Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/172

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158 HUNGARIAN LITERATORE " I read in the stars, blood, blood everywhere l Alas, my wasted life f On the firmament there sh ines in letters of fire the name of Kossuth. Flagelltm Dei-the scourge of God," exclaimed Széchenyi once, his eyes filling with tears, as he foresaw the revolution which Kossuth was preparing. And the revolution carne. In 1848 Széchenyi, who was then a member of the first Hungarian Govern­ ment, saw with growing excitement how the revolution was spreading. His mind was darkened. He aceused himself. He írnagined that he had roused the nation and started it upon its path and athat now it could not be stopped. He felt like a physi cian who, in his anxiety to cure, had administered too strong a dose and saw his patient dying in convulsions. After enduring terrihle mental sufferings Széchenyi lost his reason and was taken, in 1849, to an asylum at Döbling, near Vienna, which he never left. After some time, his health improved, and he wrote one more book entitled A Glance, this time in German, as it was directed agai ost the Austrian Ba ch government. It was published anony­ mously in London, and is full of sound and weighty argument, vigorous onslaughts and biting satire. "l n 186o, his excitement again increased. He írnagined that Hungary stood on the brink of a new revolution, for which he was responsible, and on Easter Sunday he shot himself, and so, unhappily, did not live to see the success of Deák's effarts at conciliation. Széchenyi's great aim was the salvation and advance­ ment of his race, and to that end he employed means which his contem poraries could not rightly value or apply. His means were practical, and directed to the raising of Hungary to the level of the surrounding Eu ropean