The Works of Lord Byron Volume VI Part 87

{395}[518]

["Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove; No! make me mistress to the man I love."

Pope, _Eloisa to Abelard_, lines 87, 88.]

[jn]

_O'er whom an Empress her Crown-jewels scattering_ _Was wed with something better than a ring_.--[MS. erased.]

[519] ["Several persons who lived at the court affirm that Catherine had very blue eyes, and not brown, as M. Rulhieres has stated."--_Life of Catherine II._, by W. Tooke, 1800, iii. 382.]

{396}[520] [The historic Catherine (_aet._ 62) was past her meridian in the spring of 1791.]

[jo] _Her figure, and her vigour, and her rigour_.--[MS. erased.]

[jp] _In its sincere beginning, or dull end_.--[MS. erased.]

{397}[jq] _For such all women are just_ then, _no doubt_.--[MS.]

[jr]

_Of such sensations, in the drowsy drear_ After--_which shadows the, say_--second _year_.--[MS.]

_Of that sad heavy, drowsy, doubly drear_ After, _which shadows the first--say, year_.--[MS. erased.]

[521] [Stanza lxxvi. is not in the MS.]

{398}[522] A Russian estate is always valued by the number of the slaves upon it.

{399}[523] [The "Prota.s.sova" (born 1744) was a cousin of the Orlofs. She survived Catherine by many years, and was, writes M. Waliszewski (_The Story of a Throne_, 1895, ii. 193), "present at the Congress of Vienna, covered with diamonds like a reliquary, and claiming precedence of every one." She is named _l'eprouveuse_ in a note to the _Memoires Secrets_, 1800, i. 148.]

[js] _And not be dazzled by its early glare_.--[MS. erased.]

[524] End of Canto 9^th^, Augt. Sept., 1822. B.

CANTO THE TENTH.

I.

When Newton saw an apple fall, he found In that slight startle from his contemplation-- 'T is _said_ (for I'll not answer above ground For any sage's creed or calculation)-- A mode of proving that the Earth turned round In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation;"

And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,[jt]

Since Adam--with a fall--or with an apple.[ju][525]

II.

Man fell with apples, and with apples rose, If this be true; for we must deem the mode In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road,[jv]

A thing to counterbalance human woes:[526]

For ever since immortal man hath glowed With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon Steam-engines will conduct him to the moon.

III.

And wherefore this exordium?--Why, just now, In taking up this paltry sheet of paper, My bosom underwent a glorious glow, And my internal spirit cut a caper: And though so much inferior, as I know, To those who, by the dint of gla.s.s and vapour, Discover stars, and sail in the wind's eye, I wish to do as much by Poesy.

IV.

In the wind's eye I have sailed, and sail; but for The stars, I own my telescope is dim; But at the least I have shunned the common sh.o.r.e, And leaving land far out of sight, would skim The Ocean of Eternity:[527] the roar Of breakers has not daunted my slight, trim, But _still_ sea-worthy skiff; and she may float Where s.h.i.+ps have foundered, as doth many a boat.

V.

We left our hero, Juan, in the _bloom_ Of favouritism, but not yet in the _blush;--_ And far be it from my _Muses_ to presume (For I have more than one Muse at a push), To follow him beyond the drawing-room: It is enough that Fortune found him flush Of Youth, and Vigour, Beauty, and those things Which for an instant clip Enjoyment's wings.

VI.

But soon they grow again and leave their nest.

"Oh!" saith the Psalmist, "that I had a dove's Pinions to flee away, and be at rest!"

And who that recollects young years and loves,-- Though h.o.a.ry now, and with a withering breast, And palsied Fancy, which no longer roves Beyond its dimmed eye's sphere,--but would much rather Sigh like his son, than cough like his grandfather?

VII.

But sighs subside, and tears (even widows') shrink, Like Arno[528] in the summer, to a shallow, So narrow as to shame their wintry brink, Which threatens inundations deep and yellow!

Such difference doth a few months make. You'd think Grief a rich field which never would lie fallow; No more it doth--its ploughs but change their boys, Who furrow some new soil to sow for joys.

VIII.

But coughs will come when sighs depart--and now And then before sighs cease; for oft the one Will bring the other, ere the lake-like brow Is ruffled by a wrinkle, or the Sun Of Life reached ten o'clock: and while a glow, Hectic and brief as summer's day nigh done, O'erspreads the cheek which seems too pure for clay, Thousands blaze, love, hope, die,--how happy they!--

IX.

But Juan was not meant to die so soon:-- We left him in the focus of such glory As may be won by favour of the moon Or ladies' fancies--rather transitory Perhaps; but who would scorn the month of June, Because December, with his breath so h.o.a.ry, Must come? Much rather should he court the ray, To h.o.a.rd up warmth against a wintry day.

X.

Besides, he had some qualities which fix Middle-aged ladies even more than young: The former know what's what; while new-fledged chicks Know little more of Love than what is sung In rhymes, or dreamt (for Fancy will play tricks) In visions of those skies from whence Love sprung.

Some reckon women by their suns or years, I rather think the Moon should date the dears.

XI.

And why? because she's changeable and chaste: I know no other reason, whatsoe'er Suspicious people, who find fault in haste,[jw]

May choose to tax me with; which is not fair, Nor flattering to "their temper or their taste,"

As my friend Jeffrey writes with such an air:[529]

However, I forgive him, and I trust He will forgive himself;--if not, I must.

XII.

Old enemies who have become new friends Should so continue--'t is a point of honour; And I know nothing which could make amends For a return to Hatred: I would shun her Like garlic, howsoever she extends Her hundred arms and legs, and fain outrun her.

Old flames, new wives, become our bitterest foes-- Converted foes should scorn to join with those.