Chapter 22

of Caucasus_.

_Japh._ (_solus_). Ye wilds, that look eternal; and thou cave, Which seem'st unfathomable; and ye mountains, So varied and so terrible in beauty; Here, in your rugged majesty of rocks And toppling trees that twine their roots with stone[145] In perpendicular places, where the foot Of man would tremble, could he reach them--yes, Ye look eternal! Yet, in a few days, Perhaps even hours, ye will be changed, rent, hurled Before the mass of waters; and yon cave, 10 Which seems to lead into a lower world, Shall have its depths searched by the sweeping wave, And dolphins gambol in the lion's den! And man----Oh, men! my fellow-beings! Who Shall weep above your universal grave, Save I? Who shall be left to weep? My kinsmen, Alas! what am I better than ye are, That I must live beyond ye? Where shall be The pleasant places where I thought of Anah While I had hope? or the more savage haunts, 20 Scarce less beloved, where I despaired for her? And can it be!--Shall yon exulting peak, Whose glittering top is like a distant star, Lie low beneath the boiling of the deep? No more to have the morning sun break forth, And scatter back the mists in floating folds From its tremendous brow? no more to have Day's broad orb drop behind its head at even, Leaving it with a crown of many hues? No more to be the beacon of the world, 30 For angels to alight on, as the spot Nearest the stars? And can those words "_no more_" Be meant for thee, for all things, save for us, And the predestined creeping things reserved By my sire to Jehovah's bidding? May _He_ preserve _them_, and I _not_ have the power To snatch the loveliest of earth's daughters from A doom which even some serpent, with his mate, Shall 'scape to save his kind to be prolonged, To hiss and sting through some emerging world, 40 Reeking and dank from out the slime, whose ooze Shall slumber o'er the wreck of this, until The salt morass subside into a sphere Beneath the sun, and be the monument, The sole and undistinguished sepulchre, Of yet quick myriads of all life? How much Breath will be stilled at once! All beauteous world! So young, so marked out for destruction, I With a cleft heart look on thee day by day, And night by night, thy numbered days and nights. 50 I cannot save thee, cannot save even her Whose love had made me love thee more; but as A portion of thy dust, I cannot think Upon thy coming doom without a feeling Such as--Oh God! and canst thou-- [_He pauses_.

[_A rushing sound from the cavern is heard, and shouts of laughter--afterwards a Spirit passes_.

_Japh._ In the name Of the Most High, what art thou?

_Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha! ha![146]

_Japh._ By all that earth holds holiest, speak!

_Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha!

_Japh._ By the approaching deluge! by the earth Which will be strangled by the ocean! by The deep which will lay open all her fountains! 60 The heaven which will convert her clouds to seas, And the Omnipotent who makes and crushes! Thou unknown, terrible, and indistinct, Yet awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me! Why dost thou laugh that horrid laugh?

_Spirit_. Why weep'st thou?

_Japh._ For earth and all her children.

_Spirit_. Ha! ha! ha! [_Spirit vanishes_.

_Japh._ How the fiend mocks the tortures of a world, The coming desolation of an orb, On which the sun shall rise and warm no life! How the earth sleeps! and all that in it is 70 Sleep too upon the very eve of death! Why should they wake to meet it? What are here, Which look like death in life, and speak like things Born ere this dying world? They come like clouds! [_Various Spirits pass from the cavern_.

_Spirit_. Rejoice! The abhorréd race Which could not keep in Eden their high place, But listened to the voice Of knowledge without power, Are nigh the hour, 80 Of Death! Not slow, not single, not by sword, nor sorrow, Nor years, nor heart-break, nor Time's sapping motion, Shall they drop off. Behold their last to-morrow! Earth shall be Ocean! And no breath, Save of the winds, be on the unbounded wave! Angels shall tire their wings, but find no spot: Not even a rock from out the liquid grave Shall lift its point to save, 90 Or show the place where strong Despair hath died, After long looking o'er the ocean wide For the expected ebb which cometh not: All shall be void, Destroyed![147] Another element shall be the lord Of life, and the abhorred Children of dust be quenched; and of each hue Of earth nought left but the unbroken blue; And of the variegated mountain 100 Shall nought remain Unchanged, or of the level plain; Cedar and pine shall lift their tops in vain: All merged within the universal fountain, Man, earth, and fire, shall die, And sea and sky Look vast and lifeless in the eternal eye. Upon the foam Who shall erect a home?

_Japh._ (_coming forward_). My sire! 110 Earth's seed shall not expire; Only the evil shall be put away From day. Avaunt! ye exulting demons of the waste! Who howl your hideous joy When God destroys whom you dare not destroy: Hence! haste! Back to your inner caves! Until the waves Shall search you in your secret place, 120 And drive your sullen race Forth, to be rolled upon the tossing winds, In restless wretchedness along all space!

_Spirit_. Son of the saved! When thou and thine have braved The wide and warring element; When the great barrier of the deep is rent, Shall thou and thine be good or happy?--No! Thy new world and new race shall be of woe-- Less goodly in their aspect, in their years 130 Less than the glorious giants, who Yet walk the world in pride, The Sons of Heaven by many a mortal bride. Thine shall be nothing of the past, save tears! And art thou not ashamed Thus to survive, And eat, and drink, and wive? With a base heart so far subdued and tamed, As even to hear this wide destruction named, Without such grief and courage, as should rather 140 Bid thee await the world-dissolving wave, Than seek a shelter with thy favoured father, And build thy city o'er the drowned earth's grave? Who would outlive their kind, Except the base and blind? Mine Hateth thine As of a different order in the sphere, But not our own. There is not one who hath not left a throne 150 Vacant in heaven to dwell in darkness here, Rather than see his mates endure alone. Go, wretch! and give A life like thine to other wretches--live! And when the annihilating waters roar Above what they have done, Envy the giant patriarchs then no more, And scorn thy sire as the surviving one! Thyself for being his son!

_Chorus of Spirits issuing from the cavern_.

Rejoice! 160 No more the human voice Shall vex our joys in middle air With prayer; No more Shall they adore; And we, who ne'er for ages have adored The prayer-exacting Lord, To whom the omission of a sacrifice Is vice; We, we shall view the deep's salt sources poured 170 Until one element shall do the work Of all in chaos; until they, The creatures proud of their poor clay, Shall perish, and their bleached bones shall lurk In caves, in dens, in clefts of mountains, where The deep shall follow to their latest lair; Where even the brutes, in their despair, Shall cease to prey on man and on each other, And the striped tiger shall lie down to die Beside the lamb, as though he were his brother; 180 Till all things shall be as they were, Silent and uncreated, save the sky: While a brief truce Is made with Death, who shall forbear The little remnant of the past creation, To generate new nations for his use; This remnant, floating o'er the undulation Of the subsiding deluge, from its slime, When the hot sun hath baked the reeking soil Into a world, shall give again to Time 190 New beings--years, diseases, sorrow, crime-- With all companionship of hate and toil, Until----

_Japh._ (_Interrupting them_). The eternal Will Shall deign to expound this dream Of good and evil; and redeem Unto himself all times, all things; And, gathered under his almighty wings, Abolish Hell! And to the expiated Earth Restore the beauty of her birth, 200 Her Eden in an endless paradise, Where man no more can fall as once he fell, And even the very demons shall do well!

_Spirits_. And when shall take effect this wondrous spell?

_Japh._ When the Redeemer cometh; first in pain, And then in glory.

_Spirit_. Meantime still struggle in the mortal chain, Till Earth wax hoary; War with yourselves, and Hell, and Heaven, in vain, Until the clouds look gory 210 With the blood reeking from each battle-plain; New times, new climes, new arts, new men; but still, The same old tears, old crimes, and oldest ill, Shall be amongst your race in different forms; But the same moral storms Shall oversweep the future, as the waves In a few hours the glorious giants' graves[148].

_Chorus of Spirits_.

Brethren, rejoice! Mortal, farewell! Hark! hark! already we can hear the voice 220 Of growing Ocean's gloomy swell; The winds, too, plume their piercing wings; The clouds have nearly filled their springs; The fountains of the great deep shall be broken, And heaven set wide her windows[149]; while mankind View, unacknowledged, each tremendous token-- Still, as they were from the beginning, blind. We hear the sound they cannot hear, The mustering thunders of the threatening sphere; Yet a few hours their coming is delayed; 230 Their flashing banners, folded still on high, Yet undisplayed, Save to the Spirit's all-pervading eye. Howl! howl! oh Earth! Thy death is nearer than thy recent birth; Tremble, ye mountains, soon to shrink below The Ocean's overflow! The wave shall break upon your cliffs; and shells, The little shells, of ocean's least things be Deposed where now the eagle's offspring dwells[150]-- 240 How shall he shriek o'er the remorseless sea! And call his nestlings up with fruitless yell, Unanswered, save by the encroaching swell;-- While man shall long in vain for his broad wings, The wings which could not save:-- Where could he rest them, while the whole space brings Nought to his eye beyond the deep, his grave? Brethren, rejoice! And loudly lift each superhuman voice-- All die, 250 Save the slight remnant of Seth's seed-- The seed of Seth, Exempt for future sorrow's sake from death. But of the sons of Cain None shall remain; And all his goodly daughters Must lie beneath the desolating waters; Or, floating upward, with their long hair laid Along the wave, the cruel heaven upbraid, Which would not spare 260 Beings even in death so fair. It is decreed, All die! And to the universal human cry The universal silence shall succeed! Fly, brethren, fly! But still rejoice! We fell! They fall! So perish all 270 These petty foes of Heaven who shrink from Hell! [_The Spirits disappear, soaring upwards_.

_Japh._ (_solus_). God hath proclaimed the destiny of earth; My father's ark of safety hath announced it; The very demons shriek it from their caves; The scroll[151] of Enoch prophesied it long In silent books, which, in their silence, say More to the mind than thunder to the ear: And yet men listened not, nor listen; but Walk darkling to their doom: which, though so nigh, Shakes them no more in their dim disbelief, 280 Than their last cries shall shake the Almighty purpose, Or deaf obedient Ocean, which fulfils it. No sign yet hangs its banner in the air; The clouds are few, and of their wonted texture; The Sun will rise upon the Earth's last day As on the fourth day of creation, when God said unto him, "Shine!" and he broke forth Into the dawn, which lighted not the yet Unformed forefather of mankind--but roused Before the human orison the earlier 290 Made and far sweeter voices of the birds, Which in the open firmament of heaven Have wings like angels, and like them salute Heaven first each day before the Adamites: Their matins now draw nigh--the east is kindling-- And they will sing! and day will break! Both near, So near the awful close! For these must drop Their outworn pinions on the deep; and day, After the bright course of a few brief morrows,-- Aye, day will rise; but upon what?--a chaos, 300 Which was ere day; and which, renewed, makes Time Nothing! for, without life, what are the hours? No more to dust than is Eternity Unto Jehovah, who created both. Without him, even Eternity would be A void: without man, Time, as made for man, Dies with man, and is swallowed in that deep Which has no fountain; as his race will be Devoured by that which drowns his infant world.-- What have we here? Shapes of both earth and air? 310 No--_all_ of heaven, they are so beautiful. I cannot trace their features; but their forms, How lovelily they move along the side Of the grey mountain, scattering its mist! And after the swart savage spirits, whose Infernal immortality poured forth Their impious hymn of triumph, they shall be Welcome as Eden. It may be they come To tell me the reprieve of our young world, For which I have so often prayed.--They come! 320 Anah! oh, God! and with her----

_Enter_ SAMIASA, AZAZIEL, ANAH, _and_ AHOLIBAMAH.

_Anah_. Japhet!

_Sam._ Lo! A son of Adam!

_Aza._ What doth the earth-born here, While all his race are slumbering?

_Japh._ Angel! what Dost thou on earth when thou should'st be on high?

_Aza._ Know'st thou not, or forget'st thou, that a part Of our great function is to guard thine earth?

_Japh._ But all good angels have forsaken earth, Which is condemned; nay, even the evil fly The approaching chaos. Anah! Anah! my In vain, and long, and still to be, beloved! 330 Why walk'st thou with this Spirit, in those hours When no good Spirit longer lights below?

_Anah_. Japhet, I cannot answer thee; yet, yet Forgive me----

_Japh._ May the Heaven, which soon no more Will pardon, do so! for thou art greatly tempted.

_Aho._ Back to thy tents, insulting son of Noah! We know thee not.

_Japh._ The hour may come when thou May'st know me better; and thy sister know Me still the same which I have ever been.

_Sam._ Son of the patriarch, who hath ever been 340 Upright before his God, whate'er thy gifts, And thy words seem of sorrow, mixed with wrath, How have Azaziel, or myself, brought on thee Wrong?

_Japh._ Wrong! the greatest of all wrongs! but, thou Say'st well, though she be dust--I did not, could not, Deserve her. Farewell, Anah! I have said That word so often! but now say it, ne'er To be repeated. Angel! or whate'er Thou art, or must be soon, hast thou the power To save this beautiful--_these_ beautiful 350 Children of Cain?

_Aza._ From what?

_Japh._ And is it so, That ye too know not? Angels! angels! ye Have shared man's sin, and, it may be, now must Partake his punishment; or, at the least, My sorrow.

_Sam._ Sorrow! I ne'er thought till now To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me.

_Japh._ And hath not the Most High expounded them? Then ye are lost as they are lost.

_Aho._ So be it! If they love as they are loved, they will not shrink More to be mortal, than I would to dare 360 An immortality of agonies With Samiasa!

_Anah_. Sister! sister! speak not Thus.

_Aza._ Fearest thou, my Anah?

_Anah_. Yes, for thee: I would resign the greater remnant of This little life of mine, before one hour Of thine eternity should know a pang.

_Japh._ It is for _him_, then! for the Seraph thou Hast left me! That is nothing, if thou hast not Left thy God too! for unions like to these, Between a mortal and an immortal, cannot 370 Be happy or be hallowed. We are sent Upon the earth to toil and die; and they Are made to minister on high unto The Highest: but if he can _save_ thee, soon The hour will come in which celestial aid Alone can do so.

_Anah_. Ah! he speaks of Death.

_Sam._ Of death to _us_! and those who are with us! But that the man seems full of sorrow, I Could smile.

_Japh._ I grieve not for myself, nor fear. I am safe, not for my own deserts, but those 380 Of a well-doing sire, who hath been found Righteous enough to save his children. Would His power was greater of redemption! or That by exchanging my own life for hers, Who could alone have made mine happy, she, The last and loveliest of Cain's race, could share The ark which shall receive a remnant of The seed of Seth!

_Aho._ And dost thou think that we, With Cain's, the eldest born of Adam's, blood Warm in our veins,--strong Cain! who was begotten 390 In Paradise[152],--would mingle with Seth's children? Seth, the last offspring of old Adam's dotage? No, not to save all Earth, were Earth in peril! Our race hath always dwelt apart from thine From the beginning, and shall do so ever.

_Japh._ I did not speak to thee, Aholibamah! Too much of the forefather whom thou vauntest Has come down in that haughty blood which springs From him who shed the first, and that a brother's! But thou, my Anah! let me call thee mine, 400 Albeit thou art not; 'tis a word I cannot Part with, although I must from thee. My Anah! Thou who dost rather make me dream that Abel Had left a daughter, whose pure pious race Survived in thee, so much unlike thou art The rest of the stem Cainites, save in beauty, For all of them are fairest in their favour----

_Aho._ (_interrupting him_). And would'st thou have her like our father's foe In mind, in soul? If _I_ partook thy thought, And dreamed that aught of _Abel_ was in _her_!-- 410 Get thee hence, son of Noah; thou makest strife.

_Japh._ Offspring of Cain, thy father did so!

_Aho._ But He slew not Seth: and what hast thou to do With other deeds between his God and him?

_Japh._ Thou speakest well: his God hath judged him, and I had not named his deed, but that thyself Didst seem to glory in him, nor to shrink From what he had done.

_Aho._ He was our father's father; The eldest born of man, the strongest, bravest, And most enduring:--Shall I blush for him 420 From whom we had our being? Look upon Our race; behold their stature and their beauty, Their courage, strength, and length of days----

_Japh._ They are numbered.

_Aho._ Be it so! but while yet their hours endure, I glory in my brethren and our fathers.

_Japh._ My sire and race but glory in their God, Anah! and thou?----

_Anah_. Whate'er our God decrees, The God of Seth as Cain, I must obey, And will endeavour patiently to obey. But could I dare to pray in his dread hour 430 Of universal vengeance (if such should be), It would not be to live, alone exempt Of all my house. My sister! oh, my sister! What were the world, or other worlds, or all The brightest future, without the sweet past-- Thy love, my father's, all the life, and all The things which sprang up with me, like the stars, Making my dim existence radiant with Soft lights which were not mine? Aholibamah! Oh! if there should be mercy--seek it, find it: 440 I abhor Death, because that thou must die.

_Aho._ What, hath this dreamer, with his father's ark, The bugbear he hath built to scare the world, Shaken _my_ sister? Are _we_ not the loved Of Seraphs? and if we were not, must we Cling to a son of Noah for our lives? Rather than thus----But the enthusiast dreams The worst of dreams, the fantasies engendered By hopeless love and heated vigils. Who Shall shake these solid mountains, this firm earth, 450 And bid those clouds and waters take a shape Distinct from that which we and all our sires Have seen them wear on their eternal way? Who shall do this?

_Japh._ He whose one word produced them.

_Aho._ Who _heard_ that word?

_Japh._ The universe, which leaped To life before it. Ah! smilest thou still in scorn? Turn to thy Seraphs: if they attest it not, They are none.

_Sam._ Aholibamah, own thy God!

_Aho._ I have ever hailed our Maker, Samiasa, As thine, and mine: a God of Love, not Sorrow. 460

_Japh._ Alas! what else is Love but Sorrow? Even He who made earth in love had soon to grieve Above its first and best inhabitants.

_Aho._ 'Tis said so.

_Japh._ It is even so.

_Enter_ NOAH _and_ SHEM.

_Noah_. Japhet! What Dost thou here with these children of the wicked? Dread'st thou not to partake their coming doom?

_Japh._ Father, it cannot be a sin to seek To save an earth-born being; and behold, These are not of the sinful, since they have The fellowship of angels.

_Noah_. These are they, then, 470 Who leave the throne of God, to take them wives From out the race of Cain; the sons of Heaven, Who seek Earth's daughters for their beauty?

_Aza._ Patriarch! Thou hast said it.

_Noah_. Woe, woe, woe to such communion! Has not God made a barrier between Earth And Heaven, and limited each, kind to kind?

_Sam._ Was not man made in high Jehovah's image? Did God not love what he had made? And what Do we but imitate and emulate His love unto created love?

_Noah_. I am 480 But man, and was not made to judge mankind, Far less the sons of God; but as our God Has deigned to commune with me, and reveal _His_ judgments, I reply, that the descent Of Seraphs from their everlasting seat Unto a perishable and perishing, Even on the very _eve_ of _perishing_[153]?--world, Cannot be good.

_Aza._ What! though it were to save?

_Noah_. Not ye in all your glory can redeem What he who made you glorious hath condemned. 490 Were your immortal mission safety, 'twould Be general, not for two, though beautiful; And beautiful they are, but not the less Condemned.

_Japh._ Oh, father! say it not.

_Noah_. Son! son! If that thou wouldst avoid their doom, forget That they exist: they soon shall cease to be, While thou shalt be the sire of a new world, And better.

_Japh._ Let me die with _this_, and _them_!

_Noah_. Thou _shouldst_ for such a thought, but shalt not: he Who _can_, redeems thee.

_Sam._ And why him and thee, 500 More than what he, thy son, prefers to both?

_Noah_. Ask him who made thee greater than myself And mine, but not less subject to his own Almightiness. And lo! his mildest and Least to be tempted messenger appears!

_Enter_ RAPHAEL[154] _the Archangel_.

_Raph._ Spirits! Whose seat is near the throne, What do ye here? Is thus a Seraph's duty to be shown, Now that the hour is near 510 When Earth must be alone? Return! Adore and burn, In glorious homage with the elected "Seven." Your place is Heaven.

_Sam._ Raphael! The first and fairest of the sons of God, How long hath this been law, That Earth by angels must be left untrod? Earth! which oft saw 520 Jehovah's footsteps not disdain her sod! The world he loved, and made For love; and oft have we obeyed His frequent mission with delighted pinions: Adoring him in his least works displayed; Watching this youngest star of his dominions; And, as the latest birth of his great word, Eager to keep it worthy of our Lord. Why is thy brow severe? And wherefore speak'st thou of destruction near? 530

_Raph._ Had Samiasa and Azaziel been In their true place, with the angelic choir, Written in fire They would have seen Jehovah's late decree, And not enquired their Maker's breath of me: But ignorance must ever be A part of sin; And even the Spirits' knowledge shall grow less As they wax proud within; 540 For Blindness is the first-born of Excess. When all good angels left the world, ye stayed, Stung with strange passions, and debased By mortal feelings for a mortal maid: But ye are pardoned thus far, and replaced With your pure equals. Hence! away! away! Or stay, And lose Eternity by that delay!

_Aza._ And thou! if Earth be thus forbidden In the decree 550 To us until this moment hidden, Dost thou not err as we In being here?

_Raph._ I came to call ye back to your fit sphere, In the great name and at the word of God, Dear, dearest in themselves, and scarce less dear-- That which I came to do[155]: till now we trod Together the eternal space; together Let us still walk the stars[156]. True, Earth must die! Her race, returned into her womb, must wither, 560 And much which she inherits: but oh! why Cannot this Earth be made, or be destroyed, Without involving ever some vast void In the immortal ranks? immortal still In their immeasurable forfeiture. Our brother Satan fell; his burning will Rather than longer worship dared endure! But ye who still are pure! Seraphs! less mighty than that mightiest one,-- Think how he was undone! 570 And think if tempting man can compensate For Heaven desired too late? Long have I warred, Long must I war With him who deemed it hard To be created, and to acknowledge him Who midst the cherubim Made him as suns to a dependent star, Leaving the archangels at his right hand dim. I loved him--beautiful he was: oh, Heaven! 580 Save _his_ who made, what beauty and what power Was ever like to Satan's! Would the hour In which he fell could ever be forgiven! The wish is impious: but, oh ye! Yet undestroyed, be warned! Eternity With him, or with his God, is in your choice: He hath not tempted you; he cannot tempt The angels, from his further snares exempt: But man hath listened to his voice, And ye to woman's--beautiful she is, 590 The serpent's voice less subtle than her kiss. The snake but vanquished dust; but she will draw A second host from heaven, to break Heaven's law. Yet, yet, oh fly! Ye cannot die; But they Shall pass away, While ye shall fill with shrieks the upper sky For perishable clay, Whose memory in your immortality 600 Shall long outlast the Sun which gave them day. Think how your essence differeth from theirs In all but suffering! why partake The agony to which they must be heirs-- Born to be ploughed with years, and sown with cares, And reaped by Death, lord of the human soil? Even had their days been left to toil their path Through time to dust, unshortened by God's wrath, Still they are Evil's prey, and Sorrow's spoil.

_Aho._ Let them fly! 610 I hear the voice which says that all must die, Sooner than our white-bearded patriarchs died; And that on high An ocean is prepared, While from below The deep shall rise to meet Heaven's overflow-- Few shall be spared, It seems; and, of that few, the race of Cain Must lift their eyes to Adam's God in vain. Sister! since it is so, 620 And the eternal Lord In vain would be implored For the remission of one hour of woe, Let us resign even what we have adored, And meet the wave, as we would meet the sword, If not unmoved, yet undismayed, And wailing less for us than those who shall Survive in mortal or immortal thrall, And, when the fatal waters are allayed, Weep for the myriads who can weep no more. 630 Fly, Seraphs! to your own eternal shore, Where winds nor howl, nor waters roar. Our portion is to die, And yours to live for ever: But which is best, a dead Eternity, Or living, is but known to the great Giver. Obey him, as we shall obey; I would not keep this life of mine in clay An hour beyond his will; Nor see ye lose a portion of his grace, 640 For all the mercy which Seth's race Find still. Fly! And as your pinions bear ye back to Heaven, Think that my love still mounts with thee on high, Samiasa! And if I look up with a tearless eye, 'Tis that an angel's bride disdains to weep,-- Farewell! Now rise, inexorable deep!

_Anah_. And must we die? 650 And must I lose thee too, Azaziel? Oh, my heart! my heart! Thy prophecies were true! And yet thou wert so happy too! The blow, though not unlocked for, falls as new: But yet depart! Ah! why? Yet let me not retain thee--fly! My pangs can be but brief; but thine would be 660 Eternal, if repulsed from Heaven for me. Too much already hast thou deigned To one of Adam's race! Our doom is sorrow: not to us alone, But to the Spirits who have not disdained To love us, cometh anguish with disgrace. The first who taught us knowledge hath been hurled From his once archangelic throne Into some unknown world: And thou, Azaziel! No-- 670 Thou shall not suffer woe For me. Away! nor weep! Thou canst not weep; but yet May'st suffer more, not weeping: then forget Her, whom the surges of the all-strangling deep Can bring no pang like this. Fly! fly! Being gone, 'twill be less difficult to die.

_Japh._ Oh say not so! Father! and thou, archangel, thou! Surely celestial mercy lurks below 680 That pure severe serenity of brow: Let them not meet this sea without a shore, Save in our ark, or let me be no more!

_Noah_. Peace, child of passion, peace! If not within thy heart, yet with thy tongue Do God no wrong! Live as he wills it--die, when he ordains, A righteous death, unlike the seed of Cain's. Cease, or be sorrowful in silence; cease To weary Heaven's ear with thy selfish plaint. 690 Wouldst thou have God commit a sin for thee? Such would it be To alter his intent For a mere mortal sorrow. Be a man! And bear what Adam's race must bear, and can.

_Japh._ Aye, father! but when they are gone, And we are all alone, Floating upon the azure desert, and The depth beneath us hides our own dear land, And dearer, silent friends and brethren, all 700 Buried in its immeasurable breast, Who, who, our tears, our shrieks, shall then command? Can we in Desolation's peace have rest? Oh God! be thou a God, and spare Yet while 'tis time! Renew not Adam's fall: Mankind were then but twain, But they are numerous now as are the waves And the tremendous rain, Whose drops shall be less thick than would their graves, 710 Were graves permitted to the seed of Cain.

_Noah_. Silence, vain boy! each word of thine's a crime. Angel! forgive this stripling's fond despair.

_Raph._ Seraphs! these mortals speak in passion: Ye! Who are, or should be, passionless and pure, May now return with me.

_Sam._ It may not be: We have chosen, and will endure.

_Raph._ Say'st thou?

_Aza._ He hath said it, and I say, Amen!

_Raph._ Again! Then from this hour, 720 Shorn as ye are of all celestial power, And aliens from your God, Farewell!

_Japh._ Alas! where shall they dwell? Hark, hark! Deep sounds, and deeper still, Are howling from the mountain's bosom: There's not a breath of wind upon the hill, Yet quivers every leaf, and drops each blossom: Earth groans as if beneath a heavy load.

_Noah_. Hark, hark! the sea-birds cry! 730 In clouds they overspread the lurid sky, And hover round the mountain, where before Never a white wing, wetted by the wave, Yet dared to soar, Even when the waters waxed too fierce to brave. Soon it shall be their only shore, And then, no more!

_Japh._ The sun! the sun[157]! He riseth, but his better light is gone; And a black circle, bound 740 His glaring disk around, Proclaims Earth's last of summer days hath shone! The clouds return into the hues of night, Save where their brazen-coloured edges streak The verge where brighter morns were wont to break.

_Noah_. And lo! yon flash of light, The distant thunder's harbinger, appears! It cometh! hence, away! Leave to the elements their evil prey! Hence to where our all-hallowed ark uprears 750 Its safe and wreckless sides!

_Japh._ Oh, father, stay! Leave not my Anah to the swallowing tides!

_Noah_. Must we not leave all life to such? Begone!

_Japh._ Not I.

_Noah_. Then die With them! How darest thou look on that prophetic sky, And seek to save what all things now condemn, In overwhelming unison 760 With just Jehovah's wrath!

_Japh._ Can rage and justice join in the same path?

_Noah_. Blasphemer! darest thou murmur even now!

_Raph._ Patriarch, be still a father! smooth thy brow: Thy son, despite his folly, shall not sink: He knows not what he says, yet shall not drink With sobs the salt foam of the swelling waters; But be, when passion passeth, good as thou, Nor perish like Heaven's children with man's daughters.

_Aho._ The tempest cometh; heaven and earth unite 770 For the annihilation of all life. Unequal is the strife Between our strength and the Eternal Might!

_Sam._ But ours is with thee; we will bear ye far To some untroubled star, Where thou, and Anah, shalt partake our lot: And if thou dost not weep for thy lost earth, Our forfeit Heaven shall also be forgot.

_Anah_. Oh! my dear father's tents, my place of birth, And mountains, land, and woods! when ye are not, 780 Who shall dry up my tears?

_Aza._ Thy spirit-lord. Fear not; though we are shut from Heaven, Yet much is ours, whence we can not be driven.

_Raph._ Rebel! thy words are wicked, as thy deeds Shall henceforth be but weak: the flaming sword, Which chased the first-born out of Paradise, Still flashes in the angelic hands.

_Aza._ It cannot slay us: threaten dust with death, And talk of weapons unto that which bleeds. What are thy swords in our immortal eyes? 790

_Raph._ The moment cometh to approve thy strength; And learn at length How vain to war with what thy God commands: Thy former force was in thy faith.

_Enter Mortals, flying for refuge_.

_Chorus of Mortals_.

The heavens and earth are mingling--God! oh God! What have we done? Yet spare! Hark! even the forest beasts howl forth their prayer! The dragon crawls from out his den, To herd, in terror, innocent with men; And the birds scream their agony through air. 800 Yet, yet, Jehovah! yet withdraw thy rod Of wrath, and pity thine own world's despair! Hear not man only but all nature plead!

_Raph._ Farewell, thou earth! ye wretched sons of clay, I cannot, must not, aid you. 'Tis decreed! [_Exit_ RAPHAEL.

_Japh._ Some clouds sweep on as vultures for their prey, While others, fixed as rocks, await the word At which their wrathful vials shall be poured. No azure more shall robe the firmament, Nor spangled stars be glorious: Death hath risen: 810 In the Sun's place a pale and ghastly glare Hath wound itself around the dying air.

_Aza._ Come, Anah! quit this chaos-founded prison, To which the elements again repair, To turn it into what it was: beneath The shelter of these wings thou shall be safe, As was the eagle's nestling once within Its mother's.--Let the coming chaos chafe With all its elements! Heed not their din! A brighter world than this, where thou shalt breathe 820 Ethereal life, will we explore: These darkened clouds are not the only skies.

[AZAZIEL _and_ SAMIASA _fly off, and disappear with_ ANAH _and_ AHOLIBAMAH.

_Japh._ They are gone! They have disappeared amidst the roar Of the forsaken world; and never more, Whether they live, or die with all Earth's life, Now near its last, can aught restore Anah unto these eyes.

_Chorus of Mortals_.

Oh son of Noah! mercy on thy kind! What! wilt thou leave us all--all--_all_ behind? While safe amidst the elemental strife, 830 Thou sitt'st within thy guarded ark?

_A Mother_ (_offering her infant to_ JAPHET). Oh, let this child embark! I brought him forth in woe, But thought it joy To see him to my bosom clinging so. Why was he born? What hath he done-- My unweaned son-- To move Jehovah's wrath or scorn? What is there in this milk of mine, that Death 840 Should stir all Heaven and Earth up to destroy My boy, And roll the waters o'er his placid breath? Save him, thou seed of Seth! Or curséd be--with him who made Thee and thy race, for which we are betrayed!

_Japh._ Peace! 'tis no hour for curses, but for prayer!

_Chorus of Mortals_.

For prayer!!! And where Shall prayer ascend, 850 When the swoln clouds unto the mountains bend And burst, And gushing oceans every barrier rend, Until the very deserts know no thirst? Accursed Be he who made thee and thy sire! We deem our curses vain; we must expire; But as we know the worst, Why should our hymns be raised, our knees be bent Before the implacable Omnipotent, 860 Since we must fall the same? If he hath made Earth, let it be his shame, To make a world for torture.--Lo! they come, The loathsome waters, in their rage! And with their roar make wholesome nature dumb! The forest's trees (coeval with the hour When Paradise upsprung, Ere Eve gave Adam knowledge for her dower, Or Adam his first hymn of slavery sung), So massy, vast, yet green in their old age, 870 Are overtopped, Their summer blossoms by the surges lopped, Which rise, and rise, and rise. Vainly we look up to the lowering skies-- They meet the seas, And shut out God from our beseeching eyes. Fly, son of Noah, fly! and take thine ease, In thine allotted ocean-tent; And view, all floating o'er the element, The corpses of the world of thy young days: 880 Then to Jehovah raise Thy song of praise!

_A Mortal_. Blesséd are the dead Who die in the Lord! And though the waters be o'er earth outspread, Yet, as _his_ word, Be the decree adored! He gave me life--he taketh but The breath which is his own: And though these eyes should be for ever shut, 890 Nor longer this weak voice before his throne Be heard in supplicating tone, Still blessed be the Lord, For what is past, For that which is: For all are his, From first to last-- Time--Space--Eternity--Life--Death-- The vast known and immeasurable unknown. He made, and can unmake; 900 And shall I, for a little gasp of breath, Blaspheme and groan? No; let me die, as I have lived, in faith, Nor quiver, though the Universe may quake!

_Chorus of Mortals_.

Where shall we fly? Not to the mountains high; For now their torrents rush, with double roar, To meet the Ocean, which, advancing still, Already grasps each drowning hill, Nor leaves an unsearched cave. 910

_Enter a Woman_.

_Woman_. Oh, save me, save! Our valley is no more: My father and my father's tent, My brethren and my brethren's herds, The pleasant trees that o'er our noonday bent, And sent forth evening songs from sweetest birds, The little rivulet which freshened all Our pastures green, No more are to be seen. When to the mountain cliff I climbed this morn, 920 I turned to bless the spot, And not a leaf appeared about to fall;-- And now they are not!-- Why was I born?

_Japh._ To die! in youth to die! And happier in that doom, Than to behold the universal tomb, Which I Am thus condemned to weep above in vain. Why, when all perish, why must I remain?

[_The waters rise; Men fly in every direction; many are overtaken by the waves: the Chorus of Mortals disperses in search of safety up the mountains:_ JAPHET _remains upon a rock, while the Ark floats towards him in the distance_.[158]

FOOTNOTES:

[138] {285}[Aholibamah ("tent of the highest") was daughter of Anah (a Hivite clan-name), the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife, Gen. xxxvi. 14. Irad was the son of Enoch, and grandson of Cain, Gen. iv. 18.]

[139] {286}[Compare _Manfred_, act i. sc. I, line 131, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 89, and note i.]

[140] The archangels, said to be seven in number, and to occupy the eighth rank in the celestial hierarchy.

[Compare _Tobit_ xii. 15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints." _The Book of Enoch_ (ch. xx.) names the other archangels, "Uriel, Rufael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, and Gabriel, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the cherubin." In the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of Dionysius the Areopagite, a chapter is devoted to archangels, but their names are not recorded, or their number given. On the other hand, "The teaching of the oracles concerning the angels affirms that they are thousand thousands and myriad myriads."--_Celestial Hierarchy, etc._, translated by the Rev. J. Parker, 1894, cap. xiv. p. 43. It has been supposed that "the seven which are the eyes of the Lord" (_Zech._ iv. 10) are the seven archangels.]

[141] {289}["The adepts of Incantation ... enter the realms of air, and by their spells they scatter the clouds, they gather the clouds, they still the storm.... We may adduce Ovid (_Amor._, bk. ii., El., i. 23), who says, 'Charmers draw down the horns of the blood-red moon,'... Here it is to be observed that in the opinion of simple-minded persons, the moon could be actually drawn down from heaven. So Aristophanes says (_Clouds_, lines 739, 740), 'If I should purchase a Thessalian witch, and draw down the moon by night;' and Claudian (_In Ruffin._, bk. i. 145), 'I know by what spell the Thessalian sorceress snatches away the lunar beam.'"--_Magic Incantations_, by Christianus Pazig (circ. 1700), edited by Edmund Goldsmid, F.R.H.S., F.S.A. (Scot.), 1886, pp. 30, 31. See, too, Virgil, _Eclogues_, viii. 69, "Carmina vel c[oe]lo possunt de ducere Lunam."]

[142] {291}["Tubal-Cain [the seventh in descent from Cain] was an instructor of every artificer of brass and iron" (_Gen._ iv. 22). According to the _Book of Enoch_, cap. viii., it was "Azâzêl," one of the "sons of the heavens," who "taught men to make swords, and knives, and skins, and coats of mail, and made known to them metals, and the art of working them, bracelets and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyebrows, and the most costly and choicest stones, and all colouring tincture, so that the world was changed."]

[143] [_Vide post_, p. 294.]

[144] {294}[Byron's knowledge of Mount Ararat was probably derived from the following passage in Tournefort: "It is a most frightful sight; David might well say such sort of places show the grandeur of the Lord. One can't but tremble to behold it; and to look on the horrible precipices ever so little will make the head turn round. The noise made by a vast number of crows [hence the 'rushing sound,' _vide post_, p. 295], who are continually flying from one side to the other, has something in it very frightful. To form any idea of this place you must imagine one of the highest mountains in the world opening its bosom, only to show the most horrible spectacle that can be thought of. All the precipices are perpendicular, and the extremities are rough and blackish, as if a smoke came out of the sides and smutted them."--_A Voyage in the Levant_, by M. [Joseph Pitton de] Tournefort, 1741, iii. 205, 206.

Kitto also describes this "vast chasm," which contained "an enormous mass of ice, which seems to have fallen from a cliff that overhangs the ice" (_Travels in Persia_, 1846, i. 34); but Professor Friedrich Parrot, who was the first to ascend Mount Ararat, does not enlarge upon the "abyss" or chasm.--_Journey to Ararat_, translated by W. D. Cowley, 1845, p. 134.]

[145] [Compare the description of the "roots like snakes," which "wind out from rock and sand," in the scene on the Hartz Mountains in Goethe's _Faust_.]

[146] {296} [Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 233) compares the laughter of the fiends in the cave of Caucasus with the snoring of the Furies in the _Eumenides_ of Æschylus--

[Greek: R(e/gkousi d' ou) platoi~si physia/masin] (line 53). ("Their snoring nostrils blow fearsome breath.")

There is a closer parallel with--

[Greek: Gela~ de\ dai/môn e)p' a)ndri\ thermô~] (line 560). ("The spirit mocketh the headlong soul.")]

[147] {297}[Matthew Arnold, _Poetry of Byron_, 1881, xiv., xv., quotes this line in proof of Byron's barbarian insensibility, "to the true artist's fine passion for the correct use and consummate management of words."]

[148] {300} "[And] there were giants in the earth in those days; and ... after, ... mighty men, which were of old, men of renown."--_Genesis_ [vi. 4].

[149] "The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."--_Genesis_ [vii. II].

[150] {301}[Byron falls in with the popular theory as to the existence of fossil remains of marine animals at a height above the level of the sea. The "deluge" accounted for what was otherwise inexplicable.]

[151] {302} The book of Enoch, preserved by the Ethiopians, is said by them to be anterior to the flood.

[Some fragments of the _Book of Enoch_ (_vide ante_, Introduction to _Heaven and Earth_, p. 281), which were included by Georgius Syncellus (a Byzantine writer of the eighth century A.D.) in his _Chronographia_, pp. ii, 26 (_Corpus Script. Hist. Byzantintæ_, 1829, i. 20), were printed by J. J. Scaliger in 1606. They were, afterwards, included (i. 347-354) in the _Spicilegium SS. Patrum_ of Joannes Ernestus Grabius, which was published at Oxford in 1714. A year after (1715) one of the fragments was "made English," and published under the title of _The History of the Angels and their Gallantry with the Daughters of Men_, written by Enoch the Patriarch.

In 1785 James Bruce, the traveller, discovered three MSS. of the _Book of Enoch_. One he conveyed to the library at Paris: a second MS. he presented to the Bodleian Library at Oxford (_Travels_, ii. 422, 8vo ed. 1805). In 1801 an article entitled, "Notice du Libre d'Enoch," was contributed by Silvestre de Sacy to the _Magasin Encyclopédique_ (An. vi. tom. i. p. 369); and in 1821 Richard Laurence, LL.D., published a translation "from the Ethiopic MS. in the Bodleian Library." This was the first translation of the book as a whole.

The following extracts, which were evidently within Byron's recollection when he planned _Heaven and Earth_, are taken from _The Book of Enoch_, translated from Professor Dillman's Ethiopic Text, by R. H. Charles, Oxford, 1892:--

"Chap. vi. [1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied in those days that beautiful and comely daughters were born unto them. [2. And the angels, the sons of the Heavens, saw and lusted after them, and spake one to another, 'Come now, let us choose us wives from among the children of men, and beget children.' [3. And Semjâzâ, who was the leader, spake unto them: I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed.... [6. And they descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon....

"Chap. viii. [i. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, etc.

"Chap. x. Then spake the Most High, the Great, the Holy One, and sent Arsjalâljûr (= Uriel) to the son of Lamech, and said to him, 'Tell him in My Name to hide thyself!' and reveal to him that the end is approaching; for the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge will presently cover up the whole earth, and all that is in it will be destroyed. [3. And now instruct him that he may escape, as his seed may be preserved for all generations. [4. And again the Lord spake to Rafael; Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and place him in darkness; make an opening in the desert which is in Dudâêl and place him therein. [5. And place upon him rough and ragged rocks," etc.]

[152] {306}[This does not correspond with Cain's statement--"After the fall too soon was I begotten," _Cain_, act. iii. sc. I, line 506 (_vide ante_).

Bayle (_Hist. and Crit. Dict._, 1735, art. "Eve," note B) has a great deal to say with regard to the exact date of the birth of Cain. He concludes with _Cornelius à Lapide_, who quotes Torniellus, "Cain genitum ease mox post expulsionem Adæ et Evæ ex Paradiso."]

[153] {309}[Byron said that it was difficult to make Lucifer talk "like a clergyman." He contrived to make Noah talk like a street-preacher.]

[154] [In the original MS. "Michael."--"I return you," says Byron, "the revise. I have softened the part to which Gifford objected, and changed the name of Michael to Raphael, who was an angel of gentler sympathies."--July 6, 1822, _Letters_, vi. 93.]

[155] {311}[That is, "to call you back." His ministry and function of clemency were almost as dear to him as his ministry and function of adoration and obedience.]

[156] [For the connection of stars with angels, see _Book of Enoch_, xxv. 1.]

[157] {315}[Compare _Darkness_, lines 2-5, _Poetical Works_, 1891, iv. 42, 43.]

[158] {321}[Sketch of Second Part of _Heaven and Earth_, as reported by Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, pp. 234-237)--

"Azazael and Samiasa ... rise into the air with the two sisters.... The appearance of the land strangled by the ocean will serve by way of scenery and decorations. The affectionate tenderness of Adah for those from whom she is parted, and for ever, and her fears contrasting with the loftier spirit of Aholibamah triumphing in the hopes of a new and greater destiny will make the dialogue. They, in the meantime, continue their aërial voyage, everywhere denied admittance in those floating islands over the sea of space, and driven back by guardian-spirits of the different planets, till they are at length forced to alight on the only peak of the earth uncovered by water. Here a parting takes place between the lovers.... The fallen angels are suddenly called, and condemned, their destination and punishment unknown. The sisters cling to the rock, the waters mounting higher and higher. Now enter Ark. The scene draws up, and discovers Japhet endeavouring to persuade the Patriarch, with very strong arguments of love and pity, to receive the sisters, or at least Adah, on board. Adah joins in his entreaties, and endeavours to cling to the sides of the vessel. The proud and haughty Aholibamah scorns to pray either to God or man, and anticipates the grave by plunging into the waters. Noah is still inexorable. [Adah] is momentarily in danger of perishing before the eyes of the Arkites. Japhet is in despair. The last wave sweeps her from the rock, and her lifeless corpse floats past in all its beauty, whilst a sea-bird screams over it, and seems to be the spirit of her angel lord. I once thought of conveying the lovers to the moon or one of the planets; but it is not easy for the imagination to make any unknown world more beautiful than this; besides, I did not think they would approve of the moon as a residence. I remember what Fontenelle said of its having no atmosphere, and the dark spots having caverns where the inhabitants reside. There was another objection: all the human interest would have been destroyed, which I have even endeavoured to give my angels."]

WERNER;

OR,

THE INHERITANCE:

A TRAGEDY.

[_Werner_ was produced, for the first time, at the Park Theatre, New York, in 1826. Mr. Barry played "Werner."

_Werner_ was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre, and played, for the first time, December 15, 1830. Macready appeared as "Werner," J. W. Wallack as "Ulric," Mrs. Faucit as "Josephine," and Miss Mordaunt as "Ida." According to the _Times_, December 16, 1830, "Mr. Macready appeared to very great advantage. We have never seen him exert himself more--we have never known him to exert himself with more powerful effect. Three of his scenes were masterpieces." Genest says that _Werner_ was acted seventeen times in 1830-31.

There was a revival in 1833. Macready says (_Diary_, March 20) that he acted "'Werner' with unusual force, truth, and collectedness ... finished off each burst of passion, and, in consequence, entered on the following emotion with clearness and earnestness" (Macready's _Reminiscences_, 1875, i 36.6).

_Werner_ was played in 1834, 5, 6, 7, 9; in 1841; in 1843-4 (New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Montreal); in 1845 (Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin); in 1846, 1847; in America in 1848; in the provinces in 1849; in 1850; and, for the last time, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, January 14, 1851. At the farewell performance Macready appeared as "Werner," Mr. Davenport as "Ulric," Mrs. Warner as "Josephine," Mrs. Ryder as "Ida." In the same year (1851) a portrait of Macready as "Werner," by Daniel Maclise, R.A., was on view at the Exhibition at the Royal Academy. The motto was taken from _Werner_, act i. sc. 1, lines 114, _sq._ (See, for a detailed criticism of Macready's "Werner," _Our Recent Actors_, by Westland Marston, 1881, i. 89-98; and for the famous "Macready _burst_," in act ii. sc. 2, and act v. sc. 1, _vide ibid._, i. 97.)

_Werner_ was brought out at Sadler's Wells Theatre, November 21, 1860, and repeated November 22, 23, 24, 28, 29; December, 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 1860. Phelps appeared as "Werner," Mr. Edmund Phelps as "Ulric," Miss Atkinson as "Josephine." "Perhaps the old actor never performed the part so finely as he did on that night. The identity between the real and ideal relations of the characters was as vivid to him as to the audience, and gave a deeper intensity, on both sides, to the scenes between father and son." (See _The London Stage_, by H. Barton Baker, 1889, ii. 217.)

On the afternoon of June 1, 1887, _Werner_ (four acts, arranged by Frank Marshall) was performed at the Lyceum Theatre for the benefit of Westland Marston. [Sir] Henry Irving appeared as "Werner," Miss Ellen Terry as "Josephine," Mr. Alexander as "Ulric." (See for an appreciation of Sir Henry Irving's presentation of _Werner_, the _Athenæum_, June 4, 1887.)]

INTRODUCTION TO _WERNER_.

_Werner; or, The Inheritance_, was begun at Pisa, December 18, 1821, and finished January 20, 1822. At the end of the month, January 29, Byron despatched the MS., not to Murray, but to Moore, then in retreat at Paris, intending, no doubt, that it should be placed in the hands of another publisher; but a letter from Murray "melted him," and on March 6, 1822 (_Letters_, 1901, vi. 34), he desired Moore to forward the packet to Albemarle Street. The play was set up in type, and revised proofs were returned to Murray at the end of June; but, for various reasons, publication was withheld, and, on October 31, Byron informed John Hunt that he had empowered his friend Douglas Kinnaird to obtain _Werner_, with other MSS., from Murray. None the less, milder counsels again prevailed, and on Saturday, November 23, 1822, _Werner_ was published, not in the same volume with _Heaven and Earth_, as Byron intended and expected, nor by John Hunt, as he had threatened, but by itself, and, as heretofore, by John Murray. _Werner_ was "the last of all the flock" to issue from Murray's fold.

In his Preface to _Werner_ (_vide post_, p. 337) Byron disclaims all pretensions to originality. "The following drama," he writes, "is taken entirely from the 'German's Tale, Kruitzner,' published ... in Lee's _Canterbury Tales_.... I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language, of many parts of this story." _Kruitzner_ seems to have made a deep impression on his mind. When he was a boy of thirteen (_i.e._ in 1801, when the fourth volume of the _Canterbury Tales_ was published), and again in 1815, he set himself to turn the tale into a drama. His first attempt, named _Ulric and Ilvina_, he threw into the fire, but he had nearly completed the first act of his second and maturer adaptation when he was "interrupted by circumstances," that is, no doubt, the circumstances which led up to and ended in the separation from his wife. (See letter of October 9, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 391.)

On his leaving England for the Continent, April 25, 1816, the fragment was left behind. Most probably the MS. fell into his sister's hands, for in October, 1821, it was not forthcoming when Byron gave directions that Hobhouse should search for it "amongst my papers." Ultimately it came into the possession of the late Mr. Murray, and is now printed for the first time in its entirety (_vide post_, pp. 453-466: selections were given in the _Nineteenth Century_, August, 1899). It should be borne in mind that this unprinted first act of _Werner_, which synchronizes with the _Siege of Corinth_ and _Parisina_, was written when Byron was a member of the sub-committee of management of Drury Lane Theatre, and, as the numerous stage directions testify, with a view to stage-representation. The MS. is scored with corrections, and betrays an unusual elaboration, and, perhaps, some difficulty and hesitation in the choice of words and the construction of sentences. In the opening scene the situation is not caught and gripped, while the melancholy squalor of the original narrative is only too faithfully reproduced. The _Werner_ of 1821, with all its shortcomings, is the production of a playwright. The _Werner_ of 1815 is the attempt of a highly gifted amateur.

When Byron once more bethought himself of his old subject, he not only sent for the MS. of the first act, but desired Murray "to cut out Sophia Lee's" (_vide post_, p. 337) "_German's Tale_ from the _Canterbury Tales_, and send it in a letter" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 390). He seems to have intended from the first to construct a drama out of the story, and, no doubt, to acknowledge the source of his inspiration. On the whole, he carried out his intention, taking places, characters, and incidents as he found them, but recasting the materials and turning prose into metre. But here and there, to save himself trouble, he "stole his brooms ready made," and, as he acknowledges in the Preface, "adopted even the language of the story." Act ii. sc. 2, lines 87-172; act iii. sc. 4; and