XXIV.

What with a small diversity of climate,
Of hot or cold, mercurial or sedate,
I could send forth my mandate like a primate,
Upon the rest of Europe's social state;
But thou art the most difficult to rhyme at,
Great Britain, which the Muse may penetrate,
All countries have their "Lions," but in thee
There is but one superb menagerie,

XXV,

But I am sick of politics. Begin,
"Paulo Majora.' Juan, undecided
Amongst the paths of being" taken in,"

Above the ice had like a skater glided:
When tired of play, he flirted without sin

With some of those fair creaturcs who have prided Themselves on innocent tantalisation,

And hate all vice except its reputation,

XXVI,

But these are few, and in the end they make
Some devilish escapade or stir, which shows

That even the purest people may mistake

Their way through virtue's primrose paths of snows; And then men stare, as if a new ass spake

To Balaam, and from tongue to ear o'erflows

Quicksilver small talk, ending (if you note it)

[it?"

With the kind world's amen-"Who would have thought

XXVII,

The little Leila, with her orient eyes,
And taciturn Asiatic disposition,

(Which saw all western things with small surprise,
To the surprise of people of condition,
Who think that novelties are butterflies
To be pursued as food for inanition,)
Her charming figure and romantic history
Became a kind of fashionable mystery.

388

XXVIII.

The women much divided

-as is usual

Amongst the sex in little things or great.

Think not, fair creatures, that I mean to abuse you all
I have always liked you better than I state:
Since I've grown moral, still I must accuse you all
Of being apt to talk at a great rate;

And now there was a general sensation
Amongst you, about Leila's education.

XXIX.

In one point only were you

settled and

You had reason; 't was that a young child of grace, As beautiful as her own native land,

And far away, the last bud of her race,

Howe'er our friend Don Juan might command
Himself for five, four, three, or two years' space,

Would be much better taught beneath the eye
Of peeresses whose follies had run dry.

XXX.

So first there was a generous emulation,
And then there was a general competition
To undertake the orphan's education.
As Juan was a person of condition,
It had been an affront on this occasion
To talk of a subscription or petition;

But sixteen dowagers, ten unwed she sages,
Whose tale belongs to Hallam's Middle Ages,"

XXXI.

And one or two sad, separate wives, without
A fruit to bloom upon their withering bough
Begged to bring up the little girl, and "out," -
For that 's the phrase that settles all things now,
Meaning a virgin's first blush at a rout,

And all her points as thorough-bred to show:
And I assure you, that like virgin honey

Tastes their first season (mostly if they have money).

XXXII.

How all the needy honourable misters,
Each out-at-elbow peer, or desperate dandy,
The watchful mothers, and the careful sisters,

(Who, by the by, when clever, are more handy
At making matches, where "'t is gold that glisters,"
Than their he relatives,) like flies o'er candy,
Buzz round "the Fortune" with their busy battery,
To turn her head with waltzing and with flattery!

XXXIII.

Each aunt, each cousin, hath her speculation;
Nay, married dames will now and then discover
Such pure disinterestedness of passion,

I've known them court an heiress for their love. "Tantæne! Such the virtues of high station,

Even in the hopeful Isle, whose outlet 's "Dover!" While the poor rich wretch, object of these cares, Has cause to wish her sire had had male heirs.

XXXIV.

Some are soon bagg'd, and some reject three dozen.
"I is fine to see them scattering refusals

And wild dismay o'er every angry cousin
(Friends of the party), who begin accusals
Such as

"Unless Miss (Blank) meant to have chosen Poor Frederick, why did she accord perusals To his billets? Why waltz with him? Why, I pray, Look yes last night, and yet say no to-day?

The time will come she 'll wish that she had snatch'd

So good an opportunity, no doubt:

But the old marchioness some plan had hatch'd,

As I'll tell Aurea at to-morrow's rout:

And after all poor Frederick

may

do better

Pray did you see her answer to his letter?"

390

CANTO XII.

XXXVI.

Smart uniforms and sparkling coronets
Are spurn'd in turn, until her turn arrives,
After male loss of time, and hearts, and bets
Upon the sweepstakes for substantial wives;
And when at last the pretty creature gets

Some gentleman, who fights, or writes, or drives,
It soothes the awkward squad of the rejected
To find how very badly she selected.

For sometimes they accept some long pursuer,
Worn out with importunity; or fall
(But here perhaps the instances are fewer)
To the lot of him who scarce pursued at all.
A hazy widower turn'd of forty 's sure

(If 't is not vain examples to recall)

*

To draw a high prize: now, howe'er he got her, I
See nought more strange in this than t' other lottery.

XXXVIII.

I, for my part-
(one "modern instance more,
"True, 't is a pity-pity 't is, 't is true ")
Was chosen from out an amatory score,

Albeit my years were less discreet than few ;
But though I also had reform'd before

Those became one who soon were to be two,
I'll not gainsay the generous public's voice,
That the young lady made a monstrous choice.

XXXIX.

Oh, pardon my digression or at least
Peruse! "T is always with a moral end
That I dissert, like grace before a feast:
For like an aged aunt, or tiresome friend,
A rigid guardian, or a zealous priest,

My Muse by exhortation means to mend
All people, at all times, and in most places,
Which puts my Pegasus to these grave paces.

*This line may puzzle the commentators more than the present generation.

XL.

But now I'm going to be immoral; now
I mean to show things really as they are,
Not as they ought to be: for I avow,

That till we see what 's what in fact, we 're far
From much improvement with that virtuous plough
Which skims the surface, leaving scarce a scar
Upon the black loam long manured by Vice,
Only to keep its corn at the old price.

XLI.

But first of little Leila we 'll dispose;

For like a day-dawn she was young and pure, Or like the old comparison of snows,

Which are more pure than pleasant to be sure. Like many people every body knows,

Don Juan was delighted to secure

A goodly guardian for his infant charge,
Who might not profit much by being at large.

XLII.

Besides, he had found out he was no tutor

(I wish that others would find out the same); And rather wish'd in such things to stand neuter, For silly wards will bring their guardians blame : So when he saw each ancient dame a suitor

To make his little wild Asiatic tame,

Consulting" the Society for Vice

Suppression," Lady Pinchbeck was his choice.

XLIII.

Olden she was - but had been very young;
Virtuous she was and had been, I believe;
Although the world has such an evil tongue
- but my chaster ear will not receive
An echo of a syllable that 's wrong :

That

In fact, there's nothing makes me so much grieve,

As that abominable tittle-tattle,

Which is the cud eschew'd by human cattle.