Benedikte Naubert

“ The fiercest passion for Amabel reigned in his bosom, and deceived him who was so well skilled in deceiving others. He fancied, that in her impatient looks, in the tone which she used in pronouncing his name occasionally, there was something more than mere friendship for Emmeline, and that love was the motive that made her so anxious to meet him! Immortal powers! Love! love from a girl, pure as innocence itself, for such an earthly dæmon, a dæmon both in person and in mind! ”

“ Oh! lady, that you were but with us! your sufferings in your father’s Castle, and your melancholy resolution of taking the veil would soon be effaced from your thoughts completely! Great-ones of the earth, do ye possess even one of those many unconstrained and innocent pleasures, which daily fall to the lot of us, your inferiors? then only do you enjoy the rights of Nature, (to which we, the favourites of that kind mother, have no better claim than yourselves) when you throw aside your fetters, and dare to act like the noble-minded Peregrine of Landenberg. ”

“ I feel that my powers of life are hourly growing weaker, feel that the day of death is at hand. The few evening hours which remain, before the night of the grave closes around me, will I dedicate to solitude and repose. All that I possess is now your property; I only reserve for myself the pleasant vale of Munster, and the Castle of Upper Halbstein on the banks of the Rhine. ”

“ Towers of Sargans, what crimes have been committed within your gloomy bounds! And will then the vengeance 157of the Eternal Judge sleep for ever? Will neither the heavens rain down fire to consume you, nor the earth unclose to swallow you in its womb, and thus prevent you from reminding posterity of those horrible acts, to which you have been so long a witness?—Yet the blood of your barbarous master has purified you, and you are now the abode of innocence and virtue. Peace, long peace be with you, and be with your lawful possessors ”

“ Oh! Urania, you may chide as you will, but can I love such a father? think, that to him alone I owe the loss of my sister and my friend; think too, that his misdeeds were the sole cause, which robbed me of the heart of the man, on whom my whole earthly happiness depended! Herman hated and despised me only for being the Count of Carlsheim’s daughter; now (as I hear) he is the suitor of another maiden; and all those hopes, with which Amabel so fondly used to flatter me, of one day regaining his good opinion, are lost, and lost for ever.
I am at length determined to take the veil ”

“ Never did Ethelbert dare to enter the Court, in which this well was situated. The moment that he attempted to cross the threshold, he shrieked out that he saw bleeding spectres rising out of the abyss; that Lucretia was among the number; and that he could hear her threaten to drag him down with her to the grave.
Tortures of a guilty conscience, who can paint you in colours sufficiently strong! Who can endure you without sinking at last beneath your weight! The phantoms, which in his disordered moments terrified the mind of Ethelbert, presented themselves in a thousand different forms. ”

“ I have seen Ida and her happy husband.—Wrong me not, Constantia, by suspecting, that resentment or pique has made me delay this meeting for so long; oh! no! it was the consciousness of my own weak heart!—Even Helen of Homburg could not at once resolve to witness the happiness of Eginhart and Amalberga; and alas! I am no faultless Saint like Helen!—the Cloister is the palace of enthusiasm, is the native land of visions; its inhabitants are only happy in proportion, as those visions are sweet and soothing. ”

“ But here in the land of innocence and gaiety, here where no one looks for any pleasure, but that which he is sure of finding; where pride and vanity have nothing to do; where every recollection is delightful, and the whole expence and preparation consist in a wreath of fresh-gathered flowers; here it is, that an invitation to a party of pleasure is really welcome, and seldom fails of justifying its name.
The sun was not yet risen, and the youths and damsels of Tell’s family were already on their road to Melthal’s cottage. ”

“ Ah! to what consoling Angel shall I consign the noble Richard, that she may heal the wounds inflicted by my caprice on his honest suffering heart?—Constantia! friend of my bosom, be thou that Angel! thou art far more worthy of his love than the inconstant Elizabeth, who in resigning him, resigns every prospect of earthly happiness; who in sacrificing him, offers up to Heaven the greatest sacrifice, of which her nature is capable.—Be he thine, dear injured Constantia; accept from me his hand, his heart! my injustice to Ida I have repaired by the resignation of Henry ”

“ Surely, Urania, this must have been the warning of your guardian angel, who wished to accomplish that which Mellusina’s presence forbad my performing without danger ... unless indeed I were to give this mysterious event a different, and a more dreadful meaning! I know not why, but since that moment of terror in which we parted, the thought of my father never quits me for an instant! I trust no misfortune has befallen him.—Is he not in the hands of his son?—Alas! alas! and is not Donat capable of violating even the first and most sacred rights of Nature? ”

“ Model of female constancy! though years have elapsed since Frederick died, your tears flow as freely as on the first day of your widowhood! Unequalled lady! does there exist a virtue, whose seeds we ought not to depend on finding in a heart like yours? Is there a sacrifice so great that a soul like Elizabeth’s is incapable of making it?—In the bloom of life to tear yourself from the pleasures of the world and the eyes of a thousand admirers, that you may watch away the lonely nights by the sepulchral urn of an husband far advanced in years ”

“ In the subterraneous vaults of Sargans has Herman lately raised a splendid monument sacred to the sufferings of his wife. Thirty silver lamps blaze before it; an easy and unguarded entrance admits every one, who chooses to approach it; and there does many a pilgrim often loiter to hear with pious admiration the history of a still living saint.
Amalberga was desirous of opening the communication between the vaulted caverns and the south-western mountains, where the fugitive Monks established their hermitage: but hitherto all attempts to discover the outlet have been unsuccessful. ”

“ One man alone, one of the most distinguished inhabitants of that quarter, a man who breathed the true spirit of Helvetic courage, and of love of freedom, Henric Melthal alone dared openly to blame the proceedings of my tyrant. He spread his own noble sentiments around him, and communicated his feelings to his companions with a success, which might have rescued me from my bondage, had not Count Ethelbert resolved to withdraw me from public attention without a moment’s delay. ”

“ I have already frequently eluded the vigilance of my attendants; I have visited Urania; have always found the doors of her cell open to me, and methinks have never returned, without feeling myself happier and better than when I came.
And all this do I owe to you, and yet in writing to your friend Emmeline, can you resolve to offend her by calling yourself her servant? Amabel, you are my benefactress; while I exist, never will I cease to thank you.
163 Emmeline of Sargans to Amabel. I have just left the venerable Urania, but I have received in her society to-day less satisfaction than usual. ”

“ Rosanna who has now exchanged that name for the more lofty one of Ida of Werdenberg—You start?—You believe what I tell you to be impossible?—Nay, Count, with all my heart! Number me (if you like it) among those, who wish to impede you in the gratification of your new amours: it would be ill-breeding in me to force upon you the conviction of a truth, to which you are evidently so unwilling to give credit!”—
The crafty Friar rose, as if about to quit the apartment. ”

“ Tranquil age succeeds the impetuosity and hurry of youth; the summer, whose every day was disturbed by tempests, is replaced by the mild and mellow autumn.—Much as it had suffered, bitter as had been its disappointments, cruel as had been its sacrifices, even the heart of Helen at length was at rest.
All my friends still flourish; all who are dear to me still live, even the venerable Urania. ”

“ Who knows, but their lofty heads conceal from us some happy smiling regions, where we may pass the rest of our lives unknown and unnoticed in innocence and peace, and may become once more as happy, as we were in the morning of our youth on the banks of the Lake of Thun and in the green vallies of Frutiger?—Dearest Constantia, be resolute, and let us hazard the attempt! ”

“ Almighty Providence, if ever I have murmured against thy decisions, if even now a tear of discontent steals down my cheek, oh! think on the weakness of human nature, and pardon mine! Still, still I suffer!—But doubtless there will one day come an hour, when time, or oblivion, the shadows of the grave, or the brightness of eternal life, will efface the memory of what I have endured. ”

“ Gladly would they have remained Tell’s daughters all their lives; it was no light blow, that could sever the bonds, by which they were connected with the good old man; even Death was unable to effect this completely, and their affection still followed him even beyond the grave. Neither was Conrad anxious to remove them from the dying man: it was a blessed sight for him to witness the gentle departure of a just spirit, and for once to behold the so-dreaded form of Death arrayed in the peaceful appearance of a beneficent Angel. ”

“ No sooner shall you have asked yourself the question.—“Why does Amabel write all these trifling particulars to me? What have I to do with the stranger, of whom she talks so much? what concern is it of mine, whether Landenberg loves her, and what influence can her becoming the bride of the emperor’s lieutenant have upon my fortunes?”—no sooner shall you have asked yourself these questions, than a voice within shall whisper the name of Amalberga ”

“ Shall I say, that I sorrowed? that my senses forsook me? that despair took possession of both my head and heart?—No! no! all this would but ill describe what I suffered. The excess of agony can never be justly exprest; grief like mine can only be pictured in a veil.
I felt only how dear he was to me, 269how much I had lost in him. These recollections made me incapable of all others; and I reflected not, that his death was the certain pledge to me of approaching danger, and future sufferings. Count Donat was no longer more than two leagues distant from the Castle. ”

“ Let your patron lose no time in hastening hither—I will take care, that he shall find the family disposed to consider his renewed proposals as a most honourable and fortunate event; and I doubt not, in the first tumult of her passions, of disappointed love, violated friendship, and raging jealousy, Elizabeth may be easily persuaded to an union, which will make her mistress of that rival’s fate, to whose pernicious beauty she ascribes the loss of her own promised happiness. ”