Feudal tyrants; or, The Counts of Carlsheim and Sargans, volume 1 (of 4) — John Shaqi
Feudal tyrants; or, The Counts of Carlsheim and Sargans, volume 1 (of 4)Naubert, Benedikte
General
Feudal tyrants; or, The Counts of Carlsheim and Sargans, volume 1 (of 4)
Naubert, Benedikte
German fiction -- Translations into English
One parcel consists of the Memoirs of Urania Venosta; she is pale, and a
black veil half conceals her features, yet the grief which is exprest in
her countenance (the picture represents her in the decline of life) has
still left her charms sufficient to make us guess, how perfect must have
been her beauty while yet in the full bloom of youth.
Another packet contains some account of the unfortunate Adelaide, lady
of the Beacon-Tower; she was a daughter of the house of Carlsheim, and
had resolution enough to attend upon her unfortunate husband till his
last breath, which he was doomed to breathe out upon the scaffold!
Adelaide only left the place of execution to lay herself down, and die.
I possess also the adventures of two Damsels of Sargans, who
particularly arrested my attention yesterday in the closet of the
Domina.—The picture represented them as two solitary pilgrims, both
imprest with beauty and innocence in every feature—features, which
seemed to be not totally unknown to me, and which even recalled those to
my memory, which my partial friendship once viewed with such fond
admiration, while gazing on Constantia and her perfidious sister!—They
were represented, as wandering on a barren mountain covered with snow,
and endeavouring with inexpressible anxiety in different quarters to
discover an out-let from this desolate pass, where they must inevitably
perish, unless some higher power should graciously interpose in their
behalf. In truth, I fancied that I could discover in the back-ground of
the picture a faint shadow, which seemed to beckon one the poor
wanderers to advance: probably it meant to convey the idea of a guardian
angel, or a saint, who had descended from Heaven to guide the distressed
pilgrims out of this fearful labyrinth.
Besides these, I have kept back several other fragments of less
interest, which I shall not examine, till all those which I have
mentioned have been gone through, and their contents communicated to
you, dear Oswald. Into the bargain, the Domina (in hopes, I suppose, of
softening my resentment) sent me by the hands of a lay-sister the life
of one of her predecessors, who had also belonged to the family of
Sargans, and respecting whom she thought, that what she had told me
respecting her wisdom and piety, must needs have powerfully excited my
curiosity. I took the ponderous roll of parchment with many thanks; I
have already ran through it, and returned it, for it contained nothing
except that this worthy Abbess was not only a saint, but was also a
woman of great learning; that she had sacrificed to the Muses at the
same time with Walter of Vogelfeld, the Counts of Hapsburg and
Welsh-Neuburg, the Abbot of Einsiedel, and the Bishop of Constance, and
had carried off the prize from those distinguished Authors; and finally,
that she had instituted a weekly meeting of literati at the house of
Rudiger Manstein, the burgo-master of Zurich.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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