XV. A legal broom 's a moral chimney-sweeper, Than can be hid by altering his shirt; he As Cæsar wore his robe, you wear your gown. XVI. And all our little feuds, at least all mine, Dear Jeffrey, once my most redoubted foe (As far as rhyme and criticism combine To make such puppets of us things below), XVII. And when I use the phrase of “ Auld Lang Syne! With you, than aught (save Scott) in your proud city. But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred A whole one, and my heart flies to my head :— XVIII. AsAuld Lang Syne" brings Scotland, one and all, Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills, and clear streams The Dee, the Don, Balgounie's Brig's black wall, All my boy feelings, all my gentler dreams Of what I then dreamt, clothed in their own pall, My childhood in this childishness of mine; I care not 't is a glimpse of "Auld Lang Syne." XIX.. And though, as you remember, in a fit Of wrath and rhyme, when juvenile and curly, I rail'd at Scots to show my wrath and wit, Which must be own'd was sensitive and surly, Yet 't is in vain such sallies to permit They cannot quench young feelings fresh and early: I"scotch'd, not kill'd," the Scotchman in my blood, And love the land of "mountain and of flood." XX. Don Juan, who was real, or ideal, For both are much the same, since what men think Exists when the once thinkers are less real Than what they thought, for mind can never sink, And 'gainst the body makes a strong appeal; And yet 't is very puzzling on the brink Of what is call'd eternity, to stare, And know no more of what is here than there : XXI. Don Juan grew a very polish'd Russian— How we won't mention, why we need not say: Few youthful minds can stand the strong concussion Of any slight temptation in their way; But his just now were spread as is a cushion XXII. The favour of the empress was agreeable;' XXIII. About this time, as might have been anticipated, Of frail humanity—must make us selfish, XXIV. Α young lieutenant's with a not old queen, XXV. And Death, the sovereign's sovereign, though the great Gracchus of all mortality, who levels, With his Agrarian laws, the high estate Of him who feasts, and fights, and roars, and revels, To one small grass-grown patch (which must await Corruption for its crop) with the poor devils Who never had a foot of land till now, Death 's a reformer, all men must allow. XXVI. He lived (not Death, but Juan) in a hurry Of waste, and haste, and glare, and gloss, and glitter, In this gay clime of bear-skins black and furry— Which (though I hate to say a thing that`s bitter, Peep out sometimes, when things are in a flurry, Through all the "purple and fine linen," fitter For Babylon's than Russia's royal harlot― And neutralize her outward show of scarlet. XXVII. And this same state we won't describe: we would Hut, whence wise travellers drive with circumspection Life's sad post-horses o'er the dreary frontier Of age, and, looking back to youth, give one tear; XXVIII. I won't describe-that is, if I can help Description: and I won't reflect-that is,! Of this odd labyrinth; or as the kelp Holds by the rock; or as a lover's kiss Drains its first draught of lips: but, as I said, I won't philosophize, and will be read. XXIX. Juan, instead of courting courts, was courted, Valour; much also to the blood he show'd, XXX. He wrote to Spain :-and all his near relations, XXXI. His mother, Donná Inez, finding too That in the lieu of drawing on his banker, Where his assets were waxing rather few, He had brought his spending to a handsome anchor,— Replied, "that she was glad to see him through Those pleasures after which wild youth will hanker ; As the sole sign of man's being in his senses Is, learning to reduce his past expenses, XXXII. "She also recommended him to God, And no less to God's Son, as well as Mother, Born in a second wedlock; and above XXXIII. "She could not too much give her approbation Or five, or one, or zero, she could never XXXIV. 4 to chaunt Oh for a forty-parson power Who, though her spectacles at last grew dim, XXXV She was no hypocrite, at least, poor soul ! Which portions out upon the judgment day XXXVI. I can't complain, whose ancestors are there, Erneis, Radulphus-eight-and-forty manors (If that my memory doth not greatly err) 5 Were their reward for following Billy's banners; And, though I can't help thinking 't was scarce fair To strip the Saxons of their hydes, like tanners, Yet as they founded churches with the produce, You'll deem, no doubt, they put it to a good use. XXXVII. The gentle Juan flourish'd, though at times Which shrink from touch, as monarchs do from rhymes, In which the Neva's ice would cease to live XXXVIII. Perhaps, but, sans perhaps, we need not seek As well as further drain the wither'd form : His bills in, and, however we may storm, XXXIX. I don't know how it was, but he grew sick Itself, and show'd a feverish disposition; At which the whole court was extremely troubled, The sovereign shock'd, and all his medicines doubled. |