The Collected Works of Thomas Carlyle: Translations from the German: (XIV. Musaeus, Tieck, Richter. XV-XVI. Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship and travels)

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Chapman and Hall, 1864

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Page 246 - Is it not monstrous, that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit, That, from her working, all his visage wann'd; Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! For Hecuba ! What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her?
Page 246 - I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore. Ros. Good my lord ! [Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Ham. Ay, so, God be wi' you : — Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! Is it not monstrous, that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit...
Page 260 - Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! — Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd, Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked, or charitable, Thou com'st in such a questionable shape, That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee, Hamlet, King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me: Let me not burst in ignorance!
Page 7 - ... woe-struck, yet ethereal spirit of the poor creature, something which searches into the inmost recesses of the soul. It is not tears which her fate calls forth; but a feeling far too deep for tears. The very fire of heaven seems miserably quenched among the obstructions of this earth. Her little heart, so noble and so helpless, perishes before the smallest of its many beauties is unfolded ; and all its loves and thoughts and longings do but add another pang to death, and sink to silence utter...
Page 236 - Whether it will ever alter, and how, is to me of small importance : my present business is to meet my own case, as matters actually stand ; to consider by what means I may save myself, and reach the object which I cannot live in peace without. " Now, this harmonious cultivation of my nature, which has been denied me by birth, is exactly what I most long for.
Page 3 - ... dreaming, extravagant, insane, race of mortals ; certain it is, that hitherto our literary intercourse with that nation has been very slight and precarious. After a brief period of not too judicious cordiality, the acquaintance on our part was altogether dropped : nor, in the few years since we partially resumed it, have our feelings of affection or esteem been materially increased. Our translators are unfortunate in their selection or execution, or the public is tasteless and absurd in its demands...
Page 228 - I accept it then," said she, and made a movement with her right hand, as if meaning to take hold of his: but instantly she darted it into her pocket, pulled out her dagger quick as lightning, and scored with the edge and point of it across his hand. He hastily drew back his arm, but the blood was already running down.
Page 37 - ... ancient desk, once done, Werner liked to eat well, and, if possible, to drink better. Nor could he fully enjoy good things in solitude; with his family he must always see at table his friends, and any stranger that had the slightest connection with his house. His chairs were of unknown age and antique fashion; but he daily invited some to sit on them.
Page 324 - If we can conceive it possible," he once observed, " that the Creator of the world himself assumed the form of his creature, and lived in that manner for a time upon earth, this creature must appear to us of infinite perfection, because susceptible of such a combination with, its Maker.
Page 201 - ... being of Ophelia floats in sweet and ripe sensation. Kindness for the Prince, to whose hand she may aspire, flows so spontaneously, her tender heart obeys its impulses so unresistingly, that both father and brother are afraid; both give her warning harshly and directly. Decorum, like the thin lawn upon her bosom, cannot hide the soft, still movements of her heart; it on the contrary betrays them. Her fancy is smit; her silent modesty breathes amiable desire; and if the friendly goddess Opportunity...

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