NOTES TO CANTO FIRST.

Note 1, page 4, stanza v.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.
"Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona," &c.-HORACE.

Note 2, page 7, stanza xvii.

Save thine "incomparable oil" Macassar! "Description des vertue incomparables de l'huile de "Macassar."-See the advertisement.

Note 3, page 13, stanza xlii.

Although Longinus tells us there is no hymn
Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample.

See Longinus, Section 10, να μη εν τι περι αυτην παθος φαίνηται, παθων δε συνοδος.”

Note 4, page 14, stanza xliv.

They only add them all in an appendix.

Fact. There is, or was, such an edition, with all the obnoxious epigrams of Martial placed by themselves at the end.

Note 5, page 25, stanza lxxxviii.

The bard I quote from does not sing amiss.

Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming. (I think) the opening of Canto II.; but quote from memory.

Note 6, page 40, stanza cxlviii.

Is it for this that General Count O'Reilly,

Who took Algiers, declares I used him vilely?

Donna Julia here made a mistake. Count O'Reilly did not take Algiers-but Algiers very nearly took him he and his army and fleet retreated with great loss, and not much credit, from before that city in the year 17

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Note 7, page 57, stanza ccxvi.

My days of love are over, me no more.

Me nec femina, nec puer,

Jam, nec spes animi credula mutui
Nec certare juvat mero:

Nec vincire novis tempora floribus.

DON JUAN.

CANTO II.

I.

OH ye! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations, Holland, France, England, Germany, or Spain, 1 pray ye flog them upon all occasions,

It mends their morals; never mind the pain; The best of mothers and of educations,

In Juan's case, were but employ'd in vain, Since in a way, that's rather of the oddest, he Became divested of his native modesty.

II.

Had he but been placed at a public school,
In the third form, or even in the fourth,
His daily task had kept his fancy cool,

At least, had he been nurtured in the north;
Spain may prove an exception to the rule.

But then exceptions always prove its worthA lad of sixteen causing a divorce,

Puzzled his tutors very much, of course.

III.

I can't say that it puzzles me at all,

If all things be consider'd: first there was His lady mother, mathematical,

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-never mind; his tutor an old ass; A pretty woman-(that's quite natural,

Or else the thing had hardly come to pass ;) A husband rather old, not much in unity With his young wife-a time, and opportunity.

IV.

;

Well-well, the world must turn upon its axis,
And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails,
And live and die, make love and pay our taxes,
And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails
The king commands us, and the doctor quacks us,
The priest instructs us, and so our life exhales
A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame,
Fighting, devotion, dust-perhaps a name.

V.

I said, that Juan had been sent to Cadiz-
A pretty town-I recollect it well-
"Tis there the mart of the colonial trade is,
(Or was, before Peru learn'd to rebel)
And such sweet girls-I mean, such graceful ladies,
Their very walk would make your bosom swell;
I can't describe it, though so much it strike,
Nor liken it-I never saw the like:

VI.

An Arab horse, a stately stag, a barb
New broke, a camelopard, a gazelle,
No-none of these will do:-and then their garb!
Their veil and petticoat-Alas! to dwell
Upon such things, would very near absorb
A canto-then their feet and ancles-well
Thank Heaven I've got no metaphor quite ready,
(And so, my sober Muse come let's be steady-

VII.

Chaste Muse!-well, if you must, you must)-the veil Thrown back a moment with the glancing hand, While the o'erpowering eye, that turns you pale, Flashes into the heart: all-sunny land

Of love! when I forget you, may I fail

To say my prayers but never was there plann'd A dress through which the eye gives such a volley, Excepting the Venetian Fazzioli.

VIII.

But to our tale: the Donna Inez sent

Her son to Cadiz only to embark;

To stay there had not answer'd her intent;

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.

IX.

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)

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.

X.

In the mean time, to pass her hours away,
Brave Inez now set up a Sunday school
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 grent success of Juan's education
Spurr'd her to teach another generation.

XI.

Juan embark'd-the ship got under weigh,
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; 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.

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