ページの画像
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

And sea-sick passengers turn'd somewhat | And last,not least to strangers uninstructed, Thy long, long bills, whence nothing is deducted.

pale:

But Juan, season'd, as he well might be By former voyages, stood to watch the skiff's Which pass'd, or catch the first glimpse of the cliffs.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

And being told it was "God's house," she | O'er the high hill which looks with pride said

or scorn

He was well lodged, but only wonder'd how Toward the great city:-ye who have a
He suffer'd infidels in his homestead,
The cruel Nazarenes, who had laid low
His holy temples in the lands which bred
The true believers;—and her infant brow
Was bent with grief that Mahomet should
resign

spark in
Your veins of Cockney-spirit, smile or

A mosque so noble,flung like pearls to swine.

On, on! through meadows, managed like
a garden,

A paradise of hops and high production;
For, after years of travel by a bard in
Countries of greater heat but lesser suction,
A green field is a sight which makes him
pardon

The absence of that more sublime construc-
tion.
Which mixes up vines, olives, precipices,
Glaciers, volcanos, oranges, and ices.

And when I think upon a pot of beer-
But I won't weep!--and so, drive on, postil-
lions!

mourn,

--

According as you take things well or ill
Bold Britons, we are now on Shooter's Hill!

The sun went down, the smoke rose up, as from

A half-unquench'd volcano, o'er a space
Which well beseem'd the "Devil's drawing-
room,"

As some have qualified that wondrous place.
But Juan felt, though not approaching home,
As one who, though he were not of the race,
Revered the soil, of those true sons the
mother,

Who butcher'd half the earth, and bullied
t'other.

A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping,

Dirty and dusky, but as wide as eye
Could reach, with here and there a sail
just skipping

As the smart boys spurr'd fast in their career,
Jaan admired these highways of free mil-In sight, then lost amidst the forestry

lions;

[blocks in formation]

Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping
On tiptoe, through their sea-coal canopy;
A huge, dun cupola, like a foolscap crown
On a fool's head and there is LondonTown!

But Juan saw not this: each wreath of smoke
Appear'd to him but as the magic vapour
Of some alchymic furnace, from whence

broke

The wealth of worlds (a wealth of tax and
paper):

The gloomy clouds, which o'er it as a yoke
Are bow'd, and put the sun out like a taper,
Were nothing but the natural atmosphere-
Extremely wholesome, though but rarely

clear.

He paused-and so will I; as doth a crew
Before they give their broadside. By and by,
My gentle countrymen, we will renew
Our old acquaintance; and at least I'll try
To tell you truths you will not take as true,
Because they are so a male Mrs. Fry,
With a soft besom will I sweep your halls,
And brush a web or two from off the walls.

Oh, Mrs. Fry! why go to Newgate? Why
Preach to poor rogues? And wherefore not
begin
With Carlton, or with other houses? Try
Your hand at harden'd and imperial sin.
To mend the people's an absurdity,

[blocks in formation]

Except the creak of wheels, which on their | And roared out, as he writhed his native mud in,

pivot he Heard-and that bee-like, bubbling, busy hum

Of cities, that boils over with their scum :

[blocks in formation]

These freeborn sounds proceeded from four pads,

In ambush laid, who had perceived him loiter

Unto his nearest follower or henchman,
"Oh Jack! I'm floor'd by that ere bloody
Frenchman!"

[blocks in formation]

But,ere they could perform this pious duty,
The dying man cried, "Hold! I've got my
gruel!

Oh! for a glass of max! We've miss'd our
booty;
Let me die where I am!" And, as the fuel
Of life shrunk in his heart, and thick and
sooty

The drops fell from his death-wound, and
he drew ill
His breath, he from his swelling throat

untied

Behind his carriage; and, like handy lads,
Had seized the lucky hour to reconnoitre,
a which the heedless gentleman who gads
Upon the road, unless he prove a fighter, A kerchief, crying "Give Sal that!”—and
May find himself within that isle of riches
Exposed to lose his life a well as breeches.

[blocks in formation]

Or God be with you!"—and 'tis not absurd
To think so; for half English as I am
To my misfortune) never can I say

I heard them wish "God with you," save
that way;-

died.

The cravat, stain'd with bloody drops, fell

down

Before Don Juan's feet: he could not tell
Exactly why it was before him thrown,
Nor what the meaning of the man's farewell.
Poor Tom was once a kiddy upon town,
A thorough varmint, and a real swell,
Full flash, all fancy, until fairly diddled-
His pockets first, and then his body riddled.

Don Juan, having done the best he could In all the circumstances of the case, As soon as "Crowner's quest"allow'd,pursued Juan yet quickly understood their gesture, His travels to the capital apace ;And, being somewhat choleric and sudden, Esteeming it a little hard he should Drew forth a pocket-pistol from his vesture, In twelve hours' time, and very little space, And fired it into one assailant's pudding-Have been obliged to slay a freeborn native Who fell, as rolls an ox o'er in his pasture, In self-defence; this made him meditative.

« 前へ次へ »