By length I mean duration; theirs endured Heaven knows how long-no doubt they never reckon'd; And if they had, they could not have secured As if their souls and lips each other beckon'd, They were alone, but not alone as they Who shut in chambers think it loneliness; The twilight glow, which momently grew less, They fear'd no eyes nor ears on that lone beach, 41 50 Was broken words, they thought a language there,- Of nature's oracle-first love, that all ALAS! THE LOVE OF WOMEN! (CANTO II, cxcix-cciv) ALAS! the love of women! it is known And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, They are right; for man, to man so oft unjust, Taught to conceal, their bursting hearts despond Buys them in marriage-and what rests beyond ? Some take a lover, some take drams or prayers, Theirs being an unnatural situation, Haidée was Nature's bride, and knew not this: Of his gazelle-eyed daughters; she was one Who was her chosen: what was said or done And oh that quickening of the heart, that beat! That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob ΙΟ Fine truths; even Conscience, too, has a tough job To make us understand each good old maxim, So good-I wonder Castlereagh don't tax 'em. 20 30 40 And now 'twas done on the lone shore were plighted Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted : Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, By their own feelings hallow'd and united, Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed: And they were happy, for to their young eyes Each was an angel, and earth paradise. MARRIAGE AND THE MUSE (CANTO III, viii—xi) THERE's doubtless something in domestic doings For no one cares for matrimonial cooings, All tragedies are finish'd by a death, All comedies are ended by a marriage; The future states of both are left to faith, For authors fear description might disparage The worlds to come of both, or fall beneath, ΙΟ And then both worlds would punish their miscarriage; So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready, They say no more of Death or of the Lady. The only two that in my recollection Have sung of heaven and hell, or marriage, are (Such things, in fact, it don't ask much to mar); But Dante's Beatrice and Milton's Eve Were not drawn from their spouses, you conceive. Some persons say that Dante meant theology 20 Unless indeed it was from his own knowledge he LAMBRO'S RETURN (CANTO III, xxvii-xli) He saw his white walls shining in the sun, The moving figures, and the sparkling sheen And as the spot where they appear he nears, But an unhallow'd, earthly sound of fiddling ! The cause being past his guessing or unriddling; A pipe, too, and a drum, and shortly after, A most unoriental roar of laughter. And still more nearly to the place advancing, 30 ΤΟ Through the waved branches, o'er the greensward glancing, 'Midst other indications of festivity, Seeing a troop of his domestics dancing Like dervises, who turn as on a pivot, he Perceived it was the Pyrrhic dance so martial, To which the Levantines are very partial. And further on a group of Grecian girls, The first and tallest her white kerchief waving, Were strung together like a row of pearls, 20 Link'd hand in hand, and dancing: each too having Down her white neck long floating auburn curls— And here, assembled cross-legg'd round their trays, Above them their dessert grew on its vine ;- Dropp'd in their laps, scarce pluck'd, their mellow store. A band of children, round a snow-white ram, There wreathe his venerable horns with flowers; Or eats from out the palm, or playful lowers Their classical profiles, and glittering dresses, Their large black eyes, and soft seraphic cheeks, Crimson as cleft pomegranates, their long tresses, The gesture which enchants, the eye that speaks, The innocence which happy childhood blesses, Made quite a picture of these little Greeks; So that the philosophical beholder 4I 50 Sigh'd for their sakes-that they should e'er grow older. Afar, a dwarf buffoon stood telling tales Of charms to make good gold and cure bad ails, Of magic ladies who, by one sole act, Transform'd their lords to beasts (but that's a fact). 60 |