...same information: I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age...pantomime, Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time. [CANTO 1, STANZA 1] A tradition is plainly announced, again of "ancient" origins. It is paid a degree...

...protagonist and the affirmation of the happy ending in his absence. As Byron quips about the hero of his own Don Juan, "We all have seen him, in the pantomime, / Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time."20 The legend itself precludes the reform of the protagonist. Indeed, such a reform seems as...

...opening to Don Juan: 1 want a hero, an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one (1:1, 1-4). He quickly dismisses a host of would-be heroes, including "Vernon, the butcher Cumberland,...