That such as I could love-who blush'd to hear This-this-shall be a consecrated spot! But thou-when all that Birth and Beauty throws To be entwined for ever-but too late! CAIN: A MYSTERY. "Now the Serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD GOD had made."-Gen. ch. iii. ver. 1. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART., THIS MYSTERY OF CAIN IS INSCRIBED, BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 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 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 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 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 1 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 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 had been destroyed severai 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, &c. &c., is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him to 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. The Land without Paradise.-Time, Sunrise. Adam. God, the Eternal! Infinite! All wise !— Eve. God who didst name the day, and separate Abel. God! who didst call the elements into And love both them and Thee !-all hail ! all hail! Let me love Thee and them :-All hail ! all hail ! And drive my father forth from Paradise, Keep us from further evil :-Hail! all hail! Adam. Son Cain, my first-born, wherefore art thou silent? Cain. Why should I speak? To pray. Have ye not pray'd? And loudly: I So will God, I trust. Amen! Adam. But thou, my eldest born, art silent still. Cain. I have nought to ask. Adam. Nor aught to thank for? Adam. Dost thou not live? Cain. Eve. Wherefore so? No. Must I not die? Alas! The fruit of our forbidden tree begins To fall. Adam. And we must gather it again. Oh, God! why didst Thou plant the tree of knowledge? Adam. Oh! my son, Blaspheme not: these are serpents' words. Cain. Why not? The snake spoke truth; it was the tree of knowledge; And life is good; and how can both be evil? Eve. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke, in sin, The snares beyond the walls of Paradise, Which e'en in Paradise destroy'd his parents. Cain, my son, Eve. And do as he doth. Zillah. [Exeunt ADAM and EVE. Wilt thou not, my brother? Abel. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow, Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse The Eternal anger? Adah. Wilt thou frown even on me? Cain. My beloved Cain, No, Adah! no; I fain would be alone a little while. Be on your spirit, brother! Cain (solus). If not, I will The peace of God And this is [Exeunt ABEL, ZILLAH, and ADAH. Life-Toil! and wherefore should I toil ?- because How know I that? Of spiritual essence: why do I quake? Why should I fear him more than other spirits, The cherubim-defended battlements? If I shrink not from these, the fire-arm'd angels, As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems |