Some part of the
language
is bold, and may shock one
class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of
affectation or envy.
class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of
affectation or envy.
Byron
Now let us carry forth our children.
_Cain_. And _he_ who lieth there was childless! I
Have dried the fountain of a gentle race,
Which might have graced his recent marriage couch,
And might have tempered this stern blood of mine,
Uniting with our children Abel's offspring! 560
O Abel!
_Adah_. Peace be with him!
_Cain_. But with _me! _----
[_Exeunt_.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] {205}[On the 13th December [1821] Sir Walter received a copy of
Cain, as yet unpublished, from Murray, who had been instructed to ask
whether he had any objection to having the "Mystery" dedicated to him.
He replied in these words--
"Edinburgh, _4th December_, 1821.
"My Dear Sir,--I accept, with feelings of great obligation, the
flattering proposal of Lord Byron to prefix my name to the very grand
and tremendous drama of 'Cain. '[*] I may be partial to it, and you will
allow I have cause; but I do not know that his Muse has ever taken so
lofty a flight amid her former soarings. He has certainly matched Milton
on his own ground.
Some part of the language is bold, and may shock one
class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of
affectation or envy. But then they must condemn the 'Paradise Lost,' if
they have a mind to be consistent. The fiend-like reasoning and bold
blasphemy of the fiend and of his pupil lead exactly to the point which
was to be expected,--the commission of the first murder, and the ruin
and despair of the perpetrator.
"I do not see how any one can accuse the author himself of Manicheism.
The Devil talks the language of that sect, doubtless; because, not being
able to deny the existence of the Good Principle, he endeavours to exalt
himself--the Evil Principle--to a seeming equality with the Good; but
such arguments, in the mouth of such a being, can only be used to
deceive and to betray. Lord Byron might have made this more evident, by
placing in the mouth of Adam, or of some good and protecting spirit, the
reasons which render the existence of moral evil consistent with the
general benevolence of the Deity. The great key to the mystery is,
perhaps, the imperfection of our own faculties, which see and feel
strongly the partial evils which press upon us, but know too little of
the general system of the universe, to be aware how the existence of
these is to be reconciled with the benevolence of the great Creator.
"To drop these speculations, you have much occasion for some mighty
spirit, like Lord Byron, to come down and trouble the waters; for,
excepting 'The John Bull,'[**] you seem stagnating strangely in London.
"Yours, my dear Sir,
"Very truly,
"WALTER SCOTT.
"To John Murray, Esq. "-_Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott_, by J.
G. Lockhart, Esq. , 1838, iii. 92, 93.
[[*] "However, the praise often given to Byron has been so exaggerated
as to provoke, perhaps, a reaction in which he is unduly disparaged.
_Cain_. And _he_ who lieth there was childless! I
Have dried the fountain of a gentle race,
Which might have graced his recent marriage couch,
And might have tempered this stern blood of mine,
Uniting with our children Abel's offspring! 560
O Abel!
_Adah_. Peace be with him!
_Cain_. But with _me! _----
[_Exeunt_.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] {205}[On the 13th December [1821] Sir Walter received a copy of
Cain, as yet unpublished, from Murray, who had been instructed to ask
whether he had any objection to having the "Mystery" dedicated to him.
He replied in these words--
"Edinburgh, _4th December_, 1821.
"My Dear Sir,--I accept, with feelings of great obligation, the
flattering proposal of Lord Byron to prefix my name to the very grand
and tremendous drama of 'Cain. '[*] I may be partial to it, and you will
allow I have cause; but I do not know that his Muse has ever taken so
lofty a flight amid her former soarings. He has certainly matched Milton
on his own ground.
Some part of the language is bold, and may shock one
class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of
affectation or envy. But then they must condemn the 'Paradise Lost,' if
they have a mind to be consistent. The fiend-like reasoning and bold
blasphemy of the fiend and of his pupil lead exactly to the point which
was to be expected,--the commission of the first murder, and the ruin
and despair of the perpetrator.
"I do not see how any one can accuse the author himself of Manicheism.
The Devil talks the language of that sect, doubtless; because, not being
able to deny the existence of the Good Principle, he endeavours to exalt
himself--the Evil Principle--to a seeming equality with the Good; but
such arguments, in the mouth of such a being, can only be used to
deceive and to betray. Lord Byron might have made this more evident, by
placing in the mouth of Adam, or of some good and protecting spirit, the
reasons which render the existence of moral evil consistent with the
general benevolence of the Deity. The great key to the mystery is,
perhaps, the imperfection of our own faculties, which see and feel
strongly the partial evils which press upon us, but know too little of
the general system of the universe, to be aware how the existence of
these is to be reconciled with the benevolence of the great Creator.
"To drop these speculations, you have much occasion for some mighty
spirit, like Lord Byron, to come down and trouble the waters; for,
excepting 'The John Bull,'[**] you seem stagnating strangely in London.
"Yours, my dear Sir,
"Very truly,
"WALTER SCOTT.
"To John Murray, Esq. "-_Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott_, by J.
G. Lockhart, Esq. , 1838, iii. 92, 93.
[[*] "However, the praise often given to Byron has been so exaggerated
as to provoke, perhaps, a reaction in which he is unduly disparaged.
