{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20003/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20003","id":"gutenberg_20003","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20003","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Gods, Roman -- Fiction","Satire, English"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE INFERNAL MARRIAGE\n\nBy Benjamin Disraeli\n\n_Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. Pluto, the god\nof Hell, became enamoured of her. His addresses were favoured by her\nfather, but opposed by Ceres. Under these circumstances, he surprised\nher on the plains of Enna, and carried her off in his chariot._\n\n\n\n\nTHE INFERNAL MARRIAGE\n\n\n\n\nPART I.\n\n     _A Sublime Elopement_\n\nIT WAS clearly a runaway match--never indeed was such a sublime\nelopement. The four horses were coal-black, with blood-red manes and\ntails; and they were shod with rubies. They were harnessed to a basaltic\ncar by a single rein of flame. Waving his double-pronged trident in the\nair, the god struck the blue breast of Cyane, and the waters instantly\nparted. In rushed the wild chariot, the pale and insensible Proserpine\nclinging to the breast of her grim lover.\n\nThrough the depths of the hitherto unfathomed lake the infernal steeds\nheld their breathless course. The car jolted against its bed. \u2018Save me!\u2019\nexclaimed the future Queen of Hades, and she clung with renewed energy\nto the bosom of the dark bridegroom. The earth opened; they entered the\nkingdom of the gnomes. Here Pluto was popular. The lurid populace gave\nhim a loud shout. The chariot whirled along through shadowy cities and\nby dim highways, swarming with a busy race of shades.\n\n\u2018Ye flowery meads of Enna!\u2019 exclaimed the terrified Proserpine, \u2018shall I\nnever view you again? What an execrable climate!\u2019\n\n\u2018Here, however, in-door nature is charming,\u2019 responded Pluto. \u2018Tis a\ngreat nation of manufacturers. You are better, I hope, my Proserpine.\nThe passage of the water is never very agreeable, especially to ladies.\u2019\n\n\u2018And which is our next stage?\u2019 inquired Proserpine.\n\n\u2018The centre of Earth,\u2019 replied Pluto. \u2018Travelling is so much improved\nthat at this rate we shall reach Hades before night.\u2019\n\n\u2018Alas!\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine, \u2018is not this night?\u2019\n\n\u2018You are not unhappy, my Proserpine?\u2019\n\n\u2018Beloved of my heart, I have given up everything for you! I do not\nrepent, but I am thinking of my mother.\u2019\n\n\u2018Time will pacify the Lady Ceres. What is done cannot be undone. In the\nwinter, when a residence among us is even desirable, I should not be\nsurprised were she to pay us a visit.\u2019\n\n\u2018Her prejudices are so strong,\u2019 murmured the bride. \u2018Oh my Pluto! I hope\nyour family will be kind to me.\u2019\n\n\u2018Who could be unkind to Proserpine? Ours is a very domestic circle. I\ncan assure you that everything is so well ordered among us that I have\nno recollection of a domestic broil.\u2019\n\n\u2018But marriage is such a revolution in a bachelor\u2019s establishment,\u2019\nreplied Proserpine, despondingly. \u2018To tell the truth, too, I am half\nfrightened at the thought of the Furies. I have heard that their tempers\nare so violent.\u2019\n\n\u2018They mean well; their feelings are strong, but their hearts are in the\nright place. I flatter myself you will like my nieces, the Parcae. They\nare accomplished, and favourites among the men.\u2019\n\n\u2018Indeed!\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh! quite irresistible.\u2019\n\n\u2018My heart misgives me. I wish you had at least paid them the compliment\nof apprising them of our marriage.\u2019\n\n\u2018Cheer up. For myself, I have none but pleasant anticipations. I long\nto be at home once more by my own fireside, and patting my faithful\nCerberus.\u2019\n\n\u2018I think I shall like Cerberus; I am fond of dogs.\u2019\n\n\u2018I am sure you will. He is the most faithful creature in the world.\u2019\n\n\u2018Is he very fierce?\u2019\n\n\u2018Not if he takes a fancy to you; and who can help taking a fancy to\nProserpine?\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah! my Pluto, you are in love.\u2019\n\n\u2018Is this Hades?\u2019 inquired Proserpine.\n\nAn avenue of colossal bulls, sculptured in basalt and breathing\nliving flame, led to gates of brass, adorned with friezes of rubies,\nrepresenting the wars and discomfiture of the Titans. A crimson cloud\nconcealed the height of the immense portals, and on either side hovered\no\u2019er the extending walls of the city; a watch-tower or a battlement\noccasionally flashing forth, and forcing their forms through the lurid\nobscurity.\n\n\u2018Queen of Hades! welcome to your capital!\u2019 exclaimed Pluto.\n\nThe monarch rose in his car and whirled a javelin at the gates. There\nwas an awful clang, and then a still more terrible growl.\n\n\u2018My faithful Cerberus!\u2019 exclaimed the King.\n\nThe portals flew open, and revealed the gigantic form of the celebrated\nwatch-dog of Hell. It completely filled their wide expanse. Who but\nPluto could have viewed without horror that enormous body covered with\nshaggy spikes, those frightful paws clothed with claws of steel, that\ntail like a boa constrictor, those fiery eyes that blazed like the\nblood-red lamps in a pharos, and those three forky tongues, round each\nof which were entwined a vigorous family of green rattlesnakes!\n\n\u2018Ah! Cerby! Cerby!\u2019 exclaimed Pluto; \u2018my fond and faithful Cerby!\u2019\n\nProserpine screamed as the animal gambolled up to the side of the\nchariot and held out its paw to its master. Then, licking the royal palm\nwith its three tongues at once, it renewed its station with a wag of its\ntail which raised such a cloud of dust that for a few minutes nothing\nwas perceptible.\n\n\u2018The monster!\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine.\n\n\u2018My love!\u2019 exclaimed Pluto, with astonishment.\n\n\u2018The hideous brute!\u2019\n\n\u2018My dear!\u2019 exclaimed Pluto.\n\n\u2018He shall never touch me.\u2019\n\n\u2018Proserpine!\u2019\n\n\u2018Don\u2019t touch me with that hand. You never shall touch me, if you allow\nthat disgusting animal to lick your hand.\u2019\n\n\u2018I beg to inform you that there are few beings of any kind for whom I\nhave a greater esteem than that faithful and affectionate beast.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh! if you like Cerberus better than me, I have no more to say,\u2019\nexclaimed the bride, bridling up with indignation.\n\n\u2018My Proserpine is perverse,\u2019 replied Pluto; \u2018her memory has scarcely\ndone me justice.\u2019\n\n\u2018I am sure you said you liked Cerberus better than anything in the\nworld,\u2019 continued the goddess, with a voice trembling with passion.\n\n\u2018I said no such thing,\u2019 replied Pluto, somewhat sternly.\n\n\u2018I see how it is,\u2019 replied Proserpine, with a sob; \u2018you are tired of\nme.\u2019\n\n\u2018My beloved!\u2019\n\n\u2018I never expected this.\u2019\n\n\u2018My child!\u2019\n\n\u2018Was it for this I left my mother?\u2019\n\n\u2018Powers of Hades! How you can say such things!\u2019\n\n\u2018Broke her heart?\u2019\n\n\u2018Proserpine! Proserpine!\u2019\n\n\u2018Gave up daylight?\u2019\n\n\u2018For the sake of Heaven, then, calm yourself!\u2019\n\n\u2018Sacrificed everything?\u2019\n\n\u2018My love! my life! my angel! what is all this?\u2019\n\n\u2018And then to be abused for the sake of a dog!\u2019\n\n\u2018By all the shades of Hell, but this is enough to provoke even\nimmortals. What have I done, said, or thought, to justify such\ntreatment?\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh! me!\u2019\n\n\u2018Proserpine!\u2019\n\n\u2018Heigho!\u2019\n\n\u2018Proserpine! Proserpine!\u2019\n\n\u2018So soon is the veil withdrawn!\u2019\n\n\u2018Dearest, you must be unwell. This journey has been too much for you,\u2019\n\n\u2018On our very bridal day to be so treated!\u2019\n\n\u2018Soul of my existence, don\u2019t make me mad. I love you, I adore you; I\nhave no hope, no wish, no thought but you. I swear it; I swear it by\nmy sceptre and my throne. Speak, speak to your Pluto: tell him all your\nwish, all your desire. What would you have me do?\u2019\n\n\u2018Shoot that horrid beast.\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah! me!\u2019\n\n\u2018What, you will not? I thought how it would be. I am Proserpine, your\nbeloved, adored Proserpine. You have no wish, no hope, no thought but\nfor me! I have only to speak, and what I desire will be instantly done!\nAnd I do speak, I tell you my wish, I express to you my desire, and I\nam instantly refused! And what have I requested? Is it such a mighty\nfavour? Is it anything unreasonable? Is there, indeed, in my entreaty\nanything so vastly out of the way? The death of a dog, a disgusting\nanimal, which has already shaken my nerves to pieces; and if ever (here\nshe hid her face in his breast), if ever that event should occur which\nboth must desire, my Pluto, I am sure the very sight of that horrible\nbeast will--I dare not say what it will do.\u2019\n\nPluto looked puzzled.\n\n\u2018Indeed, my Proserpine, it is not in my power to grant your request; for\nCerberus is immortal, like ourselves.\u2019\n\n\u2018Me! miserable!\u2019\n\n\u2018Some arrangement, however, may be made to keep him out of your sight\nand hearing. I can banish him.\u2019\n\n\u2018Can you, indeed? Oh! banish him, my Pluto! pray banish him! I never\nshall be happy until Cerberus is banished.\u2019\n\n\u2018I will do anything you desire; but I confess to you I have some\nmisgivings. He is an invaluable watch-dog; and I fear, without his\nsuperintendence, the guardians of the gate will scarcely do their duty.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh! yes: I am sure they will, my Pluto! I will ask them to, I will ask\nthem myself, I will request them, as a particular and personal favour to\nmyself, to be very careful indeed. And if they do their duty, and I am\nsure they will, they shall be styled, as a reward, \u201cProserpine\u2019s Own\nGuards.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u2018A reward, indeed!\u2019 said the enamoured monarch, as, with a sigh, he\nsigned the order for the banishment of Cerberus in the form of his\npromotion to the office of Master of the royal and imperial bloodhounds.\n\nThe burning waves of Phlegethon assumed a lighter hue. It was morning.\nIt was the morning after the arrival of Pluto and his unexpected bride.\nIn one of the principal rooms of the palace three beautiful females,\nclothed in cerulean robes spangled with stars, and their heads adorned\nwith golden crowns, were at work together. One held a distaff, from\nwhich the second spun; and the third wielded an enormous pair of\nadamantine shears, with which she perpetually severed the labours of her\nsisters. Tall were they in stature and beautiful in form. Very fair;\nan expression of haughty serenity pervaded their majestic countenances.\nTheir three companions, however, though apparently of the same sex, were\nof a different character. If women can ever be ugly, certainly\nthese three ladies might put in a valid claim to that epithet. Their\ncomplexions were dark and withered, and their eyes, though bright, were\nbloodshot. Scantily clothed in black garments, not unstained with gore,\ntheir wan and offensive forms were but slightly veiled. Their hands were\ntalons; their feet cloven; and serpents were wreathed round their brows\ninstead of hair. Their restless and agitated carriage afforded also not\nless striking contrast to the polished and aristocratic demeanour of\ntheir companions. They paced the chamber with hurried and unequal steps,\nand wild and uncouth gestures; waving, with a reckless ferocity, burning\ntorches and whips of scorpions. It is hardly necessary to add that these\nwere the Furies, and that the conversation which I am about to report\nwas carried on with the Fates.\n\n\u2018A thousand serpents!\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone. \u2018I will never believe it.\u2019\n\n\u2018Racks and flames!\u2019 squeaked Megaera. \u2018It is impossible.\u2019\n\n\u2018Eternal torture!\u2019 moaned Alecto. \u2018\u2018Tis a lie.\u2019\n\n\u2018Not Jupiter himself should convince us!\u2019 the Furies joined in infernal\nchorus.\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis nevertheless true,\u2019 calmly observed the beautiful Clotho.\n\n\u2018You will soon have the honour of being presented to her,\u2019 added the\nserene Lachesis.\n\n\u2018And whatever we may feel,\u2019 observed the considerate Atropos, \u2018I think,\nmy dear girls, you had better restrain yourselves.\u2019\n\n\u2018And what sort of thing is she?\u2019 inquired Tisiphone, with a shriek.\n\n\u2018I have heard that she is lovely,\u2019 answered Clotho. \u2018Indeed, it is\nimpossible to account for the affair in any other way.\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis neither possible to account for nor to justify it,\u2019 squeaked\nMegaera.\n\n\u2018Is there, indeed, a Queen in Hell?\u2019 moaned Alecto.\n\n\u2018We shall hold no more drawing-rooms,\u2019 said Lachesis.\n\n\u2018We will never attend hers,\u2019 said the Furies.\n\n\u2018You must,\u2019 replied the Fates.\n\n\u2018I have no doubt she will give herself airs,\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone.\n\n\u2018We must remember where she has been brought up, and be considerate,\u2019\nreplied Lachesis.\n\n\u2018I dare say you three will get on very well with her,\u2019 squeaked Megasra.\n\u2018You always get on well with people.\u2019\n\n\u2018We must remember how very strange things here must appear to her,\u2019\nobserved Atropos.\n\n\u2018No one can deny that there are some very disagreeable sights,\u2019 said\nClotho.\n\n\u2018There is something in that,\u2019 replied Tisiphone, looking in the glass,\nand arranging her serpents; \u2018and for my part, poor girl, I almost pity\nher, when I think she will have to visit the Harpies.\u2019\n\nAt this moment four little pages entered the room, who, without\nexception, were the most hideous dwarfs that ever attended upon a\nmonarch. They were clothed only in parti-coloured tunics, and their\nbreasts and legs were quite bare. From the countenance of the first you\nwould have supposed he was in a convulsion; his hands were clenched\nand his hair stood on end: this was Terror! The protruded veins of the\nsecond seemed ready to burst, and his rubicund visage decidedly proved\nthat he had blood in his head; this was Rage! The third was of an ashen\ncolour throughout: this was Paleness! And the fourth, with a countenance\nnot without traces of beauty, was even more disgusting than his\ncompanions from the quantity of horrible flies, centipedes, snails, and\nother noisome, slimy, and indescribable monstrosities that were crawling\nall about his body and feeding on his decaying features. The name of\nthis fourth page was Death!\n\n\u2018The King and Queen!\u2019 announced the pages.\n\nPluto, during the night, had prepared Proserpine for the worst, and had\nendeavoured to persuade her that his love would ever compensate for\nall annoyances. She was in excellent spirits and in very good humour;\ntherefore, though she could with difficulty stifle a scream when she\nrecognised the Furies, she received the congratulations of the Parcae\nwith much cordiality.\n\n\u2018I have the pleasure, Proserpine, of presenting you to my family,\u2019 said\nPluto.\n\n\u2018Who, I am sure, hope to make Hades agreeable to your Majesty,\u2019 rejoined\nClotho. The Furies uttered a suppressed sound between a murmur and a\ngrowl.\n\n\u2018I have ordered the chariot,\u2019 said Pluto. \u2018I propose to take the Queen a\nride, and show her some of our lions.\u2019\n\n\u2018She will, I am sure, be delighted,\u2019 said Lachesis.\n\n\u2018I long to see Ixion,\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\n\u2018The wretch!\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone.\n\n\u2018I cannot help thinking that he has been very unfairly treated,\u2019 said\nProserpine.\n\n\u2018What!\u2019 squeaked Megaera. \u2018The ravisher!\u2019\n\n\u2018Ay! it is all very well,\u2019 replied Proserpine; \u2018but, for my part, if we\nknew the truth of that affair-----\u2019\n\n\u2018Is it possible that your Majesty can speak in such a tone of levity of\nsuch an offender?\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone.\n\n\u2018Is it possible?\u2019 moaned Alecto.\n\n\u2018Ah! you have heard only one side of the question; but for my part,\nknowing as much of Juno as I do-----\u2019\n\n\u2018The Queen of Heaven!\u2019 observed Atropos, with an intimidating glance.\n\n\u2018The Queen of Fiddlestick!\u2019 said Proserpine; \u2018as great a flirt as ever\nexisted, with all her prudish looks.\u2019\n\nThe Fates and the Furies exchanged glances of astonishment and horror.\n\n\u2018For my part,\u2019 continued Proserpine, \u2018I make it a rule to support the\nweaker side, and nothing will ever persuade me that Ixion is not a\nvictim, and a pitiable one.\u2019\n\n\u2018Well! men generally have the best of it in these affairs,\u2019 said\nLachesis, with a forced smile.\n\n\u2018Juno ought to be ashamed of herself,\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018Had I been in\nher situation, they should have tied me to a wheel first. At any rate,\nthey ought to have punished him in Heaven. I have no idea of those\npeople sending every _mauvais sujet_ to Hell.\u2019\n\n\u2018But what shall we do?\u2019 inquired Pluto, who wished to turn the\nconversation.\n\n\u2018Shall we turn out a sinner and hunt him for her Majesty\u2019s diversion?\u2019\nsuggested Tisiphone, flanking her serpents.\n\n\u2018Nothing of the kind will ever divert me,\u2019 said Proserpine; \u2018for I have\nno hesitation in saying that I do not at all approve of these eternal\npunishments, or, indeed, of any punishment whatever.\u2019\n\n\u2018The heretic!\u2019 whispered Tisiphone to Megaera. Alecto moaned.\n\n\u2018It might be more interesting to her Majesty,\u2019 said Atropos, \u2018to witness\nsome of those extraordinary instances of predestined misery with which\nHades abounds. Shall we visit OEdipus?\u2019\n\n\u2018Poor fellow!\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine. \u2018For myself, I willingly confess\nthat torture disgusts and Destiny puzzles me.\u2019\n\nThe Fates and the Furies all alike started.\n\n\u2018I do not understand this riddle of Destiny,\u2019 continued the young Queen.\n\u2018If you, Parcae, have predestined that a man should commit a crime,\nit appears to me very unjust that you should afterwards call upon the\nFuries to punish him for its commission.\u2019\n\n\u2018But man is a free agent,\u2019 observed Lachesis, in as mild a tone as she\ncould command.\n\n\u2018Then what becomes of Destiny?\u2019 replied Proserpine.\n\n\u2018Destiny is eternal and irresistible,\u2019 replied Clotho. \u2018All is ordained;\nbut man is, nevertheless, master of his own actions.\u2019\n\n\u2018I do not understand that,\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\n\u2018It is not meant to be understood,\u2019 said Atropos; \u2018but you must\nnevertheless believe it.\u2019\n\n\u2018I make it a rule only to believe what I understand,\u2019 replied\nProserpine.\n\n\u2018It appears,\u2019 said Lachesis, with a blended glance of contempt and\nvengeance, \u2018that your Majesty, though a goddess, is an atheist.\u2019\n\n\u2018As for that, anybody may call me just what they please, provided they\ndo nothing else. So long as I am not tied to a wheel or whipped with\nscorpions for speaking my mind, I shall be as tolerant of the speech and\nacts of others as I expect them to be tolerant of mine. Come, Pluto, I\nam sure that the chariot must be ready!\u2019\n\nSo saying, her Majesty took the arm of her spouse, and with a haughty\ncurtsey left the apartment.\n\n\u2018Did you ever!\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone, as the door closed.\n\n\u2018No! never!\u2019 squeaked Megaera.\n\n\u2018Never! never!\u2019 moaned Alecto.\n\n\u2018She must understand what she believes, must she?\u2019 said Lachesis,\nscarcely less irritated.\n\n\u2018I never heard such nonsense,\u2019 said Clotho.\n\n\u2018What next!\u2019 said Atropos.\n\n\u2018Disgusted with torture!\u2019 exclaimed the Furies.\n\n\u2018Puzzled with Destiny!\u2019 said the Fates.\n\nIt was the third morning after the Infernal Marriage; the slumbering\nProserpine reposed in the arms of the snoring Pluto. There was a loud\nknocking at the chamber-door. Pluto jumped up in the middle of a dream.\n\n\u2018My life, what is the matter?\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine.\n\nThe knocking was repeated and increased. There was also a loud shout of\n\u2018treason, murder, and fire!\u2019\n\n\u2018What is the matter?\u2019 exclaimed the god, jumping out of bed and seizing\nhis trident. \u2018Who is there?\u2019\n\n\u2018Your pages, your faithful pages! Treason! treason! For the sake of\nHell, open the door. Murder, fire, treason!\u2019\n\n\u2018Enter!\u2019 said Pluto, as the door was unlocked.\n\nAnd Terror and Rage entered.\n\n\u2018You frightful things, get out of the room!\u2019 cried Proserpine.\n\n\u2018A moment, my angel!\u2019 said Pluto, \u2018a single moment. Be not alarmed, my\nbest love; I pray you be not alarmed. Well, imps, why am I disturbed?\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh!\u2019 said Terror. Rage could not speak, but gnashed his teeth and\nstamped his feet.\n\n\u2018O-o-o-h!\u2019 repeated Terror.\n\n\u2018Speak, cursed imps!\u2019 cried the enraged Pluto; and he raised his arm.\n\n\u2018A man! a man!\u2019 cried Terror. \u2018Treason, treason! a man! a man!\u2019\n\n\u2018What man?\u2019 said Pluto, in a rage.\n\n\u2018A man, a live man, has entered Hell!\u2019\n\n\u2018You don\u2019t say so?\u2019 said Proserpine; \u2018a man, a live man. Let me see him\nimmediately.\u2019\n\n\u2018Where is he?\u2019 said Pluto; \u2018what is he doing?\u2019\n\n\u2018He is here, there, and everywhere! asking for your wife, and singing\nlike anything.\u2019\n\n\u2018Proserpine!\u2019 said Pluto, reproachfully; but, to do the god justice, he\nwas more astounded than jealous.\n\n\u2018I am sure I shall be delighted to see him; it is so long since I have\nseen a live man,\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018Who can he be? A man, and a live\nman! How delightful! It must be a messenger from my mother.\u2019\n\n\u2018But how came he here?\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah! how came he here?\u2019 echoed Terror.\n\n\u2018No time must be lost!\u2019 exclaimed Pluto, scrambling on his robe. \u2018Seize\nhim, and bring him into the council chamber. My charming Proserpine,\nexcuse me for a moment.\u2019\n\n\u2018Not at all; I will accompany you.\u2019\n\n\u2018But, my love, my sweetest, my own, this is business; these are affairs\nof state. The council chamber is not a place for you.\u2019\n\n\u2018And why not?\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018I have no idea of ever leaving you for\na moment. Why not for me as well as for the Fates and the Furies? Am I\nnot Queen? I have no idea of such nonsense!\u2019\n\n\u2018My love!\u2019 said the deprecating husband.\n\n\u2018You don\u2019t go without me,\u2019 said the imperious wife, seizing his robe.\n\n\u2018I must,\u2019 said Pluto.\n\n\u2018Then you shall never return,\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\n\u2018Enchantress! be reasonable.\u2019\n\n\u2018I never was, and I never will be,\u2019 replied the Goddess.\n\n\u2018Treason! treason!\u2019 screamed Terror.\n\n\u2018My love, I must go!\u2019\n\n\u2018Pluto,\u2019 said Proserpine, \u2018understand me once for all, I will not be\ncontradicted.\u2019\n\nRage stamped his foot.\n\n\u2018Proserpine, understand me once for all, it is impossible,\u2019 said the\nGod, frowning.\n\n\u2018My Pluto!\u2019 said the Queen. \u2018Is it my Pluto who speaks thus sternly to\nme? Is it he who, but an hour ago, a short hour ago, died upon my bosom\nin transports and stifled me with kisses! Unhappy woman! wretched,\nmiserable Proserpine! Oh! my mother! my kind, my affectionate mother!\nHave I disobeyed you for this! For this have I deserted you! For this\nhave I broken your beloved heart!\u2019 She buried her face in the crimson\ncounterpane, and bedewed its gorgeous embroidery with her fast-flowing\ntears.\n\n\u2018Treason!\u2019 shouted Terror.\n\n\u2018Ha! ha! ha!\u2019 exclaimed the hysterical Proserpine.\n\n\u2018What am I to do?\u2019 cried Pluto. \u2018Proserpine, my adored, my beloved, my\nenchanting Proserpine, compose yourself; for my sake, compose yourself.\nI love you! I adore you! You know it! oh! indeed you know it!\u2019\n\nThe hysterics increased.\n\n\u2018Treason! treason!\u2019 shouted Terror.\n\n\u2018Hold your infernal tongue,\u2019 said Pluto. \u2018What do I care for treason\nwhen the Queen is in this state?\u2019 He knelt by the bedside, and tried to\nstop her mouth with kisses, and ever and anon whispered his passion. \u2018My\nProserpine, I beseech you to be calm; I will do anything you like. Come,\ncome, then, to the council!\u2019\n\nThe hysterics ceased; the Queen clasped him in her arms and rewarded him\nwith a thousand embraces. Then, jumping up, she bathed her swollen eyes\nwith a beautiful cosmetic that she and her maidens had distilled from\nthe flowers of Enna; and, wrapping herself up in her shawl, descended\nwith his Majesty, who was quite as much puzzled about the cause of this\ndisturbance as when he was first roused.\n\nCrossing an immense covered bridge, the origin of the Bridge of Sighs at\nVenice, over the royal gardens, which consisted entirely of cypress,\nthe royal pair, preceded by the pages-in-waiting, entered the council\nchamber. The council was already assembled. On either side of a throne\nof sulphur, from which issued the four infernal rivers of Lethe,\nPhlegethon, Cocytus, and Acheron, were ranged the Eumenides and Parcae.\nLachesis and her sisters turned up their noses when they observed\nProserpine; but the Eumenides could not stifle their fury, in spite of\nthe hints of their more subdued but not less malignant companions.\n\n\u2018What is all this?\u2019 inquired Pluto.\n\n\u2018The constitution is in danger,\u2019 said the Parcae in chorus.\n\n\u2018Both in church and state,\u2019 added the Furies. \u2018\u2018Tis a case of treason\nand blasphemy;\u2019 and they waved their torches and shook their whips with\ndelighted anticipation of their use.\n\n\u2018Detail the circumstances,\u2019 said Pluto, waving his hand majestically to\nLachesis, in whose good sense he had great confidence.\n\n\u2018A man, a living man, has entered your kingdom, unknown and unnoticed,\u2019\nsaid Lachesis.\n\n\u2018By my sceptre, is it true?\u2019 said the astonished King. \u2018Is he seized?\u2019\n\n\u2018The extraordinary mortal baffles our efforts,\u2019 said Lachesis. \u2018He\nbears with him a lyre, the charmed gift of Apollo, and so seducing are\nhis strains that in vain our guards advance to arrest his course; they\nimmediately begin dancing, and he easily eludes their efforts. The\ngeneral confusion is indescribable. All business is at a standstill:\nIxion rests upon his wheel; old Sisyphus sits down on his mountain,\nand his stone has fallen with a terrible plash into Acheron. In short,\nunless we are energetic, we are on the eve of a revolution.\u2019\n\n\u2018His purpose?\u2019\n\n\u2018He seeks yourself and--her Majesty,\u2019 added Lachesis, with a sneer.\n\n\u2018Immediately announce that we will receive him.\u2019\n\nThe unexpected guest was not slow in acknowledging the royal summons.\nA hasty treaty was drawn up; he was to enter the palace unmolested,\non condition that he ceased playing his lyre. The Fates and the Furies\nexchanged significant glances as his approach was announced.\n\nThe man, the live man, who had committed the unprecedented crime of\nentering Hell without a licence, and the previous deposit of his soul as\nsecurity for the good behaviour of his body, stood before the surprised\nand indignant Court of Hades. Tall and graceful in stature, and crowned\nwith laurels, Proserpine was glad to observe that the man, who was\nevidently famous, was also good-looking.\n\n\u2018Thy purpose, mortal?\u2019 inquired Pluto, with awful majesty.\n\n\u2018Mercy!\u2019 answered the stranger in a voice of exquisite melody, and\nsufficiently embarrassed to render him interesting.\n\n\u2018What is mercy?\u2019 inquired the Fates and the Furies.\n\n\u2018Speak, stranger, without fear,\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018Thy name?\u2019\n\n\u2018Is Orpheus; but a few days back the too happy husband of the enchanting\nEurydice. Alas! dread King, and thou too, beautiful and benignant\npartner of his throne, I won her by my lyre, and by my lyre I would\nredeem her. Know, then, that in the very glow of our gratified passion\na serpent crept under the flowers on which we reposed, and by a fatal\nsting summoned my adored to the shades. Why did it not also summon me?\nI will not say why should I not have been the victim in her stead; for\nI feel too keenly that the doom of Eurydice would not have been less\nforlorn, had she been the wretched being who had been spared to life. O\nKing! they whispered on earth that thou too hadst yielded thy heart to\nthe charms of love. Pluto, they whispered, is no longer stern: Pluto\nalso feels the all-subduing influence of beauty. Dread monarch, by the\nself-same passion that rages in our breasts alike, I implore thy mercy.\nThou hast risen from the couch of love, the arm of thy adored has\npressed upon thy heart, her honied lips have clung with rapture\nto thine, still echo in thy ears all the enchanting phrases of her\nidolatry. Then, by the memory of these, by all the higher and ineffable\njoys to which these lead, King of Hades, spare me, oh! spare me,\nEurydice!\u2019\n\nProserpine threw her arms round the neck of her husband, and, hiding her\nface in his breast, wept.\n\n\u2018Rash mortal, you demand that which is not in the power of Pluto to\nconcede,\u2019 said Lachesis.\n\n\u2018I have heard much of treason since my entrance into Hades,\u2019 replied\nOrpheus, \u2018and this sounds like it.\u2019\n\n\u2018Mortal!\u2019 exclaimed Clotho, with contempt.\n\n\u2018Nor is it in your power to return, sir,\u2019 said Tisiphone, shaking her\nwhip.\n\n\u2018We have accounts to settle with you,\u2019 said Megaera.\n\n\u2018Spare her, spare her,\u2019 murmured Proserpine to her lover.\n\n\u2018King of Hades!\u2019 said Lachesis, with much dignity, \u2018I hold a\nresponsible office in your realm, and I claim the constitutional\nprivilege of your attention. I protest against the undue influence\nof the Queen. She is a power unknown in our constitution, and an\nirresponsible agent that I will not recognise. Let her go back to the\ndrawing-room, where all will bow to her.\u2019\n\n\u2018Hag!\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine. \u2018King of Hades, I, too, can appeal to you.\nHave I accepted your crown to be insulted by your subjects?\u2019\n\n\u2018A subject, may it please your Majesty, who has duties as strictly\ndefined by our infernal constitution as those of your royal spouse;\nduties, too, which, let me tell you, madam, I and _my order_ are\nresolved to perform.\u2019\n\n\u2018Gods of Olympus!\u2019 cried Proserpine. \u2018Is this to be a Queen?\u2019\n\n\u2018Before we proceed further in this discussion,\u2019 said Lachesis, \u2018I must\nmove an inquiry into the conduct of his Excellency the Governor of the\nGates. I move, then, that Cerberus be summoned.\n\nPluto started, and the blood rose to his dark cheek. \u2018I have not yet had\nan opportunity of mentioning,\u2019 said his Majesty, in a low tone, and with\nan air of considerable confusion, \u2018that I have thought fit, as a reward\nfor his past services, to promote Cerberus to the office of the Master\nof the Hounds. He therefore is no longer responsible.\u2019\n\n\u2018O-h!\u2019 shrieked the Furies, as they elevated their hideous eyes.\n\n\u2018The constitution has invested your Majesty with a power in the\nappointment of your Officers of State which your Majesty has undoubtedly\na right to exercise,\u2019 said Lachesis. \u2018What degree of discretion it\nanticipated in the exercise, it is now unnecessary, and would be\nextremely disagreeable, to discuss. I shall not venture to inquire by\nwhat new influence your Majesty has been guided in the present instance.\nThe consequence of your Majesty\u2019s conduct is obvious, in the very\ndifficult situation in which your realm is now placed. For myself and my\ncolleagues, I have only to observe that we decline, under this crisis,\nany further responsibility; and the distaff and the shears are at your\nMajesty\u2019s service the moment your Majesty may find convenient successors\nto the present holders. As a last favour, in addition to the many we are\nproud to remember we have received from your Majesty, we entreat that we\nmay be relieved from their burthen as quickly as possible.\u2019 (Loud cheers\nfrom the Eumenides.)\n\n\u2018We had better recall Cerberus,\u2019 said Pluto, alarmed, \u2018and send this\nmortal about his business.\u2019\n\n\u2018Not without Eurydice. Oh! not without Eurydice,\u2019 said the Queen.\n\n\u2018Silence, Proserpine!\u2019 said Pluto.\n\n\u2018May it please your Majesty,\u2019 said Lachesis, \u2018I am doubtful whether we\nhave the power of expelling anyone from Hades. It is not less the law\nthat a mortal cannot remain here; and it is too notorious for me to\nmention the fact that none here have the power of inflicting death.\u2019\n\n\u2018Of what use are all your laws,\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine, \u2018if they are only\nto perplex us? As there are no statutes to guide us, it is obvious that\nthe King\u2019s will is supreme. Let Orpheus depart, then, with his bride.\u2019\n\n\u2018The latter suggestion is clearly illegal,\u2019 said Lachesis.\n\n\u2018Lachesis, and ye, her sisters,\u2019 said Proserpine, \u2018forget, I beseech\nyou, any warm words that may have passed between us, and, as a personal\nfavour to one who would willingly be your friend, release Eurydice.\nWhat! you shake your heads! Nay; of what importance can be a single\nmiserable shade, and one, too, summoned so cruelly before her time, in\nthese thickly-peopled regions?\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis the principle,\u2019 said Lachesis; \u2018\u2018tis the principle. Concession is\never fatal, however slight. Grant this demand; others, and greater, will\nquickly follow. Mercy becomes a precedent, and the realm is ruined.\u2019\n\n\u2018Ruined!\u2019 echoed the Furies.\n\n\u2018And I say _preserved!_\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine with energy. \u2018The State is\nin confusion, and you yourselves confess that you know not how to remedy\nit. Unable to suggest a course, follow mine. I am the advocate of\nmercy; I am the advocate of concession; and, as you despise all higher\nimpulses, I meet you on your own grounds. I am their advocate for the\nsake of policy, of expediency.\u2019\n\n\u2018Never!\u2019 said the Fates.\n\n\u2018Never!\u2019 shrieked the Furies.\n\n\u2018What, then, will you do with Orpheus?\u2019\n\nThe Parcae shook their heads; even the Eumenides were silent.\n\n\u2018Then you are unable to carry on the King\u2019s government; for Orpheus must\nbe disposed of; all agree to that. Pluto, reject these counsellors, at\nonce insulting and incapable. Give me the distaff and the fatal shears.\nAt once form a new Cabinet; and let the release of Orpheus and Eurydice\nbe the basis of their policy.\u2019 She threw her arms round his neck and\nwhispered in his ear.\n\nPluto was perplexed; his confidence in the Parcae was shaken. A\ndifficulty had occurred with which they could not cope. It was true the\ndifficulty had been occasioned by a departure from their own exclusive\nand restrictive policy. It was clear that the gates of Hell ought never\nto have been opened to the stranger; but opened they had been. Forced to\ndecide, he decided on the side of _expediency_, and signed a decree for\nthe departure of Orpheus and Eurydice. The Parcas immediately resigned\ntheir posts, and the Furies walked off in a huff. Thus, on the third day\nof the Infernal Marriage, Pluto found that he had quarrelled with all\nhis family, and that his ancient administration was broken up. The King\nwas without a friend, and Hell was without a Government!\n\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\n     _A Visit to Elysium_\n\nLET us change the scene from Hades to Olympus.\n\nA chariot drawn by dragons hovered over that superb palace whose\nsparkling steps of lapislazuli were once pressed by the daring foot of\nIxion. It descended into the beautiful gardens, and Ceres, stepping out,\nsought the presence of Jove.\n\n\u2018Father of gods and men,\u2019 said the majestic mother of Proserpine,\n\u2018listen to a distracted parent! All my hopes were centred in my\ndaughter, the daughter of whom you have deprived me. Is it for this that\nI endured the pangs of childbirth? Is it for this that I suckled her\non this miserable bosom? Is it for this that I tended her girlish\ninnocence, watched with vigilant fondness the development of her\nyouthful mind, and cultured with a thousand graces and accomplishments\nher gifted and unrivalled promise? to lose her for ever!\u2019\n\n\u2018Beloved Bona Dea,\u2019 replied Jove, \u2018calm yourself!\u2019\n\n\u2018Jupiter, you forget that I am a mother.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is the recollection of that happy circumstance that alone should\nmake you satisfied.\u2019\n\n\u2018Do you mock me? Where is my daughter?\u2019\n\n\u2018In the very situation you should desire. In her destiny all is\nfulfilled which the most affectionate mother could hope. What was the\nobject of all your care and all her accomplishments? a good parti; and\nshe has found one.\u2019\n\n\u2018To reign in Hell!\u2019\n\n\u2018\u201cBetter to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.\u201d What! would you have\nhad her a cup-bearer, like Hebe, or a messenger, like Hermes? Was\nthe daughter of Jove and Ceres to be destined to a mere place in our\nhousehold! Lady! she is the object of envy to half the goddesses. Bating\nour own bed, which she could not share, what lot more distinguished than\nhers? Recollect that goddesses, who desire a becoming match, have a\nvery limited circle to elect from. Even Venus was obliged to put up with\nVulcan. It will not do to be too nice. Thank your stars that she is not\nan old maid like Minerva.\u2019\n\n\u2018But Mars? he loved her.\u2019\n\n\u2018A young officer only with his half-pay, however good his connections,\nis surely not a proper mate for our daughter.\u2019\n\n\u2018Apollo?\u2019\n\n\u2018I have no opinion of a literary son-in-law. These scribblers are at\npresent the fashion, and are very well to ask to dinner; but I confess a\nmore intimate connection with them is not at all to my taste.\u2019\n\n\u2018I meet Apollo everywhere.\u2019\n\n\u2018The truth is, he is courted because every one is afraid of him. He is\nthe editor of a daily journal, and under the pretence of throwing light\nupon every subject, brings a great many disagreeable things into notice,\nwhich is excessively inconvenient. Nobody likes to be paragraphed; and\nfor my part I should only be too happy to extinguish the Sun and every\nother newspaper were it only in my power.\u2019\n\n\u2018But Pluto is so old, and so ugly, and, all agree, so ill-tempered.\u2019\n\n\u2018He has a splendid income, a magnificent estate; his settlements are\nworthy of his means. This ought to satisfy a mother; and his political\ninfluence is necessary to me, and this satisfies a father.\u2019\n\n\u2018But the heart-----\u2019\n\n\u2018As for that, she fancies she loves him; and whether she do or not,\nthese feelings, we know, never last. Rest assured, my dear Ceres, that\nour girl has made a brilliant match, in spite of the gloomy atmosphere\nin which she has to reside.\u2019\n\n\u2018It must end in misery. I know Proserpine. I confess it with tears, she\nis a spoiled child.\u2019\n\n\u2018This may occasion Pluto many uneasy moments; but that is nothing to you\nor me. Between ourselves, I shall not be at all surprised if she plague\nhis life out.\u2019\n\n\u2018But how can she consort with the Fates? How is it possible for her\nto associate with the Furies? She, who is used to the gayest and most\namiable society in the world? Indeed, indeed, \u2018tis an ill-assorted\nunion!\u2019\n\n\u2018They are united, however; and, take my word for it, my dear madam, that\nyou had better leave Pluto alone. The interference of a mother-in-law is\nproverbially never very felicitous.\u2019\n\nIn the meantime affairs went on swimmingly in Tartarus. The obstinate\nFates and the sulky Furies were unwittingly the cause of universal\nsatisfaction. Everyone enjoyed himself, and enjoyment when it is\nunexpected is doubly satisfactory. Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Ixion, for\nthe first time during their punishment, had an opportunity for a little\nconversation.\n\n\u2018Long live our reforming Queen,\u2019 said the ex-king of Lydia. \u2018You\ncannot conceive, my dear companions, anything more delightful than this\nlong-coveted draught of cold water; its flavour far surpasses the memory\nof my choicest wines. And as for this delicious fruit, one must live\nin a hot climate, like our present one, sufficiently to appreciate\nits refreshing gust. I would, my dear friends, you could only share my\nbanquet.\u2019\n\n\u2018Your Majesty is very kind,\u2019 replied Sisyphus, \u2018but it seems to me that\nnothing in the world will ever induce me again to move. One must have\ntoiled for ages to comprehend the rapturous sense of repose that now\npervades my exhausted frame. Is it possible that that damned stone can\nreally have disappeared?\u2019\n\n\u2018You say truly,\u2019 said Ixion, \u2018the couches of Olympus cannot compare with\nthis resting wheel.\u2019\n\n\u2018Noble Sisyphus,\u2019 rejoined Tantalus, \u2018we are both of us acquainted with\nthe cause of our companion\u2019s presence in those infernal regions, since\nhis daring exploit has had the good fortune of being celebrated by one\nof the fashionable authors of this part of the world.\u2019\n\n\u2018I have never had time to read his work,\u2019 interrupted Ixion. \u2018What sort\nof a fellow is he?\u2019\n\n\u2018One of the most conceited dogs that I ever met with,\u2019 replied the King.\n\u2018He thinks he is a great genius, and perhaps he has some little talent\nfor the extravagant.\u2019\n\n\u2018Are there any critics in Hell?\u2019\n\n\u2018Myriads. They abound about the marshes of Cocytus, where they croak\nfuriously. They are all to a man against our author.\u2019\n\n\u2018That speaks more to his credit than his own self-opinion,\u2019 rejoined\nIxion.\n\n\u2018_A nous moutons!_\u2019 exclaimed Tantalus; \u2018I was about to observe that\nI am curious to learn for what reason our friend Sisyphus was doomed to\nhis late terrible exertions.\u2019\n\n\u2018For the simplest in the world,\u2019 replied the object of the inquiry;\n\u2018because I was not a hypocrite. No one ever led a pleasanter life than\nmyself, and no one was more popular in society. I was considered, as\nthey phrased it, the most long-headed prince of my time, and was in\ntruth a finished man of the world. I had not an acquaintance whom I had\nnot taken in, and gods and men alike favoured me. In an unlucky moment,\nhowever, I offended the infernal deities, and it was then suddenly\ndiscovered that I was the most abandoned character of my age. You know\nthe rest.\u2019\n\n\u2018You seem,\u2019 exclaimed Tantalus, \u2018to be relating my own history; for I\nmyself led a reckless career with impunity, until some of the gods did\nme the honour of dining with me, and were dissatisfied with the repast.\nI am convinced myself that, provided a man frequent the temples, and\nobserve with strictness the sacred festivals, such is the force of\npublic opinion, that there is no crime which he may not commit without\nhazard.\u2019\n\n\u2018Long live hypocrisy!\u2019 exclaimed Ixion. \u2018It is not my forte. But if I\nbegan life anew, I would be more observant in my sacrifices.\u2019\n\n\u2018Who could have anticipated this wonderful revolution!\u2019 exclaimed\nSisyphus, stretching himself. \u2018I wonder what will occur next! Perhaps we\nshall be all released.\u2019\n\n\u2018You say truly,\u2019 said Ixion. \u2018I am grateful to our reforming Queen;\nbut I have no idea of stopping here. This cursed wheel indeed no longer\nwhirls; but I confess my expectations will be much disappointed if I\ncannot free myself from these adamantine bonds that fix me to its orb.\u2019\n\n\u2018And one cannot drink water for ever,\u2019 said Tantalus.\n\n\u2018D--n all half measures,\u2019 said Ixion. \u2018We must proceed in this system of\namelioration.\u2019\n\n\u2018Without doubt,\u2019 responded his companion.\n\n\u2018The Queen must have a party,\u2019 continued the audacious lover of Juno.\n\u2018The Fates and the Furies never can be conciliated. It is evident to me\nthat she must fall unless she unbinds these chains of mine.\u2019\n\n\u2018And grants me full liberty of egress and regress,\u2019 exclaimed Sisyphus.\n\n\u2018And me a bottle of the finest golden wine of Lydia,\u2019 said Tantalus.\n\nThe infernal honeymoon was over. A cloud appeared in the hitherto serene\nheaven of the royal lovers. Proserpine became unwell. A mysterious\nlanguor pervaded her frame; her accustomed hilarity deserted her. She\ngave up her daily rides; she never quitted the palace, scarcely her\nchamber. All day long she remained lying on a sofa, and whenever Pluto\nendeavoured to console her she went into hysterics. His Majesty was\nquite miserable, and the Fates and the Furies began to hold up their\nheads. The two court physicians could throw no light upon the complaint,\nwhich baffled all their remedies. These, indeed, were not numerous,\nfor the two physicians possessed each only one idea. With one every\ncomplaint was nervous; the other traced everything to the liver. The\nname of the first was Dr. Blue-Devil; and of the other Dr. Blue-Pill.\nThey were most eminent men.\n\nHer Majesty, getting worse every day, Pluto, in despair, determined to\nsend for AEsculapius. It was a long way to send for a physician; but then\nhe was the most fashionable one in the world. He cared not how far he\ntravelled to visit a patient, because he was paid by the mile; and it\nwas calculated that his fee for quitting earth, and attending the Queen\nof Hell, would allow him to leave off business.\n\nWhat a wise physician was AEsculapius! Physic was his abhorrence. He\nnever was known, in the whole course of his practice, ever to have\nprescribed a single drug. He was a handsome man, with a flowing beard\ncuriously perfumed, and a robe of the choicest purple. He twirled a cane\nof agate, round which was twined a serpent of precious stones, the gift\nof Juno, and he rode in a chariot drawn by horses of the Sun. When he\nvisited Proserpine, he neither examined her tongue nor felt her pulse,\nbut gave her an account of a fancy ball which he had attended the last\nevening he passed on _terra firma_. His details were so interesting that\nthe Queen soon felt better. The next day he renewed his visit, and gave\nher an account of a new singer that had appeared at Ephesus. The effect\nof this recital was so satisfactory, that a bulletin in the evening\nannounced that the Queen was convalescent. The third day AEsculapius\ntook his departure, having previously enjoined change of scene for her\nMajesty, and a visit to the Elysian Fields!\n\n\u2018Heh, heh!\u2019 shrieked Tisiphone.\n\n\u2018Hah, hah!\u2019 squeaked Megaera.\n\n\u2018Hoh, hoh!\u2019 moaned Alecto.\n\n\u2018Now or never,\u2019 said the infernal sisters. \u2018There is a decided reaction.\nThe moment she embarks, unquestionably we will flare up.\u2019 So they ran\noff to the Fates.\n\n\u2018We must be prudent,\u2019 said Clotho.\n\n\u2018Our time is not come,\u2019 remarked Lachesis.\n\n\u2018I wish the reaction was more decided,\u2019 said Atropos; \u2018but it is a\ngreat thing that they are going to be parted, for the King must remain.\u2019\n\nThe opposition party, although aiming at the same result, was therefore\nevidently divided as to the means by which it was to be obtained. The\nsanguine Furies were for fighting it out at once, and talked bravely\nof the strong conservative spirit only dormant in Tartarus. Even the\nRadicals themselves are dissatisfied: Tantalus is no longer contented\nwith water, or Ixion with repose. But the circumspect Fates felt that a\nfalse step at present could never be regained. They talked, therefore,\nof watching events. Both divisions, however, agreed that the royal\nembarkation was to be the signal for renewed intrigues and renovated\nexertions.\n\nWhen Proserpine was assured that she must be parted for a time from\nPluto, she was inconsolable. They passed the night in sorrowful\nembraces. She vowed that she could not live a day without him, and that\nshe certainly should die before she reached the first post. The mighty\nheart of the King of Hades was torn to pieces with contending emotions.\nIn the agony of his overwhelming passion the security of his realm\nseemed of secondary importance compared with the happiness of his wife.\nFear and hatred of the Parcae and the Eumenides equalled, however,\nin the breast of Proserpine, her affection for her husband. The\nconsciousness that his absence would be a signal for a revolution, and\nthat the crown of Tartarus might be lost to her expected offspring,\nanimated her with a spirit of heroism. She reconciled herself to the\nterrible separation, on condition that Pluto wrote to her every day.\n\n\u2018Adieu! my best, my only beloved!\u2019 ejaculated the unhappy Queen; \u2018do not\nforget me for a moment; and let nothing in the world induce you to speak\nto any of those horrid people. I know them; I know exactly what they\nwill be at: the moment I am gone they will commence their intrigues for\nthe restoration of the reign of doom and torture. Do not listen to them,\nmy Pluto. Sooner than have recourse to them, seek assistance from their\nformer victims.\u2019\n\n\u2018Calm yourself, my Proserpine. Anticipate no evil. I shall be firm; do\nnot doubt me. I will cling with tenacity to that _juste milieu_ under\nwhich we have hitherto so eminently prospered. Neither the Parcae and the\nEumenides, nor Ixion and his friends, shall advance a point. I will keep\neach faction in awe by the bugbear of the other\u2019s supremacy. Trust me, I\nam a profound politician.\u2019\n\nIt was determined that the progress of Proserpine to the Elysian Fields\nshould be celebrated with a pomp and magnificence becoming her exalted\nstation. The day of her departure was proclaimed as a high festival in\nHell. Tiresias, absent on a secret mission, had been summoned back by\nPluto, and appointed to attend her Majesty during her journey and her\nvisit, for Pluto had the greatest confidence in his discretion. Besides,\nas her Majesty had not at present the advantage of any female society,\nit was necessary that she should be amused; and Tiresias, though\nold, ugly, and blind, was a wit as well as a philosopher, the most\ndistinguished diplomatist of his age, and considered the best company in\nHades.\n\nAn immense crowd was assembled round the gates of the palace on the morn\nof the royal departure. With what anxious curiosity did they watch those\nhuge brazen portals! Every precaution was taken for the accommodation of\nthe public. The streets were lined with troops of extraordinary stature,\nwhose nodding plumes prevented the multitude from catching a glimpse of\nanything that passed, and who cracked the skulls of the populace with\ntheir scimitars if they attempted in the slightest degree to break the\nline. Moreover, there were seats erected which any one might occupy at\na reasonable rate; but the lord steward, who had the disposal of the\ntickets, purchased them all for himself, and then resold them to his\nfellow-subjects at an enormous price.\n\nAt length the hinges of the gigantic portals gave an ominous creak,\nand, amid the huzzas of men and the shrieks of women, the procession\ncommenced.\n\nFirst came the infernal band. It consisted of five hundred performers,\nmounted on different animals. Never was such a melodious blast. Fifty\ntrumpeters, mounted on zebras of all possible stripes and tints, and\nworking away at huge ramshorns with their cheeks like pumpkins. Then\nthere were bassoons mounted on bears, clarionets on camelopards, oboes\non unicorns, and troops of musicians on elephants, playing on real\nserpents, whose prismatic bodies indulged in the most extraordinary\nconvolutions imaginable, and whose arrowy tongues glittered with superb\nagitation at the exquisite sounds which they unintentionally delivered.\nAnimals there were, too, now unknown and forgotten; but I must not\nforget the fellow who beat the kettledrums, mounted on an enormous\nmammoth, and the din of whose reverberating blows would have deadened\nthe thunder of Olympus.\n\nThis enchanting harmony preceded the regiment of Proserpine\u2019s own\nguards, glowing in adamantine armour and mounted on coal-black steeds.\nTheir helmets were quite awful, and surmounted by plumes plucked from\nthe wings of the Harpies, which were alone enough to terrify an earthly\nhost. It was droll to observe this troop of gigantic heroes commanded\nby infants, who, however, were arrayed in a similar costume, though, of\ncourse, on a smaller scale. But such was the admirable discipline of the\ninfernal forces, that, though lions to their enemies, they were Iambs to\ntheir friends; and on the present occasion their colonel was carried in\na cradle.\n\nAfter these came twelve most worshipful baboons, in most venerable wigs.\nThey were clothed with scarlet robes lined with ermine, and ornamented\nwith gold chains, and mounted on the most obstinate and inflexible mules\nin Tartarus. These were the judges. Each was provided with a pannier of\nchoice cobnuts, which he cracked with great gravity, throwing the shells\nto the multitude, an infernal ceremony, there held emblematic of their\nprofession.\n\nThe Lord Chancellor came next in a grand car. Although his wig was even\nlonger than those of his fellow functionaries, his manners and the rest\nof his costume afforded a strange contrast to them. Apparently never\nwas such a droll, lively fellow. His dress was something between that of\nHarlequin and Scaramouch. He amused himself by keeping in the air\nfour brazen balls at the same time, swallowing daggers, spitting fire,\nturning sugar into salt, and eating yards of pink ribbon, which, after\nbeing well digested, re-appeared through his nose. It is unnecessary to\nadd, after this, that he was the most popular Lord Chancellor that had\never held the seals, and was received with loud and enthusiastic cheers,\nwhich apparently repaid him for all his exertions. Notwithstanding his\nnumerous and curious occupations, I should not omit to add that his\nLordship, nevertheless, found time to lead by the nose a most meek and\nmilk-white jackass that immediately followed him, and which, in spite\nof the remarkable length of its ears, seemed the object of great\nveneration. There was evidently some mystery about this animal difficult\nto penetrate. Among other characteristics, it was said, at different\nseasons, to be distinguished by different titles; for sometimes it was\nstyled \u2018The Public,\u2019 at others \u2018Opinion,\u2019 and occasionally was saluted\nas the \u2018King\u2019s Conscience.\u2019\n\nNow came a numerous company of Priests, in flowing and funereal robes,\nbearing banners, inscribed with the various titles of their Queen; on\nsome was inscribed Hecate, on others Juno Inferna, on others Theogamia,\nLibera on some, on others Cotytto. Those that bore banners were crowned\nwith wreaths of narcissus, and mounted on bulls blacker than night, and\nof a severe and melancholy aspect. Others walked by their side, bearing\nbranches of cypress.\n\nAnd here I must stop to notice a droll characteristic of the priestly\neconomy of Hades. To be a good pedestrian was considered an essential\nvirtue of an infernal clergyman; but to be mounted on a black bull was\nthe highest distinction of the craft. It followed, therefore, that,\noriginally, promotion to such a seat was the natural reward of any\npriest who had distinguished himself in the humbler career of a good\nwalker; but in process of time, as even infernal as well as human\ninstitutions are alike liable to corruption, the black bulls became\ntoo often occupied by the halt and the crippled, the feeble and the\nparalytic, who used their influence at Court to become thus exempted\nfrom the performance of the severer duties of which they were incapable.\nThis violation of the priestly constitution excited at first great\nmurmurs among the abler but less influential brethren. But the murmurs\nof the weak prove only the tyranny of the strong; and so completely in\nthe course of time do institutions depart from their original character,\nthat the imbecile riders of the black bulls now avowedly defended their\nposition on the very grounds which originally should have unseated\nthem, and openly maintained that it was very evident that the stout were\nintended to walk, and the feeble to be carried.\n\nThe priests were followed by fifty dark chariots, drawn by blue satyrs.\nHerein was the wardrobe of the Queen, and her Majesty\u2019s cooks.\n\nTiresias came next, in a basalt chariot, yoked to royal steeds. He was\nattended by Manto, who shared his confidence, and who, some said, was\nhis daughter, and others his niece. Venerable seer! Who could behold\nthat flowing beard, and the thin grey hairs of that lofty and wrinkled\nbrow, without being filled with sensations of awe and affection? A smile\nof bland benignity played upon his passionless and reverend countenance.\nFortunate the monarch who is blessed with such a counsellor! Who could\nhave supposed that all this time Tiresias was concocting an epigram on\nPluto!\n\nThe Queen! The Queen!\n\nUpon a superb throne, placed upon an immense car, and drawn by twelve\ncoal-black steeds, four abreast, reposed the royal daughter of Ceres.\nHer rich dark hair was braided off her high pale forehead, and fell in\nvoluptuous clusters over her back. A tiara sculptured out of a single\nbrilliant, and which darted a flash like lightning on the surrounding\nmultitude, was placed somewhat negligently on the right side of her\nhead; but no jewels broke the entrancing swell of her swan-like neck, or\nwere dimmed by the lustre of her ravishing arms. How fair was the Queen\nof Hell! How thrilling the solemn lustre of her violet eye! A robe,\npurple as the last hour of twilight, encompassed her transcendent form,\nstudded with golden stars!\n\nThrough the dim hot streets of Tartarus moved the royal procession,\nuntil it reached the first winding of the river Styx. Here an immense\nassemblage of yachts and barges, dressed out with the infernal\ncolours, denoted the appointed spot of the royal embarkation. Tiresias,\ndismounting from his chariot, and leaning on Manto, now approached her\nMajesty, and requesting her royal commands, recommended her to lose no\ntime in getting on board.\n\n\u2018When your Majesty is once on the Styx,\u2019 observed the wily seer, \u2018it may\nbe somewhat difficult to recall you to Hades; but I know very little of\nClotho, may it please your Majesty, if she have not already commenced\nher intrigues in Tartarus.\u2019\n\n\u2018You alarm me!\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\n\u2018It was not my intention. Caution is not fear.\u2019\n\n\u2018But do you think that Pluto------\u2019\n\n\u2018May it please your Majesty, I make it a rule never to think. I know too\nmuch.\u2019\n\n\u2018Let us embark immediately!\u2019\n\n\u2018Certainly; I would recommend your Majesty to get off at once. Myself\nand Manto will accompany you, and the cooks. If an order arrive to stay\nour departure, we can then send back the priests.\u2019\n\n\u2018You counsel well, Tiresias. I wish you had not been absent on my\narrival. Affairs might have gone better.\u2019\n\n\u2018Not at all. Had I been in Hell, your enemies would have been more wary.\nYour Majesty\u2019s excellent spirit carried you through triumphantly; but it\nwill not do so twice. You turned them out, and I must keep them out.\u2019\n\n\u2018So be it, my dear friend.\u2019 Thus saying, the Queen descended her\nthrone, and leaving the rest of her retinue to follow with all possible\ndespatch, embarked on board the infernal yacht, with Tiresias, Manto,\nthe chief cook, and some chosen attendants, and bid adieu for the first\ntime, not without agitation, to the gloomy banks of Tartarus.\n\nThe breeze was favourable, and, animated by the exhortations of\nTiresias, the crew exerted themselves to the utmost. The barque swiftly\nscudded over the dark waters. The river was of great breadth, and in\nthis dim region the crew were soon out of sight of land.\n\n\u2018You have been in Elysium?\u2019 inquired Proserpine of Tiresias.\n\n\u2018I have been everywhere,\u2019 replied the seer, \u2018and though I am blind have\nmanaged to see a great deal more than my fellows.\u2019\n\n\u2018I have often heard of you,\u2019 said the Queen, \u2018and I confess that yours\nis a career which has much interested me. What vicissitudes in affairs\nhave you not witnessed! And yet you have somehow or other contrived to\nmake your way through all the storms in which others have sunk, and are\nnow, as you always have been, in an exalted position. What can be\nyour magic? I would that you would initiate me. I know that you are a\nprophet, and that even the gods consult you.\u2019\n\n\u2018Your Majesty is complimentary. I certainly have had a great deal of\nexperience. My life has no doubt been a long one, but I have made it\nlonger by never losing a moment. I was born, too, at a great crisis in\naffairs. Everything that took place before the Trojan war passes for\nnothing in the annals of wisdom. That was a great revolution in all\naffairs human and divine, and from that event we must now date all our\nknowledge. Before the Trojan war we used to talk of the rebellion of\nthe Titans, but that business now is an old almanac. As for my powers of\nprophecy, believe me, that those who understand the past are very well\nqualified to predict the future. For my success in life, it may be\nprincipally ascribed to the observance of a simple rule--I never\ntrust anyone, either god or man. I make an exception in favour of the\ngoddesses, and especially of your Majesty,\u2019 added Tiresias, who piqued\nhimself on his gallantry.\n\nWhile they were thus conversing, the Queen directed the attention\nof Manto to a mountainous elevation which now began to rise in the\ndistance, and which, from the rapidity of the tide and the freshness of\nthe breeze, they approached at a swift rate.\n\n\u2018Behold the Stygian mountains,\u2019 replied Manto. \u2018Through their centre\nruns the passage of Night which leads to the regions of Twilight.\u2019\n\n\u2018We have, then, far to travel?\u2019\n\n\u2018Assuredly it is no easy task to escape from the gloom of Tartarus\nto the sunbeams of Elysium,\u2019 remarked Tiresias; \u2018but the pleasant is\ngenerally difficult; let us be grateful that in our instance it is not,\nas usual, forbidden.\u2019\n\n\u2018You say truly; I am sorry to confess how very often it appears to\nme that sin is enjoyment. But see! how awful are these perpendicular\nheights, piercing the descending vapours, with their peaks clothed with\ndark pines! We seem land-locked.\u2019\n\nBut the experienced master of the infernal yacht knew well how to steer\nhis charge through the intricate windings of the river, which here,\nthough deep and navigable, became as wild and narrow as a mountain\nstream; and, as the tide no longer served them, and the wind, from their\ninvolved course, was as often against them as in their favour, the crew\nwere obliged to have recourse to their oars, and rowed along until they\narrived at the mouth of an enormous cavern, from which the rapid stream\napparently issued.\n\n\u2018I am frightened out of my wits,\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine. \u2018Surely this\ncannot be our course?\u2019\n\n\u2018I hold, from your Majesty\u2019s exclamation,\u2019 said Tiresias, \u2018that we have\narrived at the passage of Night. When we have proceeded some hundred\nyards, we shall reach the adamantine portals. I pray your Majesty be not\nalarmed. I alone have the signet which can force these mystic gates to\nopen. I must be stirring myself. What, ho! Manto.\u2019\n\n\u2018Here am I, father. Hast thou the seal?\u2019\n\n\u2018In my breast. I would not trust it to my secretaries. They have my\nportfolios full of secret despatches, written on purpose to deceive\nthem; for I know that they are spies in the pay of Minerva; but your\nMajesty perceives, with a little prudence, that even a traitor may be\nturned to account.\u2019\n\nThus saying, Tiresias, leaning on Manto, hobbled to the poop of the\nvessel, and exclaiming aloud, \u2018Behold the mighty seal of Dis, whereon\nis inscribed the word the Titans fear,\u2019 the gates immediately flew open,\nrevealing the gigantic form of the Titan Porphyrin, whose head touched\nthe vault of the mighty cavern, although he was up to his waist in the\nwaters of the river.\n\n\u2018Come, my noble Porphyrion,\u2019 said Tiresias, \u2018bestir thyself, I beseech\nthee. I have brought thee a Queen. Guide her Majesty, I entreat thee,\nwith safety through this awful passage of Night.\u2019\n\n\u2018What a horrible creature,\u2019 whispered Proserpine. \u2018I wonder you address\nhim with such courtesy.\u2019\n\n\u2018I am always courteous,\u2019 replied Tiresias. \u2018How know I that the Titans\nmay not yet regain their lost heritage? They are terrible fellows; and\nugly or not, I have no doubt that even your Majesty would not find them\nso ill-favoured were they seated in the halls of Olympus.\u2019\n\n\u2018There is something in that,\u2019 replied Proserpine. \u2018I almost wish I were\nonce more in Tartarus.\u2019\n\nThe Titan Porphyrion in the meantime had fastened a chain-cable to the\nvessel, which he placed over his shoulder, and turning his back to the\ncrew, then wading through the waters, he dragged on the vessel in its\ncourse. The cavern widened, the waters spread. To the joy of Proserpine,\napparently, she once more beheld the moon and stars.\n\n\u2018Bright crescent of Diana!\u2019 exclaimed the enraptured Queen, \u2018and ye\ntoo, sweet stars, that I have so often watched on the Sicilian plains;\ndo I, then, indeed again behold you? or is it only some exquisite vision\nthat entrances my being? for, indeed, I do not feel the freshness of\nthat breeze that was wont to renovate my languid frame; nor does the\nodorous scent of flowers wafted from the shores delight my jaded senses.\nWhat is it? Is it life or death; earth, indeed, or Hell?\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis nothing,\u2019 said Tiresias, \u2018but a great toy. You must know that\nSaturn--until at length, wearied by his ruinous experiments, the gods\nexpelled him his empire--was a great dabbler in systems. He was always\nfor making moons brighter than Diana, and lighting the stars by gas; but\nhis systems never worked. The tides rebelled against their mistress, and\nthe stars went out with a horrible stench. This is one of his creations,\nthe most ingenious, though a failure. Jove made it a present to Pluto,\nwho is quite proud of having a sun and stars of his own, and reckons it\namong the choice treasures of his kingdoms.\u2019\n\n\u2018Poor Saturn! I pity him; he meant well.\u2019 \u2018Very true. He is the paviour\nof the high-street of Hades. But we cannot afford kings, and especially\nGods, to be philosophers. The certainty of misrule is better than the\nchance of good government; uncertainty makes people restless.\u2019\n\n\u2018I feel very restless myself; I wish we were in Elysium!\u2019\n\n\u2018The river again narrows!\u2019 exclaimed Manto. \u2018There is no other portal\nto pass. The Saturnian moon and stars grow fainter, there is a grey tint\nexpanding in the distance; \u2018tis the realm of Twilight; your Majesty will\nsoon disembark.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\n     _Containing an Account of Tiresias at His Rubber_\n\nTRAVELLERS who have left their homes generally grow mournful as the\nevening draws on; nor is there, perhaps, any time at which the pensive\ninfluence of twilight is more predominant than on the eve that follows a\nseparation from those we love. Imagine, then, the feelings of the Queen\nof Hell, as her barque entered the very region of that mystic light,\nand the shadowy shores of the realm of Twilight opened before her. Her\nthoughts reverted to Pluto; and she mused over all his fondness, all his\nadoration, and all his indulgence, and the infinite solicitude of his\naffectionate heart, until the tears trickled down her beautiful cheeks,\nand she marvelled she ever could have quitted the arms of her lover.\n\n\u2018Your Majesty,\u2019 observed Manto, who had been whispering to Tiresias,\n\u2018feels, perhaps, a little wearied?\u2019\n\n\u2018By no means, my kind Manto,\u2019 replied Proserpine, starting from her\nreverie. \u2018But the truth is, my spirits are unequal; and though I\nreally cannot well fix upon the cause of their present depression, I am\napparently not free from the contagion of the surrounding gloom.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is the evening air,\u2019 said Tiresias. \u2018Your Majesty had perhaps better\nre-enter the pavilion of the yacht. As for myself, I never venture about\nafter sunset. One grows romantic. Night was evidently made for in-door\nnature. I propose a rubber.\u2019\n\nTo this popular suggestion Proserpine was pleased to accede, and herself\nand Tiresias, Manto and the captain of the yacht, were soon engaged at\nthe proposed amusement.\n\nTiresias loved a rubber. It was true he was blind, but then, being a\nprophet, that did not signify. Tiresias, I say, loved a rubber, and\nwas a first-rate player, though, perhaps, given a little too much to\n_finesse_. Indeed, he so much enjoyed taking in his fellow-creatures,\nthat he sometimes could not resist deceiving his own partner. Whist is\na game which requires no ordinary combination of qualities; at the same\ntime, memory and invention, a daring fancy, and a cool head. To a mind\nlike that of Tiresias, a pack of cards was full of human nature. A\nrubber was a microcosm; and he ruffed his adversary\u2019s king, or brought\nin a long suit of his own with as much dexterity and as much enjoyment\nas, in the real business of existence, he dethroned a monarch, or\nintroduced a dynasty.\n\n\u2018Will your Majesty be pleased to draw your card?\u2019 requested the sage.\n\u2018If I might venture to offer your Majesty a hint, I would dare to\nrecommend your Majesty not to play before your turn. My friends are\nfond of ascribing my success in my various missions to the possession of\npeculiar qualities. No such thing: I owe everything to the simple habit\nof always waiting till it is my turn to speak. And believe me, that he\nwho plays before his turn at whist, commits as great a blunder as he who\nspeaks before his turn during a negotiation.\u2019\n\n\u2018The trick, and two by honours,\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018Pray, my dear\nTiresias, you who are such a fine player, how came you to trump my best\ncard?\u2019\n\n\u2018Because I wanted the lead. And those who want to lead, please your\nMajesty, must never hesitate about sacrificing their friends.\u2019\n\n\u2018I believe you speak truly. I was right in playing that thirteenth\ncard?\u2019\n\n\u2018Quite so. Above all things, I love a thirteenth card. I send it forth,\nlike a mock project in a revolution, to try the strength of parties.\u2019\n\n\u2018You should not have forced me, Lady Manto,\u2019 said the Captain of the\nyacht, in a grumbling tone, to his partner. \u2018By weakening me, you\nprevented me bringing in my spades. We might have made the game.\u2019\n\n\u2018You should not have been forced,\u2019 said Tiresias. \u2018If she made a\nmistake, who was unacquainted with your plans, what a terrible blunder\nyou committed to share her error without her ignorance!\u2019\n\n\u2018What, then, was I to lose a trick?\u2019\n\n\u2018Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity,\u2019 replied Tiresias, \u2018the\nmost important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.\u2019\n\n\u2018I have cut you an honour, sir,\u2019 said Manto.\n\n\u2018Which reminds me,\u2019 replied Tiresias, \u2018that, in the last hand, your\nMajesty unfortunately forgot to lead through your adversary\u2019s ace. I\nhave often observed that nothing ever perplexes an adversary so much as\nan appeal to his honour.\u2019\n\n\u2018I will not forget to follow your advice,\u2019 said the Captain of the\nyacht, playing accordingly.\n\n\u2018By which you have lost the game,\u2019 quietly remarked Tiresias. \u2018There are\nexceptions to all rules, but it seldom answers to follow the advice of\nan opponent.\u2019\n\n\u2018Confusion!\u2019 exclaimed the Captain of the yacht.\n\n\u2018Four by honours, and the trick, I declare,\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018I was so\nglad to see you turn up the queen, Tiresias.\u2019\n\n\u2018I also, madam. Without doubt there are few cards better than her royal\nconsort, or, still more, the imperial ace. Nevertheless, I must confess,\nI am perfectly satisfied whenever I remember that I have the Queen on my\nside.\u2019\n\nProserpine bowed.\n\n\u2018I have a good mind to do it, Tiresias,\u2019 said Queen Proserpine, as that\nworthy sage paid his compliments to her at her toilet, at an hour which\nshould have been noon.\n\n\u2018It would be a great compliment,\u2019 said Tiresias.\n\n\u2018And it is not much out of our way?\u2019\n\n\u2018By no means,\u2019 replied the seer. \u2018\u2018Tis an agreeable half-way house. He\nlives in good style.\u2019\n\n\u2018And whence can a dethroned monarch gain a revenue?\u2019 inquired the Queen.\n\n\u2018Your Majesty, I see, is not at all learned in politics. A sovereign\nnever knows what an easy income is till he has abdicated. He generally\ncommences squabbling with his subjects about the supplies; he is then\nexpelled, and voted, as compensation, an amount about double the sum\nwhich was the cause of the original quarrel.\u2019\n\n\u2018What do you think, Manto?\u2019 said Proserpine, as that lady entered the\ncabin; \u2018we propose paying a visit to Saturn. He has fixed his residence,\nyou know, in these regions of twilight.\u2019\n\n\u2018I love a junket,\u2019 replied Manto, \u2018above all things. And, indeed, I was\nhalf frightened out of my wits at the bare idea of toiling over this\ndesert. All is prepared, please your Majesty, for our landing. Your\nMajesty\u2019s litter is quite ready.\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis well,\u2019 said Proserpine; and leaning on the arm of Manto, the Queen\ncame upon deck, and surveyed the surrounding country, a vast grey flat,\nwith a cloudless sky of the same tint: in the distance some lowering\nshadows, which seemed like clouds but were in fact mountains.\n\n\u2018Some half-dozen hours,\u2019 said Tiresias, \u2018will bring us to the palace\nof Saturn. We shall arrive for dinner; the right hour. Let me recommend\nyour Majesty to order the curtains of your litter to be drawn, and, if\npossible, to resume your dreams.\u2019\n\n\u2018They were not pleasant,\u2019 said Proserpine, \u2018I dreamt of my mother and\nthe Parcae. Manto, methinks I\u2019ll read. Hast thou some book?\u2019\n\n\u2018Here is a poem, Madam, but I fear it may induce those very slumbers you\ndread.\u2019\n\n\u2018How call you it?\u2019\n\n\u2018\u201cThe Pleasures of Oblivion.\u201d The poet apparently is fond of his\nsubject.\u2019\n\n\u2018And is, I have no doubt, equal to it. Hast any prose?\u2019\n\n\u2018An historical novel or so.\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh! if you mean those things as full of costume as a fancy ball, and\nalmost as devoid of sense, I\u2019ll have none of them. Close the curtains;\neven visions of the Furies are preferable to these insipidities.\u2019\n\nThe halt of the litter roused the Queen from her slumbers. \u2018We have\narrived,\u2019 said Manto, as she assisted in withdrawing the curtains.\n\nThe train had halted before a vast propylon of rose-coloured granite.\nThe gate was nearly two hundred feet in height, and the sides of the\npropylon, which rose like huge moles, were sculptured with colossal\nfigures of a threatening aspect. Passing through the propylon, the\nQueen of Hell and her attendants entered an avenue in length about\nthree-quarters of a mile, formed of colossal figures of the same\ncharacter and substance, alternately raising in their arms javelins or\nbattle-axes, as if about to strike. At the end of this heroic avenue\nappeared the palace of Saturn. Ascending a hundred steps of black\nmarble, you stood before a portico supported by twenty columns of the\nsame material and shading a single portal of bronze. Apparently the\npalace formed an immense quadrangle; a vast tower rising from each\ncorner, and springing from the centre a huge and hooded dome. A crowd of\nattendants, in grey and sad-coloured raiment, issued from the portal\nof the palace at the approach of Proserpine, who remarked with strange\nsurprise their singular countenances and demeanour; for rare in this\nsilent assemblage was any visage resembling aught she had seen, human\nor divine. Some bore the heads of bats; of owls and beetles others;\nsome fluttered moth-like wings, while the shoulders of other bipeds were\nsurmounted, in spite of their human organisation, with the heads of rats\nand weasels, of marten-cats and of foxes. But they were all remarkably\ncivil; and Proserpine, who was now used to wonders, did not shriek at\nall, and scarcely shuddered.\n\nThe Queen of Hell was ushered through a superb hall, and down a splendid\ngallery, to a suite of apartments where a body of damsels of a most\ndistinguished appearance awaited her. Their heads resembled those of the\nmost eagerly-sought, highly-prized, and oftenest-stolen lap-dogs.\nUpon the shoulders of one was the visage of the smallest and most\nthorough-bred little Blenheim in the world. Upon her front was a white\nstar, her nose was nearly flat, and her ears were tied under her chin,\nwith the most jaunty air imaginable. She was an evident flirt; and a\nsolemn prude of a spaniel, with a black and tan countenance, who seemed\na sort of duenna, evidently watched her with no little distrust. The\nadmirers of blonde beauties would, however, have fallen in love with\na poodle, with the finest head of hair imaginable, and most voluptuous\nshoulders. This brilliant band began barking in the most insinuating\ntone on the appearance of the Queen; and Manto, who was almost as\ndexterous a linguist as Tiresias himself, informed her Majesty that\nthese were the ladies of her bed-chamber; upon which Proserpine, who, it\nwill be remembered had no passion for dogs, ordered them immediately out\nof her room.\n\n\u2018What a droll place!\u2019 exclaimed the Queen. \u2018Do you know, we are later\nthan I imagined? A hasty toilet to-day; I long to see Saturn. It is\ndroll, I am hungry. My purple velvet, I think; it may be considered a\ncompliment. No diamonds, only jet; a pearl or two, perhaps. Didst ever\nsee the King?\n\nThey say he is gentlemanlike, though a bigot. No! no rouge to-day; this\npaleness is quite _apropos_. Were I as radiant as usual, I should be\ntaken for Aurora.\u2019\n\nSo leaning on Manto, and preceded by the ladies of her bed-chamber,\nwhom, notwithstanding their repulse, she found in due attendance in the\nantechamber, Proserpine again continued her progress down the gallery,\nuntil they stopped at a door, which opening, she was ushered into the\ngrand circular saloon, crowned by the dome, whose exterior the Queen had\nalready observed. The interior of this apartment was entirely of black\nand grey marble, with the exception of the dome itself, which was of\nebony, richly carved and supported by more than a hundred columns. There\ndepended from the centre of the arch a single chandelier of frosted\nsilver, which was itself as big as an ordinary chamber, but of the\nmost elegant form, and delicate and fantastic workmanship. As the Queen\nentered the saloon, a personage of venerable appearance, dressed in a\nsuit of black velvet, and leaning on an ivory cane, advanced to salute\nher. There was no mistaking this personage; his manners were at once so\ncourteous and so dignified. He was clearly their host; and Proserpine,\nwho was quite charmed with his grey locks and his black velvet cap, his\ntruly paternal air, and the beneficence of his unstudied smile, could\nscarcely refrain from bending her knee, and pressing her lips to his\nextended hand.\n\n\u2018I am proud that your Majesty has remembered me in my retirement,\u2019 said\nSaturn, as he led Proserpine to a seat.\n\nTheir mutual compliments were soon disturbed by the announcement\nof dinner, and Saturn offering his arm to the Queen with an air of\npoliteness which belonged to the old school, but which the ladies admire\nin old men, handed Proserpine to the banqueting-room. They were followed\nby some of the principal personages of her Majesty\u2019s suite, and a couple\nof young Titans, who enjoyed the posts of aides-de-camp to the ex-King,\nand whose duties consisted of carving at dinner.\n\nIt was a most agreeable dinner, and Proserpine was delighted with\nSaturn, who, of course, sat by her side, and paid her every possible\nattention. Saturn, whose manners, as has been observed, were of the old\nschool, loved a good story, and told several. His anecdotes, especially\nof society previous to the Trojan war, were highly interesting. There\nran through all his behaviour, too, a tone of high breeding and of\nconsideration for others which was really charming; and Proserpine, who\nhad expected to find in her host a gloomy bigot, was quite surprised\nat the truly liberal spirit with which he seemed to consider affairs in\ngeneral. Indeed this unexpected tone made so great an impression upon\nher, that finding a good opportunity after dinner, when they were\nsipping their coffee apart from the rest of the company, she could not\nrefrain from entering into some conversation with the ex-King upon the\nsubject, and the conversation ran thus:\n\n\u2018Do you know,\u2019 said Proserpine, \u2018that much as I have been pleased\nand surprised during my visit to the realms of twilight, nothing has\npleased, and I am sure nothing has surprised me more, than to observe\nthe remarkably liberal spirit in which your Majesty views the affairs of\nthe day.\u2019\n\n\u2018You give me a title, beautiful Proserpine, to which I have no claim,\u2019\nreplied Saturn. \u2018You forget that I am now only Count Hesperus; I am no\nlonger a king, and believe me, I am very glad of it.\u2019\n\n\u2018What a pity, my dear sir, that you would not condescend to conform to\nthe spirit of the age. For myself, I am quite a reformer.\u2019\n\n\u2018So I have understood, beautiful Proserpine, which I confess has a\nlittle surprised me; for to tell you the truth, I do not consider that\nreform is exactly _our_ trade.\u2019\n\n\u2018Affairs cannot go on as they used,\u2019 observed Proserpine, oracularly;\n\u2018we must bow to the spirit of the age.\u2019\n\n\u2018And what is that?\u2019 inquired Saturn.\n\n\u2018I do not exactly know,\u2019 replied Proserpine, \u2018but one hears of it\neverywhere.\u2019\n\n\u2018I also heard of it a great deal,\u2019 replied Saturn, \u2018and was also\nrecommended to conform to it. Before doing so, however, I thought it as\nwell to ascertain its nature, and something also of its strength.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is terribly strong,\u2019 observed Proserpine.\n\n\u2018But you think it will be stronger?\u2019 inquired the ex-King.\n\n\u2018Certainly; every day it is more powerful.\u2019\n\n\u2018Then if, on consideration, we were to deem resistance to it advisable,\nit is surely better to commence the contest at once than to postpone the\nstruggle.\u2019\n\n\u2018It is useless to talk of resisting; one must conform.\u2019\n\n\u2018I certainly should consider resistance useless,\u2019 replied Saturn, \u2018for I\ntried it and failed; but at least one has a chance of success; and yet,\nhaving resisted this spirit and failed, I should not consider myself\nin a worse plight than you would voluntarily place yourself in by\nconforming to it.\u2019\n\n\u2018You speak riddles,\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\n\u2018To be plain, then,\u2019 replied Saturn, \u2018I think you may as well at once\ngive up your throne, as conform to this spirit.\u2019\n\n\u2018And why so?\u2019 inquired Proserpine very ingenuously.\u2019\n\n\u2018Because,\u2019 replied Saturn, shrugging up his shoulders, \u2018I look upon the\nspirit of the age as a spirit hostile to Kings and gods.\u2019\n\nThe next morning Saturn himself attended his beautiful guest over his\nresidence, which Proserpine greatly admired.\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis the work of the Titans,\u2019 replied the ex-King. \u2018There never was a\nparty so fond of building palaces.\u2019\n\n\u2018To speak the truth,\u2019 said Proserpine, \u2018I am a little disappointed that\nI have not had an opportunity, during my visit, of becoming acquainted\nwith some of the chiefs of that celebrated party; for, although a\nLiberal, I am a female one, and I like to know every sort of person who\nis distinguished.\u2019\n\n\u2018The fact is,\u2019 replied her host, \u2018that the party has never recovered\nfrom the thunderbolt of that scheming knave Jupiter, and do not bear\ntheir defeat so philosophically as years, perhaps, permit me to do. If\nwe have been vanquished by the spirit of the age,\u2019 continued Saturn,\n\u2018you must confess that, in our case, the conqueror did not assume a\nmaterial form very remarkable for its dignity. Had Creation resolved\nitself into its original elements, had Chaos come again, or even old\nCoelus, the indignity might have been endured; but to be baffled by\nan Olympian _juste milieu_, and to find, after all the clamour, that\nnothing has been changed save the places, is, you will own, somewhat\nmortifying.\u2019\n\n\u2018But how do you reconcile,\u2019 inquired the ingenuous Proserpine, \u2018the\nsuccess of Jupiter with the character which you ascribed last night to\nthe spirit of the age?\u2019\n\n\u2018Why, in truth,\u2019 said Saturn, \u2018had I not entirely freed myself from all\nparty feeling, I might adduce the success of my perfidious and worthless\nrelative as very good demonstration that the spirit of the age\nis nothing better than an _ignis fatuus_. Nevertheless, we must\ndiscriminate. Even the success of Jupiter, although he now conducts\nhimself in direct opposition to the emancipating principles he at\nfirst professed, is no less good evidence of their force; for by his\nprofessions he rose. And, for my part, I consider it a great homage to\npublic opinion to find every scoundrel now-a-days professing himself a\nLiberal.\u2019\n\n\u2018You are candid;\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018I should like very much to see the\nTitans.\u2019\n\n\u2018My friends are at least consistent,\u2019 observed Saturn; \u2018though certainly\nat present I can say little more for them. Between the despair of one\nsection of the party, and the over-sanguine expectations of the other,\nthey are at present quite inactive, or move only to ensure fresh\nrebuffs.\u2019\n\n\u2018You see little of them, then?\u2019\n\n\u2018They keep to themselves: they generally frequent a lonely vale in the\nneighbourhood.\u2019\n\n\u2018I should so like to see them!\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine.\n\n\u2018Say nothing to Tiresias,\u2019 said old Saturn, who was half in love with\nhis fair friend, \u2018and we will steal upon them unperceived.\u2019 So saying,\nthe god struck the earth with his cane, and there instantly sprang forth\na convenient car, built of curiously carved cedar, and borne by four\nenormous tawny-coloured owls. Seating himself by the side of the\ndelighted Proserpine, Saturn commanded the owls to bear them to the\nValley of Lamentations.\n\n\u2018Twas an easy fly: the chariot soon descended upon the crest of a hill:\nand Saturn and Proserpine, leaving the car, commenced, by a winding\npath, the slight ascent of a superior elevation. Having arrived there,\nthey looked down upon a valley, apparently land-locked by black and\nbarren mountains of the most strange, although picturesque forms. In the\ncentre of the valley was a black pool or tarn, bordered with dark purple\nflags of an immense size, twining and twisting among which might be\nobserved the glancing and gliding folds of several white serpents; while\ncrocodiles and alligators, and other horrible forms, poked their foul\nsnouts with evident delight in a vast mass of black slime, which had,\nat various times, exuded from the lake. A single tree only was to be\nobserved in this desolate place, an enormous and blasted cedar, with\nscarcely a patch of verdure, but extending its black and barren branches\nnearly across the valley. Seated on a loosened crag, but leaning against\nthe trunk of the cedar, with his arms folded, his mighty eyes fixed on\nthe ground, and his legs crossed with that air of complete repose which\nindicates that their owner is in no hurry again to move them, was\n\n     \u2018A form, some granite god we deemed,\n     Or king of palmy Nile, colossal shapes\n     Such as Syene\u2019s rosy quarries yield\n     To Memphian art; Horus, Osiris called,\n     Or Amenoph, who, on the Theban plain,\n     With magic melody the sun salutes;\n     Or he, far mightier, to whose conquering car\n     Monarchs were yoked, Rameses: by the Greeks\n     Sesostris styled.    And yet no sculptor\u2019s art\n     Moulded this shape, for form it seemed of flesh,\n     Yet motionless; its dim unlustrous orbs\n     Gazing in stilly vacancy, its cheek\n     Grey  as its hairs, which, thin as they might seem,\n     No breath disturbed; a solemn countenance,\n     Not sorrowful, though full of woe sublime,\n     As if despair were now a distant dream\n     Too dim for memory.\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis their great leader,\u2019 said Saturn, as he pointed out the Titan to\nProserpine, \u2018the giant Enceladus. He got us into all our scrapes, but I\nmust do him the justice to add, that he is the only one who can ever get\nus out of them. They say he has no heart; but I think his hook nose is\nrather fine.\u2019\n\n\u2018Superb!\u2019 said Proserpine. \u2018And who is that radiant and golden-haired\nyouth who is seated at his feet?\u2019\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis no less a personage than Hyperion himself,\u2019 replied Saturn, \u2018the\nfavourite counsellor of Enceladus. He is a fine orator, and makes up by\nhis round sentences and choice phrases for the rhetorical deficiencies\nof his chief, who, to speak the truth, is somewhat curt and husky. They\nhave enough now to do to manage their comrades and keep a semblance of\ndiscipline in their routed ranks. Mark that ferocious Briareus there\nscowling in a corner! Didst ever see such a moustache! He glances,\nmethinks, with an evil eye on the mighty Enceladus; and, let me tell\nyou, Briareus has a great following among them; so they say of him you\nknow, that he hath fifty heads and a hundred arms. See! how they gather\naround him.\u2019\n\n\u2018Who speaks now to Briareus?\u2019 \u2018The young and valiant Mimas. Be assured\nhe is counselling war. We shall have a debate now.\u2019\n\n\u2018Yon venerable personage, who is seated by the margin of the pool, and\nweeping with the crocodiles------\u2019\n\n\u2018Is old Oceanus.\u2019\n\n\u2018He is apparently much affected by his overthrow.\u2019 \u2018It is his wont to\nweep. He used to cry when he fought, and yet he was a powerful warrior.\u2019\n\u2018Hark!\u2019 said Proserpine.\n\nThe awful voice of Briareus broke the silence. What a terrible personage\nwas Briareus! His wild locks hung loose about his shoulders, and blended\nwith his unshorn beard.\n\n\u2018Titans!\u2019 shouted the voice which made many a heart tremble, and the\nbreathless Proserpine clasp the arm of Saturn. \u2018Titans! Is that spirit\ndead that once heaped Ossa upon Pelion? Is it forgotten, even by\nourselves, that a younger born revels in our heritage? Are these forms\nthat surround me, indeed, the shapes at whose dread sight the base\nOlympians fled to their fitting earth? Warriors, whose weapons were the\nrocks, whose firebrands were the burning woods, is the day forgotten\nwhen Jove himself turned craven, and skulked in Egypt? At least my\nmemory is keen enough to support my courage, and whatever the dread\nEnceladus may counsel, my voice is still for war!\u2019\n\nThere ensued, after this harangue of Briareus, a profound and thrilling\nsilence, which was, however, broken in due time by the great leader of\nthe Titans himself.\n\n\u2018You mouth it well, Briareus,\u2019 replied Enceladus calmly. \u2018And if great\nwords would re-seat us in Olympus, doubtless, with your potent aid,\nwe might succeed. It never should be forgotten, however, that had we\ncombined at first, in the spirit now recommended, the Olympians would\nnever have triumphed; and least of all our party should Briareus and his\nfriends forget the reasons of our disunion.\u2019\n\n\u2018I take thy sneer, Enceladus,\u2019 said the young and chivalric Mimas, \u2018and\nthrow it in thy teeth. This learn, then, from Briareus and his friends,\nthat if we were lukewarm in the hour of peril, the fault lies not to\nour account, but with those who had previously so conducted themselves,\nthat, when the danger arrived, it was impossible for us to distinguish\nbetween our friends and our foes. Enceladus apparently forgets that had\nthe Olympians never been permitted to enter Heaven, it would have been\nunnecessary ever to have combined against their machinations.\u2019\n\n\u2018Recrimination is useless,\u2019 said a Titan, interposing. \u2018I was one of\nthose who supported Enceladus in the admission of the Olympians above,\nand I regret it. But at the time, like others, I believed it to be the\nonly mode of silencing the agitation of Jupiter.\u2019\n\n\u2018I separated from Enceladus on that question,\u2019 said a huge Titan, lying\nhis length on the ground and leaning one arm on a granite crag; \u2018but\nI am willing to forget all our differences and support him with all\nmy heart and strength in another effort to restore our glorious\nconstitution.\u2019\n\n\u2018Titans,\u2019 said Enceladus, \u2018who is there among you who has found me a\nlaggard in the day of battle?\u2019\n\nWhen the Olympians, as Briareus thinks it necessary to remind you,\nfled, I was your leader. Remember, however, then, that there were no\nthunderbolts. As for myself, I candidly confess to you, that, since the\ninvention of these weapons by Jove, I do not see how war can be carried\non by us any longer with effect.\u2019\n\n\u2018By the memory of old Coelus and these fast-flowing tears,\u2019 murmured the\nvenerable Oceanus, patting at the same time a crocodile on the back,\n\u2018I call you all to witness that I have no interest to deceive you.\nNevertheless, we should not forget that, in this affair of the\nthunderbolts, it is the universal opinion that there is a very\nconsiderable reaction. I have myself, only within these few days,\nreceived authentic information that several have fallen of late without\nany visible ill effects; and I am credibly assured that, during the late\nstorm in Thessaly, a thunderbolt was precipitated into the centre of a\nvineyard, without affecting the flavour of a single grape.\u2019\n\nHere several of the Titans, who had gathered round Enceladus, shook\ntheir heads and shrugged their shoulders, and a long and desultory\nconversation ensued upon the copious and very controversial subject of\nRe-action. In the meantime Rhoetus, a young Titan, whispered to one of\nhis companions, that for his part he was convinced that the only way\nto beat the Olympians was to turn them into ridicule; and that he would\naccordingly commence at once with the pasquinade on the private life of\nJupiter, and some peculiarly delicate criticisms on the characters of\nthe goddesses.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV.\n\n     _Containing the First View of Elysium_\n\nTHE toilsome desert was at length passed, and the royal cavalcade\nascended the last chasm of mountains that divided Elysium, or the\nRegions of Bliss, from the Realm of Twilight. As she quitted those\ndim and dreary plains, the spirit of Proserpine grew lighter, and she\nindulged in silent but agreeable anticipations of the scene which she\nwas now approaching. On reaching, however, the summit of the mountainous\nchain, and proceeding a short distance over the rugged table-land into\nwhich it now declined, her Majesty was rather alarmed at perceiving that\nher progress was impeded by a shower of flame that extended, on either\nside, as far as the eye could reach. Her alarm, however, was of short\ncontinuance; for, on the production of his talisman by Tiresias, the\nshower of flame instantly changed into silvery drops of rose-water and\nother delicious perfumes. Amid joyous peals of laughter, and some\nslight playful screams on the part of the ladies, the cavalcade ventured\nthrough the ordeal. Now the effect of this magical bath was quite\nmarvellous. A burthen seemed suddenly to have been removed from the\nspirits of the whole party; their very existence seemed renewed; the\nblood danced about their veins in the liveliest manner imaginable; and\na wild but pleasing titillation ran like lightning through their nerves,\ntheir countenances sparkled with excitement; and they all talked at the\nsame time. Proserpine was so occupied with her own sensations, that she\ndid not immediately remark the extraordinary change that had occurred\nin the appearance of the country immediately on passing this magical\nbarrier. She perceived that their course now led over the most elastic\nand carefully-shaven turf; groups of beautiful shrubs occasionally\nappeared, and she discovered with delight that their flowers constantly\nopened, and sent forth from their bells diminutive birds of radiant\nplumage. Above them, too, the clouds vanished, and her head was canopied\nby a sky, unlike, indeed, all things and tints of earth, but which\nreminded her, in some degree, of the splendour of Olympus.\n\nProserpine, restless with delight, quitted her litter, and followed by\nManto, ran forward to catch the first view of Elysium.\n\n\u2018I am quite out of breath,\u2019 said her Majesty, \u2018and really must sit down\non this bank of violets. Was ever anything in the world so delightful?\nWhy, Olympus is nothing to it! And after Tartarus, too, and that poor\nunhappy Saturn, and his Titans and his twilight, it really is too much\nfor me. How I do long for the view! and yet, somehow or other, my heart\nbeats so I cannot walk.\u2019\n\n\u2018Will your Majesty re-ascend your litter?\u2019 suggested Manto.\n\n\u2018Oh, no! that is worse than anything. They are a mile behind; they are\nso slow. Why, Manto! what is this?\u2019\n\nA beautiful white dove hovered in the air over the head of Proserpine\nand her attendant, and then dropping an olive branch into the lap of the\nQueen, flapped its wings and whirled away. But what an olive branch!\nthe stem was of agate; each leaf was an emerald; and on the largest, in\nletters of brilliants, was this inscription:\n\n     _The Elysians to Their Beautiful Queen_\n\n\u2018Oh, is it not superb?\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine. \u2018What charming people,\nand what excellent subjects! What loyalty and what taste!\u2019\n\nSo saying, the enraptured Proserpine rose from the bank of violets, and\nhad scarcely run forwards fifty yards when she suddenly stopped, and\nstarted with an exclamation of wonder. The table-land had ceased. She\nstood upon a precipice of white marble, in many parts clothed with\nthick bowers of myrtle; before her extended the wide-spreading plains of\nElysium. They were bounded upon all sides by gentle elevations entirely\ncovered with flowers, and occasionally shooting forward into the\nchampaign country; behind these appeared a range of mountains clothed\nwith bright green forests, and still loftier heights behind them,\nexhibiting, indeed, only bare and sharply-pointed peaks glittering with\nprismatic light. The undulating plain was studded in all directions with\npavilions and pleasure-houses, and groves and gardens glowing with the\nchoicest and most charming fruit; and a broad blue river wound through\nit, covered with brilliant boats, the waters flashing with phosphoric\nlight as they were cut by the swift and gliding keels. And in the centre\nof the plain rose a city, a mighty group of all that was beautiful in\nform and costly in materials, bridges and palaces and triumphal gates of\ncedar and of marble, columns and minarets of gold, and cupolas and domes\nof ivory; and ever and anon appeared delicious gardens, raised on the\nterraces of the houses; and groups of palm trees with their tall, thin\nstems, and quivering and languid crests, rose amid the splendid masonry.\nA sweet soft breeze touched the cheek of the entranced Proserpine, and a\nsingle star of silver light glittered in the rosy sky.\n\n\u2018\u2018Tis my favourite hour,\u2019 exclaimed Proserpine. \u2018Thus have I gazed upon\nHesperus in the meads of Enna! What a scene! How fortunate that we\nshould have arrived at sunset!\u2019\n\n\u2018Ah, Madam!\u2019 observed Manto, \u2018in Elysium the sky is ever thus. For the\nElysians, the sun seems always to have just set!\u2019\n\n\u2018Fortunate people!\u2019 replied Proserpine. \u2018In them, immortality and\nenjoyment seem indeed blended together. A strange feeling, half of\nlanguor, half of voluptuousness, steals over my senses! It seems that\nI at length behold the region of my girlish dreams. Such once I fancied\nOlympus. Ah! why does not my Pluto live in Elysium?\u2019\n\nThe Elysians consisted of a few thousand beatified mortals, the only\noccupation of whose existence was enjoyment; the rest of the population\ncomprised some millions of Gnomes and Sylphs, who did nothing but work,\nand ensured by their labour the felicity of the superior class. Every\nElysian, male or female, possessed a magnificent palace in the city,\nand an elegant pavilion on the plain; these, with a due proportion of\nchariots, horses, and slaves, constituted a proper establishment. The\nSylphs and the Gnomes were either scattered about the country, which\nthey cultivated, or lived in the city, where they kept shops, and where\nthey emulated each other in displaying the most ingenious articles\nof luxury and convenience for the enjoyment and accommodation of the\nElysians. The townspeople, indeed, rather affected to look down upon\nthe more simple-minded agriculturists; but if these occasionally felt a\nlittle mortification in consequence, they might have been consoled, had\nthey been aware that their brethren and sisters who were in the service\nof the Elysians avenged their insults, for these latter were the finest\nGnomes and Sylphs imaginable, and scarcely deigned to notice any one who\nwas in trade. Whether there were any coin or other circulating medium\ncurrent in Elysium is a point respecting which I must confess I have not\nsufficient information to decide; but if so, it certainly would appear\nthat all money transactions were confined to the Gnomes and the Sylphs,\nfor the Elysians certainly never paid for anything. Perhaps this\nexemption might have been among their peculiar privileges, and was a\nsubstitute for what we call credit, a convenience of which the ancients\nappear to have had a limited conception. The invention, by Jupiter, of\nan aristocratic immortality, as a reward for a well-spent life on earth,\nappears to have been an ingenious idea. It really is a reward, very\nstimulative of good conduct before we shuffle off the mortal coil, and\nremarkably contrasts with the democracy of the damned. The Elysians,\nwith a splendid climate, a teeming soil, and a nation made on purpose\nto wait upon them, of course enjoyed themselves very much. The arts\nflourished, the theatres paid, and they had a much finer opera than at\nEphesus or at Halicarnassus. Their cookery was so refined, that one of\nthe least sentimental ceremonies in the world was not only deprived of\nall its grossness, but was actually converted into an elegant amusement,\nand so famous that their artists were even required at Olympus. If their\ndinners were admirable, which is rare, their assemblies were amusing,\nwhich is still more uncommon. All the arts of society were carried to\nperfection in Elysium; a dull thing was never said, and an awkward thing\nnever done. The Elysians, indeed, being highly refined and gifted, for\nthey comprised in their order the very cream of terrestrial society,\nwere naturally a liberal-minded race of nobles, and capable of\nappreciating every kind of excellence. If a Gnome or a Sylph, therefore,\nin any way distinguished themselves; if they sang very well, or acted\nvery well, or if they were at all eminent for any of the other arts of\namusement, ay! indeed if the poor devils could do nothing better than\nwrite a poem or a novel, they were sure to be noticed by the Elysians,\nwho always bowed to them as they passed by, and sometimes indeed even\nadmitted them into their circles.\n\nScarcely had the train of Proserpine rejoined her on the brink of the\nprecipice, than they heard the flourish of trumpets near at hand, soon\nfollowed by a complete harmony of many instruments. A chorus of sweet\nvoices was next distinguished, growing each instant more loud and clear;\nand in a few minutes, issuing from a neighbouring grove, came forth\na band of heroes and beautiful women, dressed in dazzling raiment,\nto greet the Queen. A troop of chariots of light and airy workmanship\nfollowed, and a crowd of Gnomes and Sylphs singing and playing on\nvarious instruments, and dancing with gestures of grace and delicacy.\nCongratulating the Queen on her arrival in Elysium, and requesting the\nhonour of being permitted to attend her to her palace, they ushered\nProserpine and her companions to the chariots, and soon, winding down a\ngradual declivity, they entered the plain.\n\nIf a bird\u2019s-eye view of the capital had enchanted Proserpine, the\nagreeable impression was not diminished, as is generally the case, by\nher entrance into the city. Never were so much splendour and neatness\nbefore combined. Passing through a magnificent arch, Proserpine entered\na street of vast and beautiful proportions, lined on each side with\npalaces of various architecture, painted admirably in fresco, and richly\ngilt. The road was formed of pounded marbles of various colours, laid\ndown in fanciful patterns, and forming an unrivalled mosaic; it was\nbounded on each side by a broad causeway of jasper, of a remarkably\nbright green, clouded with milk-white streaks. This street led to a\nsumptuous square, forming alone the palace destined for Proserpine.\nIts several fronts were supported and adorned by ten thousand columns,\nimitating the palm and the lotus; nor is it possible to conceive\nanything more light and graceful than the general effect of this\nstupendous building. Each front was crowned with an immense dome of\nalabaster, so transparent, that when the palace was illuminated the rosy\nheaven grew pale, and an effect similar to moonlight was diffused over\nthe canopy of Elysium. And in the centre of the square a Leviathan,\ncarved in white coral, and apparently flouncing in a huge basin of rock\ncrystal, spouted forth from his gills a fountain twelve hundred feet in\nheight; from one gill ascended a stream of delicious wine, which might\nbe tempered, if necessary, by the iced water that issued from the other.\n\nAt the approach of the Queen, the gigantic gates of the palace,\nframed of carved cedar, flew open with a thrilling burst of music, and\nProserpine found herself in a hall wherein several hundred persons, who\nformed her household, knelt in stillness before her. Wearied with her\nlong journey, and all the excitement of the day, Proserpine signified to\none of the Elysians in attendance her desire for refreshment and\nrepose. Immediately the household rose, and gracefully bowing retired in\nsilence, while four ladies of the bed-chamber, very different from the\ndogfaced damsels of the realm of Twilight, advanced with a gracious\nsmile, and each pressing a white hand to her heart, invited her Majesty\nto accompany them. Twelve beautiful pages in fanciful costume, and each\nbearing a torch of cinnamon, preceded them, and Proserpine ascended\na staircase of turquoise and silver. As she passed along, she caught\nglimpses of costly galleries, and suites of gorgeous chambers, but she\nwas almost too fatigued to distinguish anything. A confused vision of\nlong lines of white columns, roofs of carved cedar, or ceilings glowing\nwith forms of exquisite beauty, walls covered with lifelike tapestry,\nor reflecting in their mighty mirrors her own hurrying figure, and her\npicturesque attendants, alone remained. She rejoiced when she at length\narrived in a small chamber, in which preparations evidently denoted\nthat it was intended she should rest. It was a pretty little saloon,\nbrilliantly illuminated, and hung with tapestry depicting a party of\nnymphs and shepherds feasting in an Arcadian scene. In the middle of the\nchamber a banquet was prepared, and as Proserpine seated herself, and\npartook of some of the delicacies which a page immediately presented to\nher, there arose, from invisible musicians, a joyous and festive strain,\nwhich accompanied her throughout her repast. When her Majesty had\nsufficiently refreshed herself, and as the banquet was removing, the\nmusic assumed a softer and more subduing, occasionally even a solemn\ntone; the tapestry, slowly shifting, at length represented the same\ncharacters sunk in repose; the attendants all this time gradually\nextinguishing the lights, and stealing on tiptoe from the chamber. So\nthat, at last, the music, each moment growing fainter, entirely ceased;\nthe figures on the tapestry were scarcely perceptible by the dim lustre\nof a single remaining lamp; and the slumbering Proserpine fell back upon\nher couch.\n\nBut the Queen of Hell was not destined to undisturbed repose. A dream\ndescended on her brain, and the dream was terrible and strange. She\nbeheld herself a child, playing, as was her wont, in the gardens of\nEnna, twining garlands of roses, and chasing butterflies. Suddenly, from\na bosky thicket of myrtle, slowly issued forth an immense serpent, dark\nas night, but with eyes of the most brilliant tint, and approached the\ndaughter of Ceres. The innocent child, ignorant of evil, beheld the\nmonster without alarm. Not only did she neither fly nor shriek, but she\neven welcomed and caressed the frightful stranger, patted its voluminous\nback, and admired its sparkling vision. The serpent, fascinated instead\nof fascinating, licked her feet with his arrowy tongue, and glided about\nfor her diversion in a thousand shapes. Emboldened by its gentleness,\nthe little Proserpine at length even mounted on its back, and rode in\ntriumph among her bowers. Every day the dark serpent issued from the\nthicket, and every day he found a welcome playmate. Now it come to\npass that one day the serpent, growing more bold, induced the young\nProserpine to extend her ride beyond the limits of Enna. Night came on,\nand as it was too late to return, the serpent carried her to a large\ncave, where it made for her a couch of leaves, and while she slept the\naffectionate monster kept guard for her protection at the mouth of the\ncavern. For some reason or other which was not apparent, for in dreams\nthere are always some effects without causes, Proserpine never returned\nto Enna, but remained and resided with cheerfulness in this cavern. Each\nmorning the serpent went forth alone to seek food for its charge,\nand regularly returned with a bough in its mouth laden with delicious\nfruits. One day, during the absence of her guardian, a desire seized\nProserpine to quit the cavern, and accordingly she went forth. The fresh\nair and fragrance of the earth were delightful to her, and she roamed\nabout, unconscious of time, and thoughtless of her return. And as she\nsauntered along, singing to herself, a beautiful white dove, even\nthe same dove that had welcomed her in the morning on the heights of\nElysium, flew before her with its wings glancing in the sunshine. It\nseemed that the bird wished to attract the attention of the child, so\nlong and so closely did it hover about her; now resting on a branch, as\nif inviting capture, and then skimming away only to return more swiftly;\nand occasionally, when for a moment unnoticed, even slightly flapping\nthe rambler with its plume. At length the child was taken with a fancy\nto catch the bird. But no sooner had she evinced this desire, than the\nbird, once apparently so anxious to be noticed, seemed resolved to\nlead her a weary chase; and hours flew away ere Proserpine, panting and\nexhausted, had captured the beautiful rover and pressed it to her bosom.\n\nIt was, indeed, a most beautiful bird, and its possession repaid her\nfor all her exertions. But lo! as she stood, in a wild sylvan scene\ncaressing it, smoothing its soft plumage, and pressing its head to her\ncheek, she beheld in the distance approaching her the serpent, and\nshe beheld her old friend with alarm. Apparently her misgiving was\nnot without cause. She observed in an instant that the appearance and\ndemeanour of the serpent were greatly changed. It approached her swift\nas an arrow, its body rolling in the most agitated contortions, its jaws\nwere distended as if to devour her, its eyes flashed fire, its tongue\nwas a forked flame, and its hiss was like a stormy wind. Proserpine\nshrieked, and the Queen of Hell awoke from her dream.\n\nThe next morning the Elysian world called to pay their respects to\nProserpine. Her Majesty, indeed, held a drawing-room, which was\nfully and brilliantly attended. Her beauty and her graciousness were\nuniversally pronounced enchanting. From this moment the career of\nProserpine was a series of magnificent entertainments. The principal\nElysians vied with each other in the splendour and variety of the\namusements, which they offered to the notice of their Queen. Operas,\nplays, balls, and banquets followed in dazzling succession. Proserpine,\nwho was almost inexperienced in society, was quite fascinated. She\nregretted the years she had wasted in her Sicilian solitude; she\nmarvelled that she ever could have looked forward with delight to a dull\nannual visit to Olympus; she almost regretted that, for the sake of an\nestablishment, she could have been induced to cast her lot in the regal\ngloom of Tartarus. Elysium exactly suited her. The beauty of the climate\nand the country, the total absence of care, the constant presence of\namusement, the luxury, gaiety, and refined enjoyment perfectly accorded\nwith her amiable disposition, her lively fancy and her joyous temper.\nShe drank deep and eagerly of the cup of pleasure. She entered into all\nthe gay pursuits of her subjects; she even invented new combinations\nof diversion. Under her inspiring rule every one confessed that Elysium\nbecame every day more Elysian. The manners of her companions greatly\npleased her. She loved those faces always wreathed with smiles, yet\nnever bursting into laughter. She was charmed at the amiable tone in\nwhich they addressed each other. Never apparently were people at the\nsame time so agreeable, so obliging, and so polished. For in all they\nsaid and did might be detected that peculiar air of high-breeding which\npervades the whole conduct of existence with a certain indefinable\nspirit of calmness, so that your nerves are never shaken by too intense\nan emotion, which eventually produces a painful reaction. Whatever they\ndid, the Elysians were careful never to be vehement; a grand passion,\nindeed, was unknown in these happy regions; love assumed the milder form\nof flirtation; and as for enmity, you were never abused except behind\nyour back, or it exuded itself in an epigram, or, at the worst, a\ncaricature scribbled upon a fan.\n\nThere is one characteristic of the Elysians which, in justice to them, I\nought not to have omitted. They were eminently a moral people. If a lady\ncommitted herself, she was lost for ever, and packed off immediately to\nthe realm of Twilight. Indeed, they were so particular, that the moment\none of the softer sex gave the slightest symptoms of preference to\na fortunate admirer, the Elysian world immediately began to look\nunutterable things, shrug its moral shoulders, and elevate its\ncharitable eyebrows. But if the preference, by any unlucky chance,\nassumed the nobler aspect of devotion, and the unhappy fair one gave any\nindication of really possessing a heart, rest assured she was already\nhalf way on the road to perdition. Then commenced one of the most\ncurious processes imaginable, peculiar I apprehend to Elysium, but which\nI record that the society of less fortunate lands may avail itself of\nthe advantage, and adopt the regulation in its moral police. Immediately\nthat it was clearly ascertained that two persons of different sexes took\nan irrational interest in each other\u2019s society, all the world instantly\nwent about, actuated by a purely charitable sentiment, telling the most\nextraordinary falsehoods concerning them that they could devise. Thus it\nwas the fashion to call at one house and announce that you had detected\nthe unhappy pair in a private box at the theatre, and immediately to pay\nyour respects at another mansion and declare that you had observed them\non the very same day, and at the very same hour, in a boat on the river.\nAt the next visit, the gentleman had been discovered driving her in his\ncab; and in the course of the morning the scene of indiscretion was the\nPark, where they had been watched walking by moonlight, muffled up in\nsables and cashmeres.\n\nThis curious process of diffusing information was known in Elysium\nunder the title of _\u2018being talked about;_\u2019 and although the stories thus\ndisseminated were universally understood to be fictions, the Elysians\nascribed great virtue to the proceeding, maintaining that many an\nindiscreet fair one had been providentially alarmed by thus becoming the\nsubject of universal conversation; that thus many a reputation had\nbeen saved by this charitable slander. There were some malignant\nphilosophers, indeed, doubtless from that silly love of paradox in all\nages too prevalent, who pretended that all this Elysian morality was one\ngreat delusion, and that this scrupulous anxiety about the conduct of\nothers arose from a principle, not of _Purity_, but of _Corruption_.\nThe woman who is \u2018talked about,\u2019 these sages would affirm, is generally\nvirtuous, and she is only abused because she devotes to one the charms\nwhich all wish to enjoy.\n\nThus Dido, who is really one of the finest creatures that ever existed,\nand who with a majestic beauty combines an heroic soul, has made her\nway with difficulty to the Elysian circle, to which her charms and\nrank entitle her; while Helen, who, from her very _debut_, has\nbeen surrounded by fifty lovers, and whose intrigues have ever been\nnotorious, is the very queen of fashion; and all this merely because she\nhas favoured fifty instead of one, and in the midst of all her scrapes\nhas contrived to retain the countenance of her husband.\n\nApropos of Dido, the Queen of Carthage was the person in all Elysium for\nwhom Proserpine took the greatest liking. Exceedingly beautiful, with\nthe most generous temper and the softest heart in the world, and blessed\nby nature with a graceful simplicity of manner, which fashion had\nnever sullied, it really was impossible to gaze upon the extraordinary\nbrilliancy of her radiant countenance, to watch the symmetry of her\nsuperb figure, and to listen to the artless yet lively observations\nuttered by a voice musical as a bell, without being fairly bewitched.\n\nWhen we first enter society, we are everywhere; yet there are few, I\nimagine, who, after a season, do not subside into a coterie. When the\nglare of saloons has ceased to dazzle, and we are wearied with the\nheartless notice of a crowd, we require refinement and sympathy. We find\nthem, and we sink into a clique. And after all, can the river of life\nflow on more agreeably than in a sweet course of pleasure with those\nwe love? To wander in the green shade of secret woods and whisper our\naffection; to float on the sunny waters of some gentle stream, and\nlisten to a serenade; to canter with a light-hearted cavalcade over\nbreezy downs, or cool our panting chargers in the summer stillness of\nwinding and woody lanes; to banquet with the beautiful and the witty; to\nsend care to the devil, and indulge the whim of the moment; the priest,\nthe warrior and the statesman may frown and struggle as they like; but\nthis is existence, and this, this is Elysium!\n\nSo Proserpine deemed when, wearied with the monotony of the great\nworld, she sought refuge in the society of Dido and Atalanta, Achilles,\nAmphion, and Patroclus or Memnon. When AEneas found that Dido had become\nfashionable, he made overtures for a reconciliation, but Dido treated\nhim with calm contempt. The pious AEneas, indeed, was the aversion of\nProserpine. He was the head of the Elysian saints, was president of a\nsociety to induce the Gnomes only to drink water, and was so horrified\nat the general conduct of the Elysians, that he questioned the decrees\nof Minos and Rhadamanthus, who had permitted them to enter the happy\nregion so easily. The pious AEneas was of opinion that everybody ought to\nhave been damned except himself. Proserpine gave him no encouragement.\nAchilles was the finest gentleman in Elysium. No one dressed or rode\nlike him. He was very handsome, very witty, very unaffected, and had an\nexcellent heart. Achilles was the leader of the Elysian youth, who were\nindeed devoted to him: Proserpine took care, therefore, that he should\ndangle in her train. Amphion had a charming voice for a supper after the\nopera. He was a handsome little fellow, but not to be depended upon.\nHe broke a heart, or a dinner engagement, with the same reckless\nsentimentality; for he was one of those who always weep when they betray\nyou, and whom you are sure never to see again immediately that they have\nvowed eternal friendship. Patroclus was a copy of Achilles without his\ntalents and vivacity, but elegant and quiet. Of all these, Memnon was\nperhaps the favourite of Proserpine; nor must he be forgotten; amiable,\ngay, brilliant, the child of whim and impulse, in love with every woman\nhe met for four-and-twenty hours, and always marvelling at his own\ndelusion!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s The Infernal Marriage, by Benjamin Disraeli","title":"The Infernal Marriage","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":19616}