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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
befcuty , resembled a crown of thorns . —Then I saw Hatred , with his wolfish eyes , riding upon a huge gaunt wolf , into whose eyes , by frequent impulse of his busy evil thoughts , he ever and anon thrust his slow fingers , striving to root them out . —I saw Despair towering aloft upon a whirlwind ! Around him ,, upon its dark
floor of withering blasts , demons and men , and violent beasts of horrid shape , fought with terrific strength : but he remained without motion , even as an image of all agonies at their highest pitch . —I saw Revenge descend upon a slant stream of lightning towards a gaping grave , dragging after him a trodden corse by its gory hair . And over both , the earthy jaws closed fast . —Then I
saw Justice , a dignified giant , clad in complete steel ; but vexed for ever by a countless throng of golden-handed dwarfs in sable robes , armed with long files and subtlest nets , in whose innumerable toils they continually entangled him as he went , and thwarted his best purposes . —Next I saw Charity , the eldest-born
of Christ , with gentle eyes , and lips of sensibility that often sighed , and smiles of pathetic sweetness and benignity ., and looks of placid patience-forgiving injuries , and hands that ever dispensed fresh balmy herbs on each side , as she went forward through the world blessing the oppressed .
In this manner I continued to employ my mind in frequent reverie , and fiot as yet did I know misery , even in foreboding . I looked on kfe as the probationary scene of man ' s dignified destiny ; and on its close and finish with the world , as the great step of commencement towards his ascending scale in creation . And
then I contemplated Death , walking along the dusky earth at evening , upon mildewed paths . It was a naked form , of woman ' s perfect symmetry , but whose limbs were wan of hue , and clammy cold . Her lips showed no colour , life , or motion . Her eyes were clear and deep as hollow wells ; and in them were reflected—not the forms of heaven above , nor of this our earth , but miniatures
of worlds unknown and nameless , and wrecks of human things incognizable , retaining no vestige of what they were , save by some bony fragments . Round her head a melancholy wreath of nightshade was entwined with thin ligaments of decay , which at fitful intervals , gave out lurid phosphoric gleams . A wand of ice she bore , that melted continually and was still renewed ; but where the drops fell , deep si g hs rose from the grassy earth , and pitiful faint echoes from far-off twilight glades .
Such , my lord , is the faint picture my present deprest state of health and spirits enables me to draw of the mental energies and compass of my early time . Confused and vague of purpose I know this portraiture must appear , even as questionable of merit in its ill-strung , isolated fragments . Yet believe me , my lord , the things which here show so poorly , had once a vital spirit superadded to a determined end in view , so high that my humblest apologies can scarce excuse me the apparent vanity of saying ,
Untitled Article
fe the Bishop of the Diocese 467
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1834, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2635/page/7/
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