Part 2 (1/2)
Pushkin, then residing in Bessarabia, was in the same predicament as his predecessor in song, though he certainly did not plead guilty to the fact, since he remarks in his ode to Ovid: To exile _self-consigned_, With self, society, existence, discontent, I visit in these days, with melancholy mind, The country whereunto a mournful age thee sent.
Ovid thus enumerates the causes which brought about his banishment:
”Perdiderint quum me _duo_ crimina, carmen et error, Alterius facti culpa silenda mihi est.”
_Ovidii Nasonis Tristium_, lib. ii. 207.]
IX
How soon he learnt deception's art, Hope to conceal and jealousy, False confidence or doubt to impart, Sombre or glad in turn to be, Haughty appear, subservient, Obsequious or indifferent!
What languor would his silence show, How full of fire his speech would glow!
How artless was the note which spoke Of love again, and yet again; How deftly could he transport feign!
How bright and tender was his look, Modest yet daring! And a tear Would at the proper time appear.
X
How well he played the greenhorn's part To cheat the inexperienced fair, Sometimes by pleasing flattery's art, Sometimes by ready-made despair; The feeble moment would espy Of tender years the modesty Conquer by pa.s.sion and address, Await the long-delayed caress.
Avowal then 'twas time to pray, Attentive to the heart's first beating, Follow up love--a secret meeting Arrange without the least delay-- Then, then--well, in some solitude Lessons to give he understood!
XI
How soon he learnt to t.i.tillate The heart of the inveterate flirt!
Desirous to annihilate His own antagonists expert, How bitterly he would malign, With many a snare their pathway line!
But ye, O happy husbands, ye With him were friends eternally: The crafty spouse caressed him, who By Faublas in his youth was schooled,(5) And the suspicious veteran old, The pompous, swaggering cuckold too, Who floats contentedly through life, Proud of his dinners and his wife!
[Note 5: _Les Aventures du Chevalier de Faublas_, a romance of a loose character by Jean Baptiste Louvet de Couvray, b. 1760, d. 1797, famous for his bold oration denouncing Robespierre, Marat and Danton.]
XII
One morn whilst yet in bed he lay, His valet brings him letters three.
What, invitations? The same day As many entertainments be!
A ball here, there a children's treat, Whither shall my rapscallion flit?
Whither shall he go first? He'll see, Perchance he will to all the three.
Meantime in matutinal dress And hat surnamed a ”Bolivar”(6) He hies unto the ”Boulevard,”
To loiter there in idleness Until the sleepless Breguet chime(7) Announcing to him dinner-time.
[Note 6: A la ”Bolivar,” from the founder of Bolivian independence.]
[Note 7: M. Breguet, a celebrated Parisian watchmaker--hence a slang term for a watch.]
XIII
'Tis dark. He seats him in a sleigh, ”Drive on!” the cheerful cry goes forth, His furs are powdered on the way By the fine silver of the north.
He bends his course to Talon's, where(8) He knows Kaverine will repair.(9) He enters. High the cork arose And Comet champagne foaming flows.
Before him red roast beef is seen And truffles, dear to youthful eyes, Flanked by immortal Strasbourg pies, The choicest flowers of French cuisine, And Limburg cheese alive and old Is seen next pine-apples of gold.
[Note 8: Talon, a famous St. Petersburg restaurateur.]
[Note 9: Paul Petrovitch Kaverine, a friend for whom Pushkin in his youth appears to have entertained great respect and admiration. He was an officer in the Hussars of the Guard, and a noted ”dandy” and man about town. The poet on one occasion addressed the following impromptu to his friend's portrait: