Adolphe

“ She is carefully described by the author as being such that Adolphe's love for her, however strong, is certain sooner or later to be affected by social considerations. In the first place, Adolphe is not the only man she has loved, and the verdict of society has been passed upon her before they meet; she is not his equal in its eyes, although she is so by birth. ”

“ Adolphe had been quite right, when he said that they were not at all like Henri. There was not one of the whole party who did not strive, heartily and truly, to forgive the treason and iniquity of which he had been guilty; but there was not one there who did not, at the same time, feel a secret wish that he or she might never again be under the same roof with the man who had been a traitor, both to his friends and to his King. ”

“ Brought up on the knees of the kings and queens of the North, speaking all the Northern languages, knowing everything it is permitted man to know, the politics of foreign courts were almost his mother tongue. He rose at five o'clock every morning, received the papers by six, and by seven or eight his work for the Courrier français was finished.
Generally, by the time his father finished his day's work, Adolphe had not begun his. He was still in bed—which I forgave him after he had assured me that he had worked at a little drama in two acts, called the Pauvre Fille, until two in the morning. ”

“ I gave him an anisette and tried to find out what his trouble was. I did find it out, and I found out a good deal more besides.
"Thanks to his good fortune as a gambler, Virginie came to look upon him with favor. Pierre was quite out of the race and Adolphe's affection was reciprocated as much as his heart could desire. But with his good fortune in love came all the suffering, all the torture, the suspicions that tear the hearts of us men when we set our hopes upon a woman's truth. ”

“ The transmigration of souls with a view to their purification is a belief which goes back to the remotest antiquity; and the philosophers of all ages have been careful not to deny it."
"But if one came back into a body, one would know it," said Marceline.
"Not always, only sometimes," said Adolphe confidently.
"Sometimes? Is that so?" said Theophrastus quickly; and his heart began to beat tumultuously.
"Oh, yes: there are instances—authentic instances," said Adolphe emphatically. ”

“ From henceforth each has a secret suffering which is not confided to the other.
Adolphe's character begins to deteriorate. He fights a duel with a man who has spoken slightingly of Eléonore, but himself unintentionally injures her reputation by the incessant mockery of women and the men who live in subjection to them in which he indulges as a kind of relief from the feeling of his own dependence; men put their own interpretation on his jests and jeers. He who cannot resist a tear, makes a point of speaking of women with callous contempt. ”

“ ADOLPH, ADOLF, or ADOLPHE, JOSEPH ANTONY (1729–1762) , painter, born at Nikolsburg in Moravia, was the son of Joseph Frank Adolph, painter to Prince C. Max von Dietrichstein. He came to England in 1745; he painted an equestrian portrait of George III when Prince of Wales, which was engraved by Baron. The engraving was published in 1755. During his stay in England, which lasted for some years, Adolph is said to have been engaged chiefly as a portrait painter ”

“ Of all her admirers none seemed to hold a higher place in her favour than Von Mühry. Several causes contributed to this, in addition to his own personal advantages and the distinction of his talents, which were of a high order. He was particularly noticed by the vice-rector, from the circumstance of his father holding a responsible position in the Prussian Government; while Adolphe himself gave ample promise of one day making a figure in the world. ”

“ She did not like to teach her son that she was unable to manage her own affairs, and she would have been well pleased to make the capitaine understand that his assistance was not absolutely necessary to her. But then she had an inward fear that her green spectacles would not now be as efficacious on Adolphe, as they had once been, in old days, before he had seen the world and become a man. It might be necessary that her son, being a man, should be opposed by a man. So the capitaine was invited to the conference. ”

“ He will kill himself. She hesitates, and very soon she does not hesitate any longer. The reader feels that Adolphe is quite worthless, that nothing but the fact of his having been brought up in a time when Sensibility was dominant saves him. But the following passage, from the point of view alike of nature and of expression, again pacifies the critic: [412]
I passed several hours at her feet, declaring myself the happiest of men, lavishing on her assurances of eternal affection, devotion, and respect. ”

“ De Leuven, who had taken notice of him in Villers-Cotterets, found him out in Paris and returned with him. Some of his ancient splendour still stuck to the poor fellow, but you might seek in vain for any real stability at the base of his fresh plans for the future; those fleeting clouds hardly got beyond the stage of hopes. During his stay in Paris a great change had [Pg 104] come over Adolphe's character—a change which was to react on me. ”

“ Meantime Adolphe was adopted and educated by Madame Arnic. She had provided him from his birth with influential patrons in the persons of two well-to-do godfathers. The boy was brought up in one of those beautiful bastides, or sea-and-country villas, which adorn the shores of Provence. There he ran wild with the little peasant boys, and subsequently in Marseilles with the gamins of the city.
His cousin, the poet André Chénier, got him an appointment to one of the lycées, or high-schools, established by Napoleon; but his grandmother would not hear of his "wearing Bonaparte's livery." ”

“ But I was wondering whether I should be justified in lending countenance to these distractions of William Adolphus. The Frenchman's quick wit overtook my thoughts.
"If you wish to rescue the Prince from danger, sire," he said, laughing, "you can't do better than come often." ”

“ I will return to my men and do as thou hast said. But let my son Odulph stay with thee, if only as thy servant.
Odulph. Well will I serve thee, my royal lord. It is not well for the king to fare alone.
Alfred. I am well content to serve myself, or even to be servant to others, until a happier time shall come. If Odulph desires to serve me, it shall be by bringing good tidings of your success with my people. When the time comes that we may again fight for our country, let him bring me the welcome message. Then we will free our country from the Danish yoke. ”

“ Oh, I beg your pardon, uncle. I forgot you did not understand. It was just the loveliest thing you ever heard. The poem begins by saying not exactly 'what's in a name?' but by suggesting that we hardly know what there is in it until we try to use it under a great variety of circumstances; and then it takes a common German name, Adolph, and puts it into the mouth of a girl who is talking to her lover; and sometimes she pets him, and sometimes she pretends to scold him, or to take offense, and then she is in despair at parting from him, and overjoyed to meet again. ”

“ I have turned my attention from worldly to eternal matters. Why should I seek worldly glory, I, who am so soon to stand before the judgment seat of God? Had I had the heroic character of Gustavus Adolphus, surely, surely things might have been different. But it would have been difficult even for him, whose devoted courage led him to his death, to be a soldier as well as a Brandenburg prince; for the very things necessary to a soldier’s success—a full treasury, and a great, valiant army—would have been lacking. ”

“ For she wanted the sister or friend to realize, above anything else, that in her, Adolphine’s, life everything was of the best and finest kind: things animate and inanimate, things movable and immovable alike. Adolphine’s cook, the sister or friend was assured, cooked better than any other cook, especially than Bertha’s cook; Adolphine’s dog, a pug, was the sweetest pug of all the pugs in the world. ”

“ While others pursue the 'bubble reputation' abroad, Adolphus seeks to be loved at home, and his own fire-side is the scene in which the best energies of his mind, and the purest affections of his heart are expanded. I am reclaimed by his virtues from my visionary absurdities, and shall endeavour to make all the reparation in my power for having wandered so far from the truth by preaching a crusade to the youth of my own sex, who may be inclined to deviate into the labyrinth from which I was myself so happily extricated. ”

“ I am a daughter of France. Fight! Be a hero! All Frenchmen may be heroes. And listen! There will lead the enemy to-morrow an officer whom you must recognize. He is six feet tall, with a black mustache, dressed in the uniform of the Tenth. He will have a cockade on the left side of his hat. He must die! He is an aristocrat! He is brave, and being an aristocrat and brave, clearly he must die that France may live! Shoot him as you would an enemy of France! To a hero—a French hero—I can say no more!”
“He dies—I swear it!” ejaculated Adolph, drawing himself once more up to his full height. ”

“ The marriage was, of course, to be postponed.
“I could,” said Louise, to the curé, “I could have sustained the blow better, had I perfect confidence in the strength of Adolph’s power of resistance. It is not my disappointment that makes me weep; if I know my heart, dear father, it is the apprehension for Adolph’s moral safety. He must be exposed to all the debasing influences of a great army, and to all the dangers of association with men who make a mockery of all that is holy in religion, and all that is decent in morals ”

“ But I, too, begin to feel myself drawn to him somehow. I'm tired of being the nurse of a baby like you. [She goes a few steps forward and passes by Adolf on the right.] He at any rate was a man, even though he did make the mistake of being my husband.
Adolf. Hush, hush! But don't talk so loud, we might be heard.
Thekla. What does it matter, so long as we're taken for man and wife.
Adolf. So this is what it comes to then? You are now beginning to be keen both on manly men and pure boys. ”

“ If Adolph has committed aught against the laws, or if there is aught against his condition which should operate with the most delicate and fastidious, I can and will relinquish all association with him. I know how necessary his presence is to my happiness, but I know also how cherished is the good name of the family.”
“Louise, you know how amid all the tumults of the revolutions with which the country has been visited; revolutions that shook the throne and altar—revolutions that in attempting to purify the political condition of the nation destroyed its religion ”

“ But have you never heard anyone say of a child which is brighter, kinder, and better than others, 'that child will not live long; it is too good for this world?' So does it seem to me about King Gustaf Adolf. He is too great, too noble, too good, to live long. God's angels wish to have him before his body withers and his soul grows weary. Believe me, they will take him from us."
Regina looked at her with an alarmed air. ”

“ Well, you can always pay him off in his own coin—that is, if you shave your head, and throw away your spectacles, and give up stammering.
Pl. [aside] . But I can’t—that’s where he has the pup-pup-pull over me. [Aloud.] There now, one or two bib-bib-breaths, and we are all right. Now, dud-dud-don’t go off again; it can be all satisfactorily explained. [Aside.] Hang me if I know how!
El. [opens her eyes while Plumper is bending over her—screams] . Oh, Adolphus!— [shuts them again]
Pl. There, there, my gug-gug-good lady, I’m not Adolphus; at least I am Adolphus, bub-bub-but not your Adolphus. ”

“ Here, thought I, am I placed in my natural sphere, a dweller with the fair and the noble, surrounded with rank and beauty, and breathing only the refined air of higher life. I was cut short in my musings by Lord Adolphus, the youngest son of the Duchess, who, with the charming vivacity so natural to his birth and station, abstracted me from the dainty basket in which I reposed, with a few companions of less merit. ”

“ You have proved to me that your love for Adolphus, in the abstract, is as baseless and unsubstantial. I am not sorry under the circumstances that it should have been murdered, for it was a poor exotic. Let p. 148us not attempt to analyse the mysterious nature of that passion which is too precious a plant to tear up by the roots in order to discover the origin of its existence, but learn rather from this lesson, so painful to us both, that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of even in the philosophy of Comte, the doctrines of the æsthete, or the politics of Mr Gladstone. ”

“ Thekla. Keep your imagination in check, Adolf. Imagination is the beast in the human soul.
Adolf. Where did you get this wisdom from? From the pure youths on the steamer, eh?
Thekla [without losing her self-possession] . Certainly—even youth can teach one a great deal.
Adolf. You seem for once in a way, to be awfully keen on youth?
Thekla [standing by the door in the center] . I have always been so, and that's how it came about that I loved you. Any objection?
Adolf. Not at all. But I should very much prefer to be the only one. ”