Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems.Fuller, Margaret
History
Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems.
Fuller, Margaret
Essays; Literature -- History and criticism; Poetry
The juggling was well done, and so solemnly, with the same concentrated
look as the music! I saw the juggler afterwards at Ole Bull's concert,
and he moved not a muscle while the nightingale was pouring forth its
sweetest descant. Probably the avenues wanted for these strains to enter
his heart had been closed by the imperial edict long ago. The
resemblance borne by this juggler to our Indians is even greater than we
have seen in any other case. His brotherhood does not, to us, seem
surprising. Our Indians, too, are stereotyped, though in a different
way; they are of a mould capable of retaining the impression through
ages; and many of the traits of the two races, or two branches of a
race, may seem to be identical, though so widely modified by
circumstances. They are all opposite to us, who have made ships, and
balloons, and magnetic telegraphs, as symbolic expressions of our wants,
and the means of gratifying them. We must console ourselves with these,
and our organs and pianos, for our want of perfect good breeding,
serenity, and "thorough virtue."
KLOPSTOCK AND META.[36]
The poet had retired from the social circle. Its mirth was to his
sickened soul a noisy discord, its sentiment a hollow mockery. With
grief he felt that the recital of a generous action, the vivid
expression of a noble thought, could only graze the surface of his mind.
The desolate stillness of death lay brooding on its depths. The friendly
smiles, the tender attentions which seemed so sweet in those hours when
Meta was "crown of his cup and garnish of his dish," could give the
present but a ghastly similitude to those blessed days. While his
attention, disobedient to his wishes, kept turning painfully inward, the
voice of the singer suddenly startled it back. A lovely maid, with
moist, clear eye, and pleadi ng, earnest voice, was seated at the
harpsichord. She sang a sad, and yet not hopeless, strain, like that of
a lover who pines in absence, yet hopes again to meet his loved one.
The heart of Klopstock rose to his lips, and natural tears suffused his
eyes. She paused. Some youth of untouched heart, shallow, as yet, in all
things, asked for a lively song, the expression of animal enjoyment. She
hesitated, and cast a sidelong glance at the mourner. Heedlessly the
request was urged: she wafted over the keys an airy prelude. A cold rush
of anguish came over the awakened heart; Klopstock rose, and hastily
left the room.
He entered his apartment, and threw himself upon the bed. The moon was
nearly at the full: a tree near the large window obscured its radiance,
and cast into the room a flickering shadow, as its leaves kept swaying
to and fro with the breeze.
Vainly Klopstock sought for soothing influences in the contemplation of
the soft and varying light. Sadness is always deepest at this hour of
celestial calmness. The soul realizes its wants, and longs to be in
harmony with itself far more in such an hour than when any outward ill
is arousing or oppressing it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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