1705041930
1705041931
He had a critical mind which readily turned to history and to literary composition; and he was by nature a woodsman and a huntsman, a rustic who resented all officialdom. His sojourns in the country, which he had accepted in his youth, without thinking, were deliberately protracted in later years—for it was here that he derived the strength to breathe in ministerial chambers, in the closets of a castle, and in the halls of a parliament which he despised. This antinomy between the scene of his activity and the landscape of his heart never ended, for it was merely the symbol of a chronic indecision;and when, at the last, he had full leisure to enjoy the silence of his forests, he longed to be back in the turmoil which he had cursed for years.
1705041932
1705041933
This was his human lot. Bismarck was not happy by nature, and he knew it.
1705041934
1705041935
But he accepted life like a man, did his work with substantial materials, saw the vision of his thirties realized in his sixties, and for ten full years could look upon himself as the arbiter of the Continent. Yet he could never rid himself of the fear that all this might vanish overnight if he were not there—and in his last weeks his daughter heard him praying aloud for the future of Germany.
1705041936
1705041937
In a long coat, and a wide hat, peering out grimly like a Wotan, he could be seen, at the end, among the prehistoric oaks of his forests, walking about slowly and alone, between two mastiffs.
1705041938
1705041939
Notes
1705041940
1705041941
Bismarck （1815-1898）, the great German statesman, the one man responsible for welding a German nation out of the many German principalities. The fallen angel is, of course, Satan.This brief sentence at the top of the page beautifully describes the Satan given in the opening books of Milton’s Paradise Lost .
1705041942
1705041943
Powerful frame, strong body or physique.
1705041944
1705041945
mastiffs, one of a breed of powerful, smooth-coated dogs, valued chiefly as watchdogs.
1705041946
1705041947
assassin, one who practices secret murder.
1705041948
1705041949
Unter den Linden, under the linden trees, the name of a street in Berlin, Germany.
1705041950
1705041951
the king, Frederick William IV （1797-1888）, William I, German Kaiser （1871-1888）, Prussian king （1861-1888）.
1705041952
1705041953
about to yield in 1862, because of opposition to the king’s army program in Parliament. Bismarck was just then appointed minister-president, and after he had failed to secure approval of the king’s program, he dissolved Parliament, and in direct violation of the constitution, collected and expended state revenue. He assumed control of the entire government and suppressed all opposition.
1705041954
1705041955
scabbard, sheath of the sword.
1705041956
1705041957
elicited, drew out or drew forth; evoked.
1705041958
1705041959
convulsed, shook violently （literally and figuratively）.
1705041960
1705041961
gloss over, cover up; explain away; say as little as possible.
1705041962
1705041963
after a thousand years of dissent . Charlemagne was able to bring most of the present Germany into the bounds of his empire by his energetic conquest of the Saxons, but the unity of his empire was ephemeral. The breakdown of the state was signalized in the Treaty of Verdun （843） when the three sons of Louis I, the Pious, divided the territories, the eastern portion going to Louis the German. The eastern territories never achieved a real unity; five great duchies, Saxony, Franconia, Lorraine, Bavaria, and Swabia, developed, and were dominant. From that time down to Bismarck’s day, these and many other divisions that later sprang up kept Germany from becoming a united nation.
1705041964
1705041965
rent, torn apart; dissociated.
1705041966
1705041967
coping, meeting with; dealing with.
1705041968
1705041969
oscillation, changing repeatedly back and forth; fluctuation.
1705041970
1705041971
white heat, great heat; under great compulsion; at a great speed.
1705041972
1705041973
forged, built up; shaped; made.
1705041974
1705041975
this realm of music, German musicians and composers, such as Beethoven （1770-1827）, Mendelssohn （1809-1847）, Schumann （1810-1856）, Wagner （1813-1883）, and Brahms （1833-1897）, and the Austrian Schubert （1797-1828）, are well known in the field of music.
1705041976
1705041977
wariness, state of being cautious; cautiousness.
1705041978
1705041979
monomaniac, one whose mind is deranged upon a single subject only.
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