"Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”—Gen., ch. iii., v. 1. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.. THIS MYSTERY OF CAIN Is Inscribed, BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. 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 lib- | erties 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 endeavored 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 recollection 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. *"Cain" was begun at Ravenna, on the 16th of July, 1821, completed on the 9th of September, and published, in the same volume with Sardanapalus and the Two Foscari, in December. Perhaps no production of Lord Byron has been Whether, then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same in expression, I know nothing, and care as little. The reader will please 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 has 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, etc., is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him 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. RAVENNA, Sept. 20, 1821. more generally admired, on the score of ability, than this "Mystery; "-certainly none, on first appearing, exposed the author to a fiercer tempest of personal abuse.-See ante, Life of Byron. I? Who Saith that? It is not written so on high: Cain. But the thing had a demon? The umbrage of the walls of Eden, checker'd Up to the lights above us, in the azure, Cain. I'm glad of that: I would not have them They are so lovely. What is death? I fear, I cannot compass: 't is denounced against us, He but woke one What ill? In those he spake to with his forky tongue. Have roll'd o'er your dead ashes, and your seed's, That bows to him, who made things but to bend Thy But we, who see the truth, must speak it. Was there to envy in the narrow bounds not, With all thy tree of knowledge. But thou canst not Lucifer. And heart to look on? Lucifer. Darest thou look on death? Been seen. Lucifer. To be resolved into the earth. I cannot answer. As I know not death, Were I quiet earth, That were no evil: would I ne'er had been That is a grovelling wish, He was hinder'd. Deadly error! Cain. Wilt thou teach me all? Name it. Be it proved. He has not yet Thou dost fall down and worship me-thy Lord. No. Lucifer. No;-I have nought in common with him! His power. I dwell apart; but I am great :- I never Lucifer. To him? Hast thou ne'er bow'd Cain. Have I not said it ?-need I say it? Lucifer. It has no shape; but will absorb all Could not thy mighty knowledge teach thee that? That bear the form of earth-born being. Cain. I thought it was a being: who could do Lucifer. Ah! Who? The Maker-call him Which name thou wilt; he makes but to destroy. Of death: although I know not what it is, Lucifer. He who bows not to him has bow'd to Cain. But I will bend to neither. Thou art my worshipper: not worshipping Cain. Lucifer. Thou 'lt know here-and hereafter. Ne'ertheless, And what is that? Let me but Adah. But he is welcome, as they were: they deign'd Of rest?-he is welcome. The angels we have seen. Are there, then, others? To be our guests-will he? Wilt thou? Lucifer. I ask Cain. I must away with him. Adah. And leave us? And me? Thee to be mine. Beloved Adah! Art thou that steppest between heart and heart? Cain. He is a god. Adah. How know'st thou ? Cain. A god. Ask Eve, your mother: bears she not the knowledge Adah. And happy intercourse with happy_spirits: He speaks like There is a fastening attraction which Adah. So did the serpent, and it lied. Fixes my fluttering eyes on his; my heart Lucifer. Thou errest, Adah!-was not the tree Nearer and nearer:-Cain-Cain-save me from Adah. But all we know of it has gather'd More than thy mother, and thy sire? It one day will be in your children. I have heard it said, What must he be you cannot love when known? X Cain. For thee, my Adah, I choose not-it was Born with me-but I love nought else. Adah. Our parents? Cain. Did they love us when they snatch'd from the tree That which hath driven us all from Paradise? Adah. We were not born then-and if we had been, Should we not love them and our children, Cain? In the same hour! They pluck'd the tree of science By ages!-and I must be sire of such things! Save in my father, who is God's own image; To Death-the unknown! Methinks the tree of They fill my eyes with tears, and so dost thou. Thou seem'st unhappy: do not make us so, Lucifer. Adah. Lucifer. By all. What all? The million millionsThe myriad myriads-the all-peopled earthThe unpeopled earth-and the o'er-peopled hell, Of which thy bosom is the germ. Adah. Oh, Cain! Alone I could not, This spirit curseth us. Cain. Let him say on; Him will I follow. Whither? To a place Nor would be happy: but with those around us, I think I could be so, despite of death, Which, as I know it not, I dread not, though It seems an awful shadow-if I may Lucifer. And thou couldst not Alone, thou sayst, be happy? Adah. Or of his first-born son: ask your own heart; Whence he shall come back to thee in an hour; Cain. Adah. Lead on. Will he, He shall. In sooth, return within an hour? With us acts are exempt from time, and we We breathe not by a mortal measurement- Ay, woman! he alone Of mortals from that place (the first and last Who shall return, save ONE), shall come back to thee, Eternity-and heaven and earth-and that Lucifer. Cain! thou hast heard. If thou dost long for knowledge, I can satiate [Exeunt Lucifer and Cain. Adah (follows, exclaiming). Cain! my brother! Cain! ACT II. SCENE I.-The Abyss of Space. Cain. I tread on air, and sink not; yet I fear To sink. Lucifer. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air, of which I am the prince. Cain. Can I do so without impiety? ✓ Lucifer. Believe-and sink not! doubt-and perish! thus Would run the edict of the other God, Which, knowing nought beyond their shallow senses, Worship the word which strikes their ear, and deem In their abasement. I will have none such: 66 To save thee; but fly with me o'er the gulf Dost thou not recognize The dust which form'd your father? Can it be? Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether, Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Link'd to a servile mass of matter, and, Fresh souls and bodies, all foredoom'd to be Spirit! I The Other Thou canst not Spake not of this unto my father, when I may be in the rest as angels are. Lucifer. I am angelic: wouldst thou be as I am? Cain. I know not what thou art; I see thy power, And see thou show'st me things beyond my power, Beyond all power of my born faculties, Although inferior still to my desires And my conceptions. Lucifer. What are they which dwell So humbly in their pride, as to sojourn With worms in clay? Cain. And what art thou who dwellest Point me out the site So haughtily in spirit, and canst range Of Paradise. Which shone the roundest of the stars, when I Which are around us; and, as we move on, Lucifer. And if there should be Worlds greater than thine own, inhabited All living, and all doom'd to death, and wretched, I should be proud of thought But if that high thought were Cain. Which knew such things. Lucifer. |