"These three books," said the curate, "are the best that have been written in Castilian in heroic verse, and they may compare with the most famous in Italy; let them be preserved as the richest treasures of poetry that Spain possesses."
The curate was tired and would not look into any more books, and so he decided that, "contents uncertified," all the rest should be burned; but just then the barber held open one, called "The Tears of Angelica."
"I should have shed tears myself," said the curate when he heard the title, "had I ordered that book to be burned, for its author was one of the famous poets of the world, not to say of Spain, and was very happy in the translation of some of Ovid's fables."[1]
CHAPTER VII.
OF THE SECOND SALLY OF OUR WORTHY KNIGHT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA.
At this instant Don Quixote began shouting out, "Here, here, valiant knights! here is need for you to put forth the might of your strong arms, for they of the Court are gaining the mastery in the tourney!" Called away by this noise and outcry, they proceeded no farther with the scrutiny of the remaining books, and so it is thought that "The Carolea," "The Lion of Spain," and "The Deeds of the Emperor," written by Don Luis de Ávila, went to the fire unseen and unheard; for no doubt they were among those that remained, and perhaps if the curate had seen them they would not have undergone so severe a sentence."[2]
- ↑ The anti-climax here almost equals that famous one of Waller's:
"Under the tropic is our language spoke,
And part of Flanders hath received our yoke."The book referred to was entitled simply the Angelica by Luis Barahona de Soto (Madrid, 1586). In his praise of this poem we have one more instance of Cervantes' loyalty to a friend getting the better of his critical judgment.
- ↑ The books referred to are the Carolea of Geronimo Sempere (1560), which deals with the victories of Charles V.; the Leon de España, by Pedro de la Vezilla, a poem on the history of the city of Leon; and, probably, the Carlo Famoso of Louis Zapata, for there is no book known with the title of The Deeds of the Emperor, and the work of Avila is simply a prose commentary on the wars against the Protestants of Germany.
