Stories from Don Quixote . e mediaeval fancy. But in the times of which we are writing the passionfor Books of Chivalry rose to such a height that itbecame a serious public evil. In Spain it reached itsclimax ; and our humble gentleman of La Mancha isonly an extreme example of the effect which such studiesproduced on the national mind. Being bitten by the crazefor chivalrous fiction, he gradually forsook all the healthypursuits of a country life, and gave himself up entirely toreading such books as Amadis of Gaul, Palmerin ofEngland, and Belianis of Greece; and his infatuationreached such a po
Stories from Don Quixote . e mediaeval fancy. But in the times of which we are writing the passionfor Books of Chivalry rose to such a height that itbecame a serious public evil. In Spain it reached itsclimax ; and our humble gentleman of La Mancha isonly an extreme example of the effect which such studiesproduced on the national mind. Being bitten by the crazefor chivalrous fiction, he gradually forsook all the healthypursuits of a country life, and gave himself up entirely toreading such books as Amadis of Gaul, Palmerin ofEngland, and Belianis of Greece; and his infatuationreached such a point that he sold several acres of goodarable land to provide himself with funds for the purchaseof those ponderous folios with which we saw him sur-rounded when he was first introduced to our dawn till eve he pored over his darling books, andsometimes passed whole nights in the same pursuit, untilat last, having crammed his brain with this perilous stuff,he began to imagine that these wild inventions were sober. He began to imagine that these wild inventions were sober reality Don Quixotes resolve 5 reality. From this delusion there was but one step to thebelief that he himself was a principal actor in the adven-tures of which he read ; and when the fit was on him, hewould take his sword, and engage in single combat withthe creatures of his brain, stamping his feet, and alarmingthe household with his cries. At first his frenzy was intermittent, and each attackwas followed by a lucid interval ; but finally he lost hiswits altogether, and came to the insane resolution of turn-ing knight-errant, and going out into the world as theredresser of wrongs and the champion of the intention once formed, he at once took steps to carryit into effect. From a dark corner of the house hebrought out an old suit of armour, which had been lyingneglected for generations, and was now covered with mouldand eaten with rust. He cleaned the pieces, and repairedthem as well as h
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