.... It was a wild and breaker-beaten coast,
With cliffs above, and a broad sandy shore,
Guarded by shoals and rocks as by a host;
And rarely ceased the haughty billow's roar,
Save on the dead long summer days, which make
The outstretch'd Ocean glitter like a lake....
And all was stillness, save the sea bird's cry,
And dolphin's leap, and little billow crost
By some low rock or shelve, that made it fret
Against the boundary it scarcely wet.
.... And thus they wander'd forth, and, hand in hand,
Over the shining pebbles and the shells,
Glided along the smooth and hardened sand;
And in the worn and wild receptacles
Work'd by the storms, yet work'd as it were plann'd,
In hollow halls, with sparry roofs and cells
They turn'd to rest; and each clasp'd by an arm,
Yielded to the deep twilight's purple charm.
They look'd up to the sky whose floating glow
Spread like a rosy Ocean, vast and bright;
They gazed upon the glittering sea below,
Whence the broad moon rose circling into sight;
They heard the wave's splash, and the wind so low;
And saw each other's dark eyes darting light
Into each other—and beholding this,
Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss.
368:
.... They were alone, but not alone as they
Who shut in chambers think it loneliness;
The silent Ocean, and the starlight bay
The twilight glow, which momently grew less,
The voiceless sands, and drooping caves, that lay
Around them, made them to each other press,
As if there were no life beneath the sky
Save theirs, and that their life could never die.
369:
.... Haidée spoke not of scruples, ask'd no vows,
Nor offered any....
She was all which pure ignorance allows,
And flew to her young mate like a young bird....
370:
Alas! They were so young, so beautiful,
So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour
Was that in which the heart is always full,
And, having o'er itself no further power,
Prompts deeds eternity cannot annul....
371: «Il y a dix fois plus de vérité, disait Byron, dans Don Juan que dans Childe Harold. C'est pour cela que les femmes n'aiment pas Don Juan.»
372:
I hope it is no crime
To laugh at all things. For I wish to know
What, after all, are all things—but a show?
(Ch. VII, stance 2.)
373:
.... Sooner shall earth resolve itself to sea,
Than I resign thine image, oh, my fair!
(Here the ship gave a lurch, and he grew sea-sick.)
Oh Julia! what is every other woe?—
(Here he fell sicker)......................
(For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor;
Pedro, Baptista, help me down below.)
Julia, my love! (You rascal, Pedro, quicker)—
Oh, Julia!—(this curst vessel pitches so)
Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!
(Here he grew inarticulate with retching.)
374:
.... Love's a capricious power....
Against all noble maladies he's bold;
But vulgar illnesses don't like to meet;
.... Shrinks from the application of hot towels,
And purgatives are dangerous to his reign,
Sea-sickness death....
375:
.... 'Tis melancholy, and a fearful sign
Of human frailty, folly, also crime,
That love and marriage rarely can combine;
Although they both are born in the same clime;
Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine—
A sad, sour, sober beverage.—
.... An honest gentleman, at his return
May not have the good fortune of Ulysses;....
.... The odds are that he finds a handsome urn
To his memory—and two or three young misses
Born to some friend, who holds his wife and riches
And that his Argus bites him by—the breeches.—
376:
.... Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda-water the day after.
Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;
The best of life is but intoxication....
377:
.... And next they thought upon the master's mate,
As fattest; but he saved himself, because,
Besides being much averse from such a fate,
There were some other reasons: the first was,
He had been rather indisposed of late;
And that which chiefly proved his saving clause,
Was a small present made to him at Cadiz,
By general subscription of the ladies.
378: Il avait sous les yeux une douzaine de descriptions authentiques.
379: Chant VII, 6, 7.
Dogs, or men!—for I flatter you in saying
That ye are dogs—Your betters far—Ye may
Read, or read not, what I am now essaying
To show ye what ye are in every way.
380: Voyez Vision of Judgment.
381: Voyez le voyage de Mme d'Aulnay en Espagne, à la fin du dix-septième siècle. Rien de plus frappant que cette révolution, si l'on met en regard les temps qui précèdent Ferdinand le Catholique, c'est-à-dire le règne de Henri IV, la toute-puissance des nobles, et l'indépendance des villes. Voyez sur toute cette histoire, Buckle, History of civilisation, t. II.
382: Buckle, History of civilisation, t. I, 590, 592.
383: Léonce de Lavergne, Économie rurale en Angleterre, passim.
384: «L'économie, disait de Foe en 1704, n'est pas une vertu anglaise. Là où un Anglais gagne vingt shillings par semaine et ne peut que vivre, un Hollandais devient riche et laisse ses enfants dans une très-bonne position. Là où un manœuvre anglais avec ses neuf shillings par semaine vit pauvre et misérablement, un Hollandais vit passablement avec le même salaire.... Il n'y a rien de plus fréquent pour un Anglais que de travailler jusqu'à ce qu'il ait sa poche pleine d'argent, puis de s'en aller et de faire le paresseux, souvent l'ivrogne, jusqu'à ce que tout soit parti, et que parfois il ait fait des dettes.»
385: Dans le langage familier, les fils disent: «My governor.» En France ils diraient: «Le banquier.»
386: M. Bournisien, dans Madame Bovary, est un personnage très-rare en Angleterre.
387: Je prie le lecteur de lire entre cent autres les sermons du docteur Arnold devant ses élèves de Rugby.
388: The wide, wide World, by Elizabeth Wetherell. Voir les romans de miss Yonge et surtout ceux de miss Evans.