No More Learning

The hope my lips thus fain would lisp
Will lift the cloud and clear thy brow.
Come then a little nearer, pray!
O Adam, hear: I am a mother.
Thou hast conquered me, O Lord!
Behold, in the dust I lie.
God [appearing, surrounded by angels]—
Lucifer [aside]-
Without thee as against thee I strive in vain;
Thou mayest raise me up or strike me down,—
I bare my heart and soul before thee.
Adam, rise, and be thou not cast down.
Behold, I take thee back to me,
Reconciled by my saving grace.
9527
Family scenes are not my specialty.
They may affect the heart,
But the mind shrinks from such monotony;
[About to go.
Methinks I'll slink away.
Lucifer! I'll have a word with thee,- remain!
And thou, my son, confess what troubles thee.
Fearful images haunted me, O Lord,
And what was true therein I cannot tell;
Intrust to me, I beg, I supplicate,
The mystery of all my future state.
Is there naught else besides this narrow life
Which, becoming clarified like wine,
Thou mayest spill with every whim of thine,
And dust may drink it?
Or didst thou mean the soul for higher things?


## p. 9528 (#556) ###########################################

9528
EMERICH MADÁCH
Will further toil and forward stride my kind,
Still growing nobler, till we perfection find
Near thine almighty Throne ?
Or drudge to death like some blind treadmill-horse
Without the hope of ever changing course?
Doth noble striving meet with just reward,
When he who for ideals gives his blood
Is mocked at by a soulless throng?
Enlighten me; grateful will I bear my lot:
I can but win by such exchange,
For this suspense is hell.
Seek not to solve the mystery
Which Godly grace and sense benign
Hath screened from human sight.
If thou couldst see that transient is
The soul's sojourn upon this world,
And that it upward soars
To life unending, in the great beyond,-
Sorrow would no virtue be.
If dust absorbed thy soul alike,
What would spur thee on to thought?
Who would prompt thee to resign
Thy grosser joys for virtue fine?
Whilst now, though burdened with life,
Thy future beckons from afar,
Shimmering through the clouds
And lifting thee to higher spheres.
And should, at times, this pride thy heart inflame,
Thy span of life will soon control thy pace,
And nobleness and virtue reign supreme.
Lucifer [laughing derisively] —
Verily, glory floods the paths you tread,
Since greatness, virtue, are to lead thee on.
Two words which only pass in blessed deed
When superstition, ignorance, and prejudice
Keep constant guard and company. -
Why did I ever seek to work out great ideas
Through man, of dust and sunbeams formed,
So dwarfed in knowledge, in blind error so gigantic?
Cease thy scorn, O Lucifer! cease thy scorn!
I saw full well thy wisdom's edifice,
Wherein my heart felt only chilled;
But, gracious God, who shall sustain me now
And lead me onward in the paths of right,
God-
Adam


## p. 9529 (#557) ###########################################

EMERICH MADÁCH
9529
God-
Since thou didst withdraw the hand that guided me,
Before I tasted fruit of idle knowledge?
Strong is thine arm, full thy heart of lofty thoughts;
The field is boundless where thou seed shouldst sow.
Give thou but heed! A voice shall ceaseless call thee back,
Or constant speed thee on:
Follow its lead. And if at times
This heavenly sound be hushed in midst the whirl
Of thine eventful years, the purer soul
Of woman, unselfish, pure, and gentle,
Will surely hear it, and thrilled by woman's love,
Thy soul shall soar in Poetry and Song!
And by thy side she loyally will watch,
Mounted on these cherubim,
In sorrow pale or rosy joy,
A cheering, soothing genius.
Thou too, O Lucifer, a link but art
In my wide universe; so labor on!
Thy frosty knowledge and thy mad denial
Will cause, like yeast, the mind to effervesce.
E'en though it turns him from the beaten track,
It matters not. He'll soon return;
But endless shall thy penance be,
Since thou art ever doomed to see
How beauty buds and virtue sprouts
From the seed thou wouldst have spoiled.
Chorus of Angels
Choice between the good and evil,
Wondrous thought, sublime decision!
Still to know that thou art shielded
By a gracious God's provision.
For the right, then, be thou steadfast,
Though thou labor without meed;
Thy reward shall be the knowledge
Thou hast done a noble deed.
Greatness grows in goodness only;
Shame will keep the good man just,
And the fear of shame uplifts him,
While the mean man crawls in dust.
But when treading paths exalted,
This blind error cherish not,-


## p. 9530 (#558) ###########################################

EMERICH MADÁCH
9530
That the glory thou achievest
Adds to God's a single jot:
God-
For he needs not thy assistance
To accomplish his designs;
Be thou thankful if he calls thee
And a task to thee assigns.
Eve-
Praise be to God, I understand this song.
Adam-I divine the message and submit to its decree.
Ah, could I only the distant end foresee!
I have ordained, O man,—
Struggle thou and trust!
Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature by G. A. Kohut.


## p. 9530 (#559) ###########################################

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## p. 9530 (#560) ###########################################


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## p. 9531 (#563) ###########################################

9531
JAMES MADISON
(1751-1836)
HE writings of James Madison were designed to serve the
ends of practical politics. Yet, despite the absence of a lit-
erary motive, they possess qualities which entitle them to
a permanent place in American literature. Madison's papers in the
Federalist, for example, are models of political essay-writing.
James Madison was the son of a wealthy planter of Orange
County, Virginia, and was born at Port Conway, March 16th, 1751.
He was graduated at Princeton in 1772. Two years later, at the
age of twenty-three, he was appointed a member of the Committee
of Public Safety for Orange County; and thenceforward, with a few
unimportant interruptions, took an active part in politics until 1817,
when, at the close of his second term as President of the United
States, he retired permanently from public life.
His first notable publication was a paper entitled 'A Memorial
and Remonstrance,' addressed to the General Assembly of Virginia.
It appeared in 1785, and was directed against a bill providing for a
tax "for the support of teachers of the Christian religion," the vote
on which in the Legislature he had with difficulty been able to post-
pone. Copies of the paper were distributed throughout the State, with
the result that in the next election religious freedom was made a test
question. In the session of the Legislature which followed the elec-
tion the obnoxious bill was defeated, and in place thereof was enacted
the bill establishing religious freedom offered by Jefferson seven years
before. The Religious Freedom Act disestablished the Episcopal
Church in Virginia, and abolished religious tests for public office.
Madison's chief work both as a constructive statesman and as a
publicist was done in connection with the Constitutional Convention
of 1787. The epithet "Father of the Constitution," sometimes applied
to him, is not undeserved, inasmuch as he was the author of the
leading features of that instrument. In common with others, he
had for some time seen the impossibility of maintaining an effective
government under the Articles of Confederation. With the thorough-
ness characteristic of his nature, he had made a study of ancient and
modern confederacies,— including; as his notes show, the Lycian, the
Amphictyonic, the Achæan, the Helvetic, the Belgic, and the Ger-
man,— with a view to discovering the proper remedy for the defects


## p. 9532 (#564) ###########################################

9532
JAMES MADISON
in the Articles of Confederation. Before the convention met, he laid
before his colleagues of the Virginia delegation the outlines of the
scheme of government that was presented to the convention as the
"Virginia plan. " This plan was introduced at the beginning of
the convention by Edmund Randolph, who, by virtue of his office as
governor of Virginia, was regarded as the member most fit to speak
for the delegation; but its chief supporter in the debate which fol-
lowed was Madison. The fundamental defect of the government
created by the Articles of Confederation was that it operated on
States only, not upon individuals. The delegates to the Continental
Congress were envoys from sovereign States rather than members
of a legislative body. They might deliberate and advise, but had
no means of enforcing their decisions. Thus they were empowered
to determine the share of the expenses of the general government
which each State should pay, but were unable to coerce a delinquent
State. The Virginia plan contemplated a government essentially the
same as that created by the Constitution; with this difference, that it
provided for representation according to population, both in the upper
and in the lower house of the legislature. The hand of Madison is
also seen in some of the provisions of the Constitution which were
not contained in the Virginia plan. Thus, for instance, he was the
author of the famous compromise in accordance with which, for
purposes of direct taxation and of representation, five slaves were
counted as three persons.
During the convention Madison kept a journal of its debates, which
forms the chief authority for the deliberations of that historic body.
This journal, together with his notes on the proceedings of the Con-
tinental Congress from November 1782 to February 1783, was pur-
chased by the government after his death; both have been published
by order of Congress under the title of 'The Madison Papers. ' It
may here be noted also that the remainder of his writings, including
his correspondence, speeches, etc. , from 1769 to 1836, have been pub-
lished by the government in a separate work, entitled 'Writings of
James Madison. '
After the adjournment of the convention Madison devoted his
energies toward securing the ratification of the Constitution. He not
only successfully opposed the eloquence and prestige of Patrick Henry
and Richard Henry Lee in the Virginia ratifying convention, but also
wrote with Hamilton and Jay that series of essays, appearing origi-
nally in certain New York newspapers, which has been preserved in
book form under the title of The Federalist'; and which, though
intended primarily to influence the action of the extremely doubtful
State of New York, served to reinforce the arguments of the advo-
cates of ratification in other States also.


## p. 9533 (#565) ###########################################

JAMES MADISON
9533
'The Federalist' is composed of eighty-five essays; of which, ac-
cording to the memorandum made by Madison, he wrote twenty-nine,
Hamilton fifty-one, and Jay five,-one or two being written jointly.
It discussed the utility of the proposed union, the inefficiency of the
existing Confederation, the necessity of a government at least equally
energetic with the one proposed, the conformity of the Constitution to
the true principles of republican government, its analogy to the State
constitutions, and the additional security which its adoption would give
to liberty and property. Madison's papers defined republican govern-
ment, and surveyed the powers vested in the Union, the relations
between the Federal and State governments, the distribution of power
among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the govern-
ment, and the structure of the legislative department; taking up in
conjunction with the last-mentioned subject most of the vital ques-
tions, both theoretical and practical, connected with representative
institutions.
Madison wrote in the style that prevailed at the close of the
eighteenth century. His language, while occasionally involved and
heavy with orotund Latin derivatives, is rhythmical, dignified, and
impressive. His writings have no imagination, wit, or humor; but
the absence of these qualities is atoned for by clearness, sincerity,
and aptness of illustration. Possessed of depth and genuineness of
feeling coupled with an extraordinary power of logical exposition, he
was considered by Jefferson, some years after the adoption of the
Constitution, to be the only writer in the Republican party capable of
opposing Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist "colossus of debate. "
At the opening of the First Congress, Madison took his seat in
the House of Representatives, the influence of Henry and the Anti-
Federalists in the Virginia State Legislature having prevented his
election to the Senate. In the differentiation of parties occasioned by
Hamilton's nationalizing financial policy, Madison allied himself with
the Republicans and became the leader of the opposition in the
House. His change of attitude from that of an extreme nationalist
to that of an extreme States-rights man was no doubt due in large
part to the influence of his friend and intimate Thomas Jefferson.
No two documents can be more dissimilar than the Virginia plan,
which would have invested Congress with a veto on State legislation,
and the famous Virginia Resolutions of 1789 and 1799, of which Mad-
ison was the author. However, his inconsistency was perhaps more
apparent than real; for having once given in his adhesion to the
Constitution, it was perfectly logical to desire a strict construction of
that instrument to preserve the balance struck in it between the
State and Federal governments.
-
On the inauguration of Jefferson as President in 1801, Madison
accepted the Secretaryship of State. It was while holding this office


## p. 9534 (#566) ###########################################

9534
JAMES MADISON
that he wrote the pamphlet 'An Examination of the British Doctrine
which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade not Open in Time of
Peace. ' At the close of Jefferson's second term, March 4th, 1809,
Madison became President. He had been to his predecessor an able
and efficient lieutenant. He was, however, a scholar rather than a
man of action; and it was his misfortune that his administration fell
in a period which required more than ordinary talents of leadership,
and those of a different stamp from his own. His conduct of the
War of 1812 was weak and hesitating, and added nothing to the glory
of his previous career. He retired at the expiration of his second
term in 1817 to Montpelier, his country seat in Virginia, where he
died June 28th, 1836.
FROM THE FEDERALIST'
AN OBJECTION DRAWN FROM THE EXTENT OF COUNTRY ANSWERED
WⓇ
E HAVE seen the necessity of the Union, as our bulwark
against foreign danger; as the conservator of peace among
ourselves; as the guardian of our commerce, and other
common interests; as the only substitute for those military estab-
lishments which have subverted the liberties of the Old World;
and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have
proved fatal to other popular governments, and of which alarm-
ing symptoms have been betrayed by our own. All that remains,
within this branch of our inquiries, is to take notice of an objec-
tion that may be drawn from the great extent of country which
the Union embraces. A few observations on this subject will be
the more proper, as it is perceived that the adversaries of the
new Constitution are availing themselves of a prevailing prejudice
with regard to the practicable sphere of republican administra-
tion, in order to supply, by imaginary difficulties, the want of
those solid objections which they endeavor in vain to find.
I
The error which limits republican government to a narrow
district has been unfolded and refuted in preceding papers.
remark here only, that it seems to owe its rise and prevalence
chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, and
applying to the former, reasonings drawn from the nature of
the latter. The true distinction between these forms was also
adverted to on a former occasion. It is, that in a democracy the
people meet and exercise the government in person; in a repub-
lic they assemble and administer it by their representatives and


## p. 9535 (#567) ###########################################

JAMES MADISON
9535
agents.
A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small
spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.
To this accidental source of the error may be added the
artifice of some celebrated authors whose writings have had a
great share in forming the modern standard of political opinions.
Being subjects either of an absolute or limited monarchy, they
have endeavored to heighten the advantages or palliate the evils
of those forms, by placing in comparison with them the vices
and defects of the republican; and by citing, as specimens of the
latter, the turbulent democracies of ancient Greece and modern
Italy. Under the confusion of names, it has been an easy task
to transfer to a republic, observations applicable to a democracy
only; and among others, the observation that it can never be
established but among a small number of people, living within a
small compass of territory.
Such a fallacy may have been the less perceived, as most
of the popular governments of antiquity were of the democratic
species; and even in modern Europe, to which we owe the great
principle of representation, no example is seen of a government
wholly popular and founded at the same time wholly on that
principle. If Europe has the merit of discovering this great
mechanical power in government, by the simple agency of which
the will of the largest political body may be concentred, and its
force directed to any object which the public good requires,
America can claim the merit of making the discovery the basis
of unmixed and extensive republics. It is only to be lamented,
that any of her citizens should wish to deprive her of the addi-
tional merit of displaying its full efficacy in the establishment of
the comprehensive system now under her consideration.
As the natural limit of a democracy is that distance from the
central point which will just permit the most remote citizens to
assemble as often as their public functions demand, and will
include no greater number than can join in those functions, so
the natural limit of a republic is that distance from the centre
which will barely allow the representatives of the people to meet
as often as may be necessary for the administration of public
affairs. Can it be said that the limits of the United States ex-
ceed this distance? It will not be said by those who recollect
that the Atlantic coast is the longest side of the Union; that dur-
ing the term of thirteen years, the representatives of the States
have been almost continually assembled; and that the members


## p. 9536 (#568) ###########################################

9536
JAMES MADISON
from the most distant States are not chargeable with greater
intermissions of attendance than those from the States in the
neighborhood of Congress.
That we may form a juster estimate with regard to this inter-
esting subject, let us resort to the actual dimensions of the
Union. The limits, as fixed by the treaty of peace, are—on the
east the Atlantic, on the south the latitude of thirty-one degrees,
on the west the Mississippi, and on the north an irregular line
running in some instances beyond the forty-fifth degree, in oth-
ers falling as low as the forty-second. The southern shore of
Lake Erie lies below that latitude. Computing the distance be-
tween the thirty-first and forty-fifth degrees, it amounts to nine
hundred and seventy-three common miles; computing it from
thirty-one to forty-two degrees, to seven hundred and sixty-four
miles and a half. Taking the mean for the distance, the amount
will be eight hundred and sixty-eight miles and three fourths.
The mean distance from the Atlantic to the Mississippi does not
probably exceed seven hundred and fifty miles. On a comparison
of this extent with that of several countries in Europe, the prac-
ticability of rendering our system commensurate to it appears
to be demonstrable. It is not a great deal larger than Ger
many, where a diet representing the whole empire is continually
assembled; or than Poland before the late dismemberment, where
another national diet was the depository of the supreme power.
Passing by France and Spain, we find that in Great Britain,
inferior as it may be in size, the representatives of the northern
extremity of the island have as far to travel to the national
council as will be required of those of the most remote parts of
the Union.
Favorable as this view of the subject may be, some observa-
tions remain which will place it in a light still more satisfactory.
In the first place, it is to be remembered that the general
government is not to be charged with the whole power of mak-
ing and administering laws: its jurisdiction is limited to cer-
tain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the
republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate pro-
visions of any.
The subordinate governments, which can extend
their care to all those other objects which can be separately pro-
vided for, will retain their due authority and activity. Were it
proposed by the plan of the convention to abolish the govern-
ments of the particular States, its adversaries would have some


## p. 9537 (#569) ###########################################

JAMES MADISON
9537
ground for their objection; though it would not be difficult to
show that if they were abolished, the general government would
be compelled, by the principle of self-preservation, to reinstate
them in their proper jurisdiction.
A second observation to be made is, that the immediate ob-
ject of the Federal Constitution is to secure the union of the
thirteen primitive States, which we know to be practicable; and
to add to them such other States as may arise in their own
bosoms, or in their neighborhoods, which we cannot doubt to
be equally practicable. The arrangements that may be neces-
sary for those angles and fractions of our territory which lie on
our northwestern frontier must be left to those whom further
discoveries and experience will render more equal to the task.
Let it be remarked, in the third place, that the intercourse
throughout the Union will be daily facilitated by new improve-
ments. Roads will everywhere be shortened, and kept in bet-
ter order; accommodations for travelers will be multiplied and
meliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side will be
opened throughout, or nearly throughout, the whole extent of the
thirteen States. The communication between the western and
Atlantic districts, and between different parts of each, will be
rendered more and more easy by those numerous canals with
which the beneficence of nature has intersected our country, and
which art finds it so little difficult to connect and complete.
A fourth and still more important consideration is, that as
almost every State will on one side or other be a frontier,
and will thus find, in a regard to its safety, an inducement to
make some sacrifices for the sake of general protection, so the
States which lie at the greatest distance from the heart of the
union, and which of course may partake least of the ordinary
circulation of its benefits, will be at the same time immediately
contiguous to foreign nations, and will consequently stand, on par-
ticular occasions, in greatest need of its strength and resources.
It may be inconvenient for Georgia, or the States forming our
western or northeastern borders, to send their representatives to
the seat of government; but they would find it more so to strug-
gle alone against an invading enemy, or even to support alone
the whole expense of those precautions which may be dictated
by the neighborhood of continual danger. If they should derive
less benefit therefore from the union, in some respects, than the
less distant States, they will derive greater benefit from it in
XVI-597


## p. 9538 (#570) ###########################################

9538
JAMES MADISON
other respects; and thus the proper equilibrium will be main-
tained throughout.
I submit to you, my fellow-citizens, these considerations, in full
confidence that the good sense which has so often marked your
decisions will allow them their due weight and effect; and that
you will never suffer difficulties, however formidable in appear-
ance, or however fashionable the error on which they may be
founded, to drive you into the gloomy and perilous scenes into
which the advocates for disunion would conduct you. Hearken
not to the unnatural voice which tells you that the people of
America, knit together as they are by so many chords of affec-
tion, can no longer live together as members of the same fam-
ily; can no longer continue the mutual guardians of their mutual
happiness; can no longer be fellow-citizens of one great, respect-
able, and flourishing empire. Hearken not to the voice which
petulantly tells you that the form of government recommended
for your adoption is a novelty in the political world; that it has
never yet had a place in the theories of the wildest projectors;
that it rashly attempts what it is impossible to accomplish. No,
my countrymen: shut your ears against this unhallowed language.
Shut your hearts against the poison which it conveys. The kin-
dred blood which flows in the veins of American citizens, the
mingled blood which they have shed in defense of their sacred
rights, consecrate their union, and excite horror at the idea of
their becoming aliens, rivals, enemies. And if novelties are to
be shunned, believe me, the most alarming of all novelties, the
most wild of all projects, the most rash of all attempts, is that
of rending us in pieces in order to preserve our liberties and
promote our happiness.
But why is the experiment of an extended republic to be
rejected, merely because it may comprise what is new? Is it not
the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a
decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations,
they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for cus-
tom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own
good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the les-
sons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will
be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example,
of the numerous innovations displayed on the American thea-
tre in favor of private rights and public happiness. Had no
important step been taken by the leaders of the Revolution for


## p. 9539 (#571) ###########################################

JAMES MADISON
9539
which a precedent could not be discovered,- no government
established of which an exact model did not present itself,- the
people of the United States might at this moment have been
numbered among the melancholy victims of misguided councils;
must at best have been laboring under the weight of some of
those forms which have crushed the liberties of the rest of man-
kind. Happily for America,-happily, we trust, for the whole.
human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They
accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of
human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which
have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the
design of a great confederacy, which it is incumbent on their suc-
cessors to improve and perpetuate. If their works betray imper-
fections, we wonder at the fewness of them. If they erred most.
in the structure of the union, this was the work most difficult to
be executed; this is the work which has been new modeled by
the act of your convention, and it is that act on which you are
now to deliberate and to decide.
—
INTERFERENCE TO QUELL DOMESTIC INSURRECTION
From The Federalist'
Α'
T FIRST view, it might seem not to square with the repub-
lican theory to suppose either that a majority have not the
right, or that a minority will have the force, to subvert a
government; and consequently, that the federal interposition can.
never be required but when it would be improper. But theoretic
reasoning, in this as in most other cases, must be qualified by
the lessons of practice. Why may not illicit combinations, for
purposes of violence, be formed as well by a majority of a State,
especially a small State, as by a majority of a county or a dis-
trict of the same State; and if the authority of the State ought
in the latter case to protect the local magistracy, ought not the
Federal authority, in the former, to support the State authority?
Besides, there are certain parts of the State constitutions which
are so interwoven with the federal Constitution, that a violent
blow cannot be given to the one without communicating the
wound to the other. Insurrections in a State will rarely induce
a federal interposition, unless the number concerned in them.
bear some proportion to the friends of government. It will be


## p. 9540 (#572) ###########################################

9540
JAMES MADISON
much better that the violence in such cases should be repressed
by the superintending power, than that the majority should be
left to maintain their cause by a bloody and obstinate contest.
The existence of a right to interpose will generally prevent the
necessity of exerting it.
Is it true that force and right are necessarily on the same side
in republican governments? May not the minor party possess
such a superiority of pecuniary resources, of military talents and
experience, or of secret succors from foreign powers, as will ren-
der it superior also in an appeal to the sword? May not a more
compact and advantageous position turn the scale on the same
side, against a superior number so situated as to be less capable
of a prompt and collected exertion of its strength? Nothing can
be more chimerical than to imagine that in a trial of actual force,
victory may be calculated by the rules which prevail in a census
of the inhabitants, or which determine the event of an election!
May it not happen, in fine, that the minority of citizens may
become a majority of persons, by the accession of alien residents,
of a casual concourse of adventurers, or of those whom the con-
stitution of the State has not admitted to the rights of suffrage?
I take no notice of an unhappy species of population abounding in
some of the States, who, during the calm of regular government,
are sunk below the level of men; but who, in the tempestuous
scenes of civil violence, may emerge into the human character,
and give a superiority of strength to any party with which they
may associate themselves.
In cases where it may be doubtful on which side justice lies,
what better umpires could be desired by two violent factions, fly-
ing to arms and tearing a State to pieces, than the representatives
of confederate States not heated by the local flame? To the
impartiality of judges they would unite the affection of friends.
Happy would it be if such a remedy for its infirmities could be
enjoyed by all free governments; if a project equally effectual
could be established for the universal peace of mankind!
Should it be asked, what is to be the redress for an insurrec-
tion pervading all the States, and comprising a superiority of the
entire force, though not a constitutional right,- the answer must
be that such a case, as it would be without the compass of human
remedies, so it is fortunately not within the compass of human
probability; and that it is a sufficient recommendation of the
federal Constitution, that it diminishes the risk of a calamity for
which no possible constitution can provide a cure.


## p. 9541 (#573) ###########################################

9541
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
(1864-)
BY WILLIAM SHARP
NE of the most remarkable, one of the most widely known of
the younger writers of the day, Maurice Maeterlinck, is still
little more than a name to the majority of people, even
among those who nominally follow closely every new expression of
the contemporary spirit. Some, following the example of his ultra-
enthusiastic French pioneer, M. Octave Mirbeau, have made for him
the high claim of genius; others have gone
to the opposite extreme, and denied his pos-
session of any qualities save a morbid fan-
tasy in drama, or of a mystical intensity in
spiritual philosophy.

That Maurice Maeterlinck is in every
sense of the word a most notable person-
ality in contemporary literature is not to
be denied; whether we like or dislike his
peculiar methods in the dramatic presenta-
tion of his vision of life, or understand or
sympathize with his uncompromising posi-
tion as a mystic of the kindred of Sweden-
borg, Jakob Boehme, or that Ruysbroeck of
whom he has been the modern interpreter.
It is undeniable, now, that the great vogue prophesied for the Maeter-
linckian drama has not been fulfilled. Possibly the day may come
when the Drame Intime may have a public following to justify the
hopes of those who believe in it; but that time has not come yet.
Meanwhile, we have to be content with dramas of the mind enacted
against mental tapestries, so to say, or with shifting backgrounds.
among the dream vistas and perspectives of the mind. For although
several of M. Maeterlinck's poetic plays have been set upon the
stage, rather as puppet plays than in the sense commonly meant,-
their success has been one of curiosity rather than of conviction.
Even the most impressive has seemed much less so when subjected
to the conditions of stage representation; and it is almost impossible
to understand how certain of them could avoid exciting that sense
MAURICE MAETERLINCK


## p. 9542 (#574) ###########################################

9542
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
of incongruity which is fatal to a keen impression of verisimilitude.
Even compositions so decorative as 'The Seven Princesses,' or that
strange drama 'The Blind,' are infinitely more impressive when read
than when seen; and this because they are, like all else of Mae-
terlinck's, merely the embodiment in words, and in a pseudo-dramatic
formula, of spiritual allegories or dreams. There were many who
thought that his short drama 'The Intruder' more than stood the
test of stage representation. I have seen 'L'Intruse' twice, and
given with all the skill and interpretative sympathy possible, both
in Paris and London; and yet I have not for a moment found in its
stage representation anything to approach the convincing and inti-
mate appeal, so simple and yet so subtle and weird, afforded in the
perusal of the original.
We have, however, no longer to consider Maurice Maeterlinck
merely as a dramatist, or perhaps I should say as a writer in dra-
matic form. He began as a poet, and as a writer of a very strange
piece of fiction; and now, and for some time past, his work has been
that of a spiritual interpreter, of an essayist, and of a mystic.
Mooris Mäterlinck-for it was not till he was of age that he
adopted the Gallicized "Maurice Maeterlinck "—was born in Flanders,
and is himself racially as well as mentally and spiritually a Fleming
of the Flemings. He has all the physical endurance, the rough bod-
ily type, of his countrymen; but he has also their quiet intensity of
feeling, their sense of dream and mystery. His earliest influences in
literature were French and English: the French of writers such as
Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the English of writers such as Shakespeare
and the Elizabethan dramatists. When, as little more than a youth,
he went to Paris, it was mainly in the hope of discipleship to the
great Villiers. It was while in Paris that he wrote one of his earliest
and to this day one of his most remarkable productions, the short
story entitled 'The Massacre of the Innocents,'- a study so remark-
able that it at once attracted the attention of the few who closely
follow every new manifestation of literary talent. In this strange
tale, Maeterlinck has attempted to depict the Biblical story after the
manner of those Dutch and Flemish painters who represented with
unflinching contemporary realism all their scenes based upon Script-
ural episodes that is to say, who represented every scene, however
Oriental or remote, in accordance with Dutch or Flemish customs,
habits, dress, etc. This short story, however, appeared in an obscure
and long since defunct French periodical; and little notice was taken
of it till some years later, when the present writer drew attention to
it as the first production of its by that time distinguished author.
Since then it has been admirably translated, and has appeared in an
American edition.


## p. 9543 (#575) ###########################################

MAURICE MAETERLINCK
9543
-
But the first actual book which Maurice Maeterlinck published was
a volume of poems entitled 'Serres Chaudes,' a title which we
might idiomatically render as 'Hot-house Blooms. ' These poems are
interesting, and we can clearly discern in them the same mental
outlook and habit of mind the author exhibits in his maturer prose
writings; but they have not in any marked degree the lyric quality,
as a poet's work must have; and for all that there are poetical and
imaginative lines and verses, they suggest rather the work of a rare
and imaginative mind controlling itself to expression in this manner,
than of one who yields to it out of imperious and impulsive need.
In some respects we find a curious return to this first book in Maurice
Maeterlinck's latest; -for although 'Le Trésor des Humbles' is a
volume of mystical essays, and deals with other themes than those
chiefly broached in Serres Chaudes,' there is a remarkable spiritual
affinity between them. It is impossible to understand this strange
and powerful writer if one does not approach him on his mystical
side. It is not necessary for the reader to follow him in his brooding
hours with Ruysbroeck, or even to listen to what he has to say
on the subject of Novalis and other German mystics; but his subtle
analytical study of Emerson, and above all, those spiritual essays of
his (entitled in English The Treasure of the Humble'), should be
carefully studied. This last-named book has shared the fate of all
works of the kind; that is to say, it has been ignored by the great
majority of the reading public, it has been sneered at by an ever fret-
ful and supercilious band of critics, and has been received with deep
gladness and gratitude by the few who welcome with joy any true
glad tidings of the spiritual life. Among these essays, two should in
particular be read: those entitled 'The Deeper Life' and 'The Inner
Beauty. ' The last-named, indeed, is really a quintessential essay.
Just as a certain monotony of detail characterizes Maeterlinck's dra-
mas, so a repetitive diffuseness mars these prose essays of his.
Beautiful thoughts and phrases are to be found throughout the whole
of The Treasure of the Humble'; but after all, the essay entitled
'The Inner Beauty' comprises his whole spiritual philosophy. When
we turn to Maurice Maeterlinck the dramatist, we find him the
supreme voice in modern Belgian literature. As a poet he is far sur-
passed by Émile Verhaeren—who is indeed one of the finest poets
now living in any country; and as a writer of prose he has many
rivals, and some who have a distinction, grace, and power altogether
beyond what he has himself displayed. But as a dramatist—that is,
an imaginative artist working in dramatic form- he holds a unique
and altogether remarkable place.
In one of his early poems he exclaims: "Mon âme! —Oh, mon
âme vraiment trop à l'abri! "-(My soul! -Oh, truly my soul dwells


## p. 9544 (#576) ###########################################

9544
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
too much in the shadow! ) And it is this dwelling in the shadow
which is the dominant characteristic of Maurice Maeterlinck. In
'The Princess Maleine,' in 'The Seven Princesses,' in 'Pélléas and
Mélisande,' in 'The Intruder,' and 'The Blind,'-in one and all
of these, to his latest production, he hardly ever moves out of the
shadow of a strange and affecting imaginative gloom. He too might
with the Spanish writer, Emilia Pardo Bazán, exclaim: "Enter with
me into the dark zone of the human soul! " It is rather, with
him, the twilight zone. He loves to haunt the shadowy ways where
night and day concur,-those shadowy ways wherein human actions
and thoughts are still real, but are invested with a light or a shadow
either strange or fantastic. His method is a simple one; but it is
that kind of simplicity which involves a subtle and artistic mind.
Often he relies upon words as abstractions, in order to convey the
impression that is in his own mind; and this accounts for the bewil-
derment which some of his characteristic mannerisms cause to many
readers. Where they see simple repetition, a vain and perhaps child-
ish monotony, Maeterlinck is really endeavoring to emphasize the
impression he seeks to convey, by dwelling upon certain images,
accentuating certain words, evoking certain mental melodies or
rhythms full of a certain subtle suggestion of their own.
Much has been said and written about this new form in con-
temporary dramatic literature. It is a form strangely seductive, if
obviously perilous. It has possibly a remarkable future-coming, as
it has done, at a time when our most eager spirits are solicitous of a
wider scope in expression, for a further opening-up of alluring vis-
tas through the ever blossoming wilderness of art. It may well be
that Maeterlinck's chief service here will prove rather to be that of
a pioneer- of a pioneer who has directed into new channels the
stream which threatened to stagnate in the shallows of insincere con-
vention.
Maeterlinck was guided to the formula with which his name has
become so identified, primarily through the influence of his friend
Charles van Lerberghe, the author of 'Les Flaireurs. ' The short
dramatic episode entitled 'Les Flaireurs' occupies itself with a single
incident: the death of an old peasant woman, by night, in a lonely
cottage in a remote district, with no companion save her girlish
grandchild. Almost from the outset the reader guesses what the
nocturnal voices indicate. The ruse of the dramatist is almost child-
ishly simple, if its process of development be regarded in detail.
The impressiveness lies greatly in the cumulative effect. A night of
storm, the rain lashing at the windows, the appalling darkness with-
out, the wan candle-glow within, a terrified and bewildered child, a
dying and delirious old woman, an ominous oft-repeated knocking at


## p. 9545 (#577) ###########################################

MAURICE MAETERLINCK
9545
the door, a hoarse voice without, changeful but always menacing,
mocking or muttering an obscure and horrible message: this inter-
wrought, again and again represented, austerely tragic by-play-from
one point of view, merely the material for tragedy-is a profoundly.
impressive work of art. It is perhaps all the more so from the fact
that it relies to some extent upon certain venerable and even out-
worn conventionalities. The midnight hour, storm, mysterious sounds,
the howl of a dog-we are familiar with all these "properties. "
They do not now move us. Sheridan Le Fanu, or Fitzjames O'Brien,
or R. L. Stevenson, can create for us an inward terror far beyond
the half-simulated creep with which we read the conventional bogy-
story. That Charles van Lerberghe should so impress us by the
simplest and most familiar stage tricks points to his genuine artistry,
to his essential masterhood. The literary conjurer would fain deceive
us by sleight of hand; the literary artist persuades us by sleight of
mind.
Van Lerberghe is neither romanticist nor realist, as these vague
and often identical terms are understood abroad. He works realisti-
cally in the sphere of the imaginary. If it were not that his aim, as
that of Maeterlinck, is to bring into literature a new form of the drame
intime, with meanwhile the adventitious aid of nominal stage acces-
sories, one might almost think that 'Les Flaireurs' was meant for
stage representation. It would be impossible, however, thus. Imagine.
the incongruity of the opening of this drama with its subject:-
"Orchestral music. Funeral march. Roll of muffled drums. A blast of a
horn in the distance. Roll of drums. A short psalmodic motive for
the organ.
REPEATED KNOCKS, HEAVY AND DULL. Curtain. »
What have orchestral music and rolling of drums, and a psalmodic
motive for the organ, to do with an old peasant woman dying in a
cottage? For that stage of the imagination from which many of us
derive a keener pleasure than from that of any theatre, there is per-
haps nothing incongruous here. The effect sought to be produced is
a psychic one; and if produced, the end is gained, and the means of
no moment. It is only from this standpoint that we can view aright
the work of Van Lerberghe, Maeterlinck, and Auguste Jenart. 'Les
Flaireurs is wholly unsuitable for the actual stage,- as unsuitable as
'L'Intruse,' or 'Les Aveugles,' or 'Les Sept Princesses,' or 'Le Bar-
bare. ' Each needs to be enacted in the shadow-haunted glade of the
imagination, in order to be understood aright. Under the lime-light
their terror becomes folly, their poetry rhetoric, their tragic signifi-
cance impotent commonplace; their atmosphere of mystery, the com-
mon air of the squalidly apparent; their impressiveness a cause of
mocking.


## p. 9546 (#578) ###########################################

9546
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
While in Maurice Maeterlinck we certainly encounter one of the
most interesting figures in contemporary letters, it is not so easy to
arrive at a definite opinion as to whether he is really a dominant
force.
There are many who believe that the author of 'La Princesse
Maleine—and of many striking productions which have succeeded it
- will attain to that high mastery which makes a writer a voice for
all men, and not merely an arresting echo for his own hour, his own
time, among his own people. Certainly his début was significant,
remarkable. Yet in France, where his reputation was made, he is
already looked upon as a waning force. Any new work by him is
regarded with interest, with appreciation and sympathy perhaps, but
not with that excited anticipation with which formerly it was greeted.
For ourselves, we cannot estimate him otherwise than by his actual
achievement. Has the author of 'La Princesse Maleine,' 'L'Intruse,'
and 'Les Aveugles'—his earliest and most discussed works-fulfilled
himself in 'Pélléas et Mélisande' and the successors of that mov-
ing drama? His admirers declared that in this last-named play we
should find him at his best and most mature. But Pélléas and Méli-
sande' has not stood the test.
Yet I do not think Pélléas et Mélisande' is- what so many claim
for it- Maeterlinck's Sedan. All the same it is, at best, "a faithful
failure. " I believe he will give us still better work; work as dis-
tinctive as his two masterpieces, 'L'Intruse' and 'Les Aveugles,'
but with a wider range of sympathy, more genial an insight, an
apprehension and technical achievement more masterly still. Indeed,
in 'Tintagiles' and his latest productions, he has to a large extent
fulfilled the wonderful imaginative beauty with which he charmed
us in 'Les Sept Princesses. ' Still, even here it is rather the dream-
record of a dreamer than the actual outlook on life of a creative
mind.
Finally, what we have to bear in mind meanwhile is that Maurice
Maeterlinck is possibly the pioneer of a new method coming into
literature. We must not look too closely, whether in praise or blame,
to those treasured formulas of his, of which so much has been said.
What is inessential in these he will doubtless unlearn; what is essen-
tial he will probably develop. For it is not in the accidents of his
dramatic expression that so fine an artist as Maeterlinck is an origi-
nal writer, but in that quality of insight which is his own, that phras-
ing, that atmosphere.
Willian Sharpe


## p. 9547 (#579) ###########################################

MAURICE MAETERLINCK
9547
FROM THE DEATH OF TINTAGILES›
The Plays of Maurice Maeterlinck, Second Series. Translated by Richard
Hovey. Copyright 1896, by Stone & Kimball.
Scene: At the top of a hill overlooking the castle. Enter Ygraine, holding
Tintagiles by the hand.
YGRA
GRAINE-Thy first night will be troubled, Tintagiles. Already
the sea howls about us; and the trees are moaning. It is
late. The moon is just setting behind the poplars that stifle
the palace. We are alone, perhaps, for all that here we have to
live on guard. There seems to be a watch set for the approach
of the slightest happiness. I said to myself one day, in the very
depths of my soul,-and God himself could hardly hear it,—I
said to myself one day I should be happy. There needed noth-
ing further: in a little while our old father died, and both our
brothers vanished without a single human being able since to tell
us where they are. Now I am all alone, with my poor sister and
thee, my little Tintagiles; and I have no faith in the future.
Come here; sit on my knee. Kiss me first: and put thy little
arms there, all the way around my neck; perhaps they will not
be able to undo them. Rememberest thou the time when it was
I that carried thee at night when bedtime came; and when thou
fearedst the shadows of my lamp in the long windowless corri-
dors? —I felt my soul tremble upon my lips when I saw thee,
suddenly, this morning. I thought thee so far away, and so
secure. Who was it made thee come here?
Tintagiles-I do not know, little sister.
Ygraine-Thou dost not know any longer what was said?
Tintagiles — They said I had to leave.
Ygraine-But why hadst thou to leave?
Tintagiles - Because it was the Queen's will.
Ygraine - They did not say why it was her will? —I am sure
they said many things.
say?
Tintagiles — I heard nothing, little sister.
Ygraine - When they spoke among themselves, what did they
Tintagiles-They spoke in a low voice, little sister.
Ygraine - All the time?
Tintagiles-All the time, sister Ygraine; except when they
looked at me.
Ygraine - They did not speak of the Queen?


## p. 9548 (#580) ###########################################

9548
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
Tintagiles - They said she was never seen, sister Ygraine.
Ygraine - And those who were with thee, on the bridge of
the ship, said nothing?
Tintagiles - They minded nothing but the wind and the sails,
sister Ygraine.
Ygraine-Ah! that does not astonish me, my child.
Tintagiles- They left me all alone, little sister.
Ygraine-Listen, Tintagiles, I will tell thee what I know.
Tintagiles-What dost thou know, sister Ygraine?
Ygraine-Not much, my child. My sister and I have crept
along here, since our birth, without daring to understand a whit
of all that happens. For a long while, indeed, I lived like a blind
woman on this island; and it all seemed natural to me.
I saw
no other events than the flying of a bird, the trembling of a leaf,
the opening of a rose. There reigned such a silence that the
falling of a ripe fruit in the park called faces to the windows.
And no one seemed to have the least suspicion; but one night
I learned there must be something else. I would have fled, and
could not. Hast thou understood what I have said?
Tintagiles — Yes, yes, little sister: I understand whatever you
will.
Ygraine-Well, then, let us speak no more of things that are
not known. Thou seest yonder, behind the dead trees that poison
the horizon-thou seest the castle yonder, in the depth of the
valley?
Tintagiles-That which is so black, sister Ygraine?
Ygraine-It is black indeed. It is at the very depth of an
amphitheatre of shadows. We have to live there. It might have
been built on the summit of the great mountains that surround
it. The mountains are blue all day. We should have breathed.
We should have seen the sea and the meadows on the other side
of the rocks. But they preferred to put it in the depth of the
valley; and the very air does not go down so low. It is falling
in ruins, and nobody bewares. The walls are cracking; you
would say it was dissolving in the shadows. There is only one
tower unassailed by the weather. It is enormous; and the house
never comes out of its shadow.
Tintagiles-There is something shining, sister Ygraine. See,
see, the great red windows!
Ygraine - They are those of the tower, Tintagiles: they are
the only ones where you will see light; it is there the throne of
the Queen is set.


## p. 9549 (#581) ###########################################

MAURICE MAETERLINCK
9549
Tintagiles-I shall not see the Queen?
Ygraine - No one can see her.