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63.

Considerately the Jesuit heard, and bade
The youth be called. Yeruti told his tale.
Nightly these blessed spirits came, he said,
To warn him he must come within the pale
Of Christ without delay; nor must he fail
This warning to their Pastor to repeat,
Till the renewed entreaty should prevail.

Life's business then for him would be complete, And 't was to tell him this they left their starry seat.

64.

Came they to him in dreams?... he could not tell.
Sleeping or waking now small difference made;
For even while he slept he knew full well
That his dear Mother and that darling Maid
Both in the Garden of the Dead were laid:
And yet he saw them as in life, the same,
Save only that in radiant robes array'd,

And round about their presence when they came There shone an effluent light as of a harmless flame.

65.

And where he was he knew, the time, the place,......
All circumstantial things to him were clear.
His own heart undisturb'd. His Mother's face
How could he choose but know; or knowing, fear
Her presence and that Maid's, to him more dear
Than all that had been left him now below?

Their love had drawn them from their happy sphere; That dearest love unchanged they came to show; And he must be baptized, and then he too might go.

66.

With searching ken the Jesuit while he spake
Perused him, if in countenance or tone
Aught might be found appearing to partake
Of madness. Mark of passion there was none;
None of derangement: in his eye alone,
As from a hidden fountain emanate,
Something of an unusual brightness shone :
But neither word nor look betrayed a state
Of wandering, and his speech, though earnest, was
sedate.

67.

Regular his pulse, from all disorder free,
The vital powers perform'd their part assign'd;
And to whate'er was ask'd, collectedly

He answer'd. Nothing troubled him in mind;
Why should it? Were not all around him kind?
Did not all love him with a love sincere,

And seem in serving him a joy to find?

He had no want, no pain, no grief, no fear ; But he must be baptized; he could not tarry here.

68.

Thy will be done, Father in heaven who art!
The Pastor said, nor longer now denied ;
But with a weight of awe upon his heart
Enter'd the church, and there the font beside,
With holy water, chrism and salt applied,
Perform'd in all solemnity the rite.

His feeling was that hour with fear allied;
Yeruti's was a sense of pure delight,

And while he knelt his eyes seem'd larger and more

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69.

His wish hath been obtain'd, and this being done His soul was to its full desire content. The day in its accustom'd course pass'd on, The Indian mark'd him ere to rest he went, How o'er his beads, as he was wont, he bent, And then, like one who casts all care aside, Lay down. The old man fear'd no ill event, When, "Ye are come for me!" Yeruti cried; "Yes, I am ready now!" and instantly he died.

NOTES

TO

A TALE OF PARAGUAY.

Proem, p. 12.

So he forsooth a shapely boot must wear. His leg had been set by the French after their conquest of Pamplona, and re-set after his removal to his father's house. The latter operation is described as having been most severe, but borne by him in his wonted manner without any manifestation of suffering. For some time his life was despaired of. "When the danger of death was past, and the bones were knit and becoming firm, two inconveniences remained: one occasioned by a portion of bone below the knee, which projected so as to occasion some deformity; the other was a contraction of the leg, which prevented him from walking erect or standing firmly on his feet. Now as he was very solicitous about his appearance, and intended at that time to follow the course of a military life which he had begun, he inquired of his medical attendants in the first place whether the bone could be removed which stood out in so unsightly a manner. They answered that it was possible to remove it, but the operation would be exceedingly painful, much more so than any which he had before undergone. He nevertheless directed them to cut it out, that he might have his will, and (as he himself related in my hearing, says Ribadeneira,) that he might wear fashionable and well-fitting boots. Nor could he be dissuaded from this determination. He would not consent to be bound during the

By this The con

operation, and went through it with the same firmness of mind which he had manifested in the former operations. means the deformity of the bone was removed. traction of the leg was in some degree relieved by other applications, and especially by certain machines, with which during many days, and with great and continual pain, it was stretched; nevertheless it could not be so extended, but that it always remained something shorter than the other.”. Ribadeneira, Vita S. Ignatii Loyola, Acta SS. Jul. t. 7. p. 659.

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A close-fitting boot seems to have been as fashionable at one time as close-fitting innominables of buckskin were about the year 1790: and perhaps it was as severe an operation to get into them for the first time. "The greasy shoemaker," says Tom Nash," with his squirrel's skin, and a whole stall of ware upon his arm, enters, and wrencheth his legs for an hour together, and after shows his tally. By St. Loy that draws deep.' Nash's Lenten Stuff. Harl. Miscel. vol. ii. p. 289. 8vo. edition.

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The operation of fitting a Spanish dandy with short-laced quarter boots is thus minutely described by Juan de Zavaleta, who was historiographer at the commencement of Carlos the Second's reign.

Entra el zapatero oliendo á cansado. Saca de las hormas los zapatos, con tanta dificultad como si desollara las hormas. Sientase en una silla el galan; hincase el zapatero de rodillas, apoderase de una pierna con tantos tirones y desagrados, como si le embiaran a que le diera tormento. Mete un calzador en el talon del zapato, encapillale otro en la punta del pie, y luego empieza a guiar el zapato por encima del calzador. Apenas ha caminado poco mas que los dedos del pie, quando es menester arrastrarle con unas tenazas, y aun arrastrado se resiste. Ponese en pie el paciente fatigado, pero contento de que los zapatos le vengan angostos; y de orden del zapatero da tres ó quatro patadas en el suelo, con tanta fuerza, que pues no se quiebra, deve de ser de bronze.

Acozeados dan de si el cordovan y la suela; pellejos en fin de animales, que obedecen a golpes. Buelvese a sentar el tal señor, dobla úzia fuera el copete del zapato, cogele con la boca de las

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