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She vow'd she never would see Juan more, And next day paid a visit to his mother, And look'd extremely at the opening door, Which, by the Virgin's grace, let in another; Grateful she was, and yet a little sore?
Again it opens, it can be no other, 'Tis surely Juan now?No! I'm afraid That night the Virgin was no further pray'd.
77 She now determined that a virtuous woman Should rather face and overcome temptation, That flight was base and dastardly, and no man Should ever give her heart the least sensation; That is to say, a thought beyond the common
Preference, that we must feel upon occasion, For people who are pleasanter than others, But then they only seem so many brothers.
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And even if by chance?and who can tell? The devil's so very sly?she should discover That all within was not so very well, And, if still free, that such or such a lover Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell
Such thoughts, and be the better when they're over; And if the man should ask,'tis but denial: I recommend young ladies to make trial.
79 And then there are such things as love divine, Bright and immaculate, unmix'd and pure, Such as the angels think so very fine, And matrons, who would be no less secure, Platonic, perfect, 'just such love as mine':
Thus Julia said?and thought so, to be sure, And so I'd have her think, were I the man On whom her reveries celestial ran.
6. A member of a legendary family of Roman kings noted for tyranny and cruelty; perhaps a reference specifically to Lucius Tarquinus, the villain of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece.
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DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 681
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So much for Julia. Now we'll turn to Juan, Poor little fellow! he had no idea Of his own case, and never hit the true one; In feelings quick as Ovid's Miss Medea,7 685 He puzzled over what he found a new one,
But not as yet imagined it could be a Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming, Which, with a little patience, might grow charming.
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Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks Thinking unutterable things; he threw 715 Himself at length within the leafy nooks Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew; There poets find materials for their books, And every now and then we read them through, So that their plan and prosody are eligible, 720 Unless, like Wordsworth, they prove unintelligible.
91 He, Juan (and not Wordsworth), so pursued His self-communion with his own high soul, Until his mighty heart, in its great mood, Had mitigated part, though not the whole 725 Of its disease; he did the best he could
With things not very subject to control, And turn'd, without perceiving his condition, Like Coleridge, into a metaphysician.
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He thought about himself, and the whole earth, 730 Of man the wonderful, and of the stars, And how the deuce they ever could have birth; And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars, How many miles the moon might have in girth, Of air-balloons, and of the many bars 735 To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies; And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.
93 In thoughts like these true wisdom may discern Longings sublime, and aspirations high, Which some are born with, but the most part learn 740 To plague themselves withal, they know not why: 'Twas strange that one so young should thus concern
His brain about the action of the sky; If you think 'twas philosophy that this did, I can't help thinking puberty assisted.
7. In Metamorphoses 7 Ovid tells the story of Medea's mad infatuation for Jason.
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682 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
94 745 He pored upon the leaves, and on the flowers, And heard a voice in all the winds; and then He thought of wood nymphs and immortal bowers, And how the goddesses came down to men: He miss'd the pathway, he forgot the hours,
750 And when he look'd upon his watch again, He found how much old Time had been a winner? He also found that he had lost his dinner.
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i?3 'Twas on a summer's day?the sixth of June:? I like to be particular in dates, Not only of the age, and year, but moon; 820 They are a sort of post-house, where the Fates Change horses, making history change its tune,
Then spur away o'er empires and o'er states, Leaving at last not much besides chronology, Excepting the post-obits8 of theology.
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