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Article OF COURAGE, FORTITUDE, and FEAR. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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Of Courage, Fortitude, And Fear.
war . A small party was sent in pursuit of him ; and when he least expectedit , they surprised him singing and dancing among a company of peasants , who were got together at an inn , and were making merry This event , so sudden and unforeseen , and at the same time-so dreadful in it ' s consequences , struck him in such a manner , that , giving a great cry , he became at once altogether stupid and insensibleand was seized-without the least resistance . TJiey carried
, him away to Glocau , where he was brought before the council of war , and received sentence as a deserter . He suffered himself to be led and disposed of at the will of those about him , without uttering a word , or giving the least sign that he . knew what had happened or what would happen to him . He remained immoveable as a statue wherever he was placed , and was wholly passive with
respect to all that was done to him or about him . During all the time that he was in custody , he neither ate , nor drank , nor slept , nor had any evacuation . Some of his comrades were sent to see -him ; after that he was visited by some officers of his corps and by some priests ; but he still continued in the same state , without discovering the least signs of sensibility . Promisesintreaties ,
andthreaten-, ings , were equally ineffectual . The physicians who were consulted upon his case were of opinion , that he was in a state of hopeless idiocy . It was at first suspected , that those appearances . were feigned ; but these suspicions necessarily gave way , when it was known he took no sustenance , and that the involuntary functions
of nature were in a great measure suspended . After some time they knocked off his fetters , and left him at liberty to go whether he would . He received his liberty with the same insensibility that he had showed upon other occasions : he remained fixed and immoveable ; his eyes turned wildly here and there without taking cognizance of any object , and the muscles of his face were fallen and fixed like those of a dead body . Being left to himselfhe passed
, twenty days in this condition , Tvirbout eating , drinking or any evacuation , and died on the twentieth day . He had been sometimes heard to fetch deep sighs ; and once he rushed with great violence on a soldier who had a mug of liquor in his hand , forced the mug from him , drank the liquor with great eagerness , and let the mug fall to the ground . "
To turn from the serious to the ludicrous effects of fear , the following instance of the latter sort , quoted from a French author by Mr . Andrews in his volume of Anecdotes , sho % vs upon what sli ght occasions this passion may be sometimes excited in a very hi gh degree , even in persons the most unlikely to entertain such a guest . " Charles Gustavtis ( the successor of Christina of Sweden ) was
besieging Prague , when a boor of a most extraordinary visage desired admittance to his tent ; and , being allowed entrance , offered , by way of amusing the king , to devour a whole hog of one hundred wei ght in his presence . The old general Konigsmarc , who stood by the king ' s side , and who , soldier as he was , hud not got rid oi the prejudices of his childhood , hinted to his royal master , that the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Of Courage, Fortitude, And Fear.
war . A small party was sent in pursuit of him ; and when he least expectedit , they surprised him singing and dancing among a company of peasants , who were got together at an inn , and were making merry This event , so sudden and unforeseen , and at the same time-so dreadful in it ' s consequences , struck him in such a manner , that , giving a great cry , he became at once altogether stupid and insensibleand was seized-without the least resistance . TJiey carried
, him away to Glocau , where he was brought before the council of war , and received sentence as a deserter . He suffered himself to be led and disposed of at the will of those about him , without uttering a word , or giving the least sign that he . knew what had happened or what would happen to him . He remained immoveable as a statue wherever he was placed , and was wholly passive with
respect to all that was done to him or about him . During all the time that he was in custody , he neither ate , nor drank , nor slept , nor had any evacuation . Some of his comrades were sent to see -him ; after that he was visited by some officers of his corps and by some priests ; but he still continued in the same state , without discovering the least signs of sensibility . Promisesintreaties ,
andthreaten-, ings , were equally ineffectual . The physicians who were consulted upon his case were of opinion , that he was in a state of hopeless idiocy . It was at first suspected , that those appearances . were feigned ; but these suspicions necessarily gave way , when it was known he took no sustenance , and that the involuntary functions
of nature were in a great measure suspended . After some time they knocked off his fetters , and left him at liberty to go whether he would . He received his liberty with the same insensibility that he had showed upon other occasions : he remained fixed and immoveable ; his eyes turned wildly here and there without taking cognizance of any object , and the muscles of his face were fallen and fixed like those of a dead body . Being left to himselfhe passed
, twenty days in this condition , Tvirbout eating , drinking or any evacuation , and died on the twentieth day . He had been sometimes heard to fetch deep sighs ; and once he rushed with great violence on a soldier who had a mug of liquor in his hand , forced the mug from him , drank the liquor with great eagerness , and let the mug fall to the ground . "
To turn from the serious to the ludicrous effects of fear , the following instance of the latter sort , quoted from a French author by Mr . Andrews in his volume of Anecdotes , sho % vs upon what sli ght occasions this passion may be sometimes excited in a very hi gh degree , even in persons the most unlikely to entertain such a guest . " Charles Gustavtis ( the successor of Christina of Sweden ) was
besieging Prague , when a boor of a most extraordinary visage desired admittance to his tent ; and , being allowed entrance , offered , by way of amusing the king , to devour a whole hog of one hundred wei ght in his presence . The old general Konigsmarc , who stood by the king ' s side , and who , soldier as he was , hud not got rid oi the prejudices of his childhood , hinted to his royal master , that the