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She; too; was fortunate last carnival;
And made at least five hundred good zecchini;
But spends so fast; she has not now a paul;
And then there 's the Grotesca… such a dancer!
Where men have souls or bodies she must answer。
'As for the figuranti; they are like
The rest of all that tribe; with here and there
A pretty person; which perhaps may strike;
The rest are hardly fitted for a fair;
There 's one; though tall and stiffer than a pike;
Yet has a sentimental kind of air
Which might go far; but she don't dance with vigour;
The more 's the pity; with her face and figure。
'As for the men; they are a middling set;
The musico is but a crack'd old basin;
But being qualified in one way yet;
May the seraglio do to set his face in;
And as a servant some preferment get;
His singing I no further trust can place in:
From all the Pope makes yearly 't would perplex
To find three perfect pipes of the third sex。
'The tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation;
And for the bass; the beast can only bellow;
In fact; he had no singing education;
An ignorant; noteless; timeless; tuneless fellow;
But being the prima donna's near relation;
Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow;
They hired him; though to hear him you 'd believe
An ass was practising recitative。
''T would not bee myself to dwell upon
My own merits; and though young… I see; Sir… you
Have got a travell'd air; which speaks you one
To whom the opera is by no means new:
You 've heard of Raucocanti?… I 'm the man;
The time may e when you may hear me too;
You was not last year at the fair of Lugo;
But next; when I 'm engaged to sing there… do go。
'Our baritone I almost had forgot;
A pretty lad; but bursting with conceit;
With graceful action; science not a jot;
A voice of no great pass; and not sweet;
He always is plaining of his lot;
Forsooth; scarce fit for ballads in the street;
In lovers' parts his passion more to breathe;
Having no heart to show; he shows his teeth。'
Here Raucocanti's eloquent recital
Was interrupted by the pirate crew;
Who came at stated moments to invite all
The captives back to their sad berths; each threw
A rueful glance upon the waves (which bright all
From the blue skies derived a double blue;
Dancing all free and happy in the sun);
And then went down the hatchway one by one。
They heard next day… that in the Dardanelles;
Waiting for his Sublimity's firman;
The most imperative of sovereign spells;
Which every body does without who can;
More to secure them in their naval cells;
Lady to lady; well as man to man;
Were to be chain'd and lotted out per couple;
For the slave market of Constantinople。
It seems when this allotment was made out;
There chanced to be an odd male; and odd female;
Who (after some discussion and some doubt;
If the soprano might be deem'd to be male;
They placed him o'er the women as a scout)
Were link'd together; and it happen'd the male
Was Juan;… who; an awkward thing at his age;
Pair'd off with a Bacchante blooming visage。
With Raucocanti lucklessly was chain'd
The tenor; these two hated with a hate
Found only on the stage; and each more pain'd
With this his tuneful neighbour than his fate;
Sad strife arose; for they were so cross…grain'd;
Instead of bearing up without debate;
That each pull'd different ways with many an oath;
'Arcades ambo;' id est… blackguards both。
Juan's panion was a Romagnole;
But bred within the March of old Ancona;
With eyes that look'd into the very soul
(And other chief points of a 'bella donna');
Bright… and as black and burning as a coal;
And through her dear brunette plexion shone
Great wish to please… a most attractive dower;
Especially when added to the power。
But all that power was wasted upon him;
For sorrow o'er each sense held stern mand;
Her eye might flash on his; but found it dim;
And though thus chain'd; as natural her hand
Touch'd his; nor that… nor any handsome limb
(And she had some not easy to withstand)
Could stir his pulse; or make his faith feel brittle;
Perhaps his recent wounds might help a little。
No matter; we should ne'er too much enquire;
But facts are facts: no knight could be more true;
And firmer faith no ladye…love desire;
We will omit the proofs; save one or two:
'T is said no one in hand 'can hold a fire
By thought of frosty Caucasus;' but few;
I really think; yet Juan's then ordeal
Was more triumphant; and not much less real。
Here I might enter on a chaste description;
Having withstood temptation in my youth;
But hear that several people take exception
At the first two books having too much truth;
Therefore I 'll make Don Juan leave the ship soon;
Because the publisher declares; in sooth;
Through needles' eyes it easier for the camel is
To pass; than those two cantos into families。
'T is all the same to me; I 'm fond of yielding;
And therefore leave them to the purer page
Of Smollett; Prior; Ariosto; Fielding;
Who say strange things for so correct an age;
I once had great alacrity in wielding
My pen; and liked poetic war to wage;
And recollect the time when all this cant
Would have provoked remarks which now it shan't。
As boys love rows; my boyhood liked a squabble;
But at this hour I wish to part in peace;
Leaving such to the literary rabble:
Whether my verse's fame be doom'd to cease
While the right hand which wrote it still is able;
Or of some centuries to take a lease;
The grass upon my grave will grow as long;
And sigh to midnight winds; but not to song。
Of poets who e down to us through distance
Of time and tongues; the foster…babes of Fame;
Life seems the smallest portion of existence;
Where twenty ages gather o'er a name;
'T is as a snowball which derives assistance
From every flake; and yet rolls on the same;
Even till an iceberg it may chance to grow;
But; after all; 't is nothing but cold snow。
And so great names are nothing more than nominal;
And love of glory 's but an airy lust;
Too often in its fury overing all
Who would as 't were identify their dust
From out the wide destruction; which; entombing all;
Leaves nothing till 'the ing of the just'…
Save change: I 've stood upon Achilles' tomb;
And heard Troy doubted; time will doubt of Rome。
The very generations of the dead
Are swept away; and tomb inherits tomb;
Until the memory of an age is fled;
And; buried; sinks beneath its offspring's doom:
Where are the epitaphs our fathers read?
Save a few glean'd from the sepulchral gloom
Which once…named myriads nameless lie beneath;
And lose their own in universal death。
I canter by the spot each afternoon
Where perish'd in his fame the hero…boy;
Who lived too long for men; but died too soon
For human vanity; the young De Foix!
A broken pillar; not uncouthly hewn;
But which neglect is hastening to destroy;
Records Ravenna's carnage on its face;
While weeds and ordure rankle round the base。
I pass each day where Dante's bones are laid:
A little cupola; more neat than solemn;
Protects his dust; but reverence here is paid
To the bard's tomb; and not the warrior's column。
The time must e; when both alike decay'd;
The chieftain's trophy; and the poet's volume;
Will sink where lie the