Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 3

G 1 L B L A S. 303
:erijoyed a profound fleep, ,and, probably, the day
would have furprized me in this condition, had I
•not been waked, all of a fudden, by a noife
pretty extraordinary for a prifon. I heard the
found of a guitarre, accompanied with a man’s
voice. I liftened with attention, and hearing no
more, believed it was a dream : but, in a moment,
my ear was ftruck again with the found of the in-
ftrument, and the fame voice, that fung the fol¬
lowing verfes.
* Ay de mi ! un ano felice
' Parece un foplo ligero.;
'Peru fin dicha un inftante
Es un figlo te tormento.
My forrow was increafed by this couplet, which
Teemed to have been made on purpofe for me.
I have but too well experienced the truth of thefe
words, (faid I) methinks the” feafon of my pro-
fperity pafled away very foon, and that I have
■been already a whole age in prifon. I relapfed into
'a terrible feverie, and began again .to deplore my
fate, as if I had taken pleafure in the talk. My
lamentations, however, ended with the night; and
the firft rays of the fun, with which my chamber
was enlightened, a little calmed my difquiet. I
got up to air my roorri, by opening the window,
and furveyed the country, of which I remembered
Mr. Keeper had given fuch a fine defcriprion. But
I could find nothing to juftify what he had faid :
the Erema, which I imagined was, at leaft, equal
to the Tagus, appeared to be no more than a ri¬
vulet, i s flowery banks were bedecked with the
irettle and thiflle only, and the pretended delight-
* Alas! a year of pie furepafles like a fleeting breeze ;
"but a moment of misfortune feems an age of pain,
7 z fiil