Nov. 18. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



407 



regarded these extracts, obtained from such a 

 source, as authentic. They afford no proof, how- 

 ever, that the works of Busembaum and Molina 

 were ever burnt at the same time at Paris, nor is 

 there any mention here of the works of Suarez, 

 particularised by Bifrons, whose books are erro- 

 neously stated by that writer to have been burnt 

 with those of Busenbaum and Molina. The most 

 rational conclusion seems to be that the assertion 

 of Bifrons, " remembering to have seen the burn- 

 ing of the Jesuitical books," is no more than a 

 poetical licence indulged in by the anonymous 

 writer, who, to introduce a sarcasm and a witticism, 

 did not scruple to personate some friend who had 

 witnessed the execution, and who, knowing the 

 interest Bifrons, in his real character, felt in the 

 fate of the Jesuits, had informed him of the oc- 

 currence at the time, unless indeed the words " I 

 remember " should point to some more remote 

 burning of books at which the writer might have 

 been present. It was not likely, it must be con- 

 fessed, that any Englishman was roaming at large 

 about Paris on the 17th of August, 1762, the day 

 on which the De Justitia et Jure of Molina, and a 

 " quantity of other Jesuitical books," were burnt 

 by order of the parliament. It is certain, upon 

 Mr. Griffin's own showing (if the "above date be 

 correct), that Governor Pownall could not have 

 been there ; but this does not prove in our opinion 

 that Pownall could not have written the letter 

 signed " Bifrons," if he had heen in other respects 

 qualified for the task. We beg here to observe, 

 that it would have been much more to the point 

 if Mr. Griffin, instead of seeking for Junius among 

 a mob of Frenchmen at Paris in 1762, had directed 

 his inquiry into the cause which induced Bifrons 

 to write so acrimonious a letter against the Duke 

 of Grafton in 1768, accusing him of not keeping 

 his promise, and insinuating that he had become a 

 proficient in the morales relaches of the Society of 

 Jesus. W. Ckamp. 



'DON QUIXOTE. 



(Vol. X., p. 343.) 



The notion expressed by J. B. P., that Don 

 Quixote was written by Cervantes for the purpose 

 of assailing Jesuitism, " the dominant mania of 

 that time," that is, I suppose, when the work was 

 written, is certainly a notion as strange as the 

 reasons by which it is supported. 



According to J. B. P., " Don Quixote personi- 

 fied Ignatius Loyola;" and to show that he did 

 so, it is said that Don Quixote "appeased the 

 wrath of Heaven on his adventures, by appealing 

 to the all-powerful protection of the Virgin Mary, 

 in the name of Dulcinea del Tobosa ;" and ",Don 

 Quixote personified Ignatius Loyola," because 

 *' the domestic establishment of Don Quixote cor- 



responded with those of the present priests ia 

 Spain, viz., a very old man, or a very old woman, 

 and a niece." 



If it were the intention of Cervantes to ridicule 

 the practice of Roman Catholics, in invoking the 

 intercession of the Blessed Virgin — her prayers 

 and her protection — then Cervantes did not 

 merely attack Jesuits, to whom that devotion is 

 not peculiar — for the devotion of the Virgin did 

 not begin with the fifteenth century, at the close 

 of which (a. d. 1491) Ignatius was born : and 

 J. B. P.'s argument would, if true, serve to show 

 that Cervantes was not merely inimical to the 

 Jesuits, which many Catholics have been, but that 

 he was not himself a Roman Catholic. Now 

 where can J. B. P. find a fact to sustain hi mm 

 any such suggestion ? I can point out three facts 

 directly contrary to such an assertion — first, the 

 following lines, from a sonnet written by Cer- 

 vantes upon the sacking of Cadiz by the English, 

 under Queen Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of 

 Essex, in 1596. J. B. P. will find in the lines not 

 merely the sentiments of a Spaniard, but the feel- 

 ings of a rigid Roman Catholic : 



" Quando Ileva robada la riqueza 

 De Cadiz el Britano, y profanados 

 Dexa templa y ai-tares coksagbabos." 



The second fact, to show that Cervantes was a 

 rigid Roman Catholic, is, that in the year 1615 he 

 composed stanzas in honour of the beatification of 

 the illustrious Spanish saint, Teresa (see Pellicer, 

 Vidade M. de Cervantes, vol. i. pp. 188, 189.). One 

 of the judges on that occasion was Lope de Vega — 

 a fact which I now mention for the purpose of 

 again referring to it. The third fact is, that he 

 was a member of the Confraternity of St. Francis 

 — " hermano de la venerable orden Tercera de 

 S. Francisco" (Pellicer, Vida de Cervantes, vol. i. 

 p. 192.). 



Having thus shown that Cervantes was a strict 

 Roman Catholic, let us now see what is the de- 

 scription given by Cervantes of Dulcinea del 

 Tobosa, and then compare it with the sentiments 

 entertained by Roman Catholics with respect to 

 " the Virgin Mary." Dulcinea is described by 

 Cervantes as a very well-looking peasant girl, 

 " Una moza labradora de muy buen parecer." 

 (Parti, c. 1. vol. i. p. 11.; Pellicer's edition.) 

 But in another place (Part II. c. 10. vol. iv. p. 95.), 

 where a village girl is presented to Don Quixote 

 as Dulcinea, she is described as being ill-favoured, 

 because " she was chubby-cheeked and flat-nosed 

 — " Porque era cariredonda y chata." And J. 

 B. P. supposes that a R«man Catholic could thus 

 personify " the Virgin Mary," when the great and 

 predominant feeling of Roman Catholics is that 

 she is GeoTOKos, " the Mother of God ; " and when 

 they never seek for her intercession with her Son — 

 both God and Man — but with expressions such as 

 the folio wins, which I quote from what Roman 



