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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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order that , free and unfettered by its influence , she might make her election , by which he would finally abide . The whole des cription here is very fine , but we do not attempt to convey it by extract . We pass to the fatal termination * She attempted to escape from the desolate hut near the sea shore , to which a drive of five miles had brought them , ( whilst , during an interval of her recovery from the constant convulsion fits which had
succeeded each other from the moment she was placed in the carriage , he had left her to prepare the means of conveying her home , ) and in the attempt she was overwhelmed in the waters of the rising tide . The description of his burying hex we think among the finest we have ever read : — u Some ten yards above high water mark , there was a single , leafless , moss-grown , skeleton tree , with something like soil about its roots * and
sheltered from the spray and breeze by the vicinity of a sand-hill close to it we dug a deep grave . I placed the cushions in it , on which her fair form , all warm and soft , had reposed during the preceding night Then I composed her stark limbs , banding the long wet tresses of her abundant hair across her eyes , for ever closed , crossing her hands upon her pure , death-cold bosom . I touched her reverently , I did not even profane her hand by a kiss ; I wrapped her in her cloak , and laid her in
the open grave . I tore down some of the decaying boughs of the withered tree , and arching them above her body , threw my own cloak above , so with vain care to protect her lifeless form from immediate contact with the soil . Then we filled up the grave , and scattering dry sand above , removed every sign of recent opening . This was performed in silence , or with whispered words—the roaring waves were her knell
the rising sun her funeral torch ; I was satisfied with the solemnity of the scene around , and I was composed , for I was resolved on death . "— . Vol . ii . p . 282 .
That instead of dying , Falkner lived on to write this narrative and to be tried for murder , is a point which requires a strong motive . Such a motive , however , is provided , and his life is preserved in consistency with his character . But , when the child he adopted for the sake of Alithea was safely pro * vided for , and the fame of Alithea was cleared by his fall disclosure of all the tragical history which was attached to her disappearance and death , Falkner had no more to live for . It is hard to say how much individual natures may be capable of enduring before the " long day ' s work is done ; " but it would have been more in accordance with the abstract truth of
fiction , had the story terminated with his death , instead of leaving him among a new generation , to " live happily to the end of his days / ' An instance of the same failure in thoroughly and consistently following character and action to their results , is shewn in representing Neville as becoming generous and highminded towards the close of his life . Whatever elements of
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Falkner . 235
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/45/
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