tl ON' JUAN".

Canto T.

lO

VI.

Most epic poets plunge in „mcdias ros,“

(Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road)And then your hero tolls, whene'er you please;

What went before — by way of episode,While seated after dinner at his ease,

Beside his mistress in some soft abode,

Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,

.Which selves the happy couple for a tavern.

VII.

That is 1 lie usual method, but not mine —*

My way is to begin with the beginning;

The regularity of my designForbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,And therefore I shall open with a line(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)Narrating somewhat of Don .Tuan’s father,

And also of his mother, if you’d rather.

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