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SILVIO PELLICO. *
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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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four logic of them ; he thinks otherwise of his perception , and in nine cases out of ten , casts his leer of suspicion on that which is a note of innocence , and trusts to that , yieldingly and impLicitly , which if he possessed the penetration of which he boasts , he would know was a manoeuvre for deception . Hia caution dims his sight , his suspicion is a pair of dirty spectacles .
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Silvio [ PeUico . 403
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Of Silvio Pellico we knew nothing , until we opened this book , except what common report had told us , that he was one of the victims on whom the wrath or suspicion of the emperor of Austria had alighted , and who had endured the horrors of a ten years' imprisonment , chiefly in the fortress of Spielberg . Of his political
history , we know no more than before . He disavows all intention of making his readers wise upon this point , but gives us the simple biography of his heart , mind , and bodily estate during the term of his suffering , including also some beautiful records of those who were either the sharers of his captivity , or its guardians . They therefore who take up the volume , expecting to find a political
work , or even to learn the history of a patriot mind burning with indignation at its own and its country ' s wrongs , will be disappointed . It is not these , but it is something more singular , and to our minds , more affecting . The truths it sets forth are universal , the manner of treating them noble , simple , quiet , feeling , and manly . One of its main objects the author avows to be that
of attesting that , in the midst of suffering and degradation , he found human nature a better and a nobler thing than it is too often believed to be ; another , and a kind one , is to comfort the afflicted by the account of his own supports ; a third , and the noblest , is to invite the high and lofty of heart to the love , and not the hatred , of all their fellow-creatures ; to indulge hatred only ,
evermore and irreconcilably , against all low ends , all cowardice , perfidy , and every sort of moral degradation . There is not a trace in the book of irritated , selfish feeling . It beams from beginning to end with love to God and goodwill to man , treasures up every good trait of human nature , delights in recording the kindnesses which had softened captivity , and bears a joyful testimony to the blessed consolations of Christianity . It has little to say of
suffering , except as a necessary part of human discipline , the gift ( a blessed gift ) of a father ' s love . The book may be a little un-English in the tone of its expressions here and there , both with respect to religion , and brotherly and filial affection . Better , perhaps , that it should be so , or , waving that doubt , better , at all events , for us that we should receive it in a universal rather than a national spirit . We may not be desirous of going to school to foreigners in either the exercise or expressions of the sweet * Le Mie Prigioni , memorie di Silvio Pellico da Salluzio . 1833 , Londra , Rolandi .
Silvio Pellico. *
SILVIO PELLICO . *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 403, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/43/
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