retention.'"
"I know not," said Don Quixote, "what retention means."
"Retention," answered Sancho, "means that he who is once in hell never
does, nor ever can, get out again. I must strip off all my armor, and
remain as naked as I was born, if I should determine upon imitating
Orlando, in my penance, instead of Amadis."
While they were thus discoursing, they arrived at the foot of a high
mountain, which stood separated from several others that surrounded it,
as if it had been hewn out from them. Near its base ran a gentle stream,
that watered a verdant and luxuriant vale, adorned with many
wide-spreading trees, plants, and wild flowers of various hues. This was
the spot in which the knight of the sorrowful figure chose to perform
his penance; and, while contemplating the scene, he thus broke forth in
a loud voice:--
"This is the place, O ye heavens! which I select and appoint for
bewailing the misfortune in which ye have involved me. This is the spot
where my flowing tears shall increase the waters of this crystal stream,
and my sighs, continual and deep, shall incessantly move the foliage of
these lofty trees, in testimony and token of the pain my persecuted
heart endures. O ye rural deities, whoever ye be, that inhabit these
remote deserts, give ear to the complaints of an unhappy lover, whom
long absence and some pangs of jealousy have driven to bewail himself
among these rugged heights, and to complain of the cruelty of that
ungrateful fair, the utmost extent and ultimate perfection of all human
beauty! O ye wood-nymphs and dryads, who are accustomed to inhabit the
dark recesses of the mountain groves (so may the nimble and lascivious
satyrs, by whom ye are wooed in vain, never disturb your sweet repose),
assist me to lament my hard fate, or at least be not weary of hearing my
groans! O my Dulcinea del Toboso, light of my darkness, glory of my
pain, the north-star of my travels, and overruling planet of my fortune
(so may Heaven listen to all thy petitions), consider, I beseech thee,
to what a condition thy absence hath reduced me, and reward me as my
fidelity deserves! O ye solitary trees, who henceforth are to be the
companions of my retirement, wave gently your branches, to indicate that
my presence does not offend you! And, O thou my squire, agreeable
companion in my prosperous and adverse fortunes, carefully imprint on
thy memory what thou shalt see me here perform, that thou mayest recount
and recite i
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