1832.] A Mystery for tlte Byron-Critics. 295 



poet has only to take his choice from among its wild and revolting pic- 

 tures. If, however, as Mr. Gait with much ingenuity argues, the " deed 

 without a name/' is meant to consist of the immolation of a human sacri- 

 fice to the infernal powers, and that of a person beloved by the horrid 

 fratricide, such as might be Manfred's sister, Astarte, as is said to be 

 done by the students of the black art the performance we are speaking 

 of will be found to supply the hint as to this also ; for in a mysterious 

 vault-scene (vol. iii. p. 240), we have an intruder into the dark spot, 

 where he finds the body of a man coiled up in a corner, transfixed " in 

 the eminence of horror, as the recollection started in him, that a human 

 carcase is an ingredient essential to some magical compositions. 



Considering the amazing beauty and power of Byron's drama, any 

 mention of these coincidences is only meant for further illustration of 

 the impression which the romance before us seems to have made on his 

 youthful mind. Another or two are perhaps yet more remarkable. 

 The burden of Manfred's regret is his impious and self-destructive thirst 

 after knowledge, which has led him, in the prosecution of his inquiries, 

 to intrude too far into the hidden mysteries of things. His opening 

 speech accordingly contains these sentiments : 



" Sorrow is knowledge ; they who know the most 

 Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth 

 The tree of knowledge is not that of life." 



And further on 



" Knowledge is not happiness/' &c. 



In short the sentiment, in various forms, runs through the whole drama. 

 So also here, in " The Three Brothers" (vol. iv. p. 349-50), we find the 

 restless and discontented Arnaud, who has, as well as Manfred, been 

 dealing with the powers of the invisible world, lamenting thus " Wis- 

 dom,, unjoyous, broke the wholesome current of my blood/' &c. " Perdi- 

 tion lay before me," he adds, almost in the words put into the mouth of 

 Manfred, " unavoidable by retrogation, for truly I felt that never 

 would the fiend have gratified my desire of such wisdom, could it be 

 used to aid my deliverance from him. So conditioned, I lamented the 

 exchange of folly for wisdom/' &c. But further e( Now do I perceive 

 that much of wisdom is much of woe, and that to pass through this 

 world, certain emotions are necessary to the heart as certain languages 

 are to the tongue. Wisely hast thou resolved in declining complete wis- 

 dom to me 'tis torturous," &c. 



But there are more of these coincidences in this romance, both re- 

 minding the reader of other incidents in " Manfred," and of many parts 

 of the poet's after productions. Manfred is seated among the sublime 

 solitudes of the Alps ; Arnaud, otherwise Julian (for Manfred in this 

 romance is merely suppositions), is also among the precipices of the 

 Swiss mountains. Manfred, in his eagerness to rid himself of existence, 

 is about to leap into an abyss beneath him, when his bound is prevented 

 by the accidental presence of a chamois-hunter. Arnaud is also arrested 

 when about to make a similar leap (vol. iv. p. 336), by the sudden interfe- 

 rence of his faithful dog, who, unseen until the moment, pulls the unhappy 

 meditator of suicide by the skirts. Manfred, however, does not exceed 

 Arnaud in eager desire for death ; for the latter, in the wildness of his 

 disappoiutment, in being prevented from his aim, tosses the faithful 



