And here I leave them at their preparation For the imperial presence, wherein whether Gulbeyaz showed them both commiseration, Or got rid of the parties altogether, Like other angry ladies of her nation,-- Are things the turning of a hair or feather May settle; but far be 't from me to anticipate In what way feminine caprice may dissipate. CXX. I leave them for the present with good wishes, Though doubts of their well doing, to arrange Another part of History; for the dishes Of this our banquet we must sometimes change; And trusting Juan may escape the fishes, (Although his situation now seems strange, And scarce secure),--as such digressions _are_ fair, The Muse will take a little touch at warfare. End of Canto 6th. FOOTNOTES: {268}[328] [Two MSS. (A, B) are extant, A in Byron's handwriting, B a transcription by Mrs. Shelley. The variants are marked respectively _MS. A., MS. B._ Motto: "Thinkest thou that because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale? Aye! and ginger shall be hot in the mouth too."--_Twelfth Night, or What You Will_, Shakespeare, act ii. sc. 3, lines 109-112.--[_MS. B._] This motto, in an amended form, which was prefixed to the First Canto in 1833, appears on the title-page of the first edition of Cantos VI., VII., VIII., published by John Hunt in 1823.] [329] [See Shakespeare, _Julius Cæsar_, act iv. sc. 3, lines 216, 217.] [330] [Jacob Behmen (or Boehm) stands for "mystic." Byron twice compares him with Wordsworth (see _Letters_, 1899, iii. 239, 1900, iv. 238).] {269}[gb] _Man with his head reflects (as Spurzheim tells),_ _But Woman with the heart--or something else_. or, _Man's pensive part is (now and then) the head,_ _Woman's the heart or anything instead_.-- [MS. A. Alternative reading.] [gc] _Like to a Comet's tail_----.--[MS. A. erased.] [gd] _O'erbalance all the Cæsar's victories_.--[MS. A.] _Outbalance all the Cæsar's victories_.--[MS. B.] _In the Shelley copy "o'erbalance" has been erased and "outbalance" inserted in Byron's handwriting. The lines must have been intended to run thus_-- _'T is not his conquests keep his name in fashion_ _But Actium lost; for Cleopatra's eyes_ _Outbalance all the Cæsar's victories_. [ge] _I wish that they had been eighteen_----.--[MS. A. erased.] {270}[331] [To Mary Chaworth. Compare "Our union would have healed feuds ... it would have joined lands broad and rich; it would have joined at least _one_ heart."--_Detached Thoughts_, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 441.]