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diff --git a/old/37659-0.txt b/old/37659-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..573f006 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/37659-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10707 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vondel's Lucifer, by Joost van den Vondel + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Vondel's Lucifer + +Author: Joost van den Vondel + +Illustrator: John Aarts + +Translator: Charles Leonard van Noppen + +Release Date: October 7, 2011 [EBook #37659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VONDEL'S LUCIFER *** + + + + +Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at +http://freeliterature.org (From images generously made +available by the Internet Archive) + + + + + +VONDEL'S LUCIFER + +TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH + +BY + +LEONARD CHARLES VAN NOPPEN + +ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN AARTS + +MCMXVII + +CHAS. L. VAN NOPPEN + +Publisher + +Greensboro, North Carolina + +1898 + +[Illustration: Portrait of Vondel--Quod tuba Virgila, Lyra Flacci, +altusq, cothurnus Annæi, et Lattiis sal Juvenalis erat; Id Belges sacra +cum VONDELIUS ora resolvit, Ingenio certans omnibus, arte prior.--PA] + + + _Dedicated by permission_ + + _To the_ + + _Holland Society of New Vork_ + + _Which has ever shown a great interest in the_ + + _achievements of the heroic race to which_ + + _it proudly traces its origin_ + + _and_ + + _To my brother_ + + _Charles Leonard van Noppen_ + + _Whose inspiring love and self-sacrificing_ + + _devotion have made this effort_ + + _possible_ + + + + +Contents. + + Translator's Preface + Introduction _Dr. W.H. Carpenter_ + Vondel and His Lucifer _Dr. G. Kalff_ + Vondel: His Life and Times. A Sketch. _Translator_ + The "Lucifer." An Interpretation. _Translator_ + Bibliography + + + Vondel's Dedication + On His Majesty's Portrait + Vondel's Foreword + Lucifer + The Argument + Dramatis Personæ + Act I. The Peaceful Joys of Paradise + Act II. The Cloud of Conspiracy + Act III. The Gathering Gloom + Act IV. The Seething Seas of Sedition + Act V. Flood and Flame + + Parallelisms between Vondel and Milton + + The Critical Cult + The American Press + From Signed Reviews + The London Press + + Letter from the Board of the Queen Wilhelmina Lectureship, + Columbia University + + + +Illustrations. + + Portrait of Vondel _Frontispiece_ + The Falling Morning Star + Lucifer + Apollion's Meeting with Belzebub and Belial + Adam and Eve in Paradise before the Fall + Chorus of Angels + The Exaltation of Man + Gabriel, the Herald and Interpreter of Heaven + The Sorrowing Angels + Michael, God's Field-marshal + The Disaffected Spirits + Rafael Pleading with Lucifer + The Battle in the Heavens + Our First Parents after the Fall + The Rebels in Hell + + + +Translator's Preface. + + +It is with a feeling of diffidence that I offer to American readers this +the first English version of that unknown Titan, Vondel, a poet of whom +Southey's words on Bilderdÿk, another Dutch bard, might also have been +spoken: + + "The language of a state + Inferior in illustrious deeds to none, + But circumscribed by narrow bounds,... + Hath pent within its sphere a name wherewith + Europe should else have rung from side to side." + +This translation of the "Lucifer" is the result of years of careful +study, and I may therefore be pardoned for calling it a conscientious +effort. My object has been to give merely a literal but sympathetic +rendering. It has been my aim to preserve the old poet in all his rugged +simplicity, for every syllable of this classic has been hallowed by +centuries. It is sacred, and every change is but a desecration. + +Sacred as is the body of such a poem, yet how much holier is its +spirit--the elusive properties of its soul! But how seldom does the +translation of a great classic prove other than the breaking of the +chalice and the spilling of the wine! Yet if but some faint aroma of its +original beauty linger around the fragment of this offering--this +version of Vondel's grand drama--I lay down my pen content. + +I am aware that less accuracy and a greater freedom might in many places +have produced a more ornate and highly finished rendering; but this, it +seems to me, would have weakened a poem--a poem whose chief merit is its +remarkable virility. Every word in a translation of a classic, not in +the original, is but the alloy that lessens the proportion of true gold +in the coin of its worth. Felicitous paraphrasing is often only a +confession of inability to translate an author into the true terms of +poetical equation. Mere prettinesses are surely not to be expected in a +poem so sublime and stately. I have therefore followed the text of the +original very closely. + +The body of the drama was written by Vondel in rimed Alexandrines. This +part of the play I have rendered into blank verse--a metrical form far +better suited to the English drama, and also more adapted to the genius +of our language. It is obvious, too, that this admits of much greater +accuracy in the translation. + +I have, however, scrupulously adhered to the original metres of all the +choruses--most of them very involved and intricate, some modelled after +the antique--even to preserving the feminine and interior rimes; for the +utility and beauty of the chorus is in its music, and the music consists +in both metre and rime. I have also generally followed Vondel's +capitalization and punctuation, and his spelling of the names of the +characters, as Belzebub, Rafael, Apollion, etc. + +With the much discussed question of Milton's indebtedness to Vondel this +effort has nothing to do. I mention this merely to show that this +version was not made that it might be adduced as proof of Vondel's +influence on his great English contemporary. It has a much higher reason +to commend it; namely, the intrinsic value of the original as a poem and +as a national masterpiece. My desire has been to give Vondel; and Vondel +is a sufficient justification. + +At the same time, I was not displeased when I received a letter from a +distinguished American scholar, stating that this translation also +incidentally fills a wide gap in the Miltonic criticism, and that it +thus supplies a great desideratum. + +With this version of Vondel's masterpiece I have also been asked to give +a sketch of the poet and his time, and an interpretation of the drama, +since there is so little in English on the subject. + +In writing the former, I found much of value in Mr. Gosse's charming +essays on Vondel, in his "Northern Studies." I must also acknowledge my +great obligations to Dr. Kalff's "Life of Vondel." + +Before closing I wish to thank the poets and scholars of the Netherlands +for their encouragement. Their kind reception of my effort was a +gratifying surprise to me. + +I must also take this opportunity to record the kindness of that eminent +scholar, Dr. G. Kalff, Professor of Dutch Literature in the University +of Utrecht, who, though overwhelmed with professional duties, with the +most painstaking care examined every part of my translation, giving me, +furthermore, the benefit of his critical observations. The brilliant +article on Vondel and his "Lucifer," with which he has favored this +volume, is an added reason for my gratitude. + +I also thank Dr. W.H. Carpenter of Columbia University for his kind +interest in my work, and for his invaluable introduction. + +And, finally, to my friends, Prof. Henry Jerome Stockard, the Southern +poet; Dr. Thomas Hume, Professor of English Literature in the University +of North Carolina; and Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, Professor of English in +the University of Louisiana, I also express my thanks for some excellent +suggestions. + + + + +Introduction. + +Vondel's Lucifer in English. + + +It has become a matter of literary tradition, in Holland and out of it, +that the choral drama of "Lucifer" is the great masterpiece of Dutch +literature. The Dutch critics, however, are by no manner of means +unanimous in this opinion. In point of fact, it has been assigned by +some a place relatively subordinate among the works of this "Dutch +Shakespeare," as they are fond of calling Vondel at home. No other one, +however, in the long list of his dramas and poems, from the "Pascha" of +1612 to his last translations of 1671, the beginning and the end of a +literary career, in which one of the greatest of Dutch writers on its +history has pronounced the poetry of the Netherlands to have attained +its zenith, will, none the less, so strongly appeal to us, outside of +Holland, as does the "Lucifer." Vondel's tragedy "Gysbreght van Amstel" +may have found far greater favor as a drama, and the poet may possibly +in his lyrics have risen to his greatest height; but neither the one nor +the other, in spite of this, can have such supreme claims upon our +attention. + +Why this is so is dependent upon a variety of reasons. It is not solely +on account of the lofty character of the subject, nor because we have an +almost identical one in a great poem in English literature, between +which and the "Lucifer" there is a more than generic resemblance. The +question of Milton's indebtedness to Vondel is no longer to be +considered an open one, and has resolved itself into an inquiry simply +as to the amount of the influence exerted. This is an interesting phase +of the matter, and, since it involves one of our great classics, an +important one. The two poems, nevertheless, however great this influence +may be shown to be, are by no manner of means alike in detail, and one +main source of interest to us, to whom "Paradise Lost" is a heritage, is +undoubtedly to compare the treatment of such a subject by two great +poets of different nationalities. The paramount reason, however, why +the "Lucifer" should appeal to us is because it is, in reality, one of +the great poems of the world; because of its inherent worth, its +seriousness of purpose, the sublimity of its fundamental conceptions, +its whole loftiness of tone. When the critics praise others of Vondel's +works for excellences not shared by the "Lucifer," they extol him +immeasurably, for there is enough in this poem alone to have made its +author immortal. + +It is a matter of surprise that down to the present time there has been +no English translation of "Lucifer," although, after all, its neglect is +but a part of the general indifference among us to the literature of +Holland in all periods of its history. Why this should be so is not +quite apparent; for wholly apart from the important question of action +and reaction as a constituent part of the world's literature, the +literature of Holland has in it, in almost every phase of its +development, sublimities and beauties of its own which surely could not +always remain hidden. An era of translation was sure to set in, and it +is a matter of significance that its herald has even now appeared. + +That the first considerable translation of any Dutch poet into English +should be Vondel, and that the particular work rendered should be the +"Lucifer," is, from the preëminent place of writer and poem in the +literature of the Netherlands, altogether apt. + +It is particularly fitting, however, that such an English translation, +both because it is first and because it is Vondel, should be put forth, +beyond all other places, from this old Dutch city of New York. There is +surely more than a passing interest in the thought that, at the time of +the appearance of Vondel's "Lucifer" in old Amsterdam, in 1654, its +reading public was in part New Amsterdam, as well. Whether any copy of +the book ever actually found its way over to the New Netherlands is a +matter that it is hardly possible now to determine; but that it might +have been read in the vernacular as readily here as at home is a fact of +history. Only two years after the publication of the "Lucifer," that is +in 1656, Van der Donck, as his title page states, "at the time in New +Netherland," printed his "Beschryvinge van Nieuw-Nederlant," in which +occurs the familiar picture of "Nieuw Amsterdam op 't Eylant +Manhattans," with its fort, and flagstaff, and windmill, its long row of +little Dutch houses, and its gibbet well in the foreground as an +unmistakable symbol of law and order. + +Strikingly enough, too, during the lifetime of Vondel we were making our +own contributions to Dutch literature; modest they certainly may have +been, but real none the less. Jacob Steendam, the first poet of New +York, wrote here at least one of his poems, the "Klagt van +Nieuw-Amsterdam," printed in Holland in 1659, and from this same period +are the occasional verses of those other Dutch poets, Henricus Selyns, +the first settled minister of Brooklyn, and of Nicasius de Sille, first +colonial Councillor of State under Governor Stuyvesant. Steendam, after +he had returned from these shores to the Fatherland, is still a New +Netherlander in spirit, for he continued to sing in vigorous, if homely, +verses of the land he had left, which in his long poems, "'T Lof van +Nieuw-Nederland," and "Prickel-Vaersen" he paints in glowing colors: + + Nieuw-Nederland, gy edelste Gewest + Daar d'Opperheer (op 't heerlijkst) heeft gevest + De Volheyt van zijn gaven: alder-best + In alle Leden. + + Dit is het Land, daar Melk en Honig vloeyd: + Dit is't geweest, daar't Kruyd (als dist'len) groeyd: + Dit is de Plaats, daar Arons-Roede bloeyd: + Dit is het Eden. + +A translation of Vondel, from what has been said, is, accordingly, in a +certain sense, a rehabilitation, a restoration to a former status that +through the exigency of events has been lost. While this may be +considered from some points of view but a curiosity of coincidence, it +is in reality, as has been assumed, much more than that: it is a +pertinent reminder of our historical beginnings, a harking back to the +century that saw our birth as a province and as a city, to the mother +country and to the mother tongue. + +Of the literature of Holland, from the lack of opportunity, we know far +too little. The translation into English of Vondel's "Lucifer" is not +only in and for itself an event of more than ordinary importance in +literary history, but it cannot fail to awaken among us a curiosity as +to what else of supreme value maybe contained in Dutch literature, and +thereby, in effect, form a veritable "open sesame" to unlock its hidden +treasures. + +WM. H. CARPENTER, + + _Professor of Germanic Philology,_ + _Columbia University, New York._ + +NEW YORK, _April_ 4, 1898. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Introduction: Dr. Kalff. + + +When Vondel, in 1653, finished his "Lucifer," he stood, notwithstanding +his sixty-six laborious years, with undiminished vigor upon one of the +loftiest peaks in his towering career. + +A long road lay behind him, in some places rough and steep, though ever +tending upwards. What had he not experienced, what had he not endured +since that day in 1605 when he contributed a few faulty strophes to a +wedding feast--the first product of his art of which we have any +knowledge! + +After a long and wearisome war, full of brilliant feats of arms, his +countrymen had, at length, closed a treaty full of glory to themselves +with their powerful and superior adversary. The Republic of the United +Netherlands had taken her place among the great powers of the earth. In +the East and in the West floated the flag of Holland. Over far-distant +seas glided the shadows of Dutch ships, _en route_ to other lands, +bearing supplies to satisfy their needs, or speeding homewards freighted +with riches. + +Prince Maurice was dead. Frederic Henry and William II. had come and +gone. De Witt, however, guided the helm of the ship of state; and as +long as De Ruyter stood on the quarter-deck of his invincible "Seven +Provinces" no reason existed to inspire an Englishman with a "Rule +Britannia." + +Knowledge soared on daring wings. Art reigned triumphant. The Stadhuis +at Amsterdam was nearing completion. Rembrandt's "Night Patrol" already +hung in the great hall of the Arquebusiers, and his "Syndics of the +Cloth Merchants" was soon to be begun. + +Fulness of life, growth of power, and the extension of boundaries were +everywhere apparent. The life of the period is like an impressive +pageant: in front, proud cavaliers, in high saddles, on their prancing +steeds, with splendid colors and dazzling weapons, while silk banners +gorgeously embroidered are waving aloft; in the rear, beautiful +triumphal chariots and picturesque groups; around stands a clamorous +multitude that for one moment forgets its cares in the glow of that +splendor, though often only kept in restraint with difficulty. + +In the midst of this busy, murmurous scene, Vondel with steady feet +pursued his own way; often, indeed, lending his ear to the voices with +which the air reverberated, or feasting his eyes upon color and form; +often, too, lifting his voice for attack or defence; though still more +often with averted glance, and lost in meditation, listening to the +voice within. + +Life had not left him untried. In many a contest, especially in his +struggles against the Calvinistic clergy, he had strengthened his belief +on many a doubtful point, developed his powers, and sharpened his +understanding. + +He had lost two lovely children; his tenderly beloved wife, who lived +for him, had left him alone; his conversion to Catholicism had cost him +much internal strife, and had brought with it the loss of former +friends; his oldest son, Joost, had plunged him into financial +difficulties, which resulted in ruin: yet beneath all this his sturdy +strength did not fail him. + +The fire of his spirit, not suppressed or smothered by the piled-up fuel +of early learning, but constantly and richly fed with that which was +best, burned with a fierce flame, ever hungry for new food. Treasures of +art and knowledge he had gathered, even as the honey-bee culls her +store out of all meadows and flowers; for towards art and knowledge his +heart ever inclined--towards those muses of whom, in his "Birthday Clock +of William Van Nassau," he said: + + "For whom all life I love; and without whom, ah me! + The glorious majesty of sun I could not gladly see." + +In an awe-inspiring number of long and short poems, he had, since those +first lame verses, developed his art; he had taught his understanding to +make use of life-like forms in the construction of his dramas; his +feelings he had made deeper and more refined; his taste he had ennobled; +his self-restraint he had increased; his technique he had made perfect. + +Did his Bible remain the fount from which he preferred to draw the +material for his dramas, he also gladly borrowed his motifs from the +past of classical antiquity, and from the every-day Netherland life +around him. His own fiery belief and deep convictions, and irrepressible +desire to give vent to them, caused the person of the poet to be seen +more clearly in his characters than we observe to be the case in the +productions of his masters, the classic tragedians. + +"Palamedes" is a tempestuous defence of the great statesman +Oldenbarneveldt--a defence full of intemperate passion, bitter reproach, +and burning satire. How fiercely glows there, in each word, in each +answer, in transparent allusion and in scornful irony, the fire of party +spirit! How often, too, do we there hear the voice of the poet himself, +as it trembles with tender sympathy or with lofty indignation! + +"Gÿsbrecht van Amstel," a subject dearer to the burghers of Amsterdam +than most others, is illuminated with the soft glimmer of altar-candles +mingled with airy incense. That same light, that same perfume, we also +perceive in "Maeghden," "Peter en Pauwels," and "Maria Stuart." + +The Christ-like, humble thankfulness of a Dutch burgher falls upon our +ears in the "Leeuwendalers," that charming pastoral, in which the wanton +play of whistling pipe and reed is constantly relieved by the silvery +pure tones of ringing peace-bells. + +Does the history of the development of the Vondelian drama teach us more +about the man Vondel, it also most clearly shows us the evolution of the +artist. Especially after his translation of "Hippolytus" he had weaned +himself from the style of Seneca. More and more he became filled with +the grandeur of the Greek tragedians, Sophocles and Euripides above all +others. Æschylus he had not yet made his own; that hour was not yet +come. + +In "Gÿsbrecht van Amstel" we feel, for the first time, that Vondel +acknowledges the Greeks as his masters, that he strives to follow them +in their sublime simplicity; in their naturalness, that never +degenerates to the gross; in their freedom of movement, so different +from the stiffness of the school of Seneca; in the exquisitely delicate +manner in which the lyric is introduced into the drama. In "Joseph in +Dothan," "Leeuwendalers," and "Salomon," we behold the poet pursuing the +same path, and here the influence of the Greeks is still more +perceptible. + +We have attempted in a few rapid strokes to give a brief outline of the +time in which the tragedy "Lucifer" had its origin, and also of the man, +the poet, who created it. + +When Vondel first conceived the plan of writing this tragedy is not +known. However, it is well known that this subject had early made an +impression upon him. In the collection of prints entitled "Gulden +Winkel" (1613), for which Vondel wrote the accompanying mottoes, we +already find the Archangel whom God had doomed to the pit of hell. In +the "Brieven der Heilige Maeghden" (1642), and in "Henriette Marie +t'Amsterdam" (1642), we also find mention of the revolt of the +Archangel. In the first-named work the strife between Michael and +Lucifer, with their legions, is already seen in prototype. About 1650 he +had undoubtedly resolved upon a plan to expand this subject into a +tragedy. + +Was the fallen Archangel for a long period thus ever present to the +poet's eye? Did that subject so enthrall him that, at last, he could no +longer resist the impelling desire to picture it after his own fashion? +For the causes of this interest we shall not have far to seek. + +The seventeenth century was, more than almost any other, the age of +authority, and "Lucifer" is the tragedy of the individual in his revolt +against authority. Vondel, the Catholic Christian, to whom the ruling +power was holy--holy because it came from God; Vondel, the Amsterdam +burgher, reared in the fear of the Lord, and full of reverence for those +in authority as long as his conscience approved; Vondel must thus have +been deeply impressed by the thought of the presumptuous attempt of the +Stadholder of God, "the fairest far of all things ever by God created," +in his revolt against the "Creator of his glory." Out of this deep +agitation this tragedy was born. + +Only a genius such as that of Vondel or Milton could bring itself to +undertake so dubious a task--out of such material to create a poem; +only the highest genius could succeed in such gigantic attempt. Only +such a poet can translate us on the mighty wings of his imagination into +the portals of heaven; can present to us angels that at the same time +are so human that we can put ourselves in their place, but who, +nevertheless, remain for us a higher order of beings; can dare to bring +into a drama a representation of God, without offending His majesty. + +With chaste taste the poet has only rapidly sketched the scene of the +drama; by means of a few suggestive strokes, awaking in reader and +hearer a sympathetic conception: an illimitable spaciousness radiant +with light; an eternal sunshine, more beautiful than that of earth, +mirroring itself in the blue crystalline, above which hover hosts of +celestial angels; here and there in the background, the dazzling +pediments, towers, and battlements of ethereal palaces; far away, upon +the heights beyond, the golden port, from which God's "Herald of +Mysteries" came down into view. The earth lies immeasurably far below; +high, high above, "So deep in boundless realms of light," God reigns +upon His throne. + +In that endless vast live and move the inhabitants of Heaven in tranquil +enjoyment. "Grief never nestled 'neath those joyful eaves" until the +creation of man. Pride and envy now awake in the breasts of the angels, +and their suffering begins. + +Lucifer's passionate pride, which in its outbursts occasionally reminds +us of the heroes of Seneca; his dissimulation in the conversation with +the rebellious angels; his wretchedness when Rafael has opened his eyes +to an appreciation of his position; his obstinate resistance and untamed +defiance--all this Vondel has portrayed for us in a masterly manner. +Belzebub, more than Lucifer, is the real genius of evil, the wicked one. +He is this in his inclination towards subtle mockery and sarcasm; in his +hypocrisy; in his wily use of Lucifer's weakness to incite him to +destruction; in the art with which he, while himself behind the curtain, +directs the course of events. + +After the grand overture of the drama, wherein men and angels are placed +over against one another, we see how, in the second act, Lucifer comes +on the scene, mounted on his battle chariot, excited, embittered; and +then the action develops itself in a remarkably even manner. The clouds +roll together; more threateningly, more heavily they impend; the light +that glows from the towers and battlements of Heaven grows tarnished; +the seditious angels gradually lose their lustre; the thunder +approaches with dull rumblings; one moment it is stayed, even at the +point of outbursting, where Rafael, "oppressed and wan," throws himself +appealingly on Lucifer's neck; then it precipitates itself in a terrible +storm of strife between desperate rage and the powers above. The fall of +man is the sombre afterpiece of this intensely interesting drama. + +All of this is discussed in verses that know not their equal in nobility +of sound, in fulness and purity of tone, in rapidity of change from +tenderness to strength, in wealth of coloring. + +Through its opulence and beauty this tragedy holds a unique place in our +literature. Only "Adam in Ballingschap" can be placed beside it. Only +Vondel can with Vondel be compared. If, however, one should compare this +production with the best that has been produced in this kind of poetry +by other nations, its splendor remains undimmed; beside the masterpieces +of Æschylus, Dante, and Milton, Vondel's maintain an equal place. + +To this tragedy and to other works of Vondel and of some of our other +poets we proudly point, if strangers ask us in regard to our right to a +place in the world's literature. It could, therefore, not be otherwise +than that a Netherlander who loves his countrymen should be glad when +the bar between his literature and that of the outside world is raised; +when other nations are furnished occasion to admire one of our national +treasures, and are thereby enabled to have a better knowledge of the +character and the significance of our people. + +We heartily rejoice over the fact that Vondel's drama has been +translated into English by an American for Americans, with whom we +Netherlanders have from time immemorial been on a friendly footing. We +rejoice, too, that this rendering into a language which is more of a +world tongue than our own will also give to Englishmen an opportunity to +enjoy Vondel's work. + +Were this translation an inferior one, or were it only mediocre, we +should have no reason to be glad. Then, surely, it were better that the +translation had never been made; for to be unknown is better than to be +misknown. + +But in this case it is otherwise. Although no translation can entirely +compensate for the lack of the original, it is, however, possible for +the original to be followed very closely. This is well shown by this +rendering, which to a high degree possesses the merit of accuracy, +while, at the same time, the spirit and the character of Vondel's +tragedy are felt, understood, and interpreted in a remarkable manner. + +Whoever is in a position, by the comparison of the translation with the +original, to form an individual opinion of Van Noppen's work, will +probably be convinced, even as I have been, that here an extraordinarily +difficult task has been magnificently done. May this translation, +therefore, aid in the spreading of Vondel's fame. May it also be +followed by many another equally admirable rendering of the poetry and +prose of the Netherlands, and may thereby, furthermore, the bond be +drawn more closely between America and that land which at one time +possessed the opportunity to be the mother-country. + +G. KALFF, + + _Professor of Dutch Literature,_ + _University of Utrecht._ + +UTRECHT, HOLLAND, _October_ 10, 1897. + + + + +Vondel: + +His Life and Times. + + "Vondel! thousand thousand voices + Echo answer--grandly sing + Praises to our greatest poet, + Hailing him the poets' king." + _Dr. Schaepman._ + + +THE DUTCH RENAISSANCE. + +"Yes, truly, it is a great thing for a nation that it get an articulate +voice--that it produce a man who will speak forth melodiously what the +heart of it means." + +Profounder truth, that keen aphorist, the Sage of Chelsea, never cast +into heroic mould. + +The consciousness of a great literature is a grander basis for national +exaltation than the possession of victorious fleets and invincible +battalions. The nation whose highest aspiration and most glorious +impulse, whose noblest action and deepest thought, have been +crystallized into fadeless beauty by the soul of native genius, has +surely more lasting cause for pride than she whose proudest boast is a +superiority in mere material achievement. + +The everlasting shall always have precedence over the momentary; the +time-serving heroics of to-day are the laughter-compelling travesties of +to-morrow; the golden colossus of one age is the brazen pigmy of the +next. Beauty alone is unfading; art alone is eternal. + + "All passes: art alone + Enduring--stays to us; + The bust outlasts the throne; + The coin, Tiberius. + + "Even the gods must go; + Only the lofty rime, + Not countless years o'erflow, + Not long array of time." + +Happy the country blest with a heritage of noble deeds! Thrice happy she +whose glory is a treasury of noble words! Only from great actions can +gigantic thoughts be born. + +Nowhere was the Revival of Learning more joyfully received than in the +Netherlands. At the bidding of the Renaissance, the monasteries, those +storehouses of the knowledge of the past, unlocked their precious lore. +The classics were now for the first time conscientiously studied; not so +much for themselves, as to shed the light of the past upon the present, +to furnish suggestions for new discoveries. + +Erasmus was but the pioneer of a host of scholars and philosophers. +Thomas-à-Kempis was but the forerunner of a race of distinguished +literati. The following generation also studied the moderns; and the +wonderful genius of Italy, as well as the brilliant talent of France, +now lighted up the dark recesses of the Cathedral of Gothic art. + +The Reformation, like a tiny acorn, first pierced the rich mould of +civil life. Then bursting into the sunshine, it towered into the sky of +religious life an imperious oak. The dormant energies of the Low Germans +were now kindled into a blaze of creative activity. As in Italy, this +first revealed itself in the increased power of the cities, the +Tradesmen's Guilds, the Chambers of Rhetoric, and the growing privileges +of the citizens; for example, the burghers of Utrecht and of Amsterdam. +It next manifested itself in the Universities and in the Church. + +Hand in hand with this extraordinary intellectual development went the +sturdy manliness of a vigorous national life. It was the era of +enterprise and adventure; of invention and discovery. Daring was the +spirit, attainment the achievement, of this age--this age that dared +all. + +Proud in the philosophy wrested from experience, the race sought to +extend its intellectual empire even in the domain of transcendentalism. +Knowledge, like Prometheus, bound for centuries to the gloomy cliff of +superstition, suddenly rent its bonds and stood forth in all of its +tremendous strength, gigantic and unshackled; a god, flaming to conquer +the benighted realms of ignorance! Imagination, like a fire-plumed +steed, preened for revelries, soared to the stars, and roamed unbridled +through the boundless deep of space. + +The world ran riot for truth. In England, Italy, France, and Spain, as +well as in Holland, arose a race of explorers that gave to the earth +another hemisphere, and discovered another solar system in the universe +of thought. + +The world called loud for blood. Truth was not to be attained without +sacrifice; freedom was not to be won without battle. Universal struggle +was to precede universal achievement. A whirlwind of death now swept +over the earth, leaving in its wake carnage and disaster. The passions +of men burst asunder the chains of duty and religion, and swooped on the +nations with desolating rage. + +The world was in travail. Hope was born, error vanquished, tyranny +dethroned. The dawn of a new life had come. The night was over. The +sparks of war became the seeds of art. The Netherland imagination was +suddenly quickened into creative rapture by the contemplation of the +heroism of the great Orange and the founders of the Republic. + +A generation of fighters is always the precursor of an epoch of singers. +The panegyrist and the historian ever follow in the train of the soldier +and the statesman; the epic and the eulogy as surely in the path of +great deeds as the polemic and the satire in the track of wickedness and +folly. + +The sculptor and the painter are evoked from obscurity only by the call +of heroes. The musician and the poet--the voice of the ideal--stand ever +ready to blazon forth the glory of the real. Unworthy actions alone are +unsung. + +The foundations of the Dutch Republic had been laid by a race of +Cyclops, in whose battle-scarred forehead glowed the single eye of +freedom. A race of Titans followed, and built upon this firm foundation +a magnificent temple of art and science, above whose four golden +portals were emblazoned, chiselled in "deathless diamond," the names, +Vondel, Rembrandt, Grotius, and Spinoza, the high-priests of its +worship. + +It is of Vondel, the one articulate voice of Holland, whose heart ever +kept time with the larger pulse of his nation, that we would now speak. + + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. + +Justus van den Vondel was the son of Dutch parents, and was born at +Cologne, November 17, 1587. It is curious to note that above the door of +the house where the greatest bard of the Low Germans first saw the light +hung the sign of a viol, a maker of that instrument having at one time +lived there. The poet used to point to this fact as having been +prophetic of his poetic future; and it was, surely, not an uninspiring +coincidence. + +The elder Vondel was a hatter, and had fled to Cologne from his native +city, Antwerp, to escape the persecution then raging against the +Anabaptists, of which church he was a zealous and devout member. + +In Cologne he had courted and married Sarah Kranen, whose father, Peter +Kranen, also an Anabaptist, had likewise been driven from Antwerp by the +fury of the Romanists. Peter Kranen was not without reputation in his +native city as a poet, and had won some distinction in the public +contests of the literary guilds, of one of which he was a shining +ornament. So it seems that our poet drank in the divine afflatus, as it +were, with his mother's milk. + +It is related that Kranen's wife, being pregnant, was unable to +accompany her husband in his hurried flight; and, being left behind, was +confined in the city prison, where her severe fright prematurely brought +on the crisis. Being strongly importuned by a cousin of the young woman, +who was required to furnish security for her re-appearance, the +magistrates finally permitted her to complete her travail at her home. + +After the birth of her child, when her cousin again delivered her, +sorrowful and heavy at heart, into the custody of the jailer, he +whispered comfortingly in her ear, "With this hand I have brought you +here; but with the other I shall take you away again." + +The time of her execution drew nigh. It was intended that she should be +burnt at the stake with a certain preacher of her sect. When this became +known, the cousin went to the dignitaries of the Church and asked if, in +case one of her children be baptized by a Catholic priest, the mother +would have a chance for her life. The clergy, ever anxious to welcome +an addition to the fold, and more desirous to save a soul than to burn a +body, replied that it might be so arranged. + +One of the children, a daughter, who was already with the father at +Cologne, was then hastily summoned. Upon her arrival, accordingly, she +was baptized after the manner of the Catholic ritual, and received into +the Church. + +The mother, now free, hastened to the arms of her joyful spouse, and the +daughter who thus saved her mother's life afterwards became the mother +of Vondel. + +So even Vondel's Romanism, of which much will be said farther on, might +thus be considered as foreshadowed and inherited. + +The year of Vondel's birth was also the year of the execution of Mary +Queen of Scots, whose tragic end he was destined to celebrate. +Shakespeare, the most illustrious poet of the hereditary enemies of +Vondel's countrymen, was just twenty-three years old, and had already +been married four years to Anne Hathaway. William the Silent, "the +Father of his Country," had only three years before, in the flower of +his age, been cut off by the red hand of the assassin. + +The early childhood of the poet was spent at Cologne. He never forgot +the town of his birth, and, after the manner of the poets of antiquity, +sang its glories in many an eloquent rime. + +After the storm of persecution had spent its fury, the Vondels slowly +returned by way of Bremen and Frankfort to the Netherlands. They rode in +a rustic wagon, across which were fastened two strong sticks. From these +was suspended a cradle, in which lay their youngest child. This +simplicity and their modest demeanor and unaffected piety so impressed +the wagoner that he was heard to say: "It is just as if I were +journeying with Joseph and Mary." + +The family first stopped at Utrecht, where the young "Joost" went to +school. His early education, however, was very meagre, ending with his +tenth year; so that he whose attainments were afterwards the admiration +of his scholarly contemporaries, and the wonder of posterity, commenced +life with the most threadbare equipment of learning. + +Surely the plastic imagination of the boy must have been wonderfully +impressed by the grandeur of that gigantic Gothic pile, the Utrecht +Cathedral, and its tremendous campanile, pointing like a huge index +finger unerringly to God, and towering so sublimely above the beautiful +old town and the fertile meadows all around! + +In 1597 we find the family in Amsterdam, of which flourishing city the +elder Vondel had recently become a citizen, and where he had opened a +hosiery shop. + +This business must have proved remunerative, as one of his younger +children, his son William, afterwards studied law at Orleans, and then +travelled to Rome, where he applied himself to theology and letters, a +course of study which in that age, even more than to-day, must have been +beyond the means of even the ordinary well-to-do citizen. + +Though the subject of our sketch was not so fortunate in this respect as +his younger brother, yet he made good use of his opportunities; and it +is recorded that, even before he had reached his teens, his rimes +attracted considerable attention among the friends of the family. + +When only thirteen years old, we find his verses complimented as showing +unusual promise. It was Peter Cornelius Hooft, the talented young poet, +son of the burgomaster of the city, who was at that time pursuing a +course of study in Italy, who incidentally made this passing reference +in an interesting rimed epistle to the Chamber of the Eglantine at +Amsterdam. + +This Chamber was one of the literary guilds founded in imitation of the +French _Collèges de Rhétorique_; and it played so important a part in +the literary history of the city and in the life of our poet that we ask +indulgence if an account of it cause what may seem a little digression. + +Under the rule of the House of Burgundy, the French feeling for dramatic +poetry had been introduced into the Netherlands. This was fostered, not +only by the exhibitions of the travelling minstrels, but also by the +impressive and often gorgeous Miracle and Mystery Plays of the clergy. +In the wake of these followed the more artistic Morality Plays. These +allegorical representations did much to create a purer taste and to +waken a greater demand for the drama. + +The people suddenly began to take unusual interest in declamation and in +dramatic exhibitions; and Chambers of Rhetoric, for the indulgence of +this new taste, were soon established in all of the prominent cities of +the country. + +These societies also began sedulously to cultivate rhetorica, or +literature, and soon became nothing less than an association of literary +guilds, bound together in a sort of social Hanseatic league, designed +for their own defence and for the fostering of their beloved art. + +Each was distinguished by some device, and usually bore the name of some +flower. They were wont also to compete against each other in rhetorical +contests called "land-jewels," to which they would march, costumed in +glorious masquerade, and to the sound of pealing trumpets and of shrill, +melodious airs. + +As was natural, the follies of the Church were too tempting a subject +for these Chambers to resist; and many of them, long before the +thundering polemics of Luther were heard, had dramatized a stinging +satire on the clergy, revealing their vices in all of their hideous +coarseness, and making their follies the butt of their unsparing +mockery. + +When the Reformation, therefore, trumped her battle-cry, there throbbed +a responsive echo in the hearts of the Netherlanders, long disgusted, as +they were, with the excesses of a dissolute priesthood. + +These societies, therefore, exerted no little influence on the social, +religious, and intellectual life of the country, and became a powerful +aid to the awakening of a national consciousness and to the up-building +of the language and the literature. + +Among them all, no other attained the distinction of the Chamber of the +Eglantine at Amsterdam. This Chamber, whose device was "Blossoming in +Love," was founded by Charles V., and to it belonged many of the most +prominent citizens of that opulent city. All religious discussions were +forbidden within its walls; and there, in that age of religious discord +and rabid intolerance, both Catholic and Protestant met together in the +worship of Apollo. It was to this honored body that the name of the +young Vondel was introduced, and upon him, therefore, its members kept +an attentive eye. + +We next hear of Vondel as a youth of seventeen. He had, it seems, all +the while been assisting his father in the cares of the little hosiery +shop; but his mind was with his books, and he employed every spare +moment in reading or in study. + +About this period a friend of the family was married, and the young poet +must needs try his wings. Accordingly, he wrote an epithalamium, which, +unfortunately for the poet, still survives. As might have been expected, +the too-aspiring youth soared on Icarian wings. However, he was not +conscious of this at the time; and lame and faulty as these first +efforts are, it may yet be surmised that he felt the thrill of +inspiration and the rapture of creating no less than when, in later +life, he forged those Olympian thunderbolts that fulmined over Holland, +causing tyrants to shake and multitudes to tremble. + +Soon after the wedding-verses, Vondel wrote a threnody on the +assassination of Henry IV. of France, which was but little better than +his former effort. + +We hear no more of our young poet till, like the deer-stealing youth, +Shakespeare, he stands, in his young and vigorous manhood, blushing at +the altar. Maria de Wolff was the name of the bride that the +twenty-three-year-old husband had won to share his destiny. + +History does not record the circumstances nor the incidents of his +wooing; but from what we know of his character, we will venture to say +that it was ardently done. + +Of the sonnets and the love-verses that this passion must have inspired +in the soul of the young poet nothing, unfortunately, seems to be known. +He who had, as a boy, written tolerable verses at the marriage of +another must surely, as a man, have done something better at his own. + +"All the world loves a lover," be he ever so humble. But the loves of +the poets are of especial interest. + +We therefore confess our disappointment that no record exists wherein we +could see the poet in the sweet throes of that heart-consuming passion. +But, for all that, we feel that he loved like a poet, and we know that +his marriage proved to be a most happy one. + +His wife was in full sympathy with his every thought and aspiration, and +wisely left her star-gazing husband to write verses while she stayed +behind the counter and sold stockings. She was the daughter of a +prosperous linen-merchant of Cologne, and was fortunately of a +practical turn of mind. + +Thus, when Vondel succeeded to the business of his father, she took upon +herself not only the management of the shop, but attended to the +house-keeping as well. + + +ASPIRATION. + +In 1612 appeared Vondel's first drama, "The Passover." It was the first +of that splendid series of Bible tragedies to which, in the field of the +sacred drama, neither ancient nor modern times furnish a parallel. This +play, which covertly celebrated the recent escape of the Hollanders from +the yoke of Spain, was played in the Brabantian Chamber of the Lavender, +to which Vondel, whose family came from Brabant, naturally belonged. + +This poem showed the results of his years of study, and was far superior +to his earlier efforts, indeed, it gave such promise that Vondel was +immediately invited to become a member of the Chamber of the Eglantine, +and thus at once stood on an equality with the most distinguished +literati of the day. + +Among these was Roemer Visscher, "the round Roemer," as he was known +among his intimates. Visscher was celebrated for his epigrams, and was +called "the Dutch Martial." He was a good type of the Dutch merchant of +his time, and on account of his wit and jollity was very popular with +the other members of the society. + +With his friends Coornhert and Spieghel he had taken upon himself the +serious task of purifying and enriching his native tongue. + +And it is in the works of these three men, who at this time were all +well advanced in years, that we first see the promise of a literature +and the consciousness of a national destiny. + +The stilted and artificial phraseology of the Rhetoricians was soon +succeeded by a natural, flowing style. Originality once more asserted +its right to a hearing. Nature was studied with enthusiastic +contemplation. Art was once more set on her high pedestal and +worshipped. + +Visscher looked with a philosophic eye on the follies of the day, and +his keenest epigrams were pointed with a honied humor that deprived them +of their sharpest sting. + +But it was more as a patron of letters than as a poet that he deserves +to be remembered. At his house all of the young Bohemians of the day +were wont to gather, and many the contests of wit and many the battles +in verse that took place in this, the first literary salon of the +Netherlands. + +But there was another attraction at the house of this worthy burgher. +The jovial Roemer had two daughters, the blooming but sober Anna and the +beautiful and vivacious Tesselschade. + +These young women, on account of their many personal charms and numerous +accomplishments, furnished a glowing theme to a generation of poets. It +is related that they could each play sweetly on several instruments, +sing, paint, engrave on glass, cut emblems, embroider, and converse +brilliantly. + +They were by no means prigs, however, for they also excelled in +healthful bodily exercise, as swimming, rowing, and skating; and they +were no less discreet and modest than accomplished and refined. Nor must +it be forgotten that they themselves also wrote verses full of sweetness +and tenderness; verses, too, not without lofty and noble sentiment, that +are yet treasured among the brightest gems in Holland's diadem of song. + +It was into this charming patrician circle that our middle-class poet +was now introduced, and he manfully continued his attempts to remedy the +defects in his education, that he might meet the many talented and +learned men who came there, on an equal footing. + +Vondel was now twenty-six years old, and began to apply himself +assiduously to the study of the languages. He took lessons in Latin +from an Englishman, and through his great industry he was soon able to +read Virgil and Ovid. He also began the study of French, and translated +"The Glory of Solomon" of Du Bartas, which he considered a most +admirable poem. About the same time he wrote his second tragedy, the +"Jerusalem Desolate," which, on account of its severe simplicity and +elevated style, was the theme of much favorable comment. + +At the house of the Visschers, Vondel was wont to meet, on terms of easy +comradery, among other rising young men of the day, the erratic but +brilliant Gerard Brederoo, the greatest writer of comedies that Holland +has ever produced. + +Brederoo was the son of a poor shoemaker of Amsterdam, and on account of +his extraordinary talents was eagerly welcomed into the most select +circles. + +Quite a contrast was the young aristocrat, Peter Cornelius Hooft, of +whom we have already spoken. Hooft was a patrician of the patricians, +and was the most accomplished and elegant man of his day, the first +gentleman of his age. + +He had already distinguished himself by several remarkable poems, a +superb pastoral, and one or two powerful tragedies. + +It was in the field of history and biography, however, that he was to +win his greenest laurels. His history of the Netherlands and his +biography of Henry IV. of France, written in a terse, forcible, +epigrammatic style, have gained for him the appellation of the "Dutch +Tacitus." Motley calls him one of the great historians of the world. + +Then there was Jan Starter, the son of an English Brownist, who was +destined to be one of the sweetest lyrists of his adopted country; and +Laurens Reael, another scion of aristocracy, a handsome young man of +some poetic power and considerable learning, fated to become the friend +of the great Oldenbarneveldt, and, after a splendid career as a soldier, +the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. + +Another visitor to this hospitable house was Dr. Samuel Coster, a +dramatist of no mean ability, who is now chiefly remembered as the +founder of Coster's Academy, an institution founded in imitation of the +Accademia della Crusca of Florence. + +Anna and Tesselschade were, of course, the centre of this constellation +of literary stars, and few of the young men who met at their home left +it with heart unscorched by the fierce blaze of love. Vondel was already +married; but to the passion that these two beautiful women excited in +most of the others, Dutch literature owes its most exquisite love +lyrics. + +The ardent Hooft wooed the staid Anna only to be rejected. However, the +young knight sought and soon obtained consolation elsewhere. Brederoo, +with all the fervor of his romantic nature, poured out his soul in a +cycle of burning love poems at the feet of the golden-haired and +dark-eyed Tesselschade. To her, too, he dedicated his tragedy "Lucelle," +calling the object of his adoration "the honor of our city, the glory of +our age." + +Few women in any epoch have exerted such wonderful influence upon the +literature of their time. Not a poet of the day who was not inspired by +their beauty and character; not one, furthermore, who did not dedicate +to them some production of his genius. And yet they do not seem to have +been the least spoiled by such excessive notice. Their good sense and +modesty only heightened the excellent impression excited by their beauty +and their talents. + +How incomplete a sketch of Vondel's life and age would be without a more +than passing reference to these accomplished sisters will be better +appreciated when we see the poet himself paying court to one of them, +charmed not only into a passion of the heart, but also into taking a +step which exerted a powerful influence on his life and works. + +At the Visschers', in the circle of his friends, the aspiring poet was +wont to read the latest effusions of his pen; that he was much benefited +by the criticism to which his verses were there subjected cannot be +doubted. + +His friendship with the most noted men of the day warmed his ambition +into a fever of aspiration, and, like Milton, he early determined to +devote his whole life to the cultivation of his beloved art. + +With the aid of Hooft and Reael he translated the "Troades" of Seneca, +which he then sublimated into a tragedy of his own, the "Hecuba of +Amsterdam." This evoked considerable praise from the critics of the day. +At this time, also, he showed his advancement in technique and his +improvement in style by several lyrics of extraordinary merit. + +It was thus in the midst of an admiring circle of distinguished friends +that we find Vondel cultivating his art. There, in the bosom of that +Catholic family, the Visschers, the poets of that age found rest from +the storm of religious discord that raged without. + +Arminian and Gomarist, Remonstrant and Contra-Remonstrant, were waging +that fierce battle of the creeds that is yet the foulest blot upon the +fair name of the heroic and tolerant Republic. + +Thus the Visscher mansion was the temple of the Muses, where beauty +alone was worshipped. Religion was left by the visitor at the threshold. +Art alone was the garment that gave admittance to this wedding-feast of +poetry and philosophy. + + +"STORM AND STRESS." + +Whether through the contemplation of the fierce dissensions that then +raged in the little Republic, or through a natural melancholy of +temperament, Vondel now became subject to the most distressing +depression. + +Occasionally he would flash from his gloom into one of those firebrands +of invective that, thrown into the ranks of his enemies, created a blaze +of discord from one end of the country to the other; occasionally, also, +he was inspired for loftier themes, as his "Ode to St. Agnes," which +first showed his tendency towards Catholicism. + +Then he would relapse into his melancholy. He lost his appetite and +became afflicted with various bodily ills. He seemed hastening into a +decline. This lasted several years, during which several important +changes had taken place, not only among his friends, but also in the +ruling powers of the state. + +On the 13th of May, 1618, John van Oldenbarneveldt, the aged Advocate of +the States-General, the greatest statesman of his time, and the fiery +patriot upon whom had fallen the sacred mantle of William the Silent, +was beheaded. He had watched the destinies of the infant Republic with +the tender solicitude of a loving shepherd; he was now devoured by the +wolves who, in the guise of religion and of patriotism, had crept into +the fold. He had given eighty years of devotion to the up-building of +his country; he was now to seal that devotion with his blood. He had +made his native land a theme of glory among the nations of the earth; he +was now accused of selling that glory for the gold which he had always +despised. + +A thankless generation had, under the cloak of virtue, committed one of +the most infamous and revolting crimes in human annals. Where shall we +find a parallel? The gray hairs of the man, his learning, his ability, +his unsullied life, his splendid achievements in behalf of his native +land, his grand renown, his unselfish devotion, his patriotism--all this +must be considered when we compare his sad end with the fate of the +other political martyrs of history, too many of whom have been unduly +exalted by the manner of their death. + +Is it to be wondered at that such an important event caused the +deep-thinking poet the revulsion that only comes to high-born souls? + +Is it surprising, furthermore, that that revulsion found its expression +in what is perhaps the finest satirical drama of modern times? + +This period was the crisis in our poet's life. The Contra-Remonstrants, +or Gomarists, as the extreme Calvinists were called, having disposed of +their hated enemy Oldenbarneveldt, had now begun to play havoc with the +liberties of the people. Art and literature next suffered through the +blasting censorship of their fanatical clergy. + +The religious tolerance that had formed the glory of the country only a +decade before was now succeeded by a rabid bigotry that with insensate +fury cut at the vitals of all that was healthful and inspiring. Life, +property, and freedom were in peril. Nothing was safe. + +Grotius, "the father of international law," and also so distinguished as +a scholar that he was called the "wonder of the age," was imprisoned, +with the fate of his friend the great Advocate staring him in the face. +From this fate, moreover, he was only saved by the diplomatic ingenuity +of his devoted wife, who aided him to escape from his prison at +Loevestein, ensconced in an empty book-chest which the unsuspecting +warden of the castle thought full of books. Others of note were in +hiding or in exile. + +The boasted freedom of the freed Netherlands had turned to the direst +form of oppression--the tyranny of a religious oligarchy. + +And yet it was not an easy victory for the Contra-Remonstrants. Every +inch was bitterly contested by their foes in Christ, the moderate +Calvinists, or Remonstrants. + +This struggle, like the conflicts of the Florentine factions of the +Guelfs and Ghibellines, divided the country into two hostile camps. Even +those of other religions allied themselves with the one or other of +these sects; for sect had now come to mean party. Vondel, with whom +religion and patriotism were fused into one white heat, was not long in +choosing the party of the Remonstrants--the side of freedom. + +We shall hereafter view this remarkable man as the poet militant. For +having once taken the sword in hand, he did not let it fall until his +arm was palsied by death. + +Much as he loved peace, his enemies hereafter took good care that he +should never want occasion to defend himself. It must be added, however, +that the poet was even more renowned for attack than for defence. He was +ever at the head of the onset, ever in the thickest of the fray. + +The sword of this crusader for the liberties of his country--the most +formidable and dreaded weapon of the age--was a pen; and the production +that fell like a bombshell into the Gomarist camp was the allegorical +tragedy of "Palamedes, or Murdered Innocence." + +Under cover of the ancient legend of Palamedes, which lent itself most +readily to such analogy, he had portrayed the murder of the old +Advocate, and painted his judges in such strong colors and with such +accurate delineation that each was recognized, and forever invested with +the shame and infamy he so richly merited. + +The greatest excitement prevailed, and the first edition of the poem was +sold in a few days. The Goliath of error, slain by the pebble of satire, +lay on the ground, gasping in agony. The David who had with one swift +arm-swing of thought accomplished this wonderful feat, suddenly found +himself the most famous man in both camps. + +In the meantime the party in power sought to repress the book; and as +the poet was thought to be in danger of imprisonment, or of even a more +tragic fate, he was advised by his friends to go into hiding, which he +did. + +Threats were made against the man who had so rashly dared the fury of +those relentless iconoclasts--the reigning Gomarists. It was muttered +that he ought to be taken to The Hague to be tried, even as +Oldenbarneveldt. + +Meanwhile Vondel was concealed at the house of Hans de Wolff, a brother +of his wife, who was also married to his sister Clementia. They were, +however, afraid to harbor him any longer; and his sister, it is said, +upbraided him for his itch for writing, saying that no good could come +of it, and that it would be better for him to attend more strictly to +his business. + +Vondel's only reply was, "I shall yet tell them sharper truths;" and he +straightway sat down and wrote some cutting pasquinades. These, however, +upon his sister's advice, he threw into the fire, which he afterwards +regretted. + +He next found shelter in the house of a friend, Laurens Baake, who +received him gladly. Here he was hidden several days; and the sons and +daughters of his host, being highly cultivated and exceedingly fond of +poetry, were much pleased with the society of so distinguished a poet, +and for him made things as comfortable as possible. Vondel ever proved +grateful for the many favors received at their hands in the hour of his +need. + +His hiding-place was at last discovered, and he was brought before the +court. The plea made by his lawyer in his behalf was that the play "was +poet's work and could be otherwise interpreted than was commonly done." + +Some of the judges expressed themselves very severely; and if their +counsel had prevailed there is no doubt but that the poet's career would +have ended with the "Palamedes." However, the old Batavian spirit also +asserted itself, others saying that civil liberty was but a mockery when +a man was no longer allowed the freedom of speech. The result of the +trial was that Vondel was fined three hundred guldens, which was paid by +a friend--indeed, by one of the judges themselves--who was secretly +favorable to Vondel and his party, and had encouraged the poet to write +this very drama. We are here reminded of the fate of the great +Florentine. Dante, a patriot, yet an exile, accused of treason, and +under sentence of death; Vondel, forced to flee from an oligarchy of +unctuous hypocrites, in fear of his life, and arraigned as a fomenter of +discord. The ideas of the great Hollander on government, and on politics +also, were not unlike the ideal Ghibellinism of the illustrious Tuscan. + +Of course, the very nature of the play made it popular, and the various +attempts at its suppression only made it more so. Two other editions +shortly followed. Within a few years thirty editions were sold. +"_Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata._" + +Prince Maurice, the Stadholder, whose powerful personality on account of +his share in the death of the Advocate was also severely handled by the +poet, died while Vondel was giving the finishing touches to his drama. +Long years afterwards, when the poet was an old man, he was wont to +relate how on the very morning that the news came to Amsterdam from The +Hague that the Stadholder was on his death-bed, his wife came to the +foot of the stairs that led to the room where he was writing, and cried, +"Husband, the Prince is dying!" + +To which he replied: + +"Let him die! I am already tolling his knell." + +Frederic Henry, who was the next Stadholder, was known to be at heart in +favor of the Remonstrants. + +It was reported that the whole tragedy was read to him in his palace, +and that he was exceedingly pleased with it, finding much of interest in +the various episodes. Strange to say, upon the walls of the room where +he heard the drama hung a piece of tapestry upon which the history of +the Greek Palamedes was artistically pictured. Pointing to this, the +Prince said mockingly, "This tapestry should be taken away, otherwise +they might suppose that I also favor the cause of Palamedes." + +Apart from its influence on the time, and the interest of its +allegorical allusions, the "Palamedes" is a splendid tragedy, and its +intrinsic worth alone would make it immortal. One of the choruses, +especially, is justly celebrated for its idyllic beauty. It has often +been compared to the "L'Allegro" of Milton, and, indeed it bears, in +many particulars, much resemblance to that exquisite lyric. + + +TESSELSCHADE. + +Soon after the completion of the "Palamedes," Vondel was again for a +long time in a state of hopeless melancholy. He did not yield to its +depressing influence, however, and at the age of forty began the study +of Greek, in which he made rapid progress. + +He still associated with his fellow-Academicians, though no longer at +the home of Roemer Visscher. + +This patron of learning had now been dead for several years. Other +changes also had taken place. Starter, after the publication of his +"Frisian Bower," seized with the spirit of adventure, had enlisted as a +private soldier, and died, a few years afterwards, in one of the +battles of the Thirty Years' War. Laurens Reael had gone to the Indies, +and, after winning the highest honors as soldier and statesman, had come +back again to his native land, which he continued to serve in a +diplomatic capacity for many years. + +Hooft had been honored by Prince Maurice with one of the highest +dignities in the state. He had been appointed Judge of Muiden; and here, +in his castle, in the society of his lovely wife and beautiful children, +he gave himself up to his books. It was here in his "little tower," one +of the four turrets of this castle, that he wrote his splendid history. +Here he composed many of those charming lyrics that combine the +lusciousness of the Italian after which they were modelled, with the +domestic sweetness of the Dutch. Here, too, he wrote his great +tragedies, "Baeto, or the Origin of the Hollanders," and "Gerardt van +Velsen." Hooft was essentially a student and a scholar; a thinker rather +than a fighter. He did not, therefore, like Vondel, the burgher, plunge +with flaming soul into the conflict. The patrician was too fond of +studious contemplation and of elegant ease to allow the discord of the +outside world to mar the serene harmony of his retirement. + +Brederoo had burnt himself out with the intensity of his passion for his +adored, but not adoring, Tesselschade. Poor fellow! after all his +poetic wooing and flattering dedications, he had met with the bitter +disappointment of a refusal; and, after a meteoric career, died, at the +age of thirty-six, a heart-broken man. The delicate lyre-strings on that +Æolian harp had been snapped by the rude blast of unrequited love, and +from the broken chords now surged the mournful music of the grave. His +dazzling genius--eclipsed in its noon-tide splendor by the swift night +of death--was quenched forever. Such was the sad but romantic ending of +the most brilliant man of his age, the greatest humorist that Holland +has yet produced. + +And Tesselschade, the beautiful inspirer of this passion? To her, too, +time had brought its changes. + +Neptune's trident, it seems, had more attraction for her than the lyre +of Apollo, whose strings she had so often set into melodious vibration. +After being wooed for a whole decade by all the younger poets, she had +at last been won by a gallant sea-captain, Allart Krombalgh, and was now +living happily in blissful quiet with her husband at Alkmaar. + +Tesselschade was now thirty years of age, and had lost none of the +extraordinary beauty of early youth. Deep golden hair, of which each +tiny thread seemed just the string for Cupid's bow; large dark eyes, +darting rays of love, and deep with infinitudes of tenderness; a low but +broad, smooth forehead of marble whiteness; an exquisite mouth; a +decided chin that spoke of a will reserved; a chiselled nose with +delicate, sensuous nostrils--these were the most striking features of a +face that was as remarkable for its earnest and captivating expression +as for its great beauty and radiant intelligence. Add to this a glowing +complexion of wonderful purity, and a slender but symmetrically-shaped +figure, and you have a picture of the most beautiful and talented woman +of her generation. + +All the poets honored the bride with their choicest verses. Elevated as +was Vondel's epithalamium, sweet and graceful as was Hooft's, agreeable +as were the many other poems that the occasion inspired, the young +Constantine Huyghens wrote a eulogy in a tender and delicious strain +that surpassed them all. + +At Alkmaar the happy couple had an ideal home, exquisitely furnished +with pictures and embroidery done by the skilful hands of Tesselschade +herself. Here, with art and music, in the midst of the amenities of +domestic life, she lived many happy years. + +Tesselschade, however, did not give up her passion for poetry. She +continued her relations with the charming circle of her admirers, and +corresponded with Hooft in Italian. + +Even before her marriage she had begun translating the "Gerusalemme +Liberata" of Tasso; and now, with the aid of Hooft, the best Italian +scholar in the Netherlands, she continued this absorbing work. This +version was never printed, and has, unfortunately, been lost. + +In 1622 her sister Anna, the friend and correspondent of Rubens, visited +Middelburg, the capital of Zealand, where she met the shining lights of +the School of Dort, as the didactic writers of the day were called. At +the head of these was the celebrated Father Cats--the poet of the +commonplace--the most popular, though by no means the greatest, poet of +the Netherlands. Simon van Beaumont, the governor, a lyrist of some +talent; Joanna Coomans, called the "Pearl of Zealand;" and Jacob +Westerbaen also gave her sweet welcome. + +Attentions were showered on the honored guest, and her visit gave +occasion to that well-known collection of lyrics entitled "The Zealand +Nightingale," which was dedicated to her. Upon her return from Zealand, +Anna was also married, and from this time forth she slowly ceased her +literary relations with the School of Amsterdam, and now gave herself +entirely up to domestic duties. + +Not so Tesselschade. Her imagination was too intense, her conceptions +too vivid, to find any attraction in the realistic didacticism of the +Catsian circle. Her muse was not to be restrained by household cares. +Her friendship with Hooft and Vondel remained unbroken; and we shall +have occasion to meet her again. + +Since his "Palamedes," Vondel, overwhelmed with his strange depression, +had written but little. In 1630 he burst into a blaze of satire that +swept the country like a whirlwind of flame. His poems of this year were +entitled _Haec Libertatis Ergo_, and were of unsparing severity. "The +evils of the time," said the poet, "are too deep-seated to be eradicated +by a poultice of honey." Like Juvenal and Persius, he did not spare the +knife, although he knew that every thrust only made his enemies more +bitter and his own position more uncomfortable. His absolute +fearlessness was the theme of admiration, not only among his friends, +but even among his enemies. The higher the person, the stronger his +invective; the more powerful the object of his dislike, the more cutting +the edge of his sarcasm. + +Never was satire so crushing and at the same time so keen; never +mockery so unanswerable, polemic so overwhelming. + +A Titan had thrown mountains of irony upon the heads of a thick-skulled +generation of vipers. Their discomfiture was so complete that not even a +hiss broke from the silence of their annihilation. The whited sepulchres +of the sovereign hypocrites of the Republic now stood black as night in +the face of noon. + +Though a fiery patriot and an enthusiastic adherent of the House of +Orange, Vondel received but little favor at the hands of Frederic Henry. +This was probably due to the poet's unpopularity with the clergy, and to +the hatred that he had excited among the Church party in power--the +uncompromising Contra-Remonstrants, whose enmity the Stadholder would +doubtless have incurred by an open friendship with aman whose avowed +determination it was to accomplish their downfall. + +About this time occurred the death of William van den Vondel, a younger +brother of the poet, whom he loved most tenderly. This youth had been +educated in France and Italy, and possessed extraordinary gifts and many +accomplishments. He had also written some poems of great promise, but +was now cut off in the flower of his youth by an insidious malady that +he had brought with him from Italy, a sickness thought by many to have +been due to poison. + +The poet never ceased to mourn this idolized brother, and almost half a +century later he was heard to say: "I could cry when I think of my +brother. He was much my superior." + +In the same year Vondel made a journey to Denmark in the interest of his +business. Upon his return journey he was the guest of Sir Jacob van Dÿk, +the minister from the Court of Sweden to The Hague. + +At Van Dÿk's country seat in Gottenburg he wrote a poem in honor of +Gustavus Adolphus. This production is chiefly remarkable as +foreshadowing several important political events. He prophesied that the +great Swede would attack the Emperor of Rome, tread upon the neck of +Austria, and bring the Eternal City itself into a panic of fright--all +of which happened within four years. He was, however, silent as to the +fate of the King, and said nothing about his tragic death in the hour of +victory. + +So we here, also, see Vondel in the capacity of the classic _vates_ and +of the Hebrew seer. Before his piercing ken even the time to come +delivered up its hoarded secrets. The past, the present, and the future +were the provinces of the grand empire reigned over by his kingly +spirit. + + +THE "MUIDER KRING." + +The old Chamber of the Eglantine had now fallen into a decline. Many of +its choicest spirits had gone over to Coster's Academy; the others, +Vondel and his friends, as has already been related, were accustomed to +meet for mutual help and criticism at the hospitable home of the +Visschers. + +After this charming home was broken up, the literary centre of the +Amsterdam School was changed to the Castle of Muiden, a few miles from +the metropolis. + +At the Visschers' the budding talent of the country had been carefully +nurtured and placed in the warm sunlight of a mutual and invigorating +sympathy; at Muiden, however, it was seen in its full flower. + +It was here that the literary genius of the Netherlands reached its +highest efflorescence; nor has it ever again reached the sublime +standard of those golden days. + +Soon after being appointed Judge of Muiden, Hooft had rebuilt the old +castle; and now it stood, a romantic structure, crowned with turrets and +towers. It was picturesquely situated on an island in the centre of a +small lake. A feudal drawbridge connected it with the outside world, +and it was embowered in lofty trees and surrounded by gardens and +orchards. + +There is no more charming picture in literature than that of the +aristocratic host of Muiden, with his handsome, intelligent face and his +elegant manners, in the midst of his guests, the genius and the flower +of the Netherlands--a scene rendered still more interesting by the +presence of talented and beautiful women. + +Here, beneath the shade of the spreading lindens and the noble beeches, +they would lighten the heavy summer hours by games and conversation, and +by the discussion of affairs of state. + +Or, perhaps, too, they would listen to the classic muse of the learned +Barlæus, or to the dramatic recitations of Daniel Mostert; or, +occasionally,--O! inestimable privilege!--they would be thrilled by the +powerful verses of the sublime Vondel, destined to become the greatest +poet of his country. Here, also, they were often enchanted by the tender +songs of the beautiful Tesselschade, the Dutch Nightingale, richly +warbling her own deep notes, while her nimble fingers swept the guitar; +or, perhaps, singing to the accompaniment of the celebrated Zweling, the +first great composer of the Netherlands. Or it may be that another sweet +singer, Francesca Duarte, would sometimes add her mellow tones to those +delightful strains, while the distinguished company applauded with +eloquent silence. + +Here, too, before her apostasy to the Dort School, came the gentle Anna +Visscher to read her noble rimes; while often, also, Vossius, the first +Latinist of his age, and Laurens Reael, the renowned statesman, soldier, +and erotic poet, would lend the dignity of their presence. Here, +furthermore, came the young Huyghens, the most versatile of a versatile +race, and one of the most celebrated wits and poets of his day. + +The "Muider Kring" ("the Muiden circle"), as this salon is known in the +literary history of the Netherlands, is yet the proudest boast and the +perennial glory of Holland; for this was the Elizabethan era of Dutch +literature. Hooft, as the social centre of a literary constellation, +exerted, perhaps, even more influence upon his age by his magnetic +personality than by his remarkable writings. + + +STRUGGLE AND ACHIEVEMENT. + +It was amid such congenial surroundings that the genius of Vondel grew +to maturity. + +Soon after the satires of 1630, he translated Seneca's "Hippolytus," +which he dedicated to Grotius. Grotius was still in exile, and the +publisher of this translation, fearing the displeasure of the +authorities, tore the dedication leaf out of every copy. + +Vondel's next effort was the "Farmer's Catechism," which was full of a +rollicking humor that, at the same time, was not without its sting. +Vossius, in his professional study at Leiden, laughed heartily upon +reading it, and it occasioned much mirth among the Arminians, or +Remonstrants, everywhere. + +Some satirical poems of the same period were much keener, and +unmercifully ridiculed the blunders of the government, the general +extravagance, and the increase of avarice and ostentation among the +citizens. + +Shortly after this came his "Decretum Horribile," a powerful polemic +against the Calvinistic doctrine of election and predestination as +interpreted by the Gomarists. This savage attack on their belief filled +the Ultra-Calvinists with rage, and caused the name of the poet to be +execrated as the personification of infamy. + +Hear his fierce outburst against the great Calvin himself: + + "That monster dread that from a poison-chalice + Pours out the drug of hell in unctuous malice; + And makes the gracious God a very fiend." + +No wonder that in the eyes of these stern followers of Calvin he was +himself a very devil, nor is it extravagant to say that he was hardly +less feared by them than his Satanic majesty himself. + +From every pulpit the Contra-Remonstrants hurled anathemas at the +offending poet. + +Not one of their gatherings from which his name did not rise to the +throne of divine grace in clouds of execration. Not a preacher of the +sect that did not call down the wrath of Jehovah upon the head of the +blasphemer who had dared to mock the arrogant tenets of his exclusive +faith. + +Vondel, however, did not pause in his path one instant, answering their +maledictions with stinging satire, and their abuse with overwhelming +invective. + +Yet it must not be thought that our poet was forever forging +thunderbolts of satire at the blaze of his wrath. He also found time for +the amenities of life; and thus we often find him in the companionship +of those distinguished friends who contributed so much to his pleasure +and his growth. + +About this period the moribund Chamber of the Eglantine was merged into +Coster's Academy, which now became the theatre of the city. + +Shortly afterwards Vondel wrote his verses of welcome to Hugo Grotius +upon his return from exile--verses full of severe condemnation of the +party that had banished him. Then followed a song of triumph for the +naval victories over the Spaniards, and several satires against the +clergy, who were again fomenting restrictive measures against the +freedom of conscience. All of these productions glowed with the fierce +jealousy for personal liberty which had become the poet's ruling +passion; for his verse ever gave utterance to his dominant emotion. In +his own words: "I needs must sing the song that fills my heart." + +His "Funeral Sacrifice of Magdeburg" alone was free from this +contentious spirit. This was a heroic poem in praise of Gustavus +Adolphus, the bulwark of Protestantism, and his splendid victory over +Tilly and Pappenheim at Leipsic--that terrible vengeance for the fearful +sacking of Magdeburg! + +In the beginning of 1632 the illustrious Atheneum of Amsterdam was +opened with imposing ceremonies, to which occasion Vondel contributed an +excellent poem. + +Not long afterwards, Grotius, on account of his too open opposition to +his old enemies, was again banished from his fatherland. A price of two +thousand guldens was set on his head, which gave Vondel cause for +another trenchant pasquinade. He did not, however, dare to publish +this, for fear of calling upon himself the same violence that his friend +had escaped. Grotius himself wrote Vondel a letter of thanks for his +interest in his behalf, adding that it could do no possible good to +publish the poem, and that it would therefore be unwise for him to put +himself into danger. + +An elegy on the death of Count Ernest Casimir and an ode on the triumph +of Maastricht saw the light, however, and were much admired by all +parties of his countrymen. + +Vondel now began his great epic, "Constantine." This poem had for its +subject the journey of Constantine to Rome, and was intended to be +complete in twelve books, after the model of Virgil's "Æneid." The poet +had for several years been preparing himself for this immense +undertaking by a thorough study, not only of the great epics of +antiquity, but also of those of Tasso and Ariosto. + +Besides reading the various Church Fathers and the historians who had +written on this period, he also entered into a correspondence concerning +the subject with Grotius, who was much pleased to hear of his plan and +who also gave him considerable information. + +While Vondel was busy with his epic, his wife bore him a son, whom, in +honor of his hero, he named Constantine. The child died, however, and +not long afterwards the mother also. This terrible affliction cast a +gloom over the life of the poet from which he never entirely emerged. +Full of pathos is his letter to Grotius stating his loneliness, and +adding that all his interest in his epic had departed: "Since the death +of my sainted wife, I have lost heart; so that I shall have to give up +my great 'Constantine' for the present." + +The poet was never able to resume this stupendous work. It was too +suggestive of memories of a happiness forever lost. After keeping the +manuscript by him for several years, with the vain hope that his +interest might be reanimated, he at last destroyed it. It was thus that +Dutch literature lost its greatest epic, a poem which would doubtless +have added to the renown of the author, and reflected lustre upon his +country. + +In 1635, Grotius, who was now the Swedish Ambassador to France, +published his Latin tragedy, "Sophompaneas," of which Joseph was the +hero. Vondel, who was still in his shop in the Warmoesstraat, having +laid the "Constantine" aside, and wishing to employ his leisure time, +made a Dutch rendering of this play, of which the author wrote Vossius +as follows: + +"I understand that Vondel hath done me the honor to put my +'Sophompaneas' with his own hand, that is to say, in his artistic +manner, into our Holland tongue. I am under great obligations to him, +because he, who is capable of so much better things than I, hath now, in +his translation of my play, given his labor as a proof of his +friendship." + +Vondel, in translating, often sought the advice of his friends, saying, +"Each judgment views the matter in a different light; and the judgment +of one is poor beside the opinions of many." He also said that he found +the work of translating serviceable to gain a knowledge of the +technique, diction, thought, and peculiarity of an author. Moreover, he +discovered that it not only kindled his imagination, but that it also +suggested new thought, and was conducive to his own improvement in +language and in form. For this reason he translated so many of the +classics, of which more will be said at the proper time. + +The Academy having become too small for the public that now thronged to +the theatre, Dr. Coster sold the building to the regents of the City's +Orphan Asylum and of the Old Men's Home. The managers of these +charitable institutions, then, as an investment, built a new theatre in +its place. Here, twice a week, plays were presented, with great profit +to the management. + +The new theatre was completed in 1637, and the first drama played on its +stage was Vondel's fine tragedy, "Gysbrecht van Amstel." This play had +as its subject the defeat of the old hero, Sir Gysbrecht, and his +banishment from his native city, Amsterdam, soon after the death of +Floris V. + +This historical event was supposed to have occurred about Christmastide, +and the drama was accordingly presented on New Year's Eve. The +"Gysbrecht" is the most popular of all of Vondel's plays, and it is +interesting to note that, from the night of its first presentation, two +hundred and fifty years ago, until the present time, it has been +presented every New Year's Eve on the stage of the theatre of Amsterdam. + +Some of the situations in this drama are based upon various episodes in +Virgil's "Æneid." One of the characters, also, is made to prophesy the +future glory of the city; which, moreover, may easily be interpreted as +prophetic of the grandeur of the greater "New Amsterdam" beyond the sea, +a circumstance that should give it additional interest to Americans. The +"Gysbrecht" was dedicated to Grotius, who acknowledged the honor as +follows: + +"Sir: I hold myself much beholden to you for your courtesy and your +great kindness to me; for you, almost alone--at least there are but few +besides you--in the Netherlands, seek to relieve my gloom and to reward +my unrewarded services. I have always held your talents and your works +in the highest esteem." + +He then goes on to speak of the charming proportions of the play, and of +the "verses, pithy, tender, heart-melting, and flowing." Then he +continues: "The 'Œdipus Coloneus' of Sophocles and the 'Supplicants' +of Euripides have not honored Athens more than thou hast Amsterdam." + +To Vossius, at Leiden, Grotius also wrote in a no less complimentary +strain concerning this production. + +We had the privilege of seeing this drama on the stage in Amsterdam one +New Year's Eve a couple of years ago, and we confess that it was not +until we heard the magnificent recitative of the superb Bouwmeester, the +great tragedian of Holland, in this beautiful play, that we fully +appreciated the grandeur and the sublimity of Vondel, and the power and +the sweetness of the Dutch language. + +Part of the Roman ceremonial, with its splendid ritual, is introduced +into one of the scenes of the "Gysbrecht;" and this has been taken as +foreshadowing Vondel's conversion to Catholicism. Naturally this gave +offence to many of the bigots among the Calvinists, who saw in it only +the glorification of popery. + +Vondel then wrote a tragedy, "Messalina," which, however, he destroyed +because some of the actors, while rehearsing their parts, through some +adventitious remark of the poet, had inferred that the play possessed a +certain political significance, and that it was an allegory picturing +forth some of the notables of the day, after the manner of the +"Palamedes." + +The poet fearing that it might breed mischief, and seeing that it was +impossible to rectify the matter, since it had already become a subject +of conversation among the actors, begged the parts of the three leading +_rôles_, pretending that he wished to make some important corrections. +Having obtained possession of these parts, he took good care to burn +them, thus preventing the presentation of the play, and putting a stop +to the silly chatter of the players. + + +ROME! + +His next undertaking was the translation of the "Electra" of Sophocles, +being aided in the work by Isaac Vossius, a son of the celebrated Leyden +professor, who was himself also a profound scholar. As was usual with +this poet, the translation of this tragedy was followed by one of his +own, the drama of "The Virgins; or, Saint Ursula." This he dedicated to +the city of his birth, Cologne; where, the legend says, a British +princess, with eleven thousand other maidens, at the command of Attila, +the ferocious Hun, suffered a martyr's death. This tragedy also received +the praises of Grotius; and it may safely be said that no man of his +time, with the possible exception of John Milton, was so capable of +judging according to the rigid rules of the antique as Grotius. For +besides being the most learned man of his age, an accomplished Grecian, +and an unsurpassed Latinist, he was himself a poet of no mean order. + +"The Virgins," notwithstanding its beauty and tenderness, was the cause +of much sorrow to the friends of Vondel, in that it unmistakably showed +the poet's inclination towards Romanism. + +True, as has been narrated, this had for some years been suspected from +the tone of several other productions that preceded it; but then it was +only a suspicion, now there was no longer a doubt. + +Vondel was plainly on the high road to Rome, and it was whispered that +he, having become tired of his loneliness, had been attracted by a +certain Catholic widow, whose seductive charms were largely responsible +for his wavering faith. + +The widow here referred to is supposed to have been the fair +Tesselschade, the friend of his youth, who, after ten years of wedded +bliss, had at one stroke been deprived of both her eldest child and her +husband, and was now living with her one remaining child, a daughter, in +resigned widowhood at Alkmaar. We are now again to see this remarkable +woman as the inspirer of the muse of Holland. + +Barlæus in his "Tessalica" wooed her in elegant Latin; and Vondel +dedicated to her his translation of the "Electra" of Sophocles, and also +his next Biblical tragedy, "Peter and Paul," which was even more decided +in its Romanism than its predecessor. + +Tesselschade, however, preferred her black widow's weeds to the white +raiment of a bride, and continued in her retirement, alone with the +memory of her happy past. Her spirit shone only the brighter in its +progress through the valley of tribulation to the heights of +resignation. She had been chastened by affliction and saddened by +sorrow, yet she did not lose heart, but still enjoyed the society of her +friends. She still took an admirable part in the drama of life. + +In 1639, the French Queen Dowager, Maria de' Medici, paid a short visit +to Amsterdam. Tesselschade not only sang a song before her, but also +presented her with an Italian poem of her own composition. She had +finished her version of the "Gerusalemme," and was now busy translating +the "Adonis" of Marini. + +The young poets Vos and Brandt, the poetess Alida Bruno, and others of +the rising literati, sought her friendship. Tesselschade was still the +Queen when the Muses went a-maying, and her sovereignty remained +undisputed until the day of her death. + +In 1640 appeared Vondel's Biblical tragedy, the "Brothers," which was +thought by the critics to surpass all that had preceded it. It was +dedicated to Vossius, whose comment upon reading it was, _Scribis +æternitati_. Grotius wrote the poet a letter, and was also loud in his +praises, comparing it with the most famous tragedies of antiquity, +adding significantly, "and do not forget your great epic, +'Constantine.'" By others this drama was thought to combine the +tenderness of Euripides with the sublimity of Sophocles. + +In the same year, also, followed two more Biblical tragedies, "Joseph in +Dothan" and "Joseph in Egypt," which also occasioned much remark, and +were not inferior to the best plays that had gone before. + +Vondel was now universally acknowledged to be the greatest poet of the +time. The ascent of Parnassus, however, is not as easy as the _decensus +Averni_. By years of study, constant watchfulness, and perpetual +striving for self-improvement, and a prayerful devotion to his art--thus +alone did he attain the summit of such achievement. + +In him was seen purity of diction, clearness and terseness of +expression, power of logic, richness and agreeableness of invention, and +a style that was at once mellifluous and sublime. + +The tragedy, "Peter and Paul," to whose open Romanism reference has +already been made, was his next effort, and was soon followed by the +"Epistles of the Holy Virgin Martyrs," which were twelve in number, and +were dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary, whom he called "the Queen of +Heaven," and named as Mediator with her divine Son. This was a +sufficient acknowledgment of his conversion to the Catholic faith to +alienate many of his warmest friends. This, however, though it must have +brought much grief to his sensitive heart, did not cause him to regret +having made a step that he had so long been meditating. + +Before beginning these "Epistles," Vondel had translated many of the +epistles of Ovid that he might absorb the grace and the spirit of +Ovid's epistolary style. His own effort was deemed not less graceful and +spirited. Their literary merit, however, did not, in the estimation of +his Protestant friends, compensate for their justification of popery. + +Even Hooft, Vondel's life-long friend and brother in art, grew cold; and +we find the following reference to this in one of the poet's letters to +the Judge of Muiden. Vondel writes: "I wish Cornelius Tacitus a happy +and a blessed New Year; and although he forbids me a harmless _Ave +Maria_ at his heretical table, yet I shall nevertheless occasionally +read another _Ave Maria_ for him that he may die as devout a Catholic as +he now shows himself an ardent partisan." Their friendship was yet +further broken by other circumstances which had their origin in the +first cause of separation. + +In 1645, Vondel wrote a lyric poem on a miracle which the Catholics +taught had occurred at Amsterdam about the middle of the fourteenth +century. This was too much for his Protestant friends, and he became the +subject of innumerable lame lampoons and petty pasquinades, in which his +espousal of the Catholic legend was coarsely ridiculed. + +Hooft, in a letter to Professor Barlæus, also expressed his opinion in +the following words: "Vondel seems to grow tired of nothing sooner than +of rest. It seems he must have saved up three hundred guldens more, +which are causing him a good deal of embarrassment. And I do not know +but that it might cost him even much dearer than this; for some hot-head +might be tempted prematurely to lay violent hands upon him, thinking +that not even a cock would crow his regret." + +These productions, however, were only the prelude to a greater work that +was to follow--his "Mysteries of the Altar," which was published in the +autumn of 1645. + +This poem was a glorification of the Mass, and was divided into three +books. Vondel, in writing this able work, was assisted by the counsel of +the most learned and the most profound men in the Catholic Church. The +doctrines of Thomas Aquinas and other celebrated schoolmen, and the +teachings of the best modern authorities were here poetically combined, +and the poet was hailed on every side as the ablest defender of the +tenets of the Church of Rome. + +This poem provoked a celebrated reply by Jacob Westerbaen, one of the +most noted of the School of Dort, who, while praising the art of the new +champion of Catholicism, at the same time attacked his doctrinal +position with such piercing analysis and with so great display of +theological dogma, that, in the opinion of the Protestants, Vondel was +ingloriously vanquished. The Catholics, of course, thought differently. + +Jacob, Archbishop of Mechlin, to whom Vondel's poem was dedicated, sent +the author a painting with which Vondel was at first greatly pleased. +Learning, however, that it was only a bad copy, he gave it away to his +sister, no longer wishing to have such a poor reward for so great an +undertaking before his eyes. + +A prose translation of the works of Virgil was the next thing that this +indefatigable worker essayed. This version received the commendation of +most of his contemporaries. Barlæus, indeed, found fault with it, saying +that it was without life and marrow; adding, cynically, that Augustus +would surely not have withheld this Maro from the flames. But, then, +Barlæus was such a thorough Latinist that his own language seemed +foreign to him. He would have had the translator preserve the +peculiarities of the Latin at the expense of his native tongue. And, +then, was he not also Vondel's rival for the hand of Tesselschade? +Praise from him surely was not to be expected. The universal opinion was +that it was a difficult work excellently done. This translation was also +the forerunner of a drama. "Maria Stuart" was the name of the tragedy +which the bard now offered for the perusal of his countrymen. + +The poet represented the unhappy Queen of Scots as perfect and without +stain, while her victorious rival Elizabeth was painted in infernal +black. + +This subject naturally gave the proselyte occasion to display his +burning zeal for Rome; and upon the publication of the play a great +outcry was raised against both drama and author. Some of Vondel's +enemies, indeed, were so incensed, and raised such a commotion, that the +poet was brought before the city tribunal, and fined one hundred and +eighty guldens; "which," says Brandt, Vondel's biographer, "seemed +indeed strange to many, seeing what freedom in writing was allowed at +this time, and because, also, even to the poets of antiquity more was +permitted than to most others." Abraham de Wees, Vondel's publisher, +however, paid the fine, being unwilling that the poet should suffer by +that which brought him profit. + +Hugo Grotius was now dead, but shortly before his decease he had written +several pamphlets whose object it was to effect some reconciliation +between Catholic and Protestant. Vondel now translated those portions of +these favorable to the papacy, combining them in a polemic called +"Grotius' Testament." Whereupon many said that he had now gone too far +in his zeal for his adopted church; for it was claimed that upon the +statements of Grotius he often put a construction not favored by the +context. It was even insinuated by some that he had not acted in good +faith. + +Brandt himself made this intimation in a preface written by him to an +edition of Vondel's collected works which was published in the year +1647. Brandt was then yet a mere youth, and was rankling with the memory +of a severe and unjust reprimand that the older poet some time before +had given him. He therefore acknowledges in his naïve biography that he +eagerly welcomed this opportunity to be revenged upon the distinguished +offender, and accordingly made this dose of his gall as bitter as +possible. The poet felt the insinuation keenly, and for a long time +suspected Peter de Groot, the son of the great lawyer, as the +perpetrator of the offending paragraph. Many years afterwards, however, +the smart of the wound having departed, the real culprit confessed his +sin to the then aged poet, and obtained the asked for absolution. + +It was in 1641 that Vondel openly embraced the Catholic faith, though +his tendency in that direction had been apparent in his poems many years +before. We have already referred to the report that his love for a +beautiful and wealthy widow, Tesselschade, had been the main instrument +in drawing him from his Protestant moorings, and this was doubtless to +some extent true. And yet it is almost certain that Vondel would have +embraced the cause of Rome even without the alluring wiles of this fair +enchantress. + +Many of his relatives, including his brother William, belonged to that +faith. Many of his dearest friends also were of that denomination. His +daughter Anna, furthermore, had not only entered that church, but had +also taken the veil. Moreover, he had long been drifting away from the +creed of his early childhood, the Anabaptism of his parents. The severe +pietism of that belief had never strongly appealed to him. True, he had +espoused the cause of the Arminians, as against their enemies the +Gomarists; but it was only because they were the under side, and because +their cause was also the cause of civil liberty, that he had entered the +lists with them. + +The perpetual discord, the disunion, the bickerings, the bitterness, and +the persecutions among the different Protestant sects of the period were +exceedingly repulsive to him. He did not forget that under the banner of +Protestantism his country had triumphed over the common foe. He did not +forget that Calvin had been the herald of science and the apostle of +liberty. He did not fail to remember the glories of the past. But the +contemplation of that proud past only increased his abhorrence of the +petty present. + +Calvinism had indeed done much for Holland; but the inevitable reaction +had come, and its excesses could not be justified. Calvinism had come to +mean dogma; and dogma had no attraction for his poetic mind. Calvinism +had become the foe of freedom; and freedom was the very breath of this +flaming patriot. Calvinism had shown itself an enemy of the arts, of +poetry, and of the drama; and these were as the very soul of Vondel. + +How could he know that this was only a fleeting gloom, from which the +sun of Calvinism would again emerge, radiant with all of its original +glory? He was weary--weary of the discord, and longed for peace. + +Is it to be wondered at that the poet gradually drifted, even as +Cardinal Newman, into a haven that promised such longed-for rest? Is it +surprising that he who had so long been chilled by the cold formalism +and the frigid austerity of the dogma of the North should now find it +agreeable to thaw out his soul in the glow of the religion of the South? +Then, too, the beauty of the Catholic ritual, the pomp, the grand +processional, the holy days, the glorious music, the noble symmetry of +the Roman architecture, the awe-inspiring antiquity of the Church, the +magnificence of its domain, the splendor of its organization, allured +the imagination of the poet with irresistible power; and his reason +followed, a not unwilling captive. + +Nor was it the hasty choice of a regretted impulse. Everything tends to +show--we have traced the gradual growth in his poems--that it was a +long-contemplated step from which, once taken, nothing should ever be +able to remove him. It is, therefore, in Vondel that we find one of the +most able and ardent champions the Church of Rome has ever had. No saint +ever more truly deserved canonization than this high priest of Apollo, +flaming with zeal for his adopted faith. + +Vondel was a crusader born five hundred years too late--a crusader, too, +a lion-hearted defender of the Cross, most of whose battles were fought +beneath the brow of Mount Zion and within the very gates of Jerusalem. + +Few crusaders, indeed, had fought so long and so well; few had won so +many victories, had slain so many enemies, as this indomitable hero of +Amsterdam. + +Though bitterly opposed to the Contra-Remonstrants, he, however, helped +them in decrying the growing spirit of ostentation and the vices of the +day. And although he openly sided with the Remonstrants, he never joined +them. But as a flower turns its head to the sun, so he, too, gradually +turned towards the old belief. + +At this period, when Protestants were in turn persecuting heretics and, +reveling in their sudden freedom, were indulging in all sorts of +fanatical excesses, Catholicism, purified, began to live again. +Furthermore, to the poetic temperament of the poet and his stern sense +of justice, the bigotry of the Gomarists seemed no less odious than the +more open persecutions of the Catholics of the preceding age. + +It was thus that Vondel, long tossed upon a sea of doubt, sought +anchorage in a harbor where winds were calm. It was thus that this great +man was led to take a step which called down upon him for many years +hate, aversion, and ridicule. + +But in spite of all this he remained true to his new faith, and became a +fervid Catholic; one ever consistent and true to his adopted church. +Here he could remain undisturbed in his reverence for antiquity, in his +worship of beauty, and in his love for poetry and art. Here there was +ever a labyrinth of mystery for his aspiring soul to explore. Here the +plan of salvation was not reduced to the bare expression of a logical +formula. + + +UPWARD AND ONWARD. + +But we must again make brief reference to the friends of our poet, who +one by one preceded him to the grave. First Reael died. Then Hooft and +Barlæus soon followed, and were both buried in the New Church at +Amsterdam. Above the tomb of each Vondel wrote a short epitaph. But the +keenest loss was yet to come. In 1649 Holland lost the brightest jewel +in the crown of her womanhood, and Vondel, his dearest friend. +Tesselschade, after many sorrows, entered peacefully into rest. + +A few years before she had had the misfortune to lose her left eye from +a spark that flew out of a smithy as she passed. She bore this sad +accident with cheerfulness; but a greater calamity yet awaited her. The +pride of her heart, her one remaining child, her beautiful daughter +Tesselschade, was suddenly cut off in the bloom of maidenhood. The +disconsolate mother struggled in vain against this terrible sorrow. A +year later she followed her loved ones to the tomb. She, also, was laid +away in the New Church, by the side of the dead Titans of her generation +who had so often made her the theme of their inspired song; where, too, +Vondel himself, the greatest of them all, was eventually to lie. + +For Vondel's beautiful threnody we have unfortunately no space, but +shall content ourselves with quoting the first strophe of Huyghens' +touching elegy: + + "Here Tesselschade lies. + Let no one rashly dare + To give the measure of her worth beyond compare; + Her glory, like the sun's, the poet's pen defies." + +Shortly after the death of his dear friend, Vondel gave up his hosiery +shop in the Warmoesstraat to his son, while he himself went to live with +his daughter Anna on the Cingel, on the outskirts of the city. The poet +was now sixty-two years of age, and he doubtless thought to end his days +in peace and studious retirement. But the battle of life for him had +only just begun. He was never to know the meaning of rest. + +About this time Vondel again had occasion for his tremendous invective. +We refer to his remarkable series of satires against the anti-royalists +of Great Britain. + +His odes on "The Regicides of England," "Charles Stuart's Murdered +Majesty," "Protector Werewolf" (Cromwell), "The Flag of Scotland," and +many other poems on the same subject, breathe the very spirit of war, +and glow with the same intense indignation and righteous wrath that +characterize the productions of John Milton on the other side. These +fierce polemics, winged with rime, were very popular in Holland, where +the cause of the royalists was favored. + +But it was the Catholic, no less than the royalist, who spoke in these +seething satires. That Vondel the republican should assume such a fierce +attitude against the would-be republicans of England can only be +explained by his fear that in England, even as in Holland, canting +bigotry would now usurp the altars of religion, and there, with unholy +zeal, sacrifice the soul of art and the spirit of liberty. + +Or was it an intuitive dread of a republican and Puritan England that +made the Hollander seize these firebrands from his kindling wrath? It +may be, for the Commonwealth was not at all friendly towards her sister +republic, and ere long the Protector dealt the naval supremacy of the +Dutch a blow from which they never recovered. + +In 1648 Vondel celebrated the Treaty of Munster by his "Leeuwendalers," +a pastoral drama in the style of Guarini's "Pastor Fido;" and more +charming pastoral surely never was written, with not one note of strife, +not one strident trumpet blast, to jar upon its harmony. + +The "Leeuwendalers" is a fitting monument to the heroism of the +patriots whose magnificent struggle of eighty-four years against the +overwhelming tyranny of Spain had at last been rewarded by this glorious +peace. + +Not long afterwards, he wrote his excellent epitaph on that brave old +sea-dog, Martin Tromp. Save among the clergy, Vondel's Romanism seemed +now no longer to cause much comment. + +The tragedy of "Solomon," Vondel's following drama, was remarkable for +its opulence. At this time, also, his fiery denunciation of the +Stadtholder William II. and his party for their attack upon, and their +unsuccessful attempt against, the ancient privileges of Amsterdam did +much to reestablish him in the good graces of his fellow citizens. + + +THE SUMMIT. + +On October 20, 1653, one hundred leading painters, poets, architects, +and sculptors of the city of Amsterdam, known as the Guild of St. Luke, +assembled in the hall of the Order for their anniversary celebration. +This was the historic Feast of St. Luke, and Vondel was the honored +guest of the occasion. + +The poet was placed at one end of the table, on a high chair, which was +to represent a throne. Here he was crowned with laurel as the +"Symposiarch," or "King of the Feast," it is said, by the great painter +Bartholomew van der Helst. Thus Apollo and Apelles were happily united +in the bond of a common sympathy, and all petty dissensions were +forgotten in the triumph of art. Poems were read, toasts were made; the +ceremonies, as is usual at all the feasts of the Hollanders, closing +with their national anthem--"the grand Wilhelmus"--the most affecting +and sublime of all national odes, calling up, as it does, memories of a +hundred years of martyrdom and of the heroic founder of the Republic. + +It was the proudest moment of the poet's life; and we can imagine the +depth of his emotion as the glorious laurel graced his battle-furrowed +brow. Perhaps, too, the romantic face of Rembrandt was near by, drinking +in with his thirsty eyes the picturesque beauty of the scene, +unconscious of the crown which fickle destiny had reserved for him. Or +it may be that the thoughtful youth Spinoza, silent and abstemious, +found there some theme for his revolutionary philosophy. + +Yet Vondel was king of them all; crowned with a kingship won by +prodigies of valor on the battle-field of life. Every leaf in that +laurel wreath was purchased by a thorn. But who thinks of the sharpness +of the thorn when caressed by the velvet of the leaf? + +So Vondel, in that moment of triumph, forgot his sorrows in his cup of +joy, as he drained the sweet present to the dregs. + +In return for the honor it had done him, Vondel dedicated his prose +translation of the Odes of Horace to the hospitable Guild. He was now +sixty-six years old, and was yet in the possession of every bodily and +mental power. He was now to give forth his masterpiece--a work for which +his whole life had been a constant preparation. We come to the +"Lucifer." + +This tragedy appeared in 1654 and was the monumental creation of this +combatant poet, the crystallization of the Titanic passions of the age. +It has, therefore, a significance that can never fade. + +On account of the character of the play, which naturally treats of holy +subject matter, the clergy at once gave it the benefit of their most +strenuous opposition, saying that it was full of "unholy, unchaste, +idolatrous, false, and utterly depraved things." + +Through their meddlesome interference, the "Lucifer," after it had twice +been presented on the stage, was interdicted. + +As a matter of course this caused it to be the subject of much comment, +and the first edition of one thousand was sold in a week. Petrus +Wittewrongel, a native of Zealand, was the most conspicuous among the +opponents of this play. His opposition, however, extended to the drama +in general, making it the theme of every sermon. According to this Dutch +Puritan, the theatre was "a school of idleness, a mount of idolatry, a +relic of paganism, leading to sin, godlessness, impurity, and frivolity; +a mere waste of time." This bitter attack on his beloved art gave the +occasion for Vondel's famous vindication of the drama in his proem to +the "Lucifer." + +He also wrote two biting satirical poems, "The Passing of Orpheus," and +the "Rivalry of Apollo and Pan," both of which were full of humorous +raillery and of sarcastic allusions to the round-heads in general and to +Wittewrongel in particular. + +The force of the "Lucifer" as a picture of the age, of the nation, and +of the world, was instantly felt. It was a classic from the day of its +birth; and from that time to this it has easily maintained its position +as the grandest poem of the language. + +The costly and artistic scenic heavens especially prepared for the +"Lucifer" were, now that the play was forbidden, stored away as +useless--a great loss to the managers of the theatre. Vondel +accordingly wrote his excellent tragedy "Salmoneus," founded upon the +classic story of the Jove-defying King of Elis, in which this scene, as +an imitated heaven, could also be used. + +His "Psalms of David," in various metres, was his next venture. These he +dedicated to Queen Christina of Sweden, who, like the poet himself, was +a proselyte to the Catholic faith, he also honored her with a +panegyric, in return for which the queen sent him a golden locket and +chain. + +In 1657 we find the poet making another journey to Denmark, where he +went to fulfil the unpleasant duty of paying his son's debts. In Denmark +he was the recipient of considerable attention, and while there his +portrait was painted by the celebrated Dutch artist Karl van Mander, who +was painter to the Danish court. + + +THE SHADOWS. + +Soon after his return to Amsterdam, the great poet who had celebrated so +many distinguished personages, and who had become the pride of his +nation, was, by the bankruptcy of his profligate son, brought to the +very verge of poverty. + +Besides the little Constantine, whose early death we have elsewhere +recorded, the poet had three children: one son, Justus, and two +daughters, Sarah and Anna. Sarah died in childhood, and Anna, who was +said to resemble her father both in intellect and in appearance, lived +with him, and was ever a loving and devoted daughter. The son, "Joost," +was both stupid and dissolute. His ignorance was so great that, when +some one spoke of his father's tragedy, "Joseph in Egypt," he inquired +if Joseph was not also a Catholic. During the life of his first wife, a +woman of some force, this unworthy son of a distinguished sire kept +within due bounds. Shortly after her death, however, he was united to a +shallow spendthrift with whom he wasted his substance in riotous living, +while the shop, of course, was neglected; and the business, in +consequence, soon ruined. + +At this the old man was so grieved that, with his daughter, who was yet +with him, he moved away to another part of the city. + +Here he was many times heard to say, "Had I not the comfort and the +quickening of the Psalms"--of which at that time he was making his +version--"I should die in my misery." He often also said to his friends, +"Name no child by your own name; for if he should not turn out well it +is forever branded." + +In the meantime the son went from bad to worse. He squandered not only +all of his own property, but also much that had been intrusted into his +hands by others. + +He stood on the point of bankruptcy, with the penalty of imprisonment +staring him in the face, when his father, with a keen sense of honor and +of family pride, satisfied all creditors by the sacrifice of his own +snug little fortune of forty thousand guldens, the savings of half a +century. + +Friends of the family advised the erring son to go to the Dutch Colonies +in the East Indies, there to begin life anew. But he obstinately refused +even to listen to such a proposition, and continued his wild career +unchecked. The unhappy father was finally compelled to ask the +Burgomaster of the city to use the gentle compulsion of the law, which +was done. + +There are few sadder pictures in the history of letters than that of the +old gray-haired poet, bowed down with this greatest of all griefs, the +heart-crushing realization of being the parent of ungrateful and +criminal offspring, standing on the quay, and bidding, with bitter +agony, his unfeeling child a last farewell. We imagine the tear-bedimmed +eyes of the heart-broken father straining for one more glimpse of the +unworthy but yet beloved son, who, in the far horizon, was perhaps even +then carelessly walking the deck of the departing ship, meditating some +new and disgraceful profligacy upon his arrival in India. Fortunately he +died on the journey, and the poet was doubtless spared much suffering. +Too bitterly had Vondel learned, even as Lear, "How sharper than a +serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" + +Of Vondel's fortune nothing remained save the portion that his daughter +Anna had inherited from her mother, which was, however, by no means +sufficient to support them both. What was to be done? All that the old +man could do was to write verses--an art which as an income-producer was +well characterized by Ovid's father: "_Sæpe pater dixit: Studium quid +inutile tentas? Mæonides millas ipse reliquit opes_." + +Although the poet, in his pride, did not let his want become known, some +of his friends who knew the state of affairs secured him a position as +clerk in the Bank of Loan at a salary of six hundred and fifty guldens a +year. Thus the greatest Dutchman of the age and the most illustrious +poet of his country was compelled, after a life of comparative leisure +and comfort, at the age of seventy, to earn his living by the sweat of +his brow, forced to engage in a labor which to him must have been +peculiarly irksome. + +The pen, which had been accustomed to the soaring style of tragedy was +now chained to the dreary monotony of the ledger; the quill that had so +often stung a nation to the quick was now tamely employed in the prosaic +balance of debit and credit. + +It is said that the poet, however, found it impossible to restrain his +muse entirely, and that he sometimes mounted his Pegasus even in the +dull interior of the counting-room; for he employed his leisure +moments--let us hope there were many--in writing verses. + +It has been said, too, that he was reprimanded for this by his +employers; but of this there is no proof whatever. + +Indeed, Brandt goes out of his way to say that this was overlooked on +account of his age, and because he was a poet, and could therefore not +be expected to pay such strict attention to business. + +It would be easy enough to indulge in a little sympathetic bathos here. +The poet's fate was indeed a hard one. Yet his salary, small enough, it +is true, when we consider the man and his career, was not the beggarly +pittance that the same amount would be now. Six hundred and fifty +guldens in the Holland of that day would be equivalent to at least three +thousand guldens in the nineteenth-century Amsterdam, or a salary of +twenty-five hundred dollars in New York. + +Furthermore, this was the only hard mercantile work that the poet ever +did. The ten years of drudgery in his old age compensated for a +life-time of leisure and literary retirement; for after his marriage at +twenty-six, the poet hosier wisely left his business affairs in the +hands of his energetic and trustworthy wife. Soon after her death the +business devolved on "Joost" the younger, with the disastrous results +already narrated. + +At the age of eighty the old bard was given an honorable discharge, with +full pay, the circumstances of which were not without pathos. When told +that he was discharged, and that another had been found to take his +place, the poet was dumbfounded and became very sad. But when he learned +that his discharge was an honorable one, with a pension, the heaviness +left him, and he seemed greatly pleased. + +Never, however, was Vondel so near the brow of Parnassus as during these +ten bitter years. For this is the period of his greatest literary +activity. It was then that his genius ripened into its full maturity. + +Among other works produced during this decade were his "Jephtha," a +tragedy, with which he himself was much pleased, as fulfilling every +requirement of the classic drama; his metrical translations of the +"Œdipus Rex," "Iphigenia in Tauris," and the "Trachiniæ;" of +Sophocles; the tragedies, "David in Exile" and "David Restored," +allegories in which the exile and the restoration of Charles II. were +clearly set forth; "Adonis," "Batavian Brothers," "Faeton," and +"Zungchin, or, the Fall of the Chinese Empire." Of special interest +also, and of unusual literary merit, is his tragedy, "Samson," which, +even as Milton's "Samson Agonistes," was perhaps more largely +biographical than any other of his poems. The points of similarity +between this drama and Milton's tragedy also are many and remarkable. + +But the two most important tragedies of this period were his "Adam in +Exile" and the "Noah," which together with the "Lucifer" form a grand +trilogy. The "Adam," especially, only less sublime than the latter, has +more of idyllic beauty, and as a whole is scarcely inferior in power. +Here, too, the choruses blend with the action, and are unsurpassed for +melody, sweetness, and tenderness, proclaiming their author as the +foremost lyrist of his nation. + + +THE VALLEY. + +Vondel was the author of no less than thirty-three tragedies. Only +eighteen of these, however, were presented on the stage. Some were +deemed objectionable on account of their Biblical subject matter; others +because of their leaning towards Catholicism. + +The dramatist also suffered from the jealousy of his rivals. One of +these, Jan Vos, was one of the managers of the theatre, and attempted to +make Vondel's plays unpopular by assigning the most important rôles to +inferior players, and also by using old and worn-out costumes. No +wonder, then, that the sweeping tragedies of this master spirit began to +lose favor with the masses, and that the translations of the French and +Spanish plays that now flooded the country, with their extravagant +scenery and their flashy innovations, usurped their place. + +A few years before his death, Vondel paid a visit to the town of his +birth, Cologne, and there saw the very house where he was born. With a +poet's whim he climbed into the old wall bedstead in which he was +brought into the world, which, of course, also furnished inspiration for +a poem. + +Brief mention must also be made of Vondel's last religious poems. His +sublime "Reflections on God and Religion," which was written in +opposition to the Epicurean and Lucretian philosophy of Descartes; his +"John, the Messenger of Repentance," which glows with all the fervor and +the grandeur of the Apocalypse; his "Glory of the Church," a work as +learned as it was elevated, which shows the rise and progress of the +Mother Church, would alone be sufficient to entitle Vondel to be +considered as one of the great religious poets of the world, and perhaps +the most powerful champion of Catholicism that ever entered the lists of +controversy. + +At the age of eighty-four, Vondel translated Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and +also wrote a great number of poems of all kinds--epigrams, lyrics, +letters, lampoons, dedications, eulogies, threnodies, hymns, +epithalamiums, riddles, and epitaphs--in all of which his pen, sharpened +by the practice of nearly three-fourths of a century, excelled. + +To the last the aged poet preserved his intense satiric vein. The fire +of his spirit burned as fiercely now as in the days of his youth. One of +the last poems written by those aged fingers was his noble elegy on the +distinguished brothers De Witt, who, in 1672, were assassinated in The +Hague by a frenzied mob. + +His last production was an epithalamium on the marriage of his favorite +niece, Agnes Blok. He was then eighty-seven years old. His physician +having cautioned him to rest his brain, he now bade the Muses, whom he +had known so long, and whom he had found so sweet a comfort in his +hours of sorrow, an eternal farewell. + +His health, however, remained good until a few days before his death. +His legs first showed signs of weakness, and refused longer to support +him. His memory also failed him, and he would often stop still in the +midst of a sentence. When he was made aware of this, he was somewhat +distressed, for his judgment remained unimpaired to the last, saying, "I +am no longer capable of carrying on a conversation with my friends." + +Brandt, to whom we are indebted for most of these interesting +particulars concerning Vondel, and other friends cheered his last days +with their visits. The poet, who now spent most of his waking hours by +the cheerful blaze of his hearth, seemed to appreciate this very highly, +and whenever they were about to leave, would tell them good-by with a +hearty pressure of the hand. Here, too, came Antonides, that brilliant +young poet, so untimely cut off, and the painter, Philip de Koning, both +of whom the old bard admired greatly. + +When in his ninetieth year he had himself taken to the houses of the two +Burgomasters of the city, whom with broken words he begged to provide +for his grandson Justus, who bore his name, and whose prospects, on +account of his father's profligacy and his grandfather's poverty, were +anything but promising. The city fathers comforted the poor old man with +good words, and he returned to his corner by the hearth, never again to +leave it alive. + +"Old age," says Brandt, "was now his illness; the oil was lacking; the +fire must go out." His limbs became cold and refused to be warmed. +Referring to this a few days before his death, he remarked to Brandt, +with a humorous twinkle in his large brown eyes: "You might give me this +epitaph: + + "Here in peace lies Vondel old; + He died because he was so cold." + +This was the old poet's last rhyme, surely an humble one for him whose +lofty imagery and sublime conceptions are the wonder of his countrymen. +He also said to his niece, Agnes Blok, "I do not long for death." She +asked, "Do you not long for eternal life?" He replied: "Aye, I do long +for that; but, like Elijah, I would fain fly thither." Though now he +also began to say: "Pray for me that God will take me out of this life." +And when those standing around his bedside asked: "Are you ready now for +the terrible messenger to come?" he replied, "Aye, let him come; for, +even though I wait longer, Elijah's chariot will not descend. I shall +have to go in at the common gate." + +After an illness of only eight days, on February 5, 1679, about +half-past four in the morning, the old bard fell asleep. He seemed to be +wholly free from pain, and died so softly that the friends who stood +around his bedside scarcely observed it. + +Vondel was aged ninety-one years, two months, and nineteen days. He was +nearly double the age of the world's greatest dramatist, was seventeen +years older than Euripides, and just as old as Sophocles. + +Three days after his death he was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk--the Church +of St. Catherine--at Amsterdam, not far from the choir. Fourteen poets +were the pall-bearers who carried the great master to his last +resting-place. Around his grave were the tombs of most of his literary +friends of former years. Here lay Hooft and Barlæus and Tesselschade. +Here, too, was the tomb of the noble de Ruyter, his country's most +illustrious naval hero. Here, among this company of distinguished dead, +among these sculptured busts and mediæval effigies, these monumental +tombs and glorious cenotaphs, this greatest of all Hollanders was buried +in a simple grave, unmarked by even an epitaph. Three years afterwards +Joan Six, one of the Aldermen of the city, had the following time-verse +(which gives the year of his death) engraved upon the stone: + + TO THE OLDEST AND GREATEST POET. + VIR PHŒBO ET MVSIS GRATVS VONDELIVS HIC EST + VI MV I V V D LIV IC + 6 1005 1 5 5 5005015 1100 + ---- + 1679 + +Shortly after his decease, Antonides, Vollenhove, and others of the +younger poets also honored him with eulogies as the first poet of his +age. To the pall-bearers a medallion was given, on one side of which was +the image of the poet; on the other, a singing swan, with the year of +Vondel's birth and death, and the inscription: "The oldest and greatest +poet." + + +HIS PERSON AND CHARACTER. + +Vondel was of medium height, with a figure well made and compact. His +countenance was one of remarkable intelligence, and was characterized by +an expression at once earnest and exalted. + +In early life his face was pale and thin, but later, after the +disappearance of his strange malady, it became broad and full, and of a +healthful color, with glowing red cheeks. His forehead, not too high, +was broad and commanding, a fit arsenal for those thunderbolts of +invective that he knew so well how to employ. One of his eyebrows was +slightly higher than the other. Beneath them glowed two deep brown eyes, +large and penetrating--eagle eyes, full of fire, as if, naïvely says his +biographer, "he had satires in his head." His nose was sensitive and +somewhat large; his mouth of medium size, with rather thin lips. He +usually wore his hair short, his ears only half covered. On his chin +grew a small pointed beard, in early manhood a dark brown, later white +with age. Altogether a figure striking and noble, if not grand and +imposing--one that long acquaintance would only render the more +impressive, for it was stamped with character. Thus the outward man! +Would you learn the stature of his soul? Read his magnificent works. + +Strange to say, he who was so full of thought and spirit in his writings +was still and silent in the presence of others. Once when dining with +Grotius, Vossius, and Barlæus--the three most learned men of the age--it +is related that during the course of the whole meal the poet said not +one word. He was usually grave and taciturn. When he did speak, however, +he was intense and pointed. + +He was ever modest in his deportment and temperate in his habits. Though +living in an age of good fellowship and of royal tippling, when +post-prandial drunkenness was the rule rather than the exception, he was +never known to have indulged to excess. Like Dante, Milton, and +Petrarch, furthermore, his private life was pure. Not one accuser ever +threw mud at its whiteness. + +His clothes, though in the fashion and in good taste, were always plain +and unassuming. He enjoyed the society of artists and men of letters, +learning, and judgment. He was extremely popular among his relatives, +which speaks well for his heart, and is surely a good index to his true +character. + +Vondel was a true friend, and was ever ready to prove his devotion, if +need be, by the sacrifice of blood and treasure. Such a romantic +attachment as that of Dante for Beatrice was doubtless unknown to our +poet. His was the more natural ardor of a deep-seated affection. Yet he +had the capacity for suffering so characteristic of genius. We know +that, like William III., he was profoundly affected by the death of his +wife. For several years, indeed, he was in such a melancholy that his +thoughts fell still-born from his pen. He wrote little, and destroyed +all that he wrote. Life had lost all charms for him. He was, however, +awakened from this reverie of sorrow by the bugle blast of war; and only +in the roar of the conflict did he forget the sting of grief. + +Vondel was in no sense a theologian, and had no patience with +hair-splitting distinctions. Though a fervid Catholic, his toleration is +shown by his remark that he would not "sit in the Inquisition as a judge +of anyone's life." + +"There were some hot-headed Papists," he said, "who persecuted the pious +of other creeds. It is also true that the Papists of all time have +sought to rule the consciences of men. However, some reformers are +lately following in their footsteps." In regard to the wonderful legends +of the early Church, he remarked that they were "monkish fables written +in the dark ages for the ignorant people." That his Catholicism had not +lessened his love for freedom or for his country his later poems bear +excellent witness. + +Though by his bitter lampoons and severe invective he had made many +enemies during the course of his long career, yet his popularity is seen +in the fact that his memory was honored by men of all creeds and +parties. The Jesuits of Antwerp placed his portrait in their cloister +among the most illustrious men of ancient and modern times. + +He had gathered no riches with his poetry. On the contrary, his losses +were far greater than his gains. The most costly gift ever given him was +the golden locket and chain from her majesty Queen Christina of Sweden. +This present was worth about two hundred dollars. Amelia von Solms, the +widow of Frederic Henry, also honored him with a gold medal for a poem +on the marriage of her daughter, the Princess Henrietta. For his ode on +the dedication of the new Stadthuis, the authorities of Amsterdam +honored him with a silver cup. The visiting Elector of one of the German +States gave him, for some verses in his honor, "a small sixteen +guldens." For his eulogy in honor of the Archbishop of Cologne, the city +fathers allowed him thirty guldens. + +His daughter Anna, dying before him, willed him her portion, which, with +his pension, proved amply sufficient for his maintenance. + +A few months before his death he had willed all of his books to a +certain priest. Thinking that if they remained with him he might injure +his feeble health by reading, he allowed them to be taken away. +Afterwards, however, he bitterly regretted this, and, with tears in his +eyes, complained to one of his friends that all of his treasures had +been stolen, and that now nothing was left him. + +In his youth his motto was: "Love conquers all things." Later he signed +his productions with the word "Zeal," or "Justice"--the last a play on +his name; sometimes, also, with the letters P.L., meaning _pro +libertate_, or with the initials P.V.K.--"Palamedes of Kologne." In some +of his works was to be seen a picture of David playing a harp, with the +device "Justus fide vivit," to which, of course, could be given a double +meaning: "The just man lives by faith," or "Justus lives by his lyre." + +Vondel's diligence was phenomenal. Once he remarked in a letter to a +friend that the height of Parnassus can only be attained by much panting +and sweat, and that attention and exercise sharpen the intellect. The +multitude and the excellence of his works prove the worth of his +philosophy. + +His thirst for knowledge was extraordinary, and he left few corners of +that vast field unfilled. To learn the best expressions for each trade +and profession he was wont to question all kinds and conditions of men +in regard to the words that they used in their trade or calling. +Farmers, carpenters, masons, artists, men of every business and +profession added to his vocabulary. He thus built up the language, and +himself attained a thorough mastery over his native tongue; one never +equalled by any of his countrymen, with the possible exception of the +poet Bilderdÿk. + +He was, moreover, always ready to receive suggestions in regard to his +own productions, and often read them to his friends to obtain the +benefit of their criticism. This, however, was more true of his +translations than of his originals. He took much pleasure, also, in +praising the work of others, especially that of the younger poets. + +That he was an excellent critic is shown by his prose essays, though he +was too impressionable to beauty to be very severe. He was exceedingly +modest in regard to his own powers. He considered Hooft the foremost +among the Dutch writers of his age, not only on account of his sweet +lyrics and stately tragedies, but also because of his historical works. + +Constantine Huyghens he praised for his liveliness and fancy, his +subtlety, and his wonderful versatility. He also thought highly of Anslo +and de Dekker, and particularly of those two young giants, Vollenhove +and Antonides. In "The Y Stream" of the latter he saw extraordinary +promise, and he thenceforth called the younger poet his son, and was +always most tender and fatherly towards him, taking much delight in his +company. Of Vollenhove's "Triumph of Christ," he said: "There is a great +light in that man, but it is a pity that he is a clergyman." Brandt he +called "a good epigrammatist." + + +HIS FEELING FOR ART. + +Art to Vondel was a revelation of the divine in man, and therefore the +best promoter of virtue. Hence his passion for poetry, and his +admiration for painting, music, and architecture. How fitting that he +who sang the union of the arts: + + "Blithe Poesy and Painting fair, + Two sisters debonair," + +should be crowned "king of the feast" by a company of fellow artists! + +Vondel was the painter's poet. He wrote numerous inscriptions for +paintings. He praises Raphael, Veronese, Titian, Bassano, Giulo Romano, +Lastman, Sandrart, Goltzius (the etcher), and Rubens. He apparently +preferred the idealists of the Italian school, for he says but little +about the realists of the day, Steen, Ostade, Brouwer, and Teniers; nor +even concerning those who copied nature like Douw, De Hoogh, and Mutsu. +The great Rembrandt he names but twice. In one place he speaks of the +portrait of Cornelis Anslo, of which he tamely says, "The visible part +is the least of him, and who would see Anslo must hear him." He seems +to have been more impressed by the fine portrait of Anna Wymers, for he +says: "Anna seems to be alive." Elsewhere, however, he speaks of "the +night-owl, who hides himself from the day in his shadows of cobweb;" +which is thought to be a covert reference to that magnificent study in +chiaroscuro, Rembrandt's "Night Patrol." It is certain, however, that he +did not realize the powerful genius of Holland's greatest artist. + +Vondel, the admirer of the Italian classics, with their delicacy and +regularity, probably could not appreciate the revolutionary splendors of +this great magician. Nor is there any evidence to show that any +friendship existed between these two men, each the undying glory of his +country. And yet in some respects the poet and the painter were +strikingly alike. Both were masters of style, and grandly daring and +original. Both were in the highest sense creative, and dealt in +tremendous effects, soaring from mountain-top of grandeur into the +heaven of the sublime. Each was comprehensive and universal; each was a +personified mood of his nation and the maker of an epoch. Each suffered +poverty in old age. + +Yet in one respect the painter had the advantage over the poet. He spoke +the universal language of the eye, and thus his message has reached +millions who were deaf to his tongue. The political obscurity, on the +other hand, into which little Holland was plunged so soon after the +meteoric blaze of her brief ascendancy, confined her language to her +narrow territory; and Vondel, equally worthy with Rembrandt of the +admiration of the world, became a sealed book save to his countrymen. +The former, however, was the very life of his time, its recognized +voice; the latter was in his life neglected, to become after his death +the most illustrious of his race, a name to conjure an age out of +obscurity. + +Rubens, on the other hand, the poet fully appreciated. In the dedication +of his drama, "The Brothers," 1639, he calls the great Fleming "the +glory among the pencils of our age." + +Music, we know, had a powerful fascination for our poet. He himself +played the lute, while his poetry throbs with the very heart of melody. +How lovingly he speaks of the divine art of song, that "charms the soul +out of the body, filling it with rare delight--a foretaste of the bliss +of the angels"! + +How keen must have been his enjoyment when at Muiden he heard the lovely +singers of that age--the gifted Tesselschade on her guitar, or the +talented harpist, Christina van Erp; or when in his home in the +Warmoesstraat he heard the patriotic chimes of his beloved city pealing +the lingering hours into oblivion! How profoundly, too, must his deep, +earnest soul have been stirred by the grandeur of the Psalms, rising on +the wings of Zweling's noble melodies to the vaulted arches of the old +cathedral where he was wont to worship! + + +HIS FEELING FOR NATURE. + +The attitude of a poet toward nature is always of peculiar and absorbing +interest. Is it because she is the perpetual fount of ideals, because of +her voiceless sympathy with his ever-changing mood, or because her +grandeur and loveliness have power to move the deeps of his soul? +However it be, the poets have almost without exception found her the +source of their inspiration. + +Into her rude confessional they pour the unreserved tale of sorrows that +no man can understand; and she gently whispers peace. At her feet they +lay the guilty story of a soul; the love, the passions of a heart; the +joys, the pains, the riotous thoughts of life; and she gently whispers +peace. And here, too, Vondel opened his heart, and here he also obtained +comfort for the vexing ills of life. + +It has been said that man's appreciation of the beauties of nature is +proportioned to the degree of his cultivation. In the ruder ages in +Holland, as in Germany, the mysterious forces of the physical world and +their various manifestations became personified in the good and bad +genii of the Teutonic mythology. In proportion as the worship of these +genii ceased, nature became appreciated for its own sake. It had first +to be divested of the fear-inspiring supernatural. To this Christianity +and the accumulating discoveries in science largely contributed. + +Karel van Mander first introduced this feeling into painting; and +Hendrik Spieghel, into literature. And then came Hooft and Vondel, who +in this respect, as in all else, stood far above their contemporaries. + +Vondel's enjoyment of nature is not so keen as that of Hooft, but it is +far deeper and stronger, and grew steadily to the end of his life. Now +and then his descriptions remind one of the brooding landscapes of the +"melancholy Ruysdael;" at other times of the creations of Lingelbach and +Pynacker, in those striking scenes where Dutch realism and Italian fancy +are oddly combined. + +Under the influence of Seneca and Du Bartas, according to the artificial +fashion of the day, he at first employed high-sounding mythological +names as symbols for the things themselves; but he soon outgrew this +classical affectation. Already in his "Palamedes," especially in the +chorus of "Eubeers," is this feeling for nature apparent. This charming +bucolic is the picture of a Dutch landscape. Elsewhere we have mentioned +its resemblance to the "L'Allegro" of Milton. + +Like the bard of Avon, our poet saw but little of the world. Twice he +made a business trip to Denmark, and shortly before his death he paid a +visit to Cologne. In addition to this, he made several inland +journeys--one to the Gooi: + + "Where the grand oak so thickly grows + Beyond rich fields, where buckwheat glows." + +To Vondel truly "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament +showeth his handiwork." All of his poems, particularly the "Lucifer," +are studded with figures of the stars. + +The poet drew many of his figures, too, from animal life, as the beasts +and the birds in the sustained Virgilian similes in the "Lucifer." What +can be more exquisite, also, than his verses on the tame sparrow of the +lovely Susanne Bartelot, in the style of the "Passer, deliciæ suæ +puellæ" of Catullus? + +The north wind he calls "a winter-bird, so cold and rough." The spring +is his delight. He is glad when he sees men busy fishing, planting, and +hunting, and engaged in all manner of bucolic occupations. In the Norway +pines unloaded on the River Y, he sees a forest of masts from which the +tricolor of his dear country will be unfurled in every clime. + +Would you know his capacity for aesthetic symbolism? Read his superb ode +to the Rhine. + +Flowers were to him the beautiful symbols of equally beautiful moral +truths. What a world of pathos in his voice where he says of Mary Queen +of Scots: + + "O! Roman Rose, cut from her bleeding stem!" + +And where he speaks of the mournful rosemary in the death-wreath of his +little daughter Saartje! For little Maria, his darling grand-child, he +wishes "a winding sheet of flowers--of violets white and red and purple, +blue and yellow." In the garlands of his fancy he ever weaves the blooms +of his delight, lilies, violets, roses--white and red--and his national +flower, the glorious tulip. + +He loved the open heaven and the airy freedom of solitude. "The welkin +wide is mine," he says, and like a wild bird adds, "and mine the open +sky." He loved the woods, where his ears were caressed by "the blithe +echoes of the careless birds." + +Long before Shelley he sang of the lark, "wiens keeltje steiltjes +steigert" ("whose throat so steeply soars"). Long before Keats he was +thrilled by the deep-toned nightingale. + + "The shrill-voiced nightingale, + Who at thy casement bower + Pours out his breathless tale," + +reminds him of the questioning soul at the window of eternity," peering +through panes on darkness unconfined." Then, again, he likens himself to +a nightingale, caged for days in the mournful cold, that bursts into a +rapturous melody to see the warm sun melt away the gloom. + +His soul communed with nature in her deepest and quietest moods. The +peaceful meadow, the calm beauty of the woods, the forest-crowned +mountains, the tumultuous sea were all the themes of his song. + +Though his feeling for nature was not so fine nor so intense as that of +some of the later poets, yet it was deeper and truer. In the world +around him he saw but a reflection of the grander world beyond. + +Nor was the pantheistic conception strange to him. See the first chorus +of the "Lucifer," where he calls God "the soul of all we can conceive;" +and the second act, where he speaks of: + + "----the farthest rounds + And endless circles of eternity, + That, from the bounds of time and space set free, + Revolve unceasingly around one God, + Who is their centre and circumference. + +How like the pantheism of Spinoza, first proclaimed some years later! + + +HIS PATRIOTISM. + +Would you know him as a patriot? Hear his splendid tones of jubilation +over the victory of his countrymen--a victory where truth and freedom +triumphed. Hear his fine odes celebrating the commerce and the progress +of the growing commonwealth. Listen to his bursts of patriotism in his +"Orange May Song," and where he calls the ancient Greek sea-galleys, +"child's play beside ours." + +Vondel was a representative Dutchman, and there was a strong national +stamp on all that he did. He was a grand type of the burgher of the +great Dutch middle class, which has ever been the glory of the +Netherlands, and which has given to the world such an illustrious array +of soldiers, painters, scholars, poets, and statesmen. In reading him +we are continually reminded that we are in the land of dykes and +windmills. Thus all of his heroes are invested with Holland dignities. +We hear of burghers, burgomasters, and stadtholders; of the dunes, the +sea, the dams, the strand, and the green, fertile meadows. Wherever the +scene of the play, we always recognize the streets, the canals, the +houses, the palaces, and the environs of Amsterdam. This was not due to +a lack of historical information, as was the case with Shakespeare, but +because the poet desired to bring the truth closer to the hearts of his +hearers. The fact, too, that this made the scenic requirements of a play +considerably less, thus reducing the expense of presentation, might also +have had some influence. + +Vondel, furthermore, when representing the past, never forgot the +present. It was ever before his eyes. Hence many of his plays were +political allegories, and were significant for their bearing upon the +time. + +The one universal characterization of all of his work, one that glows in +every poem, is his love of freedom--the ruling passion of his +countrymen. Already in the "Passover "--his first tragedy, written at +the age of twenty-six--we hear his cry, "O! sweetest freedom." Soon +afterwards, in his lyrics and in "Palamedes," he showed his strong +sympathy with Oldenbarneveldt; and during the bitter persecution that +followed, when he was forced to fly like a hunted beast from house to +house, this spirit grew by the opposition that it fed upon into a fierce +blaze, only quenched by death. + +Like the Father of Tuscan literature, his thoughts were ever attuned to +the spirit of his age. Like Dante, too, he was ever in the heart of the +battle. Like him, also, he was not worldly wise, and was naturally of a +rebellious temperament. He was himself in perpetual revolt. This was +due, however, not to a saturnine disposition, but to a keen sense of +justice, and to the idealism of a lofty, cultivated mind. To compel the +age to conform to the measure of his own conceptions he often found +procrustean methods necessary. Hence his stern aggressiveness against +wrong. + +He fain would have sat apart in silent contemplation, but he was +destined to know neither the Olympic calm of Goethe, nor the sublime +serenity of Shakespeare. "The life of the day, like an octopus, grasped +him and would not let him go." He drank in the wine of freedom, and his +soul was filled with the hunger of strife. His cry now became a +battle-cry. Wherever he saw wrong and injustice--and his eyes were ever +open--he donned his armor and dealt crushing blows for the cause of the +oppressed. Earnest, still, and passionate, great of soul and +impressionable of heart, the poet was a born fighter. His whole life was +a polemic against tyranny. + +His dear fatherland was the alpha and omega of his inspiration, and he +was, perhaps, the first Dutchman who deeply felt the consciousness of +national power. The next object of his soul's affection was his city, +Amsterdam, whose glories he never grew tired of singing. His +characterization: + + "The town of commerce, Amsterdam, + Known round the circle of the globe," + +might not improperly be reflected upon its new and yet more powerful +namesake in the New World, of whose grandeur he might well be deemed the +prophet, when, in his "Gysbrecht," with patriotic eloquence he pictures +the Amsterdam of the coming centuries. What though the ruling trident +has departed from the "Venice of the North," her peerless daughter, far +across the seas, yet holds triumphant sway! + +In his fiery patriotism Vondel much reminds us of Milton. He also was at +heart a zealous republican, though he had a Christian's unshaken +reverence for the anointed kings of earth, and for what he thought a +God-constituted authority. Hence the "Lucifer," and his relentless +opposition to the regicides of England and to Cromwell, "that murderer +without God and shame, who dared to desecrate and to assault the Lord's +anointed," as he says bitterly in one of his polemics. + +Like the great Englishman, the Hollander was also a good hater; and he +never spared what he hated. Though charitable, he was uncompromising, +and forgave not easily; always, however, deprecating the excesses of the +"root and branch" zealots of his own party. Just as Milton, after having +joined the Presbyterians, forsook them when they in turn began to +persecute the followers of other creeds, so, too, Vondel left the +Remonstrants when they crossed the jealous line of freedom. + +We are indeed inclined to believe that his strongest trait was his love +of justice, which caused him to oppose tyranny under every guise, and to +stigmatize the faults of his own church and party with expletives as +crushing as those that he hurled against his enemies. + +Thus his hatred of the Catholic Spaniards and of the Dutch Gomarists. +The bloody persecution of the one was in his eyes no worse than the +oppressive hypocrisy of the other. Even his beloved House of Orange drew +from him the bitterest opposition when, in Prince Maurice and in +William II., it threatened the liberty of his country and the privileges +of his beloved Amsterdam. Of him it may truly be said that his eyes were +never blinded by party prejudice. + +Milton, in an immortal sonnet, blew a trumpet-blast of vengeance for the +slaughtered Piedmontese. Why was that trumpet silent w hen his own party +perpetrated a similar massacre at Drogheda? Vondel was, indeed, far more +magnanimous than his great English contemporary. He had more of "the +milk of human kindness." + +How strong is our poet's admiration for the founders of the Republic, +the fathers of the "golden age," and for that grand race of intrepid +discoverers, pioneers, and explorers that pierced every corner of the +globe! How, too, flames his soul with pride, when he recounts the brave +deeds of those old sea-lions, Tromp and de Ruyter, and their fearless +companions, in the fierce battle against the growing English supremacy! +Not one of those heroes whom he did not crown with the wreath of an +immortal eulogy! + +Yet Vondel, even as Dante, was at heart a man of peace. Like his +countrymen, he never sought the fray; but when battle was forced upon +him, it meant a fight to the death. All his fighting was for peace. In +one of his poems he speaks of peace as: + + "A treasure--Ah! its worth unknown, + Surpassing far a triumph in renown." + +Elsewhere he says, "The olive more than laurel pleases me." He never +forgot the high seriousness of his mission. He never lost sight of the +dignity of Christian manhood. + +Vondel was in a large sense also the poet of Christendom; a crusader, +with his face ever towards the New Jerusalem, throned in ethereal +splendors. He felt himself a member of that large Christian alliance +that Henry IV. wished to found as a barrier against the encroachments of +the Turk, the arch-foe of Christendom. + + "He comes--the Turk! We stand with winged arms," + +he shouts in one of his poems. Yet he never forgot to pray, also, that +the erring ones, both Jew and Gentile, might be brought into the fold of +the "true Church." + + +HIS VIEWS ON LIFE. + +Of particular interest are the views of so old and so profound a seer on +life; for every poet has his scheme of life. What men call genius is, +indeed, only the faculty of seeing life through the prism of a +temperament, and the poets are preëminently the men of temperament. +Vondel, with his earnest, sincere nature, out of the bewildering chaos +of his environment soon evolved his own philosophy of existence. "Life, +that sad tragedy," the youthful poet calls it in his "Passover." To him +already life was a passing pageant, and man, an exile. His epitome of +the world's history, moreover, is not unlike the celebrated epigram of +Rhÿnvis Feith, another Dutch poet: + + "Man, like a withered leaf, falls in oblivion's wave. + We are, and fade away--the cradle and the grave; + Between them flits a dream, a drama of the heart; + Smart yields his place to Joy, and Joy again to Smart; + The monarch mounts his throne; the slave bows to the floor; + Death breathes upon the scene--the players are no more." + +His gaze, like Milton's, was ever upward, +through the prison-bars of time, into the unconfined +vast of eternity. His tone, too, was most +glorious when singing "celestial things." + +How like the voice of a Hebrew prophet his +note of warning, where he cries: + + "Batavians, repent; + Think of Tyre and Sidon. + Repent as the Ninevites! + O! mourn your sins!" + +And after all this painful revelry of life, this lust of action, and the +battle's roar, it is a "haven sweet and still" that his earth-tormented +soul longs for. How softly he whispers after his fiery trumpet tones are +done: + + "O! help me, O my God, to give my life to thee, + My fragile self, my will, my little all. Let me, + O thou beyond compare! O source of everything! + In praises rich and deep thy matchless glory sing!" + +In the pensive twilight of old age, he grew more and more conscious of +the true everlasting, and his patriotism became the all-embracing one of +the "fatherland above." He now began to look forward with child-like +faith to the revelations of the resurrection, though not forgetting +that: + + "The infant of eternity + Must first be cradled in the tomb;" + +but believing that from the cerements of mystery shall break a light to +lead the soul to heaven. + + +HIS PLACE AND ART. + +Vondel, to an extraordinary degree, possessed that keen insight into +human nature which is the first requisite of the great satirist. He was +the Juvenal of his time. Though his wit is never delicate nor keen, it +is, however, sweeping and irresistible. His was no gentle zephyr of +irony to tickle the tender cuticle of a supersensitive age, but a very +cyclone of mockery to laugh a thick-skinned generation out of folly. + +His poetry is ever the instrument of exaltation; and though in its +condemnation of evil it often by its directness and frankness gives some +offense to the delicate edge of our modern refinement, it is never +indecently coarse; it is never a pander to vice. + +Indignation more intense, scorn more contemptuous, satire more powerful, +invective more tremendous than that glowing in the polemics of this +great satirist have never struck fear into the hardened hearts of the +wicked. Few men have been so hated; few have been so loved. + +Yet the sublime is the true field of this poet, and sublimer thoughts +than his were surely never spoken. The grandeur of Job, the glory of the +Psalms, and the splendor of the Apocalypse are all to be found in his +magnificent Biblical tragedies, that noble series commencing with the +"Jerusalem Desolate" of his untried youth, and ending with the "Noah" of +his octogenarian ripeness. + +The influence of the Bible on his art was prodigious. The Holy Writ was +the inexhaustible quarry from which he hewed his master, pieces; +throughout whose development may be traced the growth of a human soul. +See his paraphrase of the Psalms, if you would know his enjoyment of the +serene beauty of holiness. + +The artistic truth of all his creations is seen in their elemental +objectivity--the portrayal by vivid flashes of feeling and by artful +representation of the ever-during and imperishable. In most of his +dramas is the sublimity of Æschylus with the fine proportion and the +directness of Sophocles. In others, as in the "Leeuwendalers," where he +sings the triumph of peace, is the sweetness and the feminine strength +of Euripides. + +Of Vondel it has truly been said: "_Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit_;" +for to beauty-- + + "God's handmaid, Beauty, + Whose touch rounds + A dew-drop or a world"-- + +he ever paid the incense of a passionate devotion. + +"Æschylus does right without knowing it," said Sophocles; even so Vondel +possessed an unerring instinct for the true; ever stringing the jewelled +beads of fancy on the golden thread of truth. + +Like Æschylus, too, he was at heart a lyric poet; yet who shall say that +in his character delineation, in the sweeping energy of his action, and +in the management of his plot, he was not almost equally as admirable? + +Like Dryden, Vondel rose very slowly to the stature of his full power. +All of his dramas preceding the "Lucifer" show this gradual development; +all of those that come later maintain the same standard of excellence. + +Like Goethe, the Dutch poet exerted an ennobling influence on the +theatre of his country. Like Dante, he was fond of a strong, bold +outline, and always chose a direct rather than a circuitous route. Like +Shakespeare, he was a keen observer of affairs, a student of life. His +works are the rimed chronicles of his age. His was a transcendent +genius, not oppressed by excessive culture, and with the creative ever +the ruling instinct. To him poetry was the divinest of the arts. It +became the ritual of his soul's worship; duty, beauty, and religion were +the three strings on his melodious lyre. + +His works abound in little scholasticism. Pedantry and affectation were +his abomination; pith and vigor, directness and comprehensiveness, the +radical elements of his strength. In his works we find a harvest of such +glorious themes as store the granary of poet minds; we see everywhere +evidences of power. We are ever startled by: + + "The lightning flash of an immortal thought, + The rolling thunder of a mighty line." + +Vondel's similes are more striking than his metaphors; there is a +sustained glow in his imagery. In this respect, also, he shows the +Oriental bent of his genius. This is furthermore seen in his +personification of the elements of nature and of the stars and +constellations, as in the "Lucifer," which gives a barbaric splendor to +the play. Few poets, indeed, in any literature, contain such splendid +and elevated images. + +He, too, could woo discordant sounds to harmony, and wove the +consonantal Dutch into mellow meshes of ensnaring sound. A nobleness not +devoid of grace, a sublimity not austere, but warm with human sympathy; +a manner more remarkable for chaste strength and a rugged symmetry of +form than for delicacy or elegance--these are some of the +characteristics of his style. + +Not for him the sweet felicities of the mincing phraser or the dreamy +languors of the riming troubadour. Not for him the gaysome zephyr or the +dim, romantic moon. He is ever on the serene altitude of lofty +contemplation, or in the valley, battling like a god. He is always +deeply serious. He is everywhere sincere. His is the whirlwind and the +storm; the noonday glare and the midnight gloom. His is the eagle's +bold, epic flight and the lark's wild, lyric soar. No nightingale of +sentiment trills her dulcet serenade amid the forest of his song. And +yet who can be more tender and affecting, who more truly, softly sweet? +All is virile; nothing is effeminate. All is manly, healthful, pure. +There is no morbid fever of a brain diseased and foul. There is no pale, +misleading will-o'-the-wisp of a heart decayed and bad. There is +freshness, there is beauty, there is truth. "Magnificent" is the one +word for his manner, "the grand style" of the Netherlands. + +His was the sombre Occidental imagination fired with the splendor of the +Orient. His poetry is a Gothic cathedral, grand, towering, and +impressive, typical at once of the massive ruggedness of the oak and the +severe sublimity of the Alp; a Teutonic temple, in whose cloistered +corridors we hear the majestic sweep of unseen angels' wings, while the +glorious symphony of harps and psalteries, played by countless cherubim, +mingling with the rich bass of the organ and the ethereal tenor of +invisible choristers, rolls like a flood of celestial harmony through +all the deep diapason from heaven to hell. + +The word "vondel" in the Brabantian dialect means a "little bridge," +which suggests a not inapt analogy; for it was Vondel who bridged the +chasm between the crude Mystery and Miracle Plays of the Chambers of +Rhetoric, and the "Lucifer," a drama unequalled in the history of Dutch +literature. Between the dead abstractions of the Chambers and the warm, +concrete life of the sublime Vondelian drama, even as between "Gorboduc" +and "Hamlet," lay the experience of one soul. + +Hooft, like Heiberg in Denmark and Lessing in Germany, instituted a +revolution in the world of taste. But Vondel, even more than Hooft, +developed the latent powers of the tongue, enlarged its resources, and +fixed its form. His is still the noblest of Dutch diction, possessing +that strange virility that defies time. + +At the beginning of the century the language was hardly fit for literary +use. The school of Vondel in one generation--the first half of the +seventeenth century--did for Holland what the thirteenth century had +done for Italy and the sixteenth for England. Vondel, no less than +Shakespeare, was the creator of an epoch. His influence on his own +language was equally as wonderful, his impress on his country's +literature almost as great. + +To him the poets of the following generations, even the great +Bilderdÿk, looked for inspiration. To him also they have ever paid +homage. + +Like Homer, he also found his Zoilus, but the greatest intellects of his +country and his age--and surely few epochs have seen greater--Grotius, +Hooft, Vossius, Huyghens, and scores of others of almost equal fame +thought him not inferior to the noblest poets of antiquity. + +Vondel lived in a memorable epoch and was its personification. It was +the Augustan Era of Holland, the Dutch Age of Pericles. Amsterdam, like +another Athens, had become the centre of the world's civilization. +Nowhere in that age were the arts so sedulously cultivated; nowhere had +their cultivation been rewarded by such high attainment. + +Science, the world puzzler, opened his toy-box, the universe, and showed +its countless wonders. Philosophy, with guessive hand, played at the +riddle Destiny, and mild Religion, at the game of War. Literature, the +sum of all the arts and all the sciences, shone like the dazzling Arctic +sun in its brief midnight noon--one hour of glory in a day of gloom. +When the poet died, the epoch died with him. A night of mediocrity now +brooded over the marshy fens of Holland. A swarm of poetasters succeeded +the race of poets. Originality was banished. Affectation, with his +sycophantic wiles, had won the heart of a degenerate generation. Art, +like a flower suddenly deprived of the warm kisses of day, pined away in +the sterile cold. Genius was dead. + +Vondel is preëminently the poet of freedom. The principles sanctified by +the blood of his countrymen, and won by nearly a century of the most +noble daring and heroic endurance, he, as the voice of his nation, +glorified in his beautiful pastoral, the "Leeuwendalers." These same +principles also became the rallying shout of the English Revolution of +1688. That same war-cry, reechoing at Lexington and Alamance, swept the +American Colonies from Bunker Hill to Guilford Court House like a +whirlwind of flame; and tyranny, with shuddering dread, fled to its +native lair. + +The shibboleth of liberty, first blown with stirring trumpet tones +across the watery moors of Holland by the patriot-poet Vondel, was now +repeated in deathless prose at Mecklenburg and Philadelphia. A new +United States arose like a glorious phoenix from the ashes of the old. + +For the American Constitution was but the grand conclusion of that +lingering bloody syllogism of freedom, of which the Treaty of Munster +was the major premise. And Vondel, inspired logician of the true, +unravelling the tangled skein of his country's destiny, also uncoiled +the golden thread of our great fate. + +Of his magnificent works, the natural heritage of the American people, +we here present this choice fragment, the "Lucifer," aglow with the +eternal spirit of revolt. + +And now we leave our poet. A spotless name, the record of a noble, +sacrificing life, a message of beauty, and a treasury of immortal +truths--this was Vondel's legacy to his countrymen. + +L.C.v.N. + + + + +The "Lucifer." + + "Away, away, into the shadow-land, + Where Myth and Mystery walk hand in hand; + Where Legend cons her half-forgotten lore, + And Sphinx and Gorgon throng the silent shore." + + +THE PARADISE HISTORY. + + +The Paradise history, as solving the problem of the origin of man and +the origin of evil, and as foreshadowing the goal of human destiny, has +always been a subject of universal concern; one full of fascination for +the imagination of the poet. Few subjects, indeed, have aroused such +widely diffused and long sustained interest. + +Beginning with the "Creation" of the Spanish monk Dracontius, the +Biblical paraphrases of the old English poet Cædmon, and the Latin poem +of Avitus, Bishop of Vienna, we see, at different periods, various +studies of this absorbing theme, especially in Italy, where a score or +more poets and essayists made it the source of their inspiration. + +Perhaps the most noted of these was Andrieni (1578-1652), who wrote the +"Adamo," a tragedy in five acts, whose subject is the fall of man. This +drama, however, is a rather crude affair, such allegorical abstractions +as Death, Sin, and Despair being the chief characters. + +About the same period, strange to say, the Netherland imagination, not +long awakened from its medieval torpor, also became fired with this +theme. The youthful Grotius was the first to attempt it in his "Adamus +Exul," a Latin drama of considerable merit. This was in 1601, several +years before the "Adamo" of Andrieni. Two other Dutchmen of the same +generation, both far greater poets than Grotius, were also attracted by +this subject. One was the distinguished Father Cats in his idyll, "The +First Marriage;" the other was Justus van den Vondel in his "Lucifer." + +We would, in passing, call attention to the curious coincidence that so +many poets of so many different nations, most of them doubtless without +knowledge of the others, should about the same time have chosen this +subject of such historical and symbolical importance. For besides the +poets mentioned were many others: the Scotchman Ramsay, the Spaniard de +Azevedo, the Portuguese Camoens, the Frenchman Du Bartas, and two +Englishmen, Phineas Fletcher and John Milton. A more remarkable instance +of telepathy is not, we believe, on record. + +Of all of the works of the many authors who have treated this theme, +only two, however, have withstood the critical test of time; only two +have been awarded the palm of immortality. These two are Milton's +"Paradise Lost" and Vondel's "Lucifer": the former, the grandest of +English epics; the latter, the noblest of Dutch dramas. It is the +"Lucifer" that we have been asked to discuss. + + +DID MILTON BORROW FROM VONDEL? + +The "Lucifer" was published thirteen years before "Paradise Lost." The +scheme of the English poem had, however, already been crystallized in +the mind of its author for fifteen years. This scheme originally +contemplated a drama, which the poet's powerful imagination gradually +developed into an epic. + +To whom Vondel was indebted for the foundation of his tremendous drama +is easily ascertained. He himself mentions his authorities in his +admirable and learned preface. Among these were, besides the Holy Writ, +the various Church Fathers, the "Adamus Exul" of Grotius, the work of Du +Bartas, and a treatise on the fallen angels, by the English Protestant, +Richard Baker. His own imagination, however, soared far above the +fundamental hints that he received from any of these works on the +subject, so that the "Lucifer" is rightly considered one of the most +original and comprehensive poems in literature. + +To whom Milton was indebted for the idea of his great epic is, on the +other hand, not so easy to discover, although generation after +generation of critics have thrown upon this problem the searchlight of +innumerable essays. + +That the "Paradise Lost" is scintillant with many of the brightest gems +in the crown of the Greek and Latin classics is apparent even at a +cursory reading. That it is also studded with poetic paraphrases of many +modern authors has often been asserted. + +However, the opportunity for originality was colossal, and Milton's +imagination proved equal to the task. The conception of "Paradise Lost" +alone makes it the grandest work of the imagination of modern times. + +That the English poet occasionally borrowed a thought or a sentence can +not be doubted. Besides, he had a wonderful memory, long and tenacious, +which involuntarily emptied its gatherings into the flow of his thought +and into the stream of his discourse. That this was not always done +unconsciously is known from Milton's own confession, where he says: "To +borrow and to better in the borrowing is no plagiarie." And that he +bettered in the borrowing who can doubt? All that he touched turned to +gold; all that he thought came out transfigured. In the alembic of his +genius truth became beauty; the mortal, the immortal. + +As the "Lucifer" and the "Paradise Lost" are both concerning the same +subject, and as they are both founded upon the Biblical account of the +creation, it is but natural that they should have much in common. A +comparison of the two poems, therefore, we feel sure would bring to +light some striking and curious resemblances and many equally strong and +remarkable contrasts. + +As such comparison would expand this article beyond the prescribed +limits, we must leave it to the reader himself. Nor should he, for one +instant, forget the fundamental difference between the drama and the +epic. + +The epic may wander through the dales of Arcady, along description's +slow, meandering way, to pluck the roses of beauty and the lilies of +sentiment there growing in so sweet abundance. The drama, with vigorous +step and bold, unerring eye, pursues a straight path to the mountain-top +of its climax, whence, with increasing momentum, it plunges down to its +awful catastrophe. It is the difference between narration and action. + +We shall have to content ourselves, therefore, by a brief reference to +those who have already given this matter their attention. + +That Milton was under great obligations to Vondel's drama has been +maintained by Dutch men of letters for generations. It has also become +the contention of several distinguished English critics. Even as far +back as 1825 the poet Beddoes, in a review of "Hayley's Life and +Letters" (_Quarterly Review_, vol. xxxi.), says: "An effect which has +hitherto not been noticed was then produced by the Dutch poets. In their +school Joshua Sylvester (who lived amongst them) learnt some of the +peculiarities of his versification; and if Milton was incited by the +perusal of any poem upon the same subject to compose his 'Paradise +Lost,' it was by studying the 'Lucifer' and 'Adam in Ballingschap' of +Vondel, for he tried his strength with the same great poet in the +'Samson Agonistes;' Vondel being, indeed, the only contemporary with +whom he would not have felt it a degradation to vie." + +Mr. Edmund W. Gosse, in a brilliant essay entitled "Milton and Vondel," +was, we believe, the first Englishman who gave the subject conscientious +study. + +For this, on account of his knowledge of the difficult Dutch language, +he was peculiarly fitted. Mr. Gosse, in his own interesting manner, +tells how, during the seventeenth century, the Dutch, then one of the +most vigorous languages of Europe, was much more studied than it is +to-day; how the patriot Puritan, Roger Williams, having learned the +language in Holland during his exile there, taught it to John Milton, +then Cromwell's Latin secretary; how Milton also must have heard of the +great fame of the "Lucifer," and of the storm of fanatical opposition +that greeted its publication, from some of the Dutch diplomats whom it +was his place to entertain; how, too, he could hardly have been ignorant +of the name of the distinguished author of the drama, since it is known +that he was well acquainted with Hugo Grotius, who was a warm admirer +and the bosom friend of Vondel. + +In addition to these and other reasons, Mr. Gosse then brings forward a +plausible array of internal evidence, showing many points of similarity +in the construction and in the treatment of the two poems, summing up +with the conclusion that Milton was undoubtedly under considerable +obligation to his great Dutch contemporary. + +Rev. George Edmundson, M.A., of Middlesex, England, a graduate of +Oxford, in a scholarly and painstaking work of two hundred pages, +entitled "Milton and Vondel--a Literary Curiosity," next took up the +subject, carrying the comparison not only into these two poems, but into +all the works of Milton and into several others of Vondel. + +Mr. Edmundson also discovered many wonderful coincidences and +innumerable parallelisms in phrase and in imagery. Inspired with the +motto, _Suum cuique honorem_, he has woven a tissue of most ingenious +arguments to prove that Milton borrowed assiduously from the "Lucifer," +the "Adam," the "Samson," and other works of Vondel. + +Mr. Vance Thompson, in the New York _Musical Courier_ of December 15, +1897, has also added some interesting data to the subject. + +With all the conclusions of these gentlemen we are not yet, however, +prepared to agree. It is true we have not given the matter the +comparative study that they have given it. We would wait, therefore, +until we had thought more deeply about it before expressing our final +opinion. However, we believe that a critical and impartial comparison of +the two masterpieces will neither detract from the glory of Milton nor +dim the grandeur of Vondel. + + +THE SCENE OF THE PLAY. + +"Lucifer" is not the story "of man's first disobedience," though this is +the outcome of the catastrophe. It is the drama of the fall of the +angels. Yet man is the one subject of contention. Our first parents are, +therefore, kept in the logical background of cause and effect. The +creation of Adam, his bliss and his growing eminence, were the prime +cause of the angelic conspiracy. The two-fold effect of the revolt was +to the rebellious angels loss of Heaven, and to Adam loss of Eden. + +Vondel, moreover, follows the doctrines of certain theologians that +Christ would have become man even had Adam not sinned. Like Milton, he +measures the scene of his heroic action with "the endless radius of +infinitude," and by the artful use of terrestrial analogies conveys to +the reader that idea of incomprehensible vastness that the transcendent +nature of the subject demands. Vondel is, indeed, even more vague; the +drama not giving opportunity for detailed description. Both are a +wonderful contrast to the minute visual exactness of Dante. + +The attempt to reconcile the spiritual qualities of the divine world +with the physical properties of this, necessarily introduces some +unavoidable incongruities. How can a material conception of the +immaterial be given save through the symbols of the real! How else can +the unknown be ascertained save through the equation of the known! How +else, save by visual and sensuous images, express such impalpable +thought! + + "Thus measuring things in Heaven by things on earth," + +the poet gives us a finite picture of the infinite; a picture which yet, +by means of shadowy outlines and an artistic vagueness, impresses us +with the awful sublimity of the illimitable and eternal. The physical +immensity of the poem is unsurpassed. + +Humanized gods and Titanic passions shadowed by fate upon the immaculate +canvas of sacred legend--this is the play. The personality of the author +is never seen; yet when we know the man and his life, we cannot but see +therein the reflex of his own experience. The scene is in Heaven and +never leaves it. When actions occur elsewhere, they are described. + +Infinities above the scene of contention, far beyond "Heaven's blazing +archipelagoes," where no imagination dares to soar, reigns He + + "Before whose face + The universe with its eternity + Is but a mote, a moment poised in space." + +There + + "Stand the hidden springs of life revealed, + The wondrous mechanism from earth concealed. + There Nature's primal premises appear + In simple grandeur, deep and crystal clear, + Flowing from out the heart of boundless ocean + Of the eternal Now. With rapt devotion + A myriad ministering forces there await + The summons of His awful eyes of fate, + The mandates of His all-compelling voice." + +Far, far below those empyrean vaults is Earth, with its pristine +inhabitants. God and man--the Creator and the thing created, the First +Cause and the last effect--are both judiciously only introduced into the +drama by hearsay. + +Deep in the vague immensity lies Chaos, the uninhabited, through which +the vanquished rebels are to be hurled to their endless doom. + +But the poet also takes us + + "Where meteors glare and stormy glooms invest;" + +as, leaving Elysium's fields of light, he views + + "Hell's punishments and horrors dire, + Its gulfs of woe and lakes of rayless fire, + Where demons laugh and fiends and furies rage + Round writhing victims whose parched tongues assuage + No cooling drops of hope." + +Such is the grand perspective from the scene of this stupendous drama. + + +THE PEACEFUL JOYS OF PARADISE. + +The play opens as softly as the opening strains of some grand oratorio. +The first act is largely descriptive, a picture of the beautiful +serenity of Heaven and of the joys of Paradise. + +Belzebub, the second devil, first comes on the scene, and, as he stands +upon those "heights flushed in creation's morn," by means of a few +words, vibrant with suggestion and of far-reaching import, he at once +gives us the key to the opening situation, indicating the relative +positions of the two chief personages of the drama--the antithesis of +Lucifer and Adam. + +Apollion has been sent below to gain some tidings of the new race of +earth. With speedy wings he soars back through the blue crystalline and +past the wondering spheres, bearing a golden bough laden with choice +fruit, that apple sweet whose juice is wine of destiny. He is brimming +with enthusiasm over the wonders that he has just witnessed. + +Belzebub, who has been anxiously awaiting his return, listens intently +to his glowing description of the beauty of Eden and its primal +innocence, occasionally interrupting with exclamations of wonder. +Question after question suggests itself to his excited imagination. At +first he is aflame with curiosity, then jealousy begins to tincture his +ardor, and his admiration soon changes into mockery. + +Apollion then describes the primeval pair and their unalloyed bliss, and +confesses that in the delightful blaze of Eve's charms his snowy wings +were singed. Indeed, to curb his increasing desire, he covered his eyes +with both hands and wings. Even when godlike resolution had impelled him +to return on high, he thrice turned back a lingering gaze towards the +more than seraphic beauty of the first woman. Far sweeter than even the +music of the spheres, those nightingales of space, is this most +beautiful note in the song of creation! + +Indescribably delicate is his account of the joys of that first marriage: + + "And then he kissed + His bride and she her bridegroom--thus on joy + Their nuptials fed, on feasts of fiery love, + Better imagined far than told--a bliss + Divine beyond all angel ken;" + + +adding, with exquisite pathos, + + "How poor + Our loneliness; for us no union sweet + Of two-fold sex--of maiden and of man-- + Alas! how much of good we miss; we know + No mate or happy marriage in a Heaven + Devoid of woman." + + +With Belzebub, that mighty spirit severely masculine, it is the growing +power of the new race that furnishes food for thought and ground for an +ulterior motive. The prospect of human rivalry impresses him far more +than the description of a happiness to which the sexless angels must +ever be strangers. His soul is keyed in a grander, more passionless +mood. Apollion, however, cannot forget this charming vision of idyllic +joy. He repeats the same enchanting strain again and again. He even +forgets to answer his chief's questions, and returns to the same +fascinating theme in: + + "Their life consists + Alone in loving and in being loved-- + One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulged + Perpetually, yet e'er unquenchable." + + +In this masterly manner the two controlling motives of the play, the +envy of man's power, and the jealousy of human happiness, are seen to +originate. The latter, however, is soon merged into the former, for +Apollion, failing to elicit sympathy with his tenderer emotions, begins +to sympathize with the more heroic mood of Belzebub, and even attempts +to inflame it by artful suggestion. + +The Archangel Gabriel, "The Herald from the towering Throne of Thrones," +now approaches, with all the choristers of Heaven, to unfold the last +divine decree. + +From the mouth of his golden trumpet fall the silvery tones of peace. +With jubilant tongue he praises the glorious attributes of the Deity and +the boundless beneficence of the Godhead. In yet grander strain he +prophesies the ascent of man, + + "Who shall mount up by the stairway of the world, + The firmament of beatific light + Within, into the ne'er-created glow:" + +and foretells the future incarnation of the Son of God, who, "on his +high seat in his unshadowed Realm," shall judge both men and angels. + +Here the chorus, after the manner of the antique drama, bursts into a +line of pious affirmation. Gabriel then continues his address in a +sterner tone. Obedience to the divine command, and honor to the new race +is henceforth the bounden duty of the angelic hosts. Then follows a +description of the three hierarchies of Heaven, founded upon the +doctrine of the Church Fathers, ending with an eloquent iteration of +the divine command. As yet all is serene. Even those spirits who soon +shall unfurl the black banner of rebellion in that "virgin realm of +peace" are yet unaware that within their breasts slumbers a passion +that, awaking, will fill those holy courts with the tumultuous discord +of revolt. + +The ringing echoes of Gabriel's clarion trumpet have scarcely died away, +when, throughout the clear hyaline, millions of angelic choristers burst +into that sublime hymn of praise--that "anthem sung to harps of gold +"--the grandest ever penned: + + "Who is it on His Throne, high-seated?" + +Triumphant songs and glad hosannahs now float down those "arching voids +of empyrean stair." "All that pleaseth God is well" is the devout +conclusion of this splendid outburst of celestial praise. Harmony +re-echoes harmony; and with this glorious ode of jubilation the act comes +to an end. + + +THE CLOUD OF CONSPIRACY. + +In the second act, the protagonist first comes on the scene, like a god, + + "With thunder shod, + Crowned with the stars, and with the morning stoled." + +He has until now been artfully kept in the background. Drawn by +fire-winged cherubim, he sweeps into view, and voices, in no uncertain +tone, his dissatisfaction with the divine decree. + +Gabriel, the angel of revelation, is with admirable art now placed over +against the Stadtholder. Lucifer would argue--would know the exact +nature of Heaven's last decree. Gabriel, however, merely replies to his +eager questioning with a dignified affirmation of God's command, and +departs, leaving the divine injunction behind. + +Belzebub, with untiring malignity, now prods the wounded pride of the +fiery Stadtholder, and Lucifer again and again blazes into the most +intense and bitter defiance. Listen to this speech, seething with the +soul of rebellion: + + "Now swear I by my crown upon this chance + To venture all, to raise my seat amid + The firmament, the spheres, the splendor of + The stars above. The Heaven of Heavens shall then + My palace be; the rainbow be my throne; + The starry vast, my court; while down beneath, + The Earth shall be my foot-stool and support; + I shall, then swiftly drawn through air and light, + High-seated on a chariot of cloud, + With lightning-stroke and thunder grind to dust + Whate'er above, around, below doth us + Oppose, were it God's Marshal grand himself; + Yea, e'er we yield, these empyrean vaults, + Proud in their towering masonry, shall burst, + With all their airy arches, and dissolve + Before our eyes; this huge and joint-racked earth + Like a misshapen monster lifeless lie; + This wondrous universe to chaos fall, + And to its primal desolation change. + Who dares, who dares defy great Lucifer?" + +Surely the spirit of revolt never found fiercer and more poetical +expression! Surely more eloquent and stupendous daring was never uttered +than the blasting fulminations of this celestial rebel, who now stands, +like a colossus of evil in the realm of good! + +The leaders of the conspiracy then meet together and hatch their deep, +nefarious plot. Lucifer towers magnificent, the controlling spirit in +every plan, full of impelling thought and of tremendous action. +Apollion, that "master wit with craftiness the spirits to seduce," and +Belial, whose "countenance, smooth-varnished with dissimulation's hue," +knows no superior in deception, at Lucifer's command now sow the seeds +of dissension broadcast throughout the Heavens. The dialogue between +these two celestial rogues shows great dramatic skill, and abounds in +subtleties worthy of the chief himself. Their whole plan seems to be: + + "Through something specious, 'neath some seeming guised," + +to win first the various chiefs and then the bravest warriors to the +standard of the Morning-star; and then with these + + "For all eternity + Mankind to lock without the gate of Heaven." + +A high-sounding resolve, + + "That tinkles well in the angelic ear, + And flashes like a flame from choir to choir." + +The chorus of good angels again comes on the stage, and with antiphonal +harmonies reveals the growing discontent. How eloquently it pictures the +serene beauties of Heaven, now tarnished with "mournful mists from +darkness driven!" A beautiful and poetic synthesis of the preceding act! + + +THE GATHERING GLOOM. + +In the third act, the Heavens are in a blaze of uproar. The rebellion is +now widespread; and revolution is imminent. The whole act is one grand +antithesis of the loyal and the seditious angels, or Luciferians, as the +latter are called. It is strophe and anti-strophe nearly all the way +through. It is argument and counter-argument from beginning to end. + +With wonderful art, our sympathy for the rank and file of the +rebellious spirits is first awakened. One is made to feel that their +disaffection is genuine and that their sorrow is unaffected. They +represent the dissatisfied people, brought to the verge of frenzy by the +wily arts of the demagogue; the howling mob, wanting only the kindling +spark to flash into the flame of revolt; the maddened rabble, waiting +for the master-spirit to spur them into open revolution. + +And the master-spirit appears. Belzebub, by his colossal hypocrisy and +diabolical cunning, succeeds in drawing them into an incriminating +attitude. Michael, austere and magnificent, approaches at this crisis, +and these two chiefs are then thrown into admirable juxtaposition. +Michael's grandeur has already been foreshadowed, and his character in +every way equals the conception of him that we were led to form. + +Like Lucifer, he is preëminently the incarnation of action. He will not +argue. He does not appeal. He is a god of battle; not a divinity of +words. He is stern and powerful. He is terse and terribly severe; and +after a few words full of scathing scorn and ominous with threat, he +commands the virtuous angels to part at once from the rebellious horde. +He then leaves to learn the will of the Most High. + +The disappearance of Michael is the signal for the advent of the head of +the rebellion himself. Lucifer now comes opportunely to the front. With +great art the meeting of the Field-marshal and the Stadtholder has been +avoided. Such a meeting would have brought about a premature crisis. The +Luciferians, in a splendid burst of appeal, beg the Stadtholder's +protection. To this appeal Lucifer replies in a speech that is sublime +in its hypocrisy. He professes blind attachment to God, and proceeds to +test their sincerity by skillfully opposing questions of prudence and +arguments of peace, while at the same time he admits, apparently with +great reluctance, that their grievances are well founded. He hopes, too, +that their displeasure will not be accounted as a stain on high, and +that God will forgive their righteous resentment. + +When, however, he discovers that they are firm in their determination to +obtain their rights by force of arms, that they sincerely desire him as +their chief, and that at least one-third of all the spirits are already +numbered among the rebels, he throws off his mask, and quickly changes +front: + + "Then shall we venture all, our favor lost + To the oppressors of your lawful right." + +He now again appears as the imperious prince of revolt, and at +Belzebub's solicitation mounts the throne which the latter has +meanwhile prepared for him. Belzebub enjoins the hosts to swear +allegiance to Lucifer and to his morning-star, which oath is given with +a will, and the act is at an end. + +The chorus of Luciferians then extol their leader in an ode breathing +defiance and blazing with the flame of rebellion. The clanging tread of +a mailed warrior resounds in every line. The note of triumph rings out +boldly; and with professions of fealty to their chief, and kindling with +adoration for his morning-star, they march off the stage. This ode is a +curious medley of antique metres, trochees, dactyls, and spondees, +attuned to tumultuous emotion. Boldly regular in its classic +irregularity, it echoes and re-echoes with the clamor of battle and the +shout of revelry. It is a pæan keyed in the strident chord of Hell. + +Scarcely have these fiercely jubilant tones died away, when the good +angels follow with a plaintive ode of sorrow that is a striking +antithesis to the passionate outburst of hate with which the air is yet +reverberating. + +Strophe and antistrophe proceed in the same mournful iambic measure, in +verses sweetly musical with curious rimes, when suddenly in the epode +they break into a livelier strain, and in tripping trochaics give voice +to an entirely different mood--a fiery indignation mingled with a deep +sense of the grave crisis that threatens the autonomy of Heaven. + +Here, too, is a foreshadowing of the transcendent power that shall quell +this treason. Nothing can be more original and artistic than these +lyrics themselves. Nothing can be more harmonious than their blending +with the action. Vondel is never more admirable than here. + + +THE SEETHING SEAS OF SEDITION. + +In the fourth act the rebellion has become a conflagration: + + "The whole of Heaven glows with the fierce blaze + Of tumult and of treachery." + +Gabriel, winged with command, comes on the scene, and orders Michael, in +the name of God, + + "To burn out with a glow of fire and zeal + These dark, polluting stains." + +Michael is astounded to learn of the treachery of Lucifer, and, in reply +to his inquiries, Gabriel gives a beautiful and pathetic account of the +progress of the revolt, and tells how the radiant joy of God became +overshadowed with mournfulness. Michael now summons Uriel, his +armor-bearer, to his side, and at once proceeds to put on his armor, at +the same time shouting his orders to his myriad legions around him. In +the twinkling of an eye the celestial host stands in marching array and +is rapidly hurried forward. + +We are now transported into the hostile camp, where Lucifer is seen +questioning his generals as to the number and the disposition of his +forces. Belzebub replies with a lucid and highly colored report, saying +that the deserters sweep onward with + + "A rush and roar from every firmament, + Like a vast sea aglow with radiant lights." + +Lucifer is much pleased to learn this, and from his throne addresses his +flaming squadrons in a speech bristling with warlike reason and full of +indomitable courage. + +He fully apprehends the enormity of his offense, and cunningly makes his +hearers equal sharers in his guilt. Retreat is now impossible. The +celestial Rubicon is crossed. They have already burnt all bridges behind +them. "Necessity, therefore," he says, "must be our law." If defeated, +God himself cannot wholly annihilate them; while if they chance to win, +"the hated tyranny of Heaven" shall then be changed into a state of +freedom; nor shall the angels then be forced + +"To pant beneath the yoke of servitude forever." + +Once more he demands the oath of allegiance, and is about to give the +command, "Forward!" when Belzebub espies the beautiful figure of Rafael +winging his golden way trough the crystal empyrean on a mission of +mercy. + +Even Belzebub is touched at this unlooked-for sign of angelic affection, +and his tone, usually so sarcastic and so severely deliberate, as he +announces his advent, is softened to a transient tenderness. For once he +has forgotten his usual mocking air, and this exquisite touch does much +to relieve the sombre impression of his tremendous malignity. + +Rafael, a celestial St. John, melting with love for the Stadtholder, +falls in a paroxysm of grief and tenderness upon his neck. We +intuitively feel that some secret bond of sympathy must bind these two +angels, so dissimilar in spirit and in character, together. + +Lucifer, overwhelming in passion, gigantic in intellect, resistless in +will--magnificent in his whole personality; Rafael, sublime in devotion, +infinite in pity, immaculate in holiness--the apotheosis of all that is +beautiful! Lucifer, whose eyes flash ambition and whose heart flames +hate; Rafael, whose gaze is aspiration and whose soul is love! The +genius of evil and the spirit of virtue; the proudly wicked and the +meekly good! The infernal masculine stands confronted by the heavenly +feminine; harsh violence is caressed by loving gentleness, and pride and +humility embrace! Truly a masterly antithesis! + +In a strain of glorious appeal, Rafael begs Lucifer to desist, and first +aims at the weakest point in his armor--his pride. How splendid his +description of Lucifer's glory! His former pomp is here artistically +pictured to heighten the contrast with his fall. + +He next proceeds to threaten, and gives an equally vivid picture of the +horrible punishments--"the worm, endless remorse, and ever-during +pain"--reserved for him. He then offers his olive branch as a token of +divine mercy, and urges immediate acceptance before it is forever too +late. Truth offers hope to error on the high-road to despair; peace +pours her golden offering at the iron feet of war! + +Lucifer, proud in his consciousness of strength, as the chosen head of +millions of angelic warriors, one-third of the entire spirit world, is, +however, unmoved. He asseverates that he merely wishes to uphold the +ancient charter. The standard of revolt is also the banner of right. +Duty has called; justice commanded; friendship inspired him to take this +step for the protection of the celestial Fatherland. He, too, then, + + "With necessity, + The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds." + +Hear his own words: + + "I shall maintain the holy right, compelled + By high necessity, thus urged at length, + Though much against my will, by the complaints + And mournful groans of myriad tongues." + +Rafael stands aghast at the picture of such hardened wickedness. His +hairs rise with fear to hear the Archangel's shameless confession, and +he promptly accuses him of ambition and of gross deceit. + +Lucifer, however, indignantly denies this, and proudly asserts that he +has always done his full duty. Rafael then reads aloud his evil purpose +as it is written in lurid letters on his heart. The astonished chief no +longer denies his lust for power, but claims the prerogative of his +position as the Stadtholder of God. At last he is brought to the +acknowledgment that the ascent of man is the stone upon which his +"battle-axe shall whet its edge." + +Rafael, like an angel of light, then pleads with this spirit of darkness +in tones of sweetest tenderness. He stands here like a personified +conscience. He would be the guardian angel of the great Stadtholder. +Not a harsh word escapes the stern lips of the flaming Archangel. His +own vast knowledge and his deep heart testify how good are the +intentions of his friend. What visions are here called up of the happy +days of their friendship, when they basked in the untarnished splendors +of Heaven, before a thought of evil had tolled the funeral knell of +peace! + +Argument after argument, in cumulative progression, falls from the +pleader's mellifluous tongue. Lucifer is stern and unyielding. Still +Rafael pleads on. For an instant Lucifer falters. Rafael sees his +advantage; and not only again offers him his olive branch, but appoints +himself as Lucifer's hostage with God--so sure is he of obtaining +mercy. + +Lucifer is almost overcome; but the thought of his morning-star setting +in shame and darkness, and a vision of his enemies defiant on the +throne, still steels his heart in its obstinate resolve. + +Rafael next pictures for him, in lurid colors, the lake of brimstone +down below, whose mouth yawns for his destruction. Once more, for the +third time, he offers the Archrebel the branch of peace, and promises +full grace. + +Lucifer then gives voice to that grand soliloquy, beginning: + + "What creature else so wretched is as I? + On the one side flicker feeble rays of hope, + While on the other yawns a flaming horror." + +Here he reveals for the first time his inmost heart. This is the crisis +of his career--the climax of the whole play. Nowhere is the suspense so +keen. One wonders how the Archangel will decide in this critical moment: + + "This brevity twixt bliss and endless doom." + +His pride of will has in one stroke become a chaos of indecision. We are +made to sympathize with his terrible anguish, as the logic of his +remorse-throbbing conscience leads him to the bitter adversative: + + "But 'tis too late--all hope is past." + +The ominous sound of Michael's battle trumpet rudely awakes him from his +revery, and forces him to the stern realization of the impending strife. +Just at this moment, also, Apollion soars into his presence with the +news of the near approach of God's Field-marshal. + +Lucifer, however, is as yet too agitated, so soon after his sudden +apprehension of the enormity of his crime and of the terrible punishment +reserved for him in the probable event of his defeat, to respond with +alacrity to the summons. It is with great difficulty that he rouses +himself from his soliloquizing mood. He must think; but although he +feels far more than his followers that + + "The heavy bolt of war should not be weighed + Too lightly," + +and although he well knows that the odds are against him, he has, by the +time that his other chieftains approach, quite recovered himself, and at +once gives the quick, sharp command of the soldier. The time for action +has come. Behind their towering leader, amid the blare of bugles and the +trumpet's stirring tones, his serried battalions march with waving +banners off the stage. + +Of this busy scene Rafael, meanwhile, has been a silent but interested +spectator. Now alone in his sorrow, he melts into a compassionate +monologue; and, joined by the chorus, gives utterance to that beautiful +lyric of grief, that tender prayer so full of the sweet melody of +appeal, at the end of the fourth act. Amid the jarring clamor and the +frenzied shout of the departing squadrons, this anthem of mercy rises to +God like a benediction. Over the passion waves of the tumultuous hell of +rebellion around them, their voices tremble like the echoes of a heaven +forever lost. + +Surely, the emotion of forgiving compassion was never combined with a +more musical sorrow. Here, as in all of Vondel's lyrics, there is a +perfect harmony between the form and the thought. + + +FLOOD AND FLAME. + +At the opening of the last act, Rafael is discovered on the battlements +of Heaven. He is in a fever of anxiety to learn the result of the +contest, and peers into the empyrean for some sign of a messenger from +the field, + + "Where armies reel on slopes with lightning crowned." + +The glad sounds of approaching triumph fall on his ear. Across the pure +hyaline now dart meteoric flashes of light. Each shield of the +victorious legions dazzles like a sun: + + "Each shield-sun streams a day of triumph forth." + +Far in advance of the returning battalions speeds Uriel, "Angel with +swiftest wing," bearing the message of victory. With incredible +velocity--for he is winged with good news--he flashes through the air, +in his "aery wheels" exultingly waving his "flaming, keen, two-edged +sword." He has reached the serene altitude of Heaven. He has gained the +farthest wall. He is at hand. + +Rafael is full of eagerness to hear the details of the fight, the +particulars of "this the first campaign in Heaven." Uriel then, "with +sequence just," gives a vivid account of the preparations for battle, +beginning with the moment when Gabriel first informed Michael of the +defection of the Stadtholder. + +He tells how the countless loyal legions, at their chief's command, +deploy themselves in battle line until they form in serried rank + + "One firm + Trilateral host that like a triangle + Thrust out its edges sharp upon the eye." + +Michael, the Field-marshal, stands in the heart of this triangle, +towering high above his fellows, the personification of judgment, + + "With the glow + Of lurid lightnings in his lifted hand." + +Splendid is the picture of the infernal host; their squadrons, + + "Battalion on battalion, riders pale + On dim mysterious chargers," + +advance in the form of a crescent moon. Belzebub and Belial command the +two horns of this formidable array, + + "Both standing there in shining panoply, + Vying in splendors grand." + +Lucifer himself holds the centre, "the point strategic" of his army, +while Apollion behind him bears on high the lofty standard with its +streaming morning-star. + +Rafael, in his excitement, occasionally interrupts this graphic +description with exclamations of wonder, and, as the story of the +terrible conflict progresses, also with occasional cries of horror and +of pity. Great art is shown in the introduction of these exclamatory +pauses into the long account of the battle scene. It not only gives the +narrator time to get breath, but voices the feelings of the listener, +and intensifies his suspense. + +Then follows a brilliant account of the Stadtholder. As the rebel chief +is the protagonist, and as the seditious angels furnish the subject +matter for the drama, the poet has artistically described them at great +length. At last the two armies confront each other. We are now made to +see how they + + "Panted for strife and for destruction flamed." + +Then follows the famous battle scene, which must be read in the poet's +own thrilling words. Here is action in every line, a battle stroke in +each word. + +After the first onset, the celestial legions begin by circling wheels to +soar aloft, whence, like a falcon, they shall soon precipitate +themselves upon their enemies, who, having also risen, but with heavier +sail, are likened to a flock of drowsing herons, thrown into sudden +consternation by the sight of their dreaded foe. + +Uriel now gives a striking picture of the grand perspective above--the +celestial legions, high in the empyrean, arrayed like a shining +triangle, the symbol of the Trinity; far beneath, the infernal phalanx, +gleaming like a crescent on the turbaned brow of night, the sign of the +Turk, whose ferocious hordes, even in Vondel's time, were yet thundering +at the gate of Christendom. Thus each army hangs: + + "Suspended like a silent cloud, + Full weighted 'gainst the balanced air." + +Again the celestial triangle, with terrific force, crashes into the +infernal half-moon, and flames of brimstone, red and blue, flash far out +into the sky. Thunderbolt on thunderbolt, unchained, leap with angry +roar into the surging horde, leaving havoc, ruin, and desolation in +their lurid wake. The centre of the half-moon begins to break; and its +pointed horns nearly meet together behind the resistless triangle. + +Lucifer performs wonderful feats of valor. High on his blazing chariot, +he is a conspicuous figure. His fierce team, "the lion and the dragon +blue," symbolic of pride and envy, enraged by the battle-strokes rained +upon their starry backs, fly forward with fearful strides--the lion, +with dreadful bellows, biting and rending; while his terrible mate +shoots pest-provoking poisons from his frothy tongue, and, + + "... Raving, fills the air + With smoke blown from his nostrils far and wide." + +On every side the infernal chief is surrounded by his enemies. They try +to overpower him with mere numbers. He parries every stroke, or breaks +their force upon his shield. He then waves his battle-axe aloft to fell +God's glowing banner, when Michael, clad in glittering armor, "like a +god amid a ring of suns," suddenly confronts him. + +The Archangel sternly calls upon the rebel Prince to surrender. But +Lucifer, unmoved, three times with his war-axe strives to cleave the +diamond shield of Michael, wherein blazed God's most holy name. The axe +rebounds and shivers into fragments; and we cannot but sympathize with +the Archrebel, who is now in a bad plight indeed. The grand catastrophe +to which the swift current of his wickedness has been bearing him is at +last at hand, reserved with consummate art until the middle of this +act. + +Michael lifts his terrible right hand, and through the helmet and head +of his disarmed but yet unconquered foe he smites his lightnings, +cleaving unto his very eyes. The force of this blow is such that Lucifer +is hurled from his chariot, which follows him downward, whirling round +and round in its descent: + + "Thus lion, dragon, driver, all plunge down." + +In vain the fierce swarms of warring rebels attempt to stay their chief. +Uriel engages Apollion, and succeeds in wresting from him the rebel +banner with its morning-star. Belzebub and Belial still fight on; but +their legions are all confused. The crescent has now become a +disorganized mob, + + "And o'er them fell destruction rolls its flood." + +In vain Apollion comes back into the field, reinforced by the monsters +from the firmament of Heaven, which may be supposed to typify, as Vondel +says in his preface, the abuse of the forces of nature by the Devil to +effect his evil designs. + +Orion, shrieking until the very air grows faint, strives to crush the +head of the assault, that + + "... Heedless of + Orion or his club, moves grandly on." + +The Northern Bears stand upon their haunches to oppose their brutish +strength. The Hydra gapes with poison-breathing throats. But, unmindful +of all these, the triangle still advances. Numerous other episodes, in +the meanwhile, are happening along the line of battle; but the suspense +is at last over. The victory of the celestial angels is a glorious fact. + +Rafael now gives utterance to exclamations of praise, and asks Uriel +concerning the effect of his defeat on the fallen Archangel. Uriel then +recounts his terrible punishment, and relates how his splendid beauty +was now become, in falling, a complication of seven dreadful monsters, +typifying the seven deadly sins. That beast, says the narrator, + + "Doth shrink to view its own deformity, + And veils with darkling mists its Gorgon face." + +The fate of the protagonist being known, Rafael next wishes to learn +what became of the rest of the rebel host. Then follows the account of +the tumultuous rout, wherein the fleeing hordes, in their descent to +Hell, also undergo a metamorphosis into the forms of strange and uncouth +monsters. + +At this point the triumphant Michael himself approaches with his +victorious legions, laden with glorious plunder. The celestial +choristers, strewing their laurel leaves, accompanied by the sound of +cymbal, pipe, and drum, now greet him with a song of jubilation which, +even more than most of Vondel's lyrics, is peculiar for the intricacy of +its rimes. + +"Hail to the hero, hail," they cry. The spirit and liveliness of this +pæan are eminently suited to voice the long pent-up plaudits of the +angels. The regularity of this ode, with its rapid melodious swing, is a +marked contrast to the strident enthusiasm and the discordant harmony of +the chorus of Luciferians at the end of Act III. + +As soon as the joyful reverberations of the battle-hymn have ceased to +roll through the interminable arches on high, Michael addresses his +legions and the assembled hosts in a speech of great dignity, ascribing +the glory of the victory to God alone. He speaks proudly of the spoils +of battle, which have already been hung on the bright axis of Heaven. + +"No more shall we," says he, + + "Behold the glow of Majesty supreme + Dimmed by the damp of base ingratitude." + +He next pictures the defeated rebels as: + + "...All blind and overcast + With shrouding mists, and horribly deformed." + +Then he concludes with stern sententiousness: + + "Thus is his fate who would assail God's Throne," + +which the choristers as gravely repeat. + +The expected catastrophe has occurred, and the terrible conclusion has +been described. In the stormy wake of the sad fall of the angels follows +the no less sad fall of man--the loss of + + "The primal innocence 'mid Eden's bowers." + +The heaving, seething seas of rebellion, "swollen to the skies," have, +it is true, subsided; but again they gather momentum for one more wave +of disaster, which now breaks upon the shore of Earth, spreading death +and desolation throughout the sinless groves of Paradise; for Gabriel +now approaches and hurls into the joyful camp a thunderbolt of sad +surprise. "Alas! alas!" he cries, breaking into lamentation, "our +triumph is in vain;" and he announces the fall of Adam. + +Michael is astounded, and shudders as he hears the news. With infinite +distress he listens to Gabriel's interesting account of how the +overthrow was effected. Gabriel first describes the "dim, infernal +consistory" far, far below. Here Lucifer called together all his +chieftains, who now + + "Unto each other turned abhorring gaze." + +Then, + + "High-seated 'mid his councillors of state," + +the Archfiend, whose character is now shown in its full development, +addressed his followers in words full of bitter rage against God--a +striking contrast to the dignity of Michael's address. + +His heart is now a hell of hate, boiling with passion for revenge. The +Heavens must be persecuted and circumvented, and this must be done by +the ruin of man. With prophetic eye he pictures his future dominion on +earth, and the myriad miseries into which the fall shall plunge mankind. +He then promises his fellow-conspirators the future adoration of the +human race, when as heathen gods and pagan deities they shall receive +the praise of countless multitudes of men. + +At this point Michael breaks into fierce execrations, making a vow of +summary and condign punishment. Gabriel then continues to relate how +Lucifer selected Belial as the most worthy instrument to seduce the +happy pair. Belial, taking upon himself the form of the Serpent, +succeeds most fiendishly in his unholy mission, first, as in the +Biblical account, alluring Eve, who in turn tempts Adam. Their fall and +shame and misery are pathetically told. In the midst of this sad story +the chorus interjects its wail of sympathy, while Gabriel continues by +narrating the colloquy of the hapless twain with God. + +Gabriel then gives the woeful details of their penalty, and presents a +dismal picture of future wretchedness, against the blackness of which, +however, is one bright star--the promise of the Strong One, the Hero who +shall crush the Serpent's head. + +Gabriel now commands Michael to place all things in their wonted place +lest the malicious spirits should "further mischief brew." Michael, the +spirit of eternal order, then proceeds to reduce this chaos of evil to +final subjection. + +He first sends Uriel down, + + "To drive the pair from Eden who have dared + Transgress, so rash and blind, the primal law." + +His duty it is, also, to force mankind + + "To labor, sweat, and arduous slavery." + +He is, furthermore, to act as sentinel over the garden and over the tree +of the knowledge of good and evil. + +Ozias is enjoined to capture and securely bind the host of the infernal +animals with the lion and the dragon, who so furiously raged against +the standard of Heaven. Listen to this stern command: + + "Sweep from the sky these hordes accursed, and bind + Them neck and claw, and chain them forcibly." + +Azarias is entrusted with the key of the bottomless abyss, wherein he is +commanded to lock all that assail the powers of Heaven. To Maceda is +given the torch to light the sulphurous lake down in the centre of the +earth, wherein Lucifer, the evil-breeding protagonist, with poetic +justice, so near the scene of his last flagrant crime, is doomed to +endless solitary torment; there, + + "... In the eternal fire + Unquenchable, with chilling frosts commingled," + + "Amid the bitter blast of memory's regret," + +to suffer the throes of ten thousand hells, and to discover + + "How slow time limps upon a crutch of pain," + +through an eternity of keen remorse. + +For the last time the chorus comes on the stage, echoing in a brief +epilogue the one silvery voice of hope that speaks from that dark +conclusion of multitudinous despair. + +It, too, gives promise of a brighter dawn, wherein the "grand +deliverer" shall cleanse fallen man of the "foul taint original," +opening for him a fairer Paradise on high, where the thrones, made +vacant by the fall of the angels, shall, as in Cædmon, be filled by the +glorified souls of the children of men Thus the spectator is left +attuned to the triumph of Christ in the promised reconciliation, and the +work of redemption is made complete. + +In this noble ending, evil, though not annihilated, is controlled; the +good is victorious; and Heaven is once more restored to its pristine +holiness. The fallen angels, the imperious lords of Heaven, have been +succeeded by the lowly third estate, the human worms whom they so much +despised. + +Thus here, too, revolution has proved progression. The storm of war has +ceased, and above the thunder-mantled sky shines the glorious rainbow of +peace. + + +THE "LUCIFER" AS A DRAMA. + +Like all of Vondel's dramas, the "Lucifer" is after the Greek model; and +surely that model was never inspiration for a more splendid tragedy. +Vondel's idea of the classic drama was derived from the close study of +the ancients and their modern Dutch commentators--Heinsius, Vossius, +Grotius, Barlæus, and other Latinists of renown. + +The "Lucifer" is a tragedy after Chaucer's own heart: + + "Tragedis is to sayn a certeyn storie, + As olde bokes maken us memorie, + Of hem that stood in greet prosperité, + And is yfallen out of heigh degree + Into miserie, and endith wrecchedly." + +There is no death, no blood, no murder. It is the drama of a magnificent +ruin! + +The action of the play, pursuing the straight track of one controlling +purpose, and moving with terrible majesty to the goal of an inevitable +destiny, also makes it a tragedy in the larger dramatic sense. The +wonderful characterization and the overpowering ethical motive also make +its application universal. The epico-lyrical quality of this drama, +furthermore, gives it a force and cohesiveness unattainable by either +epic or lyric. + +True, the "Lucifer" as a drama does not deal with men. However, this is +a distinction without a difference; for the characters, while they +command our awe as divinities not subject to the limitations of this +carnal shroud, the body, are yet sufficiently human to elicit our +warmest sympathy. + +It is, moreover, a play full of heart-agitating passion; and it is +addressed, in a most extraordinary degree, to the moral nature--the +chief function of all tragedy. Here, too, as in the great drama of the +universe, the divine law is the first propelling cause of the action. + +The clash of interests and the logical destiny of cause and effect carry +the tragic subject without apparent effort to its denouement. The causes +are everywhere adequate to produce the effects, and no trivial effects +are the result of the huge action; no mountain is set in travail to +bring forth a mouse. The disposition of the characters also conforms to +our sense of justice, and their development is everywhere within the +range of probability. + +Besides the main theme, ambition, and the chief object, +self-aggrandizement, are various incidental themes and objects which +naturally arise out of the circumstances and conditions of the play. +This is, however, but natural, and only renders the drama more varied +and interesting; these little streams of interest being but tributaries +to the main stream of the action, contributing to, rather than +retarding, its majestic sweep to the Niagara of its catastrophe. + +The drama, though concerning the divine beings of another sphere, +conforms, except where tradition or religion has invested these with +extraordinary qualities and powers, to the physical requirements of +this, thus making it more probable and the action more dramatic. + +The dramatist is a veritable illusion-weaving magician, leading the +spectator through tortuous mazes of expectation into a labyrinth of +suspense. The end is reached, and lo! the path which appeared so +bewilderingly crooked is straight and direct, without a turn to its +starting point. Everywhere, too, the mind of the reader coöperates with +the mind of the poet in his logical appeals to the heart. + +The action, moreover, has its mainspring in error, and ends in showing +the natural consequences of crime, with a picture of the sin atoned +though not unpunished. + +Nowhere is the human interest of this drama lessened by grand scenic +displays. These are truly splendid; but even such sublime properties as +the universe affords only heighten the interest by showing that, after +all, "the thinking will" we call the soul is the noblest work of God. As +played on the stage, the drama must have had exceedingly simple, though +perhaps somewhat costly, accessories. + +Nothing in the play is more admirable than the uninterrupted contrast of +thought and the constant antithesis of character. Nothing, furthermore, +can surpass the inimitable art with which the monologue is handled at +the critical moments that determine a character, as in Lucifer's +soul-revealing soliloquy in the fourth act. Here the action, though +still sweeping irresistibly on, seems to be in perfect poise, while the +inmost secrets of the heart are laid bare. + +In his dialogue, also, Vondel is simple and direct. The conversation is +always used to recall, to suggest, or to display some motive that binds, +while, at the same time, it urges, the action. In such scenes, of +course, talk is action. + +If art is, as some assert, a thing of proportions, then surely this +drama is entitled to the highest praise; for its proportions are +irreprehensible. If, too, as Ruskin says, "Poetry is the suggestion by +the imagination of noble grounds for the noble emotions," as a poem, +also, it is unsurpassed. There are, indeed, as many definitions of +poetry as there are poets. The "Lucifer" is Vondel's definition. + +It is conception that suggests the correlated thought. It is +construction that shapes it to the stature of a grand design; and +construction is the highest form of the creative intellect; for was it +not this same power that framed the templed universe out of the +scattered fragments of countless millions of stars? It is in +construction, the highest requisite of the dramatist, wherein the +"Lucifer" is most grand. The architecture of the play is as symmetrical +as a beautiful Greek temple. + +There is no obscurity in this classic drama, into which, moreover, the +poet has introduced enough of the modern romantic to lend it vivacity +and interest. Such a subject could not have been cast save in a classic +mould. The romantic drama would not have been equal to the majestic +dignity and the stately style demanded by this sublime theme. + +Each act, with its own subordinate conclusion, is followed by a chorus +which not only fills the pause, but also intensifies, while at the same +time it relieves, the suspense. These choruses, noble melodies of +retrospect, are yet charged with the rumbling thunder of the coming +catastrophe. Each is, as it were, an incarnate conscience, the +concentrated echo of the preceding act, gathering around it the action, +and blending harmoniously with it. + +Vondel is one of the few moderns who grasped the fact that the Hellenic +drama originated in rhythmic song, and that around the choral ode should +gather the action and the interest of the play. His chorus, therefore, +act both as singers and as interpreters of the action, relieving the +measured tread of stately tragedy with pauses of musical suspense. +Often, also, they break into the dialogue, and act as mediators and as +moralists. + +The chorus represent the populi of Heaven, and voice the sentiments of +the many. The interchange of thoughts between chorus and chorus, and the +chorus and the persons, produces variety. To this the swift changes of +thought and emotion also contribute. + +Here, also, as in the Greek dramas, we observe the proper subordination +of the chorus to the protagonist and the chief characters, and of the +lyric to the dramatic elements, while through the whole play the length +of the speeches is artfully suited to the character and the situation. +Much, too, might be said about Vondel's felicities of rime, his sweet +feminine rimes, his stately, sonorous hexameters, his trimeters and +tetrameters, his frequent use of the various classic metres, and his +admirable shifting of the cæsura to suit the feeling of the speaker. + +The three unities are here also carefully preserved, which perhaps was +the more easily done on account of the divinity of the characters, to +which a celerity of movement was natural not possible to mortals. + +Hence, the time of the whole drama from the inception of the revolt +until the final catastrophe could very probably be included in +twenty-four hours. The unity of action we have already spoken of. The +unity of place is equally well kept. The "Lucifer," hardly two thousand +seven hundred lines, including the choruses, conforms also in respect to +length to the classic standard. + +The growth of the play is no less wonderful than the characterization, +many preparations and conspiracies developing at last into a battle, +many scenes into a definite situation; the numberless changes of cause +and effect at length resulting in a plot full of the force of an +action-impelling motive. Thus from the varied complexities of +circumstance and situation is at last evolved the one controlling +purpose. + +A fine antithesis to the turbulent catastrophe is the quiet climax, +Lucifer's soliloquy in Act IV.; where, however, all that precedes is +resolved into one intense situation. The advent of Rafael here, +furthermore, is an unforeseen complication to heighten the interest. + +The end, by suggestive reminiscence of the fading perspective of the +beginning, unites the commencement with the close, making the drama an +organic whole, whose soul is purpose and whose heart is truth. + +The exquisite blending of the action with the characters, each shaping +the other, has rarely been equalled. It is the characters, after all, +that are the chief interest and that control the action. We see here the +strange anomaly of a classic play where the individual shapes the +action, and is yet conquered by law. + +Here, where the will of a god clashes with the supreme will of the +Supreme God, great art is necessary to sustain human interest--to delay +the interposition of the superior deity until the very close. + +The primary motive, self-exaltation, fails grandly; yet in its failure +it brings into partial fulfilment the secondary motive, the fall of man. +True, the logical catastrophe does not occasion surprise. It has all +along, as in every tragedy, been foreshadowed by circumstances big with +fate. Yet Vondel has added the element of surprise, and to a remarkable +degree, by the introduction of a second catastrophe, the expulsion of +Adam from Paradise, the natural result of the first. Thus curiosity and +reason only end with the play itself. One by one, too, the various +episodes are seen to spring from the action, which, moreover, requires +no introduction of antecedent circumstance to set it in motion. + +The _ensemble_ scenes, or groups, a sure test of the great dramatist, +are handled in a masterly manner. There is also a delightful retardation +which heightens the suspense and delays the catastrophe, until, like an +electric cloud, it bursts into the thunder of its own generating. + +Each messenger, in the play, brings vividly before the eye of the +spectator the consequential scene which he himself has just +witnessed--of which, perhaps, he has been a part. + +Thus, by the artful use of motive-producing complications, the action, +once projected, moves on to its end, where the totality of figures, +thoughts, and emotions are drawn into one maelstrom of ruin. + +There is no distraction. There is no swerving from the opening to the +catastrophe; from the catastrophe to the conclusion, the awful +retribution. + +As in the tragedy of life, so, too, in this drama, the innocent suffer +through the punishment that overtakes the guilty; witness the sorrow of +Rafael and the good angels at the fall of their fellows; the sin of Adam +and Eve, and the doom pronounced upon their innocent descendants. + +The truth of Vondel's poetic conception is seen in the fact that its +essential elements are coeval with man and coeternal with the universe. +As in Sophocles, we hardly know which most to admire, the balanced +proportions of the play, or its general conception. Here, also, we +often, in a single sentence, find a synthesis of a situation or a +character. + +Vondel, moreover, most impressively introduces into the ancient Greek +form, with its suggestion of an over-ruling destiny, the modern idea of +free will. And he does it so admirably that there is no confusion. +Simple in its complexity, splendid in its largeness of design, grand in +its harmony, magnificent in its whole conception, the drama sweeps +irresistibly through the whole gamut of human emotion. + +Such epic breadth and intense lyric concentration have rarely been +combined in one poem. Such a drama is, indeed, the sum of all the arts! + + +THE CHARACTERIZATION. + +Vondel's devils are no devils, until the last act, when they act no +more, but are described. Then truly they are the incarnations of Hell's +deepest deviltries, and are as splendid in their malignity as they were +formerly superb in their wickedness. + +The sophistries of these evil spirits are scarcely inferior to those in +"Faust." They are the meshes of a gigantic delusion woven by the leaders +of the conspiracy around the rank and file of the angels, seducing them +from bliss to doom. + +Belzebub is the cynic of the play--a compound of Iago and +Mephistopheles. This dark contriver of hellish plots is colossal in his +malignity. He is the first in Heaven to make a prurient suggestion. He +is more fiend than his noble superior. Sleepless, unrelenting, +resourceful, alert, he conjures motives of evil even from the tender +beauty of the primal innocence. He finds the gall of hate even in the +sweet flower of Eden's sinless love. His is the deliberating intellect +necessary for the Stadtholder's counsellor; and though slowly unfolding +the many sides of his malign nature, he is, we feel, evil from the +beginning, grandly diabolical. + +Belial, conscienceless and without remorse, is utterly depraved; a vile +seducer, the genius of deceit, who does evil for its own sake; a useful +tool to serve the baser purposes of the chief devil. Apollion has some +gleams of goodness in his nature, but is weak, lustful, and easily +influenced by the hope of gain--a type of the traitor. All of the +devils, and they are the chief characters of the play, may be supposed +to represent the different phases of evil; while the good angels, whose +characteristics have been but briefly indicated, show the different +attributes of the Deity. + +As in the "Œdipus Tyrannus," "the country must be purged," so here, +too, the Heavens must be cleansed of "this perjured scum,"--the +rebellious angels. + +We must now proceed to speak of Lucifer: his all-consuming wrath, his +ambition, his pride, and infernal energy. These traits are exhibited in +gigantic outlines even before his fall. After his defeat, what can be +more impressive than his all-enduring Archangelic passion, glorious in +its all-defying mood? Not his the wild outbursts nor the mad ravings of +Lear. Every ebullition of his anger is fraught with purpose, and is +transmuted into revengeful action. Mind and spirit are, after all, the +conquering forces of the universe. Material circumstance and physical +environment cannot thwart their design. It is this ennobling +consciousness of intellectual power, supplemented by unconquerable and +irresistible will, that makes the magnificence of the personality of +Lucifer. Like Milton's Satan, he is, we feel, most near a god when he is +most a devil. + +Lucifer, like Macbeth, is not influenced all at once. With a god-like +circumspection, he first weighs every atom of probability. However, when +the die is cast and the line of rebellion has once been crossed, he +fights to the last ditch. + +Lucifer is a sublime egoist--the spirit of negation placed against the +limitations of the positive. He is overpowering. No one, even for an +instant, dares to dispute his power, not even the grand Michael. His is +the unconquerable Batavian heart. He dominates the entire action, and +like a magnet draws all the other characters around him. Though jealousy +of man is the animating passion of the lower devils and the excuse of +the protagonist himself, yet we feel that he uses this merely as a +stalking horse for his overweening ambition. Lucifer would become God +himself. It is an unwritten law of great tragedy that the villain, +though a villain, must be admirable. Lucifer, arch-villain that he is, +is superb in his constructive villany--a very god of evil, with +resources at his command formidable enough to make or to mar a world, +and yet resulting only in his own undoing. Proud in the consciousness of +godlike powers, he thinks, + + "I have a bit of fiat in my soul, + And can myself create a little world." + +His confidence, however, proves to be but the fiat of his damnation. + +"There is no fiercer hell than the failure in a great undertaking." Into +this hell Lucifer was forever thrust. Yet he is allowed one brief moment +of happiness; it is where he proclaims himself a god, and is worshipped +by his followers. + +Lucifer is the prince of thinkers, and a monarch among actors. His is +the intellect to plan and to conceive, and the will to execute; and will +is above all the one quality emphasized. As much as he is in this +respect supereminent, so much greater the degree of his guilt. Could the +force of this faculty have been better shown than in the picture of the +fallen Archangel, where, in the agonies of torture and the throes of +expiation, he not only deliberates, resolves, and executes, but even +exults, as, culling the bitter sweetness of a hopeless hope from the +hell-flower of despair, he rejoices in the fiendish triumph that he +knows is but the prelude to everlasting doom? Unlike the unconquerable +and torture-racked Prometheus, he allows not one sigh to escape from the +depths of his anguish; not one moan rises from his abysmal despair. +Malediction alone can unlock his implacable lips. From even the caverns +of Hell he projects his evil genius back into space to accomplish a +predetermined revenge. + +Lucifer reasons with Rafael and with Gabriel; but with Michael only war +is possible. The two chiefs are too equal in power, too proud, and too +warlike to waste time in words. Each, accustomed to command, will brook +no authority in the other. The pathos and the tenderness of Rafael, on +the other hand, present a strong relief to the sombre passions of +Lucifer. It is the ethical portraiture of this drama that is its most +powerful feature. + +Lucifer, also, in a certain sense, represents the ideal +Dutchman--combining in a losing struggle the daring of Civilis and the +intellect of Erasmus with the astuteness and magnanimity of William the +Silent--a grand hero in a bad cause! Lucifer has indeed "set the time +out of joint" for Adam's seed; yet the play also gives promise of the +Christ who will again make all things right; there is here, also, a +suggestion of the "Paradise Regained." + +The drama is ended; the thunders have ceased to roll, and are again +chained to the chariot of the Deity; the lightnings once more slumber in +the bosom of the night. The battle is over, the air is again pure and +clear. The good has been exalted; the bad has been debased. The heart of +the spectator, too, has been the scene of the battle of the passions: +terror, pity, hope, despair, love, joy, peace have each alternated in +brief possession. The _katharsis_ of the soul is accomplished. It has +been purified of all that is gross and earthly. It has become +spiritualized. It has become conscious of its wings, thrilled with +aspiration for the ethereal and for the stars beyond. + + + +IS THE "LUCIFER" A POLITICAL ALLEGORY? + +It is maintained by several eminent Dutch critics that the "Lucifer" is +a political allegory like the "Palamedes" and several other tragedies of +Vondel. + +Some of these literati have displayed considerable ingenuity in their +attempt to prove that it typifies the struggle of the Netherlands +against Spain; Orange corresponding to Lucifer, Philip II. to God, Alva +to Michael, the Cardinal Granvelle to Adam. + +Many of the situations of the play bear out this analogy. Lucifer, like +Orange, was the idol of his followers. Both desire to change a hated +tyranny to a state of freedom. Both speak grandiloquently of a charter +disannulled and of ancient privileges violated. + +The simile of the sea dashing in vain against the rock in the +battle-scene of the "Lucifer" may be supposed to illustrate the device +of Orange: "_Sævis tranquillus in undis._" The crescent array of the +rebels may refer to the shibboleth of the water-beggars: "Rather Turk +than Papist." + +The lion and the dragon that draw the chariot of the Archfiend are also +blazoned upon the crest of the two provinces, Holland and Zealand, which +were the chief supporters of Orange. The medley of seven beasts into +which Lucifer, in falling, was changed, may be taken to represent the +seven Northern provinces that became the Dutch Republic, while the +Southern provinces, which remained loyal to Spain, nearly two-thirds of +the whole number, may be typified by the faithful angels. + +Lucifer renewed the fight three times; so did Orange. Both pretended to +fight "_pro lege, rege, et grege_." + +In that age, before successful revolutions had established a precedent, +no revolt could hope for success unless by conforming to the maxim "the +king can do no wrong"--a cardinal principle in every religion of that +day. By this political fiction rebels professed to fight for the king, +though really fighting against him. Vondel pictured his revolt after +these examples, the most prominent of which was the revolt of his own +country against Philip II. Lucifer, however, fell, and Orange triumphed; +though the assassination of the latter might be taken as equivalent to a +fall. Lucifer accomplished the fall of Adam, even as Orange brought +about the expulsion of Granvelle. Alva, like Michael, furthermore, +received the charge "to burn out with a glow of fire and zeal" the +polluting stains of heresy. Egmont and Montigny, like Gabriel and +Rafael, acted as ambassadors. + +The cause of the jealousy of the Netherlander, as in the "Lucifer," was +the fact that greater privileges were accorded to foreigners (the +Spaniards) than to the hereditary princes of the land. As in the drama +Gabriel's proclamation is followed by protest and rebellion, so in the +Netherlands the unjust edicts of Philip were the primary cause of +revolt. + +It was the sworn duty of the Stadtholder, William of Orange, even as of +the Stadtholder Lucifer, to maintain the laws of his superior. Orange +also held a position similar to that of Lucifer. He was the favorite of +Charles V., Stadtholder of Holland, and Knight of the Golden Fleece. +Each placed himself at the head of the disaffected at their earnest +importunity. Each was accused of ambition. Each accomplished his designs +by Machiavelian methods, and attained a brief exaltation. + +Cardinal Granvelle, who held a position similar to Adam in the drama, +was, like him, of low descent; and was honored with greater privileges +than even the nobles themselves, who hated him intensely. The opponents +of the Cardinal changed the liveries of their servants into motley to +mock him; so, also, we hear Lucifer say to his minions: + + "Lay off your morning rays and wreaths of light." + +The nobles complained of the presence of Spanish troops in the land; so +the Luciferians speak of "Adam's life-guard, many thousand strong." The +arguments of the drama were also the arguments advanced by the several +parties in the Dutch revolt. + +The three hierarchies of Heaven in the "Lucifer" correspond to +Margaret's three Councils of State. Lucifer, though described as nighest +to God, belonged only to the third rank of the hierarchies; just as +Orange, though first among the Dutch noblemen, and next to Philip II., +was yet subject to the State as Stadtholder. + +Brederode, as the head of the aristocrats who went with supplications to +Margaret of Parma, bears a close analogy to Belzebub, where the latter +says to the Luciferians, + + "With prayers ye first and best might gain your end," + +and where, too, he expresses his willingness to act as mediator. In this +scheme, furthermore, Apollion would represent Louis of Nassau, and +Belial, Marnix St. Aldegonde. + +Others see in the drama the career of the great Wallenstein, the +ambitious Generalissimo of the Thirty Years' War. In his envy of the son +of his emperor, and in his desire to place the crown of Hungary on his +own head, an analogy is suggested to Lucifer's attitude to Adam. Even +as the celestial rebels swore their chief allegiance, so, too, his +generals, after the reverse of Pilsen, when his enemies wished to +deprive him of his command, swore him faith and fealty. + +Vondel, it is asserted, was conscious of this when he dedicated this +drama to Ferdinand the Third, Emperor of Austria, who was no other than +the intended King of Hungary who had aroused the envy of Wallenstein, +and whose succession to the crown had been so much endangered by the +latter's treachery. + +But there is yet another view of the subject, which has even more show +of probability than either of the others. It is supposed by many that +the "Lucifer" was intended to represent the English Rebellion of 1648. +Lucifer in this analogy is supposed to represent Cromwell, whom Vondel +hated so bitterly and against whom he thundered such tremendous +invective. Indeed, there are some external circumstances in support of +this theory. Speaking of his lampoons on the great English rebel, the +poet says that they were written the same year that he "taught Lucifer +his rôle to play." He also says elsewhere that the "Lucifer" was +presented, + + "Forsooth, as edifying lore, + Wherein proud England hath much store." + +If the last supposition be true, the drama is remarkable as prophesying +the fall of the Commonwealth, and the Restoration. It would then, +moreover, not be uninteresting to compare it with Dryden's "Absalom and +Achitophel," in which Oliver Cromwell is also one of the chief +characters. + + +THE INTERPRETATION. + +Yet we cannot believe that the "Lucifer" is a political allegory. Vondel +was no more the poet of the "Palamedes." Those thirty years had +wonderfully developed his art. Nor is it an idyllic allegory like the +"Comus;" but, like the "Divina Commedia," an allegory of the world. Yet +behind the characters of the sacred legend we may also see the national +heroes, Siegfried, Beowulf, Civilis, Orange. + +The "Lucifer" represents the gigantic and eternal battle of evil with +good, with the universe as the battle-field--a type of the unending +conflict in which the good finally conquers. We see here the Oriental +imagination curbed by the reason of the Occident--the cold, statuesque +Greek form aglow with the blazing Hebrew soul. The flaming Seraph of +Christianity, winged with truth and armed with the lightning sword of +Jehovah and the blasting thunderbolts of Jupiter, sweeps triumphant +through the whole drama. Right prevails; wrong is overthrown. + +The "Lucifer" is a theory of existence, a scheme of the universe. It is +the revolt of the aspiring ideal against the invincible actual. It is +the material against the spiritual; the unknown rendered comprehensible +by the symbolism of the known. + + "From shadowy types to truth; from flesh to spirit" + +--this is the order of its progression. + +It is the revolution of the speculative against the rule of dogma; an +impassioned contemplation of life, in which the whole gamut of human +feelings is harmoniously sounded; in which every link in the chain of +causation is struck into the music of its meaning; in which the past and +the future are mirrored in the present. + +It is the struggle of a soul against the unchangeable environment of +fate; the drama of the collective human soul aspiring from a chaos of +unrest to the unattainable peace of absolute truth. + +Furthermore, the tragedy typifies the character of the Hollanders +themselves; a people who, as Charles V. once remarked, made "the best of +subjects, but the worst of slaves;" a nation that has ever been in +revolt, not only against man, but even against the sublime forces of +nature; a race that has never known defeat. + +The Batavians, who under Claudius Civilis carried on a successful +rebellion against the all-conquering eagles of Rome--the only Germans +who never bowed beneath the Latin yoke--and their Saxon descendants, who +were the strongest foes of the territorial aggressions of Charlemagne, +were all flamed with the same unconquerable spirit. It was this spirit, +too, that enabled the Hollanders of the seventeenth century, after more +than eighty years of terrible conflict, to free themselves alike from +the grinding oppression of Spain and the still more oppressive coils of +religious tyranny. + +The Dutch struggle itself was a terrific drama, of which William the +Silent was the protagonist, and liberty the one controlling purpose that +animated every character, that impelled every action. It was the +details, the reasons, the arguments, and the conditions of this +stupendous struggle that were before the poet's mind when he wrote this +tragedy. + +The "Lucifer," though a symbolic sketch of the age which preceded it, is +essentially a drama embodying the spirit of the time in which it was +created. It is a reflex of the life of that epoch, the embodiment of the +soul consciousness of the "storm and stress" period of Vondel's own +life. He himself was in perpetual revolt against the universal practices +of his age. + +Is it a wonder that men, seeing in it not only a picture of themselves, +but also of their time, were at once attracted by its significance? + +The Titanic imagination of the "Nibelungen" and the tremendous imagery +of "Beowulf" were both the inevitable expression of the tumultuous soul +of the Teuton, conscious of a great destiny. This was in the dawn of the +nation's childhood. + +We next view the race in the pride of its glorious youth, rousing +itself, after the sleep of centuries, to gigantic action. From that age +sprang the "Lucifer." + +We then see it in the maturity of noble, reflecting manhood, whose years +have given dignity and strength. "Faust" stands before us as its full +expression. And Vondel and Goethe are each the "Seeing Eye" that pierced +the hidden mystery of his time. Each in his own way solved the world +riddle. + +Like "Faust," the "Lucifer" is "ever more a striving towards the highest +existence." True, the striving hero has here been hurled to the depths +of the lowest abyss; yet is not his motive also the animating spirit of +the race, ever onward and upward towards the unattainable? + +Like the defeated Lucifer in Hell, the Teuton is ever evolving courage +for a new attempt, fired with the hope that never despairs. + +"Siegfried," "Beowulf," and "Lucifer," all typify the Anglo-Saxon spirit +of revolt, that love of freedom and that strong individualism which has +always been the distinguishing characteristic of the Low Germans. + +Of the "Lucifer," therefore, it may truly be said, it is the biography +of a national soul. + + +TRANSLATOR. + + + + +Bibliography of Vondelian Literature. + + +JOOST VAN DEN VONDEL, SEIN LEBEN UND SEINE WERKE. Von A. Baumgartner, +S.J. Freiburg-im Breisgau, 1882. Pages 344-347, synopsis of Vondel's +works. + +BIBLIOGRAPHY OF VONDEL'S WORKS. J.H.W. Unger. Amsterdam, 1888 (Frederic +Muller & Co.). All editions of the "Lucifer" are here mentioned. This +volume is in the library of Columbia University. + +For the student we would recommend the excellent little edition of the +"Lucifer" edited by N.A. Cramer (1891). Price 40 cents. Publisher, +W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle, Holland. + +BIOGRAPHY OF VONDEL. By Brandt. W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle. + +BIOGRAPHY OF VONDEL. By Dr. G. Kalff. W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle. + +We also heartily recommend the following studies by Dr. Kalff: "The +Literature and Drama of Amsterdam during the Seventeenth Century;" "The +Sources of Vondel's Works," in vol. xii. of Oud Holland (magazine); +"Vondel as Translator," in Tydschrift (magazine) Voor Nederlandsche Taal +en Letterkunde (1894); "Vondel's Self-Criticism," same magazine (1895); +"Origin and Growth of Vondel's Poems," same magazine (1896). + +VONDEL AND MILTON. August Müller. 1864. + +ÜBER MILTON'S ABHÄNGIGKEIT VON VONDEL. Berlin, 1891. + +MILTON AND VONDEL: A Curiosity of Literature. George Edmundson, M.A. +Trübner & Co., London, 1885. + +VONDEL AND MILTON. Edmund W. Gosse. "Northern Studies." Also in +"Littell's Living Age," vol. cxxxiii., page 500; and in the "Academy," +vol. xxxviii., page 613. + +David Haek (1854). JUSTUS VON DEN VONDEL: ein betrag zur geschichte des +Niederländischen schriftthums. Hamburg, 1890. + +WORKS OF VONDEL, twelve volumes, in association with his life, by Jacob +van Lennep. + +VONDEL'S LUCIFER. Agnes Repplier. "Catholic World," vol. xlii., page +959. + + + + +[Illustration: The Fallen Morning-star] + + + + +"Praecipitemque immani turbine adegit" + + + + +J. van Vondel's + +Lucifer + +A tragedy + +1654 + + + + +DEDICATION. + +To the invincible Prince and Lord, the Lord Ferdinand the Third, elected +Emperor of Rome, Perpetual Increaser of the Empire. + + +As the Divine Majesty is throned amid unapproachable splendors, so, too, +the Sovran Powers of the world, which owe their lustre to God, and are +made in the image of the Godhead, are seated on high, crowned with +glory. But as the Godhead, or, rather, the Supreme Goodness, favors the +least and most humble with access to His throne, so, too, doth the +temporal power deem its most insignificant subject worthy to kneel +reverentially at its feet. + +Inspired with this hope, my muse is encouraged from afar to dedicate to +your Imperial Majesty this Tragedy of Lucifer, whose style demands a +most liberal degree of that gravity and stateliness of which the poet +speaks: + + "Omne genus scripti gravitate Tragoedia vincit." + + "Sublime in style and deep in tone, + The tragic art doth stand alone." + +Though whatever of the requisite sublimity may be wanting in the style +will be compensated by the subject of the drama, and the title, name, +and eminence of the personage who, the mirror of all ungrateful and +ambitious ones, doth here invest the tragic scene, the Heavens; from +which he, who once presumed to sit by the side of God, and thought to +become His equal, was cast, and justly condemned to eternal darkness. + +This unhappy example of Lucifer, the Archangel, and at one time the most +glorious of all the Angels, has since been followed, through nearly all +the centuries, by various rebellious usurpers, of which both ancient and +modern histories bear witness, showing how violence, cunning, and the +wily plots of the wicked, disguised beneath a show and pretext of +lawfulness, are idle and powerless so long as God's Providence protects +the anointed Powers and Dynasties, to the peace and safety of divers +states, which, without a lawful supreme head, could not exist in civil +intercourse. Therefore, God's Oracle Himself, for the good of mankind, +by one word identified the Sovran Power as His own, when He commanded +that to God and to Caesar should be rendered the things that to each +were due. + +Christendom, so often attacked on every side, and at present beset by +Turk and Tartar, like unto a ship on a stormy sea, in danger of +ship-wreck, demands to the highest degree this universal reverence for +the Empire, that thereby the hereditary foe of Christ's name may be +repulsed, and that the Realm and its frontiers may be strengthened and +rendered safe against the incursions of his savage hordes; wherefore it +behooves us to praise God that it pleased Him to continue the Authority +and the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, at the last Imperial Diet, +before his father's death, in the son, Ferdinand the Fourth, a blessing +which has filled so many nations with courage, and which causes the +tragic trumpet of our Netherland Muse to sound more boldly before the +throne of the High Germans concerning the vanquished Lucifer, borne +along in Michael's triumph. + +Your Imperial Majesty's Most humble servant, + +J.V. VONDEL. + + + + +ON HIS MAJESTY'S PORTRAIT + +On the Portrait of His Imperial Majesty. Ferdinand the Third. + +When Joachim Sandrart van Stokou, out of Vienna, in Austria, honored me +with his Majesty's portrait, adorned with festoons and other ornaments. + + _Deus nobis haec otia fecit._ + + +The Sun of Austria uplifts his glorious rays + From shadow-glooms of art to bless each wondering eye. + Behold him on his throne, high towering in the sky! +Nor doth he scorn to beam on all his glance surveys. + +Good Ferdinand the Third, born for the sovran crown. + A Father of the Peace, a new Augustus, shows + His Son the heights whereon the heavenly palace glows; +And teaches how with arms of Peace to win renown. + +How blest the mighty realm, how blest their destinies, + O'er which his gracious eyes keep sleepless vigils kind. + And where he holds the Scales for holy Justice blind! +An Eagle brought him sword and sceptre from the skies. + +A crown adorns the head which empires grand engage: + This Head adorns the Crown, and makes a golden age. + + + + +VONDEL'S FOREWORD + +A Word to All Fellow-Academicians and Patrons of the Drama. + + +To reïnkindle your zeal for art, and at the same time to edify and to +quicken your spirit, the holy tragic scene, which represents the +Heavens, is here presented to your view. + +The great Archangels. Lucifer and Michael, each strengthened by his +followers, come on the stage, and play their parts. + +The stage and the actors are, in sooth, of such nature, and so glorious, +that they demand a grander style and higher buskins than I know how to +put on. No one who understands the speech of the infallible oracles of +the Holy Spirit will judge that we present here the story of Salmoneus, +who, in Elis, mounted upon his chariot, while defying Jupiter, and +imitating his thunder and lightning by riding over a brazen bridge, +holding a burning torch, was slain by a thunderbolt. + +Nor do we renew here the grey fable of the war of the Titans, in which +disguise Poesy sought to make its auditors forget their reckless +presumption and godless sacrilege, and to acquire a knowledge of nature +instead; namely, that the air and the winds, locked within the hollow +belly and the sulphurous bowels of the earth, seeking, at times, an +outlet, accompanied by the violence of bursting rocks, and by smoke and +steam and flames and earthquakes and dreadful mutterings, are vomited, +and, rising heavenwards, again descend, strewing and heaping the surface +of land and sea with stones and ashes. + +Among the Prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel assure us of the fall of the +Archangel and his faction. In the Evangelist, Christ, truest of all +oracles, with His voice, out of the Heavens, enjoins us to hear; and +finally, Judas Thaddeus, His faithful apostle; which parables are +worthy to be engraved in eternal diamond, and, more worthy still, upon +our hearts. + +Isaiah cries: "How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, who didst +rise in the morning! How art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound +the nations! + +"And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend to Heaven, I will exalt my +throne above the stars of God. I will sit in the mountain of the +covenant, in the sides of the north: + +"I will ascend above the height of the clouds. I will be like the Most +High. + +"But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit." + +God speaks through Ezekiel thus: "Thou wast the seal of resemblance, +full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. Thou wast in the pleasures of the +paradise of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the +topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite and the onyx and the beryl, the +sapphire and the carbuncle and the emerald; gold was thy adornment. Thy +pipes were prepared in the day thou wast created. Thou didst spread +thyself like an overshadowing cherub, and I set thee on the mountain of +God. Thou didst walk in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast +perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was +found in thee." + +Both of these parables are spoken, the one of the King of Babylon, the +other of the King of Tyre, who, like unto Lucifer in pride and in +splendor, were threatened and punished. + +Jesus Christ refers to the fall of the rebellious Lucifer, where he +says: "I saw Satan like lightning falling from Heaven." + +And Thaddeus reveals the fall of the Angels and their crime, and the +punishments which followed thereon, without any palliation, briefly, in +this manner: "And the Angels who kept not their principality, but +forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved with everlasting chains +of darkness unto the judgment of the great God." + +Stayed by these golden sayings, and in particular by that of Judas +Thaddeus, disciple of the Heavenly Teacher and Ambassador from the King +of kings, we receive, as upon a shield of adamant, the darts of the +unbelieving who would dare to cast a doubt upon the fall of the Angels. + +Besides this, we are strongly supported throughout the whole period of +antiquity by the most illustrious of the devout Church Fathers, who, in +respect to the plot of this history, are unanimously agreed: though, +lest we detain our Academic friends, we shall be content to cite only +three places, the first taken out of the holy Cyprian, Bishop and martyr +at Carthage, where he writes: "When he who was formerly throned in +angelic majesty and accounted worthy by God and pleasing in his sight, +saw man, made in God's own image, he burst into malicious hate; not, +however, causing him to fall by poisoning him with this hatred, ere he +himself was thereby also undone--himself made captive ere he captured, +and ruined ere he brought him to ruin. While he, spurred on by envy, +robbed man of the grace of immortality once given him, he himself also +lost all that he had before possessed," + +The great Gregory furnishes us the second quotation: "The rebellious +Angel, created to shine preëminent among hosts of Angels, is through his +pride brought to such a fall that he now remains subject to the dominion +of the loyal Angels." + +The third and last evidence we cull from the sermons of the mellifluous +St. Bernard: "Shun pride; I pray you, shun it. The source of all +transgression is pride, which hath overcast Lucifer himself, shining +most splendidly amongst the stars, with eternal darkness. Not only an +Angel, but the chief among Angels, it hath changed into a Devil." + +Pride and envy, the two causes or inciters of this horrible +conflagration of discord and battle, are represented by us as a team of +starred animals, the Lion and the Dragon, which, harnessed to Lucifer's +battle-chariot, carry him against God and Michael; seeing that these +animals are types of these two deadly sins. For the Lion, king of +beasts, encouraged by his strength, in his vanity, thinks no one above +him; and envy injures the envied from afar, even as the Dragon wounds +his enemy a long way off by shooting poison [from his tongue]. + +St. Augustine, ascribing these two deadly sins to Lucifer, pictures the +nature of the same most vividly, saying that pride is a love of one's +own greatness; but envy is a hatred of another's happiness, the outcome +of which seems clear enough. "For each one," says he, "who loves his own +greatness envies his equals, inasmuch as they stand as high as he; or +envies his inferiors, lest they become his equals; or his superiors, +because they are above him." + +Now, since the beasts themselves were abused and possessed by the damned +Spirits, as in the beginning the Paradise Serpent, and in the holy age +the herd of swine, that with a loud noise was precipitated into the sea, +and since, also, the constellations are pictured on the Heavens in the +forms of animals, as hath been thought even by the Prophets, as the +Pleiades, or Seven Stars, and Arcturus, Orion, and Lucifer; so may it +please you to overlook the elaborateness and the didacticism of this +drama, if the unfortunate Spirits upon our stage, by means of the same, +help and defend themselves: for to the infernal monsters nothing is more +natural than cunning traits and the abuse of all creatures and elements, +to the prejudice of the name and honor of the Most High, so far as He +shall this permit. + +St. John, in his Revelation, typifies the heavenly mysteries and the war +in Heaven by the Dragon, whose tail drew after him a third part of the +stars, supposed by the theologians to refer to the fallen Angels; +wherefore in Poetry the flowered manner of expression should not be +examined too narrowly, nor regulated by the subtlety of the schools. + +We should also make distinction between the two kinds of characters who +contend on this stage; namely, the bad and the good Angels, each kind +playing its own rôle, even as Cicero and our inborn sense of +verisimilitude teach us to picture each character according to his rank +and nature. + +At the same time we by no means deny that holy subject matter restrains +and binds the dramatist more closely than worldly histories or pagan +fables, notwithstanding that ancient and famous motto of the poets, +expressed by Horatius Flaccus in his "Art of Poetry" in these lines: + + "The painter and the bard did both this power receive, + To aid their art with all that they of use believe." + +Though here it is especially noteworthy to state how we, in order to +inflame the hate of the proud and envious Spirits the more strongly, did +cause the mystery of the future incarnation of the Word to be partially +revealed to the Angels by the Archangel Gabriel, Ambassador from God, +and Herald of His Mysteries; herein to improve the matter, following not +the opinion of the majority of the theologians, but only of a few, +because this furnished our tragic picture richer material and more +lustre. However, neither in this point nor in other circumstances of +cause, time, place, and manner (which we employed to render this tragedy +more powerful, more glorious, more natural, and more instructive) has it +been our purpose to obscure the orthodox truth, or to establish anything +after our own finding or notion. + +St. Paul, the revealer of God's mysteries to the Hebrews, extols most +enviably--even to the prejudice of the kingdom of the lying and tempting +Spirits--the glory, might, and Godhead of the Incarnate Word, preëminent +among all Angels in name, in sonship, and in heirship; in the adoration +of the Angels; in His unction; in His exaltation at God's right hand; +and in the eternity of His rulership as a king over the coming world, as +the cause and the end of all things, and as the crowned Head of men and +Angels: while the Angels, His worshippers, God's messengers, as +ministering Spirits, are sent to serve man, the heir of salvation, whose +nature God's Son, passing the Angels by, hath taken upon Himself in the +blood of Abraham. + +By occasion of this justification, I do not deem it unsuitable here, in +passing, to say a few words in vindication of those dramas and +dramatists that employ Biblical subjects, inasmuch as they have, +occasionally, come into reproach; since, forsooth, human tastes are so +various; for a difference in temperament causes the same subject to be +agreeable to one which is repulsive to another. + +All honorable arts and customs have their supporters and opponents, also +their proper use and abuse. The holy writers of tragedy have, among the +ancient Hebrews, for their example, the poet Ezekiel, who has left us, +in Greek, the exodus of the twelve tribes from Egypt. Among the reverend +Church Fathers, they have that bright star out of the East, Gregory of +Nazianzus, who, in Greek dramatic verse, hath pictured the Crucified +Saviour Himself; as also, not long since, we became indebted to the +Royal Ambassador, Hugo Grotius, that great light of the learning and +piety of our age, who, following in the track of St. Gregory, hath given +us the Crucified One in Latin, for which immortal and edifying labor we +owe him both honor and thankfulness. + +Among the English Protestants, the learned pen of Richard Baker hath +discoursed very freely in prose concerning Lucifer and all the acts of +the rebellious Spirits. + +It is true that the Fathers of the Ancient Church banished the Christian +actors from the community of the Church, and that from that time forth +they were strongly opposed to the drama. But let us take into +consideration the time and the fact that their reasons for this were far +different. At that period the world, in many places, was yet deeply +sunken in heathenish idolatry. The foundations of Christianity were not +yet well established, and the dramas were played in honor of Cybele, a +great goddess and mother of their imagined gods, and were esteemed a +serviceable expedient with which to avert the land plagues from the +bodies of the people. + +St. Augustine testifies how a heathen archpriest, a minister of Numa's +ritual and idol service, on account of a deadly pest, first instituted +the drama at Rome, sanctioning it by his authority. + +Scaliger himself acknowledges that it was established for the health of +the people by order of the Sibyls, so that these plays became a truly +powerful incentive to the blind idolatry of the heathen, extolling their +gods--a cankering abomination, whose destruction cost the first heroes +of the Cross and the long-struggling Church so much sweat and blood; but +being now long extirpated, hath left in Europe not a vestige behind. + +That the holy old Church Fathers, therefore, for these reasons, and also +because of their corrupting the public morals, and various open and +shameless customs, as the employment of naked boys, women, and maidens, +and other obscenities, should rebuke these plays, was needful and +commendable, as, in that case, would also be so now. This being +considered, let us not hold the good and the usefulness of edifying and +entertaining plays too lightly. + +Holy and honorable examples serve as a mirror, reflecting for our +edification all virtue and piety, and teaching us, at the same time, to +shun wickedness and its consequent misery. + +The purpose and design of true tragedy is through terror and sympathy to +stir the spectators to tenderness. Through the drama, students and +growing youth are cultivated in the languages, eloquence, wisdom, +modesty, good morals and manners; and these sink into their tender +hearts and are impressed upon their senses, conducing towards habits of +propriety and discretion, which remain with them, and to which they +adhere even until old age; yea, it occurs, at times, that erratic +geniuses, not to be bent or diverted by ordinary methods, are touched by +this subtle art and by an exalted dramatic style, thus influenced beyond +their own suspicion; even as a delicate lyre-string gives forth an +answering sound when its companion string, of the same kind and nature, +of a similar tone, and strung on another lyre, is caressed by a skilled +hand, which, while playing, can drive the turbulent spirit out of a +possessed and hardened Saul. + +The history of the early Church seals this with the noteworthy examples +of Genesius and Ardaleo, both actors, enlightened in the theatre by the +Holy Ghost, and there converted; for they, while playing, wishing to +mock the Christian Religion, were convicted of the truth, which they had +learned out of their serious rôles, filled with the pith of wisdom, +rather than with trifling discourse to be mouthed for hours into the air +and more vexatious than instructive. + +They tell us in regard to Biblical subject matter that we should not +_play_ with holy things, and, indeed, this seems to have some show of +plausibility in our language, which hath given us the word _play_; but +he that can stammer but a word or two of Greek knows that among the +Greeks and Latins this word was not used in this sense; for _τραγῳδία_ +is a compound word, and really means a goat-song, after the lyric +contests of the shepherds, instituted for the purpose of winning a goat +by singing, in which custom the tragic songs, and, following them, +dramatic plays, took their origin. And if one would, nevertheless, +unmercifully bring us to task on account of this word _play_, what then +shall be done with organ _play_, David's harp and song _play_, and the +_play_ on the instrument with ten strings, and the other kinds of play +on flute and stringed instruments, introduced by various sects among the +Protestants into their meetings? + +He, then, who appreciates this distinction will, while condemning the +abuses of the dramatic art, not be ungracious towards the proper use of +the same; nor will he begrudge the youth and the art-loving burghers +this glorious, yea, this divine, invention, to them an honorable +recreation and a refreshing amelioration of the trials of life; so that +we, hereby encouraged, may with greater zeal bring Lucifer upon the +stage, where he, finally smitten by God's thunderbolt, plunges down into +hell--the mirror clear of all ungrateful ambitious ones who audaciously +dare to exalt themselves, setting themselves against the consecrated +Powers and Majesties and their lawful superiors. + + + + +Lucifer + +[Illustration: The Fallen Morning-star] + + + + +The Argument + + +Lucifer, the Archangel, chief and most illustrious of all the Angels, +proud and ambitious, out of blind self-love envied God His boundless +greatness; he also became jealous of man, made in God's image, to whom, +in his delightful Paradise, was entrusted the sovereignty of earth. + +He envied God and man the more when Gabriel, God's Herald, proclaiming +all Angels to be but ministering Spirits, revealed the mysteries of +God's future incarnation, whereby, the Angels being passed by, the real +nature of man, united with the Godhead, might expect a power and majesty +equal to God's own. Wherefore, the proud and envious Spirit, attempting +to place himself on an equality with God, and to keep man out of Heaven, +through his accomplices, incited to arms innumerable Angels, and led +them, notwithstanding Rafael's warning, against Michael. Heaven's +Field-marshal, and his legions; and ceasing the fight, after his defeat, +he caused, out of revenge, the first man, and in him all his +descendants, to fall, while he himself, with all his co-rebels, was +plunged into hell and eternal damnation. + +The scene is in the Heavens. + + + + +Dramatis Personæ. + + BELZEBUB, } + BELIAL, } Rebellious Chiefs. + APOLLION, } + GABRIEL, God's Herald of Mysteries. + CHORUS OF ANGELS. + LUCIFER, Stadtholder. + LUCIFERIANS, Seditious Spirits. + MICHAEL, Field-marshal. + RAFAEL, Guardian Angel. + URIEL, Michael's Armor-bearer. + + + +Lucifer. + + + + +ACT I. + + + Belzebub: + + My Belial hence hath sped on aery wings + To see where lingers our Apollion, + Whom for such flight most fit Chief Lucifer + Hath sent to Earth that he might gain for him + A better sense of Adam's bliss, the state, + Where placed by Powers Omnipotent he dwells. + And lo! the time draws nigh that he return + Unto these courts. He cannot now be far. + A watchful servant heeds his master's glance + And, faithful, stays his throne with neck and shoulder. 10 + + Belial: + + Lord Belzebub, thou Privy Councillor + Of Heaven's Stadtholder, he riseth steep + And wheels from sphere to sphere into our view; + The wind he passes by and leaves a track + Of light and splendor in his wake, where cleave, + His speedy wings the clouds; and now our air + He scents in other day and brighter sun, + Whose glow is mirrored in the crystal blue. + The heavenly globes beneath behold his flight, + As up he mounts, and each with wonder sees 20 + His speed and godlike grace. He seems to them + No more an Angel but a flying fire. + No star so swiftly shoots. Behold him now, + Here upwards soaring, and within his hands + He bears a golden bough. The steep incline + He hath accomplished happily. + + Belzebub: + + What brings + Apollion? + + Apollion: + + I have, Lord Belzebub, + The low terrene observed with keenest eye. + And now I offer thee the fruits grown there + So far below these heights, 'neath other skies 30 + And other sun: now judge thou from the fruit + The land and garden which even God Himself + Hath blessed and planted for mankind's delight. + + Belzebub: + + I see the golden leaves, all laden with + Ethereal pearls, the sparkling silvery dew. + What sweet perfume exhale those radiant leaves + Of tint unfading! How alluring glows + That pleasant fruit with crimson and with gold! + 'Twere pity to pollute it with the hands. + The eye doth tempt the mouth. Who would not lust 40 + For earthly luxury! He loathes our day + And food celestial, who the fruit may pluck + Of Earth. One would for Adam's garden curse + Our Paradise. The bliss of Angels fades + In that of man. + + Apollion: + + Too true. Lord Belzebub, + Though high our Heaven may seem, 'tis far too low, + For what I saw with mine own eyes deceives + Me not. The world's delights, yea, Eden's fields + Alone, our Paradise excel. + + Belzebub: + + Proceed. + We'll hear what thou shalt say. We'll hear together. 50 + + Apollion: + + I'll pass my journey thither by nor tell + How downward sweeping through nine spheres I sped. + That swift as arrows round their centre whirl. + The wheel of sense revolves within our thoughts + Not with such speed, as I beneath the moon + And clouds dropped down. Where then aloft I hung, + On floating pinions, to survey that shore, + That Eastern landscape far that marks the face + Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds, + Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm. 60 + Afar I saw a lofty mount emerge, + From which a waterfall, fount of four streams, + Dashed with a roar into the vale below. + Headlong I steered my course oblique, with steep + Descent, until I gained the mountain's brow, + Whence, resting, all the nether world I viewed, + Its happy fields and glowing opulence. + + + [Illustration: + "I see golden leaves, all laden with + Ethereal pearls, the sparkling silvery dew."] + + + Belzebub: + + Now picture us the garden and its shape. + + Apollion: + + Round is the garden, as the world itself. + Above the centre looms the mount from which 70 + The fountain gushes that divides in four, + And waters all the land, refreshing trees + And fields; and flows in unreflective rills + Of crystal purity. The streams their rich + Alluvion bring and nourish all the ground. + Here Onyx gleams and Bdellion doth shine; + And bright as Heaven glows with glittering stars; + So here Dame Nature sowed her constellations + Of stones that pale our stars. Here dazzle veins + Of gold; for Nature wished to gather all 80 + Her treasures in one lap. + + Belzebub: + + What of the air + That hovers round whereby that creature lives? + + Apollion: + + No Angel us among, a breath exhales + So soft and sweet as the pure draught refreshing + That there meets man, that lightly cools his face + And with its gentle, vivifying touch + All things caresses in its blissful course: + There swells the bosom of the fertile field + "With herb and hue and bud and branch and bloom + And odors manifold, which nightly dews 90 + Refresh. The rising and the setting sun + Know and observe their proper, measured time + And so unto the need of every plant + Temper their mighty rays that flower and fruit + Are all within the selfsame season found. + + Belzebub: + + Now tell me of man's features and his form. + + Apollion: + + Who would our state for that of man prefer, + When one beholdeth beings, all-surpassing, + Beneath whose sway all other beings stand! + I saw a hundred thousand creatures move 100 + Before me there: all they that tread the earth + And they that cleave the clouds, or swim the stream, + As is their wont, each in his element. + Who should the nature and the attributes + Of each one know as Adam! For 'twas he + That gave them, one by one, their various names. + The mountain-lion wagged his tail and smiled + Upon his lord. And, at his sovereign's feet, + The tiger, too, his fierceness laid. The bull + Bowed low his horns; the elephant, his trunk. 110 + The bear forgot his rage. The griffin heard + His call; the eagle and the dragon dread, + Behemoth and even great Leviathan. + Nor shall I tell what praise rings in man's ears, + Amid those warbling bowers, replete with songs + in many tongues; while zephyrs rustle through + The leaves, and brooks purl 'neath their sylvan banks + A murmurous harmony that wearies never. + Had but Apollion his mission then + Accomplished, sooth, in Adam's Paradise 120 + He soon had lost all memory of Heaven. + + Belzebub: + + But what, pray, of the twain thou sawest there? + + Apollion: + + No creature hath on high mine eye so pleased + As those below. Who could so subtly soul + With body weave and two-fold Angels form + From clay and bone? The body's shapely mould + Attests the Maker's art, that in the face, + The mirror of the mind, doth best appear. + But wonderful! upon the face is stamped + The image of the soul. All beauty here 130 + Concentres, while a god looks through the eyes. + Above the whole the reasoning soul doth hover, + And while the dumb and brutish beasts all look + Down towards their feet, man proudly lifts alone + His head to Heaven, in lofty praise to God. + + Belzebub: + + His praise is not in vain for gifts so rare. + + Apollion: + + He rules even like a god whom all must serve. + The invisible soul consists of spirit and not + Of matter, and it rules in every limb: + The brain it makes its seat, and there holds court. 140 + It is immortal, nor fears aught of rust, + Or other injury. 'Tis past our sense. + Knowledge and prudence, virtue and free-will, + Are its possessions. Dumb all Spirits stand + Before its majesty. Ere long the world + Shall teem with men. It waits, from little seed, + A harvest rich in souls; and therefore God + Did man to woman join. + + Belzebub: + + Now say me how + Thou dost regard his rib--his lovèd spouse? + + Apollion: + + I covered with my wings mine eyes and face 150 + That I might curb my thoughts and deep delight, + When erst she filled my gaze, as Adam led her + Into their arborous bower with gentle hand: + From time to time he stopped, in contemplation; + And gazing thus, a holy fire began + His pure breast to inflame. And then he kissed + His bride and she her bridegroom: thus on joy + Their nuptials fed--on feasts of fiery love, + Better imagined far than told, a bliss + Divine beyond all Angel ken. How poor 160 + Our loneliness! For us no union sweet + Of two-fold sex, of maiden and of man. + Alas! how much of good we miss: we know + No mate or happy marriage in a Heaven + Devoid of woman. + + Belzebub: + + Thus in time a world + Of men shall be begotten there below? + + Apollion: + + The love of beauty, fashioned in the brain, + Deeply impressèd by the senses keen, + This makes their union strong. Their life consists + Alone in loving and in being loved-- 170 + One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulged + Perpetually, yet e'er unquenchable. + + Belzebub: + + Now picture me the bride, described from life. + + Apollion: + + That Nature's pencil needs, nor lesser hues + Than sunbeams. Perfect are both man and wife; + Of equal beauty they, from head to foot. + By right doth Adam Eve excel in strength + Of form and majesty of bearing, as + One chosen for the sovereignty of Earth: + But Eve combines all that her bridegroom joys: 180 + A tenderness of limb and softer skin + And flesh, a lovelier tint and eyes enchanting, + A charming, gracious mouth, a sweeter voice, + Whose power lies in a sound more exquisite; + Two founts of ivory and what besides + No tongue should dare to name, lest Spirits should + Be tempted. And though all the Angels now + Impress our eyes as beautiful and fair. + How ill their forms and faces would appear + If seen within the rosy morning-light 190 + Of maidenhood! + + + [Illustration: + "Perfect are both man and wife; + Of equal beauty they from head to foot."] + + + Belzebub: + + It seems that passion for + This feminine creature hath thy heart inflamed. + + Apollion: + + In that delightful blaze, my great wing-plumes + I singed. Most hard it was for me to rise + And wheel my way to this our high abode. + I parted, though with pain, and thrice turned back + My gaze. There shines no Seraph in the courts + Celestial, here on high, as she amid + Her hanging hair, that forms a golden niche + Of sunbeams that in beauteous waves roll down 200 + From her fair head, and flow along her back. + So, even as from a light, she comes to view, + And day rejoices with her radiant face. + Though pearl and mother-o'-pearl seem purity, + Her whiteness even theirs surpasses far. + + Belzebub: + + What profits human glory, if even as + A flower of the field it fades and dies? + + Apollion: + + So long their garden fruit doth give, shall this + Most happy pair live by an apple sweet, + Grown on the central tree, that nurture finds 210 + Beside the stream that laves its tender roots. + This wondrous tree is called the tree of life. + 'Tis incorruptible, and through it man + Joys life eterne and all immortal things, + While of his Angel brothers he becomes + The peer, yea, and shall in the end surpass + Them all, until his power and sway and realm + Spread over all. For who can clip his wings? + No Angel hath the power to multiply + His being a thousand thousand times, in swarms 220 + Innumerable. Now do thou calculate + What shall from this, in time, the outcome be. + + Belzebub: + + Great is man's might, that thus even ours out-grows! + + Apollion: + + Soon shall his increase frighten and astound. + Though now his sway stoops lower than the moon, + And though 'tis now determinate, he shall + Yet higher rise and place himself upon + The highest seat in Heaven. If God prevent + Not this, how then can we prevent it? For + God loves man well and for him made all things. 230 + + Belzebub: + + What hear I there? A trumpet? Surely then + A voice will follow. Go, see, while we here + Await. + + Apollion: + + The Archangel Gabriel is at hand, + And in his wake the choristers of Heaven, + In the name of Him, the Highest, to unfold, + As Herald from the towering Throne of Thrones, + What there him was enjoined. + + Belzebub: + + We please to hear + Whatever the Archangel shall command. + + + GABRIEL. CHORUS OF ANGELS. + + Gabriel: + + Give ear, ye Angels all; give ear, ye hosts + Of Heaven. The highest Goodness, from whose breast 240 + Flow all things good and all things holy, who + Of His beneficence ne'er wearied grows + And of whose teeming grace the riches never + Shall know decrease; whose might and Being transcend + The comprehension of His creatures all: + This Goodness, in the image of Himself, + Formed man, also the Angels that they might + Together here with Him securely hold + The Realm eterne--the good ne'er-comprehended. + Having the while with faithfulness maintained 250 + His firm prescribed law. He also built + This wondrous universe, the world below + Made manifest, and meet for God and man, + That in this garden man might rule and there + Might multiply; acknowledge God with all + His seed; Him ever serve and e'er revere, + And thus mount up, by the stairway of the world, + The firmament of beatific light + Within, into the ne'er-created glow. + Though Spirits may seem pre-eminent, above 260 + All other beings, yet God hath decreed, + Even from eternity, that man shall high + Exalted be, even o'er the Angel world; + Him destined for a glory and a crown + Of splendor not inferior to His own. + Ye shall behold the eternal Word above, + When clad in flesh and bone, anointed Lord + And Chief and Judge, mete justice to the hosts + Of Spirits, to Angels and to men alike, + From His high seat, in His unshadowed Realm. 270 + There in the centre stands the holy Throne + Already consecrate. Let all the hosts + Angelic then have care to worship Him, + When He shall ride in triumph in, who hath + The human form exalted o'er our own. + Then dimly shines the bright translucent flame + Of Seraphim, beside this light of man, + This glow and radiance divine. The rays + Of Mercy shall all Nature's splendors drown. + 'Tis fated thus--and stands irrevocable. 280 + + Chorus. + + All that the Heavens ordain shall please God's hosts. + + Gabriel: + + So be ye faithful, ever rendering thus + Both God and man your service: since mankind + So well belovèd are by God Himself. + Who honors Adam wins his Father's heart. + And men and Angels, issuing from one stem. + Are brothers and companions, chosen for + One lot, the sons and heirs of the Most High, + A stainless line. One undivided will, + One undivided love, be this your law. 290 + Ye know how all the Angel hosts into + Three Hierarchies and lesser Orders nine + Are duly separate: of Seraphim + And Cherubim and Thrones, the highest, they + Who form God's inmost Council and confirm + All His commands; the second Hierarchy, + Of Dominations. Virtues. Powers, that on + The mandates of God's secret Council wait + And minister to man's well-being and bliss. + The third and lowest Hierarchy, composed 300 + Of Principalities and all Archangels + And Angels, is unto the middle rank + Subordinate, and service finds beneath + The sphere of purest crystalline, in their + Particular charge, that wide is as the vault + Of starry space. And when the world shall spread + Its widening bounds without, shall unto each + Of these some province there allotted be, + Or he shall know what town or house or being + Is to his care committed, to the praise 310 + And honor of God's crown. Ye faithful ones, + Ye Gods immortal, go then and obey + Chief Lucifer, bound by your God's commands. + Bring glory to high Heaven in serving man, + Each in his own retreat, each on his watch. + Let some before the Godhead incense burn + And lay before His towering Throne their prayers, + Their wishes and their offerings for mankind, + Singing the Godhead praise until the sounds + Re-echo through the corridors of Heaven, 320 + In endless jubilation. Let some whirl + The constellations and the globes of Heaven, + Or open wide the skies, or pile them high + With pregnant clouds, to bless the mount below + With sunshine, or with soft, refreshing showers + Of manna and of pure mellifluous dews; + Where God is by the happy pair adored, + The primal innocence 'mid Eden's bowers. + Let those that air and fire and earth and sea + O'er range, each, in his element, his pace 330 + So moderate, as Adam may require; + Or chain in bands the lightnings, curb the storm, + Or break the ocean's fury on the strand. + Let others make a charge of man himself. + Even to a hair the sovran Deity + Knoweth the hairs upon his head. Then bear + Him gently on your hands, lest he should dash + His foot against a stone. Let one now as + Ambassador from the Omnipotent + Be sent below to Adam. King of Earth. 340 + That he perform his bounden charge. I voice + The orders to my trump on high enjoined. + To these the Godhead holds you firmly bound. + + + Chorus of Angels: + + _Strophe_. + + Who is it on His Throne, high-seated, + So deep in boundless realms of light, + Whose measure, space nor time hath meted, + Nor e'en eternity; whose might, + Supportless, yet itself maintaineth, + Floating on pinions of repose; + Who, in His mightiness ordaineth 350 + What round and in Him changeless flows + And what revolves and what is driven + Around Him, centre of His plan; + The sun of suns, the spirit-leaven + Of space; the soul of all we can + Conceive, and of the unconceivèd, + The heart, the life, the fount, the sea, + And source of all things here perceivèd, + That from Him spring, that His decree + Omnipotent and Mercy flowing 360 + And Wisdom from naught did evoke, + Ere this full-crownèd palace glowing, + The Heaven of Heavens, the darkness broke? + Where o'er our eyes our wings extending + To veil His dazzling Majesty, + 'Mid harmonies to Him ascending, + We fall before Him tremblingly + And kneel, confused, in awe together. + Who is it? Name, or picture then + His Being with a Seraph's feather. 370 + Or is't beyond your tongue and ken? + + + [Illustration: "Who is it on His Throne, high-seated?"] + + + _Antistrophe_. + + 'Tis God: Being infinite, eternal, + Of everything that being has. + Forgive us, O! Thou Power supernal, + By all that is and ever was + Ne'er fully praised, ne'er to be spoken; + Forgive us, nor incensed depart, + Since no imagining, tongue nor token + Can Thee proclaim. Thou wert. Thou art + Fore'er the same. All Angel praising 380 + And knowledge is but faint and tame. + 'Tis but foul sacrilege, their phrasing; + For each bears his peculiar name + Save Thee. And who can by declaring + Reveal Thy name? And who make known + Thine oracles? Who is so daring? + He who Thou art Thou art alone. + Save Thee none knows Thy power transcendent. + Who grasps Thy full divinity? + Who dares to face Thy Throne resplendent, 390 + The fierce glow of eternity? + To whom the light of light revealèd? + What's hid behind Thy sacred veil, + From us Thy Mercy hath concealèd. + Such bliss transcends the narrow pale + Of our weak might. Our life is waning; + But Thine, Lord, shall know endless days. + Our being in Thine finds its sustaining! + Exalt the Godhead! Sing His praise! + + _Epode_. + + Holy! holy! once more holy! 400 + Three times holy! Honor God! + Without Him is nothing holy! + Holy is His mighty nod! + Strong in mystery He reigneth! + His commands our tongues compel + To proclaim what He ordaineth, + What the faithful Gabriel + With his trumpet came expounding. + Praise of man to God redounding! + All that pleaseth God is well. 410 + + + + + Act II. + + + LUCIFER. BELZEBUB. + + + Lucifer: + + Ye speedy Spirits, stay our chariot now, + God's Morning-star in its full zenith stands; + Its height is reached; and lo! the moment comes + When Lucifer must set before this star, + This double star that rises from below + And seeks the way above, to tarnish Heaven + With earthly glow. No more should ye adorn + Proud Lucifer's apparel with glittering crowns, + Nor gild his forehead with the glorious dawn + Of morning-star, to which Archangels kneel. 10 + Another splendor sweeps into the light + Of God, whose radiance drowns our vaunted glory. + As to the eyes of man, below, the sun, + By day, puts out the stars. The shades of night + Bedim the Angels and the suns of Heaven: + For man hath won the heart of the Most High, + Within his new-created Paradise. + He is the friend of Heaven. Our slavery + Even now begins. Go hence, rejoice and serve + And honor this new race like servile slaves. 20 + For God was man created; we, for him. + Let then the Angels bend their necks beneath + His feet. Let each one now upon him wait + And bear him even unto the highest Thrones + On hands or wings: for our inheritance + Shall pass to him, the chosen son of God. + We, the first-born, shall suffer in this Realm. + The son, born on that day, the sixth, and made + In the image of the Father, shall attain + The crown. And rightly unto him was given 30 + The mighty sceptre, which shall cause even us, + The ones first born, to tremble and to shake. + Here holds no contradiction now: ye heard + What Gabriel's trump spake at the golden port? + + Belzebub: + + O! Stadtholder of God's superior Powers, + Alas! we hear too well, amid the praise + Of choristers, a discord that makes sad + The feast eterne. The charge of Gabriel + Is clear. It needs no tongue of Cherubim + To unfold its sense. Nor was there need to send 40 + Apollion below, a nearer view + To gain of Adam's realm beneath the moon. + How gloriously the Godhead dealt with him + Doth well appear. He hath, for his defence, + Even given a life-guard, many thousands strong, + While He supports his rank and dignity, + As if he were the supreme Chief of Spirits. + The massive gate of Heaven stands ajar + For Adam's seed. An earth-worm that hath crawled + Out of the dust--out of a clod of clay 50 + Defies thy power. Thou shalt yet man behold + O'er thee exalted, so that thou shalt fall + Upon thy knees and there, abased, adore, + With drooping eyes, his lofty eminence, + His power and high authority. He shall, + When glorified by the Omnipotent, + Yet seat himself, even by the side of God, + Empowered to reign beyond the farthest rounds + And endless circles of eternity. + That, from the bounds of time and space set free, 60 + Revolve unceasingly around one God, + Who is their centre and circumference. + What clearer proof need we to see that God + Shall glorify mankind, and us degrade? + For we were born to serve, and man, to rule. + Then henceforth put the sceptre from thy hand: + There is another one below, who reigns, + Or soon shall reign. Put off thy morning rays + And wreaths of light before this sun, or else + Have care to bring him in with songs of joy 70 + And triumph and with honors full divine. + We soon shall see the Heavens changed in state. + Behold! the stars look out and from their paths + Retreat, aglow with longing to receive + With reverence this new and coming light. + + Lucifer: + + That shall I thwart, if in my power it be. + + Belzebub: + + There hear I Lucifer and him behold. + Who from Heaven's face can drive the night away. + Where he appears, day's glory dawns anew. + His crescent light, the first and nighest God, 80 + Shall ne'er grow dim. His word is stern command; + His will and nod a law by none transgressed. + The Godhead is in him obeyed and served, + Praised, honored, and adored. Should then a voice + More faint than his now thunder from God's Throne? + Than his be more obeyed? Should God exalt + A younger son, begot of Adam's loins, + Even over him? That would most violate + The heirship of the eldest-born and rob + His splendor of its rays. 'Neath God Himself 90 + None is so great as thou. The Godhead once + Set thee the first in glory at His feet. + Then let not man dare thus our order great + Profane, nor thus cast down these vested Rights + "Without a cause, or all of Heaven shall spring + To arms 'gainst one. + + + [Illustration: + "Thou shalt not yet man behold + O'er thee exalted, son that thou shalt fall + Upon thy knees, and there, abased, adore, + With drooping eyes his lofty eminence."] + + + Lucifer: + + Indeed, thou sayest well: + It is not meet for Dominations grave, + Powers well-disposed in state, thus to give up + So loosely their established rights; and since + The Supreme Power is by His laws most bound. 100 + To change becomes Him least. Am I a son + Of Light, a ruler of the light, my place + I shall maintain, to no usurper bow, + Not even this Arch-usurper. Let all yield + Who will, not one foot shall I e'er retreat. + Here is my Fatherland. Nor hardships dire + Nor yet disaster nor anathemas + Shall me intimidate, or tame. To die, + Or to gain port around this dreadful cape, + This is my destiny. Doth fate decree 110 + That I must fall, of rank and honors shorn, + Then let me fall; but fall with this my crown + Upon my brow, this sceptre in my grasp, + With my own retinue of faithful troops, + And with these many thousands on my side. + Aye, thus to fall brings honor and shall shed + Unfading glory on my name: besides, + To be the first prince in some lower court + Is better than within the Blessed Light + To be the second, or even less. 'Tis thus 120 + I weigh the stroke, nor harm nor hindrance fear. + But here, hardby, comes Heaven's Interpreter + And Herald vigilant, with God's own book + Of mysteries, committed to his care. + Most opportune for us his coming hither; + For I would question him. I shall accost + Him then, and from my chariot descend. + + + GABRIEL. LUCIFER. + + Gabriel: + + Lord Stadtholder, how? Whither bound? + + Lucifer: + + To thee, + O Herald and Interpreter of Heaven. + + Gabriel: + + Methinks I read thy purpose on thy brow. 130 + + Lucifer: + + Thou who canst fathom and who canst reveal, + Through the deep-searching light of thy mind's eye, + The shadowy mysteries of God, relieve + Me with thy coming. + + Gabriel: + + What doth burden thee? + + Lucifer: + + The late decision of the ruling Powers, + The new decree made by the Godhead, who + Esteems celestial joys as of less worth + Than earthly elements, oppresses Heaven, + Even from the low abyss the Earth exalts + Above the stars, sets man high in the seat 140 + Of the Angels, whom, shorn of primordial powers, + He then commands for human happiness + To sweat and slave. The Spirits once consecrate + To service in empyreal palaces + Shall serve an Earth-worm that from out the dust + Hath crawled and grown; and on his bidding wait, + And see him them excel in rank and numbers. + Why doth the endless Mercy us degrade + So soon? What Angel hath forgot to render + Due reverence? How could the Deity 150 + Mingle with base mankind and thus pass by + The nature of His chosen Angels here, + While His own nature and His Being He pours + Into a body?--thus eternity + Unite with its beginning, time, and what + Is highest to what is lowest of the low? + --The great Creator to His creature bind? + Who can the import glean of this decree? + Shall now eternity's bright, quenchless sun + Set in the gathering darkness of the world? 160 + Shall we, the Stadtholder of God, thus kneel + Before this shadow power, this puny lord; + And see the countless hosts of souls divine + And incorporeal bow themselves before + A gross and sluggish element upon + Which God hath stamped His Being and majesty? + We Spirits are yet too gross to comprehend + This mystery. Thou, who the key dost guard + Of God's rich treasure-house of mysteries, + Unlock, if so thou mayest, this secret dark 170 + From out thy sealèd book: unfold to us + The will of Heaven. + + Gabriel: + + As much as is to us + Permitted to unfold out of God's book: + Much knowledge doth not profit one alway; + Indeed, may damage bring. The Sovran Power + Revealeth only what He deems most fit. + The inner light blinds even Seraphim. + The spotless Wisdom would, in part, her will + Conceal, in part would it disclose. Himself + E'er to submit and to conform unto 180 + A well-established law, this best becomes + The subject, who unto his master's will + And charge stands bound. The reason why the Lord + (Which secret we shall know, when first shall pass + A lineage of Earth-born generations) + Who, in the course of time, both God and man + Become, shall reign,--shall sceptre sway, and rule, + Afar and wide, the stars, the sea, the Earth + And all that live, the Heavens conceal from thee: + Time shall divulge the cause. God's trumpet heed: 190 + His will thou now hast heard. + + Lucifer: + + Shall then on high + A worm, an alien, wield the greatest power? + Must they who native are to Heaven thus yield + To foreign rule? Shall man then found a throne + Even o'er the Throne of God? + + Gabriel: + + Content thee with + Thy lot, the rank and state and worthiness + Once granted thee by God. For thee He made + The head of all the Hierarchies, though not + To envy others' glory or renown. + Rebellion flattens both her crown and head, 200 + Whene'er she rears her crest 'gainst God's commands. + Thy splendor owes its lustre to God's power + Alone. + + Lucifer: + + Till now my crown hath bowed to none + But God. + + Gabriel: + + Then also bow before this last + Decree of God, who leadeth all that have + Their being from naught, yea, all that e'er shall live, + Unto their end and certain destiny, + Though we may fail to comprehend His plan. + + Lucifer: + + Thus to see man into the light of God + Exalted, to behold him deified 210 + With God on His high Throne, to see towards him + The censers swinging 'mid the joyous tones + Of thousand thousand holy choristers, + With one voice pealing symphonies of praise-- + Such grandeur doth bedim the lofty splendors, + And diamond rays of our own morning-star, + That dazzles then no more, while Heaven's joy + Shall pine in grief away. + + Gabriel: + + The highest bliss + Alone in calm contentment can be found + And in agreement with God's will, in full 220 + Compliance with His law. + + Lucifer: + + The majesty + Of God and of the Godhead is debased, + If with the blood of man his nature ever + Unites, combines, or otherwise is bound. + We Spirits to God and His deep nature come + Far closer, as children from one father sprung; + And are like Him, if unto us it be + Allowed to bring in such similitude + This inequality of endless powers + With those determinate, of definite might 230 + With might indefinite. Should once the sun + Err from his orbit's path, and veil himself + Behind a mist, to light the globe of Earth + Through clouds of smoke and darkling damps, how soon + The joys of Earth would die! How would the race + Below then want all light and life! How too + The sun would lack his dazzling majesty, + Circling his daily round! I see the skies + Piled up with gloom, the stars confused with fright. + Disorders fell and chaos, where now law 240 + And order reign, should once the fount of light + Plunge with its splendors into some dark fen. + Think not too harshly then, I do beseech + Thee, Gabriel, if now thy trumpet's voice, + The new-made law given by the High Command, + I do resist, or seemingly oppose. + We strive for God's own honor, yea, to give + To God His Right, should I become thus daring + And wander far beyond the narrow path + Of my obedience. + + Gabriel: + + Thou art, indeed, 250 + Most zealous for the glory of God's name; + Though truly without weighing well that God, + The point wherein His majesty doth lie, + Far better knows than we. Cease therefore now + This inquisition. For when God as man + Shall have become, He shall this book of His + Own mysteries, now sealed with seven seals. + Himself unseal. To taste the kern within + Is not for thee; thou seest the shell alone. + Then of this long concealment we shall learn 260 + The cause and hidden reason, all the while + Deep-gazing; in the unveiled Holy of Holies. + It now behooves us ever to obey + And to revere this rising dawn, to use + Our light with thankfulness until the time + When knowledge in her power shall drive all doubt + Away, even as the sun the night. Now learn + We gradually, with modest reverence, + God's Wisdom to approach. And this to us + Reveals, by slow degrees, the light of truth 270 + And knowledge, and requires that, on his watch, + Each shall submit himself to reason's rule, + Lord Stadtholder, be calm. Be foremost, thou, + Now to maintain the law. God sends me hence. + I must away. + + Lucifer: + + I shall observe it well! + + + BELZEBUB. LUCIFER. + + Belzebub: + + The Stadtholder now hears the meaning of + This proclamation grave so proudly blown + By Gabriel's trumpet bold. How well he showed + Thee God's design! whose purpose thou may'st scent: + Thus shall he clip the wings of thy great power. 280 + + + [Illustration: "But here hardby comes Heaven's interpreter."] + + + Lucifer: + + But not so easily: Ah! nay, forsooth; + I shall have care this purpose to prevent. + Let not a power inferior thus dream + To rule the Powers above. + + Belzebub: + + He maketh threat + Forthwith to crush Rebellion's head and crown. + + Lucifer: + + Now swear I by my crown, upon this chance + To venture all, to raise my seat amid + The firmament, the spheres, the splendor of + The stars above. The Heaven of Heavens shall then + My palace be, the rainbow be my throne, 290 + The starry vast, my court, while, down beneath, + The Earth shall be my foot-stool and support. + I shall, then swiftly drawn through air and light, + High-seated on a chariot of cloud, + With lightning stroke and thunder grind to dust + Whate'er above, around, below, doth us + Oppose, were it God's Marshal grand himself. + Yea, e'er we yield, these empyrean vaults. + Proud in their towering masonry, shall burst + With all their airy arches and dissolve 300 + Before our eyes: this huge and joint-racked Earth, + Like a misshapen monster, lifeless lie; + This wondrous universe to chaos fall. + And to its primal desolation change. + Who dares, who dares defy great Lucifer? + We cite Apollion. + + Belzebub: + + He is at hand. + + + APOLLION. LUCIFER. BELZEBUB. + + Apollion: + + O Stadtholder of God's unbounded Realm, + And Oracle within the Council of + The Gods subordinate, I offer thee + My service and await thy new commands. 310 + What now the word--what of thy subject would + Thy Majesty? + + Lucifer: + + It pleaseth us to hear + Thy sense and thy opinion of a grave + And weighty plan that cannot fail to win. + Tis our intent to pluck the proudest plume + From Michael's wings, that our attempt upon + His mightiness shall not rebound as vain. + With his own arm as many oracles + He founds, as ever God Himself hath hewn + From deathless diamond with His hand. Behold 320 + Now man exalted to the Heaven of Heavens, + Through all the circles of the spheres, then see + The Spirit world, so deep, so far below, + Even 'neath his footcloth there, like feeble worms + Already crawling in the dust. I joy + To storm this throne with violence, and thus + To hazard by one strong, opposing stroke + The glory of my state and star and crown. + + Apollion: + + An undertaking truly to be praised! + May it augment your crown and increase gain, 330 + Based on such resolution: so I deem + It honors me thus to advise, 'neath thee, + The prosecution of a cause so bold. + Let this result for better or for worse, + The will is noble, even though it fail. + But lest we strive in vain and recklessly, + How best shall we begin so bold a plan? + How safest meet the point of that resolve? + + Lucifer: + + We subtly shall oppose our own resolve. + + Apollion: + + Sooth, there is pith in that. But what, pray, is 340 + Our borrowed might, weighed in the scale against + The Power Omnipotent? Guard well thy crown; + For we fall far too light. + + Belzebub: + + Yet not so light, + But that the matter first shall hang in doubt. + + Apollion: + + By whom or how or where this plot begun? + Even such intent is treason 'gainst God's Throne. + + Lucifer: + + His Throne we'll not disturb; but cautiously + Mount up the steep incline, and those high peaks, + Ne'er blazed by path and ne'er ascended, climb. + Courage and prudence must, at length, o'ercome 350 + And dare all dangers brave. + + Apollion: + + But not the Power + Omnipotent, nor yet His crown: approach + Thou not too near, or learn in sorrow that + Repentance comes too late. The lesser should + Submissively unto the greater yield. + + Lucifer: + + The great Omnipotent is far beyond + Our aim. Set forces like with like together. + Then learn whose sword is weightiest. I see + Our enemies in flight, the Heavens all ours + By one courageous stroke; our legions, too, 360 + O'erladen with the spoil and glorious plunder. + Then let us further now deliberate. + + Apollion. + + Thou know'st what Michael, God's Field-marshal may: + 'Neath his command are all God's legions placed. + He bears the key of the armoury here on high. + To him the watch is trusted, and he keeps + A faithful, sleepless eye on all the camps; + So that of all the galaxies of Heaven + Not even one star, in its celestial march, + Dare move itself the least, nor stir without 370 + Its ranks. 'Tis easy to commence; but in + Such warfare to engage exceeds our might, + And drags a train of hardships in its wake. + "What ordnance and what martial enginery + Could e'er avail his legions proud to quell? + Should Heaven's castle ope its diamond port, + Nor stratagem, nor ambush, nor assault + Could bring it fear. + + Belzebub: + + But if our bold resolve + We strengthen with the sword, I see upon + Our standard, raised aloft, the morning-star 380 + Defiance flashing till all Heaven's state + And rulership is changed. + + Apollion: + + The Fieldmarshal, + The valiant Michael, bears with no less fire + And pride God's wondrous name amid the field + Of his great banner, with the sun above. + + Lucifer: + + Though writ in lines of light, what boots a name? + Heroic deeds, as this, are ne'er achieved + With titles, nor with pomp; not by valor, spirit. + And subtle strokes in skill and cunning bred. + Thou art a master-wit with craftiness 390 + The Spirits to seduce, them to ensnare, + To lead and to incite howe'er thou wilt. + Thou canst attaint even those among the watch + Of most integrity, and teach even those + To waver who had thought to waver never. + Begin, we see God's legions in two camps + Divided, lords and vassals roused to strife + And mutiny. The greatest part even now + Are blind and deaf, save to their own demands; + And one and all cry loudly for a chief. 400 + If thou for us a fourth part canst allure, + "We'll crown thy craft and dexterous management + With place and honor. Go, this plot consider + With Belial, for it must be dark indeed, + Where he shall lose his way. His countenance, + Smooth-varnished with dissimulation's hue, + No master in such deep concealment owns. + My car I now ascend: think ye this over. + The Council hath convened, and now awaits + Our own attendance. We shall call you both 410 + Within, as soon as ye shall come. And thou, + Chief Lord, guard with thy trusty followers + This mighty gate that to the palace leads. + + + BELIAL. APOLLION. + + Belial: + + God's Stadtholder doth serve himself with us + On high. + + Apollion: + + We fly together from his bow + Like speeding arrows. + + Belial: + + And both aimèd are + Even at one mark, though perilous to reach. + + Apollion: + + Ere long the Heavens shall crack 'neath our tempt. + + Belial: + + Let crack what will, the matter must proceed. + + Apollion: + + How then this cause to best advantage grasp? 420 + + Belial: + + The weapons favor us: we first must gain + The guard. + + Apollion: + + The chieftains first, and with them we + The bravest troops must then succeed in winning. + + Belial: + + Through something specious, 'neath some seeming 'guised. + + Apollion: + + Name thou this thing. Come, say what thou shalt call it. + + Belial: + + Our Angel Realm must be maintained, its state, + Its honor, and its privilege, so choose + A chief, on whom each can reliance place. + + Apollion: + + Thou comprehendest well: no better cause + I wish as seed for mutiny, to set 430 + The court against its subjects, throng 'gainst throng. + For each among us is inclined to guard + That honor, rank, and lawful privilege + Unto him given by the Omnipotent + Ere He created man, an after-thought. + The celestial palace is our heritage. + To the Spirits, who above float on their wings, + Who, incorporeal, therefore, ne'er can sink, + This place is more adapt than to the race + Of Earth, too sluggish far to choose against 440 + Their nature these clear bows. Here shines the day + Too bright, too strong. Their eyes cannot endure + That splendid light, upon whose glow we gaze. + Then let man keep in his native element, + As other creatures do. Let him suffice + The bounds of his terrestrial Paradise, + Where the rising and the setting of the sun + And moon divide the months and form the year. + Let him observe, in their wide-circling round, + The crystal spheres. Let Eden's pleasant fruits 450 + Content him, and its flowers that breathe perfume. + To range from East to West, from North to South: + Let this his pastime be. What needs he more? + We'll ne'er bring homage to an earthly lord. + Thus I resolve. Canst thou more briefly yet + This meaning state? + + Belial: + + For all eternity. + Mankind to lock without the gate of Heaven. + + Apollion: + + That tinkles well in the Angelic ear. + That flashes like a flame from choir to choir + Through Orders nine and all the Hierarchies. 460 + + Belial: + + So shall we best a pining slowness feign; + Though all our bliss and our deliverance + On speed and expedition hang. + + Apollion: + + Not less + On dexterous management depends, nor less + On courage and on bravery. + + Belial: + + That shall + Increase, as countless bannered bands accede. + + Apollion: + + They even now are murmuring: then we + Should act with secrecy, share in their hopes, + And nourish their complaints. + + Belial: + + And then it were + Most opportune that Belzebub, a chief 470 + Of power and eminence, should tender them + His seal, to force their vested Rights and gain + Redress of grievances. + + Apollion: + + Not all at once, + But gradually, as if by by-paths won. + + Belial: + + Then let the Stadtholder himself approach, + And in support of such a proud resolve + Offer his mighty arm. + + Apollion: + + We soon shall hear, + When in the Council, his opinion + And his intent: then let him for a while + His thoughts dissemble and, at last, spur on 480 + The maddened throng, embarrassed for a head. + + Belial: + + Upon the head depends the whole affair. + Whatever thy promises, without a chief + They'll ne'er commence so hazardous a cause. + + Apollion: + + What hath been wonk no need to win again! + Who most hath lost in glory and in state, + Him doth it most concern. Let him precede, + And beat the measure for a myriad feet. + + Belial: + + Both equity and reason would demand + He wear the crown; though, ere we deeper go, 490 + Let us all dangers weigh and nothing do + Unless all Councillors affix their seals. + + + Chorus of Angels: + + _Strophe_. + + How glares the noble front of Heaven! + Why streams the holy light so red + Upon our face, overspread + With mournful mists from darkness driven? + What sad cloud hath profaned + That pure and never-stained + Clear sapphire, wondrous bright. + The fire, the flame, the light 500 + Of the resplendent Power, + Omnipotence? Why doth that glow + Of God as black as blood thus grow + That in our aery bower + So pleased our eyes? O Angels, say + The cause of this deep gloom now dimming + Your radiance? O'er Adam's sway + On choral raptures ye were swimming, + On Spirit breath, amid a glow + That vault and choir and court below 510 + And towers and battlements o'erflooded + With showers of gold, while joys unclouded + Smiled from the brows of all that live: + Who is it can the reason give? + + + Chorus of Angels. + + _Antistrophe_. + + When Gabriel's trumpet, richly sounding, + Inflamed our souls till a new song + Of praise burst forth among + Those dales, with roses fair abounding, + 'Mid the celestial bowers + Of Paradise, whose flowers 520 + Did ope, joyed by such dew + Of praise, then upwards through + The vast seemed Envy stealing. + A countless host of Spirits dumb. + And wan and pale and sad and grum, + In crowds, dire woe revealing, + Crept slowly past, with drooping eye, + And forehead smooth now frowning rimple. + The doves of Heaven here on high, + Once innocent and pure and simple, 530 + Began to sigh, and seemed to grieve + As if e'en Heaven they did believe + Too small since Adam was created, + And man for such a crown was fated. + This stain offends the Eye of Light: + It flames the face of the Infinite. + + In love we would yet mingle in their ranks: + Again to calm this restless discontent. 538 + + + + + ACT III. + + LUCIFERIANS. CHORUS OF ANGELS. + + + Luciferians: + + How oft belief proves but delusive hope! + Alas! how things have changed. We deemed no rank + Than ours more happy in this rising Realm,-- + Yea, thought our state even like unto God's own, + More blessed than Earth and e'er unchangeable.-- + Till Gabriel met us with his trumpet bold, + And from the golden port the hosts astounded + With this new-made decree, that shall deprive + The Angels of the good, the highest good, + First from the Godhead's breast to them outpoured. 10 + How is our glory dimmed! We now behold + The beauty and the dazzling radiance + That streamed so proudly from our ancient splendor + In darkness quenched. We see the Hierarchies + Of Heaven thrown into confusion strange, + And man to such a rank, to such proud height + Exalted, that we tremble even as slaves + Beneath his sway. O unexpected blow + And change of lot! Ah! comrades in one grief. + Ah! come and gather round in groups and sigh 20 + And weep with us together here. Tis time + To rend this shining raiment, meet for feasts, + To voice our plaints; for none can this forbid. + Our gladness fades and our first sorrow dawns. + Alas! alas! ye choristers of Heaven, + O brothers, tear those garlands from your brows + And change the blithesome livery of joy + For sorrow's gruesome garb. Oh! droop your eyes. + Seek shadows even as we; for sorrow shuns + The light. Let each one raise his voice to ours 30 + And utter fearful plaints. Drown in your grief; + Sink down in mournful thought. To voice your woe, + The burdened heart relieves. Now joy to groan: + For groaning heals the smart. Now shout aloud, + As with one voice, and follow these our woes: + Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed? + + + Chorus of Angels. + + What plaint arises here, unpleasant sound? + The Heavens shrink back in fright. This air on high + Hath not been wont to hear the wail of woe + On sad notes sobbing through these joyful vaults. 40 + Nay, wreaths and palms and loud triumphal song + And tuneful harps are far more meet for us. + What can this be? Who crouches here with head + Down-hanging, sad, forlorn, and needlessly + Oppressed? Who gave them food for grief? Who can + The reason guess? O fellow choristers, + Come then, 'tis needful that we ask the cause + Of their lament and this dark cloud of woe, + That robs our splendor of its radiance + And dims and dulls the bright translucent glow 50 + Of the eternal feast. Heaven is a court + Where joy and peace and all delights abound. + Grief never nestled 'neath these lucid eaves, + Nor woeful pain. Ah! fellow choristers. + Oh! come, console them in their heaviness. + + Luciferian. + + Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed? + + Chorus: + + Companions dear in our high happiness. + Oh! brothers, why? Oh! sons of the glad Light, + Why thus depressed at heart? Who gave you cause + Thus to complain and thus to mourn? Ye had 60 + Begun to lift your heads aloft to Heaven, + To bloom amid the day, whose lustre streams + From God's deep glow. The Heavens brought you forth + To mount in rapid flight from firmament + To firmament beyond, from court to court; + To flit amid the shadeless light content, + In one delightful life, an endless feast; + And e'er to taste the heavenly manna sweet + Of God's eternity, among your friends + In peaceful joys. Oh! why? This is not meet 70 + For dwellers of the Spirit world. Oh! nay. + Nor meet for Dominations, Powers, and Thrones, + Nor for the ruling Heavens. Ye gorge your grief, + And sit perplexed and dumb. Give voice to your + Necessity: reveal it to your friends. + Reveal your heart-sore, that we may relieve. + + + [Illustration: "Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?"] + + + Luciferians: + + O brothers, can ye ask with earnestness + Why we thus grieve? Did ye also not hear + What Gabriel's trump revealed: how we through this + New-given command, down from our state are thrust 80 + Into a slavery of Earth and of + As many souls as from a little blood + And seed may haply spring? What have we done + Amiss? how erred, that God a water-bubble, + Blown full of vapid air, exalts. His sons, + The Angels, to abase?--a bastardy + Exalts, formed out of clay and dust? But now + We stood as trusty pillars, consecrate + Unto His court, adorned our various place + As faithful members of His Realm; and now, 90 + In one brief hour, we are expelled and shorn + Of all our dignity,--oppressed, alas! + Too sternly and with too much heaviness. + The charter and the primal privilege + Received from God are now by Him repealed. + And there where we had thought to rule with God + And under God, shall now this Adam reign, + Triumphant in his seed and blood forever. + The sun of Spirits hath set for them too soon. + Ah I comrades, hear our sorrow and our woes. 100 + Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed? + + Chorus. + + And doth the charge that Gabriel brought from God + You thus disturb? This but a frenzy seems. + Who dares to reprehend the high command? + Who so presumptuous himself against + The Godhead to oppose? To give to God + His honor and His Right, to rest upon + His law, this is our bounden charge. Who dares + To enter here with God's Omnipotence + In such dispute? His word and nod and will 110 + Serve as our law and pace and precept firm. + Who contradiction breathes doth break the seal + Of the Most High. Obedience doth please + The Ruler of this Realm far more than smell + Of incense or divinest harmonies. + Ye are (oh! be ye not so vain, we pray, + Of boasted lineage) created more + For such subjection than for rulership. + O brothers, cease this wailing and lament. + And bow beneath the yoke of the Power Supreme. 120 + + Luciferians: + + Say rather 'neath the yoke of swarming ants. + + Chorus: + + Whene'er it pleases Him, ye should submit. + + Luciferians: + + What have we done amiss? The reasons tell. + + Chorus: + + Amiss? Impatience doth God's crown offend. + + Luciferians: + + Through sorrow we complain, through discontent. + + Chorus: + + Ye should instead your will resign to God. + + Luciferians: + + We rest upon the Rights given us by law. + + Chorus: + + Subject to God your Rights and law remain. + + Luciferians: + + How can the greater to the lesser yield? + + Chorus: + + Who is resigned--to serve God is to rule. 130 + + Luciferians: + + Most freely, let but man rule there below. + + Chorus: + + Though small his lot, man lives in sweet content. + + Luciferians: + + But man is destined for a higher lot. + + Chorus: + + Ages shall come and go ere this shall be. + + Luciferians: + + An age below is but an instant here. + + Chorus: + + Thus be it, if it be command supreme. + + Luciferians: + + Far better were this mystery ne'er disclosed. + + Chorus: + + God in His kindness thus reveals His heart. + + Luciferians: + + Yet kinder towards mankind, now placed above. + + Chorus: + + Allied with God's own nature, wonderful! 140 + + Luciferians: + + O Angels, would that God did pair with you! + + Chorus: + + What pleases God is ever rightly praised. + + Luciferians: + + How could He thus exalt mankind so high? + + Chorus: + + Whatever God does, or yet may do, is well. + + Luciferians: + + How man shall dim the crown the Angels wear! + + Chorus: + + All Angels shall the God incarnate praise. + + Luciferians: + + And worship clay and dust down in the dust? + + Chorus: + + And praise God's name with odors and with song. + + Luciferians: + + And praise mankind, constrained by higher Powers? + + + APOLLION. BELIAL. CHORUS. + + Apollion: + + What murmur this? Dost hear a strife of tongues? 150 + + Belial: + + What throngs lament here, plunged in sable hue. + With veils girt round the breast and loins? None would + Believe that one among the Spirits, amid + The joys unending and the feast eterne, + Could mourn, did we not see this wretched throng + Cast down in woeful grief. What great misfortune, + What dire disaster them disturbs? Oh! how? + O brothers, what doth cause this sad lament? + Who hath offended you? Your Rights we'll guard. + O brothers, speak. Why miserable? the cause? 160 + + Chorus: + + They make complaint of man's approaching state + And triumph, as proclaimed by Gabriel's trumpet; + That he outranks the Angels and that God + Shall join His Being to Adam's--all the Spirits + Thus made subordinate unto man's sway. + This briefly, clearly, states their sorrow's cause. + + Apollion: + + 'Tis hard such inequality to bear. + + Belial: + + It almost goes beyond our utmost strength. + + Chorus: + + We pray your aid this difference to compose. + + Apollion: + + What remedy? How can we them appease? 170 + They rest secure upon their lawful Rights. + + Chorus: + + What Rights? The same power that ordaineth laws + Hath might to abrogate those laws as well. + + Apollion: + + How thus can Justice unjust verdicts speak? + + Chorus: + + Correct God's verdicts, thou! Write thou His laws! + + Belial: + + The child doth follow in his father's steps. + + Chorus: + + To walk where He hath trod is Him to heed. + + Apollion: + + The change in God's own will doth cause this strife. + + Chorus: + + While one He setteth on a throne. He casts + Another down: the one least worthy must 180 + Unto the son more favored then submit. + + Belial: + + Equality of grace would best become + The Godhead. Now the darkness dares to dim + The light celestial, while the sons of night + Defy the day itself. + + Chorus: + + Whatever doth breathe + May rightly the Creator praises bring, + Who each his being gave and unto each + Gave his degree. Whene'er it pleaseth Him, + The element of earth shall change to air, + To water, or to fire; the Heaven itself, 190 + To Earth; an Angel, to a beast; mankind, + To Angels or to something new and strange. + One Power rules over all, and thus can make + The proudest tower become the humblest base. + The least received is in pure money given. + Here is no choice. Here wit and knowledge fail. + In such unlikeness doth God's glory lie. + So see we with things lightest weighed those things + Of greatest weight, which thus e'en heavier grow: + Thus beauty fairer glows o'er beauty glossed, 200 + Hue cast o'er hue, the diamond splendor over + The blue turquoise; so see 'gainst odors odors, + The light intense against the glimmer dim, + The galaxies unto the stars opposed. + Our place within the universal plan + Thus to disturb, into confusion all + Things throwing that once God did there dispose + And place; and all the creature may arrange: + This is mis-shapen to the inmost joint. + Cease, then, this murmuring. The Godhead can 210 + The state of Angels miss; nor aided is + By others' service; for the glorious Realm + Eterne nor music needs, nor incense, nor + These odors swung, nor harmonies of praise. + Ungrateful Spirits, be still: your base tongues curb. + Ye know not God's design. Be ye content + With your established lot, and unto God + And Gabriel's decree yourselves submit. + + Apollion: + + Is then the high state of the ruling Spirits + So changeable? They stand on slippery ground, 220 + How pitiable their lot! how miserable! + + Chorus: + + Because a lesser in this Realm shall reign? + We shall remain as now: how are we wronged? + + Belial: + + They are the nighest God, their refuge sure + And Father: they upon His breast have lain: + Now lies a lesser one more close than they. + + Chorus: + + For one to grieve o'er others' bliss shows lack + Of love, and scents of envy and of pride. + Let not this stain upon the purity + And brightness of the Angels thus remain. 230 + To strive in concord, love, and faithfulness. + The one against the other here, doth please + The Father, who all things in ranks ordained. + + Belial: + + So they maintain the rank the Heavens them gave; + But hardly can endure man's slave to be. + + Chorus: + + That's disobedience, and from their rank + They thus shall fall away. Thou seest how, too, + The hosts of Heaven, in golden armor clad + And in appointed ranks arrayed, keep watch, + Each in his turn; how this star sets and that 240 + Ascends; and how not one of all on high + The lustre dulls of others there more clear, + Nor yet of those more dim; how some stars, too, + A greater, others lesser orbits trace: + Those nearest to Heaven most swift and those beyond + More slowly turn: yet midst this all, among + These inequalities of light, degree, + And rank, of orbit, kind, and pace, thou seest + No discord, envy, strife. The Voice of Him + Who ruleth all this measured cadence leads, 250 + That listens and Him faithfully obeys. + + Belial: + + The firmament remains, as God decreed. + Had it not pleased Him thus to disarrange + The state of Angels, they would not, as now, + Awake the stars from their harmonious peace, + Nor thus disturb with plaints these quiet courts, + + Chorus: + + Beware lest thou this discontent shouldst flame. + + Apollion: + + We would this low'ring cloud might leave our sky + Before it bursts and sets the vast expanse + Of Heaven in flames. They grow in numbers. + Who 260 + Shall them appease? Who cometh hitherward? + + + LUCIFERIANS. BELZEBUB. CHORUS. + + Luciferians: + + Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed? + + Belzebub: + + All goeth well: we gain increase. In grief + The Angels now assemble, and in woe + Their heads they droop together. What doth move + You. Angel hosts, with sighs and groans to mourn? + Can, then, the bloom of happiness thus fade? + In peace all to possess that Spirit can wish + From God, the Giver--doth even this content + You not? Ye therefore stand in your own light. 270 + And cherish mournfulness, whose cause I can + Nor fathom nor discern. Come, cease your groans, + Nor longer tear your standards and your robes + Without a cause; but clear your clouded face + And darkened forehead with new radiance, + O children of the Light! The voices shrill. + Whose deep-resounding songs the Godhead praise, + Grow faint, displeased that ye should mingle with + Their godlike melody such spurious sounds + And bastard tones. Your bitter moan doth mar 280 + The rhythm of the celestial palace till + These vaults re-echo with your woe. The wail + Of sorrow through the highest arches rolls. + From sphere to sphere: nor without crime can ye + By such sad discord thus the growth disturb + Of God's great name and glorious majesty. + + Luciferians: + + Chief Lord, whose potent word unnumbered bands + Would call to arms, thou comest most opportune + To soothe our misery and to prevent + By thy great power this threatened injury 290 + And undeserved disgrace. Shall Gabriel + The sacred crown of the holy Angels place + On Adam's head: through Adam's son and heir + Crush God's first-born? 'Twere better far had we + Not been made ere the splendor-dazzling sun + His chariot mounted and in Heaven shone. + The Godhead chose in vain the Spirits as guards + Of these immobile courts, if thus He shall. + Against their vested Rights, Himself oppose; + Who guiltless to resistance are provoked 300 + By dire impatience and necessity. + We were rejoicing here, enraptured with + The praise to God outpoured, were bowing low + In deep humility, and worshipping + 'Mid burning censers with devotion flamed:-- + All-quivering with the rippling notes, the Heavens, + From choir to choir, unto the sound gave ear-- + Yea, melted slowly in delicious joy, + With song and harp enchanted--when the trump + Of Gabriel 'mid the rising harmony 310 + Blew that decree, and midst the glory fell + This sudden thunderbolt of night. There lay + We all amazed, dispersed, with gloom depressed. + The gladness died away. Hushed were the throats + Pregnant with praise. The youngest son was given + The crown, the sceptre, and the blessing, while + The eldest-born, thus disinherited, + By Majesty Supreme, marked as a slave + Remains. That is the part obedience, + Devotion, love, and faithfulness receive 320 + From God's rich treasury, that mourning brings; + That wrath enkindles, and thoughts of revenge, + Grown out of righteous hate, to smother in + His blood this upstart man, ere he shall crush + The Angels in their state; and they be forced, + As base and craven slaves, with fetters bound, + To run before his lash and at his will, + Even as he keeps the beasts beneath in awe. + Chief Lord, thou canst prevent our fall, and by + Our charter yet preserve our Rights: protect 330 + Us by thy power. We are prepared even now + To follow 'neath thy standard and command, + To be thy troops. Lead on. 'Tis glorious + To battle for one's honor, crown, and Right. + + Belzebub: + + Methinks that thou art wrong. O King of Lords, + 'Twere better to avert this. Give no cause + For mutiny or discord: give no cause + Whereby Rebellion grows. What remedy? + How reconcile you with the Majesty + Supreme? + + Luciferians: + + He doth transgress the holy Right 340 + Once to the Angels given. + + Belzebub: + + The lawful Rights + Of subjects to transgress can them inflame, + And fires enkindle that the very air + Would soon consume. How poor a recompense + For stainless faith! How shall we best conduct + Ourselves amid this mournful hopelessness? + + Luciferians: + + 'Twill comfort us one bold attempt to make. + + Belzebub: + + What venture this? Adopt a softer pace. + + Luciferians: + + This violence needs, compulsion, and revenge. + + Belzebub: + + We might, mayhap, a safer method choose. 350 + + Luciferians: + + Delay would bring us here not gain, but loss. + + Belzebub: + + One should his wrong with reason understand. + + Luciferians: + + Reason doth publish here: we are oppressed. + + Belzebub: + + With prayers ye first and best might gain your end. + + Luciferians: + + This plot to bare would foil its execution. + + Belzebub: + + Scarce can such plot be hidden from the light. + + Luciferians: + + We're gaining fast, and stand in equipoise. + + Belzebub: + + Their chance is best who with God's Marshal fight. + + Luciferians: + + This can be righted ne'er by fright nor moan. + + Belzebub: + + But what say Belial and Apollion? 360 + + Luciferians: + + Both are with us, and strengthen our array. + + Belzebub: + + How gained ye them? 'Tis far, indeed, progressed. + + Luciferians: + + The Heavens flow toward us now with teeming floods. + + Belzebub: + + Trust not in armies formed of wavering throngs. + + Luciferians: + + Even now advantage towers, and danger flees. + + Belzebub: + + Who rashly dares should not advantage claim. + + Luciferians: + + All on the issue hangs. Before the event + All judgment errs. The gathered hosts demand + Thee as their leader and their sovran chief + In this our expedition. + + Belzebub: + + But who could 370 + Be so bereft of wit as to defend + Your righteous cause, and by such course provoke + The battled hosts of Heaven? Aye, to yourselves + Be ye more merciful. Exempt me from + This charge. I choose to hold a neutral place. + Deliberation will yet make things right. + + Chorus. + + O! brothers, hear. Through mediators take + Unto God's Throne your supplications sad. + More ground is won by mediation than + Rebellion's steep ascent. With coolness act: 380 + With reason and deliberation weigh. + We will on high your Rights defend. Be calm + Ye offend the crown of God, the Lord of Lords. + + Luciferians: + + And ye, our vested Right: be ye less bold. + Lord Belzebub, advance our lawful claim. + Place all the legions now in battle line. + We'll follow thee together. + + Belzebub: + + Stay, O think, + Ye flaming zealots, think, I pray you, farther. + I will precede you to the palace grand, + Unto the Throne, and there our Rights obtain 390 + Through peaceful means and mutual covenants, + Made voluntarily and uncompelled. + + Chorus: + + Be still! be still! thou art by Michael spied. + + + [Illustration: "Be still! Be still! thou art by Michael spied!"] + + + MICHAEL. BELZEBUB. LUCIFERIANS. + + Michael: + + Where are we? What great noise arises here? + This seems a court of tumult and dispute, + Instead of peace, obedience, and faith. + Prince Belzebub, what reasons move thee thus, + Head of rebellious hordes, to aid a cause + So pregnant with such godless treachery, + Against that God the refuge of us all? 400 + + Belzebub: + + Mercy, O Michael! Deem us worthy words + Explanatory, ere in zealous wrath + Thou dost thy sentence for God's honor pass. + Impute to us no guilt. + + Michael: + + Your innocence + Establish. I shall patiently attend. + + Belzebub: + + The assemblage of so many thousand troops, + Disturbed by God's command, through Gabriel's trumpet + From out the Throne of Thrones proclaimed, demands + Some mediation that shall quench this flame; + Wherefore I came to gain a better sense 410 + Of the ground of their complaints, to quell as best + I could this mutiny. But they began + With frantic haste and raving recklessness + To force their clamorous claims upon me. I + Then made attempt their forces to disperse + (Let to my faith these faithful choristers + Their witness bear), to counsel that they pour + Their grievances before God's Throne; but 'mid + This tumult and this clamor, vain my zeal, + As if to calm a sea swollen to the skies. 420 + Let now the Field-marshal lead on; we are + Prepared to follow, if he see a way + To smooth this difference. + + Michael: + + Who dares oppose + Himself to God and His most holy will? + And who so bold these warlike banners thus + To plant within the virgin Realm of peace? + If ye through envoys wish to treat on high, + For your defence, we will your cause assume + And mediate with God that He forgive: + Or else beware your heads! This ne'er succeeds. 430 + + Luciferians: + + And wouldst thou then oppress our holy Right + By force of arms? Unto the Field-marshal + They were not given for such purpose dire. + We rest alone upon our vested Rights. + Most bold and strong is conscious righteousness. + + Michael: + + Least righteous he who would rebel 'gainst God. + + Luciferians: + + We serve God. He has for His service found + Us ever worthy. Let the Heavens remain + In their first state. Nor let the honored sons + Of the Fatherland celestial thus be placed 440 + Beneath mankind in rank and dignity. + For such disgrace the Thrones and Hierarchies, + The Powers and Dominations, high and low, + Of Spirits, of Angels, and of great Archangels, + Shall ne'er endure. Ah! nay, although, forsooth, + Thy lightning spear should pierce them, breast on breast, + Through their most faithful hearts. From Adam's race + We never shall such bold defiance brook. + + Michael: + + I will that each depart, even as I wave + My hand. He God and Godhead doth oppose. 450 + Who now, forsworn, 'gainst us shall take his stand. + Depart unto your posts. That is the duty + Of soldiers and of loyal sons of Heaven. + What violence? What impious threat is this? + Who wages war, save 'neath my banner bold, + Doth fight 'gainst God and doth oppose His Realm. + + Luciferians: + + Who wards his Right need fear no violence. + Nature made each defender of his Right. + + Michael: + + 'Tis my command ye lay your weapons down. + Such gathering breaks your honor and your oath. 460 + + Luciferians: + + The hosts Angelic are by nature bound + In union strong. They stand or fall together. + Not one alone is touched in this dispute, + But one and all. + + Michael: + + Would ye with weapons then + In such tumultuousness the Heavens embroil? + These were not given you to use 'gainst God. + Abuse your power, then fear the Power Supreme. + + Luciferians: + + The Stadtholder we hourly here await. + In haste he hath been summoned to attend. + We'll venture all, 'gainst Gods arraying Gods, 470 + Rather than thus our Rights resign through force. + + Michael: + + So great an indiscretion I shall never + From Heaven's Stadtholder await. + + Luciferians: + + It seems + More like an indiscretion thus to place + Those older and first born, like servile slaves, + Beneath the yoke of him, the youngest-born. + But that the Angels now defend their kind, + And here against their peers, in rank and state + And being, contend, is indiscretion called. + + Michael: + + O stiff-necked kind, ye are no longer sons 480 + Of Light; but rather are a bastard race, + Which yields not even to God. Ye but provoke + The lightning stroke and wrath implacable. + Harden your hearts, lo! what calamity + And what a fall for you reserved! Ye heed + Nor counsel nor advice. We'll see what us + Enjoined is on high by Voice Supreme. + Come, then; I wish now all the choristers + And hosts yet righteous and yet virtuous + To part, at once, from these rebellious throngs. 490 + + Luciferians: + + Let part who will; but we shall keep together. + + Michael: + + Come follow, O ye faithful choristers, + God's Field-marshal behind. + + Luciferians: + + Depart in peace. + + + BELZEBUB. LUCIFER. LUCIFERIANS. + + Belzebub: + + The Field-marshal, in haste, to God hath gone, + Bearing complaint. Keep heart: Prince Lucifer + Speeds hitherward on winged chariot. + Ye should therefore at once deliberate. + Helpless the battled host without a chief: + As to myself, the post is far too grave. + + Lucifer: + + Afar and wide, the Heavens vibrate and shake 500 + With the sound of your disputes. The legions stand + Divided, split in twain. The tumult wins + Increase. Our great necessity enjoins + Much prudence here, disaster to prevent. + + Luciferians: + + Lord Stadtholder, of all the Spirits brave. + Retreat and refuge sure, we hope that thou + Shalt ne'er, as Michael, doom the neck of the Angels + To be thrust 'neath the feet of Adam's brood, + And then, as he, go gild and bloom this shame + And insult with the show of equity; 510 + And with thy might sustain the bold ascent + Of man, this gross and Earth-born race. To God, + By him so seldom seen, what incense brings he? + Why stand we charged to serve a worm so base, + To bear him on our hands, to heed his voice? + Made God the boundless Heavens and Angels then + For him alone? 'Twere better far had we + Never been made, sooth, had we never been. + Oh! pity, Lucifer, do not permit + Our Order now so low to be abased, 520 + And, guiltless, to decline, while man, thus made + The Chief of Angels, e'er shall shine and glow + Amid the splendor inaccessible, + Before which Seraphim as shadows fade, + With dreadful trembling. If thou'lt condescend + So great injustice in this Realm to quell, + And shalt maintain our Rights, we swear together + E'er to support thy mighty arm. Then grasp + This battle-axe. Help us our Rights to ward. + We swear, by force, in majesty undimmed, 530 + To set thee on the Throne for Adam made. + We swear with one accord support. Then grasp + This battle-axe. Help us our Rights to ward. + + Lucifer: + + My sons, upon whose faith and loyalty + No stain of treason lies, all that God wills, + All He demands of us, is right: I know + No other law; and stay, as Stadtholder + Of God, His late decree and His resolve + With all my might. This sceptre which I bear, + To my right hand the great Omnipotent 540 + Gave, as a mark of mercy and a sign + Of His love and affection for us all. + Doth now His mind and heart to Adam turn, + And doth it please Him now to set mankind + In full dominion us above--them over + Both you and me to crown, though in our charge + We ne'er grew weary, yet what remedy? + Who will oppose such resolution here? + Had He to Adam given an equal rank, + A nature like unto the Angel world, 550 + It were supportable for all the sons + Of Heaven, sprung from God's lineage; now let + Them be displeased, if such displeasure be + On high not counted as a stain. However, + There is a danger on each side--to yield + Through fearfulness, or boldly to oppose. + I wish that your resentment He forgive. + + Luciferians: + + Lord Stadtholder, aye, grasp this battle-axe. + Protect our holy Right. We'll follow thee. + We'll follow on. Lead thou with speedy wings: 560 + We'll perish, or triumphant overcome. + + Lucifer: + + That breaks our oath and Gabriel's command. + + Luciferians: + + That violates God's self, sets man above. + + Lucifer: + + Let God His honor, Throne, and majesty + Himself preserve. + + Luciferians: + + Do thou preserve thy throne. + As pillars we will stay thee, and the state + Of the Angel world as well. Mankind shall never + Our crown, the crown of God, tread in the dust. + + Lucifer: + + Soon shall the Field-marshal, great Michael, armed + With blessings from on high, 'gainst us appear, 570 + With all his host. His army 'gainst your own-- + How great the difference! + + Luciferians: + + If not one half. + At least a third part of the Spirits, thou + Shalt sweep with thee, when thou shalt join our side. + + Lucifer: + + Then shall we venture all, our favor lost + To the oppressors of your lawful Right. + + Luciferians: + + Courage, hope, insult, sorrow, and despair, + Prudence and injury and vengeance for + Such inequality, not otherwise + Composed: all this, and what on this depends, 580 + Shall nerve our arms to strike the blow. + + Belzebub: + + Even now + The Holy Realm is in our power. Whatever + May be resolved, our weapons shall enforce, + Our arms shall soon compel. Once place us here + In battle rank, and they who waver yet, + Soon toward our side shall lean. + + Lucifer: + + I trust me, then, + This violence with violence to oppose. + + Belzebub: + + Mount, then, these steps. O bravest of the brave! + Lord Stadtholder, we pray, ascend this throne, + That thee we now allegiance may swear. 590 + + Lucifer: + + Prince Belzebub, bear witness; also ye, + O Lords illustrious; Apollion, + Bear witness thou, and thou, Prince Belial bold, + That I, constrainèd by necessity + And by compulsion, shall advance this cause. + Thus to defend God's Realm and to ward off + Our own impending ruin. + + Belzebub: + + Then bring on + Our standard, that we may, beneath its folds. + Swear God allegiance and our Morning-star. + + Luciferians: + + We swear alike by God and Lucifer. 600 + + Belzebub: + + Now bring the censers on, ye faithful hosts. + Faithful to God. Praise Lucifer with bowl. + Rich with perfume, and flaming candle-sticks: + Him glorify with light and glow and torch. + Extol him then with poem, music, song. + Trumpet and pipe. It doth behoove us now + Him with such pomp and splendor to attend: + Raise, then, sonorous lays to his great crown. + + Chorus of Luciferians: + + Forward, O ye hosts, Lucifer's minions; + Banners wave! 610 + Marshal now your bands, spread your swift pinions-- + On, ye brave! + Follow your God where his drumbeats command. + Guard well your Rights and Fatherland. + Help him Michael now hurl to confusion, + War, your mood! + Fighting 'gainst Heaven for Adam's exclusion. + And his brood! + Follow this hero to trumpet and drum. + Protect our crown, whate'er may come. 620 + See, oh! see now the Morning-star shining! + In that light + Soon shall our foe's proud flag be declining + Into night! + Now in triumph we crown God Lucifer: + Come worship him; revere his star. + + + Chorus of Angels: + + _Strophe_. + + What sad surprises waken. + Since Heaven's civil war + Burst with divisive jar; + And blindly hath been taken 630 + The sword for mad attempt! + Who 'mong celestial legions. + Or wins or falls, exempt + From grief, to view in the regions + Of joy such misery + 'Mong their fellows and their brothers: + How some, overcome, would flee, + While in exile wander others? + O sons of God on high, + Where errs your destiny? 640 + + _Antistrophe_. + + Alas! where now those erring + Spirits? What sorcery + From their dear certainty + Seduced them, vainly luring + Them from their rank and state? + Led them to wicked daring? + Our bliss became too great, + Too wanton for our bearing; + E'en Heaven's altitude + The Angels were outgrowing; 650 + And then came Envy's brood. + Seeds of Rebellion sowing + In the peaceful Fatherland. + Who cools War's lurid brand? + + _Epode_. + + Doth not soon some power transcending + War's fierce flames in bounds enchain, + What will unconsumed remain? + Treason's horrors are impending: + Fires of discord shall profane + Heaven and Earth and sea and plain. 660 + Treason seeks her justifying + In her triumph; then she would + God's own mandates be defying: + Treason knows nor God nor blood. 664 + + + + + ACT IV. + + GABRIEL. MICHAEL. + + + Gabriel: + + The whole of Heaven glows with the fierce blaze + Of tumult and of treachery. I now + Command thee, as ambassador from God, + And His high Throne, to rise without delay + And burn out with a glow of fire and zeal + These dark, polluting stains in God's great name, + And in the name of the unstained Heavens. + Prince Lucifer defies with trump and drum. + + Michael: + + Has Lucifer, alas! been faithless found? + + Gabriel: + + The third part of the Heavens swore but now 10 + The standard of that fickle Morning-star + Their firm allegiance, perfumed his throne + With incense, even as if he were a God; + And with the blasphemous sounds of godless music + Him praises sang. Now hitherward they come, + Thronging with mighty hordes that threaten all, + How terribly! to burst with violence + The gate that leads unto the armoury. + A crash of tempests fierce and wild doth roar + On every side. The lightnings rage and rave. 20 + The thunders, in their travail laboring, + Shake even the ponderous pillars of these courts. + We hear no Seraphim, nor sounds of praise. + Each sits apart, enwrapped in voiceless gloom. + Now hushed at once are all the Angel choirs, + And then again they cry aloud in grief + And in their pity o'er this blind revolt + Of the blessed Angel world, and o'er the fall + Of the Angelic race. Aye, 'tis full time + That thou perform thy charge, that thou observe 30 + The sacred oath that thou, as Field-marshal, + Didst swear upon the lightning's lurid edge, + By God's most holy name. + + + [Illustration: "Each sits apart, enwrapped in voiceless gloom."] + + + Michael: + + What, then, doth move + God's Stadtholder thus to oppose himself + Against God, as the impious head and chief + Of mad conspirators? + + Gabriel: + + The Heavens know + How loth I am to make in such a way + Defence of God's most righteous cause. But oh! + How terrible the wrath laid up for him! + For we can find no means by which to lead 40 + This erring race of blind unfortunates + Along the road, the high-road of their faith. + Myself saw there the radiant joy of God + Itself o'ershadow with a gathering cloud + Of mournfulness, until, at last. His wrath + A flame enkindled in His eyes of light, + Ere He, to ward the threatened blow, gave charge + Unto this expedition. I then heard + Awhile the plea, how there in equipoise + God's Mercy stood against His Righteousness, 50 + By weight of reason held. I saw, too, how + The Cherubim, upon their faces fallen. + Cried with one voice, "Oh! mercy, mercy. Lord; + Not justice give." This dire dispute had thus + Been expiated, yea, almost atoned.-- + So much seemed God to mercy then inclined. + And reconciliation; but as up + The smell of incense rose, the smoke beneath + To Lucifer, from countless censers swung. + Amid the sounds of trump and choral praise, 60 + The Heavens their eyes averted from such sight + And such idolatry, accursed of God + And Spirit and all the Hierarchies above: + Then Mercy took its flight. Awake to arms! + The Godhead summons thee, ere the tumult us + Surprise, to tame by thine own arm these fierce + Behemoths and Leviathans, who thus + Most wickedly conspire. + + Michael: + + Come, Uriel, squire! + Haste speedily and bring the lightnings here; + Also my armor, helm, and shield. Then bring 70 + God's banner on, and blow the trumpet bold. + To arms! at once, to arms! ye Thrones and Powers, + Who, true and faithful, are with us arrayed. + Ye legions, on! each in his place. The Heavens + Have given command. Now blow the trumpet bold + And beat the hollow drum, and summon here, + In haste, the countless cohorts of the armed, + Blow, then! My armor, I put on; for here + God's honor is concerned. There's no retreat. + + Gabriel: + + This armor fits thy form as if 'twere made 80 + With thee. Behold! our glorious banner comes, + From which God's name and ensign grandly beam, + While yon high sun doth promise thee success. + Here come the chiefs, to greet thee as the head + Of the celestial legions that have sworn + God's standard to uphold. Take courage, then, + Prince Michael, thou shalt battle for thy God. + + Michael: + + Aye! aye! Keep thou my place on high. We go. + + Gabriel: + + Thy march we'll follow with our thoughts and prayers. + + LUCIFER. BELZEBUB. LUCIFERIANS. + + Lucifer: + + How holds our army? How is it inclined? 90 + + Belzebub: + + The army longs, prepared, 'neath thy command, + To plunge at once against Michael's armament. + + Luciferians: + + 'Tis true; each waits for Lucifer's command + To haste at once, with speedy wings and arms, + To steal away from our great enemy + His air and wind, and, as he lies confused + In helpless swoon, to chain him forcibly. + + Lucifer: + + How many strong our host? Wherein our strength? + + Belzebub: + + That grows apace and sweeps on toward us with + A rush and roar from every firmament, 100 + Like a vast sea aglow with radiant lights. + Indeed, a third part of the Heavens embrace + Our side, if not the half; for Michael's tide. + On every hand, each moment swiftly ebbs. + The half, even of the watch and of the chiefs + That round the palace guard--of every rank. + Of every Hierarchy some--have forsworn + Their lord. Prince Michael, even as we. Behold + Archangels, Cherubim, and Seraphim + Our standards bearing. Even Paradise, 110 + Made mournful by the sounds of woe, grows dim + In hue, and its bright verdure fades. Wherever + The eye doth look, there seem signs of decay; + And up above a threatening thunder-cloud + Doth seem to hang. This portent bodes our bliss. + We need but to begin. Already doth + The crown of Heaven rest upon thy brow. + + Lucifer: + + That sound doth please me more than Gabriel's trump. + Attend and listen, ye, beneath this throne; + Attend, ye chiefs; attend, ye valiant knights, 120 + And hear our charge, in words both clear and brief. + Ye know how far in our revengeful course, + Against the Ruler of the palaces + Supreme, we have advanced: so that it were + For us but folly to retreat with hope + Of reconciliation; how none dares + To think to purify, through mercy, this + Our stain indelible: necessity + Must therefore be our law, a stronghold sure. + From which there is no wavering nor retreat. 130 + Defend ye then, ne'er looking back, with all + Your might, this standard and my star: in brief + The free-created state all Angels own. + Let things proceed howe'er they will, press on + With heart undaunted and with cheerfulness. + Not even the Omnipotence on high hath power + Completely to annihilate the being + That ye have once, for all eternity. + Received. In case ye fiercely shall attack + With your whole force, and pierce with violence 140 + The heart of your great foe, and chance to win: + So shall the hated tyranny of Heaven + Into a state of freedom then be changed, + And Adam's son and seed, crowned us above + In honor, with a retinue of Earth + Around, shall not then chain your necks unto + The fetters of a slavish bondage that + Would make you sweat for him and pant beneath + The brazen yoke of servitude forever. + If now ye own me as the head and chief 150 + Of your free state, even as just now ye swore + With one full voice beneath this standard bright, + So raise that binding oath again together, + That we may hear; and swear allegiance + And loyalty unto our morning-star, + + Luciferians: + + We swear alike by God and Lucifer. + + Belzebub: + + But see how Rafael with the branch of peace, + Astounded and compassionate, flies down + To clasp thy neck, with hope of peace and truce. + + + RAFAEL. LUCIFER. + + Rafael: + + Oh! Stadtholder. Voice of the Power Divine, 160 + What thus hath driven thee beyond the path + Of duty? Wouldst thou now thyself oppose + To Him, the source of all thy pomp? Wouldst thou + Now rashly waver, and thus change thy faith? + I hope this ne'er shall be. Alas! I faint + With grief, and hang upon thy neck oppressed + And wan. + + Lucifer: + + Most righteous Rafael! + + Rafael: + + O my joy. + My longing, hear me now, I pray. + + Lucifer: + + Speak on. + So long it pleaseth thee. + + Rafael: + + O Lucifer, + Be merciful! Oh I save thyself; nor bear 170 + Thy weapons thus 'gainst me, who sadly melt + In tears, and pine in sorrow for thy sake. + I come with medicine and mercy's balm, + Sprung from the bosom of the Deity, + "Who, as within His Council He decreed, + Hath made thee chief of myriad crowned Powers, + And thee, anointed, placed upon thy throne + As Stadtholder. What folly this, that thus + Deprives thee of thy wit? God hath His seal + And image stamped upon thy hallowed head 180 + And forehead, where all beauty seemed outpoured, + With wisdom and benevolence and all + That flows in streams unbounded from the fount + Of every precious thing. In Paradise, + Before the countenance of God's own sun, + Thou shon'st from clouds of dew and roses fresh; + Thy festal robes stood stiff with pearl, turquoise. + And diamond, ruby, emerald, and fine gold; + 'Twas thy right hand the weightiest sceptre held; + And as soon as thou didst mount into the light, 190 + Throughout the blazing firmament and through + These shining vaults the sounds began to roll + Of trumpet and of drum. And wouldst thou now + So rashly hurl thyself from thy great throne? + --Thus jeopardize thy glory, all this pomp? + Wouldst thou thy splendors that the Heavens adorn + And that obscure our glow so heedlessly + Now cause to change into a shapeless lump + And complication of all beasts and monsters + In one, with claw of griffin, dragon's head, 200 + And other horrors terrible? And shall + The eyes of Heaven, the stars, see thee so low, + Deprived of all thy power, thy honor, worth, + And majesty, through perjuring thine oath? + Prevent it, O good God, whose countenance, + Amid the Blessed Light, I gaze upon, + Where we, the hallowed Seven, do Him serve, + Before His Throne, and shake and tremble 'neath + That Majesty that on our forehead beams, + That quickens, and that life doth give to all 210 + That live and breathe. Lord Stadtholder, let now + My prayers affect thy heart. Thou know'st my pure + Intent, and heart distressed for thee. Tear off + That shining crest so proud, that armor toss + Aside. The battle-axe cast from this hand, + Thy shield then from the other: nay, not thus, + Not higher. Oh! throw it now aside. I pray. + Oh! cast it down. Let fall thy streaming standard + Of thine own free will, also thine outstretched wings, + Before God and His splendor, ere He shall 220 + From cut His Throne, the highest firmament + O honor, swoop to grind thee into dust: + Yea, so that of the race of Spirits, nor branch + Nor root, nor life nor even memory, + Remain; unless it be a state of woe, + Of pain, of death and of despair, the worm + Endless remorse, and a gnashing dire of teeth + Should bear the name of life. Submit thou, then. + Cease this attempt. I offer thee God's grace, + Even with this olive-branch. Accept, or else 230 + 'Twill be too late. + + Lucifer: + + Lord Rafael, I nor threat + Nor wrath deserve. My heroes both by God + And Lucifer have sworn, and under oaths + To Heaven have raised this standard thus aloft. + Let rumors, therefore, far and wide be spread + Throughout the Heavens: I battle under God + For the defence of these His choristers, + And for the Charter and the Rights which were + Their lawful heritage ere Adam saw + The rising sun: yea, ere o'er Paradise 240 + The daylight shone. No human power, no yoke + Of man, shall plague the necks of Spirits, nor shall + The Angel world, like any servile slave, + Support the throne of Adam with its neck, + Unfettered now, unless in some abyss + The Heavens shall bury us, together with + The sceptres, crowns, and splendors that to us + The Godhead from His bosom gave, for time + And for eternity! Let burst what will, + I shall maintain the holy Right, compelled 250 + By high necessity, thus urged at length, + Though much against my will, by the complaints + And mournful groans of myriad tongues. Go hence, + This message bear unto the Father, whom + I serve, and under whom I thus unfurl + This warlike standard for our Fatherland. + + Rafael: + + O Stadtholder, why thus disguise thy thoughts + Before the all-seeing Eye? Thy purpose thou + Canst not conceal. The rays flashed from His face + Lay bare the darkness, the ambition that 260 + Thy pregnant spirit reveals in all its shape. + And lo! even now its travail hath begun + This monster to bring forth. Where shall I hide + Me in my fright? How rise my hairs with fear! + Thou erring Morning-star, oh! spare thyself! + Thou canst not satisfy Omniscience + With such deceit. + + Lucifer: + + Ambition? Say me, then, + Where hath my duty suffered through neglect? + + Rafael: + + What hast thou in thy heart of hearts resolved!-- + shall mount up from here beneath, through all 270 + The clouds, aye, even above God's galaxies, + Into the top of Heaven, like unto God + Himself; nor shall the beams of mercy fall + On any Power, unless before my seat + It kneel in homage down! No majesty + Shall sceptre dare, nor crown, unless I shall + First grant it leave out of my towering throne!" + Oh! hide thy face. Fall down and fold thy wings. + Have care to know a higher Power above. + + + [Illustration: "Thou erring Morning-star, oh! spare thyself."] + + + Lucifer: + + How now? Am I not then God's Stadtholder? 280 + + Rafael: + + That art thou, and from the unbounded Realm + Thou didst receive a power determinate. + Thou rulest in His name. + + Lucifer: + + Alas! how long? + Until Prince Adam shall make us ashamed: + When he, placed o'er the Angel world, shall from + The bounteous bosom of the Deity + His crown receive, and take his seat by God. + + Rafael: + + Even though the sovran Lord should thus divide + His power with His inferiors; though He should + Command that man upon his head shall place 290 + The brightest crown; him consecrate the Chief + Of Spirits, o'er all that crown or sceptre bear. + Or e'er shall bear: learn thou submissively + To bow 'neath God's decree. + + Lucifer: + + That is the stone + Whereon this battle-axe shall whet its edge. + + Rafael: + + Thou'lt whet it rashly for thine own proud neck. + Think where we are. The Heavens can bear no stain + Of pride, hate, envy, or malevolence. + The wrath of Deity doth threaten soon + To wipe this blot away. Here not avails 300 + Dissembling. Oh! that I this blasphemy + Could hide from the all-seeing Sun and from + The all-penetrating Eye. O Lucifer, + Where is thy glory now? + + Lucifer: + + My glory was + Long since to Adam given, and to his seed. + I am no longer called the eldest heir, + The son first consecrate. + + Rafael: + + Prince Lucifer, + Oh! spare thyself: submit unto the wish + Of the Most High. Oh! deem us worthy now + To bear such joyful tidings up above. 310 + Each waits with longing eyes for my return. + Before thy splendor I most humbly kneel. + Oh! for the sake of God, beware lest thou + Encouragement shalt give to mutiny, + That on thy will and word doth henceforth turn, + As on its axis. Wouldst thou thus, against + The courts of Heaven, this air so full of peace + And holiness, for the first time disturb + By the clash of countless warring myriads?-- + Thus to the sound of trump and drum unfurl 320 + These battle-banners bold?--Thyself to God + The matchless wrestler thus oppose? + + Lucifer: + + 'Tis we + That are opposed. Were unto Adam's race + But given a rank and throne, even similar + To that the Angels own, 'twere to be borne. + Now fly, instead, o'er all the roofs of Heaven + The sparks blown from this burning in the skies. + Peace! Angels all, and reverentially + Your homage bring, for all that you possess, + To Adam and his seed. To strive 'gainst man 330 + Is the Godhead to oppose! Oh! how could God, + Within His heart, so low, so deep degrade + Him whom He for the mightiest sceptre formed: + A worthiness once sanctified to rule, + So sadly thus abase for one so low, + And thus disrobe of all its splendid pomp, + And cause it thus to curse the glorious dawn + Of its ascent--to wish far rather that + It had remained a shadow without hue, + A nothing without life? For not to be 340 + Is better thousand times than such a fall. + + Rafael: + + A vassal's power is no inheritance: + It stands free and apart. + + Lucifer: + + This power is then + No boon, if power it may be called. + + Rafael: + + Thy place + Maintain: or hast thou then forgot thy charge? + Thy place, as Stadtholder, to thee was given + That in thy wisdom thou mightst keep all things + In peace and order here. And dost thou now. + The perjured chief of blind conspirators. + Put on this coat of mail to fight thy God? 350 + + Lucifer: + + Necessity and self-defence compelled + These arms; nor wished we to engage with God. + Reason would speak, even though our arms were dumb. + We fight in Freedom's cause, denied this bliss? + + Rafael: + + No bliss is glorious, where in one realm + The embattled squadrons of the state must fight + Against their peers. Most pitiful it is, + When brothers of the selfsame order must, + At last, even by their brothers be o'ercome. + Oh! Stadtholder, for our sake, and for fear 360 + Of God and of His threatened punishment, + Send hence thy gathered legions, send them hence. + Oh! melt, I pray, beneath my prayers. I hear, + 'Tis terrible! the chains a-forging now, + That thee shall drag, when vanquished and bound, + In triumph through the skies. And hark! I hear + A din, and see the hosts of Michael draw + With nearing tread. 'Tis time, yea, 'tis high time, + Thou cease this mad attempt. + + Lucifer: + What profits it + Even though unto the utmost I repent 370 + Here is no hope of grace. + + Rafael: + + But I assure + Thee mercy; for I now appoint myself + Thy mediator up above and as + Thy hostage there. + + Lucifer: + + My star to plunge in shame + And darkness: yea, to see my enemies + Defiant on my throne? + + Rafael: + + O Lucifer, + Beware! I see the lake of brimstone down + Below, with opened mouth, gape horribly. + Shalt thou, the fairest far of all things ever + By God created, henceforth serve as food 380 + For the devouring bowels of Hell's abyss-- + Flames never satisfied nor quenched? May God + Forbid! Oh! oh! yield to our prayers. Receive + This branch of peace: we offer thee God's grace. + + Lucifer: + + What creature else so wretched is as I? + On the one side flicker feeble rays of hope, + While on the other yawns a flaming horror. + A triumph is most dubious; defeat + Most hard to shun. In such uncertainty, + God and His banner to oppose?--the first 390 + To be a standard to unfurl 'gainst God, + His trump celestial and revealed command? + --Of rebels thus to make myself the chief, + And 'gainst the law of Heaven another law + To oppose?--to fall into the dreadful curse + Of a most base ingratitude?--to wound + The mercy, love, and majesty of Him, + The Father bountiful, source of all good + That e'er was given or may yet be received? + How have I erred so far from duty's path? 400 + I have abjured my Maker: how can I + Before that Light disguise my blasphemy + And wickedness? Retreat availeth not. + Nay, I have gone too far. What remedy? + What best to do amid this hopelessness? + The time brooks no delay. One moment's time + Is not enough, if time it may be called, + This brevity 'twixt bliss and endless doom. + But 'tis too late. No cleansing for my stain + Is here. All hope is past. What remedy? 410 + Hark I there I hear God's trumpet blow without, + + APOLLION. LUCIFER. RAFAEL. + + Apollion: + + Lord Stadtholder, awake! not now the time + For loitering. God's Marshal Michael nears, + With all his stars and legions, and defies + Thee in the open field. The time demands + That thou array for battle. Come, advance! + Advance with us: we see the battle won. + + Lucifer: + + Won? Ah! that is too soon: 'tis not commenced. + The heavy bolt of war should not be weighed + Too lightly. + + Apollion: + + I saw even in Michael's face 420 + The hue of fright, while all his legions pale + Looked backwards. Ah! we long. O doubt it not, + To humble and destroy them. Lo! here come + The various chieftains with our streaming standard. + + Lucifer: + + Each in his rank! Let each his banner ward. + Now let the trump and bugle boldly blow. + + Apollion: + + We wait upon thy word. + + Lucifer: + + Then follow on, + As I this signal give. + + Rafael: + + Alas! but now + He stood in doubt suspended: now, despair + Incites him on. In what calamities, 430 + Alas! shall soon the proud Archangel plunge + His followers? Now may he nevermore + In joy appear on high unless God shall + In His compassion this prevent. Oh! come, + Ye Heavenly choristers, and breathe your prayers. + It may be that your supplications, rising, + May yet avert this dire, impending blow: + Oft prayer can break a heart of adamant. + + + CHORUS OF ANGELS. RAFAEL. + + Chorus: + + O Father, who no incense, gold, + Or hymnal praise dost dearer hold 440 + Than the tranquil trust and soul-reposing + Calmness of him who humbly heeds + Thy word, and where Thy spirit leads + Doth leave himself in Thy disposing: + Thou seest. O Author of us all, + Our Spirit-Chief his banners tall + 'Gainst Thee so wickedly unfurling; + And how, 'mid roar of trump and drum, + On battle-chariot he doth come, + So blind, and fierce defiance hurling! 450 + Ah! heed not their wild blasphemy, + And save from endless misery + The thousand thousand ones deluded, + Who, weak, and woefully misled + By their proud and rebellious head, + Are 'mong his legions now included. + + Rafael: + + Spare in Thy mercy, spare, ah! spare + The Stadtholder, who now would wear + Thy crown of crowns, who, deifying + Himself, would triumph over all: 460 + From such foul stain, oh! where else shall + The cleansing come, him purifying? + + Chorus: + + Oh! suffer not that soul to die. + The fairest e'er seen by Thine eye + Oh I keep the Archangel e'er in Heaven; + Let him atone this impious deed. + And still retain his rank, we plead + Let not his guilt be unforgiven. 468 + + + + + Act V. + + RAFAEL. URIEL. + + + Rafael: + + The whole of Heaven, from base to topmost crown + Of her chief palaces, resounds with joy, + As Michael's trumpets blow and banners wave. + The field is won. Our shields shine splendidly, + Shaping new suns. From every shield-sun streams + A day triumphant forth. Lo! from the fight, + See, Uriel proud, the armor-bearer, comes; + And waves the flaming, keen, two-edged sword, + That, whet with Heaven's wrath and vengeance, flashed, + Amid the fray, through shield and mail and helm 10 + Of diamond, left and right, through all that dared + Oppose the all-piercing Power, Omnipotence. + O armor-bearer, most austere, who art + The executioner on high, and dost + With one strong, righteous stroke compose the Wrong + That would rebel against eternal Right, + Blest be thy sword and arm, that thus maintain + And guard the honor of our Angel Realm. + What praise reserved for thee by Majesty + Supreme! Oh! pray relate to us the strife: 20 + Unfold to us the management of this, + The first campaign in Heaven. We listen, then, + In expectation rapt. + + Uriel: + + Your wish inflames + My spirit to begin, this fearful fray + In calmness to describe, with sequence just, + Success the army crowns that fights with God. + The Field-marshal, great Michael (being warned + By the envoy of Heaven, who from above + Flew downward, downward swifter than a star + That shoots athwart the sky, with the tidings how, 30 + Against the high decree proud Lucifer + Himself so openly opposed, prepared + To lead his incense-swinging worshippers-- + All who his standard and his morning-star + Had sworn their bold allegiance), quickly donned, + At Gabriel's report--that Herald true-- + His scaly coat of mail, and with firm voice + He forthwith then gave charge to all his chiefs, + His captains, lords, and officers to place, + In the name of God, the troops in battle rank, 40 + That, with united forces and with all + Their strength, they might sweep from the airy vast + Of purest crystalline this perjured scum: + To cast in darkness all those Spirits vile, + Ere unawares they us surprise. Upon + This charge the legions rapidly deployed + Themselves in battle-line, as speedily + As flies the nimble arrow from the bow. + We saw there countless throngs together swarm + In bright array and glowing martial pomp, 50 + Until they formed, in serried rank, one firm + Trilateral host that, like a triangle, + Thrust out its edges sharp upon the eye. + We saw a solid mass, like one dense light, + Three-pointed, polished mirror-smooth, even like + To diamond, and a battle-front advance + By God more than by Spirit understood. + The Field-marshal towered in the army's heart, + Full-faced before God's banner, with the glow + Of lurid lightnings in his lifted hand. 60 + Who courage would preserve.--would victory + And triumph e'er attain.--should first have care + To make sure of and then to gain the heart. + + Rafael: + + But where the host accursed that us would storm? + + Uriel: + + It came into the field of daring full + With all its primal faith, obedience, + Honor, and oath, and what besides, forgot + In this base and presumptuous attempt + 'Gainst God, despite our prayers. It swiftly waxed. + And pointed like a crescent moon its ends. 70 + It sharpened both its points, and these, even like + Two horns, closed in upon us, as amid + The Zodiac the Bull doth threaten with + His golden horns the other animals + Celestial and the monsters that revolve + Around. Upon the right horn there advanced + Prince Belzebub, whose purpose was to clip + Our spreading wings, and also to keep guard. + The left horn to Prince Belial was assigned. + Thus both stood there in shining panoply, 80 + Vying in splendors grand. The Stadtholder, + Now Field-marshal 'gainst God, the centre held + Of this array, that he might guard the key,-- + The point strategic of the legions there. + The lofty standard, from whose morning-star + The day did seem to stream, Apollion + Behind him bore, as bravely as he could, + In his full glory seated high to view. + + Rafael: + + Alas! what dares--what dares the great Archangel + Attempt? Oh! if I only could in time 90 + Have brought him to desist. However, now + Describe to me the aspect of their march, + And with what show the Prince his legions led. + + Uriel: + + Surrounded by his staff and retinue + In green, he, wickedly impelled by hate + Irreconcilable, in golden mail, + That brightly shone upon his martial vest + Of glowing purple, mounted then his car, + Whose golden wheels with rubies were emblazed. + The lion and the dragon fell, prepared 100 + For speedy flight, with backs sown full of stars + And to the chariot joined by pearly traces, + Panted for strife, and for destruction flamed. + Within his hand a battle-axe he bore, + And from his left arm hung a glimmering shield, + Wherein his morning-star was artfully + Embossed: thus stood he poised to venture all. + + Rafael: + + O Lucifer, thou shalt this pride repent. + Thou phoenix 'mongst God's worshippers on high. + How grand thou dost appear amid thy legions, 110 + With helm, head, neck, and shoulders eminent! + How gloriously thine armor thee becomes, + As if by nature fitted to thy form! + Oh! Chief of Spirits, no farther go; turn back. + + Uriel: + + Confronted thus they stood embattled, troop + By troop, each in his air and station placed, + All ranked by files 'neath their respective chiefs, + Both sides arrayed with fairest pomp to view. + When furious drum and clarion trumpet sound, + Their medley resonance nerves every arm 120 + And sharpens every sword; and mounts on high + Into the firmament of the holy Light + Supreme, a din whereat a pregnant cloud + Of darts doth burst with pealing thunder-showers + Of fiery hail, a storm and tempest fierce, + That makes afraid the very Heaven and shakes + The pillars of its palaces. The stars + And spheres, perplexed, from their appointed paths + And orbits err, or on their circled watch + Bewildered stand, not knowing where to turn: 130 + Or East or West, or upwards or below. + All that is seen is lightning flash and flame; + All that is heard is thunder. What remains + In its primeval place? That which was once + The highest now becomes the thing most low. + The squadrons, when the deep-vibrating shock + Of their artillery's first volleyed roar + Has died away, now struggle hand to hand + With halberd, sabre, dagger, club, and spear. + All stab and slash, that can. All formed by nature 140 + For fell destruction and for greedy spoil + Now haste to strike the violating blow. + All thoughts of kin and brotherhood have ceased; + Nor knoweth any one his fellow more. + Above are whirling, like a cloud of dust, + Proud crests of pearl with curlèd locks of hair, + And plumes and wings refulgent with a gleam + Drawn from the singeing lightning's glow. Behold! + In rich confusion mingled, blue turquoise, + With gold and diamond, necklaces of pearl, 150 + And all that can adorn the hair or head. + Wings lopped in twain, and broken arrows, whirl + Athwart the sky. A horrid battle-cry + Rises from out the cohorts clad in green: + Their regiments, in danger, are compelled + By our hot onset to retreat. Three times + The maddened Lucifer the fight renews, + And proudly stays his faltering followers, + Even as a rock beats back the ocean surge + That, wave on wave, with foaming rage assails 160 + In vain attempt. + + Rafael: + + Indeed, 'tis something this: + To fight, armed by despair. + + Uriel: + + Then straightway caused + The valiant Michael all the trumps to sound: + "Glory to God!" His legions, thus made bold + By this their watchword, and by his command, + Begin by circling wheels to soar aloft, + To gain the wind-side of their battling foe, + Who also rises, but with heavier sail, + And finally to leeward slowly drifts: + As if one heavenward a falcon saw, 170 + Mounting with pinions bold into the sky. + Ere that the drowsing herons are aware. + Who in a wood, hard by a pleasant mead, + Tremble with fright, when from their lofty nest + They see their dreaded foe. The heron cries, + And, fearful of the falcon's direful claw, + Awaits him on his beak, thus to impale + His enemy's soft breast from there beneath, + When swoops the falcon with unerring wings + Upon his prey. + + Rafael: + + O Lucifer, for thee 180 + What remedy? It seems most terrible! + Now art thou in the open field, where port + Nor wall defend. A horrid whirlwind soon + Shall suddenly swoop down and bury thee + Deep in some gulf and bottomless abyss. + + Uriel: + + What fair perspective it was, thus to view + A hemisphere or crescent moon beneath, + And up above a point trilateral: + To see the legions, that upon the word + Of their commanding chiefs close in their ranks, 190 + Or them deploy, in their battalions stand + As firm as walls of iron, as if they, + With all their ordnance, dumb artillery, + And martial engines, there in equipoise + Were placed, full-weighted 'gainst the balanced air! + They hang suspended like a silent cloud, + A cloud whereon the sun doth pour his beams, + And which he paints with shade and varied hue + And airy rainbows. So then, steeply flown + Aloft, the bold celestial eagle sees 200 + God's foe, the hawk, circling his flight beneath. + He strikes his wings together valiantly; + But brooks awhile the hawk's wild wheeling there, + And vain defiance, while he flames ere long + To swoop upon his feathered back and pluck + His glossy plumes: when, in the aery vast, + "With curvèd beak and talons he shall seize + His prey, or drive it, with the wind behind, + Far from his eyes. Thus they precipitate + Themselves, and stream down from their place on high. 210 + Even like some inland lake, or waterfall. + In some far, Northern wild, that from the cliffs + Dashes with thundering resonance that frights + The beasts and monsters in deep-hidden dells; + Where from the precipice, rocks, loosened, fall, + With massive torrents and uprooted trees + In countless numbers, that in their fierce plunge + Crush and destroy all that the violence + Of stream and stone and wood cannot withstand. + The point of the advancing column strikes 220 + The crescent's centre with assault most fell + Of brimstone, red and blue, and flames, with stroke + On stroke and quick-succeeding thunderbolts + A piercing cry ascends. Their army's heart, + Endangered, now begins, by slow degrees, + To fail support of the accursèd one. + The half-moon's bow, beneath the strain, begins + To crack and break (for the ends together curve); + So that they who the centre hold, must yield + Before that onset fierce, and flee, if soon 230 + Deliverance be not brought from their distress. + Prince Lucifer, swift-driven here and there, + Approaches at this cry, and fearlessly + Himself exposes on his car, to show + His valor in this crisis dire. This gives + New heart unto the faltering ones. Then, from + The foaming bit of his now furious team. + He wards the feilest blows and fiercest strokes. + The lion and the dragon blue, enraged, + Leap forward at his word with fearful strides: 240 + One bellows, bites, and rends, while poison shoots + Out from the other's forkèd tongue, who thus + A pest provokes, and, raving, fills the air + With smoke blown from his nostrils far and wide. + + Rafael: + + Now will the burning strike him from on high? + + Uriel: + + He waves his battle-axe aloft to fell + God's banner, that, descending, darts the beams + And fairer radiance of God's name into + His glowing face. Oh! think what envy then + Him filled, to see this portent on our side. 250 + With battle-axe in hand, now here, now there, + He parries every stroke, or breaks their force + Upon his shield, till Michael comes before + Him, clad in glittering armor, like a God + Amid a ring of suns: "Cease, Lucifer; + Give God the victory. Lay down your arms + And standard; yield to God. Come, lead away + This wicked crew, this impious horde. Or else, + Beware thy head!" Thus shouts he from on high. + The Grand Foe of God's name, stiff-necked, unmoved, 260 + And more defiant at these words, renews + The fight with haste precipitate, and thrice + With war-axe strives to cleave the diamond shield + Where glowed God's holy name. But who provokes + The Deity shall feel His wrath. The axe + The holy diamond strikes, but lo! rebounds, + And shivers into fragments. Then aloft + His right hand Michael lifts, and through the helm + And head of that rebellious one he smites, + Helped by the great Omnipotent, his lightnings, 270 + Cleaving unto his eyes with violence + So great that he falls backward, and is hurled + Down from his chariot, that forthwith follows + Him, whirling round and round in its descent; + Thus lion, dragon, driver, all plunge down. + The standard of the Star doth cease to shine, + When feels Apollion my flaming sword. + Whereon his banner, straightway, he doth leave + As plunder in my hands; while in fierce swarms + Tumultuous their warring myriads 280 + Attempt, in vain, to stay the falling Chief + Of all the hosts infernal, and to save + Him from this fate and great calamity. + Here fights Prince Belzebub, and there opposed + Stands Belial. Thus their squadrons are confused: + And with the Stadtholder's important fall + The crescent's bow soon into shivers breaks. + Then comes Apollion into the field, + With all the monsters from the firmament. + The giant Orion shrieks, until the sound 290 + The very air makes faint; then with his club + He strives to crush the head of our assault, + That, heedless of Orion or his club, + Moves grandly on. The Northern Bears rear back + Upon their haunches, that their brutish strength + May blindly us oppose. The Hydra gapes + With fifty throats, that vomit poison forth. + I view a gallery of battle-scenes, + All happening in the fray, as far as eye + Can see. + + + [Illustration: "Thus lion, dragon, driver, all plunge down."] + + + Rafael: + + Praise be to God! Upon your knees 300 + Fall down and worship Him! O Lucifer, + Ah! where now is that fickle confidence? + In what strange shape shall I, alas! behold + Thee soon? Where now are thy proud splendors, that + All other pomp so easily outshone? + + Uriel: + + Even as bright day to gloomy night is changed, + Whene'er the sun forgets his golden glow, + So in his downward fall his beauty turned + To something monstrous and most horrible: + Into a brutish snout his face, that shone 310 + So glorious; his teeth into large fangs, + Sharpened for gnawing steel; his hands and feet + Into four various claws; into a hide + Of black that shining skin of pearl; while from + His bristled back two dragon wings did sprout. + Alas! the proud Archangel, whom but now + All Angels honored here, hath changed his shape + into a hideous medley of seven beasts, + As outwardly appears: A lion proud; + A greedy, gluttonous swine; a slothful ass; 320 + A fierce rhinoceros, with rage inflamed; + An ape, in every part obscene and vile, + By nature lewd and most lascivious; + A dragon, full of envy; and a wolf + Of sordid avarice. His beauteous form + Is now a monster execrable, by God + And Spirit and man e'er to be cursed. That beast + Doth shrink to view its own deformity, + And veils with darkling mists its Gorgon face. + + Rafael: + + Thus shall Ambition learn how vain to tilt 330 + For God's own crown. Where stayed Apollion? + + Uriel: + + He saw his tide ebb when his star declined, + And fled: so fled they all. Then, from above, + The celestial ordnance pours forth shot on shot, + With lightning flash and rolling thunders loud, + Causing the monsters that into the light + Have crawled to swell the rout; and pleased are all. + With God's array, to aid in such pursuit! + O! what a whirl of storms in one resolved! + And what a noisy tumult rises round! 340 + What floods sweep by! Our legions, blessed by God, + Advance, and strike and crush whatever they meet. + What cries of pain now burst forth everywhere, + As from the fleeing hordes one hears, amid + This wild confusion and this change of form + In limbs and shapes, their roars and bellowings. + Some yell, and others howl. What fearful frowns + Those Angel faces wear, the mirrors dread + Of Hell's infernal horrors. Hark! I hear + Michael return, triumphant, to display, 350 + Here in the light, the spoil from Angels reft. + The choristers now greet him with their songs + Of praise, with sound of cymbal, pipe, and drum. + They come in front, and strew their laurel leaves + 'Mid those celestial harmonies around. + + + CHORUS OF ANGELS. MICHAEL. + + Chorus: + + Hail! to the hero, hail! + Who the wicked did assail; + And in the fight, o'er his might and his standard. + Triumphant did prevail. + Who strove for God's own crown, 360 + From his high and splendid throne, + Into night, with his might, hath been driven. + How dazzling God's renown! + Though flames the tumult fell, + The valiant Michael + With his hand the fierce brand can extinguish: + All mutiny shall quell. + God's banner he doth rear: + Come, wreathe his brow austere. + Now, in peace, shall increase Heaven's Palace: 370 + No discord now we hear. + Then to the Godhead raise. + In His deathless courts, your praise. + Glory bring to the King of all Kingdoms: + His deeds inspire our lays. + + Michael: + + Praise be to God! The state of things above + Has changed. Our Grand Foe has met his defeat; + And in our hands he leaves his standard, helm, + And morning-star, and shield and banners bold. + Which spoil, gained in pursuit, even now doth hang, 380 + 'Mid joys triumphant, honors, songs of praise, + And sounds of trump, on Heaven's axis bright, + The mirror clear of all rebelliousness, + Of all ambition that would rear its crest + 'Gainst God, the stem immovable--grand fount, + Prime source, and Father of all things that are, + Which from His hand their nature did receive, + And various attributes. No more shall we + Behold the glow of Majesty Supreme + Dimmed by the damp of base ingratitude. 390 + There, deep beneath our sight and these high thrones, + They wander through the air and restlessly + Move to and fro, all blind and overcast + With shrouding clouds, and horribly deformed. + Thus is his fate, who would assail God's Throne. + + Chorus: + + Thus is his fate, who would assail God's Throne. + Thus is his fate, who would, through envy, man, + In God's own image made, deprive of light. + + + GABRIEL. MICHAEL. CHORUS. + + Gabriel: + + Alas! alas! alas! how things have changed! + Why triumph here? Our triumph is in vain: 400 + Ah! vain display, these plundered flags and arms! + + Michael: + + What hear I, Gabriel? + + Gabriel: + + Oh! Adam's fallen: + The father and the stem of all mankind, + Most pitiful and sad! brought to his fall + So soon. He is undone. + + Michael: + + That bursts even like + A sudden thunder-peal upon our ears. + Although I shudder, yet I long to hear + This overthrow described. Doth then the Chief + Accursed, also on Earth his warfare wage? + + Gabriel: + + The battle o'er, he called his scattered host 410 + Unto his side, though first his chieftains bold, + Who to each other turned abhorring gaze; + And then, to shun the swift, all-searching rays + Of the all-seeing Eye, he veiled them round + With gloomy mists, that formed a hollow cloud, + A dark, obscure, and gruesome lair of fog, + Where shone no light, where gleamed no glow of fire + Save what did shine from their own blazing eyes. + And in that dim, infernal consistory, + High-seated 'mid his Councillors of State, 420 + With bitter rage 'gainst God he thus began: + "Ye Powers, who for our righteous cause have borne, + With such fierce pride, this injury, 'tis time + To be revengèd for our wrongs: with hate + Irreconcilable and furious craft + The Heavens to persecute and circumvent + In their own chosen image, man, and him + To smother at his birth, in his ascent, + Ere that his sinews gain their promised strength + And ere he multiply. 'Tis my design, 430 + Both Adam and his seed now to corrupt. + I know how, through transgression of the law + Him first enjoined, to stain him with a blot + Indelible; so that he with his seed, + In soul and body poisoned, never shall + Usurp the throne from which ourselves were thrust: + Though it may be that some shall yet ascend + On high, a number small and slight; and these + Alone through thousand deaths and suffering + And labor shall attain the state and crown 440 + To us denied. Lo! miseries forthwith + Shall follow aft in Adam's wake, and spread, + From age to age, throughout the whole wide world. + Even Nature shall, attainted by this blow, + Almost decay, and wish again to turn + To chaos and its primal nothingness. + I see mankind, in God's own image made, + From God's similitude debased, estranged, + And tarnished, even in will and memory + And understanding, while the holy light 450 + Within created is obscured and dimmed: + Yea, all yet in their mother's anxious womb, + That wait with sorrow for their natal hour, + I now, forsooth, behold a helpless prey + To Death's relentless jaws. I shall exalt + My tyranny with e'er-increasing pride, + While you, my sons, I then shall see adored + As Deities, on altars and in fanes + Innumerable that tower to Heaven, where burns + The sacrificial victim, 'mid the smoke 460 + Of censers and the dazzling sheen of gold, + In praise most reverential. I see hosts + Of men, whose multitudes are even beyond + The power of tongue to name--yea, all that spring + From Adam's loins--for all eternity + Accursed by their deeds abominable, + Done in defiance of God's name. So dear + To Him the cost of triumph o'er my crown." + + Michael: + + Accursèd one, even yet to be so bold + In thy defiance 'gainst thy God! Ere long 470 + Thou shalt from us this blasphemy unlearn. + + Gabriel: + + Even thus spake Lucifer, and then he sent + Prince Belial down, that he forthwith might cause + Mankind to fall: who took upon himself + The form of that most cunning of all beasts, + The Serpent, type of wickedness itself, + That he might with a gloss of words adorn + His luring snares, which then those creatures pure + In guileless innocence even thus received, + As, swinging from the tempting bough of knowledge, 480 + That lone forbidden tree, he hung aloft: + "Hath God, upon the pain of death, with such + Severity and at so high a price, + Deprived you of the freedom of this fruit? + --The taste of even the choicest tree of all? + Nay, Eve, thou simple dove, indeed thou dost + Mistake. But once behold this apple, pray! + Aye! see how glows this radiant fruit with gold + And crimson mingled! An alluring feast! + Yea, daughter, nearer draw; no venom lurks up 490 + In this immortal leaf. How tempts this fruit! + Yea, pluck; yea, freely pluck: I promise thee + All light and knowledge. Come, why shouldst thou shrink + For fear of sin? Aye, taste, and thus become + Equal to God Himself in cognizance, + Honor and wisdom, truth and majesty: + Even though He much may wish thee to deny. + Thus must distinctions be discerned in things. + Their nature, entities, and qualities." + Forthwith begins the heart of the fair bride 500 + To burn and to enkindle, till she flames + To see the praised fruit, which first allures + The eye: the eye the mouth, that sighs to taste. + Desire doth urge the hand, all quivering, + To pluck. And thus she plucks, and tastes and eats + (Oh! how this shall afflict her progeny!) + With Adam, and as soon as then their eyes + Are opened and they see their nakedness, + They deck themselves with leaves--with leaves of fig, + Their shame, disgrace, and taint original-- 510 + And in the trees and shadows hide themselves; + But hide in vain from the all-piercing Eye. + Then gradually the sky grows black. They see + The rainbow, as a warning messenger + And portent of God's plagues, stretched o'er the Heavens, + That weep, in mourning clad. Nor wringing hands, + Nor sad lament, nor cries avail the pair. + Alas! the lightnings gleam, with flash on flash, + And shaking thunders roll there, peal on peal. + And naught is heard but sighs, and naught is seen 520 + But fright and gloom. They even their shadows flee; + But ne'er can 'scape that dread heart-cankering worm, + The sting of conscience. Thus, with knees that knock + Together, step by step they stumble on, + Their faces ghastly pale, and eyes, o'er-brimmed + With tears, blind to the light. How spiritless, + They who but now their heads so proudly held! + The sound of rustling leaf or whispering brook, + The faintest noise, doth them confound; the while + A pregnant cloud descends, that bursts and bears, 530 + By slow degrees, a light and radiant glow, + Wherein the great Supreme appears in shape + Impressive, thundering with His Voice, that fells + Them to the earth. + + + [Illustration: + --"Nor wringing hands, + Nor sad lament, nor cries avail the pair."] + + + Chorus. + + Oh! oh! 'twere better far, + Had mankind ne'er been made. This teaches them + By such a juicy fruit to be beguiled. + + Gabriel: + + "O Adam," thunders God, "where art thou hid?" + "Forgive me. Lord; I flee thy countenance, + Naked and all ashamed." "Who taught thee thus," + Asks God, "thy shame and nakedness to know? 540 + Didst dare profane thy lips with the forbidden + Fruit?" "Aye, my bride, my wife, alas! did tempt." + She says, "The wily Serpent hath deceived + Me with this lure." Thus each the charge denies + Of being the cause of their sad wretchedness. + + Chorus: + + Mercy! What penalty hangs o'er their crime? + + Gabriel: + + The woman, who hath Adam thus seduced, + God threatens with the pains of tears and travail, + And her subjection, and the man with care + And labor, sweat and arduous slavery; 550 + The soil, where man, at last, shall find his grave, + With noxious weeds and great calamities; + The Serpent, for the sly misuse thus made + Of his most subtle tongue, shall, o'er the ground, + Upon his belly creep, and live alone + On dust and earth. But as a comfort sure, + In such a misery, to poor mankind + God promises, in truth, out of the seed + And blood of the first woman, to raise up + The Strong One, who shall crush the Serpent's head, 560 + This Dragon vile, through deadly hate, by time + Nor yet eternity to be removed. + And though this raging monster make attempt + To bite His heel, yet shall the Hero win; + And from the strife shall come with honors crowned. + I come, in the name of Him, the Highest One, + To thee this sad disaster to reveal. + Forthwith all things in wonted order place, + Ere they, for us, shall further mischief brew. + + Michael: + + Come, Uriel, armor-bearer, who dost guard 570 + The Right divine and punishest the Wrong: + Take up thy flaming sword: fly down below, + And drive the twain from Eden, who have dared + Transgress, so rash and blind, the primal law. + Go, guard the gate of the Paradise profaned, + And forcibly the exiles drive away + From this rare food, this tree, prolonging life. + Permit not that they pluck the immortal fruit, + Nor their abuse of heavenly gifts allow. + Thou art placed, as sentinel, the garden over, 580 + And o'er this tree. Then see that Adam shall + Be driven out, and that from morn to eve + He plough the field, and till the clayey ground + From which, the breath of God once fashioned him, + Ozias, to whose hand once God Himself + With honor did entrust the ponderous hammer + Of bright-hewn diamond made, also the chains + Of ruby and the clamps so sharp of teeth, + Go hence, and capture and securely bind + The host of the infernal animals, 590 + Also the lion and the dragon fell, + That furiously against our standards rage. + Sweep from the sky these hordes accursed, and bind + Them neck and claw, and chain them forcibly. + This key of the black bottomless abyss + And all its dungeons is unto your care, + Azarias, enjoined. Go hence, and lock + All that our power assail within those vaults. + Maceda, take this torch, to you this flame + Is given: go light the deep lake sulphurous. 600 + Down in the centre of the Earth, and there + Torment thou Lucifer, who hath brought forth + Such numerous horrors, in the eternal fire + Unquenchable, with chilling frosts commingled: + There Grief and Horror and Obduracy, + And Hunger, Thirst, and comfortless Despair, + The sting of Conscience, Wrath implacable, + The punishments given for this mad attempt, + Amid the smoke from God's deep glow concealed, + Bear witness to the blasting curse of Heaven, 610 + Passed on this Spirit impious, the while + Shall come the promised Seed, the Reconciler, + Who shall appease the blazing wrath of God, + And in His wondrous love to man restore + All that by Adam's trespass has been lost. + + + [Illustration: + --"The eternal fire + Unquenchable, with chilling frosts commingled."] + + + Chorus: + + Deliverer, who thus the Serpent's head + Shalt bruise, and who, at the appointed time, + Shalt fallen mankind cleanse from the foul taint + Original, from Adam's loins derived; + And who again, for frail Eve's offspring, shalt 620 + Ope here, on high, a fairer Paradise, + "We shall with longing tell the centuries + Till the year, day, and hour when shall appear + Thy promised Mercy, which its pristine bloom + To pining Nature shall restore, and place + Upon the throne whereout the Angels fell + The souls and bodies Thou hast glorified. 627 + + +The End. + + + + + +Parallelisms Between Vondel and Milton. + +Since Mr. Edmundson's book is out of print, we have been asked to give a +list of his parallelisms between the "Lucifer" and Milton. This will +give the student the benefit of his comparisons. + +LUCIFER, ACT I. + Line 13. + PARADISE LOST.--Book III., line 741. + + Line 22. + P.L.--{V., 266-272. + {II., 1012. + + Line 35. + P.L.--V., 426. + + Line 52. + P.L.--{VIII., 107. + {X., 85. + + Line 57. + P.L.--II., 104-105. + + Line 61. + P.L.--IV., 227. + + Line 63. + P.L.--IV., 233. + + Line 64. + P.L.--III., 554. + + Line 73. + P.L.--IV., 225. + + Line 78. + P.L.--VII., 577. + + Line 85-95. + P.L.--{VII., 317. + {VII., 333. + {IV., 644. + + Line 107. + P.L.--IV., 340. + + Line 115. + P.L.--{V., 7. + {IV., 642. + {IV., 238. + + Line 131. + P.L.--{IV., 360-365. + {IX., 457. + + Line 134. + P.L.--VII., 505-511. + + Line 158. + P.L.--{V., 137. + {IV., 689. + + Line 174. + P.L.--{IV., 288-306. + {IV., 496. + + Line 180. + P.L.--IX., 450-460. + + Line 192. + P.L.--IX., 489. + + Line 193-195. + P.L.--IX., 460-470. + + Line 199. + P.L.--IV., 304-306. + + Line 203. + P.L.--VIII., 40-50. + + Line 260. + P.L.--III., 276-290. + + Line 268. + P.L.--{III., 313-317. + {III., 323-333. + + Line 280. + P.L.--V., 602. + + Line 326. + P.L.--V., 429. + + Line 330. + P.L.--X., 660-670. + + Line 364. + P.L.--III., 382. + + +LUCIFER ACT II. + + Line 22. + P.L.--V., line 787-792. + + Line 108. + P.L.--{I., 94-98. + {I., 106-111. + + Line 110. + PARADISE REGAINED (P.R.).--III., 201-211. + + Line 118. + P.L.--I., 261-263. + + Line 176-180. + P.L.--{III., 380-382. + {VIII., 65-67. + {VIII., 71-75. + {VIII., 168-170. + + Line 197. + P.L.--V., 810-825. + + Line 343. + P.L.--IV, 1010-1012. + + Line 367. + P.L.--II., 188-191. + + Line 377. + P.L.{--II., 188-191. + {II., 343-346. + {V., 254. + + Line 405. + P.L.--{II., 110-112. + {I., 490. + + +LUCIFER ACT III. + + Line 120. + P.L.--X., 1045. + + Line 238. + P.L.--V., 617-627. + + Line 572. + P.L.--V., 708-710. + + +LUCIFER ACT IV. + + Line 10. + P.L.--V., 708-710. + + Line 43. + P.L.--VI., 56-59. + + Line 120-155. + P.L.--V., 722-802. + + Line 186. + P.L.--III., 383-389. + + Line 207. + P.L.--III., 648. + + Line 251. + P.L.--IV., 393. + + Line 258. + P.L.--II., 188-194. + + Line 351. + P.L.--IV., 391-394. + + Line 370. + P.R.--IV., 518-520. + + Line 410. + P.R.--III., 204. + + Line 421. + P.L.--VI., 540. + + +LUCIFER ACT V. + + Line 3. + P.L.--VI., 200-206. + + Line 4. + P.L.--VI., 305. + + Line 7. + P.L.--VI., 320-323. + + Line 8. + P.L.--VI., 250-253. + + Line 29. + P.L.--IV., 556-557. + + Line 43. + P.L.--VI., 44-53. + + Line 54. + P.L.--VI., 61-63. + + Line 65. + P.L.--VI., 85-87. + + Line 70. + P.L.--IV., 977-980. + + Line 85-88. + P.L.--I., 533-540. + + Line 94-100. + P.L.--VI., 99-110. + + Line 97. + P.L.--XI., 240-241. + + Line 101. + P.L.--VI., 754-755. + + Line 103. + P.L.--VI., 848-849. + + Line 105. + P.L.--I., 286. + + Line 111. + P.L.--{I., 84-87. + {I., 588-590. + + Line 114. + P.L.--V., 833-845. + + Line 115. + P.L.--{I., 68-71. + {VI., 105-107. + + Line 124. + P.L.--{VI., 203-219. + {VI., 546. + + Line 128. + P.L.--VI., 310-315. + + Line 155-161. + P.R.--IV., 18-25. + + Line 164. + P.L.--VI., 200-205. + + Line 195. + P.L.--IV., 1000. + + Line 235. + P.L.--VI., 246-255. + + Line 255. + P.L.--VI., 275-278. + + Line 269. + P.L.--VI., 324. + + Line 275. + P.L.--VI., 390. + + Line 290. + P.L.--I., 305. + + Line 308. + P.L.--{X., 449-454. + {X., 511-529. + + Line 320. + P.L.--X., 510-520. + + Line 328. + P.L.--539-545. + + Line 345. + P.L.--X., 510-520. + + Line 347. + P.R.--IV., 423. + + Line 353. + P.L.--VI., 884-886. + + Line 410. + P.L.--I., 300-310. + + Line 412. + P.L.--538-545. + + Line 416. + P.R.--I., 39-42. + + Line 417. + P.L.--I., 192-195. + + Line 419. + P.L.--II., 1-5. + + Line 426. + P.L.--{I., 120-122. + {I., 178-189. + + Line 431. + P.L.--{II., 362-375. + {III., 90-96. + + Line 433. + P.L.--IX., 130-134. + + Line 455. + P.L.--X., 637. + + Line 448. + P.L.--XI., 500-513. + + Line 457. + P.L.--I., 367-373. + + Line 461. + P.L.--I., 381-390. + + Line 488. + P.L.--IX., 575-581. + + Line 492. + P.L.--IX., 716-732. + + Line 494. + P.L.--IX., 685-687. + + Line 499. + P.L.--IX., 679-683. + + Line 500. + P.L.--IX., -732-743. + + Line 509. + P.L.--IX., 1090-1095. + + Line 519. + P.L.--{IX., 780-783. + {IX., 1000-1003. + + Line 537-545. + P.L.--Last of Book IX. + + Line 553. + P.L.--X., 1051-1055. + + Line 560. + P.L.--X., 498-499. + + Line 564. + P.L.--XII., 386. + + Line 604. + P.L.--II., 595-600. + + Line 604. + P.L.--I., 56-63. + + Line 606. + P.L.--X., 112. + + Line 616-627.--Suggestion of Paradise Regained. + +Note.--(1) The word _feather_, line 370, Act I., is here used by Vondel +in the old sense of _pen_. + +(2) The word _treason_ in the epode of the chorus of angels at the end +of Act III. more literally means _treasonable ambition_. + + + + +The Critical Cult. + + +"I consider your version of the Lucifer the most notable literary +achievement in American letters in the decade from 1890 to +1900."--Richard Watson Gilder. + +"It takes a master to translate a master, and the Lucifer of Leonard Van +Noppen is a re-creation of the original work; masterful, comprehensive +and in every sense a finished production. Full of poetic fire and the +magic of the fitting word, it has the imprint of creative genius in +every line and is weighted with the personality of a powerful and vivid +imagination."--Francis Grierson. + +"Leonard Charles Van Noppen, the translator of Vondel's Lucifer, is a +poet of extraordinary power and beauty."--Edwin Markham. + +Comparing the author with George Sterling, says Mr. Markham, in his +"California, the Wonderful." "In recent poetry only Mr. Leonard Van +Noppen's verse is kindred in lavish word-work and ornate architecture to +'The Wine of Wizardry.' Both men create their poesies with large +movement and breadth of treatment--with amplitude of sky and +prodigiousness of field, with wash of sunset and rainbow, with march of +stars." + +"I feel glad that any sparks of mine have served to enkindle the cassia, +nard and frankincense which so prodigally enrich your own altar. +Continue, now, to feed their flames with all those resources which the +translator of Vondel showed me so plainly that he possessed. Take up +your own creative work while in your prime, and in the end you will gain +more nobly won, though none more royally couched, tributes of speech +than those you offer me."--Edmund C. Stedman. + +"I congratulate you upon your success in the accomplishment of this very +interesting piece of work and hope that it will meet with that +recognition among scholars which it deserves. I think there is a large +culture for the writer."--Henry Van Dyke. + +"I received with much pleasure your Vondel's Lucifer, and as I read it, +I was much delighted. It is a pleasure to read the English version of +this work."--Josef Israels. + +"I am much indebted to you for the gift of your very handsome +translation of the 'Lucifer,' and I am not a little struck by the +evidence of literary ability spread over all parts of the volume. I hope +your spirited and scholarly enterprise may meet to the full with the +success it deserves."--Edmund Gosse. + +"Worthy the genius of Vondel."--Dr. Jan Ten Brink, Professor of +Literature, University of Leiden. + +"A beautiful book. It is almost like discovering a new Homer."--Nathan +Haskell Dole. + +"A grand yet exquisite work. It is no flattery to say that the issue of +this book is one of the most notable events of the age, yet is it not +better than praise of one's effort to feel its significance as a centre +of spreading thought and inquiry! To think that you are the first to +give Vondel's Lucifer to the English reading world!"--Mary Mapes Dodge. + +"I was reading your translation of Vondel last year, and I was very much +struck with the resemblance to Milton in form and spirit. The conception +of the mental attitude of the fallen angels is one which is certainly +very interesting from a psychological as well as a literary point of +view."--A. Lawrence Lowell. + +"The Lucifer has greatly interested me as a revelation of one at least +of the main sources from which Milton gained his ideas. Your preliminary +work to me seems to be admirable, and you have certainly rendered a real +service both to history and literature."--Andrew D. White. + +"I wish to thank you for your translation of Vondel's Lucifer. Shall I +confess it? It was long ago since I read that great poet, and your work +afforded me all the pleasure of an original. As for your splendid +chapter, 'Life and Times of Vondel,' and your thorough and searching +Lucifer's Interpretation, they cannot fail to awaken the keenest +interest in the English speaking literary world."--Baron Gevers, +Minister from the Netherlands to Washington. + +"Mr. Van Noppen is a man of great literary power, an authority in Dutch +literature and is achieving fame as a translator of the masterpieces of +the Dutch language."--Edwin A. Alderman. + +"Your book duly came to hand. I was delighted to see the extraordinary +attention it got in 'Literature,' and I congratulate you on the wide +interest it has awakened."--W.D. Howells. + +"Many thanks for your curious and interesting volume, my only chance of +making acquaintance with the Batavian author."--Andrew Lang. + +"I want to add my small words to the panegyric and tell you with what +intense interest and pleasure I have followed your astonishing success. +I say astonishing because I wonder how long it is since any one has been +able to stir up such keen and general interest over a classic written +long ago and in a foreign tongue? How long ago has it been since any +classic was so much talked of? When, pray, has a young man made such a +contribution to English letters and so interested thinking and scholarly +people?"--Willa Cather. + +"It has become a matter of literary tradition, in Holland and out of it, +that the choral drama of 'Lucifer' is the great masterpiece of Dutch +literature. * * * An era of translation was sure to set in, and it is a +matter of significance that its herald has even now appeared. The +translation into English of Vondel's 'Lucifer' is not only in and for +itself an event of more than ordinary importance in literary history, +but it cannot fail to waken among us a curiosity as to what else of +supreme value may be contained in Dutch literature."--William H. +Carpenter, Professor of Germanic Philology, Columbia University. + +"We heartily rejoice that Vondel's drama has been translated into +English by an American for Americans. Were this translation an inferior +one, or were it only mediocre, we should have no reason to be glad, but +in this case it is otherwise. Although no translation can entirely +compensate for the lack of the original it is, however, possible for the +original to be followed very closely. This is well shown by this +rendering, which to a high degree possesses the merit of accuracy, +while, at the same time, the spirit and the character of Vondel's +tragedy are felt, understood and interpreted in a remarkable manner. +Whoever is in a position, by the comparison of the translation with the +original, to form an individual opinion of Van Noppen's superb work, +will probably be convinced, even as I have been, that here an +extraordinarily difficult task has been magnificently done."--G. Kalff, +Professor of Dutch Literature, University of Utrecht. + +"This version of Vondel bridges the gap in the Miltonic +Criticism."--Francis B. Gummere. + +"Much Esteemed Sir and Friend: + +The distinguished octogenarian poet and author, Nicolaas Beets, of +Utrecht, Holland, wrote to Mr. Van Noppen as follows: + +'Much Esteemed Sir and Friend: + +* * * I have furthermore compared your translation in many a striking +passage with the original, which I always held in my hand. * * * +Whatever was attainable you not only tried to reach most earnestly, but +you have even most excellently succeeded in attaining. You have +absolutely understood and perfectly rendered the meaning, the action, +the spirit and the power of the sublime original. In splendid English +verse we read Vondel's soul. Whoever knows Vondel will admit this, and +whoever does not at present know him will learn to know and appreciate +him from your translation. * * * It is also very plain, from the essays +preceding the translation, that you have made a most thorough and +comprehensive study of Vondel and of his poetry in connection with the +entire field of the literature and history of his time. Though having +myself read, and even written, in prose as well as poetry, so much +concerning Vondel, I was often so impressed by criticisms and +observations in your essays that I felt impelled to revise and complete +my own conceptions." + + +The American Press. + +"Mr. Van Noppen has produced a text which, so far as mere suppleness and +naturalness go, might be taken for an original production, and his +editorial labors have been considerable."--New York Tribune. + +"There is reason enough for the publication in English of such a +classic as the Lucifer, and it is fortunate that the work could be so +artistically done."--Review of Reviews. + +"To compare the two poems--Milton's Paradise Lost and Vondel's +Lucifer--is as if one should contrast a great chorale by Bach or +Mendelssohn with a magnificent hymn-tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan or +William Henry Monk. The epic and the drama are both triumphs of skill. +Why make comparisons? Rather let the world rejoice in two such +possessions."--Philadelphia Record. + +"It is particularly fortunate that the first English rendering of the +great poem is so ably and conscientiously done. * * * Finally, the poem +is illustrated by fifteen drawings in black and white by the famous +Dutch artist, John Aarts, which are printed with the text."--The +Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer. + +"If only as a literary, or as a human document, shedding light upon the +methods of the greatest of English epic poets, Mr. Van Noppen's work +would be of infinite value to all students. But the book which he has +translated possesses, besides these adventitious claims to respect, a +supreme intrinsic value. It is a drama that is everywhere great, and in +passages sublime. * * * That the present translation is a good one he +who reads can discern. It is strong, nervous, and rhythmical. It is, +above all, good English, not a Teutonized hybrid."--New York Herald. + +Mr. Van Noppen's translation is spirited and dignified, and there is a +distinct lyric charm, which he has managed to preserve--a rare feat with +a translator."--Charleston News and Courier. + +"For the reader who desires merely the artistic comment of the pictures +that thoroughly illustrate this famous old poem we might add that Mr. +Aarts has caught the spirit--the pictorial beauty--of Lucifer as perhaps +no other artist of the day could have done. The man himself is a poet, +and he has translated into these drawings the majestic tragedy of +Lucifer even as Mr. Van Noppen has translated it into stately English +verse."--Brooklyn Citizen. + +"Literary societies, university extension circles, and reading clubs are +all here furnished with a fresh winter theme whose stages are already +plotted out for the worker."--Philadelphia Inquirer. + +"Vondel's Lucifer is one of the most important contributions ever made +to the catholic literature of the English-speaking world. * * * As a +specimen of book-making the volume is a model."--St. Louis Church +Progress. + +"We may consider Mr. Van Noppen's translation as a key that has unlocked +a literary treasure and put within our reach a classic of Teutonic +literature."--Detroit Free Press. + +"The English-speaking literary world is under great obligations to the +translator and publisher of this uniquely printed, illustrated, and +bound volume."--Richmond Dispatch. + +"The present rendering of Lucifer is by Leonard C. Van Noppen, who has +made a translation which will link his name with that of the master as +Edward Fitzgerald has bound his up with that of Omar Khayyam."--Buffalo +News. + +"A most meritorious translation of the Dutch poet's sublime tragedy, +with a great deal of critical and biographical matter in the +introductory sections."--Philadelphia Press. + +"This careful translation of the great masterpiece of Dutch literature +is one of the important books of the year."--Chicago Tribune. + +"As Lucifer is the greatest work of the Dutch poet's, the fine +translation and its elegant setting in the beautiful book is most +gratifying."--Chicago Inter-Ocean. + +"The translation is as literal as it can be made, and the sonorous +tongue of its original author is heard through it all"--Chicago +Times-Herald. + +"The translation is an earnest and faithful rendering of the poet's +ideas, and the verse is technically excellent; in fact, the translation +may bid for the exalted place of the original in many +libraries."--Times-Union, Albany. + +"The stately sweep of the original verse has not been lost in the +transference from one tongue to another. Mr. Van Noppen has, in addition +to his translation of the poem, furnished a sympathetic and interesting +memoir of the Life and Times of Vondel, and an elaborate, critical and +scholarly Interpretation of the Lucifer."--Brooklyn Times. + +"This delightfully printed book is a real work of art, and is a worthy +contribution to the history of literature."--Boston Globe. + +"Leonard Charles Van Noppen, the translator, has given to English +literature another great classic."--Dramatic Magazine, Chicago. + +"It is a very interesting event that we have Vondel's Lucifer in a +scholarly, an accurate, and an admirable rendering into +English."--Wilmington (N.C.) Messenger. + +"If we were asked to give our opinion of this version we should express +it in one word--'masterly.' The powers of expression and the richness of +Vondel's thought, together with the rhythmical beauty of the poem, have +been preserved in full. It is a masterpiece, and should have a place in +every library."--De Grondwet (Dutch paper), Holland, Mich. + +"In the essay on Vondel's Life and Times we have a singularly able and +deeply interesting account of the conditions under which Vondel +developed. * * * For the poem itself, like many more of the writings of +Vondel, it has been recognized as a classic. Nobody can read it and not +feel the sublimity of the inspiration that produced it."--San Francisco +Chronicle. + +"The whole thing is new and interesting--introduction, biography and +poem. It opens up Dutch literature, the society of the Eglantine, a +social field of poets and writers."--Baltimore Sun. + +"Translator, artist and publishers are to be highly commended for the +handsome and satisfactory manner in which they have combined to present +this celebrated Dutch classic to American readers."--New Orleans +Times-Democrat. + +"The translator is Leonard Charles Van Noppen, and he is a poet himself +in English. This intellectual and temperamental tendency enabled him to +make a literal rendering that is not only highly accurate, but that also +most admirably conserves the spirit of the original. The book is +beautifully illustrated by the Dutch artist, John Aarts. From Mr. Van +Noppen's interesting introductory essay on Vondel--a clear, +comprehensive, and convincing exposition, as admirable in style as it is +valuable in matter--we learn many interesting things concerning this old +poet, this unknown Titan, whom the ablest students of literature place +on the same plane with Milton, Dante, and Æschylus."--The Saturday +Evening Post, Philadelphia. + +"In almost every, if not in every individual particular, the book is a +model of what such a book should be. Intelligent and scholarly editing, +thoughtful consideration for all the several needs of students as well +as readers, liberal and judicious provision in the matter of +accessories, a cultivated and refined taste in decoration, and a true +feeling for typographical elegance in each respect of paper, type, +margins, edgings, illustrations and binding unite to give this volume a +character of genuine excellence and an aspect of chaste elegance such as +are not often seen in a single example. The total is a result of such +importance and value that we shall describe it item by item."--The +Literary World, Boston. + +"Mr. Van Noppen's introductory study of the Life and Times of Vondel is +masterly in knowledge of the whole literary atmosphere of the day, with +its grand galaxy of writers. * * * Therefore this book will serve +another purpose besides that of introducing Anglo-Saxon readers to the +beauties of Vondel's masterpiece: it will unfold to them as well the +history of Holland's great literary period in all its wealth and beauty. +In this translation of the drama itself, which is strictly faithful to +the original in spirit, he has succeeded in reproducing to a +considerable extent the virility, the majesty, of the original."--The +Critic, + + +From Signed Reviews. + +"Mr. Van Noppen has laid the student of Milton as well as the student of +Dutch literature under weighty obligations by a translation of the drama +of Lucifer which is not only true to the sense of its original, but +also not unworthy of its fame."--Mayo W. Hazeltine, in New York Sun. + +"Vondel's Lucifer is just as readable to-day as it was two hundred and +fifty years ago, and in this translation the energetic simplicity of it +abides."--George W. Smalley, in New York Herald. + +"We prefer to accept Mr. Van Noppen's translation as he offers it for +the worth of the poem itself, and that is sufficient for many a +century."--George Henry Payne, in The Criterion. + +"Mr. Van Noppen's translation of the Lucifer in this book is one for +which he claims literalness to a close extent; but its fluency is not +the less to be noted. Some of the best and most brilliant passages +scarcely seem like a translation, so naturally and choicely do the words +proceed."--Joel Benton, in The New York Times' "Review of Books." + +"I spent one whole evening comparing Mr. Van Noppen's translation with +the original. As far as exactness goes, as far as intimate verbal +interpretation of Vondel's verse is concerned, it equals Andrew Lang's +wonderful prose translation of the Iliad. By far the most difficult part +of this translation must have been that of the lyrics and choral +passages (after the Greek mode) with which the drama abounds. Mr. Van +Noppen has preserved (at what pains) not only the metre and the rhythm, +but also the rhymes, often involute and curiously doubled."--Vance +Thompson, in Musical Courier. + +"The work evinces not only a mastery of seventeenth century Dutch, but +an insight into metrical effects and facility in reproducing them in +English. This version could not have come from one who had not drilled +himself for years in the theory and practice of English verse. We +bespeak for the handsome volume before us a wide circulation. That such +a translation has been sorely needed every student of comparative +literature knows. That this need has been adequately met every impartial +student of Mr. Van Noppen's version will, we believe, readily +admit."--Prof. C. Alphonso Smith, Ph.D., in Modern Language Notes, +Baltimore, Md., Dec, 1898. + +"The intrinsic value of the work makes the publication of Mr. Van +Noppen's translation an event of peculiar literary interest."--John D. +Barry, in Boston Literary World. + + +The London Press. + +"The dramatic masterpiece of the great Dutch poet of the seventeenth +century has found a skilled and vigorous translator in Mr. Leonard +Charles Van Noppen, and the sustained volume is further enriched by a +careful memoir of the author of Lucifer and by an elaborate critical +Interpretation of the poem. Justice is thus at last rendered to a poet +of unquestionable genius and inspiration, of whom everything like a fair +estimate has hitherto been hardly possible to an English reader. * * * +There is no appeal to the groundlings in the style and quality of the +verse, which in Mr. Van Noppen's spirited translation has a march of +sustained, or, at least, of rarely failing dignity throughout, and in +its intercalated choric passages is by no means wanting in lyrical +charm. * * * But after half a dozen, a dozen, a score, of similar +parallelisms the odds against chance and in favor of design become so +overwhelming that the least mathematically minded of men will reject +the former hypothesis. The 'long arm of coincidence' is not so long as +all that. And, most assuredly, it is not long enough to cover the fact +that Milton's Samson Agonistes followed in due course on Vondel's +Samson, and that it abounds in evidences that in the matter of dramatic +construction, at any rate, to leave the poetry out of the question, he +was content to take his Dutch contemporary as his closely followed +model."--London Literature. + +"It is interesting that the first English translation of Vondel's famous +play should be made in America and put forth in the old Dutch city of +New York. The volume is a handsome one, elaborately gotten up."--London +Daily Chronicle. + +"Lucifer is a large, majestic drama, and adorned with several beautiful +choric odes."--W.L. Courtney, in London Daily Telegraph. + +* * * Milton undoubtedly behaved in a light-fingered fashion at the +expense of Vondel, not once or twice, but often. * * * After a long +lapse of time this matter is reopened by Mr. Leonard Charles Van Noppen, +whose volume in praise and explanation of Vondel is a book of quite +uncommon merit and charm, and one absolutely indispensable to students +of Milton. * * * Of Mr. Van Noppen's success as a translator there can +be only one opinion. We have read his version with surprise and delight. +Vondel's Lucifer, in nearly all respects, will prove a veritable +treasure for the genuine book-lover."--The London Literary World. + + + + +Board of the Queen Wilhelmina Lectureship, Columbia University + + +GENTLEMEN: + +We, members of the "Board of the Queen Wilhelmina Lectureship, Columbia +University," Professor Doctor G. Kalff, of the University of Leiden; +Member Royal Academy of Sciences of Amsterdam; Leiden. President; J. +Heldring, of Heldring & Pierson, Bankers, the Hague; J.W. IJzerman, +President of the Royal Netherland Geographical Society at Amsterdam, the +Hague; Wouter Nijhoff, President of the Dutch Publishers' Association, +the Hague; Doctor H.J. Kiewiet de Jonge, President of the General Dutch +Alliance, Dordrecht, Hon. Secretary, herewith plead for your +co-operation with our endeavors to spread in America a knowledge of our +civilization and institutions. Notwithstanding the tremendous influence +of Holland upon England and the American Colonies--an influence as yet +hardly guessed--the study of the Dutch and their history in the colleges +and universities of America is still universally neglected. So little in +fact is known of this subject and of Holland's part in civilization that +there is even among scholars but little appreciation of the importance +of this subject. Only at Columbia University is there any evidence of +interest. Here our literary representative, Leonard C. Van Noppen, whom +we have selected as the pioneer to blaze the way, has inaugurated +several courses in Dutch Literature and given besides lectures on the +various periods of its development. Since Columbia has been the first to +co-operate with us, will not your institution be the second? If so, +will you kindly address Prof. Leonard C. van Noppen, Queen Wilhelmina +Lecturer, Columbia University, N.Y.? Mr. Van Noppen will be glad at any +time to introduce you to this subject and to lecture on such phases of +it as you may deem the most interesting. + +We invite your students to our universities. Here is a field which will +enrich scholarship with many discoveries. The selection of the Hague as +the Capital of Peace has given Holland a new international importance. +Your universities have established chairs in Icelandic, Chinese and +Russian, subjects whose importance and value are incalculably less than +that of Dutch. Is it not time that a beginning be made in this +direction? Not even the study of the Spanish, the Italian and the French +is so fertile of results as that of the civilization of the Netherlands, +which, as the mother of the Teutonic Renaissance, influenced the +civilization of the English-speaking world so largely. Prof. Butler +will, upon application, be glad to give Mr. van Noppen leave of absence +to lecture at your university. Mr. Van Noppen has given courses of +lectures on this subject at the Lowell Institute, Brooklyn Institute, +Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Cincinnati and +many other colleges and universities. + +We add the following notice of his lecture at Davidson College, N.C.: + +"Davidson, April 20.--It is altogether too seldom that our Southern +colleges, certainly it is true of Davidson, are privileged to have with +them a lecturer of the type seen in Professor Leonard Charles van Noppen +of the Queen Wilhelmina Chair of Dutch Literature in Columbia +University, who spoke last evening in Shearer Hall and who speaks again +this evening and to-night. + +"Doctor van Noppen was introduced by Professor Thomas W. Lingle, who in +a brief speech told of the lecturers right by virtue of birth and +training to speak on the topic selected and for a few minutes in an +instructive way pointed out what Holland had contributed to Western +civilization and particularly to American life and history, an +introduction so full of facts marked with such accurate historical +perspective that the Columbia lecturer in making acknowledgment said he +felt inclined to take his seat and let Doctor Lingle continue, so +familiar did he seem with the subject he himself was to present. + +"To say that Doctor van Noppen's lecture was popular, in the ordinary +sense of the word, would do it great injustice. It was too comprehensive +in its reach, and strong in its grasp, too scholarly, too suggestive of +research and prolonged investigation and study, too elaborate in phrase +and too masterful in its discriminating use of choice English and ornate +diction for any one to call it popular. Its purpose and its value is not +of this order. Rather, after listening to such a paper, the scholar is +glad that it is doubtless to appear in permanent or book form, where he +can study it at leisure. To the college student it serves as a stimulus, +an inspiration, an ideal to show him that in his daily routine of class +room work he is only laying a foundation on which to build and with +which he may begin the higher intellectual life, may start out for +himself to read, to investigate and in time reduce to consistent and +articulated form the results of his own weeks and months not to say +years of patient toil in the great libraries. + +"In a very strict sense Doctor van Noppen's first lecture was scholarly +and showed clearly that it breathes a university atmosphere and is +intended primarily and ultimately for the lecture hall of the Johns +Hopkins University, where he is soon to deliver the series. He is just +now returning from a lecture tour in the West. + +"Beginning with a clever characterization of the people of Holland as a +practical one, first reclaiming from the sea a land to live on, and then +anchoring it to the continent, in rapid review he showed what a +wonderful contribution this little country, less than Maryland, and +small in everything but in history, has made to modern Christian +civilization. Washed out of the soil of Germany on toward the sea--and +no wonder that Germany looks with envious eyes upon it--it is the +richest country imaginable. It has a per capita wealth of $12,000 as +against America's $4,000. In proportion to population it has done more +for civilization than any other nation, not even Greece excepted. Then +followed in rapid review the facts of history in substantiation of the +claim. + +"Conspicuous in the claims and seemingly substantiated was in the +influence of Holland in spreading abroad, notably in America, the +doctrines of the equality of all men, separation of Church and State, +religious freedom, freedom of the press, local self-government. + +"Fine was the description of Philip of Spain, of William the Silent. +Interesting was the portrayal of the work of the Chamber of Eglantine of +Amsterdam, of the men of letters of Leiden and the intellectual forces +leading up to and resulting in the great University in Leiden. + +"Most striking of all was his brilliant description of the life and work +of the great Dutch poet Vondel and the story of how Milton, the greatest +of English Epic poets, has been content to follow, imitate and copy from +Vondel in his Lucifer where Vondel has shown himself the great +dramatist." + +The "Baltimore Sun" writes of his lecture at Johns Hopkins: + +"Very frequently since the day when Geoffrey Chaucer fashioned his +immortal 'Canterbury Tales' upon Bocaccio's 'Decameron,' English poets +have been subject to the impeachment of having borrowed (usually without +proper acknowledgment) from foreign sources--borrowed material, plot, +episodes, characters and, sometimes, language, embodied in whole phrases +and sentences. The Elizabethan Age, pre-eminent though it was in +creative literary excellence, has not escaped the challenge of its +originality. French and Italian influences and writers exercised a +strongly formative power upon Drayton, Sidney, Spenser and others of the +elect, and even the great Bard of Stratford did not scruple at +transmuting the clay of less gifted molders into the gold of his superb +coinage. + +"But it has not been generally recognized that Milton was such an +appropriator. Accordingly, Dr. L.C. van Noppen's lecture showing that +the great Puritan poet was indebted to the 'Lucifer' of Vondel, the +Dutch author, for the theme, the treatment, the description and even +some of the finest passages in 'Paradise Lost,' is a surprise. Yet Dr. +Van Noppen makes out a very strong case. The appearance of 'Lucifer' a +short time before Milton's Continental tour, which was cut short by the +breaking out of the great civil war in England; the strong likelihood +that Milton had heard of Vondel and his work through Roger Williams, +whose sojourn in Europe had made him acquainted with 'Lucifer,' and who +had instructed Milton in modern languages; Milton's association in Paris +with Hugo Grotius, one of the most eminent scholars of his time, a +countryman and an enthusiastic admirer of Vondel--all combine into a +strong chain of circumstantial evidence, which, reinforced by the +undeniable similarity and the many parallel passages in the two great +works, make a conclusion which is almost imperative. + +"But the conceding of Milton's debt to Vondel does not cancel our debt +to Milton, whose sublime epic has given pleasure and comfort to scores +of readers to whom Vondel's drama has been a sealed volume. Neither does +it release our obligation to 'render unto Caesar the things that are +Cæsar's.'" + +Furthermore, we hope that you will consider the establishment of a chair +in Dutch Literature or History and that you, in anticipation of this +foundation, will from time to time send us such students as desire to +make this subject their specialty. Hoping that you, after a +consideration of this matter, will co-operate with us, I am + + Respectfully yours for the Board of + the Queen Wilhelmina Lectureship, + + H.J. Kiewiet de Jonge, + Hon. Secretary. + +DORDRECHT (Holland), November, 1915. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vondel's Lucifer, by Joost van den Vondel + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VONDEL'S LUCIFER *** + +***** This file should be named 37659-0.txt or 37659-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/6/5/37659/ + +Produced by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe at +http://freeliterature.org (From images generously made +available by the Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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