Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 6.djvu/111

CANTO II.]

Oh ye ! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations, Holland, France, England, Germany, or Spain, I pray ye flog them upon all occasions — It mends their morals, never mind the pain ; The best of mothers and of educations In Juan's case were but employed in vain. Since, in a way that 's rather of the oddest, he Became divested of his native modesty.'- II. Had he but been placed at a public school. In the third form, or even in the fourth. His daily task had kept his fancy cool. At least, had he been nurtured in the North ; Spain may prove an exception to the rule. But then exceptions always prove its worth — A lad of sixteen causing a divorce Puzzled his tutors very much, of course. III. I can't say that it puzzles me at all. If all things be considered : first, there was His lady-mother, mathematical, A never mind ; — his tutor, an old ass ; i. Lost that inost precious stone of stones — his modesty. — [il/5.] I. Begun at Venice, December 13, 1818, — finished January 20, 1819. VOL. VI. G