第 39 页

Hearing this Dorothea said in a whisper to Cardenio, "Our landlordis almost fit to play a second part to Don Quixote."

"I think so," said Cardenio, "for, as he shows, he accepts it as acertainty that everything those books relate took place exactly asit is written down; and the barefooted friars themselves would notpersuade him to the contrary."

"But consider, brother, said the curate once more, "there neverwas any Felixmarte of Hircania in the world, nor any Cirongilio ofThrace, or any of the other knights of the same sort, that the booksof chivalry talk of; the whole thing is the fabrication andinvention of idle wits, devised by them for the purpose you describeof beguiling the time, as your reapers do when they read; for Iswear to you in all seriousness there never were any such knights inthe world, and no such exploits or nonsense ever happened anywhere."

"Try that bone on another dog," said the landlord; "as if I didnot know how many make five, and where my shoe pinches me; don't thinkto feed me with pap, for by God I am no fool. It is a good joke foryour worship to try and persuade me that everything these good bookssay is nonsense and lies, and they printed by the license of the Lordsof the Royal Council, as if they were people who would allow such alot of lies to be printed all together, and so many battles andenchantments that they take away one's senses."

"I have told you, friend," said the curate, "that this is done todivert our idle thoughts; and as in well-ordered states games ofchess, fives, and billiards are allowed for the diversion of those whodo not care, or are not obliged, or are unable to work, so books ofthis kind are allowed to be printed, on the supposition that, whatindeed is the truth, there can be nobody so ignorant as to take any ofthem for true stories; and if it were permitted me now, and thepresent company desired it, I could say something about thequalities books of chivalry should possess to be good ones, that wouldbe to the advantage and even to the taste of some; but I hope the timewill come when I can communicate my ideas to some one who may beable to mend matters; and in the meantime, senor landlord, believewhat I have said, and take your books, and make up your mind abouttheir truth or falsehood, and much good may they do you; and God grantyou may not fall lame of the same foot your guest Don Quixote haltson."

"No fear of that," returned the landlord; "I shall not be so madas to make a knight-errant of myself; for I see well enough thatthings are not now as they used to be in those days, when they saythose famous knights roamed about the world."

Sancho had made his appearance in the middle of this conversation,and he was very much troubled and cast down by what he heard saidabout knights-errant being now no longer in vogue, and all books ofchivalry being folly and lies; and he resolved in his heart to waitand see what came of this journey of his master's, and if it did notturn out as happily as his master expected, he determined to leave himand go back to his wife and children and his ordinary labour.

The landlord was carrying away the valise and the books, but thecurate said to him, "Wait; I want to see what those papers are thatare written in such a good hand." The landlord taking them outhanded them to him to read, and he perceived they were a work of abouteight sheets of manuscript, with, in large letters at the beginning,the title of "Novel of the Ill-advised Curiosity." The curate readthree or four lines to himself, and said, "I must say the title ofthis novel does not seem to me a bad one, and I feel an inclination toread it all." To which the landlord replied, "Then your reverence willdo well to read it, for I can tell you that some guests who haveread it here have been much pleased with it, and have begged it ofme very earnestly; but I would not give it, meaning to return it tothe person who forgot the valise, books, and papers here, for maybe hewill return here some time or other; and though I know I shall missthe books, faith I mean to return them; for though I am aninnkeeper, still I am a Christian."

"You are very right, friend," said the curate; "but for all that, ifthe novel pleases me you must let me copy it."

"With all my heart," replied the host.

While they were talking Cardenio had taken up the novel and begun toread it, and forming the same opinion of it as the curate, he beggedhim to read it so that they might all hear it.

"I would read it," said the curate, "if the time would not be betterspent in sleeping."

"It will be rest enough for me," said Dorothea, "to while away thetime by listening to some tale, for my spirits are not yet tranquilenough to let me sleep when it would be seasonable."

"Well then, in that case," said the curate, "I will read it, if itwere only out of curiosity; perhaps it may contain somethingpleasant."

Master Nicholas added his entreaties to the same effect, andSancho too; seeing which, and considering that he would givepleasure to all, and receive it himself, the curate said, "Wellthen, attend to me everyone, for the novel begins thus."

CHAPTER XXXIII

IN WHICH IS RELATED THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY"

IN Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy in the provincecalled Tuscany, there lived two gentlemen of wealth and quality,Anselmo and Lothario, such great friends that by way of distinctionthey were called by all that knew them "The Two Friends." They wereunmarried, young, of the same age and of the same tastes, which wasenough to account for the reciprocal friendship between them. Anselmo,it is true, was somewhat more inclined to seek pleasure in love thanLothario, for whom the pleasures of the chase had more attraction; buton occasion Anselmo would forego his own tastes to yield to those ofLothario, and Lothario would surrender his to fall in with those ofAnselmo, and in this way their inclinations kept pace one with theother with a concord so perfect that the best regulated clock couldnot surpass it.

Anselmo was deep in love with a high-born and beautiful maiden ofthe same city, the daughter of parents so estimable, and soestimable herself, that he resolved, with the approval of his friendLothario, without whom he did nothing, to ask her of them in marriage,and did so, Lothario being the bearer of the demand, and conductingthe negotiation so much to the satisfaction of his friend that in ashort time he was in possession of the object of his desires, andCamilla so happy in having won Anselmo for her husband, that shegave thanks unceasingly to heaven and to Lothario, by whose means suchgood fortune had fallen to her. The first few days, those of a weddingbeing usually days of merry-making, Lothario frequented his friendAnselmo's house as he had been wont, striving to do honour to himand to the occasion, and to gratify him in every way he could; butwhen the wedding days were over and the succession of visits andcongratulations had slackened, he began purposely to leave off goingto the house of Anselmo, for it seemed to him, as it naturally wouldto all men of sense, that friends' houses ought not to be visitedafter marriage with the same frequency as in their masters' bachelordays: because, though true and genuine friendship cannot and shouldnot be in any way suspicious, still a married man's honour is athing of such delicacy that it is held liable to injury from brothers,much more from friends. Anselmo remarked the cessation of Lothario'svisits, and complained of it to him, saying that if he had knownthat marriage was to keep him from enjoying his society as he used, hewould have never married; and that, if by the thorough harmony thatsubsisted between them while he was a bachelor they had earned sucha sweet name as that of "The Two Friends," he should not allow a titleso rare and so delightful to be lost through a needless anxiety to actcircumspectly; and so he entreated him, if such a phrase was allowablebetween them, to be once more master of his house and to come in andgo out as formerly, assuring him that his wife Camilla had no otherdesire or inclination than that which he would wish her to have, andthat knowing how sincerely they loved one another she was grieved tosee such coldness in him.

To all this and much more that Anselmo said to Lothario topersuade him to come to his house as he had been in the habit ofdoing, Lothario replied with so much prudence, sense, and judgment,that Anselmo was satisfied of his friend's good intentions, and it wasagreed that on two days in the week, and on holidays, Lotharioshould come to dine with him; but though this arrangement was madebetween them Lothario resolved to observe it no further than heconsidered to be in accordance with the honour of his friend, whosegood name was more to him than his own. He said, and justly, that amarried man upon whom heaven had bestowed a beautiful wife shouldconsider as carefully what friends he brought to his house as whatfemale friends his wife associated with, for what cannot be done orarranged in the market-place, in church, at public festivals or atstations (opportunities that husbands cannot always deny their wives),may be easily managed in the house of the female friend or relative inwhom most confidence is reposed. Lothario said, too, that everymarried man should have some friend who would point out to him anynegligence he might be guilty of in his conduct, for it will sometimeshappen that owing to the deep affection the husband bears his wifeeither he does not caution her, or, not to vex her, refrains fromtelling her to do or not to do certain things, doing or avoiding whichmay be a matter of honour or reproach to him; and errors of thiskind he could easily correct if warned by a friend. But where issuch a friend to be found as Lothario would have, so judicious, soloyal, and so true?

Of a truth I know not; Lothario alone was such a one, for with theutmost care and vigilance he watched over the honour of his friend,and strove to diminish, cut down, and reduce the number of days forgoing to his house according to their agreement, lest the visits ofa young man, wealthy, high-born, and with the attractions he wasconscious of possessing, at the house of a woman so beautiful asCamilla, should be regarded with suspicion by the inquisitive andmalicious eyes of the idle public. For though his integrity andreputation might bridle slanderous tongues, still he was unwillingto hazard either his own good name or that of his friend; and for thisreason most of the days agreed upon he devoted to some otherbusiness which he pretended was unavoidable; so that a great portionof the day was taken up with complaints on one side and excuses on theother. It happened, however, that on one occasion when the two werestrolling together outside the city, Anselmo addressed the followingwords to Lothario.

"Thou mayest suppose, Lothario my friend, that I am unable to givesufficient thanks for the favours God has rendered me in making me theson of such parents as mine were, and bestowing upon me with noniggard hand what are called the gifts of nature as well as those offortune, and above all for what he has done in giving me thee for afriend and Camilla for a wife- two treasures that I value, if not ashighly as I ought, at least as highly as I am able. And yet, withall these good things, which are commonly all that men need toenable them to live happily, I am the most discontented anddissatisfied man in the whole world; for, I know not how long since, Ihave been harassed and oppressed by a desire so strange and sounusual, that I wonder at myself and blame and chide myself when Iam alone, and strive to stifle it and hide it from my own thoughts,and with no better success than if I were endeavouring deliberately topublish it to all the world; and as, in short, it must come out, Iwould confide it to thy safe keeping, feeling sure that by this means,and by thy readiness as a true friend to afford me relief, I shallsoon find myself freed from the distress it causes me, and that thycare will give me happiness in the same degree as my own folly hascaused me misery."

The words of Anselmo struck Lothario with astonishment, unable as hewas to conjecture the purport of such a lengthy preamble; and thoughbe strove to imagine what desire it could be that so troubled hisfriend, his conjectures were all far from the truth, and to relievethe anxiety which this perplexity was causing him, he told him hewas doing a flagrant injustice to their great friendship in seekingcircuitous methods of confiding to him his most hidden thoughts, forbe well knew he might reckon upon his counsel in diverting them, orhis help in carrying them into effect.

"That is the truth," replied Anselmo, "and relying upon that Iwill tell thee, friend Lothario, that the desire which harasses meis that of knowing whether my wife Camilla is as good and as perfectas I think her to be; and I cannot satisfy myself of the truth on thispoint except by testing her in such a way that the trial may prove thepurity of her virtue as the fire proves that of gold; because I ampersuaded, my friend, that a woman is virtuous only in proportion asshe is or is not tempted; and that she alone is strong who does notyield to the promises, gifts, tears, and importunities of earnestlovers; for what thanks does a woman deserve for being good if noone urges her to be bad, and what wonder is it that she is reservedand circumspect to whom no opportunity is given of going wrong and whoknows she has a husband that will take her life the first time hedetects her in an impropriety? I do not therefore hold her who isvirtuous through fear or want of opportunity in the same estimation asher who comes out of temptation and trial with a crown of victory; andso, for these reasons and many others that I could give thee tojustify and support the opinion I hold, I am desirous that my wifeCamilla should pass this crisis, and be refined and tested by the fireof finding herself wooed and by one worthy to set his affectionsupon her; and if she comes out, as I know she will, victorious fromthis struggle, I shall look upon my good fortune as unequalled, Ishall be able to say that the cup of my desire is full, and that thevirtuous woman of whom the sage says 'Who shall find her?' hasfallen to my lot. And if the result be the contrary of what Iexpect, in the satisfaction of knowing that I have been right in myopinion, I shall bear without complaint the pain which my so dearlybought experience will naturally cause me. And, as nothing of all thouwilt urge in opposition to my wish will avail to keep me from carryingit into effect, it is my desire, friend Lothario, that thou shouldstconsent to become the instrument for effecting this purpose that Iam bent upon, for I will afford thee opportunities to that end, andnothing shall be wanting that I may think necessary for the pursuit ofa virtuous, honourable, modest and high-minded woman. And amongother reasons, I am induced to entrust this arduous task to thee bythe consideration that if Camilla be conquered by thee the conquestwill not be pushed to extremes, but only far enough to account thataccomplished which from a sense of honour will be left undone; thusI shall not be wronged in anything more than intention, and my wrongwill remain buried in the integrity of thy silence, which I knowwell will be as lasting as that of death in what concerns me. If,therefore, thou wouldst have me enjoy what can be called life, thouwilt at once engage in this love struggle, not lukewarmly norslothfully, but with the energy and zeal that my desire demands, andwith the loyalty our friendship assures me of."