Perhaps even more attention than is due

From me: I gazed (as oft I have gazed the same) To try if I could wrench aught out of death Which should confirm, or shake, or make a faith;

XXXIX.

But it was all a mystery. Here we are,

And there we go:-but where? five bits of lead, Or three, or two, or one, send very far!

And is this blood, then, form'd but to be shed? Can every element our elements mar?

And air-earth-water-fire live-and we dead? We, whose minds comprehend all things? No more; But let us to the story as before.

XL.

The purchaser of Juan and acquaintance
Bore off his bargains to a gilded boat,

Embark'd himself and them, and off they went thence
As fast as oars could pull and water float;
They look'd like persons being led to sentence,
Wondering what next, till the caïque (1) was
Up in a little creek below a wall

[brought O'ertopp'd with cypresses, dark-green and tall.

little. Poor fellow! he was a brave officer; but had made himself disliked by the people." I knew him personally, and had met him often at conversazioni and elsewhere. My house is full of soldiers, dragoons, doctors, priests, and all kinds of persons, though I have now cleared it and clapped sentinels at the door. To-morrow the body is to be moved. You are to know, that if I had not had the body moved, they would have left him there till morning in the street, for fear of consequences. I would not choose to let even a dog die in such a manner, without succour; and, as for consequences, I care for none in a duty."B. Letters.]

(1) The light and elegant wherries plying about the quays of Constantinople are so called.

XLI.

Here their conductor tapping at the wicket
Of a small iron door, 'twas open'd, and
He led them onward, first through a low thicket
Flank'd by large groves, which tower'd on either
hand:

They almost lost their way, and had to pick it-
For night was closing ere they came to land.
The eunuch made a sign to those on board,
Who row'd off, leaving them without a word.

XLII.

As they were plodding on their winding way
Through orange bowers, and jasmine, and so forth:
(Of which I might have a good deal to say,
There being no such profusion in the North
Of oriental plants, " et cetera,"

But that of late your scribblers think it worth Their while to rear whole hotbeds in their works Because one poet travell'd 'mongst the Turks :) (1)

XLIII.

As they were threading on their way, there came
Into Don Juan's head a thought, which he
Whisper'd to his companion :-'t was the same
Which might have then occurr'd to you or me.
"Methinks," said he,- "it would be no great shame
If we should strike a stroke to set us free;
Let's knock that old black fellow on the head,
And march away-'t were easier done than said."

(1) ["Eastern Sketches," "Parga," " Phrosyne," "Ilderim," &c. &c.]

XLIV.

"Yes," said the other," and when done, what then?

How get out? how the devil got we in?

And when we once were fairly out, and when

From Saint Bartholomew we have saved our To-morrow'd see us in some other den,

[skin, (1) And worse off than we hitherto have been; Besides, I'm hungry, and just now would take, Like Esau, for my birthright a beef-steak.

XLV.

"We must be near some place of man's abode ;For the old negro's confidence in creeping,

With his two captives, by so queer a road,

Shows that he thinks his friends have not been sleeping;

A single cry would bring them all abroad:

'Tis therefore better looking before leaping-(2) And there, you see, this turn has brought us through, By Jove, a noble palace !—lighted too."

XLVI.

It was indeed a wide extensive building

Which open'd on their view, and o'er the front There seem'd to be besprent a deal of gilding And various hues, as is the Turkish wont, A gaudy taste; for they are little skill'd in

The arts of which these lands were once the font:
Each villa on the Bosphorus looks a screen
New painted, or a pretty opera-scene.

(1) St. Bartholomew is said to have been flayed alive.
(2) [MS." I am for rather looking now than leaping."]

XLVII.

And nearer as they came, a genial savour

Of certain stews, and roast-meats, and pilaus, Things which in hungry mortals' eyes find favour, Made Juan in his harsh intentions pause, And put himself upon his good behaviour:

His friend, too, adding a new saving clause, Said, "In Heaven's name let's get some supper now, And then I'm with you, if you're for a row."

XLVIII.

Some talk of an appeal unto some passion,

Some to men's feelings, others to their reason; The last of these was never much the fashion, For reason thinks all reasoning out of season. Some speakers whine, and others lay the lash on, But more or less continue still to tease on, With arguments according to their "forte;" But no one ever dreams of being short.

XLIX.

But I digress of all appeals,—although
I grant the power of pathos, and of gold,
Of beauty, flattery, threats, a shilling,-no
Method's more sure at moments to take hold (1)
Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow
More tender, as we every day behold,
Than that all-softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul-the dinner-bell.

(1) [MS." Of speeches, beauty, flattery-there is no
Method more sure," &c]

L.

Turkey contains no bells, and yet men dine;
And Juan and his friend, albeit they heard
No Christian knoll to table, saw no line

Of lackeys usher to the feast prepared,
Yet smelt roast-meat, beheld a huge fire shine,
And cooks in motion with their clean arms bared,
And gazed around them to the left and right
With the prophetic eye of appetite.

LI.

And giving up all notions of resistance,

They follow'd close behind their sable guide,
Who little thought that his own crack'd existence
Was on the point of being set aside:

He motion'd them to stop at some small distance,
And knocking at the gate, 'twas open'd wide,
And a magnificent large hall display'd

The Asian pomp of Ottoman parade.

LII.

I won't describe; description is my forte,
But every fool describes in these bright days
His wondrous journey to some foreign court,
And spawns his quarto, and demands your praise-
Death to his publisher, to him 'tis sport;

While Nature, tortured twenty thousand ways,
Resigns herself with exemplary patience

To guide-books, (1) rhymes, (2) tours, (3) sketches, (4) illustrations. (5)

(1) ["Guide des Voyageurs," "Directions for Travellers," &c. (2)" Rhymes, Incidental and Humorous," "Rhyming Reminiscences,"