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€ i The bonds of vassalage Have been for centuries so loosely worn , Thousands of serfs are grown to wealthy burghers ; And ' tis no easy task to win them back ; For this the earl sends edict upon edict . "
This noble cannot understand why men , who have risen by laborious industry , should not be won back for slaves as easily as coins by a cast of the dice ? In a conversation among the citizens and others , the serf Denis takes rather a different view of things in something a sarcastic vein ; Denis . —Why should not the serf ' s chain be as hereditary as noble ' s
land ? The good Earl wills it—the noble , virtuous , Earl that you all Jove so . It is his justice , forsooth , that every hour issues fresh laws against the unhappy devils who may in the course of centuries have contrived to slip their chains of vassalage . It is his justice that now gives their lords full power to pounce upon them wherever they may find them , or in whatever rank their thrifty industry may have raised them to . —And this is " Charles the Good !"
Antoine . — Come ! come ! no treason , Denis ! if the Earl wills it , it must be right . Besides , Heaven makes births as well as marriages ; and if the saints had not willed that the man was to live a slave , they would never have let him be born one . Fourth Citizen . —Therms something in that ! Denis . —Well ! for my own part , 1 confess myself a serf , and try to look no better than 1 am—wear my chains with the grace of a practised slave—do my master ' s bidding with an humble reverence , and receive his buffets with the most profound respect . " St . Prieux is a very choice specimen of feudal-minded young noblemen .
" Si . Priciix . — Ha ! Ha ! Sooth , 'tis a wise provision of the Barl To make new pastimes for us—old ones pall . To chase the wolf , or hunt the bounding stag , Is pleasant for a season ;—but at last
It grows monotonous . The hunt to-day Is too much like the hunt of yesterday- — That o the day before : the senseless beas Have ail the same defence—use it the same : — But thia new sport—to hunt old burghers down , Put them upon their pedigrees , and watch The shuffling rogues , doubling with cunning skill , To hide some flaw of serfship in their blood ;—To track them on till not a shift is left ,
But he must own hift father ' s grandfather Was once my lordship ' s serf;—then pounce upon him With " Sirrah , you are mine , then , —hie you off To my estate , and wait my noble will !" Oh ! this is sport indeed !—a most rare law ! But why so grave , Bouchard ? Bouchard ' . — -To think that men ., with such great qualities ,
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The Provort tf Bruges . 131
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 131, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/3/
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