Who will ask for the blind man’s prayer?-- O gentle souls that hear my word! Give but an humble alms, And I will sing the holy psalms For which Pope Clement’s bulls afford Indulgence full, indulgence rare, · · · · · · · · · · · · And add, besides, the blessed prayer For the birth of our blessed Lord.[38] [38] Devotos cristianos, quien Manda rezar Una oracion singular Nueva de nuestra Señora? Mandadme rezar, pues que es Noche santa, La oracion segun se canta Del nacimiento de Cristo. Jesus! nunca tal he visto, Cosa es esta que me espanta: Seca tengo la garganta De pregones Que voy dando por cantones, Y nada no me aprovecha: Es la gente tan estrecha, Que no cuida de oraciones. Quien manda sus devociones, Noble gente, Que rece devotamente Los salmos de penitencia, Por los cuales indulgencia Otorgó el Papa Clemente? · · · · · · · · La oracion del nacimiento De Cristo. L. F. Moratin, Obras, Madrid, 1830, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 648. The two blind men, hearing each other, enter into conversation, and, believing themselves to be alone, Alvarez relates how he had been robbed by his unprincipled attendant, and Gomez explains how he avoids such misfortunes by always carrying the ducats he begs sewed into his cap. Palillos, learning this, and not well pleased with the character he has just received, comes very quietly up to Gomez, knocks off his cap, and escapes with it. Gomez thinks it is his blind friend who has played him the trick, and asks civilly to have his cap back again. The friend denies, of course, all knowledge of it; Gomez insists; and the dialogue ends, as many of its class do, with a quarrel and a fight, to the great amusement, no doubt, of audiences such as were collected in the public squares of Valencia or Seville.[39] [39] This Paso--true to the manners of the times, as we can see from a similar scene in the “Diablo Cojuelo,” Tranco VI.--is reprinted by L. F. Moratin, (Obras, 8vo, Madrid, 1830, Tom. I. Parte II. p. 644), who gives (Parte I. Catálogo, Nos. 95, 96, 106-118) the best account of all the works of Timoneda. The habit of singing popular poetry of all kinds in the streets has been common, from the days of the Archpriest Hita (Copla 1488) to our own times. I have often listened to it, and possess many of the ballads and other verses still paid for by an alms as they were in this Paso of Timoneda. In one of the plays of Cervantes,--that of “Pedro de Urdemalas,”--the hero is introduced enacting the part of a blind beggar, and advertising himself by his chant, just as the beggar in Timoneda does:--