Begemder

“ Arwed turned suddenly round and perceived the chief engineer, Megret, a Frenchman by birth, who with a satyr-like face was leaning over the back of his chair.
'I thank you for the comparison, colonel, even though it was ironically intended,' said the youth in a decidedly cutting tone. 'Would to God that we all, not excepting even you, were able to imitate the elevated character of our noble king in good and evil fortune; what accomplished men should we then be!'
Megret bit his lips and retired to another table, where he got up a company to play pharo. ”

“ Edgeworth accepted the mission, and in a letter to a friend in England, dated 21st December 1792, explained that this was his reason for remaining in France. "I prepare myself," he added, "for death, for I am convinced that popular rage will not allow me to survive one hour after that tragic end." He fully expected, indeed, to be torn to pieces by the mob, and he made his will before leaving his mother and sister (the former ignorant of his danger) for the Temple. Rigidly searched at the gate, lest he should carry poison for the King, Edgeworth, bursting into tears, fell at Louis's feet. ”

“ Egmont. I remember, you were employed upon the liveries of my people. Your name is Jetter.
Jetter. To think of your grace remembering it!
Egmont. I do not easily forget any one whom I have seen or conversed with. Do what you can, good people, to keep the peace; you stand in bad repute enough already. Provoke not the king still farther. The power, after all, is in his hands. An honest burgher, who maintains himself industriously, has everywhere as much freedom as he wants. ”

“ Marshal’s ear that, his information came from Bampfylde the Second, king of the gipsies.
Mr. Marshal instantly burst into laughter; then composing himself, said: “My good sir, I am really glad that you have proceeded no farther in this business; and that no one in Hereford, beside myself, knows that you were on the point of swearing examinations against a man on the evidence of Bampfylde the Second, king of the gipsies. My dear sir, it would be a standing joke against you to the end of your days. A grave man like Mr. Hill! and a verger too! Why you would be the laughing-stock of Hereford!” ”

“ So are some of the other Egremonts here. Mr. Egremont [83] of Sandhills and his sons are, I understand, no better than common touts and gamesters.”
“Madam,” replied Roger, with great respect, “I did not come here to have my name abused. I sometimes take that liberty myself, but I can by no means allow it to any one else. So, if you wish me to stay, say not one word against the very worst of my family.”
“I like your spirit, young man,” replied Madame de Beaumanoir, “and, God knows, few young men have any spirit now. They are not as they were in the time of King Charles of blessed memory. ”

“ Instead of finding the bully as willing to fight as Cuff was willing to face dear old Dobbin, B.-P. found a cowering, cringing enemy, willing to lick the dust and abase himself in any manner the ingenious white man might suggest. So it was with no feelings of elation that the man who had received the pink flimsy ordering him on active service, who had raised and organised the Native Levy, who had cut a road through the bush and forest, draining roads and bridging streams,—turned his back on Kumassi, and marched King Prempeh to the Cape coast. ”

“ There is also a distinct beggar-class, of practically the same origin as the pagoda-slave and grave-diggers,—condemned by the king to a life of beggary. Forbidden to engage in any self-supporting work, they could be drawn upon at any time to fill a lack in either of the other classes. ”

“ Sounded by Malesherbes, Edgeworth readily agreed to be the king's last confessor, and accordingly, when sentence had been pronounced, Garat, minister of justice, sent for him and took him in his carriage to the Temple. Not expecting to return alive, Edgeworth had made his will and told his mother that attendance on a dying man might detain him all night. His sister, however, guessed what his mission was. After being rigidly searched lest he had brought the king poison, he was admitted to Louis's presence. ”

“ Hold, Egmont!—Your sword!- (The centre door opens and discloses the gallery, which is occupied with guards, who remain motionless.)
Egmont (after a pause of astonishment) . This was the intention? For this thou hast summoned me? (Grasping his sword as if to defend himself.) Am I then weaponless?
Alva. The king commands. Thou art my prisoner. (At the same time guards enter from both sides.)
Egmont (after a pause) . The king?—Orange! Orange! (after a pause, resigning his sword) . Take it! It has been employed far oftener in defending the cause of my king than in protecting this breast. ”

“ Megret, uttering no word, remained sitting in the same posture, and Arwed was detained motionless for some time, by the feelings which this singular and dreadful disclosure awakened, and by a want of decision, which of the two first to call to account for their hidden deed of horror. He finally concluded: 'why should I contend with the miserable man, whom the judgment of God has already stricken, whose marrow has been already consumed by sickness and remorse, who has neither strength nor courage to oppose me, and who, perhaps, would welcome death from my hand? ”

“ If the poor king had lived—”
“He would have sent these men to the right-abouts;” said Egremont, a young politician, proud of his secret intelligence.
“Ah! the poor king!” said Sir Vavasour, shaking his head.
“He was entirely with us,” said Egremont.
“Poor man” said Sir Vavasour.
“You think it was too late, then?” said his companion.
“You are a young man entering political life,” said the baronet, taking Egremont kindly by the arm, and leading him to a sofa; “everything depends on the first step. You have a great opportunity. Nothing can be done by a mere individual. ”

“ In the mean time, a slight sketch of the state and progress of mendicity in former ages may be neither unacceptable nor without its use.
The Beggar's calling, if not one of the most respectable, may doubtless be regarded as one of the most ancient. In every part of the globe where man is congregated, the inequality of his condition, the too frequent indolence of his habits, or the shifts to which human misery is occasionally reduced, will compel him to depend for his support on the generosity of his fellow-creatures, and even sometimes lead him to prefer this disgraceful state of existence. ”

“ It overpowers the unhappy man to be reminded of her.'
'This is a consequence of my fatal delay!' cried Megret wildly, and beating his forehead. 'There is now nothing, nothing more in this world which can give me joy. My honor wounded by unworthy treatment, my love scorned and betrayed, what now remains for me?'
'A consciousness of rectitude, colonel,' said Arwed earnestly. 'It is a firm rock of safety amid the storms of life.'
'Consciousness of rectitude!' cried Megret with frightful vehemence, and then drawing a deep sigh, he hastened from the apartment. ”

“ Beggar-men are beggar-men, all are equal!”
“Beggar-men!” exclaimed the devil, “that I am not and never was. Death to the beggar-men! To the gallows with the beggar-men!”
“My lord,” said Smetse, “I beg you not to be angry with my good wife, who knows you not at all. Wife, consider and look at our guest with great attention, but greater respect, and afterwards thou mayest tell thy gossips that thou hast seen my Lord Jacob Hessels, the greatest reaper of heretics that ever was. ”

“ Why have we hearts like other people, and anguish which breaks them?——Ah, the very beggar-women in rags in the street are less miserable! No handsome spy comes to them, to make their souls falter, and then flees-and after that their children are not taken away from them!——Your Empress would rather be a beggar, hungry and cold, but clasping her little one to her breast——Yes, a beggar I tell you, who holds out her hand to passers-by as she sits on the steps of a temple!—— [Sobbing, she throws herself on the terrace steps.] ”

“ I be too much of a man for that,” replied the groom, wiping his eyes hastily with the back of his hand—“not such a noodle as that comes to, neither—beggars are beggars, and so to be treated—but this woman, sir, is no common beggar, not she; nor is she begging any ways—only to be paid her bill—so I brought it, as I was coming up.”
“Then, sir, as you are going down, you may take it down again, if you please,” cried Colonel Pembroke; “and in future, sir, I recommend it to you to look after your horses, and to trust me to look after my own affairs.” ”

“ Enter Megra.
Here's another; if she be of the same last, the Devil
shall pluck her on. Many fair mornings, Lady.
Meg. As many mornings bring as many dayes,
Fair, sweet, and hopeful to your Grace.
Pha. She gives good words yet; Sure this wench is free.
If your more serious business do not call you,
Let me hold quarter with you, we'll take an hour
Out quickly.
Meg. What would your Grace talk of?
Pha. Of some such pretty subject as your self.
I'le go no further than your eye, or lip,
There's theme enough for one man for an age. ”

“ Puffit, the milliner, the printer’s devil, and a stern-looking man, to whom Mrs. Puffit, as she came in, said, pointing to Betty Williams and Miss Warwick, “There they are—do your duty, Mr. Constable: I’ll swear to my lace.”
“And I’ll swear to my black thumbs,” said the printer’s devil.
“I saw the lace hanging out of her pocket, and there’s the marks of my fingers upon it, Mr. Constable.”
“Fellow!” cried Miss Hodges, taking the constable by the arm, “this is my apartment, into which no minion of the law has a right to enter; for, in England, every man’s house is his castle.” ”

“ I once knew a man who had studied Jacob Behmen, and other mystics, until he conscientiously thought the millennium commenced, and all human authority at an end; that the saints only had a right to property, and to take from sinners any thing they wanted. In this persuasion, he very honestly stole a horse. Mankind pitied the poor man’s infirmity, but thought it, however, their duty to confine him, that he might steal no more. ”

“ Listen, my good drost," he continued, after a moment's reflection: "if the duke does not appear at the Dane-court in proper time, you must be at your post to preserve the queen and the young king from being deceived by him. If he is not in a hurry to be chosen protector, 'tis because he has a higher dignity in view. The old pilgrim explained a riddle to me."
"What means all this, Count Gerhard?" inquired the drost, as he scrutinised attentively his unusually grave countenance. "Old Henner has not been filling your mind with surmises and whimsies? ”

“ The balls flew so thick, that the agency of assassins was not necessary to account for his death.'
'I have my convictions!' cried the pastor, in the heat of his indignation, 'and those convictions are neither to be sneered nor subtilized away! God, however, who proves the heart and the reins, must pass judgment upon the concealed guilt, and punish the murderer according to his deserts--here, through the worm that never dies, and there, in the fire that is never quenched! Amen.'
'You are pale, colonel!' cried Arwed, suddenly giving Megret a searching look. ”

“ If you cannot clear yourself to my entire satisfaction, Mr. Forester, I shall commit you—in one word—to gaol: yes—look as you please, sir—to gaol. And if the doctor and his son, and all his family, come up to bail you, I shall, meo periculo, refuse their bail. The law, sir, is no respecter of persons. So none of your rhodomontades, young gentleman, in my presence; but step into this closet, if you please; and, I advise you, bring your mind into a becoming temperament, whilst I go to dinner. Gentlemen,” continued he to Macpherson and Pasgrave, “you’ll be so good to wait here in this apartment. ”

“ For unless thou dost exercise thy heart, and the love of thy heart, upon every man in the world, thy self-love, thy pride, thy contempt, thy envy, thy distaste, thy dislike will still have dominion over thee. The Divine Nature will be quenched and extinguished in thee, till nothing but self and hell is left to thee. In the name, and in the strength of God, love all men. Love thy neighbour as thyself, and do to thy neighbour as thou doest to thyself. And do it now. For now is the accepted time; and now is the day of salvation!’
Jacob Behmen died in his fiftieth year. ”

“ Tradition has it that Bengerd was killed in battle, having gone with her husband on one of his campaigns. “It was not heard in any place,” says the folk-song wickedly, “that any one grieved for her.” But the King mourned for his beautiful queen to the end of his days. ”

“ I never in my life saw such swarms of beggars, and you walked down that street to the accompaniment of entreaties for alms in all the tongues of the Tower of Babel. Blenkiron and I behaved as if we were interested tourists. We would stop and laugh at one fellow and give a penny to a second, passing comments in high-pitched Western voices.
We went into a cafe and had a cup of coffee. A beggar came in and asked alms. Hitherto Blenkiron’s purse had been closed, but now he took out some small nickels and planked five down on the table. The man cried down blessings and picked up three. ”

“ And surely no one can wonder at the great army of beggars, most of them able-bodied men, with whom the police carries on perpetual war. But the beggary of these men has a peculiar character. Such a man usually goes about with his family singing a pleading song in the streets or appealing, in a speech, to the benevolence of the passers-by. And it is a striking fact that these beggars are seen almost exclusively in the working-people’s districts, that it is almost exclusively the gifts of the poor from which they live. ”