some foreign theatre; embarked them at an Italian port, and carrying them to Algiers, sold them all. One of the women, returned from her captivity, I heard sing, by a strange coincidence, in Rossini's opera of « L'Italiana in Algeri,» at Venice, in the beginning of 1817.

"

Note 4, page 227, stanza LXXXVI.

From all the pope makes yearly 't would perplex
To find three perfect pipes of the third sex.

It is strange that it should be the Pope and the Sultan who are the chief encouragers of this branch of trade-women being prohibited as singers at St Peter's, and not deemed trust-worthy as guardians of the haram.

Note 5, page 233, stanza cIII.

While weeds and ordure rankle round the base.

The pillar which records the battle of Ravenna is about two miles from the city, on the opposite side of the river to the road towards Forli. Gaston de Foix, who gained the battle, was killed in it; there fell on both sides twenty thousand men. The present state of the pillar and its site is described in the text.

DON JUAN.

CANTO V.

I.

WHEN amatory poets sing their loves

In liquid lines mellifluously bland,

And pair their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves,
They little think what mischief is in hand;
The greater their success the worse it proves,
As Ovid's verse may give to understand;
Even Petrarch's self, if judged with due severity,
Is the Platonic pimp of all posterity.

II.

I therefore do denounce all amorous writing,
Except in such a way as not to attract;
Plain-simple-short, and by no means inviting,
But with a moral to each error tack'd,
Form'd rather for instructing than delighting,
And with all passions in their turn attack'd;
Now, if my Pegasus should not be shod ill,
This
poem will become a moral model.

VOL. II.

16

III.

The European with the Asian shore
Sprinkled with palaces; the ocean stream'
Here and there studded with a seventy-four;
Sophia's cupola with golden gleam;

The cypress groves; Olympus high and hoar;

The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream,

Far less describe, present the very view

Which charm'd the charming Mary Montagu.

IV.

I have a passion for the name of « Mary,»
For once it was a magic sound to me;
And still it half calls up the realms of fairy,
Where I beheld what never was to be;
All feelings changed, but this was last to vary,

A spell from which even yet I 'm not quite free:
But I grow sad-and let a tale grow cold,
Which must not be pathetically told.

V.

The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave
Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades;
'Tis a grand sight from off the « Giant's Grave»
To watch the progress of those rolling seas
Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave
Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease;
There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in,

Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine.

VI.

'T was a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning, When nights are equal, but not so the days; The Parca then cut short the further spinning

Of seamen's fates, and the loud tempests raise The waters and repentance for past sinning

In all, who o'er the great deep take their ways: They vow to amend their lives, and yet they don't; Because if drown'd, they can't—if spared, they won't.

And

VII.

A crowd of shivering slaves of every nation,
age, and sex, were in the market ranged;
Each bevy with the merchant in his station:

Poor creatures! their good looks were sadly changed. All save the blacks seem'd jaded with vexation,

From friends, and home, and freedom far estranged;

The negroes more philosophy display'd,—

Used to it, no doubt, as eels are to be flay'd.

VIII.

Juan was juvenile, and thus was full,

As most at his age are, of hope and health;

Yet, I must own, he look'd a little dull,

And now and then a tear stole down by stealth:
Perhaps his recent loss of blood might pull

His spirits down; and then the loss of wealth,
A mistress, and such comfortable quarters,
To be put up for auction amongst Tartars,

IX.

Were things to shake a stoic; ne'ertheless,
Upon the whole his carriage was serene:
His figure, and the splendour of his dress,
Of which some gilded remnants still were seen,
Drew all eyes on him, giving them to guess

He was above the vulgar by his mien;

And then, though pale, he was so very handsome;
And then-they calculated on his ransom.

X.

Like a backgammon board the place was dotted
With whites and blacks, in groups on show for sale,
Though rather more irregularly spotted:

Some bought the jet, while others chose the pale. It chanced amongst the other people lotted,

A man of thirty, rather stout and hale,
With resolution in his dark gray eye,
Next Juan stood, till some might choose to buy.

XI.

He had an English look; that is, was square
In make, of a complexion white and ruddy,
Good teeth, with curling rather dark brown hair,
And, it might be from thought, or toil, or study,
An open brow a little mark'd with care:

One arm had on a bandage rather bloody;
And there he stood with such sang-froid, that greater
Could scarce be shown even by a mere spectator.