1868.] Dies Irae. 89 HOCBS AT HOME; A POPULAR Monthly of Instruction and Recreation. Vol. VII. MAY, 1868. No. 1. DIES IRAE.* 2. 3. 5. 6. 7. Dies irae, dies ilia, Solvet saeclum in favilla, Teste David cum Sibylla. Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando judex est venturus, Cuncta strict© discussurus ! Tuba, mirum spargens sonura, Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum. Mors stupebit et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Judicanti responsura. Liber scriptus profcretur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur. Judex ergo quum sedebit Quidquid latet apparebit, Nil inultum remanebit. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, Quem patronum rogaturus, Quum vix Justus sit securus ? 1. Day of wrath, that woful day, Shall the world in ashes lay; David and the Sibyl say. 2. "What a trembling, what a fear, When the dread Judge shall appear, Strictly searching far and near 1 3. Hark ! the trumpet's wondrous tone, Through sepulchral regions blown, Summons all before the throne. 4. Death shall shiver, nature quake, When the creatures shall awake, Answer to their Judge to make. 5. Lo, the Book of ages spread, From which all the deeds are read Of the living and the dead. 6. Now before the Judge severe All things hidden must appear, Nought shall pass unpunished here. 7. Wretched man, what shall I plead, Who for me will intercede, When the righteous mercy need? * Literature.: G. C. F. Mohntke : Kirch- en-uvdliterarhisiorische Studien und Mitthei- lungen. Stralsund, 1824, 1 Bd. 1 Heft. (Bei- trdge zur alten kirchlichen Hymnologie) p. 1- 111. G. W. Fink: Tiiomas von. Celano, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopcedie, Sect. I. Bd. xvi. p. 7-10. F. G. Lisco: Dies Irae. Hymnus auf das Weltgericht. Berlin, 1840. To this must be added an appendix to the same au- thor's monograph on the Stabat Mater, Ber- lin, 1843, where he notices seventeen ad- ditional translations of the Dies Irae. (I have not been able to procure Lisco's first volume, but found a copy of the second in the Astor Librarv.) W. R. Williams: Miscella- nies, 2d ed., New York, 1850, p. 78-90. (A note to an address on the Conservative Prin- ciple in our Literature.) H. A. Daniel : Thesaurus Hymnoloqicus, Lips. Tom. ii. (1855) pp. 103-131, and Tom. v. (1856) pp. 110-116 C. E. Koch : art. Dies Irae, in Herzog's Theol. Eucycl. vol. iii. (1855) p. 387 and 388 (brief.) Abraham Coles, M.D., Ph.D.: Dies Irae in thirteen original versions, with Photograph- ic Illustrations. New York. 4th ed., 1866. Richard Chenevix Trench: Sacred Latin Poetry. 2d ed.,Lond. and Cambridge, 1866, p. 293-301. Compare also the anonymous pub- lication : The Seven Great Hymns of the Mediaeval Church, New York, 3d ed., 1867, pp. 44-97. where seven English translations of the Dies Irae are given, viz., those of Gen. Dix, Roscommon, Crashaw, Irons, Slosson, and two of Coles. 40 Dies Irae. [May, 8. Rex tremendae majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, ions pietatis. 9. Recordare, Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae ; Ne me perdas ilia die. 10. Qurerens me sedisti lassus, Redemisti crucem passus, Tantus labor non sit cassus. 11. Just te judex ultionis, Donum fac remissiouis Ante diem rationis. 12. Ingemisco tamquam reus, Culpa rubet vultus meus : Supplicanti parce, Deus. 13. Qui Mariana absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti. 14. Pieces meae non sunt dignae, Sed Tu, bone, fac benigne, Xe perenni cremer igne. 15. Inter oves locum prsesta, Et ab hoedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra. 16. Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis ; Yoca me cum benedictis. IT. Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum. quasi cinis : Gere curam mei finis. 18. [Lacrymosa dies ilia, Qua resurget ex favilla, Judicandus homo reus, Kuic ergo parce, Deus ! 19. Pie Jesu, Domine, Dona eis requiem. Amen.] This is the marvelous Dies Irae, accord- ing to the received text in the Roman Missal. * The last six lines I have put in brackets, because they are no part of the original poem. The translation placed alongside of the Latin is to some extent taken from, or suggested by, the versions ofCaswall and Alford, and, without claim- ing poetic merit, adheres closely to the original, except in substituting the single for the double rhyme, as being more con- genial to the monosyllabic character of the *See the Latin text in the Roman Missal, and with various readings, in Mohnike, 1. c. p. 33 ff., and in Daniel, II. 103 ff. Mohnike and Daniel give also the text of Felix Ham- merlin, which differs considerably and has six additional stanzas at the close, and the text from the marble slab in the Franciscan church at Mantua, which opens with four stanzas not found in the received text. See below. 8. King of dreadful majesty, Author of salvation free, Fount of pity, save Thou me. 9. Recollect, good Lord, I pray, I have caused Thy bitter wa}-, Don't forget me on that day. 10. Weary satt'st Thou seeking me, Diedst redeeming on the tree : Let such toil not fruitless be. 11. Judge of righteousness severe, Grant me full remission here Ere the reckoning day appear. 12. Sighs and tears my sorrow speak, Shame and grief are on my cheek : Mercy, mercy, Lord, I seek. 13. Thou didst Mary's guilt forgive, And absolve the dying thief: Even I may hope relief. 14. Worthless are my prayers, I know* Yet, Lodd, thy mercy show, Save me from eternal woe. 15. Make me with Thy sheep to stand Far from the convicted band, Placing me at thy right hand. 16. When the cursed are put to shame, Cast into devouring flame, With the Blest then call my name. 17. Suppliant at Thy feet I lie, Contrite in the dust I cry, Care Thou for me when I die. 18. [Full of tears and full of dread. Is the day that wakes the dead, Calling all with solemn blast From the ashes of the past. 19. Lord of mercy! Jesu blest. Grant the faithful peace and rest. Amen.] English language. The last six lines are literally copied from Caswall. CONTENTS OF THE POEM. The Dies Irae is variously called Prosa de mortuis • De diejndidi ; In commemoratione Defuactorum, and is used in the Latin Church, regularly, on the Day of All Souls, (Xovember 2) and, at the discretion of the priest, in masses for the dead and on fu- neral solemnities, frequently accompanied with music, especially Mozart's Requiem, the last masterpiece of that extraordina- ry genius, which is itself like a wondrous trumpet spreading wondrous sounds. It is a judgment-hymn, based upon the pro- phetic description of the great Day of the Lord in Zephaniahi. 15, 1G: " That day is the day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desola- tion, a day of darkness and gloominess, 1868.] Dies Irae. 41 a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against high towers." * The first words of this prophecy, ac- cording to the Latin translation, Dies irae, dies ilia, furnished the beginning and the key-note of the poem. In like manner the Stabat Mater derived its theme and inspiration from a few words of the Bible in the Vulgate (John xix. 25). Besides this, the author of Dies Irae had several other Scripture passages in view, especially 2 Pet. iii. 10-12 : " The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and_ the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up," etc. ; and the Lord's descriptions of his coming and the general judgment. Matt. xxiv. and xxv. The " tuba mirum spargens sonum," in A r erse 3, is an allusion to 1 Cor. xv. 52 : " The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised," and 1 Thess. iv. 16 : " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." The " liber scriptus," in verse 5, is the book of life spoken of in Rev. xx. 12. In verse 7 the writer had undoubt- edly in mind Job iv. 18, xv. 15, and es- pecially 1 Pet, iv. 18: "If the right- eous scarcely be saved (si Justus vix sal- vabitur), where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? " The second line in verse 8 expresses the idea of salvation by free grace as taught Eph. ii. 8 ; Rom. iii. 24; 2 Tim. i. 9, etc. The first line in verse 10 : " Quaerens me sedisti (uot venisti) lassus," is a touching allusion to the incident related John iv. 6, (" Jesus fatigatus ex itinere, sedebat sic supra fon- tem ") unless it be referred to the whole state of humiliation. Mary, in verse 13, is Mary Magdalene, or the sinful woman to whom Christ said : " Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace," Luke vii. 50. *Accordingtothe translation of the Vulgate, " Dies irae, dies illa, dies tribulationis et an- gusike, dies calamiiatis et miseries, dies tenebra- rum et caliginis, dies nebula 3 , et. turbinis, dies tubw et clangoris cuper civitates munilas et super angelos excelsos." Verses 15 and 16 are suggested by the description of the judgment, Matt. xxv. 33 f. David is mentioned in the first stanza as the representative of the Old Testa- ment prophets, with reference probably to several Psalms in which the judgment of the world is foretold, as Ps. xcvi. 13 ('•' He cometh, he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness ") ; cii. 26 (" The heavens shall perish "). In some copies and trans- lations, however, Peter is substituted for David, on account of 2 Pet. iii. 7-11. "With David is joined the Sibyl as the representative of the unconscious prophe- cies of heathenism, with allusion to the Sibylline oracles of the destruction of the world. The writer no doubt had in view chiefly those lines of Sibylla Erythraea, which form an acrostic on the words IH20T2 XPI2TOS ©EOTTIOS 2QTHP, i.e. "Jesus Christ, Son of "God, Saviour," and which are quoted by Eusebius in Greek, and by St. Augustine in aLatin met- rical version, retaining the acrostic form.f This apocryphal feature, though somewhat repugnant to Protestant taste, and hence omitted or altered in many Protestant versions of the poem, is in perfect keep- ing with the patristic and scholastic use of the Sibylline oracles, the 4th Eclogue of Virgil, and other heathen testimonies of the same kind, for apologetic purposes. It gives the idea of the judgment of the world a universal character, as being founded in the expectations of Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, and indicated by the light of reason as well as the voice of revelation. The mediasval painters likewise place the Sibyl alongside of the prophets of Israel. The poem, without any prelude, brings before us at once its awful theme, with an exclamation from the Scriptures that rouses the inmost feelings. It is an act of humiliation and prayer in view of the impending day of judgment. The poet | Augustine, Be Civitate Dei, lib. xviii. cap. 23. The oraclo consists of 27 lines, and commences : " Iudich signum tellus sudore madescet. Ec Rex adveniet per saecla futurus : Scilicet in came praesens ut judicet orbem." 42 Dies Irae. [^fay, is the single actor and prays for himself, the Dies Irae in pathos, but does not reach He first describes the general judgment its ardor, purity, power and grandeur, and as a certain fact, with its accompanying can never find a place in a Protestant terrors ; then he gives expression to the hymn-book without serious alteration, sense of guilt and dismay, and ends with The Dies Irae breathes, it is true, the a prayer for mercy, which prompted mediaeval spirit of legalistic rather than Christ to die for poor sinners, to forgive of joyous evangelical piety, and looks for- Mary Magdalene, and to promise the ward to the solemn winding-up of the penitent robber, in his dying hour, a seat world's history with feelings of dread in parade rather than of hope and joy. The con- The original poem appropriately closes eluding prayer for the dead, which, with the words : Gere curam mei firm, however, is a later addition, implies The last six lines break the unity and that the souls of the departed may be symmetry of the poem, they differ from benefited by the prayers of the living, the rest in rhyme and measure, and turn But with this slight exception the poem the attention from the writer to the de- is quite free from every objectionable parted faithful as the subject of his pray- feature of Romanism, while the two fa- er (huiCj eis). They are, therefore, an mous Stabat Maters (the Mater dolorosa, addition by another hand, probably from and its companion, the recently-discov- a funeral service already in public use. ered Mater speciosa) are strongly tinc- character and value. tured with Mariolatry. It represents sal- The Dies Irae is the acknowledged vation as an act of the free grace of Christ, masterpiece of Latin church poetry, and " qui salvandos salvat gratis." And in the the greatest judgment-hymn of all ages. lines, Quempatrimumrogcrfurus, Quumvix jSTo single poem of any nation or Ian- Justus sit securus, it virtually renounces guage has acquired such a celebrity, and the doctrine of the advocacy of the Vir- been the subject of so much praise and gin and the Saints, and takes refuge only comment. It has no rival. It stands in Christ. Beneath the drifting mass of solitary and alone in its glory, and will mediaeval traditions there was an under- probably never be surpassed. current of simple faith in Christ, which "It would be difficult," says Coles, "to meets us in the writings cf St. An- find, in the whole range of literature, a semi. St. Bernard, and in the inimitable production to which a profounder inter- Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. est attaches than to that magnificent Hence the Dies Irae is as much admired canticle of the middle ages, the Dies Irae. by Protestants as by Roman Catholics. Among poetic gems it is the diamond." Protestant writers have done most for its The Germans call it. with reference to its illustration and translation, majesty and antique massiveness, the hymn The secret of its beauty and power lies of giants (Gigantenltymnus). In sim- first in the intensity of Christian feeling plicity and faith it fully equals an older an- with which its great theme is handled, onymous judgment-hymn of the seventh The poet realizes the impending judgment or eighth century, commencing : Appa- of the world as an awful and overpower- rebit repentina magna dies Domini ; while ing fact that is as certain as the approach in lyric fervor and effect, as well as in of night. He hears the trumpet of the majesty and terror, it far surpasses it and archangel sounding through the open all the numerous imitations of later times, sepulchres. He sees the dead rising from The Stabat Mater dolorosa bears many the dust of ages, and stands aghast be- points of resemblance, being likewise the fore the final conflagration and collapse product of the Franciscan order, a regu- of the universe. He sees the Son of lar part of the Catholic worship, the Man seated in terrific majesty on the theme of glorious musical compositions, judgment throne, with the open book of and multiplied by a large number of trans- the deeds of ages, dividing the good from lations. It is equal, or even superior, to the bad and pronouncing the irrevocable 1868.] Dies Irae. 43 sentence of everlasting weal and ever- lasting woe. And with the spirit of an humble penitent he pleads for mercy, mercy at the hands of Him who left his throne of glory and died on the cross for the salvation of sinners. The poem is in the highest degree pathetic, a cry from the depth of personal experience, and ir- resistibly draws every reader into sym- pathetic excitement. That man is in- deed to be pitied who can read it with out shaking and quivering with emotion. The second element of its power lies in the inimitable form which commands the admiration of every man of taste as well as of piety. "Whatever there is of dignity, majesty and melody in the old Roman tongue is here combined in rug- ged vigor and unadorned simplicity, as in no other poem, heathen or Christian, and is made subservient to the one grand idea of the poem. It is onomatopoetic. It echoes, as well as human language can do, the storm and wrath, the trembling and wailing of the final wreck of the material universe. Every word sounds like the peal of an organ, or like the trumpet of the archangel summoning the dead to endless bliss or to endless woe. The stately metre, the triple rhyme, the se- lection of the vowels in striking adap- tation to the sense and feeling, heighten and complete the effect upon the ear and the heart of the hearer. The music of the vowel assonances and consonances, e. g., the double u in 2 and 7 st. {futurus, ven- turns, discussurus ; dicturus, rogaturus, se- curus), the o and u in 3 st. {sonum, re- gionum, thronum), the i and e in 9 st. {pie, viae, die), defy the skill of the best translators in any language. OPINIONS OF CRITICS. We add the judgments of eminent critics. Frederick von Meyer, the author of a highly esteemed revision of Luther's Ger- man Bible, in introducing two original translations of the Dies Irae, calls it "an awful poem, poor in imagery, all feeling. Like a hammer it beats the human breast with three mysterious rhyme-strokes.* * " Wie ein Hammer schlagt en mil drei ge- heimnissvollen Reim-Klangen an die Menschen With the unfeeling person who can read it without terror or hear it without awe, I would not live under one roof. I wish it could be sounded into the ears of the impenitent and hypocrites every A Wednesday, or Good Friday, or any other day of humiliation and prayer in all the churches." {Der Licldbote, Frankfort on the Main, 1S0G). Daniel, the learned hymnologist, justly styles the Dies Irae, '" una omnium con- sensu sacrae poeseos summum decus et ec- clesiae latinae xicur^tov jwetiosissimum" and adds : " Quot sunt verba tot pondera, immo tonitrua" (Thes. hymnol. ii. p. 112.) Albert Knapp, one of the greatest re- ligious poets of Germany, compares the Latin original to a blast from the trump of the resurrection, and declares it inimi- table in any translation. (JEvang. Lieder- schatz, 3d ed. p. 1347.) Dean Milman places it next to the Te Deum and remarks : There is nothing, in my judgment, to be compared with the monkish " Dies irae, dies ilia," or even the " Stabat Mater." Dr. William B. Williams, an eminent Baptist divine, and a scholar of highly cultivated literary taste, has appended to his essay on the " Conservative Priuciple of our Literature," a fine note on Dies Irae, in which he characterizes it thus: "Combining somewhat of the rhythm of classical Latin with the rhymes of the mediaeval Latin, treating of a theme full of awful sublimity, and grouping to- gether the most startling imagery of Scripture as to the last judgment, and throwing this into yet stronger relief by the barbaric simplicity of the style in which it is set, and adding to all these its full and trumpet-like cadences, and unit- ing with the impassioned feelings of the South, whence it emanated, the gravity of the North, whose severer style it adopted, it is well fitted to arouse the hearer." {Miscellanies, N. Y., 1850, p. 78.) Archbishop Trench, who among other useful works has prepared an admira- ble collection of Latin Church poetry, brust. n Daniel, ii. 112, ascribe. 5 ? this admi- rable description to Guericke (1849), who must have borrowed it from Meyer (1806). 44 Dies Irae. [May, and written one of the best translations of Dies Irae, remarks : " The metre so grandly devised, of which I remem- ber no other example,* fitted though it has here shown itself for bringing out some of the noblest powers of the Latin language — the solemn effect of the triple rhyme, which has been likened [by Fred, von Meyer] to blow following blow of the hammer on the anvil — the confidence of the poet in the universal interest of his theme, a confidence which has made him set out his matter with so majestic and unadorned a plainness as at once to be intelligible to all — these merits, with many more, have combined to give the Dies Irae a foremost place among the masterpieces of sacred song." {Sacred Latin Poetry, 2d ed. p. 296.) Abraham Coles, the author of thirteen distinct translations of Dies Irae, says of it among other things : " Every line weeps. Underneath every word and syllable a living heart throbs and pul- sates. The very rhythm or that alternate elevation and depression of the voice which prosodists call the arsis and the thesis, one might almost fancy were syn- chronous with the contrition and the dila- tation of the heart. It is more than dra- matic. The horror and the dread are real, are actual, not acted ! " " The Dies Irae," to quote from the cel- ebrated French philosopher Y. Cousin, " recited only, produces the most terrible effect. In those fearful words, every blow tells, so to speak ; each word contains a dis- tinct sentiment, an idea at once profound and determinate. The intellect advances at each step, and the heart rushes on in its turn." (Lectures on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good, p. 177.) * This is an error. There are verses of striking resemblance attributed by some to St. Bernard, but probably of much later date (see Mohnike, 1. c. p. 9) : " Quum recordor moriturus Quid post mortem sim futurus, Terror terret me venturus, Quern expecto non securus. Terret dies me terroris, Dies irae ac furoris, Dies luctus ac moeroris, Dies ultrix peccatoris, Dies irae, dies ilia." Mrs. Charles, the accomplished author- ess of the " Schonberg - Cotta Family " and other popular works, thus speaks of the Dies Irae : " That hymn rose alone in a comparative pause, as if Christendom had been hushed to listen to its deep mu- sic, ranging as it does through so many tones of human feeling, from the trem- bling awe and the low murmurs of con- fession, to tender, pathetic pleading with One who, though the 'just, avenging Judge, yet sate weary on the well of Samaria, seeking the lost, trod the mourn- ful way, and died the bitterest death for sinful men. Its supposed author, Thomas of Celano, in the Abruzzo, lived during the fourteenth century, was a Franciscan monk, and a personal friend of St. Fran- cis himself, whose life he wrote. But so much doubt has hung about the author- ship, and if Thomas of Celano was the author, so little is known of him — even the date of his birth and death not being ascertained — that we may best think of the Dies Irae as a solemn strain sung by an invisible singer. There is a hush in the great choral service of the universal Church, when suddenly, we scarcely know whence, a single voice, low and trembling, breaks the silence ; so low and grave that it seems to deepen the stillness, yet so clear and deep that its softest tones and words are heard throughout Christen- dom, and vibrate throughout every heart — grand and echoing as an organ, yet homely and human as if the words were spoken rather than sung. And through the listening multitudes solemnly that melody flows on. sung not to the mul- titudes, but ' to the Lord,' and therefore carrying with it the hearts of men, till the singer is no more solitary, but the selfsame tearful, solemn strain pours from the lips of the whole Church as if from one voice, and yet each one sings it as if alone, to God." {The Voice of Chris- tian Life in Song, 1ST. Y. 1864, p. 170.) Edwards and Park, in their Selections from German Literature, (Andover, 1839, p. 185) quote the remark of Tholuck, as to the deep sensation produced by the singing of this hymn in the University church at Halle : " The impression, espe- 18G8.J Dies Irae. cially that which was made by the last words, as sung by the University choir alone, will be forgotten by no one." An American clergyman, present on the oc- casion, said: "It was impossible to re- frain from tears, when, at the seventh stanza, all the trumpets ceased, and the choir, accompanied by a softened tone of the organ, sung those touching lines — ' Quid sum miser tunc dicturus. 1 " Literary men and secular poets have been captivated by the Dies Irce as well as men in full religious sympathy with its solemn thoughts and feelings. Goethe introduced several stanzas with thrilling effect in the cathedral scene of Faust to stir up the conscience of poor Margaret, who is seized with horror at the thought of the sounding trump, the trembling graves, and the fiery torment. Justinus Kerner makes good use of it in his poem Die Wahnimnigen Briider. where four im- pious brothers enter a church to ridicule religion, but are suddenly brought to pause and repent, by hearing this judg- ment hymn. Dr. Johnson, with his coarse, yet noble and manful nature, could never repeat the stanza ending thus, " Tantus labor non sit cassus" without bursting into a flood of tears. The Earl of Eos- common, " not more learned than good," in the moment in which he expired, ut- tered with the most fervent devotion two lines of his own version : "My God, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me in my end 1 " Sir Walter Scott happily reproduced some stanzas of the Dies Irae in English, and, following the example of Goethe, insert- ed them in the sixth canto of his "Lay of the Last Minstrel." On his dying bed, when the strength of his body and mind was failing, he was distinctly overheard repeating portions of the Latin original. In a letter to Crabbe. he remarks: " To my Gothic ear, the Stabat Mater, the Dies Irae, and some of the other hymns of the Catholic Church, are more solemn and af- fecting than the fine classical poetry of Buchanan; the one has the gloomy dig- nity of a Gothic church, and reminds us constantly of the worship to which it is dedicated ; the other is more like a pagan temple, recalling to our memory the clas- sical and fabulous deities." The Dies Irae has also given rise to some of the greatest musical compositions of Palestrina, Durante, Pergolese, Haydn, Yogler, Winter, Cherubini, Gottfried Weber, Neukomm, and of Mozart, in his famous Requiem, during the composition of which he died (1791). ORIGIN AND HISTORY. The author of Dies Irae was unconcern- ed about his fame, and probably uncon- scious of the merits of the poem, as he cer- tainly was of its unparalleled success. He wrote it from a sort of inward necessity and under the power of an inspiration which prompts every great work of genius. His object was to excite himself and others to repentance by a description of the terrors of the judgment day. The poem emanat- ed from a subjective state of mind, prob- ably without any regard to public use, but was soon found to be admirably adapted for divine worship on solemn occasions, es- pecially the day for the commemoration of the departed. The deepest subjectivity in lyric poetry often proves to be the high- est order of objectivity. The same may be said of the hymns of Paul Gerhardt and many Moravian hymns. The authorship of Dies Irae cannot be certainly fixed ; it became early a subject of dispute between rival monastic orders. There is no positive evidence to decide the question, but the probability is in favor of Thomas e Celano, so called from a lit- tle town in Abruzzo ulteriore in Italy. He was an intimate friend and the first biographer of St. Francis of Assisi,* Supe- rior of the Franciscan Convents at Co- logne, Mayence, Worms and Speyer, and died, after his return to Italy, about a. d. 1255. The very first notice of the poem, which, however, is one hundred and fifty years later than the age of the supposed author, ascribes it to Thomas. This notice is found in a superstitious book entitled, Liber con- * His biography of St. Francis, known under the name of Legenda Antiqua, is published in the Acta Sanctorum for October, torn. ii. Moh- nike, L c. p. 30, is in error on this point, when he says it was never printed- 46 Dies Irae. [Mav, formitatum, written in 1385 by a Francis- authorship ; viz. Gregory the Great. (t604) can monk, Bartholomanis Albizzi of Pisa St. Bernard, (tll53), St. Bonaventura (died 1401), in which he tries to show, by (fl274), Latinus Frangipani, also called forty points of comparison, that St. Fran- Malabranca, a Dominican (+1296), Thur- cis of Assisi became completely conformed ston Archbishop of York (fl 140), Felix to our Saviour, especially by the impres- Hammerlin, (Malleolus) of Zurich, 1389 sion of the five stigmata on his body.* to 1457. Here he speaks incidentally of brother The extraordinary religious fervor and Thomas a Celano in this way : "Locum ha- devotion which characterizes the early bet Celani de quo fuit /rater Thomas, qui history of the Franciscan order, may be mandato Apostolico [i. e. by order of Pope considered as an argument of internal Gregory IX.] scripsit sermone polito legen- probability for the authorship of Thomas dam prim am beati Francisci, et prosam de a Celano. The other two hymns ascribed mortuis QUJ3 c.YXTATUR in missa ' Dies to him, though far inferior in merit, are by ir.e.' etc. dicitur fecisse." This pas- no means destitute of poetical merit. Many sage proves only the existence of a tradi- a poet has risen for once, under the pow- tion in favor of the authorship of Thomas er of inspiration, far above the level of his and the use of the Dies Irae in the mass ordinary works. St. Francis himself was toward the close of the fourteenth cen- a poetic nature. Another Franciscan monk tury. Jacopone, who died half a century after The learned and laborious Irish histoid- Thomas, is the reputed author of the Sta- anof the Franciscans, Lucas Wadding(born bat Mater, which stands next to the Dies 1580, died 1657), in his two woTks,Annales Irae in the whole range of Latin hymnol- Minorum (1625 — 1654) and Scriptores Or- ogy. We are indebted, in all probability, dinis Minorum (1650), defends the tradi- to the Franciscan order for the most sub- tion, though without positive proof, and lime, as well as for the most pathetic ascribes to Thomas two other hymns be- hymn of the middle ages, sides, both in honor of St. Francis.f He Mone (Lateinische Hymnen des Mittel- is followed by Rambach, Mohnike, Finke, alters, 1853, vol. i. p. 408) has suggested Lisco, Daniel, Mone, Koch, Palmer, the idea that the Dies Irae arose, not as Trench, W. R Williams, Coles, and nearly heretofore supposed, from the individual all the modern writers on the subject, contemplation of a monk in his lonely Mohnike, after a careful examination of cell, but was intended for the funeral the question of authorship, arrives at the service of the church, and inspired by conclusion (1. c. p. 31) : " Thomas of older judgment hymns in public use. Celano must be regarded as the author of In one of these, which he found in a MS. the Dies Irae until — what can scarcely be at Reichenau from the 12th or 13th centu- expected — it can be irrefragably proven ry, the passage occurs : that another composed it." " Lacrymosa dies ilia, There is no doubt that his claims are Q ua resurgens ex favilla . ., ., r ., Homo reus judicandus. much stronger than those ot any other to ml . . . . , „ Al . Al °. , „ , The closing suspirium and praver lor the whom the rivalry ot monastic orders or a the conjecture of critics has ascribed the P r ? "Pi e Jesu Domine * On this book and the somatization ruir- Doua eis requiem," acle, compare an interesting essay of Tholuck is likewise found in older hymns and on the Miracles of the Catholic Church, in his missals. Mone conjectures that the author MtedUmies, vol. i. p. 97 * . of Die8 Ime himse if appended these clos- + The one commencing Fregit victor virtu- ... .. . ,., alts, the other SancUtatisnovasigna. Wadding m g lmes to ms P oem > smce the y dld not supposed that these poems were lost ; but fit in his triple rhyme.* Daniel (torn. v. the first was printed in one of the earlier p. no) and Philip Wackeraagel (Das Paris Missals, the other in the Acta Sancto- m for Oct. 2, p 301, and both in Daniel's * Mohnike was in error when he declared Thes. hymnol. torn. v. p. 314, 317. Comp. the last six lines ,; ein spateres Machwerk '' Trench's Sacred Latin Podry. p. 295 (2d ed.). (L c. p. 43). 18G8.] Dies Irae. 47 deutsche Kirchenlied von tier iiltesten Zeit, of other countries, scattering along its etc. vol. i. p. 138) are disposed to adopt track " the luminous footprints of its his view. But it seems to me much more victorious progress as the subduer of probable that the original poem closed with hearts." Gere curam mei finis, and that the remain- The question as to the primitive text ing six lines, with their different versifica- of the Dies Irae must be decided in favor tion and the change from the first person of the received text in the Missals. We to the third, {huic and eis) were added from have besides two texts which differ from older sources by the compilers of mediae- the received, not only by a number of val missals. Then we have a perfectly verbal variations, but also in length, uniform production, free from any allusion One of these texts is said to be inscribed to purgatory or other Romish features. on a marble slab of the Church of St. The poem cannot be traced beyond Francis of Assisi at Mantua, and opens the thirteenth century.* In the second with the following four stanzas, which half of the fourteenth it was in public serve as an introduction and give the use in Italy. From the land of its birth poem the aspect of a solitary devotional it gradually passed into the church service meditation : 1. " Cogita (Qaeuso), anima fidelis, Ad quid respoadere velis Christo venturo de coelis. 2. Cum deposcet rationera Ob boni omissionem, Ob mali commissionem. 3. Dies ilia, dies irae, Quam conemur pras venire, Obviamque Deo iraa, 4. Seria contritione, Gratise apprehensione, Vitae emeudatione." Then follows the " Dies irae, 1." Weigh with solemn thought and tender, "What response, thou, soul, wilt render, Then when Christ shall come in splendor. 2. And thy life shall be inspected, All its hidden guilt detected, Evil done and good neglected. 3. For that day of vengeance neareth : Ready be each one that heareth God to meet when He appeareth, 4. By repenting, by believing, By God's offered grace receiving, By all evil courses leaving." dies ilia," as we now have it from the first to the " Consors ut beatitatis Vivam cum justifieatis In aevum aeternitatis. Amen! " sixteenth' stanza, ending with, " Voca me cum benedictis." Instead of the eighteenth stanza and the last six lines, the Mantuan text offers this concluding stanza : " That in fellowship fraternal With inhabitants supernal I may live the life eternal. Amen ! " Dr. Mohnike, of Stralsund, who pub- {Miscellanies, p. 80) and Dr. Coles, (p. lished this text (1. c. p. 45-47) in 1824, xiv.) derives some support from the fact as he supposed, for the first time, from a that other hymns were abridged or manuscript copy made in the seventeenth altered for the Missal and the Breviary century by Charisius, burgomaster of (e. g., St. Bernard's " Jesu dulcis memo- Stralsund (1676), t regards it as the ria"). But this consideration is over- original form of the hymn, or at least as ruled by the questionable date of the coming' nearest to it. This conjecture, Mantuan inscription, as compared with which is adopted by Dr. W. R. Williams, the present text, which is already men- * Daniel (ii. p. 113): " Ipsius nimirum carrainis natura indicat, illud multo magis post quam ante Thomas Celanensis setatem in lucem prodiisse." f Charisius, however, copied his text not directly from the original at Mantua, but, as Daniel shows, (ii. 118) from the Florilegium Magnum, published at Frankfort - on - the - the Mantuan inscription. This work reads Main, 1621, p. 1862, without any allusion to in the first line Quanta for Cogita. tioned in 1385, and by the evident infe- riority of the introductory stanzas, which are flat and prosy compared with the rest. There could be no more startling and majestic opening than the ancient 48 Dies Irae. [May, Scripture words, " Dies irae, dies ilia." The " Stabat Mater," likewise, opens with a scripture sentence. The second rival of the received text is found among the poems of Felix Ham- merlin (Malleolus) of Zurich, a distinguish- ed ecclesiastic of his age, a member of the Councils of Constance and Basel, and a reformer of various abuses, who ended his life (a. d. 1457) in the prison of the Franciscan convent at Luzerne. Among 18. " Lacrymosa die ilia, Cum resurget ex favilla, Tamquam ignis ex scintilla, 19. Judicandus homo reus ; Huic ergo parce, Deus, Esto semper adjutor meus 1 20. Quando cseli sunt movendi, Dies adsunt tunc tremeudi, Nullum tempus poenitendi. 21. Sed salvatis lasta dies, Et damnatis nulla quies, Sed dsemonum effigies. 22. tu Deus majestatis, Alme candor trinitatis, Nunc conjunge cum beatis. 23. Vitam meam fac felicem, Propter tuam genetricem, Jesse florem et radicem. 24. Praesta nobis tunc levamen, Dulce nostrum fac certamen, Ut clamemus omnes Amen." Every reader must feel at once that these additions are but weak repetitions of the former verses. They are disfigur- ed, moreover, (ver. 23) by Mariolatry of which the original is entirely free. The Dies Irae did not escape profana- tion. Some Romish priest, about the year 1700, gratified his hatred of Protes- tantism by perverting this judgment hymn into a false prophecy of the down- fall of Holland and England, which he hoped from the union of the French and Spanish crowns in the Bourbon family. Here are a few specimens of this wretch- ed parody as quoted by Daniel, (vol. v. p. 116) and Williams (Miscellanies, p. 84) : <: Dies irae, dies ilia, Solvet fcedus in favilla, Teste Tago, Scaldi, Scylla. Quantus tremor est futurus, Dum Philippics est venturus, Has paludes aggressurus 1 several poems which he composed in prison was found a Dies Irae, and was published from the manuscripts of the public library of Zurich, by Leonhard Meister, also by Mohnike, (p. 39-42) and Lisco, (ii. 103-105). It opens like the received text, which it presents with some verbal variations till stanza 17th, and then adds the following seven stanzas, which we give with the translation of Dr. Coles (p. xviii.) : 18. " On that day of woe and weeping When, like fire from spark upleaping, Starts, from ashes where he's sleeping, 19. Man account to Thee to render ; Spare the miserable offender, Be my Helper and Defender 1 20. When the heavens away are flying, Days of trembling then and crying, For repentance time denying ; 21. To the saved a day of gladness, To the damned a day of sadness, Demon forms and shapes of madness. 22. God of infinite perfection, Trinity's serene reflection, Give me part with the election 1 23. Happiness upon me shower, For Thy Mother's sake, with power Who is Jesse's root and flower. 24. From Thy fulness comfort pour us, Fight Thou with us or fight for us So we'll shout, amen, in chorus." Hie Bex ergo cum sedebit, Vera fidts refulgebit, Nil Galvino remanebit. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, Quem Patronum rogaturus, Cum nee Anglus sit securus ? Magne Rector Uliorum* Amor, timor populorum, Parce terris Batavorum. Preces mege non sunt dignse, Sed, Bex magne, fac benigne, Ne bomborum cremer igne. Confutatis Calvi brutis, Batre, nato, restitutis, Redde mini spem salutis ! Oro supplex et acclinis Calvinismus fiat cinis, Lacrymarum ui sit finis /" * Louis XIV., of France, in allusion to the lilies on his armorial shield. Vol. VII. JULY, 1868. No. 3. TRANSLATIONS In the May number of Hours at Home the space allowed limited us chiefly to the history and literature of this wonder- ful Hymn. To complete the subject we now present specimens from a large num- ber of the best English and German translations. No poem has so often challenged and defied the skill of translators and imitators as the Dies Irae. A collection of the English and German translations alone would fill a respectable volume. The dictionary of rhyme has been nearly ex- hausted upon it, and every new attempt must of necessity present points of resem- blance to former versions. But the very fact that it is untrans- latable will ever call forth new attempts. The large number of translations proves that none comes fully up to the original. Its music, majesty and grandeur can be only imperfectly rendered. "Its appa- rent artlessness and simplicity indicate that it can be turned readily into another language, but its secret power refuses to be thus transferred." " The song of Thom- as," says Daniel, (Thes. Hymnol. II. 121) " is not only in words but in spirit intense- ly Latin and uncongenial to any other language." He finds the chief difficulty in reproducing the vowel assonances which constitute the musical power and effect of the original. By far the greatest number of transla- tions are German. Mohnike gives, in full or in part, 24 German versions made prior to 1824. Lisco, in his monograph on the Dies Irae, 1840, increased the number to 44. In a subsequent mono- graph on the Stabat Mater, 1843, he re- published in full, in three parallel col- umns, 53 German versions of the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, and, in an appendix, 17 additional versions of Dies Irae, of which 15 are German 1 Greek and 1 French, besides several Dutch. * This would make 59 German translations up to the year 1843. But this list was even then by no means complete and has since considera- bly increased, so that the whole number of German translations now existing can- OF DIES IRAE. not fall short of eighty, if not a hundred. Some of the most eminent poets, as Herder, A. W. Schlegel and A. Knapp, are among the German translators of Dies Irae. Next in number, and upon the whole equal in merit, are the English versions. I have collected over thirty. With the exception of that of Sir Walter Scott, they were unknown to Mohnike and Lisco. They are mostly of recent date. The English language, by its seriousness, solemnity, and vigor, is admirably adapt- ed for the Dies Irae, notwithstanding its comparative poverty in double rhymes. The oldest translation (as I learn from Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. 300) was made in 1621 by Sylvester, but I have never seen it. Then followed in 1648 the free and vigorous reproduction of Crashaw, an Anglican clergyman of poet- ic genius, who from the school of Arch- bishop Laud went over to the Roman Church. The Earl of Roscommon, a nephew of the Earl of Stafford, and the only virtuous popular poet in a licentious age, " To whom the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And every author's merit but his own,'' made a more faithful version, in iambic triplets. In the present century Sir Walter Scott, by his partial reproduction, awakened a new literary interest in the poem, to which we owe the easy and ele- gant version of Macaulay from the year 1826. High dignitaries and eminent di- vines of the Church of England, as Arch- bishop Trench and Dean Alford, adhered more closely to the original. Several members of the Anglo-Catholic school of Oxford, Isaac Williams, W. J. Irons, and E. Caswall, (the last seceded to Rome) fur- nished excellent translations. In Ame- rica, ministers and laymen of various de- nominations took part in this rivalry and nearly or fully doubled the number of Eng- lish translations. Among them are Dr. W. R. Williams, (Baptist), Dr. H. Mills, (Pres- byterian) Dr. Robt. Davidson, (Presby- terian) Charles Rockwell, Edward Slos- 262 Translations of Dies Irae. [July, son, Epes Sargent, Erastus C. Benedict, W. G. Dix, John A. Dix, C. F. Weiser. The palm among English translators must be awarded to an American physi- cian, Abraham Coles, of Newark, N. J. He prepared no less than thirteen distinct versions, six of which are in the trochaic measure and double rhyme of the origi- nal, five like in rhythm, but in single rhyme, one in iambic triplets, like Ros common's, the last in quatrains, lik Crashaw's version. The first two ap peared anonymously in the Newark Daily Advertiser, 1847, and a part of on„ found its way into Mrs. Stowe's Unck Tom's Cabin, the other into H. W. Beecher's Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes. ENGLISH VERSIONS. Of these translations I select two of the best in single, and two in double rhyme. Of others I can only give one or two stanzas. Richard C. Trench. that day, that day of ire, Told of Prophet, when in fire, Shall a world dissolved expire ! what terror shall be then, When the Judge shall come again, Strictly searching deeds of men : When a trump of awful tone, Thro' the caves sepulchral blown, Summons all before the throne. What amazement shall o'ertake Nature, when the dead shall wake, Answer to the Judge to make. Open then the book shall lie, All o'erwrit for every eye, With a world's iniquity. When the Judge His place has ta'en, All things hid shall be made plain, Nothing unavenged remain. What then, wretched 1 shall I speak, Or what intercession seek, When the just man's cause is weak ? King of awful majesty, Who the saved dost freely free ; Fount of mercy, pity me! Jesus, Lord, remember, pray, 1 the cause was of Thy way; Do not lose me on that day. Tired Thou satest, seeking me — Crucified, to set me free ; Let such pain not fruitless be. Terrible Avenger, make Of Thy mercy me partake, Ere that day of vengeance wake. As a criminal I groan, Blushing deep my faults I own; Grace be to a suppliant shown. Thou who Mary didst forgive, And who bad'st the robber live, Hope to me dost also give. Henry Alpord. Day of anger, that dread Day Shall the Sign in Heaven display,* And the Earth in ashes lay. O what trembling shall appear, When His coming shall bo near, Who shall all thiugs strictly clear. When the Trumpet shall command Through the tombs of every land All before the Throne to stand. Death shall shrink and Nature quake, When all creatures shall awake, Answer to their God to make. See the Book divinely penned, In which all is found contained, Whence the world shall be arraigned 1 When the Judge is on His Throne, All that's hidden shall be shown, Naught unfinished or unknown. What shall I before Him say ? How shall I be safe that day, When the righteous scarcely may ? King of awful majesty, Saving sinners graciously, Fount of mercy, save Thou me I Leave me not, my Saviour, one For whose soul Thy course was run, Lest I be that day undone. Thou didst toil my soul to gain ; Didst redeem me with Thy pain ; Be such labor not in vain ! Thou just Judge of wrath severe, Grant my sins remission here, Ere Thy reckoning day appear. My transgressions grievous are, Scarce look up for shame I dare ; Lord, Thy guilty suppliant spare 1 Thou didst heal the sinner's grief, And didst hear the dying thief; Even I may hope relief. * Dean Alford, like Dr. Irons, follows the reading of the' Parisian Missal: Dies irae, dies ilia, Crucis expandens vexilla (Matt. xxiv. 30), Solvet saeclum in favilla. 1868.] Translations of Dies Irae. 263 Though my prayer unworthy be, Yet, set me graciously From the fire eternal free. Mid Thy sheep my place command, From the goats far off to staud; Set me, Lord, at Thy right hand ; And when them who scorned Thee here Thou hast judged to doom severe, Bid me with Thy saved draw near. Lying low before Thy throne, Crushed my heart in dust, I groan ; Grace be to a suppliant shown. W. J. Irons. Day of "Wrath ! Day of mourning ! See I once more the Cross returning Heav'n and earth in ashes burning ! what fear man's bosom rendeth, "When from heav'n the Judge descendeth, On whose sentence all dep^ndeth ! Wondrous sound the Trumpet flingeth, Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth, All before the throne it bringeth 1 Death is struck, and nature quaking — All creation is awaking, To its Judge an answer making ! Lo, the Book, exactly worded, "Wherein all hath been recorded ; — Thence shall judgment be awarded. When the Judge His seat attaineth, And each hidden deed arraigneth, Nothing unaveng'd remaineth. What shall I, frail man, be pleading ? Who for me be interceding ? — When the just are mercy needing. King of majesty tremendous, Who dost free salvation send us, Fount of pity ! then befriend us ! Think, kind Jesu' — my salvation Caus'd Thy wondrous Incarnation ; Leave me not to reprobation ! Faint and weary Thou hast sought me, On the Cross of suffering bought me : — Shall such grace be vainly brought me ? Righteous Judge of retribution, Grant Thy gift of absolution, Ere that reckoning-day's conclusion ! Guilty, now I pour my moaning, All my shame with anguish owning ; Spare, God, Thy suppliant groaning! Thou the sinful woman savest ; Thou the dying thief forgavest And to me a hope vouchsafest. All unworthy is my prayer ; Make my soul Thy mercy's care, And from fire eternal spare ! Place me with Thy sheep, that band Who shall separated stand From the goats, at Thy right hand ! When Thy voice in wrath shall say, Cursed ones, depart away ! Call me with the blest, I pray! Lord, Thine ear in mercy bow ! Broken is my heart and low ; Guard of my last end be Thou ! In that day, that mournful day, When to judgment wakes our clay, Show me mercy, Lord, I pray ! Abraham Coles. (No. 1.) Day of wrath, that day of burning, Seer and Sibyl speak concerning, All the world to ashes turning.* Oh, what fear shall it engender, When the Judge shall come in splendor, Strict to mark and just to render! Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder, Rending sepulchres asunder, Shall resistless summons thunder. All aghast then Death shall shiver, And great Nature's frame shall quiver, When the graves their dead deliver. Book, where actions are recorded All the ages have afforded, Shall be brought and dooms awarded. When shall sit the Judge unerring, He'll unfold all here occurring, No just vengeance then deferring. What shall I say, that time pending, Ask what advocate's befriending, When the just man needs defending? Dreadful King, all power possessing, Saving freely those confessing, Save Thou me, Fount of Blessing ! Think, Jesus, for what reason Thou didst bear earth's spite and treason, Nor me lose in that dread season ! Seeking me Thy worn feet hasted, On the cross Thy soul death tasted : Let such travail not be wasted ! Righteous Judge of retribution ! Make me gift of absolution Ere that day of execution ! Culprit-like, I plead, heart-broken, On my cheek shame's crimson token: Let the pardoning word be spoken! Thou, who Mary gav'st remission, Heard'st the dying Thief's petition, Cheer'st with hope my lost condition. * 1 prefer the original form of this stanza as it appeared in the Newark Daily Adver- tiser for 1847. " Day of wrath, that day of burning, All shall melt, to ashes turning, As foretold by seers discerning." 264 Translations of Diea. Irae. [July, Worthless are my prayers and sighing, Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, Rescue me from fires undying I With Thy favor'd sheep, place me ! Nor among the goats abase me ; But to Thy right hand upraise me. While the wicked are confounded, Doom'd to flames of woe unbounded, Call me, with Thy saints surrounded. Low I kneel, with heart-submission ; See, like ashes, my contrition — Help me in my last condition! Ah ! that Day of tears and mourning ! From the dust of earth returning, Man for judgment must prepare him; — Spare ! God, in mercy spare him 1 Lord, Who didst our souls redeem, Grant a blessed Requiem ! Amen. Richard Crashaw, 1646. Heard'st thou, my soul, what serious things Both the Psalm and Sibyl sings Of a sure Judge, from whose sharp ray The world in flames shall fly away ! Earl of Roscommon, (died 1684.) The day of wrath, that dreadful day, Shall the whole world in ashes lay, As David and the Sibyls say. Sir Walter Scott, (died 1832.) That day of wrath, that dreadful day! When heaven and earth shall pass away, What power shall be the sinner's stay ? How shall he meet that dreadful day? This partial version, or free reproduc- tion rather, has found its way into nearly every good English and American hymn- book, and thus has become much more popular than any other translation. Lord Macaulay, Christian Observer, 1826. On that great, that awful day, This vain world shall pass away. Thus the Sibyl sang of old ; Thus hath holy David told. E. Caswall. Lyra Catholica, 1849. Nigher still, and still more nigh Draws the Day of Prophecy, Doomed to melt the earth and sky. Dr. W. R. Williams Miscellanies, New York, 2nd ed. 1851. Day of wrath ! that day dismaying ; — As the seers of old were saying, All the world in ashes laying. Henry Mills, D.D., of Auburn, N. Y. Day of wrath — the sinner dooming, Earth with all its work consuming, Scripture warns — that day is coming. Ret. C. Z. Weiser, Pennsburg, Pa. 1859. Day of wrath ! that Day of days To ashes shall the earth emblaze — Say David's hymns and Sibyl lays. Though my prayers be void of merit, What is needful, Thou confer it, Lest I endless fire inherit ! Be there, Lord, my place decided, With Thy sheep, from goats divided Kindly to Thy right hand guided! When th' accursed away are driven, To eternal burnings given, Call me with the blessed to heaven ! I beseech Thee, prostrate lying, Heart as ashes, contrite, sighing, Care for me when I am dying! Day of tears and late repentance, Man shall rise to hear his sentence : Him, the child of guilt and error, Spare, Lord, in that hour of terror ! Robert Davidson, D.D., Huntingdon, L. I- Day of wrath ! that day is hasting, All the world in ashes wasting, David with the Sibyl testing. Epes Sargent, Esq. Day of ire, that day impending, Earth shall melt, in ashes ending — Seer and Sibyl so portending. Rev. Charles Rockwell. Day of wrath ! oh ! direful day ! Earth in flames shall pass away, Virgil [?] and the Sibyl say. From Poems by Somniator. Philad. Bulletin, 1860. The Sibyl's leaf, the Psalmist's lay Alike portend a wrathful day, When heaven and earth shall melt away. Anonymous. Day of wrath ! that day appalling! Words of ancient seers recalling: Earth on fire, in ashes falling. 2. Oh, in hearts of men what trembling, At that Judge's bar assembling, Where of sins is no dissembling. 3. Louder and yet louder breaking From the sky, the caverns shaking, Angel trumps the dead awaking. W. G. Dix. That day of wrath — upon that day To ashes earth shall pass away, Both David and the Sibyl say. 3. The trump shall spread its startling sound Through sepulchres beneath the ground, And gather all the throne around. 17. Thou gav'st to sinful Mary peace ; Thou to the thief didst grant release: Let not my hope of pardon cease. Gen. John A. Dix, 1862. Day of vengeance, without morrow ! Earth shall end in flame and sorrow, As from Saint and Seer we borrow. 1868.] Translations of Dies Irae. 265 This version, which has been highly praised and widely circulated, was made at Fortress Monroe, Va., during the civil war, in which the brave and patriotic name of General Dix occupies a distin- guished place. It presents some striking coincidences with other versions. Take the following specimens : A. Coles, No. 1, (1847). 13. Thou to Mary gav'st remission, Heard'st the dying thiefs petition, Cheer'st with hope my lost condition. John A. Dix. L3. Thou to Mary gav'st remission, Heard'st the dying thief's petition, Bad'st me hope in my contrition. W. J. Irons, (1849). 10. Faint and weary Thou hast sought me, On the cross of suffering bought me ; Shall such grace be vainly brought me ? 11. Righteous Judge of retribution, Grant Thy gift of absolution, Ere that reckoning day's conclusion. John A. Dix. 10. Worn and weary, Thou hast sought me, By Thy cross and passion bought me — Spare the hope Thy labors brought me. 11. Righteous Judge of retribution, Give, give me absolution, Ere the day ofkiissolution. The editor of the " Seven Great Hymns of the Mediaeval Church," p. 84, mentions a still more curious resemblance, " with an absolute identity of language in many parts," in an unpublished version of Mr. A. Peries, of Philadelphia, " wherein several stanzas differ but little from those of General Dix." He quotes as a speci- men the eleventh, which Peries renders as follows : " Righteous Judge of retribution, Grant us sinners absolution Ere the day of dissolution." Dr. Coles in this stanza had anticipated all three in his first translation of 1847 : " Righteous Judge of retribution, . Make me gift of absolution Ere that day of execution." Compare also Dr. H. Mills : Righteous Judge of retribution, Bless my soul with absolution Ere that day of execution. Mrs. Charles. (1858.) From The Voice of Christian Life in Song, p. 188. Lo, the Day of Wrath, the Day Earth and heaven melt away, David and the Sibyl say. Stoutest hearts with fear shall quiver, When to Him who erreth never, All must strict account deliver. Lo, the trumpet's wondrous pealing, Flung through each sepulchral dwelling, All before the throne compelling. Edward Slosson, of the bar of New York. Day of Wrath ! of days that Day ! Earth in flames shall melt away, Psalmist thus and Sibyl say. Erastus C Benedict, Esq., of New- York. Three translations, first published in the Christian Intelligencer, 1864, and then in his " Hymn of Hildebert, and other Mediaeval Hymns." N. Y., 1867, pp. 108-120. No. 1. Day of Wrath ! that final day, Shall the world in ashes lay ! David and the Sibyl say. No. 2. Day of threatened wrath from heaven, To the sinful, unforgiven ! Earth on fire, to ashes driven 1 No. 3. Day of wrath, with vengeance glowing ! Seer and Sibyl long foreknowing ! Earth and time to ruin going 1 2. How the guilty world will tremble, When the Judge shall all assemble, And not one will dare dissemble 1 3. When the trumpet's summons, swelling Through Death's dark and dusty dwelling, To the throne is all compelling 1 J. Hoskyns Abrahall. From the Chris- tian Remembrancer, Jan., 1868. Day of wrath and tribulation, Day in vasty conflagration Heaven and earth together blending, And the world's long cycle ending — Know, it cometh; be thou heeding Hebrew seers and heathen's reading. Abraham Coles, M. D., Newark, N. J., the author of thirteen versions made be- tween 1847 — 1859. No. 1. Day of wrath, that day of burning, Seer and Sibyl speak concerning, All the world to ashes turning. No. 2. Day shall dawn that has no morrow, Day of vengeance, day of sorrow, As from Prophecy we borrow. No. 3. Day of Vengeance and of Wages, Fiery goal of all the age3, Burden of prophetic pages ! No. 4. Day of Prophecy ! it flashes, Falling spheres together dashes, And the world consumes to ashes. 266 Translations of Dies Irae. [July, No. 5. Day of vengeance, and of scorning-, World in ashes, world in mourning, Whereof Prophets utter warning 1 No. 6. Day of wrath and consternation, Day of fiery consummation, Prophesied in Revelation I No. 7. Day of wrath, that day of days, Present to my thought always, "When the world shall burn and blaze ! No. 8. 0. that dreadful day, my soul 1 Which the ages shall unroll, When the knell of Time shall toll ! No. 9. Day foretold, that day of ire, Burden erst of David's lyre, When the world shall sink in fire ! No. 10. Lol it comes, with stealthy feet, Day, the ages shall complete, When the world shall melt with heat ! No. 11. Day of wrath, that day of dole, When a fire* shall wrap the whole, And the earth be burnt to coal ! No. 12. Day of wrath ! day of fate I Day foreordained and ultimate, When all things here shall terminate 1 No. 13. That day, that awful Day. the last, Result and sum of all the Past, Great necessary day of doom, When wrecking fires shall all con- sume! From the London " Spectator" for March 7, 1868. The day of wrath, that haunting day Shall the whole age in ashes lay, Thus David and the Sybil say. What terror then shall seize the breast, When the great Judge is manifest To institute the awful quest. The author of this translation makes a singular mistake in referring the liber scriptus, ver. 5, to the Bible, while the poet evidently meant the record of all human actions spoken of Dan. vii. 10; Rev. xx. 12. To add one more attempt to translate the untranslatable I would suggest the following : Day of wrath 1 that day foretold By the saints and seers of old, Shall the world in flames infold. German Translations. The following specimens will give an idea of the German translations. The first stanza is selected, as it is generally characteristic of the whole. Martin von Cochem, 1745. An jenem Tag, nach David's Sag, Soil Gotten Zorn erbrinnen : Durch Feuers Flamm, muss allesamm, Gleichwie das Wachs zerrinnen. Mohnike calls this the first proper translation. It is far inferior to Cra- shaw's English version, which is a hun- dred years older. Franz Xaver Riedel, 1773. Am Tag* des Zorns. an jenem Tage Nach Davids und Sibyllens Sage Versinket einst in Asche diese Welt J. G. von Herder, 1801. Tag des Schreckens ! Tag voll Beben 1 Wenn die Griifte sich erheben Und die Todten wiedergeben. Herder's version, though superior to its predecessors, is hastily done, and un- worthy of his great genius. A. W. von Schlegel, 1802. Jenen Tag. den Tag des Zoren, Geht die Welt in Brand verloren, Wie Propheten hoch beschworen. Welch ein Graun wird sein und Zagen, Wenn der Richter kommt mit Fragen, Streng zu priifen alle Klagen 1 Die Posaun' im Wundertone, Wo auch wer im Grabe wohne, Rufet alle her zum Throne. This is the first really good German version, and betrays the skill of a mas- ter. Yet Schlegel himself (in a letter to Konigsfeld) admitted th "failure of the first stanza ; Zoren for Zorn is antiquated, and the Sibyl should not be omitted in a faithful version. Fr. von Meyer, 1806. Tag des Zorns, mit wildem Raube Wandelst du die Welt zu Staube, So bezeugt's der heil'ge Glaube. Catholic Hymn-Book of Munich, 1810. Erden wauken, Welten beben, Wenn du, Herr ! dich wirst erheben, Richtend iiber Tod und Leben.. Ach vor jenen Ungewittern, Die der Welten Bau erschuttern, Werden alle Frevler zittern. This version was made use of in several editions of Mozart's composition in his Requiem. J. G. Fichte, the celebrated philosopher, 1814. Jenen Tag, den Tag der Fulle, Fallt die Welt in Graus und Stille, David zeugt's und die Sibylle. M. F. Jack, IS 15. Welche bange Trauerstunde, Wenn, nach der Propheten Munde, Gluht die Erd' im Feuerschiunde. 1868.] Translations of Dies Irae. 2G7 Fs. Kind, 1817. Tag des Zorns, du wirst erfullen Davids Wort und der Sibyllen, Wirst die Welt in Asche hullen. Ad. L. Follen, 1819. Tag des Zornes, warm er taget, Feuerloh die Zeit zernaget, Wie Sibyll mit David saget. J. P. Silbert, 1820. Tag des Zornes, furchtbar stille, Du vergliihst des Erdballs Fiille, Zeugt mit David die Sibylle. 3. Hier wird die Posaune klingen, Wird durch feme Griifte dringen, Alle vor den Thron zu zwingen. 4. Die Natur, der Tod sieht bebend Das Geschopf der Graft entschwebend, Und dem Richter Antwort gebend. This excellent version rivals with that of Schlegel. A. C. Doring, 1821. Tag des Zorns, wo Gott einst riehtet, Und die Welt in Gluth vernichtet, Wie Propheten uns berichtet. Yon Wessenberg, Hymn-book of Constance. Furchtbar wird der Tag sicli rdthen, Kund gethan von den Propheten, Der die Welt in Staub wird treten. W. A. Swoboda, Prag, 1S26. Tag des Zornes, Tag der Klagen ! Zeit und Welt wirst du zerschlagen, Wie uns die Propheten sagen. J. A. Scholtz, 1828. Jener Tag in Zornes Fiille Lost in Brand der Zeiten Hiille, David zeugt's und die Sibylle. J. C. W. Niemeyer, Halle, 1833. Jener Raehetas; der Sunden Wird die Welt zu Asche zlinden, Wie Sibyll' und David kiinden. Carl Simrock, 1834. Tag des Zornes, des Gerichtes I Was von Staub in Flamraen bricht es : David und Sibylle spricht es. Mohnike, 1834. Tag des Zorns ! in Flammenwehen Wird die Welt zu Staub vergehen, W T ie Propheten langst gesehen. Franke, 1839. Einst am Richttag wird verschwinden Zeit und Welt in Feuersehliinden, Wie uns heil'ge Sanger k linden. Robt Lecke, 1842. Jener Tag, wo God wird richten. Soil die Welt zu Staub vernichten, Wie Propheten uns berichten. Lecke made and published at his own expense, at Munich, 1842, no less than twelve translations, which, however, do not rise above mediocrity. Chevalier Bunsen, 1833. Tag des Zorns, Tag voll Grauen, Da die Welt den Herrn soil schauen, Nach dem Wort, dem wir vertraueD. Albert Knapp, 1850. An dem Zorntag, an dem hohen, Stiirzt die Welt in Feuerlohen, Wie Prophetenschwiire drohen. If I mistake not, Knapp made another version which is the basis of the one in the "Wiirtemberg Hymn Book, 1849 : Jenen Tag. den Tag der Wehen, Wird die Welt im Staub vergehen, Wie Prophetenspruch geschehen. G. A. Konigsfeld, 1847. An dem Zorntag, jenem hehren, Wird die Gluth das All verzehren, Wie Sybill' und David lehren. In his second collection of Latin hymns with translations, published Bonn, 1865, Konigsfeld gives a revised version, chang- ing the first line thus : Jenen Zorntag, jenen schweren. Ton Seld. Iu Daniel's Thes. Hymnol., II. p. 110. Zorn und Zittern bange Klag ist, Wenn der letzte aller Tag ist, Wie die alte heil'ge Sag ist. H. A. Daniel, 1855. 2 versions. No. 1. Tag des Zorns, du Tag der Fiille, Kehrst die Welt in Staubgeriille — So zeugt David und Sibylle. No. 2. David und Sibylla spricht : Erd und Himmel bleiben nicht, Wenn der jiingste Tag anbricht. Phil. Schaff, 1858. (German Kirchenfreund, Mercersburg, Pa., voL ix. p. 388, f. 2 ver- sions.) No. 1. An dem Tag der Zornesflammen Stiirzt die Welt in Staub zusammen, Nach dem Wort das Ja und Amen. No. 2. An dem Tag der Zornesfulle Siukt die Welt in Aschenhulle : So spricht David und Sibylle. The best among these German versions are those of Schlegel, Silbert, Bunsen. Knapp and Daniel. But none of them has become so popular as the free repro- duction in the old German hymn: " Es ist gewisslich an dei* Zeit^ by Bartholo- maeus Ringwaldt, 1582. 268 Camille. [July, French Versions. The French language is poorly adapted for poetry in general, and especially of this solemn kind. I have seen but one French translation, by an anonymous author, in Lisco's " Stabat Mater" from an older print of 1702. It begins : '• jour du Dieu vengeur, oil pour punir les crimes Un deluge brulant sortira des abimes, Et le ciel s'armera de foudres et d'eclairs; Quel trouble en tous les cceurs, quand ce juge severe, Lancaut de toute part les traits de sa colore, Sur uu trone de feu paraitra dans les airs I " There is also a translation into modern Greek, by the Rev. Mr. Hildner, a mis- sionary of the Church of England at Syra. It was first published in Tholuck's Literary Advertiser for 1842, and then by Daniel, Thesaurus Ilymnol., torn. ii. p. 105. CAMILLE CnAPTER XX. The nio:ht of watching was lonsr. The cup was approaching her lips, she had already tasted its bitterness; now it must be drained to the dregs. To-morrow ! to-morrow ! Camille, kneeling, still saw the pale and angry face, the face to which she was about to bid adieu forever. And she had lost this heart ! Edgar also was going. His eyes, full of reproach, pursued her with their dis- appointed gaze. . Everywhere she had brought desola- tion, everywhere she had carried ruin. Xo strength was left her. She endured BY THE COUNTESS DE GASPARIN. weeping, a light knock was heard. The door half opened, and Victor entered without her knowledge. He stood for an instant before her mo- tionless, and paler than if he had been stricken by death. " You are weeping, Camille ! " he ex- claimed. Camille started; she raised her dim eyes, but her lips did not utter a word. " From those serene heights where youi soul hovers, you deign to cast a calm glance on the wretch who is struggling in the tortures of death! " Camille kept silence. " You have felt for him the radiant pity that apathy of grief which freezes our of the seraphs 9 " energies, arrests our prayers, and leaves us nought but suffering, as if all our fac- ulties were summed up in a superhuman power of misfortune. Then she remembered G-ethsemane. She remembered the Christ's heaviness of spirit, his supplications, his "My God, not my will but thine be done ! " Camille let her head fall in her clasped hands. Victor seized them. Unable longer to contain himself, he fell on his knees by her side. " Forsrive me. forgive me ! " he cried. " You are suffering ? Yes, she is suffer- ing it is true. Poor child ! " He wiped O) Her lips murmured the divine words — away her tears. " Her head is burning ! the crv of the terrors of the soul, and the shuddering of the will, the cry of dearly- bought victories, the filial cry, the confid- ing cry, the cry which brings from hea- ven the angels of consolation. She could say nought but this. But she soon felt that another was praying for her. She Camille, I have broken Your heart ! " With the tenderness and touching gen- tleness of which Camille so well knew the power, he continued : " If you could love me, Camille ; if you would trust in me ; if you would wake from the fright- ful dream that is killing us both ; if you felt the all-powerful prayers of Christ, would abandon yourself to the true God, and the ineffable sighs of the Holy Ghost the God that made your heart, the God that intercedes for us dav and night. that smiles on strong love ; if vou would Her tears flowed slowly and gently, leave to the dead those implacable, dead God permits us to weep. doctrines which I abhor! " 'oward morning, while she was still Camille shuddered. T( Extebed, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, by C. Scbibneb & Co., in thd Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. The New York Printing Company, 8i, 83, and 85 Centre Street. INDEX. -++- PAGE POETRY. Dieslrae, 39,261 Raphaels Madonna di San Sisto, 57 Three Meetings, 71 Peace, 89 A Newly Discovered Hymn of Calvin, 155 The Prince of Peace, 162 The Leaf upon the Stream, 170 The Dawn, 181 The Old Grief, 245 The Desert Lion, 260 Smiling at the Stake, 288 An Autumn BuriaL 32-3 Haunted, 364 A Sea-ShelL 427 The May-Flower Gift, 445 The Doves, 494 Lord, Save, or I Perish, 511 My Gentians, 550 AUTHORS. Atkinson, Mary E. The Desert Lion, 260 ; My Gentians, 550. Author of " John Halifax, Gentleman." Three Meetings, 71 Bancroft, Mary. Current Poetical Coin, 520 Beard, George M. Air, Sunlight, and Water, 226 ; Clergymen and the Laws of Health, 539. Booth, Mary L. Camilie. Translated for HOURS at Home, 49, 172, 268. Bolles, John A The Family Circle. Extracts from the Proceedings of the Mutual Admira- tion Society, 302 ; The Katydids, 500. Brown, Helen. Haunted, 364 Bunce, 0. B. Savings Banks, 550 Bushnell, Horace. Distinctions of Color, 81 ; Training for the Pulpit Manward, 198; Building Eras in Religion, 3S5. Burrage, Henry S. The Gold Star, 338 Claude, Iris. The Dawn, 1S1 Curtis, A J. Friedhof — The Court of Peace, . . 157 De Yere, M. S. Napoleon and St. Domingo, ... 28 Dodge, Mrs. Mary E. Smiling at the Stake, ... 288 Dorr, Julia C. R Peace, S9 ; Lord, Save, or I Perish, 511. Dwight, Mrs. M. A B. A Fete Champetre on the Bosphorus, 274 Gage, W. L. Expeditions to the North Pole,. . . 138 Gardner, A K. What is Death? 447 G. P. P. A Glance at Spain, 34 Gray, Alice. Helen Dean, 471 PAG 8 Gray, F. M. The Jews in China, 90 ; Purple and Fine Linen, 565. Greenwood, James, Author of "The Lambeth Casual," etc. Pawnbrokery in London, 109; Music for the Million, 289 ; Enlisting for the British Army, 4S0. Guizot, M. Christianity and Morality, 235 Hale, Richard. The Vegetable Kingdom of California, 522 Harbaugh, Henry. Matthias Claudius, 330 Hinsdale, Grace Webster. Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto, 57 ; The Old Grief, 245 ; The May-Flower Gift, 445. Hurst, J. F. The Late King of Bavaria, 254 Laurence, E. A Paul on Mars Hill, 147 Mather, May. The Doves, 494 Mellen, W. R. G. Saint Helena, 428 Noyes, James O. The Climate of the Mississippi Valley, 53 Origin of the Old Testament, 4S8 Patton, William W. Amusements and the Church, 417 Palmer, Ray. Home and Woman, 64 Percy, George Exmouth. The Prose of Poets, . . 20 Phelps, J. W. College Education and the Col- ored Race, 44S Pollard, Josephine. The Leaf upon the Stream, 170 Randolph, A D. F. An Autumn BuriaL 323 Robinson, R T. Dr. Watts' Hymns, 512 Riickert. The Prince of Peace, 162 Schaff, Philip. Dies Irae, 39 ; Translations of, 261 Shearman, Julia A Ireland and the Irish Church, 465 Sherwood, John D. Stockholders — their Rights and Wrongs, 97 ; What Becomes of all the Smart Children, 377. Simmons, D. B. The Religion of Japan, 435 Smith, Dr. J. V. C. Human Eyes, 531 Spear, Samuel T. Earth's Greatest Marvel, . . . 163 Street, Alfred B. The Old Trading House, 320 Tarbox, I. N. Origin of the Old Testament, ... 4SS Thomson, Clifford. Pawnbrokery in New York, 246 ; Gift Enterprises, 494. Towle, G. M. Disraeli, Prime Minister of Eng- land, 309 Tattle, Joseph F. Extracts from an Old Un- published Journal, 455 Vandenburgh, CoL O. The City of New York Ten Years Hence, 350 Vattemare, Alexander, 534 Wilson, J. Grant. Lord Brougham, 1S1 ; Green- wood Cemetery, 359. IV Index. PAGE Woolsey, T. D. Books, Bookselling, and Libra- ries in Ancient Home, No. I., 278 ; No. II. , 297. Xaver, Dr. My Acquaintance with the King of Italy, 323 Yonge, Miss, Author of "The Heir of Red- clyffe." The Chaplet of Pearls, 1, 117, 203, 365, 392, 557 SUBJECTS. A Chat with the Austrian Premier, 149 Air, Sunlight, and Water, 226 Amusements and the Church, 417 A Glance at Spain, 34 1 tavaria, The Late King of, 254 Books, Bookselling, and Libraries in Ancient Borne, 278, 297 Books of the Month, 93, 187, 284, 477 Bosphorus, A Fete Champetre on the, 274 Building Eras in Religion, 385 Christianity and Morality, 235 Camille: Chaps. X.-XIIL, 49; Chaps. XIV.- XIX., 172 ; Chaps. XX.-XXIV., 268. California, The Vegetable Kingdom in, 522 Clergymen and the Laws of Health, 539 College Education and the Colored Race, 448 Colored Race, The, and College Education, 448 Current Poetical Coin, 520 Death, What is it ? 447 De Gasparin, Madame. Camille, 49, 172, 268 Dies Irae, 39 ; Translations of, 261. Disraeli, Prime Minister of England, 309 Distinctions of Color, 81 Earth's Greatest Marvel, 163 Editor : Books of the Month,. . ..93, 187, 284, 477, 568 The Spanish Gypsy, 382 Expeditions to the North Pole, 138 Extracts from an Old Unpublished Journal, .... 455 Family Circle, The, 302 Friedhof— The Court of Peace, 157 Gift Enterprises, 494 Greenwood Cemetery, 359 PAGE Home and Woman, 64 Human Eyes, 531 Ireland and the Irish Church, 465 Helen Dean, 477 Japan, The Religion of, 435 Katydids, 500 King of Italy, My Acquaintance with the, 323 London, Pawnbrokery in, 109 Lord Brougham, 181 Matthias Claudius, 330 Mississippi Valley, The Climate of, 58 Music for the Million, 289 Napoleon and St. Domingo, 28 New York, The City of, Ten Years Hence, 350 New York, Pawnbrokery in, 246 Paul on Mars Hill, . 147 Pawnbrokery in London, 109 Pawnbrokery in New York, 246 Purple and Fine Linen, 565 Ri'ickert, the Orientalist, 505 Saint Helena, 423 Savings Banks, 550 Strange Career of an Artist, 534 Stockholders — their Rights and Wrongs, 97 The Chaplet of Pearls: Chaps. XVII-XIX., 1 ; Chaps. XX.-XXIIL, 117; Chaps. XXIV.- XXVII. , 203 ; Chaps. XXVIII. -XXIX., 365 ; Chaps. XXX.-XXXL, 392; Chaps. XXXIL- XXXIIL, 557. The Great Future, 344 The Gold Star, 338 The Jews in China, 90 The Leper of the City of Aoste, 72 The Old Trading House, 320 The Prose of Poets, 20 The Spanish Gypsy, 382 Thiers, Adolph, A Chat with, 410 Training for the Pulpit Manward, 198 Watts' Hymns, 512 What Becomes of all the Smart Children, 377 Woman and Home, 64