XV. If we may judge of matter by the mind, Hath but two objects, how to serve, and bind, To worth as freedom, wisdom as to wit, Fearless because no feeling dwells in ice, very courage stagnates to a vice. Its XVI. Where shall I turn me not to view its bonds, [theeBeneath the lie this State-thing breathed o'er Thy clanking chain, and Erin's yet green wounds, Have voices-tongues to cry aloud for me. Europe has slaves-allies-kings-armies still, And Southey lives to sing them very ill. (1) [For the character of Eutropius, the eunuch 'and minister at the court of Arcadius, see Gibbon.["Eutropius, one of the principal eunuchs of the palace of Constantinople, succeeded the haughty minister whose ruin he had accomplished, and whose vices he soon imitated. He was the first of his artificial sex who dared to assume the character of a Roman magistrate and general. Sometimes, in the presence of the blushing senate, he ascended the tribunal to pronounce judgment, or to repeat elaborate harangues; and sometimes appeared on horseback, at the head of his troops, in the dress and armour of a hero. The disregard of custom and decency always betrays a weak and ill-regulated mind: nor does Eutropius seem to have compensated for the folly of the design by any superior merit or ability in the execution. His former habits of life had not introduced him to the study of the laws, or the exercises of the field; his awkward and unsuccessful attempts provoked the secret contempt of the spectators; the Goths expressed a wish that such a general might always command the armies of Rome, and the name of the minister was branded with ridicule, more pernicious, perhaps, than hatred to a public character."— - GIBBON.] XVII. Meantime-Sir Laureate-I proceed to dedicate, Apostasy's so fashionable, too, To keep one creed's a task grown quite Herculean; Is it not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian ? (2) Venice, September 16. 1818. (1) [Mr. Fox and the Whig Club of his time adopted an uniform of blue and buff: hence the coverings of the Edinburgh Review, &c. — E.] (2) I allude not to our friend Landor's hero, the traitor Count Julian, but to Gibbon's hero, vulgarly yclept " The Apostate." 109 DON JUAN. CANTO THE FIRST. r. I WANT a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one; Of such as these I should not care to vaunt, (1) I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don JuanWe all have seen him, in the pantomime, Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time. (1) [Remodelled under the names of "Don Juan," "The Libertine," &c. &c., the old Spanish spiritual play, entitled "Atheista Fulminato," formerly acted in the churches and monasteries, has had its day of favour in every country thoughout Europe. It was first introduced upon the regular stage, under the title of "El Burlador de Sevilla y Combidado de Pierra," by Gabriel Tellez, the, cotemporary of Calderon. It was soon translated into Italian by Cicognini, and performed with so much success in this language, not only in Italy but even at Paris, that Molière, shortly before his death, produced a comedy in five acts, called "Don Juan; ou, Le Festin de Pierre." This piece was, in 1677, put into verse by T. Corneille; and thus it has been performed on the French stage ever since. In 1676, Shadwell, the successor of Dryden in the laureateship, introduced the subject into this country, in his tragedy of the "Libertine;" but he made his hero so unboundedly wicked, as to exceed the limits of probability. In all these works, as well as in Mozart's celebrated opera, the Don is uniformly represented as a travelling rake, who practises every where the arts of seduction, and who, for his numerous delinquencies, is finally consumed by flames coram populo, or, as Lord Byron has it," Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time."-E.] II. Vernon, (1) the butcher Cumberland, (2) Wolfe, (3) Hawke, (4) Prince Ferdinand, (5) Granby, (6) Burgoyne, Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk, now; (1) [General Vernon, who served with considerable distinction in the navy, particularly in the capture of Porto Bello, died in 1757.] (2) [Second son of George II., distinguished himself at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, and still more so at that of Culloden, where he defeated the Chevalier, in 1746. The Duke, however, obscured his fame by the cruel abuse which he made, or suffered his soldiers to make, of the victory. He died in 1765.] (3) [General Wolfe, the brave commander of the expedition against Quebec, terminated his career in the moment of victory, whilst fighting against the French in 1759.] (4) [In 1759, Admiral Lord Hawke totally defeated the French fleet equipped at Brest for the invasion of England. In 1765 he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; and died, full of honours, in 1781.] (5) [Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who gained the victory of Minden. In 1762, he drove the French out of Hesse. At the peace of 1763, he retired to Brunswick, and devoted the remainder of his life to freemasonry. He died in 1792.] (6) [Son of the third Duke of Rutland - signalised himself in 1745, on the invasion by Prince Charles; and was constituted, in 1759, commander of the British forces in Germany. He died in 1770.] (7) [An English general officer and dramatist, who distinguished himself in the defence of Portugal, in 1762, against the Spaniards; and also in America by the capture of Ticonderoga; but was at last obliged to surrender, with his army, to General Gates. Died in 1792.] (8) [Second son of the Earl of Albemarle. Placed at the head of the channel fleet, he partially engaged, in 1778, the French fleet off Ushant, which contrived to escape: he was, in consequence, tried by a court martial, and honourably acquitted. He died in 1786.] (9) [Lord Howe distinguished himself on many occasions during the American war. On the breaking out of the French war, he took the command of the English fleet, and, bringing the enemy to an action on the 1st of June, 1794, obtained a splendid victory. He died, full of years and honours, in 1799.J Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk, (1) [We find on Lord Byron's MS. the following note to this stanza. "In the eighth and concluding lecture of Mr. Hazlitt's canons of criticism, delivered at the Surrey Institution, I am accused of having' lauded Buonaparte to the skies in the hour of his success, and then peevishly wreaking my disappointment on the god of my idolatry.' The first lines I ever wrote upon Buonaparte were the 'Ode on Napoleon' [see antè, Vol. X. p. 5.], after his abdication in 1814. All that I have ever written on that subject has been done since his decline; - I never met him in the hour of his success.' I have considered his character at different periods, in its strength and in its weakness: by his zealots I am accused of injustice -by his enemies as his warmest partisan; in many publications, both English and foreign. - "For the accuracy of my delineation I have high authority. A year and some months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing at Venice my friend the Honourable Douglas Kinnaird. In his way through Germany, he told me that he had been honoured with a presentation to, and some interviews with, one of the nearest family connections of Napoleon " (Eugene Beauharnais)." During one of these, he read and translated the lines alluding to Buonaparte, in the third Canto of Childe Harold. He informed me, that he was authorised by the illustrious personage(still recognised as such by the Legitimacy in Europe) to whom they were read, to say, that the delineation was complete,' or words to this effect. "It is no puerile vanity which induces me to publish this fact; - but Mr. Hazlitt accuses my inconsistency, and infers my inaccuracy. Perhaps he will admit that, with regard to the latter, one of the most intimate family connections of the Emperor may be equally capable of deciding on the subject. I tell Mr. Hazlitt, that I never flattered Napoleon on the throne, nor maligned him since his fall. I wrote what I think are the incredible antitheses of his character. "Mr. Hazlitt accuses me further of delineating myself in Childe Harold, &c. &c. I have denied this long ago but, even were it true, Locke tells us, that all his knowledge of human understanding was derived from studying his own mind. From Mr. Hazlitt's opinion of my poetry I do not appeal; but I request that gentleman not to insult me by imputing the basest of crimes,- viz. ' praising publicly the same man whom I wished to depreciate in his adversity:'-the first lines I ever wrote on Buonaparte were in his dispraise, in 1814, - the last, though not at all in his favour, were more impartial and discriminative, in 1818. Has he become more fortunate since 1814?- B. Venice, 1819."] *See antè, Vol. VIII. p. 148.] |