SCENES, ETC., FROM GOETHE'S " TASSO."

299

Now the sweet peace is gone-the glory now
Departed from the wave! I know myself
No more in these dark perils, and no more
I blush to lose that knowledge. From the bark
Is wrench'd the rudder, and through all its frame
The quivering vessel groans. Beneath my feet
The rocking earth gives way—to thee I cling—
I grasp thee with mine arms. In wild despair
So doth the struggling sailor clasp the rock
Whereon he perishes!"

And thus painfully ends this celebrated drama, the catastrophe being that of the spiritual wreck within, unmingled with the terrors drawn from outward circumstances and change. The majestic lines in which Byron has embodied the thoughts of the captive Tasso, will form a fine contrast and relief to the music of despair with which Goethe's work is closed;

"All this hath somewhat worn me, and may wear,
But must be borne. I stoop not to despair,
For I have battled with mine agony,
And made me wings wherewith to overfly
The narrow circus of my dungeon wall;
And freed the holy sepulchre from thrall;
And revell'd among men and things divine,
And pour'd my spirit over Palestine,

In honour of the sacred war for Him,

The God who was on earth and is in heaven; For He hath strengthen'd me in heart and limb. That through this sufferance I might be forgiven, I have employ'd my penance to record

How Salem's shrine was won, and how adored."

ON THE "IPHIGENIA" OF GOETHE.

AN UNFINISHED FRAGMENT.

of

THERE is a charm of antique grace, of the majestic repose resulting from a faultless symmetry, about the whole of this composition, which inclines us to rank it as among the most consummate works of art ever achieved by the master-mind of its author. The perfection of its design and finish is analogous to that of a Grecian temple, seen as the crown of some old classic height, with all its pure outlines-all the delicate proportions of its airy pillars-brought into bold relief by the golden sunshine, and against the unclouded blue of its native heavens. Complete within itself, the harmonious edifice is thus also to the mind and eye the beholder; they are filled, and desire no more— they even feel that more would be but incumbrance upon the fine adjustment of the well-ordered parts constituting the graceful whole. It sends no vague dreams to wander through infinity, such as are excited by a Gothic minster, where the slight pinnacles striving upward, like the free but still baffled thought of the architect-the clustering pillars and high arches imitating the bold combinations of mysterious forests -the many-branching cells, and long visionary aisles, of which waving torchlight or uncertain glimpses of the noon seem the fittest illumination. ever suggest ideas of some conception in the originally moulding mind, far more vast than the means allotted to human accomplishment-of struggling endeavour, and pain

FRAGMENTS FROM THE IPHIGENIA.

301

fully submitted will. Akin to the spirit of such creations is that of the awful but irregular Faust, and other works of Goethe, in which the restless questionings, the lofty aspirations, and dark misgivings of the human soul, are perpetually called up to "come like shadows, so depart," across the stormy splendours of the scene; and the mind is engaged in ceaseless conflict with the interminable mysteries of life. It is otherwise with the work before us; overshadowed, as it were, by the dark wings of the inflexible destiny which hovers above the children of Tantalus, the spirit of the imaginary personages, as well as of the reader, here moves acquiescently within the prescribed circle of events, and is seldom tempted beyond, to plunge into the abyss of general speculations upon the lot of humanity.

*

*

*

FRAGMENTS FROM THE IPHIGENIA.

I.

JOY OF PYLADES ON HEARING HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE.

Он, sweetest voice! Oh, bless'd familiar sound
Of mother-words heard in the stranger's land!
I see the blue hills of my native shore,
The far blue hills again! those cordial tones
Before the captive bid them freshly rise
For ever welcome! Oh, by this deep joy,
Know the true son of Greece!

VOL. VI. 26

II.

EXCLAMATIONS OF IPHIGENIA ON SEEING HER BROTHER

Oh hear me, look upon me! how my heart,

After long desolation, now unfolds

Unto this new delight, to kiss thy head,

Thou dearest, dearest one of all on earth!

To clasp thee with my arms, which were but thrown
On the void winds before! Oh give me way,
Give my soul's rapture way! The eternal fount
Leaps not more brightly forth from cliff to cliff
Of high Parnassus, down the golden vale,
Than the strong joy bursts gushing from my heart,
And swells around me to a flood of bliss-
Orestes!-oh, my brother!

III.

LOT OF MAN AND WOMAN COMPARED BY IPHIGENIA.

Man by the battle's hour immortalized
May fall, yet leave his name to living song;
But of forsaken woman's countless tears,
What recks the after-world? the poet's voice
Tells nought of all the slow, sad, weary days,
And long, long nights, through which the lonely soul
Pour'd itself forth, consumed itself away,

In passionate adjurings, vain desires,
And ceaseless weepings for the early lost,
The loved and vanish'd!

FRAGMENTS FROM THE IPHIGENIA.

IV.

LONGING OF ORESTES FOR REPOSE.

One draught from Lethe's flood! reach me
draught,

One last cool goblet fill'd with dewy peace!
Soon will the spasm of life departing leave
My bosom free! Soon shall my spirit flow
Along the deep waves of forgetfulness,
Calmly and silently! away to you,

Ye dead! Ye dwellers of the eternal cloud,
Take home the son of earth, and let him steep
His o'erworn senses in your dim repose
For evermore.

303

one

V.

CONTINUATION OF ORESTES' SOLILOQUY.

Hark! in the trembling leaves

Mysterious whispers: hark! a rushing sound
Sweeps through yon twilight depth!-e'en now they

come,

They throng to greet their guest! and who are they!
Rejoicing each with each in stately joy,

As a king's children gather'd for the hour
Of some high festival! Exultingly,

And kindred-like, and godlike, on they pass,
The glorious wandering shapes! aged and young,
Proud men and royal women! Lo my race,
My sire's ancestral race!