are plates illustrating episodes from
them. Notable among the books was a first edition of his earliest
published poems, four redondillas, a copla and an elegy, on the death,
October 3, 1568, of Elizabeth de Valois, third wife of Philip II, and
sister of Charles IX of France.[13] Dark rumors were afloat for some
time that she had been poisoned by order of her husband. Among the
other treasures in the Hispanic Museum exhibition was the earliest
imprint of Cervantes's masterpiece, the immortal "Don Quixote". This
was printed in Madrid, in 1605, by Juan de la Cuesta.

[Footnote 13: The compilation containing these poems is entitled:
"Hystoria y relacio verdadera de la enfermedad felicissimo transito y
sumptuosas exequias funebres de la Serenissima Reyna de Espana Isabel
de Valoys nuestra Senora", Madrid, 1569. The opening lines of
Cervantes are:

A quien yra mi doloroso canto
O en cuya oreja sonara su acento?
(To whom will my sad song go, and in
whose ears will its accents sound?) ]

A rather attractive bit of verse, purporting to have been written by
Shakespeare and dedicated to the woman who became his wife in 1582,
when he was but eighteen years old (she was eight years his senior),
alludes in its third stanza to "the orient list" of gems, diamond,
topaz, amethyst, emerald, and ruby. This little poem, with its play
upon the lady-love's name, can find a place here, although many
readers are already familiar with it.

TO THE IDOL OF MINE EYES AND THE DELIGHT OF MINE
HEART,

ANNE HATHAWAY

Would ye be taught, ye feathered throng,
With love's sweet notes to grace your song,
To pierce the heart with thrilling lay,
Listen to mine Anne Hathaway!
She hath a way to sing so clear,
Phoebus might wond'ring stop to hear;
To melt the sad, make blithe the gay,
And nature charm, Anne hath a way:
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,
To breathe delight Anne hath a way.

When envy's breath and rancorous tooth
Do soil and bite fair worth and truth,
And merit to distress betray,
To soothe the heart Anne hath a way;
She hath a way to chase despair,
To heal all grief, to cure all care,
Turn foulest night to fairest day:
Thou know'st, fond heart, Anne hath a way,
She hath a way,
Anne Hathaway,