Don Juan 06-036 ~ 040
 
 
Don Juan 06-036
Canto the Sixth
 
     XXXVI
 
But no one doubted on the whole, that she
     Was what her dress bespoke, a damsel fair,
And fresh, and "beautiful exceedingly,"
     Who with the brightest Georgians might compare:
They wonder'd how Gulbeyaz, too, could be
     So silly as to buy slaves who might share
(If that his Highness wearied of his bride)
Her throne and power, and every thing beside.
 
 
Don Juan 06-037
Canto the Sixth
 
     XXXVII
 
But what was strangest in this virgin crew,
     Although her beauty was enough to vex,
After the first investigating view,
     They all found out as few, or fewer, specks
In the fair form of their companion new,
     Than is the custom of the gentle sex,
When they survey, with Christian eyes or Heathen,
In a new face "the ugliest creature breathing."
 
 
Don Juan 06-038
Canto the Sixth
 
     XXXVIII
 
And yet they had their little jealousies,
     Like all the rest; but upon this occasion,
Whether there are such things as sympathies
     Without our knowledge or our approbation,
Although they could not see through his disguise,
     All felt a soft kind of concatenation,
Like magnetism, or devilism, or what
You please -- we will not quarrel about that:
 
 
Don Juan 06-039
Canto the Sixth
 
     XXXIX
 
But certain 'tis they all felt for their new
     Companion something newer still, as 't were
A sentimental friendship through and through,
     Extremely pure, which made them all concur
In wishing her their sister, save a few
     Who wish'd they had a brother just like her,
Whom, if they were at home in sweet Circassia,
They would prefer to Padisha or Pacha.
 
 
Don Juan 06-040
Canto the Sixth
 
     XL
 
Of those who had most genius for this sort
     Of sentimental friendship, there were three,
Lolah, Katinka, and Dudu; in short
     (To save description), fair as fair can be
Were they, according to the best report,
     Though differing in stature and degree,
And clime and time, and country and complexion;
They all alike admired their new connection.
 
George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
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