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Perhaps 't was hardly quite assured enough,
But modesty's at times its own reward,
Like virtue; and the absence of pretension
Will go much farther than there's need to mention.
XV.

Serene, accomplish'd, cheerful but not loud;
Insinuating without insinuation;
Observant of the foibles of the crowd,

Yet ne'er betraying this in conversation;
Proud with the proud, yet courteously proud,
So as to make them feel he knew his station
And theirs without a struggle for priority,
He neither brook'd nor claim'd superiority.

XVI.

That is, with men: with women he was what
They pleased to make or take him for; and their
Imagination's quite enough for that:

So that the outline 's tolerably fair,

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They fill the canvass up-and "verbum sat.
If once their phantasies be brought to bear
Upon an object, whether sad or playful,
They can transfigure brighter than a Raphael. 3
XVII.

Adeline, no deep judge of character,

Was apt to add a colouring from her own: "T is thus the good will amiably err,

And cke the wise, as has been often shown. Experience is the chief philosopher,

But saddest when his science is well known: And persecuted sages teach the schools Their folly in forgetting there are fools.

XVIII.

Was it not so, great Locke? and greater Bacon ? Great Socrates ? And thou, Diviner still,+ Whose lot it is by man to be mistaken,

And thy pure creed made sanction of all ill ? Redeeming worlds to be by bigots shaken,

How was thy toil rewarded? We might fill Volumes with similar sad illustrations,

But leave them to the conscience of the nations.

XIX.

I perch upon an humbler promontory,
Amidst life's infinite variety:

With no great care for what is nicknamed glory,
But speculating as I cast mine eye

On what may suit or may not suit my story,
And never straining hard to versify,

I rattle on exactly as I'd talk

With any body in a ride or walk.

XX.

I don't know that there may be much ability
Shown in this sort of desultory rhyme;
But there's a conversational facility,

Which may round off an hour upon a time.
Of this I'm sure at least, there's no servility
In mine irregularity of chime,
Which rings what's uppermost of new or hoary,
Just as I feel the "Improvvisatore."

creed, but the use or abuse-made of it. Mr. Canning one day quoted Christianity to sanction Degro slavery, and Mr. Wilberforce had little to say in reply. And was Christ erucified, 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.

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But "laissez aller" - knights and dames I sing,
Such as the times may furnish. 'T is a flight
Which seems at first to need no lofty wing,
Plumed by Longinus or the Stagyrite:
The difficulty lies in colouring

(Keeping the due proportions still in sight)
With nature manners which are artificial,
And rend'ring general that which is especial.
XXVI.

The difference is, that in the days of old

Men made the manners; manners now make menPinn'd like a flock, and fleeced too in their fold, At least nine, and a ninth beside of ten. Now this at all events must render cold Your writers, who must either draw again Days better drawn before, or else assume The present, with their common-place costume.

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3 [The reader has already seen in what style the Edinburgh Reviewers dealt with Lord Byron's early performance (antè, p. 419.) the effect which that criticism produced on him at the time and how he felt the more favourable treatment which he received from the Monthly Review (p. 420.). We should not, however, in the page last referred to, have forgotten to observe, that the young poet was not less courteously and encouragingly welcomed in another publication. We allude to an article on the "Hours of Idleness,' by J. H. Markland, Esq., the learned Editor of the Chester

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March, my Muse! If you cannot fly, yet flutter;
And when you may not be sublime, be arch,
Or starch, as are the edicts statesmen utter.
We surely may find something worth research:
Columbus found a new world in a cutter,
Or brigantine, or pink, of no great tonnage,
While yet America was in her non-age.
XXVIII.

When Adeline, in all her growing sense
Of Juan's merits and his situation,
Felt on the whole an interest intense, -

Partly perhaps because a fresh sensation,
Or that he had an air of innocence,

Which is for innocence a sad temptation, — As women hate half measures, on the whole, She 'gan to ponder how to save his soul.

XXIX.

She had a good opinion of advice,

Like all who give and eke receive it gratis,
For which small thanks are still the market price,
Even where the article at highest rate is :
She thought upon the subject twice or thrice,
And morally decided, the best state is
For morals, marriage; and this question carried,
She seriously advised him to get married.
XXX.

Juan replied, with all becoming deference,
He had a predilection for that tie;
But that, at present, with immediate reference
To his own circumstances, there might lie
Some difficulties, as in his own preference,

Or that of her to whom he might apply:
That still he'd wed with such or such a lady,
If that they were not married all already.
XXXI.

Next to the making matches for herself,

And daughters, brothers, sisters, kith or kin,
Arranging them like books on the same shelf,
There's nothing women love to dabble in
More (like a stock-holder in growing pelf)
Than match-making in general: 'tis no sin
Certes, but a preventative, and therefore
That is, no doubt, the only reason wherefore.
XXXII.

But never yet (except of course a miss
Unwed, or mistress never to be wed,

Or wed already, who object to this)

Was there chaste dame who had not in her head Some drama of the marriage unities,

Observed as strictly both at board and bed,
As those of Aristotle, though sometimes
They turn out melodrames or pantomimes.

Mysteries, which concluded in these terms:-"We heartily hope that the illness and depression of spirits, which evidently pervade the greater part of these effusions, are entirely dispelled; and are confident that George-Gordon Lord Byron' will have a conspicuous niche in every future edition of Royal and Noble Authors.'"- See Gentleman's Mag. vol. lxxvi. p. 1217.]

4 [Three small vessels were apparently all that Columbus had required. Two of them were light barques, called caravels, not superior to river and coasting craft of more modern days. That such long and perilous expeditions into unknown seas, should be undertaken in vessels without decks, and that they should live through the violent tempests by which they were frequently assailed, remain among the singular circumstances of those daring voyages. — WASHINGTON IRVING.]

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This extraordinary and flourishing German colony in America does not entirely exclude matrimony, as the "Shakers" do; but lays such restrictions upon it as prevents 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.

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And then there was the Miss Audacia Shoestring,
A dashing demoiselle of good estate,
Whose heart was fix'd upon a star or blue string;
But whether English dukes grew rare of late,
Or that she had not harp'd upon the true string,
By which such sirens can attract our great,
She took up with some foreign younger brother,
A Russ or Turk- the one's as good as 't other.
XLIII.

And then there was- but why should I go on,
Unless the ladies should go off?—there was
Indeed a certain fair and fairy one,

Of the best class, and better than her class, Aurora Raby, a young star who shone

O'er life, too sweet an image for such glass,
A lovely being, scarcely form'd or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded;

XLIV.

Rich, noble, but an orphan; left an only
Child to the care of guardians good and kind;
But still her aspect had an air so lonely!

Blood is not water; and where shall we find
Feelings of youth like those which overthrown lie
By death, when we are left, alas! behind,
To feel, in friendless palaces, a home

Is wanting, and our best ties in the tomb ?

2 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.— "Perhaps I should myself be much better pleased, if I were told you called me your little friend, than if you complimented me with the title of a great genius,' or an eminent hand,' as Jacob does all his authors."-Pope to Steele.]

3 [See D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, New Series, vol. ii. p. 308., and the Dissertation prefixed to Mr. Douce's valuable edition of Hollar's Dance of Death.]

XLV.

Early in years, and yet more infantine

In figure, she had something of sublime In eyes which sadly shone, as seraphs' shine. All youth-but with an aspect beyond time; Radiant and grave-as pitying man's decline;

Mournful-but mournful of another's crime, She look'd as if she sat by Eden's door,

And grieved for those who could return no more.

XLVI.

She was a Catholic, too, sincere, austere,

As far as her own gentle heart allow'd,
And deem'd that fallen worship far more dear

Perhaps because 't was fallen: her sires were proud
Of deeds and days when they had fill'd the ear
Of nations, and had never bent or bow'd
To novel power; and as she was the last,
She held their old faith and old feelings fast.

XLVII.

She gazed upon a world she scarcely knew
As seeking not to know it; silent, lone,
As grows a flower, thus quietly she grew,

And kept her heart serene within its zone.
There was awe in the homage which she drew;
Her spirit seem'd as seated on a throne

Apart from the surrounding world, and strong
In its own strength.
-most strange in one so young!
XLVIII.

Now it so happen'd, in the catalogue

Of Adeline, Aurora was omitted,

Although her birth and wealth had given her vogue,
Beyond the charmers we have already cited;
Her beauty also seem'd to form no clog

Against her being mention'd as well fitted,
By many virtues, to be worth the trouble
Of single gentlemen who would be double.

XLIX.

And this omission, like that of the bust
Of Brutus at the pageant of Tiberius, 1
Made Juan wonder, as no doubt he must.
This he express'd half smiling and half serious;
When Adeline replied with some disgust,

And with an air, to say the least, imperious,
She marvell'd "what he saw in such a baby
As that prim, silent, cold Aurora Raby?"
L.

Juan rejoin'd" She was a Catholic,

And therefore fittest, as of his persuasion;
Since he was sure his mother would fall sick,
And the Pope thunder excommunication,
If" But here Adeline, who seem'd to pique
Herself extremely on the inoculation

Of others with her own opinions, stated—
As usual- the same reason which she late did.

LI.

And wherefore not? A reasonable reason,
If good, is none the worse for repetition;
If bad, the best way's certainly to tease on,
And amplify: you lose much by concision,
Whereas insisting in or out of season
Convinces all men, even a politician;

Or what is just the same-it wearies out.
So the end's gain'd, what signifies the route?
Sce Tacitus, b. vi.

LII.

Why Adeline had this slight prejudice—

For prejudice it was-against a creature
As pure as sanctity itself from vice,
With all the added charm of form and feature,
For me appears a question far too nice,

Since Adeline was liberal by nature;
But nature's nature, and has more caprices
Than I have time, or will, to take to pieces.
LIII.

Perhaps she did not like the quiet way

With which Aurora on those baubles look'd,
Which charm most people in their earlier day:
For there are few things by mankind less brook'd,
And womankind too, if we so may say,

Than finding thus their genius stand rebuked,
Like "Anthony's by Cæsar 2," by the few
Who look upon them as they ought to do.

LIV.

It was not envy-Adeline had none;

Her place was far beyond it, and her mind.
It was not scorn-which could not light on one
Whose greatest fault was leaving few to find.
It was not jealousy, I think: but shun

Following the "ignes fatui" of mankind.
It was not but 't is easier far, alas!
To say what it was not than what it was.
LV.

Little Aurora deem'd she was the theme

Of such discussion. She was there a guest;

A beauteous ripple of the brilliant stream

Of rank and youth, though purer than the rest, Which flow'd on for a moment in the beam

Time sheds a moment o'er each sparkling crest. Had she known this, she would have calmly smiledShe had so much, or little, of the child.

LVI.

The dashing and proud air of Adeline

Imposed not upon her: she saw her blaze Much as she would have seen a glow-worm shine, Then turn'd unto the stars for loftier rays. Juan was something she could not divine,

Being no sibyl in the new world's ways; Yet she was nothing dazzled by the meteor Because she did not pin her faith on feature. LVII.

His fame too, for he had that kind of fame
Which sometimes plays the deuce with womankind,
A heterogeneous mass of glorious blame,

Half virtues and whole vices being combined;
Faults which attract because they are not tame;
Follies trick'd out so brightly that they blind: -
These seals upon her wax made no impression,
Such was her coldness or her self-possession.
LVIII.

Juan knew nought of such a character

High, yet resembling not his lost Haidée; Yet each was radiant in her proper sphere : The island girl, bred up by the lone sea, More warm, as lovely, and not less sincere, Was Nature's all: Aurora could not be, Nor would be thus: - the difference in them Was such as lies between a flower and gem.

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LIX.

Having wound up with this sublime comparison,
Methinks we may proceed upon our narrative,
And, as my friend Scott says, I sound my warison; "I
Scott, the superlative of my comparative—
Scott, who can paint your Christian knight or Saracen,
Serf, lord, man, with such skill as none would share
it, if

There had not been one Shakspeare and Voltaire,
Of one or both of whom he seems the heir.

LX.

I say, in my slight way I may proceed

To play upon the surface of humanity.
I write the world, nor care if the world read,
At least for this I cannot spare its vanity.
My Muse hath bred, and still perhaps may breed

More foes by this same scroll: when I began it, I Thought that it might turn out so-now I know it, But still I am, or was, a pretty poet.

LXI.

The conference or congress (for it ended
As congresses of late do) of the Lady
Adeline and Don Juan rather blended

Some acids with the sweets-for she was heady; But, ere the matter could be marr'd or mended,

The silvery bell rang, not for "dinner ready," But for that hour, call'd half-hour, given to dress, Though ladies' robes seem scant enough for less. LXII.

Great things were now to be achieved at table, With massy plate for armour, knives and forks For weapons; but what Muse since Homer's able (His feasts are not the worst part of his works) To draw up in array a single day-bill

Of modern dinners? where more mystery lurks, In soups or sauces, or a sole ragoût,

Than witches, b-ches, or physicians, brew.

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LXV.

Fowls" à la Condé," slices eke of salmon,

With "sauces Génévoises," and haunch of venison; Wines too, which might again have slain young Ammon

A man like whom I hope we sha'n't see many soon; They also set a glazed Westphalian ham on,

Whereon Apicius would bestow his benison; And then there was champagne with foaming whirls, As white as Cleopatra's melted pearls.

LXVI.

Then there was God knows what " à l'Allemande,"
"A l'Espagnole," "timballe," and "salpicon "-
With things I can't withstand or understand,
Though swallow'd with much zest upon the whole;
And "entremets" to piddle with at hand,

Gently to lull down the subsiding soul;

While great Lucullus' Robe triumphal muffles — (There's fame)—young partridge fillets, deck'd with truffles. 3

LXVII.

What are the fillets on the victor's brow

To these? They are rags or dust. Where is the arch Which nodded to the nation's spoils below?

Where the triumphal chariots' haughty march? Gone to where victories must like dinners go. Farther I shall not follow the research: But oh ye modern heroes with your cartridges, When will your names lend lustre e'en to partridges ?

LXVIII.

Those truffles too are no bad accessories,

Follow'd by "petits puits d'amour "— a dish Of which perhaps the cookery rather varies, So every one may dress it to his wish, According to the best of dictionaries,

Which encyclopedize both flesh and fish ; But even sans "confitures," it no less true is, There's pretty picking in those "petits puits." 4

LXIX.

The mind is lost in mighty contemplation
Of intellect expanded on two courses;
And indigestion's grand multiplication

Requires arithmetic beyond my forces.

Who would suppose, from Adam's simple ration,
That cookery could have call'd forth such resources,
As form a science and a nomenclature

From out the commonest demands of nature?

LXX.

The glasses jingled, and the palates tingled;
The diners of celebrity dined well;
The ladies with more moderation mingled

In the feast, pecking less than I can tell;
Also the younger men too: for a springald

Can't, like ripe age, in gormandize excel, 'But thinks less of good eating than the whisper (When seated next him) of some pretty lisper.

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.

4" Petits puits d'amour garnis des confitures,"-a classical and well known dish for part of the flank of a second

course.

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