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Untitled Article
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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
$ toiQ < i alone ; for in mind , person , and general bearing , he might be concisely described as the direct opposite of that laughter-1 or ing hero . His light blue eyes were seldom known to deviate from their impenetrable look of glassy coldness , and when they did , it was to be darkened bf a frown * not animated by a gleam of light . Over his pale high forehead *
divided across the middle by two rigid lines completely parallel , rested a few locks of thin fair hair , combed smoothly oftener than the day , and iikotn of their exuberance whenever they were felt to wave in th £ wind , or resist the pressure of the composing hand . . " A smile has destroyed the harmony of many a face , but with Stephen Grey it was not so . On the very few occasions when this variation of his features appeared , his smile was noted as being so entirely free from all light , gross , and even sinister expression , as to correspond entirely with his upright , strong , unvarying character : just as a gleam of sunshine , in trassing over the rugged mountain , only serves to reveal more clearly its hardness , its sterility , and its strength .
"It need scarcely be added that the words of Stephen Grey were few ; for never did any human being successfully aspire to be dignified and important , without practising , as if by a kind of instinct , the art of speaking little , and of so modifying that little , that the variation of the simplest tone or gesture shall mark it with more emphasis than the
elaborate discourse of less weighty men . Indeed there is some reason for ftutpecting' that in such tones and gestures consist the mystery of greatness ; for , repeat what a man of this stamp has said , and it frequently amounts to nothing ; but listen , and observe the imperative movement Of the bead * the lips compressed as if the bursting forth of an unguarded word would produce convulsions in the mighty frame , and deep into ymur stricken soul will sink the various intonations of the voice uttering nQ&nda whose meaning beggars that of words , from the shrill rebuke , tfarottgh all the gradations which denote contempt , down to the low , deep gTOwl of disapprobation . "—Vol . i . p . 7 .
"We believe that few of our readers will not wish to follow out the fortunes of the characters so ably introduced . They will find very much pleasure in so doing , mixed with some disappointment * Stephen Grey is admirably drawn throughout ; and all the history of Allan , and of Cathleen Malone , who is an exquisite creation , is full of deep interest . We need scarcely add that it le a melancholy one , a very short extract will be sufficient to shew how it must end : —
" Allan , though hasty in his temper , and reckless of consequences to hiniselft had nothing malignant in his nature . The blow that would have hantenei another boy into resistance and revenge , had the effect of deeply ^ Winaitlg him ; and from his father ' s hand it fell so often , and with such li ^ iiroatfng violence , that he could not doubt the fact of his being the dfcj ? c 4 ? or h \ $ peculiar disapprobation and distrust . Naturally open and WOTBtf&tiidatlTe as he was , so false a construction was often put upon his ^ tflrair fetid 8 tc £ i 6 ns , and motives so repulsive to his feelings attributed to Y& 8 & 4 that the energies of his mind were checked , his hopes depressed , iUfcti ^ hid such a thing been possible , his affections 'would have been
Untitled Article
48 $ ff otibe , or , the Iron Rule .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1836, page 486, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2660/page/26/
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