DON

LXXXlV.

And then he had good looks that point wascarried

Netn. con, amongst the women, which I griereTo say leads oft to crim. con. with the married—

A case which to the juries we may leave,

Since with digressions we too long have tarried.

Now though we know, of old that looks deceive,And always have done, somehow these good looksMake more impression than tho best of books.

LXXXV.

Aurora, who look'd more on books than faces,

Was very young, although so very sago:Admiring more Minerva than the Graces,Especially upon a printed page;

But Virtue’s self, with all her tightest laces,

Has not the natural stays of strict old age;

And Socrates , that model of all duty,

Own'd to a penchant, though discreet, for beauty.

LXXXVI,

And girls of sixteen are thus far Socratic;

But innocently so, as Socrates :

And really, if the sage sublime and Attic,

At seventy years had phantasies like those,^Vhich Plato, in his dialogues dramatic,

Has shown, l know not why they should dis-please

In virgins—always in a modest way,

Observe; for that with me’s a “sine quA”*

LXXXVII.

Also observe that, like the great Lord Coke(See Lyttleton), whene’er I havo express'dOpinions two, which at first sight may lookTwin opposites, the second is the best.

Perhaps I have a third, too, in a nook,

Or none at all—which seems a sorry jest;

But if a writer should be quite consistent,

Mow could he possibly show things existent?

LXXXVIII.

If People contradict themselves, can IHelp contradicting them, and every body,

Bven my veracious self ?—But that's a lie:

I never did so, never will—how should I ?

He who doubts all things, nothing can deny:Truth’s fountains znay be clear—her streams aromuddy,

And cut through such canals of contradiction,

»hat she must often navigate o’er fiction.

LXXXIX.

Apologue, fable, poesy, and parable,

Are false, but may be render’d also true,

By those who sow them in a land that’s arable.

Tis wonderful what fable will not doIjs said it makes reality more hearable;

But what’s reality ? Who has its clue *Philosophy ? No: she too much rejects.

Behgion? Yes; but which of all her sects?

Some millions must be wrong, that's pretty clear:O* °™aps it may turn out that all were right,u help us i Since we have need, on our career,10 keep our holy beacons always bright,

JUAN. 442

’Tis time that some new prophet should appear,

Or old indulge man with a second sight.

Opinions wear out in some thousand years,Without a small refreshment from the spheres.

XCI.

But here again, why will I thus entangleMyself with metaphysics ? None can hateSo much as 1 do any kind of wrangle;

And yef, such is my folly, or my fate,

I always knock my head against some angle,About the present, past, or future, state;

Yet I wish well to Trojan and to Tyrian,

For I was bred a moderate Presbyterian.

xcn.

But though I am a temperate theologian,

And also meek as a metaphysician,

Impartial between Tyrian and Trojan,

As Eldon on a lunatic commission,—

In politics my duty is to show JohnBull something of the lower world's condition.

It makes iny blood boil, like tho springs of Ilecla,To see men let these scoundrel sovereigns breaklaw.

xciii.

But politics, and policy, and piety,

Are topics which I sometimes introduce,

Not only for the sake of their variety,

But as subservient to a moral use;

Because my business is to dress society,

Aud stuff with sage that very verdant goose;

And now, that we may furnish with some matter,all

Tastes, we are going to try the supernatural,

xciv.

And now I will give up all argument;

And positively henceforth no temptationShall “ fool me to the top up of my bent.”

Yes, I’ll begin a thorough reformation.

Indeed, I never knew what people meant,

By dreaming that my Muse’s conversationWas dangerous :—I think she is as harmlessAs some who labour more^ and yet may charu :less.

XOV. «

Grim reader! did you ever see a ghost?

No; but you have heard — I understand—bedumb!

And don’t regret the time you may have lost.

For you have got that pleasure still to come.

And do not think I mean to sneer at mostOf these things, or by ridicule benumbThat source of the sublime and the mysterious;-—For certain reasons, my belief is serious.

xcvi.

Serious ? You laughyou may:—that will I not.

My smiles must be sincere or not at all.

I say I do believe a haunted spotExists—and where? That shall I not recall,

* Subauditur “ Non emitted for the sake of euphony.