Non duco contentionis funern, dum constet inter1 nos, quod
fere totus mundus exerceat histrioniam.—Petronius Arbiter2.
I do not draw the rope of contention,{1} while it is agreed
amongst us, that almost the whole world practises acting3.
1 A metaphor4 apparently5 taken from persons pulling in
opposite directions at each end of a rope. I cannot see, as
some have done, that it has anything in common with Horace's
Tortum digna sequi potius quant ducere funern: 'More
worthy6 to follow than to lead the tightened7 cord': which is
a metaphor taken from a towing line, or any line acting in a
similar manner, where one draws and another is drawn8. Horace
applies it to money, which he says should be the slave, and
not the master of its possessor.
All the world's a stage.—Shakespeare.
En el teatro del mundo
Todos son représentantes.—Calderon.
Tous les comédiens ne sont pas au théâtre.
—French Proverb.
Rain came, and thaw9, followed by drying wind. The roads were in good order for the visitors to the Aristophanic comedy. The fifth day of Christmas was fixed10 for the performance. The theatre was brilliantly lighted, with spermaceti candles in glass chandeliers for the audience, and argand lamps for the stage. In addition to Mr. Gryll's own houseful of company, the beauty and fashion of the surrounding country, which comprised an extensive circle, adorned11 the semicircular seats; which, however, were not mere12 stone benches, but were backed, armed, and padded into comfortable stalls. Lord Curryfin was in his glory, in the capacity of stage-manager.
The curtain rising, as there was no necessity for its being made to fall,{1} discovered the scene, which was on the London bank of the Thames, on the terrace of a mansion13 occupied by the Spirit-rapping Society, with an archway in the centre of the building, showing a street in the background. Gryllus was lying asleep. Circe, standing14 over him, began the dialogue.
1 The Athenian theatre was open to the sky, and if the
curtain had been made to fall it would have been folded up
in mid15 air, destroying the effect of the scene. Being raised
from below, it was invisible when not in use.
CIRCE
Wake, Gryllus, and arise in human form.
GRYLLUS
I have slept soundly, and had pleasant dreams.
CIRCE
I, too, have soundly slept—Divine how long.
GRYLLUS
Why, judging by the sun, some fourteen hours.
CIRCE
Three thousand years»
GRYLLUS
That is a nap indeed.
But this is not your garden, nor your palace.
Where are we now?
CIRCE
Three thousand years ago,
This land was forest, and a bright pure river
Ran through it to and from the Ocean stream.
Now, through a wilderness16 of human forms,
And human dwellings17, a polluted flood
Rolls up and down, charged with all earthly poisons,
Poisoning the air in turn.
GRYLLUS
I see vast masses
Of strange unnatural18 things.
CIRCE
Houses, and ships,
And boats, and chimneys vomiting19 black smoke,
Horses, and carriages of every form,
And restless bipeds, rushing here and there
For profit or for pleasure, as they phrase it.
GRYLLUS
Oh, Jupiter and Bacchus! what a crowd,
Flitting, like shadows without mind or purpose,
Such as Ulysses saw in Erebus.
But wherefore are we here?
CIRCE
There have arisen
Some mighty20 masters of the invisible world,
And these have summoned us.
GRYLLUS
With what design?
CIRCE
That they themselves must tell. Behold21 they come,
Carrying a mystic table, around which
They work their magic spells. Stand by, and mark.
[Three spirit-rappers appeared, carrying a table, which they
placed on one side of the stage:]
1. Carefully the table place,
Let our gifted brother trace
A ring around the enchanted22 space
2. Let him tow'rd the table point
With his first fore-finger joint23,
And with mesmerised beginning
Set the sentient24 oak-slab spinning.
3. Now it spins around, around,
Sending forth25 a murmuring sound,
By the initiate26 understood
As of spirits in the wood.
ALL.
Once more Circe we invoke27.
CIRCE
Here: not bound in ribs28 of oak,
Nor, from wooden disk revolving29,
In strange sounds strange riddles30 solving,
But in native form appearing,
Plain to sight, as clear to heating.
THE THREE
Thee with wonder we behold.
By thy hair of burning gold,
By thy face with radiance bright,
By thine eyes of beaming light,
We confess thee, mighty one,
For the daughter of the Sun.
On thy form we gaze appalled31.
CIRCE
Cryllus, loo, your summons called.
THE THREE
Hira of yore thy powerful spell
Doomed32 in swinish shape to dwell;
Vet33 such life he reckoned then
Happier than the life of men,
Now, when carefully he ponders
All our scientific wonders,
Steam-driven myriads34, all in motion,
On the land and on the ocean,
Going, for the sake of going,
Wheresoever waves are flowing,
Wheresoever winds are blowing;
Converse35 through the sea transmitted,
Swift as ever thought has flitted;
All the glories of our time,
Past the praise of loftiest rhyme;
Will he, seeing these, indeed,
Still retain his ancient creed36,
Ranking, in his mental plan,
Life of beast o'er life of man?
CIRCE
Speak, Gryllus.
GRYLLUS
It is early yet to judge:
But all the novelties I yet have seen
Seem changes for the worse.
THE THREE
If we could show him
Our triumphs in succession, one by one,
'Twould surely change his judgment37: and herein
How might'st thou aid us, Circe!
CIRCE
I will do so:
And calling down, like Socrates, of yore,
The clouds to aid us, they shall shadow forth,
In bright succession, all that they behold,
From air, on earth and sea. I wave my wand:
And lo! they come, even as they came in Athens,
Shining like virgins38 of ethereal life.
The Chorus of Clouds descended39, and a dazzling array of
female beauty was revealed by degrees through folds of misty40
gauze. They sang their first choral song:
CHORUS OF CLOUDS{1}
Clouds ever-flowing, conspicuously41 soaring,
From loud-rolling Ocean, whose stream{2} gave us birth
To heights, whence we look over torrents42 down-pouring
To the deep quiet vales of the fruit-giving earth,—
As the broad eye of Æther, unwearied in brightness,
Dissolves our mist-veil in glittering rays,
Our forms we reveal from its vapoury lightness,
In semblance43 immortal44, with far-seeing gaze.
1 The first stanza45 is pretty closely adapted from the
strophe of Aristophanes. The second is only a distant
imitation of the antistrophe.
2 In Homer, and all the older poets, the ocean is a river
surrounding the earth, and the seas are inlets from it.
Shower-bearing Virgins, we seek not the regions
Whence Pallas, the Muses46, and Bacchus have fled,
But the city, where Commerce embodies47 her legions,
And Mammon exalts48 his omnipotent49 head.
All joys of thought, feeling, and taste are before us,
Wherever the beams of his favour are warm:
Though transient full oft as the veil of our chorus,
Now golden with glory, now passing in storm.
Reformers, scientific, moral, educational, political, passed in succession, each answering a question of Gryllus. Gryllus observed, that so far from everything being better than it had been, it seemed that everything was wrong and wanted mending. The chorus sang its second song.
Seven competitive examiners entered with another table, and sat down on the opposite side of the stage to the spirit-rappers. They brought forward Hermogenes{1} as a crammed50 fowl51 to argue with Gryllus. Gryllus had the best of the argument; but the examiners adjudged the victory to Hermogenes. The chorus sang its third song.
1 See chapter xv.
Circe, at the request of the spirit-rappers, whose power was limited to the production of sound, called up several visible spirits, all illustrious in their day,............