Because a hunchback—.
—[MS. erased]
In battle to old age and ugliness.
—[MS. erased]
In one immortal glance, and then he died.
—[MS. erased]
“Tous cinq furent tous tués sous ces yeux: il ne cessa point de se battre, répondit par des coups de sabre aux propositions de se rendre, et ne fut atteint du coup mortel qu’après avoir abattu de sa main beaucoup de Kozaks des plus acharnée à sa prise; le reste de sa troupe fut massacré.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II 215
—Editor ↩
“Quoique les Russes fussent répandus dans la ville, le bastion de pierre résistait encore; il était défendu par un vicillard, pacha à trois queues, et commandant les forces réunies à Ismaël. On lui proposa une capitulation; il demanda si le reste de la ville était conquis; sur cette réponse, il autorisa quelques-uns de ces officiers à capituler avec M. de Ribas.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II 215
—Editor ↩
“Pendant ce colloque, il resta étendu sur des tapis placés sur les ruines de la forteresse, fumant sa pipe avec la même tranquillité et la même indifférence que s’il eût été étranger à tout ce qui se passait.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, p. 215
—Editor ↩
Of burning cities, those full moons of slaughter
—[MS. Alternative reading]
Was imaged back in blood instead of water.
Would you do less, “pro focis et pro aris”?
—[MS. erased]
Compare—
“Spread—spread for Vitellius, the royal repast,
“The Irish Avatar,” stanza 20, Poetical Works, 1891, IV 559
Till the gluttonous despot be stuffed to the gorge!”
—Editor ↩
“On égorgea indistinctement, on saccagea la place; et la rage du vainqueur … se répandit comme un torrent furieux qui a renversé les digues qui le rétenaient: personne obtint de grâce, et trente huit mille huit cent soixante Turcs périrent dans cette journée de sang.”
—Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, II 216
—Editor ↩
—of my peroration.
—[MS. erased]
—the cause I cannot guess—
—[MS. erased]
I hardly think it was commiseration.
In the original Russian—
“Slava bogu! slava vam!
Krépost vzata I ya tam;”
a kind of couplet; for he was a poet.
[J. H. Castéra (Vie de Catherine II, 1797, II 374) relates this incident in connection with the fall of Turtukey (or Tutrakaw) in Bulgaria, giving the words in French, “Gloire à Dieu! Louange à Catherine! Toutoukai est pris. Souwaroff y est entré.” W. Tooke (Life of Catherine II, 1800, III 278). Castéra’s translator, gives the original Russian with an English version. But according to Spalding (Suvóroff, 1890, pp. 42, 43), the words, which were written on a scrap of paper, and addressed to Soltikoff, ran thus:
“Your Excellency, we have conquered. Glory to God! Glory to you! Alexander Suvóroff.”
When Ismail was taken he wrote to Potemkin, “The Russian standard floats above the walls of Ismail,” and to the Empress, “Proud Ismail lies at your Majesty’s feet.” The tenor of the poetical message on the fall of Tutrakaw recalls the triumphant piety of the Emperor William I of Germany. See, too, for “mad Suwarrow’s rhymes,” Canto IX stanza LX lines 1–4.] ↩
Stanzas I–VIII, which are headed “Don Juan, Canto III, July 10, 1819,” are in the handwriting of (?) the Countess Guiccioli. Stanzas IX, X, which were written on the same sheet of paper, are in Byron’s handwriting. The original MS. opens with stanza XI, “Death laughs,” etc. (See letter to Moore, July 12, 1822, Letters, 1901, VI 96.) —Editor ↩
“Faut qu’ lord Villain-ton ait tout pris;
N’y a plus d’ argent dans c’ gueux de Paris.”
De Béranger, “Complainte d’une de ces Demoiselles a l’Occasion des Affaires du Temps (Février, 1816),” Chansons, 1821, II 17
Compare a retaliatory epigram which appeared in a contemporary newspaper—
“These French petit-maîtres who the spectacle throng,
Say of Wellington’s dress qu’il fait vilain ton!
But, at Waterloo, Wellington made the French stare
When their army he dressed à la mode Angleterre!”
—Editor ↩
Oh Wellington (or “Vilainton”)—.
—[MS. B]
Query, Ney?—Printer’s Devil. [Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, “the bravest of the brave” (see “Ode from the French,” stanza I Poetical Works, 1900, III 431), born January 10, 1769, was arrested August 5, and shot December 7, 1815.] ↩
The story of the attempted assassination (February 11, 1818) of the Duke of Wellington, which is dismissed by Alison in a few words (Hist. of Europe (1815–1852), 1853, I 577, 578), occupies many pages of the Supplementary Despatches (1865, XII 271–546). Byron probably drew his own conclusions as to the Kinnaird-Marinet incident, from the Letter to the Duke of Wellington on the Arrest of M. Marinet, by Lord Kinnaird, 1818. The story, which is full of interest, may be briefly recounted. On January 30, 1818, Lord Kinnaird informed Sir George Murray (Chief of the Staff of the Army of Occupation) that a person, whose name he withheld, had revealed to him the existence of a plot to assassinate the Duke of Wellington. At 12:30 a.m., February 11, 1818, the Duke, on returning to his Hotel, was fired at by an unknown person; and then, but not till then, he wrote to urge Lord Clancarty to advise the Prince Regent to take steps to persuade or force Kinnaird to disclose the name of his informant. A Mr. G. W. Chad, of the Consular Service, was empowered to proceed to Brussels, and to seek an interview with Kinnaird. He carried
