The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

7. I.e., my imagination had at one time been, in for a death that is denied him, is modeled on the its creative powers, as rich as King Croesus (the legend, often treated in Romantic literature, of the legendary monarch famed for his wealth). Man- Wandering Jew. fred's self-description in this passage, as longing 8. Occult bodies of knowledge.

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652 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

170 Which sinks with sorrow, or beats quick with pain, Or joy that ends in agony or faintness-� In all the days of past and future, for In life there is no present, we can number How few�how less than few�wherein the soul

175 Forbears to pant for death, and yet draws back As from a stream in winter, though the chill Be but a moment's. I have one resource Still in my science�I can call the dead, And ask them what it is we dread to be:

180 The sternest answer can but be the Grave, And that is nothing�if they answer not� The buried Prophet answered to the Hag Of Endor;9 and the Spartan Monarch drew From the Byzantine maid's unsleeping spirit

i85 An answer and his destiny�he slew That which he loved, unknowing what he slew, And died unpardon'd�though he call'd in aid The Phyxian Jove, and in Phigalia roused The Arcadian Evocators to compel

190 The indignant shadow to depose her wrath,1 Or fix her term of vengeance�she replied In words of dubious import, but fulfill'd. If I had never lived, that which I love Had still been living; had I never loved,

195 That which I love would still be beautiful� Happy and giving happiness. What is she? What is she now?�a sufferer for my sins� A thing I dare not think upon�or nothing. Within few hours I shall not call in vain�

200 Yet in this hour I dread the thing I dare: Until this hour I never shrunk to gaze On spirit, good or evil�now I tremble, And feel a strange cold thaw upon my heart, But I can act even what I most abhor,

205 And champion human fears.�The night approaches. [Exit.]

SCENE 3. The Summit of the Jungfrau Mountain.

Enter FIRST DESTINY.2

The moon is rising broad, and round, and bright; And here on snows, where never human foot

9. The Woman of Endor, at the behest of King Pausanias, author of the Description of Greece, Saul, summoned up the spirit of the dead prophet adds the details that King Pausanias, in the vain Samuel, who foretold that in an impending battle attempt to purge his guilt, had called for aid from the Philistines would conquer the Israelites and Jupiter Phyxius and consulted the Evocators at kill Saul and his sons (I Samuel 28.7�19). Phigalia, in Arcadia, who had the power to call up I. Plutarch relates that King Pausanias ("the the souls of the dead. Spartan Monarch") had accidentally killed Cleon-2. The three Destinies are modeled on both the ice ("the Byzantine maid"), whom he desired as his witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth and the three mistress. Her ghost haunted him until he called up Fates of classical mythology, who, in turn, spin, her spirit to beg her forgiveness. She told him, measure, and then cut the thread of an individual's enigmatically, that he would quickly be freed from life. his troubles; soon after that, he was killed. Another

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 65 3

Of common mortal trod, we nightly tread, And leave no traces; o'er the savage sea, The glassy ocean of the mountain ice, We skim its rugged breakers, which put on The aspect of a tumbling tempest's foam, Frozen in a moment�a dead whirlpool's image; And this most steep fantastic pinnacle, The fretwork of some earthquake�where the clouds Pause to repose themselves in passing by� Is sacred to our revels, or our vigils; Here do I wait my sisters, on our way To the Hall of Arimanes,3 for to-night Is our great festival�'tis strange they come not.

A Voice without, singing

The Captive Usurper,4 Hurl'd down from the throne, Lay buried in torpor, Forgotten and lone; I broke through his slumbers, I shivered his chain, I leagued him with numbers�

He's Tyrant again! With the blood of a million he'll answer my care, With a nation's destruction�his flight and despair.

Second Voice, without

The ship sail'd on, the ship sail'd fast, But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast; There is not a plank of the hull or the deck, And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck; Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair, And he was a subject well worthy my care; A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea� But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!

FIRST DESTINY, answering

The city lies sleeping; The morn, to deplore it, May dawn on it weeping: Sullenly, slowly, The black plague flew o'er it� Thousands lie lowly; Tens of thousands shall perish� The living shall fly from

The sick they should cherish; But nothing can vanquish The touch that they die from.

Sorrow and anguish,

3. The name is derived from Ahriman, who in the to Napoleon's escape from his captivity on the dualistic Zoroastrian religion was the principle of island of Elba in March 1815. After his defeat at darkness and evil. the Battle of Waterloo he was imprisoned on 4. Napoleon. The song of the first Voice alludes another island, St. Helena, in October 1815.

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65 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

And evil and dread,

Envelope a nation� The blest are the dead, Wh o see not the sight

Of their own desolation.�

This work of a night� This wreck of a realm�this deed of my doing� For ages I 've done, and shall still be renewing!

Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.

THE THREE Our hands contain the hearts of men, Our footsteps are their graves; We only give to take again The spirits of our slaves!

FIRST DESTINY Welcome!�Where's Nemesis?5 SECOND DESTINY At some great work; But what I know not, for my hands were full.

THIRD DESTINY Behold she cometh. Enter NEMESIS. FIRST DESTINY Say, where hast thou been?�

My sisters and thyself are slow to-night.

NEMESIS I was detain'd repairing shattered thrones, Marrying fools, restoring dynasties,6 Avenging men upon their enemies, And making them repent their own revenge; Goading the wise to madness; from the dull Shaping out oracles to rule the world Afresh, for they were waxing out of date, And mortals dared to ponder for themselves, To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.�Away! We have outstaid the hour�mount we our clouds! [Exeunt.]

SCENE 4. The Hall of ARIMANES.�ARIMANES on his Throne, a Glohe of Fire, surrounded by the SPIRITS.

Hymn of the SPIRITS Hail to our Master!�Prince of Earth and Air!� Who walks the clouds and waters�in his hand The sceptre of the elements, which tear Themselves to chaos at his high command! He breatheth�and a tempest shakes the sea; He speaketh�and the clouds reply in thunder; He gazeth�from his glance the sunbeams flee; He moveth�earthquakes rend the world asunder. Beneath his footsteps the volcanos rise;

5. The Greek and Roman goddess of vengeance, 6. Alluding to Byron's marriage and to the restoparticularly of the sin of hubris, overweening pre-ration of monarchies across Europe that followed sumption against the gods. the battle of Waterloo.

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 65 5 His shadow is the Pestilence; his path The comets herald through the crackling skies; And planets turn to ashes at his wrath. To him War offers daily sacrifice; To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his, is With all its infinite of agonies� And his the spirit of whatever is! Enter the DESTINIES and NEMESIS FIRST DESTINY Glory to Arimanes! on the earth His power increaseth�both my sisters did His bidding, nor did I neglect my duty! SECOND DESTINY Glory to Arimanes! we who bow The necks of men, bow down before his throne! THIRD DESTINY Glory to Arimanes!�we await His nod! NEMESIS Sovereign of Sovereigns! we are thine, And all that liveth, more or less, is ours, 25 And most things wholly so; still to increase Our power increasing thine, demands our care, And we are vigilant�Thy late commands Have been fulfilled to the utmost. Enter MANFRED. A SPIRIT What is here? A mortal!�Thou most rash and fatal wretch, Bow down and worship! SECOND SPIRIT I do know the man � A Magian0 of great power, and fearful skill! magus THIRD SPIRIT BOW down and worship, slave!�What, know'st thou not Thine and our Sovereign?�Tremble, and obey! ALL THE SPIRITS Prostrate thyself, and thy condemned clay, Child of the Earth! or dread the worst. 35 MANFRED I know it; And yet ye see I kneel not. FOURTH SPIRIT 'Twill be taught thee. MANFRED 'Tis taught already;�many a night on the earth, On the bare ground, have I bow'd down my face, And strew'd my head with ashes; I have known The fulness of humiliation, for I sunk before my vain despair, and knelt To my own desolation. FIFTH SPIRIT Dost thou dare Refuse to Arimanes on his throne What the whole earth accords, beholding not 45 The terror of his Glory-�Crouch! I say. MANFRED Bid him bow down to that which is above him, The overruling Infinite�the Maker Who made him not for worship�let him kneel, And we will kneel together. THE SPIRITS Crush the worm! Tear him in pieces!� FIRST DESTINY Hence! Avaunt!�he's mine.

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65 6 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Prince of the Powers invisible! This man Is of no common order, as his port And presence here denote; his sufferings Have been of an immortal nature, like 5 5 Our own; his knowledge and his powers and will, As far as is compatible with clay, Which clogs the ethereal essence, have been such As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth, 60 And they have only taught him what we know� That knowledge is not happiness, and science But an exchange of ignorance for that Which is another kind of ignorance. This is not all�the passions, attributes 65 Of earth and heaven, from which no power, nor being, Nor breath from the worm upwards is exempt, Have pierced his heart; and in their consequence Made him a thing, which I, who pity not, Yet pardon those who pity. He is mine, 70 And thine, it may be�be it so, or not, No other Spirit in this region hath A soul like his�or power upon his soul. NEMESIS What doth he here then? FIRST DESTINY Let him answer that. MANFRED Ye know what I have known; and without power 7 5 I could not be amongst ye: but there are Powers deeper still beyond�I come in quest Of such, to answer unto what I seek. NEMESIS What wouldst thou? MANFRED Thou canst not reply to me. Call up the dead�my question is for them, s o NEMESIS Great Arimanes, doth thy will avouch0 confirm The wishes of this mortal? ARIMANES Yea. NEMESIS Whom would'st thou Uncharnel? MANFRED One without a tomb�call up Astarte.7

NEMESIS Shadow! or Spirit! 85 Whatever thou art, Which still doth inherit The whole or a part Of the form of thy birth, Of the mould of thy clay, 90 Which returned to the earth, Re-appear to the day!

7. Byron applies to Manfred's beloved the name of Astarte (also known as Ashtoreth), goddess of !ove and fertility, the Eastern equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 65 7

Bear what thou borest, The heart and the form, And the aspect thou worest

95 Redeem from the worm. Appear!�Appear!�Appear! Who sent thee there requires thee here!

[The Phantom of ASTARTE rises and stands in the midst.]

MANFRED Can this be death? there's bloom upon her cheek; But now I see it is no living hue,

IOO But a strange hectic0�like the unnatural red feverish flush Which Autumn plants upon the perish'd leaf. It is the same! Oh, God! that I should dread To look upon the same�Astarte!�No, I cannot speak to her�but bid her speak�

105 Forgive me or condemn me.

NEMESIS By the power which hath broken The grave which enthrall'd thee, Speak to him who hath spoken, Or those who have call'd thee!

no MANFRED She is silent, And in that silence I am more than answered. NEMESIS My power extends no further. Prince of air!

It rests with thee alone�command her voice. ARIMANES Spirit�obey this sceptre! NEMESIS Silent still!

lis She is not of our order, but belongs To the other powers. Mortal! thy quest is vain, And we are baffled also.

MANFRED Hear me, hear me � Astarte! my beloved! speak to me: I have so much endured�so much endure�

120 Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made To torture thus each other, though it were The deadliest sin to love as we have loved.

125 Say that thou loath'st me not�that I do bear This punishment for both�that thou wilt be One of the blessed�and that I shall die, For hitherto all hateful things conspire To bind me in existence�in a life

130 Which makes me shrink from immortality� A future like the past. I cannot rest. I know not what I ask, nor what I seek: I feel but what thou art�and what I am; And I would hear yet once before I perish

135 The voice which was my music�Speak to me!

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658 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

For I have call'd on thee in the still night,

Startled the slumbering birds from the hush'd boughs,

And woke the mountain wolves, and made the caves

Acquainted with thy vainly echoed name,

Which answered me�many things answered me �

Spirits and men�but thou wert silent all.

Yet speak to me! I have outwatch'd the stars,

And gazed o'er heaven in vain in search of thee.

Speak to me! I have wandered o'er the earth,

And never found thy likeness�Speak to me!

Look on the fiends around�they feel for me:

I fear them not, and feel for thee alone�

Speak to me! though it be in wrath;�but say�

I reck not what-�but let me hear thee once �

This once�once more!

PHANTOM OF ASTARTE Manfred! MANFRED Say on, say on� I live but in the sound�it is thy voice! PHANTOM Manfred! To-morrow ends thine earthly ills. Farewell!

MANFRED

Yet one word more�am I forgiven?

PHANTOM Farewell!

MANFRED Say, shall we meet again?

PHANTOM Farewell!

MANFRED One word for mercy! Say, thou lovest me.

PHANTOM Manfred! [The Spirit of ASTARTE disappears.]

NEMESIS She's gone, and will not be recall'd;

Her words will be fulfill'd. Return to the earth.

A SPIRIT He is convulsed�This is to be a mortal

And seek the things beyond mortality.

ANOTHER SPIRIT Yet, see, he mastereth himself, and makes

His torture tributary to his will.

Had he been one of us, he would have made

An awful spirit.

NEMESIS Hast thou further question

Of our great sovereign, or his worshippers?

MANFRED None.

NEMESIS Then for a time farewell.

MANFRED We meet then�

Where? On the earth?

NEMESIS That will be seen hereafter.

MANFRED Even as thou wilt: and for the grace accorded

I now depart a debtor. Fare ye well! [Exit MANFRED.]

[Scene closes.]

Act 3 SCENE 1. A Hall in the Castle of MANFRED. MANFRED and HERMAN,

MANFRED What is the hour? HERMAN It wants but one till sunset,

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 65 9

And promises a lovely twilight.

MANFRED Say, Are all things so disposed of in the tower As I directed?

HERMAN All, my lord, are ready; Here is the key and casket. MANFRED It is well: Thou mayst retire. [Exit HERMAN.]

MANFRED [alone] There is a calm upon me� Inexplicable stillness! which till now Did not belong to what I knew of life. If that I did not know philosophy To be of all our vanities the motliest,8 The merest word that ever fool'd the ear From out the schoolman's jargon, I should deem The golden secret, the sought "Kalon,"9 found, And seated in my soul. It will not last, But it is well to have known it, though but once: It hath enlarged my thoughts with a new sense, And I within my tablets would note down That there is such a feeling. Who is there?

Re-enter HERMAN. HERMAN My lord, the abbot of St. Maurice' craves To greet your presence.

Enter the ABBOT OF ST. MAURICE. ABBOT Peace be with Count Manfred! MANFRED Thanks, holy father! welcome to these walls;

Thy presence honours them, and blesseth those Who dwell within them. ABBOT Would it were so, Count!-�

But I would fain confer with thee alone. MANFRED Herman, retire. What would my reverend guest? [Exit HERMAN.] ABBOT Thus, without prelude:�Age and zeal, my office,2

And good intent, must plead my privilege; Our near, though not acquainted neighbourhood, May also be my herald. Rumours strange, And of unholy nature, are abroad, And busy with thy name; a noble name For centuries; may he who bears it now Transmit it unimpair'd!

MANFRED Proceed,�I listen.

ABBOT 'Tis said thou holdest converse with the things Which are forbidden to the search of man; That with the dwellers of the dark abodes, The many evil and unheavenly spirits Which walk the valley of the shade of death, Thou communest. I know that with mankind,

8. "The most diverse" or, possibly, "the most fool-9. Greek for both "the Beautiful" and "the Good." ish" (viotley was the multicolored suit worn by a 1. In the Rhone Valley in Switzerland. court jester). 2. Position in the church.

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66 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

40 Thy fellows in creation, thou dost rarely Exchange thy thoughts, and that thy solitude Is as an anchorite's,3 were it but holy.

MANFRED And what are they who do avouch these things? ABBOT My pious brethren-�the scared peasantry� 45 Even thy own vassals-�who do look on thee

With most unquiet eyes. Thy life's in peril. MANFRED Take it. ABBOT I come to save, and not destroy�

I would not pry into thy secret soul; But if these things be sooth, there still is time 50 For penitence and pity: reconcile thee With the true church, and through the church to heaven.

MANFRED I hear thee. This is my reply; whate'er I may have been, or am, doth rest between Heaven and myself.�I shall not choose a mortal

55 To be my mediator. Have I sinn'd Against your ordinances? prove and punish!

ABBOT My son! I did not speak of punishment, But penitence and pardon;�with thyself The choice of such remains�and for the last,

60 Our institutions and our strong belief Have given me power to smooth the path from sin To higher hope and better thoughts; the first I leave to heaven�"Vengeance is mine alone!" So saith the Lord,4 and with all humbleness

65 His servant echoes back the awful word.

MANFRED Old man! there is no power in holy men, Nor charm in prayer�nor purifying form Of penitence�nor outward look�nor fast-� Nor agony�nor, greater than all these,

70 The innate tortures of that deep despair, Which is remorse without the fear of hell, But all in all sufficient to itself . Would make a hell of heaven�can exorcise From out the unbounded spirit, the quick sense

75 Of its own sins, wrongs, sufferance, and revenge Upon itself; there is no future pang Can deal that justice on the self-condemn'd He deals on his own soul.

ABBOT All this is well; For this will pass away, and be succeeded

so By an auspicious hope, which shall look up With calm assurance to that blessed place, Which all who seek may win, whatever be Their earthly errors, so they be atoned: And the commencement of atonement is

85 The sense of its necessity.�Say on �

3. A person who, for religious reasons, lives in 4. Romans 12.19: "Vengeance is mine; I will seclusion. repay, saith the Lord."

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 661

And all our church can teach thee shall be taught; And all we can absolve thee, shall be pardon'd. MANFRED When Rome's sixth Emperor5 was near his last, The victim of a self-inflicted wound,

90 To shun the torments of a public death From senates once his slaves, a certain soldier, With show of loyal pity, would have staunch'd The gushing throat with his officious robe; The dying Roman thrust him back and said�

95 Some empire still in his expiring glance,

"It is too late�is this fidelity?" ABBOT And what of this? MANFRED I answer with the Roman�

"It is too late!" ABBOT It never can be so, To reconcile thyself with thy own soul,

IOO And thy own soul with heaven. Hast thou no hope? 'Tis strange�even those who do despair above, Yet shape themselves some phantasy on earth, To which frail twig they cling, like drowning men.

MANFRED Ay�father! I have had those earthly visions

105 And noble aspirations in my youth, To make my own the mind of other men, The enlightener of nations; and to rise I knew not whither�it might be to fall; But fall, even as the mountain-cataract,

110 Which having leapt from its more dazzling height, Even in the foaming strength of its abyss, (Which casts up misty columns that become Clouds raining from the re-ascended skies) Lies low but mighty still.�But this is past, My thoughts mistook themselves.

115 ABBOT And wherefore so?

MANFRED I could not tame my nature down; for he Must serve who fain would sway�and soothe�and sue� And watch all time�and pry into all place� And be a living lie�who would become

120 A mighty thing amongst the mean, and such The mass are; I disdained to mingle with A herd, though to be leader�and of wolves. The lion is alone, and so am I.

ABBOT And why not live and act with other men?

125 MANFRED Because my nature was averse from life; And yet not cruel; for I would not make, But find a desolation:�like the wind, The red-hot breath of the most lone Simoom,6 Which dwells but in the desart, and sweeps o'er

5. Byron transfers to Otho, the sixth emperor, a 6. A hot, sand-laden wind in the Sahara and Arastory that the historian Suetonius tells about the bian deserts, death of an earlier emperor, Nero.

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662 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

130 The barren sands which bear no shrubs to blast, And revels o'er their wild and arid waves, And seeketh not, so that it is not sought, But being met is deadly; such hath been The course of my existence; but there came Things in my path which are no more.

135 ABBOT Alas! I 'gin to fear that thou art past all aid From me and from my calling; yet so young, I still would�

MANFRED Look on me! there is an order Of mortals on the earth, who do become

140 Old in their youth, and die ere middle age, Without the violence of warlike death; Some perishing of pleasure�some of study� Some worn with toil�some of mere weariness� Some of disease�and some insanity�

145 And some of withered, or of broken hearts; For this last is a malady which slays More than are numbered in the lists of Fate, Taking all shapes, and bearing many names. Look upon me! for even of all these things

150 Have I partaken; and of all these things, One were enough; then wonder not that I Am what I am, but that I ever was, Or, having been, that I am still on earth.

ABBOT Yet, hear me still� MANFRED Old man! I do respect

155 Thine order, and revere thine years; I deem Thy purpose pious, but it is in vain: Think me not churlish; I would spare thyself, Far more than me, in shunning at this time All further colloquy�and so�farewell. [Exit MANFRED.]

i6o ABBOT This should have been a noble creature: he Hath all the energy which would have made A goodly frame of glorious elements, Had they been wisely mingled; as it is, It is an awful chaos�light and darkness�

165 And mind and dust�and passions and pure thoughts, Mix'd, and contending without end or order, All dormant or destructive: he will perish, And yet he must not; I will try once more, For such are worth redemption; and my duty

170 Is to dare all things for a righteous end. I'll follow him�but cautiously, though surely. [Exit ABBOT.]

SCENE 2 . Another Chamber, MANFRED and HERMAN.

HERMAN My Lord, you bade me wait on you at sunset: He sinks beyond the mountain. MANFRED Doth he so?

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 66 3

I will look on him.

[MANFRED advances to the Window of the Hall.]

Glorious Orb! the idol Of early nature, and the vigorous race Of undiseased mankind, the giant sons Of the embrace of angels, with a sex More beautiful than they, which did draw down The erring spirits7 who can ne'er return.� Most glorious orb! that wert a worship, ere The mystery of thy making was reveal'd! Thou earliest minister of the Almighty, Which gladden'd, on their mountain tops, the hearts Of the Chaldean0 shepherds, till they pour d Bab)ionian Themselves in orisons!0 Thou material God! prayers And representative of the Unknown� Who chose thee for his shadow! Thou chief star! Centre of many stars! which mak'st our earth Endurable, and temperest the hues And hearts of all who walk within thy rays! Sire of the seasons! Monarch of the climes, And those who dwell in them! for near or far, Our inborn spirits have a tint of thee, Even as our outward aspects;�thou dost rise, And shine, and set in glory. Fare thee well! I ne'er shall see thee more. As my first glance Of love and wonder was for thee, then take My latest look: thou wilt not beam on one To whom the gifts of life and warmth have been Of a more fatal nature. He is gone: I follow. [Exit MANFRED.]

SCENE 3. The Mountains.�The Castle of MANFRED at some distance.�A Terrace before a Tower.�Time, Twilight. HERMAN, MANUEL, and other Dependants of MANFRED.

HERMAN 'Tis strange enough; night after night, for years, He hath pursued long vigils in this tower, Without a witness. I have been within it,� So have we all been oft-times; but from it, Or its contents, it were impossible To draw conclusions absolute, of aught His studies tend to. To be sure, there is One chamber where none enter; I would give The fee� of what I have to come these three years, ownership To pore upon its mysteries.

MANUEL 'Twere dangerous; Content thyself with what thou knowest already.

7. Genesis 6.4: "There were giants in the earth in men which were of old, men of renown." Byron those days; and also after that, when the sons of interprets "the sons of God" as denoting disobedi- God came in unto the daughters of men, and they ent angels. bare children to them, the same became mighty

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66 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

HERMAN Ah! Manuel! thou art elderly and wise, And could'st say much; thou hast dwelt within the castle� How many years is't?

MANUEL Ere Count Manfred's birth, 15 I served his father, whom he nought resembles. HERMAN There be more sons in like predicament. But wherein do they differ?

MANUEL I speak not Of features or of form, but mind and habits: Count Sigismund was proud,�but gay and free,�

20 A warrior and a reveller; he dwelt not With books and solitude, nor made the night A gloomy vigil, but a festal time, Merrier than day; he did not walk the rocks And forests like a wolf, nor turn aside From men and their delights.

25 HERMAN Beshrew8 the hour, But those were jocund times! I would that such Would visit the old walls again; they look As if they had forgotten them.

MANUEL These walls Must change their chieftain first. Oh! I have seen Some strange things in them, Herman.

30 HERMAN Come, be friendly; Relate me some to while away our watch: Fve heard thee darkly speak of an event Which happened hereabouts, by this same tower.

MANUEL That was a night indeed; I do remember

35 'Twas twilight, as it may be now, and such Another evening�yon red cloud, which rests On Eigher's9 pinnacle, so rested then,� So like that it might be the same; the wind Was faint and gusty, and the mountain snows

40 Began to glitter with the climbing moon; Count Manfred was, as now, within his tower,� How occupied, we knew not, but with him The sole companion of his wanderings And watchings�her, whom of all earthly things

45 That lived, the only thing he seem'd to love,� As he, indeed, by blood was bound to do, The Lady Astarte, his�

Hush! who comes here?

Enter the ABBOT, ABBOT Where is your master? HERMAN Yonder in the tower. ABBOT I must speak with him. MANUEL 'Tis impossible;

so He is most private, and must not be thus Intruded on.

8. Curse (used jocularly). 9. A peak a few miles north of the Jungfrau.

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IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 66 5

ABBOT Upon myself I take The forfeit of my fault, if fault there be� But I must see him.

HERMAN Thou hast seen him once This eve already. ABBOT Sirrah! I command thee,

55 Knock, and apprize the Count of my approach. HERMAN We dare not. ABBOT Then it seems I must be herald

Of my own purpose. MANUEL Reverend father, stop� I pray you pause.

ABBOT Why so? MANUEL But step this way, And I will tell you further. [Exeunt.]

SCENE 4. Interior of the Tower.

MANFRED alone

The stars are forth, the moon above the tops Of the snow-shining mountains.�Beautiful! I linger yet with Nature, for the night Hath been to me a more familiar face

5 Than that of man; and in her starry shade Of dim and solitary loveliness, I learn'd the language of another world. I do remember me, that in my youth, When I was wandering,�upon such a night

io I stood within the Coloseum's wall, 'Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome; The trees which grew along the broken arches Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars Shone through the rents of ruin; from afar

15 The watchdog bayed beyond the Tiber;1 and More near from out the Caesars' palace2 came The owl's long cry, and, interruptedly, Of distant sentinels the fitful song Begun and died upon the gentle wind.

20 Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach Appeared to skirt the horizon, yet they stood Within a bowshot�where the Caesars dwelt, And dwell the tuneless birds of night; amidst A grove which springs through levell'd battlements,

25 And twines its roots with the imperial hearths, Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth;� But the gladiators' bloody Circus3 stands,

1. The river that flows through Rome. 3. The circular arena within the Coliseum where 2. The palace of the Roman emperors. It stands professional gladiators fought to the death as pub- on the Palatine hill, immediately southwest of the lic entertainment. Coliseum.

.

666 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

A noble wreck in ruinous perfection! While Caesar's chambers, and the Augustan halls, 30 Grovel on earth in indistinct decay.� And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon All this, and cast a wide and tender light, Which soften'd down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up, 35 As 'twere anew, the gaps of centuries; Leaving that beautiful which still was so, And making that which was not, till the place Became religion, and the heart ran o'er With silent worship of the great of old!� 40 The dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from their urns.� 'Twas such a night! 'Tis strange that I recall it at this time; But I have found our thoughts take wildest flight Even at the moment when they should array Themselves in pensive order. Enter the ABBOT. 45 ABBOT My good Lord! I crave a second grace for this approach; But yet let not my humble zeal offend By its abruptness�all it hath of ill Recoils on me; its good in the effect so May light upon your head�could I say heart� Could I touch that, with words or prayers, I should Recall a noble spirit which hath wandered, But is not yet all lost. MANFRED Thou know'st me not; My days are numbered, and my deeds recorded: 55 Retire, or 'twill be dangerous�Away! ABBOT Thou dost not mean to menace me? MANFRED Not I; I simply tell thee peril is at hand, And would preserve thee. ABBOT What dost mean? MANFRED Look there! What dost thou see? ABBOT Nothing. MANFRED Look there, I say, 60 And steadfastly;�now tell me what thou seest? ABBOT That which should shake me,�but I fear it not � I see a dusk and awful figure rise Like an infernal god from out the earth; His face wrapt in a mantle, and his form 65 Robed as with angry clouds; he stands between Thyself and me�but I do fear him not. MANFRED Thou hast no cause�he shall not harm thee�but His sight may shock thine old limbs into palsy. I say to thee�Retire!

.

IMANFRED, ACT 2 / 66 7

ABBOT And, I reply� 70 Never�till I have battled with this fiend� What doth he here? MANFRED Why�ay�what doth he here? 1 did not send for him,�he is unbidden. ABBOT Alas! lost mortal! what with guests like these Hast thou to do? I tremble for thy sake;

75 Why doth he gaze on thee, and thou on him? Ah! he unveils his aspect; on his brow The thunder-scars are graven; from his eye Glares forth the immortality of hell� Avaunt!-�

MANFRED Pronounce-�what is thy mission?

SPIRIT Come!

so ABBOT What art thou, unknown being? answer!�speak! SPIRIT The genius4 of this mortal.�Come! 'tis time. MANFRED I am prepared for all things, but deny

The power which summons me. Who sent thee here? SPIRIT Thou'lt know anon�Come! come! MANFRED I have commanded

85 Things of an essence greater far than thine,

And striven with thy masters. Get thee hence! SPIRIT Mortal! thine hour is come�Away! I say. MANFRED I knew, and know my hour is come, but not

To render up my soul to such as thee:

90 Away! I'll die as I have lived�alone. SPIRIT Then I must summon up my brethren.�Rise! [Other Spirits rise up.] ABBOT Avaunt! ye evil ones!�Avaunt! I say,�

Ye have no power where piety hath power,

And I do charge ye in the name�

SPIRIT Old man!

95 We know ourselves, our mission, and thine order; Waste not thy holy words on idle uses, It were in vain; this man is forfeited. Once more I summon him�Away! away!

MANFRED I do defy ye,�though I feel my soul

loo Is ebbing from me, yet I do defy ye; Nor will I hence, while I have earthly breath To breathe my scorn upon ye�earthly strength To wrestle, though with spirits; what ye take Shall be ta'en limb by limb. SPIRIT Reluctant mortal!

105 Is this the Magian who would so pervade The world invisible, and make himself Almost our equal?�Can it be that thou Art thus in love with life? the very life Which made thee wretched! MANFRED Thou false fiend, thou liest!

110 My life is in its last hour,�that I know,

4. The spirit or deity presiding over a human being from birth.

.

668 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Nor would redeem a moment of that hour; I do not combat against death, but thee And thy surrounding angels; my past power Was purchased by no compact with thy crew,

115 But by superior science�penance�daring� And length of watching�strength of mind�and skill In knowledge of our fathers�when the earth Saw men and spirits walking side by side, And gave ye no supremacy: I stand

120 Upon my strength�I do defy�deny� Spurn back, and scorn ye! � SPIRIT But thy many crimes

Have made thee�

MANFRED What are they to such as thee? Must crimes be punish'd but by other crimes, And greater criminals?�Back to thy hell!

125 Thou hast no power upon me, that I feel; Thou never shalt possess me, that I know: What I have done is done; I bear within A torture which could nothing gain from thine: The mind which is immortal makes itself

130 Requital for its good or evil thoughts� Is its own origin of ill and end� And its own place and time5�its innate sense, When stripp'd of this mortality, derives No colour from the fleeting things without,

135 But is absorb'd in sufferance or in joy, Born from the knowledge of its own desert. Thou didst not tempt me, and thou couldst not tempt me; I have not been thy dupe, nor am thy prey� But was my own destroyer, and will be

140 My own hereafter.�Back, ye baffled fiends! The hand of death is on me�but not yours!

[The Demons disappear. ]

ABBOT Alas! how pale thou art�thy lips are white� And thy breast heaves�and in thy gasping throat The accents rattle�Give thy prayers to Heaven�

145 Pray�albeit but in thought,�but die not thus.

MANFRED 'Tis over�my dull eyes can fix thee not; But all things swim around me, and the earth Heaves as it were beneath me. Fare thee well� Give me thy hand.

ABBOT Cold�cold�even to the heart� iso But yet one prayer�alas! how fares it with thee?� MANFRED Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die.6

5. The last of several echoes by Manfred of Satan's 6. When this line was dropped in the printing of claim that "The mind is its own place, and in itself the first edition, Byron wrote angrily to his pub/ Can make a Heaven of Hell, and a Hell of lisher: "You have destroyed the whole effect and Heaven" (Paradise Lost 1.254�55). See also mora! of the poem by omitting the last line of Man1.1.251 and 3.1.73, above. fred's speaking."

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DON JUAN / 669

[MANFRED expires.] ABBOT He's gone�his soul hath ta'en its earthless flight- Whither? I dread to think�but he is gone.

1816-17 1817

Don juan Byron began his masterpiece (pronounced in the English fashion, Don Joo-nn) in July 1818, published it in installments beginning with cantos 1 and 2 in 1819, and continued working on it almost until his death. Initially he improvised the poem from episode to episode. "I have no plan," he said, "I had no plan; but I had or have materials." The work was composed with remarkable speed (the 888 lines of canto 13, for example, were dashed off within a week), and it aims at the effect of improvisation rather than of artful compression; it asks to be read rapidly, at a conversational pace.

The poem breaks off with the sixteenth canto, but even in its unfinished state Don Juan is the longest satirical poem, and indeed one of the longest poems of any kind, in English. Its hero, the Spanish libertine, had in the original legend been superhuman in his sexual energy and wickedness. Throughout Byron's version the unspoken but persistent joke is that this archetypal lady-killer of European legend is in fact more acted upon than active. Unfailingly amiable and well intentioned, he is guilty largely of youth, charm, and a courteous and compliant spirit. The women do all the rest.

The chief models for the poem were the Italian seriocomic versions of medieval chivalric romances; the genre had been introduced by Pulci in the fifteenth century and was adopted by Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso (1532). From these writers Byron caught the mixed moods and violent oscillations between the sublime and the ridiculous as well as the colloquial management of the complex ottava rima�an eight- line stanza in which the initial interlaced rhymes (ahahab) build up to the comic turn in the final couplet (cc). Byron was influenced in the English use of this Italian form by a mildly amusing poem published in 1817, under the pseudonym of "Whistlecraft," by his friend John Hookham Frere. Other recognizable antecedents of Don Juan are Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, both of which had employed the naive traveler as a satiric device, and Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy, with its comic exploitation of a narrative medium blatantly subject to the whimsy of the author. But even the most original literary works play variations on inherited conventions. Shelley at once recognized his friend's poem as "something wholly new and relative to the age."

Byron's literary advisers thought the poem unacceptably immoral, and John Murray took the precaution of printing the first two installments (cantos 1�2, then 3�5) without identifying Byron as the author or himself as the publisher. The eleven completed cantos that followed were, because of Murray's continuing jitters, brought out in 1823�24 by the radical publisher John Hunt. In those cantos Byron's purpose deepened. He set out to create a comic yet devastatingly critical history of the Europe of his own age, sending the impressionable Juan from West to East and back again, from his native Spain to a Russian court (by way of a primitive Greek island and the 1790 siege of the Turkish town of Ismail) and then into the English gentry's country manors. These journeys, which facilitated Byron's satire on almost all existing forms of political organization, would, according to the scheme that he projected for the poem as a whole, ultimately have taken Juan to a death by guillotining in Revolutionary France.

Yet the controlling element of Don Juan is not the narrative but the narrator. His running commentary on Juan's misadventures, his reminiscences, and his opinionated remarks on the epoch of political reaction in which he is actually telling Juan's

.

67 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

story together add another level to the poem's engagement with history. The narrator's reflections also at the same time lend unity to Don Juan's effervescent variety. Tellingly, the poem opens with the first-person pronoun and immediately lets us into the storyteller's predicament: "I want a hero. . . ." The voice then goes on, for almost two thousand stanzas, with effortless volubility and shifts of mood. The poet who in his brilliant successful youth created the gloomy Byronic hero, in his later and sadder life created a character (not the hero, but the narrator of Don Juan) who is one of the great comic inventions in English literature.

FROM DON JUAN

Fragment1

I would to Heaven that I were so much Clay�

As I am blood�bone�marrow, passion�feeling�

Because at least the past were past away�

And for the future�(but I write this reeling

5 Having got drunk exceedingly to day

So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)

I say�the future is a serious matter�

And so�for Godsake�Hock2 and Soda water.

From Canto 1

[JUAN AND DONNA JULIA]

I I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one; 5 Of such as these I should not cafe to vaunt, I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan, We all have seen him in the pantomime1 Sent to the devil, somewhat ere his time.

5 Brave men were living before Agamemnon2 And since, exceeding valorous and sage, 35 A good deal like him too, though quite the same none; But then they shone not on the poet's page,

1. This stanza was written on the back of a page heimer. of the manuscript of canto 1. For the author's revi-1. The Juan legend was a popular subject in sions while composing two stanzas of Don Juan, English pantomime. see "Poems in Process," in the appendices to this 2. In Homer's Iliad the king commanding the volume. Greeks in the siege of Troy. This line is translated 2. A white Rhine wine, from the German Hoch-from a Latin ode by Horace.

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 671

And so have been forgotten�I condemn none, But can't find any in the present age Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one); 40 So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan.

6

Most epic poets plunge in "medias res,"3 (Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road)4 And then your hero tells, whene'er you please, What went before�by way of episode, 45 While seated after dinner at his ease,

Beside his mistress in some soft abode, Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern, Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.

7 That is the usual method, but not mine� 50 My way is to begin with the beginning; The regularity of my design Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning, And therefore I shall open with a line (Although it cost me half an hour in spinning) 55 Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father, And also of his mother, if you'd rather.

8 In Seville was he born, a pleasant city, Famous for oranges and women�he Who has not seen it will be much to pity, 60 So says the proverb�and I quite agree; Of all the Spanish towns is none more pretty, Cadiz perhaps�but that you soon may see:� Don Juan's parents lived beside the river, A noble stream, and call'd the Guadalquivir.

9 65 His father's name was Jose5�Don, of course, A true Hidalgo,0 free from every stain noble man Of Moor or Hebrew blood, he traced his source Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain; A better cavalier ne'er mounted horse,

70 Or, being mounted, e'er got down again, Than Jose, who begot our hero, who Begot�but that's to come Well, to renew:

10 His mother was a learned lady, famed For every branch of every science known� 75 In every christian language ever named, With virtues equall'd by her wit alone, She made the cleverest people quite ashamed,

3. Into the middle of things (Latin; Horace's Art 5. Normally "Jose"; Byron transferred the accent of Poetry 148). to keep his meter. 4. I.e., the smoothest road for heroic poetry.

.

672 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

And even the good with inward envy groan, Finding themselves so very much exceeded so In their own way by all the things that she did.

11 Her memory was a mine: she knew by heart All Calderon and greater part of Lope,6 So that if any actor miss'd his part She could have served him for the prompter's copy; 85 For her Feinagle's7 were an useless art, And he himself obliged to shut up shop�he Could never make a memory so fine as That which adorn'd the brain of Donna Inez.

12 Her favourite science was the mathematical, 90 Her noblest virtue was her magnanimity, Her wit (she sometimes tried at wit) was Attic8 all, Her serious sayings darken'd to sublimity; In short, in all things she was fairly what I call A prodigy�her morning dress was dimity,0 cotton 95 Her evening silk, or, in the summer, muslin, And other stuffs, with which I won't stay puzzling.

!3

She knew the Latin�that is, "the Lord's prayer," And Greek�the alphabet�I'm nearly sure; She read some French romances here and there,

IOO Although her mode of speaking was not pure; For native Spanish she had no great care,

At least her conversation was obscure; Her thoughts were theorems, her words a problem, As if she deem'd that mystery would ennoble 'em.

a *= *

22

'Tis pity learned virgins ever wed 170 With persons of no sort of education, Or gentlemen, who, though well-born and bred, Grow tired of scientific conversation: I don't choose to say much upon this head, I'm a plain man, and in a single station, 175 But�Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual, Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck'd you all?

23 Don Jose and his lady quarrell'd�why, Not any of the many could divine, Though several thousand people chose to try,

6. Calderon de la Barea and Lope de Vega, the 1811. great Spanish dramatists of the early 17th century. 8. Athenian. Attic salt is a term for the famed wit 7. Gregor von Feinagle, a German expert on the of the Athenians. art of memory, who had lectured in England in

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 67 3 180 'Twas surely no concern of theirs nor mine; I loathe that low vice curiosity, But if there's any thing in which I shine 'Tis in arranging all my friends' affairs. Not having, of my own, domestic cares. 24 is? 190 And so I interfered, and with the best Intentions, but their treatment was not kind; I think the foolish people were possess'd, For neither of them could I ever find, Although their porter afterwards confess'd� But that's no matter, and the worst's behind, For little Juan o'er me threw, down stairs, A pail of housemaid's water unawares. 1952002 5 A little curly-headed, good-for-nothing, And mischief-making monkey from his birth; His parents ne'er agreed except in doting Upon the most unquiet imp on earth; Instead of quarrelling, had they been but both in Their senses, they'd have sent young master forth To school, or had him soundly whipp'd at home, To teach him manners for the time to come. 26 Don Jose and the Donna Inez led 205For some time an unhappy sort of life, Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead; They lived respectably as man and wife, Their conduct was exceedingly well-bred, And gave no outward signs of inward strife, Until at length the smother'd fire broke out, And put the business past all kind of doubt. 2.7 210215For Inez call'd some druggists and physicians, And tried to prove her loving lord was mad,9 But as he had some lucid intermissions, She next decided he was only bad; Yet when they ask'd her for her depositions, No sort of explanation could be had, Save that her duty both to man and God Required this conduct�which seem'd very odd. 28 She kept a journal, where his faults were noted, And open'd certain trunks of books and letters, All which might, if occasion served, be quoted;

9. Lady Byron had thought her husband might be not intended to be a caricature of Lady Byron. In insane and sought medical advice on the matter. her determination to preserve her son's innocence, This and other passages obviously allude to his Donna Inez also shares traits with Byron's mother. wife, although Byron insisted that Donna Inez was

.

674 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

And then she had all Seville for abettors, Besides her good old grandmother (who doted);

The hearers of her case became repeaters, Then advocates, inquisitors, and judges, Some for amusement, others for old grudges.

29

225 And then this best and meekest woman bore With such serenity her husband's woes, Just as the Spartan ladies did of yore, Who saw their spouses kill'd, and nobly chose Never to say a word about them more�

230 Calmly she heard each calumny that rose, And saw his agonies with such sublimity, That all the world exclaim'd "What magnanimity!"

32 Their friends had tried at reconciliation, 250 Then their relations, who made matters worse; ('Twere hard to say upon a like occasion To whom it may be best to have recourse� I can't say much for friend or yet relation): The lawyers did their utmost for divorce, 255 But scarce a fee was paid on either side Before, unluckily, Don Jose died.

33 He died: and most unluckily, because, According to all hints I could collect From counsel learned in those kinds of laws, 260 (Although their talk's obscure and circumspect) His death contrived to spoil a charming cause;0 law case

A thousand pities also with respect To public feeling, which on this occasion Was manifested in a great sensation.

37. Dying intestate,0 Juan was sole heir without a will 290 To a chancery suit, and messuages,1 and lands, Which, with a long minority and care, Promised to turn out well in proper hands: Inez became sole guardian, which was fair, And answer'd but to nature's just demands; 295 An only son left with an only mother Is brought up much more wisely than another.

1. Houses and the adjoining lands. "Chancery suit": a case in what was then the highest English court, notorious for its delays.

.

DO N JUAN , CANTO 1 / 67 5 Sagest of women, even of widows, she Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, And worthy of the noblest pedigree: 300 (His sire was of Castile, his dam from Arragon). Then for accomplishments of chivalry, In case our lord the king should go to war again, He learn'd the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery, And how to scale a fortress�or a nunnery. 39 305 But that which Donna Inez most desired, And saw into herself each day before all The learned tutors whom for him she hired, Was, that his breeding should be strictly moral; Much into all his studies she inquired, 310 And so they were submitted first to her, all, Arts, sciences, no branch was made a mystery To Juan's eyes, excepting natural history.2 4� The languages, especially the dead, The sciences, and most of all the abstruse, 315 The arts, at least all such as could be said To be the most remote from common use, In all these he was much and deeply read; But not a page of anything that's loose, Or hints continuation of the species, 320 Was ever suffer'd, lest he should grow vicious. 41 His classic studies made a little puzzle, Because of filthy loves of gods and goddesses, Who in the earlier ages made a bustle, But never put on pantaloons or boddices; 325 His reverend tutors had at times a tussle, And for their Aeneids, Iliads, and Odysseys, Were forced to make an odd sort of apology, For Donna Inez dreaded the mythology. 42 Ovid's a rake, as half his verses show him, 330 Anacreon's morals are a still worse sample, Catullus scarcely has a decent poem, I don't think Sappho's Ode a good example, Although Longinus3 tells us there is no hymn Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample; 335 But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one Beginning with "Formosum Pastor Corydon. "4

2. Includes biology, physiology, and particularly Longinus praises a passage of erotic longing from botany, popular in the era in part because study of one of Sappho's odes. plants' stamens and pistils offered a form of sur-4. Virgil's Eclogue 2 begins: "The shepherd, Correptitious sex education. ydon, burned with love for the handsome Alexis." 3. In On the Sublime 10, the Greek rhetorician

67 6 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

43

Lucretius' irreligion5 is too strong For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food; I can't help thinking Juvenal6 was wrong, 340

.

Although no doubt his real intent was good, For speaking out so plainly in his song,

So much indeed as to be downright rude; And then what proper person can be partial To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial?

44

345 Juan was taught from out the best edition,

Expurgated by learned men, who place, Judiciously, from out the schoolboy's vision, The grosser parts; but fearful to deface

Too much their modest bard by this omission,

350 And pitying sore his mutilated case, They only add them all in an appendix,7 Which saves, in fact, the trouble of an index.

For my part I say nothing�nothing�but 4io This I will say�my reasons are my own� That if I had an only son to put To school (as God be praised that I have none) 'Tis not with Donna Inez I would shut Him up to learn his catechism alone, 415 No�No�I'd send him out betimes to college, For there it was I pick'd up my own knowledge.

53

For there one learns�'tis not for me to boast, Though I acquired�but I pass over that, As well as all the Greek I since have lost: 420 I say that there's the place�but "Verbum sat,"8 I think I pick'd up too, as well as most,

Knowledge of matters�but no matter what� I never married�but, I think, I know That sons should not be educated so.

54

425 Young Juan now was sixteen years of age, Tall, handsome, slender, but well knit; he seem'd Active, though not so sprightly, as a page; And every body but his mother deem'd Him almost man; but she flew in a rage,

5. In De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), and displayed its vices. Lucretius argues that the universe can be 7. Fact! There is, or was, such an edition, with all explained in entirely materialist terms without ref-the obnoxious epigrams of Martial placed by themerence to any god. selves at the end [Byron's note]. Martial, another 6. The Latin satires of Juvenal attacked the cor-Latin poet, was a contemporary of Juvenal. ruption of Roman society in the 1st century c.E. 8. A word [to the wise] is sufficient (Latin).

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 677

430

And bit her lips (for else she might have scream'd), If any said so, for to be precocious Was in her eyes a thing the most atrocious.

55 Amongst her numerous acquaintance, all Selected for discretion and devotion, 435 There was the Donna Julia, whom to call Pretty were but to give a feeble notion Of many charms in her as natural As sweetness to the flower, or salt to ocean, Her zone to Venus,9 or his bow to Cupid, 440 (But this last simile is trite and stupid).

56 The darkness of her Oriental eye Accorded with her Moorish origin; (Her blood was not all Spanish, by the by; In Spain, you know, this is a sort of sin). 445 When proud Grenada fell, and, forced to fly,

Boabdil wept,1 of Donna Julia's kin Some went to Africa, some staid in Spain, Her great great grandmamma chose to remain.

57 She married (I forget the pedigree) 450 With an Hidalgo, who transmitted down His blood less noble than such blood should be; At such alliances his sires would frown, In that point so precise in each degree That they bred in and in, as might be shown, 455 Marrying their cousins�nay, their aunts and nieces, Which always spoils the breed, if it increases.

58 This heathenish cross restored the breed again, Ruin'd its blood, but much improved its flesh; For, from a root the ugliest in Old Spain 460 Sprung up a branch as beautiful as fresh; The sons no more were short, the daughters plain:

But there's a rumour which I fain would hush, 'Tis said that Donna Julia's grandmamma Produced her Don more heirs at love than law.

59 465 However this might be, the race0 went on family line Improving still through every generation, Until it center'd in an only son, Who left an only daughter; my narration May have suggested that this single one 470

Could be but Julia (whom on this occasion

9. The belt ("zone") of Venus made its wearer sex-enclave in Spain) wept when his capital fell and he ually irresistible. and his people were forced to emigrate to Africa 1. The Moorish king of Granada (the last Islamic (1492).

.

67 8 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

I shall have much to speak about), and she Was married, charming, chaste,2 and twenty-three.

60

Her eye (I'm very fond of handsome eyes) Was large and dark, suppressing half its fire 475 Until she spoke, then through its soft disguise Flash'd an expression more of pride than ire, And love than either; and there would arise A something in them which was not desire, But would have been, perhaps, but for the soul 480 Which struggled through and chasten'd down the whole.

61

Her glossy hair was cluster'd o'er a brow Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth; Her eyebrow's shape was like the aerial bow, Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth, 485 Mounting, at times, to a transparent glow,

As if her veins ran lightning; she, in sooth, Possess'd an air and grace by no means common: Her stature tall�I hate a dumpy woman.

62

Wedded she was some years, and to a man 490 Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty; And yet, I think, instead of such a ONE 'Twere better to have TWO of five and twenty, Especially in countries near the sun: And now I think on't, "mi vien in mente,"3 495 Ladies even of the most uneasy virtue Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.

63 'Tis a sad thing, I cannot choose but say, And all the fault of that indecent sun, Who cannot leave alone our helpless clay, 500 But will keep baking, broiling, burning on, That howsoever people fast and pray

The flesh is frail, and so the soul undone: What men call gallantry, and gods adultery, Is much more common where the climate's sultry.

64

505 Happy the nations of the moral north! Where all is virtue, and the winter season Sends sin, without a rag on, shivering forth; ('Twas snow that brought St. Francis back to reason); Where juries cast up what a wife is worth 510

By laying whate'er sum, in mulct,4 they please on The lover, who must pay a handsome price, Because it is a marketable vice.

2. I.e., faithful to her husband. 4. By way of a fine or legal penalty. 3. It comes to my mind (Italian).

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 679

65

Alfonso was the name of Julia's lord, A man well looking for his years, and who 515 Was neither much beloved, nor yet abhorr'd; They lived together as most people do, Suffering each other's foibles by accord, And not exactly either one or two; Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it, 520 For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.

# � $

69

545 Juan she saw, and, as a pretty child, Caress'd him often, such a thing might be Quite innocently done, and harmless styled, When she had twenty years, and thirteen he; But I am not so sure I should have smiled

550 When he was sixteen, Julia twenty-three, These few short years make wondrous alterations, Particularly amongst sun-burnt nations.

70

Whate'er the cause might be, they had become Changed; for the dame grew distant, the youth shy, 555 Their looks cast down, their greetings almost dumb, And much embarrassment in either eye; There surely will be little doubt with some That Donna Julia knew the reason why, But as for Juan, he had no more notion 560 Than he who never saw the sea of ocean.

71 Yet Julia's very coldness still was kind, And tremulously gentle her small hand Withdrew itself from his, but left behind A little pressure, thrilling, and so bland 565 And slight, so very slight, that to the mind

'Twas but a doubt; but ne'er magician's wand Wrought change with all Armida's5 fairy art Like what this light touch left on Juan's heart.

And if she met him, though she smiled no more, 570 She look'd a sadness sweeter than her smile, As if her heart had deeper thoughts in store She must not own, but cherish'd more the while, For that compression in its burning core; Even innocence itself has many a wile, 575 And will not dare to trust itself with truth, And love is taught hypocrisy from youth.

5. The sorceress in Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1581) who seduces Rinaldo into forgetting his vows as a crusader.

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68 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

75 Poor Julia's heart was in an awkward state; She felt it going, and resolved to make The noblest efforts for herself and mate, For honour's, pride's, religion's, virtue's sake; Her resolutions were most truly great,

And almost might have made a Tarquin6 quake; She pray'd the Virgin Mary for her grace, As being the best judge of a lady's case.

76

She vow'd she never would see Juan more, And next day paid a visit to his mother, And look'd extremely at the opening door, Which, by the Virgin's grace, let in another; Grateful she was, and yet a little sore�

Again it opens, it can be no other, 'Tis surely Juan now�No! I'm afraid That night the Virgin was no further pray'd.

77 She now determined that a virtuous woman Should rather face and overcome temptation, That flight was base and dastardly, and no man Should ever give her heart the least sensation; That is to say, a thought beyond the common

Preference, that we must feel upon occasion, For people who are pleasanter than others, But then they only seem so many brothers.

78

And even if by chance�and who can tell? The devil's so very sly�she should discover That all within was not so very well, And, if still free, that such or such a lover Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell

Such thoughts, and be the better when they're over; And if the man should ask,'tis but denial: I recommend young ladies to make trial.

79 And then there are such things as love divine, Bright and immaculate, unmix'd and pure, Such as the angels think so very fine, And matrons, who would be no less secure, Platonic, perfect, "just such love as mine":

Thus Julia said�and thought so, to be sure, And so I'd have her think, were I the man On whom her reveries celestial ran.

6. A member of a legendary family of Roman kings noted for tyranny and cruelty; perhaps a reference specifically to Lucius Tarquinus, the villain of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece.

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DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 681

86

So much for Julia. Now we'll turn to Juan, Poor little fellow! he had no idea Of his own case, and never hit the true one; In feelings quick as Ovid's Miss Medea,7 685 He puzzled over what he found a new one,

But not as yet imagined it could be a Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming, Which, with a little patience, might grow charming.

* *

90

Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks Thinking unutterable things; he threw 715 Himself at length within the leafy nooks Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew; There poets find materials for their books, And every now and then we read them through, So that their plan and prosody are eligible, 720 Unless, like Wordsworth, they prove unintelligible.

91 He, Juan (and not Wordsworth), so pursued His self-communion with his own high soul, Until his mighty heart, in its great mood, Had mitigated part, though not the whole 725 Of its disease; he did the best he could

With things not very subject to control, And turn'd, without perceiving his condition, Like Coleridge, into a metaphysician.

92

He thought about himself, and the whole earth, 730 Of man the wonderful, and of the stars, And how the deuce they ever could have birth; And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars, How many miles the moon might have in girth, Of air-balloons, and of the many bars 735 To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies; And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.

93 In thoughts like these true wisdom may discern Longings sublime, and aspirations high, Which some are born with, but the most part learn 740 To plague themselves withal, they know not why: 'Twas strange that one so young should thus concern

His brain about the action of the sky; If you think 'twas philosophy that this did, I can't help thinking puberty assisted.

7. In Metamorphoses 7 Ovid tells the story of Medea's mad infatuation for Jason.

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682 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

94 745 He pored upon the leaves, and on the flowers, And heard a voice in all the winds; and then He thought of wood nymphs and immortal bowers, And how the goddesses came down to men: He miss'd the pathway, he forgot the hours,

750 And when he look'd upon his watch again, He found how much old Time had been a winner� He also found that he had lost his dinner.

$ $ *

i�3 'Twas on a summer's day�the sixth of June:� I like to be particular in dates, Not only of the age, and year, but moon; 820 They are a sort of post-house, where the Fates Change horses, making history change its tune,

Then spur away o'er empires and o'er states, Leaving at last not much besides chronology, Excepting the post-obits8 of theology.

104

825 'Twas on the sixth of June, about the hour Of half-past six�perhaps still nearer seven, When Julia sate within as pretty a bower As e'er held houri in that heathenish heaven Described by Mahomet, and Anacreon Moore,9

830 To whom the lyre and laurels have been given, With all the trophies of triumphant song� He won them well, and may he wear them long!

105

She sate, but not alone; I know not well How this same interview had taken place, 835 And even if I knew, I should not tell� People should hold their tongues in any case; No matter how or why the thing befell, But there were she and Juan, face to face� When two such faces are so,'twould be wise, 840 But very difficult, to shut their eyes.

106

How beautiful she look'd! her conscious1 heart Glow'd in her cheek, and yet she felt no wrong. Oh Love! how perfect is thy mystic art, Strengthening the weak, and trampling on the strong,

8. I.e., postobit bonds (post obitum, "after death" 1800 had translated the Odes of the ancient Greek [Latin]): loans to an heir that fall due after the Anacreon and whose popular Orientalist poem death of the person whose estate he or she is to Lalla Rookh (1817) had portrayed the "heathenish inherit. Byron's meaning is probably that only the-heaven" of Islam as populated by "houris," beauology purports to tell us what rewards are due in tiful maidens who in the afterlife will give heroes heaven. their reward. 9. Byron's friend the poet Thomas Moore, who in 1. Secretly aware (of her feelings).

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DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 683

845 How self-deceitful is the sagest part

Of mortals whom thy lure hath led along�

The precipice she stood on was immense,

So was her creed� in her own innocence. belief

107

She thought of her own strength, and Juan's youth, 850 And of the folly of all prudish fears, Victorious virtue, and domestic truth, And then of Don Alfonso's fifty years: I wish these last had not occurr'd, in sooth, Because that number rarely much endears, 855 And through all climes, the snowy and the sunny, Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money.

$ $

u3 The sun set, and up rose the yellow moon: The devil's in the moon for mischief; they Who call'd her CHASTE, methinks, began too soon 900 Their nomenclature; there is not a day, The longest, not the twenty-first of June,

Sees half the business in a wicked way

On which three single hours of moonshine smile�

And then she looks so modest all the while.

114

905 There is a dangerous silence in that hour,

A stillness, which leaves room for the full soul

To open all itself, without the power

Of calling wholly back its self-control;

The silver light which, hallowing tree and tower, 910 Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole, Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws A loving languor, which is not repose.

"5 And Julia sate with Juan, half embraced And half retiring from the glowing arm, 915 Which trembled like the bosom where 'twas placed; Yet still she must have thought there was no harm, Or else 'twere easy to withdraw her waist; But then the situation had its charm, And then�God knows what next�I can't go on; 920 I'm almost sorry that I e'er begun.

116

Oh Plato! Plato! you have paved the way, With your confounded fantasies, to more Immoral conduct by the fancied sway Your system feigns o'er the controlless core 925 Of human hearts, than all the long array Of poets and romancers:�You're a bore,

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68 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

A charlatan, a coxcomb�and have been, At best, no better than a go-between.

117

And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs, 930

Until too late for useful conversation; The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes, I wish, indeed, they had not had occasion, But who, alas! can love, and then be wise? Not that remorse did not oppose temptation, 935 A little still she strove, and much repented, And whispering "I will ne'er consent"�consented.

* $ $ 126

'Tis sweet to win, no matter how, one's laurels By blood or ink; 'tis sweet to put an end To strife; 'tis sometimes sweet to have our quarrels, Particularly with a tiresome friend; 1005 Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels;

Dear is the helpless creature we defend Against the world; and dear the schoolboy spot We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot.

127

But sweeter still than this, than these, than all, 1010 Is first and passionate love�it stands alone, Like Adam's recollection of his fall; The tree of knowledge has been pluck'd�all's known� And life yields nothing further to recall Worthy of this ambrosial sin, so shown, 1015 No doubt in fable, as the unforgiven Fire which Prometheus2 filch'd for us from heaven.

* <� * '33 Man's a phenomenon, one knows not what, And wonderful beyond all wondrous measure; 'Tis pity though, in this sublime world, that 1060 Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure; Few mortals know what end they would be at,

But whether glory, power, or love, or treasure, The path is through perplexing ways, and when The goal is gain'd, we die, you know�and then�

r34 1065 What then?�I do not know, no more do you� And so good night.�Return we to our story: 'Twas in November, when fine days are few, And the far mountains wax a little hoary, And clap a white cape on their mantles blue;

2. The Titan Prometheus incurred the wrath of Zeus by stealing fire from heaven for humans.

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Do N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 685

And the sea dashes round the promontory, And the loud breaker boils against the rock, And sober suns must set at five o'clock.

'35 'Twas, as the watchmen say, a cloudy night; No moon, no stars, the wind was low or loud 1075 By gusts, and many a sparkling hearth was bright With the piled wood, round which the family crowd; There's something cheerful in that sort of light, Even as a summer sky's without a cloud: I'm fond of fire, and crickets, and all that, 1080 A lobster-salad, and champagne, and chat.

136 'Twas midnight�Donna Julia was in bed, Sleeping, most probably�when at her door Arose a clatter might awake the dead, If they had never been awoke before, 1085 And that they have been so we all have read,

And are to be so, at the least, once more� The door was fasten'd, but with voice and fist First knocks were heard, then "Madam�Madam�hist!

137 "For God's sake, Madam�Madam�here's my master, 1090 With more than half the city at his back� Was ever heard of such a curst disaster! 'Tis not my fault�I kept good watch�Alack! Do, pray undo the bolt a little faster� They're on the stair just now, and in a crack0 moment 1095 Will all be here; perhaps he yet may fly� Surely the window's not so very high!"

138 By this time Don Alfonso was arrived, With torches, friends, and servants in great number; The major part of them had long been wived, 1100 And therefore paused not to disturb the slumber Of any wicked woman, who contrived By stealth her husband's temples to encumber:3 Examples of this kind are so contagious, Were one not punish'd, all would be outrageous.

!39 1105 I can't tell how, or why, or what suspicion Could enter into Don Alfonso's head; But for a cavalier of his condition0 rank It surely was exceedingly ill-bred Without a word of previous admonition,

1110 To hold a levee4 round his lady's bed, And summon lackeys, arm'd with fire and sword, To prove himself the thing he most abhorr'd.

3. I.e., with horns that, growing on the forehead, band. were the traditional emblem of the cuckolded hus- 4. Morning reception.

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68 6 / GEORG E GORDON , LOR D BYRON 140 Poor Donna Julia! starting as from sleep, (Mind�that I do not say�she had not slept) ins Began at once to scream, and yawn, and weep; Her maid Antonia, who was an adept, Contrived to fling the bed-clothes in a heap, As if she had just now from out them crept: I can't tell why she should take all this trouble 1120 To prove her mistress had been sleeping double. 141 But Julia mistress, and Antonia maid, Appear'd like two poor harmless women, who Of goblins, but still more of men afraid, Had thought one man might be deterr'd by two, 1125 And therefore side by side were gently laid, Until the hours of absence should run through, And truant husband should return, and say, "My dear, I was the first who came away." 142 Now Julia found at length a voice, and cried, 1130 "In heaven's name, Don Alfonso, what d'ye mean? Has madness seized you? would that I had died Ere such a monster's victim I had been! What may this midnight violence betide, A sudden fit of drunkenness or spleen? 1135 Dare you suspect me, whom the thought would kill? Search, then, the room!"�Alfonso said, "I will." 143 He search'd, they search'd, and rummaged every where, Closet and clothes'-press, chest and window-seat, And found much linen, lace, and seven pair 1140 Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete, With other articles of ladies fair, To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat: Arras5 they prick'd and curtains with their swords, And wounded several shutters, and some boards. 144 1145 Under the bed they search'd, and there they found�6 No matter what�it was not that they sought; They open'd windows, gazing if the ground Had signs or footmarks, but the earth said nought; And then they stared each others' faces round: 1150 'Tis odd, not one of all these seekers thought, And seems to me almost a sort of blunder, Of looking in the bed as well as under. 145 During this inquisition Julia's tongue Was not asleep�"Yes, search and search," she cried,

5. A tapestry hanging on a wall. 6. Perhaps a chamber pot.

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DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 687

us? "Insult on insult heap, and wrong on wrong! It was for this that I became a bride! For this in silence I have suffer'd long A husband like Alfonso at my side; But now I'll bear no more, nor here remain, 1160 If there be law, or lawyers, in all Spain. 146 "Yes, Don Alfonso! husband now no more, If ever you indeed deserved the name, Is't worthy of your years?�you have threescore, Fifty, or sixty�it is all the same� ii65 Is't wise or fitting causeless to explore For facts against a virtuous woman's fame? Ungrateful, perjured, barbarous Don Alfonso, How dare you think your lady would go on so?" 159 1265 The Senhor Don Alfonso stood confused; Antonia bustled round the ransack'd room, And, turning up her nose, with looks abused Her master, and his myrmidons,7 of whom Not one, except the attorney, was amused; 1270 He, like Achates,8 faithful to the tomb, So there were quarrels, cared not for the cause, Knowing they must be settled by the laws. 160 With prying snub-nose, and small eyes, he stood, Following Antonia's motions here and there, 1275 With much suspicion in his attitude; For reputations he had little care; So that a suit or action were made good, Small pity had he for the young and fair, And ne'er believed in negatives, till these 1280 Were proved by competent false witnesses. 161 But Don Alfonso stood with downcast looks, And, truth to say, he made a foolish figure; When, after searching in five hundred nooks, And treating a young wife with so much rigour, 1285 He gain'd no point, except some self-rebukes, Added to those his lady with such vigour Had pour'd upon him for the last half-hour, Quick, thick, and heavy�as a thunder-shower. 162 At first he tried to hammer an excuse, 1290 To which the sole reply was tears, and sobs,

7. Servants, so named for the followers Achilles Aeneid, whose loyalty to Aeneas has become pro- led to the Trojan War. verbial. 8. The fidus Achates ("faithful Achates") ofVirgil's

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68 8 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

1295And indications of hysterics, whose Prologue is always certain throes, and throbs, Gasps, and whatever else the owners choose:� Alfonso saw his wife, and thought of Job's;9 He saw too, in perspective, her relations, And then he tried to muster all his patience. 163 1300He stood in act to speak, or rather stammer, But sage Antonia cut him short before The anvil of his speech received the hammer, With "Pray sir, leave the room, and say no more, Or madam dies."�Alfonso mutter'd "D�n her," But nothing else, the time of words was o'er; He cast a rueful look or two, and did, He knew not wherefore, that which he was bid. 164 1305 With him retired his "posse comitatus,"' The attorney last, who linger'd near the door, Reluctantly, still tarrying there as late as Antonia let him�not a little sore 1310At this most strange and unexplain'd "hiatus" In Don Alfonso's facts, which just now wore An awkward look; as he resolved the case The door was fasten'd in his legal face. 165 No sooner was it bolted, than�Oh shame! Oh sin! Oh sorrow! and Oh womankind! 13151320 How can you do such things and keep your fame, Unless this world, and t'other too, be blind? Nothing so dear as an unfilch'd good name! But to proceed�for there is more behind: With much heart-felt reluctance be it said, Young Juan slipp'd, half-smother'd, from the bed. 166 1325He had been hid�I don't pretend to say How, nor can I indeed describe the where� Young, slender, and pack'd easily, he lay, No doubt, in little compass, round or square; But pity him I neither must nor may His suffocation by that pretty pair; 'Twere better, sure, to die so, than be shut With maudlin Clarence in his Malmsey butt.2 $ $ $

9. Job's wife advised her afflicted husband to "curse God, and die," He replied, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh" (Job 2.9� 10).

1. The complete form of the modern word posse (posse comitatus means literally "power of the county" [Latin], i.e., the body of citizens summoned by a sheriff to preserve order in the county).

2. Clarence, brother of Edward IV and of the future Richard III, was reputed to have been assassinated by being drowned in a cask ("butt") of malmsey, a sweet and aromatic wine.

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DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 689

169

What's to be done? Alfonso will be back

The moment he has sent his fools away.

Antonia's skill was put upon the rack,

But no device could be brought into play�

And how to parry the renew'd attack?

Besides, it wanted but few hours of day:

Antonia puzzled; Julia did not speak,

But press'd her bloodless lip to Juan's cheek.

170

He turn'd his lip to hers, and with his hand

Call'd back the tangles of her wandering hair;

Even then their love they could not all command,

And half forgot their danger and despair:

Antonia's patience now was at a stand�

"Come, come,'tis no time now for fooling there,"

She whisper'd, in great wrath�"I must deposit

This pretty gentleman within the closet."

173 1380Now, Don Alfonso entering, but alone, Closed the oration of the trusty maid: She loiter'd, and he told her to be gone, An order somewhat sullenly obey'd; However, present remedy was none, And no great good seem'd answer'd if she staid: Regarding both with slow and sidelong view, She snuff'd the candle, curtsied, and withdrew. 174 13851390 Alfonso paused a minute�then begun Some strange excuses for his late proceeding; He would not justify what he had done, To say the best, it was extreme ill-breeding; But there were ample reasons for it, none Of which he specified in this his pleading: His speech was a fine sample, on the whole, Of rhetoric, which the learn'd call "rigmarole."

180

Alfonso closed his speech, and begg'd her pardon,

Which Julia half withheld, and then half granted,

1435 And laid conditions, he thought, very hard on,

Denying several little things he wanted:

He stood like Adam lingering near his garden,

With useless penitence perplex'd and haunted,

Beseeching she no further would refuse,

1440 When lo! he stumbled o'er a pair of shoes.

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69 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

181

A pair of shoes!�what then? not much, if they Are such as fit with lady's feet, but these (No one can tell how much I grieve to say) Were masculine; to see them, and to seize, 1445 Was but a moment's act.�Ah! Well-a-day!

My teeth begin to chatter, my veins freeze� Alfonso first examined well their fashion, And then flew out into another passion.

182

He left the room for his relinquish'd sword, 1450 And Julia instant to the closet flew, "Fly, Juan, fly! for heaven's sake�not a word� The door is open�you may yet slip through The passage you so often have explored� Here is the garden-key�Fly�fly�Adieu! 1455 Haste�haste!�I hear Alfonso's hurrying feet� Day has not broke�there's no one in the street."

183 None can say that this was not good advice, The only mischief was, it came too late; Of all experience 'tis the usual price, 1460 A sort of income-tax laid on by fate: Juan had reach'd the room-door in a trice,

And might have done so by the garden-gate, But met Alfonso in his dressing-gown, Who threaten'd death�so Juan knock'd him down.

184

1465 Dire was the scuffle, and out went the light, Antonia cried out "Rape!" and Julia "Fire!" But not a servant stirr'd to aid the fight. Alfonso, pommell'd to his heart's desire, Swore lustily he'd be revenged this night;

1470 And Juan, too, blasphemed an octave higher, His blood was up; though young, he was a Tartar,3 And not at all disposed to prove a martyr.

185 Alfonso's sword had dropp'd ere he could draw it, And they continued battling hand to hand, 1475 For Juan very luckily ne'er saw it; His temper not being under great command, If at that moment he had chanced to claw it, Alfonso's days had not been in the land Much longer.�Think of husbands', lovers' lives! 1480 And how ye may be doubly widows�wives!

186

Alfonso grappled to detain the foe, And Juan throttled him to get away,

3. A formidable opponent.

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DO N JUAN , CANTO 1 / 69 1 And blood ('twas from the nose) began to flow; At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay, 1485 Juan contrived to give an awkward blow, And then his only garment quite gave way; He fled, like Joseph,4 leaving it; but there, I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair. 18 7 Lights came at length, and men, and maids, who found 1490 An awkward spectacle their eyes before; Antonia in hysterics, Julia swoon'd, Alfonso leaning, breathless, by the door; Some half-torn drapery scatter'd on the ground, Some blood, and several footsteps, but no more: 1495 Juan the gate gain'd, turn'd the key about, And liking not the inside, lock'd the out. 188 Here ends this canto.�Need I sing, or say, How Juan, naked, favour'd by the night, Who favours what she should not, found his way, 1500 And reach'd his home in an unseemly plight? The pleasant scandal which arose next day, The nine days' wonder which was brought to light, And how Alfonso sued for a divorce, Were in the English newspapers, of course. 189 1505 If you would like to see the whole proceedings, The depositions, and the cause at full, The names of all the witnesses, the pleadings Of counsel to nonsuit,3 or to annul, There's more than one edition, and the readings 1510 Are various, but they none of them are dull, The best is that in shorthand ta'en by Gurney,6 Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey. 190 But Donna Inez, to divert the train Of one of the most circulating scandals 1515 That had for centuries been known in Spain, Since Roderic's Goths, or older Genseric's Vandals,7 First vow'd (and never had she vow'd in vain) To Virgin Mary several pounds of candles; And then, by the advice of some old ladies, 1520 She sent her son to be embark'd at Cadiz. 191 She had resolved that he should travel through All European climes, by land or sea,

4. In Genesis 39.7ff. the chaste Joseph flees from hand writer for the houses of Parliament and a the advances of Potiphar's wife, leaving "his gar-famous court reporter. ment in her hand." 7. The Germanic tribes that overran Spain and 5. Judgment against the plaintiff for failure to other parts of southern Europe in the 5th through establish his case. 8th centuries, notorious for rape and violence. 6. William B. Gurney (1777-1855), official short

.

69 2 / GEORG E GORDON, LORD BYRON 1525To mend his former morals, or get new, Especially in France and Italy, (At least this is the thing most people do). Julia was sent into a nunnery, And there, perhaps, her feelings may be better Shown in the following copy of her letter: 192 15301535"They tell me 'tis decided; you depart: 'Tis wise�'tis well, but not the less a pain; I have no further claim on your young heart, Mine was the victim, and would be again; To love too much has been the only art I used;�I write in haste, and if a stain Be on this sheet,'tis not what it appears, My eyeballs burn and throb, but have no tears. 193 1540"I loved, I love you, for that love have lost State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem, And yet can not regret what it hath cost, So dear is still the memory of that dream; Yet, if I name my guilt,'tis not to boast, None can deem harshlier of me than I deem: I trace this scrawl because I cannot rest� I've nothing to reproach, nor to request. 194 15451550 "Man's love is of his life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence; man may range The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart, Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart, And few there are whom these can not estrange; Man has all these resources, we but one, To love again, and be again undone. 195 15551560"My breast has been all weakness, is so yet; I struggle, but cannot collect my mind; My blood still rushes where my spirit's set, As roll the waves before the settled wind; My brain is feminine, nor can forget� To all, except your image, madly blind; As turns the needle8 trembling to the pole It ne'er can reach, so turns to you, my soul. 196 "You will proceed in beauty, and in pride, Beloved and loving many; all is o'er For me on earth, except some years to hide My shame and sorrow deep in my heart's core;

8. Of a compass.

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DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 69 3 1565 These I could bear, but cannot cast aside The passion which still rends it as before, And so farewell�forgive me, love me�No, That word is idle now�but let it go. 197 15701575"I have no more to say, but linger still, And dare not set my seal upon this sheet, And yet I may as well the task fulfil, My misery can scarce be more complete: I had not lived till now, could sorrow kill; Death flies the wretch who fain the blow would meet, And I must even survive this last adieu, And bear with life, to love and pray for you!" 198 1580This note was written upon gilt-edged paper With a neat crow-quill, rather hard, but new; Her small white fingers scarce could reach the taper,9 But trembled as magnetic needles do, And yet she did not let one tear escape her; The seal a sunflower; "Elle vous suit partout,"1 The motto, cut upon a white cornelian; The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion. 199 15851590 This was Don Juan's earliest scrape; but whether I shall proceed with his adventures is Dependent on the public altogether; We'll see, however, what they say to this, Their favour in an author's cap's a feather, And no great mischief's done by their caprice; And if their approbation we experience, Perhaps they'll have some more about a year hence. 200 15951600My poem's epic, and is meant to be Divided in twelve books; each book containing, With love, and war, a heavy gale at sea, A list of ships, and captains, and kings reigning, New characters; the episodes are three: A panorama view of hell's in training, After the style of Virgil and of Homer, So that my name of Epic's no misnomer. 201 All these things will be specified in time, With strict regard to Aristotle's rules, The vade mecum2 of the true sublime,

9. The candle (to melt wax to seal the letter). Byron's 1807 poem "The Cornelian." 1. She follows you everywhere (French). This 2. Go with me (Latin, literal trans.); handbook. motto was inscribed on one of Byron's seals and Byron is deriding the neoclassical view that Arison a jewel he gave to John Edleston, the boy with totle's Poetics proposes "rules" for writing epic and whom he had a romantic friendship while at Cam-tragedy. bridge. Their friendship was memorialized in

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69 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Which makes so many poets, and some fools; Prose poets like blank-verse, I'm fond of rhyme,

Good workmen never quarrel with their tools; I've got new mythological machinery,3 And very handsome supernatural scenery.

There's only one slight difference between Me and my epic brethren gone before, And here the advantage is my own, I ween;

(Not that I have not several merits more, But this will more peculiarly be seen)

They so embellish, that 'tis quite a bore Their labyrinth of fables to thread through, Whereas this story's actually true.

203

If any person doubt it, I appeal To history, tradition, and to facts, To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel, To plays in five, and operas in three acts; All these confirm my statement a good deal,

But that which more completely faith exacts Is, that myself, and several now in Seville, Saw Juan's last elopement with the devil.4

204

If ever I should condescend to prose, I'll write poetical commandments, which Shall supersede beyond all doubt all those That went before; in these I shall enrich My text with many things that no one knows,

And carry precept to the highest pitch: I'll call the work "Longinus o'er a Bottle, Or, Every Poet his own Aristotle."

205

Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope;5 Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey; Because the first is crazed beyond all hope, The second drunk, the third so quaint and mouthey: With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope,

And Campbell's Hippocrene6 is somewhat drouthy: Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers, nor� Commit�flirtation with the muse of Moore.

3. The assemblage of supernatural personages and incidents introduced into a literary work. 4. The usual plays on the Juan legend ended with Juan in hell; an early-20th-century version is Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. 5. This is one of many passages, in prose and verse, in which Byron vigorously defends Dryden and Pope against his Romantic contemporaries. 6. Fountain on Mount Helicon whose waters supposedly gave inspiration. George Crabbe, whom Byron admired, was the author of The Village and other realistic poems of rural life. Thomas Campbell, Samuel Rogers, and Thomas Moore were lesser poets of the Romantic period; the last two were close friends of Byron and members of Lon- don's liberal Whig circles.

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 69 5 Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's Muse, His Pegasus,7 nor any thing that's his; Thou shalt not bear false witness like "the Blues,"8 (There's one, at least, is very fond of this); 1645 Thou shalt not write, in short, but what I choose: This is true criticism, and you may kiss� Exactly as you please, or not, the rod, But if you don't, I'll lay it on, by G�d!9 207 If any person should presume to assert 1650 This story is not moral, first I pray That they will not cry out before they're hurt, Then that they'll read it o'er again, and say, (But, doubtless, nobody will be so pert) That this is not a moral tale, though gay; 1655 Besides, in canto twelfth, I mean to show The very place where wicked people go. 213 But now at thirty years my hair is gray� (I wonder what it will be like at forty? I thought of a peruke0 the other day) wig 1700 My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I Have squander'd my whole summer while 'twas May, And feel no more the spirit to retort; I Have spent my life, both interest and principal, And deem not, what I deem'd, my soul invincible. 214 1705 No more�no more�Oh! never more on me The freshness of the heart can fall like dew, Which out of all the lovely things we see Extracts emotions beautiful and new, Hived in our bosoms like the bag o' the bee: 1710 Think'st thou the honey with those objects grew? Alas! 'twas not in them, but in thy power To double even the sweetness of a flower. 215 No more�no more�Oh! never more, my heart, Canst thou be my sole world, my universe! 1715 Once all in all, but now a thing apart,

7. The winged horse symbolizing poetic inspiration. The wealthy William Sotheby, minorpoet and translator, is satirized, as Botherby, in Byron's Beppo.

8. I.e., bluestockings, a contemporary term for female intellectuals, among whom Byron numbered his wife (line 1644). 9. Byron's parody of the Ten Commandments seemed blasphemous to some commentators. Radical publishers like William Hone, who in 1817 had been put on trial for the ostensible blasphemy of political satires that used the form of the Anglican Church's creed and catechism bitterly noted a double standard: books brought out by the ultra- respectable John Murray were not subject to the same reprisals as Hone's books.

.

696 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Thou canst not be my blessing or my curse: The illusion's gone for ever, and thou art Insensible, I trust, but none the worse, And in thy stead I've got a deal of judgment, 1720 Though heaven knows how it ever found a lodgement.

216

My days of love are over, me no more The charms of maid, wife, and still less of widow, Can make the fool of which they made before, In short, I must not lead the life I did do; 1725 The credulous hope of mutual minds is o'er,

The copious use of claret is forbid too, So for a good old gentlemanly vice, I think I must take up with avarice.

217

Ambition was my idol, which was broken 1730 Before the shrines of Sorrow and of Pleasure; And the two last have left me many a token O'er which reflection may be made at leisure: Now, like Friar Bacon's brazen head, I've spoken, "Time is, Time was, Time's past,"1 a chymic treasure2 1735 Is glittering youth, which I have spent betimes� My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes.

218

What is the end of fame? 'tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper: Some liken it to climbing up a hill, 1740 Whose summit, like all hills', is lost in vapour; For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,

And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper," To have, when the original is dust, A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.3

219

1745 What are the hopes of man? old Egypt's King Cheops erected the first pyramid And largest, thinking it was just the thing To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid; But somebody or other rummaging,

1750 Burglariously broke his coffin's lid: Let not a monument give you or me hopes, Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops.

220

But I, being fond of true philosophy, Say very often to myself, "Alas!

I. Spoken by a bronze bust in Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1594). This comedy was based on legends about the magical power of Roger Bacon, the 13th-century Franciscan monk who was said to have built with diabolical assistance a brazen head capable of speech. 2. "Chymic": alchemic; i.e., the "treasure" is counterfeit gold. 3. Byron was unhappy with the portrait bust of him recently made by the Danish sculptor Thorwaldsen.

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 69 7 17551760 All things that have been born were born to die, And flesh (which Death mows down to hay) is grass;4 You've pass'd your youth not so unpleasantly, And if you had it o'er again�'twould pass� So thank your stars that matters are no worse, And read your Bible, sir, and mind your purse." 221 1765But for the present, gentle reader! and Still gentler purchaser! the bard�that's I� Must, with permission, shake you by the hand, And so your humble servant, and good bye! We meet again, if we should understand Each other; and if not, I shall not try Your patience further than by this short sample� 'Twere well if others follow'd my example. 222 17701775"Go, little book, from this my solitude! I cast thee on the waters, go thy ways! And if, as I believe, thy vein be good, The world will find thee after many days." When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood, I can't help putting in my claim to praise� The four first rhymes are Southey's every line:5 For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine.

From Canto 2

[THE SHIPWRECK]

8 But to our tale: the Donna Inez sent Her son to Cadiz only to embark; To stay there had not answer'd her intent, 60 But why?�we leave the reader in the dark�' Twas for a voyage that the young man was meant, As if a Spanish ship were Noah's ark, To wean him from the wickedness of earth, And send him like a dove of promise forth.

9 65 Don Juan bade his valet pack his things According to direction, then received A lecture and some money: for four springs He was to travel; and though Inez grieved, (As every kind of parting has its stings) 70

She hoped he would improve�perhaps believed: A letter, too, she gave (he never read it) Of good advice�and two or three of credit.1

4. An echo of Isaiah 40.6 and 1 Peter 1.24: "All "Epilogue to the Lay of the Laureate." flesh is grass." 1. Letters of credit allowed travelers to obtain cash 5. The lines are part of the last stanza of Southey's from an international network of bankers.

.

69 8 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

10 In the mean time, to pass her hours away, Brave Inez now set up a Sunday school 75

For naughty children, who would rather play (Like truant rogues) the devil, or the fool; Infants of three years old were taught that day, Dunces were whipt, or set upon a stool: The great success of Juan's education, so Spurr'd her to teach another generation.

11 Juan embark'd�the ship got under way, The wind was fair, the water passing rough; A devil of a sea rolls in that bay, As I, who've cross'd it oft, know well enough; 85 And, standing upon deck, the dashing spray Flies in one's face, and makes it weather-tough: And there he stood to take, and take again, His first�perhaps his last�farewell of Spain.

12

I can't but say it is an awkward sight 90 To see one's native land receding through The growing waters; it unmans one quite, Especially when life is rather new: I recollect Great Britain's coast looks white, But almost every other country's blue, 95 When gazing on them, mystified by distance, We enter on our nautical existence.

$ � =*

17

And Juan wept, and much he sigh'd and thought, 130 While his salt tears dropp'd into the salt sea, "Sweets to the sweet"; (I like so much to quote; You must excuse this extract, 'tis where she, The Queen of Denmark, for Ophelia brought Flowers to the grave);2 and sobbing often, he 135 Reflected on his present situation, And seriously resolved on reformation.

18 "Farewell, my Spain! a long farewell!" he cried, "Perhaps I may revisit thee no more, But die, as many an exiled heart hath died, 140 Of its own thirst to see again thy shore: Farewell, where Guadalquivir's waters glide! Farewell, my mother! and, since all is o'er, Farewell, too dearest Julia!,"�(here he drew Her letter out again, and read it through).

2. Shakespeare's Hamlet 5.1.227.

.

DO N JUAN, CANTO 1 / 699

145 "And oh! if e'er I should forget, I swear� But that's impossible, and cannot be-� Sooner shall this blue ocean melt to air, Sooner shall earth resolve itself to sea, Than I resign thine image, Oh! my fair!

iso Or think of any thing excepting thee; A mind diseased no remedy can physic�" (Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick.)

20

"Sooner shall heaven kiss earth"�(here he fell sicker) "Oh, Julia! what is every other woe?� 155 (For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor, Pedro, Battista, help me down below.) Julia, my love!�(you rascal, Pedro, quicker)� Oh Julia!�(this curst vessel pitches so)� Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!" 160 (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.)

21 He felt that chilling heaviness of heart, Or rather stomach, which, alas! attends, Beyond the best apothecary's art, The loss of love, the treachery of friends, 165 Or death of those we doat on, when a part Of us dies with them as each fond hope ends: No doubt he would have been much more pathetic, But the sea acted as a strong emetic.3

$ $ &

49

385 'Twas twilight, and the sunless day went down Over the waste of waters; like a veil, Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown Of one whose hate is masked but to assail; Thus to their hopeless eyes the night was shown

390 And grimly darkled o'er their faces pale, And the dim desolate deep; twelve days had Fear Been their familiar, and now Death was here.

5�

Some trial had been making at a raft, With little hope in such a rolling sea, 395 A sort of thing at which one would have laugh'd, If any laughter at such times could be, Unless with people who too much have quaff'd, And have a kind of wild and horrid glee, Half epileptical, and half hysterical:� 400 Their preservation would have been a miracle.

3. In stanzas 22�48 (here omitted) the ship, bound for Leghorn in Italy, runs into a violent storm and is battered into a helpless, sinking wreck.

.

70 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

51

At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hencoops, spars,

And all things, for a chance, had been cast loose,

That still could keep afloat the struggling tars,

For yet they strove, although of no great use:

405 There was no light in heaven but a few stars,

The boats put off o'ercrowded with their crews;

She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port,

And, going down head foremost�sunk, in short.

52

Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell,

410 Then shriek'd the timid, and stood still the brave,

Then some leap'd overboard with dreadful yell,

As eager to anticipate their grave;

And the sea yawn'd around her like a hell,

And down she suck'd with her the whirling wave,

415 Like one who grapples with his enemy,

And strives to strangle him before he die.

53

And first one universal shriek there rush'd,

Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash

Of echoing thunder; and then all was hush'd,

420 Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash

Of billows; but at intervals there gush'd,

Accompanied with a convulsive splash,

A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry

Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

� � * 56

Juan got into the long-boat, and there

Contrived to help Pedrillo4 to a place;

It seem'd as if they had exchanged their care,

For Juan wore the magisterial face

445 Which courage gives, while poor Pedrillo's pair

Of eyes were crying for their owner's case:

Battista, though (a name call'd shortly Tita),

Was lost by getting at some aqua-vita.0

brandy

57

Pedro, his valet, too, he tried to save,

450 But the same cause, conducive to his loss,

Left him so drunk, he jump'd into the wave

As o'er the cutter's edge he tried to cross,

And so he found a wine-and-watery grave;

They could not rescue him although so close,

455 Because the sea ran higher every minute, And for the boat�the crew kept crowding in it.

4. Juan's tutor.

.

DO N JUAN , CANT O 1 / 70 1 86 "Tis thus with people in an open boat, They live upon the love of life, and bear More than can be believed, or even thought, And stand like rocks the tempest's wear and tear; 525 And hardship still has been the sailor's lot, Since Noah's ark went cruising here and there; She had a curious crew as well as cargo, Like the first old Greek privateer, the Argo.5 67 But man is a carnivorous production, 530 And must have meals, at least one meal a day; He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction,6 But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey: Although his anatomical construction Bears vegetables in a grumbling way, 535 Your labouring people think beyond all question, Beef, veal, and mutton, better for digestion. 68 And thus it was with this our hapless crew, For on the third day there came on a calm, And though at first their strength it might renew, 540 And lying on their weariness like balm, Lull'd them like turtles sleeping on the blue Of ocean, when they woke they felt a qualm, And fell all ravenously on their provision, Instead of hoarding it with due precision. 3 3 * 7 2 The seventh day,7 and no wind�the burning sun 570 Blister'd and scorch'd, and, stagnant on the sea, They lay like carcases; and hope was none, Save in the breeze that came not; savagely They glared upon each other�all was done, Water, and wine, and food,�and you might see 575 The longings of the cannibal arise (Although they spoke not) in their wolfish eyes. 73 At length one whisper'd his companion, who Whisper'd another, and thus it went round, And then into a hoarser murmur grew, 580 An ominous, and wild, and desperate sound, And when his comrade's thought each sufferer knew,

5. In the Greek myth the Argo is the ship on which Jason set out in quest of the Golden Fleece. Byron ironically calls it a "privateer" (a private ship licensed by a government in wartime to attack and pillage enemy vessels). 6. Woodcocks probe the turf with their long flexible bills, seeming to suck air as they feed. 7. On the fourth day the crew had killed and eaten Juan's pet spaniel. Byron based the episode of cannibalism that follows on various historical accounts of disasters at sea, including his grandfather Admiral Byron's 1768 narrative of his misadventure off the coast of Patagonia.

.

70 2 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Twas but his own, suppress'd till now, he found: And out they spoke of lots for flesh and blood, And who should die to be his fellow's food.

74 585 But ere they came to this, they that day shared Some leathern caps, and what remain'd of shoes; And then they look'd around them, and despair'd, And none to be the sacrifice would choose; At length the lots were torn up, and prepared,

590 But of materials that must shock the Muse� Having no paper, for the want of better, They took by force from Juan Julia's letter.

75 The lots were made, and mark'd, and mix'd, and handed, In silent horror, and their distribution 595 Lull'd even the savage hunger which demanded, Like the Promethean vulture,8 this pollution; None in particular had sought or plann'd it, 'Twas nature gnaw'd them to this resolution, By which none were permitted to be neuter� 600 And the lot fell on Juan's luckless tutor.

76 He but requested to be bled to death: The surgeon had his instruments, and bled Pedrillo, and so gently ebb'd his breath, You hardly could perceive when he was dead. 605 He died as born, a Catholic in faith,

Like most in the belief in which they're bred, And first a little crucifix he kiss'd, And then held out his jugular and wrist.

77 The surgeon, as there was no other fee, 610 Had his first choice of morsels for his pains; But being thirstiest at the moment, he Preferr'd a draught from the fast-flowing veins: Part was divided, part thrown in the sea, And such things as the entrails and the brains 615 Regaled two sharks, who follow'd o'er the billow� The sailors ate the rest of poor Pedrillo.

7� The sailors ate him, all save three or four, Who were not quite so fond of animal food; To these was added Juan, who, before 620

Refusing his own spaniel, hardly could Feel now his appetite increased much more;

'Twas not to be expected that he should, Even in extremity of their disaster, Dine with them on his pastor and his master.

8. Because Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven to give to humans, Zeus punished him by chaining him to a mountain peak, where an eagle fed on his ever-renewing iiver.

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 703

625 'Twas better that he did not; for, in fact,

The consequence was awful in the extreme;

For they, who were most ravenous in the act,

Went raging mad�Lord! how they did blaspheme!

And foam and roll, with strange convulsions rack'd,

630 Drinking salt-water like a mountain-stream,

Tearing, and grinning, howling, screeching, swearing,

And, with hyaena laughter, died despairing. � * �

103

As they drew nigh the land, which now was seen

Unequal in its aspect here and there,

They felt the freshness of its growing green,

820 That waved in forest-tops, and smooth'd the air,

And fell upon their glazed eyes like a screen From glistening waves, and skies so hot and bare�

Lovely seem'd any object that should sweep

Away the vast, salt, dread, eternal deep.

104

825 The shore look'd wild, without a trace of man,

And girt by formidable waves; but they

Were mad for land, and thus their course they ran,

Though right ahead the roaring breakers lay:

A reef between them also now began

830 To show its boiling surf and bounding spray,

But finding no place for their landing better,

They ran the boat for shore, and overset her.

105

But in his native stream, the Guadalquivir,

Juan to lave� his youthful limbs was wont; bathe

835 And having learnt to swim in that sweet river,

Had often turn'd the art to some account:

A better swimmer you could scarce see ever,

He could, perhaps, have pass'd the Hellespont,

As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)

840 Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.9

106

So here, though faint, emaciated, and stark,

He buoy'd his boyish limbs, and strove to ply

With the quick wave, and gain, ere it was dark,

The beach which lay before him, high and dry:

845 The greatest danger here was from a shark,

That carried off his neighbour by the thigh;

As for the other two, they could not swim,

So nobody arrived on shore but him.

9. Like Leander in the myth, Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead had swum the Hellespont, on May 3, 1810. See "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" (p. 611).

.

704 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

107

Nor yet had he arrived but for the oar,

Which, providentially for him, was wash'd

Just as his feeble arms could strike no more,

And the hard wave o'erwhelm'd him as 'twas dash'd

Within his grasp; he clung to it, and sore

The waters beat while he thereto was lash'd;

At last, with swimming, wading, scrambling, he

Roll'd on the beach, half senseless, from the sea:

108

There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung

Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave,

From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung,

Should suck him back to her insatiate grave:

And there he lay, full length, where he was flung,

Before the entrance of a cliff-worn cave,

With just enough of life to feel its pain,

And deem that it was saved, perhaps, in vain.

109

With slow and staggering effort he arose,

But sunk again upon his bleeding knee

And quivering hand; and then he look'd for those

Who long had been his mates upon the sea,

But none of them appear'd to share his woes,

Save one, a corpse from out the famish'd three,

Who died two days before, and now had found

An unknown barren beach for burial ground.

no

And as he gazed, his dizzy brain spun fast,

And down he sunk; and as he sunk, the sand

Swam round and round, and all his senses pass'd:

He fell upon his side, and his stretch'd hand

Droop'd dripping on the oar, (their jury-mast)1

And, like a wither'd lily, on the land

His slender frame and pallid aspect lay,

As fair a thing as e'er was form'd of clay.

[jUAN AND HAIDEE] III

How long in his damp trance young Juan lay

He knew not, for the earth was gone for him,

And Time had nothing more of night nor day

For his congealing blood, and senses dim;

885 And how this heavy faintness pass'd away

He knew not, till each painful pulse and limb,

And tingling vein seem'd throbbing back to life,

For Death, though vanquish'd, still retired with strife.

1. A mast put up in the place of one that has been carried away or broken.

.

DO N JUAN , CANT O 2 / 70 5 112 890895His eyes he open'd, shut, again unclosed, For all was doubt and dizziness; methought He still was in the boat, and had but dozed, And felt again with his despair o'erwrought, And wish'd it death in which he had reposed, And then once more his feelings back were brought, And slowly by his swimming eyes was seen A lovely female face of seventeen. 900'Twas bending close o'er his, and the small mouth Seem'd almost prying into his for breath; And chafing him, the soft warm hand of youth Recall'd his answering spirits back from death; And, bathing his chill temples, tried to soothe Each pulse to animation, till beneath Its gentle touch and trembling care, a sigh To these kind efforts made a low reply. 114 905910 Then was the cordial pour'd, and mantle flung Around his scarce-clad limbs; and the fair arm Raised higher the faint head which o'er it hung; And her transparent cheek, all pure and warm, Pillow'd his death-like forehead; then she wrung His dewy curls, long drench'd by every storm; And watch'd with eagerness each throb that drew A sigh from his heaved bosom�and hers, too. " 5 915920And lifting him with care into the cave, The gentle girl, and her attendant,�one Young, yet her elder, and of brow less grave, And more robust of figure,�then begun To kindle fire, and as the new flames gave Light to the rocks that roof'd them, which the sun Had never seen, the maid, or whatsoe'er She was, appear'd distinct, and tall, and fair. 116 925Her brow was overhung with coins of gold, That sparkled o'er the auburn of her hair, Her clustering hair, whose longer locks were roll'd In braids behind, and though her stature were Even of the highest for a female mould, They nearly reach'd her heel; and in her air There was a something which bespoke command, As one who was a lady in the land. 117 930Her hair, I said, was auburn; but her eyes Were black as death, their lashes the same hue, Of downcast length, in whose silk shadow lies

.

706 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Deepest attraction, for when to the view

Forth from its raven fringe the full glance flies,

Ne'er with such force the swiftest arrow flew;

935 Tis as the snake late coil'd, who pours his length,

And hurls at once his venom and his strength.

123

And these two tended him, and cheer'd him both

With food and raiment, and those soft attentions,

Which are (as I must own) of female growth,

980 And have ten thousand delicate inventions:

They made a most superior mess of broth,

A thing which poesy but seldom mentions,

But the best dish that e'er was cook'd since Homer's

Achilles order'd dinner for new comers.2

124

985 I'll tell you who they were, this female pair,

Lest they should seem princesses in disguise;

Besides, I hate all mystery, and that air

Of clap-trap, which your recent poets prize;

And so, in short, the girls they really were

990 They shall appear before your curious eyes,

Mistress and maid; the first was only daughter

Of an old man, who lived upon the water.

125

A fisherman he had been in his youth,

And still a sort of fisherman was he;

995 But other speculations were, in sooth,

Added to his connection with the sea,

Perhaps not so respectable, in truth:

A little smuggling, and some piracy,

Left him, at last, the sole of many masters

1000 Of an ill-gotten million of piastres.3

126

A fisher, therefore, was he�though of men,

Like Peter the Apostle,4�and he fish'd

For wandering merchant vessels, now and then,

And sometimes caught as many as he wish'd;

1005 The cargoes he confiscated, and gain

He sought in the slave-market too, and dish'd

Full many a morsel for that Turkish trade,

By which, no doubt, a good deal may be made.

2. A reference to the lavish feast with which Achil-4. Christ's words to Peter and Andrew, both fishles entertained Ajax, Phoenix, and Ulysses (Iliad ermen: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of

9.193ff.l. men" (Matthew 4.19).

3. Near-Eastern coins.

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 4 / 707

101

He was a Greek, and on his isle had built

1010 (One of the wild and smaller Cyclades)5

A very handsome house from out his guilt,

And there he lived exceedingly at ease;

Heaven knows what cash he got, or blood he spilt,

A sad6 old fellow was he, if you please,

1015 But this I know, it was a spacious building,

Full of barbaric carving, paint, and gilding.

128

He had an only daughter, call'd Haidee,

The greatest heiress of the Eastern Isles;

Besides, so very beautiful was she,

1020 Her dowry was as nothing to her smiles:

Still in her teens, and like a lovely tree

She grew to womanhood, and between whiles

Rejected several suitors, just to learn

How to accept a better in his turn.

129

1025 And walking out upon the beach, below

The cliff, towards sunset, on that day she found,

Insensible,"�not dead, but nearly so,� unconscious

Don Juan, almost famish'd, and half drown'd;

But being naked, she was shock'd, you know,

1030 Yet deem'd herself in common pity bound,

As far as in her lay, "to take him in, A stranger"7 dying, with so white a skin.

130

But taking him into her father's house

Was not exactly the best way to save,

1035 But like conveying to the cat the mouse,

Or people in a trance into their grave; Because the good old man had so much "vovg, "8 Unlike the honest Arab thieves so brave,

He would have hospitably cured the stranger,

1040 And sold him instantly when out of danger.

�31 And therefore, with her maid, she thought it best

(A virgin always on her maid relies)

To place him in the cave for present rest:

And when, at last, he open'd his black eyes,

1045 Their charity increased about their guest;

And their compassion grew to such a size,

It open'd half the turnpike-gates to heaven�

(St. Paul says 'tis the toll which must be given).9

* # 5. A group of islands in the Aegean Sea. nounced so as to rhyme with mouse. 6. In the playful sense: wicked. 9. 1 Corinthians 13.13: "And now abideth faith, 7. Cf. Matthew 25.35: "I was a stranger, and ye hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these took me in." is charity."

8. Nous, intelligence (Greek); in England pro

708 /

1125

1130

1135

H40

1180

ii85

1190

.

Bent, with hush'd lips, that drank his scarce-drawn breath.

GEORG E GORDON , LOR D BYRO N 141 And Haidee met the morning face to face; Her own was freshest, though a feverish flush Had dyed it with the headlong blood, whose race From heart to cheek is curb'd into a blush, Like to a torrent which a mountain's base, That overpowers some Alpine river's rush, Checks to a lake, whose waves in circles spread; Or the Red Sea�but the sea is not red. 142 And down the cliff the island virgin came, And near the cave her quick light footsteps drew, While the sun smiled on her with his first flame, And young Aurora0 kiss'd her lips with dew, Taking her for a sister; just the same Mistake you would have made on seeing the two, Although the mortal, quite as fresh and fair, Had all the advantage too of not being air. dawn 143 And when into the cavern Haidee stepp'd All timidly, yet rapidly, she saw That like an infant Juan sweetly slept; And then she stopp'd, and stood as if in awe, (For sleep is awful)0 and on tiptoe creptAnd wrapt him closer, lest the air, too raw, Should reach his blood, then o'er him still as death awe-inspiring

148

And she bent o'er him, and he lay beneath,

Hush'd as the babe upon its mother's breast,

Droop'd as the willow when no winds can breathe,

Lull'd like the depth of ocean when at rest,

Fair as the crowning rose of the whole wreath, Soft as the callow0 cygnet0 in its nest; young/swanIn short, he was a very pretty fellow,

Although his woes had turn'd him rather yellow.

149

He woke and gazed, and would have slept again,

But the fair face which met his eyes forbade

Those eyes to close, though weariness and pain

Had further sleep a further pleasure made;

For woman's face was never form'd in vain

For Juan, so that even when he pray'd

He turn'd from grisly saints, and martyrs hairy,

To the sweet portraits of the Virgin Mary.

150

And thus upon his elbow he arose,

And look'd upon the lady, in whose cheek

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 709

1195 The pale contended with the purple rose,

As with an effort she began to speak;

Her eyes were eloquent, her words would pose, Although she told him, in good modern Greek,

With an Ionian accent, low and sweet,

1200 That he was faint, and must not talk, but eat.

$ $

168

And every day by day-break�-rather early

For Juan, who was somewhat fond of rest�

She came into the cave, but it was merely

1340 To see her bird reposing in his nest; And she would softly stir his locks so curly,

Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest,

Breathing all gently o'er his cheek and mouth,

As o'er a bed of roses the sweet south.1

169

1345 And every morn his colour freshlier came,

And every day help'd on his convalescence;

'Twas well, because health in the human frame

Is pleasant, besides being true love's essence,

For health and idleness to passion's flame

1350 Are oil and gunpowder; and some good lessons

Are also learnt from Ceres2 and from Bacchus,

Without whom Venus will not long attack us.

170

While Venus fills the heart (without heart really

Love, though good always, is not quite so good)

1355 Ceres presents a plate of vermicelli,�

For love must be sustain'd like flesh and blood,�

While Bacchus pours out wine, or hands a jelly:

Eggs, oysters too, are amatory food;

But who is their purveyor from above

1360 Heaven knows,�it may be Neptune, Pan, or Jove.

171

When Juan woke he found some good things ready,

A bath, a breakfast, and the finest eyes

That ever made a youthful heart less steady,

Besides her maid's, as pretty for their size;

1365 But I have spoken of all this already� And repetition's tiresome and unwise,�

Well�Juan, after bathing in the sea,

Came always back to coffee and Haidee.

172

Both were so young, and one so innocent,

1370 That bathing pass'd for nothing; Juan seem'd

1. The south wind. 2. Ceres, goddess of the grain; Bacchus, god of wine and revelry.

.

Guarded by shoals and rocks as by an host,

71 0 / GEORG E GORDON , LOR D BYRON 1375To her, as 'twere, the kind of being sent, Of whom these two years she had nightly dream'd, A something to be loved, a creature meant To be her happiness, and whom she deem'd To render happy; all who joy would win Must share it,�Happiness was born a twin. 173 1380It was such pleasure to behold him, such Enlargement of existence to partake Nature with him, to thrill beneath his touch, To watch him slumbering, and to see him wake: To live with him for ever were too much; But then the thought of parting made her quake: He was her own, her ocean-treasure, cast Like a rich wreck�her first love, and her last. 174 13851390 And thus a moon� roll'd on, and fair HaideePaid daily visits to her boy, and took Such plentiful precautions, that still he Remain'd unknown within his craggy nook; At last her father's prows put out to sea, For certain merchantmen upon the look, Not as of yore to carry off an Io,3 But three Ragusan vessels, bound for Scio.4 month 175 13951400Then came her freedom, for she had no mother, So that, her father being at sea, she was Free as a married woman, or such other Female, as where she likes may freely pass, Without even the encumbrance of a brother, The freest she that ever gazed on glass:0I speak of christian lands in this comparison, Where wives, at least, are seldom kept in garrison. in a mirror 176 1405Now she prolong'd her visits and her talk (For they must talk), and he had learnt to say So much as to propose to take a walk,� For little had he wander'd since the day On which, like a young flower snapp'd from the stalk, Drooping and dewy on the beach he lay,� And thus they walk'd out in the afternoon, And saw the sun set opposite the moon. 177 1410It was a wild and breaker-beaten coast, With cliffs above, and a broad sandy shore,

3. A mistress of Zeus who was persecuted by his 4. The Italian name for Chios, an island near Turjealous wife, Hera, and kidnapped by Phoenician key. "Ragusan": Ragusa (or Dubrovnik) is an Adri

merchants. atic port located in what is now Croatia.

.

DO N JOAN, CANT O 2 / 71 1 1415With here and there a creek, whose aspect wore A better welcome to the tempest-tost; And rarely ceas'd the haughty billow's roar, Save on the dead long summer days, which make The outstretch'd ocean glitter like a lake. 178 1420And the small ripple spilt upon the beach Scarcely o'erpass'd the cream of your champagne, When o'er the brim the sparkling bumpers reach, That spring-dew of the spirit! the heart's rain! Few things surpass old wine; and they may preach Who please,�the more because they preach in vain,� Let us have wine and woman, mirth and laughter, Sermons and soda water the day after. 179 1425 Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; The best of life is but intoxication: 1430 Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk The hopes of all men, and of every nation; Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk Of life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion: But to return,�Get very drunk; and when You wake with head-ache, you shall see what then. 180 1435 1440 Ring for your valet�bid him quickly bring Some hock and soda-water, then you'll know A pleasure worthy Xerxes' the great king; For not the blest sherbet, sublimed with snow, Nor the first sparkle of the desert-spring, Nor Burgundy in all its sunset glow, After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter, Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water. 181 The coast�I think it was the coast that I 1445Was just describing�Yes, it was the coast� Lay at this period quiet as the sky, The sands untumbled, the blue waves untost, And all was stillness, save the sea-bird's cry, And dolphin's leap, and little billow crost By some low rock or shelve, that made it fret Against the boundary it scarcely wet. 182 1450And forth they wandered, her sire being gone, As I have said, upon an expedition; And mother, brother, guardian, she had none, Save Zoe, who, although.with due precision

She waited on her lady with the sun,

5. The 5th-century Persian king was said to have offered a reward to anyone who could discover a new kind of pleasure.

.

712 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Thought daily service was her only mission,

Bringing warm water, wreathing her long tresses,

And asking now and then for cast-off dresses.

183

It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded

Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill,

Which then seems as if the whole earth it bounded,

Circling all nature, hush'd, and dim, and still,

With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded

On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill

Upon the other, and the rosy sky,

With one star sparkling through it like an eye.

184

And thus they wander'd forth, and hand in hand,

Over the shining pebbles and the shells,

Glided along the smooth and harden'd sand,

And in the worn and wild receptacles

Work'd by the storms, yet work'd as it were plann'd,

In hollow halls, with sparry roofs and cells,

They turn'd to rest; and, each clasp'd by an arm,

Yielded to the deep twilight's purple charm.

185. They look'd up to the sky, whose floating glow

Spread like a rosy ocean, vast and bright;

They gazed upon the glittering sea below,

Whence the broad moon rose circling into sight;

They heard the wave's splash, and the wind so low,

And saw each other's dark eyes darting light

Into each other�and, beholding this,

Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss;

186

A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love,

And beauty, all concentrating like rays

Into one focus, kindled from above;

Such kisses as belong to early days,

Where heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move,

And the blood's lava, and the pulse a blaze,

Each kiss a heart-quake,�for a kiss's strength,

I think, it must be reckon'd by its length.

187

By length I mean duration; theirs endured

Heaven knows how long�no doubt they never reckon'd;

And if they had, they could not have secured

The sum of their sensations to a second:

They had not spoken; but they felt allured,

As if their souls and lips each other beckon'd,

Which, being join'd, like swarming bees they clung�

Their hearts the flowers from whence the honey sprung.

.

DO N JUAN , CANT O 2 / 71 3 188 1500They were alone, but not alone as they Who shut in chambers think it loneliness; The silent ocean, and the starlight bay, The twilight glow, which momently grew less, The voiceless sands, and dropping caves, that lay Around them, made them to each other press, As if there were no life beneath the sky Save theirs, and that their life could never die. 189 1505 1510 They fear'd no eyes nor ears on that lone beach, They felt no terrors from the night, they were All in all to each other: though their speech Was broken words, they thought a language there,� And all the burning tongues the passions teach Found in one sigh the best interpreter Of nature's oracle�first love,�that all Which Eve has left her daughters since her fall. 190 1515 1520 Haidee6 spoke not of scruples, ask'd no vows, Nor offer'd any; she had never heard Of plight and promises to be a spouse, Or perils by a loving maid incurr'd; She was all which pure ignorance allows, And flew to her young mate like a young bird; And, never having dreamt of falsehood, she Had not one word to say of constancy. 191 1525She loved, and was beloved�she adored, And she was worshipp'd; after nature's fashion, Their intense souls, into each other pour'd, If souls could die, had perish'd in that passion,� But by degrees their senses were restored, Again to be o'ercome, again to dash on; And, beating 'gainst his bosom, Haidee's heart Felt as if never more to beat apart. 192 15301535Alas! they were so young, so beautiful, So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour Was that in which the heart is always full, And, having o'er itself no further power, Prompts deeds eternity can not annul, But pays off moments in an endless shower Of hell-fire�all prepared for people giving

Pleasure or pain to one another living.

6. Byron said, with reference to Haidee: "I was, and am, penetrated with the conviction that women only know evil from men, whereas men have no criterion to judge of purity or goodness but woman."

.

71 4 / GEORG E GORDON , LOR D BYRON '93 1540Alas! for Juan and Haidee! they were So loving and so lovely�till then never, Excepting our first parents, such a pair Had run the risk of being damn'd for ever; And Haidee, being devout as well as fair, Had, doubtless, heard about the Stygian river,7 And hell and purgatory�but forgot Just in the very crisis she should not. 194 15451550 They look upon each other, and their eyes Gleam in the moonlight; and her white arm clasps Round Juan's head, and his around hers lies Half buried in the tresses which it grasps; She sits upon his knee, and drinks his sighs, He hers, until they end in broken gasps; And thus they form a group that's quite antique, Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek. 195 15551560And when those deep and burning moments pass'd, And Juan sunk to sleep within her arms, She slept not, but all tenderly, though fast, Sustain'd his head upon her bosom's charms; And now and then her eye to heaven is cast, And then on the pale cheek her breast now warms, Pillow'd on her o'erflowing heart, which pants With all it granted, and with all it grants. 196 1565An infant when it gazes on a light, A child the moment when it drains the breast, A devotee when soars the Host8 in sight, An Arab with a stranger for a guest, A sailor when the prize has struck9 in fight, A miser filling his most hoarded chest, Feel rapture; but not such true joy are reaping As they who watch o'er what they love while sleeping. 197 15701575For there it lies so tranquil, so beloved, All that it hath of life with us is living; So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved, And all unconscious of the joy 'tis giving; All it hath felt, inflicted, pass'd, and proved, Hush'd into depths beyond the watcher's diving; There lies the thing we love with all its errors

And all its charms, like death without its terrors.

7. The Styx, which flows through Hades. 9. When a captured vessel (a "prize") lowers its 8. The bread or wafer that a priest consecrates to flag in token of surrender. celebrate Mass.

.

DO N JUAN , CANT O 4 / 71 5 101 1580The lady watch'd her lover�and that hour Of Love's, and Night's, and Ocean's solitude, O'erflow'd her soul with their united power; Amidst the barren sand and rocks so rude She and her wave-worn love had made their bower, Where nought upon their passion could intrude, And all the stars that crowded the blue space Saw nothing happier than her glowing face. 199 1585 Alas! the love of women! it is known 1590 To be a lovely and a fearful thing; For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, And if 'tis lost, life hath no more to bring To them but mockeries of the past alone, And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real Torture is theirs, what they inflict they feel. 200 1595 1600 They are right; for man, to man so oft unjust, Is always so to women; one sole bond Awaits them, treachery is all their trust; Taught to conceal, their bursting hearts despond Over their idol, till some wealthier lust Buys them in marriage�and what rests beyond? A thankless husband, next a faithless lover, Then dressing, nursing, praying, and all's over. 201 1605Some take a lover, some take drams0 or prayers, Some mind their household, others dissipation, Some run away, and but exchange their cares, Losing the advantage of a virtuous station; Few changes e'er can better their affairs, Theirs being an unnatural situation, From the dull palace to the dirty hovel: Some play the devil, and then write a novel.1 drink 202 1610Haidee was Nature's bride, and knew not this; Haidee was Passion's child, born where the sun Showers triple light, and scorches even the kiss Of his gazelle-eyed daughters; she was one Made but to love, to feel that she was his Who was her chosen: what was said or done 1615 Elsewhere was nothing�She had nought to fear, Hope, care, nor love beyond, her heart beat here.

1. The impetuous Lady Caroline Lamb, having thrown herself at Byron and been after a time rejected, incorporated incidents from the affair in her novel Glenarvon (1816).

.

716 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

203

And oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat! How much it costs us! yet each rising throb Is in its cause as its effect so sweet, 1620 That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob Joy of its alchymy, and to repeat

Fine truths, even Conscience, too, has a tough job To make us understand each good old maxim, So good�I wonder Castlereagh2 don't tax 'em.

204

1625 And now 'twas done�on the lone shore were plighted Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted: Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, By their own feelings hallow'd and united,

1630 Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed: And they were happy, for to their young eyes Each was an angel, and earth paradise.3

* # � 208

But Juan! had he quite forgotten Julia? And should he have forgotten her so soon? I can't but say it seems to me most truly a 1660 Perplexing question; but, no doubt, the moon Does these things for us, and whenever newly a

Strong palpitation rises,'tis her boon, Else how the devil is it that fresh features Have such a charm for us poor human creatures?

209

1665 I hate inconstancy�I loathe, detest, Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast No permanent foundation can be laid; Love, constant love, has been my constant guest,

1670 And yet last night, being at a masquerade, I saw the prettiest creature, fresh from Milan, Which gave me some sensations like a villain.

210

But soon Philosophy came to my aid, And whisper'd "think of every sacred tie!" 1675 "I will, my dear Philosophy!" I said, "But then her teeth, and then, Oh heaven! her eye!

2. Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, detested which Castlereagh complained of "an ignorant by Byron for the ruthlessness he had shown in impatience of taxation."

1798 as the government's chief secretary for Ire-3. This episode rewrites Aeneid 4 in which, influ

land and for the foreign policy he later pursued as enced by the malicious goddess Juno's love spells,

foreign secretary (1812�22). His belligerence with the hero Aeneas and Dido, queen of Carthage,

political opponents contributed to his unpopular-consummate their union in the cave in which they

ity. Byron refers to a famously testy speech in have taken refuge from a storm.

.

DON JOAN, CANTO 2 / 717

I'll just inquire if she be wife or maid,

Or neither�out of curiosity."

"Stop!" cried Philosophy, with air so Grecian,

1680 (Though she was masqued then as a fair Venetian).

211

"Stop!" so I stopp'd.�But to return: that which

Men call inconstancy is nothing more

Than admiration due where nature's rich

Profusion with young beauty covers o'er

1685 Some favour'd object; and as in the niche

A lovely statue we almost adore,

This sort of adoration of the real

Is but a heightening of the "beau ideal."4

212

'Tis the perception of the beautiful,

1690 A fine extension of the faculties,

Platonic, universal, wonderful,

Drawn from the stars, and filter'd through the skies,

Without which life would be extremely dull;

In short, it is the use of our own eyes, 1695 With one or two small senses added, just To hint that flesh is form'd of fiery dust.

213

Yet 'tis a painful feeling, and unwilling,

For surely if we always could perceive

In the same object graces quite as killing

1700 As when she rose upon us like an Eve,

'Twould save us many a heart-ache, many a shilling,

(For we must get them anyhow, or grieve),

Whereas, if one sole lady pleased for ever,

How pleasant for the heart, as well as liver!

216

In the mean time, without proceeding more

In this anatomy, I've finish'd now

Two hundred and odd stanzas as before,

That being about the number I'll allow

1725 Each canto of the twelve, or twenty-four; And, laying down my pen, I make my bow,

Leaving Don Juan and Haidee to plead

For them and theirs with all who deign to read.

4. Ideal beauty (French), a common phrase in discussions of aesthetics.

.

718 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

From Canto 3

[jUAN AND HAIDEE]

1 Hail, Muse! et cetera.�We left Juan sleeping, Pillow'd upon a fair and happy breast, And watch'd by eyes that never yet knew weeping, And loved by a young heart, too deeply blest 5 To feel the poison through her spirit creeping,

Or know who rested there, a foe to rest Had soil'd the current of her sinless years, And turn'd her pure heart's purest blood to tears.

2

Oh, Love! what is it in this world of ours 10 Which makes it fatal to be loved? Ah why With cypress branches1 hast thou wreathed thy bowers, And made thy best interpreter a sigh? As those who dote on odours pluck the flowers, And place them on their breast�but place to die! 15 Thus the frail beings we would fondly cherish Are laid within our bosoms but to perish.

3

In her first passion woman loves her lover, In all the others all she loves is love,2 Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over, 20 And fits her loosely�like an easy glove, As you may find, whene'er you like to prove" her: test

One man alone at first her heart can move; She then prefers him in the plural number, Not finding that the additions much encumber.

4

25 I know not if the fault be men's or theirs; But one thing's pretty sure; a woman planted3� (Unless at once she plunge for life in prayers)� After a decent time must be gallanted; Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs

30 Is that to which her heart is wholly granted; Yet there are some, they say, who have had none, But those who have ne'er end with only one.4

5

'Tis melancholy, and a fearful sign Of human frailty, folly, also crime, 35 That love and marriage rarely can combine, Although they both are born in the same clime; Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine�

1. Signifying sorrow. 3. Abandoned (from the French planter la, to 2. An epigram that Bvron translates from the leave in the lurch). 17th-century French wit Francois de la Rochefou-4. Another epigram from la Rochefoucauld.

cauld.

.

DO N JOAN , CANT O 2 / 71 9 40A sad, sour, sober beverage�by time Is sharpen'd from its high celestial flavour Down to a very homely household savour. 6 There's something of antipathy, as 'twere, Between their present and their future state; A kind of flattery that's hardly fair Is used until the truth arrives too late� 45 Yet what can people do, except despair? The same things change their names at such a rate; For instance�passion in a lover's glorious, But in a husband is pronounced uxorious. 7 5055Men grow ashamed of being so very fond; They sometimes also get a little tired (But that, of course, is rare), and then despond: The same things cannot always be admired, Yet 'tis "so nominated in the bond,"5 That both are tied till one shall have expired. Sad thought! to lose the spouse that was adorning Our days, and put one's servants into mourning. 8 60There's doubtless something in domestic doings, Which forms, in fact, true love's antithesis; Romances paint at full length people's wooings, But only give a bust of marriages; For no one cares for matrimonial cooings, There's nothing wrong in a connubial kiss: Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, He would have written sonnets all his life?6 9 6570 All tragedies are finish'd by a death, All comedies are ended by a marriage; The future states of both are left to faith, For authors fear description might disparage The worlds to come of both, or fall beneath, And then both worlds would punish their miscarriage; So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready, They say no more of Death or of the Lady.7 10 75The only two that in my recollection Have sung of heaven and hell, or marriage, are Dante and Milton, and of both the affection Was hapless in their nuptials, for some bar Of fault or temper ruin'd the connexion (Such things, in fact, it don't ask much to mar);

5. Spoken by Shylock in Shakespeare's The Mer-Laura the subject of his sonnets but loved her only chant of Venice 4.1.254: "Is it so nominated in the from afar. bond?" 7. Alluding to a popular ballad, "Death and the 6. The 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch made Lady."

.

720 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

But Dante's Beatrice and Milton's Eve so Were not drawn from their spouses, you conceive.

11

Some persons say that Dante meant theology By Beatrice, and not a mistress�I, Although my opinion may require apology, Deem this a commentator's phantasy, 85 Unless indeed it was from his own knowledge he

Decided thus, and show'd good reason why; I think that Dante's more abstruse ecstatics Meant to personify the mathematics.

12

Haidee and Juan were not married, but 90 The fault was theirs, not mine: it is not fair, Chaste reader, then, in any way to put The blame on me, unless you wish they were; Then if you'd have them wedded, please to shut The book which treats of this erroneous pair, 95 Before the consequences grow too awful; 'Tis dangerous to read of loves unlawful.

'3

Yet they were happy,�happy in the illicit Indulgence of their innocent desires; But more imprudent grown with every visit, IOO Haidee forgot the island was her sire's; When we have what we like,'tis hard to miss it,

At least in the beginning, ere one tires; Thus she came often, not a moment losing, Whilst her piratical papa was cruising.

14

105 Let not his mode of raising cash seem strange, Although he fleeced the flags of every nation, For into a prime minister but change His title, and 'tis nothing but taxation; But he, more modest, took an humbler range

110 Of life, and in an honester vocation Pursued o'er the high seas his watery journey, And merely practised as a sea-attorney.

15

The good old gentleman had been detain'd By winds and waves, and some important captures; 115 And, in the hope of more, at sea remain'd, Although a squall or two had damp'd his raptures,

By swamping one of the prizes; he had chain'd His prisoners, dividing them like chapters In number'd lots; they all had cuffs and collars,

120 And averaged each from ten to a hundred dollars.

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 4 / 721

101

145 Then having settled his marine affairs,

Despatching single cruisers here and there,

His vessel having need of some repairs,

He shaped his course to where his daughter fair

Continued still her hospitable cares;

150 But that part of the coast being shoal and bare,

And rough with reefs which ran out many a mile,

His port lay on the other side o' the isle.

20

And there he went ashore without delay,

Having no custom-house nor quarantine

155 To ask him awkward questions on the way

About the time and place where he had been:

He left his ship to be hove down next day,

With orders to the people to careen;8

So that all hands were busy beyond measure,

160 In getting out goods, ballast, guns, and treasure.

� # #

27

He saw his white walls shining in the sun,

210 His garden trees all shadowy and green;

He heard his rivulet's light bubbling run,

The distant dog-bark; and perceived between

The umbrage of the wood so cool and dun

The moving figures, and the sparkling sheen

215 Of arms (in the East all arm)�and various dyes

Of colour'd garbs, as bright as butterflies.

28

And as the spot where they appear he nears,

Surprised at these unwonted signs of idling,

He hears�alas! no music of the spheres,

220 But an unhallow'd, earthly sound of fiddling!

A melody which made him doubt his ears,

The cause being past his guessing or unriddling;

A pipe, too, and a drum, and shortly after,

A most unoriental roar of laughter.

* ft � 38

He did not know (Alas! how men will lie)

That a report (especially the Greeks)

Avouch'd his death (such people never die),

300 And put his house in mourning several weeks,

But now their eyes and also lips were dry;

The bloom too had return'd to Haidee's cheeks.

8. To tip a vessel on its side to clean and repair its hull. "To be hove down": to weigh anchor.

.

722 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

Her tears too being return'd into their fount,

She now kept house upon her own account. 39

305 Hence all this rice, meat, dancing, wine, and fiddling,

Which turn'd the isle into a place of pleasure;

The servants all were getting drunk or idling,

A life which made them happy beyond measure.

Her father's hospitality seem'd middling,

310 Compared with what Haidee did with his treasure;

'Twas wonderful how things went on improving,

While she had not one hour to spare from loving.

4� Perhaps you think in stumbling on this feast

He flew into a passion, and in fact

315 There was no mighty reason to be pleased;

Perhaps you prophesy some sudden act,

The whip, the rack, or dungeon at the least,

To teach his people to be more exact,

And that, proceeding at a very high rate, 320 He showed the royal penchants of a pirate.

4 4 1

You're wrong.�He was the mildest manner'd man

That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat;

With such true breeding of a gentleman,

You never could divine his real thought;

325 No courtier could, and scarcely woman can

Gird more deceit within a petticoat;

Pity he loved adventurous life's variety,

He was so great a loss to good society.

* * $

48

Not that he was not sometimes rash or so,

But never in his real and serious mood;

Then calm, concentrated, and still, and slow,

380 He lay coil'd like the boa in the wood;

With him it never was a word and blow,

His angry word once o'er, he shed no blood,

But in his silence there was much to rue,

And his one blow left little work for two. 49

385 He ask'd no further questions, and proceeded

On to the house, but by a private way,

So that the few who met him hardly heeded,

So little they expected him that day;

If love paternal in his bosom pleaded

390

For Haidee's sake, is more than I can say,

But certainly to one deem'd dead returning,

This revel seem'd a curious mode of mourning.

.

188

DON JUAN, CANTO 2 / 723

If all the dead could now return to life,

(Which God forbid!) or some, or a great many,

395 For instance, if a husband or his wife (Nuptial examples are as good as any),

No doubt whate'er might be their former strife,

The present weather would be much more rainy�

Tears shed into the grave of the connexion

400 Would share most probably its resurrection.

5 5 1

He enter'd in the house no more his home,

A thing to human feelings the most trying,

And harder for the heart to overcome,

Perhaps, than even the mental pangs of dying;

405 To find our hearthstone turn'd into a tomb,

And round its once warm precincts palely lying

The ashes of our hopes, is a deep grief,

Beyond a single gentleman's belief.

5 5 2

He enter'd in the house�his home no more,

410 For without hearts there is no home;�and felt

The solitude of passing his own door Without a welcome; there he long had dwelt,

There his few peaceful days Time had swept o'er,

There his worn bosom and keen eye would melt

415 Over the innocence of that sweet child,

His only shrine of feelings undefiled. 53

He was a man of a strange temperament,

Of mild demeanour though of savage mood,

Moderate in all his habits, and content

420 With temperance in pleasure, as in food,

Quick to perceive, and strong to bear, and meant

For something better, if not wholly good;

His country's wrongs9 and his despair to save her

Had stung him from a slave to an enslaver.

a # #

96

But let me to my story: I must own,

If I have any fault, it is digression;

Leaving my people to proceed alone,

860 While I soliloquize beyond expression; But these are my addresses from the throne,1

Which put off business to the ensuing session:

Forgetting each omission is a loss to

The world, not quite so great as Ariosto.2

9. Referring to the Greek nation's subjugation by 2. Byron warmly admired this poet, author of the Ottoman Empire. Orlando Furioso (1 532), the greatest of the Italian

1. The speeches with which the British monarch chivalric romances. opens sessions of Parliament.

.

724 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

97

865 I know that what our neighbours call "longueurs, "3 (We've not so good a word, but have the thing

In that complete perfection which ensures

An epic from Bob Southey4 every spring�)

Form not the true temptation which allures

870 The reader; but 'twould not be hard to bring

Some fine examples of the epopee,5

To prove its grand ingredient is ennui.

98

We learn from Horace, Homer sometimes sleeps;6

We feel without him: Wordsworth sometimes wakes,

875 To show with what complacency he creeps,

With his dear "Waggoners,"7 around his lakes;

He wishes for "a boat" to sail the deeps�

Of ocean?�No, of air; and then he makes

Another outcry for "a little boat,"

880 And drivels seas to set it well afloat.8

99

If he must fain sweep o'er the etherial plain,

And Pegasus9 runs restive in his "waggon,"

Could he not beg the loan of Charles's Wain?1

Or pray Medea for a single dragon?2

885 Or if too classic for his vulgar brain, He fear'd his neck to venture such a nag on,

And he must needs mount nearer to the moon,

Could not the blockhead ask for a balloon?

100

"Pedlars,"3 and "boats," and "waggons!" Oh! Ye shades

890 Of Pope and Dryden, are we come to this?

That trash of such sort not alone evades

Contempt, but from the bathos' vast abyss

Floats scumlike uppermost, and these Jack Cades4

Of sense and song above your graves may hiss�

895 The "little boatman" and his "Peter Bell"

Can sneer at him who drew "Achitophel!"5

3. Boringly wordy passages of verse or prose wagon. (French). 2. When the Argonaut Jason abandoned Medea to

4. Robert Southey (1774-1843), poet laureate take a new wife, she murdered their sons to punish and author of a number of epic-length narrative him, then escaped in a chariot drawn by winged poems. dragons.

5. Epic poem (French). 3. Wordsworth's Peddler is the narrator of the 6. Horace s Art of Poetry 359: "Sometimes great story in his early manuscript The Ruined Cottage Homer nods." (p. 280), which was later incorporated into book 1 7. A reference to Wordsworth's long narrative of The Excursion (1814). poem The Waggoner (1819). 4. A rebel commoner who led an uprising against 8. In the prologue to his poem Peter Bell (1819), Henry VI in 1450. Wordsworth wishes for "a little boat, / In shape a 5. I.e., John Dryden, author of the satiric Absalom very crescent-moon: / Fast through the clouds my and Achitophel (1681), whom Byron greatly boat can sail." admired. Wordsworth had criticized Dryden's

9. The winged horse of Greek myth. poetry in the Essay, Supplementary to the Preface 1. The constellation known in the United States to his Poems (1815). as the Big Dipper. "Wain" is an archaic term for

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 4 / 725

101

T' our tale.�The feast was over, the slaves gone,

The dwarfs and dancing girls had all retired;

The Arab lore and poet's song were done,

900

And every sound of revelry expired;

The lady and her lover, left alone,

The rosy flood of twilight's sky admired;�

Ave Maria!6 o'er the earth and sea,

That heavenliest hour of Heaven is worthiest thee!

102

905 Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!

The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft

Have felt that moment in its fullest power

Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,

While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,

910 Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,

And not a breath crept through the rosy air,

And yet the forest leaves seem'd stirr'd with prayer.

103

Ave Maria! 'tis the hour of prayer!

Ave Maria! 'tis the hour of love!

915 Ave Maria! may our spirits dare

Look up to thine and to thy Son's above!

Ave Maria! oh that face so fair!

Those downcast eyes beneath the Almighty dove�

What though 'tis but a pictured image strike�7

920 That painting is no idol, 'tis too like.

104

Some kinder casuists0 are pleased to say, moralists

In nameless print�that I have no devotion;

But set those persons down with me to pray,

And you shall see who has the properest notion

925 Of getting into Heaven the shortest way;

My altars are the mountains and the ocean,

Earth, air, stars,�all that springs from the great Whole,

Who hath produced, and will receive the soul.

* � *

From Canto 4

[jUAN AND HAIDEE]

3

As boy, I thought myself a clever fellow,

And wish'd that others held the same opinion;

6. Hail, Mary (Latin); the opening words of a prayer is part of the service at these times. Roman Catholic prayer. Ave Maria is sometimes 7. I.e., "those downcast eyes" seize the attention.

used to refer to evening (or morning), because the

.

726 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

They took it up when my days grew more mellow,

20

And other minds acknowledged my dominion:

Now my sere fancy "falls into the yellow Leaf,"1 and imagination droops her pinion,0 wing

And the sad truth which hovers o'er my desk

Turns what was once romantic to burlesque. 4

25 And if I laugh at any mortal thing,

'Tis that I may not weep; and if I weep,

'Tis that our nature cannot always bring

Itself to apathy, for we must steep

Our hearts first in the depths of Lethe's2 spring

30 Ere what we least wish to behold will sleep:

Thetis baptized her mortal son in Styx;3

A mortal mother would on Lethe fix. 5

Some have accused me of a strange design

Against the creed and morals of the land,

35 And trace it in this poem every line:

I don't pretend that I quite understand

My own meaning when I would be very fine,

But the fact is that I have nothing plann'd,

Unless it were to be a moment merry,

40 A novel word in my vocabulary.

6

To the kind reader of our sober clime

This way of writing will appear exotic;

Pulci4 was sire of the half-serious rhyme,

Who sang when chivalry was more Quixotic,

45 And revell'd in the fancies of the time, True knights, chaste dames, huge giants, kings despotic;

But all these, save the last, being obsolete,

I chose a modern subject as more meet. 7

How I have treated it, I do not know;

50 Perhaps no better than they have treated me

Who have imputed such designs as show

Not what they saw, but what they wish'd to see;

But if it gives them pleasure, be it so,

This is a liberal age, and thoughts are free:

55 Meantime Apollo plucks me by the ear,

And tells me to resume my story here.

1. Cf. Shakespeare's Macbeth 5.3.22-24: "My way 4. Author of the Morgante Maggiore, prototype of of life / Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf." the Italian seriocomic romance from which Byron 2. A river in Hades that brings forgetfulnessof life. derived the stanza and manner of Don Jnan (see 3. The river in Hades into which the nymph Thetis headnote, p. 669). dipped Achilles to make him invulnerable.

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 4 / 727

Juan and Haidee gazed upon each other

With swimming looks of speechless tenderness,

Which mix'd all feelings, friend, child, lover, brother,

All that the best can mingle and express

205 When two pure hearts are pour'd in one another,

And love too much, and yet can not love less;

But almost sanctify the sweet excess

By the immortal wish and power to bless.

27

Mix'd in each other's arms, and heart in heart,

210 Why did they not then die?�they had lived too long

Should an hour come to bid them breathe apart;

Years could but bring them cruel things or wrong,

The world was not for them, nor the world's art5

For beings passionate as Sappho's song;

215 Love was born with them, in them, so intense,

It was their very spirit�not a sense.

28

They should have lived together deep in woods,

Unseen as sings the nightingale; they were

Unfit to mix in these thick solitudes

220 Call'd social, haunts of Hate, and Vice, and Care:

How lonely every freeborn creature broods! The sweetest song-birds nestle in a pair;

The eagle soars alone; the gull and crow

Flock o'er their carrion, just like men below.

29

225 Now pillow'd cheek to cheek, in loving sleep,

Haidee and Juan their siesta took,

A gentle slumber, but it was not deep,

For ever and anon a something shook

Juan, and shuddering o'er his frame would creep;

230 And Haidee's sweet lips murmur'd like a brook

A wordless music, and her face so fair

Stirr'd with her dream as rose-leaves with the air;

3�

Or as the stirring of a deep clear stream

Within an Alpine hollow, when the wind

235 Walks o'er it, was she shaken by the dream,

The mystical usurper of the mind�

O'erpowering us to be whate'er may seem

Good to the soul which we no more can bind;

Strange state of being! (for 'tis still to be)

240 Senseless to feel, and with seal'd eyes to see.

31

She dream'd of being alone on the sea-shore,

Chain'd to a rock; she knew not how, but stir

5. An echo of Romeo's words to the impoverished apothecary: "The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law" (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet 5.1.72).

.

728 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

She could not from the spot, and the loud roar

Grew, and each wave rose roughly, threatening her;

And o'er her upper lip they seem'd to pour,

Until she sobb'd for breath, and soon they were

Foaming o'er her lone head, so fierce and high�

Each broke to drown her, yet she could not die.

32

Anon�she was released, and then she stray'd

O'er the sharp shingles0 with her bleeding feet, loose pebbles

And stumbled almost every step she made;

And something roll'd before her in a sheet,

Which she must still pursue howe'er afraid;

'Twas white and indistinct, nor stopp'd to meet

Her glance nor grasp, for still she gazed and grasp'd,

And ran, but it escaped her as she clasp'd. 33

The dream changed; in a cave she stood, its walls

Were hung with marble icicles; the work

Of ages on its water-fretted halls,

Where waves might wash, and seals might breed and lurk;

Her hair was dripping, and the very balls

Of her black eyes seemed turn'd to tears, and murk

The sharp rocks look'd below each drop they caught,

Which froze to marble as it fell, she thought. 34

And wet, and cold, and lifeless at her feet,

Pale as the foam that froth'd on his dead brow,

Which she essay'd in vain to clear, (how sweet

Were once her cares, how idle seem'd they now!)

Lay Juan, nor could aught renew the beat

Of his quench'd heart; and the sea dirges low

Rang in her sad ears like a mermaid's song,

And that brief dream appear'd a life too long. 35

And gazing on the dead, she thought his face

Faded, or alter'd into something new�

Like to her father's features, till each trace

More like and like to Lambro's aspect grew�

With all his keen worn look and Grecian grace;

And starting, she awoke, and what to view?

Oh! Powers of Heaven! what dark eye meets she there?

'Tis�'tis her father's�fix'd upon the pair!

36

Then shrieking, she arose, and shrieking fell,

With joy and sorrow, hope and fear, to see

Him whom she deem'd a habitant where dwell

The ocean-buried, risen from death, to be

Perchance the death of one she loved too well:

Dear as her father had been to Haidee,

.

DON JOAN, CANTO 2 / 729

It was a moment of that awful kind�

I have seen such�but must not call to mind. 37

Up Juan sprung to Haidee's bitter shriek,

And caught her falling, and from off the wall

Snatch'd down his sabre, in hot haste to wreak

Vengeance on him who was the cause of all:

Then Lambro, who till now forbore to speak,

Smiled scornfully, and said, "Within my call,

A thousand scimitars await the word;

Put up, young man, put up your silly sword."

38

And Haidee clung around him; "Juan,'tis�

'Tis Lambro�'tis my father! Kneel with me�

He will forgive us�yes�it must be�yes.

Oh! dearest father, in this agony

Of pleasure and of pain�even while I kiss

Thy garment's hem with transport, can it be

That doubt should mingle with my filial joy?

Deal with me as thou wilt, but spare this boy." 39

High and inscrutable the old man stood,

Calm in his voice, and calm within his eye�

Not always signs with him of calmest mood:

He look'd upon her, but gave no reply;

Then turn'd to Juan, in whose cheek the blood

Oft came and went, as there resolved to die;

In arms, at least, he stood, in act to spring

On the first foe whom Lambro's call might bring.

40

"Young man, your sword"; so Lambro once more said:

Juan replied, "Not while this arm is free."

The old man's cheek grew pale, but not with dread,

And drawing from his belt a pistol, he

Replied, "Your blood be then on your own head."

Then look'd close at the flint, as if to see

'Twas fresh�for he had lately used the lock6�

And next proceeded quietly to cock.

41

It has a strange quick jar upon the ear,

That cocking of a pistol, when you know

A moment more will bring the sight to bear

Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so;

A gentlemanly distance,7 not too near,

If you have got a former friend for foe;

But after being fired at once or twice,

The ear becomes more Irish, and less nice.8

6. The part of the gun that explodes the charge. 8. Finicky. Byron alludes to the propensity of hot7. I.e., dueling distance. headed young Irishmen to fight duels.

.

730 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

42

Lambro presented, and one instant more

330

Had stopp'd this Canto, and Don Juan's breath,

When Haidee threw herself her boy before;

Stern as her sire: "On me," she cried, "let death

Descend�the fault is mine; this fatal shore

He found�but sought not. I have pledged my faith;

335 I love him�I will die with him: I knew

Your nature's firmness�know your daughter's too." 43

A minute past, and she had been all tears,

And tenderness, and infancy: but now

She stood as one who champion'd human fears�

340 Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow; And tall beyond her sex, and their compeers,9 She drew up to her height, as if to show

A fairer mark; and with a fix'd eye scann'd

Her father's face�but never stopp'd his hand. 44

345 He gazed on her, and she on him; 'twas strange

How like they look'd! the expression was the same;

Serenely savage, with a little change

In the large dark eye's mutual-darted flame;

For she too was as one who could avenge,

350 If cause should be�a lioness, though tame:

Her father's blood before her father's face

Boil'cl up, and prov'd her truly of his race. 45

I said they were alike, their features and

Their stature differing but in sex and years;

355 Even to the delicacy of their hand

There was resemblance, such as true blood wears;

And now to see them, thus divided, stand

In fix'd ferocity, when joyous tears,

And sweet sensations, should have welcomed both,

360 Show what the passions are in their full growth.

46

The father paused a moment, then withdrew

His weapon, and replaced it; but stood still,

And looking on her, as to look her through,

"Not I," he said, "have sought this stranger's ill;

365 Not I have made this desolation: few

Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill;

But I must do my duty�how thou hast

Done thine, the present vouches for the past. 47

"Let him disarm; or, by my father's head,

370

His own shall roll before you like a ball!"

9. i.e., she was the match in height of Lambro and Juan.

.

DON JUAN, CANTO 4 / 73 1

He raised his whistle, as the word he said,

And blew; another answer'd to the call,

And rushing in disorderly, though led,

And arm'd from boot to turban, one and all,

375 Some twenty of his train came, rank on rank;

He gave the word, "Arrest or slay the Frank."1

48

Then, with a sudden movement, he withdrew

His daughter; while compress'd within his clasp,

Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew;

380 In vain she struggled in her father's grasp�

His arms were like a serpent's coil: then flew

Upon their prey, as darts an angry asp,

The file of pirates; save the foremost, who

Had fallen, with his right shoulder half cut through. 49

385 The second had his cheek laid open; but

The third, a wary, cool old sworder, took

The blows upon his cutlass, and then put

His own well in; so well, ere you could look,

His man was floor'd, and helpless at his foot,

390 With the blood running like a little brook

From two smart sabre gashes, deep and red�

One on the arm, the other on the head.

5� And then they bound him where he fell, and bore

Juan from the apartment: with a sign

395 Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore,

Where lay some ships which were to sail at nine.

They laid him in a boat, and plied the oar

Until they reach'd some galliots,2 placed in line;

On board of one of these, and under hatches,

400 They stow'd him, with strict orders to the watches.

5i

The world is full of strange vicissitudes,

And here was one exceedingly unpleasant:

A gentleman so rich in the world's goods,

Handsome and young, enjoying all the present,

405 Just at the very time when he least broods

On such a thing is suddenly to sea sent,

Wounded and chain'd, so that he cannot move,

And all because a lady fell in love.

� �

56

Afric is all the sun's, and as her earth

Her human clay is kindled; full of power

1. Term used in the Near East to designate a 2. Small, fast galleys, propelled by both oars and Western European. sails.

.

732 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

For good or evil, burning from its birth,

The Moorish blood partakes the planet's hour,

445 And like the soil beneath it will bring forth: Beauty and love were Haidee's mother's dower;0 dmvry

But her large dark eye show'd deep Passion's force,

Though sleeping like a lion near a source. 57

Her daughter, temper'd with a milder ray,

450 Like summer clouds all silvery, smooth, and fair,

Till slowly charged with thunder they display

Terror to earth, and tempest to the air,

Had held till now her soft and milky way;

But overwrought with passion and despair,

455 The fire burst forth from her Numidian0 veins, North African Even as the Simoom3 sweeps the blasted plains.

58

The last sight which she saw was Juan's gore,

And he himself o'ermaster'd and cut down;

His blood was running on the very floor

460 Where late he trod, her beautiful, her own;

Thus much she view'd an instant and no more,�

Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan;

On her sire's arm, which until now scarce held

Her writhing, fell she like a cedar fell'd. 59

465 A vein had burst, and her sweet lips' pure dyes

Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er;4

And her head droop'd as when the lily lies

O'ercharged with rain: her summon'd handmaids bore

Their lady to her couch with gushing eyes;

470 Of herbs and cordials they produced their store,

But she defied all means they could employ,

Like one life could not hold, nor death destroy.

60

Days lay she in that state unchanged, though chill

With nothing livid,5 still her lips were red;

475 She had no pulse, but death seem'd absent still;

No hideous sign proclaim'd her surely dead;

Corruption came not in each mind to kill

All hope; to look upon her sweet face bred

New thoughts of life, for it seem'd full of soul,

480 She had so much, earth could not claim the whole.

* $ *

3. A violent, hot, dust-laden desert wind. note]. 4. This is no very uncommon effect of the violence 5. I.e., though she was ashen pale, of conflicting and different passions [Byron's

.

101 DO N JUAN , CANT O 4 / 73 3 545550 Twelve days and nights she wither'd thus; at last, Without a groan, or sigh, or glance, to show A parting pang, the spirit from her past:� And they who watch'd her nearest could not know The very instant, till the change that cast Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow, Glazed o'er her eyes�the beautiful, the black� Oh! to possess such lustre�and then lack! passed 55556070 She died, but not alone; she held within A second principle of life, which might Have dawn'd a fair and sinless child of sin; But closed its little being without light, And went down to the grave unborn, wherein Blossom and bough lie wither'd with one blight; In vain the dews of Heaven descend above The bleeding flower and blasted fruit of love. 56571 Thus lived�thus died she; never more on her Shall sorrow light, or shame. She was not made Through years or moons the inner weight to bear, Which colder hearts endure till they are laid By age in earth; her days and pleasures were Brief, but delightful�such as had not staid Long with her destiny; but she sleeps well By the sea shore, whereon she loved to dwell. 57057558072 That isle is now all desolate and bare, Its dwellings down, its tenants past away; None but her own and father's grave is there, And nothing outward tells of human clay; Ye could not know where lies a thing so fair, No stone is there to show, no tongue to say What was; no dirge, except the hollow sea's, Mourns o'er the beauty of the Cyclades. 73 But many a Greek maid in a loving song Sighs o'er her name; and many an islander With her sire's story makes the night less long; Valour was his, and beauty dwelt with her; If she loved rashly, her life paid for wrong� A heavy price must all pay who thus err, In some shape; let none think to fly the danger, For soon or late Love is his own avenger.