SAUL, A MYSTERY.
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SAUL,
A MYSTERY
An Evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him.
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THE AUTHOR OF " CHRISTIAN BALLADS," "ATHANASION/
ETC. ETC. ETC.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY.
HARTFORD:
H. S. PARSONS, 6 CENTRAL ROW.
1845.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by
H. S, PARSONS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
EPISTLE,
T O
JOHN JAY, ESQ.,
BEDFORD.
MY DEAR JAY,
You are too familiar with the wonderful histories of
Holy Writ, to need any intimation that the subject of
the Mystery which I dedicate to you, is one of the most
interesting which the older Scriptures present. The
character of Saul appears to me, to combine those attri
butes in which the Tragic Muse has heretofore found
her noblest material. Magnificent as Prometheus, he
is yet wretched as CEdipus, and wicked as Macbeth.
1 was aware, therefore, from the beginning, how diffi
cult. it would be to do justice to my great theme; but
experience has convinced me that the greatest difficul
ties attending it were of a class not foreseen, and of
which, as others may not suspect it, I am desirous of
reminding you.
I was led to choose a sacred subject, from a convic
tion that such are the most noble, and the least
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appreciated ; and from a mysterious and almost roman
tic love of the very geography of the Holy Land, co
existing with a deep desire to recommend the study
of sacred lore, in preference of the-wom-out fables of
classic Mythology. The finest dramatic hero of Holy
Scripture, seemed to me, moreover, to have been singu
larly overlooked ; and the endeavour to inspire others
with the deep and awful interest which always moved
my spirit at the name of Palestine, or the mention of
Saul and David, appeared to be a work, on which I
might ask and expect the blessing of the GOD of my
youth. But I did not apprehend the straits, within
which my high estimate of my undertaking would ne
cessarily hedge me ; nor the scruples which a deeper
inspection of the blessed Scriptures would excite, as to
the lawfulness of employing its narrations as material
for plastic fancy. I was familiar, it is true, with the
delicate sensibility of Racine, expressed in the preface
to his Esther ; but I am sorry to say that, at first,
the deep conscientiousness which I have since learned
to honour even more than the genius of its subject,
struck me as morbid, if not weak. The historical
books of Scripture are indeed the least objectionable
ground-work for fictitious illustration ; and the unin
spired narrations of Josephus may be taken as a prov
idential intimation that sacred history has also a place
in the civil and social history of the world : but I am
constrained to acknowledge that, like Jacob at Bethel, I
entered comparatively lightly upon a field, in which I
was soon brought to exclaim, how awful is this place.
Even the least interesting portions of Holy Writ, have
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convinced me that they came in no sense, " by the will
of man." The characters they set before us are the
speculative creations of no superficial judgment ; they
are, as it were, transcripts from the great books that
: shall be opened at the Last Day ; The HOLY SPIRIT
{ has revealed them, for example and warning, to all suc-
: ceeding generations of men ; and with their story, we
! ourselves are in some way mysteriously concerned.
A deepening sense of this great truth has fettered and
restrained me in writing. Passages, which I approved
as an artist, I have been forced to prune away, as a
Christian. And thus, though I present you with the
work completed, I do not pretend that it is finished ;
and if, for allowing it to go forth as it is, I shall be
thought, by good men, to have erred in judgment, I can
only say that I shall rejoice in the oblivion, to which it
is probably destined.
As to the propriety of treating sacred subjects in
the dramatic form, I need urge no other plea, than the
example of so grave a bishop as S. Gregory Nazian-
zen, who could employ this means of setting forth no
less a theme than " CHRIST and Him Crucified." Gro-
tius, who followed the venerable father, in a Latin Tra
gedy with the same high argument, has, in his preface,
expressed himself with great beauty, as to the limit
of a poet's freedom with inspired narrative, and the
revealed order of events ; and although his rules have
chief reference to the thrice holy ground of the sacred
Gospels, I have endeavoured generally to regard them,
in dealing with the story of Saul. What latitude I
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have allowed myself, has usually been in accordance
with admitted canons of criticism, or at least such as
not materially to affect the fact. The purely imagina
tive portions of the poem, will be found symbolical of
principles which I deemed it important to keep in
mind ; and this remark I make with special allusion to
the part sustained in the plot by the Ideal of an
evil spirit. I was not satisfied, as a mere dramatist
would be, with representing the apostate monarch as a
prey merely to his own conflicting passions : for the
Christian is bound to believe that, like all who trifle
with their election of GOD, he had become the subject
of infernal excitement to sin, and to ruin. This fear
ful truth I have not cared to explain away after the
pert and conceited philosophy of an age that lacks
the greatest element of noble mind religious venera
tion. Exhibiting this principle in the conception of
Merodach, I have also united with it an illustration of
the evil conscience and unrepented sin, which gave
Satan such advantage over the soul of his servant. That
haunting of remorse, which the greatest of poets has so
powerfully pictured in theblood-boltered Banquo, I have
more feebly symbolized in the body of death, which the
Evil Spirit is represented as inhabiting for the purpose
of producing, in his victim, the deeper despair. From
the Hadad of our lamented Hillhouse, I perhaps took
the hint of such a demoniacal possession ; and though I
employ it for a purpose so different from his that the ac
knowledgment might not be demanded, I am glad of the
opportunity of paying this passing tribute to a fine fan-
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cy and gentle heart, of which his country has been so
prematurely bereaved.
I will only add that if I have occasionally preferred
to walk in other than buskin'd measures,! have found it
almost indispensable, in varying a poem of such length
and seriousness. One consigned by Inspiration itself
to the laugh and scorn, as well as the fear of men,
will be found chief speaker in the groundling style : and
as for the mere machines of the action, I have not scru
pled to let them talk, as I suppose the rustics of all
lands have in all ages been wont to talk. And so I
leave you to your own criticisms, with the intimation,
that though half the Horatian period of seasoning has
passed over my poem, between its first sketch, and the
present date, you must not expect a much greater degree
of finish, on that account. During that time, I have
been forced by graver studies to leave it untouched for
years together : and duties every way of paramount im
portance have only allowed me to make this work
an occasional amusement, while (to translate from
Grotius) I strove to vary the odd hours which I was
able to steal from severer occupations for the refresh
ing cultivation of the Muse, in such wise that even
they might not be lost to Christian meditation.
Remember sometimes the charming autumnal eve
ning and the delightful retreat, of which my date will
remind you. Hither have we often retired together
from the noisy city, whose hum is musical when once we
hear it across the broad Hudson, so mellowed as only to
tell us that we have escaped its din : and here to-day
you have read the completed work, which from the
first I proposed to inscribe with a name dear to my
country for his sake who wore it once, and to me for
his who wears it now.
Ever faithfully y GUI'S,
A. C. C.
WEEHAWKEN,
October 13, 1842.
ADVERTISEMENT.
ALTHOUGH this Poem was announced as about to be
published in the fall of 1842, it has been withheld for
private reasons, which now no longer interfere with the
fulfillment of the author's obligations to those kind
friends, who have been pleased to express an impatience
to see it forthcoming. It has, perhaps, been benefitted
by the delay.
ST. JOHN'S RECTORY, HARTFORD,
February, 1845.
SAUL,
DAVID,
JONATHAN,
ABNER,
ABISHAI,
AMASA,
AHIMELECH,
ABIATHAR,
ZADOK,
THE PROPHET SAMUEL,
AHINOAM,
ABIGAIL,
HEZRO,
MERODACH,
DOEG,
HAG,
HUNCHBACK,
COWHERD,
A PHILISTINE CHIEF,
THE WITCH OF ENDOR,
HERALDS, OUTLAWS, SHEPHERDS, ETC. ETC. ETC.
The SCENE is chiefly laid in the hill country of Ju-
dcea, and parts adjacent ; but changes in the fourth act
to the mountains surrounding the valley of Esdrclon.
jj SAUL, I
A MYSTERY.
AN EVIL SPIRIT FROM THE LORD TROUBLED HIM.
ACT I.
SCENE I. The wilderness near Gibeali of Saul. A
high place, looking eastward over a valley. The
dawn slowly breaking over Mount Nebo in the dis
tance. DAVID worshipping.
DAVID.
Now roll the mists away,
That swathed the slumbering world,
Through all the silent night.
The heavens are telling, Lord,
Thy glory and thy power, STJS
As light goes forth into the silent soul,
Of meditative man,
And calls as with a voice ;
Waking, like echoes in its labyrinths
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