"Allow me once more to deceive myself with the sweet delusion of the
harmony of our souls. Thou hast destroyed a beautiful work, love, which
thou shouldst not have done, or shouldst not have helped to build it
up. Thou askest what I think, and not what I feel? I am infinitely
sorrowful; and of what kind my affections are thou mayst read hereafter
in my countenance. I may, perhaps, never again be so happy as to speak
another syllable with thee, but my heart will accompany thee, since I
am unchangeable!
"S. ----."
It is an old, old story,
Yet bides for ever new;
And he to whom it chances,
It breaks his heart in two.
_Heyne_.
It came not truly so far with my friend; but happiness of his life was
for a long period destroyed: the manly and high-toned character of his
mind, however, saved him from sinking permanently under the weight
which would have prostrated many a one of equally sensitive and
strongly-devoted temperament. But, as an English poet has said, he
resolved not to sacrifice
His name of manhood to a myrtle shade.
The fervour of his passion for political liberty, his admiration of
heroic actions, and his pride in his native country, were very near, in
the excited state of his mind, leading him to involve himself in the
grand but ill-digested plans of the Burschenschaft for the
consolidation of Germany into one magnificent empire; and probably the
blowing up of those plans by the government measures which followed on
the wild deeds of Sand and others, just at that crisis, saved him from
the fate which most probably would have awaited one so ardent and
qualified to take a prominent part--flight, or exile, from his native
country. Therefore, turning his eyes away from this hopeless track, he
studied with renewed severity, passed a splendid examination, and soon
after wrote a work on the German political constitution, which at once
attracted attention, and excited the admiration of all the lawyers in
Germany. It was soon translated into most of the languages of Europe,
and brought him a call from the principal university of one of the
first states of Germany, where he now occupies the chair of
jurisprudence with the most splendid reputation. He is no less
distinguished by the clearness and grasp of his reasoning powers, than
by the eloquence of his style, by which he contrives to diffuse a charm
and a life into the driest topics; and he is equally so for the
liberality of his principles, and the ardent devotion of his mind to
the liberties of mankind. He is beloved by the students who attend his
lectures, for the affability of his manners, and by his cordial
readiness on all occasions to give them his advice in any of their
troubles or perplexities. Having himself fought his way through a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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