s: Rises to shine a thousand years!--CHORUS.


s: Tell the great world these blessed tidings!


s: Jubilee lasts a thousand years.--CHORUS.


s: Little will they--our children's children


s: When you are gone a thousand years.--CHORUS.


s: You could not bind the blessed daylight,


s: Though you should strive a thousand years.--CHORUS.


s: Ere the first blaze of dazzling sunshine


s: Shortens your lives a thousand years.--CHORUS.


s: Haste thee along, thou glorious noonday!


s: Each of His days a thousand years.--CHORUS.


s: Of toil and blood the well-earned prize.


s: Ring through the world with loud applause,


s: Ring through the world with loud applause;


s: Used by permission of S. Brainard's Sons.


s: Oh, yes, we'll rally round the standard,


s: There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours,


s: Fetters of friendship and ties of flowers,


s: The boys and the girls are bound by a kiss,


s: But there's never a bond, old friend, like this:


s: It was sometimes water and sometimes milk,


s: We shared it together in bane or in bliss,


s: And I warn you, friend, when I think of this:


s: We've shared our blankets and tents together,


s: And marched and fought in all kinds of weather,


s: But this memory I cling to and love the best:


s: For when wounded I lay on the outer slope,


s: With my blood flowing fast and but little hope


s: Oh! then, I remember, you crawled to my side,


s: And bleeding so fast it seemed both must have died,


s: Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light


s: What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming--


s: Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous flight,


s: And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,


s: Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;


s: Oh! say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave


s: O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


s: On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,


s: Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,


s: What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,


s: As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses!


s: Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,


s: In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;


s: 'Tis the Star Spangled Banner, oh! long may it wave


s: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore


s: That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion


s: A home and a country should leave us no more?


s: Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.


s: No refuge could save the hireling and slave


s: From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;


s: And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave


s: O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


s: Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand


s: Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,


s: Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land


s: Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.


s: Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,


s: And this be our motto--"In God is our trust"--


s: And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave


s: O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


s: For the white folks say Old Shady's free,


s: Den away, away, for I can't wait any longer!


s: Oh! massa got scared, and so did his lady,


s: A coming, coming, hail, mighty day.--CHORUS.


s: Good-bye, Massa Jeff; good-bye, Miss'r Stephens,


s: 'Spect pretty soon you'll hear Uncle Abram's


s: Coming, coming, hail, mighty day.--CHORUS.


s: I's gwine up North where de good folks say


s: Dat white wheat bread an' a dollar a day


s: Are a coming, coming, hail, mighty day.--CHORUS.


s: Oh! I've got a wife, and I've got a baby,


s: (Used by permission of S. Brainard's Sons.)


s: With her garlands of vict'ry around her,


s: When so proudly she bore her brave crew,


s: With her flag proudly floating before her,


s: The boast of the Red, White, and Blue.--CHORUS.


s: May the wreaths it has won never wither,


s: Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue.--CHORUS.


s: There's a spot that the soldiers all love,


s: The mess-tent is the place that we mean,


s: But the soldiers have long since found out


s: That thro' life to our beans we should stick.--CHORUS.


s: But 'neath the roof the hours as they fly


s: While soldiers sleep with little or naught


s: We sent them forth to fight for the flag


s: "God bless you, boys! we'll welcome you home


s: The time has come when brothers must fight


s: As sung by Chaplain C.C. McCabe while a prisoner in Libby,


s: after hearing Old Ben (the colored paper-seller in Richmond)


s: cry out, "_Great news by the telegraph! Great battles at


s: Gettysburg! Union soldiers gain the day!_" Upon hearing such


s: glorious news Chaplain McCabe sung this soul-stirring hymn,


s: all the prisoners joining heartily in the chorus, making the


s: old prison walls ring--"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!"


s: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;


s: I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;


s: They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;


s: I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;


s: I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel,


s: "As ye deal with my contemners, so with my grace shall deal;


s: Let the hero born of woman crush the serpent with his heel,


s: He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;


s: He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;


s: Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;


s: In the beauties of the lillies Christ was born across the sea


s: With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;


s: As He died to make men holy, _let us die to make men free_,


s: 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,


s: Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;


s: A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,


s: Which, seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.


s: Home, home, sweet, sweet home; there's no place like home


s: I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,


s: And feel that my mother now thinks of her child


s: As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door


s: Thro' the woodbine whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.


s: An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;


s: Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again;


s: The birds, singing gaily, that came at my call;


s: Give me them, and that peace of mind, dearer than all.


s: We are coming, Father Abraham--three hundred thousand more,


s: From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore;


s: We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,


s: With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear;


s: We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before--


s: We are coming, Father Abraham--three hundred thousand more!


s: If you look across the hill-tops that meet the northern sky,


s: Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry;


s: And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloud veil aside,


s: And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride;


s: And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour--


s: If you look all up our valleys, where the growing harvests shine,


s: And children from their mothers' knees are pulling at the weeds,


s: And learning how to reap and sow, against their country's needs;


s: And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door--


s: You have called us, and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide,


s: To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside.


s: Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before--


s: We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground;


s: Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,


s: Many are the hearts looking for the right,


s: We've been tenting tonight on the old camp ground,


s: Of loved ones at home who gave us the hand


s: And the tear that said good-bye.--CHORUS.


s: We're tired of the war on the old camp ground;


s: Of the brave and true who have left their homes;


s: We've been fighting today on the old camp ground;


s: (Used by permission of S. Brainard's Sons.)


s: John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave,


s: He's gone to be a soldier in the army of our Lord,


s: John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,


s: They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree!


s: Now, three rousing cheers for the Union!


s: Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,


s: We'll rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,


s: The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah!


s: Down with the traitor, up with the star,


s: While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,


s: We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,


s: And we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more,


s: Shouting the battle cry of freedom.--CHORUS.


s: We will welcome to our ranks the loyal, true, and brave,


s: And altho' they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,


s: So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,


s: And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best,


s: Hurrah, hurrah, for the Union, boys, hurrah!


s: Hurrah for our forefathers' good old flag


s: Their wrath was roused, they mounted guns,


s: Earth's noblest, brightest gem.--CHORUS.


s: He is six foot one way, four foot tudder,


s: His coat so big he couldn't pay de tailor,


s: I 'spects he'll try an' fool dem Yankees


s: We lock him up in de smoke-house cellar,


s: He's ole enough, big enough, ought to know better


s: (Used by permission of S. Brainard's Sons.)


s: In the strength of manhood's might.--CHORUS.


s: In the prison cell I sit, thinking, mother, dear, of you,


s: And our bright and happy home so far away,


s: And the tears they fill my eyes, spite of all that I can do,


s: Tho' I try to cheer my comrades and be gay.


s: Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching;


s: Of the Free-land in our own beloved home.


s: In the battle front we stood when the fiercest charge was made,


s: And they swept us off a hundred men or more;


s: But before we reached their lines they were beaten back dismayed,


s: So within the prison cell we are waiting for the day


s: That shall come to open wide the iron door,


s: And the hollow eye grows bright and the poor heart almost gay


s: As we think of seeing friends and home once more.--CHORUS.


s: The men will cheer, the boys will shout,


s: I'se gwine where the orange blossoms grow,


s: Sing after the words--"But the greatest of these is Charity."


s: Sing after the words--"The crowning principle of loyalty."


s: Sing while the badge is being pinned on.


s: Sing while the recruit is signing the roll.


s: Warm be the welcome and glad be the cheer


s: Greeting our comrades who join with us here--


s: Held by fraternity in bonds that are sure,


s: Drawn close in charity by ties that are pure,


s: Filled with a loyalty that ever shall endure,


s: Elbow to elbow we stood through the fight,


s: With an introduction by Bvt. Maj. Gen. T.M. HARRIS


s: Member of the Commission that Tried the Conspirators


s: _12mo, cloth, 323 pages, with portrait of Lincoln never before


s: information.--_Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal._


s: The historical importance of this volume it would be difficult to


s: Consisting of beautiful extracts from over two hundred different


s: Bob Southey! You're a poet, poet laureate,


s: Although 'tis true that you turned out a Tory at


s: Last, yours has lately been a common case.


s: And now my epic renegade, what are ye at


s: With all the lakers, in and out of place?


s: Like four and twenty blackbirds in a pye,


s: Which pye being opened they began to sing'


s: (This old song and new simile holds good),


s: Or Regent, who admires such kind of food.


s: And Coleridge too has lately taken wing,


s: But like a hawk encumbered with his hood,


s: I wish he would explain his explanation.


s: You, Bob, are rather insolent, you know,


s: And then you overstrain yourself, or so,


s: And tumble downward like the flying fish


s: Gasping on deck, because you soar too high,


s: Bob, And fall for lack of moisture quite a dry Bob.


s: And Wordsworth in a rather long Excursion


s: (I think the quarto holds five hundred pages)


s: Has given a sample from the vasty version


s: And may appear so when the Dog Star rages,


s: You gentlemen, by dint of long seclusion


s: At Keswick, and through still continued fusion


s: Of one another's minds at last have grown


s: Which makes me wish you'd change your lakes for ocean.


s: Nor coin my self-love to so base a vice,


s: For all the glory your conversion brought,


s: Since gold alone should not have been its price.


s: You have your salary; was't for that you wrought?


s: And Wordsworth has his place in the Excise.


s: You're shabby fellows--true--but poets still


s: Your bays may hide the baldness of your brows,


s: Perhaps some virtuous blushes; let them go.


s: And for the fame you would engross below,


s: Scope to all such as feel the inherent glow.


s: Scott, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and Crabbe will try


s: 'Gainst you the question with posterity.


s: For me, who, wandering with pedestrian Muses,


s: Contend not with you on the winged' steed,


s: I wish your fate may yield ye, when she chooses,


s: The fame you envy and the skill you need.


s: In giving to his brethren their full meed


s: Is not the certain path to future praise.


s: He that reserves his laurels for posterity


s: (Who does not often claim the bright reversion)


s: Has generally no great crop to spare it, he


s: Being only injured by his own assertion.


s: And although here and there some glorious rarity


s: Arise like Titan from the sea's immersion,


s: To--God knows where--for no one else can know.


s: If Time, the avenger, execrates his wrongs


s: And makes the word Miltonic mean sublime,


s: He deigned not to belie his soul in songs,


s: He did not loathe the sire to laud the son,


s: Think'st thou, could he, the blind old man, arise


s: Like Samuel from the grave to freeze once more


s: The blood of monarchs with his prophecies,


s: With time and trials, and those helpless eyes


s: And heartless daughters--worn and pale and poor,


s: Cold-blooded, smooth-faced, placid miscreant!


s: Dabbling its sleek young hands in Erin's gore,


s: And thus for wider carnage taught to pant,


s: Transferred to gorge upon a sister shore,


s: The vulgarest tool that tyranny could want,


s: That even its grossest flatterers dare not praise,


s: Nor foes--all nations--condescend to smile.


s: Not even a sprightly blunder's spark can blaze


s: From that Ixion grindstone's ceaseless toil,


s: That turns and turns to give the world a notion


s: Of endless torments and perpetual motion.


s: And botching, patching, leaving still behind


s: Something of which its masters are afraid,


s: States to be curbed and thoughts to be confined,


s: A tinkering slave-maker, who mends old chains,


s: With God and man's abhorrence for its gains.


s: Hath but two objects, how to serve and bind,


s: Deeming the chain it wears even men may fit,


s: Fearless, because no feeling dwells in ice;


s: Where shall I turn me not to view its bonds,


s: Beneath the lie this state-thing breathed o'er thee.


s: Thy clanking chain and Erin's yet green wounds


s: Have voices, tongues to cry aloud for me.


s: Europe has slaves, allies, kings, armies still,


s: And Southey lives to sing them very ill.


s: Meantime, Sir Laureate, I proceed to dedicate


s: In honest simple verse this song to you.


s: And if in flattering strains I do not predicate,


s: 'Tis that I still retain my buff and blue;


s: Herculean Is it not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian?


s: When every year and month sends forth a new one,


s: Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,


s: The age discovers he is not the true one;


s: Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,


s: I 'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan--


s: Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time.


s: Vernon, the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,


s: Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,


s: And fill'd their sign posts then, like Wellesley now;


s: Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk,


s: Followers of fame, 'nine farrow' of that sow:


s: France, too, had Buonaparte and Dumourier


s: Were French, and famous people, as we know:


s: And there were others, scarce forgotten yet,


s: And still should be so, but the tide is turn'd;


s: There 's no more to be said of Trafalgar,


s: At which the naval people are concern'd;


s: Besides, the prince is all for the land-service,


s: A good deal like him too, though quite the same none;


s: But then they shone not on the poet's page,


s: And so have been forgotten:--I condemn none,


s: Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one);


s: So, as I said, I 'll take my friend Don Juan.


s: (Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road),


s: And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,


s: Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.


s: That is the usual method, but not mine--


s: Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,


s: (Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)


s: Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,


s: And also of his mother, if you 'd rather.


s: In Seville was he born, a pleasant city,


s: Who has not seen it will be much to pity,


s: Of all the Spanish towns is none more pretty,


s: Cadiz perhaps--but that you soon may see;


s: Don Juan's parents lived beside the river,


s: A noble stream, and call'd the Guadalquivir.


s: His father's name was Jose--Don, of course,--


s: Of Moor or Hebrew blood, he traced his source


s: Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain;


s: Begot--but that 's to come--Well, to renew:


s: She made the cleverest people quite ashamed,


s: And even the good with inward envy groan,


s: Finding themselves so very much exceeded


s: In their own way by all the things that she did.


s: Her memory was a mine: she knew by heart


s: She could have served him for the prompter's copy;


s: And he himself obliged to shut up shop--he


s: That which adorn'd the brain of Donna Inez.


s: Her favourite science was the mathematical,


s: Her wit (she sometimes tried at wit) was Attic all,


s: Her serious sayings darken'd to sublimity;


s: In short, in all things she was fairly what I call


s: A prodigy--her morning dress was dimity,


s: Her evening silk, or, in the summer, muslin,


s: And other stuffs, with which I won't stay puzzling.


s: She knew the Latin--that is, 'the Lord's prayer,'


s: And Greek--the alphabet--I 'm nearly sure;


s: She read some French romances here and there,


s: Although her mode of speaking was not pure;


s: For native Spanish she had no great care,


s: Her thoughts were theorems, her words a problem,


s: As if she deem'd that mystery would ennoble 'em.


s: She liked the English and the Hebrew tongue,


s: She proved it somehow out of sacred song,


s: But I must leave the proofs to those who 've seen 'em;


s: But this I heard her say, and can't be wrong


s: And all may think which way their judgments lean 'em,


s: ''T is strange--the Hebrew noun which means "I am,"


s: Some women use their tongues--she look'd a lecture,


s: Each eye a sermon, and her brow a homily,


s: Like the lamented late Sir Samuel Romilly,


s: The Law's expounder, and the State's corrector,


s: One sad example more, that 'All is vanity'


s: In short, she was a walking calculation,


s: Miss Edgeworth's novels stepping from their covers,


s: Or 'Coelebs' Wife' set out in quest of lovers,


s: In which not Envy's self a flaw discovers;


s: To others' share let 'female errors fall,'


s: For she had not even one--the worst of all.


s: Of any modern female saint's comparison;


s: So far above the cunning powers of hell,


s: Her guardian angel had given up his garrison;


s: As those of the best time-piece made by Harrison:


s: In virtues nothing earthly could surpass her,


s: Save thine 'incomparable oil,' Macassar!


s: Where our first parents never learn'd to kiss


s: Till they were exiled from their earlier bowers,


s: Where all was peace, and innocence, and bliss


s: (I wonder how they got through the twelve hours),


s: Went plucking various fruit without her leave.


s: With no great love for learning, or the learn'd,


s: And never dream'd his lady was concern'd;


s: Whisper'd he had a mistress, some said two--


s: A great opinion of her own good qualities;


s: Neglect, indeed, requires a saint to bear it,


s: And such, indeed, she was in her moralities;


s: And sometimes mix'd up fancies with realities,


s: Of getting her liege lord into a scrape.


s: Oft in the wrong, and never on his guard;


s: And even the wisest, do the best they can,


s: Have moments, hours, and days, so unprepared,


s: That you might 'brain them with their lady's fan;'


s: And sometimes ladies hit exceeding hard,


s: And fans turn into falchions in fair hands,


s: And why and wherefore no one understands.


s: Or gentlemen, who, though well born and bred,


s: I don't choose to say much upon this head,


s: I 'm a plain man, and in a single station,


s: But--Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual,


s: Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck'd you all?


s: Though several thousand people chose to try,


s: 'T was surely no concern of theirs nor mine;


s: But if there 's anything in which I shine,


s: 'T is in arranging all my friends' affairs,


s: Intentions, but their treatment was not kind;


s: I think the foolish people were possess'd,


s: Although their porter afterwards confess'd--


s: But that 's no matter, and the worst 's behind,


s: For little Juan o'er me threw, down stairs,


s: A little curly-headed, good-for-nothing,


s: And mischief-making monkey from his birth;


s: His parents ne'er agreed except in doting


s: Instead of quarrelling, had they been but both in


s: Their senses, they 'd have sent young master forth


s: To school, or had him soundly whipp'd at home,


s: To teach him manners for the time to come.


s: Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead;


s: Their conduct was exceedingly well-bred,


s: And gave no outward signs of inward strife,


s: Until at length the smother'd fire broke out,


s: And put the business past all kind of doubt.


s: For Inez call'd some druggists and physicians,


s: And tried to prove her loving lord was mad;


s: Yet when they ask'd her for her depositions,


s: Required this conduct--which seem'd very odd.


s: She kept a journal, where his faults were noted,


s: And open'd certain trunks of books and letters,


s: All which might, if occasion served, be quoted;


s: And then she had all Seville for abettors,


s: Besides her good old grandmother (who doted);


s: The hearers of her case became repeaters,


s: Then advocates, inquisitors, and judges,


s: Some for amusement, others for old grudges.


s: And then this best and weakest woman bore


s: Who saw their spouses kill'd, and nobly chose


s: Calmly she heard each calumny that rose,


s: And saw his agonies with such sublimity,


s: That all the world exclaim'd, 'What magnanimity!'


s: No doubt this patience, when the world is damning us,


s: 'T is also pleasant to be deem'd magnanimous,


s: And what the lawyers call a 'malus animus'


s: Conduct like this by no means comprehends;


s: Revenge in person 's certainly no virtue,


s: But then 't is not my fault, if others hurt you.


s: And if your quarrels should rip up old stories,


s: And help them with a lie or two additional,


s: I 'm not to blame, as you well know--no more is


s: Any one else--they were become traditional;


s: Besides, their resurrection aids our glories


s: By contrast, which is what we just were wishing all:


s: And science profits by this resurrection--


s: Dead scandals form good subjects for dissection.


s: Their friends had tried at reconciliation,


s: Then their relations, who made matters worse.


s: ('T were hard to tell upon a like occasion


s: To whom it may be best to have recourse--


s: I can't say much for friend or yet relation):


s: The lawyers did their utmost for divorce,


s: But scarce a fee was paid on either side


s: From counsel learned in those kinds of laws


s: (Although their talk 's obscure and circumspect),


s: His death contrived to spoil a charming cause;


s: To public feeling, which on this occasion


s: But, ah! he died; and buried with him lay


s: The public feeling and the lawyers' fees:


s: His house was sold, his servants sent away,


s: A priest the other--at least so they say:


s: He died of the slow fever call'd the tertian,


s: Therefore his frailties I 'll no further scan


s: Indeed there were not many more to tell;


s: As Numa's (who was also named Pompilius),


s: He had been ill brought up, and was born bilious.


s: Whate'er might be his worthlessness or worth,


s: Poor fellow! he had many things to wound him.


s: Let 's own--since it can do no good on earth--


s: It was a trying moment that which found him


s: Standing alone beside his desolate hearth,


s: Where all his household gods lay shiver'd round him:


s: No choice was left his feelings or his pride,


s: Save death or Doctors' Commons--so he died.


s: To a chancery suit, and messuages, and lands,


s: Promised to turn out well in proper hands:


s: Inez became sole guardian, which was fair,


s: And answer'd but to nature's just demands;


s: Is brought up much more wisely than another.


s: Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon,


s: (His sire was of Castile, his dam from Aragon):


s: In case our lord the king should go to war again,


s: He learn'd the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery,


s: And how to scale a fortress--or a nunnery.


s: And saw into herself each day before all


s: The learned tutors whom for him she hired,


s: Was, that his breeding should be strictly moral;


s: And so they were submitted first to her, all,


s: Arts, sciences, no branch was made a mystery


s: To Juan's eyes, excepting natural history.


s: The sciences, and most of all the abstruse,


s: The arts, at least all such as could be said


s: In all these he was much and deeply read;


s: But not a page of any thing that 's loose,


s: Was ever suffer'd, lest he should grow vicious.


s: His classic studies made a little puzzle,


s: Because of filthy loves of gods and goddesses,


s: Who in the earlier ages raised a bustle,


s: His reverend tutors had at times a tussle,


s: And for their AEneids, Iliads, and Odysseys,


s: Were forced to make an odd sort! of apology,


s: Ovid 's a rake, as half his verses show him,


s: Anacreon's morals are a still worse sample,


s: I don't think Sappho's Ode a good example,


s: Although Longinus tells us there is no hymn


s: Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample:


s: But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one


s: Beginning with 'Formosum Pastor Corydon.'


s: For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food;


s: I can't help thinking Juvenal was wrong,


s: Although no doubt his real intent was good,


s: For speaking out so plainly in his song,


s: And then what proper person can be partial


s: To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial?


s: Juan was taught from out the best edition,


s: Judiciously, from out the schoolboy's vision,


s: The grosser parts; but, fearful to deface


s: Too much their modest bard by this omission,


s: Which saves, in fact, the trouble of an index;


s: For there we have them all 'at one fell swoop,'


s: Instead of being scatter'd through the Pages;


s: They stand forth marshall'd in a handsome troop,


s: To meet the ingenuous youth of future ages,


s: To call them back into their separate cages,


s: Instead of standing staring all together,


s: Like garden gods--and not so decent either.


s: The Missal too (it was the family Missal)


s: Which ancient mass-books often are, and this all


s: Kinds of grotesques illumined; and how they,


s: Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all,


s: Could turn their optics to the text and pray,


s: Is more than I know--But Don Juan's mother


s: Kept this herself, and gave her son another.


s: Sermons he read, and lectures he endured,


s: And homilies, and lives of all the saints;


s: He did not take such studies for restraints;


s: But how faith is acquired, and then ensured,


s: As Saint Augustine in his fine Confessions,


s: Which make the reader envy his transgressions.


s: This, too, was a seal'd book to little Juan--


s: I can't but say that his mamma was right,


s: She scarcely trusted him from out her sight;


s: Her maids were old, and if she took a new one,


s: You might be sure she was a perfect fright;


s: She did this during even her husband's life--


s: Young Juan wax'd in goodliness and grace;


s: As e'er to man's maturer growth was given:


s: And seem'd, at least, in the right road to heaven,


s: For half his days were pass'd at church, the other


s: Between his tutors, confessor, and mother.


s: At six, I said, he was a charming child,


s: They tamed him down amongst them: to destroy


s: His natural spirit not in vain they toil'd,


s: At least it seem'd so; and his mother's joy


s: Was to declare how sage, and still, and steady,


s: Her young philosopher was grown already.


s: I had my doubts, perhaps I have them still,


s: But what I say is neither here nor there:


s: I knew his father well, and have some skill


s: He and his wife were an ill-sorted pair--


s: Against all evil speaking, even in jest.


s: This I will say--my reasons are my own--


s: To school (as God be praised that I have none),


s: No--no--I 'd send him out betimes to college,


s: For there it was I pick'd up my own knowledge.


s: For there one learns--'t is not for me to boast,


s: Though I acquired--but I pass over that,


s: As well as all the Greek I since have lost:


s: I say that there 's the place--but 'Verbum sat.'


s: I think I pick'd up too, as well as most,


s: Knowledge of matters--but no matter what--


s: Young Juan now was sixteen years of age,


s: Tall, handsome, slender, but well knit: he seem'd


s: Active, though not so sprightly, as a page;


s: And bit her lips (for else she might have scream'd)


s: Was in her eyes a thing the most atrocious.


s: As sweetness to the flower, or salt to ocean,


s: (But this last simile is trite and stupid).


s: (Her blood was not all Spanish, by the by;


s: In Spain, you know, this is a sort of sin);


s: When proud Granada fell, and, forced to fly,


s: Some went to Africa, some stay'd in Spain,


s: Her great-great-grandmamma chose to remain.


s: His blood less noble than such blood should be;


s: At such alliances his sires would frown,


s: That they bred in and in, as might be shown,


s: Marrying their cousins--nay, their aunts, and nieces,


s: Which always spoils the breed, if it increases.


s: This heathenish cross restored the breed again,


s: Ruin'd its blood, but much improved its flesh;


s: For from a root the ugliest in Old Spain


s: Sprung up a branch as beautiful as fresh;


s: The sons no more were short, the daughters plain:


s: But there 's a rumour which I fain would hush,


s: 'T is said that Donna Julia's grandmamma


s: Produced her Don more heirs at love than law.


s: Improving still through every generation,


s: Could be but Julia (whom on this occasion


s: I shall have much to speak about), and she


s: Was married, charming, chaste, and twenty-three.


s: Her eye (I 'm very fond of handsome eyes)


s: Was large and dark, suppressing half its fire


s: Until she spoke, then through its soft disguise


s: Flash'd an expression more of pride than ire,


s: And love than either; and there would arise


s: A something in them which was not desire,


s: But would have been, perhaps, but for the soul


s: Which struggled through and chasten'd down the whole.


s: Her glossy hair was cluster'd o'er a brow


s: Bright with intelligence, and fair, and smooth;


s: Her eyebrow's shape was like th' aerial bow,


s: Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth,


s: Mounting at times to a transparent glow,


s: As if her veins ran lightning; she, in sooth,


s: Possess'd an air and grace by no means common:


s: Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty;


s: 'T were better to have TWO of five-and-twenty,


s: And now I think on 't, 'mi vien in mente,'


s: Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.


s: 'T is a sad thing, I cannot choose but say,


s: Who cannot leave alone our helpless clay,


s: But will keep baking, broiling, burning on,


s: The flesh is frail, and so the soul undone:


s: What men call gallantry, and gods adultery,


s: Is much more common where the climate 's sultry.


s: Where all is virtue, and the winter season


s: Sends sin, without a rag on, shivering forth


s: ('T was snow that brought St. Anthony to reason);


s: Where juries cast up what a wife is worth,


s: By laying whate'er sum in mulct they please on


s: The lover, who must pay a handsome price,


s: A man well looking for his years, and who


s: Was neither much beloved nor yet abhorr'd:


s: Suffering each other's foibles by accord,


s: Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it,


s: For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.


s: With Donna Inez quite a favourite friend;


s: Between their tastes there was small sympathy,


s: Some people whisper but no doubt they lie,


s: For malice still imputes some private end,


s: That Inez had, ere Don Alfonso's marriage,


s: Forgot with him her very prudent carriage;


s: And that still keeping up the old connection,


s: Which time had lately render'd much more chaste,


s: And certainly this course was much the best:


s: She flatter'd Julia with her sage protection,


s: And if she could not (who can?) silence scandal,


s: At least she left it a more slender handle.


s: I can't tell whether Julia saw the affair


s: Discoveries made, but none could be aware


s: Of this, at least no symptom e'er was shown;


s: Perhaps she did not know, or did not care,


s: Indifferent from the first or callous grown:


s: I 'm really puzzled what to think or say,


s: Caress'd him often--such a thing might be


s: Quite innocently done, and harmless styled,


s: When she had twenty years, and thirteen he;


s: But I am not so sure I should have smiled


s: When he was sixteen, Julia twenty-three;


s: These few short years make wondrous alterations,


s: Whate'er the cause might be, they had become


s: Changed; for the dame grew distant, the youth shy,


s: There surely will be little doubt with some


s: Yet Julia's very coldness still was kind,


s: Withdrew itself from his, but left behind


s: A little pressure, thrilling, and so bland


s: And slight, so very slight, that to the mind


s: 'T was but a doubt; but ne'er magician's wand


s: Wrought change with all Armida's fairy art


s: Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart.


s: And if she met him, though she smiled no more,


s: She look'd a sadness sweeter than her smile,


s: As if her heart had deeper thoughts in store


s: She must not own, but cherish'd more the while


s: For that compression in its burning core;


s: And will not dare to trust itself with truth,


s: And love is taught hypocrisy from youth.


s: But passion most dissembles, yet betrays


s: Even by its darkness; as the blackest sky


s: Foretells the heaviest tempest, it displays


s: Its workings through the vainly guarded eye,


s: Coldness or anger, even disdain or hate,


s: Are masks it often wears, and still too late.


s: Then there were sighs, the deeper for suppression,


s: And stolen glances, sweeter for the theft,


s: And burning blushes, though for no transgression,


s: Tremblings when met, and restlessness when left;


s: All these are little preludes to possession,


s: Of which young passion cannot be bereft,


s: And merely tend to show how greatly love is


s: Embarrass'd at first starting with a novice.


s: Poor Julia's heart was in an awkward state;


s: The noblest efforts for herself and mate,


s: For honour's, pride's, religion's, virtue's sake;


s: And almost might have made a Tarquin quake:


s: She pray'd the Virgin Mary for her grace,


s: As being the best judge of a lady's case.


s: She vow'd she never would see Juan more,


s: And next day paid a visit to his mother,


s: And look'd extremely at the opening door,


s: Which, by the Virgin's grace, let in another;


s: Grateful she was, and yet a little sore--


s: That night the Virgin was no further pray'd.


s: She now determined that a virtuous woman


s: Should rather face and overcome temptation,


s: Should ever give her heart the least sensation;


s: That is to say, a thought beyond the common


s: Preference, that we must feel upon occasion


s: For people who are pleasanter than others,


s: But then they only seem so many brothers.


s: And even if by chance--and who can tell?


s: The devil 's so very sly--she should discover


s: And, if still free, that such or such a lover


s: Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell


s: Such thoughts, and be the better when they 're over;


s: And if the man should ask, 't is but denial:


s: And then there are such things as love divine,


s: Bright and immaculate, unmix'd and pure,


s: And matrons who would be no less secure,


s: Platonic, perfect, 'just such love as mine;'


s: Thus Julia said--and thought so, to be sure;


s: And so I 'd have her think, were I the man


s: Between young persons without any danger.


s: A hand may first, and then a lip be kist;


s: For my part, to such doings I 'm a stranger,


s: But hear these freedoms form the utmost list


s: Of all o'er which such love may be a ranger:


s: If people go beyond, 't is quite a crime,


s: But not my fault--I tell them all in time.


s: Love, then, but love within its proper limits,


s: In young Don Juan's favour, and to him its


s: And, lighted at too pure a shrine to dim its


s: Ethereal lustre, with what sweet persuasion


s: He might be taught, by love and her together--


s: I really don't know what, nor Julia either.


s: Fraught with this fine intention, and well fenced


s: She, for the future of her strength convinced.


s: And that her honour was a rock, or mole,


s: Exceeding sagely from that hour dispensed


s: Is that which must be mention'd in the sequel.


s: Her plan she deem'd both innocent and feasible,


s: And, surely, with a stripling of sixteen


s: Not scandal's fangs could fix on much that 's seizable,


s: Nothing but what was good, her breast was peaceable--


s: Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded


s: That all the Apostles would have done as they did.


s: And if in the mean time her husband died,


s: But Heaven forbid that such a thought should cross


s: Her brain, though in a dream! (and then she sigh'd)


s: Never could she survive that common loss;


s: But just suppose that moment should betide,


s: (This should be entre nous, for Julia thought


s: In French, but then the rhyme would go for naught.)


s: Juan being then grown up to man's estate


s: Even seven years hence it would not be too late;


s: And in the interim (to pursue this vision)


s: The mischief, after all, could not be great,


s: For he would learn the rudiments of love,


s: So much for Julia. Now we 'll turn to Juan.


s: Of his own case, and never hit the true one;


s: He puzzled over what he found a new one,


s: Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming,


s: Which, with a little patience, might grow charming.


s: Silent and pensive, idle, restless, slow,


s: Tormented with a wound he could not know,


s: His, like all deep grief, plunged in solitude:


s: Here is the empire of thy perfect bliss,


s: The bard I quote from does not sing amiss,


s: For that same twining 'transport and security'


s: Are twisted to a phrase of some obscurity.


s: The poet meant, no doubt, and thus appeals


s: To the good sense and senses of mankind,


s: As all have found on trial, or may find,


s: That no one likes to be disturb'd at meals


s: Or love.--I won't say more about 'entwined'


s: Or 'transport,' as we knew all that before,


s: Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks,


s: Himself at length within the leafy nooks


s: Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew;


s: There poets find materials for their books,


s: And every now and then we read them through,


s: So that their plan and prosody are eligible,


s: Unless, like Wordsworth, they prove unintelligible.


s: He, Juan (and not Wordsworth), so pursued


s: His self-communion with his own high soul,


s: Until his mighty heart, in its great mood,


s: Had mitigated part, though not the whole


s: Of its disease; he did the best he could


s: With things not very subject to control,


s: And turn'd, without perceiving his condition,


s: He thought about himself, and the whole earth


s: And how the deuce they ever could have birth;


s: And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars,


s: How many miles the moon might have in girth,


s: To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies;--


s: And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.


s: In thoughts like these true wisdom may discern


s: Which some are born with, but the most part learn


s: To plague themselves withal, they know not why:


s: 'T was strange that one so young should thus concern


s: If you think 't was philosophy that this did,


s: He pored upon the leaves, and on the flowers,


s: And heard a voice in all the winds; and then


s: He thought of wood-nymphs and immortal bowers,


s: He miss'd the pathway, he forgot the hours,


s: And when he look'd upon his watch again,


s: He found how much old Time had been a winner--


s: He also found that he had lost his dinner.


s: Sometimes he turn'd to gaze upon his book,


s: Even as the page is rustled while we look,


s: Over the mystic leaf his soul was shook,


s: As if 't were one whereon magicians bind


s: Their spells, and give them to the passing gale,


s: According to some good old woman's tale.


s: Thus would he while his lonely hours away


s: Dissatisfied, nor knowing what he wanted;


s: Could yield his spirit that for which it panted,


s: And hear the heart beat with the love it granted,


s: With--several other things, which I forget,


s: Or which, at least, I need not mention yet.


s: Those lonely walks, and lengthening reveries,


s: Could not escape the gentle Julia's eyes;


s: But that which chiefly may, and must surprise,


s: Whether it was she did not see, or would not,


s: Or, like all very clever people, could not.


s: This may seem strange, but yet 't is very common;


s: For instance--gentlemen, whose ladies take


s: Leave to o'erstep the written rights of woman,


s: And break the--Which commandment is 't they break?


s: (I have forgot the number, and think no man


s: Should rashly quote, for fear of a mistake.)


s: I say, when these same gentlemen are jealous,


s: They make some blunder, which their ladies tell us.


s: But still no less suspects in the wrong place,


s: Jealous of some one who had no such wishes,


s: Or pandering blindly to his own disgrace,


s: By harbouring some dear friend extremely vicious;


s: And when the spouse and friend are gone off wholly,


s: He wonders at their vice, and not his folly.


s: Thus parents also are at times short-sighted;


s: Though watchful as the lynx, they ne'er discover,


s: The while the wicked world beholds delighted,


s: Young Hopeful's mistress, or Miss Fanny's lover,


s: Till some confounded escapade has blighted


s: The plan of twenty years, and all is over;


s: And then the mother cries, the father swears,


s: Of sight, that I must think, on this occasion,


s: She had some other motive much more near


s: For leaving Juan to this new temptation;


s: But what that motive was, I sha'n't say here;


s: In case he thought his wife too great a prize.


s: Summer's indeed a very dangerous season,


s: The sun, no doubt, is the prevailing reason;


s: But whatsoe'er the cause is, one may say,


s: And stand convicted of more truth than treason,


s: That there are months which nature grows more merry in,--


s: March has its hares, and May must have its heroine.


s: 'T was on a summer's day--the sixth of June:--


s: Not only of the age, and year, but moon;


s: They are a sort of post-house, where the Fates


s: Change horses, making history change its tune,


s: Then spur away o'er empires and o'er states,


s: Leaving at last not much besides chronology,


s: 'T was on the sixth of June, about the hour


s: Of half-past six--perhaps still nearer seven--


s: When Julia sate within as pretty a bower


s: As e'er held houri in that heathenish heaven


s: To whom the lyre and laurels have been given,


s: With all the trophies of triumphant song--


s: He won them well, and may he wear them long!


s: She sate, but not alone; I know not well


s: How this same interview had taken place,


s: People should hold their tongues in any case;


s: But there were she and Juan, face to face--


s: When two such faces are so, 't would be wise,


s: How beautiful she look'd! her conscious heart


s: Glow'd in her cheek, and yet she felt no wrong.


s: Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong,


s: Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along--


s: She thought of her own strength, and Juan's youth,


s: I wish these last had not occurr'd, in sooth,


s: Because that number rarely much endears,


s: And through all climes, the snowy and the sunny,


s: Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money.


s: When people say, 'I've told you fifty times,'


s: When poets say, 'I've written fifty rhymes,'


s: They make you dread that they 'll recite them too;


s: In gangs of fifty, thieves commit their crimes;


s: At fifty love for love is rare, 't is true,


s: But then, no doubt, it equally as true is,


s: A good deal may be bought for fifty Louis.


s: Julia had honour, virtue, truth, and love,


s: She never would disgrace the ring she wore,


s: Nor leave a wish which wisdom might reprove;


s: And while she ponder'd this, besides much more,


s: One hand on Juan's carelessly was thrown,


s: Quite by mistake--she thought it was her own;


s: Unconsciously she lean'd upon the other,


s: Which play'd within the tangles of her hair:


s: And to contend with thoughts she could not smother


s: She seem'd by the distraction of her air.


s: 'T was surely very wrong in Juan's mother


s: She who for many years had watch'd her son so--


s: I 'm very certain mine would not have done so.


s: The hand which still held Juan's, by degrees


s: Gently, but palpably confirm'd its grasp,


s: As if it said, 'Detain me, if you please;'


s: Yet there 's no doubt she only meant to clasp


s: His fingers with a pure Platonic squeeze:


s: She would have shrunk as from a toad, or asp,


s: Had she imagined such a thing could rouse


s: A feeling dangerous to a prudent spouse.


s: I cannot know what Juan thought of this,


s: But what he did, is much what you would do;


s: His young lip thank'd it with a grateful kiss,


s: And then, abash'd at its own joy, withdrew


s: In deep despair, lest he had done amiss,--


s: She blush'd, and frown'd not, but she strove to speak,


s: And held her tongue, her voice was grown so weak.


s: The sun set, and up rose the yellow moon:


s: The devil 's in the moon for mischief; they


s: Who call'd her CHASTE, methinks, began too soon


s: The longest, not the twenty-first of June,


s: On which three single hours of moonshine smile--


s: And then she looks so modest all the while.


s: There is a dangerous silence in that hour,


s: A stillness, which leaves room for the full soul


s: Of calling wholly back its self-control;


s: The silver light which, hallowing tree and tower,


s: Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole,


s: Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws


s: Which trembled like the bosom where 't was placed;


s: Yet still she must have thought there was no harm,


s: Or else 't were easy to withdraw her waist;


s: And then--God knows what next--I can't go on;


s: Your system feigns o'er the controulless core


s: Of human hearts, than all the long array


s: Of poets and romancers:--You 're a bore,


s: And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs,


s: The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes,


s: I wish indeed they had not had occasion,


s: But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?


s: Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;


s: A little still she strove, and much repented


s: And whispering 'I will ne'er consent'--consented.


s: To those who could invent him a new pleasure:


s: Methinks the requisition 's rather hard,


s: And must have cost his majesty a treasure:


s: For my part, I 'm a moderate-minded bard,


s: Fond of a little love (which I call leisure);


s: I care not for new pleasures, as the old


s: Are quite enough for me, so they but hold.


s: O Pleasure! you are indeed a pleasant thing,


s: Although one must be damn'd for you, no doubt:


s: But somehow, this my vestal vow takes wing,


s: Yet still, I trust it may be kept throughout:


s: And mean, next winter, to be quite reclaim'd.


s: Here my chaste Muse a liberty must take--


s: Start not! still chaster reader--she 'll be nice hence--


s: Forward, and there is no great cause to quake;


s: In the design, and as I have a high sense


s: Suppose from June the sixth (the fatal day,


s: For want of facts would all be thrown away),


s: In sight, that several months have pass'd; we 'll say


s: 'T was in November, but I 'm not so sure


s: We 'll talk of that anon.--'T is sweet to hear


s: At midnight on the blue and moonlit deep


s: By distance mellow'd, o'er the waters sweep;


s: 'T is sweet to see the evening star appear;


s: 'T is sweet to listen as the night-winds creep


s: From leaf to leaf; 't is sweet to view on high


s: The rainbow, based on ocean, span the sky.


s: 'T is sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark


s: Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;


s: 'T is sweet to know there is an eye will mark


s: Our coming, and look brighter when we come;


s: Or lull'd by falling waters; sweet the hum


s: Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds,


s: The lisp of children, and their earliest words.


s: Sweet is the vintage, when the showering grapes


s: Purple and gushing: sweet are our escapes


s: Sweet to the miser are his glittering heaps,


s: Sweet to the father is his first-born's birth,


s: Pillage to soldiers, prize-money to seamen.


s: Who 've made 'us youth' wait too--too long already


s: For an estate, or cash, or country seat,


s: Still breaking, but with stamina so steady


s: Next owner for their double-damn'd post-obits.


s: 'T is sweet to win, no matter how, one's laurels,


s: By blood or ink; 't is sweet to put an end


s: To strife; 't is sometimes sweet to have our quarrels,


s: Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels;


s: Against the world; and dear the schoolboy spot


s: We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot.


s: But sweeter still than this, than these, than all,


s: Is first and passionate love--it stands alone,


s: The tree of knowledge has been pluck'd--all 's known--


s: And life yields nothing further to recall


s: Fire which Prometheus filch'd for us from heaven.


s: Man 's a strange animal, and makes strange use


s: Of his own nature, and the various arts,


s: Where different talents find their different marts;


s: You 'd best begin with truth, and when you 've lost your


s: Labour, there 's a sure market for imposture.


s: (Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.)


s: One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets;


s: A kind antithesis to Congreve's rockets,


s: With which the Doctor paid off an old pox,


s: Bread has been made (indifferent) from potatoes;


s: And galvanism has set some corpses grinning,


s: What wondrous new machines have late been spinning!


s: I said the small-pox has gone out of late;


s: Perhaps it may be follow'd by the great.


s: The population there so spreads, they say


s: 'T is grown high time to thin it in its turn,


s: With war, or plague, or famine, any way,


s: And which in ravage the more loathsome evil is--


s: Their real lues, or our pseudo-syphilis?


s: This is the patent-age of new inventions


s: For killing bodies, and for saving souls,


s: All propagated with the best intentions;


s: Sir Humphry Davy's lantern, by which coals


s: Are safely mined for in the mode he mentions,


s: Tombuctoo travels, voyages to the Poles,


s: Man 's a phenomenon, one knows not what,


s: And wonderful beyond all wondrous measure;


s: 'T is pity though, in this sublime world, that


s: Pleasure 's a sin, and sometimes sin 's a pleasure;


s: Few mortals know what end they would be at,


s: But whether glory, power, or love, or treasure,


s: The path is through perplexing ways, and when


s: The goal is gain'd, we die, you know--and then--


s: What then?--I do not know, no more do you--


s: And so good night.--Return we to our story:


s: 'T was in November, when fine days are few,


s: And the far mountains wax a little hoary,


s: And clap a white cape on their mantles blue;


s: And the sea dashes round the promontory,


s: And the loud breaker boils against the rock,


s: And sober suns must set at five o'clock.


s: 'T was, as the watchmen say, a cloudy night;


s: No moon, no stars, the wind was low or loud


s: By gusts, and many a sparkling hearth was bright


s: With the piled wood, round which the family crowd;


s: There 's something cheerful in that sort of light,


s: Even as a summer sky 's without a cloud:


s: I 'm fond of fire, and crickets, and all that,


s: A lobster salad, and champagne, and chat.


s: 'T was midnight--Donna Julia was in bed,


s: Sleeping, most probably,--when at her door


s: And that they have been so we all have read,


s: And are to be so, at the least, once more;--


s: The door was fasten'd, but with voice and fist


s: First knocks were heard, then 'Madam--Madam--hist!


s: 'For God's sake, Madam--Madam--here 's my master,


s: With more than half the city at his back--


s: Was ever heard of such a curst disaster!


s: 'T is not my fault--I kept good watch--Alack!


s: They 're on the stair just now, and in a crack


s: Will all be here; perhaps he yet may fly--


s: With torches, friends, and servants in great number;


s: The major part of them had long been wived,


s: And therefore paused not to disturb the slumber


s: By stealth her husband's temples to encumber:


s: Examples of this kind are so contagious,


s: Were one not punish'd, all would be outrageous.


s: I can't tell how, or why, or what suspicion


s: And summon lackeys, arm'd with fire and sword,


s: To prove himself the thing he most abhorr'd.


s: Poor Donna Julia, starting as from sleep


s: (Mind--that I do not say--she had not slept),


s: Began at once to scream, and yawn, and weep;


s: Contrived to fling the bed-clothes in a heap,


s: As if she had just now from out them crept:


s: I can't tell why she should take all this trouble


s: To prove her mistress had been sleeping double.


s: Appear'd like two poor harmless women, who


s: Of goblins, but still more of men afraid,


s: Had thought one man might be deterr'd by two,


s: And therefore side by side were gently laid,


s: Until the hours of absence should run through,


s: And truant husband should return, and say,


s: 'My dear, I was the first who came away.'


s: Now Julia found at length a voice, and cried,


s: 'In heaven's name, Don Alfonso, what d' ye mean?


s: Has madness seized you? would that I had died


s: Dare you suspect me, whom the thought would kill?


s: Search, then, the room!'--Alfonso said, 'I will.'


s: He search'd, they search'd, and rummaged everywhere,


s: Closet and clothes' press, chest and window-seat,


s: And found much linen, lace, and several pair


s: Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete,


s: To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat:


s: Arras they prick'd and curtains with their swords,


s: And wounded several shutters, and some boards.


s: Under the bed they search'd, and there they found--


s: No matter what--it was not that they sought;


s: They open'd windows, gazing if the ground


s: Had signs or footmarks, but the earth said nought;


s: And then they stared each other's faces round:


s: 'T is odd, not one of all these seekers thought,


s: And seems to me almost a sort of blunder,


s: Was not asleep--'Yes, search and search,' she cried,


s: 'Insult on insult heap, and wrong on wrong!


s: For this in silence I have suffer'd long


s: But now I 'll bear no more, nor here remain,


s: If there be law or lawyers in all Spain.


s: Is 't worthy of your years?--you have threescore--


s: Is 't wise or fitting, causeless to explore


s: For facts against a virtuous woman's fame?


s: Ungrateful, perjured, barbarous Don Alfonso,


s: How dare you think your lady would go on so?


s: 'Is it for this I have disdain'd to hold


s: And never once he has had cause to scold,


s: So much, he always doubted I was married--


s: How sorry you will be when I 've miscarried!


s: I yet have chosen from out the youth of Seville?


s: Except to bull-fights, mass, play, rout, and revel?


s: Is it for this, whate'er my suitors were,


s: I favor'd none--nay, was almost uncivil?


s: Is it for this that General Count O'Reilly,


s: Who took Algiers, declares I used him vilely?


s: Sing at my heart six months at least in vain?


s: Call me the only virtuous wife in Spain?


s: Were there not also Russians, English, many?


s: The Count Strongstroganoff I put in pain,


s: And Lord Mount Coffeehouse, the Irish peer,


s: Who kill'd himself for love (with wine) last year.


s: And is it thus a faithful wife you treat?


s: I wonder in what quarter now the moon is:


s: I praise your vast forbearance not to beat


s: Me also, since the time so opportune is--


s: O, valiant man! with sword drawn and cock'd trigger,


s: Now, tell me, don't you cut a pretty figure?


s: 'Was it for this you took your sudden journey.


s: Under pretence of business indispensable


s: With that sublime of rascals your attorney,


s: Whom I see standing there, and looking sensible


s: Of having play'd the fool? though both I spurn, he


s: Deserves the worst, his conduct 's less defensible,


s: Because, no doubt, 't was for his dirty fee,


s: You 've made the apartment in a fit condition:


s: There 's pen and ink for you, sir, when you need--


s: Let every thing be noted with precision,


s: I would not you for nothing should be fee'd--


s: But, as my maid 's undrest, pray turn your spies out.'


s: 'Oh!' sobb'd Antonia, 'I could tear their eyes out.'


s: 'There is the closet, there the toilet, there


s: The antechamber--search them under, over;


s: There is the sofa, there the great arm-chair,


s: The chimney--which would really hold a lover.


s: I wish to sleep, and beg you will take care


s: And make no further noise, till you discover


s: The secret cavern of this lurking treasure--


s: And when 't is found, let me, too, have that pleasure.


s: 'And now, Hidalgo! now that you have thrown


s: Who is the man you search for? how d' ye cal


s: Him? what 's his lineage? let him but be shown--


s: I hope he 's young and handsome--is he tall?


s: Tell me--and be assured, that since you stain


s: My honour thus, it shall not be in vain.


s: 'At least, perhaps, he has not sixty years,


s: At that age he would be too old for slaughter,


s: Or for so young a husband's jealous fears


s: (Antonia! let me have a glass of water).


s: I am ashamed of having shed these tears,


s: They are unworthy of my father's daughter;


s: That I should fall into a monster's power.


s: 'Perhaps 't is of Antonia you are jealous,


s: You saw that she was sleeping by my side


s: When you broke in upon us with your fellows:


s: Look where you please--we 've nothing, sir, to hide;


s: Only another time, I trust, you 'll tell us,


s: 'And now, sir, I have done, and say no more;


s: The little I have said may serve to show


s: The guileless heart in silence may grieve o'er


s: The wrongs to whose exposure it is slow:


s: I leave you to your conscience as before,


s: 'T will one day ask you why you used me so?


s: God grant you feel not then the bitterest grief!-


s: Antonia! where 's my pocket-handkerchief?'


s: She ceased, and turn'd upon her pillow; pale


s: She lay, her dark eyes flashing through their tears,


s: Like skies that rain and lighten; as a veil,


s: Waved and o'ershading her wan cheek, appears


s: Her streaming hair; the black curls strive, but fail,


s: To hide the glossy shoulder, which uprears


s: Its snow through all;--her soft lips lie apart,


s: And louder than her breathing beats her heart.


s: Antonia bustled round the ransack'd room,


s: And, turning up her nose, with looks abused


s: Not one, except the attorney, was amused;


s: So there were quarrels, cared not for the cause,


s: Knowing they must be settled by the laws.


s: With prying snub-nose, and small eyes, he stood,


s: Following Antonia's motions here and there,


s: So that a suit or action were made good,


s: Small pity had he for the young and fair,


s: And ne'er believed in negatives, till these


s: Were proved by competent false witnesses.


s: But Don Alfonso stood with downcast looks,


s: And, truth to say, he made a foolish figure;


s: When, after searching in five hundred nooks,


s: And treating a young wife with so much rigour,


s: He gain'd no point, except some self-rebukes,


s: Added to those his lady with such vigour


s: Had pour'd upon him for the last half-hour,


s: Quick, thick, and heavy--as a thunder-shower.


s: To which the sole reply was tears and sobs,


s: Prologue is always certain throes, and throbs,


s: Gasps, and whatever else the owners choose:


s: Alfonso saw his wife, and thought of Job's;


s: He saw too, in perspective, her relations,


s: And then he tried to muster all his patience.


s: He stood in act to speak, or rather stammer,


s: The anvil of his speech received the hammer,


s: With 'Pray, sir, leave the room, and say no more,


s: Or madam dies.'--Alfonso mutter'd, 'D--n her,'


s: But nothing else, the time of words was o'er;


s: He knew not wherefore, that which he was bid.


s: The attorney last, who linger'd near the door


s: Reluctantly, still tarrying there as late as


s: At this most strange and unexplain'd 'hiatus'


s: In Don Alfonso's facts, which just now wore


s: An awkward look; as he revolved the case,


s: The door was fasten'd in his legal face.


s: No sooner was it bolted, than--Oh shame!


s: How can you do such things and keep your fame,


s: Unless this world, and t' other too, be blind?


s: Nothing so dear as an unfilch'd good name!


s: But to proceed--for there is more behind:


s: With much heartfelt reluctance be it said,


s: Young Juan slipp'd half-smother'd, from the bed.


s: How, nor can I indeed describe the where--


s: Young, slender, and pack'd easily, he lay,


s: No doubt, in little compass, round or square;


s: 'T were better, sure, to die so, than be shut


s: With maudlin Clarence in his Malmsey butt.


s: Forbid by heavenly, fined by human laws,


s: But at sixteen the conscience rarely gnaws


s: So much as when we call our old debts in


s: At sixty years, and draw the accompts of evil,


s: And find a deuced balance with the devil.


s: How the physicians, leaving pill and potion,


s: Prescribed, by way of blister, a young belle,


s: When old King David's blood grew dull in motion,


s: And that the medicine answer'd very well;


s: Perhaps 't was in a different way applied,


s: What 's to be done? Alfonso will be back


s: But no device could be brought into play--


s: Besides, it wanted but few hours of day:


s: But press'd her bloodless lip to Juan's cheek.


s: He turn'd his lip to hers, and with his hand


s: Call'd back the tangles of her wandering hair;


s: Even then their love they could not all command,


s: And half forgot their danger and despair:


s: 'Come, come, 't is no time now for fooling there,'


s: She whisper'd, in great wrath--'I must deposit


s: This pretty gentleman within the closet:


s: 'Pray, keep your nonsense for some luckier night--


s: Who can have put my master in this mood?


s: What will become on 't--I 'm in such a fright,


s: The devil 's in the urchin, and no good--


s: Is this a time for giggling? this a plight?


s: Why, don't you know that it may end in blood?


s: You 'll lose your life, and I shall lose my place,


s: My mistress all, for that half-girlish face.


s: Of twenty-five or thirty (come, make haste)--


s: But for a child, what piece of work is here!


s: (Come, sir, get in)--my master must be near:


s: There, for the present, at the least, he's fast,


s: Our counsel--(Juan, mind, you must not sleep).'


s: She loiter'd, and he told her to be gone,


s: And no great good seem'd answer'd if she stay'd:


s: Regarding both with slow and sidelong view,


s: She snuff'd the candle, curtsied, and withdrew.


s: Some strange excuses for his late proceeding;


s: To say the best, it was extreme ill-breeding;


s: But there were ample reasons for it, none


s: Of which he specified in this his pleading:


s: His speech was a fine sample, on the whole,


s: Of rhetoric, which the learn'd call 'rigmarole.'


s: Julia said nought; though all the while there rose


s: A matron, who her husband's foible knows,


s: By a few timely words to turn the tables,


s: Which, if it does not silence, still must pose,--


s: Even if it should comprise a pack of fables;


s: 'T is to retort with firmness, and when he


s: Suspects with one, do you reproach with three.


s: Julia, in fact, had tolerable grounds,--


s: Alfonso's loves with Inez were well known,


s: But whether 't was that one's own guilt confounds--


s: But that can't be, as has been often shown,


s: It might be that her silence sprang alone


s: To whom she knew his mother's fame was dear.


s: There might be one more motive, which makes two;


s: Conceal'd amongst his premises; 't is true,


s: His mind the more o'er this its mystery brooded;


s: Silence is best, besides there is a tact


s: (That modern phrase appears to me sad stuff,


s: But it will serve to keep my verse compact)-


s: Which keeps, when push'd by questions rather rough,


s: The charming creatures lie with such a grace,


s: There 's nothing so becoming to the face.


s: They blush, and we believe them; at least I


s: Have always done so; 't is of no great use,


s: For then their eloquence grows quite profuse;


s: And when at length they 're out of breath, they sigh,


s: And cast their languid eyes down, and let loose


s: And then--and then--and then--sit down and sup.


s: Alfonso closed his speech, and begg'd her pardon,


s: Which Julia half withheld, and then half granted,


s: And laid conditions he thought very hard on,


s: Denying several little things he wanted:


s: He stood like Adam lingering near his garden,


s: With useless penitence perplex'd and haunted,


s: When, lo! he stumbled o'er a pair of shoes.


s: A pair of shoes!--what then? not much, if they


s: Are such as fit with ladies' feet, but these


s: (No one can tell how much I grieve to say)


s: Were masculine; to see them, and to seize,


s: Was but a moment's act.--Ah! well-a-day!


s: My teeth begin to chatter, my veins freeze--


s: Alfonso first examined well their fashion,


s: He left the room for his relinquish'd sword,


s: 'Fly, Juan, fly! for heaven's sake--not a word--


s: The door is open--you may yet slip through


s: The passage you so often have explored--


s: Here is the garden-key--Fly--fly--Adieu!


s: Haste--haste! I hear Alfonso's hurrying feet--


s: Day has not broke--there 's no one in the street:


s: None can say that this was not good advice,


s: The only mischief was, it came too late;


s: Of all experience 't is the usual price,


s: Juan had reach'd the room-door in a. trice,


s: And might have done so by the garden-gate,


s: Who threaten'd death--so Juan knock'd him down.


s: Dire was the scuffle, and out went the light;


s: Antonia cried out 'Rape!' and Julia 'Fire!'


s: But not a servant stirr'd to aid the fight.


s: Alfonso, pommell'd to his heart's desire,


s: Swore lustily he'd be revenged this night;


s: And Juan, too, blasphemed an octave higher;


s: His blood was up: though young, he was a Tartar,


s: And not at all disposed to prove a martyr.


s: Alfonso's sword had dropp'd ere he could draw it,


s: And they continued battling hand to hand,


s: His temper not being under great command,


s: If at that moment he had chanced to claw it,


s: Much longer.--Think of husbands', lovers' lives!


s: And blood ('t was from the nose) began to flow;


s: At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay,


s: And then his only garment quite gave way;


s: He fled, like Joseph, leaving it; but there,


s: I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair.


s: Lights came at length, and men, and maids, who found


s: Alfonso leaning, breathless, by the door;


s: Some half-torn drapery scatter'd on the ground,


s: Some blood, and several footsteps, but no more:


s: Juan the gate gain'd, turn'd the key about,


s: And liking not the inside, lock'd the out.


s: Here ends this canto.--Need I sing, or say,


s: Who favours what she should not, found his way,


s: And reach'd his home in an unseemly plight?


s: The pleasant scandal which arose next day,


s: The nine days' wonder which was brought to light,


s: Were in the English newspapers, of course.


s: If you would like to see the whole proceedings,


s: The names of all the witnesses, the pleadings


s: There 's more than one edition, and the readings


s: Are various, but they none of them are dull;


s: The best is that in short-hand ta'en by Gurney,


s: Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey.


s: That had for centuries been known in Spain,


s: At least since the retirement of the Vandals,


s: First vow'd (and never had she vow'd in vain)


s: To Virgin Mary several pounds of candles;


s: And then, by the advice of some old ladies,


s: She sent her son to be shipp'd off from Cadiz.


s: She had resolved that he should travel through


s: (At least this is the thing most people do).


s: Grieved, but, perhaps, her feelings may be better


s: Shown in the following copy of her Letter:--


s: 'They tell me 't is decided; you depart:


s: 'T is wise--'t is well, but not the less a pain;


s: I have no further claim on your young heart,


s: I used;--I write in haste, and if a stain


s: Be on this sheet, 't is not what it appears;


s: My eyeballs burn and throb, but have no tears.


s: 'I loved, I love you, for this love have lost


s: State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem,


s: And yet can not regret what it hath cost,


s: So dear is still the memory of that dream;


s: Yet, if I name my guilt, 't is not to boast,


s: None can deem harshlier of me than I deem:


s: I trace this scrawl because I cannot rest--


s: I 've nothing to reproach, or to request.


s: 'Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,


s: 'T is woman's whole existence; man may range


s: The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart;


s: Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange


s: Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart,


s: And few there are whom these cannot estrange;


s: Men have all these resources, we but one,


s: 'You will proceed in pleasure, and in pride,


s: For me on earth, except some years to hide


s: My shame and sorrow deep in my heart's core;


s: These I could bear, but cannot cast aside


s: The passion which still rages as before--


s: And so farewell--forgive me, love me--No,


s: 'My breast has been all weakness, is so yet;


s: But still I think I can collect my mind;


s: My blood still rushes where my spirit 's set,


s: As roll the waves before the settled wind;


s: So shakes the needle, and so stands the pole,


s: As vibrates my fond heart to my fix'd soul.


s: 'I have no more to say, but linger still,


s: And dare not set my seal upon this sheet,


s: I had not lived till now, could sorrow kill;


s: Death shuns the wretch who fain the blow would meet,


s: And I must even survive this last adieu,


s: And bear with life, to love and pray for you!'


s: This note was written upon gilt-edged paper


s: With a neat little crow-quill, slight and new:


s: Her small white hand could hardly reach the taper,


s: And yet she did not let one tear escape her;


s: The seal a sun-flower; 'Elle vous suit partout,'


s: The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.


s: This was Don Juan's earliest scrape; but whether


s: We 'll see, however, what they say to this:


s: Their favour in an author's cap 's a feather,


s: And no great mischief 's done by their caprice;


s: Perhaps they 'll have some more about a year hence.


s: Divided in twelve books; each book containing,


s: With love, and war, a heavy gale at sea,


s: A list of ships, and captains, and kings reigning,


s: A panoramic view of hell 's in training,


s: All these things will be specified in time,


s: With strict regard to Aristotle's rules,


s: Which makes so many poets, and some fools:


s: Prose poets like blank-verse, I 'm fond of rhyme,


s: Good workmen never quarrel with their tools;


s: There 's only one slight difference between


s: And here the advantage is my own, I ween


s: (Not that I have not several merits more,


s: They so embellish, that 't is quite a bore


s: Their labyrinth of fables to thread through,


s: To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel,


s: To plays in five, and operas in three acts;


s: All these confirm my statement a good deal,


s: But that which more completely faith exacts


s: Is that myself, and several now in Seville,


s: Saw Juan's last elopement with the devil.


s: I 'll write poetical commandments, which


s: Shall supersede beyond all doubt all those


s: That went before; in these I shall enrich


s: My text with many things that no one knows,


s: I 'll call the work 'Longinus o'er a Bottle,


s: Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope;


s: Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey;


s: Because the first is crazed beyond all hope,


s: The second drunk, the third so quaint and mouthy:


s: With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope,


s: And Campbell's Hippocrene is somewhat drouthy:


s: Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers, nor


s: Commit--flirtation with the muse of Moore.


s: Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's Muse,


s: Thou shalt not bear false witness like 'the Blues'


s: (There 's one, at least, is very fond of this);


s: Thou shalt not write, in short, but what I choose:


s: This is true criticism, and you may kiss--


s: Exactly as you please, or not,--the rod;


s: That they will not cry out before they 're hurt,


s: Then that they 'll read it o'er again, and say


s: (But, doubtless, nobody will be so pert)


s: That this is not a moral tale, though gay;


s: Besides, in Canto Twelfth, I mean to show


s: If, after all, there should be some so blind


s: To their own good this warning to despise,


s: Not to believe my verse and their own eyes,


s: And cry that they 'the moral cannot find,'


s: Should captains the remark, or critics, make,


s: And beg they 'll take my word about the moral,


s: Which I with their amusement will connect


s: (So children cutting teeth receive a coral);


s: Meantime, they 'll doubtless please to recollect


s: For fear some prudish readers should grow skittish,


s: I 've bribed my grandmother's review--the British.


s: I 'm for a handsome article his creditor;


s: Yet, if my gentle Muse he please to roast,


s: And break a promise after having made it her,


s: And smear his page with gall instead of honey,


s: All I can say is--that he had the money.


s: I think that with this holy new alliance


s: Have not essay'd to multiply their clients,


s: Because they tell me 't were in vain to try,


s: And that the Edinburgh Review and Quarterly


s: Treat a dissenting author very martyrly.


s: Say I; by which quotation there is meant a


s: Hint that some six or seven good years ago


s: (Long ere I dreamt of dating from the Brenta)


s: And would not brook at all this sort of thing


s: In my hot youth--when George the Third was King.


s: (I wonder what it will be like at forty?


s: My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I


s: Have squander'd my whole summer while 't was May,


s: And feel no more the spirit to retort; I


s: Have spent my life, both interest and principal,


s: And deem not, what I deem'd, my soul invincible.


s: The freshness of the heart can fall like dew,


s: Which out of all the lovely things we see


s: Hived in our bosoms like the bag o' the bee:


s: Think'st thou the honey with those objects grew?


s: Alas! 't was not in them, but in thy power


s: To double even the sweetness of a flower.


s: No more--no more--Oh! never more, my heart,


s: Canst thou be my sole world, my universe!


s: Thou canst not be my blessing or my curse:


s: The illusion 's gone for ever, and thou art


s: Insensible, I trust, but none the worse,


s: And in thy stead I 've got a deal of judgment,


s: Though heaven knows how it ever found a lodgment.


s: The charms of maid, wife, and still less of widow,


s: Can make the fool of which they made before,--


s: In short, I must not lead the life I did do;


s: The credulous hope of mutual minds is o'er,


s: The copious use of claret is forbid too,


s: Before the shrines of Sorrow, and of Pleasure;


s: And the two last have left me many a token


s: O'er which reflection may be made at leisure:


s: Now, like Friar Bacon's brazen head, I 've spoken,


s: 'Time is, Time was, Time 's past:'--a chymic treasure


s: Is glittering youth, which I have spent betimes--


s: My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes.


s: What is the end of Fame? 't is but to fill


s: Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour;


s: For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,


s: And bards burn what they call their 'midnight taper,'


s: A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.


s: And largest, thinking it was just the thing


s: To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid;


s: Let not a monument give you or me hopes,


s: Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops.


s: All things that have been born were born to die,


s: And flesh (which Death mows down to hay) is grass;


s: You 've pass'd your youth not so unpleasantly,


s: And if you had it o'er again--'t would pass--


s: So thank your stars that matters are no worse,


s: And read your Bible, sir, and mind your purse.'


s: Still gentler purchaser! the bard--that 's I--


s: Must, with permission, shake you by the hand,


s: And so 'Your humble servant, and good-b'ye!'


s: Your patience further than by this short sample--


s: 'T were well if others follow'd my example.


s: 'Go, little book, from this my solitude!


s: The world will find thee after many days.'


s: When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood,


s: I can't help putting in my claim to praise--


s: The four first rhymes are Southey's every line:


s: For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine.


s: O ye! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations,


s: It mends their morals, never mind the pain:


s: In Juan's case were but employ'd in vain,


s: Since, in a way that 's rather of the oddest, he


s: Had he but been placed at a public school,


s: In the third form, or even in the fourth,


s: At least, had he been nurtured in the north;


s: Spain may prove an exception to the rule,


s: But then exceptions always prove its worth--


s: Puzzled his tutors very much, of course.


s: If all things be consider'd: first, there was


s: Or else the thing had hardly come to pass);


s: With his young wife--a time, and opportunity.


s: Well--well, the world must turn upon its axis,


s: And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails,


s: And live and die, make love and pay our taxes,


s: And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails;


s: The king commands us, and the doctor quacks us,


s: The priest instructs, and so our life exhales,


s: A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame,


s: Fighting, devotion, dust,--perhaps a name.


s: I said that Juan had been sent to Cadiz--


s: 'T is there the mart of the colonial trade is


s: And such sweet girls--I mean, such graceful ladies,


s: Their very walk would make your bosom swell;


s: I can't describe it, though so much it strike,


s: No--none of these will do;--and then their garb!


s: Their veil and petticoat--Alas! to dwell


s: A canto--then their feet and ankles,--well,


s: Thank Heaven I 've got no metaphor quite ready


s: (And so, my sober Muse--come, let 's be steady--


s: Chaste Muse!--well, if you must, you must)--the veil


s: Thrown back a moment with the glancing hand,


s: While the o'erpowering eye, that turns you pale,


s: To--say my prayers--but never was there plann'd


s: A dress through which the eyes give such a volley,


s: To stay there had not answer'd her intent,


s: But why?--we leave the reader in the dark--


s: 'T was for a voyage that the young man was meant,


s: To wean him from the wickedness of earth,


s: And send him like a dove of promise forth.


s: A lecture and some money: for four springs


s: He was to travel; and though Inez grieved


s: (As every kind of parting has its stings),


s: She hoped he would improve--perhaps believed:


s: A letter, too, she gave (he never read it)


s: Of good advice--and two or three of credit.


s: In the mean time, to pass her hours away,


s: For naughty children, who would rather play


s: (Like truant rogues) the devil, or the fool;


s: Infants of three years old were taught that day,


s: Spurr'd her to teach another generation.


s: The wind was fair, the water passing rough:


s: As I, who 've cross'd it oft, know well enough;


s: And, standing upon deck, the dashing spray


s: Flies in one's face, and makes it weather-tough:


s: And there he stood to take, and take again,


s: His first--perhaps his last--farewell of Spain.


s: To see one's native land receding through


s: The growing waters; it unmans one quite,


s: I recollect Great Britain's coast looks white,


s: When gazing on them, mystified by distance,


s: The wind sung, cordage strain'd, and sailors swore,


s: And the ship creak'd, the town became a speck,


s: From which away so fair and fast they bore.


s: Against sea-sickness: try it, sir, before


s: You sneer, and I assure you this is true,


s: Don Juan stood, and, gazing from the stern,


s: First partings form a lesson hard to learn,


s: Even nations feel this when they go to war;


s: A kind of shock that sets one's heart ajar:


s: At leaving even the most unpleasant people


s: And places, one keeps looking at the steeple.


s: His mother, and a mistress, and no wife,


s: So that he had much better cause to grieve


s: Than many persons more advanced in life;


s: And if we now and then a sigh must heave


s: At quitting even those we quit in strife,


s: No doubt we weep for those the heart endears--


s: That is, till deeper griefs congeal our tears.


s: By Babel's waters, still remembering Sion:


s: I 'd weep,--but mine is not a weeping Muse,


s: And such light griefs are not a thing to die on;


s: Young men should travel, if but to amuse


s: Themselves; and the next time their servants tie on


s: Behind their carriages their new portmanteau,


s: Perhaps it may be lined with this my canto.


s: And Juan wept, and much he sigh'd and thought,


s: While his salt tears dropp'd into the salt sea,


s: 'Sweets to the sweet' (I like so much to quote;


s: You must excuse this extract, 't is where she,


s: The Queen of Denmark, for Ophelia brought


s: Flowers to the grave); and, sobbing often, he


s: 'Farewell, my Spain! a long farewell!' he cried,


s: But die, as many an exiled heart hath died,


s: Of its own thirst to see again thy shore:


s: Farewell, where Guadalquivir's waters glide!


s: Farewell, my mother! and, since all is o'er,


s: Farewell, too, dearest Julia!--(Here he drew


s: Her letter out again, and read it through.)


s: 'And, oh! if e'er I should forget, I swear--


s: Sooner shall this blue ocean melt to air,


s: Sooner shall earth resolve itself to sea,


s: (Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick).


s: 'Sooner shall heaven kiss earth (here he fell sicker),


s: (For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor;


s: Julia, my love! (you rascal, Pedro, quicker)--


s: O, Julia! (this curst vessel pitches so)--


s: Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!'


s: (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.)


s: He felt that chilling heaviness of heart,


s: Or rather stomach, which, alas! attends,


s: The loss of love, the treachery of friends,


s: Or death of those we dote on, when a part


s: Of us dies with them as each fond hope ends:


s: No doubt he would have been much more pathetic,


s: Love 's a capricious power: I 've known it hold


s: Out through a fever caused by its own heat,


s: But be much puzzled by a cough and cold,


s: But vulgar illnesses don't like to meet,


s: Nor that a sneeze should interrupt his sigh,


s: Shrinks from the application of hot towels,


s: And purgatives are dangerous to his reign,


s: Sea-sickness death: his love was perfect, how else


s: Could Juan's passion, while the billows roar,


s: Resist his stomach, ne'er at sea before?


s: The ship, call'd the most holy 'Trinidada,'


s: Were settled long ere Juan's sire was born:


s: They were relations, and for them he had a


s: His suite consisted of three servants and


s: But now lay sick and speechless on his pillow,


s: And rocking in his hammock, long'd for land,


s: His headache being increased by every billow;


s: And the waves oozing through the port-hole made


s: His berth a little damp, and him afraid.


s: 'T was not without some reason, for the wind


s: Increased at night, until it blew a gale;


s: And though 't was not much to a naval mind,


s: Some landsmen would have look'd a little pale,


s: For sailors are, in fact, a different kind:


s: For the sky show'd it would come on to blow,


s: At one o'clock the wind with sudden shift


s: Threw the ship right into the trough of the sea,


s: Which struck her aft, and made an awkward rift,


s: Started the stern-post, also shatter'd the


s: Whole of her stern-frame, and, ere she could lift


s: The rudder tore away: 't was time to sound


s: The pumps, and there were four feet water found.


s: To get up part of the cargo, and what not;


s: But they could not come at the leak as yet;


s: The water rush'd through in a way quite puzzling,


s: While they thrust sheets, shirts, jackets, bales of muslin,


s: Into the opening; but all such ingredients


s: Would have been vain, and they must have gone down,


s: Despite of all their efforts and expedients,


s: But for the pumps: I 'm glad to make them known


s: To all the brother tars who may have need hence,


s: By them per hour, and they had all been undone,


s: As day advanced the weather seem'd to abate,


s: And then the leak they reckon'd to reduce,


s: And keep the ship afloat, though three feet yet


s: Kept two hand and one chain-pump still in use.


s: The wind blew fresh again: as it grew late


s: A squall came on, and while some guns broke loose,


s: A gust--which all descriptive power transcends--


s: Laid with one blast the ship on her beam ends.


s: There she lay motionless, and seem'd upset;


s: The water left the hold, and wash'd the decks,


s: And made a scene men do not soon forget;


s: For they remember battles, fires, and wrecks,


s: Or breaks their hopes, or hearts, or heads, or necks:


s: Thus drownings are much talk'd of by the divers,


s: And swimmers, who may chance to be survivors.


s: Both main and mizen; first the mizen went,


s: The main-mast follow'd: but the ship still lay


s: Like a mere log, and baffled our intent.


s: Foremast and bowsprit were cut down, and they


s: Eased her at last (although we never meant


s: To part with all till every hope was blighted),


s: And then with violence the old ship righted.


s: That passengers would find it much amiss


s: To lose their lives, as well as spoil their diet;


s: Days nearly o'er, might be disposed to riot,


s: For grog, and sometimes drink rum from the cask.


s: There 's nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms


s: Some plunder'd, some drank spirits, some sung psalms,


s: The high wind made the treble, and as bas


s: The hoarse harsh waves kept time; fright cured the qualms


s: Of all the luckless landsmen's sea-sick maws:


s: Strange sounds of wailing, blasphemy, devotion,


s: Clamour'd in chorus to the roaring ocean.


s: Perhaps more mischief had been done, but for


s: Our Juan, who, with sense beyond his years,


s: Got to the spirit-room, and stood before


s: It with a pair of pistols; and their fears,


s: As if Death were more dreadful by his door


s: Of fire than water, spite of oaths and tears,


s: Kept still aloof the crew, who, ere they sunk,


s: Thought it would be becoming to die drunk.


s: 'Give us more grog,' they cried, 'for it will be


s: All one an hour hence.' Juan answer'd, 'No!


s: 'T is true that death awaits both you and me,


s: Like brutes;'--and thus his dangerous post kept he,


s: And even Pedrillo, his most reverend tutor,


s: The good old gentleman was quite aghast,


s: Nothing should tempt him more (this peril past)


s: To follow Juan's wake, like Sancho Panca.


s: But now there came a flash of hope once more;


s: Day broke, and the wind lull'd: the masts were gone,


s: The leak increased; shoals round her, but no shore,


s: The vessel swam, yet still she held her own.


s: They tried the pumps again, and though before


s: Their desperate efforts seem'd all useless grown,


s: A glimpse of sunshine set some hands to bale--


s: The stronger pump'd, the weaker thrumm'd a sail.


s: Under the vessel's keel the sail was past,


s: But with a leak, and not a stick of mast,


s: Nor rag of canvas, what could they expect?


s: But still 't is best to struggle to the last,


s: 'T is never too late to be wholly wreck'd:


s: And though 't is true that man can only die once,


s: 'T is not so pleasant in the Gulf of Lyons.


s: There winds and waves had hurl'd them, and from thence,


s: Without their will, they carried them away;


s: For they were forced with steering to dispense,


s: On which they might repose, or even commence


s: The ship would swim an hour, which, by good luck,


s: Still swam--though not exactly like a duck.


s: The wind, in fact, perhaps was rather less,


s: But the ship labour'd so, they scarce could hope


s: To weather out much longer; the distress


s: Was also great with which they had to cope


s: Was used--nor sail nor shore appear'd in sight,


s: Nought but the heavy sea, and coming night.


s: Again the weather threaten'd,--again blew


s: Water appear'd; yet, though the people knew


s: All this, the most were patient, and some bold,


s: Until the chains and leathers were worn through


s: Of all our pumps:--a wreck complete she roll'd,


s: At mercy of the waves, whose mercies are


s: Then came the carpenter, at last, with tears


s: In his rough eyes, and told the captain he


s: Could do no more: he was a man in years,


s: And long had voyaged through many a stormy sea,


s: And if he wept at length, they were not fears


s: But he, poor fellow, had a wife and children,--


s: Two things for dying people quite bewildering.


s: Fast by the head; and, all distinction gone,


s: Some went to prayers again, and made a vow


s: Of candles to their saints--but there were none


s: To pay them with; and some look'd o'er the bow;


s: Some hoisted out the boats; and there was one


s: Who told him to be damn'd--in his confusion.


s: Some lash'd them in their hammocks; some put on


s: Their best clothes, as if going to a fair;


s: Some cursed the day on which they saw the sun,


s: And gnash'd their teeth, and, howling, tore their hair;


s: That a tight boat will live in a rough sea,


s: Unless with breakers close beneath her lee.


s: The worst of all was, that in their condition,


s: Having been several days in great distress,


s: 'T was difficult to get out such provision


s: As now might render their long suffering less:


s: Men, even when dying, dislike inanition;


s: Their stock was damaged by the weather's stress:


s: Two casks of biscuit and a keg of butter


s: Were all that could be thrown into the cutter.


s: But in the long-boat they contrived to stow


s: Some pounds of bread, though injured by the wet;


s: Six flasks of wine; and they contrived to get


s: And with a piece of pork, moreover, met,


s: But scarce enough to serve them for a luncheon--


s: Then there was rum, eight gallons in a puncheon.


s: The other boats, the yawl and pinnace, had


s: Been stove in the beginning of the gale;


s: And the long-boat's condition was but bad,


s: As there were but two blankets for a sail,


s: And one oar for a mast, which a young lad


s: Threw in by good luck over the ship's rail;


s: And two boats could not hold, far less be stored,


s: To save one half the people then on board.


s: 'T was twilight, and the sunless day went down


s: Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown


s: Of one whose hate is mask'd but to assail,


s: Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown,


s: And the dim desolate deep: twelve days had Fear


s: Been their familiar, and now Death was here.


s: A sort of thing at which one would have laugh'd,


s: Unless with people who too much have quaff'd,


s: And have a kind of wild and horrid glee,


s: Their preservation would have been a miracle.


s: At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hencoops, spars,


s: And all things, for a chance, had been cast loose,


s: That still could keep afloat the struggling tars,


s: For yet they strove, although of no great use:


s: There was no light in heaven but a few stars,


s: The boats put off o'ercrowded with their crews;


s: She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port,


s: And, going down head foremost--sunk, in short.


s: Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell--


s: Then shriek'd the timid, and stood still the brave,


s: Then some leap'd overboard with dreadful yell,


s: And the sea yawn'd around her like a hell,


s: And down she suck'd with her the whirling wave,


s: And strives to strangle him before he die.


s: And first one universal shriek there rush'd,


s: Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash


s: Of echoing thunder; and then all was hush'd,


s: Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash


s: Of billows; but at intervals there gush'd,


s: The boats, as stated, had got off before,


s: And in them crowded several of the crew;


s: And yet their present hope was hardly more


s: Than what it had been, for so strong it blew


s: There was slight chance of reaching any shore;


s: And then they were too many, though so few--


s: Were counted in them when they got afloat.


s: All the rest perish'd; near two hundred souls


s: Had left their bodies; and what 's worse, alas!


s: They must wait several weeks before a mass


s: Takes off one peck of purgatorial coals,


s: Because, till people know what 's come to pass,


s: They won't lay out their money on the dead--


s: It costs three francs for every mass that 's said.


s: It seem'd as if they had exchanged their care,


s: Which courage gives, while poor Pedrillo's pair


s: Of eyes were crying for their owner's case:


s: Battista; though (a name call'd shortly Tita),


s: Pedro, his valet, too, he tried to save,


s: But the same cause, conducive to his loss,


s: Left him so drunk, he jump'd into the wave


s: As o'er the cutter's edge he tried to cross,


s: And so he found a wine-and-watery grave;


s: They could not rescue him although so close,


s: Because the sea ran higher every minute,


s: And for the boat--the crew kept crowding in it.


s: A small old spaniel,--which had been Don Jose's,


s: His father's, whom he loved, as ye may think,


s: With tenderness--stood howling on the brink,


s: Knowing (dogs have such intellectual noses!),


s: And Juan caught him up, and ere he stepp'd


s: Off, threw him in, then after him he leap'd.


s: He also stuff'd his money where he could


s: Who let him do, in fact, whate'er he would,


s: But Juan, trusting they might still get through,


s: And deeming there were remedies for any ill,


s: Thus re-embark'd his tutor and his spaniel.


s: 'T was a rough night, and blew so stiffly yet,


s: That the sail was becalm'd between the seas,


s: Though on the wave's high top too much to set,


s: They dared not take it in for all the breeze:


s: Each sea curl'd o'er the stern, and kept them wet,


s: And made them bale without a moment's ease,


s: So that themselves as well as hopes were damp'd,


s: And the poor little cutter quickly swamp'd.


s: Nine souls more went in her: the long-boat still


s: Two blankets stitch'd together, answering ill


s: Instead of sail, were to the oar made fast:


s: Though every wave roll'd menacing to fill,


s: They grieved for those who perish'd with the cutter,


s: And also for the biscuit-casks and butter.


s: Before the sea until it should grow fine,


s: Was all that for the present could be done:


s: A few tea-spoonfuls of their rum and wine


s: Were served out to the people, who begun


s: To faint, and damaged bread wet through the bags,


s: And most of them had little clothes but rags.


s: Which left scarce room for motion or exertion;


s: They did their best to modify their case,


s: One half sate up, though numb'd with the immersion,


s: While t'other half were laid down in their place


s: At watch and watch; thus, shivering like the tertian


s: Ague in its cold fit, they fill'd their boat,


s: With nothing but the sky for a great coat.


s: Prolongs it: this is obvious to physicians,


s: When patients, neither plagued with friends nor wife,


s: Survive through very desperate conditions,


s: Because they still can hope, nor shines the knife


s: Nor shears of Atropos before their visions:


s: Despair of all recovery spoils longevity,


s: And makes men miseries miseries of alarming brevity.


s: 'T is said that persons living on annuities


s: Are longer lived than others,--God knows why,


s: Unless to plague the grantors,--yet so true it is,


s: That some, I really think, do never die;


s: And that 's their mode of furnishing supply:


s: In my young days they lent me cash that way,


s: They live upon the love of life, and bear


s: More than can be believed, or even thought,


s: And stand like rocks the tempest's wear and tear;


s: And hardship still has been the sailor's lot,


s: Since Noah's ark went cruising here and there;


s: She had a curious crew as well as cargo,