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The negro Baba help'd a little too,

When some untoward part of raiment stuck hard; And, wrestling both his arms into a gown,

He paused, and took a survey up and down.

LXXIX.

One difficulty still remain'd—his hair

So

Was hardly long enough; but Baba found many false long tresses all to spare,

That soon his head was most completely crown'd, After the manner then in fashion there;

And this addition with such gems was bound

As suited the ensemble of his toilet,

While Baba made him comb his head and oil it.

LXXX.

And now being femininely all array'd,

[tweezers,

With some small aid from scissors, paint, and He look'd in almost all respects a maid, (')

And Baba smilingly exclaim'd, "You see, sirs, A perfect transformation here display'd;

And now, then, you must come along with me, sirs, That is the Lady:" clapping his hands twice, Four blacks were at his elbow in a trice.

LXXXI.

"You, sir," said Baba, nodding to the one,
"Will please to accompany those gentlemen
supper; but you, worthy Christian nun,
Will follow me: no trifling, sir; for when

Το

(1) [MS." He look'd in all save modesty a maid."]

I say a thing, it must at once be done.

What fear you? think you this a lion's den? Why, 't is a palace; where the truly wise Anticipate the Prophet's paradise.

LXXXII.

"You fool! I tell you no one means you harm."
"So much the better," Juan said, " for them;
Else they shall feel the weight of this my arm,
Which is not quite so light as you may deem.
I yield thus far; but soon will break the charm
If any take me for that which I seem:
So that I trust for every body's sake,
That this disguise may lead to no mistake."

LXXXIII.

"Blockhead! come on, and see," quoth Baba; while Don Juan, turning to his comrade, who

Though somewhat grieved, could scarce forbear a smile

Upon the metamorphosis in view,

"Farewell!" they mutually exclaim'd: "this soil
Seems fertile in adventures strange and new;
One's turn'd half Mussulman, and one a maid,
By this old black enchanter's unsought aid.

LXXXIV.,

"Farewell!" said Juan: " should we meet no more, I wish you a good appetite."- "Farewell!" Replied the other; "though it grieves me sore; When we next meet, we'll have a tale to tell :

We needs must follow when Fate puts from shore. Keep your good name; though Eve herself once

fell."

[carry me,

"Nay," quoth the maid, "the Sultan's self shan't Unless his highness promises to marry me."

LXXXV.

And thus they parted, each by separate doors;
Baba led Juan onward room by room
Through glittering galleries, and o'er marble floors,
Till a gigantic portal through the gloom,
Haughty and huge, along the distance lowers;
And wafted far arose a rich perfume:

It seem'd as though they came upon a shrine,
For all was vast, still, fragrant, and divine.

LXXXVI.

The giant door was broad, and bright, and high,
Of gilded bronze, and carved in curious guise;
Warriors thereon were battling furiously;

Here stalks the victor, there the vanquish'd lies;
There captives led in triumph droop the eye,
And in perspective many a squadron flies:
It seems the work of times before the line
Of Rome transplanted fell with Constantine.

LXXXVII.

This massy portal stood at the wide close
Of a huge hall, and on its either side
Two little dwarfs, the least you could suppose,
Were sate, like ugly imps, as if allied

In mockery to the enormous gate which rose
O'er them in almost pyramidic pride:

The gate so splendid was in all its features, (1)
You never thought about those little creatures,

LXXXVIII.

Until you nearly trod on them, and then
You started back in horror to survey
The wondrous hideousness of those small men,
Whose colour was not black, nor white, nor grey,

But an extraneous mixture, which no pen

Can trace, although perhaps the pencil may; They were mis-shapen pigmies, deaf and dumbMonsters, who cost a no less monstrous sum.

LXXXIX.

Their duty was-for they were strong, and though They look'd so little, did strong things at timesTo ope this door, which they could really do,

The hinges being as smooth as Rogers' rhymes; And now and then, with tough strings of the bow, As is the custom of those Eastern climes,

To give some rebel Pacha a cravat;

For mutes are generally used for that.

(1) Features of a gate-a ministerial metaphor: "the feature upon which this question hinges." See the "Fudge Family," or hear Castlereagh,[Phil. Fudge, in his letter to Lord Castlereagh, says:

"As thou would'st say, my guide and teacher

In these gay metaphoric fringes,

I now embark into the feature

On which this letter chiefly hinges."

The note adds, "verbatim from one of the noble Viscount's speeches : And now, sir, I must embark into the feature on which this question chiefly hinges."-Fudge Family, p. 14.]

XC.

They spoke by signs-that is, not spoke at all;
And looking like two incubi, they glared
As Baba with his fingers made them fall

To heaving back the portal folds: it scared
Juan a moment, as this pair so small,

With shrinking serpent optics on him stared;
It was as if their little looks could poison
Or fascinate whome'er they fix'd their eyes on.

XCI.

Before they enter'd, Baba paused to hint
To Juan some slight lessons as his guide:
"If
you could just contrive," he said, " to stint
That somewhat manly majesty of stride,

[in't) 'Twould be as well, and, (though there's not much

To swing a little less from side to side, Which has at times an aspect of the oddest ;And also could you look a little modest,

XCII.

""Twould be convenient; for these mutes have eyes Like needles, which may pierce those petticoats; And if they should discover your disguise,

You know how near us the deep Bosphorus floats And you and I may chance, ere morning rise,

To find our way to Marmora without boats,
Stitch'd up in sacks-a mode of navigation
A good deal practised here upon occasion." (1)

;

(1) A few years ago the wife of Muchtar Pacha complained to his father of his son's supposed infidelity: he asked with whom, and she had the barbarity to give in a list of the twelve handsomest women in Yanina

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