DON JUAN.

439

XV.

^hate’er thou takest, spare awhile poor Beauty lShe is so rare, and thou hast so much prey.

»»hat though she now and then may slip fromrp, duty,

-the more’s the reason why you ought to stay.Haunt Gourmand 1 with whole nations for yourbooty,

Xou should be civil in a modest way:suppress, then, some slight feminine diseases;

A bd take as many heroes as Heaven pleases.

Fair Adeline, the more ingenuousWhere she was interested (as was said),*tecause she was not apt, like some of us,

^ i'o like too readily, or too high bred■*•0 show it—(points we need not now discuss)—Would give up artlessly both heart and head^bto such feelings as seem’d innocent,

* 0r objects worthy of the sentiment.

xr.

parts of Juan's history, which Rumour ,

SVi at live-gazette, had scatter’d, to disfigure,khe had heard. but women hear with more goodhumour

ouch aberrations, than we men of rigour.

his conduct, since in England, grew moreotrict, and his mind assum’d a manlier vigour;l^cause he had, like Alcibiades ,

A he art of living in all climes with ease.

j? m anner was, perhaps, the more seductive,Nn«?- ause k 0 neer seem’d anxious to seduce:

othiag affected, studied, or constructive,Coxcombry or conquest: no abuse

his attractions marr’d the fair perspective,An* lQ dicate a Cupidon broke loose,

Wh’ *° say, “ Resist us if you can ”—hich makes a dandy, while it spoils a man.

Tli

a **e wrong—that’s not the way to sot about it;But v ilf j? ey told tlie trutb i could well be shown;

In f hr wrong, Don Juan was without it:

Sino lac t man ner was his own alone.t_, 6 v 0 . was —at least you could not doubt it,

nhstenmg merely to his voice’s tone.

An n pSli iQ a11 bis quiver's choice,

arrow for the heart, like a sweet voice.

By nature soft his whole address held off■WasT C L° n: th ? ugh not timid, his regard

'as such as rather seem’d to keep atoof

P«lm™®! d h ‘ v sel i,’ tha ? put you on y°« r guard:haps twas hardly quite assur’d enough,

tike ^° desty 8 at times its °wn reward,

Win Ijf tue ? ani i the absence of pretension

fco much farther than there’s need to mentioi

Serene, accomplish’d, cheerful, but not loud;

Insinuating, without insinuation;

Observant of the foibles of the crowd,

Yet ne’er betraying this in conversation:

Proud with the proud, yet courteously proud,

So as to make them feel he knew his stationAnd theirs:—without a struggle for priority,

He neither brook’d nor claim’d superiority:

XVI.

That is, with men: with women he was whatThey pleas’d to make or take him for: andtheir

Imagination’s quite enough for that;

So that the outline’s tolerably fair,

They fill the canvass up—and “ verbum sat."

If once their phantasies he brought to hearUpon an object, whether sad or playful,

They can transfigure brighter than a Raphael.

XVII.

Adeline, no deep judge of character,

Was apt to add a colouring from her own:

’Tis thus the good will amiably err.

And eke the wise, as has been often shown.Experience is the chief philosopher:

But saddest when his science is well known:And persecuted sages teach the schoolsTheir folly in forgetting there are fools.

XVIII.

Was it not so, great Locke? and greater Bacon?

Great Socrates? And thou, Diviner still,*Whose lot it is by man to be mistaken,

And thy pure creed made sanction of all ill ?Redeeming worlds to be by bigots shaken.

How was thy toil rewarded? We might fillVolumes with similar sad illustrations,

But leave them to the conscience of the nations.

XIX.

I perch upon an humbler promontory,

Amidst life’s infinite variety:

With no great care for what is nicknam’d glory,But speculating as I cast mine eyeOn what may suit, or may not suit, my story,

And never straining hard to versify,

I rattle on exactly as I’d talkWith anybody in a ride or walk.

XX.

I don’t know that there may be much abilityShown in this sort of desultory rhyme;

But there’s a conversational facility.

Which may round off an hour, upon a time.

Of this I’m sure, at least, there’s no servilityIn mine irregularity of chime,

Which rings what’s uppermost of new or hoary,Just as I feel the “ Improvisatore.”

XXI.

“ Omnia vult belle Maitho dieere—die aliquandoEt bene , die neutrum , die aliquando male."

The first is rather more than mortal can do;

The second may be sadly done or gaily;

If ever : necessary in these times to avoid ambiguity, I say that I mean, by “ Diviner still,” Christ

made of it \r as ^ an T or ^ an Hod—he was both. I never arraigned his creed, but the use—or abuse—had littlft tn JVlr - .Canning one day quoted Christianity to sanction Negro Slavery, and Mr. Wilberforcebetter been h? y in And was Christ crucified, that black men might he scourged? If so, he had

u oorp a Mulatto to give both colours an equal chance of freedom, or at least salvatioa