When I was young read this tale, which the original is chiefly followed. (about fourteen, I think,) I first made a deep impression upon me; and may, indeed, be said to contain the germ of much that I have since written. I am not sure that it ever was very popular; or, at any rate, its popularity has since been eclipsed by that of other great writers in the same department. But I have generally found that those who had read it, agreed with me in their estimate of the singular power of mind and conception which it developes. I should also add conception, rather than execution; for the story might, perhaps, have been developed with greater advantage. Amongst those whose opinions agreed with mine upon this story, I could mention some very high names: but it is not necessary, nor indeed of any use; for every one must judge according to his own feelings. I merely refer the reader to the original story, that he may see to what extent I have borrowed from it; and am not unwilling that he should find much greater pleasure in perusing it than the drama which is founded upon its contents. I had begun a drama upon this tale so far back as 1815, (the first I ever attempted, except one at thirteen years old, called "Ulric and Ilvina," which I had sense enough to burn,) and had nearly completed an act, when I was interrupted by circumstances. This is somewhere amongst my papers in England; but as it has not been found, I have re-written the first, and added the subsequent acts. The whole is neither intended, nor in any shape adapted, for the stage. i. [Of England or any other country. It may seem unnecessary to add this, but having seen a poem of mine never intended for representation, dragged in spite of my remonstrance upon the theatres of more than one nation, I trust it will not be deemed impertinent if I once more repeat my protest against [a gross] folly which may injure me—and [benefit no one. If it be understood that all dramatic writing is generically intended for the stage, I deny it.1 With the exception of Shakespeare I. [Byron is replying to Jeffrey (Edinburgh Review, February, 1822, vol. 36, p. 422). "A drama is not merely a dialogue, but an action: and necessarily supposes that something is to pass before the eyes of assembled spectators. If an author does not bear this continually (or Tate, Cibber, and Thompson under his name), not one in fifty plays of our dramatists is ever acted, however much they may be read. Only one of Massinger-none of Ford-none of Marlowe, one of Ben Jonson -none of Webster, none of Heywood: and, even in Comedy, Congreve is rarely acted, and that in only one of his plays. Neither is Joanna Baillie. I am far from attempting to raise myself to a level with the least of these names-I only wish to be [exempted] from a stage which is not theirs. Perhaps Mr. Lamb's essay upon the effects of dramatic representation on the intelligent auditori. -marks are just with regard to this-plays of Shakespeare himself—the hundredfold to those of others. -From a mutilated page of MS. M.] in his mind, and does not write in the ideal presence of an eager and diversified assemblage, he may be a poet, perhaps, but assuredly he will never be a dramatist."] 1. [It may seem a paradox, but I cannot help being of opinion that the plays of Shakespeare are less calculated for performance on a stage than those of almost any other dramatist whatever."-"On the Tragedies of Shakespeare," Complete Works of Charles Lamb, 1875, p. 255. It was, too, something of a paradox that Byron should be eager to shelter himself under the ægis of Charles Lamb. But unpopularity, like poverty, brings together strange bedfellows.] DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. MEN. WERNER. ULRIC. STRALENHEIM. IDENSTEIN. GABOR. FRITZ. HENRICK. ERIC. ARNHEIM. MEISTER. RODOLPH. LUDWIG. WOMEN. JOSEPHINE. IDA STRALENHEIM. SCENE-Partly on the Frontier of Silesia, and partly in Siegendorf Castle, near Prague. Time-The Close of the Thirty Years' War. 1. [The Thirty Years' War dates from the capture of Pilsen by Mansfeld, November 21, 1618, and did not end till the Peace of Westphalia, October 24, 1648. The incident recorded in act v., a solemn commemoration of the Treaty of Prague, must have taken place in 1635. But in Werner there is little or no attempt "to follow history."] WERNER; OR, THE INHERITANCE. ACT I. SCENE I.-The Hall of a decayed Palace near a small Town on the Northern Frontier of Silesia-the Night tempestuous. WERNER and JOSEPHINE, his Wife. Jos. My love, be calmer! Wer. Jos. I am calm. To me Yes, but not to thyself: thy pace is hurried, Wer. 'Tis chill; the tapestry lets through Wer. (smiling). Why wouldst thou have it so? Have it a healthful current. Wer. Let it flow Until 'tis spilt or checked-how soon, I care not. I would Wer. All-all. Jos. Then canst thou wish for that which must break mine? Wer. (approaching her slowly). But for thee I had been -no matter what But much of good and evil; what I am, Thou knowest; what I might or should have been, [WERNER walks on abruptly, and then approaches The storm of the night, Perhaps affects me; I'm a thing of feelings, And have of late been sickly, as, alas! Thou know'st by sufferings more than mine, my Love! In watching me. Jos. To see thee happy Wer. To see thee well is much Where hast thou seen such? But think Let me be wretched with the rest! Jos. How many in this hour of tempest shiver Whose every drop bows them down nearer earth, Her surface. Wer. And that's not the worst: who cares A hunter, and a traveller, and am A beggar, and should know the thing thou talk'st of. Jos. And art thou not now sheltered from them all? Wer. Yes. And from these alone. 20 30 And that is something. Should the nobly born 40 Be thankless for that refuge which their habits Of early delicacy render more i. Yea-to a peasant.-[MS. erased.] |