DON JUAN.

XXXV.

Rapp, the Harmonist, embargoed marriage^ In bis harmonious settlement*—(which flourishesStrangely enough as yet without miscarriage,"©cause it breeds no more mouths than itlXri nourishes,

Without those sad expenses which disparage. v What Nature naturally most encourages)—

^ by call’d he “ Harmony” a state sans wedlock ?°w here I’ve got the preacher at a dead lock.XXXVI.

Because he either meant to sneer at harmonyp Or marriage, by divorcing them thus oddly;

But whether reverend Rapp leam’d this in Ger-many

Or not, ’tis said his sect is rich and godly,

“*ous and pure, beyoud what I can term any>.Of ours, although they progagate more broadly.Ai .objection's to his title, not his ritual;

Although I wonder how it grew habitual.

XXXVII.

*it Rapp is the reverse of zealous matrons,pWho favour, malgre Malthus , generation—^ofessors of that genial art, and patrons^Of all the modest part of propagation;

bich, after all, at such a desperate rate runs,pAhat half its produce tends to emigration,hat sad result of passions and potatoes—

Wo weeds which pose our economic Catos.

XXXVIII.

Adeline read Malthus ? I can’t tell:

A wish she had; his book's the eleventh com-. mandment,

bich says, “ Thou shalt not marry,” unless well:*T‘ * s ( as ^ ar as I ca11 understand) meant;

^bot my purpose on his views to dwell,j. ^or canvass what “ so eminent a hand”t meant;'it certes it conducts to lives ascetic,r burning marriage into arithmetic.

p xxxix.

^Adeline, who probably presum'dq A hat Juan had enough of maintenance,

* e P<xrate maintenance, in ease ’twas doom’d—Tim £ n . w Bolo ^ * s an eveu chance

at bridegrooms, after they are fairly groom'd ,

Of m r ? tro srade a little in the danceLika ^—( w hich might form a painter’s fame,Holbein 's “Dance of Death”—but ’tis thesame):—

But ^Ai.

J feline determin'd Juan's wedding,

But ti er own atul that's enough for women :then, with whom ? There was the sage Missv T . Reading.

Raw, Miss Flaw, Miss Showman, and MissAnd« Knowman.

‘tile two fair co-heiresses Gilfcbeddlng.b Q deem'd his merits something more thancommon:

441

All those were unobjectionable matches,

And might go on, if well wound up, like watches.

XLI.

There was Miss Millpond, smooth as summer^sea,

That usual paragon, an only daughter.

Who seem’d the cream of equanimity,

Till skimm’d—and then there was some milkand water,

With a slight shade of blue, too, it might be,Beneath the surface; but what did it matter?Love 's riotous, but marriage should have quiet,And, being consumptive, live on a milk diet

XLII.

And then there was the Miss Audacia Shoestring;

A dashing demoiselle of good estate,

Whose heart was fix’d upon a star or blue string;

But whether English dukes grew rare, of late,

Or that she had not harp’d on the true stringBy which such sirens can attract our great,

She took up with some foreign younger brother,

A Russ or Turk—the one s as good as t'other.

XLIII.

And then there was—but why should I go on,Unless the ladies should go off?—there wasIndeed a certain fair and fairy one,

Of the best class, and better than her class,—Aurora Raby, a young star who shoneO’er life, too sweet an image for such glass;

A lively being, scarcely form'd or moulded,

A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded;

XLIV.

Rich, noble, but an orphan; left an onlyChild to the care of guardians good and kind;But still her aspect had an air so lonely!

Blood is not water ; and where shall we findFeelings of youth like those which overthrown lieBy death, when we are left, alas ! behind,

To feel in friendless palaces, a homeIs wanting, and our best ties in the tomb ?

XLV.

Early in years, and yet more infantineIn figure, she had something of sublime.

In eyes, which sadly shone, as seraphs’ shine;

All youth—but with an aspect beyond time:Radiant and grave—as pitying man's decline :

Mournful—but mournful of another’s crime;

She look’d as if she sat by Eden's door.

And griev’d for those who could return no more.

XLVJ.

She was a Catholic, too, sincere, austere.

As far as her own gentle heart allow’d;

And deem’d that fallen worship far more dear,Perhaps, because ’twas fallen: her sires woroproud

' Th*

fi8 the ‘‘ S QK Xt , raordinary and flourishing German colony in America does not entirely exclude matrimow:,bitthg w'tk' ers ” fio « But lays such restrictions upon it, as prevent more than a certain quantum <rAlttle floni 11 a certain number of years; which births (as Dr. Hume observes) “ generally arrive in ac &lled fr 1 vf tla ose of a farmer’s lambs, all within the same month perhaps.” These Harmonists (sopeopu °i n name of their settlement) are represented as a remarkably flourishing, pious and quie** Jacol t* The various r ®cent writers on America . ’

honour ” li? n80n ’ ?-ocording to Mr. Pope, was accustomed to call his writers “ able pens “ persons ofua especially u eminent hands.”—Vide Correspondence, &C.