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! LIX Match me, ye climes! which poets love to laud; Match me those Houries,1 whom ye scarce allow LX Oh, thou Parnassus ! 2 whom I now survey, But soaring snow-clad through thy native sky, 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. LXI Oft have I dreamed of Thee! whose glorious name That I in feeblest accents must adore. 1 Ye harems of the land.] Harem and Houri imply that this stanza was written in Turkey. Harem-derived from Arabic 'charam,' an 'inviolable' spot. Houri-from Arabic hour' and 'ain,' a celestial beauty, the white and black in whose eyes are clearly marked. 2 Parnassus.] 'Mons Bifidus,' the sacred mount of Delphi, famed for Apollo's oracle and the Castalian fount, from which to drink was to gain inspiration. When I recount thy worshippers of yore In silent joy to think at last I look on Thee! LXII Happier in this than mightiest bards have been, LXIII Of thee hereafter.2-Even amidst my strain LXIV But ne'er didst thou, fair Mount! when Greece was young, See round thy giant base a brighter choir, Nor e'er did Delphi, when her priestess sung The Pythian hymn with more than mortal fire, The song of love, than Andalusia's maids, Ah! that to these were given such peaceful shades 1 O'er yon melodious wave.] The Castalian fount. The Pythian priestess, as the legend runs, derived her inspiration from copious draughts of its waters. 2 Of thee hereafter.] See Canto iii. 3 Daphne's deathless plant.] The hallowed bay, the poet's prize. LXV Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast Calls forth a sweeter, though ignoble praise. A Cherub-hydra round us dost thou gape, LXVI When Paphos 2 fell by Time-accursed Time! 3 To nought else constant, hither deigned to flee, A thousand altars rise, for ever blazing bright. 4 LXVII From morn till night, from night till startled Morn The song is heard, the rosy garland worn ; A long adieu He bids to sober joy that here sojourns : 1 Cadiz.] Cadiz, a Phoenician town, the seat of the Spanish Junta, besieged to no purpose by the French under General Sebastiani. Its vicious character is noted in this and the following stanzas. 2 Paphos.] In the island of Cyprus-also a Phoenician settlement-and partook of that immoral character which is connected with Phoenician places and legends. (See Gladstone's 'Juventus Mundi.') 3 Constant to her native sea.] Hence her name 'Appodíтn, from which sprung Anadyomena-emerging from the sea. 4 From morn till night.] Conf. Milton 'From morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve.' 5 Quaint.] See Glossary. 6 Kibes.] See Glossary, Nought interrupts the riot, though in lieu And love and prayer unite, or rule the hour by turns. LXVIII The Sabbath comes, a day of blessed rest: Hark! heard you not the forest-monarch's roar? 1 LXIX The seventh day this; the jubilee of man. London! right well thou know'st the day of prayer: Then thy spruce citizen, washed artisan, 3 4 And smug apprentice gulp their weekly air: LXX Some o'er thy Thamis row the ribboned fair, Some Richmond-hill ascend, some scud to Ware, 1 Description of a bull-fight on the Spanish Sunday. Coach of Hackney.] Conf. 'The chair of Bath,' or 'The chair of Sedan.' 6 4 Whiskey.] One-horse chaise, sometimes called a Timwhiskey.' 5 Baotian shades.] Written in Greece. 6 The solemn Horn has a double reference to the carouses of Sunday revellers, and to the Phallic rites of the old mysteries, in which adoration is offered to the Earth Mother, the great producer 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. LXXI All have their fooleries—not alike are thine, Much is the VIRGIN teased to shrive them free 1 From crimes as numerous as her beadsmen 1 be ; Young, old, high, low, at once the same diversion share. LXXII The lists are oped, the spacious area cleared, 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. LXXIII Hushed is the din of tongues-on gallant steeds, 4 Rich are their scarfs, their chargers featly prance : 1 Beadsmen.] See Keats 'Numb were the beadsman's fingers while he told 2 Dons, grandees.] The Spanish Hidalgo, the son of somebody' in Spanish. 3 Ogle.] See Glossary. 4 Featly.] Cf. Spenser's 'fetisly.' The root of the word is from fa-cio, faire,' to do." |