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    Yet this prince , withal , makes him the victim of the new law against the serfs , with the merciful favour of two days * respite to enable him to fly into exile , leaving his palace and all

    his wealth , we suppose , to his enemy and liege lord , Thancmar . The expressions of " pity , " and " mercy , " and " pardoning , " and 44 forgiving , " and " poor old man , " which are bestowed by various individuals on Bertulphe after his too real fall ^ excite pain and indignation . His death is full of stern defiance and lofty command , but lacks the great principle . He thus addresses the ajrned soldiers who rush into the palace : —

    Bertvlpke [ calmly . ]—See ! I am here !—Will you not fetch your captive ? Why gaze you thus as on gome prodigy ? It is Bertulphe !—that dares you to the last—That stands alone before you all ! What would you ? Herbert . —Thy life—for outraged justice , thou bold rebtl JThou Serf !

    Bertulphe . —Serf—ha ! I knew ' twas there it galTd you I The Serf has ruled you , —curbed your restive spirits , — Urged on your trembling flag to victory , — Rode the top wave in all your storms of state , And overwhelmed you when you would unseat him ; And still , even now , that you stand circling round him With malice open-mouthed , craving for vengeance—Still to the last he is above your reach

    And mocks you—even thus . [ Stabs himself Gnntier [ springing to him . ~\— Bertulphe !—my friend ! Bertulphe , — Good soul—' twas well done ! [ liaising himself . ] Dogs ! 1 am no Serf . [ Dies . It thus appears that his only method of being above their reach , " ana making a mock of conventional superiority , is by

    dying , and placing himself beyond the result of farther contest ! His last words show an exasperated consciousness of the fact of having been a serf , and that death only can prevent his being" one again . He is not a serf , because he is in the arms of death ! The repetition of these last words in the stage representation , confirms and increases the mental weakness . We

    have not the least doubt but Mr . Macready would readily admit this . That the repetition makes the death of the Provost more effective to the multitude , we as readily grant . To analyze the merits of Mr . Mac ready ' s personation of Bertulphe , would require an entire article . It is too fine to be

    concisely handled . With the story and chief characters on which this tragedy is built , we became intimate some years since , and went very carefully over the great principle involved therein , hoping some day to see it thoroughly worked out . Mr . Macready ' s Bertulphe was so characteristic and individualized , that his first entrance startled us like the unexpected appearance of an old acquaintance . The dramatist must not

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    tit The Provost of Bruges .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 138, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/10/