very profane productions, whether in English, French, Italian, or Spanish. The author has endeavoured to preserve the language adapted to his characters; and where it is (and this is but rarely) taken from actual Scripture, he has made as little alteration, even of words, as the rhythm would "The attempt to bully you, because they think it won't succeed nothing more in reality than the echo of often-refuted sophisms, by being newly dressed and put forth in a form easy to be remem-with me, seems to me as atrocious an attempt as ever disgraced bered, may produce considerable effect; that is, they may mislead the ignorant, unsettle the wavering, or confirm the hardened sceptic in his misbelief. These are consequences which Lord Byron must have contemplated; with what degree of complacency he alone can tell. the times. What! when Gibbon's, Hume's, Priestley's, and Drummond's publishers have been allowed to rest in peace for seventy years, are you to be singled out for a work of fiction, not of history or argument? There must be something at the bottom of this-some private enemy of your own: it is otherwise incredible. "But, in the third place, if neither of these things happens, and Cain should not prove either lucrative or mischievous, there "I can only say, 'Me, me; en adsum qui feci;'-that any prois another point which Lord Byron has secured to himself, so ceedings directed against you, I beg, may be transferred to me, that he cannot be deprived of it, the satisfaction of insulting who am willing, and ought, to endure them all;-that if you have those from whom he differs both in faith and practice... Now, at lost money by the publication, I will refund any or all of the colast, he quarrels with the very conditions of humanity, rebels|pyright;—that I desire you will say that both you and Mr. Gifford against that Providence which guides and governs all things, and remonstrated against the publication, as also Mr. Hobhouse ;dares to adopt the language which had never before been attri- that I alone occasioned it, and I alone am the person who, either buted to any being but one, Evil, be thou my good.' Such, as legally or otherwise, should bear the burden. If they prosecute, far as we can judge, is Lord Byron." I will come to England; that is, if, by meeting it in my own person, I can save yours. Let me know. You sha'n't suffer for me, if I can help it. Make any use of this letter you please. "Yours ever, etc. This critic's performance is thus alluded to in one of Lord Byron's letters to Mr. Douglas Kinnaird:-"I know nothing of Rivington's Remonstrance' by the eminent Churchman;' but I suppose the man wants a living." On hearing that his publisher was threatened with more serious annoyances, in consequence of the appearance of the Mystery, Lord Byron addressed the following letter to Mr. Murray : "Pisa, February 1822. "Attacks upon me were to be expected; but I perceive one upon you in the papers, which I confess that I did not expect. How, or in what manner, you can be considered responsible for what I publish, I am at a loss to conceive." "If Cain be blasphemous,' Paradise Lost is blasphemous; and the very words of the Oxford gentleman, ‘Evil, be thou my good,' are from that very poem, from the mouth of Satan; and is there any thing more in that of Lucifer in the Mystery? Cain is nothing more than a drama, not a piece of argument. If Lucifer and Cain speak as the first murderer and the first rebel may be supposed to speak, surely all the rest of the personages talk also according to their characters-and the stronger passions have ever been permitted to the drama. "I have even avoided introducing the Deity, as in Scripture (though Milton does, and not very wisely either); but have adopted his angel as sent to Cain instead, on purpose to avoid shocking any feelings on the subject, by falling short of what all uninspired men must fall short in, viz. giving an adequate notion of the effect of the presence of Jehovah. The old mysteries introduced him liberally enough, and all this is avoided in the new one. This letter was thus versified at the time in Blackwood's Noctes Ambrosiana: "Attacks on me were what I look'd for, Murray; But why the devil do they badger you? These godly newspapers seem hot as curry; But don't, dear Publisher, be in a stew. The 'll be so glad to see you in a flurry I mean those canting Quacks of your Review- Here stands the Murderer-that's the Old One there- The puritanic Milton freedom took, Which now-a-days would make a bishop stare; But not to shock the feelings of the age, I only bring your angels on the stage. "BYRON. "P. S.-I write to you about all this row of bad passions and absurdities with the summer moon (for here our winter is clearer than your dog-days) lighting the winding Arno, with all her buildings and bridges,—so quiet and still!-What nothings are wei before the least of these stars!" An individual of the name of Benbow having pirated Cain, Mr. (now Sir Lancelot) Shadwell applied to the Lord Chancellor (Eldon) for an injunction to protect Mr. Murray's property in the Mystery. The learned counsel, on the 9th of February, 1822, spoke as follows: "This work professes to record, in a dramatic poem of three acts, the story contained in the book of Genesis. It is meant to represent the state of Cain's mind when it received those temptations which led him to commit the murder of his brother. The actors in the poem are few: they consist of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and their two wives, with Lucifer, and in the third act, the Angel of the Lord. The book only does that which was before done by Milton, and adheres more closely to the words contained in Scripture. The book, in the commencement, represents Cain in a moody dissipated disposition, when the Evil Spirit tempts him to go forth with him to acquire knowledge. After the first act, he leads him through the abyss of space; and, in the third, Cain returns with a still more gloomy spirit. Although the poet puts passages into his month, which of themselves are blasphemous and impious, yet it is what Milton has To bully You, yet shrink from battling Me, While no one talks of priestly Playfair 's crimes,- If this goes on, I wish you 'd plainly tell 'em, Is it less sin to write such books than sell 'em? In me, great Sharpe,+ in me converte telum! You may They shall not touch a hair, man, on your head. [+ Mr. Sharpe and Sir John Sewell, LL. D., managers of the Constitutional Association.] permit. The reader will recollect that the book of Genesis does not state that Eve was tempted by a demon, but by "the Serpent;" and that only because he was "the most subtil of all the beasts of the field." Whatever interpretation the Rabbins done also, both in his Paradise Lost and Regained. But those passages are powerfully combated by the beautiful arguments of his wife Adah. It is true that the book represents what Scripture represents, that he is, notwithstanding, instigated to destroy the altar of his brother, whom he is then led on to put to death; but then the punishment of his crime follows, in the very words of the Scripture itself. Cain's mind is immediately visited with all the horror of remorse, and he goes forth a wanderer on the face of the earth. I trust I am the last person in the world who would attempt to defend a blasphemous or impious work; but I say that this poem is as much entitled to the protection of the court, in the abstract, as either the Paradise Lost or the Paradise Regained. So confident am I of this, that I would at present undertake to compare it with those works, passage by passage, and show that it is perfectly as moral as those productions of Milton. Every sentence carries with it, if I may use the ex-¡ pression, its own balsam. The authority of God is recognised; and Cain's impiety and crime are introduced to show that its just punishment immediately followed. I repeat, that there is no reason why this work, taken abstractedly, should not be protected as well as either of the books I have mentioned. I therefore trust that your Lordship will grant this injuction in limine, and that the defendants may come in and show cause against it." The following is a note of the Lord Chancellor's judgment:"This court, like the other courts of justice in this country, acknowledges Christianity as part of the law of the land. The jurisdiction of this court in protecting literary property is founded on this, than where an action will lie for pirating a work, there the court, attending to the imperfection of that remedy, grants its injunction; because there may be publication after publication, which you may never be able to hunt down by proceeding in the other courts. But where such an action does not lie, I do not apprehend that it is according to the course of the court to grant an injunction to protect the copyright. Now this publiIcation, if it is one intended to vilify and bring into discredit that portion of Scripture history to which it relates, is a publication with reference to which, if the principles on which the case of Dr. Priestley, at Warwick, was decided be just principles of law, the party could not recover any damages in respect of a piracy of it. This court has no criminal jurisdiction; it cannot look on any thing as an offence; but in those cases it only administers justice for the protection of the civil rights of those who possess them, in consequence of being able to maintain an action. You have alluded to Milton's immortal work: it did happen in the course of last long vacation, amongst the solicitæ jucunda oblivia vitæ, I read that work from beginning to end; it is therefore quite fresh in my memory, and it appears to ine that the great object of its author was to promote the cause of Christianity: there are undoubtedly a great many passages in it, of which, if that were not its object, it would be very improper by law to vindicate the publication ; but, taking it all together, it is clear that the object and effect were not to bring into disrepute, but to promote, the reverence of our religion. Now the real question is, looking at the work before me, its preface, the poem, its manner of treating the subject, particularly with reference to the Fall and the Atonement, whether its intent be as innocent as that of the other with which you have compared it; or whether it be to traduce and bring into discredit that part of sacred history. This question I have no right to try, because it has been settled, after great difference of opinion among the learned, that it is for a jury to determine that point; and where, therefore, a reasonable doubt is entertained as to the character of the work (and it is a impossible for me to say I have not a doubt, I hope it is a reasonable one), another course must be taken for determining what is its true nature and character. There is a great difficulty in these cases, because it appears a strange thing to permit the multipli and the Fathers may have put upon this, I take the words as I find them, and reply, with Bishop Watson upon similar occasions, when the Fathers were quoted to him, as Moderator in the schools of Cambridge, "Behold the Book!"-holding up the cation of copies, by way of preventing the circulation of a mischievous work, which I do not presume to determine that this is; but that I cannot help: and the singularity of the case in this instance is more obvious, because here is a defendant who has multiplied this work by piracy, and does not think proper to appear. If the work be of that character which a court of common law would consider criminal, it is pretty clear why he does not appear, because he would come confitens reus; and for the same reason the question may perhaps not be tried by an action at law: and if it turns out to be the case, I shall be bound to give my own opinion. That opinion I express no further now than to say that, after having read the work, I cannot grant the injunction until you show me that you can maintain an action for it. If you cannot maintain an action, there is no pretence for granting an injunction; if you should not be able to try the question at law with the defendant, I cannot be charged with impropriety if I then give my own opinion upon it. It is true that this mode of dealing with the work, if it be calculated to produce mischievous effects, opens a door for its dissemination, but the duty of stopping the work does not belong to a court of equity, which has no criminal jurisdiction, and cannot punish or check the offence. If the character of the work is such that the publication of it amounts to a temporal offence, there is another way of proceeding, and the publication of it should be proceeded against directly as an offence; but whether this or any other work should be so dealt with, it would be very improper for me to form or intimate an opinion."-The injunction was refused accordingly. We must not encumber our pages with the long arguments pro and con which this famous judgment elicited. The reader will probably be satisfied with the following extract from the Life of Johnson, and its last editor's note. "When," says Boswell," Doctor Johnson and I were left by ourselves, I read to him my notes of the opinions of our Judges upon the questions of literary property. He did not like them; and said: "They make me think of your Judges not with that respect which I should wish to do.' To the argument of one of them, that there can be no property in blasphemy or nonsense, he answered, Then your rotten sheep are mine! By that rule, when a man's house falls into decay, he must lose it.'"-Boswell, vol. ii. p. 286.-"Dr. Johnson's illustration is sophistical, and might have been retorted upon him; for if a man's sheep are so rotten as to render the meat unwholesome, or if his house be so decayed as to threaten mischief to passengers, the law will confiscate the mutton and abate the house, without any regard to property, which the owner thus abuses. Moreover, Johnson should have discriminated between a criminal offence and a civil right. Blasphemy is a crime: would it not be in the highest degree absurd, that there should be a right of property in a crime, or that the law should be called upon to protect that which is illegal? If this be true in law, it is much more so in equity; as he who applies for the extraordinary assistance of a court of equity should have a right, consistent at least with equity and morals."-Croker. The reader is referred to Mr. Moore's Life, for abundant evidence of the pain which Lord Byron suffered from the virulence of the attacks on Cain, and the legal procedure above alluded to. There appeared, in the Bijou for 1828, a fragment by Mr. Coleridge, entitled The Wanderings of Cain; which was, no doubt, suggested by the perusal of this Mystery, and which every reader will thank us for inserting in an Appendix to the piece. Sir Walter Scott announced his acceptance of the dedication, in the following letter to Mr. Murray : "MY DEAR SIR, "Edinburgh, 4th December, 1821. "I accept, with feelings of great obligation, the flattering proposal of Lord Byron to prefix my name to the very grand and tre I could to restrain him within the bounds of spiritual politeness. If he disclaims having tempted Eve in the shape of the Serpent, it is only because the book of Genesis has not the most distant allusion to any thing of the kind, but merely to the Serpent in his serpentine capacity. Scripture. (1) It is to be recollected, that my pre-difficult for me to make him talk like a clergyman sent subject has nothing to do with the New Testa- upon the same subjects; but I have done what ment, to which no reference can be here made without anachronism. With the poems upon similar topics I have not been recently familiar. Since I was twenty, I have never read Milton; but I had read him so frequently before, that this may make little difference. Gesner's Death of Abel I have never read since I was eight years of age at Aberdeen. The general impression of my recollection is delight; but of the contents I remember only that Cain's wife was called Mahala, and Abel's Thirza in the following pages I have called them Adah and Zillah, the earliest female names which occur in Genesis; they were those of Lamech's wives: those of Cain and Abel are not called by their names. Whether, then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same in expression, know nothing, and care as little. (2) Note. The reader will perceive that the author has partly adopted in this poem the notion of Cuvier, that the world had been destroyed several times before the creation of man. This speculation, derived from the different strata and the bones of enormous and unknown animals found in them, is not contrary to the Mosaic account, but rather confirms it; as no human bones have yet been discoIvered in those strata, although those of many known animals are found near the remains of the unknown. The assertion of Lucifer, that the pre-Adamite world was also peopled by rational beings much more intelligent than man, and proportionally powerful to the mammoth, etc. etc. is, of course, poetical fiction to help him to make out his case. The reader will please to bear in mind (what few choose to recollect), that there is no allusion to a future state in any of the books of Moses, nor, indeed in the Old Testament. (3) For a reason for this extraordinary omission he may consult Warburton's Divine Legation; whether satisfactory or not, no better has yet been assigned. I have therefore sup- | posed it new to Cain, without, I hope, any perversion of Holy Writ. With regard to the language of Lucifer, it was mendous drama of Cain. I may be partial to it, and you will allow I have cause; but I do not know that his Muse has ever taken so lofty a flight amid her former soarings. He has certainly matched Milton on his own ground. Some part of the language is bold, and may shock one class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of affectation or envy. But then they must condemn the Paradise Lost, if they have a mind to be consistent. The fiend-like reasoning and bold blasphemy of the fiend and of his pupil lead exactly to the point which was to be expected,the commission of the first murder, and the ruin and despair of the perpetrator. "I do not see how any one can accuse the author himself of Manicheism. The Devil talks the language of that sect, doubtless; because, not being able to deny the existence of the Good Principle, he endeavours to exalt himself-the Evil Principle-to a seeming equality with the Good; but such arguments, in the mouth of such a being, can only be used to deceive and to betray. Lord Byron might have made this more evident, by placing in the mouth of Adam, or of some good and protecting spirit, the reasons which render the existence of moral evil consistent with the general benevolence of the Deity. The great key to the mystery is perhaps, the imperfection of our own faculties, which see and feel strongly the partial evils which press upon us, but know too little of the general system of the universe, to be aware how the existence of these is to be reconciled with the benevolence of the great Creator. "To drop these speculations, you have much occasion for some mighty spirit, like Lord Byron, to come down and trouble the waters; for, excepting The John Bull.* you seem stagnating strangely in London. "Yours, my dear Sir, very truly, "To John Murray, Esq. The pungent Sunday print so called had been established some little time before this letter was written, and had excited a a I ought to add, that there is a "tramelogedia" of Alfieri, called Abel. I have never read that, nor any other of the posthumous works of the writer, except his Life. Ravenna, Sept. 20, 1821. (1) "I never troubled myself with answering any arguments which the opponents in the divinity-schools brought against the Articles of the Church, nor ever admitted their authority as decisive of a difficulty; but I used on such occasions to say to them, holding up the New Testament in my hand, 'En sacrum codicem: Here is the fountain of truth; why do you follow the streams derived from it by the sophistry, or polluted by the passions, of man?"" Bishop Watson's Life, vol. i. p. 63.-E. (2) Here follows, in the original draught,-"I am prepared to be accused of Manicheism, or some other hard name ending in ism, which make a formidable figure and awful sound in the eyes and ears of those who would be as much puzzled to explain the terms so bandied about, as the liberal and pious indulgers in such epithets. Against such I can defend myself, or, if neces sary, I can attack in turn.”—E. (3) "There are numerous passages dispersed throughout the Old Testament, which import something more than an allusion to a future state.' In truth, the Old Testament abounds in phrases which imply the immortality of the soul, and which would be insignificant and hardly intelligible, but upon that supposition. 'Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it.'-Eccl. xii. 7. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame: and they that be wise shall shine. as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.'-Dan. x. 2. 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter days upon the earth: and though after my skin worms shall destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.'-Job, xix. 25. But there would be no end of citing passages from the Old Testament, to show that not only the immortality of the soul is sensation unequalled in the recent history of the newspaper press-E. The Land without Paradise.—Time, Sunrise. ADAM, EVE, CAIN, Abel, Adah, ZILLAH, offering a Sacrifice. Adam. GOD, the Eternal! Infinite! All-wise!Who out of darkness on the deep didst make Light on the waters with a word-all hail! Jehovah, with returning light, all hail! Eve. God! who didst name the day, and separate Morning from night, till then divided neverWho didst divide the wave from wave, and call Part of thy work the firmament—all hail! Abel. God! who didst call the elements into And love both them and thee-all hail! all hail! implied in its divine pages, but the resurrection of the body also." Brit. Rev.-E. (1) "The morning hymns and worship with which the Mystery opens are grave, solemn, and scriptural, and the dialogue which follows with Cain is no less so his opinion of the tree of life is, I believe, orthodox; but it is daringly expressed: indeed all the sentiments ascribed to Cain are but the questions of the sceptics." Gall's Life. (2) *** Prayer,' said Lord Byron, at Cephalonia, 'does not consist in the act of kneeling, nor in repeating certain words in a solemn manner. Devotion is the affection of the heart, and this I feel; for when I view the wonders of the creation, I bow to the majesty of Heaven; and when I feel enjoyment of life, health, and happiness, I feel grateful to God for having bestowed these upon me.'-'All this is well,' I said, 'so far as it goes, but to be a Christian you must go farther.'-'1 read more of the Bible than you are aware,' he said: 'I have a Bible which my sister gave me, who is an excellent woman, and I read it very often.' He went into his bed room on saying this, and brought out a pocket Bible, finely bound, and showed it to me." Kennedy.—E. Adam. But thou, my eldest-born, art silent still. Adam. Adam. Cain. 'Tis better I should be so. Wherefore so? Cain. I have nought to ask. Nor aught to thank for? (3) The snake spoke truth: it was the tree of knowIt was the tree of life: knowledge is good, [ledge; And life is good; and how can both be evil? Eve. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke, in sin, Before thy birth: let me not see renew'd My misery in thine. I have repented. Let me not see my offspring fall into The snares beyond the walls of Paradise, Which e'en in Paradise destroy'd his parents. Content thee with what is. Had we been so, (3) "Dr. Shaw, the professor of divinity, breakfasted with us. I took out my Ogden on prayer, and read some of it to the company. Dr. Johnson praised him. 'Abernethy,' said he, 'allows only of a physical effect of prayer upon the mind, which may be produced many ways as well as by prayer; for instance, by meditation. Ogden goes farther. In truth, we have the consent of all nations for the efficacy of prayer, whether offered up by individgals or by assemblies; and revelation has told us it will be effectual.'" Boswell, Croker's edit. (4) "This passage affords a key to the temper and frame of mind of Cain throughout the piece. He disdains the limited existence allotted to him; he has a rooted horror of death, altended with a vehement curiosity as to his nature; and he nourishes a sullen anger against his parents, to whose misconduct he ascribes his degraded state. Added to this, he has an insatiable thirst for knowledge beyond the bounds prescribed to mortality; and this part of the poem bears a strong resemblance to Manfred, whose counterpart, indeed, in the main points of character, Cain seems to be." Campbell. Thou now hadst been contented.-Oh, my son! Eve. Cain, my son, Behold thy father cheerful and resign'd, Abel. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse The Eternal anger? Adah. My beloved Cain, Wilt thou frown even on me? Cain. No, Adah! no; If not, I will Adah. Abel. Be on your spirit, brother! The peace of God Yielding, why suffer? What was there in this? Of spiritual essence: why do I quake? Why should I fear him more than other spirits, As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems [Exeunt ABEL, ZILLAH, and ADAH. So? and can aught grieve save humanity? even from the damnation of criticism-he speaks neither poetry nor common sense. Thomas Aquinas would have flogged him more for his bad logic than bis unbelief—and St. Dunstan would have caught him by the nose ere the purblind fiend was aware." (1) That the monstrous creed inculcated in this work is really the creed of Lord Byron himself, we, certainly, have some difficulty in believing. As little are we inclined to assert that this frightful caricature of Deism is intended as a covert recommendation of that further stage to which the scepticism of modern philosophers-Blackwood. has sometimes conducted them. We are willing to suppose that "The impiety chargeable on this Mystery consists mainly in he has, after all, no further view than the fantastic glory of sup-this-that the purposeless and gratuitous blasphemies put into porting a paradox ably; of showing his powers of argument and poetry at the expense of all the religious and natural feelings of the world, and of ascertaining how much will be forgiven him by the unwearied devotion of his admirers. But we cannot, with some of our contemporaries, give him the credit of writing conscientiously. We respect his understanding too highly to apprehend that he intended a benefit to mankind in doing his best to make them discontented."-Heber. "Milton, with true tact and feeling, put no metaphysics into Satan's mouth. There is no querulousness, no sneaking doubts, no petty reasoning in the Archangel fallen.' It is a fine, blunt, sublime, characteristic defiance, that reigns throughout, and animates his character; the spirit is still of celestial birth; and all the evil of his speech and act is utterly neutralised, by the impossibility of man's feeling any sympathy with it. The Satan of Milton is no half-human devil, with enough of earth about him to typify the malignant sceptic, and enough of heaven to throw a shade of sublimity on his very malignity. The Lucifer of Byron is neither a noble-fiend, nor yet a villain-fiend-he does nothing, and he seems nothing-there is no poetry either of character or description about him-he is a poor, sneaking, talking devil-a most wretched metaphysician, without wit enough to save him the mouths of Lucifer and Cain are left unrefuted, so that they appear introduced for their own sake, and the design of the writer seems to terminate in them. There is no attempt made to prevent their leaving the strongest possible impression on the reader's mind. On the contrary, the arguments, if such they can be called, levelled against the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, are put forth with the utmost ingenuity. And it has been the noble poet's endeavour to palliate as much as possible the characters of the Evil Spirit and of the first murderer; the former of whom is made an elegant, poetical, philosophical sentimentalist, a sort of Manfred,—the latter an ignorant, proud, and self-willed boy. Lucifer, too, is represented as denying all share in the temptation of Eve, which he throws upon the Serpent in his serpentine capacity;' the author pleading, that he does so only because the book of Genesis has not the most distant allusion to any thing of the kind, and that a reference to the New Testament would be an anachronism."-Ecl. Rev. "Lucifer now enters on the stage; and if we allow that he is a different and inferior personage to the Satan of Milton, it is a concession which, we have no doubt, would be made as readily by the author as by ourselves. The Satan of Paradise Lost bas still a tinge of heaven; his passions are high and heroic, and his |