Don Juan. CANTO THE FIFTH. I. WHEN amatory poets sing their loves And pair their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves, The greater their success, the worse it proves, IL I therefore do denounce all amorous writing, III. The European with the Asian shore Sprinkled with palaces; the ocean-stream Here and there studded with a seventy-four; Sophia's Cupola, with golden gleam; The cypress groves; Olympus high and hoar; The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream, Far less describe, present the very view Which charm'd the charming Mary Montagu. IV. I have a passion for the name of "Mary," All feelings chang'd, but this was last to vary, A spell from which even yet I am not quite free: But I grow sad-and let a tale grow cold, Which must not be pathetically told. 1 2 3 V. 5 The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave VI. 'Twas a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning, In all who o'er the great deep take their ways: VII. A crowd of shivering slaves, of every nation, Poor creatures! their good looks were sadly chang'd; And, save the blacks, seem'd jaded with vexation, From friends, and home, and freedom, far estrang'd; The negroes more philosophy display'd, Us'd to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flay'd. VIII. Juan was juvenile, and thus was full, As most at his age are, of hope and health; Yet I must own he look'd a little dull, And now and then a tear stole down by stealth: His spirit down; and then the loss of wealth, IX. Were things to shake a stoic; ne'ertheless, Of which some gilded remnants still were seen, He was above the vulgar, by his mien; And then, though pale, he was so very handsome: 6 7 8 9 X. Like a backgammon board, the place was dotted With whites and blacks, in groups, on show for sale, Some bought the jet, while others chose the pale. With resolution in his dark grey eye, Next Juan stood, till some might choose to buy. XI. He had an English look: that is, was square One arm had on a bandage, rather bloody; And there he stood with such sang-froid, that greater XII. But seeing at his elbow a mere lad, At present weigh'd down by a doom which had A kind of blunt compassion for the sad Lot of so young a partner in the woe, XIII. "My boy," said he, "amidst this motley crew All ragamuffins differing but in hue, With whom it is our luck to cast our lot, The only gentlemen seem I and you; So let us be acquainted, as we ought: If I could yield you any consolation, 'Twould give me pleasure.-Pray, what is your nation ?" XIV. When Juan answer'd-" Spanish!" he replied, But that's her way with all men, till they're tried; 10 11 12 13 14 XV. "Pray, sir," said Juan, "if I may presume, 15 What brought you here ?"-"Oh! nothing very rareSix Tartars and a drag-chain"To this doom, " But what conducted, if the question's fair, Is that which I would learn.""I serv'd for some A town, was ta'en myself, instead of Widdin." XVI. "Have you no friends ?"-" I had-but, by God's blessing Have not been troubled with them lately. Now I have answer'd all your questions, without pressing, XVII. "But droop not: Fortune, at your time of life, I XVIII. " ""Tis not," said Juan, "for my present doom mourn, but for the past:-I lov'd a maid:"He paus'd, and his dark eye grew full of gloom; A single tear upon his eyelash staid A moment, and then dropp'd; "but to resume, Which I deplore so much; for I have borne XIX. 16 17 18 "On the rough deep. But this last blow-" and here 19 He stopp'd again, and turn'd away his face. "Ah!" quoth his friend, "I thought it would appear That there had been a lady in the case; And these are things which ask a tender tear, Such as I, too, would shed, if in your place : I cried upon my first wife's dying day, And also when my second ran away: XX. 20 "My third-"-"Your third!" quoth Juan, turning round; "You scarcely can be thirty: have you three ?" "No-only two at present above ground: Surely 'tis nothing wonderful to see One person thrice in holy wedlock bound!" "Well then, your third," said Juan; "what did she? She did not run away too,-did she, sir?" "No, faith."-" What then?"-"I ran away from her." XXI. "You take things coolly, sir," said Juan. "Why," There still are many rainbows in your sky, XXII. "'Tis true, it gets another bright and fresh, Or sometimes only wear a week or two;- XXIII. "All this is very fine, and may be true," XXIV. "Would we were masters now, if but to try Their present lessons on our Pagan friends here," Said Juan,-swallowing a heart-burning sigh: 21 22 23 24 "Heaven help the scholar whom his fortune sends here." "Perhaps we shall be, one day, by and by," Rejoin'd the other, "when our bad luck mends here; Meantime (yon old black eunuch seems to eye us) I wish to G-d that somebody would buy us. |