CANTO THE TENTH. I. WHEN Newton saw an apple fall, he found II. Man fell with apples, and with apples rose, 1 If this be true; for we must deem the mode In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road,ii i. In a most natural whirling of rotation.—[MS. erased.] 1. [Neither Pemberton nor Whiston, who received from Newton himself the history of his first Ideas of Gravity, records the story of the falling apple. It was mentioned, however, to Voltaire by Catherine Barton (afterwards Mrs. Conduit), Newton's niece. We saw the apple tree in 1814. The tree was so much decayed that it was taken down in 1820" (Memoirs, etc., of Sir Isaac Newton, by Sir David Brewster, 1855, i. 27, note 1). Voltaire tells the story thus (Eléments de la Philosophie de Newton, Partie III. chap. iii.): “Un jour, en l'année 1666 [1665], Newton, retiré à la campagne, et voyant tomber des fruits d'un arbre, à ce que m'a conté sa nièce (Madame Conduit), se laissa aller à une méditation profonde sur la cause qui entraîne ainsi tous les corps dans une ligne qui, si elle était prolongée, passerait à peu près par le centre de la terre."—Euvres Complètes, 1837, v. 727.] A thing to counterbalance human woes:1 III. And wherefore this exordium?-Why, just now, To those who, by the dint of glass and vapour, IV. In the wind's eye I have sailed, and sail; but for Of breakers has not daunted my slight, trim, V. We left our hero, Juan, in the bloom Of favouritism, but not yet in the blush ;- It is enough that Fortune found him flush VI. But soon they grow again and leave their nest. 1. [Compare Churchill's Grave, line 23, Poetical Works, 1901, iv. 47, note 1. 2. [Shelley entitles him "The Pilgrim of Eternity," in his Adonais (stanza xxx. line 3), which was written and published at Pisa in 1821.] VOL. VI. 2 D Pinions to flee away, and be at rest!" And who that recollects young years and loves,— Though hoary now, and with a withering breast, And palsied Fancy, which no longer roves Beyond its dimmed eye's sphere,—but would much rather Sigh like his son, than cough like his grandfather? VII. But sighs subside, and tears (even widows') shrink, Which threatens inundations deep and yellow! You'd think Grief a rich field which never would lie fallow; No more it doth-its ploughs but change their boys, Who furrow some new soil to sow for joys. VIII. But coughs will come when sighs depart-and now Of Life reached ten o'clock: and while a glow, IX. But Juan was not meant to die so soon : We left him in the focus of such glory As may be won by favour of the moon. Perhaps; but who would scorn the month of June, X. Besides, he had some qualities which fix Middle-aged ladies even more than young: 1. [Byron left Pisa (Palazzo Lanfranchi on the Arno) for the Villa Saluzzo at Genoa, in the autumn of 1822.] The former know what's what; while new-fledged chicks Know little more of Love than what is sung In rhymes, or dreamt (for Fancy will play tricks) In visions of those skies from whence Love sprung. Some reckon women by their suns or years, I rather think the Moon should date the dears. XI. And why? because she's changeable and chaste: May choose to tax me with; which is not fair, He will forgive himself;-if not, I must. XII. Old enemies who have become new friends Should so continue-'t is a point of honour; And I know nothing which could make amends For a return to Hatred: I would shun her Like garlic, howsoever she extends Her hundred arms and legs, and fain outrun her. Old flames, new wives, become our bitterest foesConverted foes should scorn to join with those. XIII. This were the worst desertion:-renegadoes, i. Malicious people · -[MS. erased.] ii. that essence of all Lie.-[MS. erased.] 1. ["We think the abuse of Mr. Southey by far too savage and intemperate. It is of ill example, we think, in the literary world, and does no honour either to the taste or the temper of the noble author." -Edinburgh Review, February, 1822, vol. xxxvi. p. 445. "I have read the recent article of Jeffrey.... I suppose the long and the short of it is, that he wishes to provoke me to reply. But I won't, for I owe him a good turn still for his kindness by-gone. Indeed, I presume that the present opportunity of attacking me again was irresistible; and I can't blame him, knowing what human nature is."Letter to Moore, June 8, 1822, Letters, 1901, vi. 80.] Would scarcely join again the "reformadoes,"1 Should not veer round with every breath, nor seize XIV. The lawyer and the critic but behold The baser sides of literature and life, And nought remains unseen, but much untold, XV.2 A legal broom's a moral chimney-sweeper, XVI. And all our little feuds, at least all mine, Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe 1. "Reformers," or rather "Reformed." The Baron Bradwardine in Waverley is authority for the word. [The word is certainly in Butler's Hudibras, Part II. Canto 2 "Although your Church be opposite To mine as Black Fryars are to White, You are a Reformado Saint."] 2. [Stanza xv. is not in the MS. The "legal broom," sc. Brougham, was an afterthought.] 3. Query, suit?-Printer's Devil. 4. [It has been argued that when "great Cæsar fell" he wore his "robe" to muffle up his face, and that, in like manner, Jeffrey sank the critic in the lawyer. A "deal likelier "interpretation is that Jeffrey wore "his gown" right royally, as Cæsar wore his "triumphal robe." (See Plutarch's Julius Cæsar, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 515.)] |