That saying jars you, let us only say- Adah. Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys, In the clear waters, when they are gentle, and Surely a father's blessing may avert Cain. Bless thee, boy! It shall. Of that I doubt; 'T is the highest And suits thee, as the elder. Now prepare Cain. Thy brother Abel. Thine offerings. Enter ABEL. Cain. Where are thine? Behold them here Abel. Welcome, Cain! My brother, The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof- brother. Cain. I have no flocks; [He gathers fruits. Abel. My brother, as the elder, offer first Oh God! Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life Compared with our great crimes :-Sole Lord of light. Without whom all were evil, and with whom Cain. Omnipotent, it may be-and, if good, Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil; And it may be with other names, because Take them! If thou must be induced with altars, If thou lov'st blood, the shepherd's shrine, which smokes In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek In sanguinary incense to thy skies; Or if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth, Of the broad sun which ripen'd them, may seem He is such as thou mad'st him; and seeks nothing a [The fire upon the altar of ABEL kindles into Abel, (kneeling.) Oh, brother, pray! Jehovah's wroth Cain. Why so? How Heav'n licks up the flames, when thick with blood! Since he loves lives. Abel, (falls.) What hast thou done, my brother? Oh, God! receive thy servant, and Forgive his slayer, for he knew not what He did.-Cain, give me-give me thy hand; and tell Cain, (after a moment's stupefaction.) My hand! [Along pause.-Looking slowly round. Then may God forgive him! Cain Comfort poor Zillah:-she has but one brother Now. [ABEL dies Abel, (rising.) Cain! what meanest thou? Abel, (opposing him.) Thou shalt not:-add Words! let that altar stand-'t is hallow'd now Cain. His! His pleasure! what was his high pleasure in Thy pious knife? Give way! this bloody record Abel. Brother, give back! thou shalt not touch my What mean'st thou ? Since I have taken life from my own flesh? Zillah. I heard a heavy sound: what can it be? Give-He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain! As he did by his brother! May the swords By day and night-snakes spring up in his path- [Exit ZILLAH, calling on her Parents, &c. His waking a continual dread of death! Cain, (solus.) And who hath brought him there ?-I-May the clear rivers turn to blood as he who abhor The name of Death so deeply, that the thought His aspect I have led him here, and giv'n I am awake at last-a dreary dream Had madden'd me ;—but he shall ne'er awake! Enter ADAM, EVE, ADAH, and ZILLAH. Adam. A voice of wo from Zillah brings me here.What do I see?-'T is true!-My son!-my son! Woman, behold the serpent's work, and thine! [To EvE. Eve. Oh! speak not of it now: the serpent's fangs A mother's sin, to take him from me! Who, Or what hath done this deed?-speak, Cain, since thou Eve. Ah! a livid light Breaks through, as from a thunder-cloud! yon brand, Speak, my son! Speak, and assure us, wretched as we are, May the eternal serpent's curse be on him! Eve. I curse him from my sight for evermore! Adam. Eve! let not this, A heavy doom was long forespoken to us; In such sort as may show our God, that we Are faithful servants to his holy will. Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip! Depart! and leave the dead to me--I am Adah. Oh, part not with him thus, my father: do not Zillah. I must watch my husband's corse, Zillah. Yet one kiss on yon pale clay, And those lips once so warm-my heart! my heart! am ready, Why, all have left thee Cain. And wherefore lingerest thou? Dost thou not fear To dwell with one who hath done this? A Voice from within exclaims, Cain! Cain! The Voice within. Cain! Cain! It soundeth like an angel's tone. Enter the ANGEL of the Lord. Am I then My brother's keeper? Eve, (pointing to Cain.) His will!! the will of yon Be from this day, and vagabond on earth! incarnate spirit Of death, whom I have brought upon the earth To strew it with the dead. May all the curses Of life be on him! and his agonies Drive bim forth o'er the wilderness, like us Adah. This punishment is more than he can bear. A fugitive and vagabond on earth, 'T will come to pass, that whoso findeth him Cain. As yet unpeopled? Aizel. Then he would but be what his father is. Who slayeth Cain, a sevenfold vengeance shall Cain. Would'st thou with me? What Angel. Angel. It must not be. [The ANGEL sets the mark on CAIN's brow. Cain. But the four rivers would not cleanse my soul. No No more of threats: we have had too many of them : Adah. I will not leave thee lonely with the dead; Cain. I know not! but if thou see'st what I am, I think thou wilt forgive him, whom his God Can ne'er forgive, nor his own soul.-Farewell! I must not, dare not touch what I have made thee. I, who sprung from the same womb with thee, drain'd Can never meet thee more, nor even dare To do that for thee, which thou should's have done But who hath dug that grave? Oh, earth! Oh, earth! [ADAH stoops down and kisses the body of ABEL Adah. A dreary, and an early doom, my brother Angel. Stern hast thou been and stubborn from the Has been thy lot' Of all who mourn for thee, womb, As the ground thou must henceforth till; but he Angel. Who shall heal murder? what is done is done. Adah. [The ANGEL disappears. Cain. Ah! little knows he what he weeps for! I alone must not weep. My office is Cain. Eastward from Eden will we take our way; 'Tis the most desolate, and suits my steps. Adah. Lead! thou shalt be my guide, and may ou Be thine! Now let us carry forth our children. Adah. Peace be with him! But with me!· [Exeunt. • The "four rivers" which flowed round Eden, and consequently the only waters with which Cain was acquainted upon the earth. MARINO FALIERO, DOGE OF VENICE. "Dur inquieti turbidus Adriæ."-Horace. PREFACE. and is perhaps more dramatic in itself than any scenes which can be founded upon the subject. THE Conspiracy of the Doge Marino Faliero is one of Marino Faliero appears to have been a man of talents the most remarkable events in the annals of the most sin- and of courage. I find him commander in chief of the guiar government, city, and people of modern history. It land forces at the siege of Zara, where he beat the King of occurred in the year 1355. Every thing about Venice is, Hungary and his army of 80.000 men, killing 8000 men, or was, extraordinary-her aspect is like a dream, and and keeping the besieged at the same time in check; an her history is like a romance. The story of this Doge is exploit to which I know none similar in history except to be found in all her Chronicles, and particularly detailed that of Cæsar at Alesia, and of Prince Eugene at Beiin the Lives of the Doges," by Marin Sanuto, which is grade. He was afterwards commander of the fleet in the given in the Appendix. It is simply and clearly related, same war. He took Capo d'Istria. He was ambassa che ..... "The young man's wrath is like straw on fire, dor at Genoa and Rome, at which last he received the extraordinary in Dr. Moore to seem surprised that a man news of his election to the dukedom; his absence being a used to command, who had served and swayed in the most proof that he sought it by no intrigue, since he was ap- important offices, should fiercely resent, in a fierce age, an prized of his predecessor's death and his own succession unpunished affront, the grossest that can be offered to a at the same moment. But he appears to have been of an man, be he prince or peasant. The age of Faliero is little ungovernable temper. A story is told by Sanuto, of his to the purpose, unless to favour it. having, many years before, when podesta and captain at Treviso, boxed the ears of the bishop, who was somewhat tardy in bringing the Host. For this, honest Sanuto "saddles him with a judgment," as Thwackum did Square; but he does not tell us whether he was punished or rebuked by the Senate for this outrage at the time of its com- Laugier's reflections are more philosophical :-"Tale fu mission. He seems, indeed, to have been afterwards at il fine ignominioso di un' uomo, che la sua nascità, la sua peace with the church, for we find him ambassador at età, il suo carattere dovevano tener lontano dalle passioni Rome, and invested with the fief of Val di Marino, in the produttrici di grandi delitti. I suoi talenti per lungo march of Treviso, and with the title of Count, by Lorenzo tempo esercitati ne' maggiori impieghi, la sua capacità Count-Bishop of Ceneda. For these facts my authori- sperimentata ne' governi e nelle ambasciate, gli avevano ties are Sanuto, Vetter Sandi, Andrea Navagero, and the acquistato la stima e la fiducia de' cittadini, ed avevano account of the siege of Zara, first published by the inde- uniti i suffragj per collocarlo alla testa della republica. Infatigable Abate Morelli, in his "Monumenti Veneziani di nalzato ad un grado che terminava gloriosamenta la sua varia Letteratura," printed in 1796, all of which I have vita, il risentimento di un' ingiuria leggiera insinuò nel suo looked over in the original language. The moderns, Darú, cuore tal veleno che bastò a corrompere le antiche sue Sismondi, and Laugier, nearly agree with the ancient qualità, e a condurlo al termine dei scellerati; serio esemchroniclers. Sismondi attributes the conspiracy to his jea-pio, che prova non esservi età, in cui la prudenza umana lousy; but I find this nowhere asserted by the national his- sia sicura, e che nell' uomo restano sempre passioni catorians. Vettor Sandi, indeed, says, that "Altri scrissero paci a disonorarlo, quando non invigili sopra se stesso." dalla gelosa suspizion di esso Doge siasi fatto Laugier, Italian translation, vol. iv. page 30, 31. (Michel Steno) staccar con violenza," &c. &c. ; but this Where did Dr. Moore find that Marino Faliero begged appears to have been by no means the general opinion, his life? I have searched the chronic/ers, and find nothing nor is it alluded to by Sanuto or by Navagero, and Sandi of the kind; it is true that he avowed all. He was con himself adds, a moment after, that " per altre Veneziane ducted to the place of torture, but there is no mention made memorie traspiri, che non il solo desiderio di vendetta lo of any application for mercy on his part; and the very cirdispose alla congiura ma anche la innata abituale ambi- cumstance of their having taken him to the rack seems zion sua, per cui anel ava a farsi principe independente." to argue any thing but his having shown a want of firmThe first motive appears to have been excited by the gross ness, which would doubtless have been also mentioned by affront of the words written by Michel Steno on the ducal those minute historians who by no means favour him : such chair, and by the light and inadequate sentence of the indeed, would be contrary to his character as a soldier, to Forty on the offender, who was one of their "tre Capi." the age in which he lived, and at which he died, as it is to The attentions of Steno himself appear to have been di- the truth of history. I know no justification at any disrected towards one of her damsels, and not to the "Doga- tance of time for calumniating an historical character; ressa" herself, against whose fame not the slightest insinu-surely truth belongs to the dead, and to the unfortunate, ation appears, while she is praised for her beauty, and re- and they who have died upon a scaffold, have generally marked for her youth. Neither do I find it asserted (un- had faults enough of their own, without attributing to them less the hint of Sandi be an assertion) that the Doge was that which the very incurring of the perils which conducted actuated by jealousy of his wife; but rather by respect for them to their violent death renders, of all others, the most her, and for his own honour,warranted by his past services improbable. The black veil which is painted over the and present dignity. place of Marino Faliero amongst the doges, and the I know not that the historical facts are alluded to in Giants' Staircase where he was crowned, and discrowned, English, unless by Dr. Moore in his View of Italy. His and decapitated, struck forcibly upon my imagination, as account is false and flippant, full of stale jests about old did his fiery character and strange story. I went in 1819, men and young wives, and wondering at so great an effect in search of his tomb more than once to the church San from so slight a cause. How so acute and severe an ob- Giovanni e San Paolo, and as I was standing before the server of mankind as the auther of Zeluco could wonder monument of another family, a priest came up to me and at this is inconceivable. He knew that a basin of water said, "I can show you finer monuments than that." I told spilt on Mrs. Masham's gown deprived the Duke of Marl-him that I was in search of that of the Faliero family, borough of his command, and led to the inglorious peace and particularly of the Doge Marino's. "Oh," said he, of Utrecht-that Louis XIV. was plunged into the most" I will show it you;" and conducting me to the outside, desolating wars because his minister was nettled at his find-pointed out a sarcophagus in the wall with an illegible ining fault with a window,and wished to give him another oc- scription. He said that it had been in a convent adjoincupation-that Helen lost Troy-that Lucretia expelled ing, but was removed after the French came, and placed the Tarquins from Rome-and that Cava brought the in its present situation; that he had seen the tomb opened Moors to Spain-that an insulted husband led the Gauls to at its removal; there were still some bones remaining, Clusium, and thence to Rome-that a single verse of Fre- but no positive vestige of the decapitation. The equesderick II. of Prussia on the Abbé de Bernis, and a jest on trian statue of which I have made mention in the third act Madame de Pompadour, led to the battle of Rosbach-as before that church is not, however, of a Faliero, but of that the elopement of Dearbhorgil with Mac Murchad some other now obsolete warrior, although of a later date. conducted the English to the slavery of Ireland-that a There were two other Doges of this family prior to Mapersonal pique between Maria Antoinette and the Duke rino: Ordelafo, who fell in battle at Zara in 1117, (where of Orleans precipitated the first expulsion of the Bour- his descendant afterwards conquered the Huns,) and Vibons-aud, not to multiply instances, that Commodus, Do-tal Faliero, who reigned in 1082. The family, originally mitian,and Caligula fell victims not to their public tyranny, from Fano, was of the most illustrious in blood and wealth but to private vengeance-and that an order to make in the city of once the most wealthy and still the most Cromwell disembark from the ship in which he would have ancient families in Europe. The length I have gone into sailed to America destroyed both king and commonwealth. on this subject will show the interest I have taken in it. After these instances, on the least reflection, it is indeed Whether I have succeeded or not in the tragedy, I have at |