| | 31 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN  | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | NO MORE remarkable man ever lived than my friend, the young Ellison.
He was remarkable in the entire and continuous profusion of good gifts
ever lavished upon him by fortune. From his cradle to his grave, a
gale of the blandest prosperity bore him along. Nor do I use the
word Prosperity in its mere wordly or external sense. I mean it as
synonymous with happiness. The person of whom I speak, seemed born for
the purpose of foreshadowing the wild doctrines of Turgot, Price,
Priestley, and Condorcet- of exemplifying, by individual instance,
what has been deemed the mere chimera of the perfectionists. In the
brief existence of Ellison, I fancy, that I have seen refuted the
dogma- that in man's physical and spiritual nature, lies some hidden
principle, the antagonist of Bliss. An intimate and anxious
examination
of his career, has taught me to understand that, in
general, from the violation of a few simple laws of Humanity, arises
the Wretchedness of mankind; that, as a species, we have in our
possession the as yet unwrought elements of Content,- and that even
now, in the present blindness and darkness of all idea on the great
question of the Social Condition, it is not impossible that Man, the
individual, under certain unusual and highly fortuitous conditions,
may be happy. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 36 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | southern provinces of France, my route led me within a few miles of
a certain Maison de Sante or private mad-house, about which I had
heard much in Paris from my medical friends. As I had never visited
a place of the kind, I thought the opportunity too good to be lost;
and so proposed to my travelling companion (a gentleman with whom I
had made casual acquaintance a few days before) that we should turn
aside, for an hour or so, and look through the establishment. To
this he objected- pleading haste in the first place, and, in the
second, a very usual horror at the sight of a lunatic. He begged me,
however, not to let any mere courtesy towards himself interfere with
the gratification of my curiosity, and said that he would ride on
leisurely, so that I might overtake him during the day, or, at all
events, during the next. As he bade me good-bye, I bethought me that
there might be some difficulty in obtaining access to the premises,
and mentioned my fears on this point. He replied that, in fact, unless
I had personal knowledge of the superintendent, Monsieur Maillard,
or some credential in the way of a letter, a difficulty
might be found
to exist, as the regulations of these private mad-houses were more
rigid than the public hospital laws. For himself, he added, he had,
some years since, made the acquaintance of Maillard, and would so
far assist me as to ride up to the door and introduce me; although his
feelings on the subject of lunacy would not permit of his entering the
house. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 38 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | OF COURSE I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for
wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited
discussion. It would have been a miracle had it not-especially under
the circumstances. Through the desire of all parties concerned, to
keep the affair from the public, at least for the present, or until we
had farther opportunities for investigation --through our endeavors to
effect this --a garbled or exaggerated account made its way into
society, and became the source of many unpleasant
misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great deal of disbelief. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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