as Sancho calls them, without being consumed in the elemental fire; and, therefore, since we escaped those flames, certainly we did not soar so high, and Sancho either lies or dreams."-" I neither lie nor dream," replied Sancho. "Uds precious! I can tell you the marks and colour of every goat among them: If you do not believe me, do but ask and try me. You will easily see whether I speak truth or no."-" Well," said the duchess, "pr'ythee tell me, Sancho."— "Look you," answered Sancho," there were two of them green, two carnation, two blue, and one party-coloured.”—“Truly,” said the duke, “ that is a new kind of goats you have found out, Sancho; we have none of those colours upon earth."-"Sure, sir," replied Sancho, " you will make some sort of difference between heavenly she-goats and the goats of this world ?"-" But, Sancho," said the duke, "among these she-goats, did you never see a he?* Not one horned beast of the masculine gender ?""Not one, sir, I saw no other horned thing but the moon; and I have been told that neither he-goats, nor any other cornuted tups are suffered to lift their horns beyond those of the moon." They did not think fit to ask Sancho any more questions about his airy voyage; for, in the humour he was in, they judged he would not stick to ramble all over the heavens, and tell them news of whatever was doing there, though he had not stirred out of the garden all the while. * Cab ron: A jest on the double meaning of that word, which signifies both a he-goat and a cuckold. Thus ended, in short, the adventure of the Disconsolate Matron, which afforded sufficient sport to the duke and duchess, not only for the present, but for the rest of their lives; and might have supplied Sancho with matter of talk from generation to generation, for many ages, could he have lived so long. "Sancho," said Don Quixote, whispering him in the ear, "since thou wouldst have us believe what thou hast seen in heaven, I desire thee to believe what I saw in Montesinos's cave. Not a word more." CHAPTER XLII. The Instructions which Don Quixote gave Sancho Panza before he went to the Government of his Island, with other matters of moment. THE satisfaction which the duke and duchess received by the happy success of the adventure of the Disconsolate Matron, encouraged them to carry on some other pleasant project, since they could, with so much ease, impose upon the credulity of Don Quixote and his squire. Having therefore given instructions to their servants and vassals how to behave themselves towards Sancho in his government, the day after the scene of the wooden horse, the duke bid Sancho prepare, and be in readiness to take possession of his government; for now his islanders wished as heartily for him, as they did for rain in a dry summer. Sancho made a humble bow, and, looking demurely on the duke, "Sir," quoth he," since I came down from heaven, whence I saw the earth so very small, I am not half so hot as I was for being a governor. For what greatness can there be in being at the head of a puny dominion, that is but a little nook of a tiny mustard-seed ? and what dignity and power can a man be reckoned to have, in governing half-a-dozen men no bigger than hazle-nuts? For I could not think there were any more in the whole world. No, if your grace would throw away upon me never so little a corner in heaven, though it were but half a league, or so, I would take it with better will than I would the largest island on earth."-" Friend Sancho," answered the duke, "I cannot dispose of an inch of heaven; for that is the province of God alone: but what I am able to bestow I give you; that is, an island tight and clever, round and well proportioned, fertile and plentiful to such a degree, that if have but the art and understanding to manage things right, you may hoard there both of the treasures of this world, and the next." you "Well then," quoth Sancho, " let me have this island, and I will do my best to be such a governor, that, in spite of rogues, I shall not want a small nook in heaven one day or other. It is not out of covetousness neither, that I would leave my little cot, and set up for somebody, but merely to know what kind of thing it is to be a governor."-" Oh! Sancho," said the duke, "when once you have had a taste of it, you will never leave licking your fingers, it is so sweet and bewitching a thing to command and be obeyed. I am confident, when your master comes to be an emperor (as he cannot fail to be, according to the course of his affairs) he will never, consideration, be persuaded to abdicate; his only grief will be, that he was one no sooner.” by any "Troth, sir," replied Sancho, "I am of your mind; it is a dainty thing to command, though it were but a flock of sheep."—" Oh! Sancho,” cried the duke, "let me live and die with thee: For thou hast an insight into every thing. I hope thou wilt prove as good a governor as thy wisdom bespeaks thee. But no more at this time, -to-mor row, without further delay, you set forward to your island, and shall be furnished this afternoon with equipage and dress answerable to your post, and all other necessaries for your journey." "Let them dress me as they will," quoth Sancho, "I shall be the same Sancho Panza still."—" That is true," said the duke, " yet every man ought to wear clothes suitable to his place and dignity; for a lawyer should not go dressed like a soldier, nor a soldier like a priest. As for you, Sancho, you are to wear the habit both of a captain and a civil magistrate; so your dress shall be a compound of those two; for in the government that I bestow on you, arms are as necessary as learning, and a man of letters as requisite as a swordsman."-" Nay, as for letters," quoth Sancho, "I cannot say much for myself: For as yet I scarce know my A, B, C ; but yet, if I can but remember my Christ's-cross, * * He means the Christ's-cross-row; so called from the cross being put at the beginning of the A, B, C. it is enough to make me a good governor: As for my arms, I will not quit my weapon as long as I can stand, and so heaven be our guard !”—“ Sancho cannot do amiss," said the duke, " while he remembers these things." By this time Don Quixote arrived, and hearing how suddenly Sancho was to go to his government, with the duke's permission, he took him aside to give him some good instructions for his conduct in the discharge of his office. Being entered Don Quixote's chamber, and the door shut, he almost forcibly obliged Sancho to sit by him; and then, with a grave and deliberate voice, he thus began: "I give heaven infinite thanks, friend Sancho, that, before I have the happiness of being put in possession of my hopes, I can see thine already crowned: Fortune hastening to meet thee with thy wishes. I, who had assigned the reward of thy services upon my happy success, am yet but on the way to preferment; and thou, beyond all reasonable expectation, art arrived. at the aim and end of thy desires. Some are assiduous, solicitous, importunate, rise early, bribe, entreat, press, will take no denial, obstinately persist in their suit, and yet at last never obtain it. Another comes on, and, by a lucky hit or chance, bears away the prize, and jumps into the preferment which so many had pursued in vain; which verifies the saying, 'The happy have their days, and those they choose; |