Be lunatic no
longer."
My brother opened his lips to speak. His tone was terrific and
faint. He muttered an appeal to heaven. It was difficult to
comprehend the theme of his inquiries. They implied doubt as to
the nature of the impulse that hitherto had guided him, and
questioned whether he had acted in consequence of insane
perceptions.
To these interrogatories the voice, which now seemed to hover at
his shoulder, loudly answered in the affirmative. Then
uninterrupted silence ensued.
Fallen from his lofty and heroic station; now finally restored to
the perception of truth; weighed to earth by the recollection of
his own deeds; consoled no longer by a consciousness of rectitude
for the loss of offspring and wife,--a loss for which he was
indebted to his own misguided hand,--Wieland was transformed at
once into the MAN OF SORROWS!
He reflected not that credit should be as reasonably denied to the
last as to any former intimation; that one might as justly be
ascribed to erring or diseased senses as the other. He saw not
that this discovery in no degree affected the integrity of his
conduct; that his motives had lost none of their claims to the
homage of mankind; that the preference of supreme good, and the
boundless energy of duty, were undiminished in his bosom.
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