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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
To-night I cast the slough of mortal form , And , soaring high above your strife-full earth , Shall
Count . Babbling and ill-nurtured beast be still ! As yet the tiny island in the lake Hath shielded my fair boy from guilt and sorrow , But now his choice must make his fate : do thou
Hie to the boat , and straightway seek the island And there exert your utmost fiendish cunning In conjuring to my Edgar ' s sight such scenes As best may promise to disgust his mind With the realities of worLdly life . Beware thou play me fairly .
Karl . Doubt it not ! Self-love and ever- 'during hate of man Forbid me to play falsely . Freedom ! Freedom ! Count . Thou know ' st my povv ' r ? Karl . ^ A And eke your will to use it ! Count . Again ! be silent , lest in very spite I grant your master-demon ' s utmost wish , And thus prolong your slavery for years ;
And make them seem eternity to you , And doubly painful , that your ' prisoned spirit Tends to its spirit state . Away ! Begone ! And let your gibes , suppressed before me , ring In my boy ' s ears until he shrink from contact With the proud , loathsome , smiling liar—Man .
Karl . But if I fail ? If , haply , novelty Seduce the springald ? Count . Thou'lt no less be free , If that thou fairly battle his desire . Exert thy fiendish cunning to its utmost To make him dread , at once , and loathe mankind .
Show him the fiercely servile soldiery Reeking in carnage at a tyrant ' s nod ; The parent squandering the children ' s rights , The children basely plundering the sire , The lying demagogue evoking rain
To millions , that his lot may be the fairer . Show him mankind : from the precocious varlet , Who distances in guilt his hoary teacher , To the imbecile , yet still grasping , senior , Who , as Death smites him , hung-ers for more gold . Show him the world as ' tis ; and make him hate it . That task performed , thou shalt at once be free ; And I shall be no matter what or where .
Away ! and see thou be as zealous as Thou ' rt prompt , and subtle in thy devilishness .
Untitled Article
The Choice . 745
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 745, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/13/
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