The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 84

"The new Sesostris, whose unharnessed kings."

_Werner_, act iii. sc. 3, lines 10, 11--

"... while the knoll Of long-lived parents."

_Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza xcvi. lines 5, 6--

"... is the knoll Of what in me is sleepless."

(Byron is the authority for the use of "knoll" as a substantive.)

Or, compare the statement (see act i. sc. 1, line 213, _sq._) that "A great personage ... is drowned below the ford, with five post-horses, A monkey and a mastiff--and a valet," with the corresponding pa.s.sage in _Kruitzner_ and in Byron's unfinished fragment; and note that "the monkey, the mastiff, and the valet," which formed part of Byron's retinue in 1821, are conspicuous by their absence from Miss Lee's story and the fragment.

s.p.a.ce precludes the quotation of further parallels, and for specimens of a score of pa.s.sages which proclaim their author the following lines must suffice:--

Act i. sc. 1, lines 163-165--

"... although then My pa.s.sions were all living serpents, and Twined like the Gorgon's round me."

Act iii. sc. 1, lines 264-268--

"... sound him with the gem; 'Twill sink into his venal soul like lead Into the deep, and bring up slime and mud.

And ooze, too, from the bottom, as the lead doth With its greased understratum."

_Did_ Byron write _Werner_, or was it the d.u.c.h.ess of Devonshire?

(For a correspondence on the subject, see _Literature_, August 12, 19, 26, September 9, 1899.)

TO

THE ILl.u.s.tRIOUS GOETHE

BY ONE OF HIS HUMBLEST ADMIRERS,

THIS TRAGEDY

IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE

The following drama is taken entirely from the _German's Tale, Kruitzner_, published many years ago in "Lee's _Canterbury Tales_"

written (I believe) by two sisters, of whom one furnished only this story and another, both of which are considered superior to the remainder of the collection.[159] I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language of many parts of this story. Some of the characters are modified or altered, a few of the names changed, and one character (Ida of Stralenheim) added by myself: but in the rest the original is chiefly followed. When I was young (about fourteen, I think,) I first read this tale, which made a deep impression upon me; and may, indeed, be said to contain the germ of much that I have since written. I am not sure that it ever was very popular; or, at any rate, its popularity has since been eclipsed by that of other great writers in the same department. But I have generally found that those who _had_ read it, agreed with me in their estimate of the singular power of mind and conception which it developes. I should also add _conception_, rather than execution; for the story might, perhaps, have been developed with greater advantage. Amongst those whose opinions agreed with mine upon this story, I could mention some very high names: but it is not necessary, nor indeed of any use; for every one must judge according to his own feelings. I merely refer the reader to the original story, that he may see to what extent I have borrowed from it; and am not unwilling that he should find much greater pleasure in perusing it than the drama which is founded upon its contents.

I had begun a drama upon this tale so far back as 1815, (the first I ever attempted, except one at thirteen years old, called "Ulric and Ilvina," which I had sense enough to burn,) and had nearly completed an act, when I was interrupted by circ.u.mstances. This is somewhere amongst my papers in England; but as it has not been found, I have re-written the first, and added the subsequent acts.

The whole is neither intended, nor in any shape adapted, for the stage[cm].

DRAMATIS PERSONae.

MEN.

WERNER.

ULRIC.

STRALENHEIM.

IDENSTEIN.

GABOR.

FRITZ.

HENRICK.

ERIC.

ARNHEIM.

MEISTER.

RODOLPH.

LUDWIG.

WOMEN.

JOSEPHINE.

IDA STRALENHEIM.

SCENE--Partly on the Frontier of Silesia, and partly in Siegendorf Castle, near Prague.

Time--_The Close of the Thirty Years' War_[160].

WERNER; OR, THE INHERITANCE.

ACT I.

SCENE I.--_The Hall of a decayed Palace near a small Town on the Northern Frontier of Silesia--the Night tempestuous_.