Is more than I know—the deuce take them both.”[317]
In the words of the British soldier, Johnson, to Juan, we have, perhaps, a summary of the position which Byron himself had reached:
“There are still many rainbows in your sky,
But mine have vanished. All, when Life is new,
Commence with feelings warm and prospects high;
But Time strips our illusions of their hue,
And one by one in turn, some grand mistake
Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake.”[318]
As a corollary to this recognition of the futility of human endeavor, the doctrine of mutability, so common in Shelley’s poetry, appears frequently in Don Juan,[319] ringing in the note of sadness which Byron would have us believe was his underlying mood. Curiously enough, though he cynically classed together “rum and true religion” as calming to the spirit,[320] he was chary of assailing Christian theology or orthodox creeds. He preserved a kind of respect for the Church; and even Dr. Kennedy was obliged to admit that on religious questions Byron was a courteous and fair, as well as an acute, antagonist. Perhaps the half-faith which led him to say once “The trouble is I do believe” may account for the fact that, at a time when William Hone and other satirists were making the Church of England a target for their wit, Don Juan contained no reference to that institution.
Byron, then, refused to accept any of the creeds and idealisms of his day. His own position, however, was marked by doubt and vacillation, and he took no positive attitude towards any of the great problems of existence. Experience led him to nothing but uncertainty and indecision, with the result that he became content to destroy, since he was unable to construct.