And no great good seem'd answer'd if she | They blush, and we believe them: at least I
Have always done; 'tis of no great use,
In any case, attempting a reply,
For then their eloquence grows quite profuse;
And when at length they are out of breath,
they sigh,
Regarding both with slow and sidelong view, She snuff'd the candle, curtsied, and withdrew.
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 “rig-
marole."
Julia said nought; though all the while there rose
And cast their languid eyes down, and let loose
A tear or two, and then we make it up; And then-and then-and then-sit down and sup.
Alfonso closed his speech, and begg'd her
pardon,
Which Julia half withheld, and then half
granted,
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 haunt
A ready answer, which at once enables
A matron, who her husband's foible knows,
By a few timely words to turn the tables,
Which, if it does not silence, still must pose, | Beseeching she no further would refusc,
Even if it should comprise a pack of fables; When lo! he stumbled o’er a pair of shoes.
'Tis to retort with firmness, and when he
Suspects with one, do you reproach with
three.
Julia, in fact, had tolerable grounds,
Alfonso's loves with Inez were well known;
But whether 'twas that one's own guilt
confounds-
But that can't be, as has been often shown;
A lady with apologies abounds:
It might be that her silence sprang alone
From delicacy to Don Juan's ear,
To whom she knew his mother's fame was
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
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.
He left the room for his relinquish'd sword,
And Julia instant to the closet flew.
"Fly, Juan, fly! for heaven's sake-not a
word-
There might be one more motive, which The door is open -you may yet slip through
Alfonso ne'er to Juan had alluded,
Mention'd his jealousy, but never who
Had been the happy lover, he concluded,
Conceal'd amongst his premises; 'tis true,
His mind the more o'er this its mystery
brooded;
To speak of Inez now were, one may say,
Like throwing Juan in Alfonso's way.
A hint, in tender cases, is enough;
Silence is best, besides there is a tact
(That modern phrase appears to me sad
stuff,
But it will serve to keep my verse compact)
Which keeps, when push'd by questions
rather rough,
A lady always distant from the fact—
The charming creatures lie with such a
grace,
There's nothing so becoming to the face.
The passage you so often have explored
Here is the garden-key-Fly-fly-Adieu!
Haste-haste!-I hear Alfonso's hurrying
feet-
Day has not broke-there's no one in the
street."
None can say that this was not good advice,
The only mischief was, it came too late;
Of all experience 'tis the usual price,
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.
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.