singularity throws all other events connected with them and their
race, wherever found, entirely into the shade.


THE BOOKSELLER OF LOGRONO


About the middle of the sixteenth century, there resided one
Francisco Alvarez in the city of Logrono, the chief town of Rioja,
a province which borders on Aragon. He was a man above the middle
age, sober, reserved, and in general absorbed in thought; he lived
near the great church, and obtained a livelihood by selling printed
books and manuscripts in a small shop. He was a very learned man,
and was continually reading in the books which he was in the habit
of selling, and some of these books were in foreign tongues and
characters, so foreign, indeed, that none but himself and some of
his friends, the canons, could understand them; he was much visited
by the clergy, who were his principal customers, and took much
pleasure in listening to his discourse.

He had been a considerable traveller in his youth, and had wandered
through all Spain, visiting the various provinces and the most
remarkable cities. It was likewise said that he had visited Italy
and Barbary. He was, however, invariably silent with respect to
his travels, and whenever the subject was mentioned to him, the
gloom and melancholy increased which usually clouded his features.

One day, in the commencement of autumn, he was visited by a priest
with whom he had long been intimate, and for whom he had always
displayed a greater respect and liking than for any other