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      Some Commendatory Verses

      Table of Contents

      URGANDA THE UNKNOWN

      To the book of Don Quixote of la Mancha

      If to be welcomed by the good,

      O Book! thou make thy steady aim,

      No empty chatterer will dare

      To question or dispute thy claim.

      But if perchance thou hast a mind

      To win of idiots approbation,

      Lost labour will be thy reward,

      Though they’ll pretend appreciation.

      They say a goodly shade he finds

      Who shelters ‘neath a goodly tree;

      And such a one thy kindly star

      In Bejar bath provided thee:

      A royal tree whose spreading boughs

      A show of princely fruit display;

      A tree that bears a noble Duke,

      The Alexander of his day.

      Of a Manchegan gentleman

      Thy purpose is to tell the story,

      Relating how he lost his wits

      O’er idle tales of love and glory,

      Of “ladies, arms, and cavaliers:”

      A new Orlando Furioso —

      Innamorato, rather — who

      Won Dulcinea del Toboso.

      Put no vain emblems on thy shield;

      All figures — that is bragging play.

      A modest dedication make,

      And give no scoffer room to say,

      “What! Alvaro de Luna here?

      Or is it Hannibal again?

      Or does King Francis at Madrid

      Once more of destiny complain?”

      Since Heaven it hath not pleased on thee

      Deep erudition to bestow,

      Or black Latino’s gift of tongues,

      No Latin let thy pages show.

      Ape not philosophy or wit,

      Lest one who cannot comprehend,

      Make a wry face at thee and ask,

      “Why offer flowers to me, my friend?”

      Be not a meddler; no affair

      Of thine the life thy neighbours lead:

      Be prudent; oft the random jest

      Recoils upon the jester’s head.

      Thy constant labour let it be

      To earn thyself an honest name,

      For fooleries preserved in print

      Are perpetuity of shame.

      A further counsel bear in mind:

      If that thy roof be made of glass,

      It shows small wit to pick up stones

      To pelt the people as they pass.

      Win the attention of the wise,

      And give the thinker food for thought;

      Whoso indites frivolities,

      Will but by simpletons be sought.

      AMADIS OF GAUL

      To Don Quixote of la Mancha

      Sonnet

      Thou that didst imitate that life of mine

      When I in lonely sadness on the great

      Rock Pena Pobre sat disconsolate,

      In self-imposed penance there to pine;

      Thou, whose sole beverage was the bitter brine

      Of thine own tears, and who withouten plate

      Of silver, copper, tin, in lowly state

      Off the bare earth and on earth’s fruits didst dine;

      Live thou, of thine eternal glory sure.

      So long as on the round of the fourth sphere

      The bright Apollo shall his coursers steer,

      In thy renown thou shalt remain secure,

      Thy country’s name in story shall endure,

      And thy sage author stand without a peer.

      DON BELIANIS OF GREECE

      To Don Quixote of la Mancha

      Sonnet

      In slashing, hewing, cleaving, word and deed,

      I was the foremost knight of chivalry,

      Stout, bold, expert, as e’er the world did see;

      Thousands from the oppressor’s wrong I freed;

      Great were my feats, eternal fame their meed;

      In love I proved my truth and loyalty;

      The hugest giant was a dwarf for me;

      Ever to knighthood’s laws gave I good heed.

      My mastery the Fickle Goddess owned,

      And even Chance, submitting to control,

      Grasped by the forelock, yielded to my will.

      Yet — though above yon horned moon enthroned

      My fortune seems to sit — great Quixote, still

      Envy of thy achievements fills my soul.

      The LADY OF ORIANA

      To Dulcinea del Toboso

      Sonnet

      Oh, fairest

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