Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote
Don Quixote de la Mancha, had taken his departure from this life, and
died of a natural death; that no other author, different from Cid Hamet
Benengeli, should falsely pretend to raise him from the dead, and write
endless histories of his achievements.
This was the end of that extraordinary gentleman of La Mancha, whose
birthplace Cid Hamet was careful to conceal, that all the towns and
villages of that province might contend for the honor of having produced
him, as did the seven cities of Greece for the glory of giving birth to
Homer. The lamentations of Sancho, the niece and the housekeeper, are
not here given, nor the new epitaphs on the tomb of the deceased knight,
except the following one, composed by Sampson Carrasco:--
Here lies the valiant cavalier,
Who never had a sense of fear:
So high his matchless courage rose,
He reckoned death among his vanquished foes.
Wrongs to redress, his sword he drew,
And many a caitiff giant slew;
His days of life though madness stained,
In death his sober senses he regained.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Rodrigo de Bivar, or the Cid, the national champion of
Spain.
[2] Some biographers have it that the house was in the Calle
de Leon, afterwards the royal asylum, and that his wife and
sister had belonged to the third order of St. Francis for
seven years before his death.
[3] Showing that Cervantes was familiar with the Bible as
well as Latin classics.
[4] Showing also his familiarity with AEsop.
[5] The king's morsel is better than the lord's bounty.
[6] Certain churches, with indulgences, appointed to be
visited, either for pardon of sins, or for procuring
blessings. Madmen, probably, in their lucid intervals, were
obliged to this exercise.
[7] "From a friend to a friend, a bug in the eye," is a
proverb applied to the false professions of friendship.
[8] Cervantes makes frequent use of Bible quotations.
[9] A Sicilian, native of Catania, who lived in the latter
part of the sixteenth century. He was commonly called
Pesce-cola, or Fish-Nicholas, and is said to have lived so
much in the water from his infancy, that he could cleave the
waters in the midst of a storm like a marine animal.
[10] _Zapateadores_: dancers that strike the soles of their
shoes with the palms of their hands, in time and measure.
[11] The phrase, _No quiero de tu capilla_, alludes to the
practice of friars, who, when charity is offered, hold out
their hoods to receive it, while they pronounce a refusal
with their tongues.
[12] The entire proverb is: "He whose father is mayor goes
safe to his trial."
[13] The proverb is: "To keep silence well is called
_Santo_."
[14] Jarvis's translation.
[15] Trunk-hose were prohibited by royal decree shortly
after the publication of _Don Quixote_.
[16] It was customary for men of quality to wear a veil or
mask depending from the covering worn on the head, in order
to shield the face from the sun.
University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.