FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  
tumble,--let the common fellow, who has made it his business, imitate the song of birds and the gestures of animals, but not the man of quality, who can deserve no credit or renown from any skill in these things. _Scip._ Enough said, Berganza; I understand you; go on. _Berg._ Would that others for whom I say this understood me as well! For there is something or other in my nature which makes me feel greatly shocked when I see a cavalier make a buffoon of himself, and taking pride in being able to play at thimblerig, and in dancing the _chacona_ to perfection, I know a cavalier who boasted, that he had, at the request of a sacristan, cut out thirty-two paper ornaments, to stick upon the black cloth over a monument; and he was so proud of his performance that he took his friends to see it, as though he were showing them pennons and trophies taken from the enemy, and hung over the tombs of his forefathers. Well, this merchant I have been telling you of had two sons, one aged twelve, the other about fourteen, who were studying the humanities in the classes of the Company of Jesus. They went in pomp to the college, accompanied by their tutor, and by pages to carry their books, and what they called their Vademecum. To see them go with such parade, on horseback in fine weather, and in a carriage when it rained, made me wonder at the plain manner in which their father went abroad upon his business, attended by no other servant than a negro, and sometimes mounted upon a sorry mule. _Scip._ You must know, Berganza, that it is a customary thing with the merchants of Seville, and of other cities also, to display their wealth and importance, not in their own persons, but in those of their sons: for merchants are greater in their shadows than in themselves; and as they rarely attend to anything else than their bargains, they spend little on themselves; but as ambition and wealth burn to display themselves, they show their own in the persons of their sons, maintaining them as sumptuously as if they were sons of princes. Sometimes too they purchase titles for them, and set upon their breasts the mark that so much distinguishes men of rank from the commonalty. _Berg._ It is ambition, but a generous ambition that seeks to improve one's condition without prejudice to others. _Scip._ Seldom or never can ambition consist with abstinence from injury to others. _Berg._ Have we not said that we are not to speak evil of any one?
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
ambition
 

wealth

 

merchants

 

display

 

persons

 
cavalier
 
business
 

Berganza

 
abstinence
 

servant


father

 

abroad

 
attended
 

Seldom

 
customary
 

manner

 
mounted
 
consist
 

rained

 

called


Vademecum

 

injury

 

carriage

 

weather

 

parade

 

horseback

 

cities

 

distinguishes

 

maintaining

 

bargains


sumptuously

 
purchase
 

titles

 

princes

 

Sometimes

 
importance
 

improve

 
breasts
 

Seville

 
condition

rarely
 

attend

 
shadows
 
greater
 

generous

 

commonalty

 
prejudice
 

nature

 
greatly
 

understood