NFhu5JS5

1Young Juan now was sixteen years of age
2Tall, handsome, slender, but well knit he seem'd
3Active, though not so sprightly, as a page
4And everybody but his mother deem'd
5Him almost man but she flew in a rage
6And bit her lips for else she might have scream'd
7If any said so, for to be precocious
8Was in her eyes a thing the most atrocious.
9
10Amongst her numerous acquaintance, all
11Selected for discretion and devotion
12there was the Donna Julia, whom to call
13Pretty were but to give a feeble notion
14Of many charms in her as natural
15As sweetness to the flower, or salt to ocean
16Her zone to Venus, or his bow to Cupid
17But this last simile is trite and stupid.
18
19the darkness of her Oriental eye
20Accorded with her Moorish origin
21Her blood was not all Spanish, by the by
22In Spain, you know, this is a sort of sin
23When proud Granada fell, and, forced to fly
24Boabdil wept, of Donna Julia's kin
25Some went to Africa, some stay'd in Spain
26Her great-great-grandmamma chose to remain.
27
28She married I forget the pedigree
29With an Hidalgo, who transmitted down
30His blood less noble than such blood should be
31At such alliances his sires would frown
32In that point so precise in each degree
33That they bred in and in, as might be shown
34Marrying their cousins nay, their aunts, and nieces
35Which always spoils the breed, if it increases.
36
37This heathenish cross restored the breed again
38Ruin'd its blood, but much improved its flesh
39For from a root the ugliest in Old Spain
40Sprung up a branch as beautiful as fresh
41the sons no more were short, the daughters plain
42But there 's a rumour which I fain would hush
43'T is said that Donna Julia's grandmamma
44Produced her Don more heirs at love than law.
45
46However this might be, the race went on
47Improving still through every generation
48Until it centred in an only son
49Who left an only daughter my narration
50May have suggested that this single one
51Could be but Julia whom on this occasion
52I shall have much to speak about, and she
53Was married, charming, chaste, and twenty-three.
54
55Her eye I 'm very fond of handsome eyes
56Was large and dark, suppressing half its fire
57Until she spoke, then through its soft disguise
58Flash'd an expression more of pride than ire
59And love than either and there would arise
60A something in them which was not desire
61But would have been, perhaps, but for the soul
62Which struggled through and chasten'd down the whole.
63
64Her glossy hair was cluster'd o'er a brow
65Bright with intelligence, and fair, and smooth
66Her eyebrow's shape was like th' aerial bow
67Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth
68Mounting at times to a transparent glow
69As if her veins ran lightning she, in sooth
70Possess'd an air and grace by no means common
71Her stature tall I hate a dumpy woman.
72
73Wedded she was some years, and to a man
74Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty
75And yet, I think, instead of such a ONE
76'T were better to have TWO of five-and-twenty
77Especially in countries near the sun
78And now I think on 't, 'mi vien in mente,'
79Ladies even of the most uneasy virtue
80Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.
81
82'T is a sad thing, I cannot choose but say
83And all the fault of that indecent sun
84Who cannot leave alone our helpless clay
85But will keep baking, broiling, burning on
86That howsoever people fast and pray
87the flesh is frail, and so the soul undone
88What men call gallantry, and gods adultery
89Is much more common where the climate 's sultry.
90
91Happy the nations of the moral North!
92Where all is virtue, and the winter season
93Sends sin, without a rag on, shivering forth
94'T was snow that brought St. Anthony to reason
95Where juries cast up what a wife is worth
96By laying whate'er sum in mulct they please on
97the lover, who must pay a handsome price
98Because it is a marketable vice.
99
100Alfonso was the name of Julia's lord
101A man well looking for his years, and who
102Was neither much beloved nor yet abhorr'd
103they lived together, as most people do
104Suffering each other's foibles by accord
105And not exactly either one or two
106Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it
107For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.
108
109Julia was yet I never could see why
110With Donna Inez quite a favourite friend
111Between their tastes there was small sympathy
112For not a line had Julia ever penn'd
113Some people whisper but no doubt they lie
114For malice still imputes some private end
115That Inez had, ere Don Alfonso's marriage
116Forgot with him her very prudent carriage
117
118And that still keeping up the old connection
119Which time had lately render'd much more chaste
120She took his lady also in affection
121And certainly this course was much the best
122She flatter'd Julia with her sage protection
123And complimented Don Alfonso's taste
124And if she could not who can? silence scandal
125At least she left it a more slender handle.
126
127I can't tell whether Julia saw the affair
128With other people's eyes, or if her own
129Discoveries made, but none could be aware
130Of this, at least no symptom e'er was shown
131Perhaps she did not know, or did not care
132Indifferent from the first or callous grown
133I 'm really puzzled what to think or say
134She kept her counsel in so close a way.
135
136Juan she saw, and, as a pretty child
137Caress'd him often such a thing might be
138Quite innocently done, and harmless styled
139When she had twenty years, and thirteen he
140But I am not so sure I should have smiled
141When he was sixteen, Julia twenty-three
142these few short years make wondrous alterations
143Particularly amongst sun-burnt nations.
144
145Whate'er the cause might be, they had become
146Changed for the dame grew distant, the youth shy
147their looks cast down, their greetings almost dumb
148And much embarrassment in either eye
149there surely will be little doubt with some
150That Donna Julia knew the reason why
151But as for Juan, he had no more notion
152Than he who never saw the sea of ocean.
153
154Yet Julia's very coldness still was kind
155And tremulously gentle her small hand
156Withdrew itself from his, but left behind
157A little pressure, thrilling, and so bland
158And slight, so very slight, that to the mind
159'T was but a doubt but ne'er magician's wand
160Wrought change with all Armida's fairy art
161Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart.
162
163And if she met him, though she smiled no more
164She look'd a sadness sweeter than her smile
165As if her heart had deeper thoughts in store
166She must not own, but cherish'd more the while
167For that compression in its burning core
168Even innocence itself has many a wile
169And will not dare to trust itself with truth
170And love is taught hypocrisy from youth.
171
172But passion most dissembles, yet betrays
173Even by its darkness as the blackest sky
174Foretells the heaviest tempest, it displays
175Its workings through the vainly guarded eye
176And in whatever aspect it arrays
177Itself, 't is still the same hypocrisy
178Coldness or anger, even disdain or hate
179Are masks it often wears, and still too late.
180
181then there were sighs, the deeper for suppression
182And stolen glances, sweeter for the theft
183And burning blushes, though for no transgression
184Tremblings when met, and restlessness when left
185All these are little preludes to possession
186Of which young passion cannot be bereft
187And merely tend to show how greatly love is
188Embarrass'd at first starting with a novice.
189
190Poor Julia's heart was in an awkward state
191She felt it going, and resolved to make
192the noblest efforts for herself and mate
193For honour's, pride's, religion's, virtue's sake
194Her resolutions were most truly great
195And almost might have made a Tarquin quake
196She pray'd the Virgin Mary for her grace
197As being the best judge of a lady's case.
198
199She vow'd she never would see Juan more
200And next day paid a visit to his mother
201And look'd extremely at the opening door
202Which, by the Virgin's grace, let in another
203Grateful she was, and yet a little sore
204Again it opens, it can be no other
205'T is surely Juan now No! I 'm afraid
206That night the Virgin was no further pray'd.
207
208She now determined that a virtuous woman
209Should rather face and overcome temptation
210That flight was base and dastardly, and no man
211Should ever give her heart the least sensation
212That is to say, a thought beyond the common
213Preference, that we must feel upon occasion
214For people who are pleasanter than others
215But then they only seem so many brothers.
216
217And even if by chance and who can tell?
218the devil 's so very sly she should discover
219That all within was not so very well
220And, if still free, that such or such a lover
221Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell
222Such thoughts, and be the better when they 're over
223And if the man should ask, 't is but denial
224I recommend young ladies to make trial.
225
226And then there are such things as love divine
227Bright and immaculate, unmix'd and pure
228Such as the angels think so very fine
229And matrons who would be no less secure
230Platonic, perfect, 'just such love as mine'
231Thus Julia said and thought so, to be sure
232And so I 'd have her think, were I the man
233On whom her reveries celestial ran.
234
235Such love is innocent, and may exist
236Between young persons without any danger.
237A hand may first, and then a lip be kist
238For my part, to such doings I 'm a stranger
239But hear these freedoms form the utmost list
240Of all o'er which such love may be a ranger
241If people go beyond, 't is quite a crime
242But not my fault I tell them all in time.
243
244Love, then, but love within its proper limits
245Was Julia's innocent determination
246In young Don Juan's favour, and to him its
247Exertion might be useful on occasion
248And, lighted at too pure a shrine to dim its
249Ethereal lustre, with what sweet persuasion
250He might be taught, by love and her together
251I really don't know what, nor Julia either.
252
253Fraught with this fine intention, and well fenced
254In mail of proof her purity of soul
255She, for the future of her strength convinced.
256And that her honour was a rock, or mole
257Exceeding sagely from that hour dispensed
258With any kind of troublesome control
259But whether Julia to the task was equal
260Is that which must be mention'd in the sequel.
261
262Her plan she deem'd both innocent and feasible
263And, surely, with a stripling of sixteen
264Not scandal's fangs could fix on much that 's seizable
265Or if they did so, satisfied to mean
266Nothing but what was good, her breast was peaceable
267A quiet conscience makes one so serene!
268Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
269That all the Apostles would have done as they did.
270
271And if in the mean time her husband died
272But Heaven forbid that such a thought should cross
273Her brain, though in a dream! and then she sigh'd
274Never could she survive that common loss
275But just suppose that moment should betide
276I only say suppose it inter nos.
277This should be entre nous, for Julia thought
278In French, but then the rhyme would go for naught.
279
280I only say suppose this supposition
281Juan being then grown up to man's estate
282Would fully suit a widow of condition
283Even seven years hence it would not be too late
284And in the interim to pursue this vision
285the mischief, after all, could not be great
286For he would learn the rudiments of love
287I mean the seraph way of those above.
288
289So much for Julia. Now we 'll turn to Juan.
290Poor little fellow! he had no idea
291Of his own case, and never hit the true one
292In feelings quick as Ovid's Miss Medea
293He puzzled over what he found a new one
294But not as yet imagined it could be
295Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming
296Which, with a little patience, might grow charming.
297
298Silent and pensive, idle, restless, slow
299His home deserted for the lonely wood
300Tormented with a wound he could not know
301His, like all deep grief, plunged in solitude
302I 'm fond myself of solitude or so
303But then, I beg it may be understood
304By solitude I mean a sultan's, not
305A hermit's, with a haram for a grot.
306
307'Oh Love! in such a wilderness as this
308Where transport and security entwine
309Here is the empire of thy perfect bliss
310And here thou art a god indeed divine.'
311the bard I quote from does not sing amiss
312With the exception of the second line
313For that same twining 'transport and security'
314Are twisted to a phrase of some obscurity.
315
316the poet meant, no doubt, and thus appeals
317To the good sense and senses of mankind
318the very thing which every body feels
319As all have found on trial, or may find
320That no one likes to be disturb'd at meals
321Or love. I won't say more about 'entwined'
322Or 'transport,' as we knew all that before
323But beg 'Security' will bolt the door.
324
325Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks
326Thinking unutterable things he threw
327Himself at length within the leafy nooks
328Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew
329there poets find materials for their books
330And every now and then we read them through
331So that their plan and prosody are eligible
332Unless, like Wordsworth, they prove unintelligible.
333
334He, Juan and not Wordsworth, so pursued
335His self-communion with his own high soul
336Until his mighty heart, in its great mood
337Had mitigated part, though not the whole
338Of its disease he did the best he could
339With things not very subject to control
340
341And turn'd, without perceiving his condition
342Like Coleridge, into a metaphysician.
343
344He thought about himself, and the whole earth
345Of man the wonderful, and of the stars
346And how the deuce they ever could have birth
347And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars
348How many miles the moon might have in girth
349Of air-balloons, and of the many bars
350To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies
351And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.
352
353In thoughts like these true wisdom may discern
354Longings sublime, and aspirations high
355Which some are born with, but the most part learn
356To plague themselves withal, they know not why
357'T was strange that one so young should thus concern
358His brain about the action of the sky
359If you think 't was philosophy that this did
360I can't help thinking puberty assisted.
361
362He pored upon the leaves, and on the flowers
363And heard a voice in all the winds and then
364He thought of wood-nymphs and immortal bowers
365And how the goddesses came down to men
366He miss'd the pathway, he forgot the hours
367And when he look'd upon his watch again
368He found how much old Time had been a winner
369He also found that he had lost his dinner.
370
371Sometimes he turn'd to gaze upon his book
372Boscan, or Garcilasso by the wind
373Even as the page is rustled while we look
374So by the poesy of his own mind
375Over the mystic leaf his soul was shook
376As if 't were one whereon magicians bind
377their spells, and give them to the passing gale
378According to some good old woman's tale.
379
380Thus would he while his lonely hours away
381Dissatisfied, nor knowing what he wanted
382Nor glowing reverie, nor poet's lay
383Could yield his spirit that for which it panted
384A bosom whereon he his head might lay
385And hear the heart beat with the love it granted
386With several other things, which I forget
387Or which, at least, I need not mention yet.
388
389Those lonely walks, and lengthening reveries
390Could not escape the gentle Julia's eyes
391She saw that Juan was not at his ease
392But that which chiefly may, and must surprise
393Is, that the Donna Inez did not tease
394Her only son with question or surmise
395Whether it was she did not see, or would not
396Or, like all very clever people, could not.
397
398This may seem strange, but yet 't is very common
399For instance gentlemen, whose ladies take
400Leave to o'erstep the written rights of woman
401And break the Which commandment is 't they break?
402I have forgot the number, and think no man
403Should rashly quote, for fear of a mistake.
404I say, when these same gentlemen are jealous
405they make some blunder, which their ladies tell us.
406
407A real husband always is suspicious
408But still no less suspects in the wrong place
409Jealous of some one who had no such wishes
410Or pandering blindly to his own disgrace
411By harbouring some dear friend extremely vicious
412the last indeed 's infallibly the case
413And when the spouse and friend are gone off wholly
414He wonders at their vice, and not his folly.
415
416Thus parents also are at times short-sighted
417Though watchful as the lynx, they ne'er discover
418the while the wicked world beholds delighted
419Young Hopeful's mistress, or Miss Fanny's lover
420Till some confounded escapade has blighted
421the plan of twenty years, and all is over
422And then the mother cries, the father swears
423And wonders why the devil he got heirs.
424
425But Inez was so anxious, and so clear
426Of sight, that I must think, on this occasion
427She had some other motive much more near
428For leaving Juan to this new temptation
429But what that motive was, I sha'n't say here
430Perhaps to finish Juan's education
431Perhaps to open Don Alfonso's eyes
432In case he thought his wife too great a prize.
433
434It was upon a day, a summer's day
435Summer's indeed a very dangerous season
436And so is spring about the end of May
437the sun, no doubt, is the prevailing reason
438But whatsoe'er the cause is, one may say
439And stand convicted of more truth than treason
440That there are months which nature grows more merry in
441March has its hares, and May must have its heroine.
442
443'T was on a summer's day the sixth of June
444I like to be particular in dates
445Not only of the age, and year, but moon
446they are a sort of post-house, where the Fates
447Change horses, making history change its tune
448then spur away o'er empires and o'er states
449Leaving at last not much besides chronology
450Excepting the post-obits of theology.
451
452'T was on the sixth of June, about the hour
453Of half-past six perhaps still nearer seven
454When Julia sate within as pretty a bower
455As e'er held houri in that heathenish heaven
456Described by Mahomet, and Anacreon Moore
457To whom the lyre and laurels have been given
458With all the trophies of triumphant song
459He won them well, and may he wear them long!
460
461She sate, but not alone I know not well
462How this same interview had taken place
463And even if I knew, I should not tell
464People should hold their tongues in any case
465No matter how or why the thing befell
466But there were she and Juan, face to face
467When two such faces are so, 't would be wise
468But very difficult, to shut their eyes.
469
470How beautiful she look'd! her conscious heart
471Glow'd in her cheek, and yet she felt no wrong.
472O Love! how perfect is thy mystic art
473Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong
474How self-deceitful is the sagest part
475Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along
476the precipice she stood on was immense
477So was her creed in her own innocence.
478
479She thought of her own strength, and Juan's youth
480And of the folly of all prudish fears
481Victorious virtue, and domestic truth
482And then of Don Alfonso's fifty years
483I wish these last had not occurr'd, in sooth
484Because that number rarely much endears
485And through all climes, the snowy and the sunny
486Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money.
487
488When people say, 'I've told you fifty times,'
489they mean to scold, and very often do
490When poets say, 'I've written fifty rhymes,'
491they make you dread that they 'll recite them too
492In gangs of fifty, thieves commit their crimes
493At fifty love for love is rare, 't is true
494But then, no doubt, it equally as true is
495A good deal may be bought for fifty Louis.
496
497Julia had honour, virtue, truth, and love
498For Don Alfonso and she inly swore
499By all the vows below to powers above
500She never would disgrace the ring she wore
501Nor leave a wish which wisdom might reprove
502And while she ponder'd this, besides much more
503One hand on Juan's carelessly was thrown
504Quite by mistake she thought it was her own
505
506Unconsciously she lean'd upon the other
507Which play'd within the tangles of her hair
508And to contend with thoughts she could not smother
509She seem'd by the distraction of her air.
510'T was surely very wrong in Juan's mother
511To leave together this imprudent pair
512She who for many years had watch'd her son so
513I 'm very certain mine would not have done so.
514
515the hand which still held Juan's, by degrees
516Gently, but palpably confirm'd its grasp
517As if it said, 'Detain me, if you please'
518Yet there 's no doubt she only meant to clasp
519His fingers with a pure Platonic squeeze
520She would have shrunk as from a toad, or asp
521Had she imagined such a thing could rouse
522A feeling dangerous to a prudent spouse.
523
524I cannot know what Juan thought of this
525But what he did, is much what you would do
526His young lip thank'd it with a grateful kiss
527And then, abash'd at its own joy, withdrew
528In deep despair, lest he had done amiss
529Love is so very timid when 't is new
530She blush'd, and frown'd not, but she strove to speak
531And held her tongue, her voice was grown so weak.
532
533the sun set, and up rose the yellow moon
534the devil 's in the moon for mischief they
535Who call'd her CHASTE, methinks, began too soon
536their nomenclature there is not a day
537the longest, not the twenty-first of June
538Sees half the business in a wicked way
539On which three single hours of moonshine smile
540And then she looks so modest all the while.
541
542there is a dangerous silence in that hour
543A stillness, which leaves room for the full soul
544To open all itself, without the power
545Of calling wholly back its self-control
546the silver light which, hallowing tree and tower
547Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole
548Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws
549A loving languor, which is not repose.
550
551And Julia sate with Juan, half embraced
552And half retiring from the glowing arm
553Which trembled like the bosom where 't was placed
554Yet still she must have thought there was no harm
555Or else 't were easy to withdraw her waist
556But then the situation had its charm
557And then God knows what next I can't go on
558I 'm almost sorry that I e'er begun.
559
560O Plato! Plato! you have paved the way
561With your confounded fantasies, to more
562Immoral conduct by the fancied sway
563Your system feigns o'er the controulless core
564Of human hearts, than all the long array
565Of poets and romancers You 're a bore
566A charlatan, a coxcomb and have been
567At best, no better than a go-between.
568
569And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs
570Until too late for useful conversation
571the tears were gushing from her gentle eyes
572I wish indeed they had not had occasion
573But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?
574Not that remorse did not oppose temptation
575A little still she strove, and much repented
576And whispering 'I will ne'er consent' consented.
577
578'T is said that Xerxes offer'd a reward
579To those who could invent him a new pleasure
580Methinks the requisition 's rather hard
581And must have cost his majesty a treasure
582For my part, I 'm a moderate-minded bard
583Fond of a little love which I call leisure
584I care not for new pleasures, as the old
585Are quite enough for me, so they but hold.
586
587O Pleasure! you are indeed a pleasant thing
588Although one must be damn'd for you, no doubt
589I make a resolution every spring
590Of reformation, ere the year run out
591But somehow, this my vestal vow takes wing
592Yet still, I trust it may be kept throughout
593I 'm very sorry, very much ashamed
594And mean, next winter, to be quite reclaim'd.
595
596Here my chaste Muse a liberty must take
597Start not! still chaster reader she 'll be nice hence
598Forward, and there is no great cause to quake
599This liberty is a poetic licence
600Which some irregularity may make
601In the design, and as I have a high sense
602Of Aristotle and the Rules, 't is fit
603To beg his pardon when I err a bit.
604
605This licence is to hope the reader will
606Suppose from June the sixth the fatal day
607Without whose epoch my poetic skill
608For want of facts would all be thrown away
609But keeping Julia and Don Juan still
610In sight, that several months have pass'd we 'll say
611'T was in November, but I 'm not so sure
612About the day the era 's more obscure.
613
614We 'll talk of that anon. 'T is sweet to hear
615At midnight on the blue and moonlit deep
616the song and oar of Adria's gondolier
617By distance mellow'd, o'er the waters sweep
618'T is sweet to see the evening star appear
619'T is sweet to listen as the night-winds creep
620From leaf to leaf 't is sweet to view on high
621the rainbow, based on ocean, span the sky.
622
623'T is sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
624Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home
625'T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark
626Our coming, and look brighter when we come
627'T is sweet to be awaken'd by the lark
628Or lull'd by falling waters sweet the hum
629Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds
630the lisp of children, and their earliest words.
631
632Sweet is the vintage, when the showering grapes
633In Bacchanal profusion reel to earth
634Purple and gushing sweet are our escapes
635From civic revelry to rural mirth
636Sweet to the miser are his glittering heaps
637Sweet to the father is his first-born's birth
638Sweet is revenge especially to women
639Pillage to soldiers, prize-money to seamen.
640
641Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet
642the unexpected death of some old lady
643Or gentleman of seventy years complete
644Who 've made 'us youth' wait too too long already
645For an estate, or cash, or country seat
646Still breaking, but with stamina so steady
647That all the Israelites are fit to mob its
648Next owner for their double-damn'd post-obits.
649
650'T is sweet to win, no matter how, one's laurels
651By blood or ink 't is sweet to put an end
652To strife 't is sometimes sweet to have our quarrels
653Particularly with a tiresome friend
654Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels
655Dear is the helpless creature we defend
656Against the world and dear the schoolboy spot
657We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot.
658
659But sweeter still than this, than these, than all
660Is first and passionate love it stands alone
661Like Adam's recollection of his fall
662the tree of knowledge has been pluck'd all 's known
663And life yields nothing further to recall
664Worthy of this ambrosial sin, so shown
665No doubt in fable, as the unforgiven
666Fire which Prometheus filch'd for us from heaven.
667
668Man 's a strange animal, and makes strange use
669Of his own nature, and the various arts
670And likes particularly to produce
671Some new experiment to show his parts
672This is the age of oddities let loose
673Where different talents find their different marts
674You 'd best begin with truth, and when you 've lost your
675Labour, there 's a sure market for imposture.
676
677What opposite discoveries we have seen!
678Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.
679One makes new noses, one a guillotine
680One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets
681But vaccination certainly has been
682A kind antithesis to Congreve's rockets
683With which the Doctor paid off an old pox
684By borrowing a new one from an ox.
685
686Bread has been made indifferent from potatoes
687And galvanism has set some corpses grinning
688But has not answer'd like the apparatus
689Of the Humane Society's beginning
690By which men are unsuffocated gratis
691What wondrous new machines have late been spinning!
692I said the small-pox has gone out of late
693Perhaps it may be follow'd by the great.
694
695'T is said the great came from America
696Perhaps it may set out on its return
697the population there so spreads, they say
698'T is grown high time to thin it in its turn
699With war, or plague, or famine, any way
700So that civilisation they may learn
701And which in ravage the more loathsome evil is
702their real lues, or our pseudo-syphilis?
703
704This is the patent-age of new inventions
705For killing bodies, and for saving souls
706All propagated with the best intentions
707Sir Humphry Davy's lantern, by which coals
708Are safely mined for in the mode he mentions
709Tombuctoo travels, voyages to the Poles
710Are ways to benefit mankind, as true
711Perhaps, as shooting them at Waterloo.
712
713Man 's a phenomenon, one knows not what
714And wonderful beyond all wondrous measure
715'T is pity though, in this sublime world, that
716Pleasure 's a sin, and sometimes sin 's a pleasure
717Few mortals know what end they would be at
718But whether glory, power, or love, or treasure
719the path is through perplexing ways, and when
720the goal is gain'd, we die, you know and then
721
722What then? I do not know, no more do you
723And so good night. Return we to our story
724'T was in November, when fine days are few
725And the far mountains wax a little hoary
726And clap a white cape on their mantles blue
727And the sea dashes round the promontory
728And the loud breaker boils against the rock
729And sober suns must set at five o'clock.
730
731'T was, as the watchmen say, a cloudy night
732No moon, no stars, the wind was low or loud
733By gusts, and many a sparkling hearth was bright
734With the piled wood, round which the family crowd
735there 's something cheerful in that sort of light
736Even as a summer sky 's without a cloud
737I 'm fond of fire, and crickets, and all that
738A lobster salad, and champagne, and chat.
739
740'T was midnight Donna Julia was in bed
741Sleeping, most probably, when at her door
742Arose a clatter might awake the dead
743If they had never been awoke before
744And that they have been so we all have read
745And are to be so, at the least, once more
746the door was fasten'd, but with voice and fist
747First knocks were heard, then 'Madam Madam hist!
748
749'For God's sake, Madam Madam here 's my master
750With more than half the city at his back
751Was ever heard of such a curst disaster!
752'T is not my fault I kept good watch Alack!
753Do pray undo the bolt a little faster
754they 're on the stair just now, and in a crack
755Will all be here perhaps he yet may fly
756Surely the window 's not so very high!'
757
758By this time Don Alfonso was arrived
759With torches, friends, and servants in great number
760the major part of them had long been wived
761And therefore paused not to disturb the slumber
762Of any wicked woman, who contrived
763By stealth her husband's temples to encumber
764Examples of this kind are so contagious
765Were one not punish'd, all would be outrageous.
766
767I can't tell how, or why, or what suspicion
768Could enter into Don Alfonso's head
769But for a cavalier of his condition
770It surely was exceedingly ill-bred
771Without a word of previous admonition
772To hold a levee round his lady's bed
773And summon lackeys, arm'd with fire and sword
774To prove himself the thing he most abhorr'd.
775
776Poor Donna Julia, starting as from sleep
777Mind that I do not say she had not slept
778Began at once to scream, and yawn, and weep
779Her maid Antonia, who was an adept
780Contrived to fling the bed-clothes in a heap
781As if she had just now from out them crept
782I can't tell why she should take all this trouble
783To prove her mistress had been sleeping double.
784
785But Julia mistress, and Antonia maid
786Appear'd like two poor harmless women, who
787Of goblins, but still more of men afraid
788Had thought one man might be deterr'd by two
789And therefore side by side were gently laid
790Until the hours of absence should run through
791And truant husband should return, and say
792'My dear, I was the first who came away.'
793
794Now Julia found at length a voice, and cried
795'In heaven's name, Don Alfonso, what d' ye mean?
796Has madness seized you? would that I had died
797Ere such a monster's victim I had been!
798What may this midnight violence betide
799A sudden fit of drunkenness or spleen?
800Dare you suspect me, whom the thought would kill?
801Search, then, the room!' Alfonso said, 'I will.'
802
803He search'd, they search'd, and rummaged everywhere
804Closet and clothes' press, chest and window-seat
805And found much linen, lace, and several pair
806Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete
807With other articles of ladies fair
808To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat
809Arras they prick'd and curtains with their swords
810And wounded several shutters, and some boards.
811
812Under the bed they search'd, and there they found
813No matter what it was not that they sought
814they open'd windows, gazing if the ground
815Had signs or footmarks, but the earth said nought
816And then they stared each other's faces round
817'T is odd, not one of all these seekers thought
818And seems to me almost a sort of blunder
819Of looking in the bed as well as under.
820
821During this inquisition, Julia's tongue
822Was not asleep 'Yes, search and search,' she cried
823'Insult on insult heap, and wrong on wrong!
824It was for this that I became a bride!
825For this in silence I have suffer'd long
826A husband like Alfonso at my side
827But now I 'll bear no more, nor here remain
828If there be law or lawyers in all Spain.
829
830'Yes, Don Alfonso! husband now no more
831If ever you indeed deserved the name
832Is 't worthy of your years? you have threescore
833Fifty, or sixty, it is all the same
834Is 't wise or fitting, causeless to explore
835For facts against a virtuous woman's fame?
836Ungrateful, perjured, barbarous Don Alfonso
837How dare you think your lady would go on so?
838
839'Is it for this I have disdain'd to hold
840the common privileges of my sex?
841That I have chosen a confessor so old
842And deaf, that any other it would vex
843And never once he has had cause to scold
844But found my very innocence perplex
845So much, he always doubted I was married
846How sorry you will be when I 've miscarried!
847
848'Was it for this that no Cortejo e'er
849I yet have chosen from out the youth of Seville?
850Is it for this I scarce went anywhere
851Except to bull-fights, mass, play, rout, and revel?
852Is it for this, whate'er my suitors were
853I favor'd none nay, was almost uncivil?
854Is it for this that General Count O'Reilly
855Who took Algiers, declares I used him vilely?
856
857'Did not the Italian Musico Cazzani
858Sing at my heart six months at least in vain?
859Did not his countryman, Count Corniani
860Call me the only virtuous wife in Spain?
861Were there not also Russians, English, many?
862the Count Strongstroganoff I put in pain
863And Lord Mount Coffeehouse, the Irish peer
864Who kill'd himself for love with wine last year.
865
866'Have I not had two bishops at my feet
867the Duke of Ichar, and Don Fernan Nunez?
868And is it thus a faithful wife you treat?
869I wonder in what quarter now the moon is
870I praise your vast forbearance not to beat
871Me also, since the time so opportune is
872O, valiant man! with sword drawn and cock'd trigger
873Now, tell me, don't you cut a pretty figure?
874
875'Was it for this you took your sudden journey.
876Under pretence of business indispensable
877With that sublime of rascals your attorney
878Whom I see standing there, and looking sensible
879Of having play'd the fool? though both I spurn, he
880Deserves the worst, his conduct 's less defensible
881Because, no doubt, 't was for his dirty fee
882And not from any love to you nor me.
883
884'If he comes here to take a deposition
885By all means let the gentleman proceed
886You 've made the apartment in a fit condition
887there 's pen and ink for you, sir, when you need
888Let every thing be noted with precision
889I would not you for nothing should be fee'd
890But, as my maid 's undrest, pray turn your spies out.'
891'Oh!' sobb'd Antonia, 'I could tear their eyes out.'
892
893'there is the closet, there the toilet, there
894the antechamber search them under, over
895there is the sofa, there the great arm-chair
896the chimney which would really hold a lover.
897I wish to sleep, and beg you will take care
898And make no further noise, till you discover
899the secret cavern of this lurking treasure
900And when 't is found, let me, too, have that pleasure.
901
902'And now, Hidalgo! now that you have thrown
903Doubt upon me, confusion over all
904Pray have the courtesy to make it known
905Who is the man you search for? how d' ye cal
906Him? what 's his lineage? let him but be shown
907I hope he 's young and handsome is he tall?
908Tell me and be assured, that since you stain
909My honour thus, it shall not be in vain.
910
911'At least, perhaps, he has not sixty years
912At that age he would be too old for slaughter
913Or for so young a husband's jealous fears
914Antonia! let me have a glass of water.
915I am ashamed of having shed these tears
916they are unworthy of my father's daughter
917My mother dream'd not in my natal hour
918That I should fall into a monster's power.
919
920'Perhaps 't is of Antonia you are jealous
921You saw that she was sleeping by my side
922When you broke in upon us with your fellows
923Look where you please we 've nothing, sir, to hide
924Only another time, I trust, you 'll tell us
925Or for the sake of decency abide
926A moment at the door, that we may be
927Drest to receive so much good company.
928
929'And now, sir, I have done, and say no more
930the little I have said may serve to show
931the guileless heart in silence may grieve o'er
932the wrongs to whose exposure it is slow
933I leave you to your conscience as before
934'T will one day ask you why you used me so?
935God grant you feel not then the bitterest grief!
936Antonia! where 's my pocket-handkerchief?'
937
938She ceased, and turn'd upon her pillow pale
939She lay, her dark eyes flashing through their tears
940Like skies that rain and lighten as a veil
941Waved and o'ershading her wan cheek, appears
942Her streaming hair the black curls strive, but fail
943To hide the glossy shoulder, which uprears
944Its snow through all her soft lips lie apart
945And louder than her breathing beats her heart.
946
947the Senhor Don Alfonso stood confused
948Antonia bustled round the ransack'd room
949And, turning up her nose, with looks abused
950Her master and his myrmidons, of whom
951Not one, except the attorney, was amused
952He, like Achates, faithful to the tomb
953So there were quarrels, cared not for the cause
954Knowing they must be settled by the laws.
955
956With prying snub-nose, and small eyes, he stood
957Following Antonia's motions here and there
958With much suspicion in his attitude
959For reputations he had little care
960So that a suit or action were made good
961Small pity had he for the young and fair
962And ne'er believed in negatives, till these
963Were proved by competent false witnesses.
964
965But Don Alfonso stood with downcast looks
966And, truth to say, he made a foolish figure
967When, after searching in five hundred nooks
968And treating a young wife with so much rigour
969He gain'd no point, except some self-rebukes
970Added to those his lady with such vigour
971Had pour'd upon him for the last half-hour
972Quick, thick, and heavy as a thunder-shower.
973
974At first he tried to hammer an excuse
975To which the sole reply was tears and sobs
976And indications of hysterics, whose
977Prologue is always certain throes, and throbs
978Gasps, and whatever else the owners choose
979Alfonso saw his wife, and thought of Job's
980He saw too, in perspective, her relations
981And then he tried to muster all his patience.
982
983He stood in act to speak, or rather stammer
984But sage Antonia cut him short before
985the anvil of his speech received the hammer
986With 'Pray, sir, leave the room, and say no more
987Or madam dies.' Alfonso mutter'd, 'D n her,'
988But nothing else, the time of words was o'er
989He cast a rueful look or two, and did
990He knew not wherefore, that which he was bid.
991
992With him retired his 'posse comitatus,'
993the attorney last, who linger'd near the door
994Reluctantly, still tarrying there as late as
995Antonia let him not a little sore
996At this most strange and unexplain'd 'hiatus'
997In Don Alfonso's facts, which just now wore
998An awkward look as he revolved the case
999the door was fasten'd in his legal face.
1000
1001No sooner was it bolted, than Oh shame!
1002O sin! Oh sorrow! and oh womankind!
1003How can you do such things and keep your fame
1004Unless this world, and t' other too, be blind?
1005Nothing so dear as an unfilch'd good name!
1006But to proceed for there is more behind
1007With much heartfelt reluctance be it said
1008Young Juan slipp'd half-smother'd, from the bed.
1009
1010He had been hid I don't pretend to say
1011How, nor can I indeed describe the where
1012Young, slender, and pack'd easily, he lay
1013No doubt, in little compass, round or square
1014But pity him I neither must nor may
1015His suffocation by that pretty pair
1016'T were better, sure, to die so, than be shut
1017With maudlin Clarence in his Malmsey butt.
1018
1019And, secondly, I pity not, because
1020He had no business to commit a sin
1021Forbid by heavenly, fined by human laws
1022At least 't was rather early to begin
1023But at sixteen the conscience rarely gnaws
1024So much as when we call our old debts in
1025At sixty years, and draw the accompts of evil
1026And find a deuced balance with the devil.
1027
1028Of his position I can give no notion
1029'T is written in the Hebrew Chronicle
1030How the physicians, leaving pill and potion
1031Prescribed, by way of blister, a young belle
1032When old King David's blood grew dull in motion
1033And that the medicine answer'd very well
1034Perhaps 't was in a different way applied
1035For David lived, but Juan nearly died.
1036
1037What 's to be done? Alfonso will be back
1038the moment he has sent his fools away.
1039Antonia's skill was put upon the rack
1040But no device could be brought into play
1041And how to parry the renew'd attack?
1042Besides, it wanted but few hours of day
1043Antonia puzzled Julia did not speak
1044But press'd her bloodless lip to Juan's cheek.
1045
1046He turn'd his lip to hers, and with his hand
1047Call'd back the tangles of her wandering hair
1048Even then their love they could not all command
1049And half forgot their danger and despair
1050Antonia's patience now was at a stand
1051'Come, come, 't is no time now for fooling there,'
1052She whisper'd, in great wrath 'I must deposit
1053This pretty gentleman within the closet
1054
1055'Pray, keep your nonsense for some luckier night
1056Who can have put my master in this mood?
1057What will become on 't I 'm in such a fright
1058the devil 's in the urchin, and no good
1059Is this a time for giggling? this a plight?
1060Why, don't you know that it may end in blood?
1061You 'll lose your life, and I shall lose my place
1062My mistress all, for that half-girlish face.
1063
1064'Had it but been for a stout cavalier
1065Of twenty-five or thirty come, make haste
1066But for a child, what piece of work is here!
1067I really, madam, wonder at your taste
1068Come, sir, get in my master must be near
1069there, for the present, at the least, he's fast
1070And if we can but till the morning keep
1071Our counsel Juan, mind, you must not sleep.'
1072
1073Now, Don Alfonso entering, but alone
1074Closed the oration of the trusty maid
1075She loiter'd, and he told her to be gone
1076An order somewhat sullenly obey'd
1077However, present remedy was none
1078And no great good seem'd answer'd if she stay'd
1079Regarding both with slow and sidelong view
1080She snuff'd the candle, curtsied, and withdrew.
1081
1082Alfonso paused a minute then begun
1083Some strange excuses for his late proceeding
1084He would not justify what he had done
1085To say the best, it was extreme ill-breeding
1086But there were ample reasons for it, none
1087Of which he specified in this his pleading
1088His speech was a fine sample, on the whole
1089Of rhetoric, which the learn'd call 'rigmarole.'
1090
1091Julia said nought though all the while there rose
1092A ready answer, which at once enables
1093A matron, who her husband's foible knows
1094By a few timely words to turn the tables
1095Which, if it does not silence, still must pose
1096Even if it should comprise a pack of fables
1097'T is to retort with firmness, and when he
1098Suspects with one, do you reproach with three.
1099
1100Julia, in fact, had tolerable grounds
1101Alfonso's loves with Inez were well known
1102But whether 't was that one's own guilt confounds
1103But that can't be, as has been often shown
1104A lady with apologies abounds
1105It might be that her silence sprang alone
1106From delicacy to Don Juan's ear
1107To whom she knew his mother's fame was dear.
1108
1109there might be one more motive, which makes two
1110Alfonso ne'er to Juan had alluded
1111Mention'd his jealousy but never who
1112Had been the happy lover, he concluded
1113Conceal'd amongst his premises 't is true
1114His mind the more o'er this its mystery brooded
1115To speak of Inez now were, one may say
1116Like throwing Juan in Alfonso's way.
1117
1118A hint, in tender cases, is enough
1119Silence is best, besides there is a tact
1120That modern phrase appears to me sad stuff
1121But it will serve to keep my verse compact
1122Which keeps, when push'd by questions rather rough
1123A lady always distant from the fact
1124the charming creatures lie with such a grace
1125there 's nothing so becoming to the face.
1126
1127they blush, and we believe them at least I
1128Have always done so 't is of no great use
1129In any case, attempting a reply
1130For then their eloquence grows quite profuse
1131And when at length they 're out of breath, they sigh
1132And cast their languid eyes down, and let loose
1133A tear or two, and then we make it up
1134And then and then and then sit down and sup.
1135
1136Alfonso closed his speech, and begg'd her pardon
1137Which Julia half withheld, and then half granted
1138And laid conditions he thought very hard on
1139Denying several little things he wanted
1140He stood like Adam lingering near his garden
1141With useless penitence perplex'd and haunted
1142Beseeching she no further would refuse
1143When, lo! he stumbled o'er a pair of shoes.
1144
1145A pair of shoes! what then? not much, if they
1146Are such as fit with ladies' feet, but these
1147No one can tell how much I grieve to say
1148Were masculine to see them, and to seize
1149Was but a moment's act. Ah! well-a-day!
1150My teeth begin to chatter, my veins freeze
1151Alfonso first examined well their fashion
1152And then flew out into another passion.
1153
1154He left the room for his relinquish'd sword
1155And Julia instant to the closet flew.
1156'Fly, Juan, fly! for heaven's sake not a word
1157the door is open you may yet slip through
1158the passage you so often have explored
1159Here is the garden-key Fly fly Adieu!
1160Haste haste! I hear Alfonso's hurrying feet
1161Day has not broke there 's no one in the street
1162
1163None can say that this was not good advice
1164the only mischief was, it came too late
1165Of all experience 't is the usual price
1166A sort of income-tax laid on by fate
1167Juan had reach'd the room-door in a. trice
1168And might have done so by the garden-gate
1169But met Alfonso in his dressing-gown
1170Who threaten'd death so Juan knock'd him down.
1171
1172Dire was the scuffle, and out went the light
1173Antonia cried out 'Rape!' and Julia 'Fire!'
1174But not a servant stirr'd to aid the fight.
1175Alfonso, pommell'd to his heart's desire
1176Swore lustily he'd be revenged this night
1177And Juan, too, blasphemed an octave higher
1178His blood was up though young, he was a Tartar
1179And not at all disposed to prove a martyr.
1180
1181Alfonso's sword had dropp'd ere he could draw it
1182And they continued battling hand to hand
1183For Juan very luckily ne'er saw it
1184His temper not being under great command
1185If at that moment he had chanced to claw it
1186Alfonso's days had not been in the land
1187Much longer. Think of husbands', lovers' lives!
1188And how ye may be doubly widows wives!
1189
1190Alfonso grappled to detain the foe
1191And Juan throttled him to get away
1192And blood 't was from the nose began to flow
1193At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay
1194Juan contrived to give an awkward blow
1195And then his only garment quite gave way
1196He fled, like Joseph, leaving it but there
1197I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair.
1198
1199Lights came at length, and men, and maids, who found
1200An awkward spectacle their eyes before
1201Antonia in hysterics, Julia swoon'd
1202Alfonso leaning, breathless, by the door
1203Some half-torn drapery scatter'd on the ground
1204Some blood, and several footsteps, but no more
1205Juan the gate gain'd, turn'd the key about
1206And liking not the inside, lock'd the out.
1207
1208Here ends this canto. Need I sing, or say
1209How Juan naked, favour'd by the night
1210Who favours what she should not, found his way
1211And reach'd his home in an unseemly plight?
1212the pleasant scandal which arose next day
1213the nine days' wonder which was brought to light
1214And how Alfonso sued for a divorce
1215Were in the English newspapers, of course.
1216
1217If you would like to see the whole proceedings
1218the depositions, and the cause at full
1219the names of all the witnesses, the pleadings
1220Of counsel to nonsuit, or to annul
1221there 's more than one edition, and the readings
1222Are various, but they none of them are dull
1223the best is that in short-hand ta'en by Gurney
1224Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey.
1225
1226But Donna Inez, to divert the train
1227Of one of the most circulating scandals
1228That had for centuries been known in Spain
1229At least since the retirement of the Vandals
1230First vow'd and never had she vow'd in vain
1231To Virgin Mary several pounds of candles
1232And then, by the advice of some old ladies
1233She sent her son to be shipp'd off from Cadiz.
1234
1235She had resolved that he should travel through
1236All European climes, by land or sea
1237To mend his former morals, and get new
1238Especially in France and Italy
1239At least this is the thing most people do.
1240Julia was sent into a convent she
1241Grieved, but, perhaps, her feelings may be better
1242Shown in the following copy of her Letter
1243
1244'they tell me 't is decided you depart
1245'T is wise 't is well, but not the less a pain
1246I have no further claim on your young heart
1247Mine is the victim, and would be again
1248To love too much has been the only art
1249I used I write in haste, and if a stain
1250Be on this sheet, 't is not what it appears
1251My eyeballs burn and throb, but have no tears.
1252
1253'I loved, I love you, for this love have lost
1254State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem
1255And yet can not regret what it hath cost
1256So dear is still the memory of that dream
1257Yet, if I name my guilt, 't is not to boast
1258None can deem harshlier of me than I deem
1259I trace this scrawl because I cannot rest
1260I 've nothing to reproach, or to request.
1261
1262'Man's love is of man's life a thing apart
1263'T is woman's whole existence man may range
1264the court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart
1265Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange
1266Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart
1267And few there are whom these cannot estrange
1268Men have all these resources, we but one
1269To love again, and be again undone.
1270
1271'You will proceed in pleasure, and in pride
1272Beloved and loving many all is o'er
1273For me on earth, except some years to hide
1274My shame and sorrow deep in my heart's core
1275these I could bear, but cannot cast aside
1276the passion which still rages as before
1277And so farewell forgive me, love me No
1278That word is idle now but let it go.
1279
1280'My breast has been all weakness, is so yet
1281But still I think I can collect my mind
1282My blood still rushes where my spirit 's set
1283As roll the waves before the settled wind
1284My heart is feminine, nor can forget
1285To all, except one image, madly blind
1286So shakes the needle, and so stands the pole
1287As vibrates my fond heart to my fix'd soul.
1288
1289'I have no more to say, but linger still
1290And dare not set my seal upon this sheet
1291And yet I may as well the task fulfil
1292My misery can scarce be more complete
1293I had not lived till now, could sorrow kill
1294Death shuns the wretch who fain the blow would meet
1295And I must even survive this last adieu
1296And bear with life, to love and pray for you!'
1297
1298This note was written upon gilt-edged paper
1299With a neat little crow-quill, slight and new
1300Her small white hand could hardly reach the taper
1301It trembled as magnetic needles do
1302And yet she did not let one tear escape her
1303the seal a sun-flower 'Elle vous suit partout,'
1304the motto cut upon a white cornelian
1305the wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.
1306
1307This was Don Juan's earliest scrape but whether
1308I shall proceed with his adventures is
1309Dependent on the public altogether
1310We 'll see, however, what they say to this
1311their favour in an author's cap 's a feather
1312And no great mischief 's done by their caprice
1313And if their approbation we experience
1314Perhaps they 'll have some more about a year hence.
1315
1316My poem 's epic, and is meant to be
1317Divided in twelve books each book containing
1318With love, and war, a heavy gale at sea
1319A list of ships, and captains, and kings reigning
1320New characters the episodes are three
1321A panoramic view of hell 's in training
1322After the style of Virgil and of Homer
1323So that my name of Epic 's no misnomer.
1324
1325All these things will be specified in time
1326With strict regard to Aristotle's rules
1327the Vade Mecum of the true sublime
1328Which makes so many poets, and some fools
1329Prose poets like blank-verse, I 'm fond of rhyme
1330Good workmen never quarrel with their tools
1331I 've got new mythological machinery
1332And very handsome supernatural scenery.
1333
1334there 's only one slight difference between
1335Me and my epic brethren gone before
1336And here the advantage is my own, I ween
1337Not that I have not several merits more
1338But this will more peculiarly be seen
1339they so embellish, that 't is quite a bore
1340their labyrinth of fables to thread through
1341Whereas this story 's actually true.
1342
1343If any person doubt it, I appeal
1344To history, tradition, and to facts
1345To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel
1346To plays in five, and operas in three acts
1347All these confirm my statement a good deal
1348But that which more completely faith exacts
1349Is that myself, and several now in Seville
1350Saw Juan's last elopement with the devil.
1351
1352If ever I should condescend to prose
1353I 'll write poetical commandments, which
1354Shall supersede beyond all doubt all those
1355That went before in these I shall enrich
1356My text with many things that no one knows
1357And carry precept to the highest pitch
1358I 'll call the work 'Longinus o'er a Bottle
1359Or, Every Poet his own Aristotle.'
1360
1361Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope
1362Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey
1363Because the first is crazed beyond all hope
1364the second drunk, the third so quaint and mouthy
1365With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope
1366And Campbell's Hippocrene is somewhat drouthy
1367Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers, nor
1368Commit flirtation with the muse of Moore.
1369
1370Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's Muse
1371His Pegasus, nor anything that 's his
1372Thou shalt not bear false witness like 'the Blues'
1373there 's one, at least, is very fond of this
1374Thou shalt not write, in short, but what I choose
1375This is true criticism, and you may kiss
1376Exactly as you please, or not, the rod
1377
1378If any person should presume to assert
1379This story is not moral, first, I pray
1380That they will not cry out before they 're hurt
1381then that they 'll read it o'er again, and say
1382But, doubtless, nobody will be so pert
1383That this is not a moral tale, though gay
1384Besides, in Canto Twelfth, I mean to show
1385the very place where wicked people go.
1386
1387If, after all, there should be some so blind
1388To their own good this warning to despise
1389Led by some tortuosity of mind
1390Not to believe my verse and their own eyes
1391And cry that they 'the moral cannot find,'
1392I tell him, if a clergyman, he lies
1393Should captains the remark, or critics, make
1394they also lie too under a mistake.
1395
1396the public approbation I expect
1397And beg they 'll take my word about the moral
1398Which I with their amusement will connect
1399So children cutting teeth receive a coral
1400Meantime, they 'll doubtless please to recollect
1401My epical pretensions to the laurel
1402For fear some prudish readers should grow skittish
1403I 've bribed my grandmother's review the British.
1404
1405I sent it in a letter to the Editor
1406Who thank'd me duly by return of post
1407I 'm for a handsome article his creditor
1408Yet, if my gentle Muse he please to roast
1409And break a promise after having made it her
1410Denying the receipt of what it cost
1411And smear his page with gall instead of honey
1412All I can say is that he had the money.
1413
1414I think that with this holy new alliance
1415I may ensure the public, and defy
1416All other magazines of art or science
1417Daily, or monthly, or three monthly I
1418Have not essay'd to multiply their clients
1419Because they tell me 't were in vain to try
1420And that the Edinburgh Review and Quarterly
1421Treat a dissenting author very martyrly.
1422
1423'Non ego hoc ferrem calida juventa
1424Consule Planco,' Horace said, and so
1425Say I by which quotation there is meant a
1426Hint that some six or seven good years ago
1427Long ere I dreamt of dating from the Brenta
1428I was most ready to return a blow
1429And would not brook at all this sort of thing
1430In my hot youth when George the Third was King.
1431
1432But now at thirty years my hair is grey
1433I wonder what it will be like at forty?
1434I thought of a peruke the other day
1435My heart is not much greener and, in short, I
1436Have squander'd my whole summer while 't was May
1437And feel no more the spirit to retort I
1438Have spent my life, both interest and principal
1439And deem not, what I deem'd, my soul invincible.
1440
1441No more no more Oh! never more on me
1442the freshness of the heart can fall like dew
1443Which out of all the lovely things we see
1444Extracts emotions beautiful and new
1445Hived in our bosoms like the bag o' the bee
1446Think'st thou the honey with those objects grew?
1447Alas! 't was not in them, but in thy power
1448To double even the sweetness of a flower.
1449
1450No more no more Oh! never more, my heart
1451Canst thou be my sole world, my universe!
1452Once all in all, but now a thing apart
1453Thou canst not be my blessing or my curse
1454the illusion 's gone for ever, and thou art
1455Insensible, I trust, but none the worse
1456And in thy stead I 've got a deal of judgment
1457Though heaven knows how it ever found a lodgment.
1458
1459My days of love are over me no more
1460the charms of maid, wife, and still less of widow
1461Can make the fool of which they made before
1462In short, I must not lead the life I did do
1463the credulous hope of mutual minds is o'er
1464the copious use of claret is forbid too
1465So for a good old-gentlemanly vice
1466I think I must take up with avarice.
1467
1468Ambition was my idol, which was broken
1469Before the shrines of Sorrow, and of Pleasure
1470And the two last have left me many a token
1471O'er which reflection may be made at leisure
1472Now, like Friar Bacon's brazen head, I 've spoken
1473'Time is, Time was, Time 's past' a chymic treasure
1474Is glittering youth, which I have spent betimes
1475My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes.
1476
1477What is the end of Fame? 't is but to fill
1478A certain portion of uncertain paper
1479Some liken it to climbing up a hill
1480Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour
1481For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill
1482And bards burn what they call their 'midnight taper,'
1483To have, when the original is dust
1484A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.
1485
1486What are the hopes of man? Old Egypt's King
1487Cheops erected the first pyramid
1488And largest, thinking it was just the thing
1489To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid
1490But somebody or other rummaging
1491Burglariously broke his coffin's lid
1492Let not a monument give you or me hopes
1493Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops.
1494
1495But I being fond of true philosophy
1496Say very often to myself, 'Alas!
1497All things that have been born were born to die
1498And flesh which Death mows down to hay is grass
1499You 've pass'd your youth not so unpleasantly
1500And if you had it o'er again 't would pass
1501So thank your stars that matters are no worse
1502And read your Bible, sir, and mind your purse.'
1503
1504But for the present, gentle reader! and
1505Still gentler purchaser! the bard that 's I
1506Must, with permission, shake you by the hand
1507And so 'Your humble servant, and good-b'ye!'
1508We meet again, if we should understand
1509Each other and if not, I shall not try
1510Your patience further than by this short sample
1511'T were well if others follow'd my example.
1512
1513'Go, little book, from this my solitude!
1514I cast thee on the waters go thy ways!
1515And if, as I believe, thy vein be good
1516the world will find thee after many days.'
1517When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood
1518I can't help putting in my claim to praise
1519the four first rhymes are Southey's every line
1520For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine.
1521
1522O ye! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations
1523Holland, France, England, Germany, or Spain
1524I pray ye flog them upon all occasions
1525It mends their morals, never mind the pain
1526the best of mothers and of educations
1527In Juan's case were but employ'd in vain
1528Since, in a way that 's rather of the oddest, he
1529Became divested of his native modesty.
1530
1531Had he but been placed at a public school
1532In the third form, or even in the fourth
1533His daily task had kept his fancy cool
1534At least, had he been nurtured in the north
1535Spain may prove an exception to the rule
1536But then exceptions always prove its worth
1537A lad of sixteen causing a divorce
1538Puzzled his tutors very much, of course.
1539
1540I can't say that it puzzles me at all
1541If all things be consider'd first, there was
1542His lady mother, mathematical
1543A never mind his tutor, an old ass
1544A pretty woman that 's quite natural
1545Or else the thing had hardly come to pass
1546A husband rather old, not much in unity
1547With his young wife a time, and opportunity.
1548
1549Well well, the world must turn upon its axis
1550And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails
1551And live and die, make love and pay our taxes
1552And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails
1553the king commands us, and the doctor quacks us
1554the priest instructs, and so our life exhales
1555A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame
1556Fighting, devotion, dust, perhaps a name.
1557
1558I said that Juan had been sent to Cadiz
1559A pretty town, I recollect it well
1560'T is there the mart of the colonial trade is
1561Or was, before Peru learn'd to rebel
1562And such sweet girls I mean, such graceful ladies
1563their very walk would make your bosom swell
1564I can't describe it, though so much it strike
1565Nor liken it I never saw the like
1566
1567An Arab horse, a stately stag, a barb
1568New broke, a cameleopard, a gazelle
1569No none of these will do and then their garb!
1570their veil and petticoat Alas! to dwell
1571Upon such things would very near absorb
1572A canto then their feet and ankles, well
1573Thank Heaven I 've got no metaphor quite ready
1574And so, my sober Muse come, let 's be steady
1575
1576Chaste Muse! well, if you must, you must the veil
1577Thrown back a moment with the glancing hand
1578While the o'erpowering eye, that turns you pale
1579Flashes into the heart All sunny land
1580Of love! when I forget you, may I fail
1581To say my prayers but never was there plann'd
1582A dress through which the eyes give such a volley
1583Excepting the Venetian Fazzioli.
1584
1585But to our tale the Donna Inez sent
1586Her son to Cadiz only to embark
1587To stay there had not answer'd her intent
1588But why? we leave the reader in the dark
1589'T was for a voyage that the young man was meant
1590As if a Spanish ship were Noah's ark
1591To wean him from the wickedness of earth
1592And send him like a dove of promise forth.
1593
1594Don Juan bade his valet pack his things
1595According to direction, then received
1596A lecture and some money for four springs
1597He was to travel and though Inez grieved
1598As every kind of parting has its stings
1599She hoped he would improve perhaps believed
1600A letter, too, she gave he never read it
1601Of good advice and two or three of credit.
1602
1603In the mean time, to pass her hours away
1604Brave Inez now set up a Sunday school
1605For naughty children, who would rather play
1606Like truant rogues the devil, or the fool
1607Infants of three years old were taught that day
1608Dunces were whipt, or set upon a stool
1609the great success of Juan's education
1610Spurr'd her to teach another generation.
1611
1612Juan embark'd the ship got under way
1613the wind was fair, the water passing rough
1614A devil of a sea rolls in that bay
1615As I, who 've cross'd it oft, know well enough
1616And, standing upon deck, the dashing spray
1617Flies in one's face, and makes it weather-tough
1618And there he stood to take, and take again
1619His first perhaps his last farewell of Spain.
1620
1621I can't but say it is an awkward sight
1622To see one's native land receding through
1623the growing waters it unmans one quite
1624Especially when life is rather new
1625I recollect Great Britain's coast looks white
1626But almost every other country 's blue
1627When gazing on them, mystified by distance
1628We enter on our nautical existence.
1629
1630So Juan stood, bewilder'd on the deck
1631the wind sung, cordage strain'd, and sailors swore
1632And the ship creak'd, the town became a speck
1633From which away so fair and fast they bore.
1634the best of remedies is a beef-steak
1635Against sea-sickness try it, sir, before
1636You sneer, and I assure you this is true
1637For I have found it answer so may you.
1638
1639Don Juan stood, and, gazing from the stern
1640Beheld his native Spain receding far
1641First partings form a lesson hard to learn
1642Even nations feel this when they go to war
1643there is a sort of unexprest concern
1644A kind of shock that sets one's heart ajar
1645At leaving even the most unpleasant people
1646And places, one keeps looking at the steeple.
1647
1648But Juan had got many things to leave
1649His mother, and a mistress, and no wife
1650So that he had much better cause to grieve
1651Than many persons more advanced in life
1652And if we now and then a sigh must heave
1653At quitting even those we quit in strife
1654No doubt we weep for those the heart endears
1655That is, till deeper griefs congeal our tears.
1656
1657So Juan wept, as wept the captive Jews
1658By Babel's waters, still remembering Sion
1659I 'd weep, but mine is not a weeping Muse
1660And such light griefs are not a thing to die on
1661Young men should travel, if but to amuse
1662themselves and the next time their servants tie on
1663Behind their carriages their new portmanteau
1664Perhaps it may be lined with this my canto.
1665
1666And Juan wept, and much he sigh'd and thought
1667While his salt tears dropp'd into the salt sea
1668'Sweets to the sweet' I like so much to quote
1669You must excuse this extract, 't is where she
1670the Queen of Denmark, for Ophelia brought
1671Flowers to the grave and, sobbing often, he
1672Reflected on his present situation
1673And seriously resolved on reformation.
1674
1675'Farewell, my Spain! a long farewell!' he cried
1676'Perhaps I may revisit thee no more
1677But die, as many an exiled heart hath died
1678Of its own thirst to see again thy shore
1679Farewell, where Guadalquivir's waters glide!
1680Farewell, my mother! and, since all is o'er
1681Farewell, too, dearest Julia! Here he drew
1682Her letter out again, and read it through.
1683
1684'And, oh! if e'er I should forget, I swear
1685But that 's impossible, and cannot be
1686Sooner shall this blue ocean melt to air
1687Sooner shall earth resolve itself to sea
1688Than I resign thine image, oh, my fair!
1689Or think of any thing excepting thee
1690A mind diseased no remedy can physic
1691Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick.
1692
1693'Sooner shall heaven kiss earth here he fell sicker
1694O, Julia! what is every other wo?
1695For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor
1696Pedro, Battista, help me down below.
1697Julia, my love! you rascal, Pedro, quicker
1698O, Julia! this curst vessel pitches so
1699Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!'
1700Here he grew inarticulate with retching.
1701
1702He felt that chilling heaviness of heart
1703Or rather stomach, which, alas! attends
1704Beyond the best apothecary's art
1705the loss of love, the treachery of friends
1706Or death of those we dote on, when a part
1707Of us dies with them as each fond hope ends
1708No doubt he would have been much more pathetic
1709But the sea acted as a strong emetic. I
1710
1711Love 's a capricious power I 've known it hold
1712Out through a fever caused by its own heat
1713But be much puzzled by a cough and cold
1714And find a quincy very hard to treat
1715Against all noble maladies he 's bold
1716But vulgar illnesses don't like to meet
1717Nor that a sneeze should interrupt his sigh
1718Nor inflammations redden his blind eye.
1719
1720But worst of all is nausea, or a pain
1721About the lower region of the bowels
1722Love, who heroically breathes a vein
1723Shrinks from the application of hot towels
1724And purgatives are dangerous to his reign
1725Sea-sickness death his love was perfect, how else
1726Could Juan's passion, while the billows roar
1727Resist his stomach, ne'er at sea before?
1728
1729the ship, call'd the most holy 'Trinidada,'
1730Was steering duly for the port Leghorn
1731For there the Spanish family Moncada
1732Were settled long ere Juan's sire was born
1733they were relations, and for them he had a
1734Letter of introduction, which the morn
1735Of his departure had been sent him by
1736His Spanish friends for those in Italy.
1737
1738His suite consisted of three servants and
1739A tutor, the licentiate Pedrillo
1740Who several languages did understand
1741But now lay sick and speechless on his pillow
1742And rocking in his hammock, long'd for land
1743His headache being increased by every billow
1744And the waves oozing through the port-hole made
1745His berth a little damp, and him afraid.
1746
1747'T was not without some reason, for the wind
1748Increased at night, until it blew a gale
1749And though 't was not much to a naval mind
1750Some landsmen would have look'd a little pale
1751For sailors are, in fact, a different kind
1752At sunset they began to take in sail
1753For the sky show'd it would come on to blow
1754And carry away, perhaps, a mast or so.
1755
1756At one o'clock the wind with sudden shift
1757Threw the ship right into the trough of the sea
1758Which struck her aft, and made an awkward rift
1759Started the stern-post, also shatter'd the
1760Whole of her stern-frame, and, ere she could lift
1761Herself from out her present jeopardy
1762the rudder tore away 't was time to sound
1763the pumps, and there were four feet water found.
1764
1765One gang of people instantly was put
1766Upon the pumps and the remainder set
1767To get up part of the cargo, and what not
1768But they could not come at the leak as yet
1769At last they did get at it really, but
1770Still their salvation was an even bet
1771the water rush'd through in a way quite puzzling
1772While they thrust sheets, shirts, jackets, bales of muslin
1773
1774Into the opening but all such ingredients
1775Would have been vain, and they must have gone down
1776Despite of all their efforts and expedients
1777But for the pumps I 'm glad to make them known
1778To all the brother tars who may have need hence
1779For fifty tons of water were upthrown
1780By them per hour, and they had all been undone
1781But for the maker, Mr. Mann, of London.
1782
1783As day advanced the weather seem'd to abate
1784And then the leak they reckon'd to reduce
1785And keep the ship afloat, though three feet yet
1786Kept two hand and one chain-pump still in use.
1787the wind blew fresh again as it grew late
1788A squall came on, and while some guns broke loose
1789A gust which all descriptive power transcends
1790Laid with one blast the ship on her beam ends.
1791
1792there she lay motionless, and seem'd upset
1793the water left the hold, and wash'd the decks
1794And made a scene men do not soon forget
1795For they remember battles, fires, and wrecks
1796Or any other thing that brings regret
1797Or breaks their hopes, or hearts, or heads, or necks
1798Thus drownings are much talk'd of by the divers
1799And swimmers, who may chance to be survivors.
1800
1801Immediately the masts were cut away
1802Both main and mizen first the mizen went
1803the main-mast follow'd but the ship still lay
1804Like a mere log, and baffled our intent.
1805Foremast and bowsprit were cut down, and they
1806Eased her at last although we never meant
1807To part with all till every hope was blighted
1808And then with violence the old ship righted.
1809
1810It may be easily supposed, while this
1811Was going on, some people were unquiet
1812That passengers would find it much amiss
1813To lose their lives, as well as spoil their diet
1814That even the able seaman, deeming his
1815Days nearly o'er, might be disposed to riot
1816As upon such occasions tars will ask
1817For grog, and sometimes drink rum from the cask.
1818
1819there 's nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms
1820As rum and true religion thus it was
1821Some plunder'd, some drank spirits, some sung psalms
1822the high wind made the treble, and as bas
1823the hoarse harsh waves kept time fright cured the qualms
1824Of all the luckless landsmen's sea-sick maws
1825Strange sounds of wailing, blasphemy, devotion
1826Clamour'd in chorus to the roaring ocean.
1827
1828Perhaps more mischief had been done, but for
1829Our Juan, who, with sense beyond his years
1830Got to the spirit-room, and stood before
1831It with a pair of pistols and their fears
1832As if Death were more dreadful by his door
1833Of fire than water, spite of oaths and tears
1834Kept still aloof the crew, who, ere they sunk
1835Thought it would be becoming to die drunk.
1836
1837'Give us more grog,' they cried, 'for it will be
1838All one an hour hence.' Juan answer'd, 'No!
1839'T is true that death awaits both you and me
1840But let us die like men, not sink below
1841Like brutes' and thus his dangerous post kept he
1842And none liked to anticipate the blow
1843And even Pedrillo, his most reverend tutor
1844Was for some rum a disappointed suitor.
1845
1846the good old gentleman was quite aghast
1847And made a loud and pious lamentation
1848Repented all his sins, and made a last
1849Irrevocable vow of reformation
1850Nothing should tempt him more this peril past
1851To quit his academic occupation
1852In cloisters of the classic Salamanca
1853To follow Juan's wake, like Sancho Panca.
1854
1855But now there came a flash of hope once more
1856Day broke, and the wind lull'd the masts were gone
1857the leak increased shoals round her, but no shore
1858the vessel swam, yet still she held her own.
1859they tried the pumps again, and though before
1860their desperate efforts seem'd all useless grown
1861A glimpse of sunshine set some hands to bale
1862the stronger pump'd, the weaker thrumm'd a sail.
1863
1864Under the vessel's keel the sail was past
1865And for the moment it had some effect
1866But with a leak, and not a stick of mast
1867Nor rag of canvas, what could they expect?
1868But still 't is best to struggle to the last
1869'T is never too late to be wholly wreck'd
1870And though 't is true that man can only die once
1871'T is not so pleasant in the Gulf of Lyons.
1872
1873there winds and waves had hurl'd them, and from thence
1874Without their will, they carried them away
1875For they were forced with steering to dispense
1876And never had as yet a quiet day
1877On which they might repose, or even commence
1878A jurymast or rudder, or could say
1879the ship would swim an hour, which, by good luck
1880Still swam though not exactly like a duck.
1881
1882the wind, in fact, perhaps was rather less
1883But the ship labour'd so, they scarce could hope
1884To weather out much longer the distress
1885Was also great with which they had to cope
1886For want of water, and their solid mess
1887Was scant enough in vain the telescope
1888Was used nor sail nor shore appear'd in sight
1889Nought but the heavy sea, and coming night.
1890
1891Again the weather threaten'd, again blew
1892A gale, and in the fore and after hold
1893Water appear'd yet, though the people knew
1894All this, the most were patient, and some bold
1895Until the chains and leathers were worn through
1896Of all our pumps a wreck complete she roll'd
1897At mercy of the waves, whose mercies are
1898Like human beings during civil war.
1899
1900then came the carpenter, at last, with tears
1901In his rough eyes, and told the captain he
1902Could do no more he was a man in years
1903And long had voyaged through many a stormy sea
1904And if he wept at length, they were not fears
1905That made his eyelids as a woman's be
1906But he, poor fellow, had a wife and children
1907Two things for dying people quite bewildering.
1908
1909the ship was evidently settling now
1910Fast by the head and, all distinction gone
1911Some went to prayers again, and made a vow
1912Of candles to their saints but there were none
1913To pay them with and some look'd o'er the bow
1914Some hoisted out the boats and there was one
1915That begg'd Pedrillo for an absolution
1916Who told him to be damn'd in his confusion.
1917
1918Some lash'd them in their hammocks some put on
1919their best clothes, as if going to a fair
1920Some cursed the day on which they saw the sun
1921And gnash'd their teeth, and, howling, tore their hair
1922And others went on as they had begun
1923Getting the boats out, being well aware
1924That a tight boat will live in a rough sea
1925Unless with breakers close beneath her lee.
1926
1927the worst of all was, that in their condition
1928Having been several days in great distress
1929'T was difficult to get out such provision
1930As now might render their long suffering less
1931Men, even when dying, dislike inanition
1932their stock was damaged by the weather's stress
1933Two casks of biscuit and a keg of butter
1934Were all that could be thrown into the cutter.
1935
1936But in the long-boat they contrived to stow
1937Some pounds of bread, though injured by the wet
1938Water, a twenty-gallon cask or so
1939Six flasks of wine and they contrived to get
1940A portion of their beef up from below
1941And with a piece of pork, moreover, met
1942But scarce enough to serve them for a luncheon
1943then there was rum, eight gallons in a puncheon.
1944
1945the other boats, the yawl and pinnace, had
1946Been stove in the beginning of the gale
1947And the long-boat's condition was but bad
1948As there were but two blankets for a sail
1949And one oar for a mast, which a young lad
1950Threw in by good luck over the ship's rail
1951And two boats could not hold, far less be stored
1952To save one half the people then on board.
1953
1954'T was twilight, and the sunless day went down
1955Over the waste of waters like a veil
1956Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown
1957Of one whose hate is mask'd but to assail
1958Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown
1959And grimly darkled o'er the faces pale
1960And the dim desolate deep twelve days had Fear
1961Been their familiar, and now Death was here.
1962
1963Some trial had been making at a raft
1964With little hope in such a rolling sea
1965A sort of thing at which one would have laugh'd
1966If any laughter at such times could be
1967Unless with people who too much have quaff'd
1968And have a kind of wild and horrid glee
1969Half epileptical and half hysterical
1970their preservation would have been a miracle.
1971
1972At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hencoops, spars
1973And all things, for a chance, had been cast loose
1974That still could keep afloat the struggling tars
1975For yet they strove, although of no great use
1976there was no light in heaven but a few stars
1977the boats put off o'ercrowded with their crews
1978She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port
1979And, going down head foremost sunk, in short.
1980
1981then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell
1982then shriek'd the timid, and stood still the brave
1983then some leap'd overboard with dreadful yell
1984As eager to anticipate their grave
1985And the sea yawn'd around her like a hell
1986And down she suck'd with her the whirling wave
1987Like one who grapples with his enemy
1988And strives to strangle him before he die.
1989
1990And first one universal shriek there rush'd
1991Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash
1992Of echoing thunder and then all was hush'd
1993Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash
1994Of billows but at intervals there gush'd
1995Accompanied with a convulsive splash
1996A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry
1997Of some strong swimmer in his agony.
1998
1999the boats, as stated, had got off before
2000And in them crowded several of the crew
2001And yet their present hope was hardly more
2002Than what it had been, for so strong it blew
2003there was slight chance of reaching any shore
2004And then they were too many, though so few
2005Nine in the cutter, thirty in the boat
2006Were counted in them when they got afloat.
2007
2008All the rest perish'd near two hundred souls
2009Had left their bodies and what 's worse, alas!
2010When over Catholics the ocean rolls
2011they must wait several weeks before a mass
2012Takes off one peck of purgatorial coals
2013Because, till people know what 's come to pass
2014they won't lay out their money on the dead
2015It costs three francs for every mass that 's said.
2016
2017Juan got into the long-boat, and there
2018Contrived to help Pedrillo to a place
2019It seem'd as if they had exchanged their care
2020For Juan wore the magisterial face
2021Which courage gives, while poor Pedrillo's pair
2022Of eyes were crying for their owner's case
2023Battista though a name call'd shortly Tita
2024Was lost by getting at some aqua-vita.
2025
2026Pedro, his valet, too, he tried to save
2027But the same cause, conducive to his loss
2028Left him so drunk, he jump'd into the wave
2029As o'er the cutter's edge he tried to cross
2030And so he found a wine-and-watery grave
2031they could not rescue him although so close
2032Because the sea ran higher every minute
2033And for the boat the crew kept crowding in it.
2034
2035A small old spaniel, which had been Don Jose's
2036His father's, whom he loved, as ye may think
2037For on such things the memory reposes
2038With tenderness stood howling on the brink
2039Knowing dogs have such intellectual noses!
2040No doubt, the vessel was about to sink
2041And Juan caught him up, and ere he stepp'd
2042Off, threw him in, then after him he leap'd.
2043
2044He also stuff'd his money where he could
2045About his person, and Pedrillo's too
2046Who let him do, in fact, whate'er he would
2047Not knowing what himself to say, or do
2048As every rising wave his dread renew'd
2049But Juan, trusting they might still get through
2050And deeming there were remedies for any ill
2051Thus re-embark'd his tutor and his spaniel.
2052
2053'T was a rough night, and blew so stiffly yet
2054That the sail was becalm'd between the seas
2055Though on the wave's high top too much to set
2056they dared not take it in for all the breeze
2057Each sea curl'd o'er the stern, and kept them wet
2058And made them bale without a moment's ease
2059So that themselves as well as hopes were damp'd
2060And the poor little cutter quickly swamp'd.
2061
2062Nine souls more went in her the long-boat still
2063Kept above water, with an oar for mast
2064Two blankets stitch'd together, answering ill
2065Instead of sail, were to the oar made fast
2066Though every wave roll'd menacing to fill
2067And present peril all before surpass'd
2068they grieved for those who perish'd with the cutter
2069And also for the biscuit-casks and butter.
2070
2071the sun rose red and fiery, a sure sign
2072Of the continuance of the gale to run
2073Before the sea until it should grow fine
2074Was all that for the present could be done
2075A few tea-spoonfuls of their rum and wine
2076Were served out to the people, who begun
2077To faint, and damaged bread wet through the bags
2078And most of them had little clothes but rags.
2079
2080they counted thirty, crowded in a space
2081Which left scarce room for motion or exertion
2082they did their best to modify their case
2083One half sate up, though numb'd with the immersion
2084While t'other half were laid down in their place
2085At watch and watch thus, shivering like the tertian
2086Ague in its cold fit, they fill'd their boat
2087With nothing but the sky for a great coat.
2088
2089'T is very certain the desire of life
2090Prolongs it this is obvious to physicians
2091When patients, neither plagued with friends nor wife
2092Survive through very desperate conditions
2093Because they still can hope, nor shines the knife
2094Nor shears of Atropos before their visions
2095Despair of all recovery spoils longevity
2096And makes men miseries miseries of alarming brevity.
2097
2098'T is said that persons living on annuities
2099Are longer lived than others, God knows why
2100Unless to plague the grantors, yet so true it is
2101That some, I really think, do never die
2102Of any creditors the worst a Jew it is
2103And that 's their mode of furnishing supply
2104In my young days they lent me cash that way
2105Which I found very troublesome to pay.
2106
2107'T is thus with people in an open boat
2108they live upon the love of life, and bear
2109More than can be believed, or even thought
2110And stand like rocks the tempest's wear and tear
2111And hardship still has been the sailor's lot
2112Since Noah's ark went cruising here and there
2113She had a curious crew as well as cargo
2114Like the first old Greek privateer, the Argo.
2115
2116But man is a carnivorous production
2117And must have meals, at least one meal a day
2118He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction
2119But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey
2120Although his anatomical construction
2121Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way
2122Your labouring people think beyond all question
2123Beef, veal, and mutton, better for digestion.
2124
2125And thus it was with this our hapless crew
2126For on the third day there came on a calm
2127And though at first their strength it might renew
2128And lying on their weariness like balm
2129Lull'd them like turtles sleeping on the blue
2130Of ocean, when they woke they felt a qualm
2131And fell all ravenously on their provision
2132Instead of hoarding it with due precision.
2133
2134the consequence was easily foreseen
2135they ate up all they had, and drank their wine
2136In spite of all remonstrances, and then
2137On what, in fact, next day were they to dine?
2138they hoped the wind would rise, these foolish men!
2139And carry them to shore these hopes were fine
2140But as they had but one oar, and that brittle
2141It would have been more wise to save their victual.
2142
2143the fourth day came, but not a breath of air
2144And Ocean slumber'd like an unwean'd child
2145the fifth day, and their boat lay floating there
2146the sea and sky were blue, and clear, and mild
2147With their one oar I wish they had had a pair
2148What could they do? and hunger's rage grew wild
2149So Juan's spaniel, spite of his entreating
2150Was kill'd and portion'd out for present eating.
2151
2152On the sixth day they fed upon his hide
2153And Juan, who had still refused, because
2154the creature was his father's dog that died
2155Now feeling all the vulture in his jaws
2156With some remorse received though first denied
2157As a great favour one of the fore-paws
2158Which he divided with Pedrillo, who
2159Devour'd it, longing for the other too.
2160
2161the seventh day, and no wind the burning sun
2162Blister'd and scorch'd, and, stagnant on the sea
2163they lay like carcasses and hope was none
2164Save in the breeze that came not savagely
2165they glared upon each other all was done
2166Water, and wine, and food, and you might see
2167the longings of the cannibal arise
2168Although they spoke not in their wolfish eyes.
2169
2170At length one whisper'd his companion, who
2171Whisper'd another, and thus it went round
2172And then into a hoarser murmur grew
2173An ominous, and wild, and desperate sound
2174And when his comrade's thought each sufferer knew
2175'T was but his own, suppress'd till now, he found
2176And out they spoke of lots for flesh and blood
2177And who should die to be his fellow's food.
2178
2179But ere they came to this, they that day shared
2180Some leathern caps, and what remain'd of shoes
2181And then they look'd around them and despair'd
2182And none to be the sacrifice would choose
2183At length the lots were torn up, and prepared
2184But of materials that much shock the Muse
2185Having no paper, for the want of better
2186they took by force from Juan Julia's letter.
2187
2188the lots were made, and mark'd, and mix'd, and handed
2189In silent horror, and their distribution
2190Lull'd even the savage hunger which demanded
2191Like the Promethean vulture, this pollution
2192None in particular had sought or plann'd it
2193'T was nature gnaw'd them to this resolution
2194By which none were permitted to be neuter
2195And the lot fell on Juan's luckless tutor.
2196
2197He but requested to be bled to death
2198the surgeon had his instruments, and bled
2199Pedrillo, and so gently ebb'd his breath
2200You hardly could perceive when he was dead.
2201He died as born, a Catholic in faith
2202Like most in the belief in which they 're bred
2203And first a little crucifix he kiss'd
2204And then held out his jugular and wrist.
2205
2206the surgeon, as there was no other fee
2207Had his first choice of morsels for his pains
2208But being thirstiest at the moment, he
2209Preferr'd a draught from the fast-flowing veins
2210Part was divided, part thrown in the sea
2211And such things as the entrails and the brains
2212Regaled two sharks, who follow'd o'er the billow
2213the sailors ate the rest of poor Pedrillo.
2214
2215the sailors ate him, all save three or four
2216Who were not quite so fond of animal food
2217To these was added Juan, who, before
2218Refusing his own spaniel, hardly could
2219Feel now his appetite increased much more
2220'T was not to be expected that he should
2221Even in extremity of their disaster
2222Dine with them on his pastor and his master.
2223
2224'T was better that he did not for, in fact
2225the consequence was awful in the extreme
2226For they, who were most ravenous in the act
2227Went raging mad Lord! how they did blaspheme!
2228And foam and roll, with strange convulsions rack'd
2229Drinking salt water like a mountain-stream
2230Tearing, and grinning, howling, screeching, swearing
2231And, with hyaena-laughter, died despairing.
2232
2233their numbers were much thinn'd by this infliction
2234And all the rest were thin enough, Heaven knows
2235And some of them had lost their recollection
2236Happier than they who still perceived their woes
2237But others ponder'd on a new dissection
2238As if not warn'd sufficiently by those
2239Who had already perish'd, suffering madly
2240For having used their appetites so sadly.
2241
2242And next they thought upon the master's mate
2243As fattest but he saved himself, because
2244Besides being much averse from such a fate
2245there were some other reasons the first was
2246He had been rather indisposed of late
2247And that which chiefly proved his saving clause
2248Was a small present made to him at Cadiz
2249By general subscription of the ladies.
2250
2251Of poor Pedrillo something still remain'd
2252But was used sparingly, some were afraid
2253And others still their appetites constrain'd
2254Or but at times a little supper made
2255All except Juan, who throughout abstain'd
2256Chewing a piece of bamboo and some lead
2257At length they caught two boobies and a noddy
2258And then they left off eating the dead body.
2259
2260And if Pedrillo's fate should shocking be
2261Remember Ugolino condescends
2262To eat the head of his arch-enemy
2263the moment after he politely ends
2264His tale if foes be food in hell, at sea
2265'T is surely fair to dine upon our friends
2266When shipwreck's short allowance grows too scanty
2267Without being much more horrible than Dante.
2268
2269And the same night there fell a shower of rain
2270For which their mouths gaped, like the cracks of earth
2271When dried to summer dust till taught by pain
2272Men really know not what good water 's worth
2273If you had been in Turkey or in Spain
2274Or with a famish'd boat's-crew had your berth
2275Or in the desert heard the camel's bell
2276You 'd wish yourself where Truth is in a well.
2277
2278It pour'd down torrents, but they were no richer
2279Until they found a ragged piece of sheet
2280Which served them as a sort of spongy pitcher
2281And when they deem'd its moisture was complete
2282they wrung it out, and though a thirsty ditcher
2283Might not have thought the scanty draught so sweet
2284As a full pot of porter, to their thinking
2285they ne'er till now had known the joys of drinking.
2286
2287And their baked lips, with many a bloody crack
2288Suck'd in the moisture, which like nectar stream'd
2289their throats were ovens, their swoln tongues were black
2290As the rich man's in hell, who vainly scream'd
2291To beg the beggar, who could not rain back
2292A drop of dew, when every drop had seem'd
2293To taste of heaven If this be true, indeed
2294Some Christians have a comfortable creed.
2295
2296there were two fathers in this ghastly crew
2297And with them their two sons, of whom the one
2298Was more robust and hardy to the view
2299But he died early and when he was gone
2300His nearest messmate told his sire, who threw
2301One glance at him, and said, 'Heaven's will be done!
2302I can do nothing,' and he saw him thrown
2303Into the deep without a tear or groan.
2304
2305the other father had a weaklier child
2306Of a soft cheek and aspect delicate
2307But the boy bore up long, and with a mild
2308And patient spirit held aloof his fate
2309Little he said, and now and then he smiled
2310As if to win a part from off the weight
2311He saw increasing on his father's heart
2312With the deep deadly thought that they must part.
2313
2314And o'er him bent his sire, and never raised
2315His eyes from off his face, but wiped the foam
2316From his pale lips, and ever on him gazed
2317And when the wish'd-for shower at length was come
2318And the boy's eyes, which the dull film half glazed
2319Brighten'd, and for a moment seem'd to roam
2320He squeezed from out a rag some drops of rain
2321Into his dying child's mouth but in vain.
2322
2323the boy expired the father held the clay
2324And look'd upon it long, and when at last
2325Death left no doubt, and the dead burthen lay
2326Stiff on his heart, and pulse and hope were past
2327He watch'd it wistfully, until away
2328'T was borne by the rude wave wherein 't was cast
2329then he himself sunk down all dumb and shivering
2330And gave no sign of life, save his limbs quivering.
2331
2332Now overhead a rainbow, bursting through
2333the scattering clouds, shone, spanning the dark sea
2334Resting its bright base on the quivering blue
2335And all within its arch appear'd to be
2336Clearer than that without, and its wide hue
2337Wax'd broad and waving, like a banner free
2338then changed like to a bow that 's bent, and then
2339Forsook the dim eyes of these shipwreck'd men.
2340
2341It changed, of course a heavenly chameleon
2342the airy child of vapour and the sun
2343Brought forth in purple, cradled in vermilion
2344Baptized in molten gold, and swathed in dun
2345Glittering like crescents o'er a Turk's pavilion
2346And blending every colour into one
2347Just like a black eye in a recent scuffle
2348For sometimes we must box without the muffle.
2349
2350Our shipwreck'd seamen thought it a good omen
2351It is as well to think so, now and then
2352'T was an old custom of the Greek and Roman
2353And may become of great advantage when
2354Folks are discouraged and most surely no men
2355Had greater need to nerve themselves again
2356Than these, and so this rainbow look'd like hope
2357Quite a celestial kaleidoscope.
2358
2359About this time a beautiful white bird
2360Webfooted, not unlike a dove in size
2361And plumage probably it might have err'd
2362Upon its course, pass'd oft before their eyes
2363And tried to perch, although it saw and heard
2364the men within the boat, and in this guise
2365It came and went, and flutter'd round them till
2366Night fell this seem'd a better omen still.
2367
2368But in this case I also must remark
2369'T was well this bird of promise did not perch
2370Because the tackle of our shatter'd bark
2371Was not so safe for roosting as a church
2372And had it been the dove from Noah's ark
2373Returning there from her successful search
2374Which in their way that moment chanced to fall
2375they would have eat her, olive-branch and all.
2376
2377With twilight it again came on to blow
2378But not with violence the stars shone out
2379the boat made way yet now they were so low
2380they knew not where nor what they were about
2381Some fancied they saw land, and some said 'No!'
2382the frequent fog-banks gave them cause to doubt
2383Some swore that they heard breakers, others guns
2384And all mistook about the latter once.
2385
2386As morning broke, the light wind died away
2387When he who had the watch sung out and swore
2388If 't was not land that rose with the sun's ray
2389He wish'd that land he never might see more
2390And the rest rubb'd their eyes and saw a bay
2391Or thought they saw, and shaped their course for shore
2392For shore it was, and gradually grew
2393Distinct, and high, and palpable to view.
2394
2395And then of these some part burst into tears
2396And others, looking with a stupid stare
2397Could not yet separate their hopes from fears
2398And seem'd as if they had no further care
2399While a few pray'd the first time for some years
2400And at the bottom of the boat three were
2401Asleep they shook them by the hand and head
2402And tried to awaken them, but found them dead.
2403
2404the day before, fast sleeping on the water
2405they found a turtle of the hawk's-bill kind
2406And by good fortune, gliding softly, caught her
2407Which yielded a day's life, and to their mind
2408Proved even still a more nutritious matter
2409Because it left encouragement behind
2410they thought that in such perils, more than chance
2411Had sent them this for their deliverance.
2412
2413the land appear'd a high and rocky coast
2414And higher grew the mountains as they drew
2415Set by a current, toward it they were lost
2416In various conjectures, for none knew
2417To what part of the earth they had been tost
2418So changeable had been the winds that blew
2419Some thought it was Mount AEtna, some the highlands
2420Of Candia, Cyprus, Rhodes, or other islands.
2421
2422Meantime the current, with a rising gale
2423Still set them onwards to the welcome shore
2424Like Charon's bark of spectres, dull and pale
2425their living freight was now reduced to four
2426And three dead, whom their strength could not avail
2427To heave into the deep with those before
2428Though the two sharks still follow'd them, and dash'd
2429the spray into their faces as they splash'd.
2430
2431Famine, despair, cold, thirst, and heat, had done
2432their work on them by turns, and thinn'd them to
2433Such things a mother had not known her son
2434Amidst the skeletons of that gaunt crew
2435By night chill'd, by day scorch'd, thus one by one
2436they perish'd, until wither'd to these few
2437But chiefly by a species of self-slaughter
2438In washing down Pedrillo with salt water.
2439
2440As they drew nigh the land, which now was seen
2441Unequal in its aspect here and there
2442they felt the freshness of its growing green
2443That waved in forest-tops, and smooth'd the air
2444And fell upon their glazed eyes like a screen
2445From glistening waves, and skies so hot and bare
2446Lovely seem'd any object that should sweep
2447Away the vast, salt, dread, eternal deep.
2448
2449the shore look'd wild, without a trace of man
2450And girt by formidable waves but they
2451Were mad for land, and thus their course they ran
2452Though right ahead the roaring breakers lay
2453A reef between them also now began
2454To show its boiling surf and bounding spray
2455But finding no place for their landing better
2456they ran the boat for shore, and overset her.
2457
2458But in his native stream, the Guadalquivir
2459Juan to lave his youthful limbs was wont
2460And having learnt to swim in that sweet river
2461Had often turn'd the art to some account
2462A better swimmer you could scarce see ever
2463He could, perhaps, have pass'd the Hellespont
2464As once a feat on which ourselves we prided
2465Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.
2466
2467So here, though faint, emaciated, and stark
2468He buoy'd his boyish limbs, and strove to ply
2469With the quick wave, and gain, ere it was dark
2470the beach which lay before him, high and dry
2471the greatest danger here was from a shark
2472That carried off his neighbour by the thigh
2473As for the other two, they could not swim
2474So nobody arrived on shore but him.
2475
2476Nor yet had he arrived but for the oar
2477Which, providentially for him, was wash'd
2478Just as his feeble arms could strike no more
2479And the hard wave o'erwhelm'd him as 't was dash'd
2480Within his grasp he clung to it, and sore
2481the waters beat while he thereto was lash'd
2482At last, with swimming, wading, scrambling, he
2483Roll'd on the beach, half-senseless, from the sea
2484
2485there, breathless, with his digging nails he clung
2486Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave
2487From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung
2488Should suck him back to her insatiate grave
2489And there he lay, full length, where he was flung
2490Before the entrance of a cliff-worn cave
2491With just enough of life to feel its pain
2492And deem that it was saved, perhaps in vain.
2493
2494With slow and staggering effort he arose
2495But sunk again upon his bleeding knee
2496And quivering hand and then he look'd for those
2497Who long had been his mates upon the sea
2498But none of them appear'd to share his woes
2499Save one, a corpse, from out the famish'd three
2500Who died two days before, and now had found
2501An unknown barren beach for burial ground.
2502
2503And as he gazed, his dizzy brain spun fast
2504And down he sunk and as he sunk, the sand
2505Swam round and round, and all his senses pass'd
2506He fell upon his side, and his stretch'd hand
2507Droop'd dripping on the oar their jurymast
2508And, like a wither'd lily, on the land
2509His slender frame and pallid aspect lay
2510As fair a thing as e'er was form'd of clay.
2511
2512How long in his damp trance young Juan lay
2513He knew not, for the earth was gone for him
2514And Time had nothing more of night nor day
2515For his congealing blood, and senses dim
2516And how this heavy faintness pass'd away
2517He knew not, till each painful pulse and limb
2518And tingling vein, seem'd throbbing back to life
2519For Death, though vanquish'd, still retired with strife.
2520
2521His eyes he open'd, shut, again unclosed
2522For all was doubt and dizziness he thought
2523He still was in the boat and had but dozed
2524And felt again with his despair o'erwrought
2525And wish'd it death in which he had reposed
2526And then once more his feelings back were brought
2527And slowly by his swimming eyes was seen
2528A lovely female face of seventeen.
2529
2530'T was bending dose o'er his, and the small mouth
2531Seem'd almost prying into his for breath
2532And chafing him, the soft warm hand of youth
2533Recall'd his answering spirits back from death
2534And, bathing his chill temples, tried to soothe
2535Each pulse to animation, till beneath
2536Its gentle touch and trembling care, a sigh
2537To these kind efforts made a low reply.
2538
2539then was the cordial pour'd, and mantle flung
2540Around his scarce-clad limbs and the fair arm
2541Raised higher the faint head which o'er it hung
2542And her transparent cheek, all pure and warm
2543Pillow'd his death-like forehead then she wrung
2544His dewy curls, long drench'd by every storm
2545And watch'd with eagerness each throb that drew
2546A sigh from his heaved bosom and hers, too.
2547
2548And lifting him with care into the cave
2549the gentle girl and her attendant, one
2550Young, yet her elder, and of brow less grave
2551And more robust of figure, then begun
2552To kindle fire, and as the new flames gave
2553Light to the rocks that roof'd them, which the sun
2554Had never seen, the maid, or whatsoe'er
2555She was, appear'd distinct, and tall, and fair.
2556
2557Her brow was overhung with coins of gold
2558That sparkled o'er the auburn of her hair
2559Her clustering hair, whose longer locks were roll'd
2560In braids behind and though her stature were
2561Even of the highest for a female mould
2562they nearly reach'd her heel and in her air
2563there was a something which bespoke command
2564As one who was a lady in the land.
2565
2566Her hair, I said, was auburn but her eyes
2567Were black as death, their lashes the same hue
2568Of downcast length, in whose silk shadow lies
2569Deepest attraction for when to the view
2570Forth from its raven fringe the full glance flies
2571Ne'er with such force the swiftest arrow flew
2572'T is as the snake late coil'd, who pours his length
2573And hurls at once his venom and his strength.
2574
2575Her brow was white and low, her cheek's pure dye
2576Like twilight rosy still with the set sun
2577Short upper lip sweet lips! that make us sigh
2578Ever to have seen such for she was one
2579Fit for the model of a statuary
2580A race of mere impostors, when all 's done
2581I 've seen much finer women, ripe and real
2582Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal.
2583
2584I 'll tell you why I say so, for 't is just
2585One should not rail without a decent cause
2586there was an Irish lady, to whose bust
2587I ne'er saw justice done, and yet she was
2588A frequent model and if e'er she must
2589Yield to stern Time and Nature's wrinkling laws
2590they will destroy a face which mortal thought
2591Ne'er compass'd, nor less mortal chisel wrought.
2592
2593And such was she, the lady of the cave
2594Her dress was very different from the Spanish
2595Simpler, and yet of colours not so grave
2596For, as you know, the Spanish women banish
2597Bright hues when out of doors, and yet, while wave
2598Around them what I hope will never vanish
2599the basquina and the mantilla, they
2600Seem at the same time mystical and gay.
2601
2602But with our damsel this was not the case
2603Her dress was many-colour'd, finely spun
2604Her locks curl'd negligently round her face
2605But through them gold and gems profusely shone
2606Her girdle sparkled, and the richest lace
2607Flow'd in her veil, and many a precious stone
2608Flash'd on her little hand but, what was shocking
2609Her small snow feet had slippers, but no stocking.
2610
2611the other female's dress was not unlike
2612But of inferior materials she
2613Had not so many ornaments to strike
2614Her hair had silver only, bound to be
2615Her dowry and her veil, in form alike
2616Was coarser and her air, though firm, less free
2617Her hair was thicker, but less long her eyes
2618As black, but quicker, and of smaller size.
2619
2620And these two tended him, and cheer'd him both
2621With food and raiment, and those soft attentions
2622Which are as I must own of female growth
2623And have ten thousand delicate inventions
2624they made a most superior mess of broth
2625A thing which poesy but seldom mentions
2626But the best dish that e'er was cook'd since Homer's
2627Achilles ordered dinner for new comers.
2628
2629I 'll tell you who they were, this female pair
2630Lest they should seem princesses in disguise
2631Besides, I hate all mystery, and that air
2632Of clap-trap which your recent poets prize
2633And so, in short, the girls they really were
2634they shall appear before your curious eyes
2635Mistress and maid the first was only daughter
2636Of an old man who lived upon the water.
2637
2638A fisherman he had been in his youth
2639And still a sort of fisherman was he
2640But other speculations were, in sooth
2641Added to his connection with the sea
2642Perhaps not so respectable, in truth
2643A little smuggling, and some piracy
2644Left him, at last, the sole of many masters
2645Of an ill-gotten million of piastres.
2646
2647A fisher, therefore, was he, though of men
2648Like Peter the Apostle, and he fish'd
2649For wandering merchant-vessels, now and then
2650And sometimes caught as many as he wish'd
2651the cargoes he confiscated, and gain
2652He sought in the slave-market too, and dish'd
2653Full many a morsel for that Turkish trade
2654By which, no doubt, a good deal may be made.
2655
2656He was a Greek, and on his isle had built
2657One of the wild and smaller Cyclades
2658A very handsome house from out his guilt
2659And there he lived exceedingly at ease
2660Heaven knows what cash he got or blood he spilt
2661A sad old fellow was he, if you please
2662But this I know, it was a spacious building
2663Full of barbaric carving, paint, and gilding.
2664
2665He had an only daughter, call'd Haidee
2666the greatest heiress of the Eastern Isles
2667Besides, so very beautiful was she
2668Her dowry was as nothing to her smiles
2669Still in her teens, and like a lovely tree
2670She grew to womanhood, and between whiles
2671Rejected several suitors, just to learn
2672How to accept a better in his turn.
2673
2674And walking out upon the beach, below
2675the cliff, towards sunset, on that day she found
2676Insensible, not dead, but nearly so
2677Don Juan, almost famish'd, and half drown'd
2678But being naked, she was shock'd, you know
2679Yet deem'd herself in common pity bound
2680As far as in her lay, 'to take him in
2681A stranger' dying, with so white a skin.
2682
2683But taking him into her father's house
2684Was not exactly the best way to save
2685But like conveying to the cat the mouse
2686Or people in a trance into their grave
2687Because the good old man had so much 'nous,'
2688Unlike the honest Arab thieves so brave
2689He would have hospitably cured the stranger
2690And sold him instantly when out of danger.
2691
2692And therefore, with her maid, she thought it best
2693A virgin always on her maid relies
2694To place him in the cave for present rest
2695And when, at last, he open'd his black eyes
2696their charity increased about their guest
2697And their compassion grew to such a size
2698It open'd half the turnpike-gates to heaven
2699St. Paul says, 't is the toll which must be given.
2700
2701they made a fire, but such a fire as they
2702Upon the moment could contrive with such
2703Materials as were cast up round the bay
2704Some broken planks, and oars, that to the touch
2705Were nearly tinder, since so long they lay
2706A mast was almost crumbled to a crutch
2707But, by God's grace, here wrecks were in such plenty
2708That there was fuel to have furnish'd twenty.
2709
2710He had a bed of furs, and a pelisse
2711For Haidee stripped her sables off to make
2712His couch and, that he might be more at ease
2713And warm, in case by chance he should awake
2714they also gave a petticoat apiece
2715She and her maid and promised by daybreak
2716To pay him a fresh visit, with a dish
2717For breakfast, of eggs, coffee, bread, and fish.
2718
2719And thus they left him to his lone repose
2720Juan slept like a top, or like the dead
2721Who sleep at last, perhaps God only knows
2722Just for the present and in his lull'd head
2723Not even a vision of his former woes
2724Throbb'd in accursed dreams, which sometimes spread
2725Unwelcome visions of our former years
2726Till the eye, cheated, opens thick with tears.
2727
2728Young Juan slept all dreamless but the maid
2729Who smooth'd his pillow, as she left the den
2730Look'd back upon him, and a moment stay'd
2731And turn'd, believing that he call'd again.
2732He slumber'd yet she thought, at least she said
2733the heart will slip, even as the tongue and pen
2734He had pronounced her name but she forgot
2735That at this moment Juan knew it not.
2736
2737And pensive to her father's house she went
2738Enjoining silence strict to Zoe, who
2739Better than her knew what, in fact, she meant
2740She being wiser by a year or two
2741A year or two 's an age when rightly spent
2742And Zoe spent hers, as most women do
2743In gaining all that useful sort of knowledge
2744Which is acquired in Nature's good old college.
2745
2746the morn broke, and found Juan slumbering still
2747Fast in his cave, and nothing clash'd upon
2748His rest the rushing of the neighbouring rill
2749And the young beams of the excluded sun
2750Troubled him not, and he might sleep his fill
2751And need he had of slumber yet, for none
2752Had suffer'd more his hardships were comparative
2753To those related in my grand-dad's 'Narrative.'
2754
2755Not so Haidee she sadly toss'd and tumbled
2756And started from her sleep, and, turning o'er
2757Dream'd of a thousand wrecks, o'er which she stumbled
2758And handsome corpses strew'd upon the shore
2759And woke her maid so early that she grumbled
2760And call'd her father's old slaves up, who swore
2761In several oaths Armenian, Turk, and Greek
2762they knew not what to think of such a freak.
2763
2764But up she got, and up she made them get
2765With some pretence about the sun, that makes
2766Sweet skies just when he rises, or is set
2767And 't is, no doubt, a sight to see when breaks
2768Bright Phoebus, while the mountains still are wet
2769With mist, and every bird with him awakes
2770And night is flung off like a mourning suit
2771Worn for a husband, or some other brute.
2772
2773I say, the sun is a most glorious sight
2774I 've seen him rise full oft, indeed of late
2775I have sat up on purpose all the night
2776Which hastens, as physicians say, one's fate
2777And so all ye, who would be in the right
2778In health and purse, begin your day to date
2779From daybreak, and when coffin'd at fourscore
2780Engrave upon the plate, you rose at four.
2781
2782And Haidee met the morning face to face
2783Her own was freshest, though a feverish flush
2784Had dyed it with the headlong blood, whose race
2785From heart to cheek is curb'd into a blush
2786Like to a torrent which a mountain's base
2787That overpowers some Alpine river's rush
2788Checks to a lake, whose waves in circles spread
2789Or the Red Sea but the sea is not red.
2790
2791And down the cliff the island virgin came
2792And near the cave her quick light footsteps drew
2793While the sun smiled on her with his first flame
2794And young Aurora kiss'd her lips with dew
2795Taking her for a sister just the same
2796Mistake you would have made on seeing the two
2797Although the mortal, quite as fresh and fair
2798Had all the advantage, too, of not being air.
2799
2800And when into the cavern Haidee stepp'd
2801All timidly, yet rapidly, she saw
2802That like an infant Juan sweetly slept
2803And then she stopp'd, and stood as if in awe
2804For sleep is awful, and on tiptoe crept
2805And wrapt him closer, lest the air, too raw
2806Should reach his blood, then o'er him still as death
2807Bent with hush'd lips, that drank his scarce-drawn breath.
2808
2809And thus like to an angel o'er the dying
2810Who die in righteousness, she lean'd and there
2811All tranquilly the shipwreck'd boy was lying
2812As o'er him the calm and stirless air
2813But Zoe the meantime some eggs was frying
2814Since, after all, no doubt the youthful pair
2815Must breakfast and betimes, lest they should ask it
2816She drew out her provision from the basket.
2817
2818She knew that the best feelings must have victual
2819And that a shipwreck'd youth would hungry be
2820Besides, being less in love, she yawn'd a little
2821And felt her veins chill'd by the neighbouring sea
2822And so, she cook'd their breakfast to a tittle
2823I can't say that she gave them any tea
2824But there were eggs, fruit, coffee, bread, fish, honey
2825With Scio wine, and all for love, not money.
2826
2827And Zoe, when the eggs were ready, and
2828the coffee made, would fain have waken'd Juan
2829But Haidee stopp'd her with her quick small hand
2830And without word, a sign her finger drew on
2831Her lip, which Zoe needs must understand
2832And, the first breakfast spoilt, prepared a new one
2833Because her mistress would not let her break
2834That sleep which seem'd as it would ne'er awake.
2835
2836For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek
2837A purple hectic play'd like dying day
2838On the snow-tops of distant hills the streak
2839Of sufferance yet upon his forehead lay
2840Where the blue veins look'd shadowy, shrunk, and weak
2841And his black curls were dewy with the spray
2842Which weigh'd upon them yet, all damp and salt
2843Mix'd with the stony vapours of the vault.
2844
2845And she bent o'er him, and he lay beneath
2846Hush'd as the babe upon its mother's breast
2847Droop'd as the willow when no winds can breathe
2848Lull'd like the depth of ocean when at rest
2849Fair as the crowning rose of the whole wreath
2850Soft as the callow cygnet in its nest
2851In short, he was a very pretty fellow
2852Although his woes had turn'd him rather yellow.
2853
2854He woke and gazed, and would have slept again
2855But the fair face which met his eyes forbade
2856Those eyes to close, though weariness and pain
2857Had further sleep a further pleasure made
2858For woman's face was never form'd in vain
2859For Juan, so that even when he pray'd
2860He turn'd from grisly saints, and martyrs hairy
2861To the sweet portraits of the Virgin Mary.
2862
2863And thus upon his elbow he arose
2864And look'd upon the lady, in whose cheek
2865the pale contended with the purple rose
2866As with an effort she began to speak
2867Her eyes were eloquent, her words would pose
2868Although she told him, in good modern Greek
2869With an Ionian accent, low and sweet
2870That he was faint, and must not talk, but eat.
2871
2872Now Juan could not understand a word
2873Being no Grecian but he had an ear
2874And her voice was the warble of a bird
2875So soft, so sweet, so delicately clear
2876That finer, simpler music ne'er was heard
2877the sort of sound we echo with a tear
2878Without knowing why an overpowering tone
2879Whence Melody descends as from a throne.
2880
2881And Juan gazed as one who is awoke
2882By a distant organ, doubting if he be
2883Not yet a dreamer, till the spell is broke
2884By the watchman, or some such reality
2885Or by one's early valet's cursed knock
2886At least it is a heavy sound to me
2887Who like a morning slumber for the night
2888Shows stars and women in a better light.
2889
2890And Juan, too, was help'd out from his dream
2891Or sleep, or whatso'er it was, by feeling
2892A most prodigious appetite the steam
2893Of Zoe's cookery no doubt was stealing
2894Upon his senses, and the kindling beam
2895Of the new fire, which Zoe kept up, kneeling
2896To stir her viands, made him quite awake
2897And long for food, but chiefly a beef-steak.
2898
2899But beef is rare within these oxless isles
2900Goat's flesh there is, no doubt, and kid, and mutton
2901And, when a holiday upon them smiles
2902A joint upon their barbarous spits they put on
2903But this occurs but seldom, between whiles
2904For some of these are rocks with scarce a hut on
2905Others are fair and fertile, among which
2906This, though not large, was one of the most rich.
2907
2908I say that beef is rare, and can't help thinking
2909That the old fable of the Minotaur
2910From which our modern morals rightly shrinking
2911Condemn the royal lady's taste who wore
2912A cow's shape for a mask was only sinking
2913the allegory a mere type, no more
2914That Pasiphae promoted breeding cattle
2915To make the Cretans bloodier in battle.
2916
2917For we all know that English people are
2918Fed upon beef I won't say much of beer
2919Because 't is liquor only, and being far
2920From this my subject, has no business here
2921We know, too, they very fond of war
2922A pleasure like all pleasures rather dear
2923So were the Cretans from which I infer
2924That beef and battles both were owing to her.
2925
2926But to resume. the languid Juan raised
2927His head upon his elbow, and he saw
2928A sight on which he had not lately gazed
2929As all his latter meals had been quite raw
2930Three or four things, for which the Lord he praised
2931And, feeling still the famish'd vulture gnaw
2932He fell upon whate'er was offer'd, like
2933A priest, a shark, an alderman, or pike.
2934
2935He ate, and he was well supplied and she
2936Who watch'd him like a mother, would have fed
2937Him past all bounds, because she smiled to see
2938Such appetite in one she had deem'd dead
2939But Zoe, being older than Haidee
2940Knew by tradition, for she ne'er had read
2941That famish'd people must be slowly nurst
2942And fed by spoonfuls, else they always burst.
2943
2944And so she took the liberty to state
2945Rather by deeds than words, because the case
2946Was urgent, that the gentleman, whose fate
2947Had made her mistress quit her bed to trace
2948the sea-shore at this hour, must leave his plate
2949Unless he wish'd to die upon the place
2950She snatch'd it, and refused another morsel
2951Saying, he had gorged enough to make a horse ill.
2952
2953Next they he being naked, save a tatter'd
2954Pair of scarce decent trowsers went to work
2955And in the fire his recent rags they scatter'd
2956And dress'd him, for the present, like a Turk
2957Or Greek that is, although it not much matter'd
2958Omitting turban, slippers, pistols, dirk
2959they furnish'd him, entire, except some stitches
2960With a clean shirt, and very spacious breeches.
2961
2962And then fair Haidee tried her tongue at speaking
2963But not a word could Juan comprehend
2964Although he listen'd so that the young Greek in
2965Her earnestness would ne'er have made an end
2966And, as he interrupted not, went eking
2967Her speech out to her protege and friend
2968Till pausing at the last her breath to take
2969She saw he did not understand Romaic.
2970
2971And then she had recourse to nods, and signs
2972And smiles, and sparkles of the speaking eye
2973And read the only book she could the lines
2974Of his fair face, and found, by sympathy
2975the answer eloquent, where soul shines
2976And darts in one quick glance a long reply
2977And thus in every look she saw exprest
2978A world of words, and things at which she guess'd.
2979
2980And now, by dint of fingers and of eyes
2981And words repeated after her, he took
2982A lesson in her tongue but by surmise
2983No doubt, less of her language than her look
2984As he who studies fervently the skies
2985Turns oftener to the stars than to his book
2986Thus Juan learn'd his alpha beta better
2987From Haidee's glance than any graven letter.
2988
2989'T is pleasing to be school'd in a strange tongue
2990By female lips and eyes that is, I mean
2991When both the teacher and the taught are young
2992As was the case, at least, where I have been
2993they smile so when one 's right, and when one 's wrong
2994they smile still more, and then there intervene
2995Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss
2996I learn'd the little that I know by this
2997
2998That is, some words of Spanish, Turk, and Greek
2999Italian not at all, having no teachers
3000Much English I cannot pretend to speak
3001Learning that language chiefly from its preachers
3002Barrow, South, Tillotson, whom every week
3003I study, also Blair, the highest reachers
3004Of eloquence in piety and prose
3005I hate your poets, so read none of those.
3006
3007As for the ladies, I have nought to say
3008A wanderer from the British world of fashion
3009Where I, like other 'dogs, have had my day,'
3010Like other men, too, may have had my passion
3011But that, like other things, has pass'd away
3012And all her fools whom I could lay the lash on
3013Foes, friends, men, women, now are nought to me
3014But dreams of what has been, no more to be.
3015
3016Return we to Don Juan. He begun
3017To hear new words, and to repeat them but
3018Some feelings, universal as the sun
3019Were such as could not in his breast be shut
3020More than within the bosom of a nun
3021He was in love, as you would be, no doubt
3022With a young benefactress, so was she
3023Just in the way we very often see.
3024
3025And every day by daybreak rather early
3026For Juan, who was somewhat fond of rest
3027She came into the cave, but it was merely
3028To see her bird reposing in his nest
3029And she would softly stir his locks so curly
3030Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest
3031Breathing all gently o'er his cheek and mouth
3032As o'er a bed of roses the sweet south.
3033
3034And every morn his colour freshlier came
3035And every day help'd on his convalescence
3036'T was well, because health in the human frame
3037Is pleasant, besides being true love's essence
3038For health and idleness to passion's flame
3039Are oil and gunpowder and some good lessons
3040Are also learnt from Ceres and from Bacchus
3041Without whom Venus will not long attack us.
3042
3043While Venus fills the heart without heart really
3044Love, though good always, is not quite so good
3045Ceres presents a plate of vermicelli
3046For love must be sustain'd like flesh and blood
3047While Bacchus pours out wine, or hands a jelly
3048Eggs, oysters, too, are amatory food
3049But who is their purveyor from above
3050Heaven knows, it may be Neptune, Pan, or Jove.
3051
3052When Juan woke he found some good things ready
3053A bath, a breakfast, and the finest eyes
3054That ever made a youthful heart less steady
3055Besides her maid's as pretty for their size
3056But I have spoken of all this already
3057And repetition 's tiresome and unwise
3058Well Juan, after bathing in the sea
3059Came always back to coffee and Haidee.
3060
3061Both were so young, and one so innocent
3062That bathing pass'd for nothing Juan seem'd
3063To her, as 'twere, the kind of being sent
3064Of whom these two years she had nightly dream'd
3065A something to be loved, a creature meant
3066To be her happiness, and whom she deem'd
3067To render happy all who joy would win
3068Must share it, Happiness was born a twin.
3069
3070It was such pleasure to behold him, such
3071Enlargement of existence to partake
3072Nature with him, to thrill beneath his touch
3073To watch him slumbering, and to see him wake
3074To live with him forever were too much
3075But then the thought of parting made her quake
3076He was her own, her ocean-treasure, cast
3077Like a rich wreck her first love, and her last.
3078
3079And thus a moon roll'd on, and fair Haidee
3080Paid daily visits to her boy, and took
3081Such plentiful precautions, that still he
3082Remain'd unknown within his craggy nook
3083At last her father's prows put out to sea
3084For certain merchantmen upon the look
3085Not as of yore to carry off an Io
3086But three Ragusan vessels, bound for Scio.
3087
3088then came her freedom, for she had no mother
3089So that, her father being at sea, she was
3090Free as a married woman, or such other
3091Female, as where she likes may freely pass
3092Without even the incumbrance of a brother
3093the freest she that ever gazed on glass
3094I speak of Christian lands in this comparison
3095Where wives, at least, are seldom kept in garrison.
3096
3097Now she prolong'd her visits and her talk
3098For they must talk, and he had learnt to say
3099So much as to propose to take a walk
3100For little had he wander'd since the day
3101On which, like a young flower snapp'd from the stalk
3102Drooping and dewy on the beach he lay
3103And thus they walk'd out in the afternoon
3104And saw the sun set opposite the moon.
3105
3106It was a wild and breaker-beaten coast
3107With cliffs above, and a broad sandy shore
3108Guarded by shoals and rocks as by an host
3109With here and there a creek, whose aspect wore
3110A better welcome to the tempest-tost
3111And rarely ceased the haughty billow's roar
3112Save on the dead long summer days, which make
3113the outstretch'd ocean glitter like a lake.
3114
3115And the small ripple spilt upon the beach
3116Scarcely o'erpass'd the cream of your champagne
3117When o'er the brim the sparkling bumpers reach
3118That spring-dew of the spirit! the heart's rain!
3119Few things surpass old wine and they may preach
3120Who please, the more because they preach in vain
3121Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter
3122Sermons and soda-water the day after.
3123
3124Man, being reasonable, must get drunk
3125the best of life is but intoxication
3126Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk
3127the hopes of all men, and of every nation
3128Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk
3129Of life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion
3130But to return, Get very drunk and when
3131You wake with headache, you shall see what then.
3132
3133Ring for your valet bid him quickly bring
3134Some hock and soda-water, then you 'll know
3135A pleasure worthy Xerxes the great king
3136For not the bless'd sherbet, sublimed with snow
3137Nor the first sparkle of the desert-spring
3138Nor Burgundy in all its sunset glow
3139After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter
3140Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water.
3141
3142the coast I think it was the coast that
3143Was just describing Yes, it was the coast
3144Lay at this period quiet as the sky
3145the sands untumbled, the blue waves untost
3146And all was stillness, save the sea-bird's cry
3147And dolphin's leap, and little billow crost
3148By some low rock or shelve, that made it fret
3149Against the boundary it scarcely wet.
3150
3151And forth they wander'd, her sire being gone
3152As I have said, upon an expedition
3153And mother, brother, guardian, she had none
3154Save Zoe, who, although with due precision
3155She waited on her lady with the sun
3156Thought daily service was her only mission
3157Bringing warm water, wreathing her long tresses
3158And asking now and then for cast-off dresses.
3159
3160It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded
3161Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill
3162Which then seems as if the whole earth it bounded
3163Circling all nature, hush'd, and dim, and still
3164With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded
3165On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill
3166Upon the other, and the rosy sky
3167With one star sparkling through it like an eye.
3168
3169And thus they wander'd forth, and hand in hand
3170Over the shining pebbles and the shells
3171Glided along the smooth and harden'd sand
3172And in the worn and wild receptacles
3173Work'd by the storms, yet work'd as it were plann'd
3174In hollow halls, with sparry roofs and cells
3175they turn'd to rest and, each clasp'd by an arm
3176Yielded to the deep twilight's purple charm.
3177
3178they look'd up to the sky, whose floating glow
3179Spread like a rosy ocean, vast and bright
3180they gazed upon the glittering sea below
3181Whence the broad moon rose circling into sight
3182they heard the wave's splash, and the wind so low
3183And saw each other's dark eyes darting light
3184Into each other and, beholding this
3185their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss
3186
3187A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth, and love
3188And beauty, all concentrating like rays
3189Into one focus, kindled from above
3190Such kisses as belong to early days
3191Where heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move
3192And the blood 's lava, and the pulse a blaze
3193Each kiss a heart-quake, for a kiss's strength
3194I think, it must be reckon'd by its length.
3195
3196By length I mean duration theirs endured
3197Heaven knows how long no doubt they never reckon'd
3198And if they had, they could not have secured
3199the sum of their sensations to a second
3200they had not spoken but they felt allured
3201As if their souls and lips each other beckon'd
3202Which, being join'd, like swarming bees they clung
3203their hearts the flowers from whence the honey sprung.
3204
3205they were alone, but not alone as they
3206Who shut in chambers think it loneliness
3207the silent ocean, and the starlight bay
3208the twilight glow which momently grew less
3209the voiceless sands and dropping caves, that lay
3210Around them, made them to each other press
3211As if there were no life beneath the sky
3212Save theirs, and that their life could never die.
3213
3214they fear'd no eyes nor ears on that lone beach
3215they felt no terrors from the night, they were
3216All in all to each other though their speech
3217Was broken words, they thought a language there
3218And all the burning tongues the passions teach
3219Found in one sigh the best interpreter
3220Of nature's oracle first love, that all
3221Which Eve has left her daughters since her fall.
3222
3223Haidde spoke not of scruples, ask'd no vows
3224Nor offer'd any she had never heard
3225Of plight and promises to be a spouse
3226Or perils by a loving maid incurr'd
3227She was all which pure ignorance allows
3228And flew to her young mate like a young bird
3229And, never having dreamt of falsehood, she
3230Had not one word to say of constancy.
3231
3232She loved, and was beloved she adored
3233And she was worshipp'd after nature's fashion
3234their intense souls, into each other pour'd
3235If souls could die, had perish'd in that passion
3236But by degrees their senses were restored
3237Again to be o'ercome, again to dash on
3238And, beating 'gainst his bosom, Haidee's heart
3239Felt as if never more to beat apart.
3240
3241Alas! they were so young, so beautiful
3242So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour
3243Was that in which the heart is always full
3244And, having o'er itself no further power
3245Prompts deeds eternity can not annul
3246But pays off moments in an endless shower
3247Of hell-fire all prepared for people giving
3248Pleasure or pain to one another living.
3249
3250Alas! for Juan and Haidee! they were
3251So loving and so lovely till then never
3252Excepting our first parents, such a pair
3253Had run the risk of being damn'd for ever
3254And Haidee, being devout as well as fair
3255Had, doubtless, heard about the Stygian river
3256And hell and purgatory but forgot
3257Just in the very crisis she should not.
3258
3259they look upon each other, and their eyes
3260Gleam in the moonlight and her white arm clasps
3261Round Juan's head, and his around her lies
3262Half buried in the tresses which it grasps
3263She sits upon his knee, and drinks his sighs
3264He hers, until they end in broken gasps
3265And thus they form a group that 's quite antique
3266Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek.
3267
3268And when those deep and burning moments pass'd
3269And Juan sunk to sleep within her arms
3270She slept not, but all tenderly, though fast
3271Sustain'd his head upon her bosom's charms
3272And now and then her eye to heaven is cast
3273And then on the pale cheek her breast now warms
3274Pillow'd on her o'erflowing heart, which pants
3275With all it granted, and with all it grants.
3276
3277An infant when it gazes on a light
3278A child the moment when it drains the breast
3279A devotee when soars the Host in sight
3280An Arab with a stranger for a guest
3281A sailor when the prize has struck in fight
3282A miser filling his most hoarded chest
3283Feel rapture but not such true joy are reaping
3284As they who watch o'er what they love while sleeping.
3285
3286For there it lies so tranquil, so beloved
3287All that it hath of life with us is living
3288So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved
3289And all unconscious of the joy 't is giving
3290All it hath felt, inflicted, pass'd, and proved
3291Hush'd into depths beyond the watcher's diving
3292there lies the thing we love with all its errors
3293And all its charms, like death without its terrors.
3294
3295the lady watch'd her lover and that hour
3296Of Love's, and Night's, and Ocean's solitude
3297O'erflow'd her soul with their united power
3298Amidst the barren sand and rocks so rude
3299She and her wave-worn love had made their bower
3300Where nought upon their passion could intrude
3301And all the stars that crowded the blue space
3302Saw nothing happier than her glowing face.
3303
3304Alas! the love of women! it is known
3305To be a lovely and a fearful thing
3306For all of theirs upon that die is thrown
3307And if 't is lost, life hath no more to bring
3308To them but mockeries of the past alone
3309And their revenge is as the tiger's spring
3310Deadly, and quick, and crushing yet, as real
3311Torture is theirs, what they inflict they feel.
3312
3313they are right for man, to man so oft unjust
3314Is always so to women one sole bond
3315Awaits them, treachery is all their trust
3316Taught to conceal, their bursting hearts despond
3317Over their idol, till some wealthier lust
3318Buys them in marriage and what rests beyond?
3319A thankless husband, next a faithless lover
3320then dressing, nursing, praying, and all 's over.
3321
3322Some take a lover, some take drams or prayers
3323Some mind their household, others dissipation
3324Some run away, and but exchange their cares
3325Losing the advantage of a virtuous station
3326Few changes e'er can better their affairs
3327theirs being an unnatural situation
3328From the dull palace to the dirty hovel
3329Some play the devil, and then write a novel.
3330
3331Haidee was Nature's bride, and knew not this
3332Haidee was Passion's child, born where the sun
3333Showers triple light, and scorches even the kiss
3334Of his gazelle-eyed daughters she was one
3335Made but to love, to feel that she was his
3336Who was her chosen what was said or done
3337Elsewhere was nothing. She had naught to fear
3338Hope, care, nor love, beyond, her heart beat here.
3339
3340And oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat!
3341How much it costs us! yet each rising throb
3342Is in its cause as its effect so sweet
3343That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob
3344Joy of its alchymy, and to repeat
3345Fine truths even Conscience, too, has a tough job
3346To make us understand each good old maxim
3347So good I wonder Castlereagh don't tax 'em.
3348
3349And now 't was done on the lone shore were plighted
3350their hearts the stars, their nuptial torches, shed
3351Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted
3352Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed
3353By their own feelings hallow'd and united
3354their priest was Solitude, and they were wed
3355And they were happy, for to their young eyes
3356Each was an angel, and earth paradise.
3357
3358O, Love! of whom great Caesar was the suitor
3359Titus the master, Antony the slave
3360Horace, Catullus, scholars, Ovid tutor
3361Sappho the sage blue-stocking, in whose grave
3362All those may leap who rather would be neuter
3363Leucadia's rock still overlooks the wave
3364O, Love! thou art the very god of evil
3365For, after all, we cannot call thee devil.
3366
3367Thou mak'st the chaste connubial state precarious
3368And jestest with the brows of mightiest men
3369Caesar and Pompey, Mahomet, Belisarius
3370Have much employ'd the muse of history's pen
3371their lives and fortunes were extremely various
3372Such worthies Time will never see again
3373Yet to these four in three things the same luck holds
3374they all were heroes, conquerors, and cuckolds.
3375
3376Thou mak'st philosophers there 's Epicurus
3377And Aristippus, a material crew!
3378Who to immoral courses would allure us
3379By theories quite practicable too
3380If only from the devil they would insure us
3381How pleasant were the maxim not quite new
3382'Eat, drink, and love, what can the rest avail us?'
3383So said the royal sage Sardanapalus.
3384
3385But Juan! had he quite forgotten Julia?
3386And should he have forgotten her so soon?
3387I can't but say it seems to me most truly
3388Perplexing question but, no doubt, the moon
3389Does these things for us, and whenever newly
3390Strong palpitation rises, 't is her boon
3391Else how the devil is it that fresh features
3392Have such a charm for us poor human creatures?
3393
3394I hate inconstancy I loathe, detest
3395Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made
3396Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast
3397No permanent foundation can be laid
3398Love, constant love, has been my constant guest
3399And yet last night, being at a masquerade
3400I saw the prettiest creature, fresh from Milan
3401Which gave me some sensations like a villain.
3402
3403But soon Philosophy came to my aid
3404And whisper'd, 'Think of every sacred tie!'
3405'I will, my dear Philosophy!' I said
3406'But then her teeth, and then, oh, Heaven! her eye!
3407I'll just inquire if she be wife or maid
3408Or neither out of curiosity.'
3409'Stop!' cried Philosophy, with air so Grecian
3410Though she was masqued then as a fair Venetian
3411
3412'Stop!' so I stopp'd. But to return that which
3413Men call inconstancy is nothing more
3414Than admiration due where nature's rich
3415Profusion with young beauty covers o'er
3416Some favour'd object and as in the niche
3417A lovely statue we almost adore
3418This sort of adoration of the real
3419Is but a heightening of the 'beau ideal.'
3420
3421'T is the perception of the beautiful
3422A fine extension of the faculties
3423Platonic, universal, wonderful
3424Drawn from the stars, and filter'd through the skies
3425Without which life would be extremely dull
3426In short, it is the use of our own eyes
3427With one or two small senses added, just
3428To hint that flesh is form'd of fiery dust.
3429
3430Yet 't is a painful feeling, and unwilling
3431For surely if we always could perceive
3432In the same object graces quite as killing
3433As when she rose upon us like an Eve
3434'T would save us many a heartache, many a shilling
3435For we must get them any how or grieve
3436Whereas if one sole lady pleased for ever
3437How pleasant for the heart as well as liver!
3438
3439the heart is like the sky, a part of heaven
3440But changes night and day, too, like the sky
3441Now o'er it clouds and thunder must be driven
3442And darkness and destruction as on high
3443But when it hath been scorch'd, and pierced, and riven
3444Its storms expire in water-drops the eye
3445Pours forth at last the heart's blood turn'd to tears
3446Which make the English climate of our years.
3447
3448the liver is the lazaret of bile
3449But very rarely executes its function
3450For the first passion stays there such a while
3451That all the rest creep in and form a junction
3452Life knots of vipers on a dunghill's soil
3453Rage, fear, hate, jealousy, revenge, compunction
3454So that all mischiefs spring up from this entrail
3455Like earthquakes from the hidden fire call'd 'central,'
3456
3457In the mean time, without proceeding more
3458In this anatomy, I 've finish'd now
3459Two hundred and odd stanzas as before
3460That being about the number I 'll allow
3461Each canto of the twelve, or twenty-four
3462And, laying down my pen, I make my bow
3463Leaving Don Juan and Haidee to plead
3464For them and theirs with all who deign to read.
3465
3466Hail, Muse! et cetera. We left Juan sleeping
3467Pillow'd upon a fair and happy breast
3468And watch'd by eyes that never yet knew weeping
3469And loved by a young heart, too deeply blest
3470To feel the poison through her spirit creeping
3471Or know who rested there, a foe to rest
3472Had soil'd the current of her sinless years
3473And turn'd her pure heart's purest blood to tears!
3474
3475O, Love! what is it in this world of ours
3476Which makes it fatal to be loved? Ah, why
3477With cypress branches hast thou Wreathed thy bowers
3478And made thy best interpreter a sigh?
3479As those who dote on odours pluck the flowers
3480And place them on their breast but place to die
3481Thus the frail beings we would fondly cherish
3482Are laid within our bosoms but to perish.
3483
3484In her first passion woman loves her lover
3485In all the others all she loves is love
3486Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over
3487And fits her loosely like an easy glove
3488As you may find, whene'er you like to prove her
3489One man alone at first her heart can move
3490She then prefers him in the plural number
3491Not finding that the additions much encumber.
3492
3493I know not if the fault be men's or theirs
3494But one thing 's pretty sure a woman planted
3495Unless at once she plunge for life in prayers
3496After a decent time must be gallanted
3497Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs
3498Is that to which her heart is wholly granted
3499Yet there are some, they say, who have had none
3500But those who have ne'er end with only one.
3501
3502'T is melancholy, and a fearful sign
3503Of human frailty, folly, also crime
3504That love and marriage rarely can combine
3505Although they both are born in the same clime
3506Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine
3507A sad, sour, sober beverage by time
3508Is sharpen'd from its high celestial flavour
3509Down to a very homely household savour.
3510
3511there 's something of antipathy, as 't were
3512Between their present and their future state
3513A kind of flattery that 's hardly fair
3514Is used until the truth arrives too late
3515Yet what can people do, except despair?
3516the same things change their names at such a rate
3517For instance passion in a lover 's glorious
3518But in a husband is pronounced uxorious.
3519
3520Men grow ashamed of being so very fond
3521they sometimes also get a little tired
3522But that, of course, is rare, and then despond
3523the same things cannot always be admired
3524Yet 't is 'so nominated in the bond,'
3525That both are tied till one shall have expired.
3526Sad thought! to lose the spouse that was adorning
3527Our days, and put one's servants into mourning.
3528
3529there 's doubtless something in domestic doings
3530Which forms, in fact, true love's antithesis
3531Romances paint at full length people's wooings
3532But only give a bust of marriages
3533For no one cares for matrimonial cooings
3534there 's nothing wrong in a connubial kiss
3535Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife
3536He would have written sonnets all his life?
3537
3538All tragedies are finish'd by a death
3539All comedies are ended by a marriage
3540the future states of both are left to faith
3541For authors fear description might disparage
3542the worlds to come of both, or fall beneath
3543And then both worlds would punish their miscarriage
3544So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready
3545they say no more of Death or of the Lady.
3546
3547the only two that in my recollection
3548Have sung of heaven and hell, or marriage, are
3549Dante and Milton, and of both the affection
3550Was hapless in their nuptials, for some bar
3551Of fault or temper ruin'd the connection
3552Such things, in fact, it don't ask much to mar
3553But Dante's Beatrice and Milton's Eve
3554Were not drawn from their spouses, you conceive.
3555
3556Some persons say that Dante meant theology
3557By Beatrice, and not a mistress I
3558Although my opinion may require apology
3559Deem this a commentator's fantasy
3560Unless indeed it was from his own knowledge he
3561Decided thus, and show'd good reason why
3562I think that Dante's more abstruse ecstatics
3563Meant to personify the mathematics.
3564
3565Haidee and Juan were not married, but
3566the fault was theirs, not mine it is not fair
3567Chaste reader, then, in any way to put
3568the blame on me, unless you wish they were
3569then if you 'd have them wedded, please to shut
3570the book which treats of this erroneous pair
3571Before the consequences grow too awful
3572'T is dangerous to read of loves unlawful.
3573
3574Yet they were happy, happy in the illicit
3575Indulgence of their innocent desires
3576But more imprudent grown with every visit
3577Haidee forgot the island was her sire's
3578When we have what we like, 't is hard to miss it
3579At least in the beginning, ere one tires
3580Thus she came often, not a moment losing
3581Whilst her piratical papa was cruising.
3582
3583Let not his mode of raising cash seem strange
3584Although he fleeced the flags of every nation
3585For into a prime minister but change
3586His title, and 't is nothing but taxation
3587But he, more modest, took an humbler range
3588Of life, and in an honester vocation
3589Pursued o'er the high seas his watery journey
3590And merely practised as a sea-attorney.
3591
3592the good old gentleman had been detain'd
3593By winds and waves, and some important captures
3594And, in the hope of more, at sea remain'd
3595Although a squall or two had damp'd his raptures
3596By swamping one of the prizes he had chain'd
3597His prisoners, dividing them like chapters
3598In number'd lots they all had cuffs and collars
3599And averaged each from ten to a hundred dollars.
3600
3601Some he disposed of off Cape Matapan
3602Among his friends the Mainots some he sold
3603To his Tunis correspondents, save one man
3604Toss'd overboard unsaleable being old
3605the rest save here and there some richer one
3606Reserved for future ransom in the hold
3607Were link'd alike, as for the common people he
3608Had a large order from the Dey of Tripoli.
3609
3610the merchandise was served in the same way
3611Pieced out for different marts in the Levant
3612Except some certain portions of the prey
3613Light classic articles of female want
3614French stuffs, lace, tweezers, toothpicks, teapot, tray
3615Guitars and castanets from Alicant
3616All which selected from the spoil he gathers
3617Robb'd for his daughter by the best of fathers.
3618
3619A monkey, a Dutch mastiff, a mackaw
3620Two parrots, with a Persian cat and kittens
3621He chose from several animals he saw
3622A terrier, too, which once had been a Briton's
3623Who dying on the coast of Ithaca
3624the peasants gave the poor dumb thing a pittance
3625these to secure in this strong blowing weather
3626He caged in one huge hamper altogether.
3627
3628then having settled his marine affairs
3629Despatching single cruisers here and there
3630His vessel having need of some repairs
3631He shaped his course to where his daughter fair
3632Continued still her hospitable cares
3633But that part of the coast being shoal and bare
3634And rough with reefs which ran out many a mile
3635His port lay on the other side o' the isle.
3636
3637And there he went ashore without delay
3638Having no custom-house nor quarantine
3639To ask him awkward questions on the way
3640About the time and place where he had been
3641He left his ship to be hove down next day
3642With orders to the people to careen
3643So that all hands were busy beyond measure
3644In getting out goods, ballast, guns, and treasure.
3645
3646Arriving at the summit of a hill
3647Which overlook'd the white walls of his home
3648He stopp'd. What singular emotions fill
3649their bosoms who have been induced to roam!
3650With fluttering doubts if all be well or ill
3651With love for many, and with fears for some
3652All feelings which o'erleap the years long lost
3653And bring our hearts back to their starting-post.
3654
3655the approach of home to husbands and to sires
3656After long travelling by land or water
3657Most naturally some small doubt inspires
3658A female family 's a serious matter
3659None trusts the sex more, or so much admires
3660But they hate flattery, so I never flatter
3661Wives in their husbands' absences grow subtler
3662And daughters sometimes run off with the butler.
3663
3664An honest gentleman at his return
3665May not have the good fortune of Ulysses
3666Not all lone matrons for their husbands mourn
3667Or show the same dislike to suitors' kisses
3668the odds are that he finds a handsome urn
3669To his memory and two or three young misses
3670Born to some friend, who holds his wife and riches
3671And that his Argus bites him by the breeches.
3672
3673If single, probably his plighted fair
3674Has in his absence wedded some rich miser
3675But all the better, for the happy pair
3676May quarrel, and the lady growing wiser
3677He may resume his amatory care
3678As cavalier servente, or despise her
3679And that his sorrow may not be a dumb one
3680Write odes on the Inconstancy of Woman.
3681
3682And oh! ye gentlemen who have already
3683Some chaste liaison of the kind I mean
3684An honest friendship with a married lady
3685the only thing of this sort ever seen
3686To last of all connections the most steady
3687And the true Hymen the first 's but a screen
3688Yet for all that keep not too long away
3689I 've known the absent wrong'd four times a day.
3690
3691Lambro, our sea-solicitor, who had
3692Much less experience of dry land than ocean
3693On seeing his own chimney-smoke, felt glad
3694But not knowing metaphysics, had no notion
3695Of the true reason of his not being sad
3696Or that of any other strong emotion
3697He loved his child, and would have wept the loss of her
3698But knew the cause no more than a philosopher.
3699
3700He saw his white walls shining in the sun
3701His garden trees all shadowy and green
3702He heard his rivulet's light bubbling run
3703the distant dog-bark and perceived between
3704the umbrage of the wood so cool and dun
3705the moving figures, and the sparkling sheen
3706Of arms in the East all arm and various dyes
3707Of colour'd garbs, as bright as butterflies.
3708
3709And as the spot where they appear he nears
3710Surprised at these unwonted signs of idling
3711He hears alas! no music of the spheres
3712But an unhallow'd, earthly sound of fiddling!
3713A melody which made him doubt his ears
3714the cause being past his guessing or unriddling
3715A pipe, too, and a drum, and shortly after
3716A most unoriental roar of laughter.
3717
3718And still more nearly to the place advancing
3719Descending rather quickly the declivity
3720Through the waved branches o'er the greensward glancing
3721'Midst other indications of festivity
3722Seeing a troop of his domestics dancing
3723Like dervises, who turn as on a pivot, he
3724Perceived it was the Pyrrhic dance so martial
3725To which the Levantines are very partial.
3726
3727And further on a group of Grecian girls
3728the first and tallest her white kerchief waving
3729Were strung together like a row of pearls
3730Link'd hand in hand, and dancing each too having
3731Down her white neck long floating auburn curls
3732the least of which would set ten poets raving
3733their leader sang and bounded to her song
3734With choral step and voice, the virgin throng.
3735
3736And here, assembled cross-legg'd round their trays
3737Small social parties just begun to dine
3738Pilaus and meats of all sorts met the gaze
3739And flasks of Samian and of Chian wine
3740And sherbet cooling in the porous vase
3741Above them their dessert grew on its vine
3742the orange and pomegranate nodding o'er
3743Dropp'd in their laps, scarce pluck'd, their mellow store.
3744
3745A band of children, round a snow-white ram
3746there wreathe his venerable horns with flowers
3747While peaceful as if still an unwean'd lamb
3748the patriarch of the flock all gently cowers
3749His sober head, majestically tame
3750Or eats from out the palm, or playful lowers
3751His brow, as if in act to butt, and then
3752Yielding to their small hands, draws back again.
3753
3754their classical profiles, and glittering dresses
3755their large black eyes, and soft seraphic cheeks
3756Crimson as cleft pomegranates, their long tresses
3757the gesture which enchants, the eye that speaks
3758the innocence which happy childhood blesses
3759Made quite a picture of these little Greeks
3760So that the philosophical beholder
3761Sigh'd for their sakes that they should e'er grow older.
3762
3763Afar, a dwarf buffoon stood telling tales
3764To a sedate grey circle of old smokers
3765Of secret treasures found in hidden vales
3766Of wonderful replies from Arab jokers
3767Of charms to make good gold and cure bad ails
3768Of rocks bewitch'd that open to the knockers
3769Of magic ladies who, by one sole act
3770Transform'd their lords to beasts but that 's a fact.
3771
3772Here was no lack of innocent diversion
3773For the imagination or the senses
3774Song, dance, wine, music, stories from the Persian
3775All pretty pastimes in which no offence is
3776But Lambro saw all these things with aversion
3777Perceiving in his absence such expenses
3778Dreading that climax of all human ills
3779the inflammation of his weekly bills.
3780
3781Ah! what is man? what perils still environ
3782the happiest mortals even after dinner
3783A day of gold from out an age of iron
3784Is all that life allows the luckiest sinner
3785Pleasure whene'er she sings, at least 's a siren
3786That lures, to flay alive, the young beginner
3787Lambro's reception at his people's banquet
3788Was such as fire accords to a wet blanket.
3789
3790He being a man who seldom used a word
3791Too much, and wishing gladly to surprise
3792In general he surprised men with the sword
3793His daughter had not sent before to advise
3794Of his arrival, so that no one stirr'd
3795And long he paused to re-assure his eyes
3796In fact much more astonish'd than delighted
3797To find so much good company invited.
3798
3799He did not know alas! how men will lie
3800That a report especially the Greeks
3801Avouch'd his death such people never die
3802And put his house in mourning several weeks
3803But now their eyes and also lips were dry
3804the bloom, too, had return'd to Haidee's cheeks
3805Her tears, too, being return'd into their fount
3806She now kept house upon her own account.
3807
3808Hence all this rice, meat, dancing, wine, and fiddling
3809Which turn'd the isle into a place of pleasure
3810the servants all were getting drunk or idling
3811A life which made them happy beyond measure.
3812Her father's hospitality seem'd middling
3813Compared with what Haidee did with his treasure
3814'T was wonderful how things went on improving
3815While she had not one hour to spare from loving.
3816
3817Perhaps you think in stumbling on this feast
3818He flew into a passion, and in fact
3819there was no mighty reason to be pleased
3820Perhaps you prophesy some sudden act
3821the whip, the rack, or dungeon at the least
3822To teach his people to be more exact
3823And that, proceeding at a very high rate
3824He show'd the royal penchants of a pirate.
3825
3826You 're wrong. He was the mildest manner'd man
3827That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat
3828With such true breeding of a gentleman
3829You never could divine his real thought
3830No courtier could, and scarcely woman can
3831Gird more deceit within a petticoat
3832Pity he loved adventurous life's variety
3833He was so great a loss to good society.
3834
3835Advancing to the nearest dinner tray
3836Tapping the shoulder of the nighest guest
3837With a peculiar smile, which, by the way
3838Boded no good, whatever it express'd
3839He ask'd the meaning of this holiday
3840the vinous Greek to whom he had address'd
3841His question, much too merry to divine
3842the questioner, fill'd up a glass of wine
3843
3844And without turning his facetious head
3845Over his shoulder, with a Bacchant air
3846Presented the o'erflowing cup, and said
3847'Talking 's dry work, I have no time to spare.'
3848A second hiccup'd, 'Our old master 's dead
3849You 'd better ask our mistress who 's his heir.'
3850'Our mistress!' quoth a third 'Our mistress! pooh!
3851You mean our master not the old, but new.'
3852
3853these rascals, being new comers, knew not whom
3854they thus address'd and Lambro's visage fell
3855And o'er his eye a momentary gloom
3856Pass'd, but he strove quite courteously to quell
3857the expression, and endeavouring to resume
3858His smile, requested one of them to tell
3859the name and quality of his new patron
3860Who seem'd to have turn'd Haidee into a matron.
3861
3862'I know not,' quoth the fellow, 'who or what
3863He is, nor whence he came and little care
3864But this I know, that this roast capon 's fat
3865And that good wine ne'er wash'd down better fare
3866And if you are not satisfied with that
3867Direct your questions to my neighbour there
3868He 'll answer all for better or for worse
3869For none likes more to hear himself converse.'
3870
3871I said that Lambro was a man of patience
3872And certainly he show'd the best of breeding
3873Which scarce even France, the paragon of nations
3874E'er saw her most polite of sons exceeding
3875He bore these sneers against his near relations
3876His own anxiety, his heart, too, bleeding
3877the insults, too, of every servile glutton
3878Who all the time was eating up his mutton.
3879
3880Now in a person used to much command
3881To bid men come, and go, and come again
3882To see his orders done, too, out of hand
3883Whether the word was death, or but the chain
3884It may seem strange to find his manners bland
3885Yet such things are, which I can not explain
3886Though doubtless he who can command himself
3887Is good to govern almost as a Guelf.
3888
3889Not that he was not sometimes rash or so
3890But never in his real and serious mood
3891then calm, concentrated, and still, and slow
3892He lay coil'd like the boa in the wood
3893With him it never was a word and blow
3894His angry word once o'er, he shed no blood
3895But in his silence there was much to rue
3896And his one blow left little work for two.
3897
3898He ask'd no further questions, and proceeded
3899On to the house, but by a private way
3900So that the few who met him hardly heeded
3901So little they expected him that day
3902If love paternal in his bosom pleaded
3903For Haidee's sake, is more than I can say
3904But certainly to one deem'd dead, returning
3905This revel seem'd a curious mode of mourning.
3906
3907If all the dead could now return to life
3908Which God forbid! or some, or a great many
3909For instance, if a husband or his wife
3910Nuptial examples are as good as any
3911No doubt whate'er might be their former strife
3912the present weather would be much more rainy
3913Tears shed into the grave of the connection
3914Would share most probably its resurrection.
3915
3916He enter'd in the house no more his home
3917A thing to human feelings the most trying
3918And harder for the heart to overcome
3919Perhaps, than even the mental pangs of dying
3920To find our hearthstone turn'd into a tomb
3921And round its once warm precincts palely lying
3922the ashes of our hopes, is a deep grief
3923Beyond a single gentleman's belief.
3924
3925He enter'd in the house his home no more
3926For without hearts there is no home and felt
3927the solitude of passing his own door
3928Without a welcome there he long had dwelt
3929there his few peaceful days Time had swept o'er
3930there his worn bosom and keen eye would melt
3931Over the innocence of that sweet child
3932His only shrine of feelings undefiled.
3933
3934He was a man of a strange temperament
3935Of mild demeanour though of savage mood
3936Moderate in all his habits, and content
3937With temperance in pleasure, as in food
3938Quick to perceive, and strong to bear, and meant
3939For something better, if not wholly good
3940His country's wrongs and his despair to save her
3941Had stung him from a slave to an enslaver.
3942
3943the love of power, and rapid gain of gold
3944the hardness by long habitude produced
3945the dangerous life in which he had grown old
3946the mercy he had granted oft abused
3947the sights he was accustom'd to behold
3948the wild seas, and wild men with whom he cruised
3949Had cost his enemies a long repentance
3950And made him a good friend, but bad acquaintance.
3951
3952But something of the spirit of old Greece
3953Flash'd o'er his soul a few heroic rays
3954Such as lit onward to the Golden Fleece
3955His predecessors in the Colchian days
3956T is true he had no ardent love for peace
3957Alas! his country show'd no path to praise
3958Hate to the world and war with every nation
3959He waged, in vengeance of her degradation.
3960
3961Still o'er his mind the influence of the clime
3962Shed its Ionian elegance, which show'd
3963Its power unconsciously full many a time
3964A taste seen in the choice of his abode
3965A love of music and of scenes sublime
3966A pleasure in the gentle stream that flow'd
3967Past him in crystal, and a joy in flowers
3968Bedew'd his spirit in his calmer hours.
3969
3970But whatsoe'er he had of love reposed
3971On that beloved daughter she had been
3972the only thing which kept his heart unclosed
3973Amidst the savage deeds he had done and seen
3974A lonely pure affection unopposed
3975there wanted but the loss of this to wean
3976His feelings from all milk of human kindness
3977And turn him like the Cyclops mad with blindness.
3978
3979the cubless tigress in her jungle raging
3980Is dreadful to the shepherd and the flock
3981the ocean when its yeasty war is waging
3982Is awful to the vessel near the rock
3983But violent things will sooner bear assuaging
3984their fury being spent by its own shock
3985Than the stern, single, deep, and wordless ire
3986Of a strong human heart, and in a sire.
3987
3988It is a hard although a common case
3989To find our children running restive they
3990In whom our brightest days we would retrace
3991Our little selves re-form'd in finer clay
3992Just as old age is creeping on apace
3993And clouds come o'er the sunset of our day
3994they kindly leave us, though not quite alone
3995But in good company the gout or stone.
3996
3997Yet a fine family is a fine thing
3998Provided they don't come in after dinner
3999'T is beautiful to see a matron bring
4000Her children up if nursing them don't thin her
4001Like cherubs round an altar-piece they cling
4002To the fire-side a sight to touch a sinner.
4003A lady with her daughters or her nieces
4004Shines like a guinea and seven-shilling pieces.
4005
4006Old Lambro pass'd unseen a private gate
4007And stood within his hall at eventide
4008Meantime the lady and her lover sate
4009At wassail in their beauty and their pride
4010An ivory inlaid table spread with state
4011Before them, and fair slaves on every side
4012Gems, gold, and silver, form'd the service mostly
4013Mother of pearl and coral the less costly.
4014
4015the dinner made about a hundred dishes
4016Lamb and pistachio nuts in short, all meats
4017And saffron soups, and sweetbreads and the fishes
4018Were of the finest that e'er flounced in nets
4019Drest to a Sybarite's most pamper'd wishes
4020the beverage was various sherbets
4021Of raisin, orange, and pomegranate juice
4022Squeezed through the rind, which makes it best for use.
4023
4024these were ranged round, each in its crystal ewer
4025And fruits, and date-bread loaves closed the repast
4026And Mocha's berry, from Arabia pure
4027In small fine China cups, came in at last
4028Gold cups of filigree made to secure
4029the hand from burning underneath them placed
4030Cloves, cinnamon, and saffron too were boil'd
4031Up with the coffee, which I think they spoil'd.
4032
4033the hangings of the room were tapestry, made
4034Of velvet panels, each of different hue
4035And thick with damask flowers of silk inlaid
4036And round them ran a yellow border too
4037the upper border, richly wrought, display'd
4038Embroider'd delicately o'er with blue
4039Soft Persian sentences, in lilac letters
4040From poets, or the moralists their betters.
4041
4042these Oriental writings on the wall
4043Quite common in those countries, are a kind
4044Of monitors adapted to recall
4045Like skulls at Memphian banquets, to the mind
4046the words which shook Belshazzar in his hall
4047And took his kingdom from him You will find
4048Though sages may pour out their wisdom's treasure
4049there is no sterner moralist than Pleasure.
4050
4051A beauty at the season's close grown hectic
4052A genius who has drunk himself to death
4053A rake turn'd methodistic, or Eclectic
4054For that 's the name they like to pray beneath
4055But most, an alderman struck apoplectic
4056Are things that really take away the breath
4057And show that late hours, wine, and love are able
4058To do not much less damage than the table.
4059
4060Haidee and Juan carpeted their feet
4061On crimson satin, border'd with pale blue
4062their sofa occupied three parts complete
4063Of the apartment and appear'd quite new
4064the velvet cushions for a throne more meet
4065Were scarlet, from whose glowing centre grew
4066A sun emboss'd in gold, whose rays of tissue
4067Meridian-like, were seen all light to issue.
4068
4069Crystal and marble, plate and porcelain
4070Had done their work of splendour Indian mats
4071And Persian carpets, which the heart bled to stain
4072Over the floors were spread gazelles and cats
4073And dwarfs and blacks, and such like things, that gain
4074their bread as ministers and favourites that 's
4075To say, by degradation mingled there
4076As plentiful as in a court, or fair.
4077
4078there was no want of lofty mirrors, and
4079the tables, most of ebony inlaid
4080With mother of pearl or ivory, stood at hand
4081Or were of tortoise-shell or rare woods made
4082Fretted with gold or silver by command
4083the greater part of these were ready spread
4084With viands and sherbets in ice and wine
4085Kept for all comers at all hours to dine.
4086
4087Of all the dresses I select Haidee's
4088She wore two jelicks one was of pale yellow
4089Of azure, pink, and white was her chemise
4090'Neath which her breast heaved like a little billow
4091With buttons form'd of pearls as large as peas
4092All gold and crimson shone her jelick's fellow
4093And the striped white gauze baracan that bound her
4094Like fleecy clouds about the moon, flow'd round her.
4095
4096One large gold bracelet clasp'd each lovely arm
4097Lockless so pliable from the pure gold
4098That the hand stretch'd and shut it without harm
4099the limb which it adorn'd its only mould
4100So beautiful its very shape would charm
4101And, clinging as if loath to lose its hold
4102the purest ore enclosed the whitest skin
4103That e'er by precious metal was held in.
4104
4105Around, as princess of her father's land
4106A like gold bar above her instep roll'd
4107Announced her rank twelve rings were on her hand
4108Her hair was starr'd with gems her veil's fine fold
4109Below her breast was fasten'd with a band
4110Of lavish pearls, whose worth could scarce be told
4111Her orange silk full Turkish trousers furl'd
4112About the prettiest ankle in the world.
4113
4114Her hair's long auburn waves down to her heel
4115Flow'd like an Alpine torrent which the sun
4116Dyes with his morning light, and would conceal
4117Her person if allow'd at large to run
4118And still they seem resentfully to feel
4119the silken fillet's curb, and sought to shun
4120their bonds whene'er some Zephyr caught began
4121To offer his young pinion as her fan.
4122
4123Round her she made an atmosphere of life
4124the very air seem'd lighter from her eyes
4125they were so soft and beautiful, and rife
4126With all we can imagine of the skies
4127And pure as Psyche ere she grew a wife
4128Too pure even for the purest human ties
4129Her overpowering presence made you feel
4130It would not be idolatry to kneel.
4131
4132Her eyelashes, though dark as night, were tinged
4133It is the country's custom, but in vain
4134For those large black eyes were so blackly fringed
4135the glossy rebels mock'd the jetty stain
4136And in their native beauty stood avenged
4137Her nails were touch'd with henna but again
4138the power of art was turn'd to nothing, for
4139they could not look more rosy than before.
4140
4141the henna should be deeply dyed to make
4142the skin relieved appear more fairly fair
4143She had no need of this, day ne'er will break
4144On mountain tops more heavenly white than her
4145the eye might doubt if it were well awake
4146She was so like a vision I might err
4147But Shakspeare also says, 't is very silly
4148'To gild refined gold, or paint the lily'
4149
4150Juan had on a shawl of black and gold
4151But a white baracan, and so transparent
4152the sparkling gems beneath you might behold
4153Like small stars through the milky way apparent
4154His turban, furl'd in many a graceful fold
4155An emerald aigrette with Haidee's hair in 't
4156Surmounted as its clasp a glowing crescent
4157Whose rays shone ever trembling, but incessant.
4158
4159And now they were diverted by their suite
4160Dwarfs, dancing girls, black eunuchs, and a poet
4161Which made their new establishment complete
4162the last was of great fame, and liked to show it
4163His verses rarely wanted their due feet
4164And for his theme he seldom sung below it
4165He being paid to satirize or flatter
4166As the psalm says, 'inditing a good matter.'
4167
4168He praised the present, and abused the past
4169Reversing the good custom of old days
4170An Eastern anti-jacobin at last
4171He turn'd, preferring pudding to no praise
4172For some few years his lot had been o'ercast
4173By his seeming independent in his lays
4174But now he sung the Sultan and the Pacha
4175With truth like Southey, and with verse like Crashaw.
4176
4177He was a man who had seen many changes
4178And always changed as true as any needle
4179His polar star being one which rather ranges
4180And not the fix'd he knew the way to wheedle
4181So vile he 'scaped the doom which oft avenges
4182And being fluent save indeed when fee'd ill
4183He lied with such a fervour of intention
4184there was no doubt he earn'd his laureate pension.
4185
4186But he had genius, when a turncoat has it
4187the 'Vates irritabilis' takes care
4188That without notice few full moons shall pass it
4189Even good men like to make the public stare
4190But to my subject let me see what was it?
4191O! the third canto and the pretty pair
4192their loves, and feasts, and house, and dress, and mode
4193Of living in their insular abode.
4194
4195their poet, a sad trimmer, but no less
4196In company a very pleasant fellow
4197Had been the favourite of full many a mess
4198Of men, and made them speeches when half mellow
4199And though his meaning they could rarely guess
4200Yet still they deign'd to hiccup or to bellow
4201the glorious meed of popular applause
4202Of which the first ne'er knows the second cause.
4203
4204But now being lifted into high society
4205And having pick'd up several odds and ends
4206Of free thoughts in his travels for variety
4207He deem'd, being in a lone isle, among friends
4208That, without any danger of a riot, he
4209Might for long lying make himself amends
4210And, singing as he sung in his warm youth
4211Agree to a short armistice with truth.
4212
4213He had travell'd 'mongst the Arabs, Turks, and Franks
4214And knew the self-loves of the different nations
4215And having lived with people of all ranks
4216Had something ready upon most occasions
4217Which got him a few presents and some thanks.
4218He varied with some skill his adulations
4219To 'do at Rome as Romans do,' a piece
4220Of conduct was which he observed in Greece.
4221
4222Thus, usually, when he was ask'd to sing
4223He gave the different nations something national
4224'T was all the same to him 'God save the king,'
4225Or 'Ca ira,' according to the fashion all
4226His muse made increment of any thing
4227From the high lyric down to the low rational
4228If Pindar sang horse-races, what should hinder
4229Himself from being as pliable as Pindar?
4230
4231In France, for instance, he would write a chanson
4232In England a six canto quarto tale
4233In Spain, he'd make a ballad or romance on
4234the last war much the same in Portugal
4235In Germany, the Pegasus he 'd prance on
4236Would be old Goethe's see what says De Stael
4237In Italy he 'd ape the 'Trecentisti'
4238In Greece, he sing some sort of hymn like this t' ye
4239
4240 the ISLES OF GREECE.
4241
4242 the isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece!
4243 Where burning Sappho loved and sung
4244 Where grew the arts of war and peace
4245 Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!
4246 Eternal summer gilds them yet
4247 But all, except their sun, is set.
4248
4249 the Scian and the Teian muse
4250 the hero's harp, the lover's lute
4251 Have found the fame your shores refuse
4252 their place of birth alone is mute
4253 To sounds which echo further west
4254 Than your sires' 'Islands of the Blest.'
4255
4256 the mountains look on Marathon
4257 And Marathon looks on the sea
4258 And musing there an hour alone
4259 I dream'd that Greece might still be free
4260 For standing on the Persians' grave
4261 I could not deem myself a slave.
4262
4263 A king sate on the rocky brow
4264 Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis
4265 And ships, by thousands, lay below
4266 And men in nations all were his!
4267 He counted them at break of day
4268 And when the sun set where were they?
4269
4270 And where are they? and where art thou
4271 My country? On thy voiceless shore
4272 the heroic lay is tuneless now
4273 the heroic bosom beats no more!
4274 And must thy lyre, so long divine
4275 Degenerate into hands like mine?
4276
4277 'T is something, in the dearth of fame
4278 Though link'd among a fetter'd race
4279 To feel at least a patriot's shame
4280 Even as I sing, suffuse my face
4281 For what is left the poet here?
4282 For Greeks a blush for Greece a tear.
4283
4284 Must we but weep o'er days more blest?
4285 Must we but blush? Our fathers bled.
4286 Earth! render back from out thy breast
4287 A remnant of our Spartan dead!
4288 Of the three hundred grant but three
4289 To make a new thermopylae!
4290
4291 What, silent still? and silent all?
4292 Ah! no the voices of the dead
4293 Sound like a distant torrent's fall
4294 And answer, 'Let one living head
4295 But one arise, we come, we come!'
4296 'T is but the living who are dumb.
4297
4298 In vain in vain strike other chords
4299 Fill high the cup with Samian wine!
4300 Leave battles to the Turkish hordes
4301 And shed the blood of Scio's vine!
4302 Hark! rising to the ignoble call
4303 How answers each bold Bacchanal!
4304
4305 You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet
4306 Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
4307 Of two such lessons, why forget
4308 the nobler and the manlier one?
4309 You have the letters Cadmus gave
4310 Think ye he meant them for a slave?
4311
4312 Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
4313 We will not think of themes like these!
4314 It made Anacreon's song divine
4315 He served but served Polycrates
4316 A tyrant but our masters then
4317 Were still, at least, our countrymen.
4318
4319 the tyrant of the Chersonese
4320 Was freedom's best and bravest friend
4321 That tyrant was Miltiades!
4322 O! that the present hour would lend
4323 Another despot of the kind!
4324 Such chains as his were sure to bind.
4325
4326 Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
4327 On Suli's rock, and Parga's shore
4328 Exists the remnant of a line
4329 Such as the Doric mothers bore
4330 And there, perhaps, some seed is sown
4331 the Heracleidan blood might own.
4332
4333 Trust not for freedom to the Franks
4334 they have a king who buys and sells
4335 In native swords, and native ranks
4336 the only hope of courage dwells
4337 But Turkish force, and Latin fraud
4338 Would break your shield, however broad.
4339
4340 Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
4341 Our virgins dance beneath the shade
4342 I see their glorious black eyes shine
4343 But gazing on each glowing maid
4344 My own the burning tear-drop laves
4345 To think such breasts must suckle slaves
4346
4347 Place me on Sunium's marbled steep
4348 Where nothing, save the waves and I
4349 May hear our mutual murmurs sweep
4350 there, swan-like, let me sing and die
4351 A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine
4352 Dash down yon cup of Samian wine!
4353
4354Thus sung, or would, or could, or should have sung
4355the modern Greek, in tolerable verse
4356If not like Orpheus quite, when Greece was young
4357Yet in these times he might have done much worse
4358His strain display'd some feeling right or wrong
4359And feeling, in a poet, is the source
4360Of others' feeling but they are such liars
4361And take all colours like the hands of dyers.
4362
4363But words are things, and a small drop of ink
4364Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
4365That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think
4366'T is strange, the shortest letter which man uses
4367Instead of speech, may form a lasting link
4368Of ages to what straits old Time reduces
4369Frail man, when paper even a rag like this
4370Survives himself, his tomb, and all that 's his.
4371
4372And when his bones are dust, his grave a blank
4373His station, generation, even his nation
4374Become a thing, or nothing, save to rank
4375In chronological commemoration
4376Some dull MS. oblivion long has sank
4377Or graven stone found in a barrack's station
4378In digging the foundation of a closet
4379May turn his name up, as a rare deposit.
4380
4381And glory long has made the sages smile
4382'T is something, nothing, words, illusion, wind
4383Depending more upon the historian's style
4384Than on the name a person leaves behind
4385Troy owes to Homer what whist owes to Hoyle
4386the present century was growing blind
4387To the great Marlborough's skill in giving knocks
4388Until his late life by Archdeacon Coxe.
4389
4390Milton 's the prince of poets so we say
4391A little heavy, but no less divine
4392An independent being in his day
4393Learn'd, pious, temperate in love and wine
4394But, his life falling into Johnson's way
4395We 're told this great high priest of all the Nine
4396Was whipt at college a harsh sire odd spouse
4397For the first Mrs. Milton left his house.
4398
4399All these are, certes, entertaining facts
4400Like Shakspeare's stealing deer, Lord Bacon's bribes
4401Like Titus' youth, and Caesar's earliest acts
4402Like Burns whom Doctor Currie well describes
4403Like Cromwell's pranks but although truth exacts
4404these amiable descriptions from the scribes
4405As most essential to their hero's story
4406they do not much contribute to his glory.
4407
4408All are not moralists, like Southey, when
4409He prated to the world of 'Pantisocracy'
4410Or Wordsworth unexcised, unhired, who then
4411Season'd his pedlar poems with democracy
4412Or Coleridge, long before his flighty pen
4413Let to the Morning Post its aristocracy
4414When he and Southey, following the same path
4415Espoused two partners milliners of Bath.
4416
4417Such names at present cut a convict figure
4418the very Botany Bay in moral geography
4419their loyal treason, renegado rigour
4420Are good manure for their more bare biography.
4421Wordsworth's last quarto, by the way, is bigger
4422Than any since the birthday of typography
4423A drowsy frowzy poem, call'd the 'Excursion.'
4424Writ in a manner which is my aversion.
4425
4426He there builds up a formidable dyke
4427Between his own and others' intellect
4428But Wordsworth's poem, and his followers, like
4429Joanna Southcote's Shiloh, and her sect
4430Are things which in this century don't strike
4431the public mind, so few are the elect
4432And the new births of both their stale virginities
4433Have proved but dropsies, taken for divinities.
4434
4435But let me to my story I must own
4436If I have any fault, it is digression
4437Leaving my people to proceed alone
4438While I soliloquize beyond expression
4439But these are my addresses from the throne
4440Which put off business to the ensuing session
4441Forgetting each omission is a loss to
4442the world, not quite so great as Ariosto.
4443
4444I know that what our neighbours call 'longueurs'
4445We 've not so good a word, but have the thing
4446In that complete perfection which ensures
4447An epic from Bob Southey every spring
4448Form not the true temptation which allures
4449the reader but 't would not be hard to bring
4450Some fine examples of the epopee
4451To prove its grand ingredient is ennui.
4452
4453We learn from Horace, 'Homer sometimes sleeps'
4454We feel without him, Wordsworth sometimes wakes
4455To show with what complacency he creeps
4456With his dear 'Waggoners,' around his lakes.
4457He wishes for 'a boat' to sail the deeps
4458Of ocean? No, of air and then he makes
4459Another outcry for 'a little boat,'
4460And drivels seas to set it well afloat.
4461
4462If he must fain sweep o'er the ethereal plain
4463And Pegasus runs restive in his 'Waggon,'
4464Could he not beg the loan of Charles's Wain?
4465Or pray Medea for a single dragon?
4466Or if, too classic for his vulgar brain
4467He fear'd his neck to venture such a nag on
4468And he must needs mount nearer to the moon
4469Could not the blockhead ask for a balloon?
4470
4471'Pedlars,' and 'Boats,' and 'Waggons!' Oh! ye shades
4472Of Pope and Dryden, are we come to this?
4473That trash of such sort not alone evades
4474Contempt, but from the bathos' vast abyss
4475Floats scumlike uppermost, and these Jack Cades
4476Of sense and song above your graves may hiss
4477the 'little boatman' and his 'Peter Bell'
4478Can sneer at him who drew 'Achitophel'!
4479
4480T' our tale. the feast was over, the slaves gone
4481the dwarfs and dancing girls had all retired
4482the Arab lore and poet's song were done
4483And every sound of revelry expired
4484the lady and her lover, left alone
4485the rosy flood of twilight's sky admired
4486Ave Maria! o'er the earth and sea
4487That heavenliest hour of Heaven is worthiest thee!
4488
4489Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!
4490the time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
4491Have felt that moment in its fullest power
4492Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft
4493While swung the deep bell in the distant tower
4494Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft
4495And not a breath crept through the rosy air
4496And yet the forest leaves seem'd stirr'd with prayer.
4497
4498Ave Maria! 't is the hour of prayer!
4499Ave Maria! 't is the hour of love!
4500Ave Maria! may our spirits dare
4501Look up to thine and to thy Son's above!
4502Ave Maria! oh that face so fair!
4503Those downcast eyes beneath the Almighty dove
4504What though 't is but a pictured image? strike
4505That painting is no idol, 't is too like.
4506
4507Some kinder casuists are pleased to say
4508In nameless print that I have no devotion
4509But set those persons down with me to pray
4510And you shall see who has the properest notion
4511Of getting into heaven the shortest way
4512My altars are the mountains and the ocean
4513Earth, air, stars, all that springs from the great Whole
4514Who hath produced, and will receive the soul.
4515
4516Sweet hour of twilight! in the solitude
4517Of the pine forest, and the silent shore
4518Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood
4519Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er
4520To where the last Caesarean fortress stood
4521Evergreen forest! which Boccaccio's lore
4522And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me
4523How have I loved the twilight hour and thee!
4524
4525the shrill cicadas, people of the pine
4526Making their summer lives one ceaseless song
4527Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine
4528And vesper bell's that rose the boughs along
4529the spectre huntsman of Onesti's line
4530His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng
4531Which learn'd from this example not to fly
4532From a true lover, shadow'd my mind's eye.
4533
4534O, Hesperus! thou bringest all good things
4535Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer
4536To the young bird the parent's brooding wings
4537the welcome stall to the o'erlabour'd steer
4538Whate'er of peace about our hearthstone clings
4539Whate'er our household gods protect of dear
4540Are gather'd round us by thy look of rest
4541Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast.
4542
4543Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart
4544Of those who sail the seas, on the first day
4545When they from their sweet friends are torn apart
4546Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way
4547As the far bell of vesper makes him start
4548Seeming to weep the dying day's decay
4549Is this a fancy which our reason scorns?
4550Ah! surely nothing dies but something mourns!
4551
4552When Nero perish'd by the justest doom
4553Which ever the destroyer yet destroy'd
4554Amidst the roar of liberated Rome
4555Of nations freed, and the world overjoy'd
4556Some hands unseen strew'd flowers upon his tomb
4557Perhaps the weakness of a heart not void
4558Of feeling for some kindness done, when power
4559Had left the wretch an uncorrupted hour.
4560
4561But I 'm digressing what on earth has Nero
4562Or any such like sovereign buffoons
4563To do with the transactions of my hero
4564More than such madmen's fellow man the moon's?
4565Sure my invention must be down at zero
4566And I grown one of many 'wooden spoons'
4567Of verse the name with which we Cantabs please
4568To dub the last of honours in degrees.
4569
4570I feel this tediousness will never do
4571'T is being too epic, and I must cut down
4572In copying this long canto into two
4573they 'll never find it out, unless I own
4574the fact, excepting some experienced few
4575And then as an improvement 't will be shown
4576I 'll prove that such the opinion of the critic is
4577From Aristotle passim. See poietikes.
4578
4579Nothing so difficult as a beginning
4580In poesy, unless perhaps the end
4581For oftentimes when Pegasus seems winning
4582the race, he sprains a wing, and down we tend
4583Like Lucifer when hurl'd from heaven for sinning
4584Our sin the same, and hard as his to mend
4585Being pride, which leads the mind to soar too far
4586Till our own weakness shows us what we are.
4587
4588But Time, which brings all beings to their level
4589And sharp Adversity, will teach at last
4590Man, and, as we would hope, perhaps the devil
4591That neither of their intellects are vast
4592While youth's hot wishes in our red veins revel
4593We know not this the blood flows on too fast
4594But as the torrent widens towards the ocean
4595We ponder deeply on each past emotion.
4596
4597As boy, I thought myself a clever fellow
4598And wish'd that others held the same opinion
4599they took it up when my days grew more mellow
4600And other minds acknowledged my dominion
4601Now my sere fancy 'falls into the yellow
4602Leaf,' and Imagination droops her pinion
4603And the sad truth which hovers o'er my desk
4604Turns what was once romantic to burlesque.
4605
4606And if I laugh at any mortal thing
4607'T is that I may not weep and if I weep
4608'T is that our nature cannot always bring
4609Itself to apathy, for we must steep
4610Our hearts first in the depths of Lethe's spring
4611Ere what we least wish to behold will sleep
4612thetis baptized her mortal son in Styx
4613A mortal mother would on Lethe fix.
4614
4615Some have accused me of a strange design
4616Against the creed and morals of the land
4617And trace it in this poem every line
4618I don't pretend that I quite understand
4619My own meaning when I would be very fine
4620But the fact is that I have nothing plann'd
4621Unless it were to be a moment merry
4622A novel word in my vocabulary.
4623
4624To the kind reader of our sober clime
4625This way of writing will appear exotic
4626Pulci was sire of the half-serious rhyme
4627Who sang when chivalry was more Quixotic
4628And revell'd in the fancies of the time
4629True knights, chaste dames, huge giants, kings despotic
4630But all these, save the last, being obsolete
4631I chose a modern subject as more meet.
4632
4633How I have treated it, I do not know
4634Perhaps no better than they have treated me
4635Who have imputed such designs as show
4636Not what they saw, but what they wish'd to see
4637But if it gives them pleasure, be it so
4638This is a liberal age, and thoughts are free
4639Meantime Apollo plucks me by the ear
4640And tells me to resume my story here.
4641
4642Young Juan and his lady-love were left
4643To their own hearts' most sweet society
4644Even Time the pitiless in sorrow cleft
4645With his rude scythe such gentle bosoms he
4646Sigh'd to behold them of their hours bereft
4647Though foe to love and yet they could not be
4648Meant to grow old, but die in happy spring
4649Before one charm or hope had taken wing.
4650
4651their faces were not made for wrinkles, their
4652Pure blood to stagnate, their great hearts to fail
4653the blank grey was not made to blast their hair
4654But like the climes that know nor snow nor hail
4655they were all summer lightning might assail
4656And shiver them to ashes, but to trail
4657A long and snake-like life of dull decay
4658Was not for them they had too little day.
4659
4660they were alone once more for them to be
4661Thus was another Eden they were never
4662Weary, unless when separate the tree
4663Cut from its forest root of years the river
4664Damm'd from its fountain the child from the knee
4665And breast maternal wean'd at once for ever
4666Would wither less than these two torn apart
4667Alas! there is no instinct like the heart
4668
4669the heart which may be broken happy they!
4670Thrice fortunate! who of that fragile mould
4671the precious porcelain of human clay
4672Break with the first fall they can ne'er behold
4673the long year link'd with heavy day on day
4674And all which must be borne, and never told
4675While life's strange principle will often lie
4676Deepest in those who long the most to die.
4677
4678'Whom the gods love die young,' was said of yore
4679And many deaths do they escape by this
4680the death of friends, and that which slays even more
4681the death of friendship, love, youth, all that is
4682Except mere breath and since the silent shore
4683Awaits at last even those who longest miss
4684the old archer's shafts, perhaps the early grave
4685Which men weep over may be meant to save.
4686
4687Haidee and Juan thought not of the dead
4688the heavens, and earth, and air, seem'd made for them
4689they found no fault with Time, save that he fled
4690they saw not in themselves aught to condemn
4691Each was the other's mirror, and but read
4692Joy sparkling in their dark eyes like a gem
4693And knew such brightness was but the reflection
4694Of their exchanging glances of affection.
4695
4696the gentle pressure, and the thrilling touch
4697the least glance better understood than words
4698Which still said all, and ne'er could say too much
4699A language, too, but like to that of birds
4700Known but to them, at least appearing such
4701As but to lovers a true sense affords
4702Sweet playful phrases, which would seem absurd
4703To those who have ceased to hear such, or ne'er heard
4704
4705All these were theirs, for they were children still
4706And children still they should have ever been
4707they were not made in the real world to fill
4708A busy character in the dull scene
4709But like two beings born from out a rill
4710A nymph and her beloved, all unseen
4711To pass their lives in fountains and on flowers
4712And never know the weight of human hours.
4713
4714Moons changing had roll'd on, and changeless found
4715Those their bright rise had lighted to such joys
4716As rarely they beheld throughout their round
4717And these were not of the vain kind which cloys
4718For theirs were buoyant spirits, never bound
4719By the mere senses and that which destroys
4720Most love, possession, unto them appear'd
4721A thing which each endearment more endear'd.
4722
4723O beautiful! and rare as beautiful
4724But theirs was love in which the mind delights
4725To lose itself when the old world grows dull
4726And we are sick of its hack sounds and sights
4727Intrigues, adventures of the common school
4728Its petty passions, marriages, and flights
4729Where Hymen's torch but brands one strumpet more
4730Whose husband only knows her not a wh re.
4731
4732Hard words harsh truth a truth which many know.
4733Enough. the faithful and the fairy pair
4734Who never found a single hour too slow
4735What was it made them thus exempt from care?
4736Young innate feelings all have felt below
4737Which perish in the rest, but in them were
4738Inherent what we mortals call romantic
4739And always envy, though we deem it frantic.
4740
4741This is in others a factitious state
4742An opium dream of too much youth and reading
4743But was in them their nature or their fate
4744No novels e'er had set their young hearts bleeding
4745For Haidee's knowledge was by no means great
4746And Juan was a boy of saintly breeding
4747So that there was no reason for their loves
4748More than for those of nightingales or doves.
4749
4750they gazed upon the sunset 't is an hour
4751Dear unto all, but dearest to their eyes
4752For it had made them what they were the power
4753Of love had first o'erwhelm'd them from such skies
4754When happiness had been their only dower
4755And twilight saw them link'd in passion's ties
4756Charm'd with each other, all things charm'd that brought
4757the past still welcome as the present thought.
4758
4759I know not why, but in that hour to-night
4760Even as they gazed, a sudden tremor came
4761And swept, as 't were, across their hearts' delight
4762Like the wind o'er a harp-string, or a flame
4763When one is shook in sound, and one in sight
4764And thus some boding flash'd through either frame
4765And call'd from Juan's breast a faint low sigh
4766While one new tear arose in Haidee's eye.
4767
4768That large black prophet eye seem'd to dilate
4769And follow far the disappearing sun
4770As if their last day! of a happy date
4771With his broad, bright, and dropping orb were gone
4772Juan gazed on her as to ask his fate
4773He felt a grief, but knowing cause for none
4774His glance inquired of hers for some excuse
4775For feelings causeless, or at least abstruse.
4776
4777She turn'd to him, and smiled, but in that sort
4778Which makes not others smile then turn'd aside
4779Whatever feeling shook her, it seem'd short
4780And master'd by her wisdom or her pride
4781When Juan spoke, too it might be in sport
4782Of this their mutual feeling, she replied
4783'If it should be so, but it cannot be
4784Or I at least shall not survive to see.'
4785
4786Juan would question further, but she press'd
4787His lip to hers, and silenced him with this
4788And then dismiss'd the omen from her breast
4789Defying augury with that fond kiss
4790And no doubt of all methods 't is the best
4791Some people prefer wine 't is not amiss
4792I have tried both so those who would a part take
4793May choose between the headache and the heartache.
4794
4795One of the two, according to your choice
4796Woman or wine, you 'll have to undergo
4797Both maladies are taxes on our joys
4798But which to choose, I really hardly know
4799And if I had to give a casting voice
4800For both sides I could many reasons show
4801And then decide, without great wrong to either
4802It were much better to have both than neither.
4803
4804Juan and Haidee gazed upon each other
4805With swimming looks of speechless tenderness
4806Which mix'd all feelings, friend, child, lover, brother
4807All that the best can mingle and express
4808When two pure hearts are pour'd in one another
4809And love too much, and yet can not love less
4810But almost sanctify the sweet excess
4811By the immortal wish and power to bless.
4812
4813Mix'd in each other's arms, and heart in heart
4814Why did they not then die? they had lived too long
4815Should an hour come to bid them breathe apart
4816Years could but bring them cruel things or wrong
4817the world was not for them, nor the world's art
4818For beings passionate as Sappho's song
4819Love was born with them, in them, so intense
4820It was their very spirit not a sense.
4821
4822they should have lived together deep in woods
4823Unseen as sings the nightingale they were
4824Unfit to mix in these thick solitudes
4825Call'd social, haunts of Hate, and Vice, and Care
4826How lonely every freeborn creature broods!
4827the sweetest song-birds nestle in a pair
4828the eagle soars alone the gull and crow
4829Flock o'er their carrion, just like men below.
4830
4831Now pillow'd cheek to cheek, in loving sleep
4832Haidee and Juan their siesta took
4833A gentle slumber, but it was not deep
4834For ever and anon a something shook
4835Juan, and shuddering o'er his frame would creep
4836And Haidee's sweet lips murmur'd like a brook
4837A wordless music, and her face so fair
4838Stirr'd with her dream, as rose-leaves with the air.
4839
4840Or as the stirring of a deep dear stream
4841Within an Alpine hollow, when the wind
4842Walks o'er it, was she shaken by the dream
4843the mystical usurper of the mind
4844O'erpowering us to be whate'er may seem
4845Good to the soul which we no more can bind
4846Strange state of being! for 't is still to be
4847Senseless to feel, and with seal'd eyes to see.
4848
4849She dream'd of being alone on the sea-shore
4850Chain'd to a rock she knew not how, but stir
4851She could not from the spot, and the loud roar
4852Grew, and each wave rose roughly, threatening her
4853And o'er her upper lip they seem'd to pour
4854Until she sobb'd for breath, and soon they were
4855Foaming o'er her lone head, so fierce and high
4856Each broke to drown her, yet she could not die.
4857
4858Anon she was released, and then she stray'd
4859O'er the sharp shingles with her bleeding feet
4860And stumbled almost every step she made
4861And something roll'd before her in a sheet
4862Which she must still pursue howe'er afraid
4863'T was white and indistinct, nor stopp'd to meet
4864Her glance nor grasp, for still she gazed, and grasp'd
4865And ran, but it escaped her as she clasp'd.
4866
4867the dream changed in a cave she stood, its walls
4868Were hung with marble icicles, the work
4869Of ages on its water-fretted halls
4870Where waves might wash, and seals might breed and lurk
4871Her hair was dripping, and the very balls
4872Of her black eyes seem'd turn'd to tears, and mirk
4873the sharp rocks look'd below each drop they caught
4874Which froze to marble as it fell, she thought.
4875
4876And wet, and cold, and lifeless at her feet
4877Pale as the foam that froth'd on his dead brow
4878Which she essay'd in vain to clear how sweet
4879Were once her cares, how idle seem'd they now!
4880Lay Juan, nor could aught renew the beat
4881Of his quench'd heart and the sea dirges low
4882Rang in her sad ears like a mermaid's song
4883And that brief dream appear'd a life too long.
4884
4885And gazing on the dead, she thought his face
4886Faded, or alter'd into something new
4887Like to her father's features, till each trace
4888More like and like to Lambro's aspect grew
4889With all his keen worn look and Grecian grace
4890And starting, she awoke, and what to view?
4891O! Powers of Heaven! what dark eye meets she there?
4892'T is 't is her father's fix'd upon the pair!
4893
4894then shrieking, she arose, and shrieking fell
4895With joy and sorrow, hope and fear, to see
4896Him whom she deem'd a habitant where dwell
4897the ocean-buried, risen from death, to be
4898Perchance the death of one she loved too well
4899Dear as her father had been to Haidee
4900It was a moment of that awful kind
4901I have seen such but must not call to mind.
4902
4903Up Juan sprung to Haidee's bitter shriek
4904And caught her falling, and from off the wall
4905Snatch'd down his sabre, in hot haste to wreak
4906Vengeance on him who was the cause of all
4907then Lambro, who till now forbore to speak
4908Smiled scornfully, and said, 'Within my call
4909A thousand scimitars await the word
4910Put up, young man, put up your silly sword.'
4911
4912And Haidee clung around him 'Juan, 't is
4913'T is Lambro 't is my father! Kneel with me
4914He will forgive us yes it must be yes.
4915O! dearest father, in this agony
4916Of pleasure and of pain even while I kiss
4917Thy garment's hem with transport, can it be
4918That doubt should mingle with my filial joy?
4919Deal with me as thou wilt, but spare this boy.'
4920
4921High and inscrutable the old man stood
4922Calm in his voice, and calm within his eye
4923Not always signs with him of calmest mood
4924He look'd upon her, but gave no reply
4925then turn'd to Juan, in whose cheek the blood
4926Oft came and went, as there resolved to die
4927In arms, at least, he stood, in act to spring
4928On the first foe whom Lambro's call might bring.
4929
4930'Young man, your sword' so Lambro once more said
4931Juan replied, 'Not while this arm is free.'
4932the old man's cheek grew pale, but not with dread
4933And drawing from his belt a pistol, he
4934Replied, 'Your blood be then on your own head.'
4935then look'd dose at the flint, as if to see
4936'T was fresh for he had lately used the lock
4937And next proceeded quietly to cock.
4938
4939It has a strange quick jar upon the ear
4940That cocking of a pistol, when you know
4941A moment more will bring the sight to bear
4942Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so
4943A gentlemanly distance, not too near
4944If you have got a former friend for foe
4945But after being fired at once or twice
4946the ear becomes more Irish, and less nice.
4947
4948Lambro presented, and one instant more
4949Had stopp'd this Canto, and Don Juan's breath
4950When Haidee threw herself her boy before
4951Stern as her sire 'On me,' she cried, 'let death
4952Descend the fault is mine this fatal shore
4953He found but sought not. I have pledged my faith
4954I love him I will die with him I knew
4955Your nature's firmness know your daughter's too.'
4956
4957A minute past, and she had been all tears
4958And tenderness, and infancy but now
4959She stood as one who champion'd human fears
4960Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow
4961And tall beyond her sex, and their compeers
4962She drew up to her height, as if to show
4963A fairer mark and with a fix'd eye scann'd
4964Her father's face but never stopp'd his hand.
4965
4966He gazed on her, and she on him 't was strange
4967How like they look'd! the expression was the same
4968Serenely savage, with a little change
4969In the large dark eye's mutual-darted flame
4970For she, too, was as one who could avenge
4971If cause should be a lioness, though tame.
4972Her father's blood before her father's face
4973Boil'd up, and proved her truly of his race.
4974
4975I said they were alike, their features and
4976their stature, differing but in sex and years
4977Even to the delicacy of their hand
4978there was resemblance, such as true blood wears
4979And now to see them, thus divided, stand
4980In fix'd ferocity, when joyous tears
4981And sweet sensations should have welcomed both
4982Show what the passions are in their full growth.
4983
4984the father paused a moment, then withdrew
4985His weapon, and replaced it but stood still
4986And looking on her, as to look her through
4987'Not I,' he said, 'have sought this stranger's ill
4988Not I have made this desolation few
4989Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill
4990But I must do my duty how thou hast
4991Done thine, the present vouches for the past.
4992
4993'Let him disarm or, by my father's head
4994His own shall roll before you like a ball!'
4995He raised his whistle, as the word he said
4996And blew another answer'd to the call
4997And rushing in disorderly, though led
4998And arm'd from boot to turban, one and all
4999Some twenty of his train came, rank on rank
5000He gave the word, 'Arrest or slay the Frank.'
5001
5002then, with a sudden movement, he withdrew
5003His daughter while compress'd within his clasp
5004'Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew
5005In vain she struggled in her father's grasp
5006His arms were like a serpent's coil then flew
5007Upon their prey, as darts an angry asp
5008the file of pirates save the foremost, who
5009Had fallen, with his right shoulder half cut through.
5010
5011the second had his cheek laid open but
5012the third, a wary, cool old sworder, took
5013the blows upon his cutlass, and then put
5014His own well in so well, ere you could look
5015His man was floor'd, and helpless at his foot
5016With the blood running like a little brook
5017From two smart sabre gashes, deep and red
5018One on the arm, the other on the head.
5019
5020And then they bound him where he fell, and bore
5021Juan from the apartment with a sign
5022Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore
5023Where lay some ships which were to sail at nine.
5024they laid him in a boat, and plied the oar
5025Until they reach'd some galliots, placed in line
5026On board of one of these, and under hatches
5027they stow'd him, with strict orders to the watches.
5028
5029the world is full of strange vicissitudes
5030And here was one exceedingly unpleasant
5031A gentleman so rich in the world's goods
5032Handsome and young, enjoying all the present
5033Just at the very time when he least broods
5034On such a thing is suddenly to sea sent
5035Wounded and chain'd, so that he cannot move
5036And all because a lady fell in love.
5037
5038Here I must leave him, for I grow pathetic
5039Moved by the Chinese nymph of tears, green tea!
5040Than whom Cassandra was not more prophetic
5041For if my pure libations exceed three
5042I feel my heart become so sympathetic
5043That I must have recourse to black Bohea
5044'T is pity wine should be so deleterious
5045For tea and coffee leave us much more serious
5046
5047Unless when qualified with thee, Cogniac!
5048Sweet Naiad of the Phlegethontic rill!
5049Ah! why the liver wilt thou thus attack
5050And make, like other nymphs, thy lovers ill?
5051I would take refuge in weak punch, but rack
5052In each sense of the word, whene'er I fill
5053My mild and midnight beakers to the brim
5054Wakes me next morning with its synonym.
5055
5056I leave Don Juan for the present, safe
5057Not sound, poor fellow, but severely wounded
5058Yet could his corporal pangs amount to half
5059Of those with which his Haidee's bosom bounded?
5060She was not one to weep, and rave, and chafe
5061And then give way, subdued because surrounded
5062Her mother was a Moorish maid, from Fez
5063Where all is Eden, or a wilderness.
5064
5065there the large olive rains its amber store
5066In marble fonts there grain, and flower, and fruit
5067Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er
5068But there, too, many a poison-tree has root
5069And midnight listens to the lion's roar
5070And long, long deserts scorch the camel's foot
5071Or heaving whelm the helpless caravan
5072And as the soil is, so the heart of man.
5073
5074Afric is all the sun's, and as her earth
5075Her human day is kindled full of power
5076For good or evil, burning from its birth
5077the Moorish blood partakes the planet's hour
5078And like the soil beneath it will bring forth
5079Beauty and love were Haidee's mother's dower
5080But her large dark eye show'd deep Passion's force
5081Though sleeping like a lion near a source.
5082
5083Her daughter, temper'd with a milder ray
5084Like summer clouds all silvery, smooth, and fair
5085Till slowly charged with thunder they display
5086Terror to earth, and tempest to the air
5087Had held till now her soft and milky way
5088But overwrought with passion and despair
5089the fire burst forth from her Numidian veins
5090Even as the Simoom sweeps the blasted plains.
5091
5092the last sight which she saw was Juan's gore
5093And he himself o'ermaster'd and cut down
5094His blood was running on the very floor
5095Where late he trod, her beautiful, her own
5096Thus much she view'd an instant and no more
5097Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan
5098On her sire's arm, which until now scarce held
5099Her writhing, fell she like a cedar fell'd.
5100
5101A vein had burst, and her sweet lips' pure dyes
5102Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er
5103And her head droop'd as when the lily lies
5104O'ercharged with rain her summon'd handmaids bore
5105their lady to her couch with gushing eyes
5106Of herbs and cordials they produced their store
5107But she defied all means they could employ
5108Like one life could not hold, nor death destroy.
5109
5110Days lay she in that state unchanged, though chill
5111With nothing livid, still her lips were red
5112She had no pulse, but death seem'd absent still
5113No hideous sign proclaim'd her surely dead
5114Corruption came not in each mind to kill
5115All hope to look upon her sweet face bred
5116New thoughts of life, for it seem'd full of soul
5117She had so much, earth could not claim the whole.
5118
5119the ruling passion, such as marble shows
5120When exquisitely chisell'd, still lay there
5121But fix'd as marble's unchanged aspect throws
5122O'er the fair Venus, but for ever fair
5123O'er the Laocoon's all eternal throes
5124And ever-dying Gladiator's air
5125their energy like life forms all their fame
5126Yet looks not life, for they are still the same.
5127
5128She woke at length, but not as sleepers wake
5129Rather the dead, for life seem'd something new
5130A strange sensation which she must partake
5131Perforce, since whatsoever met her view
5132Struck not on memory, though a heavy ache
5133Lay at her heart, whose earliest beat still true
5134Brought back the sense of pain without the cause
5135For, for a while, the furies made a pause.
5136
5137She look'd on many a face with vacant eye
5138On many a token without knowing what
5139She saw them watch her without asking why
5140And reck'd not who around her pillow sat
5141Not speechless, though she spoke not not a sigh
5142Relieved her thoughts dull silence and quick chat
5143Were tried in vain by those who served she gave
5144No sign, save breath, of having left the grave.
5145
5146Her handmaids tended, but she heeded not
5147Her father watch'd, she turn'd her eyes away
5148She recognized no being, and no spot
5149However dear or cherish'd in their day
5150they changed from room to room but all forgot
5151Gentle, but without memory she lay
5152At length those eyes, which they would fain be weaning
5153Back to old thoughts, wax'd full of fearful meaning.
5154
5155And then a slave bethought her of a harp
5156the harper came, and tuned his instrument
5157At the first notes, irregular and sharp
5158On him her flashing eyes a moment bent
5159then to the wall she turn'd as if to warp
5160Her thoughts from sorrow through her heart re-sent
5161And he begun a long low island song
5162Of ancient days, ere tyranny grew strong.
5163
5164Anon her thin wan fingers beat the wall
5165In time to his old tune he changed the theme
5166And sung of love the fierce name struck through all
5167Her recollection on her flash'd the dream
5168Of what she was, and is, if ye could call
5169To be so being in a gushing stream
5170the tears rush'd forth from her o'erclouded brain
5171Like mountain mists at length dissolved in rain.
5172
5173Short solace, vain relief! thought came too quick
5174And whirl'd her brain to madness she arose
5175As one who ne'er had dwelt among the sick
5176And flew at all she met, as on her foes
5177But no one ever heard her speak or shriek
5178Although her paroxysm drew towards its dose
5179Hers was a phrensy which disdain'd to rave
5180Even when they smote her, in the hope to save.
5181
5182Yet she betray'd at times a gleam of sense
5183Nothing could make her meet her father's face
5184Though on all other things with looks intense
5185She gazed, but none she ever could retrace
5186Food she refused, and raiment no pretence
5187Avail'd for either neither change of place
5188Nor time, nor skill, nor remedy, could give her
5189Senses to sleep the power seem'd gone for ever.
5190
5191Twelve days and nights she wither'd thus at last
5192Without a groan, or sigh, or glance, to show
5193A parting pang, the spirit from her past
5194And they who watch'd her nearest could not know
5195the very instant, till the change that cast
5196Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow
5197Glazed o'er her eyes the beautiful, the black
5198O! to possess such lustre and then lack!
5199
5200She died, but not alone she held within
5201A second principle of life, which might
5202Have dawn'd a fair and sinless child of sin
5203But closed its little being without light
5204And went down to the grave unborn, wherein
5205Blossom and bough lie wither'd with one blight
5206In vain the dews of Heaven descend above
5207the bleeding flower and blasted fruit of love.
5208
5209Thus lived thus died she never more on her
5210Shall sorrow light, or shame. She was not made
5211Through years or moons the inner weight to bear
5212Which colder hearts endure till they are laid
5213By age in earth her days and pleasures were
5214Brief, but delightful such as had not staid
5215Long with her destiny but she sleeps well
5216By the sea-shore, whereon she loved to dwell.
5217
5218That isle is now all desolate and bare
5219Its dwellings down, its tenants pass'd away
5220None but her own and father's grave is there
5221And nothing outward tells of human clay
5222Ye could not know where lies a thing so fair
5223No stone is there to show, no tongue to say
5224What was no dirge, except the hollow sea's
5225Mourns o'er the beauty of the Cyclades.
5226
5227But many a Greek maid in a loving song
5228Sighs o'er her name and many an islander
5229With her sire's story makes the night less long
5230Valour was his, and beauty dwelt with her
5231If she loved rashly, her life paid for wrong
5232A heavy price must all pay who thus err
5233In some shape let none think to fly the danger
5234For soon or late Love is his own avenger.
5235
5236But let me change this theme which grows too sad
5237And lay this sheet of sorrows on the shelf
5238I don't much like describing people mad
5239For fear of seeming rather touch'd myself
5240Besides, I 've no more on this head to add
5241And as my Muse is a capricious elf
5242We 'll put about, and try another tack
5243With Juan, left half-kill'd some stanzas back.
5244
5245Wounded and fetter'd, 'cabin'd, cribb'd, confined,'
5246Some days and nights elapsed before that he
5247Could altogether call the past to mind
5248And when he did, he found himself at sea
5249Sailing six knots an hour before the wind
5250the shores of Ilion lay beneath their lee
5251Another time he might have liked to see 'em
5252But now was not much pleased with Cape Sigaeum.
5253
5254there, on the green and village-cotted hill, is
5255Flank'd by the Hellespont and by the sea
5256Entomb'd the bravest of the brave, Achilles
5257they say so Bryant says the contrary
5258And further downward, tall and towering still, is
5259the tumulus of whom? Heaven knows! 't may be
5260Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus
5261All heroes, who if living still would slay us.
5262
5263High barrows, without marble or a name
5264A vast, untill'd, and mountain-skirted plain
5265And Ida in the distance, still the same
5266And old Scamander if 't is he remain
5267the situation seems still form'd for fame
5268A hundred thousand men might fight again
5269With case but where I sought for Ilion's walls
5270the quiet sheep feeds, and the tortoise crawls
5271
5272Troops of untended horses here and there
5273Some little hamlets, with new names uncouth
5274Some shepherds unlike Paris led to stare
5275A moment at the European youth
5276Whom to the spot their school-boy feelings bear
5277A turk, with beads in hand and pipe in mouth
5278Extremely taken with his own religion
5279Are what I found there but the devil a Phrygian.
5280
5281Don Juan, here permitted to emerge
5282From his dull cabin, found himself a slave
5283Forlorn, and gazing on the deep blue surge
5284O'ershadow'd there by many a hero's grave
5285Weak still with loss of blood, he scarce could urge
5286A few brief questions and the answers gave
5287No very satisfactory information
5288About his past or present situation.
5289
5290He saw some fellow captives, who appear'd
5291To be Italians, as they were in fact
5292From them, at least, their destiny he heard
5293Which was an odd one a troop going to act
5294In Sicily all singers, duly rear'd
5295In their vocation had not been attack'd
5296In sailing from Livorno by the pirate
5297But sold by the impresario at no high rate.
5298
5299By one of these, the buffo of the party
5300Juan was told about their curious case
5301For although destined to the Turkish mart, he
5302Still kept his spirits up at least his face
5303the little fellow really look'd quite hearty
5304And bore him with some gaiety and grace
5305Showing a much more reconciled demeanour
5306Than did the prima donna and the tenor.
5307
5308In a few words he told their hapless story
5309Saying, 'Our Machiavellian impresario
5310Making a signal off some promontory
5311Hail'd a strange brig Corpo di Caio Mario!
5312We were transferr'd on board her in a hurry
5313Without a Single scudo of salario
5314But if the Sultan has a taste for song
5315We will revive our fortunes before long.
5316
5317'the prima donna, though a little old
5318And haggard with a dissipated life
5319And subject, when the house is thin, to cold
5320Has some good notes and then the tenor's wife
5321With no great voice, is pleasing to behold
5322Last carnival she made a deal of strife
5323By carrying off Count Cesare Cicogna
5324From an old Roman princess at Bologna.
5325
5326'And then there are the dancers there 's the Nini
5327With more than one profession, gains by all
5328then there 's that laughing slut the Pelegrini
5329She, too, was fortunate last carnival
5330And made at least five hundred good zecchini
5331But spends so fast, she has not now a paul
5332And then there 's the Grotesca such a dancer!
5333Where men have souls or bodies she must answer.
5334
5335'As for the figuranti, they are like
5336the rest of all that tribe with here and there
5337A pretty person, which perhaps may strike
5338the rest are hardly fitted for a fair
5339there 's one, though tall and stiffer than a pike
5340Yet has a sentimental kind of air
5341Which might go far, but she don't dance with vigour
5342the more 's the pity, with her face and figure.
5343
5344'As for the men, they are a middling set
5345the musico is but a crack'd old basin
5346But being qualified in one way yet
5347May the seraglio do to set his face in
5348And as a servant some preferment get
5349His singing I no further trust can place in
5350From all the Pope makes yearly 't would perplex
5351To find three perfect pipes of the third sex.
5352
5353'the tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation
5354And for the bass, the beast can only bellow
5355In fact, he had no singing education
5356An ignorant, noteless, timeless, tuneless fellow
5357But being the prima donna's near relation
5358Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow
5359they hired him, though to hear him you 'd believe
5360An ass was practising recitative.
5361
5362''T would not become myself to dwell upon
5363My own merits, and though young I see, Sir you
5364Have got a travell'd air, which speaks you one
5365To whom the opera is by no means new
5366You 've heard of Raucocanti? I 'm the man
5367the time may come when you may hear me too
5368You was not last year at the fair of Lugo
5369But next, when I 'm engaged to sing there do go.
5370
5371'Our baritone I almost had forgot
5372A pretty lad, but bursting with conceit
5373With graceful action, science not a jot
5374A voice of no great compass, and not sweet
5375He always is complaining of his lot
5376Forsooth, scarce fit for ballads in the street
5377In lovers' parts his passion more to breathe
5378Having no heart to show, he shows his teeth.'
5379
5380Here Raucocanti's eloquent recital
5381Was interrupted by the pirate crew
5382Who came at stated moments to invite all
5383the captives back to their sad berths each threw
5384A rueful glance upon the waves which bright all
5385From the blue skies derived a double blue
5386Dancing all free and happy in the sun
5387And then went down the hatchway one by one.
5388
5389they heard next day that in the Dardanelles
5390Waiting for his Sublimity's firman
5391the most imperative of sovereign spells
5392Which every body does without who can
5393More to secure them in their naval cells
5394Lady to lady, well as man to man
5395Were to be chain'd and lotted out per couple
5396For the slave market of Constantinople.
5397
5398It seems when this allotment was made out
5399there chanced to be an odd male, and odd female
5400Who after some discussion and some doubt
5401If the soprano might be deem'd to be male
5402they placed him o'er the women as a scout
5403Were link'd together, and it happen'd the male
5404Was Juan, who, an awkward thing at his age
5405Pair'd off with a Bacchante blooming visage.
5406
5407With Raucocanti lucklessly was chain'd
5408the tenor these two hated with a hate
5409Found only on the stage, and each more pain'd
5410With this his tuneful neighbour than his fate
5411Sad strife arose, for they were so cross-grain'd
5412Instead of bearing up without debate
5413That each pull'd different ways with many an oath
5414'Arcades ambo,' id est blackguards both.
5415
5416Juan's companion was a Romagnole
5417But bred within the March of old Ancona
5418With eyes that look'd into the very soul
5419And other chief points of a 'bella donna'
5420Bright and as black and burning as a coal
5421And through her dear brunette complexion shone
5422Great wish to please a most attractive dower
5423Especially when added to the power.
5424
5425But all that power was wasted upon him
5426For sorrow o'er each sense held stern command
5427Her eye might flash on his, but found it dim
5428And though thus chain'd, as natural her hand
5429Touch'd his, nor that nor any handsome limb
5430And she had some not easy to withstand
5431Could stir his pulse, or make his faith feel brittle
5432Perhaps his recent wounds might help a little.
5433
5434No matter we should ne'er too much enquire
5435But facts are facts no knight could be more true
5436And firmer faith no ladye love desire
5437We will omit the proofs, save one or two
5438'T is said no one in hand 'can hold a fire
5439By thought of frosty Caucasus' but few
5440I really think yet Juan's then ordeal
5441Was more triumphant, and not much less real.
5442
5443Here I might enter on a chaste description
5444Having withstood temptation in my youth
5445But hear that several people take exception
5446At the first two books having too much truth
5447therefore I 'll make Don Juan leave the ship soon
5448Because the publisher declares, in sooth
5449Through needles' eyes it easier for the camel is
5450To pass, than those two cantos into families.
5451
5452'T is all the same to me I 'm fond of yielding
5453And therefore leave them to the purer page
5454Of Smollett, Prior, Ariosto, Fielding
5455Who say strange things for so correct an age
5456I once had great alacrity in wielding
5457My pen, and liked poetic war to wage
5458And recollect the time when all this cant
5459Would have provoked remarks which now it shan't.
5460
5461As boys love rows, my boyhood liked a squabble
5462But at this hour I wish to part in peace
5463Leaving such to the literary rabble
5464Whether my verse's fame be doom'd to cease
5465While the right hand which wrote it still is able
5466Or of some centuries to take a lease
5467the grass upon my grave will grow as long
5468And sigh to midnight winds, but not to song.
5469
5470Of poets who come down to us through distance
5471Of time and tongues, the foster-babes of Fame
5472Life seems the smallest portion of existence
5473Where twenty ages gather o'er a name
5474'T is as a snowball which derives assistance
5475From every flake, and yet rolls on the same
5476Even till an iceberg it may chance to grow
5477But, after all, 't is nothing but cold snow.
5478
5479And so great names are nothing more than nominal
5480And love of glory 's but an airy lust
5481Too often in its fury overcoming all
5482Who would as 't were identify their dust
5483From out the wide destruction, which, entombing all
5484Leaves nothing till 'the coming of the just'
5485Save change I 've stood upon Achilles' tomb
5486And heard Troy doubted time will doubt of Rome.
5487
5488the very generations of the dead
5489Are swept away, and tomb inherits tomb
5490Until the memory of an age is fled
5491And, buried, sinks beneath its offspring's doom
5492Where are the epitaphs our fathers read?
5493Save a few glean'd from the sepulchral gloom
5494Which once-named myriads nameless lie beneath
5495And lose their own in universal death.
5496
5497I canter by the spot each afternoon
5498Where perish'd in his fame the hero-boy
5499Who lived too long for men, but died too soon
5500For human vanity, the young De Foix!
5501A broken pillar, not uncouthly hewn
5502But which neglect is hastening to destroy
5503Records Ravenna's carnage on its face
5504While weeds and ordure rankle round the base.
5505
5506I pass each day where Dante's bones are laid
5507A little cupola, more neat than solemn
5508Protects his dust, but reverence here is paid
5509To the bard's tomb, and not the warrior's column.
5510the time must come, when both alike decay'd
5511the chieftain's trophy, and the poet's volume
5512Will sink where lie the songs and wars of earth
5513Before Pelides' death, or Homer's birth.
5514
5515With human blood that column was cemented
5516With human filth that column is defiled
5517As if the peasant's coarse contempt were vented
5518To show his loathing of the spot he soil'd
5519Thus is the trophy used, and thus lamented
5520Should ever be those blood-hounds, from whose wild
5521Instinct of gore and glory earth has known
5522Those sufferings Dante saw in hell alone.
5523
5524Yet there will still be bards though fame is smoke
5525Its fumes are frankincense to human thought
5526And the unquiet feelings, which first woke
5527Song in the world, will seek what then they sought
5528As on the beach the waves at last are broke
5529Thus to their extreme verge the passions brought
5530Dash into poetry, which is but passion
5531Or at least was so ere it grew a fashion.
5532
5533If in the course of such a life as was
5534At once adventurous and contemplative
5535Men, who partake all passions as they pass
5536Acquire the deep and bitter power to give
5537their images again as in a glass
5538And in such colours that they seem to live
5539You may do right forbidding them to show 'em
5540But spoil I think a very pretty poem.
5541
5542O! ye, who make the fortunes of all books!
5543Benign Ceruleans of the second sex!
5544Who advertise new poems by your looks
5545Your 'imprimatur' will ye not annex?
5546What! must I go to the oblivious cooks
5547Those Cornish plunderers of Parnassian wrecks?
5548Ah! must I then the only minstrel be
5549Proscribed from tasting your Castalian tea!
5550
5551What! can I prove 'a lion' then no more?
5552A ball-room bard, a foolscap, hot-press darling?
5553To bear the compliments of many a bore
5554And sigh, 'I can't get out,' like Yorick's starling
5555Why then I 'll swear, as poet Wordy swore
5556Because the world won't read him, always snarling
5557That taste is gone, that fame is but a lottery
5558Drawn by the blue-coat misses of a coterie.
5559
5560O! 'darkly, deeply, beautifully blue,'
5561As some one somewhere sings about the sky
5562And I, ye learned ladies, say of you
5563they say your stockings are so Heaven knows why
5564I have examined few pair of that hue
5565Blue as the garters which serenely lie
5566Round the Patrician left-legs, which adorn
5567the festal midnight, and the levee morn.
5568
5569Yet some of you are most seraphic creatures
5570But times are alter'd since, a rhyming lover
5571You read my stanzas, and I read your features
5572And but no matter, all those things are over
5573Still I have no dislike to learned natures
5574For sometimes such a world of virtues cover
5575I knew one woman of that purple school
5576the loveliest, chastest, best, but quite a fool.
5577
5578Humboldt, 'the first of travellers,' but not
5579the last, if late accounts be accurate
5580Invented, by some name I have forgot
5581As well as the sublime discovery's date
5582An airy instrument, with which he sought
5583To ascertain the atmospheric state
5584By measuring 'the intensity of blue'
5585O, Lady Daphne! let me measure you!
5586
5587But to the narrative the vessel bound
5588With slaves to sell off in the capital
5589After the usual process, might be found
5590At anchor under the seraglio wall
5591Her cargo, from the plague being safe and sound
5592Were landed in the market, one and all
5593And there with Georgians, Russians, and Circassians
5594Bought up for different purposes and passions.
5595
5596Some went off dearly fifteen hundred dollars
5597For one Circassian, a sweet girl, were given
5598Warranted virgin beauty's brightest colours
5599Had deck'd her out in all the hues of heaven
5600Her sale sent home some disappointed bawlers
5601Who bade on till the hundreds reach'd eleven
5602But when the offer went beyond, they knew
5603'T was for the Sultan, and at once withdrew.
5604
5605Twelve negresses from Nubia brought a price
5606Which the West Indian market scarce would bring
5607Though Wilberforce, at last, has made it twice
5608What 't was ere Abolition and the thing
5609Need not seem very wonderful, for vice
5610Is always much more splendid than a king
5611the virtues, even the most exalted, Charity
5612Are saving vice spares nothing for a rarity.
5613
5614But for the destiny of this young troop
5615How some were bought by pachas, some by Jews
5616How some to burdens were obliged to stoop
5617And others rose to the command of crews
5618As renegadoes while in hapless group
5619Hoping no very old vizier might choose
5620the females stood, as one by one they pick'd 'em
5621To make a mistress, or fourth wife, or victim
5622
5623All this must be reserved for further song
5624Also our hero's lot, howe'er unpleasant
5625Because this Canto has become too long
5626Must be postponed discreetly for the present
5627I 'm sensible redundancy is wrong
5628But could not for the muse of me put less in 't
5629And now delay the progress of Don Juan
5630Till what is call'd in Ossian the fifth Juan.
5631
5632When amatory poets sing their loves
5633In liquid lines mellifluously bland
5634And pair their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves
5635they little think what mischief is in hand
5636the greater their success the worse it proves
5637As Ovid's verse may give to understand
5638Even Petrarch's self, if judged with due severity
5639Is the Platonic pimp of all posterity.
5640
5641I therefore do denounce all amorous writing
5642Except in such a way as not to attract
5643Plain simple short, and by no means inviting
5644But with a moral to each error tack'd
5645Form'd rather for instructing than delighting
5646And with all passions in their turn attack'd
5647Now, if my Pegasus should not be shod ill
5648This poem will become a moral model.
5649
5650the European with the Asian shore
5651Sprinkled with palaces the ocean stream
5652Here and there studded with a seventy-four
5653Sophia's cupola with golden gleam
5654the cypress groves Olympus high and hoar
5655the twelve isles, and the more than I could dream
5656Far less describe, present the very view
5657Which charm'd the charming Mary Montagu.
5658
5659I have a passion for the name of 'Mary,'
5660For once it was a magic sound to me
5661And still it half calls up the realms of fairy
5662Where I beheld what never was to be
5663All feelings changed, but this was last to vary
5664A spell from which even yet I am not quite free
5665But I grow sad and let a tale grow cold
5666Which must not be pathetically told.
5667
5668the wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave
5669Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades
5670'T is a grand sight from off 'the Giant's Grave
5671To watch the progress of those rolling seas
5672Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave
5673Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease
5674there 's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in
5675Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine.
5676
5677'T was a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning
5678When nights are equal, but not so the days
5679the Parcae then cut short the further spinning
5680Of seamen's fates, and the loud tempests raise
5681the waters, and repentance for past sinning
5682In all, who o'er the great deep take their ways
5683they vow to amend their lives, and yet they don't
5684Because if drown'd, they can't if spared, they won't.
5685
5686A crowd of shivering slaves of every nation
5687And age, and sex, were in the market ranged
5688Each bevy with the merchant in his station
5689Poor creatures! their good looks were sadly changed.
5690All save the blacks seem'd jaded with vexation
5691From friends, and home, and freedom far estranged
5692the negroes more philosophy display'd
5693Used to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flay'd.
5694
5695Juan was juvenile, and thus was full
5696As most at his age are, of hope and health
5697Yet I must own he looked a little dull
5698And now and then a tear stole down by stealth
5699Perhaps his recent loss of blood might pull
5700His spirit down and then the loss of wealth
5701A mistress, and such comfortable quarters
5702To be put up for auction amongst Tartars
5703
5704Were things to shake a stoic ne'ertheless
5705Upon the whole his carriage was serene
5706His figure, and the splendour of his dress
5707Of which some gilded remnants still were seen
5708Drew all eyes on him, giving them to guess
5709He was above the vulgar by his mien
5710And then, though pale, he was so very handsome
5711And then they calculated on his ransom.
5712
5713Like a backgammon board the place was dotted
5714With whites and blacks, in groups on show for sale
5715Though rather more irregularly spotted
5716Some bought the jet, while others chose the pale.
5717It chanced amongst the other people lotted
5718A man of thirty rather stout and hale
5719With resolution in his dark grey eye
5720Next Juan stood, till some might choose to buy.
5721
5722He had an English look that is, was square
5723In make, of a complexion white and ruddy
5724Good teeth, with curling rather dark brown hair
5725And, it might be from thought or toil or study
5726An open brow a little mark'd with care
5727One arm had on a bandage rather bloody
5728And there he stood with such sang-froid, that greater
5729Could scarce be shown even by a mere spectator.
5730
5731But seeing at his elbow a mere lad
5732Of a high spirit evidently, though
5733At present weigh'd down by a doom which had
5734O'erthrown even men, he soon began to show
5735A kind of blunt compassion for the sad
5736Lot of so young a partner in the woe
5737Which for himself he seem'd to deem no worse
5738Than any other scrape, a thing of course.
5739
5740'My boy!' said he, 'amidst this motley crew
5741Of Georgians, Russians, Nubians, and what not
5742All ragamuffins differing but in hue
5743With whom it is our luck to cast our lot
5744the only gentlemen seem I and you
5745So let us be acquainted, as we ought
5746If I could yield you any consolation
5747'T would give me pleasure. Pray, what is your nation?'
5748
5749When Juan answer'd 'Spanish!' he replied
5750'I thought, in fact, you could not be a Greek
5751Those servile dogs are not so proudly eyed
5752Fortune has play'd you here a pretty freak
5753But that 's her way with all men, till they 're tried
5754But never mind, she 'll turn, perhaps, next week
5755She has served me also much the same as you
5756Except that I have found it nothing new.'
5757
5758'Pray, sir,' said Juan, 'if I may presume
5759What brought you here?' 'Oh! nothing very rare
5760Six Tartars and a drag-chain.' 'To this doom
5761But what conducted, if the question's fair
5762Is that which I would learn.' 'I served for some
5763Months with the Russian army here and there
5764And taking lately, by Suwarrow's bidding
5765A town, was ta'en myself instead of Widdin.'
5766
5767'Have you no friends?' 'I had but, by God's blessing
5768Have not been troubled with them lately. Now
5769I have answer'd all your questions without pressing
5770And you an equal courtesy should show.'
5771'Alas!' said Juan, ''t were a tale distressing
5772And long besides.' 'Oh! if 't is really so
5773You 're right on both accounts to hold your tongue
5774A sad tale saddens doubly, when 't is long.
5775
5776'But droop not Fortune at your time of life
5777Although a female moderately fickle
5778Will hardly leave you as she 's not your wife
5779For any length of days in such a pickle.
5780To strive, too, with our fate were such a strife
5781As if the corn-sheaf should oppose the sickle
5782Men are the sport of circumstances, when
5783the circumstances seem the sport of men.'
5784
5785''T is not,' said Juan, 'for my present doom
5786I mourn, but for the past I loved a maid'
5787He paused, and his dark eye grew full of gloom
5788A single tear upon his eyelash staid
5789A moment, and then dropp'd 'but to resume
5790'T is not my present lot, as I have said
5791Which I deplore so much for I have borne
5792Hardships which have the hardiest overworn
5793
5794'On the rough deep. But this last blow-' and here
5795He stopp'd again, and turn'd away his face.
5796'Ay,' quoth his friend, 'I thought it would appear
5797That there had been a lady in the case
5798And these are things which ask a tender tear
5799Such as I, too, would shed if in your place
5800I cried upon my first wife's dying day
5801And also when my second ran away
5802
5803'My third-' 'Your third!' quoth Juan, turning round
5804'You scarcely can be thirty have you three?'
5805'No only two at present above ground
5806Surely 't is nothing wonderful to see
5807One person thrice in holy wedlock bound!'
5808'Well, then, your third,' said Juan 'what did she?
5809She did not run away, too, did she, sir?'
5810'No, faith.' 'What then?' 'I ran away from her.'
5811
5812'You take things coolly, sir,' said Juan. 'Why,'
5813Replied the other, 'what can a man do?
5814there still are many rainbows in your sky
5815But mine have vanish'd. All, when life is new
5816Commence with feelings warm, and prospects high
5817But time strips our illusions of their hue
5818And one by one in turn, some grand mistake
5819Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake.
5820
5821''T is true, it gets another bright and fresh
5822Or fresher, brighter but the year gone through
5823This skin must go the way, too, of all flesh
5824Or sometimes only wear a week or two
5825Love 's the first net which spreads its deadly mesh
5826Ambition, Avarice, Vengeance, Glory, glue
5827the glittering lime-twigs of our latter days
5828Where still we flutter on for pence or praise.'
5829
5830'All this is very fine, and may be true,'
5831Said Juan 'but I really don't see how
5832It betters present times with me or you.'
5833'No?' quoth the other 'yet you will allow
5834By setting things in their right point of view
5835Knowledge, at least, is gain'd for instance, now
5836We know what slavery is, and our disasters
5837May teach us better to behave when masters.'
5838
5839'Would we were masters now, if but to try
5840their present lessons on our Pagan friends here,'
5841Said Juan, swallowing a heart-burning sigh
5842'Heaven help the scholar whom his fortune sends here!'
5843'Perhaps we shall be one day, by and by,'
5844Rejoin'd the other, when our bad luck mends here
5845Meantime yon old black eunuch seems to eye us
5846
5847'But after all, what is our present state?
5848'T is bad, and may be better all men's lot
5849Most men are slaves, none more so than the great
5850To their own whims and passions, and what not
5851Society itself, which should create
5852Kindness, destroys what little we had got
5853To feel for none is the true social art
5854Of the world's stoics men without a heart.'
5855
5856Just now a black old neutral personage
5857Of the third sex stept up, and peering over
5858the captives, seem'd to mark their looks and age
5859And capabilities, as to discover
5860If they were fitted for the purposed cage
5861No lady e'er is ogled by a lover
5862Horse by a blackleg, broadcloth by a tailor
5863Fee by a counsel, felon by a jailor
5864
5865As is a slave by his intended bidder.
5866'T is pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures
5867And all are to be sold, if you consider
5868their passions, and are dext'rous some by features
5869Are bought up, others by a warlike leader
5870Some by a place as tend their years or natures
5871the most by ready cash but all have prices
5872From crowns to kicks, according to their vices.
5873
5874the eunuch, having eyed them o'er with care
5875Turn'd to the merchant, and begun to bid
5876First but for one, and after for the pair
5877they haggled, wrangled, swore, too so they did!
5878As though they were in a mere Christian fair
5879Cheapening an ox, an ass, a lamb, or kid
5880So that their bargain sounded like a battle
5881For this superior yoke of human cattle.
5882
5883At last they settled into simple grumbling
5884And pulling out reluctant purses, and
5885Turning each piece of silver o'er, and tumbling
5886Some down, and weighing others in their hand
5887And by mistake sequins with paras jumbling
5888Until the sum was accurately scann'd
5889And then the merchant giving change, and signing
5890Receipts in full, began to think of dining.
5891
5892I wonder if his appetite was good?
5893Or, if it were, if also his digestion?
5894Methinks at meals some odd thoughts might intrude
5895And conscience ask a curious sort of question
5896About the right divine how far we should
5897Sell flesh and blood. When dinner has opprest one
5898I think it is perhaps the gloomiest hour
5899Which turns up out of the sad twenty-four.
5900
5901Voltaire says 'No' he tells you that Candide
5902Found life most tolerable after meals
5903He 's wrong unless man were a pig, indeed
5904Repletion rather adds to what he feels
5905Unless he 's drunk, and then no doubt he 's freed
5906From his own brain's oppression while it reels.
5907Of food I think with Philip's son, or rather
5908Ammon's ill pleased with one world and one father
5909
5910I think with Alexander, that the act
5911Of eating, with another act or two
5912Makes us feel our mortality in fact
5913Redoubled when a roast and a ragout
5914And fish, and soup, by some side dishes back'd
5915Can give us either pain or pleasure, who
5916Would pique himself on intellects, whose use
5917Depends so much upon the gastric juice?
5918
5919the other evening 't was on Friday last
5920This is a fact and no poetic fable
5921Just as my great coat was about me cast
5922My hat and gloves still lying on the table
5923I heard a shot 't was eight o'clock scarce past
5924And, running out as fast as I was able
5925I found the military commandant
5926Stretch'd in the street, and able scarce to pant.
5927
5928Poor fellow! for some reason, surely bad
5929they had slain him with five slugs and left him there
5930To perish on the pavement so I had
5931Him borne into the house and up the stair
5932And stripp'd and look'd to But why should I ad
5933More circumstances? vain was every care
5934the man was gone in some Italian quarrel
5935Kill'd by five bullets from an old gun-barrel.
5936
5937I gazed upon him, for I knew him well
5938And though I have seen many corpses, never
5939Saw one, whom such an accident befell
5940So calm though pierced through stomach, heart, and liver
5941He seem'd to sleep, for you could scarcely tell
5942As he bled inwardly, no hideous river
5943Of gore divulged the cause that he was dead
5944So as I gazed on him, I thought or said
5945
5946'Can this be death? then what is life or death?
5947Speak!' but he spoke not 'Wake!' but still he slept
5948'But yesterday and who had mightier breath?
5949A thousand warriors by his word were kept
5950In awe he said, as the centurion saith
5951"Go," and he goeth "come," and forth he stepp'd.
5952the trump and bugle till he spake were dumb
5953And now nought left him but the muffled drum.'
5954
5955And they who waited once and worshipp'd they
5956With their rough faces throng'd about the bed
5957To gaze once more on the commanding clay
5958Which for the last, though not the first, time bled
5959And such an end! that he who many a day
5960Had faced Napoleon's foes until they fled
5961the foremost in the charge or in the sally
5962Should now be butcher'd in a civic alley.
5963
5964the scars of his old wounds were near his new
5965Those honourable scars which brought him fame
5966And horrid was the contrast to the view
5967But let me quit the theme as such things claim
5968Perhaps even more attention than is due
5969From me I gazed as oft I have gazed the same
5970To try if I could wrench aught out of death
5971Which should confirm, or shake, or make a faith
5972
5973But it was all a mystery. Here we are
5974And there we go but where? five bits of lead
5975Or three, or two, or one, send very far!
5976And is this blood, then, form'd but to be shed?
5977Can every element our elements mar?
5978And air earth water fire live and we dead?
5979We whose minds comprehend all things? No more
5980But let us to the story as before.
5981
5982the purchaser of Juan and acquaintance
5983Bore off his bargains to a gilded boat
5984Embark'd himself and them, and off they went thence
5985As fast as oars could pull and water float
5986they look'd like persons being led to sentence
5987Wondering what next, till the caique was brought
5988Up in a little creek below a wall
5989O'ertopp'd with cypresses, dark-green and tall.
5990
5991Here their conductor tapping at the wicket
5992Of a small iron door, 't was open'd, and
5993He led them onward, first through a low thicket
5994Flank'd by large groves, which tower'd on either hand
5995they almost lost their way, and had to pick it
5996For night was dosing ere they came to land.
5997the eunuch made a sign to those on board
5998Who row'd off, leaving them without a word.
5999
6000As they were plodding on their winding way
6001Through orange bowers, and jasmine, and so forth
6002Of which I might have a good deal to say
6003there being no such profusion in the North
6004Of oriental plants, 'et cetera,'
6005But that of late your scribblers think it worth
6006their while to rear whole hotbeds in their works
6007Because one poet travell'd 'mongst the Turks
6008
6009As they were threading on their way, there came
6010Into Don Juan's head a thought, which he
6011Whisper'd to his companion 't was the same
6012Which might have then occurr'd to you or me.
6013'Methinks,' said he, 'it would be no great shame
6014If we should strike a stroke to set us free
6015Let 's knock that old black fellow on the head
6016And march away 't were easier done than said.'
6017
6018'Yes,' said the other, 'and when done, what then?
6019How get out? how the devil got we in?
6020And when we once were fairly out, and when
6021From Saint Bartholomew we have saved our skin
6022To-morrow 'd see us in some other den
6023And worse off than we hitherto have been
6024Besides, I 'm hungry, and just now would take
6025Like Esau, for my birthright a beef-steak.
6026
6027'We must be near some place of man's abode
6028For the old negro's confidence in creeping
6029With his two captives, by so queer a road
6030Shows that he thinks his friends have not been sleeping
6031A single cry would bring them all abroad
6032'T is therefore better looking before leaping
6033And there, you see, this turn has brought us through
6034By Jove, a noble palace! lighted too.'
6035
6036It was indeed a wide extensive building
6037Which open'd on their view, and o'er the front
6038there seem'd to be besprent a deal of gilding
6039And various hues, as is the Turkish wont
6040A gaudy taste for they are little skill'd in
6041the arts of which these lands were once the font
6042Each villa on the Bosphorus looks a screen
6043New painted, or a pretty opera-scene.
6044
6045And nearer as they came, a genial savour
6046Of certain stews, and roast-meats, and pilaus
6047Things which in hungry mortals' eyes find favour
6048Made Juan in his harsh intentions pause
6049And put himself upon his good behaviour
6050His friend, too, adding a new saving clause
6051Said, 'In Heaven's name let's get some supper now
6052And then I 'm with you, if you 're for a row.'
6053
6054Some talk of an appeal unto some passion
6055Some to men's feelings, others to their reason
6056the last of these was never much the fashion
6057For reason thinks all reasoning out of season.
6058Some speakers whine, and others lay the lash on
6059But more or less continue still to tease on
6060With arguments according to their 'forte'
6061But no one dreams of ever being short.
6062
6063But I digress of all appeals, although
6064I grant the power of pathos, and of gold
6065Of beauty, flattery, threats, a shilling, no
6066Method 's more sure at moments to take hold
6067Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow
6068More tender, as we every day behold
6069Than that all-softening, overpowering knell
6070the tocsin of the soul the dinner-bell.
6071
6072Turkey contains no bells, and yet men dine
6073And Juan and his friend, albeit they heard
6074No Christian knoll to table, saw no line
6075Of lackeys usher to the feast prepared
6076Yet smelt roast-meat, beheld a huge fire shine
6077And cooks in motion with their clean arms bared
6078And gazed around them to the left and right
6079With the prophetic eye of appetite.
6080
6081And giving up all notions of resistance
6082they follow'd close behind their sable guide
6083Who little thought that his own crack'd existence
6084Was on the point of being set aside
6085He motion'd them to stop at some small distance
6086And knocking at the gate, 't was open'd wide
6087And a magnificent large hall display'd
6088the Asian pomp of Ottoman parade.
6089
6090I won't describe description is my forte
6091But every fool describes in these bright days
6092His wondrous journey to some foreign court
6093And spawns his quarto, and demands your praise
6094Death to his publisher, to him 't is sport
6095While Nature, tortured twenty thousand ways
6096Resigns herself with exemplary patience
6097To guide-books, rhymes, tours, sketches, illustrations.
6098
6099Along this hall, and up and down, some, squatted
6100Upon their hams, were occupied at chess
6101Others in monosyllable talk chatted
6102And some seem'd much in love with their own dress.
6103And divers smoked superb pipes decorated
6104With amber mouths of greater price or less
6105And several strutted, others slept, and some
6106Prepared for supper with a glass of rum.
6107
6108As the black eunuch enter'd with his brace
6109Of purchased Infidels, some raised their eyes
6110A moment without slackening from their pace
6111But those who sate ne'er stirr'd in anywise
6112One or two stared the captives in the face
6113Just as one views a horse to guess his price
6114Some nodded to the negro from their station
6115But no one troubled him with conversation.
6116
6117He leads them through the hall, and, without stopping
6118On through a farther range of goodly rooms
6119Splendid but silent, save in one, where, dropping
6120A marble fountain echoes through the glooms
6121Of night which robe the chamber, or where popping
6122Some female head most curiously presumes
6123To thrust its black eyes through the door or lattice
6124As wondering what the devil a noise that is.
6125
6126Some faint lamps gleaming from the lofty walls
6127Gave light enough to hint their farther way
6128But not enough to show the imperial halls
6129In all the flashing of their full array
6130Perhaps there 's nothing I 'll not say appals
6131But saddens more by night as well as day
6132Than an enormous room without a soul
6133To break the lifeless splendour of the whole.
6134
6135Two or three seem so little, one seems nothing
6136In deserts, forests, crowds, or by the shore
6137there solitude, we know, has her full growth in
6138the spots which were her realms for evermore
6139But in a mighty hall or gallery, both in
6140More modern buildings and those built of yore
6141A kind of death comes o'er us all alone
6142Seeing what 's meant for many with but one.
6143
6144A neat, snug study on a winter's night
6145A book, friend, single lady, or a glass
6146Of claret, sandwich, and an appetite
6147Are things which make an English evening pass
6148Though certes by no means so grand a sight
6149As is a theatre lit up by gas.
6150I pass my evenings in long galleries solely
6151And that 's the reason I 'm so melancholy.
6152
6153Alas! man makes that great which makes him little
6154I grant you in a church 't is very well
6155What speaks of Heaven should by no means be brittle
6156But strong and lasting, till no tongue can tell
6157their names who rear'd it but huge houses fit ill
6158And huge tombs worse mankind, since Adam fell
6159Methinks the story of the tower of Babel
6160Might teach them this much better than I 'm able.
6161
6162Babel was Nimrod's hunting-box, and then
6163A town of gardens, walls, and wealth amazing
6164Where Nabuchadonosor, king of men
6165Reign'd, till one summer's day he took to grazing
6166And Daniel tamed the lions in their den
6167the people's awe and admiration raising
6168'T was famous, too, for Thisbe and for Pyramus
6169And the calumniated queen Semiramis.
6170
6171That injured Queen by chroniclers so coarse
6172Has been accused I doubt not by conspiracy
6173Of an improper friendship for her horse
6174Love, like religion, sometimes runs to heresy
6175This monstrous tale had probably its source
6176For such exaggerations here and there I see
6177In writing 'Courser' by mistake for 'Courier'
6178I wish the case could come before a jury here.
6179
6180But to resume, should there be what may not
6181Be in these days? some infidels, who don't
6182Because they can't find out the very spot
6183Of that same Babel, or because they won't
6184Though Claudius Rich, Esquire, some bricks has got
6185And written lately two memoirs upon't
6186Believe the Jews, those unbelievers, who
6187Must be believed, though they believe not you
6188
6189Yet let them think that Horace has exprest
6190Shortly and sweetly the masonic folly
6191Of those, forgetting the great place of rest
6192Who give themselves to architecture wholly
6193We know where things and men must end at best
6194A moral like all morals melancholy
6195And 'Et sepulchri immemor struis domos'
6196Shows that we build when we should but entomb us.
6197
6198At last they reach'd a quarter most retired
6199Where echo woke as if from a long slumber
6200Though full of all things which could be desired
6201One wonder'd what to do with such a number
6202Of articles which nobody required
6203Here wealth had done its utmost to encumber
6204With furniture an exquisite apartment
6205Which puzzled Nature much to know what Art meant.
6206
6207It seem'd, however, but to open on
6208A range or suite of further chambers, which
6209Might lead to heaven knows where but in this one
6210the movables were prodigally rich
6211Sofas 't was half a sin to sit upon
6212So costly were they carpets every stitch
6213Of workmanship so rare, they made you wish
6214You could glide o'er them like a golden fish.
6215
6216the black, however, without hardly deigning
6217A glance at that which wrapt the slaves in wonder
6218Trampled what they scarce trod for fear of staining
6219As if the milky way their feet was under
6220With all its stars and with a stretch attaining
6221A certain press or cupboard niched in yonder
6222In that remote recess which you may see
6223Or if you don't the fault is not in me
6224
6225I wish to be perspicuous and the black
6226I say, unlocking the recess, pull'd forth
6227A quantity of clothes fit for the back
6228Of any Mussulman, whate'er his worth
6229And of variety there was no lack
6230And yet, though I have said there was no dearth
6231He chose himself to point out what he thought
6232Most proper for the Christians he had bought.
6233
6234the suit he thought most suitable to each
6235Was, for the elder and the stouter, first
6236A Candiote cloak, which to the knee might reach
6237And trousers not so tight that they would burst
6238But such as fit an Asiatic breech
6239A shawl, whose folds in Cashmire had been nurst
6240Slippers of saffron, dagger rich and handy
6241In short, all things which form a Turkish Dandy.
6242
6243While he was dressing, Baba, their black friend
6244Hinted the vast advantages which they
6245Might probably attain both in the end
6246If they would but pursue the proper way
6247Which fortune plainly seem'd to recommend
6248And then he added, that he needs must say
6249''T would greatly tend to better their condition
6250If they would condescend to circumcision.
6251
6252'For his own part, he really should rejoice
6253To see them true believers, but no less
6254Would leave his proposition to their choice.'
6255the other, thanking him for this excess
6256Of goodness, in thus leaving them a voice
6257In such a trifle, scarcely could express
6258'Sufficiently' he said 'his approbation
6259Of all the customs of this polish'd nation.
6260
6261'For his own share he saw but small objection
6262To so respectable an ancient rite
6263And, after swallowing down a slight refection
6264For which he own'd a present appetite
6265He doubted not a few hours of reflection
6266Would reconcile him to the business quite.'
6267'Will it?' said Juan, sharply 'Strike me dead
6268But they as soon shall circumcise my head!
6269
6270'Cut off a thousand heads, before-' 'Now, pray,'
6271Replied the other, 'do not interrupt
6272You put me out in what I had to say.
6273Sir! as I said, as soon as I have supt
6274I shall perpend if your proposal may
6275Be such as I can properly accept
6276Provided always your great goodness still
6277Remits the matter to our own free-will.'
6278
6279Baba eyed Juan, and said, 'Be so good
6280As dress yourself-' and pointed out a suit
6281In which a Princess with great pleasure would
6282Array her limbs but Juan standing mute
6283As not being in a masquerading mood
6284Gave it a slight kick with his Christian foot
6285And when the old negro told him to 'Get ready,'
6286Replied, 'Old gentleman, I 'm not a lady.'
6287
6288'What you may be, I neither know nor care,'
6289Said Baba 'but pray do as I desire
6290I have no more time nor many words to spare.'
6291'At least,' said Juan, 'sure I may enquire
6292the cause of this odd travesty?' 'Forbear,'
6293Said Baba, 'to be curious 't will transpire
6294No doubt, in proper place, and time, and season
6295I have no authority to tell the reason.'
6296
6297'then if I do,' said Juan, 'I 'll be-' 'Hold!'
6298Rejoin'd the negro, 'pray be not provoking
6299This spirit 's well, but it may wax too bold
6300And you will find us not top fond of joking.'
6301'What, sir!' said Juan, 'shall it e'er be told
6302That I unsex'd my dress?' But Baba, stroking
6303the things down, said, 'Incense me, and I call
6304Those who will leave you of no sex at all.
6305
6306'I offer you a handsome suit of clothes
6307A woman's, true but then there is a cause
6308Why you should wear them.' 'What, though my soul loathes
6309the effeminate garb?' thus, after a short pause
6310Sigh'd Juan, muttering also some slight oaths
6311'What the devil shall I do with all this gauze?'
6312Thus he profanely term'd the finest lace
6313Which e'er set off a marriage-morning face.
6314
6315And then he swore and, sighing, on he slipp'd
6316A pair of trousers of flesh-colour'd silk
6317Next with a virgin zone he was equipp'd
6318Which girt a slight chemise as white as milk
6319But tugging on his petticoat, he tripp'd
6320Which as we say or, as the Scotch say, whilk
6321the rhyme obliges me to this sometimes
6322Monarchs are less imperative than rhymes
6323
6324Whilk, which or what you please, was owing to
6325His garment's novelty, and his being awkward
6326And yet at last he managed to get through
6327His toilet, though no doubt a little backward
6328the negro Baba help'd a little too
6329When some untoward part of raiment stuck hard
6330And, wrestling both his arms into a gown
6331He paused, and took a survey up and down.
6332
6333One difficulty still remain'd his hair
6334Was hardly long enough but Baba found
6335So many false long tresses all to spare
6336That soon his head was most completely crown'd
6337After the manner then in fashion there
6338And this addition with such gems was bound
6339As suited the ensemble of his toilet
6340While Baba made him comb his head and oil it.
6341
6342And now being femininely all array'd
6343With some small aid from scissors, paint, and tweezers
6344He look'd in almost all respects a maid
6345And Baba smilingly exclaim'd, 'You see, sirs
6346A perfect transformation here display'd
6347And now, then, you must come along with me, sirs
6348That is the Lady' clapping his hands twice
6349Four blacks were at his elbow in a trice.
6350
6351'You, sir,' said Baba, nodding to the one
6352'Will please to accompany those gentlemen
6353To supper but you, worthy Christian nun
6354Will follow me no trifling, sir for when
6355I say a thing, it must at once be done.
6356What fear you? think you this a lion's den?
6357Why, 't is a palace where the truly wise
6358Anticipate the Prophet's paradise.
6359
6360'You fool! I tell you no one means you harm.'
6361'So much the better,' Juan said, 'for them
6362Else they shall feel the weight of this my arm
6363Which is not quite so light as you may deem.
6364I yield thus far but soon will break the charm
6365If any take me for that which I seem
6366So that I trust for everybody's sake
6367That this disguise may lead to no mistake.'
6368
6369'Blockhead! come on, and see,' quoth Baba while
6370Don Juan, turning to his comrade, who
6371Though somewhat grieved, could scarce forbear a smile
6372Upon the metamorphosis in view
6373'Farewell!' they mutually exclaim'd 'this soil
6374Seems fertile in adventures strange and new
6375One 's turn'd half Mussulman, and one a maid
6376By this old black enchanter's unsought aid.'
6377
6378'Farewell!' said Juan 'should we meet no more
6379I wish you a good appetite.' 'Farewell!'
6380Replied the other 'though it grieves me sore
6381When we next meet we 'll have a tale to tell
6382We needs must follow when Fate puts from shore.
6383Keep your good name though Eve herself once fell.'
6384'Nay,' quoth the maid, 'the Sultan's self shan't carry me
6385Unless his highness promises to marry me.
6386
6387And thus they parted, each by separate doors
6388Baba led Juan onward room by room
6389Through glittering galleries and o'er marble floors
6390Till a gigantic portal through the gloom
6391Haughty and huge, along the distance lowers
6392And wafted far arose a rich perfume
6393It seem'd as though they came upon a shrine
6394For all was vast, still, fragrant, and divine.
6395
6396the giant door was broad, and bright, and high
6397Of gilded bronze, and carved in curious guise
6398Warriors thereon were battling furiously
6399Here stalks the victor, there the vanquish'd lies
6400there captives led in triumph droop the eye
6401And in perspective many a squadron flies
6402It seems the work of times before the line
6403Of Rome transplanted fell with Constantine.
6404
6405This massy portal stood at the wide close
6406Of a huge hall, and on its either side
6407Two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose
6408Were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied
6409In mockery to the enormous gate which rose
6410O'er them in almost pyramidic pride
6411the gate so splendid was in all its features
6412You never thought about those little creatures
6413
6414Until you nearly trod on them, and then
6415You started back in horror to survey
6416the wondrous hideousness of those small men
6417Whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey
6418But an extraneous mixture, which no pen
6419Can trace, although perhaps the pencil may
6420they were mis-shapen pigmies, deaf and dumb
6421Monsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum.
6422
6423their duty was for they were strong, and though
6424they look'd so little, did strong things at times
6425To ope this door, which they could really do
6426the hinges being as smooth as Rogers' rhymes
6427And now and then, with tough strings of the bow
6428As is the custom of those Eastern climes
6429To give some rebel Pacha a cravat
6430For mutes are generally used for that.
6431
6432they spoke by signs that is, not spoke at all
6433And looking like two incubi, they glared
6434As Baba with his fingers made them fall
6435To heaving back the portal folds it scared
6436Juan a moment, as this pair so small
6437With shrinking serpent optics on him stared
6438It was as if their little looks could poison
6439Or fascinate whome'er they fix'd their eyes on.
6440
6441Before they enter'd, Baba paused to hint
6442To Juan some slight lessons as his guide
6443'If you could just contrive,' he said, 'to stint
6444That somewhat manly majesty of stride
6445'T would be as well, and though there 's not much in 't
6446To swing a little less from side to side
6447Which has at times an aspect of the oddest
6448And also could you look a little modest
6449
6450''T would be convenient for these mutes have eyes
6451Like needles, which may pierce those petticoats
6452And if they should discover your disguise
6453You know how near us the deep Bosphorus floats
6454And you and I may chance, ere morning rise
6455To find our way to Marmora without boats
6456Stitch'd up in sacks a mode of navigation
6457A good deal practised here upon occasion.'
6458
6459With this encouragement, he led the way
6460Into a room still nobler than the last
6461A rich confusion form'd a disarray
6462In such sort, that the eye along it cast
6463Could hardly carry anything away
6464Object on object flash'd so bright and fast
6465A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter
6466Magnificently mingled in a litter.
6467
6468Wealth had done wonders taste not much such things
6469Occur in Orient palaces, and even
6470In the more chasten'd domes of Western kings
6471Of which I have also seen some six or seven
6472Where I can't say or gold or diamond flings
6473Great lustre, there is much to be forgiven
6474Groups of bad statues, tables, chairs, and pictures
6475On which I cannot pause to make my strictures.
6476
6477In this imperial hall, at distance lay
6478Under a canopy, and there reclined
6479Quite in a confidential queenly way
6480A lady Baba stopp'd, and kneeling sign'd
6481To Juan, who though not much used to pray
6482Knelt down by instinct, wondering in his mind
6483What all this meant while Baba bow'd and bended
6484His head, until the ceremony ended.
6485
6486the lady rising up with such an air
6487As Venus rose with from the wave, on them
6488Bent like an antelope a Paphian pair
6489Of eyes, which put out each surrounding gem
6490And raising up an arm as moonlight fair
6491She sign'd to Baba, who first kiss'd the hem
6492Of her deep purple robe, and speaking low
6493Pointed to Juan who remain'd below.
6494
6495Her presence was as lofty as her state
6496Her beauty of that overpowering kind
6497Whose force description only would abate
6498I 'd rather leave it much to your own mind
6499Than lessen it by what I could relate
6500Of forms and features it would strike you blind
6501Could I do justice to the full detail
6502So, luckily for both, my phrases fail.
6503
6504Thus much however I may add, her years
6505Were ripe, they might make six-and-twenty springs
6506But there are forms which Time to touch forbears
6507And turns aside his scythe to vulgar things
6508Such as was Mary's Queen of Scots true tears
6509And love destroy and sapping sorrow wrings
6510Charms from the charmer, yet some never grow
6511Ugly for instance Ninon de l'Enclos.
6512
6513She spake some words to her attendants, who
6514Composed a choir of girls, ten or a dozen
6515And were all clad alike like Juan, too
6516Who wore their uniform, by Baba chosen
6517they form'd a very nymph-like looking crew
6518Which might have call'd Diana's chorus 'cousin,'
6519As far as outward show may correspond
6520I won't be bail for anything beyond.
6521
6522they bow'd obeisance and withdrew, retiring
6523But not by the same door through which came in
6524Baba and Juan, which last stood admiring
6525At some small distance, all he saw within
6526This strange saloon, much fitted for inspiring
6527Marvel and praise for both or none things win
6528And I must say, I ne'er could see the very
6529Great happiness of the 'Nil Admirari.'
6530
6531'Not to admire is all the art I know
6532Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech
6533To make men happy, or to keep them so'
6534So take it in the very words of Creech
6535Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago
6536And thus Pope quotes the precept to re-teach
6537From his translation but had none admired
6538Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?
6539
6540Baba, when all the damsels were withdrawn
6541Motion'd to Juan to approach, and then
6542A second time desired him to kneel down
6543And kiss the lady's foot which maxim when
6544He heard repeated, Juan with a frown
6545Drew himself up to his full height again
6546And said, 'It grieved him, but he could not stoop
6547To any shoe, unless it shod the Pope.'
6548
6549Baba, indignant at this ill-timed pride
6550Made fierce remonstrances, and then a threat
6551He mutter'd but the last was given aside
6552About a bow-string quite in vain not yet
6553Would Juan bend, though 't were to Mahomet's bride
6554there 's nothing in the world like etiquette
6555In kingly chambers or imperial halls
6556As also at the race and county balls.
6557
6558He stood like Atlas, with a world of words
6559About his ears, and nathless would not bend
6560the blood of all his line 's Castilian lords
6561Boil'd in his veins, and rather than descend
6562To stain his pedigree a thousand swords
6563A thousand times of him had made an end
6564At length perceiving the 'foot' could not stand
6565Baba proposed that he should kiss the hand.
6566
6567Here was an honourable compromise
6568A half-way house of diplomatic rest
6569Where they might meet in much more peaceful guise
6570And Juan now his willingness exprest
6571To use all fit and proper courtesies
6572Adding, that this was commonest and best
6573For through the South the custom still commands
6574the gentleman to kiss the lady's hands.
6575
6576And he advanced, though with but a bad grace
6577Though on more thorough-bred or fairer fingers
6578No lips e'er left their transitory trace
6579On such as these the lip too fondly lingers
6580And for one kiss would fain imprint a brace
6581As you will see, if she you love shall bring hers
6582In contact and sometimes even a fair stranger's
6583An almost twelvemonth's constancy endangers.
6584
6585the lady eyed him o'er and o'er, and bade
6586Baba retire, which he obey'd in style
6587As if well used to the retreating trade
6588And taking hints in good part all the while
6589He whisper'd Juan not to be afraid
6590And looking on him with a sort of smile
6591Took leave, with such a face of satisfaction
6592As good men wear who have done a virtuous action.
6593
6594When he was gone, there was a sudden change
6595I know not what might be the lady's thought
6596But o'er her bright brow flash'd a tumult strange
6597And into her dear cheek the blood was brought
6598Blood-red as sunset summer clouds which range
6599the verge of Heaven and in her large eyes wrought
6600A mixture of sensations might be scann'd
6601Of half voluptuousness and half command.
6602
6603Her form had all the softness of her sex
6604Her features all the sweetness of the devil
6605When he put on the cherub to perplex
6606Eve, and paved God knows how the road to evil
6607the sun himself was scarce more free from specks
6608Than she from aught at which the eye could cavil
6609Yet, somehow, there was something somewhere wanting
6610As if she rather order'd than was granting.
6611
6612Something imperial, or imperious, threw
6613A chain o'er all she did that is, a chain
6614Was thrown as 't were about the neck of you
6615And rapture's self will seem almost a pain
6616With aught which looks like despotism in view
6617Our souls at least are free, and 't is in vain
6618We would against them make the flesh obey
6619the spirit in the end will have its way.
6620
6621Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet
6622Her very nod was not an inclination
6623there was a self-will even in her small feet
6624As though they were quite conscious of her station
6625they trod as upon necks and to complete
6626Her state it is the custom of her nation
6627A poniard deck'd her girdle, as the sign
6628She was a sultan's bride thank Heaven, not mine!.
6629
6630'To hear and to obey' had been from birth
6631the law of all around her to fulfill
6632All phantasies which yielded joy or mirth
6633Had been her slaves' chief pleasure, as her will
6634Her blood was high, her beauty scarce of earth
6635Judge, then, if her caprices e'er stood still
6636Had she but been a Christian, I 've a notion
6637We should have found out the 'perpetual motion.'
6638
6639Whate'er she saw and coveted was brought
6640Whate'er she did not see, if she supposed
6641It might be seen, with diligence was sought
6642And when 't was found straightway the bargain closed
6643there was no end unto the things she bought
6644Nor to the trouble which her fancies caused
6645Yet even her tyranny had such a grace
6646the women pardon'd all except her face.
6647
6648Juan, the latest of her whims, had caught
6649Her eye in passing on his way to sale
6650She order'd him directly to be bought
6651And Baba, who had ne'er been known to fail
6652In any kind of mischief to be wrought
6653At all such auctions knew how to prevail
6654She had no prudence, but he had and this
6655Explains the garb which Juan took amiss.
6656
6657His youth and features favour'd the disguise
6658And, should you ask how she, a sultan's bride
6659Could risk or compass such strange phantasies
6660This I must leave sultanas to decide
6661Emperors are only husbands in wives' eyes
6662And kings and consorts oft are mystified
6663As we may ascertain with due precision
6664Some by experience, others by tradition.
6665
6666But to the main point, where we have been tending
6667She now conceived all difficulties past
6668And deem'd herself extremely condescending
6669When, being made her property at last
6670Without more preface, in her blue eyes blending
6671Passion and power, a glance on him she cast
6672And merely saying, 'Christian, canst thou love?'
6673Conceived that phrase was quite enough to move
6674
6675And so it was, in proper time and place
6676But Juan, who had still his mind o'erflowing
6677With Haidee's isle and soft Ionian face
6678Felt the warm blood, which in his face was glowing
6679Rush back upon his heart, which fill'd apace
6680And left his cheeks as pale as snowdrops blowing
6681these words went through his soul like Arab-spears
6682So that he spoke not, but burst into tears.
6683
6684She was a good deal shock'd not shock'd at tears
6685For women shed and use them at their liking
6686But there is something when man's eye appears
6687Wet, still more disagreeable and striking
6688A woman's tear-drop melts, a man's half sears
6689Like molten lead, as if you thrust a pike in
6690His heart to force it out, for to be shorter
6691To them 't is a relief, to us a torture.
6692
6693And she would have consoled, but knew not how
6694Having no equals, nothing which had e'er
6695Infected her with sympathy till now
6696And never having dreamt what 't was to bear
6697Aught of a serious, sorrowing kind, although
6698there might arise some pouting petty care
6699To cross her brow, she wonder'd how so near
6700Her eyes another's eye could shed a tear.
6701
6702But nature teaches more than power can spoil
6703And, when a strong although a strange sensation
6704Moves female hearts are such a genial soil
6705For kinder feelings, whatsoe'er their nation
6706they naturally pour the 'wine and oil,'
6707Samaritans in every situation
6708And thus Gulbeyaz, though she knew not why
6709Felt an odd glistening moisture in her eye.
6710
6711But tears must stop like all things else and soon
6712Juan, who for an instant had been moved
6713To such a sorrow by the intrusive tone
6714Of one who dared to ask if 'he had loved,'
6715Call'd back the stoic to his eyes, which shone
6716Bright with the very weakness he reproved
6717And although sensitive to beauty, he
6718Felt most indignant still at not being free.
6719
6720Gulbeyaz, for the first time in her days
6721Was much embarrass'd, never having met
6722In all her life with aught save prayers and praise
6723And as she also risk'd her life to get
6724Him whom she meant to tutor in love's ways
6725Into a comfortable tete-a-tete
6726To lose the hour would make her quite a martyr
6727And they had wasted now almost a quarter.
6728
6729I also would suggest the fitting time
6730To gentlemen in any such like case
6731That is to say in a meridian clime
6732With us there is more law given to the chase
6733But here a small delay forms a great crime
6734So recollect that the extremest grace
6735Is just two minutes for your declaration
6736A moment more would hurt your reputation.
6737
6738Juan's was good and might have been still better
6739But he had got Haidee into his head
6740However strange, he could not yet forget her
6741Which made him seem exceedingly ill-bred.
6742Gulbeyaz, who look'd on him as her debtor
6743For having had him to her palace led
6744Began to blush up to the eyes, and then
6745Grow deadly pale, and then blush back again.
6746
6747At length, in an imperial way, she laid
6748Her hand on his, and bending on him eyes
6749Which needed not an empire to persuade
6750Look'd into his for love, where none replies
6751Her brow grew black, but she would not upbraid
6752That being the last thing a proud woman tries
6753She rose, and pausing one chaste moment, threw
6754Herself upon his breast, and there she grew.
6755
6756This was an awkward test, as Juan found
6757But he was steel'd by sorrow, wrath, and pride
6758With gentle force her white arms he unwound
6759And seated her all drooping by his side
6760then rising haughtily he glanced around
6761And looking coldly in her face, he cried
6762'the prison'd eagle will not pair, nor
6763Serve a Sultana's sensual phantasy.
6764
6765'Thou ask'st if I can love? be this the proof
6766How much I have loved that I love not thee!
6767In this vile garb, the distaff, web, and woof
6768Were fitter for me Love is for the free!
6769I am not dazzled by this splendid roof
6770Whate'er thy power, and great it seems to be
6771Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch around a throne
6772And hands obey our hearts are still our own.'
6773
6774This was a truth to us extremely trite
6775Not so to her, who ne'er had heard such things
6776She deem'd her least command must yield delight
6777Earth being only made for queens and kings.
6778If hearts lay on the left side or the right
6779She hardly knew, to such perfection brings
6780Legitimacy its born votaries, when
6781Aware of their due royal rights o'er men.
6782
6783Besides, as has been said, she was so fair
6784As even in a much humbler lot had made
6785A kingdom or confusion anywhere
6786And also, as may be presumed, she laid
6787Some stress on charms, which seldom are, if e'er
6788By their possessors thrown into the shade
6789She thought hers gave a double 'right divine'
6790And half of that opinion 's also mine.
6791
6792Remember, or if you can not imagine
6793Ye, who have kept your chastity when young
6794While some more desperate dowager has been waging
6795Love with you, and been in the dog-days stung
6796By your refusal, recollect her raging!
6797Or recollect all that was said or sung
6798On such a subject then suppose the face
6799Of a young downright beauty in this case.
6800
6801Suppose, but you already have supposed
6802the spouse of Potiphar, the Lady Booby
6803Phaedra, and all which story has disclosed
6804Of good examples pity that so few by
6805Poets and private tutors are exposed
6806To educate ye youth of Europe you by!
6807But when you have supposed the few we know
6808You can't suppose Gulbeyaz' angry brow.
6809
6810A tigress robb'd of young, a lioness
6811Or any interesting beast of prey
6812Are similes at hand for the distress
6813Of ladies who can not have their own way
6814But though my turn will not be served with less
6815these don't express one half what I should say
6816For what is stealing young ones, few or many
6817To cutting short their hopes of having any?
6818
6819the love of offspring 's nature's general law
6820From tigresses and cubs to ducks and ducklings
6821there 's nothing whets the beak, or arms the claw
6822Like an invasion of their babes and sucklings
6823And all who have seen a human nursery, saw
6824How mothers love their children's squalls and chucklings
6825This strong extreme effect to tire no longer
6826Your patience shows the cause must still be stronger.
6827
6828If I said fire flash'd from Gulbeyaz' eyes
6829'T were nothing for her eyes flash'd always fire
6830Or said her cheeks assumed the deepest dyes
6831I should but bring disgrace upon the dyer
6832So supernatural was her passion's rise
6833For ne'er till now she knew a check'd desire
6834Even ye who know what a check'd woman is
6835Enough, God knows! would much fall short of this.
6836
6837Her rage was but a minute's, and 't was well
6838A moment's more had slain her but the while
6839It lasted 't was like a short glimpse of hell
6840Nought 's more sublime than energetic bile
6841Though horrible to see yet grand to tell
6842Like ocean warring 'gainst a rocky isle
6843And the deep passions flashing through her form
6844Made her a beautiful embodied storm.
6845
6846A vulgar tempest 't were to a typhoon
6847To match a common fury with her rage
6848And yet she did not want to reach the moon
6849Like moderate Hotspur on the immortal page
6850Her anger pitch'd into a lower tune
6851Perhaps the fault of her soft sex and age
6852Her wish was but to 'kill, kill, kill,' like Lear's
6853And then her thirst of blood was quench'd in tears.
6854
6855A storm it raged, and like the storm it pass'd
6856Pass'd without words in fact she could not speak
6857And then her sex's shame broke in at last
6858A sentiment till then in her but weak
6859But now it flow'd in natural and fast
6860As water through an unexpected leak
6861For she felt humbled and humiliation
6862Is sometimes good for people in her station
6863
6864It teaches them that they are flesh and blood
6865It also gently hints to them that others
6866Although of clay, are yet not quite of mud
6867That urns and pipkins are but fragile brothers
6868And works of the same pottery, bad or good
6869Though not all born of the same sires and mothers
6870It teaches Heaven knows only what it teaches
6871But sometimes it may mend, and often reaches.
6872
6873Her first thought was to cut off Juan's head
6874Her second, to cut only his acquaintance
6875Her third, to ask him where he had been bred
6876Her fourth, to rally him into repentance
6877Her fifth, to call her maids and go to bed
6878Her sixth, to stab herself her seventh, to sentence
6879the lash to Baba but her grand resource
6880Was to sit down again, and cry of course.
6881
6882She thought to stab herself, but then she had
6883the dagger close at hand, which made it awkward
6884For Eastern stays are little made to pad
6885So that a poniard pierces if 't is stuck hard
6886She thought of killing Juan but, poor lad!
6887Though he deserved it well for being so backward
6888the cutting off his head was not the art
6889Most likely to attain her aim his heart.
6890
6891Juan was moved he had made up his mind
6892To be impaled, or quarter'd as a dish
6893For dogs, or to be slain with pangs refined
6894Or thrown to lions, or made baits for fish
6895And thus heroically stood resign'd
6896Rather than sin except to his own wish
6897But all his great preparatives for dying
6898Dissolved like snow before a woman crying.
6899
6900As through his palms Bob Acres' valour oozed
6901So Juan's virtue ebb'd, I know not how
6902And first he wonder'd why he had refused
6903And then, if matters could be made up now
6904And next his savage virtue he accused
6905Just as a friar may accuse his vow
6906Or as a dame repents her of her oath
6907Which mostly ends in some small breach of both.
6908
6909So he began to stammer some excuses
6910But words are not enough in such a matter
6911Although you borrow'd all that e'er the muses
6912Have sung, or even a Dandy's dandiest chatter
6913Or all the figures Castlereagh abuses
6914Just as a languid smile began to flatter
6915His peace was making, but before he ventured
6916Further, old Baba rather briskly enter'd.
6917
6918'Bride of the Sun! and Sister of the Moon!'
6919'T was thus he spake 'and Empress of the Earth!
6920Whose frown would put the spheres all out of tune
6921Whose smile makes all the planets dance with mirth
6922Your slave brings tidings he hopes not too soon
6923Which your sublime attention may be worth
6924the Sun himself has sent me like a ray
6925To hint that he is coming up this way.'
6926
6927'Is it,' exclaim'd Gulbeyaz, 'as you say?
6928I wish to heaven he would not shine till morning!
6929But bid my women form the milky way.
6930Hence, my old comet! give the stars due warning
6931And, Christian! mingle with them as you may
6932And as you 'd have me pardon your past scorning-'
6933Here they were interrupted by a humming
6934Sound, and then by a cry, 'the Sultan 's coming!'
6935
6936First came her damsels, a decorous file
6937And then his Highness' eunuchs, black and white
6938the train might reach a quarter of a mile
6939His majesty was always so polite
6940As to announce his visits a long while
6941Before he came, especially at night
6942For being the last wife of the Emperour
6943She was of course the favorite of the four.
6944
6945His Highness was a man of solemn port
6946Shawl'd to the nose, and bearded to the eyes
6947Snatch'd from a prison to preside at court
6948His lately bowstrung brother caused his rise
6949He was as good a sovereign of the sort
6950As any mention'd in the histories
6951Of Cantemir, or Knolles, where few shine
6952Save Solyman, the glory of their line.
6953
6954He went to mosque in state, and said his prayers
6955With more than 'Oriental scrupulosity'
6956He left to his vizier all state affairs
6957And show'd but little royal curiosity
6958I know not if he had domestic cares
6959No process proved connubial animosity
6960Four wives and twice five hundred maids, unseen
6961Were ruled as calmly as a Christian queen.
6962
6963If now and then there happen'd a slight slip
6964Little was heard of criminal or crime
6965the story scarcely pass'd a single lip
6966the sack and sea had settled all in time
6967From which the secret nobody could rip
6968the Public knew no more than does this rhyme
6969No scandals made the daily press a curse
6970Morals were better, and the fish no worse.
6971
6972He saw with his own eyes the moon was round
6973Was also certain that the earth was square
6974Because he had journey'd fifty miles, and found
6975No sign that it was circular anywhere
6976His empire also was without a bound
6977'T is true, a little troubled here and there
6978By rebel pachas, and encroaching giaours
6979But then they never came to 'the Seven Towers'
6980
6981Except in shape of envoys, who were sent
6982To lodge there when a war broke out, according
6983To the true law of nations, which ne'er meant
6984Those scoundrels, who have never had a sword in
6985their dirty diplomatic hands, to vent
6986their spleen in making strife, and safely wording
6987their lies, yclep'd despatches, without risk or
6988the singeing of a single inky whisker.
6989
6990He had fifty daughters and four dozen sons
6991Of whom all such as came of age were stow'd
6992the former in a palace, where like nuns
6993they lived till some Bashaw was sent abroad
6994When she, whose turn it was, was wed at once
6995Sometimes at six years old though it seems odd
6996'T is true the reason is, that the Bashaw
6997Must make a present to his sire in law.
6998
6999His sons were kept in prison, till they grew
7000Of years to fill a bowstring or the throne
7001One or the other, but which of the two
7002Could yet be known unto the fates alone
7003Meantime the education they went through
7004Was princely, as the proofs have always shown
7005So that the heir apparent still was found
7006No less deserving to be hang'd than crown'd.
7007
7008His majesty saluted his fourth spouse
7009With all the ceremonies of his rank
7010Who clear'd her sparkling eyes and smooth'd her brows
7011As suits a matron who has play'd a prank
7012these must seem doubly mindful of their vows
7013To save the credit of their breaking bank
7014To no men are such cordial greetings given
7015As those whose wives have made them fit for heaven.
7016
7017His Highness cast around his great black eyes
7018And looking, as he always look'd, perceived
7019Juan amongst the damsels in disguise
7020At which he seem'd no whit surprised nor grieved
7021But just remark'd with air sedate and wise
7022While still a fluttering sigh Gulbeyaz heaved
7023'I see you 've bought another girl 't is pity
7024That a mere Christian should be half so pretty.'
7025
7026This compliment, which drew all eyes upon
7027the new-bought virgin, made her blush and shake.
7028Her comrades, also, thought themselves undone
7029O! Mahomet! that his majesty should take
7030Such notice of a giaour, while scarce to one
7031Of them his lips imperial ever spake!
7032there was a general whisper, toss, and wriggle
7033But etiquette forbade them all to giggle.
7034
7035the Turks do well to shut at least, sometimes
7036the women up, because, in sad reality
7037their chastity in these unhappy climes
7038Is not a thing of that astringent quality
7039Which in the North prevents precocious crimes
7040And makes our snow less pure than our morality
7041the sun, which yearly melts the polar ice
7042Has quite the contrary effect on vice.
7043
7044Thus in the East they are extremely strict
7045And Wedlock and a Padlock mean the same
7046Excepting only when the former 's pick'd
7047It ne'er can be replaced in proper frame
7048Spoilt, as a pipe of claret is when prick'd
7049But then their own Polygamy 's to blame
7050Why don't they knead two virtuous souls for life
7051Into that moral centaur, man and wife?
7052
7053Thus far our chronicle and now we pause
7054Though not for want of matter but 't is time
7055According to the ancient epic laws
7056To slacken sail, and anchor with our rhyme.
7057Let this fifth canto meet with due applause
7058the sixth shall have a touch of the sublime
7059Meanwhile, as Homer sometimes sleeps, perhaps
7060You 'll pardon to my muse a few short naps.
7061
7062'there is a tide in the affairs of men
7063Which, taken at the flood,' you know the rest
7064And most of us have found it now and then
7065At least we think so, though but few have guess'd
7066the moment, till too late to come again.
7067But no doubt every thing is for the best
7068Of which the surest sign is in the end
7069When things are at the worst they sometimes mend.
7070
7071there is a tide in the affairs of women
7072Which, taken at the flood, leads God knows where
7073Those navigators must be able seamen
7074Whose charts lay down its current to a hair
7075Not all the reveries of Jacob Behmen
7076With its strange whirls and eddies can compare
7077Men with their heads reflect on this and that
7078But women with their hearts on heaven knows what!
7079
7080And yet a headlong, headstrong, downright she
7081Young, beautiful, and daring who would risk
7082A throne, the world, the universe, to be
7083Beloved in her own way, and rather whisk
7084the stars from out the sky, than not be free
7085As are the billows when the breeze is brisk
7086Though such a she 's a devil if that there be one
7087Yet she would make full many a Manichean.
7088
7089Thrones, worlds, et cetera, are so oft upset
7090By commonest ambition, that when passion
7091O'erthrows the same, we readily forget
7092Or at the least forgive, the loving rash one.
7093If Antony be well remember'd yet
7094'Tis not his conquests keep his name in fashion
7095But Actium, lost for Cleopatra's eyes
7096Outbalances all Caesar's victories.
7097
7098He died at fifty for a queen of forty
7099I wish their years had been fifteen and twenty
7100For then wealth, kingdoms, worlds are but a sport I
7101Remember when, though I had no great plenty
7102Of worlds to lose, yet still, to pay my court, I
7103Gave what I had a heart as the world went, I
7104Gave what was worth a world for worlds could never
7105Restore me those pure feelings, gone forever.
7106
7107'Twas the boy's 'mite,' and, like the 'widow's,' may
7108Perhaps be weigh'd hereafter, if not now
7109But whether such things do or do not weigh
7110All who have loved, or love, will still allow
7111Life has nought like it. God is love, they say
7112And Love 's a god, or was before the brow
7113Of earth was wrinkled by the sins and tears
7114Of but Chronology best knows the years.
7115
7116We left our hero and third heroine in
7117A kind of state more awkward than uncommon
7118For gentlemen must sometimes risk their skin
7119For that sad tempter, a forbidden woman
7120Sultans too much abhor this sort of sin
7121And don't agree at all with the wise Roman
7122Heroic, stoic Cato, the sententious
7123Who lent his lady to his friend Hortensius.
7124
7125I know Gulbeyaz was extremely wrong
7126I own it, I deplore it, I condemn it
7127But I detest all fiction even in song
7128And so must tell the truth, howe'er you blame it.
7129Her reason being weak, her passions strong
7130She thought that her lord's heart even could she claim it
7131Was scarce enough for he had fifty-nine
7132Years, and a fifteen-hundredth concubine.
7133
7134I am not, like Cassio, 'an arithmetician,'
7135But by 'the bookish theoric' it appears
7136If 'tis summ'd up with feminine precision
7137That, adding to the account his Highness' years
7138the fair Sultana err'd from inanition
7139For, were the Sultan just to all his dears
7140She could but claim the fifteen-hundredth part
7141Of what should be monopoly the heart.
7142
7143It is observed that ladies are litigious
7144Upon all legal objects of possession
7145And not the least so when they are religious
7146Which doubles what they think of the transgression
7147With suits and prosecutions they besiege us
7148As the tribunals show through many a session
7149When they suspect that any one goes shares
7150In that to which the law makes them sole heirs.
7151
7152Now, if this holds good in a Christian land
7153the heathen also, though with lesser latitude
7154Are apt to carry things with a high hand
7155And take what kings call 'an imposing attitude,'
7156And for their rights connubial make a stand
7157When their liege husbands treat them with ingratitude
7158And as four wives must have quadruple claims
7159the Tigris hath its jealousies like Thames.
7160
7161Gulbeyaz was the fourth, and as I said
7162the favourite but what 's favour amongst four?
7163Polygamy may well be held in dread
7164Not only as a sin, but as a bore
7165Most wise men, with one moderate woman wed
7166Will scarcely find philosophy for more
7167And all except Mahometans forbear
7168To make the nuptial couch a 'Bed of Ware.'
7169
7170His Highness, the sublimest of mankind
7171So styled according to the usual forms
7172Of every monarch, till they are consign'd
7173To those sad hungry jacobins the worms
7174Who on the very loftiest kings have dined
7175His Highness gazed upon Gulbeyaz' charms
7176Expecting all the welcome of a lover
7177A 'Highland welcome' all the wide world over.
7178
7179Now here we should distinguish for howe'er
7180Kisses, sweet words, embraces, and all that
7181May look like what is neither here nor there
7182they are put on as easily as a hat
7183Or rather bonnet, which the fair sex wear
7184Trimm'd either heads or hearts to decorate
7185Which form an ornament, but no more part
7186Of heads, than their caresses of the heart.
7187
7188A slight blush, a soft tremor, a calm kind
7189Of gentle feminine delight, and shown
7190More in the eyelids than the eyes, resign'd
7191Rather to hide what pleases most unknown
7192Are the best tokens to a modest mind
7193Of love, when seated on his loveliest throne
7194A sincere woman's breast, for over-warm
7195Or over-cold annihilates the charm.
7196
7197For over-warmth, if false, is worse than truth
7198If true, 'tis no great lease of its own fire
7199For no one, save in very early youth
7200Would like I think to trust all to desire
7201Which is but a precarious bond, in sooth
7202And apt to be transferr'd to the first buyer
7203At a sad discount while your over chilly
7204Women, on t' other hand, seem somewhat silly.
7205
7206That is, we cannot pardon their bad taste
7207For so it seems to lovers swift or slow
7208Who fain would have a mutual flame confess'd
7209And see a sentimental passion glow
7210Even were St. Francis' paramour their guest
7211In his monastic concubine of snow
7212In short, the maxim for the amorous tribe is
7213Horatian, 'Medio tu tutissimus ibis.'
7214
7215the 'tu' 's too much, but let it stand, the verse
7216Requires it, that 's to say, the English rhyme
7217And not the pink of old hexameters
7218But, after all, there 's neither tune nor time
7219In the last line, which cannot well be worse
7220And was thrust in to close the octave's chime
7221I own no prosody can ever rate it
7222As a rule, but truth may, if you translate it.
7223
7224If fair Gulbeyaz overdid her part
7225I know not it succeeded, and success
7226Is much in most things, not less in the heart
7227Than other articles of female dress.
7228Self-love in man, too, beats all female art
7229they lie, we lie, all lie, but love no less
7230And no one virtue yet, except starvation
7231Could stop that worst of vices propagation.
7232
7233We leave this royal couple to repose
7234A bed is not a throne, and they may sleep
7235Whate'er their dreams be, if of joys or woes
7236Yet disappointed joys are woes as deep
7237As any man's day mixture undergoes.
7238Our least of sorrows are such as we weep
7239'Tis the vile daily drop on drop which wears
7240the soul out like the stone with petty cares.
7241
7242A scolding wife, a sullen son, a bill
7243To pay, unpaid, protested, or discounted
7244At a per-centage a child cross, dog ill
7245A favourite horse fallen lame just as he 's mounted
7246A bad old woman making a worse will
7247Which leaves you minus of the cash you counted
7248As certain these are paltry things, and yet
7249I 've rarely seen the man they did not fret.
7250
7251I 'm a philosopher confound them all!
7252Bills, beasts, and men, and no! not womankind!
7253With one good hearty curse I vent my gall
7254And then my stoicism leaves nought behind
7255Which it can either pain or evil call
7256And I can give my whole soul up to mind
7257Though what is soul or mind, their birth or growth
7258Is more than I know the deuce take them both!
7259
7260As after reading Athanasius' curse
7261Which doth your true believer so much please
7262I doubt if any now could make it worse
7263O'er his worst enemy when at his knees
7264'Tis so sententious, positive, and terse
7265And decorates the book of Common Prayer
7266As doth a rainbow the just clearing air.
7267
7268Gulbeyaz and her lord were sleeping, or
7269At least one of them! Oh, the heavy night
7270When wicked wives, who love some bachelor
7271Lie down in dudgeon to sigh for the light
7272Of the gray morning, and look vainly for
7273Its twinkle through the lattice dusky quite
7274To toss, to tumble, doze, revive, and quake
7275Lest their too lawful bed-fellow should wake!
7276
7277these are beneath the canopy of heaven
7278Also beneath the canopy of beds
7279Four-posted and silk curtain'd, which are given
7280For rich men and their brides to lay their heads
7281Upon, in sheets white as what bards call 'driven
7282Snow.' Well! 'tis all hap-hazard when one weds.
7283Gulbeyaz was an empress, but had been
7284Perhaps as wretched if a peasant's quean.
7285
7286Don Juan in his feminine disguise
7287With all the damsels in their long array
7288Had bow'd themselves before th' imperial eyes
7289And at the usual signal ta'en their way
7290Back to their chambers, those long galleries
7291In the seraglio, where the ladies lay
7292their delicate limbs a thousand bosoms there
7293Beating for love, as the caged bird's for air.
7294
7295I love the sex, and sometimes would reverse
7296the tyrant's wish, 'that mankind only had
7297One neck, which he with one fell stroke might pierce'
7298My wish is quite as wide, but not so bad
7299And much more tender on the whole than fierce
7300It being not now, but only while a lad
7301That womankind had but one rosy mouth
7302To kiss them all at once from North to South.
7303
7304O, enviable Briareus! with thy hands
7305And heads, if thou hadst all things multiplied
7306In such proportion! But my Muse withstands
7307the giant thought of being a Titan's bride
7308Or travelling in Patagonian lands
7309So let us back to Lilliput, and guide
7310Our hero through the labyrinth of love
7311In which we left him several lines above.
7312
7313He went forth with the lovely Odalisques
7314At the given signal join'd to their array
7315And though he certainly ran many risks
7316Yet he could not at times keep, by the way
7317Although the consequences of such frisks
7318Are worse than the worst damages men pay
7319In moral England, where the thing 's a tax
7320From ogling all their charms from breasts to backs.
7321
7322Still he forgot not his disguise along
7323the galleries from room to room they walk'd
7324A virgin-like and edifying throng
7325By eunuchs flank'd while at their head there stalk'd
7326A dame who kept up discipline among
7327the female ranks, so that none stirr'd or talk'd
7328Without her sanction on their she-parades
7329Her title was 'the Mother of the Maids.'
7330
7331Whether she was a 'mother,' I know not
7332Or whether they were 'maids' who call'd her mother
7333But this is her seraglio title, got
7334I know not how, but good as any other
7335So Cantemir can tell you, or De Tott
7336Her office was to keep aloof or smother
7337All bad propensities in fifteen hundred
7338Young women, and correct them when they blunder'd.
7339
7340A goodly sinecure, no doubt! but made
7341More easy by the absence of all men
7342Except his majesty, who, with her aid
7343And guards, and bolts, and walls, and now and then
7344A slight example, just to cast a shade
7345Along the rest, contrived to keep this den
7346Of beauties cool as an Italian convent
7347Where all the passions have, alas! but one vent.
7348
7349And what is that? Devotion, doubtless how
7350Could you ask such a question? but we will
7351Continue. As I said, this goodly row
7352Of ladies of all countries at the will
7353Of one good man, with stately march and slow
7354Like water-lilies floating down a rill
7355Or rather lake, for rills do not run slowly
7356Paced on most maiden-like and melancholy.
7357
7358But when they reach'd their own apartments, there
7359Like birds, or boys, or bedlamites broke loose
7360Waves at spring-tide, or women anywhere
7361When freed from bonds which are of no great use
7362After all, or like Irish at a fair
7363their guards being gone, and as it were a truce
7364Establish'd between them and bondage, they
7365Began to sing, dance, chatter, smile, and play.
7366
7367their talk, of course, ran most on the new comer
7368Her shape, her hair, her air, her everything
7369Some thought her dress did not so much become her
7370Or wonder'd at her ears without a ring
7371Some said her years were getting nigh their summer
7372Others contended they were but in spring
7373Some thought her rather masculine in height
7374While others wish'd that she had been so quite.
7375
7376But no one doubted on the whole, that she
7377Was what her dress bespoke, a damsel fair
7378And fresh, and 'beautiful exceedingly,'
7379Who with the brightest Georgians might compare
7380they wonder'd how Gulbeyaz, too, could be
7381So silly as to buy slaves who might share
7382If that his Highness wearied of his bride
7383Her throne and power, and every thing beside.
7384
7385But what was strangest in this virgin crew
7386Although her beauty was enough to vex
7387After the first investigating view
7388they all found out as few, or fewer, specks
7389In the fair form of their companion new
7390Than is the custom of the gentle sex
7391When they survey, with Christian eyes or Heathen
7392In a new face 'the ugliest creature breathing.'
7393
7394And yet they had their little jealousies
7395Like all the rest but upon this occasion
7396Whether there are such things as sympathies
7397Without our knowledge or our approbation
7398Although they could not see through his disguise
7399All felt a soft kind of concatenation
7400Like magnetism, or devilism, or what
7401You please we will not quarrel about that
7402
7403But certain 'tis they all felt for their new
7404Companion something newer still, as 'twere
7405A sentimental friendship through and through
7406Extremely pure, which made them all concur
7407In wishing her their sister, save a few
7408Who wish'd they had a brother just like her
7409Whom, if they were at home in sweet Circassia
7410they would prefer to Padisha or Pacha.
7411
7412Of those who had most genius for this sort
7413Of sentimental friendship, there were three
7414Lolah, Katinka, and Dudu in short
7415To save description, fair as fair can be
7416Were they, according to the best report
7417Though differing in stature and degree
7418And clime and time, and country and complexion
7419they all alike admired their new connection.
7420
7421Lolah was dusk as India and as warm
7422Katinka was a Georgian, white and red
7423With great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm
7424And feet so small they scarce seem'd made to tread
7425But rather skim the earth while Dudu's form
7426Look'd more adapted to be put to bed
7427Being somewhat large, and languishing, and lazy
7428Yet of a beauty that would drive you crazy.
7429
7430A kind of sleepy Venus seem'd Dudu
7431Yet very fit to 'murder sleep' in those
7432Who gazed upon her cheek's transcendent hue
7433Her Attic forehead, and her Phidian nose
7434Few angles were there in her form, 'tis true
7435Thinner she might have been, and yet scarce lose
7436Yet, after all, 'twould puzzle to say where
7437It would not spoil some separate charm to pare.
7438
7439She was not violently lively, but
7440Stole on your spirit like a May-day breaking
7441Her eyes were not too sparkling, yet, half-shut
7442they put beholders in a tender taking
7443She look'd this simile 's quite new just cut
7444From marble, like Pygmalion's statue waking
7445the mortal and the marble still at strife
7446And timidly expanding into life.
7447
7448Lolah demanded the new damsel's name
7449'Juanna.' Well, a pretty name enough.
7450Katinka ask'd her also whence she came
7451'From Spain.' 'But where is Spain?' 'Don't ask such stuff
7452Nor show your Georgian ignorance for shame!'
7453Said Lolah, with an accent rather rough
7454To poor Katinka 'Spain 's an island near
7455Morocco, betwixt Egypt and Tangier.'
7456
7457Dudu said nothing, but sat down beside
7458Juanna, playing with her veil or hair
7459And looking at her steadfastly, she sigh'd
7460As if she pitied her for being there
7461A pretty stranger without friend or guide
7462And all abash'd, too, at the general stare
7463Which welcomes hapless strangers in all places
7464With kind remarks upon their mien and faces.
7465
7466But here the Mother of the Maids drew near
7467With, 'Ladies, it is time to go to rest.
7468I 'm puzzled what to do with you, my dear,'
7469She added to Juanna, their new guest
7470'Your coming has been unexpected here
7471And every couch is occupied you had best
7472Partake of mine but by to-morrow early
7473We will have all things settled for you fairly.'
7474
7475Here Lolah interposed 'Mamma, you know
7476You don't sleep soundly, and I cannot bear
7477That anybody should disturb you so
7478I 'll take Juanna we 're a slenderer pair
7479Than you would make the half of don't say no
7480And I of your young charge will take due care.'
7481But here Katinka interfered, and said
7482'She also had compassion and a bed.
7483
7484'Besides, I hate to sleep alone,' quoth she.
7485the matron frown'd 'Why so?' 'For fear of ghosts,'
7486Replied Katinka 'I am sure I see
7487A phantom upon each of the four posts
7488And then I have the worst dreams that can be
7489Of Guebres, Giaours, and Ginns, and Gouls in hosts.'
7490the dame replied, 'Between your dreams and you
7491I fear Juanna's dreams would be but few.
7492
7493'You, Lolah, must continue still to lie
7494Alone, for reasons which don't matter you
7495the same, Katinka, until by and by
7496And I shall place Juanna with Dudu
7497Who 's quiet, inoffensive, silent, shy
7498And will not toss and chatter the night through.
7499What say you, child?' Dudu said nothing, as
7500Her talents were of the more silent class
7501
7502But she rose up, and kiss'd the matron's brow
7503Between the eyes, and Lolah on both cheeks
7504Katinka, too and with a gentle bow
7505Curt'sies are neither used by Turks nor Greeks
7506She took Juanna by the hand to show
7507their place of rest, and left to both their piques
7508the others pouting at the matron's preference
7509Of Dudu, though they held their tongues from deference.
7510
7511It was a spacious chamber Oda is
7512the Turkish title, and ranged round the wall
7513Were couches, toilets and much more than this
7514I might describe, as I have seen it all
7515But it suffices little was amiss
7516'Twas on the whole a nobly furnish'd hall
7517With all things ladies want, save one or two
7518And even those were nearer than they knew.
7519
7520Dudu, as has been said, was a sweet creature
7521Not very dashing, but extremely winning
7522With the most regulated charms of feature
7523Which painters cannot catch like faces sinning
7524Against proportion the wild strokes of nature
7525Which they hit off at once in the beginning
7526Full of expression, right or wrong, that strike
7527And pleasing or unpleasing, still are like.
7528
7529But she was a soft landscape of mild earth
7530Where all was harmony, and calm, and quiet
7531Luxuriant, budding cheerful without mirth
7532Which, if not happiness, is much more nigh it
7533Than are your mighty passions and so forth
7534Which some call 'the sublime' I wish they 'd try it
7535I 've seen your stormy seas and stormy women
7536And pity lovers rather more than seamen.
7537
7538But she was pensive more than melancholy
7539And serious more than pensive, and serene
7540It may be, more than either not unholy
7541Her thoughts, at least till now, appear to have been.
7542the strangest thing was, beauteous, she was wholly
7543Unconscious, albeit turn'd of quick seventeen
7544That she was fair, or dark, or short, or tall
7545She never thought about herself at all.
7546
7547And therefore was she kind and gentle as
7548the Age of Gold when gold was yet unknown
7549By which its nomenclature came to pass
7550Thus most appropriately has been shown
7551'Lucus a non lucendo,' not what was
7552But what was not a sort of style that 's grown
7553Extremely common in this age, whose metal
7554the devil may decompose, but never settle
7555
7556I think it may be of 'Corinthian Brass,'
7557Which was a mixture of all metals, but
7558the brazen uppermost. Kind reader! pass
7559This long parenthesis I could not shut
7560It sooner for the soul of me, and class
7561My faults even with your own! which meaneth, Put
7562A kind construction upon them and me
7563But that you won't then don't I am not less free.
7564
7565'Tis time we should return to plain narration
7566And thus my narrative proceeds Dudu
7567With every kindness short of ostentation
7568Show'd Juan, or Juanna, through and through
7569This labyrinth of females, and each station
7570Described what 's strange in words extremely few
7571I have but one simile, and that 's a blunder
7572For wordless woman, which is silent thunder.
7573
7574And next she gave her I say her, because
7575the gender still was epicene, at least
7576In outward show, which is a saving clause
7577An outline of the customs of the East
7578With all their chaste integrity of laws
7579By which the more a haram is increased
7580the stricter doubtless grow the vestal duties
7581Of any supernumerary beauties.
7582
7583And then she gave Juanna a chaste kiss
7584Dudu was fond of kissing which I 'm sure
7585That nobody can ever take amiss
7586Because 'tis pleasant, so that it be pure
7587And between females means no more than this
7588That they have nothing better near, or newer.
7589'Kiss' rhymes to 'bliss' in fact as well as verse
7590I wish it never led to something worse.
7591
7592In perfect innocence she then unmade
7593Her toilet, which cost little, for she was
7594A child of Nature, carelessly array'd
7595If fond of a chance ogle at her glass
7596'Twas like the fawn, which, in the lake display'd
7597Beholds her own shy, shadowy image pass
7598When first she starts, and then returns to peep
7599Admiring this new native of the deep.
7600
7601And one by one her articles of dress
7602Were laid aside but not before she offer'd
7603Her aid to fair Juanna, whose excess
7604Of modesty declined the assistance proffer'd
7605Which pass'd well off as she could do no less
7606Though by this politesse she rather suffer'd
7607Pricking her fingers with those cursed pins
7608Which surely were invented for our sins
7609
7610Making a woman like a porcupine
7611Not to be rashly touch'd. But still more dread
7612O ye! whose fate it is, as once 'twas mine
7613In early youth, to turn a lady's maid
7614I did my very boyish best to shine
7615In tricking her out for a masquerade
7616the pins were placed sufficiently, but not
7617Stuck all exactly in the proper spot.
7618
7619But these are foolish things to all the wise
7620And I love wisdom more than she loves me
7621My tendency is to philosophise
7622On most things, from a tyrant to a tree
7623But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies.
7624What are we? and whence came we? what shall be
7625Our ultimate existence? what 's our present?
7626Are questions answerless, and yet incessant.
7627
7628there was deep silence in the chamber dim
7629And distant from each other burn'd the lights
7630And slumber hover'd o'er each lovely limb
7631Of the fair occupants if there be sprites
7632they should have walk'd there in their sprightliest trim
7633By way of change from their sepulchral sites
7634And shown themselves as ghosts of better taste
7635Than haunting some old ruin or wild waste.
7636
7637Many and beautiful lay those around
7638Like flowers of different hue, and dime, and root
7639In some exotic garden sometimes found
7640With cost, and care, and warmth induced to shoot.
7641One with her auburn tresses lightly bound
7642And fair brows gently drooping, as the fruit
7643Nods from the tree, was slumbering with soft breath
7644And lips apart, which show'd the pearls beneath.
7645
7646One with her flush'd cheek laid on her white arm
7647And raven ringlets gather'd in dark crowd
7648Above her brow, lay dreaming soft and warm
7649And smiling through her dream, as through a cloud
7650the moon breaks, half unveil'd each further charm
7651As, slightly stirring in her snowy shroud
7652Her beauties seized the unconscious hour of night
7653All bashfully to struggle into light.
7654
7655This is no bull, although it sounds so for
7656'Twas night, but there were lamps, as hath been said.
7657A third's all pallid aspect offer'd more
7658the traits of sleeping sorrow, and betray'd
7659Through the heaved breast the dream of some far shore
7660Beloved and deplored while slowly stray'd
7661As night-dew, on a cypress glittering, tinges
7662the black bough tear-drops through her eyes' dark fringes.
7663
7664A fourth as marble, statue-like and still
7665Lay in a breathless, hush'd, and stony sleep
7666White, cold, and pure, as looks a frozen rill
7667Or the snow minaret on an Alpine steep
7668Or Lot's wife done in salt, or what you will
7669My similes are gather'd in a heap
7670So pick and choose perhaps you 'll be content
7671With a carved lady on a monument.
7672
7673And lo! a fifth appears and what is she?
7674A lady of a 'certain age,' which means
7675Certainly aged what her years might be
7676I know not, never counting past their teens
7677But there she slept, not quite so fair to see
7678As ere that awful period intervenes
7679Which lays both men and women on the shelf
7680To meditate upon their sins and self.
7681
7682But all this time how slept, or dream'd, Dudu?
7683With strict inquiry I could ne'er discover
7684And scorn to add a syllable untrue
7685But ere the middle watch was hardly over
7686Just when the fading lamps waned dim and blue
7687And phantoms hover'd, or might seem to hover
7688To those who like their company, about
7689the apartment, on a sudden she scream'd out
7690
7691And that so loudly, that upstarted all
7692the Oda, in a general commotion
7693Matron and maids, and those whom you may call
7694Neither, came crowding like the waves of ocean
7695One on the other, throughout the whole hall
7696All trembling, wondering, without the least notion
7697More than I have myself of what could make
7698the calm Dudu so turbulently wake.
7699
7700But wide awake she was, and round her bed
7701With floating draperies and with flying hair
7702With eager eyes, and light but hurried tread
7703And bosoms, arms, and ankles glancing bare
7704And bright as any meteor ever bred
7705By the North Pole, they sought her cause of care
7706For she seem'd agitated, flush'd, and frighten'd
7707Her eye dilated and her colour heighten'd.
7708
7709But what was strange and a strong proof how great
7710A blessing is sound sleep Juanna lay
7711As fast as ever husband by his mate
7712In holy matrimony snores away.
7713Not all the clamour broke her happy state
7714Of slumber, ere they shook her, so they say
7715At least, and then she, too, unclosed her eyes
7716And yawn'd a good deal with discreet surprise.
7717
7718And now commenced a strict investigation
7719Which, as all spoke at once and more than once
7720Conjecturing, wondering, asking a narration
7721Alike might puzzle either wit or dunce
7722To answer in a very clear oration.
7723Dudu had never pass'd for wanting sense
7724But, being 'no orator as Brutus is,'
7725Could not at first expound what was amiss.
7726
7727At length she said, that in a slumber sound
7728She dream'd a dream, of walking in a wood
7729A 'wood obscure,' like that where Dante found
7730Himself in at the age when all grow good
7731Life's half-way house, where dames with virtue crown'd
7732Run much less risk of lovers turning rude
7733And that this wood was full of pleasant fruits
7734And trees of goodly growth and spreading roots
7735
7736And in the midst a golden apple grew
7737A most prodigious pippin, but it hung
7738Rather too high and distant that she threw
7739Her glances on it, and then, longing, flung
7740Stones and whatever she could pick up, to
7741Bring down the fruit, which still perversely clung
7742To its own bough, and dangled yet in sight
7743But always at a most provoking height
7744
7745That on a sudden, when she least had hope
7746It fell down of its own accord before
7747Her feet that her first movement was to stoop
7748And pick it up, and bite it to the core
7749That just as her young lip began to ope
7750Upon the golden fruit the vision bore
7751A bee flew out and stung her to the heart
7752And so she awoke with a great scream and start.
7753
7754All this she told with some confusion and
7755Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams
7756Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand
7757To expound their vain and visionary gleams.
7758I 've known some odd ones which seem'd really plann'd
7759Prophetically, or that which one deems
7760A 'strange coincidence,' to use a phrase
7761By which such things are settled now-a-days.
7762
7763the damsels, who had thoughts of some great harm
7764Began, as is the consequence of fear
7765To scold a little at the false alarm
7766That broke for nothing on their sleeping car.
7767the matron, too, was wroth to leave her warm
7768Bed for the dream she had been obliged to hear
7769And chafed at poor Dudu, who only sigh'd
7770And said that she was sorry she had cried.
7771
7772'I 've heard of stories of a cock and bull
7773But visions of an apple and a bee
7774To take us from our natural rest, and pull
7775the whole Oda from their beds at half-past three
7776Would make us think the moon is at its full.
7777You surely are unwell, child! we must see
7778To-morrow, what his Highness's physician
7779Will say to this hysteric of a vision.
7780
7781'And poor Juanna, too the child's first night
7782Within these walls to be broke in upon
7783With such a clamour! I had thought it right
7784That the young stranger should not lie alone
7785And, as the quietest of all, she might
7786With you, Dudu, a good night's rest have known
7787But now I must transfer her to the charge
7788Of Lolah though her couch is not so large.'
7789
7790Lolah's eyes sparkled at the proposition
7791But poor Dudu, with large drops in her own
7792Resulting from the scolding or the vision
7793Implored that present pardon might be shown
7794For this first fault, and that on no condition
7795She added in a soft and piteous tone
7796Juanna should be taken from her, and
7797Her future dreams should all be kept in hand.
7798
7799She promised never more to have a dream
7800At least to dream so loudly as just now
7801She wonder'd at herself how she could scream
7802'Twas foolish, nervous, as she must allow
7803A fond hallucination, and a theme
7804For laughter but she felt her spirits low
7805And begg'd they would excuse her she 'd get over
7806This weakness in a few hours, and recover.
7807
7808And here Juanna kindly interposed
7809And said she felt herself extremely well
7810Where she then was, as her sound sleep disclosed
7811When all around rang like a tocsin bell
7812She did not find herself the least disposed
7813To quit her gentle partner, and to dwell
7814Apart from one who had no sin to show
7815Save that of dreaming once 'mal-a-propos.'
7816
7817As thus Juanna spoke, Dudu turn'd round
7818And hid her face within Juanna's breast
7819Her neck alone was seen, but that was found
7820the colour of a budding rose's crest.
7821I can't tell why she blush'd, nor can expound
7822the mystery of this rupture of their rest
7823All that I know is, that the facts I state
7824Are true as truth has ever been of late.
7825
7826And so good night to them, or, if you will
7827Good morrow for the cock had crown, and light
7828Began to clothe each Asiatic hill
7829And the mosque crescent struggled into sight
7830Of the long caravan, which in the chill
7831Of dewy dawn wound slowly round each height
7832That stretches to the stony belt, which girds
7833Asia, where Kaff looks down upon the Kurds.
7834
7835With the first ray, or rather grey of morn
7836Gulbeyaz rose from restlessness and pale
7837As passion rises, with its bosom worn
7838Array'd herself with mantle, gem, and veil.
7839the nightingale that sings with the deep thorn
7840Which fable places in her breast of wail
7841Is lighter far of heart and voice than those
7842Whose headlong passions form their proper woes.
7843
7844And that 's the moral of this composition
7845If people would but see its real drift
7846But that they will not do without suspicion
7847Because all gentle readers have the gift
7848Of closing 'gainst the light their orbs of vision
7849While gentle writers also love to lift
7850their voices 'gainst each other, which is natural
7851the numbers are too great for them to flatter all.
7852
7853Rose the sultana from a bed of splendour
7854Softer than the soft Sybarite's, who cried
7855Aloud because his feelings were too tender
7856To brook a ruffled rose-leaf by his side
7857So beautiful that art could little mend her
7858Though pale with conflicts between love and pride
7859So agitated was she with her error
7860She did not even look into the mirror.
7861
7862Also arose about the self-same time
7863Perhaps a little later, her great lord
7864Master of thirty kingdoms so sublime
7865And of a wife by whom he was abhorr'd
7866A thing of much less import in that clime
7867At least to those of incomes which afford
7868the filling up their whole connubial cargo
7869Than where two wives are under an embargo.
7870
7871He did not think much on the matter, nor
7872Indeed on any other as a man
7873He liked to have a handsome paramour
7874At hand, as one may like to have a fan
7875And therefore of Circassians had good store
7876As an amusement after the Divan
7877Though an unusual fit of love, or duty
7878Had made him lately bask in his bride's beauty.
7879
7880And now he rose and after due ablutions
7881Exacted by the customs of the East
7882And prayers and other pious evolutions
7883He drank six cups of coffee at the least
7884And then withdrew to hear about the Russians
7885Whose victories had recently increased
7886In Catherine's reign, whom glory still adores
7887
7888But oh, thou grand legitimate Alexander!
7889Her son's son, let not this last phrase offend
7890Thine ear, if it should reach and now rhymes wander
7891Almost as far as Petersburgh and lend
7892A dreadful impulse to each loud meander
7893Of murmuring Liberty's wide waves, which blend
7894their roar even with the Baltic's so you be
7895Your father's son, 'tis quite enough for me.
7896
7897To call men love-begotten or proclaim
7898their mothers as the antipodes of Timon
7899That hater of mankind, would be a shame
7900A libel, or whate'er you please to rhyme on
7901But people's ancestors are history's game
7902And if one lady's slip could leave a crime on
7903All generations, I should like to know
7904What pedigree the best would have to show?
7905
7906Had Catherine and the sultan understood
7907their own true interests, which kings rarely know
7908Until 'tis taught by lessons rather rude
7909there was a way to end their strife, although
7910Perhaps precarious, had they but thought good
7911Without the aid of prince or plenipo
7912She to dismiss her guards and he his haram
7913And for their other matters, meet and share 'em.
7914
7915But as it was, his Highness had to hold
7916His daily council upon ways and means
7917How to encounter with this martial scold
7918This modern Amazon and queen of queans
7919And the perplexity could not be told
7920Of all the pillars of the state, which leans
7921Sometimes a little heavy on the backs
7922Of those who cannot lay on a new tax.
7923
7924Meantime Gulbeyaz, when her king was gone
7925Retired into her boudoir, a sweet place
7926For love or breakfast private, pleasing, lone
7927And rich with all contrivances which grace
7928Those gay recesses many a precious stone
7929Sparkled along its roof, and many a vase
7930Of porcelain held in the fetter'd flowers
7931Those captive soothers of a captive's hours.
7932
7933Mother of pearl, and porphyry, and marble
7934Vied with each other on this costly spot
7935And singing birds without were heard to warble
7936And the stain'd glass which lighted this fair grot
7937Varied each ray but all descriptions garble
7938the true effect, and so we had better not
7939Be too minute an outline is the best
7940A lively reader's fancy does the rest.
7941
7942And here she summon'd Baba, and required
7943Don Juan at his hands, and information
7944Of what had pass'd since all the slaves retired
7945And whether he had occupied their station
7946If matters had been managed as desired
7947And his disguise with due consideration
7948Kept up and above all, the where and how
7949He had pass'd the night, was what she wish'd to know.
7950
7951Baba, with some embarrassment, replied
7952To this long catechism of questions, ask'd
7953More easily than answer'd, that he had tried
7954His best to obey in what he had been task'd
7955But there seem'd something that he wish'd to hide
7956Which hesitation more betray'd than mask'd
7957He scratch'd his ear, the infallible resource
7958To which embarrass'd people have recourse.
7959
7960Gulbeyaz was no model of true patience
7961Nor much disposed to wait in word or deed
7962She liked quick answers in all conversations
7963And when she saw him stumbling like a steed
7964In his replies, she puzzled him for fresh ones
7965And as his speech grew still more broken-kneed
7966Her cheek began to flush, her eyes to sparkle
7967And her proud brow's blue veins to swell and darkle.
7968
7969When Baba saw these symptoms, which he knew
7970To bode him no great good, he deprecated
7971Her anger, and beseech'd she 'd hear him through
7972He could not help the thing which he related
7973then out it came at length, that to Dudu
7974Juan was given in charge, as hath been stated
7975But not by Baba's fault, he said, and swore on
7976the holy camel's hump, besides the Koran.
7977
7978the chief dame of the Oda, upon whom
7979the discipline of the whole haram bore
7980As soon as they re-enter'd their own room
7981For Baba's function stopt short at the door
7982Had settled all nor could he then presume
7983the aforesaid Baba just then to do more
7984Without exciting such suspicion as
7985Might make the matter still worse than it was.
7986
7987He hoped, indeed he thought, he could be sure
7988Juan had not betray'd himself in fact
7989'Twas certain that his conduct had been pure
7990Because a foolish or imprudent act
7991Would not alone have made him insecure
7992But ended in his being found out and sack'd
7993And thrown into the sea. Thus Baba spoke
7994Of all save Dudu's dream, which was no joke.
7995
7996This he discreetly kept in the background
7997And talk'd away and might have talk'd till now
7998For any further answer that he found
7999So deep an anguish wrung Gulbeyaz' brow
8000Her cheek turn'd ashes, ears rung, brain whirl'd round
8001As if she had received a sudden blow
8002And the heart's dew of pain sprang fast and chilly
8003O'er her fair front, like Morning's on a lily.
8004
8005Although she was not of the fainting sort
8006Baba thought she would faint, but there he err'd
8007It was but a convulsion, which though short
8008Can never be described we all have heard
8009And some of us have felt thus 'all amort,'
8010When things beyond the common have occurr'd
8011Gulbeyaz proved in that brief agony
8012What she could ne'er express then how should I?
8013
8014She stood a moment as a Pythones
8015Stands on her tripod, agonised, and full
8016Of inspiration gather'd from distress
8017When all the heart-strings like wild horses pull
8018the heart asunder then, as more or lees
8019their speed abated or their strength grew dull
8020She sunk down on her seat by slow degrees
8021And bow'd her throbbing head o'er trembling knees.
8022
8023Her face declined and was unseen her hair
8024Fell in long tresses like the weeping willow
8025Sweeping the marble underneath her chair
8026Or rather sofa for it was all pillow
8027A low soft ottoman, and black despair
8028Stirr'd up and down her bosom like a billow
8029Which rushes to some shore whose shingles check
8030Its farther course, but must receive its wreck.
8031
8032Her head hung down, and her long hair in stooping
8033Conceal'd her features better than a veil
8034And one hand o'er the ottoman lay drooping
8035White, waxen, and as alabaster pale
8036Would that I were a painter! to be grouping
8037All that a poet drags into detail
8038O that my words were colours! but their tints
8039May serve perhaps as outlines or slight hints.
8040
8041Baba, who knew by experience when to talk
8042And when to hold his tongue, now held it till
8043This passion might blow o'er, nor dared to balk
8044Gulbeyaz' taciturn or speaking will.
8045At length she rose up, and began to walk
8046Slowly along the room, but silent still
8047And her brow clear'd, but not her troubled eye
8048the wind was down, but still the sea ran high.
8049
8050She stopp'd, and raised her head to speak but paused
8051And then moved on again with rapid pace
8052then slacken'd it, which is the march most caused
8053By deep emotion you may sometimes trace
8054A feeling in each footstep, as disclosed
8055By Sallust in his Catiline, who, chased
8056By all the demons of all passions, show'd
8057their work even by the way in which he trode.
8058
8059Gulbeyaz stopp'd and beckon'd Baba 'Slave!
8060Bring the two slaves!' she said in a low tone
8061But one which Baba did not like to brave
8062And yet he shudder'd, and seem'd rather prone
8063To prove reluctant, and begg'd leave to crave
8064Though he well knew the meaning to be shown
8065What slaves her highness wish'd to indicate
8066For fear of any error, like the late.
8067
8068'the Georgian and her paramour,' replied
8069the imperial bride and added, 'Let the boat
8070Be ready by the secret portal's side
8071You know the rest.' the words stuck in her throat
8072Despite her injured love and fiery pride
8073And of this Baba willingly took note
8074And begg'd by every hair of Mahomet's beard
8075She would revoke the order he had heard.
8076
8077'To hear is to obey,' he said 'but still
8078Sultana, think upon the consequence
8079It is not that I shall not all fulfil
8080Your orders, even in their severest sense
8081But such precipitation may end ill
8082Even at your own imperative expense
8083I do not mean destruction and exposure
8084In case of any premature disclosure
8085
8086'But your own feelings. Even should all the rest
8087Be hidden by the rolling waves, which hide
8088Already many a once love-beaten breast
8089Deep in the caverns of the deadly tide
8090You love this boyish, new, seraglio guest
8091And if this violent remedy be tried
8092Excuse my freedom, when I here assure you
8093That killing him is not the way to cure you.'
8094
8095'What dost thou know of love or feeling? Wretch!
8096Begone!' she cried, with kindling eyes 'and do
8097My bidding!' Baba vanish'd, for to stretch
8098His own remonstrance further he well knew
8099Might end in acting as his own 'Jack Ketch'
8100And though he wish'd extremely to get through
8101This awkward business without harm to others
8102He still preferr'd his own neck to another's.
8103
8104Away he went then upon his commission
8105Growling and grumbling in good Turkish phrase
8106Against all women of whate'er condition
8107Especially sultanas and their ways
8108their obstinacy, pride, and indecision
8109their never knowing their own mind two days
8110the trouble that they gave, their immorality
8111Which made him daily bless his own neutrality.
8112
8113And then he call'd his brethren to his aid
8114And sent one on a summons to the pair
8115That they must instantly be well array'd
8116And above all be comb'd even to a hair
8117And brought before the empress, who had made
8118Inquiries after them with kindest care
8119At which Dudu look'd strange, and Juan silly
8120But go they must at once, and will I nill I.
8121
8122And here I leave them at their preparation
8123For the imperial presence, wherein whether
8124Gulbeyaz show'd them both commiseration
8125Or got rid of the parties altogether
8126Like other angry ladies of her nation
8127Are things the turning of a hair or feather
8128May settle but far be 't from me to anticipate
8129In what way feminine caprice may dissipate.
8130
8131I leave them for the present with good wishes
8132Though doubts of their well doing, to arrange
8133Another part of history for the dishes
8134Of this our banquet we must sometimes change
8135And trusting Juan may escape the fishes
8136Although his situation now seems strange
8137And scarce secure, as such digressions are fair
8138the Muse will take a little touch at warfare.
8139
8140O Love! O Glory! what are ye who fly
8141Around us ever, rarely to alight?
8142there 's not a meteor in the polar sky
8143Of such transcendent and more fleeting flight.
8144Chill, and chain'd to cold earth, we lift on high
8145Our eyes in search of either lovely light
8146A thousand and a thousand colours they
8147Assume, then leave us on our freezing way.
8148
8149And such as they are, such my present tale is
8150A non-descript and ever-varying rhyme
8151A versified Aurora Borealis
8152Which flashes o'er a waste and icy clime.
8153When we know what all are, we must bewail us
8154But ne'ertheless I hope it is no crime
8155To laugh at all things for I wish to know
8156What, after all, are all things but a show?
8157
8158they accuse me Me the present writer of
8159the present poem of I know not what
8160A tendency to under-rate and scoff
8161At human power and virtue, and all that
8162And this they say in language rather rough.
8163Good God! I wonder what they would be at!
8164I say no more than hath been said in Dante's
8165Verse, and by Solomon and by Cervantes
8166
8167By Swift, by Machiavel, by Rochefoucault
8168By Fenelon, by Luther, and by Plato
8169By Tillotson, and Wesley, and Rousseau
8170Who knew this life was not worth a potato.
8171'T is not their fault, nor mine, if this be so
8172For my part, I pretend not to be Cato
8173Nor even Diogenes. We live and die
8174But which is best, you know no more than I.
8175
8176Socrates said, our only knowledge was
8177'To know that nothing could be known' a pleasant
8178Science enough, which levels to an ass
8179Each man of wisdom, future, past, or present.
8180Newton that proverb of the mind, alas!
8181Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent
8182That he himself felt only 'like a youth
8183Picking up shells by the great ocean Truth.'
8184
8185Ecclesiastes said, 'that all is vanity'
8186Most modern preachers say the same, or show it
8187By their examples of true Christianity
8188In short, all know, or very soon may know it
8189And in this scene of all-confess'd inanity
8190By saint, by sage, by preacher, and by poet
8191Must I restrain me, through the fear of strife
8192From holding up the nothingness of life?
8193
8194Dogs, or men! for I flatter you in saying
8195That ye are dogs your betters far ye may
8196Read, or read not, what I am now essaying
8197To show ye what ye are in every way.
8198As little as the moon stops for the baying
8199Of wolves, will the bright muse withdraw one ray
8200From out her skies then howl your idle wrath!
8201While she still silvers o'er your gloomy path.
8202
8203'Fierce loves and faithless wars' I am not sure
8204If this be the right reading 't is no matter
8205the fact 's about the same, I am secure
8206I sing them both, and am about to batter
8207A town which did a famous siege endure
8208And was beleaguer'd both by land and water
8209By Souvaroff, or Anglice Suwarrow
8210Who loved blood as an alderman loves marrow.
8211
8212the fortress is call'd Ismail, and is placed
8213Upon the Danube's left branch and left bank
8214With buildings in the Oriental taste
8215But still a fortress of the foremost rank
8216Or was at least, unless 't is since defaced
8217Which with your conquerors is a common prank
8218It stands some eighty versts from the high sea
8219And measures round of toises thousands three.
8220
8221Within the extent of this fortification
8222A borough is comprised along the height
8223Upon the left, which from its loftier station
8224Commands the city, and upon its site
8225A Greek had raised around this elevation
8226A quantity of palisades upright
8227So placed as to impede the fire of those
8228Who held the place, and to assist the foe's.
8229
8230This circumstance may serve to give a notion
8231Of the high talents of this new Vauban
8232But the town ditch below was deep as ocean
8233the rampart higher than you 'd wish to hang
8234But then there was a great want of precaution
8235Prithee, excuse this engineering slang
8236Nor work advanced, nor cover'd way was there
8237To hint at least 'Here is no thoroughfare.'
8238
8239But a stone bastion, with a narrow gorge
8240And walls as thick as most skulls born as yet
8241Two batteries, cap-a-pie, as our St. George
8242Case-mated one, and t' other 'a barbette,'
8243Of Danube's bank took formidable charge
8244While two and twenty cannon duly set
8245Rose over the town's right side, in bristling tier
8246Forty feet high, upon a cavalier.
8247
8248But from the river the town 's open quite
8249Because the Turks could never be persuaded
8250A Russian vessel e'er would heave in sight
8251And such their creed was, till they were invaded
8252When it grew rather late to set things right.
8253But as the Danube could not well be waded
8254they look'd upon the Muscovite flotilla
8255And only shouted, 'Allah!' and 'Bis Millah!'
8256
8257the Russians now were ready to attack
8258But oh, ye goddesses of war and glory!
8259How shall I spell the name of each Cossacque
8260Who were immortal, could one tell their story?
8261Alas! what to their memory can lack?
8262Achilles' self was not more grim and gory
8263Than thousands of this new and polish'd nation
8264Whose names want nothing but pronunciation.
8265
8266Still I 'll record a few, if but to increase
8267Our euphony there was Strongenoff, and Strokonoff
8268Meknop, Serge Lwow, Arsniew of modern Greece
8269And Tschitsshakoff, and Roguenoff, and Chokenoff
8270And others of twelve consonants apiece
8271And more might be found out, if I could poke enough
8272Into gazettes but Fame capricious strumpet
8273It seems, has got an ear as well as trumpet
8274
8275And cannot tune those discords of narration
8276Which may be names at Moscow, into rhyme
8277Yet there were several worth commemoration
8278As e'er was virgin of a nuptial chime
8279Soft words, too, fitted for the peroration
8280Of Londonderry drawling against time
8281Ending in 'ischskin,' 'ousckin,' 'iffskchy,' 'ouski
8282Of whom we can insert but Rousamouski
8283
8284Scherematoff and Chrematoff, Koklophti
8285Koclobski, Kourakin, and Mouskin Pouskin
8286All proper men of weapons, as e'er scoff'd high
8287Against a foe, or ran a sabre through skin
8288Little cared they for Mahomet or Mufti
8289Unless to make their kettle-drums a new skin
8290Out of their hides, if parchment had grown dear
8291And no more handy substitute been near.
8292
8293then there were foreigners of much renown
8294Of various nations, and all volunteers
8295Not fighting for their country or its crown
8296But wishing to be one day brigadiers
8297Also to have the sacking of a town
8298A pleasant thing to young men at their years.
8299'Mongst them were several Englishmen of pith
8300Sixteen call'd Thomson, and nineteen named Smith.
8301
8302Jack Thomson and Bill Thomson all the rest
8303Had been call'd 'Jemmy,' after the great bard
8304I don't know whether they had arms or crest
8305But such a godfather 's as good a card.
8306Three of the Smiths were Peters but the best
8307Amongst them all, hard blows to inflict or ward
8308Was he, since so renown'd 'in country quarters
8309At Halifax' but now he served the Tartars.
8310
8311the rest were jacks and Gills and Wills and Bills
8312But when I 've added that the elder jack Smith
8313Was born in Cumberland among the hills
8314And that his father was an honest blacksmith
8315I 've said all I know of a name that fills
8316Three lines of the despatch in taking 'Schmacksmith,'
8317A village of Moldavia's waste, wherein
8318He fell, immortal in a bulletin.
8319
8320I wonder although Mars no doubt 's a god
8321Praise if a man's name in a bulletin
8322May make up for a bullet in his body?
8323I hope this little question is no sin
8324Because, though I am but a simple noddy
8325I think one Shakspeare puts the same thought in
8326the mouth of some one in his plays so doting
8327Which many people pass for wits by quoting.
8328
8329then there were Frenchmen, gallant, young, and gay
8330But I 'm too great a patriot to record
8331their Gallic names upon a glorious day
8332I 'd rather tell ten lies than say a word
8333Of truth such truths are treason they betray
8334their country and as traitors are abhorr'd
8335Who name the French in English, save to show
8336How Peace should make John Bull the Frenchman's foe.
8337
8338the Russians, having built two batteries on
8339An isle near Ismail, had two ends in view
8340the first was to bombard it, and knock down
8341the public buildings and the private too
8342No matter what poor souls might be undone.
8343the city's shape suggested this, 't is true
8344Form'd like an amphitheatre, each dwelling
8345Presented a fine mark to throw a shell in.
8346
8347the second object was to profit by
8348the moment of the general consternation
8349To attack the Turk's flotilla, which lay nigh
8350Extremely tranquil, anchor'd at its station
8351But a third motive was as probably
8352To frighten them into capitulation
8353A phantasy which sometimes seizes warriors
8354Unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers.
8355
8356A habit rather blamable, which is
8357That of despising those we combat with
8358Common in many cases, was in this
8359the cause of killing Tchitchitzkoff and Smith
8360One of the valorous 'Smiths' whom we shall miss
8361Out of those nineteen who late rhymed to 'pith'
8362But 't is a name so spread o'er 'Sir' and 'Madam,'
8363That one would think the first who bore it 'Adam.'
8364
8365the Russian batteries were incomplete
8366Because they were constructed in a hurry
8367Thus the same cause which makes a verse want feet
8368And throws a cloud o'er Longman and John Murray
8369When the sale of new books is not so fleet
8370As they who print them think is necessary
8371May likewise put off for a time what story
8372Sometimes calls 'murder,' and at others 'glory.'
8373
8374Whether it was their engineer's stupidity
8375their haste, or waste, I neither know nor care
8376Or some contractor's personal cupidity
8377Saving his soul by cheating in the ware
8378Of homicide, but there was no solidity
8379In the new batteries erected there
8380they either miss'd, or they were never miss'd
8381And added greatly to the missing list.
8382
8383A sad miscalculation about distance
8384Made all their naval matters incorrect
8385Three fireships lost their amiable existence
8386Before they reach'd a spot to take effect
8387the match was lit too soon, and no assistance
8388Could remedy this lubberly defect
8389they blew up in the middle of the river
8390While, though 't was dawn, the Turks slept fast as ever.
8391
8392At seven they rose, however, and survey'd
8393the Russ flotilla getting under way
8394'T was nine, when still advancing undismay'd
8395Within a cable's length their vessels lay
8396Off Ismail, and commenced a cannonade
8397Which was return'd with interest, I may say
8398And by a fire of musketry and grape
8399And shells and shot of every size and shape.
8400
8401For six hours bore they without intermission
8402the Turkish fire, and aided by their own
8403Land batteries, work'd their guns with great precision
8404At length they found mere cannonade alone
8405By no means would produce the town's submission
8406And made a signal to retreat at one.
8407One bark blew up, a second near the works
8408Running aground, was taken by the Turks.
8409
8410the Moslem, too, had lost both ships and men
8411But when they saw the enemy retire
8412their Delhis mann'd some boats, and sail'd again
8413And gall'd the Russians with a heavy fire
8414And tried to make a landing on the main
8415But here the effect fell short of their desire
8416Count Damas drove them back into the water
8417Pell-mell, and with a whole gazette of slaughter.
8418
8419'If' says the historian here 'I could report
8420All that the Russians did upon this day
8421I think that several volumes would fall short
8422And I should still have many things to say'
8423And so he says no more but pays his court
8424To some distinguish'd strangers in that fray
8425the Prince de Ligne, and Langeron, and Damas
8426Names great as any that the roll of Fame has.
8427
8428This being the case, may show us what Fame is
8429For out of these three 'preux Chevaliers,' how
8430Many of common readers give a guess
8431That such existed? and they may live now
8432For aught we know. Renown 's all hit or miss
8433there 's fortune even in fame, we must allow.
8434'T is true the Memoirs of the Prince de Ligne
8435Have half withdrawn from him oblivion's screen.
8436
8437But here are men who fought in gallant actions
8438As gallantly as ever heroes fought
8439But buried in the heap of such transactions
8440their names are rarely found, nor often sought.
8441Thus even good fame may suffer sad contractions
8442And is extinguish'd sooner than she ought
8443Of all our modern battles, I will bet
8444You can't repeat nine names from each Gazette.
8445
8446In short, this last attack, though rich in glory
8447Show'd that somewhere, somehow, there was a fault
8448And Admiral Ribas known in Russian story
8449Most strongly recommended an assault
8450In which he was opposed by young and hoary
8451Which made a long debate but I must halt
8452For if I wrote down every warrior's speech
8453I doubt few readers e'er would mount the breach.
8454
8455there was a man, if that he was a man
8456Not that his manhood could be call'd in question
8457For had he not been Hercules, his span
8458Had been as short in youth as indigestion
8459Made his last illness, when, all worn and wan
8460He died beneath a tree, as much unblest on
8461the soil of the green province he had wasted
8462As e'er was locust on the land it blasted.
8463
8464This was Potemkin a great thing in days
8465When homicide and harlotry made great
8466If stars and titles could entail long praise
8467His glory might half equal his estate.
8468This fellow, being six foot high, could raise
8469A kind of phantasy proportionate
8470In the then sovereign of the Russian people
8471Who measured men as you would do a steeple.
8472
8473While things were in abeyance, Ribas sent
8474A courier to the prince, and he succeeded
8475In ordering matters after his own bent
8476I cannot tell the way in which he pleaded
8477But shortly he had cause to be content.
8478In the mean time, the batteries proceeded
8479And fourscore cannon on the Danube's border
8480Were briskly fired and answer'd in due order.
8481
8482But on the thirteenth, when already part
8483Of the troops were embark'd, the siege to raise
8484A courier on the spur inspired new heart
8485Into all panters for newspaper praise
8486As well as dilettanti in war's art
8487By his despatches couch'd in pithy phrase
8488Announcing the appointment of that lover of
8489Battles to the command, Field-Marshal Souvaroff.
8490
8491the letter of the prince to the same marshal
8492Was worthy of a Spartan, had the cause
8493Been one to which a good heart could be partial
8494Defence of freedom, country, or of laws
8495But as it was mere lust of power to o'er-arch all
8496With its proud brow, it merits slight applause
8497Save for its style, which said, all in a trice
8498'You will take Ismail at whatever price.'
8499
8500'Let there be light! said God, and there was light!'
8501'Let there be blood!' says man, and there 's a seal
8502the fiat of this spoil'd child of the Night
8503For Day ne'er saw his merits could decree
8504More evil in an hour, than thirty bright
8505Summers could renovate, though they should be
8506Lovely as those which ripen'd Eden's fruit
8507For war cuts up not only branch, but root.
8508
8509Our friends the Turks, who with loud 'Allahs' now
8510Began to signalise the Russ retreat
8511Were damnably mistaken few are slow
8512In thinking that their enemy is beat
8513Or beaten, if you insist on grammar, though
8514I never think about it in a heat
8515But here I say the Turks were much mistaken
8516Who hating hogs, yet wish'd to save their bacon.
8517
8518For, on the sixteenth, at full gallop, drew
8519In sight two horsemen, who were deem'd Cossacques
8520For some time, till they came in nearer view.
8521they had but little baggage at their backs
8522For there were but three shirts between the two
8523But on they rode upon two Ukraine hacks
8524Till, in approaching, were at length descried
8525In this plain pair, Suwarrow and his guide.
8526
8527'Great joy to London now!' says some great fool
8528When London had a grand illumination
8529Which to that bottle-conjurer, John Bull
8530Is of all dreams the first hallucination
8531So that the streets of colour'd lamps are full
8532That Sage said john surrenders at discretion
8533His purse, his soul, his sense, and even his nonsense
8534To gratify, like a huge moth, this one sense.
8535
8536'T is strange that he should farther 'damn his eyes,'
8537For they are damn'd that once all-famous oath
8538Is to the devil now no farther prize
8539Since John has lately lost the use of both.
8540Debt he calls wealth, and taxes Paradise
8541And Famine, with her gaunt and bony growth
8542Which stare him in the face, he won't examine
8543Or swears that Ceres hath begotten Famine.
8544
8545But to the tale great joy unto the camp!
8546To Russian, Tartar, English, French, Cossacque
8547O'er whom Suwarrow shone like a gas lamp
8548Presaging a most luminous attack
8549Or like a wisp along the marsh so damp
8550Which leads beholders on a boggy walk
8551He flitted to and fro a dancing light
8552Which all who saw it follow'd, wrong or right.
8553
8554But certes matters took a different face
8555there was enthusiasm and much applause
8556the fleet and camp saluted with great grace
8557And all presaged good fortune to their cause.
8558Within a cannon-shot length of the place
8559they drew, constructed ladders, repair'd flaws
8560In former works, made new, prepared fascines
8561And all kinds of benevolent machines.
8562
8563'T is thus the spirit of a single mind
8564Makes that of multitudes take one direction
8565As roll the waters to the breathing wind
8566Or roams the herd beneath the bull's protection
8567Or as a little dog will lead the blind
8568Or a bell-wether form the flock's connection
8569By tinkling sounds, when they go forth to victual
8570Such is the sway of your great men o'er little.
8571
8572the whole camp rung with joy you would have thought
8573That they were going to a marriage feast
8574This metaphor, I think, holds good as aught
8575Since there is discord after both at least
8576there was not now a luggage boy but sought
8577Danger and spoil with ardour much increased
8578And why? because a little odd old man
8579Stript to his shirt, was come to lead the van.
8580
8581But so it was and every preparation
8582Was made with all alacrity the first
8583Detachment of three columns took its station
8584And waited but the signal's voice to burst
8585Upon the foe the second's ordination
8586Was also in three columns, with a thirst
8587For glory gaping o'er a sea of slaughter
8588the third, in columns two, attack'd by water.
8589
8590New batteries were erected, and was held
8591A general council, in which unanimity
8592That stranger to most councils, here prevail'd
8593As sometimes happens in a great extremity
8594And every difficulty being dispell'd
8595Glory began to dawn with due sublimity
8596While Souvaroff, determined to obtain it
8597Was teaching his recruits to use the bayonet
8598
8599It is an actual fact, that he, commander
8600In chief, in proper person deign'd to drill
8601the awkward squad, and could afford to squander
8602His time, a corporal's duty to fulfil
8603Just as you 'd break a sucking salamander
8604To swallow flame, and never take it ill
8605He show'd them how to mount a ladder which
8606Was not like Jacob's or to cross a ditch.
8607
8608Also he dress'd up, for the nonce, fascines
8609Like men with turbans, scimitars, and dirks
8610And made them charge with bayonet these machines
8611By way of lesson against actual Turks
8612And when well practised in these mimic scenes
8613He judged them proper to assail the works
8614At which your wise men sneer'd in phrases witty
8615He made no answer but he took the city.
8616
8617Most things were in this posture on the eve
8618Of the assault, and all the camp was in
8619A stern repose which you would scarce conceive
8620Yet men resolved to dash through thick and thin
8621Are very silent when they once believe
8622That all is settled there was little din
8623For some were thinking of their home and friends
8624And others of themselves and latter ends.
8625
8626Suwarrow chiefly was on the alert
8627Surveying, drilling, ordering, jesting, pondering
8628For the man was, we safely may assert
8629A thing to wonder at beyond most wondering
8630Hero, buffoon, half-demon, and half-dirt
8631Praying, instructing, desolating, plundering
8632Now Mars, now Momus and when bent to storm
8633A fortress, Harlequin in uniform.
8634
8635the day before the assault, while upon drill
8636For this great conqueror play'd the corporal
8637Some Cossacques, hovering like hawks round a hill
8638Had met a party towards the twilight's fall
8639One of whom spoke their tongue or well or ill
8640'T was much that he was understood at all
8641But whether from his voice, or speech, or manner
8642they found that he had fought beneath their banner.
8643
8644Whereon immediately at his request
8645they brought him and his comrades to head-quarters
8646their dress was Moslem, but you might have guess'd
8647That these were merely masquerading Tartars
8648And that beneath each Turkish-fashion'd vest
8649Lurk'd Christianity which sometimes barters
8650Her inward grace for outward show, and makes
8651It difficult to shun some strange mistakes.
8652
8653Suwarrow, who was standing in his shirt
8654Before a company of Calmucks, drilling
8655Exclaiming, fooling, swearing at the inert
8656And lecturing on the noble art of killing
8657For deeming human clay but common dirt
8658This great philosopher was thus instilling
8659His maxims, which to martial comprehension
8660Proved death in battle equal to a pension
8661
8662Suwarrow, when he saw this company
8663Of Cossacques and their prey, turn'd round and cast
8664Upon them his slow brow and piercing eye
8665'Whence come ye?' 'From Constantinople last
8666Captives just now escaped,' was the reply.
8667'What are ye?' 'What you see us.' Briefly pass'd
8668This dialogue for he who answer'd knew
8669To whom he spoke, and made his words but few.
8670
8671'Your names?' 'Mine 's Johnson, and my comrade 's Juan
8672the other two are women, and the third
8673Is neither man nor woman.' the chief threw on
8674the party a slight glance, then said, 'I have heard
8675Your name before, the second is a new one
8676To bring the other three here was absurd
8677But let that pass I think I have heard your name
8678In the Nikolaiew regiment?' 'the same.'
8679
8680'You served at Widdin?' 'Yes.' 'You led the attack?'
8681'I did.' 'What next?' 'I really hardly know.'
8682'You were the first i' the breach?' 'I was not slack
8683At least to follow those who might be so.'
8684'What follow'd?' 'A shot laid me on my back
8685And I became a prisoner to the foe.'
8686'You shall have vengeance, for the town surrounded
8687Is twice as strong as that where you were wounded.
8688
8689'Where will you serve?' 'Where'er you please.' 'I know
8690You like to be the hope of the forlorn
8691And doubtless would be foremost on the foe
8692After the hardships you 've already borne.
8693And this young fellow say what can he do?
8694He with the beardless chin and garments torn?'
8695'Why, general, if he hath no greater fault
8696In war than love, he had better lead the assault.'
8697
8698'He shall if that he dare.' Here Juan bow'd
8699Low as the compliment deserved. Suwarrow
8700Continued 'Your old regiment's allow'd
8701By special providence, to lead to-morrow
8702Or it may be to-night, the assault I have vow'd
8703To several saints, that shortly plough or harrow
8704Shall pass o'er what was Ismail, and its tusk
8705Be unimpeded by the proudest mosque.
8706
8707'So now, my lads, for glory!' Here he turn'd
8708And drill'd away in the most classic Russian
8709Until each high, heroic bosom burn'd
8710For cash and conquest, as if from a cushion
8711A preacher had held forth who nobly spurn'd
8712All earthly goods save tithes and bade them push on
8713To slay the Pagans who resisted, battering
8714the armies of the Christian Empress Catherine.
8715
8716Johnson, who knew by this long colloquy
8717Himself a favourite, ventured to address
8718Suwarrow, though engaged with accents high
8719In his resumed amusement. 'I confess
8720My debt in being thus allow'd to die
8721Among the foremost but if you 'd express
8722Explicitly our several posts, my friend
8723And self would know what duty to attend.'
8724
8725'Right! I was busy, and forgot. Why, you
8726Will join your former regiment, which should be
8727Now under arms. Ho! Katskoff, take him to
8728Here he call'd up a Polish orderly
8729His post, I mean the regiment Nikolaiew
8730the stranger stripling may remain with me
8731He 's a fine boy. the women may be sent
8732To the other baggage, or to the sick tent.'
8733
8734But here a sort of scene began to ensue
8735the ladies, who by no means had been bred
8736To be disposed of in a way so new
8737Although their haram education led
8738Doubtless to that of doctrines the most true
8739Passive obedience, now raised up the head
8740With flashing eyes and starting tears, and flung
8741their arms, as hens their wings about their young
8742
8743O'er the promoted couple of brave men
8744Who were thus honour'd by the greatest chief
8745That ever peopled hell with heroes slain
8746Or plunged a province or a realm in grief.
8747O, foolish mortals! Always taught in vain!
8748O, glorious laurel! since for one sole leaf
8749Of thine imaginary deathless tree
8750Of blood and tears must flow the unebbing sea.
8751
8752Suwarrow, who had small regard for tears
8753And not much sympathy for blood, survey'd
8754the women with their hair about their ears
8755And natural agonies, with a slight shade
8756Of feeling for however habit sears
8757Men's hearts against whole millions, when their trade
8758Is butchery, sometimes a single sorrow
8759Will touch even heroes and such was Suwarrow.
8760
8761He said, and in the kindest Calmuck tone
8762'Why, Johnson, what the devil do you mean
8763By bringing women here? they shall be shown
8764All the attention possible, and seen
8765In safety to the waggons, where alone
8766In fact they can be safe. You should have been
8767Aware this kind of baggage never thrives
8768Save wed a year, I hate recruits with wives.'
8769
8770'May it please your excellency,' thus replied
8771Our British friend, 'these are the wives of others
8772And not our own. I am too qualified
8773By service with my military brothers
8774To break the rules by bringing one's own bride
8775Into a camp I know that nought so bothers
8776the hearts of the heroic on a charge
8777As leaving a small family at large.
8778
8779'But these are but two Turkish ladies, who
8780With their attendant aided our escape
8781And afterwards accompanied us through
8782A thousand perils in this dubious shape.
8783To me this kind of life is not so new
8784To them, poor things, it is an awkward scrape.
8785I therefore, if you wish me to fight freely
8786Request that they may both be used genteelly.'
8787
8788Meantime these two poor girls, with swimming eyes
8789Look'd on as if in doubt if they could trust
8790their own protectors nor was their surprise
8791Less than their grief and truly not less just
8792To see an old man, rather wild than wise
8793In aspect, plainly clad, besmear'd with dust
8794Stript to his waistcoat, and that not too clean
8795More fear'd than all the sultans ever seen.
8796
8797For every thing seem'd resting on his nod
8798As they could read in all eyes. Now to them
8799Who were accustom'd, as a sort of god
8800To see the sultan, rich in many a gem
8801Like an imperial peacock stalk abroad
8802That royal bird, whose tail 's a diadem
8803With all the pomp of power, it was a doubt
8804How power could condescend to do without.
8805
8806John Johnson, seeing their extreme dismay
8807Though little versed in feelings oriental
8808Suggested some slight comfort in his way
8809Don Juan, who was much more sentimental
8810Swore they should see him by the dawn of day
8811Or that the Russian army should repent all
8812And, strange to say, they found some consolation
8813In this for females like exaggeration.
8814
8815And then with tears, and sighs, and some slight kisses
8816they parted for the present these to await
8817According to the artillery's hits or misses
8818What sages call Chance, Providence, or Fate
8819Uncertainty is one of many blisses
8820A mortgage on Humanity's estate
8821While their beloved friends began to arm
8822To burn a town which never did them harm.
8823
8824Suwarrow, who but saw things in the gross
8825Being much too gross to see them in detail
8826Who calculated life as so much dross
8827And as the wind a widow'd nation's wail
8828And cared as little for his army's loss
8829So that their efforts should at length prevail
8830As wife and friends did for the boils of job
8831What was 't to him to hear two women sob?
8832
8833Nothing. the work of glory still went on
8834In preparations for a cannonade
8835As terrible as that of Ilion
8836If Homer had found mortars ready made
8837But now, instead of slaying Priam's son
8838We only can but talk of escalade
8839Bombs, drums, guns, bastions, batteries, bayonets, bullets
8840Hard words, which stick in the soft Muses' gullets.
8841
8842O, thou eternal Homer! who couldst charm
8843All cars, though long all ages, though so short
8844By merely wielding with poetic arm
8845Arms to which men will never more resort
8846Unless gunpowder should be found to harm
8847Much less than is the hope of every court
8848Which now is leagued young Freedom to annoy
8849But they will not find Liberty a Troy
8850
8851O, thou eternal Homer! I have now
8852To paint a siege, wherein more men were slain
8853With deadlier engines and a speedier blow
8854Than in thy Greek gazette of that campaign
8855And yet, like all men else, I must allow
8856To vie with thee would be about as vain
8857As for a brook to cope with ocean's flood
8858But still we moderns equal you in blood
8859
8860If not in poetry, at least in fact
8861And fact is truth, the grand desideratum!
8862Of which, howe'er the Muse describes each act
8863there should be ne'ertheless a slight substratum.
8864But now the town is going to be attack'd
8865Great deeds are doing how shall I relate 'em?
8866Souls of immortal generals! Phoebus watches
8867To colour up his rays from your despatches.
8868
8869O, ye great bulletins of Bonaparte!
8870O, ye less grand long lists of kill'd and wounded!
8871Shade of Leonidas, who fought so hearty
8872When my poor Greece was once, as now, surrounded!
8873O, Caesar's Commentaries! now impart, ye
8874Shadows of glory! lest I be confounded
8875A portion of your fading twilight hues
8876So beautiful, so fleeting, to the Muse.
8877
8878When I call 'fading' martial immortality
8879I mean, that every age and every year
8880And almost every day, in sad reality
8881Some sucking hero is compell'd to rear
8882Who, when we come to sum up the totality
8883Of deeds to human happiness most dear
8884Turns out to be a butcher in great business
8885Afflicting young folks with a sort of dizziness.
8886
8887Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet
8888Are things immortal to immortal man
8889As purple to the Babylonian harlot
8890An uniform to boys is like a fan
8891To women there is scarce a crimson varlet
8892But deems himself the first in Glory's van.
8893But Glory's glory and if you would find
8894What that is ask the pig who sees the wind!
8895
8896At least he feels it, and some say he sees
8897Because he runs before it like a pig
8898Or, if that simple sentence should displease
8899Say, that he scuds before it like a brig
8900A schooner, or but it is time to ease
8901This Canto, ere my Muse perceives fatigue.
8902the next shall ring a peal to shake all people
8903Like a bob-major from a village steeple.
8904
8905Hark! through the silence of the cold, dull night
8906the hum of armies gathering rank on rank!
8907Lo! dusky masses steal in dubious sight
8908Along the leaguer'd wall and bristling bank
8909Of the arm'd river, while with straggling light
8910the stars peep through the vapours dim and dank
8911Which curl in curious wreaths how soon the smoke
8912Of Hell shall pall them in a deeper cloak!
8913
8914Here pause we for the present as even then
8915That awful pause, dividing life from death
8916Struck for an instant on the hearts of men
8917Thousands of whom were drawing their last breath!
8918A moment and all will be life again!
8919the march! the charge! the shouts of either faith!
8920Hurra! and Allah! and one moment more
8921the death-cry drowning in the battle's roar.
8922
8923O blood and thunder! and oh blood and wounds!
8924these are but vulgar oaths, as you may deem
8925Too gentle reader! and most shocking sounds
8926And so they are yet thus is Glory's dream
8927Unriddled, and as my true Muse expounds
8928At present such things, since they are her theme
8929So be they her inspirers! Call them Mars
8930Bellona, what you will they mean but wars.
8931
8932All was prepared the fire, the sword, the men
8933To wield them in their terrible array.
8934the army, like a lion from his den
8935March'd forth with nerve and sinews bent to slay
8936A human Hydra, issuing from its fen
8937To breathe destruction on its winding way
8938Whose heads were heroes, which cut off in vain
8939Immediately in others grew again.
8940
8941History can only take things in the gross
8942But could we know them in detail, perchance
8943In balancing the profit and the loss
8944War's merit it by no means might enhance
8945To waste so much gold for a little dross
8946As hath been done, mere conquest to advance.
8947the drying up a single tear has more
8948Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.
8949
8950And why? because it brings self-approbation
8951Whereas the other, after all its glare
8952Shouts, bridges, arches, pensions from a nation
8953Which it may be has not much left to spare
8954A higher title, or a loftier station
8955Though they may make Corruption gape or stare
8956Yet, in the end, except in Freedom's battles
8957Are nothing but a child of Murder's rattles.
8958
8959And such they are and such they will be found
8960Not so Leonidas and Washington
8961Whose every battle-field is holy ground
8962Which breathes of nations saved, not worlds undone.
8963How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound!
8964While the mere victor's may appal or stun
8965the servile and the vain, such names will be
8966A watchword till the future shall be free.
8967
8968the night was dark, and the thick mist allow'd
8969Nought to be seen save the artillery's flame
8970Which arch'd the horizon like a fiery cloud
8971And in the Danube's waters shone the same
8972A mirror'd hell! the volleying roar, and loud
8973Long booming of each peal on peal, o'ercame
8974the ear far more than thunder for Heaven's flashes
8975Spare, or smite rarely man's make millions ashes!
8976
8977the column order'd on the assault scarce pass'd
8978Beyond the Russian batteries a few toises
8979When up the bristling Moslem rose at last
8980Answering the Christian thunders with like voices
8981then one vast fire, air, earth, and stream embraced
8982Which rock'd as 't were beneath the mighty noises
8983While the whole rampart blazed like Etna, when
8984the restless Titan hiccups in his den.
8985
8986And one enormous shout of 'Allah!' rose
8987In the same moment, loud as even the roar
8988Of war's most mortal engines, to their foes
8989Hurling defiance city, stream, and shore
8990Resounded 'Allah!' and the clouds which close
8991With thick'ning canopy the conflict o'er
8992Vibrate to the Eternal name. Hark! through
8993All sounds it pierceth 'Allah! Allah! Hu!'
8994
8995the columns were in movement one and all
8996But of the portion which attack'd by water
8997Thicker than leaves the lives began to fall
8998Though led by Arseniew, that great son of slaughter
8999As brave as ever faced both bomb and ball.
9000'Carnage' so Wordsworth tells you 'is God's daughter'
9001If he speak truth, she is Christ's sister, and
9002Just now behaved as in the Holy Land.
9003
9004the Prince de Ligne was wounded in the knee
9005Count Chapeau-Bras, too, had a ball between
9006His cap and head, which proves the head to be
9007Aristocratic as was ever seen
9008Because it then received no injury
9009More than the cap in fact, the ball could mean
9010No harm unto a right legitimate head
9011'Ashes to ashes' why not lead to lead?
9012
9013Also the General Markow, Brigadier
9014Insisting on removal of the prince
9015Amidst some groaning thousands dying near
9016All common fellows, who might writhe and wince
9017And shriek for water into a deaf ear
9018the General Markow, who could thus evince
9019His sympathy for rank, by the same token
9020To teach him greater, had his own leg broken.
9021
9022Three hundred cannon threw up their emetic
9023And thirty thousand muskets flung their pills
9024Like hail, to make a bloody diuretic.
9025Mortality! thou hast thy monthly bills
9026Thy plagues, thy famines, thy physicians, yet tick
9027Like the death-watch, within our ears the ills
9028Past, present, and to come but all may yield
9029To the true portrait of one battle-field.
9030
9031there the still varying pangs, which multiply
9032Until their very number makes men hard
9033By the infinities of agony
9034Which meet the gaze whate'er it may regard
9035the groan, the roll in dust, the all-white eye
9036Turn'd back within its socket, these reward
9037Your rank and file by thousands, while the rest
9038May win perhaps a riband at the breast!
9039
9040Yet I love glory glory 's a great thing
9041Think what it is to be in your old age
9042Maintain'd at the expense of your good king
9043A moderate pension shakes full many a sage
9044And heroes are but made for bards to sing
9045Which is still better thus in verse to wage
9046Your wars eternally, besides enjoying
9047Half-pay for life, make mankind worth destroying.
9048
9049the troops, already disembark'd, push'd on
9050To take a battery on the right the others
9051Who landed lower down, their landing done
9052Had set to work as briskly as their brothers
9053Being grenadiers, they mounted one by one
9054Cheerful as children climb the breasts of mothers
9055O'er the entrenchment and the palisade
9056Quite orderly, as if upon parade.
9057
9058And this was admirable for so hot
9059the fire was, that were red Vesuvius loaded
9060Besides its lava, with all sorts of shot
9061And shells or hells, it could not more have goaded.
9062Of officers a third fell on the spot
9063A thing which victory by no means boded
9064To gentlemen engaged in the assault
9065Hounds, when the huntsman tumbles, are at fault.
9066
9067But here I leave the general concern
9068To track our hero on his path of fame
9069He must his laurels separately earn
9070For fifty thousand heroes, name by name
9071Though all deserving equally to turn
9072A couplet, or an elegy to claim
9073Would form a lengthy lexicon of glory
9074And what is worse still, a much longer story
9075
9076And therefore we must give the greater number
9077To the Gazette which doubtless fairly dealt
9078By the deceased, who lie in famous slumber
9079In ditches, fields, or wheresoe'er they felt
9080their clay for the last time their souls encumber
9081Thrice happy he whose name has been well spelt
9082In the despatch I knew a man whose loss
9083Was printed Grove, although his name was Grose.
9084
9085Juan and Johnson join'd a certain corps
9086And fought away with might and main, not knowing
9087the way which they had never trod before
9088And still less guessing where they might be going
9089But on they march'd, dead bodies trampling o'er
9090Firing, and thrusting, slashing, sweating, glowing
9091But fighting thoughtlessly enough to win
9092To their two selves, one whole bright bulletin.
9093
9094Thus on they wallow'd in the bloody mire
9095Of dead and dying thousands, sometimes gaining
9096A yard or two of ground, which brought them nigher
9097To some odd angle for which all were straining
9098At other times, repulsed by the close fire
9099Which really pour'd as if all hell were raining
9100Instead of heaven, they stumbled backwards o'er
9101A wounded comrade, sprawling in his gore.
9102
9103Though 't was Don Juan's first of fields, and though
9104the nightly muster and the silent march
9105In the chill dark, when courage does not glow
9106So much as under a triumphal arch
9107Perhaps might make him shiver, yawn, or throw
9108A glance on the dull clouds as thick as starch
9109Which stiffen'd heaven as if he wish'd for day
9110Yet for all this he did not run away.
9111
9112Indeed he could not. But what if he had?
9113there have been and are heroes who begun
9114With something not much better, or as bad
9115Frederic the Great from Molwitz deign'd to run
9116For the first and last time for, like a pad
9117Or hawk, or bride, most mortals after one
9118Warm bout are broken into their new tricks
9119And fight like fiends for pay or politics.
9120
9121He was what Erin calls, in her sublime
9122Old Erse or Irish, or it may be Punic
9123the antiquarians who can settle time
9124Which settles all things, Roman, Greek, or Runic
9125Swear that Pat's language sprung from the same clime
9126With Hannibal, and wears the Tyrian tunic
9127Of Dido's alphabet and this is rational
9128As any other notion, and not national
9129
9130But Juan was quite 'a broth of a boy,'
9131A thing of impulse and a child of song
9132Now swimming in the sentiment of joy
9133Or the sensation if that phrase seem wrong
9134And afterward, if he must needs destroy
9135In such good company as always throng
9136To battles, sieges, and that kind of pleasure
9137No less delighted to employ his leisure
9138
9139But always without malice if he warr'd
9140Or loved, it was with what we call 'the best
9141Intentions,' which form all mankind's trump card
9142To be produced when brought up to the test.
9143the statesman, hero, harlot, lawyer ward
9144Off each attack, when people are in quest
9145Of their designs, by saying they meant well
9146'T is pity 'that such meaning should pave hell.'
9147
9148I almost lately have begun to doubt
9149Whether hell's pavement if it be so paved
9150Must not have latterly been quite worn out
9151Not by the numbers good intent hath saved
9152But by the mass who go below without
9153Those ancient good intentions, which once shaved
9154And smooth'd the brimstone of that street of hell
9155Which bears the greatest likeness to Pall Mall.
9156
9157Juan, by some strange chance, which oft divides
9158Warrior from warrior in their grim career
9159Like chastest wives from constant husbands' sides
9160Just at the close of the first bridal year
9161By one of those odd turns of Fortune's tides
9162Was on a sudden rather puzzled here
9163When, after a good deal of heavy firing
9164He found himself alone, and friends retiring.
9165
9166I don't know how the thing occurr'd it might
9167Be that the greater part were kill'd or wounded
9168And that the rest had faced unto the right
9169About a circumstance which has confounded
9170Caesar himself, who, in the very sight
9171Of his whole army, which so much abounded
9172In courage, was obliged to snatch a shield
9173And rally back his Romans to the field.
9174
9175Juan, who had no shield to snatch, and was
9176No Caesar, but a fine young lad, who fought
9177He knew not why, arriving at this pass
9178Stopp'd for a minute, as perhaps he ought
9179For a much longer time then, like an as
9180Start not, kind reader since great Homer thought
9181This simile enough for Ajax, Juan
9182Perhaps may find it better than a new one
9183
9184then, like an ass, he went upon his way
9185And, what was stranger, never look'd behind
9186But seeing, flashing forward, like the day
9187Over the hills, a fire enough to blind
9188Those who dislike to look upon a fray
9189He stumbled on, to try if he could find
9190A path, to add his own slight arm and forces
9191To corps, the greater part of which were corses.
9192
9193Perceiving then no more the commandant
9194Of his own corps, nor even the corps, which had
9195Quite disappear'd the gods know howl I can't
9196Account for every thing which may look bad
9197In history but we at least may grant
9198It was not marvellous that a mere lad
9199In search of glory, should look on before
9200Nor care a pinch of snuff about his corps
9201
9202Perceiving nor commander nor commanded
9203And left at large, like a young heir, to make
9204His way to where he knew not single handed
9205As travellers follow over bog and brake
9206An 'ignis fatuus' or as sailors stranded
9207Unto the nearest hut themselves betake
9208So Juan, following honour and his nose
9209Rush'd where the thickest fire announced most foes.
9210
9211He knew not where he was, nor greatly cared
9212For he was dizzy, busy, and his veins
9213Fill'd as with lightning for his spirit shared
9214the hour, as is the case with lively brains
9215And where the hottest fire was seen and heard
9216And the loud cannon peal'd his hoarsest strains
9217He rush'd, while earth and air were sadly shaken
9218By thy humane discovery, Friar Bacon!
9219
9220And as he rush'd along, it came to pass he
9221Fell in with what was late the second column
9222Under the orders of the General Lascy
9223But now reduced, as is a bulky volume
9224Into an elegant extract much less massy
9225Of heroism, and took his place with solemn
9226Air 'midst the rest, who kept their valiant faces
9227And levell'd weapons still against the glacis.
9228
9229Just at this crisis up came Johnson too
9230Who had 'retreated,' as the phrase is when
9231Men run away much rather than go through
9232Destruction's jaws into the devil's den
9233But Johnson was a clever fellow, who
9234Knew when and how 'to cut and come again,'
9235And never ran away, except when running
9236Was nothing but a valorous kind of cunning.
9237
9238And so, when all his corps were dead or dying
9239Except Don Juan, a mere novice, whose
9240More virgin valour never dreamt of flying
9241From ignorance of danger, which indues
9242Its votaries, like innocence relying
9243On its own strength, with careless nerves and thews
9244Johnson retired a little, just to rally
9245Those who catch cold in 'shadows of Death's valley.'
9246
9247And there, a little shelter'd from the shot
9248Which rain'd from bastion, battery, parapet
9249Rampart, wall, casement, house, for there was not
9250In this extensive city, sore beset
9251By Christian soldiery, a single spot
9252Which did not combat like the devil, as yet
9253He found a number of Chasseurs, all scatter'd
9254By the resistance of the chase they batter'd.
9255
9256And these he call'd on and, what 's strange, they came
9257Unto his call, unlike 'the spirits from
9258the vasty deep,' to whom you may exclaim
9259Says Hotspur, long ere they will leave their home.
9260their reasons were uncertainty, or shame
9261At shrinking from a bullet or a bomb
9262And that odd impulse, which in wars or creeds
9263Makes men, like cattle, follow him who leads.
9264
9265By Jove! he was a noble fellow, Johnson
9266And though his name, than Ajax or Achilles
9267Sounds less harmonious, underneath the sun soon
9268We shall not see his likeness he could kill his
9269Man quite as quietly as blows the monsoon
9270Her steady breath which some months the same still is
9271Seldom he varied feature, hue, or muscle
9272And could be very busy without bustle
9273
9274And therefore, when he ran away, he did so
9275Upon reflection, knowing that behind
9276He would find others who would fain be rid so
9277Of idle apprehensions, which like wind
9278Trouble heroic stomachs. Though their lids so
9279Oft are soon closed, all heroes are not blind
9280But when they light upon immediate death
9281Retire a little, merely to take breath.
9282
9283But Johnson only ran off, to return
9284With many other warriors, as we said
9285Unto that rather somewhat misty bourn
9286Which Hamlet tells us is a pass of dread.
9287To Jack howe'er this gave but slight concern
9288His soul like galvanism upon the dead
9289Acted upon the living as on wire
9290And led them back into the heaviest fire.
9291
9292Egad! they found the second time what they
9293the first time thought quite terrible enough
9294To fly from, malgre all which people say
9295Of glory, and all that immortal stuff
9296Which fills a regiment besides their pay
9297That daily shilling which makes warriors tough
9298they found on their return the self-same welcome
9299Which made some think, and others know, a hell come.
9300
9301they fell as thick as harvests beneath hail
9302Grass before scythes, or corn below the sickle
9303Proving that trite old truth, that life 's as frail
9304As any other boon for which men stickle.
9305the Turkish batteries thrash'd them like a flail
9306Or a good boxer, into a sad pickle
9307Putting the very bravest, who were knock'd
9308Upon the head, before their guns were cock'd.
9309
9310the Turks, behind the traverses and flanks
9311Of the next bastion, fired away like devils
9312And swept, as gales sweep foam away, whole ranks
9313However, Heaven knows how, the Fate who levels
9314Towns, nations, worlds, in her revolving pranks
9315So order'd it, amidst these sulphury revels
9316That Johnson and some few who had not scamper'd
9317Reach'd the interior talus of the rampart.
9318
9319First one or two, then five, six, and a dozen
9320Came mounting quickly up, for it was now
9321All neck or nothing, as, like pitch or rosin
9322Flame was shower'd forth above, as well 's below
9323So that you scarce could say who best had chosen
9324the gentlemen that were the first to show
9325their martial faces on the parapet
9326Or those who thought it brave to wait as yet.
9327
9328But those who scaled, found out that their advance
9329Was favour'd by an accident or blunder
9330the Greek or Turkish Cohorn's ignorance
9331Had palisado'd in a way you 'd wonder
9332To see in forts of Netherlands or France
9333Though these to our Gibraltar must knock under
9334Right in the middle of the parapet
9335Just named, these palisades were primly set
9336
9337So that on either side some nine or ten
9338Paces were left, whereon you could contrive
9339To march a great convenience to our men
9340At least to all those who were left alive
9341Who thus could form a line and fight again
9342And that which farther aided them to strive
9343Was, that they could kick down the palisades
9344Which scarcely rose much higher than grass blades.
9345
9346Among the first, I will not say the first
9347For such precedence upon such occasions
9348Will oftentimes make deadly quarrels burst
9349Out between friends as well as allied nations
9350the Briton must be bold who really durst
9351Put to such trial John Bull's partial patience
9352As say that Wellington at Waterloo
9353Was beaten though the Prussians say so too
9354
9355And that if Blucher, Bulow, Gneisenau
9356And God knows who besides in 'au' and 'ow,'
9357Had not come up in time to cast an awe
9358Into the hearts of those who fought till now
9359As tigers combat with an empty craw
9360the Duke of Wellington had ceased to show
9361His orders, also to receive his pensions
9362Which are the heaviest that our history mentions.
9363
9364But never mind 'God save the king!' and kings!
9365For if he don't, I doubt if men will longer
9366I think I hear a little bird, who sings
9367the people by and by will be the stronger
9368the veriest jade will wince whose harness wrings
9369So much into the raw as quite to wrong her
9370Beyond the rules of posting, and the mob
9371At last fall sick of imitating Job.
9372
9373At first it grumbles, then it swears, and then
9374Like David, flings smooth pebbles 'gainst a giant
9375At last it takes to weapons such as men
9376Snatch when despair makes human hearts less pliant.
9377then comes 'the tug of war' 't will come again
9378I rather doubt and I would fain say 'fie on 't,'
9379If I had not perceived that revolution
9380Alone can save the earth from hell's pollution.
9381
9382But to continue I say not the first
9383But of the first, our little friend Don Juan
9384Walk'd o'er the walls of Ismail, as if nursed
9385Amidst such scenes though this was quite a new one
9386To him, and I should hope to most. the thirst
9387Of glory, which so pierces through and through one
9388Pervaded him although a generous creature
9389As warm in heart as feminine in feature.
9390
9391And here he was who upon woman's breast
9392Even from a child, felt like a child howe'er
9393the man in all the rest might be confest
9394To him it was Elysium to be there
9395And he could even withstand that awkward test
9396Which Rousseau points out to the dubious fair
9397'Observe your lover when he leaves your arms'
9398But Juan never left them, while they had charms
9399
9400Unless compell'd by fate, or wave, or wind
9401Or near relations, who are much the same.
9402But here he was! where each tie that can bind
9403Humanity must yield to steel and flame
9404And he whose very body was all mind
9405Flung here by fate or circumstance, which tame
9406the loftiest, hurried by the time and place
9407Dash'd on like a spurr'd blood-horse in a race.
9408
9409So was his blood stirr'd while he found resistance
9410As is the hunter's at the five-bar gate
9411Or double post and rail, where the existence
9412Of Britain's youth depends upon their weight
9413the lightest being the safest at a distance
9414He hated cruelty, as all men hate
9415Blood, until heated and even then his own
9416At times would curdle o'er some heavy groan.
9417
9418the General Lascy, who had been hard press'd
9419Seeing arrive an aid so opportune
9420As were some hundred youngsters all abreast
9421Who came as if just dropp'd down from the moon
9422To Juan, who was nearest him, address'd
9423His thanks, and hopes to take the city soon
9424Not reckoning him to be a 'base Bezonian'
9425As Pistol calls it, but a young Livonian.
9426
9427Juan, to whom he spoke in German, knew
9428As much of German as of Sanscrit, and
9429In answer made an inclination to
9430the general who held him in command
9431For seeing one with ribands, black and blue
9432Stars, medals, and a bloody sword in hand
9433Addressing him in tones which seem'd to thank
9434He recognised an officer of rank.
9435
9436Short speeches pass between two men who speak
9437No common language and besides, in time
9438Of war and taking towns, when many a shriek
9439Rings o'er the dialogue, and many a crime
9440Is perpetrated ere a word can break
9441Upon the ear, and sounds of horror chime
9442In like church-bells, with sigh, howl, groan, yell, prayer
9443there cannot be much conversation there.
9444
9445And therefore all we have related in
9446Two long octaves, pass'd in a little minute
9447But in the same small minute, every sin
9448Contrived to get itself comprised within it.
9449the very cannon, deafen'd by the din
9450Grew dumb, for you might almost hear a linnet
9451As soon as thunder, 'midst the general noise
9452Of human nature's agonising voice!
9453
9454the town was enter'd. Oh eternity!
9455'God made the country and man made the town,'
9456So Cowper says and I begin to be
9457Of his opinion, when I see cast down
9458Rome, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, Nineveh
9459All walls men know, and many never known
9460And pondering on the present and the past
9461To deem the woods shall be our home at last
9462
9463Of all men, saving Sylla the man-slayer
9464Who passes for in life and death most lucky
9465Of the great names which in our faces stare
9466the General Boon, back-woodsman of Kentucky
9467Was happiest amongst mortals anywhere
9468For killing nothing but a bear or buck, he
9469Enjoy'd the lonely, vigorous, harmless days
9470Of his old age in wilds of deepest maze.
9471
9472Crime came not near him she is not the child
9473Of solitude Health shrank not from him for
9474Her home is in the rarely trodden wild
9475Where if men seek her not, and death be more
9476their choice than life, forgive them, as beguiled
9477By habit to what their own hearts abhor
9478In cities caged. the present case in point I
9479Cite is, that Boon lived hunting up to ninety
9480
9481And what 's still stranger, left behind a name
9482For which men vainly decimate the throng
9483Not only famous, but of that good fame
9484Without which glory 's but a tavern song
9485Simple, serene, the antipodes of shame
9486Which hate nor envy e'er could tinge with wrong
9487An active hermit, even in age the child
9488Of Nature, or the man of Ross run wild.
9489
9490'T is true he shrank from men even of his nation
9491When they built up unto his darling trees
9492He moved some hundred miles off, for a station
9493Where there were fewer houses and more ease
9494the inconvenience of civilisation
9495Is, that you neither can be pleased nor please
9496But where he met the individual man
9497He show'd himself as kind as mortal can.
9498
9499He was not all alone around him grew
9500A sylvan tribe of children of the chase
9501Whose young, unwaken'd world was ever new
9502Nor sword nor sorrow yet had left a trace
9503On her unwrinkled brow, nor could you view
9504A frown on Nature's or on human face
9505the free-born forest found and kept them free
9506And fresh as is a torrent or a tree.
9507
9508And tall, and strong, and swift of foot were they
9509Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions
9510Because their thoughts had never been the prey
9511Of care or gain the green woods were their portions
9512No sinking spirits told them they grew grey
9513No fashion made them apes of her distortions
9514Simple they were, not savage and their rifles
9515Though very true, were not yet used for trifles.
9516
9517Motion was in their days, rest in their slumbers
9518And cheerfulness the handmaid of their toil
9519Nor yet too many nor too few their numbers
9520Corruption could not make their hearts her soil
9521the lust which stings, the splendour which encumbers
9522With the free foresters divide no spoil
9523Serene, not sullen, were the solitudes
9524Of this unsighing people of the woods.
9525
9526So much for Nature by way of variety
9527Now back to thy great joys, Civilisation!
9528And the sweet consequence of large society
9529War, pestilence, the despot's desolation
9530the kingly scourge, the lust of notoriety
9531the millions slain by soldiers for their ration
9532the scenes like Catherine's boudoir at threescore
9533With Ismail's storm to soften it the more.
9534
9535the town was enter'd first one column made
9536Its sanguinary way good then another
9537the reeking bayonet and the flashing blade
9538Clash'd 'gainst the scimitar, and babe and mother
9539With distant shrieks were heard Heaven to upbraid
9540Still closer sulphury clouds began to smother
9541the breath of morn and man, where foot by foot
9542the madden'd Turks their city still dispute.
9543
9544Koutousow, he who afterward beat back
9545With some assistance from the frost and snow
9546Napoleon on his bold and bloody track
9547It happen'd was himself beat back just now
9548He was a jolly fellow, and could crack
9549His jest alike in face of friend or foe
9550Though life, and death, and victory were at stake
9551But here it seem'd his jokes had ceased to take
9552
9553For having thrown himself into a ditch
9554Follow'd in haste by various grenadiers
9555Whose blood the puddle greatly did enrich
9556He climb'd to where the parapet appears
9557But there his project reach'd its utmost pitch
9558'Mongst other deaths the General Ribaupierre's
9559Was much regretted, for the Moslem men
9560Threw them all down into the ditch again.
9561
9562And had it not been for some stray troops landing
9563they knew not where, being carried by the stream
9564To some spot, where they lost their understanding
9565And wander'd up and down as in a dream
9566Until they reach'd, as daybreak was expanding
9567That which a portal to their eyes did seem
9568the great and gay Koutousow might have lain
9569Where three parts of his column yet remain.
9570
9571And scrambling round the rampart, these same troops
9572After the taking of the 'Cavalier,'
9573Just as Koutousow's most 'forlorn' of 'hopes'
9574Took like chameleons some slight tinge of fear
9575Open'd the gate call'd 'Kilia,' to the groups
9576Of baffled heroes, who stood shyly near
9577Sliding knee-deep in lately frozen mud
9578Now thaw'd into a marsh of human blood.
9579
9580the Kozacks, or, if so you please, Cossacques
9581I don't much pique myself upon orthography
9582So that I do not grossly err in facts
9583Statistics, tactics, politics, and geography
9584Having been used to serve on horses' backs
9585And no great dilettanti in topography
9586Of fortresses, but fighting where it pleases
9587their chiefs to order, were all cut to pieces.
9588
9589their column, though the Turkish batteries thunder'd
9590Upon them, ne'ertheless had reach'd the rampart
9591And naturally thought they could have plunder'd
9592the city, without being farther hamper'd
9593But as it happens to brave men, they blunder'd
9594the Turks at first pretended to have scamper'd
9595Only to draw them 'twixt two bastion corners
9596From whence they sallied on those Christian scorners.
9597
9598then being taken by the tail a taking
9599Fatal to bishops as to soldiers these
9600Cossacques were all cut off as day was breaking
9601And found their lives were let at a short lease
9602But perish'd without shivering or shaking
9603Leaving as ladders their heap'd carcasses
9604O'er which Lieutenant-Colonel Yesouskoi
9605March'd with the brave battalion of Polouzki
9606
9607This valiant man kill'd all the Turks he met
9608But could not eat them, being in his turn
9609Slain by some Mussulmans, who would not yet
9610Without resistance, see their city burn.
9611the walls were won, but 't was an even bet
9612Which of the armies would have cause to mourn
9613'T was blow for blow, disputing inch by inch
9614For one would not retreat, nor t' other flinch.
9615
9616Another column also suffer'd much
9617And here we may remark with the historian
9618You should but give few cartridges to such
9619Troops as are meant to march with greatest glory on
9620When matters must be carried by the touch
9621Of the bright bayonet, and they all should hurry on
9622they sometimes, with a hankering for existence
9623Keep merely firing at a foolish distance.
9624
9625A junction of the General Meknop's men
9626Without the General, who had fallen some time
9627Before, being badly seconded just then
9628Was made at length with those who dared to climb
9629the death-disgorging rampart once again
9630And though the Turk's resistance was sublime
9631they took the bastion, which the Seraskier
9632Defended at a price extremely dear.
9633
9634Juan and Johnson, and some volunteers
9635Among the foremost, offer'd him good quarter
9636A word which little suits with Seraskiers
9637Or at least suited not this valiant Tartar.
9638He died, deserving well his country's tears
9639A savage sort of military martyr.
9640An English naval officer, who wish'd
9641To make him prisoner, was also dish'd
9642
9643For all the answer to his proposition
9644Was from a pistol-shot that laid him dead
9645On which the rest, without more intermission
9646Began to lay about with steel and lead
9647the pious metals most in requisition
9648On such occasions not a single head
9649Was spared three thousand Moslems perish'd here
9650And sixteen bayonets pierced the Seraskier.
9651
9652the city 's taken only part by part
9653And death is drunk with gore there 's not a street
9654Where fights not to the last some desperate heart
9655For those for whom it soon shall cease to beat.
9656Here War forgot his own destructive art
9657In more destroying Nature and the heat
9658Of carnage, like the Nile's sun-sodden slime
9659Engender'd monstrous shapes of every crime.
9660
9661A Russian officer, in martial tread
9662Over a heap of bodies, felt his heel
9663Seized fast, as if 't were by the serpent's head
9664Whose fangs Eve taught her human seed to feel
9665In vain he kick'd, and swore, and writhed, and bled
9666And howl'd for help as wolves do for a meal
9667the teeth still kept their gratifying hold
9668As do the subtle snakes described of old.
9669
9670A dying Moslem, who had felt the foot
9671Of a foe o'er him, snatch'd at it, and bit
9672the very tendon which is most acute
9673That which some ancient Muse or modern wit
9674Named after thee, Achilles, and quite through 't
9675He made the teeth meet, nor relinquish'd it
9676Even with his life for but they lie 't is said
9677To the live leg still clung the sever'd head.
9678
9679However this may be, 't is pretty sure
9680the Russian officer for life was lamed
9681For the Turk's teeth stuck faster than a skewer
9682And left him 'midst the invalid and maim'd
9683the regimental surgeon could not cure
9684His patient, and perhaps was to be blamed
9685More than the head of the inveterate foe
9686Which was cut off, and scarce even then let go.
9687
9688But then the fact 's a fact and 't is the part
9689Of a true poet to escape from fiction
9690Whene'er he can for there is little art
9691In leaving verse more free from the restriction
9692Of truth than prose, unless to suit the mart
9693For what is sometimes called poetic diction
9694And that outrageous appetite for lies
9695Which Satan angles with for souls, like flies.
9696
9697the city 's taken, but not render'd! No!
9698there 's not a Moslem that hath yielded sword
9699the blood may gush out, as the Danube's flow
9700Rolls by the city wall but deed nor word
9701Acknowledge aught of dread of death or foe
9702In vain the yell of victory is roar'd
9703By the advancing Muscovite the groan
9704Of the last foe is echoed by his own.
9705
9706the bayonet pierces and the sabre cleaves
9707And human lives are lavish'd everywhere
9708As the year closing whirls the scarlet leaves
9709When the stripp'd forest bows to the bleak air
9710And groans and thus the peopled city grieves
9711Shorn of its best and loveliest, and left bare
9712But still it falls in vast and awful splinters
9713As oaks blown down with all their thousand winters.
9714
9715It is an awful topic but 't is not
9716My cue for any time to be terrific
9717For checker'd as is seen our human lot
9718With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific
9719Of melancholy merriment, to quote
9720Too much of one sort would be soporific
9721Without, or with, offence to friends or foes
9722I sketch your world exactly as it goes.
9723
9724And one good action in the midst of crimes
9725Is 'quite refreshing,' in the affected phrase
9726Of these ambrosial, Pharisaic times
9727With all their pretty milk-and-water ways
9728And may serve therefore to bedew these rhymes
9729A little scorch'd at present with the blaze
9730Of conquest and its consequences, which
9731Make epic poesy so rare and rich.
9732
9733Upon a taken bastion, where there lay
9734Thousands of slaughter'd men, a yet warm group
9735Of murder'd women, who had found their way
9736To this vain refuge, made the good heart droop
9737And shudder while, as beautiful as May
9738A female child of ten years tried to stoop
9739And hide her little palpitating breast
9740Amidst the bodies lull'd in bloody rest.
9741
9742Two villainous Cossacques pursued the child
9743With flashing eyes and weapons match'd with them
9744the rudest brute that roams Siberia's wild
9745Has feelings pure and polish'd as a gem
9746the bear is civilised, the wolf is mild
9747And whom for this at last must we condemn?
9748their natures? or their sovereigns, who employ
9749All arts to teach their subjects to destroy?
9750
9751their sabres glitter'd o'er her little head
9752Whence her fair hair rose twining with affright
9753Her hidden face was plunged amidst the dead
9754When Juan caught a glimpse of this sad sight
9755I shall not say exactly what he said
9756Because it might not solace 'ears polite'
9757But what he did, was to lay on their backs
9758the readiest way of reasoning with Cossacques.
9759
9760One's hip he slash'd, and split the other's shoulder
9761And drove them with their brutal yells to seek
9762If there might be chirurgeons who could solder
9763the wounds they richly merited, and shriek
9764their baffled rage and pain while waxing colder
9765As he turn'd o'er each pale and gory cheek
9766Don Juan raised his little captive from
9767the heap a moment more had made her tomb.
9768
9769And she was chill as they, and on her face
9770A slender streak of blood announced how near
9771Her fate had been to that of all her race
9772For the same blow which laid her mother here
9773Had scarr'd her brow, and left its crimson trace
9774As the last link with all she had held dear
9775But else unhurt, she open'd her large eyes
9776And gazed on Juan with a wild surprise.