XXXV.

Their talk of course ran most on the new comer,
Her shape, her hair, her air, her every thing:
Some thought her dress did not so much become her,
Or wonder'd at her ears without a ring ;

Some said her years were getting nigh their summer,
Other contended they were but in spring;

Some thought her rather masculine in height,
While others wish'd that she had been so quite.

XXXVI.

But no one doubted, on the whole, that she
Was what her dress bespoke, a damsel fair
And fresh, and "beautiful exceedingly,"
Who with the brightest Georgians might compare:
They wonder'd how Gulbeyaz too could be
So silly as to buy slaves who might share
(If that his highness wearied of his bride)
Her throne and power, and every thing beside.

XXXVII.

But what was strangest in this virgin crew,
Although her beauty was enough to vex,
After the first investigating view,

They all found out as few, or fewer, specks,
In the fair form of their companion new,

Than is the custom of the gentle sex,

When then survey, with christian eyes or heathen,
In a new face the ugliest creature breathing."

XXXVIII.

And yet they had their little jealousies,

Like all the rest; but upon this occasion,
Whether there are such things as sympathies
Without our knowledge or our approbation,
Although they could not see through his disguise,
All felt a soft kind of concatenation,

Like magnetism, or devilism, or what
You please we will not quarrel about that:

XXXIX.

But certain 't is they all felt for their new

Companion something newer still, as 't were A sentimental friendship through and through, Extremely pure which made them all concur In wishing her their sister, save a few

Who wish'd they had a brother just like her, Whom, if they were at home in sweet Circassia, They would prefer to Padisha or Pacha.

XL

Of those who had most genius for this sort
Of sentimental friendship, there were three,
Lolah, Katinka and Dudù;-in short

(To save description), fair as fair can be Were they, according to the best report,

Though differing in stature and degree,
And clime and time, and country and complexion;
They all alike admired their new connexion.

XLI.

Lolah was dusk as India, and as warm;
Katinka was a Georgian, white and red,
With great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm,
And feet so small they scarce seem'd made to tread,
But rather skim the earth; while Dudu's form
Look'd more adapted to be put to bed,
Being somewhat large and languishing and lazy,
Yet of a beauty that would drive you crazy.

XLII.

A kind of sleepy Venus seem'd Dudù,
Yet very fit to "murder sleep" in those
Who gazed upon her cheek's transcendent hue,
Her Attic forehead, and her Phidian nose :
Few angles were there in her form, 't is true,
Thinner she might have been, and yet scarce lose;
Yet, after all, 't would puzzle to say where
It would not spoil some separate charm to pare.

XLIII.

She was not violently lively, but

Stole on your spirit like a May-day breaking;
Her eyes were not too sparkling, yet, half shut,
They put beholders in a tender taking :
She look'd (this simile 's quite new) just cut
From marble, like Pygmalion's statue waking,
The mortal and the marble still at strife,
And timidly expanding into life.

XLIV.

Lolah demanded the new damsel's name

“Juanna.”—Well, a pretty name enough.

Katinka ask'd her also whence she came

"From Spain.' -"But where is Spain?"-" Don't ask such stuff, Nor show your Georgian ignorance-for shame!"

To

Said Lolah, with an accent rather rough

poor Katinka: "Spain 's an island near Morocco, betwixt Egypt and Tangier."

XLV.

Dudu said nothing, but sat down beside
Juanna, playing with her veil or hair;
And, looking at her steadfastly, she sigh'd,
As if she pitied her for being there
A pretty stranger, without friend or guide,
And all abash'd too at the general stare
Which welcomes hapless strangers in all places,
With kind remarks upon their mien and faces.

XLVI.

But here the Mother of the Maids drew near,
With "Ladies, it is time to go to rest.
I'm puzzled what to do with you, my dear,"
She added to Juanna, their new guest:
"Your coming has been unexpected here,

And every couch is occupied; you had best
Partake of mine: but by to-morrow early
We will have all things settled for you fairly."

XLVII.

Here Lolah interposed-" Mamma, you know
You don't sleep soundly, and I cannot bear
That any body should disturb you so;

I'll take Juanna; we 're a slenderer pair
Than you would make the half of ;-don't say no,
And I of your young charge will take due care."
But here Katinka interfered and said,

She also had " compassion and a bed.

XLVIII.

"Besides, I hate to sleep alone," quoth she.

The matron frown'd: "Why so?"-"For fear of ghosts," Replied Katinka; "I am sure I see

A phantom upon each of the four posts:

And then I have the worst dreams that can be,

Of Guebres, Giaours, and Ginns, and Gouls in hosts.
The dame replied, "Between your dreams and you,
I fear Juanna's dreams would be but few.

XLIX.

"You, Lolah, must continue still to lie

Alone, for reasons which don't matter; you

The same, Katinka, until by and by ;

And I shall place Juanna with Dudù,

Who 's quiet, inoffensive, silent, shy,

And will not toss and chatter the night through.

What say you, child?”—Dudù said nothing, as
Her talents were of the more silent class;

L.

But she rose up, and kiss'd the matron's brow
Between the eyes, and Lolah on both cheeks,
Katinka too; and with a gentle bow

(Curtsies are neither used by Turks nor Greeks), She took Juanna by the hand to show

Their place of rest, and left to both their piques, The others pouting at the matron's preference

Of Dudu, though they held their tongues from deference.

LI.

It was a spacious chamber (Oda is

The Turkish title), and ranged round the wall Were couches, toilets-and much more than this I might describe, as I have seen it all,

But it suffices-little was amiss;

'T was on the whole a nobly furnish'd hall, With all things ladies want, save one or two, And even those were nearer than they knew.

LII.

Dudu, as has been said, was a sweet creature,
Not very dashing, but extremely winning,
With the most regulated charms of feature,

Which painters cannot catch like faces sinning
Against proportion-the wild strokes of nature
Which they hit off at once in the beginning,
Full of expression, right or wrong, that strike,
And, pleasing or unpleasing, still are like.

LIII.

But she was a soft landscape of mild earth,
Where all was harmony and calm and quiet,
Luxuriant, budding; cheerful without mirth,
Which if not happiness, is much more nigh it
Than are your mighty passions and so forth,

Which some call "the sublime :" I wish they'd try it:
I've seen your stormy seas and stormy women,
And pity lovers rather more than seamen.

LIV.

But she was pensive more than melancholy,
And serious more than pensive, and serene,

It may be, more than either-not unholy

Her thoughts, at least till now, appear to have been. The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was wholly Unconscious, albeit turn'd of quick seventeen, That she was fair, or dark, or short, or tall; She never thought about herself at all.

LV.

And therefore was she kind and gentle as
The age of gold (when gold was yet unknown,
By which its nomenclature came to pass;

Thus most appropriately has been shown "Lucus a non lucendo," not what was,

But what was not; a sort of style that 's grown
Extremely common in this age, whose metal
The devil may decompose but never settle :

LVI.

I think it may be of "Corinthian brass,'
Which was a mixture of all metals, but
The brazen uppermost). Kind reader ! pass
This long parenthesis: I could not shut
It sooner for the soul of me, and class

My faults even with your own! which meaneth, put A kind construction upon them and me;

But that you won't-then don't-I am not less free.

LVII.

'T is time we should return to plain narration, And thus my narrative proceeds :-Dudù, kindness short of ostentation,

With every

Show'd Juan, or Juanna, through and through This labyrinth of females, and each station

Described-what 's strange-in words extremely few:

I have but one simile, and that's a blunder,
For wordless woman, which is silent thunder.

LVIII.

And next she gave her (I say her, because
The gender still was epicene, at least
In outward show, which is a saving clause)
An outline of the customs of the east,
With all their chaste integrity of laws,
By which the more a harem is increased,
The stricter doubtless grow the vestal duties
Of
any supernumerary beauties.

LIX.

And then she gave Juanna a chaste kiss:
Dudu was fond of kissing-which I'm sure

That nobody can ever take amiss,

Because 't is pleasant, so that it be pure, And between females means no more than thisThat they have nothing better near, or newer. "Kiss" rhymes to "bliss" in fact as well as verse-1 wish it never led to something worse.