The Works of Lord Byron Volume IV Part 26

[157] [A reminiscence of the clouds of spray from the Fall of the Staubbach, which, in certain aspects, appear to be springing upwards from the bed of the waterfall.]

[158] {125}[Compare _The Giaour,_ lines 282-284. Compare, too, _Don Juan,_ Canto IV. stanza lvii. line 8.]

[159] [Here, as in so many other pa.s.sages of _Manfred,_ Byron is recording his own feelings and forebodings. The same note is struck in the melancholy letters of the autumn of 1811. See, for example, the letter to Dallas, October 11, "It seems as though I were to experience in my youth the greatest misery of age," etc. (_Letters,_ 1898, ii.

52).]

[160] {126}["Pray, was Manfred's speech to _the Sun_ still retained in Act third? I hope so: it was one of the best in the thing, and better than the Colosseum."--Letter to Murray, July 9, 1817, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 147. Compare Byron's early rendering of "Ossian's Address to the Sun 'in Carthon.'"--_Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 229.]

[161] {127} "And it came to pa.s.s, that the _Sons of G.o.d_ saw the daughters of men, that they were fair," etc.--"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the _Sons of G.o.d_ came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."--_Genesis_, ch. vi.

verses 2 and 4.

[162] [For the "Chaldeans" and "mountain-tops," see _Childe Harold_, Canto III, stanza xiv. line i, and stanza xci. lines 1-3.]

[be] {129}_Some strange things in these far years_.--[MS. M.]

[163] [The Grosse Eiger is a few miles to the south of the Castle of Unspunnen.]

[164] The remainder of the act in its original shape, ran thus--

_Her_. Look--look--the tower-- The tower's on fire. Oh, heavens and earth! what sound, What dreadful sound is that? [_A crash like thunder_.

_Manuel_. Help, help, there!--to the rescue of the Count,-- The Count's in danger,--what ho! there! approach!

[_The Servants, Va.s.sals, and Peasantry approach stupifed with terror_.

If there be any of you who have heart And love of human kind, and will to aid Those in distress--pause not--but follow me-- The portal's open, follow. [MANUEL _goes in_.

_Her_. Come--who follows?

What, none of ye?--ye recreants! shiver then 10 Without. I will not see old Manuel risk His few remaining years unaided. [HERMAN _goes in_.

_Va.s.sal_. Hark!-- No--all is silent--not a breath--the flame Which shot forth such a blaze is also gone: What may this mean? Let's enter!

_Peasant_. Faith, not I,-- Not but, if one, or two, or more, will join, I then will stay behind; but, for my part, I do not see precisely to what end.

_Va.s.sal_. Cease your vain prating--come.

_Manuel_ (_speaking within_). 'Tis all in vain-- He's dead.

_Her_. (_within_). Not so--even now methought he moved; 20 But it is dark--so bear him gently out-- Softly--how cold he is! take care of his temples In winding down the staircase.

_Re-enter_ MANUEL _and_ HERMAN, _bearing_ MANFRED _in their arms_.

_Manuel_. Hie to the castle, some of ye, and bring What aid you can. Saddle the barb, and speed For the leech to the city--quick! some water there!

_Her_. His cheek is black--but there is a faint beat Still lingering about the heart. Some water.

[_They sprinkle_ MANFRED _with water: after a pause, he gives some signs of life_.

_Manuel_. He seems to strive to speak--come--cheerly, Count!

He moves his lips--canst hear him! I am old, 30 And cannot catch faint sounds.

[HERMAN _inclining his head and listening_.

_Her_. I hear a word Or two--but indistinctly--what is next?

What's to be done? let's bear him to the castle.

[MANFRED _motions with his hand not to remove him_.

_Manuel_. He disapproves--and 'twere of no avail-- He changes rapidly.

_Her_. 'Twill soon be over.

_Manuel_. Oh! what a death is this! that I should live To shake my gray hairs over the last chief Of the house of Sigismund.--And such a death!

Alone--we know not how--unshrived--untended-- With strange accompaniments and fearful signs-- 40 I shudder at the sight--but must not leave him.

_Manfred_ (_speaking faintly and slowly_).

Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die.

[MANFRED, _having said this, expires_.

_Her_. His eyes are fixed and lifeless.--He is gone.--

_Manuel_. Close them.--My old hand quivers.--He departs-- Whither? I dread to think--but he is gone!

End of Act Third, and of the poem."]

[bf] {131}_Sirrah! I command thee_.--[MS.]

[165] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza lx.x.xvi. line 1; stanza lx.x.xix. lines 1, 2; and stanza xc. lines 1, 2.]

[166] ["Drove at midnight to see the Coliseum by moonlight: but what can I say of the Coliseum? It must be _seen_; to describe it I should have thought impossible, if I had not read _Manfred_.... His [Byron's]

description is the very thing itself; but what cannot he do on such a subject, when his pen is like the wand of Moses, whose touch can produce waters even from the barren rock?"--Matthews's _Diary of an Invalid_, 1820, pp. 158, 159. (Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanzas cxxviii.-cx.x.xi.)]

[167] {132}[Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanzas cvi.-cix.]

[168] [For "begun," compare _Don Juan_, Canto II. stanza clxvii. line 1.]

[169] {133}[Compare--

" ... but his face Deep scars of thunder had intrenched."

_Paradise Lost_, i. 600.]

[bg] _Summons_----.-[MS. M.]

[170] {135}

["The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of h.e.l.l, a h.e.l.l of Heaven."

_Paradise Lost_, i. 254, 255.]

[171] {136}[In the first edition (p. 75), this line was left out at Gifford's suggestion (_Memoirs, etc.,_ 1891, i. 387). Byron was indignant, and wrote to Murray, August 12, 1817 (_Letters,_ 1900, iv.

157), "You have destroyed the whole effect and moral of the poem, by omitting the last line of Manfred's speaking."]

[172] [For Goethes translation of the following pa.s.sages in _Manfred_, viz (i) Manfred's soliloquy, act 1. sc. 1, line 1 _seq._; (ii) "The Incantation." act i. sc. 1, lines 192-261; (iii)Manfred's soliloquy, act ii, sc. 2 lines 164-204; (iv.) the duologue between Manfred and Astarte, act ii. sc. 4, lines 116-155; (v) a couplet, "For the night hath been to me," etc., act iii. sc. 4, lines 3, 4;--see Professor A. Brandl's _Goethe-Jahrbuch._ 1899, and Goethe's _Werke,_ 1874, iii. 201, as quoted in Appendix II., _Letters,_ 1901. v. 503-514.]