Lucifer.

No! by heaven, which He

Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity
Of worlds and life, which I hold with him- No!
I have a victor-true; but no superior.
Homage he has from all- but none from me :
I battle it against him, as I battled

In highest heaven. Through all eternity,
And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades,
And the interminable realms of space,
And the infinity of endless ages,

All, all, will I dispute! And world by world,
And star by star, and universe by universe,
Shall tremble in the balance, till the great
Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease,
Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quench'd!
And what can quench our immortality,
Or mutual and irrevocable hate?

He as a conqueror will call the conquer'd
Evil; but what will be the good he gives?
Were I the victor, his works would be deem'd
The only evil ones. And you, ye new
And scarce born mortals, what have been his gifts
To you already, in your little world? I

Cain. But few! and some of those but bitter.
Lucifer.

With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest
Of his celestial boons to you and yours.
Evil and good are things in their own essence,
And not made good or evil by the giver;
But if he gives you good -
-so call him; if
Evil springs from him, do not name it mine,
Till ye know better its true fount; and judge
Not by words, though of spirits, but the fruits
Of your existence, such as it must be.

One good gift has the fatal apple given-
Your reason: let it not be over-sway'd
By tyrannous threats to force you into faith
'Gainst all external sense and inward feeling:
Think and endure, and form an inner world
In your own bosom
where the outward fails;
So shall you nearer be the spiritual
Nature, and war triumphant with your own.

2

Back

[They disappear.

How beautifully parted! No; you shall not
Kiss him, at least not now: he will awake soon-
His hour of mid-day rest is nearly over;

But it were pity to disturb him till
'T is closed.

Cain. You have said well; I will contain

My heart till then. He smiles, and sleeps! - Sleep on
And smile, thou little, young inheritor

Of a world scarce less young: sleep on, and smile!
Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering
And innocent! thou hast not pluck'd the fruit-
Thou know'st not thou art naked! Must the time
Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown,
Which were not mine nor thine? But now sleep on!
His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles,
And shining lids are trembling o'er his long
Lashes, dark as the cypress which waves o'er them;
Half open, from beneath them the clear blue
Laughs out, although in slumber. He must dream
Of what? Of Paradise!- Ay ! dream of it,
My disinherited boy! 'T is but a dream;
For never more thyself, thy sons, nor fathers,
Shall walk in that forbidden place of joy! 3

Adah. Dear Cain! Nay, do not whisper o'er our son
Such melancholy yearnings o'er the past:
Why wilt thou always mourn for Paradise?
Can we not make another?

1["Whatever we enjoy is purely a free gift from our Creator; but that we enjoy no more, can never sure be deemed an injury, or a just reason to question his infinite benevolence. All our happiness is owing to his goodness; but that it is no greater, is owing only to ourselves; that is, to our not having any inherent right to any happiness, or even to any existence at all." JENYNS.]

His

2 [As to the question of the origin of evil, Lord Byron has neither thrown any new light upon it, nor darkened the previous knowledge which we possessed It remains just where it was, in its mighty, unfathomed obscurity. Lordship may, it is true, have recapitulated some of the arguments with a more concise and 'cavalier air than the old schoolmen or fathers; but the result is the same. no poetical road to metaphysics. In one view, however, which our rhapsodist has taken of the subject, we conceive he has done well. He represents the temptations held out to Cain by Satan, as constantly succeeding and corresponding to some previous discontent and gloomy disposition in his

There is

Where'er thou wilt: where'er thou art, I feel not
The want of this so much regretted Eden.
Have I not thee, our boy, our sire, and brother,
And Zillahour sweet sister, and our Eve,
To whom we owe so much besides our birth?
Cain. Yes-death, too, is amongst the debts we
owe her.
[hence,

Adah. Cain! that proud spirit, who withdrew thee

own mind; so that Lucifer is little more than the personified demon of his imagination: and further, the acts of guilt and folly into which Cain is hurried are not treated as accidental, or as occasioned by passing causes, but as springing from an internal fury, a morbid state akin to phrensy, a mind dissatisfied with itself and all things, and haunted by an insatiable, stubborn longing after knowledge rather than happiness, and a fatal proneness to dwell on the evil side of things rather than the good. We here see the dreadful consequences of not curbing this disposition (which is, after all, perhaps, the sin that most easily besets humanity,) exemplified in a striking point of view; and we so far think, that the moral to be derived from a perusal of this Mystery is a valuable one.- JEFFREY.]

3 [The censorious may say what they will, but there are speeches in the mouth of Cain and Adah, especially regarding their child, which nothing in English poetry but the "woodnotes wild" of Shakspeare ever equalled. SIR EGERTON BRYDGES.]

Abel.

Cain. I know not.

Abel.

Cain.

[Exit ADAH, with her child.

Where hast thou been?

Nor what thou hast seen?
The dead,

The immortal, the unbounded, the omnipotent,
The overpowering mysteries of space-

The innumerable worlds that were and are-
A whirlwind of such overwhelming things, [spheres
Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced
Singing in thunder round me, as have made me
Unfit for mortal converse: leave me, Abel.

Abel. Thine eyes are flashing with unnatural light—
Thy cheek is flush'd with an unnatural hue
Thy words are fraught with an unnatural sound
What may this mean?

--

Cain. It means- -I pray thee, leave me. Abel. Not till we have pray'd and sacrificed together. Cain. Abel, I pray thee, sacrifice aloneJehovah loves thee well.

Abel.

Choose thou!

Cain.

I have chosen.

Abel.

And suits thee, as the elder. Thine offerings.

"Tis the highest, Now prepare

Cain. Abel.

Where are thine ?

Behold them here

The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof—
A shepherd's humble offering.
Cuin.

I have no flocks;

Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life
Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us,

And spared, despite our father's sin, to make
His children all lost, as they might have been,
Had not thy justice been so temper'd with
The mercy which is thy delight, as to
Accord a pardon like a Paradise,
Compared with our great crimes: - - Sole Lord of light!
Of good, and glory, and eternity;
Without whom all were evil, and with whom
Nothing can err, except to some good end
Of thine omnipotent benevolence-
Inscrutable, but still to be fulfill'd—
Accept from out thy humble first of shepherd's
First of the first-born flocks- an offering,
In itself nothing-as what offering can be
Aught unto thee?- -but yet accept it for
The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in
The face of thy high heaven, bowing his own
Even to the dust, of which he is, in honour
Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore !

Cain (standing erect during this speech). Spirit! whate'er or whosoe'er thou art,

Omnipotent, it may be—and, if good,
Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil;
Jehovah upon earth! and God in heaven!
And it may be with other names, because
Thine attributes seem many, as thy works:-
If thou must be propitiated with prayers,
Take them! If thou must be induced with altars,
And soften'd with a sacrifice, receive them!
Two beings here erect them unto thee.
If thou lov'st blood, the shepherd's shrine, which
On my right hand, hath shed it for thy service
In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek

[smokes

In sanguinary incense to thy skies;

Or if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth,
And milder seasons, which the unstain'd turf
I spread them on now offers in the face

Of the broad sun which ripen'd them, may seem
Good to thee, inasmuch as they have not
Suffer'd in limb or life, and rather form
A sample of thy works, than supplication
To look on ours! If a shrine without victim,
And altar without gore, may win thy favour,
Look on it! and for him who dresseth it,

He is such as thou mad'st him; and seeks nothing
Which must be won by kneeling: if he's evil,
Strike him thou art omnipotent, and may'st-
For what can he oppose? If he be good,
Strike him, or spare him, as thou wilt! since all
Rests upon thee; and good and evil seem
To have no power themselves, save in thy will;
And whether that be good or ill I know not,
Not being omnipotent, nor fit to judge
Omnipotence, but merely to endure

Its mandate; which thus far I have endured.
[The fire upon the altar of ABEL kindles into a
column of the brightest flame, and ascends to
heaven; while a whirlwind throws down the
altar of CAIN, and scatters the fruits abroad
upon the earth.

Abel (kneeling). Oh, brother, pray! Jehovah's wroth with thee.

[It is evident that Lord Byron had studied his subject very deeply; and, though he has varied a little from, or gone a little beyond, the letter of Scripture, which is very concise, yet he has apparently entered with great exactness into the minds of Cain and Abel in this most interesting scene: and were it allowable to ascribe to the author of a dramatic work the principles or feelings of all or any of his characters, except as adopting them for his particular purpose, one would be at a loss to say, whether Lord Byron ought most to be identified with Cain, or with Abel; so appropriately has he maintained the character of each. — GRANT's "Notes on Cain," p. 401.]

2 [As a whole, this scene is heavy and clumsily managed. It can hardly fail to strike the reader as a defect in poetry, no less than a departure from history, that the event which is the

Abel (falls). What hast thou done, my brother? Cain. Brother!

Abel.

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 Poor Zillah

Cain (after a moment's stupefuction). My hand! 't is all red, and withWhat?

[A long pause. Looking slowly round.

Where am I? alone! Where's Abel? where Cain ? Can it be that I am he? My brother, Awake! why liest thou so on the green earth?

'Tis not the hour of slumber; why so pale?
What, hast thou! thou wert full of life this morn!
Abel! I pray thee, mock me not! I smote
Too fiercely, but not fatally. Ah, why
Wouldst thou oppose me? This is mockery;
And only done to daunt me: 't was a blow-
And but a blow. Stir-stir-nay, only stir!
Why, so- that's well!-thou breath'st! breathe
Oh, God! Oh, God!
[upon me!

Abel (very faintly). What's he who speaks of God? Cain. Thy murderer.

Abel.

Then may God forgive him! Cain, Comfort poor Zillah : she has but one brother Now.

[ABEL dies. 2

catastrophe of the drama, is no otherwise than incidentally we may say accidentally, produced by those which precede it. Cain, whose whole character is represented in Scripture as envious and malicious, rather than impious; this Cain, as painted by Lord Byron, has no quarrel with his brother whatever, nor, except in a single word, does he intimate any jealousy of him. Two acts, and half the third, are passed without our advancing a single step towards the conclusion; and Abel at length falls by a randomn blow given in a struggle of which the object is not his destruction, but the overthrow of Jehovah's altar. If we could suppose a reader to sit down to the perusal of the drama in ignorance of its catastrophe, he could scarcely be less surprised by its termination in such a stroke of chance-medley, than if Abel had been made to drop down in an apoplexy, or Cain to die of grief over his body. HEBER.]

No! - no!

[wet;

Cain. And I none!-Who makes me brotherless?
His eyes are open! then he is not dead!
Death is like sleep; and sleep shuts down our lids.
His lips, too, are apart; why then he breathes !
And yet I feel it not. His heart!- his heart!-
Let me see, doth it beat? methinks
This is a vision, else I am become
The native of another and worse world.
The earth swims round me: - what is this? —'t is
[Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it.
And yet there are no dews! 'Tis blood—my blood —
My brother's and my own! and shed by me!
Then what have I further to do with life,
Since I have taken life from my own flesh ?
But he can not be dead! - Is silence death?
No; he will wake: then let me watch by him.
Life cannot be so slight, as to be quench'd

Thus quickly! - he hath spoken to me since -
What shall I say to him? - My brother! - No :
He will not answer to that name; for brethren
Smite not each other. Yet - yet - speak to me.
Oh! for a word more of that gentle voice,
That I may bear to hear my own again!

Enter ZILLAH.

He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine
With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain !
Why cam'st thou not in time to save him from
This violence? Whatever hath assail'd him,
Thou wert the stronger, and should'st have stepp'd in
Between him and aggression ! Father! Eve! -
Adah!come hither! Death is in the world!

[Erit ZILLAH, calling on her Parents, &c. Cain (solus). And who hath brought him there? -I who abhor

The name of Death so deeply, that the thought
Empoison'd all my life, before I knew

Curse him not, mother, for he is thy sonCurse him not, mother, for he is my brother, And my betroth'd.

Eve.

He hath left thee no brother Zillah no husband-me no son ! — for thus I curse him from my sight for evermore! All bonds I break between us! as he broke That of his nature, in yon-Oh death! death! Why didst thou not take me, who first incurr'd thee? Why dost thou not so now? Adam.

Eve! let not this,

Thy natural grief, lead to impiety!
A heavy doom was long forespoken to us;
And now that it begins, let it be borne

In such sort as may show our God, that we
Are faithful servants to his holy will.

Eve (pointing to Cain). His will!! the will of yon 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 him forth o'er the wilderness, like us

From Eden, till his children do by him
As he did by his brother! May the swords
And wings of fiery cherubim pursue him

By day and night-snakes spring up in his path-
Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth-the leaves
On which he lays his head to sleep be strew'd
With scorpions! May his dreams be of his victim!
His waking a continual dread of death!
May the clear rivers turn to blood as he
Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip!
May every element shun or change to him!
May he live in the pangs which others die with!
And death itself wax something worse than death
To him who first acquainted him with man!
Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain,
Through all the coming myriads of mankind,
Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their sire!
May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust

A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her God! ! [Exit Eve.

for you, when joined to the lines already sent, as you may wish to meet with in the course of your business. But don't forget the addition of these three lines, which are clinchers to Eve's Z