The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 7 | Page 9

where his name is not a hissing and a curse. Imagine what must be the man's talent for Odium, who has contrived to spread his infamy like a pestilence from Ireland to Italy, and to make his name an execration in all languages."--Letter to Murray, May 8, 1820, _Letters_, 1901, v. 22, note 1.]
{9}[12] [Charles James Fox and the Whig Club of his time adopted a uniform of blue and buff. Hence the livery of the _Edinburgh Review_.]
[13] I allude not to our friend Landor's hero, the traitor Count Julian, but to Gibbon's hero, vulgarly yclept "The Apostate."
DON JUAN
CANTO THE FIRST.[14]
I.
I WANT a hero: an uncommon want,?When every year and month sends forth a new one,?Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,?The age discovers he is not the true one;?Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,?I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan--?We all have seen him, in the pantomime,[15]?Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time.
II.
Vernon,[16] the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,?Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe,?Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,?And filled their sign-posts then, like Wellesley now; Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk,?Followers of Fame, "nine farrow"[17] of that sow:?France, too, had Buonapart��[18] and Dumourier[19]?Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier.
III.
Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, Mirabeau,?Petion, Clootz, Danton, Marat, La Fayette[20]?Were French, and famous people, as we know;?And there were others, scarce forgotten yet,?Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,[21]?With many of the military set,?Exceedingly remarkable at times,?But not at all adapted to my rhymes.
IV.
Nelson was once Britannia's god of War,?And still should be so, but the tide is turned;?There's no more to be said of Trafalgar,?'T is with our hero quietly inurned;?Because the army's grown more popular,?At which the naval people are concerned;?Besides, the Prince is all for the land-service.?Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis.
V.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon[22]?And since, exceeding valorous and sage,?A good deal like him too, though quite the same none;?But then they shone not on the poet's page,?And so have been forgotten:--I condemn none,?But can't find any in the present age?Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one);?So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan.
VI.
Most epic poets plunge _"in medias res"_[23]?(Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road),?And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,?What went before--by way of episode,?While seated after dinner at his ease,?Beside his mistress in some soft abode,?Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,?Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
VII.
That is the usual method, but not mine--?My way is to begin with the beginning;?The regularity of my design?Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,?And therefore I shall open with a line?(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning),?Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,?And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
VIII.
In Seville was he born, a pleasant city,?Famous for oranges and women,--he?Who has not seen it will be much to pity,?So says the proverb[24]--and I quite agree;?Of all the Spanish towns is none more pretty,?Cadiz perhaps--but that you soon may see;--?Don Juan's parents lived beside the river,?A noble stream, and called the Guadalquivir.
IX.
His father's name was Jos��-_Don_, of course,--?A true Hidalgo, free from every stain?Of Moor or Hebrew blood, he traced his source?Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain;?A better cavalier ne'er mounted horse,?Or, being mounted, e'er got down again,?Than Jos��, who begot our hero, who?Begot--but that's to come----Well, to renew:
X.[25]
His mother was a learn��d lady, famed?For every branch of every science known--?In every Christian language ever named,?With virtues equalled by her wit alone:?She made the cleverest people quite ashamed,?And even the good with inward envy groan,?Finding themselves so very much exceeded,?In their own way, by all the things that she did.
XI.
Her memory was a mine: she knew by heart?All Calderon and greater part of Lop��;?So, that if any actor missed his part,?She could have served him for the prompter's copy;?For her Feinagle's were an useless art,[26]?And he himself obliged to shut up shop--he?Could never make a memory so fine as?That which adorned the brain of Donna Inez.
XII.
Her favourite science was the mathematical,?Her noblest virtue was her magnanimity,?Her wit (she sometimes tried at wit) was Attic all,?Her serious sayings darkened to sublimity;[a]?In short, in all things she was fairly what I call?A prodigy--her morning dress was dimity,?Her evening silk, or, in the summer, muslin,?And other stuffs, with which I won't stay puzzling.
XIII.
She knew the Latin--that is, "the Lord's prayer,"?And Greek--the alphabet--I'm nearly sure;?She read some French romances here and there,?Although her mode of speaking was not pure;?For native Spanish she had no great care,?At least her conversation was obscure;?Her thoughts were theorems, her words a problem,?As if she deemed that mystery would ennoble 'em.
XIV.
She liked the English and the Hebrew tongue,?And said there was analogy between 'em;?She proved it somehow out of sacred song,?But I must leave the proofs to