I did not enter upon my task voluntarily, and should have long since relinquished it, and permitted the bastard to take his own course, had he not dared to intrude into the presence of my Olivia's daughter, and then to love her and marry her. I did as I chose, and whether he is saved or lost, I care not. I shall plague him yet, and thwart him in public and private, whatever becomes of Satan's cause. He may take care of that himself or employ some other agent; I choose to gratify myself. I never submitted to your decisions, Mr. Dictator, and owe you no fealty. You may force me here, if you choose, and keep me by force, but I tell you to your face I defy your authority. Punishment, forsooth! We carry about in our bosoms a greater punishment than your puny power can inflict; and external states of control or neglect can little affect the mind that feels as we do. Corporeal woes, you cannot try; and I cannot see how all that you can do, can add to the mental suffering we all experience, you, as well as the weakest of us here. You may show us what our doom will be, but you cannot hasten it, for the end of the world, and this state of existence, is not within your power. I have disobeyed you, and I mean to do so, whenever and wherever my gratification is concerned. I defy you and your power!" A deep and intense awe now pervaded the whole of that vast assembly, but the dictator seemed unmoved. He arose; and in a calmer and much more quiet tone than usual, he turned to the assembly: "He defies our power; it is time to make him feel from whom we derive it, and how great it is." Turning to Ernest, he continued in the same calm, cold, hard tone, the tone of concentrated indignation, "Ernest Maltravers, no one defies our power, unscathed. As you think that mental woe cannot be increased, and bodily punishment is beyond our control, we will show you how sadly, how foolishly, you have erred. And, first, as to corporeal punishments; though we have not the power to send you into a human body, as we once had, yet we can make you animate the carcase of the vilest brute; and, with all your human, rational, demoniacal attributes of intellect and soul, be confined to its mean and miserable existence, conversant only with its bodily wants and sufferings, the mind still active and acute as ever. We do, therefore, by the power and authority vested in us by our great master, doom you, as a punishment for haughti ness, contumacy, and pride, to be driven from this assembly, in the form of a female skunk, to be the parent of skunks, and to lead the life, suffer the disgrace, and die the death of that despised animal; and as fast as death ends one body, your soul shall animate another, through successive generations, until Robert Woods shall pay the debt all mortals owe." He ceased the pangs of renewed corporeal existence fell on the haughty Ernest Maltravers, and when perception again returned, he found himself in the body of that loathsome animal, in the forest paths of the estate of his despised son! THE END. form 410 BOOKS, PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY SILAS ANDRUS & SON, HARTFORD, CONN. BOUND IN VARIOUS STYLES, AND FOR SALE AT LOW PRICES, To Wholesale-Dealers, Pedlers, and at Retail. BIBLICAL AND RELIGIOUS. FOLIO PULPIT AND FAMILY BIBLE, on large type, with fine steel plates. QUARTO BIBLE, containing the Apocrypha, Concordance and Psalms, Index, Family Record, and 12 fine illustrations, well bound, and printed on good paper. ROYAL OCTAVO POLYGLOT BIBLE, with five fine steel plates and Family Record, in various bindings,WITH or WITHOUT the Apocrypha, Concordance, and Psalms. TWELVE-MO. BIBLE, with 24 plates, and Psalms. NONPAREIL OXFORD BIBLE, on good plain type, with steel plates. POLYGLOT BIBLE, 24mo., on beautiful ruby type, with fine steel plates. RUBY BIBLE, 32mo. from new stereotype plates, ruby type, with engravings. PEARL BIBLE, 32mo., with engravings. DIAMOND (POCKET) BIBLE, with two steel plates. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 8vo., corrected by the COMMON PRAYER, 19mo., with plates; also corrected by the standard edition. |