Part 38

Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence: How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness, till it smil'd! I have oft heard My mother Circe, with the Syrens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept, And chid her barking waves into attention. And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause. Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself; But such a sacred and home-felt delight, Such sober certainty of waking bliss, I never heard till now.]

[Note 503:

But when lust, By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, But most by lewd and lavish act of sin, Lets in defilement to the inward parts, The soul grows clotted by contagion, Imbodies and imbrutes till she quite lose The divine property of her first being; Such are these thick and gloomy shadows damp Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, As loathe to leave the body that it loved.]

[Note 504:

To the ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that lie Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad fields of the sky: There I suck the liquid air All amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus and his daughters three That sing about the golden tree: Along the crisped shades and bowers Revels the spruce and jocund spring; The Graces, and the rosy-bosom'd Hours Thither all their bounties bring; There eternal summer dwells, And west-winds, with musky wing, About the cedar'n alleys fling Nard and cassia's balmy smells. Iris there with humid bow Waters the odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue Than her purfled scarf can shew; And drenches with Elysian dew (List, mortals, if your ears be true) Beds of hyacinth and roses, Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waxing well of his deep wound In slumber soft, and on the ground Sadly sits the Assyrian queen: But far above in spangled sheen Celestial Cupid, her fam'd son, advanc'd, Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranc'd After her wandering labours long, Till free consent the gods among Make her his eternal bride, And from her fair unspotted side Two blissful twins are to be born, Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn. But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run, Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend; And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the moon. Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue; she alone is free: She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her.]

[Note 505: Edward King, 1637.]

[Note 506:

"And from that time see, How beauty is excell'd by manly grace, And wisdom, which alone is truly fair." So spoke our general mother, and with eyes Of conjugal attraction unreproved, And meek surrender, half-embracing lean'd On our first father; half her swelling breast Naked met his, under the flowing gold Of his loose tresses hid; he in delight Both of her beauty and submissive charms Smiled with superior love.... And press'd her matron lip With kisses pure. (Liv. IV.)]

[Note 507:

Fair consort, the hour Of night and all things now retired to rest Mind us of like repose; since God hath set Labour and rest, as day and night, to men Successive; and the timely dew of sleep, Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines Our eyelids. Other creatures all day long Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest. Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity And the regard of Heaven on all his ways, While other animals inactive range, And of their doings God takes no account. (_Ibid._)]

[Note 508: Impossible qu'un homme si docte, si raisonneur, s'emploie pour toute occupation à jardiner, à arranger des bouquets.]

[Note 509:

Know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties, that serve Reason as chief; among these Fancy next Her office holds; of all external things, Which the five watchful senses represent, She forms imaginations, aery shapes, Which Reason joining or disjoining, frames All what we affirm or we deny, and call Our knowledge and opinion.... Oft in her absence, mimic Fancy wakes To imitate her; but, misjoining shapes, Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams, Ill matching words and deeds long past or late. Yet be not sad. Evil into the mind of God or man May come and go, so unapproved, and leave No spot or blame behind. (Liv. V.)]

[Note 510:

Go with speed, And what thy stores contain bring forth and pour Abundance, fit to honour and receive Our heavenly stranger.]

[Note 511:

He Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth God has dispensed his bounties as in Heaven.... What choice to choose for delicacy best, What order so contrived as not to mix Tastes not well join'd, inelegant, but bring Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change? .... For drink the grape She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths From many a berry, and from sweet kernels press'd She tempers dulcet creams.]

[Note 512:

Adam.... walks forth, without more train Accompanied than with his own complete Perfection, in himself was all his state....]

[Note 513:

No fear lest dinner cool.... So down they sat, And to their viands fell; not seemingly The Angel, nor in mist, the common glose Of theologians, but with keen dispatch Of real hunger, and concoctive heat To transsubstantiate. What redounds transpires Through spirits, with ease....]

[Note 514:

So spake our Sire, and by his countenance seem'd Entering on studious thought abstruse; which Eve Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight, With lowliness majestic from her seat, And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers.... Her nursery.... Her husband the relater she preferr'd.... «But apt the mind or fancy is to rove Unchecked, and of her roving is no end, Till warn'd or by experience taught, she learn That, not to know at large of things remote From us, obscure and subtle, but to know That which before us lies in daily life, Is the prime wisdom. What is more is fume, Or emptiness, or fond impertinence, And renders us, in things that most concern, Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek.» (Liv. VIII.)]

[Note 515:

Nothing lovelier can be found, In woman, as to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote. (Liv. IX.)]

[Note 516:

His forbidding Commends thee more, while it infers the good By thee communicated and our want; For good unknown is sure not had; or, had, And yet unknown, is as not had at all.... Such prohibitions bind not. (Liv. IX.)]

[Note 517:

I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the etherial powers And spirits, both them who stood and them who fail'd.... Not free, what proof would had they given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love, Where only what they needs must do appeared, Not what they would? What praise could they receive? What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, Made passive both, had served necessity, Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd, So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if predestination over-ruled Their will disposed by absolute decree Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I. If I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Who had no less proved certain unforeknown. So without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or aught by me immutably foreseen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge and choose. (Liv. III.)]

[Note 518: Fin du deuxième Faust.--Prologue dans le ciel.]

[Note 519:

This let him know, Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal, unadmonish'd, unforewarn'd. (Liv. V.)]

[Note 520:

But us he sends upon his high behests For state, as sovran king; and to inure Our prompt obedience.... Glad we return'd up to the coasts of light Ere Sabbath-evening. So we had in charge. (Liv. VIII.)]

[Note 521:

Those who Melodious hymns, about the sovran throne, Alternate all night long.]

[Note 522: Cela fait penser à l'histoire d'Irax, dans Voltaire, condamné à souffrir sans trêve et sans fin les éloges de quatre chambellans, et cette cantate:

Que son mérite est extrême! Que de grâces, que de grandeur! Ah! combien monseigneur Doit être content de lui-même!]

[Note 523:

Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,... And for distinction serve Of hierarchies, of order, and degree, Or in their glittering tissues bear emblazed Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love Recorded eminent..... To him shall bow All knees in Heaven; him who disobeys Me disobeys.... All seem'd well pleased; all seem'd, but were not all. That day, as other solemn days, they spent In song and dance about the sacred hill.... Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn Desirous; all in circles as they stood Tables are set. (Liv. V.)]

[Note 524: Dieu est si bien rabaissé jusqu'à la condition de roi et d'homme, qu'il dit (à la vérité ironiquement) des vers comme ceux-ci:

«Lest unawary we lose This place, our sanctuary, our hill.»

Son fils, un jeune chevalier qui va faire ses premières armes, lui répond:

If I be found the worst in heaven, etc.]

[Note 525:

O argument blasphemous, and proud.]

[Note 526:

Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold.... Leader, the terms we sent were terms of weight, Of hard contents, and full of force urged home.... Who receives them right Has need from head to foot well understand. (Liv. VI.)]

[Note 527: Par exemple celle de Raphaël aux portes de l'enfer. Il s'ennuya fort, et fut «très-joyeux» de revenir au ciel.]

[Note 528: Quand Raphaël descend sur la terre, les anges qui montent la garde autour du paradis lui présentent les armes.

Le trait désagréable et marquant de ce paradis, c'est que le moteur universel y est l'obéissance, tandis que chez Dante c'est l'amour.

Lowly reverent They bow.... Our happy state Hold, like yours, while our obedience holds.]

[Note 529:

In this the region, this the soil, the clime, Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat That we must change for Heav'n? this mournful gloom For that celestial light? Be it so, since he Who now is sov'reign can dispose and bid What shall be right; farthest from him is best; Whom reason has equall'd, force has made supreme Above his equals.--Farewell, happy fields, Where joy for ever dwells! Hail, horrors, hail! Infernal world, and thou, profoundest hell, Receive thy new possessor! one who brings A mind not to be chang'd by place or time: The mind is its own place; and in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. What matter where, if I be still the same? And what I should be, all but less than He Whom thunder has made greater? Here, at least, We shall be free; th'Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice, To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.]

[Note 530:

The inconquerable will And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield, And what is else not to be overcome: That glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me. (Liv. I.)]

[Note 531:

He views The dismal situation waste and wild: A dungeon terrible on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed: yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades.... «Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, The seat of desolation, void of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Cast pale and dreadful?» (Liv. I.)

Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms, Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile. (Liv. II.)

As when Heaven's fire Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. (Liv. I.)]

[Note 532:

In bulk as huge.... As that sea-beast Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugest that swim the ocean stream. Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff, Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind, Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delays. (Liv. I.)]

[Note 533:

At least appear Hell bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice threefold the gates: three folds were brass, Three iron, three of adamantine rock Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, Yet unconsumed.--Before the gates there sat On either side a formidable shape. The one seem'd a woman to the waist, and fair, But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast: a serpent arm'd With mortal sting. About her middle round A cry of Hell-hounds never ceasing bark'd With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep, If aught disturb'd their noise, into her womb, And kennel there: yet there still bark'd and howl'd, Within, unseen.... The other shape, If shape it might be call'd that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint or limb; Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand, and from his seat The monster moving onward came as fast With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode. The undaunted Fiend what this might be admired, Admired, not fear'd. (Liv. II.)]

[Note 534:

On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by tempestuous winds And surging waves, as mountains, to assault Heaven's height and with the centre mix the pole. "Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou, Deep, peace," Said then the omnific word; "your discord end!".... .... Let there be light, said God, and forthwith Light Etherial, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep; and from her native East To journey through the very gloom began, Sphered in a radiant cloud.... The Earth was form'd; but in the womb as yet Of waters, embryon immature involved, Appear'd not: over al the faces of Earth Main Ocean flow'd, not idle; but, with warm Prolific humour softening all her globe, Fermented the great mother to conceive, Satiate with genial moisture; when God said: "Be gather'd now, ye water under Heaven, "Into one place, and let dry land appear." Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky. So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep Capacious bed of waters. Thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, unroll'd, As drops on dust conglobing from the dry.]

[Note 535:

The sun now fallen.... Arraying with reflected purple and gold The clouds that on his western throne attend. Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompanied: for beast and bird, They to their grassy couch, these to their nests, Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the firmament With living sapphires; Hesperus that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.]

FIN DU DEUXIÈME VOLUME.

TABLE DES MATIÈRES

CONTENUES DANS LE DEUXIÈME VOLUME.

LIVRE II.

LA RENAISSANCE.

(Suite.)

Chapitre II. -- Le théâtre.

I. Le public. -- La scène. 3

II. Les moeurs du seizième siècle. -- Expansion violente et complète de la nature. 7

III. Les moeurs anglaises. -- Expansion du naturel énergique et triste. 18

IV. Les poëtes. -- Harmonie générale entre le caractère d'un poëte et le caractère de son siècle. -- Nash, Decker, Kyd, Peel, Lodge, Greene. -- Leur condition et leur vie. -- Marlowe. -- Sa vie. -- Ses oeuvres. -- _Tamerlan._ -- _Le Juif de Malte._ -- _Edward II._ -- _Faust._ -- Sa conception de l'homme. 27

V. Formation de ce théâtre. -- Procédés et caractère de cet art. -- Sympathie imitative qui peint, par des spécimens expressifs. -- Opposition de l'art classique et de l'art germanique. -- Construction psychologique et domaine propre de ces deux arts. 49

VI. Les personnages virils. -- Les passions furieuses. -- Les événements tragiques. -- Les caractères excessifs. -- _Le duc de Milan_, de Massinger. -- _L'Annabella_, de Ford. -- _La duchesse de Malfi_ et _la Vittoria_, de Webster. -- Les personnages féminins. -- Conception germanique de l'amour et du mariage. -- Euphrasia, Bianca, Arethusa, Ordella, Aspasia, Amoret, dans Beaumont et Fletcher. -- Penthea, dans Ford. -- Concordance du type moral et du type physique 57

Chapitre III. -- Ben Jonson.

I. Les chefs d'école dans leur école et dans leur siècle. -- Jonson. -- Son tempérament. -- Son caractère. -- Son éducation. -- Ses débuts. -- Ses luttes. -- Sa pauvreté. -- Ses maladies. -- Sa fin 98

II. Son érudition. -- Ses goûts classiques. -- Ses personnages didactiques. -- Belle ordonnance de ses plans. -- Franchise et précision de son style. -- Vigueur de sa volonté et de sa passion. 103

III. Ses drames. -- _Catilina et Séjan._ -- Pourquoi il a pu peindre les personnages et les passions de la corruption romaine. 113

IV. Ses comédies. -- Sa réforme et sa théorie du théâtre. -- Ses comédies satiriques. -- _Volpone._ -- Pourquoi ces comédies sont sérieuses et militantes. -- Comment elles peignent les passions de la Renaissance. -- Ses comédies bouffonnes. -- _La Femme silencieuse._ -- Pourquoi ces comédies sont énergiques et rudes. -- Comment elles sont conformes aux goûts de la Renaissance. 124

V. Limites de son talent. -- En quoi il reste au-dessous de Molière. -- Manque de philosophie supérieure et de gaieté comique. -- Son imagination et sa fantaisie. -- _L'Entrepôt de nouvelles_ et _la Fête de Cynthia._ -- Comment il traite la comédie de société et la comédie lyrique. -- Ses petits poëmes. -- Ses _Masques_. -- Moeurs théâtrales et pittoresques de la cour. -- _Le Berger inconsolable._ -- Comment Jonson reste poëte jusque sur son lit de mort. 147

VI. Idée générale de Shakspeare. -- Quelle est dans Shakspeare la conception fondamentale. -- Conditions de la raison humaine. -- Quelle est dans Shakspeare la faculté maîtresse. -- Conditions de la représentation exacte. 156

Chapitre IV. -- Shakspeare.

I. Vie et caractère de Shakspeare. -- Sa famille. -- Sa jeunesse. -- Son mariage. -- Il devient acteur. -- Son _Adonis_ -- Ses sonnets. -- Ses amours. -- Son humeur. -- Sa conversation. -- Ses tristesses. -- En quoi consiste le naturel producteur et sympathique. -- Sa prudence. -- Sa fortune. -- Sa retraite. 164

II. Son style. -- Ses images. -- Ses excès. -- Ses disparates. -- Son abondance. -- Différence entre la conception créatrice et la conception analytique. 185

III. Les moeurs. -- Les familiarités. -- Les violences. -- Les crudités. -- La conversation et les actions. -- Concordance des moeurs et du style. 193

IV. Les personnages. -- Comment ils sont tous de la même famille. -- Les brutes et les imbéciles. -- Caliban, Ajax, Cloten, Polonius, la nourrice. -- Comment l'imagination machinale peut précéder la raison ou lui survivre. 206

V. Les gens d'esprit. -- Différence entre l'esprit des raisonneurs et l'esprit des artistes. -- Mercutio, Béatrice, Rosalinde, Bénédict, les clowns. -- Falstaff. 215

VI. Les femmes. -- Desdémone, Virginia, Juliette, Miranda, Imogène, Cordelia, Ophélie, Volumnia. -- Comment Shakspeare représente l'amour. -- Pourquoi Shakspeare fonde la vertu sur l'instinct ou la passion. 223

VII. Les scélérats. -- Iago, Richard III. -- Comment les convoitises extrêmes et le manque de conscience sont le domaine naturel de l'imagination passionnée. 230

VIII. Les grands personnages. -- Les excès et les maladies de l'imagination. -- Lear, Othello, Cléopatre, Coriolan, Macbeth, Hamlet. -- Comparaison de la psychologie de Shakspeare et de celle des tragiques français. 233

IX. La fantaisie. -- Concordance de l'imagination et de l'observation chez Shakspeare. -- Intérêt de la comédie sentimentale et romanesque. -- _As you like it._ -- Idée de la vie. -- _Midsummer night's dream._ -- Idée de l'amour. -- Harmonie de toutes les parties de l'oeuvre. -- Harmonie de l'oeuvre et de l'artiste. 259

Chapitre V. -- La Renaissance chrétienne.

I. Les vices de la Renaissance païenne. -- Décadence des civilisations du Midi 282