ACT I.

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