Read "Don Juan" by Lord Byron online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I / When Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter," / And proved it -- 't was no matter what he said: / They say his system 't is in vain to batter, / Too subtle for the airiest human head; / And yet who can believe it? I would shatter / Gladly all matters down to stone or lead, / Or adamant, to find the world a spirit, / And wear my head, denying that I wear it.
II / What a sublime discovery 't was to make the / Universe universal egotism, / That all's ideal -- all ourselves! -- I'll stake the / World (be it what you will) that that's no schism. / Oh Doubt! -- if thou be'st Doubt, for which some take thee; / But which I doubt extremely -- thou sole prism / Of the Truth's rays, spoil not my draught of spirit! / Heaven's brandy, though our brain can hardly bear it.