EPITAPH.
The bully that La Mancha deck’d
With spoils that shame the Cretan Jason,
Whose judgment ripe, and wit uncheck’d,
The trumpet of renown shall blazon;
That arm, whose valour did extend
To Gæta, from remote Cathay;
That muse which did the welkin rend
With verse which brazen plates display;
Who Amadis left far behind,
And deem’d Galaor a mere baby,
Whose valour with such lustre shin’d,
As shew’d ev’n Belianis shabby;
He that on Rozinante rode,
Now mingles with this clay-cold clod!

PANIGUADO, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, IN PRAISE OF DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO.

SONG.
The maid, you see, with cheeks so blouzy,
High-chested, vigorous, and frouzy,
Dulcinea, fam’d Toboso’s princess,
Don Quixote’s gen’rous flame evinces:
For her, on foot, he did explore
The sable mountain o’er and o’er,
Through many a weary field did halt,
And all through Rozinante’s fault.
Hard fate! that such a dame should die
In spite of him and chivalry;
That he whose deeds e’en stones proclaim,
Should mourn a disappointed flame!

CAPRICHOSO, A MOST INGENIOUS ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, IN PRAISE OF ROZINANTE, THE RENOWNED STEED OF DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.

On a proud trunk of Adamant,
Whose bloody branches smell’d of war,
La Mancha’s frantick wight did plant
His standard glitt’ring from afar.
There hung his arms; there gleam’d his sword,
That wont to level, hack, and hew;
Yet shall the wond’ring muse afford
For new exploits, a stile that’s new.
Let Gaul of Amadis be proud,
Greece boast the champions she hath bore;
Don Quixote triumphs o’er the crowd
Of all the warlike knights of yore:
For neither Gaul nor Greece can vie
With fam’d La Mancha’s chivalry.
Ev’n Rozinante wears the bay;
Let Brilladore and Bayard bray[126].

BURLADOR, AN ARGAMASILLAN ACADEMICIAN, ON SANCHO PANZA.

SONG.
Here Sancho view of body small,
But great in worth, in action clear,
The best and simplest squire of all
The world e’er saw, I vow and swear.
And earl he surely might have been,
Had not this knavish age of brass,
With insolence and envious spleen,
Conspir’d against him and his ass;
That ass, on which he gently trotted
At gentle Rozinante’s tail;
Vain man, with flatt’ring hope besotted,
How, in a dream, thy prospects fail!

CACHIDIABLO, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, ON THE SEPULTURE OF DON QUIXOTE.

EPITAPH.
On Rozinante’s back
The knight that whilome travell’d
Thro’ highway, path, and track,
Is here bemir’d and gravell’d:
And eke as stiff as he,
The block of Sancho Panza,
A trusty squire, perdie!
As ever mortal man saw.

TIQUITOCK, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, ON THE SEPULTURE OF DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO.

Here lies Dulcinea, once so plump,
But now her fat all melts away;
For death, with an inhuman thump,
Has turn’d her into dust and clay.
Of a true breed she surely sprung,
And wanted not external grace;
Quixote’s heart with love she stung,
And shone the glory of her race.

These were all the verses which could be read; the rest being worm-eaten, were delivered to an academician, that he might attempt to unravel their meaning by conjecture. This task we understand, he has performed with infinite pains and study, intending to publish them to the world, in expectation of the third sally of Don Quixote.

‘Forse altri canterà con miglior plettro.’

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.