XXXVIII.

He did not know (Alas! how men will lie)
That a report (especially the Greeks)
Avouch'd his death (such people never die),

And put his house in mourning several weeks,
But now their eyes and also lips were dry;

The bloom too had return'd to Haidée's cheeks. Her tears too being return'd into their fount, upon her own account.

She now kept house

XXXIX.

Hence all this rice, meat, dancing, wine, and fiddling,
Which turn'd the isle into a place of pleasure;

The servants all were getting drunk or idling,
A life which made them happy beyond measure.
Her father's hospitality seem'd middling,

Compared with what Haidée did with his treasure; "Twas wonderful how things went on improving, While she had not one hour to spare from loving.

XL.

Perhaps you think in stumbling on this feast
He flew into a passion, and in fact

There was no mighty reason to be pleased;
Perhaps you prophesy some sudden act,
The whip, the rack, or dungeon at the least,
To teach his people to be more exact,
And that, proceeding at a very high rate,
He show'd the royal penchants of a pirate.

XLI.

You're wrong.—He was the mildest manner'd man

That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat;
With such true breeding of a gentleman,
You never could divine his real thought;
No courtier could, and scarcely woman can
Gird more deceit within a petticoat;
Pity he loved adventurous life's variety,
He was so great a loss to good society.

XLII.

Advancing to the nearest dinner tray,
Tapping the shoulder of the nighest guest,
With a peculiar smile, which, by the way,
Boded no good, whatever it express'd,

He asked the meaning of this holiday;

The vinous Greek to whom he had address'd

His question, much too merry to divine

The questioner, fill'd up a glass of wine,

XLIII.

And without turning his facetious head,

Over his shoulder, with a Bacchant air, Presented the o'erflowing cup, and said,

“Talking's dry work, I have no time to spare.” A second hiccup'd, “Our old master's dead,

"You'd better ask our mistress who's his heir.” "Our mistress!" quoth a third: "Our mistress!-pooh!— "You mean our master-not the old but new."

XLIV.

These rascals, being new comers, knew not whom
They thus address'd—and Lambro's visage fell—
And o'er his eye a momentary gloom

Pass'd, but he strove quite courteously to quell
The expression, and endeavouring to resume
His smile, requested one of them to tell

The name and quality of his new patron,

Who seem'd to have turn'd Haidée into a matron.

XLV.

"I know not," quoth the fellow, "who or what "He is, nor whence he came and little care; "But this I know, that this roast capon's fat, "And that good wine ne'er wash'd down better fare;

“And if you are not satisfied with that,

"Direct your questions to my neighbour there; "He'll answer all for better or for worse,

"For none likes more to hear himself converse.” 1

XLVI.

I said that Lambro was a man of patience,

And certainly he show'd the best of breeding, Which scarce even France, the paragon of nations, E'er saw her most polite of sons exceeding; He bore these sneers against his near relations, His own anxiety, his heart too bleeding, The insults too of every servile glutton, Who all the time were eating up his mutton.

XLVII.

Now in a person used to much command

To bid men come, and go, and come again— To see his orders done too out of hand

It

Whether the word was death, or but the chain—

may seem strange to find his manners bland;

Yet such things are, which I can not explain, Though doubtless he who can command himself Is good to govern—almost as a Guelf.