ly at variance. But, in
these second instructions given to Sancho, which showed much ingenuity,
his wisdom and frenzy are both singularly conspicuous.

During the whole of this private conference, Sancho listened to his
master with great attention, and endeavored so to register his counsel
in his mind that he might thereby be enabled to bear the burden of
government and acquit himself honorably. Don Quixote now proceeded:--

"As to the regulation of thine own person and domestic concerns," said
he, "in the first place, Sancho, I enjoin thee to be cleanly in all
things. Keep the nails of thy fingers constantly and neatly pared, nor
suffer them to grow as some do, who ignorantly imagine that long nails
beautify the hand, and account the excess of that excrement simply a
finger-nail, whereas it is rather the talon of the lizard-hunting
kestrel,--a foul and unsightly object. A slovenly dress betokens a
careless mind; or, as in the case of Julius Caesar, it may be attributed
to cunning.

"Examine prudently the income of thy office, and if it will afford thee
to give liveries to thy servants, give them such as are decent and
lasting, rather than gaudy and modish; and what thou shalt thus save in
thy servants bestow on the poor; so shalt thou have attendants both in
heaven and earth--a provision which our vain-glorious great never think
of.

"Eat neither garlic nor onions, lest the smell betray thy rusticity.
Walk with gravity, and speak deliberately, but not so as to seem to be
listening to thyself; for affectation is odious.

"Eat little at dinner and less at supper; for the health of the whole
body is tempered in the laboratory of the stomach.

"Drink with moderation; for inebriety never keeps a secret nor performs
a promise.

"In the next place, Sancho, do not intermix in thy discourse such a
multitude of proverbs as thou wert wont to do; for though proverbs are
concise and pithy sentences, thou dost so often drag them in by the head
and shoulders that they look more like the ravings of distraction than
well-chosen apothegms."

"That defect God himself must remedy," said Sancho; "for I have more
proverbs by heart than would be sufficient to fill a large book; and,
when I speak, they crowd together in such a manner as to quarrel for
utterance; so that my tongue discharges them just as they happen to be
in the way, whether they are or are not to the purpose: but I will take
care henceforward to throw out those that