The heart of the courteous Diego overflowed as he read the letter⸻he ordered his mule forthwith and Fernandez’s horse to be saddled; and as no vent in prose is equal to that of poetry in such conflicts⸺chance, which as often directs us to remedies as to diseases , having thrown a piece of charcoal into the window⸺ Diego availed himself of it, and whilst the hostler was getting ready his mule, he eased his mind against the wall as follows.
Harsh and untuneful are the notes of love, Unless my Julia strikes the key, Her hand alone can touch the part, Whose dulcet move- ment charms the heart, And governs all the man with sympathetick sway.
O Julia!
The lines were very natural⸺for they were nothing at all to the purpose, says Slawkenbergius , and ’tis a pity there were no more of them; but whether it was that Seig. Diego was slow in composing verses—or the hostler quick in saddling mules⸺is not averred; certain it was, that Diego’s mule and Fernandez’s horse were ready at the door of the inn, before Diego was ready for his second stanza; so without staying to finish his ode, they both mounted, sallied forth, passed the Rhine , traversed Alsace , shaped their course towards Lyons , and before the Strasburgers and the abbess of Quedlingberg had set out on their cavalcade, had Fernandez , Diego , and his Julia , crossed the Pyrenean mountains, and got safe to Valadolid .
’Tis needless to inform the geographical reader, that when Diego was in Spain , it was not possible to meet the courteous stranger in the Frankfort road; it is enough to say, that of all restless desires, curiosity being the strongest⸺the Strasburgers felt the full force of it; and that for three days and nights they were tossed to and fro in the Frankfort road, with the tempestuous fury of this passion, before they could