¡CANTO L

DON JUAN.

Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,(1) | Because the army's grown more popular,

With many of the military set,

Exceedingly remarkable at times,

But not at all adapted to my rhymes.

IV.

Nelson was once Britannia's god of war,

And still should be so, but the tide is turn'd;
There's no more to be said of Trafalgar,
Tis with our hero quietly inurn'd;

ens of criticism, delivered at the Surrey Institution, I am
accused of having lauded Bonaparte to the skies in the
bear of his success, and then peevishly wreaking my disap-
pantment on the god of my idolatry.' The first lines I ever
wrote upon Bonaparte were the Ode on Napoleon, after his
abdication in 1814. All that I have ever written on that
bject has been done since his decline;-I never met him
I have considered his character
in the hour of his success.'

at different periods, in its strength and in its weakness: by
his zealots I am accused of injustice-by his enemies as his
warmest partisan, in many publications, both English and
foreign.

"For the accuracy of my delineation I have high autho-
ry. A year and some months ago, I had the pleasure of
eeing, at Venice, my friend the Honourable Douglas Kin-
ard. In his way through Germany, he told me that he
had been honoured with a presentation to, and some inter-
view with, one of the nearest family connections of Napo-
les(Eugène Beauharnais.) During one of these, he read
and translated the lines alluding to Bonaparte, in the third
Cants of Childe Harold. He informed me, that he was
afharised by the illustrious personage-(still recognised as
sach by the Legitimacy in Europe)-to whom they were
read, to say, that the delineation was complete,' or words to
this effect. It is no puerile vanity which induces me to
publish this fact;—but Mr. Hazlitt accuses my inconsistency,
and infers my inaccuracy. Perhaps he will admit that, with
regard to the latter, one of the most intimate family con-
nections of the Emperor may be equally capable of deciding
on the subject. I tell Mr. Hazlitt, that I never flattered
Napoleon on the throne, nor maligned him since his fall. I
Wrote what I think are the incredible antitheses of his
tharacter.

Mr. Hazlitt accuses me further of delineating myself in
Olde Harold, etc. etc. I have denied this long ago-but,

were it true, Locke tells us, that all his knowledge of
the human understanding was derived from studying his own
mind. From Mr. Hazlitt's opinion of my poetry I do not
appeal; but I request that gentleman not to insult me by
impating the basest of crimes,-viz. ‘praising publicly the
same man whom I wished to depreciate in his adversity:'-
the first lines I ever wrote on Bonaparte were in his dis-
praise, in 1814,—the last, though not at all in his favour,
were more impartial and discriminative, in 1818. Has he
B. Venice, 1819."
become more fortunate since 18147
-LE

(1) Barnave was one of the most active promoters of the French revolution, and was in 1791 appointed president of the Constituent Assembly. On the flight of the royal family, he was sent to conduct them to Paris. When, in 1792, the correspondence of the court fell into the hands of the victorious party, they pretended to have found documents which showed him to have been secretly connected with it; and he was guillotined, Nov. 1793.-Brissot de Warville, at the age of twenty, published several tracts, for one of which he was, in 1784, thrown into the Bastille. He was one of the principal instigators of the revolt of the Champ de Mars, in July, 1789. Being denounced by Robespierre, he was led to the guillofine, Oct. 1793.-Condorcet was, in 1792, appointed president of the Legislative Assembly. Having, in 1793, attacked the new constitution, he was denounced. Being thrown into prison, he was on the following morning found dead, apparently from poison. His works are collected in twenty-one volumes. Mirabeau, so well known as one of the chief promoters of, and actors in, the French revolution, died in 1791. -Pétion, mayor of Paris in 1791, took an active part in the imprisonment of the king. Becoming, in 1793, an object of suspicion to Robespierre, he took refuge in the department of the Calvados; where his body was found in a field, half

• See ante, p. 113.

At which the naval people are concern'd;
Besides, the prince is all for the land-service,
Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis.
V.

Brave men were living before Agamemnon (2)
And since, exceeding valorous and sage,

593

A good deal like him too, though quite the same none;
But then they shone not on the poet's page,

devoured by wolves.-John Baptiste (better known under the
appellation of Anacharsis) Clootz, in 1790, at the bar of the
National Convention, described himself as the orator of the
human race. Being suspected by Robespierre, he was, in
1794, condemned to death. On the scaffold he begged to
be decapitated the last, as he wished to make some obser-
vations essential to the establishment of certain principles,
while the heads of the others were falling: a request oblig.
ingly complied with!- Danton played a very important
part during the first years of the French revolution. After
the fall of the king, he was made Minister of Justice. His
violent measures led to the bloody scenes of September,
1792. Being denounced to the Committee of Safety, he
ended his career on the guillotine, in 1794.-The wretch
Marat figured among the actors of the 10th August, and in
In May, 1793, he
the assassinations of September, 1792.
was denounced, and delivered over to the revolutionary tri-
bunal, which acquitted him; but his bloody career was
arrested by the knife of an assassin, in the person of Char-
lotte Corday.-Of all Lord Byron's "famous people," Ge-
neral Lafayette has been the latest survivor. He died May 20,
1834. Joubert rose from the rank of a common soldier to
that of general, distinguished himself at the engagements of
Laono, Montenotte, Millesimo, Cava, Montebello, Rivoli, and
He was afterwards opposed to
especially in the Tyrol.
Suwarrow, and was killed, in 1799, at Novi.-In 1796, Hoche
was appointed to the command of the expedition against
Ireland, and sailed in December from Brest; but, a storm
After his return, he
dispersing the fleet, the plan failed.
received the command of the army of the Sambre and Meuse;
but died suddenly, in September, 1797, it was supposed of
poison.-General Marceau first distinguished himself in La
Vendée. He was killed by a rifle-ball at Alterkerchen-

"Honour to Marceau! o'er whose early tomb

Tears, big tears, gush'd from the rough soldier's lid,
Lamenting, and yet envying, such a doom-
Falling for France, whose rights he battled to resume."
See antè, p. 118.

Lannes, Duke of Montebello (surnamed the "Orlando" and
the "Ajax" of the French camp), was the son of a poor me-
chanic. He distinguished himself at Millesimo, Lodi, Abou-
kir, Acre, Montebello, Austerlitz, Jena, Pultusk, Preuss,
Eylau, Friedland, Tudela, Saragossa, Eckmuhl, and, lastly,
at Essling; where, in May, 1809, he was killed by a cannon-
shot. "I found him a dwarf," said Napoleon, "but lost
him a giant."-At the taking of Malta, and at the battles of
Chebreiss and of the Pyramids, Desaix displayed the greatest
bravery. His mild and unvarying equity obtained for him,
in Egypt, the title of "The Just General." He was mortally
wounded by a cannon-ball at Marengo, just as victory de-
clared for the French. His body was embalmed at Milan,
and conveyed, by Napoleon's orders, to the hospice of St.
Bernard. Moreau was one of the most distinguished of the
republican generals. In 1813, on hearing of the reverses
of Napoleon in Russia, he joined the allied armies. He was
struck by a cannon-ball at the battle of Dresden, in 1813.
The only stain attached to his memory is the fact of his
"Those," observe Sir Walter
accession to the allied cause.
Scott, "who, more bold than we are, shall decide that his
conduct, in one instance, too much resembled that of Corio-
lanus, and the constable of Bourbon, must yet allow that
the fault, like that of those great men, was atoned for by
an early and a violent death."-L. E.

(2) "Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi: sed omnes illacrymabiles
Urgentur, ignotique longà

Nocte, carent quia vate sacro."-Hor.
["Before great Agamemnon reign'd,
Reign'd kings as great as he, and brave,
75

I loathe that low vice-curiosity;

But if there's any thing in which I shine,
'Tis in arranging all my friends' affairs,
Not having, of my own, domestic cares.
XXIV.

And so I interfered, and with the best
Intentions, but their treatment was not kind;
I think the foolish people were possess'd,

For neither of them could I ever find,
Although their porter afterwards confess'd-
But that's no matter, and the worst's behind,
For little Juan o'er me threw, down stairs,
A pail of housemaid's water unawares.
XXV.

A little curly-headed, good-for-nothing,

And mischief-making monkey from his birth;
His parents ne'er agreed except in doting

Upon the most unquiet imp on earth;
Instead of quarrelling, had they been but both in
Their senses, they'd have sent young master forth
To school, or had him soundly whipp'd at home,
To teach him manners for the time to come.

XXVI.

Don José and the Donna Inez led

For some time an unhappy sort of life, Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead; (1) They lived respectably as man and wife, Their conduct was exceedingly well-bred,

And gave no outward signs of inward strife, Until at length the smother'd fire broke out, And put the business past all kind of doubt.(2)

XXVII.

For Inez call'd some druggists, and physicians,
And tried to prove her loving lord was mad,(3)
But as he had some lucid intermissions,

She next decided he was only bad;
Yet when they ask'd her for her depositions,
No sort of explanation could be had,

(1) In the MS.

"Wishing each other damn'd, divorced, or dead."-L. E.

(2) "Lady Byron had left London at the latter end of January, on a visit to her father's house in Leicestershire, and Lord Byron was, in a short time after, to follow her. They had parted in the utmost kindness,-she wrote him a letter, full of playfulness and affection, on the road, and, imme. diately on her arrival at Kirkby Mallory, her father wrote to acquaint Lord Byron that she would return to him no more. At the time when he had to stand this unexpected shock, his pecuniary embarrassments, which had been fast gathering around him during the whole of the past year, had arrived at their utmost."* Moore.-L. E.

(3)" was surprised one day by a doctor (Dr. Baillie)

"The facts are:-I left London for Kirkby Mallory, the resi dence of my father and mother, on the 15th of January, 1816. Lord Byron had signified to me in writing (Jan. 6th) his absolute desire that I should leave London on the earliest day that I could conveniently fix. It was not safe for me to undertake the fatigue of a journey sooner than the 13th. Previously to my departure, it had been strongly impressed on my mind, that Lord Byron was under the influence of insanity. This opinion was derived in a great measure from the communications made to me by his nearest relatives and personal attendant, who had more opportunities than myself of observing him during the latter part of my stay in town. It was even represented to me that he was in danger of destroying himself. With the concurrence of his family, I had consulted Dr. On Baillie as a friend (Jan. 8th) respecting this supposed malady. acquainting him with the state of the case, and with Lord Byron's desire that I should leave London, Dr. Baillie thought that my absence might be advisable as an experiment, assuming the fact of mental derangement; for Dr. Baillie, not having had access to Lord

Save that her duty both to man and God
Required this conduct—which seem'd very odd.

XXVIII.

She kept a journal, where his fanlts were noted,
And open'd certain trunks of books and letters,
All which might, if occasion served, be quoted;
And then she had all Seville for abettors,
Besides her good old grandmother (who doted);
The hearers of her case became repeaters,
Then advocates, inquisitors, and judges,
Some for amusement, others for old grudges.
XXIX.

And then this best and meekest woman bore
With such serenity her husband's woes,
Just as the Spartan ladies did of yore,
Who saw their spouses kill'd, and nobly chose
Never to say a word about them more—

Calmly she heard each calumny that rose,
And saw his agonies with such sublimity,
That all the world exclaim'd "What magnanimity!
XXX.

No doubt this patience, when the world is damning us,
Is philosophic in our former friends;
"Tis also pleasant to be deem'd magnanimous,
The more so in obtaining our own ends;
And what the lawyers call a "malus animus"
Conduct like this by no means comprehends:
Revenge in person's certainly no virtue,
But then 'tis not my fault if others hurt you.
XXXI.

And if our quarrels should rip up old stories,

And help them with a lie or two additional,
I'm not to blame, as you well know-no more is
Any one else they were become traditional;
Besides, their resurrection aids our glories

By contrast, which is what we just were wishing
And science profits by this resurrection-
Dead scandals form good subjects for dissection.

and a lawyer (Dr. Lushington) almost forcing themselves
at the same time into my room.
I did not know till afte
wards the real object of their visit. I thought their qu
tions singular, frivolous, and somewhat importunate, if
impertinent: but what should I have thought, if I had
known that they were sent to provide proofs of my insanity
I have no doubt that my answers to these emissaries wer
not very rational or consistent, for my imagination **
heated with other things. But Dr. Baillie could not
scientiously make me out a certificate for Bedlam; and
perhaps the lawyer gave a more favourable report to h
employers. I do not, however, tax Lady Byron with thi
transaction; probably she was not privy to it. She was the
tool of others. Her mother always detested me, and had
not even the decency to conceal it in her house." Lord
-L. E.

Byron, could not pronounce a positive opinion on that point.
enjoined that, in correspondence with Lord Byron, I should av
but light and soothing topics. Under these impressions, it
London, determined to follow the advice given by Dr. Baili
Lady Byron.

"My mother always treated Lord B. with an affectionate sideration and indulgence, which extended to every little p liarity of his feelings. Never did an irritating word escape bet lips in her whole intercourse with him." Lady Byron-L E

The following anecdote, quoted from Lord Byron, in Mater Conversations, is rather at variance with her Ladyship's asserti -"Dining one day at Sir Ralph's (who was a good sort of man, an of whom you may form some idea when I tell you that a 14" mutton was always served at his table that be might cut the s joke upon it), I broke a tooth, and was in great pain, which! could not avoid showing. It will do you good,' said Lady Ne I am glad of it!' I gave her a look!"-P. E.