LXXVIII. And even if by chance" The devil's so very sly and who can tell? she should discover That all within was not so very well, And, if still free, that such or such a lover Might please perhaps, a virtuous wife can quell Such thoughts, and be the better when they're over; And if the man should ask, 'tis but denial: LXXIX. And then there are such things as love divine, And matrons, who would be no less secure, Thus Julia said- and thought so, to be sure, And so I'd have her think, were I the man On whom her reveries celestial ran. LXXX. Such love is innocent, and may.exist Between young persons without any danger, A hand may first, and then a lip be kist; For my part, to such doings I'm a stranger, But hear these freedoms form the utmost list Of all o'er which such love may be a ranger: If people go beyond, 'tis quite a crime, But not my fault - I tell them all in time. * LXXXI. Love, then, but love within its proper limits, In young Don Juan's favour, and to him its Etherial lustre, with what sweet persuasion He might be taught, by love and her together → I really don't know what, nor Julia either. LXXXII. Fraught with this fine intention, and well fenced LXXXIII. Her plan she deem'd both innocent and feasible, And, surely, with a stripling of sixteen Not scandal's fangs could fix on much that's seizable, Or if they did so, satisfied to mean Nothing but what was good, her breast was peace able A quiet conscience makes one so serene! Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded That all the Apostles would have done as they did. LXXXIV. And if in the mean time her husband died, But heaven forbid that such a thought should cross Her brain, though in a dream! (and then she sigh’d) inter nos. (This should be entre nous, for Julia thought In French,but then the rhyme would go for nought.) LXXXV. I only say suppose this supposition: Juan being then grown up to man's estate Would fully suit a widow of condition, Even seven years hence it would not be too late; And in the interim (to pursue this vision) The mischief, after all, could not be great, For he would learn the rudiments of love, I mean the seraph way of those above. Vol. IX. D LXXXVI. So much for Julia. Now we'll turn to Juan, Of his own case, and never hit the true one; Thing quite in course, and not at all alarming, LXXXVII. Silent and pensive, idle, restless, slow, His, like all deep grief, plunged in solitude: I'm fond myself of solitude or so, But then, I beg it may be understood, By solitude I mean a sultan's, not A hermit's, with a haram for a grot. |