Don Juan
Page 82
4, 1 ] A sleep without dreams after a
4, 1–2 A sleep without dreams…/… is what we covet most, In the Apology, Socrates said that death would be good if it gave man sleep untroubled by dreams (Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, trans. J. E. King (1966), 116–19). Byron in an 1821 journal also paraphrased Socrates on man’s ignorance of death (LJ V 186). Maxwell (NQ, 303) conjectured that Byron had read Gcero’s long quotation from the Apology.
5, 1 ’Tis round him, near him, here, there, everywhere Hamlet I i 141–2 (see note to Canto XI 76, 3–4). Stanzas 4, 5 and 6 recall passages from the ‘To be’ soliloquy.
8, 1–2 great Bacon saith, / ‘Fling up a straw, ‘twill show the way the wind blows’ ‘… we usually try which way the wind bloweth, by casting up grass, or chaff, or such light things into the air’ (Francis Bacon, Sylva Syharum; or, A Natural History, Century IX, ‘Experiments in consort touching perception in bodies insensible…’, no. 820, Works, ed. Basil Montagu (1856), II III).
9, 4 of passions too I have proved enough see note to Canto X 53, 6.
The verb probably should be read as a contraction: I’ve proved. Other contractions in this canto are: I’ve (11, 8); who’ve got any (16, 8); you’ve had (17, 6); they’ve made (74, 7); I’ve seen (80, 2).
11, 1 But ‘why then publish?’ ‘But why then publish? Granville the polite, / And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write’ (Alexander Pope, Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot 135–6).
14, 7 these lines should only line portmanteaus see note to Canto II 16, 8.
17, 2 ] They break their ranks and
18, 7 ci-devant jeunes hommes young men of yesteryear, that is, the ex-fashionables.
19, 5 slight scandals ]
21, 1–2 Haud ignara loquor; these are nugae, quorum / Pars parva fin ‘I speak by no means unknowingly; these are trivialities [nonsense], in which I had a small part.’ Byron joined two separated clauses from Book II of the Aeneid and altered them to fit his satire of English society: line 91, ‘haud ignota loquor’, where he substituted ‘ignara’ for ‘ignota’; line 6, ‘et quorum pars magna fui’ (’I took a great part in those events’ [the tragic fall of Troy]), where he added ‘nugae’, which required the feminine ‘quarum’, and then changed ‘magna’ to ‘parva’.
21, 7 Vetaba Cereris sacrum am volgarit ‘I shall forbid him who has divulged the secrets of Ceres’ (Horace Ode III 2, 26, trans. C. E. Bennett (1919), 176–7).
22, 1–4 ideal, /… like a history of Freemasons, /… to Jasons Byron may have read a book on Freemasonry, or perhaps his allusions (see Canto XIII 24, 4) reflect his interest in the Carbonari, whose symbolic ritual was partly Masonic. The histories of the Masons, that traced their origin from Biblical times, bear as much relation to the real as Sir W. E. Parry’s Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage… 1819–1820 (1821–4) does to Jason’s search for the Golden Fleece. The analogies might have been clearer had Byron written that DJ and Masonic history bear the same relation to reality as Jason’s voyage does to Parry’s. Byron implies that he has excluded from his social history that which the ‘uninitiated’ would disapprove and that hence DJ is ‘ideal’ because it, like Masonic history, does not reveal the whole truth (the unpleasant parts) of its ‘grand arcanum’.
22, 2–4 ] Lowered –
23, 6 ]
Victim when wrong, and
24, 2 May average on the whole ] May
26, 1 ‘Petticoat influence’ Earliest use of this phrase in OED is dated 1800.
26, 3 To fly from, as from hungry pikes a roach Pikes, both the American and European varieties, are voracious fish, sometimes growing as long as four feet. They could easily devour a roach, a European fresh-water fish of the carp family. Fielding, to describe Mrs Slipslop’s amorous intention to attack Joseph, wrote a more elaborate and ferocious version of this fish simile: ‘as a voracious pike, of immense size, surveys through the liquid element a roach or gudgeon, which cannot escape her jaws, opens them wide to swallow the little fish’. The Adventures of Joseph Andrews, Book I, ch. 6, last paragraph.
26, 5–8 ] By
I for one
Would gladly place beneath it my last rag of breeches> ]
26, 8 russet A coarse, homespun woollen cloth, formerly worn by rural folk; hence a contrast to the silk petticoats of rich women. For dimity, see note to Canto I 12, 6.
27, 6 mystic seal ]
28, 2 a sirocco A hot, dusty wind from the Libyan desert that blows across the Mediterranean to Italy, becoming humid and oppressive.
28, 8 ] To
To snatch a glimpse
30, 1 And indoor B and 1823 ] An indoor 1833 and later editions
30, 8 Embarrassed somewhat ]
32, 7 hack ] A poor or worn-out horse, or one let out for hire. OED: ‘A horse for ordinary riding, as distinguished from cross-country, military, or other special riding’; ‘a half-bred horse’.
33, 2 double post and rail For access to fenced property, horizontal rails were fitted into slots or holes in vertical posts so as to be removable. Such an access was less expensive to make than a hinged gate. Foxhunters could easily leap the rails. The posts were doubled: one pair held the removable rails; the other pair continued the fence on both sides of the access.
33, 3 craned ‘ “ To crane” is, or was, an expression used to denote a Gentleman’s stretching out his neck over a hedge, “to look before he leaped” ’ (Byron, 1823).
33, 4 And only fretted when ] Was
34, 5 Nestors Among the Greek chiefs at Troy, the aged Nestor was noted for his wisdom and justice.
34, 7–8 ]
Was almost worthy to become his henchman>
a whipper-in The whipper-in (huntsman’s assistant) keeps the dogs from straying by driving them back with the whip into the pack.
35, 5–8 courtly Chesterfield, /…‘If men ever hunted twice?’ See William Ernst, Memoirs of the Life of… Earl of Chesterfield (1893), 425 n.
35, 7–8 ] And what not – though he
When called next day declined the rough adventure>
38, 8 Of his drilled nymphs ] Of his
39, 3 Like swift Camilla, he scarce skimmed the ground Camilla, a servant of Diana, skilled in the chase and in war, was usually cited for her swiftness. See Dryden: ‘as she skimmed along, / Her flying feet unbath’d on billows hung’ (Virgil, Aeneid VII 1101–2). Pope: ‘swift Camilla scours the plain’ (Essay on Criticism 372).
39, 8 He glanced like ] He (looked) like
glanced To glance here means to move, spring and turn quickly or obliquely, as in the Spanish dance, bolero.
40, 1–2 a flying Hour before Aurora / In Guido’s famous fresco For Aurora see note to Canto II 142, 3–4.
Byron must have seen Guido’s fresco of Aurora on a ceiling of the Palazzo Rospigliosi during his visit to Rome in 1817.
41, 7 tracasserie mischief-making.
41, 8 agacerie flirtatiousness.
42, 7–8 Her late performance had been a dead set / At Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantagenet In OED these verses are the first illustration of the slang phrase ‘dead set’ in the sense of a woman’s determined attempt to gain a man’s affection.
46, 3 Dian of the Ephesians See Acts xix 23–41 for Paul’s encounter with the silversmith and other mercenary and turbulent worshippers of Diana at Ephesus.
The Ephesian Artemis, as she was usually called, was quite different from the Greek and Roman deity. An ancient Asiatic goddess, she was named Artemis by the Greeks when they settled Ionia and found her worship established there. Her cult was fanatical as Acts indicates. A motherly and not a virginal figure, her image in the celebrated temple at Ephesus had many breasts. Eunuchs were employed in her ritual, which was never done in Greek and Roman ceremonies. Byron, in calling the virtuous Adeline ‘Dian of the Ephesians’, probably did not know the Asiatic distinction.
47, 6 To hint our errors B ] To hunt our errors 1823, 1833 and later editions
48, 1 Oh Job! you had two friends Job had three friends to comfort him: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. see note to Canto VII 77, 7.
48, 8 Go to the coffeehouse and take another ‘In Swift’s or Horace Walpole’s letters I think it is mentioned, that somebody regretting the loss of a friend, was answered by an universal Pylades: “When I lose one, I go to the Saint James’s Coffeehouse, and take another” ’(Byron, 1823). This deflation of friendship is consistent with that in Cantos V 16 and XII 57.
After the murder of Agamemnon, his son Orestes was given refuge by his uncle, the King of Phocis. This King’s son, Pylades, formed such a devoted friendship with Orestes that it became proverbial. Pylades helped Orestes kill his mother Clytemnestra, thus avenging the murder of Agamemnon. Pylades then accompanied and cared for Orestes during his painful flight when he was tormented by the Furies.
50, 2 Sadder than owl-songs ] Sadder than
50, 6 ]
50, 7 bonos mores good conduct.
53, 7 ]
55, 5–6 ] At Eighteen
To one of Seventy Suitors his promotion>
58, 6 simooms see note to Canto IV 57, 8.
58, 8 peer’s ‘Content’ ‘Content’ is the formal expression of assent in the House of Lords.
59, 8 wise Oxenstiern ‘The famous Chancellor Oxenstiern said to his son, on the latter expressing his surprise upon the great effects arising from petty causes in the presumed mystery of politics: “You see by this, my son, with how little wisdom the kingdoms of the world are governed” ’(Byron, 1823).
The Swedish statesman Count Axel Oxenstierna (1583–1654), chancellor for forty-two years, allegedly put his comment on governmental folly as a question in a letter to his son upon the latter’s appointment as the Swedish minister at the Congress of Westphalia in 1648. The anecdote may be fictitious. See The Maemillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims and Famous Phrases (1948), 1016. The chancellor’s letters have been published in Swedish, but apparently not translated.
60, 1 saving an éclat preventing a scandal. O ED cites Byron’s usage here.
60, 8 ]
61, 8 ]
Whose Virtue lies in
62, 5 Doctors’ Commons see note to Canto I 36, 8.
62, 6 her Grace’s talisman Her magical talisman was her sensual charm.
63, 2 méchante mischievous.
64, 2 Werter See note to Preface to Cantos VI–VIII, 49–50.
64, 7–8 pause and think… / If that a bonne fortune be really bonne Calculate beforehand if success (conquest) in the love affair will be good for you.
67, 4 ]
bienséance decorum, propriety. O ED cites this line.
68, 1 privy council Originally this council was a small group of advisers on political problems and administrative business, many of whom were selected by the King. Others served on the council by virtue of their rank or position – as royal princes, archbishops, or as honorary appointees. In earlier times, the privy council had from ten to twenty members, but in later centuries it vastly increased in size, as many appointments were made to reward supporters or to placate opponents.
68, 2 walked into his cabinet Since Lord Henry was at Norman Abbey, the cabinet he went to was probably what we would today call his study.
68, 3 matter for some future Livy Titus Livius (59 BC–17 AD) wrote a history of Rome from the foundation of the city to 9 BC. Of the 145 books in this mammoth work, thirty-five are extant, including an account of the Second Punic War. Livy wrote to gratify Roman vanity, and though he avoided improbable distortions, he was often inaccurate.
70, 1 He was a cold, good, honourable man Lord Henry resembles William Lamb (1779–1848), husband of Caroline Lamb and later Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister during the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign.
70, 3 a state divan a government council. Originally a divan was a Turkish council presided over by the sultan or his grand vizier.
70, 6 star and string Either the Order of the Garter or the Order of the Thistle. See the notes to Canto IV no, 5–8; Canto XI <76, 2>.
72, 2 That… je ne sais quoi I know not what; that inexpressible something.
72, 6 the Dardan boy Paris, descended from Dardanus, the founder of the Trojan race.
73, 2–3 Unless like mise Tiresias we had proved By turns the difference of the several sexes In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the sexual wisdom of Tiresias was troubled in origin and in outcome. He had struck and outraged two large copulating serpents and instantly became a woman for seven years. When he next saw the snakes, he hopefully hit them again and was restored to manhood. Jove, playfully assuming that Tiresias had thereby learned ‘both sides of love’, asked him to settle a tipsy dispute with Juno about whether man or woman had the greater pleasure in lovemaking. When Tiresias said that woman did, Juno was provoked and blinded him, but Jove as compensation granted him the gift of prophecy (III 316–38, trans. F. J. Miller (1944), 1146–9).
74, 2 seeking ]
75, 1 a flower called’love in idleness’ Commonly the pansy, although extended to other flowers, here the ‘pervenche’ (line 8), the periwinkle. See A Midsummer Night’s Dream II i 168.
76, 7 since the merchant ship, the Argo, / Conveyed Medea as her supercargo Modern men do not allow love to interfere with business as Jason did when he brought home Medea upon returning from Colchis with the Golden Fleece.
77, 1–3 Beatus ilk procul from negotiis, / Saith Horace…/… Noscitur a sociis ‘Happy the man who [is] far away from business cares.’ Byron’s whimsy omitted one Latin word in the Horatian phrase and intruded ‘from’: ‘Beatus ille qui procul negotiis’ (Epode 2 1, trans. C. E. Bennett (1919), 364–5). The other maxim, ‘Noscitur a sociis’ in line 3 (’a man is known by his company’), apparently not written by Horace, points up the irony of line 6.
79, 7 Blue devils and bluestockings See notes to Cantos X 38, 8, and 122, 1–7.
81, 1 ‘An oyster may be crossed in love’ One of Tilburina’s speeches in Sheridan’s The Critic, Act III.
82, 1 Wilberforce see note to Canto IV 115, 3.
83, 1–2 bald coot bully Alexander, /… the Holy Three Byron calls the bald Russian Emperor a bully because after liberal actions early in his reign and in spite of later intermittent gestures of idealism, he became a tough autocrat. In 1822 he offered to march an army of 150, 000 Russians across Europe to destroy the rebellion in Spain. Byron derided him at length in The Age of Bronze, section 10. The other two of the Holy Three who had signed Alexander’s Alliance in 1815 were Francis I of Austria and Frederick William III of Prussia. See note to Preface to Cantos VI–VIII, 76–7.
83, 5–6 high heroic salamander, / Who eats fire gratis see note to Canto VII 52, 5.
83, 7 the Pavilion George IV spent vast sums with little taste on his pavilion at Brighton.
84, 4 soi-disant sound mind supposedly sound mind.
84, 7 point d’appui fulcrum.
84, 8 Archimedes He said, ‘Give me where I may stand, and I will move the world.’
85, 6 stanch Though the more common spelling is ‘staunch’, Byron used ‘stanch one’ because of the rhymes in lines 2 and 4
.
86, 3 The stone of Sisyphus Because of his misdeeds, Sisyphus was condemned in hell to roll to the top of a hill a large stone, which, when it reached the summit, rolled back to the plain, so that his punishment was eternal. Sec’ Odyssey XI.
87, 4–8 like the Rhone by Leman’s maters washed, /… river child to sleep Leman is another name for Lake Geneva, into which the Rhone flows. Byron had been more emotional with the same image of the relation between river and lake in CH III 71.
90, 1 Bonaparte see note to Canto VII 82, 1.
92, 3 Platonism See Canto IX 74, 1; 76, 1–2; XV 85–6.
92, 5–6 ]
To
93, 5–6 ]
Of various kinds> fragment ]
If that a Mortal either could or would>
93, 7–8 No friend like to a woman earth discovers, / So that you have not been nor will be lovers ‘I have always laid it down as a maxim… that a man and a woman make far better friendships than can exist between two of the same sex; but these with this condition, that they never have made, or are to make, love with each other’ (Byron, letter to Lady [Hardy] Albaro, 10 November 1822, LJ VI 137).
94, 3–4 That violent things more quickly find a term Is shown through nature’s whole analogies ‘These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph the’ (Romeo and Juliet II vi 9–10).
95 The first B version is both a candid confession of his own folly and a condemnation of Lady Byron:
Alas: I
I had a paramour – and I’ve had many
For whom – I did not feel myself a Zany –
I
The marriage state – the best or worst of any,
Who
Yet made the misery of