Note 53 — The Pardo Controversy
Reading edition
Apparently a play on words, mingled with a sarcastic comment on Fray Gaspar. One may hazard the conjecture that the latter (who was a noted grammarian) is here mentioned in contempt as knowing more of grammar than of current affairs, and being able only to understand events actually completed and past, without the foresight to perceive how these affect the future.