Lvin.

* hate a motive, like a lingering bottle,

Which with the landlord makes too long

T stand,

leaving all claretless the unmoisten'd throttle,

T Especially with politics on hand:hate it, as I hate a drove of cattle,

W T ho whirl the dust, as simooms whirl theT * sand;

* hate it, as 1 hate an argument,

A laureate's ode, or servile peer’s “ content”

LIX.

Tis sad to hack into the roots of things,

_ They are so much interwisted with the earth :

So that the branch a goodly verdure flings,

1 reck not if an acorn gave it birth.

■To trace all actions to their secret springs,

Would make indeed some melancholy mirth;

But this is not at present my concern,

And 1 refer you to wise Oxenstiern.*

LX

With the kind view of saving an £clat.

Both to the duchess and diplomatist,

The Lady Adeline, as soon’s she sawThat Juan was unlikely to resist —

(For foreigners don t know that a faux pasIn England ranks quite on a different listFrom those of other lands, unblest with juries,Whose verdict for such Bin a certain cure is, —)

LXT.

The Lady Adeline resolv’d to takoSuch measures as she thought might best im-tm. pea©

he 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 burstInto a scene, and swell the clients’ clanCf Doctors’ Commons; but she dreaded firsThe magic of her Grace’s talisman,

And next a quarrel (as he seem’d to fret)

With Lord Augustus Fitz-Plautagenet.

LXiir.

Her Grace, too, pass’d, for being an intrigant <,

And somewhat mechanic in her amorous sphere'■me of those pretty, precious plagues, which hauntA lover with caprices soft and dear,

That like to make a quarrel, when they can’tFind one, each day of the delightful year;Bewitching, torturing, as they freeze or glow,

And—-what is worst of all—won’t let you go :

LXIV.

The sort of thing to turn a young man’s head,

Or make a Werter of him. in the end.

No wonder then a purer soul should dreadThis sort of chaste liaison for a friend;

4S5

It were much better to be wed or dead,

Than wear a heart a woman loves to rend.

’Tis best to pause, and think, ere you rush on-If that a “ bonne fortune ” be really ,k bonne.''

LXV.

And, first, in the o’erflowing of her heart,

Which really knew, or thought it knew, noguile,

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

LX VI,

Firstly, he said, “ he never interfer’d ^

In anybody’s business but the king’s:'’

Next, that“ he never judg'd from what appear’d,Without strong reason, of those sort of thingsThirdly, 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 truthOf the last axiom, be advis'd his spouseTo leave the parties to themselves, forsooth—

At least as far as bienseance allows:

That time would temper Juan’s faults of youth-.That young men rarely made monastic vows;That opposition only more attaches—

But here a messenger brought in despatches:

Lxvm.

And, being of the council call’d “the Privy,”

Lord Henry walk’d into his cabinet,

To furnish matter for some future Livy,

To tell how he reduc’d the nation's debt;

And, if their full contents I do not give ye,

It is because I do not know them yet;

But I shall add them in a brief appendix.

To come between mine epic and its index.

LXIX.

But, ere he went, he added a slight hint,

Another gentle common-place or two,

Such as are coin’d in conversation’s mint.

And pass, for want of better, though not new,Then broke his packet, to see what was in’t,

And, having casually glanc’d it through,

•Retir'd: and, as ho went out, calmly kiss d her,Less like a young wife, than an aged sister.

LXX.

He was a cold, good, honourable, man,

Proud of his birth, and proud of everything:

A goodly spirit for a state divan,

A figure fit to walk before a king:

Tall, stately, form’d to lead the courtly vanOn birthdays, glorious, with a star and string;The very model of a chamberlain—

And such I mean to make him, when I reign.

DON JUAN.

a

* The famous Chancellor Oxenstiern said to his son, on the latter expressing his surprise upon thegreat effect 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.”