s 00 BYRON'S
There’s one, though tall and stiffer than a pike,
Yet has a sentimental kind of air,
Which might go far, but she don’t dance withvigour;
The more’s the pity, with her face and figure.
LXXXVI.
“ As for the men, they are a middling set;
The musico is but a crack’d old basin,
But being qualified in one way yet,
May the seraglio do to set his face in,
And as a servant some preferment get;
His Binging I no further trust can place in.
From all the Pope makes yearly, ’twould perplexTo find three perfect pipes of the third sex.*
ixxtfra
"The tenor’s voice is spoilt by affectation,
And for the bass, the beast can only bellow;
In fact, he had no singing education,
An ignorant, noteless, timeless, tuneless, fellow,But being the prima donna’s near relation,
Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow,They hir'd him, though to hear him you’d believe,ass was practising recitative.
LXXXVIII.
w ’Twould not become myself to dwell uponMy own merits, and though young,—I see, Sir—you
Have got a travell’d air, which speaks you onoTo whom the opera is by no means new :
You’ve heard of Kaucocanti? I’m the man;
The time may come when you may hear me too:You was not last year at the fair of Lugo,
But next, when I’m engag’d to sing there—do go.
LXXXIX.
“ Our baritone I almost had forgot,
A pretty lad, but bursting with conceit:
With graceful action, science not a jot,
A voice of no great compass, and not sweet;
He always is complaining of his lot,
Forsooth, scarce fit for ballads in the Btreet;
In lover’s parts his passion more to breathe.
Having no heart to show, he shows his teeth.”
xc.
Here Itaucocanti’s eloquent recitalWas interrupted by the pirate crew,
Who came at stated moments to invite allThe captives back to their aad berths; each threwA rueful glance upon the waves, (which bright allFrom the blue skies deriv’d a double blue,Dancing all free and happy iuthe sun.)
And then went down the hatchway one by one. k
xci.
They heard next day—that in the Dardanelles, 'Waiting for his Sublimity’s firman,
The most imperative of sovereign spells,
Which everybody does without who can;
More to secure them in their naval cells,
Lady to lady, well as man to man,
Were to be chain’d and lotted out, per couple.
* W ORKS.
StCtr.
It seems when this allotment was made out,
There chanc’d to be an odd male and odd female,Who (after some discussion and some doubt,
If the soprano might be deem’d to be male,
They plac’d him o’er the woman as a scout)
Were link’d together, and it happen’d the maleWas Juan,—who, an awkward thing at his age,Pair’d off with a Bacchante blooming visage,
xent.
With Itaucocanti lucklessly was chain’dThe tenor; these two hated with a hate,
Found only on the stage, and each more pain’dWith this his tuneful neighbour, than his fate;Sad strife arose, for they were so cross-grain’d,Instead of bearing up without debate,
They each pull'd different ways with many an oath,“ Arcades ambo,” id cst—-blackguards both.
xciv.
Juan’s companion was a fiamagnole,
But bred within the March of old Ancona,
With eyes that look'd into the very soul,
(And other chief points of a “ bella donna,”)Bright—and as black and burning as a coal;
And through her clear brunette complexion,shone a
Great wish to please—a most attractive dower,Especially when added to the power.
XGV.
But all that power was wasted upon him;
For sorrow o’er each sense held stern com-mand :
Her eye might flash on his, hut found it dim;
And though thus chained, as natural her handTouch’d his, nor that—nor any handsome limb,(And she had some not easy to withstand)
Could stir his pulse, or make his faith feel brittle:Perhaps his recent wounds might help a little.
xevr.
No matter: we should ne’er too much inquire;
But facts are facts; no knight could bo saorotrue,
And firmer faith no ladye-love desire;
We will admit the proofs, save one or two;
’Tis said no one in band “ can hold a fireBy thought of frosty Caucasusbut few,
I really think: yet Juan’s then ordealW as more triumphant, and not much less real.
cxvir.,
Here I might enter on a chaste description,
Having withstood temptation in my youth,
But hear that several people take exceptionAt the first two books having too much truth;Therefore I’ll make Don Juan leave the ship soon*Because the publisher declares, in sooth,
Through needles' eyes it easier for a camel isTo pass, than those two cantos into families.
XCVIIT.
’Tis all the same to me: I’m fond of yielding,
And therefore leave them to the purer pageOf ^mollett, Prior, Ariosto , Fielding,
Who say strange things, for so correct an age;
* It is strange that it should be the Pope and the Sultan who are the chief encouragers of this branchof trade—women being prohibited as singers at St. Peter’s, and not deemed trustworthy aa guardians ofthe harem.