DON JUAN.

CANTO V.

I.

WHEN amatory poets sing their loves
In liquid lines mellifluously bland,

And praise their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves,
They little think what mischief is in hand;
The greater their success the worse it proves,
As Ovid's verse may make you understand;
Even Petrarch's self, if judged with due severity,
Is the platonic pimp of all posterity.

II.

I therefore do denounce all amorous writing,
Except in such a way as not to attract;
Plain-simple-short, and by no means inviting,
But with a moral to each error tack'd,
Form'd rather for instructing than delighting,
And with all passions in their turn attack'd;
Now, if my Pegasus, should not be shod ill,
This poem will become a moral model.

III.

The European with the Asian shore

Sprinkled with palaces; the ocean stream*

Here and there studded with a seventy-four;

*This expression of Homer has been much criticised. It hardly answers to our Atlantic ideas of the ocean, but is aufficiently applicable to the Hellespont, and the Bosphorus, with the Ægean intersected with islands. CANTO V.-A.

Sophia's cupola with golden gleam;

The cypress groves; Olympus high and hoar;

The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream, Far less describe, present the very view

Which charm'd the charming Mary Montagu.

IV.

I have a passion for the name of " Mary,"
For once it was a magic sound to me:
And still it half calls up the realms of fairy,
Where I beheld what never was to be;

All feelings changed, but this was last to vary,

A spell from which even yet I am not quite free.
But I grow sad-and let a tale grew cold,
Which must not be pathetically told.

V.

The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave,
Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades;
'Tis a grand sight from off" the Giant's Grave"*
To watch the progress of those rolling seas
Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave

Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease;
There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in,
Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine.

VI.

'Twas a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning,
When nights are equal, but not so the days;
The Parcæ then cut short the further spinning
Of seamen's fates, and the loud tempests raise
The waters, and repentance for past sinning

In all, who o'er the great deep take their ways:

"The Giant's Grave" is a height on the Adriatic shore of the Bosphorus, much frequented by holiday parties; like Harrow and Highgate.

They vow to amend their lives, and yet they don't; Because if drown'd, they can't-if spared, they won't.

VII.

A crowd of shivering slaves of every nation,
And age, and sex, were in the market ranged;
Each bevy with the merchant in his station:

Poor creatures! their good looks were sadly changed. All save the blacks seem'd jaded with vexation,

From friends, and home, and freedom far estranged, The negroes more philosophy display'd,Used to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flay'd.

VIII.

Juan was juvenile, and thus was full,

As most at his age are, of hope, and health; Yet I must own, he look'd a little dull,

And now and then a tear stole down by stealth;
Perhaps his recent loss of blood might pull

His spirit down; and then the loss of wealth,
A mistress, and such comfortable quarters,
To be put up for auction amongst Tartars,

IX.

Were things to shake a stoic; ne'ertheless,
Upon the whole his carriage was serene:
His figure and the splendour of his dress,

Of which some gilded remnants still were seen,
Drew all eyes on him, giving them to guess
He was above the vulgar by his mien:

And then, though pale, he was so very handsome;
And then-they calculated on his ransom.

X.

Like a backgammon board the place was dotted

With whites and blacks, in groups on show for sale,

Though rather more irregularly spotted:

Some bought the jet, while others chose the pale. It chanced among the other people lotted,

A man of thirty, rather stout and hale, With resolution in his dark gray eye,

Next Juan stood, till some might choose to buy.

XI.

He had an English look; that is, was square

In make, of a complexion white and ruddy, Good teeth, with curling rather dark brown hair, And, it might be from thought, or toil, or study, An open brow, a little mark'd with care:

One arm had on a bandage rather bloody;

And there he stood with such sang-froid, that greater Could scarce be shown even by a mere spectator.

XII.

But seeing at his elbow a mere lad,

Of a high spirit evidently, though

At present weighed down by a doom, which had
O'erthrown even men, he soon began to show
A kind of blunt compassion for the sad

Lot of so young a partner in the wo,
Which for himself he seem'd to deem no worse
Than any other scrape, a thing of course.

XIII.

"My boy!"-said be," amidst this motley crew
Of Georgians, Russians, Nubians, and what not,
All ragamuffins differing but in hue,

With whom it is our luck to cast our lot,
The only gentlemen seem I and you;
So let us be acquainted, as we ought:
If I could yield you any consolation,
Twould give me pleasure.-Pray what is

your

nation?"

XIV.

When Juan answered "Spanish! he replied,
I thought, in fact you could not be a Greek;
Those servile dogs are not so proudly eyed:
Fortune has played you here a pretty freak,
But that's her way with all men till they're tried;
But never mind,-she'll turn, perhaps next week;
She has served me also much the same as you,
Except that I have found it nothing new."

XV.

Pray, Sir,” said Juan, “ if I may presume,

What brought you here?"—"Oh! nothing very rare--
Six Tartars and a drag chain-"-" To this doom
But what conducted, if the question's fair,

Is that which I would learn."-" I served for some
Months with the Russian army here and there,
And taking lately, by Suwarrow's bidding,
A town, was ta'en myself instead of Widin.”

XVI.

"Have you no friends?"-"I had-but, by God's blesHave not been troubled with them lately. Now [sing, I have answered all your questions without pressing, And you an equal courtesy should show.”.

Alas!" said Juan, " 't were a tale distressing And long besides."-" Oh! if 'tis really so, You're right on both accounts to hold your tongue; A sad tale saddens doubly when 'tis long.

XVII.

"But droop not: fortune at your time of life,
Although a female moderately fickle,
Will hardly leave you (as she's not your wife)