And covers his ferocious eye with hands

Incarnadine.

Adah.

Mother, thou dost him wrong

Cain clear thee from this horrible accusal,

Which grief wrings from our parent.

Eve.

:

Hear, Jehovah !
May the eternal serpent's curse be on him!
For he was fitter for his seed than ours.
May all his days be desolate May-
Adah.
Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-
Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother,
And my betrothed.

Eve.

Hold!

He hath left thee no brother—

Zillah no husband-me no son !-for this

I curse him from my sight for evermore !
All bonds I break, between us, as he broke
That of nature, in you-O death! death!

Why didst thou not take me, who first incurr'd thee?
Why dost thou not so now?

Adam.

Eve let not this

Thy natural grief, lead to impiety!

A heavy doom was long forespoken to us;
And now that it begins, let it be borne

In such sort as may show our God that we

Are faithful servants to his holy will.

Eve (pointing to CAIN). His will!! the will of yon in

carnate spirit

Of death, whom I have brought upon the earth

To strew it with the dead. May all the curses

Of life be on him! and his agonies,

Drive him forth o'er the wilderness, like us

From Eden, till his children do by him

As he did by his brother! May the swords
And wings of fiery cherubim pursue him

By day and night-snakes spring up in his path—
Earth's fruit be ashes in his mouth-the leaves
On which he lays his head to sleep be strew'd
With scorpions. May his dreams be of his victim.
His waking a continual dread of death!

May the clear rivers turn to blood as he
Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip!
May every element shun or change to him!
May he live in the pangs which others die with !
And death itself wax something worse than death
To him who first acquainted him with man!
Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain,
Through all the coming myriads of mankind,
Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their sire!
May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust

A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her God!

[Exit EVE. Adam. Cain! get thee forth: we dwell not more together. Depart! and leave the dead to me—I am

Henceforth alone-we never must meet more.

Adah. Oh part not with him thus, my father: do not Add thy deep curse to Eve's upon his head!

:

Adam. I curse him not his spirit be a curse. Come, Zillah!

Zillah.

I must watch my husband's corse. Adam. We will return again, when he is gone Who has provided for us this dread office.

Come, Zillah!

Zillah.

Yet one kiss on yon pale clay,

And those lips once so warm-my heart! my heart!

[Exeunt ADAM, &c., ZILLAH weeping. LORD BYRON.

FROM "SARDANAPALUS."

OH! for that-I love the stars,

I love to watch them in the deep blue vault,
And to compare them with my Myrraha's eyes;
I love to see their rays redoubled in

The tremulous silver of Euphrates' wave,

As the bright breeze of midnight crisps the broad
And rolling water, sighing through the sedges
Which fringe his banks: but, whether they may be
Gods, as some say, or the abodes of gods,

e;

As others hold, or simply lamps of night,
Worlds, or the lights of worlds, I know nor care not.
There's something sweet in my uncertainty
I would not change for your Chaldean lore
Besides, I know of these all clay can know
Of aught above it, or below it-nothing,
I see their brilliancy and feel their beauty-
When they shine on my grave I shall know neither.

IBID.

FROM "ROMEO AND JULIET."

Romeo. He jests at scars, that never felt a wound,But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

[JULIET appears above, at a window.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

It is my lady; Oh, it is my love;

Oh, that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing: What of that!
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.-

I am too bold, 'tis not to me it speaks :
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head,
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As day-light doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
That birds would sing, and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Juliet. Ay me!

Rom.

She speaks:

Oh, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white upturn'd wondering eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

What's in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called;

Retain that dear perfection which owes,
Without that title :-Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Rom. I take thee at thy word:

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized

Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Jul. What man art thou, that, thus bescreen'd in night So stumblest on my counsel ?

Rom.

By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am :
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it it is an enemy to thee;

Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Jul. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound;
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague ?

Rom. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.

Jul. How cam'st thou hither, tell me? and wherefore? The orchard walls are high, and hard to climb!

And the place death, considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out :

And what love can do, that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

Jul. If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords; look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.

Jul. I would not for the world they saw thee here. Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight; And, but thou love me, let them find me here;

Z