That saying jars you, let us only say

'T were better that he never had been born.

Adah. Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys, The mother's joys of watching, nourishing,

And loving him? Soft! he awakes. Sweet Enoch! [She goes to the child.

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

In the clear waters, when they are gentle, and
When thou art gentle. Love us, then, my Cain!
And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee.
Look! how he laughs and stretches out his arms,
And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine,
To hail his father; while his little form

Flutters as wing'd with joy. Talk not of pain!
The childless cherubs well might envy thee
The pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain!
As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but
His heart will, and thine own too. (1)

Cain.

Bless thee, boy! If that a mortal blessing may avail thee, To save thee from the serpent's curse! Adah.

It shall.

(1) [The third act shows us Cain gloomily lamenting over the future fortunes of his infant son, and withstanding all the consolation and entreaties of Adah, who is anxious to soften him to the task of submission and to a participation in the sacrifice which his brother is about to offer. Here are some passages of no common beauty. That which strikes us most is when the parents are hanging over their sleeping boy.— BISHOP HEBER.]

Surely a father's blessing may avert
A reptile's subtlety.

Abel. Our sister tells me that thou hast been

wandering,

In high communion with a spirit, far

Beyond our wonted range. Was he of those

We have seen and spoken with, like to our father? Cain. No.

Abel. Why then commune with him? he may be A foe to the Most High.

Abel. Term him! your words are strange to-day,

my brother.

My sister Adah, leave us for awhile

We mean to sacrifice.

Adah.

But first embrace thy son.

Farewell, my Cain;

May his soft spirit,

[Exit ADAH, with her child.

And Abel's pious ministry, recall thee

To peace and holiness!

Abel.

Cain. I know not.

Where hast thou been?

Abel.

Cain.

Nor what thou hast seen?

The dead,

The immortal, the unbounded, the omnipotent,
The overpowering mysteries of space-

The innumerable worlds that were and are-
A whirlwind of such overwhelming things,

Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres

Singing in thunder round me, as have made me
Unfit for mortal converse: leave me, Abel.

Abel. Thine eyes are flashing with unnatural light —
Thy cheek is flush'd with an unnatural hue—
Thy words are fraught with an unnatural sound-
this mean?

What

may

Cain.

It means. -I pray thee, leave me. Abel. Not till we have pray'd and sacrificed together. Cain. Abel, I pray thee, sacrifice alone

Jehovah loves thee well.

Abel.

Both well, I hope.

Cain. But thee the better: I care not for that; Thou art fitter for his worship than I am;

Revere him, then—but let it be alone—
At least, without me.

Abel.
Brother, I should ill
Deserve the name of our great father's son,

If, as my elder, I revered thee not,

And in the worship of our God call'd not
On thee to join me, and precede me in
Our priesthood-'tis thy place.

Cain.

Asserted it.

Abel.

But I have ne'er

The more my grief; I pray thee

To do so now thy soul seems labouring in
Some strong delusion; it will calm thee.

Cain.

Nothing can calm me more.

No;

Calm! say I? Never

Knew I what calm was in the soul, although

I have seen the elements still'd. My Abel, leave me! Or let me leave thee to thy pious purpose.

Abel. Neither; we must perform our task together. Spurn me not.

Cain.

What shall I do ?

Abel.

If it must be so- .well, then,

Choose one of those two altars.

Cain. Choose for me: they to me are so much turf

The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof

A shepherd's humble offering.

Cain.

I have no flocks;

I am a tiller of the ground, and must
Yield what it yieldeth to my toil—its fruit:

[He gathers fruits.

Behold them in their various bloom and ripeness.

[They dress their altars, and kindle a flame upon them.

Abel. My brother, as the elder, offer first

Thy prayer and thanksgiving with sacrifice.

Cain. No-I am new to this; lead thou the

And I will follow-as I may.

Abel (kneeling).

Oh God!

way,

Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life

Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us,

And spared, despite our father's sin, to make(1)
His children all lost, as they might have been,
Had not thy justice been so temper'd with
The mercy which is thy delight, as to

Accord a pardon like a Paradise,

Compared with our great crimes:-Sole Lord of light!

Of good, and glory, and eternity;

Without whom all were evil, and with whom
Nothing can err, except to some good end
Of thine omnipotent benevolence-
Inscrutable, but still to be fulfill'd-

Accept from out thy humble first of shepherd's
First of the first-born flocks-an offering,
In itself nothing-as what offering can be
Aught unto thee?—but yet accept it for
The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in
The face of thy high heaven, bowing his own
Even to the dust, of which he is, in honour
Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore!
Cain (standing erect during this speech). Spirit!
whate'er or whosoe'er thou art,

Omnipotent, it may be-and, if good,

Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil;
Jehovah upon earth! and God in heaven!
And it may be with other names, because

(1) [MS." And despised not for our father's sin to make."]