o say, I don't think it's my vocation. But you will see
that I shall do _something_ or other!"

[Illustration]

JUAN AND HAIDEE.

"They heard the waves 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."
(_Don Juan._)

This contemner of poesy, however, is soon persuaded, without much
difficulty, to read aloud some excerpts from his new poems in process of
completion: and very well he reads them. The listeners are moved to
smiles by the bitter humour of the _Vision of Judgment_: they are left
half breathless by the impetuous vigour of _Heaven and Earth_. But a
murmur of unfeigned applause punctuates the second canto of _Don Juan_,
with its exquisite presentment of youth, love, and ecstasy in the
persons of Juan and Haidee.

It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded
Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill,
Which then seems as if the whole earth it bounded,
Circling all nature, hush'd, and dim, and still,
With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded
On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill,
Upon the other, and the rosy sky,
With one star sparkling through it like an eye.
And thus they wander'd forth, and hand in hand,
Over the shining pebbles and the shells,
Glided along the smooth and harden'd sand....

* * * * *

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 waves 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.
(_Don Juan._)

Byron's restless spirit, perpetually eager to express itself in
action, now makes him anxious to dismiss intellectual discussions:
and he hastily proposes a game of billiards. As he moves around the
billiard-table, his lameness is distinctly noticeable: not all the
ingenuity of his tailor, nor his own efforts to walk naturally, can
conceal it. Yet, as has been said of him in other matters, he redeems
all his defects by his graces. And his companions note with surprise the
remarkable change for the better which has tak