Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, RichterCarlyle, Thomas
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Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3): Tales by Musæus, Tieck, Richter
Carlyle, Thomas
German fiction -- Translations into English
"Dear master," said he, "do
not vex yourself so much about the Pope's perverseness. If you cannot
get round him on the one side, you must try him on the other: there are
more roads to the wood than one. If the Holy Father has too tender a
conscience to permit your taking two wives, then it is fair for you also
to have a tender conscience, though you are no priest but a layman.
Conscience is a cloak that covers every hole, and has withal the quality
that it can be turned according to the wind: at present, when the wind
is cross, you must put the cloak on the other shoulder. Examine whether
you are not related to the Countess Ottilia within the prohibited
degrees: if so, as will surely be the case, if you have a tender
conscience, then the game is your own. Get a divorce; and who the deuce
can hinder you from wedding the Princess then?"
The Count had listened to his Squire till the sense of his oration was
completely before him; then he answered it with two words, shortly and
clearly: "Peace, Dog!" In the same moment, the mettled Kurt found
himself lying at full length without the door, and seeking for a tooth
or two which had dropped from him in this rapid transit. "Ah! the
precious tooth," cried he from without, "has been sacrificed to my
faithful zeal!" This tooth monologue reminded the Count of his dream.
"Ah! the cursed tooth," cried he from within, "which I dreamed of
losing, has been the cause of all this mischief!" His heart, between
self-reproaches for unfaithfulness to his amiable wife, and for
prohibited love to the charming Angelica, kept wavering like a bell,
which yields a sound on both sides, when set in motion. Still more than
the flame of his passion, the fire of indignation burnt and gnawed him,
now that he saw the visible impossibility of ever keeping his word to
the Princess, and taking her in wedlock. All which distresses, by the
way, led him to the just experimental conclusion, that a parted heart is
not the most desirable of things; and that the lover, in these
circumstances, but too much resembles the Ass Baldwin between his two
bundles of hay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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