philosophical pretensions
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"... in
this sheet, he seems to have directly plagiarized from his own
experiences, to fill out the mood of his apparent author-hero, Vivia,
who thus soliloquizes: "A deep-down, unutterable mournfulness is in me.
Now I drop all humorous or indifferent disguises, and all philosophical
pretensions." -- Pierre; Or, The Ambiguities (1852)
I. F. "And how do you like 'A Glimmering Light on Mesmerism,' which I perceive you have been reading?"
C. "It shows a research quite extraordinary for a soldier—generally exposed to much literary privation; his enquiring and sceptical mind has been excited and puzzled by the strange developments, or pretensions of this magical philosophy."
-- Scenes Beyond the Western Border, June 1852; and
Scenes and Adventures in the Army
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