly less severe in his treatment of his daughter:
-he imprisoned her in a chamber which looked into a small
-courtyard, deprived her of her attendants, and placed her in
-the custody of a duenna whom he had chosen, because she
-was unequalled for her skill in tormenting those committed to
-her charge.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Having thus disposed of the two lovers, he was by no
-means contented with the punishment already inflicted on
-them: he had resolved to get rid of Don Kimen, and had
-only not done so at once because he wished to avoid any
-unpleasant consequences which might follow his crime; to
-manage which, appeared to be somewhat difficult. As he had
-employed three of his servants in the abduction of the cavalier,
-he could hardly hope that a secret known to so many persons
-would always remain undiscovered:&mdash;what then was he to do,
-to shun any impertinent explanations which justice might think
-it necessary to demand? His resolve was worthy of a conqueror;
-he assembled his accomplices in a small pavilion, a
-short distance from the chateau, and after telling them how
-highly satisfied he was with their zeal, he stated that he had
-brought them there to receive a substantial reward for their
-services in money, and that he had prepared a little festival,
-which he invited them to share. They sat down to enjoy
-themselves, little dreaming that it was a feast of death; for
-when their brains were heated with wine, the worthy Julio by
-his master's order brought in a poisoned bowl, which soon
-ended their rejoicing. The pair then fired the pavilion, and
-before the flames had brought around them the inhabitants of
-the neighbouring village, they assassinated Emerenciana's two
-female attendants and the page of whom I have spoken, and
-threw their bodies into the burning heap. It was really
-amusing, while the remains of these poor wretches were consuming
-in this infernal pile, which the peasants strove in vain
-to extinguish, to witness the profound grief displayed by our
-Sicilian: he appeared inconsolable for the loss of his
-domestics.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 260px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic08.png" width="260" height="266" alt="Assassination of the maid-servants and page" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Nothing remaining to be feared from any want of discretion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
-on the part of his coadjutors, which might have betrayed
-him, he thus addressed his confidant: 'My dear Julio, my
-mind is now at peace, and the life of Don Kimen is at my
-mercy; but, before I immolate him to my wounded honour, I
-would enjoy the sweet delight of making him feel how much
-he has offended me;&mdash;the misery and horror of a long and
-solitary confinement will be more dreadful to him than death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
-itself.' In truth, Lizana was by no means comfortable; and,
-hopeless of ever leaving the dungeon where he wasted, he would
-have welcomed death as a cheap release from his sufferings.</p>
-
-<p>"But, despite his boast of peace, the mind of Stephani
-knew no rest after the exploits he had recently achieved; and
-ere many days had passed, a new source of inquietude presented
-itself in the fear lest Julio, as he daily saw the prisoner
-for the purpose of taking him food, should suffer himself to be
-corrupted by promises. This fear made Don Guillem resolve
-to get rid of Lizana without loss of time, and then to blow out
-the brains of his friend Julio. But the latter was also not
-without his own misgivings; and, as he shrewdly suspected
-that were Don Kimen once out of the way, he would be found
-in it, he had made his resolution to take himself off some fine
-night, with all that was portable in the house, when the darkness
-would excuse his not distinguishing his master's property
-from his own.</p>
-
-<p>"While these honest gentlemen were each meditating an
-agreeable surprise for the other, they were one day both unwelcomely
-accosted at a short distance from the chateau, by
-about twenty archers of St. Hermandad, who surrounded, and
-greeted them in the name of the king and the law! At this
-salutation Don Guillem was somewhat confounded; but, calling
-the colour to his cheeks, he asked the commandant of the
-archers whom he sought. 'Yourself!' replied the officer: 'you
-are accused of having unlawfully seized on Don Kimen de
-Lizana; and I am directed to make strict search for that cavalier
-within your mansion, and further to make you my prisoner.'
-Stephani, convinced by this answer that he was lost, drew from
-his person a brace of pistols, exclaiming that he would suffer
-no one to enter his house; and that he would shoot the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
-commandant without ceremony if he did not instantly take himself
-off with his troop. The leader of the holy brotherhood,
-despising this threat, advanced at once towards the Sicilian;
-who, as good as his word, fired, and wounded him slightly in
-the face. This wound, however, cost the life of the madman
-who gave it; for the archers in a moment stretched him lifeless
-at the feet of their injured chief. Julio surrendered himself
-
-without resistance; and, making a virtue of necessity, cleared
-his conscience by a frank avowal of all that had occurred,&mdash;except
-that, perceiving his master was really dead, he did him
-the honour to invest his memory with all the glory attaching
-to the transaction.</p>
-
-<p>"He then conducted the archers to the vault, where they
-found Lizana on his straw bed, securely bound. The unfortunate
-gentleman, who lived in continual expectation of death,
-thought it was come at last when he saw so many armed men
-enter his prison; and was, as you may expect, agreeably surprised
-to find liberators in those whom he had taken for his
-executioners. When they had released him from his dungeon,
-and received his thanks, he asked them how they had learned
-that he was confined in the place where they found him.
-'That,' replied the commandant, 'I will tell you in a few
-words.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic09.png" width="256" height="231" alt="The liberation of Don Kimen" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'The night you were entrapped,' said the officer, 'one of
-Don Guillem's assistants, whose mistress resided in the neighbourhood,
-stole a few moments while they were waiting for
-you, to bid adieu to his sweetheart before his departure, and
-was indiscreet enough to reveal to her the project of Stephani.
-For a wonder, the lady kept the secret for three whole days;
-but when the news of the fire at Miedes reached Siguença, as
-every body thought it strange that all the servants of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
-Sicilian should have perished in the flames, she naturally took
-it into her head also that the fire was the work of Guillem himself.
-To revenge her lover's death, therefore, she sought the
-Signor Don Felix, your father, and related to him all she knew.
-Don Felix, alarmed at finding you were in the hands of a man
-capable of everything, accompanied the lady to the corregidor,
-who on hearing her story had no doubt of Stephani's intentions
-towards you, and that he was the diabolical incendiary the
-woman suspected. To make inquiries into all the circumstances
-of the case, the corregidor instantly despatched orders
-to me at Retortillo, where I live, directing me to repair with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
-my brigade to this chateau, to find you if possible, and to take
-Don Guillem, dead or alive. I have happily performed my
-commission as regards yourself; and I only regret that it is
-out of my power to conduct the criminal to Siguença alive.
-He compelled us by his furious resistance to dispatch him on
-the spot.'</p>
-
-<p>"The officer, having ended his story, thus continued: 'I
-will now, Signor Don Kimen, draw up a report of all that has
-happened here; I will not, however, detain you long, and we will
-then set out together to release your friends from the anxiety they
-suffer upon your account.' 'Stay, signor commandant,' interrupted
-Julio, 'I will furnish you with matter to lengthen your
-report: you have got another prisoner to liberate. Donna
-Emerenciana is confined in a dismal chamber of this chateau,
-guarded by a merciless duenna, who upbraids her without
-ceasing for her love of this cavalier, and torments her by every
-device she can imagine.' 'Oh Heaven!' cried Lizana, 'is it
-possible that the barbarous Stephani should not have been
-contented to exercise his cruelty on me alone? Let us hasten
-to deliver the unfortunate lady from the tyranny of her gaoler.'</p>
-
-<p>"Julio lost no time in conducting the commandant, four or
-five of the archers, and Lizana, to the prison of Don Guillem's
-daughter. They knocked at the door; it was opened by the
-surprised duenna, and you may conceive the delight of Don
-Kimen at again beholding his mistress, after having lost her as
-he supposed for ever. All his hopes revived; nor could he
-reasonably conceive the possibility of their non-fulfilment, since
-he who alone stood between him and his happiness, was dead.
-He threw himself in ecstacy at the feet of Emerenciana; when,&mdash;picture
-his horror if you can,&mdash;he found, instead of the
-gentle girl who had listened with tender transport to his vows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
-a maniac. Yes! so well had the duenna succeeded in her
-efforts, that she had effaced the image of the lover by destroying
-the canvas on which it was depicted.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic10.png" width="268" height="189" alt="Don Kimen discovers Emerenciana has gone mad" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"She remained for some time in apparent meditation, then
-imagining herself to be the fair Angelica, besieged by the Tartars
-in the towers of Albraca, and the persons who filled her
-apartment to be so many Paladins come to her rescue, she
-received them with much politeness. Addressing the chief of
-the holy brotherhood as Roland, Lizana as Brandimart, Julio
-as Hubert of the Lion, and the archers as Antifort, Clarion,
-Adrian, and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, she said to
-them: 'Brave chevaliers, I no longer fear the Emperor Agrican,
-nor Queen Marphisa: your valour would suffice for my
-defence against the world itself in arms.'</p>
-
-<p>"The officer and his followers could not resist an inclination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
-to laugh at this heroic reception; but poor Don Kimen was
-so much afflicted by the unexpected condition in which he
-found her for whom alone he had wished to live, that reason
-seemed to be on the point of abandoning him also. Recovering
-himself, however, from his first surprise, and hoping that
-she might be brought to recognize the unhappy author of her
-misfortunes, he addressed her tenderly: 'Dearest Emerenciana,'
-said he, 'it is Lizana speaks to thee: recall thy scattered
-thoughts, he comes to tell thee that thy griefs are at an end.
-Heaven has heard the prayer of those fond hearts itself united;
-and its wrath has fallen on the wicked head of him who would
-have separated two beings made for each other.'</p>
-
-<p>"The reply to these words was another speech from the
-daughter of king Galafron to the valiant defenders of Albraca,
-who this time however restrained their mirth. Even the commandant,
-whose profession was not favourable to the kindlier
-feelings of humanity, was touched with compassion, and
-observing the profound affliction of Don Kimen, said to him:
-'Signor Cavalier, do not despair! We have, in Siguença,
-physicians celebrated for their skill in curing the disorders
-of the mind, and there is yet hope for your unfortunate lady.
-But let us away! You, Signor Hubert of the Lion,' added
-he, addressing himself to Julio, 'you who know the whereabouts
-of the stables of this castle, take with you Antifort and
-the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, bring out the fleetest
-coursers from their stalls and harness them to the car of our
-princess; in the meanwhile I will prepare my dispatches.'</p>
-
-<p>"So saying, he drew out his writing materials, and having
-finished his report, he presented his hand to Angelica and
-conducted her to the court-yard, where he found a carriage
-with four mules, which had been prepared for her reception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
-by the paladins. The lady was placed therein by the side of
-Don Kimen; and the commandant having compelled the
-duenna to enter also, as he thought the corregidor would be
-glad to have some conversation with the dame, he mounted,
-and they set out for Siguença. This is not all: by order of
-their chief, the archers bound Julio, and placed him in another
-carriage with the body of Don Guillem; then mounting their
-horses they followed the same route.</p>
-
-<p>"During the journey, the daughter of Stephani uttered a
-thousand extravagancies, every one of which was as a dagger
-in the heart of her lover. The presence of the duenna was an
-additional source of disquiet to him. 'It is you, infamous old
-woman,' said he to her, 'it is you who by your cruelty have
-tortured Emerenciana to madness.' The old hypocrite endeavoured
-to justify herself by pleading the instructions of her
-defunct master. 'It is to Don Guillem alone,' said she, 'that
-her misfortunes are attributable: daily did that too rigid father
-visit her in her room; and it is to his reproaches and threats
-that the loss of her reason is owing.'</p>
-
-<p>"On reaching Siguença, the commandant immediately went
-to give an account of his mission to the corregidor, who
-after examining Julio and the duenna found them lodgings in
-the prisons of that town, where they reside to this time. Lizana,
-after deposing to all he had suffered from Don Guillem, repaired
-to his father's house, where his presence restored joy to his
-alarmed relations. Donna Emerenciana was sent by the judge
-to Madrid, where she has a kind uncle by her mother's side,
-who desired nothing better than the administration of his
-niece's property, and who was nominated her guardian. As
-he could not creditably do otherwise than appear desirous of
-her restoration to sanity, he had recourse to the most famed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
-physicians of this city; but he had nothing to fear, for, after
-having taken a becoming number of fees, they declared her
-incurable. On this decision, the guardian, no doubt very reluctantly,
-placed her here; and here, most likely, she is destined
-to end her days."</p>
-
-<p>"And a sad destiny it is," cried Don Cleophas; "I am really
-touched by her misfortunes: Donna Emerenciana deserved a
-better fate. And Don Kimen," added he, "what is become of
-him? I am curious to learn how he acted." "Very reasonably,"
-replied Asmodeus: "when he heard that the evil
-was past a remedy, he went to Spanish America. He hopes
-that by change of scene he may insensibly efface the remembrance
-of those charms that wisdom and his own peace require
-he should forget.&mdash;&mdash;But," continued the Devil, "after having
-exhibited to you madmen who are confined, it is time I shewed
-to you those who deserve to be so."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 190px;">
-<img src="images/ch09tailpiece.png" width="190" height="137" alt="Tailpiece of a physician taking Emerenciana's pulse" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER X.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialr.png" width="75" height="78" alt="R" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Run your eyes over the city, and as we discover
-subjects worthy of being placed in this museum,
-I will describe them to you. There is one,
-already; I must not let him escape: he is a
-newly-married man. It is just a week since, in consequence
-of reports which reached his ears relative to the coquetries
-of a damsel whom he affected, he went in a fury to her house,
-broke one portion of her furniture, threw the other out of
-windows, and on the next day mended the matter by espousing
-her." "A proper candidate, indeed," said Zambullo, "for a
-vacant place in this establishment!"</p>
-
-<p>"He has a neighbour," resumed the Cripple, "who is not
-much wiser than himself, a bachelor of forty-five, who, with
-plenty to live on, would yet swell the train of some noble
-pauper. And yonder is the widow of an advocate, who,
-having counted three-score years and more, is about to seek
-the shelter of a convent, that her reputation may not, as she
-says, suffer scandal in this wicked world.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I perceive also two virgins, or, to speak more properly, two
-girls of fifty years of age. They pray Heaven, in its mercy,
-to take to it their father, who keeps them mewed like minors;
-as they hope, when he is gone, to find handsome men who
-will marry them for love." "And why not?" inquired the
-Scholar; "there are stranger things than such men to be
-found." "I am perfectly of your opinion," replied Asmodeus:
-"they may find husbands, doubtless; but they ought not to
-expect to be so fortunate,&mdash;it is therein that their folly
-consists.</p>
-
-<p>"There is no country in the world in which women speak the
-truth in regard to their age. At Paris, about a month ago, a
-maiden of forty-eight and a woman of sixty-nine had occasion
-to go before a magistrate as witnesses in a case which concerned
-the honour of a widow of their acquaintance. The magistrate,
-first addressing himself to the married lady, asked her age;
-and, although her years might have been counted by the
-wrinkles on her brow, she unhesitatingly replied, that she was
-exactly forty. 'And you, madam,' said the man of law,
-addressing the single lady in her turn, 'may I ask your age
-also?' 'We can dispense with that, your worship,' replied
-the damsel; 'it is a question that ought not to be asked.'
-'Impossible!' replied he; 'are you not aware that the law
-requires....' 'Oh!' interrupted the lady sharply, 'the
-law requires nothing of the kind: what matters it to the law
-what my age may be? It is none of its business.' 'But,
-madam,' said the magistrate, 'I cannot receive your testimony
-unless your age be stated; it is a necessary preliminary, I
-assure you.' 'Well,' replied the maiden, 'if it be absolutely
-necessary, look at me with attention, and put down my age
-conscientiously.'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic01.png" width="264" height="270" alt="The two ladies before the magistrate" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The magistrate looked at her over his spectacles, and was
-polite enough to decree that she did not appear above twenty-eight.
-But when to his question, as to how long she had
-known the widow, the witness replied&mdash;before her marriage:
-'I have made a mistake,' said he; 'for I have put you down
-for twenty-eight, whereas it is nine and twenty years since the
-lady became a wife.' 'You may state then,' cried the maiden,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
-'that I am thirty: I may have known the widow since I was
-one year old.' 'That will hardly do,' replied the magistrate;
-'we may as well add a dozen years at once.' 'By no means,'
-said the lady; 'I will allow another year, if you please; but
-if my own honour were in question instead of the widow's, I
-would not add one month more to please the law, or any other
-body in the world.'</p>
-
-<p>"When the two witnesses had left the magistrate, the woman
-said to the maiden: 'Do not you wonder at this noodle, who
-thinks us young enough to tell him our ages to a day? It
-is enough, surely, that they should be inscribed on the parish
-registers, without his poking them into his depositions, for the
-information of all the world. It would be delightful, truly, to
-hear recited in open court,&mdash;Madame Richard, aged sixty and
-so many years, and Mademoiselle Perinelle, aged forty-five,
-depose such and so forth. It is too absurd: I have taken care
-to suppress a good score of years; and you were wise enough
-to follow my example.'</p>
-
-<p>'What do you mean by following your example?' cried the
-ancient damsel, with youthful indignation: 'I am extremely
-obliged to you; but I would have you to know that thirty-five
-years are the utmost I have seen.' 'Why! child,' replied the
-matron, with a malicious smile, 'you forget yourself: I was
-present at your birth&mdash;ah! what a time it is ago! And your
-poor father! I knew him well. But we must all die; and he
-was not young, either: it is nearly forty years since we buried
-him.' 'Oh! my father,' interrupted the virgin, hastily, irritated
-at the precision of the old dame's tender recollections,&mdash;'my
-father was so old when he married my mother, that she was not
-likely to have any children by him.'</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive in that house opposite," continued the Spirit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
-"two men, who are not over-burdened with sense. One is a
-youth of family, who can neither keep money in his pocket, nor
-do entirely without it: he has discovered, therefore, an excellent
-means of always having a supply. When he is in cash, he
-lays it out in books, and when his purse is empty, he sells them
-for the half of their cost. The other is a foreign artist, who
-seeks for patronage among the ladies as a portrait painter: he
-is clever, draws correctly, colours to perfection, and is extraordinarily
-successful in the likeness; but&mdash;he never flatters his
-originals, yet expects the women will flock to him. Sheer
-stupidity! <i>Inter stultos referatur.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"What?" cried the Scholar, "have you studied the classics?"
-"You ought hardly to be surprised at that," replied the Devil:
-"I speak fluently all your barbarous tongues&mdash;Hebrew, Greek,
-Persic, and Arabic. Nevertheless, I am not vain of my attainments;
-and that, at all events, is an advantage I have over your
-learned pedants.</p>
-
-<p>"You may see in that large mansion, on the left, a sick lady
-surrounded by several others, who are in attendance upon her:
-she is the rich widow of a celebrated architect, whose love for
-her husband's profession has extended itself to the most foolish
-admiration of the Corinthian capital of society&mdash;the higher
-classes. She has just made her will, by which she bequeaths
-her immense wealth to grandees of the first class, who are
-ignorant of her very existence, but whose titles have gained for
-them their legacies. She was asked whether she would not
-leave something to a person who had rendered her most important
-services. 'Alas! no,' she replied, with an appearance
-of regret; 'and I am sorry that I cannot do so. I am not so
-ungrateful as to deny the obligation which I owe to him; but
-his humble name would disgrace my will.'"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Leandro, "tell me, I pray
-you, whether the old gentleman whom I perceive so busy reading
-in his study, does not chance to be one of those who merit to be
-here confined." "He does, indeed, deserve it," answered the
-Demon: "he is an old licentiate, who is reading a proof of a
-book which he is passing through the press." "Doubtless,
-some work on morals or theology?" said Don Cleophas. "Not
-it," replied the Cripple; "it is a collection of amatory songs,
-which he wrote in his youth: instead of burning them, or at
-least suffering them to fall into the oblivion to which he is fast
-hastening, he has resolved to print them himself, for fear his
-heirs should be tempted to do so after his death, and that, out
-of respect for his memory, they should deprive them of their
-point by rendering them decent.</p>
-
-<p>"There is a little lady living in the same house with our
-Anacreon, whom I must not forget: she is so entirely convinced
-of the power of her attractions, that no man ever spoke
-to her whom she did not at once place in the list of her
-admirers.</p>
-
-<p>"But let us turn to a wealthy canon, whom I see a few paces
-beyond her. He has a very singular phantasy. If he lives
-frugally, it is not with a view to mortify the flesh, or from a
-dislike to the grape; if his humility does without a coach and
-six, it is not from avarice. Ah! for what object then does he
-husband his resources? What does he with his revenues?
-Does he bestow them in alms? No! he expends them in the
-purchase of paintings, expensive furniture, and jewellery. Now,
-you would naturally expect he bought these things to enjoy
-them while he lived?&mdash;No such thing; he only seeks
-to swell the inventory of his effects when he shall be no
-more."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Oh! impossible!" cried Zambullo: "such a madman as
-you describe cannot exist on the earth!" "I repeat, nevertheless,"
-replied the Devil, "that such is his mania. The only
-pleasure he derives from these things is in the imagination of
-how they will figure in his said inventory. Does he buy, for
-instance, a superbly inlaid cabinet; it is neatly packed upon
-the instant, and carefully stowed away; that it may appear quite
-new in the eyes of the brokers who may come when he is dead
-to bargain for his relics.</p>
-
-<p>"I will show you one of his neighbours that you will think
-quite as mad as he,&mdash;an old bachelor, recently arrived from the
-Philippine Isles, with an enormous fortune which he derived
-from his father, who was auditor of the court at Manilla: his
-conduct is extraordinary enough. You may see him daily in
-the antechambers of the king, or of the prime minister. Do
-not fancy, however, that it is ambition which leads him there,
-to solicit some important charge: he seeks no employment; he
-asks for nothing. 'What then!' you will say to me, 'does he go
-there simply to pay his devoirs?' Colder still! He never
-speaks to the minister, to whom indeed he is not even known,
-nor does he desire to be so. 'What then is his object?'&mdash;I will
-tell you. He wishes to persuade the world of his credit at
-Court."</p>
-
-<p>"An amusing original, indeed!" cried the Student, bursting
-with laughter; "he takes great pains to little purpose, truly:
-you may well place him in the list of madmen." "Oh! as to
-that," replied Asmodeus, "I shall shew you many others whom
-it would be unreasonable to think more wise. For instance,
-look in yonder house, so splendidly illumined, and you will
-perceive three men and two ladies sitting round a table. They
-have just supped together, and they are now playing at cards to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
-while away the night, with which only will they leave their
-occupation. Such is the life these gentle cavaliers and ladies
-lead. They meet regularly every evening, and break up like
-fogs only with the sun; when they retire to sleep until darkness
-again calls them to light and life: they have renounced
-the face of day and the beauties of nature. Would not one
-say, to behold them thus surrounded with waxen tapers, that
-they were corpses, waiting for the last sad offices that are
-rendered to the dead?" "There is no necessity to shut those
-people from the world," said Don Cleophas;&mdash;"they have
-ceased to belong to it."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive in the arms of sleep," resumed the Cripple, "a
-man whom I esteem, and who is also attached devotedly to
-me,&mdash;a being formed in my own mould. He is an old bachelor,
-who idolises the fair sex. You cannot speak to him of a pretty
-woman, without remarking the delight with which he hears you;
-if you say that her mouth is small, her lips rubies, her teeth
-pearls, her cheeks roses on an alabaster vase; in a word, if you
-paint her in detail, at every stroke he sighs and lifts his eyes,
-and is visibly excited by his voluptuous imagination. Only two
-days ago, passing the shop of a ladies' shoemaker, he stopped
-to look with admiration on a pair of diminutive slippers which
-were there exposed. After contemplating them for some time,
-with more attention than they deserved, he exclaimed with a
-languishing air, to a cavalier who accompanied him: 'Ah! my
-friend; there now are slippers which enchant my soul! what
-darling feet for which they were made! I look on them with
-too much interest: let us away! the very atmosphere around
-this place is dangerous.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 168px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic02.png" width="168" height="224" alt="The old bachelor admires the diminutive slippers" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"We may mark that gentleman with black, at all events,"
-said Leandro Perez. "We may indeed," replied the Devil;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
-"and you may tar his nearest neighbour with the same brush,
-while you are about it&mdash;an original of an auditor, who, because
-he keeps a carriage, blushes whenever he is obliged to put his
-foot into a public vehicle. He again may be worthily paired
-with one of his own relations, a wealthy dignitary of the church
-here, who almost always rides in a hired coach, in order to save
-two very neat ones, and four splendid mules, which he keeps
-in his stables.</p>
-
-<p>"In the immediate neighbourhood of the auditor and our
-amatory bachelor, I discover a man to whom, without injustice,
-no one could deny his title to a strait waistcoat. There he is&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
-cavalier of sixty, making love to a damsel of sixteen. He
-visits her daily, and thinks to win her affections by a recital of
-the conquests of his youth; he hopes that she will love him
-now for the charms of which he formerly could boast.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 209px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic03.png" width="209" height="316" alt="The old cavalier wooing the young girl" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"We may place in the same category with the aged swain,
-another who is sleeping about ten paces from us&mdash;a French
-count, who came to Madrid to see the court of Spain. This
-old gentleman, who is nearly seventy years of age, shone with
-great lustre in the court of his own sovereign, fifty years ago;
-he was indeed perfectly the rage; all the world envying his
-manly form, his gallant deportment, and above all the exquisite
-taste which he displayed in his apparel. He scrupulously preserved
-the dresses so much admired, and has continued to wear
-them on all occasions despite the changes of fashion, which in
-Paris occur every day. What, however, is most amusing in
-the matter is, that he fancies himself at this time as graceful
-and attractive as in the days of his youth."</p>
-
-<p>"There is not the slightest doubt," said Don Cleophas,
-"that we may book a place in the <i>Casa de los locos</i> for this
-French signor." "I must reserve another though," replied the
-Demon, "for a lady who resides in a garret, next to the count's
-mansion. She is an elderly widow, who, from excess of affection
-for her children, has had the kindness to make over to
-them all her property; reserving only a small stipend for herself,
-which, with proper filial gratitude, they take good care
-never to pay.</p>
-
-<p>"I have another subject for the same establishment, in a
-youth of family, who no sooner has a ducat than he spends it;
-and who, as he cannot do without the ready, is capable of anything
-to obtain it. A fortnight ago, his washer-woman, to whom
-he owed thirty pistoles, came to dun him for that sum, stating
-that she wanted it particularly, as she was going to be married
-to a valet-de-chambre, who sought her hand. 'You must have
-more money than this,' said he, 'for where the devil is the
-valet-de-chambre who would take you to wife for thirty pistoles?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
-'Oh! yes,' replied the sudorific dame, 'I have two hundred
-ducats besides.' 'The deuce!' replied our hero, with emotion&mdash;'two
-hundred ducats! You have only to give them to me,
-I will marry you myself, and we may then cry quits.' He was
-taken at his word, and the laundress became his wife.</p>
-
-<p>"We must retain three places also for the same number of
-persons, whom you see returning from supper at a celebrated
-countess's, and now stopping before that house on the left,
-where they at present reside. One is a nobleman of an inferior
-grade, who piques himself on his passion for the <i>belles
-lettres;</i> the second is his brother, your ambassador to Timbuctoo,
-or some such place; and the third is their foster-brother,
-a literary toady who follows in their train. They are almost
-always together, and especially when visiting in the clique to
-which they belong. The noble praises himself only; the
-ambassador praises his brother and himself also; but the toady
-has three things to look after,&mdash;the praises of the other two,
-and the mixing of his own praises with theirs.</p>
-
-<p>"Two places more! One for a floricultural citizen, who,
-scarcely gaining his own bread, must need keep a gardener and
-his wife to look after a dozen plants that languish at his suburban
-villa; the other for an actor, who, complaining the other
-day to his brethren on the disagreeables inseparable from a
-strolling life, observed: 'Well, my friends, I am utterly disgusted
-with my profession; yes, so much so, that I would
-rather be a humble country gentleman with a thousand ducats
-a year.'</p>
-
-<p>"On whichever side I turn my eyes," continued the Spirit,
-"I see nothing but addled brains. There, for instance, is a
-chevalier of Calatrava, who is so proud, or rather vain, of being
-privately encouraged by the daughter of a noble signor, that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
-thinks himself on a par with the first persons of the court. He
-reminds me of Villius, who thought himself son-in-law of Sylla,
-because he was on good terms with the daughter of that dictator;
-and the resemblance is the more striking, because this
-chevalier, like the Roman, has a <i>Longarenus;</i> that is to say, a
-rival of low degree, who, nevertheless, is still more favoured by
-the lady than himself.</p>
-
-<p>"One would be inclined to affirm that the same men are
-born anew from time to time, but under other circumstances.
-I recognize, in that secretary of department, Bollanus, who
-kept measures with nobody, and who affronted all whose
-appearance was, at first sight, unpleasing to him. I behold
-again, in that old president, Fufidius, who lent his money at
-five per cent. per month; and Marsoeus, who gave his paternal
-mansion to the actress Origo, lives once more in that noble
-stripling, who is spending with a dancer of the ballet the
-proceeds of a country seat which he has near the Escurial."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was about to continue, when, suddenly hearing
-the sound of instruments which were tuning in the neighbourhood,
-he stopped, and said to Don Cleophas: "There are
-musicians at the end of this street, who are just commencing a
-serenade in honour of the daughter of an <i>alcade de corte;</i> if
-you would like to witness this piece of gallantry, you have only
-to say so." "I am a great admirer of this sort of concert,"
-replied Zambullo; "let us by all means get near them; there
-may chance to be some decent voices among the lot." He
-had hardly spoken, when he found himself on a house adjoining
-that of the alcade.</p>
-
-<p>The serenade was commenced by the instruments alone,
-which played some new Italian airs; and then two of the
-voices sang alternately the following couplets:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
-"List, while the thousand charms I sing,<br />
-Which round thee such enchantment fling,<br />
-That even Love has plumed his wing<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To seek thy bower.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thy neck, that shames the mountain snow,<br />
-Thy lip, that mocks the peach's glow,<br />
-Bid Cupid's self a captive bow<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Beneath thy power.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thine arched brows as bows are bent<br />
-To speed the shafts thine eyes have sent;<br />
-E'en armed Love's own mail is rent,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Resisting them.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thou art, in sooth, a queenly maid;<br />
-Yet hast thou every heart betray'd,<br />
-That thee its trusting pole-star made;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thou priceless gem!</span><br />
-<br />
-"Oh! would that I some spell possess'd,<br />
-While painting thee, to touch thy breast;<br />
-Thou evening star, thou heaven of rest,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thou morning sun!"<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></span><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-<p class="p2">
-<a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
-<br />
-"Si de tu hermosura quieres<br />
-Una copia con mil gracias;<br />
-Escucha, porque pretendo<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">El pintarla.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Es tu frente toda nieve<br />
-Y el alabastro, batallas<br />
-Offreciò al Amor, haziendo<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">En ella vaya.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Amor labrò de tus cejas<br />
-Dos arcos para su aljava:<br />
-Y debaxo ha descubierto<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quien le mata.</span><br />
- <br />
-<br />
-"Eres duena de el lugar<br />
-Vandolera de las almas,<br />
-Iman de los alvedrios,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Linda alhaja.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Un rasgo de tu hermosura<br />
-Quisiera yo retratarla;<br />
-Que es estrella, es cielo, es sol;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">No es sino el alva."</span><br />
-</p></div>
-
-
-<p class="p2">"The couplets are gallant and delicate," cried the Student.
-"They seem so to you," replied the Demon, "because you
-are a Spaniard: if they were translated into French, for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>instance, they would not be greatly admired. The readers of
-that nation would think the expressions too figurative; and
-would discover an extravagance of imagination in the conceptions,
-which would be to them absolutely laughable. Every
-nation has its own standard of taste and genius, and will admit
-no other: but enough of these couplets," continued he, "you
-will hear music of another kind.</p>
-
-<p>"Follow with your eyes those four men who have suddenly
-appeared in the street. See! they pounce upon the serenaders:
-the latter raise their instruments to defend their heads, but
-their frail bucklers yield to the blows which fall on them, and
-are shattered into a thousand pieces. And now see, coming
-to their assistance, two cavaliers; one of whom is the gallant
-donor of the serenade. With what fury they charge on the
-four aggressors! Again, with what skill and valour do these
-latter receive them. What fire sparkles from their swords!
-See! one of the defenders of the serenade has fallen,&mdash;it is he
-who gave it,&mdash;he is mortally wounded. His companion, perceiving
-his fall, flies to preserve his own life; the aggressors,
-having effected their object, fly also; the musicians have disappeared
-during the combat; and there remains upon the spot
-the unfortunate cavalier alone, who has paid for his gallantry
-with his life. In the meanwhile, observe the alcade's daughter:
-she is at her window, whence she has observed all that has
-passed. This lady is so vain of her beauty,&mdash;although that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
-nothing extraordinary either,&mdash;that instead of deploring its
-fatal effect, she rejoices in the force of her attractions, of which
-she now thinks more than ever.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 241px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic04.png" width="241" height="165" alt="The cavalier apprehended by the watch" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"This will not be the end of it. You see another cavalier,
-who has this moment stopped in the street to assist, were it
-possible, the unfortunate being who is swimming in his blood.
-While occupied in this charitable office, see! he is surprised
-by the watch. They are taking him to prison, where he will
-remain many months: and he will almost pay as dearly for
-this transaction as though he were the murderer himself."</p>
-
-<p>"This is, indeed, a night of misfortunes!" said Zambullo.
-"And this will not be the last of them," added the Devil.
-"Were you, this moment, at the Gate of the Sun, you would
-be horror-stricken at the spectacle which is now exhibiting.
-Through the negligence of a domestic, a mansion is on fire,
-
-which in its rage has already reduced to ashes the magnif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>icent
-furniture it contains, and threatens to consume the whole
-building; but great as might be his loss, Don Pedro de
-Escolano, to whom the house belongs, would not regret it for
-a moment, could he but save his only daughter, Seraphina, who
-is likely to perish in the flames."</p>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas expressing the greatest anxiety to see this fire,
-the Cripple transported him in an instant to the Gate of the
-Sun, and placed him in a house exactly opposite to that which
-was burning.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/ch10tailpiece.png" width="200" height="90" alt="mask tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
-OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In the street beneath them nothing was to be heard
-but a confused noise, arising from cries of fire
-from one half of the crowd, and the more appropriate
-one of water from the other. As soon as
-Leandro was able to comprehend the scene, he saw that the
-grand staircase, which led to the principal apartments of Don
-Pedro's mansion, was all in flames, which also were issuing
-with clouds of smoke, from every window in the house.</p>
-
-<p>"The fire is at its height," said the Demon; "it has just
-reached the roof, and its thousand tongues are spitting in the
-air millions of brilliant sparks. It is a magnificent sight: so
-much so, that the persons who have flocked from all parts
-around it, to assist in extinguishing the flames, are awed into
-helpless amazement. You may discern in the crowd of spectators
-an old man in a dressing-gown: it is the Signor de
-Escolano. Do you not hear his cries and lamentations? He
-is addressing the men who surround him, and conjuring them
-to rescue his child. But in vain does he implore them,&mdash;in
-vain does he offer all his wealth,&mdash;none dares expose hi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>s life
-to save the ill-fated lady, who is only sixteen, and whose
-beauty is incomparable. The old man is in despair: he
-accuses them of cowardice; he tears his hair and beard; he
-beats his breast; the excess of his grief has made him almost
-mad. Seraphina, poor girl, abandoned by her attendants, has
-just swooned with terror in her own apartment, where, in a few
-minutes, a dense smoke will stifle her. She is lost to him for
-ever: no mortal can save her."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," exclaimed Leandro Perez, prompted
-by feelings of generous compassion, "if you love me, yield to
-the pity which desolates my heart: reject not my humble
-prayer when I entreat you to save this lovely girl from the
-horrid death which threatens her. I demand it, as the price
-of the service I rendered but now to you. Do not, this time,
-oppose yourself to my desires: I shall die with grief if you
-refuse me."</p>
-
-<p>The Devil smiled on witnessing the profound emotion of the
-Student. "The fire warms you, Signor Zambullo," said he.
-"Verily! you would have made an exquisite knight-errant:
-you are courageous, compassionate for the sufferings of others,
-and particularly prompt in the service of sorrowing damsels.
-You would be just the man, now, to throw yourself in the
-midst of the furnace yonder, like an Amadis, to attempt the
-deliverance of the beauteous Seraphina, and to restore her safe
-and sound to her disconsolate father." "Would to heaven!"
-replied Don Cleophas, "that it were possible. I would undertake
-the task without hesitation." "Pity that your death,"
-resumed the Cripple, "would be the sole reward of so noble
-an exploit! I have already told you that human courage can
-avail nothing on the occasion. Well! I suppose, to gratify
-you, I must meddle in the matter; so observe how I shall s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>et
-about it: you can watch from hence all my operations."</p>
-
-<p>He had no sooner spoken these words than, borrowing the
-form of Leandro Perez, to the great astonishment of the
-Student, he alighted unobserved amid the crowd, which he
-elbowed without ceremony, and quickly passing through it,
-rushed into the fire as into his natural element. The spectators
-who beheld him, alarmed at the apparent madness of the
-attempt, uttered a cry of horror. "What insanity!" said one;
-"is it possible that interest can blind a man to such an extent
-as this? None but a downright idiot could have been tempted
-by any proffered recompence to dare such certain death."
-"The rash youth," said another, "must be the lover of Don
-Pedro's daughter; and in the desperation of his grief has
-resolved to save his mistress or to perish with her."</p>
-
-<p>In short, they predicted for him the fate of Empedocles,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
-when, a minute afterwards, they saw him emerge from the
-flames with Seraphina in his arms. The air resounded with
-acclamations, and the people were loud in their praises of the
-brave cavalier who had performed so noble a feat. When
-rashness ends in success, critics are silent; and so this prodigy
-now appeared to the assembled multitude as a very natural
-result of a Spaniard's daring.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> A Sicilian poet and philosopher, who threw himself into the crater of
-Mount Ætna.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch11pic01.png" width="242" height="315" alt="The rescue of Seraphina" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As the lady was still insensible, her father did not dare to
-give himself up to joy: he feared that, although thus miraculously
-delivered from the fire, she would die before his eyes,
-from the terrible impression made upon her mind by the peril
-she had encountered. He was, however, soon reassured, when,
-recovering from her swoon, her eyes opened, and looking on
-the old man, she said to him with an affectionate voice:
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>"Signor, I should have had more occasion for affliction than
-rejoicing at the preservation of my life, were not yours also in
-safety." "Ah! my child," replied her father, embracing her,
-"nothing is lost since you are saved. But let us thank,"
-exclaimed he, presenting to her the double of Cleophas,&mdash;"let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
-us testify our gratitude to this young cavalier. He is your
-preserver; it is to him you owe your life. How can we repay
-that debt? Not all that I possess would suffice to cancel the
-obligation he has conferred upon us."</p>
-
-<p>To these observations the Devil replied, with an air which
-would have done Don Cleophas credit: "Signor, I am noble,
-and a Castilian. I seek no other reward for the service I have
-had the happiness to render you than the pleasure of having
-dried your tears, and of having saved from the flames the
-lovely object which they threatened to devour;&mdash;surely such a
-service is its own reward."</p>
-
-<p>The disinterestedness and generosity of their benefactor
-raised for him the highest feelings of admiration and esteem in
-the breast of the Signor de Escolano, who entreated him to
-call upon them, and offered him his warmest friendship. The
-Devil replied in fitting terms to the frank advances of the old
-man; and, after many other compliments had passed, the
-father and daughter retired to a small building which remained
-uninjured, at the bottom of the garden. The Demon then
-rejoined the Student, who, seeing him return under his former
-guise, said to him: "Signor Asmodeus, have my eyes deceived
-me? Were you not but now in my shape and figure?"
-"Excuse the liberty," replied the Cripple; "and I will tell
-you the motive for this metamorphosis. I have formed a
-grand design: I intend that you should marry Seraphina, and,
-under your form, I have already inspired her with a violent
-passion for your lordship. Don Pedro, also, is highly satisfied
-with you, because I told him that in rescuing his daughter I
-had no other object than to render them both happy, and that
-the honour of having happily terminated so perilous an adventure
-was a sufficient reward for a Spanish gentleman. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
-good man has a noble soul, and will not easily be outdone
-in generosity; and he is at this moment deliberating within
-himself whether he shall not give you his daughter, as the
-most worthy return he can make to you for having saved her
-life.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch11pic02.png" width="268" height="211" alt="Don Pedro and Seraphina thank Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well! while he is hesitating," added the Cripple, "let us
-get out of this smother into a place more favourable for continuing
-our observations." And so saying, away he flew with
-the Student to the top of a high church filled with splendid
-tombs.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus now said to the Student: "Before we
-continue our observations on the living, we will
-for a few moments disturb the peaceful rest of
-those who lie within this church. I will glance
-over all the tombs; reveal the secrets they contain, and the
-feelings which have prompted their elevation.</p>
-
-<p>"The first of those which are on our right contains the sad
-remains of a general officer, who, like another Agamemnon, on
-his return from the wars found an Ægisthus in his house; in
-the second, reposes a young cavalier of noble birth, who,
-desirous of displaying in the sight of his mistress his strength
-and skill at a bull-fight, was gored to death by his furious
-opponent; and in the third lies an old prelate who left this
-world rather unceremoniously. He had made his will in the
-vigour of health, and was imprudent enough to read it to his
-domestics, whom, like a good master, he had not forgotten:
-his cook was in a hurry to receive his legacy.</p>
-
-<p>"In the fourth mausoleum rests a courtier who never rested
-in his lifetime. Even at sixty years of age, h<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>e was daily seen
-in attendance on the king, from the levée until his majesty
-retired for the night: in recompense for all these attentions
-the king loaded him with favours." "And was he, now," said
-Don Cleophas, "the man to use his influence for others?"
-"For no one," replied the Devil: "he was liberal of his
-promises of service to his friends, but he was religiously scrupulous
-of never keeping them." "The scoundrel!" exclaimed
-Leandro. "Were we to think of lopping off the superfluous
-members of society,&mdash;men that like tumours on the body
-politic draw all its nourishment to themselves, it is with
-courtiers like this one would begin."</p>
-
-<p>"The fifth tomb," resumed Asmodeus, "encloses the mortal
-remains of a signor, ever zealous for the interests of his country,
-and jealous of the glory of the king his master, in whose service
-he spent the best years of his life as ambassador to Rome or
-France, to England or Portugal. He ruined himself so effectually
-by his embassies that he did not leave behind him
-enough to defray the expenses of his funeral, which the king
-has therefore paid out of gratitude for his services.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us turn to the monuments on the other side. The
-first is that of a great merchant who left enormous wealth to
-his children; but, lest they should forget, in its flood, the
-humble source from which it, like themselves, was derived, he
-directed that his name and occupation should be graven on
-his tomb, to the no small annoyance of his descendants.</p>
-
-<p>"The next stone which surpasses every other in the church
-for its magnificence, is regarded with much admiration by all
-travellers." "In truth," said Zambullo, "it appears to me
-deserving of its reputation. I am absolutely enchanted by
-those two kneeling figures&mdash;how exquisitely are they chiselled?
-Not Phidias himself could have surpassed the sculpture of this
-splendid work! But tell me, dear Asmodeus, what in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
-lives were those whom these all-breathing marbles represent?"</p>
-
-<p>The Cripple replied: "You behold a duke and his noble
-spouse: the former was grand chamberlain to his majesty, and
-the duchess was celebrated for her extreme piety. I must,
-however, relate to you an anecdote of her grace, which you
-will think rather lively for a devotee;&mdash;it is as follows.</p>
-
-<p>"She had been for a long time in the habit of confessing
-her sins to a monk of the order of Mercy, one Don Jerome
-d'Aguilar, a good man, and a famous preacher, with whom she
-was highly satisfied, when there suddenly appeared at Madrid
-a Dominican, who captivated the town by the novelty of his
-style, and the comfortable doctrines on which he insisted.
-This new orator was named the brother Placidus: the people
-flocked to his sermons as to those of Cardinal Ximenes; and
-as his reputation grew, the court, led to hear him by curiosity,
-became more loud in his praises than the town.</p>
-
-<p>"Our duchess at first made it a point of honour to hold out
-against the renown of the new-comer, nor could even curiosity
-induce her to go to hear him, that she might judge for herself
-of his eloquence. She acted thus from a desire to prove to
-her spiritual director, that, like a good and grateful penitent,
-she sympathised with him in the chagrin which the presence of
-brother Placidus must have caused him. But the Dominican
-made so much noise, that at last she yielded to the temptation
-of seeing him, still however assured of her own fidelity: she
-saw him, heard him preach, liked him, followed him; and the
-little inconstant absolutely formed the project of putting herself
-under his direction.</p>
-
-<p>"It was, however, necessary to get rid of her old confessor,
-and this was not an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>easy matter; a spiritual guide cannot be
-thrown off like a lover; a devotee would not like to be thought
-a coquette, or to lose the esteem of the director whom she
-abandons; so what did the duchess? She sought Don Jerome,
-and with an air of sorrow which spoke a real affliction, said to
-him: 'Father, I am in despair: you see me in amazement;&mdash;in
-a grief,&mdash;in a perplexity of mind which I cannot depict.'
-'What ails you then, Madam?' replied d'Aguilar. 'Would
-you believe it?' she replied; 'my husband, who has ever had
-the most perfect confidence in my virtue, after having seen me
-for so long a time under your guidance, has, without appearing
-in the least suspicious of myself, become suddenly jealous of
-you, and desires that you may no longer be my confessor.
-Did you ever hear of a similar caprice? In vain have I objected
-that by his suspicions he insulted not only myself, but a
-man of the strictest piety, freed from the tyranny of the
-passions; I only increased his jealous fears by my vindication
-of your sacred honour.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Jerome, despite his shrewdness, was taken in by this
-story: it is true that it was told with such demonstrations of
-candour as would have deceived all the world. Although
-sorry to lose a penitent of such importance, he did not fail to
-exhort her to obey her husband's will; but the eyes of his
-Reverence were opened at last, and the trick discovered, when
-he learned that the lady had chosen brother Placidus as his
-successor.</p>
-
-<p>"After the grand chamberlain and his cunning spouse,"
-continued the Devil, "comes a more modest tomb, which has
-only recently received the ill-assorted remains of a president of
-the council of the Indies and his young wife. This president,
-in his sixty-third year, married a girl of twenty: he had by a
-former wife two children, whom he was about to leave penniless,
-when a fit of apoplexy carried him off; and his wife died<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
-twenty-four hours after him from vexation at his not having
-lived three days longer.</p>
-
-<p>"And now we have arrived at the most respectable monument
-this church contains. For it every Spaniard has as much
-veneration, as the Romans had for the tomb of Romulus."
-"Of what great personage, then, does it contain the ashes?"
-asked Leandro Perez. "Of a prime minister of Spain," replied
-Asmodeus; "and never did that monarchy possess his
-equal. The king left, with confidence, the cares of government
-to this great man; who so worthily acquitted himself of the
-charge, that monarch and subjects were equally contented.
-Under his ministry the state was ever flourishing, and its
-people happy; for his maxims of government were founded on
-the sure principles of humanity and religion. Still, although
-his life was blameless, he was not free from apprehension at
-his death,&mdash;the responsibility of his office might indeed make
-the best of mortals tremble.</p>
-
-<p>"In a corner, a little beyond the tomb of this worthy
-minister, you may discern a marble tablet placed against one
-of the columns. Say! shall I open the sepulchre beneath it,
-and display before your eyes all that remains of a lowly maiden
-who perished in the flower of her youth, when her modest
-beauty won for her the love and admiration of all who beheld
-her? It has returned to its primeval dust, that fragile form,
-which in its life possessed so dangerous a beauty as to keep
-her fond parent in continual alarm, lest its bright temptation
-should expose her to the wiles of the seducer;&mdash;a misfortune
-which might have befallen had she lived much longer, for
-already was she the idol of three young cavaliers, who, inconsolable
-for her loss, died shortly afterwards by their own hands.
-Their tragical history is engraven in letters of gold on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the stone
-I shewed you, with three little figures which represent the
-despairing lovers in the act of self-destruction: one is draining a
-glass of poison; another is falling on his sword; and the third
-is tying a cord about his neck, having chosen to die by hanging."</p>
-
-<p>The Demon finding that the Student laughed with all his
-might at this sorrowful story, and that the idea of the three
-figures thus depicted on the maiden's monument amused him,
-said: "Since you find food for mirth in the artist's imagination,
-I am almost in the mind to carry you this moment to the
-banks of the Tagus, and there shew you a monument erected
-by the will of a dramatic author, in the church of a village
-near Almaraz, whither he had retired, after having led a long
-and joyous life at Madrid. This scribe had produced a vast
-number of comedies full of ribald wit and low obscenity; but
-repenting of his outrages upon decency ere he died, and
-desirous of expiating the scandal they had caused, he directed
-that they should carve upon his tomb a sort of pile, composed
-of books, bearing the names of the various pieces he had
-written, and that beside it they should place the image of
-Modesty, who, with lighted torch, should be about to consign
-them to the flames.</p>
-
-<p>"Besides the dead whose monuments I have described to
-you, there are within this church an infinity of others without a
-stone to mark the spot where their ashes repose. I see their
-shades wandering solemnly around: they glide along, passing
-and repassing one after another before us, without disturbing
-the profound quiet which reigns in this holy place. They
-speak not; but I read in their silence all their thoughts." "I
-am annoyed without measure," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "that
-I cannot, like you, have the pleasure of beholding them!"
-"That pleasure I can give you then," replied Asmodeus;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
-"nothing is more easy." The Demon just touched the Student's
-eyes, and by a delusion caused him to perceive a great number
-of pallid spectres.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 187px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic01.png" width="187" height="266" alt="The sculpture of Modesty burning the books" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As he looked on these apparitions, Zambullo trembled.
-"What!" said the Devil to him, "you are agitated! Is it with
-fear of these ghostly visitants? Let not their ghastly apparel
-alarm you! Look at it well! It will adorn your own majestic
-person some of these days. It is the uniform of the shades:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
-collect yourself, and fear nothing. Is it possible your assurance
-can fail you now,&mdash;you, who have had the daring to look on
-me? These gentry are harmless compared with myself."</p>
-
-<p>The Student, at these words, recalling his wonted courage,
-looked on the phantoms with tranquillity; which the Demon
-perceiving: "Bravo!" said he. "Well! now," he continued,
-"regard these shadows with attention! You will perceive that
-the occupant of the stately mausoleum is confounded with the
-inhabitant of the unstoned grave. The ranks by which they
-were distinguished in their lives died with them; and the grand
-chamberlain and the prime minister are no more now than the
-lowliest citizen that moulders in this church. The greatness
-of these noble shades ended with their days, as that of the
-strutting hero of a tragedy falls with the curtain."</p>
-
-<p>"I have a remark to make," interrupted Leandro. "I see
-a lonely spirit hovering about, and seeming to shun all contact
-with his fellows." "Rather say," replied the Demon, "and
-you will speak the truth, that his fellows shun all company with
-him: and what now think you is that poor ghost? He was an
-old notary, who had the vanity to be buried in a leaden coffin;
-which has so offended the self-love of the more humble tenants
-of the surrounding tombs, that they resolved to black-ball him,
-and will not therefore permit his shade to mix with theirs."</p>
-
-<p>"I have another observation yet to make," resumed Don
-Cleophas. "Two shadows, just now, on meeting, stopped for
-a moment to look upon each other, and then passed each on
-his way." "They are, or rather were, two intimate friends,"
-replied the Devil; "one was a painter, and the other a
-musician: they both drew their inspiration from the bottle;
-but were, otherwise, honest fellows enough. It is worthy of
-note that they both brushed off in the same year; and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>when
-their spirits meet, struck by the remembrance of their former
-delights, they say to each other by their sorrowful but expressive
-silence: 'Ah! my friend, we shall drink no more.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Grammercy!" cried the Student, "what do I see. At the
-other end of the church are two spirits, who are passing along
-together, but badly matched. Their forms and manners are
-immensely different: one is of enormous height, and moves
-with corresponding gravity, while the other is of dwarf-like
-stature, and passes o'er the ground like a breath." "The
-giant," replied the Cripple, "was a German, who lost his life
-in a debauch, by drinking three healths with tobacco mixed
-inadvertently in his wine; and the little ghost is that of a
-Parisian, who, with the gallantry belonging to his countrymen,
-was imprudent enough, on entering this very church, to
-present the holy water to a young lady who was leaving it: as
-a reward for his politeness, he was saluted on the same day
-with the contents of a carbine, which left him here a moral for
-all too attentive Frenchmen.</p>
-
-<p>"For myself," continued Asmodeus, "I have been looking
-at three spirits which I discerned among the crowd; and I
-must tell you by what means they were separated from their
-earthly companions. They animated the charming forms of
-as many female performers, who made as much noise at
-Madrid, in their time, as did Origo, Cytheris and Arbuscula,
-in theirs, at Rome; and, like their said prototypes, they
-possessed the exquisite art of amusing mankind in public, and
-of privately ruining the same amiable animal. But, alas! all
-things must have an end, and these were the finales of those
-celebrated ladies: one died suddenly of envy, at an apopletic
-fit of applause, from the pit, which fell upon a lovely first-night;
-another found in excessive good cheer, at home, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
-infallible drop which follows it; and, the third, undertaking
-the dangerous character, for an actress, of a vestal, became so
-excited with her part that she died of a miscarriage behind the
-scenes.</p>
-
-<p>"But we will leave to their reposes(!) all these shades," again
-continued the Demon; "we have passed them sufficiently in
-review. I will now present to your sight a spectacle which, as
-a man, must impress you with a deeper feeling than the sight
-of the dead. I am about, by the same power which has rendered
-the shades of the departed visible to your sight, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
-present to you the vision of Death himself. Yes! you shall
-behold that insatiable enemy of the human race, who prowls
-unceasingly in the haunts of man, unperceived by his victims;
-who surrounds the earth, in his speed, in the twinkling of an
-eye; and who strikes by his power, its most distant inhabitants
-at the same moment.</p>
-
-<p>"Look towards the east! He rises on your sight. A
-million birds of baneful omen fly before his advent in terror,
-and announce his presence with funereal cries. His tireless
-hand is armed with the fatal scythe which mows successive
-generations as they spring from earth. But if, as mocking at
-humanity, on one wing is depicted war, pestilence, famine,
-shipwreck, conflagration, with other direful modes by which he
-sweeps upon his prey, the other shows the priests who offer to
-him daily hecatombs in sport; as youthful doctors, who receive
-from himself their diplomas, after swearing, in his presence,
-never to practise surgery or medicine contrary to the rules of
-the courts."</p>
-
-<p>Although Don Cleophas suspected that all he saw was an
-illusion, and that it was merely to gratify his taste for the
-marvellous that the Devil raised this form of Death before his
-eyes, he could not look on it without trembling. He assumed,
-however, all the courage he was possessed of, and said to the
-Demon: "This fearful spectre will not, I suppose, pass vainly
-over Madrid: he will doubtless leave some awful traces of his
-flight?" "Yes! certainly," replied the Cripple; "he comes
-not here for nothing; and it depends but on yourself to be the
-witness of his visitation." "I take you at your word," exclaimed
-the Student; "let us follow in his train; let me visit
-with him the unhappy families on whom he will expend his
-present wrath. What tears are about to flow!" "Beyond a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
-doubt," replied Asmodeus; "but many which come at convenience.
-Death, despite his horrors, causes at least as much
-joy as grief."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic02.png" width="267" height="239" alt="Death flies over the poor man's bed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Our two spectators took their flight, and followed the grim
-monarch in his progress. He entered first a modest house,
-whose owner lay in helpless sickness on his bed; the autocrat
-but touched the poor man with his scythe, and he expired in
-the midst of his weeping relations, who instantly commenced
-an affecting concert of cries and lamentions. "There is no
-mockery here," said the Demon: "the wife and children of
-this worthy citizen loved him with real affection: besides, t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>hey
-depended on him for their bread; and the belly is rarely a
-hypocrite.</p>
-
-<p>"Not so, however, is it in the next house, in which you
-perceive his grisly majesty now occupied in releasing a bed-ridden
-old gentleman from his pains. He is an aged counsellor
-who, having always lived a bachelor of law, has passed his life
-as badly as he could, that he might leave behind him a good
-round sum for the benefit of his three nephews, who have
-flocked round his bed on hearing that he is about to quit it, at
-last. They of course displayed an extreme affliction, and very
-well they did it; but are now, you see, letting fall the mask,
-and are preparing to do their duties as heirs, after having performed
-their parts as relations. How they will rummage the
-old gentleman's effects! What heaps of gold and silver will
-they discover! 'How delightful!' said one of these heart-broken
-descendants to another, this moment,&mdash;'how delightful
-is it for nephews to be blessed with avaricious old uncles, who
-renounce the pleasures of life for their sakes!'" "A superb
-funeral oration," said Leandro Perez. "Oh! as to that," replied
-the Devil, "the majority of wealthy parents, who live to a good
-old age, ought not to expect a better from their own children.</p>
-
-<p>"While these heritors are joyfully seeking the treasures of
-the deceased, Death is directing his flight to a large house, in
-which resides a young nobleman who has the small-pox. This
-noble, one of the brightest ornaments of the court, is about to
-perish, just as his star is rising, despite the famed physician
-who attends him,&mdash;or rather because he is attended by this
-learned doctor.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 230px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic03.png" width="230" height="279" alt="Death approaches the pious monk" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
-<p>"But see! with what rapidity does the fatal scythe perform
-its operations. Already has it completed the destiny of the
-youthful lord, and its unblunted edge is turned elsewhere. It
-hovers over yonder convent; it darts into its deepest cell,
-sweeps over a pious monk, and cuts the thread of the penitent
-and mortifying life that he has led during forty years. Death,
-all-fearful as he is, had no terrors for this holy man; so, in
-revenge, he seeks a mansion where his presence will be unwelcome
-indeed. He flies towards a licentiate of importance,
-who has only recently been appointed to the bishopric of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
-Albarazin. This prelate is busily occupied with preparations
-for repairing to his diocese with all the pomp which in our day
-accompanies the princes of the church. Nevertheless, he is
-about to take his departure for the other world, where he will
-arrive with as few followers as the poor monk; and I am not
-sure that he will be quite as favourably received."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh heavens!" cried Zambullo; "Death stoops upon the
-palace of the king. Alas! one stroke of his fatal scythe, and
-ail Spain will be plunged in dreadful consternation." "Well
-may you tremble," said the Cripple; "for the barbarian has
-no more respect for kings than for their meanest slaves. But be
-not alarmed," he added, a moment afterwards, "he aims not at
-the monarch yet; his business now is with a courtier only, one
-of those noble lords whose only occupation is to swell his
-master's train: such ministers as these are not exactly those
-the state can least afford to lose."</p>
-
-<p>"But it would seem," replied the Student, "that the spectre
-king is not contented with so mean a prize as the parasite you
-speak of. See! he hovers still about the royal house; and,
-this time, near the chamber of the Queen." "Just so," replied
-the Devil, "and he might be worse employed: he is about to
-cut the windpipe of an amiable dame who delights to sow
-divisions in her sovereign's court; and who is now mortally
-chagrined, because two ladies whom she had cleverly set by
-the ears, have been unreasonable enough to become sincerely
-reconciled with each other.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 244px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic04.png" width="244" height="204" alt="The grieving wife tears her hair" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now, my master, you will hear cries of real affliction,"
-continued the Demon. "Death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> enters that splendid mansion
-to the left; and a scene as touching as the world's stage offers
-is about to be acted there. Look, if you can, on the heart-rending
-tragedy." "In truth," said Don Cleophas, "I perceive
-a lady struggling in the arms of her attendants, and tearing her
-hair with signs of deepest grief. Tell me its cause!" "Look
-in the room adjoining, and you will see cause enough," replied
-the Devil. "You observe the man stretched on that stately
-couch: it is her dying husband,&mdash;to her a loss indeed! Their
-story is affecting, and deserves to be written:&mdash;I have a great
-mind to relate it to you."</p>
-
-<p>"You will give me great pleasure in so doing," interrupted
-Leandro: "the sorrows of this world do not move less than
-its vices and follies amuse me." "It is rather long," resumed
-Asmodeus, "but it is too interesting to annoy you on that
-account. Besides, I will confess to you, that, all Demon as I
-am, I am sick of following the track of Death: let us leav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>e him
-in his search of newer victims." "With all my heart," replied
-Zambullo: "I am more curious to hear your promised narrative
-Of suffering humanity, than to see my fellow-mortals, one
-after another, hurried into eternity." The Cripple then
-commenced as follows, after having transported the Student
-on to the roof of one of the highest houses in the Strada
-d'Alcala.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>A young cavalier of Toledo, accompanied by his
-valet-de-chambre, was journeying with all possible
-speed from the place of his birth, in order to
-avoid the consequences of a tragical adventure
-in which he had unfortunately been engaged. He was about
-two leagues from the town of Valencia, when, at the entrance
-of a wood, he fell in with a lady who was alighting hastily
-from a carriage. No veil obscured her charms, which were
-more than enough to dazzle a youthful beholder; and, as the
-lovely damsel appeared in trouble, it is not to be wondered
-that the cavalier, imagining that she sought assistance, offered
-her his protection and his services.</p>
-
-<p>"Generous unknown," said the lady, "I will not refuse your
-proffered aid: Heaven, it would seem, has sent you here to
-avert a dreadful misfortune. Two cavaliers have met to fight
-within this wood;&mdash;I this moment saw them enter. Hasten
-with me, I entreat you, and assist me to prevent their fatal
-design." As she spoke, she plunged into the forest, and the
-Toledan, throwing his horse's rein to his attendant, followed
-her as quickly as he was able.</p>
-
-<p>They had not gone a hundred yards before they heard the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
-clashing of arms, and almost immediately discovered the two
-gentlemen, who were thrusting at each other with becoming
-fury. The Toledan drew his sword but to separate theirs;
-and by its assistance, and by entreaties uttered in exclamations,
-he managed to suspend their pastime, while he inquired the
-subject of their difference.</p>
-
-<p>"Brave cavalier," said one of the combatants, "you see in
-me, Don Fabricio de Mendoza, and in my opponent, Don
-Alvaro Ponza. We both love Donna Theodora, the lady by
-whom you are accompanied; but we love to little purpose,
-for, despite our endeavours to win her affections, she treats our
-attentions with disdain. For myself, I should have been contented
-to worship an unwilling deity; but my rival, instead of
-acting with as much wisdom, has resolved to have the shrine
-to himself, and so has brought me here."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," interrupted Don Alvaro, "that I have so determined;
-and it is because I believe that, my rival away, Donna
-Theodora might deign to listen to my vows. I seek then the
-life of Don Fabricio, to rid myself of a man who stands in the
-way of my happiness."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor Cavalier," said the Toledan, "I cannot approve of
-your reasons for duelling; besides that, you are injuring the
-lady who is the object of your strife. You must be aware that
-it will soon be known that you have been fighting for her; and
-the honour of your mistress should surely be dearer to you
-than happiness or life itself. And what, too, can he who may
-be successful expect to gain by his victory? Can he hope
-that, after having staked a lady's reputation on the quarrel, she
-will thank him for his folly? What madness! Believe me, it
-were far better, that, acting as becomes the names you bear,
-you should control your jealous wrath. Be men and pledge
-me your sacred words to bind yourselves by the terms I s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>hall
-propose to you, and your quarrel may be adjusted without a
-deed of blood."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic01.png" width="262" height="275" alt="The Toledan cavalier parts the duellists" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Ah! but how?" cried Don Alvaro. "Why," replied the
-Toledan, "let the lady determine the question; let her choose
-between yourself and Don Fabricio; and let the slighted lover,
-instead of seeking to injure his more fortunate rival, l<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>eave the
-field at once." "Agreed!" said Don Alvaro; "and I swear
-it by all that is sacred. Let Donna Theodora decide between
-us. She may prefer, if she will, my rival to myself: this even
-would be less unbearable than the dread suspense in which I
-now exist." "And I," said Don Fabricio in his turn,&mdash;"I call
-Heaven to witness, that if the divine object of my love declares
-not in my favour, I will fly from the sight of her perfections;
-and if I cannot forget them, I will at least behold them no
-more."</p>
-
-<p>On this the Toledan, turning to Donna Theodora, said:
-"Madam, it is for you now, by a single word, to disarm these
-two rivals for your love: you have only to name him whose
-constancy your favours would reward." "Signor Cavalier,"
-replied the lady, "try some other means of reconciling them.
-Why should I become the victim of their disagreement? I
-esteem, in all sincerity, both Don Fabricio and Don Alvaro;
-but I love neither: and it were surely unjust, that, to prevent
-the stain with which their disputes may sully my name, I should
-be compelled to excite hopes that my heart disavows."</p>
-
-<p>"It is too late to dissemble, Madam," resumed the Toledan;
-"you must now declare yourself. Although these cavaliers
-are equally good-looking, I doubt not that you can discern
-
-more merit in one than in the other; and I am confirmed
-in that opinion by the alarm with which but now I saw you
-agitated."</p>
-
-<p>"You misinterpret that alarm," replied Donna Theodora.
-"The loss of either of these gentlemen would affect me beyond
-a doubt, and I should never cease to reproach myself with his
-death, although its innocent cause; but if I appeared to you
-greatly agitated, I can assure you that it was the peril to which
-my own honour was exposed that excited all my fear."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
-<p>The impetuous Don Alvaro Ponza now lost all patience.
-"Enough!" he exclaimed, with an air of fury; "since the
-lady refuses to end the matter peaceably, let the fate of arms
-decide;" and as he spoke, he raised his weapon against Don
-Fabricio, who on his part prepared to receive him.</p>
-
-<p>On this, the lady, more alarmed by the fury of Don Alvaro
-than decided by her own inclination, exclaimed wildly: "Hold!
-noble cavaliers; I will do as you desire. Since there is no
-other means of preventing a strife in which my reputation is
-involved, I declare in favour of Don Fabricio de Mendoza."</p>
-
-<p>These words had no sooner escaped her lips, than the discarded
-Ponza, without uttering a syllable, hastened to his horse,
-which he had fastened to a tree, released it, threw himself
-into the saddle, and disappeared, after casting one look of intense
-fury on his rival and implacable mistress. The fortunate
-Mendoza, on the contrary, was in ecstasies; now humbling
-himself in his joy at the feet of Donna Theodora, and now
-embracing the Toledan, unable to contain the satisfaction
-with which his heart was filled, or to find words to express
-his gratitude.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the lady, freed from the presence of the
-burning Don Alvaro, had become more tranquil; and it was
-with grief she reflected that she had engaged to permit the
-addresses of a lover, whom, while she truly esteemed his merit,
-her heart told her she could never love.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic02.png" width="268" height="206" alt="Don Fabricio at the feet of Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor Don Fabricio," she said to him, timidly, "I trust
-you will not abuse the preference I have just avowed for you;
-you owe it only to the necessity in which I found myself
-placed of declaring between yourself and Don Alvaro. I can
-say with truth that I have ever thought more highly of you
-than of him;&mdash;there are noble qualities that you possess of
-which Alvaro cannot boast; I have always looked on you with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
-justice as the most perfect cavalier Valencia contains; I have
-even no hesitation in saying that the attentions of such a man
-would be flattering to the vanity of any woman; but, how
-honourable soever they might be to me, I feel bound to tell
-you that my heart is still untouched, and that it is with sorrow
-I behold in you an affection for myself so great as your every
-action displays. I will not, however, take from you all hope
-of winning my affections; my present indifference may arise
-from the effects of that grief which still fills my bosom for the
-loss of my late husband, Don Andrea de Cifuentes, who died
-about a year ago. Although we were not long united, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
-although he was advanced in years when my parents, dazzled
-by his riches, compelled me to espouse him, I was yet much
-afflicted by his loss, and the wound is still green which his
-death inflicted.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! was he not worthy of my regret?" she added. "He
-was indeed unlike those aged and jealous tyrants, who, unable
-to persuade themselves that a youthful wife can be virtuous
-enough to excuse their weakness, watch all her motions with
-suspicion, or place over her some hideous duenna as a spy.
-Alas! he had in my honour a confidence of which a young
-and much-loved husband would be hardly capable. His kindness
-was unbounded, and his only study, to anticipate my every
-wish. You may suppose, then, Mendoza, that such a man as
-Don Andrea de Cifuentes is not easily forgotten. No! he is
-ever present in my thoughts; and the fond recollection of his
-amiability and love for me may excuse my indifference for
-objects which might otherwise attract me."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Madam," exclaimed Don Fabricio, interrupting Donna
-Theodora, "how great is my delight to learn from those lovely
-lips that it is from no dislike for myself that you have slighted
-all my cares! I can still then hope that the day will come
-when my constancy may be rewarded." "It will not be my
-fault if that do not happen," replied the lady, "since I consent
-that you should visit me, and will not forbid you to speak to
-me of love. You shall strive, then, to win me to the world
-and to yourself by your attentions; and I promise to conceal
-not from you any favourable impression you may make: but
-if, Mendoza, despite your efforts, my heart refuses to be happy,
-remember that I give you no right to reproach me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Fabricio was about to reply; but the lady, placing her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
-hand in that of the Toledan, turned away, and hastened towards
-her carriage. He therefore unbound his horse, and leading it
-through the thicket by the bridle, followed his mistress, and
-arrived just in time to see her enter the vehicle, which she did
-with as much agitation as she had left it, although arising from
-a very different cause. The Toledan and himself accompanied
-Donna Theodora to the gate of Valencia, where they separated,&mdash;she
-taking the road to her own house, and Don Fabricio
-taking the Toledan with him to his.</p>
-
-<p>After a slight repose, Mendoza entertained the stranger with
-a sumptuous repast, and in the course of conversation asked
-him what had brought him to Valencia, and whether he proposed
-to stay there for any time. "For as short a time as possible,"
-replied the Toledan; "I am here only on my way to
-the sea, that I may embark in the first vessel that leaves the
-shores of Spain. It matters little to me in what part of the
-world I go to end a life of unhappiness, except that the more
-distant from this fatal clime the better."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear?" exclaimed Don Fabricio with surprise.
-"What can have disgusted you with your native land, and
-caused you to look with hate on that which all men love so
-fondly?" "After what has occurred to me," replied the
-Toledan, "my country is to me unbearable, and to leave it,
-for ever, my only desire." "Ah! Signor Cavalier," cried
-Mendoza, affected with compassion, "I am impatient to learn
-your misfortunes! If I cannot relieve them, I am at least
-disposed to share them. Your appearance from the first
-prepossessed me in your favour, your bearing and manners
-charmed me, and already I feel deeply interested in your
-destiny."</p>
-
-<p>"You afford me, Signor Don Fabricio," replied the Tole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>dan,
-"the greatest consolation I could receive; and in return for
-the kindness you are pleased to express for me, it delights me
-to be able to say, with truth, that on seeing you with Don
-Alvaro Ponza my heart inclined towards yourself. A feeling,
-with which I never was inspired at the first sight of any one
-before, made me fear lest Donna Theodora should decide in
-favour of your rival; and it was with joy I heard her state her
-preference for you. Since then, you have so gained upon that
-first impression, that, far from desiring to conceal my griefs, I
-seek with a sort of pleasure to unbosom them to you: Learn
-then my misfortunes.</p>
-
-<p>"I was born in Toledo, and my name is Don Juan de Zarata.
-I lost my parents while almost in my infancy; so that at an
-early age I found myself in the enjoyment of a yearly income
-of four thousand ducats, which I inherited from them. As my
-hand was at my own disposal, and as I was rich enough to be
-able to bestow it where my heart should dictate, I married,
-early, a maiden of exquisite beauty; careless that she added
-nothing to my fortune, and that her rank was inferior to my
-own. I loved her, and I was happy; and that I might enjoy
-to the full the pleasure of possessing one so dear to me, I had
-not been long married before I sought with her a small estate
-which I possessed a few leagues from Toledo.</p>
-
-<p>"We lived there, for some time, in unity and bliss; when
-it chanced that the Duke de Naxera, whose seat was in the
-neighbourhood, came one day, when he was hunting, to refresh
-himself at my house. He saw my wife, and unfortunately
-became enamoured of her. I suspected his passion from the
-first; and was not long before I was too certainly convinced of
-its existence by the eagerness with which he sought my friendship,
-that up to this time he had wholly neglected. His hunting
-parties were now never complete without me; he loaded <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>me
-with presents, and still more with his offers of service.</p>
-
-<p>"I became alarmed by his evident design, and prepared for
-our return to Toledo. Heaven doubtless inspired me with
-this resolution; for, had I acted upon it, and thus taken from
-the Duke his opportunities of seeing my wife, I should have
-avoided all the misfortunes which followed a contrary course.
-My confidence in her virtue, however, soon reassured me. It
-appeared to me impossible that a being whom I had raised
-from obscurity to her present position, from motives of affection
-alone, could be ungrateful enough to consent to my disgrace.
-Alas! I little thought that ambition and vanity, two
-feelings common to every woman, were the greatest vices in
-the character of my wife.</p>
-
-<p>"No sooner, therefore, had the Duke managed to inform her
-of his sentiments towards her, than she took credit to herself
-for so important a conquest. The attachment of a man
-approached by all the world with the titles of Your Grace and
-Your Highness tickled her pride, and filled her mind with the
-most absurd notions; so that she was indefinitely exalted in
-her own opinion, and thought the less of me. All that I had
-done for love of her, instead of exciting feelings of gratitude,
-now appeared but a contemptible offering to her charms, of
-which she no longer thought me worthy; and she seems not
-to have doubted that if the noble duke, who flattered her by
-his homage, had seen her before she had thrown herself away
-on me, he would have eagerly sought her hand. Infatuated by
-these absurd notions, and seduced by some well-timed presents
-which flattered her vanity, she yielded to the secret assiduities
-of his grace.</p>
-
-<p>"Although they corresponded frequently, I had not for some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
-time the slightest suspicion of their communications; but, at
-last, my eyes were unfortunately opened to my disgrace. One
-day I returned from hunting somewhat earlier than usual, and
-went directly to the apartment of my wife, who expected
-nothing less than to see me. She had just received a letter
-from her paramour, and was at the moment preparing a reply.
-She could not disguise her emotion at my unexpected coming;
-and as I perceived on the table paper and ink, I trembled,&mdash;for
-the truth rushed on my mind with the speed of all unwelcome
-conclusions. I commanded her to show me what she
-was writing, which she refused; so that I was compelled to use
-violence in order to satisfy my jealous curiosity, and drew from
-her bosom, in spite of her resistance, a letter which was to the
-following effect:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Must I for ever languish in the despair of seeing thee
-again? Hast thou then cruelty enough to call sweet hopes
-into my heart, and let the short-lived blisses perish from delay?
-Don Juan leaves thee daily for the chase, or to repair to
-Toledo: would not Love then snatch these happy opportunities
-with eager joy? Think of the passion which consumes
-my life! Pity me, lady! and remember that if the happiness
-is great we hope to share, the greater is the torment which bars
-us its possession.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic03.png" width="232" height="250" alt="The Toledan reads the Duke's letter" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"As I read this epistle, my blood boiled with fury. My
-hand sought the hilt of my stiletto, and my first inclination
-was to plunge it in the unfaithful breast of her who had betrayed
-me; but a moment's reflection told me that I should thus
-revenge but half my shame, and that another victim was
-demanded to appease my wrath. I therefore controlled myself,
-and, dissimulating as well as I was able, said to my wife:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
-'Madam, you have done wrong in listening to the duke; the
-splendour of his rank should not have been sufficient to dazzle
-you. However, youth finds delight in the trappings of nobility;
-and I am willing to believe that your guilt extends no further,
-and that my honour is still in safe keeping with you. I forgive,
-then, your want of discretion; but it is on condition that you
-return to the paths of duty, and that henceforth, sensible to
-the affection which animates my bosom, you will think it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
-enough to deserve it.'</p>
-
-<p>"I did not wait for a reply, but left the apartment; as much
-to give her an opportunity of collecting herself, as to seek that
-solitude in which alone my mind could free itself from the
-anger which inflamed me. If I did not regain my tranquillity,
-I at least affected an air of composure during that and the
-following day; and on the third, pretending to have business
-of importance which called me to Toledo, I told my wife that
-I was obliged to leave her for some time, and that I did so in
-full confidence of her virtue and good conduct.</p>
-
-<p>"I set out; but, instead of going to Toledo, as soon as night
-came to assist my project, I returned home secretly, and concealed
-myself in the room of a trusty servant, whence I could
-observe any one who entered the house. I had no doubt that
-the duke was informed of my absence, and that he would not
-fail to make the most of so desirable a circumstance. How I
-longed to surprise them together! I promised myself an ample
-vengeance.</p>
-
-<p>"Nevertheless, I was deceived in my expectations. Instead
-of remarking any preparations for the reception of an expected
-lover, I on the contrary perceived that the doors were scrupulously
-closed against everybody; and three days having passed
-without the appearance of the duke, or any of his people, I
-began to think that my wife had repented of her fault, and that
-she had broken off all connection with her seducer.</p>
-
-<p>"As this opinion took possession of my mind, my desire of
-revenge dissipated; until, at last, yielding to those emotions of
-affection for my wife which anger had only suspended, I
-hastened to her apartment, and, embracing her with transport,
-exclaimed: 'Madam, I restore you my esteem and my love.
-I come to tell you that I have not been to Toledo, but th<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>at I
-pretended to have gone there only to test your discretion. You
-can forgive this deception in a husband whose jealousy was
-not entirely without foundation. I feared lest your mind,
-seduced by too brilliant illusions, should be incapable of a
-return to virtue; but, thank Heaven! you have seen your error,
-and I trust that our felicity may henceforth be unbroken.'</p>
-
-<p>"My wife appeared affected at these words, and, while tears
-fell from her eyes, exclaimed: 'Unhappy have I been, to give
-you reason to suspect my fidelity! In vain do I detest myself
-for having so justly excited your anger against me! In vain is
-it that, since I saw you, my eyes have unceasingly o'erflowed
-with tears; my grief and my remorse are alike unavailing; I
-can never regain the confidence I have lost.' 'I restore it to
-you,' I replied, interrupting her, afflicted by the sorrow which
-she displayed&mdash;'I restore it to you; you have repented of the
-past; and I will, too gladly, forget it.'</p>
-
-<p>"I kept my word; and, from that moment, my love for her
-was as great and as confiding as ever. I began again to taste
-those joys which had been so cruelly interrupted; they came
-to me, indeed, with redoubled zest; for my wife, as though she
-had been anxious to efface from my recollection all traces of
-the injury she had done me, took greater pains to please me.
-I thought I found more warmth in her caresses; in short, I
-almost rejoiced at the event which had told me how much was
-still left for me to love.</p>
-
-<p>"Shortly after our reconciliation I was seized with illness.
-Although my ailment was not alarming, it is inconceivable how
-deeply it appeared to afflict my wife. All day she was by my
-side; and at night, as I was in a separate room, she never
-failed to visit me frequently, that she might convince herself
-of the progress of my recovery: her whole care appeared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
-devoted to me, and all her anxiety to anticipate my every want;
-it seemed as though her whole life depended solely on mine.
-You may suppose that I was not insensible to all this show of
-tenderness, and I was never weary of expressing to her my
-gratitude for her attentions. However, Signor Mendoza, they
-were not so sincere as I imagined.</p>
-
-<p>"My health was beginning to improve, when, one night, my
-valet-de-chambre came to awaken me. 'Signor,' said he, with
-emotion, 'I am sorry to disturb your repose; but I am too
-much interested in your honour to conceal from you what is at
-this moment passing beneath your roof. The Duke of Naxera
-is with my mistress.'</p>
-
-<p>"I was so astounded by this information, that I looked for
-some time at my servant without being able to speak; and the
-more I thought of what he told me, the more difficulty I found
-in believing it. 'No! Fabio,' at last I said to him; 'no, it is
-impossible that my wife can be capable of such infamy! You
-must be mistaken.' 'Signor,' replied Fabio; 'would to Heaven
-that I could think so! But my eyes are not easily deceived.
-Ever since you have been ill, I have suspected that the duke
-was introduced almost nightly into my lady's apartment. This
-evening, I concealed myself, to confirm or dispel my suspicions;
-and I have but too good reason to know that they were not
-unfounded.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic04.png" width="245" height="175" alt="Fabio awakens his master" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I hesitated no longer; but arose, and putting on my dressing
-gown, armed myself with my sword, and went in a perfect
-phrenzy towards my wife's chamber, Fabio following with a
-light. As we entered the room, the alarmed duke, who was
-sitting on the bed, rose, and taking a pistol from his girdle,
-aimed at me and fired; but thanks to his confusion, he missed
-me. I rushed on him, and in a moment thrust my sword in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>to
-his heart. Then turning to my wife, who was already more
-dead than alive: 'and you!' said I, 'infamous wretch, receive
-the reward of your perfidy.' And so saying, I plunged my
-sword, still reeking with the blood of her paramour, into her
-bosom.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic05.png" width="254" height="270" alt="The Toledan prepares to kill his wife" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I am sensible of the crime my fury induced me to commit;
-and I acknowledge, Signor Don Fabricio, that a faithless spouse
-may be sufficiently punished without taking her life; but where
-is the man who, under such excitement, could have preserved
-the cool temperament of the judge? Picture to yourself this
-perfidious woman attending me in sickness; imagine if you can,
-all that display of affection which she lavished upon me; think
-of all the circumstances,&mdash;of the enormity of her deception,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
-and then say if her death weighs heavily against a husband
-animated with rage, to whom all this comes suddenly as lightning
-from the cloud.</p>
-
-<p>"My tragical history is finished in a few words. My vengeance
-thus fully satiated, I dressed hastily, certain that I had
-no time to lose; for I knew well that the duke's relations
-would search fo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>r me in every corner of Spain, and that, as the
-power of my own family would be but as a feather in the scale
-to turn their wrath, there was no safety for me but in a foreign
-country. I therefore chose two of my best horses, and taking
-with me all the jewels and money I possessed, I left my house
-before daybreak, followed by the servant of whose fidelity I
-had recently been so well assured, and took the road to
-Valencia with the intention of sailing in the first vessel which
-should steer for Italy. It thus happened that, passing yesterday
-near the wood in which you were, I met Donna Theodora,
-and, at her entreaty, followed to assist in separating yourself
-and Don Alvaro."</p>
-
-<p>When the Toledan had ended this narrative, Don Fabricio
-said to him: "Signor Don Juan, you have justly avenged yourself
-on the Duke de Naxera. Be not alarmed as to anything
-his relations can do; you shall stay, if you please, with me,
-until an opportunity offers for your passage into Italy. My
-uncle is governor of Valencia; you will therefore be more secure
-from danger here than elsewhere, and you will remain with one
-who would be united with you henceforth in bonds of strictest
-friendship."</p>
-
-<p>Zarata replied to Mendoza in terms which expressed his
-grateful sense of the former's kindness, and at once accepted
-the proffered asylum. "And now it is, Signor Don Cleophas,"
-continued Asmodeus, "that I shall exhibit to you the power
-of sympathy: such was the inclination which drew these two
-young cavaliers towards each other, that, in a few days, there
-existed between them a friendship not surpassed by that of
-Orestes and Pylades. With dispositions alike formed for
-virtue, they possessed a similarity of tastes which was certain
-to render that which pleased Don Fabricio equally agreeable to
-Don Juan&mdash;their characters were identical; in short, they were
-formed for each other. Don Fabricio, especially, was charm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>ed
-with the deportment of his new friend; and lost no opportunity
-of endeavouring to exalt him in the estimation of the Donna
-Theodora.</p>
-
-<p>"This lady now received them frequently at her house; but,
-though her doors were open at the bidding of Mendoza, her
-heart was still inaccessible to his attentions. Mortified to find
-his love thus slighted, he could not forbear complaining of her
-indifference to his friend, who endeavoured to console him
-with the assurance that the most insensible of women might be
-won to feeling at the last, and that nothing was wanting to
-lovers but patience to await for the favourable moment: he
-bade him then to keep up his courage, and to hope that,
-sooner or later, his mistress would yield to his assiduity and
-affection. This advice, though philosophical enough, was insufficient
-to assure the timid Mendoza, who began to despair
-of success with the widow of Cifuentes; and the anxiety of suspense
-so preyed upon his spirits, that Don Juan could not
-behold him without feelings of compassion. Alas! poor Don
-Juan was himself ere long more to be pitied than his friend.</p>
-
-<p>"Whatever reason the Toledan had to be disgusted with
-the sex, after the abominable treachery he had met with, he
-could not long look upon the Donna Theodora without loving
-her. Far, however, from yielding to a passion which he felt
-to be an injury to Mendoza, he struggled with all his might to
-vanquish it; and convinced that this was only to be accomplished
-by flying from the bright eyes which had kindled the
-flame, he wisely resolved to shun the lady who possessed them.
-Consequently whenever Don Fabricio asked his company to
-his mistress's house, he managed to find some pretext to excuse
-himself from going with him.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
-<p>"On the other hand, Mendoza never went to see the Donna
-Theodora, but she asked him why he no longer was accompanied
-by Don Juan. One day, when, for the hundredth time
-she put this question to her lover, the latter answered, smiling,
-that his friend had his reasons for absenting himself. 'And
-what reasons, then, can he have for flying me?' said Donna
-Theodora. 'Why, madam,' replied Mendoza; 'yesterday,
-when I pressed him, as usual, to come with me, and expressed
-some surprise at his refusal to do so, he confided to me a
-secret, which I must reveal in order to justify him in your
-eyes. He told me that he had formed a liaison in Valencia;
-and, that as he had not long to stay in this town, every moment
-was precious to him.'</p>
-
-<p>"'I cannot exactly admit the validity of his excuse,' replied
-the widow of Cifuentes, blushing; 'it is not permitted to lovers
-that they should abandon their friends.' Don Fabricio, who
-observed the colour which tinged the cheeks of the Donna
-Theodora, thought that self-love alone had caused the blush,
-and that, like all pretty women, she could not bear to be
-neglected, even by a person who was indifferent to her. He
-was, however, deceived. A deeper feeling than wounded
-vanity inspired the emotion she displayed. She loved: but for
-fear that Mendoza should discover her sentiments, she changed
-the subject, and, during the conversation that followed, affected
-a gaiety which would have deceived him, had he not already
-deceived himself.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as Donna Theodora was alone, she abandoned
-herself to reflection. Then, for the first time, she felt all the
-strength of the attachment she had conceived for Don Juan;
-and, little thinking how deeply that feeling was shared by its
-object,&mdash;'Oh Love!' she cried: 'cruel and unjust art thou,
-who delightest to kindle passion in the hearts of t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>hose who care
-not for each other! I love not Don Fabricio, and he adores
-me; I languish for Don Juan, and his heart is possessed by
-another. Ah! Mendoza, reproach me not with my indifference
-for thee; thy friend has indeed avenged thee.'</p>
-
-<p>"As she spoke, grief filled her eyes with tears, and jealousy
-possessed her breast; but Hope, who loves to soothe the
-sorrows of despairing lovers, took refuge in her mind, and
-filled it with bright images of joys to come. It suggested to
-her that her rival could not be very formidable, and that Don
-Juan was less the captive of her charms than the object of her
-favours, and that the ties which bound them could not therefore
-be difficult to break. She resolved, however, to judge for herself,
-and at once to see the Toledan. With this view she sent word
-that she wished to speak with him: he came; and, when they
-were alone, she thus addressed him:</p>
-
-<p>"'I could never have believed that love could make a
-gallant man forgetful of his duties to a lady; nevertheless, Don
-Juan, since it has possessed you, you have become a stranger
-to my house. I think I have a right to upbraid you for this
-neglect; I am unwilling, however, to believe that you have
-yourself resolved to shun me, and will suppose that your
-mistress has forbidden your coming here. Tell me, Don Juan,
-that it is so, and I will excuse you. I know a lover is not
-master of his will, and that he dares not disobey the woman to
-whom he has resigned it.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Madam,' replied the Toledan, 'I confess that my conduct
-may reasonably surprise you; but, in pity, ask me not to justify
-myself: content yourself with hearing from my lips that I shun
-you not without good cause.' 'Whatever may be that cause,'
-interrupted Donna Theodora, visibly affected, 'I request you
-will not conceal it.' 'Well, madam,' replied Don Juan, 'y<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>ou
-shall be obeyed; but be not angry if you learn from me more
-than you would wish to know.</p>
-
-<p>"'Don Fabricio,' he continued, 'has doubtless related to
-you the adventure which compelled me to quit Castile. In
-flying from Toledo, my heart filled with hatred against womankind,
-I bade defiance to the sex ever to touch that heart again.
-With this disposition, I approached Valencia; I met you, and,
-what perhaps none have ever sustained before, I met your eyes
-without yielding to their influence. I saw you again and again
-with impunity; but, alas! dearly I have paid for my pride of
-heart. You have conquered! Your beauty, your mind,&mdash;all
-your charms were turned against a rebel to your sway; in a
-word, I feel for you now all the love that you were formed by
-nature to inspire.</p>
-
-<p>"'This, madam, is what has driven me from your sight.
-The mistress, to whom they told you I was devoted, exists but
-in the imagination of Mendoza; and it was to prevent in him
-a suspicion of the truth, which my constant refusals to accompany
-him here might have engendered, that I conjured her
-into life.'</p>
-
-<p>"This confession, unexpected as it was by Donna Theodora,
-could not fail to fill her bosom with delight, nor could she
-conceal it from the Toledan. It is true she took no great
-pains to do so, and that, instead of regarding him with
-indignation for his presumption, her eyes beamed with tenderness
-as she said: 'You have revealed to me your secret,
-Don Juan; it is fair that I should discover mine to you:
-Listen!</p>
-
-<p>"'Regardless of the overtures of Alvaro Ponza, and little
-affected by the addresses of Mendoza, I lived in t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>ranquil joy,
-when chance brought you to the wood where we met. Agitated
-as I was by the scene which then was passing, I was nevertheless
-struck by the gentle and respectful manner in which you
-offered me your services; and the frankness and courage which
-you displayed in separating the two furious rivals for my love
-inspired me with the most favourable opinion of your character.
-The means by which you proposed to terminate their disputes,
-indeed, displeased me, and it was with repugnance that I
-resolved to choose between the combatants; but, I believe I
-must not disguise from you, that yourself in great part contributed
-to increase the difficulty of my decision. At the moment
-when, compelled by necessity, my tongue proclaimed the name
-of Don Fabricio, I felt that my heart had already declared in
-favour of the unknown. From that day, which, after what you
-have just avowed, I may call a happy one, your virtues have
-constantly augmented the esteem you then inspired.</p>
-
-<p>"'Why should I affect to hide these feelings from you? I
-confess them with no greater candour than I told Mendoza
-that I loved him not. A woman whose misfortune is to love
-a being whom she may not hope to wed, may bury in her heart
-the passion which consumes it; but when her bosom's lord is
-one who nourishes an equal tenderness for her, silence were
-weakness, and dissimulation shame. Yes, I am indeed happy
-that your love is mine, and I render thanks to Heaven which
-I trust has destined us for each other.'</p>
-
-<p>"Having thus spoken, the lady waited for Don Juan's answer,
-and to give him an opportunity of expressing all the gratitude
-which she naturally thought the declaration she had made
-must inspire; but her lover, instead of appearing enchanted
-by the confession he had just listened to, remained sad and
-thoughtful.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'What means this silence?' she at length exclaimed.
-'What! when for you, Zarata, I forget my sex's pride; and,
-what another would have deemed a fate to envy, show you a
-heart all filled with love for you,&mdash;can you repel the bliss which
-such a heart bestows;&mdash;be coldly silent to its fond disclosure,
-and look with grief when all things promise joy? Alas! Don
-Juan, my kindness for you has a strange effect, indeed.'</p>
-
-<p>"'And what other, madam, can it have upon a heart like
-mine?' replied the Toledan, mournfully. 'The greater kindness
-you avow for me, the greater is the misery I suffer. You
-are not ignorant of all I owe to Don Fabricio; you know the
-tender friendship which unites us: can I then build my happiness
-upon the ruins of his dearest hopes?' 'You are too
-scrupulous,' resumed the Donna Theodora: 'I have promised
-to Mendoza nothing. I can bestow my love, nor merit his
-reproaches; and you may well accept it, nor yet do him a
-wrong. I acknowledge that the sorrows of your friend may
-cause you some unhappiness; but, Don Juan, can that o'erbalance
-in your mind the destiny which waits you?'</p>
-
-<p>"'Yes, madam,' replied the Toledan, with respectful firmness;
-'a friend like Don Fabricio has greater weight with me
-than you can well imagine. Could you possibly conceive the
-tenderness, the strength of that feeling which binds us to each
-other, you would pity me indeed. Mendoza has no secrets
-now with me; my interests have become his own; the slightest
-matter which concerns myself commands his strict regard: in
-a word, madam, I share his soul with you.</p>
-
-<p>"'Ah! if you wished me to profit by your kindness, you
-should have disclosed it ere those ties were formed which
-bind me now to him. Delighted to have won your affections,
-I should then have seen in Don Fabricio b<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>ut a rival; and my
-heart, steeled against the friendship which he offered to me,
-would have escaped its bonds; I should then have been free
-from all obligation towards him: but, madam, it is now too
-late. I have received all the services it was in his power to
-render me; I have indulged all the feelings which those
-services induced; gratitude and esteem now unite to reduce
-me to the cruel necessity of renouncing the inestimable prize
-you present for my acceptance.'</p>
-
-<p>"While the Toledan was speaking thus, tears fell fast from
-the eyes of Donna Theodora; and, as he concluded, she hid
-her face in her handkerchief to conceal her distress. Don
-Juan was of course affected; his constancy began to evaporate,
-and he felt that his stay was dangerous. 'Adieu, madam,' he
-continued, while sighs impeded his utterance,&mdash;'adieu! I
-must fly to preserve my honour; your tears overcome me&mdash;all
-else I could withstand. I leave you for ever; and go, far
-hence, to deplore the loss of that happiness which my friendship
-for Don Fabricio inexorably demands as a sacrifice.' And
-as he finished, he hastily retired, with as much resolution as
-just enabled him to do so.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 257px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic06.png" width="257" height="369" alt="The Toledan bids farewell to Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"After his departure, the widow of Cifuentes was distracted
-by a thousand conflicting emotions. She felt ashamed at
-having declared her love to a man whom its bright temptation
-had not won; but, unable to doubt his affection for her person,
-and assured that his refusal of her hand originated in no other
-feeling than an unexampled constancy for his friend, she was
-sufficiently reasonable to admire so rare an instance of virtue.
-Nevertheless, as it is in the nature of men, and more particularly
-in the nature of women, to feel annoyed when all things
-do not happen as they wish, she resolved to go into the
-country on the morrow, in order to dissipate her grief, or rather
-to augment it; for Solitude is nurse to Love, and strengthens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>
-the young passion while he strives to hush its cries.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Meanwhile, Don Juan, not finding Mendoza on his return,
-shut himself in his own apartment, and gave way to the
-affliction he had restrained during his interview with Donna
-Theodora; for, after what he had sacrificed to friendship, he
-felt himself at liberty to indulge in grief for its loss. It was
-not long, however, before Mendoza came to break on his
-retirement, and judging by his friend's appearance that he
-was ill, he displayed so much uneasiness that Don Juan was
-obliged to plead a want of rest, in order to account for his
-altered looks. Mendoza left him to repose; but he went out
-with so much grief depicted on his countenance, that the
-Toledan was still more afflicted by his sympathy. 'Oh
-Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'why is it that the most tender friendship
-should bring to me nothing but misfortune?'</p>
-
-<p>"On the following day, Don Fabricio was yet in bed, when
-they came to inform him that Donna Theodora had set out,
-with all her establishment, for her seat at Villareal, and that it
-was unlikely she would shortly return to Valencia. This
-information caused him less inquietude on account of his
-severance from the object of his devotion, than because a
-mystery had been made to him of her departure. Without
-being able to determine on its cause, a gloomy presentiment
-pervaded his mind as to its effect on his happiness.</p>
-
-<p>"He instantly arose, that he might seek his friend, as much
-to converse with him on the subject which occupied his mind,
-as to inquire the state of Zarata's health; but, before he had
-completed his toilet, Don Juan entered his room, saying: 'I
-come to dissipate whatever apprehension you may entertain
-for me; I feel myself again restored to health.' 'The good
-news you tell me,' replied Mendoza, 'consoles me somewhat
-for the unwelcome intelligence I have just received.' 'Ah!
-what is that?' asked the Toledan anxiously. 'Why,' replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
-Don Fabricio, after having dismissed his attendants, 'Donna
-Theodora has gone this morning into the country, where they
-expect she will remain for some time. This sudden resolution
-astonishes me. Why has it been concealed? What think you,
-Don Juan? Have I not cause to be alarmed?'</p>
-
-<p>"Zarata took good care not to communicate his real thoughts
-upon the subject, but endeavoured to persuade Mendoza that
-Donna Theodora might change her residence without giving
-him any reason for alarm. Don Fabricio, however, unconvinced
-by the arguments of his friend, interrupted him, saying:
-'That is all very well, Zarata; but you cannot remove my
-fears of having imprudently done or said something which has
-displeased the Donna Theodora; and it is to punish my
-indiscretion that she leaves me without deigning even to
-inform me of my fault.</p>
-
-<p>"'I will not, however, remain in uncertainty. Let us hasten,
-Don Juan, to follow her; I will at once order our horses.' 'I
-would advise you,' said the Toledan, 'to seek her alone; if it
-be as you think, witnesses are worse than needless.' 'Don
-Juan cannot be unwelcome,' replied Mendoza; 'Donna
-Theodora is aware that you know all that passes in my heart:
-she esteems you; and far from being in my way, you will
-assist me to appease her anger against me.'</p>
-
-<p>"'No, no, Fabricio,' replied the Toledan, 'my presence will
-avail you nothing. Take my advice, and go alone, I conjure
-you!' 'Again no, my dear Don Juan,' interrupted Mendoza,
-'we will go together; I expect this kindness of your friendship.'
-'What tyranny! exclaimed the Toledan, with evident
-vexation; 'why ask you of my friendship what that very
-feeling should deny you most?'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
-<p>"These words, which Don Fabricio could not comprehend,
-and the tone in which they were uttered, surprised him greatly.
-He looked at his friend for some time without speaking. At
-last, he said to him gravely: 'Don Juan, what mean you?
-What horrible suspicion breaks upon my mind? Ah! it is
-too much, to wound me by your terrible constraint! Speak!
-
-Whence arises this unwillingness to accompany me to Donna
-Theodora?'</p>
-
-<p>"'I would have concealed it from you,' replied the Toledan,
-'but, since you compel me to disclose the truth, I will dissimulate
-no longer. Let us, my dear Mendoza, no more
-rejoice in the similarity of our dispositions; it is but too
-perfect: the shafts which wounded you, have neither spared
-your friend. Donna Theodora&mdash;&mdash;' 'What! you my
-rival?' interrupted Don Fabricio, turning pale as death.
-'From the instant that my love for the widow of Cifuentes
-became apparent to myself,' replied Don Juan, 'I strove to
-stifle the passion. I have, as you know, sedulously avoided
-her sight: I at least triumphed over my feelings, if I could not
-destroy them.</p>
-
-<p>"'Yesterday, however, Donna Theodora sent word that she
-desired to see me. I went to her; when she asked me why
-I seemed to shun her. I endeavoured to excuse myself as
-well as I was able; but, as my excuses did not satisfy her, I
-was compelled at last to avow the real cause of my absence.
-I imagined that, after this declaration, she would have
-approved the motives of my apparent neglect; but my unlucky
-star had decreed&mdash;shall I tell you? yes, Mendoza, it is useless
-attempting to deceive you,&mdash;I found Theodora disposed to
-favour my love.'</p>
-
-<p>"Although Don Fabricio was one of the mildest and most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
-reasonable of men, yet, at this confession, he was seized with
-a fury beyond his control; and, again interrupting his friend,
-he exclaimed: 'Hold! Don Juan, plunge at once your dagger
-in my breast; but continue not this fatal recital. What! not
-contented with avowing your passion for her whom I adore,
-must you tell me too that your love is returned? By Heaven!
-this is a strange confidence you dare to venture on with me.
-You put our friendship to a test indeed. But what say I! our
-friendship? You have broken it, in nourishing the traitorous
-feelings you have just imparted.</p>
-
-<p>"'Oh! how have I been deceived! I thought you generous
-even to excess, and find you basely false; stooping to win the
-heart of her whose love were insult to your friend. This is
-indeed an unexpected blow; and falls with double weight
-since coming from the hand ...' 'Do me more justice,' in his
-turn interrupted the Toledan; 'reflect with patience ere you
-speak: I am not the traitor which you deem me. Hear me.
-You will repent the injuries you heap upon your friend.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Juan then related all that had passed between the
-widow of Cifuentes and himself, the tender confession she had
-made to him of love, and all the arguments she used to win
-him to indulge his own. He repeated to him then his firm
-reply; and, as he spoke of the determination he displayed, the
-wrath of Don Fabricio yielded by degrees. 'In short,' added
-Don Juan, 'friendship conquered love; and I rejected that of
-Donna Theodora, despite her tears. But, Gods, those tears!
-what trouble filled my soul at sight of them! I cannot
-recollect them now without trembling at the danger I encountered.
-I began to feel myself relent; and, for a few moments,
-Mendoza, my heart indeed betrayed you. I did not, however,
-yield to my weakness, but escaped those dangerous tears by
-hasty flight. Still it is not enough to have gone safe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>ly through
-the past,&mdash;the future must be feared. I shall therefore hasten
-my departure from Valencia; I will no more behold the
-lovely Theodora. And now, will Don Fabricio accuse his
-friend of ingratitude and perfidy?'</p>
-
-<p>"'No!' replied Mendoza, embracing the Toledan; 'my
-eyes are opened, and I find him faithful as my heart could
-wish. Pardon those unjust reproaches to a jealous lover, who
-in a moment finds himself deprived of all his hopes. Alas!
-should I have expected that the Donna Theodora could have
-long beheld you, and have failed to love?&mdash;that she could
-resist the influence of those attractions which at once so drew
-you to myself? No! and I embrace my friend again. I
-attribute my misfortunes but to destiny; and, far from feeling
-hatred to yourself, my affection is increased by your noble
-conduct. What! can you renounce for me possession of the
-lovely Theodora,&mdash;can you yield for friendship's sake so great
-a prize, and shall I be insensible of the sacrifice? Can you
-conquer the passion which consumes you, and shall I make
-no endeavour so to vanquish mine? No! I will not be
-outdone in generosity of soul. Obey, Don Juan, the dictate
-of your heart; espouse the object of our mutual affections;
-my heart may groan in secret if it will; be it so! Mendoza
-intreats you to consult your own.'</p>
-
-<p>"'In vain do you intreat me,' replied Zarata: 'I love her
-but too dearly, as I have told you; but, Mendoza, your happiness
-shall never be the price of mine.' 'And the happiness
-of Donna Theodora,' said Don Fabricio, 'shall that then
-count for nothing? Let not false delicacy weigh with us
-now: her passion for yourself has ended all my hopes. What
-though, for me, you shunned those fatal eyes, to lead in
-distant lands a life of woe,&mdash;what would it serve me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>now?
-She loves me not, and never will; Heaven reserved that bliss
-for you alone. From the moment that she saw you, her
-heart declared for you; nature prompted the emotion: in a
-word, you alone can render her happy. Receive then the
-heart she offers with her hand; crown her desires and your
-own; leave me to my fate; and make not three persons
-miserable, when the wretchedness of one alone is all that
-destiny requires.'"</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was here obliged to suspend his narration, and
-listen to the Student, who said to him: "Well, all that you
-tell me is sufficiently surprising; but are there really such
-amiable people upon earth? I never met within this nether
-world but friends who strive, not for such mistresses as you
-depict the Donna Theodora, but for the arrantest coquettes.
-What! a lover to renounce the being he adores, by whom his
-love is shared, and all lest he should render some poor friend
-unhappy? That may do well for some romancer's pen, which
-fain would picture men the creatures they should be, for fear
-of telling them the things they are." "I own, with you,"
-Asmodeus replied, "the virtue that I tell you of is rare; but
-still, my dear Cleophas, it exists; not in romances only, but
-in the principles of man's own nature. It is true that, since
-the deluge, I have seen but two examples of the like, and this
-is one; but, let us return to our history.</p>
-
-<p>"The two friends continued still their amicable strife, and,
-as each was still unwilling to yield the palm of generosity to
-the other, their amorous sentiments remained suspended,
-during several days. They ceased to talk of Donna Theodora,
-each seemed afraid to breathe her very name; but,
-while Friendship triumphed over Love in the city of Valencia,
-Love, as though he would revenge the insult offered to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
-power, reigned with tyranny without its walls, and was there
-obeyed without scruple.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Theodora was all this time in the solitude of Villareal,
-which was not far distant from the sea. There, abandoning
-herself to her passion for Don Juan, she dreamt of
-its reward; and nuptial visions floated in her mind, despite
-the friendship the Toledan had recently displayed for Don
-Fabricio, his too much loved rival.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, while the glorious splendour of the setting sun
-chained her to the margin of its bed, she perceived a boat
-which made towards the shore. As it approached, she saw
-that it contained seven or eight men, whose aspect was far
-from prepossessing; and as they came still nearer, she observed
-that their faces were covered with masks, and that they were
-armed.</p>
-
-<p>"Trembling with fear, for it was not easy to divine any good
-object for this unlooked-for descent, she turned hastily towards
-her home. Looking from time to time behind her as she
-fled, she saw them land; and, as they instantly appeared to be
-endeavouring to overtake her, she began to run with all her
-might. But as she was not as swift of foot as Atalanta, and
-as the masks were light and fleet, they came up with her, just
-as she had reached the entrance of her grounds, and seized
-her.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic07.png" width="254" height="253" alt="Donna Theodora carried off by the masked men" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The shrieks of the Donna Theodora, and a girl who accompanied
-her, were loud enough however to attract the attention
-of some servants without the house; and these giving the
-alarm to those within, the whole establishment, to a man,
-turned out armed with clubs and pitchforks. But in the
-meantime, two of the most robust among the masqueraders
-had taken the lady and her damsel in their arms, and b<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>ore
-them towards the boat, while the remainder remained to give
-battle to the domestics, who, albeit not paid for fighting, did
-their utmost. The combat was long, but swords carried the
-day against pitchforks, and the gentlemen in dominoes were
-fast regaining the vessel to join their prize. It was time
-indeed they did so; for ere their embarkation was completed,
-four or five cavaliers were to be distinguished on the road
-from Valencia, riding at their topmost speed, and apparen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>tly
-anxious to be in time for the rescue of the Donna Theodora.
-The ravishers saw them; and made such good haste to get
-out to sea, that the cavaliers arrived too late to attain the
-accomplishment of their object.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic08.png" width="248" height="127" alt="The masked men rowing away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"These cavaliers were Don Fabricio and Don Juan. Mendoza
-had received a letter, only a few hours before, informing
-him, on good authority, that Don Alvaro was in the island of
-Majorca; that he had equipped a sort of sloop, and that with
-some twenty scoundrels who had nothing to lose, he intended
-to carry off the widow of Cifuentes on the first occasion of
-her visiting her seat at Villareal. On this, the Toledan and
-himself, with their personal attendants, had set out
-immediately from Valencia, in order to inform Donna Theodora of
-the projected attempt. They had, unfortunately, arrived just
-in time to discern on the sea-shore a number of persons who
-appeared to be engaged in mortal strife; and, suspecting that
-it might be as they feared, had hastened with all ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>pedition
-to oppose the infamous design of Don Alvaro. But, with all
-their haste, they arrived but to witness the abduction they had
-especially come to prevent.</p>
-
-<p>"In the meanwhile, Alvaro Ponza, joyful at his success, was
-hurrying from the coast with his prey, and was observed to
-join a small armed vessel which was awaiting him in the
-distance. Words cannot convey an idea of the grief of the
-two friends; the air rang with imprecations against Don
-Alvaro: their grief and rage, however, were alike unavailing.
-The domestics of the Donna Theodora, excited by so laudable
-an example, were not sparing of their lamentations; the shore
-resounded with cries: fury, desolation, and despair reigned
-where all before had been tranquil joy, or the sweet grief of
-love. The rape of the beauteous Helen herself did not excite
-at the court of Sparta an equal consternation."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecemanrock.png" width="214" height="224" alt="tailpiece of a man in a rocky landscape" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez, at this point of the narrative,
-could not help again interrupting the Devil:
-"Signor Asmodeus," said he, "I really cannot
-control my curiosity to know the meaning of
-something which attracts my attention, in spite of the pleasure
-I receive in listening to you. I see, in a room near us,
-two men fighting in their shirts, and several others in their
-dressing-gowns who are hastening to part them: tell me, I
-pray you, what it is all about." The Demon, ever ready to
-please the Student, without further pressing replied as follows:</p>
-
-<p>"The persons whom you behold in their shirts, or so much
-of them as is left in the struggle, are two French authors; and
-the mediators in the strife are two Germans, a Fleming, and
-an Italian. They all lodge in that same house, which is a sort
-of lodging-house devoted exclusively to foreigners. One of
-these authors writes tragedies, and the other comedies. The
-former, disgusted for some reason or other with his own
-country, has come to Spain; and the latter also, discontented
-with his prospects in Paris, has performed the same journey, in
-the hope of finding in Madrid a better fortune.</p>
-
-<p>"The tragic poet is vain and presumptuous, having obtai<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>ned,
-despite the opinions of those whose breath should be fame, a
-tolerable reputation in his own country. To keep his Pegasus
-in wind, he rides it daily; and not being able to sleep this
-night, he commenced a piece, the subject of which is taken
-from the Iliad. He has finished one scene; and as his smallest
-fault is that, so common to his brethren, of cramming into
-other people's throats the trash which he has ejected, he rose
-from his table, where he was writing in his shirt, took a candle,
-and, as he was, went to rouse the comic author, who, making a
-better use of his time, was sleeping profoundly.</p>
-
-<p>"The latter, awakened by the noise made at his door, went
-to open it to the other, who, with the air of one possessed,
-entered the room exclaiming: 'Down on your knees, my friend;
-down, and worship a genius whom Melpomene inspires. I
-have given birth to poetry&mdash;: but, what do I say?&mdash;I have
-done it! Apollo himself dictated the verses to me. Were I
-at Paris, I should go from house to house to read the precious
-lines; I only wait for day that I may charm with them our
-talented ambassador, and every other Frenchman who has the
-luck to be within Madrid; but, before I shew them to a soul,
-I come to recite them to you.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic01.png" width="189" height="327" alt="The tragic poet at the comic author's door" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'I am much obliged by the preference,' replied the comic
-author, yawning with all his might; 'it is rather unlucky
-though, that you did not choose a better time. I went to bed
-extremely late,&mdash;can hardly keep my eyes unclosed,&mdash;and I
-will not answer for hearing all the verses you have to read to
-me, without tumbling to sleep again.' 'Oh! I will answer for
-that myself,' interrupted the tragic poet. 'Were you dead, the
-scene that I have just composed would recall you to life again.
-In my writings, there are none of your namby-pamby sentiments,&mdash;none
-of your common-place expressions, sustained
-alone by rhyme: masculine thoughts, and easy versification,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
-move the heart and strike upon the mind. I am none of those
-wretched poetasters, whose pitiable creations glide upon the
-stage like shadows, and like them depart;&mdash;which go to Utica
-to amuse the Africans. My compositions, wor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>thy to be consecrated
-with my statue in the library of Apollo Palatinus, draw
-crowds after thirty representations. But come,' added this
-modest poet, 'you shall hear the verses of which I wish to
-offer you the first incense.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic02.png" width="240" height="188" alt="Phoenix assists Achilles's captives" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'This is my tragedy, <span class="smcap">The Death of Patroclus</span>. Scene
-the first, Brisëis and the other captives of Achilles appear.
-They tear their hair and beat their breasts, to express the grief
-with which they are filled by the death of Patroclus. Unable
-even to support themselves, utterly prostrated by despair, they
-fall upon the stage. This, you will say, is a little daring; but
-that is exactly what I aim at. Let the small fry who swim in
-the waters of Helicon keep within the narrow bounds of imitation,
-without daring to o'erleap them; it is well, there is
-prudence in their timidity: but for me, I love invention; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
-I hold that, to move and overcome your spectators, you must
-present to their minds images which they could never have
-expected.</p>
-
-<p>"'The captives, then, are lying on the earth. Phoenix,
-governor of Achilles, is with them. He assists them to rise,
-one after another; and, having placed them on their feet, he
-commences the argument of the drama in these lines:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-Hector shall fall; and Troy itself be spread<br />
-In ruins, to avenge Patroclus dead.<br />
-Proud Agamemnon, Camelus the grave,<br />
-Nestor the wise, and Eumelus the brave,<br />
-Leontes, skilled to hurl the spear along,<br />
-Smooth-tongued Ulysses, Diomed the strong,<br />
-Arm with Achilles. Lo! that hero drives<br />
-Tow'rds Ilium's gates&mdash;appalling Ilium's wives&mdash;<br />
-His steeds immortal, urged across the plain<br />
-So swift, the eye toils after them with pain.<br />
-But still he cries: Dear Xanthus, Balius, fly!<br />
-And when around ten thousand corses lie,<br />
-When pallid Trojans scamper off like fillies,<br />
-Regain your camp, but not without Achilles.<br />
-Xanthus replies, bowing his head: You may<br />
-Be sure, Achilles, we'll your will obey;<br />
-But, while our pace with your impatience strives,<br />
-Know that to you the fatal hour arrives&mdash;<br />
-The ox-eyed Juno thus the steed enlightening,&mdash;<br />
-And now the car moves with a speed quite frightening.<br />
-The Greeks, beholding, utter cries of joy,<br />
-So loud, they shake the very walls of Troy.<br />
-Achilles, armed by Vulcan for the war,<br />
-Appears more brilliant than the morning star;<br />
-Or like the sun, when, in its bright career,<br />
-It bursts on earth, dispelling night and fear;<br />
-Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,<br />
-To guide poor swains, bewilder'd or benighted.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-<p class="p2">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
-<a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
-</p>
-
-<p class="p2">
-Priam va perdre Hector et sa superbe ville;<br />
-Les Grecs veulent venger le compagnon d'Achille,<br />
-Le fier Agamemnon, le divin Camélus,<br />
-Nestor, pareil aux dieux, le vaillant Eumélus,<br />
-Léonte, de la pique adroit à l'exercice,<br />
-Le nerveux Diomède, et l'éloquent Ulysse.<br />
-Achille s'y prépare, et déjà ce héros<br />
-Pousse vers Ilium ses immortels chevaux;<br />
-Pour arriver plus tôt où sa fureur l'entraîne,<br />
-Quoique l'oeil qui les voit ne les suive qu'à peine,<br />
-Il leur dit: Chers Xanthus, Balius, avancez;<br />
-Et lorsque vous serez du carnage lassés,<br />
-Quand les Troyens fuyant rentreront dans leur ville,<br />
-Regagnez notre camp, mais non pas sans Achille.<br />
-Xanthus baisse la tête, et répond par ces mots:<br />
-Achille, vous serez content de vos chevaux,<br />
-Ils vont aller au gré de votre impatience;<br />
-Mais de votre trépas l'instant fatal s'avance.<br />
-Junon aux yeux de boeuf ainsi le fait parler,<br />
-Et d'Achille aussitôt le char semble voler.<br />
-Les Grecs, en le voynt, de mille cris de joie<br />
-Soudain font retentir le rivage de Troie.<br />
-Ce prince, revêtu des armes de Vulcain,<br />
-Paraît plus éclatant que l'astre du matin,<br />
-Ou tel que le soleil, commençant sa carrière,<br />
-S'élève pour donner au monde la lumière;<br />
-Ou brillant comme un feu que les villageois font<br />
-Pendant l'obscure nuit sur le sommet du mont.<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p class="p2">
-"'I stop,' continued the tragic poet, 'to let you breathe a
-moment; for if I were to recite to you the whole of my scene
-at once, the beauty of my versification, and the great number
-of brilliant passages and sublime ideas that it contains, would
-smother you to a certainty. But remark the aptness of this
-comparison,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 10%;">
-Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,<br />
-To guide poor swains bewilder'd or benighted.<br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
-</p>
-
-<p>"'It is not all the world who could appreciate that; but
-you, who have mind, and a clearness of perception,&mdash;you must
-be enchanted with it.' 'I am so, doubtless,' replied the comic
-author, smiling contemptuously; 'nothing can be more beautiful;
-and I am persuaded you will not fail to describe, in your
-tragedy, the care taken by Thetis to drive away the Trojan
-flies which approach the body of Patroclus.' 'You may spare
-your jests as to that,' replied the tragic poet;&mdash;'an author who
-has talent may venture everything. The very incident you
-mention is perhaps the one most capable of being rendered
-into heroic verse; and I shall not lose the opportunity, you
-may depend upon it.</p>
-
-<p>"'All my works,' he continued complacently, 'bear the
-impress of genius; so that when I read them it would delight
-you to witness the applause they elicit: I am compelled to
-stop after every verse, to receive its laudatory tribute. I
-remember that one day, at Paris, I was reading a tragedy in
-the house of a wealthy patron of literature, in which all the
-wits of the capital generally assemble about dinner-time, and
-in which I may say, without vanity, that I do not pass for a
-Pradon. The dowager countess of Vieille-Brune was there, a
-lady of exquisite taste&mdash;I am her favourite poet. Well, at the
-first scene, the hot tears ran down her cheeks; during the
-reading of my second act, she was obliged to change her
-handkerchief; her sobs were beyond her control in the third;
-at the end of the fourth she was nearly in hysterics; and I
-expected, at the catastrophe, that she would have absolutely
-died with the hero of my piece.'</p>
-
-<p>"At these words, although the comic author endeavoured
-strenuously to preserve his gravity, a burst of laughter es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>caped
-him. 'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'how well do I recognize her
-ladyship by your description! The good countess is one who
-cannot endure comedy: so strong is her aversion for the merry
-muse, that she hurries from her box after the dagger or the
-bowl has done its work, that she may not lose an atom of her
-mimic grief. Tragedy is her pet passion; and be it good or
-bad, so long as it presents unhappy love, so surely may you bid
-her tears to flow. Honestly, did I pretend to the heroics, I
-should wish for other admirers than the countess.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Oh! as to that, I have others too,' replied the tragic
-poet. 'I am the approved of thousands, male and female, of
-the highest rank&mdash;&mdash;' 'I should also mistrust the suffrages of
-the quality,' interrupted the comic author; 'I should have no
-great confidence in their judgment: I will tell you why.
-Auditors of this description are, for the most part, too much
-occupied with themselves to pay great attention to the reading
-of a poem; or are caught for the moment by high-sounding
-verse, or the feeble delicacy of some sickly sentiment. Either
-is sufficient to induce their praise of an author's labours, whatever
-else of better they may lack. On the contrary, let but a
-line rustle their gentle ears too harshly, and it is enough that
-they exclaim against the piece, however good.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Well!' resumed the lachrymose inditer, 'since you would
-have me suspicious of this tribunal, I rely on the applauses of
-the pit.' 'Bah! talk not to me of your pit,' replied the other;
-'its judgment is guided by caprice. Stupidly won by the
-novelty of a first representation, it will be for months
-enraptured by a wretched piece. It is true that in the end it discovers
-its folly; and, then, it never forgives an author for
-having received from it an undeserved renown, or cheated it
-into mercy.'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'That is a misfortune for which I have nothing to fear,'
-said the tragic poet; 'my pieces are reprinted as often as
-they are played. This, now, never occurs with comedies;
-printing exhibits their feebleness. Comedies being but trifles,&mdash;the
-lighter productions of mind....' 'Softly! my
-tragic friend; softly!' interrupted the other: 'you are getting
-somewhat warm. Speak, I beg of you, of comedy with
-less irreverence to me. Do you think, now, a comic piece
-less difficult to write than tragedy? Undeceive yourself!
-It is far less easy to make good men laugh, than it is to
-make them weep. Learn that a subject drawn from ordinary
-life requires talent of as high an order as do the stilted heroes
-of antiquity.'</p>
-
-<p>"'I'faith,' cried the tragic poet with an air of raillery, 'I am
-delighted to hear you so express yourself.' 'Well! monsieur
-Calidas, to avoid disputation, I agree henceforth to as greatly
-admire your productions as I have heretofore despised them.'
-'I care little for your contempt, monsieur Giblet,' hastily replied
-the comic author; 'and in return for your insolence, I
-will plainly tell you my opinion of the rubbish you have just
-been inflicting on me: your verse is a mixture of bombast and
-absurdity, and the ideas, although borrowed from Homer, have, in
-passing through your brain, become tinctured with its vulgarity.
-Achilles talks to his horses, and his horses reply to him; what
-nonsense! It is a pity they were not asses, for then you could
-have put into their mouths with propriety your splendid comparison
-of the village bonfire on the top of a mountain. It is
-doing no honour to the ancients to pillage them after this
-fashion: their works are undoubtedly filled with beauties; but it
-requires greater taste than you possess to make of them a fitting
-use, or to enable you to borrow from them to advantage.'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'Since you have not sufficient elevation of soul,' retorted
-Giblet, 'to appreciate the merits of my poetry, and to punish
-you for having dared to criticise my scene, I will not read to
-you the remainder.' 'What, I wonder, have I done, that I
-should have been punished by being compelled to listen to the
-beginning?' replied Calidas. 'It well becomes you indeed to
-despise my comedies! Learn that the very worst that I could
-write will be clever compared with anything that you can compose,
-and that it is much easier to inflate the cheeks with hollow
-sentiments and sounding words, than it is to enlighten the
-mind by pointed wit or a delicate irony.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Thank Heaven!' exclaimed the tragic poet, with an awful
-expression of disdain, 'if in its rigour it denies me your esteem,
-I may easily console myself for my misfortune. The court, however,
-thinks more favourably of my tragedies; and the pension
-with which in its grace it has been pleased&mdash;&mdash;' 'Pshaw! think
-not to dazzle me with your pensions,' interrupted Calidas; 'I
-know too well how they may be obtained to esteem your works
-the more for that. And to prove to you your folly, in thinking
-more highly of yourself than of comic authors, and that it is
-easier to compose serious dramas than comic pieces, I am resolved
-if I return to France, and do not succeed in my own
-line, that I will descend to making tragedies.'</p>
-
-<p>"'For a scribbler of farces,' said the tragic poet, 'you are
-not over modest.' 'For a versifier who only owes his reputation
-to borrowed plumes,' replied the comic author, 'you
-would fain have one think rather too highly of you.' 'You
-are an insolent scoundrel,' exclaimed the sombre genius. 'If
-I were not in your room, little monsieur Calidas, the catastrophe
-of this adventure should teach you to respect the buskin.'
-'Let not that consideration restrain you, I entreat,
-lanky monsieur Giblet,' replied Calidas; 'if you wish to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>receive
-a thrashing, I would as soon give it you in my own room
-as elsewhere.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 237px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic03.png" width="237" height="211" alt="Calidas and Giblet come to blows" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Immediately, they seized each other by the throat and hair;
-and kicks and cuffs were exchanged with generous ardour. An
-Italian, who lay in a neighbouring chamber, having listened to
-the overture of this drama, and hearing the noise of the
-incidental combat, judged that it was quite time for the spectators
-to assemble when the play had begun. He rose, therefore, and
-out of compassion for the French authors, although Italian, he
-filled the house with his cries. On this the Fleming and the
-two Germans hastened with himself in their dressing-gown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>s to
-the theatre of strife, and the piece is, as you see, just terminating
-by the separation of the combatants."</p>
-
-<p>"This squabble is amusing enough," said Don Cleophas.
-"But, it would appear from what you tell me that tragic
-writers in France imagine themselves to be much more important
-personages than those who devote themselves to
-comedy." "Certainly!" replied Asmodeus. "The former
-think themselves as much exalted over the latter, as are the
-stately heroes of tragedies above the intriguing servants of
-comic pieces." "Indeed! and on what do they found this
-opinion of themselves?" inquired the Student. "Is it then
-really so much more difficult to write the one than the other?"
-"The question you put to me," replied the Devil, "is one
-which has been a hundred times debated, and is so to this
-day. For myself, this is my decision, with all deference to
-those who differ from me in opinion. I say that it is not
-more easy to compose a comic than a tragic piece; for if it
-were so, we must conclude that a tragic poet would be more
-capable of writing a comedy, than the best comic author;
-the which is not borne out by experience. According to
-me, then, each of these two descriptions of poem requires a
-genius of a different character, but of an equal capability.</p>
-
-<p>"It is time, however, to end this digression. I will therefore
-resume the thread of the history, which you so unceremoniously
-interrupted."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitials.png" width="75" height="72" alt="S" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Success had not attended the endeavours of the
-servants of Donna Theodora to prevent her being
-carried away; but they had at least opposed it with
-courage, and their resistance had been fatal to
-some of the companions of Alvaro Ponza. Among others,
-whose wounds had not permitted them to follow their comrades,
-there was a man, stretched almost lifeless on the
-sand, whom they recognized as one of Alvaro's own attendants.
-Perceiving that he still breathed, they carried him to
-the house, and spared no pains to restore him to his senses.
-In this they at last succeeded, although the quantity of blood
-which had escaped from his numerous wounds had reduced
-his stream of life to its lowest ebb, and left him extremely
-weak. To induce him to speak, they promised to take every
-care to prolong his days, and not to deliver him into the
-hands of justice, provided that he would inform them of the
-place to which his master had designed to take the Donna
-Theodora.</p>
-
-<p>Gratified by these assurances, although the state to which he
-was reduced left him but small hope to profit by their realization,
-he rallied all his remaining strength, and, with a faltering
-voice, co<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>nfirmed by his confession the information that Don
-Fabricio had received. He added, however, that Don Alvaro
-designed to conduct the widow of Cifuentes to Sassari, in the
-island of Sardinia, where he had a relation whose protection
-and power promised him a safe asylum.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 270px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic01.png" width="270" height="173" alt="Alvaro's attendant is carried away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The deposition of the dying man, for he expired a few hours
-afterwards, raised Mendoza and the Toledan from complete
-despair; and as their stay at Donna Theodora's seat was now
-useless, they at once returned to Valencia. After debating for
-some time on the steps most expedient to be taken, they
-resolved to seek their common enemy in his chosen retreat,
-and in a few days embarked, without attendants, at Denia,
-for Port Mahon, not doubting that they would there find some
-means of transport to the island of Sardinia. It so happened
-that scarcely had they reached their destined port, when they
-learned that a vessel freighted for Cagliari was about to sail,
-and in it they immediately secured a passage.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The vessel left the island of Minorca with breezes friendly
-to their hopes; but five or six hours after their departure there
-came on a calm, and night brought with it winds directly in
-their teeth; so that they were obliged to tack about and wait
-for a favourable change. Three days were thus passed in
-sailing without progress; when, on the fourth, about two hours
-after noon, they discovered a strange sail, all its canvas spread,
-and bearing down directly upon them. At first they took it
-for a merchantman, bound for the shores they steered from;
-but observing that it came within the range of cannon-shot
-without showing its colours, they began to fear it was a
-corsair.</p>
-
-<p>They were not deceived: it was a Tunisian pirate, which
-approached them in full expectation that the Christians would
-yield without a blow. As it came near enough, however, for
-the corsairs to discern what was passing on board of their
-expected prey, and to observe that the sails were reefed and
-the guns run out, they guessed that the affair was likely to turn
-out more seriously than they had expected. They therefore
-shortened sail, wore round, hurriedly cleared the deck, and
-prepared for action.</p>
-
-<p>A brisk exchange of shots soon commenced, and the
-Christians, taking advantage of the surprise which their unexpected
-resistance had occasioned, began to prevail over their
-opponent; but an Algerine pirate, larger and of heavier metal
-than either of the others, arriving in the middle of the action,
-took part with its brother of Tunis, and the Christians were
-thus placed between two fires.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 183px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic02.png" width="183" height="197" alt="The slave on the bow of the Algerine pirate ship" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
-<p>Discouraged by this unlooked-for circumstance, and feeling
-that it was useless to continue the unequal strife, they gradually
-slackened their fire, and at last it ceased altogether. On this
-a slave appeared on the bow of the Algerine vessel, who hailed
-them in their own language, bidding them, if they hoped for
-mercy, to strike to Algiers. A Turk then advanced, holding
-in his hand a green silk flag studded with silver crescents interlacing
-each other, which he waved in the air. The Christians,
-looking upon further resistance as hopeless, gave themselves
-up to all the grief that the idea of slavery inspires in the breasts
-of freemen, until the master of the vessel, fearing that a further
-delay of submission would only serve to irritate their barbarian
-conqueror, hauled down his colours, threw himself into a boat
-with some of his sailors, and went to surrender to the Algerine
-corsair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic03.png" width="268" height="255" alt="Surrender" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The latter immediately sent a portion of his crew on board
-the Spanish vessel to examine, or rather to pillage it of all that
-it contained. The Tunisian pirate gave similar orders to some
-of his men, so that all the passengers it contained were in an
-instant disarmed and plundered, and were shortly afterwards
-exchanged into the Algerine vessel, when the two pirates divided
-their prisoners by lot.</p>
-
-<p>It would have been at least some consolation for Mendoza
-and his friend to have both fallen into the hands of the same
-corsair; they would have found their chains somewhat the less
-heavy to have borne the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>m together; but Fortune, apparently
-disposed to make them feel the terrors of her caprice, allotted
-Don Fabricio to the pirate of Tunis, and Don Juan to his
-competitor of Algiers. Picture to yourself the grief of the two
-friends, when told that they must part. They threw themselves
-at the feet of the corsairs, and entreated them that they might
-not be separated. But their entreaties were vain; the barbarians
-before whom they knelt were too much accustomed to
-the sight of human misery not to be proof against the prayers
-of their present victims. On the contrary, judging by their
-demeanour that the two captives were men of wealth and
-station, and that they would consequently pay a weighty
-ransom, they were the more resolved to divide them.</p>
-
-<p>Mendoza and Zarata, perceiving that they were in the power
-of men with hearts insensible to all but gain, turned towards
-each other, their looks expressing the depth of their affliction.
-But when the booty had been shared, and the Tunisian pirate
-prepared to return to his own vessel with his proportion, and
-the slaves which it included, they seemed as though they would
-expire with despair. Mendoza rushed into the arms of the
-Toledan, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Must we then
-separate? Cruel necessity! Is it not enough that we should
-be borne to slavery, and unavenged? Must we even be
-denied to bear in union the sorrows to which we are destined?
-Ah! Don Juan, what have we done that Heaven should thus
-visit us with its terrible wrath?" "Seek not elsewhere the
-cause of our disgrace," replied Don Juan: "I only am to
-blame. The death of two unfortunates, immolated to my
-revenge, although excused to mortal eyes, is deep offence to
-Heaven; and you, my friend, are punished for the fault of
-loving one who took upon himself the vengeance that belongs
-to God alone."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 271px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic04.png" width="271" height="338" alt="Mendoza and Zarata are separated" />
-</div>
-
-<p>While they spoke thus, tears, strangers to the eyes of men,
-streamed down their cheeks, and sighs but choked their utterance.
-So touching was their grief, that those who shared their
-fate were yet as much affected by the sight as w<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>ith their own
-misfortune. Not so the wretches who formed the crew of the
-Tunisian corsair. Perceiving that Mendoza was the last to
-quit the Algerine vessel, they tore him without ceremony from
-the arms of the Toledan; and, as they dragged him away, added
-blows to insult. "Adieu, dear friend," he cried: "adieu for
-ever! Donna Theodora is yet unavenged! and, parted from
-you, the miseries that these wretches prepare will be the least
-that slavery can bring to me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan was unable to reply to the exclamations of his
-friend; the treatment that he saw him endure filled his breast
-with a horror which deprived him of speech. And so, Signor
-Don Cleophas, as the course of my narrative requires that
-we should follow the Toledan, we will leave Don Fabricio,
-in solemn silence, to be conducted on board of the Tunisian
-pirate.</p>
-
-<p>The Algerine returned toward his port, where, having arrived,
-he conducted his slaves to the house of the superintending
-basha, and thence to the public market. An officer of the
-Dey, Mezzomorto, purchased Don Juan for his master; and
-the new slave was at once employed as an assistant in the
-gardens of the harem. This occupation, although laborious
-for a gentleman, was however, the less disagreeable to Don
-Juan, on account of the solitude to which it left him; for,
-situated as he was, it was a pleasure to have at least the liberty
-of indulging his own melancholy thoughts. Incessantly occupied
-with his misfortunes, his mind, far from endeavouring to
-lighten them with hope, seemed to delight in dwelling on the
-past, and to inspire his bosom with gloomiest presages for the
-future.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic05.png" width="263" height="279" alt="Mezzomorto approaches Zarata in the garden" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
-<p>One day he was occupied with his work, murmuring the
-while one of his now usual songs of sorrow, when the Dey,
-who was walking in the garden, came upon him without being
-perceived, and stopped to listen. Pleased with his voice, and
-moved by curiosity, he approached the captive and asked his
-name. The Toledan replied, that he was called Alvaro; for,
-following the usual custom with slaves, of concealing their
-station, he thought fit to change his name, and, as the outrage
-upon Donna Theodora was ever uppermost in his thoughts,
-the name of the detested Alvaro had come soonest to his lip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>s
-when suddenly asked his own. Mezzomorto, who spoke the
-Spanish language tolerably well, then questioned him as to the
-customs of Spain, and particularly as to the conduct observed
-by those of its cavaliers who would render themselves agreeable
-to their ladies;&mdash;to all of which Don Juan replied in such a
-manner as to greatly please the Dey.</p>
-
-<p>"Alvaro," said he to him at last, "you appear to be intelligent;
-and I judge you to have been a man of rank in your
-own country: but, however that may be, you are fortunate
-enough to please me, and I will honour you with my confidence."
-At these words, Don Juan prostrated himself before
-the Dey, and with well-affected humility, kissed the hem of
-his master's robe, and after touching with it his eyes and forehead,
-arose, and stood before him in silence.</p>
-
-<p>"To begin by giving you proof of my regard," resumed the
-Dey, "you know, that in my seraglio, I have some of the
-fairest women which Europe can offer for my pleasures.
-Among these, however, there is one whose beauty is beyond
-compare; nor do I believe that the Grand Signor himself
-possesses so exquisite a creature, although for him the winds
-of heaven daily waft ships with their lovely burden from all
-quarters of the globe. In her visage the dazzling sun seems
-reflected, and her form is graceful as the rose's stem which
-grows in the gardens of Eram. My soul is enchanted with her
-perfections.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic06.png" width="266" height="310" alt="The unhappy beauty of the seraglio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Alas! this miracle of nature, all beauteous as she is,
-maintains and nourishes the deepest grief; which neither time
-nor all the efforts of my love can dissipate. Although fortune
-has yielded her to my will, I have ever respected her grief,
-and controlled my desires; and unlike those who, placed as I
-am, seek but the momentary gratifications of sense, I f<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>ain
-would win her heart, and have striven to gain it by respectful
-attentions, such as the vilest Mussulman that lives would feel
-degraded to offer to the fairest Christian slave.</p>
-
-<p>"Still, all my cares seem but to add to her affliction; an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>d I
-will not disguise that its obstinacy begins to weary me. The
-sense of slavery is not imprinted in the minds of others of my
-slaves in characters so deep, but that a look of favour from
-myself can soon efface or gild them; so that I may well tire
-of this incessant grief. Nevertheless, before I abandon myself
-to the passion which transports me, I would make one last
-endeavour to touch her insensible heart; and I will leave this
-task to you. As my fair slave is Christian, and even of your
-own country, she may confide in you, and you may persuade
-her to my wishes better than another. Go, then! tell her of
-my riches and my power; tell her that among my many
-slaves, I care for only her; and, if it must be so, bid her even
-hope that she may one day be the honoured wife of Mezzomorto.
-Tell her that I would rather win her love, than
-receive the hand of a Sultana from the grace of his Highness
-the Sultan himself."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan threw himself a second time before the Dey; and
-although not over-delighted with this commission, assured him
-that he would do his utmost to execute it to his satisfaction.
-"Enough!" replied Mezzomorto, "leave your work and follow
-me. I am about, contrary to our usages, to permit you
-privately to see this slave. But, tremble, if you dare abuse
-the confidence I place in you! Tortures, such as even were
-never yet inflicted by the Turks, shall punish your temerity.
-Strive to overcome your own sorrows, and dream of liberty as
-the reward of ending the sufferings that I endure." Don Juan
-threw down his hoe, and silently followed the Dey, who, when
-they entered the palace, left him, that he might prepare the
-afflicted captive to receive his messenger of love.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic07.png" width="258" height="231" alt="The unhappy beauty salutes Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p>
-<p>She was with two aged slaves, who retired as soon as
-Mezzomorto appeared. The beauteous slave herself saluted
-the Dey with great respect, but she could not behold him
-without greater fear, as indeed had ever been the case when
-he presented himself before her. He perceived it, and to
-reassure her mind: "Amiable captive," he said, "I come but
-to inform you that among my slaves there is a Spaniard with
-whom you would perhaps be glad to converse. If you wish to
-see him, I will give him permission to speak with you, and
-even alone."</p>
-
-<p>As the lovely slave expressed no objection to receive her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
-countryman: "I go," resumed the Dey, "to send him to you:
-may he, by the information he conveys, serve to relieve you
-of your troubles!" He left her as he spoke; and as he went
-out, meeting the Toledan, said to him in a low voice: "Enter!
-and when you have communicated what I desire, come to my
-cabinet and inform me of the result."</p>
-
-<p>Zarata entered as he was directed, closed the door, and
-bowed before the favoured slave, who returned his salute,
-without either particularly observing the other. When, however,
-their eyes at last met, a cry of surprise and joy escaped
-them both: "Oh Heaven!" exclaimed the Toledan, approaching
-the captive, "is it not a vision that deceives mine eyes?
-Can it be the Donna Theodora whom I see?" "Ah! Don
-Juan," ere he had uttered these words, cried the lady he
-addressed, "is it indeed yourself who speaks to me?" "Yes,
-madam," replied the Toledan, while he fell upon his knee and
-tenderly kissed her hand, "it is Don Juan. Let these tears,
-that my eyes, rejoiced to behold you again, cannot restrain;
-let this transport, that you alone can excite in the heart of
-him who kneels before you, witness for my presence! I
-murmur no longer against my destiny, since it conducts me to
-you&mdash;Alas! what does my ecstacy inspire? I forget that you
-are in chains. By what unhappy chance do I find you here?
-How have you escaped from the frantic passion of Alvaro?
-Ah, what horror fills my soul to mention his very name! How
-do I tremble to learn the fate for which Heaven reserved you,
-when it abandoned you to his perfidy!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 211px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic08.png" width="211" height="219" alt="Don Juan kisses Donna Theodora's hand" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Heaven," replied the Donna Theodora, "has avenged me
-on Alvaro Ponza. Had I but time to rel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>ate to you&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Time!" interrupted Don Juan,&mdash;"you have plenty, and to
-spare. The Dey himself permitted me to see you, and, what
-may well surprise you, alone. Profit by the happy moments
-which his confidence affords, and inform me of all that has
-happened to you since you were carried off by Alvaro." "And
-who, then, told you that it was by him I was taken away?"
-inquired Donna Theodora. "Alas! madam, I know it but
-too well," replied the Toledan. He then shortly narrated the
-manner in which he had become acquainted with Alvaro's
-design, and had witnessed its execution; how Mendoza and
-himself had followed him in the hope of preserving her from
-his violence, or to revenge it; and of their unfortunate, but
-for this meeting, encounter with the pirates, and its consequence.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as he had finished this recital, Donna Theodora<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
-began the story of heir own sufferings, as follows: "I need not
-dwell upon my astonishment at finding myself seized by a
-masked band of ruffians&mdash;indeed, I had hardly time to wonder
-at the outrage, for I swooned in the arms of the first who laid
-hold of me; and when I recovered my senses, which must
-have been after the lapse of some hours, I found myself alone
-with Agnes, one of my own attendants, in a cabin on the poop
-of a vessel, in the open sea, sailing with all its canvass spread
-before the wind.</p>
-
-<p>"The perfidious Agnes, on perceiving my tears, exhorted
-me to bear my misfortune with patience; but from a few
-words which dropped from her as she spoke, I was not long in
-divining that she was in the confidence of Alvaro, who shortly
-afterwards appeared. Throwing himself at my feet: 'Madam,'
-he exclaimed, 'pardon to a too fond lover the means by which
-he has dared to possess himself of your person! You know
-how deeply I have loved you, and how ardently I disputed
-with Mendoza for your heart, up to the fatal day when you
-declared your preference for him. Had my passion been the
-cold and empty feeling that mortals dignify with the name of
-love, I might have vanquished it as easily as such a feeling is
-inspired; but my misfortune was beyond consolation. I live
-but to adore those charms; and, despised though I be, I
-cannot free myself from their spell. But, madam, let not the
-fury of my passion alarm you! I have not deprived you of
-liberty, that I may rob you of honour; I seek only that, in the
-retreat unto which we are hastening, a sacred tie may unite our
-hearts for ever.'</p>
-
-<p>"He continued in this strain for some time, but in terms
-which I cannot remember. To hear him, it would have seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>
-that, in forcing me to wed him, he did me no wrong; and that
-where I saw but an insolent ravisher, I should have beheld
-alone an impassioned lover. As, however, while he spoke
-thus, I answered him but with tears, and exhibited an evident
-despair, he left me; but not without making signs to Agnes,
-which I plainly understood as directions for her to second, as
-well as she was able, the splendid arguments by which he had
-sought to dazzle my weak understanding.</p>
-
-<p>"She did her best; representing to me that, after the éclat
-of an abduction, I could not do otherwise than graciously
-accept the offered hand of Alvaro Ponza; that, whatever aversion
-I might feel for his excessive tenderness, my reputation
-demanded of my heart this sacrifice. As, however, the necessity
-which she painted, of a hated marriage, was not exactly
-the way to dry my tears, I still remained inconsolable; and
-Agnes had exhausted all her eloquence, when we suddenly
-heard upon the deck a noise which attracted the attention of
-us both.</p>
-
-<p>"This noise, which proceeded from Alvaro's people, was
-caused by the apparition of a large ship, which was sweeping
-with its wings all spread upon us; and from which, as our
-vessel was by no means so good a sailer, there was no escaping.
-Down it came, and we soon heard cries of 'Lie to, and send a
-boat aboard!' But Alvaro Ponza and his men, who knew
-what they had to expect from yielding, chose rather to die, or
-at least to run the chance of a combat. The action was sharp,
-but of short duration: I cannot pretend to give you its details,
-and will therefore only say, that Alvaro and every one of his
-crew perished, after fighting like men who preferred death to
-slavery. For myself and Agnes, we were removed into the
-other vessel, which belonged to Mezzomorto, and was commanded
-by Aby Aly Osman, one of his officers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic09.png" width="259" height="223" alt="Alvaro and his crew are killed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Aby Aly looked at me for some time, with much surprise;
-and recognizing me, by my dress, for a Spaniard, he said to me
-in almost pure Castilian: 'Moderate your grief, lady, for having
-fallen into slavery: it is a consolation in our woes to know that
-they are inevitable. But what do I speak of?&mdash;Woe! Happiness
-alone awaits you. You are far too lovely for the homage
-of Christian dogs. Heaven never made you for the pleasure
-of the miserable wretches whom we trample under foot. You
-were formed to receive the admiration of the men of the
-world; a Mussulman alone is worthy to possess such beauty.
-I shall return at once,' he added, 'to Algiers. Albeit I have
-made no other prize, I know our Dey too well not to be pe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>rsuaded
-that with you I shall not be all unwelcome. I have
-no great fear that he will condemn my impatience to place
-within his hands a beauty whom our Prophet must have sent
-on earth expressly for his enjoyment, and to be the light of
-his harem.'</p>
-
-<p>"These compliments, Don Juan, told me too plainly all I
-had to fear, and my tears flowed the faster as he spoke. Aby
-Aly was pleased, however, to interpret my fears after his own
-fashion; and, laughing at my timidity, gave orders to sail
-towards Algiers. Never was port so dreaded by the ship-bound
-habitant of ocean! Sometimes I threw myself on my
-knees, and implored Heaven for its protection; at others, my
-doubting spirit wished for the assistance of man in Christian
-guise who might come to my rescue, or sink the pirate vessel,
-which contained me, in the waves,&mdash;or that these in their
-mercy would engulph us. Then, again, I hoped that my tears,
-and the sorrow which caused them, would render me so unsightly
-that the tyrant to whom they bore me might fly my
-sight with horror. Vain wishes, that my modesty had formed!
-We arrived at the dreaded port; they conducted me to the
-palace; I appeared before Mezzomorto.</p>
-
-<p>"I know not what Aby Aly said on presenting me to his
-master, nor what the latter replied, for they spoke in their own
-tongue; but I thought I could perceive by the looks and
-gestures of the Dey that I had the misfortune to please him.
-But what, after they had conversed thus for some time, was
-addressed to me in my own language, completed my despair
-by confirming me in the opinion I had formed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 201px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic10.png" width="201" height="203" alt="Donna Theodora and Aby Aly before Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Vainly I cast myself before him, offering him whatever
-sum he chose to name as my ransom; in vain did I tempt his
-avarice by the promise of all that I possessed, or could
-command: he answered me by saying, that I offered him in my
-own person more than all the riches in the world could bestow.
-He then conducted me to this apartment, the most splendid
-his palace contains, and from that hour to the present moment,
-he has spared no pains to dispel the grief with which he sees
-me overcome. All his slaves who either dance, sing, or play,
-have tried by his command their skill before me. He removed
-from me Agnes, because he thought that she served to remind
-me of my home, and I am now attended by two aged female
-slaves, whose sole discourse is of love and the Dey, and of the
-happiness which through his favour I may secure.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Need I say, Don Juan, that all their efforts to divert my
-grief add but to its intensity, and that nothing can console me?
-Captive in this detestable palace, which resounds from day to
-day with the cries of innocence oppressed, I suffer less from
-the mere loss of liberty than from the terror which the hated
-tenderness of the Dey inspires. It is true I have hitherto
-found in him but a lover gentle and respectful; but I am not
-the less alarmed. I fear lest, wearied by a semblance of devotion,
-which cannot but constrain him to put on, he should
-resume the rights of power; and this fear agitates me without
-ceasing, making of my life but one long torment."</p>
-
-<p>As Donna Theodora finished these words, she wept; and
-her tears fell like iron on the heart of poor Don Juan. "It is
-not without cause," he at last exclaimed, "that you look on
-the future with dread; I am, myself, as much alarmed for it as
-you. The respect of the Dey is melting faster than even you
-imagine; your submissive lover will soon abandon all the
-mildness he assumes. Alas! I know too well the dangers
-which surround you.</p>
-
-<p>"But," he continued, his voice changing as he spoke, "shall
-I calmly witness your dishonour? Slave though I be, he may
-feel the weight of my despair. Before Mezzomorto injures
-you, I will plunge in his heart&mdash;&mdash;" "Ah! Don Juan," interrupted
-the widow of Cifuentes, "what dreadful project do you
-dream of? For Heaven's sake, think of it no more! With
-what dreadful cruelties would they avenge his death!
-Torments the most refined&mdash;I cannot think of them without
-trembling! Besides, to what end would you encounter such
-a peril? In taking the life of the Dey, would you restore me
-to liberty? Alas! I should be sold to some other tyrant who
-would treat me with less respect than Mezzomorto. No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>!"
-she exclaimed, throwing herself on her knees, "it is thou,
-Almighty Father, who canst alone protect me. Thou knowest
-my weakness, and the infamous designs of him in whose power
-I am placed. Thou, who forbiddest me to save myself by
-poison or the steel, Thou wilt save me in Thy justice from a
-crime that is abhorrent in Thy sight."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, madam," replied Zarata, "Heaven will avert the misfortune
-with which you are threatened! I feel already that
-it inspires me;&mdash;the ideas which flash across my mind are
-doubtless prompted by its mercy. Hear me! The Dey has
-permitted me to see you, only that I might induce you to return
-his love. It is time that I rendered him an account of our
-interview; and, in so doing, I shall deceive him. I will tell
-him that your grief may be overcome; that his conduct towards
-you has already won for him your esteem, and that, from a
-continuance in that conduct, he has everything to hope. Do
-you assist me in my design? When he comes next to visit
-you, let him find you less sorrowful than usual; and appear, at
-least, to be interested in his conversation."</p>
-
-<p>"What a task would you impose on me!" interrupted Donna
-Theodora. "How is my soul, always frank and open, to
-assume such a disguise, and what will be the fruit of so
-painful a deception?" "The Dey," replied Zarata, "will be
-flattered by this change in your deportment, and will be
-anxious to complete his conquest of you by gentle means.
-In the meanwhile, I will endeavour to effect your freedom:
-it will be difficult, I acknowledge; but I am acquainted with
-a slave on whose address and enterprise some reliance may
-be placed.</p>
-
-<p>"I leave you," he continued, "as no time is to be lost: we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>
-shall meet again. I now go to the Dey; whose impetuous
-ardour I hope to restrain by some well-invented fables. And
-you, madam, prepare to receive him; constrain yourself to
-deceit. Let your eyes, which his presence offends, display
-neither hatred nor pride; let your lips, which now unclose but
-to express your affliction, form for him honeyed words of respect;
-you must indirectly promise all, in order that you may concede
-nothing." "Enough!" replied the lady, "I will do as
-you desire, since the danger that impends over me compels
-me to this cruel necessity. Go! Don Juan, employ all your
-thoughts to end my slavery: my freedom will be doubly sweet,
-if owing to you."</p>
-
-<p>As soon as the Toledan repaired to Mezzomorto, the latter
-cried with great emotion: "Well! Alvaro, what news do you
-bring to me of my lovely captive? Have you inclined her
-to listen to my vows? Tell me not that her ceaseless grief
-refuses to yield to my tenderness; or I swear, by the head of
-the Commander of the Faithful himself, that force shall wring
-from her what affection cannot win." "Signor," replied Don
-Juan, "that oath were useless now: you will have no need of
-violence to gratify your passion. Your slave is young,&mdash;has
-never loved;&mdash;and she whose pride disdained the offers of
-the noblest of her native land, in which she lived as queen,
-and here exists in chains, may well ask time to reconcile her
-haughty spirit to her new condition. This, proud as she is,
-habit will soon effect; and even now, I dare affirm, the yoke
-is felt less heavy: the kindness you have shown, the respectful
-cares which she could never have expected from yourself, have
-already lessened her misfortune, and must triumph over her
-disdain. Continue, Signor, this gentle observance; continue&mdash;and
-complete the charm which dissipates her grief, by new
-attentions to each fond caprice; and you will shortly find her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
-yield to your desires, and lose her love of liberty, encircled in
-your arms."</p>
-
-<p>"Your words enrapture me," exclaimed the Dey: "the
-hopes which you inspire engage me to what you will. Yes!
-I will restrain my impatient love, that I may satisfy it the
-more worthily. But, do you not deceive me, or are you not
-deceived yourself? I will this moment see my lovely mistress;
-I will endeavour to discern in her eyes some expression of the
-flattering appearances you speak of." And so saying, he
-hastened to seek Theodora; while the Toledan returned to the
-garden, where he found the slave whose skill he proposed to
-employ in the liberation of the widow of Cifuentes.</p>
-
-<p>This slave, named Francisco, was a Navarrese, and was
-perfectly acquainted with Algiers and its customs, having there
-served two or three masters before he was purchased by the
-Dey as a gardener. "Francisco, my friend," said Don Juan,
-accosting him, "you see me in deep affliction. There is, in
-the harem of the Dey, a young lady of the highest distinction
-of Valencia: she has entreated Mezzomorto to name a ransom
-of any amount; but he refuses to do so, having fallen in love
-with her." "And why should that annoy you so much?"
-asked Francisco. "Because I come from the same town,"
-replied the Toledan; "her relations and my own are intimately
-connected; and there is nothing which I would not do to
-restore her to liberty."</p>
-
-<p>"Well! though that is no easy matter to accomplish," said
-Francisco, "I dare undertake to bring it about, provided her
-relations are disposed to come down pretty handsomely." "Be
-assured of that," replied Don Juan; "I answer for their
-gratitude, and especially for her own. Her name is Donna
-Theodora: she is the widow of a man who has left her imme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>nse
-possessions, and she is generous as rich. For myself, I am a
-Spaniard, and a noble; my word may suffice to convince you
-of what I state."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, again!" resumed the gardener: "on the faith of
-your word then, I will seek a Catalonian renegade whom I
-know, and propose to him&mdash;&mdash;" "What say you?" interrupted
-the Toledan, in alarm;&mdash;"would you confide in a wretch who
-has not been ashamed to abandon his religion for&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Although a renegade," interrupted Francisco, in his turn, "he is
-nevertheless an honest man. He is rather deserving of your
-pity than contempt; and, if the crime he has committed can
-be excused at all, I think he may be pardoned. I will tell you
-his history in a few words.</p>
-
-<p>"He was born in Barcelona, where he practised as a surgeon.
-Finding, however, that he was worse off there than his patients,
-he resolved to establish himself at Carthagena, thinking of
-course to better his condition. He accordingly embarked
-with his mother, for that town; but they were taken on the
-way by a pirate, who brought them hither. They were sold;
-his mother to a Moor, and he to a Turk, who used him so
-badly that he assumed the turban to release himself from
-slavery, as also to enable him to free his parent, who was no
-better off in the house of the Moor, her master. With this
-view, he entered into service with the Dey, and made several
-voyages, in which he gained four hundred patacoons: he
-employed a portion of this in the ransom of his mother; and,
-to make the best use of the remainder, took it in his head to
-scour the seas on his own account.</p>
-
-<p>"Appointed captain, he purchased a small open vessel, and
-with some Turkish seamen who had sailed with him before, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
-set out to cruize between Alicant and Carthagena, and returned
-to Algiers, laden with booty. He repeated this several times;
-and succeeded always so well that at last he was able to arm
-a large vessel, with which he made several prizes, but was in
-the end unfortunate. One day, he was imprudent enough to
-attack a French frigate, which so mauled his ship that it was
-with difficulty he escaped, and regained Algiers. As pirates
-are judged here, like their betters elsewhere, according to
-their success, the renegade gained the contempt of the Turks
-as the reward of his misfortune. Disgusted by this injustice,
-he sold his vessel, and retired to a house without the town;
-where, since then, he has lived on the produce of his ship, and
-what remained of the fruits of his former enterprises, in company
-with his mother, and attended by several slaves.</p>
-
-<p>"I often go to see him, for he served with me under my first
-master, and we are intimate friends. He conceals nothing
-from me; and, only three days ago, he told me, with tears in
-his eyes, that, despite his wealth, he had known no peace since
-he had renounced his faith; that to appease the remorse which
-preyed on him without ceasing, he was sometimes tempted to
-trample his turban under foot, and, at the risk of being
-burned alive, to repair, by a public avowal of his repentance,
-the insult he had offered to the Mediator whom in secret he
-still adored.</p>
-
-<p>"Such is the renegade whom I am about to consult," continued
-Francisco: "surely, a man like him may be trusted by
-you. I will seek him, under pretext of going to the bagnio; I
-will represent to him, that instead of consuming his life in vain
-regret at his exclusion from the bosom of the church, he should
-act so as to assure his forgiveness and reception; that to do
-this he has only to equip a vessel, as if, disgusted with a life of
-inaction, he intended to resume his piracies; and that, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>
-this vessel, we may gain the coast of Valencia, where, once
-arrived, Donna Theodora will give him wherewith to pass the
-remainder of his life in tranquillity at Barcelona."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes! my dear Francisco," cried Don Juan, transported
-with joy at the hope thus raised by the Navarrese slave,&mdash;"yes!
-you may promise all this, and more, to your renegade
-friend; both he and yourself may be sure of a rich reward.
-But, do you conceive it possible to execute the project you
-conceive?" "There may be difficulties," replied Francisco,
-"which I do not contemplate; but, rely on it, that I and my
-friend will overcome them all." "Alvaro," he added, as they
-parted, "I hope well for our enterprise; and I trust that, when
-we meet again, I shall have good news to tell you."</p>
-
-<p>With what anxiety did the Toledan await the return of
-Francisco! At last he came. "I have seen the renegade,"
-he said, "and have opened to him our design. After much
-deliberation, we have arranged that, to save time, he shall
-purchase a vessel already fitted for sea; that, as it is permitted
-to employ slaves as sailors, he shall take with him those who
-now serve him; that, however, to guard against suspicion, he
-shall also engage some dozen others, as if he really designed
-what he pretended; but that, two days before the time fixed
-for his departure, he shall embark, by night, with his own
-people, and weigh anchor, after coming for us with his boat
-to a little door which leads from the garden, close by the
-sea. This is our plan; of which you can inform the captive
-lady, assuring her that in a fortnight from this time she shall
-be free."</p>
-
-<p>How great was the joy of Zarata, to be able to convey
-such welcome intelligence to the Donna Theodora! To<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
-obtain permission to see her, on the following day, he sought,
-without appearing to do so, Mezzomorto; and, having met
-with him: "Signor," said he, "dare I enquire how you have
-found your lovely slave? Are my hopes fulfilled?&mdash;" "I am
-delighted," interrupted the Dey; "her eyes no longer shun
-the tender glance of mine; her words, which heretofore presented
-but the picture of her griefs, no longer breathe complaint;
-and for the first time, she seemed to listen to my own
-without aversion.</p>
-
-<p>"It is to you, Alvaro," he continued, "that I owe this happy
-change: I see," he added, good-humouredly, "that you are in
-favour with the ladies of your country. I will trust you, however,
-to speak with her again, that you may finish well what
-you have so well begun. Exhaust thy fertile genius to attain the
-bliss I seek, and thy chains are turned to gold. Yes! I swear,
-by the spirit of our Holy Prophet, that I will restore you to
-your home, so loaded with my favours, that your Christian
-friends shall not believe you, when you tell them you return
-from slavery."</p>
-
-<p>The Toledan, although somewhat conscience-stricken, did
-not fail to continue Mezzomorto in the flattering error he indulged.
-Affecting gratitude for his kindness, and under pretext
-of hastening its accomplishment, he left the Dey at once to
-see the charming slave; and, finding her alone in her apartment,
-he lost no time in informing her of what the Navarrese
-and the renegade intended on her behalf.</p>
-
-<p>The lady was of course greatly delighted to hear that already
-such strides were making towards her deliverance. "Is it
-possible," she cried, "that I may hope again to see Valencia,
-my own dear native land? Joy, joy!" she continued,&mdash;"after
-so many dangers and alarms, to live in peace once more with
-you! Ah! Don Juan, this is happiness indeed! Can I doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
-that your heart partakes of it? Remember, Zarata, that, in
-snatching me from the Dey, you bear away your wife!"</p>
-
-<p>"Alas!" replied the Toledan, sighing deeply, "how delicious
-were those words to my expecting soul, did not the
-remembrance of an unhappy aspirant for thy love dash their
-sweet fragrance with alloy! Pardon me, madam, that at such
-a moment I should think of aught but you! But you must
-acknowledge that a friend like Mendoza merits thy pity as my
-own. It was for thee he left Valencia; it was in search of thee
-that he became a slave; and I feel sure that, at Tunis, he is
-not bowed down so much by the weight of his chains, as with
-despair at failing to avenge thee."</p>
-
-<p>"He merited indeed a happier lot," said Donna Theodora;
-"and I call Heaven to witness that I am deeply affected at
-what he suffers on my account. Yes! I accuse myself of the
-pains which he endures; but, such is my destiny, my heart
-can never be their recompense."</p>
-
-<p>This conversation was interrupted by the coming of the two
-old dames who attended on the widow of Cifuentes. Don
-Juan immediately assumed the confidant of the Dey: "Yes,
-fair lady," said he to Theodora, "you have deprived him of
-liberty who keeps you in chains. Mezzomorto, your master
-and my own, the most loving and the most amiable of Turks,
-is your slave. Treat him with the favour you now deign to
-show him, and soon will a joyous end arrive to his sufferings
-and your own." Zarata bowed respectfully as he pronounced
-these words, the purport of which was well understood by the
-lady to whom they were addressed, and left the apartment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 224px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic11.png" width="224" height="234" alt="Portrait of Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p>
-<p>During the following week, affairs remained in this position
-in the palace of the Dey. In the meantime, however, the
-renegade had purchased a small sloop, and was making preparations
-for its putting to sea; but, six days before it was
-ready, a new subject for alarm occurred to Don Juan.</p>
-
-<p>Mezzomorto sent for him, and, taking him into his cabinet:
-"Alvaro," he said, "thou art free!&mdash;free to return when thou
-wilt to Spain; the reward that I have promised now awaits
-thee. I have seen my lovely slave this day;&mdash;ah! how unlike
-the creature whose sorrow filled my breast with anguish!
-Daily does the feeling of captivity grow weaker; and so bright
-are now her charms, that I have resolved at once to make her
-mine: in two days she shall be my wife."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
-<p>Don Juan changed colour at these words, and, with all the
-effort that he made to constrain them, could not conceal his
-trouble and surprise from the Dey, who asked him the cause of
-this emotion.</p>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied the Toledan, with embarrassment, "I cannot
-control my astonishment at hearing one of the greatest
-princes of the Ottoman empire avow his intention of so far
-humbling himself as to wed with a slave. I know that this is
-not without precedent; but, for the illustrious Mezzomorto,
-who might aspire to the daughter of the highest in the service
-of the Sultan, to"&mdash;"I agree to what you say," interrupted the
-Dey; "I might marry with the daughter of the Grand Vizier,
-and even hope to succeed him in his office: but I have great
-wealth, and small ambition. I prefer repose, and the delights
-I enjoy here in my vice-royalty, to the dangerous honours to
-which we are no sooner elevated, than the fear of our sovereign,
-or the jealousy of the envious who surround him, prepares for
-us a fall. Besides, I love this slave; and her beauty and
-virtue render her worthy of the rank to which my affection
-calls her.</p>
-
-<p>"It is however necessary," he added, "that she should at
-once renounce her religion, to attain the honour for which I
-destine her. Think you that absurd prejudices will induce her
-to despise that honour?" "No, Signor," replied Don Juan;
-"I am persuaded that on reflection, she will hold her faith as
-too small a sacrifice to your love. But, permit me to say that
-this should not be proposed too hastily. There is no doubt
-that the idea of abandoning the creed she lisped almost on her
-mother's bosom will at first revolt her: give her therefore time
-to reflect on the inducements to a change. When she remembers
-that, instead of using your power over her person, and
-then abandoning her to grow old among the neglected slaves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
-of your caprice, you seek to unite her to yourself for ever, by a
-marriage which crowns her with honour, her gratitude&mdash;her
-woman's vanity&mdash;will by degrees vanquish her scruples.
-Defer therefore for a week, at least, the execution of your
-design."</p>
-
-<p>The Dey remained for some time in deep thought: the
-delay that his confidant proposed suited but ill to his desires;
-nevertheless, the counsel appeared judicious. "I yield to
-your advice, Alvaro," at last he said, "impatient as I am to
-press the lovely captive to my heart. I will wait a week, as
-you request. Go!" he continued, "see her at once, and dispose
-her to fulfil my wishes, when that time shall have passed.
-I am anxious that Alvaro, who so well has tutored the fair
-one to my will, should have the honour of tendering to her my
-hand."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan hastened to the apartment of Theodora, and
-informed her of what had passed between the Dey and himself,
-that she might conduct herself accordingly. He also informed
-her that in six days the vessel would be ready; and, as she
-was anxious to know how, when the time arrived, she was to
-escape, seeing that all the doors of the rooms she had to
-traverse, in the usual way of reaching the staircase, were well
-secured: "Let not that embarrass you," he answered; "a
-window of your ante-room looks upon the garden; and you
-may thence descend, by a ladder which I will take care to
-provide."</p>
-
-<p>The six days added their units to eternity, and Francisco
-informed the Toledan that the renegade was prepared to sail
-on the coming night: you may guess with what impatience it
-was expec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>ted. It came, and, graciously for the fugitives,
-shrouded in its thickest mantle to cover their flight. At the
-appointed moment, Don Juan placed the ladder against the
-window of the ante-room, and the watchful captive hastened to
-descend, trembling with agitation and suspense. She reached
-the ground in safety, and leaning on the arm of the Toledan,
-the latter lost no time in conducting her to the little door
-which opened on the sea.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 120px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic12.png" width="120" height="222" alt="Donna Theodora descends the ladder" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They walked with hasty steps, enjoying, by anticipation, the
-happiness of recovered freedom; but fortune, not even now
-disposed to favour these unhappy lovers, plunged them into
-grief more dire than they had yet experienced, and of a nature
-that they least expected.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 147px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic13.png" width="147" height="169" alt="Donna Theodora and Zarata hurry away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They had already left the garden, and were advancing to
-the shore, where the sloop awaited them, when a man whom
-they took for an accomplice in their escape, and of whom,
-therefore, they had no suspicion, came upon Don Juan, sword
-in hand, and thrust it in his breast. "Perfidious Alvaro Ponza!"
-he exclaimed, "it is thus that Don Fabricio de Mendoza
-punishes a base seducer: you deserve not that I should attack
-you openly as an honest man."</p>
-
-<p>The Toledan could not resist the force of the blow, which
-stretched him on the earth; and, at the same moment, Donna
-Theodora, whom he supported, struck with surprise, with grief
-and fear, fell in a swoon beside him. "Ah! Mendoza," cried
-Don Juan, "what have you done? It is your friend whose
-bosom you have pierced!" "Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed
-Don Fabricio, "is it possible that I have assassinated&mdash;&mdash;"
-"I pardon you my death," interrupted Zarata; "destiny is
-alone to blame, or rather it has so willed it, to end our <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>misfortunes.
-Yes! my dear Mendoza, I die contented, since I
-restore to your hands the Donna Theodora, who will convince
-you that my friendship for you has never belied itself for an
-instant."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic14.png" width="268" height="251" alt="Zarata stabbed by Mendoza" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Too generous friend," said Don Fabricio, prompted by a
-feeling of despair, "you shall not die alone; the same point
-which wounded you shall punish your assassin: if my error may
-excuse my crime, it cannot console me for its committal." As
-he spoke, he turned his sword against his breast, plunged it
-therein nearly to the hilt, and fell upon the body of D<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>on Juan,
-who fainted less from loss of blood, than from horror at the
-frenzy of his friend.</p>
-
-<p>Francisco and the renegade, who were not ten paces from
-the spot, and who had their reasons for not having defended
-the slave Alvaro, were amazed to hear the last words of Don
-Fabricio, and still more so to witness his last act. They had
-heard enough, however, to know that he had been mistaken,
-and that the wounded pair were friends, instead of deadly
-enemies, as they had believed. They now therefore hastened
-to their assistance; but, finding them both senseless, as also
-the Donna Theodora, they were at a loss how to proceed.
-Francisco advised that they should content themselves with
-bearing off the lady, leaving the two cavaliers on the shore;
-where, according to him, if they were not already dead, they
-would soon be so. The renegade, however, was not of this
-opinion: he said that it would be cruel to abandon the two
-unfortunates; that their wounds were probably not mortal, and
-that he would look to them when on board his vessel, where he
-had been provident enough to stow away all the implements of
-his ancient trade.</p>
-
-<p>To this, Francisco made no objection; so, as they both
-agreed that there was no inducement to stay where they were,
-by the assistance of some slaves, they carried the unhappy
-widow of Cifuentes, and her still more unfortunate lovers, to
-the boat, and soon joined their ship. There, no time was lost
-in spreading the sails; while some upon their knees poured
-forth to Heaven the most fervent prayers which fear could
-suggest, that they might escape the cruisers of the Dey.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic15.png" width="268" height="164" alt="Theodora, Zarata and Mendoza are carried to the boat" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
-<p>The renegade, having left the management of the vessel to a
-French slave whom he could trust, gave his attention to his
-passengers. The lady, of course, claimed his first care; and,
-having restored her to life, he took his measures so skilfully,
-that Don Fabricio and the Toledan also speedily recovered
-their senses. Donna Theodora, who had swooned the instant
-Don Juan was struck, was greatly astonished on her recovery
-to behold Mendoza; and, although she soon comprehended
-that the latter had wounded himself for having incautiously
-assailed his friend, she could not look upon him but as the
-murderer of the man she loved.</p>
-
-<p>"You would have been affected, Don Cleophas, could you
-have seen these three persons at the moment I speak of: the
-deathlike stillness from which they had emerged would not
-have commanded half your pity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> There was Donna Theodora,
-gazing on Don Juan with eyes which spoke all the feelings of
-a soul filled with grief and despair; while the two friends, each
-fondly turning upon her their dying looks, were striving to
-control the sighs which rent their hearts."</p>
-
-<p>The scene lasted for some time in silence, which Mendoza
-was the first to break. "Madam," said he, addressing Donna
-Theodora, "I die; but I have the satisfaction of knowing you
-are free. Would to Heaven that thy liberty were owing to
-myself! But it has decreed that you should owe that obligation
-to him whose image you cherish in your heart. I love too
-much my rival to complain; and trust that the blow which my
-blindness dealt may be too light to prevent his sweet reward."
-The lady answered not this touching speech. Insensible, for
-the time, to the fate of Mendoza, she could not restrain the
-feelings of aversion which the condition of the Toledan, over
-whom she hung, inspired in her bosom towards him who had
-caused it.</p>
-
-<p>The regenade surgeon now examined and probed the wounds
-of the two friends. Beginning with Zarata, he pronounced it
-favourable, inasmuch as the sword had only glanced through
-the muscles of the left breast, without touching any of the
-vital parts. This report, while it lessened the grief of Donna
-Theodora, gave great delight to Don Fabricio, who, turning
-his head towards the lady, exclaimed, "Madam, I die without
-regret, since the life of my friend is out of danger: you will
-forgive me now."</p>
-
-<p>He pronounced these words with so much pathos, that the
-widow of Cifuentes was moved beyond expression. As she
-no longer feared for Don Juan, she ceased to hate Mendoza,
-and beheld in him now but an object of the deepest pity.
-"Ah! Don Fabricio," she exclaimed, her generous nature
-resuming its influence, "let them attend to your wound;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> it
-is, I trust, not more dangerous than that of your friend. Let
-not your feelings interfere to render the cares of those who
-love you useless. Live!&mdash;if I cannot yield felicity to you, at
-least I will never bestow it on another. Friendship and compassion
-shall restrain the hand that I would give to Don Juan:
-I will sacrifice for you, as he has done, the dearest wishes of
-my heart."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic16.png" width="268" height="209" alt="Mendoza addresses Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Fabricio would have replied; but the surgeon, fearing
-that in his case, as in trouble generally, talking would only
-increase the ill, imposed silence, while he examined his wound.
-On so doing, he saw that it was likely to prove mortal, as the
-sword had penetrated the lungs, and the consequent loss of
-blood had been excessive. Having however dressed it with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>
-care, he left the cavaliers to repose; and that a matter so
-essential to them, in their present state, might be secured, he
-took with him, as he left the cabin, Donna Theodora, whose
-presence seemed likely to disturb it.</p>
-
-<p>But despite all these precautions, Mendoza was seized with
-fever, and towards midnight the wound began to bleed afresh.
-The renegade then thought it right to inform him that all hope
-of recovery was over, and that, if he had anything which he
-wished to communicate to his friend, or to Donna Theodora,
-he had no time to lose. The Toledan was greatly affected on
-hearing the declaration of the surgeon: for Don Fabricio, he
-listened to it with indifference. He calmly requested that
-the regenade would summon the widow of Cifuentes to his
-side.</p>
-
-<p>Donna Theodora hastened to the dying man, in a state more
-easy to conceive than to describe: tears streamed down her
-cheeks, and sobs choked her utterance;&mdash;so violent was her
-affliction, that Mendoza could not repress his agitation at the sight.
-"Madam," he exclaimed, "I am unworthy of the precious
-drops which dim those lovely eyes: restrain them, I entreat
-you, and listen to me for a few moments. And you also, my
-dear Zarata," he continued, observing the excess of grief in
-which his friend indulged, "control your feelings for a while,
-and hear me. I well know that to you this separation is a
-painful shock; your friendship is too well assured for me to
-doubt it; but wait, both of you, until the earth shall have
-hidden me from your sight; and honour, with those marks of
-tenderness and pity, my silent grave.</p>
-
-<p>"Suspend until then your affliction; I feel it now more than
-the loss of life. Let me relate to you the way by which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
-fate that pursues me conducted me this night to the fatal shore
-which I have stained with the blood of my friend, and my
-own. You must be anxious to learn how it happened that I
-mistook Don Juan for Alvaro; I will tell you, if the short time
-which it is permitted me to live will enable me to do so.</p>
-
-<p>"Some hours after the vessel in which I was had quitted
-that wherein I had left Don Juan, we met a French privateer,
-which attacked and took the Tunisian pirate, and landed us
-near Alicant. I was no sooner free, than I thought on the
-ransom of my friend; and, to effect this I went to Valencia to
-obtain the necessary funds. There, learning that at Barcelona
-some brothers of the Holy Order of Redemption were just
-about to sail for Algiers, I set out for the former town. Before
-leaving Valencia, however, I begged my uncle the governor,
-Don Francisco de Mendoza, to use all his influence with the
-court of Madrid to obtain the pardon of Zarata, that, on his
-return with me, he might be reinstated in his former possessions,
-which had been confiscated in consequence of the death
-of the Duke of Naxera.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as we had arrived at Algiers, I went to all the places
-frequented by the slaves; but in vain did I run them through,
-I found not the object of my search. This morning, I met
-the regenade Catalonian, to whom this vessel belongs, and
-whom I recognized as a man who had formerly attended my
-uncle. I told him the motive of my voyage, and requested
-him to make strict inquiry for my friend. 'I am sorry,' he
-replied, 'that it is out of my power to serve you. I leave
-Algiers to-night, with a lady of Valencia, one of the Dey's
-slaves.' 'And who is this lady,' I demanded. 'She is called
-the Donna Theodora,' was his startling answer.</p>
-
-<p>"The surprise which I exhibited at this information told t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>he
-regenade at once that I was interested in this lady's fate. He
-therefore informed me of the design which he had formed for
-her liberation; and as, during his recital, he mentioned the
-slave Alvaro, I had no doubt that it was Alvaro Ponza himself
-of whom he spoke. When he had finished: 'Assist me
-in my resentment!' I exclaimed, with transport; 'furnish
-me with the means of avenging myself upon my enemy!'
-'You shall soon be satisfied,' replied the regenade; 'but,
-tell me first what subject of complaint you have against this
-same Alvaro.' I related to him all our history; which, when
-he had heard: 'Enough!' he cried, 'you shall accompany
-me to-night. They will point out to you your rival; and, when
-you have punished him for his villany, you shall take his place,
-and join with us in conducting Donna Theodora to Valencia.'</p>
-
-<p>"Nevertheless, my impatience did not cause me to forget Don
-Juan. I left the money for his ransom in the hands of Francisco
-Capati, an Italian merchant, who resides at Algiers, and
-who promised me to effect it, if by any means he could discover
-him. At last, the night arrived; I went to the house of the
-regenade, who led me, as he had promised to the sea shore.
-We concealed ourselves near a little door, whence shortly
-issued a man who came directly towards us, and, pointing to
-two persons who followed him, said 'There are Alvaro and
-Donna Theodora.'</p>
-
-<p>"Furious at this sight, I drew my sword, ran to meet the
-unfortunate Alvaro, and, imagining that it was my hated rival
-whom I struck, I thrust my weapon into the bosom of the
-faithful friend whom I had come to seek. But, Heaven be
-praised!" he continued with emotion, "my error will not cost
-him his life, nor cause eternal grief to Donna Theodora."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Mendoza," interrupted the lady, "you do injustice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
-to my tears; never shall I console myself for your own loss.
-Even should I espouse your friend, it will be only to unite our
-griefs: your love, your friendship, your misfortunes will ever
-be present to our recollection,&mdash;the sole topic for our tongues."
-"It is too much, madam," replied Don Fabrido; "I am not
-worthy thus to trouble thy repose. Permit, I entreat thee,
-Zarata to call thee his, on the day when he shall have revenged
-thy wrongs on Alvaro Ponza." "Don Alvaro," said the widow
-of Cifuentes, "is no more; on the same day that he forced
-me from my home, he was killed by the pirate who enslaved
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"Madam," replied Mendoza, "my wavering soul rejoices at
-the welcome news; my friend will be the sooner happy.
-Follow without control your mutual inclinations. I see, with
-joy, the hour approach which removes from you, for ever, the
-obstacle which your generous compassion has raised against
-your happiness. May your days glide in peace, and in an
-union which the envy of fortune may never dare to trouble!
-Adieu, Madam;&mdash;adieu, Don Juan!&mdash;think sometimes, in
-your joy, of one who has never loved but you."</p>
-
-<p>Donna Theodora and the Toledan were unable to reply to
-this affectionate address, except by tears, which redoubled as
-he spoke. Mendoza, therefore, perceiving their grief, thus
-continued: "But I have done with earth! Death already points
-me out my way; and I have not yet supplicated the Divine
-mercy to pardon me for having, by my own folly, shortened a
-life of which it should have alone disposed." He spoke no
-more; but, raising his eyes to Heaven, appeared to be engaged
-in mental prayer for its forgiveness; when a gurgling in his
-throat told that a last outbreaking of his wound had taken
-place, and he expired.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
-<p>Don Juan, as he heard the fatal rattling which indicated what
-was passing, was maddened with despair. His hands sought
-his own wound; and tearing it open, he would have soon
-joined his friend, but that the renegade and Francisco threw
-themselves upon him, and withheld his fury: Donna Theodora,
-woman-like, forgetful of her own woes at sight of the transport
-of the Toledan, hastened to soothe him by her tenderness; and&mdash;what
-will not love do?&mdash;soon brought him to himself: in
-short, the lover triumphed over the friend. But, if reason
-regained its sway, it was only to resist the insensate frenzy of
-his grief, and not to weaken its sentiment.</p>
-
-<p>The renegade, who, among the many things which he was
-bearing from Algiers, happened to have balsam of Arabia, and
-other precious requisites, undertook to embalm the body of
-Mendoza, at the request of Donna Theodora and her now unrivalled
-lover; who were anxious to render to their friend's
-remains all proper honours of sepulture at Valencia. Love,
-with them, did nothing but sigh and moan, during the voyage;
-not so, however, with their companions: they were rejoiced by
-favourable winds, which soon brought them in sight of the
-coast of Spain, to the inexpressible delight of those, which
-included the whole crew, who had never expected to behold it
-again.</p>
-
-<p>When the vessel had happily arrived at the port of Denia,
-every one took his own course. For the widow of Cifuentes
-and the Toledan, they sent a courier to Valencia, with letters
-for the governor and the friends of Donna Theodora. Alas!
-while the intelligence of the return of this lady brought joy to
-her relations, that of the death of his nephew caused the deepest
-affliction to Don Francisco de Mendoza.</p>
-
-<p>The poor old man, accompanied by the relatives of the rel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>eased
-lady, lost no time in repairing to Denia; and there,
-insisting on beholding the body of the unhappy Don Fabricio,
-he bathed it with his tears, uttering such deep complaints as
-melted the hearts of the beholders. Then, turning to the
-Toledan, he requested to be informed of the unfortunate events
-which had brought his nephew to so sad an end.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic17.png" width="266" height="209" alt="Don Francisco de Mendoza mourning his nephew" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I will tell you," replied Zarata: "far from seeking to efface
-them from my memory, I feel a mournful pleasure in recalling
-them to my mind, and in indulging my grief." He then related
-to Don Francisco all that had occurred; and this recital, while
-it brought fresh tears to his own eyes, added to those which
-flowed from those of his aged listener. Meanwhile the friends
-of Theodora were occupied in testifying the delight which was
-elidted by her unexpected return, and in felicitating her on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> the
-miraculous manner in which she had been delivered from the
-tyranny of Mezzomorto.</p>
-
-<p>After all things had been satisfactorily explained, they placed
-the body of Don Fabricio in a hearse, and bore it to Valencia.
-It was not, however, buried there, because, as the period of the
-vice-royalty of Don Francisco was nearly expired, that nobleman
-was preparing to return to Madrid, where he had resolved
-that his nephew should be interred. While the preparations
-for the funeral were making, the widow of Cifuentes was employed
-in loading Francisco and the renegade with the fruits of
-her gratitude. The Navarrese retired to his own province, and
-the surgeon returned with his mother to Barcelona, where he
-sought once more the bosom of the church, in which he lives
-to this day snugly enough. And now, when all was completed,
-Don Francisco received an express from the court, conveying
-the pardon of Don Juan, which the king, notwithstanding his
-consideration for the house of Naxera, had been unable to
-refuse to all the Mendozas who had united to ask the grace.
-This pardon was the more welcome to the Toledan, inasmuch
-as it gave him liberty to accompany the body of his friend to
-its last home, which he would not otherwise have dared to do.</p>
-
-<p>At last the sorrowful procession, attended by a numerous
-concourse of noble mourners, set out for Madrid; where it
-was no sooner arrived, than all that remained of Don Fabricio
-was deposited in yonder church, where Zarata and the Donna
-Theodora, with the permission of the Mendozas, erected a
-splendid monument to his memory. Nor did they bury their
-grief with their friend: they bore at least its outward sign for
-the unusual space of an entire year, that the world might know
-how deeply they deplored his loss.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic18.png" width="265" height="210" alt="Zarata falls from his horse" />
-</div>
-
-<p>After having exhibited such signal proofs of their affection
-for Mendoza, they married; but by an inconceivable effort of
-the force of friendship, Don Juan for a length of time still
-preserved a melancholy that not even love could banish.
-Don Fabricio, his dear Don Fabricio, was ever present in his
-thoughts by day; and, by night, he saw him in his dreams, and
-mostly as he had beheld him when the last sigh escaped him.
-His mind, however, began to be relieved from these saddening
-visions,&mdash;the charms of his beloved Theodora, which had ever
-possessed his soul, commenced their triumph over his baneful
-remembrances; in short, Don Juan once more touched upon
-happiness. But, a few days since, while hunting, he was thrown
-from his horse, fell upon his head, and fractured his skull.
-Physicians could not save him; he is just dead: and it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>
-Theodora whom you see, in the arms of the two women, and
-who will probably soon follow him to the grave.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 229px;">
-<img src="images/ch15tailpiece.png" width="229" height="177" alt="Tailpiece of a still-life with fruit" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE DREAMERS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez, as soon as Asmodeus had
-finished this narrative, said to him: "A very
-pretty picture of friendship have you presented!
-But, rare though it be to see two men so bound by
-love as the Toledan and Don Fabricio, I imagine it were quite
-impossible to find two rivals of the softer sex, who could so
-generously sacrifice to each other, for friendship's sake, the
-man they love."</p>
-
-<p>"Doubtless!" replied the Devil: "that is a sight the world
-ne'er saw, and one that, as it grows older, it probably never
-will see. Women have no affection for each other. I will
-suppose two who think themselves friends; I will even go the
-length to suppose that they never speak ill of one another when
-apart,&mdash;so extraordinary are the ties which bind them. Well!
-see them together; and incline the least towards the one, and
-rage shall fill the bosom of the other; not that she cares an
-atom for yourself, but because she would be preferred by all.
-Such is the character of woman: jealousy occupies too large a
-portion of her heart to leave room for friendship."</p>
-
-<p>"The history of these peerless friends," replied Don Cleophas,
-"possesses a slight touch of the romantic, and has led us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
-somewhat from our object. The night is far advanced, and we
-shall soon behold the brilliant heralds of the coming day: I
-expect of you, therefore, a new pleasure. I perceive a great
-number of persons still sleeping, and wish you to satisfy my
-curiosity by informing me of their dreams." "Willingly!"
-replied the Demon. "You are, I see, an admirer of <i>les
-tableaux changeants;</i> I will gratify your taste."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks!" said Zambullo: "I expect that I am about to
-hear of rare absurdities in these same dreams." "And why?"
-asked the Cripple: "you, so well versed in Ovid, do you not
-know that it is towards break of day that dreams visit the mind
-with presages of truth, because at that time the soul is disengaged
-from the vapours of digestion?" "Oh! as to that,"
-replied the Student, "despite of master Ovid, I have no faith
-in dreams." "You are wrong, then," exclaimed Asmodeus:
-"you should neither treat them as fantastic visions, nor yet
-believe them all; they are liars, who sometimes speak the truth.
-The emperor Augustus, whose head had well adorned a
-student's shoulders, despised not dreams which turned upon
-his fate; and nearly took it in his head, at the battle of
-Philippi, to strike his tent, on hearing of a dream which regarded
-himself. I could cite a thousand examples to you,
-which would convince you of your folly in this respect; but I
-forbear to do so, that I may at once satisfy the new desire
-which prompts you.</p>
-
-<p>"We will begin by this handsome mansion on our right. Its
-proprietor, whom you see ensconced in that superb apartment,
-is a liberal and gallant noble. He is dreaming that he is at
-the opera, listening to a new prima donna; and that the voice
-of the syren is just enslaving his heart.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next apartment lies the countess, his wife, who love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>s
-play to madness. She dreams that she has no money, and that
-she is pawning her diamonds with a jeweller, who is lending
-her thereon three hundred pistoles, deducting only a very
-moderate discount.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next house, on the same side, lives a marquis of the
-same stamp as the count, and who, for the moment, is in love
-with a celebrated, but capricious, beauty. He dreams that he
-is borrowing largely of an usurer for the purpose of securing her
-to himself; while his steward, who is sleeping at the top of the
-house, is dreaming that he is growing rich as fast as his master
-is hastening to ruin. Well! what think you of these dreams?
-Is there anything in them so extravagant?" "No! on my
-life," replied Don Cleophas, "I begin to think Ovid is right:
-but who is that man whom I see, lying with his mustachios in
-paper, and preserving in his sleep an air of gravity which would
-indicate that he is no ordinary cavalier." "He is a country
-gentleman," replied the Demon,&mdash;"a viscount of Aragon,
-imbued with all the pride of that province. His soul at this
-moment swims in delight; he dreams that he is with a grandee
-who is yielding to him precedence in a public ceremony.</p>
-
-<p>"But," continued Asmodeus, "I observe in the same house two
-brothers, apothecaries, whose dreams are particularly unpleasant.
-One of them is reading, in his sleep, an ordinance which
-decrees that doctors shall not be paid, except when they have
-cured their patients; and his brother is occupied with a similar
-law, which ordains that medical attendants shall head the procession
-at the funeral of all who die in their hands." "I could
-wish," interrupted Zambullo, "that these decrees were as true
-as they would be just; and that your doctor were thus compelled
-to be present at the burial of his innocent patient, as a
-<i>lieutenant criminel</i>, in France, is bound to witness the execution
-of the guilty wretch whom he has condemned." "I like yo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>ur
-comparison," exclaimed the Devil: "it might be said in such
-a case, however, that the one merely superintends the execution
-of his own sentence; but that the other, having already
-performed his especial function, pursues his victim after death."</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried the Student, "who is that personage rubbing
-his eyes, and rising in such tremendous haste?" "He," replied
-Asmodeus, "is a noble signor who is soliciting an appointment,
-as governor, in the Indies. A frightful dream has startled
-him from sleep: he fancied himself at court, and that the
-premier had passed him with averted eyes. And there, too, is
-a youthful damsel, waking to the world, not over contented
-with her dream. She is a lady of rank, and not more handsome
-than discreet. She has two lovers; for one of whom she
-nourishes a passion the most tender, and for the other an aversion,
-almost amounting to horror. Well! in her sleep just now,
-she saw, upon his knees before her, the gallant she detests;
-and he was so impassioned, so assiduous, that had she not
-awakened, she would have treated him with even greater kindness
-than she ever bestowed on the lover whom she favours:
-nature, during sleep, signor Student, throws off the yoke of
-reason, and of virtue.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes upon that house at the corner of this street:
-it belongs to an attorney. Behold him and his wife sleeping
-in twin bedsteads, in that room hung with ancient tapestry,
-embroidered with grotesque figures. The man of law dreams
-that he is about to visit one of your hospitals for the charitable
-purpose of relieving a sick client with his own money; while
-the lady imagines that her husband is driving out of his house
-a sturdy clerk, of whom he has become suddenly jealous."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic01.png" width="261" height="216" alt="The lady of rank's dream" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I hear ungentle snorings break on the stillness round us,"
-said Leandro Perez; "and I fancy they proceed from yonder
-plump old man, whom I discern in the house adjoining that of
-the attorney." "Precisely so," answered Asmodeus. "It is a
-canon chanting in his sleep his <i>Benedicite</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour, there, is a silk-mercer, who vends his costly
-wares, at his own price, to titled customers, for their time.
-His lordly ledger is inscribed with debts amounting to above a
-hundred thousand ducats; and he is dreaming that his debtors
-are bringing him their gold; while his creditors are horrified
-with visions of his own bankruptcy." "These dreams," said the
-Student, "certainly have not emerged from Sleep's dark temple
-by the same gate." "I fancy not, indeed," replied the Demon:
-"the first has passed by the ivory portal of the leaden god,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
-and the other from that of horn.</p>
-
-<p>"The house adjoining that of the mercer is occupied by a
-celebrated bookseller. He has recently published a work
-which has been extremely successful. On bringing it out, he
-promised to give the author fifty pistoles, in addition to the
-price agreed for, should the book run to a second edition;
-and he is at this moment dreaming that he is reprinting it without
-informing the unfortunate scribe of the fact."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo, "there is no need to ask from
-which door that dream proceeded; and I have not the slightest
-doubt of its proving one of the least deceitful visions he ever had
-in his life. I am perfectly acquainted with those worthy gentlemen,
-the booksellers. Heaven help the poor authors who fall
-into their hands! To cheat them, is the mystery of their craft."
-"Nothing can be more true," replied the Cripple; "but, it
-appears, you have yet to become acquainted with those as
-worthy gentry&mdash;the authors. They are six of one and half-a-dozen
-of the other: it is impossible to decide on their relative
-merits. By the bye, I will relate to you an adventure which
-occurred not a century ago, in this very town, and which will
-enlighten you on the subject.</p>
-
-<p>"Three booksellers were supping together at a tavern; and
-the conversation naturally turned on the scarcity of good
-modern authors. Thereupon, one of them said to his brethren:
-'My friends, I must tell you, however, in confidence, that I
-have been in luck's way within these few days. I have
-purchased a manuscript, for which I paid rather dearly, it is true,
-but it is by an author&mdash;oh! it is uncoined gold.' One of those
-whom he addressed now interrupted him; and boasted of
-having been equally fortunate on the preceding day in a similar
-purchase. 'And I, gentlemen,' at last exclaimed the t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>hird, in
-his turn,&mdash;'I will not be behindhand in confidence with you;
-I will show you the gem of manuscripts, of which I only this
-morning became the happy owner.' As he finished, each drew
-from his capacious pocket the precious acquisition he had
-made; when these miracles of authorship turned out to be as
-many copies of a new theatrical piece, entitled the Wandering
-Jew, which the astonished bibliopoles found had been sold to
-each of them separately.</p>
-
-<p>"Near the bookseller, in the next house," continued the
-Devil, "you may perceive a timid and respectful lover just
-awaking. He loves one of the most sprightly of widows; and
-was dreaming, but this moment, that, beside her in the covert
-of a dusky wood, whose shade lent courage to his modest
-spirit, he was so tender,&mdash;so gallant in his speech, that his fair
-mistress could not help exclaiming: 'Ah! you are becoming
-absolutely dangerous! If I were not steeled against the
-flattery of men, I should be lost. But you are all deceivers!
-I never trust to words;&mdash;actions alone can win me,'&mdash;'And
-what actions, madam, do you ask of me?' interrupted the
-gentle swain: 'must I, to prove the excess of my passion,
-undertake the twelve labours of Hercules?' 'Lord! no,
-Nicaise,' replied the lady, 'much less would content me.'
-Thereupon&mdash;he awoke."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic02.png" width="266" height="224" alt="The timid lover's dream" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Prythee, tell me," said the Student, "why yonder man, in
-that dark-coloured bed, tosses about so furiously." "He," replied
-the Cripple, "is a talented licentiate; and his present agitation
-arises from a dream, in which he is disputing in favour of the
-immortality of the soul, with a little doctor of medicine, who is
-as good a catholic as he is a physician. In the same house,
-over the licentiate, lodges a gentleman of Estramadura, named
-Don Balthazar Fanfarronico, who has come post-haste to court,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
-to demand a reward for having valiantly slain a Portuguese, by
-a musket-shot, in ambush. And of what do you imagine he is
-dreaming? Nothing less than that he is appointed to the
-government of Antequera, at which he is very naturally dissatisfied:
-he thinks he deserves a viceroyalty at least.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic03.png" width="256" height="275" alt="Man on horseback shot by another, in ambush" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In a furnished house close by, I discover two distinguished
-personages, whose dreams are far from pleasant. One of them
-is governor of a fortress, where he is now sustaining a fancied
-siege, and which, after a faint resistance, he is on the point of
-surrendering, with himself and garrison, at discretion. The
-other is the bishop of Murcia, whom his majesty has charged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
-with the task of eulogising a deceased princess, whose funeral
-takes place in a day or two. He has, in imagination, just
-ascended the pulpit; and there has his imagination left him, for
-he has stopped short in the exordium of his discourse." "It
-is not impossible," said Don Cleophas, "that this misfortune
-may really befall the worthy prelate." "No, truly," replied the
-Devil; "for it is not very long since his grace found himself in
-a similar predicament on a like occasion.</p>
-
-<p>"And now, if you would like to behold a somnambulist, look
-into the stables of this same house: what see you?" "I perceive,"
-answered Leandro Perez, "a man walking in his shirt,
-and holding, what seems to me, a horse-comb in his hand."
-"Well!" replied the Demon, "he is a sleeping groom.
-Nightly does he rise in sleep to curry his pampered charge,
-and then betake himself to bed again. His fellow-servants
-look on the sleek coats of the horses as the frolic work of some
-wanton sprite; and the groom himself shares this opinion with
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"In the large house, opposite, lives an aged chevalier of the
-Fleece, who was formerly viceroy of Mexico. He has fallen
-sick; and, as he fears he is about to die, his viceroyalty begins
-to trouble him: true it is that he exercised his functions so as
-to justify his present inquietude; the chronicles of New Spain,
-unless they be belied, make no too honourable mention of his
-name. He has just started from a dream, whose horrid visions
-float before him still, and which will probably bring about their
-own fulfilment in his death." "Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo,
-"that must be something extraordinary." "You shall hear,"
-replied Asmodeus: "there is really something in it rather
-singular. The sickly lordling dreamt he was in the valley of
-the dead, where all the victims of his injustice and inhumanity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>
-thronged fiercely round, and heaped upon him menaces and
-insult. They pressed upon, and would have torn him limb
-from limb; but, as their hot breath seemed to burn his very
-brain, he thought he took to flight, and saved himself from their
-fury. He had no sooner escaped, than he found himself in a
-large hall, hung all around with black cloth, where, sitting at a
-table upon which were three covers, he saw his father and his
-grandfather. His two dismal companions solemnly beckoned
-him to approach; and, with all the gravity which belongs to
-the dead, said to him: 'We have waited for you long: come,
-take your place beside us.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! the wretched dream," interrupted the Student; "I
-could forgive the poor devil, for the fright he is in!" "To
-make up for it," resumed the Cripple, "his niece, who reposes
-in the apartment over his, passes the night in bliss: sleep
-brings to her its brightest illusions. She is a maiden of from
-twenty-five to thirty, ugly as myself, and not much better made.
-She dreams that her uncle, to whom she is sole heiress, has
-ceased to live; and that she sees, in swarms around her,
-amiable signors, who dispute for the honour of her slightest
-glance."</p>
-
-<p>"If I do not deceive myself," said Don Cleophas, "I hear
-some one laughing behind us." "It is no deception," replied
-the Devil; "it is a widow laughing in her sleep, a few paces
-from us. She is a woman who affects the prude, and who loves
-nothing so well as a little friendly scandal: she dreams that
-she is chatting with an ancient devotee, whose conversation
-could hardly fail to delight one of her taste.</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot help laughing in my turn, to see, in the room
-under that of the widow, an honest cit, who lives with diffic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>ulty
-on the little he possesses, but who dreams that he is picking
-up pieces of gold and silver, and that the more he gathers the
-more remain to glean: he has already filled a large coffer."
-"Poor fellow!" said Leandro; "he will not enjoy his treasure
-long." "No!" replied the Cripple; "and when he awakes
-he will be like the really rich, when dying: he will see all his
-wealth disappear."</p>
-
-<p>"If you are curious to know the dreams of two actresses
-who live near each other, I will relate them to you. One is
-dreaming that she is catching birds with a call; that she strips
-them as she takes them, and then throws them to be devoured
-by a large tom-cat in which she delights, and which has all the
-profit of her skill. The other dreams that she is driving from
-her house greyhounds and coach-dogs, which for a long time
-have sunned themselves in her presence, having resolved to
-confine her affections to a pretty little lap-dog, which has
-recently gained her favour."</p>
-
-<p>"Two dreams absurd enough!" cried the Student; "I fancy
-that if at Madrid, as formerly in Rome, there were interpreters
-of dreams, they would be sadly puzzled to explain these."
-"Not so much as you think," replied the Devil: "a very small
-acquaintance with the domestic habits of your syrens of the
-stage, would enable them to render their sense perfectly intelligible."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic04.png" width="240" height="284" alt="The actress feeding birds to the tom-cat" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well! for myself," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "they are
-past my comprehension, and that troubles me little: I would
-rather be informed who is that lady sleeping in a bed with
-amber velvet hangings, bordered with silver fringe, and near
-which, upon a small table, I perceive a book and a wax-candle."
-"She is a lady of illustrious family," replied the
-Demon, "whose establishment is mounted in gallant style, and
-who loves to see her livery adorned by young and handsome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
-men. She is accustomed to read in bed, and cannot sleep
-without her favourite author. Last night she was indulging in
-the Metamorphoses of Ovid: in consequence, she is at this
-moment dreaming, extravagantly enough, that Jupiter has
-become amorous of her charms, and has entered her service in
-the form of a favourite page.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic05.png" width="240" height="274" alt="The actress, lap-dog under her arm, driving out the other dogs" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Apropos of metamorphoses, there is another subject who
-will amuse you. You perceive that man, tasting in the calm
-of sleep the exquisite pleasure of imagined flattery. He is an
-actor, a veteran of such ancient service, that there is not a
-grey-beard in Madrid who can say he witnessed his first
-appearance. He has been so long behind the scenes, that he
-may be said to have become theatrified. He is not without
-talent, but, like most of his profession, he is so vain that he
-thinks the part of Man beneath him. Of what think you is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
-this hero of the slips now dreaming. He imagines that he is
-on the point of death; and that round his couch are assembled
-all the deities of Olympus, to decide on what they are to do
-with a mortal of his importance. He listens while Mercury
-insists before the council of the gods that a comedian so
-famed, after having so often had the honour of mimicking
-themselves, and Jove's own person, on the stage, should not
-be subject to the common fate of man, but merits a reception
-as a brother god by those who now surround him. Mercury
-finishes by moving accordingly, and Momus seconds the
-motion; but the male and female members of the celestial
-parliament murmuring at the proposition of so extraordinary
-an apotheosis, Jupiter, to put an end to the debate, is about to
-decree, of his sovereign authority, that the aged son of Thespis
-shall be transformed into a theatrical statue, for the amusement
-of future generations."</p>
-
-<p>The Devil was about to continue, but Zambullo interrupted
-him, exclaiming: "Hold! Signor Asmodeus, you forget that it
-is day. I am afraid they will perceive us from the street. If
-the gentle public should remark your lordship, we shall hear
-such an uproar as we may be glad to put an end to."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 155px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic06.png" width="155" height="301" alt="The actor transformed into a statue" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Never fear!" replied the Demon; "they will not see us.
-I have the power ascribed to the fabulous deities of whom I
-spoke but now; and like to the amorous son of Saturn, who,
-upon Mount Ida, shrouded himself in a cloud, to hide from
-the world the blisses he shared with Juno, I am about to
-envelope you and myself in a misty veil which the searching
-eye of man cannot pierce, but which shall not prevent you
-from beholding those things which I wish you to observe." As
-he spoke, they were suddenly surrounded by a vapour, which,
-although dense as the smoke of a battle-field, offered n<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>o
-obstacle to the sight of the Student.</p>
-
-<p>"So now to return to our dreamers," continued the Cripple,&mdash;&mdash;"but
-I do not consider," he added, "that the mode in
-which you have consumed the night must have fatigued you.
-I advise, therefore, that you let me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>bear you to your home,
-and leave you to a few hours' sleep. In the meanwhile, I will
-just take a turn round the earth, and amuse myself after my
-fashion; taking care to rejoin you by the time you awake,
-when we will continue our laugh at the expense of the swarming
-world." "I have no desire to sleep, and am not in the
-least fatigued," replied Don Cleophas; "so, instead of leaving
-me, do me the pleasure to expound the various objects which
-occupy the yawning brains of the persons whom I see already
-risen, and who are preparing as it seems to me, to leave their
-houses: what can possibly call them out so early?" "What
-you ask me is well worth your knowledge," answered the
-Demon; "you shall gaze on a picture of the cares, the
-emotions, the anguish that poor mortal man gives himself
-during life, to occupy, with the vain hope of happiness, the
-little space which is granted him between the cradle and the
-tomb."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialo.png" width="75" height="77" alt="O" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Observe, in the first place, that troop of beggars
-which you see already in the street. They are
-libertines, mostly of good birth, who, like the
-monks, live on the principle of community of
-property; and who pass their nights in debauch at their
-haunts, where they are at all times well supplied with bread,
-meat, and wine. They are about to separate, each to perform
-his part in the churches of this godly city; and to-night,
-when reassembled, they will drink to the charitable fools
-who piously contribute to their orgies. You cannot but
-admire these scoundrels, who so well know the semblances
-which art adopts to inspire pity: why, coquettes are less adept
-to elicit love.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at those three rogues who are walking off together.
-He who, leaning upon crutches, trembles as he moves, and
-seems to halt with pain,&mdash;who, as he hobbles on, you would
-momentarily think must fall upon his face,&mdash;despite his long
-white beard and wrinkled front, he is a youthful scamp, so
-strong and swift, would head the hunted deer. The one
-beside him, with that awful scald, is a graceful adolescent,
-whose head is covered with a bladder skin which hides as
-beauteous curls as ever adorned a courtly page. The third,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
-who gyrates in a bowl, is a comic rascal, that can bring such
-lamentable noises from his stomach as to move the bowels of
-all ancient ladies, who even hasten from the topmost floors to
-his relief.</p>
-
-<p>"While these mummers, under the mask of poverty, prepare
-to cheat the public into charity, I observe hosts of worthy
-artisans, who, Spaniards though they be, are on the road to
-earn their bread by the sweat of their careworn brows. On all
-sides you may behold men rising from their beds, or dressing
-hastily, that they may begin anew their various parts upon this
-busy stage. How many projects formed in the visionary night
-are about to be carried into execution, or to vanish with the
-sober light of morn! What schemes prompted by love, by
-interest, or ambition, are about to be attempted!"</p>
-
-<p>"What see I in the street?" interrupted Don Cleophas.
-"Who is that woman loaded with saintly medals, who walks,
-preceded by a footman, in such anxious haste? She has some
-pressing business in hand, beyond a doubt." "Indeed she has,"
-replied the Devil; "she is a venerable matron, hurrying to a
-neighbouring house where her ministry is suddenly required.
-She seeks a fair comedian who suffers for the fault of Eve, and
-near whom are a brace of cavaliers in sore perplexity. One of
-these is her spouse, and the other a noble friend, who is greatly
-interested as to the result: for the labours of your actresses
-resemble those of Alcmena; there being ever a Jupiter and an
-Amphitryon who share in their production.</p>
-
-<p>"Would not one swear now, to look on that mounted cavalier,
-carrying a carbine in his hand, that he was a sportsman about
-to war with the hares and partridges who besiege the neighbourhood
-of Madrid? Nevertheless, it is no love of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> shooting
-which calls him forth so early: he is after other game; and is
-bent towards a village, where he will disguise himself as a
-peasant, that he may enter, without suspicion, the farm where
-his mistress resides, under the vigilant eye of an experienced
-mother.</p>
-
-<p>"That young graduate, passing along with such enormous
-strides, is going, according to his daily custom, to inquire
-after the health of an aged canon, his uncle, whose prebendary
-he has in his eye. Do you see, in that house opposite to us,
-a man putting on his cloak, evidently preparing to go out?
-He is an honest and rich citizen, whom a matter of grave
-interest has kept awake all night. He has an only daughter,
-of marriageable years, and he is unable to make up his mind
-whether he shall give her hand to a young attorney who solicits
-it, or to a proud hidalgo who demands it; and he is therefore
-going to consult his friends on the subject: in truth, he may
-well feel embarrassed. He is justly alarmed lest, by resolving
-on the gentleman, he should have a son-in-law who would
-despise him; and on the other hand he fears, that if he decide
-for the attorney, he will introduce into his house a worm which
-will consume all that it contains.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at the neighbour of this anxious parent. You may
-perceive, in that house so magnificently furnished, a man in a
-dressing-gown of scarlet brocade, embroidered with flowers of
-gold: there is a wit for you, who affects the lord in spite of his
-lowly origin. Ten years ago, he had not twenty maravedis
-wherewith to bless himself; and now, he boasts an annual
-revenue of ten thousand ducats. His equipage is in the best
-taste; but he keeps it on the savings of his table; whose
-frugality is such that he generally picks his chicken by himself.
-Sometimes, however, his ostentation compels him to regale his
-illustrious friends: to-day, for instance, he gives a di<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>nner to
-some councillors of state; and, in anticipation, he has just
-sent for a pastry-cook, with whom he will haggle for a
-maravedi, before he agrees with him on the bill of fare, which
-it will be his next care to display to advantage." "You are
-describing a scaly villain, indeed!" cried Zambullo. "Oh!
-as to that," replied Asmodeus, "all beggars whom fortune
-suddenly enriches become either misers or spendthrifts: it is
-the rule."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me," said the Student, "who is that lovely woman at
-her toilet, talking with that handsome cavalier?" "Ah!
-truly," exclaimed the Cripple, "you have hit on a subject which
-well deserves your attention. The lady is a German widow,
-who lives at Madrid on her dower, and who visits in the best
-society; and the young man who is with her is the Signor Don
-Antonio de Monsalva.</p>
-
-<p>"This cavalier, although a member of one of the noblest
-families in Spain, has pledged himself to the widow to espouse
-her; he has even given her a conditional promise of forfeiture
-to the amount of three thousand pistoles. He is, however,
-crossed in his love by his relations, who threaten to confine
-him if he do not immediately break off all connexion with
-the fair German, whom they look upon as an adventurer.
-The gallant, mortified to find his friends all thus opposed
-to his design, went yesterday evening to his mistress, who,
-perceiving his uneasiness, asked him its cause. This, after
-some hesitation, he told her, assuring her at the same time
-that whatever obstacles his family might raise, nothing should
-shake his constancy. The widow appeared delighted at his
-firmness, and they parted at midnight highly satisfied with
-each other.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic01.png" width="253" height="309" alt="The cavalier visits the German widow" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Monsalva has returned this morning, as you see, to pay
-his devoirs to the lady, whom finding at her toilet, he used
-every effort to beguile the time by new protestations of
-devotion. During the conversation, his Saxon mistress was
-releasing her auburn curls from the papers which had confined
-them during the night; and our cavalier, happening to t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>ake
-up one of these, heedlessly unfolded it, and, to his great
-surprise, observed therein his own hand-writing. 'What!
-madam,' said he, smiling, 'is this the use you make of these
-pledges of my affection?' 'Yes! Monsalva,' replied the
-lady; 'you behold the value that I put upon the promises of
-lovers who would marry me in opposition to their friends;
-they make excellent <i>papillotes</i>.' When, indeed, the cavalier
-discovered that it was his pledge of forfeiture which his
-mistress had thus destroyed, he was filled with admiration at
-this unlooked-for proof of disinterestedness, and he is now
-very properly vowing to her for the thousandth time, eternal
-fidelity.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes," continued the Devil, "upon that tall man
-who is passing beneath us; he has a large common-place book
-under his arm, an ink-bottle hanging at his girdle, and a guitar
-slung at his back." "He is an odd-looking fellow indeed,"
-cried the Student: "I would lay my life he is an original."
-"It is beyond a doubt," replied the Demon, "that he is a
-curious compound enough. There are such things as cynical
-philosophers in Spain; and there goes one. He is walking
-towards the Buen-Retiro, to reach a meadow in which there is
-a fountain, whose refreshing waters form a brook that glides like
-a silver serpent through the flowers. There will he pass the
-day, contemplating the beauties of nature, tinkling his guitar,
-and noting the reflections that the scene inspires in his
-common-place book. He carries in his pockets his ordinary
-food, that is to say, a piece of bread and some onions. Such
-is the sober life that he has led during ten years past; and
-were some Aristippus to say to him, as was erst spoken to
-Diogenes: 'If thou knewest how to pay thy court to the great,
-thou wouldst not eat onions;' this modern philosopher wou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>ld
-reply: 'I could pay my court to the great as well as thou, if I
-would abase one man so low, as to make him cringe before
-another.'</p>
-
-<p>"In truth, however, this philosopher formerly mixed greatly
-with the nobility; he even owes his fortune to their patronage;
-but, compelled to feel, as all must who move among persons
-more exalted than themselves, that the friendship of these
-lordlings was to him but an honourable species of servitude, he
-broke off all connection with them. At the time I speak of he
-kept his carriage; this he subsequently put down, on reflecting
-that, as he rolled along, the mud from his wheels was
-splashed perhaps upon his betters. Distributing his wealth
-among his indigent friends, he reserved for himself no more
-than would enable him to live as moderately as he does; and
-he kept so much, only because it appeared to him no less
-shameful for a philosopher to beg his bread from the people
-than from the aristocracy.</p>
-
-<p>"Pity the cavalier who follows this philosopher, and whom
-you see accompanied by a dog. He can boast his descent
-from one of the most ancient and noble houses of Castile.
-He has been rich; but he ruined himself, like the Timon
-of Lucian, by feasting his friends every day; and, particularly,
-by giving splendid fêtes on the births and marriages
-of all the princes and princesses of Spain; in a word, on
-every occasion for rejoicing that he could make or find. No
-sooner did the discreet parasites who flocked round him see
-the ring slip over his purse than they abandoned his house
-and himself; one friend alone remains faithful to him now;&mdash;it
-is his dog."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic02.png" width="220" height="290" alt="The ruined cavalier and his dog" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Tell me! Signor Asmodeus," cried Leandro Perez; "to
-whom belongs the carriage stopping before that house?" "It
-is the property of a rich contador, who comes here every morning
-to visit a frail beauty, whom this ancient sinner of Moorish
-race protects, and whom he loves to distraction. He learned
-last night that his female friend had been unfaithful, and in the
-fury which this intelligence induced, he wrote her a letter full
-of reproaches and threats. You would never guess what part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
-the lady took on this occasion: instead of having the impudence
-to deny the fact, she sent to the treasurer this
-morning, owning that he was justly angered at her conduct;
-that he ought henceforth to despise her, since she had been
-capable of deceiving so gallant a lover; that she acknowledged
-and detested her fault; and that, to punish herself, she had
-already sacrificed those locks which he had so often admired;
-in short, that she had resolved to consecrate, in a nunnery, the
-remainder of her days to repentance.</p>
-
-<p>"The old dotard was unable to withstand the well-feigned
-remorse of his mistress, and has risen thus early to console
-her. He found her in tears; and so well has she played her
-part that he has just assured her of a full pardon for the
-past: nay, more, to compensate for the sacrifice of her much-prized
-tresses, he is, at this moment, promising to enable
-her to cut a figure in the world, by purchasing for her a handsome
-country-house, which is just about to be sold, near the
-Escurial."</p>
-
-<p>"All the shops are opened, I perceive," said the Student;
-"and I observe already a cavalier now entering a tavern."
-"That cavalier," replied Asmodeus, "is a youth of family, who
-is troubled with the prevailing mania for writing nonsense, that
-he may pass as an author. He is not absolutely without
-talent; he has even enough to enable him to detect its want
-in the dramas which are at present produced on your stage;
-but not so much as to qualify him to write a tolerable one
-himself. He has gone into that house to order a grand repast:
-he gives a dinner to-day to four comedians, whose good graces
-he would purchase in favour of a wretched comedy of his concoction,
-which he is on the point of presenting to their
-company. What will not money do?</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Apropos of authors," continued the Devil, "there now are
-two just meeting in the street. Do you notice the mocking
-style of their salutes? They despise each other thoroughly:
-and they are right. One of them writes as easily as the poet
-Crispinus, whom Horace compares to the bellows of a forge;
-and the other wastes a vast deal of time in composing works
-as cold and insipid as a water ice."</p>
-
-<p>"Who is the little man descending from his carriage at the
-door of that church?" asked Zambullo. "He is a person
-worthy your remark," replied the Cripple. "It is not yet ten
-years since he abandoned the office of a notary, in which he
-was senior clerk, to shut himself up in the Carthusian monastery
-of Saragoza. At the end of a six-months noviciate, however,
-he left the convent, and re-appeared in Madrid; where those
-who had formerly known him were amazed to see him all at
-once become one of the principal members of the Council of
-the Indies. His sudden fortune is still the wonder of the town.
-Some say he has sold himself to the Devil; others, that he is
-the beloved of some rich dowager; and some, again, insist
-that he must have found a treasure." "Well! you know all
-about it, of course," interrupted Don Cleophas. "I should
-wonder if I did not," replied the Demon; "but I will unveil
-this mystery for you.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 180px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic03.png" width="180" height="219" alt="The novice unearths the casket" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"During his aforesaid noviciate, it happened one day that
-our intended monk, in digging a deep hole in his appointed
-garden, lighted on a brazen coffer, which he opened, of course,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
-and within which he found a golden casket containing some
-thirty diamonds of the purest water. Although the pious
-horticulturist knew little enough of precious stones, he shrewdly
-suspected that whoever had placed them there was wiser; so
-resolving on the course which, in one of the comedies of
-Plautus, is adopted by Gripus, who abandons fishing when he
-has found a treasure, he threw off his gown, returned to Madrid,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
-and by the assistance of a friendly jeweller, transmuted his
-diamonds into pieces of gold, and his pieces of gold into
-an office which has procured for him an exalted station in
-society."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO
-THE STUDENT.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I must indulge you with a laugh," continued
-Asmodeus, "at the cost of an amusing character
-whom you see walking into that coffee-house,
-over the way. He is a Biscayan physician, and
-is going to sip his cup of chocolate; after which he will return
-to his home to pass the day at chess.</p>
-
-<p>"While he is thus engaged, do not be alarmed for his
-patients; he has none: and if he had, the moments he
-employs in play would not be the worst for them. He
-moves from his chess-board in the evening to repair to the
-house of a rich and handsome widow, with whom he would
-be happy to mate, and for whom he affects a knightly passion.
-When he is with her, a rascally valet, his only domestic,
-and who is aware of his practice with the widow,
-brings him a false list, studded with the names of noble
-lords and ladies who have sent to seek the doctor. The
-lady dreams not he is playing false, and the Biscayan is
-therefore fast entrapping her into a false move, which will
-win him the game.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic01.png" width="267" height="217" alt="Three girls getting up" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"But," continued the Devil, "let us stop a moment at that
-house close by; I would have you remark what is passing
-there before we look elsewhere. Run your eyes over the
-rooms: what do you observe?" "Why, I can discern some
-maidens, whose beauty dazzles me," replied the Student.
-"Some are just leaving their beds, and others have already risen.
-What charms do they present to my feasting eyes! I can
-fancy I behold the nymphs of Diana, but more lovely than the
-poets have depicted them."</p>
-
-<p>"If those maidens, as you call them, and whom you admire
-so much," replied the Cripple, "have the graces of Diana's
-nymphs, they assuredly want their chastity to complete the
-picture. They are a parcel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> of good-natured females, who live
-upon a common fund. As dangerous as the fair damsels of
-chivalry who arrested, by their charms, the knights who passed
-before their castle walls, they seek to draw your less heroic
-youths within their bowers. And woe betide those whom they
-ensnare! To warn the passer-by of the peril which awaits him,
-beacons should be set before their doors, as such friendly
-monitors are placed on dangerous coasts to mark the places
-mariners should shun."</p>
-
-<p>"I need not ask you," said Leandro Perez, "whither go
-those signors whom I see lolling in their carriages: they are
-doubtless going to the levée of the king." "You have said it,"
-replied the Devil; "and if you also would attend it, I will
-carry you there before them: we shall have amusement enough,
-I promise you." "You could not have proposed a thing more
-suited to my taste," replied Zambullo; "and I anticipate all
-the pleasure you have promised me."</p>
-
-<p>The Demon, although eager to satisfy Don Cleophas in his
-desires, carried him leisurely towards the palace, so that, in
-their way, the Student, perceiving some workmen employed
-upon a lofty doorway, asked if it were the portal of a church
-they were constructing. "No," replied Asmodeus, "it is the
-entrance to a new market; and it is magnificent as you see.
-However, though they raised its arch until its point were lost in
-clouds, it would be still unworthy of two Latin lines which are
-to adorn its front."</p>
-
-<p>"What say you?" cried Leandro;&mdash;"what a notion would
-you give me of the verses that you speak of! I die with
-anxiety to hear them." "I will repeat them, then," replied
-the Devil; "and do you prepare to admire them.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">'Quam bene Mercurius nunc merces vendit opimas,<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
-<span class="i3">Momus ubi fatuos vendidit ante sales!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>"In these two lines is concealed one of the most delicate
-puns imaginable." "I cannot say I yet perceive its point,"
-said the Student; "I do not clearly understand what is referred
-to by your <i>fatuos sales</i>." "You are not then aware," replied
-the Devil, "that on the spot where they are building this
-market for the sale of provisions, there formerly stood a
-monkish college in which youth was inducted to the humanities.
-The rectors of this college were in the habit of getting
-up plays, in which the students figured on the stage. These
-plays were, as you may suppose, flat enough as to effect and
-language; and were enlivened by ballets, so amusingly absurd,
-that everything danced, even to preterites and supines."
-"There! that is quite enough," interrupted Zambullo; "I am
-quite alive to the stuff of which college pieces are composed&mdash;excuse
-my pun&mdash;but the inscription is admirable."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus and Don Cleophas had scarcely reached the grand
-staircase of the palace, when the courtiers commenced the
-inflating labour of mounting its polished steps. As they passed
-our unseen watchers, the Devil did the honour of announcing
-them to the Student: "There," said he, pointing with his finger
-as he spoke, "there is the Count de Villalonso, of the house
-of Puebla d'Ellerena; this is the Marquis de Castro Fueste;
-that is Don Lopez de Los Rios, president of the council of
-finance; and here is the Count de Villa Hombrosa." He did
-not, however, content himself thus with naming them; each
-had his legend: and the Demon's sardonic spirit found in the
-character of each some weakness to laugh at, or some vices to
-lay bare. None passed before him unnoted.</p>
-
-<p>"That signor," said he of one, "is affable and obliging; and
-listens to you with an air of kindness. Do you ask his prote<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>ction,
-he grants it freely; nay, proffers you his interest. It is
-pity that a man who loves so much to assist his fellow-creatures
-should have a memory so bad, that a quarter of an hour after
-you have spoken to him, he should forget all you have asked
-and he has promised.</p>
-
-<p>"That duke," said he, speaking of another, "is one of the
-best characters that haunts the court. He is not, like most of
-his equals, one man at this moment and another the next;
-there is no caprice, no inequality in his disposition. I may
-add to this, that he pays not with ingratitude the affection
-that is shown for him, or the services that are rendered in
-his behalf. Unfortunately, again, he is too slothful to reward
-these kindnesses as they deserve: he leaves so long to be
-desired what is so rightfully expected, that when the favour
-is at last obtained, it is felt to have been dearly purchased."</p>
-
-<p>After the Demon had thus exhibited to the Student the
-good and evil qualities of a great number of signors, he
-conducted him into a room in which there were all sorts and
-conditions of men, but especially so many chevaliers, that Don
-Cleophas could not help exclaiming: "What numberless
-knights! By our Lady! there must be enough and to spare of
-them in Spain." "I can answer for that," replied the Cripple;
-"and it is not at all surprising, since to be dubbed companion
-of St. Jago, or of Calatrava, your vigilants require no five-and-twenty
-thousand crowns in pocket or estate, as did formerly the
-knights of ancient Rome: you perceive therefore that knighthood
-is an article most admirably assorted.</p>
-
-<p>"Observe," continued the Devil, "that common-looking
-fellow behind us." "Hush!" interrupted Zambullo; "speak
-softly, or the man will hear you." "No, no," replied Asmodeus;
-"the same charm which renders us invis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>ible, prevents
-our being heard. Examine him well: he is a Catalonian,
-returned from the Philippines, where he ranged the seas as a
-pirate. Could you conceive, to look on him, that you beheld a
-thunderbolt of war? Nevertheless, he has performed, in his
-vocation, prodigies of valour. He is here this morning, to
-present a petition to the king, in which he asks, as a recompense
-for his services, a certain post, which is vacant. I doubt, however,
-if he will succeed, inasmuch as he has neglected duly
-to possess the prime minister with a proper notion of his
-merits."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive on the right of the pirate," said Leandro Perez,
-"a tall and bulky man, who is sufficiently impressed with an
-idea of his own importance: to judge of his station by the
-pride of his bearing, he is some wealthy grandee, certainly."
-"Nothing can be further from the truth," replied the Demon:
-"he is one of the poorest of Hidalgos, who lives on the profits
-of a gaming-table, under the protection of one of the
-ministers.</p>
-
-<p>"But I see a licentiate, who must not pass without your
-notice: it is he whom you can perceive near the first window,
-in conversation with a cavalier clad in velvet of a silver grey.
-They are discoursing of a matter yesterday decided by the
-king; but I will tell you its history.</p>
-
-<p>"Two months ago, this licentiate, who is an academician of
-Toledo, published a work on morals, which shocked the
-orthodox opinions of all your grey-headed authors of Castile:
-they found it full of vigorous expressions and words
-newly introduced. It required no more to unite them against
-so singular a production; and they therefore instantly assembled,
-and agreed upon a petition to his majesty, praying him to
-condemn the book as one written in a style dangerous to the
-purity and simplicity of the Spanish tongue.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic02.png" width="265" height="215" alt="The three commissioners reporting to the king" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The petition appearing worthy of attention to his majesty,
-he named three commissioners to examine the work; and they
-estimating its style to be really reprehensible, and the more so
-from its peculiar brilliancy, upon their report the king has
-decreed that, under pain of his displeasure, those academicians
-of Toledo who write after the manner of the licentiate shall
-not dare to publish another book; and further that, in order to
-preserve the language of Castile in all its purity, such academicians,
-after their decease, shall be replaced by persons of the
-first quality alone."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p>
-<p>"That is indeed a marvellous decision!" cried Zambullo,
-laughing: "the lovers of our vulgar tongue have henceforth
-nought to fear." "Excuse me," replied the Devil; "but your
-writers who endanger that noble chastity of style which forms
-the delight of all discerning readers, are not confined to the
-Toledan academy."</p>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas was now curious to learn who was the cavalier
-in silver-grey habiliments, whom he beheld conversing with the
-hardy moralist. "He," said the Cripple, "is a Catalonian, an
-officer of the Spanish guard, and of course a younger son; but
-he is a youth whose tongue is pointed as the sword he wears.
-To give you an example of his wit, I will tell you of a repartee
-that he made yesterday to a lady whom he met in high society.
-But to enable you to enjoy its pungency, I must inform you
-that he has a brother, Don Andrea de Prada, who was some
-years since, an officer, like himself, in the same corps.</p>
-
-<p>"It happened one day that a farmer of the king's revenues
-came to this Don Andrea, and said to him: 'Signor de Prada,
-I bear the same name as you, but our families are different. I
-am aware that you belong to one of the noblest houses in
-Catalonia, but at the same time that you are not rich. Now,
-I am of a poor family, and have lots of wealth. Can we not find
-a means, therefore, to communicate to each other that which
-we mutually want? Have you your titles of nobility?' 'Certainly!'
-replied Don Andrea. 'That being the case,' continued
-the other, 'if you will confide the documents to my hands, I will
-place them in those of an ingenious genealogist, who will set
-to work upon them, and will make us relations in spite of our
-ancestors. On my part, as in duty bound, I will make my
-kinsman a present of thirty thousand pistoles: is it a bargain?'
-Don Andrea, dazzled by the proposition, accepted it at once,
-gave the parchments to the farmer, and with the money he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>
-received purchased an estate in his native province, where he
-now resides at his ease.</p>
-
-<p>"His younger brother, who gained nothing by the transaction,
-was dining yesterday at a house where the conversation
-turned by chance on the Signor de Prada, farmer of the king's
-revenues. On this, the lady of whom I spoke, turning to the
-young officer, asked if the wealthy signor were not related to
-him. 'No,' replied he, 'I have not that honour; but I believe
-he is a relation of my brother's.'"</p>
-
-<p>The Student laughed, as well he might, at this family distinction,
-which appeared to him rather novel. But perceiving at
-the moment a little man following a courtier, he cried out:
-"Bah! but yon homunculus will lose nothing for the want of reverence
-to the signor whom he shadows. He has some precious
-favour to intreat, beyond all doubt." "I shall not occupy your
-time in vain," replied the Devil, "in telling you the object of
-the obsequiousness you observe. The little man is an honest
-citizen, who is proprietor of a country house in the suburbs of
-Madrid, near which are some mineral springs of fashionable
-celebrity. He has lent this house, rent free, for three months to
-this signor, that the latter may drink the waters: he is at this
-moment very humbly beseeching his noble tenant to serve him
-on a pressing opportunity which offers; and the signor is very
-politely declining to do so.</p>
-
-<p>"I must not let yon cavalier of plebeian race escape me.
-See, where he wades through the expecting throng with all the
-air of one of note. He has become immensely rich by force of
-calculation, and in his proud mansion has as many servants
-as your first grandee; his table would put to shame for delicacy
-and abundance that of a minister of state. He has a
-carriage for himself, one for his wife, and another for his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
-children; and in his stables may be seen the best of mules and
-the most splendid horses in the world. Only yesterday, he
-bought, and paid for on the nail, a superb train of noble
-animals, that the prince of Spain had partially agreed for, but
-had thought too dear." "What insolence!" exclaimed Leandro.
-"A Turk, now, who beheld that lump of arrogance, poised on
-so dangerous a height, would watch each instant for its sudden
-fall." "I know nothing of the time to come," replied Asmodeus,
-"but think your Turk would not be far from right.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! what is that I see?" continued the Demon with
-surprise. "Did I wonder at any thing, I should disbelieve my
-eyes. I absolutely discern within this room a poet&mdash;the last
-whom I should expect to see. How dares he come within
-these walls?&mdash;he who could write in terms offensive to their
-noblest visitants. He must count indeed on the contempt that
-he is held in!</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 233px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic03.png" width="233" height="262" alt="The chief magistrate and his page" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"But mark particularly that venerable man who enters now,
-supported by a page. Observe with what respect the crowd
-divides to make way for him. That is the signor Don José de
-Reynaste e Ayala, chief magistrate of the police: he comes
-hither to inform the king of the events of last night in the
-capital. Methinks, signor Student, that we could assist him in
-his report! However, regard him with admiration, for he
-deserves it." "In truth," replied Zambullo, "he looks like
-a man of worth." "It would be well for Spain," replied the
-Cripple, "if all its corregidors would take him for their model.
-He has none of that intemperate zeal which urges those who
-should administer the law to violate its spirit from impetuosity
-or caprice; and he respects too much the sacred freedom of
-the person to deprive the meanest of his fellow-subjects of that
-blessed right on the mere information of an alguazil, a clerk, o<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>r
-even a secretary of police. He knows those gentlemen too
-well; and that, for the most of them, their venal souls will
-scruple not to traffic on the fund of his authority. When a
-man stands before him, accused of crime, he may be sure that
-justice will be done towards him; the evidence is sifted until
-truth is discovered; and thus the prisons, instead of echoing
-the sighs of innocence, perform their proper office of holding
-the guilty. Even these are not abandoned to the licence whi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>ch
-ordinarily reigns in gaols. He visits, as a man, those whom, as
-a magistrate, he has condemned, and is careful that inhumanity,
-in its dispensers, shall not add rigour to the law."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 221px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic04.png" width="221" height="164" alt="The chief magistrate visiting a prisoner" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What an eulogium!" exclaimed Leandro; "you paint a
-man whom angels might agree to worship! You rouse my
-curiosity to witness his reception by the king." "I am
-annoyed," replied the Devil, "to be obliged to tell you of my
-inability to gratify a wish that I expected, without at least
-exposing myself to insult. It is not in my vocation, nor am I
-permitted, to intrude myself on kings; their cabinet is the
-domain of Leviathan, Belphegor, and Ashtaroth; I informed
-you, from my bottle, that these three demons preside over the
-councils of princes. All others of our craft are denied the
-entrée at court; and I know not what I could have been thinking
-of, when I offered to bring you here: it was a dangerous
-flight to take, I can assure you. If my three loving bret<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>hren
-should perceive me, they would show me no favour, I promise
-you, and between ourselves, I would rather avoid the conflict."</p>
-
-<p>"That being so," replied the Student, "let us be off as
-quickly as you please: I should die with grief to see you
-curried by those wretched grooms, without being able to help
-you; for if I lent you a hand, I expect you would shine none
-the brighter for my assistance." "Most decidedly not," replied
-Asmodeus; "they would never feel the blows that you could
-deal them, and you would have the satisfaction of dying under
-theirs.</p>
-
-<p>"But," he continued, "to console you for your exclusion
-from the cabinet of your potent sovereign, I will procure you a
-pleasure quite equal to the one you lose." And as he finished
-these words, he took the Student's hand, and away they went,
-as fast as the Devil could fly, toward the monastery of Mercy.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE CAPTIVES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In a moment they were on a house adjoining the
-monastery, at the gate of which there was a vast
-concourse of persons, of all ages and of both sexes.
-"Here's a crowd!" exclaimed Leandro Perez.
-"What ceremony can call so many good folks together?" "Why,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it is one which you have never witnessed,
-though it may be seen from time to time within Madrid. Three
-hundred slaves, all subjects of the crown of Spain, are expected
-to arrive each minute: they return from Algiers, where they
-have been recently purchased by some fathers of the Redemption.
-Every street through which they are to pass will be lined
-with spectators to welcome them."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true, indeed," replied Zambullo, "that I have never
-had the curiosity to behold a similar exhibition; and, if this be
-the treat which your worship has reserved to gratify my taste, I
-must tell you frankly that you need not have so boasted of its
-piquancy." "Oh! I know you well enough," replied the
-Devil, "not to be aware that it is no joyous spectacle for you
-to look upon the misery of your fellows; but when I tell you
-that, in bringing you here to view it under its present form, I
-am about to reveal certain singular circumstances attending the
-captivity of some, and the equally curious embarrass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>ment in
-which others will find themselves on returning to their homes,
-I am persuaded that you will not be unthankful for the amusement
-I have provided." "Certainly not," replied the Student;
-"you put another face upon the matter; and you will afford me
-much pleasure by your promised revelations."</p>
-
-<p>During this discussion, loud shouts were suddenly heard
-from the populace as they beheld the approaching captives,
-who marched two by two, in their slaves' dresses, each bearing
-his chain upon his shoulders. They were preceded by a considerable
-number of monks of the order of Mercy, who had
-been to meet them, and who rode on mules caparisoned in
-black serge, as if they headed a funeral: one of these good
-fathers carried the standard of Redemption. The younger
-captives came first; the more aged followed; and the procession
-was closed by an aged monk of the same order as the
-first, who, mounted on a diminutive steed, had all the air of
-a prophet: this was the chief of the missionary expedition. To
-him every eye was attracted, as much by his excessive gravity,
-as by a long white beard which flowed down his bosom, and
-gave to the features of this Moses of the Spaniards a venerable
-aspect, lighted as they were by a heartfelt joy at having been
-the instrument of restoring so many of his Christian brethren to
-their country.</p>
-
-<p>"The captives whom you see," commenced the Cripple, "are
-not all equally rejoiced at their restoration to liberty. If there
-be some whose hearts beat with pleasure at the thought that
-they are about to see once more their dearest friends, there are
-others not a little fearful that, during the time they have been
-estranged from their families, events may have occurred which
-will bring tortures to their minds more cruel than the most
-refined of slavery itself.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic01.png" width="266" height="164" alt="The procession" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"For instance, the two who first approach are in the latter
-category. The one, a native of the little town of Velilla in
-Aragon, after having passed ten years in bondage with the
-Turk, without once hearing of his much-loved wife, comes
-home to find her bound again in wedlock, and the mother of
-five little ones who can claim no kin with him. The other, son
-of a wool-merchant of Segovia, was carried off by a corsair
-nearly twenty years ago: he returns with a lively apprehension
-that matters have gravely changed during that time with his
-family, and he will find himself a prophet in his loss. His
-father and mother are dead; and his brothers, who shared
-their wealth, have dissipated it foolishly enough."</p>
-
-<p>"My attention is rivetted," exclaimed the Student, "upon a
-slave whom, by his looks, I judge to be delighted that he is no
-longer exposed to the seducing influence of the bastinado."
-"The captive whom you speak of," replied the Devil,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> "has
-good reason to rejoice at his deliverance: he has learnt, since
-his return, that an aunt to whom he is sole heir has just been
-released from her troubles, and that he is consequently about
-to enjoy the free use of her brilliant fortune. This it is which
-now occupies his thoughts so agreeably, and gives to his
-appearance that air of satisfaction which you remark.</p>
-
-<p>"How all unlike is he to the unhappy cavalier who walks
-beside him; the tortures of suspense fill his bosom incessantly:
-I will tell you on what they impend. When he was taken by a
-pirate of Algiers, as he was passing into Italy from Spain, he
-loved a maiden and by her was loved: he dreads lest, while
-he was in chains, his fair one's constancy may have failed
-her." "Has he been long a slave then?" asked Zambullo.
-"Eighteen months," replied Asmodeus. "Pooh!" exclaimed
-Leandro Perez, "I fancy our gallant is a prey to causeless fear;
-he has hardly put his mistress's fidelity to such a test as to
-have need for great alarm." "There you are mistaken," replied
-the Cripple; "his princess no sooner heard that he was captive
-to the Moor, than she hastened to provide herself with a more
-fortunate lover.</p>
-
-<p>"Would you credit now," continued the Demon, "that the
-man who follows immediately behind the two we have been
-speaking of, and whom that thick and sandy beard so horribly
-disfigures, was once a very handsome man? Nothing, however,
-can be more certain; and you see, in that bent and hideous
-figure, the hero of a story remarkable enough to induce me to
-relate it to you.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic02.png" width="178" height="228" alt="Fabricio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"His name is Fabricio, and he was hardly fifteen years of age
-when his father, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>a wealthy cultivator of Cinquello, a large village
-of the kingdom of Leon, died. He lost his mother shortly afterwards;
-so that, being an only son, he became thus early the
-master of a considerable property, the management of which was
-confided to an uncle, who happened to be honest. Fabricio
-completed his studies at Salamanca, where he had been previously
-placed; he then particularly devoted himself to the noble
-accomplishments of riding and fencing; in a word, he neglected
-nothing which might concur to render him worthy the sweet regards
-of Donna Hippolita, sister of a vegetating signor, whose
-cottage was about a couple of gun-shots from Cinquello.</p>
-
-<p>"This lady was beautiful in the extreme, and about the age
-of Fabricio, who, having seen her from his infancy, had, to
-speak vulgarly, sucked in with his mother's milk the love which
-occupied his soul in manhood. Hippolita, on her side, c<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>ould
-not help perceiving that Fabricio was not ill-made; but, knowing
-him to be the son of a husbandman, she had never deigned
-to look on him with attention. Her pride was only equalled
-by her loveliness, and by the haughty bearing of her brother,
-Don Thomaso de Xaral, who was probably unsurpassed, even
-in Spain, for his lordly want of money, and his beggarly pride.</p>
-
-<p>"This inflated country gentleman lived in a small house
-which he dignified by the name of castle, but which to speak
-properly was a ruin, so little had the winds respected his nobility.
-However, although his means did not enable him to
-repair his mansion, and although he had hardly enough to sustain
-himself, he must needs keep a valet to attend upon his
-person; nay, he even kept a Moorish female to wait upon his
-sister.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a refreshing sight to witness, in the village, on Sundays
-and at every festival, Don Thomaso habited in crimson
-velvet, but sadly faded, and a little hat, overshadowed with an
-ancient plume of yellow feathers, which were carefully enshrined,
-like relics, on the common days of the year. Disporting this
-frippery, which to him was proof apparent of his noble birth, he
-would affect the grandee, and seemed to think that he amply repaid
-the reverence that was offered to him when he condescended
-to notice it by an approving smile. His fair sister was not less
-vain than himself of the antiquity of her race; and she joined
-to this folly that of such self-congratulation on her charms, that
-she lived in the most perfect confidence that ere long some
-noble signor would come to beg the honour of her hand.</p>
-
-<p>"Such were the characters of Don Thomaso and the beauteous
-Hippolita. Fabricio, aware of their foibles, and in order to insinuate
-himself into the estimation of persons so exalted, lost
-no opportunity of flattering their pride by the most r<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>espectful
-seeming; and so well did he manage, that the brother and sister
-at last were graciously pleased to allow him frequent occasions
-for paying his homage to them. As he was as well informed of
-their poverty as of their vanity, he was tempted every day to
-make offer of his purse; and was only withheld from doing so
-by the uncertainty as to which of their failings was the greater:
-nevertheless, his ingenious generosity found a way of relieving
-the one without causing the other to blush. 'Signor,' said he
-one day to Don Thomaso in private, 'I have a thousand ducats
-which I would entrust in safe hands: have the kindness to take
-care of them for me;&mdash;permit me to owe this obligation to
-you.'</p>
-
-<p>"I need hardly tell you that Xaral consented; but besides
-being short of money, he had the very soul for a trustee. He
-therefore made no scruple of taking charge of the sum proposed;
-and no sooner was it in his possession, than, without ceremony,
-he employed a good part of it in putting his house in order, and
-adding thereto sundry little conveniences. A new dress of
-splendid light blue velvet was bought, and made at Salamanca;
-and a green plume, also purchased there, came to snatch from
-the olden plume of yellow the glory which had pertained to it
-from time immemorial, of adorning the noble front of Don
-Thomaso. The lovely Hippolita had also her compliment,
-and was entirely new-rigged. And thus did Xaral quickly
-melt the ducats which had been confided to him, not once
-reflecting that they did not belong to him, or that he would
-never be able to restore them. Indeed, he would not have
-scrupled thus to use them, had such extraordinary thoughts
-occurred to him; he would have felt that it was perfectly
-proper a plebeian should pay for the patronage of so noble a
-person as himself.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Fabricio had foreseen all this; but had at the same time
-flattered himself, that out of love for his money, if not for himself,
-Don Thomaso would live with him on terms of greater intimacy;
-that Hippolita by degrees would become accustomed
-to his attentions, and finally pardon the audacity which had inspired
-him to elevate his thoughts to her. In effect, his intercourse
-with them certainly increased, and they displayed for
-him a consideration that he had never before appeared to deserve:
-a rich man is ever appreciated by the great, when he will
-consent to act for them the part of the wolf to Romulus and
-Remus. Xaral and his sister, who until now had nothing
-known of riches but the name, had no sooner tasted the intoxicating
-draught, than they deemed Fabricio, the source
-whence it flowed, an object not to be neglected; and they
-therefore exhibited towards him such marks of respect, and
-almost affection, as made him think his money well bestowed.
-He was soon convinced that he had really won
-upon them; and that wisely reflecting it is the lot of the
-proudest signors to be obliged, in order to sustain their pretensions,
-to graft their noble scions on the stocks of the
-fortunate vulgar, they now looked on him without disdain.
-With this notion, which flattered his own self-love, Fabricio
-resolved to propose for Hippolita to her brother.</p>
-
-<p>"On the first favourable opportunity which offered to speak
-with Don Thomaso on the subject, he informed him that he
-had dared aspire to the honour of becoming his brother-in-law;
-and that, as the price of such concession, not only would he
-abandon all claim to the money deposited in his hands, but
-that he would add to it a present of a thousand pistoles. The
-haughty Xaral coloured at this proposition, which awakened his
-slumbering pride; and in the excitation of the moment, could
-scarcely refrain from displaying the utter contempt in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> he
-held the son of an industrious father. But, however insulted he
-felt at the temerity of Fabricio, he constrained himself; and, as
-respectfully as his nature would permit, replied that in a matter
-of such importance he could not at once determine; that he
-must consult Hippolita, and that it would even be necessary to
-summon a conclave of his noble relatives thereupon.</p>
-
-<p>"With this answer he dismissed the gallant, and forthwith
-convoked a diet composed of certain hidalgos of his neighbourhood,
-with whom he claimed affinity, and who, like himself,
-were all infected with demophobia. With these he consulted,
-not as to whether they were of opinion that he should bestow
-his sister upon Fabricio, but on the most proper steps to be
-adopted in order sufficiently to punish the insolent young man,
-who, forgetful of the meanness of his origin, had dared pretend
-to the hand of a lady of the rank of Hippolita.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as he had exposed to the assembly this presumptuous
-demand,&mdash;as he mentioned the name of Fabricio,
-and uttered the words, 'Son of a husbandman,'&mdash;you should
-have seen how the eyes of all the nobles lighted up with fury.
-Each of them vomited fire and flame against the audacious
-groundling; and with one voice they all insisted, that his
-death beneath the cudgels of their domestics alone could
-expiate the vile affront he had offered to their family by the
-proposal of so scandalous an union. However, on mature
-consideration, the offended members of the diet agreed to
-spare the culprit's life; but, in order to teach him that first
-and far most useful knowledge&mdash;of himself, they resolved to
-play him such a trick as he should have reason to remember
-while he lived.</p>
-
-<p>"Various were the schemes proposed: the one on which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>
-they at last decided was as follows. Hippolita was to feign a
-sensibility for the passion of Fabricio; and, under pretence of
-consoling her unhappy lover for the refusal which Don Thomaso
-would have given to his proposal for her hand, she was to
-make an assignation for some particular evening to receive
-him at the castle; where, at the moment of his introduction by
-the Moorish female, the friends of the signor would surprise
-him with the waiting-maid, and compel him to espouse her.</p>
-
-<p>"The sister of Xaral at first inclined to favour this piece of
-rascality; she even joined in thinking that her reputation
-demanded of her to consider as an insult the addresses of a
-person in a station so inferior to her own. But these haughty
-feelings soon yielded to others more gentle, prompted by pity;
-or rather, love suddenly vanquished all pride of heart in the
-bosom of Hippolita.</p>
-
-<p>"From that moment, she looked on all things with a different
-eye. The obscure origin of Fabricio now appeared to her
-more than compensated by a nobility of disposition; and she
-perceived in him but a cavalier worthy of her tenderest affection.
-Remark again, Signor Student, and with all due admiration,
-how prodigious are the changes which this passion can
-effect: the very girl who yesterday imagined that a monarch's
-heir scarce merited the honour of possessing her, to-day is all
-enamoured of a ploughman's son, and is flattered by pretensions
-which before she had regarded as disgraceful.</p>
-
-<p>Far therefore from assisting her brother in his purposed revenge,
-and yielding to the new-born passion which now reigned
-supreme within her soul, Hippolita entered into secret correspondence
-with Fabricio, by means of her Moorish attendant,
-who frequently of an evening introduced the gallant into the
-cottage. Thus baffled in his design, Don Thomaso soon
-became suspicious of the truth; and watching his siste<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>r, he
-was convinced by his own eyes that, instead of fulfilling the
-wishes of her relations, she had betrayed them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic03.png" width="189" height="200" alt="Hippolita's Moorish servant admits Fabricio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"He instantly informed two of his cousins of the discovery
-he had made: 'Vengeance! Don Thomaso, vengeance!' they
-exclaimed, infuriate at such baseness in one of their illustrious
-race. Xaral, who did not require urging to exact satisfaction
-for an indignity of this nature, replied, with true Spanish modesty,
-'that they should find he knew well how to use his sword when
-its employment was called for to avenge his honour;' and he
-entreated them to come to his house on a particular night.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic04.png" width="265" height="210" alt="Don Thomaso and his cousins surprise Fabricio and Hippolita" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"They came at the appointed time, and were secretly received
-and concealed in a small room by Don Thomaso; who left
-them, saying that he would return the instant the lover entered
-his doors, should he think fit to come at all that evening. This
-did not fail to happen; the unlucky stars of our lovers had
-decreed that they should choose that very night for their
-meeting.</p>
-
-<p>"Don Fabricio was already with his dear Hippolita, listening
-to and repeating for the hundredth time those sweet avowals
-which make up the dialogue of lovers, but which, though spoken
-from eternity, have still the charm of novelty, when they were
-disagreeably interrupted by the cavaliers who waited to surprise
-them. Don Thomaso and his cousins, with all the courage of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>
-three against one, rushed upon Fabricio, who had scarcely time
-to draw in his defence; but perceiving at once that their object
-was to assassinate him, he fought with a courage which makes
-one equal to three; he wounded all his assailants, and exerting
-the skill he had acquired at Salamanca, managed to keep them
-at his sword's point till he had gained the door, when he made
-off at full speed.</p>
-
-<p>"Upon this, Xaral, maddened with rage at beholding his
-enemy escape him, after having with impunity dishonoured
-his house, turned all his fury against the unfortunate Hippolita,
-and plunged his sword into her heart. After which his two
-relatives returned to their homes, extremely mortified at the
-bad success of their plot, and with no other consolation than
-their wounds. There we will leave them," continued Asmodeus.
-"When we have passed in review the other captives, I
-will finish the history of this one. I will relate to you how,
-after justice, or rather the law, had possessed itself of his effects
-on account of this mournful event, the pirates seized his person,
-with about as good reason, when he happened to be making a
-voyage."</p>
-
-<p>"While you were telling me this story of love and pride,"
-said Don Cleophas, "I observed a young man whose countenance
-bespeaks such sorrow at his heart, that I wonder I did
-not interrupt you to inquire its cause." "You will lose nothing
-by your discretion," replied the Demon; "I can tell you now
-all you desire to know. The captive whose dejection attracted
-your notice, is a youth of family from Valladolid. Two years
-was he in slavery, but with a patron who possessed a very
-pretty wife. The lady looked with favour on the slave, and
-the slave, as in duty bound, repaid the lady's favours with
-interest. The patron, becoming suspicious as to the nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>
-of his slave's labours, hastened to sell the Christian to the
-brothers of the Redemption, lest he should be irreligiously
-employed in the propagation of Mahometanism. The tender
-Castilian, ever since, has done nothing but weep for the loss of
-his patroness; liberty itself cannot console him."</p>
-
-<p>"An old man of good appearance attracts my attention
-there," said Leandro Perez; "who, and what, is he?" The
-Devil replied: "He is a barber, of Guipuscoa, who is about to
-return to Biscay after a captivity of forty years. When he fell
-into the hands of a corsair, in going from Valencia to the island
-of Sardinia, he had a wife, two sons, and a daughter. Of all
-these, one son alone remains; and he, more lucky than his
-father, has been to Peru, whence he has safely returned with
-immense wealth to his native province, in which he has recently
-purchased two handsome estates." "What pleasure!" exclaimed
-the Student, "what delight awaits this happy son, to
-behold again his long-lost parent, and to be enabled to render
-his declining years peaceful and agreeable!"</p>
-
-<p>"You," replied the Cripple, "speak like a child whom tenderness
-and duty prompt; the son of the Biscayan barber is of
-a sterner mould: the unlooked-for coming of his sire to him
-will bring more grief than joy. Instead of welcoming him to
-his mansion at Guipuscoa, and sparing nothing to mark the
-bliss he feels at pressing him once more to his bosom, he will
-probably be filial enough to make him steward of one of his
-estates.</p>
-
-<p>"Behind this captive, whose good looks you admire so
-much, is another as like an old baboon as are two drops of
-water to each other: he is a little Aragonese physician. He
-has not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>been a fortnight in Algiers; for as soon as the Turks
-knew what was his profession, they resolved, rather than suffer
-him to remain among them, to place him without ransom in
-the hands of the fathers of Mercy, who would certainly never
-have purchased him, and who bring him back with compunction
-to Spain.</p>
-
-<p>"You who feel so sensibly the woes of others, ah! how
-would you grieve for that other slave, he who wears upon his
-head that little cap of brown cloth, did you but know the ills
-he has endured during twelve years, in the house of an English
-renegade, his patron." "And who is this unhappy captive?"
-asked Zambullo. "He is a cordelier of Navarre," replied the
-Demon. "I must own, however, that for myself, I rejoice that
-he has suffered so severely; since, by his eternal preaching, he
-has prevented more than a hundred Christian slaves from
-adopting the turban."</p>
-
-<p>"Well! to imitate your frankness," replied Don Cleophas, "I
-must say that I am really afflicted to think that this good father
-should have been so long at the mercy of the barbarian." "As
-to that," replied Asmodeus, "you are as unwise to regret it, as
-I to rejoice. The good monk has turned his dozen years'
-captivity to so good account, that he will find his advantage in
-having passed that time in suffering instead of in his cell, where
-he would have striven with temptations that he would not at
-all times have vanquished."</p>
-
-<p>"The first captive after the monks," said Leandro Perez, "has
-a most complacent air for a man who returns from slavery: he
-excites my curiosity to know his history." "You anticipate
-me," replied the Cripple; "I was just about to tell you all about
-him. You see in him, a citizen of Salamanca, an unfortunate
-father, a mortal rendered insensible to misfortune by the weight
-of those he has experienced. I am tempted to relate to you
-the painful details of his life, and to leave the rest of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>the captives
-to their fates; besides, there is scarcely another whose
-adventures are worth the trouble of telling."</p>
-
-<p>The Student, who began to tire of this sombre procession,
-stated that he asked for nothing better; whereupon, the Devil
-began the history contained in the following chapter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 138px;">
-<img src="images/ch19tailpiece.png" width="138" height="120" alt="Tailpiece of the Aragonese physician and the cordelier of Navarre" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE CONCLUDING
-IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE
-DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN WHICH
-HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialp.png" width="75" height="77" alt="P" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Pablos de Bahabon, son of an alcade of a
-village in Old Castile, after having divided with
-his sister and brother the small inheritance which
-their father, although one of the most avaricious
-of men, had left them, set out for Salamanca with the intention
-of increasing the number of students in its university. He was
-well made, not without wit, and was just entering upon his
-twenty-third year.</p>
-
-<p>"With a thousand ducats in his possession, and a disposition
-fitted to get rid of them, it was not long before he was the talk
-of the town. The young men, without exception, were eager
-to cultivate his friendship; the strife, was who were to be included
-in the joyous parties which Don Pablos gave every day.
-I say Don Pablos, because he had assumed the Don, that he
-might live on equal terms with the students whose nobility
-would otherwise have demanded a formality in his intercourse
-with them, anything but pleasant. So well did he love gaiety
-and the good things of this world, and so badly did he manage
-the only thing which can always command them,&mdash;his purse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>
-that at the end of fifteen months he found it one morning
-empty. He contrived, however, to get on for some time
-longer, partly by credit and partly by borrowing; but he soon
-found that these are resources which speedily fail when a man
-has no other.</p>
-
-<p>"This having come to pass, his friends perceiving that their
-visits were anything but agreeable,&mdash;to themselves, they ceased
-to call; and his creditors commenced paying him their respects,
-with an assiduity which was anything but delightful to poor
-Don Pablos. For although he assured the latter that he was
-in daily expectation of receiving bills of exchange from his relations,
-there were some who were uncivil enough to decline
-waiting their arrival; and they were so sharp in their legal proceedings
-that our hero was on the point of finishing his studies
-in jail, when one day he met an acquaintance while walking on
-the banks of the Tormes, who said to him: 'Signor Don
-Pablos, beware! I warn you that an alguazil and his archers
-are on the look-out for you, and they intend to pay you the
-honour of a guard on your return to the city.'</p>
-
-<p>"Bahabon, alarmed at this intended public attention to his
-person, which suited so ill to the state of his private affairs, resolved
-to shun this demonstration of respect, and instantly took
-to flight and the road to Corita. In his anxiety for privacy, he
-had not walked far before he turned off to plunge into a neighbouring
-wood, in which he resolved to conceal himself until
-night should lend her friendly shades to enable him to travel
-more secure from observation. It was at that season of the
-year when the trees are decked in their proudest apparel, and
-he therefore chose the best dressed in the forest, that it might
-spare a covering for him: into this he mounted, and arranged
-himself upon a branch whose wavy ornaments shrouded him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>
-from sight.</p>
-
-<p>"Feeling secure in his elevated seat, he by degrees soon lost
-all fear of the too attentive alguazil; and as men usually make
-the best reflections on their conduct when thought is too late
-to avail them, he recalled all the follies he had committed, and
-promised to himself, that if ever he again should be in fortune's
-way, he would make a better use of her favours. Most especially
-he vowed to be no more the dupe of seeming friends, who
-lead young men into dissipation, and whose attachment finishes
-with the last bottle.</p>
-
-<p>"While thus occupied with the busy thoughts which come
-like creditors into the distressed mind, night recalled him to
-his situation. Disengaging himself from the sheltering leaves,
-and shaking hands with the friendly branch, he was preparing
-to descend, when, by as much light as the moon could throw
-into the forest, he thought he could discern the figure of a man.
-As he looked, his former fears returned: and he imagined it
-must be the alguazil, who, having tracked his footsteps, was
-seeking him in the wood. His fears redoubled when he saw
-the man, after walking round it two or three times, sit himself
-down at the foot of the very tree in which he was."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus interrupted the course of his narrative in this
-place: "Signor Don Cleophas," said he, "permit me to enjoy
-for a while the perplexity I occasion in your mind at this
-moment. You are desperately anxious to know now, who can
-this mortal be that comes so inopportunely, and what can have
-brought him thither. Well, that is what you shall learn: I will
-not abuse your patience.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 216px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic01.png" width="216" height="293" alt="Bahabon watches the bag being buried" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p>
-<p>"After the man had seated himself at the foot of the tree,
-whose thick foliage almost hid him from the sight of Don
-Pablos, he reposed for a few seconds, and then rose and began
-digging the ground with a poniard. Having made a deep hole,
-and placed therein a leathern bag, he refilled it, covered it over
-carefully with the moss-grown turf he had removed, and then
-retired. Bahabon, who had strained his eyes to watch these
-operations, and whose fears were changed to anxious joy during
-their progress, scarcely waited until the man was out of si<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span>ght
-ere he descended from his hiding-place to disinter the sack, in
-which he doubted not to find a good store of silver or of gold.
-His knife was sufficient for the purpose; but, had he wanted
-that, he felt such ardour for the work, that he would have
-penetrated with his nails into the bowels of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>"The instant that he had the bag in his possession, just
-handling it sufficiently to feel convinced that it contained good
-sounding coin, he hastened to quit the wood with his prey, less
-fearing to meet the alguazil in his altered state, than the man
-to whom the bag of right belonged. Intoxicated with delight
-at having made so good a stroke, our student walked lightly all
-the night, without caring whither he went, or feeling in the least
-degree incommoded with his burden. But, as day broke, he
-stopped under some trees near the village of Molorido, less, in
-truth, to repose, than to satisfy at last the curiosity which
-burned within him to know what it was indeed the sack enclosed.
-Untying it with that agreeable trembling which you
-experience at the moment you are about to enjoy an anticipated
-but unknown pleasure, he found therein honest double-pistoles,
-and, to his unspeakable delight, counted no less of these than
-two hundred and fifty.</p>
-
-<p>"After having contemplated them for some time with a
-voluptuous eagerness, he began seriously to reflect on what he
-ought to do; and having made up his mind, he stowed away
-the doubloons in his pockets, threw the bag into a ditch, and
-repaired to Molorido. He entered the first decent inn; and
-then, while they were preparing his breakfast, he hired a mule,
-upon which he returned the same day to Salamanca.</p>
-
-<p>"He clearly perceived, by the surprise which his acquaintances
-displayed at seeing him again, that they were in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>
-secret of his sudden evasion; but he had his story by heart.
-He stated that, being short of money, and not receiving it
-from home, although he had written twenty times to relate his
-pressing need, he had determined to go for it himself, and that,
-the evening previous, as he entered Molorido, he had met his
-steward with the needful, so that he was now in a situation to
-undeceive all those who had decreed him a man of straw. He
-added, that he intended to convince his creditors that they
-were wrong in distressing an honest man who would have long
-since satisfied their claims, had his steward been more punctual
-in the remittance of his rents.</p>
-
-<p>"In reality, on the following day he called a meeting of his
-creditors, and paid them all to the last maravedi. No sooner
-did the very friends who had abandoned him in poverty hear
-of these extraordinary proceedings, than they quickly flocked
-around him, to flatter him by their homage, hoping to enjoy
-themselves again at his expense; but he was not to be caught
-a second time. Faithful to the vow he had made in the forest,
-he treated them with disdain, and changing entirely his course
-of life, he devoted himself to the study of the law with zeal and
-assiduity.</p>
-
-<p>"However, you will say, he was all this while conscientiously
-expending double-pistoles not very honestly acquired. To this
-I have no reply to make than that he did what nine-tenths
-of the world are daily doing in similar circumstances. He
-of course intended to make proper restitution at some future
-time; that is, if he should chance to discover to whom the
-doubloons belonged. In the meantime, tranquillizing himself
-with the goodness of his intentions, he disposed of the money
-without scruple, patiently awaiting this discovery, which nevertheless
-he made before twelve months were over.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span></p>
-<p>"About this time, it was reported in Salamanca that a citizen
-of that town, one Ambrosio Piquillo, having gone to the neighbouring
-wood to seek for a bag, filled with gold and silver
-coin, which he had there deposited nearly a year before, had
-turned up only the earth in which he had buried it, and that
-this misfortune had reduced the poor man to beggary.</p>
-
-<p>"I must say, in justice to Bahabon, that the secret reproaches
-of his conscience were not made in vain. He ascertained
-the dwelling of Ambrosio, whom he found in a wretched
-chamber whose entire furniture consisted of a truckle-bed and
-a single chair. 'My friend,' said he with admirable hypocrisy
-as he entered, 'I have heard the public report of the cruel
-accident which has befallen you, and, charity obliging us to
-aid one another according to our means, I have come to bring
-you a trifling assistance; but I should like to hear from yourself
-the story of your misfortune.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Signor cavalier,' replied Piquillo, 'I will relate it to you
-in a few words. I had the misfortune to have a son who
-robbed me. Discovering his dishonesty, and fearing that he
-would help himself to a leathern sack in which there were two
-hundred and fifty doubloons, I thought I could not do better
-than bury them in the wood to which I had the imprudence
-to take them. Since that unlucky day, my son has stripped
-me of all else that I possessed, and he at last disappeared with
-a woman whom he had carried off by force. Finding myself
-thus reduced by the libertinage of my worthless child, or rather
-by my misplaced indulgence for his faults, I determined on
-recourse to the leathern bag; but alas! my only remaining
-means of subsistence had been cruelly carried away.'</p>
-
-<p>"As the poor man recounted his loss, his grief was renewed,
-and his tears fell fast as he spoke, Don Pablos, affected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>at
-beholding them, said to him: 'My dear Ambrosio, we must
-console ourselves for all the crosses we encounter during life.
-Your tears are useless; they cannot bring back your double-pistoles,
-which, if some scoundrel has laid hands on them, are
-indeed lost to you. But who knows? They may have fallen
-into the possession of some worthy man, who, when he learns
-that they belong to you, will hasten to restore them. You may
-yet see them again: live at least in that hope; and, in the
-meanwhile,' added he, giving him ten of his own doubloons,
-'take these, and come to me in a week from this time.' He
-then gave his name and address, and went out overwhelmed
-with confusion at the benedictions heaped upon him by
-Ambrosio, who could not find words to express his gratitude.
-Such, for the most part, are your generous actions: you would
-find little cause for admiration, could you but penetrate their
-motives.</p>
-
-<p>"At the week's end, Piquillo, mindful of what Don Pablos
-had said to him, went to his house. Bahabon received him
-kindly, and said to him: 'My friend, from the excellent
-character I everywhere hear of you, I have resolved to contribute
-all in my power to set you on your feet again: my
-interest and my purse shall not be wanting to effect this. As
-a beginning in the business,' he continued, 'what think you I
-have already done? I am intimate with several persons as
-much distinguished by their charity as their station: these I
-have sought; and I have so effectually inspired them with
-compassion for your situation, that I have collected from them
-two hundred crowns, which I am about to give you.' As he
-finished, he went into his cabinet, whence he returned in a
-moment with a linen bag, in which he had placed this sum
-in silver, and not in doubloons, for fear that the citizen, on
-receiving so many double-pistoles, should begin to suspect the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>
-truth; whereas, by this piece of management, he effectually
-secured his object, which was to make restitution in such a
-manner as might conciliate his reputation with his conscience.</p>
-
-<p>"Ambrosio, far from thinking that these crowns were a
-portion of his money restored, took them, in good faith, as
-the product of a collection made on his behalf; and, after
-repeatedly thanking Don Pablos for his kindness, he returned
-to his habitation, grateful to Heaven for having created a
-cavalier who took so much interest in his misfortunes.</p>
-
-<p>"On the following day he met one of his friends, who was
-in no better plight than himself, and who said to him: 'I leave
-Salamanca to-morrow, to set out for Cadiz, where I intend to
-embark in a vessel bound for New Spain. I have no great
-reason to be contented with my position here, and my heart
-tells me I shall be more fortunate in Mexico. If you will take
-my advice, you will go with me; that is, if you have but a
-hundred crowns.' 'I should not have much trouble to find
-two hundred,' replied Piquillo; 'and I would undertake this
-voyage willingly, were I sure to gain a living in the Indies.'
-Thereupon, his friend boasted of the fertility of New Spain,
-and represented to him so many ways of there enriching himself,
-that Ambrosio, yielding to his powers of persuasion, now
-thought of nothing but the necessary preparations for setting
-out with his friend to Cadiz. But before he left Salamanca,
-he took care to address a letter to Bahabon, informing him
-that, finding a promising opportunity of going to the Indies,
-he was anxious to profit by it, in order to see whether Fortune
-could be induced to smile more kindly on him in another
-country than in his own; that he took the liberty of stating
-this to him, assuring him that he should gratefully preserve
-during life the remembrance of his goodness.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"The departure of Ambrosio somewhat annoyed Don
-Pablos, as it disconcerted the plan he had formed for discharging
-the debt he owed him. But, when he reflected
-that the poor citizen might in a few years return to Salamanca,
-he became gradually reconciled to what had happened,
-and applied himself more diligently than ever to
-master the complications of civil and ecclesiastical legalities.
-So great was the progress he made, as much by the powers
-of his mind and its aptitude for his profession, as by the application
-I have spoken of, that he became a shining light in the
-university, of which he was ultimately chosen rector. In this
-position he was not contented to sustain its dignity by the extent
-and solidity of his scientific acquirements; he searched so
-deeply into his own heart, that he acquired all those habits of
-virtue which constitute a man of worth.</p>
-
-<p>"During his rectorship, he learned that in one of the prisons
-of Salamanca there was a young man accused of rape. On
-hearing this, he remembered that Piquillo's son had carried off
-a woman by force. He therefore made inquiries as to this
-prisoner, and, finding that it was indeed the son of Ambrosio,
-he generously undertook his defence. What deserves most to
-be admired in the science of the law, Signor Student, is, that
-it furnishes arms for offence and defence equally; and as our
-rector was an adroit fencer with these deadly weapons, he used
-them to good effect on this occasion in favour of the accused.
-It is true, that he joined to his legal skill the interest of his
-friends, and the most pressing solicitation, which, probably, as
-in most cases, did more than all the rest.</p>
-
-<p>"The guilty youth, therefore, came out of this affair whiter
-than snow. On going to thank his liberator, the latter said to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>
-him: 'It is out of respect for your father that I have rendered
-you this service. I love him; and to give you a further proof
-of my affection for him, if you will live in this town, and here
-lead the life of an honest man, I will take care of your welfare;
-if, on the contrary, you desire, like Ambrosio, to seek your fortune
-in the Indies, you may reckon on fifty pistoles for your outfit:
-I present them to you.' The young Piquillo replied: 'Since
-I am honoured by the protection of your lordship, I should be
-wrong to quit a place where I enjoy so great an advantage. I
-will not leave Salamanca, and I promise you solemnly that
-I will conduct myself to your satisfaction.' On this assurance,
-the rector placed in his hands twenty pistoles, saying:
-'Take this, my friend; embrace some honest profession; employ
-your time well, and rely on it that I will not abandon
-you.'</p>
-
-<p>"Two months afterwards, it happened that the young Piquillo,
-who from time to time paid his respects to Don Pablos, one day
-appeared before him in tears. 'What ails you?' asked Bahabon.
-'Signor,' replied the son of Ambrosio, 'I have just heard news
-which cuts me to the soul. My father has been taken by a corsair
-of Algiers, and is at this moment in chains: an old Salamancan,
-lately returned from Barbary, where he was ten years
-in captivity, and whom the fathers of Mercy have redeemed,
-told me not an hour since that he had left Ambrosio in slavery.
-Alas!' he added, striking his breast and tearing his hair, 'wretch
-that I am! it was my infamous behaviour which reduced my
-father to the necessity of burying his money, and afterwards
-to leave his country! It is I who have delivered him to the
-barbarian who loads him with fetters. Ah! Signor Don Pablos,
-why did you shield me from the vengeance of the law? Since
-you love my father, you should have avenged him, and have
-suffered me to expiate, by an ignominious death, the crime o<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>f
-having caused all his misfortunes.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic02.png" width="264" height="193" alt="Piquillo's son before Bahabon" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"These exclamations, evidently betokening an erring mind's
-return to virtue, together with the natural expressions of the
-young Piquillo's sincere grief, greatly affected the rector. 'My
-child,' he said to him, 'I see with pleasure that you repent of
-your past transgressions. Dry up your tears: it is enough for
-me to know what has become of Ambrosio to give you assurance
-of beholding him again. His deliverance depends but on an
-easy ransom, which I shall cheerfully provide; and how great
-soever may have been the sufferings he has endured, I feel persuaded
-that on his return, to find in you a son restored to virtue,
-and filled with tenderness for him, he will not complain of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>the
-rigour of his destiny.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Pablos, by this assurance, dismissed the son of Ambrosio
-with a lightened heart; and, a few days afterwards, he
-set out for Madrid. On his arrival in this capital, he placed in
-the hands of the fathers of Mercy a purse containing a hundred
-pistoles, to which was attached a label bearing these words:
-'This sum is given to the fathers of the Redemption, for the
-ransom of a poor citizen of Salamanca, named Ambrosio Piquillo,
-now captive in Algiers.' The good monks, in their recent voyage,
-acting in pursuance of the directions of the rector, did not
-fail to purchase Ambrosio, and you beheld him in that slave
-whose tranquil air excited your attention."</p>
-
-<p>"In my opinion," said Don Cleophas, "Bahabon has worthily
-repaid the debt he owed to this luckless citizen." "Don
-Pablos, however," replied Asmodeus, "thinks differently. He
-will not be contented until he has restored to him both principal
-and interest; the delicacy of his conscience even extends so far
-as to scruple at his retention of the wealth he has gained since
-he has become rector of the university; and when he sees Ambrosio,
-he intends saying to him: 'Ambrosio, my friend, do not
-regard me as your benefactor; you behold in me the scoundrel
-who disinterred the money you had buried in the wood. It is
-not enough that I restore to you the doubloons I robbed you
-of, since by their means it is that I have raised myself to the
-station I now enjoy: all that I possess belongs to you; I will
-retain so much alone as you shall please to&mdash;&mdash;'" Asmodeus
-suddenly stopped in his relation; a trembling seized him as
-he spoke, and an unearthly paleness overspread his visage.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic03.png" width="232" height="279" alt="The magician discovers Asmodeus's absence" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Why, what's the matter now?" exclaimed the Student;
-"what wonderful emotion agitates you thus, and chains your
-willing tongue?" "Ah! Signor Leandro," answered the
-Demon with tremulous voice, "what misery for me! The
-magician who kept me prisoned in my bottle, has discovered
-that I am absent without leave; and prepares e'en now such
-mighty spiritings, to call me back to his laboratory, as I must
-fain obey." "Alas!" exclaimed Zambullo, quite affected, "I
-am mortified beyond expression! What a loss am I abo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>ut
-to suffer! Must we, then, my dear Asmodeus, separate for
-ever?"</p>
-
-<p>"I trust not," replied the Devil. "The magician may require
-some office of my ministry; and if I have the fortune to
-assist him in his projects, perhaps, out of gratitude, he may
-restore me to liberty. Should that arrive, as I hope it may, rely
-on my rejoining you at once; on condition, however, that you
-reveal not to mortal ears what has this night passed between us.
-Should you be weak enough to confide this to any one, I warn
-you," continued Asmodeus emphatically, "that you will never
-see me more.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 154px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic04.png" width="154" height="134" alt="Asmodeus embraces Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I have one consolation in leaving you," he resumed, "which
-is, that at least I have made your fortune. You will marry the
-lovely Seraphina, into whose bosom it has been my business to
-instil a doting passion for your lordship. The Signor Don Pedro
-de Escolano, too, has made up his mind to bestow her hand
-upon you: and do you take care not to let so splendid a gift
-escape your own. But, mercy on me!" he concluded, "I hear
-already the potent master who constrains me; all Hell resound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>s
-with the echoes of the fearful words pronounced by this redoubtable
-magician: I dare not stay a moment longer. Farewell, my
-dear Zambullo! We may meet again." As he ceased, he embraced
-Don Cleophas, and, after having dropped the Student
-in his own apartment on his way to the laboratory, disappeared.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XXI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
-HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS
-WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialu.png" width="75" height="78" alt="U" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Upon the retreat of Asmodeus, the Student, feeling
-fatigued at having passed all the night upon his
-legs, and by the extraordinary bustle in which he
-had been occupied, undressed himself and went
-to bed. Agitated as his mind may be supposed to have been,
-it is no wonder that he lay for some time restless; but at last,
-paying with compound interest to Morpheus the tribute which
-all mortals owe to his sombre majesty, he fell into a deathlike
-sleep, in which he passed the whole of that day and the following
-night.</p>
-
-<p>Twenty-four hours had he been thus lost to the world, when
-Don Luis de Lujana, a young cavalier whom he numbered
-among his friends, entered his chamber, singing out lustily,
-"Hollo! Signor Don Cleophas, get up with you!" At this
-salutation, Zambullo awoke. "Are you aware," said Don Luis
-to him, "that you have been in bed since yesterday morning?"
-"Impossible!" exclaimed Leandro. "Not the less true for
-that," replied his friend; "twice have you slept the clock's dull
-round. All the inmates of the house assure me of this fact."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic01.png" width="262" height="146" alt="Zambullo awakened by his friend" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The Student, astonished at the trance from which he emerged,
-feared at first that his adventures with Asmodeus were but an
-illusion. He could not, however, persist in this belief; and when
-he recalled to himself certain circumstances of his intercourse
-with the Demon, he soon ceased to doubt of its reality. But,
-to make assurance doubly sure, he rose, dressed himself quickly,
-and went out with Don Luis, whom he took, without saying why,
-in the direction of the Gate of the Sun. Arrived there, and
-perceiving the mansion of Don Pedro almost reduced to ashes,
-Don Cleophas feigned surprise. "What do I behold?" he
-cried. "What dreadful ravages has fire made here! To
-whom did this unlucky house belong, and when was it thus
-consumed?"</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis de Lujana, having replied to these two questions,
-thus continued: "This fire is less spoken of in the town on
-account of the great damage it has done, than for a circumstance
-which atte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>nded it, and of which I will tell you. The
-Signor Don Pedro de Escolano has an only daughter, who is
-lovely as the day: they say that she was in a room all filled
-with fire and smoke, in which it seemed certain she must
-perish; but that nevertheless her life was saved by a youthful
-cavalier, whose name I have not heard;&mdash;it forms the subject
-of conversation throughout Madrid. The young man's
-daring is lauded to the skies; and it is believed that, as a
-reward for his success, however humble my gentleman may
-be, he may well hope to gain a life interest in the daughter of
-the Don."</p>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez listened to Don Luis without appearing to
-take the slightest interest in what he heard; then getting rid
-of his friend, under some specious pretext, he gained the
-Prado, where, seating himself beneath a tree, he was soon
-plunged in a profound reverie. The Devil first came flitting
-through his mind. "Ah! my dear Asmodeus," he exclaimed,
-"I cannot too much regret you. You, in a moment, would
-have borne me round the world; and, with you, should I have
-journeyed without any of the usual devilries of travelling:
-gentle spirit, you are a loss indeed! But," he added a moment
-afterwards, "my loss, perhaps, is not quite irreparable: why
-should I despair of seeing the Demon again? It may fall out,
-as he himself suggested, that the magician will shortly restore
-him to freedom and to me." As the Devil left his mind the
-lady entered it; upon which he resolved at once to seek Don
-Pedro in his temporary abode, moved principally by curiosity
-to see the lovely Seraphina.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as he appeared before Don Pedro, that signor
-rushed towards him with open arms, and embracing him,
-exclaimed: "Welcome! generous cavalier, I began to feel
-angry at your absence. 'What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>!' said I, 'Don Cleophas,
-after the pressing invitation which I gave him to my house,
-still to shun my sight! He ill indeed repays the impatience
-of my soul to testify for him the friendship and esteem which
-fill it.'"</p>
-
-<p>Zambullo bowed respectfully at this kindly objurgation;
-and, in order to excuse his seeming coldness, replied to the
-old man, that he had feared to incommode him in the confusion
-which the event of the preceding day must have
-occasioned. "I cannot listen to such an excuse," resumed
-Don Pedro; "you can never be unwelcome in a house
-which but for your noble conduct would have been a house
-of mourning indeed. But," he added, "follow me, if you
-please; you have other thanks than mine to receive." And
-taking the Student's hand, he led him to the apartment of
-Seraphina.</p>
-
-<p>"My child," said Don Pedro, as he entered the room, where
-this lady was reposing from the noon-day heat, "I present
-to you the gentleman who so courageously saved your life.
-Show to him now, if you can, how deeply sensible you are of
-the obligation he conferred, since the danger from which he
-rescued you deprived you of the power to do so on the spot."
-On this, the Signora Seraphina, opening a mouth of roses to
-express the gratitude of her heart to Leandro Perez, paid him
-in compliments so warm and graceful, as would charm my
-readers as much as they did their blushing object, could I
-repeat each honeyed word; but as they have not been faithfully
-reported, I think it better to omit them altogether, than
-chance to spoil them by my own imperfect knowledge in such
-matters.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 233px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic02.png" width="233" height="277" alt="Seraphina thanks Zambullo" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p>
-<p>I will only say, that Don Cleophas thought he beheld and
-listened to some bright divinity, and that he was at once the
-victim of his eyes and ears. To say that he loved her, is a
-thing of course; but, far from regarding the beauteous form
-before him as a possession to which he might aspire, his heart
-foreboded, despite all that the Demon had assured him,
-that they would never pay at such a price the service they
-imagined him to have rendered. As her charms increased
-in their effect upon his mind, doubts, teasing doubts, came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>
-threatening to destroy the infant Hope, first-cherished child of
-Love.</p>
-
-<p>What completed his mystification on the subject, was, that
-Don Pedro during the lengthened conversation which ensued,
-not once e'en touched upon the tender theme; but contented
-himself with loading him with civilities, without hinting in the
-slightest degree that he had any desire for the honour of his
-relationship. Seraphina, too, as polite as her father, while she
-did not fail in expressions of the deepest gratitude, dropped
-no one word whose magic charm would serve Zambullo to
-conjure visions of wedding joys; so that our Student left the
-Signor Escolano and his daughter with Love as his companion,
-but leaving Hope behind him.</p>
-
-<p>"Asmodeus, my friend," he muttered as he walked along,
-as though the Devil still were by his side, "when you assured
-me that Don Pedro was disposed to adopt me as his son-in-law,
-and that Seraphina burned with passion lighted in her
-heart by you for me, it must have pleased you to make merry
-at my cost, or else you know as little of the present time as of
-that which is to come."</p>
-
-<p>He now regretted that he had ever seen the dangerous
-beauty; and looking on the love which filled his breast as an
-unhappy passion which he ought to stifle in its infancy, he
-resolved to set about it in earnest. He even reproached himself
-for having desired to gain his point, supposing he had
-found the father all disposed to give his daughter to him; and
-represented to himself that it would have been disgraceful
-to have owed his happiness to a deception like that he had
-projected.</p>
-
-<p>He was yet occupied with these reflections, when Don Pedro,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>
-having sent to seek him on the following day, said to him:
-"Signor Leandro Perez, it is time I proved to you by deeds,
-that in obliging me you have not to do with one of those who
-repay a benefit in courtly phrases. You saved my daughter:
-and I wish that she, herself, should recompense the peril you
-encountered for her sake. I have consulted Seraphina thereupon,
-and find her ready to obey my will; nay, I can say with
-pride, I recognized her for my child indeed when I proposed
-that she should give her hand to him who saved her life. She
-showed her joy by transports which at once convinced my soul
-her generosity responds to mine. It is settled therefore that
-you shall marry with my daughter."</p>
-
-<p>After having spoken thus, the good Signor de Escolano, who
-reasonably expected that Don Cleophas would have gone
-down on his knees to thank him for so great a boon, was
-sufficiently surprised to find him speechless, and displaying an
-evident embarrassment. "Speak, Zambullo!" he at length
-exclaimed. "What am I to infer from the confusion which my
-proposition to you has occasioned? What possible objection
-can you have? What! a private gentleman&mdash;although respectable&mdash;to
-refuse an alliance which a noble would have courted!
-Has then the honour of my house some blemish of which I am
-ignorant?"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 279px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic03.png" width="279" height="331" alt="The marriage of Zambullo and Seraphina" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied Leandro, "I know too well the space that
-Heaven has set between us." "Why then," returned Don
-Pedro, "seem you to care so little for a marriage which does
-you so much honour? Confess! Don Cleophas, you love
-some maiden, and have pledged your faith; and it is your
-honour now which bars your road to fortune." "Had I," replied
-the Student, "a mistress to whom my vows had bound my
-future fate, it is not fortune that should bid me break them;
-but it is no such tie that now compels me to reject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> your
-proffered bounty. Honour, it is true, compels me to renounce
-the glorious destiny that you would tempt me with; but, far
-from seeking to abuse your kindness, I am about to un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span>deceive
-you to my own undoing. I am not the deliverer of
-Seraphina."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear!" exclaimed Don Pedro, in utter astonishment.
-"It was not you who rescued Seraphina from the flames
-which threatened her with instant death! It was not Don
-Cleophas who had the courage to risk his life to save her!"
-"No, Signor," replied Zambullo; "mortal man would have
-vainly essayed to shield her from her fate; learn that it was a
-devil to whom you owe your daughter's life."</p>
-
-<p>These words only increased the astonishment of Don Pedro,
-who, not conceiving that he was to understand them literally,
-entreated the Student to explain himself. Upon which
-Leandro, regardless of the loss of the Demon's friendship,
-related all that had passed between Asmodeus and himself.
-Having finished, the old man resumed, and said to Don
-Cleophas: "The confidence you have reposed in me confirms
-me in my design of giving you my daughter. You were her
-chief deliverer. Had you not thus intreated the Devil whom
-you speak of to snatch her from the death which menaced her,
-it is clear that he would have suffered her to perish. It is you
-then who preserved the life of Seraphina, which cannot be
-better devoted than to the happiness of your own. You
-deserve her; and I again offer you her hand with the half of
-my estate."</p>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez at these words, which removed all his conscientious
-scruples, threw himself at the feet of Don Pedro to
-thank him for his generosity. In a few weeks, the marriage
-was celebrated with a magnificence suitable to the espousal of
-the heir of the Signor de Escolano, and to the great satisfaction
-of the relations of our Student, who was thus amply repaid for
-the few hours' freedom he had procured for the Devi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>l on Two
-Sticks.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;">
-<img src="images/ch21tailpiece.png" width="125" height="127" alt="Tailpiece of Asmodeus in his bottle" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 51145 ***</div>
-
-</body>
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks, by 
-Alain-René Le Sage
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks
-
-Author: Alain-René Le Sage
-
-Illustrator: Tony Johannot
-
-Translator: John Thomas
-
-Release Date: February 8, 2016 [EBook #51145]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASMODEUS; DEVIL ON TWO STICKS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-ASMODEUS; OR, The Devil on Two Sticks.
-
-
- By ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE.
-
-
- WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR, By JULES JANIN.
-
-
- [Illustration: Asmodeus and Zambullo fly over Madrid]
-
-
- Illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT.
-
- [Translated by Joseph Thomas.]
-
-
- GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LONDON: BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. NEW YORK:
- 416 BROOME STREET.
-
-
- 1879.
-
-
-
-
-TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
-
-
-When I first determined on the publication of a new edition of "THE
-DEVIL ON TWO STICKS," I had certainly no idea of engaging in a new
-translation. I had not read an English version since my boyhood,
-and naturally conceived that the one which had passed current for
-upwards of a century must possess sufficient merit to render anything
-beyond a careful revision, before passing it again through the press,
-unnecessary. However, on reading a few pages, and on comparing them
-with the much-loved original, I no longer wondered, as I had so often
-done, why LE DIABLE BOITEUX was so little esteemed by those who had
-only known him in his English dress, while Gil Blas was as great a
-favourite with the British public as any of its own heroes of story.
-To account for this, I will not dwell on the want of literal fidelity
-in the old version, although in some instances that is amusing enough;
-but the total absence of style, and that too in the translation of a
-work by one of the greatest masters of verbal melody that ever existed,
-was so striking as to induce me, rashly perhaps, to endeavour more
-worthily to interpret the witty and satirical ASMODEUS for the benefit
-of those who have not the inestimable pleasure of comprehending him in
-his _native_ tongue--for, as Jules Janin observes, he is a Devil truly
-French.
-
-In the translation which I here present, I do not myself pretend, at
-all times, to have rendered the words of the 'graceful Cupid' with
-strict exactness, but I have striven to convey to my reader the ideas
-which those words import. Whether I have succeeded in so doing is for
-others to determine; but, if I have not, I shall at all events have the
-satisfaction of failing in company,--which, I am told, however, is only
-an Old Bailey sort of feeling after all.
-
-I have not thought it necessary to attempt the Life of the Author;
-it will be enough to me, for fame, not to have murdered one of his
-children. I have therefore adopted the life, character, and behaviour
-of Le Sage from one of the most talented of modern French writers,
-and my readers will doubtless congratulate themselves on my resolve.
-Neither have I deemed it needful to enter into the controversy as to
-the originality of this work, except by a note in page 162: and this
-I should probably not have appended, had I, while hunting over the
-early editions there referred to, observed the original dedication
-of Le Sage to 'the illustrious Don Luis Velez de Guevara,' in which
-are the following words: "I have already declared, and do now again
-declare to the world, that to your Diabolo Cojuelo I owe the title and
-plan of this work ...; and I must further own, that if the reader look
-narrowly into some passages of this performance, he will find I have
-adopted several of your thoughts. I wish from my soul he could find
-more, and that the necessity I was under of accommodating my writings
-to the genius of my own country had not prevented me from copying you
-exactly." This is surely enough to exonerate Le Sage from the many
-charges which have been urged against him; and I quote the concluding
-sentence of the above, because it is an excuse, from his own pen, for
-some little liberties which I have, in my turn, thought it necessary to
-take with his work in the course of my labours.
-
- JOSEPH THOMAS.
-
-
-
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS.
-
-
- TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
-
- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LE SAGE.
-
- CHAPTER I. WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS--WHEN AND BY
- WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE
- HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.
-
- CHAPTER II. WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.
-
- CHAPTER III. WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
- FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.
-
- CHAPTER IV. STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE
- CESPEDES.
-
- CHAPTER V. CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
- BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
- CHAPTER VI. NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE ON
- DONNA THOMASA.
-
- CHAPTER VII. THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.
-
- CHAPTER VIII. OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY
- ASMODEUS, WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN HIS DAY.
-
- CHAPTER IX. THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.
-
- CHAPTER X. THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.
-
- CHAPTER XI. OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
- OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.
-
- CHAPTER XII. OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.
-
- CHAPTER XIII. THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
- CHAPTER XIV. THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.
-
- CHAPTER XV. CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
- CHAPTER XVI. THE DREAMERS.
-
- CHAPTER XVII. IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.
-
- CHAPTER XVIII. RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO
- THE STUDENT.
-
- CHAPTER XIX. THE CAPTIVES.
-
- CHAPTER XX. OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE
- CONCLUDING IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE DISAGREEABLE
- MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE
- SEPARATED.
-
- CHAPTER XXI. OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
- HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT
- TO END IT.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: bust of Le Sage between Asmodeus and Gil Blas]
-
-NOTICE OF LE SAGE.
-
-
-I shall at once place LE SAGE by the side of Molière; he is a comic
-poet in all the acceptation of that great word,--COMEDY. He possesses
-its noble instincts, its good-natured irony, its animated dialogue,
-its clear and flowing style, its satire without bitterness, he has
-studied profoundly the various states of life in the heights and
-depths of the world. He is perfectly acquainted with the manners of
-comedians and courtiers,--of students and pretty women. Exiled from
-the Théâtre-Français, of which he would have been the honour, and
-less fortunate than Molière, who had comedians under his direction,
-and who was the proprietor of his own theatre, Le Sage found himself
-obliged more than once to bury in his breast this Comedy, from want of
-a fitting stage for its exhibition, and actors to represent it. Thus
-circumstanced, the author of "Turcaret" was compelled to seek a new
-form, under which he might throw into the world the wit, the grace, the
-gaiety, the instruction which possessed him. In writing the biography
-of such men, there is but one thing to do, and that is to praise. The
-more humble and obscure have they been in their existence, the greater
-is the duty of him who tells the story of their lives, to heap upon
-them eulogy and honour. This is a tardy justice, if you will, but it is
-a justice nevertheless; and besides, of what importance, after all, are
-these vulgar events? All these biographies are alike. A little more of
-poverty, a little less of misery, a youth expended in energy, a manhood
-serious and filled with occupation, an old age respected, honourable;
-and, at the end of all these labours, all these troubles, all these
-anguishes of mind and heart, of which your great men alone have the
-secret,--the Académie-Française in perspective. Then, are you possessed
-of mediocre talents only? all doors are open to you;--are you a man of
-genius? the door opens with difficulty;--but, are you perchance one of
-those excelling spirits who appear but from century to century? it may
-turn out that the Académie-Française will not have you at any price.
-Thus did it with the great Molière; thus also has it done for Le Sage;
-which, by-the-bye, is a great honour for the illustrious author of "Gil
-Blas."
-
-René Le Sage was born in the Morbihan, on the 8th of May, 1668:[1] and
-in that year Racine produced "Les Plaideurs," and Molière was playing
-his "Avare." The father of Le Sage was a man slightly lettered,--as
-much so as could be expected of an honourable provincial attorney,
-one who lived from day to day like a lord, without troubling himself
-too much as to the future fortunes of his only son. The father died
-when the child was only fourteen years of age; and soon afterwards the
-youthful René lost his mother. He was now alone, under the guardianship
-of an uncle, and he was fortunate enough to be placed under the
-tutelage of those learned masters of the youth of the seventeenth
-century, the Jesuits who subsequently became the instructors of
-Voltaire, as they have been of all France of the great age. Thanks
-to this talented and paternal teaching, our young orphan quickly
-penetrated into the learned and poetical mysteries of that classic
-antiquity, which is yet in our days, and will be to the end of time,
-the exhaustless source of taste, of style, of reason, and of good
-sense. It is to praise Le Sage to say that he was educated with as
-much care and assiduity as Molière and Racine, as La Fontaine and
-Voltaire; they one and all prepared themselves, by severest study, and
-by respect for their masters, to become masters in their turn; and they
-have themselves become classic writers, because they reverenced their
-classic models,--which may, in case of need, serve as an example for
-the beaux-esprits of our own time.
-
-[1] According to Moreri, in his "Grand Dictionnaire Historique,"
-(folio, Paris, 1759,) and he cites as his authority M. Titon de
-Tillet's second supplement to the "Parnasse Français," Le Sage was
-born at Ruis in Brittany, in 1677. There is, however, every reason
-to believe that M. Jules Janin is correct, both as to the year and
-the place of his birth, notwithstanding that Mr. Chalmers, in his
-"Biographical Dictionary," while he assigns to the former the year
-1668, places the latter at Vannes, as does also the "Biographie
-Universelle," which he appears to have followed.
-
-But, when this preliminary education was completed, and when he left
-these learned mansions, all filled with Greek and Latin, all animated
-with poetic fervour, Le Sage encountered those terrible obstacles that
-await invariably, as he emerges from his studies, every young man
-without family, and destitute of fortune. The poet Juvenal has well
-expressed it, in one of his sublimest verses: "They with difficulty
-rise, whose virtues are opposed by the pinching wants of home."
-
-    "Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat
-    Res angusta domi."
-
-But what matters poverty when one is so young,--when our hopes are so
-vast, our thoughts so powerful and rich? You have nothing, it is true;
-but the world itself belongs to you,--the world is your patrimony;
-you are sovereign of the universe; and around you, the twentieth year
-touches every thing with its golden wand. Your clear and sparkling
-eye may look in the sun's bright face as dauntless as the eagle's. It
-is accomplished: all the powers of your soul are awakened, all the
-passions of your heart join in one swelling choir, to chant _Hosanna in
-excelsis!_ What matter then that you are poor! A verse sublime, a noble
-thought, a well-turned phrase, the hand of a friend, the soft smile of
-some bright-eyed damsel as she flits across your path,--there is a
-fortune for a week. Those who, at the commencement of every biography,
-enter into all sorts of lamentation, and deplore with pathetic voice
-the mournful destiny of their hero, are not in the secret of the facile
-joys of poetry, of the exquisite happiness of youth,--the simpletons!
-They amuse themselves in counting, one by one, the rags that cover
-yonder handsome form; and they see not, through the holes of the cloak
-which envelopes it, those Herculean arms, or that athletic breast!
-They look with pity on that poor young man with well-worn hat, and
-beneath that covering deformed they see not those abundant, black,
-and tended locks, the flowing diadem of youth! They will tell you,
-with heart-rending sighs, how happy Diderot esteemed himself, when to
-his crust of bread he joined the luxury of cheese, and how this poor
-René le Sage drank at his repasts but pure spring water;--a lamentable
-matter, truly! But Diderot, while he ate his cheese, already meditated
-the shocks of his "Encyclopædia"; but this same clear fountain from
-which you drink, at twenty, in the hollow of your hand, as pure, will
-intoxicate more surely than will, after twenty other years, alas! the
-sparkling produce of Champagne, poured out in cups of crystal.
-
-This is sufficient reason why we should not trouble ourselves overmuch
-as to the early life of Le Sage; he was young and handsome, and as he
-marched, his head upturned like a poet, he met as he went along with
-those first loves which one always meets when the heart is honest
-and devoted. A charming woman loved him, and he let her love him
-to her heart's content; and, without concerning himself as to his
-good fortune, more than would master Gil Blas have done on a similar
-occasion, these first amours of our poet lasted just as long as such
-sort of amours ought to last--long enough that they should leave no
-subject for regret, not enough that they should evoke hatred. When,
-therefore, they had loved each other as much as they could, she and
-he, they separated, still to please themselves; she found a husband of
-riper age and better off than her lover; he took a wife more beauteous
-and less wealthy than his mistress. And blessings on the amiable and
-devoted girl who consented, with a joyous heart, to encounter all the
-risks, all the vexations, and also to expose herself to the seducing
-pleasures of a poetic life! Thus Le Sage entered, almost without
-thinking of it, into that laborious life in which one must daily
-expend the rarest and most charming treasures of his mind and soul. As
-a commencement, he made a translation of the Letters of Calisthenes,
-without imagining that he was himself possessed of more wit than all
-the Greeks of the fourth century. The work had no success, and it ought
-not to have had. He who has the genius of Le Sage must create original
-works, or not meddle in the craft. To translate is a trade of manual
-skill--to imitate, is one of plagiary. However, the failure of this
-first book rendered Le Sage less proud and haughty; and he accepted,
-what he would never have done had he at once succeeded, a pension from
-M. l'Abbé de Lyonne. This pension amounted to six hundred francs;
-and thereupon the biographers of our author are in extacies at the
-generosity of the Abbé de Lyonne.
-
-Six hundred francs! and when we reflect that had Le Sage lived in our
-day, depending only on his Théâtre de la Foire, he would have gained
-thirty thousand francs a year! In our days, a romance like "Gil Blas"
-would not be worth less than five hundred thousand francs; "Le Diable
-Boiteux" would have brought him a hundred thousand, at least: still,
-we must not be angry with M. l'Abbé de Lyonne, for having bestowed a
-pension of six hundred on the author of "Gil Blas." The abbé did more;
-he opened to Le Sage an admirable treasure of wit, of imagination,
-and of poetry; he taught him the Spanish tongue, that lovely and
-noble instructress of the great Corneille; and it is doubtless no
-slight honour for the language of Cervantes to have given birth in
-our land to "The Cid" and to "Gil Blas." You may imagine with what
-delight Le Sage accepted this instruction, and how perfectly at home
-he found himself in those elegant and gracious manners; with what good
-will he studied that smiling gallantry, that loyal jealousy; those
-duennas in appearance so austere, in reality so accessible; those
-lovely women, their feet ensatined, their head in the mantilla; those
-charming mansions, all carved without, and within all silence; those
-exciting windows, lighted by smiles above, while concerts murmur at
-their feet! You may imagine if he adopted those lively and coquetish
-waiting-women, those ingenious and rascally valets, those enormous
-mantles so favourable to love, those ancient bowers so friendly to its
-modest blisses! Thus, when he had discovered this new world of poesy,
-of which he was about to be the Pizarro and the Fernando Cortes, and
-of which Corneille had been the Christopher Columbus, René le Sage
-clapped his hands for joy. In his noble pride, he stamped his feet on
-this enchanted land; he began to read, you may fancy with what delight,
-that admirable epic, "Don Quixote," which he studied for its grace,
-its charms, its poetry, its passion; putting for the time aside its
-satire, and the sarcasm concealed in this splendid drama, as weapons
-for a later use, when he should attack the financiers. Certainly, the
-Abbé de Lyonne never dreamt that he was opening to the light this
-exhaustless mine for the man who was to become the first comic poet of
-France--since Molière is one of those geniuses apart, of whom all the
-nations of the earth, all literary ages, claim alike with equal right
-the honour and the glory.
-
-The first fruit of this Spanish cultivation was a volume of comedies
-which Le Sage published, and in which he had translated some excellent
-pieces of the Spanish stage. It contained only one from Lopez de Vega,
-so ingenious and so fruitful; that was certainly too few: there was
-in it not one of Calderon de la Barca; and that was as certainly not
-enough. In this book, which I have read with care, in search of some
-of those luminous rays which betoken the presence of the man of genius
-wherever he has passed, I have met with nothing but the translator.
-The original writer does not yet display himself: it is because style
-is a thing which comes but slowly; it is because, in this heart of
-comedy more especially, there are certain secrets of trade which no
-talent can replace, and which must be learned at whatever cost. These
-secrets Le Sage learned, as every thing is learned, at his own expense.
-From a simple translator as he was, he became an arranger of dramatic
-pieces, and in 1702 (the eighteenth century had begun its course, but
-with timid steps, and none could have predicted what it would become)
-Le Sage brought out at the Théâtre Français a comedy in five acts,
-"Le Point d'Honneur:" it was a mere imitation from the Spanish. The
-imitation had small success, and Le Sage comprehended not this lesson
-of the public; he understood not that something whispered to the
-pit, so reserved in its applause, that there was in this translator
-an original poet. To avenge himself, what did Le Sage? He fell into
-a greater error still: he set to work translating--will you believe
-it?--the continuation of "Don Quixote," as if "Don Quixote" could
-have a continuation; as if there were a person in the world, even
-Cervantes himself, who had the right to add a chapter to this famous
-history! Verily, it is strange, indeed, that with his taste so pure,
-his judgment so correct, Le Sage should have ever thought of this
-unhappy _continuation_. This time, therefore, again his new attempt had
-no success; the Parisian public, which, whatever may be said to the
-contrary, is a great judge, was more just for the veritable Quixote
-than Le Sage himself; and he had once more to begin anew. However, he
-yet once more attempted this new road, which could lead him to nothing
-good. He returned to the charge, still with a Spanish comedy, "Don
-César Ursin," imitated from Calderon. This piece was played for the
-first time at Versailles, and applauded to the skies by the court,
-which deceived itself almost as often as the town. Le Sage now thought
-that the battle at last was won. Vain hope! it was again a battle lost,
-for, brought from Versailles to Paris, the comedy of "Don César Ursin"
-was hissed off the stage by the Parisian pit, which thus unmercifully
-annihilated the eulogies of the court, and the first victory of the
-author. It was now full time to yield to the force of evidence.
-Enlightened by these rude instructions, Le Sage at last comprehended
-that it was not permitted to him, to him less than to all others, to be
-a plagiarist; that originality was one of the grand causes of success;
-and that to confine himself for ever to this servile imitation of the
-Spanish poets was to become a poet lost.
-
-Now, therefore, behold him, determined in his turn to be an original
-poet. This time he no longer copies, he invents; he arranges his fable
-to his mind, and seeks no further refuge in the phantasmagoria of
-Spain. With original ideas, comes to him originality of style; and he
-at last lights on that wondrous and imperishable dialogue which may
-be compared to the dialogue of Molière, not for its ease, perhaps,
-but unquestionably for its grace and elegance. He found at the same
-time, to his great joy, now that he was himself--that he walked in the
-footsteps of nobody, he found that the business was much more simple;
-this time he was at his ease in his plot, which he disposed as it
-pleased him; he breathed freely in the space which he had opened to
-himself; nothing constrained his march, any more than his poetical
-caprice. Well! at last then we behold him the supreme moderator of his
-work, we behold him such as the pit would have him, such as we all
-hoped he was.
-
-This happy comedy, which is, beyond all doubt, the first work of Le
-Sage, is entitled "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." When he had finished
-it, Le Sage, grateful for the reception which the court had given to
-"Don César Ursin," was desirous that the court should also have the
-first hearing of "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." He remembered, with
-great delight, that the first applauses he had received had been echoed
-from Versailles! Behold him then producing his new comedy before the
-court. But, alas! this time the opinion of the court had changed:
-without regard for the plaudits of Versailles, the pit of the Paris
-theatre had hissed "Don César Ursin"; Versailles in its turn, and as
-if to take its revenge, now hissed "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." We
-must allow that, for a mind less strong, here was enough to confound
-a man for ever, and to make him comprehend nothing either as to the
-success or the failure of his productions. Happily, Le Sage appealed
-from the public of Versailles to the pit of Paris; and as much as
-"Crispin, Rival de son Maître" had been hissed at Versailles, so much
-was this charming comedy applauded at Paris. On this occasion, it
-was not alone to give the lie to the court, that the pit applauded;
-Paris had refound, in truth, in this new piece, all the qualities of
-true comedy,--the wit, the grace, the easy irony, the exhaustless
-pleasantry, a noble frankness, much biting satire, and a moderate
-seasoning of love.
-
-As to those who would turn into accusation the hisses of Versailles,
-they should recollect that more than one chef-d'oeuvre, hissed at
-Paris, has been raised again by the suffrages of Versailles;--"Les
-Plaideurs" of Racine, for instance, which the court restored to the
-poet with extraordinary applause, with the bursting laughter of Louis
-XIV., which come deliciously to trouble the repose of Racine, at five
-o'clock in the morning. Happy times, on the contrary, when poets had,
-to approve them, to try them, this double jurisdiction; when they could
-appeal from the censures of the court to the praises of the town, from
-the hisses of Versailles to the plaudits of Paris!
-
-Now we behold René le Sage, to whom nothing opposes: he has divined his
-true vocation, which is comedy; he understands what may be made of the
-human race, and by what light threads are suspended the human heart.
-These threads of gold, of silver, or of brass, he holds them at this
-moment in his hand, and you will see with what skill he weaves them.
-Already in his head, which bears Gil Blas and his fortune, ferment the
-most charming recitals of "Le Diable Boiteux." Silence! "Turcaret"
-is about to appear,--Turcaret, whom Molière would not have forgotten
-if Turcaret had lived in his day; but it was necessary to wait till
-France should have escaped from the reign, so decorous, of Louis XIV.,
-to witness the coming, after the man of the Church, after the man of
-the sword, this man without heart and without mind,--the man of money.
-In a society like our own, the man of money is one of those bastard
-and insolent powers which grow out of the affairs of every day, as the
-mushroom grows out from the dunghill. We know not whence comes this
-inert force,--we know not how it is maintained on the surface of the
-world, and nothing tells how it disappears, after having thrown its
-phosphorus of an instant. It is necessary, in truth, that an epoch
-should be sufficiently corrupt, and sufficiently stained with infamy,
-when it replaces, by money, the sword of the warrior, by money the
-sentence of the judge, by money the intelligence of the legislator, by
-money the sceptre of the king himself. Once that a nation has descended
-so low, as to adore money on its knees--to require neither fine arts,
-nor poesy, nor love, it is debased as was the Jewish people, when it
-knelt before the golden calf. Happily, of all the ephemeral powers in
-the world, money is the most ephemeral; we extend to it our right hand,
-it is true, but we buffet it with our left; we prostrate ourselves
-before it as it passes along,--yes; but when it has passed, we kick it
-with our foot! This is what Le Sage marvellously comprehended, like a
-great comic poet as he was. He found the absurd and frightful side of
-those gilded men who divide our finances, menials enriched overnight,
-who, more than once, by a perfectly natural mistake, have mounted
-behind their own coaches. And such is Turcaret. The poet has loaded him
-with vices the most disgraceful, with follies the most dishonouring;
-he tears from this heart, debased by money, every natural affection;
-and nevertheless, even in this fearful picture, Le Sage has confined
-himself within the limits of comedy, and not once in this admirable
-production does contempt or indignation take the place of laughter. It
-was then with good cause that the whole race of financiers, as soon as
-they had heard of Turcaret, caballed against this chef-d'oeuvre; the
-cry resounded in all the rich saloons of Paris; it was echoed from the
-usurers who lent their money to the nobles, and re-echoed by the nobles
-who condescended to borrow from the usurers; it was a general hue and
-cry.
-
-"Le Tartufe" of Molière never met with greater opposition among the
-devotees than "Turcaret" experienced from financiers; and, to make
-use of the expression of Beaumarchais in reference to "Figaro," it
-required as much mind for Le Sage to cause his comedy to be played as
-it did to write it. But on this occasion, again, the public, which
-is the all-powerful manager in these matters, was more potent than
-intrigue; Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin, that Prince so illustrious by
-his piety and virtue, protected the comedy of Le Sage, as his ancestor,
-Louis XIV., had protected that of Molière. On this, the financiers,
-perceiving that all was lost as far as intrigue was concerned, had
-recourse to money, which is the last reason of this description of
-upstarts, as cannon is the _ultima ratio_ of kings. This time again
-the attack availed not: the great poet refused a fortune that his
-comedy might be played, and unquestionably he made a good bargain by
-his resolve, preferable a hundred thousand times to all the fortunes
-which have been made and lost in the Rue Quincampoix.[2] The success of
-"Turcaret" (1709) was immense; the Parisian enjoyed with rare delight
-the spectacle of these grasping money-hunters devoted to the most
-cruel ridicule. What if Le Sage had deferred the production of this
-masterpiece! These men would have disappeared, to make room for others
-of the kind, and they would have carried with them into oblivion the
-comedy they had paid for. It would have been a _chef-d'oeuvre_ lost to
-us for ever; and never, that we know of, would the good men on 'Change
-have dealt us a more fatal blow.
-
-[2] In this street, in 1716, the famous projector Law established his
-bank; and the rage for speculation which followed, made it for a time
-the Bourse of Paris. A hump-backed man made a large fortune by lending
-himself as a desk, whereon the speculators might sign their contracts,
-or the transfer of shares. The Rue Quincampoix is still a leading
-street for business, but its trade is now confined to more honest
-wares, such as drugs and grocery.
-
-Who would credit it, however? After this superb production, which
-should have rendered him the master of French comedy, Le Sage was soon
-compelled to abandon that ungrateful theatre which understood him not.
-He renounced,--he, the author of "Turcaret,"--pure comedy, to write, as
-a pastime, farces, little one-act pieces mingled with couplets, which
-made the life of the Théâtre de la Foire Saint Laurent, and of the
-Théâtre de la Foire Saint Germain. Unfortunate example for Le Sage to
-set, in expending, without thought, all his talent, from day to day,
-without pity for himself, without profit for anyone. What! the author
-of "Turcaret" to fill exactly the same office as M. Scribe; to waste
-his time, his style, and his genius upon that trifling comedy which a
-breath can hurry away! And the French comedians were all unmoved, and
-hastened not to throw themselves at the feet of Le Sage, to pray, to
-supplicate him to take under his all-powerful protection that theatre
-elevated by the genius and by the toils of Molière! But these senseless
-comedians were unable to foresee anything.
-
-Nevertheless, if he had renounced the Théâtre Français, Le Sage had not
-abandoned true comedy. All the comedies which thronged his brain, he
-heaped them up in that grand work which is called "Gil Blas," and which
-includes within itself alone the history of the human heart. What can
-be said of "Gil Blas" which has not already been written? How can I
-sufficiently eulogise the only book truly gay in the French language?
-The man who wrote "Gil Blas" has placed himself in the first rank among
-all the authors of this world; he has made himself, by the magic of
-his pen, the cousin-german of Rabelais and Montaigne, the grandfather
-of Voltaire, the brother of Cervantes, and the younger brother of
-Molière; he takes his place, in plenitude of right, in the family of
-comic poets, who have themselves been philosophers. In the same vein,
-he has further composed the "Bachelier de Salamanque," which would be a
-charming book if "Gil Blas" existed not, if above all, before writing
-his "Gil Blas," he had not written this charming book, "LE DIABLE
-BOITEUX."
-
-And now, _sauve qui peut!_ the Devil is let loose upon the town, a
-devil truly French, who has the wit, the grace, and the vivacity of Gil
-Blas. Beware! Look to yourselves, you the ridiculous and the vicious,
-who have escaped the high comedy of the stage, for, by the virtue of
-this all-potent wand, not alone your mansions but your very souls
-shall in a twinkling change to glass. Beware! I say; for Asmodeus,
-the terrible scoffer, is about to plunge his pitiless eye into those
-mysterious places which you deemed so impenetrable, and to each of you
-he will reveal his secret history; he will strike you without mercy
-with that ivory crutch which opens all doors and all hearts; he will
-proclaim aloud your follies and your vices. None shall escape from
-that vigilant observer, who, astride upon his crutch, glides upon
-the roofs of the best secured houses, and divines their ambitions,
-their jealousies, their inquietudes, and, above all, their midnight
-wakefulness. Considered with relation to its wit without bitterness,
-its satire which laughs at everything, and with regard to its style,
-which is admirable, "Le Diable Boiteux" is perhaps the book most
-perfectly French in our language; it is perhaps the only book that
-Molière would have put his name to after "Gil Blas."
-
-Such was this life, all filled with most delightful labour, as also
-with the most serious toil; thus did this man, who was born a great
-author, and who has raised to perfection the talent of writing, go
-on from chef-d'oeuvre to chef-d'oeuvre without pause. The number of
-his productions is not exactly known; at sixty-five years of age, he
-yet wrote a volume of _mélanges_, and he died without imagining to
-himself the glories which were reserved for his name. An amiable and
-light-hearted philosopher, he was to the end full of wit and good
-sense; an agreeable gossiper, a faithful friend, an indulgent father,
-he retired to the little town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he became
-without ceremony a good citizen, whom everybody shook by the hand
-without any great suspicion that he was a man of genius. Of three sons
-who had been born to him, two became comedians, to the great sorrow of
-their noble father, who had preserved for the players, as is plainly
-perceptible in "Gil Blas," a well-merited dislike. However, Le Sage
-pardoned his two children, and he even frequently went to applaud the
-elder, who had taken the name of Monmenil; and when Monmenil died,
-before his father, Le Sage wept for him, and never from that time
-(1743) entered a theatre. His third son, the brother of these two
-comedians, was a good canon of Boulogne-sur-Mer; and it was to his
-house that Le Sage retired with his wife and his daughter, deserving
-objects of his affection, and who made all the happiness of his latest
-days.
-
-One of the most affable gentlemen of that time, who would have been
-remarkable by his talents, even though he had not been distinguished
-by his nobility, M. le Comte de Tressan, governor of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
-was in the habit of seeing the worthy old man during the last year of
-his life; and upon that fine face, shaded with thick white hairs, he
-could still discern that love and genius had been there. Le Sage rose
-early, and his first steps took him to seek the sun. By degrees, as
-the luminous rays fell upon him, thought returned to his forehead,
-motion to his heart, gesture to his hand, and his eyes were lighted
-with their wonted fire: as the sun mounted in the skies, this awakened
-intelligence appeared, on its side, more brilliant and more clear;
-so much so, that you beheld again before you the author of "Gil
-Blas." But, alas! all this animation drooped in proportion as the sun
-declined; and, when night was come, you had before your eyes but a good
-old man, whose steps must be tended to his dwelling.
-
-Thus died he, one day in summer. The sun had shown itself in heaven's
-topmost height on that bright day; and it had not quite left the earth
-when Le Sage called the members of his family around to bless them. He
-was little less than ninety when he died (1747).
-
-To give you an idea of the popularity that this man enjoyed even
-during his life-time, I will finish with this anecdote: When the
-"Diable Boiteux" appeared, in 1707, the success of this admirable and
-ingenious satire upon human life was so great, the public esteemed
-the lively epigrams it contains so delightful, that the publisher was
-obliged to print two editions in one week. On the last day of this
-week, two gentlemen, their swords by their sides, as was then the
-custom, entered the bookseller's shop to buy the new romance. A single
-copy remained to sell: one of these gentlemen would have it, the other
-also claimed it; what was to be done? Why, in a moment, there were our
-two infuriate readers with their swords drawn, and fighting for the
-first blood, and the last "Diable Boiteux."
-
-But what, I pray you, had they done, were it a question then of the
-"DIABLE BOITEUX" illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT?
-
- JULES JANIN.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: a street in Madrid]
-
-ASMODEUS; OR, THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-
-WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS--WHEN AND BY WHAT
-ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF
-HIS ACQUAINTANCE.
-
-
-A night in the month of October covered with its thick darkness the
-famous city of Madrid. Already the inhabitants, retired to their homes,
-had left the streets free for lovers who desired to sing their woes
-or their delights beneath the balconies of their mistresses; already
-had the tinkling of guitars aroused the care of fathers, or alarmed
-the jealousy of husbands; in short, it was near midnight, when Don
-Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, a student of Alcala, suddenly emerged,
-by the skylight, from a house into which the incautious son of the
-Cytherean goddess had induced him to enter. He sought to preserve his
-life and his honour, by endeavouring to escape from three or four hired
-assassins, who followed him closely, for the purpose of either killing
-him or compelling him to wed a lady with whom they had just surprised
-him.
-
-[Illustration: Zambullo fleeing from the hired assassins]
-
-Against such fearful odds he had for some time valiantly defended
-himself; and had only flown, at last, on losing his sword in the
-combat. The bravos followed him for some time over the roofs of the
-neighbouring houses; but, favoured by the darkness, he evaded their
-pursuit; and perceiving at some distance a light, which Love or Fortune
-had placed there to guide him through this perilous adventure, he
-hastened towards it with all his remaining strength. After having more
-than once endangered his neck, he at length reached a garret, whence
-the welcome rays proceeded, and without ceremony entered by the
-window; as much transported with joy as the pilot who safely steers his
-vessel into port when menaced with the horrors of shipwreck.
-
-He looked cautiously around him; and, somewhat surprised to find nobody
-in the apartment, which was rather a singular domicile, he began to
-scrutinize it with much attention. A brass lamp was hanging from the
-ceiling; books and papers were heaped in confusion on the table; a
-globe and mariner's compass occupied one side of the room, and on the
-other were ranged phials and quadrants; all which made him conclude
-that he had found his way into the haunt of some astrologer, who, if he
-did not live there, was in the habit of resorting to this hole to make
-his observations.
-
-He was reflecting on the dangers he had by good fortune escaped,
-and was considering whether he should remain where he was until the
-morning, or what other course he should pursue, when he heard a deep
-sigh very near him. He at first imagined it was a mere phantasy of his
-agitated mind, an illusion of the night; so, without troubling himself
-about the matter, he was in a moment again busied with his reflections.
-
-[Illustration: Lucifer, the mountebank's devil]
-
-But having distinctly heard a second sigh, he no longer doubted its
-reality; and, although he saw no one in the room, he nevertheless
-called out,--"Who the devil is sighing here?" "It is I, Signor
-Student," immediately answered a voice, in which there was something
-rather extraordinary; "I have been for the last six months enclosed
-in one of these phials. In this house lodges a learned astrologer,
-who is also a magician: he it is who, by the power of his art, keeps
-me confined in this narrow prison." "You are then a spirit?" said Don
-Cleophas, somewhat perplexed by this new adventure. "I am a demon,"
-replied the voice; "and you have come in the very nick of time to free
-me from slavery. I languish in idleness; for of all the devils in hell,
-I am the most active and indefatigable."
-
-[Illustration: Uriel, patron of tradesmen]
-
-These words somewhat alarmed Signor Zambullo; but, as he was naturally
-brave, he quickly recovered himself, and said in a resolute tone:
-"Signor Diabolus, tell me, I pray you, what rank you may hold among
-your brethren. Are you an aristocrat, or a burgess?" "I am," replied
-the voice, "a devil of importance, nay, the one of highest repute in
-this, as in the other world." "Perchance," said Don Cleophas, "you
-are the renowned Lucifer?" "Bah," replied the spirit; "why, he is
-the mountebank's devil." "Are you Uriel then?" asked the Student.
-"For shame!" hastily interrupted the voice; "no, he is the patron of
-tradesmen; of tailors, butchers, bakers, and other cheats of the
-middle classes." "Well, perhaps you are Beelzebub?" said Leandro.
-"Are you joking?" replied the spirit; "he is the demon of duennas and
-footmen." "That astonishes me," said Zambullo; "I thought Beelzebub
-one of the greatest persons at your court." "He is one of the meanest
-of its subjects," answered the Demon; "I see you have no very clear
-notions of our hell."
-
-[Illustration: Leviathan, Belphegor and Ashtaroth]
-
-"There is no doubt then," said Don Cleophas, "that you are either
-Leviathan, Belphegor, or Ashtaroth." "Ah! those three now," replied
-the voice, "are devils of the first order, veritable spirits of
-diplomacy. They animate the councils of princes, create factions,
-excite insurrections, and light the torches of war. They are not
-such peddling devils as the others you have named." "By the bye! tell
-me," interrupted the Scholar, "what post is assigned to Flagel?"
-"He is the soul of special pleading, and the spirit of the bar. He
-composes the rules of court, invented the law of libel, and that for
-the imprisonment of insolvent debtors; in short, he inspires pleaders,
-possesses barristers, and besets even the judges.
-
-[Illustration: Flagel]
-
-"For myself, I have other occupations: I make absurd matches; I marry
-greybeards with minors, masters with servants, girls with small
-fortunes with tender lovers who have none. It is I who introduced into
-this world luxury, debauchery, games of chance, and chemistry. I am
-the author of the first cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of
-dancing, music, plays, and of the newest fashions; in a word, I am
-ASMODEUS, surnamed THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS."
-
-"What do I hear," cried Don Cleophas; "are you the famed Asmodeus, of
-whom such honourable mention is made by Agrippa and in the Clavicula
-Salamonis? Verily, you have not told me all your amusements; you have
-forgotten the best of all. I am well aware that you sometimes divert
-yourself by assisting unhappy lovers: by this token, last year only, a
-young friend of mine obtained, by your favour, the good graces of the
-wife of a Doctor in our university, at Alcala." "That is true," said
-the spirit: "I reserved that for my last good quality. I am the Demon
-of voluptuousness, or, to express it more delicately, Cupid, the god
-of love; that being the name for which I am indebted to the poets,
-who, I must confess, have painted me in very flattering colours. They
-say I have golden wings, a fillet bound over my eyes; that I carry
-a bow in my hand, a quiver full of arrows on my shoulders, and have
-withal inexpressible beauty. Of this, however, you may soon judge for
-yourself, if you will but restore me to liberty."
-
-"Signor Asmodeus," replied Leandro Perez, "it is, as you know, long
-since I have been devoted to you: the perils I have just escaped will
-prove to you how entirely. I am rejoiced to have an opportunity of
-serving you; but the vessel in which you are confined is undoubtedly
-enchanted, and I should vainly strive to open, or to break it: so I do
-not see clearly in what manner I can deliver you from your bondage.
-I am not much used to these sorts of disenchantments; and, between
-ourselves, if, cunning devil as you are, you know not how to gain your
-freedom, what probability is there that a poor mortal like myself can
-effect it?" "Mankind has this power," answered the Demon. "The phial
-which encloses me is but a mere glass bottle, easy to break. You have
-only to throw it on the ground, and I shall appear before you in human
-form." "In that case," said the Student, "the matter is easier of
-accomplishment than I imagined. But tell me in which of the phials you
-are; I see a great number of them, and all so like one another, that
-there may be a devil in each, for aught I know." "It is the fourth from
-the window," replied the spirit. "There is the impress of a magical
-seal on its mouth; but the bottle will break, nevertheless." "Enough,"
-said Don Cleophas; "I am ready to do your bidding. There is, however,
-one little difficulty which deters me: when I shall have rendered you
-the service you require, how know I that I shall not have to pay the
-magician, in my precious person, for the mischief I have done?" "No
-harm shall befall you," replied the Demon: "on the contrary, I promise
-to content you with the fruits of my gratitude. I will teach you all
-you can desire to know; I will discover to you the shifting scenes of
-this world's great stage; I will exhibit to you the follies and the
-vices of mankind; in short, I will be your tutelary demon: and, more
-wise than the Genius of Socrates, I undertake to render you a greater
-sage than that unfortunate philosopher. In a word, I am yours, with all
-my good and bad qualities; and they shall be to you equally useful."
-
-"Fine promises, doubtless," replied the Student; "but if report speak
-truly, you devils are accused of not being religiously scrupulous
-in the performance of your undertakings." "Report is not always a
-liar," said Asmodeus, "and this is an instance to the contrary. The
-greater part of my brethren think no more of breaking their word than
-a minister of state; but for myself, not to mention the service you
-are about to render me, and which I can never sufficiently repay, I am
-a slave to my engagements; and I swear by all a devil holds sacred,
-that I will not deceive you. Rely on my word, and the assurances I
-offer: and what must be peculiarly pleasing to you, I engage, this
-night, to avenge your wrongs on Donna Thomasa, the perfidious woman
-who had concealed within her house the four scoundrels who surprised
-you, that she might compel you to espouse her, and patch up her damaged
-reputation."
-
-The young Zambullo was especially delighted with this last promise. To
-hasten its accomplishment, he seized the phial; and, without further
-thought on the event, he dashed it on the floor. It broke into a
-thousand pieces, inundating the apartment with a blackish liquor: this,
-evaporating by degrees, was converted into a thick vapour, which,
-suddenly dissipating, revealed to the astonished sight of the Student
-the figure of a man in a cloak, about two feet six inches high, and
-supported by two crutches. This little monster had the legs of a goat,
-a long visage, pointed chin, a dark sallow complexion, and a very flat
-nose; his eyes, to all appearance very small, resembled two burning
-coals; his enormous mouth was surmounted by a pair of red mustachios,
-and ornamented with two lips of unequalled ugliness.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus revealed to Zambullo]
-
-The head of this graceful Cupid was enveloped in a sort of turban of
-red crape, relieved by a plume of cock's and peacock's feathers. Round
-his neck was a collar of yellow cloth, upon which were embroidered
-divers patterns of necklaces and earrings. He wore a short white
-satin gown, or tunic, encircled about the middle by a large band of
-parchment of the same colour, covered with talismanic characters. On
-the gown, also, were painted various bodices, beautifully adapted for
-the display of the fair wearers' necks; scarfs of different patterns,
-worked or coloured aprons, and head-dresses of the newest fashion;--all
-so extravagant, that it was impossible to admire one more than another.
-
-[Illustration: Detail of the cloak: the Spanish lady and her admirer]
-
-But all this was nothing as compared with his cloak, the foundation
-of which was also white satin. Its exterior presented an infinity of
-figures delicately tinted in Indian ink, and yet with so much freedom
-and expression that you would have wondered who the devil could have
-painted it. On one side appeared a Spanish lady covered with her
-mantilla, and leering at a stranger on the promenade; and on the other
-a Parisian grisette, who before her mirror was studying new airs to
-victimize a young abbé, at that moment opening the door. Here, the gay
-Italian was singing to the guitar beneath the balcony of his mistress;
-and there, the sottish German, with vest unbuttoned, stupefied with
-wine, and more begrimed with snuff than a French petit-maître, was
-sitting, surrounded by his companions, at a table covered with the
-filthy remnants of their debauch. In one place could be perceived a
-Turkish bashaw coming from the bath, attended by all the houris of his
-seraglio, each watchful for the handkerchief; and in another an English
-gentleman, who was gallantly presenting to his lady-love a pipe and a
-glass of porter.
-
-[Illustration: The gamesters]
-
-Besides these there were gamesters, marvellously well portrayed; some,
-elated with joy, filling their hats with pieces of gold and silver;
-and others, who had lost all but their honour, and willing to stake on
-that, now turning their sacrilegious eyes to heaven, and now gnawing
-the very cards in despair. In short, there were as many curious things
-to be seen on this cloak as on the admirable shield which Vulcan forged
-for Achilles, at the prayer of his mother Thetis; with this difference
-however,--the subjects on the buckler of the Grecian hero had no
-relation to his own exploits, while those on the mantle of Asmodeus
-were lively images of all that is done in this world at his suggestion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.
-
-
-Upon perceiving that his appearance had not prepossessed the student
-very greatly in his favour, the Demon said to him, smiling: "Well,
-Signor Don Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, you behold the charming
-god of love, that sovereign master of the human heart. What think you
-of my air and beauty? Confess that the poets are excellent painters."
-"Frankly!" replied Don Cleophas, "I must say they have a little
-flattered you. I fancy, it was not in this form that you won the love
-of Psyche." "Certainly not," replied the Devil: "I borrowed the graces
-of a little French marquis, to make her dote upon me. Vice must be
-hidden under a pleasing veil, or it wins not even woman. I take what
-shape best pleases me; and I could have discovered myself to you under
-the form of the Apollo Belvi, but that as I have nothing to disguise
-from you, I preferred you should see me under a figure more agreeable
-to the opinion which the world generally entertains of me and my
-performances." "I am not surprised," said Leandro, "to find you rather
-ugly--excuse the phrase, I pray you; the transactions we are about to
-have with each other demand a little frankness: your features indeed
-almost exactly realise the idea I had formed of you. But tell me, how
-happens it that you are on crutches?"
-
-"Why," replied the Demon, "many years ago, I had an unfortunate
-difference with Pillardoc, the spirit of gain, and the patron of
-pawnbrokers. The subject of our dispute was a stripling who came to
-Paris to seek his fortune. As he was capital game, a youth of promising
-talents, we contested the prize with a noble ardour. We fought in the
-regions of mid-air; and Pillardoc, who excelled me in strength, cast me
-on the earth after the mode in which Jupiter is related by the poets
-to have tumbled Vulcan. The striking resemblance of our mishaps gained
-me, from my witty comrades, the sobriquet of the Limping Devil, or the
-Devil on Two Sticks, which has stuck to me from that time to this.
-Nevertheless, limping as I am, I am tolerably quick in my movements;
-and you shall witness for my agility.
-
-"But," added he, "a truce to idle talk; let us get out of this
-confounded garret. My friend the magician will be here shortly; as he
-is hard at work on rendering a handsome damsel, who visits him nightly,
-immortal. If he should surprise us, I shall be snug in a bottle in no
-time; and it may go hard but he finds one to fit you also. So let us
-away! But first to throw the pieces, of that which was once my prison,
-out of the window; for such 'dead men' as these _do_ tell tales."
-
-"What if your friend does find out that you are 'missing?'" "What!"
-hastily replied the Demon; "I see you have never studied the Treatise
-on Compulsions. Were I hidden at the extremity of the earth, or in the
-region where dwells the fiery salamander; though I sought the murkiest
-cavern of the gnomes, or plunged in the most unfathomable depths of the
-ocean, I should vainly strive to evade the terrors of his wrath. Hell
-itself would tremble at the potency of his spells. In vain should I
-struggle: despite myself should I be dragged before my master, to feel
-the weight of his dreaded chains."
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus carried off]
-
-"That being the case," said the Student, "I fear that our intimacy will
-not be of long duration: this redoubtable necromancer will doubtless
-soon discover your flight." "That is more than I know," replied the
-Spirit; "there is no foreseeing what may happen." "What!" cried Leandro
-Perez; "a demon, and ignorant of the future!" "Exactly so," answered
-the Devil; "and they are only our dupes who think otherwise. However,
-there are enough of them to find good employment for diviners and
-fortune-tellers, especially among your women of quality; for those are
-always most eager about the future who have best reason to be contented
-with the present, which and the past are all we know or care for. I am
-ignorant, therefore, whether my master will soon discover my absence;
-but let us hope he will not: there are plenty of phials similar to
-the one in which I was enclosed, and he may never miss that. Besides,
-in his laboratory, I am something like a law-book in the library of a
-financier. He never thinks of me; or if he does, he would think he did
-me too great an honour if he condescended to notice me. He is the most
-haughty enchanter of my acquaintance: long as he has deprived me of my
-liberty, we have never exchanged a syllable."
-
-"That is extraordinary!" said Don Cleophas; "what have you done
-to deserve so much hatred or scorn?" "I crossed him in one of his
-projects," replied Asmodeus. "There was a chair vacant in a certain
-Academy, which he had designed for a friend of his, a professor of
-necromancy; but which I had destined for a particular friend of my own.
-The magician set to work with one of the most potent talismans of the
-Cabala; but I knew better than that: I had placed my man in the service
-of the prime minister; whose word is worth a dozen talismans, with the
-Academicians, any day."
-
-While the Demon was thus conversing, he was busily engaged in
-collecting every fragment of the broken phial; which having thrown out
-of the window, "Signor Zambullo," said he, "let us begone! Hold fast by
-the end of my mantle, and fear nothing." However perilous this appeared
-to Leandro Perez, he preferred the possible danger to the certainty of
-the magician's resentment; and, accordingly, he fastened himself as
-well as he could to the Demon, who in an instant whisked him out of the
-apartment.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus and Zambullo flying over Madrid]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-
-WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST FRUITS OF HIS
-ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.
-
-
-Cleophas found that Asmodeus had not vainly boasted of his agility.
-They darted through the air like an arrow from the bow, and were
-soon perched on the tower of San Salvador. "Well, Signor Leandro,"
-said the Demon as they alighted; "what think you now of the justice
-of those who, as they slowly rumble in some antiquated vehicle, talk
-of a devilish bad carriage?" "I must, hereafter, think them most
-unreasonable," politely replied Zambullo. "I dare affirm that his
-majesty of Castile has never travelled so easily; and then for speed,
-at your rate, one might travel round the world nor care to stretch a
-leg."
-
-"You are really too polite," replied the Devil; "but can you guess now
-why I have brought you here? I intend to show you all that is passing
-in Madrid; and as this part of the town is as good to begin with as
-any, you will allow that I could not have chosen a more appropriate
-situation. I am about, by my supernatural powers, to take away the
-roofs from the houses of this great city; and notwithstanding the
-darkness of the night, to reveal to your eyes whatever is doing within
-them." As he spake, he extended his right arm, the roofs disappeared,
-and the Student's astonished sight penetrated the interior of the
-surrounding dwellings as plainly as if the noon-day sun shone over
-them. "It was," says Luis Velez de Guevara, "like looking into a pasty
-from which a set of greedy monks had just removed the crust."
-
-[Illustration: the miser counting his gold and silver]
-
-The spectacle was, as you may suppose, sufficiently wonderful to rivet
-all the Student's attention. He looked amazedly around him, and on
-all sides were objects which most intensely excited his curiosity. At
-length the Devil said to him: "Signor Don Cleophas, this confusion of
-objects, which you regard with an evident pleasure, is certainly very
-agreeable to look upon; but I must render useful to you what would
-be otherwise but a frivolous amusement. To unlock for you the secret
-chambers of the human heart, I will explain in what all these persons
-that you see are engaged. All shall be open to you; I will discover
-the hidden motives of their deeds, and reveal to you their unbidden
-thoughts.
-
-[Illustration: the miser's nephews consulting the sorceress]
-
-"Where shall we begin? See! do you observe this house to my right?
-Observe that old man, who is counting gold and silver into heaps. He is
-a miserly citizen. His carriage, which he bought for next to nothing at
-the sale of an alcade of the Cortes, and which to save expense still
-sports the arms of its late owner, is drawn by a pair of worthless
-mules, which he feeds according to the law of the Twelve Tables, that
-is to say, he gives each, daily, one pound of barley: he treats them
-as the Romans treated their slaves--wisely, but not too well. It is
-now two years since he returned from the Indies, bringing with him
-innumerable bars of gold, which he has since converted into coin. Look
-at the old fool! with what satisfaction he gloats over his riches. And
-now, see what is passing in an adjoining chamber of the same house. Do
-you observe two young men with an old woman?" "Yes," replied Cleophas,
-"they are probably his children." "No, no!" said the Devil, "they are
-his nephews, and, what is better in their opinion, his heirs. In their
-anxiety for his welfare, they have invited a sorceress to ascertain
-when death will take from them their dear uncle, and leave to them the
-division of his spoil. In the next house there are a pair of pictures
-worth remarking. One is an antiquated coquette who is retiring to rest,
-after depositing on her toilet, her hair, her eyebrows and her teeth;
-the other is a gallant sexagenarian, who has just returned from a love
-campaign. He has already closed one eye, in its case, and placed his
-whiskers and peruke on the dressing table. His valet is now easing him
-of an arm and one leg, to put him to bed with the rest."
-
-[Illustration: the valet removing the sexagenarian's wooden leg]
-
-"If I may trust my eyes," cried Zambullo, "I see in the next room a
-tall young damsel, quite a model for an artist. What a lovely form and
-air!" "I see," said the Devil. "Well! that young beauty is an elder
-sister of the gallant I have just described, and is a worthy pendant
-to the coquette who is under the same roof. Her figure, that you so
-much admire, is really good; but then she is indebted for it to an
-ingenious mechanist, whom I patronise. Her bust and hips are formed
-after my own patent; and it is only last Sunday that she generously
-dropped her bustle at the door of this very church, on the occasion of
-a charity sermon. Nevertheless, as she affects the juvenile, she has
-two cavaliers who ardently dispute her favour;--nay, they have even
-come to blows on the occasion. Madmen! two dogs fighting for a bone.
-
-[Illustration: the old lady being unlaced by her maid]
-
-"Prithee, laugh with me at an amateur concert which is performing in
-a neighbouring mansion; an after-supper offering to Apollo. They are
-singing cantatas. An old counsellor has composed the air; and the
-words are by an alguazil, who does the amiable after that fashion
-among his friends--an ass who writes verses for his own pleasure, and
-for the punishment of others. A harpsichord and clarionet form the
-accompaniment; a lanky chorister, who squeaks marvellously, takes
-the treble, and a young girl with a hoarse voice the bass." "What a
-delightful party!" cried Don Cleophas. "Had they tried expressly to get
-up a musical extravaganza, they could not have succeeded better."
-
-[Illustration: the amateur concert]
-
-"Cast your eyes on that superb mansion," continued the Demon; "and
-you will perceive a nobleman lying in a splendid apartment. He has,
-near his couch, a casket filled with billets-doux; in which he is
-luxuriating, that the sweet nothings they contain may lull his senses
-gently to repose. They ought to be dear to him, for they are from
-a signora he adores; and who so well appreciates the value of her
-favours, that she will soon reduce him to the necessity of soliciting
-the exile of a viceroyalty, for his own support. Let us leave him to
-his slumbers, to watch the stir they are making in the next house
-to the left. Can you distinguish a lady in a bed with red damask
-furniture? Her name is Donna Fabula. She is of high rank, and is about
-to present an heir to her spouse, the aged Don Torribio, whom you
-see by her side, endeavouring to soothe the pangs of his lady until
-the arrival of the midwife. Is it not delightful to witness so much
-tenderness? The cries of his dear better-half pierce him to the soul:
-he is overwhelmed with grief; he suffers as much as his wife. With
-what care,--with what earnestness does he bend over her!" "Really,"
-said Leandro, "the man does appear deeply affected; but I perceive, in
-the room above, a youngster apparently a domestic, who sleeps soundly
-enough: he troubles himself not for the event." "And yet it ought to
-interest him," replied Asmodeus; "for the sleeper is the first cause of
-his mistress's sufferings.
-
-[Illustration: Don Torribio soothing Donna Fabula]
-
-"But see,--a little beyond," continued the Demon: "in that low room,
-you may observe an old wretch who is anointing himself with lard. He
-is about to join an assembly of wizards, which takes place to-night
-between San Sebastian and Fontarabia. I would carry you thither in a
-moment, as it would amuse you; but that I fear I might be recognised by
-the devil who personates the goat."
-
-"That devil and you then," said the Scholar, "are not good friends?"
-"No, indeed! you are right," replied Asmodeus, "he is that same
-Pillardoc of whom I told you. The scoundrel would betray me, and soon
-inform the magician of my flight." "You have perhaps had some other
-squabble with this gentleman?" "Precisely so," said the Demon: "some
-ten years ago we had a second difference about a young Parisian who was
-thinking of commencing life. He wanted to make him a banker's clerk;
-and I, a lady-killer. Our comrades settled the dispute by making him
-a wretched monk. This done, they reconciled us: we embraced; and from
-that time have been mortal foes."
-
-"But, have done with this belle assemblée," said Don Cleophas; "I am
-not at all curious to witness it: let us continue our scrutiny into
-what is before us. What is the meaning of those sparks of fire which
-issue from yonder cellar?" "They proceed from one of the most absurd
-occupations of mankind," replied the Devil. "The grave personage
-whom you behold near the furnace is an alchymist; and the flames
-are gradually consuming his rich patrimony, never to yield him what
-he seeks in return. Between ourselves, the philosopher's stone is a
-chimera that I myself invented to amuse the wit of man, who ever seeks
-to pass those bounds which the laws of nature have prescribed for his
-intelligence.
-
-"The alchymist's neighbour is an honest apothecary, who you perceive
-is still at his labours, with his aged wife and assistant. You would
-never guess what they are about. The apothecary is compounding a
-progenerative pill for an old advocate who is to be married to-morrow;
-the assistant is mixing a laxative potion; and the old lady is pounding
-astringent drugs in a mortar."
-
-[Illustration: the apothecary, his wife, and his assistant]
-
-"I perceive, in the house facing the apothecary's," said Zambullo, "a
-man who has just jumped out of bed, and is hastily dressing." "Pshaw!"
-replied the Spirit, "he need not hurry himself. He is a physician; and
-has been sent for by a prelate who since he has retired to rest--about
-an hour--has absolutely coughed two or three times.
-
-"But look a little further, in a garret on the right, and try if you
-cannot distinguish a man half dressed, who is walking up and down the
-room, dimly lighted by a single lamp." "I see," said the Student; "and
-so clearly that I would undertake to furnish you with an inventory of
-his chattels,--to wit, a truckle-bed, a three-legged stool, and a deal
-table; the walls seem to be daubed all over with black paint." "That
-exalted personage," said Asmodeus, "is a poet; and what appears to
-you black paint, are tragic verses with which he has ornamented his
-apartment, being obliged, for want of paper, to commit his effusions to
-the wall." "By his agitation and phrenzied air, I conclude he is now
-busily engaged on some work of importance," said Don Cleophas. "You are
-not far out," replied the Devil: "he only yesterday completed the last
-act of an interesting tragedy, intitled The Universal Deluge. He cannot
-be reproached with having violated the unity of place, at all events,
-as the entire action is limited to Noah's ark.
-
-[Illustration: The poet, composing his dedication]
-
-"I can assure you it is a first-rate drama: all the animals talk as
-learnedly as professors. It of course must have a dedication, upon
-which he has been labouring for the last six hours; and he is, at
-this moment, turning the last period. It will be indeed a masterpiece
-of adulatory composition: every social and political virtue; every
-grace that can adorn; all that tends to render man illustrious, either
-by his own deeds or those of his ancestors, are attributed to its
-object;--never was praise more lavishly bestowed, never was incense
-burnt more liberally." "For whom, then, of all the world, is so
-magnificent an apotheosis intended?" "Why," replied the Demon, "the
-poet himself has not yet determined that; he has put in every thing but
-the name. However, he hopes to find some vain noble who may be more
-liberal than those to whom he has dedicated his former productions;
-although the purchasers of imaginary virtues are becoming every
-day more rare. It is not my fault that it is so; for it is a fault
-corrected in the wealthy patrons of literature, and a great benefit
-rendered to the public, who were certain to be deluged by trash from
-the Swiss of the press, so long as books were written merely for the
-produce of their dedications.
-
-"Apropos of this subject," added the Demon, "I will relate to you a
-curious anecdote. It is not long since an illustrious lady accepted
-the honour of a dedication from a celebrated novelist, who, by the
-bye, writes so much in praise of other women, that he thinks himself
-at liberty to abuse the one peculiarly his own. The lady in question
-was anxious to see the address before it was printed; and not finding
-herself described to her taste, she wisely undertook the task, and
-gave herself all those inconvenient virtues, which the world so much
-admires. She then sent it to the author, who of course had weighty
-reasons for adopting it."
-
-"Hollo!" cried Leandro, "surely those are robbers who are entering
-that house by the balcony." "Precisely so," said Asmodeus; "they are
-brigands, and the house is a banker's. Watch them! you will be amused.
-See! they have opened the safe, and are ferreting everywhere; but the
-banker has been before them. He set out yesterday for Holland, and has
-taken with him the contents of his coffers for fear of accidents.
-They may make a merit of their visit, by informing his unfortunate
-depositors of their loss."
-
-[Illustration: The brigands opening the banker's safe]
-
-"There is another thief," said Zambullo, "mounting by a silken ladder
-into a neighbouring dwelling." "You are mistaken there," replied the
-Devil; "at all events it is not gold he seeks. He is a marquis, who
-would rob a young maiden of the name, of which, however, she is not
-unwilling to part. Never was 'stand and deliver' more graciously
-received: he of course has sworn he will marry her, and she of course
-believes him; for a marquis's 'promises' have unlimited credit upon
-Love's Exchange."
-
-[Illustration: the registrar and Griffael]
-
-"I am curious to learn," interrupted the Student, "what that man in a
-night-cap and dressing-gown is about. He is writing very studiously,
-and near him is a little black figure, who occasionally guides his
-hand." "He is a registrar of the civil courts," replied the Demon; "and
-to oblige a guardian, is, for a consideration, altering a decree made
-in favour of the ward: the gentleman in black, who seems enjoying the
-sport, is Griffael the registrars' devil." "Griffael, then," said Don
-Cleophas, "is a sort of deputy to Flagel; for, as he is the spirit of
-the bar, the registrars are doubtless included in his department." "Not
-so," replied Asmodeus; "the registrars have been thought deserving of
-their peculiar demon, and I assure you they find him quite enough to
-do."
-
-[Illustration: the widow, her lover, and her uncle]
-
-"Near the registrar's house, you will perceive a young lady on the
-first floor. She is a widow; and the man, whom you see in the same
-room, is her uncle, who lodges in an apartment over hers. Admire the
-bashfulness of the dame! She is ashamed to put on her chemise before
-her aged relative; so, modestly seeks the assistance of her lover, who
-is hidden in her dressing-room.
-
-[Illustration: Donoso receives the pages in his apartment]
-
-"In the same house with the registrar lives a stout graduate, who has
-been lame from his birth, but who has not his equal in the world for
-pleasantry. Volumnius, so highly spoken of by Cicero for his delicate
-yet pungent wit, was a fool to him. He is known throughout Madrid as
-'the bachelor Donoso,' or 'the facetious graduate;' and his company
-is sought by old and young, at the court and in the town: in short,
-wherever there is, or should be, conviviality, he is so much the rage,
-that he has discharged his cook, as he never dines at home; to which
-he seldom returns until long after midnight. He is at present with
-the marquis of Alcazinas, who is indebted for this visit to chance
-only." "How, to chance?" interrupted Leandro. "Why," replied the
-Demon, "this morning, about noon, the graduate's door was besieged by
-at least half-a-dozen carriages, each sent for the especial honour of
-securing his society. The bachelor received the assembled pages in his
-apartment, and, displaying a pack of cards, thus addressed them:--'My
-friends, as it is impossible for me to dine in six places at one time,
-and as it would not appear polite to show an undue preference, these
-cards shall decide the matter. Draw! I will dine with the king of
-clubs.'"
-
-[Illustration: The cavalier serenades his inamorata]
-
-"What object," said Don Cleophas, "has yonder cavalier, who is sitting
-at a door on the other side of the street? Is he waiting for some
-pretty waiting-woman to usher him to his lady's chamber?" "No, no,"
-answered Asmodeus; "he is a young Castilian, whose modesty exceeds his
-love; so, after the fashion of the gallants of antiquity, he has come
-to pass the night at his mistress's portal. Listen to the twang of that
-wretched guitar, with which he accompanies his tender strains! On the
-second floor you may behold his inamorata: she is weeping as she hears
-him;--but it is for the absence of his rival.
-
-"You observe that new building, which is divided into two wings. One
-is occupied by the proprietor, the old gentleman whom you see now
-pacing the apartment, now throwing himself into an easy chair." "He is
-evidently immersed in some grand project," said Zambullo: "who is he?
-If one may judge by the splendour which is displayed in his mansion,
-he is a grandee of the first order." "Nevertheless," said Asmodeus,
-"he is but an ancient clerk of the treasury, who has grown old in
-such lucrative employment as to enable him to amass four millions of
-reals. As he has some compunctions of conscience for the means by
-which all this wealth has been acquired, and as he expects shortly to
-be called upon to render his account in another world, where bribery
-is impracticable, he is about to compound for his sins in this, by
-building a monastery; which done, he flatters himself that peace will
-revisit his heart. He has already obtained the necessary permission;
-but, as he has resolved that the establishment shall consist of monks
-who are extremely chaste, sober, and of the most Christian humility,
-he is much embarrassed in the selection. He need not build a very
-extensive convent.
-
-"The other wing is inhabited by a fair lady, who has just retired to
-rest after the luxury of a milk bath. This voluptuary is widow of a
-knight of the order of Saint James, who left her at his death her
-title only; but fortunately her charms have secured for her valuable
-friends in the persons of two members of the council of Castile, who
-generously divide her favours and the expenses of her household."
-
-"Hark!" cried the Student; "surely I hear the cries of distress. What
-dreadful misfortune has occurred?" "A very common one," said the
-Demon: "two young cavaliers have been gambling in a hell (the name is
-a scandal on the infernal regions), which you perceive so brilliantly
-illuminated. They quarrelled upon an interesting point of the game,
-and I naturally drew their swords to settle it: unluckily, they were
-equally skilful with their weapons, and are both mortally wounded. The
-elder is married, which is unfortunate; and the younger an only son.
-The wife and father have just come in time to receive their last sighs;
-and it is their lamentations that you hear. 'Unhappy boy,' cries the
-fond parent over the still breathing body of his son, 'how often have I
-conjured thee to renounce this dreadful vice!--how often have I warned
-thee it would one day cost thee thy life. Heaven is my witness, that
-the fault is none of mine!' Men," added the Demon, "are always selfish,
-even in their griefs. Meanwhile the wife is in despair. Although her
-husband has dissipated the fortune she brought him on their marriage;
-although he has sold, to maintain his shameful excesses, her jewels,
-and even her clothes, not a word of reproach escapes her lips. She is
-inconsolable for her loss. Her grief is vented in frantic exclamations,
-mixed with curses on the cards, and the devil who invented them; on the
-place in which her husband fell, and on the people who surround her,
-and to whom she fondly attributes his ruin."
-
-[Illustration: the expiring duellists]
-
-"How much to be lamented," interrupted the Student, "is the love of
-gaming which possesses so large a portion of mankind; in what an awful
-state of excitement does it plunge its victims. Heaven be praised! I
-am not included in their legion." "You are in high feather," replied
-the Demon, "in another, whose exploits are not much more ennobling, and
-scarcely less dangerous. Is the conquest of a courtezan a glory worth
-achievement? Is the possession of charms common to a whole city worth
-the peril of a life? Man is an amusing animal! The vision of a mole
-would enable him to discover the vices of his fellows, while that of
-the vulture could scarce detect a folly of his own. But let us turn to
-another affecting spectacle. You can discern, in the house just beyond
-the one we have been contemplating, a fat old man extended on a bed: he
-is a canon, who is now in a fit of apoplexy. The two persons, whom you
-see in his room, are said to be his nephew and niece: they are too much
-affected by his situation to be able to assist him; so, are securing
-his valuable effects. By the time this is accomplished, he will be
-dead; and they will be sufficiently recovered, and at leisure, to weep
-over his remains.
-
-[Illustration: the canon's nephew and niece steal his possessions]
-
-"Close by, you may perceive the funeral of two brothers; who, seized
-with the same disorder, took equally successful but different means of
-ensuring its fatality. One of them had the most utter confidence in
-his apothecary; the other eschewed the aid of medicine: the first died
-because he took all the trash his doctor sent him; the last because he
-would take nothing." "Well! that is very perplexing," said Leandro;
-"what is a poor sick devil to do?" "Why," replied Asmodeus, "that is
-more than the one who has the honour of addressing you can determine.
-I know, for certain, that there are remedies for most ills; but I am
-not so sure that there are good physicians to administer them when
-necessary."
-
-"And now I have something more amusing to unriddle. Do you not hear a
-frightful din in the next street? A widow of sixty was married this
-morning to an Adonis of seventeen; and all the merry fellows of that
-part of the town have assembled to celebrate the wedding by a concert
-of pots and pans, marrow-bones and cleavers." "You told me," said the
-Student, "that these matches were under your control: at all events,
-you had no hand in this." "No, truly," answered the Demon, "not I. Had
-I been free, I should not have meddled with them. The widow had her
-scruples; and has married for no better reason than that she may enjoy,
-without remorse, the pleasures she so dearly loves. These are not the
-unions I care to form; I prefer troubling people's consciences to
-setting them at rest."
-
-"Notwithstanding this charming serenade," said Zambullo, "it seems to
-me that it is not the only concert performing in the neighbourhood."
-"No," said the cripple; "in a tavern in the same street, a lusty
-Flemish captain, a chorister of the French opera, and an officer of the
-German guard are singing a trio. They have been drinking since eight
-in the morning; and each deems it a duty to his country, to see the
-others under the table."
-
-[Illustration: the three drinkers]
-
-"Look for a moment on the house which stands by itself, nearly opposite
-to that of the apoplectic canon: you will see three very pretty but
-very notorious courtezans enjoying themselves with as many young
-courtiers." "They are, indeed, lovely!" exclaimed Don Cleophas. "I
-am not surprised that they should be notorious: happy are the lovers
-who possess them! They seem, however, very partial to their present
-companions: I envy them their good fortune." "Why, you are very green!"
-replied the Demon: "their faces are not disguised with greater skill
-than are their hearts. However prodigal of their caresses, they have
-not the slightest tenderness for their foolish swains; their affection
-is bounded to the purses of their lovers. One of them has just secured
-the promise of a liberal establishment; and the others are prepared
-with settlements which they are in expectation of securing ere they
-part. It is the same with them all. Men vainly ruin themselves for the
-sex: gold buys not love. The well-paid mistress soon treats her lover
-as a husband: that is a rule which I found necessary to establish in my
-code of intrigue. But we will leave these fools to taste the pleasures
-they so dearly purchase; while their valets, who are waiting in the
-street, console themselves with the pleasing anticipation of enjoying
-them gratis."
-
-"Tell me," interrupted Leandro Perez, "what is passing in that splendid
-mansion on the left. The house is filled with well-dressed cavaliers
-and ladies; and all seems dancing and conviviality. It is indeed a
-joyous festival." "It is another wedding," said Asmodeus; "and happy
-as they now are, it is not three days since that house witnessed the
-deepest affliction. It is a story worth hearing: it is rather long,
-certainly; but it will repay your patience." The Devil then began as
-follows.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-
-STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
-
-Leonora de Cespedes was passionately beloved by the young Count de
-Belflor, one of the most distinguished nobles of the court. He had,
-however, no thoughts of suing for her hand; the daughter of a private
-gentleman might command his love, but had no pretensions in his eyes to
-rank above his mistress; and such was the honour he designed for her.
-
-Accordingly, he followed her everywhere; and lost no opportunity of
-testifying by his glances the extent of his affection for her person;
-but he was unable to converse with her, or even to communicate by
-letter, so incessantly and vigilantly was she guarded by an austere
-duenna, the lady Marcella. He was almost in despair; yet, incited by
-the obstacles which were thus opposed to his desires, he was constantly
-occupied in devising means for their attainment, and for deceiving the
-Argus who so carefully watched his Io.
-
-In the meanwhile, Leonora had perceived the attention with which the
-Count regarded her; and flattered by that first homage, so delightful
-to the unworn heart, she soon yielded to the soft persuasion of his
-eyes, and insensibly formed for him a passion as violent as his own.
-The flames of love are seldom kindled at the altar but they burn the
-temple. I did not, however, fan those thus lighted in her bosom, for
-the magician had put a stopper on my operations; but Nature, and
-woman's nature especially, is generally potent enough in such cases,
-without my assistance. Indeed, I doubt if she does not manage these
-matters best by herself; the only difference in our modes of procedure
-being, that Nature saps the heart by slow degrees, while I love to
-carry it by storm.
-
-Affairs were in this posture, when Leonora, and her eternal governante,
-going one morning to church, were accosted by an old woman, carrying
-in her hand one of the largest chaplets ever framed by hypocrisy.
-"Heaven bless you!" said she, addressing herself, with a saintly
-smile, to the duenna, "the peace of God be with you! Have I not the
-honour of speaking to the lady Marcella, the chaste widow of the
-lamented Signor Martin Rosetta?" "You have," replied the governante.
-"How fortunate!" exclaimed the old hypocrite; "I have a relation, at
-this moment lying at my house, who would see you ere he dies. He was
-intimately acquainted with your dear husband, and has matters of the
-utmost importance to communicate to you. It is only three days since
-he arrived in Madrid, from Flanders, for the express purpose of seeing
-you; but scarcely had he entered my house when he was stretched on a
-bed of sickness, and he has now, I fear, but a few hours to live. Let
-us hasten, while there is yet time, to soothe the pangs of his passing
-spirit: a few steps will bring us to his side."
-
-[Illustration: Leonora, Marcella and the old woman]
-
-The wary duenna, who had seen enough of the world to be suspicious of
-the best even of her own sex, still, however, hesitated to follow:
-which the old lady perceiving, "My dear lady Marcella," said she,
-"surely you do not doubt me. You must have heard of La Chichona. Why!
-the licentiate Marcos de Figuerna and the bachelor Mira de Mesqua
-would answer for me as for their grandmothers. If I desire that you
-accompany me to my house, it is for your good only. Heaven forbid
-that I should touch the smallest portion of that which is your due,
-and which my poor relation is so anxious to repay to the wife of his
-friend!" At the word "repay," the lady Marcella hesitated no longer:
-"Let us go, my child," said she to Leonora; "we will see this good
-woman's relation;--to visit the sick is among the first of our duties."
-"Verily," said the Demon, "charity does cover a multitude of sins!"
-
-[Illustration: at the house of La Chichona]
-
-They soon arrived at the house of La Chichona, who introduced them to
-a mean apartment, where they found a man in bed: he had a long beard,
-and if he were not really desperately ill, he at least appeared to
-be so. "See, cousin!" said the old woman, presenting the governante;
-"behold the person whom you sought so anxiously; this is the lady
-Marcella, the respected widow of your friend Rosetta." At these words,
-the old man raised himself on his pillow with apparent difficulty;
-and, making signs for the duenna to approach him, said with a feeble
-voice,--"Heaven be praised, for its mercy in permitting me to live till
-now!--to see you, my dear lady, was all that I desired upon earth.
-Indeed, I feared to die, without the satisfaction of seeing you, and of
-rendering into your hands the hundred ducats which your late husband,
-my dearest friend, so kindly lent me in my dire necessity, at Bruges,
-when but for that assistance my honour had been for ever lost:--but you
-must have often heard of me and my adventures."
-
-"Alas! no," replied Marcella, "he never mentioned it to me. God rest
-his soul! he was ever so generous as to forget the services he rendered
-to his friends; and so far from boasting of such kindnesses as these,
-I can declare that I even never heard of his doing a good action in
-his life." "His was indeed a noble mind," replied the sick man, "as
-I have perhaps better reason to know than most persons; and to prove
-this to you I must relate the history of the unfortunate affair from
-which his liberality so happily released me. But as I shall have to
-speak of things which should be disclosed to no other ears than thine,
-honourable as they are to the memory of my deceased friend, it were
-better that we should be alone."
-
-"Oh, certainly!" cried Chichona, "though it would delight me to hear
-of the good Rosetta, whom you are always praising, we will retire to
-my closet;" saying which, she led Leonora into the next apartment. No
-sooner had she done so, and closed the door, than without ceremony the
-old woman thus addressed her companion:--"Charming Leonora, our moments
-are too precious to be wasted. You know the young Count de Belflor, at
-least by sight. Need I say how long he has loved you, and how ardently
-he desires to tell you so? Driven to despair by the vigilance and
-austerity of Marcella, he has had recourse to my assistance to procure
-him an interview; and I, who could refuse nothing to so handsome a
-cavalier, have dressed up his valet as the sick man you have just seen,
-that I might engage your governante's attention and bring you hither."
-
-As she finished speaking, the Count, who was concealed by the drapery
-of a little window, discovered himself, and, falling at the feet of
-Leonora: "Madam," said he, "pardon the stratagem of a lover, who could
-no longer conceal from you the passion that is destroying the life to
-which it alone gives value:--but for this good woman's kindness, I had
-perished in despair." These words, uttered with respectful earnestness,
-by a man whose appearance was far from displeasing, affected, while
-they perplexed Leonora, and she remained for some time speechless.
-But at length recovering herself, she looked, or endeavoured to look,
-haughtily on her prostrate lover, and replied: "Truly you are deeply
-indebted to your obliging confidante for this attention, but I am not
-so sure that I have equal reason to be thankful, or that you will gain
-by her kindness the object you desire."
-
-In saying these words, she moved towards the door; but the Count,
-gently detaining her, exclaimed: "Stay, adorable Leonora! deign to
-listen to me but for an instant. Be not alarmed! my affection for you
-is pure as your own thoughts. I feel that the artifice to which I have
-descended must revolt you; but consider how vainly I have striven by
-more honourable means to address you. You cannot be ignorant that for
-many months, at the church, in the public walk, at the theatre, I have
-vainly sought to confirm with my lips that passion which my eyes could
-not disguise. Alas! while I implore pardon for a crime to which the
-cruelty of the merciless duenna has compelled me, let me also entreat
-your pity for the torments I have endured; and judge, by the charms
-which your happy mirror discloses, of the extent of his wretchedness
-who is banished from their sight."
-
-[Illustration: Belflor woos Leonora]
-
-Belflor did not fail to accompany these words with all the arts of
-persuasion commonly practised with so much success by my devotees:
-tender looks, heart-broken sighs, and even a few tears were not
-wanting; and Leonora was of course affected. Despite herself, she began
-to feel those little flutterings of the heart, which are the usual
-preludes of capitulation with woman; but far from yielding without a
-struggle to her tenderness, or pity, or weakness, the more sensible
-she became of treason in the garrison, the more hastily she resolved
-to vacate the place. "Count," she exclaimed, "it is in vain you tell
-me this. I will listen no longer. Do not attempt to detain me: let me
-leave a house in which my honour is exposed to suspicion; or my cries
-shall alarm the neighbourhood, and expose your audacity which has dared
-to insult me." This she uttered with so resolute an air that Chichona,
-who was on very punctilious terms with the police, prayed the Count
-not to push matters to extremity. Finding his entreaties useless, he
-released Leonora, who hastened from the apartment, and, what never
-happened to any maiden before, left it as she had entered it.
-
-"Let us quit this dangerous house," said Leonora, on rejoining her
-governante: "finish this idle talk,--we are deceived." "What ails you,
-child?" cried Marcella in reply; "and why should we leave this poor man
-so hastily?" "I will tell you," said Leonora; "but let us fly: every
-instant I remain here but adds to my affliction." However desirous
-was the duenna to learn the cause of her ward's anxiety, she saw that
-the best way to be satisfied was to yield to her entreaties; and they
-quitted the apartment with a celerity which quite discomposed the
-stately governante, leaving Chichona, the Count, and his valet as much
-disconcerted as a company of comedians, when the curtain falls on a
-wretched farce, which the presiding deities of the pit have consigned
-to a lower deep.
-
-When Leonora found herself safely in the street, she related, as well
-as her extreme agitation, and Marcella's exclamations of astonishment,
-would permit, all that had passed in the chamber with the Count and
-Chichona. "I must confess, child," said the duenna, when they had
-reached home, "that I am exceedingly mortified to hear what you have
-just been telling me. To think that I have been the dupe of that wicked
-woman! You will allow, however, that I was not without my doubts. Why
-did I yield them? I should have been suspicious of so much kindness
-and honesty. I have committed a folly which is absolutely inexcusable
-in a person of my sagacity and experience. Ah! why did you not tell
-me this in her presence? I would have torn her eyes out: I would have
-loaded the Count de Belflor with reproaches for his perfidy: and as
-for the scoundrel with his ducats and his beard, he should not have
-had a hair left on his head. But I will return, this instant, with the
-money which I have received as a real restitution; and if I find them
-still together, they shall not have waited for nothing." So saying, the
-enraged widow of the generous Rosetta folded her mantilla around her,
-and left Leonora to weep over the treachery of mankind.
-
-Marcella found the Count with Chichona, in despair at the failure of
-his design. Most of my pupils, in his place, would have been abashed at
-seeing her: it is extraordinary what scruples I have to overcome. But
-Belflor was of another stamp: to a thousand good qualities, he added
-that of yielding implicit obedience to my inspirations. When he loved,
-nothing could exceed the ardour with which he followed the devoted
-object of his affections; and though naturally what the world calls
-an honourable man, he was then capable of violating the most sacred
-duties for the attainment of his desires. No sooner, therefore, did he
-perceive Marcella, than, as he saw that their fulfilment could only be
-completed through the duenna's agency, he resolved to spare nothing to
-win her to his interests. He shrewdly guessed that, rigidly virtuous
-as the lady appeared, she, like her betters, had her price; and as he
-was disposed to bid pretty liberally, you will own he did no great
-injustice to a duenna's fidelity: for so rare a commodity will only be
-found where lovers are not over-rich, or not sufficiently liberal.
-
-The instant Marcella entered the room, and perceived the three persons
-she sought, her tongue went as though possessed; and while she poured
-a torrent of abuse on the Count and Chichona, she sent the restitution
-flying at the head of the valet. The Count patiently endured the
-storm; and throwing himself on his knees before the duenna, to render
-the scene more moving, he pressed her to take back the purse she had
-rejected; and offering to add to it a thousand pistoles, he besought
-her compassion on his sufferings. As Marcella had never before been so
-earnestly entreated, it is no wonder that she was, on this occasion,
-not inexorable: her invectives, therefore, speedily ceased; and
-on comparing the tempting sum now offered to her, with the paltry
-recompence she expected from Don Luis de Cespedes, she was not slow in
-discovering that it would be much more profitable to turn Leonora from
-her duty, than to keep her in its path. Accordingly, after some little
-affectation, she again received the purse, accepted the offer of the
-thousand pistoles, promised to assist the Count in his designs, and
-departed at once to labour for their accomplishment.
-
-[Illustration: Belflor bribes Marcella]
-
-As she knew Leonora to be strictly virtuous, she was extremely cautious
-of exciting the least suspicion of her intelligence with the Count,
-lest the plot should be discovered to Don Luis, her father; so,
-desirous of skilfully effecting her ruin, she thus addressed her on her
-return: "My dear Leonora, I have revenged myself on the wretches who
-deceived us. I found them quite confounded at your virtuous resolution;
-and, threatening the infamous Chichona with your father's resentment,
-and the most rigorous severity of the law, I bestowed on the Count
-de Belflor all the insulting epithets that my anger could suggest. I
-warrant that the Signor will make no more attempts of this kind on you;
-and that henceforth his gallantries will cease to engage my attention.
-I thank Heaven that, by your firmness, you have escaped the snare that
-was laid for you. I could weep for joy to think that the deceiver has
-gained nothing by his stratagem; for these noble signors make it
-their amusement to seduce the young and innocent. Indeed, the greater
-part even of those who pique themselves on their honourable conduct
-have no scruples on this point, as though it were no disgrace to carry
-ruin into virtuous families. Not that I think the Count absolutely of
-this character, nor even that he intends studiously to deceive you: we
-should not judge too harshly of our neighbours; and perhaps, after all,
-he meant you honourably. Although his rank would give him pretensions
-to the hand of the noblest at our court, your beauty may yet have
-induced him to resolve on marriage with yourself. In fact, I recollect
-that in his answers to my reproaches, which I heeded not at the time, I
-might have perceived something of the sort."
-
-"What say you, dear Marcella?" interrupted Leonora. "If that were
-his intention, he would have sought me of my father, who would never
-have refused his daughter to a person of his rank." "What you say
-is perfectly just," replied the governante, "and I am quite of your
-opinion; the Count's proceedings are certainly suspicious, or rather
-his designs cannot be good: for a trifle, I would return and scold him
-again." "No, good Marcella," replied Leonora, "we had better forget
-the past, and revenge ourselves by contempt." "Very true," said the
-duenna; "I believe that is the best plan: you are more prudent than
-myself. But, after all, may we not do the Count injustice? Who knows
-that he has not been actuated by the purest and most delicate motives?
-It is possible that, before obtaining your father's consent, he may
-have resolved to deserve and to please you; to render your union more
-delightful by first gaining your heart. If that were so, child, would
-it be a very great sin to listen to him? Tell me your thoughts, love;
-you know my affection: does your heart incline towards the Count, or
-would it be very disagreeable to marry such a man?"
-
-To this malicious question, the too-sincere Leonora replied, with
-down-cast eyes, and face suffused with blushes, by avowing that she
-had no aversion to the Count; but, as modesty prevented her explaining
-herself more openly, the duenna still pressed her to conceal nothing
-from her; and at last succeeded, by affected tenderness, in obtaining a
-full confession of her love. "Dearest Marcella," said the unsuspicious
-girl, "since you desire me to speak to you without disguise, I must
-confess that Belflor has appeared to me not unworthy of my love. I was
-struck by his appearance; and I have heard him so much praised, that
-I could not remain insensible to the affection he displayed for me.
-Your watchful care to guard me from his addresses has cost me many a
-sigh: nay, I will own I have in secret wept his absence; and repaid
-with my tears the sufferings your vigilance has caused him. Even at
-this moment, instead of hating him for the insult he has offered to my
-honour, my heart against my will excuses him, and throws his fault on
-your severity."
-
-"My child," said the governante, "since you give me reason to believe
-that his attentions are pleasing to you, I will endeavour to secure
-this lover." "I am very sensible," replied Leonora, "of the kindness
-you intend me. It is not that the Count holds the first place at court;
-were he but an honourable private gentleman, I should prefer him to all
-others upon earth, but let us not flatter ourselves: Belflor is a noble
-signor, destined, without doubt, for one of the richest heiresses in
-our kingdom. Let us not expect that he would descend to ally himself
-with Don Luis, who has but a moderate fortune to offer with his
-daughter. No, no," she added, "he entertains for me no such favourable
-thoughts: he thinks not of me as one worthy to bear his name, but seeks
-only my dishonour."
-
-"Ah! wherefore," said the duenna, "will you insist he loves you not
-well enough to seek your hand? Love daily works much greater miracles.
-One would imagine, to hear you, that Heaven had made some infinite
-distinction between you and the Count. Do yourself more justice,
-Leonora! He would not condescend, in uniting his destiny with yours.
-You are of an ancient and noble family, and your alliance would never
-call a blush upon his cheek. However, you love him," continued she;
-"and I must therefore see him, and sound him on the subject; and if I
-find his designs as honourable as they should be, I will indulge him
-with some slight hopes." "Not for the world!" cried Leonora; "on no
-account would I have you seek him: should he but suspect my knowledge
-of your proceedings, he must cease even to esteem me." "Oh! I am more
-cunning than you think me," answered Marcella. "I shall begin by
-accusing him of a design to seduce you. He of course will not fail
-to defend himself; I shall listen to his excuses, and shall mark the
-event: in short, my dear child, leave it to me; I will be as careful of
-your honour as of my own."
-
-Towards night, the duenna left the house, and found Belflor watching
-in the neighbourhood. She informed him of her conversation with his
-mistress, not forgetting to boast of the address with which she had
-elicited from Leonora the confession of her love. Nothing could more
-agreeably surprise the Count than this discovery; and accordingly his
-gratitude was displayed in the most ardent manner; that is to say, he
-promised to Marcella the thousand ducats on the morrow, and to himself
-the most complete success of his enterprise; well knowing, as he
-did, that a woman prepossessed is half seduced. They then separated,
-extremely well satisfied with each other, and the duenna returned to
-her home.
-
-Leonora, who had waited for her with extreme anxiety, timidly inquired
-if she brought any news of the Count. "The best news you could hear,"
-replied the governante. "I have seen him, and I can assure you of
-the purity of his intentions: he declared that his only object is to
-marry you; and this he confirmed by every oath that man holds sacred.
-I did not, however, as you may suppose, yield implicitly to these
-protestations. 'If you are sincere,' said I to him, 'why do you not at
-once apply to Don Luis, her father?' 'Ah! my dear Marcella,' replied
-he, without appearing in the least embarrassed by this question,
-'could you, even, approve that, without assuring myself of Leonora's
-affection, and following, blindly, the dictates of a devouring passion,
-I should seek her of Don Luis as a slave? No! her happiness is dearer
-to me than my own desires; and I have too nice a sense of honour, even
-to endanger that happiness by an indiscreet avowal.'
-
-"While he thus spoke," continued the duenna, "I observed him with
-extreme attention; and employed all my experience to discover in his
-eyes if he were really possessed of all the love that he expressed.
-What shall I say?--He appeared to me penetrated by the truest love;
-I felt elated with joy, which I took good care, however, to conceal:
-nevertheless, when I felt persuaded of his sincerity, I thought that,
-in order to secure for you so important a conquest, it would be but
-proper to give him some faint idea of your feelings towards him.
-'Signor,' said I, 'Leonora has no aversion for you; I know that she
-esteems you; and, as far as I can judge, her heart would not be grieved
-by your addresses.' 'Great God,' he cried, transported with delight,
-'what do I hear? Is it possible, that the charming Leonora should be
-disposed so favourably towards me? What do I not owe to you, kindest
-Marcella, for thus relieving me from such torturing suspense? I am
-the more rejoiced, too, that this should be announced by you;--you,
-who have ever opposed my love; you, who have inflicted on me such
-lengthened suffering. But, my dear Marcella, complete my bliss! let me
-see my divine Leonora, and pledge to her my faith; let me swear, in
-your presence, to be hers only for ever.'
-
-"To all these expressions of his devotion," continued the governante,
-"he added others still more touching. At last, my dear child, he
-entreated me in so pressing a manner to procure for him a secret
-interview, that I could not forbear promising he should see you."
-"Ah! why have you done so?" exclaimed Leonora, with emotion. "How
-often have you told me, that a virtuous girl should ever shun such
-secret conversations,--always wrong, and almost always dangerous?"
-"Certainly," replied the duenna, "I acknowledge to have said so, and a
-very good maxim it is; but you are not obliged to adhere to it strictly
-on this occasion; for you may look upon the Count as your husband."
-"He is not so yet," said Leonora, "and I ought not to see him until my
-father permits his addresses."
-
-Marcella, at this moment, repented of having imbued the mind of her
-pupil with those notions of propriety which she found so much trouble
-to overcome. Determined, however, at any rate to effect her object, she
-thus recommenced her attack: "My dear Leonora! I am proud to witness
-so much virtuous delicacy. Happy fruit of all my cares! You have truly
-profited by the lessons I have taught you. I am delighted with the
-result of my labours. But, child, you have read rather too literally;
-you construe my maxims too rigidly; your susceptibility is indeed
-somewhat prudish. However much I pique myself on my severity, I do not
-quite approve of that precise chastity which arms itself indifferently
-against guilt or innocence. A girl ceases not to be virtuous who yields
-her ear only to her lover, especially when she is conscious of the
-purity which chastens his desires; and she is then no more wrong in
-responding to his love, than she is for her sensibility to the passion.
-Rely upon me, Leonora; I have too much experience, and am too much
-interested in your welfare, to suffer you to take a step that might be
-prejudicial to it."
-
-"But where would you have me see the Count?" said Leonora. "In this
-room, to be sure," replied the duenna. "Where could you see him so
-safely? I will introduce him to-morrow evening." "You are not surely
-serious, Marcella!" exclaimed Leonora. "What! think you I would permit
-a man----" "To be sure you will!" interrupted the duenna; "there is
-nothing so wonderful in that, as you imagine. It happens daily; and
-would to heaven that every damsel who receives such visits, had desires
-as pure as those by which you are animated! Besides, what have you to
-fear? shall not I be with you?" "Alas!" said Leonora, "should my father
-surprise us!" "Do not trouble yourself about that," replied Marcella.
-"Your father is perfectly satisfied as to your conduct: he knows my
-fidelity, and would not do me so much wrong as to suspect it." Poor
-Leonora, thus artfully instigated by the duenna, and secretly moved
-by her own feelings, could withstand no longer; and at last yielded,
-although unwillingly, to her governante's proposal.
-
-The Count was soon informed of Marcella's success, of which he was
-so well satisfied, that he at once gave her five hundred pistoles,
-and a ring of equal value. The duenna, finding his promises so well
-performed, was determined to be as scrupulously exact in the fulfilment
-of her own; and, accordingly, on the following night, when she felt
-assured that every one in the house was fast asleep, she fastened
-to the balcony a silken ladder, which the Count had provided, and
-introduced his lordship to the chamber of his mistress.
-
-In the meanwhile, the fair Leonora was immersed in reflections of the
-most painfully agitating nature. Notwithstanding her affection for the
-Count, and despite her governante's assurances, she bitterly reproached
-herself for her weakness, in yielding a consent to an interview which
-she still felt was in violation of her duty; nor could a knowledge of
-the purity of her intentions bring comfort to her bosom. To receive,
-by night, in her apartment, a man whose love was unsanctioned by her
-parent, and not certainly known even by herself, now appeared to her
-not only criminal, but calculated to degrade her in the estimation of
-her lover also; and this last thought tortured her almost to madness,
-when that lover entered.
-
-He threw himself on his knees before her; and, apparently penetrated
-by love and gratitude, thanked her for that confidence in his honour,
-which had permitted this visit, and assured her of his determination to
-merit it, by shortly espousing her. However, as he was not as explicit
-upon this point as Leonora desired, "Count," said she to him, "I am too
-anxious to believe that you have no other views than those you express
-to me; but whatever assurances you may offer must always appear to me
-suspicious, so long as my father is ignorant of your designs, and has
-not ratified them by his consent."
-
-"Madam," replied Belflor, "that would have been long since demanded
-by me, had I not feared to have obtained it at the sacrifice of your
-repose." "Alas!" said Leonora, "I do not reproach you that you have
-not yet sought Don Luis,--I cannot but be sensible of your delicacy;
-but nothing now restrains you, and you must at once resolve to see my
-father, or never to see me more."
-
-[Illustration: Belflor climbs up to Leonora's balcony]
-
-"What do I hear?" exclaimed the Count,--"never to see you more!
-Beauteous Leonora! how little sensible are you to the charms of love!
-Did you know how to love like me, you would delight in secret to
-receive my vows; and, for some time at least, to conceal them from
-your father as from all the world. Oh! who can paint the charms of
-that mysterious intercourse, in which two hearts indulge, united by
-a passion as intense as pure." "It may have charms for you," replied
-Leonora; "to me, such intercourse would bring but sorrow: this
-refinement of tenderness but ill becomes a virtuous maiden. Speak not
-to me of such impure delights! Did you esteem me, you had not dared
-to do so; and were your intentions such as you would persuade me, you
-would, from your soul, reproach me that I could listen to you with
-patience. But, alas!" she added, while tears filled her eyes, "my
-weakness alone has exposed me to this outrage: I have indeed deserved
-it, that I see you here."
-
-"Adorable Leonora!" cried the Count, "you wrong my love most cruelly!
-Your virtue, too scrupulous, is causelessly alarmed. What! can you
-conceive that, because I have been so happy as to prevail on you to
-favour my passion, I should cease to esteem you? What injustice! No,
-madam, I know, too well, the value of your kindness; it can never
-deprive you of my esteem; and I am ready to do as you require me. I
-will, to-morrow, see Don Luis; and nothing shall be wanting on my part
-to ensure my happiness: but I cannot conceal from you, that I scarcely
-indulge a hope." "How!" replied; Leonora, with extreme surprise;
-"is it possible that my father should refuse me to the Count de
-Belflor?"--"Ah! it is that very title which gives me cause for alarm.
-But I see this surprises you: your astonishment, however, will soon
-cease.
-
-"Only a few days ago," continued he, "the King was pleased to declare
-his will, that I should marry: you know how these matters are managed
-at our Court. He has not, however, named the lady for whom I am
-intended; but has contented himself with intimating that she is one
-who will do me honour, and that he has set his mind upon our union.
-As I was then ignorant of your disposition towards me,--for, as you
-well know, your rigorous severity has never until now, permitted me
-to divine it,--I did not let him perceive in me any aversion to the
-accomplishment of his desires. You may now therefore, judge, madam,
-whether Don Luis would hazard the King's displeasure, by accepting me
-as his son-in-law."
-
-"No, doubtless," said Leonora; "I know my father well: however
-desirable he might esteem your alliance, he would not hesitate to
-renounce it, rather than expose himself to the anger of his Majesty.
-But, even though my father had consented to our union, we should not
-be less unfortunate; for, Belflor, how could you possibly bestow on
-me a hand which the King has destined for another?" "Madam," replied
-the Count, "I will not disguise that your question embarrasses me.
-Still, I am not without hope that, by prudent management with the King,
-and by availing myself of the influence which his friendship for me
-secures, I should find means to avoid the misfortune which threatens
-me; and yourself, lovely Leonora, might assist me in so doing, did
-you but deem me worthy of the happiness of being yours." "I assist
-you!" she exclaimed; "how could I possibly enable you to avert an
-union which the King proposes for you?" "Ah! madam," he replied, with
-impassioned looks, "would you deign to receive my vows of eternal
-fidelity to you, I should have no difficulty in preserving my faith
-inviolate, without offending my sovereign. Permit, charming Leonora,"
-he continued, throwing himself at her feet, "permit me to espouse you
-in the presence of our friend Marcella; she is a witness who will vouch
-for the sanctity of our engagements. I shall thus escape the hateful
-bonds they would impose upon me; for, should the King still press me
-to accept the lady he designs for me, I will prostrate myself before
-him, and, on my knees, confess how long and ardently my love has been
-devoted to you, and that we are secretly married. However desirous he
-may be to unite me with another, he is too gracious to think of tearing
-me from the object I adore, and too just to offer so grievous an
-affront to your honourable family.
-
-"What is your opinion, discreet Marcella?" added he, turning towards
-the governante; "what think you of this project with which love has
-so opportunely inspired me?" "I am charmed with it," said the duenna;
-"the rogue, Cupid, is never at a loss for an expedient." "And you,
-dearest Leonora," resumed the Count, "what do you say to it? Can your
-heart, always mistrustful, refuse its assent to my proposal?" "No," she
-replied, "provided my father consent to it; and I do not doubt that
-he will, when you have explained to him your reasons for secrecy."
-"You must be very cautious how you consult him upon the subject,"
-interrupted the abominable duenna; "you do not know Don Luis: his
-notions of honour are too scrupulous to permit him to engage himself
-with secret amours. The proposal of a private marriage would shock
-him; besides which, he is too prudent not to foresee the possible
-consequences of one which interfered with the designs of the King.
-And, once proposed to him, and his suspicion aroused, his eyes will
-be constantly upon you; and he will take good care to prevent your
-marriage, by separating you for ever."
-
-"And I should die with grief and despair," cried our courtier. "But
-madam," continued he, addressing himself to Marcella, with an air of
-profound disappointment, "do you really think, then, that there is
-no chance of Don Luis yielding to our prayer?" "Not the slightest!"
-replied the governante. "But suppose he should! Exact and scrupulous
-as he is, he would never consent to the omission of a single religious
-ceremony on the occasion; and if they are all to be observed in your
-marriage, the secret will be soon known in Madrid."
-
-"Ah! my dear Leonora," said the Count, taking her hand, and tenderly
-pressing it within his own, "must we, then, to satisfy a vain notion
-of decorum, expose ourselves to the frightful danger of an eternal
-separation? Our happiness is in your hands; since it depends on you
-alone to bestow yourself on me. A father's consent might, perhaps,
-spare you some uneasiness; but since our kind Marcella has convinced us
-of the impossibility of obtaining it, yield yourself, without further
-scruple, to my innocent desires. Receive my heart and hand; and when
-the time shall have arrived, that we may inform Don Luis of our union,
-we shall have no difficulty in satisfying him as to our reasons for
-its concealment." "Well, Count," said Leonora, "I consent to your not
-at once speaking to my father, but that you first sound the King upon
-the subject. Before, however, I receive thus secretly your hand, I
-would have this done. See his Majesty; tell him even, if necessary,
-that we are married. Let us endeavour, by this show of confidence,----"
-"Alas! madam," interrupted Belflor, "what do you ask of me? No, my
-soul revolts at the thoughts of falsehood. I cannot lie; and you would
-despise me, could I thus dissemble with the King;--besides, how could I
-hope for pardon at his hands, should he discover the meanness of which
-I had been guilty?"
-
-"I should never have done, Signor Don Cleophas," continued the Demon,
-"were I to repeat word for word all that Belflor said, in order to
-seduce his lovely mistress; I will only add, that he repeated, without
-my assistance, all those passionate phrases with which I usually
-inspire gallants upon similar occasions. But in vain did he swear
-he would publicly confirm, as soon as possible, the faith which he
-proposed to pledge in secret: Leonora's virtue was proof against his
-oaths; and the blushing day, which surprised him while he called Heaven
-to witness for his fidelity, compelled him to retire less triumphant
-than he had anticipated."
-
-On the following morning, the duenna, conceiving that her honour, or
-rather her interest, engaged her not to abandon the enterprise, took
-an opportunity of reverting to the subject. "Leonora," said she, "I
-am confounded by what passed last evening; you appear to disdain the
-Count's affection, or to regard it as inspired by an unworthy motive.
-Perhaps, however, after all, you remarked something in his person or
-manner that displeased you?" "No, good governante," replied Leonora;
-"he never appeared to me more amiable; and his conversation discovered
-to me a thousand new charms." "If that be the case," said the duenna,
-"I am still more perplexed. You acknowledge to be strongly prepossessed
-in his favour, and yet refuse to yield in a point, the absolute
-necessity of which he has so clearly demonstrated."
-
-"My dear Marcella," replied her ward, "you are wiser, and have had more
-experience in these matters, than myself; but have you sufficiently
-reflected on the consequences of a marriage contracted without my
-father's knowledge?" "Yes, certainly," answered the duenna, "I have
-maturely considered all that; and I regret to find you oppose yourself,
-with an obstinacy of which I deemed you incapable, to the brilliant
-establishment which fortune presents so uselessly. Have a care that
-your perverseness does not weary and repel your lover; remember that
-he may discover the inequality of your station and fortune, which his
-passion overlooks. While he offers you his faith, receive it without
-hesitation. His word is his bond; there is no tie more sacred with a
-man of honour, like Belflor: besides, I am witness that he acknowledges
-you as his wife; and I need not tell you that a testimony like mine
-would be more than sufficient to condemn a lover who should dare to
-perjure himself, and attempt to evade a legal contract."
-
-By this and similar conversations, the resolution of the artless
-Leonora was at last shaken; and the perils which surrounded her were
-so adroitly concealed by her perfidious governante, that, some days
-afterwards, she abandoned herself, without further reflection, to the
-will of the Count. Belflor was introduced nightly, by the balcony, into
-his mistress's apartment; which he left again before daybreak, when
-summoned by the duenna.
-
-One morning, the old lady overslept herself; and Aurora had already
-half opened the golden chambers of the east, when the Count hastily
-departed, as usual. Unfortunately, in his hurry to descend the ladder,
-his foot missed, and he fell heavily on the ground.
-
-Don Luis de Cespedes, who slept in the room over Leonora's, had
-that morning risen earlier than usual to attend to some important
-engagements; and hearing the noise of Belflor's fall he opened his
-window to learn whence it proceeded. To his astonishment, he perceived
-a man just raising himself, with difficulty, from the earth, while
-Marcella was busily engaged in the balcony with the silken ladder,
-of which the Count had made such bad use in his descent. Scarcely
-believing his eyes, and rubbing them to make sure that he was awake,
-Don Luis stood for some time in amazement; but he was too soon
-convinced that what he saw was no illusion; and that the light of day,
-although just breaking, was bright enough to discover to him, too
-clearly, his disgrace.
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis de Cespedes looking out of the window]
-
-Afflicted at this fatal sight, transported by a just wrath, he
-instantly sought the apartment of Leonora, holding the light by which
-he had been writing in one hand, and his sword in the other. With a
-frantic determination of sacrificing his daughter and her governante
-to his resentment, he struck the door of their chamber violently, and
-commanded them to admit him. Trembling, they obeyed his summons; when
-he entered with infuriated looks, and displaying his naked sword: "I
-come," he cried, "to wash out, in the blood of an infamous child, the
-stains on the wounded honour of her father; and to punish the crime of
-a perfidious wretch, who has betrayed his confidence."
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis confronts Leonora and Marcella]
-
-They were in a moment on their knees before him; and, as he raised his
-arm, the trembling duenna exclaimed: "In mercy hold, Signor! Before
-you inflict on us the punishment you meditate, deign but to listen to
-me for a moment." "Speak, then, unhappy woman," said Don Luis; "I will
-retard my vengeance but for the instant you require: speak, I repeat!
-tell me all the circumstances of my misfortune. But what do I say,--all
-the circumstances? Alas! I am ignorant but of one; it is, the name of
-the villain who has dishonoured me." "Signor," replied Marcella, "the
-cavalier who has just left us is the Count de Belflor." "The Count de
-Belflor!" repeated Don Luis; "and where did he see my daughter? By
-what means has he seduced her? On your life, hide nothing from me!"
-"Signor," replied the governante, "I will relate the whole history to
-you, with all the sincerity of which I am capable."
-
-She then related, with infinite art, all the conversations she had
-previously narrated to Leonora, as having passed between herself and
-the Count; whom she painted in the most flattering colours, as a lover
-tender, delicate, and sincere, beyond description. As, however, there
-was no escaping the event in which this heroic love most naturally
-terminated, she was obliged to avow the truth. But she managed this
-so adroitly, insisting on the weighty reasons which Belflor had for
-secrecy in his nuptials, and on the regret he had always expressed for
-its necessity, that she gradually appeased the fury of her master. This
-she was not slow to perceive; and, to completely soften the old man,
-she wound up by a peroration that would have done as much honour to a
-wig as to a gown:--"Signor," said she, "I have thus told you the simple
-truth: now punish us if you will, and plunge your sword into your
-daughter's bosom! But what say I? No! Leonora is innocent; she has but
-followed the faithful counsels of her to whom you confided the guidance
-of her conduct. It is my heart against which your sword should be
-directed; it was I who first introduced the Count to her apartment; it
-is I who formed those ties which bind him to your daughter. I would
-not perceive the irregularity of his engagement, although unauthorised
-by you: I saw in him but a son-in-law, whom I was anxious to secure to
-you; but the channel through which the favours of our Court might reach
-you. I forgot all but the happiness of Leonora, and the advancement of
-your family, in the brilliant alliance of the Count. I have erred: the
-excess of my zeal has made me forgetful of my duty."
-
-While the subtle Marcella was speaking thus, poor Leonora was not
-sparing of her tears; and her grief appeared so excessive that the good
-old man could not resist it. He was affected. His anger was changed
-into compassion; his sword fell on the ground; and, quitting the air of
-an irritated parent: "Ah! my daughter," he cried, while tears sprung
-from his aged eyes, like water from the rock of Horeb, "what a fatal
-passion is love! Alas! you know not yet all the causes it will bring
-you for affliction. The shame which a father's presence alone excites,
-can bring tears to your eyes at this moment; but you foresee not the
-woes which your lover is, perhaps even now, preparing for the future.
-And you, imprudent Marcella, what have you done? Into what an abyss has
-your indiscreet zeal for my family plunged us! I allow that an alliance
-with a man like Belflor might dazzle you, and it is that which alone
-excuses and saves you; but, miserable that you are, why were you not
-more cautious with a lover of his station? The greater his credit and
-favour at court, the more guarded should you have been against his
-approaches. Should he not scruple to break his faith with my daughter,
-how shall I avenge the insult? Shall I implore the power of our laws?
-A person of his rank can easily shelter himself from its severity.
-I will suppose that, faithful to his oaths, he would abide by his
-engagements with my daughter: if the King, as you say, has decreed that
-he shall marry with another, is it likely that our sovereign will fail
-to be obeyed?"
-
-"Oh! my father," replied Leonora, "that need not alarm us. The Count
-has assured us that the King would never do so great a violence to his
-feelings--" "Of which I am convinced," interrupted the duenna; "for,
-besides that the monarch loves Belflor too much to exercise so great a
-tyranny upon his favourite, he is of too noble a character to afflict
-so grievously the valiant Don Luis de Cespedes, who has devoted to the
-service of the state the best years of his life."
-
-"Heaven grant," exclaimed the old man, sighing, "that all my fears
-are vain! I will seek the Count, and demand a full explanation of his
-conduct: the eyes of a father, alarmed for a daughter's welfare, will
-pierce his very soul. If I find him what I would hope, and what you
-would persuade me he is, I will pardon what has passed; but," added he
-firmly, "if in his discourse I discern the perfidy of his heart, you
-go, both of you, to bewail in retirement, for the rest of your days,
-the imprudence of which you have been guilty." As he finished, he took
-up his sword, and retired to his own room, leaving his daughter and
-her governante to recover themselves from the fright into which this
-discovery had so unexpectedly thrown them.
-
-[Illustration: The lady, her husband and her lover]
-
-Asmodeus was at this moment interrupted in his recital by the Student,
-who thus addressed him:--"My dear Devil, interesting as is the history
-you are relating to me, my eyes have wandered to an object which
-prevents my listening to you as attentively as I could wish. I see a
-lady, who is rather good-looking, seated between a young man and a
-gentleman old enough to be his grandfather. They seem to enjoy the
-liqueurs which are on the table near them, but what amuses me, is, that
-as from time to time the amorous old dotard embraces his mistress, the
-deceiver conveys her hand to the lips of the other, who covers it with
-silent kisses. He is doubtless her gallant." "On the contrary," replied
-the cripple, "he is her husband, and the old fool is her lover. He is
-a man of consequence,--no less than a commandant of the military order
-of Calatrava; and is ruining himself for the lady, whose complaisant
-husband holds some inferior place at court She bestows her caresses on
-the sighing knight, for the sake of his gold; and is unfaithful to him
-in favour of her husband, from inclination."
-
-"That is a marvellously pretty picture," said Zambullo. "The husband of
-course is French?" "No, no," replied the Demon: "he is a Spaniard. Oh!
-the good city of Madrid can boast within its walls a fair proportion
-of such well-bred spouses: still, they do not swarm here as in Paris,
-which is, beyond contradiction, the most fruitful city of the world
-in such inhabitants." "I thought so," said Don Cleophas; "but pardon
-me, Signor Asmodeus, if I have broken the thread of the fair Leonora's
-story. Continue it, I pray you; it interests me exceedingly; and
-exhibits such variety in the art of seduction as transports me with
-admiration."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-
-CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND
-LEONORA DE CESPEDES.
-
-
-Don Luis, (continued Asmodeus), on returning to his apartment, dressed
-himself hastily, and, while it was still early, repaired to the Count;
-who, not suspecting a discovery, was much surprised by this visit.
-On the old man's entrance, however, Belflor ran to meet him, and,
-embracing him cordially, exclaimed, "Ah Signor Don Luis; I am delighted
-to see you. To what do I owe this happiness? Am I so fortunate as
-to have an opportunity of serving you?" "Signor," replied Don Luis
-sternly, "I would speak with you alone."
-
-Belflor desired his attendants to withdraw; and as soon as they
-were seated, "Signor," said Cespedes, "I come to ask of you an
-explanation of circumstances in which my honour and happiness are
-deeply interested. I saw you this morning leaving the apartment of my
-daughter. She has disguised nothing from me: she informed that----"
-"She has told you that I love her," interrupted the Count, to avoid
-hearing what he knew could not be very agreeable; "but she can but have
-feebly described all that I feel for her. I am enchanted with her; she
-is an adorable creature: beauty, wit, virtue,--nothing is wanting to
-perfect her charms. I am told you have a son, too, who is finishing his
-studies at Alcala: does he resemble his sister? If he have her beauty,
-and have at all inherited the noble bearing of his father, he must be a
-perfect cavalier. I die with anxiety to see him; and I assure you that
-I shall be proud to advance his fortunes."
-
-"I am obliged to you for so kind an offer," gravely replied Don Luis;
-"but to return to the subject of----" "He must enter the service at
-once," again interrupted the Count: "I charge myself with the care of
-his interests: he shall not grow old among the crowd of subalterns;
-on that you may depend." "Answer me, Count!" replied the old man
-vehemently, "and cease these interruptions. Do you intend, or not, to
-fulfil the promise----?" "Yes, certainly," interrupted Belflor for
-the third time; "I engage faithfully to support your son with all
-the interest I possess: rely on me; I am a man of my word." "This is
-too much, Count," cried Cespedes, rising: "after having seduced my
-daughter, you dare thus to insult me! But I also am a noble; and the
-injury you have done me shall not remain unpunished." In finishing
-these words, he left the Count, his heart swelling with anger, and his
-mind tormented with a thousand projects of revenge.
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis de Cespedes interviews Belflor]
-
-On arriving at home, still greatly agitated, he immediately went to
-Leonora's apartment, where he found her with Marcella. "It was not
-without reason," said he, addressing them, "that I was suspicious of
-the Count: he is a traitor; but I will avenge myself. For you, you
-shall at once hide your shame within a convent: both of you, prepare
-to leave this house to-morrow; and thank Heaven that my wrath contents
-itself with so moderate a punishment." He then left them, to shut
-himself in his cabinet, that he might maturely reflect on the conduct
-it would be proper to observe in so delicate a conjuncture.
-
-How poignant was the grief of Leonora, when thus informed of Belflor's
-perfidy! She remained for some time motionless; a death-like paleness
-overspread her lovely features; life itself seemed about to abandon
-her, and she fell senseless into the arms of her governante. The
-alarmed duenna at first thought that the victim of her intrigues
-was really dead; but, on perceiving that she still breathed, used
-every effort to restore her to consciousness, and at last succeeded.
-Existence, however, had no longer charms for Leonora; and when,
-somewhat recovered, she unclosed her eyelids, and perceived the
-officious governante busy about her person, "Cruel Marcella!" she
-exclaimed, sighing deeply; "wherefore have you drawn me from the happy
-state in which I was? Then, I felt not the horror of my destiny. Why
-did you not let me perish? You, who know so well that life henceforth
-must be but one long misery, why have you sought to preserve it?"
-
-The duenna endeavoured to console her, but her words only added to
-Leonora's sufferings. "It is in vain you would comfort me," she cried,
-"I will not hear you: strive not to combat my despair. Rather seek to
-add to its profundity; you, who have plunged me into the frightful
-gulph in which all my hopes are swallowed:--you it was who assured
-me of the Count's sincerity; but for you I had never yielded to my
-passion for him; I should have insensibly triumphed over it, or at
-least, he would never have had cause to boast of my weakness. But no!
-I will not," she continued, "attribute to you my misfortunes; it is
-myself alone I should accuse. I ought not to have followed your advice,
-in accepting the faith of a man, without the sanction of my father.
-However flattering to me were the attentions of Count de Belflor, I
-should have despised them, rather than have endeavoured to secure them
-at the price of my honour: I should have mistrusted him, you! Marcella,
-and myself. For my folly in listening to his perfidious oaths, for the
-affliction I have caused to the unhappy Don Luis, and for the dishonour
-I have brought upon my family, I detest myself; and, far from fearing
-the state of seclusion with which I am menaced, I would willingly
-conceal my guilt and shame in the most frightful dungeon in the world."
-
-[Illustration: Marcella tries to console Leonora]
-
-While her grief thus vented itself in exclamations, and tears streamed
-from her eyes, she frantically tore her clothes, and revenged the
-injustice of her lover on the beautiful locks which fell around her
-neck. The duenna, also, to appear in keeping with her mistress's
-grief, was not sparing of grimaces; she managed to squeeze out some
-convenient tears, and directed a thousand imprecations against mankind
-in general, and against Belflor in particular. "Is it possible," she
-cried, "that the Count, who had all the semblance of amiability and
-rectitude, should be so great a villain as to have deceived us both?
-I cannot get over my surprise, or rather, I cannot even yet persuade
-myself that he is so."
-
-"Indeed," said Leonora, "when I picture him myself at my feet, what
-maiden could but have confided to so much tenderness,--to his oaths,
-which he so daringly called on Heaven to witness,--to his boundless
-transports, which seemed so sincere? His eyes to me discovered a love
-far more intense than his lips could express; and the very sight of me
-appeared to charm him:--no, he did not deceive me; I cannot believe
-it. My father has not spoken to him with sufficient caution; they have
-quarrelled, and the Count has replied to his reproaches less as the
-lover than the lord. Still, may I not deceive myself? I will, however,
-end this horrible suspense. I will write to Belflor,--tell him I expect
-him here this night: I am resolved he comes to reassure my troubled
-heart, or to confirm, himself, his treachery."
-
-Marcella loudly applauded this resolution; she even conceived a hope
-that the Count, all ambitious as he was, might yet be affected by the
-tears of his Leonora, which could not fail at this interview, and that
-he might determine on espousing her in truth.
-
-Meanwhile, Belflor, relieved of the presence of Don Luis, was revolving
-in his mind the probable consequences of the reception he had given to
-the good old man. He felt certain that all the Cespedes, enraged at
-the injury he had done their family, would unite to avenge it: this,
-however, gave him but little trouble; the possible loss of Leonora
-occasioned him far greater anxiety. She would, he imagined, at once be
-placed in a convent, or, at least, that she would be carefully guarded
-from his sight; and that she was consequently lost to him for ever.
-This thought afflicted him; and he was occupied in devising some means
-to prevent so great a misfortune, when his valet entered the apartment,
-and presented a letter which Marcella had placed in his hands. It was
-from Leonora, and ran as follows:--
-
- "MY STILL DEAREST BELFLOR,
-
- "I shall to-morrow quit the world, to bury myself in a convent.
- Dishonoured, odious to my family and to myself, such is the deplorable
- condition to which I am reduced by listening to you. Still I will
- expect you to-night. In my despair, I seek new tortures: come, and
- avow to me that your heart disowned the protestations which your lips
- have made to me; or come to confirm them by your sympathy, which alone
- can soften the harshness of my destiny. As there may, however, be
- some danger in this meeting, after what has passed between you and my
- father, be sure you are accompanied by a friend. Although you have
- rendered life worthless to me, I cannot cease to interest myself in
- thine.
-
- "LEONORA."
-
-While the Count perused this letter, which he read over several times,
-his imagination depicted the situation of Leonora, in colours more
-sombre even than the reality, and he was deeply affected. He bitterly
-reflected on his past conduct: reason, probity, honour, all whose laws
-he had violated in the phrenzy of his passion, now regained their
-empire in his breast. The blindness which selfishness inflicts upon
-its victims was dissipated; and as the fevered convalescent blushes for
-the follies which, in the access of his disorder, he has committed, so
-was Belflor ashamed of the meanness and artifice of which he had been
-guilty to satisfy his lust.
-
-"What have I done?" he cried; "wretch that I am, what demon has
-possessed me? I promised Leonora to espouse her, and called on Heaven
-to witness for the lie; I falsely told her that the King had designed
-me for another; lying, treachery, perjury,--I have hesitated at nothing
-to corrupt innocence itself. What madness! Oh! had I used, to control
-it, the efforts I have made to gratify my passion! To seduce one of
-whose beauty and virtue I was unworthy, to abandon her to the wrath
-of her relations, whom I have equally dishonoured, and to plunge her
-in misery as a return for the happiness she bestowed on me,--what
-ingratitude! Ought I not then to repair the injury I have inflicted?
-Yes, I ought, and I will; my hand shall at the altar fulfil the pledge
-I gave for it. Who shall oppose me in so righteous a determination?
-Should her tenderness for me at all prejudice her virtue? No, I know
-too well what that cost me to vanquish. She yielded less to my love
-than to her confidence in my integrity, and to my vows of fidelity.
-But, on the other hand, if I resolve on this marriage, I make a great
-sacrifice,--I, who may pretend to the heiresses of the richest and most
-noble houses in the kingdom, shall I content myself with the daughter
-of a respectable gentleman, of small fortune? What will they think of
-me at court? They will say that I have made a splendid alliance indeed!"
-
-Belflor, thus divided between love and ambition, knew not how to
-resolve; but although undetermined whether he should marry Leonora
-or not, he had no difficulty in making up his mind to see her that
-evening, and at once directed his valet so to inform Marcella.
-
-Don Luis was all this time in his cabinet, engaged in reflections on
-the mode he should adopt to vindicate his honour; and he was not a
-little embarrassed in his choice. To have recourse to the laws, was to
-publish his disgrace, besides which, he suspected with great reason
-that justice was likely to be one side, and the judges on the other.
-Again, he dared not to seek reparation of the King himself; as he
-believed that prince had views with regard to Belflor which must render
-such an application useless. There remained, then, but his own sword
-and those of his friends, and on these he concluded to rely.
-
-In the heat of his resentment, he at first meditated a challenge to the
-Count; but on consideration of his great age and weakness, he feared
-to trust his arm; so resolved to confide the matter to his son, whose
-thrust he thought was likely to be surer than his own. He therefore
-sent one of his domestics to Alcala, with a letter commanding his son's
-immediate presence in Madrid, to revenge, as he stated it, an insult
-offered to the family of the Cespedes.
-
-"This son, Don Pedro, is a cavalier of eighteen years of age, perfectly
-handsome, and so brave, that he passes at Alcala for the most valiant
-student of that university; but you know him," added the Devil, "and I
-need not enlarge on the subject." "I can answer," said Don Cleophas,
-"for his having all the valour and all the merit that can adorn a
-gentleman."
-
-"But this young man," resumed Asmodeus, "was not then at Alcala, as
-his father imagined. Love had brought him also to Madrid, where the
-object of his passion resided; and where he had met her for the first
-time, on the Prado, on the occasion of his last visit to his family.
-Who she was, he knew not: and his fair conquest had exacted of him a
-pledge that he would take no steps to inform himself on this head,--and
-although he was as good as his word, it cost him some trouble to keep
-it. I need hardly add, that she was of higher rank than her lover; and
-that, wisely mistrusting the discretion and constancy of a student--no
-offence to your highness--she thought proper to test him as to these
-necessary qualifications for a suitor, before she disclosed to him her
-station or name."
-
-[Illustration: portrait of Don Pedro]
-
-His thoughts were, of course, more occupied by his lovely incognita
-than with the philosophy of Aristotle; and the vicinity of Alcala to
-Madrid occasioned the youthful Pedro to play truant to his studies
-as frequent as yourself; but, I must say, with a better excuse than
-your Donna Thomasa afforded. To conceal from his father, Don Luis, his
-amorous excursions, he usually lodged at a tavern at the other end of
-the town, where he passed under a borrowed name; and only went abroad
-at a certain hour in the morning, that he might repair to a house where
-the lady, for the love of whom he neglected his Ovid, did him the
-honour to wait, in company with a trusty female attendant. During the
-rest of the day he shut himself up in his hotel; but as soon as night
-was come, he wandered fearlessly throughout the city.
-
-He happened one evening, as he was traversing a bye-street, to hear the
-sound of instruments and voices, which attracted his attention, and he
-stopped to listen. It was a serenade, and tolerably performed; but the
-cavalier, who was drunk, and naturally brutish, no sooner perceived our
-student than he hurried towards him, and, without preface,--"Friend,"
-said he, with an insolent air, "make yourself scarce; or your curiosity
-may find you more than you expect." "I would have withdrawn," replied
-Don Pedro, proudly, "had you requested me to do so with civility; but
-I shall now stay, to teach you better manners." "We shall see, then,"
-said the serenading gallant, drawing his sword, "which of us two will
-give place to the other."
-
-Don Pedro also drew his sword, their weapons were crossed in a moment,
-and a furious combat ensued; but although the Student's adversary was
-not wanting in skill, he could not parry a mortal thrust of Don Pedro,
-and fell dead upon the pavement. The musicians, who had already quitted
-their instruments, or stopped their singing, and had drawn their swords
-to protect their patron, now came in a body to avenge his death, and
-attacked Don Pedro all together. He, however, gave them satisfactory
-proofs of what he could do upon occasion; for, besides parrying, with
-surprising dexterity, all the thrusts which they designed for him, he
-dealt furiously among them, and found work for them all to protect
-themselves.
-
-Still, they were so numerous, and apparently so determined on the
-Student's death, that, skilful as he was with his weapon, they would
-have most probably accomplished their object, had not the Count de
-Belflor, who was accidentally passing through the street, come to his
-assistance. The Count was of too noble a nature to see so many armed
-men striving against one man to hesitate upon the part he should take.
-His sword was therefore instantly directed against the musicians, and
-with so much vigour that they were soon put to flight, some wounded,
-and the others for fear they should be.
-
-The field thus cleared, the Student, with what breath remained to him,
-began to express his sense of the valuable service he had so seasonably
-received; but Belflor at once stopped him: "Not a word, my dear Sir,"
-said he; "are you not wounded?" "No," replied Don Pedro. "Then let
-us leave this place at once," said the Count: "I see you have killed
-your man; and it will be dangerous to stay in his company, lest the
-officers of justice surprise you." They immediately decamped as quickly
-as possible, and did not stop until they had gained a street at some
-distance from the field of battle.
-
-Don Pedro, filled with a natural gratitude, then begged the Count not
-to conceal from him the name of a person to whom he owed so great an
-obligation. Belflor made no difficulty in complying with this request;
-but when in turn he asked that of the Student, the latter, unwilling to
-discover himself to any person in Madrid, replied, that he was Don Juan
-de Maros, and that he should eternally bear in his remembrance the debt
-of gratitude which he owed to the Count.
-
-[Illustration: the swordfight]
-
-"Well," said Belflor to him, "I will this night give you an
-opportunity of repaying it in full. I have an appointment, which is not
-without risk; and I was about, when I fell in with you, to seek the
-protection of a friend. However, I know your valour, Don Juan: will you
-accompany me?" "To doubt it, were to insult me," replied the Student:
-"I cannot better employ the life you have preserved, than in exposing
-it in your defence. Go! I am ready to follow you." Accordingly, Belflor
-conducted Don Pedro to the house of Don Luis, and they both entered, by
-the balcony, the apartment of Leonora.
-
-Here Don Cleophas interrupted the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus," said he,
-"impossible! What! not know his own father's house? No, no, no; that
-will never do." "It was not possible he should know it," replied
-the Demon; "for it was a new one: Don Luis had lately changed his
-habitation, and had only taken this house a week before; which was just
-what Don Pedro did not know, and was what I was just going to tell you
-when you stopped me. You are too sharp; and have that shocking habit of
-displaying your intelligence by interrupting people in their stories:
-get rid of that fault, I pray you."
-
-"Well," continued the Devil, "Don Pedro did not think he was in his
-father's house; nor did he even perceive that it was Marcella who let
-him into it; since she received him without a light, in an antechamber,
-where Belflor requested his companion to remain while he was in the
-next room with his mistress. To this the Student made no demur; so
-quietly sat himself down in a chair, with his drawn sword in his hand
-for fear of surprise, while his thoughts ran on the favours which he
-suspected love was heaping on the Count, and his wishes that he might
-be as happy with his incognita,--for although he had no great cause of
-complaint as to her kindness, still it was not exactly paid after the
-kind of that of Leonora for the Count."
-
-While he was making, upon this subject, all those pleasing reflections
-which occur so readily to an impassioned lover, he heard some one
-endeavouring quietly to open a door, which was not that of The
-Delights, but one which discovered a light through the keyhole. He rose
-quickly, and advanced towards it; and, as the door opened, presented
-the point of his sword to his father; for he it was who entered
-Leonora's apartments, for the purpose of seeing that the Count was not
-there. The good old man did not exactly suppose, after what had passed,
-that his daughter and Marcella would dare to receive him again, which
-had prevented his assigning to them other chambers; but he had thought
-it probable that, as they were to go to a nunnery on the following day,
-they might desire to converse with him, for the last time, ere they
-left his roof.
-
-"Whoever thou art," said the Student, "enter not this room, or it may
-cost thee thy life." At these words, Don Luis stared at Don Pedro,
-who also regarding the old man with attention, they soon recognised
-each other. "Ah! my son," cried the old man, "with what impatience
-have I expected you: why did you not inform me of your arrival? Did
-you fear to disturb my rest? Alas! that is for ever banished, in the
-cruel situation in which I am placed." "Ah, my father!" said Don Pedro,
-utterly amazed, "is it you whom I behold? Are not my eyes deceived
-by some fantastic vision?" "Whence this astonishment?" replied Don
-Luis; "are you not within your father's house? Have I not, a week ago,
-informed you where to find me?" "Just Heaven!" cried the Student, "what
-do I hear?--and this then is my sister's apartment."
-
-As he finished these words, the Count, whom the noise had alarmed,
-and who expected that his escort was attacked, came out, sword in
-hand, from Leonora's chamber. No sooner did the old man perceive him
-than, with fury in his eyes, he pointed to Belflor, and exclaimed to
-his son,--"There is the villain who has robbed me of my happiness,
-and who has stained our honour with a mortal taint. Revenge! Let us
-hasten to punish the traitor!" As he thus vented his rage, he opened
-his dressing-gown, and drew from beneath it his sword, with which he
-was about to fall on the Count, when Don Pedro restrained him. "Stay,
-my father," said he; "moderate, I entreat you, the fury of your wrath:
-what are you about to do?" "My son," replied the old man, "you withhold
-my arm. You doubtless think it is too weak to revenge our wrongs. Be
-it so! Do you then exact full satisfaction for the injury he has done
-us: it was for this purpose that I summoned you to Madrid. Should you
-perish, I will take your place; for either shall the Count fall beneath
-our arms, or he shall take from both of us our lives, after having
-blasted our reputation."
-
-"My father," said Don Pedro, "I cannot yield to your impatience that
-which it requires of me. Far from attempting the life of the Count,
-I am now here to defend it. For that my word is pledged,--to that my
-honour is assured. Let us depart, Count," continued he, addressing
-himself to Belflor. "Ah! wretch," interrupted Don Luis, while he
-surveyed his son with anger and astonishment,--"thus to oppose thyself
-to a vengeance, which it should be the business of thy life to
-accomplish! My son, my own son, is leagued, then, with the villain who
-has corrupted my daughter! But think not to escape my resentment: I
-will place a sword in the hand of every servant in my house, to punish
-his treachery and thy despicable meanness."
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro restrains Don Luis from attacking Belflor]
-
-"Signor," replied Don Pedro, "be more just towards your son. Call him
-not despicable or mean--he merits not those odious appellations. The
-Count this night saved my life. He proposed to me, in ignorance of my
-real name, to accompany him here; and I freely consented to share the
-perils he might run, without knowing that my gratitude imprudently
-engaged my arm against the honour of my family. My word is passed,
-then, here to defend his life; that done, I stand acquitted of my
-obligation towards him: but I am not the less insensible of the wrong
-that he has done to you and to us all; and to-morrow you shall find
-that I will as readily shed his blood, as you behold me now determined
-to preserve it from your hands."
-
-The Count had witnessed in silence all that passed, so much was
-he surprised at this extraordinary adventure; he now, however,
-thus addressed the Student: "It is possible that the injury I have
-inflicted might be but imperfectly avenged by your sword; I will,
-therefore, present to you a means much more certain of repairing it.
-I will confess to you that, until this day, I did not intend to marry
-Leonora; but I this morning received from her a letter which touched
-my heart, and her tears have finished what her letter began. The
-happiness of being united to your sister is now my dearest hope." "But
-if the King has destined you for another," said Don Luis, "how can you
-dispense----?" "The King has not troubled himself upon the subject,"
-interrupted Belflor, blushing: "pardon, I beseech you, that fiction,
-to a man whose reason was deranged by love; it is a crime that the
-violence of my passion incited me to commit, and which I expiate in
-avowing to you my shame."
-
-"Signor," replied the old man, "after this frankness, which belongs
-only to noble minds, I cannot doubt your sincerity. I see, with joy,
-that you are anxious to repair the injury you have done us; my anger
-yields to this assurance of your contrition; I will forget it for ever
-in your arms." He advanced towards the Count, who rushed to meet him,
-and they embraced each other cordially. Then, turning towards Don
-Pedro, "And you, false Don Juan," said Belflor,--"you, who have already
-gained my esteem by your valour, come, let me vow to you a brother's
-love." Don Pedro received the Count's embraces with a submissive and
-respectful air, saying, "Signor, in offering to me so valuable a
-friendship, you secure mine for yourself: rely on me, as one devoted to
-your service to the last moment of his life."
-
-While these cavaliers were thus discoursing, Leonora was at the door of
-her chamber, intently listening to every syllable they uttered. She had
-been, at the first, tempted to discover herself, and to throw herself
-in the midst of their swords; but fear, and Marcella, had withheld
-her. But when the adroit duenna saw that matters were arranging very
-amicably, she guessed that the presence of her mistress, and her own,
-would spoil nothing. Accordingly, she appeared, her handkerchief in one
-hand and her ward in the other; and, with tears in their eyes, they
-prostrated themselves before Don Luis. Neither of them, indeed, felt
-perfectly assured; for they recollected the surprise of the previous
-night, and feared the old man's reproaches for this renewal of their
-disobedience. However, raising Leonora,--"My child," said he, "dry your
-tears; I will not upbraid you now: since your lover is disposed to keep
-the faith he has sworn to you, it is fitting that I should forget the
-past."
-
-"Yes, Signor Don Luis," interrupted Belflor, "I will indeed keep my
-faith with Leonora; and as some amends for the insult I had intended,
-as the fullest satisfaction I can give to you, and as a pledge of that
-friendship I have vowed to Don Pedro, I offer him in marriage my sister
-Eugenia." "Signor!" cried Don Luis, "how can I express my satisfaction
-at the honour you confer upon my son? Was ever father happier than
-myself? You overpay me, in joy, for the grief you have caused me."
-
-[Illustration: Don Luis raises Leonora]
-
-Though the old man was charmed with the Count's proposals, I cannot say
-as much for his son. Being sincerely taken with love for his incognita,
-he was so overcome with surprise and chagrin at Belflor's offer, that
-he had not a word to say for himself; when the latter, who did not
-observe his embarrassment, took leave, stating that he should at once
-order the necessary preparations for this double union, and that he was
-impatient to be bound to them eternally, by ties so endearing.
-
-After his departure, Don Luis left Leonora with the duenna, taking
-with him his son, who, when they had reached his father's apartment,
-said, with all the frankness of a student: "Signor, do not insist, I
-pray you, on my marriage with the Count's sister; it is enough for
-the honour of our family, that he should espouse Leonora." "What! my
-son," replied the old man, "can you have any objection to an union with
-Eugenia de Belflor?" "Yes, my father," said Don Pedro; "I must confess
-to you, that union would prove to me the most cruel of punishments; and
-I will not disguise from you the reason. I love, or, rather, I adore
-another: for the last six months she has listened to my vows: and now,
-on her alone depends the happiness of my life."
-
-"How miserable is the condition of a father!" exclaimed Don Luis: "how
-rarely does he find his children disposed to do as he desires them. But
-who is this lady that has made such deep impression on your heart?"
-"That, I do not yet know," replied Don Pedro. "She has promised to
-inform me of her name when I shall have satisfied her of my constancy
-and discretion; but I doubt not she does honour to one of the noblest
-houses of Spain."
-
-"And you think then," said the old man, changing his tone, "that I
-shall be so obliging as to sanction this romantic love!--that I shall
-permit you to renounce an alliance, as glorious as fortune could offer
-to you, that you may remain faithful to an illustrious lady of whose
-very name you are ignorant! Do not expect so much of my kindness. No,
-rather strive to vanquish feelings that are inspired by an object which
-is most probably unworthy of them; and seek, in so doing, to merit the
-honour which the Count proposes for you." "You speak to me in vain,
-my father," replied the Student; "I feel that I can never forget her
-whom I have sworn to love--unknown though she be,--and that nothing
-can tear me from her. Were the Infanta proposed to me----" "Hold!"
-cried the old man angrily; "it is too much to boast thus insolently of
-a constancy which excites my displeasure: leave me, and let me not see
-you again until you are prepared to obey my will."
-
-Don Pedro did not dare to reply to these words, for fear of hearing
-others more unpleasant still; so he retired to his chamber, where he
-passed the remainder of the night in reflections in which sorrow was
-not all unmixed with joy. He thought with grief that he was about to
-estrange himself from his family, by refusing the hand of Belflor's
-sister; but then he was consoled, when he reflected that his incognita
-would worthily esteem the greatness of the sacrifice. He even flattered
-himself that, after so convincing a proof of his fidelity, she would
-no longer conceal from him her station, which he imagined also must be
-equal at least to that of Eugenia.
-
-In this hope, as soon as day appeared, he went out, and directed his
-steps towards the Prado, that he might pass away the time until the
-hour of his meeting with his mistress. With what impatience did he
-count the minutes as they lingered,--with what joy did he hail the
-happy moment when it arrived!
-
-He found his fair unknown with Donna Juanna, the lady at whose house
-they met; but alas, he found her in tears, and apparently in the
-deepest affliction. What a sight for a lover! His own grief was
-forgotten: he approached her with tenderness; and throwing himself on
-his knees before her, "Madam," he exclaimed, "what must I think of the
-condition in which I see you? What dreadful misfortune do these tears,
-which pierce my heart, forbode?" "You dream not," she replied, "of
-the fatal news I bring you. Cruel fortune is about to separate us for
-ever;--yes! we shall meet no more."
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro kneels before his fair unknown]
-
-She accompanied these words with so many and such heart-rending sighs,
-that I know not if Don Pedro was more affected at what she told him,
-than at the affliction with which she appeared oppressed in telling it.
-"Just Heaven!" he cried, in a transport of fury, which he could not
-control, "is it thy will that they prevent an union whose innocence
-is worthy of thy protection? But, Madam," he continued, "you are
-perhaps falsely alarmed! Is it certain that they would snatch you from
-the most faithful of lovers? Can it be possible that I should be so
-unhappy?" "Our misfortune is but too certain," answered the Unknown;
-"my brother, upon whom my hand depends, has bestowed it this very day;
-he has this moment announced to me his decision." "And who is the happy
-man?" exclaimed Don Pedro. "Tell me! In my despair I will seek him,
-and----" "I do not know his name," interrupted the Unknown. "I cared
-not to ask, nor did my brother inform me; he told me indeed that it was
-his wish that I should first see the cavalier."
-
-"But, Madam," said Don Pedro, "will you then yield without resistance
-to your brother's will? Will you be dragged to the altar, without
-complaint? Will you go, a willing sacrifice, and abandon me so easily?
-Alas! I have not hesitated to expose myself to the anger of a father
-for love of you; nor could his menaces for a moment shake my fidelity.
-No! nor threats, nor persuasion, could move me to espouse another,
-although the lady he proposed for me was one to whom I had hardly
-dared aspire." "And who is this lady?" asked the Unknown. "She is the
-sister of the Count de Belflor," replied the scholar. "Ah, Don Pedro!"
-cried the Unknown, with extreme surprise, "surely, you are mistaken;
-it cannot be she whom they propose to you. What! Eugenia, the sister
-of Belflor? Are you sure of what you say?" "Yes, Madam," replied the
-Student; "the Count himself offered me her hand." "How!" cried she,
-"is it possible that you are the cavalier for whom my brother designs
-me?" "What do I hear?" cried the Student in his turn, "is it possible
-that my incognita is the Count de Belflor's sister?" "Yes, Don Pedro,"
-replied Eugenia. "But I can hardly believe it myself, at this moment;
-so difficult do I find it to persuade myself of the happiness you
-assure to me."
-
-Don Pedro now fell again at her feet, and seizing her hand, he kissed
-it with all the transport that lovers only can feel who pass suddenly
-from the depths of despair to the highest pinnacle of hope and joy.
-While he abandoned himself to the feelings of his heart, Eugenia for
-the first time forgot her reserve, and freely returned his caress--she
-felt that her love was sanctioned, and gave, her lips where her heart
-had long been engaged. "Alas!" said she, when her love could form
-itself into words, "what tortures had my brother spared me, had he
-but here named the husband of his choice! What aversion had I already
-conceived for my future lord! Ah, my dear Don Pedro, how I have hated
-you!" "Lovely Eugenia," replied he, "what charms has that hatred for me
-now! I will endeavour to merit it by adoring you for ever."
-
-After the happy pair had exhausted love's vocabulary, and the tumult
-of their hearts was somewhat calmed, Eugenia was anxious to know by
-what means the Student had gained her brother's friendship. Don Pedro
-did not conceal from her the amours of the Count and his sister, and
-related all that had passed the night before. It was for Eugenia an
-additional pleasure to learn that Belflor was to marry the sister of
-her own lover. Donna Juanna was too much interested in the welfare of
-her friend not to partake of her joy for this happy event, and warmly
-congratulated her, as also Don Pedro thereon. At last the lovers
-separated, after having agreed that they should not appear to know each
-other when they met before the Count and Don Luis.
-
-Don Pedro returned to his father, who, finding his son disposed to
-obey him, was the more pleased, inasmuch as he attributed this ready
-compliance to the firm manner in which he had spoken to him overnight.
-They presently received a note from Belflor, in which he informed them
-that he had obtained the King's consent to his marriage, as also for
-that of his sister with Don Pedro, on whom his Majesty had been
-pleased to confer a considerable appointment. He added, so diligently
-had his orders for the nuptials been executed, that everything was
-arranged for their taking place on the following day; and he came soon
-after they had received his letter, to confirm what he had written, and
-to present to them his sister Eugenia.
-
-[Illustration: Belflor presents Eugenia]
-
-Don Luis received the lady with every mark of affection, and Leonora
-kissed her so much that her brother was almost jealous--although,
-whatever he might feel, he managed to constrain his love and delight,
-so as not to give the Count the least suspicion of their intelligence.
-
-As Belflor remarked his sister with great attention, he thought he
-could discover, notwithstanding her reserve, which he attributed to
-modesty, that Don Pedro was by no means displeasing to her. To be
-certain, however, he took an opportunity of speaking to her aside, and
-drew from her an avowal of her entire satisfaction. He then informed
-her of the name and rank of her intended, which he would not before
-communicate, lest the inequality of the stations should prejudice her
-against him; all which she feigned, marvellously well, to hear as for
-the first time.
-
-At last, after many compliments, which were remarkable for their
-sincerity, it was resolved that the weddings should take place at the
-house of Don Luis the next day, as Belflor had arranged. They were
-accordingly celebrated this evening, the rejoicing still continues,
-and now you know why they are so merry in that house. Every one is
-delighted--except the lady Marcella: she, while all else are laughing,
-is at this moment in tears. They are real tears too, this time! for
-the Count de Belflor, after the ceremony, informed Don Luis of the
-facts which preceded it; and the old gentleman has sent the duenna to
-the _Monasterio de las Arrepentidas_, where the thousand pistoles she
-received for seducing Leonora will enable her to repent having done so
-for the rest of her days.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-
-NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE ON DONNA THOMASA.
-
-
-The Demon now directed the Student's attention to another part of the
-city. "You see," he continued, "that house which is directly under
-us: it contains something curious enough,--a man loaded with debt and
-sleeping profoundly." "Of course then," said Leandro, "he is a person
-of distinction?" "Precisely so," answered Asmodeus: "he is a marquis,
-possessed of a hundred thousand ducats per annum, but whose expenses,
-nevertheless, exceed his income. His table and his mistresses require
-that he should support them with credit, but that causes him no
-anxiety; on the contrary, when he opens an account with a tradesman,
-he thinks that the latter is indebted to him. 'It is you,' said he the
-other day to a draper, 'it is you, that I shall henceforth trust with
-the execution of my orders; it is a preference which you owe to my
-esteem.'
-
-"While the marquis enjoys so tranquilly the sweet repose of which he
-deprives his creditors, look at a man who----" "Stay, Signor Asmodeus,"
-interrupted Don Cleophas hastily; "I perceive a carriage in the street,
-and cannot let it pass without asking what it contains." "Hush," said
-the Cripple, lowering his voice, as though he feared he should be
-heard:--"learn that that vehicle conceals one of the most dignified
-personages in this kingdom, a president, who is going to amuse himself
-with an elderly lady of Asturia, who is devoted to his pleasures. That
-he may not be known, he has taken the precaution of imitating Caligula,
-who on a similar occasion disguised himself in a wig.
-
-"But,--to return to the picture I was about to present to your sight
-when you interrupted me,--observe, in the very highest part of the
-mansion, where sleeps the marquis, a man who is writing in a chamber
-filled with books and manuscripts." "He is probably," said Zambullo,
-"the steward, labouring to devise some means for discharging his
-master's obligations." "Excellent," exclaimed the Devil; "that, indeed,
-forms a great part of the amusement of such gentry in the service of
-noblemen! They seek rather to profit from derangement of their masters'
-affairs than to put them in order. He is not, then, the steward whom
-you see; he is an author: the marquis keeps him in his house, to obtain
-the reputation of a patron of literature." "This author," replied Don
-Cleophas, "is apparently a man of eminence." "Judge for yourself!"
-replied the Demon. "He is surrounded by a thousand volumes, and is
-composing one, on Natural History, in which there will not be a line of
-his own. He pillages these books and manuscripts without mercy; and,
-although he does nothing but arrange and connect his larcenies, he has
-more vanity than the most original writer upon earth.
-
-[Illustration: the author at work]
-
-"You are not aware," continued the Spirit, "who lives three doors from
-this mansion: it is La Chichona, the very lady who acted so honourable
-a part in the story of the Count de Belflor." "Ah!" said Leandro, "I am
-delighted to behold her. The dear creature, so considerate for youth,
-is doubtless one of the two old ladies whom I perceive in that room.
-One of them is leaning with both her elbows on the table, looking
-attentively at the other, who is counting out some money. Which of
-them is La Chichona?" "Not the one who is counting," said the Demon;
-"her name is La Pebrada, and she is a distinguished member of the same
-profession: they are, indeed, partners; and are at this moment dividing
-the profits of an adventure which, by their assistance, has terminated
-favourably.
-
-[Illustration: La Chichona and La Pebrada divide the profits]
-
-"La Pebrada is the more successful of the two: she has among her
-clients several rich widows, who subscribe to her daily register."
-"What do you mean by her register?" interrupted the Student. "Why,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it contains the names of all handsome foreigners,
-and particularly Frenchmen, who come to Madrid. The instant La Pebrada
-hears of an arrival, away she posts to the hotel of the new comer,
-to learn every particular as to his country, birth, parentage, and
-education,--his age, form, and appearance, all which are duly reported
-to her subscribers; and if, on reflection, the heart of any of her
-widows is inclined to an acquaintance, she adroitly manages a speedy
-interview with the stranger."
-
-"That is extremely convenient," replied Zambullo, smiling, "and in
-some sort very proper; for, in truth, without these kind ladies and
-their agents, the youthful foreigner, who comes without introductions
-to Madrid, would lose an immense deal of time in gaining them. But,
-tell me, are there in other countries widows as generous and women as
-intriguing?" "Capital!" exclaimed the Devil--"if there are? Why! can
-you doubt it? I should be unworthy of my demonship if I neglected to
-provide all large towns with them in plenty."
-
-"Cast your eyes upon Chichona's neighbour,--yon printer, who is working
-at his press, alone. He has dismissed the devils in his employ these
-three hours; and he is now engaged, for the night, on a work which
-he is printing privately." "Ah! what may it be?" said Leandro. "It
-treats of insults," replied the Demon; "and endeavours to prove that
-Religion is preferable to Honour; and that it is better to pardon than
-to avenge an affront." "Oh! the scoundrel!" exclaimed the Student "Well
-may he print in secret his infamous book. Its author had better not
-acknowledge his production: I would be one of the first to answer it
-with a horsewhip. What! can Religion forbid the preservation of one's
-honour?"
-
-"Let us not discuss that point," interrupted Asmodeus, with a malicious
-smile. "It appears that you have made the most of the lectures on
-morality you listened to at Alcala; and I give you joy of the result."
-"You may say what you please," interrupted Cleophas in his turn, "and
-so may the writer of this wretched absurdity: but though his reasonings
-were clear as the noon-day sun, I should despise him and them. I am a
-Spaniard, and nothing is to me so delightful as revenge; and, by the
-by, since you have pledged yourself to satisfy me for the perfidy of my
-mistress, I call on you at once to keep your promise."
-
-"I yield with pleasure," replied the Demon, "to the wrath which
-agitates your breast. Oh! how I love those noble spirits who follow
-without scruple the dictates of their passions! I will obey your will
-at once; and indeed, the hour to avenge your wrongs is come: but first
-I wish to show you something which will amuse you vastly. Look beyond
-the printing-office, and observe with attention what is passing in an
-apartment, hung with drab cloth." "I perceive," said Leandro, "five or
-six women, who are with eagerness offering phials of something to a
-sort of valet, and they appear desperately agitated."
-
-"They are," replied Asmodeus, "devotees, who have great reason to be
-agitated. There is in the next room a sick inquisitor. This venerable
-personage, who is about thirty-five years old, is attended by two of
-his dearest penitents, with untiring watchfulness. One is concocting
-his gruel, while the other at his pillow is employed in keeping his
-head warm, and is covering his stomach with a kind of blanket made of
-at least fifty lamb-skins." "What on earth is the matter with him,
-then?" asked Zambullo. "He has a cold in his head," answered the Devil;
-"and there is danger lest the disorder should extend to his lungs."
-
-[Illustration: the inquisitor nursed by two penitents]
-
-"The ladies whom you see in his antechamber have hastened, on the
-alarm of his indisposition, with all sorts of remedies. One brings,
-to allay his apprehended cough, syrups of jujubes, mallows, coral,
-and coltsfoot; another, to preserve the said lungs of his reverence,
-syrups of long-life, speedwell, amaranth, and the elixir vitæ; this
-one, to fortify his brain and stomach, has brought balm, cinnamon, and
-treacle waters, besides gutta vitæ, and the essences of nutmegs and
-ambergris; that offers anacardine and bezoardic confections; while a
-fifth carries tinctures of cloves, gilly-flowers, sunflowers, and of
-coral and emeralds. All these zealous penitents are boasting to the
-valet of the virtues of the medicines they offer; and each by turns,
-drawing him aside, and slipping a ducat in his hand, whispers in his
-ear: 'Laurence, my dear Laurence, manage so, I beg of you, that what I
-bring for the dear man may have the preference.'"
-
-"By Jupiter!" cried Don Cleophas, "it must be allowed that
-inquisitors--even sick inquisitors--are happy mortals." "I can answer
-for that," replied Asmodeus; "I almost envy them their lot, myself;
-and, like the son of Philip of Macedon, who once said that he would
-have been Diogenes, if he had not been Alexander, I can unhesitatingly
-say, that, if I were not a devil I would be an inquisitor."
-
-"But, Signor Student," continued he, "let us go! Let us away, to punish
-the ingrate who so ill-requited your tenderness." Zambullo instantly
-seized the end of the Demon's cloak, and a second time was whirled with
-him through the air, until they alighted on the house of Donna Thomasa.
-
-This frail damsel was seated at table, with the four gentlemen who,
-a few hours before, had so eagerly sought the acquaintance of Don
-Cleophas on the roof of her house. He trembled with rage, as he beheld
-them feasting on a brace of partridges and a rabbit, which, with some
-choice wine, he had sent to the traitress for his own supper; and, to
-add to his mortification, he perceived that joy reigned in the repast;
-and that it was evident, by the deportment of the lady, that the
-company of these scoundrels was much more agreeable to her than that of
-himself. "Oh! the wretches!" he cried, in a perfect fury, "to see them
-enjoying themselves at my expense! Vastly pleasant, is it not?"
-
-"Why, I must confess," replied the Demon, "that you have witnessed
-spectacles more pleasing; but he who rejoices in the favours of such
-fair ones must expect to share them. This sort of thing has happened a
-thousand times; especially in France, among the abbés, the gentlemen of
-the long robe, and the financiers." "If I had a sword, though," said
-Leandro, "I would fall upon the villains, and spoil their sport for
-them." "You would be hardly matched," replied the Demon;--"what were
-one among so many? Leave your revenge to me! I will manage it better
-than you could. I will soon set them together by the ears, in inspiring
-each of them with a fit of tenderness for your mistress: their swords
-will be out in no time, and you will be delighted with the uproar."
-
-[Illustration: The guests quarrel over Donna Thomasa]
-
-Asmodeus had no sooner spoken than he breathed forcibly, and from his
-mouth issued a violet-coloured vapour which descended tortuously,
-like a fiery serpent, and spread itself round the table of Donna
-Thomasa. In an instant, one of her guests, more inflammable than his
-companions, rose from his seat, and, approaching the lady, embraced
-her amorously; when the others, in whom the spirit had begun to work,
-hastened together to snatch from him the dainty prize. Each claimed
-a preference: words ensued; a jealous rage possessed them; blows
-succeeded, and, as the Devil had foretold, they drew their weapons and
-commenced a furious combat. In the meanwhile Donna Thomasa exerted
-her lungs, and the neighbourhood was speedily alarmed by her cries.
-They call for the police; the police arrive: they break open the
-door, and find two of the Hectors extended on the floor. They seize
-upon the others, and take them with the Helen of the party to prison.
-In vain did she weep; in vain did she tear her locks, and exclaim
-in despair:--the tears of unfortunate beauty had no more effect on
-the cavaliers who conducted her, than they had on her former knight
-Zambullo, who almost died with laughter, in which the god of love most
-unnaturally joined him.
-
-"Well!" said the Demon to the Student, "are you content?" "No, no!"
-replied Don Cleophas; "to satisfy me in full, place me upon the prison,
-that I may have the pleasure of beholding in her dungeon, the miserable
-who trifled with my love. I feel for her, now, a hatred which exceeds
-even the affection with which she formerly inspired me." "Be it so!"
-said the Devil; "you shall ever find me a slave to your will, though
-it interfered with mine and my interests,--provided always, that it is
-safe to indulge you."
-
-[Illustration: Donna Thomasa in prison]
-
-They flew through the air, and were on the prison before the officers
-arrived with their captives. The two assassins were at once consigned
-to one of its lowest deeps, while Thomasa was led to a bed of straw,
-which she was to share with three or four other abandoned women, who
-had fallen into the hands of justice the same day; and with whom she
-was destined to be transported to the colonies, which a grateful mother
-country generally endows with this description of female inhabitants.
-
-"I am satisfied," said Zambullo; "I have tasted a delicious revenge:
-my dear Thomasa will not pass the night quite so pleasantly as
-she had anticipated. So, now, if you please, we will continue our
-observations." "We could not be in a better place, then," replied the
-Spirit. "Within these walls is much to interest you. Innocent and
-guilty, in somewhat equal numbers, are here enclosed: it is the hell
-in which commences the punishment of the one, and the purgatory in
-which the virtue of the others may be purified,--you see I'm a good
-Catholic, Signor Student! Of both of these species of prisoners I will
-show you examples, and I will inform you why they are here enfettered."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-
-THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.
-
-
-"And before I commence my memoirs, just observe the gaolers at the
-entrance of this horrible place. The poets of antiquity placed but one
-Cerberus at the gate of their hell: there are many more here, however,
-as you perceive. They are creatures who have lost all the feelings
-of humanity, if they ever possessed any;--the most malicious of my
-brethren could hardly replace one of them. But I observe that you are
-looking with horror on those cells whose only furniture consists of a
-wretched bed,--those fearful dungeons appear to you so many tombs. You
-are reasonably astonished at the misery you behold; and you deplore
-the fate of those unhappy persons whom the law restrains; still, they
-are not all equally to be pitied; and I will enable you to distinguish
-between them.
-
-"To begin, in that large cell to the right are four men sleeping in
-two beds; one of them is an innkeeper, accused of having poisoned a
-foreigner who died suddenly the other day in his house. They assert
-that the deceased owed his death to the quality of the wine he partook
-of; the host maintains, that the quantity, alone, killed him: and the
-accused will be believed, for the stranger was a German." "Well! who
-is in the right, the innkeeper or his accusers?" said Don Cleophas.
-"It is difficult to decide," replied the Devil "The wine was certainly
-drugged; but, i' faith, the Baron drank so largely, that the judges may
-for the nonce most conscientiously acquit a tavern-keeper of poisoning
-his customer."
-
-"His bedfellow is an assassin by profession;--not a soldier, but one of
-those scoundrels who are called _Valientes_, and who for four or five
-pistoles obligingly minister to all who will go to so great an expense
-for the purpose of secretly ridding themselves of some one to whom they
-owe an obligation. The third prisoner is a dancing-master, who has
-been teaching one of his female pupils a step not usually practised
-in genteel society; and the fourth is an unlucky gallant caught by
-the patrole in the act of entering, by the balcony, the apartment of
-a lady, whom he was about to console for the absence of her husband.
-He has only to declare the charitable object of his visit, to withdraw
-himself from the hands of justice; but he nobly prefers to suffer as a
-robber, rather than endanger the reputation of his mistress."
-
-"He is a model of discretion, indeed," said the Student; "but it
-must be allowed that the cavaliers of Spain excel those of all
-other nations in affairs of gallantry; I would bet anything that a
-Frenchman, for example, would never permit himself to be hanged under
-similar circumstances." "And I would back you for that," answered the
-Devil; "he would rather scale the balcony of a lady, of whose favours
-he could boast, in broad day-light, for the express purpose of
-proclaiming her disgrace."
-
-"In a cell near that of the four men I have just spoken of," continued
-Asmodeus, "is a celebrated witch, who enjoys the reputation of doing
-all impossible things. By the power of her magic, old dowagers can
-find, they say, youthful admirers who will love them for their bloom;
-husbands are rendered faithful to their wives; and coquettes sincerely
-devoted to the rich fools who keep them: all which is, I need not tell
-you, absurd enough. Her only secret is in persuading people that she
-has one, and in making the most of that opinion. The Holy Office is
-jealous of the poor creature, so have called her to account; and she is
-likely to be burnt at the first _aúto de fé_."
-
-"Under this cell, in a dark dungeon, lodges a young tavern
-keeper."--"What! another?" cried Leandro,--"surely these people are
-going to poison all the world." "Mine host, in this case," replied
-Asmodeus, "will not suffer for his wine; it is for an illegal traffic
-in spirits that he was arrested yesterday, at the instance of the Holy
-Office also. I will explain the matter to you in a few words.
-
-"An old soldier, having risen by his courage, or rather by his
-patience, to the rank of serjeant, came to Madrid in search of
-recruits, and demanded a lodging in a tavern to which he was directed
-by his billet. The host told the serjeant that he certainly had spare
-rooms in his house, but that he could not think of putting him into any
-one of them, as they were haunted by a ghost who visited them nightly,
-and most shockingly ill-treated those who had the temerity to occupy
-them. The serjeant was not however to be daunted: 'Place me,' said
-he, 'in any room you please; give me a light, some wine, a pipe and
-tobacco, and never trouble yourself for my safety; ghosts, depend upon
-it, have the highest respect for an old campaigner, whose hairs have
-whitened under arms.'
-
-"As he appeared so resolute, they showed the old soldier to a chamber,
-gave him all he had required; and he began to smoke and drink at his
-ease. The hour of midnight sounded, but no ghost appeared to disturb
-the profound silence that reigned throughout the house; it seemed as
-though the spirit did indeed respect the valiant bearing of his new
-guest: but, between one and two o'clock, the wakeful sentinel was
-alarmed by a horrible din, as of rattling chains, and beheld, entering
-his apartment, a fearful spectre, clothed in black, and enveloped
-with iron chains. Our old smoker, not in the least alarmed at this
-spectacle, rose calmly from his chair, advanced towards the spirit,
-drew his sword, and gave him with the flat side of it, a terrible blow
-on the head.
-
-"The phantom, unaccustomed to find such courageous tenants in his
-domain, and perceiving that the soldier was preparing to repeat the
-blow, fell upon his knees before him, crying out,--'Pardon, signor
-serjeant; for the love of Heaven, do not kill me: have pity upon a poor
-devil, who throws himself at your feet to implore your clemency. I
-conjure you by St James, who, like yourself, was a valiant soldier----'
-'If you would preserve your life,' interrupted the serjeant, 'tell me
-who you are, and what you do here. Speak the truth,--or, by our Lady,
-I will cut you in two, as the knights of old split the giants they
-encountered.' At these words, the spirit, finding with whom he had to
-do, saw that he had better lose no time in his explanation.
-
-[Illustration: William kneels before the serjeant]
-
-"'I am,' said he, 'the head-waiter of this inn; my name is William;
-and I love Juanilla, the only daughter of the landlord, and I do not
-love without return; but as her parents have a better match in view,
-my sweetheart and myself have arranged that, in order to compel them
-to choose me for their son-in-law, I shall nightly disguise myself
-in this manner. I clothe myself in a long black cloak, and put the
-jack-chain round my neck; and, thus equipped, I go about the house,
-from the cellar to the garret, making all the noise I can, of which
-you have heard a specimen. When I arrive at the door of my master and
-mistress's bed-room, I rattle my chains, and cry loud enough for them
-to hear,--"Hope not to rest in peace, until you have married Juanilla
-to your head-waiter, William!"'
-
-"'After having pronounced these words in a hoarse and broken voice,
-I continue my clatter, and vanish by a window into the chamber where
-Juanilla sleeps alone, to inform her of what I have done. And now,
-signor serjeant, you may be assured that I have told you the whole
-truth. I know that after this confession you may ruin me, by informing
-my master of the affair; but if, instead of thus injuring me, you are
-inclined to serve me, I swear that my gratitude----' 'Ah!' interrupted
-the soldier, 'what service can you hope from me?' 'You have only in the
-morning,' replied the young man, 'to say that you have seen the ghost,
-and that it has so terribly frightened you,----' 'What, the deuce!
-frightened me!' again interrupted the old warrior; 'do you expect
-that Serjeant Hannibal Antonio Quebrantador is going to say that he
-was frightened? I would rather say that a hundred thousand devils had
-me----' 'That is not absolutely necessary,' in his turn interrupted
-William; 'and after all, it is of no great consequence what you say,
-provided that you but assist me in my design: only let me marry
-Juanilla, and see myself established by the assistance of her father,
-and I promise to keep open house for you and all your friends.'
-
-"'You are a regular seducer, master William,' cried the soldier; 'you
-want to join me in a downright cheat: the matter may be serious,
-and you take it so lightly, as to make me, even, tremble for the
-consequences. But away with you! continue your infernal noise, and go
-to Juanilla to render your account: I will manage the rest.'
-
-[Illustration: the serjeant speaks to his host and hostess]
-
-"Accordingly, on the following morning, the serjeant said to his
-host and hostess: 'Well! I have seen the ghost, conversed with it,
-and found it very civil and reasonable.' "I am," said he to me, "the
-great-great-grandfather of the master of this house. I had a daughter,
-whom I solemnly promised to the father of master William's grandfather:
-nevertheless, despite my pledge, I gave her hand to another, and died
-shortly afterwards. Ever since then, I have remained in purgatory,
-suffering for this perjury; and I shall continue in torment until
-some one of my descendants has married into the family of the head
-waiter. To accomplish this, I come here nightly; but it is in vain
-that I command them to unite Juanilla and young William,--the son of
-my grandchild turns a deaf ear to my entreaties, as well as his wife;
-but tell them, if you please, signor serjeant, that if they do not as
-I desire of them soon, I shall come to extremities with them, and will
-plague them both in a way they little dream of."'
-
-"The host, who is simple enough, was somewhat shaken by this discourse;
-but the hostess, still more silly than her husband, was so much
-affected by it, that she fancied she already saw the ghost at her
-heels, and at once consented to the match, which took place on the
-following day. William shortly afterwards took an inn in another
-part of the town, and serjeant Quebrantador failed not to visit him
-frequently. The new tavern-keeper at first, out of gratitude, filled
-him with wine at discretion; which so pleased the old moustache, that
-he took all his friends to the house: he even there enrolled his
-recruits, and made them drunk at the host's expense.
-
-"At last, therefore, master William became tired of constantly wetting
-so many parching throats; but, on communicating his ideas upon the
-subject to the serjeant, the latter, with a disregard of his own
-infraction of their treaty which would have fitted him to command an
-army, was unjust enough to accuse mine host of ingratitude. William
-replied, the other rejoined, and the conversation ended, as their
-first had begun, with a blow of the serjeant's long sword on the thick
-head of the unfortunate tavern-keeper. Some passers-by naturally
-sided with the civilian: of these Quebrantador wounded three or four;
-and his wrath was yet unsatisfied, when he was suddenly assailed
-by a host of archers, who arrested him as a disturber of the peace.
-They conducted him to prison, where he declared all that I have told
-you; and upon his deposition the ex-head-waiter was encaged also. His
-father-in-law demands a divorce; and the Holy Office, hearing that
-William has acquired some considerable property, has kindly undertaken
-to investigate the matter."
-
-[Illustration: the serjeant is restrained from attacking William]
-
-"Egad!" cried Don Cleophas, "our holy inquisition is ever alive to its
-interests. No sooner do they light upon a profitable----" "Softly!"
-interrupted the devil, "have a care how you launch out against that
-tribunal:--for it, the very walls have ears. They echo even words that
-the mouth has never spoken; and for myself, I hardly dare to mention it
-without trembling."
-
-"Over the unfortunate William, in the first chamber to the left,
-are two men worthy of your pity; one of them is a youthful valet,
-whom his master's wife privately indulged with the use of more than
-her husband's clothes. One day, however, the husband surprised them
-together; when the lady immediately began crying out for help, and
-accused the valet of having violated her person. The poor fellow was
-arrested, of course; and, according to appearances, will be sacrificed
-to his mistress's reputation. His companion, still less guilty than the
-valet, is also about to pay the forfeit of his life. He was footman to
-a duchess who has been robbed of a valuable diamond, which they accuse
-him of having taken. He will be to-morrow put to the torture, until the
-rack wrings from him a confession of the theft; and in the meanwhile
-the lady's maid, who is the real culprit, and whom no one dares to
-suspect, will moralise with the duchess on the depravity of modern
-servants."
-
-"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," said Leandro, "let not the wretched footman
-perish, I entreat you! His innocence interests me for his life. Save
-him, by your power, from the unjust and cruel torture they would
-inflict: he deserves----" "You cannot expect it, Signor Student!"
-interrupted the demon. "What! do you suppose that I would prevent
-injustice?--that I would snatch the guiltless from destruction? As well
-might you pray an attorney to desist from the ruin of the widow or the
-orphan!"
-
-"Oh! and it please you," added the Devil, "expect not of me that which
-is contrary to my interest, unless indeed it be of great advantage
-to yourself. Besides, were I willing to deliver yonder prisoner from
-bondage, how could I effect it?" "How!" repeated Zambullo, "do you mean
-to say that you have not the power so to do?" "Certainly," replied the
-Cripple. "Had you read the Enchiridion, or Albertus Magnus, you would
-know that neither I, nor any of my brethren, can liberate a prisoner
-from his cell: even I, were I so unfortunate as to be within the talons
-of the law, could only hope to escape by bribing my jailer, or my
-judges.
-
-"In the next room, on the same side, lodges a surgeon convicted of
-having, in a fit of jealousy, drained the warm blood which wantoned in
-the veins of his handsome wife, after the model of the death of Seneca.
-He was yesterday tenderly questioned on the rack; and having confessed
-the crime of which he was accused, he let out the secrets of his
-profession, by detailing a very novel and interesting mode which he had
-especially adopted for increasing his practice. He stated that he had
-been in the habit of wounding persons in the street with a bayonet, and
-of then lancing himself into his house by a back-door. Of course the
-patient used to call out lustily at this unexpected operation; and as
-the neighbours flocked around at his cries, the surgeon, mingling with
-the crowd, and finding a man bathed in his blood, very charitably had
-him carried to his shop, and dressed the wound with the same hand that
-had given it.
-
-"Although the rascally practitioner has confessed to this atrocity,
-for which a thousand deaths were not one too many, he still hopes that
-his life will be spared; and it is not improbable that it may be so,
-seeing that he is related to the lady who has the honour of clouting
-the little princes of Spain: besides which, he is the inventor of a
-marvellous wash, of which the secret would die with him, and which
-has the virtues of whitening the skin, and of giving to the wrinkled
-front the juvenile appearance of fifteen. Now, as this incomparable
-water serves as the fountain of youth to three ladies of the palace,
-who have united their efforts to save him, he relies so confidently on
-their credit at court, or rather on that of his wash, that he sleeps
-tranquilly in the soothing hope that he will awaken to the agreeable
-intelligence of his pardon."
-
-"I perceive, upon a bed in the same room," said the Student, "another
-man, who appears to me to be sleeping peaceably enough; his business
-is not a very bad one, I expect." "It is a very ticklish affair,
-though," replied the Demon. "That cavalier is a gentleman of Biscay,
-who has enriched himself by the fire of a carbine: I will tell you
-how. About a fortnight ago, shooting in a forest with his elder and
-only brother, who was in possession of a large estate, he killed him,
-by mistake, instead of a partridge." "A very lucky mistake, that,"
-cried Don Cleophas, laughing, "for a younger son." "Yes," replied
-Asmodeus: "but a collateral branch of the family, the members of which
-would have no objection to see the deceased's estate fall within their
-line, have disinterestedly prosecuted his murderer on the charge of
-having designedly shot him, that he might succeed to his property.
-The accused, however, immediately rendered himself into the hands of
-justice; and he appears to be so deeply afflicted by the death of his
-brother, that they can scarcely imagine him guilty of deliberately
-taking his life." "And has he really nothing with which to reproach
-himself, beyond his fatal awkwardness?" asked Leandro. "No," replied
-Asmodeus; "his design was innocent enough; but when an elder son is
-in possession of all the wealth of his family, I should certainly not
-advise him to make a shooting-party in company with his younger brother.
-
-"Observe attentively those two youths who, in a retreat near to that
-of the fatal shot, are conversing as merrily as though they were at
-liberty. They are a pair of veritable _picaros;_ and there is one,
-especially, who may some day amuse the public with one of those details
-of roguery which never fail to delight it. He is a modern Guzman
-d'Alfarache: it is he who wears the brown velvet vest, and has a plume
-of feathers in his hat.
-
-"Not three months since, in this very town, he was page to the Count
-d'Onato; and he would still have been in the suite of that nobleman
-but for a little piece of rascality, which gained for him his present
-lodging, and which I will narrate to you.
-
-"One day, this youth, whose name is Domingo, received a hundred
-lashes, which the Count's intendant, otherwise governor of the pages,
-directed to be bestowed on him as a reward for some trick which
-appeared to deserve it. Domingo was, however, impatient under such
-a load of obligation; and so, proudly resolved to return it on the
-first opportunity. He had remarked more than once that the Signor Don
-Como, as the intendant styled himself, delighted to wash his hands
-with orange-flower water, and to anoint himself with pastes redolent
-of the pink or jessamine; that he was more careful of his person than
-an old coquette, and that, in short, he was one of those coxcombs who
-imagine that no woman of taste can behold them without loving them.
-These observations inspired Domingo with a scheme for revenge, which he
-communicated to a young waiting-woman who resided in the neighbourhood,
-whose assistance he required for the execution of his project, and in
-whose favour he stood so high that she had none left to grant him.
-
-"This damsel, called Floretta, in order to have the pleasure of an
-unrestrained intercourse with the page, introduced him as her cousin
-into the house of Donna Luziana, her mistress, whose father was at that
-time absent from Madrid. The cunning Domingo, after having informed his
-pretended relative of her part in his design, going one morning into
-the apartment of Don Como, found my gentleman trying on a new dress,
-looking with complacency at his figure in a mirror, and evidently by no
-means displeased with its reflection. The page affected to be struck
-with admiration of this Narcissus, and exclaimed, in well-feigned
-transport: 'Upon my honour, Signor Don Como, you have the air of
-royalty itself. I see, daily, nobles richly clad; but notwithstanding
-the elegance and splendour of their vestments, I discern in none that
-dignity of mien which distinguishes you. I will not assert,' added he,
-'that with the respect I have for you, I may not regard you with eyes
-somewhat prepossessed in your favour; but this I can say, that I know
-of no cavalier at court whom you would not totally eclipse.'
-
-"The intendant smiled at this discourse, which offered so agreeable
-a tribute to his vanity, and graciously replied:--'You flatter me,
-my friend; or rather, as you say, you esteem me so highly, that your
-friendship endows me with graces that nature has refused.' 'I cannot
-think so,' replied the parasite; 'for there is no one who does not
-speak of you in terms which I dare not repeat, lest you should think
-I flattered you indeed. I wish you had heard what was said to me
-yesterday by one of my cousins, who is in the service of a lady of
-quality.'
-
-"Don Como failed not to ask what it was that Domingo's cousin had
-said of him. 'Why,' replied the page, 'I ought hardly to tell you; but
-she enlarged on the majesty of your figure,--on the charms which are
-everywhere visible in your person; and, what is better, she told me, in
-confidence, that the greatest delight of Donna Luziana, her mistress,
-is to watch for your passing her house, and to feast her eyes with
-beholding you.'
-
-[Illustration: The page flattering Don Como]
-
-"'And who is this lady?' said the intendant,--'where does she live?'
-'What!' replied Domingo; 'do you not know the only daughter of general
-Don Fernando, our neighbour?' 'Ah! to be sure I do,' replied Don Como:
-'I remember to have frequently heard of the wealth and surpassing
-beauty of this Luziana; she is not to be despised. But is it possible
-that I can have attracted her attention?' 'Can you doubt it?' exclaimed
-the page. 'Besides, my own cousin told me of the fact; and, though in a
-humble situation, she is incapable of falsehood, and I would answer for
-her word with my life.' 'In that case,' said the intendant, 'I should
-be glad to have a little private conversation with your relative, to
-engage her in my interest by the customary trifling presents to which
-her situation entitles her; and if she should advise me to pay court to
-her mistress, egad! I'll try my fortune. And why not? It is true that
-there is some difference between my rank and that of Don Fernando; but
-still I am a gentleman, and have a good four hundred ducats per annum.
-There are more extraordinary matches than this made every day.'
-
-"The page fortified his governor in his resolution, and procured for
-him an interview with his cousin; who, finding the intendant disposed
-to swallow anything, assured him of her mistress's inclination in his
-favour. 'You have no idea,' said she, 'how often Luziana has questioned
-me as to the handsome cavalier who had made such an impression on her
-heart; and you may be sure that my replies were neither unpleasing to
-her, nor unfavourable to you: in short, Signor, she loves you; and you
-have everything to hope from her affection. Seek then her hand, openly
-and without hesitation; justify her secret passion, by showing that she
-loves a cavalier, not only the most charming and well-made, but the
-most gallant, of all Madrid. Give her, in serenades, the delightful
-assurance that your heart responds to hers; and rely on me to picture
-your devotion in the most pleasing colours,--an office as agreeable to
-myself as I hope it will be useful to you.' Don Como, transported with
-joy at finding the maid so warmly disposed to serve him, almost stifled
-her with his caresses; and, placing a worthless ring upon her finger,
-which he had liberally purchased of a Jew, and which had served the
-same purpose fifty times, he exclaimed,--'Dearest Floretta! accept this
-ring as an earnest of my gratitude, until I have an opportunity of more
-worthily recompensing the favours you are about to shower on me.'
-
-"Never was lover in greater ecstacy than was our intendant at the
-result of his conversation with Floretta; and as he was indebted to
-Domingo for this happiness, the page not only received his thanks, but
-was rewarded by the magnificent present of a pair of silk stockings,
-some shirts trimmed with lace, and a promise of the Signor's losing no
-opportunity which might offer for promoting his interests. 'My dear
-friend,' said he, on leaving Floretta, 'what is your opinion of the
-steps I should take in this matter? Do you think I should commence with
-an impassioned and sublime epistle to my Luziana?' 'Decidedly,' replied
-the page. 'Make her a declaration of your love in fitting terms: I
-have a presentiment that it will not be badly received.' 'Well! I
-think so too,' replied the intendant; 'at all events, I will try the
-experiment.' Accordingly, down he sat to compose the missive; and after
-having torn in pieces at least fifty scrawls, which would have made
-the fortune of a German romancist, he at last succeeded in composing
-a billet-doux which satisfied his scruples. It was conceived in the
-following grandiloquent and affecting terms:--
-
- "'Months have rolled like centuries, oh! lovely Luziana, since,
- inspired by the renown which everywhere proclaims your perfections,
- my too-sensible soul has yielded to the flames of love, to burn for
- you alone! My heart consumed in secret, a willing prey to the fires
- that devoured me; and I never dared proclaim my sufferings to you,
- much less to seek for consolation. But a happy chance has recently
- revealed the soothing secret that, from behind the jealous screen
- which conceals your celestial charms from the eyes of men, you
- sometimes deign to look with pity on me as I pass;--that, directed by
- the divinity who guards you, and the destiny of your star,--oh, happy
- star for me!--you even think of me with kindness. I hasten then in all
- humility to consecrate my life unto your service; and should I be so
- fortunate as to obtain permission so to do, to renounce in your favour
- all ladies past, or present, or to come.
-
- "'DON COMO DE LA HIGUERA.'
-
-"Domingo and Floretta were not a little amused, on the receipt of this
-letter, at the expense of the poor intendant. But, not contented with
-the folly they had already induced him to commit, they set their wits
-to work to compose an answer to the billet which should be sufficiently
-tender. This done, it was copied by Floretta, and delivered by the page
-on the following day to Don Como. It was in these words:--
-
- "'I know not who can have so well informed you of my secret
- sentiments. Some one has however betrayed me. Still, I pardon the
- treachery, since, to it I owe an avowal of your love. I see many pass
- before my window, but I look with pleasure upon you alone; and I am
- too happy to find that I am dear to you. Perhaps I am wrong to feel
- this delight, and still more wrong to dare to tell you so. If it be a
- fault in me, your virtues have caused, and must excuse it.
-
- "'DONNA LUZIANA.'
-
-"Although this letter was rather too warm for the daughter of a
-Spanish general, as its authors had not thought much about ceremony,
-the presumptuous Don Como received it without suspicion. He thought
-sufficiently well of himself to imagine that for him a lady might well
-forget somewhat of the usages of society. 'Ah! Domingo,' he cried,
-with an air of triumph, after having read the letter aloud, 'you see,
-my friend, that the fish bites. Congratulate me! I shall soon be
-son-in-law to Don Fernando, or my name's not Don Como de la Higuera.'
-
-"'It is beyond a doubt,' said the rascally confidant; 'you seem to have
-made a tremendous impression on the girl. But, à-propos,' added he, 'I
-must not forget to tell you that my cousin particularly desired me to
-say, that to-morrow, at latest, you should serenade your mistress, in
-order to complete her infatuation.' 'I will on no account omit it,'
-replied the intendant. 'You may assure your cousin that I will in all
-things follow her advice; and that to-morrow, without fail, in the
-middle of the night, the street shall resound with one of the most
-gallant concerts that was ever heard in Madrid.' And away went the
-intendant to secure the assistance of a celebrated musician, to whom
-he communicated his project, and whom he charged with the care of its
-execution.
-
-"In the meanwhile, Floretta, informed of the intended serenade, and
-finding her mistress in a desirable mood, said to her,--'Madam, I am
-preparing for you an agreeable diversion.' 'What may that be?' asked
-Luziana. 'Why,' replied the waiting-maid, laughing until the tears ran
-from her eyes, 'there is much to amuse you. An original, one Don Como,
-governor of the pages of the Count d'Onato, has taken it into his head
-to choose you as the sovereign lady of his thoughts; and he intends,
-to-morrow, in order that you may no longer remain ignorant of his
-devotion, to gratify you with the sound of music and sweet voices, in
-an evening serenade.' Donna Luziana, whose composition was none of the
-most grave, and who was far from foreseeing an unpleasant consequence
-to her in the gallantries of the intendant, instead of regarding the
-matter seriously, was delighted at the anticipated tribute to her
-charms; and thus, without knowing what she did, assisted in confirming
-the amorous Don Como in an illusion, of which it would have shocked her
-greatly to have been supposed designedly the author.
-
-"The night came, and with it appeared, before the balcony of the
-lady, two carriages, from which descended the gallant Como and his
-confidant, accompanied by six musicians, vocal and instrumental, who
-commenced a very decent concert, which lasted for a considerable time.
-They performed many of the newest airs, and sang all the songs in
-vogue whose verses told the power of love in uniting hearts despite
-the obstacles of fortune, and the inequality of rank; while at every
-couplet, which the general's daughter perceived to be directed to
-herself, her merriment knew no bounds.
-
-"When the serenade was over, and the performers had departed in the
-carriages which brought them, the crowd which the music had attracted
-dispersed, and our lover remained in the street with Domingo alone. He
-approached the balcony, whence, in a few minutes, the servant-girl,
-with her mistress's permission, said to him in a feigned voice: 'Is
-that you, Signor Don Como?' 'Who asks me that question?' replied the
-Don in a languishing tone. 'It is,' rejoined the girl, 'Donna Luziana,
-who would know if the concert she has heard but now, is an offering of
-your gallantry to her.' 'It is,' exclaimed the intendant, 'but a shadow
-of those festivals my love prepares for her who is the marvel of our
-days, if she will deign receive them from a lover who is sacrificed on
-the altar of her beauty.'
-
-"At this brilliant metaphor, Luziana with difficulty restrained her
-laughter; but, coming forward and putting her head partially out of
-the little window from which her maid had addressed him, she said to
-the intendant, as seriously as possible: 'Signor Don Como, you are, I
-perceive, no novice in the art of love; in you, each gallant cavalier
-who would gain his lady's heart, may find a model for his conduct. I
-thank you for your serenade, and feel flattered by your attention;
-but,' added she, 'retire now, lest we should be observed; another time
-we may, unrestrained, indulge in further conversation.' As she finished
-these words, she closed the window, leaving the intendant in the
-street, highly delighted at the kindness she had displayed for him, and
-the page greatly astonished that the lady had herself undertaken a part
-in the comedy.
-
-"This little fête, including the carriages and the enormous quantity
-of wine which its bibulous performers had consumed, cost Don Como
-upwards of a hundred ducats; and, two days afterwards, his confidant
-engaged him in a further outlay, in the following manner. Having
-learned that, on the night of St. John,--a night so celebrated in this
-city,--Floretta was about to join the damsels of her class at the
-_fiesta del sotillo_, Domingo undertook to enliven this dance by a
-magnificent breakfast at the intendant's expense.
-
-[Illustration: Don Como serenades Luziana]
-
-"'Accordingly, Signor Don Como,' said he, on the eve of this festival,
-'you are aware of what takes place to-morrow. I thought, however, you
-would like to be informed that Donna Luziana intends to repair at break
-of day to the banks of the Mançanarez, to witness the _sotillo_. I need
-say no more to the Corypheus of gallant cavaliers;--you are not the man
-to neglect so favourable an opportunity, and I am certain that your
-mistress and her companions will not fare badly to-morrow.' 'Of that
-you may be sure,' replied the governor, 'and I am obliged to you for
-informing me of her intention: you shall see if I know how to kick the
-ball as it bounds.' In effect, very early on the following day, four
-of the Count's servants, conducted by Domingo, and loaded with every
-description of cold meat, cooked in all fashions, with an infinite
-number of small loaves and bottles of delicious wines, arrived on the
-bank of the river, where Floretta and her companions were dancing, like
-nymphs before the golden throne of Aurora.
-
-"Had that goddess herself appeared, she would hardly have been more
-cordially greeted than were the wines and cold collation which the page
-brought on the part of Don Como; offering, as they did, so agreeable
-a repast after the delightful fatigues of the dance, which they so
-agreeably interrupted. The damsels seated themselves on the velvet turf
-of the meadow, and lost no time in paying due honour to the feast, the
-while laughing immoderately at the dupe who gave it; for Domingo's kind
-cousin had not omitted to inform them of their benefactor, and his
-amorous adventure.
-
-"While they were in the midst of their rejoicing and their breakfast,
-they perceived the squire, richly dressed, and mounted on one of the
-Count's steeds, which was ambling towards them. He rode up to his
-confidant, and gaily saluted the ladies, who rose at his approach,
-and politely thanked him for his generosity. His eyes wandered among
-the company in search of Donna Luziana, as he was anxious to deliver
-himself of a speech, glittering with compliments as the sward beneath
-his horse's feet with flowers, and which he had composed during his
-ride in honour of his mistress. Great therefore was his grief, when
-Floretta, taking him aside, informed him that a slight indisposition
-had prevented her lady from joining in the festival. The Don, with
-a proper display of sensibility on the occasion, was particular in
-his inquiries as to the ailment; but when the girl informed him that
-Luziana suffered from a cold, caught on the previous night from
-exposure in the balcony without her veil, talking of him and of his
-serenade, he was not without consolation to find so sad an accident
-proceeded from a cause so good. He therefore contented himself with
-the usual expressions of condolence; and, after praying Floretta to
-continue to interest herself in his behalf with his mistress, took the
-road to his dwelling, rejoicing more and more at his great good fortune.
-
-[Illustration: Don Como at the _sotillo_]
-
-"About this time, the intendant received a bill of exchange for a
-thousand crowns from Andalusia, as his portion of the effects of one of
-his uncles, who had died at Seville. On turning this bill into cash,
-he happened to count it over and place it in a coffer in the presence
-of Domingo, who took so lively an interest in the operation, that, in
-order to repeat it, he was tempted to appropriate, if possible, the
-shining gold; and resolved, if successful in so doing, to escape with
-it into Portugal. He related his project in confidence to Floretta,
-and even proposed to her that she should accompany him. Now this
-proposition was undoubtedly one which most people would think worthy
-of reflection; but the girl, as interested in the matter as the page,
-accepted it without a moment's hesitation. Consequently, one night,
-while the intendant was labouring in his cabinet to compose a touching
-letter to his mistress, Domingo found means to open the coffer in which
-the money was confined, to release it from its captivity, and to hasten
-with the enfranchised crowns into the street. He instantly repaired
-to the balcony of Luziana, and, as a signal which had been agreed
-upon between him and his confederate, commenced a caterwauling, which
-disturbed the gravity of all the tabbies in the neighbourhood. The
-girl, ready to wander with him through the world, promptly responded to
-the amatory call; and in a few minutes they were on the high road from
-Madrid, together.
-
-"They reckoned that, in the event of pursuit, they would have plenty of
-time to gain the frontiers of Portugal before they could be overtaken;
-but, unfortunately for them, Don Como discovered the theft, and the
-flight of his confidant that very night. He gave immediate information
-to the police, whose officers were without loss of time dispersed on
-all sides in pursuit of the fugitives, and Domingo was taken, near
-Zebreros, in company with his lady. They were quickly brought back
-to Madrid: the girl has been sent to join our friend Marcella in _las
-Arrepentidas_, and Domingo is, as you perceive, as gay as ever within
-the walls of this prison."
-
-"And the intendant," added Don Cleophas, "has saved his golden crowns;
-as of course they have been restored to him." "Of course they have
-not," replied the Devil: "the thousand pieces are the proof of the
-robbery, and the officers of justice understand their business too
-well to give them up; so that Don Como, whose loving history is spread
-throughout Madrid, has lost his money and his mistress, and is laughed
-at by everybody into the bargain."
-
-"Domingo and his fellow-prisoner have for a neighbour," continued the
-Cripple, "a young Castilian who has been arrested for having, in the
-presence of too many witnesses, struck his father." "Oh heaven!" cried
-Leandro, "is it possible? Lives there a child, however lost to shame,
-who can raise his impious hand against a father?" "Oh yes," said the
-Demon: "yon Castilian is not without example; and I will cite you one
-whose history is rather remarkable. Under the reign of Don Pedro I.,
-surnamed the Just and the Cruel, the eighth king of Portugal, a youth
-of twenty fell into the hands of justice for the same crime. Don Pedro,
-as much surprised as yourself at the novelty of the case, was curious
-to interrogate the mother of the criminal, and he examined her so
-adroitly as to obtain from her a confession, that the real father of
-this child was a certain reverend prelate. If the Castilian's judges
-were discreet enough to interrogate his mother with equal address, it
-is probable that it would be attended with a similar avowal.
-
-"Cast your eyes into a large dungeon beneath the prisoners I have just
-pointed out to you, and observe what is passing there. Do you see
-those three ill-looking rascals? They are highwaymen. See! they are
-effecting their escape. Some one has furnished them with a dumb-file
-in a loaf of bread; and they have already cut through one of the thick
-bars of a window, by which they may gain the court-yard, and from
-thence the street. They have been more than ten months in prison, and
-it is upwards of eight since they should have received the public
-recompense due to their exploits; but, thanks to the tardiness of
-justice, they are about to begin again their career of robbery and
-murder.
-
-[Illustration: a prisoner being beaten up by his fellow inmates]
-
-"And now look into that low roofed cell where you perceive twenty
-or thirty men, some of them stretched upon straw. They are mostly
-pickpockets, shop-lifters, or professors of other branches of the
-Spartan craft. Do you observe five or six of them worrying a sort of
-labourer, who was introduced to their society this morning for having
-wounded an alguazil with a stone?" "And what are they thrashing him
-for?" asked Zambullo. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "because he has not paid
-his entrance-fees. But," added he, "let us leave this horrible place,
-and the miserable wretches it contains; they are not in my vocation: we
-will go elsewhere, in search of objects less disgusting."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-
-OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS, WHO REVEALS
-TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN HIS DAY.
-
-
-In a few moments, the Demon and his pupil were on the roof of a large
-mansion, at a considerable distance from that part of the city in
-which they had left the prisoners. "I have brought you here," said
-Asmodeus, "because I am desirous of informing you what the mass of
-people who reside in the neighbourhood of the house we are on, have
-been doing in the course of to-day;--it will amuse you." "Doubtless!"
-replied Leandro. "Begin, I beseech you: and first for yonder cavalier
-who is booting in such haste: what weighty matters call him from his
-home in such a night as this, my Mentor?" "He is a captain," replied
-the Cripple, "whose steeds are waiting in the street to carry him to
-Catalonia, where his regiment is stationed.
-
-"Well! yesterday, our hero, being without cash, applied to one of those
-gentry who, instead of giving to the poor, wisely lend unto the lords,
-or captains. 'Signor Sanguisuela,' said he, 'can you not oblige me with
-the loan of a thousand ducats?' 'Signor Captain,' replied the usurer,
-'I have them not; but I think I know a friend who has, and will lend
-them to you:--that is to say, if you will give him your note of hand
-for a thousand ducats, he will give you four hundred; out of which I
-shall be content to receive sixty only, as my commission. Money is so
-extremely scarce, that----' 'What usury!' interrupted the officer,
-hastily. 'What! ask six hundred and sixty ducats for the loan of three
-hundred and forty? Infamous extortion! Such hard-hearted scoundrels
-deserve to be hanged.'
-
-"'Keep your temper, at all events, Signor Captain, and go elsewhere for
-your money,' replied the usurer, with the greatest coolness. 'Of what
-do you complain? Do I force you to take the three hundred and forty
-ducats? Heaven forbid! you are free to take them or to leave them.'
-To this the Captain had no reply to make, and went his way; but, on
-reflecting that he must set out for the camp on the morrow, and that
-he had no time to lose, he resolved to lose his money; so he returned
-this morning to the usurer, whom he met at his door, dressed in a short
-black mantle, a plain collar round his neck, his hair closely trimmed,
-and with a rosary in his hand, garnished with saintly medals. 'Here I
-am again, Signor Sanguisuela,' said he; 'I will take the three hundred
-and forty ducats,--necessity compels me to accept your terms.' 'I am
-going to mass,' gravely replied the usurer; 'on my return, I will
-give you that amount.' 'Ah! no,' exclaimed the Captain; 'I pray you
-give it me at once: it will but delay you for an instant. I would not
-entreat you, but my haste is great as is my need.' 'I cannot,' replied
-Sanguisuela: 'I hear mass daily, before I think of following my worldly
-avocations; it is a rule I have prescribed for my conduct, and I will
-endeavour religiously to observe it while I live.'
-
-[Illustration: the captain and the usurer leaving church]
-
-"However impatient might be our captain to lay his hands upon the
-money, he was obliged to comport himself with the rule of the pious
-Sanguisuela: he therefore armed himself with patience, and even, as
-though he feared that the ducats would escape him, followed the usurer
-to church. Mass performed, he was preparing to leave; when Sanguisuela
-inclined his head towards him, and whispered in his ear: 'Stay! one of
-the most talented men in Madrid preaches here this morning, and I would
-not lose his sermon for the world.'
-
-"The Captain, to whom the mass had appeared over-long, was in despair
-at this further call on his endurance: however, needs must--and he
-remained where he had been driven. The preacher mounted the pulpit,
-and happened to discourse against usury. The officer was delighted;
-and observing Sanguisuela's countenance, he said within himself: 'If
-this Jew is capable of being touched, now,--if he will but give me six
-hundred ducats, I shall really think he is not too bad, after all.'
-The sermon ended, they left the church together, when the Captain,
-addressing his companion, said: 'Well, what think you of the preacher?
-Did you not find his sermon extremely forcible? For myself, I was quite
-affected by it.' 'I am quite of your opinion,' replied the usurer; 'he
-treated his subject admirably. He is a learned man, and deeply skilled
-in his profession; and now, let us go, and show that we understand ours
-as well.'"
-
-"Hollo!" cried Don Cleophas, "who are those two women in bed together,
-and laughing so loudly? Egad! they seem merry enough." "They are
-sisters," replied the Devil, "who this morning buried their father.
-He was an old curmudgeon, who had so great a distaste for matrimony,
-or rather to portioning his daughters, that he would never listen to
-a word about their marrying, however advantageous might be the offers
-made to them. They are at this moment discussing the virtues of the
-dear deceased. 'He is dead at last,' exclaimed the elder; 'he is
-dead,--the unnatural father, who so cruelly delighted still to keep us
-maids: he will, however, no longer oppose our innocent desires.' 'Well,
-sister,' said the younger, 'for myself, I love the substantial; I
-shall look out for a good rich husband,--stupid, if you please; and the
-fat Don Blanco is just the man for my money.' 'Softly, sister,' replied
-the elder; 'we shall have for husbands those to whom we are destined;
-for marriages, they say, are written in heaven.' 'So much the worse
-for us,' replied the younger; 'for if dear papa has the luck to be
-there, he will assuredly tear out our leaf.' The eldest could not help
-laughing at this sally, and it is that which still amuses them both.
-
-[Illustration: the two sisters in bed]
-
-"In the next house to that of these ladies, in a furnished apartment,
-lodges an Aragonese adventuress. You may see her, while others sleep,
-admiring in a glass those charms on which she relies, and which have
-gained for her to-day a conquest to be proud of: like a good general,
-she studies her positions for attack; and she has just discovered a
-new one, which will finish her campaign with her lover to-morrow. He
-is well worth all the pains she can take to secure him, and she is
-well aware of his promising qualities. To-day, for instance, one of
-her creditors calling to remind her of an account, which he insists on
-having settled in cash: 'Wait, my good friend,' said she; 'wait but for
-a few days longer: I am on the point of concluding a most advantageous
-arrangement with one of the principal persons in the Customs.'"
-
-"I need not ask you," said Leandro, "how a certain cavalier, whom I
-perceive at this moment, has been passing his day: he appears to be
-a complete letter-writer. What enormous quantities I behold on his
-table!" "Yes," replied the Demon; "and, what is most amusing, all these
-letters are alike in their contents. He is writing to all his absent
-friends an account of an adventure which befel him this afternoon. He
-is in love with a widow of thirty, charming and discreet; he pays to
-her devotions which she does not despise; he proposes for her hand,
-and she consents to yield it without hesitation. While preparations
-are making for their nuptials, he has permission to visit her without
-ceremony. He went to her house to-day after dinner, and as he chanced
-to meet with no one to announce his coming, he entered the lady's
-apartment, where he found her stretched on a couch, _en déshabille_,
-or, to speak more correctly, almost naked. She was sleeping profoundly.
-What lover could resist the temptation thus offered to his eyes? He
-approaches her softly, and steals a gentle kiss. She starts, exclaiming
-as she wakes, 'What, again! I beseech you, Ambrose, leave me to repose.'
-
-"The cavalier, as an honourable man, made up his mind on the instant
-to renounce all pretensions to the widow. He therefore immediately left
-the apartment; and meeting the servant at the door: 'Ambrose,' said he,
-'stay! your mistress prays you to indulge her with a brief repose.'
-
-[Illustration: the lover about to kiss the widow]
-
-"Two doors beyond the house of this cavalier, I perceive an original of
-a husband, who is sleeping tranquilly,--lulled to rest by reproaches
-with which his wife is upbraiding him for having passed the entire day
-from home. She would be still more bitter against her spouse, did she
-know how he had spent his day." "It has been most probably occupied in
-some amorous adventure?" said Zambullo. "You have guessed it," replied
-Asmodeus; "and shall hear the detail.
-
-"The man is a tradesman, named Patricio: he is one of those wedded
-libertines who live without care, as though they had neither wife nor
-children: the partner of this fellow, nevertheless, is pretty, amiable,
-and virtuous; and he has two daughters and one son, all three still
-in their infancy. He left his family this morning, careless if they
-had bread to eat, which is not unfrequently the case, and directed his
-steps toward the great square, attracted thither by the preparations
-which Were making for the bull-fight of to-day. The scaffolds were
-already erected around the place, and already the more curious in these
-matters began to take their places.
-
-"While gazing at the company, examining first one and then another, he
-observed a lady finely made and very neatly dressed, who discovered, as
-she descended from the scaffold, a well-turned leg and foot; and their
-effect was heightened by rose-tinted silken stockings, and garters
-of silver lace, the ends of which hung down to her ankles: it was
-enough to have tempted a saint, and our excitable citizen was almost
-out of his wits at the sight. He advanced towards the lady, who was
-accompanied by another whose air sufficiently disclosed that they were
-both damsels of easy virtue. 'Ladies,' said he, accosting them, 'can
-I be of service to you? you have only to command me, and it will be
-my happiness to obey.' 'Signor cavalier,' replied the nymph with the
-rose-coloured stockings, 'you appear so obliging, that we will take
-advantage of your kindness: we have already taken our places, but are
-leaving them to go to breakfast, as we were unwise enough to leave
-home this morning without first taking our chocolate. Since you are so
-gallant as to offer your services, may we trouble you to escort us to
-some hotel, where we may eat a morsel of something? but we must beg you
-will select as retired a place as possible, for ladies, as you know,
-cannot be too careful of their reputation.'
-
-"At these words, Patricio, becoming even more civil and polite
-than the occasion demanded, took the princesses to a tavern in the
-neighbourhood, and ordered breakfast. 'What would you like to have,
-sir?' inquired the host. 'I have the remains of a magnificent dinner,
-which took place here yesterday: there are larded fowls, partridges
-from Léon, pigeons from Old Castile, and the best part of a ham from
-Estremadura.' 'More than enough, mine host!' exclaimed the conductor
-of the two vestals. 'Ladies, it is for you to choose;--what would you
-prefer?' 'Whatever you please,' replied they: 'your choice shall be
-ours.' Thereupon the citizen ordered a brace of partridges and a couple
-of cold fowls, to be served in a private room, as the ladies were too
-modest to think of eating in public.
-
-"They were immediately conducted to a small chamber, and in a few
-minutes the host appeared with the chosen dishes, some bread, and some
-wine. Our Lucretias fell to eating with most unfashionable appetites,
-and the fowls rapidly disappeared; while the simpleton, who was to pay,
-was occupied in ogling his Luisita,--the name of the lady who had taken
-his fancy,--in admiring the whiteness of her hand, upon which glittered
-an enormous ring she had gained by her profession,--and, unable to eat
-for joy of his good fortune, in lavishing upon the lady all the tender
-epithets, such as his star or his sun, that his imagination could
-invent. On inquiring of his goddess if she were married, she told him
-she was not, but was living under the protection of her brother;--had
-she added,--by descent from our father Adam, she would not have been
-far from the truth.
-
-[Illustration: breakfast at the inn]
-
-"Good eating is nothing without good drinking; so the two harpies,
-having each demolished a fowl, washed them down with a proportionate
-quantity of wine; and, consequently, the two flagons which had been
-placed upon the table were soon exhausted. That they might be more
-speedily replenished, our gallant left the room with the empty
-vessels; and he had no sooner closed the door than Jacintha, Luisita's
-companion, clawed hold of the two partridges, which were yet untouched,
-and put them in a spacious pocket which her gown conveniently afforded.
-Our Adonis, on returning from his chase of the wine, and remarking
-that the eatables had vanished, was anxious to know if his Venus had
-eaten enough. 'Why,' said she, 'if the pigeons of which the host has
-spoken be very good, perhaps I might be tempted to taste them; or
-else a morsel of the ham of Estremadura will do.' These words were no
-sooner uttered than away went Patricio again in search of provender,
-and quickly returned, followed by three of the loving birds and a
-substantial dish of the ham. The two vultures pounced on their prey
-like lightning; and as the witless citizen was obliged a third time
-to leave the room for bread, they sent a pair of the pigeons to keep
-company with the imprisoned partridges.
-
-"After the repast, which ended with a dessert composed of all the
-fruits the season afforded, the amorous Patricio began to press Luisita
-for that payment in kind which he expected from her gratitude. The
-lady, however, was resolved to look upon it as a treat; but at the same
-time indulged him with the hopes of a return, telling him there was a
-time for all things, and that a tavern was not a fitting place in which
-to testify, without reserve, her satisfaction for all his kindness.
-Then, hearing the clock strike one, she assumed an uneasy air, and said
-to her companion: 'Ah! my dear Jacintha, how unfortunate! We shall be
-too late to find a place to see the bull-fight.' 'Excuse me,' replied
-Jacintha; 'this gentleman has only to conduct us where he so politely
-accosted us, and never fear for our finding a place.'
-
-"Before leaving the tavern, however, it was necessary to settle with
-the host, who presented an account amounting to fifty reals. The
-citizen pulled out his purse; but, as it contained but thirty of the
-requisite pieces, he was obliged to leave, in pawn, his rosary adorned
-with numerous medals of silver. This done he esquired the frail ones
-to the place from whence they came, and obtained for them convenient
-seats upon one of the scaffolds, the proprietor of which, being known
-to him, gave him credit for their price.
-
-"They were no sooner seated, then they demanded further refreshment,
-'I am dying with thirst,' cried one,--'that ham was terribly salt.'
-'And so am I', replied the other; 'I could drink an ocean of lemonade.'
-Patricio, who understood but too well what all this meant, left them,
-in search of what they wanted; but suddenly stopping on his way, he
-exclaimed to himself: 'Madman! where art thou going? Would one not
-think thou hadst a hundred pistoles in thy purse, or in thy house? And
-thou halt not a single maravedi! What shall I do?' added he. 'To return
-to the lady without that which she requires is impossible;--and must
-I, then, abandon so promising an adventure? I cannot resolve on that
-either.'
-
-"While thus embarrassed, he perceived among the spectators one of his
-friends who had frequently tendered him services, which his pride had
-always prevented him accepting. But now, lost to shame, he hastened
-towards him, and without hesitation, begged the loan of a double
-pistole; possessed of which his courage returned, and hurrying to a
-confectioner's, he ordered them to carry to his princesses so many iced
-liqueurs, so many biscuits and sweetmeats, that the doubloon hardly
-sufficed to meet this new expense.
-
-"At length the day ended, and with it the festival; when our citizen
-conducted his lady to her house, in the pleasing hope of at last
-reaping the reward of all his thoughtless extravagance. But as they
-arrived near the door of a house which Luisita indicated, as her
-dwelling, a servant-girl came to meet her, saying with much apparent
-agitation: 'Ah! Where have you been until now? Your brother, Don
-Gaspard Heridor, has been waiting for you these two hours, swearing
-like a trooper.' Upon this the sister, in well-feigned alarm, turned
-towards her gallant, and pressing his hand, said to him in a whisper:
-'My brother is a man of most violent temper, but his anger is soon
-appeased. Wait here awhile with patience: I will soon set all to
-rights; and as he sups from home every night, as soon as he has left
-the house, Jacintha shall inform you, and bring you to me.'
-
-[Illustration: Patricio kisses Luisita's hand]
-
-"Patricio, consoled by this promise, kissed with transport the hand of
-Luisita, who returned his caresses, in order to keep up his spirits,
-and then entered the house with Jacintha and the girl. The poor dupe
-took patience, as directed, and sat himself down on a stone, a few
-yards from the door, where he waited for a considerable time, never
-dreaming of the possibility of their playing him a trick. He only
-wondered at the stay of Don Gaspard, and began to fear that this cursed
-brother had lost his appetite with his passion.
-
-"Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, the hour of midnight, sounded; and not
-until then did his confidence begin to evaporate, and some slight
-doubts of the good faith of his lady to infuse themselves into his
-mind. All was darkness around him; when, approaching the door, he
-entered on tip-toe, and found himself in a narrow passage, in the
-middle of which his hand encountered a staircase. He dared not ascend
-it; but, listening attentively, his ears were greeted with the
-discordant concert which might be expected to proceed from a barking
-dog, a mewing cat, and a crying child, all performing their parts to
-admiration. He felt that he was deceived; and he was convinced of the
-fact when, having explored the passage to its termination, he found
-himself in another street, parallel with that in which he had, so long,
-waited for his love.
-
-"The ghost of his money rose in judgment against him; and he
-returned to his own house, moralising on the deceptive influences of
-rose-coloured stockings. He knocked at the door; it was opened by his
-wife, a chaplet in her hand, and tears in her eyes. 'Ah! Patricio,' she
-said, in a voice which told her affliction; 'how can you thus abandon
-your home? how can you thus neglect your wife--your children? Where
-have you been from six this morning, when you left us?' The husband,
-whom this question would have puzzled to answer satisfactorily, and who
-was, besides, somewhat ashamed of himself, had not a word to say; so
-he undressed, and got into bed in silence. His wife, however, was not
-in want of a text; and she read him a lecture, the continuous hum of
-which, as you perceive, has soothed him to sleep."
-
-[Illustration: Patricio lulled to sleep by his wife's lecture]
-
-"And now," continued Asmodeus, "cast your eyes upon the large house by
-the side of that in which the cavalier is writing to his friends the
-story of his rupture with the mistress of Ambrose. Do you not remark
-a young lady sleeping in a bed of crimson satin, embroidered with
-gold?" "Wait!--oh, yes!--I see a lady sleeping; and I fancy I see a
-book, open, on her pillow." "Precisely so," answered the Demon. "That
-lady is a talented young countess, full of life and spirit: she has
-recently suffered extremely from sleepless nights, and having sent for
-a physician, one of the most dignified of his class, he has prescribed
-for her a remedy, derived, he says, from Hippocrates himself. The lady,
-nevertheless, ridiculed his prescription; at which the physician, a
-crabbed sort of animal, who does not understand joking, said to her,
-with a proper professional gravity: 'Madam, Hippocrates is not a man to
-be laughed at.' 'Certainly not, signor doctor,' replied the Countess,
-with the most serious air imaginable; 'far from laughing at so
-celebrated and learned an author, I think so highly of him, that I feel
-assured the mere opening of his work will cure me of my sleeplessness.
-I have in my library a new translation from the pen of Azero; it is,
-I believe, the best: here! find it for me,' added she, turning to her
-attendant. You behold the magic power of Hippocrates! She had not read
-three pages before she sank into profound repose.
-
-"In the Countess's stables there is a poor, one-armed soldier, whom
-the grooms, out of charity, permit, by night, to sleep upon the
-straw. During the day he begs about the city; and a few hours ago, he
-had an amusing conversation with another mendicant, who lives near
-Buen-Retiro, on the road to the palace. The latter has an excellent
-business, which he manages so well, that his daughter, who is of a
-marriageable age, passes among the beggars for a rich heiress. This
-morning, the soldier accosting the father, said to him: 'Signor
-Mendigo, I have lost my right arm; I can no longer serve the king; and,
-like yourself, I am obliged to gain a livelihood by doing the civil to
-the passers-by. I know well that of all trades there is not one which
-does more for those who follow it; and that all that is wanting to it
-is, that it should be a little more highly esteemed.' 'If it were a bit
-more honourable,' replied the old man, 'it would not be worth following
-at all, as we should have too much competition;--all the world would
-beg if it were not for shame.'
-
-[Illustration: the two beggars in conversation]
-
-"'Very true!' replied he of the one arm. 'Well, now! I am a brother
-beggar; and I should be happy to ally myself with so distinguished a
-member of our profession: you shall give me your daughter.' 'Hold! my
-dear sir,' replied the warm old gentleman; 'you cannot think of such
-a thing. She must have a better match than you will make. You are not
-half lame enough. My son-in-law must be a miserable-looking object, who
-would draw blood out of a stone.' 'Do you think, then, that you will
-find one worse off than I am?' 'To be sure! Why, you have only lost an
-arm; and ought to be absolutely ashamed of yourself, to expect that I
-will give you my daughter. I'd have you to know that I have already
-refused a fellow without legs, and who goes about the city in a bowl.'
-
-"I must on no account," continued the Devil, "omit to call your
-attention to the house which joins that of the sleeping countess, and
-which contains a drunken old painter and a satirical poet. The artist
-left home at seven o'clock this morning in search of a confessor, as
-his wife was at the point of death; but happening to meet with a boon
-companion, he went with him to a tavern, and forgot his wife until ten
-this evening, when he returned to find she had died unshriven. The
-poet, who enjoys the reputation of having frequently received most
-striking proofs of the merits of his caustic verses, was swaggering
-in a _café_ this morning; and in speaking of a person who was absent,
-exclaimed: 'He is a scoundrel, to whom, some of these days, I must give
-a good drubbing.' 'That is kind of you,' replied a wag who heard him;
-'though I believe, by the bye, that you owe him a good many.'
-
-"I had nearly forgotten a scene which took place this morning at a
-banker's in this street. He is only recently established in Madrid,
-having returned with immense riches about three months ago from Peru.
-His father is an honest cobbler of Mediana,[3] a large village of Old
-Castile, near the Sierra d'Avila, where he lives, contented with his
-lot, and with his wife, who, like himself, is about sixty years of age.
-
-[3] It is curious, that in the original of the latest Paris edition,
-as also in the third edition, of 1707, the earliest I have been
-able to consult, and which was published under the superintendence
-of Le Sage, this passage stands, "un honnête _capareto_ de Viejo et
-de Mediana." There is a note to the word "_capareto_" giving its
-translation into French as _savetier_. Being puzzled by the double name
-of the village,--"de Viejo et de Mediana," I sought the assistance
-of a talented Spaniard, Signor Lazeu, and was surprised to find the
-Spanish for cobbler is "_zapatero de viejo_," or, "shoemaker of old
-(things)," and that it should consequently have stood in the original
-"_zapatero de viejo_ de Mediana." It has been doubted by many, among
-others the late H. D. Inglis, whether Le Sage were really the author of
-Le Diable Boiteux and Gil Blas; and it has been asserted that he merely
-translated these works from the unpublished manuscripts of some Spanish
-author. If the error in question were really that of Le Sage, it would
-certainly go far to confirm this assertion.--Trans.
-
-"It is upwards of twenty years since the banker left his father's
-house, for the Indies, in search of a better fortune than he could
-expect from his parents. During all this time, though lost to sight,
-he was ever present in their thoughts, and every night and morning saw
-the poor couple on their knees, praying Heaven to shield him with its
-protection; nor did they fail, on each succeeding Sabbath, to entreat
-their friend the curate to recommend their child to the prayers of
-his humble flock. As soon as the banker had returned to Spain, having
-hastily established his house of business, he resolved to ascertain, in
-person, the condition of his parents, whom, in his prosperity, he had
-never forgotten. With this view, having told his domestics he should
-be absent for a few days, he set out alone, about a fortnight ago, and
-journeyed on horseback towards the place of his birth.
-
-[Illustration: the banker reunited with his parents]
-
-"It was about ten o'clock at night, and the good old cobbler was
-sleeping peaceably beside his spouse, when they were suddenly awakened
-by the noise which the banker made, as he knocked violently at the
-door of their little house. 'Who's there?' cried the startled pair,
-together. 'Open--open the door!' replied a voice; 'it is your son
-Francillo.' 'Tell that to the marines!" replied the ancient son of
-Crispin;--'be off with you, scoundrels! there is nothing here worth
-stealing. Francillo is at this moment in the Indies, if he be not
-dead.' 'Your son is not now in the Indies,' replied the banker; 'he
-is returned from Peru; it is he who speaks to you: will you refuse to
-receive him in your arms?' 'Let us go down, Jacobo,' said the wife; 'I
-think it is indeed Francillo; I seem to recollect his voice.'
-
-"They immediately dressed themselves hurriedly; and, as soon as the
-cobbler had struck a light, they descended, and opened the door. The
-old woman looked at Francillo but for an instant, and, with a mother's
-instinct, recognised her son: she fell upon his neck, and pressed him
-to her bosom; while master Jacobo, as much transported as his wife,
-threw his arms around them, and kissed them both by turns. It was some
-time before the happy family, reunited after so long a separation,
-could tear themselves apart, or cease those expressions of delight
-which filled their throbbing hearts.
-
-"At length, however, the banker was able to think of his horse, which
-he unsaddled and led to a stable, already occupied by a cow, whose
-teeming udders daily yielded their sweet food for his parents. On his
-return to the house, he related the adventures of his life in Peru,
-and told them of the wealth which he had brought with him to Spain.
-The story was somewhat long, and might have appeared annoying to
-uninterested listeners; but a son who unbosoms himself after a twenty
-years' absence, rarely fails to fix the attention of a father and
-mother. To them nothing was indifferent; they greedily devoured every
-syllable he uttered, and the most trifling details of his life made
-upon them the most lively impressions of sorrow or of joy.
-
-"He finished his history, by telling them that his wealth would lose
-all its value unless shared by them, and entreated his father to think
-no longer of working at his stall. 'No, no, my son,' said master Jacobo
-to him: 'no, no! I love my trade, and I will stick to my last.'
-'What,' exclaimed Francillo, 'is it not time you lived in peace? I do
-not ask you to go with me to Madrid; I know well that a city life would
-have no charms for you: I do not propose, then, that you should leave
-the peaceful village where your days have passed; but, at least, spare
-yourself a painful toil, and live here at your ease, since it is in
-your power to do so.'
-
-"The mother joined her son in besieging the old cobbler with
-entreaties; and, at last, master Jacobo capitulated. 'Well! Francillo,'
-said he, 'to satisfy you I will be a gentleman; that is, I will not
-work any longer for all the village; I will only mend my own shoes, and
-those of our good friend the curate.' On this convention, the banker,
-having swallowed a couple of eggs that they had fried for his supper,
-went to bed beneath his father's roof, the first time for many years,
-and slept with a calmness of delight that the good alone are capable of
-enjoying.
-
-"The following day, Francillo returned to Madrid, after leaving with
-his father a purse of three hundred pistoles. But, this morning, he
-was not a little astonished at beholding master Jacobo suddenly enter
-his room. 'Ah! my father what brings you here!' 'Why, my son,' replied
-the old man, 'I bring you back your purse. There, take your money; I
-am determined to live by my trade: I have been miserable ever since
-I left off work.' 'Ah, well! my father,' said Francillo, 'return to
-the village, and continue to work as you will: but, at all events,
-let it be only to amuse you. Take back your purse, too, and do not
-spare mine.' 'And what, then, do you think I can do with so much
-money?' asked master Jacobo. 'It will enable you to relieve the poor,'
-replied the banker: 'do with it as the curate and your own conscience
-shall dictate.' The cobbler, satisfied to accept it on these terms,
-immediately departed for Mediana."
-
-[Illustration: the cobbler attempts to return the purse to his son]
-
-Don Cleophas had listened, with pleasure, to the history of Francillo;
-and he was about to express his admiration of the good-hearted
-banker's filial affection, when, at the very moment, his attention
-was distracted by the most piercing shrieks. "Signor Asmodeus!" he
-exclaimed, "what frightful noises do I hear?" "Those cries, which rend
-the air," replied the Devil, "proceed from a receptacle for madmen,
-who tear their throats with shouting, or with singing." "We are not
-far from the place of their confinement, then," said Leandro; "so
-let us look at them at once." "By all means," replied the Demon: "I
-will afford you that amusement and inform you of the causes of their
-madness." It was no sooner said than done; and, in a moment, the
-Student found himself on the _Casa de los locos_.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-
-THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.
-
-
-Zambullo surveyed, by turns, with much curiosity, the several rooms and
-the unfortunate creatures they contained; and while he was reflecting
-on the scene thus presented to his eyes, the Devil said to him: "There
-they are, my master! You see insanity in every form there;--men and
-women, laughing idiots and raging maniacs, locks grey with age, and
-cheeks which still retain their bloom. Well! now I will tell you what
-has turned their heads: we will go from room to room, but will begin
-with the men.
-
-"The first whom you observe, and who appears so violent, is a political
-fanatic of Castile. He is a proud citizen of Madrid, in the heart
-of which he was born; and he is more jealous of the honour of his
-country than was ever citizen of ancient Rome. He went mad with chagrin
-at reading in the gazette, that twenty-five Spaniards had suffered
-themselves to be beaten by a party of fifty Portuguese.
-
-"His neighbour is a licentiate, who was so anxious to obtain a
-benefice, that he played the hypocrite at court during ten long years;
-and whose brain was turned by despair at finding himself constantly
-
-overlooked among the promotions: his madness, however, is not without
-its advantage; seeing that he at present imagines himself to be
-Archbishop of Toledo. And what if he deceive himself? His pleasure
-is none the less: indeed, I think, that he is so much the more to be
-envied; since his error is a golden dream, which will only end with his
-life, and he will not be called to account in the other world for the
-application of his revenues in this.
-
-"The next in rotation is a ward, whom his guardian declared to be
-insane, that he might have the uncontrolled use of his property: the
-poor youth has become really mad from rage at his unjust confinement.
-After the minor, comes a schoolmaster, who lost his wits in search of
-the _paulo post futurum_ of the Greek verb; and, then again, we have
-a merchant, whose reason was shipwrecked with a vessel that belonged
-to him, although it had stood the shock of two bankruptcies which had
-before threatened to engulph him.
-
-"The person who is lodged in the next room is the ancient captain
-Zanubio, a Neapolitan cavalier, who came to establish himself in
-Madrid, and whom jealousy has settled where he is: you shall hear his
-history.
-
-"He delighted in a youthful spouse, the lady Aurora, whom he guarded
-as the apple of his eye. His house was absolutely inaccessible to all
-mankind; and Aurora never left it but for mass, always accompanied by
-her aged Tithon, or to breathe with him the pure air of the pleasant
-fields, at an estate near Alcantara, whither he sometimes led her.
-Despite his vigilance, however, she had been perceived at church by the
-cavalier Don Garcia Pacheco, who loved her from the instant that he
-saw her: he was an enterprising youth, and not unworthy the attention
-of a pretty woman whom Fortune had badly matched.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio and Aurora at church, observed by Don Garcia]
-
-"The difficulty of introducing himself into the house of Zanubio was
-not sufficient to deprive Don Garcia of hope. As his chin was yet
-unreaped, and he was fair to behold, he disguised himself as a virgin,
-took with him a hundred pistoles, and betook himself to the captain's
-seat, where, he had learned, that gentleman and his lady were shortly
-expected. Watching his opportunity to accost the female who acted as
-gardener in Zanubio's establishment, he addressed her in the style
-of the heroines of chivalry, who fly from some giant's towers: 'Kind
-lady,' said he, 'I come to throw myself within your arms, and to
-entreat your pity. I am a maiden of Toledo, of wealth and name, but my
-parents would compel me to give my hand to one whom my heart disowns.
-To escape this tyranny, I have fled by night; and I now seek shelter
-from a cruel world. Here I shall be safe from pursuit. Do not deny me,
-then, to dwell with you until my friends shall be inspired with more
-kindly sentiments. There is my purse: do not hesitate to receive it,
-it is all that I can give you now: but I trust the day will come when I
-may more properly acknowledge the service which you will render me by
-your protection.'
-
-[Illustration: Don Garcia accosts the female gardener]
-
-"The gentle gardener, especially affected by the conclusion of this
-touching address, replied: 'Dear lady, I will receive you with
-pleasure. I know that there are too many youthful maidens who are
-sacrificed to aged men; and I know, too, that they are not usually
-reconciled to their lot. I sympathize with your afflictions: you could
-not have more fortunately addressed yourself than to me. Come! I
-will place you in a little room, where you may live in confidence of
-security.'
-
-"Don Garcia passed four days, shut up in the gardener's cottage,
-anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aurora. At last she came, guarded as
-ever by her jealous spouse, who immediately, according to his usual
-custom, searched every chamber, from the cellar to the garret, to
-make sure that he was free from the hated form of man, which might
-endanger his honour. The gardener, who expected this visitation,
-anticipated it by informing her master of the manner in which a refuge
-had been sought with her by a youthful female. Zanubio, although
-extremely mistrustful, had not the slightest suspicion of the deceit
-now practised on him; he was, however, curious to see the unknown.
-At the interview which followed, the lady begged him to excuse her
-concealing her name, stating that it was a reserve which she owed to
-her family, which she in some sort dishonoured by her flight. She then
-related to him so pathetic a tale, and in a style so romantic, that the
-captain was charmed; and while he listened to her narration, he felt
-a rising inclination for this amiable damsel, which ended in an offer
-of his services and protection; after which he led her to his wife,
-flattering himself that this adventure would not end disagreeably to
-himself.
-
-"As soon as Aurora beheld Don Garcia, she blushed and trembled, without
-knowing why. The cavalier, who perceived her uneasiness, shrewdly
-guessed that she had observed the attention with which he had regarded
-her at church. To ascertain this fact, as soon as they were alone, he
-said to her: 'Madam, I have a brother who has often spoken to me of
-you. He saw you for a moment at your devotions, and from that moment,
-which he delights to recall a thousand times each day, you have been
-the idol of his heart;--he loves you to madness.'
-
-"As he spoke, Aurora scrutinized the features of Don Garcia, and
-when he had finished she replied to him: 'You resemble your brother
-too closely to permit me to remain for an instant the dupe of your
-stratagem: I see too clearly you are that brother in disguise. I
-remember, one day while at mass, my mantilla fell back from my face; it
-was but for an instant, but I saw that you perceived me: I afterwards
-watched you from curiosity, and your eyes remained fixed on my person.
-When I left the church, I believe that you failed not to follow me,
-that you might learn who I was, and the house where I dwelt. I say--I
-believe you did this, for my head dared not turn to observe you; as my
-husband was with me, jealous of my slightest motions, and would have
-made, of one glance, a deep crime. On the morrow and following days,
-when I went to the church, I always saw you; and your features have
-become so familiar that I know you despite your disguise.'
-
-"'Well, Madam,' replied the lover, 'I must then unmask:--yes, I am
-a man, the victim of your charms:--it is indeed Don Garcia Pacheco
-whom Love brings here in the guise of the gentler sex----' 'And you
-doubtless anticipate,' interrupted Aurora, 'that I, sharing your
-foolish passion, shall lend myself to your design, and assist in
-confirming my husband in his error. You are, however, deceived: I shall
-at once expose the deception; my honour and my peace demand it of me.
-Besides, I am not sorry to have an opportunity of showing my husband
-that vigilance is a less certain safeguard than virtue, and that,
-jealous and mistrustful as he is, I am more difficult to surprise than
-himself.'
-
-"She had hardly spoken when the captain appeared. He had indistinctly
-heard a portion of his wife's discourse, and requested to be informed
-of the subject of their conversation. 'We were speaking,' replied
-Aurora, 'of those youthful cavaliers who dare to hope for love from
-ladies of a tender age, because united to a husband for whom respect
-claims the place of passion. As you entered I was saying, that should
-such a gallant dare to address himself to me,--should he endeavour
-to introduce himself beneath your roof by some of those artifices to
-which such madmen have recourse, I should know well how to punish his
-audacity.'
-
-"'And you, Madam,' said Zanubio, turning to Don Garcia, 'after what
-fashion should you treat a youthful cavalier in such a case?' Our
-assumption of a virgin was so much disconcerted at this question,
-that he was unable to reply; and his embarrassment would certainly
-have attracted Zanubio's attention, had not, at the moment, a servant
-entered the apartment, to inform the captain that a person who had just
-arrived from Madrid wished to speak with him.
-
-"Zanubio had no sooner gone out than Don Garcia, throwing himself
-at Aurora's feet, exclaimed: 'Ah, madam, how can you delight thus
-to perplex me? Could you be cruel enough to expose me to the wrath
-of an enraged husband?' 'No, Pacheco,' replied the lady, smiling;
-'youthful dames who are so unfortunate as to have aged spouses are
-not so resentful. Be not alarmed! I could not resist the temptation
-to amuse myself at the expense of your fears; but that is the sum of
-your punishment; and it is surely not exacting too great a price for my
-kindness in permitting your continuance here.' At these consoling words
-all Don Garcia's alarms were dispelled, and they yielded to hopes, of
-which Aurora was too kind long to delay the realization.
-
-"One day, while their reciprocal affection was manifested in a form
-too clear to be misunderstood, the captain surprised them. Had he been
-the most confiding of men, it would have been impossible, unless his
-confidence were not extended to his own eyes, to doubt that the lovely
-unknown was a man in disguise. Furious at the scene which presented
-itself, he hastened to his dressing-room in search of his pistols; but,
-in the meanwhile, the fond couple escaped,--in their hurry to leave the
-apartment, double-locking the door, and taking with them the key. They
-lost no time in gaining a neighbouring village, in which Don Garcia had
-taken the precaution to leave his valet with two good horses. There,
-our hero, having abandoned his petticoats, and placed Aurora on a
-crupper on one of the steeds, mounted and rode with her to a convent,
-where she prayed him to leave her in the care of an aunt, its abbess;
-after which he returned to Madrid to await the termination of his
-adventure.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio discovers Aurora in Garcia's embrace]
-
-"Poor Zanubio, finding himself imprisoned, shouted with all his
-lungs, and a servant, hearing his voice, hastened to his assistance:
-but, if Love laughs at locksmiths, locks are sometimes extremely
-unaccommodating. In vain did the servant and captain try to force the
-door; and at last the latter, his wrath increasing with his efforts,
-rushed to the window, and threw himself from it, his pistols in his
-hands: he fell upon his back, wounded his head, and when his attendants
-arrived they found him senseless. He was carried bleeding to his
-chamber, and by deluging him with water, and by other gentle torments
-used on such occasions, they succeeded in bringing him to life; but
-his fury returned with his senses. 'Where is my wife?' he cried. To
-this interrogatory they replied, by informing him that they had seen
-her pass from the garden, in company with the unknown lady, by a little
-private door. He immediately demanded his pistols, which they dared not
-refuse him, ordered a horse to be saddled, and without reflecting on
-his wound, set out, but by another road, in pursuit of the lovers. The
-day passed in this fruitless search; and when he stopped for the night
-at a village inn, to repose himself, the fatigue and irritation of his
-wound brought on a fever and delirium, which nearly cost him his life.
-
-[Illustration: Zanubio throws himself out of the window]
-
-"The rest is told in a few words. The captain, after being confined to
-his bed for a fortnight, in the village, returned still unwell to his
-country seat; and there, by continually dwelling on his misfortune,
-he shortly afterwards lost his reason. The relations of Aurora were
-no sooner informed of this event, than they caused him to be brought
-to Madrid, and confined where you now see him; and they have resolved
-that his wife shall remain in the convent for some years to come, as a
-punishment for her indiscretion, or, more properly, for a fault which
-their own cupidity placed her in a situation to be tempted to commit.
-
-"The next to whom I shall direct your attention," continued the Devil,
-"is the Signor Don Blaz Desdichado, a worthy cavalier, whose deplorable
-malady is also owing to the loss of his wife, but by death." "That
-indeed surprises me," said Don Cleophas. "A husband whom the death of
-his wife renders insane! Well! that is more than I ever expected to
-spring from conjugal love." "Not so fast!" interrupted Asmodeus: "Don
-Blaz did not lose his reason with his wife; but because, having no
-children, he was obliged to return to the parents of the deceased fifty
-thousand ducats which he had received with her, and which the marriage
-contract compelled him to restore."
-
-"Ah! that is another affair," replied Leandro; "the matter is by no
-means so wonderful as I imagined. But tell me, if you please, who is
-that young man that is skipping about like a kid in the next room, and
-from time to time stopping to laugh until he holds his sides? He is a
-lively fool enough." "Yes," replied the Cripple, "and it was excess of
-joy which made him mad. He was porter to a person of quality; when one
-day, hearing of the death of a rich contador, to whose wealth he was
-sole heir, he was so affected by the joyous news that his head was not
-proof against his good fortune.
-
-"We have now come to that tall youth who is twanging the guitar, and
-accompanying the pathetic strain with his voice: his is a melancholy
-madness. He is a lover, whom the excessive severity of his mistress
-reduced to despair, until they were obliged to enclose him here."
-"Alas! how I pity him," exclaimed the Student; "permit me to express my
-sorrow for his misfortune;--it is one to which every susceptible heart
-is exposed. Were it my own fate to love a disdainful beauty, I know not
-but that I too should love to madness." "I can believe you," replied
-the Demon: "that sentiment would stamp you for a true Castilian. One
-must be born in the centre of that ancient kingdom to be capable of
-loving until reason sinks with a despised heart. Your Frenchman is
-not so tender; and would you appreciate the difference between a gay
-Parisian and a fiery Spaniard in this respect, I need only repeat to
-you the song which yon poor fool is singing, and which his passion
-inspires even at this moment:
-
-                    SPANISH SONG.
-
-    'Mine eyes gush o'er with floods of wild desire,
-      And hopeless love burns fiercely in my breast;
-    Yet not my tears can quench my bosom's fire,
-      Nor passion's fire my scalding tears arrest.'[4]
-
-[4]
-
-    'Ardo y lloro sin sosiego:
-    Llorando y ardiendo tanto,
-    Que ni el llanto apaga el fuego,
-    Ni el fuego consume el llanto.'
-
-
-
-"It is thus sings a true Castilian whom his lady slights; and now I
-will repeat to you the words in which a Frenchman told his griefs, in a
-similar case, only a few days ago:
-
-                   FRENCH SONG.
-
-    'She who within my bosom reigns,
-    A tyrant's stern control maintains;
-    Nor sighs, nor tears, nor prayers can move
-    The least relenting look of love.
-    A kind word, kindly spoken, might
-    Have turn'd my darkness into light;
-    But, since my suit is urged in vain,
-    I fly to feed my griefs with Payen.'[5]
-
-[5]
-
-    'L'objet qui règne dans mon coeur
-    Est toujours insensible à mon amour fidèle,
-      Mes soins, mes soupirs, ma langueur,
-    Ne sauraient attendrir cette beauté cruelle.
-    O ciel! est-il un sort plus affreux que le mien?
-      Ah! puisque je ne puis lui plaire,
-      Je renonce au jour qui m'éclaire;
-    Venez, mes chers amis, m'enterrer chez Payen.'
-
-
-
-"This Payen is undoubtedly a tavern-keeper?" said Don Cleophas.
-"Exactly so," replied the Devil. "But let us continue our
-observations." "Let us then turn to the women," exclaimed Leandro;
-"I am impatient to hear their histories." "I will yield to your
-impatience," answered the Spirit; "but there are yet two or three
-unfortunates on this side of the house, whom I would first show to you:
-you may profit by their unhappiness.
-
-"You observe, close by the melancholy songster, that pale and haggard
-face; those teeth, which gnash as though they would make nothing of the
-iron bars that ornament the window. Yon is an honest man, born under
-influence of malignant star, who, with all the merit in the world, has
-vainly striven, during twenty years, to secure a modest competence;
-he has scarcely, with all his efforts, succeeded in gaining his daily
-bread. His reason fled its seat, on his perceiving a worthless fellow
-of his acquaintance suddenly mount the top of fortune's wheel by a
-lucky speculation.
-
-"His neighbour, again, is an old secretary, whose head was cracked by
-a stroke of ingratitude, which he received from a courtier, in whose
-service he lived during sixty years. No praises were too great for the
-zeal and fidelity of this ancient servant; who, however, never claimed
-their just reward, content to let his assiduity and services speak
-for themselves. His master, far from resembling Archelaus, king of
-Macedonia, who refused favours when demanded, and bestowed them when
-unasked, died forgetful of his merits, leaving him just enough to pass
-his days in misery, and the refuge of a madhouse.
-
-"I will only detain you with one more, and it is with the man who,
-leaning with his elbows on the window, appears plunged in profound
-meditation. You see in him a Signor Hidalgo, of Tafalla, a small town
-of Navarre, which he left for Madrid that he might make the best use
-of his wealth. He was bitten with a rage for surrounding himself with
-the literati of the day; and as these animals are always seen to most
-advantage at feeding-time, he kept open house for their entertainment.
-Authors are an unpolished and ungrateful race; but, although they
-despised and snarled at their keeper, he was not contented until they
-had eaten him out of house and home." "Poor fellow," said Zambullo: "he
-no doubt went mad with rage at his awful stupidity." "On the contrary,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it was with regret at finding himself unable
-to keep up his menagerie. Well! now let us pay our respects to the
-ladies," added the Devil.
-
-"Why! how is this?" exclaimed the Student: "I only see seven or eight
-of them. I had expected to have found them here by scores." "Ah!" said
-the Devil, smiling, "but they are by no means all confined within these
-walls. I will take you instantly, if you wish it, to another quarter of
-the city, where there is a larger house than this, full of mad-women to
-the very roof." "Do not trouble yourself, I beg," replied Don Cleophas;
-"I am by no means anxious for their acquaintance: these will suffice."
-"You are right," replied the Devil; "and these too, are almost all
-youthful ladies of distinction. You may perceive by the attention which
-is paid to their persons, that they are not ordinary subjects. And now
-for the story of their madness.
-
-"In the first room is the wife of a corregidor, who went mad with rage
-at being termed plebeian by a lady of the court; in the second, is the
-spouse of the treasurer-general of the council of the Indies: anger
-also made her mad, at being obliged, in a narrow street, to turn back
-her carriage to make way for that of the duchess of Medina-Coeli. The
-third room is the residence of a merchant's widow, whom regret for the
-loss of a noble signor's hand robbed of her senses; and the fourth
-is occupied by a girl of highest rank, named Donna Beatrice, whose
-misfortunes are worth your attention.
-
-"This young lady was united by the most tender friendship with the
-Donna Mencia: they were indeed inseparable. It happened, however,
-that a handsome chevalier of the order of St. James became acquainted
-with them both, and they soon were rivals for his heart. As he could
-not marry the two, and as his affections inclined towards the Donna
-Mencia, he paid his court to that lady, and she shortly became his wife.
-
-"Donna Beatrice, jealous of the power of her charms, and mortified to
-excess by the preference shown to another, conceived a passion for
-revenge, which, like a woman, or a good Spaniard, she nourished at the
-bottom of her heart. While this passion was yet in its infancy, she
-received from Don Jacintho de Romarate, a neglected lover of the Donna
-Mencia, a letter stating that, being as much insulted as herself by the
-marriage of his mistress, he had resolved to demand satisfaction of the
-chevalier for their united wrongs.
-
-"This letter gave great delight to Beatrice, who desiring but the death
-of the sinner, wished for nothing more than that his rival should fall
-beneath Jacintho's hand. While anxiously awaiting for so christianly
-a gratification, it happened, however, that her own brother, having
-chanced to quarrel with this same Jacintho, came to blows with her
-champion, and fell pierced with wounds of which he died. Although duty
-prompted Donna Beatrice to avenge her brother's death by citing his
-murderer before the tribunals of his country, she neglected to do so,
-as this would have interfered with her revenge; which demonstrates, if
-such proof were needed, that there is no interest so dear to a woman
-as that of her beauty. Need I remind you, that when Ajax violated
-Cassandra in the temple of Pallas, that goddess did not on the instant
-punish the sacrilegious Greek? No! she reserved her wrath until its
-victim should have first redressed the insult offered to her charms
-by the Judgment of the hated Paris. But, alas! Donna Beatrice, less
-fortunate than Minerva, never tasted the sweetness of her anticipated
-vengeance. Romarate perished by the sword of the chevalier, and
-chagrin for her wrongs, still unpunished, drove the lady into this
-asylum.
-
-"The next who offer themselves to your notice are an attorney's
-grandmother and an aged marchioness. The ill-temper of the first so
-annoyed her descendant, that he very quietly got rid of her by placing
-her here: the other is a lady who has ever been an idol to herself, and
-instead of aging with becoming resignation, has never ceased to weep
-the decay of that beauty which formed her only happiness; and at last,
-one day, when her mirror told, too plainly to be doubted, that all her
-charms were flown, went mad."
-
-"So much the better for the ancient dame," added Leandro. "In the
-derangement of her mind, she will no more perceive the ravages of
-time." "Most assuredly not," replied the Devil; "far from beholding
-in her face the marks of age, her complexion seems to her now a happy
-blending of the lily and the rose; she sees around her but the Graces
-and the Loves,--in a word, she thinks that she is Venus herself." "Ah!
-well!" exclaimed the Student, "were it not better that thousands should
-be mad, than that they should know themselves for what they are?"
-"Undoubtedly," replied Asmodeus; "but come, we have only one other
-female to observe; and that is she who dwells in the furthest room,
-and whom sleep has just visited with rest, after three days and nights
-of raving. Look at her well! What think you of the Donna Emerenciana?"
-"That she is beautiful, indeed," answered Zambullo. "What horror, that
-so lovely a creature should be mad! By what fatal accident is she
-reduced to this dreadful situation?" "Listen!" replied the Demon; "I
-will tell you the story of her woes.
-
-"Donna Emerenciana, only daughter of Don Guillem Stephani, lived
-tranquilly at Siguença, in the mansion of her father, when Don Kimen
-de Lizana came to trouble her repose by those attentions with which he
-sought to win her heart. Flattered by his gallantries, she received
-their homage with delight; she even had the weakness to lend herself
-to the artifices to which he resorted that he might speak with her in
-private; and in a short time exchanged with him vows of eternal love
-and fidelity.
-
-[Illustration: the mad-woman Donna Emerenciana]
-
-"The lovers were of equal birth; but the lady was one of the richest
-heiresses of Spain, while Don Kimen was a younger son. But there was
-still another obstacle to their union,--Don Guillem hated the family
-of the Lizana. This he never affected to conceal, whenever they were
-mentioned; and he seemed more averse to Don Kimen himself, than to any
-other of his race. Emerenciana, though deeply afflicted at her father's
-sentiments on this subject, which she felt boded unhappily for her
-passion, could not resolve to abandon its object; and she therefore
-continued her secret interviews with her lover, who from time to time,
-through the assistance of a waiting-maid, ventured even into her
-chamber by night.
-
-"It happened, one of these nights, that Don Guillem chanced to be awake
-when the gallant was thus introduced, and thought he heard a noise in
-his daughter's apartment, which was not far from his own. This was
-quite enough to arouse a father, and especially one so mistrustful
-as Don Guillem. Suspicious as he was, he had never imagined the
-possibility of his daughter's intelligence with Don Kimen; but not
-being of a disposition to place too much confidence in any one, he rose
-quietly from his bed, opened a window which looked into the street,
-and there patiently waited until he saw that cavalier, whom the light
-of the moon enabled him to recognize, descending from the balcony by a
-silken ladder.
-
-"What a sight for Stephani!--for the most vindictive, the most
-relentless mortal, that even Sicily, which gave him birth, had ever
-produced. He controlled the first emotions of his terrible wrath, and
-repressed every exclamation of surprise at what he beheld, that the
-chief victim which his wounded pride demanded might not be warned
-of his fate, and attempt to escape the avenger's hand. He so far
-constrained himself as to wait until the morning, when his daughter had
-risen, ere he entered her apartment. She was alone, as he approached
-her, with fury sparkling in his eyes; and, with a voice that made her
-tremble, he addressed her thus: 'Unworthy wretch! whom not the honour
-of thy race restrains from deeds of infamy, prepare to meet their due
-reward! This steel,' he added, as he drew a dagger from his bosom,
-'shall find a sheath within your heart, unless with truth upon your
-lips you name the daring villain who brought, last night, dishonour on
-my house.'
-
-[Illustration: Stephani threatens Emerenciana with a dagger]
-
-"Emerenciana was so overcome by this unexpected discovery and her
-father's threats, that her tongue refused its office. 'Ah! miserable,'
-continued Don Guillem, 'thy silence and confusion tell me too plainly
-all thy guilt! Dost think, child, whom I blush to call mine own, that I
-know not what has passed? I know too well! I saw, myself, the villain,
-and recognized him for Don Kimen. 'Twas not enough, then, to receive
-a cavalier at night within thy room!--that cavalier must be the man
-whom most I loathe! But come! tell me how much I owe him. Speak without
-disguise,--thy sincerity alone can save thy shameful life.'
-
-"These last words, terrible as they were, brought with them some slight
-hope to the unfortunate girl of escaping the fate which menaced her,
-and she recovered from her fright sufficiently to enable her to reply:
-'Signor, I cannot deny that I am guilty of listening to Lizana; but I
-call Heaven to witness for the purity of his sentiments and conduct.
-Aware as he was of your hatred for his name, he dared not to ask your
-sanction for his addresses; but it was for no other end than to confer
-with me how that sanction might be obtained that he sought, and I
-permitted, his coming here.' 'And who, then,' asked Stephani, 'was the
-willing instrument through which you exchanged your communications?'
-'It was,' replied his daughter, 'one of your pages to whom we were
-indebted for that kindness.' 'Enough,' interrupted the father; 'and
-now to execute the design for which I come!' Thereupon displaying his
-poniard, he made Emerenciana sit down, and placing paper and ink before
-her, compelled her to write to her lover the following letter which he
-dictated:--
-
- "'Dearest Love,--only delight of my life,--I hasten to inform you that
- my father has just set out for his estate, whence he will not return
- until to-morrow. Lose not this happy opportunity. I doubt not you will
- watch for the coming night with as much impatience as your beloved
-
- "'EMERENCIANA.'
-
-"As soon as this treacherous letter was written and sealed, Don Guillem
-said to his daughter: 'And now summon the page who so well performs
-the duties you impose on him, and direct him to carry this note to Don
-Kimen: but hope not to deceive me; I shall conceal myself behind the
-drapery of your room, whence I can observe your slightest movement; and
-if while you charge him with this commission you speak one word, or
-make the smallest sign which may give him suspicion of your message, I
-will plunge this dagger in your heart.' Emerenciana knew her father too
-well to dare to disobey him: the page was called, and the letter placed
-as usual in his hands.
-
-"Not until then did Stephani put up his weapon; but he did not leave
-his daughter for a moment during the day, nor would he let any one
-approach her, so that she could communicate to Lizana intelligence of
-the snare which was spread for him. Accordingly, when night came, the
-youthful gallant hastened to the wished-for meeting; but hardly had
-he entered the door of his mistress's house before he found himself
-seized by three powerful men, who disarmed him in a moment, tied a
-bandage over his mouth to prevent his cries, another over his eyes, and
-bound his hands behind his back. They then placed him in a carriage,
-which was waiting for the purpose, and having all mounted therein for
-complete security of the betrayed cavalier's person, they carried him
-to the seat of Stephani, situated near the village of Miedes, four
-leagues from Siguença, where they arrived before daybreak.
-
-[Illustration: Don Kimen is kidnapped]
-
-"The first care of the signor was to cause Don Kimen to be placed in a
-vault which received but a feeble light from a hole near the top, so
-small, that escape by that was impossible. He then ordered Julio, a
-confidential servant, to feed him with bread and water only, to give
-him but a truss of straw to sleep on, and to say to him every time he
-carried him food: 'Here, base seducer: it is thus that Don Guillem
-treats those who are mad enough to dare to insult him!' The cruel
-Sicilian was hardly less severe in his treatment of his daughter:
-he imprisoned her in a chamber which looked into a small courtyard,
-deprived her of her attendants, and placed her in the custody of a
-duenna whom he had chosen, because she was unequalled for her skill in
-tormenting those committed to her charge.
-
-"Having thus disposed of the two lovers, he was by no means contented
-with the punishment already inflicted on them: he had resolved to
-get rid of Don Kimen, and had only not done so at once because he
-wished to avoid any unpleasant consequences which might follow his
-crime; to manage which, appeared to be somewhat difficult. As he had
-employed three of his servants in the abduction of the cavalier, he
-could hardly hope that a secret known to so many persons would always
-remain undiscovered:--what then was he to do, to shun any impertinent
-explanations which justice might think it necessary to demand? His
-resolve was worthy of a conqueror; he assembled his accomplices in a
-small pavilion, a short distance from the chateau, and after telling
-them how highly satisfied he was with their zeal, he stated that he had
-brought them there to receive a substantial reward for their services
-in money, and that he had prepared a little festival, which he invited
-them to share. They sat down to enjoy themselves, little dreaming that
-it was a feast of death; for when their brains were heated with wine,
-the worthy Julio by his master's order brought in a poisoned bowl,
-which soon ended their rejoicing. The pair then fired the pavilion,
-and before the flames had brought around them the inhabitants of the
-neighbouring village, they assassinated Emerenciana's two female
-attendants and the page of whom I have spoken, and threw their bodies
-into the burning heap. It was really amusing, while the remains of
-these poor wretches were consuming in this infernal pile, which the
-peasants strove in vain to extinguish, to witness the profound grief
-displayed by our Sicilian: he appeared inconsolable for the loss of his
-domestics.
-
-[Illustration: assassination of the maid-servants and page]
-
-"Nothing remaining to be feared from any want of discretion on
-the part of his coadjutors, which might have betrayed him, he thus
-addressed his confidant: 'My dear Julio, my mind is now at peace, and
-the life of Don Kimen is at my mercy; but, before I immolate him to my
-wounded honour, I would enjoy the sweet delight of making him feel how
-much he has offended me;--the misery and horror of a long and solitary
-confinement will be more dreadful to him than death itself.' In truth,
-Lizana was by no means comfortable; and, hopeless of ever leaving
-the dungeon where he wasted, he would have welcomed death as a cheap
-release from his sufferings.
-
-"But, despite his boast of peace, the mind of Stephani knew no rest
-after the exploits he had recently achieved; and ere many days had
-passed, a new source of inquietude presented itself in the fear lest
-Julio, as he daily saw the prisoner for the purpose of taking him
-food, should suffer himself to be corrupted by promises. This fear
-made Don Guillem resolve to get rid of Lizana without loss of time,
-and then to blow out the brains of his friend Julio. But the latter
-was also not without his own misgivings; and, as he shrewdly suspected
-that were Don Kimen once out of the way, he would be found in it, he
-had made his resolution to take himself off some fine night, with all
-that was portable in the house, when the darkness would excuse his not
-distinguishing his master's property from his own.
-
-"While these honest gentlemen were each meditating an agreeable
-surprise for the other, they were one day both unwelcomely accosted
-at a short distance from the chateau, by about twenty archers of St.
-Hermandad, who surrounded, and greeted them in the name of the king
-and the law! At this salutation Don Guillem was somewhat confounded;
-but, calling the colour to his cheeks, he asked the commandant of the
-archers whom he sought. 'Yourself!' replied the officer: 'you are
-accused of having unlawfully seized on Don Kimen de Lizana; and I am
-directed to make strict search for that cavalier within your mansion,
-and further to make you my prisoner.' Stephani, convinced by this
-answer that he was lost, drew from his person a brace of pistols,
-exclaiming that he would suffer no one to enter his house; and that he
-would shoot the commandant without ceremony if he did not instantly
-take himself off with his troop. The leader of the holy brotherhood,
-despising this threat, advanced at once towards the Sicilian; who,
-as good as his word, fired, and wounded him slightly in the face.
-This wound, however, cost the life of the madman who gave it; for the
-archers in a moment stretched him lifeless at the feet of their injured
-chief. Julio surrendered himself without resistance; and, making a
-virtue of necessity, cleared his conscience by a frank avowal of all
-that had occurred,--except that, perceiving his master was really dead,
-he did him the honour to invest his memory with all the glory attaching
-to the transaction.
-
-"He then conducted the archers to the vault, where they found Lizana
-on his straw bed, securely bound. The unfortunate gentleman, who lived
-in continual expectation of death, thought it was come at last when he
-saw so many armed men enter his prison; and was, as you may expect,
-agreeably surprised to find liberators in those whom he had taken
-for his executioners. When they had released him from his dungeon,
-and received his thanks, he asked them how they had learned that he
-was confined in the place where they found him. 'That,' replied the
-commandant, 'I will tell you in a few words.
-
-[Illustration: the liberation of Don Kimen]
-
-"'The night you were entrapped,' said the officer, 'one of Don
-Guillem's assistants, whose mistress resided in the neighbourhood,
-stole a few moments while they were waiting for you, to bid adieu to
-his sweetheart before his departure, and was indiscreet enough to
-reveal to her the project of Stephani. For a wonder, the lady kept
-the secret for three whole days; but when the news of the fire at
-Miedes reached Siguença, as every body thought it strange that all
-the servants of the Sicilian should have perished in the flames, she
-naturally took it into her head also that the fire was the work of
-Guillem himself. To revenge her lover's death, therefore, she sought
-the Signor Don Felix, your father, and related to him all she knew.
-Don Felix, alarmed at finding you were in the hands of a man capable
-of everything, accompanied the lady to the corregidor, who on hearing
-her story had no doubt of Stephani's intentions towards you, and that
-he was the diabolical incendiary the woman suspected. To make inquiries
-into all the circumstances of the case, the corregidor instantly
-despatched orders to me at Retortillo, where I live, directing me to
-repair with my brigade to this chateau, to find you if possible,
-and to take Don Guillem, dead or alive. I have happily performed my
-commission as regards yourself; and I only regret that it is out of my
-power to conduct the criminal to Siguença alive. He compelled us by his
-furious resistance to dispatch him on the spot.'
-
-"The officer, having ended his story, thus continued: 'I will now,
-Signor Don Kimen, draw up a report of all that has happened here; I
-will not, however, detain you long, and we will then set out together
-to release your friends from the anxiety they suffer upon your
-account.' 'Stay, signor commandant,' interrupted Julio, 'I will furnish
-you with matter to lengthen your report: you have got another prisoner
-to liberate. Donna Emerenciana is confined in a dismal chamber of
-this chateau, guarded by a merciless duenna, who upbraids her without
-ceasing for her love of this cavalier, and torments her by every device
-she can imagine.' 'Oh Heaven!' cried Lizana, 'is it possible that the
-barbarous Stephani should not have been contented to exercise his
-cruelty on me alone? Let us hasten to deliver the unfortunate lady from
-the tyranny of her gaoler.'
-
-"Julio lost no time in conducting the commandant, four or five of
-the archers, and Lizana, to the prison of Don Guillem's daughter.
-They knocked at the door; it was opened by the surprised duenna, and
-you may conceive the delight of Don Kimen at again beholding his
-mistress, after having lost her as he supposed for ever. All his hopes
-revived; nor could he reasonably conceive the possibility of their
-non-fulfilment, since he who alone stood between him and his happiness,
-was dead. He threw himself in ecstacy at the feet of Emerenciana;
-when,--picture his horror if you can,--he found, instead of the gentle
-girl who had listened with tender transport to his vows, a maniac.
-Yes! so well had the duenna succeeded in her efforts, that she had
-effaced the image of the lover by destroying the canvas on which it was
-depicted.
-
-[Illustration: Don Kimen discovers Emerenciana has gone mad]
-
-"She remained for some time in apparent meditation, then imagining
-herself to be the fair Angelica, besieged by the Tartars in the towers
-of Albraca, and the persons who filled her apartment to be so many
-Paladins come to her rescue, she received them with much politeness.
-Addressing the chief of the holy brotherhood as Roland, Lizana as
-Brandimart, Julio as Hubert of the Lion, and the archers as Antifort,
-Clarion, Adrian, and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, she said to
-them: 'Brave chevaliers, I no longer fear the Emperor Agrican, nor
-Queen Marphisa: your valour would suffice for my defence against the
-world itself in arms.'
-
-"The officer and his followers could not resist an inclination
-to laugh at this heroic reception; but poor Don Kimen was so much
-afflicted by the unexpected condition in which he found her for whom
-alone he had wished to live, that reason seemed to be on the point
-of abandoning him also. Recovering himself, however, from his first
-surprise, and hoping that she might be brought to recognize the
-unhappy author of her misfortunes, he addressed her tenderly: 'Dearest
-Emerenciana,' said he, 'it is Lizana speaks to thee: recall thy
-scattered thoughts, he comes to tell thee that thy griefs are at an
-end. Heaven has heard the prayer of those fond hearts itself united;
-and its wrath has fallen on the wicked head of him who would have
-separated two beings made for each other.'
-
-"The reply to these words was another speech from the daughter of king
-Galafron to the valiant defenders of Albraca, who this time however
-restrained their mirth. Even the commandant, whose profession was not
-favourable to the kindlier feelings of humanity, was touched with
-compassion, and observing the profound affliction of Don Kimen, said to
-him: 'Signor Cavalier, do not despair! We have, in Siguença, physicians
-celebrated for their skill in curing the disorders of the mind, and
-there is yet hope for your unfortunate lady. But let us away! You,
-Signor Hubert of the Lion,' added he, addressing himself to Julio,
-'you who know the whereabouts of the stables of this castle, take with
-you Antifort and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, bring out the
-fleetest coursers from their stalls and harness them to the car of our
-princess; in the meanwhile I will prepare my dispatches.'
-
-"So saying, he drew out his writing materials, and having finished
-his report, he presented his hand to Angelica and conducted her to
-the court-yard, where he found a carriage with four mules, which had
-been prepared for her reception by the paladins. The lady was placed
-therein by the side of Don Kimen; and the commandant having compelled
-the duenna to enter also, as he thought the corregidor would be glad to
-have some conversation with the dame, he mounted, and they set out for
-Siguença. This is not all: by order of their chief, the archers bound
-Julio, and placed him in another carriage with the body of Don Guillem;
-then mounting their horses they followed the same route.
-
-"During the journey, the daughter of Stephani uttered a thousand
-extravagancies, every one of which was as a dagger in the heart of her
-lover. The presence of the duenna was an additional source of disquiet
-to him. 'It is you, infamous old woman,' said he to her, 'it is you
-who by your cruelty have tortured Emerenciana to madness.' The old
-hypocrite endeavoured to justify herself by pleading the instructions
-of her defunct master. 'It is to Don Guillem alone,' said she, 'that
-her misfortunes are attributable: daily did that too rigid father visit
-her in her room; and it is to his reproaches and threats that the loss
-of her reason is owing.'
-
-"On reaching Siguença, the commandant immediately went to give an
-account of his mission to the corregidor, who after examining Julio
-and the duenna found them lodgings in the prisons of that town,
-where they reside to this time. Lizana, after deposing to all he had
-suffered from Don Guillem, repaired to his father's house, where his
-presence restored joy to his alarmed relations. Donna Emerenciana
-was sent by the judge to Madrid, where she has a kind uncle by her
-mother's side, who desired nothing better than the administration of
-his niece's property, and who was nominated her guardian. As he could
-not creditably do otherwise than appear desirous of her restoration to
-sanity, he had recourse to the most famed physicians of this city; but
-he had nothing to fear, for, after having taken a becoming number of
-fees, they declared her incurable. On this decision, the guardian, no
-doubt very reluctantly, placed her here; and here, most likely, she is
-destined to end her days."
-
-"And a sad destiny it is," cried Don Cleophas; "I am really touched
-by her misfortunes: Donna Emerenciana deserved a better fate. And Don
-Kimen," added he, "what is become of him? I am curious to learn how
-he acted." "Very reasonably," replied Asmodeus: "when he heard that
-the evil was past a remedy, he went to Spanish America. He hopes that
-by change of scene he may insensibly efface the remembrance of those
-charms that wisdom and his own peace require he should forget.----But,"
-continued the Devil, "after having exhibited to you madmen who are
-confined, it is time I shewed to you those who deserve to be so."
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of a physician taking Emerenciana's pulse]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-
-THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.
-
-
-"Run your eyes over the city, and as we discover subjects worthy of
-being placed in this museum, I will describe them to you. There is one,
-already; I must not let him escape: he is a newly-married man. It is
-just a week since, in consequence of reports which reached his ears
-relative to the coquetries of a damsel whom he affected, he went in a
-fury to her house, broke one portion of her furniture, threw the other
-out of windows, and on the next day mended the matter by espousing
-her." "A proper candidate, indeed," said Zambullo, "for a vacant place
-in this establishment!"
-
-"He has a neighbour," resumed the Cripple, "who is not much wiser than
-himself, a bachelor of forty-five, who, with plenty to live on, would
-yet swell the train of some noble pauper. And yonder is the widow of
-an advocate, who, having counted three-score years and more, is about
-to seek the shelter of a convent, that her reputation may not, as she
-says, suffer scandal in this wicked world.
-
-"I perceive also two virgins, or, to speak more properly, two girls
-of fifty years of age. They pray Heaven, in its mercy, to take to it
-their father, who keeps them mewed like minors; as they hope, when he
-is gone, to find handsome men who will marry them for love." "And why
-not?" inquired the Scholar; "there are stranger things than such men to
-be found." "I am perfectly of your opinion," replied Asmodeus: "they
-may find husbands, doubtless; but they ought not to expect to be so
-fortunate,--it is therein that their folly consists.
-
-"There is no country in the world in which women speak the truth
-in regard to their age. At Paris, about a month ago, a maiden of
-forty-eight and a woman of sixty-nine had occasion to go before a
-magistrate as witnesses in a case which concerned the honour of a widow
-of their acquaintance. The magistrate, first addressing himself to
-the married lady, asked her age; and, although her years might have
-been counted by the wrinkles on her brow, she unhesitatingly replied,
-that she was exactly forty. 'And you, madam,' said the man of law,
-addressing the single lady in her turn, 'may I ask your age also?' 'We
-can dispense with that, your worship,' replied the damsel; 'it is a
-question that ought not to be asked.' 'Impossible!' replied he; 'are
-you not aware that the law requires....' 'Oh!' interrupted the lady
-sharply, 'the law requires nothing of the kind: what matters it to the
-law what my age may be? It is none of its business.' 'But, madam,' said
-the magistrate, 'I cannot receive your testimony unless your age be
-stated; it is a necessary preliminary, I assure you.' 'Well,' replied
-the maiden, 'if it be absolutely necessary, look at me with attention,
-and put down my age conscientiously.'
-
-[Illustration: the two ladies before the magistrate]
-
-"The magistrate looked at her over his spectacles, and was polite
-enough to decree that she did not appear above twenty-eight. But when
-to his question, as to how long she had known the widow, the witness
-replied--before her marriage: 'I have made a mistake,' said he; 'for I
-have put you down for twenty-eight, whereas it is nine and twenty years
-since the lady became a wife.' 'You may state then,' cried the maiden,
-'that I am thirty: I may have known the widow since I was one year
-old.' 'That will hardly do,' replied the magistrate; 'we may as well
-add a dozen years at once.' 'By no means,' said the lady; 'I will allow
-another year, if you please; but if my own honour were in question
-instead of the widow's, I would not add one month more to please the
-law, or any other body in the world.'
-
-"When the two witnesses had left the magistrate, the woman said to the
-maiden: 'Do not you wonder at this noodle, who thinks us young enough
-to tell him our ages to a day? It is enough, surely, that they should
-be inscribed on the parish registers, without his poking them into
-his depositions, for the information of all the world. It would be
-delightful, truly, to hear recited in open court,--Madame Richard, aged
-sixty and so many years, and Mademoiselle Perinelle, aged forty-five,
-depose such and so forth. It is too absurd: I have taken care to
-suppress a good score of years; and you were wise enough to follow my
-example.'
-
-'What do you mean by following your example?' cried the ancient damsel,
-with youthful indignation: 'I am extremely obliged to you; but I would
-have you to know that thirty-five years are the utmost I have seen.'
-'Why! child,' replied the matron, with a malicious smile, 'you forget
-yourself: I was present at your birth--ah! what a time it is ago! And
-your poor father! I knew him well. But we must all die; and he was not
-young, either: it is nearly forty years since we buried him.' 'Oh! my
-father,' interrupted the virgin, hastily, irritated at the precision
-of the old dame's tender recollections,--'my father was so old when he
-married my mother, that she was not likely to have any children by him.'
-
-"I perceive in that house opposite," continued the Spirit, "two men,
-who are not over-burdened with sense. One is a youth of family, who
-can neither keep money in his pocket, nor do entirely without it:
-he has discovered, therefore, an excellent means of always having a
-supply. When he is in cash, he lays it out in books, and when his purse
-is empty, he sells them for the half of their cost. The other is a
-foreign artist, who seeks for patronage among the ladies as a portrait
-painter: he is clever, draws correctly, colours to perfection, and is
-extraordinarily successful in the likeness; but--he never flatters his
-originals, yet expects the women will flock to him. Sheer stupidity!
-_Inter stultos referatur._"
-
-"What?" cried the Scholar, "have you studied the classics?" "You
-ought hardly to be surprised at that," replied the Devil: "I speak
-fluently all your barbarous tongues--Hebrew, Greek, Persic, and Arabic.
-Nevertheless, I am not vain of my attainments; and that, at all events,
-is an advantage I have over your learned pedants.
-
-"You may see in that large mansion, on the left, a sick lady surrounded
-by several others, who are in attendance upon her: she is the rich
-widow of a celebrated architect, whose love for her husband's
-profession has extended itself to the most foolish admiration of the
-Corinthian capital of society--the higher classes. She has just made
-her will, by which she bequeaths her immense wealth to grandees of the
-first class, who are ignorant of her very existence, but whose titles
-have gained for them their legacies. She was asked whether she would
-not leave something to a person who had rendered her most important
-services. 'Alas! no,' she replied, with an appearance of regret; 'and
-I am sorry that I cannot do so. I am not so ungrateful as to deny the
-obligation which I owe to him; but his humble name would disgrace my
-will.'"
-
-"Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Leandro, "tell me, I pray you, whether
-the old gentleman whom I perceive so busy reading in his study, does
-not chance to be one of those who merit to be here confined." "He does,
-indeed, deserve it," answered the Demon: "he is an old licentiate, who
-is reading a proof of a book which he is passing through the press."
-"Doubtless, some work on morals or theology?" said Don Cleophas. "Not
-it," replied the Cripple; "it is a collection of amatory songs, which
-he wrote in his youth: instead of burning them, or at least suffering
-them to fall into the oblivion to which he is fast hastening, he has
-resolved to print them himself, for fear his heirs should be tempted to
-do so after his death, and that, out of respect for his memory, they
-should deprive them of their point by rendering them decent.
-
-"There is a little lady living in the same house with our Anacreon,
-whom I must not forget: she is so entirely convinced of the power of
-her attractions, that no man ever spoke to her whom she did not at once
-place in the list of her admirers.
-
-"But let us turn to a wealthy canon, whom I see a few paces beyond
-her. He has a very singular phantasy. If he lives frugally, it is not
-with a view to mortify the flesh, or from a dislike to the grape; if
-his humility does without a coach and six, it is not from avarice. Ah!
-for what object then does he husband his resources? What does he with
-his revenues? Does he bestow them in alms? No! he expends them in the
-purchase of paintings, expensive furniture, and jewellery. Now, you
-would naturally expect he bought these things to enjoy them while he
-lived?--No such thing; he only seeks to swell the inventory of his
-effects when he shall be no more."
-
-"Oh! impossible!" cried Zambullo: "such a madman as you describe cannot
-exist on the earth!" "I repeat, nevertheless," replied the Devil, "that
-such is his mania. The only pleasure he derives from these things is in
-the imagination of how they will figure in his said inventory. Does he
-buy, for instance, a superbly inlaid cabinet; it is neatly packed upon
-the instant, and carefully stowed away; that it may appear quite new in
-the eyes of the brokers who may come when he is dead to bargain for his
-relics.
-
-"I will show you one of his neighbours that you will think quite as mad
-as he,--an old bachelor, recently arrived from the Philippine Isles,
-with an enormous fortune which he derived from his father, who was
-auditor of the court at Manilla: his conduct is extraordinary enough.
-You may see him daily in the antechambers of the king, or of the prime
-minister. Do not fancy, however, that it is ambition which leads him
-there, to solicit some important charge: he seeks no employment; he
-asks for nothing. 'What then!' you will say to me, 'does he go there
-simply to pay his devoirs?' Colder still! He never speaks to the
-minister, to whom indeed he is not even known, nor does he desire to be
-so. 'What then is his object?'--I will tell you. He wishes to persuade
-the world of his credit at Court."
-
-"An amusing original, indeed!" cried the Student, bursting with
-laughter; "he takes great pains to little purpose, truly: you may well
-place him in the list of madmen." "Oh! as to that," replied Asmodeus,
-"I shall shew you many others whom it would be unreasonable to think
-more wise. For instance, look in yonder house, so splendidly illumined,
-and you will perceive three men and two ladies sitting round a table.
-They have just supped together, and they are now playing at cards to
-while away the night, with which only will they leave their occupation.
-Such is the life these gentle cavaliers and ladies lead. They meet
-regularly every evening, and break up like fogs only with the sun; when
-they retire to sleep until darkness again calls them to light and life:
-they have renounced the face of day and the beauties of nature. Would
-not one say, to behold them thus surrounded with waxen tapers, that
-they were corpses, waiting for the last sad offices that are rendered
-to the dead?" "There is no necessity to shut those people from the
-world," said Don Cleophas;--"they have ceased to belong to it."
-
-"I perceive in the arms of sleep," resumed the Cripple, "a man whom I
-esteem, and who is also attached devotedly to me,--a being formed in
-my own mould. He is an old bachelor, who idolises the fair sex. You
-cannot speak to him of a pretty woman, without remarking the delight
-with which he hears you; if you say that her mouth is small, her lips
-rubies, her teeth pearls, her cheeks roses on an alabaster vase; in a
-word, if you paint her in detail, at every stroke he sighs and lifts
-his eyes, and is visibly excited by his voluptuous imagination. Only
-two days ago, passing the shop of a ladies' shoemaker, he stopped to
-look with admiration on a pair of diminutive slippers which were there
-exposed. After contemplating them for some time, with more attention
-than they deserved, he exclaimed with a languishing air, to a cavalier
-who accompanied him: 'Ah! my friend; there now are slippers which
-enchant my soul! what darling feet for which they were made! I look on
-
-them with too much interest: let us away! the very atmosphere around
-this place is dangerous.'"
-
-[Illustration: the old bachelor admires the diminutive slippers]
-
-"We may mark that gentleman with black, at all events," said Leandro
-Perez. "We may indeed," replied the Devil; "and you may tar his
-nearest neighbour with the same brush, while you are about it--an
-original of an auditor, who, because he keeps a carriage, blushes
-whenever he is obliged to put his foot into a public vehicle. He
-again may be worthily paired with one of his own relations, a wealthy
-dignitary of the church here, who almost always rides in a hired coach,
-in order to save two very neat ones, and four splendid mules, which he
-keeps in his stables.
-
-"In the immediate neighbourhood of the auditor and our amatory
-bachelor, I discover a man to whom, without injustice, no one could
-deny his title to a strait waistcoat. There he is--a cavalier of
-sixty, making love to a damsel of sixteen. He visits her daily, and
-thinks to win her affections by a recital of the conquests of his
-youth; he hopes that she will love him now for the charms of which he
-formerly could boast.
-
-[Illustration: the old cavalier wooing the young girl]
-
-"We may place in the same category with the aged swain, another who
-is sleeping about ten paces from us--a French count, who came to
-Madrid to see the court of Spain. This old gentleman, who is nearly
-seventy years of age, shone with great lustre in the court of his own
-sovereign, fifty years ago; he was indeed perfectly the rage; all the
-world envying his manly form, his gallant deportment, and above all
-the exquisite taste which he displayed in his apparel. He scrupulously
-preserved the dresses so much admired, and has continued to wear them
-on all occasions despite the changes of fashion, which in Paris occur
-every day. What, however, is most amusing in the matter is, that he
-fancies himself at this time as graceful and attractive as in the days
-of his youth."
-
-"There is not the slightest doubt," said Don Cleophas, "that we may
-book a place in the _Casa de los locos_ for this French signor." "I
-must reserve another though," replied the Demon, "for a lady who
-resides in a garret, next to the count's mansion. She is an elderly
-widow, who, from excess of affection for her children, has had the
-kindness to make over to them all her property; reserving only a small
-stipend for herself, which, with proper filial gratitude, they take
-good care never to pay.
-
-"I have another subject for the same establishment, in a youth of
-family, who no sooner has a ducat than he spends it; and who, as he
-cannot do without the ready, is capable of anything to obtain it. A
-fortnight ago, his washer-woman, to whom he owed thirty pistoles, came
-to dun him for that sum, stating that she wanted it particularly, as
-she was going to be married to a valet-de-chambre, who sought her hand.
-'You must have more money than this,' said he, 'for where the devil is
-the valet-de-chambre who would take you to wife for thirty pistoles?'
-'Oh! yes,' replied the sudorific dame, 'I have two hundred ducats
-besides.' 'The deuce!' replied our hero, with emotion--'two hundred
-ducats! You have only to give them to me, I will marry you myself, and
-we may then cry quits.' He was taken at his word, and the laundress
-became his wife.
-
-"We must retain three places also for the same number of persons,
-whom you see returning from supper at a celebrated countess's, and
-now stopping before that house on the left, where they at present
-reside. One is a nobleman of an inferior grade, who piques himself on
-his passion for the _belles lettres;_ the second is his brother, your
-ambassador to Timbuctoo, or some such place; and the third is their
-foster-brother, a literary toady who follows in their train. They are
-almost always together, and especially when visiting in the clique
-to which they belong. The noble praises himself only; the ambassador
-praises his brother and himself also; but the toady has three things to
-look after,--the praises of the other two, and the mixing of his own
-praises with theirs.
-
-"Two places more! One for a floricultural citizen, who, scarcely
-gaining his own bread, must need keep a gardener and his wife to look
-after a dozen plants that languish at his suburban villa; the other
-for an actor, who, complaining the other day to his brethren on the
-disagreeables inseparable from a strolling life, observed: 'Well, my
-friends, I am utterly disgusted with my profession; yes, so much so,
-that I would rather be a humble country gentleman with a thousand
-ducats a year.'
-
-"On whichever side I turn my eyes," continued the Spirit, "I see
-nothing but addled brains. There, for instance, is a chevalier of
-Calatrava, who is so proud, or rather vain, of being privately
-encouraged by the daughter of a noble signor, that he thinks himself
-on a par with the first persons of the court. He reminds me of Villius,
-who thought himself son-in-law of Sylla, because he was on good terms
-with the daughter of that dictator; and the resemblance is the more
-striking, because this chevalier, like the Roman, has a _Longarenus;_
-that is to say, a rival of low degree, who, nevertheless, is still more
-favoured by the lady than himself.
-
-"One would be inclined to affirm that the same men are born anew from
-time to time, but under other circumstances. I recognize, in that
-secretary of department, Bollanus, who kept measures with nobody, and
-who affronted all whose appearance was, at first sight, unpleasing to
-him. I behold again, in that old president, Fufidius, who lent his
-money at five per cent. per month; and Marsoeus, who gave his paternal
-mansion to the actress Origo, lives once more in that noble stripling,
-who is spending with a dancer of the ballet the proceeds of a country
-seat which he has near the Escurial."
-
-Asmodeus was about to continue, when, suddenly hearing the sound
-of instruments which were tuning in the neighbourhood, he stopped,
-and said to Don Cleophas: "There are musicians at the end of this
-street, who are just commencing a serenade in honour of the daughter
-of an _alcade de corte;_ if you would like to witness this piece of
-gallantry, you have only to say so." "I am a great admirer of this sort
-of concert," replied Zambullo; "let us by all means get near them;
-there may chance to be some decent voices among the lot." He had hardly
-spoken, when he found himself on a house adjoining that of the alcade.
-
-The serenade was commenced by the instruments alone, which played some
-new Italian airs; and then two of the voices sang alternately the
-following couplets:
-
-    "List, while the thousand charms I sing,
-    Which round thee such enchantment fling,
-    That even Love has plumed his wing
-            To seek thy bower.
-
-    "Thy neck, that shames the mountain snow,
-    Thy lip, that mocks the peach's glow,
-    Bid Cupid's self a captive bow
-            Beneath thy power.
-
-    "Thine arched brows as bows are bent
-    To speed the shafts thine eyes have sent;
-    E'en armed Love's own mail is rent,
-            Resisting them.
-
-    "Thou art, in sooth, a queenly maid;
-    Yet hast thou every heart betray'd,
-    That thee its trusting pole-star made;
-            Thou priceless gem!
-
-    "Oh! would that I some spell possess'd,
-    While painting thee, to touch thy breast;
-    Thou evening star, thou heaven of rest,
-        Thou morning sun!"[6]
-
-[6]
-    "Si de tu hermosura quieres
-    Una copia con mil gracias;
-    Escucha, porque pretendo
-        El pintarla.
-
-    "Es tu frente toda nieve
-    Y el alabastro, batallas
-    Offreciò al Amor, haziendo
-        En ella vaya.
-
-    "Amor labrò de tus cejas
-    Dos arcos para su aljava:
-    Y debaxo ha descubierto
-       Quien le mata.
-
-    "Eres duena de el lugar
-    Vandolera de las almas,
-    Iman de los alvedrios,
-       Linda alhaja.
-
-    "Un rasgo de tu hermosura
-    Quisiera yo retratarla;
-    Que es estrella, es cielo, es sol;
-       No es sino el alva."
-
-
-"The couplets are gallant and delicate," cried the Student. "They seem
-so to you," replied the Demon, "because you are a Spaniard: if they
-were translated into French, for instance, they would not be greatly
-admired. The readers of that nation would think the expressions too
-figurative; and would discover an extravagance of imagination in the
-conceptions, which would be to them absolutely laughable. Every nation
-has its own standard of taste and genius, and will admit no other:
-but enough of these couplets," continued he, "you will hear music of
-another kind.
-
-"Follow with your eyes those four men who have suddenly appeared in
-the street. See! they pounce upon the serenaders: the latter raise
-their instruments to defend their heads, but their frail bucklers yield
-to the blows which fall on them, and are shattered into a thousand
-pieces. And now see, coming to their assistance, two cavaliers; one of
-whom is the gallant donor of the serenade. With what fury they charge
-on the four aggressors! Again, with what skill and valour do these
-latter receive them. What fire sparkles from their swords! See! one of
-the defenders of the serenade has fallen,--it is he who gave it,--he
-is mortally wounded. His companion, perceiving his fall, flies to
-preserve his own life; the aggressors, having effected their object,
-fly also; the musicians have disappeared during the combat; and there
-remains upon the spot the unfortunate cavalier alone, who has paid for
-his gallantry with his life. In the meanwhile, observe the alcade's
-daughter: she is at her window, whence she has observed all that has
-passed. This lady is so vain of her beauty,--although that is nothing
-extraordinary either,--that instead of deploring its fatal effect, she
-rejoices in the force of her attractions, of which she now thinks more
-than ever.
-
-[Illustration: the cavalier apprehended by the watch]
-
-"This will not be the end of it. You see another cavalier, who has
-this moment stopped in the street to assist, were it possible, the
-unfortunate being who is swimming in his blood. While occupied in this
-charitable office, see! he is surprised by the watch. They are taking
-him to prison, where he will remain many months: and he will almost pay
-as dearly for this transaction as though he were the murderer himself."
-
-"This is, indeed, a night of misfortunes!" said Zambullo. "And this
-will not be the last of them," added the Devil. "Were you, this moment,
-at the Gate of the Sun, you would be horror-stricken at the spectacle
-which is now exhibiting. Through the negligence of a domestic, a
-mansion is on fire, which in its rage has already reduced to ashes the
-magnificent furniture it contains, and threatens to consume the whole
-building; but great as might be his loss, Don Pedro de Escolano, to
-whom the house belongs, would not regret it for a moment, could he
-but save his only daughter, Seraphina, who is likely to perish in the
-flames."
-
-Don Cleophas expressing the greatest anxiety to see this fire, the
-Cripple transported him in an instant to the Gate of the Sun, and
-placed him in a house exactly opposite to that which was burning.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION, OUT OF
-FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.
-
-
-In the street beneath them nothing was to be heard but a confused
-noise, arising from cries of fire from one half of the crowd, and the
-more appropriate one of water from the other. As soon as Leandro was
-able to comprehend the scene, he saw that the grand staircase, which
-led to the principal apartments of Don Pedro's mansion, was all in
-flames, which also were issuing with clouds of smoke, from every window
-in the house.
-
-"The fire is at its height," said the Demon; "it has just reached
-the roof, and its thousand tongues are spitting in the air millions
-of brilliant sparks. It is a magnificent sight: so much so, that
-the persons who have flocked from all parts around it, to assist in
-extinguishing the flames, are awed into helpless amazement. You may
-discern in the crowd of spectators an old man in a dressing-gown: it is
-the Signor de Escolano. Do you not hear his cries and lamentations? He
-is addressing the men who surround him, and conjuring them to rescue
-his child. But in vain does he implore them,--in vain does he offer all
-his wealth,--none dares expose his life to save the ill-fated lady,
-who is only sixteen, and whose beauty is incomparable. The old man is
-in despair: he accuses them of cowardice; he tears his hair and beard;
-he beats his breast; the excess of his grief has made him almost mad.
-Seraphina, poor girl, abandoned by her attendants, has just swooned
-with terror in her own apartment, where, in a few minutes, a dense
-smoke will stifle her. She is lost to him for ever: no mortal can save
-her."
-
-"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," exclaimed Leandro Perez, prompted by feelings of
-generous compassion, "if you love me, yield to the pity which desolates
-my heart: reject not my humble prayer when I entreat you to save this
-lovely girl from the horrid death which threatens her. I demand it, as
-the price of the service I rendered but now to you. Do not, this time,
-oppose yourself to my desires: I shall die with grief if you refuse me."
-
-The Devil smiled on witnessing the profound emotion of the Student.
-"The fire warms you, Signor Zambullo," said he. "Verily! you would have
-made an exquisite knight-errant: you are courageous, compassionate for
-the sufferings of others, and particularly prompt in the service of
-sorrowing damsels. You would be just the man, now, to throw yourself
-in the midst of the furnace yonder, like an Amadis, to attempt the
-deliverance of the beauteous Seraphina, and to restore her safe and
-sound to her disconsolate father." "Would to heaven!" replied Don
-Cleophas, "that it were possible. I would undertake the task without
-hesitation." "Pity that your death," resumed the Cripple, "would be the
-sole reward of so noble an exploit! I have already told you that human
-courage can avail nothing on the occasion. Well! I suppose, to gratify
-you, I must meddle in the matter; so observe how I shall set about it:
-you can watch from hence all my operations."
-
-He had no sooner spoken these words than, borrowing the form of Leandro
-Perez, to the great astonishment of the Student, he alighted unobserved
-amid the crowd, which he elbowed without ceremony, and quickly passing
-through it, rushed into the fire as into his natural element. The
-spectators who beheld him, alarmed at the apparent madness of the
-attempt, uttered a cry of horror. "What insanity!" said one; "is it
-possible that interest can blind a man to such an extent as this?
-None but a downright idiot could have been tempted by any proffered
-recompence to dare such certain death." "The rash youth," said another,
-"must be the lover of Don Pedro's daughter; and in the desperation of
-his grief has resolved to save his mistress or to perish with her."
-
-In short, they predicted for him the fate of Empedocles,[7] when, a
-minute afterwards, they saw him emerge from the flames with Seraphina
-in his arms. The air resounded with acclamations, and the people were
-loud in their praises of the brave cavalier who had performed so noble
-a feat. When rashness ends in success, critics are silent; and so this
-prodigy now appeared to the assembled multitude as a very natural
-result of a Spaniard's daring.
-
-[7] A Sicilian poet and philosopher, who threw himself into the crater
-of Mount Ætna.
-
-[Illustration: the rescue of Seraphina]
-
-As the lady was still insensible, her father did not dare to give
-himself up to joy: he feared that, although thus miraculously delivered
-from the fire, she would die before his eyes, from the terrible
-impression made upon her mind by the peril she had encountered.
-He was, however, soon reassured, when, recovering from her swoon,
-her eyes opened, and looking on the old man, she said to him with
-an affectionate voice: "Signor, I should have had more occasion for
-affliction than rejoicing at the preservation of my life, were not
-yours also in safety." "Ah! my child," replied her father, embracing
-her, "nothing is lost since you are saved. But let us thank," exclaimed
-he, presenting to her the double of Cleophas,--"let us testify our
-gratitude to this young cavalier. He is your preserver; it is to him
-you owe your life. How can we repay that debt? Not all that I possess
-would suffice to cancel the obligation he has conferred upon us."
-
-To these observations the Devil replied, with an air which would have
-done Don Cleophas credit: "Signor, I am noble, and a Castilian. I seek
-no other reward for the service I have had the happiness to render you
-than the pleasure of having dried your tears, and of having saved from
-the flames the lovely object which they threatened to devour;--surely
-such a service is its own reward."
-
-The disinterestedness and generosity of their benefactor raised for
-him the highest feelings of admiration and esteem in the breast of the
-Signor de Escolano, who entreated him to call upon them, and offered
-him his warmest friendship. The Devil replied in fitting terms to the
-frank advances of the old man; and, after many other compliments had
-passed, the father and daughter retired to a small building which
-remained uninjured, at the bottom of the garden. The Demon then
-rejoined the Student, who, seeing him return under his former guise,
-said to him: "Signor Asmodeus, have my eyes deceived me? Were you not
-but now in my shape and figure?" "Excuse the liberty," replied the
-Cripple; "and I will tell you the motive for this metamorphosis. I have
-formed a grand design: I intend that you should marry Seraphina, and,
-under your form, I have already inspired her with a violent passion
-for your lordship. Don Pedro, also, is highly satisfied with you,
-because I told him that in rescuing his daughter I had no other object
-than to render them both happy, and that the honour of having happily
-terminated so perilous an adventure was a sufficient reward for a
-Spanish gentleman. The good man has a noble soul, and will not easily
-be outdone in generosity; and he is at this moment deliberating within
-himself whether he shall not give you his daughter, as the most worthy
-return he can make to you for having saved her life.
-
-[Illustration: Don Pedro and Seraphina thank Zambullo]
-
-"Well! while he is hesitating," added the Cripple, "let us get out
-of this smother into a place more favourable for continuing our
-observations." And so saying, away he flew with the Student to the top
-of a high church filled with splendid tombs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.
-
-
-Asmodeus now said to the Student: "Before we continue our observations
-on the living, we will for a few moments disturb the peaceful rest of
-those who lie within this church. I will glance over all the tombs;
-reveal the secrets they contain, and the feelings which have prompted
-their elevation.
-
-"The first of those which are on our right contains the sad remains of
-a general officer, who, like another Agamemnon, on his return from the
-wars found an Ægisthus in his house; in the second, reposes a young
-cavalier of noble birth, who, desirous of displaying in the sight of
-his mistress his strength and skill at a bull-fight, was gored to death
-by his furious opponent; and in the third lies an old prelate who left
-this world rather unceremoniously. He had made his will in the vigour
-of health, and was imprudent enough to read it to his domestics, whom,
-like a good master, he had not forgotten: his cook was in a hurry to
-receive his legacy.
-
-"In the fourth mausoleum rests a courtier who never rested in his
-lifetime. Even at sixty years of age, he was daily seen in attendance
-on the king, from the levée until his majesty retired for the night: in
-recompense for all these attentions the king loaded him with favours."
-"And was he, now," said Don Cleophas, "the man to use his influence
-for others?" "For no one," replied the Devil: "he was liberal of his
-promises of service to his friends, but he was religiously scrupulous
-of never keeping them." "The scoundrel!" exclaimed Leandro. "Were we to
-think of lopping off the superfluous members of society,--men that like
-tumours on the body politic draw all its nourishment to themselves, it
-is with courtiers like this one would begin."
-
-"The fifth tomb," resumed Asmodeus, "encloses the mortal remains of
-a signor, ever zealous for the interests of his country, and jealous
-of the glory of the king his master, in whose service he spent the
-best years of his life as ambassador to Rome or France, to England or
-Portugal. He ruined himself so effectually by his embassies that he
-did not leave behind him enough to defray the expenses of his funeral,
-which the king has therefore paid out of gratitude for his services.
-
-"Let us turn to the monuments on the other side. The first is that of
-a great merchant who left enormous wealth to his children; but, lest
-they should forget, in its flood, the humble source from which it,
-like themselves, was derived, he directed that his name and occupation
-should be graven on his tomb, to the no small annoyance of his
-descendants.
-
-"The next stone which surpasses every other in the church for its
-magnificence, is regarded with much admiration by all travellers." "In
-truth," said Zambullo, "it appears to me deserving of its reputation. I
-am absolutely enchanted by those two kneeling figures--how exquisitely
-are they chiselled? Not Phidias himself could have surpassed the
-sculpture of this splendid work! But tell me, dear Asmodeus, what in
-their lives were those whom these all-breathing marbles represent?"
-
-The Cripple replied: "You behold a duke and his noble spouse: the
-former was grand chamberlain to his majesty, and the duchess was
-celebrated for her extreme piety. I must, however, relate to you
-an anecdote of her grace, which you will think rather lively for a
-devotee;--it is as follows.
-
-"She had been for a long time in the habit of confessing her sins to
-a monk of the order of Mercy, one Don Jerome d'Aguilar, a good man,
-and a famous preacher, with whom she was highly satisfied, when there
-suddenly appeared at Madrid a Dominican, who captivated the town by
-the novelty of his style, and the comfortable doctrines on which he
-insisted. This new orator was named the brother Placidus: the people
-flocked to his sermons as to those of Cardinal Ximenes; and as his
-reputation grew, the court, led to hear him by curiosity, became more
-loud in his praises than the town.
-
-"Our duchess at first made it a point of honour to hold out against
-the renown of the new-comer, nor could even curiosity induce her to go
-to hear him, that she might judge for herself of his eloquence. She
-acted thus from a desire to prove to her spiritual director, that,
-like a good and grateful penitent, she sympathised with him in the
-chagrin which the presence of brother Placidus must have caused him.
-But the Dominican made so much noise, that at last she yielded to the
-temptation of seeing him, still however assured of her own fidelity:
-she saw him, heard him preach, liked him, followed him; and the little
-inconstant absolutely formed the project of putting herself under his
-direction.
-
-"It was, however, necessary to get rid of her old confessor, and
-this was not an easy matter; a spiritual guide cannot be thrown off
-like a lover; a devotee would not like to be thought a coquette, or
-to lose the esteem of the director whom she abandons; so what did
-the duchess? She sought Don Jerome, and with an air of sorrow which
-spoke a real affliction, said to him: 'Father, I am in despair: you
-see me in amazement;--in a grief,--in a perplexity of mind which
-I cannot depict.' 'What ails you then, Madam?' replied d'Aguilar.
-'Would you believe it?' she replied; 'my husband, who has ever had
-the most perfect confidence in my virtue, after having seen me for so
-long a time under your guidance, has, without appearing in the least
-suspicious of myself, become suddenly jealous of you, and desires that
-you may no longer be my confessor. Did you ever hear of a similar
-caprice? In vain have I objected that by his suspicions he insulted not
-only myself, but a man of the strictest piety, freed from the tyranny
-of the passions; I only increased his jealous fears by my vindication
-of your sacred honour.'
-
-"Don Jerome, despite his shrewdness, was taken in by this story: it
-is true that it was told with such demonstrations of candour as would
-have deceived all the world. Although sorry to lose a penitent of
-such importance, he did not fail to exhort her to obey her husband's
-will; but the eyes of his Reverence were opened at last, and the trick
-discovered, when he learned that the lady had chosen brother Placidus
-as his successor.
-
-"After the grand chamberlain and his cunning spouse," continued the
-Devil, "comes a more modest tomb, which has only recently received the
-ill-assorted remains of a president of the council of the Indies and
-his young wife. This president, in his sixty-third year, married a
-girl of twenty: he had by a former wife two children, whom he was about
-to leave penniless, when a fit of apoplexy carried him off; and his
-wife died twenty-four hours after him from vexation at his not having
-lived three days longer.
-
-"And now we have arrived at the most respectable monument this church
-contains. For it every Spaniard has as much veneration, as the Romans
-had for the tomb of Romulus." "Of what great personage, then, does
-it contain the ashes?" asked Leandro Perez. "Of a prime minister of
-Spain," replied Asmodeus; "and never did that monarchy possess his
-equal. The king left, with confidence, the cares of government to
-this great man; who so worthily acquitted himself of the charge,
-that monarch and subjects were equally contented. Under his ministry
-the state was ever flourishing, and its people happy; for his maxims
-of government were founded on the sure principles of humanity and
-religion. Still, although his life was blameless, he was not free from
-apprehension at his death,--the responsibility of his office might
-indeed make the best of mortals tremble.
-
-"In a corner, a little beyond the tomb of this worthy minister, you may
-discern a marble tablet placed against one of the columns. Say! shall
-I open the sepulchre beneath it, and display before your eyes all that
-remains of a lowly maiden who perished in the flower of her youth,
-when her modest beauty won for her the love and admiration of all who
-beheld her? It has returned to its primeval dust, that fragile form,
-which in its life possessed so dangerous a beauty as to keep her fond
-parent in continual alarm, lest its bright temptation should expose her
-to the wiles of the seducer;--a misfortune which might have befallen
-had she lived much longer, for already was she the idol of three young
-cavaliers, who, inconsolable for her loss, died shortly afterwards by
-their own hands. Their tragical history is engraven in letters of gold
-on the stone I shewed you, with three little figures which represent
-the despairing lovers in the act of self-destruction: one is draining
-a glass of poison; another is falling on his sword; and the third is
-tying a cord about his neck, having chosen to die by hanging."
-
-The Demon finding that the Student laughed with all his might at
-this sorrowful story, and that the idea of the three figures thus
-depicted on the maiden's monument amused him, said: "Since you find
-food for mirth in the artist's imagination, I am almost in the mind to
-carry you this moment to the banks of the Tagus, and there shew you
-a monument erected by the will of a dramatic author, in the church
-of a village near Almaraz, whither he had retired, after having led
-a long and joyous life at Madrid. This scribe had produced a vast
-number of comedies full of ribald wit and low obscenity; but repenting
-of his outrages upon decency ere he died, and desirous of expiating
-the scandal they had caused, he directed that they should carve upon
-his tomb a sort of pile, composed of books, bearing the names of the
-various pieces he had written, and that beside it they should place the
-image of Modesty, who, with lighted torch, should be about to consign
-them to the flames.
-
-"Besides the dead whose monuments I have described to you, there are
-within this church an infinity of others without a stone to mark the
-spot where their ashes repose. I see their shades wandering solemnly
-around: they glide along, passing and repassing one after another
-before us, without disturbing the profound quiet which reigns in this
-holy place. They speak not; but I read in their silence all their
-thoughts." "I am annoyed without measure," exclaimed Don Cleophas,
-"that I cannot, like you, have the pleasure of beholding them!" "That
-pleasure I can give you then," replied Asmodeus; "nothing is more
-easy." The Demon just touched the Student's eyes, and by a delusion
-caused him to perceive a great number of pallid spectres.
-
-[Illustration: the sculpture of Modesty burning the books]
-
-As he looked on these apparitions, Zambullo trembled. "What!" said the
-Devil to him, "you are agitated! Is it with fear of these ghostly
-visitants? Let not their ghastly apparel alarm you! Look at it well!
-It will adorn your own majestic person some of these days. It is the
-uniform of the shades: collect yourself, and fear nothing. Is it
-possible your assurance can fail you now,--you, who have had the daring
-to look on me? These gentry are harmless compared with myself."
-
-The Student, at these words, recalling his wonted courage, looked on
-the phantoms with tranquillity; which the Demon perceiving: "Bravo!"
-said he. "Well! now," he continued, "regard these shadows with
-attention! You will perceive that the occupant of the stately mausoleum
-is confounded with the inhabitant of the unstoned grave. The ranks
-by which they were distinguished in their lives died with them; and
-the grand chamberlain and the prime minister are no more now than the
-lowliest citizen that moulders in this church. The greatness of these
-noble shades ended with their days, as that of the strutting hero of a
-tragedy falls with the curtain."
-
-"I have a remark to make," interrupted Leandro. "I see a lonely spirit
-hovering about, and seeming to shun all contact with his fellows."
-"Rather say," replied the Demon, "and you will speak the truth, that
-his fellows shun all company with him: and what now think you is that
-poor ghost? He was an old notary, who had the vanity to be buried in a
-leaden coffin; which has so offended the self-love of the more humble
-tenants of the surrounding tombs, that they resolved to black-ball him,
-and will not therefore permit his shade to mix with theirs."
-
-"I have another observation yet to make," resumed Don Cleophas. "Two
-shadows, just now, on meeting, stopped for a moment to look upon each
-other, and then passed each on his way." "They are, or rather were, two
-intimate friends," replied the Devil; "one was a painter, and the other
-a musician: they both drew their inspiration from the bottle; but
-were, otherwise, honest fellows enough. It is worthy of note that they
-both brushed off in the same year; and when their spirits meet, struck
-by the remembrance of their former delights, they say to each other by
-their sorrowful but expressive silence: 'Ah! my friend, we shall drink
-no more.'"
-
-"Grammercy!" cried the Student, "what do I see. At the other end of
-the church are two spirits, who are passing along together, but badly
-matched. Their forms and manners are immensely different: one is of
-enormous height, and moves with corresponding gravity, while the other
-is of dwarf-like stature, and passes o'er the ground like a breath."
-"The giant," replied the Cripple, "was a German, who lost his life in
-a debauch, by drinking three healths with tobacco mixed inadvertently
-in his wine; and the little ghost is that of a Parisian, who, with
-the gallantry belonging to his countrymen, was imprudent enough, on
-entering this very church, to present the holy water to a young lady
-who was leaving it: as a reward for his politeness, he was saluted on
-the same day with the contents of a carbine, which left him here a
-moral for all too attentive Frenchmen.
-
-"For myself," continued Asmodeus, "I have been looking at three spirits
-which I discerned among the crowd; and I must tell you by what means
-they were separated from their earthly companions. They animated the
-charming forms of as many female performers, who made as much noise
-at Madrid, in their time, as did Origo, Cytheris and Arbuscula, in
-theirs, at Rome; and, like their said prototypes, they possessed the
-exquisite art of amusing mankind in public, and of privately ruining
-the same amiable animal. But, alas! all things must have an end, and
-these were the finales of those celebrated ladies: one died suddenly
-of envy, at an apopletic fit of applause, from the pit, which fell upon
-a lovely first-night; another found in excessive good cheer, at home,
-the infallible drop which follows it; and, the third, undertaking the
-dangerous character, for an actress, of a vestal, became so excited
-with her part that she died of a miscarriage behind the scenes.
-
-"But we will leave to their reposes(!) all these shades," again
-continued the Demon; "we have passed them sufficiently in review.
-I will now present to your sight a spectacle which, as a man, must
-impress you with a deeper feeling than the sight of the dead. I am
-about, by the same power which has rendered the shades of the departed
-visible to your sight, to present to you the vision of Death himself.
-Yes! you shall behold that insatiable enemy of the human race, who
-prowls unceasingly in the haunts of man, unperceived by his victims;
-who surrounds the earth, in his speed, in the twinkling of an eye; and
-who strikes by his power, its most distant inhabitants at the same
-moment.
-
-"Look towards the east! He rises on your sight. A million birds of
-baneful omen fly before his advent in terror, and announce his presence
-with funereal cries. His tireless hand is armed with the fatal scythe
-which mows successive generations as they spring from earth. But if, as
-mocking at humanity, on one wing is depicted war, pestilence, famine,
-shipwreck, conflagration, with other direful modes by which he sweeps
-upon his prey, the other shows the priests who offer to him daily
-hecatombs in sport; as youthful doctors, who receive from himself their
-diplomas, after swearing, in his presence, never to practise surgery or
-medicine contrary to the rules of the courts."
-
-Although Don Cleophas suspected that all he saw was an illusion, and
-that it was merely to gratify his taste for the marvellous that the
-Devil raised this form of Death before his eyes, he could not look
-on it without trembling. He assumed, however, all the courage he was
-possessed of, and said to the Demon: "This fearful spectre will not, I
-suppose, pass vainly over Madrid: he will doubtless leave some awful
-traces of his flight?" "Yes! certainly," replied the Cripple; "he
-comes not here for nothing; and it depends but on yourself to be the
-witness of his visitation." "I take you at your word," exclaimed the
-Student; "let us follow in his train; let me visit with him the unhappy
-families on whom he will expend his present wrath. What tears are about
-to flow!" "Beyond a doubt," replied Asmodeus; "but many which come at
-convenience. Death, despite his horrors, causes at least as much joy as
-grief."
-
-[Illustration: Death flies over the poor man's bed]
-
-Our two spectators took their flight, and followed the grim monarch
-in his progress. He entered first a modest house, whose owner lay in
-helpless sickness on his bed; the autocrat but touched the poor man
-with his scythe, and he expired in the midst of his weeping relations,
-who instantly commenced an affecting concert of cries and lamentions.
-"There is no mockery here," said the Demon: "the wife and children
-of this worthy citizen loved him with real affection: besides, they
-depended on him for their bread; and the belly is rarely a hypocrite.
-
-"Not so, however, is it in the next house, in which you perceive his
-grisly majesty now occupied in releasing a bed-ridden old gentleman
-from his pains. He is an aged counsellor who, having always lived a
-bachelor of law, has passed his life as badly as he could, that he
-might leave behind him a good round sum for the benefit of his three
-nephews, who have flocked round his bed on hearing that he is about to
-quit it, at last. They of course displayed an extreme affliction, and
-very well they did it; but are now, you see, letting fall the mask,
-and are preparing to do their duties as heirs, after having performed
-their parts as relations. How they will rummage the old gentleman's
-effects! What heaps of gold and silver will they discover! 'How
-delightful!' said one of these heart-broken descendants to another,
-this moment,--'how delightful is it for nephews to be blessed with
-avaricious old uncles, who renounce the pleasures of life for their
-sakes!'" "A superb funeral oration," said Leandro Perez. "Oh! as to
-that," replied the Devil, "the majority of wealthy parents, who live to
-a good old age, ought not to expect a better from their own children.
-
-"While these heritors are joyfully seeking the treasures of the
-deceased, Death is directing his flight to a large house, in which
-resides a young nobleman who has the small-pox. This noble, one of the
-brightest ornaments of the court, is about to perish, just as his star
-is rising, despite the famed physician who attends him,--or rather
-because he is attended by this learned doctor.
-
-[Illustration: Death approaches the pious monk]
-
-"But see! with what rapidity does the fatal scythe perform its
-operations. Already has it completed the destiny of the youthful lord,
-and its unblunted edge is turned elsewhere. It hovers over yonder
-convent; it darts into its deepest cell, sweeps over a pious monk, and
-cuts the thread of the penitent and mortifying life that he has led
-during forty years. Death, all-fearful as he is, had no terrors for
-this holy man; so, in revenge, he seeks a mansion where his presence
-will be unwelcome indeed. He flies towards a licentiate of importance,
-who has only recently been appointed to the bishopric of Albarazin.
-This prelate is busily occupied with preparations for repairing to his
-diocese with all the pomp which in our day accompanies the princes of
-the church. Nevertheless, he is about to take his departure for the
-other world, where he will arrive with as few followers as the poor
-monk; and I am not sure that he will be quite as favourably received."
-
-"Oh heavens!" cried Zambullo; "Death stoops upon the palace of the
-king. Alas! one stroke of his fatal scythe, and ail Spain will be
-plunged in dreadful consternation." "Well may you tremble," said
-the Cripple; "for the barbarian has no more respect for kings than
-for their meanest slaves. But be not alarmed," he added, a moment
-afterwards, "he aims not at the monarch yet; his business now is with
-a courtier only, one of those noble lords whose only occupation is to
-swell his master's train: such ministers as these are not exactly those
-the state can least afford to lose."
-
-"But it would seem," replied the Student, "that the spectre king is
-not contented with so mean a prize as the parasite you speak of.
-See! he hovers still about the royal house; and, this time, near the
-chamber of the Queen." "Just so," replied the Devil, "and he might be
-worse employed: he is about to cut the windpipe of an amiable dame who
-delights to sow divisions in her sovereign's court; and who is now
-mortally chagrined, because two ladies whom she had cleverly set by the
-ears, have been unreasonable enough to become sincerely reconciled with
-each other.
-
-[Illustration: the grieving wife tears her hair]
-
-"And now, my master, you will hear cries of real affliction," continued
-the Demon. "Death enters that splendid mansion to the left; and a scene
-as touching as the world's stage offers is about to be acted there.
-Look, if you can, on the heart-rending tragedy." "In truth," said Don
-Cleophas, "I perceive a lady struggling in the arms of her attendants,
-and tearing her hair with signs of deepest grief. Tell me its cause!"
-"Look in the room adjoining, and you will see cause enough," replied
-the Devil. "You observe the man stretched on that stately couch: it is
-her dying husband,--to her a loss indeed! Their story is affecting, and
-deserves to be written:--I have a great mind to relate it to you."
-
-"You will give me great pleasure in so doing," interrupted Leandro:
-"the sorrows of this world do not move less than its vices and follies
-amuse me." "It is rather long," resumed Asmodeus, "but it is too
-interesting to annoy you on that account. Besides, I will confess to
-you, that, all Demon as I am, I am sick of following the track of
-Death: let us leave him in his search of newer victims." "With all my
-heart," replied Zambullo: "I am more curious to hear your promised
-narrative Of suffering humanity, than to see my fellow-mortals, one
-after another, hurried into eternity." The Cripple then commenced as
-follows, after having transported the Student on to the roof of one of
-the highest houses in the Strada d'Alcala.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-
-THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
-
-A young cavalier of Toledo, accompanied by his valet-de-chambre, was
-journeying with all possible speed from the place of his birth, in
-order to avoid the consequences of a tragical adventure in which he had
-unfortunately been engaged. He was about two leagues from the town of
-Valencia, when, at the entrance of a wood, he fell in with a lady who
-was alighting hastily from a carriage. No veil obscured her charms,
-which were more than enough to dazzle a youthful beholder; and, as
-the lovely damsel appeared in trouble, it is not to be wondered that
-the cavalier, imagining that she sought assistance, offered her his
-protection and his services.
-
-"Generous unknown," said the lady, "I will not refuse your proffered
-aid: Heaven, it would seem, has sent you here to avert a dreadful
-misfortune. Two cavaliers have met to fight within this wood;--I this
-moment saw them enter. Hasten with me, I entreat you, and assist me
-to prevent their fatal design." As she spoke, she plunged into the
-forest, and the Toledan, throwing his horse's rein to his attendant,
-followed her as quickly as he was able.
-
-They had not gone a hundred yards before they heard the clashing of
-arms, and almost immediately discovered the two gentlemen, who were
-thrusting at each other with becoming fury. The Toledan drew his sword
-but to separate theirs; and by its assistance, and by entreaties
-uttered in exclamations, he managed to suspend their pastime, while he
-inquired the subject of their difference.
-
-"Brave cavalier," said one of the combatants, "you see in me, Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza, and in my opponent, Don Alvaro Ponza. We both
-love Donna Theodora, the lady by whom you are accompanied; but we love
-to little purpose, for, despite our endeavours to win her affections,
-she treats our attentions with disdain. For myself, I should have been
-contented to worship an unwilling deity; but my rival, instead of
-acting with as much wisdom, has resolved to have the shrine to himself,
-and so has brought me here."
-
-"It is true," interrupted Don Alvaro, "that I have so determined; and
-it is because I believe that, my rival away, Donna Theodora might deign
-to listen to my vows. I seek then the life of Don Fabricio, to rid
-myself of a man who stands in the way of my happiness."
-
-"Signor Cavalier," said the Toledan, "I cannot approve of your reasons
-for duelling; besides that, you are injuring the lady who is the object
-of your strife. You must be aware that it will soon be known that you
-have been fighting for her; and the honour of your mistress should
-surely be dearer to you than happiness or life itself. And what, too,
-can he who may be successful expect to gain by his victory? Can he
-hope that, after having staked a lady's reputation on the quarrel, she
-will thank him for his folly? What madness! Believe me, it were far
-better, that, acting as becomes the names you bear, you should control
-your jealous wrath. Be men and pledge me your sacred words to bind
-yourselves by the terms I shall propose to you, and your quarrel may be
-adjusted without a deed of blood."
-
-[Illustration: the Toledan cavalier parts the duellists]
-
-"Ah! but how?" cried Don Alvaro. "Why," replied the Toledan, "let the
-lady determine the question; let her choose between yourself and Don
-Fabricio; and let the slighted lover, instead of seeking to injure
-his more fortunate rival, leave the field at once." "Agreed!" said
-Don Alvaro; "and I swear it by all that is sacred. Let Donna Theodora
-decide between us. She may prefer, if she will, my rival to myself:
-this even would be less unbearable than the dread suspense in which I
-now exist." "And I," said Don Fabricio in his turn,--"I call Heaven
-to witness, that if the divine object of my love declares not in my
-favour, I will fly from the sight of her perfections; and if I cannot
-forget them, I will at least behold them no more."
-
-On this the Toledan, turning to Donna Theodora, said: "Madam, it is
-for you now, by a single word, to disarm these two rivals for your
-love: you have only to name him whose constancy your favours would
-reward." "Signor Cavalier," replied the lady, "try some other means of
-reconciling them. Why should I become the victim of their disagreement?
-I esteem, in all sincerity, both Don Fabricio and Don Alvaro; but I
-love neither: and it were surely unjust, that, to prevent the stain
-with which their disputes may sully my name, I should be compelled to
-excite hopes that my heart disavows."
-
-"It is too late to dissemble, Madam," resumed the Toledan; "you
-must now declare yourself. Although these cavaliers are equally
-good-looking, I doubt not that you can discern more merit in one than
-in the other; and I am confirmed in that opinion by the alarm with
-which but now I saw you agitated."
-
-"You misinterpret that alarm," replied Donna Theodora. "The loss of
-either of these gentlemen would affect me beyond a doubt, and I should
-never cease to reproach myself with his death, although its innocent
-cause; but if I appeared to you greatly agitated, I can assure you that
-it was the peril to which my own honour was exposed that excited all my
-fear."
-
-The impetuous Don Alvaro Ponza now lost all patience. "Enough!" he
-exclaimed, with an air of fury; "since the lady refuses to end the
-matter peaceably, let the fate of arms decide;" and as he spoke, he
-raised his weapon against Don Fabricio, who on his part prepared to
-receive him.
-
-On this, the lady, more alarmed by the fury of Don Alvaro than decided
-by her own inclination, exclaimed wildly: "Hold! noble cavaliers; I
-will do as you desire. Since there is no other means of preventing a
-strife in which my reputation is involved, I declare in favour of Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza."
-
-These words had no sooner escaped her lips, than the discarded Ponza,
-without uttering a syllable, hastened to his horse, which he had
-fastened to a tree, released it, threw himself into the saddle, and
-disappeared, after casting one look of intense fury on his rival
-and implacable mistress. The fortunate Mendoza, on the contrary,
-was in ecstasies; now humbling himself in his joy at the feet of
-Donna Theodora, and now embracing the Toledan, unable to contain the
-satisfaction with which his heart was filled, or to find words to
-express his gratitude.
-
-In the meanwhile the lady, freed from the presence of the burning Don
-Alvaro, had become more tranquil; and it was with grief she reflected
-that she had engaged to permit the addresses of a lover, whom, while
-she truly esteemed his merit, her heart told her she could never love.
-
-[Illustration: Don Fabricio at the feet of Donna Theodora]
-
-"Signor Don Fabricio," she said to him, timidly, "I trust you will
-not abuse the preference I have just avowed for you; you owe it only
-to the necessity in which I found myself placed of declaring between
-yourself and Don Alvaro. I can say with truth that I have ever thought
-more highly of you than of him;--there are noble qualities that you
-possess of which Alvaro cannot boast; I have always looked on you
-with justice as the most perfect cavalier Valencia contains; I have
-even no hesitation in saying that the attentions of such a man would
-be flattering to the vanity of any woman; but, how honourable soever
-they might be to me, I feel bound to tell you that my heart is still
-untouched, and that it is with sorrow I behold in you an affection
-for myself so great as your every action displays. I will not,
-however, take from you all hope of winning my affections; my present
-indifference may arise from the effects of that grief which still fills
-my bosom for the loss of my late husband, Don Andrea de Cifuentes, who
-died about a year ago. Although we were not long united, and although
-he was advanced in years when my parents, dazzled by his riches,
-compelled me to espouse him, I was yet much afflicted by his loss, and
-the wound is still green which his death inflicted.
-
-"Ah! was he not worthy of my regret?" she added. "He was indeed unlike
-those aged and jealous tyrants, who, unable to persuade themselves
-that a youthful wife can be virtuous enough to excuse their weakness,
-watch all her motions with suspicion, or place over her some hideous
-duenna as a spy. Alas! he had in my honour a confidence of which a
-young and much-loved husband would be hardly capable. His kindness was
-unbounded, and his only study, to anticipate my every wish. You may
-suppose, then, Mendoza, that such a man as Don Andrea de Cifuentes
-is not easily forgotten. No! he is ever present in my thoughts; and
-the fond recollection of his amiability and love for me may excuse my
-indifference for objects which might otherwise attract me."
-
-"Ah! Madam," exclaimed Don Fabricio, interrupting Donna Theodora, "how
-great is my delight to learn from those lovely lips that it is from no
-dislike for myself that you have slighted all my cares! I can still
-then hope that the day will come when my constancy may be rewarded."
-"It will not be my fault if that do not happen," replied the lady,
-"since I consent that you should visit me, and will not forbid you to
-speak to me of love. You shall strive, then, to win me to the world
-and to yourself by your attentions; and I promise to conceal not from
-you any favourable impression you may make: but if, Mendoza, despite
-your efforts, my heart refuses to be happy, remember that I give you no
-right to reproach me."
-
-Don Fabricio was about to reply; but the lady, placing her hand in
-that of the Toledan, turned away, and hastened towards her carriage.
-He therefore unbound his horse, and leading it through the thicket by
-the bridle, followed his mistress, and arrived just in time to see her
-enter the vehicle, which she did with as much agitation as she had
-left it, although arising from a very different cause. The Toledan and
-himself accompanied Donna Theodora to the gate of Valencia, where they
-separated,--she taking the road to her own house, and Don Fabricio
-taking the Toledan with him to his.
-
-After a slight repose, Mendoza entertained the stranger with a
-sumptuous repast, and in the course of conversation asked him what had
-brought him to Valencia, and whether he proposed to stay there for any
-time. "For as short a time as possible," replied the Toledan; "I am
-here only on my way to the sea, that I may embark in the first vessel
-that leaves the shores of Spain. It matters little to me in what part
-of the world I go to end a life of unhappiness, except that the more
-distant from this fatal clime the better."
-
-"What do I hear?" exclaimed Don Fabricio with surprise. "What can have
-disgusted you with your native land, and caused you to look with hate
-on that which all men love so fondly?" "After what has occurred to me,"
-replied the Toledan, "my country is to me unbearable, and to leave
-it, for ever, my only desire." "Ah! Signor Cavalier," cried Mendoza,
-affected with compassion, "I am impatient to learn your misfortunes!
-If I cannot relieve them, I am at least disposed to share them. Your
-appearance from the first prepossessed me in your favour, your bearing
-and manners charmed me, and already I feel deeply interested in your
-destiny."
-
-"You afford me, Signor Don Fabricio," replied the Toledan, "the
-greatest consolation I could receive; and in return for the kindness
-you are pleased to express for me, it delights me to be able to say,
-with truth, that on seeing you with Don Alvaro Ponza my heart inclined
-towards yourself. A feeling, with which I never was inspired at the
-first sight of any one before, made me fear lest Donna Theodora should
-decide in favour of your rival; and it was with joy I heard her state
-her preference for you. Since then, you have so gained upon that first
-impression, that, far from desiring to conceal my griefs, I seek with a
-sort of pleasure to unbosom them to you: Learn then my misfortunes.
-
-"I was born in Toledo, and my name is Don Juan de Zarata. I lost my
-parents while almost in my infancy; so that at an early age I found
-myself in the enjoyment of a yearly income of four thousand ducats,
-which I inherited from them. As my hand was at my own disposal, and
-as I was rich enough to be able to bestow it where my heart should
-dictate, I married, early, a maiden of exquisite beauty; careless that
-she added nothing to my fortune, and that her rank was inferior to
-my own. I loved her, and I was happy; and that I might enjoy to the
-full the pleasure of possessing one so dear to me, I had not been long
-married before I sought with her a small estate which I possessed a few
-leagues from Toledo.
-
-"We lived there, for some time, in unity and bliss; when it chanced
-that the Duke de Naxera, whose seat was in the neighbourhood, came
-one day, when he was hunting, to refresh himself at my house. He saw
-my wife, and unfortunately became enamoured of her. I suspected his
-passion from the first; and was not long before I was too certainly
-convinced of its existence by the eagerness with which he sought my
-friendship, that up to this time he had wholly neglected. His hunting
-parties were now never complete without me; he loaded me with presents,
-and still more with his offers of service.
-
-"I became alarmed by his evident design, and prepared for our return to
-Toledo. Heaven doubtless inspired me with this resolution; for, had I
-acted upon it, and thus taken from the Duke his opportunities of seeing
-my wife, I should have avoided all the misfortunes which followed a
-contrary course. My confidence in her virtue, however, soon reassured
-me. It appeared to me impossible that a being whom I had raised from
-obscurity to her present position, from motives of affection alone,
-could be ungrateful enough to consent to my disgrace. Alas! I little
-thought that ambition and vanity, two feelings common to every woman,
-were the greatest vices in the character of my wife.
-
-"No sooner, therefore, had the Duke managed to inform her of his
-sentiments towards her, than she took credit to herself for so
-important a conquest. The attachment of a man approached by all the
-world with the titles of Your Grace and Your Highness tickled her
-pride, and filled her mind with the most absurd notions; so that she
-was indefinitely exalted in her own opinion, and thought the less of
-me. All that I had done for love of her, instead of exciting feelings
-of gratitude, now appeared but a contemptible offering to her charms,
-of which she no longer thought me worthy; and she seems not to have
-doubted that if the noble duke, who flattered her by his homage, had
-seen her before she had thrown herself away on me, he would have
-eagerly sought her hand. Infatuated by these absurd notions, and
-seduced by some well-timed presents which flattered her vanity, she
-yielded to the secret assiduities of his grace.
-
-"Although they corresponded frequently, I had not for some time the
-slightest suspicion of their communications; but, at last, my eyes were
-unfortunately opened to my disgrace. One day I returned from hunting
-somewhat earlier than usual, and went directly to the apartment of my
-wife, who expected nothing less than to see me. She had just received
-a letter from her paramour, and was at the moment preparing a reply.
-She could not disguise her emotion at my unexpected coming; and as I
-perceived on the table paper and ink, I trembled,--for the truth rushed
-on my mind with the speed of all unwelcome conclusions. I commanded
-her to show me what she was writing, which she refused; so that I was
-compelled to use violence in order to satisfy my jealous curiosity, and
-drew from her bosom, in spite of her resistance, a letter which was to
-the following effect:--
-
- "'Must I for ever languish in the despair of seeing thee again? Hast
- thou then cruelty enough to call sweet hopes into my heart, and let
- the short-lived blisses perish from delay? Don Juan leaves thee daily
- for the chase, or to repair to Toledo: would not Love then snatch
- these happy opportunities with eager joy? Think of the passion which
- consumes my life! Pity me, lady! and remember that if the happiness is
- great we hope to share, the greater is the torment which bars us its
- possession.'
-
-[Illustration: The Toledan reads the Duke's letter]
-
-"As I read this epistle, my blood boiled with fury. My hand sought the
-hilt of my stiletto, and my first inclination was to plunge it in the
-unfaithful breast of her who had betrayed me; but a moment's reflection
-told me that I should thus revenge but half my shame, and that another
-victim was demanded to appease my wrath. I therefore controlled myself,
-and, dissimulating as well as I was able, said to my wife: 'Madam, you
-have done wrong in listening to the duke; the splendour of his rank
-should not have been sufficient to dazzle you. However, youth finds
-delight in the trappings of nobility; and I am willing to believe that
-your guilt extends no further, and that my honour is still in safe
-keeping with you. I forgive, then, your want of discretion; but it is
-on condition that you return to the paths of duty, and that henceforth,
-sensible to the affection which animates my bosom, you will think it
-enough to deserve it.'
-
-"I did not wait for a reply, but left the apartment; as much to give
-her an opportunity of collecting herself, as to seek that solitude in
-which alone my mind could free itself from the anger which inflamed
-me. If I did not regain my tranquillity, I at least affected an air
-of composure during that and the following day; and on the third,
-pretending to have business of importance which called me to Toledo, I
-told my wife that I was obliged to leave her for some time, and that I
-did so in full confidence of her virtue and good conduct.
-
-"I set out; but, instead of going to Toledo, as soon as night came
-to assist my project, I returned home secretly, and concealed myself
-in the room of a trusty servant, whence I could observe any one who
-entered the house. I had no doubt that the duke was informed of my
-absence, and that he would not fail to make the most of so desirable a
-circumstance. How I longed to surprise them together! I promised myself
-an ample vengeance.
-
-"Nevertheless, I was deceived in my expectations. Instead of remarking
-any preparations for the reception of an expected lover, I on the
-contrary perceived that the doors were scrupulously closed against
-everybody; and three days having passed without the appearance of the
-duke, or any of his people, I began to think that my wife had repented
-of her fault, and that she had broken off all connection with her
-seducer.
-
-"As this opinion took possession of my mind, my desire of revenge
-dissipated; until, at last, yielding to those emotions of affection for
-my wife which anger had only suspended, I hastened to her apartment,
-and, embracing her with transport, exclaimed: 'Madam, I restore you my
-esteem and my love. I come to tell you that I have not been to Toledo,
-but that I pretended to have gone there only to test your discretion.
-You can forgive this deception in a husband whose jealousy was not
-entirely without foundation. I feared lest your mind, seduced by too
-brilliant illusions, should be incapable of a return to virtue; but,
-thank Heaven! you have seen your error, and I trust that our felicity
-may henceforth be unbroken.'
-
-"My wife appeared affected at these words, and, while tears fell from
-her eyes, exclaimed: 'Unhappy have I been, to give you reason to
-suspect my fidelity! In vain do I detest myself for having so justly
-excited your anger against me! In vain is it that, since I saw you, my
-eyes have unceasingly o'erflowed with tears; my grief and my remorse
-are alike unavailing; I can never regain the confidence I have lost.'
-'I restore it to you,' I replied, interrupting her, afflicted by the
-sorrow which she displayed--'I restore it to you; you have repented of
-the past; and I will, too gladly, forget it.'
-
-"I kept my word; and, from that moment, my love for her was as great
-and as confiding as ever. I began again to taste those joys which had
-been so cruelly interrupted; they came to me, indeed, with redoubled
-zest; for my wife, as though she had been anxious to efface from my
-recollection all traces of the injury she had done me, took greater
-pains to please me. I thought I found more warmth in her caresses; in
-short, I almost rejoiced at the event which had told me how much was
-still left for me to love.
-
-"Shortly after our reconciliation I was seized with illness. Although
-my ailment was not alarming, it is inconceivable how deeply it appeared
-to afflict my wife. All day she was by my side; and at night, as I
-was in a separate room, she never failed to visit me frequently,
-that she might convince herself of the progress of my recovery: her
-whole care appeared devoted to me, and all her anxiety to anticipate
-my every want; it seemed as though her whole life depended solely on
-mine. You may suppose that I was not insensible to all this show of
-tenderness, and I was never weary of expressing to her my gratitude for
-her attentions. However, Signor Mendoza, they were not so sincere as I
-imagined.
-
-"My health was beginning to improve, when, one night, my
-valet-de-chambre came to awaken me. 'Signor,' said he, with emotion, 'I
-am sorry to disturb your repose; but I am too much interested in your
-honour to conceal from you what is at this moment passing beneath your
-roof. The Duke of Naxera is with my mistress.'
-
-"I was so astounded by this information, that I looked for some time at
-my servant without being able to speak; and the more I thought of what
-he told me, the more difficulty I found in believing it. 'No! Fabio,'
-at last I said to him; 'no, it is impossible that my wife can be
-capable of such infamy! You must be mistaken.' 'Signor,' replied Fabio;
-'would to Heaven that I could think so! But my eyes are not easily
-deceived. Ever since you have been ill, I have suspected that the duke
-was introduced almost nightly into my lady's apartment. This evening,
-I concealed myself, to confirm or dispel my suspicions; and I have but
-too good reason to know that they were not unfounded.'
-
-[Illustration: Fabio awakens his master]
-
-"I hesitated no longer; but arose, and putting on my dressing gown,
-armed myself with my sword, and went in a perfect phrenzy towards my
-wife's chamber, Fabio following with a light. As we entered the room,
-the alarmed duke, who was sitting on the bed, rose, and taking a pistol
-from his girdle, aimed at me and fired; but thanks to his confusion,
-he missed me. I rushed on him, and in a moment thrust my sword into
-his heart. Then turning to my wife, who was already more dead than
-alive: 'and you!' said I, 'infamous wretch, receive the reward of your
-perfidy.' And so saying, I plunged my sword, still reeking with the
-blood of her paramour, into her bosom.
-
-[Illustration: The Toledan prepares to kill his wife]
-
-"I am sensible of the crime my fury induced me to commit; and I
-acknowledge, Signor Don Fabricio, that a faithless spouse may be
-sufficiently punished without taking her life; but where is the man
-who, under such excitement, could have preserved the cool temperament
-of the judge? Picture to yourself this perfidious woman attending me
-in sickness; imagine if you can, all that display of affection which
-she lavished upon me; think of all the circumstances,--of the enormity
-of her deception, and then say if her death weighs heavily against
-a husband animated with rage, to whom all this comes suddenly as
-lightning from the cloud.
-
-"My tragical history is finished in a few words. My vengeance thus
-fully satiated, I dressed hastily, certain that I had no time to lose;
-for I knew well that the duke's relations would search for me in every
-corner of Spain, and that, as the power of my own family would be but
-as a feather in the scale to turn their wrath, there was no safety for
-me but in a foreign country. I therefore chose two of my best horses,
-and taking with me all the jewels and money I possessed, I left my
-house before daybreak, followed by the servant of whose fidelity I had
-recently been so well assured, and took the road to Valencia with the
-intention of sailing in the first vessel which should steer for Italy.
-It thus happened that, passing yesterday near the wood in which you
-were, I met Donna Theodora, and, at her entreaty, followed to assist in
-separating yourself and Don Alvaro."
-
-When the Toledan had ended this narrative, Don Fabricio said to
-him: "Signor Don Juan, you have justly avenged yourself on the Duke
-de Naxera. Be not alarmed as to anything his relations can do; you
-shall stay, if you please, with me, until an opportunity offers for
-your passage into Italy. My uncle is governor of Valencia; you will
-therefore be more secure from danger here than elsewhere, and you will
-remain with one who would be united with you henceforth in bonds of
-strictest friendship."
-
-Zarata replied to Mendoza in terms which expressed his grateful sense
-of the former's kindness, and at once accepted the proffered asylum.
-"And now it is, Signor Don Cleophas," continued Asmodeus, "that I shall
-exhibit to you the power of sympathy: such was the inclination which
-drew these two young cavaliers towards each other, that, in a few
-days, there existed between them a friendship not surpassed by that
-of Orestes and Pylades. With dispositions alike formed for virtue,
-they possessed a similarity of tastes which was certain to render
-that which pleased Don Fabricio equally agreeable to Don Juan--their
-characters were identical; in short, they were formed for each other.
-Don Fabricio, especially, was charmed with the deportment of his new
-friend; and lost no opportunity of endeavouring to exalt him in the
-estimation of the Donna Theodora.
-
-"This lady now received them frequently at her house; but, though
-her doors were open at the bidding of Mendoza, her heart was still
-inaccessible to his attentions. Mortified to find his love thus
-slighted, he could not forbear complaining of her indifference to
-his friend, who endeavoured to console him with the assurance that
-the most insensible of women might be won to feeling at the last,
-and that nothing was wanting to lovers but patience to await for the
-favourable moment: he bade him then to keep up his courage, and to hope
-that, sooner or later, his mistress would yield to his assiduity and
-affection. This advice, though philosophical enough, was insufficient
-to assure the timid Mendoza, who began to despair of success with
-the widow of Cifuentes; and the anxiety of suspense so preyed upon
-his spirits, that Don Juan could not behold him without feelings of
-compassion. Alas! poor Don Juan was himself ere long more to be pitied
-than his friend.
-
-"Whatever reason the Toledan had to be disgusted with the sex, after
-the abominable treachery he had met with, he could not long look upon
-the Donna Theodora without loving her. Far, however, from yielding
-to a passion which he felt to be an injury to Mendoza, he struggled
-with all his might to vanquish it; and convinced that this was only
-to be accomplished by flying from the bright eyes which had kindled
-the flame, he wisely resolved to shun the lady who possessed them.
-Consequently whenever Don Fabricio asked his company to his mistress's
-house, he managed to find some pretext to excuse himself from going
-with him.
-
-"On the other hand, Mendoza never went to see the Donna Theodora, but
-she asked him why he no longer was accompanied by Don Juan. One day,
-when, for the hundredth time she put this question to her lover, the
-latter answered, smiling, that his friend had his reasons for absenting
-himself. 'And what reasons, then, can he have for flying me?' said
-Donna Theodora. 'Why, madam,' replied Mendoza; 'yesterday, when I
-pressed him, as usual, to come with me, and expressed some surprise at
-his refusal to do so, he confided to me a secret, which I must reveal
-in order to justify him in your eyes. He told me that he had formed a
-liaison in Valencia; and, that as he had not long to stay in this town,
-every moment was precious to him.'
-
-"'I cannot exactly admit the validity of his excuse,' replied the widow
-of Cifuentes, blushing; 'it is not permitted to lovers that they should
-abandon their friends.' Don Fabricio, who observed the colour which
-tinged the cheeks of the Donna Theodora, thought that self-love alone
-had caused the blush, and that, like all pretty women, she could not
-bear to be neglected, even by a person who was indifferent to her. He
-was, however, deceived. A deeper feeling than wounded vanity inspired
-the emotion she displayed. She loved: but for fear that Mendoza should
-discover her sentiments, she changed the subject, and, during the
-conversation that followed, affected a gaiety which would have deceived
-him, had he not already deceived himself.
-
-"As soon as Donna Theodora was alone, she abandoned herself to
-reflection. Then, for the first time, she felt all the strength of the
-attachment she had conceived for Don Juan; and, little thinking how
-deeply that feeling was shared by its object,--'Oh Love!' she cried:
-'cruel and unjust art thou, who delightest to kindle passion in the
-hearts of those who care not for each other! I love not Don Fabricio,
-and he adores me; I languish for Don Juan, and his heart is possessed
-by another. Ah! Mendoza, reproach me not with my indifference for thee;
-thy friend has indeed avenged thee.'
-
-"As she spoke, grief filled her eyes with tears, and jealousy possessed
-her breast; but Hope, who loves to soothe the sorrows of despairing
-lovers, took refuge in her mind, and filled it with bright images of
-joys to come. It suggested to her that her rival could not be very
-formidable, and that Don Juan was less the captive of her charms than
-the object of her favours, and that the ties which bound them could not
-therefore be difficult to break. She resolved, however, to judge for
-herself, and at once to see the Toledan. With this view she sent word
-that she wished to speak with him: he came; and, when they were alone,
-she thus addressed him:
-
-"'I could never have believed that love could make a gallant man
-forgetful of his duties to a lady; nevertheless, Don Juan, since it has
-possessed you, you have become a stranger to my house. I think I have
-a right to upbraid you for this neglect; I am unwilling, however, to
-believe that you have yourself resolved to shun me, and will suppose
-that your mistress has forbidden your coming here. Tell me, Don Juan,
-that it is so, and I will excuse you. I know a lover is not master
-of his will, and that he dares not disobey the woman to whom he has
-resigned it.'
-
-"'Madam,' replied the Toledan, 'I confess that my conduct may
-reasonably surprise you; but, in pity, ask me not to justify myself:
-content yourself with hearing from my lips that I shun you not without
-good cause.' 'Whatever may be that cause,' interrupted Donna Theodora,
-visibly affected, 'I request you will not conceal it.' 'Well, madam,'
-replied Don Juan, 'you shall be obeyed; but be not angry if you learn
-from me more than you would wish to know.
-
-"'Don Fabricio,' he continued, 'has doubtless related to you the
-adventure which compelled me to quit Castile. In flying from Toledo,
-my heart filled with hatred against womankind, I bade defiance to the
-sex ever to touch that heart again. With this disposition, I approached
-Valencia; I met you, and, what perhaps none have ever sustained before,
-I met your eyes without yielding to their influence. I saw you again
-and again with impunity; but, alas! dearly I have paid for my pride of
-heart. You have conquered! Your beauty, your mind,--all your charms
-were turned against a rebel to your sway; in a word, I feel for you now
-all the love that you were formed by nature to inspire.
-
-"'This, madam, is what has driven me from your sight. The mistress,
-to whom they told you I was devoted, exists but in the imagination of
-Mendoza; and it was to prevent in him a suspicion of the truth, which
-my constant refusals to accompany him here might have engendered, that
-I conjured her into life.'
-
-"This confession, unexpected as it was by Donna Theodora, could not
-fail to fill her bosom with delight, nor could she conceal it from the
-Toledan. It is true she took no great pains to do so, and that, instead
-of regarding him with indignation for his presumption, her eyes beamed
-with tenderness as she said: 'You have revealed to me your secret, Don
-Juan; it is fair that I should discover mine to you: Listen!
-
-"'Regardless of the overtures of Alvaro Ponza, and little affected by
-the addresses of Mendoza, I lived in tranquil joy, when chance brought
-you to the wood where we met. Agitated as I was by the scene which then
-was passing, I was nevertheless struck by the gentle and respectful
-manner in which you offered me your services; and the frankness and
-courage which you displayed in separating the two furious rivals for my
-love inspired me with the most favourable opinion of your character.
-The means by which you proposed to terminate their disputes, indeed,
-displeased me, and it was with repugnance that I resolved to choose
-between the combatants; but, I believe I must not disguise from you,
-that yourself in great part contributed to increase the difficulty of
-my decision. At the moment when, compelled by necessity, my tongue
-proclaimed the name of Don Fabricio, I felt that my heart had already
-declared in favour of the unknown. From that day, which, after what you
-have just avowed, I may call a happy one, your virtues have constantly
-augmented the esteem you then inspired.
-
-"'Why should I affect to hide these feelings from you? I confess them
-with no greater candour than I told Mendoza that I loved him not. A
-woman whose misfortune is to love a being whom she may not hope to
-wed, may bury in her heart the passion which consumes it; but when her
-bosom's lord is one who nourishes an equal tenderness for her, silence
-were weakness, and dissimulation shame. Yes, I am indeed happy that
-your love is mine, and I render thanks to Heaven which I trust has
-destined us for each other.'
-
-"Having thus spoken, the lady waited for Don Juan's answer, and to give
-him an opportunity of expressing all the gratitude which she naturally
-thought the declaration she had made must inspire; but her lover,
-instead of appearing enchanted by the confession he had just listened
-to, remained sad and thoughtful.
-
-"'What means this silence?' she at length exclaimed. 'What! when for
-you, Zarata, I forget my sex's pride; and, what another would have
-deemed a fate to envy, show you a heart all filled with love for
-you,--can you repel the bliss which such a heart bestows;--be coldly
-silent to its fond disclosure, and look with grief when all things
-promise joy? Alas! Don Juan, my kindness for you has a strange effect,
-indeed.'
-
-"'And what other, madam, can it have upon a heart like mine?' replied
-the Toledan, mournfully. 'The greater kindness you avow for me, the
-greater is the misery I suffer. You are not ignorant of all I owe to
-Don Fabricio; you know the tender friendship which unites us: can I
-then build my happiness upon the ruins of his dearest hopes?' 'You
-are too scrupulous,' resumed the Donna Theodora: 'I have promised to
-Mendoza nothing. I can bestow my love, nor merit his reproaches; and
-you may well accept it, nor yet do him a wrong. I acknowledge that the
-sorrows of your friend may cause you some unhappiness; but, Don Juan,
-can that o'erbalance in your mind the destiny which waits you?'
-
-"'Yes, madam,' replied the Toledan, with respectful firmness; 'a
-friend like Don Fabricio has greater weight with me than you can well
-imagine. Could you possibly conceive the tenderness, the strength of
-that feeling which binds us to each other, you would pity me indeed.
-Mendoza has no secrets now with me; my interests have become his own;
-the slightest matter which concerns myself commands his strict regard:
-in a word, madam, I share his soul with you.
-
-"'Ah! if you wished me to profit by your kindness, you should have
-disclosed it ere those ties were formed which bind me now to him.
-Delighted to have won your affections, I should then have seen in Don
-Fabricio but a rival; and my heart, steeled against the friendship
-which he offered to me, would have escaped its bonds; I should then
-have been free from all obligation towards him: but, madam, it is
-now too late. I have received all the services it was in his power
-to render me; I have indulged all the feelings which those services
-induced; gratitude and esteem now unite to reduce me to the cruel
-necessity of renouncing the inestimable prize you present for my
-acceptance.'
-
-"While the Toledan was speaking thus, tears fell fast from the eyes
-of Donna Theodora; and, as he concluded, she hid her face in her
-handkerchief to conceal her distress. Don Juan was of course affected;
-his constancy began to evaporate, and he felt that his stay was
-dangerous. 'Adieu, madam,' he continued, while sighs impeded his
-utterance,--'adieu! I must fly to preserve my honour; your tears
-overcome me--all else I could withstand. I leave you for ever; and go,
-far hence, to deplore the loss of that happiness which my friendship
-for Don Fabricio inexorably demands as a sacrifice.' And as he
-finished, he hastily retired, with as much resolution as just enabled
-him to do so.
-
-[Illustration: the Toledan bids farewell to Donna Theodora]
-
-"After his departure, the widow of Cifuentes was distracted by a
-thousand conflicting emotions. She felt ashamed at having declared her
-love to a man whom its bright temptation had not won; but, unable to
-doubt his affection for her person, and assured that his refusal of
-her hand originated in no other feeling than an unexampled constancy
-for his friend, she was sufficiently reasonable to admire so rare an
-instance of virtue. Nevertheless, as it is in the nature of men, and
-more particularly in the nature of women, to feel annoyed when all
-things do not happen as they wish, she resolved to go into the country
-on the morrow, in order to dissipate her grief, or rather to augment
-it; for Solitude is nurse to Love, and strengthens the young passion
-while he strives to hush its cries.
-
-"Meanwhile, Don Juan, not finding Mendoza on his return, shut himself
-in his own apartment, and gave way to the affliction he had restrained
-during his interview with Donna Theodora; for, after what he had
-sacrificed to friendship, he felt himself at liberty to indulge in
-grief for its loss. It was not long, however, before Mendoza came to
-break on his retirement, and judging by his friend's appearance that
-he was ill, he displayed so much uneasiness that Don Juan was obliged
-to plead a want of rest, in order to account for his altered looks.
-Mendoza left him to repose; but he went out with so much grief depicted
-on his countenance, that the Toledan was still more afflicted by his
-sympathy. 'Oh Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'why is it that the most tender
-friendship should bring to me nothing but misfortune?'
-
-"On the following day, Don Fabricio was yet in bed, when they came to
-inform him that Donna Theodora had set out, with all her establishment,
-for her seat at Villareal, and that it was unlikely she would shortly
-return to Valencia. This information caused him less inquietude on
-account of his severance from the object of his devotion, than because
-a mystery had been made to him of her departure. Without being able to
-determine on its cause, a gloomy presentiment pervaded his mind as to
-its effect on his happiness.
-
-"He instantly arose, that he might seek his friend, as much to converse
-with him on the subject which occupied his mind, as to inquire the
-state of Zarata's health; but, before he had completed his toilet,
-Don Juan entered his room, saying: 'I come to dissipate whatever
-apprehension you may entertain for me; I feel myself again restored
-to health.' 'The good news you tell me,' replied Mendoza, 'consoles
-me somewhat for the unwelcome intelligence I have just received.'
-'Ah! what is that?' asked the Toledan anxiously. 'Why,' replied Don
-Fabricio, after having dismissed his attendants, 'Donna Theodora has
-gone this morning into the country, where they expect she will remain
-for some time. This sudden resolution astonishes me. Why has it been
-concealed? What think you, Don Juan? Have I not cause to be alarmed?'
-
-"Zarata took good care not to communicate his real thoughts upon the
-subject, but endeavoured to persuade Mendoza that Donna Theodora
-might change her residence without giving him any reason for alarm.
-Don Fabricio, however, unconvinced by the arguments of his friend,
-interrupted him, saying: 'That is all very well, Zarata; but you cannot
-remove my fears of having imprudently done or said something which has
-displeased the Donna Theodora; and it is to punish my indiscretion that
-she leaves me without deigning even to inform me of my fault.
-
-"'I will not, however, remain in uncertainty. Let us hasten, Don Juan,
-to follow her; I will at once order our horses.' 'I would advise you,'
-said the Toledan, 'to seek her alone; if it be as you think, witnesses
-are worse than needless.' 'Don Juan cannot be unwelcome,' replied
-Mendoza; 'Donna Theodora is aware that you know all that passes in my
-heart: she esteems you; and far from being in my way, you will assist
-me to appease her anger against me.'
-
-"'No, no, Fabricio,' replied the Toledan, 'my presence will avail
-you nothing. Take my advice, and go alone, I conjure you!' 'Again
-no, my dear Don Juan,' interrupted Mendoza, 'we will go together; I
-expect this kindness of your friendship.' 'What tyranny! exclaimed the
-Toledan, with evident vexation; 'why ask you of my friendship what that
-very feeling should deny you most?'
-
-"These words, which Don Fabricio could not comprehend, and the tone in
-which they were uttered, surprised him greatly. He looked at his friend
-for some time without speaking. At last, he said to him gravely: 'Don
-Juan, what mean you? What horrible suspicion breaks upon my mind? Ah!
-it is too much, to wound me by your terrible constraint! Speak! Whence
-arises this unwillingness to accompany me to Donna Theodora?'
-
-"'I would have concealed it from you,' replied the Toledan, 'but, since
-you compel me to disclose the truth, I will dissimulate no longer.
-Let us, my dear Mendoza, no more rejoice in the similarity of our
-dispositions; it is but too perfect: the shafts which wounded you, have
-neither spared your friend. Donna Theodora----' 'What! you my rival?'
-interrupted Don Fabricio, turning pale as death. 'From the instant
-that my love for the widow of Cifuentes became apparent to myself,'
-replied Don Juan, 'I strove to stifle the passion. I have, as you know,
-sedulously avoided her sight: I at least triumphed over my feelings, if
-I could not destroy them.
-
-"'Yesterday, however, Donna Theodora sent word that she desired to
-see me. I went to her; when she asked me why I seemed to shun her. I
-endeavoured to excuse myself as well as I was able; but, as my excuses
-did not satisfy her, I was compelled at last to avow the real cause of
-my absence. I imagined that, after this declaration, she would have
-approved the motives of my apparent neglect; but my unlucky star had
-decreed--shall I tell you? yes, Mendoza, it is useless attempting to
-deceive you,--I found Theodora disposed to favour my love.'
-
-"Although Don Fabricio was one of the mildest and most reasonable of
-men, yet, at this confession, he was seized with a fury beyond his
-control; and, again interrupting his friend, he exclaimed: 'Hold!
-Don Juan, plunge at once your dagger in my breast; but continue not
-this fatal recital. What! not contented with avowing your passion for
-her whom I adore, must you tell me too that your love is returned?
-By Heaven! this is a strange confidence you dare to venture on with
-me. You put our friendship to a test indeed. But what say I! our
-friendship? You have broken it, in nourishing the traitorous feelings
-you have just imparted.
-
-"'Oh! how have I been deceived! I thought you generous even to excess,
-and find you basely false; stooping to win the heart of her whose love
-were insult to your friend. This is indeed an unexpected blow; and
-falls with double weight since coming from the hand ...' 'Do me more
-justice,' in his turn interrupted the Toledan; 'reflect with patience
-ere you speak: I am not the traitor which you deem me. Hear me. You
-will repent the injuries you heap upon your friend.'
-
-"Don Juan then related all that had passed between the widow of
-Cifuentes and himself, the tender confession she had made to him
-of love, and all the arguments she used to win him to indulge his
-own. He repeated to him then his firm reply; and, as he spoke of
-the determination he displayed, the wrath of Don Fabricio yielded
-by degrees. 'In short,' added Don Juan, 'friendship conquered love;
-and I rejected that of Donna Theodora, despite her tears. But, Gods,
-those tears! what trouble filled my soul at sight of them! I cannot
-recollect them now without trembling at the danger I encountered. I
-began to feel myself relent; and, for a few moments, Mendoza, my heart
-indeed betrayed you. I did not, however, yield to my weakness, but
-escaped those dangerous tears by hasty flight. Still it is not enough
-to have gone safely through the past,--the future must be feared. I
-shall therefore hasten my departure from Valencia; I will no more
-behold the lovely Theodora. And now, will Don Fabricio accuse his
-friend of ingratitude and perfidy?'
-
-"'No!' replied Mendoza, embracing the Toledan; 'my eyes are opened,
-and I find him faithful as my heart could wish. Pardon those unjust
-reproaches to a jealous lover, who in a moment finds himself deprived
-of all his hopes. Alas! should I have expected that the Donna Theodora
-could have long beheld you, and have failed to love?--that she could
-resist the influence of those attractions which at once so drew you to
-myself? No! and I embrace my friend again. I attribute my misfortunes
-but to destiny; and, far from feeling hatred to yourself, my affection
-is increased by your noble conduct. What! can you renounce for me
-possession of the lovely Theodora,--can you yield for friendship's sake
-so great a prize, and shall I be insensible of the sacrifice? Can you
-conquer the passion which consumes you, and shall I make no endeavour
-so to vanquish mine? No! I will not be outdone in generosity of soul.
-Obey, Don Juan, the dictate of your heart; espouse the object of our
-mutual affections; my heart may groan in secret if it will; be it so!
-Mendoza intreats you to consult your own.'
-
-"'In vain do you intreat me,' replied Zarata: 'I love her but too
-dearly, as I have told you; but, Mendoza, your happiness shall never be
-the price of mine.' 'And the happiness of Donna Theodora,' said Don
-Fabricio, 'shall that then count for nothing? Let not false delicacy
-weigh with us now: her passion for yourself has ended all my hopes.
-What though, for me, you shunned those fatal eyes, to lead in distant
-lands a life of woe,--what would it serve me now? She loves me not,
-and never will; Heaven reserved that bliss for you alone. From the
-moment that she saw you, her heart declared for you; nature prompted
-the emotion: in a word, you alone can render her happy. Receive then
-the heart she offers with her hand; crown her desires and your own;
-leave me to my fate; and make not three persons miserable, when the
-wretchedness of one alone is all that destiny requires.'"
-
-Asmodeus was here obliged to suspend his narration, and listen to the
-Student, who said to him: "Well, all that you tell me is sufficiently
-surprising; but are there really such amiable people upon earth? I
-never met within this nether world but friends who strive, not for such
-mistresses as you depict the Donna Theodora, but for the arrantest
-coquettes. What! a lover to renounce the being he adores, by whom his
-love is shared, and all lest he should render some poor friend unhappy?
-That may do well for some romancer's pen, which fain would picture men
-the creatures they should be, for fear of telling them the things they
-are." "I own, with you," Asmodeus replied, "the virtue that I tell you
-of is rare; but still, my dear Cleophas, it exists; not in romances
-only, but in the principles of man's own nature. It is true that, since
-the deluge, I have seen but two examples of the like, and this is one;
-but, let us return to our history.
-
-"The two friends continued still their amicable strife, and, as each
-was still unwilling to yield the palm of generosity to the other,
-their amorous sentiments remained suspended, during several days. They
-ceased to talk of Donna Theodora, each seemed afraid to breathe her
-very name; but, while Friendship triumphed over Love in the city of
-Valencia, Love, as though he would revenge the insult offered to his
-power, reigned with tyranny without its walls, and was there obeyed
-without scruple.
-
-"Donna Theodora was all this time in the solitude of Villareal, which
-was not far distant from the sea. There, abandoning herself to her
-passion for Don Juan, she dreamt of its reward; and nuptial visions
-floated in her mind, despite the friendship the Toledan had recently
-displayed for Don Fabricio, his too much loved rival.
-
-"One day, while the glorious splendour of the setting sun chained her
-to the margin of its bed, she perceived a boat which made towards the
-shore. As it approached, she saw that it contained seven or eight men,
-whose aspect was far from prepossessing; and as they came still nearer,
-she observed that their faces were covered with masks, and that they
-were armed.
-
-"Trembling with fear, for it was not easy to divine any good object
-for this unlooked-for descent, she turned hastily towards her home.
-Looking from time to time behind her as she fled, she saw them land;
-and, as they instantly appeared to be endeavouring to overtake her, she
-began to run with all her might. But as she was not as swift of foot as
-Atalanta, and as the masks were light and fleet, they came up with her,
-just as she had reached the entrance of her grounds, and seized her.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora carried off by the masked men]
-
-"The shrieks of the Donna Theodora, and a girl who accompanied her,
-were loud enough however to attract the attention of some servants
-without the house; and these giving the alarm to those within, the
-whole establishment, to a man, turned out armed with clubs and
-pitchforks. But in the meantime, two of the most robust among the
-masqueraders had taken the lady and her damsel in their arms, and bore
-them towards the boat, while the remainder remained to give battle to
-the domestics, who, albeit not paid for fighting, did their utmost. The
-combat was long, but swords carried the day against pitchforks, and
-the gentlemen in dominoes were fast regaining the vessel to join their
-prize. It was time indeed they did so; for ere their embarkation was
-completed, four or five cavaliers were to be distinguished on the road
-from Valencia, riding at their topmost speed, and apparently anxious
-to be in time for the rescue of the Donna Theodora. The ravishers saw
-them; and made such good haste to get out to sea, that the cavaliers
-arrived too late to attain the accomplishment of their object.
-
-[Illustration: the masked men rowing away]
-
-"These cavaliers were Don Fabricio and Don Juan. Mendoza had received
-a letter, only a few hours before, informing him, on good authority,
-that Don Alvaro was in the island of Majorca; that he had equipped a
-sort of sloop, and that with some twenty scoundrels who had nothing
-to lose, he intended to carry off the widow of Cifuentes on the first
-occasion of her visiting her seat at Villareal. On this, the Toledan
-and himself, with their personal attendants, had set out immediately
-from Valencia, in order to inform Donna Theodora of the projected
-attempt. They had, unfortunately, arrived just in time to discern on
-the sea-shore a number of persons who appeared to be engaged in mortal
-strife; and, suspecting that it might be as they feared, had hastened
-with all expedition to oppose the infamous design of Don Alvaro. But,
-with all their haste, they arrived but to witness the abduction they
-had especially come to prevent.
-
-"In the meanwhile, Alvaro Ponza, joyful at his success, was hurrying
-from the coast with his prey, and was observed to join a small armed
-vessel which was awaiting him in the distance. Words cannot convey an
-idea of the grief of the two friends; the air rang with imprecations
-against Don Alvaro: their grief and rage, however, were alike
-unavailing. The domestics of the Donna Theodora, excited by so laudable
-an example, were not sparing of their lamentations; the shore resounded
-with cries: fury, desolation, and despair reigned where all before
-had been tranquil joy, or the sweet grief of love. The rape of the
-beauteous Helen herself did not excite at the court of Sparta an equal
-consternation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-
-THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.
-
-
-Leandro Perez, at this point of the narrative, could not help again
-interrupting the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus," said he, "I really cannot
-control my curiosity to know the meaning of something which attracts my
-attention, in spite of the pleasure I receive in listening to you. I
-see, in a room near us, two men fighting in their shirts, and several
-others in their dressing-gowns who are hastening to part them: tell me,
-I pray you, what it is all about." The Demon, ever ready to please the
-Student, without further pressing replied as follows:
-
-"The persons whom you behold in their shirts, or so much of them as is
-left in the struggle, are two French authors; and the mediators in the
-strife are two Germans, a Fleming, and an Italian. They all lodge in
-that same house, which is a sort of lodging-house devoted exclusively
-to foreigners. One of these authors writes tragedies, and the other
-comedies. The former, disgusted for some reason or other with his own
-country, has come to Spain; and the latter also, discontented with his
-prospects in Paris, has performed the same journey, in the hope of
-finding in Madrid a better fortune.
-
-"The tragic poet is vain and presumptuous, having obtained, despite the
-opinions of those whose breath should be fame, a tolerable reputation
-in his own country. To keep his Pegasus in wind, he rides it daily; and
-not being able to sleep this night, he commenced a piece, the subject
-of which is taken from the Iliad. He has finished one scene; and as his
-smallest fault is that, so common to his brethren, of cramming into
-other people's throats the trash which he has ejected, he rose from his
-table, where he was writing in his shirt, took a candle, and, as he
-was, went to rouse the comic author, who, making a better use of his
-time, was sleeping profoundly.
-
-"The latter, awakened by the noise made at his door, went to open it
-to the other, who, with the air of one possessed, entered the room
-exclaiming: 'Down on your knees, my friend; down, and worship a genius
-whom Melpomene inspires. I have given birth to poetry--: but, what do I
-say?--I have done it! Apollo himself dictated the verses to me. Were I
-at Paris, I should go from house to house to read the precious lines; I
-only wait for day that I may charm with them our talented ambassador,
-and every other Frenchman who has the luck to be within Madrid; but,
-before I shew them to a soul, I come to recite them to you.'
-
-[Illustration: the tragic poet at the comic author's door]
-
-"'I am much obliged by the preference,' replied the comic author,
-yawning with all his might; 'it is rather unlucky though, that you
-did not choose a better time. I went to bed extremely late,--can
-hardly keep my eyes unclosed,--and I will not answer for hearing all
-the verses you have to read to me, without tumbling to sleep again.'
-'Oh! I will answer for that myself,' interrupted the tragic poet.
-'Were you dead, the scene that I have just composed would recall you
-to life again. In my writings, there are none of your namby-pamby
-sentiments,--none of your common-place expressions, sustained alone
-by rhyme: masculine thoughts, and easy versification, move the heart
-and strike upon the mind. I am none of those wretched poetasters, whose
-pitiable creations glide upon the stage like shadows, and like them
-depart;--which go to Utica to amuse the Africans. My compositions,
-worthy to be consecrated with my statue in the library of Apollo
-Palatinus, draw crowds after thirty representations. But come,' added
-this modest poet, 'you shall hear the verses of which I wish to offer
-you the first incense.
-
-[Illustration: Phoenix assists Achilles's captives]
-
-"'This is my tragedy, THE DEATH OF PATROCLUS. Scene the first, Brisëis
-and the other captives of Achilles appear. They tear their hair and
-beat their breasts, to express the grief with which they are filled
-by the death of Patroclus. Unable even to support themselves, utterly
-prostrated by despair, they fall upon the stage. This, you will say,
-is a little daring; but that is exactly what I aim at. Let the small
-fry who swim in the waters of Helicon keep within the narrow bounds
-of imitation, without daring to o'erleap them; it is well, there is
-prudence in their timidity: but for me, I love invention; and I hold
-that, to move and overcome your spectators, you must present to their
-minds images which they could never have expected.
-
-"'The captives, then, are lying on the earth. Phoenix, governor of
-Achilles, is with them. He assists them to rise, one after another;
-and, having placed them on their feet, he commences the argument of the
-drama in these lines:--
-
-    Hector shall fall; and Troy itself be spread
-    In ruins, to avenge Patroclus dead.
-    Proud Agamemnon, Camelus the grave,
-    Nestor the wise, and Eumelus the brave,
-    Leontes, skilled to hurl the spear along,
-    Smooth-tongued Ulysses, Diomed the strong,
-    Arm with Achilles. Lo! that hero drives
-    Tow'rds Ilium's gates--appalling Ilium's wives--
-    His steeds immortal, urged across the plain
-    So swift, the eye toils after them with pain.
-    But still he cries: Dear Xanthus, Balius, fly!
-    And when around ten thousand corses lie,
-    When pallid Trojans scamper off like fillies,
-    Regain your camp, but not without Achilles.
-    Xanthus replies, bowing his head: You may
-    Be sure, Achilles, we'll your will obey;
-    But, while our pace with your impatience strives,
-    Know that to you the fatal hour arrives--
-    The ox-eyed Juno thus the steed enlightening,--
-    And now the car moves with a speed quite frightening.
-    The Greeks, beholding, utter cries of joy,
-    So loud, they shake the very walls of Troy.
-    Achilles, armed by Vulcan for the war,
-    Appears more brilliant than the morning star;
-    Or like the sun, when, in its bright career,
-    It bursts on earth, dispelling night and fear;
-    Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,
-    To guide poor swains, bewilder'd or benighted.[8]
-
-[8]
-
-    Priam va perdre Hector et sa superbe ville;
-    Les Grecs veulent venger le compagnon d'Achille,
-    Le fier Agamemnon, le divin Camélus,
-    Nestor, pareil aux dieux, le vaillant Eumélus,
-    Léonte, de la pique adroit à l'exercice,
-    Le nerveux Diomède, et l'éloquent Ulysse.
-    Achille s'y prépare, et déjà ce héros
-    Pousse vers Ilium ses immortels chevaux;
-    Pour arriver plus tôt où sa fureur l'entraîne,
-    Quoique l'oeil qui les voit ne les suive qu'à peine,
-    Il leur dit: Chers Xanthus, Balius, avancez;
-    Et lorsque vous serez du carnage lassés,
-    Quand les Troyens fuyant rentreront dans leur ville,
-    Regagnez notre camp, mais non pas sans Achille.
-    Xanthus baisse la tête, et répond par ces mots:
-    Achille, vous serez content de vos chevaux,
-    Ils vont aller au gré de votre impatience;
-    Mais de votre trépas l'instant fatal s'avance.
-    Junon aux yeux de boeuf ainsi le fait parler,
-    Et d'Achille aussitôt le char semble voler.
-    Les Grecs, en le voynt, de mille cris de joie
-    Soudain font retentir le rivage de Troie.
-    Ce prince, revêtu des armes de Vulcain,
-    Paraît plus éclatant que l'astre du matin,
-    Ou tel que le soleil, commençant sa carrière,
-    S'élève pour donner au monde la lumière;
-    Ou brillant comme un feu que les villageois font
-    Pendant l'obscure nuit sur le sommet du mont.
-
-
-
-"'I stop,' continued the tragic poet, 'to let you breathe a moment; for
-if I were to recite to you the whole of my scene at once, the beauty
-of my versification, and the great number of brilliant passages and
-sublime ideas that it contains, would smother you to a certainty. But
-remark the aptness of this comparison,--
-
-    Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,
-    To guide poor swains bewilder'd or benighted.
-
-"'It is not all the world who could appreciate that; but you, who have
-mind, and a clearness of perception,--you must be enchanted with it.'
-'I am so, doubtless,' replied the comic author, smiling contemptuously;
-'nothing can be more beautiful; and I am persuaded you will not fail to
-describe, in your tragedy, the care taken by Thetis to drive away the
-Trojan flies which approach the body of Patroclus.' 'You may spare your
-jests as to that,' replied the tragic poet;--'an author who has talent
-may venture everything. The very incident you mention is perhaps the
-one most capable of being rendered into heroic verse; and I shall not
-lose the opportunity, you may depend upon it.
-
-"'All my works,' he continued complacently, 'bear the impress of
-genius; so that when I read them it would delight you to witness the
-applause they elicit: I am compelled to stop after every verse, to
-receive its laudatory tribute. I remember that one day, at Paris, I was
-reading a tragedy in the house of a wealthy patron of literature, in
-which all the wits of the capital generally assemble about dinner-time,
-and in which I may say, without vanity, that I do not pass for a
-Pradon. The dowager countess of Vieille-Brune was there, a lady of
-exquisite taste--I am her favourite poet. Well, at the first scene,
-the hot tears ran down her cheeks; during the reading of my second
-act, she was obliged to change her handkerchief; her sobs were beyond
-her control in the third; at the end of the fourth she was nearly in
-hysterics; and I expected, at the catastrophe, that she would have
-absolutely died with the hero of my piece.'
-
-"At these words, although the comic author endeavoured strenuously
-to preserve his gravity, a burst of laughter escaped him. 'Ah!' he
-exclaimed, 'how well do I recognize her ladyship by your description!
-The good countess is one who cannot endure comedy: so strong is her
-aversion for the merry muse, that she hurries from her box after the
-dagger or the bowl has done its work, that she may not lose an atom of
-her mimic grief. Tragedy is her pet passion; and be it good or bad, so
-long as it presents unhappy love, so surely may you bid her tears to
-flow. Honestly, did I pretend to the heroics, I should wish for other
-admirers than the countess.'
-
-"'Oh! as to that, I have others too,' replied the tragic poet. 'I am
-the approved of thousands, male and female, of the highest rank----'
-'I should also mistrust the suffrages of the quality,' interrupted the
-comic author; 'I should have no great confidence in their judgment:
-I will tell you why. Auditors of this description are, for the most
-part, too much occupied with themselves to pay great attention to the
-reading of a poem; or are caught for the moment by high-sounding verse,
-or the feeble delicacy of some sickly sentiment. Either is sufficient
-to induce their praise of an author's labours, whatever else of better
-they may lack. On the contrary, let but a line rustle their gentle ears
-too harshly, and it is enough that they exclaim against the piece,
-however good.'
-
-"'Well!' resumed the lachrymose inditer, 'since you would have me
-suspicious of this tribunal, I rely on the applauses of the pit.' 'Bah!
-talk not to me of your pit,' replied the other; 'its judgment is guided
-by caprice. Stupidly won by the novelty of a first representation, it
-will be for months enraptured by a wretched piece. It is true that in
-the end it discovers its folly; and, then, it never forgives an author
-for having received from it an undeserved renown, or cheated it into
-mercy.'
-
-"'That is a misfortune for which I have nothing to fear,' said the
-tragic poet; 'my pieces are reprinted as often as they are played.
-This, now, never occurs with comedies; printing exhibits their
-feebleness. Comedies being but trifles,--the lighter productions of
-mind....' 'Softly! my tragic friend; softly!' interrupted the other:
-'you are getting somewhat warm. Speak, I beg of you, of comedy with
-less irreverence to me. Do you think, now, a comic piece less difficult
-to write than tragedy? Undeceive yourself! It is far less easy to make
-good men laugh, than it is to make them weep. Learn that a subject
-drawn from ordinary life requires talent of as high an order as do the
-stilted heroes of antiquity.'
-
-"'I'faith,' cried the tragic poet with an air of raillery, 'I am
-delighted to hear you so express yourself.' 'Well! monsieur Calidas,
-to avoid disputation, I agree henceforth to as greatly admire your
-productions as I have heretofore despised them.' 'I care little for
-your contempt, monsieur Giblet,' hastily replied the comic author;
-'and in return for your insolence, I will plainly tell you my opinion
-of the rubbish you have just been inflicting on me: your verse is a
-mixture of bombast and absurdity, and the ideas, although borrowed from
-Homer, have, in passing through your brain, become tinctured with its
-vulgarity. Achilles talks to his horses, and his horses reply to him;
-what nonsense! It is a pity they were not asses, for then you could
-have put into their mouths with propriety your splendid comparison of
-the village bonfire on the top of a mountain. It is doing no honour
-to the ancients to pillage them after this fashion: their works are
-undoubtedly filled with beauties; but it requires greater taste than
-you possess to make of them a fitting use, or to enable you to borrow
-from them to advantage.'
-
-"'Since you have not sufficient elevation of soul,' retorted Giblet,
-'to appreciate the merits of my poetry, and to punish you for having
-dared to criticise my scene, I will not read to you the remainder.'
-'What, I wonder, have I done, that I should have been punished by
-being compelled to listen to the beginning?' replied Calidas. 'It well
-becomes you indeed to despise my comedies! Learn that the very worst
-that I could write will be clever compared with anything that you can
-compose, and that it is much easier to inflate the cheeks with hollow
-sentiments and sounding words, than it is to enlighten the mind by
-pointed wit or a delicate irony.'
-
-"'Thank Heaven!' exclaimed the tragic poet, with an awful expression
-of disdain, 'if in its rigour it denies me your esteem, I may easily
-console myself for my misfortune. The court, however, thinks more
-favourably of my tragedies; and the pension with which in its grace
-it has been pleased----' 'Pshaw! think not to dazzle me with your
-pensions,' interrupted Calidas; 'I know too well how they may be
-obtained to esteem your works the more for that. And to prove to you
-your folly, in thinking more highly of yourself than of comic authors,
-and that it is easier to compose serious dramas than comic pieces, I am
-resolved if I return to France, and do not succeed in my own line, that
-I will descend to making tragedies.'
-
-"'For a scribbler of farces,' said the tragic poet, 'you are not over
-modest.' 'For a versifier who only owes his reputation to borrowed
-plumes,' replied the comic author, 'you would fain have one think
-rather too highly of you.' 'You are an insolent scoundrel,' exclaimed
-the sombre genius. 'If I were not in your room, little monsieur
-Calidas, the catastrophe of this adventure should teach you to respect
-the buskin.' 'Let not that consideration restrain you, I entreat, lanky
-monsieur Giblet,' replied Calidas; 'if you wish to receive a thrashing,
-I would as soon give it you in my own room as elsewhere.'
-
-[Illustration: Calidas and Giblet come to blows]
-
-"Immediately, they seized each other by the throat and hair; and kicks
-and cuffs were exchanged with generous ardour. An Italian, who lay in
-a neighbouring chamber, having listened to the overture of this drama,
-and hearing the noise of the incidental combat, judged that it was
-quite time for the spectators to assemble when the play had begun. He
-rose, therefore, and out of compassion for the French authors, although
-Italian, he filled the house with his cries. On this the Fleming and
-the two Germans hastened with himself in their dressing-gowns to the
-theatre of strife, and the piece is, as you see, just terminating by
-the separation of the combatants."
-
-"This squabble is amusing enough," said Don Cleophas. "But, it would
-appear from what you tell me that tragic writers in France imagine
-themselves to be much more important personages than those who devote
-themselves to comedy." "Certainly!" replied Asmodeus. "The former think
-themselves as much exalted over the latter, as are the stately heroes
-of tragedies above the intriguing servants of comic pieces." "Indeed!
-and on what do they found this opinion of themselves?" inquired the
-Student. "Is it then really so much more difficult to write the one
-than the other?" "The question you put to me," replied the Devil, "is
-one which has been a hundred times debated, and is so to this day. For
-myself, this is my decision, with all deference to those who differ
-from me in opinion. I say that it is not more easy to compose a comic
-than a tragic piece; for if it were so, we must conclude that a tragic
-poet would be more capable of writing a comedy, than the best comic
-author; the which is not borne out by experience. According to me,
-then, each of these two descriptions of poem requires a genius of a
-different character, but of an equal capability.
-
-"It is time, however, to end this digression. I will therefore resume
-the thread of the history, which you so unceremoniously interrupted."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-
-CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.
-
-
-Success had not attended the endeavours of the servants of Donna
-Theodora to prevent her being carried away; but they had at least
-opposed it with courage, and their resistance had been fatal to some
-of the companions of Alvaro Ponza. Among others, whose wounds had not
-permitted them to follow their comrades, there was a man, stretched
-almost lifeless on the sand, whom they recognized as one of Alvaro's
-own attendants. Perceiving that he still breathed, they carried him
-to the house, and spared no pains to restore him to his senses. In
-this they at last succeeded, although the quantity of blood which had
-escaped from his numerous wounds had reduced his stream of life to its
-lowest ebb, and left him extremely weak. To induce him to speak, they
-promised to take every care to prolong his days, and not to deliver him
-into the hands of justice, provided that he would inform them of the
-place to which his master had designed to take the Donna Theodora.
-
-Gratified by these assurances, although the state to which he was
-reduced left him but small hope to profit by their realization, he
-rallied all his remaining strength, and, with a faltering voice,
-confirmed by his confession the information that Don Fabricio had
-received. He added, however, that Don Alvaro designed to conduct the
-widow of Cifuentes to Sassari, in the island of Sardinia, where he had
-a relation whose protection and power promised him a safe asylum.
-
-[Illustration: Alvaro's attendant is carried away]
-
-The deposition of the dying man, for he expired a few hours afterwards,
-raised Mendoza and the Toledan from complete despair; and as their
-stay at Donna Theodora's seat was now useless, they at once returned
-to Valencia. After debating for some time on the steps most expedient
-to be taken, they resolved to seek their common enemy in his chosen
-retreat, and in a few days embarked, without attendants, at Denia,
-for Port Mahon, not doubting that they would there find some means
-of transport to the island of Sardinia. It so happened that scarcely
-had they reached their destined port, when they learned that a vessel
-freighted for Cagliari was about to sail, and in it they immediately
-secured a passage.
-
-The vessel left the island of Minorca with breezes friendly to their
-hopes; but five or six hours after their departure there came on a
-calm, and night brought with it winds directly in their teeth; so that
-they were obliged to tack about and wait for a favourable change.
-Three days were thus passed in sailing without progress; when, on the
-fourth, about two hours after noon, they discovered a strange sail, all
-its canvas spread, and bearing down directly upon them. At first they
-took it for a merchantman, bound for the shores they steered from; but
-observing that it came within the range of cannon-shot without showing
-its colours, they began to fear it was a corsair.
-
-They were not deceived: it was a Tunisian pirate, which approached
-them in full expectation that the Christians would yield without a
-blow. As it came near enough, however, for the corsairs to discern what
-was passing on board of their expected prey, and to observe that the
-sails were reefed and the guns run out, they guessed that the affair
-was likely to turn out more seriously than they had expected. They
-therefore shortened sail, wore round, hurriedly cleared the deck, and
-prepared for action.
-
-A brisk exchange of shots soon commenced, and the Christians, taking
-advantage of the surprise which their unexpected resistance had
-occasioned, began to prevail over their opponent; but an Algerine
-pirate, larger and of heavier metal than either of the others, arriving
-in the middle of the action, took part with its brother of Tunis, and
-the Christians were thus placed between two fires.
-
-[Illustration: the slave on the bow of the Algerine pirate ship]
-
-Discouraged by this unlooked-for circumstance, and feeling that it was
-useless to continue the unequal strife, they gradually slackened their
-fire, and at last it ceased altogether. On this a slave appeared on
-the bow of the Algerine vessel, who hailed them in their own language,
-bidding them, if they hoped for mercy, to strike to Algiers. A Turk
-then advanced, holding in his hand a green silk flag studded with
-silver crescents interlacing each other, which he waved in the air.
-The Christians, looking upon further resistance as hopeless, gave
-themselves up to all the grief that the idea of slavery inspires in
-the breasts of freemen, until the master of the vessel, fearing that
-a further delay of submission would only serve to irritate their
-barbarian conqueror, hauled down his colours, threw himself into a
-boat with some of his sailors, and went to surrender to the Algerine
-corsair.
-
-[Illustration: surrender]
-
-The latter immediately sent a portion of his crew on board the Spanish
-vessel to examine, or rather to pillage it of all that it contained.
-The Tunisian pirate gave similar orders to some of his men, so that all
-the passengers it contained were in an instant disarmed and plundered,
-and were shortly afterwards exchanged into the Algerine vessel, when
-the two pirates divided their prisoners by lot.
-
-It would have been at least some consolation for Mendoza and his friend
-to have both fallen into the hands of the same corsair; they would have
-found their chains somewhat the less heavy to have borne them together;
-but Fortune, apparently disposed to make them feel the terrors of her
-caprice, allotted Don Fabricio to the pirate of Tunis, and Don Juan
-to his competitor of Algiers. Picture to yourself the grief of the
-two friends, when told that they must part. They threw themselves at
-the feet of the corsairs, and entreated them that they might not be
-separated. But their entreaties were vain; the barbarians before whom
-they knelt were too much accustomed to the sight of human misery not to
-be proof against the prayers of their present victims. On the contrary,
-judging by their demeanour that the two captives were men of wealth and
-station, and that they would consequently pay a weighty ransom, they
-were the more resolved to divide them.
-
-Mendoza and Zarata, perceiving that they were in the power of men with
-hearts insensible to all but gain, turned towards each other, their
-looks expressing the depth of their affliction. But when the booty had
-been shared, and the Tunisian pirate prepared to return to his own
-vessel with his proportion, and the slaves which it included, they
-seemed as though they would expire with despair. Mendoza rushed into
-the arms of the Toledan, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Must we then
-separate? Cruel necessity! Is it not enough that we should be borne
-to slavery, and unavenged? Must we even be denied to bear in union
-the sorrows to which we are destined? Ah! Don Juan, what have we done
-that Heaven should thus visit us with its terrible wrath?" "Seek not
-elsewhere the cause of our disgrace," replied Don Juan: "I only am
-to blame. The death of two unfortunates, immolated to my revenge,
-although excused to mortal eyes, is deep offence to Heaven; and you, my
-friend, are punished for the fault of loving one who took upon himself
-the vengeance that belongs to God alone."
-
-[Illustration: Mendoza and Zarata are separated]
-
-While they spoke thus, tears, strangers to the eyes of men, streamed
-down their cheeks, and sighs but choked their utterance. So touching
-was their grief, that those who shared their fate were yet as much
-affected by the sight as with their own misfortune. Not so the wretches
-who formed the crew of the Tunisian corsair. Perceiving that Mendoza
-was the last to quit the Algerine vessel, they tore him without
-ceremony from the arms of the Toledan; and, as they dragged him away,
-added blows to insult. "Adieu, dear friend," he cried: "adieu for ever!
-Donna Theodora is yet unavenged! and, parted from you, the miseries
-that these wretches prepare will be the least that slavery can bring to
-me."
-
-Don Juan was unable to reply to the exclamations of his friend; the
-treatment that he saw him endure filled his breast with a horror which
-deprived him of speech. And so, Signor Don Cleophas, as the course
-of my narrative requires that we should follow the Toledan, we will
-leave Don Fabricio, in solemn silence, to be conducted on board of the
-Tunisian pirate.
-
-The Algerine returned toward his port, where, having arrived, he
-conducted his slaves to the house of the superintending basha, and
-thence to the public market. An officer of the Dey, Mezzomorto,
-purchased Don Juan for his master; and the new slave was at once
-employed as an assistant in the gardens of the harem. This occupation,
-although laborious for a gentleman, was however, the less disagreeable
-to Don Juan, on account of the solitude to which it left him; for,
-situated as he was, it was a pleasure to have at least the liberty of
-indulging his own melancholy thoughts. Incessantly occupied with his
-misfortunes, his mind, far from endeavouring to lighten them with hope,
-seemed to delight in dwelling on the past, and to inspire his bosom
-with gloomiest presages for the future.
-
-[Illustration: Mezzomorto approaches Zarata in the garden]
-
-One day he was occupied with his work, murmuring the while one of his
-now usual songs of sorrow, when the Dey, who was walking in the garden,
-came upon him without being perceived, and stopped to listen. Pleased
-with his voice, and moved by curiosity, he approached the captive and
-asked his name. The Toledan replied, that he was called Alvaro; for,
-following the usual custom with slaves, of concealing their station, he
-thought fit to change his name, and, as the outrage upon Donna Theodora
-was ever uppermost in his thoughts, the name of the detested Alvaro
-had come soonest to his lips when suddenly asked his own. Mezzomorto,
-who spoke the Spanish language tolerably well, then questioned him as
-to the customs of Spain, and particularly as to the conduct observed
-by those of its cavaliers who would render themselves agreeable to
-their ladies;--to all of which Don Juan replied in such a manner as to
-greatly please the Dey.
-
-"Alvaro," said he to him at last, "you appear to be intelligent; and I
-judge you to have been a man of rank in your own country: but, however
-that may be, you are fortunate enough to please me, and I will honour
-you with my confidence." At these words, Don Juan prostrated himself
-before the Dey, and with well-affected humility, kissed the hem of his
-master's robe, and after touching with it his eyes and forehead, arose,
-and stood before him in silence.
-
-"To begin by giving you proof of my regard," resumed the Dey, "you
-know, that in my seraglio, I have some of the fairest women which
-Europe can offer for my pleasures. Among these, however, there is one
-whose beauty is beyond compare; nor do I believe that the Grand Signor
-himself possesses so exquisite a creature, although for him the winds
-of heaven daily waft ships with their lovely burden from all quarters
-of the globe. In her visage the dazzling sun seems reflected, and her
-form is graceful as the rose's stem which grows in the gardens of Eram.
-My soul is enchanted with her perfections.
-
-[Illustration: the unhappy beauty of the seraglio]
-
-"Alas! this miracle of nature, all beauteous as she is, maintains and
-nourishes the deepest grief; which neither time nor all the efforts of
-my love can dissipate. Although fortune has yielded her to my will, I
-have ever respected her grief, and controlled my desires; and unlike
-those who, placed as I am, seek but the momentary gratifications of
-sense, I fain would win her heart, and have striven to gain it by
-respectful attentions, such as the vilest Mussulman that lives would
-feel degraded to offer to the fairest Christian slave.
-
-"Still, all my cares seem but to add to her affliction; and I will not
-disguise that its obstinacy begins to weary me. The sense of slavery
-is not imprinted in the minds of others of my slaves in characters so
-deep, but that a look of favour from myself can soon efface or gild
-them; so that I may well tire of this incessant grief. Nevertheless,
-before I abandon myself to the passion which transports me, I would
-make one last endeavour to touch her insensible heart; and I will leave
-this task to you. As my fair slave is Christian, and even of your own
-country, she may confide in you, and you may persuade her to my wishes
-better than another. Go, then! tell her of my riches and my power; tell
-her that among my many slaves, I care for only her; and, if it must
-be so, bid her even hope that she may one day be the honoured wife of
-Mezzomorto. Tell her that I would rather win her love, than receive the
-hand of a Sultana from the grace of his Highness the Sultan himself."
-
-Don Juan threw himself a second time before the Dey; and although not
-over-delighted with this commission, assured him that he would do his
-utmost to execute it to his satisfaction. "Enough!" replied Mezzomorto,
-"leave your work and follow me. I am about, contrary to our usages, to
-permit you privately to see this slave. But, tremble, if you dare abuse
-the confidence I place in you! Tortures, such as even were never yet
-inflicted by the Turks, shall punish your temerity. Strive to overcome
-your own sorrows, and dream of liberty as the reward of ending the
-sufferings that I endure." Don Juan threw down his hoe, and silently
-followed the Dey, who, when they entered the palace, left him, that he
-might prepare the afflicted captive to receive his messenger of love.
-
-[Illustration: the unhappy beauty salutes Mezzomorto]
-
-She was with two aged slaves, who retired as soon as Mezzomorto
-appeared. The beauteous slave herself saluted the Dey with great
-respect, but she could not behold him without greater fear, as indeed
-had ever been the case when he presented himself before her. He
-perceived it, and to reassure her mind: "Amiable captive," he said, "I
-come but to inform you that among my slaves there is a Spaniard with
-whom you would perhaps be glad to converse. If you wish to see him, I
-will give him permission to speak with you, and even alone."
-
-As the lovely slave expressed no objection to receive her countryman:
-"I go," resumed the Dey, "to send him to you: may he, by the
-information he conveys, serve to relieve you of your troubles!" He left
-her as he spoke; and as he went out, meeting the Toledan, said to him
-in a low voice: "Enter! and when you have communicated what I desire,
-come to my cabinet and inform me of the result."
-
-Zarata entered as he was directed, closed the door, and bowed
-before the favoured slave, who returned his salute, without either
-particularly observing the other. When, however, their eyes at last
-met, a cry of surprise and joy escaped them both: "Oh Heaven!"
-exclaimed the Toledan, approaching the captive, "is it not a vision
-that deceives mine eyes? Can it be the Donna Theodora whom I see?" "Ah!
-Don Juan," ere he had uttered these words, cried the lady he addressed,
-"is it indeed yourself who speaks to me?" "Yes, madam," replied the
-Toledan, while he fell upon his knee and tenderly kissed her hand, "it
-is Don Juan. Let these tears, that my eyes, rejoiced to behold you
-again, cannot restrain; let this transport, that you alone can excite
-in the heart of him who kneels before you, witness for my presence! I
-murmur no longer against my destiny, since it conducts me to you--Alas!
-what does my ecstacy inspire? I forget that you are in chains. By
-what unhappy chance do I find you here? How have you escaped from the
-frantic passion of Alvaro? Ah, what horror fills my soul to mention his
-very name! How do I tremble to learn the fate for which Heaven reserved
-you, when it abandoned you to his perfidy!"
-
-[Illustration: Don Juan kisses Donna Theodora's hand]
-
-"Heaven," replied the Donna Theodora, "has avenged me on Alvaro
-Ponza. Had I but time to relate to you----" "Time!" interrupted Don
-Juan,--"you have plenty, and to spare. The Dey himself permitted me
-to see you, and, what may well surprise you, alone. Profit by the
-happy moments which his confidence affords, and inform me of all that
-has happened to you since you were carried off by Alvaro." "And who,
-then, told you that it was by him I was taken away?" inquired Donna
-Theodora. "Alas! madam, I know it but too well," replied the Toledan.
-He then shortly narrated the manner in which he had become acquainted
-with Alvaro's design, and had witnessed its execution; how Mendoza
-and himself had followed him in the hope of preserving her from his
-violence, or to revenge it; and of their unfortunate, but for this
-meeting, encounter with the pirates, and its consequence.
-
-As soon as he had finished this recital, Donna Theodora began
-the story of heir own sufferings, as follows: "I need not dwell
-upon my astonishment at finding myself seized by a masked band of
-ruffians--indeed, I had hardly time to wonder at the outrage, for
-I swooned in the arms of the first who laid hold of me; and when I
-recovered my senses, which must have been after the lapse of some
-hours, I found myself alone with Agnes, one of my own attendants, in a
-cabin on the poop of a vessel, in the open sea, sailing with all its
-canvass spread before the wind.
-
-"The perfidious Agnes, on perceiving my tears, exhorted me to bear my
-misfortune with patience; but from a few words which dropped from her
-as she spoke, I was not long in divining that she was in the confidence
-of Alvaro, who shortly afterwards appeared. Throwing himself at my
-feet: 'Madam,' he exclaimed, 'pardon to a too fond lover the means by
-which he has dared to possess himself of your person! You know how
-deeply I have loved you, and how ardently I disputed with Mendoza for
-your heart, up to the fatal day when you declared your preference
-for him. Had my passion been the cold and empty feeling that mortals
-dignify with the name of love, I might have vanquished it as easily as
-such a feeling is inspired; but my misfortune was beyond consolation.
-I live but to adore those charms; and, despised though I be, I cannot
-free myself from their spell. But, madam, let not the fury of my
-passion alarm you! I have not deprived you of liberty, that I may rob
-you of honour; I seek only that, in the retreat unto which we are
-hastening, a sacred tie may unite our hearts for ever.'
-
-"He continued in this strain for some time, but in terms which I cannot
-remember. To hear him, it would have seemed that, in forcing me to wed
-him, he did me no wrong; and that where I saw but an insolent ravisher,
-I should have beheld alone an impassioned lover. As, however, while he
-spoke thus, I answered him but with tears, and exhibited an evident
-despair, he left me; but not without making signs to Agnes, which I
-plainly understood as directions for her to second, as well as she was
-able, the splendid arguments by which he had sought to dazzle my weak
-understanding.
-
-"She did her best; representing to me that, after the éclat of an
-abduction, I could not do otherwise than graciously accept the
-offered hand of Alvaro Ponza; that, whatever aversion I might feel
-for his excessive tenderness, my reputation demanded of my heart this
-sacrifice. As, however, the necessity which she painted, of a hated
-marriage, was not exactly the way to dry my tears, I still remained
-inconsolable; and Agnes had exhausted all her eloquence, when we
-suddenly heard upon the deck a noise which attracted the attention of
-us both.
-
-"This noise, which proceeded from Alvaro's people, was caused by the
-apparition of a large ship, which was sweeping with its wings all
-spread upon us; and from which, as our vessel was by no means so good
-a sailer, there was no escaping. Down it came, and we soon heard cries
-of 'Lie to, and send a boat aboard!' But Alvaro Ponza and his men, who
-knew what they had to expect from yielding, chose rather to die, or at
-least to run the chance of a combat. The action was sharp, but of short
-duration: I cannot pretend to give you its details, and will therefore
-only say, that Alvaro and every one of his crew perished, after
-fighting like men who preferred death to slavery. For myself and Agnes,
-we were removed into the other vessel, which belonged to Mezzomorto,
-and was commanded by Aby Aly Osman, one of his officers.
-
-[Illustration: Alvaro and his crew are killed]
-
-"Aby Aly looked at me for some time, with much surprise; and
-recognizing me, by my dress, for a Spaniard, he said to me in almost
-pure Castilian: 'Moderate your grief, lady, for having fallen into
-slavery: it is a consolation in our woes to know that they are
-inevitable. But what do I speak of?--Woe! Happiness alone awaits you.
-You are far too lovely for the homage of Christian dogs. Heaven never
-made you for the pleasure of the miserable wretches whom we trample
-under foot. You were formed to receive the admiration of the men of
-the world; a Mussulman alone is worthy to possess such beauty. I shall
-return at once,' he added, 'to Algiers. Albeit I have made no other
-prize, I know our Dey too well not to be persuaded that with you I
-shall not be all unwelcome. I have no great fear that he will condemn
-my impatience to place within his hands a beauty whom our Prophet must
-have sent on earth expressly for his enjoyment, and to be the light of
-his harem.'
-
-"These compliments, Don Juan, told me too plainly all I had to fear,
-and my tears flowed the faster as he spoke. Aby Aly was pleased,
-however, to interpret my fears after his own fashion; and, laughing at
-my timidity, gave orders to sail towards Algiers. Never was port so
-dreaded by the ship-bound habitant of ocean! Sometimes I threw myself
-on my knees, and implored Heaven for its protection; at others, my
-doubting spirit wished for the assistance of man in Christian guise who
-might come to my rescue, or sink the pirate vessel, which contained me,
-in the waves,--or that these in their mercy would engulph us. Then,
-again, I hoped that my tears, and the sorrow which caused them, would
-render me so unsightly that the tyrant to whom they bore me might
-fly my sight with horror. Vain wishes, that my modesty had formed!
-We arrived at the dreaded port; they conducted me to the palace; I
-appeared before Mezzomorto.
-
-"I know not what Aby Aly said on presenting me to his master, nor what
-the latter replied, for they spoke in their own tongue; but I thought
-I could perceive by the looks and gestures of the Dey that I had the
-misfortune to please him. But what, after they had conversed thus
-for some time, was addressed to me in my own language, completed my
-despair by confirming me in the opinion I had formed.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora and Aby Aly before Mezzomorto]
-
-"Vainly I cast myself before him, offering him whatever sum he chose to
-name as my ransom; in vain did I tempt his avarice by the promise of
-all that I possessed, or could command: he answered me by saying, that
-I offered him in my own person more than all the riches in the world
-could bestow. He then conducted me to this apartment, the most splendid
-his palace contains, and from that hour to the present moment, he has
-spared no pains to dispel the grief with which he sees me overcome. All
-his slaves who either dance, sing, or play, have tried by his command
-their skill before me. He removed from me Agnes, because he thought
-that she served to remind me of my home, and I am now attended by two
-aged female slaves, whose sole discourse is of love and the Dey, and of
-the happiness which through his favour I may secure.
-
-"Need I say, Don Juan, that all their efforts to divert my grief add
-but to its intensity, and that nothing can console me? Captive in this
-detestable palace, which resounds from day to day with the cries of
-innocence oppressed, I suffer less from the mere loss of liberty than
-from the terror which the hated tenderness of the Dey inspires. It is
-true I have hitherto found in him but a lover gentle and respectful;
-but I am not the less alarmed. I fear lest, wearied by a semblance of
-devotion, which cannot but constrain him to put on, he should resume
-the rights of power; and this fear agitates me without ceasing, making
-of my life but one long torment."
-
-As Donna Theodora finished these words, she wept; and her tears fell
-like iron on the heart of poor Don Juan. "It is not without cause,"
-he at last exclaimed, "that you look on the future with dread; I am,
-myself, as much alarmed for it as you. The respect of the Dey is
-melting faster than even you imagine; your submissive lover will soon
-abandon all the mildness he assumes. Alas! I know too well the dangers
-which surround you.
-
-"But," he continued, his voice changing as he spoke, "shall I calmly
-witness your dishonour? Slave though I be, he may feel the weight of my
-despair. Before Mezzomorto injures you, I will plunge in his heart----"
-"Ah! Don Juan," interrupted the widow of Cifuentes, "what dreadful
-project do you dream of? For Heaven's sake, think of it no more! With
-what dreadful cruelties would they avenge his death! Torments the most
-refined--I cannot think of them without trembling! Besides, to what
-end would you encounter such a peril? In taking the life of the Dey,
-would you restore me to liberty? Alas! I should be sold to some other
-tyrant who would treat me with less respect than Mezzomorto. No!" she
-exclaimed, throwing herself on her knees, "it is thou, Almighty Father,
-who canst alone protect me. Thou knowest my weakness, and the infamous
-designs of him in whose power I am placed. Thou, who forbiddest me to
-save myself by poison or the steel, Thou wilt save me in Thy justice
-from a crime that is abhorrent in Thy sight."
-
-"Yes, madam," replied Zarata, "Heaven will avert the misfortune with
-which you are threatened! I feel already that it inspires me;--the
-ideas which flash across my mind are doubtless prompted by its mercy.
-Hear me! The Dey has permitted me to see you, only that I might induce
-you to return his love. It is time that I rendered him an account of
-our interview; and, in so doing, I shall deceive him. I will tell him
-that your grief may be overcome; that his conduct towards you has
-already won for him your esteem, and that, from a continuance in that
-conduct, he has everything to hope. Do you assist me in my design? When
-he comes next to visit you, let him find you less sorrowful than usual;
-and appear, at least, to be interested in his conversation."
-
-"What a task would you impose on me!" interrupted Donna Theodora. "How
-is my soul, always frank and open, to assume such a disguise, and
-what will be the fruit of so painful a deception?" "The Dey," replied
-Zarata, "will be flattered by this change in your deportment, and
-will be anxious to complete his conquest of you by gentle means. In
-the meanwhile, I will endeavour to effect your freedom: it will be
-difficult, I acknowledge; but I am acquainted with a slave on whose
-address and enterprise some reliance may be placed.
-
-"I leave you," he continued, "as no time is to be lost: we shall meet
-again. I now go to the Dey; whose impetuous ardour I hope to restrain
-by some well-invented fables. And you, madam, prepare to receive
-him; constrain yourself to deceit. Let your eyes, which his presence
-offends, display neither hatred nor pride; let your lips, which now
-unclose but to express your affliction, form for him honeyed words of
-respect; you must indirectly promise all, in order that you may concede
-nothing." "Enough!" replied the lady, "I will do as you desire, since
-the danger that impends over me compels me to this cruel necessity. Go!
-Don Juan, employ all your thoughts to end my slavery: my freedom will
-be doubly sweet, if owing to you."
-
-As soon as the Toledan repaired to Mezzomorto, the latter cried with
-great emotion: "Well! Alvaro, what news do you bring to me of my lovely
-captive? Have you inclined her to listen to my vows? Tell me not that
-her ceaseless grief refuses to yield to my tenderness; or I swear, by
-the head of the Commander of the Faithful himself, that force shall
-wring from her what affection cannot win." "Signor," replied Don Juan,
-"that oath were useless now: you will have no need of violence to
-gratify your passion. Your slave is young,--has never loved;--and she
-whose pride disdained the offers of the noblest of her native land,
-in which she lived as queen, and here exists in chains, may well ask
-time to reconcile her haughty spirit to her new condition. This, proud
-as she is, habit will soon effect; and even now, I dare affirm, the
-yoke is felt less heavy: the kindness you have shown, the respectful
-cares which she could never have expected from yourself, have already
-lessened her misfortune, and must triumph over her disdain. Continue,
-Signor, this gentle observance; continue--and complete the charm which
-dissipates her grief, by new attentions to each fond caprice; and you
-will shortly find her yield to your desires, and lose her love of
-liberty, encircled in your arms."
-
-"Your words enrapture me," exclaimed the Dey: "the hopes which you
-inspire engage me to what you will. Yes! I will restrain my impatient
-love, that I may satisfy it the more worthily. But, do you not deceive
-me, or are you not deceived yourself? I will this moment see my lovely
-mistress; I will endeavour to discern in her eyes some expression of
-the flattering appearances you speak of." And so saying, he hastened to
-seek Theodora; while the Toledan returned to the garden, where he found
-the slave whose skill he proposed to employ in the liberation of the
-widow of Cifuentes.
-
-This slave, named Francisco, was a Navarrese, and was perfectly
-acquainted with Algiers and its customs, having there served two
-or three masters before he was purchased by the Dey as a gardener.
-"Francisco, my friend," said Don Juan, accosting him, "you see me in
-deep affliction. There is, in the harem of the Dey, a young lady of the
-highest distinction of Valencia: she has entreated Mezzomorto to name
-a ransom of any amount; but he refuses to do so, having fallen in love
-with her." "And why should that annoy you so much?" asked Francisco.
-"Because I come from the same town," replied the Toledan; "her
-relations and my own are intimately connected; and there is nothing
-which I would not do to restore her to liberty."
-
-"Well! though that is no easy matter to accomplish," said Francisco,
-"I dare undertake to bring it about, provided her relations are
-disposed to come down pretty handsomely." "Be assured of that," replied
-Don Juan; "I answer for their gratitude, and especially for her own.
-Her name is Donna Theodora: she is the widow of a man who has left her
-immense possessions, and she is generous as rich. For myself, I am a
-Spaniard, and a noble; my word may suffice to convince you of what I
-state."
-
-"Well, again!" resumed the gardener: "on the faith of your word then,
-I will seek a Catalonian renegade whom I know, and propose to him----"
-"What say you?" interrupted the Toledan, in alarm;--"would you confide
-in a wretch who has not been ashamed to abandon his religion for----"
-"Although a renegade," interrupted Francisco, in his turn, "he is
-nevertheless an honest man. He is rather deserving of your pity than
-contempt; and, if the crime he has committed can be excused at all, I
-think he may be pardoned. I will tell you his history in a few words.
-
-"He was born in Barcelona, where he practised as a surgeon. Finding,
-however, that he was worse off there than his patients, he resolved
-to establish himself at Carthagena, thinking of course to better his
-condition. He accordingly embarked with his mother, for that town;
-but they were taken on the way by a pirate, who brought them hither.
-They were sold; his mother to a Moor, and he to a Turk, who used him
-so badly that he assumed the turban to release himself from slavery,
-as also to enable him to free his parent, who was no better off in the
-house of the Moor, her master. With this view, he entered into service
-with the Dey, and made several voyages, in which he gained four hundred
-patacoons: he employed a portion of this in the ransom of his mother;
-and, to make the best use of the remainder, took it in his head to
-scour the seas on his own account.
-
-"Appointed captain, he purchased a small open vessel, and with some
-Turkish seamen who had sailed with him before, he set out to cruize
-between Alicant and Carthagena, and returned to Algiers, laden with
-booty. He repeated this several times; and succeeded always so well
-that at last he was able to arm a large vessel, with which he made
-several prizes, but was in the end unfortunate. One day, he was
-imprudent enough to attack a French frigate, which so mauled his ship
-that it was with difficulty he escaped, and regained Algiers. As
-pirates are judged here, like their betters elsewhere, according to
-their success, the renegade gained the contempt of the Turks as the
-reward of his misfortune. Disgusted by this injustice, he sold his
-vessel, and retired to a house without the town; where, since then, he
-has lived on the produce of his ship, and what remained of the fruits
-of his former enterprises, in company with his mother, and attended by
-several slaves.
-
-"I often go to see him, for he served with me under my first master,
-and we are intimate friends. He conceals nothing from me; and, only
-three days ago, he told me, with tears in his eyes, that, despite his
-wealth, he had known no peace since he had renounced his faith; that
-to appease the remorse which preyed on him without ceasing, he was
-sometimes tempted to trample his turban under foot, and, at the risk of
-being burned alive, to repair, by a public avowal of his repentance,
-the insult he had offered to the Mediator whom in secret he still
-adored.
-
-"Such is the renegade whom I am about to consult," continued Francisco:
-"surely, a man like him may be trusted by you. I will seek him,
-under pretext of going to the bagnio; I will represent to him, that
-instead of consuming his life in vain regret at his exclusion from the
-bosom of the church, he should act so as to assure his forgiveness
-and reception; that to do this he has only to equip a vessel, as if,
-disgusted with a life of inaction, he intended to resume his piracies;
-and that, with this vessel, we may gain the coast of Valencia, where,
-once arrived, Donna Theodora will give him wherewith to pass the
-remainder of his life in tranquillity at Barcelona."
-
-"Yes! my dear Francisco," cried Don Juan, transported with joy at the
-hope thus raised by the Navarrese slave,--"yes! you may promise all
-this, and more, to your renegade friend; both he and yourself may be
-sure of a rich reward. But, do you conceive it possible to execute the
-project you conceive?" "There may be difficulties," replied Francisco,
-"which I do not contemplate; but, rely on it, that I and my friend will
-overcome them all." "Alvaro," he added, as they parted, "I hope well
-for our enterprise; and I trust that, when we meet again, I shall have
-good news to tell you."
-
-With what anxiety did the Toledan await the return of Francisco! At
-last he came. "I have seen the renegade," he said, "and have opened
-to him our design. After much deliberation, we have arranged that, to
-save time, he shall purchase a vessel already fitted for sea; that, as
-it is permitted to employ slaves as sailors, he shall take with him
-those who now serve him; that, however, to guard against suspicion, he
-shall also engage some dozen others, as if he really designed what he
-pretended; but that, two days before the time fixed for his departure,
-he shall embark, by night, with his own people, and weigh anchor, after
-coming for us with his boat to a little door which leads from the
-garden, close by the sea. This is our plan; of which you can inform
-the captive lady, assuring her that in a fortnight from this time she
-shall be free."
-
-How great was the joy of Zarata, to be able to convey such welcome
-intelligence to the Donna Theodora! To obtain permission to see her, on
-the following day, he sought, without appearing to do so, Mezzomorto;
-and, having met with him: "Signor," said he, "dare I enquire how
-you have found your lovely slave? Are my hopes fulfilled?--" "I am
-delighted," interrupted the Dey; "her eyes no longer shun the tender
-glance of mine; her words, which heretofore presented but the picture
-of her griefs, no longer breathe complaint; and for the first time, she
-seemed to listen to my own without aversion.
-
-"It is to you, Alvaro," he continued, "that I owe this happy change:
-I see," he added, good-humouredly, "that you are in favour with the
-ladies of your country. I will trust you, however, to speak with her
-again, that you may finish well what you have so well begun. Exhaust
-thy fertile genius to attain the bliss I seek, and thy chains are
-turned to gold. Yes! I swear, by the spirit of our Holy Prophet, that
-I will restore you to your home, so loaded with my favours, that your
-Christian friends shall not believe you, when you tell them you return
-from slavery."
-
-The Toledan, although somewhat conscience-stricken, did not fail to
-continue Mezzomorto in the flattering error he indulged. Affecting
-gratitude for his kindness, and under pretext of hastening its
-accomplishment, he left the Dey at once to see the charming slave; and,
-finding her alone in her apartment, he lost no time in informing her of
-what the Navarrese and the renegade intended on her behalf.
-
-The lady was of course greatly delighted to hear that already such
-strides were making towards her deliverance. "Is it possible," she
-cried, "that I may hope again to see Valencia, my own dear native land?
-Joy, joy!" she continued,--"after so many dangers and alarms, to live
-in peace once more with you! Ah! Don Juan, this is happiness indeed!
-Can I doubt that your heart partakes of it? Remember, Zarata, that, in
-snatching me from the Dey, you bear away your wife!"
-
-"Alas!" replied the Toledan, sighing deeply, "how delicious were those
-words to my expecting soul, did not the remembrance of an unhappy
-aspirant for thy love dash their sweet fragrance with alloy! Pardon
-me, madam, that at such a moment I should think of aught but you! But
-you must acknowledge that a friend like Mendoza merits thy pity as my
-own. It was for thee he left Valencia; it was in search of thee that he
-became a slave; and I feel sure that, at Tunis, he is not bowed down so
-much by the weight of his chains, as with despair at failing to avenge
-thee."
-
-"He merited indeed a happier lot," said Donna Theodora; "and I call
-Heaven to witness that I am deeply affected at what he suffers on my
-account. Yes! I accuse myself of the pains which he endures; but, such
-is my destiny, my heart can never be their recompense."
-
-This conversation was interrupted by the coming of the two old dames
-who attended on the widow of Cifuentes. Don Juan immediately assumed
-the confidant of the Dey: "Yes, fair lady," said he to Theodora, "you
-have deprived him of liberty who keeps you in chains. Mezzomorto, your
-master and my own, the most loving and the most amiable of Turks, is
-your slave. Treat him with the favour you now deign to show him, and
-soon will a joyous end arrive to his sufferings and your own." Zarata
-bowed respectfully as he pronounced these words, the purport of which
-was well understood by the lady to whom they were addressed, and left
-the apartment.
-
-[Illustration: portrait of Mezzomorto]
-
-During the following week, affairs remained in this position in the
-palace of the Dey. In the meantime, however, the renegade had purchased
-a small sloop, and was making preparations for its putting to sea; but,
-six days before it was ready, a new subject for alarm occurred to Don
-Juan.
-
-Mezzomorto sent for him, and, taking him into his cabinet: "Alvaro,"
-he said, "thou art free!--free to return when thou wilt to Spain; the
-reward that I have promised now awaits thee. I have seen my lovely
-slave this day;--ah! how unlike the creature whose sorrow filled my
-breast with anguish! Daily does the feeling of captivity grow weaker;
-and so bright are now her charms, that I have resolved at once to make
-her mine: in two days she shall be my wife."
-
-Don Juan changed colour at these words, and, with all the effort that
-he made to constrain them, could not conceal his trouble and surprise
-from the Dey, who asked him the cause of this emotion.
-
-"Signor," replied the Toledan, with embarrassment, "I cannot control
-my astonishment at hearing one of the greatest princes of the Ottoman
-empire avow his intention of so far humbling himself as to wed with
-a slave. I know that this is not without precedent; but, for the
-illustrious Mezzomorto, who might aspire to the daughter of the
-highest in the service of the Sultan, to"--"I agree to what you say,"
-interrupted the Dey; "I might marry with the daughter of the Grand
-Vizier, and even hope to succeed him in his office: but I have great
-wealth, and small ambition. I prefer repose, and the delights I enjoy
-here in my vice-royalty, to the dangerous honours to which we are no
-sooner elevated, than the fear of our sovereign, or the jealousy of the
-envious who surround him, prepares for us a fall. Besides, I love this
-slave; and her beauty and virtue render her worthy of the rank to which
-my affection calls her.
-
-"It is however necessary," he added, "that she should at once renounce
-her religion, to attain the honour for which I destine her. Think you
-that absurd prejudices will induce her to despise that honour?" "No,
-Signor," replied Don Juan; "I am persuaded that on reflection, she will
-hold her faith as too small a sacrifice to your love. But, permit me to
-say that this should not be proposed too hastily. There is no doubt
-that the idea of abandoning the creed she lisped almost on her mother's
-bosom will at first revolt her: give her therefore time to reflect
-on the inducements to a change. When she remembers that, instead of
-using your power over her person, and then abandoning her to grow old
-among the neglected slaves of your caprice, you seek to unite her to
-yourself for ever, by a marriage which crowns her with honour, her
-gratitude--her woman's vanity--will by degrees vanquish her scruples.
-Defer therefore for a week, at least, the execution of your design."
-
-The Dey remained for some time in deep thought: the delay that his
-confidant proposed suited but ill to his desires; nevertheless, the
-counsel appeared judicious. "I yield to your advice, Alvaro," at last
-he said, "impatient as I am to press the lovely captive to my heart. I
-will wait a week, as you request. Go!" he continued, "see her at once,
-and dispose her to fulfil my wishes, when that time shall have passed.
-I am anxious that Alvaro, who so well has tutored the fair one to my
-will, should have the honour of tendering to her my hand."
-
-Don Juan hastened to the apartment of Theodora, and informed her of
-what had passed between the Dey and himself, that she might conduct
-herself accordingly. He also informed her that in six days the vessel
-would be ready; and, as she was anxious to know how, when the time
-arrived, she was to escape, seeing that all the doors of the rooms
-she had to traverse, in the usual way of reaching the staircase, were
-well secured: "Let not that embarrass you," he answered; "a window of
-your ante-room looks upon the garden; and you may thence descend, by a
-ladder which I will take care to provide."
-
-The six days added their units to eternity, and Francisco informed the
-Toledan that the renegade was prepared to sail on the coming night:
-you may guess with what impatience it was expected. It came, and,
-graciously for the fugitives, shrouded in its thickest mantle to cover
-their flight. At the appointed moment, Don Juan placed the ladder
-against the window of the ante-room, and the watchful captive hastened
-to descend, trembling with agitation and suspense. She reached the
-ground in safety, and leaning on the arm of the Toledan, the latter
-lost no time in conducting her to the little door which opened on the
-sea.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora descends the ladder]
-
-They walked with hasty steps, enjoying, by anticipation, the happiness
-of recovered freedom; but fortune, not even now disposed to favour
-these unhappy lovers, plunged them into grief more dire than they had
-yet experienced, and of a nature that they least expected.
-
-[Illustration: Donna Theodora and Zarata hurry away]
-
-They had already left the garden, and were advancing to the shore,
-where the sloop awaited them, when a man whom they took for an
-accomplice in their escape, and of whom, therefore, they had no
-suspicion, came upon Don Juan, sword in hand, and thrust it in his
-breast. "Perfidious Alvaro Ponza!" he exclaimed, "it is thus that Don
-Fabricio de Mendoza punishes a base seducer: you deserve not that I
-should attack you openly as an honest man."
-
-The Toledan could not resist the force of the blow, which stretched
-him on the earth; and, at the same moment, Donna Theodora, whom he
-supported, struck with surprise, with grief and fear, fell in a swoon
-beside him. "Ah! Mendoza," cried Don Juan, "what have you done? It
-is your friend whose bosom you have pierced!" "Gracious Heaven!"
-exclaimed Don Fabricio, "is it possible that I have assassinated----"
-"I pardon you my death," interrupted Zarata; "destiny is alone to
-blame, or rather it has so willed it, to end our misfortunes. Yes! my
-dear Mendoza, I die contented, since I restore to your hands the Donna
-Theodora, who will convince you that my friendship for you has never
-belied itself for an instant."
-
-[Illustration: Zarata stabbed by Mendoza]
-
-"Too generous friend," said Don Fabricio, prompted by a feeling of
-despair, "you shall not die alone; the same point which wounded you
-shall punish your assassin: if my error may excuse my crime, it cannot
-console me for its committal." As he spoke, he turned his sword against
-his breast, plunged it therein nearly to the hilt, and fell upon the
-body of Don Juan, who fainted less from loss of blood, than from horror
-at the frenzy of his friend.
-
-Francisco and the renegade, who were not ten paces from the spot, and
-who had their reasons for not having defended the slave Alvaro, were
-amazed to hear the last words of Don Fabricio, and still more so to
-witness his last act. They had heard enough, however, to know that he
-had been mistaken, and that the wounded pair were friends, instead of
-deadly enemies, as they had believed. They now therefore hastened to
-their assistance; but, finding them both senseless, as also the Donna
-Theodora, they were at a loss how to proceed. Francisco advised that
-they should content themselves with bearing off the lady, leaving the
-two cavaliers on the shore; where, according to him, if they were not
-already dead, they would soon be so. The renegade, however, was not
-of this opinion: he said that it would be cruel to abandon the two
-unfortunates; that their wounds were probably not mortal, and that
-he would look to them when on board his vessel, where he had been
-provident enough to stow away all the implements of his ancient trade.
-
-To this, Francisco made no objection; so, as they both agreed that
-there was no inducement to stay where they were, by the assistance
-of some slaves, they carried the unhappy widow of Cifuentes, and her
-still more unfortunate lovers, to the boat, and soon joined their ship.
-There, no time was lost in spreading the sails; while some upon their
-knees poured forth to Heaven the most fervent prayers which fear could
-suggest, that they might escape the cruisers of the Dey.
-
-[Illustration: Theodora, Zarata and Mendoza are carried to the boat]
-
-The renegade, having left the management of the vessel to a French
-slave whom he could trust, gave his attention to his passengers. The
-lady, of course, claimed his first care; and, having restored her to
-life, he took his measures so skilfully, that Don Fabricio and the
-Toledan also speedily recovered their senses. Donna Theodora, who had
-swooned the instant Don Juan was struck, was greatly astonished on her
-recovery to behold Mendoza; and, although she soon comprehended that
-the latter had wounded himself for having incautiously assailed his
-friend, she could not look upon him but as the murderer of the man she
-loved.
-
-"You would have been affected, Don Cleophas, could you have seen these
-three persons at the moment I speak of: the deathlike stillness from
-which they had emerged would not have commanded half your pity. There
-was Donna Theodora, gazing on Don Juan with eyes which spoke all
-the feelings of a soul filled with grief and despair; while the two
-friends, each fondly turning upon her their dying looks, were striving
-to control the sighs which rent their hearts."
-
-The scene lasted for some time in silence, which Mendoza was the first
-to break. "Madam," said he, addressing Donna Theodora, "I die; but I
-have the satisfaction of knowing you are free. Would to Heaven that
-thy liberty were owing to myself! But it has decreed that you should
-owe that obligation to him whose image you cherish in your heart. I
-love too much my rival to complain; and trust that the blow which my
-blindness dealt may be too light to prevent his sweet reward." The lady
-answered not this touching speech. Insensible, for the time, to the
-fate of Mendoza, she could not restrain the feelings of aversion which
-the condition of the Toledan, over whom she hung, inspired in her bosom
-towards him who had caused it.
-
-The regenade surgeon now examined and probed the wounds of the two
-friends. Beginning with Zarata, he pronounced it favourable, inasmuch
-as the sword had only glanced through the muscles of the left breast,
-without touching any of the vital parts. This report, while it lessened
-the grief of Donna Theodora, gave great delight to Don Fabricio, who,
-turning his head towards the lady, exclaimed, "Madam, I die without
-regret, since the life of my friend is out of danger: you will forgive
-me now."
-
-He pronounced these words with so much pathos, that the widow of
-Cifuentes was moved beyond expression. As she no longer feared for Don
-Juan, she ceased to hate Mendoza, and beheld in him now but an object
-of the deepest pity. "Ah! Don Fabricio," she exclaimed, her generous
-nature resuming its influence, "let them attend to your wound; it is,
-I trust, not more dangerous than that of your friend. Let not your
-feelings interfere to render the cares of those who love you useless.
-Live!--if I cannot yield felicity to you, at least I will never bestow
-it on another. Friendship and compassion shall restrain the hand that I
-would give to Don Juan: I will sacrifice for you, as he has done, the
-dearest wishes of my heart."
-
-[Illustration: Mendoza addresses Donna Theodora]
-
-Don Fabricio would have replied; but the surgeon, fearing that in his
-case, as in trouble generally, talking would only increase the ill,
-imposed silence, while he examined his wound. On so doing, he saw that
-it was likely to prove mortal, as the sword had penetrated the lungs,
-and the consequent loss of blood had been excessive. Having however
-dressed it with care, he left the cavaliers to repose; and that a
-matter so essential to them, in their present state, might be secured,
-he took with him, as he left the cabin, Donna Theodora, whose presence
-seemed likely to disturb it.
-
-But despite all these precautions, Mendoza was seized with fever, and
-towards midnight the wound began to bleed afresh. The renegade then
-thought it right to inform him that all hope of recovery was over, and
-that, if he had anything which he wished to communicate to his friend,
-or to Donna Theodora, he had no time to lose. The Toledan was greatly
-affected on hearing the declaration of the surgeon: for Don Fabricio,
-he listened to it with indifference. He calmly requested that the
-regenade would summon the widow of Cifuentes to his side.
-
-Donna Theodora hastened to the dying man, in a state more easy to
-conceive than to describe: tears streamed down her cheeks, and sobs
-choked her utterance;--so violent was her affliction, that Mendoza
-could not repress his agitation at the sight. "Madam," he exclaimed, "I
-am unworthy of the precious drops which dim those lovely eyes: restrain
-them, I entreat you, and listen to me for a few moments. And you also,
-my dear Zarata," he continued, observing the excess of grief in which
-his friend indulged, "control your feelings for a while, and hear
-me. I well know that to you this separation is a painful shock; your
-friendship is too well assured for me to doubt it; but wait, both of
-you, until the earth shall have hidden me from your sight; and honour,
-with those marks of tenderness and pity, my silent grave.
-
-"Suspend until then your affliction; I feel it now more than the loss
-of life. Let me relate to you the way by which the fate that pursues me
-conducted me this night to the fatal shore which I have stained with
-the blood of my friend, and my own. You must be anxious to learn how it
-happened that I mistook Don Juan for Alvaro; I will tell you, if the
-short time which it is permitted me to live will enable me to do so.
-
-"Some hours after the vessel in which I was had quitted that wherein
-I had left Don Juan, we met a French privateer, which attacked and
-took the Tunisian pirate, and landed us near Alicant. I was no sooner
-free, than I thought on the ransom of my friend; and, to effect this
-I went to Valencia to obtain the necessary funds. There, learning
-that at Barcelona some brothers of the Holy Order of Redemption
-were just about to sail for Algiers, I set out for the former town.
-Before leaving Valencia, however, I begged my uncle the governor, Don
-Francisco de Mendoza, to use all his influence with the court of Madrid
-to obtain the pardon of Zarata, that, on his return with me, he might
-be reinstated in his former possessions, which had been confiscated in
-consequence of the death of the Duke of Naxera.
-
-"As soon as we had arrived at Algiers, I went to all the places
-frequented by the slaves; but in vain did I run them through, I
-found not the object of my search. This morning, I met the regenade
-Catalonian, to whom this vessel belongs, and whom I recognized as a man
-who had formerly attended my uncle. I told him the motive of my voyage,
-and requested him to make strict inquiry for my friend. 'I am sorry,'
-he replied, 'that it is out of my power to serve you. I leave Algiers
-to-night, with a lady of Valencia, one of the Dey's slaves.' 'And who
-is this lady,' I demanded. 'She is called the Donna Theodora,' was his
-startling answer.
-
-"The surprise which I exhibited at this information told the regenade
-at once that I was interested in this lady's fate. He therefore
-informed me of the design which he had formed for her liberation;
-and as, during his recital, he mentioned the slave Alvaro, I had no
-doubt that it was Alvaro Ponza himself of whom he spoke. When he had
-finished: 'Assist me in my resentment!' I exclaimed, with transport;
-'furnish me with the means of avenging myself upon my enemy!' 'You
-shall soon be satisfied,' replied the regenade; 'but, tell me first
-what subject of complaint you have against this same Alvaro.' I related
-to him all our history; which, when he had heard: 'Enough!' he cried,
-'you shall accompany me to-night. They will point out to you your
-rival; and, when you have punished him for his villany, you shall take
-his place, and join with us in conducting Donna Theodora to Valencia.'
-
-"Nevertheless, my impatience did not cause me to forget Don Juan. I
-left the money for his ransom in the hands of Francisco Capati, an
-Italian merchant, who resides at Algiers, and who promised me to effect
-it, if by any means he could discover him. At last, the night arrived;
-I went to the house of the regenade, who led me, as he had promised
-to the sea shore. We concealed ourselves near a little door, whence
-shortly issued a man who came directly towards us, and, pointing to two
-persons who followed him, said 'There are Alvaro and Donna Theodora.'
-
-"Furious at this sight, I drew my sword, ran to meet the unfortunate
-Alvaro, and, imagining that it was my hated rival whom I struck, I
-thrust my weapon into the bosom of the faithful friend whom I had come
-to seek. But, Heaven be praised!" he continued with emotion, "my error
-will not cost him his life, nor cause eternal grief to Donna Theodora."
-
-"Ah! Mendoza," interrupted the lady, "you do injustice to my
-tears; never shall I console myself for your own loss. Even should
-I espouse your friend, it will be only to unite our griefs: your
-love, your friendship, your misfortunes will ever be present to our
-recollection,--the sole topic for our tongues." "It is too much,
-madam," replied Don Fabrido; "I am not worthy thus to trouble thy
-repose. Permit, I entreat thee, Zarata to call thee his, on the day
-when he shall have revenged thy wrongs on Alvaro Ponza." "Don Alvaro,"
-said the widow of Cifuentes, "is no more; on the same day that he
-forced me from my home, he was killed by the pirate who enslaved me."
-
-"Madam," replied Mendoza, "my wavering soul rejoices at the welcome
-news; my friend will be the sooner happy. Follow without control your
-mutual inclinations. I see, with joy, the hour approach which removes
-from you, for ever, the obstacle which your generous compassion has
-raised against your happiness. May your days glide in peace, and in
-an union which the envy of fortune may never dare to trouble! Adieu,
-Madam;--adieu, Don Juan!--think sometimes, in your joy, of one who has
-never loved but you."
-
-Donna Theodora and the Toledan were unable to reply to this
-affectionate address, except by tears, which redoubled as he spoke.
-Mendoza, therefore, perceiving their grief, thus continued: "But I have
-done with earth! Death already points me out my way; and I have not yet
-supplicated the Divine mercy to pardon me for having, by my own folly,
-shortened a life of which it should have alone disposed." He spoke no
-more; but, raising his eyes to Heaven, appeared to be engaged in mental
-prayer for its forgiveness; when a gurgling in his throat told that a
-last outbreaking of his wound had taken place, and he expired.
-
-Don Juan, as he heard the fatal rattling which indicated what was
-passing, was maddened with despair. His hands sought his own wound;
-and tearing it open, he would have soon joined his friend, but that
-the renegade and Francisco threw themselves upon him, and withheld his
-fury: Donna Theodora, woman-like, forgetful of her own woes at sight of
-the transport of the Toledan, hastened to soothe him by her tenderness;
-and--what will not love do?--soon brought him to himself: in short, the
-lover triumphed over the friend. But, if reason regained its sway, it
-was only to resist the insensate frenzy of his grief, and not to weaken
-its sentiment.
-
-The renegade, who, among the many things which he was bearing from
-Algiers, happened to have balsam of Arabia, and other precious
-requisites, undertook to embalm the body of Mendoza, at the request of
-Donna Theodora and her now unrivalled lover; who were anxious to render
-to their friend's remains all proper honours of sepulture at Valencia.
-Love, with them, did nothing but sigh and moan, during the voyage; not
-so, however, with their companions: they were rejoiced by favourable
-winds, which soon brought them in sight of the coast of Spain, to the
-inexpressible delight of those, which included the whole crew, who had
-never expected to behold it again.
-
-When the vessel had happily arrived at the port of Denia, every one
-took his own course. For the widow of Cifuentes and the Toledan, they
-sent a courier to Valencia, with letters for the governor and the
-friends of Donna Theodora. Alas! while the intelligence of the return
-of this lady brought joy to her relations, that of the death of his
-nephew caused the deepest affliction to Don Francisco de Mendoza.
-
-The poor old man, accompanied by the relatives of the released lady,
-lost no time in repairing to Denia; and there, insisting on beholding
-the body of the unhappy Don Fabricio, he bathed it with his tears,
-uttering such deep complaints as melted the hearts of the beholders.
-Then, turning to the Toledan, he requested to be informed of the
-unfortunate events which had brought his nephew to so sad an end.
-
-[Illustration: Don Francisco de Mendoza mourning his nephew]
-
-"I will tell you," replied Zarata: "far from seeking to efface them
-from my memory, I feel a mournful pleasure in recalling them to my
-mind, and in indulging my grief." He then related to Don Francisco
-all that had occurred; and this recital, while it brought fresh
-tears to his own eyes, added to those which flowed from those of his
-aged listener. Meanwhile the friends of Theodora were occupied in
-testifying the delight which was elidted by her unexpected return, and
-in felicitating her on the miraculous manner in which she had been
-delivered from the tyranny of Mezzomorto.
-
-After all things had been satisfactorily explained, they placed the
-body of Don Fabricio in a hearse, and bore it to Valencia. It was not,
-however, buried there, because, as the period of the vice-royalty of
-Don Francisco was nearly expired, that nobleman was preparing to return
-to Madrid, where he had resolved that his nephew should be interred.
-While the preparations for the funeral were making, the widow of
-Cifuentes was employed in loading Francisco and the renegade with the
-fruits of her gratitude. The Navarrese retired to his own province,
-and the surgeon returned with his mother to Barcelona, where he sought
-once more the bosom of the church, in which he lives to this day snugly
-enough. And now, when all was completed, Don Francisco received an
-express from the court, conveying the pardon of Don Juan, which the
-king, notwithstanding his consideration for the house of Naxera, had
-been unable to refuse to all the Mendozas who had united to ask the
-grace. This pardon was the more welcome to the Toledan, inasmuch as it
-gave him liberty to accompany the body of his friend to its last home,
-which he would not otherwise have dared to do.
-
-At last the sorrowful procession, attended by a numerous concourse of
-noble mourners, set out for Madrid; where it was no sooner arrived,
-than all that remained of Don Fabricio was deposited in yonder church,
-where Zarata and the Donna Theodora, with the permission of the
-Mendozas, erected a splendid monument to his memory. Nor did they bury
-their grief with their friend: they bore at least its outward sign for
-the unusual space of an entire year, that the world might know how
-deeply they deplored his loss.
-
-[Illustration: Zarata falls from his horse]
-
-After having exhibited such signal proofs of their affection for
-Mendoza, they married; but by an inconceivable effort of the force of
-friendship, Don Juan for a length of time still preserved a melancholy
-that not even love could banish. Don Fabricio, his dear Don Fabricio,
-was ever present in his thoughts by day; and, by night, he saw him in
-his dreams, and mostly as he had beheld him when the last sigh escaped
-him. His mind, however, began to be relieved from these saddening
-visions,--the charms of his beloved Theodora, which had ever possessed
-his soul, commenced their triumph over his baneful remembrances; in
-short, Don Juan once more touched upon happiness. But, a few days
-since, while hunting, he was thrown from his horse, fell upon his head,
-and fractured his skull. Physicians could not save him; he is just
-dead: and it is Theodora whom you see, in the arms of the two women,
-and who will probably soon follow him to the grave.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-THE DREAMERS.
-
-
-Leandro Perez, as soon as Asmodeus had finished this narrative, said
-to him: "A very pretty picture of friendship have you presented! But,
-rare though it be to see two men so bound by love as the Toledan and
-Don Fabricio, I imagine it were quite impossible to find two rivals of
-the softer sex, who could so generously sacrifice to each other, for
-friendship's sake, the man they love."
-
-"Doubtless!" replied the Devil: "that is a sight the world ne'er saw,
-and one that, as it grows older, it probably never will see. Women have
-no affection for each other. I will suppose two who think themselves
-friends; I will even go the length to suppose that they never speak ill
-of one another when apart,--so extraordinary are the ties which bind
-them. Well! see them together; and incline the least towards the one,
-and rage shall fill the bosom of the other; not that she cares an atom
-for yourself, but because she would be preferred by all. Such is the
-character of woman: jealousy occupies too large a portion of her heart
-to leave room for friendship."
-
-"The history of these peerless friends," replied Don Cleophas,
-"possesses a slight touch of the romantic, and has led us somewhat
-from our object. The night is far advanced, and we shall soon behold
-the brilliant heralds of the coming day: I expect of you, therefore,
-a new pleasure. I perceive a great number of persons still sleeping,
-and wish you to satisfy my curiosity by informing me of their dreams."
-"Willingly!" replied the Demon. "You are, I see, an admirer of _les
-tableaux changeants;_ I will gratify your taste."
-
-"Thanks!" said Zambullo: "I expect that I am about to hear of rare
-absurdities in these same dreams." "And why?" asked the Cripple: "you,
-so well versed in Ovid, do you not know that it is towards break of
-day that dreams visit the mind with presages of truth, because at that
-time the soul is disengaged from the vapours of digestion?" "Oh! as to
-that," replied the Student, "despite of master Ovid, I have no faith
-in dreams." "You are wrong, then," exclaimed Asmodeus: "you should
-neither treat them as fantastic visions, nor yet believe them all; they
-are liars, who sometimes speak the truth. The emperor Augustus, whose
-head had well adorned a student's shoulders, despised not dreams which
-turned upon his fate; and nearly took it in his head, at the battle
-of Philippi, to strike his tent, on hearing of a dream which regarded
-himself. I could cite a thousand examples to you, which would convince
-you of your folly in this respect; but I forbear to do so, that I may
-at once satisfy the new desire which prompts you.
-
-"We will begin by this handsome mansion on our right. Its proprietor,
-whom you see ensconced in that superb apartment, is a liberal and
-gallant noble. He is dreaming that he is at the opera, listening to a
-new prima donna; and that the voice of the syren is just enslaving his
-heart.
-
-"In the next apartment lies the countess, his wife, who loves play to
-madness. She dreams that she has no money, and that she is pawning her
-diamonds with a jeweller, who is lending her thereon three hundred
-pistoles, deducting only a very moderate discount.
-
-"In the next house, on the same side, lives a marquis of the same stamp
-as the count, and who, for the moment, is in love with a celebrated,
-but capricious, beauty. He dreams that he is borrowing largely of an
-usurer for the purpose of securing her to himself; while his steward,
-who is sleeping at the top of the house, is dreaming that he is growing
-rich as fast as his master is hastening to ruin. Well! what think you
-of these dreams? Is there anything in them so extravagant?" "No! on
-my life," replied Don Cleophas, "I begin to think Ovid is right: but
-who is that man whom I see, lying with his mustachios in paper, and
-preserving in his sleep an air of gravity which would indicate that
-he is no ordinary cavalier." "He is a country gentleman," replied
-the Demon,--"a viscount of Aragon, imbued with all the pride of that
-province. His soul at this moment swims in delight; he dreams that
-he is with a grandee who is yielding to him precedence in a public
-ceremony.
-
-"But," continued Asmodeus, "I observe in the same house two brothers,
-apothecaries, whose dreams are particularly unpleasant. One of them
-is reading, in his sleep, an ordinance which decrees that doctors
-shall not be paid, except when they have cured their patients; and his
-brother is occupied with a similar law, which ordains that medical
-attendants shall head the procession at the funeral of all who die
-in their hands." "I could wish," interrupted Zambullo, "that these
-decrees were as true as they would be just; and that your doctor were
-thus compelled to be present at the burial of his innocent patient, as
-a _lieutenant criminel_, in France, is bound to witness the execution
-of the guilty wretch whom he has condemned." "I like your comparison,"
-exclaimed the Devil: "it might be said in such a case, however, that
-the one merely superintends the execution of his own sentence; but that
-the other, having already performed his especial function, pursues his
-victim after death."
-
-"Hollo!" cried the Student, "who is that personage rubbing his eyes,
-and rising in such tremendous haste?" "He," replied Asmodeus, "is a
-noble signor who is soliciting an appointment, as governor, in the
-Indies. A frightful dream has startled him from sleep: he fancied
-himself at court, and that the premier had passed him with averted
-eyes. And there, too, is a youthful damsel, waking to the world,
-not over contented with her dream. She is a lady of rank, and not
-more handsome than discreet. She has two lovers; for one of whom she
-nourishes a passion the most tender, and for the other an aversion,
-almost amounting to horror. Well! in her sleep just now, she saw,
-upon his knees before her, the gallant she detests; and he was so
-impassioned, so assiduous, that had she not awakened, she would have
-treated him with even greater kindness than she ever bestowed on the
-lover whom she favours: nature, during sleep, signor Student, throws
-off the yoke of reason, and of virtue.
-
-"Cast your eyes upon that house at the corner of this street: it
-belongs to an attorney. Behold him and his wife sleeping in twin
-bedsteads, in that room hung with ancient tapestry, embroidered with
-grotesque figures. The man of law dreams that he is about to visit
-one of your hospitals for the charitable purpose of relieving a sick
-client with his own money; while the lady imagines that her husband is
-driving out of his house a sturdy clerk, of whom he has become suddenly
-jealous."
-
-[Illustration: the lady of rank's dream]
-
-"I hear ungentle snorings break on the stillness round us," said
-Leandro Perez; "and I fancy they proceed from yonder plump old man,
-whom I discern in the house adjoining that of the attorney." "Precisely
-so," answered Asmodeus. "It is a canon chanting in his sleep his
-_Benedicite_.
-
-"His neighbour, there, is a silk-mercer, who vends his costly wares, at
-his own price, to titled customers, for their time. His lordly ledger
-is inscribed with debts amounting to above a hundred thousand ducats;
-and he is dreaming that his debtors are bringing him their gold; while
-his creditors are horrified with visions of his own bankruptcy." "These
-dreams," said the Student, "certainly have not emerged from Sleep's
-dark temple by the same gate." "I fancy not, indeed," replied the
-Demon: "the first has passed by the ivory portal of the leaden god, and
-the other from that of horn.
-
-"The house adjoining that of the mercer is occupied by a celebrated
-bookseller. He has recently published a work which has been extremely
-successful. On bringing it out, he promised to give the author fifty
-pistoles, in addition to the price agreed for, should the book run to a
-second edition; and he is at this moment dreaming that he is reprinting
-it without informing the unfortunate scribe of the fact."
-
-"Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo, "there is no need to ask from which door that
-dream proceeded; and I have not the slightest doubt of its proving one
-of the least deceitful visions he ever had in his life. I am perfectly
-acquainted with those worthy gentlemen, the booksellers. Heaven help
-the poor authors who fall into their hands! To cheat them, is the
-mystery of their craft." "Nothing can be more true," replied the
-Cripple; "but, it appears, you have yet to become acquainted with those
-as worthy gentry--the authors. They are six of one and half-a-dozen of
-the other: it is impossible to decide on their relative merits. By the
-bye, I will relate to you an adventure which occurred not a century
-ago, in this very town, and which will enlighten you on the subject.
-
-"Three booksellers were supping together at a tavern; and the
-conversation naturally turned on the scarcity of good modern authors.
-Thereupon, one of them said to his brethren: 'My friends, I must tell
-you, however, in confidence, that I have been in luck's way within
-these few days. I have purchased a manuscript, for which I paid
-rather dearly, it is true, but it is by an author--oh! it is uncoined
-gold.' One of those whom he addressed now interrupted him; and boasted
-of having been equally fortunate on the preceding day in a similar
-purchase. 'And I, gentlemen,' at last exclaimed the third, in his
-turn,--'I will not be behindhand in confidence with you; I will show
-you the gem of manuscripts, of which I only this morning became the
-happy owner.' As he finished, each drew from his capacious pocket the
-precious acquisition he had made; when these miracles of authorship
-turned out to be as many copies of a new theatrical piece, entitled the
-Wandering Jew, which the astonished bibliopoles found had been sold to
-each of them separately.
-
-"Near the bookseller, in the next house," continued the Devil, "you may
-perceive a timid and respectful lover just awaking. He loves one of
-the most sprightly of widows; and was dreaming, but this moment, that,
-beside her in the covert of a dusky wood, whose shade lent courage to
-his modest spirit, he was so tender,--so gallant in his speech, that
-his fair mistress could not help exclaiming: 'Ah! you are becoming
-absolutely dangerous! If I were not steeled against the flattery of
-men, I should be lost. But you are all deceivers! I never trust to
-words;--actions alone can win me,'--'And what actions, madam, do you
-ask of me?' interrupted the gentle swain: 'must I, to prove the excess
-of my passion, undertake the twelve labours of Hercules?' 'Lord! no,
-Nicaise,' replied the lady, 'much less would content me.' Thereupon--he
-awoke."
-
-[Illustration: the timid lover's dream]
-
-"Prythee, tell me," said the Student, "why yonder man, in that
-dark-coloured bed, tosses about so furiously." "He," replied the
-Cripple, "is a talented licentiate; and his present agitation arises
-from a dream, in which he is disputing in favour of the immortality of
-the soul, with a little doctor of medicine, who is as good a catholic
-as he is a physician. In the same house, over the licentiate, lodges
-a gentleman of Estramadura, named Don Balthazar Fanfarronico, who has
-come post-haste to court, to demand a reward for having valiantly
-slain a Portuguese, by a musket-shot, in ambush. And of what do you
-imagine he is dreaming? Nothing less than that he is appointed to the
-government of Antequera, at which he is very naturally dissatisfied: he
-thinks he deserves a viceroyalty at least.
-
-[Illustration: man on horseback shot by another, in ambush]
-
-"In a furnished house close by, I discover two distinguished
-personages, whose dreams are far from pleasant. One of them is governor
-of a fortress, where he is now sustaining a fancied siege, and which,
-after a faint resistance, he is on the point of surrendering, with
-himself and garrison, at discretion. The other is the bishop of Murcia,
-whom his majesty has charged with the task of eulogising a deceased
-princess, whose funeral takes place in a day or two. He has, in
-imagination, just ascended the pulpit; and there has his imagination
-left him, for he has stopped short in the exordium of his discourse."
-"It is not impossible," said Don Cleophas, "that this misfortune may
-really befall the worthy prelate." "No, truly," replied the Devil;
-"for it is not very long since his grace found himself in a similar
-predicament on a like occasion.
-
-"And now, if you would like to behold a somnambulist, look into the
-stables of this same house: what see you?" "I perceive," answered
-Leandro Perez, "a man walking in his shirt, and holding, what seems
-to me, a horse-comb in his hand." "Well!" replied the Demon, "he is a
-sleeping groom. Nightly does he rise in sleep to curry his pampered
-charge, and then betake himself to bed again. His fellow-servants look
-on the sleek coats of the horses as the frolic work of some wanton
-sprite; and the groom himself shares this opinion with them.
-
-"In the large house, opposite, lives an aged chevalier of the Fleece,
-who was formerly viceroy of Mexico. He has fallen sick; and, as he
-fears he is about to die, his viceroyalty begins to trouble him: true
-it is that he exercised his functions so as to justify his present
-inquietude; the chronicles of New Spain, unless they be belied, make no
-too honourable mention of his name. He has just started from a dream,
-whose horrid visions float before him still, and which will probably
-bring about their own fulfilment in his death." "Ah!" exclaimed
-Zambullo, "that must be something extraordinary." "You shall hear,"
-replied Asmodeus: "there is really something in it rather singular.
-The sickly lordling dreamt he was in the valley of the dead, where all
-the victims of his injustice and inhumanity thronged fiercely round,
-and heaped upon him menaces and insult. They pressed upon, and would
-have torn him limb from limb; but, as their hot breath seemed to burn
-his very brain, he thought he took to flight, and saved himself from
-their fury. He had no sooner escaped, than he found himself in a large
-hall, hung all around with black cloth, where, sitting at a table upon
-which were three covers, he saw his father and his grandfather. His two
-dismal companions solemnly beckoned him to approach; and, with all the
-gravity which belongs to the dead, said to him: 'We have waited for you
-long: come, take your place beside us.'"
-
-"Oh! the wretched dream," interrupted the Student; "I could forgive the
-poor devil, for the fright he is in!" "To make up for it," resumed the
-Cripple, "his niece, who reposes in the apartment over his, passes the
-night in bliss: sleep brings to her its brightest illusions. She is
-a maiden of from twenty-five to thirty, ugly as myself, and not much
-better made. She dreams that her uncle, to whom she is sole heiress,
-has ceased to live; and that she sees, in swarms around her, amiable
-signors, who dispute for the honour of her slightest glance."
-
-"If I do not deceive myself," said Don Cleophas, "I hear some one
-laughing behind us." "It is no deception," replied the Devil; "it is a
-widow laughing in her sleep, a few paces from us. She is a woman who
-affects the prude, and who loves nothing so well as a little friendly
-scandal: she dreams that she is chatting with an ancient devotee,
-whose conversation could hardly fail to delight one of her taste.
-
-"I cannot help laughing in my turn, to see, in the room under that of
-the widow, an honest cit, who lives with difficulty on the little he
-possesses, but who dreams that he is picking up pieces of gold and
-silver, and that the more he gathers the more remain to glean: he has
-already filled a large coffer." "Poor fellow!" said Leandro; "he will
-not enjoy his treasure long." "No!" replied the Cripple; "and when he
-awakes he will be like the really rich, when dying: he will see all his
-wealth disappear."
-
-"If you are curious to know the dreams of two actresses who live near
-each other, I will relate them to you. One is dreaming that she is
-catching birds with a call; that she strips them as she takes them,
-and then throws them to be devoured by a large tom-cat in which she
-delights, and which has all the profit of her skill. The other dreams
-that she is driving from her house greyhounds and coach-dogs, which for
-a long time have sunned themselves in her presence, having resolved to
-confine her affections to a pretty little lap-dog, which has recently
-gained her favour."
-
-"Two dreams absurd enough!" cried the Student; "I fancy that if at
-Madrid, as formerly in Rome, there were interpreters of dreams, they
-would be sadly puzzled to explain these." "Not so much as you think,"
-replied the Devil: "a very small acquaintance with the domestic habits
-of your syrens of the stage, would enable them to render their sense
-perfectly intelligible."
-
-[Illustration: the actress feeding birds to the tom-cat]
-
-"Well! for myself," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "they are past my
-comprehension, and that troubles me little: I would rather be informed
-who is that lady sleeping in a bed with amber velvet hangings,
-bordered with silver fringe, and near which, upon a small table, I
-perceive a book and a wax-candle." "She is a lady of illustrious
-family," replied the Demon, "whose establishment is mounted in gallant
-style, and who loves to see her livery adorned by young and handsome
-men. She is accustomed to read in bed, and cannot sleep without her
-favourite author. Last night she was indulging in the Metamorphoses of
-Ovid: in consequence, she is at this moment dreaming, extravagantly
-enough, that Jupiter has become amorous of her charms, and has entered
-her service in the form of a favourite page.
-
-[Illustration: the actress, lap-dog under her arm, driving out the
-other dogs]
-
-"Apropos of metamorphoses, there is another subject who will amuse
-you. You perceive that man, tasting in the calm of sleep the exquisite
-pleasure of imagined flattery. He is an actor, a veteran of such
-ancient service, that there is not a grey-beard in Madrid who can
-say he witnessed his first appearance. He has been so long behind the
-scenes, that he may be said to have become theatrified. He is not
-without talent, but, like most of his profession, he is so vain that he
-thinks the part of Man beneath him. Of what think you is this hero of
-the slips now dreaming. He imagines that he is on the point of death;
-and that round his couch are assembled all the deities of Olympus,
-to decide on what they are to do with a mortal of his importance. He
-listens while Mercury insists before the council of the gods that a
-comedian so famed, after having so often had the honour of mimicking
-themselves, and Jove's own person, on the stage, should not be subject
-to the common fate of man, but merits a reception as a brother god by
-those who now surround him. Mercury finishes by moving accordingly,
-and Momus seconds the motion; but the male and female members of the
-celestial parliament murmuring at the proposition of so extraordinary
-an apotheosis, Jupiter, to put an end to the debate, is about to
-decree, of his sovereign authority, that the aged son of Thespis shall
-be transformed into a theatrical statue, for the amusement of future
-generations."
-
-The Devil was about to continue, but Zambullo interrupted him,
-exclaiming: "Hold! Signor Asmodeus, you forget that it is day. I am
-afraid they will perceive us from the street. If the gentle public
-should remark your lordship, we shall hear such an uproar as we may be
-glad to put an end to."
-
-[Illustration: the actor transformed into a statue]
-
-"Never fear!" replied the Demon; "they will not see us. I have the
-power ascribed to the fabulous deities of whom I spoke but now; and
-like to the amorous son of Saturn, who, upon Mount Ida, shrouded
-himself in a cloud, to hide from the world the blisses he shared with
-Juno, I am about to envelope you and myself in a misty veil which the
-searching eye of man cannot pierce, but which shall not prevent you
-from beholding those things which I wish you to observe." As he spoke,
-they were suddenly surrounded by a vapour, which, although dense as
-the smoke of a battle-field, offered no obstacle to the sight of the
-Student.
-
-"So now to return to our dreamers," continued the Cripple,----"but I
-do not consider," he added, "that the mode in which you have consumed
-the night must have fatigued you. I advise, therefore, that you let
-me bear you to your home, and leave you to a few hours' sleep. In the
-meanwhile, I will just take a turn round the earth, and amuse myself
-after my fashion; taking care to rejoin you by the time you awake, when
-we will continue our laugh at the expense of the swarming world." "I
-have no desire to sleep, and am not in the least fatigued," replied Don
-Cleophas; "so, instead of leaving me, do me the pleasure to expound the
-various objects which occupy the yawning brains of the persons whom I
-see already risen, and who are preparing as it seems to me, to leave
-their houses: what can possibly call them out so early?" "What you
-ask me is well worth your knowledge," answered the Demon; "you shall
-gaze on a picture of the cares, the emotions, the anguish that poor
-mortal man gives himself during life, to occupy, with the vain hope of
-happiness, the little space which is granted him between the cradle and
-the tomb."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.
-
-
-"Observe, in the first place, that troop of beggars which you see
-already in the street. They are libertines, mostly of good birth, who,
-like the monks, live on the principle of community of property; and
-who pass their nights in debauch at their haunts, where they are at
-all times well supplied with bread, meat, and wine. They are about to
-separate, each to perform his part in the churches of this godly city;
-and to-night, when reassembled, they will drink to the charitable fools
-who piously contribute to their orgies. You cannot but admire these
-scoundrels, who so well know the semblances which art adopts to inspire
-pity: why, coquettes are less adept to elicit love.
-
-"Look at those three rogues who are walking off together. He who,
-leaning upon crutches, trembles as he moves, and seems to halt with
-pain,--who, as he hobbles on, you would momentarily think must fall
-upon his face,--despite his long white beard and wrinkled front, he is
-a youthful scamp, so strong and swift, would head the hunted deer. The
-one beside him, with that awful scald, is a graceful adolescent, whose
-head is covered with a bladder skin which hides as beauteous curls as
-ever adorned a courtly page. The third, who gyrates in a bowl, is a
-comic rascal, that can bring such lamentable noises from his stomach
-as to move the bowels of all ancient ladies, who even hasten from the
-topmost floors to his relief.
-
-"While these mummers, under the mask of poverty, prepare to cheat the
-public into charity, I observe hosts of worthy artisans, who, Spaniards
-though they be, are on the road to earn their bread by the sweat of
-their careworn brows. On all sides you may behold men rising from their
-beds, or dressing hastily, that they may begin anew their various parts
-upon this busy stage. How many projects formed in the visionary night
-are about to be carried into execution, or to vanish with the sober
-light of morn! What schemes prompted by love, by interest, or ambition,
-are about to be attempted!"
-
-"What see I in the street?" interrupted Don Cleophas. "Who is that
-woman loaded with saintly medals, who walks, preceded by a footman,
-in such anxious haste? She has some pressing business in hand, beyond
-a doubt." "Indeed she has," replied the Devil; "she is a venerable
-matron, hurrying to a neighbouring house where her ministry is suddenly
-required. She seeks a fair comedian who suffers for the fault of Eve,
-and near whom are a brace of cavaliers in sore perplexity. One of these
-is her spouse, and the other a noble friend, who is greatly interested
-as to the result: for the labours of your actresses resemble those of
-Alcmena; there being ever a Jupiter and an Amphitryon who share in
-their production.
-
-"Would not one swear now, to look on that mounted cavalier, carrying
-a carbine in his hand, that he was a sportsman about to war with
-the hares and partridges who besiege the neighbourhood of Madrid?
-Nevertheless, it is no love of shooting which calls him forth so early:
-he is after other game; and is bent towards a village, where he will
-disguise himself as a peasant, that he may enter, without suspicion,
-the farm where his mistress resides, under the vigilant eye of an
-experienced mother.
-
-"That young graduate, passing along with such enormous strides, is
-going, according to his daily custom, to inquire after the health of an
-aged canon, his uncle, whose prebendary he has in his eye. Do you see,
-in that house opposite to us, a man putting on his cloak, evidently
-preparing to go out? He is an honest and rich citizen, whom a matter
-of grave interest has kept awake all night. He has an only daughter,
-of marriageable years, and he is unable to make up his mind whether
-he shall give her hand to a young attorney who solicits it, or to a
-proud hidalgo who demands it; and he is therefore going to consult his
-friends on the subject: in truth, he may well feel embarrassed. He is
-justly alarmed lest, by resolving on the gentleman, he should have a
-son-in-law who would despise him; and on the other hand he fears, that
-if he decide for the attorney, he will introduce into his house a worm
-which will consume all that it contains.
-
-"Look at the neighbour of this anxious parent. You may perceive,
-in that house so magnificently furnished, a man in a dressing-gown
-of scarlet brocade, embroidered with flowers of gold: there is a
-wit for you, who affects the lord in spite of his lowly origin. Ten
-years ago, he had not twenty maravedis wherewith to bless himself;
-and now, he boasts an annual revenue of ten thousand ducats. His
-equipage is in the best taste; but he keeps it on the savings of his
-table; whose frugality is such that he generally picks his chicken by
-himself. Sometimes, however, his ostentation compels him to regale his
-illustrious friends: to-day, for instance, he gives a dinner to some
-councillors of state; and, in anticipation, he has just sent for a
-pastry-cook, with whom he will haggle for a maravedi, before he agrees
-with him on the bill of fare, which it will be his next care to display
-to advantage." "You are describing a scaly villain, indeed!" cried
-Zambullo. "Oh! as to that," replied Asmodeus, "all beggars whom fortune
-suddenly enriches become either misers or spendthrifts: it is the rule."
-
-"Tell me," said the Student, "who is that lovely woman at her toilet,
-talking with that handsome cavalier?" "Ah! truly," exclaimed the
-Cripple, "you have hit on a subject which well deserves your attention.
-The lady is a German widow, who lives at Madrid on her dower, and who
-visits in the best society; and the young man who is with her is the
-Signor Don Antonio de Monsalva.
-
-"This cavalier, although a member of one of the noblest families
-in Spain, has pledged himself to the widow to espouse her; he has
-even given her a conditional promise of forfeiture to the amount of
-three thousand pistoles. He is, however, crossed in his love by his
-relations, who threaten to confine him if he do not immediately break
-off all connexion with the fair German, whom they look upon as an
-adventurer. The gallant, mortified to find his friends all thus opposed
-to his design, went yesterday evening to his mistress, who, perceiving
-his uneasiness, asked him its cause. This, after some hesitation, he
-told her, assuring her at the same time that whatever obstacles his
-family might raise, nothing should shake his constancy. The widow
-appeared delighted at his firmness, and they parted at midnight highly
-satisfied with each other.
-
-[Illustration: the cavalier visits the German widow]
-
-"Monsalva has returned this morning, as you see, to pay his devoirs to
-the lady, whom finding at her toilet, he used every effort to beguile
-the time by new protestations of devotion. During the conversation, his
-Saxon mistress was releasing her auburn curls from the papers which had
-confined them during the night; and our cavalier, happening to take
-up one of these, heedlessly unfolded it, and, to his great surprise,
-observed therein his own hand-writing. 'What! madam,' said he, smiling,
-'is this the use you make of these pledges of my affection?' 'Yes!
-Monsalva,' replied the lady; 'you behold the value that I put upon
-the promises of lovers who would marry me in opposition to their
-friends; they make excellent _papillotes_.' When, indeed, the cavalier
-discovered that it was his pledge of forfeiture which his mistress had
-thus destroyed, he was filled with admiration at this unlooked-for
-proof of disinterestedness, and he is now very properly vowing to her
-for the thousandth time, eternal fidelity.
-
-"Cast your eyes," continued the Devil, "upon that tall man who is
-passing beneath us; he has a large common-place book under his arm,
-an ink-bottle hanging at his girdle, and a guitar slung at his back."
-"He is an odd-looking fellow indeed," cried the Student: "I would lay
-my life he is an original." "It is beyond a doubt," replied the Demon,
-"that he is a curious compound enough. There are such things as cynical
-philosophers in Spain; and there goes one. He is walking towards the
-Buen-Retiro, to reach a meadow in which there is a fountain, whose
-refreshing waters form a brook that glides like a silver serpent
-through the flowers. There will he pass the day, contemplating the
-beauties of nature, tinkling his guitar, and noting the reflections
-that the scene inspires in his common-place book. He carries in his
-pockets his ordinary food, that is to say, a piece of bread and some
-onions. Such is the sober life that he has led during ten years past;
-and were some Aristippus to say to him, as was erst spoken to Diogenes:
-'If thou knewest how to pay thy court to the great, thou wouldst not
-eat onions;' this modern philosopher would reply: 'I could pay my court
-to the great as well as thou, if I would abase one man so low, as to
-make him cringe before another.'
-
-"In truth, however, this philosopher formerly mixed greatly with the
-nobility; he even owes his fortune to their patronage; but, compelled
-to feel, as all must who move among persons more exalted than
-themselves, that the friendship of these lordlings was to him but an
-honourable species of servitude, he broke off all connection with them.
-At the time I speak of he kept his carriage; this he subsequently put
-down, on reflecting that, as he rolled along, the mud from his wheels
-was splashed perhaps upon his betters. Distributing his wealth among
-his indigent friends, he reserved for himself no more than would enable
-him to live as moderately as he does; and he kept so much, only because
-it appeared to him no less shameful for a philosopher to beg his bread
-from the people than from the aristocracy.
-
-"Pity the cavalier who follows this philosopher, and whom you see
-accompanied by a dog. He can boast his descent from one of the most
-ancient and noble houses of Castile. He has been rich; but he ruined
-himself, like the Timon of Lucian, by feasting his friends every
-day; and, particularly, by giving splendid fêtes on the births and
-marriages of all the princes and princesses of Spain; in a word, on
-every occasion for rejoicing that he could make or find. No sooner did
-the discreet parasites who flocked round him see the ring slip over
-his purse than they abandoned his house and himself; one friend alone
-remains faithful to him now;--it is his dog."
-
-[Illustration: the ruined cavalier and his dog]
-
-"Tell me! Signor Asmodeus," cried Leandro Perez; "to whom belongs the
-carriage stopping before that house?" "It is the property of a rich
-contador, who comes here every morning to visit a frail beauty, whom
-this ancient sinner of Moorish race protects, and whom he loves to
-distraction. He learned last night that his female friend had been
-unfaithful, and in the fury which this intelligence induced, he wrote
-her a letter full of reproaches and threats. You would never guess what
-part the lady took on this occasion: instead of having the impudence to
-deny the fact, she sent to the treasurer this morning, owning that he
-was justly angered at her conduct; that he ought henceforth to despise
-her, since she had been capable of deceiving so gallant a lover; that
-she acknowledged and detested her fault; and that, to punish herself,
-she had already sacrificed those locks which he had so often admired;
-in short, that she had resolved to consecrate, in a nunnery, the
-remainder of her days to repentance.
-
-"The old dotard was unable to withstand the well-feigned remorse of
-his mistress, and has risen thus early to console her. He found her in
-tears; and so well has she played her part that he has just assured
-her of a full pardon for the past: nay, more, to compensate for the
-sacrifice of her much-prized tresses, he is, at this moment, promising
-to enable her to cut a figure in the world, by purchasing for her
-a handsome country-house, which is just about to be sold, near the
-Escurial."
-
-"All the shops are opened, I perceive," said the Student; "and I
-observe already a cavalier now entering a tavern." "That cavalier,"
-replied Asmodeus, "is a youth of family, who is troubled with the
-prevailing mania for writing nonsense, that he may pass as an author.
-He is not absolutely without talent; he has even enough to enable him
-to detect its want in the dramas which are at present produced on your
-stage; but not so much as to qualify him to write a tolerable one
-himself. He has gone into that house to order a grand repast: he gives
-a dinner to-day to four comedians, whose good graces he would purchase
-in favour of a wretched comedy of his concoction, which he is on the
-point of presenting to their company. What will not money do?
-
-"Apropos of authors," continued the Devil, "there now are two just
-meeting in the street. Do you notice the mocking style of their
-salutes? They despise each other thoroughly: and they are right. One
-of them writes as easily as the poet Crispinus, whom Horace compares
-to the bellows of a forge; and the other wastes a vast deal of time in
-composing works as cold and insipid as a water ice."
-
-"Who is the little man descending from his carriage at the door of
-that church?" asked Zambullo. "He is a person worthy your remark,"
-replied the Cripple. "It is not yet ten years since he abandoned the
-office of a notary, in which he was senior clerk, to shut himself up
-in the Carthusian monastery of Saragoza. At the end of a six-months
-noviciate, however, he left the convent, and re-appeared in Madrid;
-where those who had formerly known him were amazed to see him all at
-once become one of the principal members of the Council of the Indies.
-His sudden fortune is still the wonder of the town. Some say he has
-sold himself to the Devil; others, that he is the beloved of some rich
-dowager; and some, again, insist that he must have found a treasure."
-"Well! you know all about it, of course," interrupted Don Cleophas. "I
-should wonder if I did not," replied the Demon; "but I will unveil this
-mystery for you.
-
-[Illustration: the novice unearths the casket]
-
-"During his aforesaid noviciate, it happened one day that our intended
-monk, in digging a deep hole in his appointed garden, lighted on a
-brazen coffer, which he opened, of course, and within which he found
-a golden casket containing some thirty diamonds of the purest water.
-Although the pious horticulturist knew little enough of precious
-stones, he shrewdly suspected that whoever had placed them there was
-wiser; so resolving on the course which, in one of the comedies of
-Plautus, is adopted by Gripus, who abandons fishing when he has found
-a treasure, he threw off his gown, returned to Madrid, and by the
-assistance of a friendly jeweller, transmuted his diamonds into pieces
-of gold, and his pieces of gold into an office which has procured for
-him an exalted station in society."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-
-RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO THE STUDENT.
-
-
-"I must indulge you with a laugh," continued Asmodeus, "at the cost of
-an amusing character whom you see walking into that coffee-house, over
-the way. He is a Biscayan physician, and is going to sip his cup of
-chocolate; after which he will return to his home to pass the day at
-chess.
-
-"While he is thus engaged, do not be alarmed for his patients; he
-has none: and if he had, the moments he employs in play would not be
-the worst for them. He moves from his chess-board in the evening to
-repair to the house of a rich and handsome widow, with whom he would
-be happy to mate, and for whom he affects a knightly passion. When he
-is with her, a rascally valet, his only domestic, and who is aware of
-his practice with the widow, brings him a false list, studded with the
-names of noble lords and ladies who have sent to seek the doctor. The
-lady dreams not he is playing false, and the Biscayan is therefore fast
-entrapping her into a false move, which will win him the game.
-
-[Illustration: three girls getting up]
-
-"But," continued the Devil, "let us stop a moment at that house close
-by; I would have you remark what is passing there before we look
-elsewhere. Run your eyes over the rooms: what do you observe?" "Why,
-I can discern some maidens, whose beauty dazzles me," replied the
-Student. "Some are just leaving their beds, and others have already
-risen. What charms do they present to my feasting eyes! I can fancy
-I behold the nymphs of Diana, but more lovely than the poets have
-depicted them."
-
-"If those maidens, as you call them, and whom you admire so much,"
-replied the Cripple, "have the graces of Diana's nymphs, they assuredly
-want their chastity to complete the picture. They are a parcel of
-good-natured females, who live upon a common fund. As dangerous as the
-fair damsels of chivalry who arrested, by their charms, the knights who
-passed before their castle walls, they seek to draw your less heroic
-youths within their bowers. And woe betide those whom they ensnare! To
-warn the passer-by of the peril which awaits him, beacons should be set
-before their doors, as such friendly monitors are placed on dangerous
-coasts to mark the places mariners should shun."
-
-"I need not ask you," said Leandro Perez, "whither go those signors
-whom I see lolling in their carriages: they are doubtless going to the
-levée of the king." "You have said it," replied the Devil; "and if you
-also would attend it, I will carry you there before them: we shall have
-amusement enough, I promise you." "You could not have proposed a thing
-more suited to my taste," replied Zambullo; "and I anticipate all the
-pleasure you have promised me."
-
-The Demon, although eager to satisfy Don Cleophas in his desires,
-carried him leisurely towards the palace, so that, in their way, the
-Student, perceiving some workmen employed upon a lofty doorway, asked
-if it were the portal of a church they were constructing. "No," replied
-Asmodeus, "it is the entrance to a new market; and it is magnificent as
-you see. However, though they raised its arch until its point were lost
-in clouds, it would be still unworthy of two Latin lines which are to
-adorn its front."
-
-"What say you?" cried Leandro;--"what a notion would you give me of the
-verses that you speak of! I die with anxiety to hear them." "I will
-repeat them, then," replied the Devil; "and do you prepare to admire
-them.
-
-    'Quam bene Mercurius nunc merces vendit opimas,
-       Momus ubi fatuos vendidit ante sales!
-
-"In these two lines is concealed one of the most delicate puns
-imaginable." "I cannot say I yet perceive its point," said the Student;
-"I do not clearly understand what is referred to by your _fatuos
-sales_." "You are not then aware," replied the Devil, "that on the spot
-where they are building this market for the sale of provisions, there
-formerly stood a monkish college in which youth was inducted to the
-humanities. The rectors of this college were in the habit of getting up
-plays, in which the students figured on the stage. These plays were,
-as you may suppose, flat enough as to effect and language; and were
-enlivened by ballets, so amusingly absurd, that everything danced, even
-to preterites and supines." "There! that is quite enough," interrupted
-Zambullo; "I am quite alive to the stuff of which college pieces are
-composed--excuse my pun--but the inscription is admirable."
-
-Asmodeus and Don Cleophas had scarcely reached the grand staircase
-of the palace, when the courtiers commenced the inflating labour of
-mounting its polished steps. As they passed our unseen watchers, the
-Devil did the honour of announcing them to the Student: "There," said
-he, pointing with his finger as he spoke, "there is the Count de
-Villalonso, of the house of Puebla d'Ellerena; this is the Marquis de
-Castro Fueste; that is Don Lopez de Los Rios, president of the council
-of finance; and here is the Count de Villa Hombrosa." He did not,
-however, content himself thus with naming them; each had his legend:
-and the Demon's sardonic spirit found in the character of each some
-weakness to laugh at, or some vices to lay bare. None passed before him
-unnoted.
-
-"That signor," said he of one, "is affable and obliging; and listens
-to you with an air of kindness. Do you ask his protection, he grants
-it freely; nay, proffers you his interest. It is pity that a man who
-loves so much to assist his fellow-creatures should have a memory so
-bad, that a quarter of an hour after you have spoken to him, he should
-forget all you have asked and he has promised.
-
-"That duke," said he, speaking of another, "is one of the best
-characters that haunts the court. He is not, like most of his equals,
-one man at this moment and another the next; there is no caprice, no
-inequality in his disposition. I may add to this, that he pays not with
-ingratitude the affection that is shown for him, or the services that
-are rendered in his behalf. Unfortunately, again, he is too slothful
-to reward these kindnesses as they deserve: he leaves so long to be
-desired what is so rightfully expected, that when the favour is at last
-obtained, it is felt to have been dearly purchased."
-
-After the Demon had thus exhibited to the Student the good and evil
-qualities of a great number of signors, he conducted him into a room
-in which there were all sorts and conditions of men, but especially so
-many chevaliers, that Don Cleophas could not help exclaiming: "What
-numberless knights! By our Lady! there must be enough and to spare of
-them in Spain." "I can answer for that," replied the Cripple; "and it
-is not at all surprising, since to be dubbed companion of St. Jago, or
-of Calatrava, your vigilants require no five-and-twenty thousand crowns
-in pocket or estate, as did formerly the knights of ancient Rome:
-you perceive therefore that knighthood is an article most admirably
-assorted.
-
-"Observe," continued the Devil, "that common-looking fellow behind us."
-"Hush!" interrupted Zambullo; "speak softly, or the man will hear you."
-"No, no," replied Asmodeus; "the same charm which renders us invisible,
-prevents our being heard. Examine him well: he is a Catalonian,
-returned from the Philippines, where he ranged the seas as a pirate.
-Could you conceive, to look on him, that you beheld a thunderbolt of
-war? Nevertheless, he has performed, in his vocation, prodigies of
-valour. He is here this morning, to present a petition to the king, in
-which he asks, as a recompense for his services, a certain post, which
-is vacant. I doubt, however, if he will succeed, inasmuch as he has
-neglected duly to possess the prime minister with a proper notion of
-his merits."
-
-"I perceive on the right of the pirate," said Leandro Perez, "a tall
-and bulky man, who is sufficiently impressed with an idea of his own
-importance: to judge of his station by the pride of his bearing, he
-is some wealthy grandee, certainly." "Nothing can be further from the
-truth," replied the Demon: "he is one of the poorest of Hidalgos, who
-lives on the profits of a gaming-table, under the protection of one of
-the ministers.
-
-"But I see a licentiate, who must not pass without your notice: it is
-he whom you can perceive near the first window, in conversation with
-a cavalier clad in velvet of a silver grey. They are discoursing of a
-matter yesterday decided by the king; but I will tell you its history.
-
-"Two months ago, this licentiate, who is an academician of Toledo,
-published a work on morals, which shocked the orthodox opinions of all
-your grey-headed authors of Castile: they found it full of vigorous
-expressions and words newly introduced. It required no more to unite
-them against so singular a production; and they therefore instantly
-assembled, and agreed upon a petition to his majesty, praying him to
-condemn the book as one written in a style dangerous to the purity and
-simplicity of the Spanish tongue.
-
-[Illustration: the three commissioners reporting to the king]
-
-"The petition appearing worthy of attention to his majesty, he named
-three commissioners to examine the work; and they estimating its
-style to be really reprehensible, and the more so from its peculiar
-brilliancy, upon their report the king has decreed that, under pain
-of his displeasure, those academicians of Toledo who write after the
-manner of the licentiate shall not dare to publish another book; and
-further that, in order to preserve the language of Castile in all its
-purity, such academicians, after their decease, shall be replaced by
-persons of the first quality alone."
-
-"That is indeed a marvellous decision!" cried Zambullo, laughing: "the
-lovers of our vulgar tongue have henceforth nought to fear." "Excuse
-me," replied the Devil; "but your writers who endanger that noble
-chastity of style which forms the delight of all discerning readers,
-are not confined to the Toledan academy."
-
-Don Cleophas was now curious to learn who was the cavalier in
-silver-grey habiliments, whom he beheld conversing with the hardy
-moralist. "He," said the Cripple, "is a Catalonian, an officer of the
-Spanish guard, and of course a younger son; but he is a youth whose
-tongue is pointed as the sword he wears. To give you an example of his
-wit, I will tell you of a repartee that he made yesterday to a lady
-whom he met in high society. But to enable you to enjoy its pungency,
-I must inform you that he has a brother, Don Andrea de Prada, who was
-some years since, an officer, like himself, in the same corps.
-
-"It happened one day that a farmer of the king's revenues came to this
-Don Andrea, and said to him: 'Signor de Prada, I bear the same name as
-you, but our families are different. I am aware that you belong to one
-of the noblest houses in Catalonia, but at the same time that you are
-not rich. Now, I am of a poor family, and have lots of wealth. Can we
-not find a means, therefore, to communicate to each other that which we
-mutually want? Have you your titles of nobility?' 'Certainly!' replied
-Don Andrea. 'That being the case,' continued the other, 'if you will
-confide the documents to my hands, I will place them in those of an
-ingenious genealogist, who will set to work upon them, and will make
-us relations in spite of our ancestors. On my part, as in duty bound,
-I will make my kinsman a present of thirty thousand pistoles: is it a
-bargain?' Don Andrea, dazzled by the proposition, accepted it at once,
-gave the parchments to the farmer, and with the money he received
-purchased an estate in his native province, where he now resides at his
-ease.
-
-"His younger brother, who gained nothing by the transaction, was dining
-yesterday at a house where the conversation turned by chance on the
-Signor de Prada, farmer of the king's revenues. On this, the lady of
-whom I spoke, turning to the young officer, asked if the wealthy signor
-were not related to him. 'No,' replied he, 'I have not that honour; but
-I believe he is a relation of my brother's.'"
-
-The Student laughed, as well he might, at this family distinction,
-which appeared to him rather novel. But perceiving at the moment a
-little man following a courtier, he cried out: "Bah! but yon homunculus
-will lose nothing for the want of reverence to the signor whom he
-shadows. He has some precious favour to intreat, beyond all doubt." "I
-shall not occupy your time in vain," replied the Devil, "in telling
-you the object of the obsequiousness you observe. The little man is an
-honest citizen, who is proprietor of a country house in the suburbs of
-Madrid, near which are some mineral springs of fashionable celebrity.
-He has lent this house, rent free, for three months to this signor,
-that the latter may drink the waters: he is at this moment very humbly
-beseeching his noble tenant to serve him on a pressing opportunity
-which offers; and the signor is very politely declining to do so.
-
-"I must not let yon cavalier of plebeian race escape me. See, where he
-wades through the expecting throng with all the air of one of note.
-He has become immensely rich by force of calculation, and in his proud
-mansion has as many servants as your first grandee; his table would
-put to shame for delicacy and abundance that of a minister of state.
-He has a carriage for himself, one for his wife, and another for his
-children; and in his stables may be seen the best of mules and the most
-splendid horses in the world. Only yesterday, he bought, and paid for
-on the nail, a superb train of noble animals, that the prince of Spain
-had partially agreed for, but had thought too dear." "What insolence!"
-exclaimed Leandro. "A Turk, now, who beheld that lump of arrogance,
-poised on so dangerous a height, would watch each instant for its
-sudden fall." "I know nothing of the time to come," replied Asmodeus,
-"but think your Turk would not be far from right.
-
-"Ah! what is that I see?" continued the Demon with surprise. "Did
-I wonder at any thing, I should disbelieve my eyes. I absolutely
-discern within this room a poet--the last whom I should expect to see.
-How dares he come within these walls?--he who could write in terms
-offensive to their noblest visitants. He must count indeed on the
-contempt that he is held in!
-
-[Illustration: the chief magistrate and his page]
-
-"But mark particularly that venerable man who enters now, supported by
-a page. Observe with what respect the crowd divides to make way for
-him. That is the signor Don José de Reynaste e Ayala, chief magistrate
-of the police: he comes hither to inform the king of the events of last
-night in the capital. Methinks, signor Student, that we could assist
-him in his report! However, regard him with admiration, for he deserves
-it." "In truth," replied Zambullo, "he looks like a man of worth." "It
-would be well for Spain," replied the Cripple, "if all its corregidors
-would take him for their model. He has none of that intemperate zeal
-which urges those who should administer the law to violate its spirit
-from impetuosity or caprice; and he respects too much the sacred
-freedom of the person to deprive the meanest of his fellow-subjects of
-that blessed right on the mere information of an alguazil, a clerk,
-or even a secretary of police. He knows those gentlemen too well; and
-that, for the most of them, their venal souls will scruple not to
-traffic on the fund of his authority. When a man stands before him,
-accused of crime, he may be sure that justice will be done towards him;
-the evidence is sifted until truth is discovered; and thus the prisons,
-instead of echoing the sighs of innocence, perform their proper office
-of holding the guilty. Even these are not abandoned to the licence
-which ordinarily reigns in gaols. He visits, as a man, those whom, as
-a magistrate, he has condemned, and is careful that inhumanity, in its
-dispensers, shall not add rigour to the law."
-
-[Illustration: the chief magistrate visiting a prisoner]
-
-"What an eulogium!" exclaimed Leandro; "you paint a man whom angels
-might agree to worship! You rouse my curiosity to witness his reception
-by the king." "I am annoyed," replied the Devil, "to be obliged to
-tell you of my inability to gratify a wish that I expected, without at
-least exposing myself to insult. It is not in my vocation, nor am I
-permitted, to intrude myself on kings; their cabinet is the domain of
-Leviathan, Belphegor, and Ashtaroth; I informed you, from my bottle,
-that these three demons preside over the councils of princes. All
-others of our craft are denied the entrée at court; and I know not what
-I could have been thinking of, when I offered to bring you here: it
-was a dangerous flight to take, I can assure you. If my three loving
-brethren should perceive me, they would show me no favour, I promise
-you, and between ourselves, I would rather avoid the conflict."
-
-"That being so," replied the Student, "let us be off as quickly as you
-please: I should die with grief to see you curried by those wretched
-grooms, without being able to help you; for if I lent you a hand, I
-expect you would shine none the brighter for my assistance." "Most
-decidedly not," replied Asmodeus; "they would never feel the blows that
-you could deal them, and you would have the satisfaction of dying under
-theirs.
-
-"But," he continued, "to console you for your exclusion from the
-cabinet of your potent sovereign, I will procure you a pleasure quite
-equal to the one you lose." And as he finished these words, he took the
-Student's hand, and away they went, as fast as the Devil could fly,
-toward the monastery of Mercy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-
-THE CAPTIVES.
-
-
-In a moment they were on a house adjoining the monastery, at the gate
-of which there was a vast concourse of persons, of all ages and of
-both sexes. "Here's a crowd!" exclaimed Leandro Perez. "What ceremony
-can call so many good folks together?" "Why," replied Asmodeus, "it
-is one which you have never witnessed, though it may be seen from
-time to time within Madrid. Three hundred slaves, all subjects of the
-crown of Spain, are expected to arrive each minute: they return from
-Algiers, where they have been recently purchased by some fathers of the
-Redemption. Every street through which they are to pass will be lined
-with spectators to welcome them."
-
-"It is true, indeed," replied Zambullo, "that I have never had the
-curiosity to behold a similar exhibition; and, if this be the treat
-which your worship has reserved to gratify my taste, I must tell you
-frankly that you need not have so boasted of its piquancy." "Oh! I
-know you well enough," replied the Devil, "not to be aware that it is
-no joyous spectacle for you to look upon the misery of your fellows;
-but when I tell you that, in bringing you here to view it under its
-present form, I am about to reveal certain singular circumstances
-attending the captivity of some, and the equally curious embarrassment
-in which others will find themselves on returning to their homes, I
-am persuaded that you will not be unthankful for the amusement I have
-provided." "Certainly not," replied the Student; "you put another face
-upon the matter; and you will afford me much pleasure by your promised
-revelations."
-
-During this discussion, loud shouts were suddenly heard from the
-populace as they beheld the approaching captives, who marched two
-by two, in their slaves' dresses, each bearing his chain upon his
-shoulders. They were preceded by a considerable number of monks of
-the order of Mercy, who had been to meet them, and who rode on mules
-caparisoned in black serge, as if they headed a funeral: one of these
-good fathers carried the standard of Redemption. The younger captives
-came first; the more aged followed; and the procession was closed
-by an aged monk of the same order as the first, who, mounted on a
-diminutive steed, had all the air of a prophet: this was the chief of
-the missionary expedition. To him every eye was attracted, as much
-by his excessive gravity, as by a long white beard which flowed down
-his bosom, and gave to the features of this Moses of the Spaniards a
-venerable aspect, lighted as they were by a heartfelt joy at having
-been the instrument of restoring so many of his Christian brethren to
-their country.
-
-"The captives whom you see," commenced the Cripple, "are not all
-equally rejoiced at their restoration to liberty. If there be some
-whose hearts beat with pleasure at the thought that they are about
-to see once more their dearest friends, there are others not a little
-fearful that, during the time they have been estranged from their
-families, events may have occurred which will bring tortures to their
-minds more cruel than the most refined of slavery itself.
-
-[Illustration: the procession]
-
-"For instance, the two who first approach are in the latter category.
-The one, a native of the little town of Velilla in Aragon, after having
-passed ten years in bondage with the Turk, without once hearing of his
-much-loved wife, comes home to find her bound again in wedlock, and the
-mother of five little ones who can claim no kin with him. The other,
-son of a wool-merchant of Segovia, was carried off by a corsair nearly
-twenty years ago: he returns with a lively apprehension that matters
-have gravely changed during that time with his family, and he will find
-himself a prophet in his loss. His father and mother are dead; and
-his brothers, who shared their wealth, have dissipated it foolishly
-enough."
-
-"My attention is rivetted," exclaimed the Student, "upon a slave whom,
-by his looks, I judge to be delighted that he is no longer exposed to
-the seducing influence of the bastinado." "The captive whom you speak
-of," replied the Devil, "has good reason to rejoice at his deliverance:
-he has learnt, since his return, that an aunt to whom he is sole heir
-has just been released from her troubles, and that he is consequently
-about to enjoy the free use of her brilliant fortune. This it is which
-now occupies his thoughts so agreeably, and gives to his appearance
-that air of satisfaction which you remark.
-
-"How all unlike is he to the unhappy cavalier who walks beside him;
-the tortures of suspense fill his bosom incessantly: I will tell you
-on what they impend. When he was taken by a pirate of Algiers, as he
-was passing into Italy from Spain, he loved a maiden and by her was
-loved: he dreads lest, while he was in chains, his fair one's constancy
-may have failed her." "Has he been long a slave then?" asked Zambullo.
-"Eighteen months," replied Asmodeus. "Pooh!" exclaimed Leandro Perez,
-"I fancy our gallant is a prey to causeless fear; he has hardly put his
-mistress's fidelity to such a test as to have need for great alarm."
-"There you are mistaken," replied the Cripple; "his princess no sooner
-heard that he was captive to the Moor, than she hastened to provide
-herself with a more fortunate lover.
-
-"Would you credit now," continued the Demon, "that the man who follows
-immediately behind the two we have been speaking of, and whom that
-thick and sandy beard so horribly disfigures, was once a very handsome
-man? Nothing, however, can be more certain; and you see, in that bent
-and hideous figure, the hero of a story remarkable enough to induce me
-to relate it to you.
-
-[Illustration: Fabricio]
-
-"His name is Fabricio, and he was hardly fifteen years of age when
-his father, a wealthy cultivator of Cinquello, a large village of the
-kingdom of Leon, died. He lost his mother shortly afterwards; so that,
-being an only son, he became thus early the master of a considerable
-property, the management of which was confided to an uncle, who
-happened to be honest. Fabricio completed his studies at Salamanca,
-where he had been previously placed; he then particularly devoted
-himself to the noble accomplishments of riding and fencing; in a word,
-he neglected nothing which might concur to render him worthy the sweet
-regards of Donna Hippolita, sister of a vegetating signor, whose
-cottage was about a couple of gun-shots from Cinquello.
-
-"This lady was beautiful in the extreme, and about the age of Fabricio,
-who, having seen her from his infancy, had, to speak vulgarly, sucked
-in with his mother's milk the love which occupied his soul in manhood.
-Hippolita, on her side, could not help perceiving that Fabricio was not
-ill-made; but, knowing him to be the son of a husbandman, she had never
-deigned to look on him with attention. Her pride was only equalled by
-her loveliness, and by the haughty bearing of her brother, Don Thomaso
-de Xaral, who was probably unsurpassed, even in Spain, for his lordly
-want of money, and his beggarly pride.
-
-"This inflated country gentleman lived in a small house which he
-dignified by the name of castle, but which to speak properly was a
-ruin, so little had the winds respected his nobility. However, although
-his means did not enable him to repair his mansion, and although he had
-hardly enough to sustain himself, he must needs keep a valet to attend
-upon his person; nay, he even kept a Moorish female to wait upon his
-sister.
-
-"It was a refreshing sight to witness, in the village, on Sundays and
-at every festival, Don Thomaso habited in crimson velvet, but sadly
-faded, and a little hat, overshadowed with an ancient plume of yellow
-feathers, which were carefully enshrined, like relics, on the common
-days of the year. Disporting this frippery, which to him was proof
-apparent of his noble birth, he would affect the grandee, and seemed to
-think that he amply repaid the reverence that was offered to him when
-he condescended to notice it by an approving smile. His fair sister was
-not less vain than himself of the antiquity of her race; and she joined
-to this folly that of such self-congratulation on her charms, that she
-lived in the most perfect confidence that ere long some noble signor
-would come to beg the honour of her hand.
-
-"Such were the characters of Don Thomaso and the beauteous Hippolita.
-Fabricio, aware of their foibles, and in order to insinuate himself
-into the estimation of persons so exalted, lost no opportunity of
-flattering their pride by the most respectful seeming; and so well
-did he manage, that the brother and sister at last were graciously
-pleased to allow him frequent occasions for paying his homage to them.
-As he was as well informed of their poverty as of their vanity, he was
-tempted every day to make offer of his purse; and was only withheld
-from doing so by the uncertainty as to which of their failings was
-the greater: nevertheless, his ingenious generosity found a way of
-relieving the one without causing the other to blush. 'Signor,' said he
-one day to Don Thomaso in private, 'I have a thousand ducats which I
-would entrust in safe hands: have the kindness to take care of them for
-me;--permit me to owe this obligation to you.'
-
-"I need hardly tell you that Xaral consented; but besides being short
-of money, he had the very soul for a trustee. He therefore made no
-scruple of taking charge of the sum proposed; and no sooner was it in
-his possession, than, without ceremony, he employed a good part of
-it in putting his house in order, and adding thereto sundry little
-conveniences. A new dress of splendid light blue velvet was bought, and
-made at Salamanca; and a green plume, also purchased there, came to
-snatch from the olden plume of yellow the glory which had pertained to
-it from time immemorial, of adorning the noble front of Don Thomaso.
-The lovely Hippolita had also her compliment, and was entirely
-new-rigged. And thus did Xaral quickly melt the ducats which had been
-confided to him, not once reflecting that they did not belong to him,
-or that he would never be able to restore them. Indeed, he would not
-have scrupled thus to use them, had such extraordinary thoughts
-occurred to him; he would have felt that it was perfectly proper a
-plebeian should pay for the patronage of so noble a person as himself.
-
-"Fabricio had foreseen all this; but had at the same time flattered
-himself, that out of love for his money, if not for himself, Don
-Thomaso would live with him on terms of greater intimacy; that
-Hippolita by degrees would become accustomed to his attentions, and
-finally pardon the audacity which had inspired him to elevate his
-thoughts to her. In effect, his intercourse with them certainly
-increased, and they displayed for him a consideration that he had
-never before appeared to deserve: a rich man is ever appreciated by
-the great, when he will consent to act for them the part of the wolf
-to Romulus and Remus. Xaral and his sister, who until now had nothing
-known of riches but the name, had no sooner tasted the intoxicating
-draught, than they deemed Fabricio, the source whence it flowed, an
-object not to be neglected; and they therefore exhibited towards him
-such marks of respect, and almost affection, as made him think his
-money well bestowed. He was soon convinced that he had really won upon
-them; and that wisely reflecting it is the lot of the proudest signors
-to be obliged, in order to sustain their pretensions, to graft their
-noble scions on the stocks of the fortunate vulgar, they now looked
-on him without disdain. With this notion, which flattered his own
-self-love, Fabricio resolved to propose for Hippolita to her brother.
-
-"On the first favourable opportunity which offered to speak with Don
-Thomaso on the subject, he informed him that he had dared aspire to
-the honour of becoming his brother-in-law; and that, as the price of
-such concession, not only would he abandon all claim to the money
-deposited in his hands, but that he would add to it a present of a
-thousand pistoles. The haughty Xaral coloured at this proposition,
-which awakened his slumbering pride; and in the excitation of the
-moment, could scarcely refrain from displaying the utter contempt in
-which he held the son of an industrious father. But, however insulted
-he felt at the temerity of Fabricio, he constrained himself; and, as
-respectfully as his nature would permit, replied that in a matter of
-such importance he could not at once determine; that he must consult
-Hippolita, and that it would even be necessary to summon a conclave of
-his noble relatives thereupon.
-
-"With this answer he dismissed the gallant, and forthwith convoked
-a diet composed of certain hidalgos of his neighbourhood, with whom
-he claimed affinity, and who, like himself, were all infected with
-demophobia. With these he consulted, not as to whether they were of
-opinion that he should bestow his sister upon Fabricio, but on the most
-proper steps to be adopted in order sufficiently to punish the insolent
-young man, who, forgetful of the meanness of his origin, had dared
-pretend to the hand of a lady of the rank of Hippolita.
-
-"As soon as he had exposed to the assembly this presumptuous
-demand,--as he mentioned the name of Fabricio, and uttered the words,
-'Son of a husbandman,'--you should have seen how the eyes of all the
-nobles lighted up with fury. Each of them vomited fire and flame
-against the audacious groundling; and with one voice they all insisted,
-that his death beneath the cudgels of their domestics alone could
-expiate the vile affront he had offered to their family by the proposal
-of so scandalous an union. However, on mature consideration, the
-offended members of the diet agreed to spare the culprit's life; but,
-in order to teach him that first and far most useful knowledge--of
-himself, they resolved to play him such a trick as he should have
-reason to remember while he lived.
-
-"Various were the schemes proposed: the one on which they at last
-decided was as follows. Hippolita was to feign a sensibility for the
-passion of Fabricio; and, under pretence of consoling her unhappy lover
-for the refusal which Don Thomaso would have given to his proposal for
-her hand, she was to make an assignation for some particular evening to
-receive him at the castle; where, at the moment of his introduction by
-the Moorish female, the friends of the signor would surprise him with
-the waiting-maid, and compel him to espouse her.
-
-"The sister of Xaral at first inclined to favour this piece of
-rascality; she even joined in thinking that her reputation demanded of
-her to consider as an insult the addresses of a person in a station so
-inferior to her own. But these haughty feelings soon yielded to others
-more gentle, prompted by pity; or rather, love suddenly vanquished all
-pride of heart in the bosom of Hippolita.
-
-"From that moment, she looked on all things with a different eye. The
-obscure origin of Fabricio now appeared to her more than compensated
-by a nobility of disposition; and she perceived in him but a cavalier
-worthy of her tenderest affection. Remark again, Signor Student,
-and with all due admiration, how prodigious are the changes which
-this passion can effect: the very girl who yesterday imagined that a
-monarch's heir scarce merited the honour of possessing her, to-day is
-all enamoured of a ploughman's son, and is flattered by pretensions
-which before she had regarded as disgraceful.
-
-Far therefore from assisting her brother in his purposed revenge, and
-yielding to the new-born passion which now reigned supreme within her
-soul, Hippolita entered into secret correspondence with Fabricio, by
-means of her Moorish attendant, who frequently of an evening introduced
-the gallant into the cottage. Thus baffled in his design, Don Thomaso
-soon became suspicious of the truth; and watching his sister, he was
-convinced by his own eyes that, instead of fulfilling the wishes of her
-relations, she had betrayed them.
-
-[Illustration: Hippolita's Moorish servant admits Fabricio]
-
-"He instantly informed two of his cousins of the discovery he had made:
-'Vengeance! Don Thomaso, vengeance!' they exclaimed, infuriate at such
-baseness in one of their illustrious race. Xaral, who did not require
-urging to exact satisfaction for an indignity of this nature, replied,
-with true Spanish modesty, 'that they should find he knew well how to
-use his sword when its employment was called for to avenge his honour;'
-and he entreated them to come to his house on a particular night.
-
-[Illustration: Don Thomaso and his cousins surprise Fabricio and
-Hippolita]
-
-"They came at the appointed time, and were secretly received and
-concealed in a small room by Don Thomaso; who left them, saying that
-he would return the instant the lover entered his doors, should he
-think fit to come at all that evening. This did not fail to happen; the
-unlucky stars of our lovers had decreed that they should choose that
-very night for their meeting.
-
-"Don Fabricio was already with his dear Hippolita, listening to and
-repeating for the hundredth time those sweet avowals which make up the
-dialogue of lovers, but which, though spoken from eternity, have still
-the charm of novelty, when they were disagreeably interrupted by the
-cavaliers who waited to surprise them. Don Thomaso and his cousins,
-with all the courage of three against one, rushed upon Fabricio, who
-had scarcely time to draw in his defence; but perceiving at once that
-their object was to assassinate him, he fought with a courage which
-makes one equal to three; he wounded all his assailants, and exerting
-the skill he had acquired at Salamanca, managed to keep them at his
-sword's point till he had gained the door, when he made off at full
-speed.
-
-"Upon this, Xaral, maddened with rage at beholding his enemy escape
-him, after having with impunity dishonoured his house, turned all his
-fury against the unfortunate Hippolita, and plunged his sword into
-her heart. After which his two relatives returned to their homes,
-extremely mortified at the bad success of their plot, and with no other
-consolation than their wounds. There we will leave them," continued
-Asmodeus. "When we have passed in review the other captives, I will
-finish the history of this one. I will relate to you how, after
-justice, or rather the law, had possessed itself of his effects on
-account of this mournful event, the pirates seized his person, with
-about as good reason, when he happened to be making a voyage."
-
-"While you were telling me this story of love and pride," said Don
-Cleophas, "I observed a young man whose countenance bespeaks such
-sorrow at his heart, that I wonder I did not interrupt you to inquire
-its cause." "You will lose nothing by your discretion," replied the
-Demon; "I can tell you now all you desire to know. The captive whose
-dejection attracted your notice, is a youth of family from Valladolid.
-Two years was he in slavery, but with a patron who possessed a very
-pretty wife. The lady looked with favour on the slave, and the slave,
-as in duty bound, repaid the lady's favours with interest. The patron,
-becoming suspicious as to the nature of his slave's labours, hastened
-to sell the Christian to the brothers of the Redemption, lest he should
-be irreligiously employed in the propagation of Mahometanism. The
-tender Castilian, ever since, has done nothing but weep for the loss of
-his patroness; liberty itself cannot console him."
-
-"An old man of good appearance attracts my attention there," said
-Leandro Perez; "who, and what, is he?" The Devil replied: "He is
-a barber, of Guipuscoa, who is about to return to Biscay after a
-captivity of forty years. When he fell into the hands of a corsair,
-in going from Valencia to the island of Sardinia, he had a wife, two
-sons, and a daughter. Of all these, one son alone remains; and he,
-more lucky than his father, has been to Peru, whence he has safely
-returned with immense wealth to his native province, in which he has
-recently purchased two handsome estates." "What pleasure!" exclaimed
-the Student, "what delight awaits this happy son, to behold again his
-long-lost parent, and to be enabled to render his declining years
-peaceful and agreeable!"
-
-"You," replied the Cripple, "speak like a child whom tenderness and
-duty prompt; the son of the Biscayan barber is of a sterner mould:
-the unlooked-for coming of his sire to him will bring more grief than
-joy. Instead of welcoming him to his mansion at Guipuscoa, and sparing
-nothing to mark the bliss he feels at pressing him once more to his
-bosom, he will probably be filial enough to make him steward of one of
-his estates.
-
-"Behind this captive, whose good looks you admire so much, is another
-as like an old baboon as are two drops of water to each other: he is
-a little Aragonese physician. He has not been a fortnight in Algiers;
-for as soon as the Turks knew what was his profession, they resolved,
-rather than suffer him to remain among them, to place him without
-ransom in the hands of the fathers of Mercy, who would certainly never
-have purchased him, and who bring him back with compunction to Spain.
-
-"You who feel so sensibly the woes of others, ah! how would you grieve
-for that other slave, he who wears upon his head that little cap of
-brown cloth, did you but know the ills he has endured during twelve
-years, in the house of an English renegade, his patron." "And who is
-this unhappy captive?" asked Zambullo. "He is a cordelier of Navarre,"
-replied the Demon. "I must own, however, that for myself, I rejoice
-that he has suffered so severely; since, by his eternal preaching, he
-has prevented more than a hundred Christian slaves from adopting the
-turban."
-
-"Well! to imitate your frankness," replied Don Cleophas, "I must say
-that I am really afflicted to think that this good father should have
-been so long at the mercy of the barbarian." "As to that," replied
-Asmodeus, "you are as unwise to regret it, as I to rejoice. The good
-monk has turned his dozen years' captivity to so good account, that he
-will find his advantage in having passed that time in suffering instead
-of in his cell, where he would have striven with temptations that he
-would not at all times have vanquished."
-
-"The first captive after the monks," said Leandro Perez, "has a most
-complacent air for a man who returns from slavery: he excites my
-curiosity to know his history." "You anticipate me," replied the
-Cripple; "I was just about to tell you all about him. You see in him,
-a citizen of Salamanca, an unfortunate father, a mortal rendered
-insensible to misfortune by the weight of those he has experienced.
-I am tempted to relate to you the painful details of his life, and
-to leave the rest of the captives to their fates; besides, there is
-scarcely another whose adventures are worth the trouble of telling."
-
-The Student, who began to tire of this sombre procession, stated that
-he asked for nothing better; whereupon, the Devil began the history
-contained in the following chapter.
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of the Aragonese physician and the cordelier
-of Navarre]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX.
-
-
-OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE CONCLUDING IT, HE
-WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY
-DEMON, IN WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.
-
-
-"Pablos de Bahabon, son of an alcade of a village in Old Castile, after
-having divided with his sister and brother the small inheritance which
-their father, although one of the most avaricious of men, had left
-them, set out for Salamanca with the intention of increasing the number
-of students in its university. He was well made, not without wit, and
-was just entering upon his twenty-third year.
-
-"With a thousand ducats in his possession, and a disposition fitted
-to get rid of them, it was not long before he was the talk of the
-town. The young men, without exception, were eager to cultivate his
-friendship; the strife, was who were to be included in the joyous
-parties which Don Pablos gave every day. I say Don Pablos, because
-he had assumed the Don, that he might live on equal terms with the
-students whose nobility would otherwise have demanded a formality in
-his intercourse with them, anything but pleasant. So well did he love
-gaiety and the good things of this world, and so badly did he manage
-the only thing which can always command them,--his purse, that at the
-end of fifteen months he found it one morning empty. He contrived,
-however, to get on for some time longer, partly by credit and partly by
-borrowing; but he soon found that these are resources which speedily
-fail when a man has no other.
-
-"This having come to pass, his friends perceiving that their visits
-were anything but agreeable,--to themselves, they ceased to call; and
-his creditors commenced paying him their respects, with an assiduity
-which was anything but delightful to poor Don Pablos. For although he
-assured the latter that he was in daily expectation of receiving bills
-of exchange from his relations, there were some who were uncivil enough
-to decline waiting their arrival; and they were so sharp in their legal
-proceedings that our hero was on the point of finishing his studies in
-jail, when one day he met an acquaintance while walking on the banks
-of the Tormes, who said to him: 'Signor Don Pablos, beware! I warn you
-that an alguazil and his archers are on the look-out for you, and they
-intend to pay you the honour of a guard on your return to the city.'
-
-"Bahabon, alarmed at this intended public attention to his person,
-which suited so ill to the state of his private affairs, resolved to
-shun this demonstration of respect, and instantly took to flight and
-the road to Corita. In his anxiety for privacy, he had not walked far
-before he turned off to plunge into a neighbouring wood, in which he
-resolved to conceal himself until night should lend her friendly shades
-to enable him to travel more secure from observation. It was at that
-season of the year when the trees are decked in their proudest apparel,
-and he therefore chose the best dressed in the forest, that it might
-spare a covering for him: into this he mounted, and arranged himself
-upon a branch whose wavy ornaments shrouded him from sight.
-
-"Feeling secure in his elevated seat, he by degrees soon lost all
-fear of the too attentive alguazil; and as men usually make the best
-reflections on their conduct when thought is too late to avail them,
-he recalled all the follies he had committed, and promised to himself,
-that if ever he again should be in fortune's way, he would make a
-better use of her favours. Most especially he vowed to be no more the
-dupe of seeming friends, who lead young men into dissipation, and whose
-attachment finishes with the last bottle.
-
-"While thus occupied with the busy thoughts which come like creditors
-into the distressed mind, night recalled him to his situation.
-Disengaging himself from the sheltering leaves, and shaking hands with
-the friendly branch, he was preparing to descend, when, by as much
-light as the moon could throw into the forest, he thought he could
-discern the figure of a man. As he looked, his former fears returned:
-and he imagined it must be the alguazil, who, having tracked his
-footsteps, was seeking him in the wood. His fears redoubled when he saw
-the man, after walking round it two or three times, sit himself down at
-the foot of the very tree in which he was."
-
-Asmodeus interrupted the course of his narrative in this place: "Signor
-Don Cleophas," said he, "permit me to enjoy for a while the perplexity
-I occasion in your mind at this moment. You are desperately anxious to
-know now, who can this mortal be that comes so inopportunely, and what
-can have brought him thither. Well, that is what you shall learn: I
-will not abuse your patience.
-
-[Illustration: Bahabon watches the bag being buried]
-
-"After the man had seated himself at the foot of the tree, whose
-thick foliage almost hid him from the sight of Don Pablos, he reposed
-for a few seconds, and then rose and began digging the ground with a
-poniard. Having made a deep hole, and placed therein a leathern bag,
-he refilled it, covered it over carefully with the moss-grown turf he
-had removed, and then retired. Bahabon, who had strained his eyes to
-watch these operations, and whose fears were changed to anxious joy
-during their progress, scarcely waited until the man was out of sight
-ere he descended from his hiding-place to disinter the sack, in which
-he doubted not to find a good store of silver or of gold. His knife
-was sufficient for the purpose; but, had he wanted that, he felt such
-ardour for the work, that he would have penetrated with his nails into
-the bowels of the earth.
-
-"The instant that he had the bag in his possession, just handling it
-sufficiently to feel convinced that it contained good sounding coin,
-he hastened to quit the wood with his prey, less fearing to meet the
-alguazil in his altered state, than the man to whom the bag of right
-belonged. Intoxicated with delight at having made so good a stroke,
-our student walked lightly all the night, without caring whither he
-went, or feeling in the least degree incommoded with his burden. But,
-as day broke, he stopped under some trees near the village of Molorido,
-less, in truth, to repose, than to satisfy at last the curiosity
-which burned within him to know what it was indeed the sack enclosed.
-Untying it with that agreeable trembling which you experience at the
-moment you are about to enjoy an anticipated but unknown pleasure, he
-found therein honest double-pistoles, and, to his unspeakable delight,
-counted no less of these than two hundred and fifty.
-
-"After having contemplated them for some time with a voluptuous
-eagerness, he began seriously to reflect on what he ought to do; and
-having made up his mind, he stowed away the doubloons in his pockets,
-threw the bag into a ditch, and repaired to Molorido. He entered the
-first decent inn; and then, while they were preparing his breakfast,
-he hired a mule, upon which he returned the same day to Salamanca.
-
-"He clearly perceived, by the surprise which his acquaintances
-displayed at seeing him again, that they were in the secret of his
-sudden evasion; but he had his story by heart. He stated that, being
-short of money, and not receiving it from home, although he had written
-twenty times to relate his pressing need, he had determined to go for
-it himself, and that, the evening previous, as he entered Molorido, he
-had met his steward with the needful, so that he was now in a situation
-to undeceive all those who had decreed him a man of straw. He added,
-that he intended to convince his creditors that they were wrong in
-distressing an honest man who would have long since satisfied their
-claims, had his steward been more punctual in the remittance of his
-rents.
-
-"In reality, on the following day he called a meeting of his creditors,
-and paid them all to the last maravedi. No sooner did the very
-friends who had abandoned him in poverty hear of these extraordinary
-proceedings, than they quickly flocked around him, to flatter him by
-their homage, hoping to enjoy themselves again at his expense; but he
-was not to be caught a second time. Faithful to the vow he had made in
-the forest, he treated them with disdain, and changing entirely his
-course of life, he devoted himself to the study of the law with zeal
-and assiduity.
-
-"However, you will say, he was all this while conscientiously expending
-double-pistoles not very honestly acquired. To this I have no reply to
-make than that he did what nine-tenths of the world are daily doing in
-similar circumstances. He of course intended to make proper restitution
-at some future time; that is, if he should chance to discover to whom
-the doubloons belonged. In the meantime, tranquillizing himself with
-the goodness of his intentions, he disposed of the money without
-scruple, patiently awaiting this discovery, which nevertheless he made
-before twelve months were over.
-
-"About this time, it was reported in Salamanca that a citizen of that
-town, one Ambrosio Piquillo, having gone to the neighbouring wood to
-seek for a bag, filled with gold and silver coin, which he had there
-deposited nearly a year before, had turned up only the earth in which
-he had buried it, and that this misfortune had reduced the poor man to
-beggary.
-
-"I must say, in justice to Bahabon, that the secret reproaches of
-his conscience were not made in vain. He ascertained the dwelling of
-Ambrosio, whom he found in a wretched chamber whose entire furniture
-consisted of a truckle-bed and a single chair. 'My friend,' said he
-with admirable hypocrisy as he entered, 'I have heard the public report
-of the cruel accident which has befallen you, and, charity obliging us
-to aid one another according to our means, I have come to bring you a
-trifling assistance; but I should like to hear from yourself the story
-of your misfortune.'
-
-"'Signor cavalier,' replied Piquillo, 'I will relate it to you in a few
-words. I had the misfortune to have a son who robbed me. Discovering
-his dishonesty, and fearing that he would help himself to a leathern
-sack in which there were two hundred and fifty doubloons, I thought
-I could not do better than bury them in the wood to which I had the
-imprudence to take them. Since that unlucky day, my son has stripped me
-of all else that I possessed, and he at last disappeared with a woman
-whom he had carried off by force. Finding myself thus reduced by the
-libertinage of my worthless child, or rather by my misplaced indulgence
-for his faults, I determined on recourse to the leathern bag; but
-alas! my only remaining means of subsistence had been cruelly carried
-away.'
-
-"As the poor man recounted his loss, his grief was renewed, and his
-tears fell fast as he spoke, Don Pablos, affected at beholding them,
-said to him: 'My dear Ambrosio, we must console ourselves for all the
-crosses we encounter during life. Your tears are useless; they cannot
-bring back your double-pistoles, which, if some scoundrel has laid
-hands on them, are indeed lost to you. But who knows? They may have
-fallen into the possession of some worthy man, who, when he learns
-that they belong to you, will hasten to restore them. You may yet see
-them again: live at least in that hope; and, in the meanwhile,' added
-he, giving him ten of his own doubloons, 'take these, and come to me
-in a week from this time.' He then gave his name and address, and went
-out overwhelmed with confusion at the benedictions heaped upon him by
-Ambrosio, who could not find words to express his gratitude. Such, for
-the most part, are your generous actions: you would find little cause
-for admiration, could you but penetrate their motives.
-
-"At the week's end, Piquillo, mindful of what Don Pablos had said to
-him, went to his house. Bahabon received him kindly, and said to him:
-'My friend, from the excellent character I everywhere hear of you, I
-have resolved to contribute all in my power to set you on your feet
-again: my interest and my purse shall not be wanting to effect this.
-As a beginning in the business,' he continued, 'what think you I have
-already done? I am intimate with several persons as much distinguished
-by their charity as their station: these I have sought; and I have so
-effectually inspired them with compassion for your situation, that I
-have collected from them two hundred crowns, which I am about to give
-you.' As he finished, he went into his cabinet, whence he returned in
-a moment with a linen bag, in which he had placed this sum in silver,
-and not in doubloons, for fear that the citizen, on receiving so many
-double-pistoles, should begin to suspect the truth; whereas, by this
-piece of management, he effectually secured his object, which was to
-make restitution in such a manner as might conciliate his reputation
-with his conscience.
-
-"Ambrosio, far from thinking that these crowns were a portion of
-his money restored, took them, in good faith, as the product of a
-collection made on his behalf; and, after repeatedly thanking Don
-Pablos for his kindness, he returned to his habitation, grateful to
-Heaven for having created a cavalier who took so much interest in his
-misfortunes.
-
-"On the following day he met one of his friends, who was in no better
-plight than himself, and who said to him: 'I leave Salamanca to-morrow,
-to set out for Cadiz, where I intend to embark in a vessel bound for
-New Spain. I have no great reason to be contented with my position
-here, and my heart tells me I shall be more fortunate in Mexico. If you
-will take my advice, you will go with me; that is, if you have but a
-hundred crowns.' 'I should not have much trouble to find two hundred,'
-replied Piquillo; 'and I would undertake this voyage willingly, were
-I sure to gain a living in the Indies.' Thereupon, his friend boasted
-of the fertility of New Spain, and represented to him so many ways
-of there enriching himself, that Ambrosio, yielding to his powers of
-persuasion, now thought of nothing but the necessary preparations for
-setting out with his friend to Cadiz. But before he left Salamanca, he
-took care to address a letter to Bahabon, informing him that, finding a
-promising opportunity of going to the Indies, he was anxious to profit
-by it, in order to see whether Fortune could be induced to smile more
-kindly on him in another country than in his own; that he took the
-liberty of stating this to him, assuring him that he should gratefully
-preserve during life the remembrance of his goodness.
-
-"The departure of Ambrosio somewhat annoyed Don Pablos, as it
-disconcerted the plan he had formed for discharging the debt he owed
-him. But, when he reflected that the poor citizen might in a few
-years return to Salamanca, he became gradually reconciled to what had
-happened, and applied himself more diligently than ever to master the
-complications of civil and ecclesiastical legalities. So great was the
-progress he made, as much by the powers of his mind and its aptitude
-for his profession, as by the application I have spoken of, that he
-became a shining light in the university, of which he was ultimately
-chosen rector. In this position he was not contented to sustain its
-dignity by the extent and solidity of his scientific acquirements;
-he searched so deeply into his own heart, that he acquired all those
-habits of virtue which constitute a man of worth.
-
-"During his rectorship, he learned that in one of the prisons of
-Salamanca there was a young man accused of rape. On hearing this, he
-remembered that Piquillo's son had carried off a woman by force. He
-therefore made inquiries as to this prisoner, and, finding that it was
-indeed the son of Ambrosio, he generously undertook his defence. What
-deserves most to be admired in the science of the law, Signor Student,
-is, that it furnishes arms for offence and defence equally; and as our
-rector was an adroit fencer with these deadly weapons, he used them to
-good effect on this occasion in favour of the accused. It is true, that
-he joined to his legal skill the interest of his friends, and the most
-pressing solicitation, which, probably, as in most cases, did more than
-all the rest.
-
-"The guilty youth, therefore, came out of this affair whiter than snow.
-On going to thank his liberator, the latter said to him: 'It is out
-of respect for your father that I have rendered you this service. I
-love him; and to give you a further proof of my affection for him, if
-you will live in this town, and here lead the life of an honest man, I
-will take care of your welfare; if, on the contrary, you desire, like
-Ambrosio, to seek your fortune in the Indies, you may reckon on fifty
-pistoles for your outfit: I present them to you.' The young Piquillo
-replied: 'Since I am honoured by the protection of your lordship, I
-should be wrong to quit a place where I enjoy so great an advantage.
-I will not leave Salamanca, and I promise you solemnly that I will
-conduct myself to your satisfaction.' On this assurance, the rector
-placed in his hands twenty pistoles, saying: 'Take this, my friend;
-embrace some honest profession; employ your time well, and rely on it
-that I will not abandon you.'
-
-"Two months afterwards, it happened that the young Piquillo, who from
-time to time paid his respects to Don Pablos, one day appeared before
-him in tears. 'What ails you?' asked Bahabon. 'Signor,' replied the
-son of Ambrosio, 'I have just heard news which cuts me to the soul. My
-father has been taken by a corsair of Algiers, and is at this moment in
-chains: an old Salamancan, lately returned from Barbary, where he was
-ten years in captivity, and whom the fathers of Mercy have redeemed,
-told me not an hour since that he had left Ambrosio in slavery. Alas!'
-he added, striking his breast and tearing his hair, 'wretch that I am!
-it was my infamous behaviour which reduced my father to the necessity
-of burying his money, and afterwards to leave his country! It is I
-who have delivered him to the barbarian who loads him with fetters.
-Ah! Signor Don Pablos, why did you shield me from the vengeance of the
-law? Since you love my father, you should have avenged him, and have
-suffered me to expiate, by an ignominious death, the crime of having
-caused all his misfortunes.'
-
-[Illustration: Piquillo's son before Bahabon]
-
-"These exclamations, evidently betokening an erring mind's return to
-virtue, together with the natural expressions of the young Piquillo's
-sincere grief, greatly affected the rector. 'My child,' he said to him,
-'I see with pleasure that you repent of your past transgressions. Dry
-up your tears: it is enough for me to know what has become of Ambrosio
-to give you assurance of beholding him again. His deliverance depends
-but on an easy ransom, which I shall cheerfully provide; and how great
-soever may have been the sufferings he has endured, I feel persuaded
-that on his return, to find in you a son restored to virtue, and filled
-with tenderness for him, he will not complain of the rigour of his
-destiny.'
-
-"Don Pablos, by this assurance, dismissed the son of Ambrosio with a
-lightened heart; and, a few days afterwards, he set out for Madrid.
-On his arrival in this capital, he placed in the hands of the fathers
-of Mercy a purse containing a hundred pistoles, to which was attached
-a label bearing these words: 'This sum is given to the fathers of
-the Redemption, for the ransom of a poor citizen of Salamanca, named
-Ambrosio Piquillo, now captive in Algiers.' The good monks, in their
-recent voyage, acting in pursuance of the directions of the rector, did
-not fail to purchase Ambrosio, and you beheld him in that slave whose
-tranquil air excited your attention."
-
-"In my opinion," said Don Cleophas, "Bahabon has worthily repaid the
-debt he owed to this luckless citizen." "Don Pablos, however," replied
-Asmodeus, "thinks differently. He will not be contented until he has
-restored to him both principal and interest; the delicacy of his
-conscience even extends so far as to scruple at his retention of the
-wealth he has gained since he has become rector of the university; and
-when he sees Ambrosio, he intends saying to him: 'Ambrosio, my friend,
-do not regard me as your benefactor; you behold in me the scoundrel who
-disinterred the money you had buried in the wood. It is not enough that
-I restore to you the doubloons I robbed you of, since by their means
-it is that I have raised myself to the station I now enjoy: all that I
-possess belongs to you; I will retain so much alone as you shall please
-to----'" Asmodeus suddenly stopped in his relation; a trembling seized
-him as he spoke, and an unearthly paleness overspread his visage.
-
-[Illustration: the magician discovers Asmodeus's absence]
-
-"Why, what's the matter now?" exclaimed the Student; "what wonderful
-emotion agitates you thus, and chains your willing tongue?" "Ah! Signor
-Leandro," answered the Demon with tremulous voice, "what misery for me!
-The magician who kept me prisoned in my bottle, has discovered that I
-am absent without leave; and prepares e'en now such mighty spiritings,
-to call me back to his laboratory, as I must fain obey." "Alas!"
-exclaimed Zambullo, quite affected, "I am mortified beyond expression!
-What a loss am I about to suffer! Must we, then, my dear Asmodeus,
-separate for ever?"
-
-"I trust not," replied the Devil. "The magician may require some
-office of my ministry; and if I have the fortune to assist him in his
-projects, perhaps, out of gratitude, he may restore me to liberty.
-Should that arrive, as I hope it may, rely on my rejoining you at once;
-on condition, however, that you reveal not to mortal ears what has this
-night passed between us. Should you be weak enough to confide this to
-any one, I warn you," continued Asmodeus emphatically, "that you will
-never see me more.
-
-[Illustration: Asmodeus embraces Zambullo]
-
-"I have one consolation in leaving you," he resumed, "which is, that at
-least I have made your fortune. You will marry the lovely Seraphina,
-into whose bosom it has been my business to instil a doting passion
-for your lordship. The Signor Don Pedro de Escolano, too, has made up
-his mind to bestow her hand upon you: and do you take care not to let
-so splendid a gift escape your own. But, mercy on me!" he concluded,
-"I hear already the potent master who constrains me; all Hell resounds
-with the echoes of the fearful words pronounced by this redoubtable
-magician: I dare not stay a moment longer. Farewell, my dear Zambullo!
-We may meet again." As he ceased, he embraced Don Cleophas, and, after
-having dropped the Student in his own apartment on his way to the
-laboratory, disappeared.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI.
-
-
-OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT HIM; AND OF THE
-MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.
-
-
-Upon the retreat of Asmodeus, the Student, feeling fatigued at having
-passed all the night upon his legs, and by the extraordinary bustle in
-which he had been occupied, undressed himself and went to bed. Agitated
-as his mind may be supposed to have been, it is no wonder that he lay
-for some time restless; but at last, paying with compound interest to
-Morpheus the tribute which all mortals owe to his sombre majesty, he
-fell into a deathlike sleep, in which he passed the whole of that day
-and the following night.
-
-Twenty-four hours had he been thus lost to the world, when Don Luis de
-Lujana, a young cavalier whom he numbered among his friends, entered
-his chamber, singing out lustily, "Hollo! Signor Don Cleophas, get up
-with you!" At this salutation, Zambullo awoke. "Are you aware," said
-Don Luis to him, "that you have been in bed since yesterday morning?"
-"Impossible!" exclaimed Leandro. "Not the less true for that," replied
-his friend; "twice have you slept the clock's dull round. All the
-inmates of the house assure me of this fact."
-
-[Illustration: Zambullo awakened by his friend]
-
-The Student, astonished at the trance from which he emerged, feared at
-first that his adventures with Asmodeus were but an illusion. He could
-not, however, persist in this belief; and when he recalled to himself
-certain circumstances of his intercourse with the Demon, he soon ceased
-to doubt of its reality. But, to make assurance doubly sure, he rose,
-dressed himself quickly, and went out with Don Luis, whom he took,
-without saying why, in the direction of the Gate of the Sun. Arrived
-there, and perceiving the mansion of Don Pedro almost reduced to ashes,
-Don Cleophas feigned surprise. "What do I behold?" he cried. "What
-dreadful ravages has fire made here! To whom did this unlucky house
-belong, and when was it thus consumed?"
-
-Don Luis de Lujana, having replied to these two questions, thus
-continued: "This fire is less spoken of in the town on account of the
-great damage it has done, than for a circumstance which attended it,
-and of which I will tell you. The Signor Don Pedro de Escolano has an
-only daughter, who is lovely as the day: they say that she was in a
-room all filled with fire and smoke, in which it seemed certain she
-must perish; but that nevertheless her life was saved by a youthful
-cavalier, whose name I have not heard;--it forms the subject of
-conversation throughout Madrid. The young man's daring is lauded to the
-skies; and it is believed that, as a reward for his success, however
-humble my gentleman may be, he may well hope to gain a life interest in
-the daughter of the Don."
-
-Leandro Perez listened to Don Luis without appearing to take the
-slightest interest in what he heard; then getting rid of his friend,
-under some specious pretext, he gained the Prado, where, seating
-himself beneath a tree, he was soon plunged in a profound reverie. The
-Devil first came flitting through his mind. "Ah! my dear Asmodeus,"
-he exclaimed, "I cannot too much regret you. You, in a moment, would
-have borne me round the world; and, with you, should I have journeyed
-without any of the usual devilries of travelling: gentle spirit, you
-are a loss indeed! But," he added a moment afterwards, "my loss,
-perhaps, is not quite irreparable: why should I despair of seeing
-the Demon again? It may fall out, as he himself suggested, that the
-magician will shortly restore him to freedom and to me." As the Devil
-left his mind the lady entered it; upon which he resolved at once to
-seek Don Pedro in his temporary abode, moved principally by curiosity
-to see the lovely Seraphina.
-
-As soon as he appeared before Don Pedro, that signor rushed towards
-him with open arms, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Welcome! generous
-cavalier, I began to feel angry at your absence. 'What!' said I, 'Don
-Cleophas, after the pressing invitation which I gave him to my house,
-still to shun my sight! He ill indeed repays the impatience of my soul
-to testify for him the friendship and esteem which fill it.'"
-
-Zambullo bowed respectfully at this kindly objurgation; and, in
-order to excuse his seeming coldness, replied to the old man, that
-he had feared to incommode him in the confusion which the event of
-the preceding day must have occasioned. "I cannot listen to such an
-excuse," resumed Don Pedro; "you can never be unwelcome in a house
-which but for your noble conduct would have been a house of mourning
-indeed. But," he added, "follow me, if you please; you have other
-thanks than mine to receive." And taking the Student's hand, he led him
-to the apartment of Seraphina.
-
-"My child," said Don Pedro, as he entered the room, where this lady was
-reposing from the noon-day heat, "I present to you the gentleman who so
-courageously saved your life. Show to him now, if you can, how deeply
-sensible you are of the obligation he conferred, since the danger from
-which he rescued you deprived you of the power to do so on the spot."
-On this, the Signora Seraphina, opening a mouth of roses to express the
-gratitude of her heart to Leandro Perez, paid him in compliments so
-warm and graceful, as would charm my readers as much as they did their
-blushing object, could I repeat each honeyed word; but as they have not
-been faithfully reported, I think it better to omit them altogether,
-than chance to spoil them by my own imperfect knowledge in such
-matters.
-
-[Illustration: Seraphina thanks Zambullo]
-
-I will only say, that Don Cleophas thought he beheld and listened to
-some bright divinity, and that he was at once the victim of his eyes
-and ears. To say that he loved her, is a thing of course; but, far
-from regarding the beauteous form before him as a possession to which
-he might aspire, his heart foreboded, despite all that the Demon had
-assured him, that they would never pay at such a price the service they
-imagined him to have rendered. As her charms increased in their effect
-upon his mind, doubts, teasing doubts, came threatening to destroy the
-infant Hope, first-cherished child of Love.
-
-What completed his mystification on the subject, was, that Don Pedro
-during the lengthened conversation which ensued, not once e'en touched
-upon the tender theme; but contented himself with loading him with
-civilities, without hinting in the slightest degree that he had any
-desire for the honour of his relationship. Seraphina, too, as polite
-as her father, while she did not fail in expressions of the deepest
-gratitude, dropped no one word whose magic charm would serve Zambullo
-to conjure visions of wedding joys; so that our Student left the Signor
-Escolano and his daughter with Love as his companion, but leaving Hope
-behind him.
-
-"Asmodeus, my friend," he muttered as he walked along, as though the
-Devil still were by his side, "when you assured me that Don Pedro was
-disposed to adopt me as his son-in-law, and that Seraphina burned with
-passion lighted in her heart by you for me, it must have pleased you to
-make merry at my cost, or else you know as little of the present time
-as of that which is to come."
-
-He now regretted that he had ever seen the dangerous beauty; and
-looking on the love which filled his breast as an unhappy passion
-which he ought to stifle in its infancy, he resolved to set about it
-in earnest. He even reproached himself for having desired to gain his
-point, supposing he had found the father all disposed to give his
-daughter to him; and represented to himself that it would have been
-disgraceful to have owed his happiness to a deception like that he had
-projected.
-
-He was yet occupied with these reflections, when Don Pedro, having sent
-to seek him on the following day, said to him: "Signor Leandro Perez,
-it is time I proved to you by deeds, that in obliging me you have not
-to do with one of those who repay a benefit in courtly phrases. You
-saved my daughter: and I wish that she, herself, should recompense
-the peril you encountered for her sake. I have consulted Seraphina
-thereupon, and find her ready to obey my will; nay, I can say with
-pride, I recognized her for my child indeed when I proposed that she
-should give her hand to him who saved her life. She showed her joy by
-transports which at once convinced my soul her generosity responds to
-mine. It is settled therefore that you shall marry with my daughter."
-
-After having spoken thus, the good Signor de Escolano, who reasonably
-expected that Don Cleophas would have gone down on his knees to thank
-him for so great a boon, was sufficiently surprised to find him
-speechless, and displaying an evident embarrassment. "Speak, Zambullo!"
-he at length exclaimed. "What am I to infer from the confusion which
-my proposition to you has occasioned? What possible objection can you
-have? What! a private gentleman--although respectable--to refuse an
-alliance which a noble would have courted! Has then the honour of my
-house some blemish of which I am ignorant?"
-
-[Illustration: the marriage of Zambullo and Seraphina]
-
-"Signor," replied Leandro, "I know too well the space that Heaven has
-set between us." "Why then," returned Don Pedro, "seem you to care
-so little for a marriage which does you so much honour? Confess! Don
-Cleophas, you love some maiden, and have pledged your faith; and it
-is your honour now which bars your road to fortune." "Had I," replied
-the Student, "a mistress to whom my vows had bound my future fate, it
-is not fortune that should bid me break them; but it is no such tie
-that now compels me to reject your proffered bounty. Honour, it is
-true, compels me to renounce the glorious destiny that you would tempt
-me with; but, far from seeking to abuse your kindness, I am about to
-undeceive you to my own undoing. I am not the deliverer of Seraphina."
-
-"What do I hear!" exclaimed Don Pedro, in utter astonishment. "It was
-not you who rescued Seraphina from the flames which threatened her with
-instant death! It was not Don Cleophas who had the courage to risk his
-life to save her!" "No, Signor," replied Zambullo; "mortal man would
-have vainly essayed to shield her from her fate; learn that it was a
-devil to whom you owe your daughter's life."
-
-These words only increased the astonishment of Don Pedro, who, not
-conceiving that he was to understand them literally, entreated the
-Student to explain himself. Upon which Leandro, regardless of the loss
-of the Demon's friendship, related all that had passed between Asmodeus
-and himself. Having finished, the old man resumed, and said to Don
-Cleophas: "The confidence you have reposed in me confirms me in my
-design of giving you my daughter. You were her chief deliverer. Had you
-not thus intreated the Devil whom you speak of to snatch her from the
-death which menaced her, it is clear that he would have suffered her
-to perish. It is you then who preserved the life of Seraphina, which
-cannot be better devoted than to the happiness of your own. You deserve
-her; and I again offer you her hand with the half of my estate."
-
-Leandro Perez at these words, which removed all his conscientious
-scruples, threw himself at the feet of Don Pedro to thank him for
-his generosity. In a few weeks, the marriage was celebrated with
-a magnificence suitable to the espousal of the heir of the Signor
-de Escolano, and to the great satisfaction of the relations of our
-Student, who was thus amply repaid for the few hours' freedom he had
-procured for the Devil on Two Sticks.
-
-[Illustration: tailpiece of Asmodeus in his bottle]
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks, by 
-Alain-René Le Sage
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks, by 
-Alain-René Le Sage
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks
-
-Author: Alain-René Le Sage
-
-Illustrator: Tony Johannot
-
-Translator: John Thomas
-
-Release Date: February 8, 2016 [EBook #51145]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASMODEUS; DEVIL ON TWO STICKS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe at
-http://www.freeliterature.org
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
-<img src="images/cover.png" width="500" alt="cover" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-<h1>ASMODEUS;</h1>
-<h3>OR,</h3>
-<h2>The Devil on Two Sticks.</h2>
-
-
-<h2>By ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE.</h2>
-
-
-<h4>WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR,</h4>
-<h4>By JULES JANIN.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic02andtitlepage.png" width="350" alt="Asmodeus and Zambullo fly over Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h4>Illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT.</h4>
-
-<h4>[Translated by Joseph Thomas.]</h4>
-
-
-<h5>GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,</h5>
-<h5>LONDON: BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL.</h5>
-<h5>NEW YORK: 416 BROOME STREET.</h5>
-
-
-<h5>1879.</h5>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h4>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialw.png" width="75" height="78" alt="W" />
-</div>
-
-<p>When I first determined on the publication
-of a new edition of "<span class="smcap">The Devil on Two
-Sticks</span>," I had certainly no idea of engaging
-in a new translation. I had not read an English version
-since my boyhood, and naturally conceived that
-the one which had passed current for upwards of a
-century must possess sufficient merit to render anything
-beyond a careful revision, before passing it again
-through the press, unnecessary. However, on reading
-a few pages, and on comparing them with the much-loved
-original, I no longer wondered, as I had so
-often done, why <span class="smcap">Le Diable Boiteux</span> was so little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>
-esteemed by those who had only known him in his
-English dress, while Gil Blas was as great a favourite
-with the British public as any of its own heroes of story.
-To account for this, I will not dwell on the want of
-literal fidelity in the old version, although in some
-instances that is amusing enough; but the total absence
-of style, and that too in the translation of a work by
-one of the greatest masters of verbal melody that ever
-existed, was so striking as to induce me, rashly perhaps,
-to endeavour more worthily to interpret the witty and
-satirical <span class="smcap">Asmodeus</span> for the benefit of those who have
-not the inestimable pleasure of comprehending him in
-his <i>native</i> tongue&mdash;for, as Jules Janin observes, he is a
-Devil truly French.</p>
-
-<p>In the translation which I here present, I do not
-myself pretend, at all times, to have rendered the words
-of the 'graceful Cupid' with strict exactness, but I have
-striven to convey to my reader the ideas which those
-words import. Whether I have succeeded in so doing
-is for others to determine; but, if I have not, I shall at
-all events have the satisfaction of failing in company,&mdash;which,
-I am told, however, is only an Old Bailey sort of
-feeling after all.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>I have not thought it necessary to attempt the Life of
-the Author; it will be enough to me, for fame, not to
-have murdered one of his children. I have therefore
-adopted the life, character, and behaviour of Le Sage
-from one of the most talented of modern French writers,
-and my readers will doubtless congratulate themselves
-on my resolve. Neither have I deemed it needful to
-enter into the controversy as to the originality of this
-work, except by a note in page <a href="#Page_162">162</a>: and this I should
-probably not have appended, had I, while hunting over
-the early editions there referred to, observed the original
-dedication of Le Sage to 'the illustrious Don Luis
-Velez de Guevara,' in which are the following words:
-"I have already declared, and do now again declare to
-the world, that to your Diabolo Cojuelo I owe the title
-and plan of this work ...; and I must further own,
-that if the reader look narrowly into some passages of
-this performance, he will find I have adopted several
-of your thoughts. I wish from my soul he could find
-more, and that the necessity I was under of accommodating
-my writings to the genius of my own country
-had not prevented me from copying you exactly." This
-is surely enough to exonerate Le Sage from the many
-charges which have been urged against him; and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>
-quote the concluding sentence of the above, because it
-is an excuse, from his own pen, for some little liberties
-which I have, in my turn, thought it necessary to take
-with his work in the course of my labours.</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">JOSEPH THOMAS.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/prefacetailpiece.png" width="100" height="104" alt="dragon tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<h4>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left">TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF LE SAGE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_xv">xv</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER I.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS&mdash;WHEN
-AND BY WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ
-ZAMBULLO FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER II.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER III.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
-FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
-BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER V.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE
-BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE
-ON DONNA THOMASA.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS,
-WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN
-HIS DAY.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER X.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
-OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC
-AUTHOR.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE DREAMERS.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED
-TO THE STUDENT.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">THE CAPTIVES.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE
-CONCLUDING IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF
-THE DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN
-WHICH HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_394">394</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left"><h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
-HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS
-WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_410">410</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/contentstailpiece.png" width="100" height="89" alt="tailpiece: cul-de-lampe with mask" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;">
-<img src="images/lesagenoticebust.png" width="276" height="213" alt="Bust of Le Sage between Asmodeus and Gil Blas" />
-</div>
-
-<h4>NOTICE OF LE SAGE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali.png" width="75" height="73" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>I shall at once place <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span> by the side of Molière;
-he is a comic poet in all the acceptation of that great word,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Comedy</span>.
-He possesses its noble instincts, its good-natured
-irony, its animated dialogue, its clear and flowing
-style, its satire without bitterness, he has studied profoundly the
-various states of life in the heights and depths of the world. He
-is perfectly acquainted with the manners of comedians and courtiers,&mdash;of
-students and pretty women. Exiled from the Théâtre-Français,
-of which he would have been the honour, and less fortunate
-than Molière, who had comedians under his direction, and
-who was the proprietor of his own theatre, Le Sage found himself
-obliged more than once to bury in his breast this Comedy, from
-want of a fitting stage for its exhibition, and actors to represent it.
-Thus circumstanced, the author of "Turcaret" was compelled to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>
-seek a new form, under which he might throw into the world the
-wit, the grace, the gaiety, the instruction which possessed him. In
-writing the biography of such men, there is but one thing to do,
-and that is to praise. The more humble and obscure have they
-been in their existence, the greater is the duty of him who tells the
-story of their lives, to heap upon them eulogy and honour. This
-is a tardy justice, if you will, but it is a justice nevertheless; and
-besides, of what importance, after all, are these vulgar events? All
-these biographies are alike. A little more of poverty, a little less
-of misery, a youth expended in energy, a manhood serious and
-filled with occupation, an old age respected, honourable; and, at
-the end of all these labours, all these troubles, all these anguishes
-of mind and heart, of which your great men alone have the secret,&mdash;the
-Académie-Française in perspective. Then, are you possessed
-of mediocre talents only? all doors are open to you;&mdash;are you a
-man of genius? the door opens with difficulty;&mdash;but, are you perchance
-one of those excelling spirits who appear but from century
-to century? it may turn out that the Académie-Française will not
-have you at any price. Thus did it with the great Molière; thus
-also has it done for Le Sage; which, by-the-bye, is a great honour
-for the illustrious author of "Gil Blas."</p>
-
-<p>René Le Sage was born in the Morbihan, on the 8th of May,
-1668:<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and in that year Racine produced "Les Plaideurs," and
-Molière was playing his "Avare." The father of Le Sage was a man
-slightly lettered,&mdash;as much so as could be expected of an honourable
-provincial attorney, one who lived from day to day like a lord,
-without troubling himself too much as to the future fortunes of his
-only son. The father died when the child was only fourteen years
-of age; and soon afterwards the youthful René lost his mother.
-He was now alone, under the guardianship of an uncle, and he was
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span>fortunate enough to be placed under the tutelage of those learned
-masters of the youth of the seventeenth century, the Jesuits who
-subsequently became the instructors of Voltaire, as they have been
-of all France of the great age. Thanks to this talented and paternal
-teaching, our young orphan quickly penetrated into the learned
-and poetical mysteries of that classic antiquity, which is yet in our
-days, and will be to the end of time, the exhaustless source of taste,
-of style, of reason, and of good sense. It is to praise Le Sage to
-say that he was educated with as much care and assiduity as
-Molière and Racine, as La Fontaine and Voltaire; they one and
-all prepared themselves, by severest study, and by respect for
-their masters, to become masters in their turn; and they have
-themselves become classic writers, because they reverenced their
-classic models,&mdash;which may, in case of need, serve as an example
-for the beaux-esprits of our own time.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> According to Moreri, in his "Grand Dictionnaire Historique," (folio, Paris,
-1759,) and he cites as his authority M. Titon de Tillet's second supplement to
-the "Parnasse Français," Le Sage was born at Ruis in Brittany, in 1677.
-There is, however, every reason to believe that M. Jules Janin is correct, both
-as to the year and the place of his birth, notwithstanding that Mr. Chalmers, in
-his "Biographical Dictionary," while he assigns to the former the year 1668,
-places the latter at Vannes, as does also the "Biographie Universelle," which
-he appears to have followed.</p></div>
-
-<p>But, when this preliminary education was completed, and when
-he left these learned mansions, all filled with Greek and Latin, all
-animated with poetic fervour, Le Sage encountered those terrible
-obstacles that await invariably, as he emerges from his studies,
-every young man without family, and destitute of fortune. The
-poet Juvenal has well expressed it, in one of his sublimest verses:
-"They with difficulty rise, whose virtues are opposed by the pinching
-wants of home."</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 10%;">
-"Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat<br />
-Res angusta domi."<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>But what matters poverty when one is so young,&mdash;when our hopes
-are so vast, our thoughts so powerful and rich? You have nothing,
-it is true; but the world itself belongs to you,&mdash;the world is your
-patrimony; you are sovereign of the universe; and around you,
-the twentieth year touches every thing with its golden wand.
-Your clear and sparkling eye may look in the sun's bright face as
-dauntless as the eagle's. It is accomplished: all the powers of
-your soul are awakened, all the passions of your heart join in one
-swelling choir, to chant <i>Hosanna in excelsis!</i> What matter then
-that you are poor! A verse sublime, a noble thought, a well-turned
-phrase, the hand of a friend, the soft smile of some bright-eyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span>
-damsel as she flits across your path,&mdash;there is a fortune for a
-week. Those who, at the commencement of every biography,
-enter into all sorts of lamentation, and deplore with pathetic voice
-the mournful destiny of their hero, are not in the secret of the
-facile joys of poetry, of the exquisite happiness of youth,&mdash;the
-simpletons! They amuse themselves in counting, one by one, the
-rags that cover yonder handsome form; and they see not, through
-the holes of the cloak which envelopes it, those Herculean arms,
-or that athletic breast! They look with pity on that poor young
-man with well-worn hat, and beneath that covering deformed
-they see not those abundant, black, and tended locks, the flowing
-diadem of youth! They will tell you, with heart-rending sighs,
-how happy Diderot esteemed himself, when to his crust of bread
-he joined the luxury of cheese, and how this poor René le Sage
-drank at his repasts but pure spring water;&mdash;a lamentable matter,
-truly! But Diderot, while he ate his cheese, already meditated the
-shocks of his "Encyclopædia"; but this same clear fountain from
-which you drink, at twenty, in the hollow of your hand, as pure,
-will intoxicate more surely than will, after twenty other years,
-alas! the sparkling produce of Champagne, poured out in cups of
-crystal.</p>
-
-<p>This is sufficient reason why we should not trouble ourselves
-overmuch as to the early life of Le Sage; he was young and handsome,
-and as he marched, his head upturned like a poet, he met
-as he went along with those first loves which one always meets
-when the heart is honest and devoted. A charming woman loved
-him, and he let her love him to her heart's content; and, without
-concerning himself as to his good fortune, more than would master
-Gil Blas have done on a similar occasion, these first amours of
-our poet lasted just as long as such sort of amours ought to last&mdash;long
-enough that they should leave no subject for regret, not
-enough that they should evoke hatred. When, therefore, they
-had loved each other as much as they could, she and he, they
-separated, still to please themselves; she found a husband of riper
-age and better off than her lover; he took a wife more beauteous
-and less wealthy than his mistress. And blessings on the amiable
-and devoted girl who consented, with a joyous heart, to encounter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span>
-all the risks, all the vexations, and also to expose herself to the
-seducing pleasures of a poetic life! Thus Le Sage entered, almost
-without thinking of it, into that laborious life in which one must
-daily expend the rarest and most charming treasures of his mind
-and soul. As a commencement, he made a translation of the
-Letters of Calisthenes, without imagining that he was himself
-possessed of more wit than all the Greeks of the fourth century.
-The work had no success, and it ought not to have had. He who
-has the genius of Le Sage must create original works, or not
-meddle in the craft. To translate is a trade of manual skill&mdash;to
-imitate, is one of plagiary. However, the failure of this first book
-rendered Le Sage less proud and haughty; and he accepted, what
-he would never have done had he at once succeeded, a pension
-from M. l'Abbé de Lyonne. This pension amounted to six hundred
-francs; and thereupon the biographers of our author are in extacies
-at the generosity of the Abbé de Lyonne.</p>
-
-<p>Six hundred francs! and when we reflect that had Le Sage lived
-in our day, depending only on his Théâtre de la Foire, he would
-have gained thirty thousand francs a year! In our days, a
-romance like "Gil Blas" would not be worth less than five hundred
-thousand francs; "Le Diable Boiteux" would have brought him a
-hundred thousand, at least: still, we must not be angry with M.
-l'Abbé de Lyonne, for having bestowed a pension of six hundred
-on the author of "Gil Blas." The abbé did more; he opened to
-Le Sage an admirable treasure of wit, of imagination, and of
-poetry; he taught him the Spanish tongue, that lovely and noble
-instructress of the great Corneille; and it is doubtless no slight
-honour for the language of Cervantes to have given birth in our
-land to "The Cid" and to "Gil Blas." You may imagine with what
-delight Le Sage accepted this instruction, and how perfectly at
-home he found himself in those elegant and gracious manners;
-with what good will he studied that smiling gallantry, that loyal
-jealousy; those duennas in appearance so austere, in reality so
-accessible; those lovely women, their feet ensatined, their head in
-the mantilla; those charming mansions, all carved without, and
-within all silence; those exciting windows, lighted by smiles above,
-while concerts murmur at their feet! You may imagine if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span>
-adopted those lively and coquetish waiting-women, those ingenious
-and rascally valets, those enormous mantles so favourable to love,
-those ancient bowers so friendly to its modest blisses! Thus,
-when he had discovered this new world of poesy, of which he was
-about to be the Pizarro and the Fernando Cortes, and of which
-Corneille had been the Christopher Columbus, René le Sage
-clapped his hands for joy. In his noble pride, he stamped his
-feet on this enchanted land; he began to read, you may fancy with
-what delight, that admirable epic, "Don Quixote," which he studied
-for its grace, its charms, its poetry, its passion; putting for the
-time aside its satire, and the sarcasm concealed in this splendid
-drama, as weapons for a later use, when he should attack the
-financiers. Certainly, the Abbé de Lyonne never dreamt that he
-was opening to the light this exhaustless mine for the man who was
-to become the first comic poet of France&mdash;since Molière is one
-of those geniuses apart, of whom all the nations of the earth,
-all literary ages, claim alike with equal right the honour and the
-glory.</p>
-
-<p>The first fruit of this Spanish cultivation was a volume of
-comedies which Le Sage published, and in which he had translated
-some excellent pieces of the Spanish stage. It contained
-only one from Lopez de Vega, so ingenious and so fruitful; that
-was certainly too few: there was in it not one of Calderon de la
-Barca; and that was as certainly not enough. In this book, which
-I have read with care, in search of some of those luminous rays
-which betoken the presence of the man of genius wherever he has
-passed, I have met with nothing but the translator. The original
-writer does not yet display himself: it is because style is a thing
-which comes but slowly; it is because, in this heart of comedy more
-especially, there are certain secrets of trade which no talent can
-replace, and which must be learned at whatever cost. These
-secrets Le Sage learned, as every thing is learned, at his own
-expense. From a simple translator as he was, he became an
-arranger of dramatic pieces, and in 1702 (the eighteenth century
-had begun its course, but with timid steps, and none could have
-predicted what it would become) Le Sage brought out at the
-Théâtre Français a comedy in five acts, "Le Point d'Honneur:" it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span>
-was a mere imitation from the Spanish. The imitation had small
-success, and Le Sage comprehended not this lesson of the public;
-he understood not that something whispered to the pit, so reserved
-in its applause, that there was in this translator an original poet.
-To avenge himself, what did Le Sage? He fell into a greater
-error still: he set to work translating&mdash;will you believe it?&mdash;the
-continuation of "Don Quixote," as if "Don Quixote" could have a
-continuation; as if there were a person in the world, even Cervantes
-himself, who had the right to add a chapter to this famous history!
-Verily, it is strange, indeed, that with his taste so pure, his judgment
-so correct, Le Sage should have ever thought of this unhappy
-<i>continuation</i>. This time, therefore, again his new attempt had no
-success; the Parisian public, which, whatever may be said to the
-contrary, is a great judge, was more just for the veritable Quixote
-than Le Sage himself; and he had once more to begin anew.
-However, he yet once more attempted this new road, which could
-lead him to nothing good. He returned to the charge, still with
-a Spanish comedy, "Don César Ursin," imitated from Calderon.
-This piece was played for the first time at Versailles, and applauded
-to the skies by the court, which deceived itself almost as often as the
-town. Le Sage now thought that the battle at last was won. Vain
-hope! it was again a battle lost, for, brought from Versailles to
-Paris, the comedy of "Don César Ursin" was hissed off the stage
-by the Parisian pit, which thus unmercifully annihilated the eulogies
-of the court, and the first victory of the author. It was now full time
-to yield to the force of evidence. Enlightened by these rude instructions,
-Le Sage at last comprehended that it was not permitted
-to him, to him less than to all others, to be a plagiarist; that
-originality was one of the grand causes of success; and that to
-confine himself for ever to this servile imitation of the Spanish
-poets was to become a poet lost.</p>
-
-<p>Now, therefore, behold him, determined in his turn to be an
-original poet. This time he no longer copies, he invents; he
-arranges his fable to his mind, and seeks no further refuge in the
-phantasmagoria of Spain. With original ideas, comes to him
-originality of style; and he at last lights on that wondrous and
-imperishable dialogue which may be compared to the dialogue of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span>
-Molière, not for its ease, perhaps, but unquestionably for its grace
-and elegance. He found at the same time, to his great joy, now
-that he was himself&mdash;that he walked in the footsteps of nobody, he
-found that the business was much more simple; this time he was
-at his ease in his plot, which he disposed as it pleased him; he
-breathed freely in the space which he had opened to himself;
-nothing constrained his march, any more than his poetical caprice.
-Well! at last then we behold him the supreme moderator of his
-work, we behold him such as the pit would have him, such as we
-all hoped he was.</p>
-
-<p>This happy comedy, which is, beyond all doubt, the first work of
-Le Sage, is entitled "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." When he had
-finished it, Le Sage, grateful for the reception which the court had
-given to "Don César Ursin," was desirous that the court should also
-have the first hearing of "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." He
-remembered, with great delight, that the first applauses he had
-received had been echoed from Versailles! Behold him then producing
-his new comedy before the court. But, alas! this time the
-opinion of the court had changed: without regard for the plaudits
-of Versailles, the pit of the Paris theatre had hissed "Don César
-Ursin"; Versailles in its turn, and as if to take its revenge, now
-hissed "Crispin, Rival de son Maître." We must allow that, for a
-mind less strong, here was enough to confound a man for ever, and
-to make him comprehend nothing either as to the success or the
-failure of his productions. Happily, Le Sage appealed from the
-public of Versailles to the pit of Paris; and as much as "Crispin,
-Rival de son Maître" had been hissed at Versailles, so much was
-this charming comedy applauded at Paris. On this occasion, it
-was not alone to give the lie to the court, that the pit applauded;
-Paris had refound, in truth, in this new piece, all the qualities of
-true comedy,&mdash;the wit, the grace, the easy irony, the exhaustless
-pleasantry, a noble frankness, much biting satire, and a moderate
-seasoning of love.</p>
-
-<p>As to those who would turn into accusation the hisses of Versailles,
-they should recollect that more than one chef-d'oeuvre,
-hissed at Paris, has been raised again by the suffrages of Versailles;&mdash;"Les
-Plaideurs" of Racine, for instance, which the court restored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span>
-to the poet with extraordinary applause, with the bursting laughter
-of Louis XIV., which come deliciously to trouble the repose of
-Racine, at five o'clock in the morning. Happy times, on the
-contrary, when poets had, to approve them, to try them, this double
-jurisdiction; when they could appeal from the censures of the
-court to the praises of the town, from the hisses of Versailles to the
-plaudits of Paris!</p>
-
-<p>Now we behold René le Sage, to whom nothing opposes: he has
-divined his true vocation, which is comedy; he understands what
-may be made of the human race, and by what light threads are
-suspended the human heart. These threads of gold, of silver, or
-of brass, he holds them at this moment in his hand, and you will
-see with what skill he weaves them. Already in his head, which
-bears Gil Blas and his fortune, ferment the most charming recitals
-of "Le Diable Boiteux." Silence! "Turcaret" is about to appear,&mdash;Turcaret,
-whom Molière would not have forgotten if Turcaret had
-lived in his day; but it was necessary to wait till France should
-have escaped from the reign, so decorous, of Louis XIV., to witness
-the coming, after the man of the Church, after the man of the
-sword, this man without heart and without mind,&mdash;the man of
-money. In a society like our own, the man of money is one of
-those bastard and insolent powers which grow out of the affairs of
-every day, as the mushroom grows out from the dunghill. We
-know not whence comes this inert force,&mdash;we know not how it is
-maintained on the surface of the world, and nothing tells how it disappears,
-after having thrown its phosphorus of an instant. It is
-necessary, in truth, that an epoch should be sufficiently corrupt, and
-sufficiently stained with infamy, when it replaces, by money, the
-sword of the warrior, by money the sentence of the judge, by money
-the intelligence of the legislator, by money the sceptre of the king
-himself. Once that a nation has descended so low, as to adore money
-on its knees&mdash;to require neither fine arts, nor poesy, nor love, it is
-debased as was the Jewish people, when it knelt before the golden
-calf. Happily, of all the ephemeral powers in the world, money is
-the most ephemeral; we extend to it our right hand, it is true, but we
-buffet it with our left; we prostrate ourselves before it as it passes
-along,&mdash;yes; but when it has passed, we kick it with our foot!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span>
-This is what Le Sage marvellously comprehended, like a great
-comic poet as he was. He found the absurd and frightful side of
-those gilded men who divide our finances, menials enriched overnight,
-who, more than once, by a perfectly natural mistake, have
-mounted behind their own coaches. And such is Turcaret. The
-poet has loaded him with vices the most disgraceful, with follies
-the most dishonouring; he tears from this heart, debased by
-money, every natural affection; and nevertheless, even in this
-fearful picture, Le Sage has confined himself within the limits of
-comedy, and not once in this admirable production does contempt
-or indignation take the place of laughter. It was then with good
-cause that the whole race of financiers, as soon as they had heard
-of Turcaret, caballed against this chef-d'oeuvre; the cry resounded
-in all the rich saloons of Paris; it was echoed from the usurers who
-lent their money to the nobles, and re-echoed by the nobles who
-condescended to borrow from the usurers; it was a general hue
-and cry.</p>
-
-<p>"Le Tartufe" of Molière never met with greater opposition among
-the devotees than "Turcaret" experienced from financiers; and, to
-make use of the expression of Beaumarchais in reference to "Figaro,"
-it required as much mind for Le Sage to cause his comedy to be
-played as it did to write it. But on this occasion, again, the public,
-which is the all-powerful manager in these matters, was more potent
-than intrigue; Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin, that Prince so illustrious
-by his piety and virtue, protected the comedy of Le Sage, as
-his ancestor, Louis XIV., had protected that of Molière. On this,
-the financiers, perceiving that all was lost as far as intrigue was concerned,
-had recourse to money, which is the last reason of this description
-of upstarts, as cannon is the <i>ultima ratio</i> of kings. This
-time again the attack availed not: the great poet refused a fortune
-that his comedy might be played, and unquestionably he made a
-good bargain by his resolve, preferable a hundred thousand times to
-all the fortunes which have been made and lost in the Rue Quincampoix.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
-The success of "Turcaret" (1709) was immense; the Parisian
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span>enjoyed with rare delight the spectacle of these grasping money-hunters
-devoted to the most cruel ridicule. What if Le Sage had
-deferred the production of this masterpiece! These men would have
-disappeared, to make room for others of the kind, and they would
-have carried with them into oblivion the comedy they had paid for.
-It would have been a <i>chef-d'oeuvre</i> lost to us for ever; and never,
-that we know of, would the good men on 'Change have dealt us a
-more fatal blow.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In this street, in 1716, the famous projector Law established his bank; and
-the rage for speculation which followed, made it for a time the Bourse of Paris.
-A hump-backed man made a large fortune by lending himself as a desk, whereon
-the speculators might sign their contracts, or the transfer of shares. The Rue
-Quincampoix is still a leading street for business, but its trade is now confined
-to more honest wares, such as drugs and grocery.</p></div>
-
-<p>Who would credit it, however? After this superb production,
-which should have rendered him the master of French comedy, Le
-Sage was soon compelled to abandon that ungrateful theatre which
-understood him not. He renounced,&mdash;he, the author of "Turcaret,"&mdash;pure
-comedy, to write, as a pastime, farces, little one-act pieces
-mingled with couplets, which made the life of the Théâtre de la
-Foire Saint Laurent, and of the Théâtre de la Foire Saint Germain.
-Unfortunate example for Le Sage to set, in expending, without
-thought, all his talent, from day to day, without pity for himself,
-without profit for anyone. What! the author of "Turcaret" to
-fill exactly the same office as M. Scribe; to waste his time, his style,
-and his genius upon that trifling comedy which a breath can hurry
-away! And the French comedians were all unmoved, and hastened
-not to throw themselves at the feet of Le Sage, to pray, to supplicate
-him to take under his all-powerful protection that theatre elevated
-by the genius and by the toils of Molière! But these senseless
-comedians were unable to foresee anything.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, if he had renounced the Théâtre Français, Le Sage
-had not abandoned true comedy. All the comedies which thronged
-his brain, he heaped them up in that grand work which is called
-"Gil Blas," and which includes within itself alone the history of the
-human heart. What can be said of "Gil Blas" which has not already
-been written? How can I sufficiently eulogise the only book truly
-gay in the French language? The man who wrote "Gil Blas" has
-placed himself in the first rank among all the authors of this world;
-he has made himself, by the magic of his pen, the cousin-german<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span>
-of Rabelais and Montaigne, the grandfather of Voltaire, the brother
-of Cervantes, and the younger brother of Molière; he takes his
-place, in plenitude of right, in the family of comic poets, who have
-themselves been philosophers. In the same vein, he has further
-composed the "Bachelier de Salamanque," which would be a charming
-book if "Gil Blas" existed not, if above all, before writing his
-"Gil Blas," he had not written this charming book, "<span class="smcap">Le Diable
-Boiteux</span>."</p>
-
-<p>And now, <i>sauve qui peut!</i> the Devil is let loose upon the town,
-a devil truly French, who has the wit, the grace, and the vivacity of
-Gil Blas. Beware! Look to yourselves, you the ridiculous and
-the vicious, who have escaped the high comedy of the stage, for, by
-the virtue of this all-potent wand, not alone your mansions but your
-very souls shall in a twinkling change to glass. Beware! I say;
-for Asmodeus, the terrible scoffer, is about to plunge his pitiless
-eye into those mysterious places which you deemed so impenetrable,
-and to each of you he will reveal his secret history; he will strike
-you without mercy with that ivory crutch which opens all doors and
-all hearts; he will proclaim aloud your follies and your vices.
-None shall escape from that vigilant observer, who, astride upon
-his crutch, glides upon the roofs of the best secured houses, and
-divines their ambitions, their jealousies, their inquietudes, and,
-above all, their midnight wakefulness. Considered with relation to
-its wit without bitterness, its satire which laughs at everything, and
-with regard to its style, which is admirable, "Le Diable Boiteux" is
-perhaps the book most perfectly French in our language; it is
-perhaps the only book that Molière would have put his name to
-after "Gil Blas."</p>
-
-<p>Such was this life, all filled with most delightful labour, as also
-with the most serious toil; thus did this man, who was born a
-great author, and who has raised to perfection the talent of writing,
-go on from chef-d'oeuvre to chef-d'oeuvre without pause. The
-number of his productions is not exactly known; at sixty-five years
-of age, he yet wrote a volume of <i>mélanges</i>, and he died without
-imagining to himself the glories which were reserved for his name.
-An amiable and light-hearted philosopher, he was to the end full
-of wit and good sense; an agreeable gossiper, a faithful friend, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span>
-indulgent father, he retired to the little town of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
-where he became without ceremony a good citizen, whom everybody
-shook by the hand without any great suspicion that he was a
-man of genius. Of three sons who had been born to him, two
-became comedians, to the great sorrow of their noble father, who
-had preserved for the players, as is plainly perceptible in "Gil Blas,"
-a well-merited dislike. However, Le Sage pardoned his two
-children, and he even frequently went to applaud the elder, who
-had taken the name of Monmenil; and when Monmenil died, before
-his father, Le Sage wept for him, and never from that time (1743)
-entered a theatre. His third son, the brother of these two comedians,
-was a good canon of Boulogne-sur-Mer; and it was to his
-house that Le Sage retired with his wife and his daughter, deserving
-objects of his affection, and who made all the happiness of his
-latest days.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most affable gentlemen of that time, who would have
-been remarkable by his talents, even though he had not been
-distinguished by his nobility, M. le Comte de Tressan, governor of
-Boulogne-sur-Mer, was in the habit of seeing the worthy old man
-during the last year of his life; and upon that fine face, shaded
-with thick white hairs, he could still discern that love and genius
-had been there. Le Sage rose early, and his first steps took him
-to seek the sun. By degrees, as the luminous rays fell upon him,
-thought returned to his forehead, motion to his heart, gesture to
-his hand, and his eyes were lighted with their wonted fire: as the
-sun mounted in the skies, this awakened intelligence appeared, on
-its side, more brilliant and more clear; so much so, that you
-beheld again before you the author of "Gil Blas." But, alas! all
-this animation drooped in proportion as the sun declined; and,
-when night was come, you had before your eyes but a good old
-man, whose steps must be tended to his dwelling.</p>
-
-<p>Thus died he, one day in summer. The sun had shown itself in
-heaven's topmost height on that bright day; and it had not quite
-left the earth when Le Sage called the members of his family
-around to bless them. He was little less than ninety when he
-died (1747).</p>
-
-<p>To give you an idea of the popularity that this man enjoyed even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span>
-during his life-time, I will finish with this anecdote: When the
-"Diable Boiteux" appeared, in 1707, the success of this admirable
-and ingenious satire upon human life was so great, the public
-esteemed the lively epigrams it contains so delightful, that the
-publisher was obliged to print two editions in one week. On the
-last day of this week, two gentlemen, their swords by their sides,
-as was then the custom, entered the bookseller's shop to buy the
-new romance. A single copy remained to sell: one of these
-gentlemen would have it, the other also claimed it; what was to
-be done? Why, in a moment, there were our two infuriate readers
-with their swords drawn, and fighting for the first blood, and the
-last "Diable Boiteux."</p>
-
-<p>But what, I pray you, had they done, were it a question then of
-the "<span class="smcap">Diable Boiteux</span>" illustrated by <span class="smcap">Tony Johannot</span>?</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">JULES JANIN.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="tailpiece: foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/ch01headpiece.png" width="320" height="170" alt="a street in Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-<h3>ASMODEUS;
-OR, THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS.</h3>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-
-<h5><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHAT SORT OF A DEVIL HE OF THE TWO STICKS WAS&mdash;WHEN AND
-BY WHAT ACCIDENT DON CLEOPHAS LEANDRO PEREZ ZAMBULLO
-FIRST GAINED THE HONOUR OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>A night in the month of October covered with
-its thick darkness the famous city of Madrid.
-Already the inhabitants, retired to their homes,
-had left the streets free for lovers who desired
-to sing their woes or their delights beneath the balconies of
-their mistresses; already had the tinkling of guitars aroused
-the care of fathers, or alarmed the jealousy of husbands; in
-short, it was near midnight, when Don Cleophas Leandro
-Perez Zambullo, a student of Alcala, suddenly emerged, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
-the skylight, from a house into which the incautious son of
-the Cytherean goddess had induced him to enter. He sought
-to preserve his life and his honour, by endeavouring to escape
-from three or four hired assassins, who followed him closely,
-for the purpose of either killing him or compelling him to wed
-a lady with whom they had just surprised him.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic01.png" width="262" height="162" alt="Zambullo fleeing from the hired assassins" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Against such fearful odds he had for some time valiantly
-defended himself; and had only flown, at last, on losing his
-sword in the combat. The bravos followed him for some time
-over the roofs of the neighbouring houses; but, favoured by
-the darkness, he evaded their pursuit; and perceiving at
-some distance a light, which Love or Fortune had placed
-there to guide him through this perilous adventure, he
-hastened towards it with all his remaining strength. After
-having more than once endangered his neck, he at length
-reached a garret, whence the welcome rays proceeded, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
-without ceremony entered by the window; as much transported
-with joy as the pilot who safely steers his vessel into
-port when menaced with the horrors of shipwreck.</p>
-
-<p>He looked cautiously around him; and, somewhat surprised
-to find nobody in the apartment, which was rather a singular
-domicile, he began to scrutinize it with much attention. A
-brass lamp was hanging from the ceiling; books and papers
-were heaped in confusion on the table; a globe and mariner's
-compass occupied one side of the room, and on the other were
-ranged phials and quadrants; all which made him conclude
-that he had found his way into the haunt of some astrologer,
-who, if he did not live there, was in the habit of resorting to
-this hole to make his observations.</p>
-
-<p>He was reflecting on the dangers he had by good fortune
-escaped, and was considering whether he should remain
-where he was until the morning, or what other course he
-should pursue, when he heard a deep sigh very near him.
-He at first imagined it was a mere phantasy of his agitated
-mind, an illusion of the night; so, without troubling himself
-about the matter, he was in a moment again busied with his
-reflections.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic02.png" width="248" height="285" alt="Lucifer, the mountebank's devil" />
-</div>
-
-<p>But having distinctly heard a second sigh, he no longer
-doubted its reality; and, although he saw no one in the room,
-he nevertheless called out,&mdash;"Who the devil is sighing here?"
-"It is I, Signor Student," immediately answered a voice, in
-which there was something rather extraordinary; "I have
-been for the last six months enclosed in one of these phials.
-In this house lodges a learned astrologer, who is also a
-magician: he it is who, by the power of his art, keeps me confined
-in this narrow prison." "You are then a spirit?" said
-Don Cleophas, somewhat perplexed by this new adventure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
-"I am a demon," replied the voice; "and you have come in
-the very nick of time to free me from slavery. I languish in
-idleness; for of all the devils in hell, I am the most active and
-indefatigable."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic03.png" width="262" height="262" alt="Uriel, patron of tradesmen" />
-</div>
-
-<p>These words somewhat alarmed Signor Zambullo; but, as
-he was naturally brave, he quickly recovered himself, and said
-in a resolute tone: "Signor Diabolus, tell me, I pray you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
-what rank you may hold among your brethren. Are you an
-aristocrat, or a burgess?" "I am," replied the voice, "a
-devil of importance, nay, the one of highest repute in this, as
-in the other world." "Perchance," said Don Cleophas, "you
-are the renowned Lucifer?" "Bah," replied the spirit; "why,
-he is the mountebank's devil." "Are you Uriel then?" asked
-the Student. "For shame!" hastily interrupted the voice;
-"no, he is the patron of tradesmen; of tailors, butchers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
-bakers, and other cheats of the middle classes." "Well,
-perhaps you are Beelzebub?" said Leandro. "Are you
-joking?" replied the spirit; "he is the demon of duennas and
-footmen." "That astonishes me," said Zambullo; "I thought
-Beelzebub one of the greatest persons at your court." "He
-is one of the meanest of its subjects," answered the Demon;
-"I see you have no very clear notions of our hell."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 269px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic04.png" width="269" height="225" alt="Leviathan, Belphegor and Ashtaroth" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"There is no doubt then," said Don Cleophas, "that you
-are either Leviathan, Belphegor, or Ashtaroth." "Ah! those
-three now," replied the voice, "are devils of the first order,
-veritable spirits of diplomacy. They animate the councils of
-princes, create factions, excite insurrections, and light the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
-torches of war. They are not such peddling devils as the
-others you have named." "By the bye! tell me," interrupted
-the Scholar, "what post is assigned to Flagel?" "He is the
-soul of special pleading, and the spirit of the bar. He composes
-the rules of court, invented the law of libel, and that
-for the imprisonment of insolvent debtors; in short, he
-inspires pleaders, possesses barristers, and besets even the
-judges.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 203px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic05.png" width="203" height="250" alt="Flagel" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"For myself, I have other occupations: I make absurd
-matches; I marry greybeards with minors, masters with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
-servants, girls with small fortunes with tender lovers who have
-none. It is I who introduced into this world luxury, debauchery,
-games of chance, and chemistry. I am the author
-of the first cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of dancing,
-music, plays, and of the newest fashions; in a word, I am
-<span class="smcap">Asmodeus</span>, surnamed <span class="smcap">The Devil on Two Sticks</span>."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear," cried Don Cleophas; "are you the
-famed Asmodeus, of whom such honourable mention is made
-by Agrippa and in the Clavicula Salamonis? Verily, you have
-not told me all your amusements; you have forgotten the best
-of all. I am well aware that you sometimes divert yourself by
-assisting unhappy lovers: by this token, last year only, a young
-friend of mine obtained, by your favour, the good graces of the
-wife of a Doctor in our university, at Alcala." "That is true,"
-said the spirit: "I reserved that for my last good quality. I
-am the Demon of voluptuousness, or, to express it more
-delicately, Cupid, the god of love; that being the name for
-which I am indebted to the poets, who, I must confess, have
-painted me in very flattering colours. They say I have golden
-wings, a fillet bound over my eyes; that I carry a bow in my
-hand, a quiver full of arrows on my shoulders, and have withal
-inexpressible beauty. Of this, however, you may soon judge
-for yourself, if you will but restore me to liberty."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor Asmodeus," replied Leandro Perez, "it is, as you
-know, long since I have been devoted to you: the perils I
-have just escaped will prove to you how entirely. I am
-rejoiced to have an opportunity of serving you; but the vessel
-in which you are confined is undoubtedly enchanted, and I
-should vainly strive to open, or to break it: so I do not see
-clearly in what manner I can deliver you from your bondage.
-I am not much used to these sorts of disenchantments; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
-between ourselves, if, cunning devil as you are, you know not
-how to gain your freedom, what probability is there that a
-poor mortal like myself can effect it?" "Mankind has this
-power," answered the Demon. "The phial which encloses
-me is but a mere glass bottle, easy to break. You have only
-to throw it on the ground, and I shall appear before you in
-human form." "In that case," said the Student, "the matter
-is easier of accomplishment than I imagined. But tell me in
-which of the phials you are; I see a great number of them, and
-all so like one another, that there may be a devil in each, for
-aught I know." "It is the fourth from the window," replied
-the spirit. "There is the impress of a magical seal on its
-mouth; but the bottle will break, nevertheless." "Enough,"
-said Don Cleophas; "I am ready to do your bidding. There
-is, however, one little difficulty which deters me: when I shall
-have rendered you the service you require, how know I that I
-shall not have to pay the magician, in my precious person, for
-the mischief I have done?" "No harm shall befall you,"
-replied the Demon: "on the contrary, I promise to content
-you with the fruits of my gratitude. I will teach you all you
-can desire to know; I will discover to you the shifting scenes
-of this world's great stage; I will exhibit to you the follies and
-the vices of mankind; in short, I will be your tutelary demon:
-and, more wise than the Genius of Socrates, I undertake to
-render you a greater sage than that unfortunate philosopher.
-In a word, I am yours, with all my good and bad qualities;
-and they shall be to you equally useful."</p>
-
-<p>"Fine promises, doubtless," replied the Student; "but if
-report speak truly, you devils are accused of not being religiously
-scrupulous in the performance of your undertakings."
-"Report is not always a liar," said Asmodeus, "and this is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
-instance to the contrary. The greater part of my brethren
-think no more of breaking their word than a minister of state;
-but for myself, not to mention the service you are about to
-render me, and which I can never sufficiently repay, I am a
-slave to my engagements; and I swear by all a devil holds
-sacred, that I will not deceive you. Rely on my word, and
-the assurances I offer: and what must be peculiarly pleasing
-to you, I engage, this night, to avenge your wrongs on Donna
-Thomasa, the perfidious woman who had concealed within her
-house the four scoundrels who surprised you, that she might
-compel you to espouse her, and patch up her damaged
-reputation."</p>
-
-<p>The young Zambullo was especially delighted with this last
-promise. To hasten its accomplishment, he seized the phial;
-and, without further thought on the event, he dashed it on the
-floor. It broke into a thousand pieces, inundating the apartment
-with a blackish liquor: this, evaporating by degrees, was
-converted into a thick vapour, which, suddenly dissipating,
-revealed to the astonished sight of the Student the figure of a
-man in a cloak, about two feet six inches high, and supported
-by two crutches. This little monster had the legs of a goat, a
-long visage, pointed chin, a dark sallow complexion, and a
-very flat nose; his eyes, to all appearance very small, resembled
-two burning coals; his enormous mouth was surmounted by a
-pair of red mustachios, and ornamented with two lips of unequalled
-ugliness.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic06.png" width="265" height="276" alt="Asmodeus revealed to Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The head of this graceful Cupid was enveloped in a sort of
-turban of red crape, relieved by a plume of cock's and peacock's
-feathers. Round his neck was a collar of yellow cloth,
-upon which were embroidered divers patterns of necklaces and
-earrings. He wore a short white satin gown, or tunic, encircled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
-about the middle by a large band of parchment of the
-same colour, covered with talismanic characters. On the
-gown, also, were painted various bodices, beautifully adapted
-for the display of the fair wearers' necks; scarfs of different
-patterns, worked or coloured aprons, and head-dresses of the
-newest fashion;&mdash;all so extravagant, that it was impossible to
-admire one more than another.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic07.png" width="220" height="296" alt="Detail of the cloak: the Spanish lady and her admirer" />
-</div>
-
-<p>But all this was nothing as compared with his cloak, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
-foundation of which was also white satin. Its exterior presented
-an infinity of figures delicately tinted in Indian ink,
-and yet with so much freedom and expression that you would
-have wondered who the devil could have painted it. On one
-side appeared a Spanish lady covered with her mantilla, and
-leering at a stranger on the promenade; and on the other a
-Parisian grisette, who before her mirror was studying new airs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
-to victimize a young abbé, at that moment opening the door.
-Here, the gay Italian was singing to the guitar beneath the
-balcony of his mistress; and there, the sottish German, with
-vest unbuttoned, stupefied with wine, and more begrimed with
-snuff than a French petit-maître, was sitting, surrounded by his
-companions, at a table covered with the filthy remnants of
-their debauch. In one place could be perceived a Turkish
-bashaw coming from the bath, attended by all the houris of
-his seraglio, each watchful for the handkerchief; and in another
-an English gentleman, who was gallantly presenting to his lady-love
-a pipe and a glass of porter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 260px;">
-<img src="images/ch01pic08.png" width="260" height="174" alt="The gamesters" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Besides these there were gamesters, marvellously well portrayed;
-some, elated with joy, filling their hats with pieces of
-gold and silver; and others, who had lost all but their honour,
-and willing to stake on that, now turning their sacrilegious eyes
-to heaven, and now gnawing the very cards in despair. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
-short, there were as many curious things to be seen on this
-cloak as on the admirable shield which Vulcan forged for
-Achilles, at the prayer of his mother Thetis; with this difference
-however,&mdash;the subjects on the buckler of the Grecian
-hero had no relation to his own exploits, while those on the
-mantle of Asmodeus were lively images of all that is done in
-this world at his suggestion.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER II.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHAT FOLLOWED THE DELIVERANCE OF ASMODEUS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialu.png" width="75" height="78" alt="U" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Upon perceiving that his appearance had not prepossessed
-the student very greatly in his favour,
-the Demon said to him, smiling: "Well, Signor
-Don Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo, you
-behold the charming god of love, that sovereign master of
-the human heart. What think you of my air and beauty?
-Confess that the poets are excellent painters." "Frankly!"
-replied Don Cleophas, "I must say they have a little flattered
-you. I fancy, it was not in this form that you won
-the love of Psyche." "Certainly not," replied the Devil:
-"I borrowed the graces of a little French marquis, to make
-her dote upon me. Vice must be hidden under a pleasing
-veil, or it wins not even woman. I take what shape best
-pleases me; and I could have discovered myself to you under
-the form of the Apollo Belvi, but that as I have nothing to
-disguise from you, I preferred you should see me under a
-figure more agreeable to the opinion which the world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
-generally entertains of me and my performances." "I am not
-surprised," said Leandro, "to find you rather ugly&mdash;excuse
-the phrase, I pray you; the transactions we are about to have
-with each other demand a little frankness: your features
-indeed almost exactly realise the idea I had formed of you.
-But tell me, how happens it that you are on crutches?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why," replied the Demon, "many years ago, I had an unfortunate
-difference with Pillardoc, the spirit of gain, and the
-patron of pawnbrokers. The subject of our dispute was a
-stripling who came to Paris to seek his fortune. As he was
-capital game, a youth of promising talents, we contested the
-prize with a noble ardour. We fought in the regions of mid-air;
-and Pillardoc, who excelled me in strength, cast me on
-the earth after the mode in which Jupiter is related by the
-poets to have tumbled Vulcan. The striking resemblance of
-our mishaps gained me, from my witty comrades, the sobriquet of
-the Limping Devil, or the Devil on Two Sticks, which has
-stuck to me from that time to this. Nevertheless, limping as
-I am, I am tolerably quick in my movements; and you shall
-witness for my agility.</p>
-
-<p>"But," added he, "a truce to idle talk; let us get out of this
-confounded garret. My friend the magician will be here shortly;
-as he is hard at work on rendering a handsome damsel, who
-visits him nightly, immortal. If he should surprise us, I shall
-be snug in a bottle in no time; and it may go hard but he
-finds one to fit you also. So let us away! But first to throw
-the pieces, of that which was once my prison, out of the window;
-for such 'dead men' as these <i>do</i> tell tales."</p>
-
-<p>"What if your friend does find out that you are 'missing?'"
-"What!" hastily replied the Demon; "I see you have never
-studied the Treatise on Compulsions. Were I hidden at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
-extremity of the earth, or in the region where dwells the fiery
-salamander; though I sought the murkiest cavern of the gnomes,
-or plunged in the most unfathomable depths of the ocean, I
-should vainly strive to evade the terrors of his wrath. Hell
-itself would tremble at the potency of his spells. In vain
-should I struggle: despite myself should I be dragged before
-my master, to feel the weight of his dreaded chains."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic01.png" width="262" height="286" alt="Asmodeus carried off" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"That being the case," said the Student, "I fear that our
-intimacy will not be of long duration: this redoubtable necromancer
-will doubtless soon discover your flight." "That is
-more than I know," replied the Spirit; "there is no foreseeing
-what may happen." "What!" cried Leandro Perez; "a demon,
-and ignorant of the future!" "Exactly so," answered the Devil;
-"and they are only our dupes who think otherwise. However,
-there are enough of them to find good employment for diviners
-and fortune-tellers, especially among your women of quality; for
-those are always most eager about the future who have best
-reason to be contented with the present, which and the past
-are all we know or care for. I am ignorant, therefore, whether
-my master will soon discover my absence; but let us hope he
-will not: there are plenty of phials similar to the one in which
-I was enclosed, and he may never miss that. Besides, in his
-laboratory, I am something like a law-book in the library of a
-financier. He never thinks of me; or if he does, he would
-think he did me too great an honour if he condescended to
-notice me. He is the most haughty enchanter of my acquaintance:
-long as he has deprived me of my liberty, we have
-never exchanged a syllable."</p>
-
-<p>"That is extraordinary!" said Don Cleophas; "what have
-you done to deserve so much hatred or scorn?" "I crossed
-him in one of his projects," replied Asmodeus. "There was
-a chair vacant in a certain Academy, which he had designed
-for a friend of his, a professor of necromancy; but which I
-had destined for a particular friend of my own. The magician
-set to work with one of the most potent talismans of the Cabala;
-but I knew better than that: I had placed my man in the
-service of the prime minister; whose word is worth a dozen
-talismans, with the Academicians, any day."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>While the Demon was thus conversing, he was busily engaged
-in collecting every fragment of the broken phial; which having
-thrown out of the window, "Signor Zambullo," said he, "let
-us begone! Hold fast by the end of my mantle, and fear
-nothing." However perilous this appeared to Leandro Perez,
-he preferred the possible danger to the certainty of the magician's
-resentment; and, accordingly, he fastened himself as well as
-he could to the Demon, who in an instant whisked him out of
-the apartment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch02pic02andtitlepage.png" width="248" height="174" alt="Asmodeus and Zambullo flying over Madrid" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER III.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>WHERE THE DEVIL TRANSLATED THE STUDENT; AND THE FIRST
-FRUITS OF HIS ECCLESIASTICAL ELEVATION.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialc.png" width="75" height="75" alt="C" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Cleophas found that Asmodeus had not vainly
-boasted of his agility. They darted through the
-air like an arrow from the bow, and were soon
-perched on the tower of San Salvador. "Well,
-Signor Leandro," said the Demon as they alighted; "what
-think you now of the justice of those who, as they slowly
-rumble in some antiquated vehicle, talk of a devilish bad
-carriage?" "I must, hereafter, think them most unreasonable,"
-politely replied Zambullo. "I dare affirm that his
-majesty of Castile has never travelled so easily; and then for
-speed, at your rate, one might travel round the world nor care
-to stretch a leg."</p>
-
-<p>"You are really too polite," replied the Devil; "but can you
-guess now why I have brought you here? I intend to show
-you all that is passing in Madrid; and as this part of the town
-is as good to begin with as any, you will allow that I could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
-have chosen a more appropriate situation. I am about, by my
-supernatural powers, to take away the roofs from the houses of
-this great city; and notwithstanding the darkness of the night,
-to reveal to your eyes whatever is doing within them." As he
-spake, he extended his right arm, the roofs disappeared, and
-the Student's astonished sight penetrated the interior of the
-surrounding dwellings as plainly as if the noon-day sun shone
-over them. "It was," says Luis Velez de Guevara, "like looking
-into a pasty from which a set of greedy monks had just
-removed the crust."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic01.png" width="266" height="227" alt="The miser counting his gold and silver" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The spectacle was, as you may suppose, sufficiently
-wonderful to rivet all the Student's attention. He looked
-amazedly around him, and on all sides were objects which
-most intensely excited his curiosity. At length the Devil
-said to him: "Signor Don Cleophas, this confusion of objects,
-which you regard with an evident pleasure, is certainly
-very agreeable to look upon; but I must render useful
-
-to you what would be otherwise but a frivolous amusement.
-To unlock for you the secret chambers of the human heart,
-I will explain in what all these persons that you see are engaged.
-All shall be open to you; I will discover the hidden
-motives of their deeds, and reveal to you their unbidden
-thoughts.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic02.png" width="220" height="284" alt="The miser's nephews consulting the sorceress" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Where shall we begin? See! do you observe this house
-to my right? Observe that old man, who is counting gold and
-silver into heaps. He is a miserly citizen. His carriage, which
-he bought for next to nothing at the sale of an alcade of the
-Cortes, and which to save expense still sports the arms of its
-late owner, is drawn by a pair of worthless mules, which he
-feeds according to the law of the Twelve Tables, that is to say,
-he gives each, daily, one pound of barley: he treats them as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
-the Romans treated their slaves&mdash;wisely, but not too well. It
-is now two years since he returned from the Indies, bringing
-with him innumerable bars of gold, which he has since converted
-into coin. Look at the old fool! with what satisfaction
-he gloats over his riches. And now, see what is passing in an
-adjoining chamber of the same house. Do you observe two
-young men with an old woman?" "Yes," replied Cleophas,
-"they are probably his children." "No, no!" said the Devil,
-"they are his nephews, and, what is better in their opinion, his
-heirs. In their anxiety for his welfare, they have invited a
-sorceress to ascertain when death will take from them their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
-dear uncle, and leave to them the division of his spoil. In the
-next house there are a pair of pictures worth remarking. One
-is an antiquated coquette who is retiring to rest, after depositing
-on her toilet, her hair, her eyebrows and her teeth; the
-other is a gallant sexagenarian, who has just returned from a
-love campaign. He has already closed one eye, in its case,
-and placed his whiskers and peruke on the dressing table.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
-His valet is now easing him of an arm and one leg, to put him
-to bed with the rest."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic03.png" width="254" height="263" alt="The valet removing the sexagenarian's wooden leg" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"If I may trust my eyes," cried Zambullo, "I see in the
-next room a tall young damsel, quite a model for an artist.
-What a lovely form and air!" "I see," said the Devil.
-"Well! that young beauty is an elder sister of the gallant I
-have just described, and is a worthy pendant to the coquette
-who is under the same roof. Her figure, that you so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
-admire, is really good; but then she is indebted for it to an
-ingenious mechanist, whom I patronise. Her bust and hips
-are formed after my own patent; and it is only last Sunday
-that she generously dropped her bustle at the door of this very
-church, on the occasion of a charity sermon. Nevertheless, as
-she affects the juvenile, she has two cavaliers who ardently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
-dispute her favour;&mdash;nay, they have even come to blows on
-the occasion. Madmen! two dogs fighting for a bone.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic04.png" width="242" height="304" alt="The old lady being unlaced by her maid" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Prithee, laugh with me at an amateur concert which is performing
-in a neighbouring mansion; an after-supper offering to
-Apollo. They are singing cantatas. An old counsellor has
-composed the air; and the words are by an alguazil, who does
-the amiable after that fashion among his friends&mdash;an ass who
-writes verses for his own pleasure, and for the punishment of
-others. A harpsichord and clarionet form the accompaniment;
-a lanky chorister, who squeaks marvellously, takes the treble,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
-and a young girl with a hoarse voice the bass." "What a
-delightful party!" cried Don Cleophas. "Had they tried
-expressly to get up a musical extravaganza, they could not
-have succeeded better."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic05.png" width="254" height="255" alt="The amateur concert" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes on that superb mansion," continued the
-Demon; "and you will perceive a nobleman lying in a
-splendid apartment. He has, near his couch, a casket filled
-with billets-doux; in which he is luxuriating, that the sweet
-nothings they contain may lull his senses gently to repose.
-They ought to be dear to him, for they are from a signora he
-adores; and who so well appreciates the value of her favours,
-that she will soon reduce him to the necessity of soliciting the
-exile of a viceroyalty, for his own support. Let us leave him
-to his slumbers, to watch the stir they are making in the next
-house to the left. Can you distinguish a lady in a bed with
-red damask furniture? Her name is Donna Fabula. She is
-of high rank, and is about to present an heir to her spouse, the
-aged Don Torribio, whom you see by her side, endeavouring
-to soothe the pangs of his lady until the arrival of the midwife.
-Is it not delightful to witness so much tenderness? The cries
-of his dear better-half pierce him to the soul: he is overwhelmed
-with grief; he suffers as much as his wife. With
-what care,&mdash;with what earnestness does he bend over her!"
-"Really," said Leandro, "the man does appear deeply
-affected; but I perceive, in the room above, a youngster
-apparently a domestic, who sleeps soundly enough: he troubles
-himself not for the event." "And yet it ought to interest him,"
-replied Asmodeus; "for the sleeper is the first cause of his
-mistress's sufferings.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic06.png" width="266" height="297" alt="Don Torribio soothing Donna Fabula" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"But see,&mdash;a little beyond," continued the Demon: "in that
-low room, you may observe an old wretch who is anointing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
-himself with lard. He is about to join an assembly of wizards,
-which takes place to-night between San Sebastian and Fontarabia.
-I would carry you thither in a moment, as it would
-amuse you; but that I fear I might be recognised by the devil
-who personates the goat."</p>
-
-<p>"That devil and you then," said the Scholar, "are not good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
-friends?" "No, indeed! you are right," replied Asmodeus,
-"he is that same Pillardoc of whom I told you. The scoundrel
-would betray me, and soon inform the magician of my
-flight." "You have perhaps had some other squabble with
-this gentleman?" "Precisely so," said the Demon: "some
-ten years ago we had a second difference about a young
-Parisian who was thinking of commencing life. He wanted
-to make him a banker's clerk; and I, a lady-killer. Our
-comrades settled the dispute by making him a wretched monk.
-This done, they reconciled us: we embraced; and from that
-time have been mortal foes."</p>
-
-<p>"But, have done with this belle assemblée," said Don Cleophas;
-"I am not at all curious to witness it: let us continue
-our scrutiny into what is before us. What is the meaning of
-those sparks of fire which issue from yonder cellar?" "They
-proceed from one of the most absurd occupations of mankind,"
-replied the Devil. "The grave personage whom you behold
-near the furnace is an alchymist; and the flames are gradually
-consuming his rich patrimony, never to yield him what he
-seeks in return. Between ourselves, the philosopher's stone is
-a chimera that I myself invented to amuse the wit of man, who
-ever seeks to pass those bounds which the laws of nature have
-prescribed for his intelligence.</p>
-
-<p>"The alchymist's neighbour is an honest apothecary, who you
-perceive is still at his labours, with his aged wife and assistant.
-You would never guess what they are about. The apothecary
-is compounding a progenerative pill for an old advocate who
-is to be married to-morrow; the assistant is mixing a laxative
-potion; and the old lady is pounding astringent drugs in a
-mortar."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic07.png" width="264" height="142" alt="The apothecary, his wife, and his assistant" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I perceive, in the house facing the apothecary's," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
-Zambullo, "a man who has just jumped out of bed, and is
-hastily dressing." "Pshaw!" replied the Spirit, "he need not
-hurry himself. He is a physician; and has been sent for by a
-prelate who since he has retired to rest&mdash;about an hour&mdash;has
-absolutely coughed two or three times.</p>
-
-<p>"But look a little further, in a garret on the right, and try
-if you cannot distinguish a man half dressed, who is walking
-up and down the room, dimly lighted by a single lamp." "I
-see," said the Student; "and so clearly that I would undertake
-to furnish you with an inventory of his chattels,&mdash;to wit,
-a truckle-bed, a three-legged stool, and a deal table; the walls
-
-seem to be daubed all over with black paint." "That exalted
-personage," said Asmodeus, "is a poet; and what appears to
-you black paint, are tragic verses with which he has ornamented
-his apartment, being obliged, for want of paper, to
-commit his effusions to the wall." "By his agitation and
-phrenzied air, I conclude he is now busily engaged on some
-work of importance," said Don Cleophas. "You are not far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
-out," replied the Devil: "he only yesterday completed the last
-act of an interesting tragedy, intitled The Universal Deluge.
-He cannot be reproached with having violated the unity of
-place, at all events, as the entire action is limited to Noah's
-ark.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 219px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic08.png" width="219" height="215" alt="The poet, composing his dedication" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I can assure you it is a first-rate drama: all the animals talk
-as learnedly as professors. It of course must have a dedication,
-upon which he has been labouring for the last six hours;
-and he is, at this moment, turning the last period. It will be
-indeed a masterpiece of adulatory composition: every social
-and political virtue; every grace that can adorn; all that tends
-to render man illustrious, either by his own deeds or those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
-his ancestors, are attributed to its object;&mdash;never was praise
-more lavishly bestowed, never was incense burnt more liberally."
-"For whom, then, of all the world, is so magnificent
-an apotheosis intended?" "Why," replied the Demon, "the
-poet himself has not yet determined that; he has put in every
-thing but the name. However, he hopes to find some vain
-noble who may be more liberal than those to whom he has
-dedicated his former productions; although the purchasers of
-imaginary virtues are becoming every day more rare. It is not
-my fault that it is so; for it is a fault corrected in the wealthy
-patrons of literature, and a great benefit rendered to the public,
-who were certain to be deluged by trash from the Swiss of
-the press, so long as books were written merely for the produce
-of their dedications.</p>
-
-<p>"Apropos of this subject," added the Demon, "I will relate
-to you a curious anecdote. It is not long since an illustrious
-lady accepted the honour of a dedication from a celebrated
-novelist, who, by the bye, writes so much in praise of other
-women, that he thinks himself at liberty to abuse the one
-peculiarly his own. The lady in question was anxious to
-see the address before it was printed; and not finding herself
-described to her taste, she wisely undertook the task, and
-gave herself all those inconvenient virtues, which the world
-so much admires. She then sent it to the author, who of
-course had weighty reasons for adopting it."</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried Leandro, "surely those are robbers who are
-entering that house by the balcony." "Precisely so," said Asmodeus;
-"they are brigands, and the house is a banker's. Watch
-them! you will be amused. See! they have opened the safe, and
-are ferreting everywhere; but the banker has been before them.
-He set out yesterday for Holland, and has taken with him the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
-contents of his coffers for fear of accidents. They may make
-a merit of their visit, by informing his unfortunate depositors
-of their loss."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 255px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic09.png" width="255" height="276" alt="The brigands opening the banker's safe" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"There is another thief," said Zambullo, "mounting by a
-silken ladder into a neighbouring dwelling." "You are mistaken
-there," replied the Devil; "at all events it is not gold he
-seeks. He is a marquis, who would rob a young maiden of
-the name, of which, however, she is not unwilling to part.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
-Never was 'stand and deliver' more graciously received: he of
-course has sworn he will marry her, and she of course believes
-him; for a marquis's 'promises' have unlimited credit upon
-Love's Exchange."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic10.png" width="250" height="164" alt="The registrar and Griffael" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I am curious to learn," interrupted the Student, "what that
-man in a night-cap and dressing-gown is about. He is writing
-very studiously, and near him is a little black figure, who
-occasionally guides his hand." "He is a registrar of the civil
-courts," replied the Demon; "and to oblige a guardian, is, for
-a consideration, altering a decree made in favour of the ward:
-the gentleman in black, who seems enjoying the sport, is
-Griffael the registrars' devil." "Griffael, then," said Don
-Cleophas, "is a sort of deputy to Flagel; for, as he is the
-spirit of the bar, the registrars are doubtless included in his
-department." "Not so," replied Asmodeus; "the registrars
-have been thought deserving of their peculiar demon, and I
-assure you they find him quite enough to do."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic11.png" width="265" height="267" alt="The widow, her lover , and her uncle" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Near the registrar's house, you will perceive a young lady
-on the first floor. She is a widow; and the man, whom you
-see in the same room, is her uncle, who lodges in an apartment
-over hers. Admire the bashfulness of the dame! She
-is ashamed to put on her chemise before her aged relative; so,
-modestly seeks the assistance of her lover, who is hidden in
-her dressing-room.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 251px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic12.png" width="251" height="265" alt="Donoso receives the pages in his apartment" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In the same house with the registrar lives a stout graduate,
-who has been lame from his birth, but who has not his equal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
-in the world for pleasantry. Volumnius, so highly spoken of
-by Cicero for his delicate yet pungent wit, was a fool to him.
-He is known throughout Madrid as 'the bachelor Donoso,'
-or 'the facetious graduate;' and his company is sought by old
-and young, at the court and in the town: in short, wherever
-there is, or should be, conviviality, he is so much the rage,
-that he has discharged his cook, as he never dines at home; to
-which he seldom returns until long after midnight. He is at
-present with the marquis of Alcazinas, who is indebted for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
-this visit to chance only." "How, to chance?" interrupted
-Leandro. "Why," replied the Demon, "this morning, about
-noon, the graduate's door was besieged by at least half-a-dozen
-carriages, each sent for the especial honour of securing his
-society. The bachelor received the assembled pages in his
-apartment, and, displaying a pack of cards, thus addressed
-them:&mdash;'My friends, as it is impossible for me to dine in six
-places at one time, and as it would not appear polite to show
-an undue preference, these cards shall decide the matter.
-Draw! I will dine with the king of clubs.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 180px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic13.png" width="180" height="201" alt="The cavalier serenades his inamorata" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What object," said Don Cleophas, "has yonder cavalier,
-who is sitting at a door on the other side of the street? Is he
-waiting for some pretty waiting-woman to usher him to his lady's
-chamber?" "No, no," answered Asmodeus; "he is a young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
-Castilian, whose modesty exceeds his love; so, after the
-fashion of the gallants of antiquity, he has come to pass the
-night at his mistress's portal. Listen to the twang of that
-wretched guitar, with which he accompanies his tender
-strains! On the second floor you may behold his inamorata:
-she is weeping as she hears him;&mdash;but it is for the absence
-of his rival.</p>
-
-<p>"You observe that new building, which is divided into two
-wings. One is occupied by the proprietor, the old gentleman
-whom you see now pacing the apartment, now throwing himself
-into an easy chair." "He is evidently immersed in some
-grand project," said Zambullo: "who is he? If one may
-judge by the splendour which is displayed in his mansion, he is
-a grandee of the first order." "Nevertheless," said Asmodeus,
-"he is but an ancient clerk of the treasury, who has grown
-old in such lucrative employment as to enable him to amass
-four millions of reals. As he has some compunctions of
-conscience for the means by which all this wealth has been
-acquired, and as he expects shortly to be called upon to
-render his account in another world, where bribery is impracticable,
-he is about to compound for his sins in this,
-by building a monastery; which done, he flatters himself
-that peace will revisit his heart. He has already obtained
-the necessary permission; but, as he has resolved that the
-establishment shall consist of monks who are extremely chaste,
-sober, and of the most Christian humility, he is much embarrassed
-in the selection. He need not build a very extensive
-convent.</p>
-
-<p>"The other wing is inhabited by a fair lady, who has just
-retired to rest after the luxury of a milk bath. This voluptuary
-is widow of a knight of the order of Saint James, who left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
-her at his death her title only; but fortunately her charms have
-secured for her valuable friends in the persons of two members
-of the council of Castile, who generously divide her favours and
-the expenses of her household."</p>
-
-<p>"Hark!" cried the Student; "surely I hear the cries of
-distress. What dreadful misfortune has occurred?" "A very
-common one," said the Demon: "two young cavaliers have
-been gambling in a hell (the name is a scandal on the infernal
-regions), which you perceive so brilliantly illuminated.
-They quarrelled upon an interesting point of the game, and
-I naturally drew their swords to settle it: unluckily, they were
-equally skilful with their weapons, and are both mortally
-wounded. The elder is married, which is unfortunate; and
-the younger an only son. The wife and father have just
-come in time to receive their last sighs; and it is their
-lamentations that you hear. 'Unhappy boy,' cries the fond parent
-over the still breathing body of his son, 'how often have I
-conjured thee to renounce this dreadful vice!&mdash;how often have I
-warned thee it would one day cost thee thy life. Heaven is
-my witness, that the fault is none of mine!' Men," added the
-Demon, "are always selfish, even in their griefs. Meanwhile
-the wife is in despair. Although her husband has dissipated
-the fortune she brought him on their marriage; although he
-has sold, to maintain his shameful excesses, her jewels, and
-even her clothes, not a word of reproach escapes her lips. She
-is inconsolable for her loss. Her grief is vented in frantic
-exclamations, mixed with curses on the cards, and the devil
-who invented them; on the place in which her husband fell,
-and on the people who surround her, and to whom she fondly
-attributes his ruin."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic14.png" width="267" height="292" alt="The expiring duellists" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"How much to be lamented," interrupted the Student, "is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
-the love of gaming which possesses so large a portion of mankind;
-in what an awful state of excitement does it plunge its
-victims. Heaven be praised! I am not included in their
-legion." "You are in high feather," replied the Demon, "in
-another, whose exploits are not much more ennobling, and
-scarcely less dangerous. Is the conquest of a courtezan a
-glory worth achievement? Is the possession of charms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
-common to a whole city worth the peril of a life? Man is an
-amusing animal! The vision of a mole would enable him to
-discover the vices of his fellows, while that of the vulture could
-scarce detect a folly of his own. But let us turn to another
-affecting spectacle. You can discern, in the house just beyond
-the one we have been contemplating, a fat old man extended
-on a bed: he is a canon, who is now in a fit of apoplexy. The
-two persons, whom you see in his room, are said to be his
-nephew and niece: they are too much affected by his situation
-to be able to assist him; so, are securing his valuable effects.
-By the time this is accomplished, he will be dead; and they
-will be sufficiently recovered, and at leisure, to weep over his
-remains.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic15.png" width="253" height="201" alt="The canon's nephew and niece steal his possessions" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Close by, you may perceive the funeral of two brothers;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
-who, seized with the same disorder, took equally successful
-but different means of ensuring its fatality. One of them had
-the most utter confidence in his apothecary; the other eschewed
-the aid of medicine: the first died because he took all the
-trash his doctor sent him; the last because he would take
-nothing." "Well! that is very perplexing," said Leandro;
-"what is a poor sick devil to do?" "Why," replied Asmodeus,
-"that is more than the one who has the honour of
-addressing you can determine. I know, for certain, that there
-are remedies for most ills; but I am not so sure that there are
-good physicians to administer them when necessary."</p>
-
-<p>"And now I have something more amusing to unriddle.
-Do you not hear a frightful din in the next street? A widow
-of sixty was married this morning to an Adonis of seventeen;
-and all the merry fellows of that part of the town have assembled
-to celebrate the wedding by a concert of pots and pans,
-marrow-bones and cleavers." "You told me," said the Student,
-"that these matches were under your control: at all events,
-you had no hand in this." "No, truly," answered the Demon,
-"not I. Had I been free, I should not have meddled with
-them. The widow had her scruples; and has married for no
-better reason than that she may enjoy, without remorse, the
-pleasures she so dearly loves. These are not the unions I care
-to form; I prefer troubling people's consciences to setting them
-at rest."</p>
-
-<p>"Notwithstanding this charming serenade," said Zambullo,
-"it seems to me that it is not the only concert performing in
-the neighbourhood." "No," said the cripple; "in a tavern in
-the same street, a lusty Flemish captain, a chorister of the
-French opera, and an officer of the German guard are singing
-a trio. They have been drinking since eight in the morning;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
-and each deems it a duty to his country, to see the others
-under the table."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 194px;">
-<img src="images/ch03pic16.png" width="194" height="167" alt="The three drinkers" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Look for a moment on the house which stands by itself,
-nearly opposite to that of the apoplectic canon: you will
-see three very pretty but very notorious courtezans enjoying
-themselves with as many young courtiers." "They are, indeed,
-lovely!" exclaimed Don Cleophas. "I am not surprised that
-they should be notorious: happy are the lovers who possess
-them! They seem, however, very partial to their present companions:
-I envy them their good fortune." "Why, you are very
-green!" replied the Demon: "their faces are not disguised
-with greater skill than are their hearts. However prodigal of
-their caresses, they have not the slightest tenderness for their
-foolish swains; their affection is bounded to the purses of
-their lovers. One of them has just secured the promise of a
-liberal establishment; and the others are prepared with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
-settlements which they are in expectation of securing ere they part.
-It is the same with them all. Men vainly ruin themselves for
-the sex: gold buys not love. The well-paid mistress soon
-treats her lover as a husband: that is a rule which I found
-necessary to establish in my code of intrigue. But we will
-leave these fools to taste the pleasures they so dearly purchase;
-while their valets, who are waiting in the street, console
-themselves with the pleasing anticipation of enjoying them
-gratis."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me," interrupted Leandro Perez, "what is passing in
-that splendid mansion on the left. The house is filled with
-well-dressed cavaliers and ladies; and all seems dancing and
-conviviality. It is indeed a joyous festival." "It is another
-wedding," said Asmodeus; "and happy as they now are, it is
-not three days since that house witnessed the deepest affliction.
-It is a story worth hearing: it is rather long, certainly; but it
-will repay your patience." The Devil then began as follows.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/ch03tailpiece.png" width="100" height="55" alt="tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER IV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA
-DE CESPEDES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leonora de Cespedes was passionately beloved
-by the young Count de Belflor, one of the
-most distinguished nobles of the court. He had,
-however, no thoughts of suing for her hand; the
-daughter of a private gentleman might command his love, but
-had no pretensions in his eyes to rank above his mistress;
-and such was the honour he designed for her.</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly, he followed her everywhere; and lost no
-opportunity of testifying by his glances the extent of his affection
-for her person; but he was unable to converse with her,
-or even to communicate by letter, so incessantly and vigilantly
-was she guarded by an austere duenna, the lady Marcella. He
-was almost in despair; yet, incited by the obstacles which
-were thus opposed to his desires, he was constantly occupied
-in devising means for their attainment, and for deceiving the
-Argus who so carefully watched his Io.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, Leonora had perceived the attention with
-which the Count regarded her; and flattered by that first
-homage, so delightful to the unworn heart, she soon yielded
-to the soft persuasion of his eyes, and insensibly formed for
-
-him a passion as violent as his own. The flames of love are
-seldom kindled at the altar but they burn the temple. I did not,
-however, fan those thus lighted in her bosom, for the magician
-had put a stopper on my operations; but Nature, and woman's
-nature especially, is generally potent enough in such cases,
-without my assistance. Indeed, I doubt if she does not manage
-these matters best by herself; the only difference in our modes
-of procedure being, that Nature saps the heart by slow degrees,
-while I love to carry it by storm.</p>
-
-<p>Affairs were in this posture, when Leonora, and her eternal
-governante, going one morning to church, were accosted by an
-old woman, carrying in her hand one of the largest chaplets
-ever framed by hypocrisy. "Heaven bless you!" said she,
-addressing herself, with a saintly smile, to the duenna, "the
-peace of God be with you! Have I not the honour of speaking
-to the lady Marcella, the chaste widow of the lamented Signor
-Martin Rosetta?" "You have," replied the governante.
-"How fortunate!" exclaimed the old hypocrite; "I have a
-relation, at this moment lying at my house, who would see
-you ere he dies. He was intimately acquainted with your
-dear husband, and has matters of the utmost importance to
-communicate to you. It is only three days since he arrived in
-Madrid, from Flanders, for the express purpose of seeing you;
-but scarcely had he entered my house when he was stretched
-on a bed of sickness, and he has now, I fear, but a few hours
-to live. Let us hasten, while there is yet time, to soothe the
-pangs of his passing spirit: a few steps will bring us to his side."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic01.png" width="258" height="259" alt="Leonora, Marcella and the old woman" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The wary duenna, who had seen enough of the world to be
-suspicious of the best even of her own sex, still, however,
-hesitated to follow: which the old lady perceiving, "My dear
-lady Marcella," said she, "surely you do not doubt me. You
-must have heard of La Chichona. Why! the licentiate Marcos
-de Figuerna and the bachelor Mira de Mesqua would answer
-for me as for their grandmothers. If I desire that you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
-accompany me to my house, it is for your good only. Heaven forbid
-that I should touch the smallest portion of that which is
-your due, and which my poor relation is so anxious to repay
-to the wife of his friend!" At the word "repay," the lady
-Marcella hesitated no longer: "Let us go, my child," said she
-to Leonora; "we will see this good woman's relation;&mdash;to
-visit the sick is among the first of our duties." "Verily," said
-the Demon, "charity does cover a multitude of sins!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 247px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic02.png" width="247" height="163" alt="At the house of La Chichona" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They soon arrived at the house of La Chichona, who introduced
-them to a mean apartment, where they found a man in
-bed: he had a long beard, and if he were not really desperately
-ill, he at least appeared to be so. "See, cousin!" said the
-old woman, presenting the governante; "behold the person
-whom you sought so anxiously; this is the lady Marcella, the
-respected widow of your friend Rosetta." At these words, the
-old man raised himself on his pillow with apparent difficulty;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
-and, making signs for the duenna to approach him, said with
-a feeble voice,&mdash;"Heaven be praised, for its mercy in permitting
-me to live till now!&mdash;to see you, my dear lady, was all
-that I desired upon earth. Indeed, I feared to die, without
-the satisfaction of seeing you, and of rendering into your hands
-the hundred ducats which your late husband, my dearest friend,
-so kindly lent me in my dire necessity, at Bruges, when but
-for that assistance my honour had been for ever lost:&mdash;but you
-must have often heard of me and my adventures."</p>
-
-<p>"Alas! no," replied Marcella, "he never mentioned it to
-me. God rest his soul! he was ever so generous as to forget
-the services he rendered to his friends; and so far from boasting
-of such kindnesses as these, I can declare that I even never
-heard of his doing a good action in his life." "His was indeed
-a noble mind," replied the sick man, "as I have perhaps better
-reason to know than most persons; and to prove this to you
-I must relate the history of the unfortunate affair from which
-his liberality so happily released me. But as I shall have to
-speak of things which should be disclosed to no other ears
-than thine, honourable as they are to the memory of my
-deceased friend, it were better that we should be alone."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, certainly!" cried Chichona, "though it would delight
-me to hear of the good Rosetta, whom you are always praising,
-we will retire to my closet;" saying which, she led Leonora
-into the next apartment. No sooner had she done so, and
-closed the door, than without ceremony the old woman thus
-addressed her companion:&mdash;"Charming Leonora, our moments
-are too precious to be wasted. You know the young Count
-de Belflor, at least by sight. Need I say how long he has
-loved you, and how ardently he desires to tell you so? Driven
-to despair by the vigilance and austerity of Marcella, he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
-had recourse to my assistance to procure him an interview;
-and I, who could refuse nothing to so handsome a cavalier,
-have dressed up his valet as the sick man you have just seen,
-that I might engage your governante's attention and bring you
-hither."</p>
-
-<p>As she finished speaking, the Count, who was concealed by
-the drapery of a little window, discovered himself, and, falling
-at the feet of Leonora: "Madam," said he, "pardon the
-stratagem of a lover, who could no longer conceal from you
-the passion that is destroying the life to which it alone gives
-value:&mdash;but for this good woman's kindness, I had perished
-in despair." These words, uttered with respectful earnestness,
-by a man whose appearance was far from displeasing, affected,
-while they perplexed Leonora, and she remained for some
-time speechless. But at length recovering herself, she looked,
-or endeavoured to look, haughtily on her prostrate lover, and
-replied: "Truly you are deeply indebted to your obliging
-confidante for this attention, but I am not so sure that I have
-equal reason to be thankful, or that you will gain by her
-kindness the object you desire."</p>
-
-<p>In saying these words, she moved towards the door; but
-the Count, gently detaining her, exclaimed: "Stay, adorable
-Leonora! deign to listen to me but for an instant. Be not
-alarmed! my affection for you is pure as your own thoughts.
-I feel that the artifice to which I have descended must revolt
-you; but consider how vainly I have striven by more honourable
-means to address you. You cannot be ignorant that for
-many months, at the church, in the public walk, at the theatre,
-I have vainly sought to confirm with my lips that passion
-which my eyes could not disguise. Alas! while I implore
-pardon for a crime to which the cruelty of the merciless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
-duenna has compelled me, let me also entreat your pity for
-the torments I have endured; and judge, by the charms
-which your happy mirror discloses, of the extent of his
-wretchedness who is banished from their sight."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic03.png" width="239" height="289" alt="Belflor woos Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Belflor did not fail to accompany these words with all the
-arts of persuasion commonly practised with so much success
-by my devotees: tender looks, heart-broken sighs, and even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
-a few tears were not wanting; and Leonora was of course
-affected. Despite herself, she began to feel those little flutterings
-of the heart, which are the usual preludes of capitulation
-with woman; but far from yielding without a struggle to her
-tenderness, or pity, or weakness, the more sensible she became
-of treason in the garrison, the more hastily she resolved to
-vacate the place. "Count," she exclaimed, "it is in vain you
-tell me this. I will listen no longer. Do not attempt to
-detain me: let me leave a house in which my honour is
-exposed to suspicion; or my cries shall alarm the neighbourhood,
-and expose your audacity which has dared to insult
-me." This she uttered with so resolute an air that Chichona,
-who was on very punctilious terms with the police, prayed the
-Count not to push matters to extremity. Finding his entreaties
-useless, he released Leonora, who hastened from the apartment,
-and, what never happened to any maiden before, left
-it as she had entered it.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us quit this dangerous house," said Leonora, on rejoining
-her governante: "finish this idle talk,&mdash;we are deceived."
-"What ails you, child?" cried Marcella in reply;
-"and why should we leave this poor man so hastily?" "I
-will tell you," said Leonora; "but let us fly: every instant I
-remain here but adds to my affliction." However desirous
-was the duenna to learn the cause of her ward's anxiety, she
-saw that the best way to be satisfied was to yield to her
-entreaties; and they quitted the apartment with a celerity
-which quite discomposed the stately governante, leaving
-Chichona, the Count, and his valet as much disconcerted as
-a company of comedians, when the curtain falls on a wretched
-farce, which the presiding deities of the pit have consigned to
-a lower deep.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When Leonora found herself safely in the street, she related,
-as well as her extreme agitation, and Marcella's exclamations
-of astonishment, would permit, all that had passed in the
-chamber with the Count and Chichona. "I must confess,
-child," said the duenna, when they had reached home, "that
-I am exceedingly mortified to hear what you have just been
-telling me. To think that I have been the dupe of that
-wicked woman! You will allow, however, that I was not
-without my doubts. Why did I yield them? I should have
-been suspicious of so much kindness and honesty. I have
-committed a folly which is absolutely inexcusable in a person
-of my sagacity and experience. Ah! why did you not tell me
-this in her presence? I would have torn her eyes out: I
-would have loaded the Count de Belflor with reproaches for
-his perfidy: and as for the scoundrel with his ducats and his
-beard, he should not have had a hair left on his head. But I
-will return, this instant, with the money which I have received
-as a real restitution; and if I find them still together, they
-shall not have waited for nothing." So saying, the enraged
-widow of the generous Rosetta folded her mantilla around
-her, and left Leonora to weep over the treachery of mankind.</p>
-
-<p>Marcella found the Count with Chichona, in despair at the
-failure of his design. Most of my pupils, in his place, would
-have been abashed at seeing her: it is extraordinary what
-scruples I have to overcome. But Belflor was of another
-stamp: to a thousand good qualities, he added that of yielding
-implicit obedience to my inspirations. When he loved,
-nothing could exceed the ardour with which he followed the
-devoted object of his affections; and though naturally what
-the world calls an honourable man, he was then capable of
-violating the most sacred duties for the attainment of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
-desires. No sooner, therefore, did he perceive Marcella,
-than, as he saw that their fulfilment could only be completed
-through the duenna's agency, he resolved to spare nothing to
-win her to his interests. He shrewdly guessed that, rigidly
-virtuous as the lady appeared, she, like her betters, had her
-price; and as he was disposed to bid pretty liberally, you will
-own he did no great injustice to a duenna's fidelity: for so
-rare a commodity will only be found where lovers are not
-over-rich, or not sufficiently liberal.</p>
-
-<p>The instant Marcella entered the room, and perceived the
-three persons she sought, her tongue went as though possessed;
-and while she poured a torrent of abuse on the Count
-and Chichona, she sent the restitution flying at the head of
-the valet. The Count patiently endured the storm; and
-throwing himself on his knees before the duenna, to render
-the scene more moving, he pressed her to take back the purse
-she had rejected; and offering to add to it a thousand pistoles,
-he besought her compassion on his sufferings. As Marcella
-had never before been so earnestly entreated, it is no wonder
-that she was, on this occasion, not inexorable: her invectives,
-therefore, speedily ceased; and on comparing the tempting
-sum now offered to her, with the paltry recompence she
-expected from Don Luis de Cespedes, she was not slow in
-discovering that it would be much more profitable to turn
-Leonora from her duty, than to keep her in its path. Accordingly,
-after some little affectation, she again received the purse,
-accepted the offer of the thousand pistoles, promised to assist
-the Count in his designs, and departed at once to labour for
-their accomplishment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic04.png" width="264" height="203" alt="Belflor bribes Marcella" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As she knew Leonora to be strictly virtuous, she was
-extremely cautious of exciting the least suspicion of her intelligence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
-with the Count, lest the plot should be discovered to
-Don Luis, her father; so, desirous of skilfully effecting her ruin,
-she thus addressed her on her return: "My dear Leonora, I
-have revenged myself on the wretches who deceived us. I
-found them quite confounded at your virtuous resolution; and,
-threatening the infamous Chichona with your father's resentment,
-and the most rigorous severity of the law, I bestowed on
-the Count de Belflor all the insulting epithets that my anger
-could suggest. I warrant that the Signor will make no more
-attempts of this kind on you; and that henceforth his gallantries
-will cease to engage my attention. I thank Heaven that, by
-your firmness, you have escaped the snare that was laid for you.
-I could weep for joy to think that the deceiver has gained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
-nothing by his stratagem; for these noble signors make it their
-amusement to seduce the young and innocent. Indeed, the
-greater part even of those who pique themselves on their
-honourable conduct have no scruples on this point, as though
-it were no disgrace to carry ruin into virtuous families. Not
-that I think the Count absolutely of this character, nor even
-that he intends studiously to deceive you: we should not judge
-too harshly of our neighbours; and perhaps, after all, he meant
-you honourably. Although his rank would give him pretensions
-to the hand of the noblest at our court, your beauty may yet
-have induced him to resolve on marriage with yourself. In
-fact, I recollect that in his answers to my reproaches, which I
-heeded not at the time, I might have perceived something of
-the sort."</p>
-
-<p>"What say you, dear Marcella?" interrupted Leonora. "If
-that were his intention, he would have sought me of my father,
-who would never have refused his daughter to a person of his
-rank." "What you say is perfectly just," replied the governante,
-"and I am quite of your opinion; the Count's proceedings are
-certainly suspicious, or rather his designs cannot be good: for
-a trifle, I would return and scold him again." "No, good
-Marcella," replied Leonora, "we had better forget the past,
-and revenge ourselves by contempt." "Very true," said the
-duenna; "I believe that is the best plan: you are more
-prudent than myself. But, after all, may we not do the Count
-injustice? Who knows that he has not been actuated by the
-purest and most delicate motives? It is possible that, before
-obtaining your father's consent, he may have resolved to deserve
-and to please you; to render your union more delightful by
-first gaining your heart. If that were so, child, would it be a
-very great sin to listen to him? Tell me your thoughts, love;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
-you know my affection: does your heart incline towards the
-Count, or would it be very disagreeable to marry such a man?"</p>
-
-<p>To this malicious question, the too-sincere Leonora replied,
-with down-cast eyes, and face suffused with blushes, by avowing
-that she had no aversion to the Count; but, as modesty prevented
-her explaining herself more openly, the duenna still
-pressed her to conceal nothing from her; and at last succeeded,
-by affected tenderness, in obtaining a full confession of her
-love. "Dearest Marcella," said the unsuspicious girl, "since
-you desire me to speak to you without disguise, I must confess
-that Belflor has appeared to me not unworthy of my love. I
-was struck by his appearance; and I have heard him so much
-praised, that I could not remain insensible to the affection he
-displayed for me. Your watchful care to guard me from his
-addresses has cost me many a sigh: nay, I will own I have in
-secret wept his absence; and repaid with my tears the sufferings
-your vigilance has caused him. Even at this moment,
-instead of hating him for the insult he has offered to my honour,
-my heart against my will excuses him, and throws his fault on
-your severity."</p>
-
-<p>"My child," said the governante, "since you give me reason
-to believe that his attentions are pleasing to you, I will endeavour
-to secure this lover." "I am very sensible," replied Leonora,
-"of the kindness you intend me. It is not that the Count
-holds the first place at court; were he but an honourable
-private gentleman, I should prefer him to all others upon earth,
-but let us not flatter ourselves: Belflor is a noble signor, destined,
-without doubt, for one of the richest heiresses in our
-kingdom. Let us not expect that he would descend to ally
-himself with Don Luis, who has but a moderate fortune to offer
-with his daughter. No, no," she added, "he entertains for me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
-no such favourable thoughts: he thinks not of me as one worthy
-to bear his name, but seeks only my dishonour."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! wherefore," said the duenna, "will you insist he loves
-you not well enough to seek your hand? Love daily works
-much greater miracles. One would imagine, to hear you, that
-Heaven had made some infinite distinction between you and
-the Count. Do yourself more justice, Leonora! He would
-not condescend, in uniting his destiny with yours. You are of
-an ancient and noble family, and your alliance would never
-call a blush upon his cheek. However, you love him," continued
-she; "and I must therefore see him, and sound him on
-the subject; and if I find his designs as honourable as they
-should be, I will indulge him with some slight hopes." "Not
-for the world!" cried Leonora; "on no account would I have
-you seek him: should he but suspect my knowledge of your
-proceedings, he must cease even to esteem me." "Oh! I am
-more cunning than you think me," answered Marcella. "I
-shall begin by accusing him of a design to seduce you. He of
-course will not fail to defend himself; I shall listen to his
-excuses, and shall mark the event: in short, my dear child,
-leave it to me; I will be as careful of your honour as of my
-own."</p>
-
-<p>Towards night, the duenna left the house, and found Belflor
-watching in the neighbourhood. She informed him of her
-conversation with his mistress, not forgetting to boast of the
-address with which she had elicited from Leonora the confession
-of her love. Nothing could more agreeably surprise the Count
-than this discovery; and accordingly his gratitude was displayed
-in the most ardent manner; that is to say, he promised
-to Marcella the thousand ducats on the morrow, and to himself
-the most complete success of his enterprise; well knowing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
-as he did, that a woman prepossessed is half seduced. They
-then separated, extremely well satisfied with each other, and
-the duenna returned to her home.</p>
-
-<p>Leonora, who had waited for her with extreme anxiety,
-timidly inquired if she brought any news of the Count. "The
-best news you could hear," replied the governante. "I have
-seen him, and I can assure you of the purity of his intentions:
-he declared that his only object is to marry you; and this he
-confirmed by every oath that man holds sacred. I did not,
-however, as you may suppose, yield implicitly to these protestations.
-'If you are sincere,' said I to him, 'why do you
-not at once apply to Don Luis, her father?' 'Ah! my dear
-Marcella,' replied he, without appearing in the least embarrassed
-by this question, 'could you, even, approve that,
-without assuring myself of Leonora's affection, and following,
-blindly, the dictates of a devouring passion, I should seek her
-of Don Luis as a slave? No! her happiness is dearer to me
-than my own desires; and I have too nice a sense of honour,
-even to endanger that happiness by an indiscreet avowal.'</p>
-
-<p>"While he thus spoke," continued the duenna, "I observed
-him with extreme attention; and employed all my experience
-to discover in his eyes if he were really possessed of all the
-love that he expressed. What shall I say?&mdash;He appeared to
-me penetrated by the truest love; I felt elated with joy, which
-I took good care, however, to conceal: nevertheless, when I
-felt persuaded of his sincerity, I thought that, in order to
-secure for you so important a conquest, it would be but proper
-to give him some faint idea of your feelings towards him.
-'Signor,' said I, 'Leonora has no aversion for you; I know
-that she esteems you; and, as far as I can judge, her heart
-would not be grieved by your addresses.' 'Great God,' he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
-cried, transported with delight, 'what do I hear? Is it possible,
-that the charming Leonora should be disposed so favourably
-towards me? What do I not owe to you, kindest
-Marcella, for thus relieving me from such torturing suspense?
-I am the more rejoiced, too, that this should be announced by
-you;&mdash;you, who have ever opposed my love; you, who have
-inflicted on me such lengthened suffering. But, my dear
-Marcella, complete my bliss! let me see my divine Leonora,
-and pledge to her my faith; let me swear, in your presence,
-to be hers only for ever.'</p>
-
-<p>"To all these expressions of his devotion," continued the
-governante, "he added others still more touching. At last,
-my dear child, he entreated me in so pressing a manner to
-procure for him a secret interview, that I could not forbear
-promising he should see you." "Ah! why have you done
-so?" exclaimed Leonora, with emotion. "How often have
-you told me, that a virtuous girl should ever shun such secret
-conversations,&mdash;always wrong, and almost always dangerous?"
-"Certainly," replied the duenna, "I acknowledge to have
-said so, and a very good maxim it is; but you are not obliged
-to adhere to it strictly on this occasion; for you may look
-upon the Count as your husband." "He is not so yet," said
-Leonora, "and I ought not to see him until my father permits
-his addresses."</p>
-
-<p>Marcella, at this moment, repented of having imbued the
-mind of her pupil with those notions of propriety which she
-found so much trouble to overcome. Determined, however,
-at any rate to effect her object, she thus recommenced her
-attack: "My dear Leonora! I am proud to witness so much
-virtuous delicacy. Happy fruit of all my cares! You have
-truly profited by the lessons I have taught you. I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
-delighted with the result of my labours. But, child, you have
-read rather too literally; you construe my maxims too
-rigidly; your susceptibility is indeed somewhat prudish.
-However much I pique myself on my severity, I do not quite
-approve of that precise chastity which arms itself indifferently
-against guilt or innocence. A girl ceases not to be virtuous
-who yields her ear only to her lover, especially when she is
-conscious of the purity which chastens his desires; and she is
-then no more wrong in responding to his love, than she is for
-her sensibility to the passion. Rely upon me, Leonora; I
-have too much experience, and am too much interested in your
-welfare, to suffer you to take a step that might be prejudicial
-to it."</p>
-
-<p>"But where would you have me see the Count?" said
-Leonora. "In this room, to be sure," replied the duenna.
-"Where could you see him so safely? I will introduce him to-morrow
-evening." "You are not surely serious, Marcella!"
-exclaimed Leonora. "What! think you I would permit a
-man&mdash;&mdash;" "To be sure you will!" interrupted the duenna;
-"there is nothing so wonderful in that, as you imagine.
-It happens daily; and would to heaven that every damsel
-who receives such visits, had desires as pure as those by
-which you are animated! Besides, what have you to fear?
-shall not I be with you?" "Alas!" said Leonora, "should my
-father surprise us!" "Do not trouble yourself about that,"
-replied Marcella. "Your father is perfectly satisfied as to
-your conduct: he knows my fidelity, and would not do me so
-much wrong as to suspect it." Poor Leonora, thus artfully
-instigated by the duenna, and secretly moved by her own
-feelings, could withstand no longer; and at last yielded,
-although unwillingly, to her governante's proposal.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Count was soon informed of Marcella's success, of
-which he was so well satisfied, that he at once gave her five
-hundred pistoles, and a ring of equal value. The duenna,
-finding his promises so well performed, was determined to be
-as scrupulously exact in the fulfilment of her own; and,
-accordingly, on the following night, when she felt assured that
-every one in the house was fast asleep, she fastened to the
-balcony a silken ladder, which the Count had provided, and
-introduced his lordship to the chamber of his mistress.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, the fair Leonora was immersed in reflections
-of the most painfully agitating nature. Notwithstanding
-her affection for the Count, and despite her governante's assurances,
-she bitterly reproached herself for her weakness, in yielding
-a consent to an interview which she still felt was in violation
-of her duty; nor could a knowledge of the purity of her intentions
-bring comfort to her bosom. To receive, by night, in
-her apartment, a man whose love was unsanctioned by her
-parent, and not certainly known even by herself, now appeared
-to her not only criminal, but calculated to degrade her in the
-estimation of her lover also; and this last thought tortured her
-almost to madness, when that lover entered.</p>
-
-<p>He threw himself on his knees before her; and, apparently
-penetrated by love and gratitude, thanked her for that confidence
-in his honour, which had permitted this visit, and
-assured her of his determination to merit it, by shortly espousing
-her. However, as he was not as explicit upon this point
-as Leonora desired, "Count," said she to him, "I am too
-anxious to believe that you have no other views than those you
-express to me; but whatever assurances you may offer must
-always appear to me suspicious, so long as my father is ignorant
-of your designs, and has not ratified them by his consent."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Madam," replied Belflor, "that would have been long since
-demanded by me, had I not feared to have obtained it at the
-sacrifice of your repose." "Alas!" said Leonora, "I do not
-reproach you that you have not yet sought Don Luis,&mdash;I cannot
-but be sensible of your delicacy; but nothing now restrains
-you, and you must at once resolve to see my father, or never
-to see me more."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 218px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic05.png" width="218" height="263" alt="Belflor climbs up to Leonora's balcony" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What do I hear?" exclaimed the Count,&mdash;"never to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
-you more! Beauteous Leonora! how little sensible are you
-to the charms of love! Did you know how to love like me,
-you would delight in secret to receive my vows; and, for some
-time at least, to conceal them from your father as from all the
-world. Oh! who can paint the charms of that mysterious
-intercourse, in which two hearts indulge, united by a passion
-as intense as pure." "It may have charms for you," replied
-Leonora; "to me, such intercourse would bring but sorrow:
-this refinement of tenderness but ill becomes a virtuous maiden.
-Speak not to me of such impure delights! Did you esteem
-me, you had not dared to do so; and were your intentions
-such as you would persuade me, you would, from your soul,
-reproach me that I could listen to you with patience. But,
-alas!" she added, while tears filled her eyes, "my weakness
-alone has exposed me to this outrage: I have indeed deserved
-it, that I see you here."</p>
-
-<p>"Adorable Leonora!" cried the Count, "you wrong my
-love most cruelly! Your virtue, too scrupulous, is causelessly
-alarmed. What! can you conceive that, because I have been
-so happy as to prevail on you to favour my passion, I should
-cease to esteem you? What injustice! No, madam, I know,
-too well, the value of your kindness; it can never deprive you
-of my esteem; and I am ready to do as you require me. I
-will, to-morrow, see Don Luis; and nothing shall be wanting
-on my part to ensure my happiness: but I cannot conceal from
-you, that I scarcely indulge a hope." "How!" replied;
-Leonora, with extreme surprise; "is it possible that my father
-should refuse me to the Count de Belflor?"&mdash;"Ah! it is that
-very title which gives me cause for alarm. But I see this
-surprises you: your astonishment, however, will soon cease.</p>
-
-<p>"Only a few days ago," continued he, "the King was pleased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
-to declare his will, that I should marry: you know how these
-matters are managed at our Court. He has not, however,
-named the lady for whom I am intended; but has contented
-himself with intimating that she is one who will do me honour,
-and that he has set his mind upon our union. As I was then
-ignorant of your disposition towards me,&mdash;for, as you well
-know, your rigorous severity has never until now, permitted
-me to divine it,&mdash;I did not let him perceive in me any aversion
-to the accomplishment of his desires. You may now therefore,
-judge, madam, whether Don Luis would hazard the King's
-displeasure, by accepting me as his son-in-law."</p>
-
-<p>"No, doubtless," said Leonora; "I know my father well:
-however desirable he might esteem your alliance, he would not
-hesitate to renounce it, rather than expose himself to the anger
-of his Majesty. But, even though my father had consented to
-our union, we should not be less unfortunate; for, Belflor, how
-could you possibly bestow on me a hand which the King has
-destined for another?" "Madam," replied the Count, "I will
-not disguise that your question embarrasses me. Still, I am
-not without hope that, by prudent management with the King,
-and by availing myself of the influence which his friendship for
-me secures, I should find means to avoid the misfortune which
-threatens me; and yourself, lovely Leonora, might assist me
-in so doing, did you but deem me worthy of the happiness of
-being yours." "I assist you!" she exclaimed; "how could I
-possibly enable you to avert an union which the King proposes
-for you?" "Ah! madam," he replied, with impassioned looks,
-"would you deign to receive my vows of eternal fidelity to you,
-I should have no difficulty in preserving my faith inviolate,
-without offending my sovereign. Permit, charming Leonora,"
-he continued, throwing himself at her feet, "permit me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
-espouse you in the presence of our friend Marcella; she is a
-witness who will vouch for the sanctity of our engagements. I
-shall thus escape the hateful bonds they would impose upon
-me; for, should the King still press me to accept the lady he
-designs for me, I will prostrate myself before him, and, on my
-knees, confess how long and ardently my love has been devoted
-to you, and that we are secretly married. However desirous
-he may be to unite me with another, he is too gracious to think
-of tearing me from the object I adore, and too just to offer so
-grievous an affront to your honourable family.</p>
-
-<p>"What is your opinion, discreet Marcella?" added he,
-turning towards the governante; "what think you of this project
-with which love has so opportunely inspired me?" "I
-am charmed with it," said the duenna; "the rogue, Cupid, is
-never at a loss for an expedient." "And you, dearest Leonora,"
-resumed the Count, "what do you say to it? Can your heart,
-always mistrustful, refuse its assent to my proposal?" "No,"
-she replied, "provided my father consent to it; and I do not
-doubt that he will, when you have explained to him your
-reasons for secrecy." "You must be very cautious how you consult
-him upon the subject," interrupted the abominable duenna;
-"you do not know Don Luis: his notions of honour are too
-scrupulous to permit him to engage himself with secret amours.
-The proposal of a private marriage would shock him; besides
-which, he is too prudent not to foresee the possible consequences
-of one which interfered with the designs of the King. And,
-once proposed to him, and his suspicion aroused, his eyes will
-be constantly upon you; and he will take good care to prevent
-your marriage, by separating you for ever."</p>
-
-<p>"And I should die with grief and despair," cried our courtier.
-"But madam," continued he, addressing himself to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
-Marcella, with an air of profound disappointment, "do you
-really think, then, that there is no chance of Don Luis yielding
-to our prayer?" "Not the slightest!" replied the governante.
-"But suppose he should! Exact and scrupulous as he is, he
-would never consent to the omission of a single religious ceremony
-on the occasion; and if they are all to be observed in
-your marriage, the secret will be soon known in Madrid."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! my dear Leonora," said the Count, taking her hand,
-and tenderly pressing it within his own, "must we, then, to
-satisfy a vain notion of decorum, expose ourselves to the
-frightful danger of an eternal separation? Our happiness is
-in your hands; since it depends on you alone to bestow yourself
-on me. A father's consent might, perhaps, spare you
-some uneasiness; but since our kind Marcella has convinced
-us of the impossibility of obtaining it, yield yourself, without
-further scruple, to my innocent desires. Receive my heart
-and hand; and when the time shall have arrived, that we may
-inform Don Luis of our union, we shall have no difficulty in
-satisfying him as to our reasons for its concealment." "Well,
-Count," said Leonora, "I consent to your not at once speaking
-to my father, but that you first sound the King upon the subject.
-Before, however, I receive thus secretly your hand, I
-would have this done. See his Majesty; tell him even, if
-necessary, that we are married. Let us endeavour, by this
-show of confidence,&mdash;&mdash;" "Alas! madam," interrupted Belflor,
-"what do you ask of me? No, my soul revolts at the
-thoughts of falsehood. I cannot lie; and you would despise
-me, could I thus dissemble with the King;&mdash;besides, how
-could I hope for pardon at his hands, should he discover the
-meanness of which I had been guilty?"</p>
-
-<p>"I should never have done, Signor Don Cleophas," continued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
-the Demon, "were I to repeat word for word all that
-Belflor said, in order to seduce his lovely mistress; I will only
-add, that he repeated, without my assistance, all those passionate
-phrases with which I usually inspire gallants upon
-similar occasions. But in vain did he swear he would publicly
-confirm, as soon as possible, the faith which he proposed to
-pledge in secret: Leonora's virtue was proof against his oaths;
-and the blushing day, which surprised him while he called
-Heaven to witness for his fidelity, compelled him to retire less
-triumphant than he had anticipated."</p>
-
-<p>On the following morning, the duenna, conceiving that her
-honour, or rather her interest, engaged her not to abandon the
-enterprise, took an opportunity of reverting to the subject.
-"Leonora," said she, "I am confounded by what passed last
-evening; you appear to disdain the Count's affection, or to
-regard it as inspired by an unworthy motive. Perhaps, however,
-after all, you remarked something in his person or manner
-that displeased you?" "No, good governante," replied Leonora;
-"he never appeared to me more amiable; and his conversation
-discovered to me a thousand new charms." "If that be the
-case," said the duenna, "I am still more perplexed. You
-acknowledge to be strongly prepossessed in his favour, and
-yet refuse to yield in a point, the absolute necessity of which
-he has so clearly demonstrated."</p>
-
-<p>"My dear Marcella," replied her ward, "you are wiser, and
-have had more experience in these matters, than myself; but
-have you sufficiently reflected on the consequences of a marriage
-contracted without my father's knowledge?" "Yes, certainly,"
-answered the duenna, "I have maturely considered all
-that; and I regret to find you oppose yourself, with an obstinacy
-of which I deemed you incapable, to the brilliant establishment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
-which fortune presents so uselessly. Have a care that your
-perverseness does not weary and repel your lover; remember
-that he may discover the inequality of your station and fortune,
-which his passion overlooks. While he offers you his faith,
-receive it without hesitation. His word is his bond; there is
-no tie more sacred with a man of honour, like Belflor: besides,
-I am witness that he acknowledges you as his wife; and I need
-not tell you that a testimony like mine would be more than
-sufficient to condemn a lover who should dare to perjure himself,
-and attempt to evade a legal contract."</p>
-
-<p>By this and similar conversations, the resolution of the
-artless Leonora was at last shaken; and the perils which surrounded
-her were so adroitly concealed by her perfidious governante,
-that, some days afterwards, she abandoned herself,
-without further reflection, to the will of the Count. Belflor
-was introduced nightly, by the balcony, into his mistress's
-apartment; which he left again before daybreak, when summoned
-by the duenna.</p>
-
-<p>One morning, the old lady overslept herself; and Aurora
-had already half opened the golden chambers of the east, when
-the Count hastily departed, as usual. Unfortunately, in his
-hurry to descend the ladder, his foot missed, and he fell heavily
-on the ground.</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis de Cespedes, who slept in the room over Leonora's,
-had that morning risen earlier than usual to attend to some
-important engagements; and hearing the noise of Belflor's fall
-he opened his window to learn whence it proceeded. To his
-astonishment, he perceived a man just raising himself, with
-difficulty, from the earth, while Marcella was busily engaged in
-the balcony with the silken ladder, of which the Count had
-made such bad use in his descent. Scarcely believing his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
-eyes, and rubbing them to make sure that he was awake, Don
-Luis stood for some time in amazement; but he was too soon
-convinced that what he saw was no illusion; and that the light
-of day, although just breaking, was bright enough to discover
-to him, too clearly, his disgrace.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 165px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic06.png" width="165" height="238" alt="Don Luis de Cespedes looking out of the window" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Afflicted at this fatal sight, transported by a just wrath, he
-instantly sought the apartment of Leonora, holding the light
-by which he had been writing in one hand, and his sword in
-the other. With a frantic determination of sacrificing his
-daughter and her governante to his resentment, he struck the
-door of their chamber violently, and commanded them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
-admit him. Trembling, they obeyed his summons; when he
-entered with infuriated looks, and displaying his naked sword:
-"I come," he cried, "to wash out, in the blood of an infamous
-child, the stains on the wounded honour of her father; and to
-punish the crime of a perfidious wretch, who has betrayed his
-confidence."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic07.png" width="264" height="276" alt="Don Luis confronts Leonora and Marcella" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They were in a moment on their knees before him; and, as
-he raised his arm, the trembling duenna exclaimed: "In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
-mercy hold, Signor! Before you inflict on us the punishment
-you meditate, deign but to listen to me for a moment."
-"Speak, then, unhappy woman," said Don Luis; "I will retard
-my vengeance but for the instant you require: speak, I repeat!
-tell me all the circumstances of my misfortune. But what do
-I say,&mdash;all the circumstances? Alas! I am ignorant but of
-one; it is, the name of the villain who has dishonoured me."
-"Signor," replied Marcella, "the cavalier who has just left us is
-the Count de Belflor." "The Count de Belflor!" repeated
-Don Luis; "and where did he see my daughter? By what
-means has he seduced her? On your life, hide nothing from
-me!" "Signor," replied the governante, "I will relate the whole
-history to you, with all the sincerity of which I am capable."</p>
-
-<p>She then related, with infinite art, all the conversations she
-had previously narrated to Leonora, as having passed between
-herself and the Count; whom she painted in the most flattering
-colours, as a lover tender, delicate, and sincere, beyond description.
-As, however, there was no escaping the event in
-which this heroic love most naturally terminated, she was
-obliged to avow the truth. But she managed this so adroitly,
-insisting on the weighty reasons which Belflor had for secrecy
-in his nuptials, and on the regret he had always expressed for
-its necessity, that she gradually appeased the fury of her
-master. This she was not slow to perceive; and, to completely
-soften the old man, she wound up by a peroration that
-would have done as much honour to a wig as to a gown:&mdash;"Signor,"
-said she, "I have thus told you the simple truth:
-now punish us if you will, and plunge your sword into your
-daughter's bosom! But what say I? No! Leonora is innocent;
-she has but followed the faithful counsels of her to whom
-you confided the guidance of her conduct. It is my heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
-against which your sword should be directed; it was I who
-first introduced the Count to her apartment; it is I who
-formed those ties which bind him to your daughter. I would
-not perceive the irregularity of his engagement, although unauthorised
-by you: I saw in him but a son-in-law, whom I was
-anxious to secure to you; but the channel through which the
-favours of our Court might reach you. I forgot all but the
-happiness of Leonora, and the advancement of your family,
-in the brilliant alliance of the Count. I have erred: the excess
-of my zeal has made me forgetful of my duty."</p>
-
-<p>While the subtle Marcella was speaking thus, poor Leonora
-was not sparing of her tears; and her grief appeared so excessive
-that the good old man could not resist it. He was affected.
-His anger was changed into compassion; his sword fell on
-the ground; and, quitting the air of an irritated parent: "Ah!
-my daughter," he cried, while tears sprung from his aged eyes,
-like water from the rock of Horeb, "what a fatal passion is
-love! Alas! you know not yet all the causes it will bring you
-for affliction. The shame which a father's presence alone
-excites, can bring tears to your eyes at this moment; but you
-foresee not the woes which your lover is, perhaps even now,
-preparing for the future. And you, imprudent Marcella, what
-have you done? Into what an abyss has your indiscreet zeal
-for my family plunged us! I allow that an alliance with a
-man like Belflor might dazzle you, and it is that which alone
-excuses and saves you; but, miserable that you are, why were
-you not more cautious with a lover of his station? The greater
-his credit and favour at court, the more guarded should you
-have been against his approaches. Should he not scruple to
-break his faith with my daughter, how shall I avenge the
-insult? Shall I implore the power of our laws? A person of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
-his rank can easily shelter himself from its severity. I will
-suppose that, faithful to his oaths, he would abide by his engagements
-with my daughter: if the King, as you say, has
-decreed that he shall marry with another, is it likely that our
-sovereign will fail to be obeyed?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! my father," replied Leonora, "that need not alarm us.
-The Count has assured us that the King would never do so
-great a violence to his feelings&mdash;" "Of which I am convinced,"
-interrupted the duenna; "for, besides that the monarch
-loves Belflor too much to exercise so great a tyranny upon his
-favourite, he is of too noble a character to afflict so grievously
-the valiant Don Luis de Cespedes, who has devoted to the
-service of the state the best years of his life."</p>
-
-<p>"Heaven grant," exclaimed the old man, sighing, "that all
-my fears are vain! I will seek the Count, and demand a
-full explanation of his conduct: the eyes of a father, alarmed
-for a daughter's welfare, will pierce his very soul. If I find
-him what I would hope, and what you would persuade me he
-is, I will pardon what has passed; but," added he firmly, "if
-in his discourse I discern the perfidy of his heart, you go, both
-of you, to bewail in retirement, for the rest of your days, the
-imprudence of which you have been guilty." As he finished,
-he took up his sword, and retired to his own room, leaving
-his daughter and her governante to recover themselves from
-the fright into which this discovery had so unexpectedly
-thrown them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch04pic08.png" width="264" height="181" alt="The lady, her husband and her lover" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was at this moment interrupted in his recital by
-the Student, who thus addressed him:&mdash;"My dear Devil,
-interesting as is the history you are relating to me, my eyes
-have wandered to an object which prevents my listening to
-you as attentively as I could wish. I see a lady, who is rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
-good-looking, seated between a young man and a gentleman
-old enough to be his grandfather. They seem to enjoy the
-liqueurs which are on the table near them, but what amuses
-me, is, that as from time to time the amorous old dotard
-embraces his mistress, the deceiver conveys her hand to the
-lips of the other, who covers it with silent kisses. He is
-doubtless her gallant." "On the contrary," replied the cripple,
-"he is her husband, and the old fool is her lover. He is a
-man of consequence,&mdash;no less than a commandant of the
-military order of Calatrava; and is ruining himself for the
-lady, whose complaisant husband holds some inferior place at
-court She bestows her caresses on the sighing knight, for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
-sake of his gold; and is unfaithful to him in favour of her
-husband, from inclination."</p>
-
-<p>"That is a marvellously pretty picture," said Zambullo.
-"The husband of course is French?" "No, no," replied the
-Demon: "he is a Spaniard. Oh! the good city of Madrid
-can boast within its walls a fair proportion of such well-bred
-spouses: still, they do not swarm here as in Paris, which is,
-beyond contradiction, the most fruitful city of the world in
-such inhabitants." "I thought so," said Don Cleophas; "but
-pardon me, Signor Asmodeus, if I have broken the thread of
-the fair Leonora's story. Continue it, I pray you; it interests
-me exceedingly; and exhibits such variety in the art of seduction
-as transports me with admiration."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 192px;">
-<img src="images/ch04tailpiece.png" width="192" height="158" alt="Tailpiece of a gentleman in a rustic landscape" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER V.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LOVES OF THE COUNT
-DE BELFLOR AND LEONORA DE CESPEDES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiald.png" width="75" height="75" alt="D" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Luis, (continued Asmodeus), on returning to
-his apartment, dressed himself hastily, and, while
-it was still early, repaired to the Count; who,
-not suspecting a discovery, was much surprised by
-this visit. On the old man's entrance, however, Belflor ran
-to meet him, and, embracing him cordially, exclaimed, "Ah
-Signor Don Luis; I am delighted to see you. To what do I
-owe this happiness? Am I so fortunate as to have an opportunity
-of serving you?" "Signor," replied Don Luis sternly,
-"I would speak with you alone."</p>
-
-<p>Belflor desired his attendants to withdraw; and as soon as
-they were seated, "Signor," said Cespedes, "I come to ask of
-you an explanation of circumstances in which my honour and
-happiness are deeply interested. I saw you this morning
-leaving the apartment of my daughter. She has disguised
-nothing from me: she informed that&mdash;&mdash;" "She has told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
-you that I love her," interrupted the Count, to avoid hearing
-what he knew could not be very agreeable; "but she can but
-have feebly described all that I feel for her. I am enchanted
-with her; she is an adorable creature: beauty, wit, virtue,&mdash;nothing
-is wanting to perfect her charms. I am told you have
-a son, too, who is finishing his studies at Alcala: does he
-resemble his sister? If he have her beauty, and have at all
-inherited the noble bearing of his father, he must be a perfect
-cavalier. I die with anxiety to see him; and I assure you that
-I shall be proud to advance his fortunes."</p>
-
-<p>"I am obliged to you for so kind an offer," gravely replied
-Don Luis; "but to return to the subject of&mdash;&mdash;" "He must
-enter the service at once," again interrupted the Count: "I
-charge myself with the care of his interests: he shall not grow
-old among the crowd of subalterns; on that you may depend."
-"Answer me, Count!" replied the old man vehemently, "and
-cease these interruptions. Do you intend, or not, to fulfil the
-promise&mdash;&mdash;?" "Yes, certainly," interrupted Belflor for the
-third time; "I engage faithfully to support your son with all
-the interest I possess: rely on me; I am a man of my word."
-"This is too much, Count," cried Cespedes, rising: "after
-having seduced my daughter, you dare thus to insult me! But
-I also am a noble; and the injury you have done me shall not
-remain unpunished." In finishing these words, he left the
-Count, his heart swelling with anger, and his mind tormented
-with a thousand projects of revenge.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic01.png" width="239" height="234" alt="Don Luis de Cespedes interviews Belflor" />
-</div>
-
-<p>On arriving at home, still greatly agitated, he immediately
-went to Leonora's apartment, where he found her with Marcella.
-"It was not without reason," said he, addressing them, "that
-I was suspicious of the Count: he is a traitor; but I will
-avenge myself. For you, you shall at once hide your shame<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
-within a convent: both of you, prepare to leave this house
-to-morrow; and thank Heaven that my wrath contents itself
-with so moderate a punishment." He then left them, to shut
-himself in his cabinet, that he might maturely reflect on the
-conduct it would be proper to observe in so delicate a conjuncture.</p>
-
-<p>How poignant was the grief of Leonora, when thus informed
-of Belflor's perfidy! She remained for some time motionless;
-a death-like paleness overspread her lovely features; life itself
-seemed about to abandon her, and she fell senseless into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
-arms of her governante. The alarmed duenna at first thought
-that the victim of her intrigues was really dead; but, on perceiving
-that she still breathed, used every effort to restore her
-to consciousness, and at last succeeded. Existence, however,
-had no longer charms for Leonora; and when, somewhat
-recovered, she unclosed her eyelids, and perceived the officious
-governante busy about her person, "Cruel Marcella!" she
-exclaimed, sighing deeply; "wherefore have you drawn me
-from the happy state in which I was? Then, I felt not the
-horror of my destiny. Why did you not let me perish? You,
-who know so well that life henceforth must be but one long
-misery, why have you sought to preserve it?"</p>
-
-<p>The duenna endeavoured to console her, but her words only
-added to Leonora's sufferings. "It is in vain you would
-comfort me," she cried, "I will not hear you: strive not to
-combat my despair. Rather seek to add to its profundity;
-you, who have plunged me into the frightful gulph in which all
-my hopes are swallowed:&mdash;you it was who assured me of the
-Count's sincerity; but for you I had never yielded to my
-passion for him; I should have insensibly triumphed over it, or
-at least, he would never have had cause to boast of my weakness.
-But no! I will not," she continued, "attribute to you
-my misfortunes; it is myself alone I should accuse. I ought
-not to have followed your advice, in accepting the faith of a
-man, without the sanction of my father. However flattering
-to me were the attentions of Count de Belflor, I should have
-despised them, rather than have endeavoured to secure them at
-the price of my honour: I should have mistrusted him, you!
-Marcella, and myself. For my folly in listening to his perfidious
-oaths, for the affliction I have caused to the unhappy Don Luis,
-and for the dishonour I have brought upon my family, I detest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
-myself; and, far from fearing the state of seclusion with which
-I am menaced, I would willingly conceal my guilt and shame in
-the most frightful dungeon in the world."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic02.png" width="265" height="275" alt="Marcella tries to console Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>While her grief thus vented itself in exclamations, and tears
-streamed from her eyes, she frantically tore her clothes, and
-revenged the injustice of her lover on the beautiful locks which
-fell around her neck. The duenna, also, to appear in keeping
-with her mistress's grief, was not sparing of grimaces; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
-managed to squeeze out some convenient tears, and directed a
-thousand imprecations against mankind in general, and against
-Belflor in particular. "Is it possible," she cried, "that the
-Count, who had all the semblance of amiability and rectitude,
-should be so great a villain as to have deceived us both? I
-cannot get over my surprise, or rather, I cannot even yet
-persuade myself that he is so."</p>
-
-<p>"Indeed," said Leonora, "when I picture him myself at my
-feet, what maiden could but have confided to so much tenderness,&mdash;to
-his oaths, which he so daringly called on Heaven to
-witness,&mdash;to his boundless transports, which seemed so sincere?
-His eyes to me discovered a love far more intense than his lips
-could express; and the very sight of me appeared to charm
-him:&mdash;no, he did not deceive me; I cannot believe it. My
-father has not spoken to him with sufficient caution; they have
-quarrelled, and the Count has replied to his reproaches less as
-the lover than the lord. Still, may I not deceive myself? I
-will, however, end this horrible suspense. I will write to
-Belflor,&mdash;tell him I expect him here this night: I am resolved
-he comes to reassure my troubled heart, or to confirm, himself,
-his treachery."</p>
-
-<p>Marcella loudly applauded this resolution; she even conceived
-a hope that the Count, all ambitious as he was, might
-yet be affected by the tears of his Leonora, which could not
-fail at this interview, and that he might determine on espousing
-her in truth.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Belflor, relieved of the presence of Don Luis,
-was revolving in his mind the probable consequences of the
-reception he had given to the good old man. He felt certain
-that all the Cespedes, enraged at the injury he had done their
-family, would unite to avenge it: this, however, gave him but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
-little trouble; the possible loss of Leonora occasioned him far
-greater anxiety. She would, he imagined, at once be placed in
-a convent, or, at least, that she would be carefully guarded from
-his sight; and that she was consequently lost to him for ever.
-This thought afflicted him; and he was occupied in devising
-some means to prevent so great a misfortune, when his valet
-entered the apartment, and presented a letter which Marcella
-had placed in his hands. It was from Leonora, and ran as
-follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">My still dearest Belflor</span>,</p>
-
-<p>"I shall to-morrow quit the world, to bury myself in
-a convent. Dishonoured, odious to my family and to myself,
-such is the deplorable condition to which I am reduced by
-listening to you. Still I will expect you to-night. In my
-despair, I seek new tortures: come, and avow to me that your
-heart disowned the protestations which your lips have made to
-me; or come to confirm them by your sympathy, which alone
-can soften the harshness of my destiny. As there may, however,
-be some danger in this meeting, after what has passed
-between you and my father, be sure you are accompanied by a
-friend. Although you have rendered life worthless to me, I
-cannot cease to interest myself in thine.</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Leonora</span>."</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>While the Count perused this letter, which he read over
-several times, his imagination depicted the situation of Leonora,
-in colours more sombre even than the reality, and he was
-deeply affected. He bitterly reflected on his past conduct:
-reason, probity, honour, all whose laws he had violated in the
-phrenzy of his passion, now regained their empire in his breast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
-The blindness which selfishness inflicts upon its victims was
-dissipated; and as the fevered convalescent blushes for the
-follies which, in the access of his disorder, he has committed,
-so was Belflor ashamed of the meanness and artifice of which
-he had been guilty to satisfy his lust.</p>
-
-<p>"What have I done?" he cried; "wretch that I am, what
-demon has possessed me? I promised Leonora to espouse
-her, and called on Heaven to witness for the lie; I falsely
-told her that the King had designed me for another; lying,
-treachery, perjury,&mdash;I have hesitated at nothing to corrupt
-innocence itself. What madness! Oh! had I used, to control
-it, the efforts I have made to gratify my passion! To
-seduce one of whose beauty and virtue I was unworthy, to
-abandon her to the wrath of her relations, whom I have equally
-dishonoured, and to plunge her in misery as a return for the
-happiness she bestowed on me,&mdash;what ingratitude! Ought I
-not then to repair the injury I have inflicted? Yes, I ought,
-and I will; my hand shall at the altar fulfil the pledge I gave
-for it. Who shall oppose me in so righteous a determination?
-Should her tenderness for me at all prejudice her virtue? No,
-I know too well what that cost me to vanquish. She yielded
-less to my love than to her confidence in my integrity, and to
-my vows of fidelity. But, on the other hand, if I resolve on
-this marriage, I make a great sacrifice,&mdash;I, who may pretend to
-the heiresses of the richest and most noble houses in the kingdom,
-shall I content myself with the daughter of a respectable
-gentleman, of small fortune? What will they think of me at
-court? They will say that I have made a splendid alliance
-indeed!"</p>
-
-<p>Belflor, thus divided between love and ambition, knew not
-how to resolve; but although undetermined whether he should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
-marry Leonora or not, he had no difficulty in making up his
-mind to see her that evening, and at once directed his valet so
-to inform Marcella.</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis was all this time in his cabinet, engaged in
-reflections on the mode he should adopt to vindicate his
-honour; and he was not a little embarrassed in his choice.
-To have recourse to the laws, was to publish his disgrace,
-besides which, he suspected with great reason that justice
-was likely to be one side, and the judges on the other.
-Again, he dared not to seek reparation of the King himself;
-as he believed that prince had views with regard to Belflor
-which must render such an application useless. There remained,
-then, but his own sword and those of his friends, and
-on these he concluded to rely.</p>
-
-<p>In the heat of his resentment, he at first meditated a
-challenge to the Count; but on consideration of his great
-age and weakness, he feared to trust his arm; so resolved to
-confide the matter to his son, whose thrust he thought was
-likely to be surer than his own. He therefore sent one of his
-domestics to Alcala, with a letter commanding his son's immediate
-presence in Madrid, to revenge, as he stated it, an insult
-offered to the family of the Cespedes.</p>
-
-<p>"This son, Don Pedro, is a cavalier of eighteen years of age,
-perfectly handsome, and so brave, that he passes at Alcala for
-the most valiant student of that university; but you know
-him," added the Devil, "and I need not enlarge on the
-subject." "I can answer," said Don Cleophas, "for his
-having all the valour and all the merit that can adorn a
-gentleman."</p>
-
-<p>"But this young man," resumed Asmodeus, "was not then
-at Alcala, as his father imagined. Love had brought him also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
-to Madrid, where the object of his passion resided; and where
-he had met her for the first time, on the Prado, on the occasion
-of his last visit to his family. Who she was, he knew not: and
-his fair conquest had exacted of him a pledge that he would
-take no steps to inform himself on this head,&mdash;and although
-he was as good as his word, it cost him some trouble to keep
-it. I need hardly add, that she was of higher rank than her
-lover; and that, wisely mistrusting the discretion and constancy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
-of a student&mdash;no offence to your highness&mdash;she thought proper
-to test him as to these necessary qualifications for a suitor,
-before she disclosed to him her station or name."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic03.png" width="214" height="280" alt="Portrait of Don Pedro" />
-</div>
-
-<p>His thoughts were, of course, more occupied by his lovely
-incognita than with the philosophy of Aristotle; and the
-vicinity of Alcala to Madrid occasioned the youthful Pedro
-to play truant to his studies as frequent as yourself; but, I
-must say, with a better excuse than your Donna Thomasa
-afforded. To conceal from his father, Don Luis, his amorous
-excursions, he usually lodged at a tavern at the other end of
-the town, where he passed under a borrowed name; and only
-went abroad at a certain hour in the morning, that he might
-repair to a house where the lady, for the love of whom he
-neglected his Ovid, did him the honour to wait, in company
-with a trusty female attendant. During the rest of the day he
-shut himself up in his hotel; but as soon as night was come, he
-wandered fearlessly throughout the city.</p>
-
-<p>He happened one evening, as he was traversing a bye-street,
-to hear the sound of instruments and voices, which attracted
-his attention, and he stopped to listen. It was a serenade,
-and tolerably performed; but the cavalier, who was drunk, and
-naturally brutish, no sooner perceived our student than he
-hurried towards him, and, without preface,&mdash;"Friend," said he,
-with an insolent air, "make yourself scarce; or your curiosity
-may find you more than you expect." "I would have withdrawn,"
-replied Don Pedro, proudly, "had you requested me
-to do so with civility; but I shall now stay, to teach you better
-manners." "We shall see, then," said the serenading gallant,
-drawing his sword, "which of us two will give place to the other."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro also drew his sword, their weapons were crossed
-in a moment, and a furious combat ensued; but although the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
-Student's adversary was not wanting in skill, he could not
-parry a mortal thrust of Don Pedro, and fell dead upon the
-pavement. The musicians, who had already quitted their
-instruments, or stopped their singing, and had drawn their
-swords to protect their patron, now came in a body to avenge
-his death, and attacked Don Pedro all together. He, however,
-gave them satisfactory proofs of what he could do upon occasion;
-for, besides parrying, with surprising dexterity, all the
-thrusts which they designed for him, he dealt furiously among
-them, and found work for them all to protect themselves.</p>
-
-<p>Still, they were so numerous, and apparently so determined
-on the Student's death, that, skilful as he was with his weapon,
-they would have most probably accomplished their object, had
-not the Count de Belflor, who was accidentally passing through
-the street, come to his assistance. The Count was of too noble
-a nature to see so many armed men striving against one man
-to hesitate upon the part he should take. His sword was
-therefore instantly directed against the musicians, and with so
-much vigour that they were soon put to flight, some wounded,
-and the others for fear they should be.</p>
-
-<p>The field thus cleared, the Student, with what breath remained
-to him, began to express his sense of the valuable
-service he had so seasonably received; but Belflor at once
-stopped him: "Not a word, my dear Sir," said he; "are you
-not wounded?" "No," replied Don Pedro. "Then let us
-leave this place at once," said the Count: "I see you have
-killed your man; and it will be dangerous to stay in his company,
-lest the officers of justice surprise you." They immediately
-decamped as quickly as possible, and did not stop until they
-had gained a street at some distance from the field of battle.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro, filled with a natural gratitude, then begged the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
-Count not to conceal from him the name of a person to whom
-he owed so great an obligation. Belflor made no difficulty in
-complying with this request; but when in turn he asked that of
-the Student, the latter, unwilling to discover himself to any
-person in Madrid, replied, that he was Don Juan de Maros,
-and that he should eternally bear in his remembrance the debt
-of gratitude which he owed to the Count.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic04.png" width="245" height="276" alt="The swordfight" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well," said Belflor to him, "I will this night give you an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
-opportunity of repaying it in full. I have an appointment,
-which is not without risk; and I was about, when I fell in with
-you, to seek the protection of a friend. However, I know
-your valour, Don Juan: will you accompany me?" "To doubt
-it, were to insult me," replied the Student: "I cannot better
-employ the life you have preserved, than in exposing it in
-your defence. Go! I am ready to follow you." Accordingly,
-Belflor conducted Don Pedro to the house of Don Luis, and
-they both entered, by the balcony, the apartment of Leonora.</p>
-
-<p>Here Don Cleophas interrupted the Devil: "Signor Asmodeus,"
-said he, "impossible! What! not know his own
-father's house? No, no, no; that will never do." "It was
-not possible he should know it," replied the Demon; "for it
-was a new one: Don Luis had lately changed his habitation,
-and had only taken this house a week before; which was just
-what Don Pedro did not know, and was what I was just going
-to tell you when you stopped me. You are too sharp; and
-have that shocking habit of displaying your intelligence by
-interrupting people in their stories: get rid of that fault, I
-pray you."</p>
-
-<p>"Well," continued the Devil, "Don Pedro did not think he
-was in his father's house; nor did he even perceive that it
-was Marcella who let him into it; since she received him
-without a light, in an antechamber, where Belflor requested his
-companion to remain while he was in the next room with his
-mistress. To this the Student made no demur; so quietly sat
-himself down in a chair, with his drawn sword in his hand for
-fear of surprise, while his thoughts ran on the favours which
-he suspected love was heaping on the Count, and his wishes
-that he might be as happy with his incognita,&mdash;for although
-he had no great cause of complaint as to her kindness, still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
-it was not exactly paid after the kind of that of Leonora for the
-Count."</p>
-
-<p>While he was making, upon this subject, all those pleasing
-reflections which occur so readily to an impassioned lover, he
-heard some one endeavouring quietly to open a door, which
-was not that of The Delights, but one which discovered a light
-through the keyhole. He rose quickly, and advanced towards
-it; and, as the door opened, presented the point of his sword
-to his father; for he it was who entered Leonora's apartments,
-for the purpose of seeing that the Count was not there. The
-good old man did not exactly suppose, after what had passed,
-that his daughter and Marcella would dare to receive him
-again, which had prevented his assigning to them other
-chambers; but he had thought it probable that, as they were
-to go to a nunnery on the following day, they might desire
-to converse with him, for the last time, ere they left his
-roof.</p>
-
-<p>"Whoever thou art," said the Student, "enter not this room,
-or it may cost thee thy life." At these words, Don Luis stared
-at Don Pedro, who also regarding the old man with attention,
-they soon recognised each other. "Ah! my son," cried the
-old man, "with what impatience have I expected you: why
-did you not inform me of your arrival? Did you fear to disturb
-my rest? Alas! that is for ever banished, in the cruel situation
-in which I am placed." "Ah, my father!" said Don Pedro,
-utterly amazed, "is it you whom I behold? Are not my eyes
-deceived by some fantastic vision?" "Whence this astonishment?"
-replied Don Luis; "are you not within your father's
-house? Have I not, a week ago, informed you where to find
-me?" "Just Heaven!" cried the Student, "what do I hear?&mdash;and
-this then is my sister's apartment."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>As he finished these words, the Count, whom the noise had
-alarmed, and who expected that his escort was attacked, came
-out, sword in hand, from Leonora's chamber. No sooner did
-the old man perceive him than, with fury in his eyes, he pointed
-to Belflor, and exclaimed to his son,&mdash;"There is the villain
-who has robbed me of my happiness, and who has stained our
-honour with a mortal taint. Revenge! Let us hasten to punish
-the traitor!" As he thus vented his rage, he opened his dressing-gown,
-and drew from beneath it his sword, with which he
-was about to fall on the Count, when Don Pedro restrained
-him. "Stay, my father," said he; "moderate, I entreat you,
-the fury of your wrath: what are you about to do?" "My
-son," replied the old man, "you withhold my arm. You
-doubtless think it is too weak to revenge our wrongs. Be
-it so! Do you then exact full satisfaction for the injury
-he has done us: it was for this purpose that I summoned
-you to Madrid. Should you perish, I will take your place;
-for either shall the Count fall beneath our arms, or he shall
-take from both of us our lives, after having blasted our
-reputation."</p>
-
-<p>"My father," said Don Pedro, "I cannot yield to your impatience
-that which it requires of me. Far from attempting
-the life of the Count, I am now here to defend it. For that
-my word is pledged,&mdash;to that my honour is assured. Let us
-depart, Count," continued he, addressing himself to Belflor.
-"Ah! wretch," interrupted Don Luis, while he surveyed his
-son with anger and astonishment,&mdash;"thus to oppose thyself to
-a vengeance, which it should be the business of thy life to
-accomplish! My son, my own son, is leagued, then, with the
-villain who has corrupted my daughter! But think not to
-escape my resentment: I will place a sword in the hand of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
-every servant in my house, to punish his treachery and thy
-despicable meanness."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic05.png" width="268" height="290" alt="Don Pedro restrains Don Luis from attacking Belflor" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied Don Pedro, "be more just towards your
-son. Call him not despicable or mean&mdash;he merits not those
-odious appellations. The Count this night saved my life. He
-proposed to me, in ignorance of my real name, to accompany<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
-him here; and I freely consented to share the perils he might
-run, without knowing that my gratitude imprudently engaged
-my arm against the honour of my family. My word is passed,
-then, here to defend his life; that done, I stand acquitted of
-my obligation towards him: but I am not the less insensible
-of the wrong that he has done to you and to us all; and to-morrow
-you shall find that I will as readily shed his blood,
-as you behold me now determined to preserve it from your
-hands."</p>
-
-<p>The Count had witnessed in silence all that passed, so much
-was he surprised at this extraordinary adventure; he now,
-however, thus addressed the Student: "It is possible that the
-injury I have inflicted might be but imperfectly avenged by your
-sword; I will, therefore, present to you a means much more
-certain of repairing it. I will confess to you that, until this
-day, I did not intend to marry Leonora; but I this morning
-received from her a letter which touched my heart, and her
-tears have finished what her letter began. The happiness of
-being united to your sister is now my dearest hope." "But if
-the King has destined you for another," said Don Luis, "how
-can you dispense&mdash;&mdash;?" "The King has not troubled himself
-upon the subject," interrupted Belflor, blushing: "pardon, I
-beseech you, that fiction, to a man whose reason was deranged
-by love; it is a crime that the violence of my passion incited
-me to commit, and which I expiate in avowing to you my
-shame."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied the old man, "after this frankness, which
-belongs only to noble minds, I cannot doubt your sincerity. I
-see, with joy, that you are anxious to repair the injury you have
-done us; my anger yields to this assurance of your contrition;
-I will forget it for ever in your arms." He advanced towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
-the Count, who rushed to meet him, and they embraced each
-other cordially. Then, turning towards Don Pedro, "And
-you, false Don Juan," said Belflor,&mdash;"you, who have already
-gained my esteem by your valour, come, let me vow to you a
-brother's love." Don Pedro received the Count's embraces
-with a submissive and respectful air, saying, "Signor, in offering
-to me so valuable a friendship, you secure mine for yourself:
-rely on me, as one devoted to your service to the last moment
-of his life."</p>
-
-<p>While these cavaliers were thus discoursing, Leonora was at
-the door of her chamber, intently listening to every syllable
-they uttered. She had been, at the first, tempted to discover
-herself, and to throw herself in the midst of their swords; but
-fear, and Marcella, had withheld her. But when the adroit
-duenna saw that matters were arranging very amicably, she
-guessed that the presence of her mistress, and her own, would
-spoil nothing. Accordingly, she appeared, her handkerchief
-in one hand and her ward in the other; and, with tears in their
-eyes, they prostrated themselves before Don Luis. Neither of
-them, indeed, felt perfectly assured; for they recollected the
-surprise of the previous night, and feared the old man's reproaches
-for this renewal of their disobedience. However,
-raising Leonora,&mdash;"My child," said he, "dry your tears; I
-will not upbraid you now: since your lover is disposed to keep
-the faith he has sworn to you, it is fitting that I should forget
-the past."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, Signor Don Luis," interrupted Belflor, "I will indeed
-keep my faith with Leonora; and as some amends for the insult
-I had intended, as the fullest satisfaction I can give to you, and
-as a pledge of that friendship I have vowed to Don Pedro, I
-offer him in marriage my sister Eugenia." "Signor!" cried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
-Don Luis, "how can I express my satisfaction at the honour
-you confer upon my son? Was ever father happier than myself?
-You overpay me, in joy, for the grief you have caused me."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 269px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic06.png" width="269" height="198" alt="Don Luis raises Leonora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Though the old man was charmed with the Count's proposals,
-I cannot say as much for his son. Being sincerely taken with
-love for his incognita, he was so overcome with surprise and
-chagrin at Belflor's offer, that he had not a word to say for
-himself; when the latter, who did not observe his embarrassment,
-took leave, stating that he should at once order the
-necessary preparations for this double union, and that he was
-impatient to be bound to them eternally, by ties so endearing.</p>
-
-<p>After his departure, Don Luis left Leonora with the duenna,
-taking with him his son, who, when they had reached his father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
-apartment, said, with all the frankness of a student: "Signor,
-do not insist, I pray you, on my marriage with the Count's
-sister; it is enough for the honour of our family, that he should
-espouse Leonora." "What! my son," replied the old man,
-"can you have any objection to an union with Eugenia de
-Belflor?" "Yes, my father," said Don Pedro; "I must
-confess to you, that union would prove to me the most cruel of
-punishments; and I will not disguise from you the reason. I
-love, or, rather, I adore another: for the last six months she
-has listened to my vows: and now, on her alone depends the
-happiness of my life."</p>
-
-<p>"How miserable is the condition of a father!" exclaimed
-Don Luis: "how rarely does he find his children disposed to
-do as he desires them. But who is this lady that has made
-such deep impression on your heart?" "That, I do not yet
-know," replied Don Pedro. "She has promised to inform me
-of her name when I shall have satisfied her of my constancy
-and discretion; but I doubt not she does honour to one of the
-noblest houses of Spain."</p>
-
-<p>"And you think then," said the old man, changing his tone,
-"that I shall be so obliging as to sanction this romantic love!&mdash;that
-I shall permit you to renounce an alliance, as glorious
-as fortune could offer to you, that you may remain faithful to
-an illustrious lady of whose very name you are ignorant! Do
-not expect so much of my kindness. No, rather strive to
-vanquish feelings that are inspired by an object which is most
-probably unworthy of them; and seek, in so doing, to merit
-the honour which the Count proposes for you." "You speak
-to me in vain, my father," replied the Student; "I feel that I
-can never forget her whom I have sworn to love&mdash;unknown
-though she be,&mdash;and that nothing can tear me from her. Were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
-the Infanta proposed to me&mdash;&mdash;" "Hold!" cried the old
-man angrily; "it is too much to boast thus insolently of a constancy
-which excites my displeasure: leave me, and let me not
-see you again until you are prepared to obey my will."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro did not dare to reply to these words, for fear
-of hearing others more unpleasant still; so he retired to his
-chamber, where he passed the remainder of the night in reflections
-in which sorrow was not all unmixed with joy. He
-thought with grief that he was about to estrange himself from
-his family, by refusing the hand of Belflor's sister; but then he
-was consoled, when he reflected that his incognita would worthily
-esteem the greatness of the sacrifice. He even flattered himself
-that, after so convincing a proof of his fidelity, she would
-no longer conceal from him her station, which he imagined also
-must be equal at least to that of Eugenia.</p>
-
-<p>In this hope, as soon as day appeared, he went out, and
-directed his steps towards the Prado, that he might pass away
-the time until the hour of his meeting with his mistress. With
-what impatience did he count the minutes as they lingered,&mdash;with
-what joy did he hail the happy moment when it arrived!</p>
-
-<p>He found his fair unknown with Donna Juanna, the lady at
-whose house they met; but alas, he found her in tears, and
-apparently in the deepest affliction. What a sight for a lover!
-His own grief was forgotten: he approached her with tenderness;
-and throwing himself on his knees before her, "Madam,"
-he exclaimed, "what must I think of the condition in which I
-see you? What dreadful misfortune do these tears, which
-pierce my heart, forbode?" "You dream not," she replied,
-"of the fatal news I bring you. Cruel fortune is about to
-separate us for ever;&mdash;yes! we shall meet no more."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic07.png" width="242" height="255" alt="Don Pedro kneels before his fair unknown" />
-</div>
-
-<p>She accompanied these words with so many and such heart-rending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
-sighs, that I know not if Don Pedro was more affected
-at what she told him, than at the affliction with which she
-appeared oppressed in telling it. "Just Heaven!" he cried, in
-a transport of fury, which he could not control, "is it thy will
-that they prevent an union whose innocence is worthy of thy
-protection? But, Madam," he continued, "you are perhaps
-falsely alarmed! Is it certain that they would snatch you from
-the most faithful of lovers? Can it be possible that I should
-be so unhappy?" "Our misfortune is but too certain," answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
-the Unknown; "my brother, upon whom my hand depends,
-has bestowed it this very day; he has this moment announced
-to me his decision." "And who is the happy man?" exclaimed
-Don Pedro. "Tell me! In my despair I will seek him, and&mdash;&mdash;"
-"I do not know his name," interrupted the Unknown. "I
-cared not to ask, nor did my brother inform me; he told
-me indeed that it was his wish that I should first see the
-cavalier."</p>
-
-<p>"But, Madam," said Don Pedro, "will you then yield without
-resistance to your brother's will? Will you be dragged to
-the altar, without complaint? Will you go, a willing sacrifice,
-and abandon me so easily? Alas! I have not hesitated to expose
-myself to the anger of a father for love of you; nor could
-his menaces for a moment shake my fidelity. No! nor threats,
-nor persuasion, could move me to espouse another, although
-the lady he proposed for me was one to whom I had hardly
-dared aspire." "And who is this lady?" asked the Unknown.
-"She is the sister of the Count de Belflor," replied the scholar.
-"Ah, Don Pedro!" cried the Unknown, with extreme surprise,
-"surely, you are mistaken; it cannot be she whom they propose
-to you. What! Eugenia, the sister of Belflor? Are you
-sure of what you say?" "Yes, Madam," replied the Student;
-"the Count himself offered me her hand." "How!" cried
-she, "is it possible that you are the cavalier for whom my
-brother designs me?" "What do I hear?" cried the Student
-in his turn, "is it possible that my incognita is the Count de
-Belflor's sister?" "Yes, Don Pedro," replied Eugenia. "But
-I can hardly believe it myself, at this moment; so difficult do I
-find it to persuade myself of the happiness you assure to me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro now fell again at her feet, and seizing her hand,
-he kissed it with all the transport that lovers only can feel who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
-pass suddenly from the depths of despair to the highest pinnacle
-of hope and joy. While he abandoned himself to the feelings
-of his heart, Eugenia for the first time forgot her reserve, and
-freely returned his caress&mdash;she felt that her love was sanctioned,
-and gave, her lips where her heart had long been engaged.
-"Alas!" said she, when her love could form itself into words,
-"what tortures had my brother spared me, had he but here
-named the husband of his choice! What aversion had I already
-conceived for my future lord! Ah, my dear Don Pedro, how I
-have hated you!" "Lovely Eugenia," replied he, "what charms
-has that hatred for me now! I will endeavour to merit it by
-adoring you for ever."</p>
-
-<p>After the happy pair had exhausted love's vocabulary, and
-the tumult of their hearts was somewhat calmed, Eugenia was
-anxious to know by what means the Student had gained her
-brother's friendship. Don Pedro did not conceal from her the
-amours of the Count and his sister, and related all that had
-passed the night before. It was for Eugenia an additional
-pleasure to learn that Belflor was to marry the sister of her
-own lover. Donna Juanna was too much interested in the welfare
-of her friend not to partake of her joy for this happy event,
-and warmly congratulated her, as also Don Pedro thereon. At
-last the lovers separated, after having agreed that they should
-not appear to know each other when they met before the Count
-and Don Luis.</p>
-
-<p>Don Pedro returned to his father, who, finding his son disposed
-to obey him, was the more pleased, inasmuch as he attributed
-this ready compliance to the firm manner in which he
-had spoken to him overnight. They presently received a note
-from Belflor, in which he informed them that he had obtained
-the King's consent to his marriage, as also for that of his sister<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
-with Don Pedro, on whom his Majesty had been pleased to confer
-a considerable appointment. He added, so diligently had
-his orders for the nuptials been executed, that everything was
-arranged for their taking place on the following day; and he
-came soon after they had received his letter, to confirm what
-he had written, and to present to them his sister Eugenia.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch05pic08.png" width="263" height="204" alt="Belflor presents Eugenia" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Luis received the lady with every mark of affection,
-and Leonora kissed her so much that her brother was almost
-jealous&mdash;although, whatever he might feel, he managed to constrain
-his love and delight, so as not to give the Count the least
-suspicion of their intelligence.</p>
-
-<p>As Belflor remarked his sister with great attention, he thought
-he could discover, notwithstanding her reserve, which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
-attributed to modesty, that Don Pedro was by no means displeasing
-to her. To be certain, however, he took an opportunity of
-speaking to her aside, and drew from her an avowal of her
-entire satisfaction. He then informed her of the name and
-rank of her intended, which he would not before communicate,
-lest the inequality of the stations should prejudice her against
-him; all which she feigned, marvellously well, to hear as for
-the first time.</p>
-
-<p>At last, after many compliments, which were remarkable for
-their sincerity, it was resolved that the weddings should take
-place at the house of Don Luis the next day, as Belflor had
-arranged. They were accordingly celebrated this evening, the
-rejoicing still continues, and now you know why they are so
-merry in that house. Every one is delighted&mdash;except the lady
-Marcella: she, while all else are laughing, is at this moment in
-tears. They are real tears too, this time! for the Count de
-Belflor, after the ceremony, informed Don Luis of the facts
-which preceded it; and the old gentleman has sent the duenna
-to the <i>Monasterio de las Arrepentidas</i>, where the thousand pistoles
-she received for seducing Leonora will enable her to
-repent having done so for the rest of her days.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 184px;">
-<img src="images/ch05tailpiece.png" width="184" height="176" alt="talilpiece of a gentleman in a landscape with a tower" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>NEW OBJECTS DISPLAYED TO DON CLEOPHAS; AND HIS REVENGE
-ON DONNA THOMASA.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialt.png" width="75" height="78" alt="T" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The Demon now directed the Student's attention to
-another part of the city. "You see," he continued,
-"that house which is directly under us:
-it contains something curious enough,&mdash;a man
-loaded with debt and sleeping profoundly." "Of course then,"
-said Leandro, "he is a person of distinction?" "Precisely
-so," answered Asmodeus: "he is a marquis, possessed of a
-hundred thousand ducats per annum, but whose expenses,
-nevertheless, exceed his income. His table and his mistresses
-require that he should support them with credit, but that causes
-him no anxiety; on the contrary, when he opens an account
-with a tradesman, he thinks that the latter is indebted to him.
-'It is you,' said he the other day to a draper, 'it is you, that I
-shall henceforth trust with the execution of my orders; it is a
-preference which you owe to my esteem.'</p>
-
-<p>"While the marquis enjoys so tranquilly the sweet repose of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
-which he deprives his creditors, look at a man who&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Stay, Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Don Cleophas hastily;
-"I perceive a carriage in the street, and cannot let it pass
-without asking what it contains." "Hush," said the Cripple,
-lowering his voice, as though he feared he should be heard:&mdash;"learn
-that that vehicle conceals one of the most dignified
-personages in this kingdom, a president, who is going to amuse
-himself with an elderly lady of Asturia, who is devoted to his
-pleasures. That he may not be known, he has taken the
-precaution of imitating Caligula, who on a similar occasion
-disguised himself in a wig.</p>
-
-<p>"But,&mdash;to return to the picture I was about to present to
-your sight when you interrupted me,&mdash;observe, in the very
-highest part of the mansion, where sleeps the marquis, a man
-who is writing in a chamber filled with books and manuscripts."
-"He is probably," said Zambullo, "the steward, labouring to
-devise some means for discharging his master's obligations."
-"Excellent," exclaimed the Devil; "that, indeed, forms a great
-part of the amusement of such gentry in the service of noblemen!
-They seek rather to profit from derangement of their
-masters' affairs than to put them in order. He is not, then, the
-steward whom you see; he is an author: the marquis keeps him
-in his house, to obtain the reputation of a patron of literature."
-"This author," replied Don Cleophas, "is apparently a man
-of eminence." "Judge for yourself!" replied the Demon.
-"He is surrounded by a thousand volumes, and is composing
-one, on Natural History, in which there will not be a line of
-his own. He pillages these books and manuscripts without
-mercy; and, although he does nothing but arrange and connect
-his larcenies, he has more vanity than the most original
-writer upon earth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic01.png" width="259" height="290" alt="The author at work" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"You are not aware," continued the Spirit, "who lives three
-doors from this mansion: it is La Chichona, the very lady
-who acted so honourable a part in the story of the Count de
-Belflor." "Ah!" said Leandro, "I am delighted to behold
-her. The dear creature, so considerate for youth, is doubtless
-one of the two old ladies whom I perceive in that room. One
-of them is leaning with both her elbows on the table, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
-attentively at the other, who is counting out some money.
-Which of them is La Chichona?" "Not the one who is
-counting," said the Demon; "her name is La Pebrada, and
-she is a distinguished member of the same profession: they
-are, indeed, partners; and are at this moment dividing the
-profits of an adventure which, by their assistance, has terminated
-favourably.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic02.png" width="263" height="273" alt="La Chichona and La Pebrada divide the profits" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"La Pebrada is the more successful of the two: she has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
-among her clients several rich widows, who subscribe to her
-daily register." "What do you mean by her register?" interrupted
-the Student. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "it contains
-the names of all handsome foreigners, and particularly Frenchmen,
-who come to Madrid. The instant La Pebrada hears of
-an arrival, away she posts to the hotel of the new comer, to
-learn every particular as to his country, birth, parentage,
-and education,&mdash;his age, form, and appearance, all which are
-duly reported to her subscribers; and if, on reflection, the
-heart of any of her widows is inclined to an acquaintance, she
-adroitly manages a speedy interview with the stranger."</p>
-
-<p>"That is extremely convenient," replied Zambullo, smiling,
-"and in some sort very proper; for, in truth, without these
-kind ladies and their agents, the youthful foreigner, who
-comes without introductions to Madrid, would lose an immense
-deal of time in gaining them. But, tell me, are there
-in other countries widows as generous and women as intriguing?"
-"Capital!" exclaimed the Devil&mdash;"if there are?
-Why! can you doubt it? I should be unworthy of my demonship
-if I neglected to provide all large towns with them in
-plenty."</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes upon Chichona's neighbour,&mdash;yon printer,
-who is working at his press, alone. He has dismissed the
-devils in his employ these three hours; and he is now engaged,
-for the night, on a work which he is printing privately." "Ah!
-what may it be?" said Leandro. "It treats of insults," replied
-the Demon; "and endeavours to prove that Religion is preferable
-to Honour; and that it is better to pardon than to avenge
-an affront." "Oh! the scoundrel!" exclaimed the Student
-"Well may he print in secret his infamous book. Its author
-had better not acknowledge his production: I would be one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
-the first to answer it with a horsewhip. What! can Religion
-forbid the preservation of one's honour?"</p>
-
-<p>"Let us not discuss that point," interrupted Asmodeus, with
-a malicious smile. "It appears that you have made the most
-of the lectures on morality you listened to at Alcala; and I
-give you joy of the result." "You may say what you please,"
-interrupted Cleophas in his turn, "and so may the writer of
-this wretched absurdity: but though his reasonings were clear
-as the noon-day sun, I should despise him and them. I am a
-Spaniard, and nothing is to me so delightful as revenge; and,
-by the by, since you have pledged yourself to satisfy me for the
-perfidy of my mistress, I call on you at once to keep your
-promise."</p>
-
-<p>"I yield with pleasure," replied the Demon, "to the wrath
-which agitates your breast. Oh! how I love those noble
-spirits who follow without scruple the dictates of their passions!
-I will obey your will at once; and indeed, the hour to avenge
-your wrongs is come: but first I wish to show you something
-which will amuse you vastly. Look beyond the printing-office,
-and observe with attention what is passing in an apartment,
-hung with drab cloth." "I perceive," said Leandro, "five or
-six women, who are with eagerness offering phials of something
-to a sort of valet, and they appear desperately agitated."</p>
-
-<p>"They are," replied Asmodeus, "devotees, who have great
-reason to be agitated. There is in the next room a sick
-inquisitor. This venerable personage, who is about thirty-five
-years old, is attended by two of his dearest penitents, with
-untiring watchfulness. One is concocting his gruel, while the
-other at his pillow is employed in keeping his head warm, and
-is covering his stomach with a kind of blanket made of at least
-fifty lamb-skins." "What on earth is the matter with him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
-then?" asked Zambullo. "He has a cold in his head,"
-answered the Devil; "and there is danger lest the disorder
-should extend to his lungs."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic03.png" width="264" height="221" alt="The inquisitor nursed by two penitents" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The ladies whom you see in his antechamber have hastened,
-on the alarm of his indisposition, with all sorts of remedies.
-One brings, to allay his apprehended cough, syrups of jujubes,
-mallows, coral, and coltsfoot; another, to preserve the said
-lungs of his reverence, syrups of long-life, speedwell, amaranth,
-and the elixir vitæ; this one, to fortify his brain and stomach,
-has brought balm, cinnamon, and treacle waters, besides gutta
-vitæ, and the essences of nutmegs and ambergris; that offers
-anacardine and bezoardic confections; while a fifth carries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
-tinctures of cloves, gilly-flowers, sunflowers, and of coral and
-emeralds. All these zealous penitents are boasting to the
-valet of the virtues of the medicines they offer; and each by
-turns, drawing him aside, and slipping a ducat in his hand,
-whispers in his ear: 'Laurence, my dear Laurence, manage
-so, I beg of you, that what I bring for the dear man may
-have the preference.'"</p>
-
-<p>"By Jupiter!" cried Don Cleophas, "it must be allowed
-that inquisitors&mdash;even sick inquisitors&mdash;are happy mortals." "I
-can answer for that," replied Asmodeus; "I almost envy them
-their lot, myself; and, like the son of Philip of Macedon, who
-once said that he would have been Diogenes, if he had not
-been Alexander, I can unhesitatingly say, that, if I were not a
-devil I would be an inquisitor."</p>
-
-<p>"But, Signor Student," continued he, "let us go! Let us
-away, to punish the ingrate who so ill-requited your tenderness."
-Zambullo instantly seized the end of the Demon's
-cloak, and a second time was whirled with him through the
-air, until they alighted on the house of Donna Thomasa.</p>
-
-<p>This frail damsel was seated at table, with the four gentlemen
-who, a few hours before, had so eagerly sought the acquaintance
-of Don Cleophas on the roof of her house. He
-trembled with rage, as he beheld them feasting on a brace of
-partridges and a rabbit, which, with some choice wine, he had
-sent to the traitress for his own supper; and, to add to his
-mortification, he perceived that joy reigned in the repast; and
-that it was evident, by the deportment of the lady, that the
-company of these scoundrels was much more agreeable to her
-than that of himself. "Oh! the wretches!" he cried, in a
-perfect fury, "to see them enjoying themselves at my expense!
-Vastly pleasant, is it not?"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Why, I must confess," replied the Demon, "that you have
-witnessed spectacles more pleasing; but he who rejoices in the
-favours of such fair ones must expect to share them. This
-sort of thing has happened a thousand times; especially in
-France, among the abbés, the gentlemen of the long robe, and
-the financiers." "If I had a sword, though," said Leandro, "I
-would fall upon the villains, and spoil their sport for them."
-"You would be hardly matched," replied the Demon;&mdash;"what
-were one among so many? Leave your revenge to me! I
-will manage it better than you could. I will soon set them
-together by the ears, in inspiring each of them with a fit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
-tenderness for your mistress: their swords will be out in no
-time, and you will be delighted with the uproar."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic04.png" width="264" height="232" alt="The guests quarrel over Donna Thomasa" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus had no sooner spoken than he breathed forcibly,
-and from his mouth issued a violet-coloured vapour which
-descended tortuously, like a fiery serpent, and spread itself
-round the table of Donna Thomasa. In an instant, one of her
-guests, more inflammable than his companions, rose from his
-seat, and, approaching the lady, embraced her amorously; when
-the others, in whom the spirit had begun to work, hastened
-together to snatch from him the dainty prize. Each claimed a
-preference: words ensued; a jealous rage possessed them;
-blows succeeded, and, as the Devil had foretold, they drew
-their weapons and commenced a furious combat. In the
-meanwhile Donna Thomasa exerted her lungs, and the neighbourhood
-was speedily alarmed by her cries. They call for
-the police; the police arrive: they break open the door, and
-find two of the Hectors extended on the floor. They seize
-upon the others, and take them with the Helen of the party
-to prison. In vain did she weep; in vain did she tear her
-locks, and exclaim in despair:&mdash;the tears of unfortunate beauty
-had no more effect on the cavaliers who conducted her, than
-they had on her former knight Zambullo, who almost died
-with laughter, in which the god of love most unnaturally
-joined him.</p>
-
-<p>"Well!" said the Demon to the Student, "are you content?"
-"No, no!" replied Don Cleophas; "to satisfy me in full,
-place me upon the prison, that I may have the pleasure of beholding
-in her dungeon, the miserable who trifled with my
-love. I feel for her, now, a hatred which exceeds even the
-affection with which she formerly inspired me." "Be it so!"
-said the Devil; "you shall ever find me a slave to your will,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
-though it interfered with mine and my interests,&mdash;provided
-always, that it is safe to indulge you."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 193px;">
-<img src="images/ch06pic05.png" width="193" height="136" alt="Donna Thomasa in prison" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They flew through the air, and were on the prison before
-the officers arrived with their captives. The two assassins
-were at once consigned to one of its lowest deeps, while
-Thomasa was led to a bed of straw, which she was to share
-with three or four other abandoned women, who had fallen
-into the hands of justice the same day; and with whom she
-was destined to be transported to the colonies, which a grateful
-mother country generally endows with this description of
-female inhabitants.</p>
-
-<p>"I am satisfied," said Zambullo; "I have tasted a delicious
-revenge: my dear Thomasa will not pass the night quite so
-pleasantly as she had anticipated. So, now, if you please, we
-will continue our observations." "We could not be in a better
-place, then," replied the Spirit. "Within these walls is much
-to interest you. Innocent and guilty, in somewhat equal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
-numbers, are here enclosed: it is the hell in which commences
-the punishment of the one, and the purgatory in which the virtue
-of the others may be purified,&mdash;you see I'm a good Catholic,
-Signor Student! Of both of these species of prisoners I will
-show you examples, and I will inform you why they are here
-enfettered."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE PRISON, AND THE PRISONERS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And before I commence my memoirs, just observe
-the gaolers at the entrance of this horrible
-place. The poets of antiquity placed but one
-Cerberus at the gate of their hell: there are
-many more here, however, as you perceive. They are creatures
-who have lost all the feelings of humanity, if they ever
-possessed any;&mdash;the most malicious of my brethren could
-hardly replace one of them. But I observe that you are looking
-with horror on those cells whose only furniture consists
-of a wretched bed,&mdash;those fearful dungeons appear to you so
-many tombs. You are reasonably astonished at the misery
-you behold; and you deplore the fate of those unhappy
-persons whom the law restrains; still, they are not all equally
-to be pitied; and I will enable you to distinguish between
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"To begin, in that large cell to the right are four men sleeping
-in two beds; one of them is an innkeeper, accused of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
-having poisoned a foreigner who died suddenly the other day
-in his house. They assert that the deceased owed his death
-to the quality of the wine he partook of; the host maintains,
-that the quantity, alone, killed him: and the accused will be
-believed, for the stranger was a German." "Well! who is in
-the right, the innkeeper or his accusers?" said Don Cleophas.
-"It is difficult to decide," replied the Devil "The wine was
-certainly drugged; but, i' faith, the Baron drank so largely, that
-the judges may for the nonce most conscientiously acquit a
-tavern-keeper of poisoning his customer."</p>
-
-<p>"His bedfellow is an assassin by profession;&mdash;not a soldier,
-but one of those scoundrels who are called <i>Valientes</i>, and who
-for four or five pistoles obligingly minister to all who will go
-to so great an expense for the purpose of secretly ridding
-themselves of some one to whom they owe an obligation.
-The third prisoner is a dancing-master, who has been teaching one
-of his female pupils a step not usually practised in genteel
-society; and the fourth is an unlucky gallant caught by the
-patrole in the act of entering, by the balcony, the apartment
-of a lady, whom he was about to console for the absence of
-her husband. He has only to declare the charitable object of
-his visit, to withdraw himself from the hands of justice; but
-he nobly prefers to suffer as a robber, rather than endanger
-the reputation of his mistress."</p>
-
-<p>"He is a model of discretion, indeed," said the Student;
-"but it must be allowed that the cavaliers of Spain excel
-those of all other nations in affairs of gallantry; I would bet
-anything that a Frenchman, for example, would never permit
-himself to be hanged under similar circumstances." "And I
-would back you for that," answered the Devil; "he would
-rather scale the balcony of a lady, of whose favours he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
-boast, in broad day-light, for the express purpose of proclaiming
-her disgrace."</p>
-
-<p>"In a cell near that of the four men I have just spoken of,"
-continued Asmodeus, "is a celebrated witch, who enjoys the
-reputation of doing all impossible things. By the power of her
-magic, old dowagers can find, they say, youthful admirers who
-will love them for their bloom; husbands are rendered faithful
-to their wives; and coquettes sincerely devoted to the rich
-fools who keep them: all which is, I need not tell you, absurd
-enough. Her only secret is in persuading people that she has
-one, and in making the most of that opinion. The Holy
-Office is jealous of the poor creature, so have called her to
-account; and she is likely to be burnt at the first <i>aúto de fé</i>."</p>
-
-<p>"Under this cell, in a dark dungeon, lodges a young tavern
-keeper."&mdash;"What! another?" cried Leandro,&mdash;"surely these
-people are going to poison all the world." "Mine host, in
-this case," replied Asmodeus, "will not suffer for his wine;
-it is for an illegal traffic in spirits that he was arrested yesterday,
-at the instance of the Holy Office also. I will explain
-the matter to you in a few words.</p>
-
-<p>"An old soldier, having risen by his courage, or rather by his
-patience, to the rank of serjeant, came to Madrid in search of
-recruits, and demanded a lodging in a tavern to which he was
-directed by his billet. The host told the serjeant that he certainly
-had spare rooms in his house, but that he could not
-think of putting him into any one of them, as they were
-haunted by a ghost who visited them nightly, and most shockingly
-ill-treated those who had the temerity to occupy them.
-The serjeant was not however to be daunted: 'Place me,' said
-he, 'in any room you please; give me a light, some wine, a
-pipe and tobacco, and never trouble yourself for my safety;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
-ghosts, depend upon it, have the highest respect for an old
-campaigner, whose hairs have whitened under arms.'</p>
-
-<p>"As he appeared so resolute, they showed the old soldier to
-a chamber, gave him all he had required; and he began to
-smoke and drink at his ease. The hour of midnight sounded,
-but no ghost appeared to disturb the profound silence that
-reigned throughout the house; it seemed as though the spirit
-did indeed respect the valiant bearing of his new guest: but,
-between one and two o'clock, the wakeful sentinel was alarmed
-by a horrible din, as of rattling chains, and beheld, entering
-his apartment, a fearful spectre, clothed in black, and enveloped
-with iron chains. Our old smoker, not in the least alarmed
-at this spectacle, rose calmly from his chair, advanced towards
-the spirit, drew his sword, and gave him with the flat side of
-it, a terrible blow on the head.</p>
-
-<p>"The phantom, unaccustomed to find such courageous
-tenants in his domain, and perceiving that the soldier was preparing
-to repeat the blow, fell upon his knees before him,
-crying out,&mdash;'Pardon, signor serjeant; for the love of Heaven,
-do not kill me: have pity upon a poor devil, who throws
-himself at your feet to implore your clemency. I conjure you
-by St James, who, like yourself, was a valiant soldier&mdash;&mdash;' 'If
-you would preserve your life,' interrupted the serjeant,
-'tell me who you are, and what you do here. Speak the truth,&mdash;or,
-by our Lady, I will cut you in two, as the knights of old
-split the giants they encountered.' At these words, the spirit,
-finding with whom he had to do, saw that he had better lose
-no time in his explanation.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic01.png" width="266" height="291" alt="William kneels before the serjeant" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'I am,' said he, 'the head-waiter of this inn; my name is
-William; and I love Juanilla, the only daughter of the landlord,
-and I do not love without return; but as her parents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
-have a better match in view, my sweetheart and myself have
-arranged that, in order to compel them to choose me for their
-son-in-law, I shall nightly disguise myself in this manner. I
-clothe myself in a long black cloak, and put the jack-chain
-round my neck; and, thus equipped, I go about the house,
-from the cellar to the garret, making all the noise I can, of
-which you have heard a specimen. When I arrive at the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
-of my master and mistress's bed-room, I rattle my chains, and
-cry loud enough for them to hear,&mdash;"Hope not to rest in
-peace, until you have married Juanilla to your head-waiter,
-William!"'</p>
-
-<p>"'After having pronounced these words in a hoarse and
-broken voice, I continue my clatter, and vanish by a window
-into the chamber where Juanilla sleeps alone, to inform her of
-what I have done. And now, signor serjeant, you may be
-assured that I have told you the whole truth. I know that
-after this confession you may ruin me, by informing my master
-of the affair; but if, instead of thus injuring me, you are inclined
-to serve me, I swear that my gratitude&mdash;&mdash;' 'Ah!'
-interrupted the soldier, 'what service can you hope from me?'
-'You have only in the morning,' replied the young man, 'to
-say that you have seen the ghost, and that it has so terribly
-frightened you,&mdash;&mdash;' 'What, the deuce! frightened me!'
-again interrupted the old warrior; 'do you expect that Serjeant
-Hannibal Antonio Quebrantador is going to say that he
-was frightened? I would rather say that a hundred thousand
-devils had me&mdash;&mdash;' 'That is not absolutely necessary,' in his
-turn interrupted William; 'and after all, it is of no great consequence
-what you say, provided that you but assist me in my
-design: only let me marry Juanilla, and see myself established
-by the assistance of her father, and I promise to keep open
-house for you and all your friends.'</p>
-
-<p>"'You are a regular seducer, master William,' cried the
-soldier; 'you want to join me in a downright cheat: the
-matter may be serious, and you take it so lightly, as to make
-me, even, tremble for the consequences. But away with you!
-continue your infernal noise, and go to Juanilla to render your
-account: I will manage the rest.'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic02.png" width="266" height="270" alt="The serjeant speaks to his host and hostess" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Accordingly, on the following morning, the serjeant said
-to his host and hostess: 'Well! I have seen the ghost, conversed
-with it, and found it very civil and reasonable.' "I am,"
-said he to me, "the great-great-grandfather of the master of
-this house. I had a daughter, whom I solemnly promised to
-the father of master William's grandfather: nevertheless, despite
-my pledge, I gave her hand to another, and died shortly afterwards.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
-Ever since then, I have remained in purgatory, suffering
-for this perjury; and I shall continue in torment until some
-one of my descendants has married into the family of the head
-waiter. To accomplish this, I come here nightly; but it is in
-vain that I command them to unite Juanilla and young William,&mdash;the
-son of my grandchild turns a deaf ear to my entreaties,
-as well as his wife; but tell them, if you please, signor serjeant,
-that if they do not as I desire of them soon, I shall come to
-extremities with them, and will plague them both in a way they
-little dream of."'</p>
-
-<p>"The host, who is simple enough, was somewhat shaken by
-this discourse; but the hostess, still more silly than her husband,
-was so much affected by it, that she fancied she already
-saw the ghost at her heels, and at once consented to the match,
-which took place on the following day. William shortly afterwards
-took an inn in another part of the town, and serjeant
-Quebrantador failed not to visit him frequently. The new
-tavern-keeper at first, out of gratitude, filled him with wine at
-discretion; which so pleased the old moustache, that he took
-all his friends to the house: he even there enrolled his recruits,
-and made them drunk at the host's expense.</p>
-
-<p>"At last, therefore, master William became tired of constantly
-wetting so many parching throats; but, on communicating his
-ideas upon the subject to the serjeant, the latter, with a disregard
-of his own infraction of their treaty which would have fitted him
-to command an army, was unjust enough to accuse mine host
-of ingratitude. William replied, the other rejoined, and the
-conversation ended, as their first had begun, with a blow of
-the serjeant's long sword on the thick head of the unfortunate
-tavern-keeper. Some passers-by naturally sided with the civilian:
-of these Quebrantador wounded three or four; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
-his wrath was yet unsatisfied, when he was suddenly assailed
-by a host of archers, who arrested him as a disturber of the
-peace. They conducted him to prison, where he declared all
-that I have told you; and upon his deposition the ex-head-waiter
-was encaged also. His father-in-law demands a divorce;
-and the Holy Office, hearing that William has acquired some
-considerable property, has kindly undertaken to investigate the
-matter."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic03.png" width="264" height="252" alt="The serjeant is restrained from attacking William" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Egad!" cried Don Cleophas, "our holy inquisition is ever
-alive to its interests. No sooner do they light upon a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
-profitable&mdash;&mdash;" "Softly!" interrupted the devil, "have a care how
-you launch out against that tribunal:&mdash;for it, the very walls
-have ears. They echo even words that the mouth has never
-spoken; and for myself, I hardly dare to mention it without
-trembling."</p>
-
-<p>"Over the unfortunate William, in the first chamber to the
-left, are two men worthy of your pity; one of them is a
-youthful valet, whom his master's wife privately indulged with
-the use of more than her husband's clothes. One day, however,
-the husband surprised them together; when the lady
-immediately began crying out for help, and accused the valet
-of having violated her person. The poor fellow was arrested,
-of course; and, according to appearances, will be sacrificed to
-his mistress's reputation. His companion, still less guilty than
-the valet, is also about to pay the forfeit of his life. He was
-footman to a duchess who has been robbed of a valuable
-diamond, which they accuse him of having taken. He will be
-to-morrow put to the torture, until the rack wrings from him
-a confession of the theft; and in the meanwhile the lady's
-maid, who is the real culprit, and whom no one dares to suspect,
-will moralise with the duchess on the depravity of
-modern servants."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," said Leandro, "let not the
-wretched footman perish, I entreat you! His innocence interests
-me for his life. Save him, by your power, from the
-unjust and cruel torture they would inflict: he deserves&mdash;&mdash;"
-"You cannot expect it, Signor Student!" interrupted the
-demon. "What! do you suppose that I would prevent injustice?&mdash;that
-I would snatch the guiltless from destruction? As well
-might you pray an attorney to desist from the ruin of the widow
-or the orphan!"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Oh! and it please you," added the Devil, "expect not of
-me that which is contrary to my interest, unless indeed it be of
-great advantage to yourself. Besides, were I willing to deliver
-yonder prisoner from bondage, how could I effect it?" "How!"
-repeated Zambullo, "do you mean to say that you have not
-the power so to do?" "Certainly," replied the Cripple.
-"Had you read the Enchiridion, or Albertus Magnus, you
-would know that neither I, nor any of my brethren, can
-liberate a prisoner from his cell: even I, were I so unfortunate
-as to be within the talons of the law, could only hope to escape
-by bribing my jailer, or my judges.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next room, on the same side, lodges a surgeon
-convicted of having, in a fit of jealousy, drained the warm
-blood which wantoned in the veins of his handsome wife,
-after the model of the death of Seneca. He was yesterday
-tenderly questioned on the rack; and having confessed the
-crime of which he was accused, he let out the secrets of his
-profession, by detailing a very novel and interesting mode
-which he had especially adopted for increasing his practice.
-He stated that he had been in the habit of wounding persons
-in the street with a bayonet, and of then lancing himself into his
-house by a back-door. Of course the patient used to call out
-lustily at this unexpected operation; and as the neighbours
-flocked around at his cries, the surgeon, mingling with the
-crowd, and finding a man bathed in his blood, very charitably
-had him carried to his shop, and dressed the wound with the
-same hand that had given it.</p>
-
-<p>"Although the rascally practitioner has confessed to this
-atrocity, for which a thousand deaths were not one too many,
-he still hopes that his life will be spared; and it is not improbable
-that it may be so, seeing that he is related to the lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
-who has the honour of clouting the little princes of Spain:
-besides which, he is the inventor of a marvellous wash, of
-which the secret would die with him, and which has the virtues
-of whitening the skin, and of giving to the wrinkled front the
-juvenile appearance of fifteen. Now, as this incomparable
-water serves as the fountain of youth to three ladies of the
-palace, who have united their efforts to save him, he relies so
-confidently on their credit at court, or rather on that of his
-wash, that he sleeps tranquilly in the soothing hope that he
-will awaken to the agreeable intelligence of his pardon."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive, upon a bed in the same room," said the Student,
-"another man, who appears to me to be sleeping peaceably
-enough; his business is not a very bad one, I expect." "It
-is a very ticklish affair, though," replied the Demon. "That
-cavalier is a gentleman of Biscay, who has enriched himself by
-the fire of a carbine: I will tell you how. About a fortnight
-ago, shooting in a forest with his elder and only brother, who
-was in possession of a large estate, he killed him, by mistake,
-instead of a partridge." "A very lucky mistake, that," cried
-Don Cleophas, laughing, "for a younger son." "Yes," replied
-Asmodeus: "but a collateral branch of the family, the
-members of which would have no objection to see the
-deceased's estate fall within their line, have disinterestedly
-prosecuted his murderer on the charge of having designedly
-shot him, that he might succeed to his property. The accused,
-however, immediately rendered himself into the hands of
-justice; and he appears to be so deeply afflicted by the death of
-his brother, that they can scarcely imagine him guilty of deliberately
-taking his life." "And has he really nothing with which
-to reproach himself, beyond his fatal awkwardness?" asked
-Leandro. "No," replied Asmodeus; "his design was innocent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
-enough; but when an elder son is in possession of all the
-wealth of his family, I should certainly not advise him to make
-a shooting-party in company with his younger brother.</p>
-
-<p>"Observe attentively those two youths who, in a retreat near
-to that of the fatal shot, are conversing as merrily as though
-they were at liberty. They are a pair of veritable <i>picaros;</i>
-and there is one, especially, who may some day amuse the
-public with one of those details of roguery which never fail to
-delight it. He is a modern Guzman d'Alfarache: it is he who
-wears the brown velvet vest, and has a plume of feathers in
-his hat.</p>
-
-<p>"Not three months since, in this very town, he was page to
-the Count d'Onato; and he would still have been in the suite
-of that nobleman but for a little piece of rascality, which gained
-for him his present lodging, and which I will narrate to you.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, this youth, whose name is Domingo, received a
-hundred lashes, which the Count's intendant, otherwise governor
-of the pages, directed to be bestowed on him as a
-reward for some trick which appeared to deserve it. Domingo
-was, however, impatient under such a load of obligation; and
-so, proudly resolved to return it on the first opportunity. He
-had remarked more than once that the Signor Don Como, as
-the intendant styled himself, delighted to wash his hands with
-orange-flower water, and to anoint himself with pastes redolent
-of the pink or jessamine; that he was more careful of his
-person than an old coquette, and that, in short, he was one of
-those coxcombs who imagine that no woman of taste can
-behold them without loving them. These observations inspired
-Domingo with a scheme for revenge, which he communicated
-to a young waiting-woman who resided in the neighbourhood,
-whose assistance he required for the execution of his project,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
-and in whose favour he stood so high that she had none left to
-grant him.</p>
-
-<p>"This damsel, called Floretta, in order to have the pleasure
-of an unrestrained intercourse with the page, introduced him
-as her cousin into the house of Donna Luziana, her mistress,
-whose father was at that time absent from Madrid. The
-cunning Domingo, after having informed his pretended relative
-of her part in his design, going one morning into the apartment
-of Don Como, found my gentleman trying on a new dress,
-looking with complacency at his figure in a mirror, and
-evidently by no means displeased with its reflection. The
-page affected to be struck with admiration of this Narcissus,
-and exclaimed, in well-feigned transport: 'Upon my honour,
-Signor Don Como, you have the air of royalty itself. I see,
-daily, nobles richly clad; but notwithstanding the elegance
-and splendour of their vestments, I discern in none that dignity
-of mien which distinguishes you. I will not assert,' added he,
-'that with the respect I have for you, I may not regard you with
-eyes somewhat prepossessed in your favour; but this I can say,
-that I know of no cavalier at court whom you would not
-totally eclipse.'</p>
-
-<p>"The intendant smiled at this discourse, which offered so
-agreeable a tribute to his vanity, and graciously replied:&mdash;'You
-flatter me, my friend; or rather, as you say, you esteem me so
-highly, that your friendship endows me with graces that nature
-has refused.' 'I cannot think so,' replied the parasite; 'for
-there is no one who does not speak of you in terms which I
-dare not repeat, lest you should think I flattered you indeed.
-I wish you had heard what was said to me yesterday by one of
-my cousins, who is in the service of a lady of quality.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Como failed not to ask what it was that Domingo's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
-cousin had said of him. 'Why,' replied the page, 'I ought
-hardly to tell you; but she enlarged on the majesty of your
-figure,&mdash;on the charms which are everywhere visible in your
-person; and, what is better, she told me, in confidence, that
-the greatest delight of Donna Luziana, her mistress, is to
-watch for your passing her house, and to feast her eyes with
-beholding you.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic04.png" width="259" height="279" alt="The page flattering Don Como" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"'And who is this lady?' said the intendant,&mdash;'where does
-she live?' 'What!' replied Domingo; 'do you not know the
-only daughter of general Don Fernando, our neighbour?'
-'Ah! to be sure I do,' replied Don Como: 'I remember to
-have frequently heard of the wealth and surpassing beauty of
-this Luziana; she is not to be despised. But is it possible
-that I can have attracted her attention?' 'Can you doubt
-it?' exclaimed the page. 'Besides, my own cousin told me
-of the fact; and, though in a humble situation, she is incapable
-of falsehood, and I would answer for her word with my life.'
-'In that case,' said the intendant, 'I should be glad to have a
-little private conversation with your relative, to engage her in
-my interest by the customary trifling presents to which her
-situation entitles her; and if she should advise me to pay
-court to her mistress, egad! I'll try my fortune. And why
-not? It is true that there is some difference between my rank
-and that of Don Fernando; but still I am a gentleman, and
-have a good four hundred ducats per annum. There are more
-extraordinary matches than this made every day.'</p>
-
-<p>"The page fortified his governor in his resolution, and procured
-for him an interview with his cousin; who, finding the
-intendant disposed to swallow anything, assured him of her
-mistress's inclination in his favour. 'You have no idea,' said
-she, 'how often Luziana has questioned me as to the handsome
-cavalier who had made such an impression on her heart; and
-you may be sure that my replies were neither unpleasing to
-her, nor unfavourable to you: in short, Signor, she loves you;
-and you have everything to hope from her affection. Seek
-then her hand, openly and without hesitation; justify her
-secret passion, by showing that she loves a cavalier, not only
-the most charming and well-made, but the most gallant, of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
-Madrid. Give her, in serenades, the delightful assurance that
-your heart responds to hers; and rely on me to picture your
-devotion in the most pleasing colours,&mdash;an office as agreeable
-to myself as I hope it will be useful to you.' Don Como,
-transported with joy at finding the maid so warmly disposed
-to serve him, almost stifled her with his caresses; and, placing
-a worthless ring upon her finger, which he had liberally purchased
-of a Jew, and which had served the same purpose fifty
-times, he exclaimed,&mdash;'Dearest Floretta! accept this ring as an
-earnest of my gratitude, until I have an opportunity of more
-worthily recompensing the favours you are about to shower
-on me.'</p>
-
-<p>"Never was lover in greater ecstacy than was our intendant
-at the result of his conversation with Floretta; and as he was
-indebted to Domingo for this happiness, the page not only
-received his thanks, but was rewarded by the magnificent
-present of a pair of silk stockings, some shirts trimmed with
-lace, and a promise of the Signor's losing no opportunity which
-might offer for promoting his interests. 'My dear friend,' said
-he, on leaving Floretta, 'what is your opinion of the steps I
-should take in this matter? Do you think I should commence
-with an impassioned and sublime epistle to my Luziana?'
-'Decidedly,' replied the page. 'Make her a declaration of
-your love in fitting terms: I have a presentiment that it will
-not be badly received.' 'Well! I think so too,' replied the
-intendant; 'at all events, I will try the experiment.' Accordingly,
-down he sat to compose the missive; and after having
-torn in pieces at least fifty scrawls, which would have made
-the fortune of a German romancist, he at last succeeded in
-composing a billet-doux which satisfied his scruples. It was
-conceived in the following grandiloquent and affecting terms:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Months have rolled like centuries, oh! lovely Luziana,
-since, inspired by the renown which everywhere proclaims your
-perfections, my too-sensible soul has yielded to the flames of
-love, to burn for you alone! My heart consumed in secret, a
-willing prey to the fires that devoured me; and I never dared
-proclaim my sufferings to you, much less to seek for consolation.
-But a happy chance has recently revealed the soothing
-secret that, from behind the jealous screen which conceals your
-celestial charms from the eyes of men, you sometimes deign to
-look with pity on me as I pass;&mdash;that, directed by the divinity
-who guards you, and the destiny of your star,&mdash;oh, happy
-star for me!&mdash;you even think of me with kindness. I hasten
-then in all humility to consecrate my life unto your service;
-and should I be so fortunate as to obtain permission so to do,
-to renounce in your favour all ladies past, or present, or to
-come.</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Don Como de la Higuera</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"Domingo and Floretta were not a little amused, on the
-receipt of this letter, at the expense of the poor intendant.
-But, not contented with the folly they had already induced
-him to commit, they set their wits to work to compose an
-answer to the billet which should be sufficiently tender. This
-done, it was copied by Floretta, and delivered by the page on
-the following day to Don Como. It was in these words:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'I know not who can have so well informed you of my
-secret sentiments. Some one has however betrayed me. Still,
-I pardon the treachery, since, to it I owe an avowal of your
-love. I see many pass before my window, but I look with
-pleasure upon you alone; and I am too happy to find that I
-am dear to you. Perhaps I am wrong to feel this delight, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
-still more wrong to dare to tell you so. If it be a fault in me,
-your virtues have caused, and must excuse it.</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Donna Luziana</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"Although this letter was rather too warm for the daughter
-of a Spanish general, as its authors had not thought much
-about ceremony, the presumptuous Don Como received it
-without suspicion. He thought sufficiently well of himself to
-imagine that for him a lady might well forget somewhat of the
-usages of society. 'Ah! Domingo,' he cried, with an air of
-triumph, after having read the letter aloud, 'you see, my friend,
-that the fish bites. Congratulate me! I shall soon be son-in-law
-to Don Fernando, or my name's not Don Como de la
-Higuera.'</p>
-
-<p>"'It is beyond a doubt,' said the rascally confidant; 'you
-seem to have made a tremendous impression on the girl. But,
-à-propos,' added he, 'I must not forget to tell you that my
-cousin particularly desired me to say, that to-morrow, at latest,
-you should serenade your mistress, in order to complete her
-infatuation.' 'I will on no account omit it,' replied the intendant.
-'You may assure your cousin that I will in all things
-follow her advice; and that to-morrow, without fail, in the
-middle of the night, the street shall resound with one of the
-most gallant concerts that was ever heard in Madrid.' And
-away went the intendant to secure the assistance of a celebrated
-musician, to whom he communicated his project, and whom he
-charged with the care of its execution.</p>
-
-<p>"In the meanwhile, Floretta, informed of the intended
-serenade, and finding her mistress in a desirable mood, said
-to her,&mdash;'Madam, I am preparing for you an agreeable diversion.'
-'What may that be?' asked Luziana. 'Why,' replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
-the waiting-maid, laughing until the tears ran from her eyes,
-'there is much to amuse you. An original, one Don Como,
-governor of the pages of the Count d'Onato, has taken it into
-his head to choose you as the sovereign lady of his thoughts;
-and he intends, to-morrow, in order that you may no longer
-remain ignorant of his devotion, to gratify you with the sound
-of music and sweet voices, in an evening serenade.' Donna
-Luziana, whose composition was none of the most grave, and
-who was far from foreseeing an unpleasant consequence to her
-in the gallantries of the intendant, instead of regarding the
-matter seriously, was delighted at the anticipated tribute to her
-charms; and thus, without knowing what she did, assisted in
-confirming the amorous Don Como in an illusion, of which
-it would have shocked her greatly to have been supposed
-designedly the author.</p>
-
-<p>"The night came, and with it appeared, before the balcony of
-the lady, two carriages, from which descended the gallant Como
-and his confidant, accompanied by six musicians, vocal and
-instrumental, who commenced a very decent concert, which
-lasted for a considerable time. They performed many of the
-newest airs, and sang all the songs in vogue whose verses told
-the power of love in uniting hearts despite the obstacles of
-fortune, and the inequality of rank; while at every couplet,
-which the general's daughter perceived to be directed to herself,
-her merriment knew no bounds.</p>
-
-<p>"When the serenade was over, and the performers had departed
-in the carriages which brought them, the crowd which the
-music had attracted dispersed, and our lover remained in the
-street with Domingo alone. He approached the balcony,
-whence, in a few minutes, the servant-girl, with her mistress's
-permission, said to him in a feigned voice: 'Is that you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
-Signor Don Como?' 'Who asks me that question?' replied
-the Don in a languishing tone. 'It is,' rejoined the girl,
-'Donna Luziana, who would know if the concert she has
-heard but now, is an offering of your gallantry to her.' 'It
-is,' exclaimed the intendant, 'but a shadow of those festivals
-my love prepares for her who is the marvel of our days, if she
-will deign receive them from a lover who is sacrificed on the
-altar of her beauty.'</p>
-
-<p>"At this brilliant metaphor, Luziana with difficulty restrained
-her laughter; but, coming forward and putting her head
-partially out of the little window from which her maid had
-addressed him, she said to the intendant, as seriously as
-possible: 'Signor Don Como, you are, I perceive, no novice
-in the art of love; in you, each gallant cavalier who would gain
-his lady's heart, may find a model for his conduct. I thank
-you for your serenade, and feel flattered by your attention;
-but,' added she, 'retire now, lest we should be observed;
-another time we may, unrestrained, indulge in further conversation.'
-As she finished these words, she closed the window,
-leaving the intendant in the street, highly delighted at the kindness
-she had displayed for him, and the page greatly astonished
-that the lady had herself undertaken a part in the comedy.</p>
-
-<p>"This little fête, including the carriages and the enormous
-quantity of wine which its bibulous performers had consumed,
-cost Don Como upwards of a hundred ducats; and, two days
-afterwards, his confidant engaged him in a further outlay, in the
-following manner. Having learned that, on the night of St.
-John,&mdash;a night so celebrated in this city,&mdash;Floretta was about
-to join the damsels of her class at the <i>fiesta del sotillo</i>, Domingo
-undertook to enliven this dance by a magnificent breakfast at
-the intendant's expense.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic05.png" width="245" height="292" alt="Don Como serenades Luziana" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'Accordingly, Signor Don Como,' said he, on the eve of
-this festival, 'you are aware of what takes place to-morrow. I
-thought, however, you would like to be informed that Donna
-Luziana intends to repair at break of day to the banks of the
-Mançanarez, to witness the <i>sotillo</i>. I need say no more to the
-Corypheus of gallant cavaliers;&mdash;you are not the man to
-neglect so favourable an opportunity, and I am certain that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
-your mistress and her companions will not fare badly to-morrow.'
-'Of that you may be sure,' replied the governor,
-'and I am obliged to you for informing me of her intention:
-you shall see if I know how to kick the ball as it bounds.' In
-effect, very early on the following day, four of the Count's
-servants, conducted by Domingo, and loaded with every description
-of cold meat, cooked in all fashions, with an infinite
-number of small loaves and bottles of delicious wines, arrived
-on the bank of the river, where Floretta and her companions
-were dancing, like nymphs before the golden throne of Aurora.</p>
-
-<p>"Had that goddess herself appeared, she would hardly have
-been more cordially greeted than were the wines and cold
-collation which the page brought on the part of Don Como;
-offering, as they did, so agreeable a repast after the delightful
-fatigues of the dance, which they so agreeably interrupted.
-The damsels seated themselves on the velvet turf of the meadow,
-and lost no time in paying due honour to the feast, the while
-laughing immoderately at the dupe who gave it; for Domingo's
-kind cousin had not omitted to inform them of their benefactor,
-and his amorous adventure.</p>
-
-<p>"While they were in the midst of their rejoicing and their
-breakfast, they perceived the squire, richly dressed, and mounted
-on one of the Count's steeds, which was ambling towards them.
-He rode up to his confidant, and gaily saluted the ladies, who
-rose at his approach, and politely thanked him for his generosity.
-His eyes wandered among the company in search of
-Donna Luziana, as he was anxious to deliver himself of a
-speech, glittering with compliments as the sward beneath his
-horse's feet with flowers, and which he had composed during
-his ride in honour of his mistress. Great therefore was his
-grief, when Floretta, taking him aside, informed him that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
-slight indisposition had prevented her lady from joining in the
-festival. The Don, with a proper display of sensibility on the
-occasion, was particular in his inquiries as to the ailment; but
-when the girl informed him that Luziana suffered from a cold,
-caught on the previous night from exposure in the balcony
-without her veil, talking of him and of his serenade, he was not
-without consolation to find so sad an accident proceeded from
-a cause so good. He therefore contented himself with the
-usual expressions of condolence; and, after praying Floretta to
-continue to interest herself in his behalf with his mistress, took
-the road to his dwelling, rejoicing more and more at his great
-good fortune.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic06.png" width="267" height="170" alt="Don Como at the sotillo" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"About this time, the intendant received a bill of exchange for
-a thousand crowns from Andalusia, as his portion of the effects
-of one of his uncles, who had died at Seville. On turning this
-bill into cash, he happened to count it over and place it in a
-coffer in the presence of Domingo, who took so lively an
-interest in the operation, that, in order to repeat it, he was
-tempted to appropriate, if possible, the shining gold; and resolved,
-if successful in so doing, to escape with it into Portugal.
-He related his project in confidence to Floretta, and even proposed
-to her that she should accompany him. Now this proposition
-was undoubtedly one which most people would think
-worthy of reflection; but the girl, as interested in the matter
-as the page, accepted it without a moment's hesitation. Consequently,
-one night, while the intendant was labouring in his
-cabinet to compose a touching letter to his mistress, Domingo
-found means to open the coffer in which the money was confined,
-to release it from its captivity, and to hasten with the
-enfranchised crowns into the street. He instantly repaired to
-the balcony of Luziana, and, as a signal which had been agreed
-upon between him and his confederate, commenced a caterwauling,
-which disturbed the gravity of all the tabbies in the
-neighbourhood. The girl, ready to wander with him through
-the world, promptly responded to the amatory call; and in a
-few minutes they were on the high road from Madrid, together.</p>
-
-<p>"They reckoned that, in the event of pursuit, they would have
-plenty of time to gain the frontiers of Portugal before they could
-be overtaken; but, unfortunately for them, Don Como discovered
-the theft, and the flight of his confidant that very night.
-He gave immediate information to the police, whose officers
-were without loss of time dispersed on all sides in pursuit of
-the fugitives, and Domingo was taken, near Zebreros, in company<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
-with his lady. They were quickly brought back to
-Madrid: the girl has been sent to join our friend Marcella in
-<i>las Arrepentidas</i>, and Domingo is, as you perceive, as gay as
-ever within the walls of this prison."</p>
-
-<p>"And the intendant," added Don Cleophas, "has saved his
-golden crowns; as of course they have been restored to him."
-"Of course they have not," replied the Devil: "the thousand
-pieces are the proof of the robbery, and the officers of justice
-understand their business too well to give them up; so that
-Don Como, whose loving history is spread throughout Madrid,
-has lost his money and his mistress, and is laughed at by everybody
-into the bargain."</p>
-
-<p>"Domingo and his fellow-prisoner have for a neighbour,"
-continued the Cripple, "a young Castilian who has been
-arrested for having, in the presence of too many witnesses,
-struck his father." "Oh heaven!" cried Leandro, "is it
-possible? Lives there a child, however lost to shame, who can
-raise his impious hand against a father?" "Oh yes," said the
-Demon: "yon Castilian is not without example; and I will
-cite you one whose history is rather remarkable. Under the
-reign of Don Pedro I., surnamed the Just and the Cruel, the
-eighth king of Portugal, a youth of twenty fell into the hands of
-justice for the same crime. Don Pedro, as much surprised as
-yourself at the novelty of the case, was curious to interrogate
-the mother of the criminal, and he examined her so adroitly as
-to obtain from her a confession, that the real father of this child
-was a certain reverend prelate. If the Castilian's judges were
-discreet enough to interrogate his mother with equal address, it
-is probable that it would be attended with a similar avowal.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes into a large dungeon beneath the prisoners
-I have just pointed out to you, and observe what is passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
-there. Do you see those three ill-looking rascals? They are
-highwaymen. See! they are effecting their escape. Some one
-has furnished them with a dumb-file in a loaf of bread; and
-they have already cut through one of the thick bars of a window,
-by which they may gain the court-yard, and from thence the
-street. They have been more than ten months in prison, and
-it is upwards of eight since they should have received the
-public recompense due to their exploits; but, thanks to the
-tardiness of justice, they are about to begin again their career
-of robbery and murder.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch07pic07.png" width="266" height="165" alt="A prisoner being beaten up by his fellow inmates" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now look into that low roofed cell where you perceive
-twenty or thirty men, some of them stretched upon straw.
-They are mostly pickpockets, shop-lifters, or professors of other
-branches of the Spartan craft. Do you observe five or six of
-them worrying a sort of labourer, who was introduced to their
-society this morning for having wounded an alguazil with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
-stone?" "And what are they thrashing him for?" asked
-Zambullo. "Why," replied Asmodeus, "because he has not
-paid his entrance-fees. But," added he, "let us leave this
-horrible place, and the miserable wretches it contains; they are
-not in my vocation: we will go elsewhere, in search of objects
-less disgusting."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="tailpiece: foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER VIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF VARIOUS PERSONS EXHIBITED TO DON CLEOPHAS BY ASMODEUS,
-WHO REVEALS TO THE STUDENT WHAT EACH HAS DONE IN
-HIS DAY.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In a few moments, the Demon and his pupil were
-on the roof of a large mansion, at a considerable
-distance from that part of the city in which they
-had left the prisoners. "I have brought you
-here," said Asmodeus, "because I am desirous of informing
-you what the mass of people who reside in the neighbourhood
-of the house we are on, have been doing in the course of to-day;&mdash;it
-will amuse you." "Doubtless!" replied Leandro.
-"Begin, I beseech you: and first for yonder cavalier who is
-booting in such haste: what weighty matters call him from his
-home in such a night as this, my Mentor?" "He is a captain,"
-replied the Cripple, "whose steeds are waiting in the
-street to carry him to Catalonia, where his regiment is
-stationed.</p>
-
-<p>"Well! yesterday, our hero, being without cash, applied to
-one of those gentry who, instead of giving to the poor, wisely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
-lend unto the lords, or captains. 'Signor Sanguisuela,' said he,
-'can you not oblige me with the loan of a thousand ducats?'
-'Signor Captain,' replied the usurer, 'I have them not; but I
-think I know a friend who has, and will lend them to you:&mdash;that
-is to say, if you will give him your note of hand for a
-thousand ducats, he will give you four hundred; out of which
-I shall be content to receive sixty only, as my commission.
-Money is so extremely scarce, that&mdash;&mdash;' 'What usury!' interrupted
-the officer, hastily. 'What! ask six hundred and sixty
-ducats for the loan of three hundred and forty? Infamous
-extortion! Such hard-hearted scoundrels deserve to be hanged.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Keep your temper, at all events, Signor Captain, and go
-elsewhere for your money,' replied the usurer, with the greatest
-coolness. 'Of what do you complain? Do I force you to
-take the three hundred and forty ducats? Heaven forbid!
-you are free to take them or to leave them.' To this the Captain
-had no reply to make, and went his way; but, on reflecting
-that he must set out for the camp on the morrow, and that he
-had no time to lose, he resolved to lose his money; so he
-returned this morning to the usurer, whom he met at his door,
-dressed in a short black mantle, a plain collar round his neck,
-his hair closely trimmed, and with a rosary in his hand, garnished
-with saintly medals. 'Here I am again, Signor Sanguisuela,'
-said he; 'I will take the three hundred and forty
-ducats,&mdash;necessity compels me to accept your terms.' 'I am
-going to mass,' gravely replied the usurer; 'on my return, I will
-give you that amount.' 'Ah! no,' exclaimed the Captain; 'I
-pray you give it me at once: it will but delay you for an instant.
-I would not entreat you, but my haste is great as is my need.'
-'I cannot,' replied Sanguisuela: 'I hear mass daily, before I
-think of following my worldly avocations; it is a rule I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
-prescribed for my conduct, and I will endeavour religiously to
-observe it while I live.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 219px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic01.png" width="219" height="258" alt="The captain and the usurer leaving church" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"However impatient might be our captain to lay his hands
-upon the money, he was obliged to comport himself with the
-rule of the pious Sanguisuela: he therefore armed himself with
-patience, and even, as though he feared that the ducats would
-escape him, followed the usurer to church. Mass performed,
-he was preparing to leave; when Sanguisuela inclined his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
-head towards him, and whispered in his ear: 'Stay! one of the
-most talented men in Madrid preaches here this morning, and
-I would not lose his sermon for the world.'</p>
-
-<p>"The Captain, to whom the mass had appeared over-long,
-was in despair at this further call on his endurance: however,
-needs must&mdash;and he remained where he had been driven.
-The preacher mounted the pulpit, and happened to discourse
-against usury. The officer was delighted; and observing Sanguisuela's
-countenance, he said within himself: 'If this Jew is
-capable of being touched, now,&mdash;if he will but give me six
-hundred ducats, I shall really think he is not too bad, after all.'
-The sermon ended, they left the church together, when the
-Captain, addressing his companion, said: 'Well, what think
-you of the preacher? Did you not find his sermon extremely
-forcible? For myself, I was quite affected by it.' 'I am
-quite of your opinion,' replied the usurer; 'he treated his
-subject admirably. He is a learned man, and deeply skilled
-in his profession; and now, let us go, and show that we
-understand ours as well.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried Don Cleophas, "who are those two women
-in bed together, and laughing so loudly? Egad! they seem
-merry enough." "They are sisters," replied the Devil, "who
-this morning buried their father. He was an old curmudgeon,
-who had so great a distaste for matrimony, or rather to portioning
-his daughters, that he would never listen to a word
-about their marrying, however advantageous might be the
-offers made to them. They are at this moment discussing the
-virtues of the dear deceased. 'He is dead at last,' exclaimed
-the elder; 'he is dead,&mdash;the unnatural father, who so cruelly
-delighted still to keep us maids: he will, however, no longer
-oppose our innocent desires.' 'Well, sister,' said the younger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
-'for myself, I love the substantial; I shall look out for a good
-rich husband,&mdash;stupid, if you please; and the fat Don Blanco
-is just the man for my money.' 'Softly, sister,' replied the
-elder; 'we shall have for husbands those to whom we are
-destined; for marriages, they say, are written in heaven.' 'So
-much the worse for us,' replied the younger; 'for if dear papa
-has the luck to be there, he will assuredly tear out our leaf.'
-The eldest could not help laughing at this sally, and it is
-that which still amuses them both.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic02.png" width="256" height="169" alt="The two sisters in bed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In the next house to that of these ladies, in a furnished
-apartment, lodges an Aragonese adventuress. You may see
-her, while others sleep, admiring in a glass those charms on
-which she relies, and which have gained for her to-day a conquest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
-to be proud of: like a good general, she studies her positions
-for attack; and she has just discovered a new one, which
-will finish her campaign with her lover to-morrow. He is well
-worth all the pains she can take to secure him, and she is well
-aware of his promising qualities. To-day, for instance, one of
-her creditors calling to remind her of an account, which he
-insists on having settled in cash: 'Wait, my good friend,' said
-she; 'wait but for a few days longer: I am on the point of
-concluding a most advantageous arrangement with one of the
-principal persons in the Customs.'"</p>
-
-<p>"I need not ask you," said Leandro, "how a certain cavalier,
-whom I perceive at this moment, has been passing his day:
-he appears to be a complete letter-writer. What enormous
-quantities I behold on his table!" "Yes," replied the Demon;
-"and, what is most amusing, all these letters are alike in their
-contents. He is writing to all his absent friends an account of
-an adventure which befel him this afternoon. He is in love
-with a widow of thirty, charming and discreet; he pays to her
-devotions which she does not despise; he proposes for her
-hand, and she consents to yield it without hesitation. While
-preparations are making for their nuptials, he has permission
-to visit her without ceremony. He went to her house to-day
-after dinner, and as he chanced to meet with no one to
-announce his coming, he entered the lady's apartment, where
-he found her stretched on a couch, <i>en déshabille</i>, or, to speak
-more correctly, almost naked. She was sleeping profoundly.
-What lover could resist the temptation thus offered to his eyes?
-He approaches her softly, and steals a gentle kiss. She starts,
-exclaiming as she wakes, 'What, again! I beseech you,
-Ambrose, leave me to repose.'</p>
-
-<p>"The cavalier, as an honourable man, made up his mind on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
-the instant to renounce all pretensions to the widow. He
-therefore immediately left the apartment; and meeting the
-servant at the door: 'Ambrose,' said he, 'stay! your mistress
-prays you to indulge her with a brief repose.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic03.png" width="265" height="286" alt="The lover about to kiss the widow" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Two doors beyond the house of this cavalier, I perceive an
-original of a husband, who is sleeping tranquilly,&mdash;lulled to
-rest by reproaches with which his wife is upbraiding him for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
-having passed the entire day from home. She would be still
-more bitter against her spouse, did she know how he had spent
-his day." "It has been most probably occupied in some
-amorous adventure?" said Zambullo. "You have guessed it,"
-replied Asmodeus; "and shall hear the detail.</p>
-
-<p>"The man is a tradesman, named Patricio: he is one of
-those wedded libertines who live without care, as though they
-had neither wife nor children: the partner of this fellow,
-nevertheless, is pretty, amiable, and virtuous; and he has two
-daughters and one son, all three still in their infancy. He left
-his family this morning, careless if they had bread to eat, which
-is not unfrequently the case, and directed his steps toward the
-great square, attracted thither by the preparations which Were
-making for the bull-fight of to-day. The scaffolds were already
-erected around the place, and already the more curious in
-these matters began to take their places.</p>
-
-<p>"While gazing at the company, examining first one and then
-another, he observed a lady finely made and very neatly
-dressed, who discovered, as she descended from the scaffold, a
-well-turned leg and foot; and their effect was heightened by
-rose-tinted silken stockings, and garters of silver lace, the ends
-of which hung down to her ankles: it was enough to have
-tempted a saint, and our excitable citizen was almost out of
-his wits at the sight. He advanced towards the lady, who was
-accompanied by another whose air sufficiently disclosed that
-they were both damsels of easy virtue. 'Ladies,' said he,
-accosting them, 'can I be of service to you? you have only to
-command me, and it will be my happiness to obey.' 'Signor
-cavalier,' replied the nymph with the rose-coloured stockings,
-'you appear so obliging, that we will take advantage of your
-kindness: we have already taken our places, but are leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
-them to go to breakfast, as we were unwise enough to leave
-home this morning without first taking our chocolate. Since
-you are so gallant as to offer your services, may we trouble you
-to escort us to some hotel, where we may eat a morsel of
-something? but we must beg you will select as retired a place
-as possible, for ladies, as you know, cannot be too careful of
-their reputation.'</p>
-
-<p>"At these words, Patricio, becoming even more civil and polite
-than the occasion demanded, took the princesses to a tavern
-in the neighbourhood, and ordered breakfast. 'What would
-you like to have, sir?' inquired the host. 'I have the remains
-of a magnificent dinner, which took place here yesterday:
-there are larded fowls, partridges from Léon, pigeons from Old
-Castile, and the best part of a ham from Estremadura.' 'More
-than enough, mine host!' exclaimed the conductor of the two
-vestals. 'Ladies, it is for you to choose;&mdash;what would you
-prefer?' 'Whatever you please,' replied they: 'your choice
-shall be ours.' Thereupon the citizen ordered a brace of
-partridges and a couple of cold fowls, to be served in a private
-room, as the ladies were too modest to think of eating in
-public.</p>
-
-<p>"They were immediately conducted to a small chamber, and
-in a few minutes the host appeared with the chosen dishes,
-some bread, and some wine. Our Lucretias fell to eating with
-most unfashionable appetites, and the fowls rapidly disappeared;
-while the simpleton, who was to pay, was occupied
-in ogling his Luisita,&mdash;the name of the lady who had taken
-his fancy,&mdash;in admiring the whiteness of her hand, upon which
-glittered an enormous ring she had gained by her profession,&mdash;and,
-unable to eat for joy of his good fortune, in lavishing
-upon the lady all the tender epithets, such as his star or his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
-sun, that his imagination could invent. On inquiring of his
-goddess if she were married, she told him she was not, but
-was living under the protection of her brother;&mdash;had she
-added,&mdash;by descent from our father Adam, she would not
-have been far from the truth.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic04.png" width="264" height="155" alt="Breakfast at the inn" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Good eating is nothing without good drinking; so the two
-harpies, having each demolished a fowl, washed them down
-with a proportionate quantity of wine; and, consequently, the
-two flagons which had been placed upon the table were soon
-exhausted. That they might be more speedily replenished,
-our gallant left the room with the empty vessels; and he had
-no sooner closed the door than Jacintha, Luisita's companion,
-clawed hold of the two partridges, which were yet untouched,
-and put them in a spacious pocket which her gown conveniently
-afforded. Our Adonis, on returning from his chase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
-of the wine, and remarking that the eatables had vanished,
-was anxious to know if his Venus had eaten enough. 'Why,'
-said she, 'if the pigeons of which the host has spoken be very
-good, perhaps I might be tempted to taste them; or else a
-morsel of the ham of Estremadura will do.' These words
-were no sooner uttered than away went Patricio again in
-search of provender, and quickly returned, followed by three
-of the loving birds and a substantial dish of the ham. The
-two vultures pounced on their prey like lightning; and as the
-witless citizen was obliged a third time to leave the room for
-bread, they sent a pair of the pigeons to keep company with
-the imprisoned partridges.</p>
-
-<p>"After the repast, which ended with a dessert composed of
-all the fruits the season afforded, the amorous Patricio began
-to press Luisita for that payment in kind which he expected
-from her gratitude. The lady, however, was resolved to look
-upon it as a treat; but at the same time indulged him with the
-hopes of a return, telling him there was a time for all things,
-and that a tavern was not a fitting place in which to testify,
-without reserve, her satisfaction for all his kindness. Then,
-hearing the clock strike one, she assumed an uneasy air, and
-said to her companion: 'Ah! my dear Jacintha, how unfortunate!
-We shall be too late to find a place to see the bull-fight.'
-'Excuse me,' replied Jacintha; 'this gentleman has
-only to conduct us where he so politely accosted us, and never
-fear for our finding a place.'</p>
-
-<p>"Before leaving the tavern, however, it was necessary to
-settle with the host, who presented an account amounting to
-fifty reals. The citizen pulled out his purse; but, as it contained
-but thirty of the requisite pieces, he was obliged to
-leave, in pawn, his rosary adorned with numerous medals of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
-silver. This done he esquired the frail ones to the place from
-whence they came, and obtained for them convenient seats upon
-one of the scaffolds, the proprietor of which, being known to him,
-gave him credit for their price.</p>
-
-<p>"They were no sooner seated, then they demanded further refreshment,
-'I am dying with thirst,' cried one,&mdash;'that ham was terribly salt.'
-'And so am I', replied the other; 'I could drink an ocean of lemonade.'
-Patricio, who understood but too well what all this meant, left them,
-in search of what they wanted; but suddenly stopping on his way, he
-exclaimed to himself: 'Madman! where art thou going? Would one not
-think thou hadst a hundred pistoles in thy purse, or in thy house?
-And thou halt not a single maravedi! What shall I do?' added he. 'To
-return to the lady without that which she requires is impossible;&mdash;and
-must I, then, abandon so promising an adventure? I cannot
-resolve on that either.'</p>
-
-<p>"While thus embarrassed, he perceived among the spectators one of
-his friends who had frequently tendered him services, which his
-pride had always prevented him accepting. But now, lost to shame,
-he hastened towards him, and without hesitation, begged the loan
-of a double pistole; possessed of which his courage returned, and
-hurrying to a confectioner's, he ordered them to carry to his
-princesses so many iced liqueurs, so many biscuits and sweetmeats,
-that the doubloon hardly sufficed to meet this new expense.</p>
-
-<p>"At length the day ended, and with it the festival; when our citizen
-conducted his lady to her house, in the pleasing hope of at last
-reaping the reward of all his thoughtless extravagance. But as they
-arrived near the door of a house which Luisita indicated, as her
-dwelling, a servant-girl came to meet her, saying with much apparent
-agitation: 'Ah! Where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
-have you been until now? Your brother, Don Gaspard
-Heridor, has been waiting for you these two hours, swearing
-like a trooper.' Upon this the sister, in well-feigned alarm,
-turned towards her gallant, and pressing his hand, said to him
-in a whisper: 'My brother is a man of most violent temper,
-but his anger is soon appeased. Wait here awhile with patience:
-I will soon set all to rights; and as he sups from home every
-night, as soon as he has left the house, Jacintha shall inform
-you, and bring you to me.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 183px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic05.png" width="183" height="176" alt="Patricio kisses Luisita's hand" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Patricio, consoled by this promise, kissed with transport
-the hand of Luisita, who returned his caresses, in order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
-keep up his spirits, and then entered the house with Jacintha
-and the girl. The poor dupe took patience, as directed, and
-sat himself down on a stone, a few yards from the door, where
-he waited for a considerable time, never dreaming of the
-possibility of their playing him a trick. He only wondered
-at the stay of Don Gaspard, and began to fear that this cursed
-brother had lost his appetite with his passion.</p>
-
-<p>"Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, the hour of midnight, sounded;
-and not until then did his confidence begin to evaporate, and
-some slight doubts of the good faith of his lady to infuse
-themselves into his mind. All was darkness around him; when,
-approaching the door, he entered on tip-toe, and found himself
-in a narrow passage, in the middle of which his hand encountered
-a staircase. He dared not ascend it; but, listening
-attentively, his ears were greeted with the discordant concert
-which might be expected to proceed from a barking dog, a
-mewing cat, and a crying child, all performing their parts to
-admiration. He felt that he was deceived; and he was convinced
-of the fact when, having explored the passage to its
-termination, he found himself in another street, parallel with
-that in which he had, so long, waited for his love.</p>
-
-<p>"The ghost of his money rose in judgment against him; and
-he returned to his own house, moralising on the deceptive
-influences of rose-coloured stockings. He knocked at the
-door; it was opened by his wife, a chaplet in her hand, and
-tears in her eyes. 'Ah! Patricio,' she said, in a voice which
-told her affliction; 'how can you thus abandon your home?
-how can you thus neglect your wife&mdash;your children? Where
-have you been from six this morning, when you left us?' The
-husband, whom this question would have puzzled to answer
-satisfactorily, and who was, besides, somewhat ashamed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
-himself, had not a word to say; so he undressed, and got into
-bed in silence. His wife, however, was not in want of a text;
-and she read him a lecture, the continuous hum of which, as
-you perceive, has soothed him to sleep."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic06.png" width="264" height="231" alt="Patricio lulled to sleep by his wife's lecture" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now," continued Asmodeus, "cast your eyes upon
-the large house by the side of that in which the cavalier is
-writing to his friends the story of his rupture with the mistress
-of Ambrose. Do you not remark a young lady sleeping in a
-bed of crimson satin, embroidered with gold?" "Wait!&mdash;oh,
-yes!&mdash;I see a lady sleeping; and I fancy I see a book,
-open, on her pillow." "Precisely so," answered the Demon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
-"That lady is a talented young countess, full of life and spirit:
-she has recently suffered extremely from sleepless nights, and
-having sent for a physician, one of the most dignified of his
-class, he has prescribed for her a remedy, derived, he says, from
-Hippocrates himself. The lady, nevertheless, ridiculed his prescription;
-at which the physician, a crabbed sort of animal,
-who does not understand joking, said to her, with a proper
-professional gravity: 'Madam, Hippocrates is not a man to
-be laughed at.' 'Certainly not, signor doctor,' replied the
-Countess, with the most serious air imaginable; 'far from
-laughing at so celebrated and learned an author, I think so
-highly of him, that I feel assured the mere opening of his
-work will cure me of my sleeplessness. I have in my library
-a new translation from the pen of Azero; it is, I believe,
-the best: here! find it for me,' added she, turning to her
-attendant. You behold the magic power of Hippocrates!
-She had not read three pages before she sank into profound
-repose.</p>
-
-<p>"In the Countess's stables there is a poor, one-armed soldier,
-whom the grooms, out of charity, permit, by night, to sleep
-upon the straw. During the day he begs about the city; and
-a few hours ago, he had an amusing conversation with another
-mendicant, who lives near Buen-Retiro, on the road to the
-palace. The latter has an excellent business, which he
-manages so well, that his daughter, who is of a marriageable
-age, passes among the beggars for a rich heiress. This morning,
-the soldier accosting the father, said to him: 'Signor Mendigo,
-I have lost my right arm; I can no longer serve the king; and,
-like yourself, I am obliged to gain a livelihood by doing the
-civil to the passers-by. I know well that of all trades there is
-not one which does more for those who follow it; and that all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
-that is wanting to it is, that it should be a little more highly
-esteemed.' 'If it were a bit more honourable,' replied the
-old man, 'it would not be worth following at all, as we should
-have too much competition;&mdash;all the world would beg if it
-were not for shame.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic07.png" width="264" height="272" alt="The two beggars in conversation" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'Very true!' replied he of the one arm. 'Well, now! I
-am a brother beggar; and I should be happy to ally myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
-with so distinguished a member of our profession: you shall
-give me your daughter.' 'Hold! my dear sir,' replied the
-warm old gentleman; 'you cannot think of such a thing. She
-must have a better match than you will make. You are not
-half lame enough. My son-in-law must be a miserable-looking
-object, who would draw blood out of a stone.' 'Do you think,
-then, that you will find one worse off than I am?' 'To be
-sure! Why, you have only lost an arm; and ought to be
-absolutely ashamed of yourself, to expect that I will give you
-my daughter. I'd have you to know that I have already
-refused a fellow without legs, and who goes about the city in
-a bowl.'</p>
-
-<p>"I must on no account," continued the Devil, "omit to call
-your attention to the house which joins that of the sleeping
-countess, and which contains a drunken old painter and a
-satirical poet. The artist left home at seven o'clock this
-morning in search of a confessor, as his wife was at the point
-of death; but happening to meet with a boon companion, he
-went with him to a tavern, and forgot his wife until ten this
-evening, when he returned to find she had died unshriven.
-The poet, who enjoys the reputation of having frequently
-received most striking proofs of the merits of his caustic verses,
-was swaggering in a <i>café</i> this morning; and in speaking of a
-person who was absent, exclaimed: 'He is a scoundrel, to
-whom, some of these days, I must give a good drubbing.'
-'That is kind of you,' replied a wag who heard him; 'though
-I believe, by the bye, that you owe him a good many.'</p>
-
-<p>"I had nearly forgotten a scene which took place this
-morning at a banker's in this street. He is only recently
-established in Madrid, having returned with immense riches
-about three months ago from Peru. His father is an honest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
-cobbler of Mediana,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> a large village of Old Castile, near the
-Sierra d'Avila, where he lives, contented with his lot, and with
-his wife, who, like himself, is about sixty years of age.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> It is curious, that in the original of the latest Paris edition, as also in
-the third edition, of 1707, the earliest I have been able to consult, and
-which was published under the superintendence of Le Sage, this passage
-stands, "un honnête <i>capareto</i> de Viejo et de Mediana." There is a note
-to the word "<i>capareto</i>" giving its translation into French as <i>savetier</i>.
-Being puzzled by the double name of the village,&mdash;"de Viejo et de
-Mediana," I sought the assistance of a talented Spaniard, Signor Lazeu,
-and was surprised to find the Spanish for cobbler is "<i>zapatero de viejo</i>,"
-or, "shoemaker of old (things)," and that it should consequently have
-stood in the original "<i>zapatero de viejo</i> de Mediana." It has been doubted
-by many, among others the late H. D. Inglis, whether Le Sage were
-really the author of Le Diable Boiteux and Gil Blas; and it has been
-asserted that he merely translated these works from the unpublished manuscripts
-of some Spanish author. If the error in question were really that
-of Le Sage, it would certainly go far to confirm this assertion.&mdash;Trans.</p></div>
-
-<p>"It is upwards of twenty years since the banker left his
-father's house, for the Indies, in search of a better fortune than
-he could expect from his parents. During all this time, though
-lost to sight, he was ever present in their thoughts, and every
-night and morning saw the poor couple on their knees, praying
-Heaven to shield him with its protection; nor did they fail, on
-each succeeding Sabbath, to entreat their friend the curate to
-recommend their child to the prayers of his humble flock.
-As soon as the banker had returned to Spain, having hastily
-established his house of business, he resolved to ascertain, in
-person, the condition of his parents, whom, in his prosperity,
-he had never forgotten. With this view, having told his
-domestics he should be absent for a few days, he set out alone,
-about a fortnight ago, and journeyed on horseback towards the
-place of his birth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic08.png" width="262" height="230" alt="The banker reunited with his parents" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"It was about ten o'clock at night, and the good old cobbler
-was sleeping peaceably beside his spouse, when they were
-suddenly awakened by the noise which the banker made, as
-he knocked violently at the door of their little house. 'Who's
-there?' cried the startled pair, together. 'Open&mdash;open the
-door!' replied a voice; 'it is your son Francillo.' 'Tell that
-to the marines!" replied the ancient son of Crispin;&mdash;'be off
-with you, scoundrels! there is nothing here worth stealing.
-Francillo is at this moment in the Indies, if he be not dead.'
-'Your son is not now in the Indies,' replied the banker; 'he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
-is returned from Peru; it is he who speaks to you: will you
-refuse to receive him in your arms?' 'Let us go down,
-Jacobo,' said the wife; 'I think it is indeed Francillo; I seem
-to recollect his voice.'</p>
-
-<p>"They immediately dressed themselves hurriedly; and, as
-soon as the cobbler had struck a light, they descended, and
-opened the door. The old woman looked at Francillo but for
-an instant, and, with a mother's instinct, recognised her son:
-she fell upon his neck, and pressed him to her bosom; while
-master Jacobo, as much transported as his wife, threw his arms
-around them, and kissed them both by turns. It was some
-time before the happy family, reunited after so long a separation,
-could tear themselves apart, or cease those expressions of
-delight which filled their throbbing hearts.</p>
-
-<p>"At length, however, the banker was able to think of his
-horse, which he unsaddled and led to a stable, already occupied
-by a cow, whose teeming udders daily yielded their sweet food
-for his parents. On his return to the house, he related the
-adventures of his life in Peru, and told them of the wealth
-which he had brought with him to Spain. The story was
-somewhat long, and might have appeared annoying to uninterested
-listeners; but a son who unbosoms himself after a
-twenty years' absence, rarely fails to fix the attention of a father
-and mother. To them nothing was indifferent; they greedily
-devoured every syllable he uttered, and the most trifling details
-of his life made upon them the most lively impressions of
-sorrow or of joy.</p>
-
-<p>"He finished his history, by telling them that his wealth
-would lose all its value unless shared by them, and entreated
-his father to think no longer of working at his stall. 'No, no,
-my son,' said master Jacobo to him: 'no, no! I love my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
-trade, and I will stick to my last.' 'What,' exclaimed Francillo,
-'is it not time you lived in peace? I do not ask you to go
-with me to Madrid; I know well that a city life would have no
-charms for you: I do not propose, then, that you should leave
-the peaceful village where your days have passed; but, at least,
-spare yourself a painful toil, and live here at your ease, since it
-is in your power to do so.'</p>
-
-<p>"The mother joined her son in besieging the old cobbler
-with entreaties; and, at last, master Jacobo capitulated. 'Well!
-Francillo,' said he, 'to satisfy you I will be a gentleman; that
-is, I will not work any longer for all the village; I will only
-mend my own shoes, and those of our good friend the curate.'
-On this convention, the banker, having swallowed a couple of
-eggs that they had fried for his supper, went to bed beneath
-his father's roof, the first time for many years, and slept with
-a calmness of delight that the good alone are capable of
-enjoying.</p>
-
-<p>"The following day, Francillo returned to Madrid, after
-leaving with his father a purse of three hundred pistoles. But,
-this morning, he was not a little astonished at beholding master
-Jacobo suddenly enter his room. 'Ah! my father what brings
-you here!' 'Why, my son,' replied the old man, 'I bring you
-back your purse. There, take your money; I am determined
-to live by my trade: I have been miserable ever since I left off
-work.' 'Ah, well! my father,' said Francillo, 'return to the
-village, and continue to work as you will: but, at all events,
-let it be only to amuse you. Take back your purse, too, and
-do not spare mine.' 'And what, then, do you think I can do
-with so much money?' asked master Jacobo. 'It will enable
-you to relieve the poor,' replied the banker: 'do with it as the
-curate and your own conscience shall dictate.' The cobbler,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
-satisfied to accept it on these terms, immediately departed for
-Mediana."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 198px;">
-<img src="images/ch08pic09.png" width="198" height="240" alt="The cobbler attempts to return the purse to his son" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas had listened, with pleasure, to the history of
-Francillo; and he was about to express his admiration of the
-good-hearted banker's filial affection, when, at the very moment,
-his attention was distracted by the most piercing shrieks.
-"Signor Asmodeus!" he exclaimed, "what frightful noises do
-I hear?" "Those cries, which rend the air," replied the
-Devil, "proceed from a receptacle for madmen, who tear their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
-throats with shouting, or with singing." "We are not far from
-the place of their confinement, then," said Leandro; "so let
-us look at them at once." "By all means," replied the
-Demon: "I will afford you that amusement and inform you
-of the causes of their madness." It was no sooner said than
-done; and, in a moment, the Student found himself on the
-<i>Casa de los locos</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecemanrock.png" width="214" height="224" alt="tailpiece of a man in a rocky landscape" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER IX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE MADHOUSE, AND ITS INMATES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialz.png" width="75" height="78" alt="Z" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Zambullo surveyed, by turns, with much curiosity,
-the several rooms and the unfortunate creatures
-they contained; and while he was reflecting
-on the scene thus presented to his eyes, the Devil said
-to him: "There they are, my master! You see insanity
-in every form there;&mdash;men and women, laughing idiots and
-raging maniacs, locks grey with age, and cheeks which still
-retain their bloom. Well! now I will tell you what has
-turned their heads: we will go from room to room, but will
-begin with the men.</p>
-
-<p>"The first whom you observe, and who appears so violent,
-is a political fanatic of Castile. He is a proud citizen of
-Madrid, in the heart of which he was born; and he is more
-jealous of the honour of his country than was ever citizen of
-ancient Rome. He went mad with chagrin at reading in the
-gazette, that twenty-five Spaniards had suffered themselves to
-be beaten by a party of fifty Portuguese.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour is a licentiate, who was so anxious to obtain
-a benefice, that he played the hypocrite at court during ten long
-years; and whose brain was turned by despair at finding himself
-constantly overlooked among the promotions: his madness,
-however, is not without its advantage; seeing that he at present
-imagines himself to be Archbishop of Toledo. And what if he
-deceive himself? His pleasure is none the less: indeed, I
-think, that he is so much the more to be envied; since his
-error is a golden dream, which will only end with his life, and
-he will not be called to account in the other world for the
-application of his revenues in this.</p>
-
-<p>"The next in rotation is a ward, whom his guardian declared
-to be insane, that he might have the uncontrolled use of his
-property: the poor youth has become really mad from rage at
-his unjust confinement. After the minor, comes a schoolmaster,
-who lost his wits in search of the <i>paulo post futurum</i> of
-the Greek verb; and, then again, we have a merchant, whose
-reason was shipwrecked with a vessel that belonged to him,
-although it had stood the shock of two bankruptcies which had
-before threatened to engulph him.</p>
-
-<p>"The person who is lodged in the next room is the ancient
-captain Zanubio, a Neapolitan cavalier, who came to establish
-himself in Madrid, and whom jealousy has settled where he is:
-you shall hear his history.</p>
-
-<p>"He delighted in a youthful spouse, the lady Aurora, whom
-he guarded as the apple of his eye. His house was absolutely
-inaccessible to all mankind; and Aurora never left it but for
-mass, always accompanied by her aged Tithon, or to breathe
-with him the pure air of the pleasant fields, at an estate near
-Alcantara, whither he sometimes led her. Despite his vigilance,
-however, she had been perceived at church by the cavalier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
-Don Garcia Pacheco, who loved her from the instant that he
-saw her: he was an enterprising youth, and not unworthy
-the attention of a pretty woman whom Fortune had badly
-matched.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic01.png" width="268" height="281" alt="Zanubio and Aurora at church, observed by Don Garcia" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The difficulty of introducing himself into the house of
-Zanubio was not sufficient to deprive Don Garcia of hope. As
-his chin was yet unreaped, and he was fair to behold, he disguised
-himself as a virgin, took with him a hundred pistoles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
-and betook himself to the captain's seat, where, he had learned,
-that gentleman and his lady were shortly expected. Watching
-his opportunity to accost the female who acted as gardener in
-Zanubio's establishment, he addressed her in the style of the
-heroines of chivalry, who fly from some giant's towers:
-'Kind lady,' said he, 'I come to throw myself within your arms, and
-to entreat your pity. I am a maiden of Toledo, of wealth and
-name, but my parents would compel me to give my hand to one
-whom my heart disowns. To escape this tyranny, I have fled
-by night; and I now seek shelter from a cruel world. Here I
-shall be safe from pursuit. Do not deny me, then, to dwell
-with you until my friends shall be inspired with more kindly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
-sentiments. There is my purse: do not hesitate to receive it,
-it is all that I can give you now: but I trust the day will come
-when I may more properly acknowledge the service which you
-will render me by your protection.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic02.png" width="263" height="219" alt="Don Garcia accosts the female gardener" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The gentle gardener, especially affected by the conclusion
-of this touching address, replied: 'Dear lady, I will receive you
-with pleasure. I know that there are too many youthful maidens
-who are sacrificed to aged men; and I know, too, that they are
-not usually reconciled to their lot. I sympathize with your
-afflictions: you could not have more fortunately addressed
-yourself than to me. Come! I will place you in a little room,
-where you may live in confidence of security.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Garcia passed four days, shut up in the gardener's
-cottage, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Aurora. At last she
-came, guarded as ever by her jealous spouse, who immediately,
-according to his usual custom, searched every chamber, from
-the cellar to the garret, to make sure that he was free from the
-hated form of man, which might endanger his honour. The
-gardener, who expected this visitation, anticipated it by informing
-her master of the manner in which a refuge had been
-sought with her by a youthful female. Zanubio, although
-extremely mistrustful, had not the slightest suspicion of the
-deceit now practised on him; he was, however, curious to see
-the unknown. At the interview which followed, the lady
-begged him to excuse her concealing her name, stating that it
-was a reserve which she owed to her family, which she in some
-sort dishonoured by her flight. She then related to him so
-pathetic a tale, and in a style so romantic, that the captain
-was charmed; and while he listened to her narration, he felt a
-rising inclination for this amiable damsel, which ended in an
-offer of his services and protection; after which he led her to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
-his wife, flattering himself that this adventure would not end
-disagreeably to himself.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as Aurora beheld Don Garcia, she blushed and
-trembled, without knowing why. The cavalier, who perceived
-her uneasiness, shrewdly guessed that she had observed the
-attention with which he had regarded her at church. To
-ascertain this fact, as soon as they were alone, he said to her:
-'Madam, I have a brother who has often spoken to me of you.
-He saw you for a moment at your devotions, and from that
-moment, which he delights to recall a thousand times each
-day, you have been the idol of his heart;&mdash;he loves you to
-madness.'</p>
-
-<p>"As he spoke, Aurora scrutinized the features of Don Garcia,
-and when he had finished she replied to him: 'You resemble
-your brother too closely to permit me to remain for an instant
-the dupe of your stratagem: I see too clearly you are that
-brother in disguise. I remember, one day while at mass, my
-mantilla fell back from my face; it was but for an instant, but
-I saw that you perceived me: I afterwards watched you from
-curiosity, and your eyes remained fixed on my person. When
-I left the church, I believe that you failed not to follow me,
-that you might learn who I was, and the house where I dwelt.
-I say&mdash;I believe you did this, for my head dared not turn to
-observe you; as my husband was with me, jealous of my
-slightest motions, and would have made, of one glance, a deep
-crime. On the morrow and following days, when I went to
-the church, I always saw you; and your features have become
-so familiar that I know you despite your disguise.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Well, Madam,' replied the lover, 'I must then unmask:&mdash;yes,
-I am a man, the victim of your charms:&mdash;it is indeed
-Don Garcia Pacheco whom Love brings here in the guise of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
-the gentler sex&mdash;&mdash;' 'And you doubtless anticipate,' interrupted
-Aurora, 'that I, sharing your foolish passion, shall lend
-myself to your design, and assist in confirming my husband in
-his error. You are, however, deceived: I shall at once expose
-the deception; my honour and my peace demand it of me.
-Besides, I am not sorry to have an opportunity of showing my
-husband that vigilance is a less certain safeguard than virtue,
-and that, jealous and mistrustful as he is, I am more difficult
-to surprise than himself.'</p>
-
-<p>"She had hardly spoken when the captain appeared. He
-had indistinctly heard a portion of his wife's discourse, and
-requested to be informed of the subject of their conversation.
-'We were speaking,' replied Aurora, 'of those youthful cavaliers
-who dare to hope for love from ladies of a tender age, because
-united to a husband for whom respect claims the place of
-passion. As you entered I was saying, that should such a
-gallant dare to address himself to me,&mdash;should he endeavour
-to introduce himself beneath your roof by some of those
-artifices to which such madmen have recourse, I should know
-well how to punish his audacity.'</p>
-
-<p>"'And you, Madam,' said Zanubio, turning to Don Garcia,
-'after what fashion should you treat a youthful cavalier in such
-a case?' Our assumption of a virgin was so much disconcerted
-at this question, that he was unable to reply; and his embarrassment
-would certainly have attracted Zanubio's attention,
-had not, at the moment, a servant entered the apartment, to
-inform the captain that a person who had just arrived from
-Madrid wished to speak with him.</p>
-
-<p>"Zanubio had no sooner gone out than Don Garcia, throwing
-himself at Aurora's feet, exclaimed: 'Ah, madam, how can
-you delight thus to perplex me? Could you be cruel enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
-to expose me to the wrath of an enraged husband?' 'No,
-Pacheco,' replied the lady, smiling; 'youthful dames who are
-so unfortunate as to have aged spouses are not so resentful.
-Be not alarmed! I could not resist the temptation to amuse
-myself at the expense of your fears; but that is the sum of your
-punishment; and it is surely not exacting too great a price for
-my kindness in permitting your continuance here.' At these
-consoling words all Don Garcia's alarms were dispelled, and
-they yielded to hopes, of which Aurora was too kind long to
-delay the realization.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, while their reciprocal affection was manifested in
-a form too clear to be misunderstood, the captain surprised
-them. Had he been the most confiding of men, it would have
-been impossible, unless his confidence were not extended to
-his own eyes, to doubt that the lovely unknown was a man in
-disguise. Furious at the scene which presented itself, he
-hastened to his dressing-room in search of his pistols; but, in
-the meanwhile, the fond couple escaped,&mdash;in their hurry to
-leave the apartment, double-locking the door, and taking with
-them the key. They lost no time in gaining a neighbouring
-village, in which Don Garcia had taken the precaution to leave
-his valet with two good horses. There, our hero, having
-abandoned his petticoats, and placed Aurora on a crupper on
-one of the steeds, mounted and rode with her to a convent,
-where she prayed him to leave her in the care of an aunt, its
-abbess; after which he returned to Madrid to await the termination
-of his adventure.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic03.png" width="248" height="284" alt="Zanubio discovers Aurora in Garcia's embrace" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Poor Zanubio, finding himself imprisoned, shouted with all
-his lungs, and a servant, hearing his voice, hastened to his
-assistance: but, if Love laughs at locksmiths, locks are sometimes
-extremely unaccommodating. In vain did the servant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
-and captain try to force the door; and at last the latter, his
-wrath increasing with his efforts, rushed to the window, and
-threw himself from it, his pistols in his hands: he fell upon his
-back, wounded his head, and when his attendants arrived they
-found him senseless. He was carried bleeding to his chamber,
-and by deluging him with water, and by other gentle torments
-used on such occasions, they succeeded in bringing him to life;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
-but his fury returned with his senses. 'Where is my wife?' he
-cried. To this interrogatory they replied, by informing him
-that they had seen her pass from the garden, in company with
-the unknown lady, by a little private door. He immediately
-demanded his pistols, which they dared not refuse him, ordered
-a horse to be saddled, and without reflecting on his wound, set
-out, but by another road, in pursuit of the lovers. The day
-passed in this fruitless search; and when he stopped for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
-night at a village inn, to repose himself, the fatigue and
-irritation of his wound brought on a fever and delirium, which
-nearly cost him his life.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 251px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic04.png" width="251" height="284" alt="Zanubio throws himself out of the window" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The rest is told in a few words. The captain, after being
-confined to his bed for a fortnight, in the village, returned still
-unwell to his country seat; and there, by continually dwelling
-on his misfortune, he shortly afterwards lost his reason. The
-relations of Aurora were no sooner informed of this event,
-than they caused him to be brought to Madrid, and confined
-where you now see him; and they have resolved that his wife
-shall remain in the convent for some years to come, as a
-punishment for her indiscretion, or, more properly, for a fault
-which their own cupidity placed her in a situation to be
-tempted to commit.</p>
-
-<p>"The next to whom I shall direct your attention," continued
-the Devil, "is the Signor Don Blaz Desdichado, a worthy
-cavalier, whose deplorable malady is also owing to the loss of
-his wife, but by death." "That indeed surprises me," said
-Don Cleophas. "A husband whom the death of his wife
-renders insane! Well! that is more than I ever expected to
-spring from conjugal love." "Not so fast!" interrupted
-Asmodeus: "Don Blaz did not lose his reason with his wife;
-but because, having no children, he was obliged to return to
-the parents of the deceased fifty thousand ducats which he had
-received with her, and which the marriage contract compelled
-him to restore."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! that is another affair," replied Leandro; "the matter
-is by no means so wonderful as I imagined. But tell me, if
-you please, who is that young man that is skipping about like
-a kid in the next room, and from time to time stopping to
-laugh until he holds his sides? He is a lively fool enough."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
-"Yes," replied the Cripple, "and it was excess of joy which
-made him mad. He was porter to a person of quality; when
-one day, hearing of the death of a rich contador, to whose
-wealth he was sole heir, he was so affected by the joyous news
-that his head was not proof against his good fortune.</p>
-
-<p>"We have now come to that tall youth who is twanging the
-guitar, and accompanying the pathetic strain with his voice:
-his is a melancholy madness. He is a lover, whom the excessive
-severity of his mistress reduced to despair, until they
-were obliged to enclose him here." "Alas! how I pity him,"
-exclaimed the Student; "permit me to express my sorrow for
-his misfortune;&mdash;it is one to which every susceptible heart is
-exposed. Were it my own fate to love a disdainful beauty, I
-know not but that I too should love to madness." "I can
-believe you," replied the Demon: "that sentiment would
-stamp you for a true Castilian. One must be born in the
-centre of that ancient kingdom to be capable of loving until
-reason sinks with a despised heart. Your Frenchman is not
-so tender; and would you appreciate the difference between a
-gay Parisian and a fiery Spaniard in this respect, I need only
-repeat to you the song which yon poor fool is singing, and
-which his passion inspires even at this moment:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SPANISH SONG.</span><br />
-<br />
-'Mine eyes gush o'er with floods of wild desire,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hopeless love burns fiercely in my breast;</span><br />
-Yet not my tears can quench my bosom's fire,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor passion's fire my scalding tears arrest.'<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></span><br />
-</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="p2"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
-<br />
-'Ardo y lloro sin sosiego:<br />
-Llorando y ardiendo tanto,<br />
-Que ni el llanto apaga el fuego,<br />
-Ni el fuego consume el llanto.'<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="p2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
-"It is thus sings a true Castilian whom his lady slights; and
-now I will repeat to you the words in which a Frenchman told
-his griefs, in a similar case, only a few days ago:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FRENCH SONG.</span><br />
-<br />
-'She who within my bosom reigns,<br />
-A tyrant's stern control maintains;<br />
-Nor sighs, nor tears, nor prayers can move<br />
-The least relenting look of love.<br />
-A kind word, kindly spoken, might<br />
-Have turn'd my darkness into light;<br />
-But, since my suit is urged in vain,<br />
-I fly to feed my griefs with Payen.'<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="p2"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
-<br />
-'L'objet qui règne dans mon coeur<br />
-Est toujours insensible à mon amour fidèle,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mes soins, mes soupirs, ma langueur,</span><br />
-Ne sauraient attendrir cette beauté cruelle.<br />
-O ciel! est-il un sort plus affreux que le mien?<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah! puisque je ne puis lui plaire,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Je renonce au jour qui m'éclaire;</span><br />
-Venez, mes chers amis, m'enterrer chez Payen.'<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="p2">"This Payen is undoubtedly a tavern-keeper?" said Don
-Cleophas. "Exactly so," replied the Devil. "But let us
-continue our observations." "Let us then turn to the women,"
-exclaimed Leandro; "I am impatient to hear their histories."
-"I will yield to your impatience," answered the Spirit; "but
-there are yet two or three unfortunates on this side of the
-house, whom I would first show to you: you may profit by
-their unhappiness.</p>
-
-<p>"You observe, close by the melancholy songster, that pale
-and haggard face; those teeth, which gnash as though they
-would make nothing of the iron bars that ornament the
-window. Yon is an honest man, born under influence of
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>malignant star, who, with all the merit in the world, has vainly
-striven, during twenty years, to secure a modest competence;
-he has scarcely, with all his efforts, succeeded in gaining his
-daily bread. His reason fled its seat, on his perceiving a
-worthless fellow of his acquaintance suddenly mount the top of
-fortune's wheel by a lucky speculation.</p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour, again, is an old secretary, whose head was
-cracked by a stroke of ingratitude, which he received from a
-courtier, in whose service he lived during sixty years. No
-praises were too great for the zeal and fidelity of this ancient
-servant; who, however, never claimed their just reward,
-content to let his assiduity and services speak for themselves.
-His master, far from resembling Archelaus, king of Macedonia,
-who refused favours when demanded, and bestowed them
-when unasked, died forgetful of his merits, leaving him just
-enough to pass his days in misery, and the refuge of a madhouse.</p>
-
-<p>"I will only detain you with one more, and it is with the
-man who, leaning with his elbows on the window, appears
-plunged in profound meditation. You see in him a Signor
-Hidalgo, of Tafalla, a small town of Navarre, which he left for
-Madrid that he might make the best use of his wealth. He
-was bitten with a rage for surrounding himself with the literati
-of the day; and as these animals are always seen to most
-advantage at feeding-time, he kept open house for their entertainment.
-Authors are an unpolished and ungrateful race;
-but, although they despised and snarled at their keeper, he
-was not contented until they had eaten him out of house and
-home." "Poor fellow," said Zambullo: "he no doubt went
-mad with rage at his awful stupidity." "On the contrary,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it was with regret at finding himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
-unable to keep up his menagerie. Well! now let us pay our
-respects to the ladies," added the Devil.</p>
-
-<p>"Why! how is this?" exclaimed the Student: "I only see
-seven or eight of them. I had expected to have found them
-here by scores." "Ah!" said the Devil, smiling, "but they
-are by no means all confined within these walls. I will take
-you instantly, if you wish it, to another quarter of the city,
-where there is a larger house than this, full of mad-women to
-the very roof." "Do not trouble yourself, I beg," replied Don
-Cleophas; "I am by no means anxious for their acquaintance:
-these will suffice." "You are right," replied the Devil; "and
-these too, are almost all youthful ladies of distinction. You
-may perceive by the attention which is paid to their persons,
-that they are not ordinary subjects. And now for the story of
-their madness.</p>
-
-<p>"In the first room is the wife of a corregidor, who went mad
-with rage at being termed plebeian by a lady of the court; in
-the second, is the spouse of the treasurer-general of the
-council of the Indies: anger also made her mad, at being
-obliged, in a narrow street, to turn back her carriage to
-make way for that of the duchess of Medina-Coeli. The
-third room is the residence of a merchant's widow, whom
-regret for the loss of a noble signor's hand robbed of her
-senses; and the fourth is occupied by a girl of highest rank,
-named Donna Beatrice, whose misfortunes are worth your
-attention.</p>
-
-<p>"This young lady was united by the most tender friendship
-with the Donna Mencia: they were indeed inseparable. It
-happened, however, that a handsome chevalier of the order of
-St. James became acquainted with them both, and they soon
-were rivals for his heart. As he could not marry the two, and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
-his affections inclined towards the Donna Mencia, he paid his
-court to that lady, and she shortly became his wife.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Beatrice, jealous of the power of her charms, and
-mortified to excess by the preference shown to another,
-conceived a passion for revenge, which, like a woman, or a
-good Spaniard, she nourished at the bottom of her heart.
-While this passion was yet in its infancy, she received from
-Don Jacintho de Romarate, a neglected lover of the Donna
-Mencia, a letter stating that, being as much insulted as herself
-by the marriage of his mistress, he had resolved to demand
-satisfaction of the chevalier for their united wrongs.</p>
-
-<p>"This letter gave great delight to Beatrice, who desiring
-but the death of the sinner, wished for nothing more than
-that his rival should fall beneath Jacintho's hand. While
-anxiously awaiting for so christianly a gratification, it happened,
-however, that her own brother, having chanced to
-quarrel with this same Jacintho, came to blows with her
-champion, and fell pierced with wounds of which he died.
-Although duty prompted Donna Beatrice to avenge her
-brother's death by citing his murderer before the tribunals
-of his country, she neglected to do so, as this would have
-interfered with her revenge; which demonstrates, if such
-proof were needed, that there is no interest so dear to a
-woman as that of her beauty. Need I remind you, that when
-Ajax violated Cassandra in the temple of Pallas, that goddess
-did not on the instant punish the sacrilegious Greek? No!
-she reserved her wrath until its victim should have first
-redressed the insult offered to her charms by the Judgment
-of the hated Paris. But, alas! Donna Beatrice, less
-fortunate than Minerva, never tasted the sweetness of her
-anticipated vengeance. Romarate perished by the sword of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
-the chevalier, and chagrin for her wrongs, still unpunished,
-drove the lady into this asylum.</p>
-
-<p>"The next who offer themselves to your notice are an
-attorney's grandmother and an aged marchioness. The ill-temper
-of the first so annoyed her descendant, that he very
-quietly got rid of her by placing her here: the other is a lady
-who has ever been an idol to herself, and instead of aging with
-becoming resignation, has never ceased to weep the decay of
-that beauty which formed her only happiness; and at last, one
-day, when her mirror told, too plainly to be doubted, that all
-her charms were flown, went mad."</p>
-
-<p>"So much the better for the ancient dame," added Leandro.
-"In the derangement of her mind, she will no more perceive
-the ravages of time." "Most assuredly not," replied the
-Devil; "far from beholding in her face the marks of age, her
-complexion seems to her now a happy blending of the lily and
-the rose; she sees around her but the Graces and the Loves,&mdash;in
-a word, she thinks that she is Venus herself." "Ah!
-well!" exclaimed the Student, "were it not better that
-thousands should be mad, than that they should know themselves
-for what they are?" "Undoubtedly," replied Asmodeus;
-"but come, we have only one other female to
-observe; and that is she who dwells in the furthest room, and
-whom sleep has just visited with rest, after three days and
-nights of raving. Look at her well! What think you of
-the Donna Emerenciana?" "That she is beautiful, indeed,"
-answered Zambullo. "What horror, that so lovely a creature
-should be mad! By what fatal accident is she reduced to this
-dreadful situation?" "Listen!" replied the Demon; "I will
-tell you the story of her woes.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Emerenciana, only daughter of Don Guillem Stephani,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
-lived tranquilly at Siguença, in the mansion of her
-father, when Don Kimen de Lizana came to trouble her
-repose by those attentions with which he sought to win her
-heart. Flattered by his gallantries, she received their homage
-with delight; she even had the weakness to lend herself to the
-artifices to which he resorted that he might speak with her in
-private; and in a short time exchanged with him vows of
-eternal love and fidelity.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 238px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic05.png" width="238" height="244" alt="The mad-woman Donna Emerenciana" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The lovers were of equal birth; but the lady was one of the
-richest heiresses of Spain, while Don Kimen was a younger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
-son. But there was still another obstacle to their union,&mdash;Don
-Guillem hated the family of the Lizana. This he never
-affected to conceal, whenever they were mentioned; and he
-seemed more averse to Don Kimen himself, than to any other
-of his race. Emerenciana, though deeply afflicted at her
-father's sentiments on this subject, which she felt boded unhappily
-for her passion, could not resolve to abandon its
-object; and she therefore continued her secret interviews with
-her lover, who from time to time, through the assistance of a
-waiting-maid, ventured even into her chamber by night.</p>
-
-<p>"It happened, one of these nights, that Don Guillem chanced
-to be awake when the gallant was thus introduced, and thought
-he heard a noise in his daughter's apartment, which was not
-far from his own. This was quite enough to arouse a father,
-and especially one so mistrustful as Don Guillem. Suspicious
-as he was, he had never imagined the possibility of his
-daughter's intelligence with Don Kimen; but not being of a
-disposition to place too much confidence in any one, he rose
-quietly from his bed, opened a window which looked into the
-street, and there patiently waited until he saw that cavalier,
-whom the light of the moon enabled him to recognize, descending
-from the balcony by a silken ladder.</p>
-
-<p>"What a sight for Stephani!&mdash;for the most vindictive, the
-most relentless mortal, that even Sicily, which gave him birth,
-had ever produced. He controlled the first emotions of his
-terrible wrath, and repressed every exclamation of surprise at
-what he beheld, that the chief victim which his wounded pride
-demanded might not be warned of his fate, and attempt to
-escape the avenger's hand. He so far constrained himself as
-to wait until the morning, when his daughter had risen, ere he
-entered her apartment. She was alone, as he approached her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
-with fury sparkling in his eyes; and, with a voice that made
-her tremble, he addressed her thus: 'Unworthy wretch! whom
-not the honour of thy race restrains from deeds of infamy,
-prepare to meet their due reward! This steel,' he added, as
-he drew a dagger from his bosom, 'shall find a sheath within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
-your heart, unless with truth upon your lips you name the
-daring villain who brought, last night, dishonour on my house.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic06.png" width="263" height="293" alt="Stephani threatens Emerenciana with a dagger" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Emerenciana was so overcome by this unexpected discovery
-and her father's threats, that her tongue refused its office.
-'Ah! miserable,' continued Don Guillem, 'thy silence and confusion
-tell me too plainly all thy guilt! Dost think, child, whom
-I blush to call mine own, that I know not what has passed?
-I know too well! I saw, myself, the villain, and recognized
-him for Don Kimen. 'Twas not enough, then, to receive a
-cavalier at night within thy room!&mdash;that cavalier must be the
-man whom most I loathe! But come! tell me how much I
-owe him. Speak without disguise,&mdash;thy sincerity alone can
-save thy shameful life.'</p>
-
-<p>"These last words, terrible as they were, brought with them
-some slight hope to the unfortunate girl of escaping the fate
-which menaced her, and she recovered from her fright sufficiently
-to enable her to reply: 'Signor, I cannot deny that I
-am guilty of listening to Lizana; but I call Heaven to witness
-for the purity of his sentiments and conduct. Aware as he was
-of your hatred for his name, he dared not to ask your sanction
-for his addresses; but it was for no other end than to confer
-with me how that sanction might be obtained that he sought,
-and I permitted, his coming here.' 'And who, then,' asked
-Stephani, 'was the willing instrument through which you exchanged
-your communications?' 'It was,' replied his daughter,
-'one of your pages to whom we were indebted for that kindness.'
-'Enough,' interrupted the father; 'and now to execute
-the design for which I come!' Thereupon displaying his
-poniard, he made Emerenciana sit down, and placing paper
-and ink before her, compelled her to write to her lover the
-following letter which he dictated:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Dearest Love,&mdash;only delight of my life,&mdash;I hasten to
-inform you that my father has just set out for his estate,
-whence he will not return until to-morrow. Lose not this
-happy opportunity. I doubt not you will watch for the coming
-night with as much impatience as your beloved</p>
-
-<p>"'<span class="smcap">Emerenciana</span>.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>"As soon as this treacherous letter was written and sealed,
-Don Guillem said to his daughter: 'And now summon the
-page who so well performs the duties you impose on him, and
-direct him to carry this note to Don Kimen: but hope not to
-deceive me; I shall conceal myself behind the drapery of your
-room, whence I can observe your slightest movement; and if
-while you charge him with this commission you speak one
-word, or make the smallest sign which may give him suspicion
-of your message, I will plunge this dagger in your heart.'
-Emerenciana knew her father too well to dare to disobey him:
-the page was called, and the letter placed as usual in his hands.</p>
-
-<p>"Not until then did Stephani put up his weapon; but he did
-not leave his daughter for a moment during the day, nor would
-he let any one approach her, so that she could communicate to
-Lizana intelligence of the snare which was spread for him.
-Accordingly, when night came, the youthful gallant hastened
-to the wished-for meeting; but hardly had he entered the door
-of his mistress's house before he found himself seized by three
-powerful men, who disarmed him in a moment, tied a bandage
-over his mouth to prevent his cries, another over his eyes, and
-bound his hands behind his back. They then placed him in
-a carriage, which was waiting for the purpose, and having all
-mounted therein for complete security of the betrayed cavalier's
-person, they carried him to the seat of Stephani, situated near<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
-the village of Miedes, four leagues from Siguença, where they
-arrived before daybreak.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic07.png" width="232" height="181" alt="Don Kimen is kidnapped" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The first care of the signor was to cause Don Kimen to
-be placed in a vault which received but a feeble light from a
-hole near the top, so small, that escape by that was impossible.
-He then ordered Julio, a confidential servant, to feed him
-with bread and water only, to give him but a truss of straw to
-sleep on, and to say to him every time he carried him food:
-'Here, base seducer: it is thus that Don Guillem treats those
-who are mad enough to dare to insult him!' The cruel
-Sicilian was hardly less severe in his treatment of his daughter:
-he imprisoned her in a chamber which looked into a small
-courtyard, deprived her of her attendants, and placed her in
-the custody of a duenna whom he had chosen, because she
-was unequalled for her skill in tormenting those committed to
-her charge.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Having thus disposed of the two lovers, he was by no
-means contented with the punishment already inflicted on
-them: he had resolved to get rid of Don Kimen, and had
-only not done so at once because he wished to avoid any
-unpleasant consequences which might follow his crime; to
-manage which, appeared to be somewhat difficult. As he had
-employed three of his servants in the abduction of the cavalier,
-he could hardly hope that a secret known to so many persons
-would always remain undiscovered:&mdash;what then was he to do,
-to shun any impertinent explanations which justice might think
-it necessary to demand? His resolve was worthy of a conqueror;
-he assembled his accomplices in a small pavilion, a
-short distance from the chateau, and after telling them how
-highly satisfied he was with their zeal, he stated that he had
-brought them there to receive a substantial reward for their
-services in money, and that he had prepared a little festival,
-which he invited them to share. They sat down to enjoy
-themselves, little dreaming that it was a feast of death; for
-when their brains were heated with wine, the worthy Julio by
-his master's order brought in a poisoned bowl, which soon
-ended their rejoicing. The pair then fired the pavilion, and
-before the flames had brought around them the inhabitants of
-the neighbouring village, they assassinated Emerenciana's two
-female attendants and the page of whom I have spoken, and
-threw their bodies into the burning heap. It was really
-amusing, while the remains of these poor wretches were consuming
-in this infernal pile, which the peasants strove in vain
-to extinguish, to witness the profound grief displayed by our
-Sicilian: he appeared inconsolable for the loss of his
-domestics.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 260px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic08.png" width="260" height="266" alt="Assassination of the maid-servants and page" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Nothing remaining to be feared from any want of discretion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
-on the part of his coadjutors, which might have betrayed
-him, he thus addressed his confidant: 'My dear Julio, my
-mind is now at peace, and the life of Don Kimen is at my
-mercy; but, before I immolate him to my wounded honour, I
-would enjoy the sweet delight of making him feel how much
-he has offended me;&mdash;the misery and horror of a long and
-solitary confinement will be more dreadful to him than death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
-itself.' In truth, Lizana was by no means comfortable; and,
-hopeless of ever leaving the dungeon where he wasted, he would
-have welcomed death as a cheap release from his sufferings.</p>
-
-<p>"But, despite his boast of peace, the mind of Stephani
-knew no rest after the exploits he had recently achieved; and
-ere many days had passed, a new source of inquietude presented
-itself in the fear lest Julio, as he daily saw the prisoner
-for the purpose of taking him food, should suffer himself to be
-corrupted by promises. This fear made Don Guillem resolve
-to get rid of Lizana without loss of time, and then to blow out
-the brains of his friend Julio. But the latter was also not
-without his own misgivings; and, as he shrewdly suspected
-that were Don Kimen once out of the way, he would be found
-in it, he had made his resolution to take himself off some fine
-night, with all that was portable in the house, when the darkness
-would excuse his not distinguishing his master's property
-from his own.</p>
-
-<p>"While these honest gentlemen were each meditating an
-agreeable surprise for the other, they were one day both unwelcomely
-accosted at a short distance from the chateau, by
-about twenty archers of St. Hermandad, who surrounded, and
-greeted them in the name of the king and the law! At this
-salutation Don Guillem was somewhat confounded; but, calling
-the colour to his cheeks, he asked the commandant of the
-archers whom he sought. 'Yourself!' replied the officer: 'you
-are accused of having unlawfully seized on Don Kimen de
-Lizana; and I am directed to make strict search for that cavalier
-within your mansion, and further to make you my prisoner.'
-Stephani, convinced by this answer that he was lost, drew from
-his person a brace of pistols, exclaiming that he would suffer
-no one to enter his house; and that he would shoot the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
-commandant without ceremony if he did not instantly take himself
-off with his troop. The leader of the holy brotherhood,
-despising this threat, advanced at once towards the Sicilian;
-who, as good as his word, fired, and wounded him slightly in
-the face. This wound, however, cost the life of the madman
-who gave it; for the archers in a moment stretched him lifeless
-at the feet of their injured chief. Julio surrendered himself
-
-without resistance; and, making a virtue of necessity, cleared
-his conscience by a frank avowal of all that had occurred,&mdash;except
-that, perceiving his master was really dead, he did him
-the honour to invest his memory with all the glory attaching
-to the transaction.</p>
-
-<p>"He then conducted the archers to the vault, where they
-found Lizana on his straw bed, securely bound. The unfortunate
-gentleman, who lived in continual expectation of death,
-thought it was come at last when he saw so many armed men
-enter his prison; and was, as you may expect, agreeably surprised
-to find liberators in those whom he had taken for his
-executioners. When they had released him from his dungeon,
-and received his thanks, he asked them how they had learned
-that he was confined in the place where they found him.
-'That,' replied the commandant, 'I will tell you in a few
-words.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic09.png" width="256" height="231" alt="The liberation of Don Kimen" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'The night you were entrapped,' said the officer, 'one of
-Don Guillem's assistants, whose mistress resided in the neighbourhood,
-stole a few moments while they were waiting for
-you, to bid adieu to his sweetheart before his departure, and
-was indiscreet enough to reveal to her the project of Stephani.
-For a wonder, the lady kept the secret for three whole days;
-but when the news of the fire at Miedes reached Siguença, as
-every body thought it strange that all the servants of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
-Sicilian should have perished in the flames, she naturally took
-it into her head also that the fire was the work of Guillem himself.
-To revenge her lover's death, therefore, she sought the
-Signor Don Felix, your father, and related to him all she knew.
-Don Felix, alarmed at finding you were in the hands of a man
-capable of everything, accompanied the lady to the corregidor,
-who on hearing her story had no doubt of Stephani's intentions
-towards you, and that he was the diabolical incendiary the
-woman suspected. To make inquiries into all the circumstances
-of the case, the corregidor instantly despatched orders
-to me at Retortillo, where I live, directing me to repair with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
-my brigade to this chateau, to find you if possible, and to take
-Don Guillem, dead or alive. I have happily performed my
-commission as regards yourself; and I only regret that it is
-out of my power to conduct the criminal to Siguença alive.
-He compelled us by his furious resistance to dispatch him on
-the spot.'</p>
-
-<p>"The officer, having ended his story, thus continued: 'I
-will now, Signor Don Kimen, draw up a report of all that has
-happened here; I will not, however, detain you long, and we will
-then set out together to release your friends from the anxiety they
-suffer upon your account.' 'Stay, signor commandant,' interrupted
-Julio, 'I will furnish you with matter to lengthen your
-report: you have got another prisoner to liberate. Donna
-Emerenciana is confined in a dismal chamber of this chateau,
-guarded by a merciless duenna, who upbraids her without
-ceasing for her love of this cavalier, and torments her by every
-device she can imagine.' 'Oh Heaven!' cried Lizana, 'is it
-possible that the barbarous Stephani should not have been
-contented to exercise his cruelty on me alone? Let us hasten
-to deliver the unfortunate lady from the tyranny of her gaoler.'</p>
-
-<p>"Julio lost no time in conducting the commandant, four or
-five of the archers, and Lizana, to the prison of Don Guillem's
-daughter. They knocked at the door; it was opened by the
-surprised duenna, and you may conceive the delight of Don
-Kimen at again beholding his mistress, after having lost her as
-he supposed for ever. All his hopes revived; nor could he
-reasonably conceive the possibility of their non-fulfilment, since
-he who alone stood between him and his happiness, was dead.
-He threw himself in ecstacy at the feet of Emerenciana; when,&mdash;picture
-his horror if you can,&mdash;he found, instead of the
-gentle girl who had listened with tender transport to his vows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
-a maniac. Yes! so well had the duenna succeeded in her
-efforts, that she had effaced the image of the lover by destroying
-the canvas on which it was depicted.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch09pic10.png" width="268" height="189" alt="Don Kimen discovers Emerenciana has gone mad" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"She remained for some time in apparent meditation, then
-imagining herself to be the fair Angelica, besieged by the Tartars
-in the towers of Albraca, and the persons who filled her
-apartment to be so many Paladins come to her rescue, she
-received them with much politeness. Addressing the chief of
-the holy brotherhood as Roland, Lizana as Brandimart, Julio
-as Hubert of the Lion, and the archers as Antifort, Clarion,
-Adrian, and the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, she said to
-them: 'Brave chevaliers, I no longer fear the Emperor Agrican,
-nor Queen Marphisa: your valour would suffice for my
-defence against the world itself in arms.'</p>
-
-<p>"The officer and his followers could not resist an inclination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
-to laugh at this heroic reception; but poor Don Kimen was
-so much afflicted by the unexpected condition in which he
-found her for whom alone he had wished to live, that reason
-seemed to be on the point of abandoning him also. Recovering
-himself, however, from his first surprise, and hoping that
-she might be brought to recognize the unhappy author of her
-misfortunes, he addressed her tenderly: 'Dearest Emerenciana,'
-said he, 'it is Lizana speaks to thee: recall thy scattered
-thoughts, he comes to tell thee that thy griefs are at an end.
-Heaven has heard the prayer of those fond hearts itself united;
-and its wrath has fallen on the wicked head of him who would
-have separated two beings made for each other.'</p>
-
-<p>"The reply to these words was another speech from the
-daughter of king Galafron to the valiant defenders of Albraca,
-who this time however restrained their mirth. Even the commandant,
-whose profession was not favourable to the kindlier
-feelings of humanity, was touched with compassion, and
-observing the profound affliction of Don Kimen, said to him:
-'Signor Cavalier, do not despair! We have, in Siguença,
-physicians celebrated for their skill in curing the disorders
-of the mind, and there is yet hope for your unfortunate lady.
-But let us away! You, Signor Hubert of the Lion,' added
-he, addressing himself to Julio, 'you who know the whereabouts
-of the stables of this castle, take with you Antifort and
-the two sons of the Marquis Olivier, bring out the fleetest
-coursers from their stalls and harness them to the car of our
-princess; in the meanwhile I will prepare my dispatches.'</p>
-
-<p>"So saying, he drew out his writing materials, and having
-finished his report, he presented his hand to Angelica and
-conducted her to the court-yard, where he found a carriage
-with four mules, which had been prepared for her reception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
-by the paladins. The lady was placed therein by the side of
-Don Kimen; and the commandant having compelled the
-duenna to enter also, as he thought the corregidor would be
-glad to have some conversation with the dame, he mounted,
-and they set out for Siguença. This is not all: by order of
-their chief, the archers bound Julio, and placed him in another
-carriage with the body of Don Guillem; then mounting their
-horses they followed the same route.</p>
-
-<p>"During the journey, the daughter of Stephani uttered a
-thousand extravagancies, every one of which was as a dagger
-in the heart of her lover. The presence of the duenna was an
-additional source of disquiet to him. 'It is you, infamous old
-woman,' said he to her, 'it is you who by your cruelty have
-tortured Emerenciana to madness.' The old hypocrite endeavoured
-to justify herself by pleading the instructions of her
-defunct master. 'It is to Don Guillem alone,' said she, 'that
-her misfortunes are attributable: daily did that too rigid father
-visit her in her room; and it is to his reproaches and threats
-that the loss of her reason is owing.'</p>
-
-<p>"On reaching Siguença, the commandant immediately went
-to give an account of his mission to the corregidor, who
-after examining Julio and the duenna found them lodgings in
-the prisons of that town, where they reside to this time. Lizana,
-after deposing to all he had suffered from Don Guillem, repaired
-to his father's house, where his presence restored joy to his
-alarmed relations. Donna Emerenciana was sent by the judge
-to Madrid, where she has a kind uncle by her mother's side,
-who desired nothing better than the administration of his
-niece's property, and who was nominated her guardian. As
-he could not creditably do otherwise than appear desirous of
-her restoration to sanity, he had recourse to the most famed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
-physicians of this city; but he had nothing to fear, for, after
-having taken a becoming number of fees, they declared her
-incurable. On this decision, the guardian, no doubt very reluctantly,
-placed her here; and here, most likely, she is destined
-to end her days."</p>
-
-<p>"And a sad destiny it is," cried Don Cleophas; "I am really
-touched by her misfortunes: Donna Emerenciana deserved a
-better fate. And Don Kimen," added he, "what is become of
-him? I am curious to learn how he acted." "Very reasonably,"
-replied Asmodeus: "when he heard that the evil
-was past a remedy, he went to Spanish America. He hopes
-that by change of scene he may insensibly efface the remembrance
-of those charms that wisdom and his own peace require
-he should forget.&mdash;&mdash;But," continued the Devil, "after having
-exhibited to you madmen who are confined, it is time I shewed
-to you those who deserve to be so."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 190px;">
-<img src="images/ch09tailpiece.png" width="190" height="137" alt="Tailpiece of a physician taking Emerenciana's pulse" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER X.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE SUBJECT OF WHICH IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialr.png" width="75" height="78" alt="R" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Run your eyes over the city, and as we discover
-subjects worthy of being placed in this museum,
-I will describe them to you. There is one,
-already; I must not let him escape: he is a
-newly-married man. It is just a week since, in consequence
-of reports which reached his ears relative to the coquetries
-of a damsel whom he affected, he went in a fury to her house,
-broke one portion of her furniture, threw the other out of
-windows, and on the next day mended the matter by espousing
-her." "A proper candidate, indeed," said Zambullo, "for a
-vacant place in this establishment!"</p>
-
-<p>"He has a neighbour," resumed the Cripple, "who is not
-much wiser than himself, a bachelor of forty-five, who, with
-plenty to live on, would yet swell the train of some noble
-pauper. And yonder is the widow of an advocate, who,
-having counted three-score years and more, is about to seek
-the shelter of a convent, that her reputation may not, as she
-says, suffer scandal in this wicked world.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I perceive also two virgins, or, to speak more properly, two
-girls of fifty years of age. They pray Heaven, in its mercy,
-to take to it their father, who keeps them mewed like minors;
-as they hope, when he is gone, to find handsome men who
-will marry them for love." "And why not?" inquired the
-Scholar; "there are stranger things than such men to be
-found." "I am perfectly of your opinion," replied Asmodeus:
-"they may find husbands, doubtless; but they ought not to
-expect to be so fortunate,&mdash;it is therein that their folly
-consists.</p>
-
-<p>"There is no country in the world in which women speak the
-truth in regard to their age. At Paris, about a month ago, a
-maiden of forty-eight and a woman of sixty-nine had occasion
-to go before a magistrate as witnesses in a case which concerned
-the honour of a widow of their acquaintance. The magistrate,
-first addressing himself to the married lady, asked her age;
-and, although her years might have been counted by the
-wrinkles on her brow, she unhesitatingly replied, that she was
-exactly forty. 'And you, madam,' said the man of law,
-addressing the single lady in her turn, 'may I ask your age
-also?' 'We can dispense with that, your worship,' replied
-the damsel; 'it is a question that ought not to be asked.'
-'Impossible!' replied he; 'are you not aware that the law
-requires....' 'Oh!' interrupted the lady sharply, 'the
-law requires nothing of the kind: what matters it to the law
-what my age may be? It is none of its business.' 'But,
-madam,' said the magistrate, 'I cannot receive your testimony
-unless your age be stated; it is a necessary preliminary, I
-assure you.' 'Well,' replied the maiden, 'if it be absolutely
-necessary, look at me with attention, and put down my age
-conscientiously.'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic01.png" width="264" height="270" alt="The two ladies before the magistrate" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The magistrate looked at her over his spectacles, and was
-polite enough to decree that she did not appear above twenty-eight.
-But when to his question, as to how long she had
-known the widow, the witness replied&mdash;before her marriage:
-'I have made a mistake,' said he; 'for I have put you down
-for twenty-eight, whereas it is nine and twenty years since the
-lady became a wife.' 'You may state then,' cried the maiden,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
-'that I am thirty: I may have known the widow since I was
-one year old.' 'That will hardly do,' replied the magistrate;
-'we may as well add a dozen years at once.' 'By no means,'
-said the lady; 'I will allow another year, if you please; but
-if my own honour were in question instead of the widow's, I
-would not add one month more to please the law, or any other
-body in the world.'</p>
-
-<p>"When the two witnesses had left the magistrate, the woman
-said to the maiden: 'Do not you wonder at this noodle, who
-thinks us young enough to tell him our ages to a day? It
-is enough, surely, that they should be inscribed on the parish
-registers, without his poking them into his depositions, for the
-information of all the world. It would be delightful, truly, to
-hear recited in open court,&mdash;Madame Richard, aged sixty and
-so many years, and Mademoiselle Perinelle, aged forty-five,
-depose such and so forth. It is too absurd: I have taken care
-to suppress a good score of years; and you were wise enough
-to follow my example.'</p>
-
-<p>'What do you mean by following your example?' cried the
-ancient damsel, with youthful indignation: 'I am extremely
-obliged to you; but I would have you to know that thirty-five
-years are the utmost I have seen.' 'Why! child,' replied the
-matron, with a malicious smile, 'you forget yourself: I was
-present at your birth&mdash;ah! what a time it is ago! And your
-poor father! I knew him well. But we must all die; and he
-was not young, either: it is nearly forty years since we buried
-him.' 'Oh! my father,' interrupted the virgin, hastily, irritated
-at the precision of the old dame's tender recollections,&mdash;'my
-father was so old when he married my mother, that she was not
-likely to have any children by him.'</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive in that house opposite," continued the Spirit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
-"two men, who are not over-burdened with sense. One is a
-youth of family, who can neither keep money in his pocket, nor
-do entirely without it: he has discovered, therefore, an excellent
-means of always having a supply. When he is in cash, he
-lays it out in books, and when his purse is empty, he sells them
-for the half of their cost. The other is a foreign artist, who
-seeks for patronage among the ladies as a portrait painter: he
-is clever, draws correctly, colours to perfection, and is extraordinarily
-successful in the likeness; but&mdash;he never flatters his
-originals, yet expects the women will flock to him. Sheer
-stupidity! <i>Inter stultos referatur.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"What?" cried the Scholar, "have you studied the classics?"
-"You ought hardly to be surprised at that," replied the Devil:
-"I speak fluently all your barbarous tongues&mdash;Hebrew, Greek,
-Persic, and Arabic. Nevertheless, I am not vain of my attainments;
-and that, at all events, is an advantage I have over your
-learned pedants.</p>
-
-<p>"You may see in that large mansion, on the left, a sick lady
-surrounded by several others, who are in attendance upon her:
-she is the rich widow of a celebrated architect, whose love for
-her husband's profession has extended itself to the most foolish
-admiration of the Corinthian capital of society&mdash;the higher
-classes. She has just made her will, by which she bequeaths
-her immense wealth to grandees of the first class, who are
-ignorant of her very existence, but whose titles have gained for
-them their legacies. She was asked whether she would not
-leave something to a person who had rendered her most important
-services. 'Alas! no,' she replied, with an appearance
-of regret; 'and I am sorry that I cannot do so. I am not so
-ungrateful as to deny the obligation which I owe to him; but
-his humble name would disgrace my will.'"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Signor Asmodeus," interrupted Leandro, "tell me, I pray
-you, whether the old gentleman whom I perceive so busy reading
-in his study, does not chance to be one of those who merit to be
-here confined." "He does, indeed, deserve it," answered the
-Demon: "he is an old licentiate, who is reading a proof of a
-book which he is passing through the press." "Doubtless,
-some work on morals or theology?" said Don Cleophas. "Not
-it," replied the Cripple; "it is a collection of amatory songs,
-which he wrote in his youth: instead of burning them, or at
-least suffering them to fall into the oblivion to which he is fast
-hastening, he has resolved to print them himself, for fear his
-heirs should be tempted to do so after his death, and that, out
-of respect for his memory, they should deprive them of their
-point by rendering them decent.</p>
-
-<p>"There is a little lady living in the same house with our
-Anacreon, whom I must not forget: she is so entirely convinced
-of the power of her attractions, that no man ever spoke
-to her whom she did not at once place in the list of her
-admirers.</p>
-
-<p>"But let us turn to a wealthy canon, whom I see a few paces
-beyond her. He has a very singular phantasy. If he lives
-frugally, it is not with a view to mortify the flesh, or from a
-dislike to the grape; if his humility does without a coach and
-six, it is not from avarice. Ah! for what object then does he
-husband his resources? What does he with his revenues?
-Does he bestow them in alms? No! he expends them in the
-purchase of paintings, expensive furniture, and jewellery. Now,
-you would naturally expect he bought these things to enjoy
-them while he lived?&mdash;No such thing; he only seeks
-to swell the inventory of his effects when he shall be no
-more."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Oh! impossible!" cried Zambullo: "such a madman as
-you describe cannot exist on the earth!" "I repeat, nevertheless,"
-replied the Devil, "that such is his mania. The only
-pleasure he derives from these things is in the imagination of
-how they will figure in his said inventory. Does he buy, for
-instance, a superbly inlaid cabinet; it is neatly packed upon
-the instant, and carefully stowed away; that it may appear quite
-new in the eyes of the brokers who may come when he is dead
-to bargain for his relics.</p>
-
-<p>"I will show you one of his neighbours that you will think
-quite as mad as he,&mdash;an old bachelor, recently arrived from the
-Philippine Isles, with an enormous fortune which he derived
-from his father, who was auditor of the court at Manilla: his
-conduct is extraordinary enough. You may see him daily in
-the antechambers of the king, or of the prime minister. Do
-not fancy, however, that it is ambition which leads him there,
-to solicit some important charge: he seeks no employment; he
-asks for nothing. 'What then!' you will say to me, 'does he go
-there simply to pay his devoirs?' Colder still! He never
-speaks to the minister, to whom indeed he is not even known,
-nor does he desire to be so. 'What then is his object?'&mdash;I will
-tell you. He wishes to persuade the world of his credit at
-Court."</p>
-
-<p>"An amusing original, indeed!" cried the Student, bursting
-with laughter; "he takes great pains to little purpose, truly:
-you may well place him in the list of madmen." "Oh! as to
-that," replied Asmodeus, "I shall shew you many others whom
-it would be unreasonable to think more wise. For instance,
-look in yonder house, so splendidly illumined, and you will
-perceive three men and two ladies sitting round a table. They
-have just supped together, and they are now playing at cards to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
-while away the night, with which only will they leave their
-occupation. Such is the life these gentle cavaliers and ladies
-lead. They meet regularly every evening, and break up like
-fogs only with the sun; when they retire to sleep until darkness
-again calls them to light and life: they have renounced
-the face of day and the beauties of nature. Would not one
-say, to behold them thus surrounded with waxen tapers, that
-they were corpses, waiting for the last sad offices that are
-rendered to the dead?" "There is no necessity to shut those
-people from the world," said Don Cleophas;&mdash;"they have
-ceased to belong to it."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive in the arms of sleep," resumed the Cripple, "a
-man whom I esteem, and who is also attached devotedly to
-me,&mdash;a being formed in my own mould. He is an old bachelor,
-who idolises the fair sex. You cannot speak to him of a pretty
-woman, without remarking the delight with which he hears you;
-if you say that her mouth is small, her lips rubies, her teeth
-pearls, her cheeks roses on an alabaster vase; in a word, if you
-paint her in detail, at every stroke he sighs and lifts his eyes,
-and is visibly excited by his voluptuous imagination. Only two
-days ago, passing the shop of a ladies' shoemaker, he stopped
-to look with admiration on a pair of diminutive slippers which
-were there exposed. After contemplating them for some time,
-with more attention than they deserved, he exclaimed with a
-languishing air, to a cavalier who accompanied him: 'Ah! my
-friend; there now are slippers which enchant my soul! what
-darling feet for which they were made! I look on them with
-too much interest: let us away! the very atmosphere around
-this place is dangerous.'"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 168px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic02.png" width="168" height="224" alt="The old bachelor admires the diminutive slippers" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"We may mark that gentleman with black, at all events,"
-said Leandro Perez. "We may indeed," replied the Devil;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
-"and you may tar his nearest neighbour with the same brush,
-while you are about it&mdash;an original of an auditor, who, because
-he keeps a carriage, blushes whenever he is obliged to put his
-foot into a public vehicle. He again may be worthily paired
-with one of his own relations, a wealthy dignitary of the church
-here, who almost always rides in a hired coach, in order to save
-two very neat ones, and four splendid mules, which he keeps
-in his stables.</p>
-
-<p>"In the immediate neighbourhood of the auditor and our
-amatory bachelor, I discover a man to whom, without injustice,
-no one could deny his title to a strait waistcoat. There he is&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
-cavalier of sixty, making love to a damsel of sixteen. He
-visits her daily, and thinks to win her affections by a recital of
-the conquests of his youth; he hopes that she will love him
-now for the charms of which he formerly could boast.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 209px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic03.png" width="209" height="316" alt="The old cavalier wooing the young girl" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"We may place in the same category with the aged swain,
-another who is sleeping about ten paces from us&mdash;a French
-count, who came to Madrid to see the court of Spain. This
-old gentleman, who is nearly seventy years of age, shone with
-great lustre in the court of his own sovereign, fifty years ago;
-he was indeed perfectly the rage; all the world envying his
-manly form, his gallant deportment, and above all the exquisite
-taste which he displayed in his apparel. He scrupulously preserved
-the dresses so much admired, and has continued to wear
-them on all occasions despite the changes of fashion, which in
-Paris occur every day. What, however, is most amusing in
-the matter is, that he fancies himself at this time as graceful
-and attractive as in the days of his youth."</p>
-
-<p>"There is not the slightest doubt," said Don Cleophas,
-"that we may book a place in the <i>Casa de los locos</i> for this
-French signor." "I must reserve another though," replied the
-Demon, "for a lady who resides in a garret, next to the count's
-mansion. She is an elderly widow, who, from excess of affection
-for her children, has had the kindness to make over to
-them all her property; reserving only a small stipend for herself,
-which, with proper filial gratitude, they take good care
-never to pay.</p>
-
-<p>"I have another subject for the same establishment, in a
-youth of family, who no sooner has a ducat than he spends it;
-and who, as he cannot do without the ready, is capable of anything
-to obtain it. A fortnight ago, his washer-woman, to whom
-he owed thirty pistoles, came to dun him for that sum, stating
-that she wanted it particularly, as she was going to be married
-to a valet-de-chambre, who sought her hand. 'You must have
-more money than this,' said he, 'for where the devil is the
-valet-de-chambre who would take you to wife for thirty pistoles?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
-'Oh! yes,' replied the sudorific dame, 'I have two hundred
-ducats besides.' 'The deuce!' replied our hero, with emotion&mdash;'two
-hundred ducats! You have only to give them to me,
-I will marry you myself, and we may then cry quits.' He was
-taken at his word, and the laundress became his wife.</p>
-
-<p>"We must retain three places also for the same number of
-persons, whom you see returning from supper at a celebrated
-countess's, and now stopping before that house on the left,
-where they at present reside. One is a nobleman of an inferior
-grade, who piques himself on his passion for the <i>belles
-lettres;</i> the second is his brother, your ambassador to Timbuctoo,
-or some such place; and the third is their foster-brother,
-a literary toady who follows in their train. They are almost
-always together, and especially when visiting in the clique to
-which they belong. The noble praises himself only; the
-ambassador praises his brother and himself also; but the toady
-has three things to look after,&mdash;the praises of the other two,
-and the mixing of his own praises with theirs.</p>
-
-<p>"Two places more! One for a floricultural citizen, who,
-scarcely gaining his own bread, must need keep a gardener and
-his wife to look after a dozen plants that languish at his suburban
-villa; the other for an actor, who, complaining the other
-day to his brethren on the disagreeables inseparable from a
-strolling life, observed: 'Well, my friends, I am utterly disgusted
-with my profession; yes, so much so, that I would
-rather be a humble country gentleman with a thousand ducats
-a year.'</p>
-
-<p>"On whichever side I turn my eyes," continued the Spirit,
-"I see nothing but addled brains. There, for instance, is a
-chevalier of Calatrava, who is so proud, or rather vain, of being
-privately encouraged by the daughter of a noble signor, that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
-thinks himself on a par with the first persons of the court. He
-reminds me of Villius, who thought himself son-in-law of Sylla,
-because he was on good terms with the daughter of that dictator;
-and the resemblance is the more striking, because this
-chevalier, like the Roman, has a <i>Longarenus;</i> that is to say, a
-rival of low degree, who, nevertheless, is still more favoured by
-the lady than himself.</p>
-
-<p>"One would be inclined to affirm that the same men are
-born anew from time to time, but under other circumstances.
-I recognize, in that secretary of department, Bollanus, who
-kept measures with nobody, and who affronted all whose
-appearance was, at first sight, unpleasing to him. I behold
-again, in that old president, Fufidius, who lent his money at
-five per cent. per month; and Marsoeus, who gave his paternal
-mansion to the actress Origo, lives once more in that noble
-stripling, who is spending with a dancer of the ballet the
-proceeds of a country seat which he has near the Escurial."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was about to continue, when, suddenly hearing
-the sound of instruments which were tuning in the neighbourhood,
-he stopped, and said to Don Cleophas: "There are
-musicians at the end of this street, who are just commencing a
-serenade in honour of the daughter of an <i>alcade de corte;</i> if
-you would like to witness this piece of gallantry, you have only
-to say so." "I am a great admirer of this sort of concert,"
-replied Zambullo; "let us by all means get near them; there
-may chance to be some decent voices among the lot." He
-had hardly spoken, when he found himself on a house adjoining
-that of the alcade.</p>
-
-<p>The serenade was commenced by the instruments alone,
-which played some new Italian airs; and then two of the
-voices sang alternately the following couplets:</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
-"List, while the thousand charms I sing,<br />
-Which round thee such enchantment fling,<br />
-That even Love has plumed his wing<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To seek thy bower.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thy neck, that shames the mountain snow,<br />
-Thy lip, that mocks the peach's glow,<br />
-Bid Cupid's self a captive bow<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Beneath thy power.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thine arched brows as bows are bent<br />
-To speed the shafts thine eyes have sent;<br />
-E'en armed Love's own mail is rent,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Resisting them.</span><br />
-<br />
-"Thou art, in sooth, a queenly maid;<br />
-Yet hast thou every heart betray'd,<br />
-That thee its trusting pole-star made;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thou priceless gem!</span><br />
-<br />
-"Oh! would that I some spell possess'd,<br />
-While painting thee, to touch thy breast;<br />
-Thou evening star, thou heaven of rest,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thou morning sun!"<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></span><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-<p class="p2">
-<a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
-<br />
-"Si de tu hermosura quieres<br />
-Una copia con mil gracias;<br />
-Escucha, porque pretendo<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">El pintarla.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Es tu frente toda nieve<br />
-Y el alabastro, batallas<br />
-Offreciò al Amor, haziendo<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">En ella vaya.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Amor labrò de tus cejas<br />
-Dos arcos para su aljava:<br />
-Y debaxo ha descubierto<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quien le mata.</span><br />
- <br />
-<br />
-"Eres duena de el lugar<br />
-Vandolera de las almas,<br />
-Iman de los alvedrios,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Linda alhaja.</span><br />
-<br />
-<br />
-"Un rasgo de tu hermosura<br />
-Quisiera yo retratarla;<br />
-Que es estrella, es cielo, es sol;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">No es sino el alva."</span><br />
-</p></div>
-
-
-<p class="p2">"The couplets are gallant and delicate," cried the Student.
-"They seem so to you," replied the Demon, "because you
-are a Spaniard: if they were translated into French, for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>instance, they would not be greatly admired. The readers of
-that nation would think the expressions too figurative; and
-would discover an extravagance of imagination in the conceptions,
-which would be to them absolutely laughable. Every
-nation has its own standard of taste and genius, and will admit
-no other: but enough of these couplets," continued he, "you
-will hear music of another kind.</p>
-
-<p>"Follow with your eyes those four men who have suddenly
-appeared in the street. See! they pounce upon the serenaders:
-the latter raise their instruments to defend their heads, but
-their frail bucklers yield to the blows which fall on them, and
-are shattered into a thousand pieces. And now see, coming
-to their assistance, two cavaliers; one of whom is the gallant
-donor of the serenade. With what fury they charge on the
-four aggressors! Again, with what skill and valour do these
-latter receive them. What fire sparkles from their swords!
-See! one of the defenders of the serenade has fallen,&mdash;it is he
-who gave it,&mdash;he is mortally wounded. His companion, perceiving
-his fall, flies to preserve his own life; the aggressors,
-having effected their object, fly also; the musicians have disappeared
-during the combat; and there remains upon the spot
-the unfortunate cavalier alone, who has paid for his gallantry
-with his life. In the meanwhile, observe the alcade's daughter:
-she is at her window, whence she has observed all that has
-passed. This lady is so vain of her beauty,&mdash;although that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
-nothing extraordinary either,&mdash;that instead of deploring its
-fatal effect, she rejoices in the force of her attractions, of which
-she now thinks more than ever.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 241px;">
-<img src="images/ch10pic04.png" width="241" height="165" alt="The cavalier apprehended by the watch" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"This will not be the end of it. You see another cavalier,
-who has this moment stopped in the street to assist, were it
-possible, the unfortunate being who is swimming in his blood.
-While occupied in this charitable office, see! he is surprised
-by the watch. They are taking him to prison, where he will
-remain many months: and he will almost pay as dearly for
-this transaction as though he were the murderer himself."</p>
-
-<p>"This is, indeed, a night of misfortunes!" said Zambullo.
-"And this will not be the last of them," added the Devil.
-"Were you, this moment, at the Gate of the Sun, you would
-be horror-stricken at the spectacle which is now exhibiting.
-Through the negligence of a domestic, a mansion is on fire,
-
-which in its rage has already reduced to ashes the magnif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>icent
-furniture it contains, and threatens to consume the whole
-building; but great as might be his loss, Don Pedro de
-Escolano, to whom the house belongs, would not regret it for
-a moment, could he but save his only daughter, Seraphina, who
-is likely to perish in the flames."</p>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas expressing the greatest anxiety to see this fire,
-the Cripple transported him in an instant to the Gate of the
-Sun, and placed him in a house exactly opposite to that which
-was burning.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/ch10tailpiece.png" width="200" height="90" alt="mask tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE FIRE, AND THE DOINGS OF ASMODEUS ON THE OCCASION,
-OUT OF FRIENDSHIP FOR DON CLEOPHAS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In the street beneath them nothing was to be heard
-but a confused noise, arising from cries of fire
-from one half of the crowd, and the more appropriate
-one of water from the other. As soon as
-Leandro was able to comprehend the scene, he saw that the
-grand staircase, which led to the principal apartments of Don
-Pedro's mansion, was all in flames, which also were issuing
-with clouds of smoke, from every window in the house.</p>
-
-<p>"The fire is at its height," said the Demon; "it has just
-reached the roof, and its thousand tongues are spitting in the
-air millions of brilliant sparks. It is a magnificent sight: so
-much so, that the persons who have flocked from all parts
-around it, to assist in extinguishing the flames, are awed into
-helpless amazement. You may discern in the crowd of spectators
-an old man in a dressing-gown: it is the Signor de
-Escolano. Do you not hear his cries and lamentations? He
-is addressing the men who surround him, and conjuring them
-to rescue his child. But in vain does he implore them,&mdash;in
-vain does he offer all his wealth,&mdash;none dares expose hi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>s life
-to save the ill-fated lady, who is only sixteen, and whose
-beauty is incomparable. The old man is in despair: he
-accuses them of cowardice; he tears his hair and beard; he
-beats his breast; the excess of his grief has made him almost
-mad. Seraphina, poor girl, abandoned by her attendants, has
-just swooned with terror in her own apartment, where, in a few
-minutes, a dense smoke will stifle her. She is lost to him for
-ever: no mortal can save her."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Signor Asmodeus," exclaimed Leandro Perez, prompted
-by feelings of generous compassion, "if you love me, yield to
-the pity which desolates my heart: reject not my humble
-prayer when I entreat you to save this lovely girl from the
-horrid death which threatens her. I demand it, as the price
-of the service I rendered but now to you. Do not, this time,
-oppose yourself to my desires: I shall die with grief if you
-refuse me."</p>
-
-<p>The Devil smiled on witnessing the profound emotion of the
-Student. "The fire warms you, Signor Zambullo," said he.
-"Verily! you would have made an exquisite knight-errant:
-you are courageous, compassionate for the sufferings of others,
-and particularly prompt in the service of sorrowing damsels.
-You would be just the man, now, to throw yourself in the
-midst of the furnace yonder, like an Amadis, to attempt the
-deliverance of the beauteous Seraphina, and to restore her safe
-and sound to her disconsolate father." "Would to heaven!"
-replied Don Cleophas, "that it were possible. I would undertake
-the task without hesitation." "Pity that your death,"
-resumed the Cripple, "would be the sole reward of so noble
-an exploit! I have already told you that human courage can
-avail nothing on the occasion. Well! I suppose, to gratify
-you, I must meddle in the matter; so observe how I shall s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>et
-about it: you can watch from hence all my operations."</p>
-
-<p>He had no sooner spoken these words than, borrowing the
-form of Leandro Perez, to the great astonishment of the
-Student, he alighted unobserved amid the crowd, which he
-elbowed without ceremony, and quickly passing through it,
-rushed into the fire as into his natural element. The spectators
-who beheld him, alarmed at the apparent madness of the
-attempt, uttered a cry of horror. "What insanity!" said one;
-"is it possible that interest can blind a man to such an extent
-as this? None but a downright idiot could have been tempted
-by any proffered recompence to dare such certain death."
-"The rash youth," said another, "must be the lover of Don
-Pedro's daughter; and in the desperation of his grief has
-resolved to save his mistress or to perish with her."</p>
-
-<p>In short, they predicted for him the fate of Empedocles,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
-when, a minute afterwards, they saw him emerge from the
-flames with Seraphina in his arms. The air resounded with
-acclamations, and the people were loud in their praises of the
-brave cavalier who had performed so noble a feat. When
-rashness ends in success, critics are silent; and so this prodigy
-now appeared to the assembled multitude as a very natural
-result of a Spaniard's daring.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> A Sicilian poet and philosopher, who threw himself into the crater of
-Mount Ætna.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 242px;">
-<img src="images/ch11pic01.png" width="242" height="315" alt="The rescue of Seraphina" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As the lady was still insensible, her father did not dare to
-give himself up to joy: he feared that, although thus miraculously
-delivered from the fire, she would die before his eyes,
-from the terrible impression made upon her mind by the peril
-she had encountered. He was, however, soon reassured, when,
-recovering from her swoon, her eyes opened, and looking on
-the old man, she said to him with an affectionate voice:
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>"Signor, I should have had more occasion for affliction than
-rejoicing at the preservation of my life, were not yours also in
-safety." "Ah! my child," replied her father, embracing her,
-"nothing is lost since you are saved. But let us thank,"
-exclaimed he, presenting to her the double of Cleophas,&mdash;"let<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
-us testify our gratitude to this young cavalier. He is your
-preserver; it is to him you owe your life. How can we repay
-that debt? Not all that I possess would suffice to cancel the
-obligation he has conferred upon us."</p>
-
-<p>To these observations the Devil replied, with an air which
-would have done Don Cleophas credit: "Signor, I am noble,
-and a Castilian. I seek no other reward for the service I have
-had the happiness to render you than the pleasure of having
-dried your tears, and of having saved from the flames the
-lovely object which they threatened to devour;&mdash;surely such a
-service is its own reward."</p>
-
-<p>The disinterestedness and generosity of their benefactor
-raised for him the highest feelings of admiration and esteem in
-the breast of the Signor de Escolano, who entreated him to
-call upon them, and offered him his warmest friendship. The
-Devil replied in fitting terms to the frank advances of the old
-man; and, after many other compliments had passed, the
-father and daughter retired to a small building which remained
-uninjured, at the bottom of the garden. The Demon then
-rejoined the Student, who, seeing him return under his former
-guise, said to him: "Signor Asmodeus, have my eyes deceived
-me? Were you not but now in my shape and figure?"
-"Excuse the liberty," replied the Cripple; "and I will tell
-you the motive for this metamorphosis. I have formed a
-grand design: I intend that you should marry Seraphina, and,
-under your form, I have already inspired her with a violent
-passion for your lordship. Don Pedro, also, is highly satisfied
-with you, because I told him that in rescuing his daughter I
-had no other object than to render them both happy, and that
-the honour of having happily terminated so perilous an adventure
-was a sufficient reward for a Spanish gentleman. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
-good man has a noble soul, and will not easily be outdone
-in generosity; and he is at this moment deliberating within
-himself whether he shall not give you his daughter, as the
-most worthy return he can make to you for having saved her
-life.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch11pic02.png" width="268" height="211" alt="Don Pedro and Seraphina thank Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well! while he is hesitating," added the Cripple, "let us
-get out of this smother into a place more favourable for continuing
-our observations." And so saying, away he flew with
-the Student to the top of a high church filled with splendid
-tombs.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE TOMBS, OF THEIR SHADES, AND OF DEATH.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Asmodeus now said to the Student: "Before we
-continue our observations on the living, we will
-for a few moments disturb the peaceful rest of
-those who lie within this church. I will glance
-over all the tombs; reveal the secrets they contain, and the
-feelings which have prompted their elevation.</p>
-
-<p>"The first of those which are on our right contains the sad
-remains of a general officer, who, like another Agamemnon, on
-his return from the wars found an Ægisthus in his house; in
-the second, reposes a young cavalier of noble birth, who,
-desirous of displaying in the sight of his mistress his strength
-and skill at a bull-fight, was gored to death by his furious
-opponent; and in the third lies an old prelate who left this
-world rather unceremoniously. He had made his will in the
-vigour of health, and was imprudent enough to read it to his
-domestics, whom, like a good master, he had not forgotten:
-his cook was in a hurry to receive his legacy.</p>
-
-<p>"In the fourth mausoleum rests a courtier who never rested
-in his lifetime. Even at sixty years of age, h<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>e was daily seen
-in attendance on the king, from the levée until his majesty
-retired for the night: in recompense for all these attentions
-the king loaded him with favours." "And was he, now," said
-Don Cleophas, "the man to use his influence for others?"
-"For no one," replied the Devil: "he was liberal of his
-promises of service to his friends, but he was religiously scrupulous
-of never keeping them." "The scoundrel!" exclaimed
-Leandro. "Were we to think of lopping off the superfluous
-members of society,&mdash;men that like tumours on the body
-politic draw all its nourishment to themselves, it is with
-courtiers like this one would begin."</p>
-
-<p>"The fifth tomb," resumed Asmodeus, "encloses the mortal
-remains of a signor, ever zealous for the interests of his country,
-and jealous of the glory of the king his master, in whose service
-he spent the best years of his life as ambassador to Rome or
-France, to England or Portugal. He ruined himself so effectually
-by his embassies that he did not leave behind him
-enough to defray the expenses of his funeral, which the king
-has therefore paid out of gratitude for his services.</p>
-
-<p>"Let us turn to the monuments on the other side. The
-first is that of a great merchant who left enormous wealth to
-his children; but, lest they should forget, in its flood, the
-humble source from which it, like themselves, was derived, he
-directed that his name and occupation should be graven on
-his tomb, to the no small annoyance of his descendants.</p>
-
-<p>"The next stone which surpasses every other in the church
-for its magnificence, is regarded with much admiration by all
-travellers." "In truth," said Zambullo, "it appears to me
-deserving of its reputation. I am absolutely enchanted by
-those two kneeling figures&mdash;how exquisitely are they chiselled?
-Not Phidias himself could have surpassed the sculpture of this
-splendid work! But tell me, dear Asmodeus, what in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
-lives were those whom these all-breathing marbles represent?"</p>
-
-<p>The Cripple replied: "You behold a duke and his noble
-spouse: the former was grand chamberlain to his majesty, and
-the duchess was celebrated for her extreme piety. I must,
-however, relate to you an anecdote of her grace, which you
-will think rather lively for a devotee;&mdash;it is as follows.</p>
-
-<p>"She had been for a long time in the habit of confessing
-her sins to a monk of the order of Mercy, one Don Jerome
-d'Aguilar, a good man, and a famous preacher, with whom she
-was highly satisfied, when there suddenly appeared at Madrid
-a Dominican, who captivated the town by the novelty of his
-style, and the comfortable doctrines on which he insisted.
-This new orator was named the brother Placidus: the people
-flocked to his sermons as to those of Cardinal Ximenes; and
-as his reputation grew, the court, led to hear him by curiosity,
-became more loud in his praises than the town.</p>
-
-<p>"Our duchess at first made it a point of honour to hold out
-against the renown of the new-comer, nor could even curiosity
-induce her to go to hear him, that she might judge for herself
-of his eloquence. She acted thus from a desire to prove to
-her spiritual director, that, like a good and grateful penitent,
-she sympathised with him in the chagrin which the presence of
-brother Placidus must have caused him. But the Dominican
-made so much noise, that at last she yielded to the temptation
-of seeing him, still however assured of her own fidelity: she
-saw him, heard him preach, liked him, followed him; and the
-little inconstant absolutely formed the project of putting herself
-under his direction.</p>
-
-<p>"It was, however, necessary to get rid of her old confessor,
-and this was not an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>easy matter; a spiritual guide cannot be
-thrown off like a lover; a devotee would not like to be thought
-a coquette, or to lose the esteem of the director whom she
-abandons; so what did the duchess? She sought Don Jerome,
-and with an air of sorrow which spoke a real affliction, said to
-him: 'Father, I am in despair: you see me in amazement;&mdash;in
-a grief,&mdash;in a perplexity of mind which I cannot depict.'
-'What ails you then, Madam?' replied d'Aguilar. 'Would
-you believe it?' she replied; 'my husband, who has ever had
-the most perfect confidence in my virtue, after having seen me
-for so long a time under your guidance, has, without appearing
-in the least suspicious of myself, become suddenly jealous of
-you, and desires that you may no longer be my confessor.
-Did you ever hear of a similar caprice? In vain have I objected
-that by his suspicions he insulted not only myself, but a
-man of the strictest piety, freed from the tyranny of the
-passions; I only increased his jealous fears by my vindication
-of your sacred honour.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Jerome, despite his shrewdness, was taken in by this
-story: it is true that it was told with such demonstrations of
-candour as would have deceived all the world. Although
-sorry to lose a penitent of such importance, he did not fail to
-exhort her to obey her husband's will; but the eyes of his
-Reverence were opened at last, and the trick discovered, when
-he learned that the lady had chosen brother Placidus as his
-successor.</p>
-
-<p>"After the grand chamberlain and his cunning spouse,"
-continued the Devil, "comes a more modest tomb, which has
-only recently received the ill-assorted remains of a president of
-the council of the Indies and his young wife. This president,
-in his sixty-third year, married a girl of twenty: he had by a
-former wife two children, whom he was about to leave penniless,
-when a fit of apoplexy carried him off; and his wife died<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
-twenty-four hours after him from vexation at his not having
-lived three days longer.</p>
-
-<p>"And now we have arrived at the most respectable monument
-this church contains. For it every Spaniard has as much
-veneration, as the Romans had for the tomb of Romulus."
-"Of what great personage, then, does it contain the ashes?"
-asked Leandro Perez. "Of a prime minister of Spain," replied
-Asmodeus; "and never did that monarchy possess his
-equal. The king left, with confidence, the cares of government
-to this great man; who so worthily acquitted himself of the
-charge, that monarch and subjects were equally contented.
-Under his ministry the state was ever flourishing, and its
-people happy; for his maxims of government were founded on
-the sure principles of humanity and religion. Still, although
-his life was blameless, he was not free from apprehension at
-his death,&mdash;the responsibility of his office might indeed make
-the best of mortals tremble.</p>
-
-<p>"In a corner, a little beyond the tomb of this worthy
-minister, you may discern a marble tablet placed against one
-of the columns. Say! shall I open the sepulchre beneath it,
-and display before your eyes all that remains of a lowly maiden
-who perished in the flower of her youth, when her modest
-beauty won for her the love and admiration of all who beheld
-her? It has returned to its primeval dust, that fragile form,
-which in its life possessed so dangerous a beauty as to keep
-her fond parent in continual alarm, lest its bright temptation
-should expose her to the wiles of the seducer;&mdash;a misfortune
-which might have befallen had she lived much longer, for
-already was she the idol of three young cavaliers, who, inconsolable
-for her loss, died shortly afterwards by their own hands.
-Their tragical history is engraven in letters of gold on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the stone
-I shewed you, with three little figures which represent the
-despairing lovers in the act of self-destruction: one is draining a
-glass of poison; another is falling on his sword; and the third
-is tying a cord about his neck, having chosen to die by hanging."</p>
-
-<p>The Demon finding that the Student laughed with all his
-might at this sorrowful story, and that the idea of the three
-figures thus depicted on the maiden's monument amused him,
-said: "Since you find food for mirth in the artist's imagination,
-I am almost in the mind to carry you this moment to the
-banks of the Tagus, and there shew you a monument erected
-by the will of a dramatic author, in the church of a village
-near Almaraz, whither he had retired, after having led a long
-and joyous life at Madrid. This scribe had produced a vast
-number of comedies full of ribald wit and low obscenity; but
-repenting of his outrages upon decency ere he died, and
-desirous of expiating the scandal they had caused, he directed
-that they should carve upon his tomb a sort of pile, composed
-of books, bearing the names of the various pieces he had
-written, and that beside it they should place the image of
-Modesty, who, with lighted torch, should be about to consign
-them to the flames.</p>
-
-<p>"Besides the dead whose monuments I have described to
-you, there are within this church an infinity of others without a
-stone to mark the spot where their ashes repose. I see their
-shades wandering solemnly around: they glide along, passing
-and repassing one after another before us, without disturbing
-the profound quiet which reigns in this holy place. They
-speak not; but I read in their silence all their thoughts." "I
-am annoyed without measure," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "that
-I cannot, like you, have the pleasure of beholding them!"
-"That pleasure I can give you then," replied Asmodeus;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
-"nothing is more easy." The Demon just touched the Student's
-eyes, and by a delusion caused him to perceive a great number
-of pallid spectres.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 187px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic01.png" width="187" height="266" alt="The sculpture of Modesty burning the books" />
-</div>
-
-<p>As he looked on these apparitions, Zambullo trembled.
-"What!" said the Devil to him, "you are agitated! Is it with
-fear of these ghostly visitants? Let not their ghastly apparel
-alarm you! Look at it well! It will adorn your own majestic
-person some of these days. It is the uniform of the shades:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
-collect yourself, and fear nothing. Is it possible your assurance
-can fail you now,&mdash;you, who have had the daring to look on
-me? These gentry are harmless compared with myself."</p>
-
-<p>The Student, at these words, recalling his wonted courage,
-looked on the phantoms with tranquillity; which the Demon
-perceiving: "Bravo!" said he. "Well! now," he continued,
-"regard these shadows with attention! You will perceive that
-the occupant of the stately mausoleum is confounded with the
-inhabitant of the unstoned grave. The ranks by which they
-were distinguished in their lives died with them; and the grand
-chamberlain and the prime minister are no more now than the
-lowliest citizen that moulders in this church. The greatness
-of these noble shades ended with their days, as that of the
-strutting hero of a tragedy falls with the curtain."</p>
-
-<p>"I have a remark to make," interrupted Leandro. "I see
-a lonely spirit hovering about, and seeming to shun all contact
-with his fellows." "Rather say," replied the Demon, "and
-you will speak the truth, that his fellows shun all company with
-him: and what now think you is that poor ghost? He was an
-old notary, who had the vanity to be buried in a leaden coffin;
-which has so offended the self-love of the more humble tenants
-of the surrounding tombs, that they resolved to black-ball him,
-and will not therefore permit his shade to mix with theirs."</p>
-
-<p>"I have another observation yet to make," resumed Don
-Cleophas. "Two shadows, just now, on meeting, stopped for
-a moment to look upon each other, and then passed each on
-his way." "They are, or rather were, two intimate friends,"
-replied the Devil; "one was a painter, and the other a
-musician: they both drew their inspiration from the bottle;
-but were, otherwise, honest fellows enough. It is worthy of
-note that they both brushed off in the same year; and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>when
-their spirits meet, struck by the remembrance of their former
-delights, they say to each other by their sorrowful but expressive
-silence: 'Ah! my friend, we shall drink no more.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Grammercy!" cried the Student, "what do I see. At the
-other end of the church are two spirits, who are passing along
-together, but badly matched. Their forms and manners are
-immensely different: one is of enormous height, and moves
-with corresponding gravity, while the other is of dwarf-like
-stature, and passes o'er the ground like a breath." "The
-giant," replied the Cripple, "was a German, who lost his life
-in a debauch, by drinking three healths with tobacco mixed
-inadvertently in his wine; and the little ghost is that of a
-Parisian, who, with the gallantry belonging to his countrymen,
-was imprudent enough, on entering this very church, to
-present the holy water to a young lady who was leaving it: as
-a reward for his politeness, he was saluted on the same day
-with the contents of a carbine, which left him here a moral for
-all too attentive Frenchmen.</p>
-
-<p>"For myself," continued Asmodeus, "I have been looking
-at three spirits which I discerned among the crowd; and I
-must tell you by what means they were separated from their
-earthly companions. They animated the charming forms of
-as many female performers, who made as much noise at
-Madrid, in their time, as did Origo, Cytheris and Arbuscula,
-in theirs, at Rome; and, like their said prototypes, they
-possessed the exquisite art of amusing mankind in public, and
-of privately ruining the same amiable animal. But, alas! all
-things must have an end, and these were the finales of those
-celebrated ladies: one died suddenly of envy, at an apopletic
-fit of applause, from the pit, which fell upon a lovely first-night;
-another found in excessive good cheer, at home, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
-infallible drop which follows it; and, the third, undertaking
-the dangerous character, for an actress, of a vestal, became so
-excited with her part that she died of a miscarriage behind the
-scenes.</p>
-
-<p>"But we will leave to their reposes(!) all these shades," again
-continued the Demon; "we have passed them sufficiently in
-review. I will now present to your sight a spectacle which, as
-a man, must impress you with a deeper feeling than the sight
-of the dead. I am about, by the same power which has rendered
-the shades of the departed visible to your sight, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
-present to you the vision of Death himself. Yes! you shall
-behold that insatiable enemy of the human race, who prowls
-unceasingly in the haunts of man, unperceived by his victims;
-who surrounds the earth, in his speed, in the twinkling of an
-eye; and who strikes by his power, its most distant inhabitants
-at the same moment.</p>
-
-<p>"Look towards the east! He rises on your sight. A
-million birds of baneful omen fly before his advent in terror,
-and announce his presence with funereal cries. His tireless
-hand is armed with the fatal scythe which mows successive
-generations as they spring from earth. But if, as mocking at
-humanity, on one wing is depicted war, pestilence, famine,
-shipwreck, conflagration, with other direful modes by which he
-sweeps upon his prey, the other shows the priests who offer to
-him daily hecatombs in sport; as youthful doctors, who receive
-from himself their diplomas, after swearing, in his presence,
-never to practise surgery or medicine contrary to the rules of
-the courts."</p>
-
-<p>Although Don Cleophas suspected that all he saw was an
-illusion, and that it was merely to gratify his taste for the
-marvellous that the Devil raised this form of Death before his
-eyes, he could not look on it without trembling. He assumed,
-however, all the courage he was possessed of, and said to the
-Demon: "This fearful spectre will not, I suppose, pass vainly
-over Madrid: he will doubtless leave some awful traces of his
-flight?" "Yes! certainly," replied the Cripple; "he comes
-not here for nothing; and it depends but on yourself to be the
-witness of his visitation." "I take you at your word," exclaimed
-the Student; "let us follow in his train; let me visit
-with him the unhappy families on whom he will expend his
-present wrath. What tears are about to flow!" "Beyond a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
-doubt," replied Asmodeus; "but many which come at convenience.
-Death, despite his horrors, causes at least as much
-joy as grief."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic02.png" width="267" height="239" alt="Death flies over the poor man's bed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Our two spectators took their flight, and followed the grim
-monarch in his progress. He entered first a modest house,
-whose owner lay in helpless sickness on his bed; the autocrat
-but touched the poor man with his scythe, and he expired in
-the midst of his weeping relations, who instantly commenced
-an affecting concert of cries and lamentions. "There is no
-mockery here," said the Demon: "the wife and children of
-this worthy citizen loved him with real affection: besides, t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>hey
-depended on him for their bread; and the belly is rarely a
-hypocrite.</p>
-
-<p>"Not so, however, is it in the next house, in which you
-perceive his grisly majesty now occupied in releasing a bed-ridden
-old gentleman from his pains. He is an aged counsellor
-who, having always lived a bachelor of law, has passed his life
-as badly as he could, that he might leave behind him a good
-round sum for the benefit of his three nephews, who have
-flocked round his bed on hearing that he is about to quit it, at
-last. They of course displayed an extreme affliction, and very
-well they did it; but are now, you see, letting fall the mask,
-and are preparing to do their duties as heirs, after having performed
-their parts as relations. How they will rummage the
-old gentleman's effects! What heaps of gold and silver will
-they discover! 'How delightful!' said one of these heart-broken
-descendants to another, this moment,&mdash;'how delightful
-is it for nephews to be blessed with avaricious old uncles, who
-renounce the pleasures of life for their sakes!'" "A superb
-funeral oration," said Leandro Perez. "Oh! as to that," replied
-the Devil, "the majority of wealthy parents, who live to a good
-old age, ought not to expect a better from their own children.</p>
-
-<p>"While these heritors are joyfully seeking the treasures of
-the deceased, Death is directing his flight to a large house, in
-which resides a young nobleman who has the small-pox. This
-noble, one of the brightest ornaments of the court, is about to
-perish, just as his star is rising, despite the famed physician
-who attends him,&mdash;or rather because he is attended by this
-learned doctor.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 230px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic03.png" width="230" height="279" alt="Death approaches the pious monk" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
-<p>"But see! with what rapidity does the fatal scythe perform
-its operations. Already has it completed the destiny of the
-youthful lord, and its unblunted edge is turned elsewhere. It
-hovers over yonder convent; it darts into its deepest cell,
-sweeps over a pious monk, and cuts the thread of the penitent
-and mortifying life that he has led during forty years. Death,
-all-fearful as he is, had no terrors for this holy man; so, in
-revenge, he seeks a mansion where his presence will be unwelcome
-indeed. He flies towards a licentiate of importance,
-who has only recently been appointed to the bishopric of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
-Albarazin. This prelate is busily occupied with preparations
-for repairing to his diocese with all the pomp which in our day
-accompanies the princes of the church. Nevertheless, he is
-about to take his departure for the other world, where he will
-arrive with as few followers as the poor monk; and I am not
-sure that he will be quite as favourably received."</p>
-
-<p>"Oh heavens!" cried Zambullo; "Death stoops upon the
-palace of the king. Alas! one stroke of his fatal scythe, and
-ail Spain will be plunged in dreadful consternation." "Well
-may you tremble," said the Cripple; "for the barbarian has
-no more respect for kings than for their meanest slaves. But be
-not alarmed," he added, a moment afterwards, "he aims not at
-the monarch yet; his business now is with a courtier only, one
-of those noble lords whose only occupation is to swell his
-master's train: such ministers as these are not exactly those
-the state can least afford to lose."</p>
-
-<p>"But it would seem," replied the Student, "that the spectre
-king is not contented with so mean a prize as the parasite you
-speak of. See! he hovers still about the royal house; and,
-this time, near the chamber of the Queen." "Just so," replied
-the Devil, "and he might be worse employed: he is about to
-cut the windpipe of an amiable dame who delights to sow
-divisions in her sovereign's court; and who is now mortally
-chagrined, because two ladies whom she had cleverly set by
-the ears, have been unreasonable enough to become sincerely
-reconciled with each other.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 244px;">
-<img src="images/ch12pic04.png" width="244" height="204" alt="The grieving wife tears her hair" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"And now, my master, you will hear cries of real affliction,"
-continued the Demon. "Death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> enters that splendid mansion
-to the left; and a scene as touching as the world's stage offers
-is about to be acted there. Look, if you can, on the heart-rending
-tragedy." "In truth," said Don Cleophas, "I perceive
-a lady struggling in the arms of her attendants, and tearing her
-hair with signs of deepest grief. Tell me its cause!" "Look
-in the room adjoining, and you will see cause enough," replied
-the Devil. "You observe the man stretched on that stately
-couch: it is her dying husband,&mdash;to her a loss indeed! Their
-story is affecting, and deserves to be written:&mdash;I have a great
-mind to relate it to you."</p>
-
-<p>"You will give me great pleasure in so doing," interrupted
-Leandro: "the sorrows of this world do not move less than
-its vices and follies amuse me." "It is rather long," resumed
-Asmodeus, "but it is too interesting to annoy you on that
-account. Besides, I will confess to you, that, all Demon as I
-am, I am sick of following the track of Death: let us leav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>e him
-in his search of newer victims." "With all my heart," replied
-Zambullo: "I am more curious to hear your promised narrative
-Of suffering humanity, than to see my fellow-mortals, one
-after another, hurried into eternity." The Cripple then
-commenced as follows, after having transported the Student
-on to the roof of one of the highest houses in the Strada
-d'Alcala.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiala.png" width="75" height="76" alt="A" />
-</div>
-
-<p>A young cavalier of Toledo, accompanied by his
-valet-de-chambre, was journeying with all possible
-speed from the place of his birth, in order to
-avoid the consequences of a tragical adventure
-in which he had unfortunately been engaged. He was about
-two leagues from the town of Valencia, when, at the entrance
-of a wood, he fell in with a lady who was alighting hastily
-from a carriage. No veil obscured her charms, which were
-more than enough to dazzle a youthful beholder; and, as the
-lovely damsel appeared in trouble, it is not to be wondered
-that the cavalier, imagining that she sought assistance, offered
-her his protection and his services.</p>
-
-<p>"Generous unknown," said the lady, "I will not refuse your
-proffered aid: Heaven, it would seem, has sent you here to
-avert a dreadful misfortune. Two cavaliers have met to fight
-within this wood;&mdash;I this moment saw them enter. Hasten
-with me, I entreat you, and assist me to prevent their fatal
-design." As she spoke, she plunged into the forest, and the
-Toledan, throwing his horse's rein to his attendant, followed
-her as quickly as he was able.</p>
-
-<p>They had not gone a hundred yards before they heard the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
-clashing of arms, and almost immediately discovered the two
-gentlemen, who were thrusting at each other with becoming
-fury. The Toledan drew his sword but to separate theirs;
-and by its assistance, and by entreaties uttered in exclamations,
-he managed to suspend their pastime, while he inquired the
-subject of their difference.</p>
-
-<p>"Brave cavalier," said one of the combatants, "you see in
-me, Don Fabricio de Mendoza, and in my opponent, Don
-Alvaro Ponza. We both love Donna Theodora, the lady by
-whom you are accompanied; but we love to little purpose,
-for, despite our endeavours to win her affections, she treats our
-attentions with disdain. For myself, I should have been contented
-to worship an unwilling deity; but my rival, instead of
-acting with as much wisdom, has resolved to have the shrine
-to himself, and so has brought me here."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true," interrupted Don Alvaro, "that I have so determined;
-and it is because I believe that, my rival away, Donna
-Theodora might deign to listen to my vows. I seek then the
-life of Don Fabricio, to rid myself of a man who stands in the
-way of my happiness."</p>
-
-<p>"Signor Cavalier," said the Toledan, "I cannot approve of
-your reasons for duelling; besides that, you are injuring the
-lady who is the object of your strife. You must be aware that
-it will soon be known that you have been fighting for her; and
-the honour of your mistress should surely be dearer to you
-than happiness or life itself. And what, too, can he who may
-be successful expect to gain by his victory? Can he hope
-that, after having staked a lady's reputation on the quarrel, she
-will thank him for his folly? What madness! Believe me, it
-were far better, that, acting as becomes the names you bear,
-you should control your jealous wrath. Be men and pledge
-me your sacred words to bind yourselves by the terms I s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>hall
-propose to you, and your quarrel may be adjusted without a
-deed of blood."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic01.png" width="262" height="275" alt="The Toledan cavalier parts the duellists" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Ah! but how?" cried Don Alvaro. "Why," replied the
-Toledan, "let the lady determine the question; let her choose
-between yourself and Don Fabricio; and let the slighted lover,
-instead of seeking to injure his more fortunate rival, l<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>eave the
-field at once." "Agreed!" said Don Alvaro; "and I swear
-it by all that is sacred. Let Donna Theodora decide between
-us. She may prefer, if she will, my rival to myself: this even
-would be less unbearable than the dread suspense in which I
-now exist." "And I," said Don Fabricio in his turn,&mdash;"I call
-Heaven to witness, that if the divine object of my love declares
-not in my favour, I will fly from the sight of her perfections;
-and if I cannot forget them, I will at least behold them no
-more."</p>
-
-<p>On this the Toledan, turning to Donna Theodora, said:
-"Madam, it is for you now, by a single word, to disarm these
-two rivals for your love: you have only to name him whose
-constancy your favours would reward." "Signor Cavalier,"
-replied the lady, "try some other means of reconciling them.
-Why should I become the victim of their disagreement? I
-esteem, in all sincerity, both Don Fabricio and Don Alvaro;
-but I love neither: and it were surely unjust, that, to prevent
-the stain with which their disputes may sully my name, I should
-be compelled to excite hopes that my heart disavows."</p>
-
-<p>"It is too late to dissemble, Madam," resumed the Toledan;
-"you must now declare yourself. Although these cavaliers
-are equally good-looking, I doubt not that you can discern
-
-more merit in one than in the other; and I am confirmed
-in that opinion by the alarm with which but now I saw you
-agitated."</p>
-
-<p>"You misinterpret that alarm," replied Donna Theodora.
-"The loss of either of these gentlemen would affect me beyond
-a doubt, and I should never cease to reproach myself with his
-death, although its innocent cause; but if I appeared to you
-greatly agitated, I can assure you that it was the peril to which
-my own honour was exposed that excited all my fear."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
-<p>The impetuous Don Alvaro Ponza now lost all patience.
-"Enough!" he exclaimed, with an air of fury; "since the
-lady refuses to end the matter peaceably, let the fate of arms
-decide;" and as he spoke, he raised his weapon against Don
-Fabricio, who on his part prepared to receive him.</p>
-
-<p>On this, the lady, more alarmed by the fury of Don Alvaro
-than decided by her own inclination, exclaimed wildly: "Hold!
-noble cavaliers; I will do as you desire. Since there is no
-other means of preventing a strife in which my reputation is
-involved, I declare in favour of Don Fabricio de Mendoza."</p>
-
-<p>These words had no sooner escaped her lips, than the discarded
-Ponza, without uttering a syllable, hastened to his horse,
-which he had fastened to a tree, released it, threw himself
-into the saddle, and disappeared, after casting one look of intense
-fury on his rival and implacable mistress. The fortunate
-Mendoza, on the contrary, was in ecstasies; now humbling
-himself in his joy at the feet of Donna Theodora, and now
-embracing the Toledan, unable to contain the satisfaction
-with which his heart was filled, or to find words to express
-his gratitude.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the lady, freed from the presence of the
-burning Don Alvaro, had become more tranquil; and it was
-with grief she reflected that she had engaged to permit the
-addresses of a lover, whom, while she truly esteemed his merit,
-her heart told her she could never love.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic02.png" width="268" height="206" alt="Don Fabricio at the feet of Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor Don Fabricio," she said to him, timidly, "I trust
-you will not abuse the preference I have just avowed for you;
-you owe it only to the necessity in which I found myself
-placed of declaring between yourself and Don Alvaro. I can
-say with truth that I have ever thought more highly of you
-than of him;&mdash;there are noble qualities that you possess of
-which Alvaro cannot boast; I have always looked on you with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
-justice as the most perfect cavalier Valencia contains; I have
-even no hesitation in saying that the attentions of such a man
-would be flattering to the vanity of any woman; but, how
-honourable soever they might be to me, I feel bound to tell
-you that my heart is still untouched, and that it is with sorrow
-I behold in you an affection for myself so great as your every
-action displays. I will not, however, take from you all hope
-of winning my affections; my present indifference may arise
-from the effects of that grief which still fills my bosom for the
-loss of my late husband, Don Andrea de Cifuentes, who died
-about a year ago. Although we were not long united, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
-although he was advanced in years when my parents, dazzled
-by his riches, compelled me to espouse him, I was yet much
-afflicted by his loss, and the wound is still green which his
-death inflicted.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! was he not worthy of my regret?" she added. "He
-was indeed unlike those aged and jealous tyrants, who, unable
-to persuade themselves that a youthful wife can be virtuous
-enough to excuse their weakness, watch all her motions with
-suspicion, or place over her some hideous duenna as a spy.
-Alas! he had in my honour a confidence of which a young
-and much-loved husband would be hardly capable. His kindness
-was unbounded, and his only study, to anticipate my every
-wish. You may suppose, then, Mendoza, that such a man as
-Don Andrea de Cifuentes is not easily forgotten. No! he is
-ever present in my thoughts; and the fond recollection of his
-amiability and love for me may excuse my indifference for
-objects which might otherwise attract me."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Madam," exclaimed Don Fabricio, interrupting Donna
-Theodora, "how great is my delight to learn from those lovely
-lips that it is from no dislike for myself that you have slighted
-all my cares! I can still then hope that the day will come
-when my constancy may be rewarded." "It will not be my
-fault if that do not happen," replied the lady, "since I consent
-that you should visit me, and will not forbid you to speak to
-me of love. You shall strive, then, to win me to the world
-and to yourself by your attentions; and I promise to conceal
-not from you any favourable impression you may make: but
-if, Mendoza, despite your efforts, my heart refuses to be happy,
-remember that I give you no right to reproach me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Fabricio was about to reply; but the lady, placing her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
-hand in that of the Toledan, turned away, and hastened towards
-her carriage. He therefore unbound his horse, and leading it
-through the thicket by the bridle, followed his mistress, and
-arrived just in time to see her enter the vehicle, which she did
-with as much agitation as she had left it, although arising from
-a very different cause. The Toledan and himself accompanied
-Donna Theodora to the gate of Valencia, where they separated,&mdash;she
-taking the road to her own house, and Don Fabricio
-taking the Toledan with him to his.</p>
-
-<p>After a slight repose, Mendoza entertained the stranger with
-a sumptuous repast, and in the course of conversation asked
-him what had brought him to Valencia, and whether he proposed
-to stay there for any time. "For as short a time as possible,"
-replied the Toledan; "I am here only on my way to
-the sea, that I may embark in the first vessel that leaves the
-shores of Spain. It matters little to me in what part of the
-world I go to end a life of unhappiness, except that the more
-distant from this fatal clime the better."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear?" exclaimed Don Fabricio with surprise.
-"What can have disgusted you with your native land, and
-caused you to look with hate on that which all men love so
-fondly?" "After what has occurred to me," replied the
-Toledan, "my country is to me unbearable, and to leave it,
-for ever, my only desire." "Ah! Signor Cavalier," cried
-Mendoza, affected with compassion, "I am impatient to learn
-your misfortunes! If I cannot relieve them, I am at least
-disposed to share them. Your appearance from the first
-prepossessed me in your favour, your bearing and manners
-charmed me, and already I feel deeply interested in your
-destiny."</p>
-
-<p>"You afford me, Signor Don Fabricio," replied the Tole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>dan,
-"the greatest consolation I could receive; and in return for
-the kindness you are pleased to express for me, it delights me
-to be able to say, with truth, that on seeing you with Don
-Alvaro Ponza my heart inclined towards yourself. A feeling,
-with which I never was inspired at the first sight of any one
-before, made me fear lest Donna Theodora should decide in
-favour of your rival; and it was with joy I heard her state her
-preference for you. Since then, you have so gained upon that
-first impression, that, far from desiring to conceal my griefs, I
-seek with a sort of pleasure to unbosom them to you: Learn
-then my misfortunes.</p>
-
-<p>"I was born in Toledo, and my name is Don Juan de Zarata.
-I lost my parents while almost in my infancy; so that at an
-early age I found myself in the enjoyment of a yearly income
-of four thousand ducats, which I inherited from them. As my
-hand was at my own disposal, and as I was rich enough to be
-able to bestow it where my heart should dictate, I married,
-early, a maiden of exquisite beauty; careless that she added
-nothing to my fortune, and that her rank was inferior to my
-own. I loved her, and I was happy; and that I might enjoy
-to the full the pleasure of possessing one so dear to me, I had
-not been long married before I sought with her a small estate
-which I possessed a few leagues from Toledo.</p>
-
-<p>"We lived there, for some time, in unity and bliss; when
-it chanced that the Duke de Naxera, whose seat was in the
-neighbourhood, came one day, when he was hunting, to refresh
-himself at my house. He saw my wife, and unfortunately
-became enamoured of her. I suspected his passion from the
-first; and was not long before I was too certainly convinced of
-its existence by the eagerness with which he sought my friendship,
-that up to this time he had wholly neglected. His hunting
-parties were now never complete without me; he loaded <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>me
-with presents, and still more with his offers of service.</p>
-
-<p>"I became alarmed by his evident design, and prepared for
-our return to Toledo. Heaven doubtless inspired me with
-this resolution; for, had I acted upon it, and thus taken from
-the Duke his opportunities of seeing my wife, I should have
-avoided all the misfortunes which followed a contrary course.
-My confidence in her virtue, however, soon reassured me. It
-appeared to me impossible that a being whom I had raised
-from obscurity to her present position, from motives of affection
-alone, could be ungrateful enough to consent to my disgrace.
-Alas! I little thought that ambition and vanity, two
-feelings common to every woman, were the greatest vices in
-the character of my wife.</p>
-
-<p>"No sooner, therefore, had the Duke managed to inform her
-of his sentiments towards her, than she took credit to herself
-for so important a conquest. The attachment of a man
-approached by all the world with the titles of Your Grace and
-Your Highness tickled her pride, and filled her mind with the
-most absurd notions; so that she was indefinitely exalted in
-her own opinion, and thought the less of me. All that I had
-done for love of her, instead of exciting feelings of gratitude,
-now appeared but a contemptible offering to her charms, of
-which she no longer thought me worthy; and she seems not
-to have doubted that if the noble duke, who flattered her by
-his homage, had seen her before she had thrown herself away
-on me, he would have eagerly sought her hand. Infatuated by
-these absurd notions, and seduced by some well-timed presents
-which flattered her vanity, she yielded to the secret assiduities
-of his grace.</p>
-
-<p>"Although they corresponded frequently, I had not for some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
-time the slightest suspicion of their communications; but, at
-last, my eyes were unfortunately opened to my disgrace. One
-day I returned from hunting somewhat earlier than usual, and
-went directly to the apartment of my wife, who expected
-nothing less than to see me. She had just received a letter
-from her paramour, and was at the moment preparing a reply.
-She could not disguise her emotion at my unexpected coming;
-and as I perceived on the table paper and ink, I trembled,&mdash;for
-the truth rushed on my mind with the speed of all unwelcome
-conclusions. I commanded her to show me what she
-was writing, which she refused; so that I was compelled to use
-violence in order to satisfy my jealous curiosity, and drew from
-her bosom, in spite of her resistance, a letter which was to the
-following effect:&mdash;</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>"'Must I for ever languish in the despair of seeing thee
-again? Hast thou then cruelty enough to call sweet hopes
-into my heart, and let the short-lived blisses perish from delay?
-Don Juan leaves thee daily for the chase, or to repair to
-Toledo: would not Love then snatch these happy opportunities
-with eager joy? Think of the passion which consumes
-my life! Pity me, lady! and remember that if the happiness
-is great we hope to share, the greater is the torment which bars
-us its possession.'</p></blockquote>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic03.png" width="232" height="250" alt="The Toledan reads the Duke's letter" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"As I read this epistle, my blood boiled with fury. My
-hand sought the hilt of my stiletto, and my first inclination
-was to plunge it in the unfaithful breast of her who had betrayed
-me; but a moment's reflection told me that I should thus
-revenge but half my shame, and that another victim was
-demanded to appease my wrath. I therefore controlled myself,
-and, dissimulating as well as I was able, said to my wife:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
-'Madam, you have done wrong in listening to the duke; the
-splendour of his rank should not have been sufficient to dazzle
-you. However, youth finds delight in the trappings of nobility;
-and I am willing to believe that your guilt extends no further,
-and that my honour is still in safe keeping with you. I forgive,
-then, your want of discretion; but it is on condition that you
-return to the paths of duty, and that henceforth, sensible to
-the affection which animates my bosom, you will think it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
-enough to deserve it.'</p>
-
-<p>"I did not wait for a reply, but left the apartment; as much
-to give her an opportunity of collecting herself, as to seek that
-solitude in which alone my mind could free itself from the
-anger which inflamed me. If I did not regain my tranquillity,
-I at least affected an air of composure during that and the
-following day; and on the third, pretending to have business
-of importance which called me to Toledo, I told my wife that
-I was obliged to leave her for some time, and that I did so in
-full confidence of her virtue and good conduct.</p>
-
-<p>"I set out; but, instead of going to Toledo, as soon as night
-came to assist my project, I returned home secretly, and concealed
-myself in the room of a trusty servant, whence I could
-observe any one who entered the house. I had no doubt that
-the duke was informed of my absence, and that he would not
-fail to make the most of so desirable a circumstance. How I
-longed to surprise them together! I promised myself an ample
-vengeance.</p>
-
-<p>"Nevertheless, I was deceived in my expectations. Instead
-of remarking any preparations for the reception of an expected
-lover, I on the contrary perceived that the doors were scrupulously
-closed against everybody; and three days having passed
-without the appearance of the duke, or any of his people, I
-began to think that my wife had repented of her fault, and that
-she had broken off all connection with her seducer.</p>
-
-<p>"As this opinion took possession of my mind, my desire of
-revenge dissipated; until, at last, yielding to those emotions of
-affection for my wife which anger had only suspended, I
-hastened to her apartment, and, embracing her with transport,
-exclaimed: 'Madam, I restore you my esteem and my love.
-I come to tell you that I have not been to Toledo, but th<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>at I
-pretended to have gone there only to test your discretion. You
-can forgive this deception in a husband whose jealousy was
-not entirely without foundation. I feared lest your mind,
-seduced by too brilliant illusions, should be incapable of a
-return to virtue; but, thank Heaven! you have seen your error,
-and I trust that our felicity may henceforth be unbroken.'</p>
-
-<p>"My wife appeared affected at these words, and, while tears
-fell from her eyes, exclaimed: 'Unhappy have I been, to give
-you reason to suspect my fidelity! In vain do I detest myself
-for having so justly excited your anger against me! In vain is
-it that, since I saw you, my eyes have unceasingly o'erflowed
-with tears; my grief and my remorse are alike unavailing; I
-can never regain the confidence I have lost.' 'I restore it to
-you,' I replied, interrupting her, afflicted by the sorrow which
-she displayed&mdash;'I restore it to you; you have repented of the
-past; and I will, too gladly, forget it.'</p>
-
-<p>"I kept my word; and, from that moment, my love for her
-was as great and as confiding as ever. I began again to taste
-those joys which had been so cruelly interrupted; they came
-to me, indeed, with redoubled zest; for my wife, as though she
-had been anxious to efface from my recollection all traces of
-the injury she had done me, took greater pains to please me.
-I thought I found more warmth in her caresses; in short, I
-almost rejoiced at the event which had told me how much was
-still left for me to love.</p>
-
-<p>"Shortly after our reconciliation I was seized with illness.
-Although my ailment was not alarming, it is inconceivable how
-deeply it appeared to afflict my wife. All day she was by my
-side; and at night, as I was in a separate room, she never
-failed to visit me frequently, that she might convince herself
-of the progress of my recovery: her whole care appeared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
-devoted to me, and all her anxiety to anticipate my every want;
-it seemed as though her whole life depended solely on mine.
-You may suppose that I was not insensible to all this show of
-tenderness, and I was never weary of expressing to her my
-gratitude for her attentions. However, Signor Mendoza, they
-were not so sincere as I imagined.</p>
-
-<p>"My health was beginning to improve, when, one night, my
-valet-de-chambre came to awaken me. 'Signor,' said he, with
-emotion, 'I am sorry to disturb your repose; but I am too
-much interested in your honour to conceal from you what is at
-this moment passing beneath your roof. The Duke of Naxera
-is with my mistress.'</p>
-
-<p>"I was so astounded by this information, that I looked for
-some time at my servant without being able to speak; and the
-more I thought of what he told me, the more difficulty I found
-in believing it. 'No! Fabio,' at last I said to him; 'no, it is
-impossible that my wife can be capable of such infamy! You
-must be mistaken.' 'Signor,' replied Fabio; 'would to Heaven
-that I could think so! But my eyes are not easily deceived.
-Ever since you have been ill, I have suspected that the duke
-was introduced almost nightly into my lady's apartment. This
-evening, I concealed myself, to confirm or dispel my suspicions;
-and I have but too good reason to know that they were not
-unfounded.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic04.png" width="245" height="175" alt="Fabio awakens his master" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I hesitated no longer; but arose, and putting on my dressing
-gown, armed myself with my sword, and went in a perfect
-phrenzy towards my wife's chamber, Fabio following with a
-light. As we entered the room, the alarmed duke, who was
-sitting on the bed, rose, and taking a pistol from his girdle,
-aimed at me and fired; but thanks to his confusion, he missed
-me. I rushed on him, and in a moment thrust my sword in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>to
-his heart. Then turning to my wife, who was already more
-dead than alive: 'and you!' said I, 'infamous wretch, receive
-the reward of your perfidy.' And so saying, I plunged my
-sword, still reeking with the blood of her paramour, into her
-bosom.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic05.png" width="254" height="270" alt="The Toledan prepares to kill his wife" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I am sensible of the crime my fury induced me to commit;
-and I acknowledge, Signor Don Fabricio, that a faithless spouse
-may be sufficiently punished without taking her life; but where
-is the man who, under such excitement, could have preserved
-the cool temperament of the judge? Picture to yourself this
-perfidious woman attending me in sickness; imagine if you can,
-all that display of affection which she lavished upon me; think
-of all the circumstances,&mdash;of the enormity of her deception,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
-and then say if her death weighs heavily against a husband
-animated with rage, to whom all this comes suddenly as lightning
-from the cloud.</p>
-
-<p>"My tragical history is finished in a few words. My vengeance
-thus fully satiated, I dressed hastily, certain that I had
-no time to lose; for I knew well that the duke's relations
-would search fo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>r me in every corner of Spain, and that, as the
-power of my own family would be but as a feather in the scale
-to turn their wrath, there was no safety for me but in a foreign
-country. I therefore chose two of my best horses, and taking
-with me all the jewels and money I possessed, I left my house
-before daybreak, followed by the servant of whose fidelity I
-had recently been so well assured, and took the road to
-Valencia with the intention of sailing in the first vessel which
-should steer for Italy. It thus happened that, passing yesterday
-near the wood in which you were, I met Donna Theodora,
-and, at her entreaty, followed to assist in separating yourself
-and Don Alvaro."</p>
-
-<p>When the Toledan had ended this narrative, Don Fabricio
-said to him: "Signor Don Juan, you have justly avenged yourself
-on the Duke de Naxera. Be not alarmed as to anything
-his relations can do; you shall stay, if you please, with me,
-until an opportunity offers for your passage into Italy. My
-uncle is governor of Valencia; you will therefore be more secure
-from danger here than elsewhere, and you will remain with one
-who would be united with you henceforth in bonds of strictest
-friendship."</p>
-
-<p>Zarata replied to Mendoza in terms which expressed his
-grateful sense of the former's kindness, and at once accepted
-the proffered asylum. "And now it is, Signor Don Cleophas,"
-continued Asmodeus, "that I shall exhibit to you the power
-of sympathy: such was the inclination which drew these two
-young cavaliers towards each other, that, in a few days, there
-existed between them a friendship not surpassed by that of
-Orestes and Pylades. With dispositions alike formed for
-virtue, they possessed a similarity of tastes which was certain
-to render that which pleased Don Fabricio equally agreeable to
-Don Juan&mdash;their characters were identical; in short, they were
-formed for each other. Don Fabricio, especially, was charm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>ed
-with the deportment of his new friend; and lost no opportunity
-of endeavouring to exalt him in the estimation of the Donna
-Theodora.</p>
-
-<p>"This lady now received them frequently at her house; but,
-though her doors were open at the bidding of Mendoza, her
-heart was still inaccessible to his attentions. Mortified to find
-his love thus slighted, he could not forbear complaining of her
-indifference to his friend, who endeavoured to console him
-with the assurance that the most insensible of women might be
-won to feeling at the last, and that nothing was wanting to
-lovers but patience to await for the favourable moment: he
-bade him then to keep up his courage, and to hope that,
-sooner or later, his mistress would yield to his assiduity and
-affection. This advice, though philosophical enough, was insufficient
-to assure the timid Mendoza, who began to despair
-of success with the widow of Cifuentes; and the anxiety of suspense
-so preyed upon his spirits, that Don Juan could not
-behold him without feelings of compassion. Alas! poor Don
-Juan was himself ere long more to be pitied than his friend.</p>
-
-<p>"Whatever reason the Toledan had to be disgusted with
-the sex, after the abominable treachery he had met with, he
-could not long look upon the Donna Theodora without loving
-her. Far, however, from yielding to a passion which he felt
-to be an injury to Mendoza, he struggled with all his might to
-vanquish it; and convinced that this was only to be accomplished
-by flying from the bright eyes which had kindled the
-flame, he wisely resolved to shun the lady who possessed them.
-Consequently whenever Don Fabricio asked his company to
-his mistress's house, he managed to find some pretext to excuse
-himself from going with him.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
-<p>"On the other hand, Mendoza never went to see the Donna
-Theodora, but she asked him why he no longer was accompanied
-by Don Juan. One day, when, for the hundredth time
-she put this question to her lover, the latter answered, smiling,
-that his friend had his reasons for absenting himself. 'And
-what reasons, then, can he have for flying me?' said Donna
-Theodora. 'Why, madam,' replied Mendoza; 'yesterday,
-when I pressed him, as usual, to come with me, and expressed
-some surprise at his refusal to do so, he confided to me a
-secret, which I must reveal in order to justify him in your
-eyes. He told me that he had formed a liaison in Valencia;
-and, that as he had not long to stay in this town, every moment
-was precious to him.'</p>
-
-<p>"'I cannot exactly admit the validity of his excuse,' replied
-the widow of Cifuentes, blushing; 'it is not permitted to lovers
-that they should abandon their friends.' Don Fabricio, who
-observed the colour which tinged the cheeks of the Donna
-Theodora, thought that self-love alone had caused the blush,
-and that, like all pretty women, she could not bear to be
-neglected, even by a person who was indifferent to her. He
-was, however, deceived. A deeper feeling than wounded
-vanity inspired the emotion she displayed. She loved: but for
-fear that Mendoza should discover her sentiments, she changed
-the subject, and, during the conversation that followed, affected
-a gaiety which would have deceived him, had he not already
-deceived himself.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as Donna Theodora was alone, she abandoned
-herself to reflection. Then, for the first time, she felt all the
-strength of the attachment she had conceived for Don Juan;
-and, little thinking how deeply that feeling was shared by its
-object,&mdash;'Oh Love!' she cried: 'cruel and unjust art thou,
-who delightest to kindle passion in the hearts of t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>hose who care
-not for each other! I love not Don Fabricio, and he adores
-me; I languish for Don Juan, and his heart is possessed by
-another. Ah! Mendoza, reproach me not with my indifference
-for thee; thy friend has indeed avenged thee.'</p>
-
-<p>"As she spoke, grief filled her eyes with tears, and jealousy
-possessed her breast; but Hope, who loves to soothe the
-sorrows of despairing lovers, took refuge in her mind, and
-filled it with bright images of joys to come. It suggested to
-her that her rival could not be very formidable, and that Don
-Juan was less the captive of her charms than the object of her
-favours, and that the ties which bound them could not therefore
-be difficult to break. She resolved, however, to judge for herself,
-and at once to see the Toledan. With this view she sent word
-that she wished to speak with him: he came; and, when they
-were alone, she thus addressed him:</p>
-
-<p>"'I could never have believed that love could make a
-gallant man forgetful of his duties to a lady; nevertheless, Don
-Juan, since it has possessed you, you have become a stranger
-to my house. I think I have a right to upbraid you for this
-neglect; I am unwilling, however, to believe that you have
-yourself resolved to shun me, and will suppose that your
-mistress has forbidden your coming here. Tell me, Don Juan,
-that it is so, and I will excuse you. I know a lover is not
-master of his will, and that he dares not disobey the woman to
-whom he has resigned it.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Madam,' replied the Toledan, 'I confess that my conduct
-may reasonably surprise you; but, in pity, ask me not to justify
-myself: content yourself with hearing from my lips that I shun
-you not without good cause.' 'Whatever may be that cause,'
-interrupted Donna Theodora, visibly affected, 'I request you
-will not conceal it.' 'Well, madam,' replied Don Juan, 'y<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>ou
-shall be obeyed; but be not angry if you learn from me more
-than you would wish to know.</p>
-
-<p>"'Don Fabricio,' he continued, 'has doubtless related to
-you the adventure which compelled me to quit Castile. In
-flying from Toledo, my heart filled with hatred against womankind,
-I bade defiance to the sex ever to touch that heart again.
-With this disposition, I approached Valencia; I met you, and,
-what perhaps none have ever sustained before, I met your eyes
-without yielding to their influence. I saw you again and again
-with impunity; but, alas! dearly I have paid for my pride of
-heart. You have conquered! Your beauty, your mind,&mdash;all
-your charms were turned against a rebel to your sway; in a
-word, I feel for you now all the love that you were formed by
-nature to inspire.</p>
-
-<p>"'This, madam, is what has driven me from your sight.
-The mistress, to whom they told you I was devoted, exists but
-in the imagination of Mendoza; and it was to prevent in him
-a suspicion of the truth, which my constant refusals to accompany
-him here might have engendered, that I conjured her
-into life.'</p>
-
-<p>"This confession, unexpected as it was by Donna Theodora,
-could not fail to fill her bosom with delight, nor could she
-conceal it from the Toledan. It is true she took no great
-pains to do so, and that, instead of regarding him with
-indignation for his presumption, her eyes beamed with tenderness
-as she said: 'You have revealed to me your secret,
-Don Juan; it is fair that I should discover mine to you:
-Listen!</p>
-
-<p>"'Regardless of the overtures of Alvaro Ponza, and little
-affected by the addresses of Mendoza, I lived in t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>ranquil joy,
-when chance brought you to the wood where we met. Agitated
-as I was by the scene which then was passing, I was nevertheless
-struck by the gentle and respectful manner in which you
-offered me your services; and the frankness and courage which
-you displayed in separating the two furious rivals for my love
-inspired me with the most favourable opinion of your character.
-The means by which you proposed to terminate their disputes,
-indeed, displeased me, and it was with repugnance that I
-resolved to choose between the combatants; but, I believe I
-must not disguise from you, that yourself in great part contributed
-to increase the difficulty of my decision. At the moment
-when, compelled by necessity, my tongue proclaimed the name
-of Don Fabricio, I felt that my heart had already declared in
-favour of the unknown. From that day, which, after what you
-have just avowed, I may call a happy one, your virtues have
-constantly augmented the esteem you then inspired.</p>
-
-<p>"'Why should I affect to hide these feelings from you? I
-confess them with no greater candour than I told Mendoza
-that I loved him not. A woman whose misfortune is to love
-a being whom she may not hope to wed, may bury in her heart
-the passion which consumes it; but when her bosom's lord is
-one who nourishes an equal tenderness for her, silence were
-weakness, and dissimulation shame. Yes, I am indeed happy
-that your love is mine, and I render thanks to Heaven which
-I trust has destined us for each other.'</p>
-
-<p>"Having thus spoken, the lady waited for Don Juan's answer,
-and to give him an opportunity of expressing all the gratitude
-which she naturally thought the declaration she had made
-must inspire; but her lover, instead of appearing enchanted
-by the confession he had just listened to, remained sad and
-thoughtful.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'What means this silence?' she at length exclaimed.
-'What! when for you, Zarata, I forget my sex's pride; and,
-what another would have deemed a fate to envy, show you a
-heart all filled with love for you,&mdash;can you repel the bliss which
-such a heart bestows;&mdash;be coldly silent to its fond disclosure,
-and look with grief when all things promise joy? Alas! Don
-Juan, my kindness for you has a strange effect, indeed.'</p>
-
-<p>"'And what other, madam, can it have upon a heart like
-mine?' replied the Toledan, mournfully. 'The greater kindness
-you avow for me, the greater is the misery I suffer. You
-are not ignorant of all I owe to Don Fabricio; you know the
-tender friendship which unites us: can I then build my happiness
-upon the ruins of his dearest hopes?' 'You are too
-scrupulous,' resumed the Donna Theodora: 'I have promised
-to Mendoza nothing. I can bestow my love, nor merit his
-reproaches; and you may well accept it, nor yet do him a
-wrong. I acknowledge that the sorrows of your friend may
-cause you some unhappiness; but, Don Juan, can that o'erbalance
-in your mind the destiny which waits you?'</p>
-
-<p>"'Yes, madam,' replied the Toledan, with respectful firmness;
-'a friend like Don Fabricio has greater weight with me
-than you can well imagine. Could you possibly conceive the
-tenderness, the strength of that feeling which binds us to each
-other, you would pity me indeed. Mendoza has no secrets
-now with me; my interests have become his own; the slightest
-matter which concerns myself commands his strict regard: in
-a word, madam, I share his soul with you.</p>
-
-<p>"'Ah! if you wished me to profit by your kindness, you
-should have disclosed it ere those ties were formed which
-bind me now to him. Delighted to have won your affections,
-I should then have seen in Don Fabricio b<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>ut a rival; and my
-heart, steeled against the friendship which he offered to me,
-would have escaped its bonds; I should then have been free
-from all obligation towards him: but, madam, it is now too
-late. I have received all the services it was in his power to
-render me; I have indulged all the feelings which those
-services induced; gratitude and esteem now unite to reduce
-me to the cruel necessity of renouncing the inestimable prize
-you present for my acceptance.'</p>
-
-<p>"While the Toledan was speaking thus, tears fell fast from
-the eyes of Donna Theodora; and, as he concluded, she hid
-her face in her handkerchief to conceal her distress. Don
-Juan was of course affected; his constancy began to evaporate,
-and he felt that his stay was dangerous. 'Adieu, madam,' he
-continued, while sighs impeded his utterance,&mdash;'adieu! I
-must fly to preserve my honour; your tears overcome me&mdash;all
-else I could withstand. I leave you for ever; and go, far
-hence, to deplore the loss of that happiness which my friendship
-for Don Fabricio inexorably demands as a sacrifice.' And
-as he finished, he hastily retired, with as much resolution as
-just enabled him to do so.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 257px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic06.png" width="257" height="369" alt="The Toledan bids farewell to Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"After his departure, the widow of Cifuentes was distracted
-by a thousand conflicting emotions. She felt ashamed at
-having declared her love to a man whom its bright temptation
-had not won; but, unable to doubt his affection for her person,
-and assured that his refusal of her hand originated in no other
-feeling than an unexampled constancy for his friend, she was
-sufficiently reasonable to admire so rare an instance of virtue.
-Nevertheless, as it is in the nature of men, and more particularly
-in the nature of women, to feel annoyed when all things
-do not happen as they wish, she resolved to go into the
-country on the morrow, in order to dissipate her grief, or rather
-to augment it; for Solitude is nurse to Love, and strengthens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>
-the young passion while he strives to hush its cries.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Meanwhile, Don Juan, not finding Mendoza on his return,
-shut himself in his own apartment, and gave way to the
-affliction he had restrained during his interview with Donna
-Theodora; for, after what he had sacrificed to friendship, he
-felt himself at liberty to indulge in grief for its loss. It was
-not long, however, before Mendoza came to break on his
-retirement, and judging by his friend's appearance that he
-was ill, he displayed so much uneasiness that Don Juan was
-obliged to plead a want of rest, in order to account for his
-altered looks. Mendoza left him to repose; but he went out
-with so much grief depicted on his countenance, that the
-Toledan was still more afflicted by his sympathy. 'Oh
-Heaven!' he exclaimed, 'why is it that the most tender friendship
-should bring to me nothing but misfortune?'</p>
-
-<p>"On the following day, Don Fabricio was yet in bed, when
-they came to inform him that Donna Theodora had set out,
-with all her establishment, for her seat at Villareal, and that it
-was unlikely she would shortly return to Valencia. This
-information caused him less inquietude on account of his
-severance from the object of his devotion, than because a
-mystery had been made to him of her departure. Without
-being able to determine on its cause, a gloomy presentiment
-pervaded his mind as to its effect on his happiness.</p>
-
-<p>"He instantly arose, that he might seek his friend, as much
-to converse with him on the subject which occupied his mind,
-as to inquire the state of Zarata's health; but, before he had
-completed his toilet, Don Juan entered his room, saying: 'I
-come to dissipate whatever apprehension you may entertain
-for me; I feel myself again restored to health.' 'The good
-news you tell me,' replied Mendoza, 'consoles me somewhat
-for the unwelcome intelligence I have just received.' 'Ah!
-what is that?' asked the Toledan anxiously. 'Why,' replied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
-Don Fabricio, after having dismissed his attendants, 'Donna
-Theodora has gone this morning into the country, where they
-expect she will remain for some time. This sudden resolution
-astonishes me. Why has it been concealed? What think you,
-Don Juan? Have I not cause to be alarmed?'</p>
-
-<p>"Zarata took good care not to communicate his real thoughts
-upon the subject, but endeavoured to persuade Mendoza that
-Donna Theodora might change her residence without giving
-him any reason for alarm. Don Fabricio, however, unconvinced
-by the arguments of his friend, interrupted him, saying:
-'That is all very well, Zarata; but you cannot remove my
-fears of having imprudently done or said something which has
-displeased the Donna Theodora; and it is to punish my
-indiscretion that she leaves me without deigning even to
-inform me of my fault.</p>
-
-<p>"'I will not, however, remain in uncertainty. Let us hasten,
-Don Juan, to follow her; I will at once order our horses.' 'I
-would advise you,' said the Toledan, 'to seek her alone; if it
-be as you think, witnesses are worse than needless.' 'Don
-Juan cannot be unwelcome,' replied Mendoza; 'Donna
-Theodora is aware that you know all that passes in my heart:
-she esteems you; and far from being in my way, you will
-assist me to appease her anger against me.'</p>
-
-<p>"'No, no, Fabricio,' replied the Toledan, 'my presence will
-avail you nothing. Take my advice, and go alone, I conjure
-you!' 'Again no, my dear Don Juan,' interrupted Mendoza,
-'we will go together; I expect this kindness of your friendship.'
-'What tyranny! exclaimed the Toledan, with evident
-vexation; 'why ask you of my friendship what that very
-feeling should deny you most?'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
-<p>"These words, which Don Fabricio could not comprehend,
-and the tone in which they were uttered, surprised him greatly.
-He looked at his friend for some time without speaking. At
-last, he said to him gravely: 'Don Juan, what mean you?
-What horrible suspicion breaks upon my mind? Ah! it is
-too much, to wound me by your terrible constraint! Speak!
-
-Whence arises this unwillingness to accompany me to Donna
-Theodora?'</p>
-
-<p>"'I would have concealed it from you,' replied the Toledan,
-'but, since you compel me to disclose the truth, I will dissimulate
-no longer. Let us, my dear Mendoza, no more
-rejoice in the similarity of our dispositions; it is but too
-perfect: the shafts which wounded you, have neither spared
-your friend. Donna Theodora&mdash;&mdash;' 'What! you my
-rival?' interrupted Don Fabricio, turning pale as death.
-'From the instant that my love for the widow of Cifuentes
-became apparent to myself,' replied Don Juan, 'I strove to
-stifle the passion. I have, as you know, sedulously avoided
-her sight: I at least triumphed over my feelings, if I could not
-destroy them.</p>
-
-<p>"'Yesterday, however, Donna Theodora sent word that she
-desired to see me. I went to her; when she asked me why
-I seemed to shun her. I endeavoured to excuse myself as
-well as I was able; but, as my excuses did not satisfy her, I
-was compelled at last to avow the real cause of my absence.
-I imagined that, after this declaration, she would have
-approved the motives of my apparent neglect; but my unlucky
-star had decreed&mdash;shall I tell you? yes, Mendoza, it is useless
-attempting to deceive you,&mdash;I found Theodora disposed to
-favour my love.'</p>
-
-<p>"Although Don Fabricio was one of the mildest and most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
-reasonable of men, yet, at this confession, he was seized with
-a fury beyond his control; and, again interrupting his friend,
-he exclaimed: 'Hold! Don Juan, plunge at once your dagger
-in my breast; but continue not this fatal recital. What! not
-contented with avowing your passion for her whom I adore,
-must you tell me too that your love is returned? By Heaven!
-this is a strange confidence you dare to venture on with me.
-You put our friendship to a test indeed. But what say I! our
-friendship? You have broken it, in nourishing the traitorous
-feelings you have just imparted.</p>
-
-<p>"'Oh! how have I been deceived! I thought you generous
-even to excess, and find you basely false; stooping to win the
-heart of her whose love were insult to your friend. This is
-indeed an unexpected blow; and falls with double weight
-since coming from the hand ...' 'Do me more justice,' in his
-turn interrupted the Toledan; 'reflect with patience ere you
-speak: I am not the traitor which you deem me. Hear me.
-You will repent the injuries you heap upon your friend.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Juan then related all that had passed between the
-widow of Cifuentes and himself, the tender confession she had
-made to him of love, and all the arguments she used to win
-him to indulge his own. He repeated to him then his firm
-reply; and, as he spoke of the determination he displayed, the
-wrath of Don Fabricio yielded by degrees. 'In short,' added
-Don Juan, 'friendship conquered love; and I rejected that of
-Donna Theodora, despite her tears. But, Gods, those tears!
-what trouble filled my soul at sight of them! I cannot
-recollect them now without trembling at the danger I encountered.
-I began to feel myself relent; and, for a few moments,
-Mendoza, my heart indeed betrayed you. I did not, however,
-yield to my weakness, but escaped those dangerous tears by
-hasty flight. Still it is not enough to have gone safe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>ly through
-the past,&mdash;the future must be feared. I shall therefore hasten
-my departure from Valencia; I will no more behold the
-lovely Theodora. And now, will Don Fabricio accuse his
-friend of ingratitude and perfidy?'</p>
-
-<p>"'No!' replied Mendoza, embracing the Toledan; 'my
-eyes are opened, and I find him faithful as my heart could
-wish. Pardon those unjust reproaches to a jealous lover, who
-in a moment finds himself deprived of all his hopes. Alas!
-should I have expected that the Donna Theodora could have
-long beheld you, and have failed to love?&mdash;that she could
-resist the influence of those attractions which at once so drew
-you to myself? No! and I embrace my friend again. I
-attribute my misfortunes but to destiny; and, far from feeling
-hatred to yourself, my affection is increased by your noble
-conduct. What! can you renounce for me possession of the
-lovely Theodora,&mdash;can you yield for friendship's sake so great
-a prize, and shall I be insensible of the sacrifice? Can you
-conquer the passion which consumes you, and shall I make
-no endeavour so to vanquish mine? No! I will not be
-outdone in generosity of soul. Obey, Don Juan, the dictate
-of your heart; espouse the object of our mutual affections;
-my heart may groan in secret if it will; be it so! Mendoza
-intreats you to consult your own.'</p>
-
-<p>"'In vain do you intreat me,' replied Zarata: 'I love her
-but too dearly, as I have told you; but, Mendoza, your happiness
-shall never be the price of mine.' 'And the happiness
-of Donna Theodora,' said Don Fabricio, 'shall that then
-count for nothing? Let not false delicacy weigh with us
-now: her passion for yourself has ended all my hopes. What
-though, for me, you shunned those fatal eyes, to lead in
-distant lands a life of woe,&mdash;what would it serve me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>now?
-She loves me not, and never will; Heaven reserved that bliss
-for you alone. From the moment that she saw you, her
-heart declared for you; nature prompted the emotion: in a
-word, you alone can render her happy. Receive then the
-heart she offers with her hand; crown her desires and your
-own; leave me to my fate; and make not three persons
-miserable, when the wretchedness of one alone is all that
-destiny requires.'"</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus was here obliged to suspend his narration, and
-listen to the Student, who said to him: "Well, all that you
-tell me is sufficiently surprising; but are there really such
-amiable people upon earth? I never met within this nether
-world but friends who strive, not for such mistresses as you
-depict the Donna Theodora, but for the arrantest coquettes.
-What! a lover to renounce the being he adores, by whom his
-love is shared, and all lest he should render some poor friend
-unhappy? That may do well for some romancer's pen, which
-fain would picture men the creatures they should be, for fear
-of telling them the things they are." "I own, with you,"
-Asmodeus replied, "the virtue that I tell you of is rare; but
-still, my dear Cleophas, it exists; not in romances only, but
-in the principles of man's own nature. It is true that, since
-the deluge, I have seen but two examples of the like, and this
-is one; but, let us return to our history.</p>
-
-<p>"The two friends continued still their amicable strife, and,
-as each was still unwilling to yield the palm of generosity to
-the other, their amorous sentiments remained suspended,
-during several days. They ceased to talk of Donna Theodora,
-each seemed afraid to breathe her very name; but,
-while Friendship triumphed over Love in the city of Valencia,
-Love, as though he would revenge the insult offered to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
-power, reigned with tyranny without its walls, and was there
-obeyed without scruple.</p>
-
-<p>"Donna Theodora was all this time in the solitude of Villareal,
-which was not far distant from the sea. There, abandoning
-herself to her passion for Don Juan, she dreamt of
-its reward; and nuptial visions floated in her mind, despite
-the friendship the Toledan had recently displayed for Don
-Fabricio, his too much loved rival.</p>
-
-<p>"One day, while the glorious splendour of the setting sun
-chained her to the margin of its bed, she perceived a boat
-which made towards the shore. As it approached, she saw
-that it contained seven or eight men, whose aspect was far
-from prepossessing; and as they came still nearer, she observed
-that their faces were covered with masks, and that they were
-armed.</p>
-
-<p>"Trembling with fear, for it was not easy to divine any good
-object for this unlooked-for descent, she turned hastily towards
-her home. Looking from time to time behind her as she
-fled, she saw them land; and, as they instantly appeared to be
-endeavouring to overtake her, she began to run with all her
-might. But as she was not as swift of foot as Atalanta, and
-as the masks were light and fleet, they came up with her, just
-as she had reached the entrance of her grounds, and seized
-her.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic07.png" width="254" height="253" alt="Donna Theodora carried off by the masked men" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The shrieks of the Donna Theodora, and a girl who accompanied
-her, were loud enough however to attract the attention
-of some servants without the house; and these giving the
-alarm to those within, the whole establishment, to a man,
-turned out armed with clubs and pitchforks. But in the
-meantime, two of the most robust among the masqueraders
-had taken the lady and her damsel in their arms, and b<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>ore
-them towards the boat, while the remainder remained to give
-battle to the domestics, who, albeit not paid for fighting, did
-their utmost. The combat was long, but swords carried the
-day against pitchforks, and the gentlemen in dominoes were
-fast regaining the vessel to join their prize. It was time
-indeed they did so; for ere their embarkation was completed,
-four or five cavaliers were to be distinguished on the road
-from Valencia, riding at their topmost speed, and apparen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>tly
-anxious to be in time for the rescue of the Donna Theodora.
-The ravishers saw them; and made such good haste to get
-out to sea, that the cavaliers arrived too late to attain the
-accomplishment of their object.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
-<img src="images/ch13pic08.png" width="248" height="127" alt="The masked men rowing away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"These cavaliers were Don Fabricio and Don Juan. Mendoza
-had received a letter, only a few hours before, informing
-him, on good authority, that Don Alvaro was in the island of
-Majorca; that he had equipped a sort of sloop, and that with
-some twenty scoundrels who had nothing to lose, he intended
-to carry off the widow of Cifuentes on the first occasion of
-her visiting her seat at Villareal. On this, the Toledan and
-himself, with their personal attendants, had set out
-immediately from Valencia, in order to inform Donna Theodora of
-the projected attempt. They had, unfortunately, arrived just
-in time to discern on the sea-shore a number of persons who
-appeared to be engaged in mortal strife; and, suspecting that
-it might be as they feared, had hastened with all ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>pedition
-to oppose the infamous design of Don Alvaro. But, with all
-their haste, they arrived but to witness the abduction they had
-especially come to prevent.</p>
-
-<p>"In the meanwhile, Alvaro Ponza, joyful at his success, was
-hurrying from the coast with his prey, and was observed to
-join a small armed vessel which was awaiting him in the
-distance. Words cannot convey an idea of the grief of the
-two friends; the air rang with imprecations against Don
-Alvaro: their grief and rage, however, were alike unavailing.
-The domestics of the Donna Theodora, excited by so laudable
-an example, were not sparing of their lamentations; the shore
-resounded with cries: fury, desolation, and despair reigned
-where all before had been tranquil joy, or the sweet grief of
-love. The rape of the beauteous Helen herself did not excite
-at the court of Sparta an equal consternation."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 214px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecemanrock.png" width="214" height="224" alt="tailpiece of a man in a rocky landscape" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE SQUABBLE BETWEEN THE TRAGIC POET AND THE COMIC AUTHOR.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez, at this point of the narrative,
-could not help again interrupting the Devil:
-"Signor Asmodeus," said he, "I really cannot
-control my curiosity to know the meaning of
-something which attracts my attention, in spite of the pleasure
-I receive in listening to you. I see, in a room near us,
-two men fighting in their shirts, and several others in their
-dressing-gowns who are hastening to part them: tell me, I
-pray you, what it is all about." The Demon, ever ready to
-please the Student, without further pressing replied as follows:</p>
-
-<p>"The persons whom you behold in their shirts, or so much
-of them as is left in the struggle, are two French authors; and
-the mediators in the strife are two Germans, a Fleming, and
-an Italian. They all lodge in that same house, which is a sort
-of lodging-house devoted exclusively to foreigners. One of
-these authors writes tragedies, and the other comedies. The
-former, disgusted for some reason or other with his own
-country, has come to Spain; and the latter also, discontented
-with his prospects in Paris, has performed the same journey, in
-the hope of finding in Madrid a better fortune.</p>
-
-<p>"The tragic poet is vain and presumptuous, having obtai<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>ned,
-despite the opinions of those whose breath should be fame, a
-tolerable reputation in his own country. To keep his Pegasus
-in wind, he rides it daily; and not being able to sleep this
-night, he commenced a piece, the subject of which is taken
-from the Iliad. He has finished one scene; and as his smallest
-fault is that, so common to his brethren, of cramming into
-other people's throats the trash which he has ejected, he rose
-from his table, where he was writing in his shirt, took a candle,
-and, as he was, went to rouse the comic author, who, making a
-better use of his time, was sleeping profoundly.</p>
-
-<p>"The latter, awakened by the noise made at his door, went
-to open it to the other, who, with the air of one possessed,
-entered the room exclaiming: 'Down on your knees, my friend;
-down, and worship a genius whom Melpomene inspires. I
-have given birth to poetry&mdash;: but, what do I say?&mdash;I have
-done it! Apollo himself dictated the verses to me. Were I
-at Paris, I should go from house to house to read the precious
-lines; I only wait for day that I may charm with them our
-talented ambassador, and every other Frenchman who has the
-luck to be within Madrid; but, before I shew them to a soul,
-I come to recite them to you.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic01.png" width="189" height="327" alt="The tragic poet at the comic author's door" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'I am much obliged by the preference,' replied the comic
-author, yawning with all his might; 'it is rather unlucky
-though, that you did not choose a better time. I went to bed
-extremely late,&mdash;can hardly keep my eyes unclosed,&mdash;and I
-will not answer for hearing all the verses you have to read to
-me, without tumbling to sleep again.' 'Oh! I will answer for
-that myself,' interrupted the tragic poet. 'Were you dead, the
-scene that I have just composed would recall you to life again.
-In my writings, there are none of your namby-pamby sentiments,&mdash;none
-of your common-place expressions, sustained
-alone by rhyme: masculine thoughts, and easy versification,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
-move the heart and strike upon the mind. I am none of those
-wretched poetasters, whose pitiable creations glide upon the
-stage like shadows, and like them depart;&mdash;which go to Utica
-to amuse the Africans. My compositions, wor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>thy to be consecrated
-with my statue in the library of Apollo Palatinus, draw
-crowds after thirty representations. But come,' added this
-modest poet, 'you shall hear the verses of which I wish to
-offer you the first incense.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic02.png" width="240" height="188" alt="Phoenix assists Achilles's captives" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"'This is my tragedy, <span class="smcap">The Death of Patroclus</span>. Scene
-the first, Brisëis and the other captives of Achilles appear.
-They tear their hair and beat their breasts, to express the grief
-with which they are filled by the death of Patroclus. Unable
-even to support themselves, utterly prostrated by despair, they
-fall upon the stage. This, you will say, is a little daring; but
-that is exactly what I aim at. Let the small fry who swim in
-the waters of Helicon keep within the narrow bounds of imitation,
-without daring to o'erleap them; it is well, there is
-prudence in their timidity: but for me, I love invention; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
-I hold that, to move and overcome your spectators, you must
-present to their minds images which they could never have
-expected.</p>
-
-<p>"'The captives, then, are lying on the earth. Phoenix,
-governor of Achilles, is with them. He assists them to rise,
-one after another; and, having placed them on their feet, he
-commences the argument of the drama in these lines:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="p2" style="margin-left: 10%;">
-Hector shall fall; and Troy itself be spread<br />
-In ruins, to avenge Patroclus dead.<br />
-Proud Agamemnon, Camelus the grave,<br />
-Nestor the wise, and Eumelus the brave,<br />
-Leontes, skilled to hurl the spear along,<br />
-Smooth-tongued Ulysses, Diomed the strong,<br />
-Arm with Achilles. Lo! that hero drives<br />
-Tow'rds Ilium's gates&mdash;appalling Ilium's wives&mdash;<br />
-His steeds immortal, urged across the plain<br />
-So swift, the eye toils after them with pain.<br />
-But still he cries: Dear Xanthus, Balius, fly!<br />
-And when around ten thousand corses lie,<br />
-When pallid Trojans scamper off like fillies,<br />
-Regain your camp, but not without Achilles.<br />
-Xanthus replies, bowing his head: You may<br />
-Be sure, Achilles, we'll your will obey;<br />
-But, while our pace with your impatience strives,<br />
-Know that to you the fatal hour arrives&mdash;<br />
-The ox-eyed Juno thus the steed enlightening,&mdash;<br />
-And now the car moves with a speed quite frightening.<br />
-The Greeks, beholding, utter cries of joy,<br />
-So loud, they shake the very walls of Troy.<br />
-Achilles, armed by Vulcan for the war,<br />
-Appears more brilliant than the morning star;<br />
-Or like the sun, when, in its bright career,<br />
-It bursts on earth, dispelling night and fear;<br />
-Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,<br />
-To guide poor swains, bewilder'd or benighted.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-<p class="p2">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
-<a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
-</p>
-
-<p class="p2">
-Priam va perdre Hector et sa superbe ville;<br />
-Les Grecs veulent venger le compagnon d'Achille,<br />
-Le fier Agamemnon, le divin Camélus,<br />
-Nestor, pareil aux dieux, le vaillant Eumélus,<br />
-Léonte, de la pique adroit à l'exercice,<br />
-Le nerveux Diomède, et l'éloquent Ulysse.<br />
-Achille s'y prépare, et déjà ce héros<br />
-Pousse vers Ilium ses immortels chevaux;<br />
-Pour arriver plus tôt où sa fureur l'entraîne,<br />
-Quoique l'oeil qui les voit ne les suive qu'à peine,<br />
-Il leur dit: Chers Xanthus, Balius, avancez;<br />
-Et lorsque vous serez du carnage lassés,<br />
-Quand les Troyens fuyant rentreront dans leur ville,<br />
-Regagnez notre camp, mais non pas sans Achille.<br />
-Xanthus baisse la tête, et répond par ces mots:<br />
-Achille, vous serez content de vos chevaux,<br />
-Ils vont aller au gré de votre impatience;<br />
-Mais de votre trépas l'instant fatal s'avance.<br />
-Junon aux yeux de boeuf ainsi le fait parler,<br />
-Et d'Achille aussitôt le char semble voler.<br />
-Les Grecs, en le voynt, de mille cris de joie<br />
-Soudain font retentir le rivage de Troie.<br />
-Ce prince, revêtu des armes de Vulcain,<br />
-Paraît plus éclatant que l'astre du matin,<br />
-Ou tel que le soleil, commençant sa carrière,<br />
-S'élève pour donner au monde la lumière;<br />
-Ou brillant comme un feu que les villageois font<br />
-Pendant l'obscure nuit sur le sommet du mont.<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p class="p2">
-"'I stop,' continued the tragic poet, 'to let you breathe a
-moment; for if I were to recite to you the whole of my scene
-at once, the beauty of my versification, and the great number
-of brilliant passages and sublime ideas that it contains, would
-smother you to a certainty. But remark the aptness of this
-comparison,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p style="margin-left: 10%;">
-Or brilliant as the fires on mountains lighted,<br />
-To guide poor swains bewilder'd or benighted.<br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
-</p>
-
-<p>"'It is not all the world who could appreciate that; but
-you, who have mind, and a clearness of perception,&mdash;you must
-be enchanted with it.' 'I am so, doubtless,' replied the comic
-author, smiling contemptuously; 'nothing can be more beautiful;
-and I am persuaded you will not fail to describe, in your
-tragedy, the care taken by Thetis to drive away the Trojan
-flies which approach the body of Patroclus.' 'You may spare
-your jests as to that,' replied the tragic poet;&mdash;'an author who
-has talent may venture everything. The very incident you
-mention is perhaps the one most capable of being rendered
-into heroic verse; and I shall not lose the opportunity, you
-may depend upon it.</p>
-
-<p>"'All my works,' he continued complacently, 'bear the
-impress of genius; so that when I read them it would delight
-you to witness the applause they elicit: I am compelled to
-stop after every verse, to receive its laudatory tribute. I
-remember that one day, at Paris, I was reading a tragedy in
-the house of a wealthy patron of literature, in which all the
-wits of the capital generally assemble about dinner-time, and
-in which I may say, without vanity, that I do not pass for a
-Pradon. The dowager countess of Vieille-Brune was there, a
-lady of exquisite taste&mdash;I am her favourite poet. Well, at the
-first scene, the hot tears ran down her cheeks; during the
-reading of my second act, she was obliged to change her
-handkerchief; her sobs were beyond her control in the third;
-at the end of the fourth she was nearly in hysterics; and I
-expected, at the catastrophe, that she would have absolutely
-died with the hero of my piece.'</p>
-
-<p>"At these words, although the comic author endeavoured
-strenuously to preserve his gravity, a burst of laughter es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>caped
-him. 'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'how well do I recognize her
-ladyship by your description! The good countess is one who
-cannot endure comedy: so strong is her aversion for the merry
-muse, that she hurries from her box after the dagger or the
-bowl has done its work, that she may not lose an atom of her
-mimic grief. Tragedy is her pet passion; and be it good or
-bad, so long as it presents unhappy love, so surely may you bid
-her tears to flow. Honestly, did I pretend to the heroics, I
-should wish for other admirers than the countess.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Oh! as to that, I have others too,' replied the tragic
-poet. 'I am the approved of thousands, male and female, of
-the highest rank&mdash;&mdash;' 'I should also mistrust the suffrages of
-the quality,' interrupted the comic author; 'I should have no
-great confidence in their judgment: I will tell you why.
-Auditors of this description are, for the most part, too much
-occupied with themselves to pay great attention to the reading
-of a poem; or are caught for the moment by high-sounding
-verse, or the feeble delicacy of some sickly sentiment. Either
-is sufficient to induce their praise of an author's labours, whatever
-else of better they may lack. On the contrary, let but a
-line rustle their gentle ears too harshly, and it is enough that
-they exclaim against the piece, however good.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Well!' resumed the lachrymose inditer, 'since you would
-have me suspicious of this tribunal, I rely on the applauses of
-the pit.' 'Bah! talk not to me of your pit,' replied the other;
-'its judgment is guided by caprice. Stupidly won by the
-novelty of a first representation, it will be for months
-enraptured by a wretched piece. It is true that in the end it discovers
-its folly; and, then, it never forgives an author for
-having received from it an undeserved renown, or cheated it
-into mercy.'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'That is a misfortune for which I have nothing to fear,'
-said the tragic poet; 'my pieces are reprinted as often as
-they are played. This, now, never occurs with comedies;
-printing exhibits their feebleness. Comedies being but trifles,&mdash;the
-lighter productions of mind....' 'Softly! my
-tragic friend; softly!' interrupted the other: 'you are getting
-somewhat warm. Speak, I beg of you, of comedy with
-less irreverence to me. Do you think, now, a comic piece
-less difficult to write than tragedy? Undeceive yourself!
-It is far less easy to make good men laugh, than it is to
-make them weep. Learn that a subject drawn from ordinary
-life requires talent of as high an order as do the stilted heroes
-of antiquity.'</p>
-
-<p>"'I'faith,' cried the tragic poet with an air of raillery, 'I am
-delighted to hear you so express yourself.' 'Well! monsieur
-Calidas, to avoid disputation, I agree henceforth to as greatly
-admire your productions as I have heretofore despised them.'
-'I care little for your contempt, monsieur Giblet,' hastily replied
-the comic author; 'and in return for your insolence, I
-will plainly tell you my opinion of the rubbish you have just
-been inflicting on me: your verse is a mixture of bombast and
-absurdity, and the ideas, although borrowed from Homer, have, in
-passing through your brain, become tinctured with its vulgarity.
-Achilles talks to his horses, and his horses reply to him; what
-nonsense! It is a pity they were not asses, for then you could
-have put into their mouths with propriety your splendid comparison
-of the village bonfire on the top of a mountain. It is
-doing no honour to the ancients to pillage them after this
-fashion: their works are undoubtedly filled with beauties; but it
-requires greater taste than you possess to make of them a fitting
-use, or to enable you to borrow from them to advantage.'</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
-<p>"'Since you have not sufficient elevation of soul,' retorted
-Giblet, 'to appreciate the merits of my poetry, and to punish
-you for having dared to criticise my scene, I will not read to
-you the remainder.' 'What, I wonder, have I done, that I
-should have been punished by being compelled to listen to the
-beginning?' replied Calidas. 'It well becomes you indeed to
-despise my comedies! Learn that the very worst that I could
-write will be clever compared with anything that you can compose,
-and that it is much easier to inflate the cheeks with hollow
-sentiments and sounding words, than it is to enlighten the
-mind by pointed wit or a delicate irony.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Thank Heaven!' exclaimed the tragic poet, with an awful
-expression of disdain, 'if in its rigour it denies me your esteem,
-I may easily console myself for my misfortune. The court, however,
-thinks more favourably of my tragedies; and the pension
-with which in its grace it has been pleased&mdash;&mdash;' 'Pshaw! think
-not to dazzle me with your pensions,' interrupted Calidas; 'I
-know too well how they may be obtained to esteem your works
-the more for that. And to prove to you your folly, in thinking
-more highly of yourself than of comic authors, and that it is
-easier to compose serious dramas than comic pieces, I am resolved
-if I return to France, and do not succeed in my own
-line, that I will descend to making tragedies.'</p>
-
-<p>"'For a scribbler of farces,' said the tragic poet, 'you are
-not over modest.' 'For a versifier who only owes his reputation
-to borrowed plumes,' replied the comic author, 'you
-would fain have one think rather too highly of you.' 'You
-are an insolent scoundrel,' exclaimed the sombre genius. 'If
-I were not in your room, little monsieur Calidas, the catastrophe
-of this adventure should teach you to respect the buskin.'
-'Let not that consideration restrain you, I entreat,
-lanky monsieur Giblet,' replied Calidas; 'if you wish to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>receive
-a thrashing, I would as soon give it you in my own room
-as elsewhere.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 237px;">
-<img src="images/ch14pic03.png" width="237" height="211" alt="Calidas and Giblet come to blows" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Immediately, they seized each other by the throat and hair;
-and kicks and cuffs were exchanged with generous ardour. An
-Italian, who lay in a neighbouring chamber, having listened to
-the overture of this drama, and hearing the noise of the
-incidental combat, judged that it was quite time for the spectators
-to assemble when the play had begun. He rose, therefore, and
-out of compassion for the French authors, although Italian, he
-filled the house with his cries. On this the Fleming and the
-two Germans hastened with himself in their dressing-gown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>s to
-the theatre of strife, and the piece is, as you see, just terminating
-by the separation of the combatants."</p>
-
-<p>"This squabble is amusing enough," said Don Cleophas.
-"But, it would appear from what you tell me that tragic
-writers in France imagine themselves to be much more important
-personages than those who devote themselves to
-comedy." "Certainly!" replied Asmodeus. "The former
-think themselves as much exalted over the latter, as are the
-stately heroes of tragedies above the intriguing servants of
-comic pieces." "Indeed! and on what do they found this
-opinion of themselves?" inquired the Student. "Is it then
-really so much more difficult to write the one than the other?"
-"The question you put to me," replied the Devil, "is one
-which has been a hundred times debated, and is so to this
-day. For myself, this is my decision, with all deference to
-those who differ from me in opinion. I say that it is not
-more easy to compose a comic than a tragic piece; for if it
-were so, we must conclude that a tragic poet would be more
-capable of writing a comedy, than the best comic author;
-the which is not borne out by experience. According to
-me, then, each of these two descriptions of poem requires a
-genius of a different character, but of an equal capability.</p>
-
-<p>"It is time, however, to end this digression. I will therefore
-resume the thread of the history, which you so unceremoniously
-interrupted."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecestrapwork.png" width="200" height="97" alt="foliate strapwork tailpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XV.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>CONTINUATION, AND CONCLUSION, OF THE FORCE OF FRIENDSHIP.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitials.png" width="75" height="72" alt="S" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Success had not attended the endeavours of the
-servants of Donna Theodora to prevent her being
-carried away; but they had at least opposed it with
-courage, and their resistance had been fatal to
-some of the companions of Alvaro Ponza. Among others,
-whose wounds had not permitted them to follow their comrades,
-there was a man, stretched almost lifeless on the
-sand, whom they recognized as one of Alvaro's own attendants.
-Perceiving that he still breathed, they carried him to
-the house, and spared no pains to restore him to his senses.
-In this they at last succeeded, although the quantity of blood
-which had escaped from his numerous wounds had reduced
-his stream of life to its lowest ebb, and left him extremely
-weak. To induce him to speak, they promised to take every
-care to prolong his days, and not to deliver him into the
-hands of justice, provided that he would inform them of the
-place to which his master had designed to take the Donna
-Theodora.</p>
-
-<p>Gratified by these assurances, although the state to which he
-was reduced left him but small hope to profit by their realization,
-he rallied all his remaining strength, and, with a faltering
-voice, co<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>nfirmed by his confession the information that Don
-Fabricio had received. He added, however, that Don Alvaro
-designed to conduct the widow of Cifuentes to Sassari, in the
-island of Sardinia, where he had a relation whose protection
-and power promised him a safe asylum.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 270px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic01.png" width="270" height="173" alt="Alvaro's attendant is carried away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The deposition of the dying man, for he expired a few hours
-afterwards, raised Mendoza and the Toledan from complete
-despair; and as their stay at Donna Theodora's seat was now
-useless, they at once returned to Valencia. After debating for
-some time on the steps most expedient to be taken, they
-resolved to seek their common enemy in his chosen retreat,
-and in a few days embarked, without attendants, at Denia,
-for Port Mahon, not doubting that they would there find some
-means of transport to the island of Sardinia. It so happened
-that scarcely had they reached their destined port, when they
-learned that a vessel freighted for Cagliari was about to sail,
-and in it they immediately secured a passage.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The vessel left the island of Minorca with breezes friendly
-to their hopes; but five or six hours after their departure there
-came on a calm, and night brought with it winds directly in
-their teeth; so that they were obliged to tack about and wait
-for a favourable change. Three days were thus passed in
-sailing without progress; when, on the fourth, about two hours
-after noon, they discovered a strange sail, all its canvas spread,
-and bearing down directly upon them. At first they took it
-for a merchantman, bound for the shores they steered from;
-but observing that it came within the range of cannon-shot
-without showing its colours, they began to fear it was a
-corsair.</p>
-
-<p>They were not deceived: it was a Tunisian pirate, which
-approached them in full expectation that the Christians would
-yield without a blow. As it came near enough, however, for
-the corsairs to discern what was passing on board of their
-expected prey, and to observe that the sails were reefed and
-the guns run out, they guessed that the affair was likely to turn
-out more seriously than they had expected. They therefore
-shortened sail, wore round, hurriedly cleared the deck, and
-prepared for action.</p>
-
-<p>A brisk exchange of shots soon commenced, and the
-Christians, taking advantage of the surprise which their unexpected
-resistance had occasioned, began to prevail over their
-opponent; but an Algerine pirate, larger and of heavier metal
-than either of the others, arriving in the middle of the action,
-took part with its brother of Tunis, and the Christians were
-thus placed between two fires.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 183px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic02.png" width="183" height="197" alt="The slave on the bow of the Algerine pirate ship" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
-<p>Discouraged by this unlooked-for circumstance, and feeling
-that it was useless to continue the unequal strife, they gradually
-slackened their fire, and at last it ceased altogether. On this
-a slave appeared on the bow of the Algerine vessel, who hailed
-them in their own language, bidding them, if they hoped for
-mercy, to strike to Algiers. A Turk then advanced, holding
-in his hand a green silk flag studded with silver crescents interlacing
-each other, which he waved in the air. The Christians,
-looking upon further resistance as hopeless, gave themselves
-up to all the grief that the idea of slavery inspires in the breasts
-of freemen, until the master of the vessel, fearing that a further
-delay of submission would only serve to irritate their barbarian
-conqueror, hauled down his colours, threw himself into a boat
-with some of his sailors, and went to surrender to the Algerine
-corsair.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic03.png" width="268" height="255" alt="Surrender" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The latter immediately sent a portion of his crew on board
-the Spanish vessel to examine, or rather to pillage it of all that
-it contained. The Tunisian pirate gave similar orders to some
-of his men, so that all the passengers it contained were in an
-instant disarmed and plundered, and were shortly afterwards
-exchanged into the Algerine vessel, when the two pirates divided
-their prisoners by lot.</p>
-
-<p>It would have been at least some consolation for Mendoza
-and his friend to have both fallen into the hands of the same
-corsair; they would have found their chains somewhat the less
-heavy to have borne the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>m together; but Fortune, apparently
-disposed to make them feel the terrors of her caprice, allotted
-Don Fabricio to the pirate of Tunis, and Don Juan to his
-competitor of Algiers. Picture to yourself the grief of the two
-friends, when told that they must part. They threw themselves
-at the feet of the corsairs, and entreated them that they might
-not be separated. But their entreaties were vain; the barbarians
-before whom they knelt were too much accustomed to
-the sight of human misery not to be proof against the prayers
-of their present victims. On the contrary, judging by their
-demeanour that the two captives were men of wealth and
-station, and that they would consequently pay a weighty
-ransom, they were the more resolved to divide them.</p>
-
-<p>Mendoza and Zarata, perceiving that they were in the power
-of men with hearts insensible to all but gain, turned towards
-each other, their looks expressing the depth of their affliction.
-But when the booty had been shared, and the Tunisian pirate
-prepared to return to his own vessel with his proportion, and
-the slaves which it included, they seemed as though they would
-expire with despair. Mendoza rushed into the arms of the
-Toledan, and embracing him, exclaimed: "Must we then
-separate? Cruel necessity! Is it not enough that we should
-be borne to slavery, and unavenged? Must we even be
-denied to bear in union the sorrows to which we are destined?
-Ah! Don Juan, what have we done that Heaven should thus
-visit us with its terrible wrath?" "Seek not elsewhere the
-cause of our disgrace," replied Don Juan: "I only am to
-blame. The death of two unfortunates, immolated to my
-revenge, although excused to mortal eyes, is deep offence to
-Heaven; and you, my friend, are punished for the fault of
-loving one who took upon himself the vengeance that belongs
-to God alone."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 271px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic04.png" width="271" height="338" alt="Mendoza and Zarata are separated" />
-</div>
-
-<p>While they spoke thus, tears, strangers to the eyes of men,
-streamed down their cheeks, and sighs but choked their utterance.
-So touching was their grief, that those who shared their
-fate were yet as much affected by the sight as w<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>ith their own
-misfortune. Not so the wretches who formed the crew of the
-Tunisian corsair. Perceiving that Mendoza was the last to
-quit the Algerine vessel, they tore him without ceremony from
-the arms of the Toledan; and, as they dragged him away, added
-blows to insult. "Adieu, dear friend," he cried: "adieu for
-ever! Donna Theodora is yet unavenged! and, parted from
-you, the miseries that these wretches prepare will be the least
-that slavery can bring to me."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan was unable to reply to the exclamations of his
-friend; the treatment that he saw him endure filled his breast
-with a horror which deprived him of speech. And so, Signor
-Don Cleophas, as the course of my narrative requires that
-we should follow the Toledan, we will leave Don Fabricio,
-in solemn silence, to be conducted on board of the Tunisian
-pirate.</p>
-
-<p>The Algerine returned toward his port, where, having arrived,
-he conducted his slaves to the house of the superintending
-basha, and thence to the public market. An officer of the
-Dey, Mezzomorto, purchased Don Juan for his master; and
-the new slave was at once employed as an assistant in the
-gardens of the harem. This occupation, although laborious
-for a gentleman, was however, the less disagreeable to Don
-Juan, on account of the solitude to which it left him; for,
-situated as he was, it was a pleasure to have at least the liberty
-of indulging his own melancholy thoughts. Incessantly occupied
-with his misfortunes, his mind, far from endeavouring to
-lighten them with hope, seemed to delight in dwelling on the
-past, and to inspire his bosom with gloomiest presages for the
-future.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 263px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic05.png" width="263" height="279" alt="Mezzomorto approaches Zarata in the garden" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
-<p>One day he was occupied with his work, murmuring the
-while one of his now usual songs of sorrow, when the Dey,
-who was walking in the garden, came upon him without being
-perceived, and stopped to listen. Pleased with his voice, and
-moved by curiosity, he approached the captive and asked his
-name. The Toledan replied, that he was called Alvaro; for,
-following the usual custom with slaves, of concealing their
-station, he thought fit to change his name, and, as the outrage
-upon Donna Theodora was ever uppermost in his thoughts,
-the name of the detested Alvaro had come soonest to his lip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>s
-when suddenly asked his own. Mezzomorto, who spoke the
-Spanish language tolerably well, then questioned him as to the
-customs of Spain, and particularly as to the conduct observed
-by those of its cavaliers who would render themselves agreeable
-to their ladies;&mdash;to all of which Don Juan replied in such a
-manner as to greatly please the Dey.</p>
-
-<p>"Alvaro," said he to him at last, "you appear to be intelligent;
-and I judge you to have been a man of rank in your
-own country: but, however that may be, you are fortunate
-enough to please me, and I will honour you with my confidence."
-At these words, Don Juan prostrated himself before
-the Dey, and with well-affected humility, kissed the hem of
-his master's robe, and after touching with it his eyes and forehead,
-arose, and stood before him in silence.</p>
-
-<p>"To begin by giving you proof of my regard," resumed the
-Dey, "you know, that in my seraglio, I have some of the
-fairest women which Europe can offer for my pleasures.
-Among these, however, there is one whose beauty is beyond
-compare; nor do I believe that the Grand Signor himself
-possesses so exquisite a creature, although for him the winds
-of heaven daily waft ships with their lovely burden from all
-quarters of the globe. In her visage the dazzling sun seems
-reflected, and her form is graceful as the rose's stem which
-grows in the gardens of Eram. My soul is enchanted with her
-perfections.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic06.png" width="266" height="310" alt="The unhappy beauty of the seraglio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Alas! this miracle of nature, all beauteous as she is,
-maintains and nourishes the deepest grief; which neither time
-nor all the efforts of my love can dissipate. Although fortune
-has yielded her to my will, I have ever respected her grief,
-and controlled my desires; and unlike those who, placed as I
-am, seek but the momentary gratifications of sense, I f<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>ain
-would win her heart, and have striven to gain it by respectful
-attentions, such as the vilest Mussulman that lives would feel
-degraded to offer to the fairest Christian slave.</p>
-
-<p>"Still, all my cares seem but to add to her affliction; an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>d I
-will not disguise that its obstinacy begins to weary me. The
-sense of slavery is not imprinted in the minds of others of my
-slaves in characters so deep, but that a look of favour from
-myself can soon efface or gild them; so that I may well tire
-of this incessant grief. Nevertheless, before I abandon myself
-to the passion which transports me, I would make one last
-endeavour to touch her insensible heart; and I will leave this
-task to you. As my fair slave is Christian, and even of your
-own country, she may confide in you, and you may persuade
-her to my wishes better than another. Go, then! tell her of
-my riches and my power; tell her that among my many
-slaves, I care for only her; and, if it must be so, bid her even
-hope that she may one day be the honoured wife of Mezzomorto.
-Tell her that I would rather win her love, than
-receive the hand of a Sultana from the grace of his Highness
-the Sultan himself."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan threw himself a second time before the Dey; and
-although not over-delighted with this commission, assured him
-that he would do his utmost to execute it to his satisfaction.
-"Enough!" replied Mezzomorto, "leave your work and follow
-me. I am about, contrary to our usages, to permit you
-privately to see this slave. But, tremble, if you dare abuse
-the confidence I place in you! Tortures, such as even were
-never yet inflicted by the Turks, shall punish your temerity.
-Strive to overcome your own sorrows, and dream of liberty as
-the reward of ending the sufferings that I endure." Don Juan
-threw down his hoe, and silently followed the Dey, who, when
-they entered the palace, left him, that he might prepare the
-afflicted captive to receive his messenger of love.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic07.png" width="258" height="231" alt="The unhappy beauty salutes Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p>
-<p>She was with two aged slaves, who retired as soon as
-Mezzomorto appeared. The beauteous slave herself saluted
-the Dey with great respect, but she could not behold him
-without greater fear, as indeed had ever been the case when
-he presented himself before her. He perceived it, and to
-reassure her mind: "Amiable captive," he said, "I come but
-to inform you that among my slaves there is a Spaniard with
-whom you would perhaps be glad to converse. If you wish to
-see him, I will give him permission to speak with you, and
-even alone."</p>
-
-<p>As the lovely slave expressed no objection to receive her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
-countryman: "I go," resumed the Dey, "to send him to you:
-may he, by the information he conveys, serve to relieve you
-of your troubles!" He left her as he spoke; and as he went
-out, meeting the Toledan, said to him in a low voice: "Enter!
-and when you have communicated what I desire, come to my
-cabinet and inform me of the result."</p>
-
-<p>Zarata entered as he was directed, closed the door, and
-bowed before the favoured slave, who returned his salute,
-without either particularly observing the other. When, however,
-their eyes at last met, a cry of surprise and joy escaped
-them both: "Oh Heaven!" exclaimed the Toledan, approaching
-the captive, "is it not a vision that deceives mine eyes?
-Can it be the Donna Theodora whom I see?" "Ah! Don
-Juan," ere he had uttered these words, cried the lady he
-addressed, "is it indeed yourself who speaks to me?" "Yes,
-madam," replied the Toledan, while he fell upon his knee and
-tenderly kissed her hand, "it is Don Juan. Let these tears,
-that my eyes, rejoiced to behold you again, cannot restrain;
-let this transport, that you alone can excite in the heart of
-him who kneels before you, witness for my presence! I
-murmur no longer against my destiny, since it conducts me to
-you&mdash;Alas! what does my ecstacy inspire? I forget that you
-are in chains. By what unhappy chance do I find you here?
-How have you escaped from the frantic passion of Alvaro?
-Ah, what horror fills my soul to mention his very name! How
-do I tremble to learn the fate for which Heaven reserved you,
-when it abandoned you to his perfidy!"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 211px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic08.png" width="211" height="219" alt="Don Juan kisses Donna Theodora's hand" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Heaven," replied the Donna Theodora, "has avenged me
-on Alvaro Ponza. Had I but time to rel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>ate to you&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Time!" interrupted Don Juan,&mdash;"you have plenty, and to
-spare. The Dey himself permitted me to see you, and, what
-may well surprise you, alone. Profit by the happy moments
-which his confidence affords, and inform me of all that has
-happened to you since you were carried off by Alvaro." "And
-who, then, told you that it was by him I was taken away?"
-inquired Donna Theodora. "Alas! madam, I know it but
-too well," replied the Toledan. He then shortly narrated the
-manner in which he had become acquainted with Alvaro's
-design, and had witnessed its execution; how Mendoza and
-himself had followed him in the hope of preserving her from
-his violence, or to revenge it; and of their unfortunate, but
-for this meeting, encounter with the pirates, and its consequence.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as he had finished this recital, Donna Theodora<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
-began the story of heir own sufferings, as follows: "I need not
-dwell upon my astonishment at finding myself seized by a
-masked band of ruffians&mdash;indeed, I had hardly time to wonder
-at the outrage, for I swooned in the arms of the first who laid
-hold of me; and when I recovered my senses, which must
-have been after the lapse of some hours, I found myself alone
-with Agnes, one of my own attendants, in a cabin on the poop
-of a vessel, in the open sea, sailing with all its canvass spread
-before the wind.</p>
-
-<p>"The perfidious Agnes, on perceiving my tears, exhorted
-me to bear my misfortune with patience; but from a few
-words which dropped from her as she spoke, I was not long in
-divining that she was in the confidence of Alvaro, who shortly
-afterwards appeared. Throwing himself at my feet: 'Madam,'
-he exclaimed, 'pardon to a too fond lover the means by which
-he has dared to possess himself of your person! You know
-how deeply I have loved you, and how ardently I disputed
-with Mendoza for your heart, up to the fatal day when you
-declared your preference for him. Had my passion been the
-cold and empty feeling that mortals dignify with the name of
-love, I might have vanquished it as easily as such a feeling is
-inspired; but my misfortune was beyond consolation. I live
-but to adore those charms; and, despised though I be, I
-cannot free myself from their spell. But, madam, let not the
-fury of my passion alarm you! I have not deprived you of
-liberty, that I may rob you of honour; I seek only that, in the
-retreat unto which we are hastening, a sacred tie may unite our
-hearts for ever.'</p>
-
-<p>"He continued in this strain for some time, but in terms
-which I cannot remember. To hear him, it would have seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>
-that, in forcing me to wed him, he did me no wrong; and that
-where I saw but an insolent ravisher, I should have beheld
-alone an impassioned lover. As, however, while he spoke
-thus, I answered him but with tears, and exhibited an evident
-despair, he left me; but not without making signs to Agnes,
-which I plainly understood as directions for her to second, as
-well as she was able, the splendid arguments by which he had
-sought to dazzle my weak understanding.</p>
-
-<p>"She did her best; representing to me that, after the éclat
-of an abduction, I could not do otherwise than graciously
-accept the offered hand of Alvaro Ponza; that, whatever aversion
-I might feel for his excessive tenderness, my reputation
-demanded of my heart this sacrifice. As, however, the necessity
-which she painted, of a hated marriage, was not exactly
-the way to dry my tears, I still remained inconsolable; and
-Agnes had exhausted all her eloquence, when we suddenly
-heard upon the deck a noise which attracted the attention of
-us both.</p>
-
-<p>"This noise, which proceeded from Alvaro's people, was
-caused by the apparition of a large ship, which was sweeping
-with its wings all spread upon us; and from which, as our
-vessel was by no means so good a sailer, there was no escaping.
-Down it came, and we soon heard cries of 'Lie to, and send a
-boat aboard!' But Alvaro Ponza and his men, who knew
-what they had to expect from yielding, chose rather to die, or
-at least to run the chance of a combat. The action was sharp,
-but of short duration: I cannot pretend to give you its details,
-and will therefore only say, that Alvaro and every one of his
-crew perished, after fighting like men who preferred death to
-slavery. For myself and Agnes, we were removed into the
-other vessel, which belonged to Mezzomorto, and was commanded
-by Aby Aly Osman, one of his officers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic09.png" width="259" height="223" alt="Alvaro and his crew are killed" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Aby Aly looked at me for some time, with much surprise;
-and recognizing me, by my dress, for a Spaniard, he said to me
-in almost pure Castilian: 'Moderate your grief, lady, for having
-fallen into slavery: it is a consolation in our woes to know that
-they are inevitable. But what do I speak of?&mdash;Woe! Happiness
-alone awaits you. You are far too lovely for the homage
-of Christian dogs. Heaven never made you for the pleasure
-of the miserable wretches whom we trample under foot. You
-were formed to receive the admiration of the men of the
-world; a Mussulman alone is worthy to possess such beauty.
-I shall return at once,' he added, 'to Algiers. Albeit I have
-made no other prize, I know our Dey too well not to be pe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>rsuaded
-that with you I shall not be all unwelcome. I have
-no great fear that he will condemn my impatience to place
-within his hands a beauty whom our Prophet must have sent
-on earth expressly for his enjoyment, and to be the light of
-his harem.'</p>
-
-<p>"These compliments, Don Juan, told me too plainly all I
-had to fear, and my tears flowed the faster as he spoke. Aby
-Aly was pleased, however, to interpret my fears after his own
-fashion; and, laughing at my timidity, gave orders to sail
-towards Algiers. Never was port so dreaded by the ship-bound
-habitant of ocean! Sometimes I threw myself on my
-knees, and implored Heaven for its protection; at others, my
-doubting spirit wished for the assistance of man in Christian
-guise who might come to my rescue, or sink the pirate vessel,
-which contained me, in the waves,&mdash;or that these in their
-mercy would engulph us. Then, again, I hoped that my tears,
-and the sorrow which caused them, would render me so unsightly
-that the tyrant to whom they bore me might fly my
-sight with horror. Vain wishes, that my modesty had formed!
-We arrived at the dreaded port; they conducted me to the
-palace; I appeared before Mezzomorto.</p>
-
-<p>"I know not what Aby Aly said on presenting me to his
-master, nor what the latter replied, for they spoke in their own
-tongue; but I thought I could perceive by the looks and
-gestures of the Dey that I had the misfortune to please him.
-But what, after they had conversed thus for some time, was
-addressed to me in my own language, completed my despair
-by confirming me in the opinion I had formed.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 201px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic10.png" width="201" height="203" alt="Donna Theodora and Aby Aly before Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Vainly I cast myself before him, offering him whatever
-sum he chose to name as my ransom; in vain did I tempt his
-avarice by the promise of all that I possessed, or could
-command: he answered me by saying, that I offered him in my
-own person more than all the riches in the world could bestow.
-He then conducted me to this apartment, the most splendid
-his palace contains, and from that hour to the present moment,
-he has spared no pains to dispel the grief with which he sees
-me overcome. All his slaves who either dance, sing, or play,
-have tried by his command their skill before me. He removed
-from me Agnes, because he thought that she served to remind
-me of my home, and I am now attended by two aged female
-slaves, whose sole discourse is of love and the Dey, and of the
-happiness which through his favour I may secure.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Need I say, Don Juan, that all their efforts to divert my
-grief add but to its intensity, and that nothing can console me?
-Captive in this detestable palace, which resounds from day to
-day with the cries of innocence oppressed, I suffer less from
-the mere loss of liberty than from the terror which the hated
-tenderness of the Dey inspires. It is true I have hitherto
-found in him but a lover gentle and respectful; but I am not
-the less alarmed. I fear lest, wearied by a semblance of devotion,
-which cannot but constrain him to put on, he should
-resume the rights of power; and this fear agitates me without
-ceasing, making of my life but one long torment."</p>
-
-<p>As Donna Theodora finished these words, she wept; and
-her tears fell like iron on the heart of poor Don Juan. "It is
-not without cause," he at last exclaimed, "that you look on
-the future with dread; I am, myself, as much alarmed for it as
-you. The respect of the Dey is melting faster than even you
-imagine; your submissive lover will soon abandon all the
-mildness he assumes. Alas! I know too well the dangers
-which surround you.</p>
-
-<p>"But," he continued, his voice changing as he spoke, "shall
-I calmly witness your dishonour? Slave though I be, he may
-feel the weight of my despair. Before Mezzomorto injures
-you, I will plunge in his heart&mdash;&mdash;" "Ah! Don Juan," interrupted
-the widow of Cifuentes, "what dreadful project do you
-dream of? For Heaven's sake, think of it no more! With
-what dreadful cruelties would they avenge his death!
-Torments the most refined&mdash;I cannot think of them without
-trembling! Besides, to what end would you encounter such
-a peril? In taking the life of the Dey, would you restore me
-to liberty? Alas! I should be sold to some other tyrant who
-would treat me with less respect than Mezzomorto. No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>!"
-she exclaimed, throwing herself on her knees, "it is thou,
-Almighty Father, who canst alone protect me. Thou knowest
-my weakness, and the infamous designs of him in whose power
-I am placed. Thou, who forbiddest me to save myself by
-poison or the steel, Thou wilt save me in Thy justice from a
-crime that is abhorrent in Thy sight."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, madam," replied Zarata, "Heaven will avert the misfortune
-with which you are threatened! I feel already that
-it inspires me;&mdash;the ideas which flash across my mind are
-doubtless prompted by its mercy. Hear me! The Dey has
-permitted me to see you, only that I might induce you to return
-his love. It is time that I rendered him an account of our
-interview; and, in so doing, I shall deceive him. I will tell
-him that your grief may be overcome; that his conduct towards
-you has already won for him your esteem, and that, from a
-continuance in that conduct, he has everything to hope. Do
-you assist me in my design? When he comes next to visit
-you, let him find you less sorrowful than usual; and appear, at
-least, to be interested in his conversation."</p>
-
-<p>"What a task would you impose on me!" interrupted Donna
-Theodora. "How is my soul, always frank and open, to
-assume such a disguise, and what will be the fruit of so
-painful a deception?" "The Dey," replied Zarata, "will be
-flattered by this change in your deportment, and will be
-anxious to complete his conquest of you by gentle means.
-In the meanwhile, I will endeavour to effect your freedom:
-it will be difficult, I acknowledge; but I am acquainted with
-a slave on whose address and enterprise some reliance may
-be placed.</p>
-
-<p>"I leave you," he continued, "as no time is to be lost: we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>
-shall meet again. I now go to the Dey; whose impetuous
-ardour I hope to restrain by some well-invented fables. And
-you, madam, prepare to receive him; constrain yourself to
-deceit. Let your eyes, which his presence offends, display
-neither hatred nor pride; let your lips, which now unclose but
-to express your affliction, form for him honeyed words of respect;
-you must indirectly promise all, in order that you may concede
-nothing." "Enough!" replied the lady, "I will do as
-you desire, since the danger that impends over me compels
-me to this cruel necessity. Go! Don Juan, employ all your
-thoughts to end my slavery: my freedom will be doubly sweet,
-if owing to you."</p>
-
-<p>As soon as the Toledan repaired to Mezzomorto, the latter
-cried with great emotion: "Well! Alvaro, what news do you
-bring to me of my lovely captive? Have you inclined her
-to listen to my vows? Tell me not that her ceaseless grief
-refuses to yield to my tenderness; or I swear, by the head of
-the Commander of the Faithful himself, that force shall wring
-from her what affection cannot win." "Signor," replied Don
-Juan, "that oath were useless now: you will have no need of
-violence to gratify your passion. Your slave is young,&mdash;has
-never loved;&mdash;and she whose pride disdained the offers of
-the noblest of her native land, in which she lived as queen,
-and here exists in chains, may well ask time to reconcile her
-haughty spirit to her new condition. This, proud as she is,
-habit will soon effect; and even now, I dare affirm, the yoke
-is felt less heavy: the kindness you have shown, the respectful
-cares which she could never have expected from yourself, have
-already lessened her misfortune, and must triumph over her
-disdain. Continue, Signor, this gentle observance; continue&mdash;and
-complete the charm which dissipates her grief, by new
-attentions to each fond caprice; and you will shortly find her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
-yield to your desires, and lose her love of liberty, encircled in
-your arms."</p>
-
-<p>"Your words enrapture me," exclaimed the Dey: "the
-hopes which you inspire engage me to what you will. Yes!
-I will restrain my impatient love, that I may satisfy it the
-more worthily. But, do you not deceive me, or are you not
-deceived yourself? I will this moment see my lovely mistress;
-I will endeavour to discern in her eyes some expression of the
-flattering appearances you speak of." And so saying, he
-hastened to seek Theodora; while the Toledan returned to the
-garden, where he found the slave whose skill he proposed to
-employ in the liberation of the widow of Cifuentes.</p>
-
-<p>This slave, named Francisco, was a Navarrese, and was
-perfectly acquainted with Algiers and its customs, having there
-served two or three masters before he was purchased by the
-Dey as a gardener. "Francisco, my friend," said Don Juan,
-accosting him, "you see me in deep affliction. There is, in
-the harem of the Dey, a young lady of the highest distinction
-of Valencia: she has entreated Mezzomorto to name a ransom
-of any amount; but he refuses to do so, having fallen in love
-with her." "And why should that annoy you so much?"
-asked Francisco. "Because I come from the same town,"
-replied the Toledan; "her relations and my own are intimately
-connected; and there is nothing which I would not do to
-restore her to liberty."</p>
-
-<p>"Well! though that is no easy matter to accomplish," said
-Francisco, "I dare undertake to bring it about, provided her
-relations are disposed to come down pretty handsomely." "Be
-assured of that," replied Don Juan; "I answer for their
-gratitude, and especially for her own. Her name is Donna
-Theodora: she is the widow of a man who has left her imme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>nse
-possessions, and she is generous as rich. For myself, I am a
-Spaniard, and a noble; my word may suffice to convince you
-of what I state."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, again!" resumed the gardener: "on the faith of
-your word then, I will seek a Catalonian renegade whom I
-know, and propose to him&mdash;&mdash;" "What say you?" interrupted
-the Toledan, in alarm;&mdash;"would you confide in a wretch who
-has not been ashamed to abandon his religion for&mdash;&mdash;"
-"Although a renegade," interrupted Francisco, in his turn, "he is
-nevertheless an honest man. He is rather deserving of your
-pity than contempt; and, if the crime he has committed can
-be excused at all, I think he may be pardoned. I will tell you
-his history in a few words.</p>
-
-<p>"He was born in Barcelona, where he practised as a surgeon.
-Finding, however, that he was worse off there than his patients,
-he resolved to establish himself at Carthagena, thinking of
-course to better his condition. He accordingly embarked
-with his mother, for that town; but they were taken on the
-way by a pirate, who brought them hither. They were sold;
-his mother to a Moor, and he to a Turk, who used him so
-badly that he assumed the turban to release himself from
-slavery, as also to enable him to free his parent, who was no
-better off in the house of the Moor, her master. With this
-view, he entered into service with the Dey, and made several
-voyages, in which he gained four hundred patacoons: he
-employed a portion of this in the ransom of his mother; and,
-to make the best use of the remainder, took it in his head to
-scour the seas on his own account.</p>
-
-<p>"Appointed captain, he purchased a small open vessel, and
-with some Turkish seamen who had sailed with him before, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
-set out to cruize between Alicant and Carthagena, and returned
-to Algiers, laden with booty. He repeated this several times;
-and succeeded always so well that at last he was able to arm
-a large vessel, with which he made several prizes, but was in
-the end unfortunate. One day, he was imprudent enough to
-attack a French frigate, which so mauled his ship that it was
-with difficulty he escaped, and regained Algiers. As pirates
-are judged here, like their betters elsewhere, according to
-their success, the renegade gained the contempt of the Turks
-as the reward of his misfortune. Disgusted by this injustice,
-he sold his vessel, and retired to a house without the town;
-where, since then, he has lived on the produce of his ship, and
-what remained of the fruits of his former enterprises, in company
-with his mother, and attended by several slaves.</p>
-
-<p>"I often go to see him, for he served with me under my first
-master, and we are intimate friends. He conceals nothing
-from me; and, only three days ago, he told me, with tears in
-his eyes, that, despite his wealth, he had known no peace since
-he had renounced his faith; that to appease the remorse which
-preyed on him without ceasing, he was sometimes tempted to
-trample his turban under foot, and, at the risk of being
-burned alive, to repair, by a public avowal of his repentance,
-the insult he had offered to the Mediator whom in secret he
-still adored.</p>
-
-<p>"Such is the renegade whom I am about to consult," continued
-Francisco: "surely, a man like him may be trusted by
-you. I will seek him, under pretext of going to the bagnio; I
-will represent to him, that instead of consuming his life in vain
-regret at his exclusion from the bosom of the church, he should
-act so as to assure his forgiveness and reception; that to do
-this he has only to equip a vessel, as if, disgusted with a life of
-inaction, he intended to resume his piracies; and that, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>
-this vessel, we may gain the coast of Valencia, where, once
-arrived, Donna Theodora will give him wherewith to pass the
-remainder of his life in tranquillity at Barcelona."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes! my dear Francisco," cried Don Juan, transported
-with joy at the hope thus raised by the Navarrese slave,&mdash;"yes!
-you may promise all this, and more, to your renegade
-friend; both he and yourself may be sure of a rich reward.
-But, do you conceive it possible to execute the project you
-conceive?" "There may be difficulties," replied Francisco,
-"which I do not contemplate; but, rely on it, that I and my
-friend will overcome them all." "Alvaro," he added, as they
-parted, "I hope well for our enterprise; and I trust that, when
-we meet again, I shall have good news to tell you."</p>
-
-<p>With what anxiety did the Toledan await the return of
-Francisco! At last he came. "I have seen the renegade,"
-he said, "and have opened to him our design. After much
-deliberation, we have arranged that, to save time, he shall
-purchase a vessel already fitted for sea; that, as it is permitted
-to employ slaves as sailors, he shall take with him those who
-now serve him; that, however, to guard against suspicion, he
-shall also engage some dozen others, as if he really designed
-what he pretended; but that, two days before the time fixed
-for his departure, he shall embark, by night, with his own
-people, and weigh anchor, after coming for us with his boat
-to a little door which leads from the garden, close by the
-sea. This is our plan; of which you can inform the captive
-lady, assuring her that in a fortnight from this time she shall
-be free."</p>
-
-<p>How great was the joy of Zarata, to be able to convey
-such welcome intelligence to the Donna Theodora! To<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
-obtain permission to see her, on the following day, he sought,
-without appearing to do so, Mezzomorto; and, having met
-with him: "Signor," said he, "dare I enquire how you have
-found your lovely slave? Are my hopes fulfilled?&mdash;" "I am
-delighted," interrupted the Dey; "her eyes no longer shun
-the tender glance of mine; her words, which heretofore presented
-but the picture of her griefs, no longer breathe complaint;
-and for the first time, she seemed to listen to my own
-without aversion.</p>
-
-<p>"It is to you, Alvaro," he continued, "that I owe this happy
-change: I see," he added, good-humouredly, "that you are in
-favour with the ladies of your country. I will trust you, however,
-to speak with her again, that you may finish well what
-you have so well begun. Exhaust thy fertile genius to attain the
-bliss I seek, and thy chains are turned to gold. Yes! I swear,
-by the spirit of our Holy Prophet, that I will restore you to
-your home, so loaded with my favours, that your Christian
-friends shall not believe you, when you tell them you return
-from slavery."</p>
-
-<p>The Toledan, although somewhat conscience-stricken, did
-not fail to continue Mezzomorto in the flattering error he indulged.
-Affecting gratitude for his kindness, and under pretext
-of hastening its accomplishment, he left the Dey at once to
-see the charming slave; and, finding her alone in her apartment,
-he lost no time in informing her of what the Navarrese
-and the renegade intended on her behalf.</p>
-
-<p>The lady was of course greatly delighted to hear that already
-such strides were making towards her deliverance. "Is it
-possible," she cried, "that I may hope again to see Valencia,
-my own dear native land? Joy, joy!" she continued,&mdash;"after
-so many dangers and alarms, to live in peace once more with
-you! Ah! Don Juan, this is happiness indeed! Can I doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
-that your heart partakes of it? Remember, Zarata, that, in
-snatching me from the Dey, you bear away your wife!"</p>
-
-<p>"Alas!" replied the Toledan, sighing deeply, "how delicious
-were those words to my expecting soul, did not the
-remembrance of an unhappy aspirant for thy love dash their
-sweet fragrance with alloy! Pardon me, madam, that at such
-a moment I should think of aught but you! But you must
-acknowledge that a friend like Mendoza merits thy pity as my
-own. It was for thee he left Valencia; it was in search of thee
-that he became a slave; and I feel sure that, at Tunis, he is
-not bowed down so much by the weight of his chains, as with
-despair at failing to avenge thee."</p>
-
-<p>"He merited indeed a happier lot," said Donna Theodora;
-"and I call Heaven to witness that I am deeply affected at
-what he suffers on my account. Yes! I accuse myself of the
-pains which he endures; but, such is my destiny, my heart
-can never be their recompense."</p>
-
-<p>This conversation was interrupted by the coming of the two
-old dames who attended on the widow of Cifuentes. Don
-Juan immediately assumed the confidant of the Dey: "Yes,
-fair lady," said he to Theodora, "you have deprived him of
-liberty who keeps you in chains. Mezzomorto, your master
-and my own, the most loving and the most amiable of Turks,
-is your slave. Treat him with the favour you now deign to
-show him, and soon will a joyous end arrive to his sufferings
-and your own." Zarata bowed respectfully as he pronounced
-these words, the purport of which was well understood by the
-lady to whom they were addressed, and left the apartment.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 224px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic11.png" width="224" height="234" alt="Portrait of Mezzomorto" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p>
-<p>During the following week, affairs remained in this position
-in the palace of the Dey. In the meantime, however, the
-renegade had purchased a small sloop, and was making preparations
-for its putting to sea; but, six days before it was
-ready, a new subject for alarm occurred to Don Juan.</p>
-
-<p>Mezzomorto sent for him, and, taking him into his cabinet:
-"Alvaro," he said, "thou art free!&mdash;free to return when thou
-wilt to Spain; the reward that I have promised now awaits
-thee. I have seen my lovely slave this day;&mdash;ah! how unlike
-the creature whose sorrow filled my breast with anguish!
-Daily does the feeling of captivity grow weaker; and so bright
-are now her charms, that I have resolved at once to make her
-mine: in two days she shall be my wife."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
-<p>Don Juan changed colour at these words, and, with all the
-effort that he made to constrain them, could not conceal his
-trouble and surprise from the Dey, who asked him the cause of
-this emotion.</p>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied the Toledan, with embarrassment, "I cannot
-control my astonishment at hearing one of the greatest
-princes of the Ottoman empire avow his intention of so far
-humbling himself as to wed with a slave. I know that this is
-not without precedent; but, for the illustrious Mezzomorto,
-who might aspire to the daughter of the highest in the service
-of the Sultan, to"&mdash;"I agree to what you say," interrupted the
-Dey; "I might marry with the daughter of the Grand Vizier,
-and even hope to succeed him in his office: but I have great
-wealth, and small ambition. I prefer repose, and the delights
-I enjoy here in my vice-royalty, to the dangerous honours to
-which we are no sooner elevated, than the fear of our sovereign,
-or the jealousy of the envious who surround him, prepares for
-us a fall. Besides, I love this slave; and her beauty and
-virtue render her worthy of the rank to which my affection
-calls her.</p>
-
-<p>"It is however necessary," he added, "that she should at
-once renounce her religion, to attain the honour for which I
-destine her. Think you that absurd prejudices will induce her
-to despise that honour?" "No, Signor," replied Don Juan;
-"I am persuaded that on reflection, she will hold her faith as
-too small a sacrifice to your love. But, permit me to say that
-this should not be proposed too hastily. There is no doubt
-that the idea of abandoning the creed she lisped almost on her
-mother's bosom will at first revolt her: give her therefore time
-to reflect on the inducements to a change. When she remembers
-that, instead of using your power over her person, and
-then abandoning her to grow old among the neglected slaves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
-of your caprice, you seek to unite her to yourself for ever, by a
-marriage which crowns her with honour, her gratitude&mdash;her
-woman's vanity&mdash;will by degrees vanquish her scruples.
-Defer therefore for a week, at least, the execution of your
-design."</p>
-
-<p>The Dey remained for some time in deep thought: the
-delay that his confidant proposed suited but ill to his desires;
-nevertheless, the counsel appeared judicious. "I yield to
-your advice, Alvaro," at last he said, "impatient as I am to
-press the lovely captive to my heart. I will wait a week, as
-you request. Go!" he continued, "see her at once, and dispose
-her to fulfil my wishes, when that time shall have passed.
-I am anxious that Alvaro, who so well has tutored the fair
-one to my will, should have the honour of tendering to her my
-hand."</p>
-
-<p>Don Juan hastened to the apartment of Theodora, and
-informed her of what had passed between the Dey and himself,
-that she might conduct herself accordingly. He also informed
-her that in six days the vessel would be ready; and, as she
-was anxious to know how, when the time arrived, she was to
-escape, seeing that all the doors of the rooms she had to
-traverse, in the usual way of reaching the staircase, were well
-secured: "Let not that embarrass you," he answered; "a
-window of your ante-room looks upon the garden; and you
-may thence descend, by a ladder which I will take care to
-provide."</p>
-
-<p>The six days added their units to eternity, and Francisco
-informed the Toledan that the renegade was prepared to sail
-on the coming night: you may guess with what impatience it
-was expec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>ted. It came, and, graciously for the fugitives,
-shrouded in its thickest mantle to cover their flight. At the
-appointed moment, Don Juan placed the ladder against the
-window of the ante-room, and the watchful captive hastened to
-descend, trembling with agitation and suspense. She reached
-the ground in safety, and leaning on the arm of the Toledan,
-the latter lost no time in conducting her to the little door
-which opened on the sea.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 120px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic12.png" width="120" height="222" alt="Donna Theodora descends the ladder" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They walked with hasty steps, enjoying, by anticipation, the
-happiness of recovered freedom; but fortune, not even now
-disposed to favour these unhappy lovers, plunged them into
-grief more dire than they had yet experienced, and of a nature
-that they least expected.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 147px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic13.png" width="147" height="169" alt="Donna Theodora and Zarata hurry away" />
-</div>
-
-<p>They had already left the garden, and were advancing to
-the shore, where the sloop awaited them, when a man whom
-they took for an accomplice in their escape, and of whom,
-therefore, they had no suspicion, came upon Don Juan, sword
-in hand, and thrust it in his breast. "Perfidious Alvaro Ponza!"
-he exclaimed, "it is thus that Don Fabricio de Mendoza
-punishes a base seducer: you deserve not that I should attack
-you openly as an honest man."</p>
-
-<p>The Toledan could not resist the force of the blow, which
-stretched him on the earth; and, at the same moment, Donna
-Theodora, whom he supported, struck with surprise, with grief
-and fear, fell in a swoon beside him. "Ah! Mendoza," cried
-Don Juan, "what have you done? It is your friend whose
-bosom you have pierced!" "Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed
-Don Fabricio, "is it possible that I have assassinated&mdash;&mdash;"
-"I pardon you my death," interrupted Zarata; "destiny is
-alone to blame, or rather it has so willed it, to end our <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>misfortunes.
-Yes! my dear Mendoza, I die contented, since I
-restore to your hands the Donna Theodora, who will convince
-you that my friendship for you has never belied itself for an
-instant."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic14.png" width="268" height="251" alt="Zarata stabbed by Mendoza" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Too generous friend," said Don Fabricio, prompted by a
-feeling of despair, "you shall not die alone; the same point
-which wounded you shall punish your assassin: if my error may
-excuse my crime, it cannot console me for its committal." As
-he spoke, he turned his sword against his breast, plunged it
-therein nearly to the hilt, and fell upon the body of D<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>on Juan,
-who fainted less from loss of blood, than from horror at the
-frenzy of his friend.</p>
-
-<p>Francisco and the renegade, who were not ten paces from
-the spot, and who had their reasons for not having defended
-the slave Alvaro, were amazed to hear the last words of Don
-Fabricio, and still more so to witness his last act. They had
-heard enough, however, to know that he had been mistaken,
-and that the wounded pair were friends, instead of deadly
-enemies, as they had believed. They now therefore hastened
-to their assistance; but, finding them both senseless, as also
-the Donna Theodora, they were at a loss how to proceed.
-Francisco advised that they should content themselves with
-bearing off the lady, leaving the two cavaliers on the shore;
-where, according to him, if they were not already dead, they
-would soon be so. The renegade, however, was not of this
-opinion: he said that it would be cruel to abandon the two
-unfortunates; that their wounds were probably not mortal, and
-that he would look to them when on board his vessel, where he
-had been provident enough to stow away all the implements of
-his ancient trade.</p>
-
-<p>To this, Francisco made no objection; so, as they both
-agreed that there was no inducement to stay where they were,
-by the assistance of some slaves, they carried the unhappy
-widow of Cifuentes, and her still more unfortunate lovers, to
-the boat, and soon joined their ship. There, no time was lost
-in spreading the sails; while some upon their knees poured
-forth to Heaven the most fervent prayers which fear could
-suggest, that they might escape the cruisers of the Dey.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic15.png" width="268" height="164" alt="Theodora, Zarata and Mendoza are carried to the boat" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
-<p>The renegade, having left the management of the vessel to a
-French slave whom he could trust, gave his attention to his
-passengers. The lady, of course, claimed his first care; and,
-having restored her to life, he took his measures so skilfully,
-that Don Fabricio and the Toledan also speedily recovered
-their senses. Donna Theodora, who had swooned the instant
-Don Juan was struck, was greatly astonished on her recovery
-to behold Mendoza; and, although she soon comprehended
-that the latter had wounded himself for having incautiously
-assailed his friend, she could not look upon him but as the
-murderer of the man she loved.</p>
-
-<p>"You would have been affected, Don Cleophas, could you
-have seen these three persons at the moment I speak of: the
-deathlike stillness from which they had emerged would not
-have commanded half your pity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> There was Donna Theodora,
-gazing on Don Juan with eyes which spoke all the feelings of
-a soul filled with grief and despair; while the two friends, each
-fondly turning upon her their dying looks, were striving to
-control the sighs which rent their hearts."</p>
-
-<p>The scene lasted for some time in silence, which Mendoza
-was the first to break. "Madam," said he, addressing Donna
-Theodora, "I die; but I have the satisfaction of knowing you
-are free. Would to Heaven that thy liberty were owing to
-myself! But it has decreed that you should owe that obligation
-to him whose image you cherish in your heart. I love too
-much my rival to complain; and trust that the blow which my
-blindness dealt may be too light to prevent his sweet reward."
-The lady answered not this touching speech. Insensible, for
-the time, to the fate of Mendoza, she could not restrain the
-feelings of aversion which the condition of the Toledan, over
-whom she hung, inspired in her bosom towards him who had
-caused it.</p>
-
-<p>The regenade surgeon now examined and probed the wounds
-of the two friends. Beginning with Zarata, he pronounced it
-favourable, inasmuch as the sword had only glanced through
-the muscles of the left breast, without touching any of the
-vital parts. This report, while it lessened the grief of Donna
-Theodora, gave great delight to Don Fabricio, who, turning
-his head towards the lady, exclaimed, "Madam, I die without
-regret, since the life of my friend is out of danger: you will
-forgive me now."</p>
-
-<p>He pronounced these words with so much pathos, that the
-widow of Cifuentes was moved beyond expression. As she
-no longer feared for Don Juan, she ceased to hate Mendoza,
-and beheld in him now but an object of the deepest pity.
-"Ah! Don Fabricio," she exclaimed, her generous nature
-resuming its influence, "let them attend to your wound;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> it
-is, I trust, not more dangerous than that of your friend. Let
-not your feelings interfere to render the cares of those who
-love you useless. Live!&mdash;if I cannot yield felicity to you, at
-least I will never bestow it on another. Friendship and compassion
-shall restrain the hand that I would give to Don Juan:
-I will sacrifice for you, as he has done, the dearest wishes of
-my heart."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic16.png" width="268" height="209" alt="Mendoza addresses Donna Theodora" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Don Fabricio would have replied; but the surgeon, fearing
-that in his case, as in trouble generally, talking would only
-increase the ill, imposed silence, while he examined his wound.
-On so doing, he saw that it was likely to prove mortal, as the
-sword had penetrated the lungs, and the consequent loss of
-blood had been excessive. Having however dressed it with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>
-care, he left the cavaliers to repose; and that a matter so
-essential to them, in their present state, might be secured, he
-took with him, as he left the cabin, Donna Theodora, whose
-presence seemed likely to disturb it.</p>
-
-<p>But despite all these precautions, Mendoza was seized with
-fever, and towards midnight the wound began to bleed afresh.
-The renegade then thought it right to inform him that all hope
-of recovery was over, and that, if he had anything which he
-wished to communicate to his friend, or to Donna Theodora,
-he had no time to lose. The Toledan was greatly affected on
-hearing the declaration of the surgeon: for Don Fabricio, he
-listened to it with indifference. He calmly requested that
-the regenade would summon the widow of Cifuentes to his
-side.</p>
-
-<p>Donna Theodora hastened to the dying man, in a state more
-easy to conceive than to describe: tears streamed down her
-cheeks, and sobs choked her utterance;&mdash;so violent was her
-affliction, that Mendoza could not repress his agitation at the sight.
-"Madam," he exclaimed, "I am unworthy of the precious
-drops which dim those lovely eyes: restrain them, I entreat
-you, and listen to me for a few moments. And you also, my
-dear Zarata," he continued, observing the excess of grief in
-which his friend indulged, "control your feelings for a while,
-and hear me. I well know that to you this separation is a
-painful shock; your friendship is too well assured for me to
-doubt it; but wait, both of you, until the earth shall have
-hidden me from your sight; and honour, with those marks of
-tenderness and pity, my silent grave.</p>
-
-<p>"Suspend until then your affliction; I feel it now more than
-the loss of life. Let me relate to you the way by which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
-fate that pursues me conducted me this night to the fatal shore
-which I have stained with the blood of my friend, and my
-own. You must be anxious to learn how it happened that I
-mistook Don Juan for Alvaro; I will tell you, if the short time
-which it is permitted me to live will enable me to do so.</p>
-
-<p>"Some hours after the vessel in which I was had quitted
-that wherein I had left Don Juan, we met a French privateer,
-which attacked and took the Tunisian pirate, and landed us
-near Alicant. I was no sooner free, than I thought on the
-ransom of my friend; and, to effect this I went to Valencia to
-obtain the necessary funds. There, learning that at Barcelona
-some brothers of the Holy Order of Redemption were just
-about to sail for Algiers, I set out for the former town. Before
-leaving Valencia, however, I begged my uncle the governor,
-Don Francisco de Mendoza, to use all his influence with the
-court of Madrid to obtain the pardon of Zarata, that, on his
-return with me, he might be reinstated in his former possessions,
-which had been confiscated in consequence of the death
-of the Duke of Naxera.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as we had arrived at Algiers, I went to all the places
-frequented by the slaves; but in vain did I run them through,
-I found not the object of my search. This morning, I met
-the regenade Catalonian, to whom this vessel belongs, and
-whom I recognized as a man who had formerly attended my
-uncle. I told him the motive of my voyage, and requested
-him to make strict inquiry for my friend. 'I am sorry,' he
-replied, 'that it is out of my power to serve you. I leave
-Algiers to-night, with a lady of Valencia, one of the Dey's
-slaves.' 'And who is this lady,' I demanded. 'She is called
-the Donna Theodora,' was his startling answer.</p>
-
-<p>"The surprise which I exhibited at this information told t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>he
-regenade at once that I was interested in this lady's fate. He
-therefore informed me of the design which he had formed for
-her liberation; and as, during his recital, he mentioned the
-slave Alvaro, I had no doubt that it was Alvaro Ponza himself
-of whom he spoke. When he had finished: 'Assist me
-in my resentment!' I exclaimed, with transport; 'furnish
-me with the means of avenging myself upon my enemy!'
-'You shall soon be satisfied,' replied the regenade; 'but,
-tell me first what subject of complaint you have against this
-same Alvaro.' I related to him all our history; which, when
-he had heard: 'Enough!' he cried, 'you shall accompany
-me to-night. They will point out to you your rival; and, when
-you have punished him for his villany, you shall take his place,
-and join with us in conducting Donna Theodora to Valencia.'</p>
-
-<p>"Nevertheless, my impatience did not cause me to forget Don
-Juan. I left the money for his ransom in the hands of Francisco
-Capati, an Italian merchant, who resides at Algiers, and
-who promised me to effect it, if by any means he could discover
-him. At last, the night arrived; I went to the house of the
-regenade, who led me, as he had promised to the sea shore.
-We concealed ourselves near a little door, whence shortly
-issued a man who came directly towards us, and, pointing to
-two persons who followed him, said 'There are Alvaro and
-Donna Theodora.'</p>
-
-<p>"Furious at this sight, I drew my sword, ran to meet the
-unfortunate Alvaro, and, imagining that it was my hated rival
-whom I struck, I thrust my weapon into the bosom of the
-faithful friend whom I had come to seek. But, Heaven be
-praised!" he continued with emotion, "my error will not cost
-him his life, nor cause eternal grief to Donna Theodora."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! Mendoza," interrupted the lady, "you do injustice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
-to my tears; never shall I console myself for your own loss.
-Even should I espouse your friend, it will be only to unite our
-griefs: your love, your friendship, your misfortunes will ever
-be present to our recollection,&mdash;the sole topic for our tongues."
-"It is too much, madam," replied Don Fabrido; "I am not
-worthy thus to trouble thy repose. Permit, I entreat thee,
-Zarata to call thee his, on the day when he shall have revenged
-thy wrongs on Alvaro Ponza." "Don Alvaro," said the widow
-of Cifuentes, "is no more; on the same day that he forced
-me from my home, he was killed by the pirate who enslaved
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"Madam," replied Mendoza, "my wavering soul rejoices at
-the welcome news; my friend will be the sooner happy.
-Follow without control your mutual inclinations. I see, with
-joy, the hour approach which removes from you, for ever, the
-obstacle which your generous compassion has raised against
-your happiness. May your days glide in peace, and in an
-union which the envy of fortune may never dare to trouble!
-Adieu, Madam;&mdash;adieu, Don Juan!&mdash;think sometimes, in
-your joy, of one who has never loved but you."</p>
-
-<p>Donna Theodora and the Toledan were unable to reply to
-this affectionate address, except by tears, which redoubled as
-he spoke. Mendoza, therefore, perceiving their grief, thus
-continued: "But I have done with earth! Death already points
-me out my way; and I have not yet supplicated the Divine
-mercy to pardon me for having, by my own folly, shortened a
-life of which it should have alone disposed." He spoke no
-more; but, raising his eyes to Heaven, appeared to be engaged
-in mental prayer for its forgiveness; when a gurgling in his
-throat told that a last outbreaking of his wound had taken
-place, and he expired.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
-<p>Don Juan, as he heard the fatal rattling which indicated what
-was passing, was maddened with despair. His hands sought
-his own wound; and tearing it open, he would have soon
-joined his friend, but that the renegade and Francisco threw
-themselves upon him, and withheld his fury: Donna Theodora,
-woman-like, forgetful of her own woes at sight of the transport
-of the Toledan, hastened to soothe him by her tenderness; and&mdash;what
-will not love do?&mdash;soon brought him to himself: in
-short, the lover triumphed over the friend. But, if reason
-regained its sway, it was only to resist the insensate frenzy of
-his grief, and not to weaken its sentiment.</p>
-
-<p>The renegade, who, among the many things which he was
-bearing from Algiers, happened to have balsam of Arabia, and
-other precious requisites, undertook to embalm the body of
-Mendoza, at the request of Donna Theodora and her now unrivalled
-lover; who were anxious to render to their friend's
-remains all proper honours of sepulture at Valencia. Love,
-with them, did nothing but sigh and moan, during the voyage;
-not so, however, with their companions: they were rejoiced by
-favourable winds, which soon brought them in sight of the
-coast of Spain, to the inexpressible delight of those, which
-included the whole crew, who had never expected to behold it
-again.</p>
-
-<p>When the vessel had happily arrived at the port of Denia,
-every one took his own course. For the widow of Cifuentes
-and the Toledan, they sent a courier to Valencia, with letters
-for the governor and the friends of Donna Theodora. Alas!
-while the intelligence of the return of this lady brought joy to
-her relations, that of the death of his nephew caused the deepest
-affliction to Don Francisco de Mendoza.</p>
-
-<p>The poor old man, accompanied by the relatives of the rel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>eased
-lady, lost no time in repairing to Denia; and there,
-insisting on beholding the body of the unhappy Don Fabricio,
-he bathed it with his tears, uttering such deep complaints as
-melted the hearts of the beholders. Then, turning to the
-Toledan, he requested to be informed of the unfortunate events
-which had brought his nephew to so sad an end.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic17.png" width="266" height="209" alt="Don Francisco de Mendoza mourning his nephew" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I will tell you," replied Zarata: "far from seeking to efface
-them from my memory, I feel a mournful pleasure in recalling
-them to my mind, and in indulging my grief." He then related
-to Don Francisco all that had occurred; and this recital, while
-it brought fresh tears to his own eyes, added to those which
-flowed from those of his aged listener. Meanwhile the friends
-of Theodora were occupied in testifying the delight which was
-elidted by her unexpected return, and in felicitating her on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> the
-miraculous manner in which she had been delivered from the
-tyranny of Mezzomorto.</p>
-
-<p>After all things had been satisfactorily explained, they placed
-the body of Don Fabricio in a hearse, and bore it to Valencia.
-It was not, however, buried there, because, as the period of the
-vice-royalty of Don Francisco was nearly expired, that nobleman
-was preparing to return to Madrid, where he had resolved
-that his nephew should be interred. While the preparations
-for the funeral were making, the widow of Cifuentes was employed
-in loading Francisco and the renegade with the fruits of
-her gratitude. The Navarrese retired to his own province, and
-the surgeon returned with his mother to Barcelona, where he
-sought once more the bosom of the church, in which he lives
-to this day snugly enough. And now, when all was completed,
-Don Francisco received an express from the court, conveying
-the pardon of Don Juan, which the king, notwithstanding his
-consideration for the house of Naxera, had been unable to
-refuse to all the Mendozas who had united to ask the grace.
-This pardon was the more welcome to the Toledan, inasmuch
-as it gave him liberty to accompany the body of his friend to
-its last home, which he would not otherwise have dared to do.</p>
-
-<p>At last the sorrowful procession, attended by a numerous
-concourse of noble mourners, set out for Madrid; where it
-was no sooner arrived, than all that remained of Don Fabricio
-was deposited in yonder church, where Zarata and the Donna
-Theodora, with the permission of the Mendozas, erected a
-splendid monument to his memory. Nor did they bury their
-grief with their friend: they bore at least its outward sign for
-the unusual space of an entire year, that the world might know
-how deeply they deplored his loss.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch15pic18.png" width="265" height="210" alt="Zarata falls from his horse" />
-</div>
-
-<p>After having exhibited such signal proofs of their affection
-for Mendoza, they married; but by an inconceivable effort of
-the force of friendship, Don Juan for a length of time still
-preserved a melancholy that not even love could banish.
-Don Fabricio, his dear Don Fabricio, was ever present in his
-thoughts by day; and, by night, he saw him in his dreams, and
-mostly as he had beheld him when the last sigh escaped him.
-His mind, however, began to be relieved from these saddening
-visions,&mdash;the charms of his beloved Theodora, which had ever
-possessed his soul, commenced their triumph over his baneful
-remembrances; in short, Don Juan once more touched upon
-happiness. But, a few days since, while hunting, he was thrown
-from his horse, fell upon his head, and fractured his skull.
-Physicians could not save him; he is just dead: and it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>
-Theodora whom you see, in the arms of the two women, and
-who will probably soon follow him to the grave.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 229px;">
-<img src="images/ch15tailpiece.png" width="229" height="177" alt="Tailpiece of a still-life with fruit" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE DREAMERS.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiall.png" width="75" height="76" alt="L" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez, as soon as Asmodeus had
-finished this narrative, said to him: "A very
-pretty picture of friendship have you presented!
-But, rare though it be to see two men so bound by
-love as the Toledan and Don Fabricio, I imagine it were quite
-impossible to find two rivals of the softer sex, who could so
-generously sacrifice to each other, for friendship's sake, the
-man they love."</p>
-
-<p>"Doubtless!" replied the Devil: "that is a sight the world
-ne'er saw, and one that, as it grows older, it probably never
-will see. Women have no affection for each other. I will
-suppose two who think themselves friends; I will even go the
-length to suppose that they never speak ill of one another when
-apart,&mdash;so extraordinary are the ties which bind them. Well!
-see them together; and incline the least towards the one, and
-rage shall fill the bosom of the other; not that she cares an
-atom for yourself, but because she would be preferred by all.
-Such is the character of woman: jealousy occupies too large a
-portion of her heart to leave room for friendship."</p>
-
-<p>"The history of these peerless friends," replied Don Cleophas,
-"possesses a slight touch of the romantic, and has led us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
-somewhat from our object. The night is far advanced, and we
-shall soon behold the brilliant heralds of the coming day: I
-expect of you, therefore, a new pleasure. I perceive a great
-number of persons still sleeping, and wish you to satisfy my
-curiosity by informing me of their dreams." "Willingly!"
-replied the Demon. "You are, I see, an admirer of <i>les
-tableaux changeants;</i> I will gratify your taste."</p>
-
-<p>"Thanks!" said Zambullo: "I expect that I am about to
-hear of rare absurdities in these same dreams." "And why?"
-asked the Cripple: "you, so well versed in Ovid, do you not
-know that it is towards break of day that dreams visit the mind
-with presages of truth, because at that time the soul is disengaged
-from the vapours of digestion?" "Oh! as to that,"
-replied the Student, "despite of master Ovid, I have no faith
-in dreams." "You are wrong, then," exclaimed Asmodeus:
-"you should neither treat them as fantastic visions, nor yet
-believe them all; they are liars, who sometimes speak the truth.
-The emperor Augustus, whose head had well adorned a
-student's shoulders, despised not dreams which turned upon
-his fate; and nearly took it in his head, at the battle of
-Philippi, to strike his tent, on hearing of a dream which regarded
-himself. I could cite a thousand examples to you,
-which would convince you of your folly in this respect; but I
-forbear to do so, that I may at once satisfy the new desire
-which prompts you.</p>
-
-<p>"We will begin by this handsome mansion on our right. Its
-proprietor, whom you see ensconced in that superb apartment,
-is a liberal and gallant noble. He is dreaming that he is at
-the opera, listening to a new prima donna; and that the voice
-of the syren is just enslaving his heart.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next apartment lies the countess, his wife, who love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>s
-play to madness. She dreams that she has no money, and that
-she is pawning her diamonds with a jeweller, who is lending
-her thereon three hundred pistoles, deducting only a very
-moderate discount.</p>
-
-<p>"In the next house, on the same side, lives a marquis of the
-same stamp as the count, and who, for the moment, is in love
-with a celebrated, but capricious, beauty. He dreams that he
-is borrowing largely of an usurer for the purpose of securing her
-to himself; while his steward, who is sleeping at the top of the
-house, is dreaming that he is growing rich as fast as his master
-is hastening to ruin. Well! what think you of these dreams?
-Is there anything in them so extravagant?" "No! on my
-life," replied Don Cleophas, "I begin to think Ovid is right:
-but who is that man whom I see, lying with his mustachios in
-paper, and preserving in his sleep an air of gravity which would
-indicate that he is no ordinary cavalier." "He is a country
-gentleman," replied the Demon,&mdash;"a viscount of Aragon,
-imbued with all the pride of that province. His soul at this
-moment swims in delight; he dreams that he is with a grandee
-who is yielding to him precedence in a public ceremony.</p>
-
-<p>"But," continued Asmodeus, "I observe in the same house two
-brothers, apothecaries, whose dreams are particularly unpleasant.
-One of them is reading, in his sleep, an ordinance which
-decrees that doctors shall not be paid, except when they have
-cured their patients; and his brother is occupied with a similar
-law, which ordains that medical attendants shall head the procession
-at the funeral of all who die in their hands." "I could
-wish," interrupted Zambullo, "that these decrees were as true
-as they would be just; and that your doctor were thus compelled
-to be present at the burial of his innocent patient, as a
-<i>lieutenant criminel</i>, in France, is bound to witness the execution
-of the guilty wretch whom he has condemned." "I like yo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>ur
-comparison," exclaimed the Devil: "it might be said in such
-a case, however, that the one merely superintends the execution
-of his own sentence; but that the other, having already
-performed his especial function, pursues his victim after death."</p>
-
-<p>"Hollo!" cried the Student, "who is that personage rubbing
-his eyes, and rising in such tremendous haste?" "He," replied
-Asmodeus, "is a noble signor who is soliciting an appointment,
-as governor, in the Indies. A frightful dream has startled
-him from sleep: he fancied himself at court, and that the
-premier had passed him with averted eyes. And there, too, is
-a youthful damsel, waking to the world, not over contented
-with her dream. She is a lady of rank, and not more handsome
-than discreet. She has two lovers; for one of whom she
-nourishes a passion the most tender, and for the other an aversion,
-almost amounting to horror. Well! in her sleep just now,
-she saw, upon his knees before her, the gallant she detests;
-and he was so impassioned, so assiduous, that had she not
-awakened, she would have treated him with even greater kindness
-than she ever bestowed on the lover whom she favours:
-nature, during sleep, signor Student, throws off the yoke of
-reason, and of virtue.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes upon that house at the corner of this street:
-it belongs to an attorney. Behold him and his wife sleeping
-in twin bedsteads, in that room hung with ancient tapestry,
-embroidered with grotesque figures. The man of law dreams
-that he is about to visit one of your hospitals for the charitable
-purpose of relieving a sick client with his own money; while
-the lady imagines that her husband is driving out of his house
-a sturdy clerk, of whom he has become suddenly jealous."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic01.png" width="261" height="216" alt="The lady of rank's dream" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"I hear ungentle snorings break on the stillness round us,"
-said Leandro Perez; "and I fancy they proceed from yonder
-plump old man, whom I discern in the house adjoining that of
-the attorney." "Precisely so," answered Asmodeus. "It is a
-canon chanting in his sleep his <i>Benedicite</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"His neighbour, there, is a silk-mercer, who vends his costly
-wares, at his own price, to titled customers, for their time.
-His lordly ledger is inscribed with debts amounting to above a
-hundred thousand ducats; and he is dreaming that his debtors
-are bringing him their gold; while his creditors are horrified
-with visions of his own bankruptcy." "These dreams," said the
-Student, "certainly have not emerged from Sleep's dark temple
-by the same gate." "I fancy not, indeed," replied the Demon:
-"the first has passed by the ivory portal of the leaden god,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
-and the other from that of horn.</p>
-
-<p>"The house adjoining that of the mercer is occupied by a
-celebrated bookseller. He has recently published a work
-which has been extremely successful. On bringing it out, he
-promised to give the author fifty pistoles, in addition to the
-price agreed for, should the book run to a second edition;
-and he is at this moment dreaming that he is reprinting it without
-informing the unfortunate scribe of the fact."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo, "there is no need to ask from
-which door that dream proceeded; and I have not the slightest
-doubt of its proving one of the least deceitful visions he ever had
-in his life. I am perfectly acquainted with those worthy gentlemen,
-the booksellers. Heaven help the poor authors who fall
-into their hands! To cheat them, is the mystery of their craft."
-"Nothing can be more true," replied the Cripple; "but, it
-appears, you have yet to become acquainted with those as
-worthy gentry&mdash;the authors. They are six of one and half-a-dozen
-of the other: it is impossible to decide on their relative
-merits. By the bye, I will relate to you an adventure which
-occurred not a century ago, in this very town, and which will
-enlighten you on the subject.</p>
-
-<p>"Three booksellers were supping together at a tavern; and
-the conversation naturally turned on the scarcity of good
-modern authors. Thereupon, one of them said to his brethren:
-'My friends, I must tell you, however, in confidence, that I
-have been in luck's way within these few days. I have
-purchased a manuscript, for which I paid rather dearly, it is true,
-but it is by an author&mdash;oh! it is uncoined gold.' One of those
-whom he addressed now interrupted him; and boasted of
-having been equally fortunate on the preceding day in a similar
-purchase. 'And I, gentlemen,' at last exclaimed the t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>hird, in
-his turn,&mdash;'I will not be behindhand in confidence with you;
-I will show you the gem of manuscripts, of which I only this
-morning became the happy owner.' As he finished, each drew
-from his capacious pocket the precious acquisition he had
-made; when these miracles of authorship turned out to be as
-many copies of a new theatrical piece, entitled the Wandering
-Jew, which the astonished bibliopoles found had been sold to
-each of them separately.</p>
-
-<p>"Near the bookseller, in the next house," continued the
-Devil, "you may perceive a timid and respectful lover just
-awaking. He loves one of the most sprightly of widows; and
-was dreaming, but this moment, that, beside her in the covert
-of a dusky wood, whose shade lent courage to his modest
-spirit, he was so tender,&mdash;so gallant in his speech, that his fair
-mistress could not help exclaiming: 'Ah! you are becoming
-absolutely dangerous! If I were not steeled against the
-flattery of men, I should be lost. But you are all deceivers!
-I never trust to words;&mdash;actions alone can win me,'&mdash;'And
-what actions, madam, do you ask of me?' interrupted the
-gentle swain: 'must I, to prove the excess of my passion,
-undertake the twelve labours of Hercules?' 'Lord! no,
-Nicaise,' replied the lady, 'much less would content me.'
-Thereupon&mdash;he awoke."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic02.png" width="266" height="224" alt="The timid lover's dream" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Prythee, tell me," said the Student, "why yonder man, in
-that dark-coloured bed, tosses about so furiously." "He," replied
-the Cripple, "is a talented licentiate; and his present agitation
-arises from a dream, in which he is disputing in favour of the
-immortality of the soul, with a little doctor of medicine, who is
-as good a catholic as he is a physician. In the same house,
-over the licentiate, lodges a gentleman of Estramadura, named
-Don Balthazar Fanfarronico, who has come post-haste to court,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
-to demand a reward for having valiantly slain a Portuguese, by
-a musket-shot, in ambush. And of what do you imagine he is
-dreaming? Nothing less than that he is appointed to the
-government of Antequera, at which he is very naturally dissatisfied:
-he thinks he deserves a viceroyalty at least.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic03.png" width="256" height="275" alt="Man on horseback shot by another, in ambush" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"In a furnished house close by, I discover two distinguished
-personages, whose dreams are far from pleasant. One of them
-is governor of a fortress, where he is now sustaining a fancied
-siege, and which, after a faint resistance, he is on the point of
-surrendering, with himself and garrison, at discretion. The
-other is the bishop of Murcia, whom his majesty has charged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
-with the task of eulogising a deceased princess, whose funeral
-takes place in a day or two. He has, in imagination, just
-ascended the pulpit; and there has his imagination left him, for
-he has stopped short in the exordium of his discourse." "It
-is not impossible," said Don Cleophas, "that this misfortune
-may really befall the worthy prelate." "No, truly," replied the
-Devil; "for it is not very long since his grace found himself in
-a similar predicament on a like occasion.</p>
-
-<p>"And now, if you would like to behold a somnambulist, look
-into the stables of this same house: what see you?" "I perceive,"
-answered Leandro Perez, "a man walking in his shirt,
-and holding, what seems to me, a horse-comb in his hand."
-"Well!" replied the Demon, "he is a sleeping groom.
-Nightly does he rise in sleep to curry his pampered charge,
-and then betake himself to bed again. His fellow-servants
-look on the sleek coats of the horses as the frolic work of some
-wanton sprite; and the groom himself shares this opinion with
-them.</p>
-
-<p>"In the large house, opposite, lives an aged chevalier of the
-Fleece, who was formerly viceroy of Mexico. He has fallen
-sick; and, as he fears he is about to die, his viceroyalty begins
-to trouble him: true it is that he exercised his functions so as
-to justify his present inquietude; the chronicles of New Spain,
-unless they be belied, make no too honourable mention of his
-name. He has just started from a dream, whose horrid visions
-float before him still, and which will probably bring about their
-own fulfilment in his death." "Ah!" exclaimed Zambullo,
-"that must be something extraordinary." "You shall hear,"
-replied Asmodeus: "there is really something in it rather
-singular. The sickly lordling dreamt he was in the valley of
-the dead, where all the victims of his injustice and inhumanity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>
-thronged fiercely round, and heaped upon him menaces and
-insult. They pressed upon, and would have torn him limb
-from limb; but, as their hot breath seemed to burn his very
-brain, he thought he took to flight, and saved himself from their
-fury. He had no sooner escaped, than he found himself in a
-large hall, hung all around with black cloth, where, sitting at a
-table upon which were three covers, he saw his father and his
-grandfather. His two dismal companions solemnly beckoned
-him to approach; and, with all the gravity which belongs to
-the dead, said to him: 'We have waited for you long: come,
-take your place beside us.'"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh! the wretched dream," interrupted the Student; "I
-could forgive the poor devil, for the fright he is in!" "To
-make up for it," resumed the Cripple, "his niece, who reposes
-in the apartment over his, passes the night in bliss: sleep
-brings to her its brightest illusions. She is a maiden of from
-twenty-five to thirty, ugly as myself, and not much better made.
-She dreams that her uncle, to whom she is sole heiress, has
-ceased to live; and that she sees, in swarms around her,
-amiable signors, who dispute for the honour of her slightest
-glance."</p>
-
-<p>"If I do not deceive myself," said Don Cleophas, "I hear
-some one laughing behind us." "It is no deception," replied
-the Devil; "it is a widow laughing in her sleep, a few paces
-from us. She is a woman who affects the prude, and who loves
-nothing so well as a little friendly scandal: she dreams that
-she is chatting with an ancient devotee, whose conversation
-could hardly fail to delight one of her taste.</p>
-
-<p>"I cannot help laughing in my turn, to see, in the room
-under that of the widow, an honest cit, who lives with diffic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>ulty
-on the little he possesses, but who dreams that he is picking
-up pieces of gold and silver, and that the more he gathers the
-more remain to glean: he has already filled a large coffer."
-"Poor fellow!" said Leandro; "he will not enjoy his treasure
-long." "No!" replied the Cripple; "and when he awakes
-he will be like the really rich, when dying: he will see all his
-wealth disappear."</p>
-
-<p>"If you are curious to know the dreams of two actresses
-who live near each other, I will relate them to you. One is
-dreaming that she is catching birds with a call; that she strips
-them as she takes them, and then throws them to be devoured
-by a large tom-cat in which she delights, and which has all the
-profit of her skill. The other dreams that she is driving from
-her house greyhounds and coach-dogs, which for a long time
-have sunned themselves in her presence, having resolved to
-confine her affections to a pretty little lap-dog, which has
-recently gained her favour."</p>
-
-<p>"Two dreams absurd enough!" cried the Student; "I fancy
-that if at Madrid, as formerly in Rome, there were interpreters
-of dreams, they would be sadly puzzled to explain these."
-"Not so much as you think," replied the Devil: "a very small
-acquaintance with the domestic habits of your syrens of the
-stage, would enable them to render their sense perfectly intelligible."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic04.png" width="240" height="284" alt="The actress feeding birds to the tom-cat" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Well! for myself," exclaimed Don Cleophas, "they are
-past my comprehension, and that troubles me little: I would
-rather be informed who is that lady sleeping in a bed with
-amber velvet hangings, bordered with silver fringe, and near
-which, upon a small table, I perceive a book and a wax-candle."
-"She is a lady of illustrious family," replied the
-Demon, "whose establishment is mounted in gallant style, and
-who loves to see her livery adorned by young and handsome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
-men. She is accustomed to read in bed, and cannot sleep
-without her favourite author. Last night she was indulging in
-the Metamorphoses of Ovid: in consequence, she is at this
-moment dreaming, extravagantly enough, that Jupiter has
-become amorous of her charms, and has entered her service in
-the form of a favourite page.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic05.png" width="240" height="274" alt="The actress, lap-dog under her arm, driving out the other dogs" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Apropos of metamorphoses, there is another subject who
-will amuse you. You perceive that man, tasting in the calm
-of sleep the exquisite pleasure of imagined flattery. He is an
-actor, a veteran of such ancient service, that there is not a
-grey-beard in Madrid who can say he witnessed his first
-appearance. He has been so long behind the scenes, that he
-may be said to have become theatrified. He is not without
-talent, but, like most of his profession, he is so vain that he
-thinks the part of Man beneath him. Of what think you is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
-this hero of the slips now dreaming. He imagines that he is
-on the point of death; and that round his couch are assembled
-all the deities of Olympus, to decide on what they are to do
-with a mortal of his importance. He listens while Mercury
-insists before the council of the gods that a comedian so
-famed, after having so often had the honour of mimicking
-themselves, and Jove's own person, on the stage, should not
-be subject to the common fate of man, but merits a reception
-as a brother god by those who now surround him. Mercury
-finishes by moving accordingly, and Momus seconds the
-motion; but the male and female members of the celestial
-parliament murmuring at the proposition of so extraordinary
-an apotheosis, Jupiter, to put an end to the debate, is about to
-decree, of his sovereign authority, that the aged son of Thespis
-shall be transformed into a theatrical statue, for the amusement
-of future generations."</p>
-
-<p>The Devil was about to continue, but Zambullo interrupted
-him, exclaiming: "Hold! Signor Asmodeus, you forget that it
-is day. I am afraid they will perceive us from the street. If
-the gentle public should remark your lordship, we shall hear
-such an uproar as we may be glad to put an end to."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 155px;">
-<img src="images/ch16pic06.png" width="155" height="301" alt="The actor transformed into a statue" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Never fear!" replied the Demon; "they will not see us.
-I have the power ascribed to the fabulous deities of whom I
-spoke but now; and like to the amorous son of Saturn, who,
-upon Mount Ida, shrouded himself in a cloud, to hide from
-the world the blisses he shared with Juno, I am about to
-envelope you and myself in a misty veil which the searching
-eye of man cannot pierce, but which shall not prevent you
-from beholding those things which I wish you to observe." As
-he spoke, they were suddenly surrounded by a vapour, which,
-although dense as the smoke of a battle-field, offered n<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>o
-obstacle to the sight of the Student.</p>
-
-<p>"So now to return to our dreamers," continued the Cripple,&mdash;&mdash;"but
-I do not consider," he added, "that the mode in
-which you have consumed the night must have fatigued you.
-I advise, therefore, that you let me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>bear you to your home,
-and leave you to a few hours' sleep. In the meanwhile, I will
-just take a turn round the earth, and amuse myself after my
-fashion; taking care to rejoin you by the time you awake,
-when we will continue our laugh at the expense of the swarming
-world." "I have no desire to sleep, and am not in the
-least fatigued," replied Don Cleophas; "so, instead of leaving
-me, do me the pleasure to expound the various objects which
-occupy the yawning brains of the persons whom I see already
-risen, and who are preparing as it seems to me, to leave their
-houses: what can possibly call them out so early?" "What
-you ask me is well worth your knowledge," answered the
-Demon; "you shall gaze on a picture of the cares, the
-emotions, the anguish that poor mortal man gives himself
-during life, to occupy, with the vain hope of happiness, the
-little space which is granted him between the cradle and the
-tomb."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>IN WHICH ORIGINALS ARE SEEN OF WHOM COPIES ARE RIFE.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialo.png" width="75" height="77" alt="O" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Observe, in the first place, that troop of beggars
-which you see already in the street. They are
-libertines, mostly of good birth, who, like the
-monks, live on the principle of community of
-property; and who pass their nights in debauch at their
-haunts, where they are at all times well supplied with bread,
-meat, and wine. They are about to separate, each to perform
-his part in the churches of this godly city; and to-night,
-when reassembled, they will drink to the charitable fools
-who piously contribute to their orgies. You cannot but
-admire these scoundrels, who so well know the semblances
-which art adopts to inspire pity: why, coquettes are less adept
-to elicit love.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at those three rogues who are walking off together.
-He who, leaning upon crutches, trembles as he moves, and
-seems to halt with pain,&mdash;who, as he hobbles on, you would
-momentarily think must fall upon his face,&mdash;despite his long
-white beard and wrinkled front, he is a youthful scamp, so
-strong and swift, would head the hunted deer. The one
-beside him, with that awful scald, is a graceful adolescent,
-whose head is covered with a bladder skin which hides as
-beauteous curls as ever adorned a courtly page. The third,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
-who gyrates in a bowl, is a comic rascal, that can bring such
-lamentable noises from his stomach as to move the bowels of
-all ancient ladies, who even hasten from the topmost floors to
-his relief.</p>
-
-<p>"While these mummers, under the mask of poverty, prepare
-to cheat the public into charity, I observe hosts of worthy
-artisans, who, Spaniards though they be, are on the road to
-earn their bread by the sweat of their careworn brows. On all
-sides you may behold men rising from their beds, or dressing
-hastily, that they may begin anew their various parts upon this
-busy stage. How many projects formed in the visionary night
-are about to be carried into execution, or to vanish with the
-sober light of morn! What schemes prompted by love, by
-interest, or ambition, are about to be attempted!"</p>
-
-<p>"What see I in the street?" interrupted Don Cleophas.
-"Who is that woman loaded with saintly medals, who walks,
-preceded by a footman, in such anxious haste? She has some
-pressing business in hand, beyond a doubt." "Indeed she has,"
-replied the Devil; "she is a venerable matron, hurrying to a
-neighbouring house where her ministry is suddenly required.
-She seeks a fair comedian who suffers for the fault of Eve, and
-near whom are a brace of cavaliers in sore perplexity. One of
-these is her spouse, and the other a noble friend, who is greatly
-interested as to the result: for the labours of your actresses
-resemble those of Alcmena; there being ever a Jupiter and an
-Amphitryon who share in their production.</p>
-
-<p>"Would not one swear now, to look on that mounted cavalier,
-carrying a carbine in his hand, that he was a sportsman about
-to war with the hares and partridges who besiege the neighbourhood
-of Madrid? Nevertheless, it is no love of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> shooting
-which calls him forth so early: he is after other game; and is
-bent towards a village, where he will disguise himself as a
-peasant, that he may enter, without suspicion, the farm where
-his mistress resides, under the vigilant eye of an experienced
-mother.</p>
-
-<p>"That young graduate, passing along with such enormous
-strides, is going, according to his daily custom, to inquire
-after the health of an aged canon, his uncle, whose prebendary
-he has in his eye. Do you see, in that house opposite to us,
-a man putting on his cloak, evidently preparing to go out?
-He is an honest and rich citizen, whom a matter of grave
-interest has kept awake all night. He has an only daughter,
-of marriageable years, and he is unable to make up his mind
-whether he shall give her hand to a young attorney who solicits
-it, or to a proud hidalgo who demands it; and he is therefore
-going to consult his friends on the subject: in truth, he may
-well feel embarrassed. He is justly alarmed lest, by resolving
-on the gentleman, he should have a son-in-law who would
-despise him; and on the other hand he fears, that if he decide
-for the attorney, he will introduce into his house a worm which
-will consume all that it contains.</p>
-
-<p>"Look at the neighbour of this anxious parent. You may
-perceive, in that house so magnificently furnished, a man in a
-dressing-gown of scarlet brocade, embroidered with flowers of
-gold: there is a wit for you, who affects the lord in spite of his
-lowly origin. Ten years ago, he had not twenty maravedis
-wherewith to bless himself; and now, he boasts an annual
-revenue of ten thousand ducats. His equipage is in the best
-taste; but he keeps it on the savings of his table; whose
-frugality is such that he generally picks his chicken by himself.
-Sometimes, however, his ostentation compels him to regale his
-illustrious friends: to-day, for instance, he gives a di<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>nner to
-some councillors of state; and, in anticipation, he has just
-sent for a pastry-cook, with whom he will haggle for a
-maravedi, before he agrees with him on the bill of fare, which
-it will be his next care to display to advantage." "You are
-describing a scaly villain, indeed!" cried Zambullo. "Oh!
-as to that," replied Asmodeus, "all beggars whom fortune
-suddenly enriches become either misers or spendthrifts: it is
-the rule."</p>
-
-<p>"Tell me," said the Student, "who is that lovely woman at
-her toilet, talking with that handsome cavalier?" "Ah!
-truly," exclaimed the Cripple, "you have hit on a subject which
-well deserves your attention. The lady is a German widow,
-who lives at Madrid on her dower, and who visits in the best
-society; and the young man who is with her is the Signor Don
-Antonio de Monsalva.</p>
-
-<p>"This cavalier, although a member of one of the noblest
-families in Spain, has pledged himself to the widow to espouse
-her; he has even given her a conditional promise of forfeiture
-to the amount of three thousand pistoles. He is, however,
-crossed in his love by his relations, who threaten to confine
-him if he do not immediately break off all connexion with
-the fair German, whom they look upon as an adventurer.
-The gallant, mortified to find his friends all thus opposed
-to his design, went yesterday evening to his mistress, who,
-perceiving his uneasiness, asked him its cause. This, after
-some hesitation, he told her, assuring her at the same time
-that whatever obstacles his family might raise, nothing should
-shake his constancy. The widow appeared delighted at his
-firmness, and they parted at midnight highly satisfied with
-each other.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic01.png" width="253" height="309" alt="The cavalier visits the German widow" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Monsalva has returned this morning, as you see, to pay
-his devoirs to the lady, whom finding at her toilet, he used
-every effort to beguile the time by new protestations of
-devotion. During the conversation, his Saxon mistress was
-releasing her auburn curls from the papers which had confined
-them during the night; and our cavalier, happening to t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>ake
-up one of these, heedlessly unfolded it, and, to his great
-surprise, observed therein his own hand-writing. 'What!
-madam,' said he, smiling, 'is this the use you make of these
-pledges of my affection?' 'Yes! Monsalva,' replied the
-lady; 'you behold the value that I put upon the promises of
-lovers who would marry me in opposition to their friends;
-they make excellent <i>papillotes</i>.' When, indeed, the cavalier
-discovered that it was his pledge of forfeiture which his
-mistress had thus destroyed, he was filled with admiration at
-this unlooked-for proof of disinterestedness, and he is now
-very properly vowing to her for the thousandth time, eternal
-fidelity.</p>
-
-<p>"Cast your eyes," continued the Devil, "upon that tall man
-who is passing beneath us; he has a large common-place book
-under his arm, an ink-bottle hanging at his girdle, and a guitar
-slung at his back." "He is an odd-looking fellow indeed,"
-cried the Student: "I would lay my life he is an original."
-"It is beyond a doubt," replied the Demon, "that he is a
-curious compound enough. There are such things as cynical
-philosophers in Spain; and there goes one. He is walking
-towards the Buen-Retiro, to reach a meadow in which there is
-a fountain, whose refreshing waters form a brook that glides like
-a silver serpent through the flowers. There will he pass the
-day, contemplating the beauties of nature, tinkling his guitar,
-and noting the reflections that the scene inspires in his
-common-place book. He carries in his pockets his ordinary
-food, that is to say, a piece of bread and some onions. Such
-is the sober life that he has led during ten years past; and
-were some Aristippus to say to him, as was erst spoken to
-Diogenes: 'If thou knewest how to pay thy court to the great,
-thou wouldst not eat onions;' this modern philosopher wou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>ld
-reply: 'I could pay my court to the great as well as thou, if I
-would abase one man so low, as to make him cringe before
-another.'</p>
-
-<p>"In truth, however, this philosopher formerly mixed greatly
-with the nobility; he even owes his fortune to their patronage;
-but, compelled to feel, as all must who move among persons
-more exalted than themselves, that the friendship of these
-lordlings was to him but an honourable species of servitude, he
-broke off all connection with them. At the time I speak of he
-kept his carriage; this he subsequently put down, on reflecting
-that, as he rolled along, the mud from his wheels was
-splashed perhaps upon his betters. Distributing his wealth
-among his indigent friends, he reserved for himself no more
-than would enable him to live as moderately as he does; and
-he kept so much, only because it appeared to him no less
-shameful for a philosopher to beg his bread from the people
-than from the aristocracy.</p>
-
-<p>"Pity the cavalier who follows this philosopher, and whom
-you see accompanied by a dog. He can boast his descent
-from one of the most ancient and noble houses of Castile.
-He has been rich; but he ruined himself, like the Timon
-of Lucian, by feasting his friends every day; and, particularly,
-by giving splendid fêtes on the births and marriages
-of all the princes and princesses of Spain; in a word, on
-every occasion for rejoicing that he could make or find. No
-sooner did the discreet parasites who flocked round him see
-the ring slip over his purse than they abandoned his house
-and himself; one friend alone remains faithful to him now;&mdash;it
-is his dog."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 220px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic02.png" width="220" height="290" alt="The ruined cavalier and his dog" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Tell me! Signor Asmodeus," cried Leandro Perez; "to
-whom belongs the carriage stopping before that house?" "It
-is the property of a rich contador, who comes here every morning
-to visit a frail beauty, whom this ancient sinner of Moorish
-race protects, and whom he loves to distraction. He learned
-last night that his female friend had been unfaithful, and in the
-fury which this intelligence induced, he wrote her a letter full
-of reproaches and threats. You would never guess what part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
-the lady took on this occasion: instead of having the impudence
-to deny the fact, she sent to the treasurer this
-morning, owning that he was justly angered at her conduct;
-that he ought henceforth to despise her, since she had been
-capable of deceiving so gallant a lover; that she acknowledged
-and detested her fault; and that, to punish herself, she had
-already sacrificed those locks which he had so often admired;
-in short, that she had resolved to consecrate, in a nunnery, the
-remainder of her days to repentance.</p>
-
-<p>"The old dotard was unable to withstand the well-feigned
-remorse of his mistress, and has risen thus early to console
-her. He found her in tears; and so well has she played her
-part that he has just assured her of a full pardon for the
-past: nay, more, to compensate for the sacrifice of her much-prized
-tresses, he is, at this moment, promising to enable
-her to cut a figure in the world, by purchasing for her a handsome
-country-house, which is just about to be sold, near the
-Escurial."</p>
-
-<p>"All the shops are opened, I perceive," said the Student;
-"and I observe already a cavalier now entering a tavern."
-"That cavalier," replied Asmodeus, "is a youth of family, who
-is troubled with the prevailing mania for writing nonsense, that
-he may pass as an author. He is not absolutely without
-talent; he has even enough to enable him to detect its want
-in the dramas which are at present produced on your stage;
-but not so much as to qualify him to write a tolerable one
-himself. He has gone into that house to order a grand repast:
-he gives a dinner to-day to four comedians, whose good graces
-he would purchase in favour of a wretched comedy of his concoction,
-which he is on the point of presenting to their
-company. What will not money do?</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"Apropos of authors," continued the Devil, "there now are
-two just meeting in the street. Do you notice the mocking
-style of their salutes? They despise each other thoroughly:
-and they are right. One of them writes as easily as the poet
-Crispinus, whom Horace compares to the bellows of a forge;
-and the other wastes a vast deal of time in composing works
-as cold and insipid as a water ice."</p>
-
-<p>"Who is the little man descending from his carriage at the
-door of that church?" asked Zambullo. "He is a person
-worthy your remark," replied the Cripple. "It is not yet ten
-years since he abandoned the office of a notary, in which he
-was senior clerk, to shut himself up in the Carthusian monastery
-of Saragoza. At the end of a six-months noviciate, however,
-he left the convent, and re-appeared in Madrid; where those
-who had formerly known him were amazed to see him all at
-once become one of the principal members of the Council of
-the Indies. His sudden fortune is still the wonder of the town.
-Some say he has sold himself to the Devil; others, that he is
-the beloved of some rich dowager; and some, again, insist
-that he must have found a treasure." "Well! you know all
-about it, of course," interrupted Don Cleophas. "I should
-wonder if I did not," replied the Demon; "but I will unveil
-this mystery for you.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 180px;">
-<img src="images/ch17pic03.png" width="180" height="219" alt="The novice unearths the casket" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"During his aforesaid noviciate, it happened one day that
-our intended monk, in digging a deep hole in his appointed
-garden, lighted on a brazen coffer, which he opened, of course,
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
-and within which he found a golden casket containing some
-thirty diamonds of the purest water. Although the pious
-horticulturist knew little enough of precious stones, he shrewdly
-suspected that whoever had placed them there was wiser; so
-resolving on the course which, in one of the comedies of
-Plautus, is adopted by Gripus, who abandons fishing when he
-has found a treasure, he threw off his gown, returned to Madrid,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
-and by the assistance of a friendly jeweller, transmuted his
-diamonds into pieces of gold, and his pieces of gold into
-an office which has procured for him an exalted station in
-society."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XVIII.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>RELATING TO OTHER MATTERS WHICH THE DEVIL EXHIBITED TO
-THE STUDENT.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I must indulge you with a laugh," continued
-Asmodeus, "at the cost of an amusing character
-whom you see walking into that coffee-house,
-over the way. He is a Biscayan physician, and
-is going to sip his cup of chocolate; after which he will return
-to his home to pass the day at chess.</p>
-
-<p>"While he is thus engaged, do not be alarmed for his
-patients; he has none: and if he had, the moments he
-employs in play would not be the worst for them. He
-moves from his chess-board in the evening to repair to the
-house of a rich and handsome widow, with whom he would
-be happy to mate, and for whom he affects a knightly passion.
-When he is with her, a rascally valet, his only domestic,
-and who is aware of his practice with the widow,
-brings him a false list, studded with the names of noble
-lords and ladies who have sent to seek the doctor. The
-lady dreams not he is playing false, and the Biscayan is
-therefore fast entrapping her into a false move, which will
-win him the game.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic01.png" width="267" height="217" alt="Three girls getting up" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"But," continued the Devil, "let us stop a moment at that
-house close by; I would have you remark what is passing
-there before we look elsewhere. Run your eyes over the
-rooms: what do you observe?" "Why, I can discern some
-maidens, whose beauty dazzles me," replied the Student.
-"Some are just leaving their beds, and others have already risen.
-What charms do they present to my feasting eyes! I can
-fancy I behold the nymphs of Diana, but more lovely than the
-poets have depicted them."</p>
-
-<p>"If those maidens, as you call them, and whom you admire
-so much," replied the Cripple, "have the graces of Diana's
-nymphs, they assuredly want their chastity to complete the
-picture. They are a parcel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> of good-natured females, who live
-upon a common fund. As dangerous as the fair damsels of
-chivalry who arrested, by their charms, the knights who passed
-before their castle walls, they seek to draw your less heroic
-youths within their bowers. And woe betide those whom they
-ensnare! To warn the passer-by of the peril which awaits him,
-beacons should be set before their doors, as such friendly
-monitors are placed on dangerous coasts to mark the places
-mariners should shun."</p>
-
-<p>"I need not ask you," said Leandro Perez, "whither go
-those signors whom I see lolling in their carriages: they are
-doubtless going to the levée of the king." "You have said it,"
-replied the Devil; "and if you also would attend it, I will
-carry you there before them: we shall have amusement enough,
-I promise you." "You could not have proposed a thing more
-suited to my taste," replied Zambullo; "and I anticipate all
-the pleasure you have promised me."</p>
-
-<p>The Demon, although eager to satisfy Don Cleophas in his
-desires, carried him leisurely towards the palace, so that, in
-their way, the Student, perceiving some workmen employed
-upon a lofty doorway, asked if it were the portal of a church
-they were constructing. "No," replied Asmodeus, "it is the
-entrance to a new market; and it is magnificent as you see.
-However, though they raised its arch until its point were lost in
-clouds, it would be still unworthy of two Latin lines which are
-to adorn its front."</p>
-
-<p>"What say you?" cried Leandro;&mdash;"what a notion would
-you give me of the verses that you speak of! I die with
-anxiety to hear them." "I will repeat them, then," replied
-the Devil; "and do you prepare to admire them.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">'Quam bene Mercurius nunc merces vendit opimas,<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
-<span class="i3">Momus ubi fatuos vendidit ante sales!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>"In these two lines is concealed one of the most delicate
-puns imaginable." "I cannot say I yet perceive its point,"
-said the Student; "I do not clearly understand what is referred
-to by your <i>fatuos sales</i>." "You are not then aware," replied
-the Devil, "that on the spot where they are building this
-market for the sale of provisions, there formerly stood a
-monkish college in which youth was inducted to the humanities.
-The rectors of this college were in the habit of getting
-up plays, in which the students figured on the stage. These
-plays were, as you may suppose, flat enough as to effect and
-language; and were enlivened by ballets, so amusingly absurd,
-that everything danced, even to preterites and supines."
-"There! that is quite enough," interrupted Zambullo; "I am
-quite alive to the stuff of which college pieces are composed&mdash;excuse
-my pun&mdash;but the inscription is admirable."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus and Don Cleophas had scarcely reached the grand
-staircase of the palace, when the courtiers commenced the
-inflating labour of mounting its polished steps. As they passed
-our unseen watchers, the Devil did the honour of announcing
-them to the Student: "There," said he, pointing with his finger
-as he spoke, "there is the Count de Villalonso, of the house
-of Puebla d'Ellerena; this is the Marquis de Castro Fueste;
-that is Don Lopez de Los Rios, president of the council of
-finance; and here is the Count de Villa Hombrosa." He did
-not, however, content himself thus with naming them; each
-had his legend: and the Demon's sardonic spirit found in the
-character of each some weakness to laugh at, or some vices to
-lay bare. None passed before him unnoted.</p>
-
-<p>"That signor," said he of one, "is affable and obliging; and
-listens to you with an air of kindness. Do you ask his prote<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>ction,
-he grants it freely; nay, proffers you his interest. It is
-pity that a man who loves so much to assist his fellow-creatures
-should have a memory so bad, that a quarter of an hour after
-you have spoken to him, he should forget all you have asked
-and he has promised.</p>
-
-<p>"That duke," said he, speaking of another, "is one of the
-best characters that haunts the court. He is not, like most of
-his equals, one man at this moment and another the next;
-there is no caprice, no inequality in his disposition. I may
-add to this, that he pays not with ingratitude the affection
-that is shown for him, or the services that are rendered in
-his behalf. Unfortunately, again, he is too slothful to reward
-these kindnesses as they deserve: he leaves so long to be
-desired what is so rightfully expected, that when the favour
-is at last obtained, it is felt to have been dearly purchased."</p>
-
-<p>After the Demon had thus exhibited to the Student the
-good and evil qualities of a great number of signors, he
-conducted him into a room in which there were all sorts and
-conditions of men, but especially so many chevaliers, that Don
-Cleophas could not help exclaiming: "What numberless
-knights! By our Lady! there must be enough and to spare of
-them in Spain." "I can answer for that," replied the Cripple;
-"and it is not at all surprising, since to be dubbed companion
-of St. Jago, or of Calatrava, your vigilants require no five-and-twenty
-thousand crowns in pocket or estate, as did formerly the
-knights of ancient Rome: you perceive therefore that knighthood
-is an article most admirably assorted.</p>
-
-<p>"Observe," continued the Devil, "that common-looking
-fellow behind us." "Hush!" interrupted Zambullo; "speak
-softly, or the man will hear you." "No, no," replied Asmodeus;
-"the same charm which renders us invis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>ible, prevents
-our being heard. Examine him well: he is a Catalonian,
-returned from the Philippines, where he ranged the seas as a
-pirate. Could you conceive, to look on him, that you beheld a
-thunderbolt of war? Nevertheless, he has performed, in his
-vocation, prodigies of valour. He is here this morning, to
-present a petition to the king, in which he asks, as a recompense
-for his services, a certain post, which is vacant. I doubt, however,
-if he will succeed, inasmuch as he has neglected duly
-to possess the prime minister with a proper notion of his
-merits."</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive on the right of the pirate," said Leandro Perez,
-"a tall and bulky man, who is sufficiently impressed with an
-idea of his own importance: to judge of his station by the
-pride of his bearing, he is some wealthy grandee, certainly."
-"Nothing can be further from the truth," replied the Demon:
-"he is one of the poorest of Hidalgos, who lives on the profits
-of a gaming-table, under the protection of one of the
-ministers.</p>
-
-<p>"But I see a licentiate, who must not pass without your
-notice: it is he whom you can perceive near the first window,
-in conversation with a cavalier clad in velvet of a silver grey.
-They are discoursing of a matter yesterday decided by the
-king; but I will tell you its history.</p>
-
-<p>"Two months ago, this licentiate, who is an academician of
-Toledo, published a work on morals, which shocked the
-orthodox opinions of all your grey-headed authors of Castile:
-they found it full of vigorous expressions and words
-newly introduced. It required no more to unite them against
-so singular a production; and they therefore instantly assembled,
-and agreed upon a petition to his majesty, praying him to
-condemn the book as one written in a style dangerous to the
-purity and simplicity of the Spanish tongue.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic02.png" width="265" height="215" alt="The three commissioners reporting to the king" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"The petition appearing worthy of attention to his majesty,
-he named three commissioners to examine the work; and they
-estimating its style to be really reprehensible, and the more so
-from its peculiar brilliancy, upon their report the king has
-decreed that, under pain of his displeasure, those academicians
-of Toledo who write after the manner of the licentiate shall
-not dare to publish another book; and further that, in order to
-preserve the language of Castile in all its purity, such academicians,
-after their decease, shall be replaced by persons of the
-first quality alone."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p>
-<p>"That is indeed a marvellous decision!" cried Zambullo,
-laughing: "the lovers of our vulgar tongue have henceforth
-nought to fear." "Excuse me," replied the Devil; "but your
-writers who endanger that noble chastity of style which forms
-the delight of all discerning readers, are not confined to the
-Toledan academy."</p>
-
-<p>Don Cleophas was now curious to learn who was the cavalier
-in silver-grey habiliments, whom he beheld conversing with the
-hardy moralist. "He," said the Cripple, "is a Catalonian, an
-officer of the Spanish guard, and of course a younger son; but
-he is a youth whose tongue is pointed as the sword he wears.
-To give you an example of his wit, I will tell you of a repartee
-that he made yesterday to a lady whom he met in high society.
-But to enable you to enjoy its pungency, I must inform you
-that he has a brother, Don Andrea de Prada, who was some
-years since, an officer, like himself, in the same corps.</p>
-
-<p>"It happened one day that a farmer of the king's revenues
-came to this Don Andrea, and said to him: 'Signor de Prada,
-I bear the same name as you, but our families are different. I
-am aware that you belong to one of the noblest houses in
-Catalonia, but at the same time that you are not rich. Now,
-I am of a poor family, and have lots of wealth. Can we not find
-a means, therefore, to communicate to each other that which
-we mutually want? Have you your titles of nobility?' 'Certainly!'
-replied Don Andrea. 'That being the case,' continued
-the other, 'if you will confide the documents to my hands, I will
-place them in those of an ingenious genealogist, who will set
-to work upon them, and will make us relations in spite of our
-ancestors. On my part, as in duty bound, I will make my
-kinsman a present of thirty thousand pistoles: is it a bargain?'
-Don Andrea, dazzled by the proposition, accepted it at once,
-gave the parchments to the farmer, and with the money he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>
-received purchased an estate in his native province, where he
-now resides at his ease.</p>
-
-<p>"His younger brother, who gained nothing by the transaction,
-was dining yesterday at a house where the conversation
-turned by chance on the Signor de Prada, farmer of the king's
-revenues. On this, the lady of whom I spoke, turning to the
-young officer, asked if the wealthy signor were not related to
-him. 'No,' replied he, 'I have not that honour; but I believe
-he is a relation of my brother's.'"</p>
-
-<p>The Student laughed, as well he might, at this family distinction,
-which appeared to him rather novel. But perceiving at
-the moment a little man following a courtier, he cried out:
-"Bah! but yon homunculus will lose nothing for the want of reverence
-to the signor whom he shadows. He has some precious
-favour to intreat, beyond all doubt." "I shall not occupy your
-time in vain," replied the Devil, "in telling you the object of
-the obsequiousness you observe. The little man is an honest
-citizen, who is proprietor of a country house in the suburbs of
-Madrid, near which are some mineral springs of fashionable
-celebrity. He has lent this house, rent free, for three months to
-this signor, that the latter may drink the waters: he is at this
-moment very humbly beseeching his noble tenant to serve him
-on a pressing opportunity which offers; and the signor is very
-politely declining to do so.</p>
-
-<p>"I must not let yon cavalier of plebeian race escape me.
-See, where he wades through the expecting throng with all the
-air of one of note. He has become immensely rich by force of
-calculation, and in his proud mansion has as many servants
-as your first grandee; his table would put to shame for delicacy
-and abundance that of a minister of state. He has a
-carriage for himself, one for his wife, and another for his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
-children; and in his stables may be seen the best of mules and
-the most splendid horses in the world. Only yesterday, he
-bought, and paid for on the nail, a superb train of noble
-animals, that the prince of Spain had partially agreed for, but
-had thought too dear." "What insolence!" exclaimed Leandro.
-"A Turk, now, who beheld that lump of arrogance, poised on
-so dangerous a height, would watch each instant for its sudden
-fall." "I know nothing of the time to come," replied Asmodeus,
-"but think your Turk would not be far from right.</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! what is that I see?" continued the Demon with
-surprise. "Did I wonder at any thing, I should disbelieve my
-eyes. I absolutely discern within this room a poet&mdash;the last
-whom I should expect to see. How dares he come within
-these walls?&mdash;he who could write in terms offensive to their
-noblest visitants. He must count indeed on the contempt that
-he is held in!</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 233px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic03.png" width="233" height="262" alt="The chief magistrate and his page" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"But mark particularly that venerable man who enters now,
-supported by a page. Observe with what respect the crowd
-divides to make way for him. That is the signor Don José de
-Reynaste e Ayala, chief magistrate of the police: he comes
-hither to inform the king of the events of last night in the
-capital. Methinks, signor Student, that we could assist him in
-his report! However, regard him with admiration, for he
-deserves it." "In truth," replied Zambullo, "he looks like
-a man of worth." "It would be well for Spain," replied the
-Cripple, "if all its corregidors would take him for their model.
-He has none of that intemperate zeal which urges those who
-should administer the law to violate its spirit from impetuosity
-or caprice; and he respects too much the sacred freedom of
-the person to deprive the meanest of his fellow-subjects of that
-blessed right on the mere information of an alguazil, a clerk, o<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>r
-even a secretary of police. He knows those gentlemen too
-well; and that, for the most of them, their venal souls will
-scruple not to traffic on the fund of his authority. When a
-man stands before him, accused of crime, he may be sure that
-justice will be done towards him; the evidence is sifted until
-truth is discovered; and thus the prisons, instead of echoing
-the sighs of innocence, perform their proper office of holding
-the guilty. Even these are not abandoned to the licence whi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>ch
-ordinarily reigns in gaols. He visits, as a man, those whom, as
-a magistrate, he has condemned, and is careful that inhumanity,
-in its dispensers, shall not add rigour to the law."</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 221px;">
-<img src="images/ch18pic04.png" width="221" height="164" alt="The chief magistrate visiting a prisoner" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"What an eulogium!" exclaimed Leandro; "you paint a
-man whom angels might agree to worship! You rouse my
-curiosity to witness his reception by the king." "I am
-annoyed," replied the Devil, "to be obliged to tell you of my
-inability to gratify a wish that I expected, without at least
-exposing myself to insult. It is not in my vocation, nor am I
-permitted, to intrude myself on kings; their cabinet is the
-domain of Leviathan, Belphegor, and Ashtaroth; I informed
-you, from my bottle, that these three demons preside over the
-councils of princes. All others of our craft are denied the
-entrée at court; and I know not what I could have been thinking
-of, when I offered to bring you here: it was a dangerous
-flight to take, I can assure you. If my three loving bret<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>hren
-should perceive me, they would show me no favour, I promise
-you, and between ourselves, I would rather avoid the conflict."</p>
-
-<p>"That being so," replied the Student, "let us be off as
-quickly as you please: I should die with grief to see you
-curried by those wretched grooms, without being able to help
-you; for if I lent you a hand, I expect you would shine none
-the brighter for my assistance." "Most decidedly not," replied
-Asmodeus; "they would never feel the blows that you could
-deal them, and you would have the satisfaction of dying under
-theirs.</p>
-
-<p>"But," he continued, "to console you for your exclusion
-from the cabinet of your potent sovereign, I will procure you a
-pleasure quite equal to the one you lose." And as he finished
-these words, he took the Student's hand, and away they went,
-as fast as the Devil could fly, toward the monastery of Mercy.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XIX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>THE CAPTIVES.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitiali2.png" width="75" height="76" alt="I" />
-</div>
-
-<p>In a moment they were on a house adjoining the
-monastery, at the gate of which there was a vast
-concourse of persons, of all ages and of both sexes.
-"Here's a crowd!" exclaimed Leandro Perez.
-"What ceremony can call so many good folks together?" "Why,"
-replied Asmodeus, "it is one which you have never witnessed,
-though it may be seen from time to time within Madrid. Three
-hundred slaves, all subjects of the crown of Spain, are expected
-to arrive each minute: they return from Algiers, where they
-have been recently purchased by some fathers of the Redemption.
-Every street through which they are to pass will be lined
-with spectators to welcome them."</p>
-
-<p>"It is true, indeed," replied Zambullo, "that I have never
-had the curiosity to behold a similar exhibition; and, if this be
-the treat which your worship has reserved to gratify my taste, I
-must tell you frankly that you need not have so boasted of its
-piquancy." "Oh! I know you well enough," replied the
-Devil, "not to be aware that it is no joyous spectacle for you
-to look upon the misery of your fellows; but when I tell you
-that, in bringing you here to view it under its present form, I
-am about to reveal certain singular circumstances attending the
-captivity of some, and the equally curious embarrass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>ment in
-which others will find themselves on returning to their homes,
-I am persuaded that you will not be unthankful for the amusement
-I have provided." "Certainly not," replied the Student;
-"you put another face upon the matter; and you will afford me
-much pleasure by your promised revelations."</p>
-
-<p>During this discussion, loud shouts were suddenly heard
-from the populace as they beheld the approaching captives,
-who marched two by two, in their slaves' dresses, each bearing
-his chain upon his shoulders. They were preceded by a considerable
-number of monks of the order of Mercy, who had
-been to meet them, and who rode on mules caparisoned in
-black serge, as if they headed a funeral: one of these good
-fathers carried the standard of Redemption. The younger
-captives came first; the more aged followed; and the procession
-was closed by an aged monk of the same order as the
-first, who, mounted on a diminutive steed, had all the air of
-a prophet: this was the chief of the missionary expedition. To
-him every eye was attracted, as much by his excessive gravity,
-as by a long white beard which flowed down his bosom, and
-gave to the features of this Moses of the Spaniards a venerable
-aspect, lighted as they were by a heartfelt joy at having been
-the instrument of restoring so many of his Christian brethren to
-their country.</p>
-
-<p>"The captives whom you see," commenced the Cripple, "are
-not all equally rejoiced at their restoration to liberty. If there
-be some whose hearts beat with pleasure at the thought that
-they are about to see once more their dearest friends, there are
-others not a little fearful that, during the time they have been
-estranged from their families, events may have occurred which
-will bring tortures to their minds more cruel than the most
-refined of slavery itself.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic01.png" width="266" height="164" alt="The procession" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"For instance, the two who first approach are in the latter
-category. The one, a native of the little town of Velilla in
-Aragon, after having passed ten years in bondage with the
-Turk, without once hearing of his much-loved wife, comes
-home to find her bound again in wedlock, and the mother of
-five little ones who can claim no kin with him. The other, son
-of a wool-merchant of Segovia, was carried off by a corsair
-nearly twenty years ago: he returns with a lively apprehension
-that matters have gravely changed during that time with his
-family, and he will find himself a prophet in his loss. His
-father and mother are dead; and his brothers, who shared
-their wealth, have dissipated it foolishly enough."</p>
-
-<p>"My attention is rivetted," exclaimed the Student, "upon a
-slave whom, by his looks, I judge to be delighted that he is no
-longer exposed to the seducing influence of the bastinado."
-"The captive whom you speak of," replied the Devil,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> "has
-good reason to rejoice at his deliverance: he has learnt, since
-his return, that an aunt to whom he is sole heir has just been
-released from her troubles, and that he is consequently about
-to enjoy the free use of her brilliant fortune. This it is which
-now occupies his thoughts so agreeably, and gives to his
-appearance that air of satisfaction which you remark.</p>
-
-<p>"How all unlike is he to the unhappy cavalier who walks
-beside him; the tortures of suspense fill his bosom incessantly:
-I will tell you on what they impend. When he was taken by a
-pirate of Algiers, as he was passing into Italy from Spain, he
-loved a maiden and by her was loved: he dreads lest, while
-he was in chains, his fair one's constancy may have failed
-her." "Has he been long a slave then?" asked Zambullo.
-"Eighteen months," replied Asmodeus. "Pooh!" exclaimed
-Leandro Perez, "I fancy our gallant is a prey to causeless fear;
-he has hardly put his mistress's fidelity to such a test as to
-have need for great alarm." "There you are mistaken," replied
-the Cripple; "his princess no sooner heard that he was captive
-to the Moor, than she hastened to provide herself with a more
-fortunate lover.</p>
-
-<p>"Would you credit now," continued the Demon, "that the
-man who follows immediately behind the two we have been
-speaking of, and whom that thick and sandy beard so horribly
-disfigures, was once a very handsome man? Nothing, however,
-can be more certain; and you see, in that bent and hideous
-figure, the hero of a story remarkable enough to induce me to
-relate it to you.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic02.png" width="178" height="228" alt="Fabricio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"His name is Fabricio, and he was hardly fifteen years of age
-when his father, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>a wealthy cultivator of Cinquello, a large village
-of the kingdom of Leon, died. He lost his mother shortly afterwards;
-so that, being an only son, he became thus early the
-master of a considerable property, the management of which was
-confided to an uncle, who happened to be honest. Fabricio
-completed his studies at Salamanca, where he had been previously
-placed; he then particularly devoted himself to the noble
-accomplishments of riding and fencing; in a word, he neglected
-nothing which might concur to render him worthy the sweet regards
-of Donna Hippolita, sister of a vegetating signor, whose
-cottage was about a couple of gun-shots from Cinquello.</p>
-
-<p>"This lady was beautiful in the extreme, and about the age
-of Fabricio, who, having seen her from his infancy, had, to
-speak vulgarly, sucked in with his mother's milk the love which
-occupied his soul in manhood. Hippolita, on her side, c<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>ould
-not help perceiving that Fabricio was not ill-made; but, knowing
-him to be the son of a husbandman, she had never deigned
-to look on him with attention. Her pride was only equalled
-by her loveliness, and by the haughty bearing of her brother,
-Don Thomaso de Xaral, who was probably unsurpassed, even
-in Spain, for his lordly want of money, and his beggarly pride.</p>
-
-<p>"This inflated country gentleman lived in a small house
-which he dignified by the name of castle, but which to speak
-properly was a ruin, so little had the winds respected his nobility.
-However, although his means did not enable him to
-repair his mansion, and although he had hardly enough to sustain
-himself, he must needs keep a valet to attend upon his
-person; nay, he even kept a Moorish female to wait upon his
-sister.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a refreshing sight to witness, in the village, on Sundays
-and at every festival, Don Thomaso habited in crimson
-velvet, but sadly faded, and a little hat, overshadowed with an
-ancient plume of yellow feathers, which were carefully enshrined,
-like relics, on the common days of the year. Disporting this
-frippery, which to him was proof apparent of his noble birth, he
-would affect the grandee, and seemed to think that he amply repaid
-the reverence that was offered to him when he condescended
-to notice it by an approving smile. His fair sister was not less
-vain than himself of the antiquity of her race; and she joined
-to this folly that of such self-congratulation on her charms, that
-she lived in the most perfect confidence that ere long some
-noble signor would come to beg the honour of her hand.</p>
-
-<p>"Such were the characters of Don Thomaso and the beauteous
-Hippolita. Fabricio, aware of their foibles, and in order to insinuate
-himself into the estimation of persons so exalted, lost
-no opportunity of flattering their pride by the most r<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>espectful
-seeming; and so well did he manage, that the brother and sister
-at last were graciously pleased to allow him frequent occasions
-for paying his homage to them. As he was as well informed of
-their poverty as of their vanity, he was tempted every day to
-make offer of his purse; and was only withheld from doing so
-by the uncertainty as to which of their failings was the greater:
-nevertheless, his ingenious generosity found a way of relieving
-the one without causing the other to blush. 'Signor,' said he
-one day to Don Thomaso in private, 'I have a thousand ducats
-which I would entrust in safe hands: have the kindness to take
-care of them for me;&mdash;permit me to owe this obligation to
-you.'</p>
-
-<p>"I need hardly tell you that Xaral consented; but besides
-being short of money, he had the very soul for a trustee. He
-therefore made no scruple of taking charge of the sum proposed;
-and no sooner was it in his possession, than, without ceremony,
-he employed a good part of it in putting his house in order, and
-adding thereto sundry little conveniences. A new dress of
-splendid light blue velvet was bought, and made at Salamanca;
-and a green plume, also purchased there, came to snatch from
-the olden plume of yellow the glory which had pertained to it
-from time immemorial, of adorning the noble front of Don
-Thomaso. The lovely Hippolita had also her compliment,
-and was entirely new-rigged. And thus did Xaral quickly
-melt the ducats which had been confided to him, not once
-reflecting that they did not belong to him, or that he would
-never be able to restore them. Indeed, he would not have
-scrupled thus to use them, had such extraordinary thoughts
-occurred to him; he would have felt that it was perfectly
-proper a plebeian should pay for the patronage of so noble a
-person as himself.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Fabricio had foreseen all this; but had at the same time
-flattered himself, that out of love for his money, if not for himself,
-Don Thomaso would live with him on terms of greater intimacy;
-that Hippolita by degrees would become accustomed
-to his attentions, and finally pardon the audacity which had inspired
-him to elevate his thoughts to her. In effect, his intercourse
-with them certainly increased, and they displayed for
-him a consideration that he had never before appeared to deserve:
-a rich man is ever appreciated by the great, when he will
-consent to act for them the part of the wolf to Romulus and
-Remus. Xaral and his sister, who until now had nothing
-known of riches but the name, had no sooner tasted the intoxicating
-draught, than they deemed Fabricio, the source
-whence it flowed, an object not to be neglected; and they
-therefore exhibited towards him such marks of respect, and
-almost affection, as made him think his money well bestowed.
-He was soon convinced that he had really won
-upon them; and that wisely reflecting it is the lot of the
-proudest signors to be obliged, in order to sustain their pretensions,
-to graft their noble scions on the stocks of the
-fortunate vulgar, they now looked on him without disdain.
-With this notion, which flattered his own self-love, Fabricio
-resolved to propose for Hippolita to her brother.</p>
-
-<p>"On the first favourable opportunity which offered to speak
-with Don Thomaso on the subject, he informed him that he
-had dared aspire to the honour of becoming his brother-in-law;
-and that, as the price of such concession, not only would he
-abandon all claim to the money deposited in his hands, but
-that he would add to it a present of a thousand pistoles. The
-haughty Xaral coloured at this proposition, which awakened his
-slumbering pride; and in the excitation of the moment, could
-scarcely refrain from displaying the utter contempt in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> he
-held the son of an industrious father. But, however insulted he
-felt at the temerity of Fabricio, he constrained himself; and, as
-respectfully as his nature would permit, replied that in a matter
-of such importance he could not at once determine; that he
-must consult Hippolita, and that it would even be necessary to
-summon a conclave of his noble relatives thereupon.</p>
-
-<p>"With this answer he dismissed the gallant, and forthwith
-convoked a diet composed of certain hidalgos of his neighbourhood,
-with whom he claimed affinity, and who, like himself,
-were all infected with demophobia. With these he consulted,
-not as to whether they were of opinion that he should bestow
-his sister upon Fabricio, but on the most proper steps to be
-adopted in order sufficiently to punish the insolent young man,
-who, forgetful of the meanness of his origin, had dared pretend
-to the hand of a lady of the rank of Hippolita.</p>
-
-<p>"As soon as he had exposed to the assembly this presumptuous
-demand,&mdash;as he mentioned the name of Fabricio,
-and uttered the words, 'Son of a husbandman,'&mdash;you should
-have seen how the eyes of all the nobles lighted up with fury.
-Each of them vomited fire and flame against the audacious
-groundling; and with one voice they all insisted, that his
-death beneath the cudgels of their domestics alone could
-expiate the vile affront he had offered to their family by the
-proposal of so scandalous an union. However, on mature
-consideration, the offended members of the diet agreed to
-spare the culprit's life; but, in order to teach him that first
-and far most useful knowledge&mdash;of himself, they resolved to
-play him such a trick as he should have reason to remember
-while he lived.</p>
-
-<p>"Various were the schemes proposed: the one on which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>
-they at last decided was as follows. Hippolita was to feign a
-sensibility for the passion of Fabricio; and, under pretence of
-consoling her unhappy lover for the refusal which Don Thomaso
-would have given to his proposal for her hand, she was to
-make an assignation for some particular evening to receive
-him at the castle; where, at the moment of his introduction by
-the Moorish female, the friends of the signor would surprise
-him with the waiting-maid, and compel him to espouse her.</p>
-
-<p>"The sister of Xaral at first inclined to favour this piece of
-rascality; she even joined in thinking that her reputation
-demanded of her to consider as an insult the addresses of a
-person in a station so inferior to her own. But these haughty
-feelings soon yielded to others more gentle, prompted by pity;
-or rather, love suddenly vanquished all pride of heart in the
-bosom of Hippolita.</p>
-
-<p>"From that moment, she looked on all things with a different
-eye. The obscure origin of Fabricio now appeared to her
-more than compensated by a nobility of disposition; and she
-perceived in him but a cavalier worthy of her tenderest affection.
-Remark again, Signor Student, and with all due admiration,
-how prodigious are the changes which this passion can
-effect: the very girl who yesterday imagined that a monarch's
-heir scarce merited the honour of possessing her, to-day is all
-enamoured of a ploughman's son, and is flattered by pretensions
-which before she had regarded as disgraceful.</p>
-
-<p>Far therefore from assisting her brother in his purposed revenge,
-and yielding to the new-born passion which now reigned
-supreme within her soul, Hippolita entered into secret correspondence
-with Fabricio, by means of her Moorish attendant,
-who frequently of an evening introduced the gallant into the
-cottage. Thus baffled in his design, Don Thomaso soon
-became suspicious of the truth; and watching his siste<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>r, he
-was convinced by his own eyes that, instead of fulfilling the
-wishes of her relations, she had betrayed them.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic03.png" width="189" height="200" alt="Hippolita's Moorish servant admits Fabricio" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"He instantly informed two of his cousins of the discovery
-he had made: 'Vengeance! Don Thomaso, vengeance!' they
-exclaimed, infuriate at such baseness in one of their illustrious
-race. Xaral, who did not require urging to exact satisfaction
-for an indignity of this nature, replied, with true Spanish modesty,
-'that they should find he knew well how to use his sword when
-its employment was called for to avenge his honour;' and he
-entreated them to come to his house on a particular night.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
-<img src="images/ch19pic04.png" width="265" height="210" alt="Don Thomaso and his cousins surprise Fabricio and Hippolita" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"They came at the appointed time, and were secretly received
-and concealed in a small room by Don Thomaso; who left
-them, saying that he would return the instant the lover entered
-his doors, should he think fit to come at all that evening. This
-did not fail to happen; the unlucky stars of our lovers had
-decreed that they should choose that very night for their
-meeting.</p>
-
-<p>"Don Fabricio was already with his dear Hippolita, listening
-to and repeating for the hundredth time those sweet avowals
-which make up the dialogue of lovers, but which, though spoken
-from eternity, have still the charm of novelty, when they were
-disagreeably interrupted by the cavaliers who waited to surprise
-them. Don Thomaso and his cousins, with all the courage of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>
-three against one, rushed upon Fabricio, who had scarcely time
-to draw in his defence; but perceiving at once that their object
-was to assassinate him, he fought with a courage which makes
-one equal to three; he wounded all his assailants, and exerting
-the skill he had acquired at Salamanca, managed to keep them
-at his sword's point till he had gained the door, when he made
-off at full speed.</p>
-
-<p>"Upon this, Xaral, maddened with rage at beholding his
-enemy escape him, after having with impunity dishonoured
-his house, turned all his fury against the unfortunate Hippolita,
-and plunged his sword into her heart. After which his two
-relatives returned to their homes, extremely mortified at the
-bad success of their plot, and with no other consolation than
-their wounds. There we will leave them," continued Asmodeus.
-"When we have passed in review the other captives, I
-will finish the history of this one. I will relate to you how,
-after justice, or rather the law, had possessed itself of his effects
-on account of this mournful event, the pirates seized his person,
-with about as good reason, when he happened to be making a
-voyage."</p>
-
-<p>"While you were telling me this story of love and pride,"
-said Don Cleophas, "I observed a young man whose countenance
-bespeaks such sorrow at his heart, that I wonder I did
-not interrupt you to inquire its cause." "You will lose nothing
-by your discretion," replied the Demon; "I can tell you now
-all you desire to know. The captive whose dejection attracted
-your notice, is a youth of family from Valladolid. Two years
-was he in slavery, but with a patron who possessed a very
-pretty wife. The lady looked with favour on the slave, and
-the slave, as in duty bound, repaid the lady's favours with
-interest. The patron, becoming suspicious as to the nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>
-of his slave's labours, hastened to sell the Christian to the
-brothers of the Redemption, lest he should be irreligiously
-employed in the propagation of Mahometanism. The tender
-Castilian, ever since, has done nothing but weep for the loss of
-his patroness; liberty itself cannot console him."</p>
-
-<p>"An old man of good appearance attracts my attention
-there," said Leandro Perez; "who, and what, is he?" The
-Devil replied: "He is a barber, of Guipuscoa, who is about to
-return to Biscay after a captivity of forty years. When he fell
-into the hands of a corsair, in going from Valencia to the island
-of Sardinia, he had a wife, two sons, and a daughter. Of all
-these, one son alone remains; and he, more lucky than his
-father, has been to Peru, whence he has safely returned with
-immense wealth to his native province, in which he has recently
-purchased two handsome estates." "What pleasure!" exclaimed
-the Student, "what delight awaits this happy son, to
-behold again his long-lost parent, and to be enabled to render
-his declining years peaceful and agreeable!"</p>
-
-<p>"You," replied the Cripple, "speak like a child whom tenderness
-and duty prompt; the son of the Biscayan barber is of
-a sterner mould: the unlooked-for coming of his sire to him
-will bring more grief than joy. Instead of welcoming him to
-his mansion at Guipuscoa, and sparing nothing to mark the
-bliss he feels at pressing him once more to his bosom, he will
-probably be filial enough to make him steward of one of his
-estates.</p>
-
-<p>"Behind this captive, whose good looks you admire so
-much, is another as like an old baboon as are two drops of
-water to each other: he is a little Aragonese physician. He
-has not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>been a fortnight in Algiers; for as soon as the Turks
-knew what was his profession, they resolved, rather than suffer
-him to remain among them, to place him without ransom in
-the hands of the fathers of Mercy, who would certainly never
-have purchased him, and who bring him back with compunction
-to Spain.</p>
-
-<p>"You who feel so sensibly the woes of others, ah! how
-would you grieve for that other slave, he who wears upon his
-head that little cap of brown cloth, did you but know the ills
-he has endured during twelve years, in the house of an English
-renegade, his patron." "And who is this unhappy captive?"
-asked Zambullo. "He is a cordelier of Navarre," replied the
-Demon. "I must own, however, that for myself, I rejoice that
-he has suffered so severely; since, by his eternal preaching, he
-has prevented more than a hundred Christian slaves from
-adopting the turban."</p>
-
-<p>"Well! to imitate your frankness," replied Don Cleophas, "I
-must say that I am really afflicted to think that this good father
-should have been so long at the mercy of the barbarian." "As
-to that," replied Asmodeus, "you are as unwise to regret it, as
-I to rejoice. The good monk has turned his dozen years'
-captivity to so good account, that he will find his advantage in
-having passed that time in suffering instead of in his cell, where
-he would have striven with temptations that he would not at
-all times have vanquished."</p>
-
-<p>"The first captive after the monks," said Leandro Perez, "has
-a most complacent air for a man who returns from slavery: he
-excites my curiosity to know his history." "You anticipate
-me," replied the Cripple; "I was just about to tell you all about
-him. You see in him, a citizen of Salamanca, an unfortunate
-father, a mortal rendered insensible to misfortune by the weight
-of those he has experienced. I am tempted to relate to you
-the painful details of his life, and to leave the rest of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>the captives
-to their fates; besides, there is scarcely another whose
-adventures are worth the trouble of telling."</p>
-
-<p>The Student, who began to tire of this sombre procession,
-stated that he asked for nothing better; whereupon, the Devil
-began the history contained in the following chapter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 138px;">
-<img src="images/ch19tailpiece.png" width="138" height="120" alt="Tailpiece of the Aragonese physician and the cordelier of Navarre" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XX.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE LAST HISTORY RELATED BY ASMODEUS: HOW, WHILE CONCLUDING
-IT, HE WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED; AND OF THE
-DISAGREEABLE MANNER, FOR THE WITTY DEMON, IN WHICH
-HE AND DON CLEOPHAS WERE SEPARATED.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialp.png" width="75" height="77" alt="P" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Pablos de Bahabon, son of an alcade of a
-village in Old Castile, after having divided with
-his sister and brother the small inheritance which
-their father, although one of the most avaricious
-of men, had left them, set out for Salamanca with the intention
-of increasing the number of students in its university. He was
-well made, not without wit, and was just entering upon his
-twenty-third year.</p>
-
-<p>"With a thousand ducats in his possession, and a disposition
-fitted to get rid of them, it was not long before he was the talk
-of the town. The young men, without exception, were eager
-to cultivate his friendship; the strife, was who were to be included
-in the joyous parties which Don Pablos gave every day.
-I say Don Pablos, because he had assumed the Don, that he
-might live on equal terms with the students whose nobility
-would otherwise have demanded a formality in his intercourse
-with them, anything but pleasant. So well did he love gaiety
-and the good things of this world, and so badly did he manage
-the only thing which can always command them,&mdash;his purse,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>
-that at the end of fifteen months he found it one morning
-empty. He contrived, however, to get on for some time
-longer, partly by credit and partly by borrowing; but he soon
-found that these are resources which speedily fail when a man
-has no other.</p>
-
-<p>"This having come to pass, his friends perceiving that their
-visits were anything but agreeable,&mdash;to themselves, they ceased
-to call; and his creditors commenced paying him their respects,
-with an assiduity which was anything but delightful to poor
-Don Pablos. For although he assured the latter that he was
-in daily expectation of receiving bills of exchange from his relations,
-there were some who were uncivil enough to decline
-waiting their arrival; and they were so sharp in their legal proceedings
-that our hero was on the point of finishing his studies
-in jail, when one day he met an acquaintance while walking on
-the banks of the Tormes, who said to him: 'Signor Don
-Pablos, beware! I warn you that an alguazil and his archers
-are on the look-out for you, and they intend to pay you the
-honour of a guard on your return to the city.'</p>
-
-<p>"Bahabon, alarmed at this intended public attention to his
-person, which suited so ill to the state of his private affairs, resolved
-to shun this demonstration of respect, and instantly took
-to flight and the road to Corita. In his anxiety for privacy, he
-had not walked far before he turned off to plunge into a neighbouring
-wood, in which he resolved to conceal himself until
-night should lend her friendly shades to enable him to travel
-more secure from observation. It was at that season of the
-year when the trees are decked in their proudest apparel, and
-he therefore chose the best dressed in the forest, that it might
-spare a covering for him: into this he mounted, and arranged
-himself upon a branch whose wavy ornaments shrouded him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>
-from sight.</p>
-
-<p>"Feeling secure in his elevated seat, he by degrees soon lost
-all fear of the too attentive alguazil; and as men usually make
-the best reflections on their conduct when thought is too late
-to avail them, he recalled all the follies he had committed, and
-promised to himself, that if ever he again should be in fortune's
-way, he would make a better use of her favours. Most especially
-he vowed to be no more the dupe of seeming friends, who
-lead young men into dissipation, and whose attachment finishes
-with the last bottle.</p>
-
-<p>"While thus occupied with the busy thoughts which come
-like creditors into the distressed mind, night recalled him to
-his situation. Disengaging himself from the sheltering leaves,
-and shaking hands with the friendly branch, he was preparing
-to descend, when, by as much light as the moon could throw
-into the forest, he thought he could discern the figure of a man.
-As he looked, his former fears returned: and he imagined it
-must be the alguazil, who, having tracked his footsteps, was
-seeking him in the wood. His fears redoubled when he saw
-the man, after walking round it two or three times, sit himself
-down at the foot of the very tree in which he was."</p>
-
-<p>Asmodeus interrupted the course of his narrative in this
-place: "Signor Don Cleophas," said he, "permit me to enjoy
-for a while the perplexity I occasion in your mind at this
-moment. You are desperately anxious to know now, who can
-this mortal be that comes so inopportunely, and what can have
-brought him thither. Well, that is what you shall learn: I will
-not abuse your patience.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 216px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic01.png" width="216" height="293" alt="Bahabon watches the bag being buried" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p>
-<p>"After the man had seated himself at the foot of the tree,
-whose thick foliage almost hid him from the sight of Don
-Pablos, he reposed for a few seconds, and then rose and began
-digging the ground with a poniard. Having made a deep hole,
-and placed therein a leathern bag, he refilled it, covered it over
-carefully with the moss-grown turf he had removed, and then
-retired. Bahabon, who had strained his eyes to watch these
-operations, and whose fears were changed to anxious joy during
-their progress, scarcely waited until the man was out of si<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span>ght
-ere he descended from his hiding-place to disinter the sack, in
-which he doubted not to find a good store of silver or of gold.
-His knife was sufficient for the purpose; but, had he wanted
-that, he felt such ardour for the work, that he would have
-penetrated with his nails into the bowels of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>"The instant that he had the bag in his possession, just
-handling it sufficiently to feel convinced that it contained good
-sounding coin, he hastened to quit the wood with his prey, less
-fearing to meet the alguazil in his altered state, than the man
-to whom the bag of right belonged. Intoxicated with delight
-at having made so good a stroke, our student walked lightly all
-the night, without caring whither he went, or feeling in the least
-degree incommoded with his burden. But, as day broke, he
-stopped under some trees near the village of Molorido, less, in
-truth, to repose, than to satisfy at last the curiosity which
-burned within him to know what it was indeed the sack enclosed.
-Untying it with that agreeable trembling which you
-experience at the moment you are about to enjoy an anticipated
-but unknown pleasure, he found therein honest double-pistoles,
-and, to his unspeakable delight, counted no less of these than
-two hundred and fifty.</p>
-
-<p>"After having contemplated them for some time with a
-voluptuous eagerness, he began seriously to reflect on what he
-ought to do; and having made up his mind, he stowed away
-the doubloons in his pockets, threw the bag into a ditch, and
-repaired to Molorido. He entered the first decent inn; and
-then, while they were preparing his breakfast, he hired a mule,
-upon which he returned the same day to Salamanca.</p>
-
-<p>"He clearly perceived, by the surprise which his acquaintances
-displayed at seeing him again, that they were in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>
-secret of his sudden evasion; but he had his story by heart.
-He stated that, being short of money, and not receiving it
-from home, although he had written twenty times to relate his
-pressing need, he had determined to go for it himself, and that,
-the evening previous, as he entered Molorido, he had met his
-steward with the needful, so that he was now in a situation to
-undeceive all those who had decreed him a man of straw. He
-added, that he intended to convince his creditors that they
-were wrong in distressing an honest man who would have long
-since satisfied their claims, had his steward been more punctual
-in the remittance of his rents.</p>
-
-<p>"In reality, on the following day he called a meeting of his
-creditors, and paid them all to the last maravedi. No sooner
-did the very friends who had abandoned him in poverty hear
-of these extraordinary proceedings, than they quickly flocked
-around him, to flatter him by their homage, hoping to enjoy
-themselves again at his expense; but he was not to be caught
-a second time. Faithful to the vow he had made in the forest,
-he treated them with disdain, and changing entirely his course
-of life, he devoted himself to the study of the law with zeal and
-assiduity.</p>
-
-<p>"However, you will say, he was all this while conscientiously
-expending double-pistoles not very honestly acquired. To this
-I have no reply to make than that he did what nine-tenths
-of the world are daily doing in similar circumstances. He
-of course intended to make proper restitution at some future
-time; that is, if he should chance to discover to whom the
-doubloons belonged. In the meantime, tranquillizing himself
-with the goodness of his intentions, he disposed of the money
-without scruple, patiently awaiting this discovery, which nevertheless
-he made before twelve months were over.</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span></p>
-<p>"About this time, it was reported in Salamanca that a citizen
-of that town, one Ambrosio Piquillo, having gone to the neighbouring
-wood to seek for a bag, filled with gold and silver
-coin, which he had there deposited nearly a year before, had
-turned up only the earth in which he had buried it, and that
-this misfortune had reduced the poor man to beggary.</p>
-
-<p>"I must say, in justice to Bahabon, that the secret reproaches
-of his conscience were not made in vain. He ascertained
-the dwelling of Ambrosio, whom he found in a wretched
-chamber whose entire furniture consisted of a truckle-bed and
-a single chair. 'My friend,' said he with admirable hypocrisy
-as he entered, 'I have heard the public report of the cruel
-accident which has befallen you, and, charity obliging us to
-aid one another according to our means, I have come to bring
-you a trifling assistance; but I should like to hear from yourself
-the story of your misfortune.'</p>
-
-<p>"'Signor cavalier,' replied Piquillo, 'I will relate it to you
-in a few words. I had the misfortune to have a son who
-robbed me. Discovering his dishonesty, and fearing that he
-would help himself to a leathern sack in which there were two
-hundred and fifty doubloons, I thought I could not do better
-than bury them in the wood to which I had the imprudence
-to take them. Since that unlucky day, my son has stripped
-me of all else that I possessed, and he at last disappeared with
-a woman whom he had carried off by force. Finding myself
-thus reduced by the libertinage of my worthless child, or rather
-by my misplaced indulgence for his faults, I determined on
-recourse to the leathern bag; but alas! my only remaining
-means of subsistence had been cruelly carried away.'</p>
-
-<p>"As the poor man recounted his loss, his grief was renewed,
-and his tears fell fast as he spoke, Don Pablos, affected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>at
-beholding them, said to him: 'My dear Ambrosio, we must
-console ourselves for all the crosses we encounter during life.
-Your tears are useless; they cannot bring back your double-pistoles,
-which, if some scoundrel has laid hands on them, are
-indeed lost to you. But who knows? They may have fallen
-into the possession of some worthy man, who, when he learns
-that they belong to you, will hasten to restore them. You may
-yet see them again: live at least in that hope; and, in the
-meanwhile,' added he, giving him ten of his own doubloons,
-'take these, and come to me in a week from this time.' He
-then gave his name and address, and went out overwhelmed
-with confusion at the benedictions heaped upon him by
-Ambrosio, who could not find words to express his gratitude.
-Such, for the most part, are your generous actions: you would
-find little cause for admiration, could you but penetrate their
-motives.</p>
-
-<p>"At the week's end, Piquillo, mindful of what Don Pablos
-had said to him, went to his house. Bahabon received him
-kindly, and said to him: 'My friend, from the excellent
-character I everywhere hear of you, I have resolved to contribute
-all in my power to set you on your feet again: my
-interest and my purse shall not be wanting to effect this. As
-a beginning in the business,' he continued, 'what think you I
-have already done? I am intimate with several persons as
-much distinguished by their charity as their station: these I
-have sought; and I have so effectually inspired them with
-compassion for your situation, that I have collected from them
-two hundred crowns, which I am about to give you.' As he
-finished, he went into his cabinet, whence he returned in a
-moment with a linen bag, in which he had placed this sum
-in silver, and not in doubloons, for fear that the citizen, on
-receiving so many double-pistoles, should begin to suspect the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>
-truth; whereas, by this piece of management, he effectually
-secured his object, which was to make restitution in such a
-manner as might conciliate his reputation with his conscience.</p>
-
-<p>"Ambrosio, far from thinking that these crowns were a
-portion of his money restored, took them, in good faith, as
-the product of a collection made on his behalf; and, after
-repeatedly thanking Don Pablos for his kindness, he returned
-to his habitation, grateful to Heaven for having created a
-cavalier who took so much interest in his misfortunes.</p>
-
-<p>"On the following day he met one of his friends, who was
-in no better plight than himself, and who said to him: 'I leave
-Salamanca to-morrow, to set out for Cadiz, where I intend to
-embark in a vessel bound for New Spain. I have no great
-reason to be contented with my position here, and my heart
-tells me I shall be more fortunate in Mexico. If you will take
-my advice, you will go with me; that is, if you have but a
-hundred crowns.' 'I should not have much trouble to find
-two hundred,' replied Piquillo; 'and I would undertake this
-voyage willingly, were I sure to gain a living in the Indies.'
-Thereupon, his friend boasted of the fertility of New Spain,
-and represented to him so many ways of there enriching himself,
-that Ambrosio, yielding to his powers of persuasion, now
-thought of nothing but the necessary preparations for setting
-out with his friend to Cadiz. But before he left Salamanca,
-he took care to address a letter to Bahabon, informing him
-that, finding a promising opportunity of going to the Indies,
-he was anxious to profit by it, in order to see whether Fortune
-could be induced to smile more kindly on him in another
-country than in his own; that he took the liberty of stating
-this to him, assuring him that he should gratefully preserve
-during life the remembrance of his goodness.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>"The departure of Ambrosio somewhat annoyed Don
-Pablos, as it disconcerted the plan he had formed for discharging
-the debt he owed him. But, when he reflected
-that the poor citizen might in a few years return to Salamanca,
-he became gradually reconciled to what had happened,
-and applied himself more diligently than ever to
-master the complications of civil and ecclesiastical legalities.
-So great was the progress he made, as much by the powers
-of his mind and its aptitude for his profession, as by the application
-I have spoken of, that he became a shining light in the
-university, of which he was ultimately chosen rector. In this
-position he was not contented to sustain its dignity by the extent
-and solidity of his scientific acquirements; he searched so
-deeply into his own heart, that he acquired all those habits of
-virtue which constitute a man of worth.</p>
-
-<p>"During his rectorship, he learned that in one of the prisons
-of Salamanca there was a young man accused of rape. On
-hearing this, he remembered that Piquillo's son had carried off
-a woman by force. He therefore made inquiries as to this
-prisoner, and, finding that it was indeed the son of Ambrosio,
-he generously undertook his defence. What deserves most to
-be admired in the science of the law, Signor Student, is, that
-it furnishes arms for offence and defence equally; and as our
-rector was an adroit fencer with these deadly weapons, he used
-them to good effect on this occasion in favour of the accused.
-It is true, that he joined to his legal skill the interest of his
-friends, and the most pressing solicitation, which, probably, as
-in most cases, did more than all the rest.</p>
-
-<p>"The guilty youth, therefore, came out of this affair whiter
-than snow. On going to thank his liberator, the latter said to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>
-him: 'It is out of respect for your father that I have rendered
-you this service. I love him; and to give you a further proof
-of my affection for him, if you will live in this town, and here
-lead the life of an honest man, I will take care of your welfare;
-if, on the contrary, you desire, like Ambrosio, to seek your fortune
-in the Indies, you may reckon on fifty pistoles for your outfit:
-I present them to you.' The young Piquillo replied: 'Since
-I am honoured by the protection of your lordship, I should be
-wrong to quit a place where I enjoy so great an advantage. I
-will not leave Salamanca, and I promise you solemnly that
-I will conduct myself to your satisfaction.' On this assurance,
-the rector placed in his hands twenty pistoles, saying:
-'Take this, my friend; embrace some honest profession; employ
-your time well, and rely on it that I will not abandon
-you.'</p>
-
-<p>"Two months afterwards, it happened that the young Piquillo,
-who from time to time paid his respects to Don Pablos, one day
-appeared before him in tears. 'What ails you?' asked Bahabon.
-'Signor,' replied the son of Ambrosio, 'I have just heard news
-which cuts me to the soul. My father has been taken by a corsair
-of Algiers, and is at this moment in chains: an old Salamancan,
-lately returned from Barbary, where he was ten years
-in captivity, and whom the fathers of Mercy have redeemed,
-told me not an hour since that he had left Ambrosio in slavery.
-Alas!' he added, striking his breast and tearing his hair, 'wretch
-that I am! it was my infamous behaviour which reduced my
-father to the necessity of burying his money, and afterwards
-to leave his country! It is I who have delivered him to the
-barbarian who loads him with fetters. Ah! Signor Don Pablos,
-why did you shield me from the vengeance of the law? Since
-you love my father, you should have avenged him, and have
-suffered me to expiate, by an ignominious death, the crime o<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>f
-having caused all his misfortunes.'</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic02.png" width="264" height="193" alt="Piquillo's son before Bahabon" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"These exclamations, evidently betokening an erring mind's
-return to virtue, together with the natural expressions of the
-young Piquillo's sincere grief, greatly affected the rector. 'My
-child,' he said to him, 'I see with pleasure that you repent of
-your past transgressions. Dry up your tears: it is enough for
-me to know what has become of Ambrosio to give you assurance
-of beholding him again. His deliverance depends but on an
-easy ransom, which I shall cheerfully provide; and how great
-soever may have been the sufferings he has endured, I feel persuaded
-that on his return, to find in you a son restored to virtue,
-and filled with tenderness for him, he will not complain of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>the
-rigour of his destiny.'</p>
-
-<p>"Don Pablos, by this assurance, dismissed the son of Ambrosio
-with a lightened heart; and, a few days afterwards, he
-set out for Madrid. On his arrival in this capital, he placed in
-the hands of the fathers of Mercy a purse containing a hundred
-pistoles, to which was attached a label bearing these words:
-'This sum is given to the fathers of the Redemption, for the
-ransom of a poor citizen of Salamanca, named Ambrosio Piquillo,
-now captive in Algiers.' The good monks, in their recent voyage,
-acting in pursuance of the directions of the rector, did not
-fail to purchase Ambrosio, and you beheld him in that slave
-whose tranquil air excited your attention."</p>
-
-<p>"In my opinion," said Don Cleophas, "Bahabon has worthily
-repaid the debt he owed to this luckless citizen." "Don
-Pablos, however," replied Asmodeus, "thinks differently. He
-will not be contented until he has restored to him both principal
-and interest; the delicacy of his conscience even extends so far
-as to scruple at his retention of the wealth he has gained since
-he has become rector of the university; and when he sees Ambrosio,
-he intends saying to him: 'Ambrosio, my friend, do not
-regard me as your benefactor; you behold in me the scoundrel
-who disinterred the money you had buried in the wood. It is
-not enough that I restore to you the doubloons I robbed you
-of, since by their means it is that I have raised myself to the
-station I now enjoy: all that I possess belongs to you; I will
-retain so much alone as you shall please to&mdash;&mdash;'" Asmodeus
-suddenly stopped in his relation; a trembling seized him as
-he spoke, and an unearthly paleness overspread his visage.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic03.png" width="232" height="279" alt="The magician discovers Asmodeus's absence" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p>
-<p>"Why, what's the matter now?" exclaimed the Student;
-"what wonderful emotion agitates you thus, and chains your
-willing tongue?" "Ah! Signor Leandro," answered the
-Demon with tremulous voice, "what misery for me! The
-magician who kept me prisoned in my bottle, has discovered
-that I am absent without leave; and prepares e'en now such
-mighty spiritings, to call me back to his laboratory, as I must
-fain obey." "Alas!" exclaimed Zambullo, quite affected, "I
-am mortified beyond expression! What a loss am I abo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>ut
-to suffer! Must we, then, my dear Asmodeus, separate for
-ever?"</p>
-
-<p>"I trust not," replied the Devil. "The magician may require
-some office of my ministry; and if I have the fortune to
-assist him in his projects, perhaps, out of gratitude, he may
-restore me to liberty. Should that arrive, as I hope it may, rely
-on my rejoining you at once; on condition, however, that you
-reveal not to mortal ears what has this night passed between us.
-Should you be weak enough to confide this to any one, I warn
-you," continued Asmodeus emphatically, "that you will never
-see me more.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 154px;">
-<img src="images/ch20pic04.png" width="154" height="134" alt="Asmodeus embraces Zambullo" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"I have one consolation in leaving you," he resumed, "which
-is, that at least I have made your fortune. You will marry the
-lovely Seraphina, into whose bosom it has been my business to
-instil a doting passion for your lordship. The Signor Don Pedro
-de Escolano, too, has made up his mind to bestow her hand
-upon you: and do you take care not to let so splendid a gift
-escape your own. But, mercy on me!" he concluded, "I hear
-already the potent master who constrains me; all Hell resound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>s
-with the echoes of the fearful words pronounced by this redoubtable
-magician: I dare not stay a moment longer. Farewell, my
-dear Zambullo! We may meet again." As he ceased, he embraced
-Don Cleophas, and, after having dropped the Student
-in his own apartment on his way to the laboratory, disappeared.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
-<img src="images/tailpiecefoliate.png" width="100" height="62" alt="foliate cul-de-lampe" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
-<img src="images/headpiecefan.png" width="320" height="178" alt="Fan headpiece" />
-</div>
-
-<h5>CHAPTER XXI.</h5>
-
-
-<h4>OF THE DOINGS OF DON CLEOPHAS AFTER ASMODEUS HAD LEFT
-HIM; AND OF THE MODE IN WHICH THE AUTHOR OF THIS
-WORK HAS THOUGHT FIT TO END IT.</h4>
-
-
-<div class="figleft" style="width: 75px;">
-<img src="images/decinitialu.png" width="75" height="78" alt="U" />
-</div>
-
-<p>Upon the retreat of Asmodeus, the Student, feeling
-fatigued at having passed all the night upon his
-legs, and by the extraordinary bustle in which he
-had been occupied, undressed himself and went
-to bed. Agitated as his mind may be supposed to have been,
-it is no wonder that he lay for some time restless; but at last,
-paying with compound interest to Morpheus the tribute which
-all mortals owe to his sombre majesty, he fell into a deathlike
-sleep, in which he passed the whole of that day and the following
-night.</p>
-
-<p>Twenty-four hours had he been thus lost to the world, when
-Don Luis de Lujana, a young cavalier whom he numbered
-among his friends, entered his chamber, singing out lustily,
-"Hollo! Signor Don Cleophas, get up with you!" At this
-salutation, Zambullo awoke. "Are you aware," said Don Luis
-to him, "that you have been in bed since yesterday morning?"
-"Impossible!" exclaimed Leandro. "Not the less true for
-that," replied his friend; "twice have you slept the clock's dull
-round. All the inmates of the house assure me of this fact."</p>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p>
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 262px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic01.png" width="262" height="146" alt="Zambullo awakened by his friend" />
-</div>
-
-<p>The Student, astonished at the trance from which he emerged,
-feared at first that his adventures with Asmodeus were but an
-illusion. He could not, however, persist in this belief; and when
-he recalled to himself certain circumstances of his intercourse
-with the Demon, he soon ceased to doubt of its reality. But,
-to make assurance doubly sure, he rose, dressed himself quickly,
-and went out with Don Luis, whom he took, without saying why,
-in the direction of the Gate of the Sun. Arrived there, and
-perceiving the mansion of Don Pedro almost reduced to ashes,
-Don Cleophas feigned surprise. "What do I behold?" he
-cried. "What dreadful ravages has fire made here! To
-whom did this unlucky house belong, and when was it thus
-consumed?"</p>
-
-<p>Don Luis de Lujana, having replied to these two questions,
-thus continued: "This fire is less spoken of in the town on
-account of the great damage it has done, than for a circumstance
-which atte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>nded it, and of which I will tell you. The
-Signor Don Pedro de Escolano has an only daughter, who is
-lovely as the day: they say that she was in a room all filled
-with fire and smoke, in which it seemed certain she must
-perish; but that nevertheless her life was saved by a youthful
-cavalier, whose name I have not heard;&mdash;it forms the subject
-of conversation throughout Madrid. The young man's
-daring is lauded to the skies; and it is believed that, as a
-reward for his success, however humble my gentleman may
-be, he may well hope to gain a life interest in the daughter of
-the Don."</p>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez listened to Don Luis without appearing to
-take the slightest interest in what he heard; then getting rid
-of his friend, under some specious pretext, he gained the
-Prado, where, seating himself beneath a tree, he was soon
-plunged in a profound reverie. The Devil first came flitting
-through his mind. "Ah! my dear Asmodeus," he exclaimed,
-"I cannot too much regret you. You, in a moment, would
-have borne me round the world; and, with you, should I have
-journeyed without any of the usual devilries of travelling:
-gentle spirit, you are a loss indeed! But," he added a moment
-afterwards, "my loss, perhaps, is not quite irreparable: why
-should I despair of seeing the Demon again? It may fall out,
-as he himself suggested, that the magician will shortly restore
-him to freedom and to me." As the Devil left his mind the
-lady entered it; upon which he resolved at once to seek Don
-Pedro in his temporary abode, moved principally by curiosity
-to see the lovely Seraphina.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as he appeared before Don Pedro, that signor
-rushed towards him with open arms, and embracing him,
-exclaimed: "Welcome! generous cavalier, I began to feel
-angry at your absence. 'What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>!' said I, 'Don Cleophas,
-after the pressing invitation which I gave him to my house,
-still to shun my sight! He ill indeed repays the impatience
-of my soul to testify for him the friendship and esteem which
-fill it.'"</p>
-
-<p>Zambullo bowed respectfully at this kindly objurgation;
-and, in order to excuse his seeming coldness, replied to the
-old man, that he had feared to incommode him in the confusion
-which the event of the preceding day must have
-occasioned. "I cannot listen to such an excuse," resumed
-Don Pedro; "you can never be unwelcome in a house
-which but for your noble conduct would have been a house
-of mourning indeed. But," he added, "follow me, if you
-please; you have other thanks than mine to receive." And
-taking the Student's hand, he led him to the apartment of
-Seraphina.</p>
-
-<p>"My child," said Don Pedro, as he entered the room, where
-this lady was reposing from the noon-day heat, "I present
-to you the gentleman who so courageously saved your life.
-Show to him now, if you can, how deeply sensible you are of
-the obligation he conferred, since the danger from which he
-rescued you deprived you of the power to do so on the spot."
-On this, the Signora Seraphina, opening a mouth of roses to
-express the gratitude of her heart to Leandro Perez, paid him
-in compliments so warm and graceful, as would charm my
-readers as much as they did their blushing object, could I
-repeat each honeyed word; but as they have not been faithfully
-reported, I think it better to omit them altogether, than
-chance to spoil them by my own imperfect knowledge in such
-matters.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 233px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic02.png" width="233" height="277" alt="Seraphina thanks Zambullo" />
-</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p>
-<p>I will only say, that Don Cleophas thought he beheld and
-listened to some bright divinity, and that he was at once the
-victim of his eyes and ears. To say that he loved her, is a
-thing of course; but, far from regarding the beauteous form
-before him as a possession to which he might aspire, his heart
-foreboded, despite all that the Demon had assured him,
-that they would never pay at such a price the service they
-imagined him to have rendered. As her charms increased
-in their effect upon his mind, doubts, teasing doubts, came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>
-threatening to destroy the infant Hope, first-cherished child of
-Love.</p>
-
-<p>What completed his mystification on the subject, was, that
-Don Pedro during the lengthened conversation which ensued,
-not once e'en touched upon the tender theme; but contented
-himself with loading him with civilities, without hinting in the
-slightest degree that he had any desire for the honour of his
-relationship. Seraphina, too, as polite as her father, while she
-did not fail in expressions of the deepest gratitude, dropped
-no one word whose magic charm would serve Zambullo to
-conjure visions of wedding joys; so that our Student left the
-Signor Escolano and his daughter with Love as his companion,
-but leaving Hope behind him.</p>
-
-<p>"Asmodeus, my friend," he muttered as he walked along,
-as though the Devil still were by his side, "when you assured
-me that Don Pedro was disposed to adopt me as his son-in-law,
-and that Seraphina burned with passion lighted in her
-heart by you for me, it must have pleased you to make merry
-at my cost, or else you know as little of the present time as of
-that which is to come."</p>
-
-<p>He now regretted that he had ever seen the dangerous
-beauty; and looking on the love which filled his breast as an
-unhappy passion which he ought to stifle in its infancy, he
-resolved to set about it in earnest. He even reproached himself
-for having desired to gain his point, supposing he had
-found the father all disposed to give his daughter to him; and
-represented to himself that it would have been disgraceful
-to have owed his happiness to a deception like that he had
-projected.</p>
-
-<p>He was yet occupied with these reflections, when Don Pedro,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>
-having sent to seek him on the following day, said to him:
-"Signor Leandro Perez, it is time I proved to you by deeds,
-that in obliging me you have not to do with one of those who
-repay a benefit in courtly phrases. You saved my daughter:
-and I wish that she, herself, should recompense the peril you
-encountered for her sake. I have consulted Seraphina thereupon,
-and find her ready to obey my will; nay, I can say with
-pride, I recognized her for my child indeed when I proposed
-that she should give her hand to him who saved her life. She
-showed her joy by transports which at once convinced my soul
-her generosity responds to mine. It is settled therefore that
-you shall marry with my daughter."</p>
-
-<p>After having spoken thus, the good Signor de Escolano, who
-reasonably expected that Don Cleophas would have gone
-down on his knees to thank him for so great a boon, was
-sufficiently surprised to find him speechless, and displaying an
-evident embarrassment. "Speak, Zambullo!" he at length
-exclaimed. "What am I to infer from the confusion which my
-proposition to you has occasioned? What possible objection
-can you have? What! a private gentleman&mdash;although respectable&mdash;to
-refuse an alliance which a noble would have courted!
-Has then the honour of my house some blemish of which I am
-ignorant?"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 279px;">
-<img src="images/ch21pic03.png" width="279" height="331" alt="The marriage of Zambullo and Seraphina" />
-</div>
-
-<p>"Signor," replied Leandro, "I know too well the space that
-Heaven has set between us." "Why then," returned Don
-Pedro, "seem you to care so little for a marriage which does
-you so much honour? Confess! Don Cleophas, you love
-some maiden, and have pledged your faith; and it is your
-honour now which bars your road to fortune." "Had I," replied
-the Student, "a mistress to whom my vows had bound my
-future fate, it is not fortune that should bid me break them;
-but it is no such tie that now compels me to reject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> your
-proffered bounty. Honour, it is true, compels me to renounce
-the glorious destiny that you would tempt me with; but, far
-from seeking to abuse your kindness, I am about to un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span>deceive
-you to my own undoing. I am not the deliverer of
-Seraphina."</p>
-
-<p>"What do I hear!" exclaimed Don Pedro, in utter astonishment.
-"It was not you who rescued Seraphina from the flames
-which threatened her with instant death! It was not Don
-Cleophas who had the courage to risk his life to save her!"
-"No, Signor," replied Zambullo; "mortal man would have
-vainly essayed to shield her from her fate; learn that it was a
-devil to whom you owe your daughter's life."</p>
-
-<p>These words only increased the astonishment of Don Pedro,
-who, not conceiving that he was to understand them literally,
-entreated the Student to explain himself. Upon which
-Leandro, regardless of the loss of the Demon's friendship,
-related all that had passed between Asmodeus and himself.
-Having finished, the old man resumed, and said to Don
-Cleophas: "The confidence you have reposed in me confirms
-me in my design of giving you my daughter. You were her
-chief deliverer. Had you not thus intreated the Devil whom
-you speak of to snatch her from the death which menaced her,
-it is clear that he would have suffered her to perish. It is you
-then who preserved the life of Seraphina, which cannot be
-better devoted than to the happiness of your own. You
-deserve her; and I again offer you her hand with the half of
-my estate."</p>
-
-<p>Leandro Perez at these words, which removed all his conscientious
-scruples, threw himself at the feet of Don Pedro to
-thank him for his generosity. In a few weeks, the marriage
-was celebrated with a magnificence suitable to the espousal of
-the heir of the Signor de Escolano, and to the great satisfaction
-of the relations of our Student, who was thus amply repaid for
-the few hours' freedom he had procured for the Devi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>l on Two
-Sticks.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;">
-<img src="images/ch21tailpiece.png" width="125" height="127" alt="Tailpiece of Asmodeus in his bottle" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks, by 
-Alain-René Le Sage
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