"Item, I entreat the aforesaid gentlemen my executors, that, ifany happy chance should lead them to discover the author who is saidto have written a history now going about under the title of 'SecondPart of the Achievements of Don Quixote of La Mancha,' they beg of himon my behalf as earnestly as they can to forgive me for having been,without intending it, the cause of his writing so many and suchmonstrous absurdities as he has written in it; for I am leaving theworld with a feeling of compunction at having provoked him to writethem."
With this he closed his will, and a faintness coming over him hestretched himself out at full length on the bed. All were in a flutterand made haste to relieve him, and during the three days he livedafter that on which he made his will he fainted away very often. Thehouse was all in confusion; but still the niece ate and thehousekeeper drank and Sancho Panza enjoyed himself; for inheritingproperty wipes out or softens down in the heir the feeling of griefthe dead man might be expected to leave behind him.
At last Don Quixote's end came, after he had received all thesacraments, and had in full and forcible terms expressed hisdetestation of books of chivalry. The notary was there at the time,and he said that in no book of chivalry had he ever read of anyknight-errant dying in his bed so calmly and so like a Christian asDon Quixote, who amid the tears and lamentations of all presentyielded up his spirit, that is to say died. On perceiving it thecurate begged the notary to bear witness that Alonso Quixano the Good,commonly called Don Quixote of La Mancha, had passed away from thispresent life, and died naturally; and said he desired this testimonyin order to remove the possibility of any other author save CideHamete Benengeli bringing him to life again falsely and makinginterminable stories out of his achievements.
Such was the end of the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha, whosevillage Cide Hamete would not indicate precisely, in order to leaveall the towns and villages of La Mancha to contend among themselvesfor the right to adopt him and claim him as a son, as the seven citiesof Greece contended for Homer. The lamentations of Sancho and theniece and housekeeper are omitted here, as well as the new epitaphsupon his tomb; Samson Carrasco, however, put the following lines:
A doughty gentleman lies here;
A stranger all his life to fear;
Nor in his death could Death prevail,
In that last hour, to make him quail.
He for the world but little cared;
And at his feats the world was scared;
A crazy man his life he passed,
But in his senses died at last.
And said most sage Cide Hamete to his pen, "Rest here, hung up bythis brass wire, upon this shelf, O my pen, whether of skilful make orclumsy cut I know not; here shalt thou remain long ages hence,unless presumptuous or malignant story-tellers take thee down toprofane thee. But ere they touch thee warn them, and, as best thoucanst, say to them:
Hold off! ye weaklings; hold your hands!
Adventure it let none,
For this emprise, my lord the king,
Was meant for me alone.For me alone was Don Quixote born, and I for him; it was his to act,mine to write; we two together make but one, notwithstanding and inspite of that pretended Tordesillesque writer who has ventured orwould venture with his great, coarse, ill-trimmed ostrich quill towrite the achievements of my valiant knight;- no burden for hisshoulders, nor subject for his frozen wit: whom, if perchance thoushouldst come to know him, thou shalt warn to leave at rest where theylie the weary mouldering bones of Don Quixote, and not to attempt tocarry him off, in opposition to all the privileges of death, to OldCastile, making him rise from the grave where in reality and truthhe lies stretched at full length, powerless to make any thirdexpedition or new sally; for the two that he has already made, so muchto the enjoyment and approval of everybody to whom they have becomeknown, in this as well as in foreign countries, are quite sufficientfor the purpose of turning into ridicule the whole of those made bythe whole set of the knights-errant; and so doing shalt thou dischargethy Christian calling, giving good counsel to one that bearsill-will to thee. And I shall remain satisfied, and proud to have beenthe first who has ever enjoyed the fruit of his writings as fully ashe could desire; for my desire has been no other than to deliverover to the detestation of mankind the false and foolish tales ofthe books of chivalry, which, thanks to that of my true Don Quixote,are even now tottering, and doubtless doomed to fall for ever.Farewell."
-THE END-
DEDICATION OF PART II
TO THE COUNT OF LEMOS:
THESE days past, when sending Your Excellency my plays, that hadappeared in print before being shown on the stage, I said, if Iremember well, that Don Quixote was putting on his spurs to go andrender homage to Your Excellency. Now I say that "with his spurs, heis on his way." Should he reach destination methinks I shall haverendered some service to Your Excellency, as from many parts I amurged to send him off, so as to dispel the loathing and disgust causedby another Don Quixote who, under the name of Second Part, has runmasquerading through the whole world. And he who has shown thegreatest longing for him has been the great Emperor of China, whowrote me a letter in Chinese a month ago and sent it by a specialcourier. He asked me, or to be truthful, he begged me to send himDon Quixote, for he intended to found a college where the Spanishtongue would be taught, and it was his wish that the book to be readshould be the History of Don Quixote. He also added that I should goand be the rector of this college. I asked the bearer if His Majestyhad afforded a sum in aid of my travel expenses. He answered, "No, noteven in thought."
"Then, brother," I replied, "you can return to your China, posthaste or at whatever haste you are bound to go, as I am not fit for solong a travel and, besides being ill, I am very much without money,while Emperor for Emperor and Monarch for Monarch, I have at Naplesthe great Count of Lemos, who, without so many petty titles ofcolleges and rectorships, sustains me, protects me and does me morefavour than I can wish for."
Thus I gave him his leave and I beg mine from you, offering YourExcellency the "Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda," a book I shallfinish within four months, Deo volente, and which will be either theworst or the best that has been composed in our language, I mean ofthose intended for entertainment; at which I repent of having calledit the worst, for, in the opinion of friends, it is bound to attainthe summit of possible quality. May Your Excellency return in suchhealth that is wished you; Persiles will be ready to kiss your handand I your feet, being as I am, Your Excellency's most humble servant.From Madrid, this last day of October of the year one thousand sixhundred and fifteen.
At the service of Your Excellency:
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE
GOD bless me, gentle （or it may be plebeian） reader, how eagerlymust thou be looking forward to this preface, expecting to findthere retaliation, scolding, and abuse against the author of thesecond Don Quixote- I mean him who was, they say, begotten atTordesillas and born at Tarragona! Well then, the truth is, I am notgoing to give thee that satisfaction; for, though injuries stir upanger in humbler breasts, in mine the rule must admit of an exception.Thou wouldst have me call him ass, fool, and malapert, but I have nosuch intention; let his offence be his punishment, with his breadlet him eat it, and there's an end of it. What I cannot help takingamiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if ithad been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if theloss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not onthe grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the futurecan hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye,they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who knowwhere they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantagedead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this myfeeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibilityfor me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, thanbe free from my wounds this minute without having been present atit. Those the soldier shows on his face and breast are stars thatdirect others to the heaven of honour and ambition of meritedpraise; and moreover it is to be observed that it is not with greyhairs that one writes, but with the understanding, and that commonlyimproves with years. I take it amiss, too, that he calls me envious,and explains to me, as if I were ignorant, what envy is; for reallyand truly, of the two kinds there are, I only know that which is holy,noble, and high-minded; and if that be so, as it is, I am not likelyto attack a priest, above all if, in addition, he holds the rank offamiliar of the Holy Office. And if he said what he did on accountof him on whose behalf it seems he spoke, he is entirely mistaken; forI worship the genius of that person, and admire his works and hisunceasing and strenuous industry. After all, I am grateful to thisgentleman, the author, for saying that my novels are more satiricalthan exemplary, but that they are good; for they could not be thatunless there was a little of everything in them.
I suspect thou wilt say that I am taking a very humble line, andkeeping myself too much within the bounds of my moderation, from afeeling that additional suffering should not be inflicted upon asufferer, and that what this gentleman has to endure must doubtless bevery great, as he does not dare to come out into the open field andbroad daylight, but hides his name and disguises his country as ifhe had been guilty of some lese majesty. If perchance thou shouldstcome to know him, tell him from me that I do not hold myselfaggrieved; for I know well what the temptations of the devil are,and that one of the greatest is putting it into a man's head that hecan write and print a book by which he will get as much fame as money,and as much money as fame; and to prove it I will beg of you, inyour own sprightly, pleasant way, to tell him this story.