In tan alta perficion
pregunta su Senoria,
que en doctor en theologia
nunca yo vi tal quistion.
He gives reasons for both opinions; the Admiral desires to know which opinion is the most probable, and then Fray Luys says, her grief was the greatest, and that he can prove it by twelve reasons. Of course D. Fadrique wishes to hear these reasons, and the Friar then strings together twelve stanzas, much in the style of the Siete Dolores, or our own Christmas Carol of the Seven Good Joys, . . a relic of Catholicism which I have often heard in my youth.
We have now a very long discussion upon Free Will, to which I thought there would be no end. The good Friar, who never loses an opportunity of giving good advice to the Admiral, or of paying him a handsome compliment, reminds him dexterously here of his exploit at Tordesillas.
