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116 days of the First Part, and it was painful to see its majesty veiled with crape, its towering strength sink to ruins in the second. Then there are more grand and full passages in the First which can be detached and recollected; as,

That beginning,

or this famous one,

or the fine scene between Clara, Van Artevelde, and Father John, where she describes the death scene at Sesenheim’s, beginning,

The second part must be taken as a whole, the dark cloud widening and blackening as it advances, while ghastly flashes of presage come more and more frequent as the daylight diminishes. But there is far more fervor of genius than in the First, showing a mind less possessing, more possessed by, the subject, and finer touches of nature. Van Artevelde’s dignity overpowers us more, as he himself feels it less; as in the acceptance of Father John’s reproof.