wretch alone, his lot is hard enough; let him go, and his crime will be his punishment.’  We also count among our benefactors the good wenches who aid us by their labours while we are in prison, or at the galleys; our fathers, and the mothers who brought us into the world; and, finally, we take care to include the Clerk of the Court, for if he befriend us, there is no crime which he will not find means to reduce to a slight fault, and no fault which he does not prevent from being punished.  For all these our brotherhood causes the sanctimonies (ceremonies) I have named to be solecised (solemnised) every year, with all possible grandiloquence.

“Certainly,” replied Rinconete (now confirmed in that name), “certainly that is a good work, and entirely worthy of the lofty and profound genius with which we have heard that you, Senor Monipodio, are endowed.  Our parents still enjoy life; but should they precede us to the tomb, we will instantly give notice of that circumstance to this happy and highly esteemed fraternity, to the end that you may have ’sanctimonies solecised’ for their souls, as your worship is pleased to say, with the customary ‘grandiloquence.’”

“And so shall it be done,” returned Monipodio, “if there be but a piece of me left alive to look to it.”

He then called their conductor, saying, “Hallo! there, Ganchuelo![23] Is the watch set?” “Yes,” replied the boy; “three sentinels are on guard, and there is no fear of a surprise.”  “Let us return to business, then,” said Monipodio.  “I would fain know from you, my sons, what you are able to do, that I may assign you an employment in conformity with your inclinations and accomplishments.”

[23] Ganchuelo is the diminutive of gancho, a crimp.

“I,” replied Rinconete, “know a trick or two to gammon a bumpkin; I am not a bad hand at hiding what a pal has prigged; I have a good eye for a gudgeon; I play well at most games of cards, and have all the best turns of the pasteboard at my finger ends; I have cut my eye teeth, and am about as easy to lay hold of as a hedgehog; I can creep through a cat-hole or down a chimney, as I would enter the door of my father’s house; and will muster a million of tricks better than I could marshal a regiment of soldiers; and flabbergast the knowingest cove a deal sooner than pay back a loan of two reals.”

“These are certainly the rudiments,” admitted Monipodio, “but all such things are no better than old lavender flowers, so completely worn out of all savour that there is not a novice who may not boast of being a master in them.  They are good for nothing but to catch simpletons who are stupid enough to run their heads against the church steeple; but time will do much for you, and we must talk further together.  On the foundation already laid you shall have half a dozen lessons; and I then trust in God that you will turn out a famous craftsman, and even, mayhap, a master.”