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Untitled Article
when those passions tend to action on outward things . In the final triumph of his spirit , victorious in defeat , is equally finely indicated the secure peace of self-centered power , which conquers destiny , rising above the " ignorant present /* in the consciousness of innate dignity , and of the work it has done ; seemingly in vain , but not without its great purpose in the vast progression of things . An audience might easily miss points such as these : —
" Xavie ? . I have learned a truth : Our sun hath shone ! the weight of the worlds scorn Is heavy on us , that we cannot rise ; Or rising for an instant , cannot stand : — And ' tis a truth that makes me wish to die . "—p . 74 . Or
this" Xavier . Leave ample space For the great exit of a mighty soul ! \ JDraws a concealed dagger : they shrink back involuntarily The last of all the race of Israel's kings Passed front earth to heaven his passport , this ! \_ Stabs himself and falls on his daughter s body Ye are baffled dogs I I'll die on thy hush'd heart , My gentle daughter . Faith ! I once did dream Ot building up a new Jerusalem Here in this Saragossa ; and had visions
Of Israel ' s resurrection : hut , ' tis past—Yet will her full hour come- —hear it ! ' twill come . \_ Dies "—p . 81 . The immediate entrance of the imbecile King , his puerile lamentations , and the winding-up speech of the ' Princess Isabella / may have distracted the attention of the audience from this noble consummation of a devoted spirit , wrecked in the contest with an artificial world , but overcoming the world in the great simplicity of nature .
The difference between Xavier and his daughter , * the Hebrew Queen / whose beauty won for a brief space the crown for herself and freedom for her people , is marked with subtle power and delicacy . She is equally energetic with him , but she is distracted between contending passions . His aim is single , and disinterested ; her ' s two-fold , and strongly tinged with selfishness . Hence his fixed constancy of soul , and her fearfulness in danger . How grand she is when she gives herself to one feeling with all the force of her great heart ; as when , in the adversity of the King , she says : —
" To the most barren desert-r—the drear ' st cave That fore-shows hell ' s feigned g loom upon the earth , 111 follow thee ! if need ; and tnoii shalt still Call me thy Hebrew Queen . My heart ' s t apirtt . "—p . 61 *
Untitled Article
Dramatic Recollections . $ M >
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1, 1837, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1829/page/29/
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