130

BYRON’S WORKS.

ctvm.

He ate, and he was well supplied: and she.

Who watch’d him like a mother, would havefed

Him past all bounds, because she smil’d to seeSuch appetite in one she had deem’d dead:

But Zoe, being older than Haidee,

Knew (by tradition, for she ne’er had read,)

That famish'd people must be slowly nurst,

And fed py spoonfuls, else they always burst.

CLIX.

And so she took the liberty to state,

Rather by deeds than words, because the caseWas urgent, that the gentleman, whose fateHad made her mistress quit her bed to traceThe sea-shore at this hour, must leave his plate,Unless he wish'd to die upon the place—

She snatch’d it, and refus'd another morselSaying, he had gorg'd enough to make a horse ill,

CLX.

Next they—he being naked, save a tatter’dPair of scarce deceut trousers—went to work,And in the fire bis recent rags they scatter’d,

And dress'd him, for the present, like a Turk ,

Or Greek—that is, although it not much matter’d,Omitting turban, slippers, pistols, dirk,—

They furnish'd him. entire, except some stitches,With a clean shirt, and very spacious breeches.

CLxr.

Ami ihen fair Haidee tried her tongue at speak-

iDg,

But not a word could Juan comprehend,Although he listeu’d so that the young Greek inHer earnestness would ne'er have made an end;And, as he interrupted not, went ekingIJer speech out to her prottSgd and friend,

Til! pausing at the last her breath to take,

She saw he did not understand Romaic.

CLX1I.

And then she had recourse to nods, and signs,

And smiles, and sparkles of the speaking eye,And read (the only book she could) the linesOf his fair face, and found, by sympathy,

The answer eloquent, where the soul shines,’’

And darts in one quick glance a long reply;

And thus in every look she saw exprestA world of words, and things at which she guess’d.

clxiil

And now, by dint of fingers and of eyes,

And words repeated after her, he tookA lesson in her tongue; but by surmise,

No doubt, less of her language than her look •

As he who studies fervently the skies^ Turns oftener to the stars than to bis book;

Thus Juan team'd his alpha beta betterFrom Haidee's glance than any graven letter.

CLX1V.

’Tis pleasing to be school’d in a strange tonguetty fe male lips and eyes—that is, I mean,

When both the teacher and the taught are young,As was the case, at least, where I have been;

I hey smile so when one's right, and when one’swrong

They smile still-more, and then there intervenePressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kissI learn’d the little that I know by this.

CtXW

That is, some words of Spanish , Turk , and Greek,Italian not at all. having no teachers;

Much English I cannot pretend to speak,

Learning that language chiefly from its preachersBarrow, South, Tillotson, whom every weekI study, also Blair, the highest reachers,

Of eloquence in piety and prose—

I hate your poets, so read none of those.

CLXTL

As for the ladies, I have nought to say,

| A wanderer from the British world of fashion,j Where I, like other “ do^s. have had my day,”

Like other men, too, may have had my passion;But that, like other things, has pass’d away.

And all her fools whom I could lay the lash on:Foes, friends, men, women, now are nought tome.

But dreams of what has been, no more to bo.CLXVII.

Return we to Don Juan. He begunTo hear new words, and to repeat them; butSome feelings, universal as the sun,

Were such as could not in his breast be shu$More than within the bosom of a nun.

He was in love,—as you would be, no doubt,With a young benefactress.—so was she,

Just in the way we very,often see.

CLXVIII.

And every day by day-break, rather earlyP’or Juan, who was very fond of rest—

She came into the cave, but it was merelyTo see her bird reposing in its nest;

And she would softly stir his locks so curly,Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest*Breathing all gently o’er his cheek and mouth,

As o’er a bed of roses the sweet south.

CLXIX.

And every mom his colour freshlier came,

And every day help’d on his convalescence;’Twas well, because health in the human frameIs pleasant, besides be ng true love’s essence,

For health and idleness to passion’s flameAre oil and gunpowder; and some good lessonsAre also learnt from Ceres and from Bacchus,Without whom Venus will not long attack us.

CLXX.

While Venus fills the heart (without heart, really,Love, though good always, is not quite so good),Ceres presents a plate of vermicelli,—

For love must be sustain'd like flesh andblood,—

While Bacchus pours out wine, or hands a jelly;

Eggs, oysters, too, are amatory food;

But who is their purveyor from above

Heaven knows,—it may be Neptune, Pan, or Jove.

CLXXL

When Juan woke, he found some good thingsready,

A bath, a breakfast, and the finest eyesThat ever made a youthful heart less steady,Besides her maid’s, as pretty for their size;

But I have spoken of all this already—

And repetition’s tiresome and unwise,—

Well—Juan, after bathing in the sea.

Came always back to coffee and Haidee.