DON JUAN.

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LXXXIV.

Shut up the world at large; let Bedlam out;

And you will be, perhaps, surpris’d to findA.U things pursue exactly the same route,

As now, with, those of soi-disant sound mind.

This I could prove beyond a siugle doubt,

Were there a jot of sense among mankind;

But till that point d'appui is found, alas!

Like Archimedes, I leave earth as ’twas.

LXXXV.

Our gentle Adeline had one defect—

Her heart was vacant, though a splendid man-sion.

Her conduct had been perfectly correct,

As she had seen naught claiming its expansion.

A wavering spirit may be easier wreck'd,

Because ’tis frailer, doubtless, than a staunchone:

But when the latter works its own undoing.

Its inner crash is like an earthquake’s ruin.

Lxxxvr.

She lov’d her lord, or thought so; but that loveCost her an effort, which is a sad toil.

The stone of Sysiphus , if once we moveOur feelings ’gainst the nature of the soil.

She had nothing to complain of, or reprove,

No bickerings, no connubial turmoil:

Their union was a model to behold,

Serene and noble,—conjugal, but cold.

Lxxxvir.

There was no great disparity of years,

Though much in temper; but they neverclash’d:

They mov’d like stars united in their spheres.

Or like- the Rhone by Leman’s waters wash’d,Whore mingled, and yet separate, appearsThe river from the lake, all bluely dash'dThrough the serene and placid glassy deep,

Which fain would lull its river-child to sleep.

Lxxxvirr.

Now, whon she once had ta'en an interestIn anything, however she might flatterHerself that her intentions were the best,

Intense intentions are a dangerous matter:Impressions were much stronger than she guess’d,And gather'd as they ran, like growing water,Upon her mind; and more so, as her breastWas not at first too readily impress’d.

LXXXIX.

But when it was, she had that lurking demonOf double nature, and thus doubly nam’d—firmness yclept in heroes, kings, and seamen,

That is, when they succeed; but greatly blam’d,As obstinacy, both in men and women,

Whene’er their triumph pales, or star is tam’d:—And ’twill perplex the casuist, in morality,

To fix the due bounds of this dangerous quality.

XC.

Had Buonaparte won at Waterloo,

It had been firmness; now 'tis pertinacity:

•Must the event decide between the two?

I leave it to your people of sagacity,

To draw the line between the false and true,

If such can e’er be drawn by man’s capacity :

Wy business is with Lady Adeline,

Who in her way, too, was a heroine.

xcr.

She knew not licr own heart: then how should I ?

I think not she was then in love with Juan :

If so, she would have bad the strength to flyThe wild sensation, unto her a new one:

She merely felt a common sympathy(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 astranger.

XCII.

She was, or thought she was, his friend—and thisWithout the farce of friendship, or romanceOf Platonism , which leads so oft amiss

Ladies who have studiod friendship but inFrance ,

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 bo.

xcm.

No doubt the secret influence of the sexWill there, as also in the ties of blood,

An innocent predominance annex,

And tune the concord to a finer mood.

If free from passion, which all friendship checks,And your true feelings fully understood.

No friend like to a woman earth discovers,

So that you have not been, nor will be, lovers.

XCIV.

Love bears within its breast the very germOf change; aud how should this bo otherwise.'That violent things more quickly find a term,

Is shown through nature’s whole analogies;And how should the most fierce of all be firm ?

Would you have endless lightuing in the skies.'Methinks Love ’s very title says enough :

How should the tender psssion eve be tough f

xcv.

Alas! by all experience, seldom yet(I merely quote what I have heard from many)Had lovers not some reason to regretThe passion which made Solomon a zany.

I’ve also seen some wives (not to forgetThe marriage state, the best or worse of any)Who were the very paragons of wives,

\et made the misery of at least two lives.

xcvi.

I’vo also seen some female friends (‘tis odd.

But true—as, if expedient, I could prove)

That faithful were, through thick and thin, abroadAt home, far more than ever yet was Love —Who did not quit me when Oppression trodUpon mo; whom no scandal could remove:Who fought, and fight, in absence, too, my battlesDespite the snake Society’s loud rattles.

XCVII.

Whether Don Juan and chaste AdelinoGrew friends, in this or any other sense,

Will be discuss’d hereafter, I opine:

At present I am glad of a pretenceTo leave them hovering, as the effect is fine.

And keeps the atrocious reader in suspensejThe surest way for ladies and for books,i To bait their tender, or their tenter, hooks.