CHAPTER XIX.

Origin of Plays on Religious Subjects.—Sacred Dramas, Ancient and Modern.-Ill adapted to the Stage. Account of "Cain, a Mystery."— Dedication.- Bayle.-Manicheism.-Indecency.

-Pra-Adamites.-Cuvier.-The Piece Pirated. Injunction refused.--Milton justified.-Conduct of the Publisher.-Anecdote of Curll.-Lord Byron's Letter.

BEFORE the Reformation, plays were made upon religious subjects only, and acted chiefly in churches, whence they were called MYSTERIES. These wretched interludes, as may well be imagined, were wholly destitute of a poetical character, and only calculated to amuse an ignorant assembly, incapable of a more elevated species of entertainment. At a subsequent period, when letters began to be cultivated, some tragedies were written in Latin, on Scriptural topics, as the "Jephthe" of Buchanan, and the "Adamus

SACRED DRAMAS.

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Exul" of Grotius. Long afterwards Racine, at the desire of Madame de Maintenon, composed his "Esther" and "Athaliah," which were performed by the young ladies in the religious house of St. Cyr. But, however meritorious these pieces might be as poems, they were not adapted for the stage, there being something in the very nature of the sacred history, that makes such an exhibition carry the ap. pearance of profanation. Since then, two female writers of eminence, one in England and the other in France, have acquired notice by the composition of what they call "Sacred Dramas;" but without intending that any of the pieces so constructed in the form of dialogue should be brought into theatrical representation. The propriety, indeed, of casting any part of the Scripture into a dress of this sort, may well be questioned, since it is scarcely possible so to model the incidents and the language, as to avoid affecting the sense of the original. Thus, for example, there is hardly a circumstance in the bible, that does not owe its beauty in a great degree to the simple brevity observed in the relation. Now when the narrative is dramatized, the poet of necessity is obliged to frame speeches, and to devise motives of

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CAIN, A MYSTERY.

action, which, however consonant they may be to the characters introduced, are not in the sacred text, and therefore may possibly tend to the encouragement of error. The writers of whom we have been speaking, have in general avoided falling into any egregious fault; for, as they had no other object in view than to blend instruction with amusement, they took care to keep as close as possible to the plain story, and the analogy of faith. It never entered into their imagination to turn the bible against itself, by grafting upon any of its facts such monstrous fictions as would destroy the credit of the whole. The disgrace of doing this was reserved for the author of "Cain, a Mystery;" which work it is now our painful task to examine.

This performance is dedicated to Sir Walter Scott; and yet the author knew that the publication had been objected to, as of dangerous tendency, by his publisher, as well as by Mr. Gifford, and even by Mr. Hobhouse. His sending so reprehensible a composition into the world, after this united expression of disapprobation, evinced a marvellous respect for the judgment of his friends; but the attempt to procure

for his drama some degree of public favour, by addressing it to one of the most popular and moral writers of the age, merits a censure still more severe. If Sir Walter Scott really takes this inscription for a compliment, he deserves to go down to posterity with Cain branded upon his forehead; and if the noble lord intended it as such, he must have formed a vile opinion of the ingenious Baronet's principles and understanding. In his preface the author professes to have "composed his scenes in conformity to the ancient title annexed to the dramas upon similar subjects; but says that he has not taken the same liberties with his topic, which were common formerly." The audaciousness of this declaration is of a piece with the blasphemous texture of the performance which it preludes: for if there are no farcical representations in the Mystery of Cain, it exhibits, what is ten thousand times worse, a direct aim to overturn the faith of ages in the existence of one Supreme Intelligence, the sole creator and governor of the universe. Instead of this fundamental article of belief, which even philosophy itself, without the aid of Revelation, could receive and prove, the author of Cain adopts from Bayle, the great reviver of the Manichæan system,

the doctrine of two opposing and independent principles, the admission of which necessarily leads to atheism. Even for the very title of "Mystery," which the noble lord has given to his performance, he is clearly indebted to that learned compiler of exploded errors, who says of Christians that they are bound to believe the mysteries which are said to have been revealed, however inconceivable and impossible they may be to reason.

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It is obvious, therefore, that in adopting the word Mystery," the noble author of Cain did not allude to the old dramas, but to the foundation of Christianity, which according to him and his master is a fiction irreconcilable with reason.

Into the particulars of the story of Cain. it is not needful to enter, farther than to state that the principal agents in the piece are the Fratricide and Lucifer, who appears to him in the field, and, at his own desire, to know something of the state of the dead, conveys him beyond this sublunary sphere into Hades, where the shadows of the præ-Adamites appear, but which neither say nor do any thing. This curious phantasmagoria