the barber, while
his good squire Sancho Panza never quitted his bedside. They,
persuaded that it was grief at finding himself vanquished, and the
object of his heart, the liberation and disenchantment of Dulcinea,
unattained, that kept him in this state, strove by all the means in
their power to cheer him up: the bachelor bidding him take heart and
get up to begin his pastoral life; for which he himself, he said, had
already composed an eclogue that would take the shine out of all
Sannazaro[48] had ever written, and had bought with his own money two
famous dogs to guard the flock, one called Barcino and the other
Butron, which a herdsman of Quintanar had sold him.

[Footnote 47: From "Don Quixote." Translated by John Jarvis.]

[Footnote 48: Jacopo Sannazaro was a Neapolitan poet, who wrote a work
called "Arcadia."]

But for all this Don Quixote could not shake off his sadness. His
friends called in the doctor, who felt his pulse and was not very well
satisfied with it, and said that in any case it would be well for him
to attend to the health of his soul, as that of his body was in a bad
way. Don Quixote heard this calmly; but not so his housekeeper, his
niece, and his squire, who fell weeping bitterly, as if they had him
lying dead before them. The doctor's opinion was that melancholy and
depression were bringing him to his end. Don Quixote begged them to
leave him to himself, as he had a wish to sleep a little. They obeyed,
and he slept at one stretch, as the saying is, more than six hours, so
that the housekeeper and niece thought he was going to sleep forever.
But at the end of that time he woke up, and in a loud voice exclaimed,
"Blest be Almighty God, who has shown me such goodness! In truth His
mercies are boundless, and the sins of men can neither limit them nor
keep them back!"...

They looked at one another, wondering at Don Quixote's words; but, tho
uncertain, they were inclined to believe him, and one of the signs by
which they came to the conclusion he was dying was this so sudden and
complete return to his senses after having been mad; for to the words
already quoted he added much more, so well exprest, so devout, and so
rational, as to banish all doubt and convince them that he was sound
of mind. The curate turned them all out, and, left alone with him,
confest him. The bachelor went for the notary, and returned shortly
afterward with him and with Sancho, who, having already learned from
the bachel