m BYRON'S

The third is s«h more difficult to stand to;

The fourth we hear, and see, and say, too, daily;The whole together is what I could wishTo serve in this conundrum of a dish.

XXII.

A modest hope—but modesty’s my forte,

And pride my foiblelet us ramble on.

I meant to make this poem very short;

But now I can't tell where it may not run.

No doubt, if I had wish’d to pay my courtTo critics, or to hail the setting sunOf tyranny of all kinds, my concisionWere more; but 1 was born for opposition.

XXIII.

But then ’tis mostly on the weaker side ;

So that X verily believe, if theyWho now are basking in their full-blown pride,Were shaken down, and “ dogs had had theirday,”

Though at the first I might perchance derideTheir tumble, i should turn the other way,

And wax an ultra-royalist in loyalty,

Because I hate even democratic royalty.

XXIV.

I think I should have made a decent spouse,

If I had never prov’d the soft condition:

1 think 1 should have made monastic vows,

But for my own peculiar superstition:

’Gainst rhyme I never should have knock’d mybrows,

Nor broken my own head, nor that of Priscian ,Nor worn the motley mantle of a poet,

If some one had not told me to forego it

xxv.

But “laissez aller ”—knights and dames I sing,Such as the times may furnish. ’Tis a flightWhich seems at first to need no lofty wing,

Plum’d by Longinus or the Stagyrite:

The difficulty lies in colouring(Keeping the due proportions still in sight)

With nature, manners which are artificial,

And rend'ring general that which is especial.

XXVI.

The difference is that, in the days of old,

Men made the manners; manners now makemen—

Pinn'd like a flock, and fleec’d too in their fold,

At least nine, and a ninth beside of ten.

Now this at all events must render cold—

Your writers, who must either draw againDays better drawn before, or else assumeThe present, with their common-place costume.

XXVII.

We’ll do our best to make the best on’t:—March!

March, my Muse 1 If you cannot fly, yet flutter;And, when you may not be sublime, be arch,

Or starch, as are the edicts statesmen utter.

We surely may find something worth research;

Columbus found a new world in a cutter,

Or brigantine, or pink, of no great tonnage,

While yet America was in her non-age.

WORKS.

XXVIII.

When Adeline, in all her growing senseOf Juan’s merits and his situation.

Felt on the whole an interest intense.—

Partly perhaps because a fresh sensation,

Or that he had an air of innocence,

Which is for innocence a sad temptation,—

As women hate half measures, on the whole,

She ’gaa to ponder how to save his soul.

XXIX.

She had a good opinion of advice,

Like all who give and eke receive it gratis,

For which small thanks are still the market price*Even where the article at highest rate is;

She thought upon the subject twice or thrice.

And morally decided, the best state isFor morals, marriage; and, this question carried.She seriously advis'd him to get married.

xxx.

Juan replied, with all becoming deference,

He had a predilection for that tie ;

But that, at present, with immediate referenceTo his own circumstances, there might lieSome difficulties, as in his own preference,

Or that of her to whom he might apply;

That sill he’d wed with such or such a lady,

If that they were not married, all already.

xxxr.

Next to the making matches for herself,

And daughters, brothers, sisters, kith or kin.Arranging them like books on the same.shelf,There’s nothing women love to dabble iuMore (like a stock-holder in growing pelf)

Than matchmaking in general; ’tis no sin,Certes, but a preventative, and thereforeThat is, no doubt, the only reason wherefore.

XXXII.

But never yet (except of course a missUnwed, or mistress never to be wed,

Or wed already, who object to this)

Was thero chaste dame who had not, in herhead,

Some’drama of the marriage uuities,

Observ’d as strictly, both at hoard and bed,

As those of ATistotle, though sometimesThey turn out melodrames or pantomimes.

xxxur.

They generally have some only son,

Some heir to a large property, some friendOf an old family, some gay Sir John,

Or gravo Lord George, with whom perhaps mighend

A line, and leave posterity undone,

“Unless a marriage was applied to mendThe prospect and their morals; and, besides,

They have at hand a blooming glut of brides.

xxxiv.

From these they will be careful tp select,

For this, an heiress, and for that, a beauty *

For one, a songstress, who hath no defect:

For t’other, one who promises much duty:

For this, a lady no one can reject,

Whose sole accomplishments were quite abooty:

A second, for her excellent connexions:

A third, because there can be no objections.