Don Juan 07-21 ~ 25
 

Don Juan 07-21
Canto the Seventh
 
     XXI

I wonder (although Mars no doubt's a god
     Praise) if a man's name in a bulletin
May make up for a bullet in his body?
     I hope this little question is no sin,
Because, though I am but a simple noddy,
     I think one Shakspeare puts the same thought in
The mouth of some one in his plays so doting,
Which many people pass for wits by quoting.


Don Juan 07-22
Canto the Seventh
 
     XXII

Then there were Frenchmen, gallant, young, and gay:
     But I'm too great a patriot to record
Their Gallic names upon a glorious day;
     I'd rather tell ten lies than say a word
Of truth; -- such truths are treason; they betray
     Their country; and as traitors are abhorr'd
Who name the French in English, save to show
How Peace should make John Bull the Frenchman's foe.


Don Juan 07-23
Canto the Seventh
 
     XXIII

The Russians, having built two batteries on
     An isle near Ismail, had two ends in view;
The first was to bombard it, and knock down
     The public buildings and the private too,
No matter what poor souls might be undone.
     The city's shape suggested this, 't is true;
Form'd like an amphitheatre, each dwelling
Presented a fine mark to throw a shell in.


Don Juan 07-24
Canto the Seventh
 
     XXIV

The second object was to profit by
     The moment of the general consternation,
To attack the Turk's flotilla, which lay nigh
     Extremely tranquil, anchor'd at its station:
But a third motive was as probably
     To frighten them into capitulation;
A phantasy which sometimes seizes warriors,
Unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers.


Don Juan 07-25
Canto the Seventh
 
     XXV

A habit rather blamable, which is
     That of despising those we combat with,
Common in many cases, was in this
     The cause of killing Tchitchitzkoff and Smith;
One of the valorous "Smiths" whom we shall miss
     Out of those nineteen who late rhymed to "pith;"
But 't is a name so spread o'er "Sir" and "Madam,"
That one would think the first who bore it "Adam."
 
 
George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) 
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