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250 THE POBTRAIT.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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+ -A^ Ghaptek V. It Lias "Been Affirmed ...
felt for the other . They argued and disputed , defended and maintained the assailed points of differencebut never quarrelled about
, _questions on which every one has a right to form his own judgment . Indeed , their debates usually ended in a good-humored
laugh on the part of Mr . Martyn , who declared his wife . . to be toomany stages before her age , while she persisted that he "was blinded
by Mrs the . dust Mart of yn masculine found in me prejudices an ardent . . disciple ; for the subjects on
which and irritating she employe and d which her pen gave were nie _^ precisel a miserable y those op that inion were of justice puzzling as
seen in the dealings , of man with man in the actual relations of life . And when I read as the judgment of many grave thinkers , that the
more one sees of human nature the more despicable it appears , " that man has his price & c . & cand that intense selfishness
every , , rules and sways the entire . mass" —I should , had my nature not been against ithave decidedly become misanthropicdespaired of man as
an individual , and consequently of the whole race , . But as I could not bring myself , to confess that I was so utterly low , base , and
selfishneither could I condemn others in that wholesale fashion , therefore , I could not and would not give iip my _hoiDe in the
elevation of the race at large , any more than I could cease to hope and _asjDire for myself . Thus it chanced , happily for me , that while
m shown weeks many el hat apsed eful unt truths il , I I foun did d not myself become as one desponding of the fam . Not ily ,
tre any ated with uniform courtesy by Mr . Martyn , and with unostentatious kindness by his wife . The former was a collector of rare old
prints , of which he had amassed I know not how many portfolios ; he also-was a bit of an antiquarian , a member of several societies founded
for the express purpose of raking up , from amidst the rubbish of the pastanything and everything * supposed to be valuable .. Nothing "
came , amiss to some of the learned seekers , from yellow faded parchments , old coins , old bones , old stones , down to rusty scraps of iron ,
and fragments of , red ( antique of course ) earthenware . All that _coiild throw light backwards was as religiously preserved by
worthy Mr . Martyn as if it had been a relic of some favorite saintand he a devout Catholic . Pie early perceived that my taste
did not , turn in that directionindeedthat I had a distaste forand did not value the contents , of his , museum of antiquities as , he
conceived I ought to have . done ; but for this indifference I made up and atoned by the eag ; erness I showed when he condescended to give
me his rich and really beautiful collection of gems in art to examine . On this topic we got 031 admirably , and when , in the course of time ,
I ventured to ask his opinion of some of my own . sketches , which he gave with the authority of an acknowledged connoisseur , and I
received as such , our amicable relation towards each other was perfected . Unbroken harmony reigned , except when , now and
then , a disputation occurred , brought on by some statement or assertion made by Mr . Martyn , with which my good friend could
not altogether chime in .
250 The Pobtrait.
250 THE POBTRAIT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 250, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/34/
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