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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +WIDGER'S QUOTATIONS + +FROM THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EDITION OF +CELEBRATED CRIMES BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE + +by David Widger + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +Readers acquainted with the Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas may wish +to see if their favorite passages are listed in this selection. The etext +editor will be glad to add your suggestions. One of the advantages of +internet over paper publication is the ease of quick revision. + +All the titles may be found using the Project Gutenberg search engine +at: +http://promo.net/pg/ + +After downloading a specific file, the location and complete context of +the quotations may be found by inserting a small part of the quotation +into the 'Find' or 'Search' functions of the user's word processing +program. + +The quotations are in two formats: + 1. Small passages from the text. + 2. Lists of alphabetized one-liners. + +The editor may be contacted at <widger@cecomet.net> for comments, +questions or suggested additions to these extracts. + +D.W. + + + + + +WIDGER'S QUOTATIONS + +FROM CELEBRATED CRIMES BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE + + + + +CONTENTS: + + THE BORGIAS + THE CENCI + MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH + MARY STUART + KARL-LUDWIG SAND + URBAIN GRANDIER + NISIDA + DERUES + LA CONSTANTIN + JOAN OF NAPLES + THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (The Essay, not the Novel) + MARTIN GUERRE + ALI PACHA + THE COUNTESS DE SAINT GERAN + MURAT + THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS + VANINKA + THE MARQUISE DE GANGES + + + + + + +NOTE: + +Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist +has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent +scenes of a violent time. + +In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, +and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. It is not within our +province to edit the historical side of Dumas, any more than it would be +to correct the obvious errors in Dickens's Child's History of England. +The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will +recognize, and allow for, this fact. + + + + +INTRODUCTION: + +The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as the +motives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series +of stories based upon historical records, from the pen of Alexandre +Dumas, pere, when he was not "the elder," nor yet the author of +D'Artagnan or Monte Cristo, but was a rising young dramatist and a +lion in the literary set and world of fashion. + +Dumas, in fact, wrote his 'Crimes Celebres' just prior to launching +upon his wonderful series of historical novels, and they may +therefore be considered as source books, whence he was to draw so +much of that far-reaching and intimate knowledge of inner history +which has perennially astonished his readers. The Crimes were +published in Paris, in 1839-40, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen +titles--all of which now appear in the present carefully translated +text. The success of the original work was instantaneous. Dumas +laughingly said that he thought he had exhausted the subject of +famous crimes, until the work was off the press, when he immediately +became deluged with letters from every province in France, supplying +him with material upon other deeds of violence! The subjects which +he has chosen, however, are of both historic and dramatic importance, +and they have the added value of giving the modern reader a clear +picture of the state of semi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, +during the middle ages. "The Borgias, the Cenci, Urbain Grandier, +the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the Marchioness of Ganges, and the +rest--what subjects for the pen of Dumas!" exclaims Garnett. + +Space does not permit us to consider in detail the material here +collected, although each title will be found to present points of +special interest. The first volume comprises the annals of the +Borgias and the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious +Florentine family has become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and +yet the Borgias have not been without stanch defenders in history. + +Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci. The beautiful +Beatrice Cenci--celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenth +century romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not +to mention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate-- +will always remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos. + +The second volume chronicles the sanguinary deeds in the south of +France, carried on in the name of religion, but drenching in blood +the fair country round about Avignon, for a long period of years. + +The third volume is devoted to the story of Mary Queen of Scots, +another woman who suffered a violent death, and around whose name an +endless controversy has waged. Dumas goes carefully into the dubious +episodes of her stormy career, but does not allow these to blind his +sympathy for her fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was closely +allied to France by education and marriage, and the French never +forgave Elizabeth the part she played in the tragedy. + +The fourth volume comprises three widely dissimilar tales. One of +the strangest stories is that of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim +of a cunning and relentless religious plot. His story was dramatised +by Dumas, in 1850. A famous German crime is that of Karl-Ludwig +Sand, whose murder of Kotzebue, Councillor of the Russian Legation, +caused an international upheaval which was not to subside for many +years. + +An especially interesting volume is number six, containing, among +other material, the famous "Man in the Iron Mask." This unsolved +puzzle of history was later incorporated by Dumas in one of the +D'Artagnan Romances a section of the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which +it gave its name. But in this later form, the true story of this +singular man doomed to wear an iron vizor over his features during +his entire lifetime could only be treated episodically. While as a +special subject in the Crimes, Dumas indulges his curiosity, and that +of his reader, to the full. Hugo's unfinished tragedy,'Les Jumeaux', +is on the same subject; as also are others by Fournier, in French, +and Zschokke, in German. + +Other stories can be given only passing mention. The beautiful +poisoner, Marquise de Brinvilliers, must have suggested to Dumas his +later portrait of Miladi, in the Three Musketeers, the mast +celebrated of his woman characters. The incredible cruelties of Ali +Pacha, the Turkish despot, should not be charged entirely to Dumas, +as he is said to have been largely aided in this by one of his +"ghosts," Mallefille. + +"Not a mere artist"--writes M. de Villemessant, founder of the +Figaro,--"he has nevertheless been able to seize on those dramatic +effects which have so much distinguished his theatrical career, and +to give those sharp and distinct reproductions of character which +alone can present to the reader the mind and spirit of an age. Not a +mere historian, he has nevertheless carefully consulted the original +sources of information, has weighed testimonies, elicited theories, +and . . . has interpolated the poetry of history with its most +thorough prose." + + + + + + WIDGER'S QUOTATIONS + + FROM ALEXANDRE DUMAS CELEBRATED CRIMES + + + + + +THE BORGIAS +borgs10.txt or borgs10.zip [Etext #2741] + +Indeed, Caesar (Borgia) had the power of persuasion as a gift from +heaven; and though they perfectly well knew his duplicity, they had no +power of resisting, not so much his actual eloquence as that air of frank +good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly admired, and which indeed more +than once deceived even him, wily politician as he was. + +At a time when he was besieged on all sides by mediocrities.... + +Forgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we suffer. + +The vice-chamberlain (a Cardinal) one day remarked in public, when +certain people were complaining of the venality of justice, "God wills +not that a sinner die, but that he live and pay." + +The same day, the cardinal's mother sent the pope the 2000 ducats, and +the next day his mistress, in man's attire, came in person to bring the +missing pearl. His Holiness, however, was so struck with her beauty in +this costume, that, we are told, he let her keep the pearl for the same +price she had paid for it. + +Roderigo, retired from public affairs, was given up entirely to the +affections of a lover and a father, when he heard that his uncle, who +loved him like a son, had been elected pope under the name of Calixtus +III. But the young man was at this time so much a lover that love +imposed silence on ambition; and indeed he was almost terrified at the +exaltation of his uncle, which was no doubt destined to force him once +more into public life. + + + + + +THE CENCI +cenci10.txt or cenci10.zip[Etext #2742] + +On the 11th of August, 1492, after the lingering death-agony of Innocent +VIII, during which two hundred and twenty murders were committed in the +streets of Rome, Alexander VI ascended the pontifical throne. Son of a +sister of Pope Calixtus III, Roderigo Lenzuoli Borgia, before being +created cardinal, had five children by Rosa Vanozza, whom he afterwards +caused to be married to a rich Roman. + +Having seen that Beatrice was sentenced to the torture ordinary and +extraordinary, and having explained the nature of these tortures, we +proceed to quote the official report:-- "And as in reply to every +question she would confess nothing, we caused her to be taken by two +officers and led from the prison to the torture chamber, where the +torturer was in attendance; there, after cutting off her hair, he made +her sit on a small stool, undressed her, pulled off her shoes, tied her +hands behind her back, fastened them to a rope passed over a pulley +bolted into the ceiling of the aforesaid chamber, and wound up at the +other end by a four lever windlass, worked by two men." + + + + + +MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH +mssth10.txt or mssth10.zip [Etext #2743] + +The massacres went on during the whole of the second day, though towards +evening the search for victims relaxed somewhat; but still many isolated +acts of murder took place during the night. On the morrow, being tired +of killing, the people began to destroy, and this phase lasted a long +time, it being less fatiguing to throw stones about than corpses. All +the convents, all the monasteries, all the houses of the priests and +canons were attacked in turn; nothing was spared except the cathedral, +before which axes and crowbars seemed to lose their power, and the church +of Ste. Eugenie, which was turned into a powder-magazine. The day of the +great butchery was called "La Michelade," because it took place the day +after Michaelmas, and as all this happened in the year 1567 the Massacre +of St. Bartholomew must be regarded as a plagiarism. + +But from this period, each flux and reflux bears more and more the +peculiar character of the party which for the moment is triumphant; when +the Protestants get the upper hand, their vengeance is marked by +brutality and rage; when the Catholics are victorious, the retaliation is +full of hypocrisy and greed. The Protestants pull down churches and +monasteries, expel the monks, burn the crucifixes, take the body of some +criminal from the gallows, nail it on a cross, pierce its side, put a +crown of thorns round its temples and set it up in the market-place--an +effigy of Jesus on Calvary. The Catholics levy contributions, take back +what they had been deprived of, exact indemnities, and although ruined by +each reverse, are richer than ever after each victory. + + + + + +Mary Stuart +marys10.txt or marys10.zip [Etext #2744] + +Mary was a harmony in which the most ardent enthusiast for sculptured +form could have found nothing to reproach. This was indeed Mary's great +and real crime: one single imperfection in face or figure, and she would +not have died upon the scaffold. Besides, to Elizabeth, who had never +seen her, and who consequently could only judge by hearsay, this beauty +was a great cause of uneasiness and of jealousy, which she could not even +disguise, and which showed itself unceasingly in eager questions. + +Unfortunately for her honour, Mary, always more the woman than the queen, +while, on the contrary, Elizabeth was always more the queen than the +woman, had no sooner regained her power than her first royal act was to +exhume Rizzio, who had been quietly buried on the threshold of the chapel +nearest Holyrood Palace, and to have him removed to the burial-place of +the Scottish kings, compromising herself still more by the honours she +paid him dead, than by the favour she had granted him living. + + + + + + +NISIDA +nisid10.txt or nisid10.zip [Etext #2747] + +The priests had already begun to sing the death hymn; the executioner was +ready, the procession had set out, when Solomon the fisherman appeared +suddenly on the threshold of the prison, his eyes aflame and his brow +radiant with the halo of the patriarchs. The old man drew himself up to +his full height, and raising in one hand the reddened knife, said in a +sublime voice, "The sacrifice is fulfilled. God did not send His angel +to stay the hand of Abraham." + +The crowd carried him in triumph! + +[The details of this case are recorded in the archives of the Criminal +Court at Naples. We have changed nothing in the age or position of the +persons who appear in this narrative. One of the most celebrated +advocates at the Neapolitan bar secured the acquittal of the old man.] + + + + + + +KARL LUDWIG SAND +ksand10.txt or ksand10.zip [Etext #2745] + +Fundamentally nothing is great, you see, and nothing small, when things +are looked at apart from one another. + + + + + +URBAIN GRANDIER +ugran10.txt or ugran10.zip [Etext #2746] + +Danger of driving the vanquished to despair. + +Let fall from the height of his superiority a few of those disdainful +words which brand as deeply as a red-hot iron. + +The more absurd the reports, the more credence did they gain. + +....crowd of prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar. + +Fourneau having saluted Grandier, proceeded to carry out his orders, +whereupon a judge said it was not sufficient to shave the body of the +prisoner, but that his nails must also be torn out, lest the devil should +hide beneath them. Grandier looked at the speaker with an expression of +unutterable pity, and held out his hands to Fourneau; but Forneau put +them gently aside, and said he would do nothing of the kind, even were +the order given by the cardinal-duke himself. + + + + + +LA CONSTANTIN +const10.txt or const10.zip [Etext #2749] + +Madly in love, which is the same as saying that he was hopelessly blind, +silly, and dense to everything around him. + +It is singular how very clear-sighted we can be about things that don't +touch us. + +There in semi-isolation and despoiled of her greatness lived +Angelique-Louise de Guerchi, formerly companion to Mademoiselle de Pons +and then maid of honour to Anne of Austria. Her love intrigues and the +scandals they gave rise to had led to her dismissal from court. Not that +she was a greater sinner than many who remained behind, only she was +unlucky enough or stupid enough to be found out. Her admirers were so +indiscreet that they had not left her a shred of reputation, and in a +court where a cardinal is the lover of a queen, a hypocritical appearance +of decorum is indispensable to success. So Angelique had to suffer for +the faults she was not clever enough to hide. + + + + + +DERUES +derue10.txt or derue10.zip [Etext #2748] + +"All passions," says La Bruyere,--"all passions are deceitful; they +disguise themselves as much as possible from the public eye; they hide +from themselves. There is no vice which has not a counterfeit +resemblance to some virtue, and which does not profit by it." + +The whole life of Derues bears testimony to the truth of this +observation. An avaricious poisoner, he attracted his victims by the +pretence of fervent and devoted piety, and drew them into the snare where +he silently destroyed them. + +As soon as his head was covered, the executioner gave the signal. One +would have thought a very few blows would have finished so frail a being, +but he seemed as hard to kill as the venomous reptiles which must be +crushed and cut to pieces before life is extinct, and the 'coup de grace' +was found necessary. The executioner uncovered his head and showed the +confessor that the eyes were closed and that the heart had ceased to +beat. The body was then removed from the cross, the hands and feet +fastened together, and it was thrown on the funeral pile. While the +execution was proceeding the people applauded. On the morrow they bought +up the fragments of bone, and hastened to buy lottery tickets, in the +firm conviction that these precious relics would bring luck to the +fortunate possessors! + + + + + +THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK +ironm10.txt or ironm.zip [Etext #2751] + +Voltaire added a few further details which had been given him by M. de +Bernaville, the successor of M. de Saint-Mars, and by an old physician of +the Bastille who had attended the prisoner whenever his health required a +doctor, but who had never seen his face, although he had "often seen his +tongue and his body." He also asserted that M. de Chamillart was the +last minister who was in the secret, and that when his son-in-law, +Marshal de la Feuillade, besought him on his knees, de Chamillart being +on his deathbed, to tell him the name of the Man in the Iron Mask, the +minister replied that he was under a solemn oath never to reveal the +secret, it being an affair of state. To all these details, which the +marshal acknowledges to be correct, Voltaire adds a remarkable note: +"What increases our wonder is, that when the unknown captive was sent to +the Iles Sainte-Marguerite no personage of note disappeared from the +European stage." + + + + + + +JOAN OF NAPLES +jonap10.txt or jonap10.zip [Etext #2750] + +The next morning the people were beforehand with the executioner, loudly +demanding their prey. All the national troops and mercenaries that the +judicial authorities could command were echelonned in the streets, +opposing a sort of dam to the torrent of the raging crowd. The sudden +insatiable cruelty that too often degrades human nature had awaked in the +populace: all heads were turned with hatred and frenzy; all imaginations +inflamed with the passion for revenge; groups of men and women, roaring +like wild beasts, threatened to knock down the walls of the prison, if +the condemned were not handed over to them to take to the place of +punishment: a great murmur arose, continuous, ever the same, like the +growling of thunder: the queen's heart was petrified with terror. + +That same evening the sentence, to the great joy of all, was proclaimed, +that Joan was innocent and acquitted of all concern in the assassination +of her husband. But as her conduct after the event and the indifference +she had shown about pursuing the authors of the crime admitted of no +valid excuse, the pope declared that there were plain traces of magic, +and that the wrong-doing attributed to Joan was the result of some +baneful charm cast upon her, which she could by no possible means resist. + + + + + +MARTIN GUERRE +mguer10.txt or mguer10.zip [Etext #2752] + +On the 10th of, August 1557, an inauspicious day in the history of +France, the roar of cannon was still heard at six in the evening in the +plains of St. Quentin; where the French army had just been destroyed by +the united troops of England and Spain, commanded by the famous Captain +Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. An utterly beaten infantry, the +Constable Montmorency and several generals taken prisoner, the Duke +d'Enghien mortally wounded, the flower of the nobility cut down like +grass,--such were the terrible results of a battle which plunged France +into mourning, and which would have been a blot on the reign of Henry II, +had not the Duke of Guise obtained a brilliant revenge the following +year. + +This sentence substituted the gallows for the decapitation decreed by the +first judge, inasmuch as the latter punishment was reserved for criminals +of noble birth, while hanging was inflicted on meaner persons. + + + + + + +ALI PACHA +alpac10.txt or alpac10.zip [Etext #2753] + +Albania was one of the most difficult provinces to manage. Its +inhabitants were poor, brave, and, the nature of the country was +mountainous and inaccessible. The pashas had great difficulty in +collecting tribute, because the people were given to fighting for their +bread. Whether Mahomedans or Christians, the Albanians were above all +soldiers. Descended on the one side from the unconquerable Scythians, on +the other from the ancient Macedonians, not long since masters of the +world; crossed with Norman adventurers brought eastwards by the great +movement of the Crusades; they felt the blood of warriors flow in their +veins, and that war was their element. Sometimes at feud with one +another, canton against canton, village against village, often even house +against house; sometimes rebelling against the government their sanjaks; +sometimes in league with these against the sultan; they never rested from +combat except in an armed peace. Each tribe had its military +organisation, each family its fortified stronghold, each man his gun on +his shoulder. When they had nothing better to do, they tilled their +fields, or mowed their neighbours', carrying off, it should be noted, the +crop; or pastured their, flocks, watching the opportunity to trespass +over pasture limits. This was the normal and regular life of the +population of Epirus, Thesprotia, Thessaly, and Upper Albania. + + + + + +MURAT +murat10.txt or murat10.zip [Etext #2755] + +On the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europe was +being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar was silently +following the road from Toulon to Marseilles. + +Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on a little +eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country; then either +because he had reached the end of his journey, or because, before +attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which is called the Thermopylae +of Provence, he wished to enjoy the magnificent view which spread to the +southern horizon a little longer, he went and sat down on the edge of the +ditch which bordered the road, turning his back on the mountains which +rise like an amphitheatre to the north of the town, and having at his +feet a rich plain covered with tropical vegetation, exotics of a +conservatory, trees and flowers quite unknown in any other part of +France. + + + + + +THE COUNTESS OF SAINT GERAN +geran10.txt or geran10.zip [Etext #2754] + +"Could not, for instance," said the marquis, "a confinement be effected +without pain?" + +"I don't know about that, but this I do" know, that I shall take very +good care not to practise any method contrary to the laws of nature." + +"You are deceiving me: you are acquainted with this method, you have +already practised it upon a certain person whom I could name to you." + +"Who has dared to calumniate me thus? I operate only after the decision +of the Faculty. God forbid that I should be stoned by all the +physicians, and perhaps expelled from France!" + + + + + +MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS +brinv10.txt or brinv10.zip [Etext #2756] + +When the prayer was done and the doctor raised his head, he saw before +him the executioner wiping his face. "Well, sir," said he, "was not that +a good stroke? I always put up a prayer on these occasions, and God has +always assisted me; but I have been anxious for several days about this +lady. I had six masses said, and I felt strengthened in hand and heart." +He then pulled out a bottle from under his cloak, and drank a dram; and +taking the body under one arm, all dressed as it was, and the head in his +other hand, the eyes still bandaged, he threw both upon the faggots, +which his assistant lighted. + +"The next day," says Madame de Sevigne, "people were looking for the +charred bones of Madame de Brinvilliers, because they said she was a +saint." + + + + + +MARQUISE DE GANGES +gange10.txt or gange10.zip [Etext #2758] + +The beginnings of this union were perfectly happy; the marquis was in +love for the first time, and the marquise did not remember ever to have +been in love. A son and a daughter came to complete their happiness. +The marquise had entirely forgotten the fatal prediction, or, if she +occasionally thought of it now, it was to wonder that she could ever have +believed in it. Such happiness is not of this world, and when by chance +it lingers here a while, it seems sent rather by the anger than by the +goodness of God. Better, indeed, would it be for him who possesses and +who loses it, never to have known it. + + + + + + +VANINKA +vanin10.txt or vanin10.zip [Etext #2757] + +About the end of the reign of the Emperor Paul I--that is to say, towards +the middle of the first year of the nineteenth century--just as four +o'clock in the afternoon was sounding from the church of St. Peter and +St. Paul, whose gilded vane overlooks the ramparts of the fortress, a +crowd, composed of all sorts and conditions of people, began to gather in +front of a house which belonged to General Count Tchermayloff, formerly +military governor of a fair-sized town in the government of Pultava. The +first spectators had been attracted by the preparations which they saw +had been made in the middle of the courtyard for administering torture +with the knout. One of the general's serfs, he who acted as barber, was +to be the victim. + +Although this kind of punishment was a common enough sight in St. +Petersburg, it nevertheless attracted all passers-by when it was publicly +administered. This was the occurrence which had caused a crowd, as just +mentioned, before General Tchermayloff's house. + + + + + +THE COMPLETE CELEBRATED CRIMES BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE +dcrim10.txt or dcrim10.zip [Etext #2760] + +Air of frank good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly admired +All passions are deceitful +Always in extremes, whether of enthusiasm or hatred +Besieged on all sides by mediocrities +Danger of driving the vanquished to despair +Determination to exact his strict legal rights +Disdainful words which brand as deeply as a red-hot iron +Doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent +Forgetfulness is the best cure for the losses we suffer +Fundamentally nothing is great, you see, and nothing small +God wills not that a sinner die, but that he live and pay +Influence he had gained over the narrow-minded +Interpolated according to the needs of the prosecution +Italy and Greece seemed to be mere suburbs of Venice +Jesus, Son of David and Mary +Knew how short was the space between a prison and a tomb +Let her keep the pearl for the same price she had paid for it +Madly in love-that is to say silly and blind +Method contrary to the laws of nature +More absurd the reports, the more credence did they gain +No vice which has not a counterfeit resemblance to some virtue +Prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar +Put to the question ordinary and extraordinary +So much a lover that love imposed silence on ambition +The last thing I should desire would be to be as dead as he +To draw back was to acknowledge one's guilt +Too commonplace ever to arrive at a high position +Vanity and self-satisfaction +Very clear-sighted we can be about things that don't touch us +Without fear of being called to account + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Widger's Quotations +from Alexandre Dumas, pere: Celebrated Crimes, by David Widger + diff --git a/3617.zip b/3617.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfe0847 --- /dev/null +++ b/3617.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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