Author: Rose Ellen Temple
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 34
ISBN-13: 9781230259314
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 edition. Excerpt: ..."Why form we vows on earth, 'when changeable as the light zephyrs of the wind, are the resolutions fo man--why set we our affections on any breathing essence, when the breath with which our vows find utterence belong not to us. Charlotte, four and twenty hours ago, I was a portionless, but a free man, free to wander where I listed--free to indulge in the hope of claiming thee, my bride--now, oh, bitter moment when I trace the words, I am a prisoner; may you, my prized treasure, never know the fiendish horror of imprisonment; may your gaze never wander within the precincts of a dungeon. "A murderer, shrinking from himself may court the gloom of his prison walls; he may bless the silence which enables him to commune with himself, not with the angry voice of reproaches from without--but I Frederic Belzunce, feel so differently; my blood turns indignantly at sharing the felon's portion. "This is my reputed crime: --"I bought over the Queen's jailor, and obtained access to the unfortunate woman's prison, I followed the impulse of the moment, I wished to ascertain if there might be any service in my power to render her, when, meeting with one of Marat's associates, I forgot all precaution, and spoke in pitying terms of the royal prisoner. I am arrested as a counter revolutionist, such being the name given to those who are not yet callous to the voice of pity. "I must die, for Marat knows only two words in their full meaning, prison and the guillotine. I am not ready to leave the world, I cling to it, even in these troublesome times, and my heart sickens at the approaching doom. Is it true then, that I have gazed upon thee for the last time? have I caught the last sounds of thy tuneful voice--have I seen thy last...
