Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 6.djvu/405

CANTO THE NINTH.

I^{[D 1]}
Oh, Wellington! (or "Villainton"^{[D 2]}—for Fame ^{[R 1]}
⁠Sounds the heroic syllables both ways;
France could not even conquer your great name,
⁠But punned it down to this facetious phrase—
Beating or beaten she will laugh the same,)
⁠You have obtained great pensions and much praise:
Glory like yours should any dare gainsay,
Humanity would rise, and thunder "Nay!"^{[D 3]}

II.
I don't think that you used Kinnaird quite well
⁠In Marinèt's affair^{[D 4]}—in fact, 't was shabby,

1. Oh Wellington [or "Vilainton") .—[MS. B.]

 

1. [Stanzas i.-viii., which are headed "Don Juan, Canto III., July 10, 1819," are in the handwriting of (?) the Countess Guiccioli. Stanzas ix., X., which were written on the same sheet of paper, are in Byron's handwriting. The original MS. opens with stanza xi., "Death laughs," etc. (See letter to Moore, July 12, 1822, Letters, 1901, vi. 96.)]
2. ["Faut qu' lord Villain-ton ait tout pris;
   N'y a plus d' argent dans c' gueux de Paris."
   
   
   De Béranger, "Complainte d'une de ces Demoiselles a l'Occasion des Affaires du Temps (Février, 1816)," Chansons, 1821, ii. 17.
   Compare a retaliatory epigram which appeared in a contemporary newspaper—
   "These French petit-mâitres who the spectacle throng,
   Say of Wellington's dress quil fait vilain ton!
   But, at Waterloo, Wellington made the French stare
   When their army he dressed à la mode Angleterre!"]
   
   
3. Query, Ney ?—Printer's Devil. [Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, "the bravest of the brave" [see Ode from the French, stanza i. Poetical Works, 1900, iii. 431), born January 10, 1769, was arrested August 5, and shot December 7, 1815.]
4. [The story of the attempted assassination (February 11, 1818) of