by much reading and no little writing, now afflicts me severely. You must know, señor, that on my departure from the inn, I had with me a very handsome pair of spectacles, but this mischievous animal, instigated, no doubt, by some demon that possesses him, made five or six capers (I will not be certain about the precise number), but by one of them I was thrown into the river, from whence I escaped with a good ducking and the lose of my spectacles."

So saying, the poor fellow heaved a sigh, which seemed to come from his inmost soul; then, after a brief pause, he said," But without further delay, let us withdraw from this burning sunshine, to the cool shade of those broad spreading trees. There I may at least find a truce to the miseries which have this day beset me. We will tie the horse and mule to the trunks of the trees, and let them for a while feast on the grass which, in these parts, affords plentiful pasture for flocks and herds.'

"Be it so," said I, "and since fate ordains that I am to have the happiness of enjoying your company, here we will tarry until the ardour of Phoebus shall be tempered by the cool breezes of the coming evening."

"I have," pursued the bachelor, "brought with me a couple of books wherewith to divert the weary hours of travelling. Both of them contain pleasant entertainment. The one consists of spiritual poetry better than that of Cepeda.* The other is a book of plain prose; and is written with no great judgment or skill."

Having reached the umbrageous spot, where we proposed to rest, we tied up the horse and mule, and seated ourselves on our mother-earth. My companion then opened a leathern bag, which contained the books he had spoken of. The first he drew forth had for its title Versos espirituales para le convercion del pecador y para el menosprecio del mundo.†

"This is very sweet poetry," observed I, " and it is imbued with a truly Christian spirit. I knew the author of this book-he was a friar of the order of Santo Domingo de Predicadores, at Hueta, and his name was Pedro de Ezinas. He was a man of genius and much knowledge, as is shewn in this little work, and in many of his other writings, which are circulated in manuscript, and are much esteemed by the learned."

"Nevertheless," said the bachelor, "if I may candidly give my opinion, there is one thing which much offends me in this book. I dislike to see the graceful and pious language befitting to the Christian muse, mingled with the profane phraseology of heathenism. Who can be otherwise than displeased to find the names of God, of the Holy Virgin, and of the Prophets, in conjunction with those of Apollo and Daphne, Pan and Syrinx, Jupiter and Europa, Vulcan, Cupid, Venus and Mars?" He next proceeded to tell me that Father Ezinas, the author of the Versos espirituales, was himself very fastidious about matters much less objectionable; and he related how annoyed he was, whilst performing mass, by an old woman, who, whenever the Padre repeated the words Dominus vobiscum, devoutly muttered in a croaking voice, Alabado sea Dios.‡ Father Ezinas bore with this patiently, during several days, but at length finding that the venerable Celestina persisted in her devout con

* Cervantes here alludes to a little work entitled: "Conserva Espiritual,” by Joaquin Romero de Cepeda.

+"Spiritual verses for the conversion of the Sinner, and for shewing the worthlessness of the world."

"Praised be God."

tumacy, he turned to her angrily, saying: Truly, my good woman, you have spent your long life to little purpose, since you know not how to respond to a Dominus vobiscum, except by an Alabada sea Dios. Now do recollect that though these are very good and very holy words, yet they are unsuitable where you apply them.'

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"You are quite right, friend bachelor, in your remarks on the Versos espiritualos of Ezinas. The fault you have pointed out is very objectionable; but with the exception of that fault, the work is one of the best ever written in Castilian verse, and for elevation of style, it may fairly compete with the most esteemed writings of the poets of Italy." "Well," resumed the bachelor, "greatly as you admire the verses of Ezinas, I must confess that they are not so pleasing to me, nor do they sound so harmoniously to my ear, as those of an Aragonian writer, named Alonzo de la Sierra. The latter is a most admirable poet, and his verses seem as if dictated by Apollo and the Nine. But," pursued he, closing the volume of Ezinas, and drawing forth the other book from his leathern bag," here now is a word which, in my judgment, is not worth two ardites.* It is full of fooleries and absurdities ;-a tissue of extragant improbabilities:-in short, one of those works which have an injurious effect on the public taste." So saying, he turned over a few leaves of the book, and I, glancing my eye upon it, spied on one of the pages, the words:―el ingenioso hidalgo. For a moment I felt astounded, and like one, who, by a sudden surprise, is deprived of the power of utterance; but, soon recovering my presence of mind, I said :—

"Pardon me, Señor, this book which you declare to be full of absurdity and nonsense, is really very diverting; and instead of being injurious in its tendency, it is perfectly harmless. It is a pleasant relation of some very amusing adventures, and its author deserves to be commended, for having hit upon such a device for banishing from the republic of letters, the absurd books of knight-errantry, with their affected sentiment and bombastic phraseology. Moreover, the author of this book is bowed down by misfortunes more than by years; and though he looks forward with hope to the reward that may possibly hereafter crown his labours, yet he is nevertheless disheartened to see the world so pleased with folly and falsehood, and to witness the annoyances and hindrances thrown in the way of talent. In courts and in palaces, and among the great and the high born, it has become the fashion to disesteem men who follow the noble profession of letters; and no arguments that can be advanced against this misjudgment, are strong enough to remove it. The consequence is, that when by chance an author of talent gains any influence by his writings, he is speedily cried down, and his life becomes a course of vexation and disappointment.'

"Every one," said the bachelor, "does not regard books of chivalry as fictions and impostures, and their authors as the inventors of falsehoods and fooleries. Such books, though not approved by sages, are nevertheless admired and accredited by the mass of people. There are even men of wisdom and good understanding who put faith in the reality of the valorous achievements of the knights-errant, who sallied from their homes in quest of adventures; each devoutly repeating the name of the lady of his thoughts, and invoking her succour in the perils he was about to encounter,-perils voluntarily sought by men who could not behold a grievance without endeavouring to redress it, or a wrong The ardite is a small Spanish coin, of about the value of a farthing.

without attempting to right it. Would to heaven! (and these words he uttered with a sorrowful look,) that I could meet with some knight-errant who would undertake to right my wrong, I mean my hump, which is a grievance I should like to see redressed. But for that, and these ununshapely limbs, my shortness of stature, a superfluous length of nose, a peculiar stare in my eyes, and too great an expansion of mouth,-but for these trifles, I should be one of the most gallant-looking gentlemen in the world: none would be more admired by the ladies, or more envied by the men. My mother has often told me that when I was a little child I was the living likeness of my father. He was a brave soldier in the army of the invincible emperor. He served in the war in Flanders, where he fought in all the hottest battles and skirmishes. It happened one day that Captain Luis Quijada, who held a command in the Lombardy forces, perceiving my father partly concealed behind a tree, thought he was a spy, and ordered him to be seized. But my father excused himself, saying that he was watching the movements of the enemy's infantry, for he had learned from a wounded Flemish soldier (one of the heretics), that the enemy proposed, after a feigned retreat, to make a sudden assault on our camp at its weakest point. With this, and on the intercession of some soldiers, who knew my father to be a man of honour, Captain Luis Quijada pardoned him, on condition that at daybreak---"

"Stay-stay! Señor Licentiate," said I, "whither are you straying? You were speaking of the ingenious hidalgo, Don Quijote de la Mancha, and, after fluttering like a butterfly from flower to flower, you have wandered to the heroic deeds of your father in the Flanders war. Between the one subject and the other there is as much affinity as that existing between Mingo Rebulgo and Calaynos."*

To this the bachlor replied,- "Such as I am, God has made me. Aristotle, you know, condemns taciturn people, and the old proverb says against the silent man be on your guard.' Therefore I think it better to be talkative than taciturn."

"But, Señor," I resumed, "if you will do me the favour to listen (this I said, observing his loquacious disposition,) I would remind you of another of our old Spanish proverbs, which is al buen callar llaman sago. And there is another old saying, que dice el pandero no es todo vero.‡

Mingo Rebulgo is an old Spanish eclogue written to satirise the court of King John II. Its supposed author is Rodrigo de Cota, who flourished in the commencement of the fifteenth century. It is written in couplets, and is entitled "Las coplas de Mingo Rebulgo." The romance of the Moor Calaynos is one of the oldest compositions of its class, and is supposed to have been written in the fourteenth century. It is also in coplas, or couplets. In the course of time, and when the forms of Spanish poetry began to improve, the old fashioned commonplace language of the romance of Calaynos began to appear vulgar and trivial, and it gave birth to the proverb, "este no vale las coplas de Calaynos." (This is not worth the coplets of Calaynos.) A saying which is employed to mark great depreciation of any object. In alluding to the little affinity between Mingo Rebulgo and Calaynos, Cervantes means to draw a very broad contrast between two things not merely dissimilar, but differing very much in worth

Signifying that it is wise to know when to hold one's tongue. Sabio, and not sago, is the Spanish word meaning wise. But, in the proverb above quoted, sago is supposed to be a corruption of Sancho, and it is conjectured that in its original form the saying was al buen callar llaman Sancho:' which, literally construed, means, "he who knows when to be silent is called Sancho:" probably in allusion to King Don Sancho of Navarre, surnamed the Wise.

"The talk of the prattler is not all truth."

"Right," answered the bachelor, "and no doubt you have heard the proverb adando gana la aceña que no estandose queda.* Therefore, sir, with your good leave, I will relate to you how my father came to be made a captain."

"It happened one day during a violent onset with the Flemish troops, that he was going about the camp, seeking a convenient place wherein he might take refuge (this, you must know, was before I was born or even begotten), for he thought it would be well to preserve himself for greater deeds. Therefore, he was looking about for a place of safety, where, alike unobserved by the troops of the Spanish camp and by those of the League, he might save his life and person, as I have said, for greater things."

"Rather say for smaller things," interrupted I, "since he saved himself to become your father. Surely there is not in the whole world another man so little as yourself! Now, seeing that you are so very little, and that your father saved himself to beget you, how can it be said that he saved himself for greater things?"

To this my companion replied, that though he knew himself to be very little, yet that he was not so diminutive as some persons affected to think him.

"But," added he, pursuing his story, "you must know that my father was going about the camp in the way I have described, and seeing that the two wings of the Imperial army were hotly engaged with the enemy, he felt impelled to lay his hand on his sword; a trusty weapon which, though it had been unsheathed, and had seen daylight on several occasions of urgent necessity, yet, on all those occasions, it had modestly shrunk back into the scabbard unstained with hostile blood. To tell all my father's valorous deeds in the battle, would be a long and tedious tale; but the sum of his prowess is well known to fame in my native place, Villar del Olmo, and its environs. Laden with upwards of thirty heads of the heretics whom he had slain, he presented himself, after the victory, to the illustrious emperor, who was, at that moment, engaged in dictating to his maestre de campo, Alonzo Vivas, the three notable words of Julius Cæsar, which he repeated in Spanish, altering the third, as became a Christian prince, in this wise,— Vine, vi y Dios vincio.' The emperor, elated with his victory, and thinking it a fitting time to distribute rewards, conferred on my father the rank of captain. And though there were not wanting malicious tongues to declare that my father had cut off the heads of dead bodies, as they lay on the field of battle, yet nevertheless he was made a captain, in spite of the murmurs of envious slanderers, who are at all times ready to disturb the peace of the community; and, in truth, whether my father's merits were great or small, he did not think it advisable to make them a matter of dispute."

Now," said I," since you have at length brought your story to an end, we will again turn to this book, called 'Don Quijote.' You say it is full of absurdities and nonsense, but I do assure you that some who have read it, pronounce it to be as entertaining as any work ever written in Spain, and they affirm that it is full of humour and truth. True, it is sailing with no very fair wind over the stormy ocean of criticism; which is only one of the many misfortunes that assail its author; but this tardiness of the learned to approve this work, may possibly redound to its future fame and glory."

"The mill gains in going what it loses in standing still."

ARCHDUKE STEPHEN, PALATINE OF HUNGARY.

THE present Palatine of Hungary, Archduke Stephen, was unanimously chosen by the grateful Hungarians to succeed his father, the Archduke Charles, for whom they entertained the greatest respect.

No

The Palatine is not more than thirty years of age; he inherits the courage, as well as the energy, of his father, certainly two of the most essential qualities in the government of a warlike people. His education has admirably adapted him for his exalted position; he was brought up with the young nobles of his own rank, and has acquired, from the intellectual equality which youth ever establishes at school, that confidence in himself which is totally free from presumption, and which may be considered one of the chief advantages of public education. His character is rather of a grave cast; this may probably be natural to him, or may have been produced by his anxiety about the fate of the country over which he rules, so closely united as it is to his own. man, however, is worthy of governing a people who does not feel the responsibility he has undertaken, and who does not duly estimate the awful power which is placed in his hands of doing either much good or evil. All great Kings, except, perhaps, Henry IV. of France, who was somewhat the soldier of fortune, were, or have become, thoughtful amidst the cares of a throne. The conversation of the young Archduke soon turns upon affairs of importance; he speaks five or six languages with the extraordinary facility of the Hungarian, besides Latin, not long ago the official language of the country, and the numerous dialects of the several races of people under his dominion. He is continually seeking to extend his information, which is very various; he eagerly questions foreigners about their own country, and endeavours, as far as possible, to elicit their opinion about Hungary: he seems impatient to introduce at once all the improvements which he hears mentioned. Formerly, a prince was only required to be a good general, but, in the present day, he must be something more; he must be a good orator, a good statesman, and a good legislator and economist. The mind may probably lose somewhat of its firmness by being diverted into so many channels; empire is acquired and maintained by qualities very different from those which would gain academical honours. Amongst a warlike people, who remember the time when their supreme diets were held on horseback in the plains of Rakos, astonishing feats of the body are highly extolled, and in these achievements the young Palatine is by no means behind his companions. Our fathers considered a certain skill in horsemanship and other manly exercises as a graceful finish to a gentleman's education, but these accomplishments have long since been deemed unimportant; and, when we hear of the extraordinary feats of some bold cavalier or hardy hunter in the present day, we are rather in the habit of thinking that his prowess has been purchased at the expense of the cultivation of his mind.

In Hungary as much care is taken to develop the bodily strength as the mental faculties; both are equally disciplined. Vesselény, the great political agitator in Hungary, owed his popularity quite as much to his prodigious strength as to his eloquence. One day, when disputing some point, he found himself completely overcome by the argu

VOL. XXIV.

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