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THE ANDALUSIAN ASS.


A gay lieutenant of the Spanish Royal Guards, known by the name of Alonzo
Beldia, became violently enamoured of the beautiful Carlotta Pena, the
eldest daughter of a reputable gunsmith, whose humble habitation adjoined
the vast cemetery of Valencia, and whom Beldia had casually seen at a
public entertainment given in that good city.

Alonzo was affable and extremely complaisant, though an egotist and
somewhat loquacious; but nature had, nevertheless, bestowed upon him a
prepossessing exterior with an enviable pair of jet black whiskers, and
the most expressive eyes; he could sing a _tonadilla_ divinely; dance the
_fandango_ with inimitable grace; and "strike the light guitar" with
unparalleled mastery. He was, in truth, an accomplished man of pleasure,
and by his gallantry he subdued the tender hearts of many fair daughters
of Ferdinand's domains.

On a dark night in the month of December, just as Alonzo had played one of
his bewitching airs, with his wonted execution, and was engaged, in
converse sweet, with the enraptured Carlotta, an extraordinary and
seemingly supernatural noise suddenly proceeded from a distant part of the
hallowed ground where Alonzo sacrificed at the shrine of love. Jesu Maria!
exclaimed the terrified damsel, what, in the name of heaven, can it be?
ere the silvery tones of her sweet voice had reached the ears of the
petrified Alonzo, the "iron tongue" of the cathedral clock announced the
hour of midnight, and the solemn intonation of its prodigious bell