XC. Also arose about the self-same time, And of a wife by whom he was abhorr'd; A thing of much less import in that climeAt least to those of incomes which afford The filling up their whole connubial cargo-Than where two wives are under an embargo. XCI. He did not think much on the matter, nor At hand, as one may like to have a fan, XCII. And now he rose; and after due ablutions He drank six cups of coffee at the least, In Catherine's reign, whom glory still adores XCIII. But oh, thou grand legitimate Alexander! Her son's son, let not this last phrase offend Thine ear, if it should reach-and now rhymes wander Almost as far as Petersburgh, and lend A dreadful impulse to each loud meander Of murmuring Liberty's wide waves, which blend Their roar even with the Baltic's-so you be Your father's son, 't is quite enough for me. XCIV. To call men love-begotten, or proclaim Their mothers as the antipodes of Timon, That hater of mankind, would be a shame, A libel, or whate'er you please to rhyme on: But people's ancestors are history's game; And if one lady's slip could leave a crime on All generations, I should like to know What pedigree the best would have to show? XCV. Had Catherine and the sultan understood There was a way to end their strife, although (1) Motraye, in describing the interior of the Grand Signior's palace, into which he gained admission as the assistant of a watch-maker, who was employed to regulate the clocks, says that the eunuch who received them at the entrance of the haram conducted them into a hall, which appeared to be the most agreeable apartment in the edifice: Cette salle est incrustée de porcelaine fine; et le lambris doré et azuré qui orne le fond d'une coupole qui règne XCVI. But as it was, his Highness had to hold Of all the pillars of the state, which leans XCVII. Meantime Gulbeyaz, when her king was gone, Sparkled along its roof, and many a vase Of porcelain held in the fetter'd flowers, Those captive soothers of a captive's hours. XCVIII. Mother-of-pearl, and porphyry, and marble, The true effect, (1) and so we had better not XCIX. And here she summon'd Baba, and required And whether he had occupied their station; And his disguise with due consideration Kept up; and, above all, the where and how He had pass'd the night, was what she wish'd to know. C. Baba, with some embarrassment, replied To this long catechism of questions, ask'd More easily than answer'd,-that he had tried His best to obey in what he had been task'd; But there seem'd something that he wish'd to hide. Which hesitation more betray'd than mask'd; He scratch'd his ear, the infallible resource To which embarrass'd people have recourse. CI. Gulbeyaz was no model of true patience, Nor much disposed to wait in word or deed; She liked quick answers in all conversations; And when she saw him stumbling like a steed In his replies, she puzzled him for fresh ones; And as his speech grew still more broken-kneed, Her cheek began to flush, her eyes to sparkle, And her proud brow's blue veins to swell and dark. au-dessus, est des plus riches. Une fontaine artificielle jaillissante, dont le bassin est d'un précieux marbre ved qui m'a paru serpentin on jaspé, s'élevoit directement milieu, sous le dome. Je me trouvai la tête si pleine d sophas, de précieux plafonds, de meubles superbes, en mot, d'une si grande confusion de matériaux magnifiques, qu'il seroit difficile d'en donner une idée claire." Foye tome i. p. 220.-L. E. CANTO VI. CII. When Baba saw these symptoms, which he knew He could not help the thing which he related: Juan was given in charge, as hath been stated; CIII. The chief dame of the Oda, upon whom Might make the matter still worse than it was. CIV. He hoped, indeed he thought, he could be sure But ended in his being found out and sack'd, CV. This he discreetly kept in the back-ground, And talk'd away-and might have talk'd till now, For any further answer that he found, So deep an anguish wrung Gulbeyaz' brow; Although she was not of the fainting sort, She stood a moment as a Pythoness When all the heart-strings like wild horses pull The heart asunder;-then, as more or less Their speed abated or their strength grew dull, She sunk down on her seat by slow degrees, And bow'd her throbbing head o'er trembling knees. CVIII. Her face declined and was unseen; her hair Fell in long tresses like the weeping willow, (1) "How fares my Kate? What! sweeting, all amort?" Taming of the Shrew.-L. E. (2) His guilty soul, at enmity with gods and men, could find no rest; so violently was his mind torn and distracted But such precipitation may end ill, Even at your own imperative expense: I do not mean destruction and exposure, In case of any premature disclosure; CXV. "But your own feelings. Even should all the rest Be hidden by the rolling waves, which hide Already many a once love-beaten breast Deep in the caverns of the deadly tideYou love this boyish, new, seraglio guest, And if this violent remedy be triedExcuse my freedom, when I here assure you, That killing him is not the way to cure you." CXVI. "What dost thou know of love or feeling?-Wretch! Begone!" she cried, with kindling eyes-" and do My bidding!" Baba vanish'd, for to stretch His own remonstrance further he well knew Might end in acting as his own "Jack Ketch;" And though he wish'd extremely to get through This awkward business without harm to others, He still preferr'd his own neck to another's. CXVII. Away he went then upon his commission, Growling and grumbling in good Turkish phrase Against all women of whate'er condition, Especially sultanas and their ways; Their obstinacy, pride, and indecision, Their never knowing their own mind two days, The trouble that they gave, their immorality, Which made him daily bless his own neutrality. CXVIII. And then he call'd his brethren to his aid, And above all be comb'd even to a hair, And here I leave them at their preparation Or got rid of the parties altogether, Are things the turning of a hair or feather May settle; but far be't from me to anticipate In what way feminine caprice may dissipate. CXX. I leave them for the present with good wishes, Though doubts of their well doing, to arrange Another part of history; for the dishes Of this our banquet we must sometimes change; (1) "The seventh and eighth Cantos contain a full detail (like the storm in Canto second) of the siege and assault of Ismail, with much of sarcasm on those butchers in large business, your mercenary soldiers. With these things and these fellows it is necessary, in the present clash of philo. sophy and tyranny, to throw away the scabbard. I know it is against fearful odds; but the battle must be fought; and it will be eventually for the good of mankind, whatever it may be for the individual who risks himself." B. Letters, Aug. 8, 1822.-L. E. Socrates said, our only knowledge was (2) "To know that nothing could be known; a pleasant Science enough, which levels to an ass Each man of wisdom, future, past, or present. Newton (that proverb of the mind), alas! Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent, That he himself felt only "like a youth Picking up shells by the great ocean-Truth." (3) (2) "Scrawled this additional page of life's log-bo One day more is over of it, and of me;-but which is be life or death, the gods only know,' as Socrates said to l judges, on the breaking up of the tribunal. Two thousand years, since that sage's declaration of ignorance, have enlightened us more upon this important point." B. D 1821.-L. E. (3) A short time before his death, he uttered this ment rable sentiment:-"I do not know what I may appest the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy Within the extent of this fortification A borough is comprised along the height aying on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and en finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordiy, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered fore me."-"What a lesson to the vanity and presumption philosophers; to those, especially, who have never even and the smoother pebble or the prettier shell! What a eparation for the latest inquiries, and the last views, of e decaying spirit,-for those inspired doctrines which one can throw a light over the dark ocean of undiscovered ath!" Sir David Brewster.-L. E. (1) See Miscellaneous Poems, "Inscription on the Monuent of a Newfoundland Dog."-L. E. (2) An. 1790. Le 30 de novembre on s'approcha de la ace; les troupes de terre formaient un total de vingt mille mes, indépendamment de sept à huit mille Kozaks." 1. de la Nouvelle Russie, tome ii. p. 201.-L. E. (3) "Ismaël est situé sur la rive gauche du bras gauche Danube." Ibid.-L. E. (4)--"A peu près à quatre-vingts verstes de la mer: le a près de trois mille toises de tour." Ibid.-L. E. 5) "On a compris dans ces fortifications un faubourg oldave, situé à la gauche de la ville, sur une hauteur qui domine: l'ouvrage a été terminé par un Grec. Pour onner une idée des talents de cet ingénieur, il suffira de So placed as to impede the fire of those This circumstance may serve to give a notion The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang: But then there was a great want of precaution (Prithee, excuse this engineering slang), Nor work advanced, nor cover'd-way was there, (6) To hint at least "Here is no thoroughfare." XII. But a stone bastion, with a narrow gorge, And walls as thick as most skulls born as yet; While two-and-twenty cannon, duly set, XIII. But from the river the town's open quite, But as the Danube could not well be waded, The Russians now were ready to attack; Achilles' self was not more grim and gory Still I'll record a few, if but to increase Our euphony: there was Strongenoff, and Strokonoff, Meknop, Serge Lwow, Arsniew of modern Greece, And Tschitsshakoff, and Roguenoff, and Chokenoff, dire qu'il fit placer les palissades perpendiculairement sur le parapet, de manière qu'elles favorisaient les assiégeants, et arrêtaient le feu des assiégés." Ibid. p. 202.-L. E. (6) "Le rempart en terre est prodigieusement élevé, à cause de l'immense profondeur du fossé; il est cependant absolument rasant; il n'y a ni ouvrage avancé, ni chemin couvert." Ibid.-L. E. (7) "Casemate is a work made under the rampart, like a cellar or cave, with loop-holes to place guns in it, and is bomb-proof." Milit. Dict.-L. E. (8) "When the breastwork of a battery is only of such height that the guns may fire over it without being obliged to make embrasures, the guns are said to fire in barbet." Ibid.-L. E. (9) "Un bastion de pierres, ouvert par une gorge trèsétroite, et dont les murailles sont fort épaisses, a une batterie casematée et une à barbette; il défend la rive du Danube. Du côté droit de la ville est un cavalier de quarante pieds d'élévation à pic, garni de vingt-deux pièces de canon, et qui défend la partie gauche." Hist. de la N. R. t. ii. p. 202.-L. E. (10) “Du côté du fleuve, la ville est absolument ouverte ; les Turcs ne croyaient pas que les Russes pussent jamais avoir une flotille dans le Danube." Ibid. p. 203.-L. E. (I) "La première attaque était composée de trois colonnes, commandées par les lieutenants-généraux Paul Potiemkin, Serge Lwow, les généraux-majors Lascy, Théodore Meknop. Trois autres colonnes avaient pour chefs le Comte Samoilow, les généraux Elie de Bezborodko, Michel Koutousow; les brigadiers Orlow, Platow, Ribaupierre. La troisième attaque par eau n'avait que deux colonnes, sous les ordres des généraux-majors Ribas et Arseniew, des brigadiers Markoff et Tchépéja," etc. Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, t. ii. p. 207.-L. E. (2) See the farce of Love Laughs at Locksmiths.-L. E. (3) "On s'était proposé deux buts également avantageux, par la construction de deux batteries sur l'ile qui avoisine Ismaël: le premier, de bombarder la place, d'en abattre les principaux édifices avec du canon de quarante-huit, effet XXI. I wonder (although Mars no doubt's a god I I hope this little question is no sin, I think one Shakspeare puts the same thought in The mouth of some one in his plays so doting, Which many people pass for wits by quoting. XXII. Then there were Frenchmen, gallant, young, and gay: I'd rather tell ten lies than say a word The Russians, having built two batteries on The city's shape suggested this, 'tis true; The second object was to profit by The moment of the general consternation, To attack the Turks' flotilla, which lay nigh Extremely tranquil, anchor'd at its station: But a third motive was as probably To frighten them into capitulation; (4) A fantasy which sometimes seizes warriors, Unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers. XXV. A habit rather blameable, which is That of despising those we combat with, Common in many cases, was in this The cause (5) of killing Tchitchitzkoff and Smith One of the valorous "Smiths" whom we shall miss Out of those nineteen who late rhymed to "pith;" But 'tis a name so spread o'er "Sir" and "Madan That one would think the first who bore it "Adam" XXVI. The Russian batteries were incomplete, Because they were constructed in a hurry;(6) Thus the same cause which makes a verse want feet, And throws a cloud o'er Longman and John Marray, d'autant plus probable, que la ville étant bâtie en amp théâtre, presque aucun coup ne serait perdu." Hist. Nouvelle Russie, t. ii. p. 203.-L. E. (4) "Le second objet était de profiter de ce moment d'e larme pour que la flotille, agissant en même temps, pit détruire celle des Turcs. Un troisième motif, et vraisema blement le plus plausible, était de jeter la consternati parmi les Turcs, et de les engager à capituler." I -L. E. (5) "Une habitude blåmable, celle de mépriser son ent mi, fut la cause...." Ibid. -L. E. (6) ... "Du défaut de perfection dans la construction batteries; on voulait agir promptement, et on, négligs à donner aux ouvrages la solidité qu'ils exigeaient. -L. E. |