Prometheus the Fire-Bringer. By R. H. Horne. (Edinburgh : Eamon-
stone and Douglas.)—This drains is intended to complete the Pro- methean trilogy. It gives the commencement of the story of which the surviving play of ./Eschylus is the continuation, and the " Prometheus Unbound " of Shelley the conclusion. This is a terrible responsibility
that the author has undertaken. From the "savage solitude" of the Blue Mountain in Australia, "working wit hout books, in the midst of labours of a very different kind," he sends us a dramatic poem that must be compared with the sublime simplicity of the old Greek on the one hand, and. the unsurpassed lyrics of the English "poet of poets " on the other. We cannot think that the audacity of the enterprise has been justified by success, but we will leave the author to speak for him- self. The plot of course is very simple. The chorus consisting of four groups, three of mortals and one of Ocoanides, bewail the misery of their lot, deprived as they are of fire ; Athena and Aphrodite, who are represented as benevolently disposed, encourage them with hopes that somebody will do something for them, whilst Hephaestus, who takes the same judicious course here as afterwards in the .1F.schyleon drama, suggests caution. Prometheus then cornea on the stage, and in reply to the incitements of the chorus and the warnings of Hephlestus, announces that he is "prepared to scale the Heavens and bring down Fire which man shall keep for ever." On which the chorus bursts out into the following incomprehensible strain :— " Oh ! Titan God!
Descendant of the ancient Dignities, The grand old Dynasty, whereof the Sirens
Sing to their star-entrancing lyres,
And Echo bears among the shining spheres For soft responses through Infinity 1 " Then Prometheus goes on to explain the advantages that will accrue from the gift he proposes to procure :— " Brass and iron Will take the place of flint ; pulse, berries, roots Exchanged for well-stored grain. Rude huts and eaves Will be transformed to homes of artful brick, Made with baked mud and straw," —and so on for a great many prosaic lines. Finally he proceeds on his mission, and what takes place is thus described by the sub-chorus of Oceanides :—
" Oh, listen!—faintly breathing— Wafting—swelling—swooning—stealing—
Aeolian music 'tends the mystic wreathing Of sapphire-glowing vapours, now revealing Prometheus' fast-ascending feet!"
The end of the story of course brings us to the beginning of the " Pro- metheus Vinctus." The fire has been procured, and the martyr, on his way to the Caucasian rock, where Braes and Bia await him, is thus consoled again by the Oceanides :— " The fangs may rend, the hailstorm freeze ; He will endure for future fruit, And silent as the growth of trees Believe in Sunlight and a root !"
There is a long list of errata, into which we looked to see if there was any correction to be made in this stanza; we found none, and so must leave it to the ingenuity of our readers to discover a meaning. This and the other quotations will, we think, be sufficient to justify what we said at the beginning of this notice as to the general merit of the drama.
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