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on some hollow tree the owl, shrill chorister of the night, hoots
fortli notes which might charm the ears of some modern con-
noisseurs in music.....; in piain English, it was now mid-
night." (S. auch T. J. II. Buch XI, K. IX.) Hiermit vergleiche mau
Dickens (P C. L K. 19. S. 286): „The birds, who, happily for their
own peace of mind and personal comfort, were in blissful igno-
rance of the preparations which had been making to astonish them
on the first of September, hailed it no doubt, as one of the
pleasantest mornings they had seen that season. Many a
young partridge who strutted complacently among the stubble,
with all the finicking coxcombry of youth, and many an older
one who watched his leyitj out of Iiis little round eye with
the contemptuous air of a bird of wisdom and experience
alike unconscious of their approaching doom, basked in the
fresh morning air with lively and blithesome feelings, and a
few hours afterwards were laid low upon the earth.....
In piain common- place matte r-of-fact, then,
it was a fine morning." Ferner Dickens (M. Ch. Kap.
VI): „It was morning, and the beautiful Aurora of whoin so
much has been written, said, and sung, did, with her rosy
fingers, nip and tweak Miss Pecksniffs nose. It was the fro-
licsome custome of the goddess, in her intercourse with the
fair Oherry, to do so; o r in m o r e p r o s a i c phrase, the
tip of that feature in the sweet giii's countenance was always
very red at breakfasttim e."
Wer könnte beim Lesen dieser Stellen eine Einwirkung
Fieldings auf seinen Schüler bezweifeln!
Die bildliche Kedeweise, die Einführung personifizierter
Mächte, wie sie uns das letzte Beispiel zeigt, findet sich bei
Dickens auch schon in seinen ersten Werken öfters, wie z. B.
in den Pickwickiern (II. K. 22, S. 369): „Now some demon
of discord, Aying over the Saracens Head at that moment,
on casting down his eyes in mere idle curiosity, happened to
behold Slurk established comfortably by the kitchen fire,
and Pott slightly elevated with wine in another room; upon
which the malicious demon, darting down into the lastmen-
tioned apartment with inconceivable rapidity, passed at once
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