As Baba with his fingers made them fall
To heaving back the portal folds: it scared
Juan a moment, as this pair so small,
With shrinking serpent optics on him stared;470
It was as if their little looks could poison
Or fascinate whome’er they fixed their eyes on.
XCI
Before they entered, Baba paused to hint
To Juan some slight lessons as his guide:
“If you could just contrive,” he said, “to stint
That somewhat manly majesty of stride,
’T would be as well, and—(though there’s not much in’t)
To swing a little less from side to side,
Which has at times an aspect of the oddest;—
And also could you look a little modest,
XCII
“ ’T would be convenient; for these mutes have eyes
Like needles, which may pierce those petticoats;
And if they should discover your disguise,
You know how near us the deep Bosphorus floats;
And you and I may chance, ere morning rise,
To find our way to Marmora without boats,
Stitched up in sacks—a mode of navigation
A good deal practised here upon occasion.”471
XCIII
With this encouragement he led the way
Into a room still nobler than the last;
A rich confusion formed a disarray
In such sort, that the eye along it cast
Could hardly carry anything away,
Object on object flashed so bright and fast;
A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter,
Magnificently mingled in a litter.
XCIV
Wealth had done wonders—taste not much; such things
Occur in Orient palaces, and even
In the more chastened domes of Western kings
(Of which I have also seen some six or seven),
Where I can’t say or gold or diamond flings
Great lustre, there is much to be forgiven;
Groups of bad statues, tables, chairs, and pictures,
On which I cannot pause to make my strictures.
XCV
In this imperial hall, at distance lay
Under a canopy, and there reclined
Quite in a confidential queenly way,
A lady; Baba stopped, and kneeling signed
To Juan, who though not much used to pray,
Knelt down by instinct, wondering in his mind
What all this meant: while Baba bowed and bended
His head, until the ceremony ended.
XCVI
The lady rising up with such an air
As Venus rose with from the wave, on them
Bent like an antelope a Paphian pair472
Of eyes, which put out each surrounding gem;
And raising up an arm as moonlight fair,
She signed to Baba, who first kissed the hem
Of her deep purple robe, and, speaking low,
Pointed to Juan who remained below.
XCVII
Her presence was as lofty as her state;
Her beauty of that overpowering kind,
Whose force Description only would abate:
I’d rather leave it much to your own mind,
Than lessen it by what I could relate
Of forms and features; it would strike you blind
Could I do justice to the full detail;
So, luckily for both, my phrases fail.
XCVIII
Thus much however I may add—her years
Were ripe, they might make six-and-twenty springs,
But there are forms which Time to touch forbears,
And turns aside his scythe to vulgar things:473
Such as was Mary’s, Queen of Scots; true—tears
And Love destroy; and sapping Sorrow wrings
Charms from the charmer, yet some never grow
Ugly; for instance—Ninon de l’Enclos.474
XCIX
She spake some words to her attendants, who
Composed a choir of girls, ten or a dozen,
And were all clad alike; like Juan, too,
Who wore their uniform, by Baba chosen:
They formed a very nymph-like looking crew,475
Which might have called Diana’s chorus “cousin,”
As far as outward show may correspond—
I won’t be bail for anything beyond.
C
They bowed obeisance and withdrew, retiring,
But not by the same door through which came in
Baba and Juan, which last stood admiring,
At some small distance, all he saw within
This strange saloon, much fitted for inspiring
Marvel and praise; for both or none things win;
And I must say, I ne’er could see the very
Great happiness of the “Nil admirari.”476
CI
“Not to admire is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)—
To make men happy, or to keep them so”
(So take it in the very words of Creech)—
Thus Horace wrote we all know long ago;
And thus Pope477 quotes the precept to re-teach
From his translation; but had none admired,
Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired?478
CII
Baba, when all the damsels were withdrawn,
Motioned to Juan to approach, and then
A second time desired him to kneel down,
And kiss the lady’s foot; which maxim when
He heard repeated, Juan with a frown
Drew himself up to his full height again,
And said, “It grieved him, but he could not stoop
To any shoe, unless it shod the Pope.”
CIII
Baba, indignant at this ill-timed pride,
Made fierce remonstrances, and then a threat
He muttered (but the last was given aside)
About a bow-string—quite in vain; not yet
Would Juan bend, though ’twere to Muhammad’s bride:
There’s nothing in the world like etiquette
In kingly chambers or imperial halls,
As also at the Race and County Balls.
CIV
He stood like Atlas, with a world of words
About his ears, and nathless would not bend;
The blood of all his line’s Castilian lords
Boiled in his veins, and, rather than descend
To stain his pedigree, a thousand swords
A thousand times of him had made an end;
At length perceiving the “foot” could not stand,
Baba proposed that he should kiss the hand,
CV
Here was an honourable compromise,
A half-way house of diplomatic rest,
Where they might meet in much more peaceful guise;
And Juan now his willingness expressed
To use all fit and proper courtesies,
Adding, that this was commonest and best,
For through the South, the custom still commands
The gentleman to kiss the lady’s hands.
CVI
And he advanced, though with but a bad grace,
Though on more thorough-bred479 or fairer fingers
No lips e’er left their transitory trace:
On such as these
