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{
"data": [
{
"author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
"line_count": "802",
"lines": [
"_Rosalind_. Farewell, Monsieur Traveller; Look, you lisp,",
"and wear strange suits: disable all the benefits of your own",
"country; be out of love with your Nativity, and almost chide",
"God for making you that countenance you are; or I will",
"scarce think you have swam in a _Gondola_.",
"",
" _As You Like It_, act iv, sc. I, lines 33-35.",
"",
" _Annotation of the Commentators_.",
" That is, _been at Venice_, which was much visited by the young English",
" gentlemen of those times, and was _then_ what _Paris_ is _now_--the seat",
" of all dissoluteness.--S. A.",
"",
"'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout",
" All countries of the Catholic persuasion,",
"Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about,",
" The People take their fill of recreation,",
"And buy repentance, ere they grow devout,",
" However high their rank, or low their station,",
"With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masquing,",
"And other things which may be had for asking.",
"",
"The moment night with dusky mantle covers",
" The skies (and the more duskily the better),",
"The Time less liked by husbands than by lovers",
" Begins, and Prudery flings aside her fetter;",
"And Gaiety on restless tiptoe hovers,",
" Giggling with all the gallants who beset her;",
"And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming,",
"Guitars, and every other sort of strumming.",
"",
"And there are dresses splendid, but fantastical,",
" Masks of all times and nations, Turks and Jews,",
"And harlequins and clowns, with feats gymnastical,",
" Greeks, Romans, Yankee-doodles, and Hindoos;",
"All kinds of dress, except the ecclesiastical,",
" All people, as their fancies hit, may choose,",
"But no one in these parts may quiz the Clergy,--",
"Therefore take heed, ye Freethinkers! I charge ye.",
"",
"You'd better walk about begirt with briars,",
" Instead of coat and smallclothes, than put on",
"A single stitch reflecting upon friars,",
" Although you swore it only was in fun;",
"They'd haul you o'er the coals, and stir the fires",
" Of Phlegethon with every mother's son,",
"Nor say one mass to cool the cauldron's bubble",
"That boiled your bones, unless you paid them double.",
"",
"But saving this, you may put on whate'er",
" You like by way of doublet, cape, or cloak,",
"Such as in Monmouth-street, or in Rag Fair,",
" Would rig you out in seriousness or joke;",
"And even in Italy such places are,",
" With prettier name in softer accents spoke,",
"For, bating Covent Garden, I can hit on",
"No place that's called \"Piazza\" in Great Britain.",
"",
"This feast is named the Carnival, which being",
" Interpreted, implies \"farewell to flesh:\"",
"So called, because the name and thing agreeing,",
" Through Lent they live on fish both salt and fresh.",
"But why they usher Lent with so much glee in,",
" Is more than I can tell, although I guess",
"'Tis as we take a glass with friends at parting,",
"In the Stage-Coach or Packet, just at starting.",
"",
"And thus they bid farewell to carnal dishes,",
" And solid meats, and highly spiced ragouts,",
"To live for forty days on ill-dressed fishes,",
" Because they have no sauces to their stews;",
"A thing which causes many \"poohs\" and \"pishes,\"",
" And several oaths (which would not suit the Muse),",
"From travellers accustomed from a boy",
"To eat their salmon, at the least, with soy;",
"",
"And therefore humbly I would recommend",
" \"The curious in fish-sauce,\" before they cross",
"The sea, to bid their cook, or wife, or friend,",
" Walk or ride to the Strand, and buy in gross",
"(Or if set out beforehand, these may send",
" By any means least liable to loss),",
"Ketchup, Soy, Chili-vinegar, and Harvey,",
"Or, by the Lord! a Lent will well nigh starve ye;",
"",
"That is to say, if your religion's Roman,",
" And you at Rome would do as Romans do,",
"According to the proverb,--although no man,",
" If foreign, is obliged to fast; and you,",
"If Protestant, or sickly, or a woman,",
" Would rather dine in sin on a ragout--",
"Dine and be d--d! I don't mean to be coarse,",
"But that's the penalty, to say no worse.",
"",
"Of all the places where the Carnival",
" Was most facetious in the days of yore,",
"For dance, and song, and serenade, and ball,",
" And Masque, and Mime, and Mystery, and more",
"Than I have time to tell now, or at all,",
" Venice the bell from every city bore,--",
"And at the moment when I fix my story,",
"That sea-born city was in all her glory.",
"",
"They've pretty faces yet, those same Venetians,",
" Black eyes, arched brows, and sweet expressions still;",
"Such as of old were copied from the Grecians,",
" In ancient arts by moderns mimicked ill;",
"And like so many Venuses of Titian's",
" (The best's at Florence--see it, if ye will,)",
"They look when leaning over the balcony,",
"Or stepped from out a picture by Giorgione,",
"",
"Whose tints are Truth and Beauty at their best;",
" And when you to Manfrini's palace go,",
"That picture (howsoever fine the rest)",
" Is loveliest to my mind of all the show;",
"It may perhaps be also to _your_ zest,",
" And that's the cause I rhyme upon it so:",
"Tis but a portrait of his Son, and Wife,",
"And self; but _such_ a Woman! Love in life!",
"",
"Love in full life and length, not love ideal,",
" No, nor ideal beauty, that fine name,",
"But something better still, so very real,",
" That the sweet Model must have been the same;",
"A thing that you would purchase, beg, or steal,",
" Wer't not impossible, besides a shame:",
"The face recalls some face, as 'twere with pain,",
"You once have seen, but ne'er will see again;",
"",
"One of those forms which flit by us, when we",
" Are young, and fix our eyes on every face;",
"And, oh! the Loveliness at times we see",
" In momentary gliding, the soft grace,",
"The Youth, the Bloom, the Beauty which agree,",
" In many a nameless being we retrace,",
"Whose course and home we knew not, nor shall know,",
"Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below.",
"",
"I said that like a picture by Giorgione",
" Venetian women were, and so they _are_,",
"Particularly seen from a balcony,",
" (For beauty's sometimes best set off afar)",
"And there, just like a heroine of Goldoni,",
" They peep from out the blind, or o'er the bar;",
"And truth to say, they're mostly very pretty,",
"And rather like to show it, more's the pity!",
"",
"For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs,",
" Sighs wishes, wishes words, and words a letter,",
"Which flies on wings of light-heeled Mercuries,",
" Who do such things because they know no better;",
"And then, God knows what mischief may arise,",
" When Love links two young people in one fetter,",
"Vile assignations, and adulterous beds,",
"Elopements, broken vows, and hearts, and heads.",
"",
"Shakspeare described the sex in Desdemona",
" As very fair, but yet suspect in fame,",
"And to this day from Venice to Verona",
" Such matters may be probably the same,",
"Except that since those times was never known a",
" Husband whom mere suspicion could inflame",
"To suffocate a wife no more than twenty,",
"Because she had a \"Cavalier Servente.\"",
"",
"Their jealousy (if they are ever jealous)",
" Is of a fair complexion altogether,",
"Not like that sooty devil of Othello's,",
" Which smothers women in a bed of feather,",
"But worthier of these much more jolly fellows,",
" When weary of the matrimonial tether",
"His head for such a wife no mortal bothers,",
"But takes at once another, or _another's_.",
"",
"Didst ever see a Gondola? For fear",
" You should not, I'll describe it you exactly:",
"'Tis a long covered boat that's common here,",
" Carved at the prow, built lightly, but compactly,",
"Rowed by two rowers, each call'd \"Gondolier,\"",
" It glides along the water looking blackly,",
"Just like a coffin clapt in a canoe,",
"Where none can make out what you say or do.",
"",
"And up and down the long canals they go,",
" And under the Rialto shoot along,",
"By night and day, all paces, swift or slow,",
" And round the theatres, a sable throng,",
"They wait in their dusk livery of woe,--",
" But not to them do woeful things belong,",
"For sometimes they contain a deal of fun,",
"Like mourning coaches when the funeral's done.",
"",
"But to my story.--'Twas some years ago,",
" It may be thirty, forty, more or less,",
"The Carnival was at its height, and so",
" Were all kinds of buffoonery and dress;",
"A certain lady went to see the show,",
" Her real name I know not, nor can guess,",
"And so we'll call her Laura, if you please,",
"Because it slips into my verse with ease.",
"",
"She was not old, nor young, nor at the years",
" Which certain people call a \"_certain age_,\"",
"Which yet the most uncertain age appears,",
" Because I never heard, nor could engage",
"A person yet by prayers, or bribes, or tears,",
" To name, define by speech, or write on page,",
"The period meant precisely by that word,--",
"Which surely is exceedingly absurd.",
"",
"Laura was blooming still, had made the best",
" Of Time, and Time returned the compliment,",
"And treated her genteelly, so that, dressed,",
" She looked extremely well where'er she went;",
"A pretty woman is a welcome guest,",
" And Laura's brow a frown had rarely bent;",
"Indeed, she shone all smiles, and seemed to flatter",
"Mankind with her black eyes for looking at her.",
"",
"She was a married woman; 'tis convenient,",
" Because in Christian countries 'tis a rule",
"To view their little slips with eyes more lenient;",
" Whereas if single ladies play the fool,",
"(Unless within the period intervenient",
" A well-timed wedding makes the scandal cool)",
"I don't know how they ever can get over it,",
"Except they manage never to discover it.",
"",
"Her husband sailed upon the Adriatic,",
" And made some voyages, too, in other seas,",
"And when he lay in Quarantine for pratique",
" (A forty days' precaution 'gainst disease),",
"His wife would mount, at times, her highest attic,",
" For thence she could discern the ship with ease:",
"He was a merchant trading to Aleppo,",
"His name Giuseppe, called more briefly, Beppo.",
"",
"He was a man as dusky as a Spaniard,",
" Sunburnt with travel, yet a portly figure;",
"Though coloured, as it were, within a tanyard,",
" He was a person both of sense and vigour--",
"A better seaman never yet did man yard;",
" And she, although her manners showed no rigour,",
"Was deemed a woman of the strictest principle,",
"So much as to be thought almost invincible.",
"",
"But several years elapsed since they had met;",
" Some people thought the ship was lost, and some",
"That he had somehow blundered into debt,",
" And did not like the thought of steering home;",
"And there were several offered any bet,",
" Or that he would, or that he would not come;",
"For most men (till by losing rendered sager)",
"Will back their own opinions with a wager.",
"",
"'Tis said that their last parting was pathetic,",
" As partings often are, or ought to be,",
"And their presentiment was quite prophetic,",
" That they should never more each other see,",
"(A sort of morbid feeling, half poetic,",
" Which I have known occur in two or three,)",
"When kneeling on the shore upon her sad knee",
"He left this Adriatic Ariadne.",
"",
"And Laura waited long, and wept a little,",
" And thought of wearing weeds, as well she might;",
"She almost lost all appetite for victual,",
" And could not sleep with ease alone at night;",
"She deemed the window-frames and shutters brittle",
" Against a daring housebreaker or sprite,",
"And so she thought it prudent to connect her",
"With a vice-husband, _chiefly_ to _protect her_.",
"",
"She chose, (and what is there they will not choose,",
" If only you will but oppose their choice?)",
"Till Beppo should return from his long cruise,",
" And bid once more her faithful heart rejoice,",
"A man some women like, and yet abuse--",
" A Coxcomb was he by the public voice;",
"A Count of wealth, they said as well as quality,",
"And in his pleasures of great liberality.",
"",
"And then he was a Count, and then he knew",
" Music, and dancing, fiddling, French and Tuscan;",
"The last not easy, be it known to you,",
" For few Italians speak the right Etruscan.",
"He was a critic upon operas, too,",
" And knew all niceties of sock and buskin;",
"And no Venetian audience could endure a",
"Song, scene, or air, when he cried \"seccatura!\"",
"",
"His \"bravo\" was decisive, for that sound",
" Hushed \"Academie\" sighed in silent awe;",
"The fiddlers trembled as he looked around,",
" For fear of some false note's detected flaw;",
"The \"Prima Donna's\" tuneful heart would bound,",
" Dreading the deep damnation of his \"Bah!\"",
"Soprano, Basso, even the Contra-Alto,",
"Wished him five fathom under the Rialto.",
"",
"He patronised the Improvisatori,",
" Nay, could himself extemporise some stanzas,",
"Wrote rhymes, sang songs, could also tell a story,",
" Sold pictures, and was skilful in the dance as",
"Italians can be, though in this their glory",
" Must surely yield the palm to that which France has;",
"In short, he was a perfect Cavaliero,",
"And to his very valet seemed a hero.",
"",
"Then he was faithful too, as well as amorous;",
" So that no sort of female could complain,",
"Although they're now and then a little clamorous,",
" He never put the pretty souls in pain;",
"His heart was one of those which most enamour us,",
" Wax to receive, and marble to retain:",
"He was a lover of the good old school,",
"Who still become more constant as they cool.",
"",
"No wonder such accomplishments should turn",
" A female head, however sage and steady--",
"With scarce a hope that Beppo could return,",
" In law he was almost as good as dead, he",
"Nor sent, nor wrote, nor showed the least concern,",
" And she had waited several years already:",
"And really if a man won't let us know",
"That he's alive, he's _dead_--or should be so.",
"",
"Besides, within the Alps, to every woman,",
" (Although, God knows, it is a grievous sin,)",
"'Tis, I may say, permitted to have _two_ men;",
" I can't tell who first brought the custom in,",
"But \"Cavalier Serventes\" are quite common,",
" And no one notices or cares a pin;",
"An we may call this (not to say the worst)",
"A _second_ marriage which corrupts the _first_.",
"",
"The word was formerly a \"Cicisbeo,\"",
" But _that_ is now grown vulgar and indecent;",
"The Spaniards call the person a \"_Cortejo_,\"",
" For the same mode subsists in Spain, though recent;",
"In short it reaches from the Po to Teio,",
" And may perhaps at last be o'er the sea sent:",
"But Heaven preserve Old England from such courses!",
"Or what becomes of damage and divorces?",
"",
"However, I still think, with all due deference",
" To the fair _single_ part of the creation,",
"That married ladies should preserve the preference",
" In _tête à tête_ or general conversation--",
"And this I say without peculiar reference",
" To England, France, or any other nation--",
"Because they know the world, and are at ease,",
"And being natural, naturally please.",
"",
"'Tis true, your budding Miss is very charming,",
" But shy and awkward at first coming out,",
"So much alarmed, that she is quite alarming,",
" All Giggle, Blush; half Pertness, and half Pout;",
"And glancing at _Mamma_, for fear there's harm in",
" What you, she, it, or they, may be about:",
"The Nursery still lisps out in all they utter--",
"Besides, they always smell of bread and butter.",
"",
"But \"Cavalier Servente\" is the phrase",
" Used in politest circles to express",
"This supernumerary slave, who stays",
" Close to the lady as a part of dress,",
"Her word the only law which he obeys.",
" His is no sinecure, as you may guess;",
"Coach, servants, gondola, he goes to call,",
"And carries fan and tippet, gloves and shawl.",
"",
"With all its sinful doings, I must say,",
" That Italy's a pleasant place to me,",
"Who love to see the Sun shine every day,",
" And vines (not nailed to walls) from tree to tree",
"Festooned, much like the back scene of a play,",
" Or melodrame, which people flock to see,",
"When the first act is ended by a dance",
"In vineyards copied from the South of France.",
"",
"I like on Autumn evenings to ride out,",
" Without being forced to bid my groom be sure",
"My cloak is round his middle strapped about,",
" Because the skies are not the most secure;",
"I know too that, if stopped upon my route,",
" Where the green alleys windingly allure,",
"Reeling with _grapes_ red wagons choke the way,--",
"In England 'twould be dung, dust, or a dray.",
"",
"I also like to dine on becaficas,",
" To see the Sun set, sure he'll rise to-morrow,",
"Not through a misty morning twinkling weak as",
" A drunken man's dead eye in maudlin sorrow,",
"But with all Heaven t'himself; the day will break as",
" Beauteous as cloudless, nor be forced to borrow",
"That sort of farthing candlelight which glimmers",
"Where reeking London's smoky cauldron simmers.",
"",
"I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,",
" Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,",
"And sounds as if it should be writ on satin,",
" With syllables which breathe of the sweet South,",
"And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in,",
" That not a single accent seems uncouth,",
"Like our harsh northern whistling, grunting guttural,",
"Which we're obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all.",
"",
"I like the women too (forgive my folly!),",
" From the rich peasant cheek of ruddy bronze,",
"And large black eyes that flash on you a volley",
" Of rays that say a thousand things at once,",
"To the high Dama's brow, more melancholy,",
" But clear, and with a wild and liquid glance,",
"Heart on her lips, and soul within her eyes,",
"Soft as her clime, and sunny as her skies.",
"",
"Eve of the land which still is Paradise!",
" Italian Beauty didst thou not inspire",
"Raphael, who died in thy embrace, and vies",
" With all we know of Heaven, or can desire,",
"In what he hath bequeathed us?--in what guise,",
" Though flashing from the fervour of the Lyre,",
"Would _words_ describe thy past and present glow,",
"While yet Canova can create below?",
"",
"\"England! with all thy faults I love thee still,\"",
" I said at Calais, and have not forgot it;",
"I like to speak and lucubrate my fill;",
" I like the government (but that is not it);",
"I like the freedom of the press and quill;",
" I like the Habeas Corpus (when we've got it);",
"I like a Parliamentary debate,",
"Particularly when 'tis not too late;",
"",
"I like the taxes, when they're not too many;",
" I like a seacoal fire, when not too dear;",
"I like a beef-steak, too, as well as any;",
" Have no objection to a pot of beer;",
"I like the weather,--when it is not rainy,",
" That is, I like two months of every year.",
"And so God save the Regent, Church, and King!",
"Which means that I like all and every thing.",
"",
"Our standing army, and disbanded seamen,",
" Poor's rate, Reform, my own, the nation's debt,",
"Our little riots just to show we're free men,",
" Our trifling bankruptcies in the Gazette,",
"Our cloudy climate, and our chilly women,",
" All these I can forgive, and those forget,",
"And greatly venerate our recent glories,",
"And wish they were not owing to the Tories.",
"",
"But to my tale of Laura,--for I find",
" Digression is a sin, that by degrees",
"Becomes exceeding tedious to my mind,",
" And, therefore, may the reader too displease--",
"The gentle reader, who may wax unkind,",
" And caring little for the Author's ease,",
"Insist on knowing what he means--a hard",
"And hapless situation for a Bard.",
"",
"Oh! that I had the art of easy writing",
" What should be easy reading! could I scale",
"Parnassus, where the Muses sit inditing",
" Those pretty poems never known to fail,",
"How quickly would I print (the world delighting)",
" A Grecian, Syrian, or _Ass_yrian tale;",
"And sell you, mixed with western Sentimentalism,",
"Some samples of the _finest Orientalism._",
"",
"But I am but a nameless sort of person,",
" (A broken Dandy lately on my travels)",
"And take for rhyme, to hook my rambling verse on,",
" The first that Walker's Lexicon unravels,",
"And when I can't find that, I put a worse on,",
" Not caring as I ought for critics' cavils;",
"I've half a mind to tumble down to prose,",
"But verse is more in fashion--so here goes!",
"",
"The Count and Laura made their new arrangement,",
" Which lasted, as arrangements sometimes do,",
"For half a dozen years without estrangement;",
" They had their little differences, too;",
"Those jealous whiffs, which never any change meant;",
" In such affairs there probably are few",
"Who have not had this pouting sort of squabble,",
"From sinners of high station to the rabble.",
"",
"But, on the whole, they were a happy pair,",
" As happy as unlawful love could make them;",
"The gentleman was fond, the lady fair,",
" Their chains so slight, 'twas not worth while to break them:",
"The World beheld them with indulgent air;",
" The pious only wished \"the Devil take them!\"",
"He took them not; he very often waits,",
"And leaves old sinners to be young ones' baits.",
"",
"But they were young: Oh! what without our Youth",
" Would Love be! What would Youth be without Love!",
"Youth lends its joy, and sweetness, vigour, truth,",
" Heart, soul, and all that seems as from above;",
"But, languishing with years, it grows uncouth--",
" One of few things Experience don't improve;",
"Which is, perhaps, the reason why old fellows",
"Are always so preposterously jealous.",
"",
"It was the Carnival, as I have said",
" Some six and thirty stanzas back, and so",
"Laura the usual preparations made,",
" Which you do when your mind's made up to go",
"To-night to Mrs. Boehm's masquerade,",
" Spectator, or Partaker in the show;",
"The only difference known between the cases",
"Is--_here_, we have six weeks of \"varnished faces.\"",
"",
"Laura, when dressed, was (as I sang before)",
" A pretty woman as was ever seen,",
"Fresh as the Angel o'er a new inn door,",
" Or frontispiece of a new Magazine,",
"With all the fashions which the last month wore,",
" Coloured, and silver paper leaved between",
"That and the title-page, for fear the Press",
"Should soil with parts of speech the parts of dress.",
"",
"They went to the Ridotto; 'tis a hall",
" Where People dance, and sup, and dance again;",
"Its proper name, perhaps, were a masqued ball,",
" But that's of no importance to my strain;",
"'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall,",
" Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain;",
"The company is \"mixed\" (the phrase I quote is",
"As much as saying, they're below your notice);",
"",
"For a \"mixed company\" implies that, save",
" Yourself and friends, and half a hundred more,",
"Whom you may bow to without looking grave,",
" The rest are but a vulgar set, the Bore",
"Of public places, where they basely brave",
" The fashionable stare of twenty score",
"Of well-bred persons, called \"_The World_;\" but I,",
"Although I know them, really don't know why.",
"",
"This is the case in England; at least was",
" During the dynasty of Dandies, now",
"Perchance succeeded by some other class",
" Of imitated Imitators:--how",
"Irreparably soon decline, alas!",
" The Demagogues of fashion: all below",
"Is frail; how easily the world is lost",
"By Love, or War, and, now and then,--by Frost!",
"",
"Crushed was Napoleon by the northern Thor,",
" Who knocked his army down with icy hammer,",
"Stopped by the _Elements_--like a Whaler--or",
" A blundering novice in his new French grammar;",
"Good cause had he to doubt the chance of war,",
" And as for Fortune--but I dare not d--n her,",
"Because, were I to ponder to Infinity,",
"The more I should believe in her Divinity.",
"",
"She rules the present, past, and all to be yet,",
" She gives us luck in lotteries, love, and marriage;",
"I cannot say that she's done much for me yet;",
" Not that I mean her bounties to disparage,",
"We've not yet closed accounts, and we shall see yet",
" How much she'll make amends for past miscarriage;",
"Meantime the Goddess I'll no more importune,",
"Unless to thank her when she's made my fortune.",
"",
"To turn,--and to return;--the Devil take it!",
" This story slips for ever through my fingers,",
"Because, just as the stanza likes to make it,",
" It needs must be--and so it rather lingers;",
"This form of verse began, I can't well break it,",
" But must keep time and tune like public singers;",
"But if I once get through my present measure,",
"I'll take another when I'm next at leisure.",
"",
"They went to the Ridotto ('tis a place",
" To which I mean to go myself to-morrow,",
"Just to divert my thoughts a little space",
" Because I'm rather hippish, and may borrow",
"Some spirits, guessing at what kind of face",
" May lurk beneath each mask; and as my sorrow",
"Slackens its pace sometimes, I'll make, or find,",
"Something shall leave it half an hour behind.)",
"",
"Now Laura moves along the joyous crowd,",
" Smiles in her eyes, and simpers on her lips;",
"To some she whispers, others speaks aloud;",
" To some she curtsies, and to some she dips,",
"Complains of warmth, and this complaint avowed,",
" Her lover brings the lemonade, she sips;",
"She then surveys, condemns, but pities still",
"Her dearest friends for being dressed so ill.",
"",
"One has false curls, another too much paint,",
" A third--where did she buy that frightful turban?",
"A fourth's so pale she fears she's going to faint,",
" A fifth's look's vulgar, dowdyish, and suburban,",
"A sixth's white silk has got a yellow taint,",
" A seventh's thin muslin surely will be her bane,",
"And lo! an eighth appears,--\"I'll see no more!\"",
"For fear, like Banquo's kings, they reach a score.",
"",
"Meantime, while she was thus at others gazing,",
" Others were levelling their looks at her;",
"She heard the men's half-whispered mode of praising",
" And, till 'twas done, determined not to stir;",
"The women only thought it quite amazing",
" That, at her time of life, so many were",
"Admirers still,--but \"Men are so debased,",
"Those brazen Creatures always suit their taste.\"",
"",
"For my part, now, I ne'er could understand",
" Why naughty women--but I won't discuss",
"A thing which is a scandal to the land,",
" I only don't see why it should be thus;",
"And if I were but in a gown and band,",
" Just to entitle me to make a fuss,",
"I'd preach on this till Wilberforce and Romilly",
"Should quote in their next speeches from my homily.",
"",
"While Laura thus was seen, and seeing, smiling,",
" Talking, she knew not why, and cared not what,",
"So that her female friends, with envy broiling,",
" Beheld her airs, and triumph, and all that;",
"And well-dressed males still kept before her filing,",
" And passing bowed and mingled with her chat;",
"More than the rest one person seemed to stare",
"With pertinacity that's rather rare.",
"",
"He was a Turk, the colour of mahogany;",
" And Laura saw him, and at first was glad,",
"Because the Turks so much admire philogyny,",
" Although their usage of their wives is sad;",
"'Tis said they use no better than a dog any",
" Poor woman, whom they purchase like a pad:",
"They have a number, though they ne'er exhibit 'em,",
"Four wives by law, and concubines \"ad libitum.\"",
"",
"They lock them up, and veil, and guard them daily,",
" They scarcely can behold their male relations,",
"So that their moments do not pass so gaily",
" As is supposed the case with northern nations;",
"Confinement, too, must make them look quite palely;",
" And as the Turks abhor long conversations,",
"Their days are either passed in doing nothing,",
"Or bathing, nursing, making love, and clothing.",
"",
"They cannot read, and so don't lisp in criticism;",
" Nor write, and so they don't affect the Muse;",
"Were never caught in epigram or witticism,",
" Have no romances, sermons, plays, reviews,--",
"In Harams learning soon would make a pretty schism,",
" But luckily these Beauties are no \"Blues;\"",
"No bustling _Botherby_ have they to show 'em",
"\"That charming passage in the last new poem:\"",
"",
"No solemn, antique gentleman of rhyme,",
" Who having angled all his life for Fame,",
"And getting but a nibble at a time,",
" Still fussily keeps fishing on, the same",
"Small \"Triton of the minnows,\" the sublime",
" Of Mediocrity, the furious tame,",
"The Echo's echo, usher of the school",
"Of female wits, boy bards--in short, a fool!",
"",
"A stalking oracle of awful phrase,",
" The approving _\"Good!\"_ (by no means good in law)",
"Humming like flies around the newest blaze,",
" The bluest of bluebottles you e'er saw,",
"Teasing with blame, excruciating with praise,",
" Gorging the little fame he gets all raw,",
"Translating tongues he knows not even by letter,",
"And sweating plays so middling, bad were better.",
"",
"One hates an author that's _all author_--fellows",
" In foolscap uniforms turned up with ink,",
"So very anxious, clever, fine, and jealous,",
" One don't know what to say to them, or think,",
"Unless to puff them with a pair of bellows;",
" Of Coxcombry's worst coxcombs e'en the pink",
"Are preferable to these shreds of paper,",
"These unquenched snuffings of the midnight taper.",
"",
"Of these same we see several, and of others.",
" Men of the world, who know the World like Men,",
"Scott, Rogers, Moore, and all the better brothers,",
" Who think of something else besides the pen;",
"But for the children of the \"Mighty Mother's,\"",
" The would-be wits, and can't-be gentlemen,",
"I leave them to their daily \"tea is ready,\"",
"Smug coterie, and literary lady.",
"",
"The poor dear Mussul_women_ whom I mention",
" Have none of these instructive pleasant people,",
"And _one_ would seem to them a new invention,",
" Unknown as bells within a Turkish steeple;",
"I think 'twould almost be worth while to pension",
" (Though best-sown projects very often reap ill)",
"A missionary author--just to preach",
"Our Christian usage of the parts of speech.",
"",
"No Chemistry for them unfolds her gases,",
" No Metaphysics are let loose in lectures,",
"No Circulating Library amasses",
" Religious novels, moral tales, and strictures",
"Upon the living manners, as they pass us;",
" No Exhibition glares with annual pictures;",
"They stare not on the stars from out their attics,",
"Nor deal (thank God for that!) in Mathematics.",
"",
"Why I thank God for that is no great matter,",
" I have my reasons, you no doubt suppose,",
"And as, perhaps, they would not highly flatter,",
" I'll keep them for my life (to come) in prose;",
"I fear I have a little turn for Satire,",
" And yet methinks the older that one grows",
"Inclines us more to laugh than scold, though Laughter",
"Leaves us so doubly serious shortly after.",
"",
"Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water!",
" Ye happy mixtures of more happy days!",
"In these sad centuries of sin and slaughter,",
" Abominable Man no more allays",
"His thirst with such pure beverage. No matter,",
" I love you both, and both shall have my praise:",
"Oh, for old Saturn's reign of sugar-candy!---",
"Meantime I drink to your return in brandy.",
"",
"Our Laura's Turk still kept his eyes upon her,",
" Less in the Mussulman than Christian way,",
"Which seems to say, \"Madam, I do you honour,",
" And while I please to stare, you'll please to stay.\"",
"Could staring win a woman, this had won her,",
" But Laura could not thus be led astray;",
"She had stood fire too long and well, to boggle",
"Even at this Stranger's most outlandish ogle.",
"",
"The morning now was on the point of breaking,",
" A turn of time at which I would advise",
"Ladies who have been dancing, or partaking",
" In any other kind of exercise,",
"To make their preparations for forsaking",
" The ball-room ere the Sun begins to rise,",
"Because when once the lamps and candles fail,",
"His blushes make them look a little pale.",
"",
"I've seen some balls and revels in my time,",
" And stayed them over for some silly reason,",
"And then I looked (I hope it was no crime)",
" To see what lady best stood out the season;",
"And though I've seen some thousands in their prime",
" Lovely and pleasing, and who still may please on,",
"I never saw but one (the stars withdrawn)",
"Whose bloom could after dancing dare the Dawn.",
"",
"The name of this Aurora I'll not mention,",
" Although I might, for she was nought to me",
"More than that patent work of God's invention,",
" A charming woman, whom we like to see;",
"But writing names would merit reprehension,",
" Yet if you like to find out this fair _She,_",
"At the next London or Parisian ball",
"You still may mark her cheek, out-blooming all.",
"",
"Laura, who knew it would not do at all",
" To meet the daylight after seven hours' sitting",
"Among three thousand people at a ball,",
" To make her curtsey thought it right and fitting;",
"The Count was at her elbow with her shawl,",
" And they the room were on the point of quitting,",
"When lo! those curséd Gondoliers had got",
"Just in the very place where they _should not._",
"",
"In this they're like our coachmen, and the cause",
" Is much the same--the crowd, and pulling, hauling,",
"With blasphemies enough to break their jaws,",
" They make a never intermitted bawling.",
"At home, our Bow-street gem'men keep the laws,",
" And here a sentry stands within your calling;",
"But for all that, there is a deal of swearing,",
"And nauseous words past mentioning or bearing.",
"",
"The Count and Laura found their boat at last,",
" And homeward floated o'er the silent tide,",
"Discussing all the dances gone and past;",
" The dancers and their dresses, too, beside;",
"Some little scandals eke; but all aghast",
" (As to their palace-stairs the rowers glide)",
"Sate Laura by the side of her adorer,",
"When lo! the Mussulman was there before her!",
"",
"\"Sir,\" said the Count, with brow exceeding grave,",
" \"Your unexpected presence here will make",
"It necessary for myself to crave",
" Its import? But perhaps 'tis a mistake;",
"I hope it is so; and, at once to waive",
" All compliment, I hope so for _your_ sake;",
"You understand my meaning, or you _shall._\"",
"\"Sir,\" (quoth the Turk) \"'tis no mistake at all:",
"",
"\"That Lady is _my wife!_\" Much wonder paints",
" The lady's changing cheek, as well it might;",
"But where an Englishwoman sometimes faints,",
" Italian females don't do so outright;",
"They only call a little on their Saints,",
" And then come to themselves, almost, or quite;",
"Which saves much hartshorn, salts, and sprinkling faces,",
"And cutting stays, as usual in such cases.",
"",
"She said,--what could she say? Why, not a word;",
" But the Count courteously invited in",
"The Stranger, much appeased by what he heard:",
" \"Such things, perhaps, we'd best discuss within,\"",
"Said he; \"don't let us make ourselves absurd",
" In public, by a scene, nor raise a din,",
"For then the chief and only satisfaction",
"Will be much quizzing on the whole transaction.\"",
"",
"They entered, and for Coffee called--it came,",
" A beverage for Turks and Christians both,",
"Although the way they make it's not the same.",
" Now Laura, much recovered, or less loth",
"To speak, cries \"Beppo! what's your pagan name?",
" Bless me! your beard is of amazing growth!",
"And how came you to keep away so long?",
"Are you not sensible 'twas very wrong?",
"",
"\"And are you _really, truly,_ now a Turk?",
" With any other women did you wive?",
"Is't true they use their fingers for a fork?",
" Well, that's the prettiest Shawl--as I'm alive!",
"You'll give it me? They say you eat no pork.",
" And how so many years did you contrive",
"To--Bless me! did I ever? No, I never",
"Saw a man grown so yellow! How's your liver?",
"",
"\"Beppo! that beard of yours becomes you not;",
" It shall be shaved before you're a day older:",
"Why do you wear it? Oh! I had forgot--",
" Pray don't you think the weather here is colder?",
"How do I look? You shan't stir from this spot",
" In that queer dress, for fear that some beholder",
"Should find you out, and make the story known.",
"How short your hair is! Lord! how grey it's grown!\"",
"",
"What answer Beppo made to these demands",
" Is more than I know. He was cast away",
"About where Troy stood once, and nothing stands;",
" Became a slave of course, and for his pay",
"Had bread and bastinadoes, till some bands",
" Of pirates landing in a neighbouring bay,",
"He joined the rogues and prospered, and became",
"A renegade of indifferent fame.",
"",
"But he grew rich, and with his riches grew so",
" Keen the desire to see his home again,",
"He thought himself in duty bound to do so,",
" And not be always thieving on the main;",
"Lonely he felt, at times, as Robin Crusoe,",
" And so he hired a vessel come from Spain,",
"Bound for Corfu: she was a fine polacca,",
"Manned with twelve hands, and laden with tobacco.",
"",
"Himself, and much (heaven knows how gotten!) cash,",
" He then embarked, with risk of life and limb,",
"And got clear off, although the attempt was rash;",
" _He_ said that _Providence_ protected him--",
"For my part, I say nothing--lest we clash",
" In our opinions:--well--the ship was trim,",
"Set sail, and kept her reckoning fairly on,",
"Except three days of calm when off Cape Bonn.",
"",
"They reached the Island, he transferred his lading,",
" And self and live stock to another bottom,",
"And passed for a true Turkey-merchant, trading",
" With goods of various names--but I've forgot 'em.",
"However, he got off by this evading,",
" Or else the people would perhaps have shot him;",
"And thus at Venice landed to reclaim",
"His wife, religion, house, and Christian name.",
"",
"His wife received, the Patriarch re-baptised him,",
" (He made the Church a present, by the way;)",
"He then threw off the garments which disguised him,",
" And borrowed the Count's smallclothes for a day:",
"His friends the more for his long absence prized him,",
" Finding he'd wherewithal to make them gay,",
"With dinners, where he oft became the laugh of them,",
"For stories--but _I_ don't believe the half of them.",
"",
"Whate'er his youth had suffered, his old age",
" With wealth and talking made him some amends;",
"Though Laura sometimes put him in a rage,",
" I've heard the Count and he were always friends.",
"My pen is at the bottom of a page,",
" Which being finished, here the story ends:",
"'Tis to be wished it had been sooner done,",
"But stories somehow lengthen when begun."
],
"title": "Beppo: A Venetian Story"
},
{
"author": "Emily Dickinson",
"line_count": "28",
"lines": [
"There came a Day at Summer's full,",
"Entirely for me --",
"I thought that such were for the Saints,",
"Where Resurrections -- be --",
"",
"The Sun, as common, went abroad,",
"The flowers, accustomed, blew,",
"As if no soul the solstice passed",
"That maketh all things new --",
"",
"The time was scarce profaned, by speech --",
"The symbol of a word",
"Was needless, as at Sacrament,",
"The Wardrobe -- of our Lord --",
"",
"Each was to each The Sealed Church,",
"Permitted to commune this -- time --",
"Lest we too awkward show",
"At Supper of the Lamb.",
"",
"The Hours slid fast -- as Hours will,",
"Clutched tight, by greedy hands --",
"So faces on two Decks, look back,",
"Bound to opposing lands --",
"",
"And so when all the time had leaked,",
"Without external sound",
"Each bound the Other's Crucifix --",
"We gave no other Bond --",
"",
"Sufficient troth, that we shall rise --",
"Deposed -- at length, the Grave --",
"To that new Marriage,",
"Justified -- through Calvaries of Love --"
],
"title": "There came a Day at Summer's full"
},
{
"author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
"line_count": "409",
"lines": [
"Nisus, the guardian of the portal, stood,",
"Eager to gild his arms with hostile blood;",
"Well skill'd, in fight, the quivering lance to wield,",
"Or pour his arrows thro' th' embattled field:",
"From Ida torn, he left his sylvan cave,",
"And sought a foreign home, a distant grave.",
"To watch the movements of the Daunian host,",
"With him Euryalus sustains the post;",
"No lovelier mien adorn'd the ranks of Troy,",
"And beardless bloom yet grac'd the gallant boy;",
"Though few the seasons of his youthful life,",
"As yet a novice in the martial strife,",
"'Twas his, with beauty, Valour's gifts to share--",
"A soul heroic, as his form was fair:",
"These burn with one pure flame of generous love;",
"In peace, in war, united still they move;",
"Friendship and Glory form their joint reward;",
"And, now, combin'd they hold their nightly guard.",
"",
"\"What God,\" exclaim'd the first, \"instils this fire?",
"Or, in itself a God, what great desire?",
"My lab'ring soul, with anxious thought oppress'd,",
"Abhors this station of inglorious rest;",
"The love of fame with this can ill accord,",
"Be't mine to seek for glory with my sword.",
"See'st thou yon camp, with torches twinkling dim,",
"Where drunken slumbers wrap each lazy limb?",
"Where confidence and ease the watch disdain,",
"And drowsy Silence holds her sable reign?",
"Then hear my thought:--In deep and sullen grief",
"Our troops and leaders mourn their absent chief:",
"Now could the gifts and promised prize be thine,",
"(The deed, the danger, and the fame be mine,)",
"Were this decreed, beneath yon rising mound,",
"Methinks, an easy path, perchance, were found;",
"Which past, I speed my way to Pallas' walls,",
"And lead Æneas from Evander's halls.\"",
"",
" With equal ardour fir'd, and warlike joy,",
"His glowing friend address'd the Dardan boy:--",
"\"These deeds, my Nisus, shalt thou dare alone?",
"Must all the fame, the peril, be thine own?",
"Am I by thee despis'd, and left afar,",
"As one unfit to share the toils of war?",
"Not thus his son the great Opheltes taught:",
"Not thus my sire in Argive combats fought;",
"Not thus, when Ilion fell by heavenly hate,",
"I track'd Æneas through the walks of fate:",
"Thou know'st my deeds, my breast devoid of fear,",
"And hostile life-drops dim my gory spear.",
"Here is a soul with hope immortal burns,",
"And _life_, ignoble _life_, for _Glory_ spurns.",
"Fame, fame is cheaply earn'd by fleeting breath:",
"The price of honour, is the sleep of death.\"",
"",
" Then Nisus:--\"Calm thy bosom's fond alarms:",
"Thy heart beats fiercely to the din of arms.",
"More dear thy worth, and valour than my own,",
"I swear by him, who fills Olympus' throne!",
"So may I triumph, as I speak the truth,",
"And clasp again the comrade of my youth!",
"But should I fall,--and he, who dares advance",
"Through hostile legions, must abide by chance,--",
"If some Rutulian arm, with adverse blow,",
"Should lay the friend, who ever lov'd thee, low,",
"Live thou--such beauties I would fain preserve--",
"Thy budding years a lengthen'd term deserve;",
"When humbled in the dust, let some one be,",
"Whose gentle eyes will shed one tear for me;",
"Whose manly arm may snatch me back by force,",
"Or wealth redeem, from foes, my captive corse;",
"Or, if my destiny these last deny,",
"If, in the spoiler's power, my ashes lie;",
"Thy pious care may raise a simple tomb,",
"To mark thy love, and signalise my doom.",
"Why should thy doating wretched mother weep",
"Her only boy, reclin'd in endless sleep?",
"Who, for thy sake, the tempest's fury dar'd,",
"Who, for thy sake, war's deadly peril shar'd;",
"Who brav'd what woman never brav'd before,",
"And left her native, for the Latian shore.\"",
"",
"\"In vain you damp the ardour of my soul,\"",
"Replied Euryalus; \"it scorns controul;",
"Hence, let us haste!\"--their brother guards arose,",
"Rous'd by their call, nor court again repose;",
"The pair, buoy'd up on Hope's exulting wing,",
"Their stations leave, and speed to seek the king.",
"",
" Now, o'er the earth a solemn stillness ran,",
"And lull'd alike the cares of brute and man;",
"Save where the Dardan leaders, nightly, hold",
"Alternate converse, and their plans unfold.",
"On one great point the council are agreed,",
"An instant message to their prince decreed;",
"Each lean'd upon the lance he well could wield,",
"And pois'd with easy arm his ancient shield;",
"When Nisus and his friend their leave request,",
"To offer something to their high behest.",
"With anxious tremors, yet unaw'd by fear,",
"The faithful pair before the throne appear;",
"Iulus greets them; at his kind command,",
"The elder, first, address'd the hoary band.",
"",
"\"With patience\" (thus Hyrtacides began)",
"\"Attend, nor judge, from youth, our humble plan.",
"Where yonder beacons half-expiring beam,",
"Our slumbering foes of future conquest dream,",
"Nor heed that we a secret path have trac'd,",
"Between the ocean and the portal plac'd;",
"Beneath the covert of the blackening smoke,",
"Whose shade, securely, our design will cloak!",
"If you, ye Chiefs, and Fortune will allow,",
"We'll bend our course to yonder mountain's brow,",
"Where Pallas' walls, at distance, meet the sight,",
"Seen o'er the glade, when not obscur'd by night:",
"Then shall Æneas in his pride return,",
"While hostile matrons raise their offspring's urn;",
"And Latian spoils, and purpled heaps of dead",
"Shall mark the havoc of our Hero's tread;",
"Such is our purpose, not unknown the way,",
"Where yonder torrent's devious waters stray;",
"Oft have we seen, when hunting by the stream,",
"The distant spires above the valleys gleam.\"",
"",
" Mature in years, for sober wisdom fam'd,",
"Mov'd by the speech, Alethes here exclaim'd,--",
"\"Ye parent gods! who rule the fate of Troy,",
"Still dwells the Dardan spirit in the boy;",
"When minds, like these, in striplings thus ye raise,",
"Yours is the godlike act, be yours the praise;",
"In gallant youth, my fainting hopes revive,",
"And Ilion's wonted glories still survive.\"",
"Then in his warm embrace the boys he press'd,",
"And, quivering, strain'd them to his agéd breast;",
"With tears the burning cheek of each bedew'd,",
"And, sobbing, thus his first discourse renew'd:--",
"\"What gift, my countrymen, what martial prize,",
"Can we bestow, which you may not despise?",
"Our Deities the first best boon have given--",
"Internal virtues are the gift of Heaven.",
"What poor rewards can bless your deeds on earth,",
"Doubtless await such young, exalted worth;",
"Æneas and Ascanius shall combine",
"To yield applause far, far surpassing mine.\"",
"",
" Iulus then:--\"By all the powers above!",
"By those Penates, who my country love!",
"By hoary Vesta's sacred Fane, I swear,",
"My hopes are all in you, ye generous pair!",
"Restore my father, to my grateful sight,",
"And all my sorrows, yield to one delight.",
"Nisus! two silver goblets are thine own,",
"Sav'd from Arisba's stately domes o'erthrown;",
"My sire secured them on that fatal day,",
"Nor left such bowls an Argive robber's prey.",
"Two massy tripods, also, shall be thine,",
"Two talents polish'd from the glittering mine;",
"An ancient cup, which Tyrian Dido gave,",
"While yet our vessels press'd the Punic wave:",
"But when the hostile chiefs at length bow down,",
"When great Æneas wears Hesperia's crown,",
"The casque, the buckler, and the fiery steed",
"Which Turnus guides with more than mortal speed,",
"Are thine; no envious lot shall then be cast,",
"I pledge my word, irrevocably past:",
"Nay more, twelve slaves, and twice six captive dames,",
"To soothe thy softer hours with amorous flames,",
"And all the realms, which now the Latins sway,",
"The labours of to-night shall well repay.",
"But thou, my generous youth, whose tender years",
"Are near my own, whose worth my heart reveres,",
"Henceforth, affection, sweetly thus begun,",
"Shall join our bosoms and our souls in one;",
"Without thy aid, no glory shall be mine,",
"Without thy dear advice, no great design;",
"Alike, through life, esteem'd, thou godlike boy,",
"In war my bulwark, and in peace my joy.\"",
"",
" To him Euryalus:--\"No day shall shame",
"The rising glories which from this I claim.",
"Fortune may favour, or the skies may frown,",
"But valour, spite of fate, obtains renown.",
"Yet, ere from hence our eager steps depart,",
"One boon I beg, the nearest to my heart:",
"My mother, sprung from Priam's royal line,",
"Like thine ennobled, hardly less divine,",
"Nor Troy nor king Acestes' realms restrain",
"Her feeble age from dangers of the main;",
"Alone she came, all selfish fears above,",
"A bright example of maternal love.",
"Unknown, the secret enterprise I brave,",
"Lest grief should bend my parent to the grave;",
"From this alone no fond adieus I seek,",
"No fainting mother's lips have press'd my cheek;",
"By gloomy Night and thy right hand I vow,",
"Her parting tears would shake my purpose now:",
"Do thou, my prince, her failing age sustain,",
"In thee her much-lov'd child may live again;",
"Her dying hours with pious conduct bless,",
"Assist her wants, relieve her fond distress:",
"So dear a hope must all my soul enflame,",
"To rise in glory, or to fall in fame.\"",
"Struck with a filial care so deeply felt,",
"In tears at once the Trojan warriors melt;",
"Faster than all, Iulus' eyes o'erflow!",
"Such love was his, and such had been his woe.",
"\"All thou hast ask'd, receive,\" the Prince replied;",
"\"Nor this alone, but many a gift beside.",
"To cheer thy mother's years shall be my aim,",
"Creusa's style but wanting to the dame;",
"Fortune an adverse wayward course may run,",
"But bless'd thy mother in so dear a son.",
"Now, by my life!--my Sire's most sacred oath--",
"To thee I pledge my full, my firmest troth,",
"All the rewards which once to thee were vow'd,",
"If thou should'st fall, on her shall be bestow'd.\"",
"Thus spoke the weeping Prince, then forth to view",
"A gleaming falchion from the sheath he drew;",
"Lycaon's utmost skill had grac'd the steel,",
"For friends to envy and for foes to feel:",
"A tawny hide, the Moorish lion's spoil,",
"Slain 'midst the forest in the hunter's toil,",
"Mnestheus to guard the elder youth bestows,",
"And old Alethes' casque defends his brows;",
"Arm'd, thence they go, while all th' assembl'd train,",
"To aid their cause, implore the gods in vain.",
"More than a boy, in wisdom and in grace,",
"Iulus holds amidst the chiefs his place:",
"His prayer he sends; but what can prayers avail,",
"Lost in the murmurs of the sighing gale?",
"",
" The trench is pass'd, and favour'd by the night,",
"Through sleeping foes, they wheel their wary flight.",
"When shall the sleep of many a foe be o'er?",
"Alas! some slumber, who shall wake no more!",
"Chariots and bridles, mix'd with arms, are seen,",
"And flowing flasks, and scatter'd troops between:",
"Bacchus and Mars, to rule the camp, combine;",
"A mingled Chaos this of war and wine.",
"\"Now,\" cries the first, \"for deeds of blood prepare,",
"With me the conquest and the labour share:",
"Here lies our path; lest any hand arise,",
"Watch thou, while many a dreaming chieftain dies;",
"I'll carve our passage, through the heedless foe,",
"And clear thy road, with many a deadly blow.\"",
"His whispering accents then the youth repress'd,",
"And pierced proud Rhamnes through his panting breast:",
"Stretch'd at his ease, th' incautious king repos'd;",
"Debauch, and not fatigue, his eyes had clos'd;",
"To Turnus dear, a prophet and a prince,",
"His omens more than augur's skill evince;",
"But he, who thus foretold the fate of all,",
"Could not avert his own untimely fall.",
"Next Remus' armour-bearer, hapless, fell,",
"And three unhappy slaves the carnage swell;",
"The charioteer along his courser's sides",
"Expires, the steel his sever'd neck divides;",
"And, last, his Lord is number'd with the dead:",
"Bounding convulsive, flies the gasping head;",
"From the swol'n veins the blackening torrents pour;",
"Stain'd is the couch and earth with clotting gore.",
"Young Lamyrus and Lamus next expire,",
"And gay Serranus, fill'd with youthful fire;",
"Half the long night in childish games was pass'd;",
"Lull'd by the potent grape, he slept at last:",
"Ah! happier far, had he the morn survey'd,",
"And, till Aurora's dawn, his skill display'd.",
"In slaughter'd folds, the keepers lost in sleep,",
"His hungry fangs a lion thus may steep;",
"'Mid the sad flock, at dead of night he prowls,",
"With murder glutted, and in carnage rolls",
"Insatiate still, through teeming herds he roams;",
"In seas of gore, the lordly tyrant foams.",
"",
" Nor less the other's deadly vengeance came,",
"But falls on feeble crowds without a name;",
"His wound unconscious Fadus scarce can feel,",
"Yet wakeful Rhæsus sees the threatening steel;",
"His coward breast behind a jar he hides,",
"And, vainly, in the weak defence confides;",
"Full in his heart, the falchion search'd his veins,",
"The reeking weapon bears alternate stains;",
"Through wine and blood, commingling as they flow,",
"One feeble spirit seeks the shades below.",
"Now where Messapus dwelt they bend their way,",
"Whose fires emit a faint and trembling ray;",
"There, unconfin'd, behold each grazing steed,",
"Unwatch'd, unheeded, on the herbage feed:",
"Brave Nisus here arrests his comrade's arm,",
"Too flush'd with carnage, and with conquest warm:",
"\"Hence let us haste, the dangerous path is pass'd;",
"Full foes enough, to-night, have breath'd their last:",
"Soon will the Day those Eastern clouds adorn;",
"Now let us speed, nor tempt the rising morn.\"",
"",
" What silver arms, with various art emboss'd,",
"What bowls and mantles, in confusion toss'd,",
"They leave regardless! yet one glittering prize",
"Attracts the younger Hero's wandering eyes;",
"The gilded harness Rhamnes' coursers felt,",
"The gems which stud the monarch's golden belt:",
"This from the pallid corse was quickly torn,",
"Once by a line of former chieftains worn.",
"Th' exulting boy the studded girdle wears,",
"Messapus' helm his head, in triumph, bears;",
"Then from the tents their cautious steps they bend,",
"To seek the vale, where safer paths extend.",
"",
" Just at this hour, a band of Latian horse",
"To Turnus' camp pursue their destin'd course:",
"While the slow foot their tardy march delay,",
"The knights, impatient, spur along the way:",
"Three hundred mail-clad men, by Volscens led,",
"To Turnus with their master's promise sped:",
"Now they approach the trench, and view the walls,",
"When, on the left, a light reflection falls;",
"The plunder'd helmet, through the waning night,",
"Sheds forth a silver radiance, glancing bright;",
"Volscens, with question loud, the pair alarms:--",
"\"Stand, Stragglers! stand! why early thus in arms?",
"From whence? to whom?\"--He meets with no reply;",
"Trusting the covert of the night, they fly:",
"The thicket's depth, with hurried pace, they tread,",
"While round the wood the hostile squadron spread.",
"",
" With brakes entangled, scarce a path between,",
"Dreary and dark appears the sylvan scene:",
"Euryalus his heavy spoils impede,",
"The boughs and winding turns his steps mislead;",
"But Nisus scours along the forest's maze,",
"To where Latinus' steeds in safety graze,",
"Then backward o'er the plain his eyes extend,",
"On every side they seek his absent friend.",
"\"O God! my boy,\" he cries, \"of me bereft,",
"In what impending perils art thou left!\"",
"Listening he runs--above the waving trees,",
"Tumultuous voices swell the passing breeze;",
"The war-cry rises, thundering hoofs around",
"Wake the dark echoes of the trembling ground.",
"Again he turns--of footsteps hears the noise--",
"The sound elates--the sight his hope destroys:",
"The hapless boy a ruffian train surround,",
"While lengthening shades his weary way confound;",
"Him, with loud shouts, the furious knights pursue,",
"Struggling in vain, a captive to the crew.",
"What can his friend 'gainst thronging numbers dare?",
"Ah! must he rush, his comrade's fate to share?",
"What force, what aid, what stratagem essay,",
"Back to redeem the Latian spoiler's prey?",
"His life a votive ransom nobly give,",
"Or die with him, for whom he wish'd to live?",
"Poising with strength his lifted lance on high,",
"On Luna's orb he cast his frenzied eye:--",
"",
"\"Goddess serene, transcending every star!",
"Queen of the sky, whose beams are seen afar!",
"By night Heaven owns thy sway, by day the grove,",
"When, as chaste Dian, here thou deign'st to rove;",
"If e'er myself, or Sire, have sought to grace",
"Thine altars, with the produce of the chase,",
"Speed, speed my dart to pierce yon vaunting crowd,",
"To free my friend, and scatter far the proud.\"",
"Thus having said, the hissing dart he flung;",
"Through parted shades the hurtling weapon sung;",
"The thirsty point in Sulmo's entrails lay,",
"Transfix'd his heart, and stretch'd him on the clay:",
"He sobs, he dies,--the troop in wild amaze,",
"Unconscious whence the death, with horror gaze;",
"While pale they stare, thro' Tagus' temples riven,",
"A second shaft, with equal force is driven:",
"Fierce Volscens rolls around his lowering eyes;",
"Veil'd by the night, secure the Trojan lies.",
"Burning with wrath, he view'd his soldiers fall.",
"\"Thou youth accurst, thy life shall pay for all!\"",
"Quick from the sheath his flaming glaive he drew,",
"And, raging, on the boy defenceless flew.",
"Nisus, no more the blackening shade conceals,",
"Forth, forth he starts, and all his love reveals;",
"Aghast, confus'd, his fears to madness rise,",
"And pour these accents, shrieking as he flies;",
"\"Me, me,--your vengeance hurl on me alone;",
"Here sheathe the steel, my blood is all your own;",
"Ye starry Spheres! thou conscious Heaven! attest!",
"He could not--durst not--lo! the guile confest!",
"All, all was mine,--his early fate suspend;",
"He only lov'd, too well, his hapless friend:",
"Spare, spare, ye Chiefs! from him your rage remove;",
"His fault was friendship, all his crime was love.\"",
"He pray'd in vain; the dark assassin's sword",
"Pierced the fair side, the snowy bosom gor'd;",
"Lowly to earth inclines his plume-clad crest,",
"And sanguine torrents mantle o'er his breast:",
"As some young rose whose blossom scents the air,",
"Languid in death, expires beneath the share;",
"Or crimson poppy, sinking with the shower,",
"Declining gently, falls a fading flower;",
"Thus, sweetly drooping, bends his lovely head,",
"And lingering Beauty hovers round the dead.",
"",
"But fiery Nisus stems the battle's tide,",
"Revenge his leader, and Despair his guide;",
"Volscens he seeks amidst the gathering host,",
"Volscens must soon appease his comrade's ghost;",
"Steel, flashing, pours on steel, foe crowds on foe;",
"Rage nerves his arm, Fate gleams in every blow;",
"In vain beneath unnumber'd wounds he bleeds,",
"Nor wounds, nor death, distracted Nisus heeds;",
"In viewless circles wheel'd his falchion flies,",
"Nor quits the hero's grasp till Volscens dies;",
"Deep in his throat its end the weapon found,",
"The tyrant's soul fled groaning through the wound.",
"Thus Nisus all his fond affection prov'd--",
"Dying, revenged the fate of him he lov'd;",
"Then on his bosom sought his wonted place,",
"And death was heavenly, in his friend's embrace!",
"",
"Celestial pair! if aught my verse can claim,",
"Wafted on Time's broad pinion, yours is fame!",
"Ages on ages shall your fate admire,",
"No future day shall see your names expire,",
"While stands the Capitol, immortal dome!",
"And vanquished millions hail their Empress, Rome!",
"",
"From Ida torn he left his native grove,",
"Through distant climes, and trackless seas to rove.'",
"",
" --they hold the nightly guard'."
],
"title": "The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus. a Paraphrase From the \"ÆNeid,\" Lib. 9"
}
],
"success": true
}