XXXVIII. Sagest of women, even of widows, she Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, And worthy of the noblest pedigree: (His sire was of Castile, his dam from Arragon.) Then for accomplishments of chivalry, In case our lord the king should go to war again, He learn'd the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery, And how to scale a fortress or a nunnery. XXXIX. But that which Donna Inez most desired, And so they were submitted first to her, all, Arts, sciences, no branch was made a mystery To Juan's eyes, excepting natural history. XL. The languages, especially the dead, The sciences, and most of all the abstruse, The arts, at least all such as could be said To be the most remote from common use, In all these he was much and deeply read; But not a page of any thing that's loose, Or hints continuation of the species, Was ever suffer'd, lest he should grow vicious. XLI. His classic studies made a little puzzle, For Donna Inez dreaded the mythology. 28 XLII. Ovid's a rake, as half his verses show him, I don't think Sappho's Ode a good example, Although 3 Longinus tells us there is no hymn Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample; But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one Beginning with „Formosum Pastor Corydon.“ XLIII. Lucretius' irreligion is too strong For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food; I can't help thinking Juvenal was wrong, Although no doubt his real intent was good, For speaking out so plainly in his song, So much indeed as to be downright rude; And then what proper person can be partial To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial? XLIV. Juan was taught from out the best edition, They only add them all in an appendix, 4 XLV. For there we have them all at one fell swoop, Instead of being scatter'd through the pages;. They stand forth marshall'd in a handsome troop, To meet the ingenuous youth of future ages, Till some less rigid editor shall stoop To call them back into their separate cages, Instead of standing staring altogether, Like garden gods and not so decent either. XLVI. The Missal too (it was the family Missal) Was ornamented in a sort of way Which ancient mass-books often are, and this all Kinds of grotesques illumined; and how they, Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all, Could turn their optics to the text and pray Is more than 1 know but Don Juan's mother Kept this herself, and gave her son another. XLVII. Sermons he read, and lectures he endured, He did not take such studies for restraints; So well not one of the aforesaid paints As Saint Augustine in his fine Confessions, Which make the reader envy his transgressions. |