from Canto VIII

51

At first it grumbles, then it swears, and then,
     Like David, flings smooth pebbles ‘gainst a giant;
At last it takes to weapons such as men
     Snatch when despair makes human hearts less pliant.
Then comes “the tug of war”;—’twill come again,
    I rather doubt; and I would fain say “fie on’t,”
If I had not perceived that Revolution
Alone can save the Earth from Hell’s pollution.

52

But to continue;—I say not the first,
     But of the first, our little friend Don Juan
Walked o’er the walls of Ismail, as if nurst
     Amidst such scenes—though this was quite a new one
To him, and I should hope to most. The thirst
    Of Glory, which so pierces through and through one,
Pervaded him—although a generous creature,
As warm in heart as feminine in feature.

53

And here he was—who upon Woman’s breast,
     Even from a child, felt like a child; howe’er
The man in all the rest might be confest,
     To him it was Elysium to be there;
And he could even withstand that awkward test
     Which Rousseau points out to the dubious fair,
“Observe your lover when he leaves your arms”;
But Juan never left them, while they had charms,

54

Unless compelled by fate, or wave, or wind,
     Or near relations, who are much the same.
But here he was!—where each tie that can bind
     Humanity must yield to steel and flame:
And he whose very body was all Mind,
     Flung here by Fate, or Circumstance, which tame
The loftiest, hurried by the time and place,
Dashed on like a spurred blood-horse in a race.

55

So was his blood stirred while he found resistance,
     As is the hunter’s at the five-bar gate,
Or double post and rail, where the existence
     Of Britain’s youth depends upon their weight,
The lightest being the safest: at a distance
     He hated cruelty, as all men hate
Blood, until heated—and even there his own
At times would curdle o’er some heavy groan.

56

The General Lascy, who had been hard prest,
     Seeing arrive an aid so opportune
As were some hundred youngsters all abreast,
     Who came as if just dropped down from the moon,
To Juan, who was nearest him, addressed
     His thanks, and hopes to take the city soon,
Not reckoning him to be a “base Bezonian,”
(As Pistol calls it) but a young Livonian.

57

Juan, to whom he spoke in German, knew
    As much of German as of Sanscrit, and
In answer made an inclination to
     The General who held him in command;
For seeing one with ribbons, black and blue,
     Stars, medals, and a bloody sword in hand,
Addressing him in tones which seemed to thank,
He recognized an officer of rank.

58

Short speeches pass between two men who speak
     No common language; and besides, in time
Of war and taking towns, when many a shriek
     Rings o’er the dialogue, and many a crime
Is perpetrated ere a word can break
     Upon the ear, and sounds of horror chime
In like church bells, with sigh, howl, groan, yell, prayer,
There cannot be much conversation there.

59

And therefore all we have related in
     Two long octaves, passed in a little minute;
But in the same small minute, every sin
     Contrived to get itself comprised within it.
The very cannon, deafened by the din,
     Grew dumb, for you might almost hear a linnet,
As soon as thunder, ‘midst the general noise
Of human Nature’s agonizing voice!

60

The town was entered. Oh Eternity!—
     “God made the country, and man made the town,”
So Cowper says—and I begin to be
     Of his opinion, when I see cast down
Rome, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, Nineveh,
     All walls men know, and many never known;
And pondering on the present and the past,
To deem the woods shall be our home at last:—