After Life

Childe Harold's Good Night "Adieu, adieu! my native shore Fades o'er the waters blue; The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, And shrieks the wild sea-mew. Yon Sun that sets upon the sea We follow in his flight; Farewell awhile to him and thee, My native Land—Good Night! "A few short hours and He will rise To give the Morrow birth; And I shall hail the main and skies, But not my mother Earth. Deserted is my own good Hall, Its hearth is desolate; Wild weeds are gathering on the wall; My Dog howls at the gate. "Come hither, hither, my little page[36] Why dost thou weep and wail?[27] Or dost thou dread the billows' rage, Or tremble at the gale? But dash the tear-drop from thine eye; Our ship is swift and strong: Our fleetest falcon scarce can fly[aj] More merrily along."[ak] "Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high,[al] I fear not wave nor wind: Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I Am sorrowful in mind;[37] For I have from my father gone, A mother whom I love, And have no friend, save these alone, But thee—and One above. [28] 'My father blessed me fervently, Yet did not much complain; But sorely will my mother sigh Till I come back again.'— "Enough, enough, my little lad! Such tears become thine eye; If I thy guileless bosom had, Mine own would not be dry. "Come hither, hither, my staunch yeoman,[38] Why dost thou look so pale? Or dost thou dread a French foeman? Or shiver at the gale?"— 'Deem'st thou I tremble for my life? Sir Childe, I'm not so weak; But thinking on an absent wife Will blanch a faithful cheek. 'My spouse and boys dwell near thy hall, Along the bordering Lake,[29] And when they on their father call, What answer shall she make?'— "Enough, enough, my yeoman good,[am] Thy grief let none gainsay; But I, who am of lighter mood, Will laugh to flee away. "For who would trust the seeming sighs[an] Of wife or paramour? Fresh feeres will dry the bright blue eyes We late saw streaming o'er. For pleasures past I do not grieve, Nor perils gathering near; My greatest grief is that I leave No thing that claims a tear.[39] [30] "And now I'm in the world alone, Upon the wide, wide sea: But why should I for others groan, When none will sigh for me? Perchance my Dog will whine in vain, Till fed by stranger hands; But long ere I come back again, He'd tear me where he stands.[ao][40] [31] "With thee, my bark, I'll swiftly go Athwart the foaming brine; Nor care what land thou bear'st me to, So not again to mine. Welcome, welcome, ye dark-blue waves! And when you fail my sight, Welcome, ye deserts, and ye caves! My native Land—Good Night!" On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone, And winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay. Four days are sped, but with the fifth, anon, New shores descried make every bosom gay; And Cintra's mountain[41] greets them on their way, And Tagus dashing onward to the Deep, His fabled golden tribute[42] bent to pay; And soon on board the Lusian pilots leap, And steer 'twixt fertile shores where yet few rustics reap.[ap] [32] Oh, Christ! it is a goodly sight to see What Heaven hath done for this delicious land![aq] What fruits of fragrance blush on every tree! What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand! But man would mar them with an impious hand: And when the Almighty lifts his fiercest scourge 'Gainst those who most transgress his high command, With treble vengeance will his hot shafts urge Gaul's locust host, and earth from fellest foemen purge[ar] What beauties doth Lisboa[43] first unfold![as] Her image floating on that noble tide, Which poets vainly pave with sands of gold,[at] But now whereon a thousand keels did ride Of mighty strength, since Albion was allied, And to the Lusians did her aid afford:[33] A nation swoln with ignorance and pride,[44] Who lick yet loathe the hand that waves the sword[au] To save them from the wrath of Gaul's unsparing lord. But whoso entereth within this town, That, sheening far, celestial seems to be, Disconsolate will wander up and down, 'Mid many things unsightly to strange ee;[av] For hut and palace show like filthily:[aw] The dingy denizens are reared in dirt;[ax] Ne personage of high or mean degree Doth care for cleanness of surtout or shirt, Though shent with Egypt's plague, unkempt, unwashed, unhurt. Poor, paltry slaves! yet born 'midst noblest scenes— Why, Nature, waste thy wonders on such men?[34] Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes[45] In variegated maze of mount and glen. Ah, me! what hand can pencil guide, or pen, To follow half on which the eye dilates Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken[ay] Than those whereof such things the Bard relates, Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium's gates. The horrid crags, by toppling convent crowned,[az] The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep, The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrowned, The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep, The tender azure[46] of the unruffled deep, The orange tints that gild the greenest bough, The torrents that from cliff to valley leap,[ba] The vine on high, the willow branch below, Mixed in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow. [35] Then slowly climb the many-winding way, And frequent turn to linger as you go, From loftier rocks new loveliness survey, And rest ye at "Our Lady's house of Woe;"[47] [2.B.] Where frugal monks their little relics show, And sundry legends to the stranger tell: Here impious men have punished been, and lo! Deep in yon cave Honorius long did dwell, In hope to merit Heaven by making earth a Hell. [36] And here and there, as up the crags you spring, Mark many rude-carved crosses near the path:[48] Yet deem not these Devotion's offering— These are memorials frail of murderous wrath: For wheresoe'er the shrieking victim hath Pour'd forth his blood beneath the assassin's knife, Some hand erects a cross of mouldering lath; And grove and glen with thousand such are rife Throughout this purple land, where Law secures not life. [3.B.] On sloping mounds, or in the vale beneath,[49] Are domes where whilome kings did make repair;[37] But now the wild flowers round them only breathe: Yet ruined Splendour still is lingering there. And yonder towers the Prince's palace fair: There thou too, Vathek! England's wealthiest son,[bb][50] Once formed thy Paradise, as not aware When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done,[bc] Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever won't to shun. Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan, Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow: But now, as if a thing unblest by Man,[bd] Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as Thou![38] Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow To Halls deserted, portals gaping wide: Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied;[be] Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide! Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened! [4.B.] Oh! dome displeasing unto British eye! With diadem hight Foolscap, lo! a Fiend, A little Fiend that scoffs incessantly, There sits in parchment robe arrayed, and by[bf] His side is hung a seal and sable scroll, Where blazoned glare names known to chivalry,[bg] And sundry signatures adorn the roll,[bh] Whereat the Urchin points and laughs with all his soul.[bi] [39] Convention is the dwarfish demon styled[51] That foiled the knights in Marialva's dome: Of brains (if brains they had) he them beguiled, And turned a nation's shallow joy to gloom.[40] Here Folly dashed to earth the victor's plume, And Policy regained what arms had lost:[41] For chiefs like ours in vain may laurels bloom! Woe to the conquering, not the conquered host, Since baffled Triumph droops on Lusitania's coast. And ever since that martial Synod met, Britannia sickens, Cintra! at thy name; And folks in office at the mention fret,[bj] And fain would blush, if blush they could, for shame. How will Posterity the deed proclaim! Will not our own and fellow-nations sneer, To view these champions cheated of their fame, By foes in fight o'erthrown, yet victors here, Where Scorn her finger points through many a coming year? [42] So deemed the Childe, as o'er the mountains he Did take his way in solitary guise: Sweet was the scene, yet soon he thought to flee, More restless than the swallow in the skies:[bk] Though here awhile he learned to moralise, For Meditation fixed at times on him; And conscious Reason whispered to despise His early youth, misspent in maddest whim; But as he gazed on truth his aching eyes grew dim.[52] To horse! to horse! he quits, for ever quits[53] A scene of peace, though soothing to his soul:[bl] Again he rouses from his moping fits, But seeks not now the harlot and the bowl.[bm] Onward he flies, nor fixed as yet the goal Where he shall rest him on his pilgrimage;[43] And o'er him many changing scenes must roll Ere toil his thirst for travel can assuage,[bn] Or he shall calm his breast, or learn experience sage. Yet Mafra shall one moment claim delay, [5.B.] Where dwelt of yore the Lusians' luckless queen;[bo][54] And Church and Court did mingle their array, And Mass and revel were alternate seen;[44] Lordlings and freres—ill-sorted fry I ween! But here the Babylonian Whore hath built A dome, where flaunts she in such glorious sheen, That men forget the blood which she hath spilt, And bow the knee to Pomp that loves to varnish guilt. O'er vales that teem with fruits, romantic hills, (Oh, that such hills upheld a freeborn race!) Whereon to gaze the eye with joyaunce fills, Childe Harold wends through many a pleasant place.[bp] Though sluggards deem it but a foolish chase, And marvel men should quit their easy chair, The toilsome way, and long, long league to trace, Oh! there is sweetness in the mountain air, And Life, that bloated Ease can never hope to share. More bleak to view the hills at length recede, And, less luxuriant, smoother vales extend:[bq] Immense horizon-bounded plains succeed! Far as the eye discerns, withouten end, Spain's realms appear whereon her shepherds tend Flocks, whose rich fleece right well the trader knows— Now must the Pastor's arm his lambs defend: For Spain is compassed by unyielding foes, And all must shield their all, or share Subjection's woes. [45] Where Lusitania and her Sister meet, Deem ye what bounds the rival realms divide?[br] Or ere the jealous Queens of Nations greet, Doth Tayo interpose his mighty tide? Or dark Sierras rise in craggy pride? Or fence of art, like China's vasty wall?— Ne barrier wall, ne river deep and wide, Ne horrid crags, nor mountains dark and tall, Rise like the rocks that part Hispania's land from Gaul:[55] But these between a silver streamlet[56] glides, And scarce a name distinguisheth the brook, Though rival kingdoms press its verdant sides: Here leans the idle shepherd on his crook, And vacant on the rippling waves doth look, That peaceful still 'twixt bitterest foemen flow; For proud each peasant as the noblest duke: Well doth the Spanish hind the difference know 'Twixt him and Lusian slave, the lowest of the low. [6.B.] [46] But ere the mingling bounds have far been passed,[bs] Dark Guadiana rolls his power along In sullen billows, murmuring and vast, So noted ancient roundelays among.[bt] Whilome upon his banks did legions throng Of Moor and Knight, in mailéd splendour drest: Here ceased the swift their race, here sunk the strong; The Paynim turban and the Christian crest Mixed on the bleeding stream, by floating hosts oppressed.[57] Oh, lovely Spain! renowned, romantic Land! Where is that standard[58] which Pelagio bore,[bu] When Cava's traitor-sire first called the band That dyed thy mountain streams with Gothic gore? [7.B.] Where are those bloody Banners which of yore Waved o'er thy sons, victorious to the gale,[47] And drove at last the spoilers to their shore?[59] Red gleamed the Cross, and waned the Crescent pale,[bv] While Afric's echoes thrilled with Moorish matrons' wail. Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale?[60] Ah! such, alas! the hero's amplest fate! When granite moulders and when records fail, A peasant's plaint prolongs his dubious date.[bw] Pride! bend thine eye from Heaven to thine estate, See how the Mighty shrink into a song! Can Volume, Pillar, Pile preserve thee great? Or must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue, When Flattery sleeps with thee, and History does thee wrong? Awake, ye Sons of Spain! awake! advance! Lo! Chivalry, your ancient Goddess, cries, But wields not, as of old, her thirsty lance, Nor shakes her crimson plumage in the skies: Now on the smoke of blazing bolts she flies, And speaks in thunder through yon engine's roar:[48] In every peal she calls—"Awake! arise!" Say, is her voice more feeble than of yore, When her war-song was heard on Andalusia's shore? Hark!—heard you not those hoofs of dreadful note? Sounds not the clang of conflict on the heath? Saw ye not whom the reeking sabre smote, Nor saved your brethren ere they sank beneath Tyrants and Tyrants' slaves?—the fires of Death, The Bale-fires flash on high:—from rock to rock![bx] Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe; Death rides upon the sulphury Siroc,[61] Red Battle stamps his foot, and Nations feel the shock. Lo! where the Giant on the mountain stands, His blood-red tresses deepening in the Sun, With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands, And eye that scorcheth all it glares upon; Restless it rolls, now fixed, and now anon Flashing afar,—and at his iron feet[49] Destruction cowers, to mark what deeds are done; For on this morn three potent Nations meet, To shed before his Shrine the blood he deems most sweet. By Heaven! it is a splendid sight to see[62] (For one who hath no friend, no brother there) Their rival scarfs of mixed embroidery,[by] Their various arms that glitter in the air! What gallant War-hounds rouse them from their lair, And gnash their fangs, loud yelling for the prey! All join the chase, but few the triumph share;[63] The Grave shall bear the chiefest prize away, And Havoc scarce for joy can number their array. Three hosts combine to offer sacrifice; Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high;[50] Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies;[64] The shouts are France, Spain, Albion, Victory! The Foe, the Victim, and the fond Ally That fights for all, but ever fights in vain,[65] Are met—as if at home they could not die— To feed the crow on Talavera's plain, And fertilise the field that each pretends to gain. There shall they rot—Ambition's honoured fools![bz] Yes, Honour decks the turf that wraps their clay![66] Vain Sophistry! in these behold the tools,[ca] The broken tools, that Tyrants cast away[51] By myriads, when they dare to pave their way With human hearts—to what?—a dream alone. Can Despots compass aught that hails their sway?[cb] Or call with truth one span of earth their own, Save that wherein at last they crumble bone by bone? Oh, Albuera! glorious field of grief![cc][67] As o'er thy plain the Pilgrim pricked his steed, Who could foresee thee, in a space so brief, A scene where mingling foes should boast and bleed![cd] Peace to the perished! may the warrior's meed[ce] And tears of triumph their reward prolong![cf] Till others fall where other chieftains lead Thy name shall circle round the gaping throng, And shine in worthless lays, the theme of transient song.[cg][68] [52] Enough of Battle's minions! let them play Their game of lives, and barter breath for fame: Fame that will scarce reanimate their clay, Though thousands fall to deck some single name. In sooth 'twere sad to thwart their noble aim Who strike, blest hirelings! for their country's good,[ch] And die, that living might have proved her shame; Perished, perchance, in some domestic feud, Or in a narrower sphere wild Rapine's path pursued.[ci] Full swiftly Harold wends his lonely way[cj][69] Where proud Sevilla triumphs unsubdued:[ck] Yet is she free? the Spoiler's wished-for prey! Soon, soon shall Conquest's fiery foot intrude, Blackening her lovely domes with traces rude. Inevitable hour! 'Gainst fate to strive Where Desolation plants her famished brood Is vain, or Ilion, Tyre might yet survive, And Virtue vanquish all, and Murder cease to thrive [53] But all unconscious of the coming doom,[70] The feast, the song, the revel here abounds; Strange modes of merriment the hours consume, Nor bleed these patriots with their country's wounds: Nor here War's clarion, but Love's rebeck[71] sounds;[cl] Here Folly still his votaries inthralls; And young-eyed Lewdness walks her midnight rounds:[cm] Girt with the silent crimes of Capitals, Still to the last kind Vice clings to the tott'ring walls. Not so the rustic—with his trembling mate He lurks, nor casts his heavy eye afar, Lest he should view his vineyard desolate, Blasted below the dun hot breath of War. No more beneath soft Eve's consenting star Fandango twirls his jocund castanet:[72][54] Ah, Monarchs! could ye taste the mirth ye mar, Not in the toils of Glory would ye fret;[cn] The hoarse dull drum would sleep, and Man be happy yet! How carols now the lusty muleteer? Of Love, Romance, Devotion is his lay, As whilome he was won't the leagues to cheer, His quick bells wildly jingling on the way? No! as he speeds, he chants "Vivā el Rey!" [8.B.] And checks his song to execrate Godoy, The royal wittol Charles, and curse the day When first Spain's queen beheld the black-eyed boy, And gore-faced Treason sprung from her adulterate joy. On yon long level plain, at distance crowned[73] With crags, whereon those Moorish turrets rest,[55] Wide-scattered hoof-marks dint the wounded ground; And, scathed by fire, the greensward's darkened vest Tells that the foe was Andalusia's guest: Here was the camp, the watch-flame, and the host, Here the bold peasant stormed the Dragon's nest; Still does he mark it with triumphant boast, And points to yonder cliffs, which oft were won and lost. And whomsoe'er along the path you meet Bears in his cap the badge of crimson hue, Which tells you whom to shun and whom to greet: [9.B.] Woe to the man that walks in public view Without of loyalty this token true: Sharp is the knife, and sudden is the stroke; And sorely would the Gallic foeman rue, If subtle poniards, wrapt beneath the cloke, Could blunt the sabre's edge, or clear the cannon's smoke. At every turn Morena's dusky height[74] Sustains aloft the battery's iron load; And, far as mortal eye can compass sight, The mountain-howitzer, the broken road,[56] The bristling palisade, the fosse o'erflowed, The stationed bands, the never-vacant watch,[co] The magazine in rocky durance stowed, The bolstered steed beneath the shed of thatch, The ball-piled pyramid, the ever-blazing match, [10.B.] Portend the deeds to come:—but he whose nod Has tumbled feebler despots from their sway, A moment pauseth ere he lifts the rod; A little moment deigneth to delay: Soon will his legions sweep through these their way; The West must own the Scourger of the world.[cp] Ah! Spain! how sad will be thy reckoning-day, When soars Gaul's Vulture, with his wings unfurled,[cq] And thou shall view thy sons in crowds to Hades hurled. And must they fall? the young, the proud, the brave, To swell one bloated Chiefs unwholesome reign?[75] No step between submission and a grave? The rise of Rapine and the fall of Spain?[57] And doth the Power that man adores ordain Their doom, nor heed the suppliant's appeal? Is all that desperate Valour acts in vain? And Counsel sage, and patriotic Zeal— The Veteran's skill—Youth's fire—and Manhood's heart of steel? Is it for this the Spanish maid, aroused, Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar, And, all unsexed, the Anlace[76] hath espoused, Sung the loud song, and dared the deed of war? And she, whom once the semblance of a scar Appalled, an owlet's 'larum chilled with dread,[77] Now views the column-scattering bay'net jar,[cr] The falchion flash, and o'er the yet warm dead Stalks with Minerva's step where Mars might quake to tread. Ye who shall marvel when you hear her tale, Oh! had you known her in her softer hour,[58] Marked her black eye that mocks her coal-black veil, Heard her light, lively tones in Lady's bower, Seen her long locks that foil the painter's power, Her fairy form, with more than female grace, Scarce would you deem that Saragoza's tower Beheld her smile in Danger's Gorgon face, Thin the closed ranks, and lead in Glory's fearful chase. Her lover sinks—she sheds no ill-timed tear; Her Chief is slain—she fills his fatal post; Her fellows flee—she checks their base career; The Foe retires—she heads the sallying host: Who can appease like her a lover's ghost? Who can avenge so well a leader's fall? What maid retrieve when man's flushed hope is lost? Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul, Foiled by a woman's hand, before a battered wall? [11.B.] Yet are Spain's maids no race of Amazons, But formed for all the witching arts of love: Though thus in arms they emulate her sons, And in the horrid phalanx dare to move, 'Tis but the tender fierceness of the dove, Pecking the hand that hovers o'er her mate: In softness as in firmness far above Remoter females, famed for sickening prate; Her mind is nobler sure, her charms perchance as great. [59] The seal Love's dimpling finger hath impressed[cs] Denotes how soft that chin which bears his touch: [12.B.] Her lips, whose kisses pout to leave their nest, Bid man be valiant ere he merit such: Her glance how wildly beautiful! how much Hath Phoebus wooed in vain to spoil her cheek, Which glows yet smoother from his amorous clutch! Who round the North for paler dames would seek? How poor their forms appear! how languid, wan, and weak![78] Match me, ye climes! which poets love to laud; Match me, ye harems of the land! where now[60] I strike my strain, far distant, to applaud Beauties that ev'n a cynic must avow;[ct] Match me those Houries, whom ye scarce allow To taste the gale lest Love should ride the wind, With Spain's dark-glancing daughters—deign to know, There your wise Prophet's Paradise we find, His black-eyed maids of Heaven, angelically kind. Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey,[79] [13.B.] Not in the phrensy of a dreamer's eye, Not in the fabled landscape of a lay,[cu] But soaring snow-clad through thy native sky, In the wild pomp of mountain-majesty! What marvel if I thus essay to sing? The humblest of thy pilgrims passing by Would gladly woo thine Echoes with his string, Though from thy heights no more one Muse will wave her wing. [61] Oft have I dreamed of Thee! whose glorious name Who knows not, knows not man's divinest lore: And now I view thee—'tis, alas, with shame That I in feeblest accents must adore. When I recount thy worshippers of yore I tremble, and can only bend the knee; Nor raise my voice, nor vainly dare to soar, But gaze beneath thy cloudy canopy In silent joy to think at last I look on Thee![80] Happier in this than mightiest Bards have been, Whose Fate to distant homes confined their lot, Shall I unmoved behold the hallowed scene, Which others rave of, though they know it not? Though here no more Apollo haunts his Grot, And thou, the Muses' seat, art now their grave,[62] Some gentle Spirit still pervades the spot, Sighs in the gale, keeps silence in the Cave, And glides with glassy foot o'er yon melodious wave.[cv] Of thee hereafter.—Ev'n amidst my strain I turned aside to pay my homage here; Forgot the land, the sons, the maids of Spain; Her fate, to every freeborn bosom dear; And hailed thee, not perchance without a tear. Now to my theme—but from thy holy haunt Let me some remnant, some memorial bear;[cw] Yield me one leaf of Daphne's deathless plant, Nor let thy votary's hope be deemed an idle vaunt. But ne'er didst thou, fair Mount! when Greece was young, See round thy giant base a brighter choir,[81] Nor e'er did Delphi, when her Priestess sung The Pythian hymn with more than mortal fire, Behold a train more fitting to inspire The song of love, than Andalusia's maids,[63] Nurst in the glowing lap of soft Desire: Ah! that to these were given such peaceful shades As Greece can still bestow, though Glory fly her glades. Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast Her strength, her wealth, her site of ancient days; [14.B.] But Cadiz, rising on the distant coast,[82] Calls forth a sweeter, though ignoble praise. Ah, Vice! how soft are thy voluptuous ways! While boyish blood is mantling, who can 'scape[cx] The fascination of thy magic gaze? A Cherub-Hydra round us dost thou gape, And mould to every taste thy dear delusive shape. When Paphos fell by Time—accurséd Time! The Queen who conquers all must yield to thee— The Pleasures fled, but sought as warm a clime; And Venus, constant to her native Sea, To nought else constant, hither deigned to flee, And fixed her shrine within these walls of white:[64] Though not to one dome circumscribeth She Her worship, but, devoted to her rite, A thousand Altars rise, for ever blazing bright.[83] From morn till night, from night till startled Morn[84] Peeps blushing on the Revel's laughing crew, The Song is heard, the rosy Garland worn; Devices quaint, and Frolics ever new, Tread on each other's kibes.[85] A long adieu He bids to sober joy that here sojourns: Nought interrupts the riot, though in lieu[cy] Of true devotion monkish incense burns, And Love and Prayer unite, or rule the hour by turns.[cz] [65] The Sabbath comes, a day of blessed rest: What hallows it upon this Christian shore? Lo! it is sacred to a solemn Feast: Hark! heard you not the forest-monarch's roar? Crashing the lance, he snuffs the spouting gore Of man and steed, o'erthrown beneath his horn; The thronged arena shakes with shouts for more; Yells the mad crowd o'er entrails freshly torn, Nor shrinks the female eye, nor ev'n affects to mourn. .[86] The seventh day this—the Jubilee of man! London! right well thou know'st the day of prayer: Then thy spruce citizen, washed artisan, And smug apprentice gulp their weekly air: Thy coach of hackney, whiskey,[87] one-horse chair,[66] And humblest gig through sundry suburbs whirl,[da] To Hampstead, Brentford, Harrow make repair; Till the tired jade the wheel forgets to hurl, Provoking envious gibe from each pedestrian churl.[db] Some o'er thy Thamis row the ribboned fair,[dc] Others along the safer turnpike fly; Some Richmond-hill ascend, some scud to Ware, And many to the steep of Highgate hie. Ask ye, Boeotian Shades! the reason why? [15.B.] 'Tis to the worship of the solemn Horn,[88][67] Grasped in the holy hand of Mystery, In whose dread name both men and maids are sworn, And consecrate the oath with draught, and dance till morn. All have their fooleries—not alike are thine, Fair Cadiz, rising o'er the dark blue sea![89] Soon as the Matin bell proclaimeth nine, Thy Saint-adorers count the Rosary: Much is the Virgin teased to shrive them free (Well do I ween the only virgin there) From crimes as numerous as her beadsmen be; Then to the crowded circus forth they fare: Young, old, high, low, at once the same diversion share. The lists are oped, the spacious area cleared,[90] Thousands on thousands piled are seated round;[68] Long ere the first loud trumpet's note is heard, Ne vacant space for lated wight is found: Here Dons, Grandees, but chiefly Dames abound, Skilled in the ogle of a roguish eye, Yet ever well inclined to heal the wound; None through their cold disdain are doomed to die, As moon-struck bards complain, by Love's sad archery. Hushed is the din of tongues—on gallant steeds, With milk-white crest, gold spur, and light-poised lance, Four cavaliers prepare for venturous deeds, And lowly-bending to the lists advance;[69] Rich are their scarfs, their chargers featly prance: If in the dangerous game they shine to-day, The crowd's loud shout and ladies' lovely glance, Best prize of better acts! they bear away, And all that kings or chiefs e'er gain their toils repay. In costly sheen and gaudy cloak arrayed. But all afoot, the light-limbed Matadore Stands in the centre, eager to invade The lord of lowing herds; but not before The ground, with cautious tread, is traversed o'er, Lest aught unseen should lurk to thwart his speed: His arms a dart, he fights aloof, nor more Can Man achieve without the friendly steed— Alas! too oft condemned for him to bear and bleed. Thrice sounds the Clarion; lo! the signal falls, The den expands, and Expectation mute Gapes round the silent circle's peopled walls. Bounds with one lashing spring the mighty brute, And, wildly staring, spurns, with sounding foot, The sand, nor blindly rushes on his foe: Here, there, he points his threatening front, to suit His first attack, wide-waving to and fro His angry tail; red rolls his eye's dilated glow. [70] Sudden he stops—his eye is fixed—away— Away, thou heedless boy! prepare the spear: Now is thy time, to perish, or display The skill that yet may check his mad career! With well-timed croupe[91] the nimble coursers veer; On foams the Bull, but not unscathed he goes; Streams from his flank the crimson torrent clear: He flies, he wheels, distracted with his throes; Dart follows dart—lance, lance—loud bellowings speak his woes. Again he comes; nor dart nor lance avail, Nor the wild plunging of the tortured horse; Though Man and Man's avenging arms assail, Vain are his weapons, vainer is his force. One gallant steed is stretched a mangled corse; Another, hideous sight! unseamed appears, His gory chest unveils life's panting source; Though death-struck, still his feeble frame he rears; Staggering, but stemming all, his Lord unharmed he bears. [71] Foiled, bleeding, breathless, furious to the last, Full in the centre stands the Bull at bay, Mid wounds, and clinging darts, and lances brast,[92] And foes disabled in the brutal fray: And now the Matadores[93] around him play, Shake the red cloak, and poise the ready brand: Once more through all he bursts his thundering way— Vain rage! the mantle quits the conynge hand, Wraps his fierce eye—'tis past—he sinks upon the sand![dd] Where his vast neck just mingles with the spine, Sheathed in his form the deadly weapon lies. He stops—he starts—disdaining to decline: Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries, Without a groan, without a struggle dies. The decorated car appears—on high The corse is piled—sweet sight for vulgar eyes—[de][94][72] Four steeds that spurn the rein, as swift as shy, Hurl the dark bulk along, scarce seen in dashing by. Such the ungentle sport that oft invites The Spanish maid, and cheers the Spanish swain. Nurtured in blood betimes, his heart delights In vengeance, gloating on another's pain. What private feuds the troubled village stain! Though now one phalanxed host should meet the foe, Enough, alas! in humble homes remain, To meditate 'gainst friend the secret blow, For some slight cause of wrath, whence Life's warm stream must flow.[95] But Jealousy has fled: his bars, his bolts, His withered Centinel,[96] Duenna sage! And all whereat the generous soul revolts,[df] Which the stern dotard deemed he could encage,[73] Have passed to darkness with the vanished age. Who late so free as Spanish girls were seen, (Ere War uprose in his volcanic rage,) With braided tresses bounding o'er the green, While on the gay dance shone Night's lover-loving Queen? Oh! many a time and oft, had Harold loved, Or dreamed he loved, since Rapture is a dream; But now his wayward bosom was unmoved, For not yet had he drunk of Lethe's stream; And lately had he learned with truth to deem Love has no gift so grateful as his wings: How fair, how young, how soft soe'er he seem, Full from the fount of Joy's delicious springs[dg] Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings. [16.B.] Yet to the beauteous form he was not blind, Though now it moved him as it moves the wise; Not that Philosophy on such a mind E'er deigned to bend her chastely-awful eyes: But Passion raves herself[97] to rest, or flies; And Vice, that digs her own voluptuous tomb,[74] Had buried long his hopes, no more to rise:[dh] Pleasure's palled Victim! life-abhorring Gloom Wrote on his faded brow curst Cain's unresting doom.[98] Still he beheld, nor mingled with the throng; But viewed them not with misanthropic hate: Fain would he now have joined the dance, the song; But who may smile that sinks beneath his fate? Nought that he saw his sadness could abate: Yet once he struggled 'gainst the Demon's sway, And as in Beauty's bower he pensive sate, Poured forth his unpremeditated lay, To charms as fair as those that soothed his happier day. FOOTNOTES [36] {26} [Robert Rushton, the son of one of the Newstead tenants. "Robert I take with me; I like him, because, like myself, he seems a friendless animal. Tell Mr. Rushton his son is well, and doing well" (letter to Mrs. Byron, Falmouth, June 22, 1809: Letters, 1898, i. 224).] [aj] {27} Our best gos-hawk can hardly fly So merrily along.—[MS.] Our best greyhound can hardly fly.—[D. erased.] [ak] Here follows in the MS. the following erased stanza:— My mother is a high-born dame, And much misliketh me; She saith my riot bringeth shame On all my ancestry. I had a sister once I ween, Whose tears perhaps will flow; But her fair face I have not seen For three long years and moe. [al] Oh master dear I do not cry From fear of wave or wind.—[MS.] [37] [Robert was sent back from Gibraltar under the care of Joe Murray (see letter to Mr. Rushton, August 15, 1809: Letters, 1898, i. 242).] [38] {28} [William Fletcher, Byron's valet. He was anything but "staunch" in the sense of the song (see Byron's letters of November 12, 1809, and June 28, 1810) (Letters, 1898, i. 246, 279); but for twenty years he remained a loyal and faithful servant, helped to nurse his master in his last illness, and brought his remains back to England.] [am] {29} Enough, enough, my yeoman good. All this is well to say; But if I in thy sandals stood I'd laugh to get away.—[MS. erased, D.] [an] For who would trust a paramour Or e'en a wedded feere— Though her blue eyes were streaming o'er, And torn her yellow hair?—[MS.] [39] ["I leave England without regret—I shall return to it without pleasure. I am like Adam, the first convict sentenced to transportation, but I have no Eve, and have eaten no apple but what was sour as a crab" (letter to F. Hodgson, Falmouth, June 25, 1809, Letters, 1898, i. 230). If this Confessio Amantis, with which compare the "Stanzas to a Lady, on leaving England," is to be accepted as bonâ fide, he leaves England heart-whole, but for the bitter memory of Mary Chaworth.] [ao] {30} Here follows in the MS., erased:— Methinks it would my bosom glad, To change my proud estate, And be again a laughing lad With one beloved playmate. Since youth I scarce have pass'd an hour Without disgust or pain, Except sometimes in Lady's bower, Or when the bowl I drain. [40] ["I do not mean to exchange the ninth verse of the 'Good Night.' I have no reason to suppose my dog better than his brother brutes, mankind; and Argus we know to be a fable" (letter to Dallas, September 23, 1811: Letters, 1898, ii. 44). Byron was recalling an incident which had befallen him some time previously (see letter to Moore, January 19, 1815): "When I thought he was going to enact Argus, he bit away the backside of my breeches, and never would consent to any kind of recognition, in despite of all kinds of bones which I offered him." See, too, for another thrust at Argus, Don Juan, Canto III. stanza xxiii. But he should have remembered that this particular Argus "was half a wolf by the she side." His portrait is preserved at Newstead (see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 280, Edition de Luxe). For the expression of a different sentiment, compare The Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog (first published in Hobhouse's Imit. and Transl., 1809), and the prefatory inscription on Boatswain's grave in the gardens of Newstead, dated November 16, 1808 (Life, p. 73).] [41] {31} [Cintra's "needle-like peaks," to the north-west of Lisbon, are visible from the mouth of the Tagus.] [42] [Compare Ovid, Amores, i. 15, and Pliny, Hist. Nat., iv. 22. Small particles of gold are still to be found in the sands of the Tagus, but the quantity is, and perhaps always was, inconsiderable.] [ap] ——where thronging rustics reap.—[MS. erased.] [aq] {32} What God hath done—[MS. D.] [ar] Those Lusian brutes and earth from worst of wretches purge.—[MS.] [43] ["Lisboa is the Portuguese word, consequently the very best. Ulissipont is pedantic; and as I have Hellas and Eros not very long before, there would be something like an affectation of Greek terms, which I wish to avoid" (letter to Dallas, September 23, 1811: Letters, 1898, ii. 44. See, too, Poetical Works, 1883, p. 5).] [as] Ulissipont, or Lisbona.—[MS. pencil.] [at] Which poets, prone to lie, have paved with gold.—[MS.] Which poets sprinkle o'er with sands of gold.—[MS. pencil.] Which fabling poets—[D. pencil.] [44] {33} [For Byron's estimate of the Portuguese, see The Curse of Minerva, lines 233, 234, and note to line 231 (Poetical Works, 1898, i. 469, 470). In the last line of the preceding stanza, the substitution of the text for var. i. was no doubt suggested by Dallas in the interests of prudence.] [au] Who hate the very hand that waves the sword To shield them, etc.—[MS. D.] To guard them, etc.—[MS. pencil.] [av] Mid many things that grieve both nose and ee.—[MS.] Midst many——.—[MS. D.] [aw] ——smelleth filthily.—[MS. D.] [ax] ——dammed with dirt.—[MS. erased.] [45] {34} [For a fuller description of Cintra, see letter to Mrs. Byron, dated August 11, 1808 (Life, p. 92; Letters, 1898, i. 237). Southey, not often in accord with Byron, on his return from Spain (1801) testified that "for beauty all English, perhaps all existing, scenery must yield to Cintra" (Life and Corr. of R. Southey, ii. 161).] [ay] ——views too sweet and vast——.—[MS. erased.] [az] ——by tottering convent crowned.—[MS. erased.] Alcornoque.—[Note (pencil).] [46] "The sky-worn robes of tenderest blue." Collins' Ode to Pity [MS. and D.]. [ba] The murmur that the sparkling torrents keep.—[MS. erased.] [47] {35} [The convent of Nossa Señora (now the Palazio) da Peña, and the Cork Convent, were visited by Beckford (circ. 1780), and are described in his Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal (8vo, 1834), the reissue of his Letters Picturesque and Poetical (4to, 1783). "Our first object was the convent of Nossa Senhora da Penha, the little romantic pile of white building I had seen glittering from afar when I first sailed by the coast of Lisbon. From this pyramidical elevation the view is boundless; you look immediately down upon an immense expanse of sea. ... A long series of detached clouds of a dazzling whiteness suspended low over the waves had a magic effect, and in pagan times might have appeared, without any great stretch of fancy, the cars of marine divinities, just risen from the bosom of their element."—Italy, etc., p. 249. "Before the entrance, formed by two ledges of ponderous rock, extends a smooth level of greensward.... The Hermitage, its cell, chapel, and refectory, are all scooped out of the native marble, and lined with the bark of the cork tree. Several of the passages are not only roofed, but floored with the same material ... The shrubberies and garden-plots dispersed amongst the mossy rocks ... are delightful, and I took great pleasure in ... following the course of a transparent rill, which was conducted through a rustic water-shoot, between bushes of lavender and roses, many of the tenderest green."—Ibid., p. 250. The inscription to the memory of Honorius (d. 159, æt. 95) is on a stone in front of the cave— "Hic Honorius vitam finivit; Et ideo cum Deo in coelis revivit."] [48] {36} "I don't remember any crosses there."—[Pencilled note by J.C. Hobhouse.] [The crosses made no impression upon Hobhouse, who, no doubt, had realized that they were nothing but guideposts. For an explanation, see letter of Mr. Matthew Lewtas to the Athenæum, July 19, 1873: "The track from the main road to the convent, rugged and devious, leading up to the mountain, is marked out by numerous crosses now, just as it was when Byron rode along it in 1809, and it would appear he fell into the mistake of considering that the crosses were erected to show where assassinations had been committed."] [49] [Beckford, describing the view from the convent, notices the wild flowers which adorned "the ruined splendour." "Amidst the crevices of the mouldering walls ... I noticed some capillaries and polypodiums of infinite delicacy; and on a little flat space before the convent a numerous tribe of pinks, gentians, and other Alpine plants, fanned and invigorated by the fresh mountain air."—Italy, etc., 1834, p. 229. The "Prince's palace" (line 5) may be the royal palace at Cintra, "the Alhambra of the Moorish kings," or, possibly, the palace (vide post, stanza xxix. line 7) at Mafra, ten miles from Cintra.] [bb] {37} There too proud Vathek—England's wealthiest son.—[MS. D.] [50] [William Beckford, 1760 (?1759)-1844, published Vathek in French in 1784, and in English in 1787. He spent two years (1794-96) in retirement at Quinta da Monserrate, three miles from Cintra. Byron thought highly of Vathek. "I do not know," he writes (The Giaour, l. 1328, note), "from what source the author ... may have drawn his materials ... but for correctness of costume ... and power of imagination, it surpasses all European imitations.... As an Eastern tale, even Rasselas must bow before it; his happy valley will not bear a comparison with the 'Hall of Eblis.'" In the MS. there is an additional stanza reflecting on Beckford, which Dallas induced him to omit. It was afterwards included by Moore among the Occasional Pieces, under the title of To Dives: a Fragment (Poetical Works, 1883, p. 548). (For Beckford, see Letters, 1898, i. 228, note 1; and with regard to the "Stanzas on Vathek," see letter to Dallas, September 26, 1811: Letters, 1898, ii. 47.)] [bc] When Wealth and Taste their worst and best have done, Meek Peace pollution's lure voluptuous still must shun.—[MS.] [bd] But now thou blasted Beacon unto man.—[MS.] ——thou Beacon unto erring man.—[MS. D.] [be] {38} Vain are the pleasaunces by art supplied.—[MS. D.] [bf] ——yclad, and by.—[MS. D.] [bg] Where blazoned glares a name spelt "Wellesley."—[MS. D.] [bh] ——are on the roll.—[MS. erased, D.] [bi] The following stanzas, which appear in the MS., were excluded at the request of Dallas (see his letter of October 10, 1811, Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron, 1824, pp. 173-187), Letters, 1898, ii. 51:— In golden characters right well designed First on the list appeareth one "Junot;" Then certain other glorious names we find, (Which Rhyme compelleth me to place below:) Dull victors! baffled by a vanquished foe, Wheedled by conynge tongues of laurels due, Stand, worthy of each other in a row— Sirs Arthur, Harry, and the dizzard Hew Dalrymple, seely wight, sore dupe of t'other tew. Convention is the dwarfy demon styled That failed the knights in Marialva's dome: Of brains (if brains they had) he them beguiled, And turned a nation's shallow joy to gloom. For well I wot, when first the news did come That Vimiera's field by Gaul was lost, For paragraph ne paper scarce had room, Such Pæans teemed for our triumphant host, In Courier, Chronicle, and eke in Morning Post. But when Convention sent his handy workbr /> Pens, tongues, feet, hands combined in wild uproar; Mayor, Aldermen, laid down the uplifted fork; The Bench of Bishops half forgot to snore; Stern Cobbett,[A]—who for one whole week forbore To question aught, once more with transport leapt, And bit his devilish quill agen, and swore With foes such treaty never should be kept, While roared the blatant Beast,[B] and roared, and raged, and—slept!! Thus unto Heaven appealed the people: Heaven Which loves the lieges of our gracious King, Decreed that ere our Generals were forgiven, Enquiry should be held about the thing. But Mercy cloaked the babes beneath her wing; And as they spared our foes so spared we them; (Where was the pity of our Sires for Byng?)[C] Yet knaves, not idiots should the law condemn; Then live ye gallant Knights! and bless your Judges' phlegm! [A] [Sir Hew Dalrymple's despatch on the so-called Convention of Cintra is dated September 3, and was published in the London Gazette Extraordinary, September 16, 1808. The question is not alluded to in the Weekly Political Register of September 17, but on the 24th Cobbett opened fire with a long article (pp. 481-502) headed, "Conventions in Portugal," which was followed up by articles on the same subject in the four succeeding issues. Articles iii., iv., v., vi., of the "Definitive Convention" provided for the restoration of the French troops and their safe convoy to France, with their artillery, equipments, and cavalry. "Did the men," asks Cobbett (September 24), "who made this promise beat the Duke d'Abrantés [Junot], or were they like curs, who, having felt the bite of the mastiff, lose all confidence in their number, and, though they bark victory, suffer him to retire in quiet, carrying off his bone to be disposed of at his leisure? No, not so; for they complaisantly carry the bone for him." The rest of the article is written in a similar strain.] [B] ["'Blatant beast.'[*] A figure for the mob. I think first used by Smollett, in his Adventures of an Atom.[**] Horace has the 'bellua multorum capitum.'[***] In England, fortunately enough, the illustrious mobility has not even one."—[MS.]] [*] [Spenser (Faërie Queene, bk. vi. cantos iii. 24; xii. 27, sq.) personifies the vox populi, with its thousand tongues, as the "blatant beast."] [**][In The History and Adventures of an Atom (Smollett's Works, 1872, vi. 385), Foksi-Roku (Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland) passes judgment on the populace. "The multitude, my lords, is a many-headed monster, it is a Cerberus that must have a sop; it is a wild beast, so ravenous that nothing but blood will appease its appetite; it is a whale, that must have a barrel for its amusement; it is a demon, to which we must offer human sacrifice.... Bihn-Goh must be the victim—happy if the sacrifice of his single life can appease the commotions of his country." Foksi-Roku's advice is taken, and Bihn-Goh (Byng) "is crucified for cowardice."] [***][Horace, Odes, II. xiii. 34: "Bellua centiceps."] [C]"By this query it is not meant that our foolish generals should have been shot, but that Byng [Admiral John Byng, born 1704, was executed March 14, 1757] might have been spared; though the one suffered and the others escaped, probably for Candide's reason 'pour encourager les autres.'"[****]—[MS.] [****] ["Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres."—Candide, xxii.] [51] {39} [On August 21, 1808, Sir Harry Burrard (1755-1813) superseded in command Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had, on the same day, repulsed Junot at Vimiera. No sooner had he assumed his position as commander-in-chief, than he countermanded Wellesley's order to give pursuit and make good the victory. The next day (August 22) Sir Hew Dalrymple in turn superseded Burrard, and on the 23rd, General Kellerman approached the English with certain proposals from Junot, which a week later were formulated by the so-called Convention of Cintra, to which Kellerman and Wellesley affixed their names. When the news reached England that Napoleon's forces had been repulsed with loss, and yet the French had been granted a safe exit from Portugal, the generals were assailed with loud and indiscriminate censure. Burrard's interference with Wellesley's plans was no doubt ill-judged and ill-timed; but the opportunity of pursuit having been let slip, the acceptance of Junot's terms was at once politic and inevitable. A court of inquiry, which was held in London in January, 1809, upheld both the armistice of August 22 and the Convention; but neither Dalrymple nor Burrard ever obtained a second command, and it was not until Talavera (July 28, 1809) had effaced the memories of Cintra that Wellesley was reinstated in popular favour.] [bj] {41} ——at the mention sweat.—[MS. D.] [bk] {42} More restless than the falcon as he flies.—[MS. erased.] [52] [With reference to this passage, while yet in MS., an early reader (?Dallas) inquires, "What does this mean?" And a second (?Hobhouse) rejoins, "What does the question mean? It is one of the finest stanzas I ever read."] [53] [Byron and Hobhouse sailed from Falmouth, July 2, 1809; reached Lisbon on the 6th or 7th; and on the 17th started from Aldea Galbega ("the first stage from Lisbon, which is only accessible by water") on horseback for Seville. "The horses are excellent—we rode seventy miles a day" (see letters of August 6 to F. Hodgson, and August 11, 1809, to Mrs. Byron; Letters, 1898, i. 234, 236).] [bl] ——long foreign to his soul.—[MS. erased.] [bm] ——the strumpet and the bowl.—[MS. D] [bn] {43} And countries more remote his hopes engage.—[MS. erased.] [bo] Where dwelt of yore the Lusians' crazy queen,—[MS.] Where dwelt of yore Lusania's——.—[D.] [54] [Her luckless Majesty went subsequently mad; and Dr. Willis, who so dexterously cudgelled kingly pericraniums, could make nothing of hers. (For the Rev. Francis Willis, see Poetical Works, 1898, i. 416.) Maria I. (b. 1734), who married her uncle, Pedro III., reigned with him 1777-86, and, as sole monarch, from 1786 to 1816. The death of her husband, of her favourite confessor, Ignatio de San Caetano, who had been raised by Pombal from the humblest rank to the position of archbishop in partibus, and of her son, turned her brain, and she became melancholy mad. She was only queen in name after 1791, and in 1799 her son, Maria José Luis, was appointed regent. Beckford saw her in 1787, and was impressed by her dignified bearing. "Justice and clemency," he writes, "the motto so glaringly misapplied on the banner of the abhorred Inquisition, might be transferred, with the strictest truth, to this good princess" (Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, 1834, p. 256). Ten years later, Southey, in his Letters from Spain, 1797, p. 541, ascribes the "gloom" of the court of Lisbon to "the dreadful malady of the queen." When the Portuguese royal family were about to embark for Brazil in November, 1807, the queen was once more seen in public after an interval of sixteen years. "She had to wait some while upon the quay for the chair in which she was to be carried to the boat, and her countenance, in which the insensibility of madness was only disturbed by wonder, formed a striking contrast to the grief which appeared in every other face" (Southey's History of the Peninsular War, i. 110).] [bp] {44} Childe Burun——.—[MS.] [bq] Less swoln with culture soon the vales extend And long horizon-bounded realms appear.—[MS. erased.] [br] {45} Say Muse what bounds——.—[MS. D.] [55] The Pyrenees.—[MS.] [56] [If, as stanza xliii. of this canto (added in 1811) intimates, Byron passed through "Albuera's plain" on his way from Lisbon to Seville, he must have crossed the frontier at a point between Elvas and Badajoz. In that case the "silver streamlet" may be identified as the Caia. Beckford remarks on "the rivulet which separates the two kingdoms" (Italy, etc., 1834, p. 291).] [bs] {46} But eer the bounds of Spain have far been passed.—[MS. D.] [bt] For ever famed—in many a native song.—[MS. erased.] ——a noted song.—[MS. D.] [57] [Compare Virgil, Æneid, i. 100— "Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis Scuta virûm galeasque et fortia corpora volvit."] [58] [The standard, a cross made of Asturian oak (La Cruz de la Victoria), which was said to have fallen from heaven before Pelayo gained the victory over the Moors at Cangas, in A.D. 718, is preserved at Oviedo. Compare Southey's Roderick, XXV.: Poetical Works, 1838, ix. 241, and note, pp. 370, 371.] [bu] —which Pelagius bore.—[MS. D.] [59] {47} [The Moors were finally expelled from Granada in 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.] [bv] ——waxed the Crescent pale.—[MS. erased.] [60] [The reference is to the Romanceros and Caballerías of the sixteenth century.] [bw] ——thy little date.—[MS. erased.] [bx] ——from rock to rock Blue columns soaring loft in sulphury wreath Fragments on fragments in contention knock.—[MS. erased, D.] [61] "The Siroc is the violent hot wind that for weeks together blows down the Mediterranean from the Archipelago. Its effects are well known to all who have passed the Straits of Gibraltar."—[MS. D.] [62] {49} [The battle of Talavera began July 27, 1809, and lasted two days. As Byron must have reached Seville by the 21st or 22nd of the month, he was not, as might be inferred, a spectator of any part of the engagement. Writing to his mother, August 11, he says, "You have heard of the battle near Madrid, and in England they would call it a victory—a pretty victory! Two hundred officers and five thousand men killed, all English, and the French in as great force as ever. I should have joined the army, but we have no time to lose before we get up the Mediterranean."—Letters, i. 241.] [by] Their rival scarfs that shine so gloriously.—[MS. erased.] Their rural scarfs——.—[MS. D.] [63] [Compare Campbell's "Hohenlinden"—"Few, few shall part where many meet."] [64] {50} [Compare Macbeth, act i. sc. 2, line 51—"Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky."] [65] [In a letter to Colonel Malcolm, December 3, 1809, the Duke admits that the spoils of conquest were of a moral rather than of a material kind. "The battle of Talavera was certainly the hardest fought of modern days.... It is lamentable that, owing to the miserable inefficiency of the Spaniards, ... the glory of the action is the only benefit which we have derived from it.... I have in hand a most difficult task.... In such circumstances one may fail, but it would be dishonourable to shrink from the task."—Wellington Dispatches, 1844, iii. 621.] [bz] There shall they rot—while rhymers tell the fools How honour decks the turf that wraps their clay! Liars avaunt!——.—[MS.] [66] Two lines of Collins' Ode, "How sleep the brave," etc., have been compressed into one— "There Honour comes a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps their clay." [ca] But Reason's elf in these beholds——.—[D.] [cb] {51} ——a fancied throne As if they compassed half that hails their sway.—[MS. erased.] [cc] ——glorious sound of grief.—[D.] [67] [The battle of Albuera (May 16, 1811), at which the English, under Lord Beresford, repulsed Soult, was somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory. "Another such a battle," wrote the Duke, "would ruin us. I am working hard to put all right again." The French are said to have lost between 8000 and 9000 men, the English 4158, the Spaniards 1365.] [cd] A scene for mingling foes to boast and bleed.—[D.] [ce] Yet peace be with the perished—-.—[D. erased.] [cf] And tears and triumph make their memory long.—[D. erased.] [cg] ——there sink with other woes.—[D. erased.] [68] [Albuera was celebrated by Scott, in his Vision of Don Roderick. The Battle of Albuera, a Poem (anon.), was published in October, 1811.] [ch] {52} Who sink in darkness——.—[MS. erased.] [ci] ——swift Rapines path pursued.—[MS. D.] [cj] To Harold turn we as——.—[MS. erased.] [69] [In this "particular" Childe Harold did not resemble his alter ego. Hobhouse and "part of the servants" (Joe Murray, Fletcher, a German, and the "page" Robert Rushton, constituted his "whole suite"), accompanied Byron in his ride across Spain from Lisbon to Gibraltar. (See Letters, 1898, i. 224, 236.)] [ck] Where proud Sevilha——.—[MS. D.] [70] {53} [Byron, en route for Gibraltar, passed three days at Seville at the end of July or the beginning of August, 1809. By the end of January, 1810, the French had appeared in force before Seville. Unlike Zaragoza and Gerona, the pleasure-loving city, "after some negotiations, surrendered, with all its stores, foundries, and arsenal complete, and on the 1st of February the king [Joseph] entered in triumph" (Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula, ii. 295).] [71] [A kind of fiddle with only two strings, played on by a bow, said to have been brought by the Moors into Spain.] [cl] Not here the Trumpet, but the rebeck sounds.—[MS. erased.] [cm] And dark-eyed Lewdness——.—[MS. erased.] [72] [See The Waltz: Poetical Works, 1898, i. 492, note 1.] [cn] {54} Not in the toils of Glory would ye sweat.—[MS. erased, D.] [73] [The scene is laid on the heights of the Sierra Morena. The travellers are looking across the "long level plain" of the Guadalquivir to the mountains of Ronda and Granada, with their "hill-forts ...perched everywhere like eagles' nests" (Ford's Handbook for Spain, i. 252). The French, under Dupont, entered the Morena, June 2, 1808. They stormed the bridge at Alcolea, June 7, and occupied Cordoba, but were defeated at Bailen, July 19, and forced to capitulate. Hence the traces of war. The "Dragon's nest" (line 7) is the ancient city of Jaen, which guards the skirts of the Sierras "like a watchful Cerberus." It was taken by the French, but recaptured by the Spanish, early in July, 1808 (History of the War in the Peninsula, i. 71-80).] [74] {55} [The Sierra Morena gets its name from the classical Montes Mariani, not, as Byron seems to imply, from its dark and dusky aspect.] [co] {56} ——the never-changing watch.—[MS. D.] [cp] The South must own——.—[MS. D.] [cq] When soars Gaul's eagle——.—[MS. D.] [75] [As time went on, Byron's sentiments with regard to Napoleon underwent a change, and he hesitates between sympathetic admiration and reluctant disapproval. At the moment his enthusiasm was roused by Spain's heroic resistance to the new Alaric, "the scourger of the world," and he expresses himself like Southey "or another" (vide post, Canto III., pp. 238, 239).] [76] {57} ["A short two-edged knife or dagger ... formerly worn at the girdle" (N. Eng. Dict., art. "Anlace"). The "anlace" of the Spanish heroines was the national weapon, the puñal, or cuchillo, which was sometimes stuck in the sash (Handbook for Spain, ii. 803).] [77] [Compare Macbeth, act v. sc. 5, line 10— "The Time has been, my senses would have cooled To hear a night-shriek."] [cr] ——-the column-scattering bolt afar, The falchion's flash—[MS. erased, D.] [cs] {59} The seal Love's rosy finger has imprest On her fair chin denotes how soft his touch: Her lips where kisses make voluptuous nest.—[MS. erased.] [78] [Writing to his mother (August 11, 1809), Byron compares "the Spanish style" of beauty to the disadvantage of the English: "Long black hair, dark languishing eyes, clear olive complexions, and forms more graceful in motion than can be conceived by an Englishman ... render a Spanish beauty irresistible" (Letters, 1898, i. 239). Compare, too, the opening lines of The Girl of Cadiz, which gave place to the stanzas To Inez, at the close of this canto— "Oh never talk again to me Of northern climes and British ladies." But in Don Juan, Canto XII. stanzas lxxiv.-lxxvii., he makes the amende to the fair Briton— "She cannot step as doth an Arab barb, Or Andalusian girl from mass returning. But though the soil may give you time and trouble, Well cultivated, it will render double."] [ct] {60} Beauties that need not fear a broken vow.—[MS. erased.] ——a lecher's vow.—[MS.] [79] [The summit of Parnassus is not visible from Delphi or the neighbourhood. Before he composed "these stanzas" (December 16), (see note 13.B.) at the foot of Parnassus, Byron had first surveyed its "snow-clad" majesty as he sailed towards Vostizza (on the southern shore of the Gulf of Corinth), which he reached on the 5th, and quitted on the 14th of December. "The Echoes" (line 8) which were celebrated by the ancients (Justin, Hist., lib. xxiv. cap. 6), are those made by the Phædriades, or "gleaming peaks," a "lofty precipitous escarpment of red and grey limestone" at the head of the valley of the Pleistus, facing southwards.—Travels in Albania, i. 188, 199; Geography of Greece, by H. F. Tozer, 1873, p. 230.] [cu] Not in the landscape of a fabled lay.—[MS. D.] [80] {61} ["Upon Parnassus, going to the fountain of Delphi (Castri) in 1809, I saw a flight of twelve eagles (Hobhouse said they were vultures—at least in conversation), and I seized the omen. On the day before, I composed the lines to Parnassus [in Childe Harold] and, on beholding the birds, had a hope that Apollo had accepted my homage. I have, at least, had the name and fame of a poet during the poetical period of life (from twenty to thirty). Whether it will last is another matter; but I have been a votary of the deity and the place, and am grateful for what he has done in my behalf, leaving the future in his hands, as I left the past" (B. Diary, 1821).] [cv] {62} And walks with glassy steps o'er Aganippe's wave.—[MS. erased.] [cw] Let me some remnant of thy Spirit bear Some glorious thought to my petition grant.—[MS. erased, D.] [81] ["Parnassus ... is distinguished from all other Greek mountains by its mighty mass. This, with its vast buttresses, almost fills up the rest of the country" (Geography of Greece, by H.F. Tozer, 1873, p. 226).] [82] {63} [In his first letter from Spain (to F. Hodgson, August 6, 1809) Byron exclaims, "Cadiz, sweet Cadiz!—it is the first spot in the creation ... Cadiz is a complete Cythera." See, too, letter to Mrs. Byron, August 11, 1809 (Letters, 1898, i. 234, 239).] [cx] While boyish blood boils gaily, who can 'scape The lurking lures of thy enchanting gaze.—[MS. erased.] [83] {64} [It must not be supposed that the "thousand altars" of Cadiz correspond with and are in contrast to the "one dome" of Paphos. The point is that where Venus fixes her shrine, at Paphos or at Cadiz, altars blaze and worshippers abound (compare Æneid, i. 415-417)— "Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit Læta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabæo Ture calent aræ."] [84] [Compare Milton's Paradise Lost, i.— ... from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve.] [85] [It was seldom that Byron's memory played him false, but here a vague recollection of a Shakespearian phrase has beguiled him into a blunder. He is thinking of Hamlet's jibe on the corruption of manners, "The age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe" (act v. sc. 1, line 150), and he forgets that a kibe is not a heel or a part of a heel, but a chilblain.] [cy] ——though in lieu Of true devotion monkish temples share The hours misspent, and all in turns is Love or Prayer.—— [MS. erased.] [cz] ——or rule the hour in turns.——[D.] [86] {65} [As he intimates in the Preface to Childe Harold, Byron had originally intended to introduce "variations" in his poem of a droll or satirical character. Beattie, Thomson, Ariosto, were sufficient authorities for these humorous episodes. The stanzas on the Convention of Cintra (stanzas xxv.-xxviii. of the MS.), and the four stanzas on Sir John Carr; the concluding stanzas of the MS., which were written in this lighter vein, were suppressed at the instance of Dallas, or Murray, or Gifford. From a passage in a letter to Dallas (August 21, 1811), it appears that Byron had almost made up his mind to leave out "the two stanzas of a buffooning cast on London's Sunday" (Letters, 1898, i. 335). But, possibly, owing to their freedom from any compromising personalities, or because wiser counsels prevailed, they were allowed to stand, and continued (wrote Moore in 1832) to "disfigure the poem."] [87] [A whiskey is a light carriage in which the traveller is whisked along.] [da] {66} And humbler gig——.—[MS.] [db] And droughty man alights and roars for "Roman Purl."[*]—[MS. D.] [*] A festive liquor so called. Query why "Roman"? [Query if "Roman"? "'Purl Royal,' Canary wine with a dash of the tincture of wormwood" (Grose's Class. Dict.).] ----for Punch or Purl.—[D.] [dc] Some o'er thy Thames convoy——.—[MS. D.] [88] [Hone's Everyday Book (1827, ii. 80-87) gives a detailed account of the custom of "swearing on the horns" at Highgate. "The horns, fixed on a pole of about five feet in length, were erected by placing the pole upright on the ground near the person to be sworn, who is requested to take off his hat," etc. The oath, or rather a small part of it, ran as follows: "Take notice what I am saying unto you, for that is the first word of your oath—mind that! You must acknowledge me [the landlord] to be your adopted father, etc.... You must not eat brown bread while you can get white, except you like the brown best. You must not drink small beer while you can get strong, except you like the small best. You must not kiss the maid while you can kiss the mistress, but sooner than lose a good chance you may kiss them both," etc. Drovers, who frequented the "Gate House" at the top of the hill, and who wished to keep the tavern to themselves, are said to have been responsible for the rude beginnings of this tedious foolery.] [89] {67} [M. Darmesteter quotes a striking passage from Gautier's Voyage en Espagne (xv.), in appreciation of Cadiz and Byron: "L'aspect de Cadix, en venant du large, est charmant. A la voir ainsi étincelante de blancheur entre l'azur de la mer et l'azur du ciel, on dirait une immense couronne de filigrane d'argent; le dôme de la cathédrale, peint en jaune, semble une tiare de vermeil posée au milieu. Les pots de fleurs, les volutes et les tourelles qui terminent les maisons, varient à l'infini la dentelure. Byron a merveilleusement caractérisé la physionomie de Cadix en une seule touche: "Brillante Cadix, qui t'élèves vers le ciel du milieu du bleu foncé de la mer."] [90] [The actors in a bull-fight consist of three or four classes: the chulos or footmen, the banderilleros or dart-throwers, the picadores or horsemen, the matadores or espadas the executioners. Each bull-fight, which lasts about twenty minutes, is divided into three stages or acts. In the first act the picadores receive the charge of the bull, defending themselves, but not, as a rule, attacking the foe with their lances or garrochas. In the second act the chulos, who are not mounted, wave coloured cloaks or handkerchiefs in the bull's face, and endeavour to divert his fury from the picadores, in case they have been thrown or worsted in the encounter. At the same time, the banderilleros are at pains to implant in either side of the bull's neck a number of barbed darts ornamented with cut paper, and, sometimes, charged with detonating powder. It is de rigeur to plant the barbs exactly on either side. In the third and final act, the protagonist, the matador or espada, is the sole performer. His function is to entice the bull towards him by waving the muleta or red flag, and, standing in front of the animal, to inflict the death-wound by plunging his sword between the left shoulder and the blade. "The teams of mules now enter, glittering with flags and tinkling with bells, whose gay decorations contrast with the stern cruelty and blood; the dead bull is carried off at a rapid gallop, which always delights the populace."—Handbook for Spain, by Richard Ford, 1898, i. 67-76.] [91] {70} "The croupe is a particular leap taught in the manège."—[MS.] [Croupe, or croup, denotes the hind quarters of a horse. Compare Scott's ballad of "Young Lochinvar"—"So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung." Here it is used for "croupade," "a high curvet in which the hind legs are brought up under the belly of the horse" (N. Eng. Dict., art. "Croupade.")] [92] {71} ["Brast" for "burst" is found in Spenser (Faërie Queene, i. 9. 21. 7), and is still current in Lancashire dialect. See Lanc. Gloss. (E. D. S. "brast").] [93] [One bull-fight, one matador. In describing the last act Byron confuses the chulos or cloak-waving footmen, who had already played their part, with the single champion, the matador, who is about to administer the coup de grâce.] [dd] ——he lies along the sand.—[MS. erased.] [de] The trophy corse is reared—disgusting prize. or, The corse is reared—sparkling the chariot flies.—[MS. M.] [94] [Compare Virgil, Æneid, viii. 264— "Pedibusque informe cadaver Protrahitur. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo—"] [95] {72} "The Spaniards are as revengeful as ever. At Santa Otella, I heard a young peasant threaten to stab a woman (an old one, to be sure, which mitigates the offence), and was told, on expressing some small surprise, that this ethic was by no means uncommon."—[MS.] [96] [Byron's "orthodoxy" of the word "centinel" was suggested by the Spanish centinela, or, perhaps, by Spenser's "centonell" (Faërie Queene, bk. i. c. ix. st. 41, line 8).] [df] And all whereat the wandering soul revolts Which that stern dotard dreamed he could encage.—[MS. erased.] [dg] {73} Full from the heart of Joy's delicious springs Some Bitter bubbles up, and even on Roses stings.—[MS.] [97] [The Dallas Transcript reads "itself," but the MS. and earlier editions "herself."] [dh] {74} Had buried then his hopes, no more to rise: Drugged with dull pleasure! life-abhorring Gloom Wrote on his faded brow curst Cain's wandering doom.—[MS. erased.] Had buried there.—[MS. D.] [98] [Byron's belief or, rather, haunting dread, that he was predestined to evil is to be traced to the Calvinistic teaching of his boyhood (compare Childe Harold, Canto III. stanza lxx. lines 8, 9; and Canto IV. stanza xxxiv. line 6). Lady Byron regarded this creed of despair as the secret of her husband's character, and the source of his aberrations. In a letter to H. C. Robinson, March 5, 1855, she writes, "Not merely from casual expressions, but from the whole tenour of Lord Byron's feelings, I could not but conclude he was a believer in the inspiration of the Bible, and had the gloomiest Calvinistic tenets. To that unhappy view of the relation of the creature to the Creator, I have always ascribed the misery of his life.... Instead of being made happier by any apparent good, he felt convinced that every blessing would be 'turned into a curse' to him. Who, possessed by such ideas, could lead a life of love and service to God or man? They must in a measure realize themselves. 'The worst of it is, I do believe,' he said. I, like all connected with him, was broken against the rock of predestination."]