Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/209

 {|align=center width=220 "Einer Welt von Lebenstrieben, Die, in ihrer Fülle Drang, Ahneten schon Bulbuls Lieben, Seeleregenden Gesang.

"Sollte jene Qual uns quälen, Da sie unsre Lust vermehrt? Hat nicht Myriaden Seelen Timur's Herrschaft aufgezehrt?"
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It is true, the word Lust in English is not exclusively used in the lowest animal sense, but has been applied in a more intellectual connection; so we speak of the "lust of empire," the "lust of power," etc. But there is undoubtedly always an admixture of evil and of disapproval, and some hidden analogy to animal desire. With Chaucer, still, "luste" is used both as a noun and verb to signify wish, desire, pleasure, enjoyment, without an evil connotation. The causes of this degeneration are numerous. But two seem to me most worthy of notice. It is a well-known fact that, after the Norman Conquest, the language of the conqueror, French, became the language of the aristocracy. This