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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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Untitled Article
Cosmo . No , no ! He hath been foully murder'd , and ' twas drawn To cheat stern retribution—who has done it ? Where ' s Garcia—where was Garcia when ' twas done ?"—p . 58 .
Nearly every line of this highly-wrought scene is worthy of consideration . Mark how the impatience of the absence of his sons , which Cosmo has restrained , breaks out at the
first mention of their names ; his quick perception that something has happened ; the deep completeness of the shock , from the immediate grasp his mind takes of his misfortune
the instant self-government" Stand fast ! " the careful provision that the guests shall not observe anything is wrong ; the hurried explanation he forces out , going at once to the important points , not listening to or speaking an useless word ; the instant inference he draws . His decision on the motives of Garcia is wrong , but corrobo-
Untitled Article
rated by circumstances ; this is strictly true to his nature . Whoever rests with a proud consciousness of his power on a quick and accurate judgment , right as he will be in the great sum of his decisions , will be liable to failure where powerful passion requires to be dealt with . His calculation of probabilities will lead him far
astray . Some of the strongest passions of Cosmo are attacked in the death of his favourite son , the object on whom his thoughts , labours , hopes , and ambitious plans were fixed ; and attacked by the very being who of all others has resisted
his will and foiled his control . Stern reality now forces some of its wonted lessons on his mind : —
" Cosmo . What ' s all this coil of state—ambitious hopes , Wars , well-won honours , policies , designs , Ponderings and weighings , aching sleepless nights , Or acts decisive , breeding years of toil To work out good results!—thus in a moment Comes simple death , and all ' s at once dispers ed Like straws before a sudden open'd gate !"— . p . 59 .
Ippolita , who seeks him to own her love for Giovanni , and to renounce it : —
" Cosmo . Ippolita !—why art thou wandering , girl , With wretched looks ? Ippo . I have a weight—here—here ! I would your highness knew the cause ? Cosmo . I ' ve cares Enough to swell the sea ;—yet , tell thy grief . Ipp o . I have long desir'd to do so ,
The desolating convictions so rudely forced on his mind are rooted in the very depths of the grave by his interview with
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198 Cosmo de Medici .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 1, 1837, page 198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1835/page/54/
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