Three days are left you to remove from

hence,

Under the penalty to see confiscated. All your own private fortune.

Doge.

That last clause,

I am proud to say, would not enrich the treasury.

Chief of the Ten. Your answer, Duke!
Lor. Your answer, Francis Foscari !
Doge. If I could have foreseen that my
old age

Was prejudicial to the state, the chief
Of the republic never would have shown 180
Himself so far ungrateful, as to place
His own high dignity before his country;
But this life having been so many years
Not useless to that country, I would fain
Have consecrated my last moments to her.
But the decree being render'd, I obey.

Chief of the Ten. If you would have the
three days named extended,
We willingly will lengthen them to eight,
As sign of our esteem.
Doge.
Not eight hours, signor,
Nor even eight minutes. -There's the
ducal ring, [Taking off his ring and cap.
And there the ducal diadem. And so 191
The Adriatic's free to wed another.
Chief of the Ten. Yet go not forth so
quickly.

Doge.

I am old, sir,

Doge. Elsewhere.

He means

And call Marina,

Enter MARINA.

Get thee ready; we must mourn

Mar. And every where.

Doge. True; but in freedom, 210 Without these jealous spies upon the great. Signors, you may depart: what would you more?

We are going: do you fear that we shall bear The palace with us? Its old walls, ten times

As old as I am, and I'm very old,
Have served you, so have I, and I and they
Could tell a tale; but I invoke them not
To fall upon you! else they would, as erst
The pillars of stone Dagon's temple on
The Israelite and his Philistine foes.
Such power I do believe there might exist
In such a curse as mine, provoked by such
As you; but I curse not. Adieu, good
signors!

220

May the next duke be better than the present.

Lor. The present duke is Paschal Malipiero.

Doge. Not till I pass the threshold of

No. I

Will now descend the stairs by which I mounted

240

To sovereignty- the Giants' Stairs, on whose

Broad eminence I was invested duke.
My services have called me up those steps,
The malice of my foes will drive me down
them.

There five and thirty years ago was I Install'd, and traversed these same halls, from which

I never thought to be divorced except A corse a corse, it might be, fighting for them

But not push'd hence by fellow-citizens. But come; my son and I will go together

250

Save with their hearts and eyes.

260

much More than my wont: it is a foible which Was not of mine, but more excuses you, Inasmuch as it shows that I approach A dotage which may justify this deed Of yours, although the law does not, nor will. Farewell, sirs!

Bar. You shall not depart without An escort fitting past and present rank. We will accompany, with due respect, 270 The Doge unto his private palace. Say! My brethren, will we not? Different voices.

Doge.

Stir

Ay! - Ay!

You shall not

in my train at least. I enter'd here As sovereign-I go out as citizen

The following scenes are entitled 'A Mys tery,' 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 liberties 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 endeavoured to preserve the language adapted to his characters, and where it is (and this is but arely) 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 subtil 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. Whether, then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same in expression, I know nothing, and care as little.

The reader will please to 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 any thing of the kind, but merely to the Serpent in his serpentine capacity.

Note. The reader will perceive that the author has partly adopted in this poem the notion of Cuvier, that the world had been destroyed several times before the 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 preAdamite world was also peopled by rational beings much more intelligent than man, and proportionably powerful to the mammoth, etc., etc., is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him to make out his case.

I ought to add, that there is a 'tramelo