DON JUAN.

CANTO THE TENTH.

303

DON JUAN.

CANTO THE TENTH.

I.

WHEN Newton saw an apple fall, he found
In that slight startle from his contemplation—
'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground

For any sage's creed or calculation)—
A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round

In a most natural whirl, called "gravitation;"
And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall, or with an apple. (1)

II.

Man fell with apples, and with apples rose,
If this be true; for we must deem the mode
In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose

Through the then unpaved stars the turnpike road, A thing to counterbalance human woes:

For ever since immortal man hath glow'd With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon Steam-engines will conduct him to the moon.

(1) ["The celebrated apple tree, the fall of one of the apples of which is said to have turned the attention of Newton to the subject of gravity, was destroyed by wind about four years ago. The anecdote of the falling

III.

And wherefore this exordium?—Why, just now,
In taking up this paltry sheet of paper,
My bosom underwent a glorious glow,
And my internal spirit cut a caper:
And though so much inferior, as I know,

To those who, by the dint of glass and vapour,
Discover stars, and sail in the wind's eye,
I wish to do as much by poesy.

IV.

In the wind's eye I have sail'd, and sail; but for
The stars, I own my telescope is dim;

But at the least I have shunn'd the common shore,
And leaving land far out of sight, would skim
The ocean of eternity: the roar

Of breakers has not daunted my slight, trim, But still sea-worthy skiff; and she may float Where ships have founder'd, as doth many a boat.

V.

We left our hero, Juan, in the bloom

Of favouritism, but not yet in the blush ;
And far be it from my Muses to presume
(For I have more than one Muse at a push)
To follow him beyond the drawing-room:

It is enough that Fortune found him flush
Of youth, and vigour, beauty, and those things
Which for an instant clip enjoyment's wings.

apple is mentioned neither by Dr. Stukeley nor by Mr. Conduit, and, as I have not been able to find any authority for it whatever, I did not feel myself at liberty to use it."-BREWSTER'S Life of Newton, p. 344.]