Aza. It cannot slay us: threaten dust with death, And talk of weapons unto that which bleeds?

What are thy swords in our immortal eyes?

Raph. The moment cometh to approve thy strength;
And learn at length

How vain to war with what thy God commands.
Thy former force was in thy faith.

Enter MORTALS, flying for refuge.

Chorus of MORTALS.

The heavens and earth are mingling-God! O God!
What have we done? Yet spare!

Hark! even the forest beasts howl forth their prayer!
The dragon crawls from out his den,

To herd, in terror, innocent with men!

And the birds scream their agony through air.
Yet, yet, Jehovah! yet withdraw Thy rod
Of wrath, and pity thine own world's despair!
Hear not Man only but all Nature plead!

Raph. Farewell, thou earth! Ye wretched sons of clay,

I cannot, must not, aid you. 'Tis decreed!

[Exit RAPHAEL. Japh. Some clouds sweep on as vultures for their prey, While others, fix'd as rocks, await the word

At which their wrathful vials shall be pour'd.

No azure more shall robe the firmament,

Nor spangled stars be glorious: Death hath risen:

In the Sun's place, a pale and ghastly glare

Hath wound itself around the dying air.

Aza. Come, Anah! quit this chaos-founded prison,

To which the elements again repair,

To turn it into what it was: beneath

The shelter of these wings thou shalt be safe,

As was the eagle's nestling once within

Its mother's.-Let the coming chaos chafe

With all its elements! heed not their din!

A brighter world than this, where thou shalt breathe
Ethereal life, will we explore:

These darken'd clouds are not the only skies.

[AZAZIEL and SAMIASA fly off, and disappear with ANAH and AHOLIBAMAH.

Japh. They are gone! They have disappear'd amidst the

roar

Of the forsaken world; and never more,

Whether they live, or die with all earth's life,

Now near its last, can aught restore

Anah unto these eyes.

Chorus of MORTALS.

Oh, son of Noah! mercy on thy kind!

What, wilt thou leave us all-all-all behind?

While safe amidst the elemental strife,

Thou sitt'st within thy guarded ark?

A Mother (offering her infant to JAPHET). Oh, let this

child embark!

I brought him forth in woe,

But thought it joy

To see him to my bosom clinging so.
Why was he born?

What hath he done

My unwean'd son--

To move Jehovah's wrath or scorn?

What is there in this milk of mine, that Death
Should stir all heaven and earth up to destroy
My boy,

And roll the waters o'er his placid breath?
Save him, thou seed of Seth!

Or cursed be-with Him who made

Thee and thy race, for which we are betray'd!

Japh. Peace! 'tis no hour for curses, but for prayer!

Chorus of MORTALS.

For prayer!!!
And where

Shall prayer ascend

When the swoln clouds unto the mountains bend

And burst,

And gushing oceans every barrier rend,
Until the very deserts know no thirst?
Accurst

Be He who made thee and thy sire!

We deem our curses vain; we must expire;

But as we know the worst,

Why should our hymn be raised, our knees be bent
Before the implacable Omnipotent,

Since we must fall the same?

If He hath made earth, let it be His shame

To make a world for torture.-Lo! they come,

The loathsome waters, in their rage!

And with their roar make wholesome Nature dumb!
The forest's trees (coeval with the hour

When Paradise upsprung,

Ere Eve gave Adam knowledge for her dower,

Or Adam his first hymn of slavery sung),

So massy, vast, yet green in their old age,
Are overtopp'd,

Their summer blossoms by the surges lopp'd,
Which rise, and rise, and rise.

Vainly we look up to the louring skies-

They meet the seas,

And shut out God from our beseeching eyes.
Fly, son of Noah, fly! and take thine ease
In thine allotted ocean-tent;

And view, all floating o'er the element,

The corpses of the world of thy young days:
Then to Jehovah raise

Thy song of praise!

A Mortal. Blessed are the dead

Who die in the Lord!

And though the waters be o'er earth outspread
Yet, as His word,

Be the decree adored!

He gave me life-He taketh but

The breath which is His own;

And though these eyes should be for ever shut,
Nor longer this weak voice before His throne
Be heard in supplicating tone,

Still blessed be the Lord,
For what is past,

For that which is:

For all are His,

From first to last

Time--space-eternity--life-death

The vast known and immeasurable unknown.
He made, and can unmake;

And shall I, for a little gasp of breath,
Blaspheme and groan?

No; let me die, as I have lived, in faith,
Nor quiver, though the universe may quake,
Chorus of MORTALS.

Where shall we fly?

Not to the mountains high;

For now their torrents rush, with double roar,
To meet the ocean, which, advancing still,
Already grasps each drowning hill,

Nor leaves an unsearch'd cave.

Enter a WOMAN.

Woman. Oh, save me, save!

Our valley is no more:

My father and my father's tent,

My brethren and my brethren's herds,

The pleasant trees that o'er our noonday bent

And sent forth evening songs from sweetest birds,
The little rivulet which freshen'd all

Our pastures green,

No more are to be seen.

When to the mountain cliff I climb'd this morn,

I turn'd to bless the spot,

And not a leaf appear'd about to fall;

And now they are not!

Why was I born?

Japh.

To die! in youth to die!

And happier in that doom,

Than to behold the universal tomb

Which I

Am thus condemn'd to weep above in vain.

Why, when all perish, why must I remain?

[The Waters rise; Men fly in every direction; many are overtaken by the waves. The Chorus of Mortals disperses in search of safety up the Mountains; JAPHET remains upon a rock, while the Ark floats towards him in the distance.

CAIN:

A MYSTERY.

"Now the Serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."-GEN. iii. 1.

ΤΟ

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.,

THIS MYSTERY OF CAIN IS INSCRIBED,

BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND, AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

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 I find them, and reply, with Bishop Watson upon similar occasions, when the Fathers were quoted to him, as Moderator in the schools