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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
fovernable will of some principle of passion . The death of the larl is occasioned by a sudden and half-frantic ebullition , originating in a mistake . That he is not great in virtue has been partly shown . More proof remains behind . He is not great by individual power , and cannot thoroughly sustain himself even to himself . The vulgar conventional fact of having been born a serf , is never quite mastered by his nature . All hut
this , looking at man as man , rather than as philosopher , we mi g ht have forgiven , and pronounced it a great tragedy . On being informed of the death of old Philippe , the Provost thus soliquizes ;—
Bertulphe . —[ walking abautr \—Nay—this surpasses reason !—1 have lived A life of fear because of that old man ,
Whose years seem lengthened but to torture me ;—Even in my proudest moments , —ay , when princes Appeared my suitors , and I dared to spurn them , Even then I dared not think of that old man !—His living image poisoned all my hours , — Sicklied with terror every springing j ° y »
And now—the moment that I feared him most , — They tell me he is dead ! Be merry , heart ! Bertulphe ; thou art now indeed great above fate ; - —
This crowns thy former greatness—stamps it real ;—Why dost thou tremble then 1—Thou art a prince ! None can dispute thy title ! What an admission to himself ! Because he believes the secret of his conventional birth can never be discovered , now he is great above fate—this crowns his former greatness , andoh , death-blow to the principle of natural power !—stamps it real ! Because there is nobody now to dispute his title , he is therefore , ' a prince ; ' that is , he is great—to all appearance !
The following scene , after the discovery , with Bouchard , who is made a serf by having married Bertulphe ' s daughter , is in the right sprit :
Bouchard \_ ? vit / i violent impatience . " ^ —Torture not ,- — But tell me , —art thou free ? Bertulphe . —I am—for I am a man !
Bouchard . —By Heaven , if thus thou playest with my words , Thou ' It drive my frenzy to some desperate act ,
My reason will repent ! — Wert thou horn noble ? Bertulphe ^ ca / m iyj . —No!—Never clasp thy hands in idle rage , But listen !— -I was born of humble stock , — Since now ' tis useless to effect concealment—Serfs—as your nobles call them : but I found That in my breast which might have filled a king ' s—A heart as proud as ever chafed at bondage . When manhood had braced up my limbs , 1 left My adopted home—it was the old Philippe ' s , —• For both my parents died : —this was the tie
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The Prttoo&t cf Bruges . 1 $ 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/7/
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