appears by daylight?" "As soon as I have done with this," replied he, "I will read you the thirtieth sonnet, where I call her a star, for you talk as if you were acquainted with my fancies." It was such a vexation to me to find I could name nothing but what he had writ some nonsense upon, that I was all joy when I perceived we drew near Madrid, believing he would then give over for shame; but it proved quite contrary, for as soon as we came into the street, he began to raise his voice, to show what he was. I entreated him to forbear, lest if the boys should once get the scent of a poet, all the rotten oranges and cabbage stumps in the town should come after us, in regard the poets were declared madmen, in a proclamation set out against them, by one that had been of the profession, but recanted and took up in time. This put him in a great consternation, and he begged me to read it to him if I had it. I promised him so to do when we came to the lodging-house; and accordingly we went to one where he used to alight, and found at least a dozen blind ballad-singers at the door. Some knew him by the scent, and others by his voice, and all of them gave him a volley of welcomes. He embraced them all, and then some began to ask him for verses on the day of judgment in a lofty, bombastical style, that might provoke action; others would have commemorations for the departed; and so the rest, every one according to his fancy, giving him eight reals a-man earnest. He dismissed them, and said to me, "I shall make above three hundred reals of the blind men, and therefore, with your leave, Sir, I'll withdraw for awhile now, to compose some lines, and after dinner we will hear the proclamation read, if you please." Wretched life! for none are more miserable than those madmen that get their bread by such as are as mad as themselves. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAP. X. _Of what I did at Madrid, and what Happened to me on my way to Cerecedilla, where I passed the Night._ The poet withdrew awhile to study profaneness and nonsense for the blind ballad-singers till it was dinner-time, which being over, they desired to have the proclamation read, and having nothing else to do at that time, I drew it out and complied with their desires. I have inserted it here, because I reckon it ingenious, and pat to the purposes mentioned in it. It ran as follows: A PROCLAMATION. _Against Addle-headed, Numskull, and Dry-brained Poets._ The old poetaster laughed out very heartily when he heard this title, and said, "I might have had business cut out till to-morrow; I thought this had concerned me, and it is only against numskull poets." I was mightily pleased with his conceit, as if he had been a Horace or a Virgil. I skipped over the preamble, and began with the first article, which was as follows: