New-York tribune., 1907-11-29
THE ORIGINAL OF "DoN JUAN"

Roth hrotbers that is to say, Don Fernando
Mendoza and Don Marino Aguado the actors ana
their sisters, the Duchess OF Ietuan anu Ho
Countess CT San Luis. are, as nave hehuoiieo
above the lineaI descendants of Don JUAN tHo
hero of Lord Byron's poem. and who mas rurhlsHeu
;rsnjroton 10 go many bards for the last two nun
dred wears His real name was Don Juan Mahafa
Y Mendoza, and he was born at SeNlle IN loGo' us
parents had shortly before moved from |ol'iO"
"a Seville They were very rich. The fortune OF
,ba Nsnaras had been amassed in the Orient. ana
was So considerable that when Don Matteo
Nanara Count de Leca, loaned his sovereign "
sunn equivalent Sl.0O000 of American money 'A
which loan official record exists to-day, he was
ahIe 70 ask the monarch whether he preferred I'D
have II In gold or silver 1t is needless to say
that the members OF the Manara family hao AoI
centuries marked their way with murder anu
draocbed II with blood, having been the terrors OF
husbands and lovers.
Tbe "Dop Juan of the poem had inherited all
the passions of his ancestors. together with ex-
traordinary comeness and wit and cunning. IL 10
unnecessary for to recall hero the shocking
record of his crimes of the women whom ne
ruined and OF the men whom he killed But at
last he met his fate. He was little over thirty
when he met for the first time and fell deeply
IN love with Girolima Mendoza, his second cousin
He married her. and five years their happiness
was complete. Then she sickened and died SO
Great was his grief that his mind gave way. and
he became haunted with all sorts of terrible
hallucinatons One day he met a funeral and at
tackled the mournerS, endeavornB 10 burst open
the coffin, insisting that Girolima had been put
into It alive. Another day woman having the
gait and figure of his wife passed him, and sud
denly taking hold of her he made her turn
briskly and then fell into q swoon crying, "Her
face is already a skeleton"
Finally his madness disappeared, and gave way
TO quiet and deep sadness. which led to his devot-
ing the remainder of his life 20 deeds of charity.
Indeed he founded that order OF the Brothers
OF Mercy, which exists this day for tho pur-
pose OF bringing comfort and relief to the destitute
and to the criminals. especially at the time OF
their death. 1t was he who took charge OF the
interment of all those who hsd been put TO death
by the law, else had died destitute. in many
cases burying them with his hands II
he. <oo who gave orders and directions for the
celebrated and frghtfu picture by Waldo Leal,
called THE Triumph Of Death which is in the
museum Madrid, and Of which Murio is said
to have remarked You cannot look at 1t without
having your handkerchief at hand When
he died, his own body, deprived of shroud and
coffin, according to his will. followed to the
grave he had dug for himself by a string of beg
gars. of cripples and of Sick whose voices ac-
cording to contemporaries seemed to cry to Heaven
for the forgiveness of the sins of his youth and
for the everlasting beatltude of a saint He had
one by his marriage with Grolima, who after
he became insane taken charge of by his
parents and those Of his wife. and 1t Ia frnn, this