XCI
He did not think much on the matter, nor
Indeed on any other: as a man
He liked to have a handsome paramour
At hand, as one may like to have a fan,
And therefore of Circassians had good store,
As an amusement after the Divan;
Though an unusual fit of love, or duty,
Had made him lately bask in his bride’s beauty.
XCII
And now he rose; and after due ablutions
Exacted by the customs of the East,
And prayers and other pious evolutions,
He drank six cups of coffee at the least,
And then withdrew to hear about the Russians,
Whose victories had recently increased
In Catherine’s reign, whom Glory still adores,
As greatest of all sovereigns and w⸺s.
XCIII
But oh, thou grand legitimate Alexander!569570
Her son’s son, let not this last phrase offend
Thine ear, if it should reach—and now rhymes wander
Almost as far as Petersburgh, and lend
A dreadful impulse to each loud meander
Of murmuring Liberty’s wide waves, which blend
Their roar even with the Baltic’s—so you be
Your father’s son, ’tis quite enough for me.
XCIV
To call men love-begotten, or proclaim571
Their mothers as the antipodes of Timon,
That hater of Mankind, would be a shame,
A libel, or whate’er you please to rhyme on:
But people’s ancestors are History’s game;572
And if one Lady’s slip could leave a crime on
All generations, I should like to know
What pedigree the best would have to show?573
XCV
Had Catherine and the Sultan understood
Their own true interests, which Kings rarely know,
Until ’tis taught by lessons rather rude,
There was a way to end their strife, although
Perhaps precarious, had they but thought good,
Without the aid of Prince or Plenipo:
She to dismiss her guards and he his Harem,
And for their other matters, meet and share ’em.
XCVI
But as it was, his Highness had to hold
His daily council upon ways and means
How to encounter with this martial scold,
This modern Amazon and Queen of queans;
And the perplexity could not be told
Of all the pillars of the State, which leans
Sometimes a little heavy on the backs
Of those who cannot lay on a new tax.
XCVII
Meantime Gulbeyaz when her King was gone,
Retired into her boudoir, a sweet place
For love or breakfast; private, pleasing, lone,
And rich with all contrivances which grace
Those gay recesses:—many a precious stone
Sparkled along its roof, and many a vase
Of porcelain held in the fettered flowers,
Those captive soothers of a captive’s hours.
XCVIII
Mother of pearl, and porphyry, and marble,
Vied with each other on this costly spot;
And singing birds without were heard to warble;
And the stained glass which lighted this fair grot
Varied each ray;—but all descriptions garble
The true effect,574 and so we had better not
Be too minute; an outline is the best—
A lively reader’s fancy does the rest.
XCIX
And here she summoned Baba, and required
Don Juan at his hands, and information
Of what had passed since all the slaves retired,
And whether he had occupied their station:
If matters had been managed as desired,
And his disguise with due consideration
Kept up; and above all, the where and how
He had passed the night, was what she wished to know.
C
Baba, with some embarrassment, replied
To this long catechism of questions, asked
More easily than answered—that he had tried
His best to obey in what he had been tasked;
But there seemed something that he wished to hide,
Which Hesitation more betrayed than masked;
He scratched his ear, the infallible resource
To which embarrassed people have recourse.
CI
Gulbeyaz was no model of true patience,
Nor much disposed to wait in word or deed;
She liked quick answers in all conversations;
And when she saw him stumbling like a steed
In his replies, she puzzled him for fresh ones;
And as his speech grew still more broken-kneed,
Her cheek began to flush, her eyes to sparkle,
And her proud brow’s blue veins to swell and darkle.
CII
When Baba saw these symptoms, which he knew
To bode him no great good, he deprecated
Her anger, and beseeched she’d hear him through—
He could not help the thing which he related:
Then out it came at length, that to Dudù
Juan was given in charge, as hath been stated;
But not by Baba’s fault, he said, and swore on
The holy camel’s hump, besides the Koran.
CIII
The chief dame of the Oda,575 upon whom
The discipline of the whole Harem bore,
As soon as they re-entered their own room,
For Baba’s function stopped short at the door,
Had settled all; nor could he then presume
(The aforesaid Baba) just then to do more,
Without exciting such suspicion as
Might make the matter still worse than it was.
CIV
He hoped, indeed he thought, he could be sure,
Juan had not betrayed himself; in fact
’Twas certain that his conduct had been pure,
Because a foolish or imprudent act
Would not alone have made him insecure,
But ended in his being found out and sacked,
And thrown into the sea.—Thus Baba spoke
Of all save Dudù’s dream, which was no joke.
CV
This he discreetly kept in the back ground,
And talked away—and might have talked till now,
For any further answer that he found,
So deep an anguish wrung Gulbeyaz’ brow:
Her cheek turned ashes, ears rung, brain whirled round,
As if she had received a sudden blow,
And the heart’s dew of pain sprang fast and chilly
O’er her fair front, like Morning’s on a lily.
CVI
Although she was not of the fainting sort,
Baba thought she would faint, but there he erred—
It was but a convulsion, which though short
Can never be described; we all have heard,576
And some of us have felt thus “all amort”577
When things beyond the common have occurred;—
Gulbeyaz proved in that brief agony
What she could ne’er express—then how should I?
CVII
She stood a moment as a Pythoness
Stands
