Had I but slain him, I had gone on high, Cas. Well done, old Babel! [The Guards defend themselves desperately, while the Pontiff escapes, by a private passage, to the Vatican and the Castie of St Angelo. Cas. Ha! right nobly battled! Now, priest! now, soldier: the two great professions, Together by the ears and hearts! I have not Now they must take their turn. Follow! He hath escaped! Another Sold. They have barr'd the narrow passage up, And it is clogg'd with dead even to the door. Cas. I am glad he hath escaped: he may thank me for't In part. I would not have his bulls abolish'd'Twere worth one half our empire: his indulgences Demand some in return, no, no, he must not ye return By holy Peter! He speaks the truth; the heretics will bear The best away. Cas. And that were shame! Go to! Assist in their conversion. The Soldiers disperse; many quit the Church, others enter. Cas. They are gone, And others come: so flows the wave on wave Sold. She's mine! Another Sold. [opposing the former]. You lie, I track'd her first: and were she The Pope's niece, I'll not yield her. [They fight. 3d Sold. [advancing towards OLIMPIA]. You may settle Your claims; I'll make mine good. You touch me not asive. Infernal slave! Alive or dead! Olimp. [embracing a massive crucifix]. Re spect your God! 3d Sold. Yes, when he shines in gold. Girl, you but grasp your dowry. [As he advances, OLIMPIA, with a strong and sudden effort, casts down the crucifix; it strikes the Soldier, who jalls. 3s Sold Oh, great God! Olimp Ah! now you recognise him. 3d Sold. My brain is crush'd. Comrades, help ho All's darkness! [He dies Other soldiers (coming up). Slay her, although she had a thousand lives: She hath kill d our comrade. Olimp. Welcome such a death! You have no life to give, which the worst slave Would take. Great God! through thy redeeming Son, And thy Son's Mother, now receive me as Enter ARNOLD. Ha! ha! here's Sold. The cross beneath which he is crush'd; behod him Lie there, more like a worm than man; she cast it Upon his head. Arn. Even so there is a woman Worthy a brave man's liking. Were ye such, Ye would have honoured her. But get ye hence, And thank your meanness, other God you have none, The lion For your existence. Had you touch'd a hair How you should be commanded, and who led Even at the altar foot, whence I look down No injury-and make my father's house Arn. round her, and prepares to dash herself down on the side of the Altar opposite to that where ARNOLD stands. I swear Hold hold! Olimp. Spare thine already forfeit soul' A perjury for which even hell would loathe thee I know thee. Arn. No, thou know'st me not; I am not But not less pure (pure as it left me then, [OLIMPIA waves her hand to ARNOLD with disdain, and dashes herself on the pavement from the Altar. Arn. Eternal God! I feel thee now! Help! help! She's gone. Arn. How pale! how beautiful! how lifeless! Alive or dead, thou essence of all beauty, I love but thee! Cas. Even so Achilles loved Penthesilea: with his form it seems You have his heart, and yet it was no soft one. Arn. She breathes! But no, 'twas nothing or the last Faint flutter life disputes Cæs. with death. She breathes. You do me right Arn. Thou say'st it? Then 'tis truth. The devil speaks truth much oftener than he's deem'd: I say she lives. Arn. And will she live? As much Then she is dead! Bah bah! You are so. And do not know it. She will come to lifeSuch as you think so, such as you now are: But we must work by human means. Arn. We will Convey her unto the Colonna palace, Where I have pitch'd my banner. Cæs. Arn. Softly! Cæs. As softly as they bear the dead, Perhaps because they cannot feel the jolting. Arn. But doth she live indeed? Come then! raise her up! Cæs. Nay, never fear! But, if you rue it after, blame not me. Arn. Let her but live! Cæs. The spirit of her life Is yet within her breast, and may revive. Count! count! I am your servant in all things, And this is a new office :-'tis not oft I am employ'd in such; but you perceive How stanch a friend is what you call a fiend. On earth you have often only fiends for friends; Now I desert not mine. Soft! bear her hence, The beautiful half-clay, and nearly spirit! I am almost enamour'd of her, as A Chorus. But the hound bayeth loudly, She sits like a crest, With birds from their nest. Dim image of war! Who made the woods wonder Then 'twas sport for the strong For a spear, 'gainst the Mammoth, "Now the Serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." -GEN. iii. I. 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 subtile 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 recollec tion 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 expression, I know nothing, and care as little. 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 allusion 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 "tramelogedia" of Alfieri, called Abele.-I have never read that, nor any other of the posthumous works of the writer, except his Life. SCENE I.-The Land without Paradise.Time, Sunrise. ADAM, EVE, CAIN, ABEL, ADAH, ZILLAH, offering a sacrifice. Adam. GOD, the Eternal! Infinite! Allwise! Who out of darkness on the deep didst make Light on the waters with a word-all hail! Jehovah, with returning light, all hail! Eve, God! who didst name the day, and separate Morning from night, till then divided neverWho didst divide the wave from wave, and call Part of Thy work the firmament-all hail! Abel. God! who didst call the elements into To be beloved, more than all, save Thee- Yet didst permit the Serpent to creep in, Cain. Why should I speak? Have heard you. Adam. So will God, I trust. Abel. Amen! Blaspheme not: these are serpents' words. Cain. Why not? The snake spoke truth; it was the tree of knowledge; It was the tree of life: knowledge is good, Eve. My boy, thou speakest as I spoke, in sin, Adam. Our orisons completed, let us hence, Each to his task of toil-not heavy, though Needful: the earth is young, and yields us kindly Her fruits with little labour. Abel. Why wilt thy brow, Be on your spirit, brother! Life!-Toil! and wherefore should I toil!because My father could not keep his place in Eden! |