LXXXVII.

But how shall I relate in other cantos Of what befell our hero in the land, Which 't is the common cry and lie to vaunt as A moral country? But I hold my hand-- For I disdain to write an Atalantis;[611] But 't is as well at once to understand, You are _not_ a moral people, and you know it, Without the aid of too sincere a poet.

LXXXVIII.

What Juan saw and underwent shall be My topic, with of course the due restriction Which is required by proper courtesy; And recollect the work is only fiction, And that I sing of neither mine nor me, Though every scribe, in some slight turn of diction, Will hint allusions never _meant_. Ne'er doubt _This_--when I speak, I _don't hint_, but _speak out_.