Don Juan - Canto The Eighth.

O blood and thunder! and oh blood and wounds!          These are but vulgar oaths, as you may deem,      Too gentle reader! and most shocking sounds:          And so they are; yet thus is Glory's dream      Unriddled, and as my true Muse expounds          At present such things, since they are her theme,      So be they her inspirers! Call them Mars,      Bellona, what you will - they mean but wars.      All was prepared - the fire, the sword, the men          To wield them in their terrible array.      The army, like a lion from his den,          March'd forth with nerve and sinews bent to slay, -      A human Hydra, issuing from its fen          To breathe destruction on its winding way,      Whose heads were heroes, which cut off in vain      Immediately in others grew again.      History can only take things in the gross;          But could we know them in detail, perchance      In balancing the profit and the loss,          War's merit it by no means might enhance,      To waste so much gold for a little dross,          As hath been done, mere conquest to advance.      The drying up a single tear has more      Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.      And why? - because it brings self-approbation;          Whereas the other, after all its glare,      Shouts, bridges, arches, pensions from a nation,          Which (it may be) has not much left to spare,      A higher title, or a loftier station,          Though they may make Corruption gape or stare,      Yet, in the end, except in Freedom's battles,      Are nothing but a child of Murder's rattles.      And such they are - and such they will be found:          Not so Leonidas and Washington,      Whose every battle-field is holy ground,          Which breathes of nations saved, not worlds undone.      How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound!          While the mere victor's may appal or stun      The servile and the vain, such names will be      A watchword till the future shall be free.      The night was dark, and the thick mist allow'd          Nought to be seen save the artillery's flame,      Which arch'd the horizon like a fiery cloud,          And in the Danube's waters shone the same -      A mirror'd hell! the volleying roar, and loud          Long booming of each peal on peal, o'ercame      The ear far more than thunder; for Heaven's flashes      Spare, or smite rarely - man's make millions ashes!      The column order'd on the assault scarce pass'd          Beyond the Russian batteries a few toises,      When up the bristling Moslem rose at last,          Answering the Christian thunders with like voices:      Then one vast fire, air, earth, and stream embraced,          Which rock'd as 't were beneath the mighty noises;      While the whole rampart blazed like Etna, when      The restless Titan hiccups in his den.      And one enormous shout of 'Allah!' rose          In the same moment, loud as even the roar      Of war's most mortal engines, to their foes          Hurling defiance: city, stream, and shore      Resounded 'Allah!' and the clouds which close          With thick'ning canopy the conflict o'er,      Vibrate to the Eternal name. Hark! through      All sounds it pierceth 'Allah! Allah! Hu!'      The columns were in movement one and all,          But of the portion which attack'd by water,      Thicker than leaves the lives began to fall,          Though led by Arseniew, that great son of slaughter,      As brave as ever faced both bomb and ball.          'Carnage' (so Wordsworth tells you) 'is God's daughter:'      If he speak truth, she is Christ's sister, and      Just now behaved as in the Holy Land.      The Prince de Ligne was wounded in the knee;          Count Chapeau-Bras, too, had a ball between      His cap and head, which proves the head to be          Aristocratic as was ever seen,      Because it then received no injury          More than the cap; in fact, the ball could mean      No harm unto a right legitimate head:      'Ashes to ashes' - why not lead to lead?      Also the General Markow, Brigadier,          Insisting on removal of the prince      Amidst some groaning thousands dying near, -          All common fellows, who might writhe and wince,      And shriek for water into a deaf ear, -          The General Markow, who could thus evince      His sympathy for rank, by the same token,      To teach him greater, had his own leg broken.      Three hundred cannon threw up their emetic,          And thirty thousand muskets flung their pills      Like hail, to make a bloody diuretic.          Mortality! thou hast thy monthly bills;      Thy plagues, thy famines, thy physicians, yet tick,          Like the death-watch, within our ears the ills      Past, present, and to come; - but all may yield      To the true portrait of one battle-field.      There the still varying pangs, which multiply          Until their very number makes men hard      By the infinities of agony,          Which meet the gaze whate'er it may regard -      The groan, the roll in dust, the all-white eye          Turn'd back within its socket, - these reward      Your rank and file by thousands, while the rest      May win perhaps a riband at the breast!      Yet I love glory; - glory 's a great thing: -          Think what it is to be in your old age      Maintain'd at the expense of your good king:          A moderate pension shakes full many a sage,      And heroes are but made for bards to sing,          Which is still better; thus in verse to wage      Your wars eternally, besides enjoying      Half-pay for life, make mankind worth destroying.      The troops, already disembark'd, push'd on          To take a battery on the right; the others,      Who landed lower down, their landing done,          Had set to work as briskly as their brothers:      Being grenadiers, they mounted one by one,          Cheerful as children climb the breasts of mothers,      O'er the entrenchment and the palisade,      Quite orderly, as if upon parade.      And this was admirable; for so hot          The fire was, that were red Vesuvius loaded,      Besides its lava, with all sorts of shot          And shells or hells, it could not more have goaded.      Of officers a third fell on the spot,          A thing which victory by no means boded      To gentlemen engaged in the assault:      Hounds, when the huntsman tumbles, are at fault.      But here I leave the general concern,          To track our hero on his path of fame:      He must his laurels separately earn;          For fifty thousand heroes, name by name,      Though all deserving equally to turn          A couplet, or an elegy to claim,      Would form a lengthy lexicon of glory,      And what is worse still, a much longer story:      And therefore we must give the greater number          To the Gazette - which doubtless fairly dealt      By the deceased, who lie in famous slumber          In ditches, fields, or wheresoe'er they felt      Their clay for the last time their souls encumber; -          Thrice happy he whose name has been well spelt      In the despatch: I knew a man whose loss      Was printed Grove, although his name was Grose.      Juan and Johnson join'd a certain corps,          And fought away with might and main, not knowing      The way which they had never trod before,          And still less guessing where they might be going;      But on they march'd, dead bodies trampling o'er,          Firing, and thrusting, slashing, sweating, glowing,      But fighting thoughtlessly enough to win,      To their two selves, one whole bright bulletin.      Thus on they wallow'd in the bloody mire          Of dead and dying thousands, - sometimes gaining      A yard or two of ground, which brought them nigher          To some odd angle for which all were straining;      At other times, repulsed by the close fire,          Which really pour'd as if all hell were raining      Instead of heaven, they stumbled backwards o'er      A wounded comrade, sprawling in his gore.      Though 't was Don Juan's first of fields, and though          The nightly muster and the silent march      In the chill dark, when courage does not glow          So much as under a triumphal arch,      Perhaps might make him shiver, yawn, or throw          A glance on the dull clouds (as thick as starch,      Which stiffen'd heaven) as if he wish'd for day; -      Yet for all this he did not run away.      Indeed he could not. But what if he had?          There have been and are heroes who begun      With something not much better, or as bad:          Frederic the Great from Molwitz deign'd to run,      For the first and last time; for, like a pad,          Or hawk, or bride, most mortals after one      Warm bout are broken into their new tricks,      And fight like fiends for pay or politics.      He was what Erin calls, in her sublime          Old Erse or Irish, or it may be Punic      (The antiquarians who can settle time,          Which settles all things, Roman, Greek, or Runic,      Swear that Pat's language sprung from the same clime          With Hannibal, and wears the Tyrian tunic      Of Dido's alphabet; and this is rational      As any other notion, and not national); -      But Juan was quite 'a broth of a boy,'          A thing of impulse and a child of song;      Now swimming in the sentiment of joy,          Or the sensation (if that phrase seem wrong),      And afterward, if he must needs destroy,          In such good company as always throng      To battles, sieges, and that kind of pleasure,      No less delighted to employ his leisure;      But always without malice: if he warr'd          Or loved, it was with what we call 'the best      Intentions,' which form all mankind's trump card,          To be produced when brought up to the test.      The statesman, hero, harlot, lawyer - ward          Off each attack, when people are in quest      Of their designs, by saying they meant well;      'T is pity 'that such meaning should pave hell.'      I almost lately have begun to doubt          Whether hell's pavement - if it be so paved -      Must not have latterly been quite worn out,          Not by the numbers good intent hath saved,      But by the mass who go below without          Those ancient good intentions, which once shaved      And smooth'd the brimstone of that street of hell      Which bears the greatest likeness to Pall Mall.      Juan, by some strange chance, which oft divides          Warrior from warrior in their grim career,      Like chastest wives from constant husbands' sides          Just at the close of the first bridal year,      By one of those odd turns of Fortune's tides,          Was on a sudden rather puzzled here,      When, after a good deal of heavy firing,      He found himself alone, and friends retiring.      I don't know how the thing occurr'd - it might          Be that the greater part were kill'd or wounded,      And that the rest had faced unto the right          About; a circumstance which has confounded      Caesar himself, who, in the very sight          Of his whole army, which so much abounded      In courage, was obliged to snatch a shield,      And rally back his Romans to the field.      Juan, who had no shield to snatch, and was          No Caesar, but a fine young lad, who fought      He knew not why, arriving at this pass,          Stopp'd for a minute, as perhaps he ought      For a much longer time; then, like an as          (Start not, kind reader; since great Homer thought      This simile enough for Ajax, Juan      Perhaps may find it better than a new one) -      Then, like an ass, he went upon his way,          And, what was stranger, never look'd behind;      But seeing, flashing forward, like the day          Over the hills, a fire enough to blind      Those who dislike to look upon a fray,          He stumbled on, to try if he could find      A path, to add his own slight arm and forces      To corps, the greater part of which were corses.      Perceiving then no more the commandant          Of his own corps, nor even the corps, which had      Quite disappear'd - the gods know howl (I can't          Account for every thing which may look bad      In history; but we at least may grant          It was not marvellous that a mere lad,      In search of glory, should look on before,      Nor care a pinch of snuff about his corps): -      Perceiving nor commander nor commanded,          And left at large, like a young heir, to make      His way to - where he knew not - single handed;          As travellers follow over bog and brake      An 'ignis fatuus;' or as sailors stranded          Unto the nearest hut themselves betake;      So Juan, following honour and his nose,      Rush'd where the thickest fire announced most foes.      He knew not where he was, nor greatly cared,          For he was dizzy, busy, and his veins      Fill'd as with lightning - for his spirit shared          The hour, as is the case with lively brains;      And where the hottest fire was seen and heard,          And the loud cannon peal'd his hoarsest strains,      He rush'd, while earth and air were sadly shaken      By thy humane discovery, Friar Bacon!      And as he rush'd along, it came to pass he          Fell in with what was late the second column,      Under the orders of the General Lascy,          But now reduced, as is a bulky volume      Into an elegant extract (much less massy)          Of heroism, and took his place with solemn      Air 'midst the rest, who kept their valiant faces      And levell'd weapons still against the glacis.      Just at this crisis up came Johnson too,          Who had 'retreated,' as the phrase is when      Men run away much rather than go through          Destruction's jaws into the devil's den;      But Johnson was a clever fellow, who          Knew when and how 'to cut and come again,'      And never ran away, except when running      Was nothing but a valorous kind of cunning.      And so, when all his corps were dead or dying,          Except Don Juan, a mere novice, whose      More virgin valour never dreamt of flying          From ignorance of danger, which indues      Its votaries, like innocence relying          On its own strength, with careless nerves and thews, -      Johnson retired a little, just to rally      Those who catch cold in 'shadows of Death's valley.'      And there, a little shelter'd from the shot,          Which rain'd from bastion, battery, parapet,      Rampart, wall, casement, house, - for there was not          In this extensive city, sore beset      By Christian soldiery, a single spot          Which did not combat like the devil, as yet,      He found a number of Chasseurs, all scatter'd      By the resistance of the chase they batter'd.      And these he call'd on; and, what 's strange, they came          Unto his call, unlike 'the spirits from      The vasty deep,' to whom you may exclaim,          Says Hotspur, long ere they will leave their home.      Their reasons were uncertainty, or shame          At shrinking from a bullet or a bomb,      And that odd impulse, which in wars or creeds      Makes men, like cattle, follow him who leads.      By Jove! he was a noble fellow, Johnson,          And though his name, than Ajax or Achilles,      Sounds less harmonious, underneath the sun soon          We shall not see his likeness: he could kill his      Man quite as quietly as blows the monsoon          Her steady breath (which some months the same still is):      Seldom he varied feature, hue, or muscle,      And could be very busy without bustle;      And therefore, when he ran away, he did so          Upon reflection, knowing that behind      He would find others who would fain be rid so          Of idle apprehensions, which like wind      Trouble heroic stomachs. Though their lids so          Oft are soon closed, all heroes are not blind,      But when they light upon immediate death,      Retire a little, merely to take breath.      But Johnson only ran off, to return          With many other warriors, as we said,      Unto that rather somewhat misty bourn,          Which Hamlet tells us is a pass of dread.      To Jack howe'er this gave but slight concern:          His soul (like galvanism upon the dead)      Acted upon the living as on wire,      And led them back into the heaviest fire.      Egad! they found the second time what they          The first time thought quite terrible enough      To fly from, malgre all which people say          Of glory, and all that immortal stuff      Which fills a regiment (besides their pay,          That daily shilling which makes warriors tough) -      They found on their return the self-same welcome,      Which made some think, and others know, a hell come.      They fell as thick as harvests beneath hail,          Grass before scythes, or corn below the sickle,      Proving that trite old truth, that life 's as frail          As any other boon for which men stickle.      The Turkish batteries thrash'd them like a flail,          Or a good boxer, into a sad pickle      Putting the very bravest, who were knock'd      Upon the head, before their guns were cock'd.      The Turks, behind the traverses and flanks          Of the next bastion, fired away like devils,      And swept, as gales sweep foam away, whole ranks:          However, Heaven knows how, the Fate who levels      Towns, nations, worlds, in her revolving pranks,          So order'd it, amidst these sulphury revels,      That Johnson and some few who had not scamper'd,      Reach'd the interior talus of the rampart.      First one or two, then five, six, and a dozen,          Came mounting quickly up, for it was now      All neck or nothing, as, like pitch or rosin,          Flame was shower'd forth above, as well 's below,      So that you scarce could say who best had chosen,          The gentlemen that were the first to show      Their martial faces on the parapet,      Or those who thought it brave to wait as yet.      But those who scaled, found out that their advance          Was favour'd by an accident or blunder:      The Greek or Turkish Cohorn's ignorance          Had palisado'd in a way you 'd wonder      To see in forts of Netherlands or France          (Though these to our Gibraltar must knock under) -      Right in the middle of the parapet      Just named, these palisades were primly set:      So that on either side some nine or ten          Paces were left, whereon you could contrive      To march; a great convenience to our men,          At least to all those who were left alive,      Who thus could form a line and fight again;          And that which farther aided them to strive      Was, that they could kick down the palisades,      Which scarcely rose much higher than grass blades.      Among the first, - I will not say the first,          For such precedence upon such occasions      Will oftentimes make deadly quarrels burst          Out between friends as well as allied nations:      The Briton must be bold who really durst          Put to such trial John Bull's partial patience,      As say that Wellington at Waterloo      Was beaten - though the Prussians say so too; -      And that if Blucher, Bulow, Gneisenau,          And God knows who besides in 'au' and 'ow,'      Had not come up in time to cast an awe          Into the hearts of those who fought till now      As tigers combat with an empty craw,          The Duke of Wellington had ceased to show      His orders, also to receive his pensions,      Which are the heaviest that our history mentions.      But never mind; - 'God save the king!' and kings!          For if he don't, I doubt if men will longer -      I think I hear a little bird, who sings          The people by and by will be the stronger:      The veriest jade will wince whose harness wrings          So much into the raw as quite to wrong her      Beyond the rules of posting, - and the mob      At last fall sick of imitating Job.      At first it grumbles, then it swears, and then,          Like David, flings smooth pebbles 'gainst a giant;      At last it takes to weapons such as men          Snatch when despair makes human hearts less pliant.      Then comes 'the tug of war;' - 't will come again,          I rather doubt; and I would fain say 'fie on 't,'      If I had not perceived that revolution      Alone can save the earth from hell's pollution.      But to continue: - I say not the first,          But of the first, our little friend Don Juan      Walk'd o'er the walls of Ismail, as if nursed          Amidst such scenes - though this was quite a new one      To him, and I should hope to most. The thirst          Of glory, which so pierces through and through one,      Pervaded him - although a generous creature,      As warm in heart as feminine in feature.      And here he was - who upon woman's breast,          Even from a child, felt like a child; howe'er      The man in all the rest might be confest,          To him it was Elysium to be there;      And he could even withstand that awkward test          Which Rousseau points out to the dubious fair,      'Observe your lover when he leaves your arms;'      But Juan never left them, while they had charms,      Unless compell'd by fate, or wave, or wind,          Or near relations, who are much the same.      But here he was! - where each tie that can bind          Humanity must yield to steel and flame:      And he whose very body was all mind,          Flung here by fate or circumstance, which tame      The loftiest, hurried by the time and place,      Dash'd on like a spurr'd blood-horse in a race.      So was his blood stirr'd while he found resistance,          As is the hunter's at the five-bar gate,      Or double post and rail, where the existence          Of Britain's youth depends upon their weight,      The lightest being the safest: at a distance          He hated cruelty, as all men hate      Blood, until heated - and even then his own      At times would curdle o'er some heavy groan.      The General Lascy, who had been hard press'd,          Seeing arrive an aid so opportune      As were some hundred youngsters all abreast,          Who came as if just dropp'd down from the moon,      To Juan, who was nearest him, address'd          His thanks, and hopes to take the city soon,      Not reckoning him to be a 'base Bezonian'      (As Pistol calls it), but a young Livonian.      Juan, to whom he spoke in German, knew          As much of German as of Sanscrit, and      In answer made an inclination to          The general who held him in command;      For seeing one with ribands, black and blue,          Stars, medals, and a bloody sword in hand,      Addressing him in tones which seem'd to thank,      He recognised an officer of rank.      Short speeches pass between two men who speak          No common language; and besides, in time      Of war and taking towns, when many a shriek          Rings o'er the dialogue, and many a crime      Is perpetrated ere a word can break          Upon the ear, and sounds of horror chime      In like church-bells, with sigh, howl, groan, yell, prayer,      There cannot be much conversation there.      And therefore all we have related in          Two long octaves, pass'd in a little minute;      But in the same small minute, every sin          Contrived to get itself comprised within it.      The very cannon, deafen'd by the din,          Grew dumb, for you might almost hear a linnet,      As soon as thunder, 'midst the general noise      Of human nature's agonising voice!      The town was enter'd. Oh eternity!-          'God made the country and man made the town,'      So Cowper says - and I begin to be          Of his opinion, when I see cast down      Rome, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, Nineveh,          All walls men know, and many never known;      And pondering on the present and the past,      To deem the woods shall be our home at last      Of all men, saving Sylla the man-slayer,          Who passes for in life and death most lucky,      Of the great names which in our faces stare,          The General Boon, back-woodsman of Kentucky,      Was happiest amongst mortals anywhere;          For killing nothing but a bear or buck, he      Enjoy'd the lonely, vigorous, harmless days      Of his old age in wilds of deepest maze.      Crime came not near him - she is not the child          Of solitude; Health shrank not from him - for      Her home is in the rarely trodden wild,          Where if men seek her not, and death be more      Their choice than life, forgive them, as beguiled          By habit to what their own hearts abhor -      In cities caged. The present case in point I      Cite is, that Boon lived hunting up to ninety;      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, serene, the antipodes of shame,          Which hate nor envy e'er could tinge with wrong;      An active hermit, even in age the child      Of Nature, or the man of Ross run wild.      'T is true he shrank from men even of his nation,          When they built up unto his darling trees, -      He moved some hundred miles off, for a station          Where there were fewer houses and more ease;      The inconvenience of civilisation          Is, that you neither can be pleased nor please;      But where he met the individual man,      He show'd himself as kind as mortal can.      He was not all alone: around him grew          A sylvan tribe of children of the chase,      Whose young, unwaken'd world was ever new,          Nor sword nor sorrow yet had left a trace      On her unwrinkled brow, nor could you view          A frown on Nature's or on human face;      The free-born forest found and kept them free,      And fresh as is a torrent or a tree.      And tall, and strong, and swift of foot were they,          Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions,      Because their thoughts had never been the prey          Of care or gain: the green woods were their portions;      No sinking spirits told them they grew grey,          No fashion made them apes of her distortions;      Simple they were, not savage; and their rifles,      Though very true, were not yet used for trifles.      Motion was in their days, rest in their slumbers,          And cheerfulness the handmaid of their toil;      Nor yet too many nor too few their numbers;          Corruption could not make their hearts her soil;      The lust which stings, the splendour which encumbers,          With the free foresters divide no spoil;      Serene, not sullen, were the solitudes      Of this unsighing people of the woods.      So much for Nature: - by way of variety,          Now back to thy great joys, Civilisation!      And the sweet consequence of large society,          War, pestilence, the despot's desolation,      The kingly scourge, the lust of notoriety,          The millions slain by soldiers for their ration,      The scenes like Catherine's boudoir at threescore,      With Ismail's storm to soften it the more.      The town was enter'd: first one column made          Its sanguinary way good - then another;      The reeking bayonet and the flashing blade          Clash'd 'gainst the scimitar, and babe and mother      With distant shrieks were heard Heaven to upbraid:          Still closer sulphury clouds began to smother      The breath of morn and man, where foot by foot      The madden'd Turks their city still dispute.      Koutousow, he who afterward beat back          (With some assistance from the frost and snow)      Napoleon on his bold and bloody track,          It happen'd was himself beat back just now;      He was a jolly fellow, and could crack          His jest alike in face of friend or foe,      Though life, and death, and victory were at stake;      But here it seem'd his jokes had ceased to take:      For having thrown himself into a ditch,          Follow'd in haste by various grenadiers,      Whose blood the puddle greatly did enrich,          He climb'd to where the parapet appears;      But there his project reach'd its utmost pitch          ('Mongst other deaths the General Ribaupierre's      Was much regretted), for the Moslem men      Threw them all down into the ditch again.      And had it not been for some stray troops landing          They knew not where, being carried by the stream      To some spot, where they lost their understanding,          And wander'd up and down as in a dream,      Until they reach'd, as daybreak was expanding,          That which a portal to their eyes did seem, -      The great and gay Koutousow might have lain      Where three parts of his column yet remain.      And scrambling round the rampart, these same troops,          After the taking of the 'Cavalier,'      Just as Koutousow's most 'forlorn' of 'hopes'          Took like chameleons some slight tinge of fear,      Open'd the gate call'd 'Kilia,' to the groups          Of baffled heroes, who stood shyly near,      Sliding knee-deep in lately frozen mud,      Now thaw'd into a marsh of human blood.      The Kozacks, or, if so you please, Cossacques          (I don't much pique myself upon orthography,      So that I do not grossly err in facts,          Statistics, tactics, politics, and geography) -      Having been used to serve on horses' backs,          And no great dilettanti in topography      Of fortresses, but fighting where it pleases      Their chiefs to order, - were all cut to pieces.      Their column, though the Turkish batteries thunder'd          Upon them, ne'ertheless had reach'd the rampart,      And naturally thought they could have plunder'd          The city, without being farther hamper'd;      But as it happens to brave men, they blunder'd -          The Turks at first pretended to have scamper'd,      Only to draw them 'twixt two bastion corners,      From whence they sallied on those Christian scorners.      Then being taken by the tail - a taking          Fatal to bishops as to soldiers - these      Cossacques were all cut off as day was breaking,          And found their lives were let at a short lease -      But perish'd without shivering or shaking,          Leaving as ladders their heap'd carcasses,      O'er which Lieutenant-Colonel Yesouskoi      March'd with the brave battalion of Polouzki: -      This valiant man kill'd all the Turks he met,          But could not eat them, being in his turn      Slain by some Mussulmans, who would not yet,          Without resistance, see their city burn.      The walls were won, but 't was an even bet          Which of the armies would have cause to mourn:      'T was blow for blow, disputing inch by inch,      For one would not retreat, nor t' other flinch.      Another column also suffer'd much: -          And here we may remark with the historian,      You should but give few cartridges to such          Troops as are meant to march with greatest glory on:      When matters must be carried by the touch          Of the bright bayonet, and they all should hurry on,      They sometimes, with a hankering for existence,      Keep merely firing at a foolish distance.      A junction of the General Meknop's men          (Without the General, who had fallen some time      Before, being badly seconded just then)          Was made at length with those who dared to climb      The death-disgorging rampart once again;          And though the Turk's resistance was sublime,      They took the bastion, which the Seraskier      Defended at a price extremely dear.      Juan and Johnson, and some volunteers,          Among the foremost, offer'd him good quarter,      A word which little suits with Seraskiers,          Or at least suited not this valiant Tartar.      He died, deserving well his country's tears,          A savage sort of military martyr.      An English naval officer, who wish'd      To make him prisoner, was also dish'd:      For all the answer to his proposition          Was from a pistol-shot that laid him dead;      On which the rest, without more intermission,          Began to lay about with steel and lead -      The pious metals most in requisition          On such occasions: not a single head      Was spared; - three thousand Moslems perish'd here,      And sixteen bayonets pierced the Seraskier.      The city 's taken - only part by part -          And death is drunk with gore: there 's not a street      Where fights not to the last some desperate heart          For those for whom it soon shall cease to beat.      Here War forgot his own destructive art          In more destroying Nature; and the heat      Of carnage, like the Nile's sun-sodden slime,      Engender'd monstrous shapes of every crime.      A Russian officer, in martial tread          Over a heap of bodies, felt his heel      Seized fast, as if 't were by the serpent's head          Whose fangs Eve taught her human seed to feel:      In vain he kick'd, and swore, and writhed, and bled,          And howl'd for help as wolves do for a meal -      The teeth still kept their gratifying hold,      As do the subtle snakes described of old.      A dying Moslem, who had felt the foot          Of a foe o'er him, snatch'd at it, and bit      The very tendon which is most acute          (That which some ancient Muse or modern wit      Named after thee, Achilles), and quite through 't          He made the teeth meet, nor relinquish'd it      Even with his life - for (but they lie) 't is said      To the live leg still clung the sever'd head.      However this may be, 't is pretty sure          The Russian officer for life was lamed,      For the Turk's teeth stuck faster than a skewer,          And left him 'midst the invalid and maim'd:      The regimental surgeon could not cure          His patient, and perhaps was to be blamed      More than the head of the inveterate foe,      Which was cut off, and scarce even then let go.      But then the fact 's a fact - and 't is the part          Of a true poet to escape from fiction      Whene'er he can; for there is little art          In leaving verse more free from the restriction      Of truth than prose, unless to suit the mart          For what is sometimes called poetic diction,      And that outrageous appetite for lies      Which Satan angles with for souls, like flies.      The city 's taken, but not render'd! - No!          There 's not a Moslem that hath yielded sword:      The blood may gush out, as the Danube's flow          Rolls by the city wall; but deed nor word      Acknowledge aught of dread of death or foe:          In vain the yell of victory is roar'd      By the advancing Muscovite - the groan      Of the last foe is echoed by his own.      The bayonet pierces and the sabre cleaves,          And human lives are lavish'd everywhere,      As the year closing whirls the scarlet leaves          When the stripp'd forest bows to the bleak air,      And groans; and thus the peopled city grieves,          Shorn of its best and loveliest, and left bare;      But still it falls in vast and awful splinters,      As oaks blown down with all their thousand winters.      It is an awful topic - but 't is not          My cue for any time to be terrific:      For checker'd as is seen our human lot          With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific      Of melancholy merriment, to quote          Too much of one sort would be soporific; -      Without, or with, offence to friends or foes,      I sketch your world exactly as it goes.      And one good action in the midst of crimes          Is 'quite refreshing,' in the affected phrase      Of these ambrosial, Pharisaic times,          With all their pretty milk-and-water ways,      And may serve therefore to bedew these rhymes,          A little scorch'd at present with the blaze      Of conquest and its consequences, which      Make epic poesy so rare and rich.      Upon a taken bastion, where there lay          Thousands of slaughter'd men, a yet warm group      Of murder'd women, who had found their way          To this vain refuge, made the good heart droop      And shudder; - while, as beautiful as May,          A female child of ten years tried to stoop      And hide her little palpitating breast      Amidst the bodies lull'd in bloody rest.      Two villainous Cossacques pursued the child          With flashing eyes and weapons: match'd with them,      The rudest brute that roams Siberia's wild          Has feelings pure and polish'd as a gem, -      The bear is civilised, the wolf is mild;          And whom for this at last must we condemn?      Their natures? or their sovereigns, who employ      All arts to teach their subjects to destroy?      Their sabres glitter'd o'er her little head,          Whence her fair hair rose twining with affright,      Her hidden face was plunged amidst the dead:          When Juan caught a glimpse of this sad sight,      I shall not say exactly what he said,          Because it might not solace 'ears polite;'      But what he did, was to lay on their backs,      The readiest way of reasoning with Cossacques.      One's hip he slash'd, and split the other's shoulder,          And drove them with their brutal yells to seek      If there might be chirurgeons who could solder          The wounds they richly merited, and shriek      Their baffled rage and pain; while waxing colder          As he turn'd o'er each pale and gory cheek,      Don Juan raised his little captive from      The heap a moment more had made her tomb.      And she was chill as they, and on her face          A slender streak of blood announced how near      Her fate had been to that of all her race;          For the same blow which laid her mother here      Had scarr'd her brow, and left its crimson trace,          As the last link with all she had held dear;      But else unhurt, she open'd her large eyes,      And gazed on Juan with a wild surprise.      Just at this instant, while their eyes were fix'd          Upon each other, with dilated glance,      In Juan's look, pain, pleasure, hope, fear, mix'd          With joy to save, and dread of some mischance      Unto his protege; while hers, transfix'd          With infant terrors, glared as from a trance,      A pure, transparent, pale, yet radiant face,      Like to a lighted alabaster vase; -      Up came John Johnson (I will not say 'Jack,'          For that were vulgar, cold, and commonplace      On great occasions, such as an attack          On cities, as hath been the present case):      Up Johnson came, with hundreds at his back,          Exclaiming; - 'Juan! Juan! On, boy! brace      Your arm, and I 'll bet Moscow to a dollar      That you and I will win St. George's collar.      'The Seraskier is knock'd upon the head,          But the stone bastion still remains, wherein      The old Pacha sits among some hundreds dead,          Smoking his pipe quite calmly 'midst the din      Of our artillery and his own: 't is said          Our kill'd, already piled up to the chin,      Lie round the battery; but still it batters,      And grape in volleys, like a vineyard, scatters.      'Then up with me!' - But Juan answer'd, 'Look          Upon this child - I saved her - must not leave      Her life to chance; but point me out some nook          Of safety, where she less may shrink and grieve,      And I am with you.' - Whereon Johnson took          A glance around - and shrugg'd - and twitch'd his sleeve      And black silk neckcloth - and replied, 'You 're right;      Poor thing! what 's to be done? I 'm puzzled quite.'      Said Juan: 'Whatsoever is to be          Done, I 'll not quit her till she seems secure      Of present life a good deal more than we.'          Quoth Johnson: 'Neither will I quite ensure;      But at the least you may die gloriously.'          Juan replied: 'At least I will endure      Whate'er is to be borne - but not resign      This child, who is parentless, and therefore mine.'      Johnson said: 'Juan, we 've no time to lose;          The child 's a pretty child - a very pretty -      I never saw such eyes - but hark! now choose          Between your fame and feelings, pride and pity; -      Hark! how the roar increases! - no excuse          Will serve when there is plunder in a city; -      I should be loth to march without you, but,      By God! we 'll be too late for the first cut.'      But Juan was immovable; until          Johnson, who really loved him in his way,      Pick'd out amongst his followers with some skill          Such as he thought the least given up to prey;      And swearing if the infant came to ill          That they should all be shot on the next day;      But if she were deliver'd safe and sound,      They should at least have fifty rubles round,      And all allowances besides of plunder          In fair proportion with their comrades; - then      Juan consented to march on through thunder,          Which thinn'd at every step their ranks of men:      And yet the rest rush'd eagerly - no wonder,          For they were heated by the hope of gain,      A thing which happens everywhere each day -      No hero trusteth wholly to half pay.      And such is victory, and such is man!          At least nine tenths of what we call so; - God      May have another name for half we scan          As human beings, or his ways are odd.      But to our subject: a brave Tartar khan -          Or 'sultan,' as the author (to whose nod      In prose I bend my humble verse) doth call      This chieftain - somehow would not yield at all:      But flank'd by five brave sons (such is polygamy,          That she spawns warriors by the score, where none      Are prosecuted for that false crime bigamy),          He never would believe the city won      While courage clung but to a single twig. - Am I          Describing Priam's, Peleus', or Jove's son?      Neither - but a good, plain, old, temperate man,      Who fought with his five children in the van.      To take him was the point. The truly brave,          When they behold the brave oppress'd with odds,      Are touch'd with a desire to shield and save; -          A mixture of wild beasts and demigods      Are they - now furious as the sweeping wave,          Now moved with pity: even as sometimes nods      The rugged tree unto the summer wind,      Compassion breathes along the savage mind.      But he would not be taken, and replied          To all the propositions of surrender      By mowing Christians down on every side,          As obstinate as Swedish Charles at Bender.      His five brave boys no less the foe defied;          Whereon the Russian pathos grew less tender,      As being a virtue, like terrestrial patience,      Apt to wear out on trifling provocations.      And spite of Johnson and of Juan, who          Expended all their Eastern phraseology      In begging him, for God's sake, just to show          So much less fight as might form an apology      For them in saving such a desperate foe -          He hew'd away, like doctors of theology      When they dispute with sceptics; and with curses      Struck at his friends, as babies beat their nurses.      Nay, he had wounded, though but slightly, both          Juan and Johnson; whereupon they fell,      The first with sighs, the second with an oath,          Upon his angry sultanship, pell-mell,      And all around were grown exceeding wroth          At such a pertinacious infidel,      And pour'd upon him and his sons like rain,      Which they resisted like a sandy plain      That drinks and still is dry. At last they perish'd -          His second son was levell'd by a shot;      His third was sabred; and the fourth, most cherish'd          Of all the five, on bayonets met his lot;      The fifth, who, by a Christian mother nourish'd,          Had been neglected, ill-used, and what not,      Because deform'd, yet died all game and bottom,      To save a sire who blush'd that he begot him.      The eldest was a true and tameless Tartar,          As great a scorner of the Nazarene      As ever Mahomet pick'd out for a martyr,          Who only saw the black-eyed girls in green,      Who make the beds of those who won't take quarter          On earth, in Paradise; and when once seen,      Those houris, like all other pretty creatures,      Do just whate'er they please, by dint of features.      And what they pleased to do with the young khan          In heaven I know not, nor pretend to guess;      But doubtless they prefer a fine young man          To tough old heroes, and can do no less;      And that 's the cause no doubt why, if we scan          A field of battle's ghastly wilderness,      For one rough, weather-beaten, veteran body,      You 'll find ten thousand handsome coxcombs bloody.      Your houris also have a natural pleasure          In lopping off your lately married men,      Before the bridal hours have danced their measure          And the sad, second moon grows dim again,      Or dull repentance hath had dreary leisure          To wish him back a bachelor now and then.      And thus your houri (it may be) disputes      Of these brief blossoms the immediate fruits.      Thus the young khan, with houris in his sight,          Thought not upon the charms of four young brides,      But bravely rush'd on his first heavenly night.          In short, howe'er our better faith derides,      These black-eyed virgins make the Moslems fight,          As though there were one heaven and none besides, -      Whereas, if all be true we hear of heaven      And hell, there must at least be six or seven.      So fully flash'd the phantom on his eyes,          That when the very lance was in his heart,      He shouted 'Allah!' and saw Paradise          With all its veil of mystery drawn apart,      And bright eternity without disguise          On his soul, like a ceaseless sunrise, dart: -      With prophets, houris, angels, saints, descried      In one voluptuous blaze, - and then he died,      But with a heavenly rapture on his face.          The good old khan, who long had ceased to see      Houris, or aught except his florid race          Who grew like cedars round him gloriously -      When he beheld his latest hero grace          The earth, which he became like a fell'd tree,      Paused for a moment, from the fight, and cast      A glance on that slain son, his first and last.      The soldiers, who beheld him drop his point,          Stopp'd as if once more willing to concede      Quarter, in case he bade them not 'aroynt!'          As he before had done. He did not heed      Their pause nor signs: his heart was out of joint,          And shook (till now unshaken) like a reed,      As he look'd down upon his children gone,      And felt - though done with life - he was alone      But 't was a transient tremor; - with a spring          Upon the Russian steel his breast he flung,      As carelessly as hurls the moth her wing          Against the light wherein she dies: he clung      Closer, that all the deadlier they might wring,          Unto the bayonets which had pierced his young;      And throwing back a dim look on his sons,      In one wide wound pour'd forth his soul at once.      'T is strange enough - the rough, tough soldiers, who          Spared neither sex nor age in their career      Of carnage, when this old man was pierced through,          And lay before them with his children near,      Touch'd by the heroism of him they slew,          Were melted for a moment: though no tear      Flow'd from their bloodshot eyes, all red with strife,      They honour'd such determined scorn of life.      But the stone bastion still kept up its fire,          Where the chief pacha calmly held his post:      Some twenty times he made the Russ retire,          And baffled the assaults of all their host;      At length he condescended to inquire          If yet the city's rest were won or lost;      And being told the latter, sent a bey      To answer Ribas' summons to give way.      In the mean time, cross-legg'd, with great sang-froid,          Among the scorching ruins he sat smoking      Tobacco on a little carpet; - Troy          Saw nothing like the scene around: - yet looking      With martial stoicism, nought seem'd to annoy          His stern philosophy; but gently stroking      His beard, he puff'd his pipe's ambrosial gales,      As if he had three lives, as well as tails.      The town was taken - whether he might yield          Himself or bastion, little matter'd now:      His stubborn valour was no future shield.          Ismail 's no more! The crescent's silver bow      Sunk, and the crimson cross glared o'er the field,          But red with no redeeming gore: the glow      Of burning streets, like moonlight on the water,      Was imaged back in blood, the sea of slaughter.      All that the mind would shrink from of excesses;          All that the body perpetrates of bad;      All that we read, hear, dream, of man's distresses;          All that the devil would do if run stark mad;      All that defies the worst which pen expresses;          All by which hell is peopled, or as sad      As hell - mere mortals who their power abuse -      Was here (as heretofore and since) let loose.      If here and there some transient trait of pity          Was shown, and some more noble heart broke through      Its bloody bond, and saved perhaps some pretty          Child, or an aged, helpless man or two -      What 's this in one annihilated city,          Where thousand loves, and ties, and duties grew?      Cockneys of London! Muscadins of Paris!      Just ponder what a pious pastime war is.      Think how the joys of reading a Gazette          Are purchased by all agonies and crimes:      Or if these do not move you, don't forget          Such doom may be your own in aftertimes.      Meantime the Taxes, Castlereagh, and Debt,          Are hints as good as sermons, or as rhymes.      Read your own hearts and Ireland's present story,      Then feed her famine fat with Wellesley's glory.      But still there is unto a patriot nation,          Which loves so well its country and its king,      A subject of sublimest exultation -          Bear it, ye Muses, on your brightest wing!      Howe'er the mighty locust, Desolation,          Strip your green fields, and to your harvests cling,      Gaunt famine never shall approach the throne -      Though Ireland starve, great George weighs twenty stone.      But let me put an end unto my theme:          There was an end of Ismail - hapless town!      Far flash'd her burning towers o'er Danube's stream,          And redly ran his blushing waters down.      The horrid war-whoop and the shriller scream          Rose still; but fainter were the thunders grown:      Of forty thousand who had mann'd the wall,      Some hundreds breathed - the rest were silent all!      In one thing ne'ertheless 't is 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, so shall be my phrase -          Perhaps the season's chill, and their long station      In winter's depth, or want of rest and victual,      Had made them chaste; - they ravish'd very little.      Much did they slay, more plunder, and no less          Might here and there occur some violation      In the other line; - but not to such excess          As when the French, that dissipated nation,      Take towns by storm: no causes can I guess,          Except cold weather and commiseration;      But all the ladies, save some twenty score,      Were almost as much virgins as before.      Some odd mistakes, too, happen'd in the dark,          Which show'd a want of lanterns, or of taste -      Indeed the smoke was such they scarce could mark          Their friends from foes, - besides such things from haste      Occur, though rarely, when there is a spark          Of light to save the venerably chaste:      But six old damsels, each of seventy years,      Were all deflower'd by different grenadiers.      But on the whole their continence was great;          So that some disappointment there ensued      To those who had felt the inconvenient state          Of 'single blessedness,' and thought it good      (Since it was not their fault, but only fate,          To bear these crosses) for each waning prude      To make a Roman sort of Sabine wedding,      Without the expense and the suspense of bedding.      Some voices of the buxom middle-aged          Were also heard to wonder in the din      (Widows of forty were these birds long caged)          'Wherefore the ravishing did not begin!'      But while the thirst for gore and plunder raged,          There was small leisure for superfluous sin;      But whether they escaped or no, lies hid      In darkness - I can only hope they did.      Suwarrow now was conqueror - a match          For Timour or for Zinghis in his trade.      While mosques and streets, beneath his eyes, like thatch          Blazed, and the cannon's roar was scarce allay'd,      With bloody hands he wrote his first despatch;          And here exactly follows what he said: -      'Glory to God and to the Empress!' (Powers      Eternal! such names mingled!) 'Ismail 's ours.'      Methinks these are the most tremendous words,          Since 'Mene, Mene, Tekel,' and 'Upharsin,'      Which hands or pens have ever traced of swords.          Heaven help me! I 'm but little of a parson:      What Daniel read was short-hand of the Lord's,          Severe, sublime; the prophet wrote no farce on      The fate of nations; - but this Russ so witty      Could rhyme, like Nero, o'er a burning city.      He wrote this Polar melody, and set it,          Duly accompanied by shrieks and groans,      Which few will sing, I trust, but none forget it -          For I will teach, if possible, the stones      To rise against earth's tyrants. Never let it          Be said that we still truckle unto thrones; -      But ye - our children's children! think how we      Show'd what things were before the world was free!      That hour is not for us, but 't is for you:          And as, in the great joy of your millennium,      You hardly will believe such things were true          As now occur, I thought that I would pen you 'em;      But may their very memory perish too!-          Yet if perchance remember'd, still disdain you 'em      More than you scorn the savages of yore,      Who painted their bare limbs, but not with gore.      And when you hear historians talk of thrones,          And those that sate upon them, let it be      As we now gaze upon the mammoth's bones,          'And wonder what old world such things could see,      Or hieroglyphics on Egyptian stones,          The pleasant riddles of futurity -      Guessing at what shall happily be hid,      As the real purpose of a pyramid.      Reader! I have kept my word, - at least so far          As the first Canto promised. You have now      Had sketches of love, tempest, travel, war -          All very accurate, you must allow,      And epic, if plain truth should prove no bar;          For I have drawn much less with a long bow      Than my forerunners. Carelessly I sing,      But Phoebus lends me now and then a string,      With which I still can harp, and carp, and fiddle.          What farther hath befallen or may befall      The hero of this grand poetic riddle,          I by and by may tell you, if at all:      But now I choose to break off in the middle,          Worn out with battering Ismail's stubborn wall,      While Juan is sent off with the despatch,      For which all Petersburgh is on the watch.      This special honour was conferr'd, because          He had behaved with courage and humanity -      Which last men like, when they have time to pause          From their ferocities produced by vanity.      His little captive gain'd him some applause          For saving her amidst the wild insanity      Of carnage, - and I think he was more glad in her      Safety, than his new order of St. Vladimir.      The Moslem orphan went with her protector,          For she was homeless, houseless, helpless; all      Her friends, like the sad family of Hector,          Had perish'd in the field or by the wall:      Her very place of birth was but a spectre          Of what it had been; there the Muezzin's cal      To prayer was heard no more! - and Juan wept,      And made a vow to shield her, which he kept.