LUCIFER. And who and what doth not? Who covets evil For its own bitter sake?-None-nothing! 'tis The leaven of all life and lifelessness.

CAIN.

Within those glorious orbs which we behold,
Distant and dazzling, and innumerable,
Ere we came down into this phantom realm,
Ill cannot come; they are too beautiful.

LUCIFER.

Thou hast seen them from afar.

CAIN.

And what of that?

Distance can but diminish glory-they, When nearer, must be more ineffable.

LUCIFER.

Approach the things of earth most beautiful,

And judge their beauty near.

CAIN.

This question of my father; and he said,
Because this evil only was the path

To good. Strange good, that must arise from out
Its deadly opposite! I lately saw

A lamb stung by a reptile: the poor suckling
Lay foaming on the carth, beneath the vain
And piteous bleating of its restless dam:
My father pluck'd some herbs, and laid them to
The wound; and by degrees the helpless wretch
Resumed its careless life, and rose to drain
The mother's milk, who o'er it tremulous
Stood licking its reviving limbs with joy.
Behold, my son! said Adam, how from evil
Springs good!

LUCIFER.

What didst thou answer?

CAIN.

Nothing; for

He is my father: but I thought, that 't were

I have done this

A better portion for the animal

The loveliest thing I know is loveliest nearest.

LUCIFER.

Then there must be delusion.-What is that, Which being nearest to thine eyes, is still More beautiful than beauteous things remote?

CAIN.

My sister Adah.-All the stars of heaven,
The deep blue noon of night, lit by an orb
Which looks a spirit, or a spirit's world-

The hues of twilight-the sun's gorgeous coming-
His setting indescribable, which fills
My eyes with pleasant tears as I behold

Him sink, and feel my heart float softly with him
Along that western paradise of clouds-

The forest shade-the green bough-the bird's voice-
The vesper bird's, which seems to sing of love,
And mingles with the song of cherubim,

As the day closes over Eden's walls;

All these are nothing to my eyes and heart,
Like Adan's face: I turn from earth and heaven
Το
gaze on it.

LUCIFER.

"Tis frail as fair mortality,

In the first dawn and bloom of young creation
And earliest embraces of earth's parents,
Can make its offspring; still it is delusion.

CAIN.

You think so, being not her brother.

LUCIFER.

Mortal!

My brotherhood's with those who have no children.

CAIN.

Then thou canst have no fellowship with us.

LUCIFER.

It may be that thine own shall be for me. But if thou dost possess a beautiful Being beyond all beauty in thine eyes, Why art thou wretched?

CAIN.

Why do I exist?

Why art thou wretched? why are all things so?
Even He who made us must be as the maker
Of things unhappy! To produce destruction
Can surely never be the task of joy,
And yet my sire says He's omnipotent:
Then why is evil-He being good? I ask'd

I have thought, why recall a thought that (he pauses, as agitated)-Spirit!

Here we are in thy world; speak not of mine.
Thou hast shown me wonders; thou hast shown me those
Mighty Pre-Adamites who walk'd the earth

Of which ours is the wreck: thou hast pointed out
Myriads of starry worlds, of which our own
Is the dim and remote companion, in

Infinity of life: thou hast shown me shadows
Of that existence with the dreaded name

Which my sire brought us-death; thou hast shown me

much

Her favour, since the serpent was the first

To win it.

LUCIFER.

And his father's?

CAIN.

What is that

To me? should I not love that which all love?

LUCIFER.

And the Jehovah-the indulgent Lord,
And beauteous planter of barr'd Paradise-
He, too, looks smilingly on Abel.

CAIN,

I

Ne'er saw Him, and I know not if He smiles.

LUCIFER.

LUCIFER. Yea!

But you have seen his angels.

Of worlds and life, which I hold with him-No!
I have a victor-true; but no superior.
Homage He has from all-but none from me:
I battle it against him, as I battled

In highest heaven. Through all eternity,
And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades,
And the interminable realms of space,
And the infinity of endless ages,

All, all, will I dispute! And world by world,
And star by star, and universe by universe,
Shall tremble in the balance, till the great
Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease,
Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quench'd!
And what can quench our immortality,
Our mutual and irrevocable hate?

He as a conqueror will call the conquer'd
Evil; but what will be the good He gives?
Were I the victor, his works would be deem'd
The only evil ones. And you, ye new

And scarce-born mortals, what have been his gifts To you already in your little world?

CAIN.

But few; and some of those but bitter.

LUCIFER.

Back

With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest
Of his celestial boons to ye and yours.
Evil and good are things in their own essence,
And not made good or evil by the giver;
But if he gives you good-so call him; if
Evil springs from him, do not name it mine,
Till ye know better its true fount; and judge
Not by words, though of spirits, but the fruits
Of your existence, such as it must be.
One good gift has the fatal apple given-
Your reason:-let it not be oversway'd
By tyrannous threats to force you into faith
'Gainst all external sense and inward feeling:
Think and endure,-and form an inner world
In your own bosom-where the outward fails:
So shall you nearer be the spiritual
Nature, and war triumphant with your own.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

[They disappear.

The Earth near Eden, as in Act I.

Enter CAIN and ADAH.

CAIN.

Alas! I seem

ADAH.

Hush! tread softly, Cain.

No! By heaven, which He Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity

Our little Enoch sleeps upon yon bed Of leaves, beneath the cypress.

CAIN.

Cypress! 'tis

A gloomy tree, which looks as if it mourn'd
O'er what it shadows; wherefore didst thou choose
For our child's canopy?

ADAH.

Because its branches

ADAH.

Two altars, which our brother Abel made During thine absence, whereupon to offer A sacrifice to God on thy return.

CAIN.

And how knew he, that I would be so ready
With the burnt-offerings, which he daily brings
With a meek brow, whose base humility
Shows more of fear than worship, as a bribe
To the Creator?

ADAII.

Surely, 't is well done.

CAIN.

One altar may suffice; I have no offering.

ADAH.

The fruits of the earth, the early, beautiful
Blossom and bud, and bloom of flowers, and fruits;
These are a goodly offering to the Lord,
Given with a gentle and a contrite spirit.

CAIN.

I have toil'd, and till'd, and sweaten in the sun,
According to the curse:-must I do more?
For what should I be gentle? for a war
With all the elements ere they will yield

The bread we eat? For what must I be grateful?
For being dust, and grovelling in the dust,
Till I return to dust? If I am nothing-

For nothing shall I be a hypocrite,

When thou art gentle. Love us, then, my Cain!
And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee.
Look! how he laughs and stretches out his arms,
And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine,
To hail his father; while his little form
Flutters as wing'd with joy. Talk not of pain!
The childless cherubs well might envy thee
The pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain!
As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but
His heart will, and thine own too.

Be contrite? for my father's sin, already Expiate with what we all have undergone,

And to be more than expiated by

Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys,
The mother's joys of watching, nourishing,
And loving him? Soft! he awakes. Sweet Enoch!
[She goes to the child.

Oh Cain! look on him; see how full of life,
Of strength, of bloom, of beauty, and of joy,
How like to me-how like to thee, when gentle,
For then we are all alike; is 't not so, Cain?
Mother, and sire, and son, our features are
Reflected in each other; as they are

In the clear waters, when they are gentle, and

We mean to sacrifice.

ADAH.

Farewell, my Cain; But first embrace thy son. May his soft spirit, And Abel's pious ministry, recall thee To peace and holiness!

I know not.

[Erit ADAH, with her child.

ABEL.

Where hast thou been?

CAIN.

ABEL.

Nor what thou hast seen?

CAIN.

The dead

The immortal, the unbounded, the omnipotent,
The overpowering mysteries of space-
The innumerable worlds that were and are-
A whirlwind of such overwhelming things,