Don Juan

Canto I23

I

I want a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one;
Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,
I’ll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan—
We all have seen him, in the pantomime,24
Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time.

II

Vernon,25 the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,
Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe,
Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,
And filled their sign-posts then, like Wellesley now;
Each in their turn like Banquo’s monarchs stalk,
Followers of Fame, “nine farrow”26 of that sow:
France, too, had Buonaparté27 and Dumourier28
Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier.