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;? 44
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THE CHOICE .
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Dram . Pers . —Count Erlstein ; Edgar , his Son ; Karl , an embodied Demon , subservient to the Count . SCENE I . A Ba ? iqueting Hall , splendidly illuminated , guests departing in the distance . Count [ solus ] . Now , heav ' n be praised ! the farce at length is o ' er And my guests' lips so lately wreathed in smiles ' Smiles that so ill become mankind !—may curl
In mingled scorn and envy ; or , compressed In the self-torturing hate that fills their hearts , Scantly leave passage for a heartfelt curse . And I , who scorn Earth ' s lying things too much To hate the proudest or the greatest of them , I , too , may smile in scorn , and speak aloud
Without a wish to cheat deceitful hearers . False friend , and faithless wife ! how deep a curse Have ye not laden my career withal ! But for your treason , I unwisely still Had trusted , and unknowingly been cheated ; Nor had the horrid curse upon my soul
To lose all happiness in finding truth . But for man ' s baseness how I could have loved The meanest of mankind ! No less ye clouds Whose fleecy clearness robes , yet hideth not , The ever twinkling stars , creation ' s gems ; No less ye pine-clad mountains , from whose summits
I stretch mine arms in madness tow ' rd high Heaven , As if to grasp it ; Nature ! no less than I love what e'er is lifeless on thy bosom . So ! The first dawn is darting from the sky , — Heaven ' s smile while gazing on the sleeping world , — The hours of hollow revelrv have flown
Swiftly , as though Love sanctified the scene . 'Tis well : the time has come when thou , my Son , Must choose , if grasping at my wealth and pow ' r , Thou'lt prove the many miseries of life ; Or , cleaving to thy fairy solitude , Live on in ignorance and innocence .
Oh ! if thy Sire ' s behest could aught avail Belov'd one ! never more should ' st thou emerge From thy sweet solitude : but thou , alas ! Must choose , and I obey . —Ho ! Karl . Karl [ enterifig ] . My Lord ?
Count . Deformity ! attend : lcnow ' st thou the day ? Karl .. Humph ! Slaves too sadly count the lagging * hours To make mistake in days . Deformity , Hard words and harder usage , curses , blows , Have been my daily guerdon for long years .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 744, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/12/
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