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Article THE DEAN AND THE MAGICIAN; Page 1 of 5 →
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The Dean And The Magician;
THE DEAN AND THE MAGICIAN ;
OR , THE BRACE 01 ' PARTRIDGES . * ' Thick coming fancies . " IT was close upon the mid-hour when the Dean of Santiago descended from his mule at the door of Don Ulan , the celebrated magician ' of Toledo . The house of the magician , if we are to credit ancient chronicleswas built at the base of a perpendicular rockwhichcrowned
, , , at the present day by the Alkasar , rises up to a stupendous height . A young Moorish female conducted the Dean into a remote cabinet , where sat her master , Don Ulan , reading . The studies of the sage had rather increased than diminished the polite demeanour of the noble Castilian , who indeed neither in visage nor dress showed any sign to indicate a colleague of man ' s enemy . "I behold your reverence with pleasure , " was his greeting , as the Dean
entered his closet . ' ' I assure you I feel highly the honour of this visit ; whatevei its object , I hope you will excuse our entering upon it until I have made your reverence feel quite at home , as if in your own dwelling . Dinner is nearly ready . This damsel will conduct you to a chamber , and when your reverence has removed the dust of your journey , you will find a capon fit for a monk smoking on the table . " The dinner , ivhich was served to a minute , was just such a one as a Spanish ( or indeed any other monk ) ivould have fancied—hot , abundant , and done to a T . " Not yet , " said Don Ulan ; when his guest , warmed by the repast ,
and a bottle of tinto , was about to announce the object of his visit . " No business during dinner ; the habit is a bad one that I never countenance ; let us enjoy our meal in comfort , and after the olla and the capon , washed down with a bottle of Ypres , have disappeared , it will be time enough to trouble ourselves with the cares of life . " Never yet sparkled the shining face of Canon with more delight ( not even on a Christmas vi gil , when by special indulgence of an indulgent
mother—the church—the day ' s fast is broken at sunset , without waiting till midnight has ushered in the morning of the Saviour ' s birth ) . Such was the effect produced on the Dean by the good humour and good wine of his entertainer . Still it was easy to perceive that some momentous object occupied his thoughts . This was evident from his uneasy motions ; his occasional sidelings on his seat ; his now and then gulping down his wine so idly as to show that he forgot the science
rap of enjoying its true flavour ; and from fifty other symptoms of distraction and impatience , ivhich , distant as he then was from his cathedral , could not at all events be attributed to a bad voice singing vespers . At length the time came to rise from table ; and in spite of the pressing invitations of Don Ulan to commence another bottle , the Dean conducted his host to the corner of a Gothic window , which looked out upon the Tagus .
" Allow me , " said he , " to disclose the inmost secrets of my heart to you , my worthy and most excellent friend and entertainer . Even your admirable hospitality , my dear Don Ulan , will fail in rendering me thoroughly happy , unless you grant me the favour with which I am
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Dean And The Magician;
THE DEAN AND THE MAGICIAN ;
OR , THE BRACE 01 ' PARTRIDGES . * ' Thick coming fancies . " IT was close upon the mid-hour when the Dean of Santiago descended from his mule at the door of Don Ulan , the celebrated magician ' of Toledo . The house of the magician , if we are to credit ancient chronicleswas built at the base of a perpendicular rockwhichcrowned
, , , at the present day by the Alkasar , rises up to a stupendous height . A young Moorish female conducted the Dean into a remote cabinet , where sat her master , Don Ulan , reading . The studies of the sage had rather increased than diminished the polite demeanour of the noble Castilian , who indeed neither in visage nor dress showed any sign to indicate a colleague of man ' s enemy . "I behold your reverence with pleasure , " was his greeting , as the Dean
entered his closet . ' ' I assure you I feel highly the honour of this visit ; whatevei its object , I hope you will excuse our entering upon it until I have made your reverence feel quite at home , as if in your own dwelling . Dinner is nearly ready . This damsel will conduct you to a chamber , and when your reverence has removed the dust of your journey , you will find a capon fit for a monk smoking on the table . " The dinner , ivhich was served to a minute , was just such a one as a Spanish ( or indeed any other monk ) ivould have fancied—hot , abundant , and done to a T . " Not yet , " said Don Ulan ; when his guest , warmed by the repast ,
and a bottle of tinto , was about to announce the object of his visit . " No business during dinner ; the habit is a bad one that I never countenance ; let us enjoy our meal in comfort , and after the olla and the capon , washed down with a bottle of Ypres , have disappeared , it will be time enough to trouble ourselves with the cares of life . " Never yet sparkled the shining face of Canon with more delight ( not even on a Christmas vi gil , when by special indulgence of an indulgent
mother—the church—the day ' s fast is broken at sunset , without waiting till midnight has ushered in the morning of the Saviour ' s birth ) . Such was the effect produced on the Dean by the good humour and good wine of his entertainer . Still it was easy to perceive that some momentous object occupied his thoughts . This was evident from his uneasy motions ; his occasional sidelings on his seat ; his now and then gulping down his wine so idly as to show that he forgot the science
rap of enjoying its true flavour ; and from fifty other symptoms of distraction and impatience , ivhich , distant as he then was from his cathedral , could not at all events be attributed to a bad voice singing vespers . At length the time came to rise from table ; and in spite of the pressing invitations of Don Ulan to commence another bottle , the Dean conducted his host to the corner of a Gothic window , which looked out upon the Tagus .
" Allow me , " said he , " to disclose the inmost secrets of my heart to you , my worthy and most excellent friend and entertainer . Even your admirable hospitality , my dear Don Ulan , will fail in rendering me thoroughly happy , unless you grant me the favour with which I am