The Infernal Marriage
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Benjamin Disraeli >> The Infernal Marriage
The priests were followed by fifty dark chariots, drawn by blue satyrs.
Herein was the wardrobe of the Queen, and her Majesty's cooks.
Tiresias came next, in a basalt chariot, yoked to royal steeds. He was
attended by Manto, who shared his confidence, and who, some said, was
his daughter, and others his niece. Venerable seer! Who could behold
that flowing beard, and the thin grey hairs of that lofty and wrinkled
brow, without being filled with sensations of awe and affection? A smile
of bland benignity played upon his passionless and reverend countenance.
Fortunate the monarch who is blessed with such a counsellor! Who could
have supposed that all this time Tiresias was concocting an epigram on
Pluto!
The Queen! The Queen!
Upon a superb throne, placed upon an immense car, and drawn by twelve
coal-black steeds, four abreast, reposed the royal daughter of Ceres.
Her rich dark hair was braided off her high pale forehead, and fell in
voluptuous clusters over her back. A tiara sculptured out of a single
brilliant, and which darted a flash like lightning on the surrounding
multitude, was placed somewhat negligently on the right side of her
head; but no jewels broke the entrancing swell of her swan-like neck, or
were dimmed by the lustre of her ravishing arms. How fair was the Queen
of Hell! How thrilling the solemn lustre of her violet eye! A robe,
purple as the last hour of twilight, encompassed her transcendent form,
studded with golden stars!
Through the dim hot streets of Tartarus moved the royal procession,
until it reached the first winding of the river Styx. Here an immense
assemblage of yachts and barges, dressed out with the infernal
colours, denoted the appointed spot of the royal embarkation. Tiresias,
dismounting from his chariot, and leaning on Manto, now approached her
Majesty, and requesting her royal commands, recommended her to lose no
time in getting on board.
'When your Majesty is once on the Styx,' observed the wily seer, 'it may
be somewhat difficult to recall you to Hades; but I know very little of
Clotho, may it please your Majesty, if she have not already commenced
her intrigues in Tartarus.'
'You alarm me!' said Proserpine.
'It was not my intention. Caution is not fear.'
'But do you think that Pluto------'
'May it please your Majesty, I make it a rule never to think. I know too
much.'
'Let us embark immediately!'
'Certainly; I would recommend your Majesty to get off at once. Myself
and Manto will accompany you, and the cooks. If an order arrive to stay
our departure, we can then send back the priests.'
'You counsel well, Tiresias. I wish you had not been absent on my
arrival. Affairs might have gone better.'
'Not at all. Had I been in Hell, your enemies would have been more wary.
Your Majesty's excellent spirit carried you through triumphantly; but it
will not do so twice. You turned them out, and I must keep them out.'
'So be it, my dear friend.' Thus saying, the Queen descended her
throne, and leaving the rest of her retinue to follow with all possible
despatch, embarked on board the infernal yacht, with Tiresias, Manto,
the chief cook, and some chosen attendants, and bid adieu for the first
time, not without agitation, to the gloomy banks of Tartarus.
The breeze was favourable, and, animated by the exhortations of
Tiresias, the crew exerted themselves to the utmost. The barque swiftly
scudded over the dark waters. The river was of great breadth, and in
this dim region the crew were soon out of sight of land.
'You have been in Elysium?' inquired Proserpine of Tiresias.
'I have been everywhere,' replied the seer, 'and though I am blind have
managed to see a great deal more than my fellows.'
'I have often heard of you,' said the Queen, 'and I confess that yours
is a career which has much interested me. What vicissitudes in affairs
have you not witnessed! And yet you have somehow or other contrived to
make your way through all the storms in which others have sunk, and are
now, as you always have been, in an exalted position. What can be
your magic? I would that you would initiate me. I know that you are a
prophet, and that even the gods consult you.'
'Your Majesty is complimentary. I certainly have had a great deal of
experience. My life has no doubt been a long one, but I have made it
longer by never losing a moment. I was born, too, at a great crisis in
affairs. Everything that took place before the Trojan war passes for
nothing in the annals of wisdom. That was a great revolution in all
affairs human and divine, and from that event we must now date all our
knowledge. Before the Trojan war we used to talk of the rebellion of
the Titans, but that business now is an old almanac. As for my powers of
prophecy, believe me, that those who understand the past are very well
qualified to predict the future. For my success in life, it may be
principally ascribed to the observance of a simple rule--I never
trust anyone, either god or man. I make an exception in favour of the
goddesses, and especially of your Majesty,' added Tiresias, who piqued
himself on his gallantry.
While they were thus conversing, the Queen directed the attention
of Manto to a mountainous elevation which now began to rise in the
distance, and which, from the rapidity of the tide and the freshness of
the breeze, they approached at a swift rate.
'Behold the Stygian mountains,' replied Manto. 'Through their centre
runs the passage of Night which leads to the regions of Twilight.'
'We have, then, far to travel?'
'Assuredly it is no easy task to escape from the gloom of Tartarus
to the sunbeams of Elysium,' remarked Tiresias; 'but the pleasant is
generally difficult; let us be grateful that in our instance it is not,
as usual, forbidden.'
'You say truly; I am sorry to confess how very often it appears to
me that sin is enjoyment. But see! how awful are these perpendicular
heights, piercing the descending vapours, with their peaks clothed with
dark pines! We seem land-locked.'
But the experienced master of the infernal yacht knew well how to steer
his charge through the intricate windings of the river, which here,
though deep and navigable, became as wild and narrow as a mountain
stream; and, as the tide no longer served them, and the wind, from their
involved course, was as often against them as in their favour, the crew
were obliged to have recourse to their oars, and rowed along until they
arrived at the mouth of an enormous cavern, from which the rapid stream
apparently issued.
'I am frightened out of my wits,' exclaimed Proserpine. 'Surely this
cannot be our course?'
'I hold, from your Majesty's exclamation,' said Tiresias, 'that we have
arrived at the passage of Night. When we have proceeded some hundred
yards, we shall reach the adamantine portals. I pray your Majesty be not
alarmed. I alone have the signet which can force these mystic gates to
open. I must be stirring myself. What, ho! Manto.'
'Here am I, father. Hast thou the seal?'
'In my breast. I would not trust it to my secretaries. They have my
portfolios full of secret despatches, written on purpose to deceive
them; for I know that they are spies in the pay of Minerva; but your
Majesty perceives, with a little prudence, that even a traitor may be
turned to account.'
Thus saying, Tiresias, leaning on Manto, hobbled to the poop of the
vessel, and exclaiming aloud, 'Behold the mighty seal of Dis, whereon
is inscribed the word the Titans fear,' the gates immediately flew open,
revealing the gigantic form of the Titan Porphyrin, whose head touched
the vault of the mighty cavern, although he was up to his waist in the
waters of the river.
'Come, my noble Porphyrion,' said Tiresias, 'bestir thyself, I beseech
thee. I have brought thee a Queen. Guide her Majesty, I entreat thee,
with safety through this awful passage of Night.'
'What a horrible creature,' whispered Proserpine. 'I wonder you address
him with such courtesy.'
'I am always courteous,' replied Tiresias. 'How know I that the Titans
may not yet regain their lost heritage? They are terrible fellows; and
ugly or not, I have no doubt that even your Majesty would not find them
so ill-favoured were they seated in the halls of Olympus.'
'There is something in that,' replied Proserpine. 'I almost wish I were
once more in Tartarus.'
The Titan Porphyrion in the meantime had fastened a chain-cable to the
vessel, which he placed over his shoulder, and turning his back to the
crew, then wading through the waters, he dragged on the vessel in its
course. The cavern widened, the waters spread. To the joy of Proserpine,
apparently, she once more beheld the moon and stars.
'Bright crescent of Diana!' exclaimed the enraptured Queen, 'and ye
too, sweet stars, that I have so often watched on the Sicilian plains;
do I, then, indeed again behold you? or is it only some exquisite vision
that entrances my being? for, indeed, I do not feel the freshness of
that breeze that was wont to renovate my languid frame; nor does the
odorous scent of flowers wafted from the shores delight my jaded senses.
What is it? Is it life or death; earth, indeed, or Hell?'
''Tis nothing,' said Tiresias, 'but a great toy. You must know that
Saturn--until at length, wearied by his ruinous experiments, the gods
expelled him his empire--was a great dabbler in systems. He was always
for making moons brighter than Diana, and lighting the stars by gas; but
his systems never worked. The tides rebelled against their mistress, and
the stars went out with a horrible stench. This is one of his creations,
the most ingenious, though a failure. Jove made it a present to Pluto,
who is quite proud of having a sun and stars of his own, and reckons it
among the choice treasures of his kingdoms.'
'Poor Saturn! I pity him; he meant well.' 'Very true. He is the paviour
of the high-street of Hades. But we cannot afford kings, and especially
Gods, to be philosophers. The certainty of misrule is better than the
chance of good government; uncertainty makes people restless.'
'I feel very restless myself; I wish we were in Elysium!'
'The river again narrows!' exclaimed Manto. 'There is no other portal
to pass. The Saturnian moon and stars grow fainter, there is a grey tint
expanding in the distance; 'tis the realm of Twilight; your Majesty will
soon disembark.'
PART III.
_Containing an Account of Tiresias at His Rubber_
TRAVELLERS who have left their homes generally grow mournful as the
evening draws on; nor is there, perhaps, any time at which the pensive
influence of twilight is more predominant than on the eve that follows a
separation from those we love. Imagine, then, the feelings of the Queen
of Hell, as her barque entered the very region of that mystic light,
and the shadowy shores of the realm of Twilight opened before her. Her
thoughts reverted to Pluto; and she mused over all his fondness, all his
adoration, and all his indulgence, and the infinite solicitude of his
affectionate heart, until the tears trickled down her beautiful cheeks,
and she marvelled she ever could have quitted the arms of her lover.
'Your Majesty,' observed Manto, who had been whispering to Tiresias,
'feels, perhaps, a little wearied?'
'By no means, my kind Manto,' replied Proserpine, starting from her
reverie. 'But the truth is, my spirits are unequal; and though I
really cannot well fix upon the cause of their present depression, I am
apparently not free from the contagion of the surrounding gloom.'
'It is the evening air,' said Tiresias. 'Your Majesty had perhaps better
re-enter the pavilion of the yacht. As for myself, I never venture about
after sunset. One grows romantic. Night was evidently made for in-door
nature. I propose a rubber.'
To this popular suggestion Proserpine was pleased to accede, and herself
and Tiresias, Manto and the captain of the yacht, were soon engaged at
the proposed amusement.
Tiresias loved a rubber. It was true he was blind, but then, being a
prophet, that did not signify. Tiresias, I say, loved a rubber, and
was a first-rate player, though, perhaps, given a little too much to
_finesse_. Indeed, he so much enjoyed taking in his fellow-creatures,
that he sometimes could not resist deceiving his own partner. Whist is
a game which requires no ordinary combination of qualities; at the same
time, memory and invention, a daring fancy, and a cool head. To a mind
like that of Tiresias, a pack of cards was full of human nature. A
rubber was a microcosm; and he ruffed his adversary's king, or brought
in a long suit of his own with as much dexterity and as much enjoyment
as, in the real business of existence, he dethroned a monarch, or
introduced a dynasty.
'Will your Majesty be pleased to draw your card?' requested the sage.
'If I might venture to offer your Majesty a hint, I would dare to
recommend your Majesty not to play before your turn. My friends are
fond of ascribing my success in my various missions to the possession of
peculiar qualities. No such thing: I owe everything to the simple habit
of always waiting till it is my turn to speak. And believe me, that he
who plays before his turn at whist, commits as great a blunder as he who
speaks before his turn during a negotiation.'
'The trick, and two by honours,' said Proserpine. 'Pray, my dear
Tiresias, you who are such a fine player, how came you to trump my best
card?'
'Because I wanted the lead. And those who want to lead, please your
Majesty, must never hesitate about sacrificing their friends.'
'I believe you speak truly. I was right in playing that thirteenth
card?'
'Quite so. Above all things, I love a thirteenth card. I send it forth,
like a mock project in a revolution, to try the strength of parties.'
'You should not have forced me, Lady Manto,' said the Captain of the
yacht, in a grumbling tone, to his partner. 'By weakening me, you
prevented me bringing in my spades. We might have made the game.'
'You should not have been forced,' said Tiresias. 'If she made a
mistake, who was unacquainted with your plans, what a terrible blunder
you committed to share her error without her ignorance!'
'What, then, was I to lose a trick?'
'Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity,' replied Tiresias, 'the
most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.'
'I have cut you an honour, sir,' said Manto.
'Which reminds me,' replied Tiresias, 'that, in the last hand, your
Majesty unfortunately forgot to lead through your adversary's ace. I
have often observed that nothing ever perplexes an adversary so much as
an appeal to his honour.'
'I will not forget to follow your advice,' said the Captain of the
yacht, playing accordingly.
'By which you have lost the game,' quietly remarked Tiresias. 'There are
exceptions to all rules, but it seldom answers to follow the advice of
an opponent.'
'Confusion!' exclaimed the Captain of the yacht.
'Four by honours, and the trick, I declare,' said Proserpine. 'I was so
glad to see you turn up the queen, Tiresias.'
'I also, madam. Without doubt there are few cards better than her royal
consort, or, still more, the imperial ace. Nevertheless, I must confess,
I am perfectly satisfied whenever I remember that I have the Queen on my
side.'
Proserpine bowed.
'I have a good mind to do it, Tiresias,' said Queen Proserpine, as that
worthy sage paid his compliments to her at her toilet, at an hour which
should have been noon.
'It would be a great compliment,' said Tiresias.
'And it is not much out of our way?'
'By no means,' replied the seer. ''Tis an agreeable half-way house. He
lives in good style.'
'And whence can a dethroned monarch gain a revenue?'.inquired the Queen.
'Your Majesty, I see, is not at all learned in politics. A sovereign
never knows what an easy income is till he has abdicated. He generally
commences squabbling with his subjects about the supplies; he is then
expelled, and voted, as compensation, an amount about double the sum
which was the cause of the original quarrel.'
'What do you think, Manto?' said Proserpine, as that lady entered the
cabin; 'we propose paying a visit to Saturn. He has fixed his residence,
you know, in these regions of twilight.'
'I love a junket,' replied Manto, 'above all things. And, indeed, I was
half frightened out of my wits at the bare idea of toiling over this
desert. All is prepared, please your Majesty, for our landing. Your
Majesty's litter is quite ready.'
''Tis well,' said Proserpine; and leaning on the arm of Manto, the Queen
came upon deck, and surveyed the surrounding country, a vast grey flat,
with a cloudless sky of the same tint: in the distance some lowering
shadows, which seemed like clouds but were in fact mountains.
'Some half-dozen hours,' said Tiresias, 'will bring us to the palace
of Saturn. We shall arrive for dinner; the right hour. Let me recommend
your Majesty to order the curtains of your litter to be drawn, and, if
possible, to resume your dreams.'
'They were not pleasant,' said Proserpine, 'I dreamt of my mother and
the Parcae. Manto, methinks I'll read. Hast thou some book?'
'Here is a poem, Madam, but I fear it may induce those very slumbers you
dread.'
'How call you it?'
'"The Pleasures of Oblivion." The poet apparently is fond of his
subject.'
'And is, I have no doubt, equal to it. Hast any prose?'
'An historical novel or so.'
'Oh! if you mean those things as full of costume as a fancy ball, and
almost as devoid of sense, I'll have none of them. Close the curtains;
even visions of the Furies are preferable to these insipidities.'
The halt of the litter roused the Queen from her slumbers. 'We have
arrived,' said Manto, as she assisted in withdrawing the curtains.
The train had halted before a vast propylon of rose-coloured granite.
The gate was nearly two hundred feet in height, and the sides of the
propylon, which rose like huge moles, were sculptured with colossal
figures of a threatening aspect. Passing through the propylon, the
Queen of Hell and her attendants entered an avenue in length about
three-quarters of a mile, formed of colossal figures of the same
character and substance, alternately raising in their arms javelins or
battle-axes, as if about to strike. At the end of this heroic avenue
appeared the palace of Saturn. Ascending a hundred steps of black
marble, you stood before a portico supported by twenty columns of the
same material and shading a single portal of bronze. Apparently the
palace formed an immense quadrangle; a vast tower rising from each
corner, and springing from the centre a huge and hooded dome. A crowd of
attendants, in grey and sad-coloured raiment, issued from the portal
of the palace at the approach of Proserpine, who remarked with strange
surprise their singular countenances and demeanour; for rare in this
silent assemblage was any visage resembling aught she had seen, human
or divine. Some bore the heads of bats; of owls and beetles others;
some fluttered moth-like wings, while the shoulders of other bipeds were
surmounted, in spite of their human organisation, with the heads of rats
and weasels, of marten-cats and of foxes. But they were all remarkably
civil; and Proserpine, who was now used to wonders, did not shriek at
all, and scarcely shuddered.
The Queen of Hell was ushered through a superb hall, and down a splendid
gallery, to a suite of apartments where a body of damsels of a most
distinguished appearance awaited her. Their heads resembled those of the
most eagerly-sought, highly-prized, and oftenest-stolen lap-dogs.
Upon the shoulders of one was the visage of the smallest and most
thorough-bred little Blenheim in the world. Upon her front was a white
star, her nose was nearly flat, and her ears were tied under her chin,
with the most jaunty air imaginable. She was an evident flirt; and a
solemn prude of a spaniel, with a black and tan countenance, who seemed
a sort of duenna, evidently watched her with no little distrust. The
admirers of blonde beauties would, however, have fallen in love with
a poodle, with the finest head of hair imaginable, and most voluptuous
shoulders. This brilliant band began barking in the most insinuating
tone on the appearance of the Queen; and Manto, who was almost as
dexterous a linguist as Tiresias himself, informed her Majesty that
these were the ladies of her bed-chamber; upon which Proserpine, who, it
will be remembered had no passion for dogs, ordered them immediately out
of her room.
'What a droll place!' exclaimed the Queen. 'Do you know, we are later
than I imagined? A hasty toilet to-day; I long to see Saturn. It is
droll, I am hungry. My purple velvet, I think; it may be considered a
compliment. No diamonds, only jet; a pearl or two, perhaps. Didst ever
see the King?
They say he is gentlemanlike, though a bigot. No! no rouge to-day; this
paleness is quite _apropos_. Were I as radiant as usual, I should be
taken for Aurora.'
So leaning on Manto, and preceded by the ladies of her bed-chamber,
whom, notwithstanding their repulse, she found in due attendance in the
antechamber, Proserpine again continued her progress down the gallery,
until they stopped at a door, which opening, she was ushered into the
grand circular saloon, crowned by the dome, whose exterior the Queen had
already observed. The interior of this apartment was entirely of black
and grey marble, with the exception of the dome itself, which was of
ebony, richly carved and supported by more than a hundred columns. There
depended from the centre of the arch a single chandelier of frosted
silver, which was itself as big as an ordinary chamber, but of the
most elegant form, and delicate and fantastic workmanship. As the Queen
entered the saloon, a personage of venerable appearance, dressed in a
suit of black velvet, and leaning on an ivory cane, advanced to salute
her. There was no mistaking this personage; his manners were at once so
courteous and so dignified. He was clearly their host; and Proserpine,
who was quite charmed with his grey locks and his black velvet cap, his
truly paternal air, and the beneficence of his unstudied smile, could
scarcely refrain from bending her knee, and pressing her lips to his
extended hand.
'I am proud that your Majesty has remembered me in my retirement,' said
Saturn, as he led Proserpine to a seat.
Their mutual compliments were soon disturbed by the announcement
of dinner, and Saturn offering his arm to the Queen with an air of
politeness which belonged to the old school, but which the ladies admire
in old men, handed Proserpine to the banqueting-room. They were followed
by some of the principal personages of her Majesty's suite, and a couple
of young Titans, who enjoyed the posts of aides-de-camp to the ex-King,
and whose duties consisted of carving at dinner.
It was a most agreeable dinner, and Proserpine was delighted with
Saturn, who, of course, sat by her side, and paid her every possible
attention. Saturn, whose manners, as has been observed, were of the old
school, loved a good story, and told several. His anecdotes, especially
of society previous to the Trojan war, were highly interesting. There
ran through all his behaviour, too, a tone of high breeding and of
consideration for others which was really charming; and Proserpine, who
had expected to find in her host a gloomy bigot, was quite surprised
at the truly liberal spirit with which he seemed to consider affairs in
general. Indeed this unexpected tone made so great an impression upon
her, that finding a good opportunity after dinner, when they were
sipping their coffee apart from the rest of the company, she could not
refrain from entering into some conversation with the ex-King upon the
subject, and the conversation ran thus:
'Do you know,' said Proserpine, 'that much as I have been pleased
and surprised during my visit to the realms of twilight, nothing has
pleased, and I am sure nothing has surprised me more, than to observe
the remarkably liberal spirit in which your Majesty views the affairs of
the day.'
'You give me a title, beautiful Proserpine, to which I have no claim,'
replied Saturn. 'You forget that I am now only Count Hesperus; I am no
longer a king, and believe me, I am very glad of it.'
'What a pity, my dear sir, that you would not condescend to conform to
the spirit of the age. For myself, I am quite a reformer.'
'So I have understood, beautiful Proserpine, which I confess has a
little surprised me; for to tell you the truth, I do not consider that
reform is exactly _our_ trade.'
'Affairs cannot go on as they used,' observed Proserpine, oracularly;
'we must bow to the spirit of the age.'
'And what is that?' inquired Saturn.
'I do not exactly know,' replied Proserpine, 'but one hears of it
everywhere.'
'I also heard of it a great deal,' replied Saturn, 'and was also
recommended to conform to it. Before doing so, however, I thought it as
well to ascertain its nature, and something also of its strength.'
'It is terribly strong,' observed Proserpine.
'But you think it will be stronger?' inquired the ex-King.