Note 116 — BOOK V.
Herman Oelsner translation
(Sr. D. Francisco Rodríguez Marín—who holds that the character of Galatea "is not and cannot be" intended to represent Cervantes's future wife—points to this passage in confirmation of his view: see his valuable monograph entitled Luis Barahona de Soto, Estudio biográfico, bibliográfico y crítico (Madrid, 1903), p. 119. In this distinguished scholar's opinion, the words el rabadán mayor apply to Philip II., and, by way of illustration, he quotes Lope de Vega's brilliant romance written to celebrate the wedding of Philip III. and Margaret of Austria:
El gran rabadán al reino Vino de Valladolid, Con galanes labradores Y más floridos que abril.
Galatea, as Sr. Rodríguez Marín believes, was a lady about the court who could not marry without the King's permission—a permission unnecessary for anyone in the modest social position of Doña Catalina de Palacios Salazar y Vozmediano. But compare the Introduction to the present volume, pp. xxxii.-xxxiii. J. F.-K.)