COMPOSITIONS
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Compositions
FROM
AKESPEARE'S TEMPE
Fifteen Engravings in Outline.
BY
SIR J. NOEL PATON.
EDINBURGH: WILLIAM P. NIMMO & CO.
TO
Mrs S. C. HALL.
My Dear Madam,
While the sunbeams of this May-morning yet slant along the
unrisen dew, I Dedicate to you these Outlines from "The Tempest" of our "Gentle
Shakespeare."
My regret that they so feebly embody the
" Forms more real than Living Man,''
who fill with the light of their superhuman loveliness that wondrous garden of enchantment,
though sincere, is somewhat softened by the delight which I feel in embracing the opportunity
afforded by their publication of humbly subscribing myself one among the many who honour
your genius, respect your wisdom, and love YOU for your perfect womanhood.
I have the honour to be,
Your very obedient Servant,
Dunfermline, isl May 1845.
J. NOEL PATON.
PLATES I. and
TITLE PAGE.
ACT I. SCENE I.
(ARIEL sings.)
On the bat's back I do fly,
After summer merrily.
SHAKESPEARE.
PLATE III.
ACT I. SCENE II.
MIRANDA.
Wherefore did they not
That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO.
Well demanded, wench;
My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not;
(So dear the love my people bore me) nor set
A mark so bloody on the business ; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few they hurried us aboard a bark ;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigged,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it: there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roared to us ; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA.
Alack! what trouble
Was I then to you!
PROSPERO.
Oh ! a cherubin
Thou wast, that did preserve me!
PLATE IV
ACT I. SCENE II.
(MIRANDA sleeps.)—PROSPERO.
Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come !
(Enter ARIEL.)—ARIEL.
All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; bc't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding task
Ariel, and all his quality.
PLATE V.
ACT I. SCENE II.
The foul Witch, SYCORAX.
PLATE VI.
ACT I. SCENE II.
ARIEL'S SOUg.
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands :
Courtsied when you have, and kiss'd
(The wild waves whist),
Foot it featly here and there ;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark, hark! etc.
PLATE VII.
ACT I. SCENE II.
PROSPERO.
The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say what thou see'st yond.
MIRANDA.
What ist?—a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form:—but 'tis a spirit!
PLATE VIII.
ACT I. SCENE II.
FERDINAND.
Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe, my prayer
May know, if you remain upon this island ;
And that you will some good instruction give,
How I may bear me here: My prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?
MIRANDA.
No wonder, sir;
But, certainly a maid.
PLATE IX.
ACT II. SCENE II.
Caliban {tortured).
But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid them ; but
For every trifle are they set upon me :
Sometime like apes that moe and chatter at me,
And after, bite me ; then, like hedge-hogs, which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my footfall ; sometime am I
All wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues,
Do hiss me into madness :—Lo ! now—lo!
PLATE X.
ACT III. SCENE I.
FERDINAND.
Hear my soul speak ;—
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service; there resides,
To make me slave to it; and, for your sake,
Am I this patient log-man.
MIRANDA.
Do you love me ?
FERDINAND.
Oh heaven, oh earth, bear witness to this sound,
And crown what I profess with kind event,
If I speak true; if hollowly, invert
What best is boded to me, to mischief! I,
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world,
Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRANDA.
I am a fool,
To weep at what I am glad of.
PLATE XI.
ACT III. SCENE II.
CALIJi.VN.
The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears ; and sometimes voices,
That, ff I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again ; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds, methought, would open and shew riches
Ready to drop upon me; that when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
PLATE XII.
Solemn and strange music. Enter several strange shapes, bringing in a banqmt; they dance about it with
gentle actions of salutation, and inviting the King, etc., to eat, they depart.
PLATE XIII.
ACT IV. SCENE I.
The Masoue.
PLATE XIV
ACT IV. SCENE I.
A noise of Hunters heard. Enter divers Spirits in shape of Hounds and hunt them (Caliban, Stephano,
and Trinculo) about. Prospero and Ariel setting them on.
prospero.
Hey, Mountain, hey!
ariel.
Silver! there it goes! Silver!
prospero.
Fury! Fury! There, Tyrant!—there! Hark! hark!
PLATE XV
ACT V. SCENE I.
(Ferdinand and miranda playing at chess.)
miranda.
Sweet lord, you play me false!
ferdinand.
No, my dearest love ,
I would not for the world.
miranda.
Yes, for a score of kingdoms, you should wrangle,
And I would call it fair play.
* * # * *
gonzalo.
Look down, you Gods,
And on this couple drop a blessed crown ;
For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither!
alonzo.
I say Amen, Gonzalo!
gonzalo.
Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue
Should become Kings of Naples? Oh, rejoice,
Beyond a common joy ; and set it down
With gold on lasting pillars. In one voyage
Did Claribcl her husband find at Tunis;
And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife,
Where he himself was lost; Prospcro his dukedom,
In a poor isle ; and all of us, ourselves,
When no man was his own.
dkmpsitbtis
FROM
D
EY'S rROMEIHEUS UNBO
Twelve Engravings in Outline.
BY
SIR J. NOEL PATON.
EDINBURGH: WILLIAM P. NIMMO & CO.
TO
Mrs PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY,
Sljcsc Compositions
FROM
THE '^PEOMETHEUS UNBOUND" OF HER IMMORTAL- H0S1MB
ARE, WITH HER PERMISSION, DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR:
WHOSE CONSCIOUSNESS OF INABILITY ALONE RESTRAINS HIM FROM ATTEMPTING TO CLOTHE
IN "THE GREY VEIL OF HIS OWN WORDS,"
THE ADMIRATION DUE TO HER GENIUS AND WORTH,
NOT LESS JUSTLY THAN TO THE WONDROUS ENDOWMENTS OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD.
PLATE I.
ACT I.
PANT HE A.
'Tis Jove's world-wandering herald, Mercury.
IONF..
And who are those with hydra tresses
And iron wings, that climb the wind,
Whom the frowning God represses
Like vapours steaming up behind,
Clanging loud, an endless crowd?
PA NTH HA.
These are Jove's tempest-walking hounds,
Whom he gluts with groans and blood,
When charioted on sulphurous cloud
He bursts Heaven's bounds.
FIRST FURY.
Darest thou delay, O Herald ! Take cheer, Hounds
Of Hell! What if the son of Maia soon
Should make us food and sport—who can please long
The Omnipotent ?
MERCURY.
Back to your towers of iron,
And gnash beside the streams of fire, and wail
Your foodless teeth.
PLATE
ACT I.
panthea.
Look, sister, where a troop of spirits gather,
Like flocks of clouds in spring's delightful weather,
Thronging in the blue air!
ion i..
And, sec! more come,
Like fountain-vapours when the winds are dumb,
That climb up the ravine in scattered lines.
And, hark! Is it the music of the pines?
Is it the lake ? Is it the waterfall ?
pantHka.
'Tis something sadder, sweeter far than all.
Chorus of Spirits.
From unremembered ages we
Gentle guides and guardians be
Of heaven-oppress'd mortality;
I.
And we breathe, and sicken not,
The atmosphere of human thought ;
Be it dim, and dank, and grey,
Like a storm-extinguish'd day,
Travell'd o'er by dying gleams:
Be it bright as all between
Cloudless skies, and windless streams,
Silent, liquid, and serene;
As the birds within the wind,
As the fish within the wave,
As the thoughts of man's own mind
Float through all above the grave ;
We make these our liquid lair,
Voyaging cloud-like and unpent
Through the boundless element:
Whence we bear the prophecy
Which begins and ends in thee!
PLATE III.
ACT II. SCENE I.
The crags, this clear spring morning, mock our voices,
As they were spirit-tongued.
asia.
It is some being
Around the crags. What fine, clear sounds! O, list!
echoes (i/ns?en).
Echoes wc : listen !
We cannot stay:
As dew-stars glisten
Then fade away—
Child of Ocean !
Hark! spirits speak. The liquid responses
Of their aerial tongues yet sound.
panthfa.
I hear.
Through the caverns hollow,
Where the forest spreadeth.
{More distant.) Oh, follow, follow,
Through the caverns hollow ;
As the song floats thou pursue,
Where the wild bee never flew,
Through the noon-tide darkness deep,
By the odour-breathing sleep
Of faint night-flowers, and the waves,
At the fountain-lighted caves,
While our music, wild and sweet,
Mocks thy gently-falling feet,
Child of Ocean !
Shall we pursue the sound? It grows more faint
And distant.
panthea.
List! the strain floats nearer now.
Oh, follow, follow,
As our voice rccedcth,
Come, sweet Panthea, link thy hand in mine,
And follow, ere the voices fade awav.
PLATE IV.
ACT II. SCENE II.
A Fortify intermingled with Rocks and Caverns. Asia and Panthiia pass into it.
Two young Fauns are silting on a Rock, listening.
Semichorus of Spirits.
The path through which that lonely twain
Have past, by cedar, pine, and yew,
And each dark tree that ever grew.
Is curtain'd out from Heaven's wide blue;
Nor sun, nor moon, nor wind, nor rain
Can pierce its interwoven bowers.
FIRST FAUX.
Canst thou imagine where those spirits live
Which make such delicate music in the woods ?
We haunt within the least-frequented caves
And closest coverts, and we know these wilds,
Yet never meet them, though we hear them oft:
Where may they hide themselves?
SECOND FAUN.
'Tis hard to tell.
I have heard those more skill'd in spirits say,
The bubbles, which the enchantment of the sun
Sucks from the pale faint water-flowers that pave
The oozy bottom of clear lakes and pools,
Are the pavilions where such dwell and float,
Under the green and golden atmosphere
Which noon-tide kindles through the woven leaves;
And when these burst and the thin fiery air,
The which they breathed within those lucent domes,
Ascends to flow like meteors through the night,
They ride on them, and rein their headlong speed,
And bow their burning crests, and glide in fire
Under the waters of the earth again.
jL*JI Scene IV
PLATE V
ACT II. SCENE IV.
ASIA.
The rocks are cloven, and through the purple night
I see cars drawn by rainbow-winged steeds,
Which trample the dim winds: in each there stands
A wild-eyed charioteer, urging their flight.
Some look behind, as fiends pursued them there,
And yet I see no shapes but the keen stars:
Others, with burning eyes, lean forth, and drink
With eager lips the wind of their own speed,
As if the thing they loved fled on before,
And now, even now, they clasped it. Their bright locks
Stream like a comet's flashing hair : they all
Sweep onward.
DEMOGORCON".
These are the immortal Hours,
Of whom thou didst demand. One waits for thee.
*****
I'ANTHEA.
See, near the verge, another chariot stays ;
An ivory shell inlaid with crimson fire,
Which comes and goes within its sculptured rim
Of delicate strange tracery : the young spirit
That guides it has the dove-like eyes of Hope;
How its soft smiles attract the soul! as light
Lures wing'd insects through the lampless air.
SPIRIT.
My coursers are fed with the lightning,
They drink of the whirlwind's stream,
And when the red morning is bright'ning,
They bathe in the fresh sunbeam :
They have strength for their swiftness, I deem ;
Then ascend with me, daughter of Ocean.
PLATE VI.
ACT II. SCENE V.
Asia, Panthea, and the Spirit of the Hour.
spirit.
On the brink of the night and the morning
My coursers are wont to respire;
But the Earth has just whispered a warning
That their flight must be swifter than fire :
They shall drink the hot speed of desire!
PLATE VI I.
ACT II. SCENE V.
I'ANTHEA.
The Nereids tell,
That on the day when the clear hyaline
Was cloven at the uprise, and thou didst stand
Within a veined shell, which floated on
Over the calm floor of the crystal sea,
Among the Aegean isles, and by the shores
Which bear thy name ; Love, like the atmosphere
Of the sun's fire filling the living world,
Burst from thee, and illumined earth and heaven,
And the deep ocean, and the sunless caves,
And all that dwells within them.
PLATE VIII.
ACT III. SCENE I.
j urn ek.
Let hell unlock
Its mounded oceans of tempestuous fire,
And whelm on them into this bottomless void
This desolated world, and thee, and me,
The conqueror and the conquer'd, and the wreck
Of that for which they combated.
Ai! Ai!
The elements obey me not. I sink
Dizzily down—ever, for ever, down !
And, like a cloud, mine enemy above
Darkens my fall with Victory!
Ai! Ai!
Art ill S fnc 11
PLATE IX.
ACT III. SCENE II.
The mouth of a great River in the island Atlantis. Ocean is discovered reclining near the
shore; Apollo stands beside him.
ocean.
He fell, thou sayest, beneath the conqueror's frown ?
apollo.
Ay! when the strife was ended, which made dim
The orb I rule, and shook the solid stars,
The terrors of his eye illumined heaven
With sanguine light, through the thick ragged skirts
Of the victorious darkness as he fell;
Like the last glare of day's red agony,
Which, from a rent among the fiery clouds,
Burns far along the tempest-wrinkled deep.
PLATE X.
ACT III. SCENE II.
Behold the Nereids under the green sea,
Their wavering limbs borne on the wind-like stream,
Their white arms lifted o'er their streaming hair,
With garlands pied and starry sea-flower crowns,
Hastening to grace their mighty sister's joy.
PLATE XI.
ACT III. SCENE IV.
A Forest. In the background a Cave. Prometheus, Asia, Panthea, Ione, and the Spirit of the Earth.
ione.
Sister, it is not earthly; how it glides
Under the leaves! how on its head there burns
A light, like a green star, whose emerald beams
Arc twined with its fair hair! how, as it moves,
The splendour drops in flakes upon the grass!
Knowest thou it?
panth ea.
It is the delicate Spirit
That guides the earth through heaven.
the spirit of the earth {running to asia).
Mother! dearest mother!
May I then talk with thee as I was wont ?
May I then hide my eyes in thy soft arms,
After thy looks have made them tired of joy?
May I then play beside thee the long noons,
When work is none in the bright silent air?
asia.
I love thee, gentlest being, and henceforth
Can cherish thee unenvied. Speak, I pray:
Thy simple talk once solaced, now delights.
PLATE XII.
ACT
The pale stars are gone!
For the sun, their swift shepherd,
To their folds them compelling
In the depths of the dawn,
Hastens, in meteor-eclipsing array, and they flee
Beyond his blue dwelling
As fawns flee the leopard.
But where arc ye?
Love, from its awful throne of patient power
In the wise heart—from the last giddy hour
Of dead endurance—from the slippery, steep,
And narrow verge of crag-like agony, springs
And folds over the world its healing wings.
Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom, and Endurance,
These are the seals of that most firm assurance
Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength ;
And if, with infirm hand, Eternity,
Mother of many acts and hours, should free
The serpent that would clasp her with his length,
These are the spells by which to re-assume
An empire o'er the disentangled doom.
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite ;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free :
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory!