racter of persons of the drama-but still they are but choral accompani ments to the performance; and Manfred is, in reality, the only actor and sufferer on the scene. To delineate his character indeed to render conceivable his feelings is plainly the whole scope and design of the poem; and the conception and execution are, in this respect, equally admirable. It is a grand and terrific vision of a being invested with superhuman attributes, in order that he may be capable of more than human sufferings, and be sustained under them by more than human force and pride. To object to the improbability of the fiction, is to mistake the end and aim of the author. Probabilities, we apprehend, did not enter at all into his consideration; his object was, to produce effect- to exalt and dilate the character through whom he was to interest or appal us― and to raise our conception of it, by all the helps that could be derived from the majesty of nature, or the dread of superstition. It is enough, therefore, if the situ ation in which he has placed him is conceivable, and if the supposition of its reality enhances our emotions and kindles our imagination ; — for it is Manfred only that we are required to fear, to pity, or admire. If we can once conceive of him as a real existence, and enter into the depth and the height of his pride and his sorrows, we may deal as we please with the means that have been used to furnish us with this impression, or to enable us to attain to this conception. We may regard them but as types, or metaphors, or allegories; but HE is the thing to be expressed, and the feeling and the intellect of which all these are but shadows."- JEFFREY. "In this very extraordinary poem, Lord Byron has pursued the same course as in the third canto of Childe Harold, and put out his strength upon the same objects. The action is laid among the mountains of the Alps-the characters are all, more or less, formed and swayed by the operations of the magnificent scenery around them, and every page of the poem teems with imagery and passion, though, at the same time, the mind of the poet is often overborne, as it were, by the strength and novelty of its own conceptions; and thus the composition, as a whole, is liable to many and fatal objections. But ther is a still more novel exhibition o Lord Byron's powers in this remarkable drama. He has here burst into the world of spirits; and, in the wild delight with which the elements of nature seem to have inspired him, he has endeavoured to embody and câll up before him their ministering agents, and to employ these wild personifications, as he formerly employed the feelings and passions of man. We are not prepared to say, that, in this daring attempt, he has completely succeeded. We are inclined to think, that the plan he has conceived, and the principal character which he has wished to delineate, would require a fuller developement than is here given to them; and, accordingly, a sense of imperfection, incompleteness, and confusion accompanies the mind throughout the perusal of the poem, owing either to some failure on the part of the poet, or to the inherent mystery of the subject. But though, on that account, it is difficult to comprehend distinctly the drift of the composition, it unquestionably exhibits many noble delineations of mountain scenery, many impressive and terrible pictures of passion,—and many wild and awful visions of imaginary horror.” -PROFESSOR WILSON.] DRAMATIS PERSONE. MANFRED. CHAMOIS HUNTER. ABBOT OF ST. MAURICE. MANUEL. HERMAN. WITCH OF THE ALPS. ARIMANES. NEMESIS. THE DESTINIES. SPIRITS, &c. The Scene of the Drama is amongst the Higher Alps-partly in the Castle of Manfred, and partly in the Mountains. MANFRED. ACT I. SCENE I. MANFRED alone. Scene, a Gothic Gallery.-Time, Midnight. Man. THE lamp must be replenish'd, but even then It will not burn so long as I must watch: My slumbers-if I slumber are not sleep, But a continuance of enduring thought, Which then I can resist not: in my heart There is a vigil, and these eyes but close |