The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 7 | Page 9

of Bronze_,
line 538, _Poetical Works_, 1901, v. 568, note 2; and _Letters_, 1900,
iv. 108, note 1.]
{8}[9] For the character of Eutropius, the eunuch and minister at the
court of Arcadius, see Gibbon, [_Decline and Fall_, 1825, ii. 307, 308].
[10] ["Mr. John Murray,--As publisher to the Admiralty and of various
Government works, if the five stanzas concerning Castlereagh should
risk your ears or the Navy List, you may omit them in the
publication--in that case the two last lines of stanza 10 [_i.e_. 11] must
end with the couplet (lines 7, 8) inscribed in the margin. The stanzas on
Castlerighi (as the Italians call him) are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15."--_MS. M_.]
[11] [Commenting on a "pathetic sentiment" of Leoni, the author of the
Italian translation of _Childe Harold_ ("Sciagurata condizione di questa
mia patria!"), Byron affirms that the Italians execrated Castlereagh "as
the cause, by the conduct of the English at Genoa." "Surely," he
exclaims, "that man will not die in his bed: there is no spot of the earth
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 Buonaparté[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 José-_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 José,
who begot our hero, who
Begot--but that's to come----Well, to renew:
X.[25]
His mother was a learnéd 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