us the
recollected pleasures then busying the warm brain of his hero. An
English reader, who often grows weary over his Quixote, appears not
always sensible that one of the secret charms of Cervantes, like all
great national authors, lies concealed in his idiom and style.]

[Footnote 31: The author of the descriptive letter-press to George
Cruikshank's illustrations of _Punch_ says he "saw the late Mr. Wyndham,
then one of the Secretaries of State, on his way from Downing-street to
the House of Commons, on the night of an important debate, pause like a
truant boy until the whole performance was concluded, to enjoy a hearty
laugh at the whimsicalities of the 'motley hero.'"]

[Footnote 32: Rich, in his "Companion to the Latin Diction," has an
excellent illustration of this passage:--"This art was of very great
antiquity, and much practised by the Greeks and Romans, both on the
stage and in the tribune, induced by their habit of addressing large
assemblies in the open air, where it would have been impossible for the
majority to comprehend what was said without the assistance of some
conventional signs, which enabled the speaker to address himself to the
eye, as well as the ear of the audience. These were chiefly made by
certain positions of the hands and fingers, the meaning of which was
universally recognised and familiar to all classes, and the practice
itself reduced to a regular system, as it remains at the present time
amongst the populace of Naples, who will carry on a long conversation
between themselves by mere gesticulation, and without pronouncing a
word." That many of these signs are similar to those used by the
ancients, is proved by the same author, who copies from an antique vase
a scene which he explains by the action of the hands of the figures,
adding, "A common lazzaroni, when shown one of these compositions, will
at once explain the purport of the action, which a scholar with all his
learning cannot divine." The gesture to signify love, employed by the
ancients and modern Neapolitans, was joining the tips of the thumb and
fore-finger of the left hand; an imputation or asseveration by holding
forth the right hand; a denial by raising the same hand, extending the
fingers. In mediaeval works of art, a particular attitude of the fingers
is adopted to exhibit malicious hate: it is done by crossing the
fore-finger of each hand, and is generally seen in figures of Herod or
Judas Iscariot.]

[Footnote 33: T