As far as touches torturing the living. To burst, if aught of venom touches it. Then it is false, or you are true. An idle legend. Mar. You talk wildly, and Had better now be seated, nor as yet Depart. Ah! now you look as look'd my husband! Bar. He sinks!-support him!-quick-a chairsupport him! I thought the dead had been beyond even you, Doge. The bell tolls on !-let 's hence-my brain's Pretend still to this office? Bar. I do beseech you, lean upon us! No! A sovereign should die standing. My poor boy!- The misery to die a subject where He reign'd: then let his funeral rites be princely. Yes. Chief of the Ten. Heaven's peace be with him! (A soul by whom you have increased your empire, Chief of the Ten. Lady, we revoke not Mar. I know it, Mar. We [She stops with agitation. Mar. I have heard of murderers, who have in- Their victims; but ne'er heard, until this hour, O'er those they slew. I've heard of widows' tears-- Know you, lady, To whom ye speak, and perils of such speech? Bar. With such an earnest brow, upon thy tablets? What debt did he owe you? Lor. A long and just one; Nature's debt and mine. [Curtain falls. CAIN: A MYSTERY. Now the Serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.-Gen. iii. 1. THE following scenes are entitled "A Mystery," in conformity with the ancient title annexed to dramas upon similar subjects, which were styled "Mysteries, or Moralities." The author has by no means taken the same liberties with his subject which were common formerly, as may be seen by any reader curious enough to refer to those very profane productions, whether in English, French, Italian, or Spanish. The author has endeavoured to preserve the language adapted to his characters; and where it is (and this is but rarely) taken from actual Scripture, he has made as little alteration, even of words, as the rhythm would permit. The reader will recollect that the book of Genesis does not state that Eve was tempted by a demon, but by "the Serpent;" and that only because he was "the most subtil of all the beasts of the field." Whatever interpretation the Rabbins and the Fathers may have put upon this, I take the words as I find them, and reply, with Bishop Watson upon similar occasions, when the Fathers were quoted to him, as Moderator in the schools of Cambridge," Behold the Book!"-holding up the Scripture. It is to be recollected, that my present subject has nothing to do with the New Testament, to which no reference can be here made without anachronism. With the poems upon similar topics I have not been recently familiar. Since I was twenty I have never read Milton; but I had read him so frequently before, that this may make little difference. Gesner's "Death of Abel" I have never read since I was eight years of age, at Aberdeen. The general impression of my recollection is delight; but of the contents I remember only that Cain's wife was called Mahala, and Abel's Thirza; in the following pages I have called them "Adah" and "Zillah," the earliest female names which occur in Genesis; they were those of Lamech's wives: those of Cain and Abel are not called by their names. Whether, then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same in exn, I know nothing, and care as little. t The reader will please to bear in mind (what few choose to recollect), that there is no allusion to a future state in any of the books of Moses, nor indeed in the Old Testament. For a reason for this extraordinary omission he may consult Warburton's "Divine Legation; " whether satisfactory or not, no better has yet been assigned. I have therefore supposed it new to Cain, without, I hope, any perversion of Holy Writ. With regard to the language of Lucifer, it was difficult for me to make him talk like a clergyman upon the same subjects; but I have done what I could to restrain him within the bounds of spiritual politeness. If he disclaims having tempted Eve in the shape of the Serpent, it is only because the book of Genesis has not the most distant alla sion to anything of the kind, but merely to the Serpent in his serpentine capacity. Note. The reader will perceive that the author has partly adopted in this poem the notion of Cuvier, that the world had been destroyed several times before the creation of man. This speculation, derived from the different strata and the bones of enormous and unknown animals found in them, is not contrary to the Mosaic account, but rather confirms it; as no human bones have yet been discovered in those strata, although those of many known animals are found near the remains of the unknown. The assertion of Lucifer, that the pre-Adamite world was also peopled by rational beings much more intelligent than man, and proportionably powerful to the mammoth, &c., &c., is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him to make out his case. I ought to add, that there is a "tramclogedia" of Alfieri, called "Abele." I have never read that, nor any other of the posthumous works of the writer, except his Life. RAVENNA, Sept. 20, 1821. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. ΜΕΝ. ADAM. CAIN. ABEL. SPIRITS. ANGEL OF THE LORD. LUCIFER. WOMEN. EVE. ADAH. ZILLAH. ACT I. SCENE I-The Land without Paradise.-Time, Sunrise. ADAM, EVE, CAIN, ABEL, ADAH, ZILLAH, offering a Sacrifice. Adam. GOD, the Eternal! Infinite! All-wise! Eve. God! who didst name the day, and separate Adam. To pray. [all, The snake spoke truth; it was the tree of knowledge; Eve. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke, in sin, [Exeunt ADAM and EVE. Wilt thou not, my brother? Abel. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow, Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse Adah. No, Adah! no; Abel. God! who didst call the elements into Earth, ocean, air, and fire, and with the day And night, and worlds which these illuminate, Or shadow, madest beings to enjoy them, And love both them and thee-all hail! all hail! Adah. God, the Eternal! Parent of all things! Who didst create these best and beauteous beings, To be beloved, more than all, save theeLet me love thee and them :-All hail! all hail! Zillah. Oh, God! who loving, making, blessing Yet didst permit the serpent to creep in, And drive my father forth from Paradise, Keep us from further evil :--Hail! all hail! Adam. Son Cain, my first-born, wherefore art Cain. Why should I speak ? [thou silent? Have ye not pray'd? My father could not keep his place in Eden. Adam. We have, most fervently. What had I done in this ?-I was unborn: Cain. And loudly: II sought not to be born; nor love the state Have heard you. To which that birth has brought me. Why did he Yield to the serpent and the woman? or, Yielding, why suffer? What was there in this? The tree was planted, and why not for him? If not, why place him near it, where it grew, The fairest in the centre? They have but One answer to all questions," "T was his will, And he is good." How know I that? Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow? I judge but by the fruits-and they are bitterWhich I must feed on for a fault not mine. Whom have we here?-A shape like to the angels, Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect Before the gates round which I linger oft, If I shrink not from these, the fire-arm'd angels, As he hath been, and might be sorrow seems So? and can aught grieve save humanity? Lucifer. Cain. Enter LUCIFER. Spirit, who art thou? Lucifer. Master of Spirits. Cain. And what is that? As he saith-which I know not, nor believe- And being so, canst thou Of dust, and feel for it, and with you. You know my thoughts? How! But live to die; and, living, see no thing Lucifer. Thou livest, and must live for ever: The earth, which is thine outward cov'ring, is No more? No less! and why Lucifer. It may be thou shalt be as we. We in our conflict: Goodness would not make Less burthensome to his immense existence Let him crowd orb on orb: he is alone Could he but crush himself, 't were the best boon Spirits and Men, at least we sympathise By the unbounded sympathy of all [have swum Cain. Thou speak'st to me of things which 1.ng Which shut them out and me: I feel the weight Are ye happy? Tamed down; my mother has forgot the mind A watching shepherd boy, who offers up Lucifer. And hadst thou not been fit by thre own soul For such companionship, I would not now Save with the truth: was not the tree the tree The reach of beings innocent, and curices By their own innocence? I would have made re |