droll and absurd a book as this has never been written, and in its way it is the best and the most singular of all of this species that have as yet appeared, and he who has not read it may be sure he has never read what is delightful. Give it here, gossip, for I make more account of having found it than if they had given me a cassock of Florence stuff.”
He put it aside with extreme satisfaction, and the barber went on, “These that come next are The Shepherd of Iberia , Nymphs of Henares , and The Enlightenment of Jealousy .”
“Then all we have to do,” said the curate, “is to hand them over to the secular arm of the housekeeper, and ask me not why, or we shall never have done.”
“This next is the Pastor de Filida .”
“No Pastor that,” said the curate, “but a highly polished courtier; let it be preserved as a precious jewel.”