PART I - CHAPTER VI.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　OF THE DIVERTING AND IMPORTANT SCRUTINY WHICH THE CURATE AND THE BARBERMADE IN THE LIBRARY OF OUR INGENIOUS GENTLEMANHe was still sleeping; so the curate asked the niece for the keys of theroom where the books, the authors of all the mischief, were, and rightwillingly she gave them. They all went in, the housekeeper with them, andfound more than a hundred volumes of big books very well bound, and someother small ones. The moment the housekeeper saw them she turned aboutand ran out of the room, and came back immediately with a saucer of holywater and a sprinkler, saying, "Here, your worship, senor licentiate,sprinkle this room; don't leave any magician of the many there are inthese books to bewitch us in revenge for our design of banishing themfrom the world."The simplicity of the housekeeper made the licentiate laugh, and hedirected the barber to give him the books one by one to see what theywere about, as there might be some to be found among them that did notdeserve the penalty of fire."No," said the niece, "there is no reason for showing mercy to any ofthem; they have every one of them done mischief; better fling them out ofthe window into the court and make a pile of them and set fire to them;or else carry them into the yard, and there a bonfire can be made withoutthe smoke giving any annoyance." The housekeeper said the same, so eagerwere they both for the slaughter of those innocents, but the curate wouldnot agree to it without first reading at any rate the titles.The first that Master Nicholas put into his hand was "The four books ofAmadis of Gaul." "This seems a mysterious thing," said the curate, "for,as I have heard say, this was the first book of chivalry printed inSpain, and from this all the others derive their birth and origin; so itseems to me that we ought inexorably to condemn it to the flames as thefounder of so vile a sect.""Nay, sir," said the barber, "I too, have heard say that this is the bestof all the books of this kind that have been written, and so, assomething singular in its line, it ought to be pardoned.""True," said the curate; "and for that reason let its life be spared forthe present. Let us see that other which is next to it.""It is," said the barber, "the 'Sergas de Esplandian,' the lawful son ofAmadis of Gaul.""Then verily," said the curate, "the merit of the father must not be putdown to the account of the son. Take it, mistress housekeeper; open thewindow and fling it into the yard and lay the foundation of the pile forthe bonfire we are to make."The housekeeper obeyed with great satisfaction, and the worthy"Esplandian" went flying into the yard to await with all patience thefire that was in store for him."Proceed," said the curate."This that comes next," said the barber, "is 'Amadis of Greece,' and,indeed, I believe all those on this side are of the same Amadis lineage.""Then to the yard with the whole of them," said the curate; "for to havethe burning of Queen Pintiquiniestra, and the shepherd Darinel and hiseclogues, and the bedevilled and involved discourses of his author, Iwould burn with them the father who begot me if he were going about inthe guise of a knight-errant.""I am of the same mind," said the barber."And so am I," added the niece."In that case," said the housekeeper, "here, into the yard with them!"They were handed to her, and as there were many of them, she sparedherself the staircase, and flung them down out of the window."Who is that tub there?" said the curate."This," said the barber, "is 'Don Olivante de Laura.'""The author of that book," said the curate, "was the same that wrote 'TheGarden of Flowers,' and truly there is no deciding which of the two booksis the more truthful, or, to put it better, the less lying; all I can sayis, send this one into the yard for a swaggering fool.""This that follows is 'Florismarte of Hircania,'" said the barber."Senor Florismarte here?" said the curate; "then by my faith he must takeup his quarters in the yard, in spite of his marvellous birth andvisionary adventures, for the stiffness and dryness of his style deservenothing else; into the yard with him and the other, mistresshousekeeper.""With all my heart, senor," said she, and executed the order with greatdelight."This," said the barber, "is The Knight Platir.'""An old book that," said the curate, "but I find no reason for clemencyin it; send it after the others without appeal;" which was done.Another book was opened, and they saw it was entitled, "The Knight of theCross.""For the sake of the holy name this book has," said the curate, "itsignorance might be excused; but then, they say, 'behind the cross there'sthe devil; to the fire with it."Taking down another book, the barber said, "This is 'The Mirror ofChivalry.'""I know his worship," said the curate; "that is where Senor Reinaldos ofMontalvan figures with his friends and comrades, greater thieves thanCacus, and the Twelve Peers of France with the veracious historianTurpin; however, I am not for condemning them to more than perpetualbanishment, because, at any rate, they have some share in the inventionof the famous Matteo Boiardo, whence too the Christian poet LudovicoAriosto wove his web, to whom, if I find him here, and speaking anylanguage but his own, I shall show no respect whatever; but if he speakshis own tongue I will put him upon my head.""Well, I have him in Italian," said the barber, "but I do not understandhim.""Nor would it be well that you should understand him," said the curate,"and on that score we might have excused the Captain if he had notbrought him into Spain and turned him into Castilian. He robbed him of agreat deal of his natural force, and so do all those who try to turnbooks written in verse into another language, for, with all the painsthey take and all the cleverness they show, they never can reach thelevel of the originals as they were first produced. In short, I say thatthis book, and all that may be found treating of those French affairs,should be thrown into or deposited in some dry well, until after moreconsideration it is settled what is to be done with them; exceptingalways one 'Bernardo del Carpio' that is going about, and another called'Roncesvalles;' for these, if they come into my hands, shall pass at onceinto those of the housekeeper, and from hers into the fire without anyreprieve."To all this the barber gave his assent, and looked upon it as right andproper, being persuaded that the curate was so staunch to the Faith andloyal to the Truth that he would not for the world say anything opposedto them. Opening another book he saw it was "Palmerin de Oliva," andbeside it was another called "Palmerin of England," seeing which thelicentiate said, "Let the Olive be made firewood of at once and burneduntil no ashes even are left; and let that Palm of England be kept andpreserved as a thing that stands alone, and let such another case be madefor it as that which Alexander found among the spoils of Darius and setaside for the safe keeping of the works of the poet Homer. This book,gossip, is of authority for two reasons, first because it is very good,and secondly because it is said to have been written by a wise and wittyking of Portugal. All the adventures at the Castle of Miraguarda areexcellent and of admirable contrivance, and the language is polished andclear, studying and observing the style befitting the speaker withpropriety and judgment. So then, provided it seems good to you, MasterNicholas, I say let this and 'Amadis of Gaul' be remitted the penalty offire, and as for all the rest, let them perish without further questionor query.""Nay, gossip," said the barber, "for this that I have here is the famous'Don Belianis.'""Well," said the curate, "that and the second, third, and fourth partsall stand in need of a little rhubarb to purge their excess of bile, andthey must be cleared of all that stuff about the Castle of Fame and othergreater affectations, to which end let them be allowed the over-seasterm, and, according as they mend, so shall mercy or justice be meted outto them; and in the mean time, gossip, do you keep them in your house andlet no one read them.""With all my heart," said the barber; and not caring to tire himself withreading more books of chivalry, he told the housekeeper to take all thebig ones and throw them into the yard. It was not said to one dull ordeaf, but to one who enjoyed burning them more than weaving the broadestand finest web that could be; and seizing about eight at a time, sheflung them out of the window.In carrying so many together she let one fall at the feet of the barber,who took it up, curious to know whose it was, and found it said, "Historyof the Famous Knight, Tirante el Blanco.""God bless me!" said the curate with a shout, "'Tirante el Blanco' here!Hand it over, gossip, for in it I reckon I have found a treasury ofenjoyment and a mine of recreation. Here is Don Kyrieleison of Montalvan,a valiant knight, and his brother Thomas of Montalvan, and the knightFonseca, with the battle the bold Tirante fought with the mastiff, andthe witticisms of the damsel Placerdemivida, and the loves and wiles ofthe widow Reposada, and the empress in love with the squire Hipolito--intruth, gossip, by right of its style it is the best book in the world.Here knights eat and sleep, and die in their beds, and make their willsbefore dying, and a great deal more of which there is nothing in all theother books. Nevertheless, I say he who wrote it, for deliberatelycomposing such fooleries, deserves to be sent to the galleys for life.Take it home with you and read it, and you will see that what I have saidis true.""As you will," said the barber; "but what are we to do with these littlebooks that are left?""These must be, not chivalry, but poetry," said the curate; and openingone he saw it was the "Diana" of Jorge de Montemayor, and, supposing allthe others to be of the same sort, "these," he said, "do not deserve tobe burned like the others, for they neither do nor can do the mischiefthe books of chivalry have done, being books of entertainment that canhurt no one.""Ah, senor!" said the niece, "your worship had better order these to beburned as well as the others; for it would be no wonder if, after beingcured of his chivalry disorder, my uncle, by reading these, took a fancyto turn shepherd and range the woods and fields singing and piping; or,what would be still worse, to turn poet, which they say is an incurableand infectious malady.""The damsel is right," said the curate, "and it will be well to put thisstumbling-block and temptation out of our friend's way. To begin, then,with the 'Diana' of Montemayor. I am of opinion it should not be burned,but that it should be cleared of all that about the sage Felicia and themagic water, and of almost all the longer pieces of verse: let it keep,and welcome, its prose and the honour of being the first of books of thekind.""This that comes next," said the barber, "is the 'Diana,' entitled the'Second Part, by the Salamancan,' and this other has the same title, andits author is Gil Polo.""As for that of the Salamancan," replied the curate, "let it go to swellthe number of the condemned in the yard, and let Gil Polo's be preservedas if it came from Apollo himself: but get on, gossip, and make haste,for it is growing late.""This book," said the barber, opening another, "is the ten books of the'Fortune of Love,' written by Antonio de Lofraso, a Sardinian poet.""By the orders I have received," said the curate, "since Apollo has beenApollo, and the Muses have been Muses, and poets have been poets, sodroll and absurd a book as this has never been written, and in its way itis the best and the most singular of all of this species that have as yetappeared, and he who has not read it may be sure he has never read whatis delightful. Give it here, gossip, for I make more account of havingfound it than if they had given me a cassock of Florence stuff."He put it aside with extreme satisfaction, and the barber went on, "Thesethat come next are 'The Shepherd of Iberia,' 'Nymphs of Henares,' and'The Enlightenment of Jealousy.'""Then all we have to do," said the curate, "is to hand them over to thesecular arm of the housekeeper, and ask me not why, or we shall neverhave done.""This next is the 'Pastor de Filida.'""No Pastor that," said the curate, "but a highly polished courtier; letit be preserved as a precious jewel.""This large one here," said the barber, "is called 'The Treasury ofvarious Poems.'""If there were not so many of them," said the curate, "they would be morerelished: this book must be weeded and cleansed of certain vulgaritieswhich it has with its excellences; let it be preserved because the authoris a friend of mine, and out of respect for other more heroic and loftierworks that he has written.""This," continued the barber, "is the 'Cancionero' of Lopez deMaldonado.""The author of that book, too," said the curate, "is a great friend ofmine, and his verses from his own mouth are the admiration of all whohear them, for such is the sweetness of his voice that he enchants whenhe chants them: it gives rather too much of its eclogues, but what isgood was never yet plentiful: let it be kept with those that have beenset apart. But what book is that next it?""The 'Galatea' of Miguel de Cervantes," said the barber."That Cervantes has been for many years a great friend of mine, and to myknowledge he has had more experience in reverses than in verses. His bookhas some good invention in it, it presents us with something but bringsnothing to a conclusion: we must wait for the Second Part it promises:perhaps with amendment it may succeed in winning the full measure ofgrace that is now denied it; and in the mean time do you, senor gossip,keep it shut up in your own quarters.""Very good," said the barber; "and here come three together, the'Araucana' of Don Alonso de Ercilla, the 'Austriada' of Juan Rufo,Justice of Cordova, and the 'Montserrate' of Christobal de Virues, theValencian poet.""These three books," said the curate, "are the best that have beenwritten in Castilian in heroic verse, and they may compare with the mostfamous of Italy; let them be preserved as the richest treasures of poetrythat Spain possesses."The curate was tired and would not look into any more books, and so hedecided that, "contents uncertified," all the rest should be burned; butjust then the barber held open one, called "The Tears of Angelica.""I should have shed tears myself," said the curate when he heard thetitle, "had I ordered that book to be burned, for its author was one ofthe famous poets of the world, not to say of Spain, and was very happy inthe translation of some of Ovid's fables."