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JURGEN

_A Comedy of Justice_



By

JAMES BRANCH CABELL

1922



   _"Of JURGEN eke they maken mencioun,
   That of an old wyf gat his youthe agoon,
   And gat himselfe a shirte as bright as fyre
   Wherein to jape, yet gat not his desire
   In any countrie ne condicioun."_






TO

BURTON RASCOE

     Before each tarradiddle,
   Uncowed by sciolists,
   Robuster persons twiddle
   Tremendously big fists.

     "Our gods are good," they tell us;
   "Nor will our gods defer
   Remission of rude fellows'
   Ability to err."

     So this, your JURGEN, travels
   Content to compromise
   Ordainments none unravels
   Explicitly... and sighs.





      *       *       *       *       *


"Others, with better moderation, do either entertain the vulgar
history of Jurgen as a fabulous addition unto the true and authentic
story of St. Iurgenius of Poictesme, or else we conceive the literal
acception to be a misconstruction of the symbolical expression:
apprehending a veritable history, in an emblem or piece of Christian
poesy. And this emblematical construction hath been received by men
not forward to extenuate the acts of saints."

                                        --PHILIP BORSDALE.


"A forced construction is very idle. If readers of _The High
History of Jurgen_ do not meddle with the allegory, the allegory
will not meddle with them. Without minding it at all, the whole is
as plain as a pike