NOTES TO CANTO X. Note 1. Stanza xiii. Would scarcely join again the "reformadoes." "Reformers" or rather "Reformed." The Baron Bradwardine, in Waverley, is authority for the word. Note 2. Stanza xv. The endless soot bestows a tint far deeper Query, suit?-PRINTER'S DEVIL. Note 3. Stanza xvii. The Dee, the Don, Balgounie's Brig's black wall. The brig of Don, near the "auld toun" of Aberdeen, with its one arch and its black deep salmon stream below, is in my memory as yesterday. I still remember, though perhaps I may misquote, the awful proverb which made me pause to cross it, and yet lean over it with a childish delight, being an only son, at least by the mother's side. The saying, as recollected by me, was this-but I have never heard or seen it since I was nine years of age : Brig of Balgounie, black's your wa'; Note 4. Stanza XXXIV. Oh for a forty-parson power to chaunt A metaphor taken from the "forty-horse power" of a steam-engine. That mad wag, the Reverend S. S., sitting by a brother clergyman at dinner, observed afterwards that his dull neighbour had a twelve-parson power of conversation. Note 5. Stanza xxxvi. To strip the Saxons of their hydes, like tanners. "Hyde."-I believe a hyde of land to be a legitimate word, and as such subject to the tax of a quibble. Note 6. Stanza xlix. Was given to her favourite, and now bore his. The Empress went to the Crimea, accompanied by the Emperor Joseph, in the year-I forget which. Note 7. Stanza Iviii. Which gave her dukes the graceless name of "Biron." In the Empress Anne's time, Biron her favourite assumed the name and arms of the "Birons" of France, which families are yet extant with that of Engiand. There are still the daughters of Courland of that name; one of them I remember seeing in England in the blessed year of the Allies-the Duchess of S.-to whom the English Duchess of St presented me as a name-sake. Note 8. Stanza lxii. Eleven thousand maidenheads of bone, The greatest number flesh hath ever known. St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins were still extant in 1816, and may be so yet as much as ever. India. America. Note 9. Stanza lxxxi. Who butcher'd half the earth, and bullied t' other. CANTO XI. I. WHEN Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter," Too subtle for the airiest human head; II. What a sublime discovery 't was to make the That all 's ideal-all ourselves! I'll stake the World (be it what you will) that that's no schism. Oh doubt!-if thou be'st doubt, for which some take thee, But which I doubt extremely-thou sole prism Of the truth's rays, spoil not my draught of spirit! Heaven's brandy, though our brain can hardly bear it. III. For ever and anon comes indigestion 66 (Not the most dainty Ariel"), and perplexes Our soarings with another sort of question : And that which, after all, my spirit vexes Is, that I find no spot where man can rest eye on, Of beings, stars, and this unriddled wonder, IV. If it be chance; or if it be according To the old text, still better! lest it should If I V. And therefore will I leave off metaphysical VI. The first attack at once proved the divinity The fourth at once establish'd the whole Trinity That I devoutly wish the three were four, VII. To our theme :-The man who has stood on the Acropolis, Who has sail'd where picturesque Constantinople is, In small-eyed China's crockery-ware metropolis, May not think much of London's first appearance- VIII. Don Juan had got out on Shooter's Hill Sunset the time, the place the same declivity Which looks along that vale of good and ill, Where London streets ferment in full activity; While every thing around was calm and still, Except the creak of wheels, which on their pivot he Heard,—and that bee-like, bubbling, busy hum Of cities, that boil over with their scum : IX. I say, Don Juan, rapt in contemplation, Walk'd on behind his carriage, o'er the summit, And lost in wonder of so great a nation, Gave way to 't, since he could not overcome it. X. "Here are chaste wives, pure lives; here people pay Their cash, to show how much they have a-year. Traps for the traveller; every highway 's clear: XI. These freeborn sounds proceeded from four pads, Had seized the lucky hour to reconnoitre, XII. Juan, who did not understand a word Of English, save their shibboleth, "God damn!" He sometimes thought 't was only their "salam," (To my misfortune), never can I say I heard them wish" God with you," save that way : XIII. Juan yet quickly understood their gesture, And fired it into one assailant's pudding— And roar'd out, as he writhed his native mud in, Unto his nearest follower or henchman, "Oh Jack! I'm floor'd by that 'ere bloody Frenchman!" XIV. On which Jack and his train set off at speed, And offering, as usual, late assistance. Juan, who saw the moon's late minion bleed As if his veins would pour out his existence, |