The Last Stanza of the First Canto of Lord Bryon's Don Juan

The Last Stanza of the First Canto of Lord Bryon's Don Juan



                                                                   222

'Go, little book, from this my solitude!
    I cast thee on the waters, go thy ways!
And if, as I believe, thy vein be good,
   The world will find thee after many days.'
When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood,
    I can't help putting in my claim to praise---
The four first rhymes are Southey's every line:
 For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine.