The first form of this comedy was serial publication in Graham's Magazine, September, October, and November, 1842. It was afterward carefully revised and published in book form in 1843, with the following preface: "The subject of the following play is taken in part from the beautiful tale of Cervantes, La Gilanilla. To this source, however, I am indebted for the main incident only, the love of a Spanish student for a Gypsy girl, and the name of the heroine, Preciosa. I have not followed the story in any of its details. "In Spain this subject has been twice handled dramatically; first by Juan Perez de Montalvan, in La Gitanilla, and afterwards by Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneira in La Gitanilla de Madrid. The same subject has also been made use of by Thomas Middleton, an English dramatist of the seven teenth century. His play is called The Spanish Gypsy. The main plot is the same as in the Spanish pieces; but there runs through it a tragic underplot of the loves of Rodrigo and Doña Clara, which is taken from another tale of Cervantes, La Fuerza de la Sangre. "The reader who is acquainted with La Gitanilla of Cervantes, and the plays of Montalvan, Solís, and Middleton will perceive that my treatment of the subject differs entirely from theirs." The book bore upon its title-page a motto from Burns: "What 's done we partly may compute, It had been the poet's intention at first to have the Alcalde. Alguacil. . Lara's Servant. Victorian's Servant. Innkeeper. A Gypsy Girl. FRANCISCO. CHISPA BALTASAR . PRECIOSA ANGELICA A poor Girl. MARTINA The Padre Cura's Niece. DOLORES Preciosa's Maid. Gypsies, Musicians, etc. ACT I SCENE I.- The COUNT OF LARA's chambers. Night. The COUNT in his dressing-gown, smoking and conversing with DON CARLOS. As beautiful as a saint's in Paradise. Lara. May not a saint fall from her And be no more a saint? Don C. And though she is a virgin outwardly, Lara. You were not at the play to-night, On the outside, and on the inside Ve Don Carlos; How happened it? Don C. I had engagements elsewhere. Pray who was there? Lara. Why, all the town and court. The house was crowded; and the busy fans Fluttered like butterflies among the There was the Countess of Medina Celi; There were three duels fought in the first Three gentlemen receiving deadly wounds, "Oh, I am dead!" a lover in a closet, She turned upon him, with a look of scorn, And smote him in the face! Lara. And does that prove That Preciosa is above suspicion ? Don C. It proves a nobleman may be repulsed When he thinks conquest easy. I believe That woman, in her deepest degradation, Holds something sacred, something undefiled, Some pledge and keepsake of her higher nature, And, like the diamond in the dark, retains Some quenchless gleam of the celestial light! Lara. Yet Preciosa would have taken Don C. (rising). I do not think so. But why this haste? Lara. No one so blind as he who will not see ! Don C. And so good night. I wish you And greater faith in woman. [Exit. (Enter FRANCISCO with a casket.) SCENE II. A street in Madrid. Enter CHISPA, followed by musicians, with a bagpipe, guitars, and other instruments. Chispa. Abernuncio Satanas ! and a plague on all lovers who ramble about at night drinking the elements, instead of sleeping quietly in their beds. Every dead man to his cemetery, say I; and every friar to his monastery. Now, here's my master, Victorian, yesterday a cowkeeper, and to-day a gentleman; yesterday a student, and to-day a lover; and I must be up later than the nightingale, for as the abbot sings so must the sacristan respond. God grant he may soon be married, for then shall all this serenading cease. Ay, marry! marry! marry! Mother, what does marry mean? It means to spin, to bear children, and to weep, my daughter! And, of a truth, there is something more in matrimony than the wedding-ring. (To the musicians.) And now, gentlemen, Pax vobiscum! as the ass said to the cabbages. Pray, walk this way; and don't hang down your heads. It is no disgrace to have an old father and a ragged shirt. Now, look you, you are gentlemen who lead the life of crickets; you enjoy hunger by day and noise by night. Yet, I beseech you, for this once be not loud, but pathetic; for it is a serenade to a damsel in bed, and not to the Man in the Moon. Your object is not to arouse and terrify, but to soothe and bring lulling dreams. Therefore, each shall not play upon his instrument as if it were the only one in the universe, but gently, and with a certain modesty, according with the others. Pray, how may I call thy name, friend? First Mus. Gerónimo Gil, at your service. Chispa. Every tub smells of the wine |