LXXX. Juan was drawn thus into some attentions, That he would rather make them more than less. Though probably much less a fact than guess) LXXXI. From answering, she began to question: this To keep extremes from meeting, when once set LXXXII. But Juan had a sort of winning way, And taught him when to be reserved or free: He had the art of drawing people out, Without their seeing what he was about. LXXXIII. Aurora, who in her indifference Confounded him in common with the crowd Of flutterers, though she deem'd he had more sense Rather by deference than compliment, And wins even by a delicate dissent. Το LXXXIV. And then he had good looks;—that point was carried LXXXV. Aurora, who look'd more on books than faces, But virtue's self, with all her tightest laces, Own'd to a penchant, though discreet, for beauty, LXXXVI. And girls of sixteen are thus far Socratic, But innocently so, as Socrates; And really, if the sage sublime and Attic At seventy years had phantasies like these, Which Plato in his dialogues dramatic Has shown, I know not why they should displease In virgins—always in a modest way, Observe; for that with me 's a "sine qua. LXXXVII. 976 Also observe, that like the great Lord Coke, Or none at all-which seems a sorry jest ; LXXXVIII. If people contradict themselves, can I I never did so, never will-how should I? He who doubts all things, nothing can deny; Truth's fountains may be clear-her streams are muddy, And cut through such canals of contradiction, That she must often navigate o'er fiction. LXXXIX. Apologue, fable, poesy, and parable, Are false, but may be render'd also true By those who sow them in a land that 's arable. "T is wonderful what fable will not do ! 'T is said it makes reality more bearable : But what 's reality? Who has its clue ? Philosophy? No; she too much rejects. Religion? Yes; but which of all her sects? XC. Some millions must be wrong, that's pretty clear; XCI. But here again, why will I thus entangle And yet such is my folly, or my fate, About the present, past, and future state; XCII. But though I am a temperate theologian, As Eldon on a lunatic commission, In politics, my duty is to show John Bull something of the lower world's condition. It makes my blood boil like the springs of Hecla, To see men let these scoundrel sovereigns break law. XCIII. But politics, and policy, and piety, Are topics which I sometimes introduce, And stuff with sage that very verdant goose. XCIV. And now I will give up all argument ; By deeming that my Muse's conversation XCV. Grim reader! did you ever see a ghost? No; but you 've heard-I understand-be dumb! And don't regret the time you may have lost, For you have got that pleasure still to come : Of these things, or by ridicule benumb XCVI. Serious? You laugh :-you may; that will I not; I My smiles must be sincere or not at all. say I do believe a haunted spot Exists—and where? That shall I not recal, Because I'd rather it should be forgot. "Shadows the soul of Richard" may appal: In short, upon that subject I 've some qualms very Like those of the philosopher of Malmsbury." XCVII. The night (I sing by night-sometimes an owl, I wish to heaven they would not look so grim; XCVIII. And therefore, though 't is by no means my way To think of, if I ever think,-I say I feel some chilly midnight shudderings, And prudently postpone, until mid-day, Treating a topic which, alas! but brings Shadows;-but you must be in my condition Before you learn to call this superstition. XCIX. Between two worlds life hovers like a star, 'Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge : How little do we know that which we are! How less what we may be! The eternal surge Of time and tide rolls on, and bears afar Our bubbles; as the old burst, new emerge, Lash'd from the foam of ages; while the graves Of empires heave but like some passing waves. NOTES TO CANTO XV. Note 1. Stanza xviii. And thou, diviner still, Whose lot it is by man to be mistaken. As it is necessary in these times to avoid ambiguity, I say, that I mean, by "diviner still," CHRIST. If ever God was Man-or man God-he was both. I never arraigned his creed, but the use or abuse-made of it. Mr. Canning one day quoted christianity to sanction Negro slavery, and Mr. Wilberforce had little to say in reply. And was Christ crucified, that black men might be scourged? If so, he had better been born a Mulatto, to give both colours an equal chance of freedom, or at least salvation. Note 2. Stanza xxxv. When Rapp the harmonist embargoed marriage This extraordinary and flourishing German colony in America does not entirely exclude matrimony, as the "Shakers" do; but lays such restrictions upon it as prevent more than a certain quantum of births within a certain number of years; which births (as Mr. Hulme observes) generally arrive "in a little flock like those of a farmer's lambs, all within the same month perhaps." These Harmonists (so called from the name of their settlement) are represented as a remarkably flourishing, pious, and quiet people. See the various recent writers on America. Jacob Tonson, according to Mr. Pope, was accustomed to call his writers, "able pens"-" persons of honour," and especially "eminent hands." Vide Correspondence, &c., &c. Note 4. Stanza Ixvi. While great Lucullus' robe triumphale muffles (There's fame)-young partridge fillets, deck'd with truffles. A dish à la Lucullus. This hero, who conquered the East, has left his more extended celebrity to the transplantation of cherries (which he first brought into Europe) and the nomenclature of some very good dishes;—and I am not sure that (barring indigestion) he has not done more service to mankind by his cookery than by his conquests. A cherry-tree may weigh against a bloody laurel; besides he has contrived to earn celebrity from both. Note 5. Stanza Ixviii. But even sans confitures, it no less true is, Petits puits d'amour garnis de confitures, a classical and well-known dish for part of the flank of a second course. |