Reading Letters & Words

Sample Passage: Intro to Don Quixote

Idle reader: thou mayest believe me without any oath that I would
this book, as it is the child of my brain, were the fairest, gayest, and
cleverest that could be imagined. But I could not counteract Nature’s
law that everything shall beget its like; and what, then, could this
sterile, ill tilled wit of mine beget but the story of a dry, shrivelled,
whimsical offspring, full of thoughts of all sorts and such as never came
into any other imagination- just what might be begotten in a prison,
where every misery is lodged and every doleful sound makes its dwelling?
Tranquillity, a cheerful retreat, pleasant fields, bright skies, murmuring
brooks, peace of mind, these are the things that go far to make
even the most barren muses fertile, and bring into the world births that
fill it with wonder and delight.