370

BYKON’S WORKS.

LV.

And therefore was she kind and gentle as

The Age of Gold (when gold was yet unknown,By which its nomenclature came to pass;

*Tkus most appropriately has been shown41 Lucus a, non lucendo,” not what teas,

But what was not; a sort of style that's grownExtremely common in this age, whose metalThe devil may decompose, but never settle.

LVI.

I think it may be of “Corinthian Brass,”

Which, was a mixture of all metals, butThe brazen uppermost). Kind reader! passThis long parenthesis: I could not shutIt sooner for the soul of me, and classMy faults even with your own: which meanothput

A kind construction upon them and me:

But that you won’t—then don’t—I am not less free.

Lvn.

’Tis time we should return to plain narration,

Aud thus my narrative proceedsDudu,

With every kindness short of ostentation,

Show’d Juan, or Juanna, through and throughThis labyrinth of females, and each stationDescrib'd—what’s strange—in words extremelyfew:

I have but one simile, and that's a blunder,

For wordless woman, which is silent thunder.

LVIII.

And next she gave her (I say her , becauseThe gender still was epicene, at leastIn outward show, which is a saving clause)

An outline of the customs of the East,

With all their chaste integrity of laws,

By which the more a harem is increas’d.

The stricter doubtless grow the vestal dutiesOf any supernumerary beauties.

Lix.

And then she gave Juanna a chaste kis3:

Dudu was fond of kissing—which I’m sureThat nobody can ever take amiss,

Because ’tis pleasant* so that it be pure,

And between females means no more than this—That they have nothing better near, or newer.“Kiss ” rhymes to “bliss” in fact as well asverse—

I wish it never led to something worse.

LX.

In perfect innocence she then unmadeHer toilet, which cost' little, for she wasA child of Nature, carelessly array’d:

If fond of a chance ogle at her glass,

'Twas like the fawn, which, in the lake display’d,Beholds her own shy, shadowy image pass,"When first she starts, aud then returns to peep,Admiring this new native of the deep.

Lxr.

one by one her articles of dressWere laid aside, but not before she offer’d*nr A ^ *° Juanna, whose excessnru- 1 ? 0lles ^y declin’d the assistance proffer’d:Which pass'd well off—as she could do no less;

inough by this politesse she rather suffer'd,Pricking her fingers with those cursed pinsWhich surely were invented for our sins,—

I,XII.

Making a woman like a porcupine,

Not to bo rashly touch’d. But still more dread0 ye! whose fate it is, as once ’twas mine,

In early youth, to turn a lady’s maid;

I did my very boyish best to shineIn tricking her out for a masquerade:

The pins were plac'd sufficiently, but notStuck all exactly in the proper spot.

LXIIL

But these are foolish things to all the wise,

And I love wisdom more than sho loves ms*.

My tendency is to philosophise

On most things, from a tyrant to a tree;

But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies.

What are we? and whence came we? whatshall he

Our ultimate existence ? what's our present?

Are questions answerless, and yet incessant.

LXIV.

There was deep silence in the chamber: dimAnd distant from each other burn'd the lights,And slumber hover’d o’er each lovely limbOf the fair occupants; if there be sprites,

They should have walk'd there in their sprightlies*trim,

By way of change from their sepulchral sites,And shown themselves as ghosts of better tasteThan haunting some old ruin or wild waste.

LXV. .

Many and beautiful lay those around,

Like flowers of different hue, and clime, and roo£u some exotic garden sometimes found,

1 With cost, and care, and warmth, induc'd t°shoot.

One with her a,uburn tresses lightly bound,.. .

And fair brows gently drooping as the fruitNods from the tree, was slumbering with softbreath,

And lips apart, which show’d the pearls beneath.Lxvr.

One with her flush'd cheek laid on her white arm.

And raven ringlets gather'd in dark crowdAbove her brow, lay dreaming soft and warm;And smiling through hot’ dream, as through 3cloud

The moon breaks, half unveil’d each further charm.

As. slightly stirring in her snowy shroud.

Her beauties seiz’d the unconscious hour of nightAll bashfully to struggle into light.

LXVII.

This is no bull, although it sounds so; for’Twas night, but there were lamps, as hath beebsaid.

A third’s all pallid aspect offer'd moreThe traits of sleeping sorrow, and betray'dThrough the heav’d breast the dream of some fatshore

Beloved and deplor'd: while slowly stray'd(As night-dew. on a cypress glittering, tinges ,The black bough,) tear-drops through her eye®dark fringes.

lxviii.

A fourth, as marble, statue-like and still,

Day in a breathless, hush'd, and stony sleep;White, cold, and pure, as looks a frozen rill,

C)r the snow minaret on an Alpine steep,