Don Juan

None can say that this was not good advice, The only mischief was, it came too late; Of all experience ’tis the usual price, A sort of income-tax laid on by fate: Juan had reach...

Our shipwreck’d seamen thought it a good omen— It is as well to think so, now and then; ’Twas an old custom of the Greek and Roman, And may become of great advantage when Folks...

Thus much however I may add,—her years Were ripe, they might make six-and-twenty springs; But there are forms which Time to touch forbears, And turns aside his scythe to vulgar...

This is in others a factitious state, An opium dream of too much youth and reading, But was in them their nature or their fate: No novels e’er had set their young hearts bleedin...

At six, I said, he was a charming child, At twelve he was a fine, but quiet boy; Although in infancy a little wild, They tamed him down amongst them: to destroy His natural spir...

One gang of people instantly was put Upon the pumps and the remainder set To get up part of the cargo, and what not; But they could not come at the leak as yet; At last they did...

He ate, and he was well supplied: and she, Who watch’d him like a mother, would have fed Him past all bounds, because she smiled to see Such appetite in one she had deem’d dead;...

‘And then there are the dancers; there’s the Nini, With more than one profession, gains by all; Then there’s that laughing slut the Pelegrini, She, too, was fortunate last carni...

But Juan had a sort of winning way, A proud humility, if such there be, Which show’d such deference to what females say, As if each charming word were a decree. His tact, too, t...

And that so loudly, that upstarted all The Oda, in a general commotion: Matron and maids, and those whom you may call Neither, came crowding like the waves of ocean, One on the...

Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet, Are things immortal to immortal man, As purple to the Babylonian harlot: An uniform to boys is like a fan To women; there is sc...

And Julia’s voice was lost, except in sighs, Until too late for useful conversation; The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes, I wish indeed they had not had occasion, But wh...

Where is Napoleon the Grand? God knows. Where little Castlereagh? The devil can tell: Where Grattan, Curran, Sheridan, all those Who bound the bar or senate in their spell? Wher...

But whether fits, or wits, or harpsichords, Theology, fine arts, or finer stays, May be the baits for gentlemen or lords With regular descent, in these our days, The last year t...

Serene, accomplish’d, cheerful but not loud; Insinuating without insinuation; Observant of the foibles of the crowd, Yet ne’er betraying this in conversation; Proud with the pro...

Round her she made an atmosphere of life, The very air seem’d lighter from her eyes, They were so soft and beautiful, and rife With all we can imagine of the skies, And pure as...

Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe, Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast, Is that portentous phrase, ‘I told you so,’ Utter’d by friends, those prophets of the past,...

The other evening (’twas on Friday last)— This is a fact and no poetic fable— Just as my great coat was about me cast, My hat and gloves still lying on the table, I heard a shot...

And thus I supplicate your supposition, And mildest, matron-like interpretation, Of the imperial favourite’s condition. ’Twas a high place, the highest in the nation In fact, if...

He died at fifty for a queen of forty; I wish their years had been fifteen and twenty, For then wealth, kingdoms, worlds are but a sport—I Remember when, though I had no great p...

In one thing ne’ertheless ’tis fit to praise The Russian army upon this occasion, A virtue much in fashion now-a-days, And therefore worthy of commemoration: The topic ’s tender...

Then there were foreigners of much renown, Of various nations, and all volunteers; Not fighting for their country or its crown, But wishing to be one day brigadiers; Also to hav...

But from being farmers, we turn gleaners, gleaning The scanty but right-well thresh’d ears of truth; And, gentle reader! when you gather meaning, You may be Boaz, and I—modest R...

‘Here are chaste wives, pure lives; here people pay But what they please; and if that things be dear, ’Tis only that they love to throw away Their cash, to show how much they ha...

There’s doubtless something in domestic doings Which forms, in fact, true love’s antithesis; Romances paint at full length people’s wooings, But only give a bust of marriages; F...

DEDICATION CANTO THE FIRST CANTO THE SECOND. CANTO THE THIRD. CANTO THE FOURTH. CANTO THE FIFTH. CANTO THE SIXTH. CANTO THE SEVENTH. CANTO THE EIGHTH. CANTO THE NINTH. CANTO THE...

And what ’s still stranger, left behind a name For which men vainly decimate the throng, Not only famous, but of that good fame, Without which glory ’s but a tavern song— Simple...

‘She also recommended him to God, And no less to God’s Son, as well as Mother, Warn’d him against Greek worship, which looks odd In Catholic eyes; but told him, too, to smother...

In Babylon’s bravuras—as the home Heart-ballads of Green Erin or Gray Highlands, That bring Lochaber back to eyes that roam O’er far Atlantic continents or islands, The calentur...

But as ‘there’s safety’ grafted in the number ‘Of counsellors’ for men, thus for the sex A large acquaintance lets not Virtue slumber; Or should it shake, the choice will more p...

And not in vain he listen’d;—Hush! what ’s that? I see—I see—Ah, no!—’tis not—yet ’tis— Ye powers! it is the—the—the—Pooh! the cat! The devil may take that stealthy pace of his!...