The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Edgar Allan Poe [625]
I do believe thee! — coward, I do believe thee!
Cas. Ha! — coward! — this may not be!
(clutches his sword and staggers towards Politian, but his purpose is changed before reaching him, and he falls upon his knee at the feet of the Earl)
Alas! my lord,
It is — it is — most true. In such a cause
I am the veriest coward. O pity me!
Pol. (greatly softened.) Alas! — I do — indeed I pity thee.
Cas. And Lalage ——
Pol. Scoundrel! — arise and die!
Cas. It needeth not be — thus — thus — O let me die
Thus on my bended knee. It were most fitting
That in this deep humiliation I perish.
For in the fight I will not raise a hand
Against thee, Earl of Leicester. Strike thou home —
(baring his bosom.)
Here is no let or hindrance to thy weapon —
Strike home. I will not fight thee.
Pol. Now s’Death and Hell!
Am I not — am I not sorely — grievously tempted
To take thee at thy word? But mark me, sir!
Think not to fly me thus. Do thou prepare
For public insult in the streets — before
The eyes of the citizens. I’ll follow thee —
Like an avenging spirit I’ll follow thee
Even unto death. Before those whom thou lovest —
Before all Rome I’ll taunt thee, villain, — I’ll taunt thee,
Dost hear? with cowardice — thou wilt not fight me?
Thou liest! thou shalt!
(exit.)
Cas. Now this indeed is just!
Most righteous, and most just, avenging Heaven!
The Essays
INDEX OF THE COMPLETE ESSAYS
A CHAPTER OF SUGGESTIONS
A CHAPTER ON FIELD SPORTS AND MANLY PASTIMES
A CHAPTER ON SCIENCE AND ART
A FEW WORDS ON ETIQUETTE
A FEW WORDS ON SECRET WRITING
A MOVING CHAPTER
AMERICAN NOVEL-WRITING
AMERICAN POETRY (LECTURE)
AN OPINION ON DREAMS
ANASTATIC PRINTING
BYRON AND MISS CHAWORTH
CABS
DESULTORY NOTES ON CATS
DOINGS OF GOTHAM
EUREKA
EXORDIUM
HARPER'S FERRY
INSTINCT VS REASON — A BLACK CAT
INTEMPERANCE
LETTER TO B——
LETTER TO MR. ———
MAELZEL’S CHESS PLAYER
MORNING ON THE WISSAHICCON
MR. POE’S REPLY TO MR. ENGLISH AND OTHERS
NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE
OLD ENGLISH POETRY
OUR MAGAZINE LITERATURE
PALÆSTINE
PAY OF AMERICAN AUTHORS
PINAKIDIA
SOME ACCOUNT OF STONEHENGE
SOME SECRETS OF THE MAGAZINE PRISON-HOUSE
SOUVENIRS OF YOUTH
STREET-PAVING
SUMMER AND WINTER
SWISS BELL-RINGERS
THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON
THE ELK
THE HEAD OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION
THE PHILOSOPHY OF FURNITURE
THE POETIC PRINCIPLE
THE RATIONALE OF VERSE
THEATRICAL RATS
TRY A MINERALIZED PAVEMENT (BOTH VERSIONS)
WOOD PAVEMENTS
MAELZEL’S CHESS PLAYER
This 1836 essay exposes a fraudulent automaton chess player called The Turk, which had become famous in Europe and the United States and toured widely. The fake automaton was invented by Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1769 and was brought to the U.S. in 1825 by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel after von Kempelen's death. Although it is the most famous essay on the Turk, many of Poe's hypotheses were incorrect. He also may or may not have been aware of earlier articles written in the Baltimore Gazette where two youths were reported to have seen chess player William Schlumberger climbing out of the machine. He did, however, borrow heavily from David Brewster's Letters on Natural Magic. Other essays and article had been written and published prior to Poe's in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston - cities in which Poe had lived or visited before writing his essay.
PERHAPS no exhibition of the kind has ever elicited so general attention as the Chess-Player of Maelzel. Wherever seen it has been an object of intense curiosity, to all persons who think. Yet the question of its modus operandi is still undetermined. Nothing has been written on this topic which can be considered as decisive--and accordingly we find every where men of mechanical genius, of great general acuteness, and discriminative understanding, who make no scruple in pronouncing the Automaton a pure machine, unconnected with human agency in its movements, and consequently, beyond all comparison,