CX.

But I'm digressing: what on earth was Nero,
Or any such like sovereign buffoons,

To do with the transactions of my hero,

More than such madmen's fellow-man-the moon's? Sure my invention must be down at zero,

And I grown one of many « wooden spoons>>
Of verse (the name with which we Cantabs please
To dub the last of honours in degrees).

CXI.

I feel this tediousness will never do

"T is being too epic, and I must cut down (In copying) this long canto into two: They'll never find it out, unless I own The fact, excepting some experienced few;

And then as an improvement 't will be shown: I'll prove that such the opinion of the critic is, From Aristotle passim.-See Пointing.

NOTES.

Note 1. Stanza xlv.

For none likes more to bear himself converse.

Rispose allor Margatte, a dirtel tosto,

Io non credo più al nero ch' all'azzurro;
Ma nel cappone, o lesso, o vuogli arrosto,
E credo alcuna volta anco nel burro;
Nella cervogia, e quando io n'ho nel mosto,
E molto più nell' espro che il mangurro

Ma sopra tutto nel buon vino ho fede,
E credo che sia salvo chi gli crede.

PULCI, Morgante Maggiore, Canto 18, Stanza 151.

Note 2. Stanza lxxi.

That e'er by precious metal was held in.

This dress is Moorish, and the bracelets and bar are worn in the manner described. The reader will perceive hereafter, that, as the mother of Haidee was of Fez, her daughter wore the garb of the country.

Note 3. Stanza Ixxii.

A like gold bar, above her instep roll'd.

The bar of gold above the instep is a mark of sovereign rank in the women of families of the Deys, and is worn as such by their female relatives.

Note 4. Stanza Ixxiii.

Her person if allow'd at large to run.

This is no exaggeration; there were four women whom I remember to have seen, who possessed their hair in this profusion; of these, three were English, the other was a Levantine. Their hair was of that length and quantity that when let down, it almost entirely shaded the person, so as nearly to render dress a superfluity. Of these, only one had dark hair; the Oriental's had, perhaps, the lightest colour of the four.

Note 5. Stanza cvii.

Oh Hesperus! thou bringest all good things.
Εσπερε πάντα φέρεις,
Φέρεις οίνον, φέρεις αιγα,

Φέρεις ματερι παιδα.

Fragment of Sappho.

Note 6. Stanza cviii.

Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart.

Era già l'ora che volge 'l disio,

A' naviganti, e 'ntenerisce il cuore;
Lo di ch' ban detto a' dolci amici a dio;
E che lo nuovo peregrin' d' amore

Punge, se ode Squilla di lontano,

Che paja 'I giorno pianger che si muore.»

DANTE's Purgatory, Canto viii.

This last line is the first of Gray's Elegy, taken by him

without acknowledgment.

Some hands unseen strew'd flowers upon his tomb.

See Suetonius for this fact.

DON JUAN.

CANTO IV.

I.

NOTHING SO difficult as a beginning
In poesy, unless perhaps the end

For oftentimes when Pegasus seems winning

The race, he sprains a wing, and down we tend, Like Lucifer when hurl'd from heaven for sinning; Our sin the same, and hard as his to mend,

Being pride, which leads the mind to soar too far, Till our own weakness shows us what we are.

II.

But time, which brings all beings to their level,
And sharp adversity, will teach at last

Man, and, as we would hope,-perhaps the devil,
That neither of their intellects are vast :

While youth's hot wishes in our red veins revel,

We know not this-the blood flows on too fast; But as the torrent widens towards the ocean,

We ponder deeply on each past emotion.