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TESTING_CORPUS.txt

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-Yesterday the stranger said to me, “You may easily perceive, Captain
-Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had
-determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with
-me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek for
-knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the
-gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine
-has been. I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be
-useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same
-course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me
-what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one
-that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you
-in case of failure. Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually
-deemed marvellous. Were we among the tamer scenes of nature I might
-fear to encounter your unbelief, perhaps your ridicule; but many things
-will appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions which would
-provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever-varied powers
-of nature; nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series
-internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed.”
-
-You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered
-communication, yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by
-a recital of his misfortunes. I felt the greatest eagerness to hear
-the promised narrative, partly from curiosity and partly from a strong
-desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power. I expressed
-these feelings in my answer.
-
-“I thank you,” he replied, “for your sympathy, but it is
-useless; my fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I
-shall repose in peace. I understand your feeling,” continued he,
-perceiving that I wished to interrupt him; “but you are mistaken, my
-friend, if thus you will allow me to name you; nothing can alter my
-destiny; listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is
-determined.”
-
-He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when I
-should be at leisure. This promise drew from me the warmest thanks. I have
-resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to
-record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during
-the day. If I should be engaged, I will at least make notes. This
-manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest pleasure; but to me, who
-know him, and who hear it from his own lips—with what interest and
-sympathy shall I read it in some future day! Even now, as I commence my
-task, his full-toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me
-with all their melancholy sweetness; I see his thin hand raised in
-animation, while the lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul
-within. Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which
-embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it—thus!
-The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and
-admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She was
-not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a
-German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had been placed with
-these good people to nurse: they were better off then. They had not been
-long married, and their eldest child was but just born. The father of their
-charge was one of those Italians nursed in the memory of the antique glory
-of Italy—one among the _schiavi ognor frementi,_ who exerted
-himself to obtain the liberty of his country. He became the victim of its
-weakness. Whether he had died or still lingered in the dungeons of Austria
-was not known. His property was confiscated; his child became an orphan and
-a beggar. She continued with her foster parents and bloomed in their rude
-abode, fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles.
-
-Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was
-in the greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to
-persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at first
-yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of her
-favourite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She
-attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity
-of the distemper—Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this
-imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day my mother
-sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and the
-looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her
-deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not desert
-her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself. “My
-children,” she said, “my firmest hopes of future happiness were
-placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the
-consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to
-my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy
-and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are
-not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to
-death and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world.”
-
-
-“The ancient teachers of this science,” said he,
-“promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters
-promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that
-the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose hands seem
-only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or
-crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses
-of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the
-heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of
-the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers;
-they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even
-mock the invisible world with its own shadows.”
-
-
-One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was
-the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with
-life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?
-It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a
-mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming
-acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our
-inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined
-thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of
-natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been
-animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this
-study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the
-causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became
-acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I
-must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body.
-In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my
-mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever
-remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared
-the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and
-a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of
-life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become
-food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of
-this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and
-charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most
-insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the
-fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of
-death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm
-inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and
-analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change
-from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this
-darkness a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and
-wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity
-of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so
-many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same
-science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a
-secret.
-
-
-A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this
-journey. Some turn in the road, some new object suddenly perceived and
-recognised, reminded me of days gone by, and were associated with the
-lighthearted gaiety of boyhood. The very winds whispered in soothing
-accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more. Then again the
-kindly influence ceased to act—I found myself fettered again to grief
-and indulging in all the misery of reflection. Then I spurred on my
-animal, striving so to forget the world, my fears, and more than all,
-myself—or, in a more desperate fashion, I alighted and threw myself on
-the grass, weighed down by horror and despair.
-
-
-
-
-Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke? All of
-soul-inspiriting fled with sleep, and dark melancholy clouded every
-thought. The rain was pouring in torrents, and thick mists hid the
-summits of the mountains, so that I even saw not the faces of those
-mighty friends. Still I would penetrate their misty veil and seek them
-in their cloudy retreats. What were rain and storm to me? My mule was
-brought to the door, and I resolved to ascend to the summit of
-Montanvert. I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous
-and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it.
-It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the
-soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy.
-The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the
-effect of solemnising my mind and causing me to forget the passing
-cares of life. I determined to go without a guide, for I was well
-acquainted with the path, and the presence of another would destroy the
-solitary grandeur of the scene.
-
-
-
-“One day, when the sun shone on the red leaves that strewed the ground
-and diffused cheerfulness, although it denied warmth, Safie, Agatha,
-and Felix departed on a long country walk, and the old man, at his own
-desire, was left alone in the cottage. When his children had departed,
-he took up his guitar and played several mournful but sweet airs, more
-sweet and mournful than I had ever heard him play before. At first his
-countenance was illuminated with pleasure, but as he continued,
-thoughtfulness and sadness succeeded; at length, laying aside the
-instrument, he sat absorbed in reflection.
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