University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

SCENE I.

—Entrance of a Cave at the foot of Mount Ararat.—Time, Sunset.
Jairah solus.
Jai.
Another day is sinking with yon sun,
Not so the undying deeds its hours saw done!
Thou mighty luminary!—Thou shalt pale,
Ere aught man thinks, or acts, or feels can fail!—
King!—whose regalia are thy rays—whose right
The chartered power o'er all to pour thy light;
Glorious Impostor!—while on thee we gaze,
Flooding the heavens with thine imperial blaze;
Sublime and proud misrepresentative
Of all worlds and all systems—we believe
Thou'rt what thou seemst—and dost affect to be—
The light and life of all the immensity!—
That splendour, matchless—mateless—shines thine own,
That thou'rt thyself the centre and the crown,
The soul and sovereign in thy mastering course,
The chief and conqueror of the universe!—
But 'tis not so!—midst many thou'rt but One!—
Thou dost deceive us with thy pomp—thou sun!—
Myriads as wonderous and as bright as thou,
Fulfil rejoicingly their course—ev'n now!—
Uncounted—unconceived—a splendid host—
All more than excellent—and none the most!—
Myriads on myriads—merged and mingled so,
Thought cannot grasp their sum—nor glimpse their show!—
Perchance i' the distance—to an angel's eye,
These cling into one gorgeous Unity!—
Lost—all the immensities of space between,
One luxury of blent light the whole vast scene!—
The innumerable splendours crowd to One,
And Space appears a universal Sun!
Not so with us! the One to us seems All!—
So far behind thy pomps the others fall!—
Not so with us!—o'er us thou showerest down
The illuminations of thy fiery crown!—
To blind us to the wonder and the pride
Of thousand—thousand radiant orbs beside!
Were we not made familiar with thy light,
Those sparkling worlds that shine but when 'tis night,
Might prove—star after star—and sphere by sphere,
As many Suns to Sense, out-shining clear!—
Though now with trembling and unequal beam,
A loosely-scattered seed of light they seem;
A sprinkled seed of glory!—waiting still,
(While meekly these the appointed course fulfil,)
For the everlasting and the almightiest breath
Of that command which bade thee gild our path,
(While thou dost seem, with such o'erpow'ring pride—
To shine unmatched—unaided—unallied)—
But is it thus?—my science tells me—no!—
Those distant globes with like resplendence glow;
'Tis thine accustomed and close-neighbouring rays,
That still out-lustre all the Heavens a-blaze!—
Thus Light's extreme might strangely seem to be,
The parent of some shadowy mystery!—
The engenderer of a dreamy darkness so,
E'en the over-brightness of the all-dazzling show!—
Since they—the o'ershadowed—fail for us to shed,
The ethereal splendours richly round them spread!
Yet, is it well with us, thou shin'st so near,
Thou lord of heat and light, benignant sphere!
The climes and seasons know thee and obey;
Not splendour only pours from thy proud ray!—
That fruitfulness which clothes the earth and crowns,
Thy rich creative, fostering influence owns:
All things on the earth their colourings take from thee,
And thou art seen in all that man can see!—
Not barren glory is thy gift alone,
With boons more bless'd hast thou our pathways strown;
Thou stirrest all nature to harmonious strife;
Thou smilest!—fertility hath leapt to life;—
How graciously doth earth new charms assume—
Rich vegetation's variegated bloom!—
Through all her mighty veins—how brightly gush
The quickening currents, till she grows one blush!—
Her flowers—her fruits—her wealth of deeps and mines—
Through each—in all—thy mastering triumph shines—
The very clouds that seem to veil thy face
But run obedient to thy laws—their race—
The enchanter, as the enlightener—Sun!—art thou,
Of all great nature's realms—supremely now!—
Howe'er when systems change and time expires,
We may o'erlook thy merged and fading fires!—
Thou bidd'st us breathe and move—and smile and live—
And all this nature craves 'tis thine to give—
Yon marshalled systems glimmering—strangely far,
Might shed down heavenlier splendours from their car—
Might wear more proud refulgence to our eyes,
And viewed from earth, shine lovelier in the skies,
If thou wert not—thou Sun!—to whom seems given
The pride of all the hierarchies of Heaven!—
But severed by unbounded wastes of space,
With richer gifts of good should fail to grace,
One desert, and one drouth should she be made,
An icy wreck—mocked, blighted, and dismayed!
Beholding those thronged luminaries shine,
But feeling not their influence all benign!—
Glorious Preserver!—echo of the Word!—
Thou bright vicegerent of the eternal Lord!—
My thoughts retract their bold presumptuous strain,
And bless thy Sovereign Singleness again!
Thy proud monopoly of missioned might,
Thy conquering lordliness and centered light!
But soft!—what shape steals o'er my solitude,
Hushed as some dream that soothes the watcher's mood—
Its countenance—more shadowy than throned Night—
Yet—like a Heaven in Ruins!—darkly bright?—
Enter Lucifer.
What art thou? Shape of awe, and wrath, and gloom,
That steal'st as from the silence of the tomb—
And with the silence of our frozen death,
That changeth not?—reply!—if thou hast breath!—
What art thou, awful shape—of fate and fear?
What doth thy terror and thy beauty here?

Luc.
Methinks that thou shouldst know me—this is not
The first time I have hailed thee!—hast forgot?—

Jai.
Ha!—that wild glance, like some onsweeping storm—
The chaos-beauty of that sovereign form!—
It is a towering majesty of gloom—
And treads the world like some Tremendous Doom!—
My soul seems lost before it—I remain—
Like one who swooneth with o'ertorturing pain;
And dazzled—but by what?—by Darkness drear?—
Which doth the ascendant in that guise appear?
Though in the mystery of that aspect lies
The heights and depths of light's regalities—
Beneath its tread earth grows one angry tomb—
Declare!—what art thou?—speak!—Stupendous Gloom!—
Pronounce!—Thou swart and shadowy-lowering Sun!
That look'st Eclipse and Empire—both in One!
That makest all nature round thee wear thy face—
And seem'st out-measuring all the unbounded space!—

Luc.
I was!—I say to thee—I am not now!—
I was!—and will be—must I more avow?—

Jai.
It is enough!—I know thee—but too well,
The Infernal great Incomprehensible!—
I see the thunder-withered brow—the throne
Of thoughts still conquerors—though in acts undone!
But, say—thou discrowned Desolation!—why—
Deign'st thou thus parley with mortality?—

Luc.
Know that in heart and hope—in mind and mood,
Between us two is strange similitude—
In either will the workings are the same—
We move united by one common aim—
Full oft—from thee concealed—have I dwelt near—
Bent to thy thoughts my spiritual ear!—
Full oft in deep disguise have been at hand,—
For various aspects I at will command!—
My presence thus—half hid and half expressed,
Methinks by thee was ofttimes glimpsed and guessed;
A vague, strange consciousness of mystic kind—
Oft deepening to assurance chained thy mind—

Jai.
This may be so—but what thou hast seen—what heard,
Proves not that likeness—thus by thee averred!—
I tell thee that mine aim, my hope, my will,
War 'gainst thine own unconquerably still—
I tell thee that my deep and dear design,
Through all its parts, antagonizeth thine;—
Wide as is heaven from earth, or earth from thee—
My purpose is from what thine own can be!
Speak then of such similitude no more—
The words thou utteredst wrung my heart before!—
No common aim unites us—Heaven forefend,
In nought my soul shall with thy spirit blend.

Luc.
Tame down thy daring tongue, vain mortal! how?—
Must I brook thy fierce taunts? keep silence thou!—
Before thy clay tribunal shall I stand,
And ask for favouring judgements at thy hand?—
Thou—born to perish as thou shalt—and must—
What!—shall I stoop me to thy dust of dust?
I deemed our spirits with one hope were fraught;
I did exalt thee by the very thought!—
Sublime advancement and promotion proud—
To be my comrade and ally avowed!—
What liv'st for, miserable earthling, save
To dig the ground thou dropp'st into—thy grave?
Thou that presumest, in so guardless hour,
To rouse mine anger—and to brave my power,
What art thou, rash and frontless dreamer, say,
That bragg'st it thus—thou helpless child of clay;
Through measured graduations that wouldst soar,
And with thy grovelling soul the All explore—
Part after part, that day by day would'st seize
The harmonious whole—and spring by poor degrees!—
Aye! by degrees would'st spring—would'st piecemeal learn!
Whilst nobler spirits at one glance discern!—
With gradual growth and grasp thy cabined mind
Exalt, enlarge—and free from thralls that bind—
Thy labouring thought, with slow research improve,
And through the immense with painful progress move;
Heave up thy cold conception's lingering weight,
A wearying toil—to tremble at heaven's gate!

Jai.
Proud fiend! avaunt!—I feel my spirit rise,
Instinct with sovereign breathings of the skies;
Though now a tenant of this lower earth,
I feel the inherent greatness of my birth;—
And though a thing of clay—a child of dust,
I stand upon the strength of that high trust,
And hurl my soul's defiance—nay!—not so;
Thou'rt fallen!—and pitiably thou now liest low:
Thou'rt fallen indeed!—as they must fall who fail,
When all their fate hangs trembling in the scale,
In depths of degradation and defeat,
Doomed to submit—and destined to retreat;—
And I may deign not, darkly to debase
Myself to thee!—thou exile of all space!—
Which 'twere to risk, could I thus stoop to mar
My bosomed peace,—by waging wordy war—
By trying hard conclusions thus with One
Who needs forbearance—ruined and undone;
Thy wretched state—condemned to dreadful Fame,
Should sufferance crave—commiseration claim—
Must plead for mercy, and must prompt to grace—
And wring compassion e'en from man's wronged race—
Thou crushed apostate—by earth's least out-towered,
Anarch subdued!—and rebel all o'erpowered!—
I grant that grace—poor fiend!—I pity thee.—

Luc.
Ha! dar'st thou?—pity! pity!—must this be?
Oh! Hell! thou'st taught no tortures!—must I bow?
Lost Heaven! I never felt my Fall till now!
Till now—I never, never, felt my Fall—
Now grinds the torment, and now grates the thrall,
Now wounds the chastisement—now wrings the check,
Now blasts—now blights, the unmeasured waste—and wreck,
The Immensity of Ruin—starts and stares
Before me now—and my fixed glance reglares;
Horrors and Humiliations round me crowd,
And shut like seas above me!—I have bowed!—
The imperious will's unconquerable strength
Hath waned—hath withered from my soul at length,
The indignant scorn and the all-inspiring hate
Hath sunk beneath some icy mountain's weight—
For like ice-mountains on my spirit piled,
These cankering consciousnesses, dimmed—defiled—
Down crush me, shudderingly, to death's own dust,
Death!—to my sovereign sufferance, still unjust!—
No!—no!—I never felt my Fall before!—
Yet feel as I had writhed for evermore;
Feel ev'n as though, from my creation's first,
I had been ever lost!—the abhorred—the accursed.
I never knew my depths of loss till now;
And 'tis to thee this sharpened sense I owe—
To thee, thou—worm!—His instrument of wrath,
Who raised a reptile thing to blight my path;
Myriads and myriads of His Angels failed
To wound me thus—but thou—thou hast well assailed!—
Well hast thou stung the Steeled One—and 'tis thine
To bid the last rays of lost suns unshine!—
The latest rays of my lost sun to quench,
And teach the Indomitable Pride to blench!—
Lower than low thou'st smitten me; I sink—
As though till now I had but neared the brink!—
Be proud!—since thou couldst thus victoriously
Smite him who towered the highest midst the high;—
But tremble!—lest his vengeance should o'ertake,
Nor deign to spare thee for thy weakness' sake!—
Ha! agony of agonies!—that thought—
That word—what!—pity!—oh! 'tis wormwood fraught!
Away!—avoid my sight! I will not be—
Indebted to thy groundling sympathy!—

Jai.
Haughtiest, if not the highest!—it is well
My tongue was taught thine impious pride to quell,
And prove to thee how lost—how last thy place,
How black thy forfeit—boundless thy disgrace,—
How less than little—lower than low thou art—
How ill thou'st played thine ill and evil part!—
How, midst thy giant failures, thou hast lost
Thyself—thyself—immeasurably the most!—
Lord of celestial realms! what own'st thou now?—
What is thy sway—thine empire—who art thou?

Luc.
I was!

Jai.
And say! canst thou pronounce that word!
Nor feel the sharpening of the avenging sword?
That—that must be the madness of thy thought—
(If phrenzy might in ruth to thee be taught,)
Thou wast!—the annihilation of despair—
Blasts all thy being—leaves its huge void there.

Luc.
I will be!

Jai.
Kneel then to the eternal throne—
Thus canst thou be restored—and thus alone.—

Luc.
How!—kneel?—restored?—poor mortal!—thy weak brain
Can but revolve crude nothings—vague and vain—
I was—I will be!—let all come to pass—
Still mine the boast—I will be still—I was!—
Kneel!—not for the Universe I claimed and lost:—
Though heavens were heaped on heavens, like His thronged host;
Not for the Orbed Sovereignties I strove to gain,
Though more than multiplied that Realm and Reign!
How!—be restored?—regain my rule and rank—
Not though I heed, nor supplicate, nor thank!—
'Twere worse that base inferior place to hold—
Than thus to wander—freed from heaven's cribbed fold!
Now—let what may be lost—I still can be
Imperial in mine Independency!—
Thinkst thou my Feud is o'er?—I tell thee—NO!—
Nor wilt be past—till All that is—be so!—
I am One Battle!—mine immortal life
Is one unceasing marshalry of strife;—
I am the unpausing—the unextinguished war!—
As, through my means—all things for ever are!—
At least in this I conquered!—I conceived—
And nobly my proud purpose I atchieved!—
This new creation of conflicting powers—
Born to exhaust the eternities as hours!—
The Chaos He from Matter breathed away,
Through me transferred to Mind shall fiercelier sway;
Yet glorying will I make—I swear to thee!—
Heaven's sphered immensities my anarchy—
Through all the regions of all power and place—
The extensions and expansions of all space,—
Yea! to the Innumerable of Worlds will say,
“Be uncreation!”—so shall they obey!—
Thus all my desolation shall become
My great Despair—my Darkness, and my Doom!—
The works—worlds—wonders—of the all-powerful hand—
Shall be the Chaos of my dread Command!—
I will destroy their rare perfection still—
Make the bright—dark—the good—to be most ill!—
So stars and spheres shall pass—shall fall away,
For I will teach them—change, wrong, gloom, decay—
Through evil's sapping presence—blighting breath—
That makes of Immortality one Death!—
These crowding systems, thronged throughout the immense,
With method in their proud magnificence!—
Those nations massed and mingled without end,
Where all degrees and orders seem to blend;—
Those heights and depths, beyond all thought and dream,
Which still with miracles of glory teem;
Those endless regions, that know nought of bound,
That wait to be with new creations crowned;—
All yet shall wither to my waste—my wreck,—
And know the terror of the eternal check!
Each—though awhile untouched—shall grow my tool—
All be my Ruin—and thus own my Rule!—
I say to thee throned worlds shall smile and shine,
Only to feel a Fall—as dire as mine!—
What though creations fresh may spring up there,
To fill the blank, and that dark loss repair—
These in their turn shall perish and depart;
So shall the whole of Nature rue my Art!
From me—through me came strife and dearth and wrath,
Through me—Destruction and the powers of Death!—
Yet wherefore speak I thus to thee?—whose thought
Can ne'er the mysteries of these truths be taught?
Lost, lost in the Infinite!—which beings made
Like me the Undying—sole can view displayed.

Jai.
Forbear to boast!—thou dark and dreadful guest,
As though thy Worst were better than the Best!
Say'st thou my Thought, in its high soaring sway,
Is lost in the outstretched Infinite?—away!—
I tell thee the Infinite itself is lost—
In my large thought—ev'n where 'tis boundless most!—
I tell thee that 'tis hidden in my Thought,
Lost—in its depths—till through its power rewrought!
Then multiplied and made more vast, more wide,
With thousand Vastnesses conjoined beside!—
Yea! I may be the creature of to-day—
Heir of corruption, as the child of clay—
I may be cooped in fleshly coil and crust—
Time's victim made—as the offspring of the dust—
True!—I may pine in this most petty form!—
I may be as thou saidst!—Yea!—am a worm—
But know—thou dark and envious spirit—know!—
(My soul cries out of me that it is so!)
My Thoughts are Gods!—and suns shall cease to burn
Ere they,—once roused,—to Chaos shall return!
They never shall to Chaos sink again,
Beyond Creation are they called to reign!—
There—there—thy power is vain—thy sway is nought.
I hurl thee from my seventh-staged heaven of thought!—
Even to the horrent Hades of thine own,
In blackness of all darkness—most unknown—
Leave me—I pray thee leave me—I would seek
To raze from memory, that I heard thee speak!—
Thou that wouldst fain even yet a conqueror prove,
And make thy lowest outweigh all above:—
Thou talk'st of death—a fancy-monstered thing!—
Still, still I feel that Heaven will blunt his sting.
I feel this clay must perish—but ne'er doubt,
The Mind joined with it shall live best—without!—
Let chaos seize creation once again;—
Let anarchy—the wildest, widest reign;—
Let systems—spheres—worlds—universes sink;
Mind can dream Worlds—whole Universes think!—
All space may fail—all matter wane or melt—
That never dies which hath been thought and felt—
Eternal as its Maker is the Mind—
Spread ruin round—but there thy limit find!—

Luc.
No!—son of earth!—'tis there I yet shall most
Reap deadliest triumph—though all else be lost!
There shall my victories blaze!—there vast success
Create for me new Heavens of Happiness!—
Through Man and through his Mind shall I yet wield
Tremendous arms—and take once more the field—
Once more the armed, helmed Antagonist shall move,
And shake the far-forefended realms above;
Brave the full-orbed Omnipotencies there,
And all their terrors—all their triumphs dare—
The Hierarchic Chivalries of Heaven defy,
And snatch mankind too from the impoverished sky—
As the third part of its proud chiefs I drew
With me away!—its failure—but my due!—
Then will I rear elate, height after height,
My Pyramids of Worlds, in Thrones sun-bright!—
And make destruction's self more glorious far
Than all perfection, which His marvels are!—
I go—yet, mortal!—hush!—spare speech! 'twere vain—
Look to behold me—and ere long—again!

[Exit Lucifer.
Jai.
From this most fall'n, lost being let me now
Turn my tranced thoughts to thee—the Almightiest! Thou
That wert his conqueror—as thou must be still,
Of all who dare to stand 'gainst thy high will.
Oh! marvel of all mystery!—who can sound
Thy being's awfulness—without a bound.
What we adore in thee, thou dread Eterne;
What we can of that mightiest mystery learn,
Are surely but thine after-attributes,
So vain our judgments' founts, our wisdom's fruits.
To thee imputes our reason, false and frail,
(That ne'er may hope those wondrous heights to scale,)
Those things we reck of Thee!—those things alone
As of supreme necessity—thine own!—
Necessity! 'tis the echo of thy law,
And waits thy bidding, ere it dare to draw
Its being from Thy breath!—or rather say
The cold unbeing of its soulless sway,
Which can but follow where thou dost direct,
And trace its paths prescribed—urg'd, led, or checked—
And never, Lord of Lords, could come near thee,
Till bade to come—the austere Necessity!—
Thou didst conceive Necessity—and call
From very nothing its stern secrets all!—
And in some brooding—some self-counselled hour,
Thou willedst Will!—and thou createdst Power!—
Lo! was not once all Deity?—till thou,
Before whom hosts must tremble—worlds must bow,
Didst separate (as in strong times less remote,
Whose memory yet doth o'er the present float—
Thou well dividest Darkness from the Light—
Time from the Eternity with conquering might,)
Aye!—with dread wisdom separate and divide,
Yet, laying no part of Thy State aside!—
Full Deity from Itself!—and bade arise
A frame of things in independent guise,
A race of living beings—free—distinct,
By bonds of heavenly love alone enlinked—
No more one Universe of Deity!—
Not all—one boundless Infinite of Thee!—
Not Thee!—though of Thee—through Thee—from Thee still—
Born of thy breath—and wrought but through thy will!—
My soul is heavy—the condemned One's words
Thrilled but too painfully my spirit's chords
Hence! ghastly dread!—I cannot surely be
Leagued with the Infernal Immortality;
Yet, when he uttered, with that scorn-wreathed lip
Hints—more—stern charges of companionship—
Methought a still small voice was roused within,
That witnessed faintly to some treacherous sin:
Can it indeed be, mine august design—
(Made in my sight almost a thing divine,)
Is touched with evil.—No!—'tis not so!—no—
It may not be! it must not—'twere worst woe!—
My daughter's gentlest presence let me seek;
Smooth consolations—her meek tongue shall speak!
[Exit Jairah.

SCENE II.

—Part of a Forest.
Enter Jairah.
Jai.
Methought but now I marked the bright Unknown
Pass o'er this path—with measured steps and lone—
His neighbouring presence makes the seas of soul
Surely in boundless brightness smoothened roll!—
'Tis even so!—In chastened glory now,
See!—he approaches with benignant brow!—

Enter the Unknown Spirit.
Unknown Spirit.
Hail!—mortal!—Peace be with thee! fear thou not!
Nought evil comes near this now hallowed spot!—

Jai.
An evil power hath walk'd with me of late—
Thou know'st it!—thou know'st all!—thou good and great!
But none know thee!—Oh! tell me what thou art,
So from disquietudes shall cease this heart.

Unknown Spi.
I am of those who wish all good to man,
Ev'n now while suffering under brand and ban.
Enquire not further—let thus much suffice—
Nor curious be, nor scrupulously nice—
I am of those who, wishing mercy still
For humankind—but serve their Maker's will.
How did the Other speak with thee?—and say—
Did he much strive to win thee from the way!

Jai.
He spoke of horror still and hideous doom,
And far into my soul cast his dread gloom!
Threatenings and thunderings of despair he spoke,—
His neck is wounded sore by the awful yoke!—
And dost thou ne'er behold him, when abroad,
He chooseth thus at will—unchecked—his road?—

Unknown Spi.
Nay—I have seen him not since that great hour
When he succumbed before the Eternal Power,
That mightiest moment of his blank defeat—
When Dread with Dread seemed endlessly to meet—
That moment of tremendous wrath untold,
Whose terrors lips nor language could unfold!
That moment—Memory's self may ne'er rehearse!—
When Boundless Godhead—was the Universe!—
Since—deadened—stunned—by wonder's tranced excess—
Checked through the amazement's hushed unconsciousness,
Crushed down by the all-annihilating Awe,
Nor Spirits free nor fall'n—felt—heard—or saw!—
Whole systems writhed—flashed—and were not!—as flames
Sway'd by fierce winds—extinguished like spent aims—
Duration checked itself—the eternity—
Appeared to have surceased—as nought might be!
The Eternity—the Eternity—stood still!—
And nought survived but Him—the Word—the Will—
Space and the extension seemed collapsed—and all—
More than participating in that Fall!—
Then—as there was Beginning—sprang and rose
Mysteries of glory—speech might ne'er disclose!—
Aye!—as there was Beginning!—for new-born
Those myriads seemed—as 'twere creation's morn!—
Snatched from the jaws of that Obstruction's Death—
When the Infinite forgot all living breath!—
Caught from the depths of that Oblivion's Doom,
Which made the Illimitable yawn—one tomb!—
Still when arose quick thought and life again,
Resuming then their interrupted reign,
One thought—one Thought of God arose alone—
Still the Universe—was the Universe's Throne!—
There, the great Love,—th' Awe,—Hope—th' Amazement flowed—
Creation thrilled—One Consciousness of God!
Then burst the hosts and hierarchies of heaven,
(To whose armed hand the victory's might was given,)
Into the enraptured strength of joy's full strain,
The hallelujatick songs broke forth again!—
Wide waved the emblazoned banners of their pride,
The enzodiacked swords flashed, sheathless, at their side,
Since like effulgent zodiacks shivering beamed
Their glittering bauldricks—that far-flaming gleamed,
While at their shoulders shone transcendent things
Their golden Harps—their quivered War—their Wings!—
Such splendour round them shedding with such sway,
That suns were spots of darkness on their day!
As they and all their pride of glory's light—
Were—on the Shadow of the Bright of Bright!

[To be continued.]