He stood like Adam lingering near his garden,
With useless penitence perplex'd and haunted,
Beseeching she no further would refuse,
1440 When lo! he stumbled o'er a pair of shoes.
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69 0 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
181
A pair of shoes!?what then? not much, if they Are such as fit with lady's feet, but these (No one can tell how much I grieve to say) Were masculine; to see them, and to seize, 1445 Was but a moment's act.?Ah! Well- a-day!
My teeth begin to chatter, my veins freeze? Alfonso first examined well their fashion, And then flew out into another passion.
182
He left the room for his relinquish'd sword, 1450 And Julia instant to the closet flew, 'Fly, Juan, fly! for heaven's sake?not a word? The door is open?you may yet slip through The passage you so often have explored? Here is the garden-key?Fly?fly?Adieu! 1455 Haste?haste!?I hear Alfonso's hurrying feet? Day has not broke?there's no one in the street.'
183 None can say that this was not good advice, The only mischief was, it came too late; Of all experience 'tis the usual price, 1460 A sort of income-tax laid on by fate: Juan had reach'd the room-door in a trice,
And might have done so by the garden-gate, But met Alfonso in his dressing-gown, Who threaten'd death?so Juan knock'd him down.
184
1465 Dire was the scuffle, and out went the light, Antonia cried out 'Rape!' and Julia 'Fire!' But not a servant stirr'd to aid the fight. Alfonso, pommell'd to his heart's desire, Swore lustily he'd be revenged this night;
1470 And Juan, too, blasphemed an octave higher, His blood was up; though young, he was a Tartar,3 And not at all disposed to prove a martyr.
185 Alfonso's sword had dropp'd ere he could draw it, And they continued battling hand to hand, 1475 For Juan very luckily ne'er saw it; His temper not being under great command, If at that moment he had chanced to claw it, Alfonso's days had not been in the land Much longer.?Think of husbands', lovers' lives! 1480 And how ye may be doubly widows?wives!
186
Alfonso grappled to detain the foe, And Juan throttled him to get away,
3. A formidable opponent.
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DO N JUAN , CANTO 1 / 69 1 And blood ('twas from the nose) began to flow; At last, as they more faintly wrestling lay, 1485 Juan contrived to give an awkward blow, And then his only garment quite gave way; He fled, like Joseph,4 leaving it; but there, I doubt, all likeness ends between the pair. 18 7 Lights came at length, and men, and maids, who found 1490 An awkward spectacle their eyes before; Antonia in hysterics, Julia swoon'd, Alfonso leaning, breathless, by the door; Some half-torn drapery scatter'd on the ground, Some blood, and several footsteps, but no more: 1495 Juan the gate gain'd, turn'd the key about, And liking not the inside, lock'd the out. 188 Here ends this canto.?Need I sing, or say, How Juan, naked, favour'd by the night, Who favours what she should not, found his way, 1500 And reach'd his home in an unseemly plight? The pleasant scandal which arose next day, The nine days' wonder which was brought to light, And how Alfonso sued for a divorce, Were in the English newspapers, of course. 189 1505 If you would like to see the whole proceedings, The depositions, and the cause at full, The names of all the witnesses, the pleadings Of counsel to nonsuit,3 or to annul, There's more than one edition, and the readings 1510 Are various, but they none of them are dull, The best is that in shorthand ta'en by Gurney,6 Who to Madrid on purpose made a journey. 190 But Donna Inez, to divert the train Of one of the most circulating scandals 1515 That had for centuries been known in Spain, Since Roderic's Goths, or older Genseric's Vandals,7 First vow'd (and never had she vow'd in vain) To Virgin Mary several pounds of candles; And then, by the advice of some old ladies, 1520 She sent her son to be embark'd at Cadiz. 191 She had resolved that he should travel through All European climes, by land or sea,
4. In Genesis 39.7ff. the chaste Joseph flees from hand writer for the houses of Parliament and a the advances of Potiphar's wife, leaving 'his gar-famous court reporter. ment in her hand.' 7. The Germanic tribes that overran Spain and 5. Judgment against the plaintiff for failure to other parts of southern Europe in the 5th through establish his case. 8th centuries, notorious for rape and violence. 6. William B. Gurney (1777-1855), official short
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69 2 / GEORG E GORDON, LORD BYRON 1525To mend his former morals, or get new, Especially in France and Italy, (At least this is the thing most people do). Julia was sent into a nunnery, And there, perhaps, her feelings may be better Shown in the following copy of her letter: 192 15301535'They tell me 'tis decided; you depart: 'Tis wise?'tis well, but not the less a pain; I have no further claim on your young heart, Mine was the victim, and would be again; To love too much has been the only art I used;?I write in haste, and if a stain Be on this sheet,'tis not what it appears, My eyeballs burn and throb, but have no tears. 193 1540'I loved, I love you, for that love have lost State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem, And yet can not regret what it hath cost, So dear is still the memory of that dream; Yet, if I name my guilt,'tis not to boast, None can deem harshlier of me than I deem: I trace this scrawl because I cannot rest? I've nothing to reproach, nor to request. 194 15451550 'Man's love is of his life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence; man may range The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart, Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart, And few there are whom these can not estrange; Man has all these resources, we but one, To love again, and be again undone. 195 15551560'My breast has been all weakness, is so yet; I struggle, but cannot collect my mind; My blood still rushes where my spirit's set, As roll the waves before the settled wind; My brain is feminine, nor can forget? To all, except your image, madly blind; As turns the needle8 trembling to the pole It ne'er can reach, so turns to you, my soul. 196 'You will proceed in beauty, and in pride, Beloved and loving many; all is o'er For me on earth, except some years to hide My shame and sorrow deep in my heart's core;
