[57] Barotti gives it at length; but it is hardly worth while to occupy space by reproducing it here. [58] "Guarini sitting here, sang, that which renders the seat the equal of a royal throne." [59] It is very doubtful and very difficult to determine at what period of his life the "Pastor Fido" was written. Ginguene (Hist. Ital. Lit. Part II. ch. xxv.) has sufficiently shown that the statements of the Italian biographers on this point are inaccurate. Probably it was planned and, in part, written many years before it was finished. It was first printed in 1590. THE VAQUERO.[60] Oh, who is so free as a gallant _vaquero_? With his beauty of bronze 'neath his shady _sombrero_: He smiles at his love, and he laughs at his fate, For he knows he is lord of a noble estate: The prairie's his own, and he mocks at the great. "Ho-ho! Hai! Ho-ho! Head 'em off! Turn 'em back! Keep 'em up to the track! Ho-hillo! Ho-hillo! Cric--crac!" Oh, Donna Luisa is proud as she's fair; But she parted last night with a lock of her hair. And under the stars she roams, seeking for rest, While she thinks of the stranger that came from the West; And Juan bears something wrapped up in his breast-- "Ho-ho! Hai! Ho-ho! Head 'em off! Turn 'em back! Keep 'em up to the track! Ho-hillo! Ho-hillo! Cric--crac!'" His proudest possessions are prettily placed, His love at his heart, and his life at his waist. And if in a quarrel he happen to fall, Why, the prairie's his grave, and his _poncho's_[61] his pall, And Donna Luisa--gets over it all! "Ho-ho! Hai! Ho-ho! Head 'em off! Turn 'em back! Keep 'em up to the track! Ho-hillo! Ho-hillo! Cric--crac!" The Padre may preach, and the Notary frown, But the _poblanas_[62] smile as he rides through the town: And the Padre, he knows, likes a kiss on the sly, And the Notary oft has a "drop in his eye," But all that he does is to love and to die-- "Ho-ho! Hai! Ho-ho! Head 'em off! Turn 'em back! Keep 'em up to the track! Ho-hillo! Ho-hillo! Cric--crac!" FRANK DESPREZ, _in Temple Bar_. FOOTNOTES: [60] A California cattle-driver. Furnished with revolver, lasso, and long-lashed whip, these adventurous gentry conduct the half-wild cattle of the plains over miles of their surface; and, with their gay sashes, high boots, gilded and belled spurs, and dark, broad hats (_sombreros_), present a very picturesque appearance. [61] Cloak. [62] Peasant girls. TWO MODERN JAPANESE STORIES.