work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5094,Ruling Passion,"Searching HDIS for ""ruling passion""",2004-05-27 00:00:00 UTC,"Disappointment in a first love, has, I think, been ever accounted a grief scarce surmountable even by time: but this can only be the case, where the heart, extremely vulnerable by nature (like Miss Burchell's) suffers itself to be so entirely immersed in that passion, that all the other duties of life are swallowed up in it; and where an indolent turn of mind, a want of rational avocations, and perhaps of a new object, all contribute to indulge and confirm the disease. This you know was not my case. I loved, 'tis true; but it was with temperance; and though my disappointment afflicted me, it did not subdue me. I got the better of it, I think I got the better of it even before I married; but sure I am, I totally conquered all remembrance of it after I became a wife. I then laid down a new Scheme of happiness, and was for a time in possession of it; how I was thrown from this is still bitter to remembrance. You well know what I suffered, when I found myself deprived of my husband's love, and suspected of a crime at which my soul shrunk. But it pleased the just God to deliver me from this heavy misfortune, and I think the happiest days of my marriage were those which I passed with Mr. Arnold after our re-union. Then it, was, I was thoroughly sensible that the heart can love a second time, truly and ardently; but I was soon again plunged into affliction by the death of a husband endeared to me more than ever by his misfortunes. My grief for him was proportionate to my love. Yet, my friend, as time is an universal conqueror, it might have healed this wound as well as the former one; and a few, a very few years would perhaps have disposed me to return Mr. Faulkland's still unabated passion, if a variety of circumstances had not interposed, that strongly forbad our union. Convinced as I was of this, I acted agreeably to the dictates both of my reason, and my conscience, in persuading Mr. Faulkland to make Miss Burchell his wife. I should have been grieved and mortified had he rejected her, and I had determined never to have seen him more. Yet how deceitful is the human heart! this very act which I laboured with so much assiduity to accomplish, and on the accomplishment of which, I had founded, I know not how, a fort of contentment for myself, has been the very means of destroying what little peace of mind I was beginning to taste before. Sure that man was born to torment me in a variety of ways! If I was disappointed in my early love, I had however duty, and a consciousness of what I then thought superior worth, to support me. If on his account I suffered cruel and injurious aspersions, the innocence of my own self-acquitted heart bore me up under it: but he has at length sound the way to punish me without leaving me any resource. My pride is of no use, he has raised himself in my esteem superior to every thing. His whole behaviour so generous, so candid; a love so disinterested, so fervent; what noble, what uncommon proofs has he given me of it! and at length what a triumphant sacrifice has he made of that over-ruling passion, to the sober calls of reason and humanity! He has left me, my dear, to gaze after him with grateful admiration! and sometimes perhaps to sigh that our fates rendered it impossible for us to meet. But if I do sometimes sigh, it is not at the advantages of fortune, which I might have enjoyed with him; no, no, surrounded as I am with distress, I do not envy Miss Burchell's affluence or splendor. If that motive could have had weight with me, I might have been mean enough not to have acted as I have done. 'Tis the qualities of the man's mind I esteem; I think our souls have something congenial in them, and that we were originally designed for each other. And if I believed the doctrine which teaches us that there are little officious spirits that preside over the actions of men, I should think that our two evil geniuses laid their heads together in conjunction with Miss Burchell's active demon, to thwart and cross all our measures.
(pp. 52-5)",,13765,"",One may sacrifice an over-ruling passion to the sober calls of reason and humanity,"",2009-09-14 19:39:10 UTC,""
5094,"","Searching ""reason"" and ""empire"" in HDIS (Prose)",2004-08-11 00:00:00 UTC,"The noise she heard in the court, and which she took for the chariot, was nothing more than a little market-cart, which was used to carry home provisions, and which now arrived filled with necessaries for the house; and on its entering the court, she observed one of the servants lock the gate and take the key out. This action seemed to deprive her almost of her reason. She cast a frantic look at me, What, sir, am I a prisoner then? Am I to be detained here by force? No, no, I must not suffer this, starting up from her seat, I drew near her, and ventured to lay hold of her hand. Let me go, sir; let me be gone from hence this minute. Whither would you go, madam? Home, home; whither should I go but home to my mama! Unkind, said I, 'tis to Falkland you would fly, not to your mama; but remember he is now perhaps the husband of Cecilia. --What have I done to you, cried she, that you treat me thus inhumanly? A flood of tears succeeded her words. 'Tis a trite observation, that nothing affects a man so much as weeping beauty. I now felt the truth of it, and was really so touched at her tears, that I fell on my knees before her, and said as many tenderly extravagant things, as if I had been actually over head and ears in love; but the obdurate fair was not to be moved. Let me be gone, sir, let me go home to my mama, was the burden of her song. But think of the consequences, madam, think of your reputation; 'tis already known that you have passed two nights in my lodgings. --In your lodgings, sir! Yes, madam, those apartments in which you spent two nights at Brumpton, are mine; it will be known that you left them in my chariot, and that I accompanied you out of town, and that at a time too, when you expected to receive a visit from your uncle. It will be known, that, instead of returning home, you retired to the house of my particular friend, a single man, no lady to bear you company, and that I attended you hither: what must the world think of all this, madam? Will it not naturally conclude me to be already possessed of that happy title to which I aspire? And will it not be more for your honour, permit me to say, for the honour of your family too, to give proof to this natural conclusion, than by undeceiving people, to leave them at liberty to judge (pardon me, if I presume to say) perhaps very unfavourably of your conduct? She wrung her hands with all the marks of the bitterest anguish. I endeavoured to sooth her. Sometimes I implored her pity, and in the humblest language beseeched her to grant me the return I desired; then again I represented to her the precipice on which she stood. This last idea seemed to strike her with horror, and I really thought, more than once, that she gave some indications of a situation of mind too alarming to name; yet I hope 'tis nothing but her extreme sensibility, and that after those first violent struggles are over, reason and discretion will reassume their empire; and that finding she has no other party to choose, she will condescend to be lady Audley, with no other stain than what matrimony will wipe out, that of running away with her lover, rather than continue Miss Arnold with an indelible blot on her reputation.
(pp. 185-8)",2011-07-27,13768,"","""I hope 'tis nothing but her extreme sensibility, and that after those first violent struggles are over, reason and discretion will reassume their empire.""",Empire,2011-07-27 14:39:30 UTC,Conclusion
5094,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2004-11-17 00:00:00 UTC,"I took my leave on this, and making a sign to the antient matron, she followed me out of the room, leaving her daughter at the bed-side of the lady. I asked her what she thought of the real state of our patient's health. She said she was certain that the whole of her disorder arose from the violent agitation of her mind, and that she believed a good night's rest would set all to rights again; that she had felt her hand, and thought her not in the least feverish; on the contrary, she had found her extremely low; and as her strength and spirits had been so much exhausted by her fainting-fits, she was of opinion that a glass or two of good wine would be of more service to her than all the drugs in the apothecary's shop. As I have an implicit faith in this good woman's skill, I remained perfectly satisfied with the judgment she had pronounced; and agreeing with her, that the sickness of the mind was beyond the power of medicine to reach, I contented myself with ordering the prudent dame to give the lady some of her own little innocent cordials, which she kept for her private drinking, and to pass them on her for the doctor's prescription.
(pp. 117-8)",2011-07-27,13769,"","""As I have an implicit faith in this good woman's skill, I remained perfectly satisfied with the judgment she had pronounced; and agreeing with her, that the sickness of the mind was beyond the power of medicine to reach.""","",2011-07-27 14:38:29 UTC,"Volume V, Letter 57"
5094,"","Searching ""judg"" and ""breast"" in HDIS (Prose)",2004-11-24 00:00:00 UTC,"We are indeed so much used to what they call poetical justice, that we are disappointed in the catastrophe of a fable, if every body concerned in it be not disposed of according to the sentence of that judge which we have set up in our own breasts.
The contrary we know happens in real life; let us not then condemn what is drawn from real life. --We may wish to see nature copied from her more pleasing works; but a martyr expiring in tortures, is as just, though not as agreeable, a representation of her, as a hero rewarded with the brightest honours.",,13770,"","""We are indeed so much used to what they call poetical justice, that we are disappointed in the catastrophe of a fable, if every body concerned in it be not disposed of according to the sentence of that judge which we have set up in our own breasts""",Court,2009-09-14 19:39:11 UTC,"Vol I, Prologue"
5094,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2005-03-02 00:00:00 UTC,"That wife, said he, that woman whom you persuaded me to marry, I caught in adultery, and I punished the villain that wronged me with death. She shared in his fate, though without my intending it. For this act of justice, which the law will deem murder, I myself must die, and I am come but to take a last look. --What recompence then can you make the man, whom you have brought to misery, shame, and death?
His looks, and the tone of voice with which he spoke this, made my blood run cold, and my heart die within me.",2011-07-27,13771,"","""His looks, and the tone of voice with which he spoke this, made my blood run cold, and my heart die within me.""","",2011-07-27 14:46:59 UTC,Vol. 3
5094,"","Searching ""blot"" and ""mind in HDIS (Prose)",2005-03-24 00:00:00 UTC,"Miss Cecilia was the first to reply; and stepping up to the bed-side, I, madam, am least injured of all, said she; yet were his offences against me even greater than they are, your example would teach me to blot them all from my mind; therefore, from henceforward, Falkland, you may again look upon me as your sister; but for any other tie, though you were to-morrow at liberty, and all my friends consenting to the union, I should for ever renounce it. Nor should I dare to think of it, replied Mr. Falkland. And you, my dear, said the excellent woman to Miss Arnold, do not you forgive this poor youth? Ah, mama, I have no resentment against him-- I never had--'Tis I who should demand forgiveness of him; if it had not been for me, he might have been happy, so might poor Cecilia, so might you: but I have broke all your hearts! Yet indeed, Orlando, I did not mean to divide you from your love--I had made a resolution to die in silence--I know not what tempted me to break it, unless it be (which I suspect to be the truth) that I was that day seized with a strange distraction. Forgive me, sir, pray forgive me! And she held up both her hands, fixing her sweet eyes with a supplicating look on Mr. Falkland's face. Oh, God! cried he, wringing his hands, 'tis just that my punishment should be proportioned to my crimes! yet I cannot bear this! He turned from her in an agony of grief. She followed him--He will not speak to me, mama! I do not wonder he should be angry, yet I wish he would not hate me! Speak to her, said Mrs. Arnold, her voice broken with sobs--Indulge her, you see how it is with her. Mr. Falkland threw himself at her feet; No, dearest Miss Arnold, said he, Falkland is not altogether such a monstrous prodigy as to hate you! He esteems, he respects, he reveres you more than ever; and if he shuns your sight, 'tis shame, and not resentment, that bids him hide his face. Miss Arnold just lightly pressed with her fingers one of his hands. I am satisfied then, said she; and, with a pleased look, quitted him, and retired again behind the curtain.
(pp. 289-91)",,13773,"","""[Y]et were his offences against me even greater than they are, your example would teach me to blot them all from my mind""","",2009-09-14 19:39:11 UTC,"Vol. 5, Letter 71"
5094,"","Searching ""blot"" and ""heart"" in HDIS (Prose); found again ""blot"" and ""thought""",2005-03-25 00:00:00 UTC,"I dressed myself in these old cloaths on purpose, and what the success of my scheme has been you know. Your brother, narrow-hearted, inhuman wretch, I blot forever from my thoughts: it will be the better for you, though I have more than enough for you both.",,13774,"","""Your brother, narrow-hearted, inhuman wretch, I blot forever from my thoughts""","",2009-09-14 19:39:11 UTC,Vol. 3
5094,"","Searching ""blot"" and ""reason"" in HDIS (Prose); found again ""blot"" and ""memory""",2005-03-25 00:00:00 UTC,"I cannot think of exposing the poor Miss Burchell by giving up her secret. Though it might contribute to clear me, by turning Mr. Arnold's suspicions on Mrs. Gerrarde, yet would she have great reason to resent it; more especially as she is now, by a blameless life, endeavouring to blot out the memory of her fault. Though my Lady V--- is very prudent, her zeal for me, and my lord's good-natured earnestness in my cause, might render them unguarded on the occasion; and should they attempt to make use of this secret, in order to criminate Mrs. Gerrarde, it might, at the same time, bring malicious censures both on Miss Burchell and Mr. Faulkland.",,13775,"","One may be ""by a blameless life, endeavouring to blot out the memory of her fault""","",2009-09-14 19:39:11 UTC,Vol. 2
5094,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Prose)",2005-06-09 00:00:00 UTC,"October 22.--With what a tortoise pace does time advance to the wretched! how dismal are those hours which are spent in reflecting on lost happiness. O Faulkland! how light was thy transgression, if we consider the consequences, compared to that which has driven me from my [Page 15] home, and from my children! steeled my husband's heart against me, heaped infamy on my head, and loaded my mother's age with sorrow and remorse! All this is the fatal consequence of Mr. Arnold's breach of his marriage vow: all this, and much more, I fear, that is to come.
We keep ourselves entirely concealed from the knowlege of all our acquaintance: not a mortal visits us, but, now and then, Miss Burchell; and I have never stirred out of doors but to church.",,13778,"","Faulkland has ""steeled my husband's heart against me, heaped infamy on my head, and loaded my mother's age with sorrow and remorse""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:39:12 UTC,Vol. 2
5094,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Prose)",2005-06-09 00:00:00 UTC,"My mother replied, Sir George, you [Page 204] do not use either me or your sister well. Let her, in the name of God, follow the dictates of her duty. If the unfortunate Mr. Arnold sees his error, can you be so unchristian as to endeavour at steeling his wife's heart against him? O son! this is not the way to obtain forgiveness of God for your own faults! Far be it from Sidney to reject the proffered love of a repenting husband. My dear (to me) don't afflict yourself; if your husband has grace, you shall both be as happy together as I can make you. Misfortunes, said Sir George, are mighty great promoters of grace; I don't doubt but Mr. Arnold will repent most heartily-- she having lavished away his fortune; and the hopes of repairing it, may give him the grace to take his wife again.
(pp. 203-4)",,13779,"","""If the unfortunate Mr. Arnold sees his error, can you be so unchristian as to endeavour at steeling his wife's heart against him?""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:39:12 UTC,Vol. 2