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diff --git a/18762.txt b/18762.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b47ad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/18762.txt @@ -0,0 +1,30703 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6, by Lord Byron + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 + +Author: Lord Byron + +Editor: Ernest Hartley Coleridge + +Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18762] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON, VOLUME 6 *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + THE WORKS + OF + LORD BYRON. + + A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. + + Poetry. Vol. VI. + + EDITED BY + ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE, M.A., + HON. F.R.S.L. + + LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. + NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. + + 1903 + + + THIS EDITION + OF A GREAT POEM + IS DEDICATED + WITH HIS PERMISSION + + TO + + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. + + MDCCCCII. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +This etext is a Latin-1 file. The original contained a few phrases or lines +of Greek text. These are represented here as Beta-code transliterations, +for example [Greek: nous]. The original text used a other characters not +found in the Latin-1 character set. These have been represented using +bracket notation, as follows: [-a] a with macron; [-o] o with macron; [)e] +e with breve. In Canto X, Stanza XLI Byron used three pharmaceutical +symbols, represented as [ezh] (looks like a "3"), [)ezh] (same, with caron), +and [Rx] (prescription symbol). + +An important feature of this edition is its copious footnotes. Footnotes +indexed with arabic numbers (e.g. [17], [221]) are informational. Note +text in square brackets is the work of editor E.H. Coleridge, and is +unique to this edition. Other note text is from earlier editions and is +by a preceding editor or Byron himself. + +Footnotes indexed with letters (e.g. [c], [bf]) document variant forms +of the text from manuscripts and other sources. + +In the original, footnotes were printed at the foot of the page on which +they were referenced, and their indices started over on each page. In +this etext, footnotes have been collected at the ends of each preface or +Canto, and have been numbered consecutively throughout. However, in the +blocks of footnotes are numbers in braces: {321}. These represent the +page number on which following notes originally appeared, and can be +used to find notes by page. For example, the Preface directs you to "a +note (pp. 495..." and you can locate this note in its new location by +searching for {495}. + + + + + + PREFACE TO THE SIXTH VOLUME. + + +The text of this edition of _Don Juan_ has been collated with original +MSS. in the possession of the Lady Dorchester and Mr. John Murray. The +fragment of a Seventeenth Canto, consisting of fourteen stanzas, is now +printed and published for the first time. + +I have collated with the original authorities, and in many instances +retranscribed, the numerous quotations from Sir G. Dalzell's _Shipwrecks +and Disasters at Sea_ (1812, 8vo) [Canto II. stanzas xxiv.-civ. pp. +87-112], and from a work entitled _Essai sur l'Histoire Ancienne et +Moderne de la Nouvelle Russie_, par le Marquis Gabriel de Castelnau +(1827, 8vo) [Canto VII. stanzas ix.--liii. pp. 304-320, and Canto VIII. +stanzas vi.--cxxvii. pp. 331-368], which were first included in the +notes to the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of the edition of 1833, and +have been reprinted in subsequent issues of Lord Byron's _Poetical +Works_. + +A note (pp. 495-497) illustrative of the famous description of Newstead +Abbey (Canto XIII. stanzas lv.-lxxii.) contains particulars not hitherto +published. My thanks and acknowledgments are due to Lady Chermside and +Miss Ethel Webb, for the opportunity afforded me of visiting Newstead +Abbey, and for invaluable assistance in the preparation of this and +other notes. + +The proof-sheets of this volume have been read by Mr. Frank E. Taylor. I +am indebted to his care and knowledge for many important corrections and +emendations. + +I must once more record my gratitude to Dr. Garnett, C.B., for the +generous manner in which he has devoted time and attention to the +solution of difficulties submitted to his consideration. + +I am also indebted, for valuable information, to the Earl of Rosebery, +K.G.; to Mr. J. Willis Clark, Registrar of the University of Cambridge; +to Mr. W.P. Courtney; to my friend Mr. Thomas Hutchinson; to Miss Emily +Jackson, of Hucknall Torkard; and to Mr. T.E. Page, of the Charterhouse. + +On behalf of the publisher, I beg to acknowledge the kindness of the +Lady Frances Trevanion, Sir J.G. Tollemache Sinclair, Bart., and Baron +Dimsdale, in permitting the originals of portraits and drawings in their +possession to be reproduced in this volume. + + + + + NOTE. + +It was intended that the whole of Lord Byron's Poetical Works should be +included in six volumes, corresponding to the six volumes of the +Letters, and announcements to this effect have been made; but this has +been found to be impracticable. The great mass of new material +incorporated in the Introductions, notes, and variants, has already +expanded several of the published volumes to a disproportionate size, +and _Don Juan_ itself occupies 612 pages. + +Volume Seven, which will complete the work, will contain Occasional +Poems, Epigrams, etc., a Bibliography more complete than has ever +hitherto been published, and an exhaustive Index. + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. VI. + +Dedication v +Preface to Vol. VI. of the Poems vii +Introduction to DON JUAN xv +Dedication to Robert Southey, Esq. 3 +DON JUAN-- +Canto I 11 +Canto II 81 +Canto III 143 +Canto IV 183 +Canto V 218 +Preface to Cantos VI., VII., and VIII 264 +Canto VI 268 +Canto VII 302 +Canto VIII 330 +Canto IX 373 +Canto X 400 +Canto XI 427 +Canto XII 455 +Canto XIII 481 +Canto XIV 516 +Canto XV 544 +Canto XVI 572 +Canto XVII 608 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +1. PORTRAIT OF LORD BYRON, FROM A DRAWING FROM THE +LIFE BY J. HOLMES, FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF THE +LATE HUGH CHARLES TREVANION, ESQ. frontispiece + +2. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, FROM THE PORTRAIT BY H.W. +PICKERSGILL, R.A., IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY To face p. 4 + +3. NINON DE LENCLOS, FROM A MINIATURE IN THE +POSSESSION OF SIR J.G. TOLLEMACHE SINCLAIR, BART. 246 + +4. FOUNTAIN AT NEWSTEAD ABBEY 500 + + + + + INTRODUCTION TO _DON JUAN_ + + +Byron was a rapid as well as a voluminous writer. His _Tales_ were +thrown off at lightning speed, and even his dramas were thought out and +worked through with unhesitating energy and rapid achievement. +Nevertheless, the composition of his two great poems was all but +coextensive with his poetical life. He began the first canto of _Childe +Harold_ in the autumn of 1809, and he did not complete the fourth canto +till the spring of 1818. He began the first canto of _Don Juan_ in the +autumn of 1818, and he was still at work on a seventeenth canto in the +spring of 1823. Both poems were issued in parts, and with long intervals +of unequal duration between the parts; but the same result was brought +about by different causes and produced a dissimilar effect. _Childe +Harold_ consists of three distinct poems descriptive of three successive +travels or journeys in foreign lands. The adventures of the hero are but +the pretext for the shifting of the diorama; whereas in _Don Juan_ the +story is continuous, and the scenery is exhibited as a background for +the dramatic evolution of the personality of the hero. _Childe Harold_ +came out at intervals, because there were periods when the author was +stationary; but the interruptions in the composition and publication of +_Don Juan_ were due to the disapproval and discouragement of friends, +and the very natural hesitation and procrastination of the publisher. +Canto I. was written in September, 1818; Canto II. in December-January, +1818-1819. Both cantos were published on July 15, 1819. Cantos III., IV. +were written in the winter of 1819-1820; Canto V., after an interval of +nine months, in October-November, 1820, but the publication of Cantos +III., IV., V. was delayed till August 8, 1821. The next interval was +longer still, but it was the last. In June, 1822, Byron began to work at +a sixth, and by the end of March, 1823, he had completed a sixteenth +canto. But the publication of these later cantos, which had been +declined by Murray, and were finally entrusted to John Hunt, was spread +over a period of several months. Cantos VI., VII., VIII., with a +Preface, were published July 15; Cantos IX., X., XI, August 29; Cantos +XII., XIII., XIV., December 17, 1823; and, finally, Cantos XV., XVI., +March 26, 1824. The composition of _Don Juan_, considered as a whole, +synchronized with the composition of all the dramas (except _Manfred_) +and the following poems: _The Prophecy of Dante_, (the translation of) +_The Morgante Maggiore, The Vision of Judgment, The Age of Bronze_, and +_The Island_. + +There is little to be said with regard to the "Sources" of _Don Juan_. +Frere's _Whistlecraft_ had suggested _Beppo_, and, at the same time, had +prompted and provoked a sympathetic study of Frere's Italian models, +Berni and Pulci (see "Introduction to _Beppo_," _Poetical Works_, 1901, +iv. 155-158; and "Introduction to _The Morgante Maggiore_" ibid., pp. +279-281); and, again, the success of _Beppo_, and, still more, a sense +of inspiration and the conviction that he had found the path to +excellence, suggested another essay of the _ottava rima_, a humorous +poem "_a la Beppo_" on a larger and more important scale. If Byron +possessed more than a superficial knowledge of the legendary "Don Juan," +he was irresponsive and unimpressed. He speaks (letter to Murray, +February 16, 1821) of "the Spanish tradition;" but there is nothing to +show that he had read or heard of Tirso de Molina's (Gabriel Tellez) _El +Burlador de Sevilla y Convidado de Piedra_ (_The Deceiver of Seville and +the Stone Guest_), 1626, which dramatized the "ower true tale" of the +actual Don Juan Tenorio; or that he was acquainted with any of the +Italian (e.g. _Convitato di Pietra_, del Dottor Giacinto Andrea +Cicognini, Fiorentino [see L. Allacci _Dramaturgia_, 1755, 4º, p. 862]) +or French adaptations of the legend (_e.g_. _Le Festin de Pierre, ou le +fils criminel_, Tragi-comedie de De Villiers, 1659; and Moliere's _Dom +Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre_, 1665). He had seen (_vide post_, p. 11, +note 2) Delpini's pantomime, which was based on Shadwell's +_Libertine_, and he may have witnessed, at Milan or Venice, a +performance of Mozart's _Don Giovanni_; but in taking Don Juan for his +"hero," he took the name only, and disregarded the "terrible figure" "of +the Titan of embodied evil, the likeness of sin made flesh" (see +_Selections from the Works of Lord Byron_, by A.C. Swinburne, 1885, p. +xxvi.), "as something to his purpose nothing"! + +Why, then, did he choose the name, and what was the scheme or motif of +his poem? Something is to be gathered from his own remarks and +reflections; but it must be borne in mind that he is on the defensive, +and that his half-humorous paradoxes were provoked by advice and +opposition. Writing to Moore (September 19, 1818), he says, "I have +finished the first canto ... of a poem in the style and manner of +_Beppo_, encouraged by the good success of the same. It is ... meant to +be a little quietly facetious upon every thing. But I doubt whether it +is not--at least as far as it has gone--too free for these very modest +days." The critics before and after publication thought that _Don Juan_ +_was_ "too free," and, a month after the two first cantos had been +issued, he writes to Murray (August 12, 1819), "You ask me for the plan +of Donny Johnny; I _have_ no plan--I _had_ no plan; but I had or have +materials.... You are too earnest and eager about a work never intended +to be serious. Do you suppose that I could have any intention but to +giggle and make giggle?--a playful satire, with as little poetry as +could be helped, was what I meant." Again, after the completion but +before the publication of Cantos III., IV., V., in a letter to Murray +(February 16, 1821), he writes, "The Fifth is so far from being the last +of _Don Juan_, that it is hardly the beginning. I meant to take him the +tour of Europe, with a proper mixture of siege, battle, and adventure, +and to make him finish as Anacharsis Cloots in the French Revolution.... +I meant to have made him a _Cavalier Servente_ in Italy, and a cause for +a divorce in England, and a Sentimental 'Werther-faced' man in Germany, +so as to show the different ridicules of the society in each of these +countries, and to have displayed him gradually _gate_ and _blase_, as he +grew older, as is natural. But I had not quite fixed whether to make him +end in Hell, or in an unhappy marriage, not knowing which would be the +severest." + +Byron meant what he said, but he kept back the larger truth. Great +works, in which the poet speaks _ex animo_, and the man lays bare the +very pulse of the machine, are not conceived or composed unconsciously +and at haphazard. Byron did not "whistle" _Don Juan_ "for want of +thought." He had found a thing to say, and he meant to make the world +listen. He had read with angry disapproval, but he had read, Coleridge's +_Critique on_ [Maturin's] _Bertram_ (_vide post_, p. 4, note 1), and, +it may be, had caught an inspiration from one brilliant sentence which +depicts the Don Juan of the legend somewhat after the likeness of Childe +Harold, if not of Lord Byron: "Rank, fortune, wit, talent, acquired +knowledge, and liberal accomplishments, with beauty of person, vigorous +health, ... all these advantages, elevated by the habits and sympathies +of noble birth and natural character, are ... combined in Don Juan, so +as to give him the means of carrying into all its practical consequences +the doctrine of a godless nature ... Obedience to nature is the only +virtue." Again, "It is not the wickedness of Don Juan ... which +constitutes the character an abstraction, ... but the rapid succession +of the correspondent acts and incidents, his intellectual superiority, +and the splendid accumulation of his gifts and desirable qualities as +coexistent with entire wickedness in one and the same person." Here was +at once a suggestion and a challenge. + +Would it not be possible to conceive and to depict an ideal character, +gifted, gracious, and delightful, who should "carry into all its +practical consequences" the doctrine of a mundane, if not godless +doctrine, and, at the same time, retain the charities and virtues of +uncelestial but not devilish manhood? In defiance of monition and in +spite of resolution, the primrose path is trodden by all sorts and +conditions of men, sinners no doubt, but not necessarily abstractions of +sin, and to assert the contrary makes for cant and not for +righteousness. The form and substance of the poem were due to the +compulsion of Genius and the determination of Art, but the argument is a +vindication of the natural man. It is Byron's "criticism of life." _Don +Juan_ was _taboo_ from the first. The earlier issues of the first five +cantos were doubly anonymous. Neither author nor publisher subscribed +their names on the title-page. The book was a monster, and, as its maker +had foreseen, "all the world" shuddered. Immoral, in the sense that it +advocates immoral tenets, or prefers evil to good, it is not, but it is +unquestionably a dangerous book, which (to quote Kingsley's words used +in another connection) "the young and innocent will do well to leave +altogether unread." It is dangerous because it ignores resistance and +presumes submission to passion; it is dangerous because, as Byron +admitted, it is "now and then voluptuous;" and it is dangerous, in a +lesser degree, because, here and there, the purport of the quips and +allusions is gross and offensive. No one can take up the book without +being struck and arrested by these violations of modesty and decorum; +but no one can master its contents and become possessed of it as a whole +without perceiving that the mirror is held up to nature, that it +reflects spots and blemishes which, on a survey of the vast and various +orb, dwindle into _natural_ and so comparative insignificance. Byron was +under no delusion as to the grossness of _Don Juan_. His plea or +pretence, that he was sheltered by the superior grossness of Ariosto and +La Fontaine, of Prior and of Fielding, is _nihil ad rem_, if it is not +insincere. When Murray (May 3, 1819) charges him with "approximations to +indelicacy," he laughs himself away at the euphemism, but when Hobhouse +and "the Zoili of Albemarle Street" talked to him "about morality," he +flames out, "I maintain that it is the most moral of poems." He looked +upon his great work as a whole, and he knew that the "_raison d'etre_ of +his song" was not only to celebrate, but, by the white light of truth, +to represent and exhibit the great things of the world--Love and War, +and Death by sea and land, and Man, half-angel, half-demon--the comedy +of his fortunes, and the tragedy of his passions and his fate. + +_Don Juan_ has won great praise from the great. Sir Walter Scott +(_Edinburgh Weekly Journal_, May 19, 1824) maintained that its creator +"has embraced every topic of human life, and sounded every string of the +divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and +heart-astounding tones." Goethe (_Kunst und Alterthum_, 1821 [ed. +Weimar, iii. 197, and _Saemmtliche Werke_, xiii. 637]) described _Don +Juan_ as "a work of boundless genius." Shelley (letter to Byron, October +21, 1821), on the receipt of Cantos III., IV., V., bore testimony to his +"wonder and delight:" "This poem carries with it at once the stamp of +originality and defiance of imitation. Nothing has ever been written +like it in English, nor, if I may venture to prophesy, will there be, +unless carrying upon it the mark of a secondary and borrowed light.... +You are building up a drama," he adds, "such as England has not yet +seen, and the task is sufficiently noble and worthy of you." Again, of +the fifth canto he writes (Shelley's _Prose Works_, ed. H. Buxton +Forman, iv. 219), "Every word has the stamp of immortality.... It +fulfils, in a certain degree, what I have long preached of +producing--something wholly new and relative to the age, and yet +surpassingly beautiful." Finally, a living poet, neither a disciple nor +encomiast of Byron, pays eloquent tribute to the strength and splendour +of _Don Juan_: "Across the stanzas ... we swim forward as over the +'broad backs of the sea;' they break and glitter, hiss and laugh, murmur +and move like waves that sound or that subside. There is in them a +delicious resistance, an elastic motion, which salt water has and fresh +water has not. There is about them a wide wholesome air, full of vivid +light and constant wind, which is only felt at sea. Life undulates and +Death palpitates in the splendid verse.... This gift of life and variety +is the supreme quality of Byron's chief poem" (_A Selection, etc._, by +A.C. Swinburne, 1885, p. x.). + +Cantos I., II. of _Don Juan_ were reviewed in _Blackwood's Edinburgh +Magazine_, August, 1819, vol. v. pp. 512-518; Cantos III., IV., V., +August, 1821, vol. x. pp. 107-115; and Cantos VI., VII., VIII., July, +1823, vol. xiv. pp. 88-92: in the _British Critic_, Cantos I., II. were +reviewed August, 1819, vol. xii. pp. 195-205; and Cantos III., IV., V., +September, 1821, vol. xvi. pp. 251-256: in the _British Review_, Cantos +I., II. were reviewed August, 1819, vol. xiv. pp. 266-268; and Cantos +III., IV., V., December, 1821, vol. xviii. pp. 245-265: in the +_Examiner_, Cantos I., II. were reviewed October 31, 1819; Cantos III., +IV., V., August 26, 1821; and Cantos XV., XVI., March 14 and 21, 1824: +in the _Literary Gazette_, Cantos I., II. were reviewed July 17 and 24, +1819; Cantos III., IV., V., August 11 and 18, 1821; Cantos VI., VII., +VIII., July 19, 1823; Cantos IX., X., XL, September 6, 1823; Cantos +XII., XIII., XIV., December 6, 1823; and Cantos XV., XVI., April 3, +1824: in the _Monthly Review_., Cantos I., II. were reviewed July, 1819, +Enlarged Series, vol. 89, p. 309; Cantos III., IV., V., August, 1821, +vol. 95, p. 418; Cantos VI., VII., VIII., July, 1823, vol. 101, p. 316; +Cantos IX., X., XI., October, 1823, vol. 102, p. 217; Cantos XII., +XIII., XIV., vol. 103, p. 212; and Cantos XV., XVI., April, 1824, vol. +103, p. 434: in the _New Monthly Magazine_, Cantos I., II. were reviewed +August, 1819, vol. xii. p. 75. See, too, an article on the "Morality of +_Don Juan_," _Dublin University Magazine_, May, 1875, vol. lxxxv. pp. +630-637. + +Neither the _Quarterly_ nor the _Edinburgh Review_ devoted separate +articles to _Don Juan_; but Heber, in the _Quarterly Review_ (Lord +Byron's _Dramas_), July, 1822, vol. xxvii. p. 477, and Jeffrey, in the +_Edinburgh Review_ (Lord Byron's _Tragedies_), February, 1822, vol. 36, +pp. 446-450, took occasion to pass judgment on the poem and its author. + +For the history of the legend, see _History of Spanish Literature_, by +George Ticknor, 1888, vol. ii. pp. 380, 381; and _Das Kloster_, von J. +Scheible, 1846, vol. iii. pp. 663-765. See, too, _Notes sur le Don +Juanisme_, par Henri de Bruchard, _Mercure de France_, Avril, 1898, vol. +xxvi. pp. 58-73; and _Don Juan_, par Gustave Kahn, _Revue +Encyclopedique_, 1898, tom. viii. pp. 326-329. + + + + + + DON JUAN. + + + + + FRAGMENT + ON THE BACK OF THE MS. OF CANTO I. + + + I WOULD to Heaven that I were so much clay, + As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling-- + Because at least the past were passed away, + And for the future--(but I write this reeling, + Having got drunk exceedingly to-day, + So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling) + I say--the future is a serious matter-- + And so--for God's sake--hock and soda-water! + + + + + DEDICATION.[1] + + I. + + BOB SOUTHEY! You're a poet--Poet-laureate, + And representative of all the race; + Although 't is true that you turned out a Tory at + Last,--yours has lately been a common case; + And now, my Epic Renegade! what are ye at? + With all the Lakers, in and out of place? + A nest of tuneful persons, to my eye + Like "four and twenty Blackbirds in a pye; + + II. + + "Which pye being opened they began to sing," + (This old song and new simile holds good), + "A dainty dish to set before the King," + Or Regent, who admires such kind of food;-- + And Coleridge, too, has lately taken wing, + But like a hawk encumbered with his hood,-- + Explaining Metaphysics to the nation-- + I wish he would explain his Explanation.[2] + + III. + + You, Bob! are rather insolent, you know, + At being disappointed in your wish + To supersede all warblers here below, + And be the only Blackbird in the dish; + And then you overstrain yourself, or so, + And tumble downward like the flying fish + Gasping on deck, because you soar too high, Bob, + And fall, for lack of moisture, quite a-dry, Bob![3] + + IV. + + And Wordsworth, in a rather long "Excursion," + (I think the quarto holds five hundred pages), + Has given a sample from the vasty version + Of his new system[4] to perplex the sages; + 'T is poetry-at least by his assertion, + And may appear so when the dog-star rages-- + And he who understands it would be able + To add a story to the Tower of Babel. + + V. + + You--Gentlemen! by dint of long seclusion + From better company, have kept your own + At Keswick, and, through still continued fusion + Of one another's minds, at last have grown + To deem as a most logical conclusion, + That Poesy has wreaths for you alone: + There is a narrowness in such a notion, + Which makes me wish you'd change your lakes for Ocean. + + VI. + + I would not imitate the petty thought, + Nor coin my self-love to so base a vice, + For all the glory your conversion brought, + Since gold alone should not have been its price. + You have your salary; was 't for that you wrought? + And Wordsworth has his place in the Excise.[5] + You're shabby fellows--true--but poets still, + And duly seated on the Immortal Hill. + + VII. + + Your bays may hide the baldness of your brows-- + Perhaps some virtuous blushes;--let them go-- + To you I envy neither fruit nor boughs-- + And for the fame you would engross below, + The field is universal, and allows + Scope to all such as feel the inherent glow: + Scott, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and Crabbe, will try + 'Gainst you the question with posterity. + + VIII. + + For me, who, wandering with pedestrian Muses, + Contend not with you on the winged steed, + I wish your fate may yield ye, when she chooses, + The fame you envy, and the skill you need; + And, recollect, a poet nothing loses + In giving to his brethren their full meed + Of merit--and complaint of present days + Is not the certain path to future praise. + + IX. + + He that reserves his laurels for posterity + (Who does not often claim the bright reversion) + Has generally no great crop to spare it, he + Being only injured by his own assertion; + And although here and there some glorious rarity + Arise like Titan from the sea's immersion, + The major part of such appellants go + To--God knows where--for no one else can know. + + X. + + If, fallen in evil days on evil tongues,[6] + Milton appealed to the Avenger, Time, + If Time, the Avenger, execrates his wrongs, + And makes the word "Miltonic" mean "_Sublime_," + _He_ deigned not to belie his soul in songs, + Nor turn his very talent to a crime; + _He_ did not loathe the Sire to laud the Son, + But closed the tyrant-hater he begun. + + XI. + + Think'st thou, could he--the blind Old Man--arise + Like Samuel from the grave, to freeze once more + The blood of monarchs with his prophecies, + Or be alive again--again all hoar + With time and trials, and those helpless eyes, + And heartless daughters--worn--and pale[7]--and poor; + Would _he_ adore a sultan? _he_ obey + The intellectual eunuch Castlereagh?[8] + + XII. + + Cold-blooded, smooth-faced, placid miscreant! + Dabbling its sleek young hands in Erin's gore, + And thus for wider carnage taught to pant, + Transferred to gorge upon a sister shore, + The vulgarest tool that Tyranny could want, + With just enough of talent, and no more, + To lengthen fetters by another fixed, + And offer poison long already mixed. + + XIII. + + An orator of such set trash of phrase + Ineffably--legitimately vile, + That even its grossest flatterers dare not praise, + Nor foes--all nations--condescend to smile,-- + Nor even a sprightly blunder's spark can blaze + From that Ixion grindstone's ceaseless toil, + That turns and turns to give the world a notion + Of endless torments and perpetual motion. + + XIV. + + A bungler even in its disgusting trade, + And botching, patching, leaving still behind + Something of which its masters are afraid-- + States to be curbed, and thoughts to be confined, + Conspiracy or Congress to be made-- + Cobbling at manacles for all mankind-- + A tinkering slave-maker, who mends old chains, + With God and Man's abhorrence for its gains. + + XV. + + If we may judge of matter by the mind, + Emasculated to the marrow _It_ + Hath but two objects, how to serve, and bind, + Deeming the chain it wears even men may fit, + Eutropius of its many masters,[9]--blind + To worth as freedom, wisdom as to wit, + Fearless--because _no_ feeling dwells in ice, + Its very courage stagnates to a vice.[10] + + XVI. + + Where shall I turn me not to _view_ its bonds, + For I will never _feel_ them?--Italy! + Thy late reviving Roman soul desponds + Beneath the lie this State-thing breathed o'er thee[11]-- + Thy clanking chain, and Erin's yet green wounds, + Have voices--tongues to cry aloud for me. + Europe has slaves--allies--kings--armies still-- + And Southey lives to sing them very ill. + + XVII. + + Meantime, Sir Laureate, I proceed to dedicate, + In honest simple verse, this song to you. + And, if in flattering strains I do not predicate, + 'T is that I still retain my "buff and blue;"[12] + My politics as yet are all to educate: + Apostasy's so fashionable, too, + To keep _one_ creed's a task grown quite Herculean; + Is it not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian?[13] + +Venice, Sept. 16, 1818. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{3}[1] ["As the Poem is to be published anonymously, _omit_ the +Dedication. I won't attack the dog in the dark. Such things are for +scoundrels and renegadoes like himself" [_Revise_]. See, too, letter to +Murray, May 6, 1819 (_Letters_, 1900, iv. 294); and Southey's letter to +Bedford, July 31, 1819 (_Selections from the Letters, etc._, 1856, in. +137, 138). According to the editor of the _Works of Lord Byron_, 1833 +(xv. 101), the existence of the Dedication "became notorious" in +consequence of Hobhouse's article in the _Westminster Review_, 1824. He +adds, for Southey's consolation and encouragement, that "for several +years the verses have been selling in the streets as a broadside," and +that "it would serve no purpose to exclude them on the present +occasion." But Southey was not appeased. He tells Allan Cunningham (June +3, 1833) that "the new edition of Byron's works is ... one of the very +worst symptoms of these bad times" (_Life and Correspondence_, 1850, vi. +217).] + +{4}[2] [In the "Critique on _Bertram_," which Coleridge contributed to +the _Courier_, in 1816, and republished in the _Biographia Literaria_, +in 1817 (chap, xxiii.), he gives a detailed analysis of "the old Spanish +play, entitled _Atheista Fulminato [vide ante_, the 'Introduction to +_Don Juan_'] ... which under various names (_Don Juan_, the _Libertine_, +etc.) has had its day of favour in every country throughout Europe ... +Rank, fortune, wit, talent, acquired knowledge, and liberal +accomplishments, with beauty of person, vigorous health, and +constitutional hardihood,--all these advantages, elevated by the habits +and sympathies of noble birth and national character, are supposed to +have combined in Don Juan, so as to give him the means of carrying into +all its practical consequences the doctrine of a godless nature, as the +sole ground and efficient cause not only of all things, events, and +appearances, but likewise of all our thoughts, sensations, impulses, and +actions. Obedience to nature is the only virtue." It is possible that +Byron traced his own lineaments in this too life-like portraiture, and +at the same time conceived the possibility of a new Don Juan, "made up" +after his own likeness. His extreme resentment at Coleridge's just, +though unwise and uncalled-for, attack on Maturin stands in need of some +explanation. See letter to Murray, September 17, 1817 (_Letters_, 1900, +iv. 172).] + +[3] ["Have you heard that _Don Juan_ came over with a dedication to me, +in which Lord Castlereagh and I (being hand in glove intimates) were +coupled together for abuse as 'the two Roberts'? A fear of persecution +(_sic_) from the _one_ Robert is supposed to be the reason why it has +been suppressed" (Southey to Rev. H. Hill, August 13, 1819, _Selections +from the Letters, etc._, 1856, iii. 142). For "Quarrel between Byron and +Southey," see Introduction to _The Vision of Judgment_, _Poetical +Works_, 1901, iv. 475-480; and _Letters_, 1901, vi. 377-399 (Appendix +I.).] + +[4] [The reference must be to the detailed enumeration of "the powers +requisite for the production of poetry," and the subsequent antithesis +of Imagination and Fancy contained in the Preface to the collected +_Poems of William Wordsworth_, published in 1815. In the Preface to the +_Excursion_ (1814) it is expressly stated that "it is not the author's +intention formally to announce a system."] + +{5}[5] Wordsworth's place may be in the Customs--it is, I think, in that +or the Excise--besides another at Lord Lonsdale's table, where this +poetical charlatan and political parasite licks up the crumbs with a +hardened alacrity; the converted Jacobin having long subsided into the +clownish sycophant [_despised retainer_,--_MS. erased_] of the worst +prejudices of the aristocracy. + +[Wordsworth obtained his appointment as Distributor of Stamps for the +county of Westmoreland in March, 1813, through Lord Lonsdale's +"patronage" (see his letter, March 6, 1813). _The Excursion_ was +dedicated to Lord Lonsdale in a sonnet dated July 29, 1814-- + + "Oft through thy fair domains, illustrious Peer, + In youth I roamed ... + Now, by thy care befriended, I appear + Before thee, Lonsdale, and this Work present." +] + +{6}[6] [_Paradise Lost_, vii. 25, 26.] + +{7}[7] "Pale, but not cadaverous:"--Milton's two elder daughters are +said to have robbed him of his books, besides cheating and plaguing him +in the economy of his house, etc., etc. His feelings on such an outrage, +both as a parent and a scholar, must have been singularly painful. +Hayley compares him to Lear. See part third, _Life of Milton_, by W. +Hayley (or Hailey, as spelt in the edition before me). + +[_The Life of Milton_, by William Hailey (_sic_), Esq., Basil, 1799, p. 186.] + +[8] Or-- + + "Would _he_ subside into a hackney Laureate-- + A scribbling, self-sold, soul-hired, scorned Iscariot?" + +I doubt if "Laureate" and "Iscariot" be good rhymes, but must say, as +Ben Jonson did to Sylvester, who challenged him to rhyme with-- + + "I, John Sylvester, + Lay with your sister." + +Jonson answered--"I, Ben Jonson, lay with your wife." Sylvester +answered,--"That is not rhyme."--"No," said Ben Jonson; "but it is +_true_." + +[For Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, see _The Age of Bronze_, line +538, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 568, note 2; and _Letters_, 1900, iv. +108, note 1.] + +{8}[9] For the character of Eutropius, the eunuch and minister at the +court of Arcadius, see Gibbon, [_Decline and Fall_, 1825, ii. 307, 308]. + +[10] ["Mr. John Murray,--As publisher to the Admiralty and of various +Government works, if the five stanzas concerning Castlereagh should risk +your ears or the Navy List, you may omit them in the publication--in +that case the two last lines of stanza 10 [_i.e_. 11] must end with the +couplet (lines 7, 8) inscribed in the margin. The stanzas on Castlerighi +(as the Italians call him) are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15."--_MS. M_.] + +[11] [Commenting on a "pathetic sentiment" of Leoni, the author of the +Italian translation of _Childe Harold_ ("Sciagurata condizione di questa +mia patria!"), Byron affirms that the Italians execrated Castlereagh "as +the cause, by the conduct of the English at Genoa." "Surely," he +exclaims, "that man will not die in his bed: there is no spot of the +earth where his name is not a hissing and a curse. Imagine what must be +the man's talent for Odium, who has contrived to spread his infamy like +a pestilence from Ireland to Italy, and to make his name an execration +in all languages."--Letter to Murray, May 8, 1820, _Letters_, 1901, v. +22, note 1.] + +{9}[12] [Charles James Fox and the Whig Club of his time adopted a +uniform of blue and buff. Hence the livery of the _Edinburgh Review_.] + +[13] I allude not to our friend Landor's hero, the traitor Count Julian, +but to Gibbon's hero, vulgarly yclept "The Apostate." + + + + DON JUAN + + CANTO THE FIRST.[14] + + I. + + I WANT a hero: an uncommon want, + When every year and month sends forth a new one, + Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, + The age discovers he is not the true one; + Of such as these I should not care to vaunt, + I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan-- + We all have seen him, in the pantomime,[15] + Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time. + + II. + + Vernon,[16] the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke, + Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe, + Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk, + And filled their sign-posts then, like Wellesley now; + Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk, + Followers of Fame, "nine farrow"[17] of that sow: + France, too, had Buonaparte[18] and Dumourier[19] + Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier. + + III. + + Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, Mirabeau, + Petion, Clootz, Danton, Marat, La Fayette[20] + Were French, and famous people, as we know; + And there were others, scarce forgotten yet, + Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,[21] + With many of the military set, + Exceedingly remarkable at times, + But not at all adapted to my rhymes. + + IV. + + Nelson was once Britannia's god of War, + And still should be so, but the tide is turned; + There's no more to be said of Trafalgar, + 'T is with our hero quietly inurned; + Because the army's grown more popular, + At which the naval people are concerned; + Besides, the Prince is all for the land-service. + Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis. + + V. + + Brave men were living before Agamemnon[22] + And since, exceeding valorous and sage, + A good deal like him too, though quite the same none; + But then they shone not on the poet's page, + And so have been forgotten:--I condemn none, + But can't find any in the present age + Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one); + So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan. + + VI. + + Most epic poets plunge _"in medias res"_[23] + (Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road), + And then your hero tells, whene'er you please, + What went before--by way of episode, + While seated after dinner at his ease, + Beside his mistress in some soft abode, + Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern, + Which serves the happy couple for a tavern. + + VII. + + That is the usual method, but not mine-- + My way is to begin with the beginning; + The regularity of my design + Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning, + And therefore I shall open with a line + (Although it cost me half an hour in spinning), + Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father, + And also of his mother, if you'd rather. + + VIII. + + In Seville was he born, a pleasant city, + Famous for oranges and women,--he + Who has not seen it will be much to pity, + So says the proverb[24]--and I quite agree; + Of all the Spanish towns is none more pretty, + Cadiz perhaps--but that you soon may see;-- + Don Juan's parents lived beside the river, + A noble stream, and called the Guadalquivir. + + IX. + + His father's name was Jose-_Don_, of course,-- + A true Hidalgo, free from every stain + Of Moor or Hebrew blood, he traced his source + Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain; + A better cavalier ne'er mounted horse, + Or, being mounted, e'er got down again, + Than Jose, who begot our hero, who + Begot--but that's to come----Well, to renew: + + X.[25] + + His mother was a learned lady, famed + For every branch of every science known-- + In every Christian language ever named, + With virtues equalled by her wit alone: + She made the cleverest people quite ashamed, + And even the good with inward envy groan, + Finding themselves so very much exceeded, + In their own way, by all the things that she did. + + XI. + + Her memory was a mine: she knew by heart + All Calderon and greater part of Lope; + So, that if any actor missed his part, + She could have served him for the prompter's copy; + For her Feinagle's were an useless art,[26] + And he himself obliged to shut up shop--he + Could never make a memory so fine as + That which adorned the brain of Donna Inez. + + XII. + + Her favourite science was the mathematical, + Her noblest virtue was her magnanimity, + Her wit (she sometimes tried at wit) was Attic all, + Her serious sayings darkened to sublimity;[a] + In short, in all things she was fairly what I call + A prodigy--her morning dress was dimity, + Her evening silk, or, in the summer, muslin, + And other stuffs, with which I won't stay puzzling. + + XIII. + + She knew the Latin--that is, "the Lord's prayer," + And Greek--the alphabet--I'm nearly sure; + She read some French romances here and there, + Although her mode of speaking was not pure; + For native Spanish she had no great care, + At least her conversation was obscure; + Her thoughts were theorems, her words a problem, + As if she deemed that mystery would ennoble 'em. + + XIV. + + She liked the English and the Hebrew tongue, + And said there was analogy between 'em; + She proved it somehow out of sacred song, + But I must leave the proofs to those who've seen 'em; + But this I heard her say, and can't be wrong, + And all may think which way their judgments lean 'em, + "'T is strange--the Hebrew noun which means 'I am,' + The English always use to govern d--n." + + XV. + + Some women use their tongues--she _looked_ a lecture, + Each eye a sermon, and her brow a homily, + An all-in-all sufficient self-director, + Like the lamented late Sir Samuel Romilly,[27] + The Law's expounder, and the State's corrector, + Whose suicide was almost an anomaly-- + One sad example more, that "All is vanity,"-- + (The jury brought their verdict in "Insanity!") + + XVI. + + In short, she was a walking calculation, + Miss Edgeworth's novels stepping from their covers,[28] + Or Mrs. Trimmer's books on education,[29] + Or "Coelebs' Wife"[30] set out in quest of lovers, + Morality's prim personification, + In which not Envy's self a flaw discovers; + To others' share let "female errors fall,"[31] + For she had not even one--the worst of all. + + XVII. + + Oh! she was perfect past all parallel-- + Of any modern female saint's comparison; + So far above the cunning powers of Hell, + Her Guardian Angel had given up his garrison; + Even her minutest motions went as well + As those of the best time-piece made by Harrison:[32] + In virtues nothing earthly could surpass her, + Save thine "incomparable oil," Macassar![33] + + XVIII. + + Perfect she was, but as perfection is + Insipid in this naughty world of ours, + Where our first parents never learned to kiss + Till they were exiled from their earlier bowers, + Where all was peace, and innocence, and bliss,[b] + (I wonder how they got through the twelve hours), + Don Jose, like a lineal son of Eve, + Went plucking various fruit without her leave. + + XIX. + + He was a mortal of the careless kind, + With no great love for learning, or the learned, + Who chose to go where'er he had a mind, + And never dreamed his lady was concerned; + The world, as usual, wickedly inclined + To see a kingdom or a house o'erturned, + Whispered he had a mistress, some said _two_. + But for domestic quarrels _one_ will do. + + XX. + + Now Donna Inez had, with all her merit, + A great opinion of her own good qualities; + Neglect, indeed, requires a saint to bear it, + And such, indeed, she was in her moralities;[c] + But then she had a devil of a spirit, + And sometimes mixed up fancies with realities, + And let few opportunities escape + Of getting her liege lord into a scrape. + + XXI. + + This was an easy matter with a man + Oft in the wrong, and never on his guard; + And even the wisest, do the best they can, + Have moments, hours, and days, so unprepared, + That you might "brain them with their lady's fan;"[34] + And sometimes ladies hit exceeding hard, + And fans turn into falchions in fair hands, + And why and wherefore no one understands. + + XXII. + + 'T is pity learned virgins ever wed + With persons of no sort of education, + Or gentlemen, who, though well born and bred, + Grow tired of scientific conversation: + I don't choose to say much upon this head, + I'm a plain man, and in a single station, + But--Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual, + Inform us truly, have they not hen-pecked you all? + + XXIII. + + Don Jose and his lady quarrelled--_why_, + Not any of the many could divine, + Though several thousand people chose to try, + 'T was surely no concern of theirs nor mine; + I loathe that low vice--curiosity; + But if there's anything in which I shine, + 'T is in arranging all my friends' affairs, + Not having, of my own, domestic cares. + + XXIV. + + And so I interfered, and with the best + Intentions, but their treatment was not kind; + I think the foolish people were possessed, + For neither of them could I ever find, + Although their porter afterwards confessed-- + But that's no matter, and the worst's behind, + For little Juan o'er me threw, down stairs, + A pail of housemaid's water unawares. + + XXV. + + A little curly-headed, good-for-nothing, + And mischief-making monkey from his birth; + His parents ne'er agreed except in doting + Upon the most unquiet imp on earth; + Instead of quarrelling, had they been but both in + Their senses, they'd have sent young master forth + To school, or had him soundly whipped at home, + To teach him manners for the time to come. + + XXVI. + + Don Jose and the Donna Inez led + For some time an unhappy sort of life, + Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead;[d] + They lived respectably as man and wife, + Their conduct was exceedingly well-bred, + And gave no outward signs of inward strife, + Until at length the smothered fire broke out, + And put the business past all kind of doubt. + + XXVII. + + For Inez called some druggists and physicians, + And tried to prove her loving lord was _mad_,[35] + But as he had some lucid intermissions, + She next decided he was only _bad_; + Yet when they asked her for her depositions, + No sort of explanation could be had, + Save that her duty both to man and God[36] + Required this conduct--which seemed very odd.[37] + + XXVIII. + + She kept a journal, where his faults were noted, + And opened certain trunks of books and letters,[38] + All which might, if occasion served, be quoted; + And then she had all Seville for abettors, + Besides her good old grandmother (who doted); + The hearers of her case became repeaters, + Then advocates, inquisitors, and judges, + Some for amusement, others for old grudges. + + XXIX. + + And then this best and meekest woman bore + With such serenity her husband's woes, + Just as the Spartan ladies did of yore, + Who saw their spouses killed, and nobly chose + Never to say a word about them more-- + Calmly she heard each calumny that rose, + And saw _his_ agonies with such sublimity, + That all the world exclaimed, "What magnanimity!" + + XXX. + + No doubt this patience, when the world is damning us, + Is philosophic in our former friends; + 'T is also pleasant to be deemed magnanimous, + The more so in obtaining our own ends; + And what the lawyers call a _"malus animus"_ + Conduct like this by no means comprehends: + Revenge in person's certainly no virtue, + But then 't is not _my_ fault, if _others_ hurt you. + + XXXI. + + And if our quarrels should rip up old stories, + And help them with a lie or two additional, + _I_'m not to blame, as you well know--no more is + Any one else--they were become traditional; + Besides, their resurrection aids our glories + By contrast, which is what we just were wishing all: + And Science profits by this resurrection-- + Dead scandals form good subjects for dissection. + + XXXII. + + Their friends had tried at reconciliation,[e] + Then their relations, who made matters worse. + ('T were hard to tell upon a like occasion + To whom it may be best to have recourse-- + I can't say much for friend or yet relation) + The lawyers did their utmost for divorce,[f] + But scarce a fee was paid on either side + Before, unluckily, Don Jose died. + + XXXIII. + + He died: and most unluckily, because, + According to all hints I could collect + From Counsel learned in those kinds of laws, + (Although their talk's obscure and circumspect) + His death contrived to spoil a charming cause; + A thousand pities also with respect + To public feeling, which on this occasion + Was manifested in a great sensation. + + XXXIV. + + But ah! he died; and buried with him lay + The public feeling and the lawyers' fees: + His house was sold, his servants sent away, + A Jew took one of his two mistresses, + A priest the other--at least so they say: + I asked the doctors after his disease-- + He died of the slow fever called the tertian, + And left his widow to her own aversion. + + XXXV. + + Yet Jose was an honourable man, + That I must say, who knew him very well; + Therefore his frailties I'll no further scan, + Indeed there were not many more to tell: + And if his passions now and then outran + Discretion, and were not so peaceable + As Numa's (who was also named Pompilius), + He had been ill brought up, and was born bilious.[g] + + XXXVI. + + Whate'er might be his worthlessness or worth, + Poor fellow! he had many things to wound him. + Let's own--since it can do no good on earth--[h] + It was a trying moment that which found him + Standing alone beside his desolate hearth, + Where all his household gods lay shivered round him:[39] + No choice was left his feelings or his pride, + Save Death or Doctors' Commons--so he died.[i] + + XXXVII. + + Dying intestate, Juan was sole heir + To a chancery suit, and messuages, and lands, + Which, with a long minority and care, + Promised to turn out well in proper hands: + Inez became sole guardian, which was fair, + And answered but to Nature's just demands; + An only son left with an only mother + Is brought up much more wisely than another. + + XXXVIII. + + Sagest of women, even of widows, she + Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, + And worthy of the noblest pedigree, + (His Sire was of Castile, his Dam from Aragon) + Then, for accomplishments of chivalry, + In case our Lord the King should go to war again, + He learned the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery, + And how to scale a fortress--or a nunnery. + + XXXIX. + + But that which Donna Inez most desired, + And saw into herself each day before all + The learned tutors whom for him she hired, + Was, that his breeding should be strictly moral: + Much into all his studies she inquired, + And so they were submitted first to her, all, + Arts, sciences--no branch was made a mystery + To Juan's eyes, excepting natural history. + + XL. + + The languages, especially the dead, + The sciences, and most of all the abstruse, + The arts, at least all such as could be said + To be the most remote from common use, + In all these he was much and deeply read: + But not a page of anything that's loose, + Or hints continuation of the species, + Was ever suffered, lest he should grow vicious. + + XLI. + + His classic studies made a little puzzle, + Because of filthy loves of gods and goddesses, + Who in the earlier ages raised a bustle, + But never put on pantaloons or bodices;[40] + His reverend tutors had at times a tussle, + And for their AEneids, Iliads, and Odysseys,[j] + Were forced to make an odd sort of apology, + For Donna Inez dreaded the Mythology. + + XLII. + + Ovid's a rake, as half his verses show him, + Anacreon's morals are a still worse sample, + Catullus scarcely has a decent poem, + I don't think Sappho's Ode a good example, + Although Longinus[41] tells us there is no hymn + Where the Sublime soars forth on wings more ample; + But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one + Beginning with _"Formosum Pastor Corydon."_[42] + + XLIII. + + Lucretius' irreligion is too strong + For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food; + I can't help thinking Juvenal was wrong, + Although no doubt his real intent was good, + For speaking out so plainly in his song, + So much indeed as to be downright rude; + And then what proper person can be partial + To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial? + + XLIV. + + Juan was taught from out the best edition, + Expurgated by learned men, who place, + Judiciously, from out the schoolboy's vision, + The grosser parts; but, fearful to deface + Too much their modest bard by this omission,[k] + And pitying sore his mutilated case, + They only add them all in an appendix,[43] + Which saves, in fact, the trouble of an index; + + XLV. + + For there we have them all "at one fell swoop," + Instead of being scattered through the pages; + They stand forth marshalled in a handsome troop, + To meet the ingenuous youth of future ages, + Till some less rigid editor shall stoop + To call them back into their separate cages, + Instead of standing staring all together, + Like garden gods--and not so decent either. + + XLVI. + + The Missal too (it was the family Missal) + Was ornamented in a sort of way + Which ancient mass-books often are, and this all + Kinds of grotesques illumined; and how they, + Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all, + Could turn their optics to the text and pray, + Is more than I know--But Don Juan's mother + Kept this herself, and gave her son another. + + XLVII. + + Sermons he read, and lectures he endured, + And homilies, and lives of all the saints; + To Jerome and to Chrysostom inured, + He did not take such studies for restraints; + But how Faith is acquired, and then insured, + So well not one of the aforesaid paints + As Saint Augustine in his fine Confessions, + Which make the reader envy his transgressions.[44] + + XLVIII. + + This, too, was a sealed book to little Juan-- + I can't but say that his mamma was right, + If such an education was the true one. + She scarcely trusted him from out her sight; + Her maids were old, and if she took a new one, + You might be sure she was a perfect fright; + She did this during even her husband's life-- + I recommend as much to every wife. + + XLIX. + + Young Juan waxed in goodliness and grace; + At six a charming child, and at eleven + With all the promise of as fine a face + As e'er to Man's maturer growth was given: + He studied steadily, and grew apace, + And seemed, at least, in the right road to Heaven, + For half his days were passed at church, the other + Between his tutors, confessor, and mother. + + L. + + At six, I said, he was a charming child, + At twelve he was a fine, but quiet boy; + Although in infancy a little wild, + They tamed him down amongst them: to destroy + His natural spirit not in vain they toiled, + At least it seemed so; and his mother's joy + Was to declare how sage, and still, and steady, + Her young philosopher was grown already. + + LI. + + I had my doubts, perhaps I have them still, + But what I say is neither here nor there: + I knew his father well, and have some skill + In character--but it would not be fair + From sire to son to augur good or ill: + He and his wife were an ill-sorted pair-- + But scandal's my aversion--I protest + Against all evil speaking, even in jest. + + LII. + + For my part I say nothing--nothing--but + _This_ I will say--my reasons are my own-- + That if I had an only son to put + To school (as God be praised that I have none), + 'T is not with Donna Inez I would shut + Him up to learn his catechism alone, + No--no--I'd send him out betimes to college, + For there it was I picked up my own knowledge. + + LIII. + + For there one learns--'t is not for me to boast, + Though I acquired--but I pass over _that_, + As well as all the Greek I since have lost: + I say that there's the place--but "_Verbum sat_," + I think I picked up too, as well as most, + Knowledge of matters--but no matter _what_-- + I never married--but, I think, I know + That sons should not be educated so. + + LIV. + + Young Juan now was sixteen years of age, + Tall, handsome, slender, but well knit: he seemed + Active, though not so sprightly, as a page; + And everybody but his mother deemed + Him almost man; but she flew in a rage[45] + And bit her lips (for else she might have screamed) + If any said so--for to be precocious + Was in her eyes a thing the most atrocious. + + LV. + + Amongst her numerous acquaintance, all + Selected for discretion and devotion, + There was the Donna Julia, whom to call + Pretty were but to give a feeble notion + Of many charms in her as natural + As sweetness to the flower, or salt to Ocean, + Her zone to Venus, or his bow to Cupid, + (But this last simile is trite and stupid.) + + LVI. + + The darkness of her Oriental eye + Accorded with her Moorish origin; + (Her blood was not all Spanish; by the by, + In Spain, you know, this is a sort of sin;) + When proud Granada fell, and, forced to fly, + Boabdil wept:[46] of Donna Julia's kin + Some went to Africa, some stayed in Spain-- + Her great great grandmamma chose to remain. + + LVII. + + She married (I forget the pedigree) + With an Hidalgo, who transmitted down + His blood less noble than such blood should be; + At such alliances his sires would frown, + In that point so precise in each degree + That they bred _in and in_, as might be shown, + Marrying their cousins--nay, their aunts, and nieces, + Which always spoils the breed, if it increases. + + LVIII. + + This heathenish cross restored the breed again, + Ruined its blood, but much improved its flesh; + For from a root the ugliest in Old Spain + Sprung up a branch as beautiful as fresh; + The sons no more were short, the daughters plain: + But there's a rumour which I fain would hush,[l] + 'T is said that Donna Julia's grandmamma + Produced her Don more heirs at love than law. + + LIX. + + However this might be, the race went on + Improving still through every generation, + Until it centred in an only son, + Who left an only daughter; my narration + May have suggested that this single one + Could be but Julia (whom on this occasion + I shall have much to speak about), and she + Was married, charming, chaste, and twenty-three. + + LX. + + Her eye (I'm very fond of handsome eyes) + Was large and dark, suppressing half its fire + Until she spoke, then through its soft disguise + Flashed an expression more of pride than ire, + And love than either; and there would arise + A something in them which was not desire, + But would have been, perhaps, but for the soul + Which struggled through and chastened down the whole. + + LXI. + + Her glossy hair was clustered o'er a brow + Bright with intelligence, and fair, and smooth; + Her eyebrow's shape was like the aerial bow, + Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth, + Mounting, at times, to a transparent glow, + As if her veins ran lightning; she, in sooth, + Possessed an air and grace by no means common: + Her stature tall--I hate a dumpy woman. + + LXII. + + Wedded she was some years, and to a man + Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty; + And yet, I think, instead of such a ONE + 'T were better to have TWO of five-and-twenty, + Especially in countries near the sun: + And now I think on 't, "_mi vien in mente_", + Ladies even of the most uneasy virtue + Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.[m] + + LXIII. + + 'T is a sad thing, I cannot choose but say, + And all the fault of that indecent sun, + Who cannot leave alone our helpless clay, + But will keep baking, broiling, burning on, + That howsoever people fast and pray, + The flesh is frail, and so the soul undone: + What men call gallantry, and gods adultery, + Is much more common where the climate's sultry, + + LXIV. + + Happy the nations of the moral North! + Where all is virtue, and the winter season + Sends sin, without a rag on, shivering forth + ('T was snow that brought St. Anthony[47] to reason); + Where juries cast up what a wife is worth, + By laying whate'er sum, in mulct, they please on + The lover, who must pay a handsome price, + Because it is a marketable vice. + + LXV. + + Alfonso was the name of Julia's lord, + A man well looking for his years, and who + Was neither much beloved nor yet abhorred: + They lived together as most people do, + Suffering each other's foibles by accord, + And not exactly either _one_ or _two_; + Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it, + For Jealousy dislikes the world to know it. + + LXVI. + + Julia was--yet I never could see why-- + With Donna Inez quite a favourite friend; + Between their tastes there was small sympathy, + For not a line had Julia ever penned: + Some people whisper (but, no doubt, they lie, + For Malice still imputes some private end) + That Inez had, ere Don Alfonso's marriage, + Forgot with him her very prudent carriage; + + LXVII. + + And that still keeping up the old connection, + Which Time had lately rendered much more chaste, + She took his lady also in affection, + And certainly this course was much the best: + She flattered Julia with her sage protection, + And complimented Don Alfonso's taste; + And if she could not (who can?) silence scandal, + At least she left it a more slender handle. + + LXVIII. + + I can't tell whether Julia saw the affair + With other people's eyes, or if her own + Discoveries made, but none could be aware + Of this, at least no symptom e'er was shown; + Perhaps she did not know, or did not care, + Indifferent from the first, or callous grown: + I'm really puzzled what to think or say, + She kept her counsel in so close a way. + + LXIX. + + Juan she saw, and, as a pretty child, + Caressed him often--such a thing might be + Quite innocently done, and harmless styled, + When she had twenty years, and thirteen he; + But I am not so sure I should have smiled + When he was sixteen, Julia twenty-three; + These few short years make wondrous alterations, + Particularly amongst sun-burnt nations. + + LXX. + + Whate'er the cause might be, they had become + Changed; for the dame grew distant, the youth shy, + Their looks cast down, their greetings almost dumb, + And much embarrassment in either eye; + There surely will be little doubt with some + That Donna Julia knew the reason why, + But as for Juan, he had no more notion + Than he who never saw the sea of Ocean. + + LXXI. + + Yet Julia's very coldness still was kind, + And tremulously gentle her small hand + Withdrew itself from his, but left behind + A little pressure, thrilling, and so bland + And slight, so very slight, that to the mind + 'T was but a doubt; but ne'er magician's wand + Wrought change with all Armida's[48] fairy art + Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart. + + LXXII. + + And if she met him, though she smiled no more, + She looked a sadness sweeter than her smile, + As if her heart had deeper thoughts in store + She must not own, but cherished more the while + For that compression in its burning core; + Even Innocence itself has many a wile, + And will not dare to trust itself with truth, + And Love is taught hypocrisy from youth. + + LXXIII. + + But Passion most dissembles, yet betrays + Even by its darkness; as the blackest sky + Foretells the heaviest tempest, it displays + Its workings through the vainly guarded eye, + And in whatever aspect it arrays + Itself, 't is still the same hypocrisy; + Coldness or Anger, even Disdain or Hate, + Are masks it often wears, and still too late. + + LXXIV. + + Then there were sighs, the deeper for suppression, + And stolen glances, sweeter for the theft, + And burning blushes, though for no transgression, + Tremblings when met, and restlessness when left; + All these are little preludes to possession, + Of which young Passion cannot be bereft, + And merely tend to show how greatly Love is + Embarrassed at first starting with a novice. + + LXXV. + + Poor Julia's heart was in an awkward state; + She felt it going, and resolved to make + The noblest efforts for herself and mate, + For Honour's, Pride's, Religion's, Virtue's sake: + Her resolutions were most truly great, + And almost might have made a Tarquin quake: + She prayed the Virgin Mary for her grace, + As being the best judge of a lady's case.[49] + + LXXVI. + + She vowed she never would see Juan more, + And next day paid a visit to his mother, + And looked extremely at the opening door, + Which, by the Virgin's grace, let in another; + Grateful she was, and yet a little sore-- + Again it opens, it can be no other, + 'T is surely Juan now--No! I'm afraid + That night the Virgin was no further prayed.[50] + + LXXVII. + + She now determined that a virtuous woman + Should rather face and overcome temptation, + That flight was base and dastardly, and no man + Should ever give her heart the least sensation, + That is to say, a thought beyond the common + Preference, that we must feel, upon occasion, + For people who are pleasanter than others, + But then they only seem so many brothers. + + LXXVIII. + + And even if by chance--and who can tell? + The Devil's so very sly--she should discover + That all within was not so very well, + And, if still free, that such or such a lover + Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell + Such thoughts, and be the better when they're over; + And if the man should ask, 't is but denial: + I recommend young ladies to make trial. + + LXXIX. + + And, then, there are such things as Love divine, + Bright and immaculate, unmixed and pure, + Such as the angels think so very fine, + And matrons, who would be no less secure, + Platonic, perfect, "just such love as mine;" + Thus Julia said--and thought so, to be sure; + And so I'd have her think, were _I_ the man + On whom her reveries celestial ran. + + LXXX. + + Such love is innocent, and may exist + Between young persons without any danger. + A hand may first, and then a lip be kissed; + For my part, to such doings I'm a stranger, + But _hear_ these freedoms form the utmost list + Of all o'er which such love may be a ranger: + If people go beyond, 't is quite a crime, + But not my fault--I tell them all in time. + + LXXXI. + + Love, then, but Love within its proper limits, + Was Julia's innocent determination + In young Don Juan's favour, and to him its + Exertion might be useful on occasion; + And, lighted at too pure a shrine to dim its + Ethereal lustre, with what sweet persuasion + He might be taught, by Love and her together-- + I really don't know what, nor Julia either. + + LXXXII. + + Fraught with this fine intention, and well fenced + In mail of proof--her purity of soul[51]-- + She, for the future, of her strength convinced, + And that her honour was a rock, or mole,[n] + Exceeding sagely from that hour dispensed + With any kind of troublesome control; + But whether Julia to the task was equal + Is that which must be mentioned in the sequel. + + LXXXIII. + + Her plan she deemed both innocent and feasible, + And, surely, with a stripling of sixteen + Not Scandal's fangs could fix on much that's seizable, + Or if they did so, satisfied to mean + Nothing but what was good, her breast was peaceable-- + A quiet conscience makes one so serene! + Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded + That all the Apostles would have done as they did. + + LXXXIV. + + And if in the mean time her husband died, + But Heaven forbid that such a thought should cross + Her brain, though in a dream! (and then she sighed) + Never could she survive that common loss; + But just suppose that moment should betide, + I only say suppose it--_inter nos_: + (This should be _entre nous_, for Julia thought + In French, but then the rhyme would go for nought.) + + LXXXV. + + I only say, suppose this supposition: + Juan being then grown up to man's estate + Would fully suit a widow of condition, + Even seven years hence it would not be too late; + And in the interim (to pursue this vision) + The mischief, after all, could not be great, + For he would learn the rudiments of Love, + I mean the _seraph_ way of those above. + + LXXXVI. + + So much for Julia! Now we'll turn to Juan. + Poor little fellow! he had no idea + Of his own case, and never hit the true one; + In feelings quick as Ovid's Miss Medea,[52] + He puzzled over what he found a new one, + But not as yet imagined it could be a + Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming, + Which, with a little patience, might grow charming. + + LXXXVII. + + Silent and pensive, idle, restless, slow, + His home deserted for the lonely wood, + Tormented with a wound he could not know, + His, like all deep grief, plunged in solitude: + I'm fond myself of solitude or so, + But then, I beg it may be understood, + By solitude I mean a Sultan's (not + A Hermit's), with a haram for a grot. + + LXXXVIII. + + "Oh Love! in such a wilderness as this, + Where Transport and Security entwine, + Here is the Empire of thy perfect bliss, + And here thou art a God indeed divine."[53] + The bard I quote from does not sing amiss, + With the exception of the second line, + For that same twining "Transport and Security" + Are twisted to a phrase of some obscurity. + + LXXXIX. + + The Poet meant, no doubt, and thus appeals + To the good sense and senses of mankind, + The very thing which everybody feels, + As all have found on trial, or may find, + That no one likes to be disturbed at meals + Or love.--I won't say more about "entwined" + Or "Transport," as we knew all that before, + But beg "Security" will bolt the door. + + XC. + + Young Juan wandered by the glassy brooks, + Thinking unutterable things; he threw + Himself at length within the leafy nooks + Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew; + There poets find materials for their books, + And every now and then we read them through, + So that their plan and prosody are eligible, + Unless, like Wordsworth, they prove unintelligible. + + XCI. + + He, Juan (and not Wordsworth), so pursued + His self-communion with his own high soul, + Until his mighty heart, in its great mood, + Had mitigated part, though not the whole + Of its disease; he did the best he could + With things not very subject to control, + And turned, without perceiving his condition, + Like Coleridge, into a metaphysician.[54] + + XCII. + + He thought about himself, and the whole earth, + Of man the wonderful, and of the stars, + And how the deuce they ever could have birth: + And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars, + How many miles the moon might have in girth, + Of air-balloons, and of the many bars + To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies;-- + And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes. + + XCIII. + + In thoughts like these true Wisdom may discern + Longings sublime, and aspirations high, + Which some are born with, but the most part learn + To plague themselves withal, they know not why: + 'T was strange that one so young should thus concern + His brain about the action of the sky;[o] + If _you_ think 't was Philosophy that this did, + I can't help thinking puberty assisted. + + XCIV. + + He pored upon the leaves, and on the flowers, + And heard a voice in all the winds; and then + He thought of wood-nymphs and immortal bowers, + And how the goddesses came down to men: + He missed the pathway, he forgot the hours, + And when he looked upon his watch again, + He found how much old Time had been a winner-- + He also found that he had lost his dinner. + + XCV. + + Sometimes he turned to gaze upon his book, + Boscan,[55] or Garcilasso;[56]--by the wind + Even as the page is rustled while we look, + So by the poesy of his own mind + Over the mystic leaf his soul was shook, + As if 't were one whereon magicians bind + Their spells, and give them to the passing gale, + According to some good old woman's tale. + + XCVI. + + Thus would he while his lonely hours away + Dissatisfied, not knowing what he wanted; + Nor glowing reverie, nor poet's lay, + Could yield his spirit that for which it panted, + A bosom whereon he his head might lay, + And hear the heart beat with the love it granted, + With----several other things, which I forget, + Or which, at least, I need not mention yet. + + XCVII. + + Those lonely walks, and lengthening reveries, + Could not escape the gentle Julia's eyes; + She saw that Juan was not at his ease; + But that which chiefly may, and must surprise, + Is, that the Donna Inez did not tease + Her only son with question or surmise; + Whether it was she did not see, or would not, + Or, like all very clever people, could not. + + XCVIII. + + This may seem strange, but yet 't is very common; + For instance--gentlemen, whose ladies take + Leave to o'erstep the written rights of Woman, + And break the----Which commandment is 't they break? + (I have forgot the number, and think no man + Should rashly quote, for fear of a mistake;) + I say, when these same gentlemen are jealous, + They make some blunder, which their ladies tell us. + + XCIX. + + A real husband always is suspicious, + But still no less suspects in the wrong place,[p] + Jealous of some one who had no such wishes, + Or pandering blindly to his own disgrace, + By harbouring some dear friend extremely vicious; + The last indeed's infallibly the case: + And when the spouse and friend are gone off wholly, + He wonders at their vice, and not his folly. + + C. + + Thus parents also are at times short-sighted: + Though watchful as the lynx, they ne'er discover, + The while the wicked world beholds delighted, + Young Hopeful's mistress, or Miss Fanny's lover, + Till some confounded escapade has blighted + The plan of twenty years, and all is over; + And then the mother cries, the father swears, + And wonders why the devil he got heirs. + + CI. + + But Inez was so anxious, and so clear + Of sight, that I must think, on this occasion, + She had some other motive much more near + For leaving Juan to this new temptation, + But what that motive was, I sha'n't say here; + Perhaps to finish Juan's education, + Perhaps to open Don Alfonso's eyes, + In case he thought his wife too great a prize. + + CII. + + It was upon a day, a summer's day;-- + Summer's indeed a very dangerous season, + And so is spring about the end of May; + The sun, no doubt, is the prevailing reason; + But whatsoe'er the cause is, one may say, + And stand convicted of more truth than treason, + That there are months which nature grows more merry in,-- + March has its hares, and May must have its heroine. + + CIII. + + 'T was on a summer's day--the sixth of June: + I like to be particular in dates, + Not only of the age, and year, but moon; + They are a sort of post-house, where the Fates + Change horses, making History change its tune,[q] + Then spur away o'er empires and o'er states, + Leaving at last not much besides chronology, + Excepting the post-obits of theology.[r] + + CIV. + + 'T was on the sixth of June, about the hour + Of half-past six--perhaps still nearer seven-- + When Julia sate within as pretty a bower + As e'er held houri in that heathenish heaven + Described by Mahomet, and Anacreon Moore,[57] + To whom the lyre and laurels have been given, + With all the trophies of triumphant song-- + He won them well, and may he wear them long! + + CV. + + She sate, but not alone; I know not well + How this same interview had taken place, + And even if I knew, I should not tell-- + People should hold their tongues in any case; + No matter how or why the thing befell, + But there were she and Juan, face to face-- + When two such faces are so, 't would be wise, + But very difficult, to shut their eyes. + + CVI. + + How beautiful she looked! her conscious heart + Glowed in her cheek, and yet she felt no wrong: + Oh Love! how perfect is thy mystic art, + Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong! + How self-deceitful is the sagest part + Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along!-- + The precipice she stood on was immense, + So was her creed in her own innocence.[s] + + CVII. + + She thought of her own strength, and Juan's youth, + And of the folly of all prudish fears, + Victorious Virtue, and domestic Truth, + And then of Don Alfonso's fifty years: + I wish these last had not occurred, in sooth, + Because that number rarely much endears, + And through all climes, the snowy and the sunny, + Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money. + + CVIII. + + When people say, "I've told you _fifty_ times," + They mean to scold, and very often do; + When poets say, "I've written _fifty_ rhymes," + They make you dread that they 'll recite them too; + In gangs of _fifty_, thieves commit their crimes; + At _fifty_ love for love is rare, 't is true, + But then, no doubt, it equally as true is, + A good deal may be bought for _fifty_ Louis. + + CIX. + + Julia had honour, virtue, truth, and love + For Don Alfonso; and she inly swore, + By all the vows below to Powers above, + She never would disgrace the ring she wore, + Nor leave a wish which wisdom might reprove; + And while she pondered this, besides much more, + One hand on Juan's carelessly was thrown, + Quite by mistake--she thought it was her own; + + CX. + + Unconsciously she leaned upon the other, + Which played within the tangles of her hair; + And to contend with thoughts she could not smother + She seemed by the distraction of her air. + 'T was surely very wrong in Juan's mother + To leave together this imprudent pair,[t] + She who for many years had watched her son so-- + I'm very certain _mine_ would not have done so. + + CXI. + + The hand which still held Juan's, by degrees + Gently, but palpably confirmed its grasp, + As if it said, "Detain me, if you please;" + Yet there's no doubt she only meant to clasp + His fingers with a pure Platonic squeeze; + She would have shrunk as from a toad, or asp, + Had she imagined such a thing could rouse + A feeling dangerous to a prudent spouse. + + CXII. + + I cannot know what Juan thought of this, + But what he did, is much what you would do; + His young lip thanked it with a grateful kiss, + And then, abashed at its own joy, withdrew + In deep despair, lest he had done amiss,-- + Love is so very timid when 't is new: + She blushed, and frowned not, but she strove to speak, + And held her tongue, her voice was grown so weak. + + CXIII. + + The sun set, and up rose the yellow moon: + The Devil's in the moon for mischief; they + Who called her CHASTE, methinks, began too soon + Their nomenclature; there is not a day, + The longest, not the twenty-first of June, + Sees half the business in a wicked way, + On which three single hours of moonshine smile-- + And then she looks so modest all the while! + + CXIV. + + There is a dangerous silence in that hour, + A stillness, which leaves room for the full soul + To open all itself, without the power + Of calling wholly back its self-control; + The silver light which, hallowing tree and tower, + Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole, + Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws + A loving languor, which is not repose. + + CXV. + + And Julia sate with Juan, half embraced + And half retiring from the glowing arm, + Which trembled like the bosom where 't was placed; + Yet still she must have thought there was no harm, + Or else 't were easy to withdraw her waist; + But then the situation had its charm, + And then--God knows what next--I can't go on; + I'm almost sorry that I e'er begun. + + CXVI. + + Oh Plato! Plato! you have paved the way, + With your confounded fantasies, to more + Immoral conduct by the fancied sway + Your system feigns o'er the controlless core + Of human hearts, than all the long array + Of poets and romancers:--You're a bore, + A charlatan, a coxcomb--and have been, + At best, no better than a go-between. + + CXVII. + + And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs, + Until too late for useful conversation; + The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes, + I wish, indeed, they had not had occasion; + But who, alas! can love, and then be wise? + Not that Remorse did not oppose Temptation; + A little still she strove, and much repented, + And whispering "I will ne'er consent"--consented. + + CXVIII. + + 'T is said that Xerxes offered a reward[58] + To those who could invent him a new pleasure: + Methinks the requisition's rather hard, + And must have cost his Majesty a treasure: + For my part, I'm a moderate-minded bard, + Fond of a little love (which I call leisure); + I care not for new pleasures, as the old + Are quite enough for me, so they but hold. + + CXIX. + + Oh Pleasure! you're indeed a pleasant thing,[59] + Although one must be damned for you, no doubt: + I make a resolution every spring + Of reformation, ere the year run out, + But somehow, this my vestal vow takes wing, + Yet still, I trust, it may be kept throughout: + I'm very sorry, very much ashamed, + And mean, next winter, to be quite reclaimed. + + CXX. + + Here my chaste Muse a liberty must take-- + Start not! still chaster reader--she'll be nice hence- + Forward, and there is no great cause to quake; + This liberty is a poetic licence, + Which some irregularity may make + In the design, and as I have a high sense + Of Aristotle and the Rules, 't is fit + To beg his pardon when I err a bit. + + CXXI. + + This licence is to hope the reader will + Suppose from June the sixth (the fatal day, + Without whose epoch my poetic skill + For want of facts would all be thrown away), + But keeping Julia and Don Juan still + In sight, that several months have passed; we'll say + 'T was in November, but I'm not so sure + About the day--the era's more obscure. + + CXXII. + + We'll talk of that anon.--'T is sweet to hear + At midnight on the blue and moonlit deep + The song and oar of Adria's gondolier,[60] + By distance mellowed, o'er the waters sweep; + 'T is sweet to see the evening star appear; + 'T is sweet to listen as the night-winds creep + From leaf to leaf; 't is sweet to view on high + The rainbow, based on ocean, span the sky. + + CXXIII. + + 'T is sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark + Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home; + 'T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark + Our coming, and look brighter when we come;[u] + 'T is sweet to be awakened by the lark, + Or lulled by falling waters; sweet the hum + Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds, + The lisp of children, and their earliest words. + + CXXIV. + + Sweet is the vintage, when the showering grapes + In Bacchanal profusion reel to earth, + Purple and gushing: sweet are our escapes + From civic revelry to rural mirth; + Sweet to the miser are his glittering heaps, + Sweet to the father is his first-born's birth, + Sweet is revenge--especially to women-- + Pillage to soldiers, prize-money to seamen. + + CXXV. + + Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet[v] + The unexpected death of some old lady, + Or gentleman of seventy years complete, + Who've made "us youth"[61] wait too--too long already, + For an estate, or cash, or country seat, + Still breaking, but with stamina so steady, + That all the Israelites are fit to mob its + Next owner for their double-damned post-obits.[w] + + CXXVI. + + 'T is sweet to win, no matter how, one's laurels, + By blood or ink; 't is sweet to put an end + To strife; 't is sometimes sweet to have our quarrels, + Particularly with a tiresome friend: + Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels; + Dear is the helpless creature we defend + Against the world; and dear the schoolboy spot[62] + We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot. + + CXXVII. + + But sweeter still than this, than these, than all, + Is first and passionate Love--it stands alone, + Like Adam's recollection of his fall; + The Tree of Knowledge has been plucked--all 's known-- + And Life yields nothing further to recall + Worthy of this ambrosial sin, so shown, + No doubt in fable, as the unforgiven + Fire which Prometheus filched for us from Heaven. + + CXXVIII. + + Man's a strange animal, and makes strange use + Of his own nature, and the various arts, + And likes particularly to produce + Some new experiment to show his parts; + This is the age of oddities let loose, + Where different talents find their different marts; + You'd best begin with truth, and when you've lost your + Labour, there's a sure market for imposture. + + CXXIX. + + What opposite discoveries we have seen! + (Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.) + One makes new noses[63], one a guillotine, + One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets; + But Vaccination certainly has been + A kind antithesis to Congreve's rockets,[64] + With which the Doctor paid off an old pox, + By borrowing a new one from an ox.[65] + + CXXX. + + Bread has been made (indifferent) from potatoes: + And Galvanism has set some corpses grinning,[66] + But has not answered like the apparatus + Of the Humane Society's beginning, + By which men are unsuffocated gratis: + What wondrous new machines have late been spinning! + I said the small-pox has gone out of late; + Perhaps it may be followed by the great.[67] + + CXXXI. + + 'T is said the great came from America; + Perhaps it may set out on its return,-- + The population there so spreads, they say + 'T is grown high time to thin it in its turn, + With war, or plague, or famine--any way, + So that civilisation they may learn; + And which in ravage the more loathsome evil is-- + Their real _lues,_ or our pseudo-syphilis? + + CXXXII. + + This is the patent age of new inventions + For killing bodies, and for saving souls, + All propagated with the best intentions: + Sir Humphry Davy's lantern,[68] by which coals + Are safely mined for in the mode he mentions, + Tombuctoo travels,[69] voyages to the Poles[70] + Are ways to benefit mankind, as true, + Perhaps, as shooting them at Waterloo. + + CXXXIII. + + Man's a phenomenon, one knows not what, + And wonderful beyond all wondrous measure; + 'T is pity though, in this sublime world, that + Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes Sin's a pleasure;[x] + Few mortals know what end they would be at, + But whether Glory, Power, or Love, or Treasure, + The path is through perplexing ways, and when + The goal is gained, we die, you know--and then---- + + CXXXIV. + + What then?--I do not know, no more do you-- + And so good night.--Return we to our story: + 'T was in November, when fine days are few, + And the far mountains wax a little hoary, + And clap a white cape on their mantles blue;[y] + And the sea dashes round the promontory, + And the loud breaker boils against the rock, + And sober suns must set at five o'clock. + + CXXXV. + + 'T was, as the watchmen say, a cloudy night;[z] + No moon, no stars, the wind was low or loud + By gusts, and many a sparkling hearth was bright + With the piled wood, round which the family crowd; + There's something cheerful in that sort of light, + Even as a summer sky's without a cloud: + I'm fond of fire, and crickets, and all that,[aa][71] + A lobster salad[72], and champagne, and chat. + + CXXXVI. + + 'T was midnight--Donna Julia was in bed, + Sleeping, most probably,--when at her door + Arose a clatter might awake the dead, + If they had never been awoke before, + And that they have been so we all have read, + And are to be so, at the least, once more;-- + The door was fastened, but with voice and fist + First knocks were heard, then "Madam--Madam--hist! + + CXXXVII. + + "For God's sake, Madam--Madam--here's my master,[73] + With more than half the city at his back--Was + ever heard of such a curst disaster! + 'T is not my fault--I kept good watch--Alack! + Do pray undo the bolt a little faster-- + They're on the stair just now, and in a crack + Will all be here; perhaps he yet may fly-- + Surely the window's not so _very_ high!" + + CXXXVIII. + + By this time Don Alfonso was arrived, + With torches, friends, and servants in great number; + The major part of them had long been wived, + And therefore paused not to disturb the slumber + Of any wicked woman, who contrived + By stealth her husband's temples to encumber: + Examples of this kind are so contagious, + Were _one_ not punished, _all_ would be outrageous. + + CXXXIX. + + I can't tell how, or why, or what suspicion + Could enter into Don Alfonso's head; + But for a cavalier of his condition + It surely was exceedingly ill-bred, + Without a word of previous admonition, + To hold a levee round his lady's bed, + And summon lackeys, armed with fire and sword, + To prove himself the thing he most abhorred. + + CXL. + + Poor Donna Julia! starting as from sleep, + (Mind--that I do not say--she had not slept), + Began at once to scream, and yawn, and weep; + Her maid, Antonia, who was an adept, + Contrived to fling the bed-clothes in a heap, + As if she had just now from out them crept:[ab] + I can't tell why she should take all this trouble + To prove her mistress had been sleeping double. + + CXLI. + + But Julia mistress, and Antonia maid, + Appeared like two poor harmless women, who + Of goblins, but still more of men afraid, + Had thought one man might be deterred by two, + And therefore side by side were gently laid, + Until the hours of absence should run through, + And truant husband should return, and say, + "My dear,--I was the first who came away." + + CXLII. + + Now Julia found at length a voice, and cried, + "In Heaven's name, Don Alfonso, what d' ye mean? + Has madness seized you? would that I had died + Ere such a monster's victim I had been![ac] + What may this midnight violence betide, + A sudden fit of drunkenness or spleen? + Dare you suspect me, whom the thought would kill? + Search, then, the room!"--Alfonso said, "I will." + + CXLIII. + + _He_ searched, _they_ searched, and rummaged everywhere, + Closet and clothes' press, chest and window-seat, + And found much linen, lace, and several pair + Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete, + With other articles of ladies fair, + To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat: + Arras they pricked and curtains with their swords, + And wounded several shutters, and some boards. + + CXLIV. + + Under the bed they searched, and there they found-- + No matter what--it was not that they sought; + They opened windows, gazing if the ground + Had signs or footmarks, but the earth said nought; + And then they stared each others' faces round: + 'T is odd, not one of all these seekers thought, + And seems to me almost a sort of blunder, + Of looking _in_ the bed as well as under. + + CXLV. + + During this inquisition Julia's tongue[ad] + Was not asleep--"Yes, search and search," she cried, + "Insult on insult heap, and wrong on wrong! + It was for this that I became a bride! + For this in silence I have suffered long + A husband like Alfonso at my side; + But now I'll bear no more, nor here remain, + If there be law or lawyers in all Spain. + + CXLVI. + + "Yes, Don Alfonso! husband now no more, + If ever you indeed deserved the name, + Is 't worthy of your years?--you have threescore-- + Fifty, or sixty, it is all the same-- + Is 't wise or fitting, causeless to explore + For facts against a virtuous woman's fame? + Ungrateful, perjured, barbarous Don Alfonso, + How dare you think your lady would go on so? + + CXLVII. + + "Is it for this I have disdained to hold + The common privileges of my sex? + That I have chosen a confessor so old + And deaf, that any other it would vex, + And never once he has had cause to scold, + But found my very innocence perplex + So much, he always doubted I was married-- + How sorry you will be when I've miscarried! + + CXLVIII. + + "Was it for this that no Cortejo[74] e'er + I yet have chosen from out the youth of Seville? + Is it for this I scarce went anywhere, + Except to bull-fights, mass, play, rout, and revel? + Is it for this, whate'er my suitors were, + I favoured none--nay, was almost uncivil? + Is it for this that General Count O'Reilly, + Who took Algiers,[75] declares I used him vilely? + + CXLIX. + + "Did not the Italian _Musico_ Cazzani + Sing at my heart six months at least in vain? + Did not his countryman, Count Corniani,[76] + Call me the only virtuous wife in Spain? + Were there not also Russians, English, many? + The Count Strongstroganoff I put in pain, + And Lord Mount Coffeehouse, the Irish peer, + Who killed himself for love (with wine) last year. + + CL. + + "Have I not had two bishops at my feet? + The Duke of Ichar, and Don Fernan Nunez; + And is it thus a faithful wife you treat? + I wonder in what quarter now the moon is: + I praise your vast forbearance not to beat + Me also, since the time so opportune is-- + Oh, valiant man! with sword drawn and cocked trigger, + Now, tell me, don't you cut a pretty figure? + + CLI. + + "Was it for this you took your sudden journey, + Under pretence of business indispensable + With that sublime of rascals your attorney, + Whom I see standing there, and looking sensible + Of having played the fool? though both I spurn, he + Deserves the worst, his conduct's less defensible, + Because, no doubt, 't was for his dirty fee, + And not from any love to you nor me. + + CLII. + + "If he comes here to take a deposition, + By all means let the gentleman proceed; + You've made the apartment in a fit condition:-- + There's pen and ink for you, sir, when you need-- + Let everything be noted with precision, + I would not you for nothing should be fee'd-- + But, as my maid's undressed, pray turn your spies out." + "Oh!" sobbed Antonia, "I could tear their eyes out." + + CLIII. + + "There is the closet, there the toilet, there + The antechamber--search them under, over; + There is the sofa, there the great arm-chair, + The chimney--which would really hold a lover.[ae] + I wish to sleep, and beg you will take care + And make no further noise, till you discover + The secret cavern of this lurking treasure-- + And when 't is found, let me, too, have that pleasure. + + CLIV. + + "And now, Hidalgo! now that you have thrown + Doubt upon me, confusion over all, + Pray have the courtesy to make it known + _Who_ is the man you search for? how d' ye call + Him? what's his lineage? let him but be shown-- + I hope he's young and handsome--is he tall? + Tell me--and be assured, that since you stain + My honour thus, it shall not be in vain. + + CLV. + + "At least, perhaps, he has not sixty years, + At that age he would be too old for slaughter, + Or for so young a husband's jealous fears-- + (Antonia! let me have a glass of water.) + I am ashamed of having shed these tears, + They are unworthy of my father's daughter; + My mother dreamed not in my natal hour, + That I should fall into a monster's power. + + CLVI. + + "Perhaps 't is of Antonia you are jealous, + You saw that she was sleeping by my side, + When you broke in upon us with your fellows: + Look where you please--we've nothing, sir, to hide; + Only another time, I trust, you'll tell us, + Or for the sake of decency abide + A moment at the door, that we may be + Dressed to receive so much good company. + + CLVII. + + "And now, sir, I have done, and say no more; + The little I have said may serve to show + The guileless heart in silence may grieve o'er[af] + The wrongs to whose exposure it is slow:-- + I leave you to your conscience as before, + 'T will one day ask you _why_ you used me so? + God grant you feel not then the bitterest grief!-- + Antonia! where's my pocket-handkerchief?" + + CLVIII. + + She ceased, and turned upon her pillow; pale + She lay, her dark eyes flashing through their tears, + Like skies that rain and lighten; as a veil, + Waved and o'ershading her wan cheek, appears + Her streaming hair; the black curls strive, but fail + To hide the glossy shoulder, which uprears + Its snow through all;--her soft lips lie apart, + And louder than her breathing beats her heart. + + CLIX. + + The Senhor Don Alfonso stood confused; + Antonia bustled round the ransacked room, + And, turning up her nose, with looks abused + Her master, and his myrmidons, of whom + Not one, except the attorney, was amused; + He, like Achates, faithful to the tomb, + So there were quarrels, cared not for the cause, + Knowing they must be settled by the laws. + + CLX. + + With prying snub-nose, and small eyes, he stood, + Following Antonia's motions here and there, + With much suspicion in his attitude; + For reputations he had little care; + So that a suit or action were made good, + Small pity had he for the young and fair, + And ne'er believed in negatives, till these + Were proved by competent false witnesses. + + CLXI. + + But Don Alfonso stood with downcast looks, + And, truth to say, he made a foolish figure; + When, after searching in five hundred nooks, + And treating a young wife with so much rigour, + He gained no point, except some self-rebukes, + Added to those his lady with such vigour + Had poured upon him for the last half-hour, + Quick, thick, and heavy--as a thunder-shower. + + CLXII. + + At first he tried to hammer an excuse, + To which the sole reply was tears, and sobs, + And indications of hysterics, whose + Prologue is always certain throes, and throbs, + Gasps, and whatever else the owners choose: + Alfonso saw his wife, and thought of Job's;[77] + He saw too, in perspective, her relations, + And then he tried to muster all his patience. + + CLXIII. + + He stood in act to speak, or rather stammer, + But sage Antonia cut him short before + The anvil of his speech received the hammer, + With "Pray, sir, leave the room, and say no more, + Or madam dies."--Alfonso muttered, "D--n her,"[78] + But nothing else, the time of words was o'er; + He cast a rueful look or two, and did, + He knew not wherefore, that which he was bid. + + CLXIV. + + With him retired his _"posse comitatus,"_ + The attorney last, who lingered near the door + Reluctantly, still tarrying there as late as + Antonia let him--not a little sore + At this most strange and unexplained "_hiatus_" + In Don Alfonso's facts, which just now wore + An awkward look; as he revolved the case, + The door was fastened in his legal face. + + CLXV. + + No sooner was it bolted, than--Oh Shame! + Oh Sin! Oh Sorrow! and Oh Womankind! + How can you do such things and keep your fame, + Unless this world, and t' other too, be blind? + Nothing so dear as an unfilched good name! + But to proceed--for there is more behind: + With much heartfelt reluctance be it said, + Young Juan slipped, half-smothered, from the bed. + + CLXVI. + + He had been hid--I don't pretend to say + How, nor can I indeed describe the where-- + Young, slender, and packed easily, he lay, + No doubt, in little compass, round or square; + But pity him I neither must nor may + His suffocation by that pretty pair; + 'T were better, sure, to die so, than be shut + With maudlin Clarence in his Malmsey butt.[ag] + + CLXVII. + + And, secondly, I pity not, because + He had no business to commit a sin, + Forbid by heavenly, fined by human laws;-- + At least 't was rather early to begin, + But at sixteen the conscience rarely gnaws + So much as when we call our old debts in + At sixty years, and draw the accompts of evil, + And find a deuced balance with the Devil.[ah] + + CLXVIII. + + Of his position I can give no notion: + 'T is written in the Hebrew Chronicle, + How the physicians, leaving pill and potion, + Prescribed, by way of blister, a young belle, + When old King David's blood grew dull in motion, + And that the medicine answered very well; + Perhaps 't was in a different way applied, + For David lived, but Juan nearly died. + + CLXIX. + + What's to be done? Alfonso will be back + The moment he has sent his fools away. + Antonia's skill was put upon the rack, + But no device could be brought into play-- + And how to parry the renewed attack? + Besides, it wanted but few hours of day: + Antonia puzzled; Julia did not speak, + But pressed her bloodless lip to Juan's cheek. + + CLXX. + + He turned his lip to hers, and with his hand + Called back the tangles of her wandering hair; + Even then their love they could not all command, + And half forgot their danger and despair: + Antonia's patience now was at a stand-- + "Come, come, 't is no time now for fooling there," + She whispered, in great wrath--"I must deposit + This pretty gentleman within the closet: + + CLXXI. + + "Pray, keep your nonsense for some luckier night-- + _Who_ can have put my master in this mood? + What will become on 't--I'm in such a fright, + The Devil's in the urchin, and no good-- + Is this a time for giggling? this a plight? + Why, don't you know that it may end in blood? + You'll lose your life, and I shall lose my place, + My mistress all, for that half-girlish face. + + CLXXII. + + "Had it but been for a stout cavalier[79] + Of twenty-five or thirty--(come, make haste) + But for a child, what piece of work is here! + I really, madam, wonder at your taste-- + (Come, sir, get in)--my master must be near: + There, for the present, at the least, he's fast, + And if we can but till the morning keep + Our counsel--(Juan, mind, you must not sleep.)" + + CLXXIII. + + Now, Don Alfonso entering, but alone, + Closed the oration of the trusty maid: + She loitered, and he told her to be gone, + An order somewhat sullenly obeyed; + However, present remedy was none, + And no great good seemed answered if she staid: + Regarding both with slow and sidelong view, + She snuffed the candle, curtsied, and withdrew. + + CLXXIV. + + Alfonso paused a minute--then begun + Some strange excuses for his late proceeding; + He would not justify what he had done, + To say the best, it was extreme ill-breeding; + But there were ample reasons for it, none + Of which he specified in this his pleading: + His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, + Of rhetoric, which the learned call "_rigmarole._" + + CLXXV. + + Julia said nought; though all the while there rose + A ready answer, which at once enables + A matron, who her husband's foible knows, + By a few timely words to turn the tables, + Which, if it does not silence, still must pose,-- + Even if it should comprise a pack of fables; + 'T is to retort with firmness, and when he + Suspects with _one_, do you reproach with _three_. + + CLXXVI. + + Julia, in fact, had tolerable grounds,-- + Alfonso's loves with Inez were well known; + But whether 't was that one's own guilt confounds-- + But that can't be, as has been often shown, + A lady with apologies abounds;-- + It might be that her silence sprang alone + From delicacy to Don Juan's ear, + To whom she knew his mother's fame was dear. + + CLXXVII. + + There might be one more motive, which makes two; + Alfonso ne'er to Juan had alluded,-- + Mentioned his jealousy, but never who + Had been the happy lover, he concluded, + Concealed amongst his premises; 't is true, + His mind the more o'er this its mystery brooded; + To speak of Inez now were, one may say, + Like throwing Juan in Alfonso's way. + + CLXXVIII. + + A hint, in tender cases, is enough; + Silence is best: besides, there is a _tact_[80]-- + (That modern phrase appears to me sad stuff, + But it will serve to keep my verse compact)-- + Which keeps, when pushed by questions rather rough, + A lady always distant from the fact: + The charming creatures lie with such a grace, + There's nothing so becoming to the face. + + CLXXIX. + + They blush, and we believe them; at least I + Have always done so; 't is of no great use, + In any case, attempting a reply, + For then their eloquence grows quite profuse; + And when at length they're out of breath, they sigh, + And cast their languid eyes down, and let loose + A tear or two, and then we make it up; + And then--and then--and then--sit down and sup. + + CLXXX. + + Alfonso closed his speech, and begged her pardon, + Which Julia half withheld, and then half granted, + And laid conditions he thought very hard on, + Denying several little things he wanted: + He stood like Adam lingering near his garden, + With useless penitence perplexed and haunted;[ai] + Beseeching she no further would refuse, + When, lo! he stumbled o'er a pair of shoes. + + CLXXXI. + + A pair of shoes![81]--what then? not much, if they + Are such as fit with ladies' feet, but these + (No one can tell how much I grieve to say) + Were masculine; to see them, and to seize, + Was but a moment's act.--Ah! well-a-day! + My teeth begin to chatter, my veins freeze! + Alfonso first examined well their fashion, + And then flew out into another passion. + + CLXXXII. + + He left the room for his relinquished sword, + And Julia instant to the closet flew. + "Fly, Juan, fly! for Heaven's sake--not a word-- + The door is open--you may yet slip through + The passage you so often have explored-- + Here is the garden-key--Fly--fly--Adieu! + Haste--haste! I hear Alfonso's hurrying feet-- + Day has not broke--there's no one in the street." + + CLXXXIII. + + None can say that this was not good advice, + The only mischief was, it came too late; + Of all experience 't is the usual price, + A sort of income-tax laid on by fate: + Juan had reached the room-door in a trice, + And might have done so by the garden-gate, + But met Alfonso in his dressing-gown, + Who threatened death--so Juan knocked him down. + + CLXXXIV. + + Dire was the scuffle, and out went the light; + Antonia cried out "Rape!" and Julia "Fire!" + But not a servant stirred to aid the fight. + Alfonso, pommelled to his heart's desire, + Swore lustily he'd be revenged this night; + And Juan, too, blasphemed an octave higher; + His blood was up: though young, he was a Tartar, + And not at all disposed to prove a martyr. + + CLXXXV. + + Alfonso's sword had dropped ere he could draw it, + And they continued battling hand to hand, + For Juan very luckily ne'er saw it; + His temper not being under great command, + If at that moment he had chanced to claw it, + Alfonso's days had not been in the land + Much longer.--Think of husbands', lovers' lives! + And how ye may be doubly widows--wives! + + CLXXXVI. + + Alfonso grappled to detain the foe, + And Juan throttled him to get away, + And blood ('t was from the nose) began to flow; + At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay, + Juan contrived to give an awkward blow, + And then his only garment quite gave way; + He fled, like Joseph, leaving it; but there, + I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair. + + CLXXXVII. + + Lights came at length, and men, and maids, who found + An awkward spectacle their eyes before; + Antonia in hysterics, Julia swooned, + Alfonso leaning, breathless, by the door; + Some half-torn drapery scattered on the ground, + Some blood, and several footsteps, but no more: + Juan the gate gained, turned the key about, + And liking not the inside, locked the out. + + CLXXXVIII. + + Here ends this canto.--Need I sing, or say, + How Juan, naked, favoured by the night, + Who favours what she should not, found his way,[aj] + And reached his home in an unseemly plight? + The pleasant scandal which arose next day, + The nine days' wonder which was brought to light, + And how Alfonso sued for a divorce, + Were in the English newspapers, of course. + + CLXXXIX. + + If you would like to see the whole proceedings, + The depositions, and the Cause at full, + The names of all the witnesses, the pleadings + Of Counsel to nonsuit, or to annul, + There's more than one edition, and the readings + Are various, but they none of them are dull: + The best is that in short-hand ta'en by Gurney,[82] + Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey.[83] + + CXC. + + But Donna Inez, to divert the train + Of one of the most circulating scandals + That had for centuries been known in Spain, + At least since the retirement of the Vandals, + First vowed (and never had she vowed in vain) + To Virgin Mary several pounds of candles; + And then, by the advice of some old ladies, + She sent her son to be shipped off from Cadiz. + + CXCI. + + She had resolved that he should travel through + All European climes, by land or sea, + To mend his former morals, and get new, + Especially in France and Italy-- + (At least this is the thing most people do.) + Julia was sent into a convent--she + Grieved--but, perhaps, her feelings may be better[ak] + Shown in the following copy of her Letter:-- + + CXCII. + + "They tell me 't is decided you depart: + 'T is wise--'t is well, but not the less a pain; + I have no further claim on your young heart, + Mine is the victim, and would be again: + To love too much has been the only art + I used;--I write in haste, and if a stain + Be on this sheet, 't is not what it appears; + My eyeballs burn and throb, but have no tears. + + CXCIII. + + "I loved, I love you, for this love have lost + State, station, Heaven, Mankind's, my own esteem, + And yet can not regret what it hath cost, + So dear is still the memory of that dream; + Yet, if I name my guilt, 't is not to boast, + None can deem harshlier of me than I deem: + I trace this scrawl because I cannot rest-- + I've nothing to reproach, or to request. + + CXCIV. + + "Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,[al] + 'T is a Woman's whole existence; Man may range + The Court, Camp, Church, the Vessel, and the Mart; + Sword, Gown, Gain, Glory, offer in exchange + Pride, Fame, Ambition, to fill up his heart, + And few there are whom these can not estrange; + Men have all these resources, We but one,[84] + To love again, and be again undone."[am] + + CXCV. + + "You will proceed in pleasure, and in pride,[an] + Beloved and loving many; all is o'er + For me on earth, except some years to hide + My shame and sorrow deep in my heart's core: + These I could bear, but cannot cast aside + The passion which still rages as before,-- + And so farewell--forgive me, love me--No, + That word is idle now--but let it go.[ao] + + CXCVI. + + "My breast has been all weakness, is so yet; + But still I think I can collect my mind;[ap] + My blood still rushes where my spirit's set, + As roll the waves before the settled wind; + My heart is feminine, nor can forget-- + To all, except one image, madly blind; + So shakes the needle, and so stands the pole, + As vibrates my fond heart to my fixed soul.[aq] + + CXCVII. + + "I have no more to say, but linger still, + And dare not set my seal upon this sheet, + And yet I may as well the task fulfil, + My misery can scarce be more complete; + I had not lived till now, could sorrow kill; + Death shuns the wretch who fain the blow would meet, + And I must even survive this last adieu, + And bear with life, to love and pray for you!" + + CXCVIII. + + This note was written upon gilt-edged paper + With a neat little crow-quill, slight and new;[ar] + Her small white hand could hardly reach the taper, + It trembled as magnetic needles do, + And yet she did not let one tear escape her; + The seal a sun-flower; _"Elle vous suit partout,"_[85] + The motto cut upon a white cornelian; + The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion. + + CXCIX. + + This was Don Juan's earliest scrape; but whether + I shall proceed with his adventures is + Dependent on the public altogether; + We'll see, however, what they say to this: + Their favour in an author's cap's a feather, + And no great mischief's done by their caprice; + And if their approbation we experience, + Perhaps they'll have some more about a year hence. + + CC. + + My poem's epic, and is meant to be + Divided in twelve books; each book containing, + With Love, and War, a heavy gale at sea, + A list of ships, and captains, and kings reigning, + New characters; the episodes are three:[as] + A panoramic view of Hell's in training, + After the style of Virgil and of Homer, + So that my name of Epic's no misnomer. + + CCI. + + All these things will be specified in time, + With strict regard to Aristotle's rules, + The _Vade Mecum_ of the true sublime, + Which makes so many poets, and some fools: + Prose poets like blank-verse, I'm fond of rhyme, + Good workmen never quarrel with their tools; + I've got new mythological machinery, + And very handsome supernatural scenery. + + CCII. + + There's only one slight difference between + Me and my epic brethren gone before, + And here the advantage is my own, I ween + (Not that I have not several merits more, + But this will more peculiarly be seen); + They so embellish, that 't is quite a bore + Their labyrinth of fables to thread through, + Whereas this story's actually true. + + CCIII. + + If any person doubt it, I appeal + To History, Tradition, and to Facts, + To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel, + To plays in five, and operas in three acts;[at] + All these confirm my statement a good deal, + But that which more completely faith exacts + Is, that myself, and several now in Seville, + _Saw_ Juan's last elopement with the Devil. + + CCIV. + + If ever I should condescend to prose, + I'll write poetical commandments, which + Shall supersede beyond all doubt all those + That went before; in these I shall enrich + My text with many things that no one knows, + And carry precept to the highest pitch: + I'll call the work "Longinus o'er a Bottle,[au] + Or, Every Poet his _own_ Aristotle." + + CCV. + + Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope; + Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey; + Because the first is crazed beyond all hope, + The second drunk,[86] the third so quaint and mouthy: + With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope, + And Campbell's Hippocrene is somewhat drouthy: + Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers, nor + Commit--flirtation with the muse of Moore. + + CCVI. + + Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's Muse, + His Pegasus, nor anything that's his; + Thou shalt not bear false witness like "the Blues"-- + (There's _one_, at least, is very fond of this); + Thou shalt not write, in short, but what I choose: + This is true criticism, and you may kiss-- + Exactly as you please, or not,--the rod; + But if you don't, I'll lay it on, by G--d! + + CCVII. + + If any person should presume to assert + This story is not moral, first, I pray, + That they will not cry out before they're hurt, + Then that they'll read it o'er again, and say + (But, doubtless, nobody will be so pert) + That this is not a moral tale, though gay: + Besides, in Canto Twelfth, I mean to show + The very place where wicked people go. + + CCVIII. + + If, after all, there should be some so blind + To their own good this warning to despise, + Led by some tortuosity of mind, + Not to believe my verse and their own eyes, + And cry that they "the moral cannot find," + I tell him, if a clergyman, he lies; + Should captains the remark, or critics, make, + They also lie too--under a mistake. + + CCIX. + + The public approbation I expect, + And beg they'll take my word about the moral, + Which I with their amusement will connect + (So children cutting teeth receive a coral); + Meantime they'll doubtless please to recollect + My epical pretensions to the laurel: + For fear some prudish readers should grow skittish, + I've bribed my Grandmother's Review--the British.[87] + + CCX. + + I sent it in a letter to the Editor, + Who thanked me duly by return of post-- + I'm for a handsome article his creditor; + Yet, if my gentle Muse he please to roast, + And break a promise after having made it her, + Denying the receipt of what it cost, + And smear his page with gall instead of honey, + All I can say is--that he had the money. + + CCXI. + + I think that with this holy _new_ alliance + I may ensure the public, and defy + All other magazines of art or science, + Daily, or monthly, or three monthly; I + Have not essayed to multiply their clients, + Because they tell me 't were in vain to try, + And that the Edinburgh Review and Quarterly + Treat a dissenting author very martyrly. + + CCXII. + + "_Non ego hoc ferrem calidus juventa + Consule Planco_"[88] Horace said, and so + Say I; by which quotation there is meant a + Hint that some six or seven good years ago + (Long ere I dreamt of dating from the Brenta) + I was most ready to return a blow, + And would not brook at all this sort of thing + In my hot youth--when George the Third was King. + + CCXIII. + + But now at thirty years my hair is grey-- + (I wonder what it will be like at forty? + I thought of a peruke the other day--)[av] + My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I + Have squandered my whole summer while 't was May, + And feel no more the spirit to retort; I + Have spent my life, both interest and principal, + And deem not, what I deemed--my soul invincible. + + CCXIV. + + No more--no more--Oh! never more on me + The freshness of the heart can fall like dew, + Which out of all the lovely things we see + Extracts emotions beautiful and new, + Hived[89] in our bosoms like the bag o' the bee. + Think'st thou the honey with those objects grew? + Alas! 't was not in them, but in thy power + To double even the sweetness of a flower. + + CCXV. + + No more--no more--Oh! never more, my heart, + Canst thou be my sole world, my universe! + Once all in all, but now a thing apart, + Thou canst not be my blessing or my curse: + The illusion's gone for ever, and thou art + Insensible, I trust, but none the worse, + And in thy stead I've got a deal of judgment, + Though Heaven knows how it ever found a lodgment. + + CCXVI. + + My days of love are over; me no more[90] + The charms of maid, wife, and still less of widow, + Can make the fool of which they made before,-- + In short, I must not lead the life I did do; + The credulous hope of mutual minds is o'er, + The copious use of claret is forbid too, + So for a good old-gentlemanly vice, + I think I must take up with avarice. + + CCXVII. + + Ambition was my idol, which was broken + Before the shrines of Sorrow, and of Pleasure; + And the two last have left me many a token + O'er which reflection may be made at leisure: + Now, like Friar Bacon's Brazen Head, I've spoken, + "Time is, Time was, Time's past:"[91]--a chymic treasure + Is glittering Youth, which I have spent betimes-- + My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes. + + CCXVIII. + + What is the end of Fame? 't is but to fill + A certain portion of uncertain paper: + Some liken it to climbing up a hill, + Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour;[92] + For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill, + And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper," + To have, when the original is dust, + A name, a wretched picture and worse bust.[aw][93] + + CCXIX. + + What are the hopes of man? Old Egypt's King + Cheops erected the first Pyramid + And largest, thinking it was just the thing + To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid; + But somebody or other rummaging, + Burglariously broke his coffin's lid: + Let not a monument give you or me hopes, + Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops.[94] + + CCXX. + + But I, being fond of true philosophy, + Say very often to myself, "Alas! + All things that have been born were born to die, + And flesh (which Death mows down to hay) is grass; + You've passed your youth not so unpleasantly, + And if you had it o'er again--'t would pass-- + So thank your stars that matters are no worse, + And read your Bible, sir, and mind your purse." + + CCXXI. + + But for the present, gentle reader! and + Still gentler purchaser! the Bard--that's I-- + Must, with permission, shake you by the hand,[ax] + And so--"your humble servant, and Good-bye!" + We meet again, if we should understand + Each other; and if not, I shall not try + Your patience further than by this short sample-- + 'T were well if others followed my example. + + CCXXII. + + "Go, little Book, from this my solitude! + I cast thee on the waters--go thy ways! + And if, as I believe, thy vein be good, + The World will find thee after many days."[95] + When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood, + I can't help putting in my claim to praise-- + The four first rhymes are Southey's every line: + For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine. + +Nov. 1, 1818. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{11}[14] [Begun at Venice, September 6; finished November 1, 1818.] + +[15] [The pantomime which Byron and his readers "all had seen," was an +abbreviated and bowdlerized version of Shadwell's _Libertine_. "First +produced by Mr. Garrick on the boards of Drury Lane Theatre," it was +recomposed by Charles Anthony Delpini, and performed at the Royalty +Theatre, in Goodman's Fields, in 1787. It was entitled _Don Juan; or, +The Libertine Destroyed_: A Tragic Pantomimical Entertainment, In Two +Acts. Music Composed by Mr. Gluck. "Scaramouch," the "Sganarelle" of +Moliere's _Festin de Pierre_, was a favourite character of Joseph +Grimaldi. He was cast for the part, in 1801, at Sadler's Wells, and, +again, on a memorable occasion, November 28, 1809, at Covent Garden +Theatre, when the O.P. riots were in full swing, and (see the _Morning +Chronicle_, November 29, 1809) "there was considerable tumult in the +pit." According to "Boz" (_Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi_, 1846, ii. 81, +106, 107), Byron patronized Grimaldi's "benefits at Covent Garden," was +repeatedly in his company, and when he left England, in 1816, "presented +him with a valuable silver snuff-box." At the end of the pantomime "the +Furies gather round him [Don Juan], and the Tyrant being bound in chains +is hurried away and thrown into flames." The Devil is conspicuous by his +absence.] + +{12}[16] [Edward Vernon, Admiral (1684-1757), took Porto Bello in 1739. + +William Augustus, second son of George II. (1721-1765), fought at the +battles of Dettingen, 1743; Fontenoy, 1745; and at Culloden, 1746. For +the "severity of the Duke of Cumberland," see Scott's _Tales of a +Grandfather_, _Prose Works_, 1830, vii. 852, _sq_. + +James Wolfe, General, born January 2, 1726, was killed at the siege of +Quebec, September 13, 1759. + +Edward, Lord Hawke, Admiral (1715-1781), totally defeated the French +fleet in Quiberon Bay, November 20, 1759. + +Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick (1721-1792), gained the victory at Minden, +August 1, 1759. + +John Manners, Marquess of Granby (1721-1790), commanded the British +forces in Germany (1766-1769). + +John Burgoyne, General, defeated the Americans at Germantown, October 3, +1777, but surrendered to General Gates at Saratoga, October 17, 1778. He +died in 1792. + +Augustus, Viscount Keppel, Admiral (1725-1786), was tried by +court-martial, January-February, 1779, for allowing the French fleet off +Ushant to escape, July, 1778. He was honourably acquitted. + +Richard, Earl Howe, Admiral (1725-1799), known by the sailors as "Black +Dick," defeated the French off Ushant, June 1, 1794.] + +[17] [Compare _Macbeth_, act iv. sc. i, line 65.] + +[18] ["In the eighth and concluding lecture of Mr. Hazlitt's canons of +criticism, delivered at the Surrey Institution (_The English Poets_, +1870, pp. 203, 204), I am accused of having 'lauded Buonaparte to the +skies in the hour of his success, and then peevishly wreaking my +disappointment on the god of my idolatry.' The first lines I ever wrote +upon Buonaparte were the 'Ode to Napoleon,' after his abdication in +1814. All that I have ever written on that subject has been done since +his decline;--I never 'met him in the hour of his success.' I have +considered his character at different periods, in its strength and in +its weakness: by his zealots I am accused of injustice--by his enemies +as his warmest partisan, in many publications, both English and foreign. + +"For the accuracy of my delineation I have high authority. A year and +some months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing at Venice my friend the +honourable Douglas Kinnaird. In his way through Germany, he told me that +he had been honoured with a presentation to, and some interviews with, +one of the nearest family connections of Napoleon (Eugene Beauharnais). +During one of these, he read and translated the lines alluding to +Buonaparte, in the Third Canto of _Childe Harold_. He informed me, that +he was authorized by the illustrious personage--(still recognized as +such by the Legitimacy in Europe)--to whom they were read, to say, _that +'the delineation was complete,'_ or words to this effect. It is no +puerile vanity which induces me to publish this fact;--but Mr. Hazlitt +accuses my inconsistency, and infers my inaccuracy. Perhaps he will +admit that, with regard to the latter, one of the most intimate family +connections of the Emperor may be equally capable of deciding on the +subject. I tell Mr. Hazlitt that I never flattered Napoleon on the +throne, nor maligned him since his fall. I wrote what I think are the +incredible antitheses of his character. + +"Mr. Hazlitt accuses me further of delineating _myself_ in _Childe +Harold_, etc., etc. I have denied this long ago--but, even were it true, +Locke tells us, that all his knowledge of human understanding was +derived from studying his own mind. From Mr. Hazlitt's opinion of my +poetry I do not appeal; but I request that gentleman not to insult me by +imputing the basest of crimes,--viz. 'praising publicly the same man +whom I wished to depreciate in his adversity:'--the _first_ lines I ever +wrote on Buonaparte were in his dispraise, in 1814,--the _last_, though +not at all in his favour, were more impartial and discriminative, in +1818. Has he become more fortunate since 1814?" For Byron's various +estimates of Napoleon's character and career, see _Childe Harold_, Canto +III, stanza xxxvi. line 7, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 238, note 1.] + +{13}[19] [Charles Francois Duperier Dumouriez (1739-1823) defeated the +Austrians at Jemappes, November 6, 1792, etc. He published his +_Memoires_ (Hamburg et Leipsic), 1794. For the spelling, see _Memoirs of +General Dumourier_, written by himself, translated by John Fenwick. +London, 1794. See, too, _Lettre de Joseph Servan_, Ex-ministre de la +Guerre, _Sur le memoire lu par M. Dumourier le 13 Juin a l'Assemblee +Nationale; Bibiotheque Historique de la Revolution_, "Justifications," +7, 8, 9.] + +[20] [Antoine Pierre Joseph Barnave, born 1761, was appointed President +of the Constituent Assembly in 1790. He was guillotined November 30, +1793. + +Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville, philosopher and politician, born +January 14, 1754, was one of the principal instigators of the revolt of +the Champ de Mars, July, 1789. He was guillotined October 31, 1793. + +Marie Jean Antoine, Marquis de Condorcet, born September 17, 1743, was +appointed President of the Legislative Assembly in 1792. Proscribed by +the Girondins, he poisoned himself to escape the guillotine, March 28, +1794. + +Honore Gabriel Riquetti, Comte de Mirabeau, born March 9, 1749, died +April 2, 1791. + +Jerome Petion de Villeneuve, born 1753, Mayor of Paris in 1791, took an +active part in the imprisonment of the king. In 1793 he fell under +Robespierre's displeasure, and to escape proscription took refuge in the +department of Calvados. In 1794 his body was found in a field, half +eaten by wolves. + +Jean Baptiste, Baron de Clootz (better known as Anacharsis Clootz), was +born in 1755. In 1790, at the bar of the National Convention, he +described himself as the "Speaker of Mankind." Being suspected by +Robespierre, he was condemned to death, March 24, 1794. On the scaffold +he begged to be executed last, "in order to establish certain +principles." (See Carlyle's _French Revolution_, 1839, iii. 315.) + +Georges Jacques Danton, born October 28, 1759, helped to establish the +Revolutionary Tribunal, March 10, and the Committee of Public Safety, +April 6, 1793; agreed to proscription of the Girondists, June, 1793; was +executed with Camille Desmoulins and others, April 5, 1794. + +Jean Paul Marat, born May 24, 1744, physician and man of science, +proposed and carried out the wholesale massacre of September 2-5, 1792; +was denounced to, but acquitted by, the Revolutionary Tribunal, May, +1793; assassinated by Charlotte Corday, July 13, 1793. + +Marie Jean Paul, Marquis de La Fayette, born September 6, 1757, died May +19, 1834. + +With the exception of La Fayette, who outlived Byron by ten years, and +Lord St. Vincent, all "the famous persons" mentioned in stanzas ii.-iv. +had passed away long before the First Canto of _Don Juan_ was written.] + +{14}[21] [Barthelemi Catherine Joubert, born April 14, 1769, +distinguished himself at the engagements of Cava, Montebello, Rivoli, +and in the Tyrol. He was afterwards sent to oppose Suvoroff, and was +killed at Novi, August 15, 1799. + +For Hoche and Marceau, _vide ante, Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 296. + +Jean Lannes, Duke of Montebello, born April 11, 1769, distinguished +himself at Lodi, Aboukir, Acre, Austerlitz, Jena and, lastly, at +Essling, where he was mortally wounded. He died May 31, 1809. + +Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Voygoux, born August 27, 1768, won the +victory at the Pyramids, July 21, 1798. He was mortally wounded at +Marengo, June 14, 1800. + +Jean Victor Moreau, born August 11, 1763, was victorious at Engen, May +3, and at Hohenlinden, December 3, 1800. He was struck by a cannon-ball +at the battle of Dresden, August 27, and died September 2, 1813.] + +{15}[22] [Hor., _Od._, iv. c. ix. 1. 25-- + "Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona," etc.] + +[23] [Hor., _Epist. Ad Pisones_, lines 148, 149-- + "Semper ad eventum festinat, et in medias res, + Non secus ac notas, auditorem rapit--"] + +[24] ["Quien no ha visto Sevilla, no ha visto maravilla."] + +{16}[25] [In his reply to _Blackwood_ (No. xxix. August, 1819), Byron +somewhat disingenuously rebuts the charge that _Don Juan_ contained "an +elaborate satire on the character and manners of his wife." "If," he +writes, "in a poem by no means ascertained to be my production there +appears a disagreeable, casuistical, and by no means respectable female +pedant, it is set down for my wife. Is there any resemblance? If there +be, it is in those who make it--I can see none."--Letters, 1900, iv. +477. The allusions in stanzas xii.-xiv., and, again, in stanzas +xxvii.-xxix., are, and must have been meant to be, unmistakable.] + +[26] [Gregor von Feinagle, born? 1765, was the inventor of a system of +mnemonics, "founded on the topical memory of the ancients," as described +by Cicero and Quinctilian. He lectured, in 1811, at the Royal +Institution and elsewhere. When Rogers was asked if he attended the +lectures, he replied, "No; I wished to learn the Art of Forgetting" +(_Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers_, 1856, p. 42).] + +{17}[a] + _Little she spoke--but what she spoke was Attic all_, + _With words and deeds in perfect unanimity._--[MS.] + +[27] [Sir Samuel Romilly, born 1757, lost his wife on the 29th of +October, and committed suicide on the 2nd of November, 1818.--"But there +will come a day of reckoning, even if I should not live to see it. I +have at least seen Romilly shivered, who was one of the assassins. When +that felon or lunatic ... was doing his worst to uproot my whole family, +tree, branch, and blossoms--when, after taking my retainer, he went over +to them [see _Letters_, 1899, iii. 324]--when he was bringing desolation +... on my household gods--did he think that, in less than three years, a +natural event--a severe, domestic, but an unexpected and common +calamity--would lay his carcase in a cross-road, or stamp his name in a +verdict of Lunacy! Did he (who in his drivelling sexagenary dotage had +not the courage to survive his Nurse--for what else was a wife to him at +his time of life?)--reflect or consider what _my_ feelings must have +been, when wife, and child, and sister, and name, and fame, and country, +were to be my sacrifice on his legal altar,--and this at a moment when +my health was declining, my fortune embarrassed, and my mind had been +shaken by many kinds of disappointment--while I was yet young, and might +have reformed what might be wrong in my conduct, and retrieved what was +perplexing in my affairs! But the wretch is in his grave," etc.-Letter +to Murray, June 7, 1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 316.] + +[28] [Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) published _Castle Rackrent_, etc., +etc., etc., in 1800. "In 1813," says Byron, "I recollect to have met +them [the Edgeworths] in the fashionable world of London.... She was a +nice little unassuming 'Jeannie Deans-looking body,' as we Scotch say; +and if not handsome, certainly not ill-looking" (_Diary_, January 19, +1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 177-179).] + +[29] [Sarah Trimmer (1741-1810) published, in 1782, _Easy Introduction +to the Study of Nature_; _History of the Robins_ (dedicated to the +Princess Sophia) in 1786, etc.] + +[30] [Hannah More (1745-1833) published _Coelebs in Search of a Wife_ in +1809.] + +[31] [Pope, _Rape of the Lock_, Canto II, line 17.] + +{19}[32] [John Harrison (1693-1776), known as "Longitude" Harrison, was +the inventor of watch compensation. He received, in slowly and +reluctantly paid instalments, a sum of L20,000 from the Government, for +producing a chronometer which should determine the longitude within half +a degree. A watch which contained his latest improvements was worn by +Captain Cook during his three years' circumnavigation of the globe.] + +[33] "Description des _vertus incomparables_ de l'Huile de Macassar." +See the Advertisement. [_An Historical, Philosophical and Practical +Essay on the Human Hair_, was published by Alexander Rowland, jun., in +1816. It was inscribed, "To her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of +Wales and Cobourg."] + +[b] _Where all was innocence and quiet bliss_.--[MS.] + +[c] _And so she seemed, in all outside formalities_.--[MS.] + +[34] ["'Zounds, an I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with his +lady's fan."--I _Henry IV._, act ii, sc 3, lines 19, 20.] + +{21}[d] _Wishing each other damned, divorced, or dead_.--[MS.] + +[35] [According to Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 55), Byron "was +surprised one day by a Doctor and a Lawyer almost forcing themselves at +the same time into my room. I did not know," he adds, "till afterwards +the real object of their visit. I thought their questions singular, +frivolous, and somewhat importunate, if not impertinent: but what should +I have thought, if I had known that they were sent to provide proofs of +my insanity?" Lady Byron, in her _Remarks on Mr. Moore's Life, etc_. +(_Life_, pp. 661-663), says that Dr. Baillie (_vide post_, p. 412, note +2), whom she consulted with regard to her husband's supposed insanity, +"not having had access to Lord Byron, could not pronounce a positive +opinion on this point." It appears, however, that another doctor, a Mr. +Le Mann (see _Letters_, 1899, iii. 293, note 1, 295, 299, etc.), visited +Byron professionally, and reported on his condition to Lady Byron. +Hence, perhaps, the mention of "druggists."] + +{22}[36] ["I deem it _my duty to God_ to act as I am acting."--Letter of +Lady Byron to Mrs. Leigh, February 14, 1816, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 311.] + +[37] ["This is so very pointed."--[?Hobhouse.] "If people make +application, it is their own fault."--[B.].--[_Revise._] + +[38] ["There is some doubt about this."--[H.] "What has the 'doubt' to +do with the poem? it is, at least, poetically true. Why apply everything +to that absurd woman? I have no reference to living +characters."--[B.].--[_Revise._] Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 54) +attributes the "breaking open my writing-desk" to Mrs. Charlment (i.e. +Mrs. Clermont) the original of "A Sketch," _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. +540-544. It is evident from Byron's reply to Hobhouse's remonstrance +that Medwin did not invent this incident, but that some one, perhaps +Fletcher's wife, had told him that his papers had been overhauled.] + +{23}[e] _First their friends tried at reconciliation_.--[MS.] + +[f] _The lawyers recommended a divorce_.--[MS.] + +{24}[g] + / besides was \ +_He had been ill brought up, < > bilious_. + \ besides being / + +or, _The reason was, perhaps, that he was bilious_.--[MS.] + +[h] + / now but \ +_And we may own--since he is < > earth_.--[MS.] + \ laid in / + +[39] ["I could have forgiven the dagger or the bowl,--any thing but the +deliberate desolation piled upon me, when I stood alone upon my hearth, +with my household gods shivered around me.... Do you suppose I have +forgotten it? It has, comparatively swallowed up in me every other +feeling, and I am only a spectator upon earth till a tenfold opportunity +offers."--Letter to Moore, September 19, 1818, _Letters_, 1900, iv, 262, +263. Compare, too-- + + "I had one only fount of quiet left, + And _that_ they poisoned! My pure household gods + Were shivered on my hearth, and o'er their shrine + Sate grinning Ribaldry and sneering Scorn." + +_Marino Faliero_, act iii. sc. II, lines 361-364.] + +{25}[i] + / litigation--\ +_Save death or < > so he died_.--[MS.] + \ banishment--/ + +{26}[40] [Compare Leigh Hunt on the illustrations to Andrew Tooke's +_Pantheon_: "I see before me, as vividly now as ever, his Mars and +Apollo ... and Venus very handsome, we thought, and not looking too +modest in a 'light cymar.'"--_Autobiography_, 1860, p. 75.] + +[j] _Defending still their Iliads and Odysseys_.--[MS.] + +[41] See Longinus, Section 10, [Greek: "I/na me\ e(/n ti peri\ au)te\n +pa/thos phai/netai, pathon de\ sy/nodos."] + +["The effect desired is that not one passion only should be seen in her, +but a concourse of passions" (_Longinis on the Sublime_, by W. Rhys +Roberts, 1899, pp. 70, 71). + +The Ode alluded to is the famous [Greek: Phai/netai/ moi kenos i(/sos +theisin, k.t.l.] + + "Him rival to the gods I place; + Him loftier yet, if loftier be, + Who, Lesbia, sits before thy face, + Who listens and who looks on thee." + +W.E. Gladstone. + +"I do not think you are quite held out by the quotation. Longinus says +the circumstantial assemblage of the passions makes the sublime; he does +not talk of the sublime being soaring and ample."--[H.] "I do not care +for this--it must stand."--[B.]--[_Marginal notes in Revise._]] + +[42] [_Bucol._, Ecl. ii. "Alexis."] + +{27}[k] + / antique \ / elision \ +Too much their < modest > bard by the < >--[MS.] + \ downright / \ omission / + +[43] Fact! There is, or was, such an edition, with all the obnoxious +epigrams of Martial placed by themselves at the end. + +[In the Delphin _Martial_ (Amsterdam, 1701) the _Epigrammata Obscaena_ +are printed as an Appendix (pp. 2-56), "[Ne] quiequam desideraretur a +morosis quibusdam hominibus."] + +{28}[44] See his _Confessions_, lib. i. cap. ix.; [lib. ii. cap. ii., +_et passim_]. By the representation which Saint Augustine gives of +himself in his youth, it is easy to see that he was what we should call +a rake. He avoided the school as the plague; he loved nothing but gaming +and public shows; he robbed his father of everything he could find; he +invented a thousand lies to escape the rod, which they were obliged to +make use of to punish his irregularities. + +{30}[45] [Byron's early letters are full of complaints of his mother's +violent temper. See, for instance, letter to the Hon. Augusta Byron, +April 23, 1805. In another letter to John M.B. Pigot, August 9, 1806, he +speaks of her as "Mrs. Byron '_furiosa_'" (_Letters_, 1898, i. 60, +101).] + +[46] ["Having surrendered the last symbol of power, the unfortunate +Boabdil continued on towards the Alpuxarras, that he might not behold +the entrance of the Christians into his capital.... Having ascended an +eminence commanding the last view of Granada, the Moors paused +involuntarily to take a farewell gaze at their beloved city, which a few +steps more would shut from their sight for ever.... The heart of +Boabdil, softened by misfortunes, and overcharged with grief, could no +longer contain itself. 'Allah achbar! God is great!' said he; but the +words of resignation died upon his lips, and he burst into a flood of +tears."--_Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada_, by Washington Irving, +1829, ii. 379-381.] + +{31}[l] + / silence! hush!_ \ +_I'll tell you a secret--< >--[MS.] + \ which you'll hush_ / + +{32}[m] +_Spouses from twenty years of age to thirty_ + / strict \ +_Are most admired by women of < > virtue_.--[MS.] + \ staid / + +[47] For the particulars of St. Anthony's recipe for hot blood in cold +weather, see Mr. Alban Butler's _Lives of the Saints_. + +["I am not sure it was not St. Francis who had the wife of snow--in that +case the line must run, 'St. Francis back to reason.'"--[_MS. M._] + +For the seven snow-balls, of which "the greatest" was his wife, see Life +of "St. Francis of Assisi" (_The Golden Legend_ (edited by F.S. Ellis), +1900, v. 221). See, too, _the Lives of the Saints, etc._, by the Rev. +Alban Butler, 1838, ii. 574.] + +{34}[48] [The sorceress in Tasso's _Gerusalemme Liberata_. The story of +Armida and Rinaldo forms the plot of operas by Glueck and Rossini.] + +[49]Sec.35Sec. _Thinking God might not understand the case_.--[MS. M., +Revise.] + +{36}[50] ["Quel giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante." Dante, _Inferno_, +canto v. line 138.] + +{37}[51] + + ["Conscienzia m'assicura, + La buona compagnia che l'uom francheggia + Sotto l'osbergo del sentirsi pura." + +_Inferno_, canto xxviii, lines 115-117.] + +[n] _Deemed that her thoughts no more required control_.--[MS.] + +{38}[52] [See Ovid, _Metamorph_., vii. 9, sq.] + +{39}[53] Campbell's _Gertrude of Wyoming_--(I think)--the opening of +Canto Second [Part III. stanza i. lines 1-4]--but quote from memory. + +[54] [See Coleridge's _Biographia Literaria_, chap. i. (ed. 1847, i. 14, +15); and _Dejection: An Ode_, lines 86-93.] + +{40}[o] + _I say this by the way--so don't look stern_. + _But if you're angry, reader, pass it by_.--[MS.] + +[55] [Juan Boscan, of Barcelona (1500-1544), in concert with his friend +Garcilasso, Italianized Castilian poetry. He was the author of the +_Leandro_, a poem in blank verse, of canzoni, and sonnets after the +model of Petrarch, and of _The Allegory_.--_History of Spanish +Literature_, by George Ticknor, 1888, i. 513.] + +[56] [Garcias Lasso or Garcilasso de la Vega (1503-1536), of a noble +family at Toledo, was a warrior as well as a poet, "now seizing on the +sword and now the pen." After serving with distinction in Germany, +Africa, and Provence, he was killed at Muy, near Frejus, in 1536, by a +stone, thrown from a tower, which fell on his head as he was leading on +his battalion. He was the author of thirty-seven sonnets, five canzoni, +and three pastorals.--_Vide ibidem_, pp. 522-535.] + +{42}[p] + _A real wittol always is suspicious_, + _But always also hunts in the wrong place_.--[MS.] + +{43}[q] _Change horses every hour from night till noon_.--[MS.] + +[r] _Except the promises of true theology_.--[MS.] + +[57] + + ["Oh, Susan! I've said, in the moments of mirth, + What's devotion to thee or to me? + I devoutly believe there's a heaven on earth, + And believe that _that_ heaven's in _thee._" + +"The Catalogue," _Poetical Works of the late Thomas Little_, 1803, p. +128.] + +{44}[s] + _She stood on Guilt's steep brink, in all the sense_ + _And full security of Innocence_.--[MS.] + +{45}[t] _To leave these two young people then and there.--[MS.]_ + +{46}[58] ["Age Xerxes.. eo usque luxuria gaudens, ut edicto praemium ei +proponeret, qui novum voluptatis genus reperisset."--Val. Max, _De +Dictis, etc._, lib. ix. cap. 1, ext. 3.] + +[59] ["You certainly will be damned for all this scene."--[H.]] + +{48}[60] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza iii. line 2, +_Poetical Works_, ii. 329, note 3.] + +[u] _Our coming, nor look brightly till we come_.--[MS.] + +[v] _Sweet is a lawsuit to the attorney--sweet, etc_.--[MS.] + +[61] [So, too, Falstaff, _Henry IV._, act ii. sc. 2, lines 79, 80.] + +{49}[w] + _Who've made us wait--God knows how long already,_ + _For an entailed estate, or country-seat,_ + _Wishing them not exactly damned, but dead--he_ + _Knows nought of grief, who has not so been worried--_ + _'T is strange old people don't like to be buried_.--[MS.] + +[62] [Byron has not been forgotten at Harrow, though it is a bend of the +Cam (Byron's Pool), not his favourite Duck Pool (now "Ducker") which +bears his name.] + +{50}[63] [The reference is to the metallic tractors of Benjamin Charles +Perkins, which were advertised as a "cure for all disorders, Red Noses," +etc. Compare _English Bards, etc._, lines 131, 132-- + + "What varied wonders tempt us as they pass! + The Cow-pox, Tractors, Galvanism, and Gas." + +See _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 307, note 3.] + +[64] [Edward Jenner (1749-1823) made his first experiments in +vaccination, May 14, 1796. Napoleon caused his soldiers to be +vaccinated, and imagined that the English would be gratified by his +recognition of Jenner's discovery. + +Sir William Congreve (1772-1828) invented "Congreve rockets" or shells +in 1804. They were used with great effect at the battle of Leipzig, in +1813.] + +[65] ["Mon cher ne touchez pas a la petite Verole."--[H.]--[Revise.]] + +[66] [Experiments in galvanism were made on the body of Forster the +murderer, by Galvani's nephew, Professor Aldini, January and February, +1803.] + +[67] ["Put out these lines, and keep the others."--[H.]--[_Revise._]] + +{51}[68] [Sir Humphry Davy, P.R.S. (1778-1829), invented the safety-lamp +in 1815.] + +[69] [In a critique of _An Account of the Empire of Marocco_.... _To +which is added an_ ... _account of Tombuctoo, the great Emporium of +Central Africa,_ by James Grey Jackson, London, 1809, the reviewer +comments on the author's pedantry in correcting "the common orthography +of African names." "We do not," he writes, "greatly object to ... _Fas_ +for _Fez,_ or even _Timbuctoo_ for _Tombuctoo,_ but _Marocco_ for +_Morocco_ is a little too much."--_Edinburgh Review_, July, 1809 vol. +xiv. p. 307.] + +[70] [Sir John Ross (1777-1856) published _A Voyage of Discovery_ ... +_for the purpose of Exploring Baffin's Bay, etc.,_ in 1819; Sir W.E. +Parry (1790-1855) published his _Journal of a Voyage of Discovery to the +Arctic Regions between 4th April and 18th November_, 1818, in 1820.] + +[x] _Not only pleasure's sin, but sin's a pleasure_.--[MS.] + +[y] _And lose in shining snow their summits blue_.--[MS.] + +[z] _'Twas midnight--dark and sombre was the night, etc_.--[MS.] + +[aa] _And supper, punch, ghost-stories, and such chat_.--[MS.] + +[71] ["'All that, Egad,' as Bayes says" [in the Duke of Buckingham's +play _The Rehearsal_].--Letter to Murray, September 28, 1820, _Letters_, +1901, v. 80.] + +[72] ["Lobster-sallad, _not_ a lobster-salad. Have you been at a London +_ball_, and not known a Lobster-_sallad?_"--[H.]--[_Revise._] ] + +[73] ["To-night, as Countess Guiccioli observed me poring over _Don +Juan_, she stumbled by mere chance on the 137th stanza of the First +Canto, and asked me what it meant. I told her, 'Nothing,--but your +husband is coming.' As I said this in Italian with some emphasis, she +started up in a fright, and said, _'Oh, my God, is_ he _coming?'_ +thinking it was _her own_....You may suppose we laughed when she found +out the mistake. You will be amused, as I was;--it happened not three +hours ago."--Letter to Murray, November 8, 1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. +374. + +It should be borne in mind that the loves of Juan and Julia, the +irruption of Don Alfonso, etc., were rather of the nature of prophecy +than of reminiscence. The First Canto had been completed before the +Countess Guiccioli appeared on the scene.] + +[ab] _And thus as 'twere herself from out them crept_.--[MS. M.] + +{54}[ac] _Ere I the wife of such a man had been!_--[MS.] + +{55}[ad] _But while this search was making, Julia's tongue_.--[MS.] + +[74] The Spanish "Cortejo" is much the same as the Italian "Cavalier +Servente." + +{56}[75] Donna Julia here made a mistake. Count O'Reilly did not take +Algiers--but Algiers very nearly took him: he and his army and fleet +retreated with great loss, and not much credit, from before that city, +in the year 1775. + +[Alexander O'Reilly, born 1722, a Spanish general of Irish extraction, +failed in an expedition against Algiers in 1775, in which the Spaniards +lost four thousand men. In 1794 he was appointed commander-in-chief of +the forces equipped against the army of the French National Convention. +He died March 23, 1794.] + +[76] [The Italian names have an obvious signification.] + +[ae] _The chimney--fit retreat for any lover!_--[MS.] + +{58}[af] ---- _may deplore_.--[Alternative reading. MS. M.] + +{59}[77] ["Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh" (_Job_ +ii. 10).] + +[78] ["Don't be read aloud."--[H.]--[_Revise._]] + +{60}[ag] + ---- _than be put_ + _To drown with Clarence in his Malmsey butt_.--[MS.] + +[ah] _And reckon up our balance with the devil_.--[MS.] + +{62}[79] ["Carissimo, do review the whole scene, and think what you +would say of it, if written by another."--[H.] "I would say, read 'The +Miracle' ['A Tale from Boccace'] in Hobhouse's poems, and 'January and +May,' and 'Paulo Purganti,' and 'Hans Carvel,' and 'Joconde.' _These_ +are laughable: it is the _serious_--Little's poems and _Lalla +Rookh_--that affect seriously. Now Lust is a serious passion, and cannot +be excited by the ludicrous."--[B.]--_Marginal Notes in Revise_.] + +For the "Miracle," see _Imitations and Translations_, 1809, pp. +111--128. "January and May" is Pope's version of Chaucer's _Merchant's +Tale_. "Paulo Purganti" and "Hans Carvel" are by Matthew Prior; and for +"Joconde" (_Nouvelle Tiree de L'Ariosto_, canto xxviii.) see _Contes et +Nouvelles en Vers_, de Mr. de la Fontaine, 1691, i. 1-19.] + +{63}[80] [Compare "The use made in the French tongue of the word _tact_, +to denote that delicate sense of propriety, which enables a man to _feel +his way_ in the difficult intercourse of polished society, seems to have +been suggested by similar considerations (i.e. similar to those which +suggested the use of the word _taste_)."--_Outlines of Moral +Philosophy_, by Dugald Stewart, Part I. sect. x. ed. 1855, p. 48. For +D'Alembert's use of _tact_, to denote "that peculiar delicacy of +perception (which, like the nice touch of a blind man) arises from +habits of close attention to those slighter feelings which escape +general notice," see _Philosophical Essays_, by Dugald Stewart, 1818, p. +603.] + +{64}[ai] _With base suspicion now no longer haunted._--[MS.] + +[81] [For the incident of the shoes, Lord Byron was probably indebted to +the Scottish ballad-- + + "Our goodman came hame at e'en, and hame came he; + He spy'd a pair of jack-boots, where nae boots should be, + What's this now, goodwife? What's this I see? + How came these boots there, without the leave o' me! + Boots! quo' she: + Ay, boots, quo' he. + Shame fa' your cuckold face, and ill mat ye see, + It's but a pair of water stoups the cooper sent to me," etc. + +See James Johnson's _Musical Museum_, 1787, etc., v. 466.] + +{66}[aj] _Found--heaven knows how--his solitary way._--[MS.] + +[82] [William Brodie Gurney (1777-1855), the son and grandson of eminent +shorthand writers, "reported the proceedings against the Duke of York in +1809, the trials of Lord Cochrane in 1814, and of Thistlewood in 1820, +and the proceedings against Queen Caroline."--_Dict. of Nat. Biog_., +art. "Gurney."] + +{67}[83] ["Venice, December 7, 1818. + +"After _that stanza_ in the first canto of _Don Juan_ (sent by Lord +Lauderdale) towards the _conclusion_ of the canto--I speak of the stanza +whose two last lines are-- + + "'The best is that in short-hand ta'en by Gurney, + Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey,' + +insert the following stanzas, 'But Donna Inez,' etc."--B. + +The text is based on a second or revised copy of stanzas cxc.-cxcviii. +Many of the corrections and emendations which were inserted in the first +draft are omitted in the later and presumably improved version. Byron's +first intention was to insert seven stanzas after stanza clxxxix., +descriptive and highly depreciatory of Brougham, but for reasons of +"fairness" (_vide infra_) he changed his mind. The casual mention of +"blundering Brougham" in _English Bards, etc._ (line 524, _Poetical +Works_, 1898, i. 338, note 2), is a proof that his suspicions were not +aroused as to the authorship of the review of _Hours of Idleness_ +(_Edin. Rev._, January, 1808), and it is certain that Byron's animosity +was due to the part played by Brougham at the time of the Separation. +(In a letter to Byron, dated February 18, 1817, Murray speaks of a +certain B. "as your incessant persecutor--the source of all affected +public opinion respecting you.") The stanzas, with the accompanying +notes, are not included in the editions of 1833 or 1837, and are now +printed for the first time. + + I. + + "'Twas a fine cause for those in law delighting-- + 'Tis pity that they had no Brougham in Spain, + Famous for always talking, and ne'er fighting, + For calling names, and taking them again; + For blustering, bungling, trimming, wrangling, writing, + Groping all paths to power, and all in vain-- + Losing elections, character, and temper, + A foolish, clever, fellow--_Idem semper!_ + + II. + + "Bully in Senates, skulker in the Field,[*A] + The Adulterer's advocate when duly feed, + The libeller's gratis Counsel, dirty shield + Which Law affords to many a dirty deed; + A wondrous Warrior against those who yield-- + A rod to Weakness, to the brave a reed-- + The People's sycophant, the Prince's foe, + And serving him the more by being so. + + III. + + "Tory by nurture, Whig by Circumstance, + A Democrat some once or twice a year, + Whene'er it suits his purpose to advance + His vain ambition in its vague career: + A sort of Orator by sufferance, + Less for the comprehension than the ear; + With all the arrogance of endless power, + Without the sense to keep it for an hour. + + IV. + + "The House-of-Commons Damocles of words-- + Above him, hanging by a single hair, + On each harangue depend some hostile Swords; + And deems he that we _always_ will forbear? + Although Defiance oft declined affords + A blotted shield no Shire's true knight would wear: + Thersites of the House. Parolles[*B] of Law, + The double Bobadill[*C] takes Scorn for Awe. + + V. + + "How noble is his language--never pert-- + How grand his sentiments which ne'er run riot! + As when he swore 'by God he'd sell his shirt + To head the poll!' I wonder who would buy it + The skin has passed through such a deal of dirt + In grovelling on to power--such stains now dye it-- + So black the long-worn Lion's hide in hue, + You'd swear his very heart had sweated through. + + VI. + + "Panting for power--as harts for cooling streams-- + Yet half afraid to venture for the draught; + A go-between, yet blundering in extremes, + And tossed along the vessel fore and aft; + Now shrinking back, now midst the first he seems, + Patriot by force, and courtisan[*D] by craft; + Quick without wit, and violent without strength-- + A disappointed Lawyer, at full length. + + VII. + + "A strange example of the force of Law, + And hasty temper on a kindling mind-- + Are these the dreams his young Ambition saw? + Poor fellow! he had better far been blind! + I'm sorry thus to probe a wound so raw-- + But, then, as Bard my duty to Mankind, + For warning to the rest, compels these raps-- + As Geographers lay down a Shoal in Maps." + +[[*A] For Brougham's Fabian tactics with regard to duelling, _vide +post_, Canto XIII. stanza lxxxiv. line 1, p. 506, note 1.] + +[[*B] Vide post, Canto XIII. stanza lxxxiv. line 1, p. 506, note 1.] + +[[*C] For "Captain Bobadill, a Paul's man," see Ben Jonson's _Every Man +in his Humour_, act iv. sc. 5, et passim.] + +[[*D] The _N. Eng. Dict._, quotes a passage in _Phil. Trans._, iv. 286 +(1669), as the latest instance of "courtisan" for "courtier."] + + +NOTE TO THE ANNEXED STANZAS ON BROUGHAM. + + "Distrusted by the Democracy, disliked by the Whigs, and detested + by the Tories, too much of a lawyer for the people, and too much of + a demagogue for Parliament, a contestor of counties, and a + Candidate for cities, the refuse of half the Electors of England, + and representative at last upon sufferance of the proprietor of + some rotten borough, which it would have been more independent to + have purchased, a speaker upon all questions, and the outcast of + all parties, his support has become alike formidable to all his + enemies (for he has no friends), and his vote can be only valuable + when accompanied by his Silence. A disappointed man with a bad + temper, he is endowed with considerable but not first-rate + abilities, and has blundered on through life, remarkable only for a + fluency, in which he has many rivals at the bar and in the Senate, + and an eloquence in which he has several Superiors. 'Willing to + wound and _not_ afraid to strike, until he receives a blow in + return, he has not yet betrayed any illegal ardour, or Irish + alacrity, in accepting the defiances, and resenting the disgraceful + terms which his proneness to evil-speaking have (sic) brought upon + him. In the cases of Mackinnon and Manners,[*E] he sheltered + himself behind those parliamentary privileges, which Fox, Pitt, + Canning, Castlereagh, Tierney, Adam, Shelburne, Grattan, Corry, + Curran, and Clare disdained to adopt as their buckler. The House of + Commons became the Asylum of his Slander, as the Churches of Rome + were once the Sanctuary of Assassins. + + "His literary reputation (with the exception of one work of his + early career) rests upon some anonymous articles imputed to him in + a celebrated periodical work; but even these are surpassed by the + Essays of others in the same Journal. He has tried every thing and + succeeded in nothing; and he may perhaps finish as a Lawyer without + practice, as he has already been occasionally an orator without an + audience, if not soon cut short in his career. + + "The above character is _not_ written impartially, but by one who + has had occasion to know some of the baser parts of it, and regards + him accordingly with shuddering abhorrence, and just so much fear + as he deserves. In him is to be dreaded the crawling of the + centipede, not the spring of the tiger--the venom of the reptile, + not the strength of the animal--the rancour of the miscreant, not + the courage of the Man. + + "In case the prose or verse of the above should be actionable, I + put my name, that the man may rather proceed against me than the + publisher--not without some faint hope that the brand with which I + blast him may induce him, however reluctantly, to a manlier + revenge." + +[*E] [Possibly George Manners (1778-1853), editor of _The Satirist_, +whose appointment to a foreign consulate Brougham sharply criticized in +the House of Commons, July 9, 1817 (_Parl. Deb._, vol. xxxvi. pp. 1320, +1321); and Daniel Mackinnon (1791-1836), the nephew of Henry Mackinnon, +who fell at Ciudad Rodrigo. Byron met "Dan" Mackinnon at Lisbon in 1809, +and (Gronow, _Reminiscences_, 1889, ii. 259, 260) was amused by his +"various funny stories."] + +EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO MURRAY. + + "I enclose you the stanzas which were intended for 1st Canto, after + the line + + 'Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey:' + + but I do not mean them for present publication, because I will not, + at this distance, publish _that_ of a Man, for which he has a claim + upon another too remote to give him redress. + + "With regard to the Miscreant Brougham, however, it was only long + after the fact, and I was made acquainted with the language he had + held of me on my leaving England (with regard to the D^ss^ of D.'s + house),[*F] and his letter to Me. de Stael, and various matters for + all of which the first time he and I foregather--be it in England, + be it on earth--he shall account, and one of the two be carried + home. + + "As I have no wish to have mysteries, I merely prohibit the + _publication_ of these stanzas in _print_, for the reasons of + fairness mentioned; but I by no means wish _him not_ to _know_ + their existence or their tenor, nor my intentions as to himself: he + has shown no forbearance, and he shall find none. You may show them + to _him_ and to all whom it may concern, with the explanation that + the only reason that I have not had satisfaction of this man has + been, that I have never had an opportunity since I was aware of the + facts, which my friends had carefully concealed from me; and it was + only by slow degrees, and by piecemeal, that I got at them. I have + not sought him, nor gone out of my way for him; but I will _find_ + him, and then we can have it out: he has shown so little courage, + that he _must_ fight at last in his absolute necessity to escape + utter degradation. + + "I send you the stanzas, which (except the last) have been written + nearly two years, merely because I have been lately copying out + most of the MSS. which were in my drawers." + +[*F] [Byron's town-house, in 1815-1816, No. 13, Piccadilly, belonged to +the Duchess of Devonshire. When he went abroad in April, 1816, the rent +was still unpaid. The duchess, through her agent, distrained, but was +unable to recover the debt. See Byron's "Letter to Elizabeth, Duchess of +Devonshire," November 3, 1817, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 178.] + + +{71}[ak] + _Julia was sent into a nunnery_, + _And there, perhaps, her feelings may be better_.--[MS. M.] + +[al] _Man's love is of his life_----.--[MS. M.] + +[84] ["Que les hommes sont heureux d'aller a la guerre, d'exposer leur +vie, de se livrer a l'enthousiasme de l'honneur et du danger! Mais il +n'y a rien au-dehors qui soulage les femmes."--_Corinne, ou L'Italie_, +Madame de Stael, liv., xviii. chap. v. ed. 1835, iii. 209.] + +[am] + _To mourn alone the love which has undone._ + or, _To lift our fatal love to God from man._ + +Take that which, of these three, seems the best prescription.--B. + +{72}[an] + _You will proceed in beauty and in pride_, + _You will return_----.--[MS. M.] + +[ao] + / fatal now \ +Or, _That word is < lost for me >--but let it go_.--[MS. M.] + \ deadly now / + +[ap] _I struggle, but can not collect my mind_.--[MS.] + +[aq] + _As turns the needle trembling to the pole_ + _It ne'er can reach--so turns to you my soul_.--[MS.] + +[ar] _With a neat crow-quill, rather hard, but new_.--[MS.] + +{73}[85] [Byron had a seal bearing this motto.] + +[as] + _And there are other incidents remaining_ + _Which shall be specified in fitting time,_ + _With good discretion, and in current rhyme_.--[MS.] + +{74}[at] + _To newspapers, to sermons, which the zeal_ + _Of pious men have published on his acts_.--[MS.] + +[au] _I'll call the work "Reflections o'er a Bottle_."--[MS.] + +[86] [Here, and elsewhere in _Don Juan_, Byron attacked Coleridge +fiercely and venomously, because he believed that his _protege_ had +accepted patronage and money, and, notwithstanding, had retailed +scandalous statements to the detriment and dishonour of his advocate and +benefactor (see letter to Murray, November 24, 1818, _Letters_, 1900, +iv. 272; and "Introduction to the _Vision of Judgment," Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 475). Byron does not substantiate his charge of ingratitude, +and there is nothing to show whether Coleridge ever knew why a once +friendly countenance was changed towards him. He might have asked, with +the Courtenays, _Ubi lapsus, quid feci?_ If Byron had been on his mind +or his conscience he would have drawn up an elaborate explanation or +apology; but nothing of the kind is extant. He took the abuse as he had +taken the favours--for the unmerited gifts of the blind goddess Fortune. +(See, too, _Letter_ ..., by John Bull, 1821, p. 14.)] + +{76}[87] [Compare Byron's "Letter to the Editor of My Grandmother's +Review," _Letters_, 1900, iv. Appendix VII. 465-470; and letter to +Murray, August 24, 1819, ibid., p. 348: "I wrote to you by last post, +enclosing a buffooning letter for publication, addressed to the buffoon +Roberts, who has thought proper to tie a canister to his own tail. It +was written off-hand, and in the midst of circumstances not very +favourable to facetiousness, so that there may, perhaps, be more +bitterness than enough for that sort of small acid punch." The letter +was in reply to a criticism of _Don Juan_ (Cantos I., II.) in the +_British Review_ (No. xxvii., 1819, vol. 14, pp. 266-268), in which the +Editor assumed, or feigned to assume, that the accusation of bribery was +to be taken _au grand serieux_.] + +{77}[88] [Hor., _Od._ III. C. xiv. lines 27, 28.] + +[av] _I thought of dyeing it the other day_.--[MS.] + +[89] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza cvii. line 2.] + +{78}[90] + + "Me nec femina, nec puer + Jam, nec spes animi credula mutui, + Nec certare juvat mero; + Nec vincire novis tempora floribus." + +Hor., _Od._ IV. i. 30. + +[In the revise the words _nec puer Jam_ were omitted. On this Hobhouse +comments, "Better add the whole or scratch out all after +femina."--"Quote the whole then--it was only in compliance with your +_settentrionale_ notions that I left out the remnant of the +line."--[B.]] + +[91] [For "How Fryer Bacon made a Brazen head to speak," see _The Famous +Historie of Fryer Bacon_ (Reprint, London, 1815, pp. 13-18); see, too, +_Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, by Robert Greene, ed. Rev. Alexander +Dyce, 1861, pp. 153-181.] + +[92] + + ["Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb + The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar?" etc. + +Beattie's _Minstrel_, Bk. I. stanza i. lines 1, 2.] + +{79}[aw] _A book--a damned bad picture--and worse bust_.--[MS.] + +["Don't swear again--the third 'damn.'"--[H.]--[_Revise._]] + +[93] [Byron sat for his bust to Thorwaldsen, in May, 1817.] + +[94] [This stanza appears to have been suggested by the following +passage in the _Quarterly Review_, April, 1818, vol. xix. p. 203: "[It +was] the opinion of the Egyptians, that the soul never deserted the body +while the latter continued in a perfect state. To secure this union, +King Cheops is said, by Herodotus, to have employed three hundred and +sixty thousand of his subjects for twenty years in raising over the +'angusta domus' destined to hold his remains, a pile of stone equal in +weight to six millions of tons, which is just three times that of the +vast Breakwater thrown across Plymouth Sound; and, to render this +precious dust still more secure, the narrow chamber was made accessible +only by small, intricate passages, obstructed by stones of an enormous +weight, and so carefully closed externally as not to be +perceptible.--Yet, how vain are all the precautions of man! Not a bone +was left of Cheops, either in the stone coffin, or in the vault, when +Shaw entered the gloomy chamber.] + +{80}[ax] _Must bid you both farewell in accents bland_.--[MS.] + +[95] [Lines 1-4 are taken from the last stanza of the _Epilogue to the +Lay of the Laureate_, entitled "L'Envoy." (See _Poetical Works_ of +Robert Southey, 1838, x. 174.)] + + + + + + CANTO THE SECOND.[96] + + I. + + OH ye! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations, + Holland, France, England, Germany, or Spain, + I pray ye flog them upon all occasions-- + It mends their morals, never mind the pain: + The best of mothers and of educations + In Juan's case were but employed in vain, + Since, in a way that's rather of the oddest, he + Became divested of his native modesty.[ay] + + II. + + Had he but been placed at a public school, + In the third form, or even in the fourth, + His daily task had kept his fancy cool, + At least, had he been nurtured in the North; + Spain may prove an exception to the rule, + But then exceptions always prove its worth-- + A lad of sixteen causing a divorce + Puzzled his tutors very much, of course. + + III. + + I can't say that it puzzles me at all, + If all things be considered: first, there was + His lady-mother, mathematical, + A----never mind;--his tutor, an old ass; + A pretty woman--(that's quite natural, + Or else the thing had hardly come to pass) + A husband rather old, not much in unity + With his young wife--a time, and opportunity. + + IV. + + Well--well; the World must turn upon its axis, + And all Mankind turn with it, heads or tails, + And live and die, make love and pay our taxes, + And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails; + The King commands us, and the Doctor quacks us, + The Priest instructs, and so our life exhales, + A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame, + Fighting, devotion, dust,--perhaps a name. + + V. + + I said that Juan had been sent to Cadiz-- + A pretty town, I recollect it well-- + 'T is there the mart of the colonial trade is, + (Or was, before Peru learned to rebel), + And such sweet girls![97]--I mean, such graceful ladies, + Their very walk would make your bosom swell; + I can't describe it, though so much it strike, + Nor liken it--I never saw the like:[az] + + VI. + + An Arab horse, a stately stag, a barb + New broke, a camelopard, a gazelle, + No--none of these will do;--and then their garb, + Their veil and petticoat--Alas! to dwell + Upon such things would very near absorb + A canto--then their feet and ankles,--well, + Thank Heaven I've got no metaphor quite ready, + (And so, my sober Muse--come, let's be steady-- + + VII. + + Chaste Muse!--well,--if you must, you must)--the veil + Thrown back a moment with the glancing hand, + While the o'erpowering eye, that turns you pale, + Flashes into the heart:--All sunny land + Of Love! when I forget you, may I fail + To----say my prayers--but never was there planned + A dress through which the eyes give such a volley, + Excepting the Venetian Fazzioli.[98] + VIII. + + But to our tale: the Donna Inez sent + Her son to Cadiz only to embark; + To stay there had not answered her intent, + But why?--we leave the reader in the dark-- + 'T was for a voyage the young man was meant, + As if a Spanish ship were Noah's ark, + To wean him from the wickedness of earth, + And send him like a Dove of Promise forth. + + IX. + + Don Juan bade his valet pack his things + According to direction, then received + A lecture and some money: for four springs + He was to travel; and though Inez grieved + (As every kind of parting has its stings), + She hoped he would improve--perhaps believed: + A letter, too, she gave (he never read it) + Of good advice--and two or three of credit. + + X. + + In the mean time, to pass her hours away, + Brave Inez now set up a Sunday school + For naughty children, who would rather play + (Like truant rogues) the devil, or the fool; + Infants of three years old were taught that day, + Dunces were whipped, or set upon a stool: + The great success of Juan's education + Spurred her to teach another generation.[ba] + + XI. + + Juan embarked--the ship got under way, + The wind was fair, the water passing rough; + A devil of a sea rolls in that bay, + As I, who've crossed it oft, know well enough; + And, standing on the deck, the dashing spray + Flies in one's face, and makes it weather-tough: + And there he stood to take, and take again, + His first--perhaps his last--farewell of Spain. + + XII. + + I can't but say it is an awkward sight + To see one's native land receding through + The growing waters; it unmans one quite, + Especially when life is rather new: + I recollect Great Britain's coast looks white,[99] + But almost every other country's blue, + When gazing on them, mystified by distance, + We enter on our nautical existence. + + XIII. + + So Juan stood, bewildered on the deck: + The wind sung, cordage strained, and sailors swore, + And the ship creaked, the town became a speck, + From which away so fair and fast they bore. + The best of remedies is a beef-steak + Against sea-sickness: try it, Sir, before + You sneer, and I assure you this is true, + For I have found it answer--so may you. + + XIV. + + Don Juan stood, and, gazing from the stern, + Beheld his native Spain receding far: + First partings form a lesson hard to learn, + Even nations feel this when they go to war; + There is a sort of unexpressed concern, + A kind of shock that sets one's heart ajar, + At leaving even the most unpleasant people + And places--one keeps looking at the steeple. + + XV. + + But Juan had got many things to leave, + His mother, and a mistress, and no wife, + So that he had much better cause to grieve + Than many persons more advanced in life: + And if we now and then a sigh must heave + At quitting even those we quit in strife, + No doubt we weep for those the heart endears-- + That is, till deeper griefs congeal our tears. + + XVI. + + So Juan wept, as wept the captive Jews + By Babel's waters, still remembering Sion: + I'd weep,--but mine is not a weeping Muse, + And such light griefs are not a thing to die on; + Young men should travel, if but to amuse + Themselves; and the next time their servants tie on + Behind their carriages their new portmanteau, + Perhaps it may be lined with this my canto. + + XVII. + + And Juan wept, and much he sighed and thought, + While his salt tears dropped into the salt sea, + "Sweets to the sweet;" (I like so much to quote; + You must excuse this extract,--'t is where she, + The Queen of Denmark, for Ophelia brought + Flowers to the grave;) and, sobbing often, he + Reflected on his present situation, + And seriously resolved on reformation. + + XVIII. + + "Farewell, my Spain! a long farewell!" he cried, + "Perhaps I may revisit thee no more, + But die, as many an exiled heart hath died, + Of its own thirst to see again thy shore: + Farewell, where Guadalquivir's waters glide! + Farewell, my mother! and, since all is o'er, + Farewell, too, dearest Julia!--(here he drew + Her letter out again, and read it through.) + + XIX. + + "And oh! if e'er I should forget, I swear-- + But that's impossible, and cannot be-- + Sooner shall this blue Ocean melt to air, + Sooner shall Earth resolve itself to sea, + Than I resign thine image, oh, my fair! + Or think of anything, excepting thee; + A mind diseased no remedy can physic-- + (Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick.) + + XX. + + "Sooner shall Heaven kiss earth--(here he fell sicker) + Oh, Julia! what is every other woe?-- + (For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor; + Pedro, Battista, help me down below.) + Julia, my love!--(you rascal, Pedro, quicker)-- + Oh, Julia!--(this curst vessel pitches so)-- + Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!" + (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.) + + XXI. + + He felt that chilling heaviness of heart, + Or rather stomach, which, alas! attends, + Beyond the best apothecary's art, + The loss of Love, the treachery of friends, + Or death of those we dote on, when a part + Of us dies with them as each fond hope ends: + No doubt he would have been much more pathetic, + But the sea acted as a strong emetic. + + XXII. + + Love's a capricious power: I've known it hold + Out through a fever caused by its own heat, + But be much puzzled by a cough and cold, + And find a quinsy very hard to treat; + Against all noble maladies he's bold, + But vulgar illnesses don't like to meet, + Nor that a sneeze should interrupt his sigh, + Nor inflammations redden his blind eye. + + XXIII. + + But worst of all is nausea, or a pain + About the lower region of the bowels; + Love, who heroically breathes a vein,[100] + Shrinks from the application of hot towels, + And purgatives are dangerous to his reign, + Sea-sickness death: his love was perfect, how else[bb] + Could Juan's passion, while the billows roar, + Resist his stomach, ne'er at sea before? + + XXIV. + + The ship, called the most holy "Trinidada,"[101] + Was steering duly for the port Leghorn; + For there the Spanish family Moncada + Were settled long ere Juan's sire was born: + They were relations, and for them he had a + Letter of introduction, which the morn + Of his departure had been sent him by + His Spanish friends for those in Italy. + + XXV. + + His suite consisted of three servants and + A tutor, the licentiate Pedrillo, + Who several languages did understand, + But now lay sick and speechless on his pillow + And, rocking in his hammock, longed for land, + His headache being increased by every billow; + And the waves oozing through the port-hole made + His berth a little damp, and him afraid. + + XXVI. + + 'T was not without some reason, for the wind + Increased at night, until it blew a gale; + And though 't was not much to a naval mind, + Some landsmen would have looked a little pale, + For sailors are, in fact, a different kind: + At sunset they began to take in sail, + For the sky showed it would come on to blow, + And carry away, perhaps, a mast or so. + + XXVII. + + At one o'clock the wind with sudden shift + Threw the ship right into the trough of the sea, + Which struck her aft, and made an awkward rift, + Started the stern-post, also shattered the + Whole of her stern-frame, and, ere she could lift + Herself from out her present jeopardy, + The rudder tore away: 't was time to sound + The pumps, and there were four feet water found. + + XXVIII. + + One gang of people instantly was put + Upon the pumps, and the remainder set + To get up part of the cargo, and what not; + But they could not come at the leak as yet; + At last they did get at it really, but + Still their salvation was an even bet: + The water rushed through in a way quite puzzling, + While they thrust sheets, shirts, jackets, bales of muslin, + + XXIX. + + Into the opening; but all such ingredients + Would have been vain, and they must have gone down, + Despite of all their efforts and expedients, + But for the pumps: I'm glad to make them known + To all the brother tars who may have need hence, + For fifty tons of water were upthrown + By them per hour, and they had all been undone, + But for the maker, Mr. Mann, of London.[102] + + XXX. + + As day advanced the weather seemed to abate, + And then the leak they reckoned to reduce, + And keep the ship afloat, though three feet yet + Kept two hand--and one chain-pump still in use. + The wind blew fresh again: as it grew late + A squall came on, and while some guns broke loose, + A gust--which all descriptive power transcends-- + Laid with one blast the ship on her beam ends. + + XXXI. + + There she lay, motionless, and seemed upset; + The water left the hold, and washed the decks, + And made a scene men do not soon forget; + For they remember battles, fires, and wrecks, + Or any other thing that brings regret + Or breaks their hopes, or hearts, or heads, or necks: + Thus drownings are much talked of by the divers, + And swimmers, who may chance to be survivors. + + XXXII. + + Immediately the masts were cut away, + Both main and mizen; first the mizen went, + The main-mast followed: but the ship still lay + Like a mere log, and baffled our intent. + Foremast and bowsprit were cut down, and they + Eased her at last (although we never meant + To part with all till every hope was blighted), + And then with violence the old ship righted.[103] + + XXXIII. + + It may be easily supposed, while this + Was going on, some people were unquiet, + That passengers would find it much amiss + To lose their lives, as well as spoil their diet; + That even the able seaman, deeming his + Days nearly o'er, might be disposed to riot, + As upon such occasions tars will ask + For grog, and sometimes drink rum from the cask. + + XXXIV. + + There's nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms + As rum and true religion: thus it was, + Some plundered, some drank spirits, some sung psalms, + The high wind made the treble, and as bass + The hoarse harsh waves kept time; fright cured the qualms + Of all the luckless landsmen's sea-sick maws: + Strange sounds of wailing, blasphemy, devotion, + Clamoured in chorus to the roaring Ocean. + + XXXV. + + Perhaps more mischief had been done, but for[bc] + Our Juan, who, with sense beyond his years, + Got to the spirit-room, and stood before + It with a pair of pistols;[104] and their fears, + As if Death were more dreadful by his door + Of fire than water, spite of oaths and tears, + Kept still aloof the crew, who, ere they sunk, + Thought it would be becoming to die drunk. + + XXXVI. + + "Give us more grog," they cried, "for it will be + All one an hour hence." Juan answered, "No! + 'T is true that Death awaits both you and me, + But let us die like men, not sink below + Like brutes:"--and thus his dangerous post kept he, + And none liked to anticipate the blow; + And even Pedrillo, his most reverend tutor, + Was for some rum a disappointed suitor. + + XXXVII. + + The good old gentleman was quite aghast, + And made a loud and pious lamentation; + Repented all his sins, and made a last + Irrevocable vow of reformation; + Nothing should tempt him more (this peril past) + To quit his academic occupation, + In cloisters of the classic Salamanca, + To follow Juan's wake, like Sancho Panca. + + XXXVIII. + + But now there came a flash of hope once more; + Day broke, and the wind lulled: the masts were gone + The leak increased; shoals round her, but no shore, + The vessel swam, yet still she held her own.[105] + They tried the pumps again, and though before + Their desperate efforts seemed all useless grown, + A glimpse of sunshine set some hands to bale-- + The stronger pumped, the weaker thrummed a sail. + + XXXIX. + + Under the vessel's keel the sail was passed, + And for the moment it had some effect; + But with a leak, and not a stick of mast, + Nor rag of canvas, what could they expect? + But still 't is best to struggle to the last, + 'T is never too late to be wholly wrecked: + And though 't is true that man can only die once, + 'T is not so pleasant in the Gulf of Lyons.[bd] + + XL. + + There winds and waves had hurled them, and from thence, + Without their will, they carried them away; + For they were forced with steering to dispense, + And never had as yet a quiet day + On which they might repose, or even commence + A jurymast or rudder, or could say + The ship would swim an hour, which, by good luck, + Still swam--though not exactly like a duck. + + XLI. + + The wind, in fact, perhaps, was rather less, + But the ship laboured so, they scarce could hope + To weather out much longer; the distress + Was also great with which they had to cope + For want of water, and their solid mess + Was scant enough: in vain the telescope + Was used--nor sail nor shore appeared in sight, + Nought but the heavy sea, and coming night. + + XLII. + + Again the weather threatened,--again blew + A gale, and in the fore and after hold + Water appeared; yet, though the people knew + All this, the most were patient, and some bold, + Until the chains and leathers were worn through + Of all our pumps:--a wreck complete she rolled, + At mercy of the waves, whose mercies are + Like human beings during civil war. + + XLIII. + + Then came the carpenter, at last, with tears + In his rough eyes, and told the captain, he + Could do no more: he was a man in years, + And long had voyaged through many a stormy sea, + And if he wept at length they were not fears + That made his eyelids as a woman's be, + But he, poor fellow, had a wife and children,-- + Two things for dying people quite bewildering. + + XLIV. + + The ship was evidently settling now + Fast by the head; and, all distinction gone, + Some went to prayers again, and made a vow + Of candles to their saints[106]--but there were none + To pay them with; and some looked o'er the bow; + Some hoisted out the boats; and there was one + That begged Pedrillo for an absolution, + Who told him to be damned--in his confusion.[107] + + XLV. + + Some lashed them in their hammocks; some put on + Their best clothes, as if going to a fair; + Some cursed the day on which they saw the Sun, + And gnashed their teeth, and, howling, tore their hair; + And others went on as they had begun, + Getting the boats out, being well aware + That a tight boat will live in a rough sea, + Unless with breakers close beneath her lee.[108] + + XLVI. + + The worst of all was, that in their condition, + Having been several days in great distress, + 'T was difficult to get out such provision + As now might render their long suffering less: + Men, even when dying, dislike inanition;[be] + Their stock was damaged by the weather's stress: + Two casks of biscuit, and a keg of butter, + Were all that could be thrown into the cutter. + + XLVII. + + But in the long-boat they contrived to stow + Some pounds of bread, though injured by the wet; + Water, a twenty-gallon cask or so; + Six flasks of wine; and they contrived to get + A portion of their beef up from below,[109] + And with a piece of pork, moreover, met, + But scarce enough to serve them for a luncheon-- + Then there was rum, eight gallons in a puncheon. + + XLVIII. + + The other boats, the yawl and pinnace, had + Been stove in the beginning of the gale;[110] + And the long-boat's condition was but bad, + As there were but two blankets for a sail,[111] + And one oar for a mast, which a young lad + Threw in by good luck over the ship's rail; + And two boats could not hold, far less be stored, + To save one half the people then on board. + + XLIX. + + 'T was twilight, and the sunless day went down + Over the waste of waters; like a veil, + Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown[bf] + Of one whose hate is masked but to assail. + Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown, + And grimly darkled o'er the faces pale, + And the dim desolate deep: twelve days had Fear[bg] + Been their familiar, and now Death was here. + + L. + + Some trial had been making at a raft, + With little hope in such a rolling sea, + A sort of thing at which one would have laughed,[112] + If any laughter at such times could be, + Unless with people who too much have quaffed, + And have a kind of wild and horrid glee, + Half epileptical, and half hysterical:-- + Their preservation would have been a miracle. + + LI. + + At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hencoops, spars, + And all things, for a chance, had been cast loose, + That still could keep afloat the struggling tars,[113] + For yet they strove, although of no great use: + There was no light in heaven but a few stars, + The boats put off o'ercrowded with their crews; + She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port, + And, going down head foremost--sunk, in short.[114] + + LII. + + Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell-- + Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave,-- + Then some leaped overboard with dreadful yell,[115] + As eager to anticipate their grave; + And the sea yawned around her like a hell, + And down she sucked with her the whirling wave, + Like one who grapples with his enemy, + And strives to strangle him before he die. + + LIII. + + And first one universal shriek there rushed, + Louder than the loud Ocean, like a crash + Of echoing thunder; and then all was hushed, + Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash + Of billows; but at intervals there gushed, + Accompanied by a convulsive splash, + A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry + Of some strong swimmer in his agony. + + LIV. + + The boats, as stated, had got off before, + And in them crowded several of the crew; + And yet their present hope was hardly more + Than what it had been, for so strong it blew + There was slight chance of reaching any shore; + And then they were too many, though so few-- + Nine in the cutter, thirty in the boat, + Were counted in them when they got afloat. + + LV. + + All the rest perished; near two hundred souls + Had left their bodies; and what's worse, alas! + When over Catholics the Ocean rolls, + They must wait several weeks before a mass + Takes off one peck of purgatorial coals, + Because, till people know what's come to pass, + They won't lay out their money on the dead-- + It costs three francs for every mass that's said. + + LVI. + + Juan got into the long-boat, and there + Contrived to help Pedrillo to a place; + It seemed as if they had exchanged their care, + For Juan wore the magisterial face + Which courage gives, while poor Pedrillo's pair + Of eyes were crying for their owner's case: + Battista, though, (a name called shortly Tita), + Was lost by getting at some aqua-vita. + + LVII. + + Pedro, his valet, too, he tried to save, + But the same cause, conducive to his loss, + Left him so drunk, he jumped into the wave, + As o'er the cutter's edge he tried to cross, + And so he found a wine-and-watery grave; + They could not rescue him although so close, + Because the sea ran higher every minute, + And for the boat--the crew kept crowding in it. + + LVIII. + + A small old spaniel,--which had been Don Jose's, + His father's, whom he loved, as ye may think, + For on such things the memory reposes + With tenderness--stood howling on the brink, + Knowing, (dogs have such intellectual noses!) + No doubt, the vessel was about to sink; + And Juan caught him up, and ere he stepped + Off threw him in, then after him he leaped.[116] + + LIX. + + He also stuffed his money where he could + About his person, and Pedrillo's too, + Who let him do, in fact, whate'er he would, + Not knowing what himself to say, or do, + As every rising wave his dread renewed; + But Juan, trusting they might still get through, + And deeming there were remedies for any ill, + Thus re-embarked his tutor and his spaniel. + + LX. + + 'T was a rough night, and blew so stiffly yet, + That the sail was becalmed between the seas,[117] + Though on the wave's high top too much to set, + They dared not take it in for all the breeze: + Each sea curled o'er the stern, and kept them wet, + And made them bale without a moment's ease,[118] + So that themselves as well as hopes were damped, + And the poor little cutter quickly swamped. + + LXI. + + Nine souls more went in her: the long-boat still + Kept above water, with an oar for mast, + Two blankets stitched together, answering ill + Instead of sail, were to the oar made fast; + Though every wave rolled menacing to fill, + And present peril all before surpassed,[119] + They grieved for those who perished with the cutter, + And also for the biscuit-casks and butter. + + LXII. + + The sun rose red and fiery, a sure sign + Of the continuance of the gale: to run + Before the sea until it should grow fine, + Was all that for the present could be done: + A few tea-spoonfuls of their rum and wine + Were served out to the people, who begun[120] + To faint, and damaged bread wet through the bags, + And most of them had little clothes but rags. + + LXIII. + + They counted thirty, crowded in a space + Which left scarce room for motion or exertion; + They did their best to modify their case, + One half sate up, though numbed with the immersion, + While t' other half were laid down in their place, + At watch and watch; thus, shivering like the tertian + Ague in its cold fit, they filled their boat, + With nothing but the sky for a great coat.[121] + + LXIV. + + 'T is very certain the desire of life + Prolongs it: this is obvious to physicians, + When patients, neither plagued with friends nor wife, + Survive through very desperate conditions, + Because they still can hope, nor shines the knife + Nor shears of Atropos before their visions: + Despair of all recovery spoils longevity, + And makes men's misery of alarming brevity. + + LXV. + + 'T is said that persons living on annuities + Are longer lived than others,--God knows why, + Unless to plague the grantors,--yet so true it is, + That some, I really think, _do_ never die: + Of any creditors the worst a Jew it is, + And _that's_ their mode of furnishing supply: + In my young days they lent me cash that way, + Which I found very troublesome to pay.[122] + + LXVI. + + 'T is thus with people in an open boat, + They live upon the love of Life, and bear + More than can be believed, or even thought, + And stand like rocks the tempest's wear and tear; + And hardship still has been the sailor's lot, + Since Noah's ark went cruising here and there; + She had a curious crew as well as cargo, + Like the first old Greek privateer, the Argo. + + LXVII. + + But man is a carnivorous production, + And must have meals, at least one meal a day; + He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction, + But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey; + Although his anatomical construction + Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way, + Your labouring people think, beyond all question, + Beef, veal, and mutton, better for digestion. + + LXVIII. + + And thus it was with this our hapless crew; + For on the third day there came on a calm, + And though at first their strength it might renew, + And lying on their weariness like balm, + Lulled them like turtles sleeping on the blue + Of Ocean, when they woke they felt a qualm, + And fell all ravenously on their provision, + Instead of hoarding it with due precision. + + LXIX. + + The consequence was easily foreseen-- + They ate up all they had, and drank their wine, + In spite of all remonstrances, and then + On what, in fact, next day were they to dine? + They hoped the wind would rise, these foolish men! + And carry them to shore; these hopes were fine, + But as they had but one oar, and that brittle, + It would have been more wise to save their victual. + + LXX. + + The fourth day came, but not a breath of air, + And Ocean slumbered like an unweaned child: + The fifth day, and their boat lay floating there, + The sea and sky were blue, and clear, and mild-- + With their one oar (I wish they had had a pair) + What could they do? and Hunger's rage grew wild: + So Juan's spaniel, spite of his entreating, + Was killed, and portioned out for present eating.[123] + + LXXI. + + + On the sixth day they fed upon his hide, + And Juan, who had still refused, because + The creature was his father's dog that died, + Now feeling all the vulture in his jaws, + With some remorse received (though first denied) + As a great favour one of the fore-paws,[124] + Which he divided with Pedrillo, who + Devoured it, longing for the other too. + + LXXII. + + The seventh day, and no wind--the burning sun + Blistered and scorched, and, stagnant on the sea, + They lay like carcasses; and hope was none, + Save in the breeze that came not: savagely + They glared upon each other--all was done, + Water, and wine, and food,--and you might see + The longings of the cannibal arise + (Although they spoke not) in their wolfish eyes. + + LXXIII. + + At length one whispered his companion, who + Whispered another, and thus it went round, + And then into a hoarser murmur grew, + An ominous, and wild, and desperate sound; + And when his comrade's thought each sufferer knew, + 'T was but his own, suppressed till now, he found: + And out they spoke of lots for flesh and blood, + And who should die to be his fellow's food. + + LXXIV. + + But ere they came to this, they that day shared + Some leathern caps, and what remained of shoes; + And then they looked around them, and despaired, + And none to be the sacrifice would choose; + At length the lots were torn up,[125] and prepared, + But of materials that must shock the Muse-- + Having no paper, for the want of better, + They took by force from Juan Julia's letter. + + LXXV. + + The lots were made, and marked, and mixed, and handed, + In silent horror,[126] and their distribution + Lulled even the savage hunger which demanded, + Like the Promethean vulture, this pollution; + None in particular had sought or planned it, + 'T was Nature gnawed them to this resolution, + By which none were permitted to be neuter-- + And the lot fell on Juan's luckless tutor. + + LXXVI. + + He but requested to be bled to death: + The surgeon had his instruments, and bled[127] + Pedrillo, and so gently ebbed his breath, + You hardly could perceive when he was dead. + He died as born, a Catholic in faith, + Like most in the belief in which they're bred, + And first a little crucifix he kissed, + And then held out his jugular and wrist. + + LXXVII. + + The surgeon, as there was no other fee, + Had his first choice of morsels for his pains; + But being thirstiest at the moment, he + Preferred a draught from the fast-flowing veins:[128] + Part was divided, part thrown in the sea, + And such things as the entrails and the brains + Regaled two sharks, who followed o'er the billow-- + The sailors ate the rest of poor Pedrillo. + + LXXVIII. + + The sailors ate him, all save three or four, + Who were not quite so fond of animal food; + To these was added Juan, who, before + Refusing his own spaniel, hardly could + Feel now his appetite increased much more; + 'T was not to be expected that he should, + Even in extremity of their disaster, + Dine with them on his pastor and his master. + + LXXIX. + + 'T was better that he did not; for, in fact, + The consequence was awful in the extreme; + For they, who were most ravenous in the act, + Went raging mad[129]--Lord! how they did blaspheme! + And foam, and roll, with strange convulsions racked, + Drinking salt-water like a mountain-stream, + Tearing, and grinning, howling, screeching, swearing, + And, with hyaena-laughter, died despairing. + + LXXX. + + Their numbers were much thinned by this infliction, + And all the rest were thin enough, Heaven knows; + And some of them had lost their recollection, + Happier than they who still perceived their woes; + But others pondered on a new dissection, + As if not warned sufficiently by those + Who had already perished, suffering madly, + For having used their appetites so sadly. + + LXXXI. + + And next they thought upon the master's mate, + As fattest; but he saved himself, because, + Besides being much averse from such a fate, + There were some other reasons: the first was, + He had been rather indisposed of late; + And--that which chiefly proved his saving clause-- + Was a small present made to him at Cadiz, + By general subscription of the ladies. + + LXXXII. + + Of poor Pedrillo something still remained, + But was used sparingly,--some were afraid, + And others still their appetites constrained, + Or but at times a little supper made; + All except Juan, who throughout abstained, + Chewing a piece of bamboo, and some lead:[130] + At length they caught two Boobies, and a Noddy,[131] + And then they left off eating the dead body. + + LXXXIII. + + And if Pedrillo's fate should shocking be, + Remember Ugolino[132] condescends + To eat the head of his arch-enemy + The moment after he politely ends + His tale: if foes be food in Hell, at sea + 'T is surely fair to dine upon our friends, + When Shipwreck's short allowance grows too scanty, + Without being much more horrible than Dante. + + LXXXIV. + + And the same night there fell a shower of rain, + For which their mouths gaped, like the cracks of earth + When dried to summer dust; till taught by pain, + Men really know not what good water's worth; + If you had been in Turkey or in Spain, + Or with a famished boat's-crew had your berth, + Or in the desert heard the camel's bell, + You'd wish yourself where Truth is--in a well. + + LXXXV. + + It poured down torrents, but they were no richer + Until they found a ragged piece of sheet, + Which served them as a sort of spongy pitcher, + And when they deemed its moisture was complete, + They wrung it out, and though a thirsty ditcher[133] + Might not have thought the scanty draught so sweet + As a full pot of porter, to their thinking + They ne'er till now had known the joys of drinking. + + LXXXVI. + + And their baked lips, with many a bloody crack,[134] + Sucked in the moisture, which like nectar streamed; + Their throats were ovens, their swoln tongues were black, + As the rich man's in Hell, who vainly screamed + To beg the beggar, who could not rain back + A drop of dew, when every drop had seemed + To taste of Heaven--If this be true, indeed, + Some Christians have a comfortable creed. + + LXXXVII. + + There were two fathers in this ghastly crew, + And with them their two sons, of whom the one + Was more robust and hardy to the view, + But he died early; and when he was gone, + His nearest messmate told his sire, who threw + One glance at him, and said, "Heaven's will be done! + I can do nothing," and he saw him thrown + Into the deep without a tear or groan.[135] + + LXXXVIII. + + The other father had a weaklier child, + Of a soft cheek, and aspect delicate;[136] + But the boy bore up long, and with a mild + And patient spirit held aloof his fate; + Little he said, and now and then he smiled, + As if to win a part from off the weight + He saw increasing on his father's heart, + With the deep deadly thought, that they must part. + + LXXXIX. + + And o'er him bent his sire, and never raised + His eyes from off his face, but wiped the foam + From his pale lips, and ever on him gazed, + And when the wished-for shower at length was come, + And the boy's eyes, which the dull film half glazed, + Brightened, and for a moment seemed to roam, + He squeezed from out a rag some drops of rain + Into his dying child's mouth--but in vain.[137] + + XC. + + The boy expired--the father held the clay, + And looked upon it long, and when at last + Death left no doubt, and the dead burthen lay + Stiff on his heart, and pulse and hope were past, + He watched it wistfully, until away + 'T was borne by the rude wave wherein't was cast;[138] + Then he himself sunk down all dumb and shivering, + And gave no sign of life, save his limbs quivering. + + XCI. + + Now overhead a rainbow, bursting through + The scattering clouds, shone, spanning the dark sea, + Resting its bright base on the quivering blue; + And all within its arch appeared to be + Clearer than that without, and its wide hue + Waxed broad and waving, like a banner free, + Then changed like to a bow that's bent, and then + Forsook the dim eyes of these shipwrecked men. + + XCII. + + It changed, of course; a heavenly Chameleon, + The airy child of vapour and the sun, + Brought forth in purple, cradled in vermilion, + Baptized in molten gold, and swathed in dun, + Glittering like crescents o'er a Turk's pavilion, + And blending every colour into one, + Just like a black eye in a recent scuffle + (For sometimes we must box without the muffle). + + XCIII. + + Our shipwrecked seamen thought it a good omen-- + It is as well to think so, now and then; + 'T was an old custom of the Greek and Roman, + And may become of great advantage when + Folks are discouraged; and most surely no men + Had greater need to nerve themselves again + Than these, and so this rainbow looked like Hope-- + Quite a celestial Kaleidoscope. + + XCIV. + + About this time a beautiful white bird, + Webfooted, not unlike a dove in size + And plumage (probably it might have erred + Upon its course), passed oft before their eyes, + And tried to perch, although it saw and heard + The men within the boat, and in this guise + It came and went, and fluttered round them till + Night fell:--this seemed a better omen still.[139] + + XCV. + + But in this case I also must remark, + 'T was well this bird of promise did not perch, + Because the tackle of our shattered bark + Was not so safe for roosting as a church; + And had it been the dove from Noah's ark, + Returning there from her successful search, + Which in their way that moment chanced to fall, + They would have eat her, olive-branch and all. + + XCVI. + + With twilight it again came on to blow, + But not with violence; the stars shone out, + The boat made way; yet now they were so low, + They knew not where nor what they were about; + Some fancied they saw land, and some said "No!" + The frequent fog-banks gave them cause to doubt-- + Some swore that they heard breakers, others guns,[140] + And all mistook about the latter once. + + XCVII. + + As morning broke, the light wind died away, + When he who had the watch sung out and swore, + If 't was not land that rose with the Sun's ray, + He wished that land he never might see more;[141] + And the rest rubbed their eyes and saw a bay, + Or thought they saw, and shaped their course for shore; + For shore it was, and gradually grew + Distinct, and high, and palpable to view. + + XCVIII. + + And then of these some part burst into tears, + And others, looking with a stupid stare,[142] + Could not yet separate their hopes from fears, + And seemed as if they had no further care; + While a few prayed--(the first time for some years)-- + And at the bottom of the boat three were + Asleep: they shook them by the hand and head, + And tried to awaken them, but found them dead. + + XCIX. + + The day before, fast sleeping on the water, + They found a turtle of the hawk's-bill kind, + And by good fortune, gliding softly, caught her,[143] + Which yielded a day's life, and to their mind + Proved even still a more nutritious matter, + Because it left encouragement behind: + They thought that in such perils, more than chance + Had sent them this for their deliverance. + + C. + + The land appeared a high and rocky coast, + And higher grew the mountains as they drew, + Set by a current, toward it: they were lost + In various conjectures, for none knew + To what part of the earth they had been tost, + So changeable had been the winds that blew; + Some thought it was Mount AEtna, some the highlands + Of Candia, Cyprus, Rhodes, or other islands. + + CI. + + Meantime the current, with a rising gale, + Still set them onwards to the welcome shore, + Like Charon's bark of spectres, dull and pale: + Their living freight was now reduced to four, + And three dead, whom their strength could not avail + To heave into the deep with those before, + Though the two sharks still followed them, and dashed + The spray into their faces as they splashed. + + CII. + + Famine--despair--cold--thirst and heat, had done + Their work on them by turns, and thinned them to + Such things a mother had not known her son + Amidst the skeletons of that gaunt crew;[144] + By night chilled, by day scorched, thus one by one + They perished, until withered to these few, + But chiefly by a species of self-slaughter, + In washing down Pedrillo with salt water. + + CII. + + As they drew nigh the land, which now was seen + Unequal in its aspect here and there, + They felt the freshness of its growing green, + That waved in forest-tops, and smoothed the air, + And fell upon their glazed eyes like a screen + From glistening waves, and skies so hot and bare-- + Lovely seemed any object that should sweep + Away the vast--salt--dread--eternal Deep. + + CIV. + + The shore looked wild, without a trace of man, + And girt by formidable waves; but they + Were mad for land, and thus their course they ran, + Though right ahead the roaring breakers lay: + A reef between them also now began + To show its boiling surf and bounding spray, + But finding no place for their landing better, + They ran the boat for shore,--and overset her.[145] + + CV. + + But in his native stream, the Guadalquivir, + Juan to lave his youthful limbs was wont; + And having learnt to swim in that sweet river, + Had often turned the art to some account: + A better swimmer you could scarce see ever, + He could, perhaps, have passed the Hellespont, + As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided) + Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.[146] + + CVI. + + So here, though faint, emaciated, and stark, + He buoyed his boyish limbs, and strove to ply + With the quick wave, and gain, ere it was dark, + The beach which lay before him, high and dry: + The greatest danger here was from a shark, + That carried off his neighbour by the thigh; + As for the other two, they could not swim, + So nobody arrived on shore but him. + + CVII. + + Nor yet had he arrived but for the oar, + Which, providentially for him, was washed + Just as his feeble arms could strike no more, + And the hard wave o'erwhelmed him as 't was dashed + Within his grasp; he clung to it, and sore + The waters beat while he thereto was lashed; + At last, with swimming, wading, scrambling, he + Rolled on the beach, half-senseless, from the sea: + + CVIII. + + There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung + Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave, + From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung, + Should suck him back to her insatiate grave: + And there he lay, full length, where he was flung, + Before the entrance of a cliff-worn cave, + With just enough of life to feel its pain, + And deem that it was saved, perhaps, in vain. + + CIX. + + With slow and staggering effort he arose, + But sunk again upon his bleeding knee + And quivering hand; and then he looked for those + Who long had been his mates upon the sea; + But none of them appeared to share his woes, + Save one, a corpse, from out the famished three, + Who died two days before, and now had found + An unknown barren beach for burial ground. + + CX. + + And as he gazed, his dizzy brain spun fast, + And down he sunk; and as he sunk, the sand + Swam round and round, and all his senses passed: + He fell upon his side, and his stretched hand + Drooped dripping on the oar (their jury-mast), + And, like a withered lily, on the land + His slender frame and pallid aspect lay, + As fair a thing as e'er was formed of clay. + + CXI. + + How long in his damp trance young Juan lay[147] + He knew not, for the earth was gone for him, + And Time had nothing more of night nor day + For his congealing blood, and senses dim; + And how this heavy faintness passed away + He knew not, till each painful pulse and limb, + And tingling vein, seemed throbbing back to life, + For Death, though vanquished, still retired with strife. + + CXII. + + His eyes he opened, shut, again unclosed, + For all was doubt and dizziness; he thought + He still was in the boat, and had but dozed, + And felt again with his despair o'erwrought, + And wished it Death in which he had reposed, + And then once more his feelings back were brought, + And slowly by his swimming eyes was seen + A lovely female face of seventeen. + + CXIII. + + 'T was bending close o'er his, and the small mouth + Seemed almost prying into his for breath; + And chafing him, the soft warm hand of youth + Recalled his answering spirits back from Death: + And, bathing his chill temples, tried to soothe + Each pulse to animation, till beneath + Its gentle touch and trembling care, a sigh + To these kind efforts made a low reply. + + CXIV. + + Then was the cordial poured, and mantle flung + Around his scarce-clad limbs; and the fair arm + Raised higher the faint head which o'er it hung; + And her transparent cheek, all pure and warm, + Pillowed his death-like forehead; then she wrung + His dewy curls, long drenched by every storm; + And watched with eagerness each throb that drew + A sigh from his heaved bosom--and hers, too. + + CXV. + + And lifting him with care into the cave, + The gentle girl, and her attendant,--one + Young, yet her elder, and of brow less grave, + And more robust of figure,--then begun + To kindle fire, and as the new flames gave + Light to the rocks that roofed them, which the sun + Had never seen, the maid, or whatsoe'er + She was, appeared distinct, and tall, and fair. + + CXVI. + + Her brow was overhung with coins of gold, + That sparkled o'er the auburn of her hair-- + Her clustering hair, whose longer locks were rolled + In braids behind; and though her stature were + Even of the highest for a female mould, + They nearly reached her heel; and in her air + There was a something which bespoke command, + As one who was a Lady in the land. + + CXVII. + + Her hair, I said, was auburn; but her eyes + Were black as Death, their lashes the same hue, + Of downcast length, in whose silk shadow lies + Deepest attraction; for when to the view + Forth from its raven fringe the full glance flies, + Ne'er with such force the swiftest arrow flew; + 'T is as the snake late coiled, who pours his length, + And hurls at once his venom and his strength. + + CXVIII. + + Her brow was white and low, her cheek's pure dye + Like twilight rosy still with the set sun; + Short upper lip--sweet lips! that make us sigh + Ever to have seen such; for she was one[bh] + Fit for the model of a statuary + (A race of mere impostors, when all's done-- + I've seen much finer women, ripe and real, + Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal).[bi][148] + + CXIX. + + I'll tell you why I say so, for 't is just + One should not rail without a decent cause: + There was an Irish lady,[149] to whose bust + I ne'er saw justice done, and yet she was + A frequent model; and if e'er she must + Yield to stern Time and Nature's wrinkling laws, + They will destroy a face which mortal thought + Ne'er compassed, nor less mortal chisel wrought. + + CXX. + + And such was she, the lady of the cave: + Her dress was very different from the Spanish, + Simpler, and yet of colours not so grave; + For, as you know, the Spanish women banish + Bright hues when out of doors, and yet, while wave + Around them (what I hope will never vanish) + The basquina and the mantilla, they + Seem at the same time mystical and gay.[150] + + CXXI. + + But with our damsel this was not the case: + Her dress was many-coloured, finely spun; + Her locks curled negligently round her face, + But through them gold and gems profusely shone: + Her girdle sparkled, and the richest lace + Flowed in her veil, and many a precious stone + Flashed on her little hand; but, what was shocking, + Her small snow feet had slippers, but no stocking. + + CXXII. + + The other female's dress was not unlike, + But of inferior materials: she + Had not so many ornaments to strike, + Her hair had silver only, bound to be + Her dowry; and her veil, in form alike, + Was coarser; and her air, though firm, less free; + Her hair was thicker, but less long; her eyes + As black, but quicker, and of smaller size. + + CXXIII. + + And these two tended him, and cheered him both + With food and raiment, and those soft attentions, + Which are--as I must own--of female growth, + And have ten thousand delicate inventions: + They made a most superior mess of broth, + A thing which poesy but seldom mentions, + But the best dish that e'er was cooked since Homer's + Achilles ordered dinner for new comers.[151] + + CXXIV. + + I'll tell you who they were, this female pair, + Lest they should seem Princesses in disguise; + Besides, I hate all mystery, and that air + Of clap-trap, which your recent poets prize; + And so, in short, the girls they really were + They shall appear before your curious eyes, + Mistress and maid; the first was only daughter + Of an old man, who lived upon the water. + + CXXV. + + A fisherman he had been in his youth, + And still a sort of fisherman was he; + But other speculations were, in sooth, + Added to his connection with the sea, + Perhaps not so respectable, in truth: + A little smuggling, and some piracy, + Left him, at last, the sole of many masters + Of an ill-gotten million of piastres. + + CXXVI. + + A fisher, therefore, was he,--though of men, + Like Peter the Apostle, and he fished + For wandering merchant-vessels, now and then, + And sometimes caught as many as he wished; + The cargoes he confiscated, and gain + He sought in the slave-market too, and dished + Full many a morsel for that Turkish trade, + By which, no doubt, a good deal may be made. + + CXXVII. + + He was a Greek, and on his isle had built + (One of the wild and smaller Cyclades) + A very handsome house from out his guilt, + And there he lived exceedingly at ease; + Heaven knows what cash he got, or blood he spilt, + A sad old fellow was he, if you please; + But this I know, it was a spacious building, + Full of barbaric carving, paint, and gilding. + + CXXVIII. + + He had an only daughter, called Haidee, + The greatest heiress of the Eastern Isles; + Besides, so very beautiful was she, + Her dowry was as nothing to her smiles: + Still in her teens, and like a lovely tree + She grew to womanhood, and between whiles + Rejected several suitors, just to learn + How to accept a better in his turn. + + CXXIX. + + And walking out upon the beach, below + The cliff, towards sunset, on that day she found, + Insensible,--not dead, but nearly so,-- + Don Juan, almost famished, and half drowned; + But being naked, she was shocked, you know, + Yet deemed herself in common pity bound, + As far as in her lay, "to take him in, + A stranger" dying--with so white a skin. + + CXXX. + + But taking him into her father's house + Was not exactly the best way to save, + But like conveying to the cat the mouse, + Or people in a trance into their grave; + Because the good old man had so much [Greek: "nous"], + Unlike the honest Arab thieves so brave, + He would have hospitably cured the stranger, + And sold him instantly when out of danger. + + CXXXI. + + And therefore, with her maid, she thought it best + (A virgin always on her maid relies) + To place him in the cave for present rest: + And when, at last, he opened his black eyes, + Their charity increased about their guest; + And their compassion grew to such a size, + It opened half the turnpike-gates to Heaven-- + (St. Paul says, 't is the toll which must be given). + + CXXXII. + + They made a fire,--but such a fire as they + Upon the moment could contrive with such + Materials as were cast up round the bay,-- + Some broken planks, and oars, that to the touch + Were nearly tinder, since, so long they lay, + A mast was almost crumbled to a crutch; + But, by God's grace, here wrecks were in such plenty, + That there was fuel to have furnished twenty. + + CXXXIII. + + He had a bed of furs, and a pelisse,[bj] + For Haidee stripped her sables off to make + His couch; and, that he might be more at ease, + And warm, in case by chance he should awake, + They also gave a petticoat apiece, + She and her maid,--and promised by daybreak + To pay him a fresh visit, with a dish + For breakfast, of eggs, coffee, bread, and fish. + + CXXXIV. + + And thus they left him to his lone repose: + Juan slept like a top, or like the dead, + Who sleep at last, perhaps (God only knows), + Just for the present; and in his lulled head + Not even a vision of his former woes + Throbbed in accursed dreams, which sometimes spread[bk] + Unwelcome visions of our former years, + Till the eye, cheated, opens thick with tears. + + CXXXV. + + Young Juan slept all dreamless:--but the maid, + Who smoothed his pillow, as she left the den + Looked back upon him, and a moment stayed, + And turned, believing that he called again. + He slumbered; yet she thought, at least she said + (The heart will slip, even as the tongue and pen), + He had pronounced her name--but she forgot + That at this moment Juan knew it not. + + CXXXVI. + + And pensive to her father's house she went, + Enjoining silence strict to Zoe, who + Better than her knew what, in fact, she meant, + She being wiser by a year or two: + A year or two's an age when rightly spent, + And Zoe spent hers, as most women do, + In gaining all that useful sort of knowledge + Which is acquired in Nature's good old college. + + CXXXVII. + + The morn broke, and found Juan slumbering still + Fast in his cave, and nothing clashed upon + His rest; the rushing of the neighbouring rill, + And the young beams of the excluded Sun, + Troubled him not, and he might sleep his fill; + And need he had of slumber yet, for none + Had suffered more--his hardships were comparative[bl] + To those related in my grand-dad's "Narrative."[152] + + CXXXVIII. + + Not so Haidee: she sadly tossed and tumbled, + And started from her sleep, and, turning o'er, + Dreamed of a thousand wrecks, o'er which she stumbled, + And handsome corpses strewed upon the shore; + And woke her maid so early that she grumbled, + And called her father's old slaves up, who swore + In several oaths--Armenian, Turk, and Greek-- + They knew not what to think of such a freak. + + CXXXIX. + + But up she got, and up she made them get, + With some pretence about the Sun, that makes + Sweet skies just when he rises, or is set; + And 't is, no doubt, a sight to see when breaks + Bright Phoebus, while the mountains still are wet + With mist, and every bird with him awakes, + And night is flung off like a mourning suit + Worn for a husband,--or some other brute.[bm] + + CXL. + + I say, the Sun is a most glorious sight, + I've seen him rise full oft, indeed of late + I have sat up on purpose all the night,[bn][153] + Which hastens, as physicians say, one's fate; + And so all ye, who would be in the right + In health and purse, begin your day to date + From daybreak, and when coffined at fourscore, + Engrave upon the plate, you rose at four. + + CXLI. + + And Haidee met the morning face to face; + Her own was freshest, though a feverish flush + Had dyed it with the headlong blood, whose race + From heart to cheek is curbed into a blush, + Like to a torrent which a mountain's base, + That overpowers some Alpine river's rush, + Checks to a lake, whose waves in circles spread; + Or the Red Sea--but the sea is not red.[154] + + CXLII. + + And down the cliff the island virgin came, + And near the cave her quick light footsteps drew, + While the Sun smiled on her with his first flame, + And young Aurora kissed her lips with dew, + Taking her for a sister; just the same + Mistake you would have made on seeing the two, + Although the mortal, quite as fresh and fair, + Had all the advantage, too, of not being air.[bo] + + CXLIII. + + And when into the cavern Haidee stepped + All timidly, yet rapidly, she saw + That like an infant Juan sweetly slept; + And then she stopped, and stood as if in awe + (For sleep is awful), and on tiptoe crept + And wrapped him closer, lest the air, too raw, + Should reach his blood, then o'er him still as Death + Bent, with hushed lips, that drank his scarce-drawn breath. + + CXLIV. + + And thus like to an Angel o'er the dying + Who die in righteousness, she leaned; and there + All tranquilly the shipwrecked boy was lying, + As o'er him lay the calm and stirless air: + But Zoe the meantime some eggs was frying, + Since, after all, no doubt the youthful pair + Must breakfast--and, betimes, lest they should ask it, + She drew out her provision from the basket. + + CXLV. + + She knew that the best feelings must have victual, + And that a shipwrecked youth would hungry be; + Besides, being less in love, she yawned a little, + And felt her veins chilled by the neighbouring sea; + And so, she cooked their breakfast to a tittle; + I can't say that she gave them any tea, + But there were eggs, fruit, coffee, bread, fish, honey, + With Scio wine,--and all for love, not money. + + CXLVI. + + And Zoe, when the eggs were ready, and + The coffee made, would fain have wakened Juan; + But Haidee stopped her with her quick small hand, + And without word, a sign her finger drew on + Her lip, which Zoe needs must understand; + And, the first breakfast spoilt, prepared a new one, + Because her mistress would not let her break + That sleep which seemed as it would ne'er awake. + + CXLVII. + + For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek + A purple hectic played like dying day + On the snow-tops of distant hills; the streak + Of sufferance yet upon his forehead lay, + Where the blue veins looked shadowy, shrunk, and weak; + And his black curls were dewy with the spray, + Which weighed upon them yet, all damp and salt, + Mixed with the stony vapours of the vault. + + CXLVIII. + + And she bent o'er him, and he lay beneath, + Hushed as the babe upon its mother's breast, + Drooped as the willow when no winds can breathe, + Lulled like the depth of Ocean when at rest, + Fair as the crowning rose of the whole wreath, + Soft as the callow cygnet in its nest;[bp] + In short, he was a very pretty fellow, + Although his woes had turned him rather yellow. + + CXLIX. + + He woke and gazed, and would have slept again, + But the fair face which met his eyes forbade + Those eyes to close, though weariness and pain + Had further sleep a further pleasure made: + For Woman's face was never formed in vain + For Juan, so that even when he prayed + He turned from grisly saints, and martyrs hairy, + To the sweet portraits of the Virgin Mary. + + CL. + + And thus upon his elbow he arose, + And looked upon the lady, in whose cheek + The pale contended with the purple rose, + As with an effort she began to speak; + Her eyes were eloquent, her words would pose, + Although she told him, in good modern Greek, + With an Ionian accent, low and sweet, + That he was faint, and must not talk, but eat. + + CLI. + + Now Juan could not understand a word, + Being no Grecian; but he had an ear, + And her voice was the warble of a bird,[155] + So soft, so sweet, so delicately clear, + That finer, simpler music ne'er was heard;[bq] + The sort of sound we echo with a tear, + Without knowing why--an overpowering tone, + Whence Melody descends as from a throne. + + CLII. + + And Juan gazed as one who is awoke + By a distant organ, doubting if he be + Not yet a dreamer, till the spell is broke + By the watchman, or some such reality, + Or by one's early valet's cursed knock; + At least it is a heavy sound to me, + Who like a morning slumber--for the night + Shows stars and women in a better light. + + CLIII. + + And Juan, too, was helped out from his dream, + Or sleep, or whatsoe'er it was, by feeling + A most prodigious appetite; the steam + Of Zoe's cookery no doubt was stealing + Upon his senses, and the kindling beam + Of the new fire, which Zoe kept up, kneeling, + To stir her viands, made him quite awake + And long for food, but chiefly a beef-steak. + + CLIV. + + But beef is rare within these oxless isles; + Goat's flesh there is, no doubt, and kid, and mutton, + And, when a holiday upon them smiles, + A joint upon their barbarous spits they put on: + But this occurs but seldom, between whiles, + For some of these are rocks with scarce a hut on; + Others are fair and fertile, among which + This, though not large, was one of the most rich. + + CLV. + + I say that beef is rare, and can't help thinking + That the old fable of the Minotaur--From + which our modern morals, rightly shrinking, + Condemn the royal lady's taste who wore + A cow's shape for a mask--was only (sinking + The allegory) a mere type, no more, + That Pasiphae promoted breeding cattle, + To make the Cretans bloodier in battle. + + CLVI. + + For we all know that English people are + Fed upon beef--I won't say much of beer, + Because 't is liquor only, and being far + From this my subject, has no business here; + We know, too, they are very fond of war, + A pleasure--like all pleasures--rather dear; + So were the Cretans--from which I infer, + That beef and battles both were owing to her. + + CLVII. + + But to resume. The languid Juan raised + His head upon his elbow, and he saw + A sight on which he had not lately gazed, + As all his latter meals had been quite raw, + Three or four things, for which the Lord he praised, + And, feeling still the famished vulture gnaw, + He fell upon whate'er was offered, like + A priest, a shark, an alderman, or pike. + + CLVIII. + + He ate, and he was well supplied; and she, + Who watched him like a mother, would have fed + Him past all bounds, because she smiled to see + Such appetite in one she had deemed dead: + But Zoe, being older than Haidee, + Knew (by tradition, for she ne'er had read) + That famished people must be slowly nurst, + And fed by spoonfuls, else they always burst. + + CLIX. + + And so she took the liberty to state, + Rather by deeds than words, because the case + Was urgent, that the gentleman, whose fate + Had made her mistress quit her bed to trace + The sea-shore at this hour, must leave his plate, + Unless he wished to die upon the place-- + She snatched it, and refused another morsel, + Saying, he had gorged enough to make a horse ill. + + CLX. + + Next they--he being naked, save a tattered + Pair of scarce decent trowsers--went to work, + And in the fire his recent rags they scattered, + And dressed him, for the present, like a Turk, + Or Greek--that is, although it not much mattered, + Omitting turban, slippers, pistol, dirk,-- + They furnished him, entire, except some stitches, + With a clean shirt, and very spacious breeches. + + CLXI. + + And then fair Haidee tried her tongue at speaking, + But not a word could Juan comprehend, + Although he listened so that the young Greek in + Her earnestness would ne'er have made an end; + And, as he interrupted not, went eking + Her speech out to her protege and friend, + Till pausing at the last her breath to take, + She saw he did not understand Romaic. + + CLXII. + + And then she had recourse to nods, and signs, + And smiles, and sparkles of the speaking eye, + And read (the only book she could) the lines + Of his fair face, and found, by sympathy, + The answer eloquent, where the Soul shines + And darts in one quick glance a long reply; + And thus in every look she saw expressed + A world of words, and things at which she guessed. + + CLXIII. + + And now, by dint of fingers and of eyes, + And words repeated after her, he took + A lesson in her tongue; but by surmise, + No doubt, less of her language than her look: + As he who studies fervently the skies + Turns oftener to the stars than to his book, + Thus Juan learned his _alpha beta_ better + From Haidee's glance than any graven letter. + + CLXIV. + + 'T is pleasing to be schooled in a strange tongue + By female lips and eyes--that is, I mean, + When both the teacher and the taught are young, + As was the case, at least, where I have been;[156] + They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong + They smile still more, and then there intervene + Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss;--[br] + I learned the little that I know by this: + + CLXV. + + That is, some words of Spanish, Turk, and Greek, + Italian not at all, having no teachers;[bs] + Much English I cannot pretend to speak, + Learning that language chiefly from its preachers, + Barrow, South, Tillotson, whom every week + I study, also Blair--the highest reachers + Of eloquence in piety and prose-- + I hate your poets, so read none of those. + + CLXVI. + + As for the ladies, I have nought to say, + A wanderer from the British world of Fashion,[157] + Where I, like other "dogs, have had my day," + Like other men, too, may have had my passion-- + But that, like other things, has passed away, + And all her fools whom I _could_ lay the lash on: + Foes, friends, men, women, now are nought to me + But dreams of what has been, no more to be.[bt] + + CLXVII. + + Return we to Don Juan. He begun[158] + To hear new words, and to repeat them; but + Some feelings, universal as the Sun, + Were such as could not in his breast be shut + More than within the bosom of a nun: + He was in love,--as you would be, no doubt, + With a young benefactress,--so was she, + Just in the way we very often see. + + CLXVIII. + + And every day by daybreak--rather early + For Juan, who was somewhat fond of rest-- + She came into the cave, but it was merely + To see her bird reposing in his nest;[159] + And she would softly stir his locks so curly, + Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest, + Breathing all gently o'er his cheek and mouth,[bu] + As o'er a bed of roses the sweet South. + + CLXIX. + + And every morn his colour freshlier came, + And every day helped on his convalescence; + 'T was well, because health in the human frame + Is pleasant, besides being true Love's essence, + For health and idleness to Passion's flame + Are oil and gunpowder; and some good lessons + Are also learnt from Ceres and from Bacchus, + Without whom Venus will not long attack us.[160] + + CLXX. + + While Venus fills the heart, (without heart really + Love, though good always, is not quite so good,) + Ceres presents a plate of vermicelli,-- + For Love must be sustained like flesh and blood,--While + Bacchus pours out wine, or hands a jelly: + Eggs, oysters, too, are amatory food;[bv] + But who is their purveyor from above + Heaven knows,--it may be Neptune, Pan, or Jove. + + CLXXI. + + When Juan woke he found some good things ready, + A bath, a breakfast, and the finest eyes + That ever made a youthful heart less steady, + Besides her maid's, as pretty for their size; + But I have spoken of all this already-- + A repetition's tiresome and unwise,-- + Well--Juan, after bathing in the sea, + Came always back to coffee and Haidee. + + CLXXII. + + Both were so young, and one so innocent, + That bathing passed for nothing; Juan seemed + To her, as 't were, the kind of being sent, + Of whom these two years she had nightly dreamed, + A something to be loved, a creature meant + To be her happiness, and whom she deemed + To render happy; all who joy would win + Must share it,--Happiness was born a Twin. + + CLXXIII. + + It was such pleasure to behold him, such + Enlargement of existence to partake + Nature with him, to thrill beneath his touch, + To watch him slumbering, and to see him wake: + To live with him for ever were too much; + But then the thought of parting made her quake; + He was her own, her ocean-treasure, cast + Like a rich wreck--her first love, and her last.[bw] + + CLXXIV. + + And thus a moon rolled on, and fair Haidee + Paid daily visits to her boy, and took + Such plentiful precautions, that still he + Remained unknown within his craggy nook; + At last her father's prows put out to sea, + For certain merchantmen upon the look, + Not as of yore to carry off an Io, + But three Ragusan vessels, bound for Scio. + + CLXXV. + + Then came her freedom, for she had no mother, + So that, her father being at sea, she was + Free as a married woman, or such other + Female, as where she likes may freely pass, + Without even the encumbrance of a brother, + The freest she that ever gazed on glass: + I speak of Christian lands in this comparison, + Where wives, at least, are seldom kept in garrison. + + CLXXVI. + + Now she prolonged her visits and her talk + (For they must talk), and he had learnt to say + So much as to propose to take a walk,-- + For little had he wandered since the day + On which, like a young flower snapped from the stalk, + Drooping and dewy on the beach he lay,-- + And thus they walked out in the afternoon, + And saw the sun set opposite the moon.[bx] + + CLXXVII. + + It was a wild and breaker-beaten coast, + With cliffs above, and a broad sandy shore, + Guarded by shoals and rocks as by an host, + With here and there a creek, whose aspect wore + A better welcome to the tempest-tost; + And rarely ceased the haughty billow's roar, + Save on the dead long summer days, which make + The outstretched Ocean glitter like a lake. + + CLXXVIII. + + And the small ripple spilt upon the beach + Scarcely o'erpassed the cream of your champagne, + When o'er the brim the sparkling bumpers reach, + That spring-dew of the spirit! the heart's rain! + Few things surpass old wine; and they may preach + Who please,--the more because they preach in vain,-- + Let us have Wine and Woman,[161] Mirth and Laughter, + Sermons and soda-water the day after. + + CLXXIX. + + Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; + The best of Life is but intoxication: + Glory, the Grape, Love, Gold, in these are sunk + The hopes of all men, and of every nation; + Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk + Of Life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion! + But to return,--Get very drunk, and when + You wake with headache--you shall see what then! + + CLXXX. + + Ring for your valet--bid him quickly bring + Some hock and soda-water,[162] then you'll know + A pleasure worthy Xerxes the great king; + For not the blest sherbet, sublimed with snow,[163] + Nor the first sparkle of the desert-spring, + Nor Burgundy in all its sunset glow,[by] + After long travel, Ennui, Love, or Slaughter, + Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water! + + CLXXXI. + + The coast--I think it was the coast that I + Was just describing--Yes, it _was_ the coast-- + Lay at this period quiet as the sky, + The sands untumbled, the blue waves untossed, + And all was stillness, save the sea-bird's cry, + And dolphin's leap, and little billow crossed + By some low rock or shelve, that made it fret + Against the boundary it scarcely wet. + + CLXXXII. + + And forth they wandered, her sire being gone, + As I have said, upon an expedition; + And mother, brother, guardian, she had none, + Save Zoe, who, although with due precision + She waited on her lady with the Sun, + Thought daily service was her only mission, + Bringing warm water, wreathing her long tresses, + And asking now and then for cast-off dresses. + + CLXXXIII. + + It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded + Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill, + Which then seems as if the whole earth it bounded, + Circling all Nature, hushed, and dim, and still, + With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded + On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill + Upon the other, and the rosy sky + With one star sparkling through it like an eye. + + CLXXXIV. + + And thus they wandered forth, and hand in hand, + Over the shining pebbles and the shells, + Glided along the smooth and hardened sand, + And in the worn and wild receptacles + Worked by the storms, yet worked as it were planned + In hollow halls, with sparry roofs and cells, + They turned to rest; and, each clasped by an arm, + Yielded to the deep Twilight's purple charm. + + CLXXXV. + + They looked up to the sky, whose floating glow + Spread like a rosy Ocean, vast and bright;[bz] + They gazed upon the glittering sea below, + Whence the broad Moon rose circling into sight; + They heard the waves' splash, and the wind so low, + And saw each other's dark eyes darting light + Into each other--and, beholding this, + Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss; + + CLXXXVI. + + A long, long kiss, a kiss of Youth, and Love, + And Beauty, all concentrating like rays + Into one focus, kindled from above; + Such kisses as belong to early days, + Where Heart, and Soul, and Sense, in concert move, + And the blood's lava, and the pulse a blaze, + Each kiss a heart-quake,--for a kiss's strength, + I think, it must be reckoned by its length. + + CLXXXVII. + + By length I mean duration; theirs endured + Heaven knows how long--no doubt they never reckoned; + And if they had, they could not have secured + The sum of their sensations to a second: + They had not spoken, but they felt allured, + As if their souls and lips each other beckoned, + Which, being joined, like swarming bees they clung-- + Their hearts the flowers from whence the honey sprung.[ca] + + CLXXXVIII. + + They were alone, but not alone as they + Who shut in chambers think it loneliness; + The silent Ocean, and the starlight bay, + The twilight glow, which momently grew less, + The voiceless sands, and dropping caves, that lay + Around them, made them to each other press, + As if there were no life beneath the sky + Save theirs, and that their life could never die. + + CLXXXIX. + + They feared no eyes nor ears on that lone beach; + They felt no terrors from the night; they were + All in all to each other: though their speech + Was broken words, they _thought_ a language there,-- + And all the burning tongues the Passions teach[cb] + Found in one sigh the best interpreter + Of Nature's oracle--first love,--that all + Which Eve has left her daughters since her fall. + + CXC. + + Haidee spoke not of scruples, asked no vows, + Nor offered any; she had never heard + Of plight and promises to be a spouse, + Or perils by a loving maid incurred; + She was all which pure Ignorance allows, + And flew to her young mate like a young bird; + And, never having dreamt of falsehood, she + Had not one word to say of constancy. + + CXCI. + + She loved, and was beloved--she adored, + And she was worshipped after Nature's fashion-- + Their intense souls, into each other poured, + If souls could die, had perished in that passion,-- + But by degrees their senses were restored, + Again to be o'ercome, again to dash on; + And, beating 'gainst _his_ bosom, Haidee's heart + Felt as if never more to beat apart. + + CXCII. + + Alas! they were so young, so beautiful, + So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour + Was that in which the Heart is always full, + And, having o'er itself no further power, + Prompts deeds Eternity can not annul, + But pays off moments in an endless shower + Of hell-fire--all prepared for people giving + Pleasure or pain to one another living. + + CXCIII. + + Alas! for Juan and Haidee! they were + So loving and so lovely--till then never, + Excepting our first parents, such a pair + Had run the risk of being damned for ever: + And Haidee, being devout as well as fair, + Had, doubtless, heard about the Stygian river, + And Hell and Purgatory--but forgot + Just in the very crisis she should not. + + CXCIV. + + They look upon each other, and their eyes + Gleam in the moonlight; and her white arm clasps + Round Juan's head, and his around her lies + Half buried in the tresses which it grasps; + She sits upon his knee, and drinks his sighs, + He hers, until they end in broken gasps; + And thus they form a group that's quite antique, + Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek. + + CXCV. + + And when those deep and burning moments passed, + And Juan sunk to sleep within her arms, + She slept not, but all tenderly, though fast, + Sustained his head upon her bosom's charms; + And now and then her eye to Heaven is cast, + And then on the pale cheek her breast now warms, + Pillowed on her o'erflowing heart, which pants + With all it granted, and with all it grants.[cc] + + CXCVI. + + An infant when it gazes on a light, + A child the moment when it drains the breast, + A devotee when soars the Host in sight, + An Arab with a stranger for a guest, + A sailor when the prize has struck in fight, + A miser filling his most hoarded chest, + Feel rapture; but not such true joy are reaping + As they who watch o'er what they love while sleeping. + + CXCVII. + + For there it lies so tranquil, so beloved, + All that it hath of Life with us is living; + So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved, + And all unconscious of the joy 't is giving; + All it hath felt, inflicted, passed, and proved, + Hushed into depths beyond the watcher's diving: + There lies the thing we love with all its errors + And all its charms, like Death without its terrors. + + CXCVIII. + + The Lady watched her lover--and that hour + Of Love's, and Night's, and Ocean's solitude + O'erflowed her soul with their united power; + Amidst the barren sand and rocks so rude + She and her wave-worn love had made their bower, + Where nought upon their passion could intrude, + And all the stars that crowded the blue space + Saw nothing happier than her glowing face. + + CXCIX. + + Alas! the love of Women! it is known + To be a lovely and a fearful thing; + For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, + And if 't is lost, Life hath no more to bring + To them but mockeries of the past alone, + And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, + Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real + Torture is theirs--what they inflict they feel. + + CC. + + They are right; for Man, to man so oft unjust, + Is always so to Women: one sole bond + Awaits them--treachery is all their trust; + Taught to conceal their bursting hearts despond + Over their idol, till some wealthier lust + Buys them in marriage--and what rests beyond? + A thankless husband--next, a faithless lover-- + Then dressing, nursing, praying--and all's over. + + CCI. + + Some take a lover, some take drams or prayers, + Some mind their household, others dissipation, + Some run away, and but exchange their cares, + Losing the advantage of a virtuous station; + Few changes e'er can better their affairs, + Theirs being an unnatural situation, + From the dull palace to the dirty hovel:[cd] + Some play the devil, and then write a novel.[164] + + CCII. + + Haidee was Nature's bride, and knew not this; + Haidee was Passion's child, born where the Sun + Showers triple light, and scorches even the kiss + Of his gazelle-eyed daughters; she was one + Made but to love, to feel that she was his + Who was her chosen: what was said or done + Elsewhere was nothing. She had nought to fear, + Hope, care, nor love, beyond,--her heart beat _here_. + + CCIII. + + And oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat! + How much it costs us! yet each rising throb + Is in its cause as its effect so sweet, + That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob + Joy of its alchemy, and to repeat + Fine truths; even Conscience, too, has a tough job + To make us understand each good old maxim, + So good--I wonder Castlereagh don't tax 'em. + + CCIV. + + And now 't was done--on the lone shore were plighted + Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed + Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted: + Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, + By their own feelings hallowed and united, + Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed:[ce] + And they were happy--for to their young eyes + Each was an angel, and earth Paradise. + + CCV. + + Oh, Love! of whom great Caesar was the suitor, + Titus the master,[165] Antony the slave, + Horace, Catullus, scholars--Ovid tutor-- + Sappho the sage blue-stocking, in whose grave + All those may leap who rather would be neuter-- + (Leucadia's rock still overlooks the wave)-- + Oh, Love! thou art the very God of evil, + For, after all, we cannot call thee Devil. + + CCVI. + + Thou mak'st the chaste connubial state precarious, + And jestest with the brows of mightiest men: + Caesar and Pompey, Mahomet, Belisarius,[166] + Have much employed the Muse of History's pen: + Their lives and fortunes were extremely various, + Such worthies Time will never see again; + Yet to these four in three things the same luck holds, + They all were heroes, conquerors, and cuckolds. + + CCVII. + + Thou mak'st philosophers; there's Epicurus + And Aristippus, a material crew! + Who to immoral courses would allure us + By theories quite practicable too; + If only from the Devil they would insure us, + How pleasant were the maxim (not quite new), + "Eat, drink, and love, what can the rest avail us?" + So said the royal sage Sardanapalus.[167] + + CCVIII. + + But Juan! had he quite forgotten Julia? + And should he have forgotten her so soon? + I can't but say it seems to me most truly a + Perplexing question; but, no doubt, the moon + Does these things for us, and whenever newly a + Strong palpitation rises, 't is her boon, + Else how the devil is it that fresh features + Have such a charm for us poor human creatures? + + CCIX. + + I hate inconstancy--I loathe, detest, + Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made + Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast + No permanent foundation can be laid; + Love, constant love, has been my constant guest, + And yet last night, being at a masquerade, + I saw the prettiest creature, fresh from Milan, + Which gave me some sensations like a villain. + + CCX. + + But soon Philosophy came to my aid, + And whispered, "Think of every sacred tie!" + "I will, my dear Philosophy!" I said, + "But then her teeth, and then, oh, Heaven! her eye! + I'll just inquire if she be wife or maid, + Or neither--out of curiosity." + "Stop!" cried Philosophy, with air so Grecian, + (Though she was masqued then as a fair Venetian;) + + CCXI. + + "Stop!" so I stopped.--But to return: that which + Men call inconstancy is nothing more + Than admiration due where Nature's rich + Profusion with young beauty covers o'er + Some favoured object; and as in the niche + A lovely statue we almost adore, + This sort of adoration of the real + Is but a heightening of the _beau ideal_. + + CCXII. + + 'T is the perception of the Beautiful, + A fine extension of the faculties, + Platonic, universal, wonderful, + Drawn from the stars, and filtered through the skies, + Without which Life would be extremely dull; + In short, it is the use of our own eyes, + With one or two small senses added, just + To hint that flesh is formed of fiery dust.[cf] + + CCXIII. + + Yet 't is a painful feeling, and unwilling, + For surely if we always could perceive + In the same object graces quite as killing + As when she rose upon us like an Eve, + 'T would save us many a heartache, many a shilling, + (For we must get them anyhow, or grieve), + Whereas if one sole lady pleased for ever, + How pleasant for the heart, as well as liver! + + CCXIV. + + The Heart is like the sky, a part of Heaven, + But changes night and day, too, like the sky; + Now o'er it clouds and thunder must be driven, + And Darkness and Destruction as on high: + But when it hath been scorched, and pierced, and riven, + Its storms expire in water-drops; the eye + Pours forth at last the Heart's blood turned to tears, + Which make the English climate of our years. + + CCXV. + + The liver is the lazaret of bile, + But very rarely executes its function, + For the first passion stays there such a while, + That all the rest creep in and form a junction, + Like knots of vipers on a dunghill's soil--[168] + Rage, fear, hate, jealousy, revenge, compunction-- + So that all mischiefs spring up from this entrail, + Like Earthquakes from the hidden fire called "central." + + CCXVI. + + In the mean time, without proceeding more + In this anatomy, I've finished now + Two hundred and odd stanzas as before,[cg] + That being about the number I'll allow + Each canto of the twelve, or twenty-four; + And, laying down my pen, I make my bow, + Leaving Don Juan and Haidee to plead + For them and theirs with all who deign to read. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[96] Begun at Venice, December 13, 1818,-finished January 20, 1819. + +{81}[ay] _Lost that most precious stone of stones--his modesty_.--[MS.] + +{82}[97] [Compare "The Girl of Cadiz," _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 1, +and note 1. + +[az] _But d----n me if I ever saw the like_.--[MS.] + +{83}[98] _Fazzioli_--literally, little handkerchiefs--the veils most +availing of St. Mark. + +["_I fazzioli_, or kerchiefs (a white kind of veil which the lower orders +wear upon their heads)."--Letter to Rogers, March 3, 1818, _Letters,_ 1900, +iv. 208.] + +[ba] + _Their manners mending, and their morals curing. + She taught them to suppress their vice--and urine_.--[MS.] + +{84}[99] [Compare-- + + "And fast the white rocks faded from his view + * * * * * + And then, it may be, of his wish to roam + Repented he." + +_Childe Harold_, Canto I. stanza xii. lines 3-6, +_Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 24.] + +{87}[100] ["To breathe a vein ... to lance it so as to let blood." +Compare-- + + "_Rosalind_. Is the fool sick? + _Biron_. Sick at heart. + _Ros_. Alack, let it blood." +_Love's Labour's Lost_, act ii. sc. I, line 185.] + +[bb] + _Sea-sickness death; then pardon Juan--how else_ + _Keep down his stomach ne'er at sea before_?--[MS. M.] + +[101] ["With regard to the charges about the Shipwreck, I think that I +told you and Mr. Hobhouse, years ago, that there was not a _single +circumstance_ of it _not_ taken from _fact_: not, indeed, from any +_single_ shipwreck, but all from _actual_ facts of different +wrecks."---Letter to Murray, August 23, 1821. In the _Monthly Magazine_, +vol. liii. (August, 1821, pp. 19-22, and September, 1821, pp. 105-109), +Byron's indebtedness to Sir G. Dalzell's _Shipwrecks and Disasters at +Sea_ (1812, 8vo) is pointed out, and the parallel passages are printed +in full.] + +[102] ["Night came on worse than the day had been; and a _sudden shift +of wind,_ about midnight, _threw the ship into the trough of the sea, +which struck her aft, tore away the rudder, started the stern-post, and +shattered the whole of her stern-frame. The pumps_ were _immediately +sounded,_ and in the course of a few minutes the water had increased to +_four feet_.... + +_"One gang was instantly put on them, and the remainder of the people +employed in getting up_ rice from the run of the ship, and heaving it +over, _to come at the leak,_ if possible. After three or four hundred +bags were thrown into the sea, _we did get at it,_ and found _the water +rushing_ into the ship with astonishing rapidity; therefore we _thrust +sheets, shirts, jackets, tales of muslin,_ and everything of the like +description that could be got, _into the opening._ + +"Notwithstanding the pumps _discharged fifty tons of water an hour,_ the +ship certainly _must have gone down,_ had not our _expedients_ been +attended with some success. _The pumps,_ to the excellent construction +of which I owe the preservation of my life, _were made by Mr. Mann of +London. As the next day advanced, the weather appeared to moderate,_ the +men continued incessantly at the pumps, and every exertion was made to +_keep the ship afloat._"--See "Loss of the American ship _Hercules,_ +Captain Benjamin Stout, June 16, 1796," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at +Sea,_ 1812, iii. 316, 317.] + +{90}[103] ["Scarce was this done, when _a gust, exceeding in violence +everything of the kind I had ever seen, or could conceive, laid the ship +on her beam ends_.... + +"The ship _lay motionless_, and, to all appearance, irrevocably +overset.... _The water forsook the hold_, and appeared between decks.... + +"Immediate directions were given _to cut away the main and mizen masts_, +trusting when the ship righted, to be able to wear her. On cutting one +or two lanyards, the _mizen-mast went first over_, but without producing +the smallest effect on the ship, and, on cutting the lanyard of one +shroud, the _main-mast followed_. I had next the mortification to see +the _foremast and bowsprit also go over_. On this, _the ship immediately +righted with great violence_."--"Loss of the _Centaur_ Man-of-War, 1782, +by Captain Inglefield," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. +41.] + +[bc] _Perhaps the whole would have got drunk, but for_.--[MS.] + +{91}[104] ["A midshipman was appointed to guard the spirit-room, to +repress that unhappy desire of a devoted crew _to die in a state of +intoxication._ The sailors, though in other respects orderly in conduct, +here pressed eagerly upon him. + +"_'Give us some grog,'_ they exclaimed, _'it will be all one an hour +hence.'--'I know we must die,'_ replied the gallant officer, coolly, +_'but let us die like men!'--Armed with a brace of pistols,_ he kept his +post, even while the ship was sinking."--"Loss of the _Earl of +Abergavenny,_ February 5, 1805," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, +1812, iii. 418. John Wordsworth, the poet's brother, was captain of the +_Abergavenny_. See _Life of William Wordsworth_, by Professor Knight, +1889, i. 370-380; see, too, Coleridge's _Anima Poetae_, 1895, p. 132. For +a contemporary report, see a Maltese paper, _Il Cartaginense_, April 17, +1805.] + +[105] ["However, by great exertions of the chain-pumps, we _held our +own_.... All who were not seamen by profession, had been employed in +_thrumming a sail which was passed under the ship's bottom, and I +thought_ had some effect.... + +"_The Centaur laboured so much_, that I _could scarce hope she would +swim_ till morning: ... our sufferings _for want of water_ were very +great.... + +"_The weather again threatened_, and by noon _it blew a storm_. The ship +laboured greatly; _the water appeared in the fore and after-hold_. I was +informed by the carpenter also that _the leathers_ were nearly consumed, +and the _chains of the pumps_, by constant exertion, and friction of the +coils, were rendered almost useless.... + +"At this period the carpenter acquainted me that the well was stove +in.... and the chain-pumps displaced and totally useless.... Seeing +their efforts useless, many of them [the people] burst into tears, and +wept like children.... + +"I perceived _the ship settling by the head._"--"Loss of the _Centaur_," +_Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. pp. 45-49.] + +{92}[bd] _'T is ugly dying in the Gulf of Lyons_.--[MS.] + +{93}[106] [Byron may have had in mind the story of the half-inaudible +vow of a monster wax candle, to be offered to St. Christopher of Paris, +which Erasmus tells in his _Naufragium_. The passage is scored with a +pencil-mark in his copy of the _Colloquies_.] + +[107] [Stanza xliv. recalls Cardinal de Retz's description of the storm +at sea in the Gulf of Lyons: "Everybody were at their prayers, or were +confessing themselves.... The private captain of the galley caused, in +the greatest height of the danger, _his embroidered coat and his red +scarf_ to be brought to him, saying, that a true Spaniard ought to die +bearing his King's Marks of distinction. He sat himself down in a great +elbow chair, and with his foot struck a poor Neapolitan in the chops, +who, not being able to stand upon the Coursey of the Galley, was +crawling along, crying out aloud, _'Sennor Don Fernando, por l'amor de +Dios, Confession.'_ The captain, when he struck him, said to him, +_'Inimigo de Dios piedes Confession!'_ And as I was representing to him, +that his inference was not right, he said that that old man gave offence +to the whole galley. You can't imagine the horror of a great storm; you +can as little imagine the Ridicule mixed with it. A Sicilian +Observantine monk was preaching at the foot of the great mast, that St. +Francis had appeared to him, and had assured him that we should not +perish. I should never have done, should I undertake to describe all the +ridiculous frights that are seen on these occasions."--_Memoirs of +Cardinal de Retz_, 1723, iii. 353.] + +{94}[108] ["Some appeared perfectly resigned, _went to their hammocks,_ +and desired their messmates _to lash them in_; others were securing +themselves to gratings and small rafts; but the most predominant idea +was that _of putting on their best_ and _cleanest clothes_. The boats +... were got over the side."--"Loss of the _Centaur_," _Shipwrecks and +Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 49, 50.] + +[be] _Men will prove hungry, even when next perdition_.--[MS.] + +{95}[109] ["Eight bags of rice, _six casks of water_, and a _small +quantity of salted beef and pork_, were put into the long-boat, as +provisions for the whole."--"Wreck of the _Sidney_, 1806," _Shipwrecks +and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 434.] + +[110] ["The _yawl was stove_ alongside and sunk."--"Loss of the +_Centaur_," _ibid._, iii. 50.] + +[111] ["_One oar_ was erected for a _main-mast_, and the other broke to +the breadth of the _blankets for a yard_."--"Loss of the _Duke William_ +Transport, 1758," _ibid_., ii. 387.] + +[bf] _Which being withdrawn, discloses but the frown_.--[MS. erased.] + +[bg] + _Of one who hates us, so the night was shown_ + _And grimly darkled o'er their faces pale_, + _And hopeless eyes, which o'er the deep alone_ + _Gazed dim and desolate_----.--[MS.] + +{96}[112] ["As _rafts_ had been mentioned by the carpenter, I thought it +right _to make the attempt_.... It was impossible for any man to deceive +himself with the hopes of being saved on a raft in such a sea."--"Loss +of the _Centaur_," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 50. +51.] + +[113] ["_Spars, booms, hencoops_, and _every thing_ buoyant, was +therefore _cast loose_, that the men might have some chance to save +themselves."--"Loss of the _Pandora_," ibid., iii. 197.] + +[114] ["We had scarce quitted the ship, when she gave a heavy _lurch to +port_, and _then went down, head foremost._"--"Loss of the _Lady +Hobart_," ibid., iii. 378.] + +[115] ["At this moment, one of the officers told the captain that she +was going down.... and bidding him farewell, leapt overboard: ... the +crew had just time to _leap overboard_, which they did, uttering _a most +dreadful yell_."--"Loss of the _Pandora_," ibid., iii. 198.] + +{98}[116] ["The boat, being fastened to the rigging, was no sooner +cleared of the greatest part of the water, than a dog of mine came to me +running along the gunwale. _I took him in_."--"Shipwreck of the Sloop +_Betsy_, on the Coast of Dutch Guiana, August 5, 1756 (Philip Aubin, +Commander)," _Remarkable Shipwrecks_, Hartford, 1813, p. 175.] + +[117] [Qy. "My good Sir! when the sea runs very high this is the case, +as _I know_, but if _my authority_ is not enough, see Bligh's account of +his run to Timor, after being cut adrift by the mutineers headed by +Christian."--[B.] + +"Pray tell me who was the Lubber who put the query? surely not _you_, +Hobhouse! We have both of us seen too much of the sea for that. You may +rely on my using no nautical word not founded on authority, and no +circumstances not grounded in reality."] + +{99}[118] ["It blew a violent storm, and the sea ran very high, so that +between the seas the sail was becalmed; and when _on the top of the sea, +it was too much to have set_, but I was obliged to carry it, for we were +now in very imminent danger and distress; _the sea curling over the +stern_ of the boat, which obliged us _to bale with all our might_."--_A +Narrative of the Mutiny of the Bounty_, by William Bligh, 1790, p. 23.] + +[119] ["Before it was dark, _a blanket_ was discovered in the boat. This +was immediately bent to one of the stretchers, and under it, _as a +sail_, we scudded all night, in expectation of being _swallowed up by +every wave._"--"Loss of the _Centaur_," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at +Sea_, 1812, iii. 52.] + +[120] ["_The sun rose very fiery and red, a sure indication of a severe +gale of wind_.--We could do nothing more than keep before the sea.--_I +now served a tea-spoonful of rum to each person_, ... with a quarter of +a bread-fruit, which was scarce eatable, for dinner."--_A Narrative, +etc._, by W. Bligh, 1790, pp. 23, 24.] + +{100}[121] ["[As] our lodgings were very miserable and confined, I had +only in my power to remedy the latter defect, by putting ourselves _at +watch and watch_; so that _one half_ always sat up, while the other half +_lay down_ on the boat's bottom, with _nothing to cover us but the +heavens."--A Narrative of the Mutiny of the Bounty_, by William Bligh, +1790, p. 28.] + +[122] [For Byron's debts to Mrs. Massingberd, "Jew" King, etc., and for +money raised on annuities, see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 174, note 2, and +letter to Hanson, December 11, 1817, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 187, "The list +of annuities sent by Mr. Kinnaird, including Jews and Sawbridge, amounts +to twelve thousand eight hundred and some odd pounds."] + +{101}[123] ["The third day we began to suffer exceedingly ... from +hunger and thirst. I then seized my dog, and plunged the knife in his +throat. We caught his blood in the hat, receiving in our hands and +drinking what ran over; we afterwards drank in turn out of the hat, and +felt ourselves refreshed."--"Shipwreck of the _Betsy_," _Remarkable +Shipwrecks_, Hartford, 1813, p. 177.] + +{102}[124] ["One day, when I was at home in my hut with my Indian dog, a +party came to my door, and told me their necessities were such that they +must eat the creature or starve. Though their plea was urgent, I could +not help using some arguments to endeavour to dissuade them from killing +him, as his faithful services and fondness deserved it at my hands; but, +without weighing my arguments, they took him away by force and killed +him.... Three weeks after that I was glad to make a meal of his paws and +skin which, upon recollecting the spot where they had killed him, I +found thrown aside and rotten."--_The Narrative of the Honourable John +Byron, etc._, 1768, pp. 47, 48.] + +{103}[125] [Being driven to distress for want of food, "they _soaked +their shoes_, and two _hairy caps_ in water; and when sufficiently +softened ate portions of the leather." But day after day having passed, +and the cravings of hunger pressing hard upon them, they fell upon the +horrible and dreadful expedient of eating each other; and in order to +prevent any contention about who should become the food of the others, +"they cast lots to determine the sufferer."--"Sufferings of the Crew of +the _Thomas_ [Twelve Men in an Open Boat, 1797]," _Shipwrecks and +Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii 356.] + +[126] ["_The lots were drawn_: 'the captain, summoning all his strength, +wrote upon slips of paper the name of each man, folded them up, put them +into a hat, and shook them together. The crew, meanwhile, preserved _an +awful silence_; each eye was fixed and each mouth open, while terror was +strongly impressed upon every countenance.' The unhappy person, with +manly fortitude, resigned himself to his miserable associates."--"Famine +in the American Ship _Peggy_, 1765," _Remarkable Shipwrecks_, Hartford, +1813, pp. 358, 359.] + +[127] ["_He requested to be bled to death, the surgeon_ being with them, +and having _his case of instruments_ in his pocket when he quitted the +vessel."--"Sufferings of the Crew of the _Thomas," Shipwrecks, etc._, +1812, iii. 357.] + +{104}[128] ["Yet scarce was the vein divided when the operator, applying +his own parched lips, _drank the stream as it flowed_, and his comrades +anxiously watched the last breath of the victim, that they might prey +upon his flesh."--_Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 357.] + +[129] ["Those who indulged their cannibal appetite to excess speedily +perished in _raging madness_," etc.--_Ibid_.] + +{105}[130] ["Another expedient we had frequent recourse to, on finding +it supplied our mouths with temporary moisture, was _chewing_ any +substance we could find, generally a bit of canvas, or even +_lead_."--"The Shipwreck of the _Juno_ on the Coast of Aracan," 1795, +_Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 270.] + +[131] ["At noon, some noddies came so near to us that one of them was +caught by hand.... I divided it into eighteen portions. In the evening +we saw several _boobies_."--_A Narrative of the Mutiny of the Bounty_, +by William Bligh, 1790, p. 41.] + +[132] + + ["Quand' ebbe detto cio, con gli occhi torti + Riprese il teschio misero coi denti, + Che furo all' osso, come d'un can forti." + +Dante, _Inferno_, canto xxxiii. lines 76-78.] + +{106}[133] ["Whenever a heavy shower afforded us a few mouthfuls of +fresh water, either by catching the drops as they fell or by squeezing +them out of our clothes, it infused new life and vigour into us, and for +a while we had almost forgot our misery."--_Shipwrecks and Disasters at +Sea_, 1812, iii. 270. Compare _The Island_, Canto I. stanza ix. lines +193, 194, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 595.] + +[134] [Compare-- + + "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked." + +_Ancient Mariner_, Part III. line 157.] + +{107}[135] ["Mr. Wade's boy, a _stout healthy lad, died early_, and +almost without a groan; while another, of the same age, but of a less +promising appearance, held out much longer. Their fathers were both in +the fore-top, when the boys were taken ill. [Wade], hearing of his son's +illness, answered, with indifference, that _he could do nothing for +him_, and left him to his fate."--"Narrative of the Shipwreck of the +_Juno_, 1795," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 273.] + +[136] ["_The other [Father]_ hurried down.... By that time only three or +four planks of the quarter-deck remained, just over the quarter gallery. +To this spot the unhappy man led his son, making him fast to the rail, +to prevent his being washed away."--_Ibid_.] + +[137] ["Whenever the _boy was seized_ with a fit of retching, the father +lifted him up and _wiped away the foam from his lips_; and if a _shower +came_, he made him open his mouth to _receive the drops_, or gently +_squeezed them into it from a rag."--Ibid_.] + +{108}[138] ["In this affecting situation both remained four or five +days, till _the boy expired_. The unfortunate parent, as if unwilling to +believe the fact, raised the body, looked _wistfully_ at it, and when he +could no _longer entertain any doubt_, watched it in silence _until_ it +was carried _off by sea_; then wrapping himself in a piece of canvas, +_sunk down_, and rose no more; though he must have lived two days +longer, as we judged from the _quivering of his limbs_ when a wave broke +over him."--"Narrative of the Shipwreck of the _Juno_, 1795," +_Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, p. 274.] + +{109}[139] [_"About this time a beautiful white bird, web-footed, and +not unlike a dove in size and plumage_, hovered over the mast-head of +the cutter, and, notwithstanding the pitching of the boat, frequently +_attempted to perch on it_, and continued _fluttering there till dark_. +Trifling as such an incident may appear, we all considered it a +_propitious omen_."--"Loss of the _Lady Hobart_, 1803," _Shipwrecks and +Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 389.] + +[140] ["I found it necessary to caution the people against being +deceived by the _appearance of land_, or calling out till we were quite +convinced of its reality, more especially as _fog-banks_ are often +mistaken for land: several of the poor fellows nevertheless repeatedly +exclaimed _they heard breakers_, and some the _firing of guns_."--"Loss +of the _Lady Hobart," Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii. 391.] + +{110}[141] ["_At length one of them broke out into a most immoderate +swearing fit of joy_, which I could not restrain, and declared, that _he +had never seen land in his life, if what he now saw was not so_."--"Loss +of the _Centaur," ibid_., p. 55.] + +[142] ["The joy at a speedy relief affected us all in a most remarkable +way. Many _burst into tears; some looked at each other with a stupid +stare, as if doubtful_ of the reality of what they saw; while several +were in such a lethargic condition, that no animating words could rouse +them to exertion. At this affecting period, I proposed offering up our +solemn thanks to Heaven for the miraculous deliverance."--"Loss of the +_Lady Hobart," ibid_., p. 391.] + +[143] [After having suffered the horrors of hunger and thirst for many +days, "they accidentally descried a _small_ turtle _floating on the +surface of the water asleep_."--"Sufferings of the Crew of the _Thomas," +ibid_., p. 356.] + +{111}[144] ["An indifferent spectator would have been at a loss which +most to admire; the eyes of famine sparkling at immediate relief, or the +horror of their preservers at the sight of so many spectres, whose +ghastly countenances, if the cause had been unknown, would rather have +excited terror than pity. Our bodies were nothing but skin and bones, +our limbs were full of sores, and we were clothed in rags."--_Narrative +of the Mutiny of the Bounty_, by William Bligh, 1790, p. 80. Compare +_The Siege of Corinth_, lines 1048, 1049, _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. +494, note 3.] + +{112}[145] ["They discovered land _right ahead_, and steered for it. +There being a very _heavy surf_, they endeavoured to turn the boat's +head to it, which, from weakness, they were unable to accomplish, and +soon afterwards _the boat upset_."--"Sufferings of Six Deserters from +St. Helena, 1799," _Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea_, 1812, iii, 371.] + +[146] [Compare lines "Written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos," +_Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 13, note 1; see, too, _Letters_, 1898, i. +262, 263, note 1.] + +{114}[147] [Compare-- + + "How long in that same fit I lay + I have not to declare." + +_The Ancient Mariner_, Part V. lines 393, 394.] + +{115}[bh] ---- _in short she's one_.--[MS.] + +{116}[bi] + _A set of humbug rascals, when all's done_-- + _I've seen much finer women, ripe and real_, + _Than all the nonsense of their d----d ideal_.--[MS.] + +[148] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza 1. lines 6-9, _Poetical +Works_, 1899, ii. 366, note 1.] + +[149] [Probably that "Alpha and Omega of Beauty," Lady Adelaide Forbes +(daughter of George, sixth Earl of Granard), whom Byron compared to the +Apollo Belvidere. See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 230, note 3.] + +[150] ["The _saya_ or _basquina_ ... the outer petticoat ... is always +black, and is put over the indoor dress on going out." Compare [Greek: +Melanei/mones a(/pantes t ople/on e)n sa/gois,] Strabo, lib. iii. ed. +1807, i. 210. Ford's _Handbook for Spain_, 1855, i. 111.] + +{117}[151] ["When Ajax, Ulysses, and Phoenix stand before Achilles, he +rushes forth to greet them, brings them into the tent, directs Patroclus +to mix the wine, cuts up the meat, dresses it, and sets it before the +ambassadors." (_Iliad_, ix. 193, sq.)--_Study of the Classics_, by H.N. +Coleridge, 1830, p, 71] + +{119}[bj] _And such a bed of furs, and a pelisse_.--[MS.] + +{120}[bk] + ---- _which often spread_, + _And come like opening Hell upon the mind_, + _No "baseless fabric" but "a wrack behind."_--[MS.] + +{121}[bl] + _Had e'er escaped more dangers on the deep_;-- + _And those who are not drowned, at least may sleep_.--[MS.] + +[152] [Entitled "_A Narrative of the Honourable John Byron_ (Commodore +in a late expedition round the world), containing an account of the +great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of +Patagonia, from the year 1740, till their arrival in England, 1746. +Written by Himself," London, 1768, 40. For the Hon. John Byron, 1723-86, +younger brother of William, fifth Lord Byron, see _Letters_, 1898, i. +3.] + +[bm] _Wore for a husband--or some such like brute_.--[MS.] + +[bn] + ---- _although of late_ + _I've changed, for some few years, the day to night_.--[MS.] + +[153] [The second canto of _Don Juan_ was finished in January, 1819, +when the Venetian Carnival was at its height.] + +{122}[154] [Strabo (lib. xvi. ed. 1807, p. 1106) gives various +explanations of the name, assigning the supposed redness to the +refraction of the rays of the vertical sun; or to the shadow of the +scorched mountain-sides which form its shores; or, as Ctesias would have +it, to a certain fountain which discharged red oxide of lead into its +waters. "Abyssinian" Bruce had no doubt that "large trees or plants of +coral spread everywhere over the bottom," made the sea "red," and +accounted for the name. But, according to Niebuhr, the Red Sea is the +Sea of Edom, which, being interpreted, is "Red."] + +[bo] + ---- _just the same_ + _As at this moment I should like to do;--_ + _But I have done with kisses--having kissed_ + _All those that would--regretting those I missed_.--[MS.] + +{124}[bp] + _Fair as the rose just plucked to crown the wreath_, + _Soft as the unfledged birdling when at rest_.--[MS.] + +[155] [Compare _Mazeppa_, lines 829, sq., _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. +232.] + +{125}[bq] + _That finer melody was never heard_, + _The kind of sound whose echo is a tear_, + _Whose accents are the steps of Music's throne_.[*]--[MS.] + +[*] ["To the Publisher. Take of these varieties which is thought best. I +have no choice."] + +{128}[156] [Moore, quoting from memory from one of Byron's MS. journals, +says that he speaks of "making earnest love to the younger of his fair +hostesses at Seville, with the help of a dictionary."--_Life,_ p. 93. +See, too, letter to his mother, August 11, 1809, _Letters,_ 1898, i. +240.] + +[br] _Pressure of hands, et cetera--or a kiss_.--[MS. Alternative +reading.] + +[bs] _Italian rather more, having more teachers_.--[MS. erased.] + +[157] ["In 1813 ... in the fashionable world of London, of which I then +formed an item, a fraction, the segment of a circle, the unit of a +million, the nothing of something.... I had been the lion of +1812."--Extracts from a Diary, January 19, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. +177, 178.] + +[bt] + _foes, friends, sex, kind, are nothing more to me_ + _Than a mere dream of something o'er the sea_.--[MS.] + +{129}[158] [For the same archaism or blunder, compare _Manfred_, act i. +sc. 4, line 19, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 132.] + +[159] [Compare _The Prisoner of Chillon_, line 78, _ibid_., p. 16.] + +[bu] + _Holding her sweet breath o'er his cheek and mouth_, + _As o'er a bed of roses, etc_.--[MS.] + +[160] [_Vide post_, Canto XVI. stanza lxxxvi. line 6, p. 598, note 1.] + +{130}[bv] + _For without heart Love is not quite so good_; + _Ceres is commissary to our bellies_, + _And Love, which also much depends on food_: + _While Bacchus will provide with wine and jellies_-- + _Oysters and eggs are also living food_.--[MS.] + +[bw] + _He was her own, her Ocean lover, cast_ + _To be her soul's first idol, and its last_.--[MS.] + +{131}[bx] _And saw the sunset and the rising moon_.--[MS.] + +{132}[161] [The MS. and the editions of 1819, 1823, 1828, read "woman." +The edition of 1833 reads "women." The text follows the MS. and the +earlier editions.] + +[162] [Compare stanza prefixed to Dedication, vide ante, p. 2.] + +[163] [Compare-- + + "Yes! thy Sherbet to-night will sweetly flow, + See how it sparkles in its vase of snow!" + +_Corsair_, Canto I. lines 427, 428, _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 242.] + +[by] + _A pleasure naught but drunkenness can bring:_ + _For not the blest sherbet all chilled with snow._ + _Nor the full sparkle of the desert-spring,_ + _Nor wine in all the purple of its glow_.--[MS.] + +{134}[bz] _Spread like an Ocean, varied, vast, and bright._--[MS.] + +[ca] + _---- I'm sure they never reckoned;_ + _And being joined--like swarming bees they clung,_ + _And mixed until the very pleasure stung._ + +or, + + _And one was innocent, but both too young,_ + _Their hearts the flowers, etc_.--[MS.] + +{135}[cb] + _In all the burning tongues the Passions teach_ + _They had no further feeling, hope, nor care_ + _Save one, and that was Love_.--[MS. erased.] + +{136}[cc] + _Pillowed upon her beating heart--which panted + With the sweet memory of all it granted_.--[MS.] + +{138}[cd] _Some drown themselves, some in the vices grovel_.--[MS.] + +[164] [Lady Caroline Lamb's _Glenarvon_ was published in 1816. For +Byron's farewell letter of dismissal, which Lady Caroline embodied in +her novel (vol. iii. chap. ix.), see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 135, note 1. +According to Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 274), Madame de Stael +catechized Byron with regard to the relation of the story to fact.] + +{139}[ce] + _In their sweet feelings holily united,_ + _By Solitude (soft parson) they were wed_.--[MS.] + +[165] [Titus forebore to marry "Incesta" Berenice (see Juv., _Sat_. vi. +158), the daughter of Agrippa I., and wife of Herod, King of Chalcis, +out of regard to the national prejudice against intermarriage with an +alien.] + +[166] [Caesar's third wife, Pompeia, was suspected of infidelity with +Clodius (see Langhorne's _Plutarch_, 1838, p. 498); Pompey's third wife, +Mucia, intrigued with Caesar (_vide ibid_., p. 447); Mahomet's favourite +wife, Ayesha, on one occasion incurred suspicion; Antonina, the wife of +Belisarius, was notoriously profligate (see Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, +1825, iii. 432, 102).] + +{140}[167] [Compare _Sardanapalus_, act i. sc. 2, line 252, _Poetical +Works_, 1901, v. 23, note 1.] + +{141}[cf] _--of ticklish dust_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +{142}[168] ["Mr. Hobhouse is at it again about indelicacy. There is _no +indelicacy_. If he wants _that_, let him read Swift, his great idol; but +his imagination must be a dunghill, with a viper's nest in the middle, +to engender such a supposition about this poem."--Letter to Murray, May +15, 1819, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 295.] + +[cg] _Two hundred stanzas reckoned as before._--[MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE THIRD.[169] + + I. + + HAIL, Muse! _et cetera._--We left Juan sleeping, + Pillowed upon a fair and happy breast, + And watched by eyes that never yet knew weeping, + And loved by a young heart, too deeply blest + To feel the poison through her spirit creeping, + Or know who rested there, a foe to rest, + Had soiled the current of her sinless years, + And turned her pure heart's purest blood to tears! + + II. + + Oh, Love! what is it in this world of ours + Which makes it fatal to be loved? Ah why + With cypress branches hast thou wreathed thy bowers, + And made thy best interpreter a sigh? + As those who dote on odours pluck the flowers, + And place them on their breast--but place to die-- + Thus the frail beings we would fondly cherish + Are laid within our bosoms but to perish. + + III. + + In her first passion Woman loves her lover, + In all the others all she loves is Love, + Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over, + And fits her loosely--like an easy glove,[ch] + As you may find, whene'er you like to prove her: + One man alone at first her heart can move; + She then prefers him in the plural number, + Not finding that the additions much encumber. + + IV. + + I know not if the fault be men's or theirs; + But one thing's pretty sure; a woman planted + (Unless at once she plunge for life in prayers)-- + After a decent time must be gallanted; + Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs + Is that to which her heart is wholly granted; + Yet there are some, they say, who have had _none_, + But those who have ne'er end with only _one_.[170] + + V. + + 'T is melancholy, and a fearful sign + Of human frailty, folly, also crime, + That Love and Marriage rarely can combine, + Although they both are born in the same clime; + Marriage from Love, like vinegar from wine-- + A sad, sour, sober beverage--by Time + Is sharpened from its high celestial flavour + Down to a very homely household savour. + + VI. + + There's something of antipathy, as 't were, + Between their present and their future state; + A kind of flattery that's hardly fair + Is used until the truth arrives too late-- + Yet what can people do, except despair? + The same things change their names at such a rate; + For instance--Passion in a lover's glorious, + But in a husband is pronounced uxorious. + + VII. + + Men grow ashamed of being so very fond; + They sometimes also get a little tired + (But that, of course, is rare), and then despond: + The same things cannot always be admired, + Yet 't is "so nominated in the bond,"[171] + That both are tied till one shall have expired. + Sad thought! to lose the spouse that was adorning + Our days, and put one's servants into mourning. + + VIII. + + There's doubtless something in domestic doings + Which forms, in fact, true Love's antithesis; + Romances paint at full length people's wooings, + But only give a bust of marriages; + For no one cares for matrimonial cooings, + There's nothing wrong in a connubial kiss: + Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, + He would have written sonnets all his life?[ci] + + IX. + + All tragedies are finished by a death, + All comedies are ended by a marriage; + The future states of both are left to faith, + For authors fear description might disparage + The worlds to come of both, or fall beneath, + And then both worlds would punish their miscarriage; + So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready, + They say no more of Death or of the Lady.[172] + + X. + + The only two that in my recollection, + Have sung of Heaven and Hell, or marriage, are + Dante[173] and Milton,[174] and of both the affection + Was hapless in their nuptials, for some bar + Of fault or temper ruined the connection + (Such things, in fact, it don't ask much to mar); + But Dante's Beatrice and Milton's Eve + Were not drawn from their spouses, you conceive. + + XI. + + Some persons say that Dante meant Theology + By Beatrice, and not a mistress--I, + Although my opinion may require apology, + Deem this a commentator's phantasy, + Unless indeed it was from his own knowledge he + Decided thus, and showed good reason why; + I think that Dante's more abstruse ecstatics + Meant to personify the Mathematics.[175] + + XII. + + Haidee and Juan were not married, but + The fault was theirs, not mine: it is not fair, + Chaste reader, then, in any way to put + The blame on me, unless you wish they were; + Then if you'd have them wedded, please to shut + The book which treats of this erroneous pair, + Before the consequences grow too awful; + 'T is dangerous to read of loves unlawful. + + XIII. + + Yet they were happy,--happy in the illicit + Indulgence of their innocent desires; + But more imprudent grown with every visit, + Haidee forgot the island was her Sire's; + When we have what we like 't is hard to miss it, + At least in the beginning, ere one tires; + Thus she came often, not a moment losing, + Whilst her piratical papa was cruising. + + XIV. + + Let not his mode of raising cash seem strange, + Although he fleeced the flags of every nation, + For into a Prime Minister but change + His title, and 't is nothing but taxation; + But he, more modest, took an humbler range + Of Life, and in an honester vocation + Pursued o'er the high seas his watery journey,[cj] + And merely practised as a sea-attorney. + + XV. + + The good old gentleman had been detained + By winds and waves, and some important captures; + And, in the hope of more, at sea remained, + Although a squall or two had damped his raptures, + By swamping one of the prizes; he had chained + His prisoners, dividing them like chapters + In numbered lots; they all had cuffs and collars, + And averaged each from ten to a hundred dollars. + + XVI. + + Some he disposed of off Cape Matapan, + Among his friends the Mainots; some he sold + To his Tunis correspondents, save one man + Tossed overboard unsaleable (being old); + The rest--save here and there some richer one, + Reserved for future ransom--in the hold, + Were linked alike, as, for the common people, he + Had a large order from the Dey of Tripoli. + + XVII. + + The merchandise was served in the same way, + Pieced out for different marts in the Levant, + Except some certain portions of the prey, + Light classic articles of female want, + French stuffs, lace, tweezers, toothpicks, teapot, tray,[ck] + Guitars and castanets from Alicant, + All which selected from the spoil he gathers, + Robbed for his daughter by the best of fathers. + + XVIII. + + A monkey, a Dutch mastiff, a mackaw,[176] + Two parrots, with a Persian cat and kittens, + He chose from several animals he saw-- + A terrier, too, which once had been a Briton's, + Who dying on the coast of Ithaca, + The peasants gave the poor dumb thing a pittance: + These to secure in this strong blowing weather, + He caged in one huge hamper altogether. + + XIX. + + Then, having settled his marine affairs, + Despatching single cruisers here and there, + His vessel having need of some repairs, + He shaped his course to where his daughter fair + Continued still her hospitable cares; + But that part of the coast being shoal and bare, + And rough with reefs which ran out many a mile, + His port lay on the other side o' the isle. + + XX. + + And there he went ashore without delay, + Having no custom-house nor quarantine + To ask him awkward questions on the way, + About the time and place where he had been: + He left his ship to be hove down next day, + With orders to the people to careen; + So that all hands were busy beyond measure, + In getting out goods, ballast, guns, and treasure. + + XXI. + + Arriving at the summit of a hill + Which overlooked the white walls of his home, + He stopped.--What singular emotions fill + Their bosoms who have been induced to roam! + With fluttering doubts if all be well or ill-- + With love for many, and with fears for some; + All feelings which o'erleap the years long lost, + And bring our hearts back to their starting-post. + + XXII. + + The approach of home to husbands and to sires, + After long travelling by land or water, + Most naturally some small doubt inspires-- + A female family's a serious matter, + (None trusts the sex more, or so much admires-- + But they hate flattery, so I never flatter); + Wives in their husbands' absences grow subtler, + And daughters sometimes run off with the butler. + + XXIII. + + An honest gentleman at his return + May not have the good fortune of Ulysses; + Not all lone matrons for their husbands mourn, + Or show the same dislike to suitors' kisses; + The odds are that he finds a handsome urn + To his memory--and two or three young misses + Born to some friend, who holds his wife and riches-- + And that _his_ Argus[177]--bites him by the breeches. + + XXIV. + + If single, probably his plighted Fair + Has in his absence wedded some rich miser; + But all the better, for the happy pair + May quarrel, and, the lady growing wiser, + He may resume his amatory care + As cavalier servente, or despise her; + And that his sorrow may not be a dumb one, + Writes odes on the Inconstancy of Woman. + + XXV. + + And oh! ye gentlemen who have already + Some chaste _liaison_ of the kind--I mean + An honest friendship with a married lady-- + The only thing of this sort ever seen + To last--of all connections the most steady, + And the true Hymen, (the first's but a screen)-- + Yet, for all that, keep not too long away-- + I've known the absent wronged four times a day.[cl] + + XXVI. + + Lambro, our sea-solicitor, who had + Much less experience of dry land than Ocean, + On seeing his own chimney-smoke, felt glad; + But not knowing metaphysics, had no notion + Of the true reason of his not being sad, + Or that of any other strong emotion; + He loved his child, and would have wept the loss of her, + But knew the cause no more than a philosopher. + + XXVII. + + He saw his white walls shining in the sun, + His garden trees all shadowy and green; + He heard his rivulet's light bubbling run, + The distant dog-bark; and perceived between + The umbrage of the wood, so cool and dun, + The moving figures, and the sparkling sheen + Of arms (in the East all arm)--and various dyes + Of coloured garbs, as bright as butterflies. + + XXVIII. + + And as the spot where they appear he nears, + Surprised at these unwonted signs of idling, + He hears--alas! no music of the spheres, + But an unhallowed, earthly sound of fiddling! + A melody which made him doubt his ears, + The cause being past his guessing or unriddling; + A pipe, too, and a drum, and shortly after-- + A most unoriental roar of laughter. + + XXIX. + + And still more nearly to the place advancing, + Descending rather quickly the declivity, + Through the waved branches o'er the greensward glancing, + 'Midst other indications of festivity, + Seeing a troop of his domestics dancing + Like Dervises, who turn as on a pivot, he + Perceived it was the Pyrrhic dance[178] so martial, + To which the Levantines are very partial. + + XXX. + + And further on a troop of Grecian girls,[179] + The first and tallest her white kerchief waving, + Were strung together like a row of pearls, + Linked hand in hand, and dancing; each too having + Down her white neck long floating auburn curls-- + (The least of which would set ten poets raving);[cm] + Their leader sang--and bounded to her song + With choral step and voice the virgin throng. + + XXXI. + + And here, assembled cross-legged round their trays, + Small social parties just begun to dine; + Pilaus and meats of all sorts met the gaze, + And flasks of Samian and of Chian wine, + And sherbet cooling in the porous vase; + Above them their dessert grew on its vine;-- + The orange and pomegranate nodding o'er, + Dropped in their laps, scarce plucked, their mellow store. + + XXXII. + + A band of children, round a snow-white ram,[180] + There wreathe his venerable horns with flowers; + While peaceful as if still an unweaned lamb, + The patriarch of the flock all gently cowers + His sober head, majestically tame, + Or eats from out the palm, or playful lowers + His brow, as if in act to butt, and then + Yielding to their small hands, draws back again. + + XXXIII. + + Their classical profiles, and glittering dresses, + Their large black eyes, and soft seraphic cheeks, + Crimson as cleft pomegranates, their long tresses, + The gesture which enchants, the eye that speaks, + The innocence which happy childhood blesses, + Made quite a picture of these little Greeks; + So that the philosophical beholder + Sighed for their sakes--that they should e'er grow older. + + XXXIV. + + Afar, a dwarf buffoon stood telling tales + To a sedate grey circle of old smokers, + Of secret treasures found in hidden vales, + Of wonderful replies from Arab jokers, + Of charms to make good gold and cure bad ails, + Of rocks bewitched that open to the knockers, + Of magic ladies who, by one sole act, + Transformed their lords to beasts (but that's a fact). + + XXXV. + + Here was no lack of innocent diversion + For the imagination or the senses, + Song, dance, wine, music, stories from the Persian, + All pretty pastimes in which no offence is; + But Lambro saw all these things with aversion, + Perceiving in his absence such expenses, + Dreading that climax of all human ills, + The inflammation of his weekly bills. + + XXXVI. + + Ah! what is man? what perils still environ[181] + The happiest mortals even after dinner! + A day of gold from out an age of iron + Is all that Life allows the luckiest sinner; + Pleasure (whene'er she sings, at least) 's a Siren, + That lures, to flay alive, the young beginner; + Lambro's reception at his people's banquet + Was such as fire accords to a wet blanket. + + XXXVII. + + He--being a man who seldom used a word + Too much, and wishing gladly to surprise + (In general he surprised men with the sword) + His daughter--had not sent before to advise + Of his arrival, so that no one stirred; + And long he paused to re-assure his eyes, + In fact much more astonished than delighted, + To find so much good company invited. + + XXXVIII. + + He did not know (alas! how men will lie) + That a report (especially the Greeks) + Avouched his death (such people never die), + And put his house in mourning several weeks,-- + But now their eyes and also lips were dry; + The bloom, too, had returned to Haidee's cheeks: + Her tears, too, being returned into their fount, + She now kept house upon her own account. + + XXXIX. + + Hence all this rice, meat, dancing, wine, and fiddling, + Which turned the isle into a place of pleasure; + The servants all were getting drunk or idling, + A life which made them happy beyond measure. + Her father's hospitality seemed middling, + Compared with what Haidee did with his treasure; + 'T was wonderful how things went on improving, + While she had not one hour to spare from loving.[cn] + + XL. + + Perhaps you think, in stumbling on this feast, + He flew into a passion, and in fact + There was no mighty reason to be pleased; + Perhaps you prophesy some sudden act, + The whip, the rack, or dungeon at the least, + To teach his people to be more exact, + And that, proceeding at a very high rate, + He showed the royal _penchants_ of a pirate. + + XLI. + + You're wrong.--He was the mildest mannered man + That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat; + With such true breeding of a gentleman, + You never could divine his real thought; + No courtier could, and scarcely woman can + Gird more deceit within a petticoat; + Pity he loved adventurous life's variety, + He was so great a loss to good society. + + XLII. + + Advancing to the nearest dinner tray, + Tapping the shoulder of the nighest guest, + With a peculiar smile, which, by the way, + Boded no good, whatever it expressed, + He asked the meaning of this holiday; + The vinous Greek to whom he had addressed + His question, much too merry to divine + The questioner, filled up a glass of wine, + + XLIII. + + And without turning his facetious head, + Over his shoulder, with a Bacchant air, + Presented the o'erflowing cup, and said, + "Talking's dry work, I have no time to spare." + A second hiccuped, "Our old Master's dead, + You'd better ask our Mistress who's his heir." + "Our Mistress!" quoth a third: "Our Mistress!--pooh!-- + You mean our Master--not the old, but new." + + XLIV. + + These rascals, being new comers, knew not whom + They thus addressed--and Lambro's visage fell-- + And o'er his eye a momentary gloom + Passed, but he strove quite courteously to quell + The expression, and endeavouring to resume + His smile, requested one of them to tell + The name and quality of his new patron, + Who seemed to have turned Haidee into a matron. + + XLV. + + "I know not," quoth the fellow, "who or what + He is, nor whence he came--and little care; + But this I know, that this roast capon's fat, + And that good wine ne'er washed down better fare; + And if you are not satisfied with that, + Direct your questions to my neighbour there; + He'll answer all for better or for worse, + For none likes more to hear himself converse."[182] + + XLVI. + + I said that Lambro was a man of patience, + And certainly he showed the best of breeding, + Which scarce even France, the Paragon of nations, + E'er saw her most polite of sons exceeding; + He bore these sneers against his near relations, + His own anxiety, his heart, too, bleeding, + The insults, too, of every servile glutton, + Who all the time was eating up his mutton. + + XLVII. + + Now in a person used to much command-- + To bid men come, and go, and come again-- + To see his orders done, too, out of hand-- + Whether the word was death, or but the chain-- + It may seem strange to find his manners bland; + Yet such things are, which I cannot explain, + Though, doubtless, he who can command himself + Is good to govern--almost as a Guelf. + + XLVIII. + + Not that he was not sometimes rash or so, + But never in his real and serious mood; + Then calm, concentrated, and still, and slow, + He lay coiled like the Boa in the wood; + With him it never was a word and blow, + His angry word once o'er, he shed no blood, + But in his silence there was much to rue, + And his _one_ blow left little work for _two_. + + XLIX. + + He asked no further questions, and proceeded + On to the house, but by a private way, + So that the few who met him hardly heeded, + So little they expected him that day; + If love paternal in his bosom pleaded + For Haidee's sake, is more than I can say, + But certainly to one deemed dead returning, + This revel seemed a curious mode of mourning. + + L. + + If all the dead could now return to life, + (Which God forbid!) or some, or a great many, + For instance, if a husband or his wife[co] + (Nuptial examples are as good as any), + No doubt whate'er might be their former strife, + The present weather would be much more rainy-- + Tears shed into the grave of the connection + Would share most probably its resurrection. + + LI. + + He entered in the house no more his home, + A thing to human feelings the most trying, + And harder for the heart to overcome, + Perhaps, than even the mental pangs of dying; + To find our hearthstone turned into a tomb, + And round its once warm precincts palely lying + The ashes of our hopes, is a deep grief, + Beyond a _single gentleman's_ belief. + + LII. + + He entered in the house--his home no more, + For without hearts there is no home;--and felt + The solitude of passing his own door + Without a welcome: _there_ he long had dwelt, + There his few peaceful days Time had swept o'er, + There his worn bosom and keen eye would melt + Over the innocence of that sweet child, + His only shrine of feelings undefiled. + + LIII. + + He was a man of a strange temperament, + Of mild demeanour though of savage mood, + Moderate in all his habits, and content + With temperance in pleasure, as in food, + Quick to perceive, and strong to bear, and meant + For something better, if not wholly good; + His Country's wrongs and his despair to save her + Had stung him from a slave to an enslaver. + + LIV. + + The love of power, and rapid gain of gold, + The hardness by long habitude produced, + The dangerous life in which he had grown old, + The mercy he had granted oft abused, + The sights he was accustomed to behold, + The wild seas, and wild men with whom he cruised, + Had cost his enemies a long repentance, + And made him a good friend, but bad acquaintance. + + LV. + + But something of the spirit of old Greece + Flashed o'er his soul a few heroic rays, + Such as lit onward to the Golden Fleece + His predecessors in the Colchian days; + 'T is true he had no ardent love for peace-- + Alas! his country showed no path to praise: + Hate to the world and war with every nation + He waged, in vengeance of her degradation. + + LVI. + + Still o'er his mind the influence of the clime + Shed its Ionian elegance, which showed + Its power unconsciously full many a time,-- + A taste seen in the choice of his abode, + A love of music and of scenes sublime, + A pleasure in the gentle stream that flowed + Past him in crystal, and a joy in flowers, + Bedewed his spirit in his calmer hours. + + LVII. + + But whatsoe'er he had of love reposed + On that beloved daughter; she had been + The only thing which kept his heart unclosed + Amidst the savage deeds he had done and seen, + A lonely pure affection unopposed: + There wanted but the loss of this to wean + His feelings from all milk of human kindness, + And turn him like the Cyclops mad with blindness.[cp] + + LVIII. + + The cubless tigress in her jungle raging + Is dreadful to the shepherd and the flock; + The Ocean when its yeasty war is waging + Is awful to the vessel near the rock; + But violent things will sooner bear assuaging, + Their fury being spent by its own shock, + Than the stern, single, deep, and wordless ire[cq] + Of a strong human heart, and in a Sire. + + LIX. + + It is a hard although a common case + To find our children running restive--they + In whom our brightest days we would retrace, + Our little selves re-formed in finer clay, + Just as old age is creeping on apace, + And clouds come o'er the sunset of our day, + They kindly leave us, though not quite alone, + But in good company--the gout or stone. + + LX. + + Yet a fine family is a fine thing + (Provided they don't come in after dinner); + 'T is beautiful to see a matron bring + Her children up (if nursing them don't thin her); + Like cherubs round an altar-piece they cling + To the fire-side (a sight to touch a sinner). + A lady with her daughters or her nieces + Shine like a guinea and seven-shilling pieces. + + LXI. + + Old Lambro passed unseen a private gate, + And stood within his hall at eventide; + Meantime the lady and her lover sate + At wassail in their beauty and their pride: + An ivory inlaid table spread with state + Before them, and fair slaves on every side;[183] + Gems, gold, and silver, formed the service mostly, + Mother of pearl and coral the less costly. + + LXII. + + The dinner made about a hundred dishes; + Lamb and pistachio nuts--in short, all meats, + And saffron soups, and sweetbreads; and the fishes + Were of the finest that e'er flounced in nets, + Dressed to a Sybarite's most pampered wishes; + The beverage was various sherbets + Of raisin, orange, and pomegranate juice, + Squeezed through the rind, which makes it best for use. + + LXIII. + + These were ranged round, each in its crystal ewer, + And fruits, and date-bread loaves closed the repast, + And Mocha's berry, from Arabia pure, + In small fine China cups, came in at last; + Gold cups of filigree, made to secure + The hand from burning, underneath them placed; + Cloves, cinnamon, and saffron too were boiled + Up with the coffee, which (I think) they spoiled. + + LXIV. + + The hangings of the room were tapestry, made + Of velvet panels, each of different hue, + And thick with damask flowers of silk inlaid; + And round them ran a yellow border too; + The upper border, richly wrought, displayed, + Embroidered delicately o'er with blue, + Soft Persian sentences, in lilac letters, + From poets, or the moralists their betters. + + LXV. + + These Oriental writings on the wall, + Quite common in those countries, are a kind + Of monitors adapted to recall, + Like skulls at Memphian banquets, to the mind, + The words which shook Belshazzar in his hall, + And took his kingdom from him: You will find, + Though sages may pour out their wisdom's treasure, + There is no sterner moralist than Pleasure. + + LXVI. + + A Beauty at the season's close grown hectic, + A Genius who has drunk himself to death, + A Rake turned methodistic, or Eclectic--[184] + (For that's the name they like to pray beneath)--[cr] + But most, an Alderman struck apoplectic, + Are things that really take away the breath,-- + And show that late hours, wine, and love are able + To do not much less damage than the table. + + LXVII. + + Haidee and Juan carpeted their feet + On crimson satin, bordered with pale blue; + Their sofa occupied three parts complete + Of the apartment--and appeared quite new; + The velvet cushions (for a throne more meet) + Were scarlet, from whose glowing centre grew + A sun embossed in gold, whose rays of tissue, + Meridian-like, were seen all light to issue.[cs] + + LXVIII. + + Crystal and marble, plate and porcelain, + Had done their work of splendour; Indian mats + And Persian carpets, which the heart bled to stain, + Over the floors were spread; gazelles and cats, + And dwarfs and blacks, and such like things, that gain + Their bread as ministers and favourites (that's + To say, by degradation) mingled there + As plentiful as in a court, or fair. + + LXIX. + + There was no want of lofty mirrors, and + The tables, most of ebony inlaid + With mother of pearl or ivory, stood at hand, + Or were of tortoise-shell or rare woods made, + Fretted with gold or silver:--by command + The greater part of these were ready spread + With viands and sherbets in ice--and wine-- + Kept for all comers at all hours to dine. + + LXX. + + Of all the dresses I select Haidee's: + She wore two jelicks--one was of pale yellow; + Of azure, pink, and white was her chemise-- + 'Neath which her breast heaved like a little billow: + With buttons formed of pearls as large as peas, + All gold and crimson shone her jelick's fellow, + And the striped white gauze baracan that bound her, + Like fleecy clouds about the moon, flowed round her. + + LXXI. + + One large gold bracelet clasped each lovely arm, + Lockless--so pliable from the pure gold + That the hand stretched and shut it without harm, + The limb which it adorned its only mould; + So beautiful--its very shape would charm, + And clinging, as if loath to lose its hold, + The purest ore enclosed the whitest skin + That e'er by precious metal was held in.[185] + + LXXII. + + Around, as Princess of her father's land, + A like gold bar above her instep rolled[186] + Announced her rank; twelve rings were on her hand; + Her hair was starred with gems; her veil's fine fold + Below her breast was fastened with a band + Of lavish pearls, whose worth could scarce be told; + Her orange silk full Turkish trousers furled + About the prettiest ankle in the world. + + LXXIII. + + Her hair's long auburn waves down to her heel + Flowed like an Alpine torrent which the sun + Dyes with his morning light,--and would conceal + Her person[187] if allowed at large to run, + And still they seemed resentfully to feel + The silken fillet's curb, and sought to shun + Their bonds whene'er some Zephyr caught began + To offer his young pinion as her fan. + + LXXIV. + + Round her she made an atmosphere of life,[188] + The very air seemed lighter from her eyes, + They were so soft and beautiful, and rife + With all we can imagine of the skies, + And pure as Psyche ere she grew a wife-- + Too pure even for the purest human ties; + Her overpowering presence made you feel + It would not be idolatry to kneel.[189] + + LXXV. + + Her eyelashes, though dark as night, were tinged + (It is the country's custom, but in vain), + For those large black eyes were so blackly fringed, + The glossy rebels mocked the jetty stain, + And in their native beauty stood avenged: + Her nails were touched with henna; but, again, + The power of Art was turned to nothing, for + They could not look more rosy than before. + + LXXVI. + + The henna should be deeply dyed to make + The skin relieved appear more fairly fair; + She had no need of this, day ne'er will break + On mountain tops more heavenly white than her: + The eye might doubt if it were well awake, + She was so like a vision; I might err, + But Shakespeare also says, 't is very silly + "To gild refined gold, or paint the lily."[190] + + LXXVII. + + Juan had on a shawl of black and gold, + But a white baracan, and so transparent + The sparkling gems beneath you might behold, + Like small stars through the milky way apparent; + His turban, furled in many a graceful fold, + An emerald aigrette, with Haidee's hair in 't, + Surmounted as its clasp--a glowing crescent, + Whose rays shone ever trembling, but incessant. + + LXXVIII. + + And now they were diverted by their suite, + Dwarfs, dancing girls, black eunuchs, and a poet, + Which made their new establishment complete; + The last was of great fame, and liked to show it; + His verses rarely wanted their due feet-- + And for his theme--he seldom sung below it, + He being paid to satirise or flatter, + As the Psalm says, "inditing a good matter." + + LXXIX. + + He praised the present, and abused the past, + Reversing the good custom of old days, + An Eastern anti-jacobin at last + He turned, preferring pudding to _no_ praise-- + For some few years his lot had been o'ercast + By his seeming independent in his lays, + But now he sung the Sultan and the Pacha-- + With truth like Southey, and with verse[191] like Crashaw.[ct] + + LXXX. + + He was a man who had seen many changes, + And always changed as true as any needle; + His Polar Star being one which rather ranges, + And not the fixed--he knew the way to wheedle: + So vile he 'scaped the doom which oft avenges; + And being fluent (save indeed when fee'd ill), + He lied with such a fervour of intention-- + There was no doubt he earned his laureate pension. + + LXXXI. + + But _he_ had genius,--when a turncoat has it, + The _Vates irritabilis_[192] takes care + That without notice few full moons shall pass it; + Even good men like to make the public stare:-- + But to my subject--let me see--what was it?-- + Oh!--the third canto--and the pretty pair-- + Their loves, and feasts, and house, and dress, and mode + Of living in their insular abode. + + LXXXII. + + Their poet, a sad trimmer, but, no less,[cu] + In company a very pleasant fellow, + Had been the favourite of full many a mess + Of men, and made them speeches when half mellow;[cv] + And though his meaning they could rarely guess, + Yet still they deigned to hiccup or to bellow + The glorious meed of popular applause, + Of which the first ne'er knows the second cause.[cw] + + LXXXIII. + + But now being lifted into high society, + And having picked up several odds and ends + Of free thoughts in his travels for variety, + He deemed, being in a lone isle, among friends, + That, without any danger of a riot, he + Might for long lying make himself amends; + And, singing as he sung in his warm youth, + Agree to a short armistice with Truth. + + LXXXIV. + + He had travelled 'mongst the Arabs, Turks, and Franks, + And knew the self-loves of the different nations; + And having lived with people of all ranks, + Had something ready upon most occasions-- + Which got him a few presents and some thanks. + He varied with some skill his adulations; + To "do at Rome as Romans do,"[193] a piece + Of conduct was which _he_ observed in Greece. + + LXXXV. + + Thus, usually, when _he_ was asked to sing, + He gave the different nations something national; + 'T was all the same to him--"God save the King," + Or "Ca ira," according to the fashion all: + His Muse made increment of anything, + From the high lyric down to the low rational;[cx][194] + If Pindar sang horse-races, what should hinder + Himself from being as pliable as Pindar? + + LXXXVI. + + In France, for instance, he would write a chanson; + In England a six canto quarto tale; + In Spain he'd make a ballad or romance on + The last war--much the same in Portugal; + In Germany, the Pegasus he'd prance on + Would be old Goethe's--(see what says De Stael);[195] + In Italy he'd ape the "Trecentisti;" + In Greece, he'd sing some sort of hymn like this t' ye:[196] + +1. + + The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece! + Where burning Sappho loved and sung, + Where grew the arts of War and Peace, + Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung! + Eternal summer gilds them yet, + But all, except their Sun, is set. + +2. + + The Scian and the Teian muse, + The Hero's harp, the Lover's lute, + Have found the fame your shores refuse: + Their place of birth alone is mute + To sounds which echo further west + Than your Sires' "Islands of the Blest."[197] + +3. + + The mountains look on Marathon--[cy] + And Marathon looks on the sea; + And musing there an hour alone, + I dreamed that Greece might still be free; + For standing on the Persians' grave, + I could not deem myself a slave. + +4.[198] + + A King sate on the rocky brow + Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis; + And ships, by thousands, lay below, + And men in nations;--all were his! + He counted them at break of day-- + And, when the Sun set, where were they? + +5. + + And where are they? and where art thou, + My Country? On thy voiceless shore + The heroic lay is tuneless now-- + The heroic bosom beats no more![cz] + And must thy Lyre, so long divine, + Degenerate into hands like mine? + +6. + + 'T is something, in the dearth of Fame, + Though linked among a fettered race, + To feel at least a patriot's shame, + Even as I sing, suffuse my face; + For what is left the poet here? + For Greeks a blush--for Greece a tear. + +7. + + Must _we_ but weep o'er days more blest? + Must _we_ but blush?--Our fathers bled. + Earth! render back from out thy breast + A remnant of our Spartan dead! + Of the three hundred grant but three, + To make a new Thermopylae! + +8. + + What, silent still? and silent all? + Ah! no;--the voices of the dead + Sound like a distant torrent's fall, + And answer, "Let one living head, + But one arise,--we come, we come!" + 'T is but the living who are dumb. + +9. + + In vain--in vain: strike other chords; + Fill high the cup with Samian wine! + Leave battles to the Turkish hordes, + And shed the blood of Scio's vine! + Hark! rising to the ignoble call-- + How answers each bold Bacchanal! + +10. + + You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet,[199] + Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone? + Of two such lessons, why forget + The nobler and the manlier one? + You have the letters Cadmus gave-- + Think ye he meant them for a slave? + +11. + + Fill high the bowl with Samian wine! + We will not think of themes like these! + It made Anacreon's song divine: + He served--but served Polycrates--[200] + A Tyrant; but our masters then + Were still, at least, our countrymen. + +12. + + The Tyrant of the Chersonese + Was Freedom's best and bravest friend; + _That_ tyrant was Miltiades! + Oh! that the present hour would lend + Another despot of the kind! + Such chains as his were sure to bind. + +13. + + Fill high the bowl with Samian wine! + On Suli's rock, and Parga's shore, + Exists the remnant of a line + Such as the Doric mothers bore; + And there, perhaps, some seed is sown, + The Heracleidan blood might own.[da] + +14. + + Trust not for freedom to the Franks--[201] + They have a king who buys and sells; + In native swords, and native ranks, + The only hope of courage dwells; + But Turkish force, and Latin fraud, + Would break your shield, however broad. + +15. + + Fill high the bowl with Samian wine! + Our virgins dance beneath the shade-- + I see their glorious black eyes shine; + But gazing on each glowing maid, + My own the burning tear-drop laves, + To think such breasts must suckle slaves. + +16. + + Place me on Sunium's marbled steep,[202] + Where nothing, save the waves and I, + May hear our mutual murmurs sweep; + There, swan-like, let me sing and die: + A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine-- + Dash down yon cup of Samian wine! + + LXXXVII. + + Thus sung, or would, or could, or should have sung, + The modern Greek, in tolerable verse; + If not like Orpheus quite, when Greece was young, + Yet in these times he might have done much worse: + His strain displayed some feeling--right or wrong; + And feeling,[203] in a poet, is the source + Of others' feeling; but they are such liars, + And take all colours--like the hands of dyers. + + LXXXVIII. + + But words are things,[204] and a small drop of ink, + Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces + That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think; + 'T is strange, the shortest letter which man uses + Instead of speech, may form a lasting link + Of ages; to what straits old Time reduces + Frail man, when paper--even a rag like this, + Survives himself, his tomb, and all that's his! + + LXXXIX. + + And when his bones are dust, his grave a blank, + His station, generation, even his nation, + Become a thing, or nothing, save to rank + In chronological commemoration, + Some dull MS. Oblivion long has sank, + Or graven stone found in a barrack's station + In digging the foundation of a closet,[db] + May turn his name up, as a rare deposit. + + XC. + + And Glory long has made the sages smile; + 'T is something, nothing, words, illusion, wind-- + Depending more upon the historian's style + Than on the name a person leaves behind: + Troy owes to Homer what whist owes to Hoyle:[205] + The present century was growing blind + To the great Marlborough's skill in giving knocks, + Until his late Life by Archdeacon Coxe.[206] + + XCI. + + Milton's the Prince of poets--so we say; + A little heavy, but no less divine: + An independent being in his day-- + Learned, pious, temperate in love and wine; + But, his life falling into Johnson's way, + We're told this great High Priest of all the Nine + Was whipped at college--a harsh sire--odd spouse, + For the first Mrs. Milton left his house.[207] + + XCII. + + All these are, _certes_, entertaining facts, + Like Shakespeare's stealing deer, Lord Bacon's bribes; + Like Titus' youth, and Caesar's earliest acts;[208] + Like Burns (whom Doctor Currie well describes);[209] + Like Cromwell's pranks;[210]--but although Truth exacts + These amiable descriptions from the scribes, + As most essential to their Hero's story, + They do not much contribute to his glory. + + XCIII. + + All are not moralists, like Southey, when + He prated to the world of "Pantisocracy;"[211] + Or Wordsworth unexcised,[212] unhired, who then + Seasoned his pedlar poems with Democracy;[dc] + Or Coleridge[213] long before his flighty pen + Let to the Morning Post its aristocracy;[dd] + When he and Southey, following the same path, + Espoused two partners (milliners of Bath).[214] + + XCIV. + + Such names at present cut a convict figure, + The very Botany Bay in moral geography; + Their loyal treason, renegado rigour, + Are good manure for their more bare biography; + Wordsworth's last quarto, by the way, is bigger + Than any since the birthday of typography; + A drowsy, frowzy poem, called the "Excursion," + Writ in a manner which is my aversion. + + XCV. + + He there builds up a formidable dyke + Between his own and others' intellect; + But Wordsworth's poem, and his followers, like + Joanna Southcote's Shiloh[215] and her sect, + Are things which in this century don't strike + The public mind,--so few are the elect; + And the new births of both their stale Virginities + Have proved but Dropsies, taken for Divinities. + + XCVI. + + But let me to my story: I must own, + If I have any fault, it is digression, + Leaving my people to proceed alone, + While I soliloquize beyond expression: + But these are my addresses from the throne, + Which put off business to the ensuing session: + Forgetting each omission is a loss to + The world, not quite so great as Ariosto. + + XCVII. + + I know that what our neighbours call _"longueurs,"_ + (We've not so good a _word_, but have the _thing_, + In that complete perfection which insures + An epic from Bob Southey every spring--) + Form not the true temptation which allures + The reader; but 't would not be hard to bring + Some fine examples of the _Epopee_, + To prove its grand ingredient is _Ennui_.[216] + + XCVIII. + + We learn from Horace, "Homer sometimes sleeps;"[217] + We feel without him,--Wordsworth sometimes wakes,-- + To show with what complacency he creeps, + With his dear "_Waggoners_," around his lakes.[218] + He wishes for "a boat" to sail the deeps-- + Of Ocean?--No, of air; and then he makes + Another outcry for "a little boat," + And drivels seas to set it well afloat.[219] + + XCIX. + + If he must fain sweep o'er the ethereal plain, + And Pegasus runs restive in his "Waggon," + Could he not beg the loan of Charles's Wain? + Or pray Medea for a single dragon?[220] + Or if, too classic for his vulgar brain, + He feared his neck to venture such a nag on, + And he must needs mount nearer to the moon, + Could not the blockhead ask for a balloon? + + C. + + "Pedlars," and "Boats," and "Waggons!" Oh! ye shades + Of Pope and Dryden, are we come to this? + That trash of such sort not alone evades + Contempt, but from the bathos' vast abyss + Floats scumlike uppermost, and these Jack Cades + Of sense and song above your graves may hiss-- + The "little boatman" and his _Peter Bell_ + Can sneer at him who drew "Achitophel!"[221] + + CI. + + T' our tale.--The feast was over, the slaves gone, + The dwarfs and dancing girls had all retired; + The Arab lore and Poet's song were done, + And every sound of revelry expired; + The lady and her lover, left alone, + The rosy flood of Twilight's sky admired;-- + Ave Maria! o'er the earth and sea, + That heavenliest hour of Heaven is worthiest thee! + + CII. + + Ave Maria! blessed be the hour! + The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft + Have felt that moment in its fullest power + Sink o'er the earth--so beautiful and soft-- + While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,[de] + Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft, + And not a breath crept through the rosy air, + And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with prayer. + + CIII. + + Ave Maria! 't is the hour of prayer! + Ave Maria! 't is the hour of Love! + Ave Maria! may our spirits dare + Look up to thine and to thy Son's above! + Ave Maria! oh that face so fair! + Those downcast eyes beneath the Almighty Dove-- + What though 't is but a pictured image?--strike-- + That painting is no idol,--'t is too like. + + CIV. + + Some kinder casuists are pleased to say, + In nameless print[df]--that I have no devotion; + But set those persons down with me to pray, + And you shall see who has the properest notion + Of getting into Heaven the shortest way; + My altars are the mountains and the Ocean, + Earth--air--stars,[222]--all that springs from the great Whole, + Who hath produced, and will receive the Soul. + + CV. + + Sweet Hour of Twilight!--in the solitude + Of the pine forest, and the silent shore + Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood, + Rooted where once the Adrian wave flowed o'er, + To where the last Caesarean fortress stood,[223] + Evergreen forest! which Boccaccio's lore + And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me, + How have I loved the twilight hour and thee![224] + + CVI. + + The shrill cicalas, people of the pine, + Making their summer lives one ceaseless song, + Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine, + And Vesper bell's that rose the boughs along; + The spectre huntsman of Onesti's line, + His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng + Which learned from this example not to fly + From a true lover,--shadowed my mind's eye.[225] + + CVII. + + Oh, Hesperus! thou bringest all good things--[226] + Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer, + To the young bird the parent's brooding wings, + The welcome stall to the o'erlaboured steer; + Whate'er of peace about our hearthstone clings, + Whate'er our household gods protect of dear, + Are gathered round us by thy look of rest; + Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast. + + CVIII. + + Soft Hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart + Of those who sail the seas, on the first day + When they from their sweet friends are torn apart; + Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way + As the far bell of Vesper makes him start, + Seeming to weep the dying day's decay;[227] + Is this a fancy which our reason scorns? + Ah! surely Nothing dies but Something mourns! + + CIX. + + When Nero perished by the justest doom + Which ever the Destroyer yet destroyed, + Amidst the roar of liberated Rome, + Of nations freed, and the world overjoyed, + Some hands unseen strewed flowers upon his tomb:[228] + Perhaps the weakness of a heart not void + Of feeling for some kindness done, when Power + Had left the wretch an uncorrupted hour. + + CX. + + But I'm digressing; what on earth has Nero, + Or any such like sovereign buffoons,[dg] + To do with the transactions of my hero, + More than such madmen's fellow man--the moon's? + Sure my invention must be down at zero, + And I grown one of many "Wooden Spoons" + Of verse, (the name with which we Cantabs please + To dub the last of honours in degrees). + + CXI. + + I feel this tediousness will never do-- + T' is being _too_ epic, and I must cut down + (In copying) this long canto into two; + They'll never find it out, unless I own + The fact, excepting some experienced few; + And then as an improvement 't will be shown: + I'll prove that such the opinion of the critic is + From Aristotle _passim_.--See [Greek: POIAETIKAES].[229] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[169] [November 30, 1819. Copied in 1820 (MS.D.). Moore (_Life_, 421) +says that Byron was at work on the third canto when he stayed with him +at Venice, in October, 1819. "One day, before dinner, [he] read me two +or three hundred lines of it; beginning with the stanzas "Oh +Wellington," etc., which, at the time, formed the opening of the third +canto, but were afterwards reserved for the commencement of the ninth." +The third canto, as it now stands, was completed by November 8, 1819; +see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 375. The date on the MS. may refer to the first +fair copy.] + +{144}[ch] _And fits her like a stocking or a glove_.--[MS. D.] + +[170] ["On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie, +mais il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu +qu'une."--_Reflexions_ ... du Duc de la Rochefoucauld, No. lxxiii. + +Byron prefixed the maxim as a motto to his "Ode to a Lady whose Lover +was killed by a Ball, which at the same time shivered a Portrait next +his Heart."--_Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 552.] + +{145}[171] [_Merchant of Venice_, act iv. sc. 1, line 254.] + +[ci] + _Had Petrarch's passion led to Petrarch's wedding,_ + _How many sonnets had ensued the bedding?_--[MS.] + +[172] [The Ballad of "Death and the Lady" was printed in a small volume, +entitled _A Guide to Heaven_, 1736, 12mo. It is mentioned in _The Vicar +of Wakefield_ (chap. xvii.), _Works of Oliver Goldsmith_, 1854, i. 369. +See _Old English Popular Music_, by William Chappell, F.S.A., 1893, ii. +170, 171.] + +{146}[173] [See _The Prophecy of Dante,_ Canto I. lines 172-174, +_Poetical Works,_ 1901, iv. 253, note 1.] + +[174] Milton's first wife ran away from him within the first month. If +she had not, what would John Milton have done? + +[Mary Powell did not "run away," but at the end of the honeymoon +obtained her husband's consent to visit her family at Shotover, "upon a +promise of returning at Michaelmas." "And in the mean while his studies +went on very vigorously; and his chief diversion, after the business of +the day, was now and then in an evening to visit the Lady Margaret +Lee.... This lady, being a woman of excellent wit and understanding, had +a particular honour for our author, and took great delight in his +conversation; as likewise did her husband, Captain Hobson." See, too, +his sonnet "To the Lady Margaret Ley."--_The Life of Milton_ (by Thomas +Newton, D.D.), _Paradise Regained,_ ed. (Baskerville), 1758, pp. xvii., +xviii.] + +[175] ["Yesterday a very pretty letter from Annabella.... She is a +poetess--a mathematician--a metaphysician."--_Journal_ November 30, +1813, _Letters_, 1898, ii. 357.] + +{147}[cj] + _Displayed much more of nerve, perhaps, of wit,_ + _Than any of the parodies of Pitt_.--[MS.] + +{148}[ck] _---- toothpicks, a bidet_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +"_Dr. Murray--As you are squeamish you may put 'teapot, tray,' in case +the other piece of feminine furniture frightens you.--B._" + +[176] [For Byron's menagerie, see _Werner_, act i. sc. 1, line 216, +_Poetical Works_, 1902, v. 348, note 1.] + +{149}[177] ["But as for canine recollections ... I had one (half a +_wolf_ by the she-side) that doted on me at ten years old, and very +nearly ate me at twenty. When I thought he was going to enact Argus, he +bit away the backside of my breeches, and never would consent to any +kind of recognition, in despite of all kinds of bones which I offered +him."--Letter to Moore, January 19, 1815, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 171, +172. Compare, too, _Childe Harold_, Canto I. Song, stanza ix., _Poetical +Works_, 1899, ii. 30.] + +{150}[cl] + _Yet for all that don't stay away too long,_ + _A sofa, like a bed, may come by wrong_.--[MS.] + _I've known the friend betrayed_----.--[MS. D.] + +{151}[178] [The Pyrrhic war-dance represented "by rapid movements of the +body, the way in which missiles and blows from weapons were avoided, and +also the mode in which the enemy was attacked" (_Dict. of Ant._). +Dodwell (_Tour through Greece_, 1819, ii. 21, 22) observes that in +Thessaly and Macedon dances are performed at the present day by men +armed with their musket and sword. See, too, Hobhouse's description +(_Travels in Albania_, 1858, i. 166, 167) of the Albanian war-dance at +Loutraki.] + +[179] ["Their manner of dancing is certainly the same that Diana is +_sung_ to have danced on the banks of Eurotas. The great lady still +leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of young girls, who imitate +her steps, and, if she sings, make up the chorus. The tunes are +extremely gay and lively, yet with something in them wonderfully soft. +The steps are varied according to the pleasure of her that leads the +dance, but always in exact time, and infinitely more agreeable than any +of our dances."--Lady M.W. Montagu to Pope, April 1, O.S., 1817, +_Letters, etc._, 1816, p. 138. The "kerchief-waving" dance is the +_Romaika_. See _The Waltz_, line 125, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 492, +note 1. See, too, _Voyage Pittoresque_ ... by the Comte de +Choiseul-Gouffier, 1782, vol. i. Planche 33.] + +[cm] _That would have set Tom Moore, though married, raving._--[MS.] + +{152}[180] ["Upon the whole, I think the part of _Don Juan_ in which +Lambro's return to his home, and Lambro himself are described, is the +best, that is, the most individual, thing in all I know of Lord B.'s +works. The festal abandonment puts one in mind of Nicholas Poussin's +pictures."--_Table Talk_ of S.T. Coleridge, June 7, 1824.] + +{153}[181] [Compare _Hudibras_, Part I. canto iii. lines 1, 2-- + + "Ay me! what perils do environ + The man that meddles with cold iron!" + +Byron's friend, C.S. Matthews, shouted these lines, _con intenzione_, +under the windows of a Cambridge tradesman named Hiron, who had been +instrumental in the expulsion from the University of Sir Henry Smyth, a +riotous undergraduate. (See letter to Murray, October 19, 1820.)] + +{154}[cn] + _All had been open, heart, and open house,_ + _Ever since Juan served her for a spouse._--[MS.] + +{155}[182] + + ["Rispose allor Margutte: a dirtel tosto, + Io non credo piu al nero ch' all' azzurro; + Ma nel cappone, o lesso, o vuogli arrosto, + E credo alcuna volta anche nel burro; + Nella cervogia, e quando io n' ho nel mosto, + E molto piu nell' aspro che il mangurro; + Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede, + E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede." + +Pulci, _Morgante Maggiore_, Canto XVIII. stanza cxv.] + +{157}[co] _For instance, if a first or second wife._--[MS.] + +{159}[cp] + _And send him forth like Samson strong in blindness_.--[MS. D.] + _And make him Samson-like--more fierce with blindness_.--[MS. M.] + +[cq] + _Not so the single, deep, and wordless ire,_ + _Of a strong human heart_--.--[MS.] + +{160}[183] ["Almost all _Don Juan_ is _real_ life, either my own, or +from people I knew. By the way, much of the description of the +_furniture_, in Canto Third, is taken from _Tully's Tripoli_ (pray _note +this_), and the rest from my own observation. Remember, I never meant to +conceal this at all, and have only not stated it, because _Don Juan_ had +no preface, nor name to it."--Letter to Murray, August 23, 1821, +_Letters_, 1901, v. 346. + +The first edition of _"Tully's Tripoli"_ is entitled _Narrative of a Ten +Years' Residence in Tripoli In Africa: From the original correspondence +in the possession of the Family of the late Richard Tully, Esq., the +British Consul_, 1816, 410. The book is in the form of letters (so says +the _Preface_) written by the Consul's sister. The description of +Haidee's _dress_ is taken from the account of a visit to Lilla Kebbiera, +the wife of the Bashaw (p. 30); the description of the furniture and +refreshments from the account of a visit to "Lilla Amnani," Hadgi +Abderrahmam's Greek wife (pp. 132-137). It is evident that the "Chiel" +who took _these_ "notes" was the Consul's _sister_, not the Consul: +"Lilla Aisha, the Bey's wife, is thought to be very sensible, though +rather haughty. Her apartments were grand, and herself superbly habited. +Her chemise was covered with gold embroidery at the neck; over it she +wore a gold and silver tissue _jileck_, or jacket without sleeves, and +over that another of purple velvet richly laced with gold, with coral +and pearl buttons set quite close together down the front; it had short +sleeves finished with a gold band not far below the shoulder, and +discovered a wide loose chemise of transparent gauze, with gold, silver, +and ribband strips. She wore round her ancles ... a sort of fetter made +of a thick bar of gold so fine that they bound it round the leg with one +hand; it is an inch and a half wide, and as much in thickness: each of +these weighs four pounds. Just above this a band three inches wide of +gold thread finished the ends of a pair of trousers made of pale yellow +and white silk." + +Page 132. "[Lilla] rose to take coffee, which was served in very small +china cups, placed in silver filigree cups; and gold filigree cups were +put under those presented to the married ladies. They had introduced +cloves, cinnamon, and saffron into the coffee, which was abundantly +sweetened; but this mixture was very soon changed, and replaced by +excellent simple coffee for the European ladies...." + +Page 133. "The Greek then shewed us the gala furniture of her own +room.... The hangings of the room were of tapestry, made in pannels of +different coloured velvets, thickly inlaid with flowers of silk damask; +a yellow border, of about a foot in depth, finished the tapestry at top +and bottom, the upper border being embroidered with Moorish sentences +from the Koran in lilac letters. The carpet was of crimson satin, with a +deep border of pale blue quilted; this is laid over Indian mats and +other carpets. In the best part of the room the sofa is placed, which +occupies three sides in an alcove, the floor of which is raised. The +sofa and the cushions that lay around were of crimson velvet, the centre +cushions were embroidered with a sun in gold of highly embossed work, +the rest were of gold and silver tissue. The curtains of the alcove were +made to match those before the bed. A number of looking-glasses, and a +profusion of fine china and chrystal completed the ornaments and +furniture of the room, in which were neither tables nor chairs. A small +table, about six inches high, is brought in when refreshments are +served; it is of ebony, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, +ivory, gold and silver, of choice woods, or of plain mahogany, according +to the circumstances of the proprietor." + +Page 136. "On the tables were placed all sorts of refreshments, and +thirty or forty dishes of meat and poultry, dressed different ways; +there were no knives nor forks, and only a few spoons of gold, silver, +ivory, or coral...." + +Page 137. "The beverage was various sherbets, some composed of the juice +of boiled raisins, very sweet; some of the juice of pomegranates +squeezed through the rind; and others of the pure juice of oranges. +These sherbets were copiously supplied in high glass ewers, placed in +great numbers on the ground.... After the dishes of meat were removed, a +dessert of Arabian fruits, confectionaries, and sweetmeats was served; +among the latter was the date-bread. This sweetmeat is made in +perfection only by the blacks at Fezzan, of the ripe date of the +country.... They make it in the shape of loaves, weighing from twenty to +thirty pounds; the stones of the fruit are taken out, and the dates +simply pressed together with great weights; thus preserved, it keeps +perfectly good for a year."] + +{162}[184] ["He writes like a man who has that clear perception of the +truth of things which is the result of the guilty knowledge of good and +evil; and who, by the light of that knowledge, has deliberately +preferred the evil with a proud malignity of purpose, which would seem +to leave little for the last consummating change to accomplish. When he +calculates that the reader is on the verge of pitying him, he takes care +to throw him back the defiance of laughter, as if to let him know that +all the Poet's pathos is but the sentimentalism of the drunkard between +his cups, or the relenting softness of the courtesan, who the next +moment resumes the bad boldness of her degraded character. With such a +man, who would wish either to laugh or to weep?"--_Eclectic Review_ +(Lord Byron's _Mazeppa_), August, 1819, vol. xii. p. 150.] + +[cr] _For that's the name they like to cant beneath._--[MS.] + +{163}[cs] _The upholsterer's_ "fiat lux" _had bade to issue._--[MS.] + +{164}[185] This dress is Moorish, and the bracelets and bar are worn in +the manner described. The reader will perceive hereafter, that as the +mother of Haidee was of Fez, her daughter wore the garb of the country. +[_Vide ante, p. 160, note 1._] + +[186] The bar of gold above the instep is a mark of sovereign rank in +the women of the families of the Deys, and is worn as such by their +female relatives. [_Vide ibid._] + +[187] This is no exaggeration: there were four women whom I remember to +have seen, who possessed their hair in this profusion; of these, three +were English, the other was a Levantine. Their hair was of that length +and quantity, that, when let down, it almost entirely shaded the person, +so as nearly to render dress a superfluity. Of these, only one had dark +hair; the Oriental's had, perhaps, the lightest colour of the four. + +[188] [Compare-- + + "Yet there was round thee such a dawn + Of Light ne'er seen before, + As Fancy never could have drawn, + And never can restore." + +Song by Rev. C. Wolfe (1791-1823). + +Compare, too-- + + "She was a form of Life and Light + That, seen, became a part of sight." + +_The Giaour_, lines 1127, 1128.] + +{165}[189] + + [" ... but Psyche owns no lord-- + She walks a goddess from above; + All saw, all praised her, all adored, + But no one ever dared to love." + +_The Golden Ass of Apuleius; in English verse, entitled Cupid and +Psyche_, by Hudson Gurney, 1799.] + +[190] [_King John_, act iv. sc. 2, line 11.] + +{166}[191] ["Richard Crashaw (died 1650), the friend of Cowley, was +honoured," says Warton, "with the praise of Pope; who both read his +poems and borrowed from them. After he was ejected from his Fellowship +at Peterhouse for denying the covenant, he turned Roman Catholic, and +died canon of the church at Loretto." Cowley sang his _In Memoriam_-- + + "_Angels_ (they say) brought the famed _Chappel_ there; + And bore the sacred Load in Triumph through the air:-- + 'T is surer much they brought thee there, and _They_, + And _Thou_, their charge, went _singing_ all the way." + +_The Works, etc._, 1668, pp. 29, 30.] + +[ct] _Believed like Southey--and perused like Crashaw._--[MS.] + +{167}[192] [The second chapter of Coleridge's _Biographia Literaria_ is +on the "supposed irritability of men of genius." Ed. 1847, i. 29.] + +[cu] _Their poet a sad Southey_.--[MS. D.] + +[cv] _Of rogues_--.--[MS. D.] + +[cw] _Of which the causers never know the cause_.--[MS. D.] + +{168}[193] [_Vide St. August. Epist._, xxxvi., cap. xiv., "Ille +[Ambrosius, Mediolanensis Episcopus] adjecit; Quando hic sum, non jejuno +sabbato; quando Romae sum, jejuno sabbato."--Migne's _Patrologiae +Cursus_, 1845, xxxiii. 151.] + +[cx] _From the high lyrical to the low rational_.--[MS.D.] + +[194] [The allusion is to Coleridge's eulogy of Southey in the +Biographia Literaria (ed. 1847, i. 61): "In poetry he has attempted +almost every species of composition known before, and he has added new +ones; and if we except the very highest lyric ... he has attempted every +species successfully." But the satire, primarily and ostensibly aimed at +Southey, now and again glances at Southey's eulogist.] + +[195] ["Goethe pourroit representer la litterature allemande toute +entiere."--_De L'Allemagne_, par Mme. la Baronne de Stael-Holstein, +1818, i. 227.] + +[196] [The poet is not "a sad Southey," but is sketched from memory. +"Lord Byron," writes Finlay (_History of Greece_, vi. 335, note), "used +to describe an evening passed in the company of Londos [a Morean +landowner, who took part in the first and second Greek Civil Wars], at +Vostitza (in 1809), when both were young men, with a spirit that +rendered the scene worthy of a place in _Don Juan_. After supper Londos, +who had the face and figure of a chimpanzee, sprang upon a table, ... +and commenced singing through his nose Rhiga's Hymn to Liberty. A new +cadi, passing near the house, inquired the cause of the discordant +hubbub. A native Mussulman replied, 'It is only the young primate +Londos, who is drunk, and is singing hymns to the new panaghia of the +Greeks, whom they call Eleutheria.'" (See letter to Andreas Londos +(undated), _Letters_, 1901, vi. 320, note 1.)] + +{169}[197] The [Greek: Maka/ron nesoi] [Hesiod, _Works and Days_, line +169] of the Greek poets were supposed to have been the Cape de Verd +Islands, or the Canaries. + +[cy] + _Euboea looks on Marathon, + And Marathon looks on the sea, etc._--[MS.] + +[198] [See AEschylus, _Persae_, 463, sq.; and Herodotus, viii. 90. +Harpocration records the preservation, in the Acropolis, of the +silver-footed throne on which Xerxes sat when he watched the battle of +Salamis from the slope of Mount AEgaleos.] + +{170}[cz] _The Heroic heart awakes no more_.--[MS. D.] + +{171}[199] [For "that most ancient military dance, the _Pyrrhica_," see +_Travels_, by E.D. Clarke, 1814, part ii. sect. 11, p. 641; and for +specimens of "Cadmean characters," _vide ibid._, p. 593.] + +[200] [After his birthplace Teos was taken by the Persians, B.C. 510, +Anacreon migrated to Abdera, but afterwards lived at Samos, under the +protection of Polycrates.] + +[da] _Which Hercules might deem his own._--[MS.] + +{172}[201] [See the translation of a speech delivered to the Pargiots, +in 1815, by an aged citizen: "I exhort you well to consider, before you +yield yourselves up to the English, that the King of England now has in +his pay all the kings of Europe--obtaining money for this purpose from +his merchants; whence, should it become advantageous to the merchants to +sell you, in order to conciliate Ali, and obtain certain commercial +advantages in his harbours, the _English will sell you to Ali._" +--"Parga," _Edinburgh Review_, October, 1819. vol. 32, pp. 263-293. +Here, perhaps, the "Franks" are the Russians. Compare-- + + "Greeks only should free Greece, + Not the barbarian with his masque of peace." + +_The Age of Bronze_, lines 298, 299, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 557, +note 1.] + +[202] + + [Greek: Genoi/man, i(/n' y(laen e)/pesti po/n-] + [Greek: tou pro/blem' a(likyston, a)/-] + [Greek: kran y(po\ pla/ka Souni/ou, k.t.l.] + +Sophocles, _Ajax_, lines 1190-1192.] + +{173}[203] [Compare-- + + "What poets feel not, when they make, + A pleasure in creating, + The world, in _its_ turn, will not take + Pleasure in contemplating." + +Matthew Arnold (Motto to _Poems_, 1869, vol. i. Fly-leaf).] + +[204] [For this "sentence," see _Journal_, November 16, 1813, _Letters_, +1898, ii. 320, note 1; see, too, letter to Rogers, 1814, _Letters_, +1899, iii. 89, note 1.] + +[db] _In digging drains for a new water-closet._--[MS.] + +[205] [For Edmund Hoyle (1672-1769), see _English Bards, etc._, lines +966-968, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 372, note 4.] + +{174}[206] [William Coxe (1747-1828), Archdeacon of Wilts, a voluminous +historian and biographer, published _Memoirs of John, Duke of +Marlborough_, in 1817-1819.] + +[207] [See _Life of Milton, Works_ of Samuel Johnson, 1825, vii. pp. 67, +68, 80, _et vide ante_, p. 146, note 2.] + +[208] [According to Suetonius, the youthful Titus amused himself by +copying handwriting, and boasted that he could have made a first-rate +_falsarius_. One of Caesar's "earliest acts" was to crucify some jovial +pirates, who had kidnapped him, and with whom he pretended to be on +pleasant if not friendly terms.] + +[209] [James Currie, M.D. (1756-1805), published, anonymously, the +_Works of Robert Burns, with an account of his Life, etc._, in 1800.] + +[210] ["He [Cromwell] was very notorious for robbing orchards, a puerile +crime ... but grown so scandalous and injurious by the frequent spoyls +and damages of Trees, breaking of Hedges, and Inclosures, committed by +this _Apple-Dragon_, that many solemn complaints were made both to his +Father and Mother for redresse thereof; which missed not their +satisfaction and expiation out of his hide," etc.--_Flagellum_, by James +Heath, 1663, p. 5. See, too, for his "name of a Royster" at Cambridge, +_A Short View of the Late Troubles in England_, by Sir William Dugdale, +1681, p. 459.] + +{175}[211] [In _The Friend_, 1818, ii. 38, Coleridge refers to "a plan +... of trying the experiment of human perfectibility on the banks of the +Susquehanna;" and Southey, in his _Letter to William Smith, Esq._ +(1817), (_Essays Moral and Political_, by Robert Southey, 1832, ii. 17), +speaks of his "purpose to retire with a few friends into the wilds of +America, and there lay the foundations of a community," etc.; but the +word "_Pantisocracy_" is not mentioned. It occurs, perhaps, for the +first time in print, in George Dyer's biographical sketch of Southey, +which he contributed to _Public Characters of 1799-1800_, p. 225, +"Coleridge, no less than Southey, possessed a strong passion for poetry. +They commenced, like two young poets, an enthusiastic friendship, and in +connection with others, struck out a plan for settling in America, and +for having all things in common. This scheme they called Pantisocracy." +Hence, the phrase must have "caught on," for, in a footnote to his +review of Coleridge's _Literary Life_ (_Edin. Rev._, August, 1817, vol. +xxviii. p. 501), Jeffrey speaks of "the Pantisocratic or Lake School."] + +[212] [Wordsworth _was_ "hired," but not, like Burns, "excised." Hazlitt +(_Lectures on the English Poets_, 1870, p. 174) is responsible for the +epithet: "Mr. Wordsworth might have shown the incompatibility between +the Muse and the Excise," etc.] + +[dc] _Confined his pedlar poems to democracy._--[MS.] + +[213] [Coleridge began his poetical contributions to the _Morning Post_ +in January, 1798; his poetical articles in 1800.] + +[dd] _Flourished its sophistry for aristocracy._--[MS.] + +[214] [Coleridge was married to Sarah Fricker, October 5; Southey to her +younger sister Edith, November 15, 1795. Their father, Stephen Fricker, +who had been an innkeeper, and afterwards a potter at Bristol, migrated +to Bath about the year 1780. For the last six years of his life he was +owner and manager of a coal wharf. He had inherited a small fortune, and +his wife brought him money, but he died bankrupt, and left his family +destitute. His widow returned to Bristol, and kept a school. In a letter +to Murray, dated September 11, 1822 (_Letters_, 1901, vi. 113), Byron +quotes the authority of "Luttrell," and "his friend Mr. Nugent," for the +statement that Mrs. Southey and "Coleridge's Sara ... before they were +married ... were milliner's or dressmaker's apprentices." The story +rests upon their evidence. It is certain that in 1794, when Coleridge +appeared upon the scene, the sisters earned their living by going out to +work in the houses of friends, and were not, at that time, "milliners of +Bath."] + +{176}[215] [For Joanna Southcott (1750-1814), see _Letters_, 1899, iii. +128-130, note 2.] + +[216] [Here follows, in the original MS.-- + + "Time has approved Ennui to be the best + Of friends, and opiate draughts; your love and wine, + Which shake so much the human brain and breast, + Must end in languor;--men must sleep like swine: + The happy lover and the welcome guest + Both sink at last into a swoon divine; + Full of deep raptures and of bumpers, they + Are somewhat sick and sorry the next day."] + +{177}[217] ["Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus."--Hor., _Epist. Ad +Pisones_, line 359.] + +[218] [Wordsworth's _Benjamin the Waggoner_, was written in 1805, but +was not published till 1819. "Benjamin" was servant to William Jackson, +a Keswick carrier, who built Greta Hall, and let off part of the house +to Coleridge.] + +[219] + + ["There's something in a flying horse, + There's something in a huge balloon; + But through the clouds I'll never float + Until I have a little Boat, + Shaped like the crescent-moon." + +Wordsworth's _Peter Bell_, stanza i.] + +[220] [For Medea's escape from the wrath of Jason, "Titaniacis ablata +draconibus," see Ovid., _Met._, vii. 398.] + +[221] [In his "Essay, Supplementary to the Preface," to his "Poems" of +1815, Wordsworth, commenting on a passage on Night in Dryden's _Indian +Emperor_, says, "Dryden's lines are vague, bombastic, and senseless.... +The verses of Dryden once celebrated are forgotten." He is not passing +any general criticism on "him who drew _Achitophel_." In a letter to Sir +Walter Scott (November 7, 1805), then engaged on his great edition of +Dryden's _Works_, he admits that Dryden is not "as a poet any great +favourite of mine. I admire his talents and genius highly, but he is not +a poetical genius. The only qualities I can find in Dryden that are +_essentially_ poetical, are a certain ardour and impetuosity of mind, +with an excellent ear" (_Life of Wordsworth_, by W. Knight, 1889, ii. +26-29). Scott may have remarked on Wordsworth's estimate of Dryden in +conversation with Byron.] + +{178}[de] _While swung the signal from the sacred tower._--[MS.] + +{179}[df] + _Are not these pretty stanzas?--some folks say--_ + _Downright in print_--.--[MS.] + +[222] [Compare Coleridge's _Lines to Nature_, which were published in +the _Morning Herald_, in 1815, but must have been unknown to Byron-- + + "So will I build my altar in the fields, + And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be."] + +[223] ["As early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian era, the +port of Augustus was converted into pleasant orchards, and a lovely +grove of pines covered the ground where the Roman fleet once rode at +anchor.... This advantageous situation was fortified by art and +_labour_, and in the twentieth year of his age, the Emperor of the West +... retired to ... the walls and morasses of Ravenna."--Gibbon's +_Decline and Fall_, 1825, ii. 244, 245.] + +[224] ["The first time I had a conversation with Lord Byron on the +subject of religion was at Ravenna, my native country, in 1820, while we +were riding on horseback in an extensive solitary wood of pines. The +scene invited to religious meditation. It was a fine day in spring. +'How,' he said, 'raising our eyes to heaven, or directing them to the +earth, can we doubt of the existence of God?--or how, turning them to +what is within us, can we doubt that there is something more noble and +durable than the clay of which we are formed?'"--Count Gamba.] + +{180}[225] [If the _Pineta_ of Ravenna, _bois funebre_, invited Byron +"to religious meditation," the mental picture of the "spectre huntsman" +pursuing his eternal vengeance on "the inexorable dame"--"that fatal +she," who had mocked his woes--must have set in motion another train of +thought. Such lines as these would "speak comfortably" to him-- + + "Because she deem'd I well deserved to die, + And _made a merit_ of her cruelty, ... + Mine is the ungrateful maid by heaven design'd: + Mercy she would not give, nor mercy shall she find." + + "By her example warn'd, the rest beware; + More easy, less imperious, were the fair; + And that one hunting, which the Devil design'd + For one fair female, lost him half the kind." + +Dryden's _Theodore and Honoria_ (_sub fine_).] + +[226] + + [Greek: Espere panta phereis] + [Greek: Phereis oinon--phereis aiga,] + [Greek: Phereis materi paida.] + +_Fragment of Sappho._ + + [Greek: We/spere, pa/nta phe/ron, o(/sa phai/nolis e)ske/das' au)/os] + [Greek: Phe/reis oi)/n phe/reis ai~)ga, Phe/reis a)/py mate/ri pai~da.] + +_Sappho_, Memoir, Text, by Henry Thornton Wharton, 1895, p. 136. + + "Evening, all things thou bringest + Which dawn spread apart from each other; + The lamb and the kid thou bringest, + Thou bringest the boy to his mother." + +J.A. Symonds. + +Compare Tennyson's _Locksley Hall, Sixty Years After_--"Hesper, whom the +poet call'd the Bringer home of all good things."] + +{181}[227] + + "Era gia l'ora che volge il disio + Ai naviganti, e intenerisce il cuore; + Lo di ch' han detto ai dolci amici addio; + E che lo nuovo peregrin' damore + Punge, se ode squilla di lontano, + Che paia il giorno pianger che si more." + +Dante's _Purgatory_, canto viii., lines 1-6. + +This last line is the first of Gray's Elegy, taken by him without +acknowledgment. + +[228] See Suetonius for this fact. + +["The public joy was so great upon the occasion of his death, that the +common people ran up and down with caps upon their heads. And yet there +were some, who for a long time trimmed up his tomb with spring and +summer flowers, and, one while, placed his image upon his rostra dressed +up in state robes, another while published proclamations in his name, as +if he was yet alive, and would shortly come to Rome again, with a +vengeance to all his enemies."--_De XII. Caes._, lib. vi. cap. lvii.] + +[dg] + _But I'm digressing--what on earth have Nero + And Wordsworth--both poetical buffoons, etc._--[MS.] + +{182}[229] [See _De Poetica_, cap. xxiv. See, too, the Preface to +Dryden's "Dedication" of the _AEneis_ (_Works_ of John Dryden, 1821, xiv. +130-134). Dryden is said to have derived his knowledge of Aristotle from +Dacier's translation, and it is probable that Byron derived his from +Dryden. See letter to Hodgson (_Letters_, 1891, v. 284), in which he +quotes Aristotle as quoted in Johnson's _Life of Dryden_.] + + + + + + CANTO THE FOURTH. + + I. + + NOTHING so difficult as a beginning + In poesy, unless perhaps the end; + For oftentimes when Pegasus seems winning + The race, he sprains a wing, and down we tend, + Like Lucifer when hurled from Heaven for sinning; + Our sin the same, and hard as his to mend, + Being Pride,[230] which leads the mind to soar too far, + Till our own weakness shows us what we are. + + II. + + But Time, which brings all beings to their level, + And sharp Adversity, will teach at last + Man,--and, as we would hope,--perhaps the Devil, + That neither of their intellects are vast: + While Youth's hot wishes in our red veins revel, + We know not this--the blood flows on too fast; + But as the torrent widens towards the Ocean, + We ponder deeply on each past emotion.[231] + + III. + + As boy, I thought myself a clever fellow, + And wished that others held the same opinion; + They took it up when my days grew more mellow, + And other minds acknowledged my dominion: + Now my sere Fancy "falls into the yellow + Leaf,"[232] and Imagination droops her pinion, + And the sad truth which hovers o'er my desk + Turns what was once romantic to burlesque. + + IV. + + And if I laugh at any mortal thing, + 'T is that I may not weep; and if I weep, + 'T is that our nature cannot always bring + Itself to apathy, for we must steep[dh] + Our hearts first in the depths of Lethe's spring,[di] + Ere what we least wish to behold will sleep: + Thetis baptized her mortal son in Styx; + A mortal mother would on Lethe fix. + + V. + + Some have accused me of a strange design + Against the creed and morals of the land, + And trace it in this poem every line: + I don't pretend that I quite understand + My own meaning when I would be _very_ fine; + But the fact is that I have nothing planned, + Unless it were to be a moment merry-- + A novel word in my vocabulary. + + VI. + + To the kind reader of our sober clime + This way of writing will appear exotic; + Pulci[233] was sire of the half-serious rhyme,[dj] + Who sang when Chivalry was more quixotic, + And revelled in the fancies of the time, + True Knights, chaste Dames, huge Giants, Kings despotic; + But all these, save the last, being obsolete, + I chose a modern subject as more meet. + + VII. + + How I have treated it, I do not know; + Perhaps no better than _they_ have treated me, + Who have imputed such designs as show + Not what they saw, but what they wished to see: + But if it gives them pleasure, be it so; + This is a liberal age, and thoughts are free: + Meantime Apollo plucks me by the ear, + And tells me to resume my story here.[234] + + VIII. + + Young Juan and his lady-love were left + To their own hearts' most sweet society; + Even Time the pitiless in sorrow cleft + With his rude scythe such gentle bosoms; he + Sighed to behold them of their hours bereft, + Though foe to Love; and yet they could not be + Meant to grow old, but die in happy Spring, + Before one charm or hope had taken wing. + + IX. + + Their faces were not made for wrinkles, their + Pure blood to stagnate, their great hearts to fail; + The blank grey was not made to blast their hair, + But like the climes that know nor snow nor hail, + They were all summer; lightning might assail + And shiver them to ashes, but to trail + A long and snake-like life of dull decay + Was not for them--they had too little clay. + + X. + + They were alone once more; for them to be + Thus was another Eden; they were never + Weary, unless when separate: the tree + Cut from its forest root of years--the river + Dammed from its fountain--the child from the knee + And breast maternal weaned at once for ever,-- + Would wither less than these two torn apart;[dk] + Alas! there is no instinct like the Heart-- + + XI. + + The Heart--which may be broken: happy they! + Thrice fortunate! who of that fragile mould, + The precious porcelain of human clay, + Break with the first fall: they can ne'er behold + The long year linked with heavy day on day, + And all which must be borne, and never told; + While Life's strange principle will often lie + Deepest in those who long the most to die. + + XII. + + "Whom the gods love die young," was said of yore,[235] + And many deaths do they escape by this: + The death of friends, and that which slays even more-- + The death of Friendship, Love, Youth, all that is, + Except mere breath; and since the silent shore + Awaits at last even those who longest miss + The old Archer's shafts, perhaps the early grave[236] + Which men weep over may be meant to save. + + XIII. + + Haidee and Juan thought not of the dead-- + The Heavens, and Earth, and Air, seemed made for them: + They found no fault with Time, save that he fled; + They saw not in themselves aught to condemn: + Each was the other's mirror, and but read + Joy sparkling in their dark eyes like a gem. + And knew such brightness was but the reflection + Of their exchanging glances of affection. + + XIV. + + The gentle pressure, and the thrilling touch, + The least glance better understood than words, + Which still said all, and ne'er could say too much; + A language,[237] too, but like to that of birds, + Known but to them, at least appearing such + As but to lovers a true sense affords; + Sweet playful phrases, which would seem absurd + To those who have ceased to hear such, or ne'er heard-- + + XV. + + All these were theirs, for they were children still, + And children still they should have ever been; + They were not made in the real world to fill + A busy character in the dull scene, + But like two beings born from out a rill, + A Nymph and her beloved, all unseen + To pass their lives in fountains and on flowers, + And never know the weight of human hours. + + XVI. + + Moons changing had rolled on, and changeless found + Those their bright rise had lighted to such joys + As rarely they beheld throughout their round; + And these were not of the vain kind which cloys, + For theirs were buoyant spirits, never bound + By the mere senses; and that which destroys[dl] + Most love--possession--unto them appeared + A thing which each endearment more endeared. + + XVII. + + Oh beautiful! and rare as beautiful! + But theirs was Love in which the Mind delights + To lose itself, when the old world grows dull, + And we are sick of its hack sounds and sights, + Intrigues, adventures of the common school, + Its petty passions, marriages, and flights, + Where Hymen's torch but brands one strumpet more, + Whose husband only knows her not a whore. + + XVIII. + + Hard words--harsh truth! a truth which many know. + Enough.--The faithful and the fairy pair, + Who never found a single hour too slow, + What was it made them thus exempt from care? + Young innate feelings all have felt below, + Which perish in the rest, but in them were + Inherent--what we mortals call romantic, + And always envy, though we deem it frantic. + + XIX. + + This is in others a factitious state, + An opium dream[238] of too much youth and reading, + But was in them their nature or their fate: + No novels e'er had set their young hearts bleeding,[dm] + For Haidee's knowledge was by no means great, + And Juan was a boy of saintly breeding; + So that there was no reason for their loves + More than for those of nightingales or doves. + + XX. + + They gazed upon the sunset; 't is an hour + Dear unto all, but dearest to _their_ eyes, + For it had made them what they were: the power + Of Love had first o'erwhelmed them from such skies, + When Happiness had been their only dower, + And Twilight saw them linked in Passion's ties; + Charmed with each other, all things charmed that brought + The past still welcome as the present thought. + + XXI. + + I know not why, but in that hour to-night, + Even as they gazed, a sudden tremor came, + And swept, as 't were, across their hearts' delight, + Like the wind o'er a harp-string, or a flame, + When one is shook in sound, and one in sight: + And thus some boding flashed through either frame, + And called from Juan's breast a faint low sigh, + While one new tear arose in Haidee's eye. + + XXII. + + That large black prophet eye seemed to dilate + And follow far the disappearing sun, + As if their last day of a happy date + With his broad, bright, and dropping orb were gone; + Juan gazed on her as to ask his fate-- + He felt a grief, but knowing cause for none, + His glance inquired of hers for some excuse + For feelings causeless, or at least abstruse. + + XXIII. + + She turned to him, and smiled, but in that sort + Which makes not others smile; then turned aside: + Whatever feeling shook her, it seemed short, + And mastered by her wisdom or her pride; + When Juan spoke, too--it might be in sport-- + Of this their mutual feeling, she replied-- + "If it should be so,--but--it cannot be-- + Or I at least shall not survive to see." + + XXIV. + + Juan would question further, but she pressed + His lip to hers, and silenced him with this, + And then dismissed the omen from her breast, + Defying augury with that fond kiss; + And no doubt of all methods 't is the best: + Some people prefer wine--'t is not amiss; + I have tried both--so those who would a part take + May choose between the headache and the heartache. + + XXV. + + One of the two, according to your choice, + Woman or wine, you'll have to undergo; + Both maladies are taxes on our joys: + But which to choose, I really hardly know; + And if I had to give a casting voice, + For both sides I could many reasons show, + And then decide, without great wrong to either, + It were much better to have both than neither. + + XXVI. + + Juan and Haidee gazed upon each other + With swimming looks of speechless tenderness, + Which mixed all feelings--friend, child, lover, brother-- + All that the best can mingle and express + When two pure hearts are poured in one another, + And love too much, and yet can not love less; + But almost sanctify the sweet excess + By the immortal wish and power to bless. + + XXVII. + + Mixed in each other's arms, and heart in heart, + Why did they not then die?--they had lived too long + Should an hour come to bid them breathe apart; + Years could but bring them cruel things or wrong; + The World was not for them--nor the World's art + For beings passionate as Sappho's song; + Love was born _with_ them, _in_ them, so intense, + It was their very Spirit--not a sense. + + XXVIII. + + They should have lived together deep in woods, + Unseen as sings the nightingale;[239] they were + Unfit to mix in these thick solitudes + Called social, haunts of Hate, and Vice, and Care:[dn] + How lonely every freeborn creature broods! + The sweetest song-birds nestle in a pair; + The eagle soars alone; the gull and crow + Flock o'er their carrion, just like men below. + + XXIX. + + Now pillowed cheek to cheek, in loving sleep, + Haidee and Juan their siesta took, + A gentle slumber, but it was not deep, + For ever and anon a something shook + Juan, and shuddering o'er his frame would creep; + And Haidee's sweet lips murmured like a brook + A wordless music, and her face so fair + Stirred with her dream, as rose-leaves with the air.[do] + + XXX. + + Or as the stirring of a deep clear stream + Within an Alpine hollow, when the wind + Walks o'er it, was she shaken by the dream, + The mystical Usurper of the mind-- + O'erpowering us to be whate'er may seem + Good to the soul which we no more can bind; + Strange state of being! (for 't is still to be) + Senseless to feel, and with sealed eyes to see.[dp] + + XXXI. + + She dreamed of being alone on the sea-shore, + Chained to a rock; she knew not how, but stir + She could not from the spot, and the loud roar + Grew, and each wave rose roughly, threatening her; + And o'er her upper lip they seemed to pour, + Until she sobbed for breath, and soon they were + Foaming o'er her lone head, so fierce and high-- + Each broke to drown her, yet she could not die. + + XXXII. + + Anon--she was released, and then she strayed + O'er the sharp shingles with her bleeding feet, + And stumbled almost every step she made: + And something rolled before her in a sheet, + Which she must still pursue howe'er afraid: + 'T was white and indistinct, nor stopped to meet + Her glance nor grasp, for still she gazed and grasped, + And ran, but it escaped her as she clasped. + + XXXIII. + + The dream changed:--in a cave[240] she stood, its walls + Were hung with marble icicles; the work + Of ages on its water-fretted halls, + Where waves might wash, and seals might breed and lurk; + Her hair was dripping, and the very balls + Of her black eyes seemed turned to tears, and mirk + The sharp rocks looked below each drop they caught, + Which froze to marble as it fell,--she thought.[dq] + + XXXIV. + + And wet, and cold, and lifeless at her feet, + Pale as the foam that frothed on his dead brow, + Which she essayed in vain to clear, (how sweet + Were once her cares, how idle seemed they now!) + Lay Juan, nor could aught renew the beat + Of his quenched heart: and the sea dirges low + Rang in her sad ears like a Mermaid's song, + And that brief dream appeared a life too long. + + XXXV. + + And gazing on the dead, she thought his face + Faded, or altered into something new-- + Like to her Father's features, till each trace + More like and like to Lambro's aspect grew-- + With all his keen worn look and Grecian grace; + And starting, she awoke, and what to view? + Oh! Powers of Heaven! what dark eye meets she there? + 'T is--'t is her Father's--fixed upon the pair! + + XXXVI. + + Then shrieking, she arose, and shrieking fell, + With joy and sorrow, hope and fear, to see + Him whom she deemed a habitant where dwell + The ocean-buried, risen from death, to be + Perchance the death of one she loved too well: + Dear as her father had been to Haidee, + It was a moment of that awful kind-- + I have seen such--but must not call to mind. + + XXXVII. + + Up Juan sprang to Haidee's bitter shriek, + And caught her falling, and from off the wall + Snatched down his sabre, in hot haste to wreak + Vengeance on him who was the cause of all: + Then Lambro, who till now forbore to speak, + Smiled scornfully, and said, "Within my call, + A thousand scimitars await the word; + Put up, young man, put up your silly sword." + + XXXVIII. + + And Haidee clung around him; "Juan, 't is-- + 'T is Lambro--'t is my father! Kneel with me-- + He will forgive us--yes--it must be--yes. + Oh! dearest father, in this agony + Of pleasure and of pain--even while I kiss + Thy garment's hem with transport, can it be + That doubt should mingle with my filial joy? + Deal with me as thou wilt, but spare this boy." + + XXXIX. + + High and inscrutable the old man stood, + Calm in his voice, and calm within his eye-- + Not always signs with him of calmest mood: + He looked upon her, but gave no reply; + Then turned to Juan, in whose cheek the blood + Oft came and went, as there resolved to die; + In arms, at least, he stood, in act to spring + On the first foe whom Lambro's call might bring. + + XL. + + "Young man, your sword;" so Lambro once more said: + Juan replied, "Not while this arm is free." + The old man's cheek grew pale, but not with dread, + And drawing from his belt a pistol he + Replied, "Your blood be then on your own head." + Then looked close at the flint, as if to see + 'T was fresh--for he had lately used the lock-- + And next proceeded quietly to cock. + + XLI. + + It has a strange quick jar upon the ear, + That cocking of a pistol, when you know + A moment more will bring the sight to bear + Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so; + A gentlemanly distance, not too near, + If you have got a former friend for foe; + But after being fired at once or twice, + The ear becomes more Irish, and less nice. + + XLII. + + Lambro presented, and one instant more + Had stopped this Canto, and Don Juan's breath, + When Haidee threw herself her boy before; + Stern as her sire: "On me," she cried, "let Death + Descend--the fault is mine; this fatal shore + He found--but sought not. I have pledged my faith; + I love him--I will die with him: I knew + Your nature's firmness--know your daughter's too." + + XLIII. + + A minute past, and she had been all tears, + And tenderness, and infancy; but now + She stood as one who championed human fears-- + Pale, statue-like, and stern, she wooed the blow; + And tall beyond her sex, and their compeers, + She drew up to her height, as if to show + A fairer mark; and with a fixed eye scanned + Her Father's face--but never stopped his hand. + + XLIV. + + He gazed on her, and she on him; 't was strange + How like they looked! the expression was the same; + Serenely savage, with a little change + In the large dark eye's mutual--darted flame; + For she, too, was as one who could avenge, + If cause should be--a Lioness, though tame. + Her Father's blood before her Father's face + Boiled up, and proved her truly of his race. + + XLV. + + I said they were alike, their features and + Their stature, differing but in sex and years; + Even to the delicacy of their hand[241] + There was resemblance, such as true blood wears; + And now to see them, thus divided, stand + In fixed ferocity, when joyous tears + And sweet sensations should have welcomed both, + Shows what the passions are in their full growth. + + XLVI. + + The father paused a moment, then withdrew + His weapon, and replaced it; but stood still, + And looking on her, as to look her through, + "Not _I_," he said, "have sought this stranger's ill; + Not _I_ have made this desolation: few + Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill; + But I must do my duty--how thou hast + Done thine, the present vouches for the past.[dr] + + XLVII. + + "Let him disarm; or, by my father's head, + His own shall roll before you like a ball!" + He raised his whistle, as the word he said, + And blew; another answered to the call, + And rushing in disorderly, though led, + And armed from boot to turban, one and all, + Some twenty of his train came, rank on rank; + He gave the word,--"Arrest or slay the Frank." + + XLVIII. + + Then, with a sudden movement, he withdrew + His daughter; while compressed within his clasp, + Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew; + In vain she struggled in her father's grasp-- + His arms were like a serpent's coil: then flew + Upon their prey, as darts an angry asp, + The file of pirates--save the foremost, who + Had fallen, with his right shoulder half cut through. + + XLIX. + + The second had his cheek laid open; but + The third, a wary, cool old sworder, took + The blows upon his cutlass, and then put + His own well in; so well, ere you could look, + His man was floored, and helpless at his foot, + With the blood running like a little brook + From two smart sabre gashes, deep and red-- + One on the arm, the other on the head. + + L. + + And then they bound him where he fell, and bore + Juan from the apartment: with a sign + Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore, + Where lay some ships which were to sail at nine.[ds] + They laid him in a boat, and plied the oar + Until they reached some galliots, placed in line; + On board of one of these, and under hatches, + They stowed him, with strict orders to the watches. + + LI. + + The world is full of strange vicissitudes, + And here was one exceedingly unpleasant: + A gentleman so rich in the world's goods, + Handsome and young, enjoying all the present,[dt] + Just at the very time when he least broods + On such a thing, is suddenly to sea sent, + Wounded and chained, so that he cannot move, + And all because a lady fell in love. + + LII. + + Here I must leave him, for I grow pathetic, + Moved by the Chinese nymph of tears, green tea! + Than whom Cassandra was not more prophetic; + For if my pure libations exceed three, + I feel my heart become so sympathetic, + That I must have recourse to black Bohea: + 'T is pity wine should be so deleterious, + For tea and coffee leave us much more serious, + + LIII. + + Unless when qualified with thee, Cogniac! + Sweet Naiad of the Phlegethontic rill! + Ah! why the liver wilt thou thus attack,[du]-- + And make, like other nymphs, thy lovers ill? + I would take refuge in weak punch, but _rack_ + (In each sense of the word), whene'er I fill + My mild and midnight beakers to the brim, + Wakes me next morning with its synonym.[242] + + LIV. + + I leave Don Juan for the present, safe-- + Not sound, poor fellow, but severely wounded; + Yet could his corporal pangs amount to half + Of those with which his Haidee's bosom bounded? + She was not one to weep, and rave, and chafe, + And then give way, subdued because surrounded; + Her mother was a Moorish maid from Fez, + Where all is Eden, or a wilderness. + + LV. + + There the large olive rains its amber store + In marble fonts; there grain, and flower, and fruit, + Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er;[243] + But there, too, many a poison-tree has root, + And Midnight listens to the lion's roar, + And long, long deserts scorch the camel's foot, + Or heaving whelm the helpless caravan; + And as the soil is, so the heart of man. + + LVI. + + Afric is all the Sun's, and as her earth + Her human clay is kindled; full of power + For good or evil, burning from its birth, + The Moorish blood partakes the planet's hour, + And like the soil beneath it will bring forth: + Beauty and love were Haidee's mother's dower; + But her large dark eye showed deep Passion's force, + Though sleeping like a lion near a source.[dv] + + LVII. + + Her daughter, tempered with a milder ray, + Like summer clouds all silvery, smooth, and fair, + Till slowly charged with thunder they display + Terror to earth, and tempest to the air, + Had held till now her soft and milky way; + But overwrought with Passion and Despair, + The fire burst forth from her Numidian veins, + Even as the Simoom[244] sweeps the blasted plains. + + LVIII. + + The last sight which she saw was Juan's gore, + And he himself o'ermastered and cut down; + His blood was running on the very floor + Where late he trod, her beautiful, her own; + Thus much she viewed an instant and no more,-- + Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan; + On her Sire's arm, which until now scarce held + Her writhing, fell she like a cedar felled. + + LIX. + + A vein had burst, and her sweet lips' pure dyes[dw] + Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er;[245] + And her head drooped, as when the lily lies + O'ercharged with rain: her summoned handmaids bore + Their lady to her couch with gushing eyes; + Of herbs and cordials they produced their store, + But she defied all means they could employ, + Like one Life could not hold, nor Death destroy. + + LX. + + Days lay she in that state unchanged, though chill-- + With nothing livid, still her lips were red; + She had no pulse, but Death seemed absent still; + No hideous sign proclaimed her surely dead; + Corruption came not in each mind to kill + All hope; to look upon her sweet face bred + New thoughts of Life, for it seemed full of soul-- + She had so much, Earth could not claim the whole. + + LXI. + + The ruling passion, such as marble shows + When exquisitely chiselled, still lay there, + But fixed as marble's unchanged aspect throws + O'er the fair Venus, but for ever fair;[246] + O'er the Laocoon's all eternal throes, + And ever-dying Gladiator's air, + Their energy like life forms all their fame, + Yet looks not life, for they are still the same.--[dx] + + LXII. + + She woke at length, but not as sleepers wake, + Rather the dead, for Life seemed something new, + A strange sensation which she must partake + Perforce, since whatsoever met her view + Struck not on memory, though a heavy ache + Lay at her heart, whose earliest beat still true + Brought back the sense of pain without the cause, + For, for a while, the Furies made a pause. + + LXIII. + + She looked on many a face with vacant eye, + On many a token without knowing what: + She saw them watch her without asking why, + And recked not who around her pillow sat; + Not speechless, though she spoke not--not a sigh + Relieved her thoughts--dull silence and quick chat + Were tried in vain by those who served; she gave + No sign, save breath, of having left the grave. + + LXIV. + + Her handmaids tended, but she heeded not; + Her Father watched, she turned her eyes away; + She recognised no being, and no spot, + However dear or cherished in their day; + They changed from room to room--but all forgot-- + Gentle, but without memory she lay; + At length those eyes, which they would fain be weaning + Back to old thoughts, waxed full of fearful meaning. + + LXV. + + And then a slave bethought her of a harp; + The harper came, and tuned his instrument; + At the first notes, irregular and sharp, + On him her flashing eyes a moment bent, + Then to the wall she turned as if to warp + Her thoughts from sorrow through her heart re-sent; + And he began a long low island-song + Of ancient days, ere Tyranny grew strong. + + LXVI. + + Anon her thin wan fingers beat the wall + In time to his old tune: he changed the theme, + And sung of Love; the fierce name struck through all + Her recollection; on her flashed the dream + Of what she was, and is, if ye could call + To be so being; in a gushing stream + The tears rushed forth from her o'erclouded brain, + Like mountain mists at length dissolved in rain. + + LXVII. + + Short solace, vain relief!--Thought came too quick, + And whirled her brain to madness; she arose + As one who ne'er had dwelt among the sick, + And flew at all she met, as on her foes; + But no one ever heard her speak or shriek, + Although her paroxysm drew towards its close;-- + Hers was a frenzy which disdained to rave, + Even when they smote her, in the hope to save. + + LXVIII. + + Yet she betrayed at times a gleam of sense; + Nothing could make her meet her Father's face, + Though on all other things with looks intense + She gazed, but none she ever could retrace; + Food she refused, and raiment; no pretence + Availed for either; neither change of place, + Nor time, nor skill, nor remedy, could give her + Senses to sleep--the power seemed gone for ever. + + LXIX. + + Twelve days and nights she withered thus; at last, + Without a groan, or sigh, or glance, to show + A parting pang, the spirit from her passed: + And they who watched her nearest could not know + The very instant, till the change that cast + Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow,[dy] + Glazed o'er her eyes--the beautiful, the black-- + Oh! to possess such lustre--and then lack! + + LXX. + + She died, but not alone; she held, within, + A second principle of Life, which might + Have dawned a fair and sinless child of sin;[dz] + But closed its little being without light, + And went down to the grave unborn, wherein + Blossom and bough lie withered with one blight; + In vain the dews of Heaven descend above + The bleeding flower and blasted fruit of Love. + + LXXI. + + Thus lived--thus died she; never more on her + Shall Sorrow light, or Shame. She was not made + Through years or moons the inner weight to bear, + Which colder hearts endure till they are laid + By age in earth: her days and pleasures were + Brief, but delightful--such as had not staid + Long with her destiny; but she sleeps well[247] + By the sea-shore, whereon she loved to dwell. + + LXXII. + + That isle is now all desolate and bare, + Its dwellings down, its tenants passed away; + None but her own and Father's grave is there, + And nothing outward tells of human clay; + Ye could not know where lies a thing so fair, + No stone is there to show, no tongue to say, + What was; no dirge, except the hollow sea's,[ea] + Mourns o'er the beauty of the Cyclades. + + LXXIII. + + But many a Greek maid in a loving song + Sighs o'er her name; and many an islander + With her Sire's story makes the night less long; + Valour was his, and Beauty dwelt with her: + If she loved rashly, her life paid for wrong-- + A heavy price must all pay who thus err, + In some shape; let none think to fly the danger, + For soon or late Love is his own avenger. + + LXXIV. + + But let me change this theme, which grows too sad, + And lay this sheet of sorrows on the shelf; + I don't much like describing people mad, + For fear of seeming rather touched myself-- + Besides, I've no more on this head to add; + And as my Muse is a capricious elf, + We'll put about, and try another tack + With Juan, left half-killed some stanzas back. + + LXXV. + + Wounded and fettered, "cabined, cribbed, confined,"[248] + Some days and nights elapsed before that he + Could altogether call the past to mind; + And when he did, he found himself at sea, + Sailing six knots an hour before the wind; + The shores of Ilion lay beneath their lee-- + Another time he might have liked to see 'em, + But now was not much pleased with Cape Sigeum. + + LXXVI. + + There, on the green and village-cotted hill, is + (Flanked by the Hellespont, and by the sea) + Entombed the bravest of the brave, Achilles; + They say so--(Bryant[249] says the contrary): + And further downward, tall and towering still, is + The tumulus--of whom? Heaven knows! 't may be + Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus-- + All heroes, who if living still would slay us.[eb] + + LXXVII. + + High barrows, without marble, or a name, + A vast, untilled, and mountain-skirted plain,[ec] + And Ida in the distance, still the same, + And old Scamander (if 't is he) remain; + The situation seems still formed for fame-- + A hundred thousand men might fight again, + With ease; but where I sought for Ilion's walls, + The quiet sheep feeds, and the tortoise[250] crawls;[ed] + + LXXVIII. + + Troops of untended horses; here and there + Some little hamlets, with new names uncouth; + Some shepherds (unlike Paris) led to stare + A moment at the European youth + Whom to the spot their school-boy feelings bear;[ee] + A Turk, with beads in hand, and pipe in mouth, + Extremely taken with his own religion, + Are what I found there--but the devil a Phrygian. + + LXXIX. + + Don Juan, here permitted to emerge + From his dull cabin, found himself a slave; + Forlorn, and gazing on the deep blue surge, + O'ershadowed there by many a Hero's grave; + Weak still with loss of blood, he scarce could urge + A few brief questions; and the answers gave + No very satisfactory information + About his past or present situation. + + LXXX. + + He saw some fellow captives, who appeared + To be Italians (as they were in fact)-- + From them, at least, _their_ destiny he heard, + Which was an odd one; a troop going to act + In Sicily--all singers, duly reared + In their vocation, had not been attacked + In sailing from Livorno by the pirate, + But sold by the _impresario_ at no high rate.[251] + + LXXXI. + + By one of these, the _buffo_[252] of the party, + Juan was told about their curious case; + For although destined to the Turkish mart, he + Still kept his spirits up--at least his face; + The little fellow really looked quite hearty, + And bore him with some gaiety and grace, + Showing a much more reconciled demeanour, + Than did the prima donna and the tenor. + + LXXXII. + + In a few words he told their hapless story, + Saying, "Our Machiavelian _impresario_, + Making a signal off some promontory, + Hailed a strange brig--_Corpo di Caio Mario!_ + We were transferred on board her in a hurry, + Without a single scudo of _salario_; + But if the Sultan has a taste for song, + We will revive our fortunes before long. + + LXXXIII. + + "The prima donna, though a little old, + And haggard with a dissipated life, + And subject, when the house is thin, to cold, + Has some good notes; and then the tenor's wife, + With no great voice, is pleasing to behold; + Last carnival she made a deal of strife, + By carrying off Count Cesare Cicogna + From an old Roman Princess at Bologna. + + LXXXIV. + + "And then there are the dancers; there's the Nini, + With more than one profession gains by all; + Then there's that laughing slut the Pelegrini, + She, too, was fortunate last Carnival, + And made at least five hundred good _zecchini_, + But spends so fast, she has not now a paul; + And then there's the Grotesca--such a dancer! + Where men have souls or bodies she must answer. + + LXXXV. + + "As for the _figuranti_,[253] they are like + The rest of all that tribe; with here and there + A pretty person, which perhaps may strike-- + The rest are hardly fitted for a fair; + There's one, though tall and stiffer than a pike, + Yet has a sentimental kind of air + Which might go far, but she don't dance with vigour-- + The more's the pity, with her face and figure. + + LXXXVI. + + "As for the men, they are a middling set; + The _musico_ is but a cracked old basin, + But, being qualified in one way yet, + May the seraglio do to set his face in,[ef] + And as a servant some preferment get; + His singing I no further trust can place in: + From all the Pope[254] makes yearly 't would perplex + To find three perfect pipes of the _third_ sex. + + LXXXVII. + + "The tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation; + And for the bass, the beast can only bellow-- + In fact, he had no singing education, + An ignorant, noteless, timeless, tuneless fellow; + But being the prima donna's near relation, + Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow, + They hired him, though to hear him you'd believe + An ass was practising recitative. + + LXXXVIII. + + "'T would not become myself to dwell upon + My own merits, and though young--I see, Sir--you + Have got a travelled air, which speaks you one + To whom the opera is by no means new: + You've heard of Raucocanti?--I'm the man; + The time may come when you may hear me too; + You was[255] not last year at the fair of Lugo, + But next, when I'm engaged to sing there--do go. + + LXXXIX. + + "Our baritone I almost had forgot, + A pretty lad, but bursting with conceit; + With graceful action, science not a jot, + A voice of no great compass, and not sweet, + He always is complaining of his lot, + Forsooth, scarce fit for ballads in the street; + In lovers' parts his passion more to breathe, + Having no heart to show, he shows his teeth."[eg] + + XC. + + Here Raucocanti's eloquent recital + Was interrupted by the pirate crew, + Who came at stated moments to invite all + The captives back to their sad berths; each threw + A rueful glance upon the waves, (which bright all + From the blue skies derived a double blue, + Dancing all free and happy in the sun,) + And then went down the hatchway one by one. + + XCI. + + They heard next day--that in the Dardanelles, + Waiting for his Sublimity's firman,[256] + The most imperative of sovereign spells, + Which everybody does without who can, + More to secure them in their naval cells, + Lady to lady, well as man to man, + Were to be chained and lotted out per couple, + For the slave market of Constantinople. + + XCII. + + It seems when this allotment was made out, + There chanced to be an odd male, and odd female, + Who (after some discussion and some doubt, + If the soprano might be deemed to be male, + They placed him o'er the women as a scout) + Were linked together, and it happened the male + Was Juan,--who, an awkward thing at his age, + Paired off with a Bacchante blooming visage. + + XCIII. + + With Raucocanti lucklessly was chained + The tenor; these two hated with a hate + Found only on the stage, and each more pained + With this his tuneful neighbour than his fate; + Sad strife arose, for they were so cross-grained, + Instead of bearing up without debate, + That each pulled different ways with many an oath, + "Arcades ambo," _id est_--blackguards both.[eh] + + XCIV. + + Juan's companion was a Romagnole, + But bred within the march of old Ancona, + With eyes that looked into the very soul + (And other chief points of a _bella donna_), + Bright--and as black and burning as a coal; + And through her clear brunette complexion shone a + Great wish to please--a most attractive dower, + Especially when added to the power. + + XCV. + + But all that power was wasted upon him, + For Sorrow o'er each sense held stern command; + Her eye might flash on his, but found it dim: + And though thus chained, as natural her hand + Touched his, nor that--nor any handsome limb + (And she had some not easy to withstand) + Could stir his pulse, or make his faith feel brittle; + Perhaps his recent wounds might help a little. + + XCVI. + + No matter; we should ne'er too much inquire, + But facts are facts: no Knight could be more true, + And firmer faith no Ladye-love desire; + We will omit the proofs, save one or two: + 'T is said no one in hand "can hold a fire + By thought of frosty Caucasus"[257]--but few, + I really think--yet Juan's then ordeal + Was more triumphant, and not much less real. + + XCVII. + + Here I might enter on a chaste description, + Having withstood temptation in my youth,[ei] + But hear that several people take exception + At the first two books having too much truth; + Therefore I'll make Don Juan leave the ship soon, + Because the publisher declares, in sooth, + Through needles' eyes it easier for the camel is + To pass, than those two cantos into families. + + XCVIII. + + 'T is all the same to me; I'm fond of yielding, + And therefore leave them to the purer page + Of Smollett, Prior, Ariosto, Fielding, + Who say strange things for so correct an age;[258] + I once had great alacrity in wielding + My pen, and liked poetic war to wage, + And recollect the time when all this cant + Would have provoked remarks--which now it shan't. + + XCIX. + + As boys love rows, my boyhood liked a squabble; + But at this hour I wish to part in peace, + Leaving such to the literary rabble; + Whether my verse's fame be doomed to cease + While the right hand which wrote it still is able, + Or of some centuries to take a lease, + The grass upon my grave will grow as long, + And sigh to midnight winds, but not to song. + + C. + + Of poets who come down to us through distance + Of time and tongues, the foster-babes of Fame, + Life seems the smallest portion of existence; + Where twenty ages gather o'er a name, + 'T is as a snowball which derives assistance + From every flake, and yet rolls on the same, + Even till an iceberg it may chance to grow; + But, after all, 't is nothing but cold snow. + + CI. + + And so great names are nothing more than nominal, + And love of Glory's but an airy lust, + Too often in its fury overcoming all + Who would as 't were identify their dust + From out the wide destruction, which, entombing all, + Leaves nothing till "the coming of the just"-- + Save change: I've stood upon Achilles' tomb, + And heard Troy doubted;[259] Time will doubt of Rome. + + CII. + + The very generations of the dead + Are swept away, and tomb inherits tomb, + Until the memory of an Age is fled, + And, buried, sinks beneath its offspring's doom: + Where are the epitaphs our fathers read? + Save a few gleaned from the sepulchral gloom + Which once-named myriads nameless lie beneath, + And lose their own in universal Death. + + CIII. + + I canter by the spot each afternoon + Where perished in his fame the hero-boy, + Who lived too long for men, but died too soon + For human vanity, the young De Foix! + A broken pillar, not uncouthly hewn, + But which Neglect is hastening to destroy, + Records Ravenna's carnage on its face, + While weeds and ordure rankle round the base.[260] + + CIV. + + I pass each day where Dante's bones are laid:[261] + A little cupola, more neat than solemn, + Protects his dust, but reverence here is paid[ej] + To the Bard's tomb, and not the Warrior's column: + The time must come, when both alike decayed, + The Chieftain's trophy, and the Poet's volume, + Will sink where lie the songs and wars of earth, + Before Pelides' death, or Homer's birth. + + CV. + + With human blood that column was cemented, + With human filth that column is defiled, + As if the peasant's coarse contempt were vented + To show his loathing of the spot he soiled:[ek] + Thus is the trophy used, and thus lamented + Should ever be those blood-hounds, from whose wild + Instinct of gore and glory Earth has known + Those sufferings Dante saw in Hell alone.[el] + + CVI. + + Yet there will still be bards: though Fame is smoke, + Its fumes are frankincense to human thought; + And the unquiet feelings, which first woke + Song in the world, will seek what then they sought;[em] + As on the beach the waves at last are broke, + Thus to their extreme verge the passions brought + Dash into poetry, which is but Passion, + Or, at least, was so ere it grew a fashion. + + CVII. + + If in the course of such a life as was + At once adventurous and contemplative, + Men who partake all passions as they pass, + Acquire the deep and bitter power to give[en] + Their images again as in a glass, + And in such colours that they seem to live; + You may do right forbidding them to show 'em, + But spoil (I think) a very pretty poem.[262] + + CVIII. + + Oh! ye, who make the fortunes of all books! + Benign Ceruleans of the second sex! + Who advertise new poems by your looks, + Your "Imprimatur" will ye not annex? + What! must I go to the oblivious cooks,[eo] + Those Cornish plunderers of Parnassian wrecks? + Ah! must I then the only minstrel be, + Proscribed from tasting your Castalian tea![263] + + CIX. + + What! can I prove "a lion" then no more? + A ball-room bard, a foolscap, hot-press darling? + To bear the compliments of many a bore, + And sigh, "I can't get out," like Yorick's starling;[264] + Why then I'll swear, as poet Wordy swore + (Because the world won't read him, always snarling), + That Taste is gone, that Fame is but a lottery, + Drawn by the blue-coat misses of a coterie.[265] + + CX. + + Oh! "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue,"[266] + As some one somewhere sings about the sky, + And I, ye learned ladies, say of you; + They say your stockings are so--(Heaven knows why, + I have examined few pair of that hue); + Blue as the garters which serenely lie + Round the Patrician left-legs, which adorn + The festal midnight, and the levee morn.[ep] + + CXI. + + Yet some of you are most seraphic creatures-- + But times are altered since, a rhyming lover, + You read my stanzas, and I read your features: + And--but no matter, all those things are over; + Still I have no dislike to learned natures, + For sometimes such a world of virtues cover; + I knew one woman of that purple school, + The loveliest, chastest, best, but--quite a fool.[267] + + CXIII. + + Humboldt, "the first of travellers," but not + The last, if late accounts be accurate, + Invented, by some name I have forgot, + As well as the sublime discovery's date, + An airy instrument, with which he sought + To ascertain the atmospheric state, + By measuring "the _intensity of blue:_"[268] + Oh, Lady Daphne! let me measure you![eq] + + CXIII. + + But to the narrative:--The vessel bound + With slaves to sell off in the capital, + After the usual process, might be found + At anchor under the seraglio wall; + Her cargo, from the plague being safe and sound, + Were landed in the market,[269] one and all; + And, there, with Georgians, Russians, and Circassians, + Bought up for different purposes and passions. + + CXIV. + + Some went off dearly; fifteen hundred dollars + For one Circassian, a sweet girl, were given, + Warranted virgin; Beauty's brightest colours + Had decked her out in all the hues of heaven: + Her sale sent home some disappointed bawlers, + Who bade on till the hundreds reached eleven; + But when the offer went beyond, they knew + 'T was for the Sultan, and at once withdrew. + + CXV. + + Twelve negresses from Nubia brought a price + Which the West Indian market scarce could bring-- + Though Wilberforce, at last, has made it twice + What 't was ere Abolition; and the thing + Need not seem very wonderful, for Vice + Is always much more splendid than a King: + The Virtues, even the most exalted, Charity, + Are saving--Vice spares nothing for a rarity. + + CXVI. + + But for the destiny of this young troop, + How some were bought by Pachas, some by Jews, + How some to burdens were obliged to stoop, + And others rose to the command of crews + As renegadoes; while in hapless group, + Hoping no very old Vizier might choose, + The females stood, as one by one they picked 'em, + To make a mistress, or fourth wife, or victim:[er] + + CXVII. + + All this must be reserved for further song; + Also our Hero's lot, howe'er unpleasant + (Because this Canto has become too long),[es] + Must be postponed discreetly for the present; + I'm sensible redundancy is wrong, + But could not for the Muse of me put less in 't: + And now delay the progress of Don Juan, + Till what is called in Ossian the fifth Duan. + +Written Nov. 1819. Copied January, 1820. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{183}[230] + + ["Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down, + Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King." + +_Paradise Lost_, iv. 40, 41.] + +[231] + + ["Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy, + And shuts up all the passages of joy: + In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour, + The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r; + With listless eyes the dotard views the store, + He views, and wonders that they please no more." + +Johnson's _Vanity of Human Wishes._] + +{184}[232] + + [" ... my May of Life + Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf." + +_Macbeth_, act v. sc. 3, lines 22, 23.] + +[dh] _Itself to that fit apathy whose deed._--[MS.] + +[di] _First in the icy depths of Lethe's spring._--[MS.] + +[233] [See "Introduction to the _Morgante Maggiore_," _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 280.] + +[dj] _Pulci being Father_--.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +{185}[234] ["Cum canerem reges et praelia, Cynthius aurem Vellit, et +admonuit." Virgil, _Ecl._ vi. lines 3, 4.] + +{186}[dk] + ---- _from its mother's knee_ + _When its last weaning draught is drained for ever_, + _The child divided--it were less to see_, + _Than these two from each other torn apart_.--[MS.] + +[235] [See Herodotus (_Cleobis and Biton_), i. 31. The sentiment is in a +fragment of Menander. + + [Greek: O)/n oi( theoi\ philou~sin a)pothne)skei ne/os] + or + [Greek: O)/n ga\r philei~ theo\s a)pothne)skei ne/os.] + +_Menandri at Philomenis reliquiae_, edidit Augustus Meineke, p. 48. + +See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 22, note 1. Byron applied the saying to +Allegra in a letter to Sir Walter Scott, dated May 4, 1822, _Letters_, +1901, vi. 57.] + +[236] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza xcvi. line 7. Compare, +too, Young's _Night Thoughts_ ("The Complaint," Night I. ed. 1825, p. +5)] + +{187}[237] [Compare Swift's "little language" in his letter to Stella: +_Podefar_, for instance, which is supposed to stand for "Poor dear +foolish rogue," and Ppt., which meant "Poor pretty thing."--See _The +Journal of Stella_, edited by G.A. Aitken, 1901, xxxv. note 1, and +"Journal: March, 1710-11," 165, note 2.] + +[dl] + _For theirs were buoyant spirits, which would bound_ + '_Gainst common failings, etc_.--[MS.] + +{188}[238] [The reference may be to Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_, which, to +Medwin's wonderment, "delighted" Byron (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 264). +De Quincy's _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_ appeared in the +_London Magazine_, October, November, 1821, after Cantos III., IV., V., +of _Don Juan_ were published. But, perhaps, he was contrasting the +"simpler blisses" of Juan and Haidee with Shelley's mystical affinities +and divagations.] + +[dm] _---- had set their hearts a bleeding._--[MS.] + +{190}[239] + + ["The shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, + I better brook than flourishing peopled towns: + There can I sit alone, unseen of any, + And to the nightingale's complaining notes + Tune my distresses, and record, my woes." + +_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, act v. sc. 4, lines 2-6.] + +{191}[dn] _Called social, where all Vice and Hatred are._--[MS.] + +[do] _Moved with her dream----._--[MS.] + +[dp] + _Strange state of being!--for 't is still to be--_ + _And who can know all false what then we see?_--[MS.] + +{192}[240] [Compare the description of the "spacious cave," in _The +Island_, Canto IV. lines 121, _sq., Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 629, +note 1.] + +[dq]---- _methought_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +{195}[241] [The reader will observe a curious mark of propinquity which +the poet notices, with respect to the hands of the father and daughter. +Lord Byron, we suspect, is indebted for the first hint of this to Ali +Pacha, who, by the bye, is the original of Lambro; for, when his +lordship was introduced, with his friend Hobhouse, to that agreeable +mannered tyrant, the Vizier said that he knew he was the _Megalos +Anthropos_ (i.e. the great Man), by the smallness of his ears and +hands.--Galt. See Byron's letter to his mother, November 12, 1809, +_Letters_, 1898, i. 251.] + +[dr] + _And if_ I _did my duty as_ thou _hast_, + _This hour were thine, and thy young minions last_.--[MS.] + +{196}[ds] _Till further orders should his doom assign_.--[MS.] + +[dt] _Loving and loved_--.--[MS.] + +{197}[du] + _But thou, sweet fury of the fiery rill,_ + _Makest on the liver a still worse attack;_ + _Besides, thy price is something dearer still_.--[MS.] + +[242] ["As squire Sullen says, '\My head aches consumedly,' 'Scrub, +bring me a dram!' Drank some Imola wine, and some punch!"--_Extracts +from a Diary_, February 25, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 209. For rack or +"arrack" punch, see Thackeray's _Vanity Fair, A Novel without a Hero_, +chap. vi. ed. 1892, p. 44.] + +{198}[243] ["At Fas [Fez] the houses of the great and wealthy have, +within-side, spacious courts, adorned with sumptuous galleries, +fountains, basons of fine marble, and fish-ponds, shaded with orange, +lemon, pomegranate, and fig trees, abounding with fruit, and ornamented +with roses, hyacinths, jasmine, violets, and orange flowers, emitting a +delectable fragrance."--_Account of the Empire of Marocco and Suez_, by +James Grey Jackson, 1811, pp. 69, 70.] + +[dv] + _Beauty and Passion were the natural dower_ + _Of Haidee's mother, but her climate's force_ + _Lay at her heart, though sleeping at the source_. + or, _But in her large eye lay deep Passion's force_, + _Like to a lion sleeping by a source_. + or, _But in her large eye lay deep Passion's force_, + _As sleeps a lion by a river's source_.--[MS.] + +[244] [Compare _Manfred_, act iii. sc. 1, line 128, _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 125.] + +{199}[dw] + _The blood gushed from her lips, and ears, and eyes:_ + _Those eyes, so beautiful--beheld no more_.--[MS.] + +[245] This is no very uncommon effect of the violence of conflicting and +different passions. The Doge Francis Foscari, on his deposition in 1457, +hearing the bells of St. Mark announce the election of his successor, +"mourut subitement d'une hemorragie causee par une veine qui s'eclata +dans sa poitrine" [see Sismondi, 1815, x. 46, and Daru, 1821, ii. 536; +see, too, _The Two Foscari_, act v. sc. i, line 306, and Introduction to +the _Two Foscari_, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 118, 193], at the age of +eighty years, when "_Who would have thought the old man had so much +blood in him?_" (_Macbeth_, act v. sc. 1, lines 34-36.) Before I was +sixteen years of age I was witness to a melancholy instance of the same +effect of mixed passions upon a young person, who, however, did not die +in consequence, at that time, but fell a victim some years afterwards to +a seizure of the same kind, arising from causes intimately connected +with agitation of mind. + +{200}[246] [The view of the Venus of Medici instantly suggests the lines +in the "Seasons" [the description of "Musidora bathing" in _Summer_]-- + + " ... With wild surprise, + As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, + A stupid moment motionless she stood: + So stands the statue that enchants the world." + +Hobhouse. + +A still closer parallel to this stanza, and to _Childe Harold_, Canto +IV. stanzas xlix., cxl., cxli., clx., clxi., is to be found in Thomson's +_Liberty_, pt. iv. lines 131-206, where the "Farnese Hercules," the +"Dying Gladiator," the "Venus of Medici," and the "Laocoon" group, are +commemorated as typical works of art.] + +[dx] _Distinct from life, as being still the same_.--[MS.] + +{202}[dy] _--working slow._--[MS.] + +[dz] _Have dawned a child of beauty, though of sin._--[MS.] + +[247] + + [" ... Duncan is in his grave: + After life's fitful fever he sleeps well." + +_Macbeth_, act iii. sc. 2., lines 22, 23.] + +{203}[ea] + _No stone is there to read, nor tongue to say_, + _No dirge--save when arise the stormy seas_.--[MS.] + +[248] ["But now I am cabined, cribbed," etc. _Macbeth_, act iii. sc. 4, +line 24.] + +{204}[249] [Jacob Bryant (1715-1804) published his _Dissertation +concerning the War of Troy, etc._, in 1796. See _The Bride of Abydos_, +Canto II. lines 510, sq., _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 179, note 1. See, +too, _Extracts from a Diary_, January 11, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 165, +166, "I have stood upon that plain [of Troy] _daily_, for more than a +month, in 1810; and if anything diminished my pleasure, it was that the +blackguard Bryant had impugned its veracity." Hobhouse, in his _Travels +in Albania_, 1858, ii. 93, sq., discusses at length the identity of the +barrows of the Troad with the _tumuli_ of Achilles, Ajax, and +Protesilaus, and refutes Bryant's arguments against the identity of Cape +Janissary and the Sigean promontory. + +[eb] + / who alive perhaps \ +_All heroes_ < >--[MS. Alternative reading.] + \ if still alive / + + + +[ec] + / _and mountain-bounded \ +---- < > plain_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + \ _and mountain-outlined / + +[250] ["The whole region was, in a manner, in possession of the +_Salsette's_ crew, parties of whom, in their white summer dresses, might +be seen scattered over the plains collecting the tortoises, which swarm +on the sides of the rivulets, and are found under every +furze-bush."--_Travels in Albania_, 1858, ii. 116. See, too, for mention +of "hundreds of tortoises" falling "from the overhanging branches, and +thick underwood," into the waters of the Mender, _Travels, etc._, by +E.D. Clarke, 1812, Part II. sect. i. p. 96.] + +[ed]---- _and land tortoise crawls_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +{205}[ee] --_their learned researches bear_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +[251] This is a fact. A few years ago a man engaged a company for some +foreign theatre, embarked them at an Italian port, and carrying them to +Algiers, sold them all. One of the women, returned from her captivity, I +heard sing, by a strange coincidence, in Rossini's opera of _L'Italiana +in Algieri_, at Venice, in the beginning of 1817. + +[We have reason to believe that the following, which we take from the +MS. journal of a highly respectable traveller, is a more correct +account: "In 1812 a Signor Guariglia induced several young persons of +both sexes--none of them exceeding fifteen years of age--to accompany +him on an operatic excursion; part to form the opera, and part the +ballet. He contrived to get them on board a vessel, which took them to +Janina, where he sold them for the basest purposes. Some died from the +effect of the climate, and some from suffering. Among the few who +returned were a Signor Molinari, and a female dancer named Bonfiglia, +who afterwards became the wife of Crespi, the tenor singer. The wretch +who so basely sold them was, when Lord Byron resided at Venice, employed +as _capo de' vestarj_, or head tailor, at the Fenice."--Maria Graham +(Lady Callcot). Ed. 1832.] + +{206}[252] [A comic singer in the _opera buffa_. The Italians, however, +distinguish the _buffo cantante_, which requires good singing, from the +_buffo comico_, in which there is more acting.--Ed. 1832.] + +{207}[253] [The figuranti are those dancers of a ballet who do not dance +singly, but many together, and serve to fill up the background during +the exhibition of individual performers. They correspond to the chorus +in the opera.--Maria Graham.] + +[ef] _To help the ladies in their dress and lacing_.--[MS.] + +[254] It is strange that it should be the Pope and the Sultan, who are +the chief encouragers of this branch of trade--women being prohibited as +singers at St. Peter's, and not deemed trustworthy as guardians of the +harem. + +["Scarcely a soul of them can read. Pacchierotti was one of the best +informed of the _castrati_ ... Marchesi is so grossly ignorant that he +wrote the word opera, _opperra_, but Nature has been so bountiful to the +animal, that his ignorance and insolence were forgotten the moment he +sang."--_Venice, etc._, by a Lady of Rank, 1824, ii. 86.] + +{208}[255] [The N. Engl. Dict. cites Bunyan, Walpole, Fielding, Miss +Austen, and Dickens as authorities for the plural "was." See art. "be." +Here, as elsewhere, Byron wrote as he spoke.] + +[eg] _He never shows his feelings, but his teeth_.--[MS. Alternative +reading.] + +[256] ["Our firman arrived from Constantinople on the 30th of April +(1810)."--Travels in Albania, 1858, ii. 186.] + +{209}[eh] + _That each pulled, different ways--and waxing rough_, + _Had cuffed each other, only for the cuff_.--[MS.] + +{210}[257] + + ["O, who can hold a fire in his hand, + By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?" + +_Richard II.,_ act i. sc. 3, lines 294, 295.] + +[ei] _Having had some experience in my youth_.--[MS. erased.] + +[258] ["_Don Juan_ will be known, _by and by_, for what it is +intended--a Satire on abuses in the present states of society, and not +an eulogy of vice. It may be now and then voluptuous:--I can't help +that. Ariosto is worse. Smollett (see Lord Strutwell in vol. 2^nd^ of +_R_[_oderick_] _R_[_andom_][1793, pp. 119-127]) ten times worse; and +Fielding no better."--Letter to Murray, December 25, 1822, _Letters_, +1901, vi. 155, 156.] + +{211}[259] [Vide ante, p. 204, note 1. "It seems hardly to admit of +doubt, that the plain of Anatolia, watered by the Mender, and backed by +a mountainous ridge, of which Kazdaghy is the summit, offers the precise +territory alluded to by Homer. The long controversy, excited by Mr. +Bryant's publication, and since so vehemently agitated, would probably +never have existed, had it not been for the erroneous maps of the +country which, even to this hour, disgrace our geographical knowledge of +that part of Asia."--_Travels, etc._, by E.D. Clarke, 1812, Part II. +sect, i. p. 78.] + +{212}[260] The pillar which records the battle of Ravenna is about two +miles from the city, on the opposite side of the river to the road +towards Forli. Gaston de Foix [(1489-1512) Duc de Nemours, nephew of +Louis XII.], who gained the battle, was killed in it: there fell on both +sides twenty thousand men. The present state of the pillar and its site +is described in the text. + +[Beyond the Porta Sisi, about two miles from Ravenna, on the banks of +the Ronco, is a square pillar (_La Colonna de Francesi_), erected in +1557 by Pietro Cesi, president of Romagna, as a memorial of the battle +gained by the combined army of Louis XII. and the Duke of Ferrara over +the troops of Julius II. and the King of Spain, April 11 +1512.--_Handbook of Northern Italy_, p. 548.] + +[261] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza lvii. line i, _Poetical +Works_, 1899, ii. 371, note i. See, too, Preface to the _Prophecy of +Dante, ibid_., iv. 243.] + +[ej] _Protects his tomb, but greater care is paid_.--[MS.] + +{213}[ek] + _With human ordure is it now defiled_, + _As if the peasant's scorn this mode invented_ + _To show his loathing of the thing he soiled_.--[MS.] + +[el] _Those sufferings once reserved for Hell alone._--[MS.] + +[em] + _Its fumes are frankincense; and were there nought_ + _Even of this vapour, still the chilling yoke_ + _Of silence would not long be borne by Thought_.--[MS.] + +[en] + _I have drunk deep of passions as they pass,_ + _And dearly bought the bitter power to give_.--[MS.] + +[262] [See, for instance, Wilson's review of _Don Juan_, in _Blackwood's +Edinburgh Magazine_, August, 1819, vol. v. p. 512, _sq._: "To confess +... to his Maker, and to weep over in secret agonies the wildest and +most fantastic transgressions of heart and mind, is the part of a +conscious sinner, in whom sin has not become the sole principle of life +and action.... But to lay bare to the eye of man--and of _woman_--all +the hidden convulsions of a wicked spirit," etc.] + +{214}[eo] + _What! must I go with Wordy to the cooks?_ + _Read--were it but your Grandmother's to vex--_ + _And let me not the only minstrel be_ + _Cut off from tasting your Castalian tea_.--[MS.] + +[263] [Compare-- + + "I leave them to their daily 'tea is ready,' + Snug coterie, and literary lady." + +_Beppo_, stanza lxxvi. lines 7, 8, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 184, +note.] + +[264] [The caged starling, by its repeated cry, "I can't get out! I +can't get out!" cured Yorick of his sentimental yearnings for +imprisonment in the Bastille. See Sterne's _Sentimental Journey_, ed. +1804, pp. 100-106.] + +[265] [In his _Essay, Supplement to the Preface_ (_Poems by William +Wordsworth_, ed. 1820, iii. 315-348), Wordsworth maintains that the +appreciation of great poetry is a plant of slow growth, that immediate +recognition is a mark of inferiority, or is to be accounted for by the +presence of adventitious qualities: "So strange, indeed, are the +obliquities of admiration, that they whose opinions are much influenced +by authority will often be tempted to think that there are no fixed +principles in human nature for this art to rest upon.... Away, then, +with the senseless iteration of the word _popular!_ ... The voice that +issues from this spirit [of human knowledge] is that _Vox Populi_ which +the Deity inspires. Foolish must he be who can mistake for this a local +acclamation, or a transitory outcry--transitory though it be for years, +local though from a Nation. Still more lamentable is his error who can +believe that there is anything of divine infallibility in this clamour +of that small though loud portion of the community ever governed by +factitious influence, which under the name of the PUBLIC, passes itself +upon the unthinking for the PEOPLE." Naturally enough Byron regarded +this pronouncement as a taunt if not as a challenge. Wordsworth's noble +appeal from a provincial to an imperial authority, from the present to +the future, is not strengthened by the obvious reference to the +popularity of contemporaries.] + +{215}[266] [Southey's _Madoc in Wales, Poetical Works_, Part I. Canto V. +Ed. 1838, v. 39.] + +[ep] + _Not having looked at many of that hue,_ + _Nor garters--save those of the_ "honi soit"--_which lie_ + _Round the Patrician legs which walk about,_ + _The ornaments of levee and of rout_.--[M.S.] + +[267] [Probably Lady Charlemont. See "Journal," November 22, 1813.] + +{216}[268] [The cyanometer, an instrument for ascertaining the intensity +of the blue colour of the sky, was invented by Horace Benedict de +Saussure (1740-1799); see his _Essai sur l'Hygrometrie_. F.H. Alexander +von Humboldt (1769-1859) "made great use of his instrument on his +voyages, and ascertained by the colour the degree of blueness, the +accumulation and the nature of the non-transparent exhalations of the +air."--_Alexander von Humboldt_, by Professor Klencke, translated by +Juliette Bauer, 1852, pp. 45, 46.] + +[eq] + _I'll back a London_ "Bas" _against Peru_. + or, _I'll bet some pair of stocking beat Peru_. + or, _And so, old Sotheby, we'll measure you_.--[MS.] + +[269] ["The slave-market is a quadrangle, surrounded by a covered +gallery, and ranges of small and separate apartments." Here the poor +wretches sit in a melancholy posture. "Before they cheapen 'em, they +turn 'em about from this side to that, survey 'em from top to bottom.... +Such of 'em, both men and women, to whom Dame Nature has been niggardly +of her charms, are set apart for the vilest services: but such girls as +have youth and beauty pass their time well enough.... The retailers of +this human ware are the Jews, who take good care of their slaves' +education, that they may sell the better: their choicest they keep at +home, and there you must go, if you would have better than ordinary; for +'tis here, as 'tis in markets for horses, the handsomest don't always +appear, but are kept within doors."--_A Voyage into the Levant_, by M. +Tournefort, 1741, ii. 198, 199. See, too, for the description of the +sale of two Circassians and one Georgian, _Voyage de Vienne a Belgrade_, +... par N.E. Kleeman, 1780, pp. 141, 142. The "lowest offer for the +prize Circassian was 4000 piastres."] + +[er] + _The females stood, till chosen each as victim_ + _To the soft oath of "Ana seing Siktum!"_[*]--[MS.] + +[[*]If the Turkish words are correctly given, "the oath" may be an +imprecation on "your mother's" chastity.] + +[es] _For fear the Canto should become too long._--[MS.] + + + + + CANTO THE FIFTH.[270] + + I. + + WHEN amatory poets sing their loves + In liquid lines mellifluously bland, + And pair their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves, + They little think what mischief is in hand; + The greater their success the worse it proves, + As Ovid's verse may give to understand; + Even Petrarch's self, if judged with due severity, + Is the Platonic pimp of all posterity. + + II. + + I therefore do denounce all amorous writing, + Except in such a way as not to attract; + Plain--simple--short, and by no means inviting, + But with a moral to each error tacked, + Formed rather for instructing than delighting, + And with all passions in their turn attacked; + Now, if my Pegasus should not be shod ill, + This poem will become a moral model. + + III. + + The European with the Asian shore + Sprinkled with palaces--the Ocean stream[271] + Here and there studded with a seventy-four, + Sophia's Cupola with golden gleam,[272] + The cypress groves, Olympus high and hoar, + The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream, + Far less describe, present the very view + Which charmed the charming Mary Montagu. + + IV. + + I have a passion for the name of "Mary,"[273] + For once it was a magic sound to me; + And still it half calls up the realms of Fairy, + Where I beheld what never was to be; + All feelings changed, but this was last to vary, + A spell from which even yet I am not quite free: + But I grow sad--and let a tale grow cold, + Which must not be pathetically told. + + V. + + The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave + Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades; + 'T is a grand sight from off "the Giant's Grave"[274] + To watch the progress of those rolling seas + Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave + Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease: + There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in, + Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine. + + VI. + + 'T was a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning, + When nights are equal, but not so the days; + The Parcae then cut short the further spinning + Of seamen's fates, and the loud tempests raise[et] + The waters, and repentance for past sinning + In all, who o'er the great deep take their ways: + They vow to amend their lives, and yet they don't; + Because if drowned, they can't--if spared, they won't. + + VII. + + A crowd of shivering slaves of every nation, + And age, and sex, were in the market ranged; + Each bevy with the merchant in his station: + Poor creatures! their good looks were sadly changed. + All save the blacks seemed jaded with vexation, + From friends, and home, and freedom far estranged; + The negroes more philosophy displayed,-- + Used to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flayed. + + VIII. + + Juan was juvenile, and thus was full, + As most at his age are, of hope, and health; + Yet I must own, he looked a little dull, + And now and then a tear stole down by stealth; + Perhaps his recent loss of blood might pull + His spirit down; and then the loss of wealth, + A mistress, and such comfortable quarters, + To be put up for auction amongst Tartars, + + IX. + + Were things to shake a Stoic; ne'ertheless, + Upon the whole his carriage was serene: + His figure, and the splendour of his dress, + Of which some gilded remnants still were seen, + Drew all eyes on him, giving them to guess + He was above the vulgar by his mien; + And then, though pale, he was so very handsome; + And then--they calculated on his ransom.[eu] + + X. + + Like a backgammon board the place was dotted + With whites and blacks, in groups on show for sale, + Though rather more irregularly spotted: + Some bought the jet, while others chose the pale. + It chanced amongst the other people lotted,[ev] + A man of thirty, rather stout and hale, + With resolution in his dark grey eye, + Next Juan stood, till some might choose to buy. + + XI. + + He had an English look; that is, was square + In make, of a complexion white and ruddy, + Good teeth, with curling rather dark brown hair, + And, it might be from thought, or toil, or study, + An open brow a little marked with care: + One arm had on a bandage rather bloody; + And there he stood with such _sang froid,_ that greater + Could scarce be shown even by a mere spectator. + + XII. + + But seeing at his elbow a mere lad, + Of a high spirit evidently, though + At present weighed down by a doom which had + O'erthrown even men, he soon began to show + A kind of blunt compassion for the sad + Lot of so young a partner in the woe, + Which for himself he seemed to deem no worse + Than any other scrape, a thing of course. + + XIII. + + "My boy!"--said he, "amidst this motley crew + Of Georgians, Russians, Nubians, and what not, + All ragamuffins differing but in hue, + With whom it is our luck to cast our lot, + The only gentlemen seem I and you; + So let us be acquainted, as we ought: + If I could yield you any consolation, + 'T would give me pleasure.--Pray, what is your nation?" + + XIV. + + When Juan answered--"Spanish!" he replied, + "I thought, in fact, you could not be a Greek; + Those servile dogs are not so proudly eyed: + Fortune has played you here a pretty freak, + But that's her way with all men, till they're tried; + But never mind,--she'll turn, perhaps, next week; + She has served me also much the same as you, + Except that I have found it nothing new." + + XV. + + "Pray, sir," said Juan, "if I may presume, + _What_ brought you here?"--"Oh! nothing very rare-- + Six Tartars and a drag-chain----"--"To this doom + But what conducted, if the question 's fair, + Is that which I would learn."--"I served for some + Months with the Russian army here and there; + And taking lately, by Suwarrow's bidding, + A town, was ta'en myself instead of Widdin."[275] + + XVI. + + "Have you no friends?"--"I had--but, by God's blessing, + Have not been troubled with them lately. Now + I have answered all your questions without pressing, + And you an equal courtesy should show." + "Alas!" said Juan, "'t were a tale distressing, + And long besides."--"Oh! if 't is really so, + You're right on both accounts to hold your tongue; + A sad tale saddens doubly when 't is long. + + XVII. + + "But droop not: Fortune at your time of life, + Although a female moderately fickle, + Will hardly leave you (as she's not your wife) + For any length of days in such a pickle. + To strive, too, with our fate were such a strife + As if the corn-sheaf should oppose the sickle: + Men are the sport of circumstances, when + The circumstances seem the sport of men." + + XVIII. + + "'T is not," said Juan, "for my present doom + I mourn, but for the past;--I loved a maid:"-- + He paused, and his dark eye grew full of gloom; + A single tear upon his eyelash staid + A moment, and then dropped; "but to resume, + 'Tis not my present lot, as I have said, + Which I deplore so much; for I have borne + Hardships which have the hardiest overworn, + + XIX. + + "On the rough deep. But this last blow--" and here + He stopped again, and turned away his face. + "Aye," quoth his friend, "I thought it would appear + That there had been a lady in the case; + And these are things which ask a tender tear, + Such as I, too, would shed if in your place: + I cried upon my first wife's dying day, + And also when my second ran away: + + XX. + + "My third----"--"Your third!" quoth Juan, turning round; + "You scarcely can be thirty: have you three?" + "No--only two at present above ground: + Surely 't is nothing wonderful to see + One person thrice in holy wedlock bound!" + "Well, then, your third," said Juan; "what did she? + She did not run away, too,--did she, sir?" + "No, faith."--"What then?"--"I ran away from her." + + XXI. + + "You take things coolly, sir," said Juan. "Why," + Replied the other, "what can a man do? + There still are many rainbows in your sky, + But mine have vanished. All, when Life is new, + Commence with feelings warm, and prospects high; + But Time strips our illusions of their hue, + And one by one in turn, some grand mistake + Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake. + + XXII. + + "'T is true, it gets another bright and fresh, + Or fresher, brighter; but the year gone through, + This skin must go the way, too, of all flesh, + Or sometimes only wear a week or two;-- + Love's the first net which spreads its deadly mesh; + Ambition, Avarice, Vengeance, Glory, glue + The glittering lime-twigs of our latter days, + Where still we flutter on for pence or praise." + + XXIII. + + "All this is very fine, and may be true," + Said Juan; "but I really don't see how + It betters present times with me or you." + "No?" quoth the other; "yet you will allow + By setting things in their right point of view, + Knowledge, at least, is gained; for instance, now, + We know what slavery is, and our disasters + May teach us better to behave when masters." + + XXIV. + + "Would we were masters now, if but to try + Their present lessons on our Pagan friends here," + Said Juan,--swallowing a heart-burning sigh: + "Heaven help the scholar, whom his fortune sends here!" + "Perhaps we shall be one day, by and by," + Rejoined the other, "when our bad luck mends here; + Meantime (yon old black eunuch seems to eye us) + I wish to G--d that somebody would buy us. + + XXV. + + "But after all, what _is_ our present state? + 'T is bad, and may be better--all men's lot: + Most men are slaves, none more so than the great, + To their own whims and passions, and what not; + Society itself, which should create + Kindness, destroys what little we had got: + To feel for none is the true social art + Of the world's Stoics--men without a heart." + + XXVI. + + Just now a black old neutral personage + Of the third sex stepped up, and peering over + The captives seemed to mark their looks and age, + And capabilities, as to discover + If they were fitted for the purposed cage: + No lady e'er is ogled by a lover, + Horse by a blackleg, broadcloth by a tailor, + Fee by a counsel, felon by a jailor, + + XXVII. + + As is a slave by his intended bidder. + 'T is pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures; + And all are to be sold, if you consider + Their passions, and are dext'rous; some by features + Are bought up, others by a warlike leader, + Some by a place--as tend their years or natures: + The most by ready cash--but all have prices, + From crowns to kicks, according to their vices. + + XXVIII. + + The eunuch, having eyed them o'er with care, + Turned to the merchant, and began to bid + First but for one, and after for the pair; + They haggled, wrangled, swore, too--so they did! + As though they were in a mere Christian fair, + Cheapening an ox, an ass, a lamb, or kid; + So that their bargain sounded like a battle + For this superior yoke of human cattle. + + XXIX. + + At last they settled into simple grumbling, + And pulling out reluctant purses, and + Turning each piece of silver o'er, and tumbling + Some down, and weighing others in their hand, + And by mistake sequins[276] with paras jumbling, + Until the sum was accurately scanned, + And then the merchant giving change, and signing + Receipts in full, began to think of dining. + + XXX. + + I wonder if his appetite was good? + Or, if it were, if also his digestion? + Methinks at meals some odd thoughts might intrude, + And Conscience ask a curious sort of question, + About the right divine how far we should + Sell flesh and blood. When dinner has oppressed one, + I think it is perhaps the gloomiest hour + Which turns up out of the sad twenty-four. + + XXXI. + + Voltaire says "No:" he tells you that Candide + Found life most tolerable after meals;[277] + He's wrong--unless man were a pig, indeed, + Repletion rather adds to what he feels, + Unless he's drunk, and then no doubt he's freed + From his own brain's oppression while it reels. + Of food I think with Philip's son[278] or rather + Ammon's (ill pleased with one world and one father);[ew] + + XXXII. + + I think with Alexander, that the act + Of eating, with another act or two, + Makes us feel our mortality in fact + Redoubled; when a roast and a ragout, + And fish, and soup, by some side dishes backed, + Can give us either pain or pleasure, who + Would pique himself on intellects, whose use + Depends so much upon the gastric juice? + + XXXIII. + + The other evening ('t was on Friday last)-- + This is a fact, and no poetic fable-- + Just as my great coat was about me cast, + My hat and gloves still lying on the table, + I heard a shot--'t was eight o'clock scarce past-- + And, running out as fast as I was able,[279] + I found the military commandant + Stretched in the street, and able scarce to pant. + + XXXIV. + + Poor fellow! for some reason, surely bad, + They had slain him with five slugs; and left him there + To perish on the pavement: so I had + Him borne into the house and up the stair, + And stripped, and looked to[ex]----But why should I add + More circumstances? vain was every care; + The man was gone--in some Italian quarrel + Killed by five bullets from an old gun-barrel. + + XXXV. + + I gazed upon him, for I knew him well; + And though I have seen many corpses, never + Saw one, whom such an accident befell, + So calm; though pierced through stomach, heart, and liver, + He seemed to sleep,--for you could scarcely tell + (As he bled inwardly, no hideous river + Of gore divulged the cause) that he was dead: + So as I gazed on him, I thought or said-- + + XXXVI. + + "Can this be Death? then what is Life or Death? + Speak!" but he spoke not: "wake!" but still he slept:-- + "But yesterday and who had mightier breath? + A thousand warriors by his word were kept + In awe: he said, as the Centurion saith, + 'Go,' and he goeth; 'come,' and forth he stepped. + The trump and bugle till he spake were dumb-- + And now nought left him but the muffled drum."[ey] + + XXXVII. + + And they who waited once and worshipped--they + With their rough faces thronged about the bed + To gaze once more on the commanding clay + Which for the last, though not the first, time bled; + And such an end! that he who many a day + Had faced Napoleon's foes until they fled,-- + The foremost in the charge or in the sally, + Should now be butchered in a civic alley. + + XXXVIII. + + The scars of his old wounds were near his new, + Those honourable scars which brought him fame; + And horrid was the contrast to the view---- + But let me quit the theme; as such things claim + Perhaps even more attention than is due + From me: I gazed (as oft I have gazed the same) + To try if I could wrench aught out of Death + Which should confirm, or shake, or make a faith; + + XXXIX. + + But it was all a mystery. Here we are, + And there we go:--but _where_? five bits of lead, + Or three, or two, or one, send very far! + And is this blood, then, formed but to be shed? + Can every element our elements mar? + And Air--Earth--Water--Fire live--and we dead? + _We_, whose minds comprehend all things? No more; + But let us to the story as before. + + XL. + + The purchaser of Juan and acquaintance + Bore off his bargains to a gilded boat, + Embarked himself and them, and off they went thence + As fast as oars could pull and water float; + They looked like persons being led to sentence, + Wondering what next, till the caique[280] was brought + Up in a little creek below a wall + O'ertopped with cypresses, dark-green and tall. + + XLI. + + Here their conductor tapping at the wicket + Of a small iron door, 't was opened, and + He led them onward, first through a low thicket + Flanked by large groves, which towered on either hand: + They almost lost their way, and had to pick it-- + For night was closing ere they came to land. + The eunuch made a sign to those on board, + Who rowed off, leaving them without a word. + + XLII. + + As they were plodding on their winding way + Through orange bowers, and jasmine, and so forth: + (Of which I might have a good deal to say, + There being no such profusion in the North + Of oriental plants, _et cetera_, + But that of late your scribblers think it worth + Their while to rear whole hotbeds in _their_ works, + Because _one_ poet travelled 'mongst the Turks:)[281] + + XLIII. + + As they were threading on their way, there came + Into Don Juan's head a thought, which he + Whispered to his companion:--'t was the same + Which might have then occurred to you or me. + "Methinks,"--said he,--"it would be no great shame + If we should strike a stroke to set us free; + Let's knock that old black fellow on the head, + And march away--'t were easier done than said." + + XLIV. + + "Yes," said the other, "and when done, what then? + _How_ get out? how the devil got we in? + And when we once were fairly out, and when + From Saint Bartholomew we have saved our skin,[282][ez] + To-morrow'd see us in some other den, + And worse off than we hitherto have been; + Besides, I'm hungry, and just now would take, + Like Esau, for my birthright a beef-steak. + + XLV. + + "We must be near some place of man's abode;-- + For the old negro's confidence in creeping, + With his two captives, by so queer a road, + Shows that he thinks his friends have not been sleeping; + A single cry would bring them all abroad: + 'T is better therefore looking before leaping-- + And there, you see, this turn has brought us through, + By Jove, a noble palace!--lighted too." + + XLVI. + + It was indeed a wide extensive building + Which opened on their view, and o'er the front + There seemed to be besprent a deal of gilding + And various hues, as is the Turkish wont,-- + A gaudy taste; for they are little skilled in + The arts of which these lands were once the font: + Each villa on the Bosphorus looks a screen + New painted, or a pretty opera-scene.[283] + + XLVII. + + And nearer as they came, a genial savour + Of certain stews, and roast-meats, and pilaus, + Things which in hungry mortals' eyes find favour, + Made Juan in his harsh intentions pause, + And put himself upon his good behaviour: + His friend, too, adding a new saving clause, + Said, "In Heaven's name let's get some supper now, + And then I'm with you, if you're for a row." + + XLVIII. + + Some talk of an appeal unto some passion, + Some to men's feelings, others to their reason; + The last of these was never much the fashion, + For Reason thinks all reasoning out of season: + Some speakers whine, and others lay the lash on, + But more or less continue still to tease on, + With arguments according to their "forte:" + But no one ever dreams of being short.-- + + XLIX. + + But I digress: of all appeals,--although + I grant the power of pathos, and of gold, + Of beauty, flattery, threats, a shilling,--no + Method's more sure at moments to take hold[fa] + Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow + More tender, as we every day behold, + Than that all-softening, overpowering knell, + The Tocsin of the Soul--the dinner-bell. + + L. + + Turkey contains no bells, and yet men dine; + And Juan and his friend, albeit they heard + No Christian knoll to table, saw no line + Of lackeys usher to the feast prepared, + Yet smelt roast-meat, beheld a huge fire shine, + And cooks in motion with their clean arms bared, + And gazed around them to the left and right, + With the prophetic eye of appetite. + + LI. + + And giving up all notions of resistance, + They followed close behind their sable guide, + Who little thought that his own cracked existence + Was on the point of being set aside: + He motioned them to stop at some small distance, + And knocking at the gate, 't was opened wide, + And a magnificent large hall displayed + The Asian pomp of Ottoman parade. + + LII. + + I won't describe; description is my "forte," + But every fool describes in these bright days + His wondrous journey to some foreign court, + And spawns his quarto, and demands your praise-- + Death to his publisher, to him 't is sport; + While Nature, tortured twenty thousand ways, + Resigns herself with exemplary patience + To guide-books, rhymes, tours, sketches, illustrations.[284] + + LIII. + + Along this hall, and up and down, some, squatted + Upon their hams, were occupied at chess; + Others in monosyllable talk chatted, + And some seemed much in love with their own dress; + And divers smoked superb pipes decorated + With amber mouths of greater price or less; + And several strutted, others slept, and some + Prepared for supper with a glass of rum.[285] + + LIV. + + As the black eunuch entered with his brace + Of purchased Infidels, some raised their eyes + A moment, without slackening from their pace; + But those who sate ne'er stirred in any wise: + One or two stared the captives in the face, + Just as one views a horse to guess his price; + Some nodded to the negro from their station, + But no one troubled him with conversation.[286] + + LV. + + He leads them through the hall, and, without stopping, + On through a farther range of goodly rooms, + Splendid, but silent, save in _one_, where dropping[287] + A marble fountain echoes through the glooms + Of night which robe the chamber, or where popping + Some female head most curiously presumes + To thrust its black eyes through the door or lattice, + As wondering what the _devil_ noise that is! + + LVI. + + Some faint lamps gleaming from the lofty walls + Gave light enough to hint their farther way, + But not enough to show the imperial halls + In all the flashing of their full array; + Perhaps there's nothing--I'll not say appals, + But saddens more by night as well as day, + Than an enormous room without a soul[288] + To break the lifeless splendour of the whole. + + LVII. + + Two or three seem so little, _one_ seems nothing: + In deserts, forests, crowds, or by the shore, + _There_ Solitude, we know, has her full growth in + The spots which were her realms for evermore; + But in a mighty hall or gallery, both in + More modern buildings and those built of yore, + A kind of Death comes o'er us all alone, + Seeing what's meant for many with but one. + + LVIII. + + A neat, snug study on a winter's night,[fb] + A book, friend, single lady, or a glass + Of claret, sandwich, and an appetite, + Are things which make an English evening pass-- + Though _certes_ by no means so grand a sight + As is a theatre lit up by gas-- + _I_ pass my evenings in long galleries solely,[fc][289] + And that's the reason I'm so melancholy. + + LIX. + + Alas! Man makes that great which makes him little-- + I grant you in a church 't is very well: + What speaks of Heaven should by no means be brittle, + But strong and lasting, till no tongue can tell + Their names who reared it; but huge houses fit ill, + And huge tombs, worse, Mankind--since Adam fell: + Methinks the story of the tower of Babel + Might teach them this much better than I'm able. + + LX. + + Babel was Nimrod's hunting-box, and then + A town of gardens, walls, and wealth amazing, + Where Nabuchadonosor,[290] King of men, + Reigned, till one summer's day he took to grazing, + And Daniel tamed the lions in their den, + The people's awe and admiration raising; + 'T was famous, too, for Thisbe and for Pyramus,[291] + And the calumniated queen Semiramis-- + + LXI. + + That injured Queen, by chroniclers[292] so coarse, + Has been accused (I doubt not by conspiracy) + Of an improper friendship for her horse + (Love, like Religion, sometimes runs to heresy): + This monstrous tale had probably its source + (For such exaggerations here and there I see) + In writing "Courser" by mistake for "Courier:"[fd] + I wish the case could come before a jury here.[293] + + LXII. + + But to resume,--should there be (what may not + Be in these days?) some infidels, who don't, + Because they can't find out the very spot + Of that same Babel, or because they won't + (Though Claudius Rich, Esquire, some bricks has got, + And written lately two memoirs upon't),[294] + Believe the Jews, those unbelievers, who + Must be believed, though they believe not you: + + LXIII. + + Yet let them think that Horace has expressed + Shortly and sweetly the masonic folly + Of those, forgetting the great place of rest, + Who give themselves to Architecture wholly; + We know where things and men must end at best: + A moral (like all morals) melancholy, + And "Et sepulchri immemor struis domos" + Shows that we build when we should but entomb us. + + LXIV. + + At last they reached a quarter most retired, + Where Echo woke as if from a long slumber; + Though full of all things which could be desired, + One wondered what to do with such a number + Of articles which nobody required; + Here Wealth had done its utmost to encumber + With furniture an exquisite apartment, + Which puzzled Nature much to know what Art meant. + + LXV. + + It seemed, however, but to open on + A range or suite of further chambers, which + Might lead to Heaven knows where; but in this one + The moveables were prodigally rich: + Sofas 't was half a sin to sit upon, + So costly were they; carpets every stitch + Of workmanship so rare, they made you wish + You could glide o'er them like a golden fish. + + LXVI. + + The black, however, without hardly deigning + A glance at that which wrapped the slaves in wonder, + Trampled what they scarce trod for fear of staining, + As if the milky way their feet was under + With all its stars; and with a stretch attaining + A certain press or cupboard niched in yonder, + In that remote recess which you may see-- + Or if you don't the fault is not in me,-- + + LXVII. + + I wish to be perspicuous--and the black, + I say, unlocking the recess, pulled forth + A quantity of clothes fit for the back + Of any Mussulman, whate'er his worth: + And of variety there was no lack-- + And yet, though I have said there was no dearth,-- + He chose himself to point out what he thought + Most proper for the Christians he had bought. + + LXVIII. + + The suit he thought most suitable to each + Was, for the elder and the stouter, first + A Candiote cloak, which to the knee might reach, + And trousers not so tight that they would burst, + But such as fit an Asiatic breech; + A shawl, whose folds in Cashmire had been nursed, + Slippers of saffron, dagger rich and handy; + In short, all things which form a Turkish Dandy. + + LXIX. + + While he was dressing, Baba, their black friend, + Hinted the vast advantages which they + Might probably attain both in the end, + If they would but pursue the proper way + Which Fortune plainly seemed to recommend; + And then he added, that he needs must say, + "'T would greatly tend to better their condition, + If they would condescend to circumcision. + + LXX. + + "For his own part, he really should rejoice + To see them true believers, but no less + Would leave his proposition to their choice." + The other, thanking him for this excess + Of goodness, in thus leaving them a voice + In such a trifle, scarcely could express + "Sufficiently" (he said) "his approbation + Of all the customs of this polished nation. + + LXXI. + + "For his own share--he saw but small objection + To so respectable an ancient rite; + And, after swallowing down a slight refection, + For which he owned a present appetite, + He doubted not a few hours of reflection + Would reconcile him to the business quite." + "Will it?" said Juan, sharply: "Strike me dead, + But they as soon shall circumcise my head![fe] + + LXXII. + + "Cut off a thousand heads, before----"--"Now, pray," + Replied the other, "do not interrupt: + You put me out in what I had to say. + Sir!--as I said, as soon as I have supped, + I shall perpend if your proposal may + Be such as I can properly accept; + Provided always your great goodness still + Remits the matter to our own free-will." + + LXXIII. + + Baba eyed Juan, and said, "Be so good + As dress yourself--" and pointed out a suit + In which a Princess with great pleasure would + Array her limbs; but Juan standing mute, + As not being in a masquerading mood, + Gave it a slight kick with his Christian foot; + And when the old negro told him to "Get ready," + Replied, "Old gentleman, I'm not a lady." + + LXXIV. + + "What you may be, I neither know nor care," + Said Baba; "but pray do as I desire: + I have no more time nor many words to spare." + "At least," said Juan, "sure I may inquire + The cause of this odd travesty?"--"Forbear," + Said Baba, "to be curious; 't will transpire, + No doubt, in proper place, and time, and season: + I have no authority to tell the reason." + + LXXV. + + "Then if I do," said Juan, "I'll be----"--"Hold!" + Rejoined the negro, "pray be not provoking; + This spirit's well, but it may wax too bold, + And you will find us not too fond of joking." + "What, sir!" said Juan, "shall it e'er be told + That I unsexed my dress?" But Baba, stroking + The things down, said, "Incense me, and I call + Those who will leave you of no sex at all. + + LXXVI. + + "I offer you a handsome suit of clothes: + A woman's, true; but then there is a cause + Why you should wear them."--"What, though my soul loathes + The effeminate garb?"--thus, after a short pause, + Sighed Juan, muttering also some slight oaths, + "What the devil shall I do with all this gauze?" + Thus he profanely termed the finest lace + Which e'er set off a marriage-morning face. + + LXXVII. + + And then he swore; and, sighing, on he slipped + A pair of trousers of flesh-coloured silk;[ff] + Next with a virgin zone he was equipped, + Which girt a slight chemise as white as milk; + But tugging on his petticoat, he tripped, + Which--as we say--or as the Scotch say, _whilk_.[295] + (The rhyme obliges me to this; sometimes + Monarchs are less imperative than rhymes)--[fg] + + LXXVIII. + + Whilk, which (or what you please), was owing to + His garment's novelty, and his being awkward: + And yet at last he managed to get through + His toilet, though no doubt a little backward: + The negro Baba helped a little too, + When some untoward part of raiment stuck hard; + And, wrestling both his arms into a gown, + He paused, and took a survey up and down. + + LXXIX. + + One difficulty still remained--his hair + Was hardly long enough; but Baba found + So many false long tresses all to spare, + That soon his head was most completely crowned, + After the manner then in fashion there; + And this addition with such gems was bound + As suited the _ensemble_ of his toilet, + While Baba made him comb his head and oil it. + + LXXX. + + And now being femininely all arrayed, + With some small aid from scissors, paint, and tweezers, + He looked in almost all respects a maid,[fh] + And Baba smilingly exclaimed, "You see, sirs, + A perfect transformation here displayed; + And now, then, you must come along with me, sirs, + That is--the Lady:" clapping his hands twice, + Four blacks were at his elbow in a trice. + + LXXXI. + + "You, sir," said Baba, nodding to the one, + "Will please to accompany those gentlemen + To supper; but you, worthy Christian nun, + Will follow me: no trifling, sir; for when + I say a thing, it must at once be done. + What fear you? think you this a lion's den? + Why, 't is a palace; where the truly wise + Anticipate the Prophet's paradise. + + LXXXII. + + "You fool! I tell you no one means you harm." + "So much the better," Juan said, "for them; + Else they shall feel the weight of this my arm, + Which is not quite so light as you may deem. + I yield thus far; but soon will break the charm, + If any take me for that which I seem: + So that I trust for every body's sake, + That this disguise may lead to no mistake." + + LXXXIII. + + "Blockhead! come on, and see," quoth Baba; while + Don Juan, turning to his comrade, who + Though somewhat grieved, could scarce forbear a smile + Upon the metamorphosis in view,-- + "Farewell!" they mutually exclaimed: "this soil + Seems fertile in adventures strange and new; + One's turned half Mussulman, and one a maid, + By this old black enchanter's unsought aid." + + LXXXIV. + + "Farewell!" said Juan: "should we meet no more, + I wish you a good appetite."--"Farewell!" + Replied the other; "though it grieves me sore: + When we next meet, we'll have a tale to tell: + We needs must follow when Fate puts from shore. + Keep your good name; though Eve herself once fell." + "Nay," quoth the maid, "the Sultan's self shan't carry me, + Unless his Highness promises to marry me." + + LXXXV. + + And thus they parted, each by separate doors; + Baba led Juan onward, room by room, + Through glittering galleries, and o'er marble floors, + Till a gigantic portal through the gloom, + Haughty and huge, along the distance lowers; + And wafted far arose a rich perfume: + It seemed as though they came upon a shrine, + For all was vast, still, fragrant, and divine. + + LXXXVI. + + The giant door was broad, and bright, and high, + Of gilded bronze, and carved in curious guise; + Warriors thereon were battling furiously; + Here stalks the victor, there the vanquished lies; + There captives led in triumph droop the eye, + And in perspective many a squadron flies: + It seems the work of times before the line + Of Rome transplanted fell with Constantine. + + LXXXVII. + + This massy portal stood at the wide close + Of a huge hall, and on its either side + Two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose, + Were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied + In mockery to the enormous gate which rose + O'er them in almost pyramidic pride: + The gate so splendid was in all its _features_,[296] + You never thought about those little creatures, + + LXXXVIII. + + Until you nearly trod on them, and then + You started back in horror to survey + The wondrous hideousness of those small men, + Whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey, + But an extraneous mixture, which no pen + Can trace, although perhaps the pencil may; + They were mis-shapen pigmies, deaf and dumb-- + Monsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum. + + LXXXIX. + + Their duty was--for they were strong, and though + They looked so little, did strong things at times-- + To ope this door, which they could really do, + The hinges being as smooth as Rogers' rhymes; + And now and then, with tough strings of the bow, + As is the custom of those Eastern climes, + To give some rebel Pacha a cravat-- + For mutes are generally used for that. + + XC. + + They spoke by signs--that is, not spoke at all; + And looking like two Incubi, they glared + As Baba with his fingers made them fall + To heaving back the portal folds: it scared + Juan a moment, as this pair so small, + With shrinking serpent optics on him stared;[297] + It was as if their little looks could poison + Or fascinate whome'er they fixed their eyes on. + + XCI. + + Before they entered, Baba paused to hint + To Juan some slight lessons as his guide: + "If you could just contrive," he said, "to stint + That somewhat manly majesty of stride, + 'T would be as well, and--(though there's not much in 't) + To swing a little less from side to side, + Which has at times an aspect of the oddest;-- + And also could you look a little modest, + + XCII. + + "'T would be convenient; for these mutes have eyes + Like needles, which may pierce those petticoats; + And if they should discover your disguise, + You know how near us the deep Bosphorus floats; + And you and I may chance, ere morning rise, + To find our way to Marmora without boats, + Stitched up in sacks--a mode of navigation + A good deal practised here upon occasion."[298] + + XCIII. + + With this encouragement he led the way + Into a room still nobler than the last; + A rich confusion formed a disarray + In such sort, that the eye along it cast + Could hardly carry anything away, + Object on object flashed so bright and fast; + A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter, + Magnificently mingled in a litter. + + XCIV. + + Wealth had done wonders--taste not much; such things + Occur in Orient palaces, and even + In the more chastened domes of Western kings + (Of which I have also seen some six or seven), + Where I can't say or gold or diamond flings + Great lustre, there is much to be forgiven; + Groups of bad statues, tables, chairs, and pictures, + On which I cannot pause to make my strictures. + + XCV. + + In this imperial hall, at distance lay + Under a canopy, and there reclined + Quite in a confidential queenly way, + A lady; Baba stopped, and kneeling signed + To Juan, who though not much used to pray, + Knelt down by instinct, wondering in his mind + What all this meant: while Baba bowed and bended + His head, until the ceremony ended. + + XCVI. + + The lady rising up with such an air + As Venus rose with from the wave, on them + Bent like an antelope a Paphian pair[fi] + Of eyes, which put out each surrounding gem; + And raising up an arm as moonlight fair, + She signed to Baba, who first kissed the hem + Of her deep purple robe, and, speaking low, + Pointed to Juan who remained below. + + XCVII. + + Her presence was as lofty as her state; + Her beauty of that overpowering kind, + Whose force Description only would abate: + I'd rather leave it much to your own mind, + Than lessen it by what I could relate + Of forms and features; it would strike you blind + Could I do justice to the full detail; + So, luckily for both, my phrases fail. + + XCVIII. + + Thus much however I may add,--her years + Were ripe, they might make six-and-twenty springs, + But there are forms which Time to touch forbears, + And turns aside his scythe to vulgar things:[fj] + Such as was Mary's, Queen of Scots; true--tears + And Love destroy; and sapping Sorrow wrings + Charms from the charmer, yet some never grow + Ugly; for instance--Ninon de l'Enclos.[299] + + XCIX. + + She spake some words to her attendants, who + Composed a choir of girls, ten or a dozen, + And were all clad alike; like Juan, too, + Who wore their uniform, by Baba chosen: + They formed a very nymph-like looking crew,[300] + Which might have called Diana's chorus "cousin," + As far as outward show may correspond-- + I won't be bail for anything beyond. + + C. + + They bowed obeisance and withdrew, retiring, + But not by the same door through which came in + Baba and Juan, which last stood admiring, + At some small distance, all he saw within + This strange saloon, much fitted for inspiring + Marvel and praise; for both or none things win; + And I must say, I ne'er could see the very + Great happiness of the "Nil admirari."[301] + + CI. + + "Not to admire is all the art I know + (Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)-- + To make men happy, or to keep them so" + (So take it in the very words of Creech)-- + Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago; + And thus Pope[302] quotes the precept to re-teach + From his translation; but had _none admired_, + Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?[303] + + CII. + + Baba, when all the damsels were withdrawn, + Motioned to Juan to approach, and then + A second time desired him to kneel down, + And kiss the lady's foot; which maxim when + He heard repeated, Juan with a frown + Drew himself up to his full height again, + And said, "It grieved him, but he could not stoop + To any shoe, unless it shod the Pope." + + CII. + + Baba, indignant at this ill-timed pride, + Made fierce remonstrances, and then a threat + He muttered (but the last was given aside) + About a bow-string--quite in vain; not yet + Would Juan bend, though 't were to Mahomet's bride: + There's nothing in the world like _etiquette_ + In kingly chambers or imperial halls, + As also at the Race and County Balls. + + CIV. + + He stood like Atlas, with a world of words + About his ears, and nathless would not bend; + The blood of all his line's Castilian lords + Boiled in his veins, and, rather than descend + To stain his pedigree, a thousand swords + A thousand times of him had made an end; + At length perceiving the "_foot_" could not stand, + Baba proposed that he should kiss the hand, + + CV. + + Here was an honourable compromise, + A half-way house of diplomatic rest, + Where they might meet in much more peaceful guise; + And Juan now his willingness expressed + To use all fit and proper courtesies, + Adding, that this was commonest and best, + For through the South, the custom still commands + The gentleman to kiss the lady's hands. + + CVI. + + And he advanced, though with but a bad grace, + Though on more _thorough-bred_[304] or fairer fingers + No lips e'er left their transitory trace: + On such as these the lip too fondly lingers, + And for one kiss would fain imprint a brace, + As you will see, if she you love shall bring hers + In contact; and sometimes even a fair stranger's + An almost twelvemonth's constancy endangers. + + CVII. + + The lady eyed him o'er and o'er, and bade + Baba retire, which he obeyed in style, + As if well used to the retreating trade; + And taking hints in good part all the while, + He whispered Juan not to be afraid, + And looking on him with a sort of smile, + Took leave, with such a face of satisfaction, + As good men wear who have done a virtuous action. + + CVIII. + + When he was gone, there was a sudden change: + I know not what might be the lady's thought, + But o'er her bright brow flashed a tumult strange, + And into her clear cheek the blood was brought, + Blood-red as sunset summer clouds which range + The verge of Heaven; and in her large eyes wrought, + A mixture of sensations might be scanned, + Of half voluptuousness and half command. + + CIX. + + Her form had all the softness of her sex, + Her features all the sweetness of the Devil, + When he put on the Cherub to perplex[305] + Eve, and paved (God knows how) the road to evil; + The Sun himself was scarce more free from specks + Than she from aught at which the eye could cavil; + Yet, somehow, there was something somewhere wanting, + As if she rather _ordered_ than was _granting_.-- + + CX. + + Something imperial, or imperious, threw + A chain o'er all she did; that is, a chain + Was thrown as 't were about the neck of you,-- + And Rapture's self will seem almost a pain + With aught which looks like despotism in view; + Our souls at least are free, and 't is in vain + We would against them make the flesh obey-- + The spirit in the end will have its way. + + CXI. + + Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet; + Her very nod was not an inclination; + There was a self-will even in her small feet, + As though they were quite conscious of her station-- + They trod as upon necks; and to complete + Her state (it is the custom of her nation), + A poniard decked her girdle, as the sign + She was a Sultan's bride (thank Heaven, not mine!). + + CXII. + + "To hear and to obey" had been from birth + The law of all around her; to fulfil + All phantasies which yielded joy or mirth, + Had been her slaves' chief pleasure, as her will; + Her blood was high, her beauty scarce of earth: + Judge, then, if her caprices e'er stood still; + Had she but been a Christian, I've a notion + We should have found out the "perpetual motion." + + CXIII. + + Whate'er she saw and coveted was brought; + Whate'er she did _not_ see, if she supposed + It might be seen, with diligence was sought, + And when 't was found straightway the bargain closed: + There was no end unto the things she bought, + Nor to the trouble which her fancies caused; + Yet even her tyranny had such a grace, + The women pardoned all except her face.[fk] + + CXIV. + + Juan, the latest of her whims, had caught + Her eye in passing on his way to sale; + She ordered him directly to be bought, + And Baba, who had ne'er been known to fail + In any kind of mischief to be wrought, + At all such auctions knew how to prevail:[fl] + She had no prudence, but he had--and this + Explains the garb which Juan took amiss. + + CXV. + + His youth and features favoured the disguise, + And should you ask how she, a Sultan's bride, + Could risk or compass such strange phantasies, + This I must leave sultanas to decide: + Emperors are only husbands in wives' eyes, + And kings and consorts oft are mystified,[fm] + As we may ascertain with due precision, + Some by experience, others by tradition. + + CXVI. + + But to the main point, where we have been tending:-- + She now conceived all difficulties past, + And deemed herself extremely condescending + When, being made her property at last, + Without more preface, in her blue eyes blending + Passion and power, a glance on him she cast, + And merely saying, "Christian, canst thou love?" + Conceived that phrase was quite enough to move. + + CXVII. + + And so it was, in proper time and place; + But Juan, who had still his mind o'erflowing + With Haidee's isle and soft Ionian face, + Felt the warm blood, which in his face was glowing + Rush back upon his heart, which filled apace, + And left his cheeks as pale as snowdrops blowing: + These words went through his soul like Arab spears,[306] + So that he spoke not, but burst into tears. + + CXVIII. + + She was a good deal shocked; not shocked at tears, + For women shed and use them at their liking; + But there is something when man's eye appears + Wet, still more disagreeable and striking: + A woman's tear-drop melts, a man's half sears, + Like molten lead, as if you thrust a pike in + His heart to force it out, for (to be shorter) + To them 't is a relief, to us a torture. + + CXIX. + + And she would have consoled, but knew not how: + Having no equals, nothing which had e'er + Infected her with sympathy till now, + And never having dreamt what 't was to bear + Aught of a serious, sorrowing kind, although + There might arise some pouting petty care + To cross her brow, she wondered how so near + Her eyes another's eye could shed a tear. + + CXX. + + But Nature teaches more than power can spoil,[fn] + And, when a strong although a strange sensation + Moves--female hearts are such a genial soil + For kinder feelings, whatso'er their nation, + They naturally pour the "wine and oil," + Samaritans in every situation; + And thus Gulbeyaz, though she knew not why, + Felt an odd glistening moisture in her eye. + + CXXI. + + But tears must stop like all things else; and soon + Juan, who for an instant had been moved + To such a sorrow by the intrusive tone + Of one who dared to ask if "he _had_ loved," + Called back the Stoic to his eyes, which shone + Bright with the very weakness he reproved; + And although sensitive to beauty, he + Felt most indignant still at not being free. + + CXXII. + + Gulbeyaz, for the first time in her days, + Was much embarrassed, never having met + In all her life with aught save prayers and praise; + And as she also risked her life to get + Him whom she meant to tutor in love's ways + Into a comfortable tete-a-tete, + To lose the hour would make her quite a martyr, + And they had wasted now almost a quarter. + + CXXIII. + + I also would suggest the fitting time + To gentlemen in any such like case, + That is to say in a meridian clime-- + With us there is more law given to the chase, + But here a small delay forms a great crime: + So recollect that the extremest grace + Is just two minutes for your declaration-- + A moment more would hurt your reputation. + + CXXIV. + + Juan's was good; and might have been still better, + But he had got Haidee into his head: + However strange, he could not yet forget her, + Which made him seem exceedingly ill-bred. + Gulbeyaz, who looked on him as her debtor + For having had him to her palace led, + Began to blush up to the eyes, and then + Grow deadly pale, and then blush back again. + + CXXV. + + At length, in an imperial way, she laid + Her hand on his, and bending on him eyes + Which needed not an empire to persuade, + Looked into his for love, where none replies: + Her brow grew black, but she would not upbraid, + That being the last thing a proud woman tries; + She rose, and pausing one chaste moment threw + Herself upon his breast, and there she grew. + + CXXVI. + + This was an awkward test, as Juan found, + But he was steeled by Sorrow, Wrath, and Pride: + With gentle force her white arms he unwound, + And seated her all drooping by his side, + Then rising haughtily he glanced around, + And looking coldly in her face he cried, + "The prisoned eagle will not pair, nor I + Serve a Sultana's sensual phantasy. + + CXXVII. + + "Thou ask'st, if I can love? be this the proof + How much I _have_ loved--that I love not _thee!_ + In this vile garb, the distaff, web, and woof, + Were fitter for me: Love is for the free! + I am not dazzled by this splendid roof; + Whate'er thy power, and great it seems to be, + Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch around a throne, + And hands obey--our hearts are still our own." + + CXXVIII. + + This was a truth to us extremely trite; + Not so to her, who ne'er had heard such things: + She deemed her least command must yield delight, + Earth being only made for Queens and Kings. + If hearts lay on the left side or the right + She hardly knew, to such perfection brings + Legitimacy its born votaries, when + Aware of their due royal rights o'er men. + + CXXIX. + + Besides, as has been said, she was so fair + As even in a much humbler lot had made + A kingdom or confusion anywhere, + And also, as may be presumed, she laid + Some stress on charms, which seldom are, if e'er, + By their possessors thrown into the shade: + She thought hers gave a double "right divine;" + And half of that opinion's also mine. + + CXXX. + + Remember, or (if you can not) imagine, + Ye! who have kept your chastity when young, + While some more desperate dowager has been waging + Love with you, and been in the dog-days stung[fo] + By your refusal, recollect her raging! + Or recollect all that was said or sung + On such a subject; then suppose the face + Of a young downright beauty in this case! + + CXXXI. + + Suppose,--but you already have supposed, + The spouse of Potiphar, the Lady Booby,[307] + Phaedra,[308] and all which story has disclosed + Of good examples; pity that so few by + Poets and private tutors are exposed,[fp] + To educate--ye youth of Europe--you by! + But when you have supposed the few we know, + You can't suppose Gulbeyaz' angry brow. + + CXXXII. + + A tigress robbed of young, a lioness, + Or any interesting beast of prey, + Are similes at hand for the distress + Of ladies who can _not_ have their own way; + But though my turn will not be served with less, + These don't express one half what I should say: + For what is stealing young ones, few or many, + To cutting short their hope of having _any?_ + + CXXXIII. + + The love of offspring's Nature's general law, + From tigresses and cubs to ducks and ducklings; + There's nothing whets the beak, or arms the claw + Like an invasion of their babes and sucklings; + And all who have seen a human nursery, saw + How mothers love their children's squalls and chucklings: + This strong extreme effect (to tire no longer + Your patience) shows the cause must still be stronger.[fq] + + CXXXIV. + + If I said fire flashed from Gulbeyaz' eyes, + 'T were nothing--for her eyes flashed always fire; + Or said her cheeks assumed the deepest dyes, + I should but bring disgrace upon the dyer, + So supernatural was her passion's rise; + For ne'er till now she knew a checked desire: + Even ye who know what a checked woman is + (Enough, God knows!) would much fall short of this. + + CXXXV. + + Her rage was but a minute's, and 't was well-- + A moment's more had slain her; but the while + It lasted 't was like a short glimpse of Hell: + Nought's more sublime than energetic bile, + Though horrible to see, yet grand to tell, + Like Ocean warring 'gainst a rocky isle; + And the deep passions flashing through her form + Made her a beautiful embodied storm. + + CXXXVI. + + A vulgar tempest 't were to a typhoon + To match a common fury with her rage, + And yet she did not want to reach the moon,[309] + Like moderate Hotspur on the immortal page;[fr] + Her anger pitched into a lower tune, + Perhaps the fault of her soft sex and age-- + Her wish was but to "kill, kill, kill," like Lear's,[310] + And then her thirst of blood was quenched in tears. + + CXXXVII. + + A storm it raged, and like the storm it passed, + Passed without words--in fact she could not speak; + And then her sex's shame[311] broke in at last, + A sentiment till then in her but weak, + But now it flowed in natural and fast, + As water through an unexpected leak; + For she felt humbled--and humiliation + Is sometimes good for people in her station. + + CXXXVIII. + + It teaches them that they are flesh and blood, + It also gently hints to them that others, + Although of clay, are yet not quite of mud; + That urns and pipkins are but fragile brothers, + And works of the same pottery, bad or good, + Though not all born of the same sires and mothers; + It teaches--Heaven knows only what it teaches, + But sometimes it may mend, and often reaches. + + CXXXIX. + + Her first thought was to cut off Juan's head; + Her second, to cut only his--acquaintance; + Her third, to ask him where he had been bred; + Her fourth, to rally him into repentance; + Her fifth, to call her maids and go to bed; + Her sixth, to stab herself; her seventh, to sentence + The lash to Baba:--but her grand resource + Was to sit down again, and cry--of course. + + CXL. + + She thought to stab herself, but then she had + The dagger close at hand, which made it awkward; + For Eastern stays are little made to pad, + So that a poniard pierces if 't is struck hard: + She thought of killing Juan--but, poor lad! + Though he deserved it well for being so backward, + The cutting off his head was not the art + Most likely to attain her aim--his heart. + + CXLI. + + Juan was moved: he had made up his mind + To be impaled, or quartered as a dish + For dogs, or to be slain with pangs refined, + Or thrown to lions, or made baits for fish, + And thus heroically stood resigned, + Rather than sin--except to his own wish: + But all his great preparatives for dying + Dissolved like snow before a woman crying. + + CXLII. + + As through his palms Bob Acres' valour oozed,[312] + So Juan's virtue ebbed, I know not how; + And first he wondered why he had refused; + And then, if matters could be made up now; + And next his savage virtue he accused, + Just as a friar may accuse his vow, + Or as a dame repents her of her oath, + Which mostly ends in some small breach of both. + + CXLIII. + + So he began to stammer some excuses; + But words are not enough in such a matter, + Although you borrowed all that e'er the Muses + Have sung, or even a Dandy's dandiest chatter, + Or all the figures Castlereagh abuses;[fs] + Just as a languid smile began to flatter + His peace was making, but, before he ventured + Further, old Baba rather briskly entered. + + CXLIV. + + "Bride of the Sun! and Sister of the Moon!" + ('T was thus he spake,) "and Empress of the Earth! + Whose frown would put the spheres all out of tune, + Whose smile makes all the planets dance with mirth, + Your slave brings tidings--he hopes not too soon-- + Which your sublime attention may be worth: + The Sun himself has sent me like a ray, + To hint that he is coming up this way." + + CXLV. + + "Is it," exclaimed Gulbeyaz, "as you say? + I wish to heaven he would not shine till morning! + But bid my women form the milky way. + Hence, my old comet! give the stars due warning--[ft] + And, Christian! mingle with them as you may, + And as you'd have me pardon your past scorning-----" + Here they were interrupted by a humming + Sound, and then by a cry, "The Sultan's coming!" + + CXLVI. + + First came her damsels, a decorous file, + And then his Highness' eunuchs, black and white; + The train might reach a quarter of a mile: + His Majesty was always so polite + As to announce his visits a long while + Before he came, especially at night; + For being the last wife of the Emperor, + She was of course the favourite of the four. + + CXLVII. + + His Highness was a man of solemn port, + Shawled to the nose, and bearded to the eyes, + Snatched from a prison to preside at court, + His lately bowstrung brother caused his rise; + He was as good a sovereign of the sort + As any mentioned in the histories + Of Cantemir, or Kn[-o]ll[)e]s, where few shine[fu] + Save Solyman, the glory of their line.[313] + + CXLVIII. + + He went to mosque in state, and said his prayers + With more than "Oriental scrupulosity;"[314] + He left to his vizier all state affairs, + And showed but little royal curiosity: + I know not if he had domestic cares-- + No process proved connubial animosity; + Four wives and twice five hundred maids, unseen, + Were ruled as calmly as a Christian queen.[fv] + + CXLIX. + + If now and then there happened a slight slip, + Little was heard of criminal or crime; + The story scarcely passed a single lip-- + The sack and sea had settled all in time, + From which the secret nobody could rip: + The public knew no more than does this rhyme; + No scandals made the daily press a curse-- + Morals were better, and the fish no worse.[fw] + + CL. + + He saw with his own eyes the moon was round, + Was also certain that the earth was square, + Because he had journeyed fifty miles, and found + No sign that it was circular anywhere;[fx] + His empire also was without a bound: + 'T is true, a little troubled here and there, + By rebel pachas, and encroaching giaours, + But then they never came to "the Seven Towers;"[315] + + CLI. + + Except in shape of envoys, who were sent + To lodge there when a war broke out, according + To the true law of nations, which ne'er meant + Those scoundrels, who have never had a sword in + Their dirty diplomatic hands, to vent + Their spleen in making strife, and safely wording + Their lies, yclept despatches, without risk or + The singeing of a single inky whisker. + + CLII. + + He had fifty daughters and four dozen sons, + Of whom all such as came of age were stowed, + The former in a palace, where like nuns + They lived till some Bashaw was sent abroad, + When she, whose turn it was, was wed at once, + Sometimes at six years old[316]--though this seems odd, + 'T is true; the reason is, that the Bashaw + Must make a present to his sire-in-law. + + CLIII. + + His sons were kept in prison, till they grew + Of years to fill a bowstring or the throne, + One or the other, but which of the two + Could yet be known unto the fates alone; + Meantime the education they went through + Was princely, as the proofs have always shown; + So that the heir apparent still was found + No less deserving to be hanged than crowned. + + CLIV. + + His Majesty saluted his fourth spouse + With all the ceremonies of his rank, + Who cleared her sparkling eyes and smoothed her brows, + As suits a matron who has played a prank; + These must seem doubly mindful of their vows, + To save the credit of their breaking bank: + To no men are such cordial greetings given + As those whose wives have made them fit for Heaven.[317] + + CLV. + + His Highness cast around his great black eyes, + And looking, as he always looked, perceived + Juan amongst the damsels in disguise, + At which he seemed no whit surprised nor grieved, + But just remarked with air sedate and wise,[fy] + While still a fluttering sigh Gulbeyaz heaved, + "I see you've bought another girl; 't is pity + That a mere Christian should be half so pretty." + + CLVI. + + This compliment, which drew all eyes upon + The new-bought virgin, made her blush and shake. + Her comrades, also, thought themselves undone: + Oh! Mahomet! that his Majesty should take + Such notice of a giaour, while scarce to one + Of them his lips imperial ever spake! + There was a general whisper, toss, and wriggle, + But etiquette forbade them all to giggle. + + CLVII. + + The Turks do well to shut--at least, sometimes-- + The women up--because, in sad reality, + Their chastity in these unhappy climes[fz] + Is not a thing of that astringent quality + Which in the North prevents precocious crimes, + And makes our snow less pure than our morality; + The Sun, which yearly melts the polar ice, + Has quite the contrary effect--on vice. + + CLVIII. + + Thus in the East they are extremely strict, + And wedlock and a padlock mean the same: + Excepting only when the former's picked + It ne'er can be replaced in proper frame; + Spoilt, as a pipe of claret is when pricked: + But then their own polygamy's to blame; + Why don't they knead two virtuous souls for life + Into that moral centaur, man and wife?[318] + + CLIX. + + Thus far our chronicle; and now we pause, + Though not for want of matter; but 't is time, + According to the ancient epic laws, + To slacken sail, and anchor with our rhyme. + Let this fifth canto meet with due applause, + The sixth shall have a touch of the sublime; + Meanwhile, as Homer sometimes sleeps, perhaps + You'll pardon to my muse a few short naps.[ga] + + +End of Canto 5^th^ Finished Ravenna, Nov. 27^th^ 1820. + Begun Oct. 16, 1820. + and finished copying out, Dec. 26. + with some intermediate additions, 1820. + B. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{218}[270] [Canto V. was begun at Ravenna, October the 16th, and +finished November the 20th, 1820. It was published August 8, 1821, +together with Cantos III. and IV.] + +[271] This expression of Homer has been much criticized. It hardly +answers to our Atlantic ideas of the ocean, but is sufficiently +applicable to the Hellespont, and the Bosphorus, with the Aegean +intersected with islands. + +[Vide Iliad, xiv. 245, etc. Homer's "ocean-stream" was not the +Hellespont, but the rim of waters which encircled the disk of the +world.] + +{219}[272] ["The pleasure of going in a barge to Chelsea is not +comparable to that of rowing upon the canal of the sea here, where, for +twenty miles together, down the Bosphorus, the most beautiful variety of +prospects present themselves. The Asian side is covered with fruit +trees, villages, and the most delightful landscapes in nature; on the +European stands Constantinople, situated on seven hills; showing an +agreeable mixture of gardens, pine and cypress trees, palaces, mosques, +and public buildings, raised one above another, with as much beauty and +appearance of symmetry as your ladyship ever saw in a cabinet adorned by +the most skilful hands, where jars show themselves above jars, mixed +with canisters, babies, and candlesticks. This is a very odd comparison: +but it gives me an exact idea of the thing."--See letter to Mr. Pope, +No. xl. June 17, 1717, and letter to the Countess of Bristol, No. xlvi. +n.d., _Letters of the Lady Mary Worthy Montagu,_ 1816, pp. 183-219. See, +too, letter to Mrs. Byron, June 28, 1810, _Letters,_ 1890, i. 280, +note 1.] + +[273] [For Byron's "Marys," see _Poetical Works,_ 1898, i. 192, note +2.] + +[274] The "Giant's Grave" is a height on the Asiatic shore of the +Bosphorus, much frequented by holiday parties; like Harrow and Highgate. + +["The Giant's Mountain, 650 feet high, is almost exactly opposite +Buyukdereh ... It is called by the Turks Yoshadagh, _Mountain of +Joshua,_ because the _Giant's Grave_ on the top is, according to the +Moslem legend, the grave of Joshua. The grave was formerly called the +_Couch of Hercules;_ but the classical story is that it was the tomb of +Amycus, king of the Bebryces [on his grave grew the _laurus insana_, a +branch of which caused strife (Plin., _Hist. Nat.,_ lib. xvi. cap. xliv. +ed. 1593, ii. 198)]. The grave is 20 feet long, and 5 feet broad; it is +within a stone enclosure, and is planted with flowers and +bushes."--_Handbook for Constantinople,_ p. 103.] + +{220}[et] + _For then the Parca are most busy spinning_ + _The fates of seamen, and the loud winds raise_.--[MS.] + +{221}[eu] + _That he a man of rank and birth had been_, + _And then they calculated on his ransom_, + _And last not least--he was so very handsome_.--[MS.] + +[ev] + _It chanced that near him, separately lotted_, + _From out the group of slaves put up for sale_, + _A man of middle age, and_----.--[MS.] + +{222}[275] [The object of Suwarof's campaign of 1789 was the conquest of +Belgrade and Servia, that of Wallachia by the Austrians, etc. Neither of +these plans succeeded."--_The Life of Field-Marshal Suwarof,_ by L.M.P. +Tranchant de Laverne, 1814, pp. 105, 106.] + +{226}[276] [The Turkish zecchino is a gold coin, worth about seven +shillings and sixpence. The para is not quite equal to an English +halfpenny.] + +[277] [Candide's increased satisfaction with life is implied in the +narrative. For example, in chap, xviii., where Candide visits +Eldorado:--"Never was there a better entertainment, and never was more +wit shown at table than that which fell from His Majesty. Cacambo +explained the king's _bons mots_ to Candide, and notwithstanding they +were translated, they still appeared _bons mots._" This was after +supper. See, too, Part II. chap, ii.] + +[278] See Plutarch in _Alex._, Q. Curt. _Hist. Alexand._, and Sir +Richard Clayton's "Critical Inquiry into the Life of Alexander the +Great," 1763 [from the _Examen Critique, etc._, of Guilhem de +Clermont-Lodeve, Baron de Sainte Croix, 1775.] + +["He used to say that sleep and the commerce with the sex were the +things that made him most sensible of his mortality, ... He was also +very temperate in eating."--Plutarch's _Alexander_, Langhorne, 1838, p. +473.] + +[ew] + _But for mere food, I think with Philip's son_, + _Or Ammon's--for two fathers claimed this one_.--[MS.] + +{227}[279] The assassination alluded to took place on the 8th of +December, 1820, in the streets of Ravenna, not a hundred paces from the +residence of the writer. The circumstances were as described. + +["December 9, 1820. I open my letter to tell you a fact, which will show +the state of this country better than I can. The commandant of the +troops is _now_ lying _dead_ in my house. He was shot at a little past +eight o'clock, about two hundred paces from my door. I was putting on my +great coat to visit Madame la Comtessa G., when I heard the shot. On +coming into the hall, I found all my servants on the balcony, exclaiming +that a man was murdered. I immediately ran down, calling on Tita (the +bravest of them) to follow me. The rest wanted to hinder us from going, +as it is the custom for everybody here, it seems, to run away from 'the +stricken deer.' ... we found him lying on his back, almost, if not +quite, dead, with five wounds; one in the heart, two in the stomach, one +in the finger, and the other in the arm. Some soldiers cocked their +guns, and wanted to hinder me from passing. However, we passed, and I +found Diego, the adjutant, crying over him like a child--a surgeon, who +said nothing of his profession--a priest, sobbing a frightened +prayer--and the commandant, all this time, on his back, on the hard, +cold pavement, without light or assistance, or anything around him but +confusion and dismay. As nobody could, or would, do anything but howl +and pray, and as no one would stir a finger to move him, for fear of +consequences, I lost my patience--made my servant and a couple of the +mob take up the body--sent off two soldiers to the guard--despatched +Diego to the Cardinal with the news, and had him carried upstairs into +my own quarters. But it was too late--he was gone.... I had him partly +stripped--made the surgeon examine him, and examined him myself. He had +been shot by cut balls or slugs. I felt one of the slugs, which had gone +through him, all but the skin.... He only said, 'O Dio!' and 'Gesu!' two +or three times, and appeared to have suffered little. Poor fellow! he +was a brave officer; but had made himself much disliked by the +people."--Letter to Moore, December 9, 1820, _Letters,_ 1901, v. 133. +The commandant's name was Del Pinto (_Life,_ p. 472).] + +[ex] + ---- _so I had_ + _Him borne, as soon's I could, up several pair_ + _Of stairs--and looked to,----But why should I add_ + _More circumstances?_----.--[MS.] + +[ey] _And now as silent as an unstrung drum_.--[MS.] + +{229}[280] The light and elegant wherries plying about the quays of +Constantinople are so called. + +{230}[281] [_Ilderim, a Syrian Tale_, by Henry Gally Knight, was +published in 1816; _Phrosyne, a Grecian Tale_, and _Alashtar, an Arabian +Tale_, in 1817. Moore's _Lalla Kookh_ also appeared in 1817.] + +[282] [St. Bartholomew was "discoriate, and flayed quick" (_Golden +Legend_, 1900, v. 43).] + +[ez] _We from impalement_----.--[MS.] + +{231}[283] "Many of the serai and summer-houses [on the Bosphorus] have +received these significant, or rather fantastic names: one is the Pearl +Pavilion; another is the Star Palace; a third the Mansion of +Looking-glasses."--_Travels in Albania_, 1858, ii. 243. + +{232}[fa] + _Of speeches, beauty, flattery--there is no_ + _Method more sure_----.--[MS.] + +{233}[284] [_Guide des Voyageurs_; _Directions for Travellers_, +etc.--_Rhymes, Incidental and Humorous_; _Rhyming Reminiscences_; +_Effusions in Rhyme_, etc.--Lady Morgan's _Tour in Italy_; _Tour through +Istria_, etc., etc.--_Sketches of Italy_; _Sketches of Modern Greece_, +etc., etc.--_Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe +Harold_, by J.C. Hobhouse, 1818.] + +[285] In Turkey nothing is more common than for the Mussulmans to take +several glasses of strong spirits by way of appetiser. I have seen them +take as many as six of raki before dinner, and swear that they dined the +better for it: I tried the experiment, but fared like the Scotchman, who +having heard that the birds called kittiwakes were admirable whets, ate +six of them, and complained that "he was no hungrier than when he +began." + +[286] ["Everything is so still [in the court of the Seraglio], that the +motion of a fly might be heard, in a manner; and if any one should +presume to raise his voice ever so little, or show the least want of +respect to the Mansion-place of their Emperor, he would instantly have +the bastinado by the officers that go the rounds."-_A Voyage in the +Levant_, by M. Tournefort, 1741, ii. 183.] + +{234}[287] _A common furniture. I recollect being received by Ali Pacha, +in a large room, paved with marble, containing a marble basin, and +fountain playing in the centre, etc., etc._ + +[Compare Childe Harold, Canto II. stanza Ixii.-- + + "In marble-paved pavilion, where a spring + Of living water from the centre rose, + Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling, + And soft voluptuous couches breathed repose, + Ali reclined, a man of war and woes," etc.] + +[288] [A reminiscence of Newstead. Compare Moore's song, "Oft in the +Stilly Night"-- + + "I feel like one + Who treads alone + Some banquet-hall deserted."] + +{235}[fb] + _A small, snug chamber on a winter's night_, + Well furnished with a book, friend, girl, or glass, etc_.--[MS.] + +[fc] _I pass my days in long dull galleries solely_.--[MS. erased.] + +[289] [When this stanza was written Byron was domiciled in the Palazzo +Guiccioli (in the Via di Porta Adriana) at Ravenna; but he may have had +in his mind the monks' refectory at Newstead Abbey, "the dark gallery, +where his fathers frowned" (_Lara_, Canto I. line 137), or the corridors +which form the upper story of the cloisters.] + +[290] ["Nabuch_o_donosor," here used _metri gratia_, is Latin (see the +Vulgate) and French (see J.P. De Beranger, _Chansons Inedites_, 1828, p. +48) for Nebuchadnezzar.] + +[291] [See Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, lib. iv. lines 55-58-- + + "In Babylon, where first her queen, for state, + Raised walls of brick magnificently great, + Lived Pyramus and Thisbe, lovely pair! + He found no Eastern youth his equal there, + And she beyond the fairest nymph was fair." + +Garth.] + +{236}[292] Babylon was enlarged by Nimrod, strengthened and beautified +by Nabuchadonosor, and rebuilt by Semiramis. + +[Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, lib. viii. cap. xlii. ed. 1593, i. 392) cites +Juba, King of Mauretania, died A.D. 19, as his authority for the +calumny.] + +[fd] _In an Erratum of her Horse for Courier_.--[MS.] + +[293] [Queen Caroline--whose trial (August--November, 1820) was +proceeding whilst this canto was being written--was charged with having +committed adultery with Bartolommeo Bergami, who had been her courier, +and was, afterwards, her chamberlain.] + +[294] ["_Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon_, by Claudius James Rich, Esq., +Resident for the Honourable East India Company at the Court of the Pasha +of Bagdad, 1815," pp. 61-64: _Second Memoir on Babylon,_ ... 1818, by +Claudius James Rich. See the plates at the end of the volume.] + +[fe] _If they shall not as soon cut off my head._--[MS.] + +{240}[ff] _A pair of drawers_----.--[MS.] + +[295] [Compare "Extracts from a Diary," January 24, 1821, _Letters_, +1901, v. 184.] + +[fg] _Kings are not more imperative than rhymes_.--[MS.] + +{241}[fh] _He looked almost in modesty a maid_.--[MS.] + +{242}[296] _Features_ of a gate--a ministerial metaphor: "the _feature_ +upon which this question _hinges_." See the "Fudge Family," or hear +Castlereagh. + +[Phil. Fudge, in his letter to Lord Castlereagh, says-- + + "As _thou_ would'st say, my guide and teacher + In these gay metaphoric fringes, + I must _embark_ into the _feature_ + On which this letter chiefly _hinges_." + +Moore's note adds, "Verbatim from one of the noble Viscount's +speeches:--'_And now, sir, I must embark into the_ feature _on which +this question chiefly hinges_.'"--_Fudge Family in Paris_, Letter II. +See, too, _post_, the Preface to Cantos VI., VII., and VIII., p. 264, +note 3.] + +{243}[297] [Compare-- + + "A snake's small eye blinks dull and sly, + And the lady's eyes they shrunk in her head, + Each shrunk up to a serpent's eye." + +_Christabel_, Part II. lines 583-585.] + +{244}[298] A few years ago the wile of Muchtar Pacha complained to his +father of his son's supposed infidelity: he asked with whom, and she had +the barbarity to give in a list of the twelve handsomest women in +Yanina. They were seized, fastened up in sacks, and drowned in the lake +the same night. One of the guards who was present informed me, that not +one of the victims uttered a cry, or showed a symptom of terror at so +sudden a "wrench from all we know, from all we love." + +[See _The Giaour_, line _1328, Poetical Works, 1900_, iii. 144, note +1.] + +{245}[fi] + _As Venus rose from Ocean--bent on them_ + _With a far-reaching glance, a Paphian pair_.--[MS.] + +[fj] + _But there are forms which Time adorns, not wears_, + _And to which Beauty obstinately clings_.--[MS.] + +{246}[299] [Legend has credited Ninon de Lenclos (1620-1705) with lovers +when she had "come to four-score years." According to Voltaire, John +Casimir, ex-king of Poland, succumbed to her secular charms (see +_Mazeppa_, line 138, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 212, note 1). "In her +old age, her house was the rendezvous of wits and men of letters. +Scarron is said to have consulted her on his romances, Saint-Evremond on +his poems, Moliere on his comedies, Fontenelle on his dialogues, and La +Rochefoucauld on his maxims. Coligny, Sevigne, etc., were her lovers and +friends. At her death, in 1705, she bequeathed to Voltaire two thousand +francs, to expend in books."--_Biographic Universelle_, art. "Lenclos."] + +[300] ["Her fair maids were ranged below the sofa, to the number of +twenty, and put me in mind of the pictures of the ancient nymphs. I did +not think all nature could have furnished such a scene of beauty," +etc.--Lady M.W. Montagu to the Countess of Mar, April 18, O.S. 1717, ed. +1816, p. 163.] + +[301] + + ["Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici, + Solaque quae possit facere et servare beatum." + +Hor., _Epist._, lib. 1, ep. vi. lines 1, 2.] + +{247}[302] + + ["Not to admire, is all the Art I know + To make men happy, and to keep them so, + (Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of speech, + So take it in the very words of Creech). + +_To Mr. Murray_ (Lord Mansfield), Pope's _Imitations of Horace_, Book I. +epist. vi. lines 1-4. + +Thomas Creech (1659-1701) published his _Translation of Horace_ in 1684. +In the second edition, 1688, p. 487, the lines run-- + + "Not to admire, as most are wont to do, + It is the only method that I know, + To make Men happy and to keep 'em so."] + +[303] [Johnson placed judgment and friendship above admiration and love. +"Admiration and love are like being intoxicated with champagne; judgment +and friendship like being enlivened." See Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, +1876, p. 450.] + +{248}[304] There is nothing, perhaps, more distinctive of birth than the +hand. It is almost the only sign of blood which aristocracy can +generate. + +{249}[305] [In old pictures of the Fall, it is a cherub who whispers +into the ear of Eve. The serpent's coils are hidden in the foliage of +the tree.] + +{250}[fk] _The very women half forgave her face_.--[MS, Erased.] + +[fl] _Had his instructions--where and how to deal_.--[MS.] + +[fm] _And husbands now and then are mystified_.--[MS.] + +{251}[306] [Narrow javelins, once known as archegays--the assegais of +Zulu warfare.] + +{252}[fn] + _But nature teaches what power cannot spoil_ + _And, though it was a new and strange sensation_, + _Young female hearts are such a genial soil_ + _For kinder feelings, she forgot her station_.--[MS.] + +[fo] _War with your heart_--.--[MS.] + +{254}[307] [See _Fielding's History of the Adventures of Joseph +Andrews_, bk. i. chap. v.] + +[308] + + ["'But if my boy with virtue be endued, + What harm will beauty do him?' Nay, what good? + Say, what avail'd, of old, to Theseus' son, + The stern resolve? what to Bellerophon?-- + O, then did Phaedra redden, then her pride + Took fire to be so steadfastly denied! + Then, too, did Sthenobaea glow with shame, + And both burst forth with unextinguish'd flame!" + +Gifford, _Juvenal_, Sat. x. 473-480. + +The adventures of Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, and Bellerophon are +well known. They were accused of incontinence, by the women whose +inordinate passions they had refused to gratify at the expense of their +duty, and sacrificed to the fatal credulity of the husbands of the +disappointed fair ones. It is very probable that both the stories are +founded on the Scripture account of Joseph and Potiphar's +wife.--Footnote, ibid., ed. 1817, ii. pp. 49, 50.] + +[fp] _The poets and romances_----.--[MS.] + +[fq] + _And this strong second cause (to tire no longer_ + _Your patience) shows the first must still be stronger_. + +--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +{256}[309] + + ["By Heaven! methinks, it were an easy leap, + To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon." + +_Henry IV_., act i. sc. 3, lines 201, 202.] + +[fr] _Like natural Shakespeare on the immortal page_.--[MS.] + +[310] + + ["And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in law, + Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill." + +_King Lear_, act iv. sc. 6, lines 185, 186.] + +[311] + + ["A woman scorn'd is pitiless as fate, + For, there, the dread of shame adds stings to hate." +Gifford's _Juvenal, Sat_. x. lines 481, 482, ed. 1817, ii. p. 50.] + +{258}[312] ["Yes--my valour is certainly going! it is sneaking off! I +feel it _oozing_ out, as it were, at the palms of my hands!"--Sheridan's +_Rivals_, act v. sc. 3.] + +[fs] _Or all the stuff which uttered by the "Blues" is_.--[MS.] + +{259}[ft] + _But prithee--get my women in the way_, + _That all the stars may gleam with due adorning_.--[MS.] + +[fu] _Of Cantemir or Knoll[-e]s_-----.--[MS.] + +[313] It may not be unworthy of remark, that Bacon, in his essay on +"Empire" (Essays, No. xx.), hints that Solyman was the last of his line; +on what authority, I know not. These are his words: "The destruction of +Mustapha was so fatal to Solyman's line; as the succession of the Turks +from Solyman until this day is suspected to be untrue, and of strange +blood; for that Selymus the second was thought to be supposititious." +But Bacon, in his historical authorities, is often inaccurate. I could +give half a dozen instances from his Apophthegms only. + +[Selim II. (1524-1574) succeeded his father as Sultan in 1566. Hofmann +(_Lexicon Univ_.) describes him as "meticulosus, effeminatus, ebriosus," +but neither Demetrius Cantemir, in his _History of the Growth and Decay +of the Othman Empire_ (translated by N. Tyndal, 1734); nor _The Turkish +History_ (written by Mr. Knolles, 1701), cast any doubts on his +legitimacy. Byron complained of the omission from the notes to the first +edition of Don Juan, of his corrections of Bacon's "Apophthegms" (see +_Letters_, 1901, v. Appendix VI. pp. 597-600), in a letter to Murray, +dated January 21, 1821,--_vide ibid_., p. 220.] + +{260}[314] [Gibbon.] + +[fv] + _Because he kept them wrapt up in his closet, he_ + _Ruled fair wives and twelve hundred whores, unseen,_ + _More easily than Christian kings one queen_.--[MS.] + +[fw] + _Then ended many a fair Sultana's trip_: + _The Public knew no more than does this rhyme_; + _No printed scandals flew,--the fish, of course,_ + _Were better--while the morals were no worse_.--[MS.] + +[fx] _No sign of its depression anywhere_.--[MS.] + +[315] ["We attempted to visit the Seven Towers, but were stopped at the +entrance, and informed that without a firman it was inaccessible to +strangers.... It was supposed that Count Bulukof, the Russian minister, +would be the last of the _Moussafirs_, or imperial hostages, confined in +this fortress; but since the year 1784 M. Ruffin and many of the French +have been imprisoned in the same place; and the dungeons.... were +gaping, it seems, for the sacred persons of the gentlemen composing his +Britannic Majesty's mission, previous to the rupture between Great +Britain and the Porte in 1809."--Hobhouse, _Travels in Albania_, 1858, +ii. 311, 312.] + +{261}[316] ["The princess" (Asma Sultana, daughter of Achmet III.) +"complained of the barbarity which, at thirteen years of age, united her +to a decrepit old man, who, by treating her like a child, had inspired +her with nothing but disgust."--_Memoirs of Baron de Toil_, 1786, i. 74. +See, too, _Memoires_, etc., 1784, i. 84, 85.] + +{262}[317] [The connection between "horns" and Heaven, to which Byron +twice alludes, is not very obvious. The reference may be to the Biblical +"horn of salvation," or to the symbolical horns of Divine glory as +depicted in the Moses of Michel Angelo. Compare _Mazeppa_, lines 177, +178, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 213.] + +[fy]---- _with solemn air and wise_.--[MS.] + +[fz] _Virginity in these unhappy climes_.--[MS.] + +{263}[318] [This stanza, which Byron composed in bed, February 27, 1821 +(see _Extracts from a Diary, Letters_, 1901, v. 209), is not in the +first edition. On discovering the omission, he wrote to Murray: "Upon +what principle have you omitted ... one of the concluding stanzas sent +as an addition?--because it ended, I suppose, with-- + + 'And do not link two virtuous souls for life + Into that moral centaur, man and wife?' + +Now, I must say, once for all, that I will not permit any human being to +take such liberties with my writings because I am absent. I desire the +omissions to be replaced (except the stanza on Semiramis)--particularly +the stanza upon the Turkish marriages."--Letter to Murray, August 31, +1821, ibid., p. 351.] + +[ga] + _Meanwhile as Homer sometimes sleeps, much more_ + _The modern muse may be allowed to snore_.--[MS.] + + + + + + PREFACE TO CANTOS VI., VII., AND VIII. + + +THE details of the siege of Ismail in two of the following cantos +(_i.e._ the seventh and eighth) are taken from a French Work, entitled +_Histoire de la Nouvelle Russie._[319] Some of the incidents attributed +to Don Juan really occurred, particularly the circumstance of his saving +the infant, which was the actual case of the late Duc de Richelieu, then +a young volunteer in the Russian service, and afterward the founder and +benefactor of Odessa, where his name and memory can never cease to be +regarded with reverence. + +In the course of these cantos, a stanza or two will be found relative to +the late Marquis of Londonderry,[320] but written some time before his +decease. Had that person's oligarchy died with him, they would have been +suppressed; as it is, I am aware of nothing in the manner of his death +or of his life to prevent the free expression of the opinions of all +whom his whole existence was consumed in endeavouring to enslave. That +he was an amiable man in _private_ life, may or may not be true: but +with this the public have nothing to do; and as to lamenting his death, +it will be time enough when Ireland has ceased to mourn for his birth. +As a minister, I, for one of millions, looked upon him as the most +despotic in intention, and the weakest in intellect, that ever +tyrannised over a country. It is the first time indeed since the Normans +that England has been insulted by a _minister_ (at least) who could not +speak English, and that Parliament permitted itself to be dictated to in +the language of Mrs. Malaprop. + +Of the manner of his death little need be said, except that if a poor +radical, such as Waddington or Watson,[321] had cut his throat, he would +have been buried in a cross-road, with the usual appurtenances of the stake +and mallet. But the minister was an elegant lunatic--a sentimental +suicide--he merely cut the "carotid artery," (blessings on their learning!) +and lo! the pageant, and the Abbey! and "the syllables of dolour yelled +forth"[322] by the newspapers--and the harangue of the Coroner in a eulogy +over the bleeding body of the deceased--(an Anthony worthy of such a +Caesar)--and the nauseous and atrocious cant of a degraded crew of +conspirators against all that is sincere and honourable. In his death he +was necessarily one of two things by the law[323]--a felon or a madman--and +in either case no great subject for panegyric.[324] In his life he +was--what all the world knows, and half of it will feel for years to come, +unless his death prove a "moral lesson" to the surviving Sejani[325] of +Europe. It may at least serve as some consolation to the nations, that +their oppressors are not happy, and in some instances judge so justly of +their own actions as to anticipate the sentence of mankind. Let us hear no +more of this man; and let Ireland remove the ashes of her Grattan from the +sanctuary of Westminster. Shall the patriot of humanity repose by the +Werther of politics!!! + +With regard to the objections which have been made on another score to +the already published cantos of this poem, I shall content myself with +two quotations from Voltaire:--"La pudeur s'est enfuite des coeurs, et +s'est refugiee sur les levres." ... "Plus les moeurs sont depraves, plus +les expressions deviennent mesurees; on croit regagner en langage ce +qu'on a perdu en vertu." + +This is the real fact, as applicable to the degraded and hypocritical +mass which leavens the present English generation, and is the only +answer they deserve. The hackneyed and lavished title of +Blasphemer--which, with Radical, Liberal, Jacobin, Reformer, etc., are +the changes which the hirelings are daily ringing in the ears of those +who will listen--should be welcome to all who recollect on _whom_ it was +originally bestowed. Socrates and Jesus Christ were put to death +publicly as _blasphemers_, and so have been and may be many who dare to +oppose the most notorious abuses of the name of God and the mind of man. +But persecution is not refutation, nor even triumph: the "wretched +infidel," as he is called, is probably happier in his prison than the +proudest of his assailants. With his opinions I have nothing to do--they +may be right or wrong--but he has suffered for them, and that very +suffering for conscience' sake will make more proselytes to deism than +the example of heterodox[326] Prelates to Christianity, suicide +statesmen to oppression, or overpensioned homicides to the impious +alliance which insults the world with the name of "Holy!"[327] I have no +wish to trample on the dishonoured or the dead; but it would be well if +the adherents to the classes from whence those persons sprung should +abate a little of the cant which is the crying sin of this +double-dealing and false-speaking time of selfish spoilers, and----but +enough for the present. + +FOOTNOTES: + +{264}[319] [The Marquis Gabriel de Castelnau, author of an _Essai sur +L'Histoire ancienne et moderne de la Nouvelle Russie_ (Sec. Ed. 3 tom. +1827), was, at one time, resident at Odessa, where he met and made the +acquaintance of Armand Emanuel, Duc de Richelieu, who took part in the +siege of Ismail. M. Leon de Crousaz-Cretet describes him as "ancien +surintendant des theatres sous l'Empereur Paul."--_Le Duc de Richelieu_, +1897, p. 83.] + +[320] [For Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, second Marquis of +Londonderry (1769-1822), see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 108, 109, note 1.] + +{266}[321] [Samuel Ferrand Waddington, born 1759, hop-grower and radical +politician, first came into notice as the chairman of public meetings in +favour of making peace with the French in 1793. He was the author, +_inter alia_, of _A Key to a Delicate Investigation_, 1812, and _An +Address to the People of the United Kingdom_, 1812. He was alive in +1822. James Watson (1766-1838), a radical agitator of the following of +Thomas Spence, was engaged, in the autumn of 1816, in an abortive +conspiracy to blow up cavalry barracks, barricade the streets, and seize +the Bank and the Tower. He was tried for high treason before Lord +Ellenborough, and acquitted.] + +[322] [_Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 3, lines 7, 8.] + +[323] I say by the _law_ of the _land_--the laws of humanity judge more +gently; but as the legitimates have always the law in their mouths, let +them here make the most of it. + +[324] [Mr. Joseph Carttar, of Deptford, coroner for the County of Kent, +addressed the jury at some length. The following sentences are taken +from the report of the inquest, contained in _The Annual Biography and +Obituary for the year 1823_, vol. vii. p. 57: "As a public man, it is +impossible for me to weigh his character in any scales that I can hold. +In private life I believe the world will admit that a more amiable man +could not be found.... If it should unfortunately appear that there is +not sufficient evidence to prove what is generally considered the +indication of a disordered mind, I trust that the jury will pay some +attention to my humble opinion, which is, that no man can be in his +proper senses at the moment he commits so rash an act as self-murder. +...The Bible declares that a man clings to nothing so strongly as his +own life, I therefore view it as an axiom, and an abstract principle, +that a man must necessarily be out of his mind at the moment of +destroying himself." Byron, probably, read the report of the inquest in +Cobbett's _Weekly Register_ (August 17, 1822, vol. 43, pp. 389-425). The +"eulogy" was in perfectly good taste, but there can be little doubt that +if "Waddington or Watson" had cut _their_ "carotid arteries," the +verdict would have been different.] + +[325] From this number must be excepted Canning. Canning is a genius, +almost a universal one, an orator, a wit, a poet, a statesman; and no +man of talent can long pursue the path of his late predecessor, Lord C. +If ever man saved his country, Canning _can_, but _will_ he? I for one, +hope so. + +[The phrase, "great moral lesson," was employed by the Duke of +Wellington, _a propos_ of the restoration of pictures and statues to +their "rightful owners," in a despatch addressed to Castlereagh, under +date, Paris, September 19, 1815 (_The Dispatches, etc._ (ed. by Colonel +Gurwood), 1847, viii. 270). The words, "moral lesson," as applied to the +French generally, are to be found in Scott's _Field of Waterloo_ +(conclusion, stanza vi. line 3), which was written about the same time +as the despatch. Byron quotes them in his "Ode from the French," stanza +iv. line 8 (see _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 434, note 1). There is a +satirical allusion to the Duke's "assumption of the didactic" about +teaching a "great moral lesson" in the Preface to the first number of +the _Liberal_ (1822, p. xi.).] + +{267}[326] When Lord Sandwich said "he did not know the difference +between orthodoxy and heterodoxy," Warburton, the bishop, replied, +"Orthodoxy, my lord, is _my doxy_, and heterodoxy is _another man's_ +doxy." A prelate of the present day has discovered, it seems, a _third_ +kind of doxy, which has not greatly exalted in the eyes of the elect +that which Bentham calls "Church-of-Englandism." + +[For the "prelate," see _Letters_, 1902, vi. 101, note 2.] + +[327] [For the Duke of Wellington and the Holy Alliance, see the +Introduction to _The Age of Bronze, Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 538, 561.] + + + + + + CANTO THE SIXTH.[328] + + I. + + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which,--taken at the flood,"--you know the rest,[329] + And most of us have found it now and then: + At least we think so, though but few have guessed + The moment, till too late to come again. + But no doubt everything is for the best-- + Of which the surest sign is in the end: + When things are at the worst they sometimes mend. + + II. + + There is a tide in the affairs of women, + Which, taken at the flood, leads--God knows where: + Those navigators must be able seamen + Whose charts lay down its currents to a hair; + Not all the reveries of Jacob Behmen[330] + With its strange whirls and eddies can compare: + Men with their heads reflect on this and that-- + But women with their hearts on Heaven knows what![gb] + + III. + + And yet a headlong, headstrong, downright She, + Young, beautiful, and daring--who would risk + A throne--the world--the universe--to be + Beloved in her own way--and rather whisk + The stars from out the sky, than not be free[gc] + As are the billows when the breeze is brisk-- + Though such a She's a devil (if there be one), + Yet she would make full many a Manichean. + + IV. + + Thrones, worlds, _et cetera_, are so oft upset + By commonest ambition, that when Passion + O'erthrows the same, we readily forget, + Or at the least forgive, the loving rash one. + If Anthony be well remembered yet, + 'T is not his conquests keep his name in fashion, + But Actium, lost for Cleopatra's eyes, + Outbalances all Caesar's victories.[gd] + + V. + + He died at fifty for a queen of forty; + I wish their years had been fifteen and twenty,[ge] + For then wealth, kingdoms, worlds are but a sport--I + Remember when, though I had no great plenty + Of worlds to lose, yet still, to pay my court, I + Gave what I had--a heart;[331] as the world went, I + Gave what was worth a world; for worlds could never + Restore me those pure feelings, gone for ever. + + VI. + + 'T was the boy's "mite," and, like the "widow's," may + Perhaps be weighed hereafter, if not now; + But whether such things do or do not weigh, + All who have loved, or love, will still allow + Life has nought like it. God is Love, they say, + And Love's a god, or was before the brow + Of Earth was wrinkled by the sins and tears + Of--but Chronology best knows the years. + + VII. + + We left our hero and third heroine in + A kind of state more awkward than uncommon, + For gentlemen must sometimes risk their skin + For that sad tempter, a forbidden woman: + Sultans too much abhor this sort of sin, + And don't agree at all with the wise Roman, + Heroic, stoic Cato, the sententious, + Who lent his lady to his friend Hortensius.[332] + + VIII. + + I know Gulbeyaz was extremely wrong; + I own it, I deplore it, I condemn it; + But I detest all fiction even in song, + And so must tell the truth, howe'er you blame it. + Her reason being weak, her passions strong, + She thought that her Lord's heart (even could she claim it) + Was scarce enough; for he had fifty-nine + Years, and a fifteen-hundredth concubine. + + IX. + + I am not, like Cassio, "an arithmetician," + But by "the bookish theoric"[333] it appears, + If 't is summed up with feminine precision, + That, adding to the account his Highness' years, + The fair Sultana erred from inanition; + For, were the Sultan just to all his dears, + She could but claim the fifteen-hundredth part + Of what should be monopoly--the heart. + + X. + + It is observed that ladies are litigious + Upon all legal objects of possession, + And not the least so when they are religious, + Which doubles what they think of the transgression: + With suits and prosecutions they besiege us, + As the tribunals show through many a session, + When they suspect that any one goes shares + In that to which the law makes them sole heirs. + + XI. + + Now, if this holds good in a Christian land, + The heathen also, though with lesser latitude,[gf] + Are apt to carry things with a high hand, + And take, what Kings call "an imposing attitude;" + And for their rights connubial make a stand, + When their liege husbands treat them with ingratitude; + And as four wives must have quadruple claims, + The Tigris hath its jealousies like Thames. + + XII. + + Gulbeyaz was the fourth, and (as I said) + The favourite; but what's favour amongst four? + Polygamy may well be held in dread, + Not only as a sin, but as a bore: + Most wise men with one moderate woman wed,[gg] + Will scarcely find philosophy for more; + And all (except Mahometans) forbear + To make the nuptial couch a "Bed of Ware."[334] + + XIII. + + His Highness, the sublimest of mankind,--[gh] + So styled according to the usual forms + Of every monarch, till they are consigned + To those sad hungry Jacobins the worms, + Who on the very loftiest kings have dined,-- + His Highness gazed upon Gulbeyaz' charms, + Expecting all the welcome of a lover + (A "Highland welcome"[335] all the wide world over). + + XIV. + + Now here we should distinguish; for howe'er + Kisses, sweet words, embraces, and all that, + May look like what it is--neither here nor there,[gi] + They are put on as easily as a hat, + Or rather bonnet, which the fair sex wear, + Trimmed either heads or hearts to decorate, + Which form an ornament, but no more part + Of heads, than their caresses of the heart. + + XV. + + A slight blush, a soft tremor, a calm kind + Of gentle feminine delight, and shown + More in the eyelids than the eyes, resigned + Rather to hide what pleases most unknown, + Are the best tokens (to a modest mind)[gj] + Of Love, when seated on his loveliest throne, + A sincere woman's breast,--for over-_warm_ + Or over-_cold_ annihilates the charm. + + XVI. + + For over-warmth, if false, is worse than truth; + If true, 't is no great lease of its own fire; + For no one, save in very early youth, + Would like (I think) to trust all to desire, + Which is but a precarious bond, in sooth, + And apt to be transferred to the first buyer + At a sad discount: while your over chilly + Women, on t' other hand, seem somewhat silly. + + XVII. + + That is, we cannot pardon their bad taste, + For so it seems to lovers swift or slow, + Who fain would have a mutual flame confessed, + And see a sentimental passion glow, + Even were St. Francis' paramour their guest, + In his monastic concubine of snow;--[336] + In short, the maxim for the amorous tribe is + Horatian, "_Medio tu tutissimus ibis_"[337] + + XVIII. + + The "tu" 's _too_ much,--but let it stand,--the verse + Requires it, that's to say, the English rhyme, + And not the pink of old hexameters; + But, after all, there's neither tune nor time + In the last line, which cannot well be worse,[gk] + And was thrust in to close the octave's chime: + I own no prosody can ever rate it + As a rule, but _Truth_ may, if you translate it. + + XIX. + + If fair Gulbeyaz overdid her part, + I know not--it succeeded, and success + Is much in most things, not less in the heart + Than other articles of female dress. + Self-love in Man, too, beats all female art;[gl] + They lie, we lie, all lie, but love no less: + And no one virtue yet, except starvation, + Could stop that worst of vices--propagation. + + XX. + + We leave this royal couple to repose: + A bed is not a throne, and they may sleep, + Whate'er their dreams be, if of joys or woes: + Yet disappointed joys are woes as deep + As any man's clay mixture undergoes. + Our least of sorrows are such as we _weep_; + 'T is the vile daily drop on drop which wears + The soul out (like the stone) with petty cares.[gm] + + XXI. + + A scolding wife, a sullen son, a bill + To pay, unpaid, protested, or discounted + At a per-centage; a child cross, dog ill, + A favourite horse fallen lame just as he's mounted, + A bad old woman making a worse will,[338] + Which leaves you minus of the cash you counted[gn] + As certain;--these are paltry things, and yet + I've rarely seen the man they did not fret. + + XXII. + + I'm a philosopher; confound them all![go] + Bills, beasts, and men, and--no! not womankind![gp] + With one good hearty curse I vent my gall, + And then my Stoicism leaves nought behind + Which it can either pain or evil call, + And I can give my whole soul up to mind; + Though what _is_ soul, or mind, their birth or growth, + Is more than I know--the deuce take them both![gq] + + XXIII. + + So now all things are damned one feels at ease, + As after reading Athanasius' curse, + Which doth your true believer so much please: + I doubt if any now could make it worse + O'er his worst enemy when at his knees, + 'T is so sententious, positive, and terse, + And decorates the Book of Common Prayer, + As doth a rainbow the just clearing air. + + XXIV. + + Gulbeyaz and her lord were sleeping, or + At least one of them!--Oh, the heavy night, + When wicked wives, who love some bachelor,[gr] + Lie down in dudgeon to sigh for the light + Of the grey morning, and look vainly for + Its twinkle through the lattice dusky quite-- + To toss, to tumble, doze, revive, and quake + Lest their too lawful bed-fellow should wake![gs] + + XXV. + + These are beneath the canopy of heaven, + Also beneath the canopy of beds + Four-posted and silk-curtained, which are given + For rich men and their brides to lay their heads + Upon, in sheets white as what bards call "driven + Snow,"[339] Well! 't is all hap-hazard when one weds. + Gulbeyaz was an empress, but had been + Perhaps as wretched if a _peasants quean_. + + XXVI. + + Don Juan in his feminine disguise,[340] + With all the damsels in their long array, + Had bowed themselves before th' imperial eyes, + And at the usual signal ta'en their way + Back to their chambers, those long galleries + In the seraglio, where the ladies lay + Their delicate limbs; a thousand bosoms there + Beating for Love, as the caged bird's for air. + + XXVII. + + I love the sex, and sometimes would reverse + The Tyrant's[341] wish, "that Mankind only had + One neck, which he with one fell stroke might pierce:" + My wish is quite as wide, but not so bad,[gt] + And much more tender on the whole than fierce; + It being (not _now_, but only while a lad) + That Womankind had but one rosy mouth,[gu] + To kiss them all at once from North to South. + + XXVIII. + + Oh, enviable Briareus! with thy hands + And heads, if thou hadst all things multiplied + In such proportion!--But my Muse withstands + The giant thought of being a Titan's bride, + Or travelling in Patagonian lands; + So let us back to Lilliput, and guide + Our hero through the labyrinth of Love + In which we left him several lines above. + + XXIX. + + He went forth with the lovely Odalisques,[342] + At the given signal joined to their array; + And though he certainly ran many risks, + Yet he could not at times keep, by the way, + (Although the consequences of such frisks + Are worse than the worst damages men pay + In moral England, where the thing's a tax,) + From ogling all their charms from breasts to backs. + + XXX. + + Still he forgot not his disguise:--along + The galleries from room to room they walked, + A virgin-like and edifying throng, + By eunuchs flanked; while at their head there stalked + A dame who kept up discipline among + The female ranks, so that none stirred or talked, + Without her sanction on their she-parades: + Her title was "the Mother of the Maids." + + XXXI. + + Whether she was a "Mother," I know not, + Or whether they were "Maids" who called her Mother; + But this is her Seraglio title, got + I know not how, but good as any other; + So Cantemir[343] can tell you, or De Tott:[344] + Her office was to keep aloof or smother + All bad propensities in fifteen hundred + Young women, and correct them when they blundered. + + XXXII. + + A goodly sinecure, no doubt! but made + More easy by the absence of all men-- + Except his Majesty,--who, with her aid, + And guards, and bolts, and walls, and now and then + A slight example, just to cast a shade + Along the rest, contrived to keep this den + Of beauties cool as an Italian convent, + Where all the passions have, alas! but one vent. + + XXXIII. + + And what is that? Devotion, doubtless--how + Could you ask such a question?--but we will + Continue. As I said, this goodly row + Of ladies of all countries at the will[345] + Of one good man, with stately march and slow, + Like water-lilies floating down a rill-- + Or rather lake--for _rills_ do _not_ run _slowly_,-- + Paced on most maiden-like and melancholy. + + XXXIV. + + But when they reached their own apartments, there, + Like birds, or boys, or bedlamites broke loose, + Waves at spring-tide, or women anywhere + When freed from bonds (which are of no great use + After all), or like Irish at a fair, + Their guards being gone, and as it were a truce + Established between them and bondage, they + Began to sing, dance, chatter, smile, and play. + + XXXV. + + Their talk, of course, ran most on the new comer; + Her shape, her hair, her air, her everything: + Some thought her dress did not so much become her, + Or wondered at her ears without a ring; + Some said her years were getting nigh their summer, + Others contended they were but in spring; + Some thought her rather masculine in height, + While others wished that she had been so quite. + + XXXVI. + + But no one doubted on the whole, that she + Was what her dress bespoke, a damsel fair, + And fresh, and "beautiful exceedingly,"[346] + Who with the brightest Georgians[347] might compare: + They wondered how Gulbeyaz, too, could be + So silly as to buy slaves who might share + (If that his Highness wearied of his bride) + Her Throne and Power, and everything beside. + + XXXVII. + + But what was strangest in this virgin crew, + Although her beauty was enough to vex, + After the first investigating view, + They all found out as few, or fewer, specks + In the fair form of their companion new, + Than is the custom of the gentle sex, + When they survey, with Christian eyes or Heathen, + In a new face "the ugliest creature breathing." + + XXXVIII. + + And yet they had their little jealousies, + Like all the rest; but upon this occasion, + Whether there are such things as sympathies + Without our knowledge or our approbation, + Although they could not see through his disguise, + All felt a soft kind of concatenation, + Like Magnetism, or Devilism, or what + You please--we will not quarrel about that: + + XXXIX. + + But certain 't is they all felt for their new + Companion something newer still, as 't were + A sentimental friendship through and through, + Extremely pure, which made them all concur + In wishing her their sister, save a few + Who wished they had a brother just like her, + Whom, if they were at home in sweet Circassia, + They would prefer to Padisha[348] or Pacha. + + XL. + + Of those who had most genius for this sort + Of sentimental friendship, there were three, + Lolah, Katinka,[349] and Dudu--in short + (To save description), fair as fair can be + Were they, according to the best report, + Though differing in stature and degree, + And clime and time, and country and complexion-- + They all alike admired their new connection. + + XLI. + + Lolah was dusk as India and as warm; + Katinka was a Georgian, white and red, + With great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm, + And feet so small they scarce seemed made to tread, + But rather skim the earth; while Dudu's form + Looked more adapted to be put to bed, + Being somewhat large, and languishing, and lazy, + Yet of a beauty that would drive you crazy. + + XLII. + + A kind of sleepy Venus seemed Dudu, + Yet very fit to "murder sleep"[350] in those + Who gazed upon her cheek's transcendent hue, + Her Attic forehead, and her Phidian nose: + Few angles were there in her form, 't is true, + Thinner she might have been, and yet scarce lose; + Yet, after all, 't would puzzle to say where + It would not spoil some separate charm to _pare_. + + XLIII. + + She was not violently lively, but + Stole on your spirit like a May-day breaking; + Her eyes were not too sparkling, yet, half-shut, + They put beholders in a tender taking; + She looked (this simile's quite new) just cut + From marble, like Pygmalion's statue waking, + The mortal and the marble still at strife, + And timidly expanding into Life. + + XLIV. + + Lolah demanded the new damsel's name-- + "Juanna."--Well, a pretty name enough. + Katinka asked her also whence she came-- + "From Spain."--"But where _is_ Spain?"--"Don't ask such stuff, + Nor show your Georgian ignorance--for shame!" + Said Lolah, with an accent rather rough, + To poor Katinka: "Spain's an island near + Morocco, betwixt Egypt and Tangier." + + XLV. + + Dudu said nothing, but sat down beside + Juanna, playing with her veil or hair; + And, looking at her steadfastly, she sighed, + As if she pitied her for being there, + A pretty stranger without friend or guide, + And all abashed, too, at the general stare + Which welcomes hapless strangers in all places, + With kind remarks upon their mien and faces. + + XLVI. + + But here the Mother of the Maids drew near, + With "Ladies, it is time to go to rest. + I'm puzzled what to do with _you_, my dear!" + She added to Juanna, their new guest: + "Your coming has been unexpected here, + And every couch is occupied; you had best + Partake of mine; but by to-morrow early + We will have all things settled for you fairly." + + XLVII. + + Here Lolah interposed--"Mamma, you know + You don't sleep soundly, and I cannot bear + That anybody should disturb you so; + I'll take Juanna; we're a slenderer pair + Than you would make the half of;--don't say no; + And I of your young charge will take due care." + But here Katinka interfered, and said, + "She also had compassion and a bed." + + XLVIII. + + "Besides, I hate to sleep alone," quoth she. + The matron frowned: "Why so?"--"For fear of ghosts," + Replied Katinka; "I am sure I see + A phantom upon each of the four posts; + And then I have the worst dreams that can be, + Of Guebres, Giaours, and Ginns, and Gouls in hosts." + The dame replied, "Between your dreams and you, + I fear Juanna's dreams would be but few. + + XLIX. + + "You, Lolah, must continue still to lie + Alone, for reasons which don't matter; you + The same, Katinka, until by and by: + And I shall place Juanna with Dudu, + Who's quiet, inoffensive, silent, shy, + And will not toss and chatter the night through. + What say you, child?"--Dudu said nothing, as + Her talents were of the more silent class; + + L. + + But she rose up, and kissed the matron's brow + Between the eyes, and Lolah on both cheeks, + Katinka too; and with a gentle bow + (Curt'sies are neither used by Turks nor Greeks) + She took Juanna by the hand to show + Their place of rest, and left to both their piques, + The others pouting at the matron's preference + Of Dudu, though they held their tongues from deference. + + LI. + + It was a spacious chamber (Oda is + The Turkish title), and ranged round the wall + Were couches, toilets--and much more than this + I might describe, as I have seen it all, + But it suffices--little was amiss; + 'T was on the whole a nobly furnished hall, + With all things ladies want, save one or two, + And even those were nearer than they knew. + + LII. + + Dudu, as has been said, was a sweet creature, + Not very dashing, but extremely winning, + With the most regulated charms of feature, + Which painters cannot catch like faces sinning + Against proportion--the wild strokes of nature + Which they hit off at once in the beginning, + Full of expression, right or wrong, that strike, + And pleasing, or unpleasing, still are like. + + LIII. + + But she was a soft landscape of mild earth, + Where all was harmony, and calm, and quiet, + Luxuriant, budding; cheerful without mirth, + Which, if not happiness, is much more nigh it + Than are your mighty passions and so forth, + Which, some call "the Sublime:" I wish they'd try it: + I've seen your stormy seas and stormy women, + And pity lovers rather more than seamen. + + LIV. + + But she was pensive more than melancholy, + And serious more than pensive, and serene, + It may be, more than either--not unholy + Her thoughts, at least till now, appear to have been. + The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was wholly + Unconscious, albeit turned of quick seventeen, + That she was fair, or dark, or short, or tall; + She never thought about herself at all. + + LV. + + And therefore was she kind and gentle as + The Age of Gold (when gold was yet unknown, + By which its nomenclature came to pass;[gv] + Thus most appropriately has been shown + "Lucus a _non_ lucendo," _not_ what _was_, + But what _was not_; a sort of style that's grown + Extremely common in this age, whose metal + The Devil may decompose, but never settle:[gw] + + LVI. + + I think it may be of "Corinthian Brass,"[351] + Which was a mixture of all metals, but + The brazen uppermost). Kind reader! pass + This long parenthesis: I could not shut + It sooner for the soul of me, and class + My faults even with your own! which meaneth, Put + A kind construction upon them and me: + But _that_ you won't--then don't--I am not less free. + + LVII. + + 'T is time we should return to plain narration, + And thus my narrative proceeds:--Dudu, + With every kindness short of ostentation, + Showed Juan, or Juanna, through and through + This labyrinth of females, and each station + Described--what's strange--in words extremely few: + I have but one simile, and that's a blunder, + For wordless woman, which is _silent_ thunder.[gx] + + LVIII. + + And next she gave her (I say _her_, because + The gender still was epicene, at least + In outward show, which is a saving clause) + An outline of the customs of the East, + With all their chaste integrity of laws, + By which the more a Harem is increased, + The stricter doubtless grow the vestal duties + Of any supernumerary beauties. + + LIX. + + And then she gave Juanna a chaste kiss: + Dudu was fond of kissing--which I'm sure + That nobody can ever take amiss, + Because 't is pleasant, so that it be pure, + And between females means no more than this-- + That they have nothing better near, or newer. + "Kiss" rhymes to "bliss" in fact as well as verse-- + I wish it never led to something worse. + + LX. + + In perfect innocence she then unmade + Her toilet, which cost little, for she was + A child of Nature, carelessly arrayed: + If fond of a chance ogle at her glass, + 'T was like the fawn, which, in the lake displayed, + Beholds her own shy, shadowy image pass, + When first she starts, and then returns to peep, + Admiring this new native of the deep. + + LXI. + + And one by one her articles of dress + Were laid aside; but not before she offered + Her aid to fair Juanna, whose excess + Of modesty declined the assistance proffered: + Which passed well off--as she could do no less; + Though by this _politesse_ she rather suffered, + Pricking her fingers with those cursed pins, + Which surely were invented for our sins,-- + + LXII. + + Making a woman like a porcupine, + Not to be rashly touched. But still more dread, + Oh ye! whose fate it is, as once 't was mine, + In early youth, to turn a lady's maid;-- + I did my very boyish best to shine + In tricking her out for a masquerade: + The pins were placed sufficiently, but not + Stuck all exactly in the proper spot. + + LXIII. + + But these are foolish things to all the wise, + And I love Wisdom more than she loves me; + My tendency is to philosophise + On most things, from a tyrant to a tree; + But still the spouseless virgin _Knowledge_ flies. + What are we? and whence came we? what shall be + Our _ultimate_ existence? what's our present? + Are questions answerless, and yet incessant. + + LXIV. + + There was deep silence in the chamber: dim + And distant from each other burned the lights, + And slumber hovered o'er each lovely limb + Of the fair occupants: if there be sprites, + They should have walked there in their sprightliest trim, + By way of change from their sepulchral sites, + And shown themselves as ghosts of better taste + Than haunting some old ruin or wild waste. + + LXV. + + Many and beautiful lay those around, + Like flowers of different hue, and clime, and root, + In some exotic garden sometimes found, + With cost, and care, and warmth induced to shoot. + One with her auburn tresses lightly bound, + And fair brows gently drooping, as the fruit + Nods from the tree, was slumbering with soft breath, + And lips apart, which showed the pearls beneath. + + LXVI. + + One with her flushed cheek laid on her white arm, + And raven ringlets gathered in dark crowd + Above her brow, lay dreaming soft and warm; + And smiling through her dream, as through a cloud + The moon breaks, half unveiled each further charm, + As, slightly stirring in her snowy shroud, + Her beauties seized the unconscious hour of night + All bashfully to struggle into light. + + LXVII. + + This is no bull, although it sounds so; for + 'T was night, but there were lamps, as hath been said. + A third's all pallid aspect offered more + The traits of sleeping sorrow, and betrayed + Through the heaved breast the dream of some far shore + Beloved and deplored; while slowly strayed + (As night-dew, on a cypress glittering, tinges + The black bough) tear-drops through her eyes' dark fringes. + + LXVIII. + + A fourth as marble, statue-like and still, + Lay in a breathless, hushed, and stony sleep; + White, cold, and pure, as looks a frozen rill, + Or the snow minaret on an Alpine steep, + Or Lot's wife done in salt,--or what you will;-- + My similes are gathered in a heap, + So pick and choose--perhaps you'll be content + With a carved lady on a monument. + + LXIX. + + And lo! a fifth appears;--and what is she? + A lady of a "certain age,"[352] which means + Certainly aged--what her years might be + I know not, never counting past their teens; + But there she slept, not quite so fair to see, + As ere that awful period intervenes + Which lays both men and women on the shelf, + To meditate upon their sins and self. + + LXX. + + But all this time how slept, or dreamed, Dudu? + With strict inquiry I could ne'er discover, + And scorn to add a syllable untrue; + But ere the middle watch was hardly over, + Just when the fading lamps waned dim and blue, + And phantoms hovered, or might seem to hover, + To those who like their company, about + The apartment, on a sudden she screamed out: + + LXXI. + + And that so loudly, that upstarted all + The Oda, in a general commotion: + Matron and maids, and those whom you may call + Neither, came crowding like the waves of Ocean, + One on the other, throughout the whole hall, + All trembling, wondering, without the least notion + More than I have myself of what could make + The calm Dudu so turbulently wake. + + LXXII. + + But wide awake she was, and round her bed. + With floating draperies and with flying hair, + With eager eyes, and light but hurried tread, + And bosoms, arms, and ankles glancing bare, + And bright as any meteor ever bred + By the North Pole,--they sought her cause of care, + For she seemed agitated, flushed, and frightened, + Her eye dilated, and her colour heightened. + + LXXIII. + + But what is strange--and a strong proof how great + A blessing is sound sleep--Juanna lay + As fast as ever husband by his mate + In holy matrimony snores away. + Not all the clamour broke her happy state + Of slumber, ere they shook her,--so they say + At least,--and then she, too, unclosed her eyes, + And yawned a good deal with discreet surprise.[gy] + + LXXIV. + + And now commenced a strict investigation, + Which, as all spoke at once, and more than once + Conjecturing, wondering, asking a narration, + Alike might puzzle either wit or dunce + To answer in a very clear oration. + Dudu had never passed for wanting sense, + But being "no orator as Brutus is,"[353] + Could not at first expound what was amiss. + + LXXV. + + At length she said, that in a slumber sound + She dreamed a dream, of walking in a wood-- + A "wood obscure," like that where Dante found[354] + Himself in at the age when all grow good;[gz] + Life's half-way house, where dames with virtue crowned + Run much less risk of lovers turning rude; + And that this wood was full of pleasant fruits, + And trees of goodly growth and spreading roots; + + LXXVI. + + And in the midst a golden apple grew,-- + A most prodigious pippin--but it hung + Rather too high and distant; that she threw + Her glances on it, and then, longing, flung + Stones and whatever she could pick up, to + Bring down the fruit, which still perversely clung + To its own bough, and dangled yet in sight, + But always at a most provoking height;[ha] + + LXXVII. + + That on a sudden, when she least had hope, + It fell down of its own accord before + Her feet; that her first movement was to stoop + And pick it up, and bite it to the core; + That just as her young lip began to ope[hb] + Upon the golden fruit the vision bore, + A bee flew out, and stung her to the heart, + And so--she woke with a great scream and start. + + LXXVIII. + + All this she told with some confusion and + Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams + Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand + To expound their vain and visionary gleams. + I've known some odd ones which seemed really planned + Prophetically, or that which one deems + A "strange coincidence," to use a phrase + By which such things are settled now-a-days.[355] + + LXXIX. + + The damsels, who had thoughts of some great harm, + Began, as is the consequence of fear, + To scold a little at the false alarm + That broke for nothing on their sleeping ear. + The matron, too, was wroth to leave her warm + Bed for the dream she had been obliged to hear, + And chafed at poor Dudu, who only sighed, + And said, that she was sorry she had cried. + + LXXX. + + "I've heard of stories of a cock and bull; + But visions of an apple and a bee, + To take us from our natural rest, and pull + The whole Oda from their beds at half-past three, + Would make us think the moon is at its full. + You surely are unwell, child! we must see, + To-morrow, what his Highness's physician + Will say to this hysteric of a vision. + + LXXXI. + + "And poor Juanna, too, the child's first night + Within these walls, to be broke in upon + With such a clamour--I had thought it right + That the young stranger should not lie alone, + And, as the quietest of all, she might + With you, Dudu, a good night's rest have known: + But now I must transfer her to the charge + Of Lolah--though her couch is not so large." + + LXXXII. + + Lolah's eyes sparkled at the proposition; + But poor Dudu, with large drops in her own, + Resulting from the scolding or the vision, + Implored that present pardon might be shown + For this first fault, and that on no condition + (She added in a soft and piteous tone) + Juanna should be taken from her, and + Her future dreams should be all kept in hand. + + LXXXIII. + + She promised never more to have a dream, + At least to dream so loudly as just now; + She wondered at herself how she could scream-- + 'T was foolish, nervous, as she must allow, + A fond hallucination, and a theme + For laughter--but she felt her spirits low, + And begged they would excuse her; she'd get over + This weakness in a few hours, and recover. + + LXXXIV. + + And here Juanna kindly interposed, + And said she felt herself extremely well + Where she then was, as her sound sleep disclosed, + When all around rang like a tocsin bell; + She did not find herself the least disposed + To quit her gentle partner, and to dwell + Apart from one who had no sin to show, + Save that of dreaming once "mal-a-propos." + + LXXXV. + + As thus Juanna spoke, Dudu turned round + And hid her face within Juanna's breast: + Her neck alone was seen, but that was found + The colour of a budding rose's crest.[hc] + I can't tell why she blushed, nor can expound + The mystery of this rupture of their test; + All that I know is, that the facts I state + Are true as Truth has ever been of late, + + LXXXVI. + + And so good night to them,--or, if you will, + Good morrow--for the cock had crown, and light + Began to clothe each Asiatic hill, + And the mosque crescent struggled into sight + Of the long caravan, which in the chill + Of dewy dawn wound slowly round each height + That stretches to the stony belt, which girds + Asia, where Kaff looks down upon the Kurds.[356] + + LXXXVII. + + With the first ray, or rather grey of morn, + Gulbeyaz rose from restlessness; and pale + As Passion rises, with its bosom worn, + Arrayed herself with mantle, gem, and veil. + The Nightingale that sings with the deep thorn, + Which fable places in her breast of wail, + Is lighter far of heart and voice than those + Whose headlong passions form their proper woes. + + LXXXVIII. + + And that's the moral of this composition, + If people would but see its real drift;-- + But _that_ they will not do without suspicion, + Because all gentle readers have the gift + Of closing 'gainst the light their orbs of vision: + While gentle writers also love to lift + Their voices 'gainst each other, which is natural, + The numbers are too great for them to flatter all. + + LXXXIX. + + Rose the Sultana from a bed of splendour, + Softer than the soft Sybarite's, who cried[357] + Aloud because his feelings were too tender + To brook a ruffled rose-leaf by his side,-- + So beautiful that Art could little mend her, + Though pale with conflicts between Love and Pride;-- + So agitated was she with her error, + She did not even look into the mirror. + + XC. + + Also arose about the self-same time, + Perhaps a little later, her great Lord, + Master of thirty kingdoms so sublime, + And of a wife by whom he was abhorred; + A thing of much less import in that clime-- + At least to those of incomes which afford + The filling up their whole connubial cargo-- + Than where two wives are under an embargo. + + XCI. + + He did not think much on the matter, nor + Indeed on any other: as a man + He liked to have a handsome paramour + At hand, as one may like to have a fan, + And therefore of Circassians had good store, + As an amusement after the Divan; + Though an unusual fit of love, or duty, + Had made him lately bask in his bride's beauty. + + XCII. + + And now he rose; and after due ablutions + Exacted by the customs of the East, + And prayers and other pious evolutions, + He drank six cups of coffee at the least, + And then withdrew to hear about the Russians, + Whose victories had recently increased + In Catherine's reign, whom Glory still adores, + As greatest of all sovereigns and w----s. + + XCIII. + + But oh, thou grand legitimate Alexander![hd][358] + Her son's son, let not this last phrase offend + Thine ear, if it should reach--and now rhymes wander + Almost as far as Petersburgh, and lend + A dreadful impulse to each loud meander + Of murmuring Liberty's wide waves, which blend + Their roar even with the Baltic's--so you be + Your father's son, 't is quite enough for me. + + XCIV. + + To call men love-begotten, or proclaim[he] + Their mothers as the antipodes of Timon, + That hater of Mankind, would be a shame, + A libel, or whate'er you please to rhyme on: + But people's ancestors are History's game;[hf] + And if one Lady's slip could leave a crime on + All generations, I should like to know + What pedigree the best would have to show?[359] + + XCV. + + Had Catherine and the Sultan understood + Their own true interests, which Kings rarely know, + Until 't is taught by lessons rather rude, + There was a way to end their strife, although + Perhaps precarious, had they but thought good, + Without the aid of Prince or Plenipo: + She to dismiss her guards and he his Harem, + And for their other matters, meet and share 'em. + + XCVI. + + But as it was, his Highness had to hold + His daily council upon ways and means + How to encounter with this martial scold, + This modern Amazon and Queen of queans; + And the perplexity could not be told + Of all the pillars of the State, which leans + Sometimes a little heavy on the backs + Of those who cannot lay on a new tax. + + XCVII. + + Meantime Gulbeyaz when her King was gone, + Retired into her boudoir, a sweet place + For love or breakfast; private, pleasing, lone, + And rich with all contrivances which grace + Those gay recesses:--many a precious stone + Sparkled along its roof, and many a vase + Of porcelain held in the fettered flowers, + Those captive soothers of a captive's hours. + + XCVIII. + + Mother of pearl, and porphyry, and marble, + Vied with each other on this costly spot; + And singing birds without were heard to warble; + And the stained glass which lighted this fair grot + Varied each ray;--but all descriptions garble + The true effect,[360] and so we had better not + Be too minute; an outline is the best,-- + A lively reader's fancy does the rest. + + XCIX. + + And here she summoned Baba, and required + Don Juan at his hands, and information + Of what had passed since all the slaves retired, + And whether he had occupied their station: + If matters had been managed as desired, + And his disguise with due consideration + Kept up; and above all, the where and how + He had passed the night, was what she wished to know. + + C. + + Baba, with some embarrassment, replied + To this long catechism of questions, asked + More easily than answered,--that he had tried + His best to obey in what he had been tasked; + But there seemed something that he wished to hide, + Which Hesitation more betrayed than masked; + He scratched his ear, the infallible resource + To which embarrassed people have recourse. + + CI. + + Gulbeyaz was no model of true patience, + Nor much disposed to wait in word or deed; + She liked quick answers in all conversations; + And when she saw him stumbling like a steed + In his replies, she puzzled him for fresh ones; + And as his speech grew still more broken-kneed, + Her cheek began to flush, her eyes to sparkle, + And her proud brow's blue veins to swell and darkle. + + CII. + + When Baba saw these symptoms, which he knew + To bode him no great good, he deprecated + Her anger, and beseeched she'd hear him through-- + He could not help the thing which he related: + Then out it came at length, that to Dudu + Juan was given in charge, as hath been stated; + But not by Baba's fault, he said, and swore on + The holy camel's hump, besides the Koran. + + CIII. + + The chief dame of the Oda,[361] upon whom + The discipline of the whole Harem bore, + As soon as they re-entered their own room, + For Baba's function stopped short at the door, + Had settled all; nor could he then presume + (The aforesaid Baba) just then to do more, + Without exciting such suspicion as + Might make the matter still worse than it was. + + CIV. + + He hoped, indeed he thought, he could be sure, + Juan had not betrayed himself; in fact + 'T was certain that his conduct had been pure, + Because a foolish or imprudent act + Would not alone have made him insecure, + But ended in his being found out and _sacked,_ + And thrown into the sea.--Thus Baba spoke + Of all save Dudu's dream, which was no joke. + + CV. + + This he discreetly kept in the back ground, + And talked away--and might have talked till now, + For any further answer that he found, + So deep an anguish wrung Gulbeyaz' brow: + Her cheek turned ashes, ears rung, brain whirled round, + As if she had received a sudden blow, + And the heart's dew of pain sprang fast and chilly + O'er her fair front, like Morning's on a lily. + + CVI. + + Although she was not of the fainting sort, + Baba thought she would faint, but there he erred-- + It was but a convulsion, which though short + Can never be described; we all have heard,[hg] + And some of us have felt thus "_all amort_"[362] + When things beyond the common have occurred;-- + Gulbeyaz proved in that brief agony + What she could ne'er express--then how should I? + + CVII. + + She stood a moment as a Pythoness + Stands on her tripod, agonized, and full + Of inspiration gathered from distress, + When all the heart-strings like wild horses pull + The heart asunder;--then, as more or less + Their speed abated or their strength grew dull, + She sunk down on her seat by slow degrees, + And bowed her throbbing head o'er trembling knees. + + CVIII. + + Her face declined and was unseen; her hair + Fell in long tresses like the weeping willow, + Sweeping the marble underneath her chair, + Or rather sofa (for it was all pillow, + A low, soft ottoman), and black Despair + Stirred up and down her bosom like a billow, + Which rushes to some shore whose shingles check + Its farther course, but must receive its wreck. + + CIX. + + Her head hung down, and her long hair in stooping + Concealed her features better than a veil; + And one hand o'er the ottoman lay drooping, + White, waxen, and as alabaster pale: + Would that I were a painter! to be grouping + All that a poet drags into detail! + Oh that my words were colours! but their tints + May serve perhaps as outlines or slight hints. + + CX. + + Baba, who knew by experience when to talk + And when to hold his tongue, now held it till + This passion might blow o'er, nor dared to balk + Gulbeyaz' taciturn or speaking will. + At length she rose up, and began to walk + Slowly along the room, but silent still, + And her brow cleared, but not her troubled eye; + The wind was down, but still the sea ran high. + + CXI. + + She stopped, and raised her head to speak-but paused + And then moved on again with rapid pace; + Then slackened it, which is the march most caused + By deep emotion:--you may sometimes trace + A feeling in each footstep, as disclosed + By Sallust in his Catiline, who, chased + By all the demons of all passions, showed + Their work even by the way in which he trode[363]. + + CXII. + + Gulbeyaz stopped and beckoned Baba:--"Slave! + Bring the two slaves!" she said in a low tone, + But one which Baba did not like to brave, + And yet he shuddered, and seemed rather prone + To prove reluctant, and begged leave to crave + (Though he well knew the meaning) to be shown + What slaves her Highness wished to indicate, + For fear of any error, like the late. + + CXIII. + + "The Georgian and her paramour," replied + The Imperial Bride--and added, "Let the boat + Be ready by the secret portal's side: + You know the rest." The words stuck in her throat, + Despite her injured love and fiery pride; + And of this Baba willingly took note, + And begged by every hair of Mahomet's beard, + She would revoke the order he had heard. + + CXIV. + + "To hear is to obey," he said; "but still, + Sultana, think upon the consequence: + It is not that I shall not all fulfil + Your orders, even in their severest sense; + But such precipitation may end ill, + Even at your own imperative expense: + I do not mean destruction and exposure, + In case of any premature disclosure; + + CXV. + + "But your own feelings. Even should all the rest + Be hidden by the rolling waves, which hide + Already many a once love-beaten breast + Deep in the caverns of the deadly tide-- + You love this boyish, new, Seraglio guest, + And if this violent remedy be tried-- + Excuse my freedom, when I here assure you, + That killing him is not the way to cure you." + + CXVI. + + "What dost thou know of Love or feeling?--Wretch! + Begone!" she cried, with kindling eyes--"and do + My bidding!" Baba vanished, for to stretch + His own remonstrance further he well knew + Might end in acting as his own "Jack Ketch;" + And though he wished extremely to get through + This awkward business without harm to others, + He still preferred his own neck to another's. + + CXVII. + + Away he went then upon his commission, + Growling and grumbling in good Turkish phrase + Against all women of whate'er condition, + Especially Sultanas and their ways; + Their obstinacy, pride, and indecision, + Their never knowing their own mind two days, + The trouble that they gave, their immorality, + Which made him daily bless his own neutrality. + + CXVIII. + + And then he called his brethren to his aid, + And sent one on a summons to the pair, + That they must instantly be well arrayed, + And above all be combed even to a hair, + And brought before the Empress, who had made + Inquiries after them with kindest care: + At which Dudu looked strange, and Juan silly; + But go they must at once, and will I--nill I. + + CXIX. + + And here I leave them at their preparation + For the imperial presence, wherein whether + Gulbeyaz showed them both commiseration, + Or got rid of the parties altogether, + Like other angry ladies of her nation,-- + Are things the turning of a hair or feather + May settle; but far be 't from me to anticipate + In what way feminine caprice may dissipate. + + CXX. + + I leave them for the present with good wishes, + Though doubts of their well doing, to arrange + Another part of History; for the dishes + Of this our banquet we must sometimes change; + And trusting Juan may escape the fishes, + (Although his situation now seems strange, + And scarce secure),--as such digressions _are_ fair, + The Muse will take a little touch at warfare. + +End of Canto 6th. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{268}[328] [Two MSS. (A, B) are extant, A in Byron's handwriting, B a +transcription by Mrs. Shelley. The variants are marked respectively _MS. +A., MS. B._ + +Motto: "Thinkest thou that because thou art virtuous there shall be no +more cakes and ale? Aye! and ginger shall be hot in the mouth +too."--_Twelfth Night, or What You Will_, Shakespeare, act ii. sc. 3, +lines 109-112.--[_MS. B._] + +This motto, in an amended form, which was prefixed to the First Canto in +1833, appears on the title-page of the first edition of Cantos VI., +VII., VIII., published by John Hunt in 1823.] + +[329] [See Shakespeare, _Julius Caesar_, act iv. sc. 3, lines 216, 217.] + +[330] [Jacob Behmen (or Boehm) stands for "mystic." Byron twice compares +him with Wordsworth (see _Letters_, 1899, iii. 239, 1900, iv. 238).] + +{269}[gb] + _Man with his head reflects (as Spurzheim tells),_ + _But Woman with the heart--or something else_. + or, _Man's pensive part is (now and then) the head,_ + _Woman's the heart or anything instead_.-- + [MS. A. Alternative reading.] + +[gc] _Like to a Comet's tail_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[gd] + _O'erbalance all the Caesar's victories_.--[MS. A.] + _Outbalance all the Caesar's victories_.--[MS. B.] + +_In the Shelley copy "o'erbalance" has been erased and "outbalance" +inserted in Byron's handwriting. The lines must have been intended to +run thus_-- + + _'T is not his conquests keep his name in fashion_ + _But Actium lost; for Cleopatra's eyes_ + _Outbalance all the Caesar's victories_. + +[ge] _I wish that they had been eighteen_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +{270}[331] [To Mary Chaworth. Compare "Our union would have healed feuds +... it would have joined lands broad and rich; it would have joined at +least _one_ heart."--_Detached Thoughts_, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. +441.] + +[332] [Cato gave up his wife Martia to his friend Hortensius; but, on +the death of the latter, took her back again. This conduct was censured +by Caesar, who observed that Cato had an eye to the main chance. "It was +the wealth of Hortensius. He lent the young man his wife, that he might +make her a rich widow."--Langhorne's Plutarch, 1838, pp. 539, 547.] + +{271}[333] [_Othello_, act i. sc. i, lines 19-24.] + +[gf]---- _though with greater latitude_.--[MS. A.] + +{272}[gg] ---- _with one foolish woman wed_.--[MS. B.] + +[334] [The famous _bed_, measuring twelve feet square, to which an +allusion is made by Shakespeare in _Twelfth Night_, act iii. sc. 2, line +44, was formerly preserved at the Saracen's Head at Ware, in +Hertfordshire. The bed was removed from Ware to the Rye House in 1869.] + +[gh] + _His Highness the sublimest of mankind,_ + _The greatest, wisest, bravest, [and the] best,_ + _Proved by his edicts somewhat blind,_ + _Who saw his virtues as they saw the rest_-- + _His Highness quite connubially inclined_ + _Had deigned that night to be Gulbeyaz' guest_.--[MS. A.] + +[335] See Waverley [chap. xx.] + +[gi] _May look like what I need not mention here_--[MS. A.] + +{273}[gj] _Are better signs if such things can be signed_.--[MS. A.] + +[336] [For St. Francis of Assisi, and the "seven great balls of snow," +of which "the greatest" was "his wife," see _The Golden Legend_, 1900, +v. 221, _vide ante_, p. 32, note 1.] + +[337] [The words _medio_, etc., are to be found in Ovid., _Metam._, lib. +ii. line 137; the doctrine, _Virtus est medium vitiorum_, in Horace, +_Epist_., lib. i, ep. xviii. line 9.] + +[gk] + _In the damned line ('t is worth, at least, a curse)_ + _Which I have examined too close_.--[MS. erased.] + +{274}[gl] _Self-love that whetstone of Don Cupid's art_.--[MS. A.] + +[gm]---- _with love despairs._--[MS. A. erased.] + +[338] [Lady Noel's will was proved February 22, 1812. She left to the +trustees a portrait of Byron ... with directions that it was not to be +shown to his daughter Ada till she attained the age of twenty-one; but +that if her mother was still living, it was not to be so delivered +without Lady Byron's consent.--_Letters_, 1901, vi. 42, note 1.] + +[gn] _Which diddles you_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[go] _I'm a philosopher; G--d damn them all_.--[MS. B.] + +[gp] _Bills, women, wives, dogs, horses and mankind_.--[MS. B. erased.] + +{275}[gq] _Is more than I know, and, so, damn them both_.--[MS. A. +erased.] + +[gr] + _When we lie down--wife, spouse, or bachelor_ + _By what we love not, to sigh for the light_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[gs] _By their infernal bedfellow_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[339] [The comparison of Queen Caroline to snow may be traced to an +article in the _Times_ of August 23, 1820: "The Queen may now, we +believe, be considered as triumphing! For the first three years at least +of her Majesty's painful peregrinations, she stands before her husband's +admiring subjects 'as white as unsunned snows.'" Political bards and +lampoonists of the king's party thanked the _Times_ for "giving them +that word."] + +{276}[340] [According to Gronow (_Reminiscences_, 1889, i. 62), a +practical joke of Dan Mackinnon's (_vide ante_, p. 69, _footnote_) gave +Byron a hint for this scene in the harem: "Lord Wellington was curious +about visiting a convent near Lisbon, and the lady abbess made no +difficulty. Mackinnon hearing this contrived to get clandestinely within +the sacred walls ... at all events, when Lord Wellington arrived Dan +Mackinnon was to be seen among the nuns, dressed out in their sacred +costume, with his whiskers shaved; and, as he possessed good features, +he was declared to be one of the best-looking among those chaste dames. +It was supposed that this adventure, which was known to Lord Byron, +suggested a similar episode in _Don Juan_."] + +[341] [Caligula--_vide_ Suetonius, _De XII. Caes_., C. _Caes_. Calig., +cap, xxx., "Infensus turbae faventi adversus studium exclamavit: 'Utinam +populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet!'"] + +[gt] _My wish were general but no worse_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[gu] _That Womankind had only one--say heart_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +{277}[342] The ladies of the Seraglio. + +[343] [Demetrius Cantemir, hospodar of Moldavia. His work, the _History +of the Growth and Decay of the Othman Empire_, was translated into +English by N. Tyndal, 1734. He died in 1723.] + +[344] [Baron de Tott, in his _Memoirs concerning the State of the +Turkish Empire_ (1786, i. 72), gives the title of this functionary as +_Kiaya Kadun_, i.e. Mistress or Governess of the Ladies.] + +{278}[345] [The repetition of the same rhyme-word was noted in +_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, July, 1823, vol. xiv. p. 90.] + +{279}[346] + + ["I guess, 't was frightful there to see + A lady so richly clad as she-- + Beautiful exceedingly." +_Christabel_, Part I. lines 66-68.] + +[347] "It is in the adjacent climates of Georgia, Mingrelia, and +Circassia, that nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of +beauty, in the shape of the limbs, the colour of the skin, the symmetry +of the features, and the expression of the countenance: the men are +formed for action, the women for love."--Gibbon, [_Decline and Fall, +etc._, 1825, iii 126.] + +{280}[348] Padisha is the Turkish title of the Grand Signior. + +[349] [Katinka was the name of the youngest sister of Theresa, the "Maid +of Athens."--See letter to H. Drury, May 3, 1810, _Letters_, 1898, i. +269, note 1; and _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 15, note 1. + +It is probable that the originals of Katinka and Dudu were two +Circassians who were presented for sale to Nicolas Ernest Kleeman (see +his _Voyage de Vienne, etc._, 1780, pp. 142, 143) at Kaffa, in the +Crimea. Of the first he writes, "Elle me baisa la main, et par l'ordre +de son maitre, elle se promena en long et en large, pour me faire +remarquer sa taille mince et aisee. Elle avoit un joli petit pied.... +Quand elle a en ote son voile elle a presente a mes yeux une beaute +tres-attrayante; ses cheveux etoient blonds argentes; elle avoit de +grands yeux bleux, le nez un peu long, et les levres appetissantes. Sa +figure etoit reguliere, son teint blanc, delicat, les joues couvertes +d'un charmant vermilion.... La seconde etoit un peu petite, assez +grasse, et avoit les cheveux roux, l'air sensuel et revenant." Kleeman +pretended to offer terms, took notes, and retired. But the Circassians +are before us still.] + +{281}[350] [_Macbeth_, act ii. sc. 2, line 36.] + +{284}[gv] _By which no doubt its Baptism came to pass_.--[MS. A. +erased.] + +[gw] _The Devil in Hell might melt but never settle_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[351] [Hence the title of the satire, _The Age of Bronze_.] + +[gx] _For Woman's silence startles more than thunder_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +{287}[352] [Compare _Beppo_, stanza xxii. line 2, _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 166, note 1.] + +[gy] _With no less true and feminine surprise_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +{289}[353] [_Julius Caesar_, act iii. sc. II, line 216.] + +[354] + + ["Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita + Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura," etc. + +_Inferno_, Canto I, lines I, 2.] + +[gz] + _Himself in an age when men grow good,_ + _As Life's best half is done_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[ha] _But out of reach--a most provoking sight_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[hb] _That ere her unreluctant lips could ope_.--[MS. A.] + +{290}[355] [One of the advocates employed for Queen Caroline in the +House of Lords spoke of some of the most puzzling passages in the +history of her intercourse with Bergami, as amounting to "odd instances +of strange coincidence."--Ed. 1833, xvi. 160.] + +{291}[hc] _At least as red as the Flamingo's breast_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +{292}[356] [Byron used Kaff for Caucasus, _vide ante_, _English Bards, +etc._, line 1022, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 378, note 3. But there may +be some allusion to the fabulous Kaff, "anciently imagined by the +Asiatics to surround the world, to bind the horizon on all sides." There +was a proverb "From Kaf to Kaf," _i.e._ "the wide world through." See, +too, D'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque Orientale_, 1697, art. "Caf."] + +[357] [See L.A. Seneca, _De Ira_, lib. ii. cap. 25.] + +{294}[hd] + _Oh thou her lawful grandson Alexander_ + _Let not this quality offend_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[358] [Compare _The Age of Bronze_, lines 434, sq., _Poetical Works_, +1901, v. 563, note 1.] + +{294}[he] _To call a man a whoreson_----.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[hf] _But a man's grandmother is deemed fair game_.--[MS. A.] + +[359] [It is probable that Byron knew that there was a "hint of +illegitimacy" in his own pedigree. John Byron of Clayton, grandfather of +Richard the second Lord Byron, was born, out of wedlock, to Elizabeth, +daughter of William Costerden, of Blakesley, in Lancashire, widow to +George Halgh of Halgh (_sic_), and second wife of Sir John Byron of +Clayton, "little Sir John with the great beard." He succeeded to +Newstead and the Lancashire estates, not as heir-at-law, but by deed of +gift. (See letter to Murray, October 20, 1820, _Letters_, 1901, v. 99, +note 2.)] + +{295}[360] [Aubry de la Motraye, in describing the interior of the Grand +Signior's palace, into which he gained admission as the assistant of a +watchmaker who was employed to regulate the clocks, says that the eunuch +who received them at the entrance of the harem, conducted them into a +hall: "Cette salle est incrustee de porcelaines fines; et le lambris +dore et azure qui orne le fond d'une coupole qui regne au-dessus, est +des plus riches.... Une fontaine artificielle et jaillissante, dont le +bassin est d'un pretieux marbre verd qui m'a paru serpentin ou jaspe, +s'elevoit directement au milieu, sous le dome.... Je me trouvai la tete +si pleine de _Sophas_ de pretieux plafonds, de meubles superbes, en un +mot, d'une si grande confusion de materiaux magnifiques, ... qu'il +seroit difficile d'en donner une idee claire."--_Voyages_, 1727, i. 220, +222.] + +{296}[361] ["Il n'ya point de Religieuses ... point de novices, plus +soumises a la volonte de leur abbesse que ces filles [les Odaliques] le +sont a leurs maitresses."--A. de la Motraye, _Voyages,_ 1727, i. 338.] + +{297}[hg] + ---- _though seen not heard_ + _For it is silent_.--[MS. A. erased.] + +[362] ["How fares my Kate? What! sweeting, all amort?"--_Taming of the +Shrew,_ act iv. sc. 3, line 36. "Amort" is said to be a corruption of _a +la mort_. Byron must have had in mind his silent ecstasy of grief when +the Countess Guiccioli endeavoured to break the announcement of +Allegra's death (April, 1822). "'I understand,' said he; 'it is enough; +say no more.' A mortal paleness spread itself over his face, his +strength failed him, and he sunk into a seat. His look was fixed, and +the expression such that I began to fear for his reason; he did not shed +a tear" (_Life,_ p. 368).] + +{299}[363] ["His guilty soul, at enmity with gods and men, could find no +rest; so violently was his mind torn and distracted by a consciousness +of guilt. Accordingly his countenance was pale, his eyes ghastly, his +pace one while quick, another slow [citus modo, modo tardus incessus]; +indeed, in all his looks there was an air of distraction."--Sallust, +_Catilina_, cap. xv. sf.] + + + + + CANTO THE SEVENTH.[364] + + + I. + + O LOVE! O Glory! what are ye who fly + Around us ever, rarely to alight? + There's not a meteor in the polar sky + Of such transcendent and more fleeting flight. + Chill, and chained to cold earth, we lift on high + Our eyes in search of either lovely light; + A thousand and a thousand colours they + Assume, then leave us on our freezing way. + + II. + + And such as they are, such my present tale is, + A nondescript and ever-varying rhyme, + A versified Aurora Borealis, + Which flashes o'er a waste and icy clime. + When we know what all are, we must bewail us, + But ne'ertheless I hope it is no crime + To laugh at _all_ things--for I wish to know + _What_, after _all_, are _all_ things--but a _show_? + + III. + + They accuse me--_Me_--the present writer of + The present poem--of--I know not what--A + tendency to under-rate and scoff + At human power and virtue, and all that;[365] + And this they say in language rather rough. + Good God! I wonder what they would be at! + I say no more than hath been said in Dante's + Verse, and by Solomon and by Cervantes; + + IV. + + By Swift, by Machiavel, by Rochefoucault, + By Fenelon, by Luther, and by Plato;[hh] + By Tillotson, and Wesley, and Rousseau, + Who knew this life was not worth a potato. + 'T is not their fault, nor mine, if this be so,-- + For my part, I pretend not to be Cato, + Nor even Diogenes.--We live and die, + But which is best, _you_ know no more than I. + + V. + + Socrates said, our only knowledge was[366] + "To know that nothing could be known;" a pleasant + Science enough, which levels to an ass + Each man of wisdom, future, past, or present. + Newton (that proverb of the mind), alas! + Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent, + That he himself felt only "like a youth + Picking up shells by the great ocean--Truth."[hi][367] + + VI. + + Ecclesiastes said, "that all is vanity"-- + Most modern preachers say the same, or show it + By their examples of true Christianity: + In short, all know, or very soon may know it; + And in this scene of all-confessed inanity, + By Saint, by Sage, by Preacher, and by Poet, + Must I restrain me, through the fear of strife, + From holding up the nothingness of Life?[hj] + + VII. + + Dogs, or men!--for I flatter you[368] in saying + That ye are dogs--your betters far--ye may + Read, or read not, what I am now essaying + To show ye what ye are in every way. + As little as the moon stops for the baying + Of wolves, will the bright Muse withdraw one ray + From out her skies--then howl your idle wrath! + While she still silvers o'er your gloomy path. + + VIII. + + "Fierce loves and faithless wars"--I am not sure + If this be the right reading--'t is no matter; + The fact's about the same, I am secure; + I sing them both, and am about to batter + A town which did a famous siege endure, + And was beleaguered both by land and water + By Souvaroff,[369] or Anglice Suwarrow, + Who loved blood as an alderman loves marrow. + + IX. + + The fortress is called Ismail, and is placed + Upon the Danube's left branch and left bank,[370] + With buildings in the Oriental taste, + But still a fortress of the foremost rank, + Or was at least, unless 't is since defaced, + Which with your conquerors is a common prank: + It stands some eighty versts from the high sea, + And measures round of toises thousands three.[371] + + X. + + Within the extent of this fortification + A borough is comprised along the height + Upon the left, which from its loftier station + Commands the city, and upon its site + A Greek had raised around this elevation + A quantity of palisades _upright_, + So placed as to _impede_ the fire of those + Who held the place, and to _assist_ the foe's.[372] + + XI. + + This circumstance may serve to give a notion + Of the high talents of this new Vauban: + But the town ditch below was deep as Ocean, + The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang: + But then there was a great want of precaution + (Prithee, excuse this engineering slang), + Nor work advanced, nor covered way was there,[373] + To hint, at least, "Here is no thoroughfare." + + XII. + + But a stone bastion, with a narrow gorge, + And walls as thick as most skulls born as yet; + Two batteries, cap-a-pie, as our St. George, + Casemated[374] one, and t' other "a barbette,"[375] + Of Danube's bank took formidable charge; + While two-and-twenty cannon duly set + Rose over the town's right side, in bristling tier, + Forty feet high, upon a cavalier.[376] + + XIII. + + But from the river the town's open quite, + Because the Turks could never be persuaded + A Russian vessel e'er would heave in sight;[377] + And such their creed was till they were invaded, + When it grew rather late to set things right: + But as the Danube could not well be waded, + They looked upon the Muscovite flotilla, + And only shouted, "Allah!" and "Bis Millah!" + + XIV. + + The Russians now were ready to attack; + But oh, ye goddesses of War and Glory! + How shall I spell the name of each Cossacque + Who were immortal, could one tell their story? + Alas! what to their memory can lack? + Achilles' self was not more grim and gory + Than thousands of this new and polished nation, + Whose names want nothing but--pronunciation. + + XV. + + Still I'll record a few, if but to increase + Our euphony: there was Strongenoff, and Strokonoff, + Meknop, Serge Lwow, Arseniew of modern Greece, + And Tschitsshakoff, and Roguenoff, and Chokenoff,[378] + And others of twelve consonants apiece; + And more might be found out, if I could poke enough + Into gazettes; but Fame (capricious strumpet), + It seems, has got an ear as well as trumpet, + + XVI. + + And cannot tune those discords of narration,[hk] + Which may be names at Moscow, into rhyme; + Yet there were several worth commemoration, + As e'er was virgin of a nuptial chime; + Soft words, too, fitted for the peroration + Of Londonderry drawling against time, + Ending in "ischskin," "ousckin," "iffskchy," "ouski," + Of whom we can insert but Rousamouski,[379] + + XVII. + + Scherematoff and Chrematoff, Koklophti, + Koclobski, Kourakin, and Mouskin Pouskin, + All proper men of weapons, as e'er scoffed high[380] + Against a foe, or ran a sabre through skin: + Little cared they for Mahomet or Mufti, + Unless to make their kettle-drums a new skin + Out of their hides, if parchment had grown dear, + And no more handy substitute been near. + + XVIII. + + Then there were foreigners of much renown, + Of various nations, and all volunteers; + Not fighting for their country or its crown, + But wishing to be one day brigadiers; + Also to have the sacking of a town;-- + A pleasant thing to young men at their years. + 'Mongst them were several Englishmen of pith, + Sixteen called Thomson, and nineteen named Smith. + + XIX. + + Jack Thomson and Bill Thomson;--all the rest + Had been called _"Jemmy,"_ after the great bard; + I don't know whether they had arms or crest, + But such a godfather's as good a card. + Three of the Smiths were Peters; but the best + Amongst them all, hard blows to inflict or ward, + Was _he_, since so renowned "in country quarters + At Halifax;"[381] but now he served the Tartars. + + XX. + + The rest were Jacks and Gills and Wills and Bills, + But when I've added that the elder Jack Smith + Was born in Cumberland among the hills, + And that his father was an honest blacksmith, + I've said all _I_ know of a name that fills + Three lines of the despatch in taking "Schmacksmith," + A village of Moldavia's waste, wherein + He fell, immortal in a bulletin. + + XXI. + + I wonder (although Mars no doubt's a god I + Praise) if a man's name in a _bulletin_ + May make up for a _bullet in_ his body? + I hope this little question is no sin, + Because, though I am but a simple noddy, + I think one Shakespeare puts the same thought in + The mouth of some one in his plays so doting, + Which many people pass for wits by quoting.[382] + + XXII. + + Then there were Frenchmen, gallant, young, and gay; + But I'm too great a patriot to record + Their Gallic names upon a glorious day; + I'd rather tell ten lies than say a word + Of truth;--such truths are treason; they betray + Their country; and as traitors are abhorred, + Who name the French in English, save to show + How Peace should make John Bull the Frenchman's foe. + + XXIII. + + The Russians, having built two batteries on + An isle near Ismail, had two ends in view; + The first was to bombard it, and knock down + The public buildings and the private too, + No matter what poor souls might be undone:[hl] + The city's shape suggested this, 't is true, + Formed like an amphitheatre--each dwelling + Presented a fine mark to throw a shell in.[383] + + XXIV. + + The second object was to profit by + The moment of the general consternation, + To attack the Turk's flotilla, which lay nigh + Extremely tranquil, anchored at its station: + But a third motive was as probably + To frighten them into capitulation;[384] + A phantasy which sometimes seizes warriors, + Unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers.[hm] + + XXV. + + A habit rather blameable, which is + That of despising those we combat with, + Common in many cases, was in this + The cause[385] of killing Tchitchitzkoff and Smith-- + One of the valorous "Smiths" whom we shall miss + Out of those nineteen who late rhymed to "pith;" + But 't is a name so spread o'er "Sir" and "Madam," + That one would think the _first_ who bore it _"Adam."_ + + XXVI. + + The Russian batteries were incomplete, + Because they were constructed in a hurry;[386] + Thus the same cause which makes a verse want feet, + And throws a cloud o'er Longman and John Murray, + When the sale of new books is not so fleet + As they who print them think is necessary, + May likewise put off for a time what story + Sometimes calls "Murder," and at others "Glory." + + XXVII. + + Whether it was their engineer's stupidity, + Their haste or waste, I neither know nor care, + Or some contractor's personal cupidity, + Saving his soul by cheating in the ware + Of homicide, but there was no solidity + In the new batteries erected there; + They either missed, or they were never missed, + And added greatly to the missing list. + + XXVIII. + + A sad miscalculation about distance + Made all their naval matters incorrect; + Three fireships lost their amiable existence + Before they reached a spot to take effect; + The match was lit too soon, and no assistance + Could remedy this lubberly defect; + They blew up in the middle of the river, + While, though 't was dawn, the Turks slept fast as ever.[387] + + XXIX. + + At seven they rose, however, and surveyed + The Russ flotilla getting under way; + 'T was nine, when still advancing undismayed, + Within a cable's length their vessels lay + Off Ismail, and commenced a cannonade, + Which was returned with interest, I may say, + And by a fire of musketry and grape, + And shells and shot of every size and shape.[388] + + XXX. + + For six hours bore they without intermission + The Turkish fire, and, aided by their own + Land batteries, worked their guns with great precision; + At length they found mere cannonade alone + By no means would produce the town's submission, + And made a signal to retreat at one. + One bark blew up, a second near the works + Running aground, was taken by the Turks.[389] + + XXXI. + + The Moslem, too, had lost both ships and men; + But when they saw the enemy retire, + Their Delhis[390] manned some boats, and sailed again, + And galled the Russians with a heavy fire, + And tried to make a landing on the main; + But here the effect fell short of their desire: + Count Damas drove them back into the water + Pell-mell, and with a whole gazette of slaughter.[391] + + XXXII. + + "If" (says the historian here) "I could report + All that the Russians did upon this day, + I think that several volumes would fall short, + And I should still have many things to say;"[392] + And so he says no more--but pays his court + To some distinguished strangers in that fray; + The Prince de Ligne, and Langeron, and Damas, + Names great as any that the roll of Fame has.[393] + + XXXIII. + + This being the case, may show us what Fame _is_: + For out of these three "_preux Chevaliers_," how + Many of common readers give a guess + That such existed? (and they may live now + For aught we know.) Renown's all hit or miss; + There's fortune even in Fame, we must allow. + 'T is true, the Memoirs of the Prince de Ligne[394] + Have half withdrawn from _him_ Oblivion's screen. + + XXXIV. + + But here are men who fought in gallant actions + As gallantly as ever heroes fought, + But buried in the heap of such transactions + Their names are rarely found, nor often sought. + Thus even good fame may suffer sad contractions, + And is extinguished sooner than she ought: + Of all our modern battles, I will bet + You can't repeat nine names from each Gazette. + + XXXV. + + In short, this last attack, though rich in glory, + Showed that _somewhere, somehow_, there was a fault, + And Admiral Ribas[395] (known in Russian story) + Most strongly recommended an assault; + In which he was opposed by young and hoary, + Which made a long debate; but I must halt, + For if I wrote down every warrior's speech, + I doubt few readers e'er would mount the breach. + + XXXVI. + + There was a man, if that he was a man, + Not that his manhood could be called in question, + For had he not been Hercules, his span + Had been as short in youth as indigestion + Made his last illness, when, all worn and wan, + He died beneath a tree, as much unblest on + The soil of the green province he had wasted, + As e'er was locust on the land it blasted. + + XXXVII. + + This was Potemkin[396]--a great thing in days + When homicide and harlotry made great; + If stars and titles could entail long praise, + His glory might half equal his estate. + This fellow, being six foot high, could raise + A kind of phantasy proportionate + In the then Sovereign of the Russian people, + Who measured men as you would do a steeple. + + XXXVIII. + + While things were in abeyance, Ribas sent + A courier to the Prince, and he succeeded + In ordering matters after his own bent; + I cannot tell the way in which he pleaded, + But shortly he had cause to be content. + In the mean time, the batteries proceeded, + And fourscore cannon on the Danube's border + Were briskly fired and answered in due order.[397] + + XXXIX. + + But on the thirteenth, when already part + Of the troops were embarked, the siege to raise, + A courier on the spur inspired new heart + Into all panters for newspaper praise,[hn] + As well as dilettanti in War's art, + By his despatches (couched in pithy phrase) + Announcing the appointment of that lover of + Battles to the command, Field-Marshal Souvaroff.[398] + + XL. + + The letter of the Prince to the same Marshal + Was worthy of a Spartan, had the cause + Been one to which a good heart could be partial-- + Defence of freedom, country, or of laws; + But as it was mere lust of Power to o'er-arch all + With its proud brow, it merits slight applause, + Save for its style, which said, all in a trice, + "You will take Ismail at whatever price."[399] + + XLI. + + "Let there be Light! said God, and there was Light!" + "Let there be Blood!" says man, and there's a sea! + The fiat of this spoiled child of the Night + (For Day ne'er saw his merits) could decree + More evil in an hour, than thirty bright + Summers could renovate, though they should be + Lovely as those which ripened Eden's fruit; + For War cuts up not only branch, but root. + + XLII. + + Our friends, the Turks, who with loud "Allahs" now + Began to signalise the Russ retreat,[400] + Were damnably mistaken; few are slow + In thinking that their enemy is beat,[401] + (Or _beaten_, if you insist on grammar, though + I never think about it in a heat,) + But here I say the Turks were much mistaken, + Who hating hogs, yet wished to save their bacon. + + XLIII. + + For, on the sixteenth, at full gallop, drew + In sight two horsemen, who were deemed Cossacques + For some time, till they came in nearer view: + They had but little baggage at their backs, + For there were but _three_ shirts between the two; + But on they rode upon two Ukraine hacks, + Till, in approaching, were at length descried + In this plain pair, Suwarrow and his guide.[402] + + XLIV. + + "Great joy to London now!" says some great fool, + When London had a grand illumination, + Which to that bottle-conjuror, John Bull, + Is of all dreams the first hallucination; + So that the streets of coloured lamps are full, + That sage (said John) surrenders at discretion[ho] + His purse, his soul, his sense, and even his nonsense, + To gratify, like a huge moth, this _one_ sense. + + XLV. + + 'T is strange that he should further "Damn his eyes," + For they are damned; that once all-famous oath + Is to the Devil now no further prize, + Since John has lately lost the use of both. + Debt he calls Wealth, and taxes Paradise; + And Famine, with her gaunt and bony growth, + Which stare him in the face, he won't examine, + Or swears that Ceres hath begotten Famine. + + XLVI. + + But to the tale;--great joy unto the camp! + To Russian, Tartar, English, French, Cossacque, + O'er whom Suwarrow shone like a gas lamp, + Presaging a most luminous attack; + Or like a wisp along the marsh so damp, + Which leads beholders on a boggy walk, + He flitted to and fro a dancing light, + Which all who saw it followed, wrong or right. + + XLVII. + + But, certes, matters took a different face; + There was enthusiasm and much applause, + The fleet and camp saluted with great grace, + And all presaged good fortune to their cause. + Within a cannot-shot length of the place + They drew, constructed ladders, repaired flaws + In former works, made new, prepared fascines, + And all kinds of benevolent machines. + + XLVIII. + + 'T is thus the spirit of a single mind + Makes that of multitudes take one direction, + As roll the waters to the breathing wind, + Or roams the herd beneath the bull's protection; + Or as a little dog will lead the blind, + Or a bell-wether form the flock's connection + By tinkling sounds, when they go forth to victual; + Such is the sway of your great men o'er little. + + XLIX. + + The whole camp rung with joy; you would have thought + That they were going to a marriage feast + (This metaphor, I think, holds good as aught, + Since there is discord after both at least): + There was not now a luggage boy but sought + Danger and spoil with ardour much increased; + And why? because a little--odd--old man, + Stripped to his shirt, was come to lead the van. + + L. + + But so it was; and every preparation + Was made with all alacrity: the first + Detachment of three columns took its station, + And waited but the signal's voice to burst + Upon the foe: the second's ordination + Was also in three columns, with a thirst + For Glory gaping o'er a sea of Slaughter: + The third, in columns two, attacked by water.[403] + + LI. + + New batteries were erected, and was held + A general council, in which Unanimity, + That stranger to most councils, here prevailed,[404] + As sometimes happens in a great extremity;[hp] + And every difficulty being dispelled, + Glory began to dawn with due sublimity,[hq] + While Souvaroff, determined to obtain it, + Was teaching his recruits to use the bayonet.[405] + + LII. + + It is an actual fact, that he, commander + In chief, in proper person deigned to drill + The awkward squad, and could afford to squander + His time, a corporal's duty to fulfil; + Just as you'd break a sucking salamander + To swallow flame, and never take it ill:[hr] + He showed them how to mount a ladder (which + Was not like Jacob's) or to cross a ditch.[406] + + LIII. + + Also he dressed up, for the nonce, fascines + Like men with turbans, scimitars, and dirks, + And made them charge with bayonet these machines, + By way of lesson against actual Turks;[407] + And when well practised in these mimic scenes, + He judged them proper to assail the works,-- + (At which your wise men sneered in phrases witty),[hs] + He made no answer--but he took the city. + + LIV. + + Most things were in this posture on the eve + Of the assault, and all the camp was in + A stern repose; which you would scarce conceive; + Yet men resolved to dash through thick and thin + Are very silent when they once believe + That all is settled:--there was little din, + For some were thinking of their home and friends, + And others of themselves and latter ends.[ht] + + LV. + + Suwarrow chiefly was on the alert, + Surveying, drilling, ordering, jesting, pondering; + For the man was, we safely may assert, + A thing to wonder at beyond most wondering; + Hero, buffoon, half-demon, and half-dirt, + Praying, instructing, desolating, plundering--Now + Mars, now Momus--and when bent to storm + A fortress, Harlequin in uniform.[408] + + LVI. + + The day before the assault, while upon drill-- + For this great conqueror played the corporal-- + Some Cossacques, hovering like hawks round a hill, + Had met a party towards the Twilight's fall, + One of whom spoke their tongue--or well or ill, + 'T was much that he was understood at all; + But whether from his voice, or speech, or manner, + They found that he had fought beneath their banner. + + LVII. + + Whereon immediately at his request + They brought him and his comrades to head-quarters; + Their dress was Moslem, but you might have guessed + That these were merely masquerading Tartars, + And that beneath each Turkish-fashioned vest + Lurked Christianity--which sometimes barters + Her inward grace for outward show, and makes + It difficult to shun some strange mistakes. + + LVIII. + + Suwarrow, who was standing in his shirt + Before a company of Calmucks, drilling, + Exclaiming, fooling, swearing at the inert, + And lecturing on the noble art of killing,-- + For deeming human clay but common dirt + This great philosopher was thus instilling + His maxims,[409] which to martial comprehension + Proved death in battle equal to a pension;-- + + LIX. + + Suwarrow, when he saw this company + Of Cossacques and their prey, turned round and cast + Upon them his slow brow and piercing eye:-- + "Whence come ye?"--"From Constantinople last, + Captives just now escaped," was the reply. + "What are ye?"--"What you see us." Briefly passed + This dialogue; for he who answered knew + To whom he spoke, and made his words but few. + + LX. + + "Your names?"--"Mine's Johnson, and my comrade's Juan; + The other two are women, and the third + Is neither man nor woman." The Chief threw on + The party a slight glance, then said," I have heard + _Your_ name before, the second is a new one: + To bring the other three here was absurd: + But let that pass:--I think I have heard your name + In the Nikolaiew regiment?"--"The same." + + LXI. + + "You served at Widdin?"--"Yes."--"You led the attack?" + "I did."--"What next?"--"I really hardly know"-- + "You were the first i' the breach?"--"I was not slack + At least to follow those who might be so"--"What + followed?"--"A shot laid me on my back, + And I became a prisoner to the foe"-- + "You shall have vengeance, for the town surrounded + Is twice as strong as that where you were wounded. + + LXII. + + "Where will you serve?"--"Where'er you please."--"I know + You like to be the hope of the forlorn, + And doubtless would be foremost on the foe + After the hardships you've already borne. + And this young fellow--say what can he do? + He with the beardless chin and garments torn?"-- + "Why, General, if he hath no greater fault + In War than Love, he had better lead the assault"-- + + LXIII. + + "He shall if that he dare." Here Juan bowed + Low as the compliment deserved. Suwarrow + Continued: "Your old regiment's allowed, + By special providence, to lead to-morrow, + Or, it may be, to-night, the assault: I have vowed + To several Saints, that shortly plough or harrow + Shall pass o'er what was Ismail, and its tusk[410] + Be unimpeded by the proudest mosque. + + LXIV. + + "So now, my lads, for Glory!"--Here he turned + And drilled away in the most classic Russian, + Until each high heroic bosom burned + For cash and conquest, as if from a cushion + A preacher had held forth (who nobly spurned + All earthly goods save tithes) and bade them push on + To slay the Pagans who resisted, battering + The armies of the Christian Empress Catherine. + + LXV. + + Johnson, who knew by this long colloquy + Himself a favourite, ventured to address + Suwarrow, though engaged with accents high + In his resumed amusement. "I confess + My debt in being thus allowed to die + Among the foremost; but if you'd express + Explicitly our several posts, my friend + And self would know what duty to attend." + + LXVI. + + "Right! I was busy, and forgot. Why, you + Will join your former regiment, which should be + Now under arms. Ho! Katskoff, take him to"-- + (Here he called up a Polish orderly) + "His post, I mean the regiment Nikolaiew: + The stranger stripling may remain with me; + He's a fine boy. The women may be sent + To the other baggage, or to the sick tent." + + LXVII. + + But here a sort of scene began to ensue: + The ladies,--who by no means had been bred + To be disposed of in a way so new, + Although their Harem education led, + Doubtless, to that of doctrines the most true, + Passive obedience,--now raised up the head + With flashing eyes and starting tears, and flung + Their arms, as hens their wings about their young, + + LXVIII. + + O'er the promoted couple of brave men + Who were thus honoured by the greatest Chief + That ever peopled Hell with heroes slain, + Or plunged a province or a realm in grief. + Oh, foolish mortals! Always taught in vain! + Oh, glorious Laurel! since for one sole leaf + Of thine imaginary deathless tree, + Of blood and tears must flow the unebbing sea.[hu] + + LXIX. + + Suwarrow, who had small regard for tears, + And not much sympathy for blood, surveyed + The women with their hair about their ears + And natural agonies, with a slight shade + Of feeling: for however Habit sears + Men's hearts against whole millions, when their trade + Is butchery, sometimes a single sorrow + Will touch even heroes--and such was Suwarrow. + + LXX. + + He said,--and in the kindest Calmuck tone,-- + "Why, Johnson, what the devil do you mean + By bringing women here? They shall be shown + All the attention possible, and seen + In safety to the waggons, where alone + In fact they can be safe. You should have been + Aware this kind of baggage never thrives; + Save wed a year, I hate recruits with wives"-- + + LXXI. + + "May it please your Excellency," thus replied + Our British friend, "these are the wives of others, + And not our own. I am too qualified + By service with my military brothers + To break the rules by bringing one's own bride + Into a camp: I know that nought so bothers + The hearts of the heroic on a charge, + As leaving a small family at large. + + LXXII. + + "But these are but two Turkish ladies, who + With their attendant aided our escape, + And afterwards accompanied us through + A thousand perils in this dubious shape. + To me this kind of life is not so new; + To them, poor things, it is an awkward scrape: + I therefore, if you wish me to fight freely, + Request that they may both be used genteelly." + + LXXIII. + + Meantime these two poor girls, with swimming eyes, + Looked on as if in doubt if they could trust + Their own protectors; nor was their surprise + Less than their grief (and truly not less just) + To see an old man, rather wild than wise + In aspect, plainly clad, besmeared with dust, + Stripped to his waistcoat, and that not too clean, + More feared than all the Sultans ever seen. + + LXXIV. + + For everything seemed resting on his nod, + As they could read in all eyes. Now to them, + Who were accustomed, as a sort of god, + To see the Sultan, rich in many a gem, + Like an imperial peacock stalk abroad + (That royal bird, whose tail's a diadem,) + With all the pomp of Power, it was a doubt + How Power could condescend to do without. + + LXXV. + + John Johnson, seeing their extreme dismay, + Though little versed in feelings oriental, + Suggested some slight comfort in his way: + Don Juan, who was much more sentimental, + Swore they should see him by the dawn of day, + Or that the Russian army should repent all: + And, strange to say, they found some consolation + In this--for females like exaggeration. + + LXXVI. + + And then with tears, and sighs, and some slight kisses, + They parted for the present--these to await, + According to the artillery's hits or misses, + What sages call Chance, Providence, or Fate-- + (Uncertainty is one of many blisses, + A mortgage on Humanity's estate;)[hv] + While their beloved friends began to arm, + To burn a town which never did them harm. + + LXXVII. + + Suwarrow,--who but saw things in the gross. + Being much too gross to see them in detail, + Who calculated life as so much dross, + And as the wind a widowed nation's wail, + And cared as little for his army's loss + (So that their efforts should at length prevail) + As wife and friends did for the boils of Job,-- + What was 't to him to hear two women sob? + + LXXVIII. + + Nothing.--The work of Glory still went on + In preparations for a cannonade + As terrible as that of Ilion, + If Homer had found mortars ready made; + But now, instead of slaying Priam's son, + We only can but talk of escalade, + Bombs, drums, guns, bastions, batteries, bayonets, bullets-- + Hard words, which stick in the soft Muses' gullets. + + LXXIX. + + Oh, thou eternal Homer! who couldst charm + All ears, though long; all ages, though so short, + By merely wielding with poetic arm + Arms to which men will never more resort, + Unless gunpowder should be found to harm + Much less than is the hope of every court, + Which now is leagued young Freedom to annoy; + But they will not find Liberty a Troy:-- + + LXXX. + + Oh, thou eternal Homer! I have now + To paint a siege, wherein more men were slain, + With deadlier engines and a speedier blow, + Than in thy Greek gazette of that campaign; + And yet, like all men else, I must allow, + To vie with thee would be about as vain + As for a brook to cope with Ocean's flood,-- + But still we moderns equal you in blood:[hw] + + LXXXI. + + If not in poetry, at least in fact; + And fact is Truth, the grand desideratum! + Of which, howe'er the Muse describes each act, + There should be ne'ertheless a slight substratum. + But now the town is going to be attacked; + Great deeds are doing--how shall I relate 'em? + Souls of immortal Generals! Phoebus watches + To colour up his rays from your despatches.[hx] + + LXXXII. + + Oh, ye great bulletins of Bonaparte! + Oh, ye less grand long lists of killed and wounded! + Shade of Leonidas, who fought so hearty, + When my poor Greece was once, as now, surrounded! + Oh, Caesar's Commentaries! now impart, ye + Shadows of Glory! (lest I be confounded), + A portion of your fading twilight hues-- + So beautiful, so fleeting--to the Muse. + + LXXXIII. + + When I call "fading" martial immortality, + I mean, that every age and every year, + And almost every day, in sad reality, + Some sucking hero is compelled to rear, + Who, when we come to sum up the totality + Of deeds to human happiness most dear, + Turns out to be a butcher in great business, + Afflicting young folks with a sort of dizziness. + + LXXXIV. + + Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet, + Are things immortal to immortal man, + As purple to the Babylonian harlot;[hy] + An uniform to boys is like a fan + To women; there is scarce a crimson varlet + But deems himself the first in Glory's van. + But Glory's glory; and if you would find + What _that_ is--ask the pig who sees the wind! + + LXXXV. + + At least _he feels it_, and some say he _sees_, + Because he runs before it like a pig; + Or, if that simple sentence should displease, + Say, that he scuds before it like a brig, + A schooner, or--but it is time to ease + This Canto, ere my Muse perceives fatigue. + The next shall ring a peal to shake all people, + Like a bob-major from a village steeple. + + LXXXVI. + + Hark! through the silence of the cold, dull night, + The hum of armies gathering rank on rank! + Lo! dusky masses steal in dubious sight + Along the leaguered wall and bristling bank + Of the armed river, while with straggling light + The stars peep through the vapours dim and dank, + Which curl in various wreaths:--how soon the smoke + Of Hell shall pall them in a deeper cloak! + + LXXXVII. + + Here pause we for the present--as even then + That awful pause, dividing Life from Death, + Struck for an instant on the hearts of men,-- + Thousands of whom were drawing their last breath! + A moment--and all will be Life again! + The march! the charge! the shouts of either faith, + Hurrah! and Allah! and one moment more-- + The death-cry drowning in the Battle's roar.[hz][411] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{302}[364] ["These [the seventh and eighth] Cantos contain a full detail +(like the storm in Canto Second) of the siege and assault of Ismael, +with much of sarcasm on those butchers in large business, your mercenary +soldiery.... With these things and these fellows it is necessary, in the +present clash of philosophy and tyranny, to throw away the scabbard. I +know it is against fearful odds; but the battle must be fought; and it +will be eventually for the good of mankind, whatever it may be for the +individual who risks himself."--Letter to Moore, August 8, 1822, +_Letters_, 1901, vi. 101.] + +[365] Sec.Sec.[Byron attributes this phrase to Orator Henley (_Letters_, 1898, +i. 227); and to Bayes in the Duke of Buckingham's play, _The Rehearsal_ +(_Letters_, 1901, v. 80).] + +[hh] _Of Fenelon, of Calvin and of Christ_.--[MS. erased.] + +[366] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza vii. line 1, _Poetical +Works_, 1899, ii. 103, note 2.] + +[hi] _Picking a pebble on the shore of Truth_.--[MS. erased.] + +[367] ["Sir Isaac Newton, a little before he died, said, 'I don't know +what I may seem to the world; but, as to myself, I seem to have been +only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now +and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary +whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before +me.'"--Spence, _Anecdotes_ (quoting Chevalier Ramsay), 1858, p. 40.] + +{304}[hj] _From fools who dread to know the truth of Life_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[368] [Compare "Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog," +lines 7, sq., _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 280.] + +[369] [Aleksandr Vasilievitch Suvoroff (1729-1800) opened his attack on +Ismail, November 30, 1790. His forces, including Kossacks, exceeded +27,000 men.--_Essai sur l'Histoire Ancienne et Moderne de la Nouvelle +Russie_, par le Marquis Gabriel de Castelnau, 1827, ii. 201.] + +[370] ["Ismael est situe sur la rive gauche du bras gauche (i.e. the +ilia) du Danube."--_Ibid._.] + +{305}[371] [----"a peu pres a quatre-vingts verstes de la mer: elle a +pres de trois milles toises de tour."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, +ii. 201.] + +[372] ["On a compris dans ces fortifications un faubourg moldave, situe +a la gauche de la ville, sur une hauteur qui la domine: l'ouvrage a ete +termine par un Grec. Pour donner une idee des talens de cet ingenieur, +il suffira de dire qu'il fit placer les palissades perpendiculairement +sur le parapet, de maniere qu'elles favorisaient les assiegeans, et +arretaient le feu des assieges."--_Ibid._, p. 202.] + +[373] ["Le rempart en terre est prodigieusement eleve a cause de +l'immense profondeur du fosse; il est cependant absolument rasant: il +n'y a ni ouvrage avance, ni chemin couvert."--_Ibid._, p. 202.] + +[374] [Casemate is a work made under the rampart, like a cellar or cave, +with loopholes to place guns in it, and is bomb proof.--_Milit. Dict._] + +[375] [When the breastwork of a battery is only of such height that the +guns may fire over it without being obliged to make embrasures, the guns +are said to fire in barbet.--_Ibid._] + +{306}[376] ["Un bastion de pierres, ouvert par une gorge tres-etroite, +et dont les murailles son fort epaisses, a une batterie casematee et une +a barbette; il defend la rive du Danube. Du cote droit de la ville est +un cavalier de quarante pieds d'elevation a pic, garni de vingt-deux +pieces de canon, et qui defend la partie gauche."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle +Russie_, ii. 202.] + +[377] ["Du cote du fleuve, la ville est absolument ouverte; les Turcs ne +croyaient pas que les Russes pussent jamais avoir une flotille dans le +Danube."--_Ibid._, p. 203.] + +[378] [Meknop [supposed to be a corruption of McNab], etc., in line +three, are real names: Strongenoff stands for Strogonof, Tschitsshakoff +for Tchitchagof, and, perhaps, Chokenoff for Tchoglokof.] + +{307}[hk] ---- _these discords of damnation_.--[MS. erased.] + +[379] ["La premiere attaque etait composee de trois colonnes, commandees +par les lieutenans-generaux Paul Potiemkin, Serge Lwow, les +generaux-majors Maurice Lascy, Theodore Meknop.... Trois autres colonnes +... avaient pour chefs le comte de Samoilow, les generaux Elie de +Bezborodko, Michel Koutousow; les brigadiers Orlow, Platow, +Ribaupierre.... La troisieme attaque par eau n'avait que deux colonnes, +sous les ordres des generaux-majors Ribas et Arseniew, des brigadiers +Markoff et Tchepega," etc.--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 207. + +Compare-- + + "Oscharoffsky and Rostoffsky, + And all the others that end in-offsky. + + * * * * * + + And Kutousoff he cut them off," etc. + +Southey's _March to Moscow_, 1813.] + +[380] [Count Boris Petrowitch Scheremetov, Russian general, died 1819; +Prince Alexis Borisovitch Kourakin (1759-1829), and Count Alexis +Iwanowitch Moussine-Pouschkine (1744-1817) were distinguished statesmen; +Chrematoff is, perhaps, a rhyming double of Scherematoff, and Koklophti +"a match-piece" to Koclobski.] + +{308}[381] [Captain Smith, in the song-- + + "A Captain bold, in Halifax, + That dwelt in country quarters, + Seduc'd a maid who hang'd herself + One Monday in her garters." + +See George Colman's farce, _Love Laughs at Locksmiths_, 1818, p. 31.] + +{309}[382] [Compare-- + + "While to my shame I see + The imminent death of twenty thousand men, + That for a fantasy and trick of fame + Go to their graves like beds." + +_Hamlet_, act iv. sc. 4, lines 56-59.] + +[hl] _The Conquest seemed not difficult_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[383] ["On s'etait propose deux buts egalement avantageux, par la +construction de deux batteries sur l'ile qui avoisine Ismael: le +premier, de bombarder la place, d'en abattre les principaux edifices +avec du canon de quarante-huit, effet d'autant plus probable, que la +ville etant batie en amphitheatre, presque aucun coup ne serait +perdu."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 203.] + +[384] ["Le second objet etait de profiter de ce moment d'alarme pour que +la flottille, agissant en meme temps, put detruire celle des Turcs. Un +troisieme motif, et vraisemblablement le plus plausible, etait de jeter +la consternation parmi les Turcs, et de les engager a +capituler."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 203.] + +{310}[hm] + _Unless they are as game as bull-dogs or even tarriers_. + or, _A thing which sometimes hath occurred to warriors_, + _Unless they happened to be as game as tarriers_.-- + [MS. A. Alternative reading.] + _Unless they are Game as bull-dogs or even terriers_.--[MS. B.] + +(Byron erased the reading of MS. B. and superscribed the reading of the +text.) + +[385] ["Une habitude blamable, celle de mepriser son ennemi, fut la +cause."--_Ibid._, p. 203.] + +[386] [" ... du defaut de perfection dans la construction des batteries; +on voulait agir promptement, et on negligea de donner aux ouvrages la +solidite qu'ils exigaient."--_Ibid._, p. 203.] + +{311}[387] ["Le meme esprit fit manquer l'effet de trois brulots; on +calcula mal la distance; on se pressa d'allumer la meche, ils brulerent +au milieu du fleuve, et quoiqu'il fut six heures du matin, les Turcs, +encore couches, n'en prirent aucun ombrage."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle +Russie_, ii. 203.] + +[388] ["1^er^ Dec. 1790. La flottille russe s'avanca vers les sept +heures; il en etait neuf lorsqu'elle se trouva a cinquante toises de la +ville [d'Ismael]: elle souffrit, avec une constance calme, un feu de +mitraille et de mousqueterie...."--_Ibid._, p. 204.] + +[389] [" ... pres de six heures ... les batteries de terre secondaient +la flottille; mais on reconnut alors que les canonnades ne suffiraient +pas pour reduire la place, on fit la retraite a une heure. Un lancon +sauta pendant l'action, un autre deriva par la force du courant, et fut +pris par l'ennemi."'--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 204.] + +{312}[390] [For Delhis, see _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii., note 1.] + +[391] ["Les Turcs perdirent beaucoup de monde et plusieurs vaisseaux. A +peine la retraite des Russes fut-elle remarquee, que les plus braves +d'entre les ennemis se jeterent dans de petites barques et essayerent +une descente: le Comte de Damas les mit en fuite, et leur tua plusieurs +officiers et grand nombre de soldats."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, +p. 204.] + +[392] ["On ne tarirait pas si on voulait rapporter tout ce que les +Russes firent de memorable dans cette journee; pour conter les hauts +faits d'armes, pour particulariser toutes les actions d'eclat, il +faudrait composer des volumes."--_Ibid._, p. 204.] + +[393] ["Parmi les etrangers, le prince de Ligne se distingua de maniere +a meriter l'estime generale; de vrais chevaliers francais, attires par +l'amour de la gloire, se montrerent dignes d'elle: les plus marquans +etaient le jeune Duc de Richelieu, les Comtes de Langeron et de +Damas."--_Ibid._, p. 204. + +Andrault, Comte de Langeron, born at Paris, January 13, 1763, on the +outbreak of the Revolution (1790) took service in the Russian Army. He +fought against the Swedes in 1790, and the Turks in 1791, and, after +serving as a volunteer in the army of the Duke of Brunswick (1792-93), +returned to Russia, and was raised to the rank of general in 1799. He +commanded a division of the Russian Army in the German campaign of 1813, +and entered Paris with Bluecher, March 30, 1814. He was afterwards +Governor of Odessa and of New Russia; and, a second time, fought against +the Turks in 1828. He died at St. Petersburg, July 4, 1831. Joseph +Elizabeth Roger, Comte de Damas d'Antigny, born at Paris, September 4, +1765, owed his commission in the Russian Army to the influence of the +Prince de Ligne. He fought against the Turks in 1787-88, and was +distinguished for bravery and daring. At the Restoration in 1814 he +re-entered the French Army, was made Governor of Lyons; shared the +temporary exile of Louis XVIII. at Ghent in 1815, and, in the following +year, as commandant of a division, took part in repressing the +revolutionary disturbances in the central and southern departments of +France. He died at Cirey, September 3, 1823.--_La Grande Encyclopedie_.] + +{313}[394] [Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, was born at Brussels, May +12, 1735. In 1782 he visited St. Petersburg as envoy of the Emperor +Joseph II., won Catherine's favour, and was appointed Field Marshal in +the Russian Army. In 1788 he was sent to assist Potemkin at the siege of +Ochakof. His _Melanges Militaires, etc._, were first published in 1795. +He died in November, 1814. + +Josef de Ribas (1737-c. 1797).] + +[395] ["L'Amiral de Ribas ... declara, en plein conseil, que ce n'etait +qu'en donnant l'assaut qu'on obtiendrait la place: cet avis parut hardi; +on lui opposa mille raisons, auxquelles il repondit par de meilleures." +--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii, 205.] + +{314}[396] [Prince (Gregor Alexandrovitch) Potemkin, born 1736, died +October 15, 1791. "He alighted from his carriage in the midst of the +highway, threw himself on the grass, and died under a tree" (_Life of +Catherine II_., by W. Tooke, 1880, iii. 324). His character has been +drawn by Louis Philippe, Comte de Segur, who, writes Tooke (_ibid_., p. +326), "lived a long time in habits of intimacy with him, and was so +obliging as to delineate it at our solicitation." "In his person were +collected the most opposite defects and advantages of every kind. He was +avaricious and ostentatious, ... haughty and obliging, politic and +confiding, licentious and superstitious, bold and timid, ambitious and +indiscreet; lavish of his bounties to his relations, his mistresses, and +his favourites, yet frequently paying neither his household nor his +creditors. His consequence always depended on a woman, and he was always +unfaithful to her. Nothing could equal the activity of his mind, nor the +indolence of his body. No dangers could appal his courage; no +difficulties force him to abandon his projects. But the success of an +enterprise always brought on disgust.... Everything with him was +desultory; business, pleasure, temper, carriage. His presence was a +restraint on every company. He was morose to all that stood in awe of +him, and caressed all such as accosted him with familiarity.... None had +read less than he; few people were better informed.... One while he +formed the project of becoming Duke of Courland; at another he thought +of bestowing on himself the crown of Poland. He frequently gave +intimations of an intention to make himself a bishop, or even a simple +monk. He built a superb palace, and wanted to sell it before it was +finished. In his youth he had pleased her [Catherine] by the ardour of +his passion, by his valour, and by his masculine beauty.... Become the +rival of Orloff, he performed for his sovereign whatever the most +romantic passion could inspire. He put out his eye, to free it from a +blemish which diminished his beauty. Banished by his rival, he ran to +meet death in battle, and returned with glory."] + +{315}[397] ["Ce projet, remis a un autre jour, eprouva encore les plus +grandes difficultes; son courage les surmonta: il ne s'agissait que de +determiner le Prince Potiemkin; il y reussit. Tandis qu'il se demenait +pour l'execution de projet agree, on construisait de nouvelles +batteries; on comptait, le 12 decembre, quatre-vingts pieces de canon +sur le bord du Danube, et cette journee se passa en vives +canonnades."--_Histoire de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 205.] + +[hn] _Into all aspirants for martial praise_.--[MS. erased.] + +[398] ["Le 13^e^, une partie des troupes etait embarquee; on allait +lever le siege: un courrier arrive.... Ce courrier annonce, de la part +du prince, que le marechal Souwarow va prendre le commandement des +forces reunies sous Ismael."--_Ibid._, p. 205.] + +{316}[399] ["La lettre du Prince Potiemkin a Souwarow est tres courte; +elle peint le caractere de ces deux personnages. La voici dans toute sa +teneur: _'Vous prendrez Ismael a quel frix que ce soit!'_"--_Hist, de la +Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 205.] + +[400] ["[Le courrier] est temoin des cris de joie du Turc, qui se +croyait a la fin de ses maux."-_Ibid_., p. 205.] + +[401] ["Beat," as in "dead-beat," is occasionally used for +"beaten."--See _N.E.D._, art. "Beat," 10.] + +[402] ["Le 16^e^, on voit venir de loin deux hommes courant a toute +bride: on les prit pour des Kozaks; l'un etait Souwarow, et l'autre son +guide, portant un paquet gros comme le poing, et renfermant le bagage du +general."-_Hist, de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 205. + +M. de Castelnau in his description of the arrival of Suvoroff on the +field of battle (_Hist, de la_ N.R., 1827, ii. pp, 205, 206) summarizes +the Journal of the Duc de Richelieu. The original passage runs as +follows:-- + +"L'arrivee du comte Souvorow produisit un grand effet parmi les +troupes.... La maniere d'etre plus que simple, puis-qu'il logeait sous +une canonniere, et qu'il n'avait pas meme de chaises dans sa tente, son +affabilite, sa bonhomie lui conciliaient l'affection de tous les +individus de son armee. Cet homme singulier qui ressemble plus a un chef +de cosaques ou de Tartares, qu'au general d'une armee europeenne, est +doue d'une intrepidite et d'une hardiesse peu communes.... La maniere de +vivre, de s'habiller et de parler du comte Souvorow, est aussi +singuliere que ses opinions militaires.... II mangeait dans sa tente +assis par terre autour d'une natte sur laquelle il prenait le plus +detestable repas. L'apres-midi, un semblable repas lui servait de +souper, il s'endormait ensuite pendant quelques heures, passait une +partie de la nuit a chanter, et a la pointe du jour il sortait presque +nu et se roulait sur l'herbe assurant que cet exercice lui etait +necessaire pour le preserver des rhumatismes.... Sa maniere de +s'exprimer dans toutes les langues est aussi singuliere que toute sa +facon d'etre, ses phrases sont incoherentes, et s'il n'est pas insense, +il dit et fait du moins tout ce qu'il faut pour le paraitre; mais il est +heureux et cette quality dont le Cardinal Mazarin faisait tant de cas, +est, a bon droit, fort estimee de l'Imperatrice et du Prince Potemkin +... Le moment de l'arrivee du Comte Souvorow fut annonce par une +decharge generale des batteries ou camp et de la flotte."--_Journal de mon +Voyage en Allemagne_. _Soc, Imp. d'Hist de Russie_, 1886, tom. liv. pp. +168, 169.] + +{317}[ho] _That sage John Bull_----.--[MS.] + +_That fool John Bull_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{319}[403] ["La premiere attaque etait composee de trois colonnes ... +Trois autres colonnes, destinees a la seconde attaque, avaient pour +chefs, etc.... La troisieme attaque par eau n'avait que deux +colonnes."--_Hist, de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 207.] + +[404] ["On construisit de nouvelles batteries le 18^e^.... On tint un +conseil de guerre, on y examina les plans pour l'assaut proposes par M. +de Ribas, ils reunirent tous les souffrages."--_Ibid._, p. 208.] + +[hp] _For once by some odd sort of magnanimity._--[MS. erased.] + +[hq] _Bellona shook her spear with much sublimity._--[MS. erased.] + +[405] Fact: Suwaroff did this in person. + +[hr]---- _and neither swerve nor spill._--[MS. erased.] + +[406] ["Le 19^e^ et le 20^e^, Souwarow exercailes soldats; il leur +montra comment il fallait s'y prendre pour escalader; il enseigna aux +recrues la maniere de donner le coup de baionnette."--_Ibid_., p. 208.] + +{320}[407] ["Pour ces exercices d'un nouveau genre, il se servit de +fascines disposees de maniere a representer un Turc."-_Hist, de la +Nauvelle Russie_, ii. 208.] + +[hs] + _At which your wise men laughed, but all their Wit is_ + _Lost, for his repartee was taking cities._--[MS. erased.] + +[ht] + _For some were thinking of their wives and families,_ + _And others of themselves_ (_as poet Samuel is_). + --[MS. Alternative reading.] + _And others of themselves_ (_as my friend Samuel is_). + --[MS. erased.] + +[408] [For a detailed account of Suvoroff's personal characteristics, +see _The Life of Field-Marshal Souvaroff_, by L.M.P. Tranchant de +Laverne, 1814, pp. 267-291; and _Suvoroff_, by Lieut.-Colonel Spalding, +1890, pp. 222-229. + +Byron's epithet "buffoon" (line 5) may, perhaps, be traced to the +following anecdote recorded by Tranchant de Laverne (p. 281): "During +the first war of Poland ... he published, in the order of the day, that +at the first crowing of the cock the troops would march to attack the +enemy, and caused the spy to send word that the Russians would be upon +them some time after midnight. But about eight o'clock Souvarof ran +through the camp, imitating the crowing of a cock.... The enemy, +completely surprised, lost a great number of men." + +For his "praying" (line 6), _vide ibid._, pp. 272, 273: "He made a short +prayer after each meal, and again when going to bed. He usually +performed his devotions before an image of St. Nicholas, the patron +saint of Russia." + +"Half-dirt" (line 5) is, however, a calumny (_ibid_. p. 272): "It was +his custom to rise at the earliest dawn; several buckets of cold water +were thrown over his naked body." + +The same writer (p. 268) repudiates the charges of excessive barbarity +and cruelty brought against Suvoroff by C.F.P. Masson, in his _Memoires +Secrets sur la Russie_ (_vide_, e.g., ed. 1800, i. 311): "Souvorow ne +scroit que le plus ridicule bouffon, s'il n'etoit pas montre le plus +barbare guerrier. C'est un monstre, qui renferme dans le corps d'un +singe l'ame d'un chien de boucher. Attila, son compatriote, et don't il +descend, peut-etre ne fut ni si heureux, ni si feroce." + +Suvoroff did not regard himself as "half-demon." "Your pencil," he +reminded the artist Mueller, "will delineate the features of my face. +These are visible: but my inner man is hidden. I must tell you that I +have shed rivers of blood. I tremble, but I love my neighbour. In my +whole life I have made no one unhappy; not an insect hath perished by my +hand. I was little; I was big. In fortune's ebb and flow, relying on +God, I stood immovable--even as now." (_Suvoroff_, 1890, p. 228, +note.)] + +{322}[409] [See, for instance, _The Storm_, in "Souvarof's Catechism," +Appendix (pp. 299-305) to the _Life, etc._, by Tranchant de Laverne, +1814: "Break down the fence.... Fly over the walls! Stab them on the +ramparts!... Fire down the streets! Fire briskly!... Kill every enemy in +the streets! Let the cavalry hack them!" etc.] + +{323}[410] [The "tusk" of the plough is the coulter or share. Compare +"Dens vomeris" (Virg., _Georg._, i. 22).] + +{324}[hu] + _Of thine imaginary deathless bough_ + _The unebbing sea of blood and tears must flow_.--[MS. erased.] + +{326}[hv] _Entailed upon Humanity's estate_.--[MS. erased.] + +{327}[hw] + _As a brook's stream to cope with Ocean's flood shed_ + _But still we moderns equal you in bloodshed_.--[MS. erased.] + +{328}[hx] + _As in a General's letter when well whacked_ + _Whatever deeds be done I will relate 'em,_ + _With some small variations in the text_ + _Of killed and wounded who will not be missed_.--[MS. erased.] + +[hy] _Whose leisure hours are wasted on an harlot_.--[MS. erased.] + +{329}[hz] _The desperate death-cry and the Battle's roar_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[411] End of Canto 7. 1822.--[MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE EIGHTH. + + I. + + Oh, blood and thunder! and oh, blood and wounds! + These are but vulgar oaths, as you may deem, + Too gentle reader! and most shocking sounds:-- + And so they are; yet thus is Glory's dream + Unriddled, and as my true Muse expounds + At present such things, since they are her theme, + So be they her inspirers! Call them Mars, + Bellona, what you will--they mean but wars. + + II. + + All was prepared--the fire, the sword, the men + To wield them in their terrible array,-- + The army, like a lion from his den, + Marched forth with nerve and sinews bent to slay,-- + A human Hydra, issuing from its fen + To breathe destruction on its winding way, + Whose heads were heroes, which cut off in vain + Immediately in others grew again. + + III. + + History can only take things in the gross; + But could we know them in detail, perchance + In balancing the profit and the loss, + War's merit it by no means might enhance, + To waste so much gold for a little dross, + As hath been done, mere conquest to advance. + The drying up a single tear has more + Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore. + + IV. + + And why?--because it brings self-approbation; + Whereas the other, after all its glare, + Shouts, bridges, arches, pensions from a nation, + Which (it may be) has not much left to spare, + A higher title, or a loftier station, + Though they may make Corruption gape or stare, + Yet, in the end, except in Freedom's battles, + Are nothing but a child of Murder's rattles. + + V. + + And such they are--and such they will be found: + Not so Leonidas and Washington, + Whose every battle-field is holy ground, + Which breathes of nations saved, not worlds undone. + How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound! + While the mere victor's may appal or stun + The servile and the vain--such names will be + A watchword till the Future shall be free. + + VI. + + The night was dark, and the thick mist allowed + Nought to be seen save the artillery's flame, + Which arched the horizon like a fiery cloud, + And in the Danube's waters shone the same--[412] + A mirrored Hell! the volleying roar, and loud + Long booming of each peal on peal, o'ercame + The ear far more than thunder; for Heaven's flashes + Spare, or smite rarely--Man's make millions ashes! + + VII. + + The column ordered on the assault scarce passed + Beyond the Russian batteries a few toises, + When up the bristling Moslem rose at last, + Answering the Christian thunders with like voices: + Then one vast fire, air, earth, and stream embraced, + Which rocked as 't were beneath the mighty noises; + While the whole rampart blazed like Etna, when + The restless Titan hiccups in his den;[413] + + VIII. + + And one enormous shout of "Allah!"[414] rose + In the same moment, loud as even the roar + Of War's most mortal engines, to their foes + Hurling defiance: city, stream, and shore + Resounded "Allah!" and the clouds which close + With thickening canopy the conflict o'er, + Vibrate to the Eternal name. Hark! through + All sounds it pierceth--"Allah! Allah Hu!"[415] + + IX. + + The columns were in movement one and all, + But of the portion which attacked by water, + Thicker than leaves the lives began to fall,[416] + Though led by Arseniew, that great son of slaughter, + As brave as ever faced both bomb and ball. + "Carnage" (so Wordsworth tells you) "is God's daughter:"[417] + If _he_ speak truth, she is Christ's sister, and + Just now behaved as in the Holy Land. + + X. + + The Prince de Ligne was wounded in the knee; + Count Chapeau-Bras,[ia]--too, had a ball between + His cap and head,[418] which proves the head to be + Aristocratic as was ever seen, + Because it then received no injury + More than the cap; in fact, the ball could mean + No harm unto a right legitimate head; + "Ashes to ashes"--why not lead to lead? + + XI. + + Also the General Markow, Brigadier, + Insisting on removal of _the Prince_ + Amidst some groaning thousands dying near,-- + All common fellows, who might writhe and wince, + And shriek for water into a deaf ear,-- + The General Markow, who could thus evince + His sympathy for rank, by the same token, + To teach him greater, had his own leg broken.[419] + + XII. + + Three hundred cannon threw up their emetic, + And thirty thousand muskets flung their pills + Like hail, to make a bloody Diuretic.[420] + Mortality! thou hast thy monthly bills: + Thy plagues--thy famines--thy physicians--yet tick, + Like the death-watch, within our ears the ills + Past, present, and to come;--but all may yield + To the true portrait of one battle-field; + + XIII. + + There the still varying pangs, which multiply + Until their very number makes men hard + By the infinities of agony, + Which meet the gaze, whate'er it may regard-- + The groan, the roll in dust, the all-_white_ eye + Turned back within its socket,--these reward + Your rank and file by thousands, while the rest + May win perhaps a riband at the breast! + + XIV. + + Yet I love Glory;--Glory's a great thing:-- + Think what it is to be in your old age + Maintained at the expense of your good King: + A moderate pension shakes full many a sage, + And Heroes are but made for bards to sing, + Which is still better--thus, in verse, to wage + Your wars eternally, besides enjoying + Half-pay for life, make Mankind worth destroying. + + XV. + + The troops, already disembarked, pushed on + To take a battery on the right: the others, + Who landed lower down, their landing done, + Had set to work as briskly as their brothers: + Being grenadiers, they mounted one by one, + Cheerful as children climb the breasts of mothers, + O'er the intrenchment and the palisade,[421] + Quite orderly, as if upon parade. + + XVI. + + And this was admirable: for so hot + The fire was, that were red Vesuvius loaded, + Besides its lava, with all sorts of shot + And shells or hells, it could not more have goaded. + Of officers a third fell on the spot, + A thing which Victory by no means boded + To gentlemen engaged in the assault: + Hounds, when the huntsman tumbles, are at fault. + + XVII. + + But here I leave the general concern + To track our Hero on his path of Fame: + He must his laurels separately earn-- + For fifty thousand heroes, name by name, + Though all deserving equally to turn + A couplet, or an elegy to claim, + Would form a lengthy lexicon of Glory, + And, what is worse still, a much longer story: + + XVIII. + + And therefore we must give the greater number + To the Gazette--which doubtless fairly dealt + By the deceased, who lie in famous slumber + In ditches, fields, or wheresoe'er they felt + Their clay for the last time their souls encumber;-- + Thrice happy he whose name has been well spelt + In the despatch: I knew a man whose loss + Was printed _Grove_, although his name was Grose.[422] + + XIX. + + Juan and Johnson joined a certain corps, + And fought away with might and main, not knowing + The way which they had never trod before, + And still less guessing where they might be going; + But on they marched, dead bodies trampling o'er, + Firing, and thrusting, slashing, sweating, glowing, + But fighting thoughtlessly enough to win, + To their _two_ selves, _one_ whole bright bulletin. + + XX. + + Thus on they wallowed in the bloody mire + Of dead and dying thousands,--sometimes gaining + A yard or two of ground, which brought them nigher + To some odd angle for which all were straining; + At other times, repulsed by the close fire, + Which really poured as if all Hell were raining + Instead of Heaven, they stumbled backwards o'er + A wounded comrade, sprawling in his gore. + + XXI. + + Though 't was Don Juan's first of fields, and though + The nightly muster and the silent march + In the chill dark, when Courage does not glow + So much as under a triumphal arch, + Perhaps might make him shiver, yawn, or throw + A glance on the dull clouds (as thick as starch, + Which stiffened Heaven) as if he wished for day;-- + Yet for all this he did not run away. + + XXII. + + Indeed he could not. But what if he had? + There _have been_ and _are_ heroes who begun + With something not much better, or as bad: + Frederick the Great from Molwitz[423] deigned to run, + For the first and last time; for, like a pad, + Or hawk, or bride, most mortals after one + Warm bout are broken in to their new tricks, + And fight like fiends for pay or politics. + + XXIII. + + He was what Erin calls, in her sublime + Old Erse or Irish, or it may be _Punic_;-- + (The antiquarians[424]--who can settle Time, + Which settles all things, Roman, Greek, or Runic-- + Swear that Pat's language sprung from the same clime + With Hannibal, and wears the Tyrian tunic + Of Dido's alphabet--and this is rational + As any other notion, and not national;)-- + + XXIV. + + But Juan was quite "a broth of a boy," + A thing of impulse and a child of song; + Now swimming in the sentiment of joy, + Or the _sensation_ (if that phrase seem wrong), + And afterward, if he must needs destroy, + In such good company as always throng + To battles, sieges, and that kind of pleasure, + No less delighted to employ his leisure; + + XXV. + + But always without malice: if he warred + Or loved, it was with what we call "the best + Intentions," which form all Mankind's _trump card_, + To be produced when brought up to the test. + The statesman--hero--harlot--lawyer--ward + Off each attack, when people are in quest + Of their designs, by saying they _meant well_; + 'T is pity "that such meaning should pave Hell."[425] + + XXVI. + + I almost lately have begun to doubt + Whether Hell's pavement--if it be so _paved_-- + Must not have latterly been quite worn out, + Not by the numbers good intent hath saved, + But by the mass who go below without + Those ancient good intentions, which once shaved + And smoothed the brimstone of that street of Hell + Which bears the greatest likeness to Pall Mall.[ib] + + XXVII. + + Juan, by some strange chance, which oft divides + Warrior from warrior in their grim career, + Like chastest wives from constant husbands' sides + Just at the close of the first bridal year, + By one of those odd turns of Fortune's tides, + Was on a sudden rather puzzled here, + When, after a good deal of heavy firing, + He found himself alone, and friends retiring. + + XXVIII. + + I don't know how the thing occurred--it might + Be that the greater part were killed or wounded, + And that the rest had faced unto the right + About; a circumstance which has confounded + Caesar himself, who, in the very sight + Of his whole army, which so much abounded + In courage, was obliged to snatch a shield, + And rally back his Romans to the field.[426] + + XXIX. + + Juan, who had no shield to snatch, and was + No Caesar, but a fine young lad, who fought + He knew not why, arriving at this pass, + Stopped for a minute, as perhaps he ought + For a much longer time; then, like an ass + (Start not, kind reader, since great Homer[427] thought + This simile enough for Ajax, Juan + Perhaps may find it better than a new one); + + XXX. + + Then, like an ass, he went upon his way, + And, what was stranger, never looked behind; + But seeing, flashing forward, like the day + Over the hills, a fire enough to blind + Those who dislike to look upon a fray, + He stumbled on, to try if he could find + A path, to add his own slight arm and forces + To corps, the greater part of which were corses. + + XXXI. + + Perceiving then no more the commandant + Of his own corps, nor even the corps, which had + Quite disappeared--the gods know how! (I can't + Account for everything which may look bad + In history; but we at least may grant + It was not marvellous that a mere lad, + In search of Glory, should look on before, + Nor care a pinch of snuff about his corps:)--[ic] + + XXXII. + + Perceiving nor commander nor commanded, + And left at large, like a young heir, to make + His way to--where he knew not--single handed; + As travellers follow over bog and brake + An "ignis fatuus;" or as sailors stranded + Unto the nearest hut themselves betake; + So Juan, following Honour and his nose, + Rushed where the thickest fire announced most foes.[428] + + XXXIII. + + He knew not where he was, nor greatly cared, + For he was dizzy, busy, and his veins + Filled as with lightning--for his spirit shared + The hour, as is the case with lively brains; + And where the hottest fire was seen and heard, + And the loud cannon pealed his hoarsest strains, + He rushed, while earth and air were sadly shaken + By thy humane discovery, Friar Bacon![id][429] + + XXXIV. + + And as he rushed along, it came to pass he + Fell in with what was late the second column, + Under the orders of the General Lascy, + But now reduced, as is a bulky volume + Into an elegant extract (much less massy) + Of heroism, and took his place with solemn + Air 'midst the rest, who kept their valiant faces + And levelled weapons still against the Glacis.[ie] + + XXXV. + + Just at this crisis up came Johnson too, + Who had "retreated," as the phrase is when + Men run away much rather than go through + Destruction's jaws into the Devil's den; + But Johnson was a clever fellow, who + Knew when and how "to cut and come again," + And never ran away, except when running + Was nothing but a valorous kind of cunning. + + XXXVI. + + And so, when all his corps were dead or dying, + Except Don Juan, a mere novice, whose + More virgin valour never dreamt of flying, + From ignorance of danger, which indues + Its votaries, like Innocence relying + On its own strength, with careless nerves and thews,-- + Johnson retired a little, just to rally + Those who catch cold in "shadows of Death's valley." + + XXXVII. + + And there, a little sheltered from the shot, + Which rained from bastion, battery, parapet, + Rampart, wall, casement, house--for there was not + In this extensive city, sore beset + By Christian soldiery, a single spot + Which did not combat like the Devil, as yet,-- + He found a number of Chasseurs, all scattered + By the resistance of the chase they battered. + + XXXVIII. + + And these he called on; and, what 's strange, they came + Unto his call, unlike "the spirits from + The vasty deep," to whom you may exclaim, + Says Hotspur, long ere they will leave their home:--[430] + Their reasons were uncertainty, or shame + At shrinking from a bullet or a bomb, + And that odd impulse, which in wars or creeds[if] + Makes men, like cattle, follow him who leads. + + XXXIX. + + By Jove! he was a noble fellow, Johnson, + And though his name, than Ajax or Achilles, + Sounds less harmonious, underneath the sun soon + We shall not see his likeness: he could kill his + Man quite as quietly as blows the Monsoon + Her steady breath (which some months the same _still_ is): + Seldom he varied feature, hue, or muscle, + And could be very busy without bustle; + + XL. + + And therefore, when he ran away, he did so + Upon reflection, knowing that behind + He would find others who would fain be rid so + Of idle apprehensions, which like wind + Trouble heroic stomachs. Though their lids so + Oft are soon closed, all heroes are not blind, + But when they light upon immediate death, + Retire a little, merely to take breath. + + XLI. + + But Johnson only ran off, to return + With many other warriors, as we said, + Unto that rather somewhat misty bourne, + Which Hamlet tells us is a pass of dread.[431] + To Jack, howe'er, this gave but slight concern: + His soul (like galvanism upon the dead) + Acted upon the living as on wire, + And led them back into the heaviest fire. + + XLII. + + Egad! they found the second time what they + The first time thought quite terrible enough + To fly from, malgre all which people say + Of Glory, and all that immortal stuff + Which fills a regiment (besides their pay, + That daily shilling which makes warriors tough)-- + They found on their return the self-same welcome, + Which made some _think_, and others _know_, a _hell_ come. + + XLIII. + + They fell as thick as harvests beneath hail, + Grass before scythes, or corn below the sickle, + Proving that trite old truth, that Life's as frail + As any other boon for which men stickle. + The Turkish batteries thrashed them like a flail, + Or a good boxer, into a sad pickle + Putting the very bravest, who were knocked + Upon the head before their guns were cocked. + + XLIV. + + The Turks behind the traverses and flanks + Of the next bastion, fired away like devils, + And swept, as gales sweep foam away, whole ranks: + However, Heaven knows how, the Fate who levels + Towns--nations--worlds, in her revolving pranks, + So ordered it, amidst these sulphury revels, + That Johnson, and some few who had not scampered, + Reached the interior "talus"[432] of the rampart.[433] + + XLV. + + First one or two, then five, six, and a dozen + Came mounting quickly up, for it was now + All neck or nothing, as, like pitch or rosin, + Flame was showered forth above, as well 's below, + So that you scarce could say who best had chosen, + The gentlemen that were the first to show + Their martial faces on the parapet, + Or those who thought it brave to wait as yet. + + XLVI. + + But those who scaled, found out that their advance + Was favoured by an accident or blunder: + The Greek or Turkish Cohorn's[434] ignorance + Had pallisadoed in a way you'd wonder + To see in forts of Netherlands or France-- + (Though these to our Gibraltar must knock under)-- + Right in the middle of the parapet + Just named, these palisades were primly set:[435] + + XLVII. + + So that on either side some nine or ten + Paces were left, whereon you could contrive + To march; a great convenience to our men, + At least to all those who were left alive, + Who thus could form a line and fight again; + And that which farther aided them to strive + Was, that they could kick down the palisades, + Which scarcely rose much higher than grass blades.[436] + + XLVIII. + + Among the first,--I will not say _the first_, + For such precedence upon such occasions + Will oftentimes make deadly quarrels burst + Out between friends as well as allied nations: + The Briton must be bold who really durst + Put to such trial John Bull's partial patience, + As say that Wellington at Waterloo + Was beaten,--though the Prussians say so too;-- + + XLIX. + + And that if Blucher, Bulow, Gneisenau, + And God knows who besides in "au" and "ow," + Had not come up in time to cast an awe[437] + Into the hearts of those who fought till now + As tigers combat with an empty craw, + The Duke of Wellington had ceased to show + His Orders--also to receive his pensions, + Which are the heaviest that our history mentions. + + L. + + But never mind;--"God save the King!" and _Kings!_ + For if _he_ don't, I doubt if _men_ will longer-- + I think I hear a little bird, who sings + The people by and by will be the stronger: + The veriest jade will wince whose harness wrings + So much into the raw as quite to wrong her + Beyond the rules of posting,--and the mob + At last fall sick of imitating Job. + + LI. + + At first it grumbles, then it swears, and then, + Like David, flings smooth pebbles 'gainst a Giant; + At last it takes to weapons such as men + Snatch when Despair makes human hearts less pliant. + Then comes "the tug of war;"--'t will come again, + I rather doubt; and I would fain say "fie on 't," + If I had not perceived that Revolution + Alone can save the earth from Hell's pollution. + + LII. + + But to continue:--I say not _the_ first, + But of the first, our little friend Don Juan + Walked o'er the walls of Ismail, as if nursed + Amidst such scenes--though this was quite a new one + To him, and I should hope to _most_. The thirst + Of Glory, which so pierces through and through one, + Pervaded him--although a generous creature, + As warm in heart as feminine in feature.[ig] + + LIII. + + And here he was--who upon Woman's breast, + Even from a child, felt like a child; howe'er + The Man in all the rest might be confessed, + To him it was Elysium to be there; + And he could even withstand that awkward test + Which Rousseau points out to the dubious fair, + "Observe your lover when he _leaves_ your arms;" + But Juan never _left_ them--while they had charms, + + LIV. + + Unless compelled by Fate, or wave, or wind, + Or near relations--who are much the same. + But _here_ he was!--where each tie that can bind + Humanity must yield to steel and flame: + And _he_ whose very body was all mind, + Flung here by Fate or Circumstance, which tame + The loftiest, hurried by the time and place, + Dashed on like a spurred blood-horse in a race. + + LV. + + So was his blood stirred while he found resistance, + As is the hunter's at the five-bar gate, + Or double post and rail, where the existence + Of Britain's youth depends upon their weight--The + lightest being the safest: at a distance + He hated cruelty, as all men hate + Blood, until heated--and even then his own + At times would curdle o'er some heavy groan. + + LVI. + + The General Lascy, who had been hard pressed, + Seeing arrive an aid so opportune + As were some hundred youngsters all abreast, + Who came as if just dropped down from the moon + To Juan, who was nearest him, addressed + His thanks, and hopes to take the city soon, + Not reckoning him to be a "base Bezonian"[438] + (As Pistol calls it), but a young Livonian.[439] + + LVII. + + Juan, to whom he spoke in German, knew + As much of German as of Sanscrit, and + In answer made an inclination to + The General who held him in command; + For seeing one with ribands, black and blue, + Stars, medals, and a bloody sword in hand, + Addressing him in tones which seemed to thank, + He recognised an officer of rank. + + LVIII. + + Short speeches pass between two men who speak + No common language; and besides, in time + Of war and taking towns, when many a shriek + Rings o'er the dialogue, and many a crime + Is perpetrated ere a word can break + Upon the ear, and sounds of horror chime + In like church-bells, with sigh, howl, groan, yell, prayer, + There cannot be much conversation there. + + LIX. + + And therefore all we have related in + Two long octaves, passed in a little minute; + But in the same small minute, every sin + Contrived to get itself comprised within it. + The very cannon, deafened by the din, + Grew dumb, for you might almost hear a linnet, + As soon as thunder, 'midst the general noise + Of Human Nature's agonizing voice! + + LX. + + The town was entered. Oh Eternity!-- + "God made the country, and man made the town," + So Cowper says[440]--and I begin to be + Of his opinion, when I see cast down + Rome--Babylon-Tyre-Carthage--Nineveh-- + All walls men know, and many never known; + And pondering on the present and the past, + To deem the woods shall be our home at last:-- + + LXI. + + Of all men, saving Sylla,[441] the man-slayer, + Who passes for in life and death most lucky, + Of the great names which in our faces stare, + The General Boon, back-woodsman of Kentucky,[442] + Was happiest amongst mortals anywhere; + For killing nothing but a bear or buck, he + Enjoyed the lonely, vigorous, harmless days + Of his old age in wilds of deepest maze. + + LXII. + + Crime came not near him--she is not the child + Of solitude; Health shrank not from him--for + Her home is in the rarely trodden wild, + Where if men seek her not, and death be more + Their choice than life, forgive them, as beguiled + By habit to what their own hearts abhor-- + In cities caged. The present case in point I + Cite is, that Boon lived hunting up to ninety; + + LXIII. + + And, what's still stranger, left behind a name + For which men vainly decimate the throng, + Not only famous, but of that _good_ fame, + Without which Glory's but a tavern song-- + Simple, serene, the _antipodes_ of Shame, + Which Hate nor Envy e'er could tinge with wrong; + An active hermit, even in age the child + Of Nature--or the Man of Ross[443] run wild. + + LXIV. + + 'T is true he shrank from men even of his nation, + When they built up unto his darling trees,-- + He moved some hundred miles off, for a station + Where there were fewer houses and more ease; + The inconvenience of civilisation + Is, that you neither can be pleased nor please; + But where he met the individual man, + He showed himself as kind as mortal can. + + LXV. + + He was not all alone: around him grew + A sylvan tribe of children of the chase, + Whose young, unwakened world was ever new, + Nor sword nor sorrow yet had left a trace + On her unwrinkled brow, nor could you view + A frown on Nature's or on human face; + The free-born forest found and kept them free, + And fresh as is a torrent or a tree. + + LXVI. + + And tall, and strong, and swift of foot were they, + Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions, + Because their thoughts had never been the prey + Of care or gain: the green woods were their portions; + No sinking spirits told them they grew grey, + No fashion made them apes of her distortions; + Simple they were, not savage--and their rifles, + Though very true, were not yet used for trifles. + + LXVII. + + Motion was in their days, Rest in their slumbers, + And Cheerfulness the handmaid of their toil; + Nor yet too many nor too few their numbers; + Corruption could not make their hearts her soil; + The lust which stings, the splendour which encumbers, + With the free foresters divide no spoil; + Serene, not sullen, were the solitudes + Of this unsighing people of the woods. + + LXVIII. + + So much for Nature:--by way of variety, + Now back to thy great joys, Civilisation! + And the sweet consequence of large society, + War--pestilence--the despot's desolation, + The kingly scourge, the lust of notoriety, + The millions slain by soldiers for their ration, + The scenes like Catherine's boudoir at threescore,[444] + With Ismail's storm to soften it the more. + + LXIX. + + The town was entered: first one column made + Its sanguinary way good--then another; + The reeking bayonet and the flashing blade + Clashed 'gainst the scimitar, and babe and mother + With distant shrieks were heard Heaven to upbraid:-- + Still closer sulphury clouds began to smother + The breath of morn and man, where foot by foot + The maddened Turks their city still dispute. + + LXX. + + Koutousow,[445] he who afterwards beat back + (With some assistance from the frost and snow) + Napoleon on his bold and bloody track, + It happened was himself beat back just now: + He was a jolly fellow, and could crack + His jest alike in face of friend or foe, + Though Life, and Death, and Victory were at stake;[446] + But here it seemed his jokes had ceased to take: + + LXXI. + + For having thrown himself into a ditch, + Followed in haste by various grenadiers, + Whose blood the puddle greatly did enrich, + He climbed to where the parapet appears; + But there his project reached its utmost pitch + ('Mongst other deaths the General Ribaupierre's + Was much regretted), for the Moslem men + Threw them all down into the ditch again.[447] + + LXXII. + + And had it not been for some stray troops landing + They knew not where, being carried by the stream + To some spot, where they lost their understanding, + And wandered up and down as in a dream, + Until they reached, as daybreak was expanding, + That which a portal to their eyes did seem,-- + The great and gay Koutousow might have lain + Where three parts of his column yet remain.[448] + + LXXIII. + + And scrambling round the rampart, these same troops, + After the taking of the "Cavalier,"[449] + Just as Koutousow's most "forlorn" of "hopes" + Took, like chameleons, some slight tinge of fear, + Opened the gate called "Kilia," to the groups[450] + Of baffled heroes, who stood shyly near, + Sliding knee-deep in lately frozen mud, + Now thawed into a marsh of human blood. + + LXXIV. + + The Kozacks, or, if so you please, Cossacques-- + (I don't much pique myself upon orthography, + So that I do not grossly err in facts, + Statistics, tactics, politics, and geography)-- + Having been used to serve on horses' backs, + And no great dilettanti in topography + Of fortresses, but fighting where it pleases + Their chiefs to order,--were all cut to pieces.[451] + + LXXV. + + Their column, though the Turkish batteries thundered + Upon them, ne'ertheless had reached the rampart,[452] + And naturally thought they could have plundered + The city, without being farther hampered; + But as it happens to brave men, they blundered-- + The Turks at first pretended to have scampered, + Only to draw them 'twixt two bastion corners,[453] + From whence they sallied on those Christian scorners. + + LXXVI. + + Then being taken by the tail--a taking + Fatal to bishops as to soldiers--these[ih] + Cossacques were all cut off as day was breaking, + And found their lives were let at a short lease--But + perished without shivering or shaking, + Leaving as ladders their heaped carcasses, + O'er which Lieutenant-Colonel Yesouskoi + Marched with the brave battalion of Polouzki:--[454] + + LXXVII. + + This valiant man killed all the Turks he met, + But could not eat them, being in his turn + Slain by some Mussulmans,[455] who would not yet, + Without resistance, see their city burn. + The walls were won, but 't was an even bet + Which of the armies would have cause to mourn: + 'T was blow for blow, disputing inch by inch, + For one would not retreat, nor 't other flinch. + + LXXVIII. + + Another column also suffered much:-- + And here we may remark with the historian, + You should but give few cartridges to such + Troops as are meant to march with greatest glory on: + When matters must be carried by the touch + Of the bright bayonet, and they all should hurry on; + They sometimes, with a hankering for existence, + Keep merely firing at a foolish distance.[456] + + LXXIX. + + A junction of the General Meknop's men + (Without the General, who had fallen some time + Before, being badly seconded just then) + Was made at length with those who dared to climb + The death-disgorging rampart once again; + And, though the Turk's resistance was sublime, + They took the bastion, which the Seraskier + Defended at a price extremely dear.[457] + + LXXX. + + Juan and Johnson, and some volunteers, + Among the foremost, offered him good quarter, + A word which little suits with Seraskiers, + Or at least suited not this valiant Tartar. + He died, deserving well his country's tears, + A savage sort of military martyr: + An English naval officer, who wished + To make him prisoner, was also dished: + + LXXXI. + + For all the answer to his proposition + Was from a pistol-shot that laid him dead;[458] + On which the rest, without more intermission, + Began to lay about with steel and lead-- + The pious metals most in requisition + On such occasions: not a single head + Was spared;--three thousand Moslems perished here, + And sixteen bayonets pierced the Seraskier.[459] + + LXXXII. + + The city's taken--only part by part-- + And Death is drunk with gore: there's not a street + Where fights not to the last some desperate heart + For those for whom it soon shall cease to beat.[460] + Here War forgot his own destructive art + In more destroying Nature; and the heat + Of Carnage, like the Nile's sun-sodden slime, + Engendered monstrous shapes of every crime. + + LXXXIII. + + A Russian officer, in martial tread + Over a heap of bodies, felt his heel + Seized fast, as if 't were by the serpent's head + Whose fangs Eve taught her human seed to feel; + In vain he kicked, and swore, and writhed, and bled, + And howled for help as wolves do for a meal-- + The teeth still kept their gratifying hold, + As do the subtle snakes described of old.[ii] + + LXXXIV. + + A dying Moslem, who had felt the foot + Of a foe o'er him, snatched at it, and bit + The very tendon which is most acute-- + (That which some ancient Muse or modern wit + Named after thee, Achilles!) and quite through 't + He made the teeth meet, nor relinquished it + Even with his life--for (but they lie) 't is said + To the live leg still clung the severed head. + + LXXXV. + + However this may be, 't is pretty sure + The Russian officer for life was lamed, + For the Turk's teeth stuck faster than a skewer, + And left him 'midst the invalid and maimed: + The regimental surgeon could not cure + His patient, and, perhaps, was to be blamed + More than the head of the inveterate foe, + Which was cut off, and scarce even then let go. + + LXXXVI. + + But then the fact's a fact--and 't is the part + Of a true poet to escape from fiction + Whene'er he can; for there is little art + in leaving verse more free from the restriction + Of Truth than prose, unless to suit the mart + For what is sometimes called poetic diction, + And that outrageous appetite for lies + Which Satan angles with for souls, like flies.[ij] + + LXXXVII. + + The city's taken, but not rendered!--No! + There's not a Moslem that hath yielded sword: + The blood may gush out, as the Danube's flow + Rolls by the city wall; but deed nor word + Acknowledge aught of dread of Death or foe: + In vain the yell of victory is roared + By the advancing Muscovite--the groan + Of the last foe is echoed by his own. + + LXXXVIII. + + The bayonet pierces and the sabre cleaves, + And human lives are lavished everywhere, + As the year closing whirls the scarlet leaves[ik] + When the stripped forest bows to the bleak air, + And groans; and thus the peopled city grieves, + Shorn of its best and loveliest, and left bare; + But still it falls in vast and awful splinters, + As oaks blown down with all their thousand winters. + + LXXXIX. + + It is an awful topic--but 't is not + My cue for any time to be terrific: + For checkered as is seen our human lot + With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific + Of melancholy merriment, to quote + Too much of one sort would be soporific;-- + Without, or with, offence to friends or foes, + I sketch your world exactly as it goes. + + XC. + + And one good action in the midst of crimes + Is "quite refreshing," in the affected phrase[461] + Of these ambrosial, Pharisaic times, + With all their pretty milk-and-water ways, + And may serve therefore to bedew these rhymes, + A little scorched at present with the blaze + Of conquest and its consequences, which + Make Epic poesy so rare and rich. + + XCI. + + Upon a taken bastion, where there lay + Thousands of slaughtered men, a yet warm group + Of murdered women, who had found their way + To this vain refuge, made the good heart droop + And shudder;--while, as beautiful as May, + A female child of ten years tried to stoop + And hide her little palpitating breast + Amidst the bodies lulled in bloody rest.[462] + + XCII. + + Two villanous Cossacques pursued the child + With flashing eyes and weapons: matched with _them_, + The rudest brute that roams Siberia's wild + Has feelings pure and polished as a gem,-- + The bear is civilised, the wolf is mild; + And whom for this at last must we condemn? + Their natures? or their sovereigns, who employ + All arts to teach their subjects to destroy? + + XCIII. + + Their sabres glittered o'er her little head, + Whence her fair hair rose twining with affright, + Her hidden face was plunged amidst the dead: + When Juan caught a glimpse of this sad sight, + I shall not say exactly what he _said_, + Because it might not solace "ears polite;"[463] + But what he _did_, was to lay on their backs, + The readiest way of reasoning with Cossacques. + + XCIV. + + One's hip he slashed, and split the other's shoulder, + And drove them with their brutal yells to seek + If there might be chirurgeons who could solder + The wounds they richly merited,[464] and shriek + Their baffled rage and pain; while waxing colder + As he turned o'er each pale and gory cheek, + Don Juan raised his little captive from + The heap a moment more had made her tomb. + + XCV. + + And she was chill as they, and on her face + A slender streak of blood announced how near + Her fate had been to that of all her race; + For the same blow which laid her mother here + Had scarred her brow, and left its crimson trace, + As the last link with all she had held dear;[465] + But else unhurt, she opened her large eyes, + And gazed on Juan with a wild surprise. + + XCVI. + + Just at this instant, while their eyes were fixed + Upon each other, with dilated glance, + In Juan's look, pain, pleasure, hope, fear, mixed + With joy to save, and dread of some mischance + Unto his protegee; while hers, transfixed + With infant terrors, glared as from a trance, + A pure, transparent, pale, yet radiant face, + Like to a lighted alabaster vase:--[466] + + XCVII. + + Up came John Johnson (I will not say _"Jack,"_ + For that were vulgar, cold, and common-place + On great occasions, such as an attack + On cities, as hath been the present case): + Up Johnson came, with hundreds at his back, + Exclaiming--"Juan! Juan! On, boy! brace + Your arm, and I'll bet Moscow to a dollar, + That you and I will win St. George's collar.[467] + + XCVIII. + + "The Seraskier is knocked upon the head, + But the stone bastion still remains, wherein + The old Pacha sits among some hundreds dead, + Smoking his pipe quite calmly 'midst the din + Of our artillery and his own: 't is said + Our killed, already piled up to the chin, + Lie round the battery; but still it batters, + And grape in volleys, like a vineyard, scatters. + + XCIX. + + "Then up with me!"--But Juan answered, "Look + Upon this child--I saved her--must not leave + Her life to chance; but point me out some nook + Of safety, where she less may shrink and grieve, + And I am with you."--Whereon Johnson took + A glance around--and shrugged--and twitched his sleeve + And black silk neckcloth--and replied, "You're right; + Poor thing! what's to be done? I'm puzzled quite." + + C. + + Said Juan--"Whatsoever is to be + Done, I'll not quit her till she seems secure + Of present life a good deal more than we."-- + Quoth Johnson--"_Neither_ will I quite insure; + But at the least _you_ may die gloriously."-- + Juan replied--" At least I will endure + Whate'er is to be borne--but not resign + This child, who is parentless, and therefore mine." + + CI. + + Johnson said--"Juan, we've no time to lose; + The child's a pretty child--a very pretty-- + I never saw such eyes--but hark! now choose + Between your fame and feelings, pride and pity:-- + Hark! how the roar increases!--no excuse + Will serve when there is plunder in a city;-- + I should be loath to march without you, but, + By God! we'll be too late for the first cut." + + CII. + + But Juan was immovable; until + Johnson, who really loved him in his way, + Picked out amongst his followers with some skill + Such as he thought the least given up to prey, + And, swearing, if the infant came to ill + That they should all be shot on the next day,-- + But if she were delivered safe and sound, + They should at least have fifty rubles round, + + CIII. + + And all allowances besides of plunder + In fair proportion with their comrades;--then + Juan consented to march on through thunder, + Which thinned at every step their ranks of men: + And yet the rest rushed eagerly--no wonder, + For they were heated by the hope of gain, + A thing which happens everywhere each day-- + No hero trusteth wholly to half pay. + + CIV. + + And such is Victory, and such is Man! + At least nine tenths of what we call so:--God + May have another name for half we scan + As human beings, or his ways are odd. + But to our subject: a brave Tartar Khan-- + Or "Sultan," as the author (to whose nod + In prose I bend my humble verse) doth call + This chieftain--somehow would not yield at all: + + CV. + + But flanked by _five_ brave sons (such is polygamy, + That she spawns warriors by the score, where none + Are prosecuted for that false crime bigamy), + He never would believe the city won + While Courage clung but to a single twig.--Am I + Describing Priam's, Peleus', or Jove's son? + Neither--but a good, plain, old, temperate man, + Who fought with his five children in the van.[468] + + CVI. + + To _take_ him was the point.--The truly brave, + When they behold the brave oppressed with odds, + Are touched with a desire to shield and save;-- + A mixture of wild beasts and demi-gods + Are they--now furious as the sweeping wave, + Now moved with pity: even as sometimes nods + The rugged tree unto the summer wind, + Compassion breathes along the savage mind. + + CVII. + + But he would _not_ be _taken_, and replied + To all the propositions of surrender + By mowing Christians down on every side, + As obstinate as Swedish Charles at Bender.[469] + His five brave boys no less the foe defied; + Whereon the Russian pathos grew less tender + As being a virtue, like terrestrial patience,[il] + Apt to wear out on trifling provocations. + + CVIII. + + And spite of Johnson and of Juan, who + Expended all their Eastern phraseology + In begging him, for God's sake, just to show + So much less fight as might form an apology + For _them_ in saving such a desperate foe-- + He hewed away, like Doctors of Theology + When they dispute with sceptics; and with curses + Struck at his friends, as babies beat their nurses. + + CIX. + + Nay, he had wounded, though but slightly, both + Juan and Johnson; whereupon they fell, + The first with sighs, the second with an oath, + Upon his angry Sultanship, pell-mell, + And all around were grown exceeding wroth + At such a pertinacious infidel, + And poured upon him and his sons like rain, + Which they resisted like a sandy plain + + CX. + + That drinks and still is dry. At last they perished-- + His second son was levelled by a shot; + His third was sabred; and the fourth, most cherished + Of all the five, on bayonets met his lot; + The fifth, who, by a Christian mother nourished, + Had been neglected, ill-used, and what not, + Because deformed, yet died all game and bottom,[im] + To save a Sire who blushed that he begot him. + + CXI. + + The eldest was a true and tameless Tartar, + As great a scorner of the Nazarene + As ever Mahomet picked out for a martyr, + Who only saw the black-eyed girls in green, + Who make the beds of those who won't take quarter + On earth, in Paradise; and when once seen, + Those houris, like all other pretty creatures, + Do just whate'er they please, by dint of features. + + CXII. + + And what they pleased to do with the young Khan + In Heaven I know not, nor pretend to guess; + But doubtless they prefer a fine young man + To tough old heroes, and can do no less;[in] + And that's the cause no doubt why, if we scan + A field of battle's ghastly wilderness, + For one rough, weather-beaten, veteran body, + You'll find ten thousand handsome coxcombs bloody. + + CXIII. + + Your houris also have a natural pleasure + In lopping off your lately married men, + Before the bridal hours have danced their measure + And the sad, second moon grows dim again, + Or dull Repentance hath had dreary leisure + To wish him back a bachelor now and then: + And thus your Houri (it may be) disputes + Of these brief blossoms the immediate fruits. + + CXIV. + + Thus the young Khan, with Houris in his sight, + Thought not upon the charms of four young brides, + But bravely rushed on his first heavenly night. + In short, howe'er _our_ better faith derides, + These black-eyed virgins make the Moslems fight, + As though there were one Heaven and none besides-- + Whereas, if all be true we hear of Heaven + And Hell, there must at least be six or seven. + + CXV. + + So fully flashed the phantom on his eyes, + That when the very lance was in his heart, + He shouted "Allah!" and saw Paradise + With all its veil of mystery drawn apart, + And bright Eternity without disguise + On his soul, like a ceaseless sunrise, dart:-- + With Prophets--Houris--Angels--Saints, descried + In one voluptuous blaze,--and then he died,--[io] + + CXVI. + + But with a heavenly rapture on his face. + The good old Khan, who long had ceased to see + Houris, or aught except his florid race, + Who grew like cedars round him gloriously-- + When he beheld his latest hero grace + The earth, which he became like a felled tree, + Paused for a moment from the fight, and cast + A glance on that slain son, his first and last. + + CXVII. + + The soldiers, who beheld him drop his point, + Stopped as if once more willing to concede + Quarter, in case he bade them not "aroynt!" + As he before had done. He did not heed + Their pause nor signs: his heart was out of joint, + And shook (till now unshaken) like a reed, + As he looked down upon his children gone, + And felt--though done with life--he was alone.[470] + + CXVIII. + + But 't was a transient tremor:--with a spring + Upon the Russian steel his breast he flung, + As carelessly as hurls the moth her wing + Against the light wherein she dies: he clung + Closer, that all the deadlier they might wring, + Unto the bayonets which had pierced his young; + And throwing back a dim look on his sons, + In one wide wound poured forth his soul at once. + + CXIX. + + 'T is strange enough--the rough, tough soldiers, who + Spared neither sex nor age in their career + Of carnage, when this old man was pierced through, + And lay before them with his children near, + Touched by the heroism of him they slew, + Were melted for a moment; though no tear + Flowed from their bloodshot eyes, all red with strife, + They honoured such determined scorn of Life. + + CXX. + + But the stone bastion still kept up its fire, + Where the chief Pacha calmly held his post: + Some twenty times he made the Russ retire, + And baffled the assaults of all their host; + At length he condescended to inquire + If yet the city's rest were won or lost; + And being told the latter, sent a Bey + To answer Ribas' summons to give way.[471] + + CXXI. + + In the mean time, cross-legged, with great sang-froid, + Among the scorching ruins he sat smoking + Tobacco on a little carpet;--Troy + Saw nothing like the scene around;--yet looking + With martial Stoicism, nought seemed to annoy + His stern philosophy; but gently stroking + His beard, he puffed his pipe's ambrosial gales, + As if he had three lives, as well as tails.[472] + CXXII. + + The town was taken--whether he might yield + Himself or bastion, little mattered now: + His stubborn valour was no future shield. + Ismail's no more! The Crescent's silver bow + Sunk, and the crimson Cross glared o'er the field, + But red with no _redeeming_ gore: the glow + Of burning streets, like moonlight on the water, + Was imaged back in blood, the sea of slaughter.[ip] + + CXXIII. + + All that the mind would shrink from of excesses-- + All that the body perpetrates of bad; + All that we read--hear--dream, of man's distresses-- + All that the Devil would do if run stark mad; + All that defies the worst which pen expresses,-- + All by which Hell is peopled, or as sad + As Hell--mere mortals who their power abuse-- + Was here (as heretofore and since) let loose. + + CXXIV. + + If here and there some transient trait of pity + Was shown, and some more noble heart broke through + Its bloody bond, and saved, perhaps, some pretty + Child, or an aged, helpless man or two-- + What's this in one annihilated city, + Where thousand loves, and ties, and duties grew? + Cockneys of London! Muscadins of Paris! + Just ponder what a pious pastime War is.[iq] + + CXXV. + + Think how the joys of reading a Gazette + Are purchased by all agonies and crimes: + Or if these do not move you, don't forget + Such doom may be your own in after-times. + Meantime the Taxes, Castlereagh, and Debt, + Are hints as good as sermons, or as rhymes. + Read your own hearts and Ireland's present story, + Then feed her famine fat with Wellesley's glory. + + CXXVI. + + But still there is unto a patriot nation, + Which loves so well its country and its King, + A subject of sublimest exultation-- + Bear it, ye Muses, on your brightest wing! + Howe'er the mighty locust, Desolation, + Strip your green fields, and to your harvests cling, + Gaunt famine never shall approach the throne-- + Though Ireland starve, great George weighs twenty stone.[473] + + CXXVII. + + But let me put an end unto my theme: + There was an end of Ismail--hapless town! + Far flashed her burning towers o'er Danube's stream, + And redly ran his blushing waters down. + The horrid war-whoop and the shriller scream + Rose still; but fainter were the thunders grown: + Of forty thousand who had manned the wall, + Some hundreds breathed--the rest were silent all![474] + + CXXVIII. + + In one thing ne'ertheless 't is fit to praise + The Russian army upon this occasion, + A virtue much in fashion now-a-days, + And therefore worthy of commemoration:[ir] + The topic's tender, so shall be my phrase-- + Perhaps the season's chill, and their long station + In Winter's depth, or want of rest and victual, + Had made them chaste;--they ravished very little. + + CXXIX. + + Much did they slay, more plunder, and no less + Might here and there occur some violation + In the other line;--but not to such excess + As when the French, that dissipated nation, + Take towns by storm: no causes can I guess, + Except cold weather and commiseration;[is] + But all the ladies, save some twenty score, + Were almost as much virgins as before. + + CXXX. + + Some odd mistakes, too, happened in the dark, + Which showed a want of lanterns, or of taste-- + Indeed the smoke was such they scarce could mark + Their friends from foes,--besides such things from haste + Occur, though rarely, when there is a spark + Of light to save the venerably chaste: + But six old damsels, each of seventy years, + Were all deflowered by different grenadiers. + + CXXXI. + + But on the whole their continence was great; + So that some disappointment there ensued + To those who had felt the inconvenient state + Of "single blessedness," and thought it good + (Since it was not their fault, but only fate, + To bear these crosses) for each waning prude + To make a Roman sort of Sabine wedding, + Without the expense and the suspense of bedding. + + CXXII. + + Some voices of the buxom middle-aged + Were also heard to wonder in the din + (Widows of forty were these birds long caged) + "Wherefore the ravishing did not begin!" + But while the thirst for gore and plunder raged, + There was small leisure for superfluous sin; + But whether they escaped or no, lies hid + In darkness--I can only hope they did. + + CXXXIII. + + Suwarrow now was conqueror--a match + For Timour or for Zinghis in his trade. + While mosques and streets, beneath his eyes, like thatch + Blazed, and the cannon's roar was scarce allayed, + With bloody hands he wrote his first despatch; + And here exactly follows what he said:-- + "Glory to _God_ and to the Empress!" (_Powers + Eternal! such names mingled!_) "Ismail's ours."[475] + + CXXXIV. + + Methinks these are the most tremendous words, + Since "MENE, MENE, TEKEL," and "UPHARSIN," + Which hands or pens have ever traced of swords. + Heaven help me! I'm but little of a parson: + What Daniel read was short-hand of the Lord's, + Severe, sublime; the prophet wrote no farce on + The fate of nations;--but this Russ so witty + Could rhyme, like Nero, o'er a burning city. + + CXXXV. + + He wrote this Polar melody, and set it, + Duly accompanied by shrieks and groans, + Which few will sing, I trust, but none forget it-- + For I will teach, if possible, the stones + To rise against Earth's tyrants. Never let it + Be said that we still truckle unto thrones;-- + But ye--our children's children! think how we + Showed _what things were_ before the World was free! + + CXXXVI. + + That hour is not for us, but 't is for you: + And as, in the great joy of your Millennium, + You hardly will believe such things were true + As now occur, I thought that I would pen you 'em; + But may their very memory perish too!-- + Yet if perchance remembered, still disdain you 'em + More than you scorn the savages of yore, + Who _painted_ their _bare_ limbs, but _not_ with gore. + + CXXXVII. + + And when you hear historians talk of thrones, + And those that sate upon them, let it be + As we now gaze upon the mammoth's bones, + And wonder what old world such things could see, + Or hieroglyphics on Egyptian stones, + The pleasant riddles of futurity-- + Guessing at what shall happily be hid, + As the real purpose of a pyramid. + + CXXXVIII. + + Reader! I have kept my word,--at least so far + As the first Canto promised. You have now + Had sketches of Love--Tempest--Travel--War,-- + All very accurate, you must allow, + And _Epic_, if plain truth should prove no bar; + For I have drawn much less with a long bow + Than my forerunners. Carelessly I sing, + But Phoebus lends me now and then a string, + + CXXXIX. + + With which I still can harp, and carp, and fiddle. + What further hath befallen or may befall + The hero of this grand poetic riddle, + I by and by may tell you, if at all: + But now I choose to break off in the middle, + Worn out with battering Ismail's stubborn wall, + While Juan is sent off with the despatch, + For which all Petersburgh is on the watch. + + CXL. + + This special honour was conferred, because + He had behaved with courage and humanity-- + Which last men like, when they have time to pause + From their ferocities produced by vanity. + His little captive gained him some applause + For saving her amidst the wild insanity + Of carnage,--and I think he was more glad in her + Safety, than his new order of St. Vladimir. + + CXLI. + + The Moslem orphan went with her protector, + For she was homeless, houseless, helpless; all + Her friends, like the sad family of Hector, + Had perished in the field or by the wall: + Her very place of birth was but a spectre + Of what it had been; there the Muezzin's call + To prayer was heard no more!--and Juan wept, + And made a vow to shield her, which he kept. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{331}[412] ["La nuit etait obscure; un brouillard epais ne nous +permettait de distinguer autre chose que le feu de notre artillerie, +dont l'horizon etait embrase de tous cotes: ce feu, partant du milieu du +Danube, se reflechissait sur les eaux, et offrait un coup d'oeil +tres-singulier."-_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 209.] + +{332}[413] ["A peine eut-on parcouru l'espace de quelques toises au-dela +des batteries, que les Turcs, qui n'avaient point tire pendant toute la +nuit s'appercevant de nos mouvemens, commencerent de leur cote un feu +tres-vif, qui embrasa le reste de l'horizon: mais ce fut bien autre +chose lorsque, avances davantage, le feu de la mousqueterie commenca +dans toute l'etendue du rempart que nous appercevions. Ce fut alors que +la place parut a nos yeux comme un volcan dont le feu sortait de toutes +parts."-_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 209.] + +[414] ["Un cri universel d'_allah_, qui se repetait tout autour de la +ville, vint encore rendre plus extraordinaire cet instant, dont il est +impossible de se faire une idee."--_Ibid._, p. 209.] + +[415] Allah Hu! is properly the war-cry of the Mussulmans, and they +dwell on the last syllable, which gives it a wild and peculiar effect. + +[See _The Giaour_, line 734, _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 120, note 1; +see, too, _Siege of Corinth_, line 713, ibid., p. 481.] + +[416] ["Toutes les colonnes etaient en mouvement; celles qui attaquaient +par eau commandees par le general Arseniew, essuyerent un feu +epouvantable, et perdirent avant le jour un tiers de leurs +officiers."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 209.] + +[417] + + "But _Thy_[*] most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is Man--arrayed for mutual slaughter,-- + Yea, _Carnage is thy daughter!_" + +Wordsworth's _Thanksgiving Ode_ (January 18, 1816), stanza xii. lines +20, 23. + +[*]To wit, the Deity's: this is perhaps as pretty a pedigree for murder +as ever was found out by Garter King at Arms.--What would have been +said, had any free-spoken people discovered such a lineage? + +[Wordsworth omitted the lines in the last edition of his poems, which +was revised by his own hand.] + +{333}[ia] _The Duc de Richelieu_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[418] ["Le Prince de Ligne fut blesse au genou; le Duc de Richelieu eut +une balle entre le fond de son bonnet et sa tete."--_Hist. de la +Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 210. + +For the gallantry of Prince Charles de Ligne (died September 14, 1792) +eldest son of Prince Charles Joseph de Ligne (1735-1814), see _The +Prince de Ligne_, 1899, ii. 46. + +Armand Emanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, born 1767, a grandson of +Louis Francois Duc de Richelieu, the Marshal of France (1696-1780), +served under Catherine II., and afterwards under the Czar Paul. On the +restoration of Louis XVIII. he entered the King's household; and after +the battle of Waterloo took office as President of the Council and +Minister for Foreign Affairs. His _Journal de mon Voyage en Allemagne_, +which was then unpublished, was placed at the disposal of the Marquis de +Castelnau (see _Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, 1827, i. 241). It has been +printed in full by the _Societe Imperiale d'Histoire de Russie_, 1886, +tom. liv. pp. 111-198. See for further mention of the manuscript, _Le +Duc de Richelieu_, par Raoul de Cisternes, 1898, Preface, p. 3, note 1. +He died May 17, 1822, two months before Cantos VI., VII., VIII. were +completed.] + +{334}[419] ["Le brigadier Markow, insistant pour qu'on emportat le +prince blesse, recut un coup de fusil qui lui fracassa le pied."--_Hist. +de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 210.] + +[420] ["Trois cents bouches a feu vomissaient sans interruption, et +trente mille fusils alimentaient sans relache une grele de +balles."--_Ibid._, p. 210.] + +{335}[421] ["Les troupes, deja debarquees, se porterent a droite pour +s'emparer d'une batterie; et celles debarquees plus bas, principalement +composees des grenadiers de Fanagorie, escaladaient le retranchement et +la palissade."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 210.] + +[422] A fact: see the Waterloo Gazettes. I recollect remarking at the +time to a friend:--"_There_ is _fame!_ a man is killed, his name is +Grose, and they print it Grove." I was at college with the deceased, who +was a very amiable and clever man, and his society in great request for +his wit, gaiety, and "Chansons a boire." + +[In the _London Gazette Extraordinary_ of June 22, 1815, Captain Grove, +1st Guards, is among the list of killed. In the supplement to the +_London Gazette_, published July 3, 1815, the mistake was corrected, and +the entry runs, "1st Guards, 3d Batt. Lieut. Edward Grose, (Captain)." I +am indebted to the courtesy of the Registrar of the University of +Cambridge for the information that Edward Grose matriculated at St. +John's College as a pensioner, December 7, 1805. Thanks to the +"misprint" in the _Gazette_, and to Byron, he is "a name for +ever."--_Vir nulla non donatus lauru!_] + +{337}[423] [At the Battle of Mollwitz, April 10, 1741, "the king +vanishes for sixteen hours into the regions of Myth 'into Fairyland,' +... of the king's flight ... the king himself, who alone could have told +us fully, maintained always rigorous silence, and nowhere drops the +least hint. So that the small fact has come down to us involved in a +great bulk of fabulous cobwebs, mostly of an ill-natured character, set +a-going by Voltaire, Valori, and others."--Carlyle's _Frederick the +Great_, 1862, iii. 314, 322, sq.] + +[424] See General Valancey and Sir Lawrence Parsons. + +[Charles Vallancey (1721-1812), general in the Royal Engineers, +published an "Essay on the Celtic Language," etc., in 1782. "The +language [the Iberno-Celtic]," he writes (p. 4), "we are now going to +explain, had such an affinity with the Punic, that it may be said to +have been, in a great degree, the language of Hanibal (_sic_), Hamilcar, +and of Asdrubal." Sir Laurence Parsons (1758-1841), second Earl of +Rosse, represented the University of Dublin 1782-90, and afterwards +King's County, in the Irish House of Commons. He was an opponent of the +Union. In a pamphlet entitled _Defence of the Antient History of +Ireland_, published in 1795, he maintains (p. 158) "that the +Carthaginian and the Irish language being originally the same, either +the Carthaginians must have been descended from the Irish, or the Irish +from the Carthaginians."] + +{338}[425] The Portuguese proverb says that "hell is paved with good +intentions."--[See _Vision of Judgment_, stanza xxxvii. line 8, +_Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 499, note 2.] + +[ib] _At least the sharp faints of that "burning marle."_--[MS. erased.] + +{339}[426] ["The Nervii marched to the number of sixty thousand, and +fell upon Caesar, as he was fortifying his camp, and had not the least +notion of so sudden an attack. They first routed his cavalry, and then +surrounded the twelfth and the seventh legions, and killed all the +officers. Had not Caesar snatched a buckler from one of his own men, +forced his way through the combatants before him, and rushed upon the +barbarians; or had not the tenth legion, seeing his danger, ran from the +heights where they were posted, and mowed down the enemy's ranks, not +one Roman would have survived the battle."--Plutarch, _Caesar_, +Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 502.] + +[427] + ["As near a field of corn, a stubborn ass ... + E'en so great Ajax son of Telamon." + +_The Iliad_, Lord Derby's translation, bk. xi. lines 639, 645.] + +{339}[ic] _Nor care a single damn about his corps_.--[MS. erased.] + +[428] ["N'apercevant plus le commandant du corps dont je faisais partie, +et ignorant ou je devais porter mes pas, je crus reconnaitre le lieu ou +le rempart etait situe; on y faisait un feu assez vif, que je jugeai +etre celui ... du general-major de Lascy."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle +Russie_, ii. 210. The speaker is the Duc de Richelieu. See, for +original, his _Journal de mon Voyage, etc., Soc. Imp. d'Hist. de +Russie_, tom. liv. p. 179] + +[id] + _For he was dizzy, busy, and his blood_ + _Lightening along his veins, and where he heard_ + _The liveliest fire, and saw the fiercest flood_ + _Of Friar Bacon's mild discovery, shared_ + _By Turks and Christians equally, he could_ + _No longer now resist the attraction of gunpowder_ + _But flew to where the merry orchestra played louder_.--[MS. erased.] + +[429] Gunpowder is said to have been discovered by this friar. [N.B. +Though Friar Bacon seems to have discovered gunpowder, he had the +_humanity_ not to record his discovery in intelligible language.] + +{341}[ie] + ---- _whose short breath, and long faces_ + _Kept always pushing onwards to the Glacis_.--[MS. erased.] + +{342}[430] [_I Henry IV._, act iii. sc. 1, line 53.] + +[if] _And that mechanic impulse_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[431] [_Hamlet_, act iii, sc. 1, lines 79, 80.] + +{343}[432] ["_Talus:_ the slope or inclination of a wall, whereby, +reclining at the top so as to fall within its base, the thickness is +gradually lessened according to the height."--_Milit. Dict._] + +[433] ["Appelant ceux des chasseurs qui etaient autour de moi en assez +grand nombre, je m'avancai et reconnus ne m'etre point trompe dans mon +calcul; c'etait en effet cette colonne qui a l'instant parvenait au +sommet du rempart. Les Turcs de derriere les travers et les flancs des +bastions voisins fasaient sur elle un feu tres-vif de canon et de +mousqueterie. Je gravis, avec les gens qui m'avaient suivi, le talus +interieur du rempart."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 210.] + +{344}[434] [Baron Menno van Coehoorn (circ. 1641-1704), a Dutch military +engineer, the contemporary and rival of Vauban, invented a mortar which +bore his name. He was the author of a celebrated work on fortification, +published in 1692.] + +[435] ["Ce fut dans cet instant que je reconnus combien l'ignorance du +constructeur des palissades etait importante pour nous; car, comme elles +etaient placees au milieu du parapet," etc.--_Hist. de la Nouvelle +Russie_, ii. 211.] + +[436] They were but two feet above the level.--[MS.] + +["Il y avait de chaque cote neuf a dix pieds sur lesquels on pouvait +marcher; et les soldats, apres etre montes, avaient pu se ranger +commodement sur l'espace exterieur et enjamber ensuite les palissades, +qui ne s'elevaient que d'a-peu-pres deux pieds au-dessus du niveau de la +terre."--_Ibid._, p. 211.] + +{345}[437] [Friederich Wilhelm, Baron von Buelow (1755-1816), was in +command of the 4th corps of the Prussian Army at Waterloo. August +Wilhelm Antonius Neidhart von Gneisenau (1760-1831) was chief of staff, +and after Bluecher was disabled by a fall at Ligny, assumed temporary +command, June 16-17, 1815. He headed the triumphant pursuit of the +French on the night of the battle. For Bluecher's official account of the +battles of Ligny and Waterloo (subscribed by Gneisenau), see W.H. +Maxwell's _Life of the Duke of Wellington_, 1841, iii. 566-571; and for +Wellington's acknowledgment of Bluecher's "cordial and timely +assistance," see _Dispatches_, 1847, viii. 150. See, too, _The Life of +Wellington_, by the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., 1899, ii. 88, +et passim.] + +{346}[ig] + ---- _as feminine of feature_.--[MS.] + + _Led him on--although he was the gentlest creature_, + _As kind in heart as feminine of feature_.--[MS. erased.] + +{347}[438] [Pistol's "_Bezonian_" is a corruption of _bisognoso_--a +rogue, needy fellow. Byron, quoting from memory, confuses two passages. +In _2 Henry VI._, act iv. sc. 1, line 134, Suffolk says, "Great men oft +die of vile bezonians;" in _2 Henry IV._, act v. sc. 3, line 112, Pistol +says, "Under which King, Besonian? speak or die."] + +[439] ["Le General Lascy, voyant arriver un corps, si a-propos a son +secours, s'avanca vers l'officier qui l'avait conduit, et, le prenant +pour un Livonien, lui fit, en allemand, les complimens les plus +flatteurs; le jeune militaire (le Duc de Richelieu) qui parlait +parfaitement cette langue, y repondit avec sa modestie +ordinaire."-_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 211.] + +{348}[440] [_The Task_, bk. i. line 749. It was pointed out to Cowper +that the same thought had been expressed by Isaac Hawkins Browne, in +_The Fire-side, a Pastoral Soliloquy_, lines 15, 16 (_Poems_, ed. 1768, +p. 125)-- + + "I have said it at home, I have said it abroad, + That the town is Man's world, but that this is of God." + +There is a parallel passage in M.T. Varro, _Rerum Rusticarum_, lib. iii. +I. 4, "Nee minim, quod divina natura dedit agros, ars humami aedificavit +urbes."--See _The Task, etc._, ed. by H.T. Griffith, 1896, ii. 234.] + +[441] [Sulla spoke of himself as the "fortunate," and in the +twenty-second book of his Commentaries, finished only two days before +his death, "he tells us that the Chaldeans had predicted, that after a +life of glory he would depart in the height of his prosperity." He was +fortunate, too, with regard to his funeral, for, at first, a brisk wind +blew which fanned the pile into flame, and it was not till the fire had +begun to die out that the rain, which had been expected throughout the +day, began to fall in torrents.--Langhorne's _Plutarch_, 1838, pp. 334, +335. See, too, _Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte_, stanza vii. _Poetical +Works_, 1900, in. 308, note I.] + +[442] [Daniel Boone (1735-1820) was the grandson of an English settler, +George Boone, of Exeter. His great work in life was the conquest of +Kentucky. Following in the steps of another pioneer, John Finley, he +left his home in North Carolina in May, 1769, and, after numerous +adventures, effected a settlement on the Kentucky river. He constructed +a fort, which he named Boonesborough, and carried on a protracted +campaign with varying but final success against the Indians. When +Kentucky was admitted into the Union, February 4, 1791, he failed to +make good his title to his property at Boonesborough, and withdrew to +Mount Pleasant, beyond the Ohio. Thence, in 1795, he removed to +Missouri, then a Spanish possession. Napoleon wrested Missouri from the +Spaniards, only to sell the territory to the United States, with the +result that in 1810 he was confirmed in the possession of 850 out of the +8000 acres which he had acquired in 1795. "Boone was then seventy-five +years of age, hale and strong. The charm of the hunter's life clung to +him to the last, and in his eighty-second year he went on a hunting +excursion to the mouth of the Kansas river."--Appleton's _Encyclopedia, +etc_., art. "Boone." His fine and gracious nature reveals itself in his +autobiography (_The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon, Formerly a +Hunter; Containing a Narrative of the Wars of Kentucky_; Imlay's _North +America_, 1793, ii. 52-54). "One day," he writes (pp. 330, _sq_.), "I +undertook a tour through the country, and the diversity and beauties of +nature ... expelled every gloomy and vexatious thought. Just at the +close of day the gentle gales retired, and left the place to the +disposal of a profound calm. Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. +I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with +astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts +below. On the other hand, I surveyed the famous river Ohio, that rolled +in silent dignity, marking the western boundary of Kentucky with +inconceivable grandeur. ... All things were still. I kindled a fire near +a fountain of sweet water, and feasted on the loins of a buck, which a +few hours before I had killed.... No populous city, with all the +varieties of commerce and stately structures, could afford so much +pleasure to my mind as the beauties of nature I found here." (See, too, +_The Kentucky Pioneers_, by John Brown, _Harper's New Monthly Magazine_, +1887, vol. lxxv. pp. 48-71.)] + +{350}[443] [For John Kyrle, "the Man of Ross" (1635-1724), see Pope's +_Moral Essays_, epist. iii. lines 249-284. See, too, _Letters of S.T. +Coleridge_, 1895 (letter to R. Southey, July 13, 1794), i. 77.] + +{351}[444] [Byron seems to have derived his knowledge of Catherine's +_vie intime_ from the _Memoires Secrets sur la Russie_, of C.F.P. +Masson, which were published in Amsterdam in 1800, and translated into +English in the same year.] + +[445] [Michailo Smolenskoi Koutousof (1743-1813), who was raised to +eminence through the influence of Potemkin, was in command of the +Austro-Russian Army at Austerlitz. During the retreat from Moscow he +repulsed Napoleon at Malo-yaroslavetz, and pursued the French to Kalisz. +Tolstoi introduces Koutousof in his novel, _War and Peace_, and dwells +on his fatalism.] + +{352}[446] ["Parmi les colonnes, une de celles qui souffrirent le plus +etait commandee par le general Koutouzow (aujourd'hui Prince de +Smolensko). Ce brave militaire reunit l'intrepidite a un grand nombre de +connaissances acquises; il marche au feu avec la meme gaiete qu'il va a +une fete; il sait commander avec autant de sang froid qu'il deploie +d'esprit et d'amabilite dans le commerce habituel de la vie."--_Hist. de +la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 212.] + +[447] ["Ce brave Koutouzow se jeta dans le fosse, fut suivi des siens, +et ne penetra jusqu'au haut du parapet qu'apres avoir eprouve des +difficultes incroyables. (Le brigadier de Ribaupierre perdit la vie dans +cette occasion: il avail fixe l'estime generale, et sa mort occasionna +beaucoup de regrets.) Les Turcs accoururent en grand nombre; cette +multitude repoussa deux fois le general jusqu'au fosse."--_Ibid._, p. +212.] + +[448] ["Quelques troupes russes, emportees par le courant, n'ayant pu +debarquer sur le terrain qu'on leur avait prescrit," etc.--_Ibid._, p. +213.] + +[449] ["A 'Cavalier' is an elevation of earth, situated ordinarily in +the gorge of a bastion, bordered with a parapet, and cut into more or +fewer embrasures, according to its capacity."--_Milit. Dict._] + +{353}[450] [" ... longerent le rempart, apres la prise du cavalier, et +ouvrirent la porte dite _de Kilia_ aux soldats du general +Koutouzow."--_Hist, de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 213.] + +[451] ["Il etait reserve aux Kozaks de combler de leurs corps la partie +du fosse ou ils combattaient; leur colonne avail ete divisee entre MM. +Platow et d'Orlow ..."--_Ibid._, p. 213.] + +[452] [" ... la premiere partie, devant se joindre a la gauche du +general Arseniew, fut foudroyee par le feu des batteries, et parvint +neanmoins au haut du rempart."--_Ibid._, p. 213.] + +[453] ["Les Turcs la laisserent un peu s'avancer, dans la ville, et +firent deux sorties par les angles saillans des bastions."--_Ibid._, p. +213.] + +[ih] _Fatal to warriors as to women--these_.--[MS.] + +{354}[454] ["Alors, se trouvant prise en queue, elle fut ecrasee; +cependant le Lieutenant-colonel Yesouskoi, qui commandait la reserve +composee d'un bataillon du regiment de Polozk, traversa le fosse sur les +cadavres des Kozaks ..."--_Hist. de la Nouvell Russia_, ii. 212.] + +[455] [" ... et extermina tous les Turcs qu'il eut en tete: ce brave +homme fut tue pendant l'action."--_Ibid._, p. 213.] + +[456] ["L'autre partie des Kozaks, qu' Orlow commandait, souffrit de la +maniere la plus cruelle: elle attaqua a maintes reprises, fut souvent +repoussee, et perdit les deux tiers de son monde (c'est ici le lieu de +placer une observation, que nous prenons dans les memoires qui nous +guident; elle fait remarquer combien il est raal vu de donner beaucoup +de cartouches aux soldats qui doivent emporter un poste de vive force, +et par consequent ou la baionnette doit principalement agir; ils pensent +ne devoir se servir de cette derniere arme, que lorsque les cartouches +sont epuisees: dans cette persuasion, ils retardent leur marche, et +restent plus long-temps exposes au canon et a la mitraille de +l'ennemi)."--_Ibid._, p. 214.] + +{355}[457] ["La jonction de la colonne de Meknop--(le general fut nial +seconde et tue)--ne put s'effectuer avec celle qui l'avoisinait, ... ces +colonnes attaquerent un bastion, et eprouverent une resistance +opiniatre; raais bientot des cris de victoire se font entendre de toutes +parts, et le bastion est emporte: le seraskier defendait cette +partie."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 214.] + +[458] [" ... un officier de marine Anglais veut le faire prisonnier, et +recoit un coup de pistolet qui l'etend roide mort."--_Ibid._, p. 214.] + +[459] ["Les Russes passent trois mille Turcs au fil de l'epee; seize +baionnettes percent a la fois le seraskier."--_Ibid._, p. 214.] + +[460] ["La ville est emportee; l'image de la mort et de la desolation se +represente de tous les cotes le soldat furieux n'ecoute plus la voix de +ses officiers, il ne respire que le carnage; altere de sang, tout est +indifferent pour lui."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 214.] + +{356}[ii] _As do the subtle snake's denounced of old_.--[MS.] + +{357}[ij] _Which most of all doth man characterise_.--[MS. Alternative +reading.] + +[ik] _As Autumn winds disperse the yellow leaves_.--[MS. erased.] + +[461] [See _The Blues_, ecl. i. line 25, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. +574, note 3.] + +{358}[462] ["Je sauvai la vie a une fille de dix ans, don't l'innocence +et la candeur formaient un contraste bien frappant avec la rage de tout +ce qui m'environnait. En arrivant sur le bastion ou commenca le carnage, +j'apercus un groupe de quatre femmes egorgees, entre lesquelles cet +enfant, d'une figure charmante, cherchait un asile contre la fureur de +deux Kozaks qui etaient sur le point de la massacrer,"--Duc de +Richelieu. (See _Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 217.)] + +[463] ["Who never mentions Hell to ears polite."--Pope, _Moral Essays_, +ep. iv, line 150.] + +{359}[464] ["Ce spectacle m'attira bientot, et je n'hesitai pas, comme +on peut le croire, a prendre entre mes bras cette infortunee, que les +barbares voulaient y poursuivre encore. J'eus bien de la peine a me +retenir et a ne pas percer ces miserables du sabre que je tenais +suspendu sur leur tete:--je me contentai cependant de les eloigner, non +sans leur prodiguer les coups et les injures qu'ils meritaient...."--Duc +de Richelieu, _vide Hist, de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 217.] + +[465] [" ... J'eus le plaisir d'apercevoir que ma petite prisonniere +n'avait d'autre mal qu'une coupure legere que lui avail faite au visage +le meme fer qui avail perce sa mere."--Duc de Richelieu, _ibid_. + +The Turks clamoured for the child, and Richelieu was forced to give way. +But in the original the story ends unhappily. + +"Je fus oblige de ceder a leurs instances et a celles de l'officier qui +parlementait avec eux; ... ce ne fut pas sans de grandes difficultes et +sans une promesse expresse de la parl de cet officier [Colonel Ribas] de +me la faire rendre aussitot que les Tures auraient mis bas les armes. Je +me separai donc de cet enfant qui m'etait deja devenu tres-cher, et meme +a present, je ne puis penser a ce moment sans amertume, puisque malgre +toutes les recherches et les peines que je me donnai pour la retrouver, +il me fut impossible d'y reussir, el je n'ai que trop sujet de craindre +qu'elle n'ait peri malheureusement."--_Societe Imperiale d'Histoire de +Russie_, tom. liv. p. 185.] + +{360}[466] [Sir Walter Scott (_Quarterly Review_, October, 1816, vol. +xvi. p. 177) says that a "brother-poet" compared Byron's features to the +sculpture of a beautiful alabaster vase, only seen to perfection when +lighted up from within. Byron alludes to this comparison in his +_Detached Thoughts_, October 15, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 408. It may +be noted that Lorenzo Bartolini, the Italian sculptor who took a bust of +Byron at Pisa, in the spring of 1822, had been employed by Napoleon, in +1814, to design marble vases for a terrace at Elba, which were to be +illuminated at night "from within."] + +[467] A Russian military order. + +{362}[468] ["Le sultan perit dans l'action en brave homme, digne d'un +meilleur destin; ce fut lui qui rallia les Turcs lorsque l'ennemi +penetra dans la place ... ce sultan, d'une valeur eprouvee, surpassait +en generosite les plus civilises de sa nation; cinq de ses fils +combattaient a ses cotes, il les encourageait par son exemple."--_Hist. +de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 215.] + +[469] ["When Charles XII. reached Bender, August 1, 1709, he refused, in +the first instance, to cross the river Dniester, and on yielding to the +representations of the Turks, he declined to enter the town, but decided +on remaining encamped on an island, in spite of the assurances of the +inhabitants that it was occasionally flooded." But, perhaps, Byron had +in mind Voltaire's remarks on Charles's _Opiniatrete_. (See _Histoire de +Charles XII._, 1772, p. 377. See, too, _Charles XII._, by Oscar +Browning, 1899, pp. 231-234.)] + +[il]---- _like celestial patience_.--[MS. erased.] + +[im] _Because a hunchback_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{364}[in] _In battle to old age and ugliness_.--[MS. erased.] + +{365}[io] _In one immortal glance, and then he died_.--[MS. erased] + +[470] ["Tous cinq furent tous tues sous ces yeux: il ne cessa point de +se battre, repondit par des coups de sabre aux propositions de se +rendre, et ne fut atteint du coup mortel qu'apres avoir abattu de sa +main beaucoup de Kozaks des plus acharnee a sa prise; le reste de sa +troupe fut massacre."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 215.] + +{366}[471] ["Quoique les Russes fussent repandus dans la ville, le +bastion de pierre resistait encore; il etait defendu par un vicillard, +pacha a trois queues, et commandant les forces reunies a Ismael. On lui +proposa une capitulation; il demanda si le reste de la ville etait +conquis; sur cette reponse, il autorisa quelques-uns de ces officiers a +capituler avec M. de Ribas."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 215.] + +[472] ["Pendant ce colloque, il resta etendu sur des tapis places sur +les ruines de la forteresse, fumant sa pipe avec la meme tranquillite et +la meme indifference que s'il eut ete etranger a tout ce qui se +passait."--_Ibid._, p. 215.] + +{367}[ip] + _Of burning cities, those full moons of slaughter_ + _Was imaged back in blood instead of water_.--[MS. Alternative reading.] + +[iq] _Would_ you _do less_, "pro focis et pro aris"?--[MS. erased.] + +{368}[473] [Compare-- + + "Spread--spread for Vitellius, the royal repast, + Till the gluttonous despot be stuffed to the gorge!" + +_The Irish Avatar_, stanza 20, _Poetical Works_, 1891, iv. 559.] + +[474] ["On egorgea indistinctement, on saccagea la place; et la rage du +vainqueur ... se repandit comme un torrent furieux qui a renverse les +digues qui le retenaient: personne obtint de grace, et _trente huit +mille huit cent soixante_ Turcs perirent dans cette journee de +sang."--_Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie_, ii. 216.] + +[ir]---- _of my peroration_.--[MS. erased.] + +{369}[is] + ---- _the cause I cannot guess_-- + _I hardly think it was commiseration_.--[MS. erased.] + +{370}[475] In the original Russian-- + + "Slava bogu! slava vam! + Krepost vzata i ya tam;" + +a kind of couplet; for he was a poet. + +[J.H. Castera (_Vie de Catherine II._, 1797, ii. 374) relates this +incident in connection with the fall of Turtukey (or Tutrakaw) in +Bulgaria, giving the words in French, "Gloire a Dieu! Louange a +Catherine! Toutoukai est pris. Souwaroff y est entre." W. Tooke (_Life +of Catherine II._, 1800, iii. 278). Castera's translator, gives the +original Russian with an English version. But according to Spalding +(_Suvoroff_, 1890, pp. 42, 43), the words, which were written on a scrap +of paper, and addressed to Soltikoff, ran thus: "Your Excellency, we +have conquered. Glory to God! Glory to you! Alexander Suvoroff." When +Ismail was taken he wrote to Potemkin, "The Russian standard floats +above the walls of Ismail," and to the Empress, "Proud Ismail lies at +your Majesty's feet." The tenour of the poetical message on the fall of +Tutrakaw recalls the triumphant piety of the Emperor William I. of +Germany. See, too, for "mad Suwarrow's rhymes," Canto IX. stanza lx. +lines 1-4.] + + + + + + CANTO THE NINTH. + + I.[476] + + Oh, Wellington! (or "Villainton"[477]--for Fame[it] + Sounds the heroic syllables both ways; + France could not even conquer your great name, + But punned it down to this facetious phrase-- + Beating or beaten she will laugh the same,) + You have obtained great pensions and much praise: + Glory like yours should any dare gainsay, + Humanity would rise, and thunder "Nay!"[478] + + II. + + I don't think that you used Kinnaird quite well + In Marinet's affair[479]--in fact, 't was shabby, + And like some other things won't do to tell + Upon your tomb in Westminster's old Abbey. + Upon the rest 't is not worth while to dwell, + Such tales being for the tea-hours of some tabby;[480] + But though your years as _man_ tend fast to zero, + In fact your Grace is still but a _young Hero_. + + III. + + Though Britain owes (and pays you too) so much, + Yet Europe doubtless owes you greatly more: + You have repaired Legitimacy's crutch, + A prop not quite so certain as before: + The Spanish, and the French, as well as Dutch, + Have seen, and felt, how strongly you _restore_; + And Waterloo has made the world your debtor + (I wish your bards would sing it rather better). + + IV. + + You are "the best of cut-throats:"[481]--do not start; + The phrase is Shakespeare's, and not misapplied:-- + War's a brain-spattering, windpipe-slitting art, + Unless her cause by right be sanctified. + If you have acted _once_ a generous part, + The World, not the World's masters, will decide, + And I shall be delighted to learn who, + Save you and yours, have gained by Waterloo? + + V. + + I am no flatterer--you've supped full of flattery:[482] + They say you like it too--'t is no great wonder. + He whose whole life has been assault and battery, + At last may get a little tired of thunder; + And swallowing eulogy much more than satire, he + May like being praised for every lucky blunder, + Called "Saviour of the Nations"--not yet saved,-- + And "Europe's Liberator"--still enslaved.[483] + + VI. + + I've done. Now go and dine from off the plate + Presented by the Prince of the Brazils, + And send the sentinel before your gate + A slice or two from your luxurious meals:[484] + He fought, but has not fed so well of late. + Some hunger, too, they say the people feels:-- + There is no doubt that you deserve your ration, + But pray give back a little to the nation. + + VII. + + I don't mean to reflect--a man so great as + You, my lord Duke! is far above reflection: + The high Roman fashion, too, of Cincinnatus, + With modern history has but small connection: + Though as an Irishman you love potatoes, + You need not take them under your direction; + And half a million for your Sabine farm + Is rather dear!--I'm sure I mean no harm. + + VIII. + + Great men have always scorned great recompenses: + Epaminondas saved his Thebes, and died, + Not leaving even his funeral expenses:[485] + George Washington had thanks, and nought beside, + Except the all-cloudless glory (which few men's is) + To free his country: Pitt too had his pride, + And as a high-souled Minister of state is + Renowned for ruining Great Britain gratis.[486] + + IX. + + Never had mortal man such opportunity, + Except Napoleon, or abused it more: + You might have freed fallen Europe from the unity + Of Tyrants, and been blest from shore to shore: + And _now_--what is your fame? Shall the Muse tune it ye? + _Now_--that the rabble's first vain shouts are o'er? + Go! hear it in your famished country's cries! + Behold the World! and curse your victories! + + X. + + As these new cantos touch on warlike feats, + To _you_ the unflattering Muse deigns to inscribe[iu] + Truths, that you will not read in the Gazettes, + But which 't is time to teach the hireling tribe + Who fatten on their country's gore, and debts, + Must be recited--and without a bribe. + You _did great_ things, but not being _great_ in mind, + Have left _undone_ the _greatest_--and mankind. + + XI. + + Death laughs--Go ponder o'er the skeleton + With which men image out the unknown thing + That hides the past world, like to a set sun + Which still elsewhere may rouse a brighter spring-- + Death laughs at all you weep for!--look upon + This hourly dread of all! whose _threatened sting_ + Turns Life to terror, even though in its sheath: + Mark! how its lipless mouth grins without breath! + + XII. + + Mark! how it laughs and scorns at all you are! + And yet _was_ what you are; from _ear_ to _ear_ + It _laughs not_--there is now no fleshy bar + So called; the Antic long hath ceased to _hear_, + But still he _smiles_; and whether near or far, + He strips from man that mantle (far more dear + Than even the tailor's), his incarnate skin,[iv] + White, black, or copper--the dead bones will grin. + + XIII. + + And thus Death laughs,--it is sad merriment, + But still it _is_ so; and with such example + Why should not Life be equally content + With his Superior, in a smile to trample + Upon the nothings which are daily spent + Like bubbles on an Ocean much less ample + Than the Eternal Deluge, which devours + Suns as rays--worlds like atoms--years like hours? + + XIV. + + "To be, or not to be? _that_ is the question," + Says Shakespeare,[487] who just now is much in fashion. + I am neither Alexander nor Hephaestion, + Nor ever had for _abstract_ fame much passion; + But would much rather have a sound digestion + Than Buonaparte's cancer:--could I dash on + Through fifty victories to shame or fame-- + Without a stomach what were a good name? + + XV. + + _"O dura ilia messorum!"_[488]--"Oh + Ye rigid guts of reapers!" I translate[iw] + For the great benefit of those who know + What indigestion is--that inward fate + Which makes all Styx through one small liver flow. + A peasant's sweat is worth his lord's estate: + Let _this_ one toil for bread--_that_ rack for rent, + He who sleeps best may be the most content. + + XVI. + + "To be, or not to be?"--Ere I decide, + I should be glad to know that which _is being_. + 'T is true we speculate both far and wide, + And deem, because we _see_, we are _all-seeing_: + For my part, I'll enlist on neither side, + Until I see both sides for once agreeing. + For me, I sometimes think that Life is Death, + Rather than Life a mere affair of breath. + + XVII. + + _"Que scais-je"_[489] was the motto of Montaigne, + As also of the first academicians: + That all is dubious which man may attain, + Was one of their most favourite positions. + There's no such thing as certainty, that's plain + As any of Mortality's conditions; + So little do we know what we're about in + This world, I doubt if doubt itself be doubting. + + XVIII. + + It is a pleasant voyage perhaps to float, + Like Pyrrho,[490] on a sea of speculation; + But what if carrying sail capsize the boat? + Your wise men don't know much of navigation; + And swimming long in the abyss of thought + Is apt to tire: a calm and shallow station + Well nigh the shore, where one stoops down and gathers + Some pretty shell, is best for moderate bathers. + + XIX. + + "But Heaven," as Cassio says, "is above all--[491] + No more of this, then, let us pray!" We have + Souls to save, since Eve's slip and Adam's fall, + Which tumbled all mankind into the grave, + Besides fish, beasts, and birds. "The sparrow's fall + Is special providence,"[492] though how _it_ gave + Offence, we know not; probably it perched + Upon the tree which Eve so fondly searched. + + XX. + + Oh! ye immortal Gods! what is Theogony? + Oh! thou, too, mortal man! what is Philanthropy? + Oh! World, which was and is, what is Cosmogony? + Some people have accused me of Misanthropy; + And yet I know no more than the mahogany + That forms this desk, of what they mean;--_Lykanthropy_[493] + I comprehend, for without transformation + Men become wolves on any slight occasion. + + XXI. + + But I, the mildest, meekest of mankind, + Like Moses, or Melancthon,[494] who have ne'er[ix] + Done anything exceedingly unkind,-- + And (though I could not now and then forbear + Following the bent of body or of mind) + Have always had a tendency to spare,-- + Why do they call me Misanthrope? Because + _They hate me, not I them:_--and here we'll pause. + + XXII. + + 'T is time we should proceed with our good poem,-- + For I maintain that it is really good, + Not only in the body but the proem, + However little both are understood + Just now,--but by and by the Truth will show 'em + Herself in her sublimest attitude: + And till she doth, I fain must be content + To share her beauty and her banishment. + + XXIII. + + Our hero (and, I trust, kind reader! yours) + Was left upon his way to the chief city + Of the immortal Peter's polished boors, + Who still have shown themselves more brave than witty. + I know its mighty Empire now allures + Much flattery--even Voltaire's,[495] and that's a pity. + For me, I deem an absolute autocrat + _Not_ a barbarian, but much worse than that. + + XXIV. + + And I will war, at least in words (and--should + My chance so happen--deeds), with all who war + With Thought;--and of Thought's foes by far most rude, + Tyrants and sycophants have been and are. + I know not who may conquer: if I could + Have such a prescience, it should be no bar + To this my plain, sworn, downright detestation + Of every despotism in every nation.[iy] + + XXV. + + It is not that I adulate the people: + Without _me_, there are demagogues enough,[496] + And infidels, to pull down every steeple, + And set up in their stead some proper stuff. + Whether they may sow scepticism to reap Hell, + As is the Christian dogma rather rough, + I do not know;--I wish men to be free + As much from mobs as kings--from you as me. + + XXVI. + + The consequence is, being of no party, + I shall offend all parties:--never mind! + My words, at least, are more sincere and hearty + Than if I sought to sail before the wind. + He who has nought to gain can have small art: he + Who neither wishes to be bound nor bind, + May still expatiate freely, as will I, + Nor give my voice to slavery's jackal cry.[iz] + + XXVII. + + _That's_ an appropriate simile, _that jackal;_-- + I've heard them in the Ephesian ruins howl[497] + By night, as do that mercenary pack all, + Power's base purveyors, who for pickings prowl, + And scent the prey their masters would attack all. + However, the poor jackals are less foul + (As being the brave lions' keen providers) + Than human insects, catering for spiders.[ja] + + XXVIII. + + Raise but an arm! 't will brush their web away, + And without _that_, their poison and their claws + Are useless. Mind, good people! what I say-- + (Or rather Peoples)--_go on_ without pause! + The web of these Tarantulas each day + Increases, till you shall make common cause: + None, save the Spanish Fly and Attic Bee, + As yet are strongly stinging to be free.[jb] + + XXIX. + + Don Juan, who had shone in the late slaughter, + Was left upon his way with the despatch, + Where blood was talked of as we would of water; + And carcasses that lay as thick as thatch + O'er silenced cities, merely served to flatter + Fair Catherine's pastime--who looked on the match + Between these nations as a main of cocks, + Wherein she liked her own to stand like rocks. + + XXX. + + And there in a _kibitka_ he rolled on, + (A cursed sort of carriage without springs, + Which on rough roads leaves scarcely a whole bone,) + Pondering on Glory, Chivalry, and Kings, + And Orders, and on all that he had done-- + And wishing that post-horses had the wings + Of Pegasus, or at the least post-chaises + Had feathers, when a traveller on deep ways is. + + XXXI. + + At every jolt--and they were many--still + He turned his eyes upon his little charge, + As if he wished that she should fare less ill + Than he, in these sad highways left at large + To ruts, and flints, and lovely Nature's skill, + Who is no paviour, nor admits a barge + On _her_ canals, where God takes sea and land, + Fishery and farm, both into his own hand. + + XXXII. + + At least he pays no rent, and has best right + To be the first of what we used to call + "Gentlemen farmers"--a race worn out quite, + Since lately there have been no rents at all, + And "gentlemen" are in a piteous plight, + And "farmers" can't raise Ceres from her fall: + She fell with Buonaparte,[498]--What strange thoughts + Arise, when we see Emperors fall with oats! + + XXXIII. + + But Juan turned his eyes on the sweet child + Whom he had saved from slaughter--what a trophy + Oh! ye who build up monuments, defiled + With gore, like Nadir Shah,[499] that costive Sophy, + Who, after leaving Hindostan a wild, + And scarce to the Mogul a cup of coffee + To soothe his woes withal, was slain, the sinner! + Because he could no more digest his dinner;--[jc][500] + + XXXIV. + + Oh ye! or we! or he! or she! reflect, + That _one_ life saved, especially if young + Or pretty, is a thing to recollect + Far sweeter than the greenest laurels sprung + From the manure of human clay, though decked + With all the praises ever said or sung: + Though hymned by every harp, unless within + Your heart joins chorus, Fame is but a din. + + XXXV. + + Oh! ye great authors luminous, voluminous! + Ye twice ten hundred thousand daily scribes! + Whose pamphlets, volumes, newspapers, illumine us! + Whether you're paid by government in bribes, + To prove the public debt is not consuming us-- + Or, roughly treading on the "courtier's kibes" + With clownish heel[501] your popular circulation + Feeds you by printing half the realm's starvation;-- + + XXXVI. + + Oh, ye great authors!--_A propos des bottes,_-- + I have forgotten what I meant to say, + As sometimes have been greater sages' lots;-- + 'T was something calculated to allay + All wrath in barracks, palaces, or cots: + Certes it would have been but thrown away, + And that's one comfort for my lost advice, + Although no doubt it was beyond all price. + + XXXVII. + + But let it go:--it will one day be found + With other relics of "a former World," + When this World shall be _former,_ underground, + Thrown topsy-turvy, twisted, crisped, and curled, + Baked, fried, or burnt, turned inside-out, or drowned, + Like all the worlds before, which have been hurled + First out of, and then back again to chaos-- + The superstratum which will overlay us.[jd] + + XXXVIII. + + So Cuvier says:[502]--and then shall come again + Unto the new creation, rising out + From our old crash, some mystic, ancient strain + Of things destroyed and left in airy doubt; + Like to the notions we now entertain + Of Titans, giants, fellows of about + Some hundred feet in height, _not_ to say _miles,_ + And mammoths, and your winged crocodiles. + + XXXIX. + + Think if then George the Fourth should be dug up![503] + How the new worldlings of the then new East + Will wonder where such animals could sup! + (For they themselves will be but of the least: + Even worlds miscarry, when too oft they pup, + And every new creation hath decreased + In size, from overworking the material-- + Men are but maggots of some huge Earth's burial.) + + XL. + + _How_ will--to these young people, just thrust out + From some fresh Paradise, and set to plough, + And dig, and sweat, and turn themselves about, + And plant, and reap, and spin, and grind, and sow, + Till all the arts at length are brought about, + Especially of War and taxing,--_how_, + I say, will these great relics, when they see 'em, + Look like the monsters of a new Museum! + + XLI. + + But I am apt to grow too metaphysical: + "The time is out of joint,"[504]--and so am I; + I quite forget this poem's merely quizzical, + And deviate into matters rather dry. + I ne'er decide what I shall say, and this I call[je] + Much too poetical: men should know why + They write, and for what end; but, note or text, + I never know the word which will come next. + + XLII. + + So on I ramble, now and then narrating, + Now pondering:--it is time we should narrate. + I left Don Juan with his horses baiting-- + Now we'll get o'er the ground at a great rate: + I shall not be particular in stating + His journey, we've so many tours of late: + Suppose him then at Petersburgh; suppose + That pleasant capital of painted snows;[505] + + XLIII. + + Suppose him in a handsome uniform-- + A scarlet coat, black facings, a long plume, + Waving, like sails new shivered in a storm, + Over a cocked hat in a crowded room, + And brilliant breeches, bright as a Cairn Gorme, + Of yellow casimire we may presume, + White stockings drawn uncurdled as new milk + O'er limbs whose symmetry set off the silk;[jf] + + XLIV. + + Suppose him sword by side, and hat in hand, + Made up by Youth, Fame, and an army tailor-- + That great enchanter, at whose rod's command + Beauty springs forth, and Nature's self turns paler, + Seeing how Art can make her work more grand + (When she don't pin men's limbs in like a gaoler),-- + Behold him placed as if upon a pillar! He[jg] + Seems Love turned a Lieutenant of Artillery![506] + + XLV. + + His bandage slipped down into a cravat-- + His wings subdued to epaulettes--his quiver + Shrunk to a scabbard, with his arrows at + His side as a small sword, but sharp as ever-- + His bow converted into a cocked hat-- + But still so like, that Psyche were more clever + Than some wives (who make blunders no less stupid), + If she had not mistaken him for Cupid. + + XLVI. + + The courtiers stared, the ladies whispered, and + The Empress smiled: the reigning favourite frowned--[jh] + I quite forget which of them was in hand + Just then, as they are rather numerous found,[507] + Who took, by turns, that difficult command + Since first her Majesty was singly crowned:[508] + But they were mostly nervous six-foot fellows, + All fit to make a Patagonian jealous. + + XLVII. + + Juan was none of these, but slight and slim, + Blushing and beardless; and, yet, ne'ertheless, + There was a something in his turn of limb, + And still more in his eye, which seemed to express, + That, though he looked one of the Seraphim, + There lurked a man beneath the Spirit's dress. + Besides, the Empress sometimes liked a boy, + And had just buried the fair-faced Lanskoi.[ji][509] + + XLVIII. + + No wonder then that Yermoloff, or Momonoff,[510] + Or Scherbatoff, or any other _off_ + Or _on_, might dread her Majesty had not room enough + Within her bosom (which was not too tough), + For a new flame; a thought to cast of gloom enough + Along the aspect, whether smooth or rough, + Of him who, in the language of his station, + Then held that "high official situation." + + XLIX. + + O gentle ladies! should you seek to know + The import of this diplomatic phrase, + Bid Ireland's Londonderry's Marquess[511] show + His parts of speech, and in the strange displays + Of that odd string of words, all in a row, + Which none divine, and every one obeys, + Perhaps you may pick out some queer _no_ meaning,-- + Of that weak wordy harvest the sole gleaning. + + L. + + I think I can explain myself without + That sad inexplicable beast of prey-- + That Sphinx, whose words would ever be a doubt, + Did not his deeds unriddle them each day-- + That monstrous hieroglyphic--that long spout + Of blood and water--leaden Castlereagh! + And here I must an anecdote relate, + But luckily of no great length or weight. + + LI. + + An English lady asked of an Italian, + What were the actual and official duties + Of the strange thing some women set a value on, + Which hovers oft about some married beauties, + Called "Cavalier Servente?"[512]--a Pygmalion + Whose statues warm (I fear, alas! too true 't is) + Beneath his art:[jj]--the dame, pressed to disclose them, + Said--"Lady, I beseech you to _suppose them_." + + LII. + + And thus I supplicate your supposition, + And mildest, matron-like interpretation, + Of the imperial favourite's condition. + 'T was a high place, the highest in the nation + In fact, if not in rank; and the suspicion + Of any one's attaining to his station, + No doubt gave pain, where each new pair of shoulders, + If rather broad, made stocks rise--and their holders. + + LIII. + + Juan, I said, was a most beauteous boy, + And had retained his boyish look beyond + The usual hirsute seasons which destroy, + With beards and whiskers, and the like, the fond + _Parisian_ aspect, which upset old Troy + And founded Doctors' Commons:[jk]--I have conned + The history of divorces, which, though chequered, + Calls Ilion's the first damages on record. + + LIV. + + And Catherine, who loved all things (save her Lord, + Who was gone to his place), and passed for much, + Admiring those (by dainty dames abhorred) + Gigantic gentlemen, yet had a touch + Of sentiment: and he she most adored + Was the lamented Lanskoi, who was such + A lover as had cost her many a tear, + And yet but made a middling grenadier. + + LV. + + Oh thou "_teterrima causa_" of all "_belli_"--[513] + Thou gate of Life and Death--thou nondescript! + Whence is our exit and our entrance,--well I + May pause in pondering how all souls are dipped + In thy perennial fountain:--how man _fell_ I + Know not, since Knowledge saw her branches stripped + Of her first fruit; but how he _falls_ and rises + Since,--_thou_ hast settled beyond all surmises. + + LVI. + + Some call thee "the _worst_ cause of War," but I + Maintain thou art the _best_.--for after all, + From thee we come, to thee we go, and why + To get at thee not batter down a wall, + Or waste a World? since no one can deny + Thou dost replenish worlds both great and small: + With--or without thee--all things at a stand[jl] + Are, or would be, thou sea of Life's dry land![jm] + + LVII. + + Catherine, who was the grand Epitome + Of that great cause of War, or Peace, or what + You please (it causes all the things which be, + So you may take your choice of this or that)-- + Catherine, I say, was very glad to see + The handsome herald, on whose plumage sat[514] + Victory; and, pausing as she saw him kneel + With his despatch, forgot to break the seal. + + LVIII. + + Then recollecting the whole Empress, nor + Forgetting quite the Woman (which composed + At least three parts of this great whole), she tore + The letter open with an air which posed + The Court, that watched each look her visage wore, + Until a royal smile at length disclosed + Fair weather for the day. Though rather spacious, + Her face was noble, her eyes fine, mouth gracious.[515] + + LIX. + + Great joy was hers, or rather joys: the first + Was a ta'en city, thirty thousand slain: + Glory and triumph o'er her aspect burst, + As an East Indian sunrise on the main:-- + These quenched a moment her Ambition's thirst-- + So Arab deserts drink in Summer's rain: + In vain!--As fall the dews on quenchless sands, + Blood only serves to wash Ambition's hands! + + LX. + + Her next amusement was more fanciful; + She smiled at mad Suwarrow's rhymes, who threw + Into a Russian couplet rather dull + The whole gazette of thousands whom he slew: + Her third was feminine enough to annul + The shudder which runs naturally through + Our veins, when things called Sovereigns think it best + To kill, and Generals turn it into jest. + + LXI. + + The two first feelings ran their course complete, + And lighted first her eye, and then her mouth: + The whole court looked immediately most sweet, + Like flowers well watered after a long drouth:-- + But when on the Lieutenant at her feet + Her Majesty, who liked to gaze on youth + Almost as much as on a new despatch, + Glanced mildly,--all the world was on the watch. + + LXII. + + Though somewhat large, exuberant, and truculent, + When _wroth_--while _pleased_, she was as fine a figure + As those who like things rosy, ripe, and succulent, + Would wish to look on, while they are in vigour. + She could repay each amatory look you lent + With interest, and, in turn, was wont with rigour + To exact of Cupid's bills the full amount + At sight, nor would permit you to discount. + + LXIII. + + With her the latter, though at times convenient, + Was not so necessary; for they tell + That she was handsome, and though fierce _looked_ lenient, + And always used her favourites too well. + If once beyond her boudoir's precincts in ye went, + Your "fortune" was in a fair way "to swell + A man" (as Giles says);[516] for though she would widow all + Nations, she liked Man as an individual. + + LXIV. + + What a strange thing is Man! and what a stranger + Is Woman! What a whirlwind is her head, + And what a whirlpool full of depth and danger + Is all the rest about her! Whether wed, + Or widow--maid--or mother, she can change her + Mind like the wind: whatever she has said + Or done, is light to what she'll say or do;-- + The oldest thing on record, and yet new! + + LXV. + + Oh Catherine! (for of all interjections, + To thee both _oh!_ and _ah!_ belong, of right, + In Love and War) how odd are the connections + Of human thoughts, which jostle in their flight! + Just now _yours_ were cut out in different sections: + _First_ Ismail's capture caught your fancy quite; + _Next_ of new knights, the fresh and glorious batch: + And _thirdly_ he who brought you the despatch! + + LXVI. + + Shakespeare talks of "the herald Mercury + New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill:"[517] + And some such visions crossed her Majesty, + While her young herald knelt before her still. + 'T is very true the hill seemed rather high, + For a Lieutenant to climb up; but skill + Smoothed even the Simplon's steep, and by God's blessing, + With Youth and Health all kisses are "Heaven-kissing." + + LXVII. + + Her Majesty looked down, the youth looked up-- + And so they fell in love;--she with his face, + His grace, his God-knows-what: for Cupid's cup + With the first draught intoxicates apace, + A quintessential laudanum or "Black Drop," + Which makes one drunk at once, without the base + Expedient of full bumpers; for the eye + In love drinks all Life's fountains (save tears) dry. + + LXVIII. + + He, on the other hand, if not in love, + Fell into that no less imperious passion, + Self-love--which, when some sort of thing above + Ourselves, a singer, dancer, much in fashion, + Or Duchess--Princess--Empress, "deigns to prove"[518] + ('T is Pope's phrase) a great longing, though a rash one, + For one especial person out of many, + Make us believe ourselves as good as any. + + LXIX. + + Besides, he was of that delighted age + Which makes all female ages equal--when + We don't much care with whom we may engage, + As bold as Daniel in the lions' den, + So that we can our native sun assuage + In the next ocean, which may flow just then-- + To make a _twilight_ in, just as Sol's heat is + Quenched in the lap of the salt sea, or Thetis. + + LXX. + + And Catherine (we must say thus much for Catherine), + Though bold and bloody, was the kind of thing + Whose temporary passion was quite flattering, + Because each lover looked a sort of King, + Made up upon an amatory pattern, + A royal husband in all save the _ring_--[jn] + Which, (being the damnedest part of matrimony,) + Seemed taking out the sting to leave the honey: + + LXXI. + + And when you add to this, her Womanhood + In its meridian, her blue eyes[519] or gray-- + (The last, if they have soul, are quite as good, + Or better, as the best examples say: + Napoleon's, Mary's[520] (Queen of Scotland), should + Lend to that colour a transcendent ray; + And Pallas also sanctions the same hue, + Too wise to look through optics black or blue)-- + + LXXII. + + Her sweet smile, and her then majestic figure,[jo] + Her plumpness, her imperial condescension, + Her preference of a boy to men much bigger + (Fellows whom Messalina's self would pension), + Her prime of life, just now in juicy vigour, + With other _extras_, which we need not mention,-- + All these, or any one of these, explain + Enough to make a stripling very vain. + + LXXIII. + + And that's enough, for Love is vanity, + Selfish in its beginning as its end,[jp] + Except where 't is a mere insanity, + A maddening spirit which would strive to blend + Itself with Beauty's frail inanity, + On which the Passion's self seems to depend; + And hence some heathenish philosophers + Make Love the main-spring of the Universe. + + LXXIV. + + Besides Platonic love, besides the love + Of God, the love of sentiment, the loving + Of faithful pairs--(I needs must rhyme with dove, + That good old steam-boat which keeps verses moving + 'Gainst reason--Reason ne'er was hand-and-glove + With rhyme, but always leant less to improving + The sound than sense)--besides all these pretences + To Love, there are those things which words name senses; + + LXXV. + + Those movements, those improvements in our bodies + Which make all bodies anxious to get out + Of their own sand-pits, to mix with a goddess, + For such all women are at first no doubt.[jq] + How beautiful that moment! and how odd is + That fever which precedes the languid rout + Of our sensations! What a curious way + The whole thing is of clothing souls in clay![jr] + + LXXVI.[521] + + The noblest kind of love is love Platonical, + To end or to begin with; the next grand + Is that which may be christened love canonical, + Because the clergy take the thing in hand; + The third sort to be noted in our chronicle + As flourishing in every Christian land, + Is when chaste matrons to their other ties + Add what may be called _marriage in disguise_. + + LXXVII. + + Well, we won't analyse--our story must + Tell for itself: the Sovereign was smitten, + Juan much flattered by her love, or lust;-- + I cannot stop to alter words once written, + And the _two_ are so mixed with human dust, + That he who _names one_, both perchance may hit on: + But in such matters Russia's mighty Empress + Behaved no better than a common sempstress. + + LXXVIII. + + The whole court melted into one wide whisper, + And all lips were applied unto all ears! + The elder ladies' wrinkles curled much crisper + As they beheld; the younger cast some leers + On one another, and each lovely lisper + Smiled as she talked the matter o'er; but tears + Of rivalship rose in each clouded eye + Of all the standing army who stood by. + + LXXIX. + + All the ambassadors of all the powers + Inquired, Who was this very new young man, + Who promised to be great in some few hours? + Which is full soon (though Life is but a span). + Already they beheld the silver showers + Of rubles rain, as fast as specie can, + Upon his cabinet, besides the presents + Of several ribands, and some thousand peasants.[522] + + LXXX. + + Catherine was generous,--all such ladies are: + Love--that great opener of the heart and all + The ways that lead there, be they near or far, + Above, below, by turnpikes great or small,-- + Love--(though she had a cursed taste for War, + And was not the best wife unless we call + Such Clytemnestra, though perhaps 't is better + That one should die--than two drag on the fetter)-- + + LXXXI. + + Love had made Catherine make each lover's fortune, + Unlike our own half-chaste Elizabeth, + Whose avarice all disbursements did importune, + If History, the grand liar, ever saith + The truth; and though grief her old age might shorten, + Because she put a favourite to death, + Her vile, ambiguous method of flirtation, + And stinginess, disgrace her sex and station. + + LXXXII. + + But when the levee rose, and all was bustle + In the dissolving circle, all the nations' + Ambassadors began as 't were to hustle + Round the young man with their congratulations. + Also the softer silks were heard to rustle + Of gentle dames, among whose recreations + It is to speculate on handsome faces, + Especially when such lead to high places. + + LXXXIII. + + Juan, who found himself, he knew not how, + A general object of attention, made + His answers with a very graceful bow, + As if born for the ministerial trade. + Though modest, on his unembarrassed brow + Nature had written "Gentleman!" He said + Little, but to the purpose; and his manner + Flung hovering graces o'er him like a banner. + + LXXXIV. + + An order from her Majesty consigned + Our young Lieutenant to the genial care + Of those in office: all the world looked kind, + (As it will look sometimes with the first stare, + Which Youth would not act ill to keep in mind,) + As also did Miss Protasoff[523] then there,[js] + Named from her mystic office "l'Eprouveuse," + A term inexplicable to the Muse. + + LXXXV. + + With _her_ then, as in humble duty bound, + Juan retired,--and so will I, until + My Pegasus shall tire of touching ground. + We have just lit on a "heaven-kissing hill," + So lofty that I feel my brain turn round, + And all my fancies whirling like a mill; + Which is a signal to my nerves and brain, + To take a quiet ride in some green lane.[524] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{373}[476] [Stanzas i.-viii., which are headed "_Don Juan_, Canto III., +July 10, 1819," are in the handwriting of (?) the Countess Guiccioli. +Stanzas ix., x., which were written on the same sheet of paper, are in +Byron's handwriting. The original MS. opens with stanza xi., "Death +laughs," etc. (See letter to Moore, July 12, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. +96.)] + +[477] + + ["Faut qu' lord Villain-ton ait tout pris; + N'y a plus d' argent dans c' gueux de Paris." + +De Beranger, "Complainte d'une de ces Demoiselles a l'Occasion des +Affaires du Temps (Fevrier, 1816)," _Chansons_, 1821, ii. 17. + +Compare a retaliatory epigram which appeared in a contemporary +newspaper-- + + "These French _petit-maitres_ who the spectacle throng, + Say of Wellington's dress _qu'il fait vilain ton!_ + But, at Waterloo, Wellington made the French stare + When their army he dressed _a la mode Angleterre!_"] + +[it] _Oh Wellington_ (_or "Vilainton"_)----.--[MS. B.] + +[478] Query, _Ney?_--Printer's Devil. [Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, +"the bravest of the brave" (see _Ode from the French_, stanza i. +_Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 431), born January 10, 1769, was arrested +August 5, and shot December 7, 1815.] + +[479] [The story of the attempted assassination (February 11, 1818) of +the Duke of Wellington, which is dismissed by Alison in a few words +(_Hist. of Europe_ (1815-1852), 1853, i. 577, 578), occupies many pages +of the _Supplementary Despatches_ (1865, xii. 271-546). Byron probably +drew his own conclusions as to the Kinnaird-Marinet incident, from the +_Letter to the Duke of Wellington on the Arrest of M. Marinet_, by Lord +Kinnaird, 1818. The story, which is full of interest, may be briefly +recounted. On January 30, 1818, Lord Kinnaird informed Sir George Murray +(Chief of the Staff of the Army of Occupation) that a person, whose name +he withheld, had revealed to him the existence of a plot to assassinate +the Duke of Wellington. At 12.30 a.m., February 11, 1818, the Duke, on +returning to his Hotel, was fired at by an unknown person; and then, but +not till then, he wrote to urge Lord Clancarty to advise the Prince +Regent to take steps to persuade or force Kinnaird to disclose the name +of his informant. A Mr. G.W. Chad, of the Consular Service, was +empowered to proceed to Brussels, and to seek an interview with +Kinnaird. He carried with him, among other documents, a letter from the +Duke to Lord Clancarty, dated February 12, 1818. A postscript contained +this intimation: "It may be proper to mention to you that the French +Government are disposed to go every length in the way of negotiation +with the person mentioned by Lord Kinnaird, or others, to discover the +plot." + +Kinnaird absolutely declined to give up the name of his informant, but, +acting on the strength of the postscript, which had been read but not +shown to him, started for Paris with "the great unknown." Some days +after their arrival, and while Kinnaird was a guest of the Duke, the man +was arrested, and discovered to be one Nicholle or Marinet, who had been +appointed _receveur_ under the restored government of Louis XVIII., but +during the _Cent jours_ had fled to Belgium, retaining the funds he had +amassed during his term of office. Kinnaird regarded this action of the +French Government as a breach of faith, and in a "Memorial" to the +French Chamber of Peers, and his _Letter_, maintained that the Duke's +postscript implied a promise of a safe conduct for Marinet to and from +Paris to Brussels. The Duke, on the other hand, was equally positive +(see his letter to Lord Liverpool, May 30, 1818) "that he never intended +to have any negotiations with anybody." Kinnaird was a "dog with a bad +name," He had been accused (see his _Letter to the Earl of Liverpool_, +1816, p. 16) of "the promulgation of dangerous opinions," and of +intimacy "with persons suspected." The Duke speaks of him as "the friend +of Revolutionists"! It is evident that he held the dangerous doctrine +that a promise to a rogue _is_ a promise, and that the authorities took +a different view of the ethics of the situation. It is clear, too, that +the Duke's postscript was ambiguous, but that it did not warrant the +assumption that if Marinet went to Paris he should be protected. The air +was full of plots. The great Duke despised and was inclined to ignore +the pistol or the dagger of the assassin; but he believed that "mischief +was afoot," and that "great personages" might or might not be +responsible. He was beset by difficulties at every turn, and would have +been more than mortal if he had put too favourable a construction on the +scruples, or condoned the imprudence of a "friend of Revolutionists."] + +{374}[480] [The reference may be to the Duke of Wellington's intimacy +with Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster. Byron had "passed that way" +himself (see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 251, note i, 323, etc.), and could +hardly attack the Duke on _that_ score.] + +[481] ["Thou art the best o' the cut-throats." _Macbeth_, act iii. +sc. 4, line 17.] + +[482] ["I have supped full of horrors." _Macbeth_, act v. sc. 5, line 13.] + +[483] _Vide_ speeches in Parliament, after the battle of Waterloo. + +{376}[484] ["I at this time got a post, being for fatigue, with four +others. We were sent to break biscuit, and make a mess for Lord +Wellington's hounds. I was very hungry, and thought it a good job at the +time, as we got our own fill, while we broke the biscuit,--a thing I had +not got for some days. When thus engaged, the Prodigal Son was never +once out of my mind; and I sighed, as I fed the dogs, over my humble +situation and my ruined hopes."--_Journal of a Soldier of the 71st +Regiment_, 1806 to 1815 (Edinburgh, 1822), pp. 132, 133.] + +[485] ["We are assured that Epaminondas died so poor that the Thebans +buried him at the public charge; for at his death nothing was found in +his house but an iron spit."--Plutarch's _Fabius Maximus_, Langhorne's +translation, 1838, p. 140. See, too, Cornelius Nepos, _Epam_., cap. iii. +"Paupertatem adeo facile perpessus est, ut de Republica nihil praeter +gloriam ceperit."] + +[486] [For Pitt's refusal to accept L100,000 from the merchants of +London towards the payment of his debts, or L30,000 from the King's +Privy Purse, see _Pitt_, by Lord Rosebery, 1891. p. 231.] + +{377}[iu] _To_ you _this_ one _unflattering Muse inscribes_.--[MS. +erased.] + +{377}[iv] + _He strips from man his mantle (which is dear_ + _Though beautiful in youth) his carnal skin_.--[MS. erased.] + +[487] [_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. i, line 56.] + +[488] ["O dura messorum ilia!" etc.-Hor., _Epod._ iii. 4.] + +[iw] _Ye iron guts_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{379}[489] ["Ce n'est qu'a l'edition de 1635 qu'on voit paraitre la +devise que Montaigne avait adoptee, le _que sais-je_? avec l'embleme des +balances. ... Ce _que sais-je_ que Pascal a si severement analyse se lit +au chapitre douze du livre ii; il caracterise parfaitement la +philosophie de Montaigne; il est la consequence de cette maxime qu'il +avait inscrite en grec sur les solives de sa librairie: 'Il n'est point +de raisonnement au quel on n'oppose un raissonnement +contraire.'"--_Oeuvres de ... Montaigne_, 1837, "Notice +Bibliographique," p. xvii.] + +[490] [Concerning the Pyrrhonists or Sceptics and their master Pyrrho, +who held that Truth was incomprehensible (_inprensibilis_), and that you +may not affirm of aught that it be rather this or that, or neither this +nor that ([Greek: ou) ma~llon ou(/tos e(/chei to/de e)\ e)kei/nos e)\ +ou)dete/ros]), see Aul. Gellii _Noct. Attic._, lib. xi. cap. v.] + +[491] See _Othello_, [act ii. sc. 3, lines 206, 207: "Well, God's above +all, and there be souls must be saved; and there be souls must not be +saved--Let's have no more of this."] + +{380}[492] [_Hamlet_, act v. sc. 2, lines 94, 98, 102.] + +[493] [For "Lycanthropy," see "The Soldier's Story" in the _Satyricon_ +of Petronius Arbiter, cap. 62; see, too, _Letters on Demonology, etc._, +by Sir W. Scott, 1830, pp. 211, 212.] + +[494] [In respect of suavity and forbearance Melancthon was the +counterpart of Luther. John Arrowsmith (1602-1657), in his _Tractica +Sacra_, describes him as "Vir in quo cum pietate doctrina, et cum +utraque candor certavit."] + +[ix] _Like Moses or like Cobbett who have ne'er._ + +Moses and Cobbet proclaim themselves the "meekest of men." See their +writings.--[MS.] + +_Like Moses who was "very meek" had ne'er_.--[MS. erased.] + +{381}[495] [See his "Correspondance avec L'Imperatrice de Russie," +_Oeuvres Completes_ de Voltaire, 1836, x. 393-477. M. Waliszewski, in +his _Story of a Throne_, 1895, i. 224, has gathered a handful of these +flowers of speech: "She is the chief person in the world.... She is the +fire and life of nations.... She is a saint.... She is above all +saints.... She is equal to the mother of God.... She is the divinity of +the North.--_Te Catherinam laudamus, te Dominam confitemur, etc., +etc._"] + +[iy] _Of everything that ever cursed a nation._--[_MS. erased._] + +[496] ["It is still more difficult to say which form of government is +the _worst_--all are so bad. As for democracy, it is the worst of the +whole; for what is (_in fact_) democracy?--an Aristocracy of +Blackguards."--See "My Dictionary" (May 1, 1821), _Letters_, 1901, v. +405, 406.] + +{382}[iz] _Though priests and slaves may join the servile cry_.--[_MS. +erased._] + +[497] In Greece I never saw or heard these animals; but among the ruins +of Ephesus I have heard them by hundreds. + +[See _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza cliii. line 6, _Poetical Works_, +1899, ii. 441; and _Siege of Corinth_, line 329, ibid., 1900, iii. 462, +note 1.] + +[ja] _Whereas the others hunt for rascal spiders._--[_MS. erased._] + +[jb] _Which still are strongly fluttering to be free_.--[_MS. erased._] + +{383}[498] [Compare _The Age of Bronze_, line 576, sq., _Poetical +Works_, 1901, v. 570.] + +{384}[499] [Nadir Shah, or Thamas Kouli Khan, born November, 1688, +invaded India, 1739-40, was assassinated June 19, 1747.] + +[jc] + ---- _went mad and was_ + _Killed because what he swallowed would not pass_.--[MS. erased.] + +[500] He was killed in a conspiracy, after his temper had been +exasperated by his extreme costivity to a degree of insanity. + +[To such a height had his madness (attributed to _melancholia_ produced +by dropsy) attained, that he actually ordered the Afghan chiefs to rise +suddenly upon the Persian guard, and seize the ... chief nobles; but the +project being discovered, the intended victims conspired in turn, and a +body of them, including Nadir's guard, and the chief of his own tribe of +Afshar, entered his tent at midnight, and, after a moment's involuntary +pause--when challenged by the deep voice at which they had so often +trembled--rushed upon the king, who being brought to the ground by a +sabre-stroke, begged for life, and attempted to rise, but soon expired +beneath the repeated blows of the conspirators.--_The Indian Empire_, by +R. Montgomery Martin (1857), i. 172.] + +[501] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto I. stanza lxvii. line 5, _Poetical +Works_, 1899, ii. 64, note 3.] + +{385}[jd] _Or the substrata_----.--[MS.] + +[502] [Compare Preface to _Cain_, _Poetical Works_, 1901, V. 210, note +1.] + +[503] [_Vide ante,_ Canto VIII. stanza cxxvi. line 9, p. 368.] + +{386}[504] [_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 5, line 189.] + +[je] _I never know what's next to come_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[505] [It is possible that the phrase "painted snows" was suggested by +Tooke's description of the winter-garden of the Taurida Palace: "The +genial warmth, ... the voluptuous silence that reigns in this enchanting +garden, lull the fancy into sweet romantic dreams: we think ourselves in +the groves of Italy, while torpid nature, through the windows of this +pavilion, announces the severity of a northern winter" (_The Life, +etc._, 1800, iii. 48).] + +{387}[jf] _O'er limits which mightily_----:--[MS. erased.] + +[jg]---- _in Youth and Glory's pillory_.--[MS. erased.] + +[506] [In his _Notes sur le Don Juanisme_ (_Mercure de France_, 1898, +xxvi. 66), M. Bruchard says that this phrase defines and summarizes the +Byronic Don Juan.] + +[jh] + _The Empress smiled while all the Orloff frowned_-- + _A numerous family, to whose heart or hand_ + _Mild Catherine owed the chance of being crowned,_.--[MS. erased.] + +{388}[507] [C.F.P. Masson, in his _Memoires Secrets, etc._, 1880, i. +150-178, gives a list of twelve favourites, and in this Canto, Don Juan +takes upon himself the characteristics of at least three, Lanskoi, +Zoritch (or Zovitch), and Plato Zoubof. For example (p. 167), "Zoritch +... est le seul etranger qu'elle ait ose creer son favori pendant son +regne. C'etoit un _Servien_ echappe du bagne de Constantinople ou il +etoit prisonnier: il parut, pour la premiere fois, en habit de hussard a +la cour. Il eblouit tout le monde par sa beaute, et les vielles dames en +parlent encore comme d'un Adonis." M. Waliszewski, in his _Romance of an +Empress_ (1894), devotes a chapter to "Private Life and Favouritism" +(ii. 234-286), in which he graphically describes the election and +inauguration of the _Vremienchtchik_, "the man of the moment," paramour +regnant, and consort of the Empress _pro hac vice_: "'We may observe in +Russia a sort of interregnum in affairs, caused by the displacement of +one favourite and the installation of his successor.' ... The +interregnums are, however, of very short duration. Only one lasts for +several months, between the death of Lanskoi (1784) and the succession +of Iermolof.... There is no lack of candidates. The place is good.... +Sometimes, too, on the height by the throne, reached at a bound, these +spoilt children of fate grow giddy.... It is over in an instant, at an +evening reception it is noticed that the Empress has gazed attentively +at some obscure lieutenant, presented but just before ... next day it is +reported that he has been appointed aide-de-camp to her Majesty. What +that means is well known. Next day he finds himself in the special suite +of rooms.... The rooms are already vacated, and everything is prepared +for the new-comer. All imaginable comfort and luxury ... await him; and, +on opening a drawer, he finds a hundred thousand roubles [about +L20,000], the usual first gift, a foretaste of Pactolus. That evening, +before the assembled court, the Empress appears, leaning familiarly on +his arm, and on the stroke of ten, as she retires, the new favourite +follows her" (_ibid._, pp. 246-249).] + +[508] [After the death or murder of her husband, Peter III., Catherine +Alexievna (1729-1796) (born Sophia Augusta), daughter of the Prince of +Anhalt Zerbst, was solemnly crowned (September, 1762) Empress of all the +Russias.] + +{389}[ji] _And almost died for the scarce-fledged Lanskoi_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[509] He was the grande passion of the grande Catherine. See her Lives +under the head of "Lanskoi." + +[Lanskoi was a youth of as fine and interesting a figure as the +imagination can paint. Of all Catherine's favourites, he was the man +whom she loved the most. In 1784 he was attacked with a fever, and +perished in the arms of her Majesty. When he was no more, Catherine gave +herself up to the most poignant grief, and remained three months without +going out of her palace of Tzarsko-selo. She afterwards raised a superb +monument to his memory. (See _Life of Catherine II._, by W. Tooke, 1800, +iii. 88, 89.)] + +[510] [Ten months after the death of Lanskoi, the Empress consoled +herself with Iermolof, described, by Bezborodky, as "a modest refined +young man, who cultivates the society of serious people." In less than a +year this excellent youth is, in turn, displaced by Dmitrief Mamonof. +His _petit nom_ was _Red Coat_, and, for a time, he is a "priceless +creature." "He has," says Catherine, "two superb black eyes, with +eyebrows outlined as one rarely sees; about the middle height, noble in +manner, easy in demeanour." But Mamonof suffered from "scruples of +conscience," and, after a while, with Catherine's consent and blessing, +was happily married to the Princess Shtcherbatof, a maid of honour, and +not, as Byron supposed, a rival "man of the moment."--See _The Story of +a Throne_, by K. Waliszewski, 1895, ii. 135, sq.] + +[511] This was written long before the suicide of that person. [For "his +parts of speech" compare-- + + " ... that long mandarin + C-stle-r-agh (whom Fum calls the Confucius of Prose) + Was rehearsing a speech upon Europe's repose + To the deep double bass of the fat Idol's nose." + +Moore's _Fum and Hum, The Two Birds of Royalty_.] + +{390}[512] [Compare _Beppo_, stanza xvii. line 8, _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 165. See, too, letter to Hoppner, December 31, 1819, +_Letters_, 1900, iv. 393.] + +[jj] + _Beneath his chisel_-- + or, _Beneath his touches_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{391}[jk] ---- _and bound fair Helen in a bond_.--[MS. erased.] + +[513] Hor., _Sat._, lib. i. sat. iii. lines 107, 108. + +[jl] _That Riddle which all read, none understand_.--[MS. erased.] + +[jm]---- _thou Sea which lavest Life's sand_.--[MS. erased.] + +{392}[514] ["Fortune and victory sit on thy helm."--_Richard III._, act +v, sc. 3, line 79.] + +[515] ["Catherine had been handsome in her youth, and she preserved a +gracefulness and majesty to the last period of her life. She was of a +moderate stature, but well proportioned; and as she carried her head +very high, she appeared rather tall. She had an open front, an aquiline +nose, an agreeable mouth, and her chin, though long, was not mis-shapen. +Her hair was auburn, her eyebrows black and rather thick, and her blue +eyes had a gentleness which was often affected, but oftener still a +mixture of pride. Her physiognomy was not deficient in expression; but +this expression never discovered what was passing in the soul of +Catherine, or rather it served her the better to disguise it."--_Life of +Catherine II._, by W. Tooke, in. 381 (translated from _Vie de Catherine +II._ (J.H. Castera), 1797, ii. 450).] + +{393}[516] ["His fortune swells him: 'Tis rank, he's married."--_Sir +Giles Overreach_, in Massinger's _New Way to pay Old Debts_, act v. sc. +1.] + +{394}[517] [_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. iv. lines 58, 59.] + +{395}[518] + + ["Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove; + No! make me mistress to the man I love." + +Pope, _Eloisa to Abelard_, lines 87, 88.] + +[jn] + _O'er whom an Empress her Crown-jewels scattering_ + _Was wed with something better than a ring_.--[MS. erased.] + +[519] ["Several persons who lived at the court affirm that Catherine had +very blue eyes, and not brown, as M. Rulhieres has stated."--_Life of +Catherine II._, by W. Tooke, 1800, iii. 382.] + +{396}[520] [The historic Catherine (_aet._ 62) was past her meridian in +the spring of 1791.] + +[jo] _Her figure, and her vigour, and her rigour_.--[MS. erased.] + +[jp] _In its sincere beginning, or dull end_.--[MS. erased.] + +{397}[jq] _For such all women are just_ then, _no doubt_.--[MS.] + +[jr] + _Of such sensations, in the drowsy drear_ + After--_which shadows the, say_--second _year_.--[MS.] + _Of that sad heavy, drowsy, doubly drear_ + After, _which shadows the first--say, year_.--[MS. erased.] + +[521] [Stanza lxxvi. is not in the MS.] + +{398}[522] A Russian estate is always valued by the number of the slaves +upon it. + +{399}[523] [The "Protassova" (born 1744) was a cousin of the Orlofs. She +survived Catherine by many years, and was, writes M. Waliszewski (_The +Story of a Throne_, 1895, ii. 193), "present at the Congress of Vienna, +covered with diamonds like a reliquary, and claiming precedence of every +one." She is named _l'eprouveuse_ in a note to the _Memoires Secrets_, +1800, i. 148.] + +[js] _And not be dazzled by its early glare_.--[MS. erased.] + +[524] End of Canto 9^th^, Augt. Sept., 1822. B. + + + + + + CANTO THE TENTH. + + + I. + + When Newton saw an apple fall, he found + In that slight startle from his contemplation-- + 'T is _said_ (for I'll not answer above ground + For any sage's creed or calculation)-- + A mode of proving that the Earth turned round + In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation;" + And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,[jt] + Since Adam--with a fall--or with an apple.[ju][525] + + II. + + Man fell with apples, and with apples rose, + If this be true; for we must deem the mode + In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose + Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road,[jv] + A thing to counterbalance human woes:[526] + For ever since immortal man hath glowed + With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon + Steam-engines will conduct him to the moon. + + III. + + And wherefore this exordium?--Why, just now, + In taking up this paltry sheet of paper, + My bosom underwent a glorious glow, + And my internal spirit cut a caper: + And though so much inferior, as I know, + To those who, by the dint of glass and vapour, + Discover stars, and sail in the wind's eye, + I wish to do as much by Poesy. + + IV. + + In the wind's eye I have sailed, and sail; but for + The stars, I own my telescope is dim; + But at the least I have shunned the common shore, + And leaving land far out of sight, would skim + The Ocean of Eternity:[527] the roar + Of breakers has not daunted my slight, trim, + But _still_ sea-worthy skiff; and she may float + Where ships have foundered, as doth many a boat. + + V. + + We left our hero, Juan, in the _bloom_ + Of favouritism, but not yet in the _blush;--_ + And far be it from my _Muses_ to presume + (For I have more than one Muse at a push), + To follow him beyond the drawing-room: + It is enough that Fortune found him flush + Of Youth, and Vigour, Beauty, and those things + Which for an instant clip Enjoyment's wings. + + VI. + + But soon they grow again and leave their nest. + "Oh!" saith the Psalmist, "that I had a dove's + Pinions to flee away, and be at rest!" + And who that recollects young years and loves,-- + Though hoary now, and with a withering breast, + And palsied Fancy, which no longer roves + Beyond its dimmed eye's sphere,--but would much rather + Sigh like his son, than cough like his grandfather? + + VII. + + But sighs subside, and tears (even widows') shrink, + Like Arno[528] in the summer, to a shallow, + So narrow as to shame their wintry brink, + Which threatens inundations deep and yellow! + Such difference doth a few months make. You'd think + Grief a rich field which never would lie fallow; + No more it doth--its ploughs but change their boys, + Who furrow some new soil to sow for joys. + + VIII. + + But coughs will come when sighs depart--and now + And then before sighs cease; for oft the one + Will bring the other, ere the lake-like brow + Is ruffled by a wrinkle, or the Sun + Of Life reached ten o'clock: and while a glow, + Hectic and brief as summer's day nigh done, + O'erspreads the cheek which seems too pure for clay, + Thousands blaze, love, hope, die,--how happy they!-- + + IX. + + But Juan was not meant to die so soon:-- + We left him in the focus of such glory + As may be won by favour of the moon + Or ladies' fancies--rather transitory + Perhaps; but who would scorn the month of June, + Because December, with his breath so hoary, + Must come? Much rather should he court the ray, + To hoard up warmth against a wintry day. + + X. + + Besides, he had some qualities which fix + Middle-aged ladies even more than young: + The former know what's what; while new-fledged chicks + Know little more of Love than what is sung + In rhymes, or dreamt (for Fancy will play tricks) + In visions of those skies from whence Love sprung. + Some reckon women by their suns or years, + I rather think the Moon should date the dears. + + XI. + + And why? because she's changeable and chaste: + I know no other reason, whatsoe'er + Suspicious people, who find fault in haste,[jw] + May choose to tax me with; which is not fair, + Nor flattering to "their temper or their taste," + As my friend Jeffrey writes with such an air:[529] + However, I forgive him, and I trust + He will forgive himself;--if not, I must. + + XII. + + Old enemies who have become new friends + Should so continue--'t is a point of honour; + And I know nothing which could make amends + For a return to Hatred: I would shun her + Like garlic, howsoever she extends + Her hundred arms and legs, and fain outrun her. + Old flames, new wives, become our bitterest foes-- + Converted foes should scorn to join with those. + + XIII. + + This were the worst desertion:--renegadoes, + Even shuffling Southey, that incarnate lie,[jx] + Would scarcely join again the "reformadoes,"[530] + Whom he forsook to fill the Laureate's sty; + And honest men from Iceland to Barbadoes, + Whether in Caledon or Italy, + Should not veer round with every breath, nor seize + To pain, the moment when you cease to please. + + XIV. + + The lawyer and the critic but behold + The baser sides of literature and life, + And nought remains unseen, but much untold, + By those who scour those double vales of strife. + While common men grow ignorantly old, + The lawyer's brief is like the surgeon's knife, + Dissecting the whole inside of a question, + And with it all the process of digestion. + + XV.[531] + + A legal broom's a moral chimney-sweeper, + And that's the reason he himself's so dirty; + The endless soot[532] bestows a tint far deeper + Than can be hid by altering his shirt; he + Retains the sable stains of the dark creeper, + At least some twenty-nine do out of thirty, + In all their habits;--not so _you_, I own; + As Caesar wore his robe you wear your gown.[533] + + XVI. + + And all our little feuds, at least all _mine_, + Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe + (As far as rhyme and criticism combine + To make such puppets of us things below), + Are over: Here's a health to "Auld Lang Syne!" + I do not know you, and may never know + Your face--but you have acted on the whole + Most nobly, and I own it from my soul. + + XVII. + + And when I use the phrase of "Auld Lang Syne!" + 'T is not addressed to you--the more's the pity + For me, for I would rather take my wine + With you, than aught (save Scott) in your proud city: + But somehow--it may seem a schoolboy's whine, + And yet I seek not to be grand nor witty, + But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred + A whole one, and my heart flies to my head,--[534] + + XVIII. + + As "Auld Lang Syne" brings Scotland, one and all,[535] + Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills, and clear streams, + The Dee--the Don--Balgounie's brig's _black wall_--[536] + All my boy feelings, all my gentler dreams + Of what I _then dreamt_, clothed in their own pall,-- + Like Banquo's offspring--floating past me seems + My childhood, in this childishness of mine:-- + I care not--'t is a glimpse of "_Auld Lang Syne_." + + XIX. + + And though, as you remember, in a fit + Of wrath and rhyme, when juvenile and curly, + I railed at Scots to show my wrath and wit, + Which must be owned was sensitive and surly, + Yet 't is in vain such sallies to permit, + They cannot quench young feelings fresh and early: + I "_scotched_ not killed" the Scotchman in my blood, + And love the land of "mountain and of flood."[537] + + XX. + + Don Juan, who was real, or ideal,-- + For both are much the same, since what men think + Exists when the once thinkers are less real + Than what they thought, for Mind can never sink, + And 'gainst the Body makes a strong appeal; + And yet 't is very puzzling on the brink + Of what is called Eternity to stare, + And know no more of what is _here_, than _there_;-- + + XXI. + + Don Juan grew a very polished Russian-- + _How_ we won't mention, _why_ we need not say: + Few youthful minds can stand the strong concussion + Of any slight temptation in their way; + But _his_ just now were spread as is a cushion + Smoothed for a Monarch's seat of honour: gay + Damsels, and dances, revels, ready money, + Made ice seem Paradise, and winter sunny. + + XXII. + + The favour of the Empress was agreeable; + And though the duty waxed a little hard, + Young people at his time of life should be able + To come off handsomely in that regard. + He was now growing up like a green tree, able + For Love, War, or Ambition, which reward + Their luckier votaries, till old Age's tedium + Make some prefer the circulating medium. + + XXIII. + + About this time, as might have been anticipated, + Seduced by Youth and dangerous examples, + Don Juan grew, I fear, a little dissipated; + Which is a sad thing, and not only tramples + On our fresh feelings, but--as being participated + With all kinds of incorrigible samples + Of frail humanity--must make us selfish, + And shut our souls up in us like a shell-fish. + + XXIV. + + This we pass over. We will also pass + The usual progress of intrigues between + Unequal matches, such as are, alas! + A young Lieutenant's with a _not old_ Queen, + But one who is not so youthful as she was + In all the royalty of sweet seventeen.[jy] + Sovereigns may sway materials, but not matter, + And wrinkles, the d----d democrats! won't flatter. + + XXV. + + And Death, the Sovereign's Sovereign, though the great + Gracchus of all mortality, who levels, + With his _Agrarian_ laws,[538] the high estate + Of him who feasts, and fights, and roars, and revels, + To one small grass-grown patch (which must await + Corruption for its crop) with the poor devils + Who never had a foot of land till now,-- + Death's a reformer--all men must allow. + + XXVI. + + He lived (not Death, but Juan) in a hurry + Of waste, and haste, and glare, and gloss, and glitter, + In this gay clime of bear-skins black and furry-- + Which (though I hate to say a thing that's bitter) + Peep out sometimes, when things are in a flurry, + Through all the "purple and fine linen," fitter + For Babylon's than Russia's royal harlot-- + And neutralise her outward show of scarlet. + + XXVII. + + And this same state we won't describe: we would + Perhaps from hearsay, or from recollection: + But getting nigh grim Dante's "obscure wood,"[539] + That horrid equinox, that hateful section + Of human years--that half-way house--that rude + Hut, whence wise travellers drive with circumspection[jz] + Life's sad post-horses o'er the dreary frontier + Of Age, and looking back to Youth, give _one_ tear;-- + + XXVIII. + + I won't describe,--that is, if I can help + Description; and I won't reflect,--that is, + If I can stave off thought, which--as a whelp + Clings to its teat--sticks to me through the abyss + Of this odd labyrinth; or as the kelp + Holds by the rock; or as a lover's kiss + Drains its first draught of lips:--but, as I said, + I _won't_ philosophise, and _will_ be read. + + XXIX. + + Juan, instead of courting courts, was courted,-- + A thing which happens rarely: this he owed + Much to his youth, and much to his reported + Valour; much also to the blood he showed, + Like a race-horse; much to each dress he sported, + Which set the beauty off in which he glowed, + As purple clouds befringe the sun; but most + He owed to an old woman and his post. + + XXX. + + He wrote to Spain;--and all his near relations, + Perceiving he was in a handsome way + Of getting on himself, and finding stations + For cousins also, answered the same day. + Several prepared themselves for emigrations; + And eating ices, were o'erheard to say, + That with the addition of a slight pelisse, + Madrid's and Moscow's climes were of a piece. + + XXXI. + + His mother, Donna Inez, finding, too, + That in the lieu of drawing on his banker, + Where his assets were waxing rather few, + He had brought his spending to a handsome anchor,-- + Replied, "that she was glad to see him through + Those pleasures after which wild youth will hanker; + As the sole sign of Man's being in his senses + Is--learning to reduce his past expenses.[ka] + + XXXII. + + "She also recommended him to God, + And no less to God's Son, as well as Mother, + Warned him against Greek worship, which looks odd + In Catholic eyes; but told him, too, to smother + _Outward_ dislike, which don't look well abroad; + Informed him that he had a little brother + Born in a second wedlock; and above + All, praised the Empress's _maternal_ love. + + XXXIII. + + "She could not too much give her approbation + Unto an Empress, who preferred young men + Whose age, and what was better still, whose nation + And climate, stopped all scandal (now and then);-- + At home it might have given her some vexation; + But where thermometers sink down to ten, + Or five, or one, or zero, she could never + Believe that Virtue thawed before the river."[kb] + + XXXIV. + + Oh for a _forty-parson power_[540]--to chant + Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh for a hymn + Loud as the virtues thou dost loudly vaunt, + Not practise! Oh for trump of Cherubim! + Or the ear-trumpet of my good old aunt,[541] + Who, though her spectacles at last grew dim, + Drew quiet consolation through its hint, + When she no more could read the pious print. + + XXXV. + + She was no Hypocrite at least, poor soul, + But went to heaven in as sincere a way + As anybody on the elected roll, + Which portions out upon the Judgment Day + Heaven's freeholds, in a sort of Doomsday scroll, + Such as the conqueror William did repay + His knights with, lotting others' properties + Into some sixty thousand new knights' fees. + + XXXVI. + + I can't complain, whose ancestors are there, + Erneis, Radulphus--eight-and-forty manors + (If that my memory doth not greatly err) + Were _their_ reward for following Billy's banners:[542] + And though I can't help thinking 't was scarce fair + To strip the Saxons of their _hydes_[543] like tanners; + Yet as they founded churches with the produce, + You'll deem, no doubt, they put it to a good use.[kc] + + XXXVII. + + The gentle Juan flourished, though at times + He felt like other plants called sensitive, + Which shrink from touch, as Monarchs do from rhymes, + Save such as Southey can afford to give. + Perhaps he longed in bitter frosts for climes + In which the Neva's ice would cease to live + Before May-day: perhaps, despite his duty, + In Royalty's vast arms he sighed for Beauty: + + XXXVIII. + + Perhaps--but, sans perhaps, we need not seek[kd] + For causes young or old: the canker-worm + Will feed upon the fairest, freshest cheek, + As well as further drain the withered form: + Care, like a housekeeper, brings every week + His bills in, and however we may storm, + They must be paid: though six days smoothly run, + The seventh will bring blue devils or a dun. + + XXXIX. + + I don't know how it was, but he grew sick: + The Empress was alarmed, and her physician + (The same who physicked Peter) found the tick + Of his fierce pulse betoken a condition + Which augured of the dead, however _quick_ + Itself, and showed a feverish disposition; + At which the whole Court was extremely troubled, + The Sovereign shocked, and all his medicines doubled. + + XL. + + Low were the whispers, manifold the rumours: + Some said he had been poisoned by Potemkin; + Others talked learnedly of certain tumours, + Exhaustion, or disorders of the same kin;[544] + Some said 't was a concoction of the humours, + Which with the blood too readily will claim kin: + Others again were ready to maintain, + "'T was only the fatigue of last campaign." + + XLI. + + But here is one prescription out of many: + "_Sodae sulphat_. [ezh]vj. [ezh]fs. _Mannae optim._ + _Aq. fervent._ f. [)ezh]ifs. [ezh]ij. _tinct. Sennae_ + _Haustus_" (And here the surgeon came and cupped him) + "[Rx] _Pulv. Com._ gr. iij. _Ipecacuanhae_" + (With more beside if Juan had not stopped 'em). + "_Bolus Potassae Sulphuret. sumendus_, + _Et haustus ter in die capiendus._" + + XLII. + + This is the way physicians mend or end us, + _Secundum artem_: but although we sneer + In health--when ill, we call them to attend us, + Without the least propensity to jeer; + While that "_hiatus maxime deflendus_" + To be filled up by spade or mattock's near, + Instead of gliding graciously down Lethe, + We tease mild Baillie,[545] or soft Abernethy. + + XLIII. + + Juan demurred at this first notice to + Quit; and though Death had threatened an ejection, + His youth and constitution bore him through, + And sent the doctors in a new direction. + But still his state was delicate: the hue + Of health but flickered with a faint reflection + Along his wasted cheek, and seemed to gravel + The faculty--who said that he must travel. + + XLIV. + + The climate was too cold, they said, for him, + Meridian-born, to bloom in. This opinion + Made the chaste Catherine look a little grim, + Who did not like at first to lose her minion: + But when she saw his dazzling eye wax dim, + And drooping like an eagle's with clipt pinion, + She then resolved to send him on a mission, + But in a style becoming his condition. + + XLV. + + There was just then a kind of a discussion, + A sort of treaty or negotiation, + Between the British cabinet and Russian, + Maintained with all the due prevarication + With which great states such things are apt to push on; + Something about the Baltic's navigation, + Hides, train-oil, tallow, and the rights of Thetis, + Which Britons deem their _uti possidetis_. + + XLVI. + + So Catherine, who had a handsome way + Of fitting out her favourites, conferred + This secret charge on Juan, to display + At once her royal splendour, and reward + His services. He kissed hands the next day, + Received instructions how to play his card, + Was laden with all kinds of gifts and honours, + Which showed what great discernment was the donor's. + + XLVII. + + But she was lucky, and luck's all. Your Queens + Are generally prosperous in reigning-- + Which puzzles us to know what Fortune means:-- + But to continue--though her years were waning, + Her climacteric teased her like her teens; + And though her dignity brooked no complaining, + So much did Juan's setting off distress her, + She could not find at first a fit successor. + + XLVIII. + + But Time, the comforter, will come at last; + And four-and-twenty hours, and twice that number + Of candidates requesting to be placed, + Made Catherine taste next night a quiet slumber:-- + Not that she meant to fix again in haste, + Nor did she find the quantity encumber, + But always choosing with deliberation, + Kept the place open for their emulation. + + XLIX. + + While this high post of honour's in abeyance, + For one or two days, reader, we request + You'll mount with our young hero the conveyance + Which wafted him from Petersburgh: the best + Barouche, which had the glory to display once + The fair Czarina's autocratic crest, + When, a new Iphigene, she went to Tauris, + Was given to her favourite,[546] and now _bore his_. + + L. + + A bull-dog, and a bullfinch, and an ermine, + All private favourites of Don Juan;--for + (Let deeper sages the true cause determine) + He had a kind of inclination, or + Weakness, for what most people deem mere vermin, + Live animals: an old maid of threescore + For cats and birds more penchant ne'er displayed, + Although he was not old, nor even a maid;-- + + LI. + + The animals aforesaid occupied + Their station: there were valets, secretaries, + In other vehicles; but at his side + Sat little Leila, who survived the parries + He made 'gainst Cossacque sabres in the wide + Slaughter of Ismail. Though my wild Muse varies + Her note, she don't forget the infant girl + Whom he preserved, a pure and living pearl. + + LII. + + Poor little thing! She was as fair as docile, + And with that gentle, serious character, + As rare in living beings as a fossile + Man, 'midst thy mouldy mammoths, "grand Cuvier!"[ke] + Ill fitted was her ignorance to jostle + With this o'erwhelming world, where all must err: + But she was yet but ten years old, and therefore + Was tranquil, though she knew not why or wherefore. + + LIII. + + Don Juan loved her, and she loved him, as + Nor brother, father, sister, daughter love.--I + cannot tell exactly what it was; + He was not yet quite old enough to prove + Parental feelings, and the other class, + Called brotherly affection, could not move + His bosom,--for he never had a sister: + Ah! if he had--how much he would have missed her! + + LIV. + + And still less was it sensual; for besides + That he was not an ancient debauchee, + (Who like sour fruit, to stir their veins' salt tides, + As acids rouse a dormant alkali,)[kf] + Although (_'t will_ happen as our planet guides) + His youth was not the chastest that might be, + There was the purest Platonism at bottom + Of all his feelings--only he forgot 'em. + + LV. + + Just now there was no peril of temptation; + He loved the infant orphan he had saved, + As patriots (now and then) may love a nation; + His pride, too, felt that she was not enslaved + Owing to him;--as also her salvation + Through his means and the Church's might be paved. + But one thing's odd, which here must be inserted, + The little Turk refused to be converted. + + LVI. + + 'T was strange enough she should retain the impression + Through such a scene of change, and dread, and slaughter; + But though three Bishops told her the transgression, + She showed a great dislike to holy water; + She also had no passion for confession; + Perhaps she had nothing to confess:--no matter, + Whate'er the cause, the Church made little of it-- + She still held out that Mahomet was a prophet. + + LVII. + + In fact, the only Christian she could bear + Was Juan; whom she seemed to have selected + In place of what her home and friends once _were_. + _He_ naturally loved what he protected: + And thus they formed a rather curious pair, + A guardian green in years, a ward connected + In neither clime, time, blood, with her defender; + And yet this want of ties made theirs more tender. + + LVIII. + + They journeyed on through Poland and through Warsaw, + Famous for mines of salt and yokes of iron: + Through Courland also, which that famous farce saw + Which gave her dukes the graceless name of "Biron."[547] + 'T is the same landscape which the modern Mars saw, + Who marched to Moscow, led by Fame, the Siren! + To lose by one month's frost some twenty years + Of conquest, and his guard of Grenadiers. + + LIX. + + Let this not seem an anti-climax:--"Oh! + My guard! my old guard!"[548] exclaimed that god of clay. + Think of the Thunderer's falling down below + Carotid-artery-cutting Castlereagh![kg] + Alas! that glory should be chilled by snow! + But should we wish to warm us on our way + Through Poland, there is Kosciusko's name + Might scatter fire through ice, like Hecla's flame. + + LX. + + From Poland they came on through Prussia Proper, + And Koenigsberg, the capital, whose vaunt, + Besides some veins of iron, lead, or copper, + Has lately been the great Professor Kant.[549] + Juan, who cared not a tobacco-stopper + About philosophy, pursued his jaunt + To Germany, whose somewhat tardy millions + Have princes who spur more than their postilions. + + LXI. + + And thence through Berlin, Dresden, and the like, + Until he reached the castellated Rhine:-- + Ye glorious Gothic scenes! how much ye strike + All phantasies, not even excepting mine! + A grey wall, a green ruin, rusty pike, + Make my soul pass the equinoctial line + Between the present and past worlds, and hover + Upon their airy confines, half-seas-over. + + LXII. + + But Juan posted on through Mannheim, Bonn, + Which Drachenfels[550] frowns over like a spectre + Of the good feudal times for ever gone, + On which I have not time just now to lecture. + From thence he was drawn onwards to Cologne, + A city which presents to the inspector + Eleven thousand maiden heads of bone. + The greatest number flesh hath ever known.[551] + + LXIII. + + From thence to Holland's Hague and Helvoetsluys, + That water-land of Dutchmen and of ditches, + Where juniper expresses its best juice, + The poor man's sparkling substitute for riches. + Senates and sages have condemned its use-- + But to deny the mob a cordial, which is + Too often all the clothing, meat, or fuel, + Good government has left them, seems but cruel. + + LXIV. + + Here he embarked, and with a flowing sail + Went bounding for the Island of the free, + Towards which the impatient wind blew half a gale; + High dashed the spray, the bows dipped in the sea, + And sea-sick passengers turned somewhat pale; + But Juan, seasoned, as he well might be, + By former voyages, stood to watch the skiffs + Which passed, or catch the first glimpse of the cliffs. + + LXV. + + At length they rose, like a white wall along + The blue sea's border; and Don Juan felt-- + What even young strangers feel a little strong + At the first sight of Albion's chalky belt--A + kind of pride that he should be among + Those haughty shopkeepers, who sternly dealt + Their goods and edicts out from pole to pole, + And made the very billows pay them toll. + + LXVI. + + I've no great cause to love that spot of earth, + Which holds what _might have been_ the noblest nation; + But though I owe it little but my birth, + I feel a mixed regret and veneration + For its decaying fame and former worth. + Seven years (the usual term of transportation) + Of absence lay one's old resentments level, + When a man's country's going to the devil. + + LXVII. + + Alas! could she but fully, truly, know + How her great name is now throughout abhorred; + How eager all the Earth is for the blow + Which shall lay bare her bosom to the sword; + How all the nations deem her their worst foe, + That worse than _worst of foes_, the once adored + False friend, who held out Freedom to Mankind, + And now would chain them--to the very _mind_;-- + + LXVIII. + + Would she be proud, or boast herself the free, + Who is but first of slaves? The nations are + In prison,--but the gaoler, what is he? + No less a victim to the bolt and bar. + Is the poor privilege to turn the key + Upon the captive, Freedom? He's as far + From the enjoyment of the earth and air + Who watches o'er the chain, as they who wear. + + LXIX. + + Don Juan now saw Albion's earliest beauties, + Thy cliffs, _dear_ Dover! harbour, and hotel; + Thy custom-house, with all its delicate duties; + Thy waiters running mucks at every bell; + Thy packets, all whose passengers are booties + To those who upon land or water dwell; + And last, not least, to strangers uninstructed, + Thy long, long bills, whence nothing is deducted. + + LXX. + + Juan, though careless, young, and _magnifique_, + And rich in rubles, diamonds, cash, and credit, + Who did not limit much his bills per week, + Yet stared at this a little, though he paid it,-- + (His Maggior Duomo, a smart, subtle Greek, + Before him summed the awful scroll and read it): + But, doubtless, as the air--though seldom sunny-- + Is free, the respiration's worth the money. + + LXXI. + + On with the horses! Off to Canterbury! + Tramp, tramp o'er pebble, and splash, splash through puddle; + Hurrah! how swiftly speeds the post so merry! + Not like slow Germany, wherein they muddle + Along the road,[552] as if they went to bury + Their fare; and also pause besides, to fuddle + With "schnapps"--sad dogs! whom "Hundsfot," or "Verflucter,"[553] + Affect no more than lightning a conductor.[kh] + + LXXII. + + Now there is nothing gives a man such spirits, + Leavening his blood as cayenne doth a curry, + As going at full speed--no matter where its + Direction be, so 't is but in a hurry, + And merely for the sake of its own merits; + For the less cause there is for all this flurry, + The greater is the pleasure in arriving + At the great _end_ of travel--which is driving. + + LXXIII. + + They saw at Canterbury the cathedral; + Black Edward's helm, and Becket's bloody stone, + Were pointed out as usual by the bedral, + In the same quaint, uninterested tone:-- + There's glory again for you, gentle reader! All + Ends in a rusty casque and dubious bone,[554] + Half-solved into these sodas or magnesias, + Which form that bitter draught, the human species. + + LXXIV. + + The effect on Juan was of course sublime: + He breathed a thousand Cressys, as he saw + That casque, which never stooped except to Time. + Even the bold Churchman's tomb excited awe, + Who died in the then great attempt to climb + O'er Kings, who _now_ at least _must talk_ of Law + Before they butcher. Little Leila gazed, + And asked why such a structure had been raised: + + LXXV. + + And being told it was "God's House," she said + He was well lodged, but only wondered how + He suffered Infidels in his homestead, + The cruel Nazarenes, who had laid low + His holy temples in the lands which bred + The True Believers;--and her infant brow + Was bent with grief that Mahomet should resign + A mosque so noble, flung like pearls to swine. + + LXXVI. + + On! on! through meadows, managed like a garden, + A paradise of hops and high production; + For, after years of travel by a bard in + Countries of greater heat, but lesser suction, + A green field is a sight which makes him pardon + The absence of that more sublime construction, + Which mixes up vines--olives--precipices-- + Glaciers--volcanoes--oranges and ices. + + LXXVII. + + And when I think upon a pot of beer---- + But I won't weep!--and so drive on, postilions! + As the smart boys spurred fast in their career, + Juan admired these highways of free millions-- + A country in all senses the most dear + To foreigner or native, save some silly ones, + Who "kick against the pricks" just at this juncture, + And for their pains get only a fresh puncture.[ki] + + LXXVIII. + + What a delightful thing's a turnpike road! + So smooth, so level, such a mode of shaving + The Earth, as scarce the eagle in the broad + Air can accomplish, with his wide wings waving. + Had such been cut in Phaeton's time, the god + Had told his son to satisfy his craving + With the York mail;--but onward as we roll, + _Surgit amari aliquid_--the toll![555] + + LXXIX. + + Alas! how deeply painful is all payment! + Take lives--take wives--take aught except men's purses: + As Machiavel shows those in purple raiment, + Such is the shortest way to general curses.[556] + They hate a murderer much less than a claimant + On that sweet ore which everybody nurses.-- + Kill a man's family, and he may brook it, + But keep your hands out of his breeches' pocket: + + LXXX. + + So said the Florentine: ye monarchs, hearken + To your instructor. Juan now was borne, + Just as the day began to wane and darken, + O'er the high hill, which looks with pride or scorn + Toward the great city.--Ye who have a spark in + Your veins of Cockney spirit, smile or mourn + According as you take things well or ill;-- + Bold Britons, we are now on Shooter's Hill! + + LXXXI. + + The Sun went down, the smoke rose up, as from + A half-unquenched volcano, o'er a space + Which well beseemed the "Devil's drawing-room," + As some have qualified that wondrous place: + But Juan felt, though not approaching _Home_, + As one who, though he were not of the race, + Revered the soil, of those true sons the mother, + Who butchered half the earth, and bullied t' other.[557] + + LXXXII. + + A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping, + Dirty and dusky, but as wide as eye + Could reach, with here and there a sail just skipping + In sight, then lost amidst the forestry + Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping + On tiptoe through their sea-coal canopy; + A huge, dun Cupola, like a foolscap crown + On a fool's head--and there is London Town! + + LXXXIII. + + But Juan saw not this: each wreath of smoke + Appeared to him but as the magic vapour + Of some alchymic furnace, from whence broke + The wealth of worlds (a wealth of tax and paper): + The gloomy clouds, which o'er it as a yoke + Are bowed, and put the Sun out like a taper, + Were nothing but the natural atmosphere, + Extremely wholesome, though but rarely clear. + + LXXXIV. + + He paused--and so will I; as doth a crew + Before they give their broadside. By and by, + My gentle countrymen, we will renew + Our old acquaintance; and at least I'll try + To tell you truths _you_ will not take as true, + Because they are so;--a male Mrs. Fry,[558] + With a soft besom will I sweep your halls, + And brush a web or two from off the walls. + + LXXXV. + + Oh Mrs. Fry! Why go to Newgate? Why + Preach to _poor_ rogues? And wherefore not begin + With Carlton, or with other houses? Try + Your hand at hardened and imperial Sin. + To mend the People's an absurdity, + A jargon, a mere philanthropic din, + Unless you make their betters better:--Fie! + I thought you had more religion, Mrs. Fry. + + LXXXVI. + + Teach _them_ the decencies of good threescore; + Cure _them_ of tours, hussar and highland dresses; + Tell _them_ that youth once gone returns no more, + That hired huzzas redeem no land's distresses; + Tell them Sir William Curtis[559] is a bore, + Too dull even for the dullest of excesses-- + The witless Falstaff of a hoary Hal, + A fool whose bells have ceased to ring at all. + + LXXXVII. + + Tell them, though it may be, perhaps, too late-- + On Life's worn confine, jaded, bloated, sated-- + To set up vain pretence of being _great_, + 'T is not so to be _good_; and, be it stated, + The worthiest kings have ever loved least state: + And tell them--But you won't, and I have prated + Just now enough; but, by and by, I'll prattle + Like Roland's horn[560] in Roncesvalles' battle.[kj][561] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{400}[jt] _In a most natural whirling of rotation_.--[MS. erased.] + +[ju] _Since Adam--gloriously against an apple_.--[MS. erased.] + +[525] ["Neither Pemberton nor Whiston, who received from Newton himself +the history of his first Ideas of Gravity, records the story of the +falling apple. It was mentioned, however, to Voltaire by Catherine +Barton (afterwards Mrs. Conduit), Newton's niece. We saw the apple tree +in 1814.... The tree was so much decayed that it was taken down in 1820" +(_Memoirs, etc., of Sir Isaac Newton_, by Sir David Brewster, 1855, i. +27, note 1). Voltaire tells the story thus (_Elements de la Philosophie +de Newton_, Partie III. chap, iii.): "Un jour, en l'annee 1666 [1665], +Newton, retire a la campagne, et voyant tomber des fruits d'un arbre, a +ce que m'a conte sa niece (Madame Conduit), se laissa aller a une +meditation profonde sur la cause qui entraine ainsi tous les corps dans +une ligne qui, si elle etait prolongee, passerait a peu pres par le +centre de la terre."--_Oeuvres Completes_, 1837, v. 727.] + +[jv] _To the then unploughed stars_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{401}[526] [Compare _Churchill's Grave,_ line 23, _Poetical Works,_ +1901, iv. 47, note 1.] + +[527] [Shelley entitles him "The Pilgrim of Eternity," in his _Adonais_ +(stanza xxx. line 3), which was written and published at Pisa in 1821.] + +{402}[528] [Byron left Pisa (Palazzo Lanfranchi on the Arno) for the +Villa Saluzzo at Genoa, in the autumn of 1822.] + +[jw]: Sec.403Sec._Malicious people_--.--[MS. erased.] + +[529] ["We think the abuse of Mr. Southey ... by far too savage and +intemperate. It is of ill example, we think, in the literary world, and +does no honour either to the _taste_ or the _temper_ of the noble +author." --_Edinburgh Review_, February, 1822, vol. xxxvi. p. 445. + +"I have read the recent article of Jeffrey ... I suppose the long and +the short of it is, that he wishes to provoke me to reply. But I won't, +for I owe him a good turn still for his kindness by-gone. Indeed, I +presume that the present opportunity of attacking me again was +irresistible; and I can't blame him, knowing what human nature +is."--Letter to Moore, June 8, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 80.] + +[jx]--_that essence of all Lie_.--[MS. erased.] + +{404}[530] "Reformers," or rather "Reformed." The Baron Bradwardine in +_Waverley_ is authority for the word. [The word is certainly in Butler's +_Hudibras_, Part II. Canto 2-- + + "Although your Church be opposite + To mine as Black Fryars are to White, + In _Rule_ and _Order_, yet I grant + You are a _Reformado Saint_."] + +[531] [Stanza XV. is not in the MS. The "legal broom," _sc._ Brougham, +was an afterthought.] + +[532] Query, _suit_?--Printer's Devil. + +[533] [It has been argued that when "great Caesar fell" he wore his +"robe" to muffle up his face, and that, in like manner, Jeffrey sank the +critic in the lawyer. A "deal likelier" interpretation is that Jeffrey +wore "his gown" right royally, as Caesar wore his "triumphal robe." (See +Plutarch's _Julius Caesar_, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 515.)] + +{405}[534] ["I don't like to bore you about the Scotch novels (as they +call them, though two of them are English, and the rest half so); but +nothing can or could ever persuade me, since I was the first ten minutes +in your company, that you are _not_ the man. To me these novels have so +much of 'Auld Lang Syne' (I was bred a canny Scot till ten years old), +that I never move without them."--Letter to Sir W. Scott, January 12, +1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 4, 5.] + +[535] [Compare _The Island_, Canto II. lines 280-297.] + +[536] The brig of Don, near the "auld toun" of Aberdeen, with its one +arch, and its black deep salmon stream below, is in my memory as +yesterday. I still remember, though perhaps I may misquote, the awful +proverb which made me pause to cross it, and yet lean over it with a +childish delight, being an only son, at least by the mother's side. The +saying as recollected by me was this, but I have never heard or seen it +since I was nine years of age:-- + + "Brig of Balgounie, _black_'s your _wa'_, + Wi' a wife's _ae son_, and a mear's _ae foal_, + Doun ye shall fa'!" + +[See for illustration of the Brig o' Balgownie, with its single Gothic +arch, _Letters_, 1901 [L.P.], v. 406. ] + +{406}[537] + + ["Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, + Land of the mountain and the flood," etc. + +_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Canto VI. stanza ii.] + +{407}[jy] + _Some thirty years before at fair eighteen_.--[MS.] + or, _Seven and twenty_--which, _it does not matter_,-- + _Wrinkles, those damnedst democrats, won't flatter_.--[MS. erased.] + +[538] Tiberius Gracchus, being tribune of the people, demanded in their +name the execution of the Agrarian law; by which all persons possessing +above a certain number of acres were to be deprived of the surplus for +the benefit of the poor citizens. + +{408}[539] + + "Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura." +_Inferno_, Canto I. line 2. + +[jz] _Hut where we travellers bait with dim reflection_.--[MS. erased.] + +{409}[ka] _Is when he learns to limit his expenses_.--[MS. erased.] + +[kb] + ---- _till the ice_ + _Cracked, she would ne'er believe in thaws for vice_.--[MS. erased.] + +{410}[540] A metaphor taken from the "forty-horse power" of a +steam-engine. That mad wag, the Reverend Sydney Smith, sitting by a +brother clergyman at dinner, observed afterwards that his dull neighbour +had a _"twelve-parson power"_ of conversation. + +[541] [In a letter to his sister, October 25, 1804 (_Letters_, 1898, i. +40), Byron mentions an aunt--"the amiable antiquated Sophia," and asks, +"Is she yet in the land of the living, or does she sing psalms with the +Blessed in the other world?" This was his father's sister, Sophia Maria, +daughter of Admiral the Hon. John Byron. But his "good old aunt" is, +more probably, the Hon. Mrs. Frances Byron, widow of George (born April +22, 1730) son of the fourth, and brother of the "Wicked" lord. She was +the daughter and co-heiress of Ellis Levett, Esq., and lived "at +Nottingham in her own house." She died, aged 86, June 13, 1822, not long +before this Canto was written. She is described in the obituary notice +of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, June, 1822, vol. 92, p. 573, as "Daughter +of Vice-Admiral the Hon. John Byron (who sailed round the world with +Lord Anson), grandfather of the present Lord Byron." But that is, +chronologically, impossible. Byron must have retained a pleasing +recollection of the ear-trumpet and the spectacles, and it gratified his +kindlier humour to embalm their owner in his verse.] + +[542] [See Collins's _Peerage_, 1779, vii. 120. It is probable that +Byron was lineally descended from Ralph de Burun, of Horestan, who is +mentioned in Doomsday Book (sect. xi.) as holding eight lordships in +Notts and five in Derbyshire, but with regard to Ernysius or Erneis the +pedigree is silent. (See _Pedigree of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron_, +by Edward Bernard, 1870.)] + +{411}[543] "Hyde."--I believe a hyde of land to be a legitimate word, +and, as such, subject to the tax of a quibble. + +[kc] + _And humbly hope that the same God which hath given_ + _Us land on earth, will do no less in Heaven_.--[MS. erased.] + +[kd] _Perhaps--but d--n perhaps_----.--[MS.] + +{412}[544] [For the illness ("a scarlet fever, complicated by angina, +both aggravated by premature exhaustion") and death of Lanskoi, see _The +Story of a Throne_, by K. Waliszewsky, 1895, ii. 131, 133. For the +rumour that he was poisoned by Potemkin, see _Memoires Secrets, etc._ +[by C.F.P. Masson], 1800, i. 170.] + +[545] [Matthew Baillie (1761-1823), the nephew of William Hunter, the +brother of Agnes and Joanna Baillie, was a celebrated anatomist. He +attended Byron (1799-1802), when an endeavour was made to effect a cure +of the muscular contraction of his right leg and foot. He was consulted +by Lady Byron, in 1816, with regard to her husband's supposed +derangement, but was not admitted when he called at the house in +Piccadilly. He is said to have "avoided technical and learned phrases; +to have affected no sentimental tenderness, but expressed what he had to +say in the simplest and plainest terms" (_Annual Biography_, 1824, p. +319). Jekyll (_Letters_, 1894, p. 110) repeats or invents an anecdote +that "the old king, in his mad fits, used to say he could bring any dead +people to converse with him, except those who had died under Baillie's +care, for that the doctor always dissected them into so many morsels, +that they had not a leg to walk to Windsor with." It is hardly necessary +to say that John Abernethy (1764-1831) "expressed what _he_ had to say" +in the bluntest and rudest terms at his disposal.] + +[546] The empress went to the Crimea, accompanied by the Emperor Joseph, +in the year--I forget which. + +[The Prince de Ligne, who accompanied Catherine in her progress through +her southern provinces, in 1787, gives the following particulars: "We +have crossed during many days vast, solitary regions, from which her +Majesty has driven Zaporogua, Budjak, and Nogais Tartars, who, ten years +ago, threatened to ravage her empire. All these places were furnished +with magnificent tents for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, suppers, and +sleeping-rooms ... deserted regions were at once transformed into +fields, groves, villages: ... The Empress has left in each chief town +gifts to the value of a hundred thousand roubles. Every day that we +remained stationary was marked with diamonds, balls, fireworks, and +illuminations throughout a circuit of ten leagues." --_The Prince de +Ligne, His Memoirs, etc._, translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, +1899, ii. 31.] + +{415}[ke] _Man, midst thy mouldy mammoths, Cuvier._--[MS.] + +{416}[kf] + _Who like sour fruit to sharpen up the tides_ + _Of their salt veins, and stir their stagnancy._--[MS. erased.] + +{417}[547] In the Empress Anne's time, Biren, her favourite, assumed the +name and arms of the "Birons" of France; which families are yet extant +with that of England. There are still the daughters of Courland of that +name; one of them I remember seeing in England in the blessed year of +the Allies (1814)--the Duchess of S.--to whom the English Duchess of +Somerset presented me as a namesake. + +["Ernest John Biren was born in Courland [in 1690]. His grandfather had +been head groom to James, the third Duke of Courland, and obtained from +his master the present of a small estate in land.... In 1714 he made his +appearance at St. Petersburg, and solicited the place of page to the +Princess Charlotte, wife of the Tzarovitch Alexey; but being +contemptuously rejected as a person of mean extraction, retired to +Mittau, where he chanced to ingratiate himself with Count Bestuchef, +Master of the Household to Anne, widow of Frederic William, Duke of +Courland, who resided at Mittau. Being of a handsome figure and polite +address, he soon gained the good will of the duchess, and became her +secretary and chief favourite. On her being declared sovereign of +Russia, Anne called Biren to Petersburg, and the secretary soon became +Duke of Courland, and first minister or rather despot of Russia. On the +death of Anne, which happened in 1740, Biren, being declared regent, +continued daily increasing his vexations and cruelties, till he was +arrested, on the 18th of December, only twenty days after he had been +appointed to the regency; and at the revolution that ensued he was +exiled to the frozen shores of the Oby." _Catherine II._, by W. Tooke, +1800, i. 160, _footnote_. He was recalled in 1763, and died in 1772. + +In a letter to his sister, dated June 18, 1814, Byron gives a slightly +different version of the incident, recorded in his note (_vide supra_): +"The Duchess of Somerset also, to mend matters, insisted on presenting +me to a Princess _Biron_, Duchess of Hohen-God-knows-what, and another +person to her two sisters, Birons too. But I flew off, and _would_ not, +saying I had had enough of introductions for that night at +least."--_Letters_, 1899, iii. 98. The "daughters of Courland" must have +been descendants of "Pierre, dernier Duc de Courlande, De la Maison de +Biron," viz. Jeanne Catherine, born June 24, 1783, who married, in 1801, +Francois Pignatelli de Belmonte, Duc d'Acerenza, and Dorothee, born +August 21, 1793, who married, in 1809, Edmond de Talleyrand Perigord, +Duc de Talleyrand, nephew to the Bishop of Autun. (See _Almanach de +Gotha_, 1848, pp. 109, 110.)] + +{418}[548] [Napoleon's exclamation at the Elysee Bourbon, June 23, 1815. +"When his civil counsellors talked of defence, the word wrung from him +the bitter ejaculation, 'Ah! my old guard! could they but defend +themselves like you!'"--_Life of Napoleon Buonaparte_, by Sir Walter +Scott, _Prose Works_, 1846, ii. 760.] + +[kg] + _Who now that he is dead has not a foe_; + _The last expired in cut-throat Castlereagh_.--[MS. erased.] + +[549] [Immanuel Kant, born at Koenigsberg, in 1729, became Professor and +Rector of the University, and died at Koenigsberg in 1804.] + +{419}[550] + + ["The castled crag of Drachenfels + Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine," etc. + +_Childe Harold_, Canto III.] + +[551] St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins were still extant in +1816, and may be so yet, as much as ever. + +{421}[552] ["We left Ratzeburg at 7 o'clock Wednesday evening, and +arrived at Lueneburg--_i.e._ 35 English miles--at 3 o'clock on Thursday +afternoon. This is a fair specimen! In England I used to laugh at the +'flying waggons;' but compared with a German Post-Coach, the metaphor is +perfectly justifiable, and for the future I shall never meet a flying +waggon without thinking respectfully of its speed."--S.T. Coleridge, +March 12, 1799, _Letters of S.T.C._, 1895, i. 278.] + +[553] [See for German oaths, "Extracts from a Diary," January 12, 1821, +_Letters_, 1901, v. 172.] + +[kh] + _With "Schnapps"--Democritus would cease to smile,_ + _By German, post-boys driven a mile_.--[MS.] + _With "Schnapps"--and spite of "Dam'em," "dog" and "log"_ + _Launched at their heads jog-jog-jog-jog-jog-jog_.--[MS. erased.] + +{422}[554] [The French Inscription (see _Memorial Inscriptions_, etc., +by Joseph Meadows Cowper, 1897, p. 134) on the Black Prince's monument +is thus translated in the _History of Kent_ (John Weevers' _Funerall +Monuments_, 1636, pp. 205, 206)-- + + "Who so thou be that passeth by + Where this corps entombed lie, + Understand what I shall say, + As at this time, speake I may. + Such as thou art, sometime was I. + Such as I am, shalt thou be. + I little thought on th' oure of death, + So long as I enjoyed breath. + Great riches here did I possess, + Whereof I made great nobleness; + I had gold, silver, wardrobes, and + Great treasure, horses, houses, land. + But now a caitife poore am I, + Deepe in the ground, lo! here I lie; + My beautie great is all quite gone, + My flesh is wasted to the bone. + My house is narrow now and throng, + Nothing but Truth comes from my tongue. + And if ye should see me this day, + I do not think but ye would say, + That I had never beene a man, + So much altered now I am."] + +{423}[ki] + ---- _of higher stations_, + _And for their pains get smarter puncturations_.--[MS. erased.] + +{424}[555] [See _Childe Harold_, Canto I. stanza xxxii. line 2, +_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 93, note 16.] + +[556] [See _The Prince_ (_Il Principe_), chap. xvii., by Niccolo +Machiavelli, translated by Ninian Hill Thomson, 1897, p. 121: "But above +all [a Prince] must abstain from the property of others. For men will +sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their +patrimony."] + +[557] [India; America.] + +{425}[558] [Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) began her visits to Newgate in +1813. In 1820 she corresponded with the Princess Sophie of Russia, and +at a later period she was entertained by Louis Philippe, and by the King +of Prussia at Kaiserwerth. She might have, she may have, admonished +George IV. "with regard to all good things."] + +{426}[559] [See _The Age of Bronze_, line 768, _Poetical Works_, 1901, +v. 578, note 1.] + +[560] + + ["O for a blast of that dread horn, + On Fontarabian echoes borne, + That to King Charles did come, + When Rowland brave, and Olivier, + And every paladin and peer, + On Roncesvalles died." + +_Marmion_, Canto VI. stanza xxxiii. lines 7-12.] + +[kj] _Like an old Roman trumpet ere a battle_.--[MS. erased.] + +[561] B. Genoa, Oct. 6^th^, 1822. End of Canto 10^th^. + + + + + + CANTO THE ELEVENTH. + + + I. + + WHEN Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter,"[562] + And proved it--'t was no matter what he said: + They say his system 't is in vain to batter, + Too subtle for the airiest human head; + And yet who can believe it? I would shatter + Gladly all matters down to stone or lead, + Or adamant, to find the World a spirit, + And wear my head, denying that I wear it. + + II. + + What a sublime discovery 't was to make the + Universe universal egotism, + That all's ideal--_all ourselves!_--I'll stake the + World (be it what you will) that _that's_ no schism. + Oh Doubt!--if thou be'st Doubt, for which some take thee, + But which I doubt extremely--thou sole prism + Of the Truth's rays, spoil not my draught of spirit! + Heaven's brandy, though our brain can hardly bear it. + + III. + + For ever and anon comes Indigestion + (Not the most "dainty Ariel"),[563] and perplexes + Our soarings with another sort of question: + And that which after all my spirit vexes, + Is, that I find no spot where Man can rest eye on, + Without confusion of the sorts and sexes, + Of Beings, Stars, and this unriddled wonder, + The World, which at the worst's a _glorious_ blunder-- + + IV. + + If it be chance--or, if it be according + To the old text, still better:--lest it should + Turn out so, we 'll say nothing 'gainst the wording, + As several people think such hazards rude. + They're right; our days are too brief for affording + Space to dispute what _no one_ ever could + Decide, and _everybody one day_ will + Know very clearly--or at least lie still. + + V. + + And therefore will I leave off metaphysical + Discussion, which is neither here nor there: + If I agree that what is, is; then this I call + Being quite perspicuous and extremely fair; + The truth is, I've grown lately rather phthisical:[564] + I don't know what the reason is--the air + Perhaps; but as I suffer from the shocks + Of illness, I grow much more orthodox. + + VI. + + The first attack at once proved the Divinity + (But that I never doubted, nor the Devil); + The next, the Virgin's mystical virginity; + The third, the usual Origin of Evil; + The fourth at once established the whole Trinity + On so uncontrovertible a level, + That I devoutly wished the three were four-- + On purpose to believe so much the more. + + VII. + + To our theme.--The man who has stood on the Acropolis, + And looked down over Attica; or he + Who has sailed where picturesque Constantinople is, + Or seen Timbuctoo, or hath taken tea + In small-eyed China's crockery-ware metropolis, + Or sat amidst the bricks of Nineveh,[kk] + May not think much of London's first appearance-- + But ask him what he thinks of it a year hence! + + VIII. + + Don Juan had got out on Shooter's Hill; + Sunset the time, the place the same declivity + Which looks along that vale of Good and Ill + Where London streets ferment in full activity, + While everything around was calm and still, + Except the creak of wheels, which on their pivot he + Heard,--and that bee-like, bubbling, busy hum + Of cities, that boil over with their scum:-- + + IX. + + I say, Don Juan, wrapped in contemplation, + Walked on behind his carriage, o'er the summit, + And lost in wonder of so great a nation, + Gave way to 't, since he could not overcome it. + "And here," he cried, "is Freedom's chosen station; + Here peals the People's voice, nor can entomb it + Racks--prisons--inquisitions; Resurrection + Awaits it, each new meeting or election. + + X. + + "Here are chaste wives, pure lives; here people pay + But what they please; and if that things be dear, + 'T is only that they love to throw away + Their cash, to show how much they have a-year. + Here laws are all inviolate--none lay + Traps for the traveller--every highway's clear-- + Here"--he was interrupted by a knife, + With--"Damn your eyes! your money or your life!"-- + + XI. + + These free-born sounds proceeded from four pads + In ambush laid, who had perceived him loiter + Behind his carriage; and, like handy lads, + Had seized the lucky hour to reconnoitre, + In which the heedless gentleman who gads + Upon the road, unless he prove a fighter, + May find himself within that isle of riches + Exposed to lose his life as well as breeches. + + XII. + + Juan, who did not understand a word + Of English, save their shibboleth, "God damn!"[565] + And even that he had so rarely heard, + He sometimes thought 't was only their "Sal[-a]m," + Or "God be with you!"--and 't is not absurd + To think so,--for half English as I am + (To my misfortune), never can I say + I heard them wish "God with you," save that way;-- + + XIII. + + Juan yet quickly understood their gesture, + And being somewhat choleric and sudden, + Drew forth a pocket pistol from his vesture, + And fired it into one assailant's pudding-- + Who fell, as rolls an ox o'er in his pasture, + And roared out, as he writhed his native mud in, + Unto his nearest follower or henchman, + "Oh Jack! I'm floored by that 'ere bloody Frenchman!" + + XIV. + + On which Jack and his train set off at speed, + And Juan's suite, late scattered at a distance, + Came up, all marvelling at such a deed, + And offering, as usual, late assistance. + Juan, who saw the moon's late minion[566] bleed + As if his veins would pour out his existence, + Stood calling out for bandages and lint, + And wished he had been less hasty with his flint. + + XV. + + "Perhaps," thought he, "it is the country's wont + To welcome foreigners in this way: now + I recollect some innkeepers who don't + Differ, except in robbing with a bow, + In lieu of a bare blade and brazen front-- + But what is to be done? I can't allow + The fellow to lie groaning on the road: + So take him up--I'll help you with the load." + + XVI. + + But ere they could perform this pious duty, + The dying man cried, "Hold! I've got my gruel! + Oh! for a glass of _max_![567] We've missed our booty; + Let me die where I am!" And as the fuel + Of Life shrunk in his heart, and thick and sooty + The drops fell from his death-wound, and he drew ill + His breath,--he from his swelling throat untied + A kerchief, crying, "Give Sal that!"--and died. + + XVII. + + The cravat stained with bloody drops fell down + Before Don Juan's feet: he could not tell + Exactly why it was before him thrown, + Nor what the meaning of the man's farewell. + Poor Tom was once a kiddy upon town, + A thorough varmint, and a _real_ swell, + Full flash,[568] all fancy, until fairly diddled, + His pockets first and then his body riddled. + + XVIII. + + Don Juan, having done the best he could + In all the circumstances of the case, + As soon as "Crowner's quest"[569] allowed, pursued + His travels to the capital apace;-- + Esteeming it a little hard he should + In twelve hours' time, and very little space, + Have been obliged to slay a free-born native + In self-defence: this made him meditative. + + XIX. + + He from the world had cut off a great man, + Who in his time had made heroic bustle. + Who in a row like Tom could lead the van, + Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle? + Who queer a flat?[570] Who (spite of Bow-street's ban) + On the high toby-spice so flash the muzzle? + Who on a lark with black-eyed Sal (his blowing), + So prime--so swell--so nutty--and so knowing?[kl][571] + + XX. + + But Tom's no more--and so no more of Tom. + Heroes must die; and by God's blessing 't is + Not long before the most of them go home. + Hail! Thamis, hail! Upon thy verge it is + That Juan's chariot, rolling like a drum + In thunder, holds the way it can't well miss, + Through Kennington and all the other "tons," + Which make us wish ourselves in town at once;-- + + XXI. + + Through Groves, so called as being void of trees, + (Like _lucus_ from _no_ light); through prospects named + Mount Pleasant, as containing nought to please, + Nor much to climb; through little boxes framed + Of bricks, to let the dust in at your ease, + With "To be let," upon their doors proclaimed; + Through "Rows" most modestly called "Paradise,"[572] + Which Eve might quit without much sacrifice;--[km] + + XXII. + + Through coaches, drays, choked turnpikes, and a whirl + Of wheels, and roar of voices, and confusion; + Here taverns wooing to a pint of "purl,"[573] + There mails fast flying off like a delusion; + There barbers' blocks with periwigs in curl + In windows; here the lamplighter's infusion + Slowly distilled into the glimmering glass + (For in those days we had not got to gas--);[kn][574] + + XXIII. + + Through this, and much, and more, is the approach + Of travellers to mighty Babylon: + Whether they come by horse, or chaise, or coach, + With slight exceptions, all the ways seem one. + I could say more, but do not choose to encroach + Upon the Guide-book's privilege. The Sun + Had set some time, and night was on the ridge + Of twilight, as the party crossed the bridge. + + XXIV. + + That's rather fine, the gentle sound of Thamis-- + Who vindicates a moment, too, his stream-- + Though hardly heard through multifarious "damme's:" + The lamps of Westminster's more regular gleam, + The breadth of pavement, and yon shrine where Fame is + A spectral resident--whose pallid beam + In shape of moonshine hovers o'er the pile-- + Make this a sacred part of Albion's isle. + + XXV. + + The Druids' groves are gone--so much the better: + Stonehenge is not--but what the devil is it?--But + Bedlam still exists with its sage fetter, + That madmen may not bite you on a visit; + The Bench too seats or suits full many a debtor; + The Mansion House,[575] too (though some people quiz it), + To me appears a stiff yet grand erection; + But then the Abbey's worth the whole collection. + + XXVI. + + The line of lights,[576] too, up to Charing Cross, + Pall Mall, and so forth, have a coruscation + Like gold as in comparison to dross, + Matched with the Continent's illumination, + Whose cities Night by no means deigns to gloss. + The French were not yet a lamp-lighting nation, + And when they grew so--on their new-found lantern, + Instead of wicks, they made a wicked man turn.[577] + + XXVII. + + A row of Gentlemen along the streets + Suspended may illuminate mankind, + As also bonfires made of country seats; + But the old way is best for the purblind: + The other looks like phosphorus on sheets, + A sort of _ignis fatuus_ to the mind, + Which, though 't is certain to perplex and frighten, + Must burn more mildly ere it can enlighten. + + XXVIII. + + But London's so well lit, that if Diogenes + Could recommence to hunt his _honest man_, + And found him not amidst the various progenies + Of this enormous City's spreading span, + 'T were not for want of lamps to aid his dodging his + Yet undiscovered treasure. What _I_ can, + I've done to find the same throughout Life's journey, + But see the World is only one attorney. + + XXIX. + + Over the stones still rattling, up Pall Mall, + Through crowds and carriages, but waxing thinner + As thundered knockers broke the long sealed spell + Of doors 'gainst duns, and to an early dinner + Admitted a small party as night fell,-- + Don Juan, our young diplomatic sinner, + Pursued his path, and drove past some hotels, + St. James's Palace, and St. James's "Hells."[578] + + XXX. + + They reached the hotel: forth streamed from the front door[ko] + A tide of well-clad waiters, and around + The mob stood, and as usual several score + Of those pedestrian Paphians who abound + In decent London when the daylight's o'er; + Commodious but immoral, they are found + Useful, like Malthus, in promoting marriage.-- + But Juan now is stepping from his carriage + + XXXI. + + Into one of the sweetest of hotels,[kp][579] + Especially for foreigners--and mostly + For those whom favour or whom Fortune swells, + And cannot find a bill's small items costly. + There many an envoy either dwelt or dwells + (The den of many a diplomatic lost lie), + Until to some conspicuous square they pass, + And blazon o'er the door their names in brass. + + XXXII. + + Juan, whose was a delicate commission, + Private, though publicly important, bore + No title to point out with due precision + The exact affair on which he was sent o'er. + 'T was merely known, that on a secret mission + A foreigner of rank had graced our shore, + Young, handsome, and accomplished, who was said + (In whispers) to have turned his Sovereign's head. + + XXXIII. + + Some rumour also of some strange adventures + Had gone before him, and his wars and loves; + And as romantic heads are pretty painters, + And, above all, an Englishwoman's roves[kq] + Into the excursive, breaking the indentures + Of sober reason, wheresoe'er it moves, + He found himself extremely in the fashion, + Which serves our thinking people for a passion. + + XXXIV. + + I don't mean that they are passionless, but quite + The contrary; but then 't is in the head; + Yet as the consequences are as bright + As if they acted with the heart instead, + What after all can signify the site + Of ladies' lucubrations? So they lead + In safety to the place for which you start, + What matters if the road be head or heart? + + XXXV. + + Juan presented in the proper place, + To proper placemen, every Russ credential; + And was received with all the due grimace + By those who govern in the mood potential, + Who, seeing a handsome stripling with smooth face, + Thought (what in state affairs is most essential), + That they as easily might _do_ the youngster, + As hawks may pounce upon a woodland songster. + + XXXVI. + + They erred, as aged men will do; but by + And by we'll talk of that; and if we don't, + 'T will be because our notion is not high + Of politicians and their double front, + Who live by lies, yet dare not boldly lie:-- + Now what I love in women is, they won't + Or can't do otherwise than lie--but do it + So well, the very Truth seems falsehood to it. + + XXXVII. + + And, after all, what is a lie? 'T is but + The truth in masquerade; and I defy[kr] + Historians--heroes--lawyers--priests, to put + A fact without some leaven of a lie. + The very shadow of true Truth would shut + Up annals--revelations--poesy, + And prophecy--except it should be dated + Some years before the incidents related. + + XXXVIII. + + Praised be all liars and all lies! Who now + Can tax my mild Muse with misanthropy? + She rings the World's "Te Deum," and her brow + Blushes for those who will not:--but to sigh + Is idle; let us like most others bow, + Kiss hands--feet--any part of Majesty, + After the good example of "Green Erin,"[580] + Whose shamrock now seems rather worse for wearing.[ks] + + XXXIX. + + Don Juan was presented, and his dress + And mien excited general admiration-- + I don't know which was more admired or less: + One monstrous diamond drew much observation, + Which Catherine in a moment of _"ivresse"_ + (In Love or Brandy's fervent fermentation), + Bestowed upon him, as the public learned; + And, to say truth, it had been fairly earned. + + XL. + + Besides the ministers and underlings, + Who must be courteous to the accredited + Diplomatists of rather wavering Kings, + Until their royal riddle's fully read, + The very clerks,--those somewhat dirty springs + Of Office, or the House of Office, fed + By foul corruption into streams,--even they + Were hardly rude enough to earn their pay: + + XLI. + + And insolence no doubt is what they are + Employed for, since it is their daily labour, + In the dear offices of Peace or War; + And should you doubt, pray ask of your next neighbour, + When for a passport, or some other bar + To freedom, he applied (a grief and a bore), + If he found not this spawn of tax-born riches, + Like lap-dogs, the least civil sons of b----s. + + XLII. + + But Juan was received with much _"empressement:"_-- + These phrases of refinement I must borrow + From our next neighbours' land, where, like a chessman, + There is a move set down for joy or sorrow, + Not only in mere talking, but the press. Man + In Islands is, it seems, downright and thorough, + More than on Continents--as if the Sea + (See Billingsgate) made even the tongue more free. + + XLIII. + + And yet the British "Damme"'s rather Attic, + Your continental oaths are but incontinent, + And turn on things which no aristocratic + Spirit would name, and therefore even I won't anent[581] + This subject quote; as it would be schismatic + In _politesse_, and have a sound affronting in 't;-- + But "Damme"'s quite ethereal, though too daring-- + Platonic blasphemy--the soul of swearing.[kt] + + XLIV. + + For downright rudeness, ye may stay at home; + For true or false politeness (and scarce _that + Now_) you may cross the blue deep and white foam-- + The first the emblem (rarely though) of what + You leave behind, the next of much you come + To meet. However, 't is no time to chat + On general topics: poems must confine + Themselves to unity, like this of mine.[ku] + + XLV. + + In the great world,--which, being interpreted, + Meaneth the West or worst end of a city, + And about twice two thousand people bred + By no means to be very wise or witty, + But to sit up while others lie in bed, + And look down on the Universe with pity,-- + Juan, as an inveterate patrician, + Was well received by persons of condition. + + XLVI. + + He was a bachelor, which is a matter + Of import both to virgin and to bride, + The former's hymeneal hopes to flatter; + And (should she not hold fast by Love or Pride) + 'T is also of some moment to the latter: + A rib's a thorn in a wed gallant's side, + Requires decorum, and is apt to double + The horrid sin--and what's still worse, the trouble. + + XLVII. + + But Juan was a bachelor--of arts, + And parts, and hearts: he danced and sung, and had + An air as sentimental as Mozart's + Softest of melodies; and could be sad + Or cheerful, without any "flaws or starts,"[582] + Just at the proper time: and though a lad, + Had seen the world--which is a curious sight, + And very much unlike what people write. + + XLVIII. + + Fair virgins blushed upon him; wedded dames + Bloomed also in less transitory hues;[kv] + For both commodities dwell by the Thames, + The painting and the painted; Youth, Ceruse,[kw] + Against his heart preferred their usual claims, + Such as no gentleman can quite refuse: + Daughters admired his dress, and pious mothers + Inquired his income, and if he had brothers. + + XLIX. + + The milliners who furnish "drapery Misses"[583] + Throughout the season, upon speculation + Of payment ere the Honeymoon's last kisses + Have waned into a crescent's coruscation, + Thought such an opportunity as this is, + Of a rich foreigner's initiation, + Not to be overlooked--and gave such credit, + That future bridegrooms swore, and sighed, and paid it. + + L. + + The Blues, that tender tribe, who sigh o'er sonnets, + And with the pages of the last Review + Line the interior of their heads or bonnets, + Advanced in all their azure's highest hue: + They talked bad French or Spanish, and upon its + Late authors asked him for a hint or two; + And which was softest, Russian or Castilian? + And whether in his travels he saw Ilion? + + LI. + + Juan, who was a little superficial, + And not in literature a great Drawcansir,[584] + Examined by this learned and especial + Jury of matrons, scarce knew what to answer: + His duties warlike, loving or official, + His steady application as a dancer, + Had kept him from the brink of Hippocrene, + Which now he found was blue instead of green. + + LII. + + However, he replied at hazard, with + A modest confidence and calm assurance, + Which lent his learned lucubrations pith, + And passed for arguments of good endurance. + That prodigy, Miss Araminta Smith + (Who at sixteen translated "Hercules Furens" + Into as furious English), with her best look, + Set down his sayings in her common-place book. + + LIII. + + Juan knew several languages--as well + He might--and brought them up with skill, in time + To save his fame with each accomplished belle, + Who still regretted that he did not rhyme. + There wanted but this requisite to swell + His qualities (with them) into sublime: + Lady Fitz-Frisky, and Miss Maevia Mannish, + Both longed extremely to be sung in Spanish. + + LIV. + + However, he did pretty well, and was + Admitted as an aspirant to all + The coteries, and, as in Banquo's glass, + At great assemblies or in parties small, + He saw ten thousand living authors pass, + That being about their average numeral; + Also the eighty "greatest living poets,"[585] + As every paltry magazine can show _it's_. + + LV. + + In twice five years the "greatest living poet," + Like to the champion in the fisty ring, + Is called on to support his claim, or show it, + Although 't is an imaginary thing. + Even I--albeit I'm sure I did not know it, + Nor sought of foolscap subjects to be king,-- + Was reckoned, a considerable time, + The grand Napoleon of the realms of rhyme.[kx] + + LVI. + + But Juan was my Moscow, and Faliero + My Leipsic, and my Mont Saint Jean seems Cain:[586] + _La Belle Alliance_ of dunces down at zero, + Now that the Lion's fallen, may rise again: + But I will fall at least as fell my Hero; + Nor reign at all, or as a _monarch_ reign; + Or to some lonely isle of gaolers go, + With turncoat Southey for my turnkey Lowe.[ky] + + LVII. + + Sir Walter reigned before me; Moore and Campbell + Before and after; but now grown more holy, + The Muses upon Sion's hill must ramble + With poets almost clergymen, or wholly; + And Pegasus has a psalmodic amble + Beneath the very Reverend Rowley Powley,[kz][587] + Who shoes the glorious animal with stilts, + A modern Ancient Pistol--"by these hilts!"[588] + + LVIII. + + Still he excels that artificial hard + Labourer in the same vineyard, though the vine + Yields him but vinegar for his reward.-- + That neutralised dull Dorus of the Nine; + That swarthy Sporus, neither man nor bard; + That ox of verse, who _ploughs_ for every line:-- + Cambyses' roaring Romans beat at least + The howling Hebrews of Cybele's priest.--[589] + + LIX. + + Then there's my gentle Euphues,--who, they say,[la] + Sets up for being a sort of _moral me_;[590] + He'll find it rather difficult some day + To turn out both, or either, it may be. + Some persons think that Coleridge hath the sway; + And Wordsworth has supporters, two or three; + And that deep-mouthed Boeotian "Savage Landor"[591] + Has taken for a swan rogue Southey's gander. + + LX. + + John Keats, who was killed off by one critique, + Just as he really promised something great, + If not intelligible, without Greek + Contrived to talk about the gods of late, + Much as they might have been supposed to speak.[592] + Poor fellow! His was an untoward fate; + 'T is strange the mind, that very fiery particle,[lb][593] + Should let itself be snuffed out by an article. + + LXI. + + The list grows long of live and dead pretenders + To that which none will gain--or none will know + The conqueror at least; who, ere Time renders + His last award, will have the long grass grow + Above his burnt-out brain, and sapless cinders. + If I might augur, I should rate but low + Their chances;--they're too numerous, like the thirty[594] + Mock tyrants, when Rome's annals waxed but dirty. + + LXII. + + This is the literary _lower_ empire, + Where the praetorian bands take up the matter;-- + A "dreadful trade," like his who "gathers samphire,"[595] + The insolent soldiery to soothe and flatter, + With the same feelings as you'd coax a vampire. + Now, were I once at home, and in good satire, + I'd try conclusions with those Janizaries, + And show them _what_ an intellectual war is. + + LXIII. + + I think I know a trick or two, would turn + Their flanks;--but it is hardly worth my while, + With such small gear to give myself concern: + Indeed I've not the necessary bile; + My natural temper's really aught but stern, + And even my Muse's worst reproof's a smile; + And then she drops a brief and modern curtsy, + And glides away, assured she never hurts ye. + + LXIV. + + My Juan, whom I left in deadly peril + Amongst live poets and _blue_ ladies, passed + With some small profit through that field so sterile, + Being tired in time--and, neither least nor last, + Left it before he had been treated very ill; + And henceforth found himself more gaily classed + Amongst the higher spirits of the day, + The Sun's true son, no vapour, but a ray. + + LXV. + + His morns he passed in business--which dissected, + Was, like all business, a laborious nothing + That leads to lassitude, the most infected + And Centaur Nessus garb of mortal clothing,[596] + And on our sofas makes us lie dejected, + And talk in tender horrors of our loathing + All kinds of toil, save for our country's good-- + Which grows no better, though 't is time it should. + + LXVI. + + His afternoons he passed in visits, luncheons, + Lounging and boxing; and the twilight hour + In riding round those vegetable puncheons + Called "Parks," where there is neither fruit nor flower + Enough to gratify a bee's slight munchings; + But after all it is the only "bower"[597] + (In Moore's phrase) where the fashionable fair + Can form a slight acquaintance with fresh air. + + LXVII. + + Then dress, then dinner, then awakes the world! + Then glare the lamps, then whirl the wheels, then roar + Through street and square fast flashing chariots hurled + Like harnessed meteors; then along the floor + Chalk mimics painting; then festoons are twirled; + Then roll the brazen thunders of the door, + Which opens to the thousand happy few + An earthly Paradise of _Or Molu_. + + LXVIII. + + There stands the noble hostess, nor shall sink + With the three-thousandth curtsy; there the waltz, + The only dance which teaches girls to think,[598] + Makes one in love even with its very faults. + Saloon, room, hall, o'erflow beyond their brink, + And long the latest of arrivals halts, + 'Midst royal dukes and dames condemned to climb, + And gain an inch of staircase at a time. + + LXIX. + + Thrice happy he who, after a survey + Of the good company, can win a corner, + A door that's _in_ or boudoir _out_ of the way, + Where he may fix himself like small "Jack Horner," + And let the Babel round run as it may, + And look on as a mourner, or a scorner, + Or an approver, or a mere spectator, + Yawning a little as the night grows later. + + LXX. + + But this won't do, save by and by; and he + Who, like Don Juan, takes an active share, + Must steer with care through all that glittering sea + Of gems and plumes and pearls and silks, to where + He deems it is his proper place to be; + Dissolving in the waltz to some soft air, + Or proudlier prancing with mercurial skill, + Where Science marshals forth her own quadrille. + + LXXI. + + Or, if he dance not, but hath higher views + Upon an heiress or his neighbour's bride, + Let him take care that that which he pursues + Is not at once too palpably descried: + Full many an eager gentleman oft rues + His haste; Impatience is a blundering guide + Amongst a people famous for reflection, + Who like to play the fool with circumspection. + + LXXII. + + But, if you can contrive, get next at supper; + Or, if forestalled, get opposite and ogle:-- + Oh, ye ambrosial moments! always upper + In mind, a sort of sentimental bogle,[599] + Which sits for ever upon Memory's crupper, + The ghost of vanished pleasures once in vogue! Ill + Can tender souls relate the rise and fall + Of hopes and fears which shake a single ball. + + LXXIII. + + But these precautionary hints can touch + Only the common run, who must pursue, + And watch and ward; whose plans a word too much + Or little overturns; and not the few + Or many (for the number's sometimes such) + Whom a good mien, especially if new, + Or fame--or name--for Wit, War, Sense, or Nonsense, + Permits whate'er they please,--or _did_ not long since. + + LXXIV. + + Our Hero--as a hero--young and handsome, + Noble, rich, celebrated, and a stranger, + Like other slaves of course must pay his ransom, + Before he can escape from so much danger + As will environ a conspicuous man. Some + Talk about poetry, and "rack and manger," + And ugliness, disease, as toil and trouble;-- + I wish they knew the life of a young noble. + + LXXV. + + They are young, but know not Youth--it is anticipated; + Handsome but wasted, rich without a sou;[lc] + Their vigour in a thousand arms is dissipated; + Their cash comes _from_, their wealth goes _to_ a Jew; + Both senates see their nightly votes participated + Between the Tyrant's and the Tribunes' crew; + And having voted, dined, drunk, gamed, and whored, + The family vault receives another Lord. + + LXXVI. + + "Where is the World?" cries Young, at _eighty_[600]--"Where + The World in which a man was born?" Alas! + Where is the world of _eight_ years past? _'T was there_-- + I look for it--'t is gone, a globe of glass! + Cracked, shivered, vanished, scarcely gazed on, ere[ld] + A silent change dissolves the glittering mass. + Statesmen, Chiefs, Orators, Queens, Patriots, Kings, + And Dandies--all are gone on the Wind's wings. + + LXXVII. + + Where is Napoleon the Grand? God knows! + Where little Castlereagh? The devil can tell! + Where Grattan, Curran, Sheridan--all those + Who bound the Bar or Senate in their spell? + Where is the unhappy Queen, with all her woes? + And where the Daughter, whom the Isles loved well? + Where are those martyred saints the Five per Cents?[le][601] + And where--oh, where the devil are the Rents? + + LXXVIII. + + Where's Brummell? Dished. Where's Long Pole Wellesley?[602] Diddled. + Where's Whitbread? Romilly? Where's George the Third? + Where is his will?[603] (That's not so soon unriddled.) + And where is "Fum" the Fourth, our "royal bird?"[604] + Gone down, it seems, to Scotland to be fiddled + Unto by Sawney's violin, we have heard: + "Caw me, caw thee"--for six months hath been hatching + This scene of royal itch and loyal scratching. + + LXXIX. + + Where is Lord This? And where my Lady That? + The Honourable Mistresses and Misses? + Some laid aside like an old Opera hat, + Married, unmarried, and remarried: (this is + An evolution oft performed of late). + Where are the Dublin shouts--and London hisses? + Where are the Grenvilles? Turned as usual. Where + My friends the Whigs? Exactly where they were. + + LXXX. + + Where are the Lady Carolines and Franceses?[605] + Divorced or doing thereanent. Ye annals + So brilliant, where the list of routs and dances is,-- + Thou Morning Post, sole record of the panels + Broken in carriages, and all the phantasies + Of fashion,--say what streams now fill those channels? + Some die, some fly, some languish on the Continent, + Because the times have hardly left them _one_ tenant. + + LXXXI. + + Some who once set their caps at cautious dukes,[lf] + Have taken up at length with younger brothers: + Some heiresses have bit at sharpers' hooks: + Some maids have been made wives, some merely mothers: + Others have lost their fresh and fairy looks: + In short, the list of alterations bothers. + There's little strange in this, but something strange is + The unusual quickness of these common changes. + + LXXXII. + + Talk not of seventy years as age; in seven + I have seen more changes, down from monarchs to + The humblest individuals under Heaven, + Than might suffice a moderate century through. + I knew that nought was lasting, but now even + Change grows too changeable, without being new: + Nought's permanent among the human race, + Except the Whigs _not_ getting into place. + + LXXXIII. + + I have seen Napoleon, who seemed quite a Jupiter, + Shrink to a Saturn. I have seen a Duke + (No matter which) turn politician stupider, + If that can well be, than his wooden look. + But it is time that I should hoist my "blue Peter," + And sail for a new theme:--I have seen--and shook + To see it--the King hissed, and then caressed; + But don't pretend to settle which was best. + + LXXXIV. + + I have seen the Landholders without a rap-- + I have seen Joanna Southcote--I have seen + The House of Commons turned to a tax-trap-- + I have seen that sad affair of the late Queen-- + I have seen crowns worn instead of a fool's cap-- + I have seen a Congress[606] doing all that's mean-- + I have seen some nations, like o'erloaded asses, + Kick off their burthens--meaning the high classes. + + LXXXV. + + I have seen small poets, and great prosers, and + Interminable--_not eternal_--speakers-- + I have seen the funds at war with house and land-- + I have seen the country gentlemen turn squeakers-- + I have seen the people ridden o'er like sand + By slaves on horseback--I have seen malt liquors + Exchanged for "thin potations"[607] by John Bull-- + I have seen John half detect himself a fool.-- + + LXXXVI. + + But _"carpe diem,"_ Juan, _"carpe, carpe!"_[608] + To-morrow sees another race as gay + And transient, and devoured by the same harpy. + "Life's a poor player,"[609]--then "play out the play,[610] + Ye villains!" and above all keep a sharp eye + Much less on what you do than what you say: + Be hypocritical, be cautious, be + Not what you _seem_, but always what you _see_. + + LXXXVII. + + But how shall I relate in other cantos + Of what befell our hero in the land, + Which 't is the common cry and lie to vaunt as + A moral country? But I hold my hand-- + For I disdain to write an Atalantis;[611] + But 't is as well at once to understand, + You are _not_ a moral people, and you know it, + Without the aid of too sincere a poet. + + LXXXVIII. + + What Juan saw and underwent shall be + My topic, with of course the due restriction + Which is required by proper courtesy; + And recollect the work is only fiction, + And that I sing of neither mine nor me, + Though every scribe, in some slight turn of diction, + Will hint allusions never _meant_. Ne'er doubt + _This_--when I speak, I _don't hint_, but _speak out_. + + LXXXIX. + + Whether he married with the third or fourth + Offspring of some sage husband-hunting countess, + Or whether with some virgin of more worth + (I mean in Fortune's matrimonial bounties), + He took to regularly peopling Earth, + Of which your lawful, awful wedlock fount is,-- + Or whether he was taken in for damages, + For being too excursive in his homages,-- + + XC. + + Is yet within the unread events of Time. + Thus far, go forth, thou Lay, which I will back + Against the same given quantity of rhyme, + For being as much the subject of attack + As ever yet was any work sublime, + By those who love to say that white is black. + So much the better!--I may stand alone, + But would not change my free thoughts for a throne.[612] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{427}[562] [Berkeley did not deny the reality of existence, but the +reality of matter as an abstract conception. "It is plain," he says (_On +the Principles of Human Knowledge_, sect. ix.), "that the very notion of +what is called _matter_ or _corporeal substance_, involves a +contradiction in it." Again, "It were a mistake to think that what is +here said derogates in the least from the reality of things." His +contention was that this _reality_ depended, not on an abstraction +_called_ matter, "an inert, extended unperceiving substance," but on +"those unextended, indivisible substances or _spirits_, which act, and +think, and perceive them [unthinking beings]."--_Ibid._, sect. xci., +_The Works_ of George Berkeley, D.D., 1820, i. 27, 69, 70.] + +{428}[563] [_Tempest_, act v. sc. i, line 95.] + +[564] ["I have been very unwell--four days confined to my bed in 'the +worst inn's worst room' at Lerici, with a violent rheumatic and bilious +attack, constipation, and the devil knows what."--Letter to Murray, +October 9, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 121. The same letter contains an +announcement that he had "a fifth [Canto of _Don Juan_] (the 10th) +finished, but not transcribed yet; and the _eleventh_ begun."] + +{429}[kk] _Or Rome, or Tiber--Naples or the sea_.--[MS. erased.] + +{430}[565] [_Vide ante_, Canto I. stanza xiv. lines 7, 8.] + +{431}[566] ["_Falstaff_. Let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the +shade, minions of the moon: and let men say, we be men of good +government; being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste +mistress the moon, under whose countenance we--steal."-_I Henry IV._, +act i. sc. 2, lines 24-28.] + +[567] [Gin. Hence the antithesis of _"All Max"_ in the East to Almack's +in the West. (See _Life in London_, by Pierce Egan, 1823, pp. 284-290.)] + +[568] [According to the _Vocabulary of the Flash Language_, compiled by +James Hardy Vaux, in 1812, and published at the end of his Memoirs, +1819, ii. 149-227, a kiddy, or "flash-kiddy," is a thief of the lower +orders, who, when he is _breeched_ by a course of successful depredation +dresses in the extreme of vulgar gentility, and affects a knowingness in +his air and conversation. A "swell" or "rank swell" ("_real_ swell" +appears in Egan's _Life in London_) is the more recent "toff;" and +"flash" is "fly," "down," or "awake," _i.e._ knowing, not easily imposed +upon.] + +{432}[569] [_Hamlet_, act v. sc. 1, line 21.] + +[570] ["Ken" is a house, s.c. a thieves' lodging-house; "spellken," a +play-house; "high toby-spice" is robbery on horseback, as distinguished +from "spice," i.e. footpad robbery; to "flash the muzzle" is to show off +the face, to swagger openly; "blowing" or "blowen" is a doxy or trull; +and "nutty" is, conjointly, amorous and fascinating.] + +[kl] + _Poor Tom was once a knowing one in town_. + _Not a mere_ kiddy, _but a_ real _one_.--[MS. erased.] + +[571] The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnecessary +to translate the above good and true English, spoken in its original +purity by the select mobility and their patrons. The following is a +stanza of a song which was very popular at least in my early days:-- + + "On the high toby-spice flash the muzzle, + In spite of each gallows old scout; + If you at the spellken can't hustle, + You'll be hobbled in making a clout. + Then your blowing will wax gallows haughty, + When she hears of your scaly mistake, + She'll surely turn snitch for the forty-- + That her Jack may be regular weight." + +If there be any gemman so ignorant as to require a traduction, I refer +him to my old friend and corporeal pastor and master, John Jackson, +Esq., Professor of Pugilism; who, I trust, still retains the strength +and symmetry of his model of a form, together with his good humour, and +athletic as well as mental accomplishments. + +[Gentleman Jackson was of good renown. "Servility," says Egan (_Life in +London_, 1823, p. 217), "is not known to him. Flattery he detests. +Integrity, impartiality, good-nature, and manliness, are the +corner-stones of his understanding." Byron once said of him that "his +manners were infinitely superior to those of the Fellows of the College +whom I meet at the high table" (J.W. Clark, _Cambridge_, 1890, p. 140). +(See, too, letter to John Jackson, September 18, 1808, _Letters_, 1898, +i. 189, note 2; _Hints from Horace_, line 638, _Poetical Works_, 1898, +i. 433, note 3.) As to the stanza quoted by Egan (_Anecdotes of the +Turf_, 1827, p. 44), but not _traduced_ or interpreted, "To be hobbled +for making a clout" is to be taken into custody for stealing a +handkerchief, to "turn snitch" is to inform, and the "forty" is the L40 +offered for the detection of a capital crime, and shared by the police +or Bow Street runners. Dangerous characters were let alone and tacitly +encouraged to continue their career of crime, until the measure of their +iniquity was full, and they "weighed forty." If Jack was clumsy enough +to be detected in a trifling theft, his "blowen" would go over to the +enemy, and betray him for the sake of the Government reward (see +_Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, by Francis Grose, 1823, +art. "Weigh forty").] + +{433}[572] [Don Juan must have driven by _Pleasant Row_, and passed +within hail of _Paradise Row_, on the way from Kennington to Westminster +Bridge. (See Cary's _New Pocket Plan of London, Westminster, and +Southwark_, 1819.) But, perhaps, there is more in the names of streets +and places than meets the eye. Here, as elsewhere, there is, or there +may be, "a paltering with us in a double sense."] + +[km] + _Through rows called "Paradise," by way of showing_ + _Good Christians that to which they all are going_.--[MS. erased.] + +{434}[573] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto 1. stanza lxix. line 8, var. +ii., _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 66, note 2.] + +[kn]---- _distilling into the re-kindling glass_.--[MS.] + +[574] [The streets of London were first regularly lighted with gas in +1812.] + +{435}[575] [Thomas Pennant, in _Some Account of London_, 1793, p. 444. +writes down the Mansion House (1739-1752) as "damned ... to everlasting +fame."] + +[576] [Fifty years ago "the lights of Piccadilly" were still regarded as +one of the "sights" of London. Byron must often have looked at them from +his house in Piccadilly Terrace.] + +[577] [Joseph Francois Foulon, army commissioner, provoked the penalty +of the "lantern" (i.e. an improvised gallows on the yard of a lamp-post +at the corner of the Rue de la Vannerie) by his heartless sneer, "Eh +bien! si cette canaille n'a pas de pain, elle mangera du foin." He was +hanged, July 22, 1789. See _The Tale of Two Cities_, by Charles Dickens, +cap. xxii.; see, too, Carlyle's _French Revolution_, 1839, i. 253: "With +wild yells, Sansculottism clutches him, in its hundred hands: he is +whirled ... to the _'Lanterne,'_ ... pleading bitterly for life,--to the +deaf winds. Only with the third rope (for two ropes broke, and the +quavering voice still pleaded), can he be so much as got hanged! His +Body is dragged through the streets; his Head goes aloft on a pike, the +mouth filled with grass: amid sounds as of Tophet, from a grass-eating +people."] + +{436}[578] "Hells," gaming-houses. What their number may now be in this +life, I know not. Before I was of age I knew them pretty accurately, +both "gold" and "silver." I was once nearly called out by an +acquaintance, because when he asked me where I thought that his soul +would be found hereafter, I answered, "In Silver Hell." + +[ko] + _At length the boys drew up before a door_, + _From whence poured forth a tribe of well-clad waiters_; + (_While on the pavement many a hungry w--re_ + _With which the moralest of cities caters_ + _For gentlemen whose passions may boil o'er,_ + _Stood as the unpacking gathered more spectators,_) + _And Juan found himself in an extensive_ + _Apartment;--fashionable but expensive_.--[MS.] + +{437}[kp] _'Twas one of the delightfullest hotels_.--[MS.] + +[579] [Perhaps Grillion's Hotel (afterwards Grillion's Club) in +Albemarle Street. In 1822 diplomats patronized more than one hotel in +and near St. James's Street, but among the "Departures from Grillion's +Hotel," recorded in the _Morning Chronicle_ of September, 17, 1822, +appositely enough, is that of H.E. Don Juan Garcia, del Rio.] + +[kq] + ---- _of his loves and wars_; + _And as romantic heads are pretty painters,_ + _And ladies like a little spice of Mars_.--[MS. erased.] + +{438}[kr] _The false attempt at Truth_----.--[MS.] + +{439}[580] [Compare-- + + "Lo! Erin, thy Lord! + Kiss his foot with thy blessing"---- + +_The Irish Avatar_, stanza 14, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 558.] + +[ks] + _Kiss hands--or feet--or what Man by and by_ + Will _kiss, not in sad metaphor--but earnest,_ + _Unless on Tyrants' sterns--we turn the sternest_.--[MS.] + +{440}[581] "Anent" was a Scotch phrase meaning "concerning"--"with +regard to: "it has been made English by the Scotch novels; and, as the +Frenchman said, "If it _be not, ought to be_ English." [See, for +instance, _The Abbot_, chap. xvii. 132.] + +[kt] + _But "Damme's" simple--dashing--free and daring_ + _The purest blasphemy_----.--[MS.] + +[ku] + _About such general matters--but particular_ + _A poem's progress should be perpendicular_.--[MS.] + +{441}[582] [_Macbeth_, act iii. sc. 4, line 63.] + +[kv] _Blushed, too, but it was hidden by their rouge_.--[MS. erased.] + +[kw] _The natural and the prepared ceruse_.--[MS. erased.] + +{442}[583] "Drapery Misses."--This term is probably anything now but a +_mystery_. It was, however, almost so to me when I first returned from +the East in 1811-1812. It means a pretty, a high-born, a fashionable +young female, well instructed by her friends, and furnished by her +milliner with a wardrobe upon credit, to be repaid, when married, by the +_husband_. The riddle was first read to me by a young and pretty +heiress, on my praising the "drapery" of the _"untochered"_ but "pretty +virginities" (like Mrs. Anne Page) of the _then_ day, which has now been +some years yesterday: she assured me that the thing was common in +London; and as her own thousands, and blooming looks, and rich +simplicity of array, put any suspicion in her own case out of the +question, I confess I gave some credit to the allegation. If necessary, +authorities might be cited; in which case I could quote both "drapery" +and the wearers. Let us hope, however, that it is now obsolete. + +[584] [Compare _Hints from Horace_, line 173, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. +401, note 1.] + +{443}[585] [In his so-called "Dedication" of _Marino Faliero_ to Goethe, +Byron makes fun of the "nineteen hundred and eighty-seven poets," whose +names were to be found in _A Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors, +etc._ (See Introduction to _Marino Faliero, Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. +340, 341, note 1.)] + +{444}[kx] _A paper potentate_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[586] [See "Introduction to _Cain_," _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 204.] + +[ky] _With turnkey Southey for my Hudson Lowe._--[MS.] + +[kz] _Beneath the reverend Cambyses Croly._--[MS.] + +[587] [The Reverend George Croly, D.D. (1780-1860), began his literary +career as dramatic critic of the _Times_. "Croly," says H.C. Robinson +(_Diary_, 1869, i. 412), "is a fierce-looking Irishman, very lively in +conversation, and certainly has considerable talents as a writer; his +eloquence, like his person, is rather energetic than eloquent" (hence +the epithet "Cambyses," i.e. "King Cambyses' vein" in _var._ iii.). "He +wrote tragedies, comedies, and novels; and, at last, settled down as a +preacher, with the rank of doctor, but of what faculty I do not know" +(ibid., footnote, H.C.R., 1847). He wrote, _inter alia_, _Paris in +1815_, a poem; _Catiline, A Tragedy_, 1822; and _Salathiel_, a novel, +1827. In lines 7, 8, Byron seems to refer to _The Angel of the World, An +Arabian Poem_, published in 1820.] + +[588] [_I Henry IV._, act ii. sc. 4, line 197.] + +{445}[589] [Stanza lviii. was first published in 1837. The reference is +to Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868). Byron was under the impression that +Milman had influenced Murray against continuing the publication of _Don +Juan_. Added to this surmise, was the mistaken belief that it was Milman +who had written the article in the _Quarterly_, which "killed John +Keats." Hence the virulence of the attack. + +"Dull Dorus" is obscure, but compare Propertius, _Eleg._ III. vii. 44, +where Callimachus is addressed as "Dore poeta." He is the "ox of verse," +because he had been recently appointed to the Professorship of Poetry at +Oxford. The "roaring Romans" are "The soldiery" who shout "All, All," in +Croly's _Catiline_, act v. sc. 2.] + +[la] _Then there's my gentle Barry--who they say._--[MS.] + +[590] [Jeffrey, in his review of _A Sicilian Story, etc._, Bryan Waller +Procter (Barry Cornwall), 1787-1874 (_Edinburgh Review_, January, 1820, +vol. 33, pp. 144-155), compares _Diego de Montilla_, a poem in _ottava +rima_, with _Don Juan_, favourably and unfavourably: "There is no +profligacy and no horror ... no mocking of virtue and honour, and no +strong mixtures of buffoonery and grandeur." But it may fairly match +with Byron and his Italian models "as to the better qualities of +elegance, delicacy, and tenderness." See, too, _Blackwood's Edinburgh +Magazine_, March, 1820, vol. vi. pp. 153, 647.] + +[591] [See Preface to the _Vision of Judgment, Poetical Works_, 1901, +iv. 484, note 3.] + +[592] [Croker's article in the _Quarterly_ (April, 1818 [pub, +September], vol. xix. pp. 204-208) did not "kill John Keats." See letter +to George and Georgiana Keats, October, 1818 (_Letters, etc._, 1895, p. +215). Byron adopts Shelley's belief that the Reviewer, "miserable man," +"one of the meanest," had "wantonly defaced one of the noblest specimens +of the workmanship of God." See Preface to _Adonais_, and stanzas +xxxvi., xxxvii.] + +{446}[lb] + _And weakly mind, to let that all celestial Particle_.--[MS. erased.] + or, _'T is strange the mind should let such phrases quell its_ + Chief Impulse with a few, frail, paper pellets_.--[MS. erased.] + +[593] "Divinae particulam aurae" [Hor., _Sat._ ii. 2. 79] + +[594] [For "the crowd of usurpers" who started up in the reign of +Gallienus, and were dignified with the honoured appellation of "the +thirty tyrants," see Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, 1825, i. 164.] + +[595] [_King Lear_, act iv. sc. 6, line 15.] + +{447}[596] ["Illita Nesseo misi tibi texta veneno." + +Ovid., _Heroid. Epist_. ix. 163.] + +[597] [A "bower," in Moore's phrase, signifies a solitude _a deux_; e.g. +"Here's the Bower she lov'd so much." + + "Come to me, love, the twilight star + Shall guide thee to my bower." + +Moore.] + +{448}[598] [Compare _The Waltz_, lines 220-229, _et passim_, _Poetical +Works_, 1898, i. 501.] + +{449}[599] Scotch for goblin. + +[lc] _Handsome but_ blase----[MS.] + +{450}[600] [The sentiment is reiterated in _The Night Thoughts_, and is +the theme of _Resignation_, which was written and published when Young +was more than eighty years old. ] + +[ld] _And fresher, since without a breath of air_.--[MS.] + +[le] _Where are the thousand lovely innocents?_--[MS.] + +[601] ["I have ... written ... to express my willingness to accept the, +or almost any mortgage, any thing to get out of the tremulous Funds of +these oscillating times. There will be a war somewhere, no doubt--and +whatever it may be, the Funds will be affected more or less; so pray get +us out of them with all proper expedition. It has been the burthen of my +song to you three years and better, and about as useful as better +counsels."--Letter of Byron to Kinnaird, January 18, 1823, _Letters_, +1901, vi. 162, 163.] + +{451}[602] [For William Pole Tylney Long Wellesley (1788-1857), see _The +Waltz_, line 21, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 484, note 1. He was only +on the way to being "diddled" in 1822, but the prophecy (suggested, no +doubt, by the announcement of the sale of furniture, etc., at Wanstead +House, in the _Morning Chronicle_, July 8, 1822) was ultimately +fulfilled. Samuel Whitbread, born 1758, committed suicide July 6, 1815. +Sir Samuel Romilly, born 1758, committed suicide November 2, 1818.] + +[603] [According to Charles Greville, George the Third made two +wills--the first in 1770, the second, which he never signed, in 1810. By +the first will he left "all he had to the Queen for her life, Buckingham +House to the Duke of Clarence," etc., and as Buckingham House had been +twice sold, and the other legatees were dead, a question arose between +the King and the Duke of York as to the right of inheritance of their +father's personal property. George IV. conceived that it devolved upon +him personally, and not on the Crown, and "consequently appropriated to +himself the whole of the money and the jewels." It is possible that this +difference between the brothers was noised abroad, and that old stories +of the destruction of royal wills were revived to the new king's +discredit. (See _The Greville Memoirs_, 1875, i. 64, 65.)] + +[604] [See Moore's _Fum and Hum, the Two Birds of Royalty_, appended to +his _Fudge Family_.] + +[605] [Lady Caroline Lamb and Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster.] + +{452}[lf] ---- _their caps and curls at Dukes._--[MS.] + +{453}[606] [The Congress at Verona, in 1822. See the Introduction to +_The Age of Bronze, Poetical Works_, 1891, v. 537-540.] + +[607] [_2 Henry IV._, act iv. sc. 3, line 117.] + +[608] [Hor., _Od._ I. xi. line 8.] + +[609] [_Macbeth_, act v. sc. 5, line 24.] + +[610] [_1 Henry IV._, act ii. sc. 4, line 463.] + +[611] [See the _Secret Memoirs and Manners of several Persons of +Quality, of Both Sexes, from the New Atalantis_, 1709, a work in which +the authoress, Mrs. Manley, satirizes the distinguished characters of +her day. Warburton (_Works of Pope_, ed. 1751, i. 244) calls it "a +famous book.... full of court and party scandal, and in a loose +effeminacy of style and sentiment, which well suited the debauched taste +of the better vulgar." Pope also alludes to it in the _Rape of the +Lock_, iii. 165, 166-- + + "As long as _Atalantis_ shall be read. + Or the small pillow grace a lady's bed." + +And Swift, in his ballad on "Corinna" (stanza 8)-- + + "Her common-place book all gallant is, + Of scandal now a cornucopia, + She pours it out in _Atalantis_, + Or memoirs of the New Utopia." + +_Works_, 1824, xii. 302.] + +{454}[612] [Oct. 17, 1822.--MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE TWELFTH. + + + I. + + Of all the barbarous middle ages, that + Which is most barbarous is the middle age + Of man! it is--I really scarce know what; + But when we hover between fool and sage, + And don't know justly what we would be at-- + A period something like a printed page, + Black letter upon foolscap, while our hair + Grows grizzled, and we are not what we were;-- + + II. + + Too old for Youth,--too young, at thirty-five, + To herd with boys, or hoard with good threescore,-- + I wonder people should be left alive; + But since they are, that epoch is a bore: + Love lingers still, although 't were late to wive: + And as for other love, the illusion's o'er; + And Money, that most pure imagination, + Gleams only through the dawn of its creation.[613] + + III. + + O Gold! Why call we misers miserable?[614] + Theirs is the pleasure that can never pall; + Theirs is the best bower anchor, the chain cable + Which holds fast other pleasures great and small. + Ye who but see the saving man at table, + And scorn his temperate board, as none at all, + And wonder how the wealthy can be sparing, + Know not what visions spring from each cheese-paring. + + IV. + + Love or lust makes Man sick, and wine much sicker; + Ambition rends, and gaming gains a loss; + But making money, slowly first, then quicker, + And adding still a little through each cross + (Which _will_ come over things), beats Love or liquor, + The gamester's counter, or the statesman's _dross_. + O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper, + Which makes bank credit like a bank of _vapour_. + + V. + + Who hold the balance of the World? Who reign + O'er congress, whether royalist or liberal? + Who rouse the shirtless patriots of Spain?[615] + (That make old Europe's journals "squeak and gibber"[616] all) + Who keep the World, both old and new, in pain + Or pleasure? Who make politics run glibber all? + The shade of Buonaparte's noble daring?-- + Jew Rothschild,[617] and his fellow-Christian, Baring. + + VI. + + Those, and the truly liberal Lafitte,[618] + Are the true Lords of Europe. Every loan + Is not a merely speculative hit, + But seats a Nation or upsets a Throne. + Republics also get involved a bit; + Columbia's stock hath holders not unknown + On 'Change; and even thy silver soil, Peru, + Must get itself discounted by a Jew. + + VII. + + Why call the miser miserable? as + I said before: the frugal life is his, + Which in a saint or cynic ever was + The theme of praise: a hermit would not miss + Canonization for the self-same cause, + And wherefore blame gaunt Wealth's austerities? + Because, you 'll say, nought calls for such a trial;-- + Then there's more merit in his self-denial. + + VIII. + + He is your only poet;--Passion, pure + And sparkling on from heap to heap, displays, + _Possessed_, the ore, of which _mere hopes_ allure + Nations athwart the deep: the golden rays + Flash up in ingots from the mine obscure: + On him the Diamond pours its brilliant blaze, + While the mild Emerald's beam shades down the dies + Of other stones, to soothe the miser's eyes. + + IX. + + The lands on either side are his; the ship + From Ceylon, Inde, or far Cathay, unloads + For him the fragrant produce of each trip; + Beneath his cars of Ceres groan the roads, + And the vine blushes like Aurora's lip; + His very cellars might be Kings' abodes; + While he, despising every sensual call, + Commands--the intellectual Lord of _all_. + + X. + + Perhaps he hath great projects in his mind, + To build a college, or to found a race, + A hospital, a church,--and leave behind + Some dome surmounted by his meagre face: + Perhaps he fain would liberate Mankind + Even with the very ore which makes them base; + Perhaps he would be wealthiest of his nation, + Or revel in the joys of calculation. + + XI. + + But whether all, or each, or none of these + May be the hoarder's principle of action, + The fool will call such mania a disease:-- + What is his _own?_ Go--look at each transaction, + Wars, revels, loves--do these bring men more ease + Than the mere plodding through each "vulgar fraction?" + Or do they benefit Mankind? Lean Miser! + Let spendthrifts' heirs inquire of yours--who's wiser? + + XII. + + How beauteous are rouleaus! how charming chests + Containing ingots, bags of dollars, coins + (Not of old victors, all whose heads and crests + Weigh not the thin ore where their visage shines,[lg] + But) of fine unclipped gold, where dully rests + Some likeness, which the glittering cirque confines, + Of modern, reigning, sterling, stupid stamp!-- + Yes! ready money _is_ Aladdin's lamp.[619] + + XIII. + + "Love rules the Camp, the Court, the Grove,--for Love + Is Heaven, and Heaven is Love:"[620]--so sings the bard; + Which it were rather difficult to prove + (A thing with poetry in general hard). + Perhaps there may be something in "the Grove," + At least it rhymes to "Love:" but I'm prepared + To doubt (no less than landlords of their rental) + If "Courts" and "Camps" be quite so sentimental. + + XIV. + + But if Love don't, _Cash_ does, and Cash alone: + Cash rules the Grove, and fells it too besides; + Without cash, camps were thin, and courts were none; + Without cash, Malthus tells you--"take no brides."[621] + So Cash rules Love the ruler, on his own + High ground, as virgin Cynthia sways the tides: + And as for "Heaven being Love," why not say honey + Is wax? Heaven is not Love, 't is Matrimony. + + XV. + + Is not all Love prohibited whatever, + Excepting Marriage? which is Love, no doubt, + After a sort; but somehow people never + With the same thought the two words have helped out. + Love may exist _with_ Marriage, and _should_ ever, + And Marriage also may exist without; + But Love _sans_ banns is both a sin and shame, + And ought to go by quite another name. + + XVI. + + Now if the "Court," and "Camp," and "Grove," be not + Recruited all with constant married men, + Who never coveted their neighbour's lot, + I say _that_ line's a lapsus of the pen;-- + Strange too in my _buon camerado_ Scott, + So celebrated for his morals, when + My Jeffrey held him up as an example[622] + To me;--of whom these morals are a sample.[lh] + + XVII. + + Well, if I don't succeed, I _have_ succeeded, + And that's enough; succeeded in my youth, + The only time when much success is needed: + And my success produced what I, in sooth, + Cared most about; it need not now be pleaded-- + Whate'er it was, 'twas mine; I've paid, in truth, + Of late, the penalty of such success, + But have not learned to wish it any less. + + XVIII. + + That suit in Chancery,[623]--which some persons plead + In an appeal to the unborn, whom they, + In the faith of their procreative creed, + Baptize Posterity, or future clay,-- + To me seems but a dubious kind of reed + To lean on for support in any way; + Since odds are that Posterity will know + No more of them, than they of her, I trow. + + XIX.[li] + + Why, I'm Posterity--and so are you; + And whom do we remember? Not a hundred. + Were every memory written down all true, + The tenth or twentieth name would be but blundered; + Even Plutarch's Lives have but picked out a few, + And 'gainst those few your annalists have thundered; + And Mitford[624] in the nineteenth century + Gives, with Greek truth, the good old Greek the lie. + + XX. + + Good people all, of every degree, + Ye gentle readers and ungentle writers, + In this twelfth Canto 't is my wish to be + As serious as if I had for inditers + Malthus and Wilberforce:--the last set free + The Negroes, and is worth a million fighters; + While Wellington has but enslaved the Whites, + And Malthus[625] does the thing 'gainst which he writes. + + XXI. + + I'm serious--so are all men upon paper; + And why should I not form my speculation, + And hold up to the Sun my little taper?[626] + Mankind just now seem wrapped in meditation + On constitutions and steam-boats of vapour; + While sages write against all procreation, + Unless a man can calculate his means + Of feeding brats the moment his wife weans. + + XXII. + + That's noble! That's romantic! For my part, + I think that "Philo-genitiveness" is-- + (Now here's a word quite after my own heart, + Though there's a shorter a good deal than this, + If that politeness set it not apart; + But I'm resolved to say nought that's amiss)-- + I say, methinks that "Philo-genitiveness"[627] + Might meet from men a little more forgiveness. + + XXIII. + + And now to business.--O my gentle Juan! + Thou art in London--in that pleasant place, + Where every kind of mischief's daily brewing, + Which can await warm Youth in its wild race. + 'T is true, that thy career is not a new one; + Thou art no novice in the headlong chase + Of early life; but this is a new land, + Which foreigners can never understand. + + XXIV. + + What with a small diversity of climate, + Of hot or cold, mercurial or sedate, + I could send forth my mandate like a Primate + Upon the rest of Europe's social state; + But thou art the most difficult to rhyme at, + Great Britain, which the Muse may penetrate. + All countries have their "Lions," but in thee + There is but one superb menagerie. + + XXV. + + But I am sick of politics. Begin-- + _"Paulo Majora."_ Juan, undecided + Amongst the paths of being "taken in," + Above the ice had like a skater glided:[lj] + When tired of play, he flirted without sin + With some of those fair creatures who have prided + Themselves on innocent tantalisation,[lk] + And hate all vice except its reputation. + + XXVI. + + But these are few, and in the end they make + Some devilish escapade or stir, which shows + That even the purest people may mistake + Their way through Virtue's primrose paths of snows; + And then men stare, as if a new ass spake + To Balaam, and from tongue to ear o'erflows + Quicksilver small talk, ending (if you note it) + With the kind World's Amen--"Who would have thought it?" + + XXVII. + + The little Leila, with her Orient eyes, + And taciturn Asiatic disposition, + (Which saw all Western things with small surprise, + To the surprise of people of condition, + Who think that novelties are butterflies + To be pursued as food for inanition,) + Her charming figure and romantic history + Became a kind of fashionable mystery. + + XXVIII. + + The women much divided--as is usual + Amongst the sex in little things or great-- + Think not, fair creatures, that I mean to abuse you all, + I have always liked you better than I state-- + Since I've grown moral, still I must accuse you all + Of being apt to talk at a great rate; + And now there was a general sensation + Amongst you, about Leila's education. + + XXIX. + + In one point only were you settled--and + You had reason; 't was that a young child of grace, + As beautiful as her own native land, + And far away, the last bud of her race, + Howe'er our friend Don Juan might command + Himself for five, four, three, or two years' space, + Would be much better taught beneath the eye + Of peeresses whose follies had run dry. + + XXX. + + So first there was a generous emulation, + And then there was a general competition, + To undertake the orphan's education: + As Juan was a person of condition, + It had been an affront on this occasion + To talk of a subscription or petition; + But sixteen dowagers, ten unwed she sages + Whose tale belongs to "Hallam's Middle Ages,"[628] + + XXXI. + + And one or two sad, separate wives, without + A fruit to bloom upon their withering bough-- + Begged to bring _up_ the little girl, and _"out"_-- + For that's the phrase that settles all things now, + Meaning a virgin's first blush at a rout, + And all her points as thorough-bred to show: + And I assure you, that like virgin honey + Tastes their first season (mostly if they have money). + + XXXII. + + How all the needy honourable misters, + Each out-at-elbow peer, or desperate dandy, + The watchful mothers, and the careful sisters, + (Who, by the by, when clever, are more handy + At making matches, where "'t is gold that glisters," + Than their _he_ relatives), like flies o'er candy + Buzz round "the Fortune" with their busy battery, + To turn her head with waltzing and with flattery! + + XXXIII. + + Each aunt, each cousin, hath her speculation; + Nay, married dames will now and then discover + Such pure disinterestedness of passion, + I've known them court an heiress for their lover. + "_Tantoene!_" Such the virtues of high station, + Even in the hopeful Isle, whose outlet's "Dover!" + While the poor rich wretch, object of these cares, + Has cause to wish her sire had had male heirs. + + XXXIV. + + Some are soon bagged, and some reject three dozen: + 'T is fine to see them scattering refusals + And wild dismay o'er every angry cousin + (Friends of the party), who begin accusals, + Such as--"Unless Miss Blank meant to have chosen + Poor Frederick, why did she accord perusals + To his billets? _Why_ waltz with him? Why, I pray, + Look _'Yes'_ last night, and yet say _'No'_ to-day? + + XXXV. + + "Why?--Why?--Besides, Fred really was _attached_; + 'T was not her fortune--he has enough without; + The time will come she'll wish that she had snatched + So good an opportunity, no doubt:-- + But the old Marchioness some plan had hatched, + As I'll tell Aurea at to-morrow's rout: + And after all poor Frederick may do better-- + Pray did you see her answer to his letter?" + + XXXVI. + + Smart uniforms and sparkling coronets + Are spurned in turn, until her turn arrives, + After male loss of time, and hearts, and bets + Upon the sweepstakes for substantial wives; + And when at last the pretty creature gets + Some gentleman, who fights, or writes, or drives, + It soothes the awkward squad of the rejected + To find how very badly she selected. + + XXXVII. + + For sometimes they accept some long pursuer, + Worn out with importunity; or fall + (But here perhaps the instances are fewer) + To the lot of him who scarce pursued at all. + A hazy widower turned of forty 's sure[ll][629] + (If 't is not vain examples to recall)[lm] + To draw a high prize: now, howe'er he got her, I + See nought more strange in this than t' other lottery. + + XXXVIII. + + I, for my part--(one "modern instance" more, + "True,'t is a pity--pity 't is, 't is true")--[630] + Was chosen from out an amatory score, + Albeit my years were less discreet than few; + But though I also had reformed before + Those became one who soon were to be two, + I'll not gainsay the generous public's voice, + That the young lady made a monstrous choice. + + XXXIX. + + Oh, pardon my digression--or at least + Peruse! 'T is always with a moral end + That I dissert, like grace before a feast: + For like an aged aunt, or tiresome friend, + A rigid guardian, or a zealous priest, + My Muse by exhortation means to mend + All people, at all times, and in most places, + Which puts my Pegasus to these grave paces. + + XL. + + But now I'm going to be immoral; now + I mean to show things really as they are, + Not as they ought to be: for I avow, + That till we see what's what in fact, we're far + From much improvement with that virtuous plough + Which skims the surface, leaving scarce a scar + Upon the black loam long manured by Vice, + Only to keep its corn at the old price. + + XLI. + + But first of little Leila we'll dispose,[ln] + For like a day-dawn she was young and pure-- + Or like the old comparison of snows,[631] + (Which are more pure than pleasant, to be sure, + Like many people everybody knows),-- + Don Juan was delighted to secure + A goodly guardian for his infant charge, + Who might not profit much by being at large. + + XLII. + + Besides, he had found out he was no tutor + (I wish that others would find out the same),[632] + And rather wished in such things to stand neuter, + For silly wards will bring their guardians blame: + So when he saw each ancient dame a suitor + To make his little wild Asiatic tame, + Consulting "the Society for Vice + Suppression," Lady Pinchbeck was his choice. + + XLIII. + + Olden she was--but had been very young; + Virtuous she was--and had been, I believe; + Although the World has such an evil tongue + That--but my chaster ear will not receive + An echo of a syllable that's wrong:[lo] + In fact, there's nothing makes me so much grieve, + As that abominable tittle-tattle, + Which is the cud eschewed[633] by human cattle. + + XLIV. + + Moreover I've remarked (and I was once + A slight observer in a modest way), + And so may every one except a dunce, + That ladies in their youth a little gay, + Besides their knowledge of the World, and sense + Of the sad consequence of going astray, + Are wiser in their warnings 'gainst the woe + Which the mere passionless can never know. + + XLV. + + While the harsh prude indemnifies her virtue + By railing at the unknown and envied passion, + Seeking far less to save you than to hurt you, + Or, what's still worse, to put you out of fashion,-- + The kinder veteran with calm words will court you, + Entreating you to pause before you dash on; + Expounding and illustrating the riddle + Of epic Love's beginning--end--and middle. + + XLVI. + + Now whether it be thus, or that they are stricter, + As better knowing why they should be so, + I think you'll find from many a family picture, + That daughters of such mothers as may know + The World by experience rather than by lecture, + Turn out much better for the Smithfield Show + Of vestals brought into the marriage mart, + Than those bred up by prudes without a heart. + + XLVII. + + I said that Lady Pinchbeck had been talked about-- + As who has not, if female, young, and pretty? + But now no more the ghost of Scandal stalked about; + She merely was deemed amiable and witty, + And several of her best _bons-mots_ were hawked about: + Then she was given to charity and pity, + And passed (at least the latter years of life) + For being a most exemplary wife. + + XLVIII. + + High in high circles, gentle in her own, + She was the mild reprover of the young, + Whenever--which means every day--they'd shown + An awkward inclination to go wrong. + The quantity of good she did 's unknown, + Or at the least would lengthen out my song: + In brief, the little orphan of the East + Had raised an interest in her,--which increased. + + XLIX. + + Juan, too, was a sort of favourite with her, + Because she thought him a good heart at bottom, + A little spoiled, but not so altogether; + Which was a wonder, if you think who got him, + And how he had been tossed, he scarce knew whither: + Though this might ruin others, it did _not_ him, + At least entirely--for he had seen too many + Changes in Youth, to be surprised at any. + + L. + + And these vicissitudes tell best in youth; + For when they happen at a riper age, + People are apt to blame the Fates, forsooth, + And wonder Providence is not more sage. + Adversity is the first path to Truth: + He who hath proved War--Storm--or Woman's rage, + Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty, + Hath won the experience which is deemed so weighty. + + LI. + + How far it profits is another matter.-- + Our hero gladly saw his little charge + Safe with a lady, whose last grown-up daughter + Being long married, and thus set at large, + Had left all the accomplishments she taught her + To be transmitted, like the Lord Mayor's barge, + To the next comer; or--as it will tell + More Muse-like--like to Cytherea's shell.[lp] + + LII. + + I call such things transmission; for there is + A floating balance of accomplishment, + Which forms a pedigree from Miss to Miss, + According as their minds or backs are bent. + Some waltz--some draw--some fathom the abyss + Of Metaphysics; others are content + With Music; the most moderate shine as wits;-- + While others have a genius turned for fits. + + LIII. + + But whether fits, or wits, or harpsichords-- + Theology--fine arts--or finer stays, + May be the baits for Gentlemen or Lords + With regular descent, in these our days, + The last year to the new transfers its hoards; + New vestals claim men's eyes with the same praise + Of "elegant" _et caetera_, in fresh batches-- + All matchless creatures--and yet bent on matches. + + LIV. + + But now I will begin my poem. 'Tis + Perhaps a little strange, if not quite new, + That from the first of Cantos up to this + I've not begun what we have to go through. + These first twelve books are merely flourishes, + _Preludios_, trying just a string or two + Upon my lyre, or making the pegs sure; + And when so, you shall have the overture. + + LV. + + My Muses do not care a pinch of rosin + About what's called success, or not succeeding: + Such thoughts are quite below the strain they have chosen; + 'T is a "great moral lesson"[634] they are reading. + I thought, at setting off, about two dozen + Cantos would do; but at Apollo's pleading, + If that my Pegasus should not be foundered, + I think to canter gently through a hundred. + + LVI. + + Don Juan saw that Microcosm on stilts, + Yclept the Great World; for it is the least, + Although the highest: but as swords have hilts + By which their power of mischief is increased, + When Man in battle or in quarrel tilts, + Thus the low world, north, south, or west, or east, + Must still obey the high[635]--which is their handle, + Their Moon, their Sun, their gas, their farthing candle. + + LVII. + + He had many friends who had many wives, and was + Well looked upon by both, to that extent + Of friendship which you may accept or pass, + It does nor good nor harm; being merely meant + To keep the wheels going of the higher class, + And draw them nightly when a ticket's sent; + And what with masquerades, and fetes, and balls, + For the first season such a life scarce palls. + + LVIII. + + A young unmarried man, with a good name + And fortune, has an awkward part to play; + For good society is but a game, + "The royal game of Goose,"[636] as I may say, + Where everybody has some separate aim, + An end to answer, or a plan to lay-- + The single ladies wishing to be double, + The married ones to save the virgins trouble. + + LIX. + + I don't mean this as general, but particular + Examples may be found of such pursuits: + Though several also keep their perpendicular + Like poplars, with good principles for roots; + Yet many have a method more _reticular_-- + "Fishers for men," like Sirens with soft lutes: + For talk six times with the same single lady, + And you may get the wedding-dresses ready. + + LX. + + Perhaps you'll have a letter from the mother, + To say her daughter's feelings are trepanned; + Perhaps you'll have a visit from the brother, + All strut, and stays, and whiskers, to demand + What "your intentions are?"--One way or other + It seems the virgin's heart expects your hand: + And between pity for her case and yours, + You'll add to Matrimony's list of cures. + + LXI. + + I've known a dozen weddings made even _thus_, + And some of them high names: I have also known + Young men who--though they hated to discuss + Pretensions which they never dreamed to have shown-- + Yet neither frightened by a female fuss, + Nor by mustachios moved, were let alone, + And lived, as did the broken-hearted fair, + In happier plight than if they formed a pair. + + LXII. + + There's also nightly, to the uninitiated, + A peril--not indeed like Love or Marriage, + But not the less for this to be depreciated: + It is--I meant and mean not to disparage + The show of Virtue even in the vitiated-- + It adds an outward grace unto their carriage-- + But to denounce the amphibious sort of harlot, + _Couleur de rose_, who's neither white nor scarlet. + + LXIII. + + Such is your cold coquette, who can't say "No," + And won't say "Yes," and keeps you on and off-ing + On a lee-shore, till it begins to blow-- + Then sees your heart wrecked, with an inward scoffing. + This works a world of sentimental woe,[lq] + And sends new Werters yearly to their coffin; + But yet is merely innocent flirtation, + Not quite adultery, but adulteration. + + LXIV. + + "Ye gods, I grow a talker!"[637] Let us prate. + The next of perils, though I place it _stern_est, + Is when, without regard to Church or State, + A wife makes or takes love in upright earnest. + Abroad, such things decide few women's fate-- + (Such, early Traveller! is the truth thou learnest)-- + But in old England, when a young bride errs, + Poor thing! Eve's was a trifling case to hers. + + LXV. + + For 't is a low, newspaper, humdrum, lawsuit + Country, where a young couple of the same ages[lr] + Can't form a friendship, but the world o'erawes it. + Then there's the vulgar trick of those d----d damages! + A verdict--grievous foe to those who cause it!-- + Forms a sad climax to romantic homages; + Besides those soothing speeches of the pleaders, + And evidences which regale all readers. + + LXVI. + + But they who blunder thus are raw beginners; + A little genial sprinkling of hypocrisy + Has saved the fame of thousand splendid sinners, + The loveliest oligarchs of our Gynocracy;[638] + You may see such at all the balls and dinners, + Among the proudest of our aristocracy, + So gentle, charming, charitable, chaste-- + And all by having _tact_ as well as taste. + + LXVII. + + Juan, who did not stand in the predicament + Of a mere novice, had one safeguard more; + For he was sick--no, 't was not the word _sick_ I meant-- + But he had seen so much good love before, + That he was not in heart so very weak;--I meant + But thus much, and no sneer against the shore + Of white cliffs, white necks, blue eyes, bluer stockings-- + Tithes, taxes, duns--and doors with double knockings.[ls] + + LXVIII. + + But coming young from lands and scenes romantic, + Where lives, not lawsuits, must be risked for Passion + And Passion's self must have a spice of frantic, + Into a country where 't is half a fashion, + Seemed to him half commercial, half pedantic, + Howe'er he might esteem this moral nation: + Besides (alas! his taste--forgive and pity!) + At _first_ he did not think the women pretty. + + LXIX. + + I say at _first_--for he found out at _last_, + But by degrees, that they were fairer far + Than the more glowing dames whose lot is cast + Beneath the influence of the Eastern Star. + A further proof we should not judge in haste; + Yet inexperience could not be his bar + To taste:--the truth is, if men would confess, + That novelties _please_ less than they _impress_. + + LXX. + + Though travelled, I have never had the luck to + Trace up those shuffling negroes, Nile or Niger, + To that impracticable place Timbuctoo, + Where Geography finds no one to oblige her + With such a chart as may be safely stuck to-- + For Europe ploughs in Afric like "_bos piger_:"[639] + But if I _had been_ at Timbuctoo, there + No doubt I should be told that black is fair.[lt][640] + + LXXI. + + It is. 1 will not swear that black is white, + But I suspect in fact that white is black, + And the whole matter rests upon eye-sight:-- + Ask a blind man, the best judge. You'll attack + Perhaps this new position--but I'm right; + Or if I'm wrong, I'll not be ta'en aback:-- + He hath no morn nor night, but all is dark + Within--and what seest thou? A dubious spark! + + LXXII. + + But I'm relapsing into Metaphysics, + That labyrinth, whose clue is of the same + Construction as your cures for hectic phthisics, + Those bright moths fluttering round a dying flame: + And this reflection brings me to plain Physics, + And to the beauties of a foreign dame, + Compared with those of our pure pearls of price, + Those polar summers, _all_ Sun, and some ice.[lu][641] + + LXXIII. + + Or say they are like virtuous mermaids, whose + Beginnings are fair faces, ends mere fishes;-- + Not that there's not a quantity of those + Who have a due respect for their own wishes. + Like Russians rushing from hot baths to snows[642] + Are they, at bottom virtuous even when vicious: + They warm into a scrape, but keep of course, + As a reserve, a plunge into remorse. + + LXXIV. + + But this has nought to do with their outsides. + I said that Juan did not think them pretty + At the first blush; for a fair Briton hides + Half her attractions--probably from pity--And + rather calmly into the heart glides, + Than storms it as a foe would take a city; + But once _there_ (if you doubt this, prithee try)[lv] + She keeps it for you like a true ally. + + LXXV. + + She cannot step as does an Arab barb,[643] + Or Andalusian girl from mass returning, + Nor wear as gracefully as Gauls her garb, + Nor in her eye Ausonia's glance is burning; + Her voice, though sweet, is not so fit to warb- + le those _bravuras_ (which I still am learning + To like, though I have been seven years in Italy, + And have, or had, an ear that served me prettily);-- + + LXXVI. + + She cannot do these things, nor one or two + Others, in that off-hand and dashing style + Which takes so much--to give the Devil his due; + Nor is she quite so ready with her smile, + Nor settles all things in one interview, + (A thing approved as saving time and toil);-- + But though the soil may give you time and trouble, + Well cultivated, it will render double. + + LXXVII. + + And if in fact she takes to a _grande passion_, + It is a very serious thing indeed: + Nine times in ten 't is but caprice or fashion, + Coquetry, or a wish to take the lead, + The pride of a mere child with a new sash on, + Or wish to make a rival's bosom bleed: + But the _tenth_ instance will be a tornado, + For there's no saying what they will or may do. + + LXXVIII. + + The reason's obvious: if there's an _eclat_, + They lose their caste at once, as do the Parias; + And when the delicacies of the Law + Have filled their papers with their comments various, + Society, that china without flaw, + (The Hypocrite!) will banish them like Marius, + To sit amidst the ruins of their guilt:[644] + For Fame's a Carthage not so soon rebuilt. + + LXXIX. + + Perhaps this is as it should be;--it is + A comment on the Gospel's "Sin no more, + And be thy sins forgiven:"--but upon this + I leave the Saints to settle their own score. + Abroad, though doubtless they do much amiss, + An erring woman finds an opener door + For her return to Virtue--as they call + That Lady, who should be at home to all.[lw] + + LXXX. + + For me, I leave the matter where I find it, + Knowing that such uneasy virtue leads + People some ten times less in fact to mind it, + And care but for discoveries, and not deeds. + And as for Chastity, you'll never bind it + By all the laws the strictest lawyer pleads, + But aggravate the crime you have not prevented, + By rendering desperate those who had else repented. + + LXXXI. + + But Juan was no casuist, nor had pondered + Upon the moral lessons of mankind: + Besides, he had not seen of several hundred + A lady altogether to his mind. + A little _blase_--'t is not to be wondered + At, that his heart had got a tougher rind: + And though not vainer from his past success, + No doubt his sensibilities were less. + + LXXXII. + + He also had been busy seeing sights-- + The Parliament and all the other houses; + Had sat beneath the Gallery at nights, + To hear debates whose thunder _roused_ (not _rouses_) + The World to gaze upon those Northern Lights, + Which flashed as far as where the musk-bull browses;[645] + He had also stood at times behind the Throne-- + But Grey[646] was not arrived, and Chatham gone.[647] + + LXXXIII. + + He saw, however, at the closing session, + That noble sight, when _really_ free the nation, + A King in constitutional possession + Of such a Throne as is the proudest station, + Though Despots know it not--till the progression + Of Freedom shall complete their education. + 'T is not mere Splendour makes the show august + To eye or heart--it is the People's trust. + + LXXXIV. + + There, too, he saw (whate'er he may be now) + A Prince, the prince of Princes at the time,[648] + With fascination in his very bow, + And full of promise, as the spring of prime. + Though Royalty was written on his brow, + He had _then_ the grace, too, rare in every clime, + Of being, without alloy of fop or beau, + A finished Gentleman from top to toe.[649] + + LXXXV. + + And Juan was received, as hath been said, + Into the best society; and there + Occurred what often happens, I'm afraid, + However disciplined and debonnaire:-- + The talent and good humour he displayed, + Besides the marked distinction of his air, + Exposed him, as was natural, to temptation, + Even though himself avoided the occasion. + + LXXXVI. + + But what, and where, with whom, and when, and why, + Is not to be put hastily together; + And as my object is Morality + (Whatever people say), I don't know whether + I'll leave a single reader's eyelid dry, + But harrow up his feelings till they wither, + And hew out a huge monument of pathos, + As Philip's son proposed to do with Athos.[650] + + LXXXVII. + + Here the twelfth canto of our Introduction + Ends. When the body of the Book's begun, + You'll find it of a different construction + From what some people say 't will be when done; + The plan at present 's simply in concoction. + I can't oblige you, reader, to read on; + That's your affair, not mine: a real spirit + Should neither court neglect, nor dread to bear it. + + LXXXVIII. + + And if my thunderbolt not always rattles, + Remember, reader! you have had before, + The worst of tempests and the best of battles, + That e'er were brewed from elements or gore, + Besides the most sublime of--Heaven knows what else; + An usurer could scarce expect much more-- + But my best canto--save one on astronomy-- + Will turn upon "Political Economy."[651] + + LXXXIX. + + _That_ is your present theme for popularity: + Now that the public hedge hath scarce a stake, + It grows an act of patriotic charity, + To show the people the best way to break. + _My plan_ (but I, if but for singularity, + Reserve it) will be very sure to take. + Meantime, read all the National-Debt sinkers, + And tell me what you think of our great thinkers.[652] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{455}[613] [See letter to Douglas Kinnaird, dated Genoa, January 18, +1823.] + +[614] [Johnson would not believe that "a complete miser is a happy man." +"That," he said, "is flying in the face of all the world, who have +called an avaricious man a _miser_, because he is miserable. No, sir; a +man who both spends and saves money is the happiest man, because he has +both enjoyments."--Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, 1876, p. 605.] + +{456}[615] [The _Descamisados_, or Sansculottes of the Spanish +Revolution of 1820-1823. For Spanish "Liberals," see _Quarterly Review_, +April, 1823, vol. xxix. pp. 270-276.] + +[616] [_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 1, line 116.] + +[617] [See _The Age of Bronze_, line 678, sq., _Poetical Works_, 1901, +v. 573, note 3.] + +[618] [Jacques Laffitte (1767-1844), as Governor of the Bank of France, +advanced sums to Parisians to meet their enforced contributions to the +allies, and, in 1817, advocated liberal measures as a Deputy.] + +{458}[lg] _Were not worth one whereon their profile shines_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[619] ["They say that 'Knowledge is Power';--I used to think so; but I +now know that they meant Money ... every guinea is a philosopher's +stone, or at least his _touch_-stone. You will doubt me the less, when I +pronounce my pious belief--that _Cash is Virtue_."--Letter to Kinnaird, +February 6, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 11.] + +[620] [_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Canto III. stanza ii. lines 4-6.] + +{459}[621] [See Godwin's Essay _Of Population_, 1820 (pp. 18, 19, et +passim), in which he renews his attack on Malthus's _Essay on the +Principles of Population_.] + +[622] ["We have no notion that Lord B[yron] had any mischievous +intention in these publications--and readily acquit him of any wish to +corrupt the morals, or impair the happiness of his readers ... but it is +our duty ... to say, that much of what he has published appears to us to +have this tendency.... How opposite to this is the system, or the +temper, of the great author of Waverley!"--_Edinburgh Review_, February, +1822, vol. 36, p. 451.] + +[lh] + ---- _for his moral pen_ + _Held up to me by Jeffrey as example_. + _Of which with profit--as you'll soon see by a sample_.--[MS. erased.] + +{460}[623] [In the case of Murray v. Benbow (February 9, 1822), the Lord +Chancellor (Lord Eldon) refused the motion for an injunction to restrain +the defendant from publishing a pirated edition of Lord Byron's poem of +Cain (Jacob's _Reports_, p. 474, note). Hence (see _var._ i.) the +allusion to "Law" and "Equity." The "suit" and the "appeal" (vide ibid.) +refer to legal proceedings taken, or intended to be taken, with regard +to certain questions arising out of the disposition of property under +Lady Noel's will. (See letters to Charles Hanson, September 21, November +30, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 115, 146.)] + +[li] + _That suit in Chancery--have a Chancery suit-- + In right good earnest--also an appeal + Before the Lords, whose Chancellor's more acute + In Law than Equity--as I can feel + Because my Cases put his Lordship to 't + And--though no doubt 't is for the Public weal, + His Lordship's Justice is not that of Solomon-- + Not that I deem our Chief Judge is a hollow man_.--[MS. erased.] + +[624] See [William] Mitford's Greece (1829, v. 314, 315), _"Graecia +Verax."_ His great pleasure consists in praising tyrants, abusing +Plutarch, spelling oddly, and writing quaintly; and what is strange, +after all, _his_ is the best modern history of Greece in any language, +and he is perhaps the best of all modern historians whatsoever. Having +named his sins, it is but fair to state his virtues--learning, labour, +research, wrath, and partiality. I call the latter virtues in a writer, +because they make him write in earnest. + +[Byron consulted Mitford when he was at work on _Sardanapalus_. (See +Extracts from a Diary, January 5, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 152, note +1.)] + +{461}[625] [Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) married, in 1804, Harriet, +daughter of John Eckersall of Claverton House, near Bath. There were +three children of the marriage, of whom two survived him. Byron may be +alluding to the apocryphal story of "his eleven daughters," related by +J.L.A. Cherbuliez, in the _Journal des Economistes_ (1850, vol. xxv. p. +135): "Un soir ... il y avait cercle chez M. de Sismondi, a sa maison de +campagne pres de Geneve.... Enfin, on annonce le _reverend Malthus et sa +famille_. Sa famille!... Alors on voit entrer une charmante jeune fille, +puis une seconde, puis une troisieme, puis une quatrieme, puis ... Il +n'y en avait, ma fois, pas moins de onze!" See _Malthus and his Work_, +by James Bonar, 1885, pp. 412, 413. See, too, _Nouveau Dictionnaire de +L'Economie Politique_, 1892, art. "Malthus."] + +[626] [Compare-- + + "How commentators each dark passage shun, + And hold their farthing candle to the sun." + +_Love of Fame, the Universal Passion_, by Edward Young, _Sat_. vii. +lines 97, 98.] + +{462}[627] [Philo-_pro_genitiveness. Spurzheim and Gall discover the +organ of this name in a bump behind the ears, and say it is remarkably +developed in the bull.] + +[lj] _He played and paid, made love without much sin_.--[MS. erased.] + +{463}[lk] _Themselves on seldom yielding to temptation_.--[MS. erased.] + +{464}[628] [Henry Hallam (1778-1859) published his _View of the State of +Europe in the Middle Ages_ in 1818.] + +{465}[ll] _A drunken Gentleman of forty's sure._--[MS.] + +[629] This line may puzzle the commentators more than the present +generation. + +[lm] + _If he can hiccup nonsense at a ball._ + or, _If he goes after dinner to a ball_.-[MS. erased.] + +{466}[630] [_As You Like It_, act ii. sc. 7, line 156; and _Hamlet_, act +ii. sc. 2, lines, 97, 98.] + +[ln] _But first of little Leilah----._--[MS.] + +[631] [For the allusion to "unsunned snows," vide ante, p. 275, note 1.] + +{467}[632] [The reference may be to Hobhouse and the "Zoili of Albemarle +Street," who did their best to "tutor" him with regard to "blazing +indiscretions" in _Don Juan_.] + +[lo] + _That--but I will not listen, by your leave, + Unto a single syllable_----.--[MS.] + +[633] [For another instance of this curious mistake, see letter to +Hodgson, December 8, 1811, _Letters_, 1898, ii. 85; et ibid., p. 31, +note 1.] + +{469}[lp] + _Painted and gilded--or, as it will tell + More Muse-like--say--like Cytherea's shell_.--[MS.] + +{470}[634] [Vide ante, Preface to Cantos VI., VII., and VIII., p. 266.] + +[635] ["Enfin partout la bonne societe regle tout."--Voltaire.] + +{471}[636] ["This game originated, I believe, in Germany.... It is +called the game of the _goose_, because at every fourth and fifth +compartment of the table in succession a _goose_ is depicted; and if the +cast thrown by the player falls upon a _goose_, he moves forward double +the number of his throw" (_Sports and Pastimes, etc._, by Joseph Strutt, +1801, p. 250). + +Goldsmith, in his _Deserted Village_, among other "parlour splendours," +mentions "the twelve good rules, the royal game of goose."] + +{472}[lq] + _Most young beginners may be taken so, + But those who have been a little used to roughing + Know how to end this half-and-half flirtation_.--[MS. erased.] + +[637] ["I'll grow a talker for this gear." + +_Merchant of Venice_, act i. sc. 1, line 110.] + +{473}[lr] _Country where warm young people_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[638] [Pope and Scott use the quasi-contracted "gynocracy" for +"gynaecocracy." (See _N. Engl. Dict._)] + +[ls] + _Of white cliffs--and white bosoms--and blue eyes-- + And stockings--virtues, loves and Chastities_.--[MS. erased.] + +{474}[639] [Hor., _Epist._, lib. 1, ep. xiv. line 43. The meaning is +that Europe makes but little progress in the discovery and settlement of +Africa, and, as it were, "ploughs the sands."] + +[lt] + _Though many thousands both of birth and pluck too, + Have ventured past the jaws of Moor and Tiger_.[*] + +[*]_Note. By particular licence, "positively for the last time, by +desire," etc., to be pronounced "tydger." Such is what Gifford calls +"the necessity of rhyming."_--[MS. erased.] + +[640] ["Though many degrees nearer our own fair and blue-eyed beauties +in complexion ... yet no people ever lost more by comparison than did +the white ladies of Moorzuk [capital of Fezzan] with the black ones of +Bornou and Soudan."--_Narrative of Travels ... in Northern and Central +Africa_, 1822-24, by Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, 1828, ii. 133.] + +{475}[lu] _Above, all sunshine, and, below, all ice_.--[MS. erased.] + +[641] [Compare _Prisoner of Chillon_, lines 82-85, _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 17.] + +[642] The Russians, as is well known, run out from their hot baths to +plunge into the Neva; a pleasant practical antithesis, which it seems +does them no harm. + +{476}[lv] _But once there (few have felt this more than I)_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[643] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza lviii. line 9, +_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 59, note 1.] + +{477}[644] [See Plutarch's _Caius Marius_, Langhorne's translation, +1838, pp. 304, 305.] + +[lw] _That Lady who is not at home to all_.--[MS. erased.] + +{478}[645] For a description and print of this inhabitant of the polar +region and native country of the Aurorae Boreales, see Sir E. Parry's +_Voyage In Search of a North-West Passage_, [1821, p. 257. The print of +the Musk-Bull is drawn and engraved by W. Westall, A.R.A., from a sketch +by Lieut. Beechy. He is a "fearful wild-fowl!"] + +[646] [Charles, second Earl Grey, born March 13, 1764, succeeded to the +peerage in 1807, died July 17, 1847.] + +[647] [William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, born November 15, 1708, died +May 11, 1778.] + +[648] ["His person was undoubtedly cast by Nature in an elegant and +pleasing mould, of a just height, well-proportioned, and with due regard +to symmetry.... His countenance was handsome and prepossessing.... His +manners were captivating, noble, and dignified, yet unaffectedly +condescending.... Homer, as well as Virgil, was familiar to the Prince +of Wales; and his memory, which was very tenacious, enabled him to cite +with graceful readiness the favourite passages of either poet."--_The +Historical ... Memoirs_ of Sir N.W. Wraxall, 1884, v. 353, 354.] + +[649] ["Waving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince Regent. He +ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after some sayings +peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own attempts, he talked to +me of you and your immortalities; he preferred you to every other bard +past and present.... He spoke alternately of Homer and yourself, and +seemed well acquainted with both.... [All] this was conveyed in language +which would only suffer by my attempting to transcribe it, and with a +tone and taste which gave me a very high idea of his abilities and +accomplishments, which I had hitherto considered as confined to +_manners_ certainly superior to those of any living +_gentleman_."--Letter to Sir Walter Scott, July 6, 1812, _Letters_, +1898, ii. 134.] + +{479}[650] B. 10^bre^ 7^th^ 1822.--[MS.] + +A sculptor projected to hew Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, with +a city in one hand, and, I believe, a river in his pocket, with various +other similar devices. But Alexander's gone, and Athos remains, I trust +ere long to look over a nation of freemen. + +[It was an architect named Stasicrates who proposed to execute this +imperial monument. But Alexander bade him leave Mount Athos alone. As it +was, it might be christened "Xerxes, his Folly," and, for his part, he +preferred to regard Mount Caucasus, and the Himalayas, and the river Don +as the symbolic memorials of his acts and deeds.--Plutarch's _Moralia_. +"De Alexandri Fortuna et Virtute," Orat. II. cap. ii.] + +{480}[651] [The "Political Economy" Club was founded in April, 1821. +James Mill, Thomas Tooke, and David Ricardo were among the original +members, See _Political Economy Club_, Revised Report, 1876, p. 60.] + +[652] [Stanzas lxxxviii. and lxxxix. are not in the MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE THIRTEENTH.[653] + + + I. + + I now mean to be serious;--it is time, + Since Laughter now-a-days is deemed too serious; + A jest at Vice by Virtue's called a crime, + And critically held as deleterious: + Besides, the sad's a source of the sublime, + Although, when long, a little apt to weary us; + And therefore shall my lay soar high and solemn, + As an old temple dwindled to a column. + + II. + + The Lady Adeline Amundeville + ('T is an old Norman name, and to be found + In pedigrees, by those who wander still + Along the last fields of that Gothic ground) + Was high-born, wealthy by her father's will, + And beauteous, even where beauties most abound, + In Britain--which, of course, true patriots find + The goodliest soil of Body and of Mind. + + III. + + I'll not gainsay them; it is not my cue; + I'll leave them to their taste, no doubt the best; + An eye's an eye, and whether black or blue, + Is no great matter, so 't is in request; + 'T is nonsense to dispute about a hue-- + The kindest may be taken as a test. + The fair sex should be always fair; and no man, + Till thirty, should perceive there's a plain woman. + + IV. + + And after that serene and somewhat dull + Epoch, that awkward corner turned for days + More quiet, when our moon's no more at full, + We may presume to criticise or praise; + Because Indifference begins to lull + Our passions, and we walk in Wisdom's ways; + Also because the figure and the face + Hint, that 't is time to give the younger place. + + V. + + I know that some would fain postpone this era, + Reluctant as all placemen to resign + Their post; but theirs is merely a chimera, + For they have passed Life's equinoctial line: + But then they have their claret and Madeira, + To irrigate the dryness of decline; + And County meetings, and the Parliament, + And debt--and what not, for their solace sent. + + VI. + + And is there not Religion, and Reform, + Peace, War, the taxes, and what's called the "Nation"? + The struggle to be pilots in a storm?[654] + The landed and the monied speculation? + The joys of mutual hate to keep them warm, + Instead of Love, that mere hallucination? + Now Hatred is by far the longest pleasure; + Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure. + + VII. + + Rough Johnson, the great moralist, professed, + Right honestly, "he liked an honest hater!"[655]-- + The only truth that yet has been confessed + Within these latest thousand years or later. + Perhaps the fine old fellow spoke in jest:-- + For my part, I am but a mere spectator, + And gaze where'er the palace or the hovel is, + Much in the mode of Goethe's Mephistopheles; + + VIII. + + But neither love nor hate in much excess; + Though 't was not once so. If I sneer sometimes, + It is because I cannot well do less, + And now and then it also suits my rhymes. + I should be very willing to redress + Men's wrongs, and rather check than punish crimes, + Had not Cervantes, in that too true tale + Of Quixote, shown how all such efforts fail. + + IX.[656] + + Of all tales 't is the saddest--and more sad, + Because it makes us smile: his hero's right, + And still pursues the right;--to curb the bad + His only object, and 'gainst odds to fight + His guerdon: 't is his virtue makes him mad! + But his adventures form a sorry sight;-- + A sorrier still is the great moral taught + By that real Epic unto all who have thought.[lx] + + X. + + Redressing injury, revenging wrong, + To aid the damsel and destroy the caitiff; + Opposing singly the united strong, + From foreign yoke to free the helpless native:-- + Alas! must noblest views, like an old song, + Be for mere Fancy's sport a theme creative, + A jest, a riddle, Fame through thin and thick sought! + And Socrates himself but Wisdom's Quixote? + + XI. + + Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away; + A single laugh demolished the right arm + Of his own country;--seldom since that day + Has Spain had heroes. While Romance could charm, + The World gave ground before her bright array; + And therefore have his volumes done such harm, + That all their glory, as a composition, + Was dearly purchased by his land's perdition. + + XII. + + I'm "at my old lunes"[657]--digression, and forget + The Lady Adeline Amundeville; + The fair most fatal Juan ever met, + Although she was not evil nor meant ill; + But Destiny and Passion spread the net + (Fate is a good excuse for our own will), + And caught them;--what do they _not_ catch, methinks? + But I'm not Oedipus, and Life's a Sphinx. + + XIII. + + I tell the tale as it is told, nor dare + To venture a solution: "_Davus sum!_"[658] + And now I will proceed upon the pair. + Sweet Adeline, amidst the gay World's hum, + Was the Queen-Bee, the glass of all that's fair; + Whose charms made all men speak, and women dumb. + The last's a miracle, and such was reckoned, + And since that time there has not been a second. + + XIV. + + Chaste was she, to Detraction's desperation, + And wedded unto one she had loved well-- + A man known in the councils of the Nation, + Cool, and quite English, imperturbable, + Though apt to act with fire upon occasion, + Proud of himself and her: the World could tell + Nought against either, and both seemed secure-- + She in her virtue, he in his hauteur. + + XV. + + It chanced some diplomatical relations, + Arising out of business, often brought + Himself and Juan in their mutual stations + Into close contact. Though reserved, nor caught + By specious seeming, Juan's youth, and patience, + And talent, on his haughty spirit wrought, + And formed a basis of esteem, which ends + In making men what Courtesy calls friends. + + XVI. + + And thus Lord Henry, who was cautious as + Reserve and Pride could make him, and full slow + In judging men--when once his judgment was + Determined, right or wrong, on friend or foe, + Had all the pertinacity Pride has, + Which knows no ebb to its imperious flow, + And loves or hates, disdaining to be guided, + Because its own good pleasure hath decided. + + XVII. + + His friendships, therefore, and no less aversions, + Though oft well founded, which confirmed but more + His prepossessions, like the laws of Persians + And Medes, would ne'er revoke what went before. + His feelings had not those strange fits, like tertians, + Of common likings, which make some deplore + What they should laugh at--the mere ague still + Of men's regard, the fever or the chill. + + XVIII. + + "'T is not in mortals to command success:"[659] + But _do you more_, Sempronius--_don't_ deserve it, + And take my word, you won't have any less. + Be wary, watch the time, and always serve it; + Give gently way, when there's too great a press; + And for your conscience, only learn to nerve it; + For, like a racer, or a boxer training, + 'T will make, if proved, vast efforts without paining. + + XIX. + + Lord Henry also liked to be superior, + As most men do, the little or the great; + The very lowest find out an inferior, + At least they think so, to exert their state + Upon: for there are very few things wearier + Than solitary Pride's oppressive weight, + Which mortals generously would divide, + By bidding others carry while they ride. + + XX. + + In birth, in rank, in fortune likewise equal, + O'er Juan he could no distinction claim; + In years he had the advantage of Time's sequel; + And, as he thought, in country much the same-- + Because bold Britons have a tongue and free quill, + At which all modern nations vainly aim; + And the Lord Henry was a great debater, + So that few Members kept the House up later. + + XXI. + + These were advantages: and then he thought-- + It was his foible, but by no means sinister-- + That few or none more than himself had caught + Court mysteries, having been himself a minister: + He liked to teach that which he had been taught, + And greatly shone whenever there had been a stir; + And reconciled all qualities which grace man, + Always a patriot--and, sometimes, a placeman. + + XXII. + + He liked the gentle Spaniard for his gravity; + He almost honoured him for his docility; + Because, though young, he acquiesced with suavity, + Or contradicted but with proud humility. + He knew the World, and would not see depravity + In faults which sometimes show the soil's fertility, + If that the weeds o'erlive not the first crop-- + For then they are very difficult to stop. + + XXIII. + + And then he talked with him about Madrid, + Constantinople, and such distant places; + Where people always did as they were bid, + Or did what they should not with foreign graces. + Of coursers also spake they: Henry rid + Well, like most Englishmen, and loved the races; + And Juan, like a true-born Andalusian, + Could back[660] a horse, as Despots ride a Russian. + + XXIV. + + And thus acquaintance grew, at noble routs, + And diplomatic dinners, or at other-- + For Juan stood well both with Ins and Outs, + As in freemasonry a higher brother. + Upon his talent Henry had no doubts; + His manner showed him sprung from a high mother, + And all men like to show their hospitality + To him whose breeding matches with his quality. + + XXV. + + At Blank-Blank Square;--for we will break no squares[661] + By naming streets: since men are so censorious, + And apt to sow an author's wheat with tares, + Reaping allusions private and inglorious, + Where none were dreamt of, unto Love's affairs, + Which were, or are, or are to be notorious, + That therefore do I previously declare, + Lord Henry's mansion was in Blank-Blank Square. + + XXVI. + + Also there bin[662] another pious reason + For making squares and streets anonymous; + Which is, that there is scarce a single season + Which doth not shake some very splendid house + With some slight heart-quake of domestic treason-- + A topic Scandal doth delight to rouse: + Such I might stumble over unawares, + Unless I knew the very chastest squares. + + XXVII. + + 'T is true, I might have chosen Piccadilly,[663] + A place where peccadillos are unknown; + But I have motives, whether wise or silly, + For letting that pure sanctuary alone. + Therefore I name not square, street, place, until I + Find one where nothing naughty can be shown, + A vestal shrine of Innocence of Heart: + Such are--but I have lost the London Chart. + + XXVIII. + + At Henry's mansion then, in Blank-Blank Square, + Was Juan a _recherche_, welcome guest, + As many other noble scions were; + And some who had but Talent for their crest; + Or Wealth, which is a passport everywhere; + Or even mere Fashion, which indeed's the best + Recommendation; and to be well dressed + Will very often supersede the rest. + + XXIX. + + And since "there's safety in a multitude + Of counsellors," as Solomon has said, + Or some one for him, in some sage, grave mood;-- + Indeed we see the daily proof displayed + In Senates, at the Bar, in wordy feud, + Where'er collective wisdom can parade, + Which is the only cause that we can guess + Of Britain's present wealth and happiness;-- + + XXX. + + But as "there's safety" grafted in the number + "Of counsellors," for men,--thus for the sex + A large acquaintance lets not Virtue slumber; + Or should it shake, the choice will more perplex-- + Variety itself will more encumber.[ly] + 'Midst many rocks we guard more against wrecks-- + And thus with women: howsoe'er it shocks some's + Self-love, there's safety in a crowd of coxcombs. + + XXXI. + + But Adeline had not the least occasion + For such a shield, which leaves but little merit + To Virtue proper, or good education. + Her chief resource was in her own high spirit, + Which judged Mankind at their due estimation; + And for coquetry, she disdained to wear it-- + Secure of admiration: its impression + Was faint--as of an every-day possession. + + XXXII. + + To all she was polite without parade; + To some she showed attention of that kind + Which flatters, but is flattery conveyed + In such a sort as cannot leave behind + A trace unworthy either wife or maid;-- + A gentle, genial courtesy of mind,[lz] + To those who were, or passed for meritorious, + Just to console sad Glory for being glorious; + + XXXIII. + + Which is in all respects, save now and then, + A dull and desolate appendage. Gaze + Upon the shades of those distinguished men + Who were or are the puppet-shows of praise, + The praise of persecution. Gaze again + On the most favoured; and amidst the blaze + Of sunset halos o'er the laurel-browed, + What can ye recognise?--a gilded cloud. + + XXXIV. + + There also was of course in Adeline + That calm patrician polish in the address, + Which ne'er can pass the equinoctial line + Of anything which Nature would express; + Just as a Mandarin finds nothing fine,-- + At least his manner suffers not to guess, + That anything he views can greatly please: + Perhaps we have borrowed this from the Chinese--[ma] + + XXXV. + + Perhaps from Horace: his _"Nil admirari"_ + Was what he called the "Art of Happiness"-- + An art on which the artists greatly vary, + And have not yet attained to much success. + However, 't is expedient to be wary: + Indifference, certes, don't produce distress; + And rash Enthusiasm in good society + Were nothing but a moral inebriety. + + XXXVI. + + But Adeline was not indifferent: for + (_Now_ for a common-place!) beneath the snow, + As a Volcano holds the lava more + Within--_et caetera_. Shall I go on?--No! + I hate to hunt down a tired metaphor, + So let the often-used Volcano go. + Poor thing! How frequently, by me and others, + It hath been stirred up till its smoke quite smothers! + + XXXVII. + + I'll have another figure in a trice:-- + What say you to a bottle of champagne? + Frozen into a very vinous ice, + Which leaves few drops of that immortal rain, + Yet in the very centre, past all price, + About a liquid glassful will remain; + And this is stronger than the strongest grape + Could e'er express in its expanded shape: + + XXXVIII. + + 'T is the whole spirit brought to a quintessence; + And thus the chilliest aspects may concentre + A hidden nectar under a cold presence.[mb] + And such are many--though I only meant her + From whom I now deduce these moral lessons, + On which the Muse has always sought to enter. + And your cold people are beyond all price, + When once you've broken their confounded ice. + + XXXIX. + + But after all they are a North-West Passage + Unto the glowing India of the soul; + And as the good ships sent upon that message + Have not exactly ascertained the Pole + (Though Parry's efforts look a lucky presage),[mc] + Thus gentlemen may run upon a shoal; + For if the Pole's not open, but all frost + (A chance still), 't is a voyage or vessel lost. + + XL. + + And young beginners may as well commence + With quiet cruising o'er the ocean, Woman; + While those who are not beginners should have sense + Enough to make for port, ere Time shall summon + With his grey signal-flag; and the past tense, + The dreary _Fuimus_ of all things human, + Must be declined, while Life's thin thread's spun out + Between the gaping heir and gnawing gout. + + XLI. + + But Heaven must be diverted; its diversion + Is sometimes truculent--but never mind: + The World upon the whole is worth the assertion + (If but for comfort) that all things are kind: + And that same devilish doctrine of the Persian,[664] + Of the "Two Principles," but leaves behind + As many doubts as any other doctrine + Has ever puzzled Faith withal, or yoked her in, + + XLII. + + The English winter--ending in July, + To recommence in August--now was done. + 'T is the postilion's paradise: wheels fly; + On roads, East, South, North, West, there is a run. + But for post-horses who finds sympathy? + Man's pity's for himself, or for his son, + Always premising that said son at college + Has not contracted much more debt than knowledge. + + XLIII. + + The London winter's ended in July-- + Sometimes a little later. I don't err + In this: whatever other blunders lie + Upon my shoulders, here I must aver + My Muse a glass of _Weatherology_; + For Parliament is our barometer: + Let Radicals its other acts attack, + Its sessions form our only almanack. + + XLIV. + + When its quicksilver's down at zero,--lo! + Coach, chariot, luggage, baggage, equipage! + Wheels whirl from Carlton Palace to Soho, + And happiest they who horses can engage; + The turnpikes glow with dust; and Rotten Row + Sleeps from the chivalry of this bright age; + And tradesmen, with long bills and longer faces, + Sigh--as the postboys fasten on the traces. + + XLV. + + They and their bills, "Arcadians both,"[665] are left + To the Greek Kalends of another session. + Alas! to them of ready cash bereft, + What hope remains? Of _hope_ the full possession, + Or generous draft, conceded as a gift, + At a long date--till they can get a fresh one-- + Hawked about at a discount, small or large; + Also the solace of an overcharge. + + XLVI. + + But these are trifles. Downward flies my Lord, + Nodding beside my Lady in his carriage. + Away! away! "Fresh horses!" are the word, + And changed as quickly as hearts after marriage; + The obsequious landlord hath the change restored; + The postboys have no reason to disparage + Their fee; but ere the watered wheels may hiss hence, + The ostler pleads too for a reminiscence. + + XLVII. + + 'T is granted; and the valet mounts the dickey-- + That gentleman of Lords and Gentlemen; + Also my Lady's gentlewoman, tricky, + Tricked out, but modest more than poet's pen + Can paint,--_"Cosi viaggino i Ricchi!"_[666] + (Excuse a foreign slipslop now and then, + If but to show I've travelled: and what's Travel, + Unless it teaches one to quote and cavil?) + + XLVIII. + + The London winter and the country summer + Were well nigh over. 'T is perhaps a pity, + When Nature wears the gown that doth become her, + To lose those best months in a sweaty city, + And wait until the nightingale grows dumber, + Listening debates not very wise or witty, + Ere patriots their true _country_ can remember;-- + But there's no shooting (save grouse) till September. + + XLIX. + + I've done with my tirade. The World was gone; + The twice two thousand, for whom Earth was made, + Were vanished to be what they call alone-- + That is, with thirty servants for parade, + As many guests, or more; before whom groan + As many covers, duly, daily laid. + Let none accuse old England's hospitality-- + Its quantity is but condensed to quality. + + L. + + Lord Henry and the Lady Adeline + Departed like the rest of their compeers, + The peerage, to a mansion very fine; + The Gothic Babel of a thousand years. + None than themselves could boast a longer line, + Where Time through heroes and through beauties steers; + And oaks as olden as their pedigree + Told of their Sires--a tomb in every tree. + + LI. + + A paragraph in every paper told + Of their departure--such is modern fame: + 'T is pity that it takes no further hold + Than an advertisement, or much the same; + When, ere the ink be dry, the sound grows cold. + The Morning Post was foremost to proclaim-- + "Departure, for his country seat, to-day, + Lord H. Amundeville and Lady A. + + LII. + + "We understand the splendid host intends[md] + To entertain, this autumn, a select + And numerous party of his noble friends; + 'Midst whom we have heard, from sources quite correct, + The Duke of D---- the shooting season spends, + With many more by rank and fashion decked; + Also a foreigner of high condition, + The envoy of the secret Russian mission." + + LIII. + + And thus we see--who doubts the Morning Post? + (Whose articles are like the "Thirty-nine," + Which those most swear to who believe them most)-- + Our gay Russ Spaniard was ordained to shine, + Decked by the rays reflected from his host, + With those who, Pope says, "greatly daring dine."--[667] + 'T is odd, but true,--last war the News abounded + More with these dinners than the killed or wounded;-- + + LIV. + + As thus: "On Thursday there was a grand dinner; + Present, Lords A.B.C."--- Earls, dukes, by name + Announced with no less pomp than Victory's winner: + Then underneath, and in the very same + Column: date, "Falmouth. There has lately been here + The Slap-dash regiment, so well known to Fame, + Whose loss in the late action we regret: + The vacancies are filled up--see Gazette." + + LV. + + To Norman Abbey[668] whirled the noble pair,-- + An old, old Monastery once, and now + Still older mansion--of a rich and rare + Mixed Gothic, such as artists all allow + Few specimens yet left us can compare + Withal: it lies, perhaps, a little low, + Because the monks preferred a hill behind, + To shelter their devotion from the wind. + + LVI. + + It stood embosomed in a happy valley, + Crowned by high woodlands, where the Druid oak[669] + Stood like Caractacus, in act to rally + His host, with broad arms 'gainst the thunder-stroke; + And from beneath his boughs were seen to sally + The dappled foresters; as Day awoke, + The branching stag swept down with all his herd, + To quaff a brook which murmured like a bird. + + LVII. + + Before the mansion lay a lucid Lake,[670] + Broad as transparent, deep, and freshly fed + By a river, which its softened way did take + In currents through the calmer water spread + Around: the wildfowl nestled in the brake + And sedges, brooding in their liquid bed: + The woods[671] sloped downwards to its brink, and stood + With their green faces fixed upon the flood. + + LVIII. + + Its outlet dashed into a deep cascade, + Sparkling with foam, until again subsiding, + Its shriller echoes--like an infant made[me] + Quiet--sank into softer ripples, gliding + Into a rivulet; and thus allayed, + Pursued its course, now gleaming, and now hiding + Its windings through the woods; now clear, now blue, + According as the skies their shadows threw. + + LIX. + + A glorious remnant of the Gothic pile + (While yet the Church was Rome's) stood half apart + In a grand Arch, which once screened many an aisle. + These last had disappeared--a loss to Art: + The first yet frowned superbly o'er the soil, + And kindled feelings in the roughest heart, + Which mourned the power of Time's or Tempest's march, + In gazing on that venerable Arch.[mf] + + LX. + + Within a niche, nigh to its pinnacle, + Twelve Saints had once stood sanctified in stone; + But these had fallen, not when the friars fell, + But in the war which struck Charles from his throne, + When each house was a fortalice--as tell + The annals of full many a line undone,-- + The gallant Cavaliers,[672] who fought in vain + For those who knew not to resign or reign. + + LXI. + + But in a higher niche, alone, but crowned, + The Virgin-Mother of the God-born Child, + With her Son in her blessed arms, looked round, + Spared by some chance when all beside was spoiled: + She made the earth below seem holy ground. + This may be superstition, weak or wild; + But even the faintest relics of a shrine + Of any worship wake some thoughts divine. + + LXII. + + A mighty window, hollow in the centre, + Shorn of its glass of thousand colourings, + Through which the deepened glories once could enter, + Streaming from off the Sun like Seraph's wings, + Now yawns all desolate: now loud, now fainter, + The gale sweeps through its fretwork, and oft sings + The owl his anthem, where the silenced quire + Lie with their Hallelujahs quenched like fire. + + LXIII. + + But in the noontide of the moon, and when[mg] + The wind is winged from one point of heaven, + There moans a strange unearthly sound, which then + Is musical--a dying accent driven + Through the huge Arch, which soars and sinks again. + Some deem it but the distant echo given + Back to the night wind by the waterfall, + And harmonised by the old choral wall: + + LXIV. + + Others, that some original shape, or form + Shaped by decay perchance, hath given the power + (Though less than that of Memnon's statue,[673] warm + In Egypt's rays, to harp at a fixed hour) + To this grey ruin: with a voice to charm, + Sad, but serene, it sweeps o'er tree or tower; + The cause I know not, nor can solve; but such + The fact:--I've heard it,--once perhaps too much.[674] + + LXV. + + Amidst the court a Gothic fountain played, + Symmetrical, but decked with carvings quaint-- + Strange faces, like to men in masquerade, + And here perhaps a monster, there a saint: + The spring gushed through grim mouths of granite made, + And sparkled into basins, where it spent + Its little torrent in a thousand bubbles, + Like man's vain Glory, and his vainer troubles. + + LXVI. + + The Mansion's self was vast and venerable, + With more of the monastic than has been + Elsewhere preserved: the cloisters still were stable, + The cells, too, and Refectory, I ween: + An exquisite small chapel had been able, + Still unimpaired, to decorate the scene; + The rest had been reformed, replaced, or sunk, + And spoke more of the baron than the monk. + + LXVII. + + Huge halls, long galleries, spacious chambers, joined + By no quite lawful marriage of the arts, + Might shock a connoisseur; but when combined, + Formed a whole which, irregular in parts, + Yet left a grand impression on the mind, + At least of those whose eyes are in their hearts: + We gaze upon a giant for his stature, + Nor judge at first if all be true to nature. + + LXVIII. + + Steel Barons, molten the next generation + To silken rows of gay and gartered Earls, + Glanced from the walls in goodly preservation: + And Lady Marys blooming into girls, + With fair long locks, had also kept their station: + And Countesses mature in robes and pearls: + Also some beauties of Sir Peter Lely, + Whose drapery hints we may admire them freely. + + LXIX. + + Judges in very formidable ermine + Were there, with brows that did not much invite + The accused to think their lordships would determine + His cause by leaning much from might to right: + Bishops, who had not left a single sermon; + Attorneys-general, awful to the sight, + As hinting more (unless our judgments warp us) + Of the "Star Chamber" than of "Habeas Corpus." + + LXX. + + Generals, some all in armour, of the old + And iron time, ere lead had ta'en the lead; + Others in wigs of Marlborough's martial fold, + Huger than twelve of our degenerate breed:[mh] + Lordlings, with staves of white or keys of gold: + Nimrods, whose canvas scarce contained the steed; + And, here and there, some stern high patriot stood, + Who could not get the place for which he sued. + + LXXI. + + But ever and anon, to soothe your vision, + Fatigued with these hereditary glories, + There rose a Carlo Dolce or a Titian, + Or wilder group of savage Salvatore's:[675] + Here danced Albano's boys, and here the sea shone + In Vernet's ocean lights; and there the stories + Of martyrs awed, as Spagnoletto tainted + His brush with all the blood of all the sainted. + + LXXII. + + Here sweetly spread a landscape of Lorraine; + There Rembrandt made his darkness equal light, + Or gloomy Caravaggio's gloomier stain + Bronzed o'er some lean and stoic anchorite:-- + But, lo! a Teniers woos, and not in vain, + Your eyes to revel in a livelier sight: + His bell-mouthed goblet makes me feel quite Danish[676] + Or Dutch with thirst--What, ho! a flask of Rhenish.[mi] + + LXXIII. + + Oh, reader! if that thou canst read,--and know, + 'T is not enough to spell, or even to read, + To constitute a reader--there must go + Virtues of which both you and I have need;-- + Firstly, begin with the beginning--(though + That clause is hard); and secondly, proceed: + Thirdly, commence not with the end--or, sinning + In this sort, end at last with the beginning. + + LXXIV. + + But, reader, thou hast patient been of late, + While I, without remorse of rhyme, or fear, + Have built and laid out ground at such a rate, + Dan Phoebus takes me for an auctioneer. + That Poets were so from their earliest date, + By Homer's "Catalogue of ships" is clear; + But a mere modern must be moderate-- + I spare you then the furniture and plate. + + LXXV. + + The mellow Autumn came, and with it came + The promised party, to enjoy its sweets. + The corn is cut, the manor full of game; + The pointer ranges, and the sportsman beats + In russet jacket:--lynx-like in his aim; + Full grows his bag, and wonder_ful_ his feats. + Ah, nutbrown partridges! Ah, brilliant pheasants! + And ah, ye poachers!--'T is no sport for peasants. + + LXXVI. + + An English Autumn, though it hath no vines, + Blushing with Bacchant coronals along + The paths o'er which the far festoon entwines + The red grape in the sunny lands of song, + Hath yet a purchased choice of choicest wines;[mj] + The Claret light, and the Madeira strong. + If Britain mourn her bleakness, we can tell her, + The very best of vineyards is the cellar. + + LXXVII. + + Then, if she hath not that serene decline + Which makes the southern Autumn's day appear + As if 't would to a second Spring resign + The season, rather than to Winter drear,-- + Of in-door comforts still she hath a mine,-- + The sea-coal fires,[677] the "earliest of the year;"[678] + Without doors, too, she may compete in mellow, + As what is lost in green is gained in yellow. + + LXXVIII. + + And for the effeminate _villeggialura_-- + Rife with more horns than hounds--she hath the chase, + So animated that it might allure a + Saint from his beads to join the jocund race: + Even Nimrod's self might leave the plains of Dura,[679] + And wear the Melton jacket for a space: + If she hath no wild boars, she hath a tame + Preserve of bores, who ought to be made game.[mk] + + LXXIX. + + The noble guests,[680] assembled at the Abbey, + Consisted of--we give the sex the _pas_-- + The Duchess of Fitz-Fulke; the Countess Crabby;[ml][681] + The Ladies Scilly, Busey;--Miss Eclat, + Miss Bombazeen, Miss Mackstay, Miss O'Tabby, + And Mrs. Rabbi,[682] the rich banker's squaw; + Also the honourable Mrs. Sleep, + Who looked a white lamb, yet was a black sheep: + + LXXX. + + With other Countesses of Blank--but rank; + At once the "lie"[683] and the _elite_ of crowds; + Who pass like water filtered in a tank, + All purged and pious from their native clouds; + Or paper turned to money by the Bank: + No matter how or why, the passport shrouds + The _passee_ and the past; for good society + Is no less famed for tolerance than piety,-- + + LXXXI. + + That is, up to a certain point; which point + Forms the most difficult in punctuation. + Appearances appear to form the joint + On which it hinges in a higher station; + And so that no explosion cry "Aroint + Thee, witch!"[684] or each Medea has her Jason; + Or (to the point with Horace and with Pulci)[mm] + _"Omne tulit punctum,_ quae _miscuit utile dulci."_[685] + + LXXXII. + + I can't exactly trace their rule of right, + Which hath a little leaning to a lottery. + I've seen a virtuous woman put down quite + By the mere combination of a coterie; + Also a so-so matron boldly fight + Her way back to the world by dint of plottery,[mn] + And shine the very _Siria_,[686] of the spheres, + Escaping with a few slight, scarless sneers. + + LXXXIII. + + I have seen more than I'll say:--but we will see[mo] + How _our "villeggiatura"_ will get on. + The party might consist of thirty-three + Of highest caste--the Brahmins of the _ton_. + I have named a few, not foremost in degree, + But ta'en at hazard as the rhyme may run. + By way of sprinkling, scattered amongst these, + There also were some Irish absentees. + + LXXXIV. + + There was Parolles,[687] too, the legal bully,[mp] + Who limits all his battles to the Bar + And Senate: when invited elsewhere, truly, + He shows more appetite for words than war. + There was the young bard Rackrhyme, who had newly + Come out and glimmered as a six weeks' star. + There was Lord Pyrrho, too, the great freethinker; + And Sir John Pottledeep, the mighty drinker. + + LXXXV. + + There was the Duke of Dash,[688] who was a--duke, + "Aye, every inch a" duke; there were twelve peers + Like Charlemagne's--and all such peers in _look_ + And _intellect_, that neither eyes nor ears + For commoners had ever them mistook. + There were the six Miss Rawbolds--pretty dears! + All song and sentiment; whose hearts were set + Less on a convent than a coronet. + + LXXXVI. + + There were four Honourable Misters, whose + Honour was more before their names than after; + There was the _preux Chevalier de la Ruse_,[689] + Whom France and Fortune lately deigned to waft here, + Whose chiefly harmless talent was to amuse; + But the clubs found it rather serious laughter, + Because--such was his magic power to please-- + The dice seemed charmed, too, with his repartees. + + LXXXVII. + + There was Dick Dubious,[690] the metaphysician, + Who loved philosophy and a good dinner; + Angle, the _soi-disant_ mathematician; + Sir Henry Silvercup, the great race-winner. + There was the Reverend Rodomont Precisian, + Who did not hate so much the sin as sinner: + And Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantagenet, + Good at all things, but better at a bet. + + LXXXVIII. + + There was Jack Jargon, the gigantic guardsman;[691] + And General Fireface,[692] famous in the field, + A great tactician, and no less a swordsman, + Who ate, last war, more Yankees than he killed. + There was the waggish Welsh Judge, Jefferies Hardsman, + In his grave office so completely skilled, + That when a culprit came for condemnation, + He had his Judge's joke for consolation.[693] + + LXXXIX. + + Good company's a chess-board--there are kings, + Queens, bishops, knights, rooks, pawns; the World's a game; + Save that the puppets pull at their own strings, + Methinks gay Punch hath something of the same. + My Muse, the butterfly hath but her wings, + Not stings, and flits through ether without aim, + Alighting rarely:--were she but a hornet, + Perhaps there might be vices which would mourn it. + + XC. + + I had forgotten--but must not forget-- + An orator, the latest of the session, + Who had delivered well a very set + Smooth speech, his first and maidenly transgression + Upon debate: the papers echoed yet + With his _debut_, which made a strong impression, + And ranked with what is every day displayed-- + "The best first speech that ever yet was made." + + XCI. + + Proud of his "Hear hims!" proud, too, of his vote, + And lost virginity of oratory, + Proud of his learning (just enough to quote), + He revelled in his Ciceronian glory: + With memory excellent to get by rote, + With wit to hatch a pun or tell a story, + Graced with some merit, and with more effrontery,[mq] + "His country's pride," he came down to the country. + + XCII. + + There also were two wits by acclamation, + Longbow from Ireland,[694] Strongbow from the Tweed[695]--Both + lawyers and both men of education-- + But Strongbow's wit was of more polished breed; + Longbow was rich in an imagination + As beautiful and bounding as a steed, + But sometimes stumbling over a potato,-- + While Strongbow's best things might have come from Cato. + + XCIII. + + Strongbow was like a new-tuned harpsichord; + But Longbow wild as an AEolian harp, + With which the Winds of heaven can claim accord, + And make a music, whether flat or sharp. + Of Strongbow's talk you would not change a word: + At Longbow's phrases you might sometimes carp: + Both wits--one born so, and the other bred-- + This by his heart--his rival by his head. + + XCIV. + + If all these seem an heterogeneous mass + To be assembled at a country seat, + Yet think, a specimen of every class + Is better than a humdrum tete-a-tete. + The days of Comedy are gone, alas! + When Congreve's fool could vie with Moliere's _bete_: + Society is smoothed to that excess, + That manners hardly differ more than dress. + + XCV. + + Our ridicules are kept in the back-ground-- + Ridiculous enough, but also dull; + Professions, too, are no more to be found + Professional; and there is nought to cull[mr] + Of Folly's fruit; for though your fools abound, + They're barren, and not worth the pains to pull. + Society is now one polished horde, + Formed of two mighty tribes, the _Bores_ and _Bored_. + + XCVI. + + But from being farmers, we turn gleaners, gleaning + The scanty but right-well threshed ears of Truth; + And, gentle reader! when you gather meaning, + You may be Boaz, and I--modest Ruth. + Further I'd quote, but Scripture intervening + Forbids. A great impression in my youth + Was made by Mrs. Adams, where she cries, + "That Scriptures out of church are blasphemies."[696] + + XCVII. + + But what we can we glean in this vile age[ms] + Of chaff, although our gleanings be not grist. + I must not quite omit the talking sage, + Kit-Cat, the famous Conversationist,[697] + Who, in his common-place book, had a page + Prepared each morn for evenings. "List, oh list!" + "Alas, poor ghost!"[698]--What unexpected woes + Await those who have studied their _bons-mots!_ + + XCVIII. + + Firstly, they must allure the conversation, + By many windings to their clever clinch; + And secondly, must let slip no occasion, + Nor _bate_ (abate) their hearers of an _inch_,[mt] + But take an ell--and make a great sensation, + If possible; and thirdly, never flinch + When some smart talker puts them to the test, + But seize the last word, which no doubt's the best. + + XCIX. + + Lord Henry and his lady were the hosts; + The party we have touched on were the guests. + Their table was a board to tempt even ghosts + To pass the Styx for more substantial feasts. + I will not dwell upon _ragouts_ or roasts, + Albeit all human history attests + That happiness for Man--the hungry sinner!-- + Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner. + + C. + + Witness the lands which "flowed with milk and honey," + Held out unto the hungry Israelites: + To this we have added since, the love of money, + The only sort of pleasure which requites. + Youth fades, and leaves our days no longer sunny; + We tire of mistresses and parasites; + But oh, ambrosial cash! Ah! who would lose thee? + When we no more can use, or even abuse thee! + + CI. + + The gentlemen got up betimes to shoot, + Or hunt: the young, because they liked the sport-- + The first thing boys like after play and fruit; + The middle-aged, to make the day more short; + For _ennui_[699] is a growth of English root, + Though nameless in our language:--we retort + The fact for words, and let the French translate + That awful yawn which sleep can not abate. + + CII. + + The elderly walked through the library, + And tumbled books, or criticised the pictures, + Or sauntered through the gardens piteously, + And made upon the hot-house several strictures, + Or rode a nag which trotted not too high, + Or on the morning papers read their lectures, + Or on the watch their longing eyes would fix, + Longing at sixty for the hour of six. + + CIII. + + But none were _gene_: the great hour of union + Was rung by dinner's knell; till then all were + Masters of their own time--or in communion, + Or solitary, as they chose to bear + The hours, which how to pass is but to few known. + Each rose up at his own, and had to spare + What time he chose for dress, and broke his fast + When, where, and how he chose for that repast. + + CIV. + + The ladies--some rouged, some a little pale-- + Met the morn as they might. If fine, they rode, + Or walked; if foul, they read, or told a tale, + Sung, or rehearsed the last dance from abroad; + Discussed the fashion which might next prevail, + And settled bonnets by the newest code, + Or crammed twelve sheets into one little letter, + To make each correspondent a new debtor. + + CV. + + For some had absent lovers, all had friends; + The earth has nothing like a she epistle, + And hardly Heaven--because it never ends-- + I love the mystery of a female missal, + Which, like a creed, ne'er says all it intends, + But full of cunning as Ulysses' whistle,[mu] + When he allured poor Dolon:[700]--you had better + Take care what you reply to such a letter. + + CVI. + + Then there were billiards; cards, too, but _no_ dice;-- + Save in the clubs no man of honour plays;-- + Boats when 't was water, skating when 't was ice, + And the hard frost destroyed the scenting days: + And angling, too, that solitary vice, + Whatever Izaak Walton sings or says: + The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet + Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.[701] + + CVII. + + With evening came the banquet and the wine; + The conversazione--the duet + Attuned by voices more or less divine + (My heart or head aches with the memory yet). + The four Miss Rawbolds in a glee would shine; + But the two youngest loved more to be set + Down to the harp--because to Music's charms + They added graceful necks, white hands and arms. + + CVIII. + + Sometimes a dance (though rarely on field days, + For then the gentlemen were rather tired) + Displayed some sylph-like figures in its maze; + Then there was small-talk ready when required; + Flirtation--but decorous; the mere praise + Of charms that should or should not be admired. + The hunters fought their fox-hunt o'er again, + And then retreated soberly--at ten. + + CIX. + + The politicians, in a nook apart, + Discussed the World, and settled all the spheres: + The wits watched every loophole for their art, + To introduce a _bon-mot_ head and ears; + Small is the rest of those who would be smart, + A moment's good thing may have cost them years + Before they find an hour to introduce it; + And then, even _then_, some bore may make them lose it. + + CX. + + But all was gentle and aristocratic + In this our party; polished, smooth, and cold, + As Phidian forms cut out of marble Attic. + There now are no Squire Westerns, as of old; + And our Sophias are not so emphatic, + But fair as then, or fairer to behold: + We have no accomplished blackguards, like Tom Jones, + But gentlemen in stays, as stiff as stones. + + CXI. + + They separated at an early hour; + That is, ere midnight--which is London's noon: + But in the country ladies seek their bower + A little earlier than the waning moon. + Peace to the slumbers of each folded flower-- + May the rose call back its true colour soon! + Good hours of fair cheeks are the fairest tinters, + And lower the price of rouge--at least some winters.[702] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[653] Fy. 12^th^ 1823. + +{482}[654] [The allusion is to the refrain of Canning's verses on Pitt, +"The Pilot that weathered the storm." Compare, too, "The daring pilot in +extremity" (i.e. the Earl of Shaftesbury), who "sought the storms" +(Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_, lines 159-161).] + +[655] [Johnson loved "dear, dear Bathurst," because he was "a very good +hater."--See Boswell's _Johnson_, 1876, p. 78 (Croker's _footnote_).] + +{483}[656] [So, too, Charles Kingsley, in _Westward Ho!_ ii. 299, 300, +calls _Don Quixote_ "the saddest of books in spite of all its +wit."--_Notes and Queries_, Second Series, iii. 124.] + +[lx] _By that great Epic_----.--[MS.] + +{484}[657] ["Your husband is in his old lunes again." _Merry Wives of +Windsor_, act iv. sc. 2, lines 16, 17.] + +[658] ["Davus sum, non Oedipus." Terence, _Andria,_ act i. sc. 2, line +23.] + +{485}[659] + + ["'T is not in mortals to command success, + But we'll do more, Sempronius--we'll deserve it." + +Addison's _Cato_, act i. sc. 2, ed. 1777, ii. 77.] + +{487}[660] [Compare--"The colt that's backed and burthened being young." +_Venus and Adonis_, lxx. line 5.] + +[661] [To "break square," or "squares," is to interrupt the regular +order, as in the proverbial phrase, "It breaks no squares," i.e. does no +harm--does not matter. Compare Sterne, _Tristram Shandy_ (1802), ii. v. +152, "This fault in Trim _broke no squares_ with them" (_N. Engl. +Dict._, art. "Break," No. 46). The origin of the phrase is uncertain, +but it may, perhaps, refer to military tactics. Shakespeare (_Henry V._, +act iv. sc. 2, line 28) speaks of "squares of battle."] + +[662] + + "With every thing that pretty _bin_, + My lady sweet, arise." +_Cymbeline_, act ii. sc. 3, lines, 25, 26. + +[So Warburton and Hanmer. The folio reads "that pretty is." See Knight's +_Shakespeare_, Pictorial Edition, _Tragedies_, i. 203.] + +{488}[663] [The house which Byron occupied, 1815-1816, No. 13, +Piccadilly Terrace, was the property of Elizabeth, Duchess of +Devonshire.] + +{489}[ly] + _The slightest obstacle which may encumber + The path downhill is something grand_.--[MS. erased.] + +[lz] _Not even in fools who howsoever blind_.--[MS. erased.] + +{490}[ma] + _That anything is new to a Chinese; + And such is Europe's fashionable ease_.--[MS. erased.] + +{491}[mb] _A hidden wine beneath an icy presence_.--[MS. erased.] + +[mc] _Though this we hope has been reserved for this age_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[664] ["For the creed of Zoroaster," see Sir Walter Scott, _Letters on +Demonology and Witchcraft_, 1830, pp. 87, 88. (See, too, _Cain_, act ii. +sc. 2, line 404, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 254, note 2.)] + +{492}[665] "Arcades ambo." [Virgil, _Bucol._, Ecl. vii. 4.] + +{493}[666] [So travel the rich.] + +{494}[md] _--the noble host intends_.--[MS. erased.] + +[667] ["Judicious drank, and greatly-daring dined." Pope, _Dunciad_, iv. +318.] + +{495}[668] [Byron's description of the place of his inheritance, which +was to know him no more, is sketched from memory, but it unites the +charm of a picture with the accuracy of a ground-plan. Eight years had +gone by since he had looked his last on "venerable arch" and "lucid +lake" (see "Epistle to Augusta," stanza viii. lines 7, 8), but he had +not forgotten, he could not forget, that enchanted and enchanting scene. + +Newstead Abbey or Priory was founded by Henry II., by way of deodand or +expiation for the murder of Thomas Becket. Lands which bordered the +valley of the Leen, and which had formed part of Sherwood Forest, were +assigned for the use and endowment of a chapter of "black canons regular +of the order of St. Augustine," and on a site, by the river-side to the +south of the forest uplands (stanza lv. lines 5-8) the new stede, or +place, or station, arose. It was a "Norman Abbey" (stanza lv. line 1) +which the Black Canons dedicated to Our Lady, and, here and there, in +the cloisters, traces of Norman architecture remain, but the enlargement +and completion of the monastery was carried out in successive stages and +"transition periods," in a style or styles which, perhaps, more by hap +than by cunning, Byron rightly named "mixed Gothic" (stanza lv. line 4). +To work their mills, and perhaps to drain the marshy valley, the monks +dammed the Leen and excavated a chain of lakes--the largest to the +north-west, Byron's "lucid lake;" a second to the south of the Abbey; +and a third, now surrounded with woods, and overlooked by the "wicked +lord's" "ragged rock" below the Abbey, half a mile to the south-east. +The "cascade," which flows over and through a stone-work sluice, and +forms a rocky water-fall, issues from the upper lake, and is in full +view of the west front of the Abbey. Almost at right angles to these +lakes are three ponds: the Forest Pond to the north of the stone wall, +which divides the garden from the forest; the square "Eagle" Pond in the +Monks' Garden; and the narrow stew-pond, bordered on either side with +overhanging yews, which drains into the second or Garden Lake. Byron +does not enlarge on this double chain of lakes and ponds, and, perhaps +for the sake of pictorial unity, converts the second (if a second then +existed) and third lakes into a river. + +The Abbey, which, at the dissolution of monasteries in 1539, was handed +over by Henry VIII. to Sir John Byron, "steward and warden of the forest +of Shirewood," was converted, here and there, more or less, into a +baronial "mansion" (stanza lxvi.). It is, roughly speaking, a square +block of buildings, flanking the sides of a grassy quadrangle. +Surrounding the quadrangle are two-storied cloisters, and in the centre +a "Gothic fountain" (stanza lxv. line 1) of composite workmanship. The +upper portion of the stonework is hexagonal, and is ornamented with a +double row of gargoyles (all "monsters" and no "saints," recalling, +perhaps identical with, the "seven deadly sins" gargoyles, still _in +situ_ in the quadrangle of Magdalen College, Oxford); the lower half, +which belongs to the seventeenth or eighteenth century, is hollowed into +niches of a Roman or classical design. (In Byron's time the fountain +stood in a courtyard in front of the Abbey, but before he composed this +canto it had been restored by Colonel Wildman to its original place +within the quadrangle. Byron was acquainted with the change, and writes +accordingly.) When the Byrons took possession of the Abbey the upper +stories of the cloisters were converted, on three sides of the +quadrangle, into galleries, and on the fourth, the north side, into a +library. Abutting on the cloisters are the monastic buildings proper, in +part transformed, but with "much of the monastic" preserved. On the +west, the front of the Abbey, the ground floor consists of the entrance +hall and Monks' Parlour, and, above, the Guests' Refectory or +Banqueting-hall, and the Prior's Parlour. On the south, the Xenodochium +or Guesten Hall, and, above, the Monks' Refectory, or Grand +Drawing-room; on the south and east, on the ground floor, the Prior's +Lodgings, the Chapter House ("the exquisite small chapel," stanza lxvi. +line 5), the "slype" or passage between church and Chapter House; and in +the upper story, the state bedrooms, named after the kings, Edward III., +Henry VII., etc., who, by the terms of the grant of land to the Prior +and Canons, were entitled to free quarters in the Abbey. During Byron's +brief tenure of Newstead, and for long years before, these "huge halls, +long galleries, and spacious chambers" (stanza lxxvii. line 1) were half +dismantled, and in a more or less ruinous condition. A few pictures +remained on the walls of the Great Drawing-room, of the Prior's Parlour, +and in the apartments of the south-east wing or annexe, which dates from +the seventeenth century (see the account of a visit to Newstead in 1812, +in _Beauties of England and Wales_, 1813, xii. 401-405). There are and +were portraits, by Lely (stanza lxviii. line 7), of a Lady Byron, of +Fanny Jennings, Duchess of Tyrconnel, "loveliness personified," of Mrs. +Hughes, and of Nell Gwynne; by Sir Godfrey Kneller, of William and Mary; +by unnamed artists, of George I. and George II.; and by Ramsay, of +George III. There are portraits of a fat Prior, William Sandall, with a +jewelled reliquary; of "Sir John the Little with the Great Beard," who +ruled in the Prior's stead; and there is the portrait, a votive tablet +of penitence and remorse, "of that Lord Arundel Who struck in heat the +child he loved so well" (see "A Picture at Newstead," by Matthew Arnold, +_Poetical Works_, 1890, p. 177); but of portraits of judges or bishops, +or of pictures by old masters, there is neither trace nor record. + +But the characteristic feature of Newstead Abbey, so familiar that +description seems unnecessary, and, yet, never quite accurately +described, is the west front of the Priory Church, which is in line with +the west front of the Abbey. "Half apart," the southern portion of this +front, which abuts on the windows of the Prior's Parlour, and the room +above, where Byron slept, flanks and conceals the west end of the north +cloisters and library; but, with this exception, it is a screen, and +nothing more. In the centre is the "mighty window" (stanza lxii. line +1), shorn of glass and tracery; above are six lancet windows (which +Byron seems to have regarded as niches), and, above again, in a "higher +niche" (stanza lxi. line 1), is the crowned Virgin with the Babe in her +arms, which escaped, as by a miracle, the "fiery darts"--the shot and +cannon-balls of the Cromwellian troopers. On either side of the central +window are "two blank windows containing tracery ['geometrical +decorated'] ... carved [in relief] on the solid ashlar;" on either side +of the window, and at the northern and southern extremities of the +front, are buttresses with canopied niches, in each of which a saint or +apostle must once have stood. Over the west door there is the mutilated +figure of (?) the Saviour, but of twelve saints or twelve niches there +is no trace. The "grand arch" is an ivy-clad screen, and nothing more. +Behind and beyond, in place of vanished nave, of aisle and transept, is +the smooth green turf; and at the east end, on the site of the high +altar, stands the urn-crowned masonry of Boatswain's tomb. + +Newstead Abbey was sold by Lord Byron to his old schoolfellow, Colonel +Thomas Wildman, in November, 1817. The house and property were resold in +1861, by his widow, to William Frederick Webb, Esq., a traveller in many +lands, the friend and host of David Livingstone. At his death the estate +was inherited by his daughter, Miss Geraldine Webb, who was married to +General Sir Herbert Charles Chermside, G.C.M.G., etc., Governor of +Queensland, in 1899. + +For Newstead Abbey, see _Beauties of England and Wales_, 1813, xii. Part +I. 401-405 (often reprinted without acknowledgment); _Abbotsford and +Newstead Abbey_, by Washington Irving, 1835; _Journal of the +Archaeological Association_ (papers by T.J. Pettigrew, F.R.S., and +Arthur Ashpitel, F.S.A.), 1854, vol. ix. pp. 14-39; and _A Souvenir of +Newstead Abbey_ (illustrated by a series of admirable photographs), by +Richard Allen, Nottingham, 1874, etc., etc.] + +{497}[669] [The woodlands were sacrificed to the needs or fancies of +Byron's great-uncle, the "wicked Lord." One splendid oak, known as the +"Pilgrim's Oak," which stood and stands near the north lodge of the +park, near the "Hut," was bought in by the neighbouring gentry, and made +over to the estate. Perhaps by the Druid oak Byron meant to celebrate +this "last of the clan," which, in his day, before the woods were +replanted, must have stood out in solitary grandeur.] + +{498}[670] [Compare "Epistle to Augusta," stanza x. line 1, _Poetical +Works_, 1901, iv. 68.] + +[671] [The little wood which Byron planted at the south-east corner of +the upper or "Stable" Lake, known as "Poet's Corner," still slopes to +the water's brink. Nor have the wild-fowl diminished. The lower of the +three lakes is specially reserved as a breeding-place.] + +[me] _Its shriller echo_----.--[MS.] + +[mf] + _Which sympathized with Time's and Tempest's march, + In gazing on that high and haughty Arch_.--[MS.] + +{499}[672] [See lines "On Leaving Newstead Abbey," stanza 5, _Poetical +Works_, 1898, i. 3, note 1.] + +[mg] _But in the stillness of the moon_----.--[MS.] + +{500}[673] [Vide ante, _The Deformed Transformed_, Part I. line 532, +_Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 497.] + +[674] This is not a frolic invention: it is useless to specify the spot, +or in what county, but I have heard it both alone and in company with +those who will never hear it more. It can, of course, be accounted for +by some natural or accidental cause, but it was a strange sound, and +unlike any other I have ever heard (and I have heard many above and +below the surface of the earth produced in ruins, etc., etc., or +caverns).--[MS.] + +["The unearthly sound" may still be heard at rare intervals, but it is +difficult to believe that the "huge arch" can act as an AEolian harp. +Perhaps the smaller lancet windows may vocalize the wind.] + +{501}[mh] _Prouder of such a toy than of their breed_.--[MS. erased.] + +{502}[675] Salvator Rosa. The wicked necessity of rhyming obliges me to +adapt the name to the verse.--[MS.] + +[Compare-- + + "Whate'er Lorraine light touch'd with softening hue, + Or _savage_ Rosa dash'd, or learned Poussin drew." +Thomson's _Castle of Indolence_, Canto I. stanza xxxviii. lines 8, 9.] + +[676] If I err not, "your Dane" is one of Iago's catalogue of nations +"exquisite in their drinking." + +["Your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander--drink hoa! +are nothing to your English." "Is your Englishman so exquisite in his +drinking?" (So Collier and Knight. The Quarto reads +"expert").--_Othello_, act ii. sc. 3, lines 71-74.] + +[mi] + _His bell-mouthed goblet--and his laughing group + Provoke my thirst--what ho! a flask of Rhenish_.--[MS. erased.] + +{503}[mj] _Hath yet at night the very best of wines._--[MS.] + +[677] ["Sea-coal" (i.e. Newcastle coal), as distinguished from +"charcoal" and "earth-coal." But the qualification must have been +unusual and old-fashioned in 1822. "Earth-coal" is found in large +quantities on the Newstead estate, and the Abbey, far below its +foundations, is tunnelled by a coal-drift.] + +[678] [See Gray's _omitted_ stanza-- + + "'Here scatter'd oft, _the earliest_ of the year, + By hands unseen, are showers of violets found; + The red-breast loves to build and warble here, + And little footsteps lightly print the ground.' + +As fine ... as any in his Elegy. I wonder that he could have the heart +to omit it."--"Extracts from a Diary," February 27, 1821, _Letters_, +1901, v. 210. The stanza originally preceded the Epitaph.] + +{504}[679] In Assyria. [See _Daniel_ iii. 1.] + +[mk] + ---- _she hath the tame + Preserved within doors--why not make them Game?_--[MS.] + +[680] [It is difficult, if not impossible, to furnish a clue to the +names of all the guests at Norman Abbey. Some who are included in this +ghostly "house-party" seem to be, and, perhaps, were meant to be, +_nomina umbrarum_; and others are, undoubtedly, contemporary +celebrities, under a more or less transparent disguise. A few of these +shadows have been substantiated (vide infra, et post), but the greater +part decline to be materialized or verified.] + +[ml]---- _the Countess Squabby._--[MS.] + +[681] [Perhaps Mary, widow of the eighth Earl of Cork and Orrery: +"Dowager Cork," "Old Corky," of Joseph Jekyll's _Correspondence_, 1894, +pp. 83, 275.] + +[682] [Mrs. Rabbi may be Mrs. Coutts, the Mrs. Million of _Vivian Grey_ +(1826, i. 183), who arrived at "Chateau Desir in a crimson silk pelisse, +hat and feathers, with diamond ear-rings, and a rope of gold round her +neck."] + +{505}[683] [Lie, lye, or ley, is a solution of potassium salts obtained +by bleaching wood-ashes. Byron seems to have confused "lie" with "lee," +i.e. dregs, sediment.] + +[684] [_"Aroint thee, witch!_ the rump-fed ronyon cries." _Macbeth_, act +ii. sc. 3, line 6.] + +[mm] _Or (to come to the point, like my friend Pulci)_.--[MS. erased.] + +[685] [Hor., _Epist. Ad Pisones_, line 343.] + +[mn]---- _by fear or flattery_.--[MS. erased.] + +[686] Siria, i.e. bitch-star. + +[mo] _I have seen--no matter what--we now shall see_.--[MS. erased.] + +{506}[687] [Parolles [see _All's Well that Ends Well_, passim] is +Brougham (vide ante, the suppressed stanzas, Canto I. pp. 67-69). It is +possible that this stanza was written after the Canto as a whole was +finished. But, if not, an incident which took place in the House of +Commons, April 17, 1823, during a debate on Catholic Emancipation, may +be quoted in corroboration of Brougham's unreadiness with regard to the +point of honour. In the course of his speech he accused Canning of +"monstrous truckling for the purpose of obtaining office," and Canning, +without waiting for Brougham to finish, gave him the lie: "I rise to say +that that is false" (_Parl. Deb._, N.S. vol. 8, p. 1091). + +There was a "scene," which ended in an exchange of explanations and +quasi-apologies, and henceforth, as a rule, parliamentary insults were +given and received without recourse to duelling. Byron was not aware +that the "old order" had passed or was passing. Compare Hazlitt, in _The +Spirit of the Age_, 1825, pp. 302, 303: "He [Brougham] is adventurous, +but easily panic-struck, and sacrifices the vanity of self-opinion to +the necessity of self-preservation ... himself the first to get out of +harm's way and escape from the danger;" and Mr. Parthenopex Puff (W. +Stewart Rose), in _Vivian Grey_ (1826, i. 186, 187), "Oh! he's a +prodigious fellow! What do you think Booby says? he says, that Foaming +Fudge [Brougham] can do more than any man in Great Britain; that he had +one day to plead in the King's Bench, spout at a tavern, speak in the +House, and fight a duel--and that he found time for everything but the +_last_."] + +[mp] _There was, too, Henry B_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[688] [In his Journal for December 5, 1813, Byron writes: "The Duke +of ---- called.... His Grace is a good, noble, ducal person" (_Letters_, +1898, ii. 361). Possibly the earlier "Duke of Dash" was William Spencer, +sixth Duke of Devonshire, an old schoolfellow of Byron's, who was eager +to renew the acquaintance (_Letters_, 1899, iii. 98, note 2); and, if +so, he may be reckoned as one of the guests of "Norman Abbey."] + +{507}[689] [Gronow (_Reminiscences_, 1889, i. 234-240) identifies the +_Chevalier de la Ruse_ with Casimir Comte de Montrond (1768-1843), +back-stairs diplomatist, wit, gambler, and man of fashion. He was the +lifelong companion, if not friend, of Talleyrand, who pleaded for him: +"Qui est-ce qui ne l'aimerait pas, il est si vicieux!" At one time in +the pay of Napoleon, he fell under his displeasure, and, to avoid +arrest, spent two years of exile (1812-14) in England. "He was not," +says Gronow, "a great talker, nor did he swagger ... or laugh at his own +_bons-mots_. He was demure, sleek, sly, and dangerous.... In the London +clubs he went by the name of Old French." He was a constant guest of the +Duke of York's at Oatlands, "and won much at his whist-table" (_English +Whist_, by W.P. Courtney, 1894, p. 181). For his second residence in +England, and for a sketch by D'Orsay, see _A Portion of the Journal, +etc._, by Thomas Raikes, 1857, frontispiece to vol. iv., _et_ vols. +i.-iv. _passim_. See, for biographical notice, _L'Ami de M. de +Talleyrand_, par Henri Welschinger, _La Revue de Paris_, 1895, Fev., +tom. i. pp. 640-654.] + +[690] [Perhaps Sir James Mackintosh--a frequent guest at Holland House.] + +{508}[691] [Possibly Colonel (afterwards Sir James) Macdonell [d. 1857], +"a man of colossal stature," who occupied and defended the Chateau of +Hougoumont on the night before the battle of Waterloo. (See Gronow, +_Reminiscences_, 1889, i. 76, 77.)] + +[692] [Sir George Prevost (1767-1816), the Governor-General of British +North America, and nominally Commander-in-chief of the Army in the +second American War, contributed, by his excess of caution, supineness, +and delay, to the humiliation of the British forces. The particular +allusion is to his alleged inaction at a critical moment in the +engagement of September 11, 1814, between Commodore Macdonough and +Captain Downie in Plattsburg Bay. "A letter was sent to Capt. Downie, +strongly urging him to come on, as the army had long been waiting for +his co-operation.... The brave Downie replied that he required no urging +to do his duty.... He was as good as his word. The guns were scaled when +he got under way, upon hearing which Sir George issued an _order_ for +the troops to _cook_, instead of _that of instant co-operation_."--To +Editor of the _Montreal Herald_, May 23, 1815, _Letters of Veritas_, +1815, pp. 116, 117. See, too, _The Quarterly Review_, July, 1822, vol. +xxvii. p. 446.] + +[693] [George Hardinge (1744-1816), who was returned M.P. for Old Sarum +in 1784, was appointed, in 1787, Senior Justice of the Counties of +Brecon, Glamorgan, and Radnor. According to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, +1816 (vol. lxxxvi. p. 563), "In conversation he had few equals.... He +delighted in pleasantries, and always afforded to his auditors abundance +of mirth and entertainment as well as information." Byron seems to have +supposed that these "pleasantries" found their way into his addresses to +condemned prisoners, but if the charges printed in his _Miscellaneous +Works_, edited by John Nichols in 1818, are reported in full, he was +entirely mistaken. They are tedious, but the "waggery" is conspicuous by +its absence.] + +{509}[mq] _With all his laurels growing upon one tree_.--[MS. erased.] + +[694] [John Philpot Curran (1750-1817). "Did you know Curran?" asked +Byron of Lady Blessington (_Conversations_, 1834, p. 176); "he was the +most wonderful person I ever saw. In him was combined an imagination the +most brilliant and profound, with a flexibility and wit that would have +justified the observation applied to----that his heart was in his +head." (See, too, _Detached Thoughts_, No. 24, _Letters_, 1901, v. +421.)] + +[695] [For Thomas Lord Erskine (1750-1823), see _Letters_, 1898, ii. +390, note 5. See, too, _Detached Thoughts_, No. 93, _Letters_, 1901, v. +455, 456. In his _Spirit of the Age_, 1825, pp. 297, 298, Hazlitt +contrasts "the impassioned appeals and flashes of wit of a Curran ... +the golden tide of wisdom, eloquence, and fancy of a Burke," with the +"dashing and graceful manner" which concealed the poverty and "deadness" +of the matter of Erskine's speeches.] + +{510}[mr] + ---- _all classes mostly pull + At the same oar_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{511}[696] ["Mrs. Adams answered Mr. Adams, that it was blasphemous to +talk of Scripture out of church." This dogma was broached to her +husband--the best Christian in any book.--See _The History of the +Adventures of Joseph Andrews_, Bk. IV. chap. xi. ed. 1876, p. 324.] + +[ms] _---- in the ripe age._--[MS.] + +[697] [Probably Richard Sharp (1759-1835), known as "Conversation +Sharp." Byron frequently met him in society in 1813-14, and in "Extracts +from a Diary," January 9, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 161, describes him +as "the Conversationist." He visited Byron at the Villa Diodati in the +autumn of 1816 (_Life_, p. 323).] + +[698] [_Hamlet_, act i. sc. 5, line 22.] + +[mt] _Nor bate (read bait)_----.--[MS.] + +{512}[699] [See letters to the Earl of Blessington, April 5, 1823, +_Letters_, 1891, vi. 187.] + +{513}[mu] + _But full of wisdom_----.--[MS.] + _A sort of rose entwining with a thistle_.--[MS. erased.] + +[700] [_Iliad_, x. 341, sq.] + +[701] It would have taught him humanity at least. This sentimental +savage, whom it is a mode to quote (amongst the novelists) to show their +sympathy for innocent sports and old songs, teaches how to sew up frogs, +and break their legs by way of experiment, in addition to the art of +angling,--the cruelest, the coldest, and the stupidest of pretended +sports. They may talk about the beauties of nature, but the angler +merely thinks of his dish of fish; he has no leisure to take his eyes +from off the streams, and a single _bite_ is worth to him more than all +the scenery around. Besides, some fish bite best on a rainy day. The +whale, the shark, and the tunny fishery have somewhat of noble and +perilous in them; even net fishing, trawling, etc., are more humane and +useful. But angling!--no angler can be a good man. + +"One of the best men I ever knew,--as humane, delicate-minded, generous, +and excellent a creature as any in the world,--was an angler: true, he +angled with painted flies, and would have been incapable of the +extravagancies of I. Walton." + +The above addition was made by a friend in reading over the MS.--"Audi +alteram partem."--I leave it to counter-balance my own observation. + +{515}[702] B. Fy. 19^th^ 1823.--[MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE FOURTEENTH. + + I. + + IF from great Nature's or our own abyss[703] + Of Thought we could but snatch a certainty, + Perhaps Mankind might find the path they miss-- + But then 't would spoil much good philosophy. + One system eats another up, and this[704] + Much as old Saturn ate his progeny; + For when his pious consort gave him stones + In lieu of sons, of these he made no bones. + + II. + + But System doth reverse the Titan's breakfast, + And eats her parents, albeit the digestion + Is difficult. Pray tell me, can you make fast, + After due search, your faith to any question? + Look back o'er ages, ere unto the stake fast + You bind yourself, and call some mode the best one. + Nothing more true than _not_ to trust your senses; + And yet what are your other evidences? + + III. + + For me, I know nought; nothing I deny, + Admit--reject--contemn: and what know _you_, + Except perhaps that you were born to die? + And both may after all turn out untrue. + An age may come, Font of Eternity, + When nothing shall be either old or new. + Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep, + And yet a third of Life is passed in sleep. + + IV. + + A sleep without dreams, after a rough day + Of toil, is what we covet most; and yet + How clay shrinks back from more quiescent clay! + The very Suicide that pays his debt + At once without instalments (an old way + Of paying debts, which creditors regret), + Lets out impatiently his rushing breath, + Less from disgust of Life than dread of Death. + + V. + + 'T is round him--near him--here--there--everywhere-- + And there's a courage which grows out of fear, + Perhaps of all most desperate, which will dare + The worst to _know_ it:--when the mountains rear + Their peaks beneath your human foot, and there + You look down o'er the precipice, and drear + The gulf of rock yawns,--you can't gaze a minute, + Without an awful wish to plunge within it. + + VI. + + 'T is true, you don't--but, pale and struck with terror, + Retire: but look into your past impression! + And you will find, though shuddering at the mirror + Of your own thoughts, in all their self-confession, + The lurking bias,[705] be it truth or error, + To the _unknown_; a secret prepossession, + To plunge with all your fears--but where? You know not, + And that's the reason why you do--or do not. + + VII. + + But what's this to the purpose? you will say. + Gent. reader, nothing; a mere speculation, + For which my sole excuse is--'t is my way; + Sometimes _with_ and sometimes without occasion, + I write what's uppermost, without delay; + This narrative is not meant for narration, + But a mere airy and fantastic basis, + To build up common things with common places. + + VIII. + + You know, or don't know, that great Bacon saith, + "Fling up a straw, 't will show the way the wind blows;"[706] + And such a straw, borne on by human breath, + Is Poesy, according as the Mind glows; + A paper kite which flies 'twixt Life and Death, + A shadow which the onward Soul behind throws: + And mine's a bubble, not blown up for praise, + But just to play with, as an infant plays. + + IX. + + The World is all before me[707]--or behind; + For I have seen a portion of that same, + And quite enough for me to keep in mind;-- + Of passions, too, I have proved enough to blame, + To the great pleasure of our friends, Mankind, + Who like to mix some slight alloy with fame; + For I was rather famous in my time, + Until I fairly knocked it up with rhyme. + + X. + + I have brought this world about my ears, and eke + The other; that's to say, the Clergy--who + Upon my head have bid their thunders break + In pious libels by no means a few. + And yet I can't help scribbling once a week, + Tiring old readers, nor discovering new. + In Youth I wrote because my mind was full, + And _now_ because I feel it growing dull. + + XI. + + But "why then publish?"[708]--There are no rewards + Of fame or profit when the World grows weary. + I ask in turn,--Why do you play at cards? + Why drink? Why read?--To make some hour less dreary. + It occupies me to turn back regards + On what I've seen or pondered, sad or cheery; + And what I write I cast upon the stream, + To swim or sink--I have had at least my dream. + + XII. + + I think that were I _certain_ of success, + I hardly could compose another line: + So long I've battled either more or less, + That no defeat can drive me from the Nine. + This feeling 't is not easy to express, + And yet 't is not affected, I opine. + In play, there are two pleasures for your choosing-- + The one is winning, and the other losing. + + XIII. + + Besides, my Muse by no means deals in fiction: + She gathers a repertory of facts, + Of course with some reserve and slight restriction, + But mostly sings of human things and acts-- + And that's one cause she meets with contradiction; + For too much truth, at first sight, ne'er attracts; + And were her object only what's called Glory, + With more ease too she'd tell a different story. + + XIV. + + Love--War--a tempest--surely there's variety; + Also a seasoning slight of lucubration; + A bird's-eye view, too, of that wild, Society; + A slight glance thrown on men of every station. + If you have nought else, here's at least satiety, + Both in performance and in preparation; + And though these lines should only line portmanteaus, + Trade will be all the better for these Cantos. + + XV. + + The portion of this World which I at present + Have taken up to fill the following sermon, + Is one of which there's no description recent: + The reason why is easy to determine: + Although it seems both prominent and pleasant, + There is a sameness in its gems and ermine, + A dull and family likeness through all ages, + Of no great promise for poetic pages. + + XVI. + + With much to excite, there's little to exalt; + Nothing that speaks to all men and all times; + A sort of varnish over every fault; + A kind of common-place, even in their crimes; + Factitious passions--Wit without much salt-- + A want of that true nature which sublimes + Whate'er it shows with Truth; a smooth monotony + Of character, in those at least who have got any. + + XVII. + + Sometimes, indeed, like soldiers off parade, + They break their ranks and gladly leave the drill; + But then the roll-call draws them back afraid, + And they must be or seem what they _were_: still + Doubtless it is a brilliant masquerade: + But when of the first sight you have had your fill, + It palls--at least it did so upon me, + This paradise of Pleasure and _Ennui_. + + XVIII. + + When we have made our love, and gamed our gaming, + Dressed, voted, shone, and, may be, something more-- + With dandies dined--heard senators declaiming-- + Seen beauties brought to market by the score, + Sad rakes to sadder husbands chastely taming-- + There's little left but to be bored or bore. + Witness those _ci-devant jeunes hommes_ who stem + The stream, nor leave the world which leaveth them. + + XIX. + + 'T is said--indeed a general complaint-- + That no one has succeeded in describing + The _monde_, exactly as they ought to paint: + Some say, that authors only snatch, by bribing + The porter, some slight scandals strange and quaint, + To furnish matter for their moral gibing; + And that their books have but one style in common-- + My Lady's prattle, filtered through her woman. + + XX. + + But this can't well be true, just now; for writers + Are grown of the _beau monde_ a part potential: + I've seen them balance even the scale with fighters, + Especially when young, for that's essential. + Why do their sketches fail them as inditers + Of what they deem themselves most consequential, + The _real_ portrait of the highest tribe? + 'T is that--in fact--there's little to describe. + + XXI. + + _"Haud ignara loquor;"_[709] these are _Nugae_, "_quarum + Pars_ parva _fui_," but still art and part. + Now I could much more easily sketch a harem, + A battle, wreck, or history of the heart, + Than these things; and besides, I wish to spare 'em, + For reasons which I choose to keep apart. + _"Vetabo Cereris sacrum qui vulgarit"_--[710] + Which means, that vulgar people must not share it. + + XXII. + + And therefore what I throw off is ideal-- + Lowered, leavened, like a history of Freemasons, + Which bears the same relation to the real, + As Captain Parry's Voyage may do to Jason's. + The grand _Arcanum_'s not for men to see all; + My music has some mystic diapasons; + And there is much which could not be appreciated + In any manner by the uninitiated. + + XXIII. + + Alas! worlds fall--and Woman, since she felled + The World (as, since that history, less polite + Than true, hath been a creed so strictly held), + Has not yet given up the practice quite. + Poor Thing of Usages! coerced, compelled, + Victim when wrong, and martyr oft when right, + Condemned to child-bed, as men for their sins + Have shaving too entailed upon their chins,-- + + XXIV. + + A daily plague, which in the aggregate + May average on the whole with parturition.-- + But as to women--who can penetrate + The real sufferings of their she condition? + Man's very sympathy with their estate + Has much of selfishness, and more suspicion. + Their love, their virtue, beauty, education, + But form good housekeepers--to breed a nation. + + XXV. + + All this were very well, and can't be better; + But even this is difficult, Heaven knows, + So many troubles from her birth beset her, + Such small distinction between friends and foes; + The gilding wears so soon from off her fetter, + That--but ask any woman if she'd choose + (Take her at thirty, that is) to have been + Female or male? a schoolboy or a Queen? + + XXVI. + + "Petticoat Influence" is a great reproach, + Which even those who obey would fain be thought + To fly from, as from hungry pikes a roach; + But since beneath it upon earth we are brought, + By various joltings of Life's hackney coach, + I for one venerate a petticoat-- + A garment of a mystical sublimity, + No matter whether russet, silk, or dimity.[mv] + + XXVII. + + Much I respect, and much I have adored, + In my young days, that chaste and goodly veil, + Which holds a treasure, like a miser's hoard, + And more attracts by all it doth conceal-- + A golden scabbard on a Damasque sword, + A loving letter with a mystic seal, + A cure for grief--for what can ever rankle + Before a petticoat and peeping ankle? + + XXVIII. + + And when upon a silent, sullen day, + With a Sirocco, for example, blowing, + When even the sea looks dim with all its spray, + And sulkily the river's ripple's flowing, + And the sky shows that very ancient gray, + The sober, sad antithesis to glowing,-- + 'T is pleasant, if _then_ anything is pleasant, + To catch a glimpse even of a pretty peasant. + + XXIX. + + We left our heroes and our heroines + In that fair clime which don't depend on climate, + Quite independent of the Zodiac's signs, + Though certainly more difficult to rhyme at, + Because the Sun, and stars, and aught that shines, + Mountains, and all we can be most sublime at, + Are there oft dull and dreary as a _dun_-- + Whether a sky's or tradesman's is all one. + + XXX. + + An in-door life is less poetical; + And out-of-door hath showers, and mists, and sleet + With which I could not brew a pastoral: + But be it as it may, a bard must meet + All difficulties, whether great or small, + To spoil his undertaking, or complete-- + And work away--like Spirit upon Matter-- + Embarrassed somewhat both with fire and water. + + XXXI. + + Juan--in this respect, at least, like saints-- + Was all things unto people of all sorts, + And lived contentedly, without complaints, + In camps, in ships, in cottages, or courts-- + Born with that happy soul which seldom faints, + And mingling modestly in toils or sports. + He likewise could be most things to all women, + Without the coxcombry of certain _she_ men. + + XXXII. + + A fox-hunt to a foreigner is strange; + 'T is also subject to the double danger + Of tumbling first, and having in exchange + Some pleasant jesting at the awkward stranger: + But Juan had been early taught to range + The wilds, as doth an Arab turned avenger, + So that his horse, or charger, hunter, hack, + Knew that he had a rider on his back. + + XXXIII. + + And now in this new field, with some applause, + He cleared hedge, ditch, and double post, and rail, + And never _craned_[711] and made but few _"faux pas,"_ + And only fretted when the scent 'gan fail. + He broke, 't is true, some statutes of the laws + Of hunting--for the sagest youth is frail; + Rode o'er the hounds, it may be, now and then, + And once o'er several Country Gentlemen. + + XXXIV. + + But on the whole, to general admiration, + He acquitted both himself and horse: the Squires + Marvelled at merit of another nation; + The boors cried "Dang it! who'd have thought it?"--Sires, + The Nestors of the sporting generation, + Swore praises, and recalled their former fires; + The Huntsman's self relented to a grin, + And rated him almost a whipper-in.[mw] + + XXXV. + + Such were his trophies--not of spear and shield, + But leaps, and bursts, and sometimes foxes' brushes; + Yet I must own,--although in this I yield + To patriot sympathy a Briton's blushes,-- + He thought at heart like courtly Chesterfield, + Who, after a long chase o'er hills, dales, bushes, + And what not, though he rode beyond all price. + Asked next day, "If men ever hunted _twice_?"[mx][712] + + XXXVI. + + He also had a quality uncommon + To early risers after a long chase, + Who wake in winter ere the cock can summon + December's drowsy day to his dull race,-- + A quality agreeable to Woman, + When her soft, liquid words run on apace, + Who likes a listener, whether Saint or Sinner,-- + He did not fall asleep just after dinner; + + XXXVII. + + But, light and airy, stood on the alert, + And shone in the best part of dialogue, + By humouring always what they might assert, + And listening to the topics most in vogue, + Now grave, now gay, but never dull or pert; + And smiling but in secret--cunning rogue! + He ne'er presumed to make an error clearer;-- + In short, there never was a better hearer. + + XXXVIII. + + And then he danced;--all foreigners excel + The serious Angles in the eloquence + Of pantomime!--he danced, I say, right well, + With emphasis, and also with good sense-- + A thing in footing indispensable; + He danced without theatrical pretence, + Not like a ballet-master in the van + Of his drilled nymphs, but like a gentleman. + + XXXIX. + + Chaste were his steps, each kept within due bound, + And Elegance was sprinkled o'er his figure; + Like swift Camilla, he scarce skimmed the ground,[713] + And rather held in than put forth his vigour; + And then he had an ear for Music's sound, + Which might defy a crotchet critic's rigour. + Such classic _pas_--sans flaws--set off our hero, + He glanced like a personified Bolero;[714] + + XL. + + Or like a flying Hour before Aurora, + In Guido's famous fresco[715] (which alone + Is worth a tour to Rome, although no more a + Remnant were there of the old World's sole throne): + The "_tout ensemble_" of his movements wore a + Grace of the soft Ideal, seldom shown, + And ne'er to be described; for to the dolour + Of bards and prosers, words are void of colour. + + XLI. + + No marvel then he was a favourite; + A full-grown Cupid,[716] very much admired; + A little spoilt, but by no means so quite; + At least he kept his vanity retired. + Such was his tact, he could alike delight + The chaste, and those who are not so much inspired. + The Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, who loved _tracasserie_, + Began to treat him with some small _agacerie_. + + XLII. + + She was a fine and somewhat full-blown blonde, + Desirable, distinguished, celebrated + For several winters in the grand, _grand Monde_: + I'd rather not say what might be related + Of her exploits, for this were ticklish ground; + Besides there might be falsehood in what's stated: + Her late performance had been a dead set + At Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantagenet. + + XLIII. + + This noble personage began to look + A little black upon this new flirtation; + But such small licences must lovers brook, + Mere freedoms of the female corporation. + Woe to the man who ventures a rebuke! + 'Twill but precipitate a situation + Extremely disagreeable, but common + To calculators when they count on Woman. + + XLIV. + + The circle smiled, then whispered, and then sneered; + The misses bridled, and the matrons frowned; + Some hoped things might not turn out as they feared; + Some would not deem such women could be found; + Some ne'er believed one half of what they heard; + Some looked perplexed, and others looked profound: + And several pitied with sincere regret + Poor Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantagenet. + + XLV. + + But what is odd, none ever named the Duke, + Who, one might think, was something in the affair: + True, he was absent, and, 'twas rumoured, took + But small concern about the when, or where, + Or what his consort did: if he could brook + Her gaieties, none had a right to stare: + Theirs was that best of unions, past all doubt, + Which never meets, and therefore can't fall out. + + XLVI. + + But, oh! that I should ever pen so sad a line! + Fired with an abstract love of Virtue, she, + My Dian of the Ephesians, Lady Adeline, + Began to think the Duchess' conduct free; + Regretting much that she had chosen so bad a line, + And waxing chiller in her courtesy, + Looked grave and pale to see her friend's fragility, + For which most friends reserve their sensibility. + + XLVII. + + There's nought in this bad world like sympathy: + 'Tis so becoming to the soul and face, + Sets to soft music the harmonious sigh, + And robes sweet Friendship in a Brussels lace. + Without a friend, what were Humanity, + To hunt our errors up with a good grace? + Consoling us with--"Would you had thought twice! + Ah! if you had but followed my advice!" + + XLVIII. + + O Job! you had two friends: one's quite enough, + Especially when we are ill at ease; + They're but bad pilots when the weather's rough, + Doctors less famous for their cures than fees. + Let no man grumble when his friends fall off, + As they will do like leaves at the first breeze: + When your affairs come round, one way or t' other, + Go to the coffee-house, and take another.[717] + + XLIX. + + But this is not my maxim: had it been, + Some heart-aches had been spared me: yet I care not-- + I would not be a tortoise in his screen + Of stubborn shell, which waves and weather wear not: + 'Tis better on the whole to have felt and seen + That which Humanity may bear, or bear not: + 'Twill teach discernment to the sensitive, + And not to pour their Ocean in a sieve. + + L. + + Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, + Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast, + Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so," + Uttered by friends, those prophets of the _past_, + Who, 'stead of saying what you _now_ should do, + Own they foresaw that you would fall at last,[my] + And solace your slight lapse 'gainst _bonos mores_, + With a long memorandum of old stories. + + LI. + + The Lady Adeline's serene severity + Was not confined to feeling for her friend, + Whose fame she rather doubted with posterity, + Unless her habits should begin to mend: + But Juan also shared in her austerity, + But mixed with pity, pure as e'er was penned + His Inexperience moved her gentle ruth, + And (as her junior by six weeks) his Youth. + + LII. + + These forty days' advantage of her years-- + And hers were those which can face calculation, + Boldly referring to the list of Peers + And noble births, nor dread the enumeration-- + Gave her a right to have maternal fears + For a young gentleman's fit education, + Though she was far from that leap year, whose leap, + In female dates, strikes Time all of a heap. + + LIII. + + This may be fixed at somewhere before thirty-- + Say seven-and-twenty; for I never knew + The strictest in chronology and virtue + Advance beyond, while they could pass for new. + O Time! why dost not pause? Thy scythe, so dirty + With rust, should surely cease to hack and hew: + Reset it--shave more smoothly, also slower, + If but to keep thy credit as a mower. + + LIV. + + But Adeline was far from that ripe age, + Whose ripeness is but bitter at the best: + 'Twas rather her Experience made her sage, + For she had seen the World and stood its test, + As I have said in--I forget what page; + My Muse despises reference, as you have guessed + By this time;--but strike six from seven-and-twenty, + And you will find her sum of years in plenty. + + LV. + + At sixteen she came out; presented, vaunted, + She put all coronets into commotion: + At seventeen, too, the World was still enchanted + With the new Venus of their brilliant Ocean: + At eighteen, though below her feet still panted + A Hecatomb of suitors with devotion, + She had consented to create again + That Adam, called "The happiest of Men." + + LVI. + + Since then she had sparkled through three glowing winters, + Admired, adored; but also so correct, + That she had puzzled all the acutest hinters, + Without the apparel of being circumspect: + They could not even glean the slightest splinters + From off the marble, which had no defect. + She had also snatched a moment since her marriage + To bear a son and heir--and one miscarriage. + + LVII. + + Fondly the wheeling fire-flies flew around her, + Those little glitterers of the London night; + But none of these possessed a sting to wound her-- + She was a pitch beyond a coxcomb's flight. + Perhaps she wished an aspirant profounder; + But whatsoe'er she wished, she acted right; + And whether Coldness, Pride, or Virtue dignify + A Woman--so she's good--what _does_ it signify? + + LVIII. + + I hate a motive, like a lingering bottle + Which with the landlord makes too long a stand, + Leaving all-claretless the unmoistened throttle, + Especially with politics on hand; + I hate it, as I hate a drove of cattle, + Who whirl the dust as Simooms whirl the sand; + I hate it as I hate an argument, + A Laureate's Ode, or servile Peer's "Content." + + LIX. + + 'T is sad to hack into the roots of things, + They are so much intertwisted with the earth; + So that the branch a goodly verdure flings, + I reck not if an acorn gave it birth. + To trace all actions to their secret springs + Would make indeed some melancholy mirth: + But this is not at present my concern, + And I refer you to wise Oxenstiern.[718] + + LX. + + With the kind view of saving an _eclat_, + Both to the Duchess and Diplomatist, + The Lady Adeline, as soon's she saw + That Juan was unlikely to resist-- + (For foreigners don't know that a _faux pas_ + In England ranks quite on a different list + From those of other lands unblest with juries, + Whose verdict for such sin a certain cure is;--)[mz] + + LXI. + + The Lady Adeline resolved to take + Such measures as she thought might best impede + The farther progress of this sad mistake. + She thought with some simplicity indeed; + But Innocence is bold even at the stake, + And simple in the World, and doth not need + Nor use those palisades by dames erected, + Whose virtue lies in never being detected. + + LXII. + + It was not that she feared the very worst: + His Grace was an enduring, married man, + And was not likely all at once to burst + Into a scene, and swell the clients' clan + Of Doctors' Commons; but she dreaded first + The magic of her Grace's talisman, + And next a quarrel (as he seemed to fret) + With Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantagenet. + + LXIII. + + Her Grace, too, passed for being an _intrigante_, + And somewhat _mechante_ in her amorous sphere; + One of those pretty, precious plagues, which haunt + A lover with caprices soft and dear, + That like to _make_ a quarrel, when they can't + Find one, each day of the delightful year: + Bewitching, torturing, as they freeze or glow, + And--what is worst of all--won't let you go: + + LXIV. + + The sort of thing to turn a young man's head, + Or make a Werter of him in the end. + No wonder then a purer soul should dread + This sort of chaste _liaison_ for a friend; + It were much better to be wed or dead, + Than wear a heart a Woman loves to rend. + 'T is best to pause, and think, ere you rush on, + If that a _bonne fortune_ be really _bonne_. + + LXV. + + And first, in the overflowing of her heart, + Which really knew or thought it knew no guile, + She called her husband now and then apart, + And bade him counsel Juan. With a smile + Lord Henry heard her plans of artless art + To wean Don Juan from the Siren's wile; + And answered, like a statesman or a prophet, + In such guise that she could make nothing of it. + + LXVI. + + Firstly, he said, "he never interfered + In anybody's business but the King's:" + Next, that "he never judged from what appeared, + Without strong reason, of those sort of things:" + Thirdly, that "Juan had more brain than beard, + And was not to be held in leading strings;" + And fourthly, what need hardly be said twice, + "That good but rarely came from good advice." + + LXVII. + + And, therefore, doubtless to approve the truth + Of the last axiom, he advised his spouse + To leave the parties to themselves, forsooth-- + At least as far as _bienseance_ allows:[na] + That time would temper Juan's faults of youth; + That young men rarely made monastic vows; + That Opposition only more attaches-- + But here a messenger brought in despatches: + + LXVIII. + + And being of the council called "the Privy," + Lord Henry walked into his cabinet, + To furnish matter for some future Livy + To tell how he reduced the Nation's debt; + And if their full contents I do not give ye, + It is because I do not know them yet; + But I shall add them in a brief appendix, + To come between mine Epic and its index. + + LXIX. + + But ere he went, he added a slight hint, + Another gentle common-place or two, + Such as are coined in Conversation's mint, + And pass, for want of better, though not new: + Then broke his packet, to see what was in 't, + And having casually glanced it through, + Retired: and, as he went out, calmly kissed her, + Less like a young wife than an aged sister. + + LXX. + + He was a cold, good, honourable man, + Proud of his birth, and proud of everything; + A goodly spirit for a state Divan, + A figure fit to walk before a King; + Tall, stately, formed to lead the courtly van + On birthdays, glorious with a star and string; + The very model of a chamberlain-- + And such I mean to make him when I reign. + + LXXI. + + But there was something wanting on the whole-- + I don't know what, and therefore cannot tell-- + Which pretty women--the sweet souls!--call _soul_. + _Certes_ it was not body; he was well + Proportioned, as a poplar or a pole, + A handsome man, that human miracle; + And in each circumstance of Love or War + Had still preserved his perpendicular. + + LXXII. + + Still there was something wanting, as I've said-- + That undefinable "_Je ne scais quoi_" + Which, for what I know, may of yore have led + To Homer's Iliad, since it drew to Troy + The Greek Eve, Helen, from the Spartan's bed; + Though on the whole, no doubt, the Dardan boy + Was much inferior to King Menelaues:-- + But thus it is some women will betray us. + + LXXIII. + + There is an awkward thing which much perplexes, + Unless like wise Tiresias[719] we had proved + By turns the difference of the several sexes; + Neither can show quite _how_ they would be loved. + The Sensual for a short time but connects us-- + The Sentimental boasts to be unmoved; + But both together form a kind of Centaur, + Upon whose back 't is better not to venture. + + LXXIV. + + A something all-sufficient for the _heart_ + Is that for which the sex are always seeking: + But how to fill up that same vacant part? + There lies the rub--and this they are but weak in. + Frail mariners afloat without a chart, + They run before the wind through high seas breaking; + And when they have made the shore through every shock, + 'T is odd--or odds--it may turn out a rock. + + LXXV. + + There is a flower called "Love in Idleness,"[720] + For which see Shakespeare's ever-blooming garden;-- + I will not make his great description less, + And beg his British godship's humble pardon, + If, in my extremity of rhyme's distress, + I touch a single leaf where he is warden;-- + But, though the flower is different, with the French + Or Swiss Rousseau--cry _"Voila la Pervenche.'"_[721] + + LXXVI. + + Eureka! I have found it! What I mean + To say is, not that Love is Idleness, + But that in Love such idleness has been + An accessory, as I have cause to guess. + Hard Labour's an indifferent go-between; + Your men of business are not apt to express + Much passion, since the merchant-ship, the Argo, + Conveyed Medea as her supercargo. + + LXXVII. + + _"Beatus ille procul!_" from "_negotiis,_"[722] + Saith Horace; the great little poet's wrong; + His other maxim, _"Noscitur a sociis,"_[723] + Is much more to the purpose of his song; + Though even that were sometimes too ferocious, + Unless good company be kept too long; + But, in his teeth, whate'er their state or station, + Thrice happy they who _have_ an occupation! + + LXXVIII. + + Adam exchanged his Paradise for ploughing, + Eve made up millinery with fig leaves-- + The earliest knowledge from the Tree so knowing, + As far as I know, that the Church receives: + And since that time it need not cost much showing, + That many of the ills o'er which Man grieves, + And still more Women, spring from not employing + Some hours to make the remnant worth enjoying. + + LXXIX. + + And hence high life is oft a dreary void, + A rack of pleasures, where we must invent + A something wherewithal to be annoyed. + Bards may sing what they please about _Content_; + _Contented_, when translated, means but cloyed; + And hence arise the woes of Sentiment, + Blue-devils--and Blue-stockings--and Romances + Reduced to practice, and performed like dances. + + LXXX. + + I do declare, upon an affidavit, + Romances I ne'er read like those I have seen; + Nor, if unto the World I ever gave it, + Would some believe that such a tale had been: + But such intent I never had, nor have it; + Some truths are better kept behind a screen, + Especially when they would look like lies; + I therefore deal in generalities.[nb] + + LXXXI. + + "An oyster may be crossed in love"[724]--and why? + Because he mopeth idly in his shell, + And heaves a lonely subterraqueous sigh, + Much as a monk may do within his cell: + And _a-propos_ of monks, their Piety + With Sloth hath found it difficult to dwell: + Those vegetables of the Catholic creed + Are apt exceedingly to run to seed. + + LXXXII. + + O Wilberforce! thou man of black renown, + Whose merit none enough can sing or say, + Thou hast struck one immense Colossus down, + Thou moral Washington of Africa! + But there's another little thing, I own, + Which you should perpetrate some summer's day, + And set the other half of Earth to rights; + You have freed the _blacks_--now pray shut up the whites. + + LXXXIII. + + Shut up the bald-coot[725] bully Alexander! + Ship off the Holy Three to Senegal; + Teach them that "sauce for goose is sauce for gander," + And ask them how _they_ like to be in thrall? + Shut up each high heroic Salamander, + Who eats fire gratis (since the pay's but small); + Shut up--no, _not_ the King, but the Pavilion,[726] + Or else 't will cost us all another million. + + LXXXIV. + + Shut up the World at large, let Bedlam out; + And you will be perhaps surprised to find + All things pursue exactly the same route, + As now with those of _soi-disant_ sound mind. + This I could prove beyond a single doubt, + Were there a jot of sense among Mankind; + But till that _point d'appui_ is found, alas! + Like Archimedes, I leave Earth as 't was. + + LXXXV. + + Our gentle Adeline had one defect-- + Her heart was vacant, though a splendid mansion; + Her conduct had been perfectly correct, + As she had seen nought claiming its expansion. + A wavering spirit may be easier wrecked, + Because 't is frailer, doubtless, than a staunch one; + But when the latter works its own undoing, + Its inner crash is like an Earthquake's ruin. + + LXXXVI. + + She loved her Lord, or thought so; but _that_ love + Cost her an effort, which is a sad toil, + The stone of Sisyphus, if once we move + Our feelings 'gainst the nature of the soil. + She had nothing to complain of, or reprove, + No bickerings, no connubial turmoil: + Their union was a model to behold, + Serene and noble,--conjugal, but cold. + + LXXXVII. + + There was no great disparity of years, + Though much in temper; but they never clashed: + They moved like stars united in their spheres, + Or like the Rhone by Leman's waters washed, + Where mingled and yet separate appears + The River from the Lake, all bluely dashed + Through the serene and placid glassy deep, + Which fain would lull its river-child to sleep.[727] + + LXXXVIII. + + Now when she once had ta'en an interest + In anything, however she might flatter + Herself that her intentions were the best, + Intense intentions are a dangerous matter: + Impressions were much stronger than she guessed, + And gathered as they run like growing water + Upon her mind; the more so, as her breast + Was not at first too readily impressed. + + LXXXIX. + + But when it was, she had that lurking Demon + Of double nature, and thus doubly named-- + Firmness yclept in Heroes, Kings, and seamen, + That is, when they succeed; but greatly blamed + As _Obstinacy_, both in Men and Women, + Whene'er their triumph pales, or star is tamed:-- + And 't will perplex the casuist in morality + To fix the due bounds of this dangerous quality. + + XC. + + Had Buonaparte won at Waterloo, + It had been firmness; now 't is pertinacity: + Must the event decide between the two? + I leave it to your people of sagacity + To draw the line between the false and true, + If such can e'er be drawn by Man's capacity: + My business is with Lady Adeline, + Who in her way too was a heroine. + + XCI. + + She knew not her own heart; then how should I? + I think not she was _then_ in love with Juan: + If so, she would have had the strength to fly + The wild sensation, unto her a new one: + She merely felt a common sympathy + (I will not say it was a false or true one) + In him, because she thought he was in danger,-- + Her husband's friend--her own--young--and a stranger. + + XCII. + + She was, or thought she was, his friend--and this + Without the farce of Friendship, or romance + Of Platonism, which leads so oft amiss + Ladies who have studied Friendship but in France + Or Germany, where people _purely_ kiss.[nc] + To thus much Adeline would not advance; + But of such friendship as Man's may to Man be + She was as capable as Woman can be. + + XCIII. + + No doubt the secret influence of the Sex + Will there, as also in the ties of blood, + An innocent predominance annex, + And tune the concord to a finer mood.[nd] + If free from Passion, which all Friendship checks, + And your true feelings fully understood, + No friend like to a woman Earth discovers, + So that you have not been nor will be lovers. + + XCIV. + + Love bears within its breast the very germ + Of Change; and how should this be otherwise? + That violent things more quickly find a term + Is shown through Nature's whole analogies;[728] + And how should the most fierce of all be firm? + Would you have endless lightning in the skies? + Methinks Love's very title says enough: + How should "the _tender_ passion" e'er be _tough?_ + + XCV. + + Alas! by all experience, seldom yet + (I merely quote what I have heard from many) + Had lovers not some reason to regret + The passion which made Solomon a zany.[ne] + I've also seen some wives (not to forget + The marriage state, the best or worst of any) + Who were the very paragons of wives, + Yet made the misery of at least two lives.[nf] + + XCVI. + + I've also seen some female _friends_[729] ('t is odd,[ng] + But true--as, if expedient, I could prove) + That faithful were through thick and thin, abroad,[nh] + At home, far more than ever yet was Love-- + Who did not quit me when Oppression trod + Upon me; whom no scandal could remove; + Who fought, and fight, in absence, too, my battles, + Despite the snake Society's loud rattles. + + XCVII. + + Whether Don Juan and chaste Adeline + Grew friends in this or any other sense, + Will be discussed hereafter, I opine: + At present I am glad of a pretence + To leave them hovering, as the effect is fine, + And keeps the atrocious reader in _suspense_; + The surest way--for ladies and for books-- + To bait their tender--or their tenter--hooks. + + XCVIII. + + Whether they rode, or walked, or studied Spanish, + To read Don Quixote in the original, + A pleasure before which all others vanish; + Whether their talk was of the kind called "small," + Or serious, are the topics I must banish + To the next Canto; where perhaps I shall + Say something to the purpose, and display + Considerable talent in my way. + + XCIX. + + Above all, I beg all men to forbear + Anticipating aught about the matter: + They'll only make mistakes about the fair, + And Juan, too, especially the latter. + And I shall take a much more serious air + Than I have yet done, in this Epic Satire. + It is not clear that Adeline and Juan + Will fall; but if they do, 't will be their ruin. + + C. + + But great things spring from little:--Would you think, + That in our youth, as dangerous a passion + As e'er brought Man and Woman to the brink + Of ruin, rose from such a slight occasion, + As few would ever dream could form the link + Of such a sentimental situation? + You'll never guess, I'll bet you millions, milliards[730]-- + It all sprung from a harmless game at billiards. + + CI. + + 'T is strange,--but true; for Truth is always strange-- + Stranger than fiction: if it could be told, + How much would novels gain by the exchange! + How differently the World would men behold! + How oft would Vice and Virtue places change! + The new world would be nothing to the old, + If some Columbus of the moral seas + Would show mankind their Souls' antipodes. + + CII. + + What "antres vast and deserts idle,"[731] then, + Would be discovered in the human soul! + What icebergs in the hearts of mighty men, + With self-love in the centre as their Pole! + What Anthropophagi are nine of ten + Of those who hold the kingdoms in control! + Were things but only called by their right name, + Caesar himself would be ashamed of Fame.[732] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[703] Fry. 23, 1814 (_sic_).--[MS.] + +[704] [Compare-- + + "Our little systems have their day; + They have their day and cease to be." + +Tennyson's _In Memoriam_.] + +{517}[705] [With this open mind with regard to the future, compare +Charles Kingsley's "reverent curiosity" (_Letters and Memoirs, etc._, +1883, p. 349).] + +{518}[706] ["We usually try which way the wind bloweth, by casting up +grass or chaff, or such light things into the air."--Bacon's _Natural +History_, No. 820, _Works_, 1740, iii. 168.] + +[707] ["The World was all before them." _Paradise Lost_, bk. xii. line +646.] + +{519}[708] + + ["But why then publish?--Granville, the polite, + And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write." + +Pope, _Prologue to Satires_, lines 135, 136.] + +{521}[709] [Virg., _Aen._, ii. 91 "(Haud ignota);" et _ibid._, line 6.] + +[710] [Hor., _Od._ iii. 2. 26.] + +{522}[mv] + _And though by no means overpowered with riches_, + _Would gladly place beneath it my last rag of breeches_.--[MS. erased.] + +{524}[711] _Craning_.--"To _crane_" is, or was, an expression used to +denote a gentleman's stretching out his neck over a hedge, "to look +before he leaped;"--a pause in his "vaulting ambition," which in the +field doth occasion some delay and execration in those who may be +immediately behind the equestrian sceptic. "Sir, if you don't choose to +take the leap, let me!"--was a phrase which generally sent the aspirant +on again; and to good purpose: for though "the horse and rider" might +fall, they made a gap through which, and over him and his steed, the +field might follow. + +{525}[mw] + _The sulky Huntsman grimly said "The Frenchman_ + _Was almost worthy to become his henchman_."--[MS. erased.] + +[mx] + _And what not--though he had ridden like a Centaur_ + _When called next day declined the same adventure_.--[MS.] + +[712] [Mr. W. Ernst, in his _Memoirs of the Life of Lord Chesterfield_, +1893 (p. 425, note 2), quotes these lines in connection with a +comparison between French and English sport, contained in a letter from +Lord Chesterfield to his son, dated June 30, 1751: "The French manner of +hunting is gentlemanlike; ours is only for bumpkins and boobies." +Elsewhere, however (_The World_, No. 92, October 3, 1754), commenting on +a remark of Pascal's, he admits "that the jolly sportsman ... improves +his health, at least, by his exercise."] + +{526}[713] + + [" ... as she skimm'd along, + Her flying feet unbath'd on billows hung." + +Dryden's _Virgil_ (_Aen._, vii. 1101, 1102).] + +[714] [See _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 492, note 1.] + +[715] [Guido's fresco of the Aurora, "scattering flowers before the +chariot of the sun" is on a ceiling of the Casino in the Palazzo +Rospigliosi, in Rome.] + +[716] [Byron described Count Alfred D'Orsay as having "all the airs of a +_Cupidon dechaine_." See letters to Moore and the Earl of Blessington, +April 2, 1823, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 180, 185.] + +{528}[717] In Swift's or Horace Walpole's letters I think it is +mentioned that somebody, regretting the loss of a friend, was answered +by an universal Pylades: "When I lose one, I go to the Saint James's +Coffee-house, and take another." I recollect having heard an anecdote of +the same kind.--Sir W.D. was a great gamester. Coming in one day to the +Club of which he was a member, he was observed to look +melancholy.--"What is the matter, Sir William?" cried Hare, of facetious +memory.--"Ah!" replied Sir W., "I have just lost poor Lady D."--"Lost! +What at? Quinze or Hazard?" was the consolatory rejoinder of the +querist. + +[The _dramatis personae_ are probably Sir William Drummond (1770--1828), +author of the _Academical Questions, etc._, and Francis Hare, the wit, +known as the "'Silent Hare,' from his extreme loquacity."--Gronow's +_Reminiscences_, 1889, ii. 98-101.] + +{529}[my] _They own that you are fairly dished at last_.--[MS. erased.] + +{531}[718] The famous Chancellor [Axel Oxenstiern (1583-1654)] said to +his son, on the latter expressing his surprise upon the great effects +arising from petty causes in the presumed mystery of politics: "You see +by this, my son, with how little wisdom the kingdoms of the world are +governed." + +[The story is that his son John, who had been sent to represent him at +the Congress of Westphalia, 1648, wrote home to complain that the task +was beyond him, and that he could not cope with the difficulties which +he was encountering, and that the Chancellor replied, "Nescis, mi fili, +quantilla prudentia homines regantur."--_Biographie Universelle_, art. +"Oxenstierna."] + +{532}[mz] _Who are our sureties that our moral pure is_.--[MS. erased.] + +{533}[na] And not to encourage whispering in the house.--[MS. erased.] + +{535}[719] [Once upon a time, Tiresias, who was shepherding on Mount +Cyllene, wantonly stamped with his heel on a pair of snakes, and was +straightway turned into a woman. Seven years later he was led to treat +another pair of snakes in like fashion, and, happily or otherwise, was +turned back into a man. Hence, when Jupiter and Juno fell to wrangling +on the comparative enjoyments of men and women, the question was +referred to Tiresias, as a person of unusual experience and authority. +He gave it in favour of the woman, and Juno, who was displeased at his +answer, struck him with blindness. But Jupiter, to make amends, gave him +the "liberty of prophesying" for seven, some say nine, generations. (See +Ovid, _Metam._, iii. 320; and Thomas Muncker's notes on the _Fabulae_ of +Hyginus, No. lxxv. ed. 1681, pp. 126-128.)] + +[720] [_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act ii. sc. i, line 168.] + +{536}[721] See _La Nouvelle Heloise_. + +[722] Hor., _Epod._, II. line 1. + +[723] [The Latin proverb, _Noscitur ex sociis_, is not an Horatian +maxim.] + +{537}[nb] _I, therefore, deal in generals--which is wise_.--[MS. +erased.] + +[724] [See Sheridan's _Critic_ ("Tilburina" _loq._), act iii. _s.f._] + +{538}[725] [For "the coxcomb Czar ... the somewhat aged youth," see _The +Age of Bronze_, lines 434-483, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 563, note 1.] + +[726] [Compare _Sardanapalus_, act i. sc. 2, line 1, _ibid._, p. 15, +note 1.] + +{539}[727] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza lxxi. line 3, +_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 261, 300. note 17.] + +{540}[nc] + _Or Germany--she knew nought of all this_ + _Impracticable, novel-reading trance_.--[MS. erased.] + +[nd] + _Even there--as in relationship will hold, + And make the feeling of a finer mood_.--[MS. erased.] + +[728] + + ["These violent delights have violent ends, + And in their triumph die." + +_Romeo and Juliet_, act ii. sc. 6, lines 9, 10.] + +{541}[ne] + _Alas! I quote experience--seldom yet + I had a paramour--and I've had many-- + Whom I had not some reason to regret-- + For whom I did not make myself a Zany_.--[MS.] + +[nf] +_I also had a wife--not to forget_ + _The marriage state--the best or worst of any,_ +_Who was the very paragon of wives_ + / many \ +_Yet made the misery of < both our > lives_.--[MS. erased.] + \ several / + +[729] [Lady Holland, Lady Jersey, Madame de Stael, and before and above +all, his sister, Mrs. Leigh.] + +[ng] + _I also had some female_ friends--_by G--d!_ + _Or if the oath seem strong--I swear by Jove!_--[MS.] + +[nh] _Who stuck to me_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{542}[730] [Byron must have been among the first to naturalize the +French _milliard_ (a thousand millions), which was used by Voltaire.] + +{543}[731] [_Othello_, act i. sc. 3, line 140.] + +[732] B. March 4^th^ 1823.--[MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE FIFTEENTH. + + I. + + AH!--What should follow slips from my reflection; + Whatever follows ne'ertheless may be + As a-propos of Hope or Retrospection, + As though the lurking thought had followed free. + All present life is but an Interjection, + An "Oh!" or "Ah!" of Joy or Misery, + Or a "Ha! ha!" or "Bah!"--a yawn, or "Pooh!" + Of which perhaps the latter is most true. + + II. + + But, more or less, the whole's a Syncope + Or a _Singultus_--emblems of Emotion, + The grand Antithesis to great _Ennui_, + Wherewith we break our bubbles on the Ocean-- + That Watery Outline of Eternity, + Or miniature, at least, as is my notion-- + Which ministers unto the Soul's delight, + In seeing matters which are out of sight.[733] + + III. + + But all are better than the sigh suppressed, + Corroding in the cavern of the heart, + Making the countenance a masque of rest[ni] + And turning Human Nature to an art. + Few men dare show their thoughts of worst or best; + Dissimulation always sets apart + A corner for herself; and, therefore, Fiction + Is that which passes with least contradiction. + + IV. + + Ah! who can tell? Or rather, who can not + Remember, without telling, Passion's errors? + The drainer of Oblivion, even the sot, + Hath got _blue devils_ for his morning mirrors: + What though on Lethe's stream he seem to float, + He cannot sink his tremours or his terrors; + The ruby glass that shakes within his hand + Leaves a sad sediment of Time's worst sand. + + V. + + And as for Love--O Love!--We will proceed:-- + The Lady Adeline Amundeville, + A pretty name as one would wish to read, + Must perch harmonious on my tuneful quill. + There's Music in the sighing of a reed; + There's Music in the gushing of a rill; + There's Music in all things, if men had ears: + Their Earth is but an echo of the Spheres. + + VI. + + The Lady Adeline, Right Honourable, + And honoured, ran a risk of growing less so; + For few of the soft sex are very stable + In their resolves--alas! that I should say so; + They differ as wine differs from its label, + When once decanted;--I presume to guess so, + But will not swear: yet both upon occasion, + Till old, may undergo adulteration. + + VII. + + But Adeline was of the purest vintage, + The unmingled essence of the grape; and yet + Bright as a new napoleon from its mintage, + Or glorious as a diamond richly set; + A page where Time should hesitate to print age, + And for which Nature might forego her debt--[nj] + Sole creditor whose process doth involve in 't + The luck of finding everybody solvent. + + VIII. + + O Death! thou dunnest of all duns! thou daily + Knockest at doors, at first with modest tap, + Like a meek tradesman when approaching palely + Some splendid debtor he would take by sap: + But oft denied, as Patience 'gins to fail, he + Advances with exasperated rap, + And (if let in) insists, in terms unhandsome, + On ready money, or "a draft on Ransom."[734] + + IX. + + Whate'er thou takest, spare awhile poor Beauty! + She is so rare, and thou hast so much prey. + What though she now and then may slip from duty, + The more's the reason why you ought to stay; + Gaunt Gourmand! with whole nations for your booty,--[nk] + You should be civil in a modest way: + Suppress, then, some slight feminine diseases, + And take as many heroes as Heaven pleases. + + X. + + Fair Adeline, the more ingenuous + Where she was interested (as was said), + Because she was not apt, like some of us, + To like too readily, or too high bred + To show it--(points we need not now discuss)-- + Would give up artlessly both Heart and Head + Unto such feelings as seemed innocent, + For objects worthy of the sentiment. + + XI. + + Some parts of Juan's history, which Rumour, + That live Gazette, had scattered to disfigure, + She had heard; but Women hear with more good humour + Such aberrations than we men of rigour: + Besides, his conduct, since in England, grew more + Strict, and his mind assumed a manlier vigour: + Because he had, like Alcibiades, + The art of living in all climes with ease.[735] + + XII. + + His manner was perhaps the more seductive, + Because he ne'er seemed anxious to seduce; + Nothing affected, studied, or constructive + Of coxcombry or conquest: no abuse + Of his attractions marred the fair perspective, + To indicate a Cupidon broke loose,[736] + And seem to say, "Resist us if you can"-- + Which makes a Dandy while it spoils a Man. + + XIII. + + They are wrong--that's not the way to set about it; + As, if they told the truth, could well be shown. + But, right or wrong, Don Juan was without it; + In fact, his manner was his own alone: + Sincere he was--at least you could not doubt it, + In listening merely to his voice's tone. + The Devil hath not in all his quiver's choice + An arrow for the Heart like a sweet voice. + + XIV. + + By nature soft, his whole address held off + Suspicion: though not timid, his regard + Was such as rather seemed to keep aloof, + To shield himself than put _you_ on your guard: + Perhaps 't was hardly quite assured enough, + But Modesty's at times its own reward, + Like Virtue; and the absence of pretension + Will go much farther than there's need to mention. + + XV. + + Serene, accomplished, cheerful but not loud; + Insinuating without insinuation; + Observant of the foibles of the crowd, + Yet ne'er betraying this in conversation; + Proud with the proud, yet courteously proud, + So as to make them feel he knew his station + And theirs:--without a struggle for priority, + He neither brooked nor claimed superiority-- + + XVI. + + That is, with Men: with Women he was what + They pleased to make or take him for; and their + Imagination's quite enough for that: + So that the outline's tolerably fair, + They fill the canvas up--and _"verbum sat."_[737] + If once their phantasies be brought to bear + Upon an object, whether sad or playful, + They can transfigure brighter than a Raphael.[738] + + XVII. + + Adeline, no deep judge of character, + Was apt to add a colouring from her own: + 'T is thus the Good will amiably err, + And eke the Wise, as has been often shown. + Experience is the chief philosopher, + But saddest when his science is well known: + And persecuted Sages teach the Schools + Their folly in forgetting there are fools. + + XVIII. + + Was it not so, great Locke? and greater Bacon? + Great Socrates? And thou, Diviner still,[739] + Whose lot it is by Man to be mistaken,[nl] + And thy pure creed made sanction of all ill? + Redeeming Worlds to be by bigots shaken,[nm] + How was thy toil rewarded? We might fill + Volumes with similar sad illustrations, + But leave them to the conscience of the nations. + + XIX. + + I perch upon an humbler promontory, + Amidst Life's infinite variety: + With no great care for what is nicknamed Glory, + But speculating as I cast mine eye + On what may suit or may not suit my story, + And never straining hard to versify, + I rattle on exactly as I'd talk + With anybody in a ride or walk. + + XX. + + I don't know that there may be much ability + Shown in this sort of desultory rhyme; + But there's a conversational facility, + Which may round off an hour upon a time. + Of this I'm sure at least, there's no servility + In mine irregularity of chime, + Which rings what's uppermost of new or hoary,[nn] + Just as I feel the _Improvvisatore_. + + XXI. + + "_Omnia vult_ belle _Matho dicere_--_dic aliquando_ + _Et_ bene, _dic_ neutrum, _dic aliquando_ male."[740] + The first is rather more than mortal can do; + The second may be sadly done or gaily; + The third is still more difficult to stand to; + The fourth we hear, and see, and say too, daily: + The whole together is what I could wish + To serve in this conundrum of a dish. + + XXII. + + A modest hope--but Modesty's my forte, + And Pride my feeble:[741]--let us ramble on. + I meant to make this poem very short, + But now I can't tell where it may not run.[no] + No doubt, if I had wished to pay my court + To critics, or to hail the _setting_ sun + Of Tyranny of all kinds, my concision[742] + Were more;--but I was born for opposition. + + XXIII. + + But then 't is mostly on the weaker side; + So that I verily believe if they + Who now are basking in their full-blown pride[np] + Were shaken down, and "dogs had had their day,"[743] + Though at the first I might perchance deride + Their tumble, I should turn the other way, + And wax an ultra-royalist in Loyalty, + Because I hate even democratic Royalty.[nq] + + XXIV. + + I think I should have made a decent spouse, + If I had never proved the soft condition; + I think I should have made monastic vows + But for my own peculiar superstition: + 'Gainst rhyme I never should have knocked my brows, + Nor broken my own head, nor that of Priscian,[744] + Nor worn the motley mantle of a poet, + If some one had not told me to forego it.[745] + + XXV. + + But _laissez aller_--Knights and Dames I sing, + Such as the times may furnish. 'T is a flight + Which seems at first to need no lofty wing, + Plumed by Longinus or the Stagyrite:[nr] + The difficulty lies in colouring + (Keeping the due proportions still in sight) + With Nature manners which are artificial, + And rend'ring general that which is especial. + + XXVI. + + The difference is, that in the days of old + Men made the Manners; Manners now make men-- + Pinned like a flock, and fleeced too in their fold, + At least nine, and a ninth beside of ten. + Now this at all events must render cold + Your writers, who must either draw again + Days better drawn before, or else assume + The present, with their common-place costume. + + XXVII. + + We'll do our best to make the best on 't:--March! + March, my Muse! If you cannot fly, yet flutter; + And when you may not be sublime, be arch, + Or starch, as are the edicts statesmen utter. + We surely may find something worth research: + Columbus found a new world in a cutter, + Or brigantine, or pink, of no great tonnage, + While yet America was in her non-age.[746] + + XXVIII. + + When Adeline, in all her growing sense + Of Juan's merits and his situation, + Felt on the whole an interest intense,-- + Partly perhaps because a fresh sensation, + Or that he had an air of innocence, + Which is for Innocence a sad temptation,-- + As Women hate half measures, on the whole,[ns] + She 'gan to ponder how to save his soul. + + XXIX. + + She had a good opinion of Advice, + Like all who give and eke receive it gratis, + For which small thanks are still the market price, + Even where the article at highest rate is: + She thought upon the subject twice or thrice, + And morally decided--the best state is + For Morals--Marriage; and, this question carried, + She seriously advised him to get married. + + XXX. + + Juan replied, with all becoming deference, + He had a predilection for that tie; + But that, at present, with immediate reference + To his own circumstances, there might lie + Some difficulties, as in his own preference, + Or that of her to whom he might apply: + That still he'd wed with such or such a lady, + If that they were not married all already. + + XXXI. + + Next to the making matches for herself, + And daughters, brothers, sisters, kith or kin, + Arranging them like books on the same shelf, + There's nothing women love to dabble in + More (like a stock-holder in growing pelf) + Than match-making in general: 't is no sin + Certes, but a preventative, and therefore + That is, no doubt, the only reason wherefore. + + XXXII. + + But never yet (except of course a miss + Unwed, or mistress never to be wed, + Or wed already, who object to this) + Was there chaste dame who had not in her head + Some drama of the marriage Unities, + Observed as strictly both at board and bed, + As those of Aristotle, though sometimes + They turn out Melodrames or Pantomimes. + + XXXIII. + + They generally have some only son, + Some heir to a large property, some friend + Of an old family, some gay Sir John, + Or grave Lord George, with whom perhaps might end + A line, and leave Posterity undone, + Unless a marriage was applied to mend + The prospect and their morals: and besides, + They have at hand a blooming glut of brides. + + XXXIV. + + From these they will be careful to select, + For this an heiress, and for that a beauty; + For one a songstress who hath no defect, + For t' other one who promises much duty; + For this a lady no one can reject, + Whose sole accomplishments were quite a booty; + A second for her excellent connections; + A third, because there can be no objections. + + XXXV. + + When Rapp the Harmonist embargoed Marriage[747] + In his harmonious settlement--(which flourishes + Strangely enough as yet without miscarriage, + Because it breeds no more mouths than it nourishes, + Without those sad expenses which disparage + What Nature naturally most encourages)-- + Why called he "Harmony" a state sans wedlock? + Now here I've got the preacher at a dead lock. + + XXXVI. + + Because he either meant to sneer at Harmony + Or Marriage, by divorcing them thus oddly. + But whether reverend Rapp learned this in Germany + Or no, 't is said his sect is rich and godly, + Pious and pure, beyond what I can term any + Of ours, although they propagate more broadly. + My objection's to his title, not his ritual. + Although I wonder how it grew habitual.[nt] + + XXXVII. + + But Rapp is the reverse of zealous matrons, + Who favour, _malgre_ Malthus, Generation-- + Professors of that genial art, and patrons + Of all the modest part of Propagation; + Which after all at such a desperate rate runs, + That half its produce tends to Emigration, + That sad result of passions and potatoes-- + Two weeds which pose our economic Catos. + + XXXVIII. + + Had Adeline read Malthus? I can't tell; + I wish she had: his book's the eleventh commandment, + Which says, "Thou shall not marry," unless _well_: + This he (as far as I can understand) meant. + 'T is not my purpose on his views to dwell, + Nor canvass what "so eminent a hand" meant;[748] + But, certes, it conducts to lives ascetic, + Or turning Marriage into Arithmetic. + + XXXIX. + + But Adeline, who probably presumed + That Juan had enough of maintenance, + Or _separate_ maintenance, in case 't was doomed-- + As on the whole it is an even chance + That bridegrooms, after they are fairly _groomed_, + May retrograde a little in the Dance + Of Marriage--(which might form a painter's fame, + Like Holbein's "Dance of Death"[749]--but 't is the same)-- + + XL. + + But Adeline determined Juan's wedding + In her own mind, and that's enough for Woman: + But then, with whom? There was the sage Miss Reading, + Miss Raw, Miss Flaw, Miss Showman, and Miss Knowman,[nu] + And the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding. + She deemed his merits something more than common: + All these were unobjectionable matches, + And might go on, if well wound up, like watches. + + XLI. + + There was Miss Millpond, smooth as summer's sea,[nv] + That usual paragon, an only daughter, + Who seemed the cream of Equanimity, + Till skimmed--and then there was some milk and water, + With a slight shade of blue too, it might be, + Beneath the surface; but what did it matter? + Love's riotous, but Marriage should have quiet, + And being consumptive, live on a milk diet. + + XLII. + + And then there was the Miss Audacia Shoestring, + A dashing _demoiselle_ of good estate, + Whose heart was fixed upon a star or blue string; + But whether English Dukes grew rare of late, + Or that she had not harped upon the true string, + By which such Sirens can attract our great, + She took up with some foreign younger brother, + A Russ or Turk--the one's as good as t' other. + + XLIII. + + And then there was--but why should I go on, + Unless the ladies should go off?--there was + Indeed a certain fair and fairy one, + Of the best class, and better than her class,-- + Aurora Raby, a young star who shone + O'er Life, too sweet an image for such glass, + A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded, + A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded; + + XLIV. + + Rich, noble, but an orphan--left an only + Child to the care of guardians good and kind-- + But still her aspect had an air so lonely; + Blood is not water; and where shall we find + Feelings of Youth like those which overthrown lie + By Death, when we are left, alas! behind, + To feel, in friendless palaces, a home + Is wanting, and our best ties in the tomb? + + XLV. + + Early in years, and yet more infantine + In figure, she had something of Sublime + In eyes which sadly shone, as Seraphs' shine. + All Youth--but with an aspect beyond Time; + Radiant and grave--as pitying Man's decline; + Mournful--but mournful of another's crime, + She looked as if she sat by Eden's door, + And grieved for those who could return no more. + + XLVI. + + She was a Catholic, too, sincere, austere, + As far as her own gentle heart allowed, + And deemed that fallen worship far more dear + Perhaps because 't was fallen: her Sires were proud + Of deeds and days when they had filled the ear + Of nations, and had never bent or bowed + To novel power; and as she was the last, + She held their old faith and old feelings fast. + + XLVII. + + She gazed upon a World she scarcely knew, + As seeking not to know it; silent, lone, + As grows a flower, thus quietly she grew, + And kept her heart serene within its zone. + There was awe in the homage which she drew; + Her Spirit seemed as seated on a throne + Apart from the surrounding world, and strong + In its own strength--most strange in one so young! + + XLVIII. + + Now it so happened, in the catalogue + Of Adeline, Aurora was omitted, + Although her birth and wealth had given her vogue, + Beyond the charmers we have already cited; + Her beauty also seemed to form no clog + Against her being mentioned as well fitted, + By many virtues, to be worth the trouble + Of single gentlemen who would be double. + + XLIX. + + And this omission, like that of the bust + Of Brutus at the pageant of Tiberius,[750] + Made Juan wonder, as no doubt he must. + This he expressed half smiling and half serious; + When Adeline replied with some disgust, + And with an air, to say the least, imperious, + She marvelled "what he saw in such a baby + As that prim, silent, cold Aurora Raby?" + + L. + + Juan rejoined--"She was a Catholic, + And therefore fittest, as of his persuasion; + Since he was sure his mother would fall sick, + And the Pope thunder excommunication, + If--" But here Adeline, who seemed to pique + Herself extremely on the inoculation + Of others with her own opinions, stated-- + As usual--the same reason which she late did. + + LI. + + And wherefore not? A reasonable reason, + If good, is none the worse for repetition; + If bad, the best way's certainly to tease on, + And amplify: you lose much by concision, + Whereas insisting in or out of season + Convinces all men, even a politician; + Or--what is just the same--it wearies out. + So the end's gained, what signifies the route? + + LII. + + _Why_ Adeline had this slight prejudice-- + For prejudice it was--against a creature + As pure, as Sanctity itself, from Vice,-- + With all the added charm of form and feature,-- + For me appears a question far too nice, + Since Adeline was liberal by nature; + But Nature's Nature, and has more caprices + Than I have time, or will, to take to pieces. + + LIII. + + Perhaps she did not like the quiet way + With which Aurora on those baubles looked, + Which charm most people in their earlier day: + For there are few things by Mankind less brooked, + And Womankind too, if we so may say, + Than finding thus their genius stand rebuked, + Like "Antony's by Caesar,"[751] by the few + Who look upon them as they ought to do. + + LIV. + + It was not envy--Adeline had none; + Her place was far beyond it, and her mind: + It was not scorn--which could not light on one + Whose greatest _fault_ was leaving few to find: + It was not jealousy, I think--but shun + Following the _ignes fatui_ of Mankind: + It was not----but 't is easier far, alas! + To say what it was _not_ than what it was. + + LV. + + Little Aurora deemed she was the theme + Of such discussion. She was there a guest; + A beauteous ripple of the brilliant stream + Of Rank and Youth, though purer than the rest, + Which flowed on for a moment in the beam + Time sheds a moment o'er each sparkling crest. + Had she known this, she would have calmly smiled-- + She had so much, or little, of the child. + + LVI. + + The dashing and proud air of Adeline + Imposed not upon her: she saw her blaze + Much as she would have seen a glow-worm shine, + Then turned unto the stars for loftier rays. + Juan was something she could not divine, + Being no Sibyl in the new world's ways; + Yet she was nothing dazzled by the meteor, + Because she did not pin her faith on feature. + + LVII. + + His fame too,--for he had that kind of fame + Which sometimes plays the deuce with Womankind, + A heterogeneous mass of glorious blame, + Half virtues and whole vices being combined; + Faults which attract because they are not tame; + Follies tricked out so brightly that they blind:-- + These seals upon her wax made no impression, + Such was her coldness or her self-possession. + + LVIII. + + Juan knew nought of such a character-- + High, yet resembling not his lost Haidee; + Yet each was radiant in her proper sphere: + The island girl, bred up by the lone sea, + More warm, as lovely, and not less sincere, + Was Nature's all: Aurora could not be, + Nor would be thus:--the difference in them + Was such as lies between a flower and gem. + + LIX. + + Having wound up with this sublime comparison, + Methinks we may proceed upon our narrative, + And, as my friend Scott says, "I sound my warison;"[752] + Scott, the superlative of my comparative-- + Scott, who can paint your Christian knight or Saracen, + Serf--Lord--Man, with such skill as none would share it, if + There had not been one Shakespeare and Voltaire, + Of one or both of whom he seems the heir.[nw] + + LX. + + I say, in my slight way I may proceed + To play upon the surface of Humanity. + I write the World, nor care if the World read, + At least for this I cannot spare its vanity. + My Muse hath bred, and still perhaps may breed + More foes by this same scroll: when I began it, I + Thought that it might turn out so--_now I know it_,[753] + But still I am, or was, a pretty poet. + + LXI. + + The conference or congress (for it ended + As Congresses of late do) of the Lady + Adeline and Don Juan rather blended + Some acids with the sweets--for she was heady; + But, ere the matter could be marred or mended, + The silvery bell rang, not for "dinner ready," + But for that hour, called half-hour, given to dress, + Though ladies' robes seem scant enough for less. + + LXII. + + Great things were now to be achieved at table, + With massy plate for armour, knives and forks + For weapons; but what Muse since Homer's able + (His feasts are not the worst part of his works) + To draw up in array a single day-bill + Of modern dinners? where more mystery lurks, + In soups or sauces, or a sole _ragout_, + Than witches, b--ches, or physicians, brew. + + LXIII. + + There was a goodly "soupe a la _bonne femme_"[754] + Though God knows whence it came from; there was, too, + A turbot for relief of those who cram, + Relieved with "dindon a la Perigeux;" + There also was----the sinner that I am! + How shall I get this gourmand stanza through?-- + "Soupe a la Beauveau," whose relief was dory, + Relieved itself by pork, for greater glory. + + LXIV. + + But I must crowd all into one grand mess + Or mass; for should I stretch into detail, + My Muse would run much more into excess, + Than when some squeamish people deem her frail; + But though a _bonne vivante_, I must confess + Her stomach's not her peccant part; this tale + However doth require some slight refection, + Just to relieve her spirits from dejection. + + LXV. + + Fowls "a la Conde," slices eke of salmon, + With "sauces Genevoises," and haunch of venison; + Wines too, which might again have slain young Ammon--[755] + A man like whom I hope we sha'n't see many soon; + They also set a glazed Westphalian ham on, + Whereon Apicius would bestow his benison; + And then there was champagne with foaming whirls, + As white as Cleopatra's melted pearls. + + LXVI. + + Then there was God knows what "a l'Allemande," + "A l'Espagnole," "timballe," and "salpicon"-- + With things I can't withstand or understand, + Though swallowed with much zest upon the whole; + And _"entremets"_ to piddle with at hand, + Gently to lull down the subsiding soul; + While great Lucullus' _Robe triumphal_ muffles-- + (_There's fame_)--young partridge fillets, decked with truffles.[756] + + LXVII. + + What are the _fillets_ on the Victor's brow + To these? They are rags or dust. Where is the arch + Which nodded to the nation's spoils below? + Where the triumphal chariots' haughty march? + Gone to where Victories must like dinners go. + Farther I shall not follow the research: + But oh! ye modern Heroes with your cartridges, + When will your names lend lustre e'en to partridges? + + LXVIII. + + Those truffles too are no bad accessaries, + Followed by "petits puits d'amour"--a dish + Of which perhaps the cookery rather varies, + So every one may dress it to his wish, + According to the best of dictionaries, + Which encyclopedize both flesh and fish; + But even, sans _confitures_, it no less true is, + There's pretty picking in those _petits puits_.[757] + + LXIX. + + The mind is lost in mighty contemplation + Of intellect expanded on two courses; + And Indigestion's grand multiplication + Requires arithmetic beyond my forces. + Who would suppose, from Adam's simple ration, + That cookery could have called forth such resources, + As form a science and a nomenclature + From out the commonest demands of Nature? + + LXX. + + The glasses jingled, and the palates tingled; + The diners of celebrity dined well; + The ladies with more moderation mingled + In the feast, pecking less than I can tell; + Also the younger men too: for a springald + Can't, like ripe Age, in _gourmandise_ excel, + But thinks less of good eating than the whisper + (When seated next him) of some pretty lisper. + + LXXI. + + Alas! I must leave undescribed the _gibier_, + The _salmi_, the _consomme_, the _puree_, + All which I use to make my rhymes run glibber + Than could roast beef in our rough John Bull way: + I must not introduce even a spare rib here, + "Bubble and squeak" would spoil my liquid lay: + But I have dined, and must forego, alas! + The chaste description even of a "becasse;" + + LXXII. + + And fruits, and ice, and all that Art refines + From Nature for the service of the _gout_-- + _Taste_ or the _gout_,--pronounce it as inclines + Your stomach! Ere you dine, the French will do; + But _after_, there are sometimes certain signs + Which prove plain English truer of the two. + Hast ever _had_ the _gout_? I have not had it-- + But I may have, and you too, reader, dread it. + + LXXIII. + + The simple olives, best allies of wine, + Must I pass over in my bill of fare? + I must, although a favourite _plat_ of mine + In Spain, and Lucca, Athens, everywhere: + On them and bread 'twas oft my luck to dine-- + The grass my table-cloth, in open air, + On Sunium or Hymettus, like Diogenes, + Of whom half my philosophy the progeny is.[758] + + LXXIV. + + Amidst this tumult of fish, flesh, and fowl, + And vegetables, all in masquerade, + The guests were placed according to their roll, + But various as the various meats displayed: + Don Juan sat next an "a l'Espagnole"-- + No damsel, but a dish, as hath been said;[nx] + But so far like a lady, that 'twas drest + Superbly, and contained a world of zest. + + LXXV. + + By some odd chance too, he was placed between + Aurora and the Lady Adeline-- + A situation difficult, I ween, + For man therein, with eyes and heart, to dine. + Also the conference which we have seen + Was not such as to encourage him to shine, + For Adeline, addressing few words to him, + With two transcendent eyes seemed to look through him. + + LXXVI. + + I sometimes almost think that eyes have ears: + This much is sure, that, out of earshot, things + Are somehow echoed to the pretty dears, + Of which I can't tell whence their knowledge springs. + Like that same mystic music of the spheres, + Which no one hears, so loudly though it rings, + 'Tis wonderful how oft the sex have heard + Long dialogues--which passed without a word! + + LXXVII. + + Aurora sat with that indifference + Which piques a _preux chevalier_--as it ought: + Of all offences that's the worst offence, + Which seems to hint you are not worth a thought. + Now Juan, though no coxcomb in pretence, + Was not exactly pleased to be so caught; + Like a good ship entangled among ice-- + And after so much excellent advice. + + LXXVIII. + + To his gay nothings, nothing was replied, + Or something which was nothing, as Urbanity + Required. Aurora scarcely looked aside, + Nor even smiled enough for any vanity. + The Devil was in the girl! Could it be pride? + Or modesty, or absence, or inanity? + Heaven knows! But Adeline's malicious eyes + Sparkled with her successful prophecies, + + LXXIX. + + And looked as much as if to say, "I said it;" + A kind of triumph I'll not recommend, + Because it sometimes, as I have seen or read it, + Both in the case of lover and of friend, + Will pique a gentleman, for his own credit, + To bring what was a jest to a serious end: + For all men prophesy what _is_ or _was_, + And hate those who won't let them come to pass. + + LXXX. + + Juan was drawn thus into some attentions, + Slight but select, and just enough to express, + To females of perspicuous comprehensions, + That he would rather make them more than less. + Aurora at the last (so history mentions, + Though probably much less a fact than guess) + So far relaxed her thoughts from their sweet prison, + As once or twice to smile, if not to listen. + + LXXXI. + + From answering she began to question: this + With her was rare; and Adeline, who as yet + Thought her predictions went not much amiss, + Began to dread she'd thaw to a coquette-- + So very difficult, they say, it is + To keep extremes from meeting, when once set + In motion; but she here too much refined-- + Aurora's spirit was not of that kind. + + LXXXII. + + But Juan had a sort of winning way, + A proud humility, if such there be, + Which showed such deference to what females say, + As if each charming word were a decree. + His tact, too, tempered him from grave to gay, + And taught him when to be reserved or free: + He had the art of drawing people out, + Without their seeing what he was about. + + LXXXIII. + + Aurora, who in her indifference + Confounded him in common with the crowd + Of flatterers, though she deemed he had more sense + Than whispering foplings, or than witlings loud-- + Commenced[759] (from such slight things will great commence) + To feel that flattery which attracts the proud + Rather by deference than compliment, + And wins even by a delicate dissent.[ny] + + LXXXIV. + + And then he had good looks;--that point was carried + _Nem. con._ amongst the women, which I grieve + To say leads oft to _crim. con._ with the married-- + A case which to the juries we may leave, + Since with digressions we too long have tarried. + Now though we know of old that looks deceive, + And always have done,--somehow these good looks + Make more impression than the best of books. + + LXXXV. + + Aurora, who looked more on books than faces, + Was very young, although so very sage, + Admiring more Minerva than the Graces, + Especially upon a printed page. + But Virtue's self, with all her tightest laces, + Has not the natural stays of strict old age; + And Socrates, that model of all duty, + Owned to a _penchant_, though discreet, for beauty. + + LXXXVI. + + And girls of sixteen are thus far Socratic, + But innocently so, as Socrates; + And really, if the Sage sublime and Attic + At seventy years had phantasies like these, + Which Plato in his dialogues dramatic + Has shown, I know not why they should displease + In virgins--always in a modest way, + Observe,--for that with me's a _sine qua_.[760] + + LXXXVII. + + Also observe, that, like the great Lord Coke + (See Littleton), whene'er I have expressed + Opinions two, which at first sight may look + Twin opposites, the second is the best. + Perhaps I have a third too, in a nook, + Or none at all--which seems a sorry jest: + But if a writer should be quite consistent, + How could he possibly show things existent? + + LXXXVIII. + + If people contradict themselves, can I + Help contradicting them, and everybody, + Even my veracious self?--But that's a lie: + I never did so, never will--how should I? + He who doubts all things nothing can deny: + Truth's fountains may be clear--her streams are muddy, + And cut through such canals of contradiction, + That she must often navigate o'er fiction. + + LXXXIX. + + Apologue, Fable, Poesy, and Parable, + Are false, but may be rendered also true, + By those who sow them in a land that's arable: + 'Tis wonderful what Fable will not do! + 'Tis said it makes Reality more bearable: + But what's Reality? Who has its clue? + Philosophy? No; she too much rejects. + Religion? _Yes_; but which of all her sects? + + XC. + + Some millions must be wrong, that's pretty clear; + Perhaps it may turn out that all were right. + God help us! Since we have need on our career + To keep our holy beacons always bright, + 'Tis time that some new prophet should appear, + Or _old_ indulge man with a second sight. + Opinions wear out in some thousand years, + Without a small refreshment from the spheres. + + XCI. + + But here again, why will I thus entangle + Myself with Metaphysics? None can hate + So much as I do any kind of wrangle; + And yet, such is my folly, or my fate, + I always knock my head against some angle + About the present, past, or future state: + Yet I wish well to Trojan and to Tyrian, + For I was bred a moderate Presbyterian. + + XCII. + + But though I am a temperate theologian, + And also meek as a metaphysician, + Impartial between Tyrian and Trojan, + As Eldon[761] on a lunatic commission,-- + In politics my duty is to show John + Bull something of the lower world's condition. + It makes my blood boil like the springs of Hecla,[762] + To see men let these scoundrel Sovereigns break law. + + XCIII. + + But Politics, and Policy, and Piety, + Are topics which I sometimes introduce, + Not only for the sake of their variety, + But as subservient to a moral use; + Because my business is to _dress_ society, + And stuff with _sage_ that very verdant goose. + And now, that we may furnish with some matter all + Tastes, we are going to try the Supernatural. + + XCIV. + + And now I will give up all argument; + And positively, henceforth, no temptation + Shall "fool me to the top up of my bent:"--[763] + Yes, I'll begin a thorough reformation. + Indeed, I never knew what people meant + By deeming that my Muse's conversation + Was dangerous;--I think she is as harmless + As some who labour more and yet may charm less. + + XCV. + + Grim reader! did you ever see a ghost? + No; but you have heard--I understand--be dumb! + And don't regret the time you may have lost, + For you have got that pleasure still to come: + And do not think I mean to sneer at most + Of these things, or by ridicule benumb + That source of the Sublime and the Mysterious:-- + For certain reasons my belief is serious. + + XCVI. + + Serious? You laugh;--you may: that will I not; + My smiles must be sincere or not at all. + I say I do believe a haunted spot + Exists--and where? That shall I not recall, + Because I'd rather it should be forgot, + "Shadows the soul of Richard"[764] may appal. + In short, upon that subject I've some qualms very + Like those of the philosopher of Malmsbury.[765] + + XCVII. + + The night--(I sing by night--sometimes an owl, + And now and then a nightingale)--is dim, + And the loud shriek of sage Minerva's fowl + Rattles around me her discordant hymn: + Old portraits from old walls upon me scowl-- + I wish to Heaven they would not look so grim; + The dying embers dwindle in the grate-- + I think too that I have sat up too late: + + XCVIII. + + And therefore, though 'tis by no means my way + To rhyme at noon--when I have other things + To think of, if I ever think--I say + I feel some chilly midnight shudderings, + And prudently postpone, until mid-day, + Treating a topic which, alas! but brings + Shadows;--but you must be in my condition, + Before you learn to call this superstition. + + XCIX. + + Between two worlds Life hovers like a star, + 'Twixt Night and Morn, upon the horizon's verge. + How little do we know that which we are! + How less what we may be![766] The eternal surge + Of Time and Tide rolls on and bears afar + Our bubbles; as the old burst, new emerge, + Lashed from the foam of ages; while the graves + Of Empires heave but like some passing waves.[767] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{544}[733] [It is impossible to persuade the metaphor to march "on +all-fours," but, to drag it home, by a kind of "frog's march," the +unfulfilled wants of the soul, the "lurking thoughts" are as it were +bubbles, which we would fain "break on the invisible Ocean" of Passion +or Emotion the begetter of bubbles--Passion which, like the visible +Ocean, images Eternity and portrays, but not to the sensual eye, the +beatific vision of the things which are not seen, and, even so, +"ministers to the Soul's delight"! But "who can tell"?] + +{545}[ni] _While all without's indicative of rest_.--[MS. erased.] + +{546}[nj] + _A thing on which dull Time should never print age_, + _For whom stern Nature should forego her debt_.--[MS.] + +[734] [Ransom and Morland were Byron's bankers. Douglas Kinnaird Was a +partner in the firm. (See _Letters_, 1898, ii. 85, note 2.)] + +[nk] _Old Skeleton with ages for your booty_.--[MS. erased.] + +{547}[735] ["He turned himself into all manner of forms with more ease +than the chameleon changes his colour.... Thus at Sparta he was all for +exercise, frugal in his diet, and severe in his manners. In Asia he was +as much for mirth and pleasure, luxury and ease."--Plutarch, +_Alcibiades_, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 150.] + +[736] [For the phrase "Cupidon Dechaine," applied to Count D'Orsay, +_vide ante_, p. 526, note 4.] + +[737] [Plautus, _Truculentus_, act ii. sc. 8, line 14.] + +[738] [Raphael's "Transfiguration" is in the Vatican.] + +[739] As it is necessary in these times to avoid ambiguity, I say that I +mean, by "Diviner still," CHRIST. If ever God was man--or man God--he +was _both_. I never arraigned his creed, but the use--or abuse made of +it. Mr. Canning one day quoted Christianity to sanction negro slavery, +and Mr. Wilberforce had little to say in reply. And was Christ +crucified, that black men might be scourged? If so, He had better been +born a Mulatto, to give both colours an equal chance of freedom, or at +least salvation. + +[In a debate in the House of Commons, May 15, 1823 (_Parl. Deb._, N.S. +vol. ix. pp. 278, 279), Canning, replying to Fowell Buxton's motion for +the Abolition of Slavery, said, "God forbid that I should contend that +the Christian religion is favourable to slavery ... but if it be meant +that in the Christian religion there is a special denunciation against +slavery, that slavery and Christianity cannot exist together,--I think +that the honourable gentleman himself must admit that the proposition is +historically false."] + +{549}[nl] + ---- _and One Name Greater still_ + _Whose lot it was to be the most mistaken_.--[MS, erased.] + +[nm] _To leave the world by bigot fashions shaken_.--[MS. erased.] + +[nn] _Which never flatters either Whig or Tory_.--[MS. erased.] + +{550}[740] [Martial, _Epig._, x. 46.] + +[741] ["Feeble" for "foible" is found in the writings of Mrs. Behn and +Sir R. L'Estrange (_N. Engl. Dict._).] + +[no] _But now I can't tell when it will be done_.--[MS. erased.] + +[742] [The _N. Engl. Dict._ quotes W. Hooper's _Rational Recreations_ +(1794) as an earlier authority for the use of "concision" in the sense +of conciseness.] + +[np] _Who now are weltering_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[743] ["The cat will mew and dog will have his day." _Hamlet_, act v. +sc. 1, line 280.] + +[nq] + _I should not be the foremost to deride_ + _Their fault--but quickly take a sword the other way,_ + _And wax an Ultra-royalist, where Royalty_ + _Had nothing left it but a desperate Loyalty_.--[MS. erased.] + +{551}[744] + + ["And hold no sin so deeply red + As that of breaking Priscian's head." + +Butler's _Hudibras_, Part II. Canto II. lines 223, 224.] + +[745] [Brougham, in the famous critique of _Hours of Idleness_ +(_Edinburgh Review_, January, 1808, vol. xi. pp. 285-289), was pleased +"to counsel him that he do forthwith abandon poetry and turn his +talents, which are considerable, and his opportunities, which are great, +to better account." Others, however, gave him encouragement. See, for +instance, a review by J.H. Markland, who afterwards made his name as +editor of the Roxburgh Club issue of the Chester Mysteries (whence, +perhaps, Byron derived his knowledge of "Mysteries and Moralities"), +which concludes thus: "Heartily hoping that the 'illness and depression +of spirits,' which evidently pervade the greater part of these +effusions, are entirely dispelled; confident that 'George Gordon, Lord +Byron' will have a conspicuous niche in the future editions of 'Royal +and Noble Authors,' etc."--_Gent. Mag._, 1807, vol. lxxvii. p. 1217.] + +[nr] _To marshal onwards to the Delphian Height._--[MS.] + +{552}[746] ["Three small vessels were apparently all that Columbus had +requested. Two of them were light barques, called caravels, not superior +to river and coasting craft of more modern days.... That such long and +perilous expeditions into unknown seas, should be undertaken in vessels +without decks, and that they should live through the violent tempests by +which they were frequently assailed, remain among the singular +circumstances of those daring voyages."--_History of the Life and +Voyages of Christopher Columbus_, by Washington Irving, 1831, i. 78.] + +[ns] _As Women seldom think by halves_----.--[MS. erased.] + +{554}[747] This extraordinary and flourishing German colony in America +does not entirely exclude matrimony, as the "Shakers" do; but lays such +restrictions upon it as prevents more than a certain quantum of births +within a certain number of years; which births (as Mr. Hulme [perhaps +Thomas Hulme, whose _Journal_ is quoted in _Hints to Emigrants_, 1817, +pp. 5-18] observes) generally arrive "in a little flock like those of a +farmer's lambs, all within the same month perhaps." These Harmonists (so +called from the name of their settlement) are represented as a +remarkably flourishing, pious, and quiet people. See the various recent +writers on America. + +[The Harmonists were emigrants from Wuertemburg, who settled (1803-1805) +under the auspices of George Rapp, in a township 120 miles north of +Philadelphia. This they sold, and "trekked" westwards to Indiana. One of +their customs was to keep watch by nights and to cry the hours to this +tune: "Again a day is past and a step made nearer to our end. Our time +runs away, and the joys of Heaven are our reward." (See _The +Philanthropist_, No. xx., 1815, vol. v, pp. 277-288.)] + +[nt] _Which test I leave unto the Lords spiritual_.--[MS. erased.] + +{555}[748] Jacob Tonson, according to Mr. Pope, was accustomed to call +his writers "able pens," "persons of honour," and, especially, "eminent +hands." Vide Correspondence, etc., etc. + +["Perhaps I should myself be much better pleased, if I were told you +called me your little friend, than if you complimented me with the title +of a 'great genius,' or an eminent hand, as Jacob does all his +authors."--_Pope to Steele_, November 29, 1712, _Works of Alexander +Pope, 1871_, vi. 396.] + +[749] [See D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_, 1841, pp. 450-452, +and the Dissertation prefixed to Francis Douce's edition of Holbein's +_Dance of Death_, 1858, pp. 1-218.] + +{556}[nu] ---- _Miss Allman and Miss Noman_.--[MS. erased.] + +[nv] + ---- _that smooth placid sea_ + _Which did not show and yet concealed a storm_.--[MS. erased.] + +{558}[750] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza lix. line 3, +_Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 374, note 2.] + +{559}[751] + + [" ... And, under him, + My Genius is rebuked; as it is said + Mark Antony's was by Caesar." + +_Macbeth_, act iii, sc. 1, lines 54-56.] + +{560}[752] [_Warison_--cri-de-guerre--note of assault:-- + + "Either receive within these towers + Two hundred of my master's powers, + Or straight they sound their _warrison_, + And storm and spoil this garrison." + +_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Canto IV. stanza xxiv, lines 17-20.] + +{561}[nw] _And adds a third to what was late a pair_.--[MS. erased.] + +[753] [Compare: + + "Life's a jest, and all things show it; + I thought so once, and _now I know it_." + +Gay's Epitaph.] + +[754] [For "Potage a la bonne femme," "Dindon a la Perigueux," "Soupe a +la Beauveau," "Le dorey garni d'eperlans frits," "Le cuisseau de pore a +demi sel, garni de choux," "Le salmi de perdreaux a l'Espagnole," "Les +becasses," see "Bill of Fare for November," _The French Cook_, by Louis +Eustache Ude, 1813, p. viii. For "Les poulardes a la Conde." "Le jambon +de Westphalie a l'Espagnole," "Les petites timballes d'un salpicon a la +Monglas" (?Montglat), "Les filets de perdreaux sautes a la Lucullus," +vide ibid., p. ix., and for "Petits puits d'amour garnis de confitures," +vide Plate of Second Course (to face) p. vi.] + +{562}[755] [Alexander the Great.] + +{563}[756] A dish "a la Lucullus." This hero, who conquered the East, +has left his more extended celebrity to the transplantation of cherries +(which he first brought into Europe), and the nomenclature of some very +good dishes;--and I am not sure that (barring indigestion) he has not +done more service to mankind by his cookery than by his conquests. A +cherry tree may weigh against a bloody laurel; besides, he has contrived +to earn celebrity from both. + +[According to Pliny (_Nat, Hist._, lib. xv. cap. xxv. ed. 1593, ii. +131), there were no cherry trees in Italy until L. Lucullus brought them +home with him from Pontus after the Mithridatic War (B.C. 74), and it +was not for another hundred and twenty years that the cherry tree +crossed the Channel and was introduced into Britain.] + +[757] "Petits puits d'amour garnis de confitures,"--a classical and +well-known dish for part of the flank of a second course [_vide ante_, +p. 562]. + +{564}[758] ["To-day in a palace, to-morrow in a cow-house--this day with +a Pacha, the next with a shepherd."--Letter to his mother, July 30, +1810, _Letters_, 1898, i. 295.] + +[nx] _No lady but a dish_----.--[MS.] + +{567}[759] ["This construction ('commence' with the infinitive) has been +objected to by stylists," says the _New English Dictionary_ (see art. +"Commence"). Its use is sanctioned by the authority of Pope, Landor, +Helps, and Lytton; but even so, it is questionable, if not +objectionable.] + +[ny] _Sweet Lord! she was so sagely innocent_.--[MS.] + +{568}[760] Subauditur "_non_;" omitted for the sake of euphony. + +{569}[761] [John Scott, Earl of Eldon, Lord Chancellor, 1801 to 1827, +sat as judge (November 7, 1822) to hear the petition of Henry Wallop +Fellowes, that a commission of inquiry should be issued to ascertain +whether his uncle, Lord Portsmouth (who married Mary Anne Hanson, the +daughter of Byron's solicitor), was of sound mind, "and capable of +managing his own person and property." The Chancellor gave judgment that +a commission be issued, and the jury, February, 1823, returned a verdict +that Lord Portsmouth had been a lunatic since 1809. (See _Letters_, +1898, ii. 393, note 3, _et ibid._, 1901, vi. 170, note i.)] + +[762] Hecla is a famous hot-spring in Iceland. [Byron seems to mistake +the volcano for the Geysers.] + +{570}[763] [_Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 2, line 367.] + +[764] + + ["By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night + Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard + Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers," etc. + +_Richard III._, act v. sc. 3, lines 216-218.] + +[765] Hobbes: who, doubting of his own soul, paid that compliment to the +souls of other people as to decline their visits, of which he had some +apprehension. + +[Bayle (see art. "Hobbes" [_Dict. Crit. and Hist._, 1736, iii. 471, +note N.]) quotes from _Vita Hobb._, p. 106: "He was as falsely accused +by some of being unwilling to be alone, because he was afraid of +spectres and apparitions, vain bugbears of fools, which he had chased +away by the light of his Philosophy," and proceeds to argue that, +perhaps, after all, Hobbes was afraid of the dark. "He was timorous to +the last degree, and consequently he had reason to distrust his +imagination when he was alone in a chamber in the night; for in spite of +him the memory of what he had read and heard concerning apparitions +would revive, though he was not persuaded of the reality of these +things." See, however, for his own testimony that he was "not afrayd of +sprights," _Letters and Lives of Eminent Persons_, by John Aubrey, 1813, +vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 624.] + +{571}[766] [_Hamlet_, act iv. sc. 5, lines 41, 42.] + +[767] End of Canto 15^th^. M^ch^. 25, 1823. B.--[MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE SIXTEENTH.[768] + + I. + + The antique Persians taught three useful things, + To draw the bow, to ride, and speak the truth,[769] + This was the mode of Cyrus, best of kings-- + A mode adopted since by modern youth. + Bows have they, generally with two strings; + Horses they ride without remorse or ruth; + At speaking truth perhaps they are less clever, + But draw the long bow better now than ever. + + II. + + The cause of this effect, or this defect,-- + "For this effect defective comes by cause,"--[770] + Is what I have not leisure to inspect; + But this I must say in my own applause, + Of all the Muses that I recollect, + Whate'er may be her follies or her flaws + In some things, mine's beyond all contradiction + The most sincere that ever dealt in fiction. + + III. + + And as she treats all things, and ne'er retreats + From anything, this Epic will contain + A wilderness of the most rare conceits, + Which you might elsewhere hope to find in vain. + 'Tis true there be some bitters with the sweets, + Yet mixed so slightly, that you can't complain, + But wonder they so few are, since my tale is + "_De rebus cunctis et quibusdam aliis._"[771] + + IV. + + But of all truths which she has told, the most + True is that which she is about to tell. + I said it was a story of a ghost-- + What then? I only know it so befell. + Have you explored the limits of the coast, + Where all the dwellers of the earth must dwell? + 'Tis time to strike such puny doubters dumb as + The sceptics who would not believe Columbus. + + V. + + Some people would impose now with authority, + Turpin's or Monmouth Geoffry's Chronicle; + Men whose historical superiority + Is always greatest at a miracle. + But Saint Augustine has the great priority, + Who bids all men believe the impossible, + _Because 'tis so._ Who nibble, scribble, quibble, he + Quiets at once with "_quia impossibile._"[772] + + VI. + + And therefore, mortals, cavil not at all; + Believe:--if 'tis improbable, you _must_, + And if it is impossible, you _shall_: + 'Tis always best to take things upon trust. + I do not speak profanely to recall + Those holier Mysteries which the wise and just + Receive as Gospel, and which grow more rooted, + As all truths must, the more they are disputed: + + VII. + + I merely mean to say what Johnson said, + That in the course of some six thousand years, + All nations have believed that from the dead + A visitant at intervals appears:[773] + And what is strangest upon this strange head, + Is, that whatever bar the reason rears + 'Gainst such belief, there's something stronger still + In its behalf--let those deny who will. + + VIII. + + The dinner and the _soiree_ too were done, + The supper too discussed, the dames admired, + The banqueteers had dropped off one by one-- + The song was silent, and the dance expired: + The last thin petticoats were vanished, gone + Like fleecy clouds into the sky retired, + And nothing brighter gleamed through the saloon + Than dying tapers--and the peeping moon. + + IX. + + The evaporation of a joyous day + Is like the last glass of champagne, without + The foam which made its virgin bumper gay; + Or like a system coupled with a doubt; + Or like a soda bottle when its spray + Has sparkled and let half its spirit out; + Or like a billow left by storms behind, + Without the animation of the wind; + + X. + + Or like an opiate, which brings troubled rest, + Or none; or like--like nothing that I know + Except itself;--such is the human breast; + A thing, of which similitudes can show + No real likeness,--like the old Tyrian vest + Dyed purple, none at present can tell how, + If from a shell-fish or from cochineal.[774] + So perish every Tyrant's robe piece-meal! + + XI. + + But next to dressing for a rout or ball, + Undressing is a woe; our _robe de chambre_ + May sit like that of Nessus,[775] and recall + Thoughts quite as yellow, but less clear than amber. + Titus exclaimed, "I've lost a day!"[776] Of all + The nights and days most people can remember, + (I have had of both, some not to be disdained,) + I wish they'd state how many they have gained. + + XII. + + And Juan, on retiring for the night, + Felt restless, and perplexed, and compromised: + He thought Aurora Raby's eyes more bright + Than Adeline (such is advice) advised; + If he had known exactly his own plight, + He probably would have philosophised: + A great resource to all, and ne'er denied + Till wanted; therefore Juan only sighed. + + XIII. + + He sighed;--the next resource is the full moon, + Where all sighs are deposited; and now + It happened luckily, the chaste orb shone + As clear as such a climate will allow; + And Juan's mind was in the proper tone + To hail her with the apostrophe--"O thou!" + Of amatory egotism the _Tuism_,[777] + Which further to explain would be a truism. + + XIV. + + But Lover, Poet, or Astronomer-- + Shepherd, or swain--whoever may behold, + Feel some abstraction when they gaze on her; + Great thoughts we catch from thence (besides a cold + Sometimes, unless my feelings rather err); + Deep secrets to her rolling light are told; + The Ocean's tides and mortals' brains she sways, + And also hearts--if there be truth in lays. + + XV. + + Juan felt somewhat pensive, and disposed + For contemplation rather than his pillow: + The Gothic chamber, where he was enclosed, + Let in the rippling sound of the lake's billow, + With all the mystery by midnight caused: + Below his window waved (of course) willow; + And he stood gazing out on the cascade + That flashed and after darkened in the shade. + + XVI. + + Upon his table or his toilet,[778]--_which_ + Of these is not exactly ascertained,-- + (I state this, for I am cautious to a pitch + Of nicety, where a fact is to be gained,) + A lamp burned high, while he leant from a niche, + Where many a Gothic ornament remained, + In chiselled stone and painted glass, and all + That Time has left our fathers of their Hall. + + XVII. + + Then, as the night was clear though cold, he threw + His chamber door wide open[779]--and went forth + Into a gallery of a sombre hue, + Long, furnished with old pictures of great worth, + Of knights and dames heroic and chaste too, + As doubtless should be people of high birth; + But by dim lights the portraits of the dead + Have something ghastly, desolate, and dread. + + XVIII. + + The forms of the grim Knight and pictured Saint + Look living in the moon; and as you turn + Backward and forward to the echoes faint + Of your own footsteps--voices from the Urn + Appear to wake, and shadows wild and quaint + Start from the frames which fence their aspects stern, + As if to ask how you can dare to keep + A vigil there, where all but Death should sleep. + + XIX. + + And the pale smile of Beauties in the grave, + The charms of other days, in starlight gleams, + Glimmer on high; their buried locks still wave + Along the canvas; their eyes glance like dreams + On ours, or spars within some dusky cave,[780] + But Death is imaged in their shadowy beams. + A picture is the past; even ere its frame + Be gilt, who sate hath ceased to be the same. + + XX. + + As Juan mused on Mutability, + Or on his Mistress--terms synonymous-- + No sound except the echo of his sigh + Or step ran sadly through that antique house; + When suddenly he heard, or thought so, nigh, + A supernatural agent--or a mouse, + Whose little nibbling rustle will embarrass + Most people as it plays along the arras. + + XXI. + + It was no mouse--but lo! a monk, arrayed[781] + In cowl and beads, and dusky garb, appeared, + Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade, + With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard; + His garments only a slight murmur made; + He moved as shadowy as the Sisters weird,[782] + But slowly; and as he passed Juan by, + Glanced, without pausing, on him a bright eye. + + XXII. + + Juan was petrified; he had heard a hint + Of such a Spirit in these halls of old, + But thought, like most men, that there was nothing in 't + Beyond the rumour which such spots unfold, + Coined from surviving Superstition's mint, + Which passes ghosts in currency like gold, + But rarely seen, like gold compared with paper. + And did he see this? or was it a vapour? + + XXIII. + + Once, twice, thrice passed, repassed--the thing of air, + Or earth beneath, or Heaven, or t' other place; + And Juan gazed upon it with a stare, + Yet could not speak or move; but, on its base + As stands a statue, stood: he felt his hair + Twine like a knot of snakes around his face; + He taxed his tongue for words, which were not granted, + To ask the reverend person what he wanted. + + XXIV. + + The third time, after a still longer pause, + The shadow passed away--but where? the hall + Was long, and thus far there was no great cause + To think his vanishing unnatural: + Doors there were many, through which, by the laws + Of physics, bodies whether short or tall + Might come or go; but Juan could not state + Through which the Spectre seemed to evaporate. + + XXV. + + He stood--how long he knew not, but it seemed + An age--expectant, powerless, with his eyes + Strained on the spot where first the figure gleamed + Then by degrees recalled his energies, + And would have passed the whole off as a dream, + But could not wake; he was, he did surmise, + Waking already, and returned at length + Back to his chamber, shorn of half his strength. + + XXVI. + + All there was as he left it: still his taper + Burned, and not _blue_, as modest tapers use, + Receiving sprites with sympathetic vapour; + He rubbed his eyes, and they did not refuse + Their office: he took up an old newspaper; + The paper was right easy to peruse; + He read an article the King attacking, + And a long eulogy of "Patent Blacking." + + XXVII. + + This savoured of this world; but his hand shook: + He shut his door, and after having read + A paragraph, I think about Horne Tooke, + Undressed, and rather slowly went to bed. + There, couched all snugly on his pillow's nook, + With what he had seen his phantasy he fed; + And though it was no opiate, slumber crept + Upon him by degrees, and so he slept. + + XXVIII. + + He woke betimes; and, as may be supposed, + Pondered upon his visitant or vision, + And whether it ought not to be disclosed, + At risk of being quizzed for superstition. + The more he thought, the more his mind was posed: + In the mean time, his valet, whose precision + Was great, because his master brooked no less, + Knocked to inform him it was time to dress. + + XXIX. + + He dressed; and like young people he was wont + To take some trouble with his toilet, but + This morning rather spent less time upon 't; + Aside his very mirror soon was put; + His curls fell negligently o'er his front, + His clothes were not curbed to their usual cut, + His very neckcloth's Gordian knot was tied + Almost an hair's breadth too much on one side. + + XXX. + + And when he walked down into the Saloon, + He sate him pensive o'er a dish of tea, + Which he perhaps had not discovered soon, + Had it not happened scalding hot to be, + Which made him have recourse unto his spoon; + So much _distrait_ he was, that all could see + That something was the matter--Adeline + The first--but _what_ she could not well divine. + + XXXI. + + She looked, and saw him pale, and turned as pale + Herself; then hastily looked down, and muttered + Something, but what's not stated in my tale. + Lord Henry said, his muffin was ill buttered; + The Duchess of Fitz-Fulke played with her veil, + And looked at Juan hard, but nothing uttered. + Aurora Raby with her large dark eyes + Surveyed him with a kind of calm surprise. + + XXXII. + + But seeing him all cold and silent still, + And everybody wondering more or less, + Fair Adeline inquired, "If he were ill?" + He started, and said, "Yes--no--rather--yes." + The family physician had great skill, + And being present, now began to express + His readiness to feel his pulse and tell + The cause, but Juan said, he was "quite well." + + XXXIII. + + "Quite well; yes,--no."--These answers were mysterious, + And yet his looks appeared to sanction both, + However they might savour of delirious; + Something like illness of a sudden growth + Weighed on his spirit, though by no means serious: + But for the rest, as he himself seemed both + To state the case, it might be ta'en for granted + It was not the physician that he wanted. + + XXXIV. + + Lord Henry, who had now discussed his chocolate, + Also the muffin whereof he complained, + Said, Juan had not got his usual look elate, + At which he marvelled, since it had not rained; + Then asked her Grace what news were of the Duke of late? + _Her_ Grace replied, _his_ Grace was rather pained + With some slight, light, hereditary twinges + Of gout, which rusts aristocratic hinges. + + XXXV. + + Then Henry turned to Juan, and addressed + A few words of condolence on his state: + "You look," quoth he, "as if you had had your rest + Broke in upon by the Black Friar of late." + "What Friar?" said Juan; and he did his best + To put the question with an air sedate, + Or careless; but the effort was not valid + To hinder him from growing still more pallid. + + XXXVI. + + "Oh! have you never heard of the Black Friar? + The Spirit of these walls?"--"In truth not I." + "Why Fame--but Fame you know's sometimes a liar-- + Tells an odd story, of which by and by: + Whether with time the Spectre has grown shyer, + Or that our Sires had a more gifted eye + For such sights, though the tale is half believed, + The Friar of late has not been oft perceived. + + XXXVII. + + "The last time was----"--"I pray," said Adeline-- + (Who watched the changes of Don Juan's brow, + And from its context thought she could divine + Connections stronger than he chose to avow + With this same legend)--"if you but design + To jest, you'll choose some other theme just now, + Because the present tale has oft been told, + And is not much improved by growing old." + + XXXVIII. + + "Jest!" quoth Milor; "why, Adeline, you know + That we ourselves--'twas in the honey moon + Saw----"--"Well, no matter, 'twas so long ago; + But, come, I'll set your story to a tune." + Graceful as Dian when she draws her bow, + She seized her harp, whose strings were kindled soon + As touched, and plaintively began to play + The air of "'Twas a Friar of Orders Gray."[nz] + + XXXIX. + + "But add the words," cried Henry, "which you made; + For Adeline is half a poetess," + Turning round to the rest, he smiling said. + Of course the others could not but express + In courtesy their wish to see displayed + By one _three_ talents, for there were no less-- + The voice, the words, the harper's skill, at once, + Could hardly be united by a dunce. + + XL. + + After some fascinating hesitation,-- + The charming of these charmers, who seem bound, + I can't tell why, to this dissimulation,-- + Fair Adeline, with eyes fixed on the ground + At first, then kindling into animation, + Added her sweet voice to the lyric sound, + And sang with much simplicity,--a merit + Not the less precious, that we seldom hear it. + +1. + + Beware! beware! of the Black Friar, + Who sitteth by Norman stone, + For he mutters his prayer in the midnight air, + And his mass of the days that are gone. + When the Lord of the Hill, Amundeville, + Made Norman Church his prey, + And expelled the friars, one friar still + Would not be driven away. + +2. + + Though he came in his might, with King Henry's right, + To turn church lands to lay, + With sword in hand, and torch to light + Their walls, if they said nay; + A monk remained, unchased, unchained, + And he did not seem formed of clay, + For he's seen in the porch, and he's seen in the church, + Though he is not seen by day. + +3. + + And whether for good, or whether for ill, + It is not mine to say; + But still with the house of Amundeville + He abideth night and day. + By the marriage-bed of their lords, 'tis said, + He flits on the bridal eve; + And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of Death[oa] + He comes--but not to grieve. + +4. + + When an heir is born, he's heard to mourn, + And when aught is to befall + That ancient line, in the pale moonshine + He walks from hall to hall. + His form you may trace, but not his face, + 'Tis shadowed by his cowl; + But his eyes may be seen from the folds between, + And they seem of a parted soul. + +5. + + But beware! beware! of the Black Friar, + He still retains his sway, + For he is yet the Church's heir, + Whoever may be the lay. + Amundeville is Lord by day, + But the monk is Lord by night; + Nor wine nor wassail could raise a vassal + To question that Friar's right. + +6. + + Say nought to him as he walks the Hall, + And he'll say nought to you; + He sweeps along in his dusky pall, + As o'er the grass the dew. + Then grammercy! for the Black Friar; + Heaven sain him! fair or foul,-- + And whatsoe'er may be his prayer, + Let ours be for his soul. + + XLI. + + The lady's voice ceased, and the thrilling wires + Died from the touch that kindled them to sound; + And the pause followed, which when song expires + Pervades a moment those who listen round; + And then of course the circle much admires, + Nor less applauds, as in politeness bound, + The tones, the feeling, and the execution, + To the performer's diffident confusion. + + XLII. + + Fair Adeline, though in a careless way, + As if she rated such accomplishment + As the mere pastime of an idle day, + Pursued an instant for her own content, + Would now and then as 'twere _without_ display, + Yet _with_ display in fact, at times relent + To such performances with haughty smile, + To show she _could_, if it were worth her while. + + XLIII. + + Now this (but we will whisper it aside) + Was--pardon the pedantic illustration-- + Trampling on Plato's pride with greater pride, + As did the Cynic on some like occasion; + Deeming the sage would be much mortified, + Or thrown into a philosophic passion, + For a spoilt carpet--but the "Attic Bee" + Was much consoled by his own repartee.[783] + + XLIV. + + Thus Adeline would throw into the shade + (By doing easily, whene'er she chose, + What dilettanti do with vast parade) + Their sort of _half profession_; for it grows + To something like this when too oft displayed; + And that it is so, everybody knows, + Who have heard Miss That or This, or Lady T'other, + Show off--to please their company or mother. + + XLV. + + Oh! the long evenings of duets and trios! + The admirations and the speculations; + The "Mamma Mia's!" and the "Amor Mio's!" + The "Tanti palpiti's" on such occasions: + The "Lasciami's," and quavering "Addio's," + Amongst our own most musical of nations! + With "Tu mi chamas's" from Portingale,[784] + To soothe our ears, lest Italy should fail.[785] + + XLVI. + + In Babylon's _bravuras_--as the Home- + Heart-Ballads of Green Erin or Grey Highlands, + That bring Lochaber back to eyes that roam + O'er far Atlantic continents or islands, + The calentures[786] of music which o'ercome + All mountaineers with dreams that they are nigh lands, + No more to be beheld but in such visions-- + Was Adeline well versed, as compositions. + + XLVII. + + She also had a twilight tinge of "_Blue_," + Could write rhymes, and compose more than she wrote, + Made epigrams occasionally too + Upon her friends, as everybody ought. + But still from that sublimer azure hue,[787] + So much the present dye, she was remote; + Was weak enough to deem Pope a great poet, + And what was worse, was not ashamed to show it. + + XLVIII. + + Aurora--since we are touching upon taste, + Which now-a-days is the thermometer + By whose degrees all characters are classed-- + Was more Shakespearian, if I do not err. + The worlds beyond this World's perplexing waste + Had more of her existence, for in her + There was a depth of feeling to embrace + Thoughts, boundless, deep, but silent too as Space. + + XLIX. + + Not so her gracious, graceful, graceless Grace, + The full-grown Hebe of Fitz-Fulke, whose mind, + If she had any, was upon her face, + And that was of a fascinating kind. + A little turn for mischief you might trace + Also thereon,--but that's not much; we find + Few females without some such gentle leaven, + For fear we should suppose us quite in Heaven. + + L. + + I have not heard she was at all poetic, + Though once she was seen reading the _Bath Guide_,[788] + And Hayley's _Triumphs_,[789] which she deemed pathetic, + Because she said _her temper_ had been tried + So much, the bard had really been prophetic + Of what she had gone through with--since a bride. + But of all verse, what most ensured her praise + Were sonnets to herself, or _bouts rimes_. + + LI. + + 'Twere difficult to say what was the object + Of Adeline, in bringing this same lay + To bear on what appeared to her the subject + Of Juan's nervous feelings on that day. + Perhaps she merely had the simple project + To laugh him out of his supposed dismay; + Perhaps she might wish to confirm him in it, + Though why I cannot say--at least this minute. + + LII. + + But so far the immediate effect + Was to restore him to his self-propriety, + A thing quite necessary to the elect, + Who wish to take the tone of their society: + In which you cannot be too circumspect, + Whether the mode be persiflage or piety, + But wear the newest mantle of hypocrisy, + On pain of much displeasing the gynocracy.[790] + + LIII. + + And therefore Juan now began to rally + His spirits, and without more explanation + To jest upon such themes in many a sally. + Her Grace, too, also seized the same occasion, + With various similar remarks to tally, + But wished for a still more detailed narration + Of this same mystic friar's curious doings, + About the present family's deaths and wooings. + + LIV. + + Of these few could say more than has been said; + They passed as such things do, for superstition + With some, while others, who had more in dread + The theme, half credited the strange tradition; + And much was talked on all sides on that head: + But Juan, when cross-questioned on the vision, + Which some supposed (though he had not avowed it) + Had stirred him, answered in a way to cloud it. + + LV. + + And then, the mid-day having worn to one, + The company prepared to separate; + Some to their several pastimes, or to none, + Some wondering 'twas so early, some so late. + There was a goodly match too, to be run + Between some greyhounds on my Lord's estate, + And a young race-horse of old pedigree, + Matched for the spring, whom several went to see. + + LVI. + + There was a picture-dealer who had brought + A special Titian, warranted original, + So precious that it was not to be bought, + Though Princes the possessor were besieging all-- + The King himself had cheapened it, but thought + The civil list he deigns to accept (obliging all + His subjects by his gracious acceptation)-- + Too scanty, in these times of low taxation. + + LVII. + + But as Lord Henry was a connoisseur,-- + The friend of Artists, if not Arts,--the owner, + With motives the most classical and pure, + So that he would have been the very donor, + Rather than seller, had his wants been fewer, + So much he deemed his patronage an honour, + Had brought the _capo d'opera_, not for sale, + But for his judgment--never known to fail. + + LVIII. + + There was a modern Goth, I mean a Gothic + Bricklayer of Babel, called an architect,[ob] + Brought to survey these grey walls which, though so thick, + Might have from Time acquired some slight defect; + Who, after rummaging the Abbey through thick + And thin, produced a plan whereby to erect + New buildings of correctest conformation, + And throw down old--which he called _restoration_.[791] + + LIX. + + The cost would be a trifle--an "old song," + Set to some thousands ('tis the usual burden + Of that same tune, when people hum it long)-- + The price would speedily repay its worth in + An edifice no less sublime than strong, + By which Lord Henry's good taste would go forth in + Its glory, through all ages shining sunny, + For Gothic daring shown in English money.[792] + + LX. + + There were two lawyers busy on a mortgage + Lord Henry wished to raise for a new purchase; + Also a lawsuit upon tenures burgage,[793] + And one on tithes, which sure as Discord's torches, + Kindling Religion till she throws down _her_ gage, + "Untying" squires "to fight against the churches;"[794] + There was a prize ox, a prize pig, and ploughman, + For Henry was a sort of Sabine showman. + + LXI. + + There were two poachers caught in a steel trap, + Ready for gaol, their place of convalescence; + There was a country girl in a close cap + And scarlet cloak (I hate the sight to see, since-- + Since--since--in youth, I had the sad mishap-- + But luckily I have paid few parish fees since):[795] + That scarlet cloak, alas! unclosed with rigour, + Presents the problem of a double figure. + + LXII. + + A reel within a bottle is a mystery, + One can't tell how it e'er got in or out; + Therefore the present piece of natural history + I leave to those who are fond of solving doubt; + And merely state, though not for the Consistory, + Lord Henry was a Justice, and that Scout + The constable, beneath a warrant's banner, + Had bagged this poacher upon Nature's manor. + + LXIII. + + Now Justices of Peace must judge all pieces + Of mischief of all kinds, and keep the game + And morals of the country from caprices + Of those who have not a licence for the same; + And of all things, excepting tithes and leases, + Perhaps these are most difficult to tame: + Preserving partridges and pretty wenches + Are puzzles to the most precautions benches. + + LXIV. + + The present culprit was extremely pale, + Pale as if painted so; her cheek being red + By nature, as in higher dames less hale + 'Tis white, at least when they just rise from bed. + Perhaps she was ashamed of seeming frail, + Poor soul! for she was country born and bred, + And knew no better in her immorality + Than to wax white--for blushes are for quality. + + LXV. + + Her black, bright, downcast, yet _espiegle_ eye, + Had gathered a large tear into its corner, + Which the poor thing at times essayed to dry, + For she was not a sentimental mourner + Parading all her sensibility, + Nor insolent enough to scorn the scorner, + But stood in trembling, patient tribulation, + To be called up for her examination. + + LXVI. + + Of course these groups were scattered here and there, + Not nigh the gay saloon of ladies gent.[796] + The lawyers in the study; and in air + The prize pig, ploughman, poachers: the men sent + From town, viz. architect and dealer, were + Both busy (as a General in his tent + Writing despatches) in their several stations, + Exulting in their brilliant lucubrations. + + LXVII. + + But this poor girl was left in the great hall, + While Scout, the parish guardian of the frail, + Discussed (he hated beer yclept the "small") + A mighty mug of _moral_ double ale. + She waited until Justice could recall + Its kind attentions to their proper pale, + To name a thing in nomenclature rather[oc] + Perplexing for most virgins--a child's father. + + LXVIII. + + You see here was enough of occupation + For the Lord Henry, linked with dogs and horses. + There was much bustle too, and preparation + Below stairs on the score of second courses; + Because, as suits their rank and situation, + Those who in counties have great land resources + Have "public days," when all men may carouse, + Though not exactly what's called "open house." + + LXIX. + + But once a week or fortnight, _un_invited + (Thus we translate a _general invitation_) + All country gentlemen, esquired or knighted, + May drop in without cards, and take their station + At the full board, and sit alike delighted + With fashionable wines and conversation; + And, as the isthmus of the grand connection, + Talk o'er themselves the past and next election. + + LXX. + + Lord Henry was a great electioneerer, + Burrowing for boroughs like a rat or rabbit. + But county contests cost him rather dearer, + Because the neighbouring Scotch Earl of Giftgabbit + Had English influence, in the self-same sphere here; + His son, the Honourable Dick Dicedrabbit, + Was member for the "other interest" (meaning + The same self-interest, with a different leaning). + + LXXI. + + Courteous and cautious therefore in his county, + He was all things to all men, and dispensed + To some civility, to others bounty, + And promises to all--which last commenced + To gather to a somewhat large amount, he + Not calculating how much they condensed; + But what with keeping some, and breaking others, + His word had the same value as another's. + + LXXII. + + A friend to Freedom and freeholders--yet + No less a friend to Government--he held, + That he exactly the just medium hit + Twixt Place and Patriotism--albeit compelled, + Such was his Sovereign's pleasure, (though unfit, + He added modestly, when rebels railed,) + To hold some sinecures he wished abolished, + But that with them all Law would be demolished. + + LXXIII. + + He was "free to confess"--(whence comes this phrase? + Is 't English? No--'tis only parliamentary) + That Innovation's spirit now-a-days + Had made more progress than for the last century. + He would not tread a factious path to praise, + Though for the public weal disposed to venture high; + As for his place, he could but say this of it, + That the fatigue was greater than the profit. + + LXXIV. + + Heaven, and his friends, knew that a private life + Had ever been his sole and whole ambition; + But could he quit his King in times of strife, + Which threatened the whole country with perdition? + When demagogues would with a butcher's knife + Cut through and through (oh! damnable incision!) + The Gordian or the G_e_ordi-an knot, whose strings + Have tied together Commons, Lords, and Kings. + + LXXV. + + Sooner "come Place into the Civil List + And champion him to the utmost[797]--" he would keep it, + Till duly disappointed or dismissed: + Profit he cared not for, let others reap it; + But should the day come when Place ceased to exist, + The country would have far more cause to weep it: + For how could it go on? Explain who can! + _He_ gloried in the name of Englishman. + + LXXVI. + + He was as independent--aye, much more-- + Than those who were not paid for independence, + As common soldiers, or a common----shore, + Have in their several arts or parts ascendance + O'er the irregulars in lust or gore, + Who do not give professional attendance. + Thus on the mob all statesmen are as eager + To prove their pride, as footmen to a beggar. + + LXXVII. + + All this (save the last stanza) Henry said, + And thought. I say no more--I've said too much; + For all of us have either heard or read-- + Off--or _upon_ the hustings--some slight such + Hints from the independent heart or head + Of the official candidate. I'll touch + No more on this--the dinner-bell hath rung, + And grace is said; the grace I _should_ have _sung_-- + + LXXVIII. + + But I'm too late, and therefore must make play. + 'Twas a great banquet, such as Albion old + Was wont to boast--as if a glutton's tray + Were something very glorious to behold. + But 'twas a public feast and public day,-- + Quite full--right dull--guests hot, and dishes cold,-- + Great plenty, much formality, small cheer,-- + And everybody out of their own sphere. + + LXXIX. + + The squires familiarly formal, and + My Lords and Ladies proudly condescending; + The very servants puzzling how to hand + Their plates--without it might be too much bending + From their high places by the sideboard's stand-- + Yet, like their masters, fearful of offending; + For any deviation from the graces + Might cost both man and master too--their _places_. + + LXXX. + + There were some hunters bold, and coursers keen, + Whose hounds ne'er erred, nor greyhounds deigned to lurch; + Some deadly shots too, Septembrizers,[798] seen + Earliest to rise, and last to quit the search + Of the poor partridge through his stubble screen. + There were some massy members of the church, + Takers of tithes, and makers of good matches, + And several who sung fewer psalms than catches. + + LXXXI. + + There were some country wags too--and, alas! + Some exiles from the Town, who had been driven + To gaze, instead of pavement, upon grass, + And rise at nine in lieu of long eleven. + And lo! upon that day it came to pass, + I sate next that o'erwhelming son of Heaven, + The very powerful parson, Peter Pith,[799] + The loudest wit I e'er was deafened with. + + LXXXII. + + I knew him in his livelier London days, + A brilliant diner-out, though but a curate, + And not a joke he cut but earned its praise, + Until Preferment, coming at a sure rate, + (O Providence! how wondrous are thy ways! + Who would suppose thy gifts sometimes obdurate?) + Gave him, to lay the Devil who looks o'er Lincoln,[800] + A fat fen vicarage, and nought to think on. + + LXXXIII. + + His jokes were sermons, and his sermons jokes; + But both were thrown away amongst the fens; + For Wit hath no great friend in aguish folks.[od] + No longer ready ears and short-hand pens + Imbibed the gay _bon-mot_, or happy hoax:[oe] + The poor priest was reduced to common sense, + Or to coarse efforts very loud and long, + To hammer a hoarse laugh from the thick throng.[of] + + LXXXIV. + + There _is_ a difference, says the song, "between + A beggar and a Queen,"[801] or _was_ (of late + The latter worse used of the two we've seen-- + But we 'll say nothing of affairs of state); + A difference "'twixt a Bishop and a Dean," + A difference between crockery ware and plate, + As between English beef and Spartan broth-- + And yet great heroes have been bred by both. + + LXXXV. + + But of all Nature's discrepancies, none + Upon the whole is greater than the difference + Beheld between the Country and the Town, + Of which the latter merits every preference + From those who have few resources of their own. + And only think, or act, or feel, with reference + To some small plan of interest or ambition-- + Both which are limited to no condition. + + LXXXVI. + + But _En avant!_ The light loves languish o'er + Long banquets and too many guests, although + A slight repast makes people love much more, + Bacchus and Ceres being, as we know, + Even from our grammar upwards, friends of yore + With vivifying Venus,[802] who doth owe + To these the invention of champagne and truffles: + Temperance delights her, but long fasting ruffles. + + LXXXVII. + + Dully passed o'er the dinner of the day; + And Juan took his place, he knew not where, + Confused, in the confusion, and _distrait_, + And sitting as if nailed upon his chair: + Though knives and forks clanked round as in a fray, + He seemed unconscious of all passing there, + Till some one, with a groan, expressed a wish + (Unheeded twice) to have a fin of fish. + + LXXXVIII. + + On which, at the _third_ asking of the banns, + He started; and perceiving smiles around + Broadening to grins, he coloured more than once, + And hastily--as nothing can confound + A wise man more than laughter from a dunce-- + Inflicted on the dish a deadly wound, + And with such hurry, that, ere he could curb it, + He had paid his neighbour's prayer with half a turbot. + + LXXXIX. + + This was no bad mistake, as it occurred, + The supplicator being an amateur; + But others, who were left with scarce a third, + Were angry--as they well might, to be sure, + They wondered how a young man so absurd + Lord Henry at his table should endure; + And this, and his not knowing how much oats + Had fallen last market, cost his host three votes. + + XC. + + They little knew, or might have sympathized, + That he the night before had seen a ghost, + A prologue which but slightly harmonized + With the substantial company engrossed + By matter, and so much materialised, + That one scarce knew at what to marvel most + Of two things--_how_ (the question rather odd is) + Such bodies could have souls, or souls such bodies! + + XCI. + + But what confused him more than smile or stare + From all the 'squires and 'squiresses around, + Who wondered at the abstraction of his air, + Especially as he had been renowned + For some vivacity among the fair, + Even in the country circle's narrow bound-- + (For little things upon my Lord's estate + Were good small talk for others still less great)-- + + XCII. + + Was, that he caught Aurora's eye on his, + And something like a smile upon her cheek. + Now this he really rather took amiss; + In those who rarely smile, their smile bespeaks + A strong external motive; and in this + Smile of Aurora's there was nought to pique, + Or Hope, or Love--with any of the wiles + Which some pretend to trace in ladies' smiles. + + XCIII. + + 'Twas a mere quiet smile of contemplation, + Indicative of some surprise and pity; + And Juan grew carnation with vexation, + Which was not very wise, and still less witty, + Since he had gained at least her observation, + A most important outwork of the city-- + As Juan should have known, had not his senses + By last night's Ghost been driven from their defences. + + XCIV. + + But what was bad, she did not blush in turn, + Nor seem embarrassed--quite the contrary; + Her aspect was as usual, still--_not_ stern-- + And she withdrew, but cast not down, her eye, + Yet grew a little pale--with what? concern? + I know not; but her colour ne'er was high-- + Though sometimes faintly flushed--and always clear, + As deep seas in a sunny atmosphere. + + XCV. + + But Adeline was occupied by fame + This day; and watching, witching, condescending + To the consumers of fish, fowl, and game, + And dignity with courtesy so blending, + As all must blend whose part it is to aim + (Especially as the sixth year is ending) + At their lord's, son's, or similar connection's + Safe conduct through the rocks of re-elections. + + XCVI. + + Though this was most expedient on the whole + And usual--Juan, when he cast a glance + On Adeline while playing her grand _role_, + Which she went through as though it were a dance, + Betraying only now and then her soul + By a look scarce perceptibly askance + (Of weariness or scorn), began to feel + Some doubt how much of Adeline was _real_; + + XCVII. + + So well she acted all and every part + By turns--with that vivacious versatility, + Which many people take for want of heart. + They err--'tis merely what is called mobility,[803] + A thing of temperament and not of art, + Though seeming so, from its supposed facility; + And false--though true; for, surely, they're sincerest + Who are strongly acted on by what is nearest. + + XCVIII. + + This makes your actors, artists, and romancers, + Heroes sometimes, though seldom--sages never: + But speakers, bards, diplomatists, and dancers, + Little that's great, but much of what is clever; + Most orators, but very few financiers, + Though all Exchequer Chancellors endeavour, + Of late years, to dispense with Cocker's rigours,[804] + And grow quite figurative with their figures. + + XCIX. + + The poets of Arithmetic are they + Who, though they prove not two and two to be + Five, as they might do in a modest way, + Have plainly made it out that four are three, + Judging by what they take, and what they pay: + The Sinking Fund's unfathomable sea, + That most unliquidating liquid, leaves + The debt unsunk, yet sinks all it receives. + + C. + + While Adeline dispensed her airs and graces, + The fair Fitz-Fulke seemed very much at ease; + Though too well bred to quiz men to their faces, + Her laughing blue eyes with a glance could seize + The ridicules of people in all places-- + That honey of your fashionable bees-- + And store it up for mischievous enjoyment; + And this at present was her kind employment. + + CI. + + However, the day closed, as days must close; + The evening also waned--and coffee came. + Each carriage was announced, and ladies rose, + And curtsying off, as curtsies country dame, + Retired: with most unfashionable bows + Their docile Esquires also did the same, + Delighted with their dinner and their Host, + But with the Lady Adeline the most. + + CII. + + Some praised her beauty: others her great grace; + The warmth of her politeness, whose sincerity + Was obvious in each feature of her face, + Whose traits were radiant with the rays of verity. + Yes; _she_ was truly worthy _her_ high place! + No one could envy her deserved prosperity. + And then her dress--what beautiful simplicity + Draperied her form with curious felicity![805] + + CIII. + + Meanwhile sweet Adeline deserved their praises, + By an impartial indemnification + For all her past exertion and soft phrases, + In a most edifying conversation, + Which turned upon their late guests' miens and faces, + Their families, even to the last relation; + Their hideous wives, their horrid selves and dresses, + And truculent distortion of their tresses. + + CIV. + + True, _she_ said little--'twas the rest that broke + Forth into universal epigram; + But then 'twas to the purpose what she spoke: + Like Addison's "faint praise,"[806] so wont to damn, + Her own but served to set off every joke, + As music chimes in with a melodrame. + How sweet the task to shield an absent friend! + I ask but this of mine, to----_not_ defend. + + CV. + + There were but two exceptions to this keen + Skirmish of wits o'er the departed; one, + Aurora, with her pure and placid mien; + And Juan, too, in general behind none + In gay remark on what he had heard or seen, + Sate silent now, his usual spirits gone: + In vain he heard the others rail or rally, + He would not join them in a single sally. + + CVI. + + 'Tis true he saw Aurora look as though + She approved his silence; she perhaps mistook + Its motive for that charity we owe + But seldom pay the absent, nor would look + Farther--it might or it might not be so. + But Juan, sitting silent in his nook, + Observing little in his reverie, + Yet saw this much, which he was glad to see. + + CVII. + + The Ghost at least had done him this much good, + In making him as silent as a ghost, + If in the circumstances which ensued + He gained esteem where it was worth the most; + And, certainly, Aurora had renewed + In him some feelings he had lately lost, + Or hardened; feelings which, perhaps ideal, + Are so divine, that I must deem them real:-- + + CVIII. + + The love of higher things and better days; + The unbounded hope, and heavenly ignorance + Of what is called the World, and the World's ways; + The moments when we gather from a glance + More joy than from all future pride or praise, + Which kindle manhood, but can ne'er entrance + The Heart in an existence of its own, + Of which another's bosom is the zone. + + CIX. + + Who would not sigh [Greek: Ai)/ ai)/ ta\n Kythe/reian][807] + That _hath_ a memory, or that _had_ a heart? + Alas! _her_ star must fade like that of Dian: + Ray fades on ray, as years on years depart. + Anacreon only had the soul to tie an + Unwithering myrtle round the unblunted dart + Of Eros: but though thou hast played us many tricks, + Still we respect thee,"_Alma Venus Genetrix!_"[808] + + CX. + + And full of sentiments, sublime as billows + Heaving between this World and Worlds beyond, + Don Juan, when the midnight hour of pillows + Arrived, retired to his; but to despond + Rather than rest. Instead of poppies, willows + Waved o'er his couch; he meditated, fond + Of those sweet bitter thoughts which banish sleep, + And make the worldling sneer, the youngling weep. + + CXI. + + The night was as before: he was undrest, + Saving his night-gown, which is an undress; + Completely _sans culotte_, and without vest; + In short, he hardly could be clothed with less: + But apprehensive of his spectral guest, + He sate with feelings awkward to express + (By those who have not had such visitations), + Expectant of the Ghost's fresh operations. + + CXII. + + And not in vain he listened;--Hush! what's that? + I see--I see--Ah, no!--'t is not--yet 't is-- + Ye powers! it is the--the--the--Pooh! the cat! + The Devil may take that stealthy pace of his! + So like a spiritual pit-a-pat, + Or tiptoe of an amatory Miss, + Gliding the first time to a _rendezvous_, + And dreading the chaste echoes of her shoe. + + CXIII. + + Again--what is 't? The wind? No, no,--this time + It is the sable Friar as before, + With awful footsteps regular as rhyme, + Or (as rhymes may be in these days) much more. + Again through shadows of the night sublime, + When deep sleep fell on men,[809] and the World wore + The starry darkness round her like a girdle + Spangled with gems--the Monk made his blood curdle. + + CXIV. + + A noise like to wet fingers drawn on glass,[810] + Which sets the teeth on edge; and a slight clatter, + Like showers which on the midnight gusts will pass, + Sounding like very supernatural water, + Came over Juan's ear, which throbbed, alas! + For Immaterialism's a serious matter; + So that even those whose faith is the most great + In Souls immortal, shun them _tete-a-tete_. + + CXV. + + Were his eyes open?--Yes! and his mouth too. + Surprise has this effect--to make one dumb, + Yet leave the gate which Eloquence slips through + As wide as if a long speech were to come. + Nigh and more nigh the awful echoes drew, + Tremendous to a mortal tympanum: + His eyes were open, and (as was before + Stated) his mouth. What opened next?--the door. + + CXVI. + + It opened with a most infernal creak, + Like that of Hell. "Lasciate ogni speranza, + Voi, ch' entrate!"[811] The hinge seemed to speak, + Dreadful as Dante's _rima_, or this stanza; + Or--but all words upon such themes are weak: + A single shade's sufficient to entrance a + Hero--for what is Substance to a Spirit? + Or how is 't _Matter_ trembles to come near it?[og] + + CXVII. + + The door flew wide, not swiftly,--but, as fly + The sea-gulls, with a steady, sober flight-- + And then swung back; nor close--but stood awry, + Half letting in long shadows on the light, + Which still in Juan's candlesticks burned high, + For he had two, both tolerably bright, + And in the doorway, darkening darkness, stood + The sable Friar in his solemn hood. + + CXVIII. + + Don Juan shook, as erst he had been shaken + The night before; but being sick of shaking, + He first inclined to think he had been mistaken; + And then to be ashamed of such mistaking; + His own internal ghost began to awaken + Within him, and to quell his corporal quaking-- + Hinting that Soul and Body on the whole + Were odds against a disembodied Soul. + + CXIX. + + And then his dread grew wrath, and his wrath fierce, + And he arose, advanced--the Shade retreated; + But Juan, eager now the truth to pierce, + Followed, his veins no longer cold, but heated, + Resolved to thrust the mystery _carte_ and _tierce_, + At whatsoever risk of being defeated: + The Ghost stopped, menaced, then retired, until + He reached the ancient wall, then stood stone still. + + CXX. + + Juan put forth one arm--Eternal powers! + It touched no soul, nor body, but the wall, + On which the moonbeams fell in silvery showers, + Chequered with all the tracery of the Hall; + He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers + When he can't tell what 'tis that doth appal. + How odd, a single hobgoblin's nonentity + Should cause more fear than a whole host's identity! + + CXXI. + + But still the Shade remained: the blue eyes glared, + And rather variably for stony death; + Yet one thing rather good the grave had spared, + The Ghost had a remarkably sweet breath: + A straggling curl showed he had been fair-haired; + A red lip, with two rows of pearls beneath, + Gleamed forth, as through the casement's ivy shroud + The Moon peeped, just escaped from a grey cloud. + + CXXII. + + And Juan, puzzled, but still curious, thrust + His other arm forth--Wonder upon wonder! + It pressed upon a hard but glowing bust, + Which beat as if there was a warm heart under. + He found, as people on most trials must, + That he had made at first a silly blunder, + And that in his confusion he had caught + Only the wall, instead of what he sought. + + CXXIII. + + The Ghost, if Ghost it were, seemed a sweet soul + As ever lurked beneath a holy hood: + A dimpled chin,[oh] a neck of ivory, stole + Forth into something much like flesh and blood; + Back fell the sable frock and dreary cowl, + And they revealed--alas! that e'er they should! + In full, voluptuous, but _not o'er_grown bulk, + The phantom of her frolic Grace--Fitz-Fulke![812] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{572}[768] March 29, 1823. + +[769] [Herodotus, _Hist._, i. 136.] + +[770] [_Hamlet_, act ii. sc. 2, line 103.] + +{573}[771] [The story is told of St. Thomas Aquinas, that he wrote a +work _De Omnibus Rebus_, which was followed by a second treatise, _De +Quibusdam Aliis._] + +[772] [Not St. Augustine, but Tertullian. See his treatise, _De Carne +Christi_, cap. V. c. (_Opera_, 1744, p. 310): "Crucifixus est Dei +filius: non pudet, quia pudendum est: et mortuus est Dei filius: prorsus +credibile est, quia ineptum est: et sepultus resurrexit: certum est quia +impossibile est."] + +{574}[773] ["That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, "I will not +undertake to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of +all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or unlearned, +among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This +opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, +could become universal only by its truth; those that never heard of one +another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can +make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little +weaken the general evidence; and some, who deny it with their tongues, +confess it with their fears."--_Rasselas_, chap. xxx., _Works_, ed. +1806, iii. 372, 373.] + +{575}[774] The composition of the old Tyrian purple, whether from a +shell-fish, or from cochineal, or from kermes, is still an article of +dispute; and even its colour--some say purple, others scarlet: I say +nothing. + +[Kermes is cochineal, the Greek [Greek: kokkinon.] The +shell-fish (_murex_) is the _Purpura patula_. Both substances were used +as dyes.] + +[775] [See Ovid, _Heroid_, Epist. ix. line 161.] + +[776] [Titus used to promise to "bear in mind," "to keep on his list," +the petitions of all his supplicants, and once, at dinner-time, his +conscience smote him, that he had let a day go by without a single +grant, or pardon, or promotion. Hence his confession. "Amici, diem +perdidi!" _Vide_ Suetonius, _De XII. Caes._, "Titus," lib. viii. cap. 8.] + +[777] [_Tuism_ is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_. Coleridge has a note +dated 1800 (_Literary Remains_, i. 292), on "egotizing in _tuism_" but +it was not included in Southey's _Omniana_ of 1812, and must have been +unknown to Byron.] + +{576}[778] [Sc. _toilette_, a Gallicism.] + +[779] [Byron loved to make fact and fancy walk together, but, here, his +memory played him false, or his art kept him true. The Black Friar +walked and walks in the Guests' Refectory (or Banqueting Hall, or +"Gallery" of this stanza), which adjoins the Prior's Parlour, but the +room where Byron slept (in a four-post bed-a coronet, at each corner, +atop) is on the floor above the Prior's Parlour, and can only be +approached by a spiral staircase. Both rooms look west, and command a +view of the "lake's billow" and the "cascade." Moreover, the Guests' +Refectory was never hung with "old pictures." It would seem that Don +Juan (perhaps Byron on an emergency) slept in the Prior's Parlour, and +that in the visionary Newstead the pictures forsook the Grand +Drawing-Room for the Hall. Hence the scene! _El Libertado_ steps out of +the Gothic Chamber "forth" into the "gallery," and lo! "a monk in cowl +and beads." But, _Quien sabe?_ The Psalmist's caution with regard to +princes is not inapplicable to poets.] + +{577}[780] [Compare Mariner's description of the cave in Hoonga Island +(_Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 629, note 1).] + +{578}[781] ["The place," wrote Byron to Moore, August 13, 1814, "is +worth seeing as a ruin, and I can assure you there _was_ some fun there, +even in my time; but that is past. The ghosts, however, and the Gothics, +and the waters, and the desolation, make it very lively still." "It +was," comments Moore (_Life_, p. 262, note 1), "if I mistake not, during +his recent visit to Newstead, that he himself actually fancied he saw +the ghost of the Black Friar, which was supposed to have haunted the +Abbey from the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, and which he +thus describes from the recollection, perhaps, of his own fantasy, in +_Don Juan_.... It is said that the Newstead ghost appeared, also, to +Lord Byron's cousin, Miss Fanny Parkins, and that she made a sketch of +him from memory." The legend of the Black Friar may, it is believed at +Newstead (_et vide post_, "Song," stanza ii. line 5, p. 583), be traced +to the alarm and suspicion of the country-folk, who, on visiting the +Abbey, would now and then catch sight of an aged lay-brother, or monkish +domestic, who had been retained in the service of the Byrons long after +the Canons had been "turned adrift." He would naturally keep out of +sight of a generation who knew not monks, and, when surprised in the +cloisters or ruins of the church, would glide back to his own quarters +in the dormitories.] + +[782] + + ["Shew his eyes, and grieve his heart; + Come like shadows, so depart." + +_Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 1, lines 110, 111.] + +{582}[nz] + _With that she rose as graceful as a Roe_ + _Slips from the mountain in the month of June,_ + _And opening her Piano 'gan to play_ + _Forthwith--"It was a Friar of Orders Gray."_--[MS. erased.] + +{584}[oa] _By their bed of death he receives their_ [_breath_].--[MS. +erased.] + +{585}[783] I think that it was a carpet on which Diogenes trod, +with--"Thus I trample on the pride of Plato!"--"With greater pride," as +the other replied. But as carpets are meant to be trodden upon, my +memory probably misgives me, and it might be a robe, or tapestry, or a +table-cloth, or some other expensive and uncynical piece of furniture. + +[It was Plato's couch or lounge which Diogenes stamped upon. "So much +for Plato's pride!" "And how much for yours, Diogenes?" "Calco Platonis +fastum!" "Ast fastu alio?" (_Vide_ Diogenis Laertii _De Vita et +Sententiis_, lib. vi. ed. 1595, p. 321.) + +For "Attic Bee," _vide_ Cic. I. _De Div._, xxxvi. Sec. 78, "At Platoni cum +in cunis parvulo dormienti apes in labellis consedissent, responsum est, +singulari illum suavitate orationis fore."] + +{586}[784] [For two translations of this Portuguese song, see _Poetical +Works_, 1900, iii. 71.] + +[785] I remember that the mayoress of a provincial town, somewhat +surfeited with a similar display from foreign parts, did rather +indecorously break through the applauses of an intelligent +audience--intelligent, I mean, as to music--for the words, besides being +in recondite languages (it was some years before the peace, ere all the +world had travelled, and while I was a collegian), were sorely disguised +by the performers:--this mayoress, I say, broke out with, "Rot your +Italianos! for my part, I loves a simple ballat!" Rossini will go a good +way to bring most people to the same opinion some day. Who would imagine +that he was to be the successor of Mozart? However, I state this with +diffidence, as a liege and loyal admirer of Italian music in general, +and of much of Rossini's; but we may say, as the connoisseur did of +painting in _The Vicar of Wakefield_, that "the picture would be better +painted if the painter had taken more pains." + +[A little while, and Rossini is being lauded at the expense of a +degenerate modern rival. Compare Browning's _Bishop Blougram's Apology_. +"Where sits Rossini patient in his stall."--_Poetical Works_, ed. 1868, +v. 276.] + +[786] [Compare _The Two Foscari_, act iii. sc. 1, line 172, _Poetical +Works_, 1901, v. 159, note 1.] + +{587}[787] [Of Lady Beaumont, who was "weak enough" to admire +Wordsworth, see _The Blues_, Ecl. II. line 47, _sq._, _Poetical Works_, +1901, iv. 582.] + +[788] [Christopher Anstey (1724-1802) published his _New Bath Guide_ in +1766.] + +[789] [Compare _English Bards, etc._, lines 309-318, _Poetical Works_, +1898, i. 321, note 1.] + +{588}[790] [For "Gynocracy," _vide ante_, p. 473, note 1.] + +{589}[ob] _Thrower down of buildings_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[791] [Byron had, no doubt, inspected the plan of Colonel Wildman's +elaborate restoration of the Abbey, which was carried out at a cost of +one hundred thousand pounds (see stanza lix. lines 1, 2). The kitchen +and domestic offices, which extended at right angles to the west front +of the Abbey (see "Newstead from a Picture by Peter Tilleman, _circ._ +1720" _Letters_, 1898, i. (to face p.) 216), were pulled down and +rebuilt, the massive Sussex Tower (so named in honour of H.R.H. the Duke +of Sussex) was erected at the south-west corner of the Abbey, and the +south front was, in part, rebuilt and redecorated. Byron had been ready +to "leave everything" with regard to his beloved Newstead to Wildman's +"own feelings, present or future" (see his letter, November 18, 1818, +_Letters_, 1900, iv. 270); but when the time came, the necessary and, on +the whole, judicious alterations of his successor, must have cost the +"banished Lord" many a pang.] + +{590}[792] "Ausu Romano, sere Veneto" is the inscription (and well +inscribed in this instance) on the sea walls between the Adriatic and +Venice. The walls were a republican work of the Venetians; the +inscription, I believe, Imperial; and inscribed by Napoleon the _First_. +It is time to continue to him that title--there will be a second by and +by, "Spes altera mundi," _if he live_; let him not defeat it like his +father. But in any case, he will be preferable to "_Imbeciles_." There +is a glorious field for him, if he know how to cultivate it. + +[Francis Charles Joseph Napoleon, Duke of Reichstadt, died at Vienna, +July 22, 1832. But, none the less, Byron's prophecy was fulfilled.] + +[793] [Burgage, or tenure in burgage, is where the king or some other +person is lord of an ancient borough, in which the tenements are held by +a yearly rent certain.] + +[794] + + ["I conjure you, by that which you profess, + (Howe'er you come to know it) answer me: + Though you _untie_ the winds, and let them fight + Against the _churches_." + +_Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 1, lines 50-53.] + +{591}[795] [See the lines "To my Son," _Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 260, +note 1.] + +{592}[796] [See Spenser's _Faery Queen_, Book I. Canto IX. stanza 6, +line 1.] + +[oc] + _To name what passes for a puzzle rather,_ + _Although there must be such a thing--a father_.--[MS. erased.] + +{594}[797] + + ["Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list, + And champion me to the utterance." + +_Macbeth_, act iii. sc. 1, lines 70, 71.] + +{595}[798] [For "Septemberers (_Septembriseurs_)," see Carlyle's _French +Revolution_, 1839, iii. 50.] + +{596}[799] ["Query, _Sydney Smith_, author of Peter Plymley's +Letters?--Printer's Devil."--Ed. 1833. Byron must have met Sydney Smith +(1771-1845) at Holland House. The "fat fen vicarage" (_vide infra_, +stanza lxxxii. line 8) was Foston-le-Clay (Foston, All Saints), near +Barton Hill, Yorkshire, which Lord Chancellor Erskine presented to +Sydney Smith in 1806. The "living" consisted of "three hundred acres of +glebe-land of the stiffest clay," and there was no parsonage house.--See +_A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith_, by Lady Holland, 1855, i. 100-107.] + +[800] ["Observe, also, three grotesque figures in the blank arches of +the gable which forms the eastern end of St. Hugh's Chapel," and of +these, "one is popularly said to represent the 'Devil looking over +Lincoln.'"--_Handbook to the Cathedrals of England_, by R.J. King, +_Eastern Division_, p. 394, note x. + +The devil looked over Lincoln because the unexampled height of the +central tower of the cathedral excited his envy and alarm; or, as Fuller +(_Worthies: Lincolnshire_) has it, "overlooked this church, when first +finished, with a torve and tetrick countenance, as maligning men's +costly devotions." So, at least, the vanity of later ages interpreted +the saying; but a time was when the devil "looked over" Lincoln to some +purpose, for in A.D. 1185 an earthquake clave the Church of Remigius in +twain, and in 1235 a great part of the central tower, which had been +erected by Bishop Hugh de Wells, fell and injured the rest of the +building.] + +{597}[od] _For laughter rarely shakes these aguish folks_.--[MS, +erased.] + +[oe] _Took down the gay_ bon-mot----.--[MS. erased.] + +[of] _To hammer half a laugh_----.--[MS. erased.] + +[801] + + ["There's a difference to be seen between a beggar and a Queen; + And I 'll tell you the reason why; + A Queen does not swagger, nor get drunk like a beggar, + Nor be half so merry as I," etc. + + "There's a difference to be seen,'twixt a Bishop and a Dean, + And I'll tell you the reason why; + A Dean can not dish up a dinner like a Bishop, + And that's the reason why!"] + +{598}[802] ["Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus." Terentius, _Eun._, act +iv. sc. 5, line 6.] + +{601}[803] In French "_mobilite_." I am not sure that mobility is +English; but it is expressive of a quality which rather belongs to other +climates, though it is sometimes seen to a great extent in our own. It +may be defined as an excessive susceptibility of immediate +impressions--at the same time without _losing_ the past: and is, though +sometimes apparently useful to the possessor, a most painful and unhappy +attribute. + +["That he was fully aware not only of the abundance of this quality in +his own nature, but of the danger in which it placed consistency and +singleness of character, did not require the note on this passage to +assure us. The consciousness, indeed, of his own natural tendency to +yield thus to every chance impression, and change with every passing +impulse, was not only for ever present in his mind, but ... had the +effect of keeping him in that general line of consistency, on certain +great subjects, which ... he continued to preserve throughout +life."--_Life_, p. 646. "Mobility" is not the tendency to yield to +_every_ impression, to change with _every_ impulse, but the capability +of being moved by many and various impressions, of responding to an +ever-renewed succession of impulses. Byron is defending the enthusiastic +temperament from the charge of inconstancy and insincerity.] + +[804] [The first edition of Cocker's _Arithmetic_ was published in 1677. +There are many allusions to Cocker in Arthur Murphy's _Apprentice_ +(1756), whence, perhaps, the saying, "according to Cocker."] + +{602}[805] "[Et Horatii] Curiosa felicitas."--Petronius Arbiter, +_Salyricon_, cap. cxviii. + +[806] + + ["Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, + And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." + +Pope _on Addison, Prologue to the Satires_, lines 201, 202.] + +{604}[807] [Bion, _Epitaphium Adonidis_, line 28.] + +[808] [" ... genetrix hominum, divomque voluptas, Alma Venus!" Lucret., +_De Rerum Nat_., lib. i. lines 1, 2.] + +{605}[809] [_Job_ iv. 13.] + +[810] See the account of the ghost of the uncle of Prince Charles of +Saxony, raised by Schroepfer--"Karl--Karl--was willst du mit mir?" + +[For Johann Georg Schrepfer (1730(?)-1774), see J.S.B. Schlegel's +_Tagebuch, etc._, 1806, and _Schwaermer und Schwindler_, von Dr. Eugen +Sierke, 1874, pp. 298-332.] + +{606}[811] [_Inferno_, Canto III. line 9.] + +[og] _When once discovered it don't like to come near it_.--[MS.] + +{607}[oh] _A beardless chin_----.--[MS.] + +[812] [End of Canto 16. B. My. 6, 1823.--MS.] + + + + + + CANTO THE SEVENTEENTH.[813] + + + I. + + The world is full of orphans: firstly, those + Who are so in the strict sense of the phrase; + But many a lonely tree the loftier grows + Than others crowded in the Forest's maze-- + The next are such as are not doomed to lose + Their tender parents, in their budding days, + But, merely, their parental tenderness, + Which leaves them orphans of the heart no less. + + II. + + The next are "_only_ Children," as they are styled, + Who grow up _Children_ only, since th' old saw + Pronounces that an "only's" a spoilt child-- + But not to go too far, I hold it law, + That where their education, harsh or mild, + Transgresses the great bounds of love or awe, + The sufferers--be 't in heart or intellect-- + Whate'er the _cause_, are orphans in _effect_. + + III. + + But to return unto the stricter rule-- + As far as words make rules--our common notion + Of orphan paints at once a parish school, + A half-starved babe, a wreck upon Life's ocean, + A human (what the Italians nickname) "Mule!"[814] + A theme for Pity or some worse emotion; + Yet, if examined, it might be admitted + The wealthiest orphans are to be more pitied. + + IV. + + Too soon they are Parents to themselves: for what + Are Tutors, Guardians, and so forth, compared + With Nature's genial Genitors? so that + A child of Chancery, that Star-Chamber ward, + (I'll take the likeness I can first come at,) + Is like--a duckling by Dame Partlett reared, + And frights--especially if 'tis a daughter, + Th' old Hen--by running headlong to the water. + + V. + + There is a common-place book argument, + Which glibly glides from every tongue; + When any dare a new light to present, + "If you are right, then everybody's wrong"! + Suppose the converse of this precedent + So often urged, so loudly and so long; + "If you are wrong, then everybody's right"! + Was ever everybody yet so quite? + + VI. + + Therefore I would solicit free discussion + Upon all points--no matter what, or whose-- + Because as Ages upon Ages push on, + The last is apt the former to accuse + Of pillowing its head on a pin-cushion, + Heedless of pricks because it was obtuse: + What was a paradox becomes a truth or + A something like it--witness Luther! + + VII. + + The Sacraments have been reduced to two, + And Witches unto none, though somewhat late + Since burning aged women (save a few-- + Not witches only b--ches--who create + Mischief in families, as some know or knew, + Should still be singed, but lightly, let me state,) + Has been declared an act of inurbanity, + _Malgre_ Sir Matthew Hales's great humanity. + + VIII. + + Great Galileo was debarred the Sun, + Because he fixed it; and, to stop his talking, + How Earth could round the solar orbit run, + Found his own legs embargoed from mere walking: + The man was well-nigh dead, ere men begun + To think his skull had not some need of caulking; + But now, it seems, he's right--his notion just: + No doubt a consolation to his dust. + + IX. + + Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates--but pages + Might be filled up, as vainly as before, + With the sad usage of all sorts of sages, + Who in his life-time, each, was deemed a Bore! + The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages: + This they must bear with and, perhaps, much more; + The wise man's sure when he no more can share it, he + Will have a firm Post Obit on posterity. + + X. + + If such doom waits each intellectual Giant, + We little people in our lesser way, + In Life's small rubs should surely be more pliant, + And so for one will I--as well I may--Would + that I were less bilious--but, oh, fie on 't! + Just as I make my mind up every day, + To be a "_totus, teres_," Stoic, Sage, + The wind shifts and I fly into a rage. + + XI. + + Temperate I am--yet never had a temper; + Modest I am--yet with some slight assurance; + Changeable too--yet somehow "_Idem semper_:" + Patient--but not enamoured of endurance; + Cheerful--but, sometimes, rather apt to whimper: + Mild--but at times a sort of "_Hercules furens_:" + So that I almost think that the same skin + For one without--has two or three within. + + XII. + + Our Hero was, in Canto the Sixteenth, + Left in a tender moonlight situation, + Such as enables Man to show his strength + Moral or physical: on this occasion + Whether his virtue triumphed--or, at length, + His vice--for he was of a kindling nation-- + Is more than I shall venture to describe;-- + Unless some Beauty with a kiss should bribe. + + XIII. + + I leave the thing a problem, like all things:-- + The morning came--and breakfast, tea and toast, + Of which most men partake, but no one sings. + The company whose birth, wealth, worth, has cost + My trembling Lyre already several strings, + Assembled with our hostess, and mine host; + The guests dropped in--the last but one, Her Grace, + The latest, Juan, with his virgin face. + + XIV. + + Which best it is to encounter--Ghost, or none, + 'Twere difficult to say--but Juan looked + As if he had combated with more than one, + Being wan and worn, with eyes that hardly brooked + The light, that through the Gothic window shone: + Her Grace, too, had a sort of air rebuked-- + Seemed pale and shivered, as if she had kept + A vigil, or dreamt rather more than slept. + + + THE END. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +{608}[813] [May 8, 1823.--_MS_. More than one "Seventeenth Canto," or +so-called continuation of _Don Juan_, has been published. Some of these +"Sequels" pretend to be genuine, while others are undisguisedly +imitations or parodies. For an account of these spurious and altogether +worthless continuations, see "Bibliography," vol. vii. There was, +however, a foundation for the myth. Before Byron left Italy he had begun +(May 8, 1823) a seventeenth canto, and when he sailed for Greece he took +the new stanzas with him. Trelawny found "fifteen stanzas of the +seventeenth canto of _Don Juan_" in Byron's room at Missolonghi +(_Recollections, etc._, 1858, p. 237). The MS., together with other +papers, was handed over to John Cam Hobhouse, and is now in the +possession of his daughter, the Lady Dorchester. The copyright was +purchased by the late John Murray. The fourteen (not fifteen) stanzas +are now printed and published for the first time.] + +{609}[814] The Italians, at least in some parts of Italy, call bastards +and foundlings the _mules--why_, I cannot see, unless they mean to infer +that the offspring of matrimony are asses. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6, by Lord Byron + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON, VOLUME 6 *** + +***** This file should be named 18762.txt or 18762.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/6/18762/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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