The opening of Book I
CHAP. I.
OF THE QUALITY AND AMUSEMENTS
OF THE RENOWNED DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.In a certain corner of La Mancha, the name of which I do not chuse to remember, there lately lived one of those country gentlemen, who adorn their halls with a rusty lance and worm-eaten target, and ride forth on the skeleton of a horse, to course with a sort of a starved greyhound.
Three-fourths of his income were scarce sufficient to afford a dish of hodgepodge, in which the mutton bore no proportion to the beef[15], for dinner; a plate of salmagundy, commonly at supper[16]; gripes and grumblings on Saturdays[17], lentils on Fridays, and the addition of a pigeon or some such thing on the Lord’s day. The remaining part of his revenue was consumed in the purchase of a fine black suit, with velvet breeches, and slippers of the same, for holidays; and a coat of home-spun, which he wore in honour of his country during the rest of the week.