Through her olympiads two such names, though one Must all the finer thoughts, the thrilling sense, Back to their native inansion, soon they find Succumbs to long infection, and despair, And vulture passions flying close behind, Await the moment to assail and tear; And when at length the winged wanderers stoop, Then is the prey-bird's triumph, then they share The spoil, o'erpower'd at length by one fell swoop. Yet some have been untouch'd who learn'd to bear, Some whom no power could ever force to droop, Who could resist themselves even, hardest care! And task most hopeless; but some such have been, And if my name among the number were, That destiny austere, and yet serene, Were prouder than more dazzling fame unblest; The Alp's snow summit nearer heaven is seen Than the volcano's fierce eruptive crest, Whose splendour from the black abyss is flung, While the scorch'd mountain, from whose burning breast A temporary torturing flame is wrung, Shines for a night of terror, then repels Its fire back to the hell from whence it sprung, The hell which in its entrails ever dwells CANTO IV. Many are poets who have never penn'd Their inspiration, and perchance the best: Of passion, and their frailties link'd to fame, And be the new Prometheus of new men, And vultures to the heart of the bestower, Who having lavish'd his high gift in vain, Lies chain'd to his lone rock by the seashore? So be it: we can bear.-But thus all they Whose intellect is an o'ermastering power Which still recoils from its incumbering clay Or lightens it to spirit, whatsoe'er The form which their creations may essay Are bards; the kindled marble's bust may wear More poesy upon its speaking brow Than aught less than the Homeric page may bear; One noble stroke with a whole life may glow, 'Or deify the canvass till it shine With beauty so surpassing all below, That they who kneel to idols so divine Break no commandment, for high heaven is there Transfused, transfigurated: and the line Of poesy, which peoples but the air With thought and beings of our thought reflected. Art shall resume and equal even the sway Ye shall be taught by Ruin to revive In Roman works wrought by Italian hands, Such as all flesh shall flock to kneel in: ne'er And lay their sins at this huge gate of heaven Amidst the clash of swords, and clang of helms, Shall be the Age of Beauty, and while whelms The genius of my country shall arise, Fragrant as fair, and recognised afar, But free; who sweats for monarchs is no more Is it that they on earth, whose earthly power Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame The inner war of passions deep and fierce ? Florence! when thy harsh sentence razed my roof, I loved thee; but the vengeance of my verse, The hate of injuries which every year Thy pride, thy wealth, thy freedom, and even that, The sway of petty tyrants in a state; For such sway is not limited to kings Which make men hate themselves, and one another, The faction Chief is but the Sultan's brother, Who has the whole world for a dungeon strong, Seas, mountains, and the horizon's verge for bars, The ashes thou shalt ne'er obtain-Alas! Raised by thy will, all thine in peace or war And for this thou hast warr'd with me.-'T is done : Beholding with the dark eye of a seer a tear, And make them own the Prophet in his tomb. NOTES TO PROPHECY OF DANTE. Note 1, page 206, line 11. Note 2, page 206, line 27. My paradise had still been incomplete. "Che sol per le belle opre Che fanno in Cielo il sole e l' altre stelle Pensar ben dèi ch' ogni terren' piacere. Canzone, in which Dante describes the person of trice, Strophe third. Note 3, page 207, line 20. I would have had my Florence great and free. "L'Esilio che m' è dato onor mi tegno. uoli e uffici della Repubblica nella sua Città; e Aristotele che, &c. &c. ebbe due mogli in varj tempi, ed ebbe figliuoli, e ricchezze assai.-E Marco Tullio-e Ca tone-e Varrone-e Seneca-ebbero moglie," &c. &c. It is odd that honest Lionardo's examples, with the ex ception of Seneca, and for any thing I know of Aris totle, are not the most felicitous. Tully's Terentia, and Socrates' Xantippe, by no means contributed to their husbands' happiness, whatever they might do to their philosophy-Cato gave away his wife of Varro's we know nothing-and of Seneca's, only that she was disposed to die with him, but recovered, and lived several years afterwards. But says Lionardo, "L'uoBea-mo è animale civile, secondo piace a tutti i filosofi." And thence concludes that the greatest proof of the animal's civism is "la prima congiunzione, dalla quale multiplicata nasce la Città." Cader tra' buoni è pur di lode degno." Sonnet of Dante, in which he represents Right, Generosity, and Tempe rance as banished from among men, and seeking refuge from Love, who inhabits his bosom. Note 4, page 207, line 36. The dust she dooms to scatter. "Ut si quis predictorum ullo tempore in fortiam dicti Communis pervenerit, tallis perveniens igne comburatur, sic quod moriatur." Second sentence of Florence against Dante, and the fourteen accused with him.-The Latin is worthy of the sentence. Note 5, page 207, line 133. This lady, whose name was Gemma, sprung from one of the most powerful Guelf families, named Donati. Corso Donati was the principal adversary of the Ghibellines. She is described as being "Admodum morosa, ut de Xantippe Socratis philosophi conjuge scriptum esse legimus," according to Giannozza Manetti. But Lionardo Aretino is scandalized with Boccace, in his life of Dante, for saying that literary men should not marry. "Qui il Boccaccio non ha pazienza, e dice, le mogli esser contrarie agli studj; e non si ricorda che Socrate ilp iù nobile filosofo che mai fosse, ebbe moglie e figli Note 6, page 208, line 85. Nine moons shall rise o'er scenes like this and set. See "Sacco di Roma," generally attributed to Guicciardini. There is another written by a Jacopo Buonaparte, Gentiluomo Samminiatese che vi si trovo presente. Note 7, page 209, line 39. Conquerors on foreign shores, and the far wave. Alexander of Parma, Spinola, Pescara, Eugene of Savoy, Montecucco. Note 8, page 209, line 40. Discoverers of new worlds, which take their name. He who once enters in a tyrant's hall, &c. Note 10, page 209, lines 75 and 76. And the, their prince, shall rank among my poera, Note 12, page 210, line 87. The cupola of St. Peter's. Note 13, page 210, line 97. His chisel bid the Hebrew. The statue of Moses on the monument of Julius II. SONETTO Di Giovanni Battista Zappi. Chi è costui, che in dura pietra scolto, Onor del mento, e 'l doppio raggio in fronte, Acque ei sospese a se d' intorno, e tale Alzata aveste imago a questa eguale! Note 14, page 210, line 100. Over the damn'd before the Judgment throne Note 15, page 210, line 103. The stream of his great thoughts shall spring from me. I have read somewhere (if I do not err, for I cannul recollect where) that Dante was so great a favourite of Michel's Angiolo's, that he had designed the whole of the Divina Commedia; but that the volume containing these studies was lost by sea. Note 16, page 210, line 123. Her charms to pontiff's prowl, who but employ, &c. See the treatment of Michel Angiolo by Julius II and his neglect by Leo X. Note 17, page 211, line 32. "What have I done to thee, my people?" "E scrisse più volte non solamente a particolanı cittydini del reggimento, ma ancora al popolo, e intra l'altre una Epistola assai lunga che comincia :-'Popule mi, quid feci tibi?'" Vita di Dante scritta da Lionardo Aretino. "Now the Serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”—Gen. iä. 1. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. THIS "MYSTERY OF CAIN" IS INSCRIBED THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. have not been recently familiar. Since I was twenty 1 have never read Milton; but I had read him so frequently THE following scenes are entitled "a Mystery," in before, that this may make little difference. Gesner's conformity with the ancient title annexed to dramas upon "Death of Abel" I have never read since I was eight similar subjects, which were styled "Mysteries, or Mo-years of age, at Aberdeen. The general impression of ralities." The author has by no means taken the same my recollection is delight; but of the contents I remember liberties with his subject which were common formerly, only that Cain's wife was called Mahala, and Abel's as may be seen by any reader curious enough to refer Thirza: in the following pages I have called them" Adah" to those very profane productions, whether in English, and "Zilla," the earliest female names which occur in French, Italian, or Spanish. The author has endeavoured Genesis; they were those of Lamech's wives: those of to preserve the language adapted to his characters; and Cain and Abel are not called by their names. Whether, where it is (and this is but rarely) taken from actual then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same Scripture, he has made as little alteration, even of words, in expression, I know nothing, and care as little. as the rhythm would permit. The reader will recollec: The reader will please to bear in mind (what few that the book of Genesis does not state that Eve was choose to recollect) that there is no allusion to a future tempted by a demon, but by "the Serpent ;" and that only state in any of the books of Moses, nor indeed in the Ord because he was "the most subtile of all the beasts of the Testament. For a reason for this extraordinary omission field." Whatever interpretation the Rabbins and the he may consult "Warburton's Divine Legation" whether Fathers may have put upon this, I must take the words satisfactory or not, no better has yet been assigned. I as I find them, and reply with Bishop Watson upon simi- have therefore supposed it new to Cain, without, I hope, lar occasions, when the Fathers were quoted to him, as any perversion of Holy Writ. 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 withut anachronism. With the poems upon similar topics I 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 any thing 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 crea tion 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 "Tramelogedie" of Alfieri. called "Abel."-I have never read that nor any other of the posthumous works of the writer, except his Life. Adam. GOD, the Eternal! Infinite! All-wise!- Eve. God! who didst name the day, and separate Abel. God! who didst call the elements into Adah. God, the Eternal! Parent of all things! Keep us from further evil :-Hail! all hail. The fruit of our forbidden tree begins Adam. And we must gather it again. Adam. Why not? The snake spoke truth: it was the tree of knowledge; I fain would be alone a little while. Adah. Abel. Be on your spirit, brother! The peace of God [Exeunt ABEL, ZILLAH, and ADAH Cain, (solus.) I sought not to be born; nor love the state Adam. Son Cain, my first-born, wherefore art thou The fairest in the centre? They have but silent? One answer to all questions, "'t was his will, The cherubim-defended battlements? If I shrink not from these, the fire-arm'd angels, As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems Enter LUCIFER. Lucifer. Mortal! Spirit, who art thou? Lucifer. Master of spirits. But, if he made us-he cannot unmake: We in our conflict! Goodness would not make Creating worlds, to make eternity Less burdensome to his immense existence And unparticipated solitude! Let him crowd orb on orb: he is alone Indefinite, indissoluble tyrant! Could he but crush himself, 't were the best boon And being so, canst thou He ever granted: but let him reign on, Leave them, and walk with dust? Of dust, and feel for it, and with You know my thonghts? Lucifer. Worthy of thought;-'t is And multiply himself in misery! I know the thoughts Spirits and men, at least we sympathise, you. How! By the unbounded sympathy of all— They are the thoughts of all With all! But He! so wretched in his height, your immortal part This has not been reveal'd: What immortal part? Was withheld from us by my father's folly, Lucifer. They have deceived thee; thou shalt live. But live to die and, living, see no thing To make death hateful, save an innate clinging, Instinct of life, which I abhor, as I Despise myself, yet cannot overcome And so I live. Would I had never lived! I live, Cain. Thou speak'st to me of things which long have swum In visions through my thought: I never could Of serpents, and of fruits and trees: I see Lucifer. Thou livest, and must live for ever: think not This misery was mine.-My father is Tamed down; my mother has forgot the mind Cain. And ye? Lucifer Are everlasting. Cain. Are ye happy? Are ye happy? Lucifer. Save with the truth: was not the tree, the tree The reach of beings innocent, and curious In thunder. Lucifer. Then who was the demon? He Cain. The fruits, or neither! Lucifer. The other may be still. Would they had snatch'd both One is yours aloady |