128 News from Parnassus.. .No. IX. [Sept. 1. 
1 have no more time, nor many words to 
spare.” 
“ At least” said Juan, “sure I may en¬ 
quire 
The causar of this odd travestie ?”—- £C For¬ 
bear,” 
Said Baba, “ to be curious ; ’twill trans¬ 
spire, 
No doubt, in proper place, and time and 
season : 
I have no authority to tell the reason. 
<£ I offer you a handsome suit of clqatlies ; 
A woman’s, true 5 but then there is a 
cause 
Why you should wear them.”—What, 
tho’ my soul loathes 
The effeminate garb?”—thus, after a 
short pause 
Sigh’d Juan, muttering also some slight 
oaths, 
“ What the devil shall I do with all this 
gauze?” 
Thus he profanely term’d the finest lace 
Which e’er set oft'a marriage-morning face. 
When fully equipped, he takes leave 
of his companion, and is conducted, 
through a suite of sumptuous apart¬ 
ments, into an imperial hall, where he 
finds a lady reclining under a canopy, 
to whom Baba introduces him and 
straightway retires. 
Her form had all the softness of her sex, 
Her features all the sweetness of the 
devil, 
When he put on the cherub to perplex 
Eve, and pav’d (God knows how) the 
road to evil 5 
Tire sun himself was scarce more free from 
specks 
Than she from ought at which the eye could 
cavil ; 
Yet, somehow, there was something some¬ 
where wanting, 
As if she rather order’d than was granting*. 
Her very smile was haughty, though so 
sweet ; 
Her very nod was not an inclination ; 
There was a self will even in her small feet, 
As though they were quite conscious of 
her station, 
They trod as upon necks ; aud to complete 
Her state (it is the custom of her nation,) 
A poignard deck’d her girdle, as the sign 
She was a Sultan’s bride, (thank Heaven, 
not mine.) 
The handsome Spaniard, it appears, 
had made a conquest of this princely 
beauty, and she is far from disguising 
her partiality, against which Juan 
nobly opposes the pride of captivity, 
and the sorrow of his late unhappy pas¬ 
sion. 
This wasau awkward test, as Juan found, 
But he was steel’d by sorrow, wrath, 
and pride : 
With gentle force her white arms he un¬ 
wound, 
And seated her all drooping by bis side—• 
Then rising haughtily, he glanc’d around, 
And looking coldly in her lace, he cried, 
“ The prison’d eagle will not pair, nor I 
Serve a Sultana’s sensual phantasy. 
Thou ask’st if I can love ? Be this the proof 
How much i have lov’d—that I love not 
thee! 
In this vile garb, the distaff’s web and woof 
Were fitter for me : Love is for the free! 
I am not dazzled by this splendid roof— 
Whate’er thy power, aud great it seems 
to be, 
Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch around 
a throne, 
And hands obey— our hearts are still our 
own.” 
The sultana’s anguish, on meeting 
with this repulse, is overpowering. 
Her first thought was to cut off Juan’s head • 
Her second, to cut only—his acquaint¬ 
ance 5 
Her third, to ask him where he had been 
bred ; 
Her fourth to rally him into repentance; 
Her fifth, to call her maids and go to bed ; 
Her sixth, to stab herself; her seventh, 
to sentence 
The lash to Baba ;—but her grand resource 
Was to sit down again, and cry of course. 
The interview is cut short by the un¬ 
expected arrival of the Sultan ; and 
Don Juan, to avoid detection, is com¬ 
pelled to mingle with the female 
slaves. Here, however, he is so unfor¬ 
tunate as to draw upon himself the at¬ 
tention of the Grand Signior— 
His Highness cast around his great black 
eyes, 
And looking, as he always look’d, per¬ 
ceiv’d 
Juan amongst the damsels in disguise, 
At which he seem’d no whit surprised nor 
griev’d, 
But just remark’d, with air sedate and wise. 
While still a fluttering sigh Gulleyaz 
heav’d, 
u I see you’ve bought another girl; ’tis 
pity 
That a mere Christian should be half so 
pretty.” 
And with the danger of a discovery, 
in this delicate situation, impending 
over the hero, the fifth canto concludes— 
Thus far the Chronicle ; and now we pause, 
Though not for want of matter ; but ’tis 
time 
According to the ancient epic laws, 
To slacken sail, and anchor with our 
rhyme. 
Let this fifth canto meet with due applause. 
The sixth shall have a touch of the sub¬ 
lime ; 
Meanwhile 
