Eugene Oneguine [Onegin]. A Romance of Russian Life in Verse

How soon he learnt to titillate 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!

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.

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.

XIV

Still thirst fresh draughts of wine compels To cool the cutlets' seething grease, When the sonorous Breguet tells Of the commencement of the piece.A critic of the stage malicious, A slave of actresses capricious, Oneguine was a citizen Of the domains of the side-scene.To the theatre he repairs Where each young critic ready stands, Capers applauds with clap of hands, With hisses Cleopatra scares, Moina recalls for this alone That all may hear his voice's tone.

XV

Thou fairy-land! Where formerly Shone pungent Satire's dauntless king, Von Wisine, friend of liberty, And Kniajnine, apt at copying.The young Simeonova too there With Ozeroff was wont to share Applause, the people's donative. There our Katenine did revive Corneille's majestic genius, Sarcastic Shakhovskoi brought out His comedies, a noisy rout, There Didelot became glorious, There, there, beneath the side-scene's shade The drama of my youth was played.[10]

XVI