Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-01-08
LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENT OF
DON QUIxOTE DE LA MANCHA.
CHAPTER I.
The Quality and Way Of Liring Of Don
QuirOte.

The Quality and Way Of Liring Of Don
QuirOte.
In certain village in La Mancha. in
the kingdom oflArragon, of which l can
not remember the name, there lived not
long ago one of those old-fashioned
gentlemen, who are never without a lance
upon rack, an old target, lean horse.
and greyhound. His diet consisted
more of beef than mutton: and with
minced meat on most nights, lentles on
Fridays, and pigeon extraordinary on
Sundays, he consumed three-quarters of
his revenue; the rest was laid out in a
plush coat, velvet brooches, with slippers
of the same, for holidays and suit of
the very best homespun cloth, which he
bestowed on himself for working days.
His whole family was hOuse-keeper
something turned of forty, niece not
twenty, and man that served him in
the house and in the field, and could sad
die horse, and handle the pruning hook
The master himself was nigh fifty years
of age, of hale and strong complexion,
lean-bodied and thin-faced, an early riser,
and lover of hunting. Some say his
sirname was QuiXada, or Quesada (for
authors differ in this particularly how
ever we may reasonably conjecture, he
was called Quixeda q. e. lantern aws) ,
though this concerns us but little, pro-
vided we keep strictly to the truth in ev-
cry point of this history.
Be it known, then, that when our
gentleman had nothing to do (Which was
almost all the year round) he passed his
time in reading books of knight-errantry
which he did with that application and
delight, that at last he in Il manner Who'll
ly left off his country sports, and even
the care of his estate; nay, he grew so
ments, that he sold many acres of land to
purchase books of that kind, by which
means he collected as many of them as
he could; but none pleased him like the
works of the famous FelicineO del Sylvia
for the brilliancy of his prose, and those
sntricate expressions with which it is in
terlaced seemed to him so many pearls of
eloquence, especially when he came to
read the love-addresses and challenges
many of them in this extraordinary style
"The reason of your unreasonable usage
of my reason does so enfeeble my reason,
that | have reason to eXpostulate with
your beauty" And this, "The sublime
heavens, which with your divinity
divinely fortify you with the stars,
and fix you the OBSERVER of the desert
that is deserved by your grandeur
These and such-like rhapsodies, strange
ly puzzled the poor gentleman's under
standing, while he was racking his brain
to unravel their meaning, which Aristotle
himself could never have found, though
he should have been raised from the deaC
for that very purpose.
He did not so we'll like those dreadful
wounds which Don Belianis gave and re
ceived; for he considered that all the ar
of surgery could never secure his face
and body from being strangely distigurec
with scars. However, he highly com
mended the author for concluding hi
book with promise to finish that unfin
ishable adventure; and many times h
had desire to put pen to paper, anC
literally finish it himself; which he haC
certainly done, and doubtless with goo'
success, had not his thoughts been Who'll
ly engrossed in much more importan
designs.
He would often dispute with the Gu
rate of the parish, a man of learning
that had taken his degree at Giguenza
as to which was the better knight, Pal
merin of England, or Amadis de Gaul