CXXV. At length, in an imperial way, she laid Look'd into his for love, where none replies: Her brow grew black, but she would not upbraid, That being the last thing a proud woman tries; She rose, and, pausing one chaste moment, threw Herself upon his breast, and there she grew. CXXVI. This was an awkward test, as Juan found, But he was steel'd by sorrow, wrath, and pride: CXXVII. 125 126 "Thou ask'st if I can love: be this the proof 127 I am not dazzled by this splendid roof; Whate'er thy power, and great it seems to be; Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch, around a throne, CXXVIII. This was a truth to us extremely trite; Not so to her, who ne'er had heard such things: She hardly knew, to such perfection brings CXXIX. Besides, as has been said, she was so fair, A kingdom or confusion any where; And also, as may be presum'd, she laid 128 129 CXXX. Remember, or (if you can not) imagine, Ye! who have kept your chastity when young, CXXXI. Suppose, but you already have suppos'd, To educate-ye youth of Europe-you by! CXXXII. A tigress robb'd of young, a lioness, Are similes at hand for the distress Of ladies who can not have their own way; CXXXIII. The love of offspring's nature's general law, From tigresses and cubs to ducks and ducklings: There's nothing whets the beak, or arms the claw, Like an invasion of their babes and sucklings; And all who have seen a human nursery,saw 130 131 132 133 How mothers love their children's squalls and chucklings; This strong extreme effect (to tire no longer Your patience) shows the cause must still be stronger. CXXXIV. If I said fire flash'd from Gulbeyaz' eyes, "Twere nothing-for her eyes flash'd always fire; Or said her cheeks assum'd the deepest dyes, So supernatural was her passion's rise; For ne'er till now she knew a check'd desire: Even ye who know what a check'd woman is, (Enough, God knows!) would much fall short of this. 134 CXXXV. Her rage was but a minute's, and 't was well- Like ocean warring 'gainst a rocky isle; CXXXVI. A vulgar tempest 'twere to a typhoon, Perhaps the fault of her soft sex and age- CXXXVII. A storm it rag'd, and like the storm it pass'd, Pass'd without words-in fact, she could not speak; And then her sex's shame broke in at last, But now it flow'd in natural and fast, As water through an unexpected leak, It teaches them that they are flesh and blood; LXXXIX. Her first thought was to cut off Juan's head; Her fifth, to call her maids, and go to bed; Her sixth, to stab herself; her seventh, to sentence 135 136 137 138 139 CXL. She thought to stab herself, but then she had The dagger close at hand, which made it awkward; For Eastern stays are little made to pad, So that a poniard pierces, if 't is stuck hard: She thought of killing Juan-but, poor lad! Though he deserv'd it well for being so backward, CXLI. Juan was mov'd: he had made up his mind Rather than sin-except to his own wish CXLII. : 140 141 As through his palms Bob Acres' valour ooz'd, 142 And next his savage virtue he accus'd, Or as a dame repents her of her oath, Which mostly ends in some small breach of both. CXLIII. So he began to stammer some excuses: But words are not enough in such a matter, Although you borrow'd all that e'er the muses Have sung, or even a Dandy's dandiest chatter, Or all the figures Castlereagh abuses: Just as a languid smile began to flatter, CXLIV. "Bride of the Sun! and Sister of the Moon!" ('Twas thus he spake,) "and Empress of the Earth! 143 144 |