The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria Part 29

An Auto.

"The first auto translated is 'Belshazzar's Feast', a fortunate selection, for it is probably unsurpa.s.sed in dramatic effect and poetic description, and withal is much less enc.u.mbered with theology than most others".

From an article in "The New York Nation", by a distinguished professor of Cornell University, on "Mac-Carthy's Translations of Calderon".

THE DIVINE PHILOTHEA.

An Auto.

"'The Divine Philothea', probably the last work of the kind written by Calderon, and as such worthy of attention, inasmuch as it is the composition of an old man of eighty-one, is conceived with much boldness and executed with marvellous skill. No fewer than twenty personages are represented on the stage, and these have their several parts allotted to them with great discrimination, ingenuity, and judgment. The Senses, the Cardinal Virtues; Paganism and Judaism; Heresy and Atheism; the Prince of Light and the Power of Darkness, figure amongst the characters".

"The Bookseller", June 29, 1867, on Mac-Carthy's "Mysteries of Corpus Christi (Autos Sacramentales), from the Spanish of Calderon".

THE TWO LOVERS OF HEAVEN.

A Drama.

"Of these 'The Wonder-working Magician' is most celebrated; but others, as 'The Joseph of Women', 'The Two Lovers of Heaven', quite deserve to be placed on a level if not higher than it. A tender pathetic grace is shed over this last, which gives it a peculiar charm".

Archbishop Trench.

Calderon's Autos Sacramentales, or Mysteries of Corpus Christi. Duffy: Dublin and London, 1867.

From "The Irish Ecclesiastical Record".

"In conclusion, we heartily commend to our readers this most interesting and valuable specimen of Spanish thought and devotion, wrought, as it is, into such pure and beautiful English. . . . . When we remember the great literary advantages which Spain once possessed in the intellect and faith of her literary giants, we may well rejoice in the appearance among us of one of the greatest of that n.o.ble race in the person of Calderon, especially when introduced to us by a poet whose claim upon our consideration has been so emphatically made good by his own original productions as Denis Florence Mac-Carthy".

THE SPANISH DRAMA

Just ready, double columns, price 2s. 6d.,

THE TWO LOVERS OF HEAVEN,

From the Spanish of Calderon, BY DENIS FLORENCE MAC-CARTHY,

Author of The Voyage of St. Brendan, The Bell-Founder, Waiting for the May, etc.

DUBLIN: W. B. KELLY, 8 GRAFTON STREET.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

In one vol. small 4to, double columns, with the Spanish text, beautifully printed by Whittingham, Price 7s. 6d.,

THREE DRAMAS OF CALDERON,

FROM THE SPANISH, BY DENIS FLORENCE MAC-CARTHY.

From Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature.

"It is, I think, one of the boldest attempts ever made in English verse.

It is, too, as it seems to me, remarkably successful . . .

"Nothing, I think, in the English language will give us so true an impression of what is most characteristic of the Spanish drama: perhaps I ought to say, of what is most characteristic of Spanish poetry generally".--tom. iii. pp. 461, 462.

BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY, LONDON.

Transcriber's Notes.

General. I have rendered instances of small capitals as all capitals.

In most instances I have made no attempt to indicate here instances of italics in the original publication. Accents and other diacritical marks have also been dropt. However, where the original has an acute accent over the "e" in a past participle for poetical reasons, I have marked this with a grave accent (as in "learn'ed") to indicate the intended p.r.o.nunciation. For a fully formatted version, with italics, extended characters, et cetera, please refer to the HTML version of this play, released by Project Gutenberg simultaneously with this plain text edition.

General. Only the most obvious of printer's errors have been corrected in this electronic edition. Some inconsistent use of quotation marks and several forms of ellipses (with varying numbers of dots and s.p.a.ces) have been retained as originally published. I have also retained the original's format of contractions, namely to include a s.p.a.ce as in "I 'll" rather than "I'll."

Play, General. Stage directions following lines of spoken text are typically right justified in the printed source. In this electronic edition they simply follow the line of spoken text.

Play, General. In a few places, Denis Florence MacCarthy's (1817-1882) translation as published differs noticeably from a Spanish (or more properly, Castillano) text of the drama, published after this translation, available to this transcriber. I do not have access to the Spanish edition that Mr. MacCarthy used as the basis of his translation, so perhaps a better preserved version of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's (1600-1681) drama was discovered. Or perhaps Mr. MacCarthy used some poetic license in editing the drama. Some differences may be due to printer's errors. Whatever the reason, I have noted below these differences so that a reader comparing this e-book to a Spanish edition will not be confused about these omission, and think them caused by a transcription error of mine, or pages missing from the printed source.

Act 1, Scene 2. Ovid's 'Remedy of Love' is referred to three times, but as 'Remedies of Love' on the third occasion. A Spanish text has "Remedio" the first time, and "Remedios" elsewhere. I have found references to the work as both 'Remedium Amoris' and 'Remedia Amoris.'

Act 1, Scene 2. There is an apparent discrepancy in the play. Chloris is clearly present in the grove, and in "Persons" is listed as one of four priestesses of Diana, yet the lines "We three share;--'t is thy delight" and "For here three objects we behold" imply she is not part of the group of priestesses. There is no stage direction [such as: (Chloris sits behind a tree.] in the printed source, nor in a Spanish text of the play, to explain this. Perhaps (as may be guessed from the line "From their tender years go thither" in the previous scene) the character is an acolyte or novice priestess played by a child. She only appears in this scene.

Act 1, Scene 2. "My blessings on your choice and you! / . . . Are nothing to a pretty face." A Spanish text gives Escarpin seventeen lines here, rather than five. The last dozen lines contain a story of a clever vixen and a comely partridge.

Act 1, Scene 3. The line "Yes, G.o.d and Man is Christ" is not indented in the printed source, but logically should be, and is in a Spanish text of the play. I have indented it above.

Act 1, Scene 3. The line "Why delay? Arrest them." in the printed source is shown as two lines ("Why delay? / Arrest them."), but this seems to be a printer's error as it breaks the asonante verse pattern.

Act 1, Scene 3. In order to preserve the verse, I have indented the line "Why, why, O heavens!"

Act 2, Scene 1. I have indented the line "What then?"