"T is better on the whole to have felt and seen That which humanity may bear, or bear not : 'T will teach discernment to the sensitive, And not to pour their ocean in a sieve. L. Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast, Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so," Utter'd by friends, those prophets of the past, Who, 'stead of saying what you now should do, Own they foresaw that you would fall at last, And solace your slight lapse 'gainst "bonos mores," With a long memorandum of old stories. LI. The Lady Adeline's serene severity Was not confined to feeling for her friend, Whose fame she rather doubted with posterity, Unless her habits should begin to mend : But Juan also shared in her austerity, But mix'd with pity, pure as e'er was penn'd: His inexperience moved her gentle ruth, And (as her junior by six weeks) his youth. LII. These forty days' advantage of her years— And hers were those which can face calculation, Boldly referring to the list of peers And noble births, nor dread the enumeration Gave her a right to have maternal fears For a young gentleman's fit education, Though she was far from that leap year, whose leap, In female dates, strikes Time all of a heap. LIII. This may be fix'd at somewhere before thirty- Advance beyond, while they could pass for new. LIV. But Adeline was far from that ripe age, Whose ripeness is but bitter at the best : My Muse despises reference, as you have guess'd By this time; - but strike six from seven-and-twenty, And you will find her sum of years in plenty. LV. At sixteen she came out; presented, vaunted, which he was a member, he was observed to look melancholy. "What is the matter, Sir William ?" cried Hare, of facetious memory. "Ah !" replied Sir W., "I have just lost poor Lady D.""Lost! What at? Quinze or Hazard ?" was the consolatory rejoinder of the querist. With the kind view of saving an éclat, That Juan was unlikely to resist — The Lady Adeline resolved to take Such measures as she thought night best impede The farther progress of this sad mistake. She thought with some simplicity indeed; But innocence is hold even at the stake, And simple in the world, and doth not need Nor use those palisades by dames erected, Whose virtue lies in never being detected. LXII. It was not that she fear'd the very worst: His Grace was an enduring, married man, And was not likely all at once to burst Into a scene, and swell the clients' clan 1 The famous Chancellor Oxenstiern said to his son, on the latter expressing his surprise upon the great effects arising from petty causes in the presumed mystery of politics: "You see by this, my son, with how little wisdom the kingdoms of the world are governed."-[The true story is;-young And first, in the overflowing of her heart, Which really knew or thought it knew no guile, She call'd her husband now and then apart, And bade him counsel Juan. With a smile Lord Henry heard her plans of artless art To wean Don Juan from the siren's wile; And answer'd, like a statesman or a prophet, In such guise that she could make nothing of it. LXVI. Firstly, he said, "he never interfered In anybody's business but the king's:" Next, that "he never judged from what appear'd, Without strong reason, of those sort of things :" Thirdly, that "Juan had more brain than beard, And was not to be held in leading strings;" And fourthly, what need hardly be said twice, "That good but rarely came from good advice.” LXVII. And, therefore, doubtless to approve the truth LXVIII. And being of the council call'd "the Privy," To tell how he reduced the nation's debt; Oxenstiern, on being told he was to proceed on some diplomatic mission, expressed his doubts of his own fitness for such an office. The old Chancellor, laughing, answered, — Nescis, mi fili, quantulà scientia gubernatur mundus."] LXXVI. Eureka! I have found it! What I mean Your men of business are not apt to express Much passion, since the merchant-ship, the Argo, Convey'd Medea as her supercargo. LXXVII. "Beatus ille procul!” from “negotiis," 2 His other maxim, "Noscitur à sociis," LXXVIII. Adam exchanged his Paradise for ploughing, And hence high life is oft a dreary void, A rack of pleasures, where we must invent A something wherewithal to be annoy'd. Bards may sing what they please about Content; Contented, when translated, means but cloy'd; And hence arise the woes of sentiment, Blue devils, and blue-stockings, and romances Reduced to practice, and perform'd like dances. LXXX. I do declare, upon an affidavit, Romances I ne'er read like those I have scen; Nor, if unto the world I ever gave it, Would some believe that such a tale had been: But such intent I never had, nor have it; Some truths are better kept behind a screen, 1 1 Shut up the bald-coot bully Alexander! Ship off the Holy Three to Senegal ; Had Buonaparte won at Waterloo, It had been firmness; now 'tis pertinacity: Teach them that "sauce for goose is sauce for gander," | Must the event decide between the two? And ask them how they like to be in thrall ? Shut up each high heroic salamander, Who eats fire gratis (since the pay's but small); Shut up-no, not the King, but the Pavilion, Or else 't will cost us all another million. LXXXIV. Shut up the world at large, let Bedlam out; Our gentle Adeline had one defect— Her heart was vacant, though a splendid mansion; Her conduct had been perfectly correct, As she had seen nought claiming its expansion. A wavering spirit may be easier wreck'd, Because 't is frailer, doubtless, than a stanch one; She loved her lord, or thought so; but that love Our feelings 'gainst the nature of the soil. LXXXVII. There was no great disparity of years, Though much in temper; but they never clash'd: They moved like stars united in their spheres, Or like the Rhone by Leman's waters wash'd, Where mingled and yet separate appears The river from the lake, all bluely dash'd Through the serene and placid glassy deep, Which fain would lull its river-child to sleep. 3 LXXXVIII. Now when she once had ta'en an interest Intense intentions are a dangerous matter: But when it was, she had that lurking demon Whene'er their triumph pales, or star is tamed: - [The bald-coot is a small bird of prey in marshes. The Emperor Alexander was baldish.] 2 [The King's palace at Brighton.] I leave it to your people of sagacity To draw the line between the false and true; XCI. She knew not her own heart; then how should I? (I will not say it was a false or true one) In him, because she thought he was in danger,— Her husband's friend, her own, young, and a stranger, XCII. She was, or thought she was, his friend-and this Without the farce of friendship, or romance Platonism, which leads so oft amiss Ladies who have studied friendship but in France, Or Germany, where people, purely kiss. To thus much Adeline would not advance; But of such friendship as man's may to man be She was as capable as woman can be. XCIII No doubt the secret influence of the sex And tune the concord to a finer mood. Love bears within its breast the very germ Of change; and how should this be otherwise ? That violent things more quickly find a term Is shown through nature's whole analogies; 4 And how should the most fierce of all be firm? Would you have endless lightning in the skies? Methinks Love's very title says enough: How should" the tender passion" e'er be tough? XCV. Alas! by all experience, seldom yet (I merely quote what I have heard from many) Had lovers not some reason to regret The passion which made Solomon a zany. The marriage state, the best or worst of any) I've also seen some female friends ('tis odd, Upon me; whom no scandal could remove; XCVII. Whether Don Juan and chaste Adeline At present I am glad of a pretence To bait their tender or their tenter hooks. Whether they rode, or walk'd, or studied Spanish, A pleasure before which all others vanish; Whether their talk was of the kind call'd "small," Or serious, are the topics I must banish To the next Canto; where perhaps I shall Say something to the purpose, and display Considerable talent in my way. XCIX. Above all, I beg all men to forbear Anticipating aught about the matter: They'll only make mistakes about the fair, And Juan too, especially the latter. And I shall take a much more serious air, Than I have yet done, in this epic satire. It is not clear that Adeline and Juan Will fall; but if they do, 't will be their ruin. C. But great things spring from little: -Would you think, As e'er brought man and woman to the brink CI. 'Tis strange, but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction: if it could be told, How much would novels gain by the exchange! How differently the world would men behold ! The new world would be nothing to the old, What "antres vast and deserts idle "1 then Of those who hold the kingdoms in control! Don Juan. CANTO THE FIFTEENTH. 2 I. AH! What should follow slips from my reflection; Whatever follows ne'ertheless may be [Othello, Act I. Sc. ill.] 2 [Cantos XV. and XVI. were published in London, in March, 1824.] |