+ +Project Gutenberg's Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: Frankenstein + or The Modern Prometheus + +Author: Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley + +Release Date: June 17, 2008 [EBook #84] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANKENSTEIN *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss, Christy Phillips, Lynn Hanninen, +and David Meltzer. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + ++ + +
+
| +Letter 1 + | ++Letter 2 + | ++Letter 3 + | ++Letter 4 + | +
| +Chapter 1 + | ++Chapter 2 + | ++Chapter 3 + | ++Chapter 4 + | +
| +Chapter 5 + | ++Chapter 6 + | ++Chapter 7 + | ++Chapter 8 + | +
| +Chapter 9 + | ++Chapter 10 + | ++Chapter 11 + | ++Chapter 12 + | +
| +Chapter 13 + | ++Chapter 14 + | ++Chapter 15 + | ++Chapter 16 + | +
| +Chapter 17 + | ++Chapter 18 + | ++Chapter 19 + | ++Chapter 20 + | +
| +Chapter 21 + | ++Chapter 22 + | ++Chapter 23 + | ++Chapter 24 + | +
+St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—
+
+TO Mrs. Saville, England
+
+You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the +commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil +forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure +my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success +of my undertaking. +
+ ++I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of +Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which +braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this +feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards +which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. +Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent +and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of +frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the +region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever +visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a +perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put +some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; +and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in +wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable +globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the +phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered +solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I +may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may +regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this +voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I +shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world +never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by +the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to +conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this +laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little +boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his +native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you +cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all +mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole +to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are +requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at +all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine. +
+ ++These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my +letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me +to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as +a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual +eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I +have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have +been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean +through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a +history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the +whole of our good Uncle Thomas' library. My education was neglected, +yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study +day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which +I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunction +had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life. +
+ ++These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets +whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also +became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; +I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the +names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well +acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the disappointment. +But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and my +thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent. +
+ ++Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I +can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this +great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I +accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; +I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often +worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my +nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those +branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive +the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as an +under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I +must own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second +dignity in the vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest +earnestness, so valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear +Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life +might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to +every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some +encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my +resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often +depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the +emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not +only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, +when theirs are failing. +
+ ++This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly +quickly over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in +my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach. The +cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs—a dress which I have +already adopted, for there is a great difference between walking the +deck and remaining seated motionless for hours, when no exercise +prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins. I have no +ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and +Archangel. I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three +weeks; and my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be +done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many +sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the +whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of June; and +when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I answer this question? +If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you +and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never. +Farewell, my dear, excellent Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on +you, and save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for +all your love and kindness. +
+ +
+Your affectionate brother,
+ R. Walton
+
+Archangel, 28th March, 17—
+
+To Mrs. Saville, England
+
+How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow! +Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a +vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors; those whom I have +already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly +possessed of dauntless courage. +
+ ++But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and +the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I +have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of +success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by +disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I +shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor +medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man +who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may +deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a +friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a +cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my +own, to approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the +faults of your poor brother! I am too ardent in execution and too +impatient of difficulties. But it is a still greater evil to me that I +am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild +on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas' books of voyages. At +that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own +country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive +its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the +necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my +native country. Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more +illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have +thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, +but they want (as the painters call it) KEEPING; and I greatly need a +friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and +affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind. Well, these +are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide +ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet +some feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in +these rugged bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of +wonderful courage and enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory, or +rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in +his profession. He is an Englishman, and in the midst of national and +professional prejudices, unsoftened by cultivation, retains some of the +noblest endowments of humanity. I first became acquainted with him on +board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in this city, I +easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise. The master is a person +of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his +gentleness and the mildness of his discipline. This circumstance, +added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very +desirous to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best years +spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the +groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste +to the usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed +it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his +kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his +crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his +services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a +lady who owes to him the happiness of her life. This, briefly, is his +story. Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate +fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the +father of the girl consented to the match. He saw his mistress once +before the destined ceremony; but she was bathed in tears, and throwing +herself at his feet, entreated him to spare her, confessing at the same +time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father +would never consent to the union. My generous friend reassured the +suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly +abandoned his pursuit. He had already bought a farm with his money, on +which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life; but he +bestowed the whole on his rival, together with the remains of his +prize-money to purchase stock, and then himself solicited the young +woman's father to consent to her marriage with her lover. But the old +man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honour to my friend, +who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country, nor +returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according +to her inclinations. "What a noble fellow!" you will exclaim. He is +so; but then he is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a +kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his +conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy +which otherwise he would command. +
+ ++Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can +conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am +wavering in my resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage +is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation. The +winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well, and it +is considered as a remarkably early season, so that perhaps I may sail +sooner than I expected. I shall do nothing rashly: you know me +sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the +safety of others is committed to my care. +
+ ++I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my +undertaking. It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of +the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which +I am preparing to depart. I am going to unexplored regions, to "the +land of mist and snow," but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not +be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and +woeful as the "Ancient Mariner." You will smile at my allusion, but I +will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my +passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that +production of the most imaginative of modern poets. There is something +at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically +industrious—painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and +labour—but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief +in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out +of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited +regions I am about to explore. But to return to dearer considerations. +Shall I meet you again, after having traversed immense seas, and +returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America? I dare not +expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the +picture. Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: +I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to +support my spirits. I love you very tenderly. Remember me with +affection, should you never hear from me again. +
+ +
+Your affectionate brother,
+ Robert Walton
+
+July 7th, 17—
+
+To Mrs. Saville, England
+
+My dear Sister, +
+ ++I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe—and well advanced +on my voyage. This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on +its homeward voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not +see my native land, perhaps, for many years. I am, however, in good +spirits: my men are bold and apparently firm of purpose, nor do the +floating sheets of ice that continually pass us, indicating the dangers +of the region towards which we are advancing, appear to dismay them. We +have already reached a very high latitude; but it is the height of +summer, and although not so warm as in England, the southern gales, +which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire +to attain, breathe a degree of renovating warmth which I had not +expected. +
+ ++No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a +letter. One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are +accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and +I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage. +
+ ++Adieu, my dear Margaret. Be assured that for my own sake, as well as +yours, I will not rashly encounter danger. I will be cool, +persevering, and prudent. +
+ ++But success SHALL crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have +gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars +themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not +still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the +determined heart and resolved will of man? +
+ ++My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must +finish. Heaven bless my beloved sister! +
+ ++R.W. +
+ +
+August 5th, 17—
+
+To Mrs. Saville, England
+
+So strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear +recording it, although it is very probable that you will see me before +these papers can come into your possession. +
+ ++Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed +in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which +she floated. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we +were compassed round by a very thick fog. We accordingly lay to, +hoping that some change would take place in the atmosphere and weather. +
+ ++About two o'clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out +in every direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to +have no end. Some of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to +grow watchful with anxious thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly +attracted our attention and diverted our solicitude from our own +situation. We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by +dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile; a +being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, +sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid progress +of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the +distant inequalities of the ice. This appearance excited our +unqualified wonder. We were, as we believed, many hundred miles from +any land; but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not, in +reality, so distant as we had supposed. Shut in, however, by ice, it +was impossible to follow his track, which we had observed with the +greatest attention. About two hours after this occurrence we heard the +ground sea, and before night the ice broke and freed our ship. We, +however, lay to until the morning, fearing to encounter in the dark +those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the +ice. I profited of this time to rest for a few hours. +
+ ++In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and +found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently +talking to someone in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we +had seen before, which had drifted towards us in the night on a large +fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human +being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel. +He was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of +some undiscovered island, but a European. When I appeared on deck the +master said, "Here is our captain, and he will not allow you to perish +on the open sea." +
+ ++On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with a +foreign accent. "Before I come on board your vessel," said he, "will +you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound?" +
+ ++You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed +to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have +supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not +have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford. I +replied, however, that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the +northern pole. +
+ ++Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board. +Good God! Margaret, if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for +his safety, your surprise would have been boundless. His limbs were +nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and +suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition. We attempted +to carry him into the cabin, but as soon as he had quitted the fresh +air he fainted. We accordingly brought him back to the deck and +restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him to +swallow a small quantity. As soon as he showed signs of life we +wrapped him up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the +kitchen stove. By slow degrees he recovered and ate a little soup, +which restored him wonderfully. +
+ ++Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak, and I often +feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding. When he +had in some measure recovered, I removed him to my own cabin and +attended on him as much as my duty would permit. I never saw a more +interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of +wildness, and even madness, but there are moments when, if anyone +performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any the most +trifling service, his whole countenance is lighted up, as it were, with +a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equalled. But he +is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his +teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him. +
+ ++When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off +the men, who wished to ask him a thousand questions; but I would not +allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity, in a state of body +and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose. +Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice +in so strange a vehicle. +
+ ++His countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom, and +he replied, "To seek one who fled from me." +
+ ++"And did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion?" +
+ ++"Yes." +
+ ++"Then I fancy we have seen him, for the day before we picked you up we +saw some dogs drawing a sledge, with a man in it, across the ice." +
+ ++This aroused the stranger's attention, and he asked a multitude of +questions concerning the route which the demon, as he called him, had +pursued. Soon after, when he was alone with me, he said, "I have, +doubtless, excited your curiosity, as well as that of these good +people; but you are too considerate to make inquiries." +
+ ++"Certainly; it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman in me to +trouble you with any inquisitiveness of mine." +
+ ++"And yet you rescued me from a strange and perilous situation; you have +benevolently restored me to life." +
+ ++Soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the +ice had destroyed the other sledge. I replied that I could not answer +with any degree of certainty, for the ice had not broken until near +midnight, and the traveller might have arrived at a place of safety +before that time; but of this I could not judge. From this time a new +spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the stranger. He +manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck to watch for the +sledge which had before appeared; but I have persuaded him to remain in +the cabin, for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the +atmosphere. I have promised that someone should watch for him and give +him instant notice if any new object should appear in sight. +
+ ++Such is my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the +present day. The stranger has gradually improved in health but is very +silent and appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin. +Yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all +interested in him, although they have had very little communication +with him. For my own part, I begin to love him as a brother, and his +constant and deep grief fills me with sympathy and compassion. He must +have been a noble creature in his better days, being even now in wreck +so attractive and amiable. I said in one of my letters, my dear +Margaret, that I should find no friend on the wide ocean; yet I have +found a man who, before his spirit had been broken by misery, I should +have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart. +
+ ++I shall continue my journal concerning the stranger at intervals, +should I have any fresh incidents to record. +
+ ++August 13th, 17— +
+ ++My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my +admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so +noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant +grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and +when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, +yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence. He is now much +recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck, apparently +watching for the sledge that preceded his own. Yet, although unhappy, +he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests +himself deeply in the projects of others. He has frequently conversed +with me on mine, which I have communicated to him without disguise. He +entered attentively into all my arguments in favour of my eventual +success and into every minute detail of the measures I had taken to +secure it. I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced to use +the language of my heart, to give utterance to the burning ardour of my +soul and to say, with all the fervour that warmed me, how gladly I +would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the +furtherance of my enterprise. One man's life or death were but a small +price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for +the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of +our race. As I spoke, a dark gloom spread over my listener's +countenance. At first I perceived that he tried to suppress his +emotion; he placed his hands before his eyes, and my voice quivered and +failed me as I beheld tears trickle fast from between his fingers; a +groan burst from his heaving breast. I paused; at length he spoke, in +broken accents: "Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you +drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my +tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!" +
+ ++Such words, you may imagine, strongly excited my curiosity; but the +paroxysm of grief that had seized the stranger overcame his weakened +powers, and many hours of repose and tranquil conversation were +necessary to restore his composure. Having conquered the violence of +his feelings, he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of +passion; and quelling the dark tyranny of despair, he led me again to +converse concerning myself personally. He asked me the history of my +earlier years. The tale was quickly told, but it awakened various +trains of reflection. I spoke of my desire of finding a friend, of my +thirst for a more intimate sympathy with a fellow mind than had ever +fallen to my lot, and expressed my conviction that a man could boast of +little happiness who did not enjoy this blessing. "I agree with you," +replied the stranger; "we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, +if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves—such a friend ought to +be—do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I +once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, +therefore, to judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the +world before you, and have no cause for despair. But I—I have lost +everything and cannot begin life anew." +
+ ++As he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm, settled +grief that touched me to the heart. But he was silent and presently +retired to his cabin. +
+ ++Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he +does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight +afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of +elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he +may suffer misery and be overwhelmed by disappointments, yet when he +has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a +halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures. +
+ ++Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine +wanderer? You would not if you saw him. You have been tutored and +refined by books and retirement from the world, and you are therefore +somewhat fastidious; but this only renders you the more fit to +appreciate the extraordinary merits of this wonderful man. Sometimes I +have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that +elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew. I +believe it to be an intuitive discernment, a quick but never-failing +power of judgment, a penetration into the causes of things, unequalled +for clearness and precision; add to this a facility of expression and a +voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music. +
+ ++August 19, 17— +
+ ++Yesterday the stranger said to me, "You may easily perceive, Captain +Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had +determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with +me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek for +knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the +gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine +has been. I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be +useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same +course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me +what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one +that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you +in case of failure. Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually +deemed marvellous. Were we among the tamer scenes of nature I might +fear to encounter your unbelief, perhaps your ridicule; but many things +will appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions which would +provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever-varied powers +of nature; nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series +internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed." +
+ ++You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered +communication, yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by +a recital of his misfortunes. I felt the greatest eagerness to hear +the promised narrative, partly from curiosity and partly from a strong +desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power. I expressed +these feelings in my answer. +
+ ++"I thank you," he replied, "for your sympathy, but it is useless; my +fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall +repose in peace. I understand your feeling," continued he, perceiving +that I wished to interrupt him; "but you are mistaken, my friend, if +thus you will allow me to name you; nothing can alter my destiny; +listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is +determined." +
+ ++He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when +I should be at leisure. This promise drew from me the warmest thanks. +I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my +duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has +related during the day. If I should be engaged, I will at least make +notes. This manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest +pleasure; but to me, who know him, and who hear it from his own +lips—with what interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future +day! Even now, as I commence my task, his full-toned voice swells in +my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy +sweetness; I see his thin hand raised in animation, while the +lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul within. +
+ ++Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which +embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it—thus! +
+ ++I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most +distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years +counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public +situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who +knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public +business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the +affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his +marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a +husband and the father of a family. +
+ ++As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot +refrain from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a +merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous +mischances, into poverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a +proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to live in poverty +and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been +distinguished for his rank and magnificence. Having paid his debts, +therefore, in the most honourable manner, he retreated with his +daughter to the town of Lucerne, where he lived unknown and in +wretchedness. My father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship and +was deeply grieved by his retreat in these unfortunate circumstances. +He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to a conduct +so little worthy of the affection that united them. He lost no time in +endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading him to begin +the world again through his credit and assistance. Beaufort had taken +effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten months before my +father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened +to the house, which was situated in a mean street near the Reuss. But +when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him. Beaufort had +saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes, but +it was sufficient to provide him with sustenance for some months, and +in the meantime he hoped to procure some respectable employment in a +merchant's house. The interval was, consequently, spent in inaction; +his grief only became more deep and rankling when he had leisure for +reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind that at the +end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable of any +exertion. +
+ ++His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw +with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that +there was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort +possessed a mind of an uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support +her in her adversity. She procured plain work; she plaited straw and +by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to +support life. +
+ ++Several months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time +was more entirely occupied in attending him; her means of subsistence +decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving +her an orphan and a beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt +by Beaufort's coffin weeping bitterly, when my father entered the +chamber. He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who +committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend he +conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a +relation. Two years after this event Caroline became his wife. +
+ ++There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but +this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted +affection. There was a sense of justice in my father's upright mind +which rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love +strongly. Perhaps during former years he had suffered from the +late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set +a greater value on tried worth. There was a show of gratitude and +worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the +doting fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her +virtues and a desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing +her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace +to his behaviour to her. Everything was made to yield to her wishes +and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is +sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind and to surround her +with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and +benevolent mind. Her health, and even the tranquillity of her hitherto +constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During +the two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had +gradually relinquished all his public functions; and immediately after +their union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change +of scene and interest attendant on a tour through that land of wonders, +as a restorative for her weakened frame. +
+ ++From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest child, was +born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I +remained for several years their only child. Much as they were +attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of +affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me. My mother's +tender caresses and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while +regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and +their idol, and something better—their child, the innocent and +helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, +and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or +misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me. With this +deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they +had given life, added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated +both, it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life +I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self-control, I was +so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment +to me. For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much +desired to have a daughter, but I continued their single offspring. +When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the +frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of +Como. Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages +of the poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a +necessity, a passion—remembering what she had suffered, and how she +had been relieved—for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the +afflicted. During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a +vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate, while the +number of half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in +its worst shape. One day, when my father had gone by himself to Milan, +my mother, accompanied by me, visited this abode. She found a peasant +and his wife, hard working, bent down by care and labour, distributing +a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was one which +attracted my mother far above all the rest. She appeared of a +different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little +vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the +brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed +to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and +ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her +face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold +her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being +heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features. The +peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and +admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She +was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother +was a German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had been +placed with these good people to nurse: they were better off then. +They had not been long married, and their eldest child was but just +born. The father of their charge was one of those Italians nursed in +the memory of the antique glory of Italy—one among the schiavi ognor +frementi, who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country. He +became the victim of its weakness. Whether he had died or still +lingered in the dungeons of Austria was not known. His property was +confiscated; his child became an orphan and a beggar. She continued +with her foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than a +garden rose among dark-leaved brambles. When my father returned from +Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer +than pictured cherub—a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her +looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the +hills. The apparition was soon explained. With his permission my +mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her. +They were fond of the sweet orphan. Her presence had seemed a blessing +to them, but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want +when Providence afforded her such powerful protection. They consulted +their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became +the inmate of my parents' house—my more than sister—the beautiful and +adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures. +
+ ++Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential +attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my +pride and my delight. On the evening previous to her being brought to +my home, my mother had said playfully, "I have a pretty present for my +Victor—tomorrow he shall have it." And when, on the morrow, she +presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish +seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth +as mine—mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on +her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other +familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body +forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me—my more than +sister, since till death she was to be mine only. +
+ ++We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in +our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of +disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and +the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us +nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated +disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense +application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. +She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; +and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home +—the sublime shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, +tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of +our Alpine summers—she found ample scope for admiration and delight. +While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the +magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their +causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. +Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, +gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the +earliest sensations I can remember. +
+ ++On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave +up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native +country. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, +the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a +league from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and the +lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was my +temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was +indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united +myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry +Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singular +talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for +its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He +composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and +knightly adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into +masquerades, in which the characters were drawn from the heroes of +Roncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous +train who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the hands +of the infidels. +
+ ++No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My +parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. +We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to +their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights +which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly +discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted +the development of filial love. +
+ ++My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some +law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits +but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things +indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, +nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states +possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth +that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of +things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man +that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, +or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. +
+ ++Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral +relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, +and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was +to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the +gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul +of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. +Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of +her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was +the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become +sullen in my study, rought through the ardour of my nature, but that +she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And +Clerval—could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet +he might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his +generosity, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for +adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of +beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring +ambition. +
+ ++I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of +childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright +visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon +self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record +those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of +misery, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that +passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a +mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, +swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, +has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius +that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to +state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When +I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the +baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a +day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of +the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory +which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he +relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed +to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my +discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page +of my book and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not +waste your time upon this; it is sad trash." +
+ ++If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to +me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a +modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much +greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were +chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under +such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and +have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with +greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the +train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led +to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by +no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I +continued to read with the greatest avidity. When I returned home my +first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and +afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the +wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me +treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as +always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the +secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful +discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies +discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed +that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and +unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of +natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy's +apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit. +
+ ++The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted +with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little +more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal +lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, +anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes +in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. I +had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep +human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and +ignorantly I had repined. +
+ ++But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and +knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became +their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the +eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in +the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with +regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I +was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's +thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I +entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the +philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon +obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but +what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from +the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! +Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a +promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of +which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always +unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience +and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And +thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an +unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately +in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent +imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the +current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired +to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and +terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, +and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various +quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching +its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a +sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak +which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the +dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained +but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the +tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the +shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld +anything so utterly destroyed. +
+ ++Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of +electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural +philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on +the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of +electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. +All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, +Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by +some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my +accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever +be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew +despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps +most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former +occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed +and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a +would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of +real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the +mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as +being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration. +
+ ++Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments +are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me +as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the +immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life—the last effort +made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even +then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me. Her victory was +announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which +followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting +studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with +their prosecution, happiness with their disregard. +
+ ++It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. +Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and +terrible destruction. +
+ ++When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I +should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had +hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it +necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made +acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My +departure was therefore fixed at an early date, but before the day +resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life +occurred—an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had +caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the +greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to +persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at +first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of +her favourite was menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She +attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the +malignity of the distemper—Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences +of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On the third day my +mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming +symptoms, and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the +worst event. On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best +of women did not desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and +myself. "My children," she said, "my firmest hopes of future happiness +were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now +be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply +my place to my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from +you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you +all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to +resign myself cheerfully to death and will indulge a hope of meeting +you in another world." +
+ ++She died calmly, and her countenance expressed affection even in death. +I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent +by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the +soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so +long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day +and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed +forever—that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been +extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear +can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of +the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the +evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has +not that rude hand rent away some dear connection? And why should I +describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at +length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity; and +the smile that plays upon the lips, although it may be deemed a +sacrilege, is not banished. My mother was dead, but we had still +duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the +rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the +spoiler has not seized. +
+ ++My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, +was now again determined upon. I obtained from my father a respite of +some weeks. It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to leave the repose, +akin to death, of the house of mourning and to rush into the thick of +life. I was new to sorrow, but it did not the less alarm me. I was +unwilling to quit the sight of those that remained to me, and above +all, I desired to see my sweet Elizabeth in some degree consoled. +
+ ++She indeed veiled her grief and strove to act the comforter to us all. +She looked steadily on life and assumed its duties with courage and +zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call +her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time, +when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. +She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget. +
+ ++The day of my departure at length arrived. Clerval spent the last +evening with us. He had endeavoured to persuade his father to permit +him to accompany me and to become my fellow student, but in vain. His +father was a narrow-minded trader and saw idleness and ruin in the +aspirations and ambition of his son. Henry deeply felt the misfortune +of being debarred from a liberal education. He said little, but when +he spoke I read in his kindling eye and in his animated glance a +restrained but firm resolve not to be chained to the miserable details +of commerce. +
+ ++We sat late. We could not tear ourselves away from each other nor +persuade ourselves to say the word "Farewell!" It was said, and we +retired under the pretence of seeking repose, each fancying that the +other was deceived; but when at morning's dawn I descended to the +carriage which was to convey me away, they were all there—my father +again to bless me, Clerval to press my hand once more, my Elizabeth to +renew her entreaties that I would write often and to bestow the last +feminine attentions on her playmate and friend. +
+ ++I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged +in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by +amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow +mutual pleasure—I was now alone. In the university whither I was +going I must form my own friends and be my own protector. My life had +hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic, and this had given me +invincible repugnance to new countenances. I loved my brothers, +Elizabeth, and Clerval; these were "old familiar faces," but I believed +myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers. Such were my +reflections as I commenced my journey; but as I proceeded, my spirits +and hopes rose. I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. I +had often, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth +cooped up in one place and had longed to enter the world and take my +station among other human beings. Now my desires were complied with, +and it would, indeed, have been folly to repent. +
+ ++I had sufficient leisure for these and many other reflections during my +journey to Ingolstadt, which was long and fatiguing. At length the +high white steeple of the town met my eyes. I alighted and was +conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased. +
+ ++The next morning I delivered my letters of introduction and paid a +visit to some of the principal professors. Chance—or rather the evil +influence, the Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway +over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my father's +door—led me first to M. Krempe, professor of natural philosophy. He +was an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science. He +asked me several questions concerning my progress in the different +branches of science appertaining to natural philosophy. I replied +carelessly, and partly in contempt, mentioned the names of my +alchemists as the principal authors I had studied. The professor +stared. "Have you," he said, "really spent your time in studying such +nonsense?" +
+ ++I replied in the affirmative. "Every minute," continued M. Krempe with +warmth, "every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly +and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems +and useless names. Good God! In what desert land have you lived, +where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you +have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they +are ancient? I little expected, in this enlightened and scientific +age, to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dear +sir, you must begin your studies entirely anew." +
+ ++So saying, he stepped aside and wrote down a list of several books +treating of natural philosophy which he desired me to procure, and +dismissed me after mentioning that in the beginning of the following +week he intended to commence a course of lectures upon natural +philosophy in its general relations, and that M. Waldman, a fellow +professor, would lecture upon chemistry the alternate days that he +omitted. +
+ ++I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long +considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I +returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any +shape. M. Krempe was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a +repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not prepossess me in +favour of his pursuits. In rather a too philosophical and connected a +strain, perhaps, I have given an account of the conclusions I had come +to concerning them in my early years. As a child I had not been +content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural +science. With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my +extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters, I had retrod the +steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the +discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists. +Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy. +It was very different when the masters of the science sought +immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand; but now +the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit +itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in +science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of +boundless grandeur for realities of little worth. +
+ ++Such were my reflections during the first two or three days of my +residence at Ingolstadt, which were chiefly spent in becoming +acquainted with the localities and the principal residents in my new +abode. But as the ensuing week commenced, I thought of the information +which M. Krempe had given me concerning the lectures. And although I +could not consent to go and hear that little conceited fellow deliver +sentences out of a pulpit, I recollected what he had said of M. +Waldman, whom I had never seen, as he had hitherto been out of town. +
+ ++Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness, I went into the +lecturing room, which M. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor +was very unlike his colleague. He appeared about fifty years of age, +but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence; a few grey +hairs covered his temples, but those at the back of his head were +nearly black. His person was short but remarkably erect and his voice +the sweetest I had ever heard. He began his lecture by a +recapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements +made by different men of learning, pronouncing with fervour the names +of the most distinguished discoverers. He then took a cursory view of +the present state of the science and explained many of its elementary +terms. After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded +with a panegyric upon modern chemistry, the terms of which I shall +never forget: "The ancient teachers of this science," said he, +"promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters +promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and +that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose +hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the +microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate +into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her +hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how +the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have +acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders +of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with +its own shadows." +
+ ++Such were the professor's words—rather let me say such the words of +the fate—enounced to destroy me. As he went on I felt as if my soul +were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were +touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was +sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, +one purpose. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of +Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps +already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and +unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. +
+ ++I closed not my eyes that night. My internal being was in a state of +insurrection and turmoil; I felt that order would thence arise, but I +had no power to produce it. By degrees, after the morning's dawn, +sleep came. I awoke, and my yesternight's thoughts were as a dream. +There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to +devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a +natural talent. On the same day I paid M. Waldman a visit. His +manners in private were even more mild and attractive than in public, +for there was a certain dignity in his mien during his lecture which in +his own house was replaced by the greatest affability and kindness. I +gave him pretty nearly the same account of my former pursuits as I had +given to his fellow professor. He heard with attention the little +narration concerning my studies and smiled at the names of Cornelius +Agrippa and Paracelsus, but without the contempt that M. Krempe had +exhibited. He said that "These were men to whose indefatigable zeal +modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their +knowledge. They had left to us, as an easier task, to give new names +and arrange in connected classifications the facts which they in a +great degree had been the instruments of bringing to light. The +labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever +fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind." I +listened to his statement, which was delivered without any presumption +or affectation, and then added that his lecture had removed my +prejudices against modern chemists; I expressed myself in measured +terms, with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his +instructor, without letting escape (inexperience in life would have +made me ashamed) any of the enthusiasm which stimulated my intended +labours. I requested his advice concerning the books I ought to +procure. +
+ ++"I am happy," said M. Waldman, "to have gained a disciple; and if your +application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success. +Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest +improvements have been and may be made; it is on that account that I +have made it my peculiar study; but at the same time, I have not +neglected the other branches of science. A man would make but a very +sorry chemist if he attended to that department of human knowledge +alone. If your wish is to become really a man of science and not +merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every +branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics." He then took me +into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various +machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me +the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the +science not to derange their mechanism. He also gave me the list of +books which I had requested, and I took my leave. +
+ ++Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny. +
+ ++From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the +most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. +I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, +which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the +lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the +university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense +and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive +physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In +M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by +dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and +good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways +he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse +inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at +first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and +soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the +light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory. +
+ ++As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress +was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and +my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, +with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman +expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years +passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was +engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I +hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive +of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as +others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in +a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. +A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must +infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who +continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was +solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two +years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical +instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the +university. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well +acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as +depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my +residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought +of returning to my friends and my native town, when an incident +happened that protracted my stay. +
+ ++One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was +the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with +life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? +It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a +mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming +acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our +inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined +thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of +natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been +animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this +study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the +causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became +acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I +must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. +In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my +mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever +remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared +the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and +a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of +life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become +food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of +this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and +charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most +insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the +fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of +death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm +inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and +analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change +from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this +darkness a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and +wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity +of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so +many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same +science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a +secret. +
+ ++Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not +more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is +true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the +discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of +incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of +generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing +animation upon lifeless matter. +
+ ++The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery +soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in +painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the +most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so +great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been +progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. +What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation +of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it +all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a +nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them +towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already +accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead +and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly +ineffectual light. +
+ ++I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes +express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with +which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end +of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that +subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, +to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my +precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of +knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town +to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature +will allow. +
+ ++When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated +a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. +Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to +prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of +fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable +difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the +creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my +imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to +doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful +as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared +adequate to so arduous an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should +ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my +operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be +imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes +place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present +attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor +could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any +argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I +began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts +formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first +intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, +about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having +formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully +collecting and arranging my materials, I began. +
+ ++No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like +a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death +appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and +pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless +me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would +owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his +child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these +reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless +matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) +renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. +
+ ++These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking +with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my +person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very +brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the +next day or the next hour might realize. One secret which I alone +possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon +gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless +eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive +the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps +of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless +clay? My limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but +then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward; I seemed +to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was +indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed +acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had +returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses and +disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human +frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, +and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, +I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from +their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The +dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; +and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, +whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I +brought my work near to a conclusion. +
+ ++The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in +one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields +bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant +vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the +same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also +to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had +not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I +well remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are +pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall +hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any +interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties +are equally neglected." +
+ ++I knew well therefore what would be my father's feelings, but I could +not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which +had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it +were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection +until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, +should be completed. +
+ ++I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect +to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was +justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from +blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and +peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to +disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge +is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself +has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for +those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that +study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human +mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit +whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic +affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Caesar would have spared his +country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the +empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed. +
+ ++But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my +tale, and your looks remind me to proceed. My father made no reproach +in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my +occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer +passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the +expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme +delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of +that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now +every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my +enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one +doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade +than an artist occupied by his favourite employment. Every night I was +oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful +degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow +creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed +at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose +alone sustained me: my labours would soon end, and I believed that +exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I +promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete. +
+ ++It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment +of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I +collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a +spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was +already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the +panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the +half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature +open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. +
+ ++How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate +the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to +form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as +beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered +the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous +black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these +luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, +that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which +they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. +
+ ++The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings +of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole +purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had +deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour +that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty +of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my +heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I +rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my +bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At length lassitude +succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the +bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. +But it was in vain; I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest +dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in +the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her, +but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with +the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I +held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her +form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. +I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my +teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and +yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window +shutters, I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had +created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they +may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some +inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have +spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to +detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the +courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained +during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest +agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if +it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I +had so miserably given life. +
+ ++Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy +again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I +had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those +muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing +such as even Dante could not have conceived. +
+ ++I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and +hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly +sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness. Mingled with +this horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had +been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a +hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete! +
+ ++Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned and discovered to my +sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt, its white steeple +and clock, which indicated the sixth hour. The porter opened the gates +of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into +the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the +wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my +view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but +felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured +from a black and comfortless sky. +
+ ++I continued walking in this manner for some time, endeavouring by +bodily exercise to ease the load that weighed upon my mind. I +traversed the streets without any clear conception of where I was or +what I was doing. My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear, and I +hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me: +
+ +
+ Like one who, on a lonely road,
+ Doth walk in fear and dread,
+ And, having once turned round, walks on,
+ And turns no more his head;
+ Because he knows a frightful fiend
+ Doth close behind him tread.
+
+ [Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."]
+
+Continuing thus, I came at length opposite to the inn at which the +various diligences and carriages usually stopped. Here I paused, I +knew not why; but I remained some minutes with my eyes fixed on a coach +that was coming towards me from the other end of the street. As it +drew nearer I observed that it was the Swiss diligence; it stopped just +where I was standing, and on the door being opened, I perceived Henry +Clerval, who, on seeing me, instantly sprung out. "My dear +Frankenstein," exclaimed he, "how glad I am to see you! How fortunate +that you should be here at the very moment of my alighting!" +
+ ++Nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval; his presence brought +back to my thoughts my father, Elizabeth, and all those scenes of home +so dear to my recollection. I grasped his hand, and in a moment forgot +my horror and misfortune; I felt suddenly, and for the first time +during many months, calm and serene joy. I welcomed my friend, +therefore, in the most cordial manner, and we walked towards my +college. Clerval continued talking for some time about our mutual +friends and his own good fortune in being permitted to come to +Ingolstadt. "You may easily believe," said he, "how great was the +difficulty to persuade my father that all necessary knowledge was not +comprised in the noble art of book-keeping; and, indeed, I believe I +left him incredulous to the last, for his constant answer to my +unwearied entreaties was the same as that of the Dutch schoolmaster in +The Vicar of Wakefield: 'I have ten thousand florins a year without +Greek, I eat heartily without Greek.' But his affection for me at +length overcame his dislike of learning, and he has permitted me to +undertake a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge." +
+ ++"It gives me the greatest delight to see you; but tell me how you left +my father, brothers, and Elizabeth." +
+ ++"Very well, and very happy, only a little uneasy that they hear from +you so seldom. By the by, I mean to lecture you a little upon their +account myself. But, my dear Frankenstein," continued he, stopping +short and gazing full in my face, "I did not before remark how very ill +you appear; so thin and pale; you look as if you had been watching for +several nights." +
+ ++"You have guessed right; I have lately been so deeply engaged in one +occupation that I have not allowed myself sufficient rest, as you see; +but I hope, I sincerely hope, that all these employments are now at an +end and that I am at length free." +
+ ++I trembled excessively; I could not endure to think of, and far less to +allude to, the occurrences of the preceding night. I walked with a +quick pace, and we soon arrived at my college. I then reflected, and +the thought made me shiver, that the creature whom I had left in my +apartment might still be there, alive and walking about. I dreaded to +behold this monster, but I feared still more that Henry should see him. +Entreating him, therefore, to remain a few minutes at the bottom of the +stairs, I darted up towards my own room. My hand was already on the +lock of the door before I recollected myself. I then paused, and a +cold shivering came over me. I threw the door forcibly open, as +children are accustomed to do when they expect a spectre to stand in +waiting for them on the other side; but nothing appeared. I stepped +fearfully in: the apartment was empty, and my bedroom was also freed +from its hideous guest. I could hardly believe that so great a good +fortune could have befallen me, but when I became assured that my enemy +had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy and ran down to Clerval. +
+ ++We ascended into my room, and the servant presently brought breakfast; +but I was unable to contain myself. It was not joy only that possessed +me; I felt my flesh tingle with excess of sensitiveness, and my pulse +beat rapidly. I was unable to remain for a single instant in the same +place; I jumped over the chairs, clapped my hands, and laughed aloud. +Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival, +but when he observed me more attentively, he saw a wildness in my eyes +for which he could not account, and my loud, unrestrained, heartless +laughter frightened and astonished him. +
+ ++"My dear Victor," cried he, "what, for God's sake, is the matter? Do +not laugh in that manner. How ill you are! What is the cause of all +this?" +
+ ++"Do not ask me," cried I, putting my hands before my eyes, for I +thought I saw the dreaded spectre glide into the room; "HE can tell. +Oh, save me! Save me!" I imagined that the monster seized me; I +struggled furiously and fell down in a fit. +
+ ++Poor Clerval! What must have been his feelings? A meeting, which he +anticipated with such joy, so strangely turned to bitterness. But I +was not the witness of his grief, for I was lifeless and did not +recover my senses for a long, long time. +
+ ++This was the commencement of a nervous fever which confined me for +several months. During all that time Henry was my only nurse. I +afterwards learned that, knowing my father's advanced age and unfitness +for so long a journey, and how wretched my sickness would make +Elizabeth, he spared them this grief by concealing the extent of my +disorder. He knew that I could not have a more kind and attentive +nurse than himself; and, firm in the hope he felt of my recovery, he +did not doubt that, instead of doing harm, he performed the kindest +action that he could towards them. +
+ ++But I was in reality very ill, and surely nothing but the unbounded and +unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. +The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever +before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him. Doubtless my +words surprised Henry; he at first believed them to be the wanderings +of my disturbed imagination, but the pertinacity with which I +continually recurred to the same subject persuaded him that my disorder +indeed owed its origin to some uncommon and terrible event. +
+ ++By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and +grieved my friend, I recovered. I remember the first time I became +capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure, I +perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young +buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was +a divine spring, and the season contributed greatly to my +convalescence. I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in +my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as +cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion. +
+ ++"Dearest Clerval," exclaimed I, "how kind, how very good you are to me. +This whole winter, instead of being spent in study, as you promised +yourself, has been consumed in my sick room. How shall I ever repay +you? I feel the greatest remorse for the disappointment of which I +have been the occasion, but you will forgive me." +
+ ++"You will repay me entirely if you do not discompose yourself, but get +well as fast as you can; and since you appear in such good spirits, I +may speak to you on one subject, may I not?" +
+ ++I trembled. One subject! What could it be? Could he allude to an +object on whom I dared not even think? "Compose yourself," said +Clerval, who observed my change of colour, "I will not mention it if it +agitates you; but your father and cousin would be very happy if they +received a letter from you in your own handwriting. They hardly know +how ill you have been and are uneasy at your long silence." +
+ ++"Is that all, my dear Henry? How could you suppose that my first +thought would not fly towards those dear, dear friends whom I love and +who are so deserving of my love?" +
+ ++"If this is your present temper, my friend, you will perhaps be glad to +see a letter that has been lying here some days for you; it is from +your cousin, I believe." +
+ ++Clerval then put the following letter into my hands. It was from my +own Elizabeth: +
+ ++"My dearest Cousin, +
+ ++"You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear +kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account. You are +forbidden to write—to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear Victor, +is necessary to calm our apprehensions. For a long time I have thought +that each post would bring this line, and my persuasions have +restrained my uncle from undertaking a journey to Ingolstadt. I have +prevented his encountering the inconveniences and perhaps dangers of so +long a journey, yet how often have I regretted not being able to +perform it myself! I figure to myself that the task of attending on +your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse, who could never +guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of +your poor cousin. Yet that is over now: Clerval writes that indeed +you are getting better. I eagerly hope that you will confirm this +intelligence soon in your own handwriting. +
+ ++"Get well—and return to us. You will find a happy, cheerful home and +friends who love you dearly. Your father's health is vigorous, and he +asks but to see you, but to be assured that you are well; and not a +care will ever cloud his benevolent countenance. How pleased you would +be to remark the improvement of our Ernest! He is now sixteen and full +of activity and spirit. He is desirous to be a true Swiss and to enter +into foreign service, but we cannot part with him, at least until his +elder brother returns to us. My uncle is not pleased with the idea of +a military career in a distant country, but Ernest never had your +powers of application. He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his +time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the +lake. I fear that he will become an idler unless we yield the point +and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected. +
+ ++"Little alteration, except the growth of our dear children, has taken +place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad mountains—they +never change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are +regulated by the same immutable laws. My trifling occupations take up +my time and amuse me, and I am rewarded for any exertions by seeing +none but happy, kind faces around me. Since you left us, but one +change has taken place in our little household. Do you remember on +what occasion Justine Moritz entered our family? Probably you do not; +I will relate her history, therefore in a few words. Madame Moritz, +her mother, was a widow with four children, of whom Justine was the +third. This girl had always been the favourite of her father, but +through a strange perversity, her mother could not endure her, and +after the death of M. Moritz, treated her very ill. My aunt observed +this, and when Justine was twelve years of age, prevailed on her mother +to allow her to live at our house. The republican institutions of our +country have produced simpler and happier manners than those which +prevail in the great monarchies that surround it. Hence there is less +distinction between the several classes of its inhabitants; and the +lower orders, being neither so poor nor so despised, their manners are +more refined and moral. A servant in Geneva does not mean the same +thing as a servant in France and England. Justine, thus received in +our family, learned the duties of a servant, a condition which, in our +fortunate country, does not include the idea of ignorance and a +sacrifice of the dignity of a human being. +
+ ++"Justine, you may remember, was a great favourite of yours; and I +recollect you once remarked that if you were in an ill humour, one +glance from Justine could dissipate it, for the same reason that +Ariosto gives concerning the beauty of Angelica—she looked so +frank-hearted and happy. My aunt conceived a great attachment for her, +by which she was induced to give her an education superior to that +which she had at first intended. This benefit was fully repaid; +Justine was the most grateful little creature in the world: I do not +mean that she made any professions I never heard one pass her lips, but +you could see by her eyes that she almost adored her protectress. +Although her disposition was gay and in many respects inconsiderate, +yet she paid the greatest attention to every gesture of my aunt. She +thought her the model of all excellence and endeavoured to imitate her +phraseology and manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her. +
+ ++"When my dearest aunt died every one was too much occupied in their own +grief to notice poor Justine, who had attended her during her illness +with the most anxious affection. Poor Justine was very ill; but other +trials were reserved for her. +
+ ++"One by one, her brothers and sister died; and her mother, with the +exception of her neglected daughter, was left childless. The +conscience of the woman was troubled; she began to think that the +deaths of her favourites was a judgement from heaven to chastise her +partiality. She was a Roman Catholic; and I believe her confessor +confirmed the idea which she had conceived. Accordingly, a few months +after your departure for Ingolstadt, Justine was called home by her +repentant mother. Poor girl! She wept when she quitted our house; she +was much altered since the death of my aunt; grief had given softness +and a winning mildness to her manners, which had before been remarkable +for vivacity. Nor was her residence at her mother's house of a nature +to restore her gaiety. The poor woman was very vacillating in her +repentance. She sometimes begged Justine to forgive her unkindness, +but much oftener accused her of having caused the deaths of her +brothers and sister. Perpetual fretting at length threw Madame Moritz +into a decline, which at first increased her irritability, but she is +now at peace for ever. She died on the first approach of cold weather, +at the beginning of this last winter. Justine has just returned to us; +and I assure you I love her tenderly. She is very clever and gentle, +and extremely pretty; as I mentioned before, her mien and her +expression continually remind me of my dear aunt. +
+ ++"I must say also a few words to you, my dear cousin, of little darling +William. I wish you could see him; he is very tall of his age, with +sweet laughing blue eyes, dark eyelashes, and curling hair. When he +smiles, two little dimples appear on each cheek, which are rosy with +health. He has already had one or two little WIVES, but Louisa Biron +is his favourite, a pretty little girl of five years of age. +
+ ++"Now, dear Victor, I dare say you wish to be indulged in a little +gossip concerning the good people of Geneva. The pretty Miss Mansfield +has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching +marriage with a young Englishman, John Melbourne, Esq. Her ugly +sister, Manon, married M. Duvillard, the rich banker, last autumn. Your +favourite schoolfellow, Louis Manoir, has suffered several misfortunes +since the departure of Clerval from Geneva. But he has already +recovered his spirits, and is reported to be on the point of marrying a +lively pretty Frenchwoman, Madame Tavernier. She is a widow, and much +older than Manoir; but she is very much admired, and a favourite with +everybody. +
+ ++"I have written myself into better spirits, dear cousin; but my anxiety +returns upon me as I conclude. Write, dearest Victor,—one line—one +word will be a blessing to us. Ten thousand thanks to Henry for his +kindness, his affection, and his many letters; we are sincerely +grateful. Adieu! my cousin; take care of your self; and, I entreat +you, write! +
+ ++"Elizabeth Lavenza. +
+ ++"Geneva, March 18, 17—." +
+ ++"Dear, dear Elizabeth!" I exclaimed, when I had read her letter: "I +will write instantly and relieve them from the anxiety they must feel." +I wrote, and this exertion greatly fatigued me; but my convalescence +had commenced, and proceeded regularly. In another fortnight I was +able to leave my chamber. +
+ ++One of my first duties on my recovery was to introduce Clerval to the +several professors of the university. In doing this, I underwent a +kind of rough usage, ill befitting the wounds that my mind had +sustained. Ever since the fatal night, the end of my labours, and the +beginning of my misfortunes, I had conceived a violent antipathy even +to the name of natural philosophy. When I was otherwise quite restored +to health, the sight of a chemical instrument would renew all the agony +of my nervous symptoms. Henry saw this, and had removed all my +apparatus from my view. He had also changed my apartment; for he +perceived that I had acquired a dislike for the room which had +previously been my laboratory. But these cares of Clerval were made of +no avail when I visited the professors. M. Waldman inflicted torture +when he praised, with kindness and warmth, the astonishing progress I +had made in the sciences. He soon perceived that I disliked the +subject; but not guessing the real cause, he attributed my feelings to +modesty, and changed the subject from my improvement, to the science +itself, with a desire, as I evidently saw, of drawing me out. What +could I do? He meant to please, and he tormented me. I felt as if he +had placed carefully, one by one, in my view those instruments which +were to be afterwards used in putting me to a slow and cruel death. I +writhed under his words, yet dared not exhibit the pain I felt. +Clerval, whose eyes and feelings were always quick in discerning the +sensations of others, declined the subject, alleging, in excuse, his +total ignorance; and the conversation took a more general turn. I +thanked my friend from my heart, but I did not speak. I saw plainly +that he was surprised, but he never attempted to draw my secret from +me; and although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence +that knew no bounds, yet I could never persuade myself to confide in +him that event which was so often present to my recollection, but which +I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply. +
+ ++M. Krempe was not equally docile; and in my condition at that time, of +almost insupportable sensitiveness, his harsh blunt encomiums gave me +even more pain than the benevolent approbation of M. Waldman. "D—n +the fellow!" cried he; "why, M. Clerval, I assure you he has outstript +us all. Ay, stare if you please; but it is nevertheless true. A +youngster who, but a few years ago, believed in Cornelius Agrippa as +firmly as in the gospel, has now set himself at the head of the +university; and if he is not soon pulled down, we shall all be out of +countenance.—Ay, ay," continued he, observing my face expressive of +suffering, "M. Frankenstein is modest; an excellent quality in a young +man. Young men should be diffident of themselves, you know, M. +Clerval: I was myself when young; but that wears out in a very short +time." +
+ ++M. Krempe had now commenced an eulogy on himself, which happily turned +the conversation from a subject that was so annoying to me. +
+ ++Clerval had never sympathized in my tastes for natural science; and his +literary pursuits differed wholly from those which had occupied me. He +came to the university with the design of making himself complete +master of the oriental languages, and thus he should open a field for +the plan of life he had marked out for himself. Resolved to pursue no +inglorious career, he turned his eyes toward the East, as affording +scope for his spirit of enterprise. The Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit +languages engaged his attention, and I was easily induced to enter on +the same studies. Idleness had ever been irksome to me, and now that I +wished to fly from reflection, and hated my former studies, I felt +great relief in being the fellow-pupil with my friend, and found not +only instruction but consolation in the works of the orientalists. I +did not, like him, attempt a critical knowledge of their dialects, for +I did not contemplate making any other use of them than temporary +amusement. I read merely to understand their meaning, and they well +repaid my labours. Their melancholy is soothing, and their joy +elevating, to a degree I never experienced in studying the authors of +any other country. When you read their writings, life appears to +consist in a warm sun and a garden of roses,—in the smiles and frowns +of a fair enemy, and the fire that consumes your own heart. How +different from the manly and heroical poetry of Greece and Rome! +
+ ++Summer passed away in these occupations, and my return to Geneva was +fixed for the latter end of autumn; but being delayed by several +accidents, winter and snow arrived, the roads were deemed impassable, +and my journey was retarded until the ensuing spring. I felt this +delay very bitterly; for I longed to see my native town and my beloved +friends. My return had only been delayed so long, from an +unwillingness to leave Clerval in a strange place, before he had become +acquainted with any of its inhabitants. The winter, however, was spent +cheerfully; and although the spring was uncommonly late, when it came +its beauty compensated for its dilatoriness. +
+ ++The month of May had already commenced, and I expected the letter daily +which was to fix the date of my departure, when Henry proposed a +pedestrian tour in the environs of Ingolstadt, that I might bid a +personal farewell to the country I had so long inhabited. I acceded +with pleasure to this proposition: I was fond of exercise, and Clerval +had always been my favourite companion in the ramble of this nature +that I had taken among the scenes of my native country. +
+ ++We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits +had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the +salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress, and +the conversation of my friend. Study had before secluded me from the +intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial; but +Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart; he again taught +me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. +Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavour to +elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own. A selfish +pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your gentleness and +affection warmed and opened my senses; I became the same happy creature +who, a few years ago, loved and beloved by all, had no sorrow or care. +When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most +delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with +ecstasy. The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring +bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud. I +was undisturbed by thoughts which during the preceding year had pressed +upon me, notwithstanding my endeavours to throw them off, with an +invincible burden. +
+ ++Henry rejoiced in my gaiety, and sincerely sympathised in my feelings: +he exerted himself to amuse me, while he expressed the sensations that +filled his soul. The resources of his mind on this occasion were truly +astonishing: his conversation was full of imagination; and very often, +in imitation of the Persian and Arabic writers, he invented tales of +wonderful fancy and passion. At other times he repeated my favourite +poems, or drew me out into arguments, which he supported with great +ingenuity. We returned to our college on a Sunday afternoon: the +peasants were dancing, and every one we met appeared gay and happy. My +own spirits were high, and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled +joy and hilarity. +
+ ++On my return, I found the following letter from my father:— +
+ ++"My dear Victor, +
+ ++"You have probably waited impatiently for a letter to fix the date of +your return to us; and I was at first tempted to write only a few +lines, merely mentioning the day on which I should expect you. But +that would be a cruel kindness, and I dare not do it. What would be +your surprise, my son, when you expected a happy and glad welcome, to +behold, on the contrary, tears and wretchedness? And how, Victor, can +I relate our misfortune? Absence cannot have rendered you callous to +our joys and griefs; and how shall I inflict pain on my long absent +son? I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is +impossible; even now your eye skims over the page to seek the words +which are to convey to you the horrible tidings. +
+ ++"William is dead!—that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed +my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay! Victor, he is murdered! +
+ ++"I will not attempt to console you; but will simply relate the +circumstances of the transaction. +
+ ++"Last Thursday (May 7th), I, my niece, and your two brothers, went to +walk in Plainpalais. The evening was warm and serene, and we prolonged +our walk farther than usual. It was already dusk before we thought of +returning; and then we discovered that William and Ernest, who had gone +on before, were not to be found. We accordingly rested on a seat until +they should return. Presently Ernest came, and enquired if we had seen +his brother; he said, that he had been playing with him, that William +had run away to hide himself, and that he vainly sought for him, and +afterwards waited for a long time, but that he did not return. +
+ ++"This account rather alarmed us, and we continued to search for him +until night fell, when Elizabeth conjectured that he might have +returned to the house. He was not there. We returned again, with +torches; for I could not rest, when I thought that my sweet boy had +lost himself, and was exposed to all the damps and dews of night; +Elizabeth also suffered extreme anguish. About five in the morning I +discovered my lovely boy, whom the night before I had seen blooming and +active in health, stretched on the grass livid and motionless; the +print of the murder's finger was on his neck. +
+ ++"He was conveyed home, and the anguish that was visible in my +countenance betrayed the secret to Elizabeth. She was very earnest to +see the corpse. At first I attempted to prevent her but she persisted, +and entering the room where it lay, hastily examined the neck of the +victim, and clasping her hands exclaimed, 'O God! I have murdered my +darling child!' +
+ ++"She fainted, and was restored with extreme difficulty. When she again +lived, it was only to weep and sigh. She told me, that that same +evening William had teased her to let him wear a very valuable +miniature that she possessed of your mother. This picture is gone, and +was doubtless the temptation which urged the murderer to the deed. We +have no trace of him at present, although our exertions to discover him +are unremitted; but they will not restore my beloved William! +
+ ++"Come, dearest Victor; you alone can console Elizabeth. She weeps +continually, and accuses herself unjustly as the cause of his death; +her words pierce my heart. We are all unhappy; but will not that be an +additional motive for you, my son, to return and be our comforter? +Your dear mother! Alas, Victor! I now say, Thank God she did not live +to witness the cruel, miserable death of her youngest darling! +
+ ++"Come, Victor; not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin, +but with feelings of peace and gentleness, that will heal, instead of +festering, the wounds of our minds. Enter the house of mourning, my +friend, but with kindness and affection for those who love you, and not +with hatred for your enemies. +
+ +
+ "Your affectionate and afflicted father,
+ "Alphonse Frankenstein.
+
+"Geneva, May 12th, 17—."
+
+Clerval, who had watched my countenance as I read this letter, was +surprised to observe the despair that succeeded the joy I at first +expressed on receiving new from my friends. I threw the letter on the +table, and covered my face with my hands. +
+ ++"My dear Frankenstein," exclaimed Henry, when he perceived me weep with +bitterness, "are you always to be unhappy? My dear friend, what has +happened?" +
+ ++I motioned him to take up the letter, while I walked up and down the +room in the extremest agitation. Tears also gushed from the eyes of +Clerval, as he read the account of my misfortune. +
+ ++"I can offer you no consolation, my friend," said he; "your disaster is +irreparable. What do you intend to do?" +
+ ++"To go instantly to Geneva: come with me, Henry, to order the horses." +
+ ++During our walk, Clerval endeavoured to say a few words of consolation; +he could only express his heartfelt sympathy. "Poor William!" said he, +"dear lovely child, he now sleeps with his angel mother! Who that had +seen him bright and joyous in his young beauty, but must weep over his +untimely loss! To die so miserably; to feel the murderer's grasp! How +much more a murdered that could destroy radiant innocence! Poor little +fellow! one only consolation have we; his friends mourn and weep, but +he is at rest. The pang is over, his sufferings are at an end for ever. +A sod covers his gentle form, and he knows no pain. He can no longer +be a subject for pity; we must reserve that for his miserable +survivors." +
+ ++Clerval spoke thus as we hurried through the streets; the words +impressed themselves on my mind and I remembered them afterwards in +solitude. But now, as soon as the horses arrived, I hurried into a +cabriolet, and bade farewell to my friend. +
+ ++My journey was very melancholy. At first I wished to hurry on, for I +longed to console and sympathise with my loved and sorrowing friends; +but when I drew near my native town, I slackened my progress. I could +hardly sustain the multitude of feelings that crowded into my mind. I +passed through scenes familiar to my youth, but which I had not seen +for nearly six years. How altered every thing might be during that +time! One sudden and desolating change had taken place; but a thousand +little circumstances might have by degrees worked other alterations, +which, although they were done more tranquilly, might not be the less +decisive. Fear overcame me; I dared no advance, dreading a thousand +nameless evils that made me tremble, although I was unable to define +them. I remained two days at Lausanne, in this painful state of mind. +I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm; +and the snowy mountains, 'the palaces of nature,' were not changed. By +degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my +journey towards Geneva. +
+ ++The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I +approached my native town. I discovered more distinctly the black +sides of Jura, and the bright summit of Mont Blanc. I wept like a +child. "Dear mountains! my own beautiful lake! how do you welcome your +wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and +placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?" +
+ ++I fear, my friend, that I shall render myself tedious by dwelling on +these preliminary circumstances; but they were days of comparative +happiness, and I think of them with pleasure. My country, my beloved +country! who but a native can tell the delight I took in again +beholding thy streams, thy mountains, and, more than all, thy lovely +lake! +
+ ++Yet, as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me. Night +also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I +felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of +evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most +wretched of human beings. Alas! I prophesied truly, and failed only +in one single circumstance, that in all the misery I imagined and +dreaded, I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was +destined to endure. It was completely dark when I arrived in the +environs of Geneva; the gates of the town were already shut; and I was +obliged to pass the night at Secheron, a village at the distance of +half a league from the city. The sky was serene; and, as I was unable +to rest, I resolved to visit the spot where my poor William had been +murdered. As I could not pass through the town, I was obliged to cross +the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais. During this short voyage +I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most +beautiful figures. The storm appeared to approach rapidly, and, on +landing, I ascended a low hill, that I might observe its progress. It +advanced; the heavens were clouded, and I soon felt the rain coming +slowly in large drops, but its violence quickly increased. +
+ ++I quitted my seat, and walked on, although the darkness and storm +increased every minute, and the thunder burst with a terrific crash +over my head. It was echoed from Saleve, the Juras, and the Alps of +Savoy; vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the +lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant +every thing seemed of a pitchy darkness, until the eye recovered itself +from the preceding flash. The storm, as is often the case in +Switzerland, appeared at once in various parts of the heavens. The +most violent storm hung exactly north of the town, over the part of the +lake which lies between the promontory of Belrive and the village of +Copet. Another storm enlightened Jura with faint flashes; and another +darkened and sometimes disclosed the Mole, a peaked mountain to the +east of the lake. +
+ ++While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on +with a hasty step. This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits; I +clasped my hands, and exclaimed aloud, "William, dear angel! this is +thy funeral, this thy dirge!" As I said these words, I perceived in the +gloom a figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me; I +stood fixed, gazing intently: I could not be mistaken. A flash of +lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to +me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous +than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, +the filthy daemon, to whom I had given life. What did he there? Could +he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No +sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of +its truth; my teeth chattered, and I was forced to lean against a tree +for support. The figure passed me quickly, and I lost it in the gloom. +
+ ++Nothing in human shape could have destroyed the fair child. HE was the +murderer! I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an +irresistible proof of the fact. I thought of pursuing the devil; but +it would have been in vain, for another flash discovered him to me +hanging among the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont +Saleve, a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south. He soon reached +the summit, and disappeared. +
+ ++I remained motionless. The thunder ceased; but the rain still +continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness. I +revolved in my mind the events which I had until now sought to forget: +the whole train of my progress toward the creation; the appearance of +the works of my own hands at my bedside; its departure. Two years had +now nearly elapsed since the night on which he first received life; and +was this his first crime? Alas! I had turned loose into the world a +depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery; had he not +murdered my brother? +
+ ++No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the +night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air. But I did not +feel the inconvenience of the weather; my imagination was busy in +scenes of evil and despair. I considered the being whom I had cast +among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes +of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light +of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced +to destroy all that was dear to me. +
+ ++Day dawned; and I directed my steps towards the town. The gates were +open, and I hastened to my father's house. My first thought was to +discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be +made. But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell. A +being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at +midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain. I +remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at +the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of +delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable. I well knew that +if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have +looked upon it as the ravings of insanity. Besides, the strange nature +of the animal would elude all pursuit, even if I were so far credited +as to persuade my relatives to commence it. And then of what use would +be pursuit? Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the +overhanging sides of Mont Saleve? These reflections determined me, and +I resolved to remain silent. +
+ ++It was about five in the morning when I entered my father's house. I +told the servants not to disturb the family, and went into the library +to attend their usual hour of rising. +
+ ++Six years had elapsed, passed in a dream but for one indelible trace, +and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father +before my departure for Ingolstadt. Beloved and venerable parent! He +still remained to me. I gazed on the picture of my mother, which stood +over the mantel-piece. It was an historical subject, painted at my +father's desire, and represented Caroline Beaufort in an agony of +despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. Her garb was +rustic, and her cheek pale; but there was an air of dignity and beauty, +that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity. Below this picture was a +miniature of William; and my tears flowed when I looked upon it. While +I was thus engaged, Ernest entered: he had heard me arrive, and +hastened to welcome me: "Welcome, my dearest Victor," said he. "Ah! I +wish you had come three months ago, and then you would have found us +all joyous and delighted. You come to us now to share a misery which +nothing can alleviate; yet you presence will, I hope, revive our +father, who seems sinking under his misfortune; and your persuasions +will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tormenting +self-accusations.—Poor William! he was our darling and our pride!" +
+ ++Tears, unrestrained, fell from my brother's eyes; a sense of mortal +agony crept over my frame. Before, I had only imagined the +wretchedness of my desolated home; the reality came on me as a new, and +a not less terrible, disaster. I tried to calm Ernest; I enquired more +minutely concerning my father, and her I named my cousin. +
+ ++"She most of all," said Ernest, "requires consolation; she accused +herself of having caused the death of my brother, and that made her +very wretched. But since the murderer has been discovered—" +
+ ++"The murderer discovered! Good God! how can that be? who could attempt +to pursue him? It is impossible; one might as well try to overtake the +winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw. I saw him too; he +was free last night!" +
+ ++"I do not know what you mean," replied my brother, in accents of +wonder, "but to us the discovery we have made completes our misery. No +one would believe it at first; and even now Elizabeth will not be +convinced, notwithstanding all the evidence. Indeed, who would credit +that Justine Moritz, who was so amiable, and fond of all the family, +could suddenly become so capable of so frightful, so appalling a crime?" +
+ ++"Justine Moritz! Poor, poor girl, is she the accused? But it is +wrongfully; every one knows that; no one believes it, surely, Ernest?" +
+ ++"No one did at first; but several circumstances came out, that have +almost forced conviction upon us; and her own behaviour has been so +confused, as to add to the evidence of facts a weight that, I fear, +leaves no hope for doubt. But she will be tried today, and you will +then hear all." +
+ ++He then related that, the morning on which the murder of poor William +had been discovered, Justine had been taken ill, and confined to her +bed for several days. During this interval, one of the servants, +happening to examine the apparel she had worn on the night of the +murder, had discovered in her pocket the picture of my mother, which +had been judged to be the temptation of the murderer. The servant +instantly showed it to one of the others, who, without saying a word to +any of the family, went to a magistrate; and, upon their deposition, +Justine was apprehended. On being charged with the fact, the poor girl +confirmed the suspicion in a great measure by her extreme confusion of +manner. +
+ ++This was a strange tale, but it did not shake my faith; and I replied +earnestly, "You are all mistaken; I know the murderer. Justine, poor, +good Justine, is innocent." +
+ ++At that instant my father entered. I saw unhappiness deeply impressed +on his countenance, but he endeavoured to welcome me cheerfully; and, +after we had exchanged our mournful greeting, would have introduced +some other topic than that of our disaster, had not Ernest exclaimed, +"Good God, papa! Victor says that he knows who was the murderer of +poor William." +
+ ++"We do also, unfortunately," replied my father, "for indeed I had +rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much +depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly." +
+ ++"My dear father, you are mistaken; Justine is innocent." +
+ ++"If she is, God forbid that she should suffer as guilty. She is to be +tried today, and I hope, I sincerely hope, that she will be acquitted." +
+ ++This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that +Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder. I +had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be +brought forward strong enough to convict her. My tale was not one to +announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as +madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the +creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the +existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance +which I had let loose upon the world? +
+ ++We were soon joined by Elizabeth. Time had altered her since I last +beheld her; it had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of +her childish years. There was the same candour, the same vivacity, but +it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect. +She welcomed me with the greatest affection. "Your arrival, my dear +cousin," said she, "fills me with hope. You perhaps will find some +means to justify my poor guiltless Justine. Alas! who is safe, if she +be convicted of crime? I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do +upon my own. Our misfortune is doubly hard to us; we have not only +lost that lovely darling boy, but this poor girl, whom I sincerely +love, is to be torn away by even a worse fate. If she is condemned, I +never shall know joy more. But she will not, I am sure she will not; +and then I shall be happy again, even after the sad death of my little +William." +
+ ++"She is innocent, my Elizabeth," said I, "and that shall be proved; +fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her +acquittal." +
+ ++"How kind and generous you are! every one else believes in her guilt, +and that made me wretched, for I knew that it was impossible: and to +see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me +hopeless and despairing." She wept. +
+ ++"Dearest niece," said my father, "dry your tears. If she is, as you +believe, innocent, rely on the justice of our laws, and the activity +with which I shall prevent the slightest shadow of partiality." +
+ ++We passed a few sad hours until eleven o'clock, when the trial was to +commence. My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend +as witnesses, I accompanied them to the court. During the whole of +this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to +be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would +cause the death of two of my fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of +innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every +aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror. +Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised +to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an +ignominious grave, and I the cause! A thousand times rather would I +have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I +was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have +been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have +exculpated her who suffered through me. +
+ ++The appearance of Justine was calm. She was dressed in mourning, and +her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her +feelings, exquisitely beautiful. Yet she appeared confident in +innocence and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by +thousands, for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have +excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the +imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed. She +was tranquil, yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained; and as +her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she +worked up her mind to an appearance of courage. When she entered the +court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were +seated. A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us, but she quickly +recovered herself, and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest +her utter guiltlessness. +
+ ++The trial began, and after the advocate against her had stated the +charge, several witnesses were called. Several strange facts combined +against her, which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof +of her innocence as I had. She had been out the whole of the night on +which the murder had been committed and towards morning had been +perceived by a market-woman not far from the spot where the body of the +murdered child had been afterwards found. The woman asked her what she +did there, but she looked very strangely and only returned a confused +and unintelligible answer. She returned to the house about eight +o'clock, and when one inquired where she had passed the night, she +replied that she had been looking for the child and demanded earnestly +if anything had been heard concerning him. When shown the body, she +fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days. The +picture was then produced which the servant had found in her pocket; +and when Elizabeth, in a faltering voice, proved that it was the same +which, an hour before the child had been missed, she had placed round +his neck, a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court. +
+ ++Justine was called on for her defence. As the trial had proceeded, her +countenance had altered. Surprise, horror, and misery were strongly +expressed. Sometimes she struggled with her tears, but when she was +desired to plead, she collected her powers and spoke in an audible +although variable voice. +
+ ++"God knows," she said, "how entirely I am innocent. But I do not +pretend that my protestations should acquit me; I rest my innocence on +a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced +against me, and I hope the character I have always borne will incline +my judges to a favourable interpretation where any circumstance appears +doubtful or suspicious." +
+ ++She then related that, by the permission of Elizabeth, she had passed +the evening of the night on which the murder had been committed at the +house of an aunt at Chene, a village situated at about a league from +Geneva. On her return, at about nine o'clock, she met a man who asked +her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost. She was +alarmed by this account and passed several hours in looking for him, +when the gates of Geneva were shut, and she was forced to remain +several hours of the night in a barn belonging to a cottage, being +unwilling to call up the inhabitants, to whom she was well known. Most +of the night she spent here watching; towards morning she believed that +she slept for a few minutes; some steps disturbed her, and she awoke. +It was dawn, and she quitted her asylum, that she might again endeavour +to find my brother. If she had gone near the spot where his body lay, +it was without her knowledge. That she had been bewildered when +questioned by the market-woman was not surprising, since she had passed +a sleepless night and the fate of poor William was yet uncertain. +Concerning the picture she could give no account. +
+ ++"I know," continued the unhappy victim, "how heavily and fatally this +one circumstance weighs against me, but I have no power of explaining +it; and when I have expressed my utter ignorance, I am only left to +conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been +placed in my pocket. But here also I am checked. I believe that I +have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to +destroy me wantonly. Did the murderer place it there? I know of no +opportunity afforded him for so doing; or, if I had, why should he have +stolen the jewel, to part with it again so soon? +
+ ++"I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, yet I see no room for +hope. I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my +character, and if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed +guilt, I must be condemned, although I would pledge my salvation on my +innocence." +
+ ++Several witnesses were called who had known her for many years, and +they spoke well of her; but fear and hatred of the crime of which they +supposed her guilty rendered them timorous and unwilling to come +forward. Elizabeth saw even this last resource, her excellent +dispositions and irreproachable conduct, about to fail the accused, +when, although violently agitated, she desired permission to address +the court. +
+ ++"I am," said she, "the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered, or +rather his sister, for I was educated by and have lived with his +parents ever since and even long before his birth. It may therefore be +judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see +a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her +pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I +know of her character. I am well acquainted with the accused. I have +lived in the same house with her, at one time for five and at another +for nearly two years. During all that period she appeared to me the +most amiable and benevolent of human creatures. She nursed Madame +Frankenstein, my aunt, in her last illness, with the greatest affection +and care and afterwards attended her own mother during a tedious +illness, in a manner that excited the admiration of all who knew her, +after which she again lived in my uncle's house, where she was beloved +by all the family. She was warmly attached to the child who is now +dead and acted towards him like a most affectionate mother. For my own +part, I do not hesitate to say that, notwithstanding all the evidence +produced against her, I believe and rely on her perfect innocence. She +had no temptation for such an action; as to the bauble on which the +chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have +willingly given it to her, so much do I esteem and value her." +
+ ++A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and powerful +appeal, but it was excited by her generous interference, and not in +favour of poor Justine, on whom the public indignation was turned with +renewed violence, charging her with the blackest ingratitude. She +herself wept as Elizabeth spoke, but she did not answer. My own +agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial. I believed +in her innocence; I knew it. Could the demon who had (I did not for a +minute doubt) murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have +betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy? I could not sustain the +horror of my situation, and when I perceived that the popular voice and +the countenances of the judges had already condemned my unhappy victim, +I rushed out of the court in agony. The tortures of the accused did +not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of +remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold. +
+ ++I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness. In the morning I went to +the court; my lips and throat were parched. I dared not ask the fatal +question, but I was known, and the officer guessed the cause of my +visit. The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine +was condemned. +
+ ++I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt. I had before +experienced sensations of horror, and I have endeavoured to bestow upon +them adequate expressions, but words cannot convey an idea of the +heart-sickening despair that I then endured. The person to whom I +addressed myself added that Justine had already confessed her guilt. +"That evidence," he observed, "was hardly required in so glaring a +case, but I am glad of it, and, indeed, none of our judges like to +condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence, be it ever so +decisive." +
+ ++This was strange and unexpected intelligence; what could it mean? Had +my eyes deceived me? And was I really as mad as the whole world would +believe me to be if I disclosed the object of my suspicions? I +hastened to return home, and Elizabeth eagerly demanded the result. +
+ ++"My cousin," replied I, "it is decided as you may have expected; all +judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty +should escape. But she has confessed." +
+ ++This was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth, who had relied with firmness +upon Justine's innocence. "Alas!" said she. "How shall I ever again +believe in human goodness? Justine, whom I loved and esteemed as my +sister, how could she put on those smiles of innocence only to betray? +Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she +has committed a murder." +
+ ++Soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see +my cousin. My father wished her not to go but said that he left it to +her own judgment and feelings to decide. "Yes," said Elizabeth, "I +will go, although she is guilty; and you, Victor, shall accompany me; I +cannot go alone." The idea of this visit was torture to me, yet I +could not refuse. We entered the gloomy prison chamber and beheld +Justine sitting on some straw at the farther end; her hands were +manacled, and her head rested on her knees. She rose on seeing us +enter, and when we were left alone with her, she threw herself at the +feet of Elizabeth, weeping bitterly. My cousin wept also. +
+ ++"Oh, Justine!" said she. "Why did you rob me of my last consolation? +I relied on your innocence, and although I was then very wretched, I +was not so miserable as I am now." +
+ ++"And do you also believe that I am so very, very wicked? Do you also +join with my enemies to crush me, to condemn me as a murderer?" Her +voice was suffocated with sobs. +
+ ++"Rise, my poor girl," said Elizabeth; "why do you kneel, if you are +innocent? I am not one of your enemies, I believed you guiltless, +notwithstanding every evidence, until I heard that you had yourself +declared your guilt. That report, you say, is false; and be assured, +dear Justine, that nothing can shake my confidence in you for a moment, +but your own confession." +
+ ++"I did confess, but I confessed a lie. I confessed, that I might +obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than +all my other sins. The God of heaven forgive me! Ever since I was +condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced, +until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I +was. He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my last moments if +I continued obdurate. Dear lady, I had none to support me; all looked +on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition. What could I do? +In an evil hour I subscribed to a lie; and now only am I truly +miserable." +
+ ++She paused, weeping, and then continued, "I thought with horror, my +sweet lady, that you should believe your Justine, whom your blessed +aunt had so highly honoured, and whom you loved, was a creature capable +of a crime which none but the devil himself could have perpetrated. +Dear William! dearest blessed child! I soon shall see you again in +heaven, where we shall all be happy; and that consoles me, going as I +am to suffer ignominy and death." +
+ ++"Oh, Justine! Forgive me for having for one moment distrusted you. +Why did you confess? But do not mourn, dear girl. Do not fear. I +will proclaim, I will prove your innocence. I will melt the stony +hearts of your enemies by my tears and prayers. You shall not die! +You, my playfellow, my companion, my sister, perish on the scaffold! +No! No! I never could survive so horrible a misfortune." +
+ ++Justine shook her head mournfully. "I do not fear to die," she said; +"that pang is past. God raises my weakness and gives me courage to +endure the worst. I leave a sad and bitter world; and if you remember +me and think of me as of one unjustly condemned, I am resigned to the +fate awaiting me. Learn from me, dear lady, to submit in patience to +the will of heaven!" +
+ ++During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room, +where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me. Despair! +Who dared talk of that? The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass +the awful boundary between life and death, felt not, as I did, such +deep and bitter agony. I gnashed my teeth and ground them together, +uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul. Justine started. When +she saw who it was, she approached me and said, "Dear sir, you are very +kind to visit me; you, I hope, do not believe that I am guilty?" +
+ ++I could not answer. "No, Justine," said Elizabeth; "he is more +convinced of your innocence than I was, for even when he heard that you +had confessed, he did not credit it." +
+ ++"I truly thank him. In these last moments I feel the sincerest +gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness. How sweet is +the affection of others to such a wretch as I am! It removes more than +half my misfortune, and I feel as if I could die in peace now that my +innocence is acknowledged by you, dear lady, and your cousin." +
+ ++Thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself. She indeed +gained the resignation she desired. But I, the true murderer, felt the +never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or +consolation. Elizabeth also wept and was unhappy, but hers also was +the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair +moon, for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness. Anguish and +despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within +me which nothing could extinguish. We stayed several hours with +Justine, and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear +herself away. "I wish," cried she, "that I were to die with you; I +cannot live in this world of misery." +
+ ++Justine assumed an air of cheerfulness, while she with difficulty +repressed her bitter tears. She embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice +of half-suppressed emotion, "Farewell, sweet lady, dearest Elizabeth, +my beloved and only friend; may heaven, in its bounty, bless and +preserve you; may this be the last misfortune that you will ever +suffer! Live, and be happy, and make others so." +
+ ++And on the morrow Justine died. Elizabeth's heart-rending eloquence +failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the +criminality of the saintly sufferer. My passionate and indignant +appeals were lost upon them. And when I received their cold answers +and heard the harsh, unfeeling reasoning of these men, my purposed +avowal died away on my lips. Thus I might proclaim myself a madman, +but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim. She +perished on the scaffold as a murderess! +
+ ++From the tortures of my own heart, I turned to contemplate the deep and +voiceless grief of my Elizabeth. This also was my doing! And my +father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home all was +the work of my thrice-accursed hands! Ye weep, unhappy ones, but these +are not your last tears! Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and +the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard! +Frankenstein, your son, your kinsman, your early, much-loved friend; he +who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes, who has no +thought nor sense of joy except as it is mirrored also in your dear +countenances, who would fill the air with blessings and spend his life +in serving you—he bids you weep, to shed countless tears; happy beyond +his hopes, if thus inexorable fate be satisfied, and if the destruction +pause before the peace of the grave have succeeded to your sad torments! +
+ ++Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, +I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and +Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts. +
+ ++Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have +been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of +inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope +and fear. Justine died, she rested, and I was alive. The blood flowed +freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my +heart which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered +like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond +description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself) was yet +behind. Yet my heart overflowed with kindness and the love of virtue. +I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment +when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow +beings. Now all was blasted; instead of that serenity of conscience +which allowed me to look back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and +from thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and +the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures +such as no language can describe. +
+ ++This state of mind preyed upon my health, which had perhaps never +entirely recovered from the first shock it had sustained. I shunned +the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; +solitude was my only consolation—deep, dark, deathlike solitude. +
+ ++My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my +disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the +feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with +fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which +brooded over me. "Do you think, Victor," said he, "that I do not +suffer also? No one could love a child more than I loved your +brother"—tears came into his eyes as he spoke—"but is it not a duty +to the survivors that we should refrain from augmenting their +unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief? It is also a duty +owed to yourself, for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or +enjoyment, or even the discharge of daily usefulness, without which no +man is fit for society." +
+ ++This advice, although good, was totally inapplicable to my case; I +should have been the first to hide my grief and console my friends if +remorse had not mingled its bitterness, and terror its alarm, with my +other sensations. Now I could only answer my father with a look of +despair and endeavour to hide myself from his view. +
+ ++About this time we retired to our house at Belrive. This change was +particularly agreeable to me. The shutting of the gates regularly at +ten o'clock and the impossibility of remaining on the lake after that +hour had rendered our residence within the walls of Geneva very irksome +to me. I was now free. Often, after the rest of the family had +retired for the night, I took the boat and passed many hours upon the +water. Sometimes, with my sails set, I was carried by the wind; and +sometimes, after rowing into the middle of the lake, I left the boat to +pursue its own course and gave way to my own miserable reflections. I +was often tempted, when all was at peace around me, and I the only +unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and +heavenly—if I except some bat, or the frogs, whose harsh and +interrupted croaking was heard only when I approached the shore—often, +I say, I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters +might close over me and my calamities forever. But I was restrained, +when I thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth, whom I tenderly +loved, and whose existence was bound up in mine. I thought also of my +father and surviving brother; should I by my base desertion leave them +exposed and unprotected to the malice of the fiend whom I had let loose +among them? +
+ ++At these moments I wept bitterly and wished that peace would revisit my +mind only that I might afford them consolation and happiness. But that +could not be. Remorse extinguished every hope. I had been the author +of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I +had created should perpetrate some new wickedness. I had an obscure +feeling that all was not over and that he would still commit some +signal crime, which by its enormity should almost efface the +recollection of the past. There was always scope for fear so long as +anything I loved remained behind. My abhorrence of this fiend cannot +be conceived. When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became +inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so +thoughtlessly bestowed. When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my +hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a +pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have +precipitated him to their base. I wished to see him again, that I +might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the +deaths of William and Justine. Our house was the house of mourning. My +father's health was deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events. +Elizabeth was sad and desponding; she no longer took delight in her +ordinary occupations; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the +dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she +should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed. She was no longer +that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks +of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects. The first +of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited +her, and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles. +
+ ++"When I reflect, my dear cousin," said she, "on the miserable death of +Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before +appeared to me. Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and +injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient +days or imaginary evils; at least they were remote and more familiar to +reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men +appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood. Yet I am +certainly unjust. Everybody believed that poor girl to be guilty; and +if she could have committed the crime for which she suffered, assuredly +she would have been the most depraved of human creatures. For the sake +of a few jewels, to have murdered the son of her benefactor and friend, +a child whom she had nursed from its birth, and appeared to love as if +it had been her own! I could not consent to the death of any human +being, but certainly I should have thought such a creature unfit to +remain in the society of men. But she was innocent. I know, I feel +she was innocent; you are of the same opinion, and that confirms me. +Alas! Victor, when falsehood can look so like the truth, who can +assure themselves of certain happiness? I feel as if I were walking on +the edge of a precipice, towards which thousands are crowding and +endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss. William and Justine were +assassinated, and the murderer escapes; he walks about the world free, +and perhaps respected. But even if I were condemned to suffer on the +scaffold for the same crimes, I would not change places with such a +wretch." +
+ ++I listened to this discourse with the extremest agony. I, not in deed, +but in effect, was the true murderer. Elizabeth read my anguish in my +countenance, and kindly taking my hand, said, "My dearest friend, you +must calm yourself. These events have affected me, God knows how +deeply; but I am not so wretched as you are. There is an expression of +despair, and sometimes of revenge, in your countenance that makes me +tremble. Dear Victor, banish these dark passions. Remember the +friends around you, who centre all their hopes in you. Have we lost +the power of rendering you happy? Ah! While we love, while we are +true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty, your native +country, we may reap every tranquil blessing—what can disturb our +peace?" +
+ ++And could not such words from her whom I fondly prized before every +other gift of fortune suffice to chase away the fiend that lurked in my +heart? Even as she spoke I drew near to her, as if in terror, lest at +that very moment the destroyer had been near to rob me of her. +
+ ++Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of +heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were +ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial +influence could penetrate. The wounded deer dragging its fainting +limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon the arrow which had +pierced it, and to die, was but a type of me. +
+ ++Sometimes I could cope with the sullen despair that overwhelmed me, but +sometimes the whirlwind passions of my soul drove me to seek, by bodily +exercise and by change of place, some relief from my intolerable +sensations. It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left +my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought +in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and +my ephemeral, because human, sorrows. My wanderings were directed +towards the valley of Chamounix. I had visited it frequently during my +boyhood. Six years had passed since then: _I_ was a wreck, but nought +had changed in those savage and enduring scenes. +
+ ++I performed the first part of my journey on horseback. I afterwards +hired a mule, as the more sure-footed and least liable to receive +injury on these rugged roads. The weather was fine; it was about the +middle of the month of August, nearly two months after the death of +Justine, that miserable epoch from which I dated all my woe. The +weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened as I plunged yet deeper in +the ravine of Arve. The immense mountains and precipices that overhung +me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and +the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as +Omnipotence—and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less +almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here +displayed in their most terrific guise. Still, as I ascended higher, +the valley assumed a more magnificent and astonishing character. +Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains, the +impetuous Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from +among the trees formed a scene of singular beauty. But it was +augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and +shining pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another +earth, the habitations of another race of beings. +
+ ++I passed the bridge of Pelissier, where the ravine, which the river +forms, opened before me, and I began to ascend the mountain that +overhangs it. Soon after, I entered the valley of Chamounix. This +valley is more wonderful and sublime, but not so beautiful and +picturesque as that of Servox, through which I had just passed. The +high and snowy mountains were its immediate boundaries, but I saw no +more ruined castles and fertile fields. Immense glaciers approached +the road; I heard the rumbling thunder of the falling avalanche and +marked the smoke of its passage. Mont Blanc, the supreme and +magnificent Mont Blanc, raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles, +and its tremendous dome overlooked the valley. +
+ ++A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this +journey. Some turn in the road, some new object suddenly perceived and +recognized, reminded me of days gone by, and were associated with the +lighthearted gaiety of boyhood. The very winds whispered in soothing +accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more. Then again the +kindly influence ceased to act—I found myself fettered again to grief +and indulging in all the misery of reflection. Then I spurred on my +animal, striving so to forget the world, my fears, and more than all, +myself—or, in a more desperate fashion, I alighted and threw myself on +the grass, weighed down by horror and despair. +
+ ++At length I arrived at the village of Chamounix. Exhaustion succeeded +to the extreme fatigue both of body and of mind which I had endured. +For a short space of time I remained at the window watching the pallid +lightnings that played above Mont Blanc and listening to the rushing of +the Arve, which pursued its noisy way beneath. The same lulling sounds +acted as a lullaby to my too keen sensations; when I placed my head +upon my pillow, sleep crept over me; I felt it as it came and blessed +the giver of oblivion. +
+ ++I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside +the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that +with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to +barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before +me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were +scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious +presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling +waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the +avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the +accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, +was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in +their hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the +greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me +from all littleness of feeling, and although they did not remove my +grief, they subdued and tranquillized it. In some degree, also, they +diverted my mind from the thoughts over which it had brooded for the +last month. I retired to rest at night; my slumbers, as it were, +waited on and ministered to by the assemblance of grand shapes which I +had contemplated during the day. They congregated round me; the +unstained snowy mountain-top, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, +and ragged bare ravine, the eagle, soaring amidst the clouds—they all +gathered round me and bade me be at peace. +
+ ++Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke? All of +soul-inspiriting fled with sleep, and dark melancholy clouded every +thought. The rain was pouring in torrents, and thick mists hid the +summits of the mountains, so that I even saw not the faces of those +mighty friends. Still I would penetrate their misty veil and seek them +in their cloudy retreats. What were rain and storm to me? My mule was +brought to the door, and I resolved to ascend to the summit of +Montanvert. I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous +and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. +It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the +soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy. +The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the +effect of solemnizing my mind and causing me to forget the passing +cares of life. I determined to go without a guide, for I was well +acquainted with the path, and the presence of another would destroy the +solitary grandeur of the scene. +
+ ++The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and short +windings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the +mountain. It is a scene terrifically desolate. In a thousand spots +the traces of the winter avalanche may be perceived, where trees lie +broken and strewed on the ground, some entirely destroyed, others bent, +leaning upon the jutting rocks of the mountain or transversely upon +other trees. The path, as you ascend higher, is intersected by ravines +of snow, down which stones continually roll from above; one of them is +particularly dangerous, as the slightest sound, such as even speaking +in a loud voice, produces a concussion of air sufficient to draw +destruction upon the head of the speaker. The pines are not tall or +luxuriant, but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene. +I looked on the valley beneath; vast mists were rising from the rivers +which ran through it and curling in thick wreaths around the opposite +mountains, whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds, while rain +poured from the dark sky and added to the melancholy impression I +received from the objects around me. Alas! Why does man boast of +sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders +them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, +thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by +every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may +convey to us. +
+ +
+ We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
+ We rise; one wand'ring thought pollutes the day.
+ We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
+ Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;
+ It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,
+ The path of its departure still is free.
+ Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
+ Nought may endure but mutability!
+
+It was nearly noon when I arrived at the top of the ascent. For some +time I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice. A mist covered +both that and the surrounding mountains. Presently a breeze dissipated +the cloud, and I descended upon the glacier. The surface is very +uneven, rising like the waves of a troubled sea, descending low, and +interspersed by rifts that sink deep. The field of ice is almost a +league in width, but I spent nearly two hours in crossing it. The +opposite mountain is a bare perpendicular rock. From the side where I +now stood Montanvert was exactly opposite, at the distance of a league; +and above it rose Mont Blanc, in awful majesty. I remained in a recess +of the rock, gazing on this wonderful and stupendous scene. The sea, +or rather the vast river of ice, wound among its dependent mountains, +whose aerial summits hung over its recesses. Their icy and glittering +peaks shone in the sunlight over the clouds. My heart, which was +before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy; I exclaimed, +"Wandering spirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow +beds, allow me this faint happiness, or take me, as your companion, +away from the joys of life." +
+ ++As I said this I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, +advancing towards me with superhuman speed. He bounded over the +crevices in the ice, among which I had walked with caution; his +stature, also, as he approached, seemed to exceed that of man. I was +troubled; a mist came over my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me, +but I was quickly restored by the cold gale of the mountains. I +perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) +that it was the wretch whom I had created. I trembled with rage and +horror, resolving to wait his approach and then close with him in +mortal combat. He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, +combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness +rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes. But I scarcely +observed this; rage and hatred had at first deprived me of utterance, +and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious +detestation and contempt. +
+ ++"Devil," I exclaimed, "do you dare approach me? And do not you fear +the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, +vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! And, +oh! That I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, +restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!" +
+ ++"I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the +wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all +living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, +to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of +one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? +Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of +mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and +you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it +be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends." +
+ ++"Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art! The tortures of hell are too +mild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! You reproach me with +your creation, come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I +so negligently bestowed." +
+ ++My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all the +feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another. +
+ ++He easily eluded me and said, +
+ ++"Be calm! I entreat you to hear me before you give vent to your hatred +on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to +increase my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation of +anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. Remember, thou hast made +me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine, my +joints more supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in +opposition to thee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and +docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part, +the which thou owest me. Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every +other and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy +clemency and affection, is most due. Remember that I am thy creature; +I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou +drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I +alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made +me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." +
+ ++"Begone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you +and me; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, +in which one must fall." +
+ ++"How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a +favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and +compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed +with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my +creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, +who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and +dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the +caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the +only one which man does not grudge. These bleak skies I hail, for they +are kinder to me than your fellow beings. If the multitude of mankind +knew of my existence, they would do as you do, and arm themselves for +my destruction. Shall I not then hate them who abhor me? I will keep +no terms with my enemies. I am miserable, and they shall share my +wretchedness. Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver +them from an evil which it only remains for you to make so great, that +not only you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be +swallowed up in the whirlwinds of its rage. Let your compassion be +moved, and do not disdain me. Listen to my tale; when you have heard +that, abandon or commiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve. +But hear me. The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they +are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned. Listen +to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder, and yet you would, with +a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the +eternal justice of man! Yet I ask you not to spare me; listen to me, +and then, if you can, and if you will, destroy the work of your hands." +
+ ++"Why do you call to my remembrance," I rejoined, "circumstances of +which I shudder to reflect, that I have been the miserable origin and +author? Cursed be the day, abhorred devil, in which you first saw +light! Cursed (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you! +You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power +to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! Relieve me from +the sight of your detested form." +
+ ++"Thus I relieve thee, my creator," he said, and placed his hated hands +before my eyes, which I flung from me with violence; "thus I take from +thee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me and grant +me thy compassion. By the virtues that I once possessed, I demand this +from you. Hear my tale; it is long and strange, and the temperature of +this place is not fitting to your fine sensations; come to the hut upon +the mountain. The sun is yet high in the heavens; before it descends +to hide itself behind your snowy precipices and illuminate another +world, you will have heard my story and can decide. On you it rests, +whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless +life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures and the author of +your own speedy ruin." +
+ ++As he said this he led the way across the ice; I followed. My heart +was full, and I did not answer him, but as I proceeded, I weighed the +various arguments that he had used and determined at least to listen to +his tale. I was partly urged by curiosity, and compassion confirmed my +resolution. I had hitherto supposed him to be the murderer of my +brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion. +For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards +his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I +complained of his wickedness. These motives urged me to comply with +his demand. We crossed the ice, therefore, and ascended the opposite +rock. The air was cold, and the rain again began to descend; we +entered the hut, the fiend with an air of exultation, I with a heavy +heart and depressed spirits. But I consented to listen, and seating +myself by the fire which my odious companion had lighted, he thus began +his tale. +
+ ++"It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of +my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct. +A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, +and smelt at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I +learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses. By +degrees, I remember, a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so that I +was obliged to shut my eyes. Darkness then came over me and troubled +me, but hardly had I felt this when, by opening my eyes, as I now +suppose, the light poured in upon me again. I walked and, I believe, +descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations. +Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my +touch or sight; but I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with +no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid. The light +became more and more oppressive to me, and the heat wearying me as I +walked, I sought a place where I could receive shade. This was the +forest near Ingolstadt; and here I lay by the side of a brook resting +from my fatigue, until I felt tormented by hunger and thirst. This +roused me from my nearly dormant state, and I ate some berries which I +found hanging on the trees or lying on the ground. I slaked my thirst +at the brook, and then lying down, was overcome by sleep. +
+ ++"It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it +were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate. Before I had quitted +your apartment, on a sensation of cold, I had covered myself with some +clothes, but these were insufficient to secure me from the dews of +night. I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could +distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat +down and wept. +
+ ++"Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of +pleasure. I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the +trees. [The moon] I gazed with a kind of wonder. It moved slowly, +but it enlightened my path, and I again went out in search of berries. +I was still cold when under one of the trees I found a huge cloak, with +which I covered myself, and sat down upon the ground. No distinct +ideas occupied my mind; all was confused. I felt light, and hunger, +and thirst, and darkness; innumerable sounds rang in my ears, and on +all sides various scents saluted me; the only object that I could +distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on that with +pleasure. +
+ ++"Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had +greatly lessened, when I began to distinguish my sensations from each +other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with +drink and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted +when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my +ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had +often intercepted the light from my eyes. I began also to observe, +with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me and to perceive the +boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me. Sometimes I +tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds but was unable. +Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the +uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into +silence again. +
+ ++"The moon had disappeared from the night, and again, with a lessened +form, showed itself, while I still remained in the forest. My +sensations had by this time become distinct, and my mind received every +day additional ideas. My eyes became accustomed to the light and to +perceive objects in their right forms; I distinguished the insect from +the herb, and by degrees, one herb from another. I found that the +sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and +thrush were sweet and enticing. +
+ ++"One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been +left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the +warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live +embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, +I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects! I +examined the materials of the fire, and to my joy found it to be +composed of wood. I quickly collected some branches, but they were wet +and would not burn. I was pained at this and sat still watching the +operation of the fire. The wet wood which I had placed near the heat +dried and itself became inflamed. I reflected on this, and by touching +the various branches, I discovered the cause and busied myself in +collecting a great quantity of wood, that I might dry it and have a +plentiful supply of fire. When night came on and brought sleep with +it, I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished. I +covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches +upon it; and then, spreading my cloak, I lay on the ground and sank +into sleep. +
+ ++"It was morning when I awoke, and my first care was to visit the fire. +I uncovered it, and a gentle breeze quickly fanned it into a flame. I +observed this also and contrived a fan of branches, which roused the +embers when they were nearly extinguished. When night came again I +found, with pleasure, that the fire gave light as well as heat and that +the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food, for I found +some of the offals that the travellers had left had been roasted, and +tasted much more savoury than the berries I gathered from the trees. I +tried, therefore, to dress my food in the same manner, placing it on +the live embers. I found that the berries were spoiled by this +operation, and the nuts and roots much improved. +
+ ++"Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day +searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger. When +I found this, I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto +inhabited, to seek for one where the few wants I experienced would be +more easily satisfied. In this emigration I exceedingly lamented the +loss of the fire which I had obtained through accident and knew not how +to reproduce it. I gave several hours to the serious consideration of +this difficulty, but I was obliged to relinquish all attempt to supply +it, and wrapping myself up in my cloak, I struck across the wood +towards the setting sun. I passed three days in these rambles and at +length discovered the open country. A great fall of snow had taken +place the night before, and the fields were of one uniform white; the +appearance was disconsolate, and I found my feet chilled by the cold +damp substance that covered the ground. +
+ ++"It was about seven in the morning, and I longed to obtain food and +shelter; at length I perceived a small hut, on a rising ground, which +had doubtless been built for the convenience of some shepherd. This +was a new sight to me, and I examined the structure with great +curiosity. Finding the door open, I entered. An old man sat in it, +near a fire, over which he was preparing his breakfast. He turned on +hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the +hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form +hardly appeared capable. His appearance, different from any I had ever +before seen, and his flight somewhat surprised me. But I was enchanted +by the appearance of the hut; here the snow and rain could not +penetrate; the ground was dry; and it presented to me then as exquisite +and divine a retreat as Pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell +after their sufferings in the lake of fire. I greedily devoured the +remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, +milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like. Then, overcome by +fatigue, I lay down among some straw and fell asleep. +
+ ++"It was noon when I awoke, and allured by the warmth of the sun, which +shone brightly on the white ground, I determined to recommence my +travels; and, depositing the remains of the peasant's breakfast in a +wallet I found, I proceeded across the fields for several hours, until +at sunset I arrived at a village. How miraculous did this appear! The +huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by +turns. The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw +placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite. One +of the best of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within +the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. +The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, +grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I +escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, +quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had +beheld in the village. This hovel however, joined a cottage of a neat +and pleasant appearance, but after my late dearly bought experience, I +dared not enter it. My place of refuge was constructed of wood, but so +low that I could with difficulty sit upright in it. No wood, however, +was placed on the earth, which formed the floor, but it was dry; and +although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks, I found it an +agreeable asylum from the snow and rain. +
+ ++"Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, +however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more +from the barbarity of man. As soon as morning dawned I crept from my +kennel, that I might view the adjacent cottage and discover if I could +remain in the habitation I had found. It was situated against the back +of the cottage and surrounded on the sides which were exposed by a pig +sty and a clear pool of water. One part was open, and by that I had +crept in; but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived +with stones and wood, yet in such a manner that I might move them on +occasion to pass out; all the light I enjoyed came through the sty, and +that was sufficient for me. +
+ ++"Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I +retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered +too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power. I +had first, however, provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf +of coarse bread, which I purloined, and a cup with which I could drink +more conveniently than from my hand of the pure water which flowed by +my retreat. The floor was a little raised, so that it was kept +perfectly dry, and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was +tolerably warm. +
+ ++"Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until +something should occur which might alter my determination. It was +indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest, my former residence, +the rain-dropping branches, and dank earth. I ate my breakfast with +pleasure and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little +water when I heard a step, and looking through a small chink, I beheld +a young creature, with a pail on her head, passing before my hovel. The +girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found +cottagers and farmhouse servants to be. Yet she was meanly dressed, a +coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb; her fair +hair was plaited but not adorned: she looked patient yet sad. I lost +sight of her, and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing +the pail, which was now partly filled with milk. As she walked along, +seemingly incommoded by the burden, a young man met her, whose +countenance expressed a deeper despondence. Uttering a few sounds with +an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head and bore it to the +cottage himself. She followed, and they disappeared. Presently I saw +the young man again, with some tools in his hand, cross the field +behind the cottage; and the girl was also busied, sometimes in the +house and sometimes in the yard. +
+ ++"On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the +cottage had formerly occupied a part of it, but the panes had been +filled up with wood. In one of these was a small and almost +imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate. +Through this crevice a small room was visible, whitewashed and clean +but very bare of furniture. In one corner, near a small fire, sat an +old man, leaning his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude. The +young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage; but presently she +took something out of a drawer, which employed her hands, and she sat +down beside the old man, who, taking up an instrument, began to play +and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the +nightingale. It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch who had +never beheld aught beautiful before. The silver hair and benevolent +countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle +manners of the girl enticed my love. He played a sweet mournful air +which I perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion, of +which the old man took no notice, until she sobbed audibly; he then +pronounced a few sounds, and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt +at his feet. He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection +that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were +a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, +either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the +window, unable to bear these emotions. +
+ ++"Soon after this the young man returned, bearing on his shoulders a +load of wood. The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve him of +his burden, and taking some of the fuel into the cottage, placed it on +the fire; then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage, +and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese. She seemed +pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants, which she +placed in water, and then upon the fire. She afterwards continued her +work, whilst the young man went into the garden and appeared busily +employed in digging and pulling up roots. After he had been employed +thus about an hour, the young woman joined him and they entered the +cottage together. +
+ ++"The old man had, in the meantime, been pensive, but on the appearance +of his companions he assumed a more cheerful air, and they sat down to +eat. The meal was quickly dispatched. The young woman was again +occupied in arranging the cottage, the old man walked before the +cottage in the sun for a few minutes, leaning on the arm of the youth. +Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent +creatures. One was old, with silver hairs and a countenance beaming +with benevolence and love; the younger was slight and graceful in his +figure, and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry, yet his +eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency. The +old man returned to the cottage, and the youth, with tools different +from those he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the +fields. +
+ ++"Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the +cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was +delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the +pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours. In the evening +the young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations +which I did not understand; and the old man again took up the +instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in +the morning. So soon as he had finished, the youth began, not to play, +but to utter sounds that were monotonous, and neither resembling the +harmony of the old man's instrument nor the songs of the birds; I since +found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the +science of words or letters. +
+ ++"The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, +extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest." +
+ ++"I lay on my straw, but I could not sleep. I thought of the +occurrences of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners +of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not. I +remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from +the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I +might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would +remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavouring to discover the +motives which influenced their actions. +
+ ++"The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun. The young woman +arranged the cottage and prepared the food, and the youth departed +after the first meal. +
+ ++"This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it. +The young man was constantly employed out of doors, and the girl in +various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I soon +perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or +in contemplation. Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the +younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion. They +performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with +gentleness, and he rewarded them by his benevolent smiles. +
+ ++"They were not entirely happy. The young man and his companion often +went apart and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their unhappiness, +but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were +miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, +should be wretched. Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy? They +possessed a delightful house (for such it was in my eyes) and every +luxury; they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands +when hungry; they were dressed in excellent clothes; and, still more, +they enjoyed one another's company and speech, interchanging each day +looks of affection and kindness. What did their tears imply? Did they +really express pain? I was at first unable to solve these questions, +but perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which +were at first enigmatic. +
+ ++"A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of +the uneasiness of this amiable family: it was poverty, and they +suffered that evil in a very distressing degree. Their nourishment +consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden and the milk of +one cow, which gave very little during the winter, when its masters +could scarcely procure food to support it. They often, I believe, +suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two +younger cottagers, for several times they placed food before the old +man when they reserved none for themselves. +
+ ++"This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, +during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own +consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on +the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and +roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood. +
+ ++"I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist +their labours. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day +in collecting wood for the family fire, and during the night I often +took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home +firing sufficient for the consumption of several days. +
+ ++"I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman, when she +opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a +great pile of wood on the outside. She uttered some words in a loud +voice, and the youth joined her, who also expressed surprise. I +observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day, but +spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden. +
+ ++"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that +these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and +feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the +words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or +sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed +a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it. +But I was baffled in every attempt I made for this purpose. Their +pronunciation was quick, and the words they uttered, not having any +apparent connection with visible objects, I was unable to discover any +clue by which I could unravel the mystery of their reference. By great +application, however, and after having remained during the space of +several revolutions of the moon in my hovel, I discovered the names +that were given to some of the most familiar objects of discourse; I +learned and applied the words, 'fire,' 'milk,' 'bread,' and 'wood.' I +learned also the names of the cottagers themselves. The youth and his +companion had each of them several names, but the old man had only one, +which was 'father.' The girl was called 'sister' or 'Agatha,' and the +youth 'Felix,' 'brother,' or 'son.' I cannot describe the delight I +felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and +was able to pronounce them. I distinguished several other words +without being able as yet to understand or apply them, such as 'good,' +'dearest,' 'unhappy.' +
+ ++"I spent the winter in this manner. The gentle manners and beauty of +the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I +felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys. I saw +few human beings besides them, and if any other happened to enter the +cottage, their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the +superior accomplishments of my friends. The old man, I could perceive, +often endeavoured to encourage his children, as sometimes I found that +he called them, to cast off their melancholy. He would talk in a +cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure +even upon me. Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled +with tears, which she endeavoured to wipe away unperceived; but I +generally found that her countenance and tone were more cheerful after +having listened to the exhortations of her father. It was not thus +with Felix. He was always the saddest of the group, and even to my +unpractised senses, he appeared to have suffered more deeply than his +friends. But if his countenance was more sorrowful, his voice was more +cheerful than that of his sister, especially when he addressed the old +man. +
+ ++"I could mention innumerable instances which, although slight, marked +the dispositions of these amiable cottagers. In the midst of poverty +and want, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little +white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground. Early in +the morning, before she had risen, he cleared away the snow that +obstructed her path to the milk-house, drew water from the well, and +brought the wood from the outhouse, where, to his perpetual +astonishment, he found his store always replenished by an invisible +hand. In the day, I believe, he worked sometimes for a neighbouring +farmer, because he often went forth and did not return until dinner, +yet brought no wood with him. At other times he worked in the garden, +but as there was little to do in the frosty season, he read to the old +man and Agatha. +
+ ++"This reading had puzzled me extremely at first, but by degrees I +discovered that he uttered many of the same sounds when he read as when +he talked. I conjectured, therefore, that he found on the paper signs +for speech which he understood, and I ardently longed to comprehend +these also; but how was that possible when I did not even understand +the sounds for which they stood as signs? I improved, however, +sensibly in this science, but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of +conversation, although I applied my whole mind to the endeavour, for I +easily perceived that, although I eagerly longed to discover myself to +the cottagers, I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become +master of their language, which knowledge might enable me to make them +overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast +perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted. +
+ ++"I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, +and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself +in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that +it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became +fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was +filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. +Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable +deformity. +
+ ++"As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer, the snow +vanished, and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth. From this +time Felix was more employed, and the heart-moving indications of +impending famine disappeared. Their food, as I afterwards found, was +coarse, but it was wholesome; and they procured a sufficiency of it. +Several new kinds of plants sprang up in the garden, which they +dressed; and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season +advanced. +
+ ++"The old man, leaning on his son, walked each day at noon, when it did +not rain, as I found it was called when the heavens poured forth its +waters. This frequently took place, but a high wind quickly dried the +earth, and the season became far more pleasant than it had been. +
+ ++"My mode of life in my hovel was uniform. During the morning I +attended the motions of the cottagers, and when they were dispersed in +various occupations, I slept; the remainder of the day was spent in +observing my friends. When they had retired to rest, if there was any +moon or the night was star-light, I went into the woods and collected +my own food and fuel for the cottage. When I returned, as often as it +was necessary, I cleared their path from the snow and performed those +offices that I had seen done by Felix. I afterwards found that these +labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and +once or twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words 'good +spirit,' 'wonderful'; but I did not then understand the signification +of these terms. +
+ ++"My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the +motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; I was inquisitive to +know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought +(foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to +these deserving people. When I slept or was absent, the forms of the +venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha, and the excellent Felix +flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings who would be +the arbiters of my future destiny. I formed in my imagination a +thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of +me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle +demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and +afterwards their love. +
+ ++"These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to +the acquiring the art of language. My organs were indeed harsh, but +supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their +tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease. +It was as the ass and the lap-dog; yet surely the gentle ass whose +intentions were affectionate, although his manners were rude, deserved +better treatment than blows and execration. +
+ ++"The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the +aspect of the earth. Men who before this change seemed to have been +hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of +cultivation. The birds sang in more cheerful notes, and the leaves +began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation +for gods, which, so short a time before, was bleak, damp, and +unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of +nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, +and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy." +
+ ++"I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate +events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been, +have made me what I am. +
+ ++"Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies +cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy +should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My +senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and +a thousand sights of beauty. +
+ ++"It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested +from labour—the old man played on his guitar, and the children +listened to him—that I observed the countenance of Felix was +melancholy beyond expression; he sighed frequently, and once his father +paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired +the cause of his son's sorrow. Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and +the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door. +
+ ++"It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a country-man as a guide. +The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black +veil. Agatha asked a question, to which the stranger only replied by +pronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name of Felix. Her voice was +musical but unlike that of either of my friends. On hearing this word, +Felix came up hastily to the lady, who, when she saw him, threw up her +veil, and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her +hair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were +dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular +proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with +a lovely pink. +
+ ++"Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of +sorrow vanished from his face, and it instantly expressed a degree of +ecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his +eyes sparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment I +thought him as beautiful as the stranger. She appeared affected by +different feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes, she held +out her hand to Felix, who kissed it rapturously and called her, as +well as I could distinguish, his sweet Arabian. She did not appear to +understand him, but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and +dismissing her guide, conducted her into the cottage. Some +conversation took place between him and his father, and the young +stranger knelt at the old man's feet and would have kissed his hand, +but he raised her and embraced her affectionately. +
+ ++"I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds +and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood +by nor herself understood the cottagers. They made many signs which I +did not comprehend, but I saw that her presence diffused gladness +through the cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the +morning mists. Felix seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles of +delight welcomed his Arabian. Agatha, the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed +the hands of the lovely stranger, and pointing to her brother, made +signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she +came. Some hours passed thus, while they, by their countenances, +expressed joy, the cause of which I did not comprehend. Presently I +found, by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger +repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their language; +and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the +same instructions to the same end. The stranger learned about twenty +words at the first lesson; most of them, indeed, were those which I had +before understood, but I profited by the others. +
+ ++"As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early. When they +separated Felix kissed the hand of the stranger and said, 'Good night +sweet Safie.' He sat up much longer, conversing with his father, and +by the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely +guest was the subject of their conversation. I ardently desired to +understand them, and bent every faculty towards that purpose, but found +it utterly impossible. +
+ ++"The next morning Felix went out to his work, and after the usual +occupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at the feet of the +old man, and taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancingly +beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from my +eyes. She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or +dying away like a nightingale of the woods. +
+ ++"When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at first +declined it. She played a simple air, and her voice accompanied it in +sweet accents, but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger. The old +man appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to +explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish to express that she +bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music. +
+ ++"The days now passed as peaceably as before, with the sole alteration +that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends. +Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the +knowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend most +of the words uttered by my protectors. +
+ ++"In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, and +the green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers, sweet to the +scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods; +the sun became warmer, the nights clear and balmy; and my nocturnal +rambles were an extreme pleasure to me, although they were considerably +shortened by the late setting and early rising of the sun, for I never +ventured abroad during daylight, fearful of meeting with the same +treatment I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered. +
+ ++"My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily +master the language; and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than +the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken +accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that +was spoken. +
+ ++"While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as +it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before me a wide field +for wonder and delight. +
+ ++"The book from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney's Ruins of +Empires. I should not have understood the purport of this book had not +Felix, in reading it, given very minute explanations. He had chosen +this work, he said, because the declamatory style was framed in +imitation of the Eastern authors. Through this work I obtained a +cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at +present existing in the world; it gave me an insight into the manners, +governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth. I +heard of the slothful Asiatics, of the stupendous genius and mental +activity of the Grecians, of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early +Romans—of their subsequent degenerating—of the decline of that mighty +empire, of chivalry, Christianity, and kings. I heard of the discovery +of the American hemisphere and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of +its original inhabitants. +
+ ++"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was +man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so +vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil +principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and +godlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour +that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on +record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more +abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I +could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or +even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of +vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and +loathing. +
+ ++"Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me. +While I listened to the instructions which Felix bestowed upon the +Arabian, the strange system of human society was explained to me. I +heard of the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid +poverty, of rank, descent, and noble blood. +
+ ++"The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that the +possessions most esteemed by your fellow creatures were high and +unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with +only one of these advantages, but without either he was considered, +except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to +waste his powers for the profits of the chosen few! And what was I? Of +my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I +possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, +endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even +of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could +subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with +less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked +around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot +upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? +
+ ++"I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted +upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with +knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor +known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat! +
+ ++"Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it +has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to +shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one +means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death—a state +which I feared yet did not understand. I admired virtue and good +feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my +cottagers, but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except +through means which I obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and +unknown, and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of +becoming one among my fellows. The gentle words of Agatha and the +animated smiles of the charming Arabian were not for me. The mild +exhortations of the old man and the lively conversation of the loved +Felix were not for me. Miserable, unhappy wretch! +
+ ++"Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply. I heard of the +difference of sexes, and the birth and growth of children, how the +father doted on the smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of the +older child, how all the life and cares of the mother were wrapped up +in the precious charge, how the mind of youth expanded and gained +knowledge, of brother, sister, and all the various relationships which +bind one human being to another in mutual bonds. +
+ ++"But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my +infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if +they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I +distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been as I +then was in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being +resembling me or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The +question again recurred, to be answered only with groans. +
+ ++"I will soon explain to what these feelings tended, but allow me now to +return to the cottagers, whose story excited in me such various +feelings of indignation, delight, and wonder, but which all terminated +in additional love and reverence for my protectors (for so I loved, in +an innocent, half-painful self-deceit, to call them)." +
+ ++"Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends. It was +one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my mind, unfolding +as it did a number of circumstances, each interesting and wonderful to +one so utterly inexperienced as I was. +
+ ++"The name of the old man was De Lacey. He was descended from a good +family in France, where he had lived for many years in affluence, +respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals. His son was bred +in the service of his country, and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the +highest distinction. A few months before my arrival they had lived in +a large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends and +possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or +taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford. +
+ ++"The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He was a +Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some +reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxious to the government. +He was seized and cast into prison the very day that Safie arrived from +Constantinople to join him. He was tried and condemned to death. The +injustice of his sentence was very flagrant; all Paris was indignant; +and it was judged that his religion and wealth rather than the crime +alleged against him had been the cause of his condemnation. +
+ ++"Felix had accidentally been present at the trial; his horror and +indignation were uncontrollable when he heard the decision of the +court. He made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver him and then +looked around for the means. After many fruitless attempts to gain +admittance to the prison, he found a strongly grated window in an +unguarded part of the building, which lighted the dungeon of the +unfortunate Muhammadan, who, loaded with chains, waited in despair the +execution of the barbarous sentence. Felix visited the grate at night +and made known to the prisoner his intentions in his favour. The Turk, +amazed and delighted, endeavoured to kindle the zeal of his deliverer +by promises of reward and wealth. Felix rejected his offers with +contempt, yet when he saw the lovely Safie, who was allowed to visit +her father and who by her gestures expressed her lively gratitude, the +youth could not help owning to his own mind that the captive possessed +a treasure which would fully reward his toil and hazard. +
+ ++"The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his daughter had made +on the heart of Felix and endeavoured to secure him more entirely in +his interests by the promise of her hand in marriage so soon as he +should be conveyed to a place of safety. Felix was too delicate to +accept this offer, yet he looked forward to the probability of the +event as to the consummation of his happiness. +
+ ++"During the ensuing days, while the preparations were going forward for +the escape of the merchant, the zeal of Felix was warmed by several +letters that he received from this lovely girl, who found means to +express her thoughts in the language of her lover by the aid of an old +man, a servant of her father who understood French. She thanked him in +the most ardent terms for his intended services towards her parent, and +at the same time she gently deplored her own fate. +
+ ++"I have copies of these letters, for I found means, during my residence +in the hovel, to procure the implements of writing; and the letters +were often in the hands of Felix or Agatha. Before I depart I will +give them to you; they will prove the truth of my tale; but at present, +as the sun is already far declined, I shall only have time to repeat +the substance of them to you. +
+ ++"Safie related that her mother was a Christian Arab, seized and made a +slave by the Turks; recommended by her beauty, she had won the heart of +the father of Safie, who married her. The young girl spoke in high and +enthusiastic terms of her mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the +bondage to which she was now reduced. She instructed her daughter in +the tenets of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of +intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden to the female +followers of Muhammad. This lady died, but her lessons were indelibly +impressed on the mind of Safie, who sickened at the prospect of again +returning to Asia and being immured within the walls of a harem, +allowed only to occupy herself with infantile amusements, ill-suited to +the temper of her soul, now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble +emulation for virtue. The prospect of marrying a Christian and +remaining in a country where women were allowed to take a rank in +society was enchanting to her. +
+ ++"The day for the execution of the Turk was fixed, but on the night +previous to it he quitted his prison and before morning was distant +many leagues from Paris. Felix had procured passports in the name of +his father, sister, and himself. He had previously communicated his +plan to the former, who aided the deceit by quitting his house, under +the pretence of a journey and concealed himself, with his daughter, in +an obscure part of Paris. +
+ ++"Felix conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons and across Mont +Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant had decided to wait a favourable +opportunity of passing into some part of the Turkish dominions. +
+ ++"Safie resolved to remain with her father until the moment of his +departure, before which time the Turk renewed his promise that she +should be united to his deliverer; and Felix remained with them in +expectation of that event; and in the meantime he enjoyed the society +of the Arabian, who exhibited towards him the simplest and tenderest +affection. They conversed with one another through the means of an +interpreter, and sometimes with the interpretation of looks; and Safie +sang to him the divine airs of her native country. +
+ ++"The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes +of the youthful lovers, while in his heart he had formed far other +plans. He loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a +Christian, but he feared the resentment of Felix if he should appear +lukewarm, for he knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer +if he should choose to betray him to the Italian state which they +inhabited. He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled +to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and +secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed. His plans +were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris. +
+ ++"The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their +victim and spared no pains to detect and punish his deliverer. The +plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were +thrown into prison. The news reached Felix and roused him from his +dream of pleasure. His blind and aged father and his gentle sister lay +in a noisome dungeon while he enjoyed the free air and the society of +her whom he loved. This idea was torture to him. He quickly arranged +with the Turk that if the latter should find a favourable opportunity +for escape before Felix could return to Italy, Safie should remain as a +boarder at a convent at Leghorn; and then, quitting the lovely Arabian, +he hastened to Paris and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the +law, hoping to free De Lacey and Agatha by this proceeding. +
+ ++"He did not succeed. They remained confined for five months before the +trial took place, the result of which deprived them of their fortune +and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country. +
+ ++"They found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany, where I +discovered them. Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for +whom he and his family endured such unheard-of oppression, on +discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin, +became a traitor to good feeling and honour and had quitted Italy with +his daughter, insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him, +as he said, in some plan of future maintenance. +
+ ++"Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix and rendered +him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his family. He could +have endured poverty, and while this distress had been the meed of his +virtue, he gloried in it; but the ingratitude of the Turk and the loss +of his beloved Safie were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable. The +arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into his soul. +
+ ++"When the news reached Leghorn that Felix was deprived of his wealth +and rank, the merchant commanded his daughter to think no more of her +lover, but to prepare to return to her native country. The generous +nature of Safie was outraged by this command; she attempted to +expostulate with her father, but he left her angrily, reiterating his +tyrannical mandate. +
+ ++"A few days after, the Turk entered his daughter's apartment and told +her hastily that he had reason to believe that his residence at Leghorn +had been divulged and that he should speedily be delivered up to the +French government; he had consequently hired a vessel to convey him to +Constantinople, for which city he should sail in a few hours. He +intended to leave his daughter under the care of a confidential +servant, to follow at her leisure with the greater part of his +property, which had not yet arrived at Leghorn. +
+ ++"When alone, Safie resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct that it +would become her to pursue in this emergency. A residence in Turkey +was abhorrent to her; her religion and her feelings were alike averse +to it. By some papers of her father which fell into her hands she +heard of the exile of her lover and learnt the name of the spot where +he then resided. She hesitated some time, but at length she formed her +determination. Taking with her some jewels that belonged to her and a +sum of money, she quitted Italy with an attendant, a native of Leghorn, +but who understood the common language of Turkey, and departed for +Germany. +
+ ++"She arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage +of De Lacey, when her attendant fell dangerously ill. Safie nursed her +with the most devoted affection, but the poor girl died, and the +Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the country +and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world. She fell, however, +into good hands. The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for +which they were bound, and after her death the woman of the house in +which they had lived took care that Safie should arrive in safety at +the cottage of her lover." +
+ ++"Such was the history of my beloved cottagers. It impressed me deeply. +I learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire +their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind. +
+ ++"As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil, benevolence and +generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to +become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities +were called forth and displayed. But in giving an account of the +progress of my intellect, I must not omit a circumstance which occurred +in the beginning of the month of August of the same year. +
+ ++"One night during my accustomed visit to the neighbouring wood where I +collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors, I +found on the ground a leathern portmanteau containing several articles +of dress and some books. I eagerly seized the prize and returned with +it to my hovel. Fortunately the books were written in the language, +the elements of which I had acquired at the cottage; they consisted of +Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch's Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter. +The possession of these treasures gave me extreme delight; I now +continually studied and exercised my mind upon these histories, whilst +my friends were employed in their ordinary occupations. +
+ ++"I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced +in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me +to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection. In +the Sorrows of Werter, besides the interest of its simple and affecting +story, so many opinions are canvassed and so many lights thrown upon +what had hitherto been to me obscure subjects that I found in it a +never-ending source of speculation and astonishment. The gentle and +domestic manners it described, combined with lofty sentiments and +feelings, which had for their object something out of self, accorded +well with my experience among my protectors and with the wants which +were forever alive in my own bosom. But I thought Werter himself a +more divine being than I had ever beheld or imagined; his character +contained no pretension, but it sank deep. The disquisitions upon +death and suicide were calculated to fill me with wonder. I did not +pretend to enter into the merits of the case, yet I inclined towards +the opinions of the hero, whose extinction I wept, without precisely +understanding it. +
+ ++"As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and +condition. I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely +unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I +was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I +was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. +'The path of my departure was free,' and there was none to lament my +annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did +this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my +destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to +solve them. +
+ ++"The volume of Plutarch's Lives which I possessed contained the +histories of the first founders of the ancient republics. This book +had a far different effect upon me from the Sorrows of Werter. I +learned from Werter's imaginations despondency and gloom, but Plutarch +taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my +own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. Many +things I read surpassed my understanding and experience. I had a very +confused knowledge of kingdoms, wide extents of country, mighty rivers, +and boundless seas. But I was perfectly unacquainted with towns and +large assemblages of men. The cottage of my protectors had been the +only school in which I had studied human nature, but this book +developed new and mightier scenes of action. I read of men concerned +in public affairs, governing or massacring their species. I felt the +greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice, as +far as I understood the signification of those terms, relative as they +were, as I applied them, to pleasure and pain alone. Induced by these +feelings, I was of course led to admire peaceable lawgivers, Numa, +Solon, and Lycurgus, in preference to Romulus and Theseus. The +patriarchal lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a +firm hold on my mind; perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity had +been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and slaughter, I should +have been imbued with different sensations. +
+ ++"But Paradise Lost excited different and far deeper emotions. I read +it, as I had read the other volumes which had fallen into my hands, as +a true history. It moved every feeling of wonder and awe that the +picture of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of +exciting. I often referred the several situations, as their similarity +struck me, to my own. Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to +any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine +in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a +perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of +his Creator; he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from +beings of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. +Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition, for +often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter +gall of envy rose within me. +
+ ++"Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings. Soon +after my arrival in the hovel I discovered some papers in the pocket of +the dress which I had taken from your laboratory. At first I had +neglected them, but now that I was able to decipher the characters in +which they were written, I began to study them with diligence. It was +your journal of the four months that preceded my creation. You +minutely described in these papers every step you took in the progress +of your work; this history was mingled with accounts of domestic +occurrences. You doubtless recollect these papers. Here they are. +Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed +origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances +which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious +and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own +horrors and rendered mine indelible. I sickened as I read. 'Hateful +day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! +Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in +disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own +image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the +very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire +and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.' +
+ ++"These were the reflections of my hours of despondency and solitude; +but when I contemplated the virtues of the cottagers, their amiable and +benevolent dispositions, I persuaded myself that when they should +become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues they would +compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity. Could they turn +from their door one, however monstrous, who solicited their compassion +and friendship? I resolved, at least, not to despair, but in every way +to fit myself for an interview with them which would decide my fate. I +postponed this attempt for some months longer, for the importance +attached to its success inspired me with a dread lest I should fail. +Besides, I found that my understanding improved so much with every +day's experience that I was unwilling to commence this undertaking +until a few more months should have added to my sagacity. +
+ ++"Several changes, in the meantime, took place in the cottage. The +presence of Safie diffused happiness among its inhabitants, and I also +found that a greater degree of plenty reigned there. Felix and Agatha +spent more time in amusement and conversation, and were assisted in +their labours by servants. They did not appear rich, but they were +contented and happy; their feelings were serene and peaceful, while +mine became every day more tumultuous. Increase of knowledge only +discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was. I +cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person +reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail +image and that inconstant shade. +
+ ++"I endeavoured to crush these fears and to fortify myself for the trial +which in a few months I resolved to undergo; and sometimes I allowed my +thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and +dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my +feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed +smiles of consolation. But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my +sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam's +supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, +and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him. +
+ ++"Autumn passed thus. I saw, with surprise and grief, the leaves decay +and fall, and nature again assume the barren and bleak appearance it +had worn when I first beheld the woods and the lovely moon. Yet I did +not heed the bleakness of the weather; I was better fitted by my +conformation for the endurance of cold than heat. But my chief +delights were the sight of the flowers, the birds, and all the gay +apparel of summer; when those deserted me, I turned with more attention +towards the cottagers. Their happiness was not decreased by the +absence of summer. They loved and sympathized with one another; and +their joys, depending on each other, were not interrupted by the +casualties that took place around them. The more I saw of them, the +greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my +heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures; to see +their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost +limit of my ambition. I dared not think that they would turn them from +me with disdain and horror. The poor that stopped at their door were +never driven away. I asked, it is true, for greater treasures than a +little food or rest: I required kindness and sympathy; but I did not +believe myself utterly unworthy of it. +
+ ++"The winter advanced, and an entire revolution of the seasons had taken +place since I awoke into life. My attention at this time was solely +directed towards my plan of introducing myself into the cottage of my +protectors. I revolved many projects, but that on which I finally +fixed was to enter the dwelling when the blind old man should be alone. +I had sagacity enough to discover that the unnatural hideousness of my +person was the chief object of horror with those who had formerly +beheld me. My voice, although harsh, had nothing terrible in it; I +thought, therefore, that if in the absence of his children I could gain +the good will and mediation of the old De Lacey, I might by his means +be tolerated by my younger protectors. +
+ ++"One day, when the sun shone on the red leaves that strewed the ground +and diffused cheerfulness, although it denied warmth, Safie, Agatha, +and Felix departed on a long country walk, and the old man, at his own +desire, was left alone in the cottage. When his children had departed, +he took up his guitar and played several mournful but sweet airs, more +sweet and mournful than I had ever heard him play before. At first his +countenance was illuminated with pleasure, but as he continued, +thoughtfulness and sadness succeeded; at length, laying aside the +instrument, he sat absorbed in reflection. +
+ ++"My heart beat quick; this was the hour and moment of trial, which +would decide my hopes or realize my fears. The servants were gone to a +neighbouring fair. All was silent in and around the cottage; it was an +excellent opportunity; yet, when I proceeded to execute my plan, my +limbs failed me and I sank to the ground. Again I rose, and exerting +all the firmness of which I was master, removed the planks which I had +placed before my hovel to conceal my retreat. The fresh air revived +me, and with renewed determination I approached the door of their +cottage. +
+ ++"I knocked. 'Who is there?' said the old man. 'Come in.' +
+ ++"I entered. 'Pardon this intrusion,' said I; 'I am a traveller in want +of a little rest; you would greatly oblige me if you would allow me to +remain a few minutes before the fire.' +
+ ++"'Enter,' said De Lacey, 'and I will try in what manner I can to +relieve your wants; but, unfortunately, my children are from home, and +as I am blind, I am afraid I shall find it difficult to procure food +for you.' +
+ ++"'Do not trouble yourself, my kind host; I have food; it is warmth and +rest only that I need.' +
+ ++"I sat down, and a silence ensued. I knew that every minute was +precious to me, yet I remained irresolute in what manner to commence +the interview, when the old man addressed me. 'By your language, +stranger, I suppose you are my countryman; are you French?' +
+ ++"'No; but I was educated by a French family and understand that +language only. I am now going to claim the protection of some friends, +whom I sincerely love, and of whose favour I have some hopes.' +
+ ++"'Are they Germans?' +
+ ++"'No, they are French. But let us change the subject. I am an +unfortunate and deserted creature, I look around and I have no relation +or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I go have never +seen me and know little of me. I am full of fears, for if I fail +there, I am an outcast in the world forever.' +
+ ++"'Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate, but +the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are +full of brotherly love and charity. Rely, therefore, on your hopes; +and if these friends are good and amiable, do not despair.' +
+ ++"'They are kind—they are the most excellent creatures in the world; +but, unfortunately, they are prejudiced against me. I have good +dispositions; my life has been hitherto harmless and in some degree +beneficial; but a fatal prejudice clouds their eyes, and where they +ought to see a feeling and kind friend, they behold only a detestable +monster.' +
+ ++"'That is indeed unfortunate; but if you are really blameless, cannot +you undeceive them?' +
+ ++"'I am about to undertake that task; and it is on that account that I +feel so many overwhelming terrors. I tenderly love these friends; I +have, unknown to them, been for many months in the habits of daily +kindness towards them; but they believe that I wish to injure them, and +it is that prejudice which I wish to overcome.' +
+ ++"'Where do these friends reside?' +
+ ++"'Near this spot.' +
+ ++"The old man paused and then continued, 'If you will unreservedly +confide to me the particulars of your tale, I perhaps may be of use in +undeceiving them. I am blind and cannot judge of your countenance, but +there is something in your words which persuades me that you are +sincere. I am poor and an exile, but it will afford me true pleasure +to be in any way serviceable to a human creature.' +
+ ++"'Excellent man! I thank you and accept your generous offer. You +raise me from the dust by this kindness; and I trust that, by your aid, +I shall not be driven from the society and sympathy of your fellow +creatures.' +
+ ++"'Heaven forbid! Even if you were really criminal, for that can only +drive you to desperation, and not instigate you to virtue. I also am +unfortunate; I and my family have been condemned, although innocent; +judge, therefore, if I do not feel for your misfortunes.' +
+ ++"'How can I thank you, my best and only benefactor? From your lips +first have I heard the voice of kindness directed towards me; I shall +be forever grateful; and your present humanity assures me of success +with those friends whom I am on the point of meeting.' +
+ ++"'May I know the names and residence of those friends?' +
+ ++"I paused. This, I thought, was the moment of decision, which was to +rob me of or bestow happiness on me forever. I struggled vainly for +firmness sufficient to answer him, but the effort destroyed all my +remaining strength; I sank on the chair and sobbed aloud. At that +moment I heard the steps of my younger protectors. I had not a moment +to lose, but seizing the hand of the old man, I cried, 'Now is the +time! Save and protect me! You and your family are the friends whom I +seek. Do not you desert me in the hour of trial!' +
+ ++"'Great God!' exclaimed the old man. 'Who are you?' +
+ ++"At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and +Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on +beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her +friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with +supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in +a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently +with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends +the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and +I refrained. I saw him on the point of repeating his blow, when, +overcome by pain and anguish, I quitted the cottage, and in the general +tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel." +
+ ++"Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I +not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly +bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my +feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have +destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with +their shrieks and misery. +
+ ++"When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and +now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my +anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken +the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging +through the wood with a stag-like swiftness. Oh! What a miserable +night I passed! The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees +waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird +burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest +or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and +finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread +havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed +the ruin. +
+ ++"But this was a luxury of sensation that could not endure; I became +fatigued with excess of bodily exertion and sank on the damp grass in +the sick impotence of despair. There was none among the myriads of men +that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness +towards my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting war +against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me +and sent me forth to this insupportable misery. +
+ ++"The sun rose; I heard the voices of men and knew that it was +impossible to return to my retreat during that day. Accordingly I hid +myself in some thick underwood, determining to devote the ensuing hours +to reflection on my situation. +
+ ++"The pleasant sunshine and the pure air of day restored me to some +degree of tranquillity; and when I considered what had passed at the +cottage, I could not help believing that I had been too hasty in my +conclusions. I had certainly acted imprudently. It was apparent that +my conversation had interested the father in my behalf, and I was a +fool in having exposed my person to the horror of his children. I +ought to have familiarized the old De Lacey to me, and by degrees to +have discovered myself to the rest of his family, when they should have +been prepared for my approach. But I did not believe my errors to be +irretrievable, and after much consideration I resolved to return to the +cottage, seek the old man, and by my representations win him to my +party. +
+ ++"These thoughts calmed me, and in the afternoon I sank into a profound +sleep; but the fever of my blood did not allow me to be visited by +peaceful dreams. The horrible scene of the preceding day was forever +acting before my eyes; the females were flying and the enraged Felix +tearing me from his father's feet. I awoke exhausted, and finding that +it was already night, I crept forth from my hiding-place, and went in +search of food. +
+ ++"When my hunger was appeased, I directed my steps towards the +well-known path that conducted to the cottage. All there was at peace. +I crept into my hovel and remained in silent expectation of the +accustomed hour when the family arose. That hour passed, the sun +mounted high in the heavens, but the cottagers did not appear. I +trembled violently, apprehending some dreadful misfortune. The inside +of the cottage was dark, and I heard no motion; I cannot describe the +agony of this suspense. +
+ ++"Presently two countrymen passed by, but pausing near the cottage, they +entered into conversation, using violent gesticulations; but I did not +understand what they said, as they spoke the language of the country, +which differed from that of my protectors. Soon after, however, Felix +approached with another man; I was surprised, as I knew that he had not +quitted the cottage that morning, and waited anxiously to discover from +his discourse the meaning of these unusual appearances. +
+ ++"'Do you consider,' said his companion to him, 'that you will be +obliged to pay three months' rent and to lose the produce of your +garden? I do not wish to take any unfair advantage, and I beg +therefore that you will take some days to consider of your +determination.' +
+ ++"'It is utterly useless,' replied Felix; 'we can never again inhabit +your cottage. The life of my father is in the greatest danger, owing +to the dreadful circumstance that I have related. My wife and my +sister will never recover from their horror. I entreat you not to +reason with me any more. Take possession of your tenement and let me +fly from this place.' +
+ ++"Felix trembled violently as he said this. He and his companion +entered the cottage, in which they remained for a few minutes, and then +departed. I never saw any of the family of De Lacey more. +
+ ++"I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of +utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed and had broken +the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the +feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to +control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I +bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, +of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the +exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished and a gush of +tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had +spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to +injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects. As +night advanced I placed a variety of combustibles around the cottage, +and after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation in the garden, +I waited with forced impatience until the moon had sunk to commence my +operations. +
+ ++"As the night advanced, a fierce wind arose from the woods and quickly +dispersed the clouds that had loitered in the heavens; the blast tore +along like a mighty avalanche and produced a kind of insanity in my +spirits that burst all bounds of reason and reflection. I lighted the +dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage, +my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which the moon +nearly touched. A part of its orb was at length hid, and I waved my +brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I fired the straw, and heath, +and bushes, which I had collected. The wind fanned the fire, and the +cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and +licked it with their forked and destroying tongues. +
+ ++"As soon as I was convinced that no assistance could save any part of +the habitation, I quitted the scene and sought for refuge in the woods. +
+ ++"And now, with the world before me, whither should I bend my steps? I +resolved to fly far from the scene of my misfortunes; but to me, hated +and despised, every country must be equally horrible. At length the +thought of you crossed my mind. I learned from your papers that you +were my father, my creator; and to whom could I apply with more fitness +than to him who had given me life? Among the lessons that Felix had +bestowed upon Safie, geography had not been omitted; I had learned from +these the relative situations of the different countries of the earth. +You had mentioned Geneva as the name of your native town, and towards +this place I resolved to proceed. +
+ ++"But how was I to direct myself? I knew that I must travel in a +southwesterly direction to reach my destination, but the sun was my +only guide. I did not know the names of the towns that I was to pass +through, nor could I ask information from a single human being; but I +did not despair. From you only could I hope for succour, although +towards you I felt no sentiment but that of hatred. Unfeeling, +heartless creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions +and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind. +But on you only had I any claim for pity and redress, and from you I +determined to seek that justice which I vainly attempted to gain from +any other being that wore the human form. +
+ ++"My travels were long and the sufferings I endured intense. It was +late in autumn when I quitted the district where I had so long resided. +I travelled only at night, fearful of encountering the visage of a +human being. Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; +rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface +of the earth was hard and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter. Oh, +earth! How often did I imprecate curses on the cause of my being! The +mildness of my nature had fled, and all within me was turned to gall +and bitterness. The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more +deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart. Snow +fell, and the waters were hardened, but I rested not. A few incidents +now and then directed me, and I possessed a map of the country; but I +often wandered wide from my path. The agony of my feelings allowed me +no respite; no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could +not extract its food; but a circumstance that happened when I arrived +on the confines of Switzerland, when the sun had recovered its warmth +and the earth again began to look green, confirmed in an especial +manner the bitterness and horror of my feelings. +
+ ++"I generally rested during the day and travelled only when I was +secured by night from the view of man. One morning, however, finding +that my path lay through a deep wood, I ventured to continue my journey +after the sun had risen; the day, which was one of the first of spring, +cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of +the air. I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long +appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of +these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and +forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy. Soft tears +again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with +thankfulness towards the blessed sun, which bestowed such joy upon me. +
+ ++"I continued to wind among the paths of the wood, until I came to its +boundary, which was skirted by a deep and rapid river, into which many +of the trees bent their branches, now budding with the fresh spring. +Here I paused, not exactly knowing what path to pursue, when I heard +the sound of voices, that induced me to conceal myself under the shade +of a cypress. I was scarcely hid when a young girl came running +towards the spot where I was concealed, laughing, as if she ran from +someone in sport. She continued her course along the precipitous sides +of the river, when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the +rapid stream. I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, +from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She +was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore +animation, when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic, +who was probably the person from whom she had playfully fled. On +seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, +hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I +hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, +which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank to the ground, and my +injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped into the wood. +
+ ++"This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being +from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable +pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of +kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments +before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by +pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the +agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted. +
+ ++"For some weeks I led a miserable life in the woods, endeavouring to +cure the wound which I had received. The ball had entered my shoulder, +and I knew not whether it had remained there or passed through; at any +rate I had no means of extracting it. My sufferings were augmented +also by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of their +infliction. My daily vows rose for revenge—a deep and deadly revenge, +such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had +endured. +
+ ++"After some weeks my wound healed, and I continued my journey. The +labours I endured were no longer to be alleviated by the bright sun or +gentle breezes of spring; all joy was but a mockery which insulted my +desolate state and made me feel more painfully that I was not made for +the enjoyment of pleasure. +
+ ++"But my toils now drew near a close, and in two months from this time I +reached the environs of Geneva. +
+ ++"It was evening when I arrived, and I retired to a hiding-place among +the fields that surround it to meditate in what manner I should apply +to you. I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to +enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting +behind the stupendous mountains of Jura. +
+ ++"At this time a slight sleep relieved me from the pain of reflection, +which was disturbed by the approach of a beautiful child, who came +running into the recess I had chosen, with all the sportiveness of +infancy. Suddenly, as I gazed on him, an idea seized me that this +little creature was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have +imbibed a horror of deformity. If, therefore, I could seize him and +educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be so desolate in +this peopled earth. +
+ ++"Urged by this impulse, I seized on the boy as he passed and drew him +towards me. As soon as he beheld my form, he placed his hands before +his eyes and uttered a shrill scream; I drew his hand forcibly from his +face and said, 'Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intend to +hurt you; listen to me.' +
+ ++"He struggled violently. 'Let me go,' he cried; 'monster! Ugly +wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces. You are an ogre. +Let me go, or I will tell my papa.' +
+ ++"'Boy, you will never see your father again; you must come with me.' +
+ ++"'Hideous monster! Let me go. My papa is a syndic—he is M. +Frankenstein—he will punish you. You dare not keep me.' +
+ ++"'Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have +sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.' +
+ ++"The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried +despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a +moment he lay dead at my feet. +
+ ++"I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish +triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, 'I too can create desolation; +my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and +a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.' +
+ ++"As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his +breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman. In spite +of my malignity, it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I +gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her +lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was +forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could +bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in +regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one +expressive of disgust and affright. +
+ ++"Can you wonder that such thoughts transported me with rage? I only +wonder that at that moment, instead of venting my sensations in +exclamations and agony, I did not rush among mankind and perish in the +attempt to destroy them. +
+ ++"While I was overcome by these feelings, I left the spot where I had +committed the murder, and seeking a more secluded hiding-place, I +entered a barn which had appeared to me to be empty. A woman was +sleeping on some straw; she was young, not indeed so beautiful as her +whose portrait I held, but of an agreeable aspect and blooming in the +loveliness of youth and health. Here, I thought, is one of those whose +joy-imparting smiles are bestowed on all but me. And then I bent over +her and whispered, 'Awake, fairest, thy lover is near—he who would +give his life but to obtain one look of affection from thine eyes; my +beloved, awake!' +
+ ++"The sleeper stirred; a thrill of terror ran through me. Should she +indeed awake, and see me, and curse me, and denounce the murderer? Thus +would she assuredly act if her darkened eyes opened and she beheld me. +The thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me—not I, but +she, shall suffer; the murder I have committed because I am forever +robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone. The crime had +its source in her; be hers the punishment! Thanks to the lessons of +Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had learned now to work +mischief. I bent over her and placed the portrait securely in one of +the folds of her dress. She moved again, and I fled. +
+ ++"For some days I haunted the spot where these scenes had taken place, +sometimes wishing to see you, sometimes resolved to quit the world and +its miseries forever. At length I wandered towards these mountains, +and have ranged through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning +passion which you alone can gratify. We may not part until you have +promised to comply with my requisition. I am alone and miserable; man +will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself +would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species +and have the same defects. This being you must create." +
+ ++The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the +expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to +arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his +proposition. He continued, +
+ ++"You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the +interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone +can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to +concede." +
+ ++The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had +died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and +as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within +me. +
+ ++"I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a +consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you +shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like +yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone! I +have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent." +
+ ++"You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and instead of threatening, +I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am +miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my +creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell +me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it +murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts and +destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when +he condemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, +and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears +of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses +are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the +submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot +inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, +because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I +will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, +so that you shall curse the hour of your birth." +
+ ++A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled +into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently +he calmed himself and proceeded— +
+ ++"I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me, for you do +not reflect that YOU are the cause of its excess. If any being felt +emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them a hundred and +a hundredfold; for that one creature's sake I would make peace with the +whole kind! But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be +realized. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a +creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself; the gratification is +small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It +is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that +account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not +be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now +feel. Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards +you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some +existing thing; do not deny me my request!" +
+ ++I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences +of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. +His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature +of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion +of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of +feeling and continued, +
+ ++"If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see +us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not +that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; +acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will +be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare. +We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on +man and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful +and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the +wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, +I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favourable moment +and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire." +
+ ++"You propose," replied I, "to fly from the habitations of man, to dwell +in those wilds where the beasts of the field will be your only +companions. How can you, who long for the love and sympathy of man, +persevere in this exile? You will return and again seek their +kindness, and you will meet with their detestation; your evil passions +will be renewed, and you will then have a companion to aid you in the +task of destruction. This may not be; cease to argue the point, for I +cannot consent." +
+ ++"How inconstant are your feelings! But a moment ago you were moved by +my representations, and why do you again harden yourself to my +complaints? I swear to you, by the earth which I inhabit, and by you +that made me, that with the companion you bestow I will quit the +neighbourhood of man and dwell, as it may chance, in the most savage of +places. My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with +sympathy! My life will flow quietly away, and in my dying moments I +shall not curse my maker." +
+ ++His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and +sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when I looked upon him, when +I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my +feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle +these sensations; I thought that as I could not sympathize with him, I +had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which +was yet in my power to bestow. +
+ ++"You swear," I said, "to be harmless; but have you not already shown a +degree of malice that should reasonably make me distrust you? May not +even this be a feint that will increase your triumph by affording a +wider scope for your revenge?" +
+ ++"How is this? I must not be trifled with, and I demand an answer. If +I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion; +the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes, and I shall +become a thing of whose existence everyone will be ignorant. My vices +are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will +necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel +the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of +existence and events from which I am now excluded." +
+ ++I paused some time to reflect on all he had related and the various +arguments which he had employed. I thought of the promise of virtues +which he had displayed on the opening of his existence and the +subsequent blight of all kindly feeling by the loathing and scorn which +his protectors had manifested towards him. His power and threats were +not omitted in my calculations; a creature who could exist in the ice +caves of the glaciers and hide himself from pursuit among the ridges of +inaccessible precipices was a being possessing faculties it would be +vain to cope with. After a long pause of reflection I concluded that +the justice due both to him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that +I should comply with his request. Turning to him, therefore, I said, +
+ ++"I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever, +and every other place in the neighbourhood of man, as soon as I shall +deliver into your hands a female who will accompany you in your exile." +
+ ++"I swear," he cried, "by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven, and by +the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you grant my prayer, +while they exist you shall never behold me again. Depart to your home +and commence your labours; I shall watch their progress with +unutterable anxiety; and fear not but that when you are ready I shall +appear." +
+ ++Saying this, he suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in +my sentiments. I saw him descend the mountain with greater speed than +the flight of an eagle, and quickly lost among the undulations of the +sea of ice. +
+ ++His tale had occupied the whole day, and the sun was upon the verge of +the horizon when he departed. I knew that I ought to hasten my descent +towards the valley, as I should soon be encompassed in darkness; but my +heart was heavy, and my steps slow. The labour of winding among the +little paths of the mountain and fixing my feet firmly as I advanced +perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences +of the day had produced. Night was far advanced when I came to the +halfway resting-place and seated myself beside the fountain. The stars +shone at intervals as the clouds passed from over them; the dark pines +rose before me, and every here and there a broken tree lay on the +ground; it was a scene of wonderful solemnity and stirred strange +thoughts within me. I wept bitterly, and clasping my hands in agony, I +exclaimed, "Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock +me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as +nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness." +
+ ++These were wild and miserable thoughts, but I cannot describe to you +how the eternal twinkling of the stars weighed upon me and how I +listened to every blast of wind as if it were a dull ugly siroc on its +way to consume me. +
+ ++Morning dawned before I arrived at the village of Chamounix; I took no +rest, but returned immediately to Geneva. Even in my own heart I could +give no expression to my sensations—they weighed on me with a +mountain's weight and their excess destroyed my agony beneath them. +Thus I returned home, and entering the house, presented myself to the +family. My haggard and wild appearance awoke intense alarm, but I +answered no question, scarcely did I speak. I felt as if I were placed +under a ban—as if I had no right to claim their sympathies—as if +never more might I enjoy companionship with them. Yet even thus I +loved them to adoration; and to save them, I resolved to dedicate +myself to my most abhorred task. The prospect of such an occupation +made every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a dream, +and that thought only had to me the reality of life. +
+ ++Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to Geneva; and +I could not collect the courage to recommence my work. I feared the +vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my +repugnance to the task which was enjoined me. I found that I could not +compose a female without again devoting several months to profound +study and laborious disquisition. I had heard of some discoveries +having been made by an English philosopher, the knowledge of which was +material to my success, and I sometimes thought of obtaining my +father's consent to visit England for this purpose; but I clung to +every pretence of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an +undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear less absolute to +me. A change indeed had taken place in me; my health, which had +hitherto declined, was now much restored; and my spirits, when +unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise, rose proportionably. My +father saw this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts +towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy, +which every now and then would return by fits, and with a devouring +blackness overcast the approaching sunshine. At these moments I took +refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake +alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the +rippling of the waves, silent and listless. But the fresh air and +bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure, and +on my return I met the salutations of my friends with a readier smile +and a more cheerful heart. +
+ ++It was after my return from one of these rambles that my father, +calling me aside, thus addressed me, +
+ ++"I am happy to remark, my dear son, that you have resumed your former +pleasures and seem to be returning to yourself. And yet you are still +unhappy and still avoid our society. For some time I was lost in +conjecture as to the cause of this, but yesterday an idea struck me, +and if it is well founded, I conjure you to avow it. Reserve on such a +point would be not only useless, but draw down treble misery on us all." +
+ ++I trembled violently at his exordium, and my father continued—"I +confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your marriage +with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort and the stay +of my declining years. You were attached to each other from your +earliest infancy; you studied together, and appeared, in dispositions +and tastes, entirely suited to one another. But so blind is the +experience of man that what I conceived to be the best assistants to my +plan may have entirely destroyed it. You, perhaps, regard her as your +sister, without any wish that she might become your wife. Nay, you may +have met with another whom you may love; and considering yourself as +bound in honour to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion the poignant +misery which you appear to feel." +
+ ++"My dear father, reassure yourself. I love my cousin tenderly and +sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as Elizabeth does, my +warmest admiration and affection. My future hopes and prospects are +entirely bound up in the expectation of our union." +
+ ++"The expression of your sentiments of this subject, my dear Victor, +gives me more pleasure than I have for some time experienced. If you +feel thus, we shall assuredly be happy, however present events may cast +a gloom over us. But it is this gloom which appears to have taken so +strong a hold of your mind that I wish to dissipate. Tell me, +therefore, whether you object to an immediate solemnization of the +marriage. We have been unfortunate, and recent events have drawn us +from that everyday tranquillity befitting my years and infirmities. You +are younger; yet I do not suppose, possessed as you are of a competent +fortune, that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future +plans of honour and utility that you may have formed. Do not suppose, +however, that I wish to dictate happiness to you or that a delay on +your part would cause me any serious uneasiness. Interpret my words +with candour and answer me, I conjure you, with confidence and +sincerity." +
+ ++I listened to my father in silence and remained for some time incapable +of offering any reply. I revolved rapidly in my mind a multitude of +thoughts and endeavoured to arrive at some conclusion. Alas! To me +the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and +dismay. I was bound by a solemn promise which I had not yet fulfilled +and dared not break, or if I did, what manifold miseries might not +impend over me and my devoted family! Could I enter into a festival +with this deadly weight yet hanging round my neck and bowing me to the +ground? I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with +his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from +which I expected peace. +
+ ++I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to +England or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers +of that country whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable +use to me in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining +the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory; besides, I +had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my +loathsome task in my father's house while in habits of familiar +intercourse with those I loved. I knew that a thousand fearful +accidents might occur, the slightest of which would disclose a tale to +thrill all connected with me with horror. I was aware also that I +should often lose all self-command, all capacity of hiding the +harrowing sensations that would possess me during the progress of my +unearthly occupation. I must absent myself from all I loved while thus +employed. Once commenced, it would quickly be achieved, and I might be +restored to my family in peace and happiness. My promise fulfilled, +the monster would depart forever. Or (so my fond fancy imaged) some +accident might meanwhile occur to destroy him and put an end to my +slavery forever. +
+ ++These feelings dictated my answer to my father. I expressed a wish to +visit England, but concealing the true reasons of this request, I +clothed my desires under a guise which excited no suspicion, while I +urged my desire with an earnestness that easily induced my father to +comply. After so long a period of an absorbing melancholy that +resembled madness in its intensity and effects, he was glad to find +that I was capable of taking pleasure in the idea of such a journey, +and he hoped that change of scene and varied amusement would, before my +return, have restored me entirely to myself. +
+ ++The duration of my absence was left to my own choice; a few months, or +at most a year, was the period contemplated. One paternal kind +precaution he had taken to ensure my having a companion. Without +previously communicating with me, he had, in concert with Elizabeth, +arranged that Clerval should join me at Strasbourg. This interfered +with the solitude I coveted for the prosecution of my task; yet at the +commencement of my journey the presence of my friend could in no way be +an impediment, and truly I rejoiced that thus I should be saved many +hours of lonely, maddening reflection. Nay, Henry might stand between +me and the intrusion of my foe. If I were alone, would he not at times +force his abhorred presence on me to remind me of my task or to +contemplate its progress? +
+ ++To England, therefore, I was bound, and it was understood that my union +with Elizabeth should take place immediately on my return. My father's +age rendered him extremely averse to delay. For myself, there was one +reward I promised myself from my detested toils—one consolation for my +unparalleled sufferings; it was the prospect of that day when, +enfranchised from my miserable slavery, I might claim Elizabeth and +forget the past in my union with her. +
+ ++I now made arrangements for my journey, but one feeling haunted me +which filled me with fear and agitation. During my absence I should +leave my friends unconscious of the existence of their enemy and +unprotected from his attacks, exasperated as he might be by my +departure. But he had promised to follow me wherever I might go, and +would he not accompany me to England? This imagination was dreadful in +itself, but soothing inasmuch as it supposed the safety of my friends. +I was agonized with the idea of the possibility that the reverse of +this might happen. But through the whole period during which I was the +slave of my creature I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of +the moment; and my present sensations strongly intimated that the fiend +would follow me and exempt my family from the danger of his +machinations. +
+ ++It was in the latter end of September that I again quitted my native +country. My journey had been my own suggestion, and Elizabeth +therefore acquiesced, but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of +my suffering, away from her, the inroads of misery and grief. It had +been her care which provided me a companion in Clerval—and yet a man +is blind to a thousand minute circumstances which call forth a woman's +sedulous attention. She longed to bid me hasten my return; a thousand +conflicting emotions rendered her mute as she bade me a tearful, silent +farewell. +
+ ++I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me away, hardly +knowing whither I was going, and careless of what was passing around. +I remembered only, and it was with a bitter anguish that I reflected on +it, to order that my chemical instruments should be packed to go with +me. Filled with dreary imaginations, I passed through many beautiful +and majestic scenes, but my eyes were fixed and unobserving. I could +only think of the bourne of my travels and the work which was to occupy +me whilst they endured. +
+ ++After some days spent in listless indolence, during which I traversed +many leagues, I arrived at Strasbourg, where I waited two days for +Clerval. He came. Alas, how great was the contrast between us! He +was alive to every new scene, joyful when he saw the beauties of the +setting sun, and more happy when he beheld it rise and recommence a new +day. He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape and +the appearances of the sky. "This is what it is to live," he cried; +"how I enjoy existence! But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are +you desponding and sorrowful!" In truth, I was occupied by gloomy +thoughts and neither saw the descent of the evening star nor the golden +sunrise reflected in the Rhine. And you, my friend, would be far more +amused with the journal of Clerval, who observed the scenery with an +eye of feeling and delight, than in listening to my reflections. I, a +miserable wretch, haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to +enjoyment. +
+ ++We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasbourg to +Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. During this +voyage we passed many willowy islands and saw several beautiful towns. +We stayed a day at Mannheim, and on the fifth from our departure from +Strasbourg, arrived at Mainz. The course of the Rhine below Mainz +becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds +between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw +many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by +black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, +presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view +rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with +the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, +flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river +and populous towns occupy the scene. +
+ ++We travelled at the time of the vintage and heard the song of the +labourers as we glided down the stream. Even I, depressed in mind, and +my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased. +I lay at the bottom of the boat, and as I gazed on the cloudless blue +sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a +stranger. And if these were my sensations, who can describe those of +Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to fairy-land and enjoyed +a happiness seldom tasted by man. "I have seen," he said, "the most +beautiful scenes of my own country; I have visited the lakes of Lucerne +and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to +the water, casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause a +gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most verdant islands +that believe the eye by their gay appearance; I have seen this lake +agitated by a tempest, when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water and +gave you an idea of what the water-spout must be on the great ocean; +and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest +and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche and where their dying +voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; +I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud; but this +country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders. The mountains +of Switzerland are more majestic and strange, but there is a charm in +the banks of this divine river that I never before saw equalled. Look +at that castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that also on the +island, almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees; and +now that group of labourers coming from among their vines; and that +village half hid in the recess of the mountain. Oh, surely the spirit +that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man +than those who pile the glacier or retire to the inaccessible peaks of +the mountains of our own country." Clerval! Beloved friend! Even now +it delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which +you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the "very +poetry of nature." His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened +by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent +affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature +that the world-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination. But +even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind. +The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with +admiration, he loved with ardour:— +
+ +
+ ——The sounding cataract
+ Haunted him like a passion: the tall rock,
+ The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
+ Their colours and their forms, were then to him
+ An appetite; a feeling, and a love,
+ That had no need of a remoter charm,
+ By thought supplied, or any interest
+ Unborrow'd from the eye.
+
+ [Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey".]
+
+And where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely being lost +forever? Has this mind, so replete with ideas, imaginations fanciful +and magnificent, which formed a world, whose existence depended on the +life of its creator;—has this mind perished? Does it now only exist +in my memory? No, it is not thus; your form so divinely wrought, and +beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and +consoles your unhappy friend. +
+ ++Pardon this gush of sorrow; these ineffectual words are but a slight +tribute to the unexampled worth of Henry, but they soothe my heart, +overflowing with the anguish which his remembrance creates. I will +proceed with my tale. +
+ ++Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland; and we resolved +to post the remainder of our way, for the wind was contrary and the +stream of the river was too gentle to aid us. Our journey here lost +the interest arising from beautiful scenery, but we arrived in a few +days at Rotterdam, whence we proceeded by sea to England. It was on a +clear morning, in the latter days of December, that I first saw the +white cliffs of Britain. The banks of the Thames presented a new +scene; they were flat but fertile, and almost every town was marked by +the remembrance of some story. We saw Tilbury Fort and remembered the +Spanish Armada, Gravesend, Woolwich, and Greenwich—places which I had +heard of even in my country. +
+ ++At length we saw the numerous steeples of London, St. Paul's towering +above all, and the Tower famed in English history. +
+ ++London was our present point of rest; we determined to remain several +months in this wonderful and celebrated city. Clerval desired the +intercourse of the men of genius and talent who flourished at this +time, but this was with me a secondary object; I was principally +occupied with the means of obtaining the information necessary for the +completion of my promise and quickly availed myself of the letters of +introduction that I had brought with me, addressed to the most +distinguished natural philosophers. +
+ ++If this journey had taken place during my days of study and happiness, +it would have afforded me inexpressible pleasure. But a blight had +come over my existence, and I only visited these people for the sake of +the information they might give me on the subject in which my interest +was so terribly profound. Company was irksome to me; when alone, I +could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth; the voice of +Henry soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself into a transitory +peace. But busy, uninteresting, joyous faces brought back despair to +my heart. I saw an insurmountable barrier placed between me and my +fellow men; this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and +Justine, and to reflect on the events connected with those names filled +my soul with anguish. +
+ ++But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self; he was inquisitive +and anxious to gain experience and instruction. The difference of +manners which he observed was to him an inexhaustible source of +instruction and amusement. He was also pursuing an object he had long +had in view. His design was to visit India, in the belief that he had +in his knowledge of its various languages, and in the views he had +taken of its society, the means of materially assisting the progress of +European colonization and trade. In Britain only could he further the +execution of his plan. He was forever busy, and the only check to his +enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mind. I tried to conceal this +as much as possible, that I might not debar him from the pleasures +natural to one who was entering on a new scene of life, undisturbed by +any care or bitter recollection. I often refused to accompany him, +alleging another engagement, that I might remain alone. I now also +began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this +was to me like the torture of single drops of water continually falling +on the head. Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme +anguish, and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips +to quiver, and my heart to palpitate. +
+ ++After passing some months in London, we received a letter from a person +in Scotland who had formerly been our visitor at Geneva. He mentioned +the beauties of his native country and asked us if those were not +sufficient allurements to induce us to prolong our journey as far north +as Perth, where he resided. Clerval eagerly desired to accept this +invitation, and I, although I abhorred society, wished to view again +mountains and streams and all the wondrous works with which Nature +adorns her chosen dwelling-places. We had arrived in England at the +beginning of October, and it was now February. We accordingly +determined to commence our journey towards the north at the expiration +of another month. In this expedition we did not intend to follow the +great road to Edinburgh, but to visit Windsor, Oxford, Matlock, and the +Cumberland lakes, resolving to arrive at the completion of this tour +about the end of July. I packed up my chemical instruments and the +materials I had collected, resolving to finish my labours in some +obscure nook in the northern highlands of Scotland. +
+ ++We quitted London on the 27th of March and remained a few days at +Windsor, rambling in its beautiful forest. This was a new scene to us +mountaineers; the majestic oaks, the quantity of game, and the herds of +stately deer were all novelties to us. +
+ ++From thence we proceeded to Oxford. As we entered this city our minds +were filled with the remembrance of the events that had been transacted +there more than a century and a half before. It was here that Charles +I. had collected his forces. This city had remained faithful to him, +after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard of +Parliament and liberty. The memory of that unfortunate king and his +companions, the amiable Falkland, the insolent Goring, his queen, and +son, gave a peculiar interest to every part of the city which they +might be supposed to have inhabited. The spirit of elder days found a +dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps. If these +feelings had not found an imaginary gratification, the appearance of +the city had yet in itself sufficient beauty to obtain our admiration. +The colleges are ancient and picturesque; the streets are almost +magnificent; and the lovely Isis, which flows beside it through meadows +of exquisite verdure, is spread forth into a placid expanse of waters, +which reflects its majestic assemblage of towers, and spires, and +domes, embosomed among aged trees. +
+ ++I enjoyed this scene, and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the +memory of the past and the anticipation of the future. I was formed +for peaceful happiness. During my youthful days discontent never +visited my mind, and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what +is beautiful in nature or the study of what is excellent and sublime in +the productions of man could always interest my heart and communicate +elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has +entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what +I shall soon cease to be—a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, +pitiable to others and intolerable to myself. +
+ ++We passed a considerable period at Oxford, rambling among its environs +and endeavouring to identify every spot which might relate to the most +animating epoch of English history. Our little voyages of discovery +were often prolonged by the successive objects that presented +themselves. We visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden and the +field on which that patriot fell. For a moment my soul was elevated +from its debasing and miserable fears to contemplate the divine ideas +of liberty and self sacrifice of which these sights were the monuments +and the remembrancers. For an instant I dared to shake off my chains +and look around me with a free and lofty spirit, but the iron had eaten +into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my +miserable self. +
+ ++We left Oxford with regret and proceeded to Matlock, which was our next +place of rest. The country in the neighbourhood of this village +resembled, to a greater degree, the scenery of Switzerland; but +everything is on a lower scale, and the green hills want the crown of +distant white Alps which always attend on the piny mountains of my +native country. We visited the wondrous cave and the little cabinets +of natural history, where the curiosities are disposed in the same +manner as in the collections at Servox and Chamounix. The latter name +made me tremble when pronounced by Henry, and I hastened to quit +Matlock, with which that terrible scene was thus associated. +
+ ++From Derby, still journeying northwards, we passed two months in +Cumberland and Westmorland. I could now almost fancy myself among the +Swiss mountains. The little patches of snow which yet lingered on the +northern sides of the mountains, the lakes, and the dashing of the +rocky streams were all familiar and dear sights to me. Here also we +made some acquaintances, who almost contrived to cheat me into +happiness. The delight of Clerval was proportionably greater than +mine; his mind expanded in the company of men of talent, and he found +in his own nature greater capacities and resources than he could have +imagined himself to have possessed while he associated with his +inferiors. "I could pass my life here," said he to me; "and among +these mountains I should scarcely regret Switzerland and the Rhine." +
+ ++But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain +amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are forever on the stretch; and +when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit +that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again +engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties. +
+ ++We had scarcely visited the various lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland +and conceived an affection for some of the inhabitants when the period +of our appointment with our Scotch friend approached, and we left them +to travel on. For my own part I was not sorry. I had now neglected my +promise for some time, and I feared the effects of the daemon's +disappointment. He might remain in Switzerland and wreak his vengeance +on my relatives. This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment +from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace. I waited +for my letters with feverish impatience; if they were delayed I was +miserable and overcome by a thousand fears; and when they arrived and I +saw the superscription of Elizabeth or my father, I hardly dared to +read and ascertain my fate. Sometimes I thought that the fiend +followed me and might expedite my remissness by murdering my companion. +When these thoughts possessed me, I would not quit Henry for a moment, +but followed him as his shadow, to protect him from the fancied rage of +his destroyer. I felt as if I had committed some great crime, the +consciousness of which haunted me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed +drawn down a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of crime. +
+ ++I visited Edinburgh with languid eyes and mind; and yet that city might +have interested the most unfortunate being. Clerval did not like it so +well as Oxford, for the antiquity of the latter city was more pleasing +to him. But the beauty and regularity of the new town of Edinburgh, +its romantic castle and its environs, the most delightful in the world, +Arthur's Seat, St. Bernard's Well, and the Pentland Hills compensated +him for the change and filled him with cheerfulness and admiration. But +I was impatient to arrive at the termination of my journey. +
+ ++We left Edinburgh in a week, passing through Coupar, St. Andrew's, and +along the banks of the Tay, to Perth, where our friend expected us. +But I was in no mood to laugh and talk with strangers or enter into +their feelings or plans with the good humour expected from a guest; and +accordingly I told Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland +alone. "Do you," said I, "enjoy yourself, and let this be our +rendezvous. I may be absent a month or two; but do not interfere with +my motions, I entreat you; leave me to peace and solitude for a short +time; and when I return, I hope it will be with a lighter heart, more +congenial to your own temper." +
+ ++Henry wished to dissuade me, but seeing me bent on this plan, ceased to +remonstrate. He entreated me to write often. "I had rather be with +you," he said, "in your solitary rambles, than with these Scotch +people, whom I do not know; hasten, then, my dear friend, to return, +that I may again feel myself somewhat at home, which I cannot do in +your absence." +
+ ++Having parted from my friend, I determined to visit some remote spot of +Scotland and finish my work in solitude. I did not doubt but that the +monster followed me and would discover himself to me when I should have +finished, that he might receive his companion. With this resolution I +traversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the remotest of +the Orkneys as the scene of my labours. It was a place fitted for such +a work, being hardly more than a rock whose high sides were continually +beaten upon by the waves. The soil was barren, scarcely affording +pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, +which consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave +tokens of their miserable fare. Vegetables and bread, when they +indulged in such luxuries, and even fresh water, was to be procured +from the mainland, which was about five miles distant. +
+ ++On the whole island there were but three miserable huts, and one of +these was vacant when I arrived. This I hired. It contained but two +rooms, and these exhibited all the squalidness of the most miserable +penury. The thatch had fallen in, the walls were unplastered, and the +door was off its hinges. I ordered it to be repaired, bought some +furniture, and took possession, an incident which would doubtless have +occasioned some surprise had not all the senses of the cottagers been +benumbed by want and squalid poverty. As it was, I lived ungazed at +and unmolested, hardly thanked for the pittance of food and clothes +which I gave, so much does suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations +of men. +
+ ++In this retreat I devoted the morning to labour; but in the evening, +when the weather permitted, I walked on the stony beach of the sea to +listen to the waves as they roared and dashed at my feet. It was a +monotonous yet ever-changing scene. I thought of Switzerland; it was +far different from this desolate and appalling landscape. Its hills +are covered with vines, and its cottages are scattered thickly in the +plains. Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky, and when +troubled by the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively +infant when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean. +
+ ++In this manner I distributed my occupations when I first arrived, but +as I proceeded in my labour, it became every day more horrible and +irksome to me. Sometimes I could not prevail on myself to enter my +laboratory for several days, and at other times I toiled day and night +in order to complete my work. It was, indeed, a filthy process in +which I was engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of +enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my +mind was intently fixed on the consummation of my labour, and my eyes +were shut to the horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in +cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands. +
+ ++Thus situated, employed in the most detestable occupation, immersed in +a solitude where nothing could for an instant call my attention from +the actual scene in which I was engaged, my spirits became unequal; I +grew restless and nervous. Every moment I feared to meet my +persecutor. Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing +to raise them lest they should encounter the object which I so much +dreaded to behold. I feared to wander from the sight of my fellow +creatures lest when alone he should come to claim his companion. +
+ ++In the mean time I worked on, and my labour was already considerably +advanced. I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager +hope, which I dared not trust myself to question but which was +intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil that made my heart sicken +in my bosom. +
+ ++I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the moon was +just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light for my employment, +and I remained idle, in a pause of consideration of whether I should +leave my labour for the night or hasten its conclusion by an +unremitting attention to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred +to me which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing. +Three years before, I was engaged in the same manner and had created a +fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it +forever with the bitterest remorse. I was now about to form another +being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten +thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own +sake, in murder and wretchedness. He had sworn to quit the +neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but she had not; and +she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning +animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation. +They might even hate each other; the creature who already lived loathed +his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for +it when it came before his eyes in the female form? She also might +turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man; she might +quit him, and he be again alone, exasperated by the fresh provocation +of being deserted by one of his own species. Even if they were to +leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the new world, yet one of the +first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would +be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth +who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition +precarious and full of terror. Had I right, for my own benefit, to +inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been +moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck +senseless by his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the +wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that +future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not +hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence +of the whole human race. +
+ ++I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw by +the light of the moon the daemon at the casement. A ghastly grin +wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me, where I sat fulfilling the task +which he had allotted to me. Yes, he had followed me in my travels; he +had loitered in forests, hid himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide +and desert heaths; and he now came to mark my progress and claim the +fulfilment of my promise. +
+ ++As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of +malice and treachery. I thought with a sensation of madness on my +promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, +tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me +destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for +happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew. +
+ ++I left the room, and locking the door, made a solemn vow in my own +heart never to resume my labours; and then, with trembling steps, I +sought my own apartment. I was alone; none were near me to dissipate +the gloom and relieve me from the sickening oppression of the most +terrible reveries. +
+ ++Several hours passed, and I remained near my window gazing on the sea; +it was almost motionless, for the winds were hushed, and all nature +reposed under the eye of the quiet moon. A few fishing vessels alone +specked the water, and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound +of voices as the fishermen called to one another. I felt the silence, +although I was hardly conscious of its extreme profundity, until my ear +was suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore, and a +person landed close to my house. +
+ ++In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if some one +endeavoured to open it softly. I trembled from head to foot; I felt a +presentiment of who it was and wished to rouse one of the peasants who +dwelt in a cottage not far from mine; but I was overcome by the +sensation of helplessness, so often felt in frightful dreams, when you +in vain endeavour to fly from an impending danger, and was rooted to +the spot. Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage; +the door opened, and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared. +
+ ++Shutting the door, he approached me and said in a smothered voice, "You +have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? +Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I +left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among +its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt +many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland. +I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare +destroy my hopes?" +
+ ++"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like +yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness." +
+ ++"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself +unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe +yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of +day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; +obey!" +
+ ++"The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your power is +arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness; but +they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in +vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose +delight is in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your +words will only exasperate my rage." +
+ ++The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in +the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for +his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had +feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn. +Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and +misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your +happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity +of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but revenge +remains—revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but +first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on +your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will +watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. +Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict." +
+ ++"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice. +I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend +beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable." +
+ ++"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your +wedding-night." +
+ ++I started forward and exclaimed, "Villain! Before you sign my +death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe." +
+ ++I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quitted the house with +precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot +across the waters with an arrowy swiftness and was soon lost amidst the +waves. +
+ ++All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears. I burned with +rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the +ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my +imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me. Why +had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife? But I had +suffered him to depart, and he had directed his course towards the +mainland. I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed +to his insatiate revenge. And then I thought again of his words—"I +WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT." That, then, was the period +fixed for the fulfilment of my destiny. In that hour I should die and +at once satisfy and extinguish his malice. The prospect did not move +me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears +and endless sorrow, when she should find her lover so barbarously +snatched from her, tears, the first I had shed for many months, +streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy +without a bitter struggle. +
+ ++The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean; my feelings +became calmer, if it may be called calmness when the violence of rage +sinks into the depths of despair. I left the house, the horrid scene +of the last night's contention, and walked on the beach of the sea, +which I almost regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my +fellow creatures; nay, a wish that such should prove the fact stole +across me. +
+ ++I desired that I might pass my life on that barren rock, wearily, it is +true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery. If I returned, +it was to be sacrificed or to see those whom I most loved die under the +grasp of a daemon whom I had myself created. +
+ ++I walked about the isle like a restless spectre, separated from all it +loved and miserable in the separation. When it became noon, and the +sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass and was overpowered by a deep +sleep. I had been awake the whole of the preceding night, my nerves +were agitated, and my eyes inflamed by watching and misery. The sleep +into which I now sank refreshed me; and when I awoke, I again felt as +if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself, and I began to +reflect upon what had passed with greater composure; yet still the +words of the fiend rang in my ears like a death-knell; they appeared +like a dream, yet distinct and oppressive as a reality. +
+ ++The sun had far descended, and I still sat on the shore, satisfying my +appetite, which had become ravenous, with an oaten cake, when I saw a +fishing-boat land close to me, and one of the men brought me a packet; +it contained letters from Geneva, and one from Clerval entreating me to +join him. He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly where +he was, that letters from the friends he had formed in London desired +his return to complete the negotiation they had entered into for his +Indian enterprise. He could not any longer delay his departure; but as +his journey to London might be followed, even sooner than he now +conjectured, by his longer voyage, he entreated me to bestow as much of +my society on him as I could spare. He besought me, therefore, to +leave my solitary isle and to meet him at Perth, that we might proceed +southwards together. This letter in a degree recalled me to life, and +I determined to quit my island at the expiration of two days. Yet, +before I departed, there was a task to perform, on which I shuddered to +reflect; I must pack up my chemical instruments, and for that purpose I +must enter the room which had been the scene of my odious work, and I +must handle those utensils the sight of which was sickening to me. The +next morning, at daybreak, I summoned sufficient courage and unlocked +the door of my laboratory. The remains of the half-finished creature, +whom I had destroyed, lay scattered on the floor, and I almost felt as +if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being. I paused to +collect myself and then entered the chamber. With trembling hand I +conveyed the instruments out of the room, but I reflected that I ought +not to leave the relics of my work to excite the horror and suspicion +of the peasants; and I accordingly put them into a basket, with a great +quantity of stones, and laying them up, determined to throw them into +the sea that very night; and in the meantime I sat upon the beach, +employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus. +
+ ++Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had taken place +in my feelings since the night of the appearance of the daemon. I had +before regarded my promise with a gloomy despair as a thing that, with +whatever consequences, must be fulfilled; but I now felt as if a film +had been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time saw +clearly. The idea of renewing my labours did not for one instant occur +to me; the threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts, but I did not +reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it. I had resolved in +my own mind that to create another like the fiend I had first made +would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness, and I +banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different +conclusion. +
+ ++Between two and three in the morning the moon rose; and I then, putting +my basket aboard a little skiff, sailed out about four miles from the +shore. The scene was perfectly solitary; a few boats were returning +towards land, but I sailed away from them. I felt as if I was about +the commission of a dreadful crime and avoided with shuddering anxiety +any encounter with my fellow creatures. At one time the moon, which +had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I +took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the +sea; I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away +from the spot. The sky became clouded, but the air was pure, although +chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising. But it refreshed +me and filled me with such agreeable sensations that I resolved to +prolong my stay on the water, and fixing the rudder in a direct +position, stretched myself at the bottom of the boat. Clouds hid the +moon, everything was obscure, and I heard only the sound of the boat as +its keel cut through the waves; the murmur lulled me, and in a short +time I slept soundly. I do not know how long I remained in this +situation, but when I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted +considerably. The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened +the safety of my little skiff. I found that the wind was northeast and +must have driven me far from the coast from which I had embarked. I +endeavoured to change my course but quickly found that if I again made +the attempt the boat would be instantly filled with water. Thus +situated, my only resource was to drive before the wind. I confess +that I felt a few sensations of terror. I had no compass with me and +was so slenderly acquainted with the geography of this part of the +world that the sun was of little benefit to me. I might be driven into +the wide Atlantic and feel all the tortures of starvation or be +swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that roared and buffeted around +me. I had already been out many hours and felt the torment of a +burning thirst, a prelude to my other sufferings. I looked on the +heavens, which were covered by clouds that flew before the wind, only +to be replaced by others; I looked upon the sea; it was to be my grave. +"Fiend," I exclaimed, "your task is already fulfilled!" I thought of +Elizabeth, of my father, and of Clerval—all left behind, on whom the +monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions. This idea +plunged me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that even now, +when the scene is on the point of closing before me forever, I shudder +to reflect on it. +
+ ++Some hours passed thus; but by degrees, as the sun declined towards the +horizon, the wind died away into a gentle breeze and the sea became +free from breakers. But these gave place to a heavy swell; I felt sick +and hardly able to hold the rudder, when suddenly I saw a line of high +land towards the south. +
+ ++Almost spent, as I was, by fatigue and the dreadful suspense I endured +for several hours, this sudden certainty of life rushed like a flood of +warm joy to my heart, and tears gushed from my eyes. +
+ ++How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we +have of life even in the excess of misery! I constructed another sail +with a part of my dress and eagerly steered my course towards the land. +It had a wild and rocky appearance, but as I approached nearer I easily +perceived the traces of cultivation. I saw vessels near the shore and +found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of +civilized man. I carefully traced the windings of the land and hailed +a steeple which I at length saw issuing from behind a small promontory. +As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly +towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure +nourishment. Fortunately I had money with me. +
+ ++As I turned the promontory I perceived a small neat town and a good +harbour, which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected +escape. +
+ ++As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the sails, several +people crowded towards the spot. They seemed much surprised at my +appearance, but instead of offering me any assistance, whispered +together with gestures that at any other time might have produced in me +a slight sensation of alarm. As it was, I merely remarked that they +spoke English, and I therefore addressed them in that language. "My +good friends," said I, "will you be so kind as to tell me the name of +this town and inform me where I am?" +
+ ++"You will know that soon enough," replied a man with a hoarse voice. +"Maybe you are come to a place that will not prove much to your taste, +but you will not be consulted as to your quarters, I promise you." +
+ ++I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from a +stranger, and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the frowning and +angry countenances of his companions. "Why do you answer me so +roughly?" I replied. "Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to +receive strangers so inhospitably." +
+ ++"I do not know," said the man, "what the custom of the English may be, +but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains." While this strange +dialogue continued, I perceived the crowd rapidly increase. Their +faces expressed a mixture of curiosity and anger, which annoyed and in +some degree alarmed me. +
+ ++I inquired the way to the inn, but no one replied. I then moved +forward, and a murmuring sound arose from the crowd as they followed +and surrounded me, when an ill-looking man approaching tapped me on the +shoulder and said, "Come, sir, you must follow me to Mr. Kirwin's to +give an account of yourself." +
+ ++"Who is Mr. Kirwin? Why am I to give an account of myself? Is not +this a free country?" +
+ ++"Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. Mr. Kirwin is a magistrate, +and you are to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was +found murdered here last night." +
+ ++This answer startled me, but I presently recovered myself. I was +innocent; that could easily be proved; accordingly I followed my +conductor in silence and was led to one of the best houses in the town. +I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a +crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical +debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt. +Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to +overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy +or death. I must pause here, for it requires all my fortitude to recall +the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate, in +proper detail, to my recollection. +
+ ++I was soon introduced into the presence of the magistrate, an old +benevolent man with calm and mild manners. He looked upon me, however, +with some degree of severity, and then, turning towards my conductors, +he asked who appeared as witnesses on this occasion. +
+ ++About half a dozen men came forward; and, one being selected by the +magistrate, he deposed that he had been out fishing the night before +with his son and brother-in-law, Daniel Nugent, when, about ten +o'clock, they observed a strong northerly blast rising, and they +accordingly put in for port. It was a very dark night, as the moon had +not yet risen; they did not land at the harbour, but, as they had been +accustomed, at a creek about two miles below. He walked on first, +carrying a part of the fishing tackle, and his companions followed him +at some distance. +
+ ++As he was proceeding along the sands, he struck his foot against +something and fell at his length on the ground. His companions came up +to assist him, and by the light of their lantern they found that he had +fallen on the body of a man, who was to all appearance dead. Their +first supposition was that it was the corpse of some person who had +been drowned and was thrown on shore by the waves, but on examination +they found that the clothes were not wet and even that the body was not +then cold. They instantly carried it to the cottage of an old woman +near the spot and endeavoured, but in vain, to restore it to life. It +appeared to be a handsome young man, about five and twenty years of +age. He had apparently been strangled, for there was no sign of any +violence except the black mark of fingers on his neck. +
+ ++The first part of this deposition did not in the least interest me, but +when the mark of the fingers was mentioned I remembered the murder of +my brother and felt myself extremely agitated; my limbs trembled, and a +mist came over my eyes, which obliged me to lean on a chair for +support. The magistrate observed me with a keen eye and of course drew +an unfavourable augury from my manner. +
+ ++The son confirmed his father's account, but when Daniel Nugent was +called he swore positively that just before the fall of his companion, +he saw a boat, with a single man in it, at a short distance from the +shore; and as far as he could judge by the light of a few stars, it was +the same boat in which I had just landed. A woman deposed that she +lived near the beach and was standing at the door of her cottage, +waiting for the return of the fishermen, about an hour before she heard +of the discovery of the body, when she saw a boat with only one man in +it push off from that part of the shore where the corpse was afterwards +found. +
+ ++Another woman confirmed the account of the fishermen having brought the +body into her house; it was not cold. They put it into a bed and +rubbed it, and Daniel went to the town for an apothecary, but life was +quite gone. +
+ ++Several other men were examined concerning my landing, and they agreed +that, with the strong north wind that had arisen during the night, it +was very probable that I had beaten about for many hours and had been +obliged to return nearly to the same spot from which I had departed. +Besides, they observed that it appeared that I had brought the body +from another place, and it was likely that as I did not appear to know +the shore, I might have put into the harbour ignorant of the distance +of the town of —— from the place where I had deposited the corpse. +
+ ++Mr. Kirwin, on hearing this evidence, desired that I should be taken +into the room where the body lay for interment, that it might be +observed what effect the sight of it would produce upon me. This idea +was probably suggested by the extreme agitation I had exhibited when +the mode of the murder had been described. I was accordingly +conducted, by the magistrate and several other persons, to the inn. I +could not help being struck by the strange coincidences that had taken +place during this eventful night; but, knowing that I had been +conversing with several persons in the island I had inhabited about the +time that the body had been found, I was perfectly tranquil as to the +consequences of the affair. I entered the room where the corpse lay +and was led up to the coffin. How can I describe my sensations on +beholding it? I feel yet parched with horror, nor can I reflect on +that terrible moment without shuddering and agony. The examination, +the presence of the magistrate and witnesses, passed like a dream from +my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched +before me. I gasped for breath, and throwing myself on the body, I +exclaimed, "Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my +dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims +await their destiny; but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor—" +
+ ++The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and +I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions. A fever succeeded +to this. I lay for two months on the point of death; my ravings, as I +afterwards heard, were frightful; I called myself the murderer of +William, of Justine, and of Clerval. Sometimes I entreated my +attendants to assist me in the destruction of the fiend by whom I was +tormented; and at others I felt the fingers of the monster already +grasping my neck, and screamed aloud with agony and terror. +Fortunately, as I spoke my native language, Mr. Kirwin alone understood +me; but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the +other witnesses. Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was +before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches +away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; +how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of +health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the +tomb! Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many +shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the +torture? +
+ ++But I was doomed to live and in two months found myself as awaking from +a dream, in a prison, stretched on a wretched bed, surrounded by +jailers, turnkeys, bolts, and all the miserable apparatus of a dungeon. +It was morning, I remember, when I thus awoke to understanding; I had +forgotten the particulars of what had happened and only felt as if some +great misfortune had suddenly overwhelmed me; but when I looked around +and saw the barred windows and the squalidness of the room in which I +was, all flashed across my memory and I groaned bitterly. +
+ ++This sound disturbed an old woman who was sleeping in a chair beside +me. She was a hired nurse, the wife of one of the turnkeys, and her +countenance expressed all those bad qualities which often characterize +that class. The lines of her face were hard and rude, like that of +persons accustomed to see without sympathizing in sights of misery. Her +tone expressed her entire indifference; she addressed me in English, +and the voice struck me as one that I had heard during my sufferings. +"Are you better now, sir?" said she. +
+ ++I replied in the same language, with a feeble voice, "I believe I am; +but if it be all true, if indeed I did not dream, I am sorry that I am +still alive to feel this misery and horror." +
+ ++"For that matter," replied the old woman, "if you mean about the +gentleman you murdered, I believe that it were better for you if you +were dead, for I fancy it will go hard with you! However, that's none +of my business; I am sent to nurse you and get you well; I do my duty +with a safe conscience; it were well if everybody did the same." +
+ ++I turned with loathing from the woman who could utter so unfeeling a +speech to a person just saved, on the very edge of death; but I felt +languid and unable to reflect on all that had passed. The whole series +of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it +were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force +of reality. +
+ ++As the images that floated before me became more distinct, I grew +feverish; a darkness pressed around me; no one was near me who soothed +me with the gentle voice of love; no dear hand supported me. The +physician came and prescribed medicines, and the old woman prepared +them for me; but utter carelessness was visible in the first, and the +expression of brutality was strongly marked in the visage of the +second. Who could be interested in the fate of a murderer but the +hangman who would gain his fee? +
+ ++These were my first reflections, but I soon learned that Mr. Kirwin had +shown me extreme kindness. He had caused the best room in the prison +to be prepared for me (wretched indeed was the best); and it was he who +had provided a physician and a nurse. It is true, he seldom came to +see me, for although he ardently desired to relieve the sufferings of +every human creature, he did not wish to be present at the agonies and +miserable ravings of a murderer. He came, therefore, sometimes to see +that I was not neglected, but his visits were short and with long +intervals. One day, while I was gradually recovering, I was seated in +a chair, my eyes half open and my cheeks livid like those in death. I +was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek +death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with +wretchedness. At one time I considered whether I should not declare +myself guilty and suffer the penalty of the law, less innocent than +poor Justine had been. Such were my thoughts when the door of my +apartment was opened and Mr. Kirwin entered. His countenance expressed +sympathy and compassion; he drew a chair close to mine and addressed me +in French, "I fear that this place is very shocking to you; can I do +anything to make you more comfortable?" +
+ ++"I thank you, but all that you mention is nothing to me; on the whole +earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving." +
+ ++"I know that the sympathy of a stranger can be but of little relief to +one borne down as you are by so strange a misfortune. But you will, I +hope, soon quit this melancholy abode, for doubtless evidence can +easily be brought to free you from the criminal charge." +
+ ++"That is my least concern; I am, by a course of strange events, become +the most miserable of mortals. Persecuted and tortured as I am and +have been, can death be any evil to me?" +
+ ++"Nothing indeed could be more unfortunate and agonizing than the +strange chances that have lately occurred. You were thrown, by some +surprising accident, on this shore, renowned for its hospitality, +seized immediately, and charged with murder. The first sight that was +presented to your eyes was the body of your friend, murdered in so +unaccountable a manner and placed, as it were, by some fiend across +your path." +
+ ++As Mr. Kirwin said this, notwithstanding the agitation I endured on +this retrospect of my sufferings, I also felt considerable surprise at +the knowledge he seemed to possess concerning me. I suppose some +astonishment was exhibited in my countenance, for Mr. Kirwin hastened +to say, "Immediately upon your being taken ill, all the papers that +were on your person were brought me, and I examined them that I might +discover some trace by which I could send to your relations an account +of your misfortune and illness. I found several letters, and, among +others, one which I discovered from its commencement to be from your +father. I instantly wrote to Geneva; nearly two months have elapsed +since the departure of my letter. But you are ill; even now you +tremble; you are unfit for agitation of any kind." +
+ ++"This suspense is a thousand times worse than the most horrible event; +tell me what new scene of death has been acted, and whose murder I am +now to lament?" +
+ ++"Your family is perfectly well," said Mr. Kirwin with gentleness; "and +someone, a friend, is come to visit you." +
+ ++I know not by what chain of thought the idea presented itself, but it +instantly darted into my mind that the murderer had come to mock at my +misery and taunt me with the death of Clerval, as a new incitement for +me to comply with his hellish desires. I put my hand before my eyes, +and cried out in agony, "Oh! Take him away! I cannot see him; for +God's sake, do not let him enter!" +
+ ++Mr. Kirwin regarded me with a troubled countenance. He could not help +regarding my exclamation as a presumption of my guilt and said in +rather a severe tone, "I should have thought, young man, that the +presence of your father would have been welcome instead of inspiring +such violent repugnance." +
+ ++"My father!" cried I, while every feature and every muscle was relaxed +from anguish to pleasure. "Is my father indeed come? How kind, how +very kind! But where is he, why does he not hasten to me?" +
+ ++My change of manner surprised and pleased the magistrate; perhaps he +thought that my former exclamation was a momentary return of delirium, +and now he instantly resumed his former benevolence. He rose and +quitted the room with my nurse, and in a moment my father entered it. +
+ ++Nothing, at this moment, could have given me greater pleasure than the +arrival of my father. I stretched out my hand to him and cried, "Are +you, then, safe—and Elizabeth—and Ernest?" My father calmed me with +assurances of their welfare and endeavoured, by dwelling on these +subjects so interesting to my heart, to raise my desponding spirits; +but he soon felt that a prison cannot be the abode of cheerfulness. +
+ ++"What a place is this that you inhabit, my son!" said he, looking +mournfully at the barred windows and wretched appearance of the room. +"You travelled to seek happiness, but a fatality seems to pursue you. +And poor Clerval—" +
+ ++The name of my unfortunate and murdered friend was an agitation too +great to be endured in my weak state; I shed tears. "Alas! Yes, my +father," replied I; "some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over +me, and I must live to fulfil it, or surely I should have died on the +coffin of Henry." +
+ ++We were not allowed to converse for any length of time, for the +precarious state of my health rendered every precaution necessary that +could ensure tranquillity. Mr. Kirwin came in and insisted that my +strength should not be exhausted by too much exertion. But the +appearance of my father was to me like that of my good angel, and I +gradually recovered my health. +
+ ++As my sickness quitted me, I was absorbed by a gloomy and black +melancholy that nothing could dissipate. The image of Clerval was +forever before me, ghastly and murdered. More than once the agitation +into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous +relapse. Alas! Why did they preserve so miserable and detested a +life? It was surely that I might fulfil my destiny, which is now +drawing to a close. Soon, oh, very soon, will death extinguish these +throbbings and relieve me from the mighty weight of anguish that bears +me to the dust; and, in executing the award of justice, I shall also +sink to rest. Then the appearance of death was distant, although the +wish was ever present to my thoughts; and I often sat for hours +motionless and speechless, wishing for some mighty revolution that +might bury me and my destroyer in its ruins. +
+ ++The season of the assizes approached. I had already been three months +in prison, and although I was still weak and in continual danger of a +relapse, I was obliged to travel nearly a hundred miles to the country +town where the court was held. Mr. Kirwin charged himself with every +care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence. I was spared +the disgrace of appearing publicly as a criminal, as the case was not +brought before the court that decides on life and death. The grand +jury rejected the bill, on its being proved that I was on the Orkney +Islands at the hour the body of my friend was found; and a fortnight +after my removal I was liberated from prison. +
+ ++My father was enraptured on finding me freed from the vexations of a +criminal charge, that I was again allowed to breathe the fresh +atmosphere and permitted to return to my native country. I did not +participate in these feelings, for to me the walls of a dungeon or a +palace were alike hateful. The cup of life was poisoned forever, and +although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I +saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by +no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes +they were the expressive eyes of Henry, languishing in death, the dark +orbs nearly covered by the lids and the long black lashes that fringed +them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster, as I +first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt. +
+ ++My father tried to awaken in me the feelings of affection. He talked +of Geneva, which I should soon visit, of Elizabeth and Ernest; but +these words only drew deep groans from me. Sometimes, indeed, I felt a +wish for happiness and thought with melancholy delight of my beloved +cousin or longed, with a devouring maladie du pays, to see once more +the blue lake and rapid Rhone, that had been so dear to me in early +childhood; but my general state of feeling was a torpor in which a +prison was as welcome a residence as the divinest scene in nature; and +these fits were seldom interrupted but by paroxysms of anguish and +despair. At these moments I often endeavoured to put an end to the +existence I loathed, and it required unceasing attendance and vigilance +to restrain me from committing some dreadful act of violence. +
+ ++Yet one duty remained to me, the recollection of which finally +triumphed over my selfish despair. It was necessary that I should +return without delay to Geneva, there to watch over the lives of those +I so fondly loved and to lie in wait for the murderer, that if any +chance led me to the place of his concealment, or if he dared again to +blast me by his presence, I might, with unfailing aim, put an end to +the existence of the monstrous image which I had endued with the +mockery of a soul still more monstrous. My father still desired to +delay our departure, fearful that I could not sustain the fatigues of a +journey, for I was a shattered wreck—the shadow of a human being. My +strength was gone. I was a mere skeleton, and fever night and day +preyed upon my wasted frame. Still, as I urged our leaving Ireland +with such inquietude and impatience, my father thought it best to +yield. We took our passage on board a vessel bound for Havre-de-Grace +and sailed with a fair wind from the Irish shores. It was midnight. I +lay on the deck looking at the stars and listening to the dashing of +the waves. I hailed the darkness that shut Ireland from my sight, and +my pulse beat with a feverish joy when I reflected that I should soon +see Geneva. The past appeared to me in the light of a frightful dream; +yet the vessel in which I was, the wind that blew me from the detested +shore of Ireland, and the sea which surrounded me told me too forcibly +that I was deceived by no vision and that Clerval, my friend and +dearest companion, had fallen a victim to me and the monster of my +creation. I repassed, in my memory, my whole life—my quiet happiness +while residing with my family in Geneva, the death of my mother, and my +departure for Ingolstadt. I remembered, shuddering, the mad enthusiasm +that hurried me on to the creation of my hideous enemy, and I called to +mind the night in which he first lived. I was unable to pursue the +train of thought; a thousand feelings pressed upon me, and I wept +bitterly. Ever since my recovery from the fever I had been in the +custom of taking every night a small quantity of laudanum, for it was +by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest +necessary for the preservation of life. Oppressed by the recollection +of my various misfortunes, I now swallowed double my usual quantity and +soon slept profoundly. But sleep did not afford me respite from +thought and misery; my dreams presented a thousand objects that scared +me. Towards morning I was possessed by a kind of nightmare; I felt the +fiend's grasp in my neck and could not free myself from it; groans and +cries rang in my ears. My father, who was watching over me, perceiving +my restlessness, awoke me; the dashing waves were around, the cloudy +sky above, the fiend was not here: a sense of security, a feeling that +a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible, +disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness, of which +the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible. +
+ ++The voyage came to an end. We landed, and proceeded to Paris. I soon +found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must repose before I +could continue my journey. My father's care and attentions were +indefatigable, but he did not know the origin of my sufferings and +sought erroneous methods to remedy the incurable ill. He wished me to +seek amusement in society. I abhorred the face of man. Oh, not +abhorred! They were my brethren, my fellow beings, and I felt +attracted even to the most repulsive among them, as to creatures of an +angelic nature and celestial mechanism. But I felt that I had no right +to share their intercourse. I had unchained an enemy among them whose +joy it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans. How they +would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know +my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me! +
+ ++My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and strove by +various arguments to banish my despair. Sometimes he thought that I +felt deeply the degradation of being obliged to answer a charge of +murder, and he endeavoured to prove to me the futility of pride. +
+ ++"Alas! My father," said I, "how little do you know me. Human beings, +their feelings and passions, would indeed be degraded if such a wretch +as I felt pride. Justine, poor unhappy Justine, was as innocent as I, +and she suffered the same charge; she died for it; and I am the cause +of this—I murdered her. William, Justine, and Henry—they all died by +my hands." +
+ ++My father had often, during my imprisonment, heard me make the same +assertion; when I thus accused myself, he sometimes seemed to desire an +explanation, and at others he appeared to consider it as the offspring +of delirium, and that, during my illness, some idea of this kind had +presented itself to my imagination, the remembrance of which I +preserved in my convalescence. +
+ ++I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the +wretch I had created. I had a persuasion that I should be supposed +mad, and this in itself would forever have chained my tongue. But, +besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill +my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the +inmates of his breast. I checked, therefore, my impatient thirst for +sympathy and was silent when I would have given the world to have +confided the fatal secret. Yet, still, words like those I have +recorded would burst uncontrollably from me. I could offer no +explanation of them, but their truth in part relieved the burden of my +mysterious woe. Upon this occasion my father said, with an expression +of unbounded wonder, "My dearest Victor, what infatuation is this? My +dear son, I entreat you never to make such an assertion again." +
+ ++"I am not mad," I cried energetically; "the sun and the heavens, who +have viewed my operations, can bear witness of my truth. I am the +assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations. +A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have +saved their lives; but I could not, my father, indeed I could not +sacrifice the whole human race." +
+ ++The conclusion of this speech convinced my father that my ideas were +deranged, and he instantly changed the subject of our conversation and +endeavoured to alter the course of my thoughts. He wished as much as +possible to obliterate the memory of the scenes that had taken place in +Ireland and never alluded to them or suffered me to speak of my +misfortunes. +
+ ++As time passed away I became more calm; misery had her dwelling in my +heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own +crimes; sufficient for me was the consciousness of them. By the utmost +self-violence I curbed the imperious voice of wretchedness, which +sometimes desired to declare itself to the whole world, and my manners +were calmer and more composed than they had ever been since my journey +to the sea of ice. A few days before we left Paris on our way to +Switzerland, I received the following letter from Elizabeth: +
+ ++"My dear Friend, +
+ ++"It gave me the greatest pleasure to receive a letter from my uncle +dated at Paris; you are no longer at a formidable distance, and I may +hope to see you in less than a fortnight. My poor cousin, how much you +must have suffered! I expect to see you looking even more ill than +when you quitted Geneva. This winter has been passed most miserably, +tortured as I have been by anxious suspense; yet I hope to see peace in +your countenance and to find that your heart is not totally void of +comfort and tranquillity. +
+ ++"Yet I fear that the same feelings now exist that made you so miserable +a year ago, even perhaps augmented by time. I would not disturb you at +this period, when so many misfortunes weigh upon you, but a +conversation that I had with my uncle previous to his departure renders +some explanation necessary before we meet. Explanation! You may +possibly say, What can Elizabeth have to explain? If you really say +this, my questions are answered and all my doubts satisfied. But you +are distant from me, and it is possible that you may dread and yet be +pleased with this explanation; and in a probability of this being the +case, I dare not any longer postpone writing what, during your absence, +I have often wished to express to you but have never had the courage to +begin. +
+ ++"You well know, Victor, that our union had been the favourite plan of +your parents ever since our infancy. We were told this when young, and +taught to look forward to it as an event that would certainly take +place. We were affectionate playfellows during childhood, and, I +believe, dear and valued friends to one another as we grew older. But +as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each +other without desiring a more intimate union, may not such also be our +case? Tell me, dearest Victor. Answer me, I conjure you by our mutual +happiness, with simple truth—Do you not love another? +
+ ++"You have travelled; you have spent several years of your life at +Ingolstadt; and I confess to you, my friend, that when I saw you last +autumn so unhappy, flying to solitude from the society of every +creature, I could not help supposing that you might regret our +connection and believe yourself bound in honour to fulfil the wishes of +your parents, although they opposed themselves to your inclinations. +But this is false reasoning. I confess to you, my friend, that I love +you and that in my airy dreams of futurity you have been my constant +friend and companion. But it is your happiness I desire as well as my +own when I declare to you that our marriage would render me eternally +miserable unless it were the dictate of your own free choice. Even now +I weep to think that, borne down as you are by the cruellest +misfortunes, you may stifle, by the word 'honour,' all hope of that +love and happiness which would alone restore you to yourself. I, who +have so disinterested an affection for you, may increase your miseries +tenfold by being an obstacle to your wishes. Ah! Victor, be assured +that your cousin and playmate has too sincere a love for you not to be +made miserable by this supposition. Be happy, my friend; and if you +obey me in this one request, remain satisfied that nothing on earth +will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity. +
+ ++"Do not let this letter disturb you; do not answer tomorrow, or the +next day, or even until you come, if it will give you pain. My uncle +will send me news of your health, and if I see but one smile on your +lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I +shall need no other happiness. +
+ +
+ "Elizabeth Lavenza
+
+ "Geneva, May 18th, 17—"
+
+This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten, the +threat of the fiend—"I WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT!" Such +was my sentence, and on that night would the daemon employ every art to +destroy me and tear me from the glimpse of happiness which promised +partly to console my sufferings. On that night he had determined to +consummate his crimes by my death. Well, be it so; a deadly struggle +would then assuredly take place, in which if he were victorious I +should be at peace and his power over me be at an end. If he were +vanquished, I should be a free man. Alas! What freedom? Such as the +peasant enjoys when his family have been massacred before his eyes, his +cottage burnt, his lands laid waste, and he is turned adrift, homeless, +penniless, and alone, but free. Such would be my liberty except that in +my Elizabeth I possessed a treasure, alas, balanced by those horrors of +remorse and guilt which would pursue me until death. +
+ ++Sweet and beloved Elizabeth! I read and reread her letter, and some +softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper paradisiacal +dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the +angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope. Yet I would die to make +her happy. If the monster executed his threat, death was inevitable; +yet, again, I considered whether my marriage would hasten my fate. My +destruction might indeed arrive a few months sooner, but if my torturer +should suspect that I postponed it, influenced by his menaces, he would +surely find other and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge. +
+ ++He had vowed TO BE WITH ME ON MY WEDDING-NIGHT, yet he did not consider +that threat as binding him to peace in the meantime, for as if to show +me that he was not yet satiated with blood, he had murdered Clerval +immediately after the enunciation of his threats. I resolved, +therefore, that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce +either to hers or my father's happiness, my adversary's designs against +my life should not retard it a single hour. +
+ ++In this state of mind I wrote to Elizabeth. My letter was calm and +affectionate. "I fear, my beloved girl," I said, "little happiness +remains for us on earth; yet all that I may one day enjoy is centred in +you. Chase away your idle fears; to you alone do I consecrate my life +and my endeavours for contentment. I have one secret, Elizabeth, a +dreadful one; when revealed to you, it will chill your frame with +horror, and then, far from being surprised at my misery, you will only +wonder that I survive what I have endured. I will confide this tale of +misery and terror to you the day after our marriage shall take place, +for, my sweet cousin, there must be perfect confidence between us. But +until then, I conjure you, do not mention or allude to it. This I most +earnestly entreat, and I know you will comply." +
+ ++In about a week after the arrival of Elizabeth's letter we returned to +Geneva. The sweet girl welcomed me with warm affection, yet tears were +in her eyes as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks. I +saw a change in her also. She was thinner and had lost much of that +heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me; but her gentleness and +soft looks of compassion made her a more fit companion for one blasted +and miserable as I was. The tranquillity which I now enjoyed did not +endure. Memory brought madness with it, and when I thought of what had +passed, a real insanity possessed me; sometimes I was furious and burnt +with rage, sometimes low and despondent. I neither spoke nor looked at +anyone, but sat motionless, bewildered by the multitude of miseries +that overcame me. +
+ ++Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits; her gentle +voice would soothe me when transported by passion and inspire me with +human feelings when sunk in torpor. She wept with me and for me. When +reason returned, she would remonstrate and endeavour to inspire me with +resignation. Ah! It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned, but +for the guilty there is no peace. The agonies of remorse poison the +luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of +grief. Soon after my arrival my father spoke of my immediate marriage +with Elizabeth. I remained silent. +
+ ++"Have you, then, some other attachment?" +
+ ++"None on earth. I love Elizabeth and look forward to our union with +delight. Let the day therefore be fixed; and on it I will consecrate +myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin." +
+ ++"My dear Victor, do not speak thus. Heavy misfortunes have befallen +us, but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love +for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be +small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. +And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of +care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly +deprived." +
+ ++Such were the lessons of my father. But to me the remembrance of the +threat returned; nor can you wonder that, omnipotent as the fiend had +yet been in his deeds of blood, I should almost regard him as +invincible, and that when he had pronounced the words "I SHALL BE WITH +YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT," I should regard the threatened fate as +unavoidable. But death was no evil to me if the loss of Elizabeth were +balanced with it, and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful +countenance, agreed with my father that if my cousin would consent, the +ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, +the seal to my fate. +
+ ++Great God! If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish +intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself +forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over +the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if +possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real +intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I +hastened that of a far dearer victim. +
+ ++As the period fixed for our marriage drew nearer, whether from +cowardice or a prophetic feeling, I felt my heart sink within me. But +I concealed my feelings by an appearance of hilarity that brought +smiles and joy to the countenance of my father, but hardly deceived the +ever-watchful and nicer eye of Elizabeth. She looked forward to our +union with placid contentment, not unmingled with a little fear, which +past misfortunes had impressed, that what now appeared certain and +tangible happiness might soon dissipate into an airy dream and leave no +trace but deep and everlasting regret. Preparations were made for the +event, congratulatory visits were received, and all wore a smiling +appearance. I shut up, as well as I could, in my own heart the anxiety +that preyed there and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans +of my father, although they might only serve as the decorations of my +tragedy. Through my father's exertions a part of the inheritance of +Elizabeth had been restored to her by the Austrian government. A small +possession on the shores of Como belonged to her. It was agreed that, +immediately after our union, we should proceed to Villa Lavenza and +spend our first days of happiness beside the beautiful lake near which +it stood. +
+ ++In the meantime I took every precaution to defend my person in case the +fiend should openly attack me. I carried pistols and a dagger +constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice, and +by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity. Indeed, as the +period approached, the threat appeared more as a delusion, not to be +regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while the happiness I hoped for +in my marriage wore a greater appearance of certainty as the day fixed +for its solemnization drew nearer and I heard it continually spoken of +as an occurrence which no accident could possibly prevent. +
+ ++Elizabeth seemed happy; my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to +calm her mind. But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my +destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her; +and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had +promised to reveal to her on the following day. My father was in the +meantime overjoyed and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in +the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride. +
+ ++After the ceremony was performed a large party assembled at my +father's, but it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should commence our +journey by water, sleeping that night at Evian and continuing our +voyage on the following day. The day was fair, the wind favourable; +all smiled on our nuptial embarkation. +
+ ++Those were the last moments of my life during which I enjoyed the +feeling of happiness. We passed rapidly along; the sun was hot, but we +were sheltered from its rays by a kind of canopy while we enjoyed the +beauty of the scene, sometimes on one side of the lake, where we saw +Mont Saleve, the pleasant banks of Montalegre, and at a distance, +surmounting all, the beautiful Mont Blanc and the assemblage of snowy +mountains that in vain endeavour to emulate her; sometimes coasting the +opposite banks, we saw the mighty Jura opposing its dark side to the +ambition that would quit its native country, and an almost +insurmountable barrier to the invader who should wish to enslave it. +
+ ++I took the hand of Elizabeth. "You are sorrowful, my love. Ah! If +you knew what I have suffered and what I may yet endure, you would +endeavour to let me taste the quiet and freedom from despair that this +one day at least permits me to enjoy." +
+ ++"Be happy, my dear Victor," replied Elizabeth; "there is, I hope, +nothing to distress you; and be assured that if a lively joy is not +painted in my face, my heart is contented. Something whispers to me +not to depend too much on the prospect that is opened before us, but I +will not listen to such a sinister voice. Observe how fast we move +along and how the clouds, which sometimes obscure and sometimes rise +above the dome of Mont Blanc, render this scene of beauty still more +interesting. Look also at the innumerable fish that are swimming in +the clear waters, where we can distinguish every pebble that lies at +the bottom. What a divine day! How happy and serene all nature +appears!" +
+ ++Thus Elizabeth endeavoured to divert her thoughts and mine from all +reflection upon melancholy subjects. But her temper was fluctuating; +joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place +to distraction and reverie. +
+ ++The sun sank lower in the heavens; we passed the river Drance and +observed its path through the chasms of the higher and the glens of the +lower hills. The Alps here come closer to the lake, and we approached +the amphitheatre of mountains which forms its eastern boundary. The +spire of Evian shone under the woods that surrounded it and the range +of mountain above mountain by which it was overhung. +
+ ++The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, +sank at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water +and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the +shore, from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and +hay. The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched +the shore I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp +me and cling to me forever. +
+ ++It was eight o'clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the +shore, enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and +contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured +in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines. +
+ ++The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence +in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was +beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the +flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays, while the lake reflected the +scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves +that were beginning to rise. Suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended. +
+ ++I had been calm during the day, but so soon as night obscured the +shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind. I was anxious +and watchful, while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in +my bosom; every sound terrified me, but I resolved that I would sell my +life dearly and not shrink from the conflict until my own life or that +of my adversary was extinguished. Elizabeth observed my agitation for +some time in timid and fearful silence, but there was something in my +glance which communicated terror to her, and trembling, she asked, +"What is it that agitates you, my dear Victor? What is it you fear?" +
+ ++"Oh! Peace, peace, my love," replied I; "this night, and all will be +safe; but this night is dreadful, very dreadful." +
+ ++I passed an hour in this state of mind, when suddenly I reflected how +fearful the combat which I momentarily expected would be to my wife, +and I earnestly entreated her to retire, resolving not to join her +until I had obtained some knowledge as to the situation of my enemy. +
+ ++She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages +of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to +my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to +conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the +execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful +scream. It came from the room into which Elizabeth had retired. As I +heard it, the whole truth rushed into my mind, my arms dropped, the +motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended; I could feel the blood +trickling in my veins and tingling in the extremities of my limbs. This +state lasted but for an instant; the scream was repeated, and I rushed +into the room. Great God! Why did I not then expire! Why am I here +to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature on +earth? She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, +her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered +by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure—her bloodless +arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier. Could +I behold this and live? Alas! Life is obstinate and clings closest +where it is most hated. For a moment only did I lose recollection; I +fell senseless on the ground. +
+ ++When I recovered I found myself surrounded by the people of the inn; +their countenances expressed a breathless terror, but the horror of +others appeared only as a mockery, a shadow of the feelings that +oppressed me. I escaped from them to the room where lay the body of +Elizabeth, my love, my wife, so lately living, so dear, so worthy. She +had been moved from the posture in which I had first beheld her, and +now, as she lay, her head upon her arm and a handkerchief thrown across +her face and neck, I might have supposed her asleep. I rushed towards +her and embraced her with ardour, but the deadly languor and coldness +of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be +the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished. The murderous mark of +the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue +from her lips. While I still hung over her in the agony of despair, I +happened to look up. The windows of the room had before been darkened, +and I felt a kind of panic on seeing the pale yellow light of the moon +illuminate the chamber. The shutters had been thrown back, and with a +sensation of horror not to be described, I saw at the open window a +figure the most hideous and abhorred. A grin was on the face of the +monster; he seemed to jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed +towards the corpse of my wife. I rushed towards the window, and +drawing a pistol from my bosom, fired; but he eluded me, leaped from +his station, and running with the swiftness of lightning, plunged into +the lake. +
+ ++The report of the pistol brought a crowd into the room. I pointed to +the spot where he had disappeared, and we followed the track with +boats; nets were cast, but in vain. After passing several hours, we +returned hopeless, most of my companions believing it to have been a +form conjured up by my fancy. After having landed, they proceeded to +search the country, parties going in different directions among the +woods and vines. +
+ ++I attempted to accompany them and proceeded a short distance from the +house, but my head whirled round, my steps were like those of a drunken +man, I fell at last in a state of utter exhaustion; a film covered my +eyes, and my skin was parched with the heat of fever. In this state I +was carried back and placed on a bed, hardly conscious of what had +happened; my eyes wandered round the room as if to seek something that +I had lost. +
+ ++After an interval I arose, and as if by instinct, crawled into the room +where the corpse of my beloved lay. There were women weeping around; I +hung over it and joined my sad tears to theirs; all this time no +distinct idea presented itself to my mind, but my thoughts rambled to +various subjects, reflecting confusedly on my misfortunes and their +cause. I was bewildered, in a cloud of wonder and horror. The death +of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly +of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining +friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend; my father even now +might be writhing under his grasp, and Ernest might be dead at his +feet. This idea made me shudder and recalled me to action. I started +up and resolved to return to Geneva with all possible speed. +
+ ++There were no horses to be procured, and I must return by the lake; but +the wind was unfavourable, and the rain fell in torrents. However, it +was hardly morning, and I might reasonably hope to arrive by night. I +hired men to row and took an oar myself, for I had always experienced +relief from mental torment in bodily exercise. But the overflowing +misery I now felt, and the excess of agitation that I endured rendered +me incapable of any exertion. I threw down the oar, and leaning my +head upon my hands, gave way to every gloomy idea that arose. If I +looked up, I saw scenes which were familiar to me in my happier time +and which I had contemplated but the day before in the company of her +who was now but a shadow and a recollection. Tears streamed from my +eyes. The rain had ceased for a moment, and I saw the fish play in the +waters as they had done a few hours before; they had then been observed +by Elizabeth. Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and +sudden change. The sun might shine or the clouds might lower, but +nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before. A fiend had +snatched from me every hope of future happiness; no creature had ever +been so miserable as I was; so frightful an event is single in the +history of man. But why should I dwell upon the incidents that followed +this last overwhelming event? Mine has been a tale of horrors; I have +reached their acme, and what I must now relate can but be tedious to +you. Know that, one by one, my friends were snatched away; I was left +desolate. My own strength is exhausted, and I must tell, in a few +words, what remains of my hideous narration. I arrived at Geneva. My +father and Ernest yet lived, but the former sunk under the tidings that +I bore. I see him now, excellent and venerable old man! His eyes +wandered in vacancy, for they had lost their charm and their +delight—his Elizabeth, his more than daughter, whom he doted on with +all that affection which a man feels, who in the decline of life, +having few affections, clings more earnestly to those that remain. +Cursed, cursed be the fiend that brought misery on his grey hairs and +doomed him to waste in wretchedness! He could not live under the +horrors that were accumulated around him; the springs of existence +suddenly gave way; he was unable to rise from his bed, and in a few +days he died in my arms. +
+ ++What then became of me? I know not; I lost sensation, and chains and +darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me. Sometimes, +indeed, I dreamt that I wandered in flowery meadows and pleasant vales +with the friends of my youth, but I awoke and found myself in a +dungeon. Melancholy followed, but by degrees I gained a clear +conception of my miseries and situation and was then released from my +prison. For they had called me mad, and during many months, as I +understood, a solitary cell had been my habitation. +
+ ++Liberty, however, had been a useless gift to me, had I not, as I +awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge. As the +memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect on their +cause—the monster whom I had created, the miserable daemon whom I had +sent abroad into the world for my destruction. I was possessed by a +maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed +that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal +revenge on his cursed head. +
+ ++Nor did my hate long confine itself to useless wishes; I began to +reflect on the best means of securing him; and for this purpose, about +a month after my release, I repaired to a criminal judge in the town +and told him that I had an accusation to make, that I knew the +destroyer of my family, and that I required him to exert his whole +authority for the apprehension of the murderer. The magistrate +listened to me with attention and kindness. +
+ ++"Be assured, sir," said he, "no pains or exertions on my part shall be +spared to discover the villain." +
+ ++"I thank you," replied I; "listen, therefore, to the deposition that I +have to make. It is indeed a tale so strange that I should fear you +would not credit it were there not something in truth which, however +wonderful, forces conviction. The story is too connected to be +mistaken for a dream, and I have no motive for falsehood." My manner as +I thus addressed him was impressive but calm; I had formed in my own +heart a resolution to pursue my destroyer to death, and this purpose +quieted my agony and for an interval reconciled me to life. I now +related my history briefly but with firmness and precision, marking the +dates with accuracy and never deviating into invective or exclamation. +
+ ++The magistrate appeared at first perfectly incredulous, but as I +continued he became more attentive and interested; I saw him sometimes +shudder with horror; at others a lively surprise, unmingled with +disbelief, was painted on his countenance. When I had concluded my +narration I said, "This is the being whom I accuse and for whose +seizure and punishment I call upon you to exert your whole power. It +is your duty as a magistrate, and I believe and hope that your feelings +as a man will not revolt from the execution of those functions on this +occasion." This address caused a considerable change in the +physiognomy of my own auditor. He had heard my story with that half +kind of belief that is given to a tale of spirits and supernatural +events; but when he was called upon to act officially in consequence, +the whole tide of his incredulity returned. He, however, answered +mildly, "I would willingly afford you every aid in your pursuit, but +the creature of whom you speak appears to have powers which would put +all my exertions to defiance. Who can follow an animal which can +traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would +venture to intrude? Besides, some months have elapsed since the +commission of his crimes, and no one can conjecture to what place he +has wandered or what region he may now inhabit." +
+ ++"I do not doubt that he hovers near the spot which I inhabit, and if he +has indeed taken refuge in the Alps, he may be hunted like the chamois +and destroyed as a beast of prey. But I perceive your thoughts; you do +not credit my narrative and do not intend to pursue my enemy with the +punishment which is his desert." As I spoke, rage sparkled in my eyes; +the magistrate was intimidated. "You are mistaken," said he. "I will +exert myself, and if it is in my power to seize the monster, be assured +that he shall suffer punishment proportionate to his crimes. But I +fear, from what you have yourself described to be his properties, that +this will prove impracticable; and thus, while every proper measure is +pursued, you should make up your mind to disappointment." +
+ ++"That cannot be; but all that I can say will be of little avail. My +revenge is of no moment to you; yet, while I allow it to be a vice, I +confess that it is the devouring and only passion of my soul. My rage +is unspeakable when I reflect that the murderer, whom I have turned +loose upon society, still exists. You refuse my just demand; I have +but one resource, and I devote myself, either in my life or death, to +his destruction." +
+ ++I trembled with excess of agitation as I said this; there was a frenzy +in my manner, and something, I doubt not, of that haughty fierceness +which the martyrs of old are said to have possessed. But to a Genevan +magistrate, whose mind was occupied by far other ideas than those of +devotion and heroism, this elevation of mind had much the appearance of +madness. He endeavoured to soothe me as a nurse does a child and +reverted to my tale as the effects of delirium. +
+ ++"Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; +you know not what it is you say." +
+ ++I broke from the house angry and disturbed and retired to meditate on +some other mode of action. +
+ ++My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was +swallowed up and lost. I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone +endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and +allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise +delirium or death would have been my portion. +
+ ++My first resolution was to quit Geneva forever; my country, which, when +I was happy and beloved, was dear to me, now, in my adversity, became +hateful. I provided myself with a sum of money, together with a few +jewels which had belonged to my mother, and departed. And now my +wanderings began which are to cease but with life. I have traversed a +vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which +travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet. How I +have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs +upon the sandy plain and prayed for death. But revenge kept me alive; +I dared not die and leave my adversary in being. +
+ ++When I quitted Geneva my first labour was to gain some clue by which I +might trace the steps of my fiendish enemy. But my plan was unsettled, +and I wandered many hours round the confines of the town, uncertain +what path I should pursue. As night approached I found myself at the +entrance of the cemetery where William, Elizabeth, and my father +reposed. I entered it and approached the tomb which marked their +graves. Everything was silent except the leaves of the trees, which +were gently agitated by the wind; the night was nearly dark, and the +scene would have been solemn and affecting even to an uninterested +observer. The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to +cast a shadow, which was felt but not seen, around the head of the +mourner. +
+ ++The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way +to rage and despair. They were dead, and I lived; their murderer also +lived, and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence. I knelt +on the grass and kissed the earth and with quivering lips exclaimed, +"By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near +me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O +Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the daemon who +caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict. For +this purpose I will preserve my life; to execute this dear revenge will +I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth, which +otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever. And I call on you, +spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to +aid and conduct me in my work. Let the cursed and hellish monster +drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me." I +had begun my adjuration with solemnity and an awe which almost assured +me that the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my +devotion, but the furies possessed me as I concluded, and rage choked +my utterance. +
+ ++I was answered through the stillness of night by a loud and fiendish +laugh. It rang on my ears long and heavily; the mountains re-echoed +it, and I felt as if all hell surrounded me with mockery and laughter. +Surely in that moment I should have been possessed by frenzy and have +destroyed my miserable existence but that my vow was heard and that I +was reserved for vengeance. The laughter died away, when a well-known +and abhorred voice, apparently close to my ear, addressed me in an +audible whisper, "I am satisfied, miserable wretch! You have +determined to live, and I am satisfied." +
+ ++I darted towards the spot from which the sound proceeded, but the devil +eluded my grasp. Suddenly the broad disk of the moon arose and shone +full upon his ghastly and distorted shape as he fled with more than +mortal speed. +
+ ++I pursued him, and for many months this has been my task. Guided by a +slight clue, I followed the windings of the Rhone, but vainly. The +blue Mediterranean appeared, and by a strange chance, I saw the fiend +enter by night and hide himself in a vessel bound for the Black Sea. I +took my passage in the same ship, but he escaped, I know not how. +
+ ++Amidst the wilds of Tartary and Russia, although he still evaded me, I +have ever followed in his track. Sometimes the peasants, scared by +this horrid apparition, informed me of his path; sometimes he himself, +who feared that if I lost all trace of him I should despair and die, +left some mark to guide me. The snows descended on my head, and I saw +the print of his huge step on the white plain. To you first entering +on life, to whom care is new and agony unknown, how can you understand +what I have felt and still feel? Cold, want, and fatigue were the +least pains which I was destined to endure; I was cursed by some devil +and carried about with me my eternal hell; yet still a spirit of good +followed and directed my steps and when I most murmured would suddenly +extricate me from seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Sometimes, +when nature, overcome by hunger, sank under the exhaustion, a repast +was prepared for me in the desert that restored and inspirited me. The +fare was, indeed, coarse, such as the peasants of the country ate, but +I will not doubt that it was set there by the spirits that I had +invoked to aid me. Often, when all was dry, the heavens cloudless, and +I was parched by thirst, a slight cloud would bedim the sky, shed the +few drops that revived me, and vanish. +
+ ++I followed, when I could, the courses of the rivers; but the daemon +generally avoided these, as it was here that the population of the +country chiefly collected. In other places human beings were seldom +seen, and I generally subsisted on the wild animals that crossed my +path. I had money with me and gained the friendship of the villagers +by distributing it; or I brought with me some food that I had killed, +which, after taking a small part, I always presented to those who had +provided me with fire and utensils for cooking. +
+ ++My life, as it passed thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during +sleep alone that I could taste joy. O blessed sleep! Often, when most +miserable, I sank to repose, and my dreams lulled me even to rapture. +The spirits that guarded me had provided these moments, or rather +hours, of happiness that I might retain strength to fulfil my +pilgrimage. Deprived of this respite, I should have sunk under my +hardships. During the day I was sustained and inspirited by the hope +of night, for in sleep I saw my friends, my wife, and my beloved +country; again I saw the benevolent countenance of my father, heard the +silver tones of my Elizabeth's voice, and beheld Clerval enjoying +health and youth. Often, when wearied by a toilsome march, I persuaded +myself that I was dreaming until night should come and that I should +then enjoy reality in the arms of my dearest friends. What agonizing +fondness did I feel for them! How did I cling to their dear forms, as +sometimes they haunted even my waking hours, and persuade myself that +they still lived! At such moments vengeance, that burned within me, +died in my heart, and I pursued my path towards the destruction of the +daemon more as a task enjoined by heaven, as the mechanical impulse of +some power of which I was unconscious, than as the ardent desire of my +soul. What his feelings were whom I pursued I cannot know. Sometimes, +indeed, he left marks in writing on the barks of the trees or cut in +stone that guided me and instigated my fury. "My reign is not yet +over"—these words were legible in one of these inscriptions—"you +live, and my power is complete. Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices +of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost, to +which I am impassive. You will find near this place, if you follow not +too tardily, a dead hare; eat and be refreshed. Come on, my enemy; we +have yet to wrestle for our lives, but many hard and miserable hours +must you endure until that period shall arrive." +
+ ++Scoffing devil! Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, +miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I give up my search +until he or I perish; and then with what ecstasy shall I join my +Elizabeth and my departed friends, who even now prepare for me the +reward of my tedious toil and horrible pilgrimage! +
+ ++As I still pursued my journey to the northward, the snows thickened and +the cold increased in a degree almost too severe to support. The +peasants were shut up in their hovels, and only a few of the most hardy +ventured forth to seize the animals whom starvation had forced from +their hiding-places to seek for prey. The rivers were covered with +ice, and no fish could be procured; and thus I was cut off from my +chief article of maintenance. The triumph of my enemy increased with +the difficulty of my labours. One inscription that he left was in +these words: "Prepare! Your toils only begin; wrap yourself in furs +and provide food, for we shall soon enter upon a journey where your +sufferings will satisfy my everlasting hatred." +
+ ++My courage and perseverance were invigorated by these scoffing words; I +resolved not to fail in my purpose, and calling on heaven to support +me, I continued with unabated fervour to traverse immense deserts, +until the ocean appeared at a distance and formed the utmost boundary +of the horizon. Oh! How unlike it was to the blue seasons of the +south! Covered with ice, it was only to be distinguished from land by +its superior wildness and ruggedness. The Greeks wept for joy when +they beheld the Mediterranean from the hills of Asia, and hailed with +rapture the boundary of their toils. I did not weep, but I knelt down +and with a full heart thanked my guiding spirit for conducting me in +safety to the place where I hoped, notwithstanding my adversary's gibe, +to meet and grapple with him. +
+ ++Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus +traversed the snows with inconceivable speed. I know not whether the +fiend possessed the same advantages, but I found that, as before I had +daily lost ground in the pursuit, I now gained on him, so much so that +when I first saw the ocean he was but one day's journey in advance, and +I hoped to intercept him before he should reach the beach. With new +courage, therefore, I pressed on, and in two days arrived at a wretched +hamlet on the seashore. I inquired of the inhabitants concerning the +fiend and gained accurate information. A gigantic monster, they said, +had arrived the night before, armed with a gun and many pistols, +putting to flight the inhabitants of a solitary cottage through fear of +his terrific appearance. He had carried off their store of winter +food, and placing it in a sledge, to draw which he had seized on a +numerous drove of trained dogs, he had harnessed them, and the same +night, to the joy of the horror-struck villagers, had pursued his +journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land; and they +conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the +ice or frozen by the eternal frosts. +
+ ++On hearing this information I suffered a temporary access of despair. +He had escaped me, and I must commence a destructive and almost endless +journey across the mountainous ices of the ocean, amidst cold that few +of the inhabitants could long endure and which I, the native of a +genial and sunny climate, could not hope to survive. Yet at the idea +that the fiend should live and be triumphant, my rage and vengeance +returned, and like a mighty tide, overwhelmed every other feeling. +After a slight repose, during which the spirits of the dead hovered +round and instigated me to toil and revenge, I prepared for my journey. +I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of +the frozen ocean, and purchasing a plentiful stock of provisions, I +departed from land. +
+ ++I cannot guess how many days have passed since then, but I have endured +misery which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution +burning within my heart could have enabled me to support. Immense and +rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard +the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction. But +again the frost came and made the paths of the sea secure. +
+ ++By the quantity of provision which I had consumed, I should guess that +I had passed three weeks in this journey; and the continual protraction +of hope, returning back upon the heart, often wrung bitter drops of +despondency and grief from my eyes. Despair had indeed almost secured +her prey, and I should soon have sunk beneath this misery. Once, after +the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the +summit of a sloping ice mountain, and one, sinking under his fatigue, +died, I viewed the expanse before me with anguish, when suddenly my eye +caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain. I strained my sight to +discover what it could be and uttered a wild cry of ecstasy when I +distinguished a sledge and the distorted proportions of a well-known +form within. Oh! With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart! +Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away, that they might +not intercept the view I had of the daemon; but still my sight was +dimmed by the burning drops, until, giving way to the emotions that +oppressed me, I wept aloud. +
+ ++But this was not the time for delay; I disencumbered the dogs of their +dead companion, gave them a plentiful portion of food, and after an +hour's rest, which was absolutely necessary, and yet which was bitterly +irksome to me, I continued my route. The sledge was still visible, nor +did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short +time some ice-rock concealed it with its intervening crags. I indeed +perceptibly gained on it, and when, after nearly two days' journey, I +beheld my enemy at no more than a mile distant, my heart bounded within +me. +
+ ++But now, when I appeared almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were +suddenly extinguished, and I lost all trace of him more utterly than I +had ever done before. A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its +progress, as the waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every +moment more ominous and terrific. I pressed on, but in vain. The wind +arose; the sea roared; and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, +it split and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound. The +work was soon finished; in a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolled +between me and my enemy, and I was left drifting on a scattered piece +of ice that was continually lessening and thus preparing for me a +hideous death. In this manner many appalling hours passed; several of +my dogs died, and I myself was about to sink under the accumulation of +distress when I saw your vessel riding at anchor and holding forth to +me hopes of succour and life. I had no conception that vessels ever +came so far north and was astounded at the sight. I quickly destroyed +part of my sledge to construct oars, and by these means was enabled, +with infinite fatigue, to move my ice raft in the direction of your +ship. I had determined, if you were going southwards, still to trust +myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose. I +hoped to induce you to grant me a boat with which I could pursue my +enemy. But your direction was northwards. You took me on board when +my vigour was exhausted, and I should soon have sunk under my +multiplied hardships into a death which I still dread, for my task is +unfulfilled. +
+ ++Oh! When will my guiding spirit, in conducting me to the daemon, allow +me the rest I so much desire; or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, +swear to me, Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him +and satisfy my vengeance in his death. And do I dare to ask of you to +undertake my pilgrimage, to endure the hardships that I have undergone? +No; I am not so selfish. Yet, when I am dead, if he should appear, if +the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he +shall not live—swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated +woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes. He is eloquent +and persuasive, and once his words had even power over my heart; but +trust him not. His soul is as hellish as his form, full of treachery +and fiend-like malice. Hear him not; call on the names of William, +Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and +thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the +steel aright. +
+ +
+ Walton, in continuation.
+
+ August 26th, 17—
+
+You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not +feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles +mine? Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his +tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with +difficulty the words so replete with anguish. His fine and lovely eyes +were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow +and quenched in infinite wretchedness. Sometimes he commanded his +countenance and tones and related the most horrible incidents with a +tranquil voice, suppressing every mark of agitation; then, like a +volcano bursting forth, his face would suddenly change to an expression +of the wildest rage as he shrieked out imprecations on his persecutor. +
+ ++His tale is connected and told with an appearance of the simplest +truth, yet I own to you that the letters of Felix and Safie, which he +showed me, and the apparition of the monster seen from our ship, +brought to me a greater conviction of the truth of his narrative than +his asseverations, however earnest and connected. Such a monster has, +then, really existence! I cannot doubt it, yet I am lost in surprise +and admiration. Sometimes I endeavoured to gain from Frankenstein the +particulars of his creature's formation, but on this point he was +impenetrable. "Are you mad, my friend?" said he. "Or whither does your +senseless curiosity lead you? Would you also create for yourself and +the world a demoniacal enemy? Peace, peace! Learn my miseries and do +not seek to increase your own." Frankenstein discovered that I made +notes concerning his history; he asked to see them and then himself +corrected and augmented them in many places, but principally in giving +the life and spirit to the conversations he held with his enemy. "Since +you have preserved my narration," said he, "I would not that a +mutilated one should go down to posterity." +
+ ++Thus has a week passed away, while I have listened to the strangest +tale that ever imagination formed. My thoughts and every feeling of my +soul have been drunk up by the interest for my guest which this tale +and his own elevated and gentle manners have created. I wish to soothe +him, yet can I counsel one so infinitely miserable, so destitute of +every hope of consolation, to live? Oh, no! The only joy that he can +now know will be when he composes his shattered spirit to peace and +death. Yet he enjoys one comfort, the offspring of solitude and +delirium; he believes that when in dreams he holds converse with his +friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or +excitements to his vengeance, that they are not the creations of his +fancy, but the beings themselves who visit him from the regions of a +remote world. This faith gives a solemnity to his reveries that render +them to me almost as imposing and interesting as truth. +
+ ++Our conversations are not always confined to his own history and +misfortunes. On every point of general literature he displays +unbounded knowledge and a quick and piercing apprehension. His +eloquence is forcible and touching; nor can I hear him, when he relates +a pathetic incident or endeavours to move the passions of pity or love, +without tears. What a glorious creature must he have been in the days +of his prosperity, when he is thus noble and godlike in ruin! He seems +to feel his own worth and the greatness of his fall. +
+ ++"When younger," said he, "I believed myself destined for some great +enterprise. My feelings are profound, but I possessed a coolness of +judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements. This sentiment +of the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been +oppressed, for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief +those talents that might be useful to my fellow creatures. When I +reflected on the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation +of a sensitive and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the +herd of common projectors. But this thought, which supported me in the +commencement of my career, now serves only to plunge me lower in the +dust. All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the +archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell. +My imagination was vivid, yet my powers of analysis and application +were intense; by the union of these qualities I conceived the idea and +executed the creation of a man. Even now I cannot recollect without +passion my reveries while the work was incomplete. I trod heaven in my +thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their +effects. From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty +ambition; but how am I sunk! Oh! My friend, if you had known me as I +once was, you would not recognize me in this state of degradation. +Despondency rarely visited my heart; a high destiny seemed to bear me +on, until I fell, never, never again to rise." Must I then lose this +admirable being? I have longed for a friend; I have sought one who +would sympathize with and love me. Behold, on these desert seas I have +found such a one, but I fear I have gained him only to know his value +and lose him. I would reconcile him to life, but he repulses the idea. +
+ ++"I thank you, Walton," he said, "for your kind intentions towards so +miserable a wretch; but when you speak of new ties and fresh +affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone? Can any +man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth? Even +where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, +the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our +minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. They know our +infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, +are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more +certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives. A sister or a +brother can never, unless indeed such symptoms have been shown early, +suspect the other of fraud or false dealing, when another friend, +however strongly he may be attached, may, in spite of himself, be +contemplated with suspicion. But I enjoyed friends, dear not only +through habit and association, but from their own merits; and wherever +I am, the soothing voice of my Elizabeth and the conversation of +Clerval will be ever whispered in my ear. They are dead, and but one +feeling in such a solitude can persuade me to preserve my life. If I +were engaged in any high undertaking or design, fraught with extensive +utility to my fellow creatures, then could I live to fulfil it. But +such is not my destiny; I must pursue and destroy the being to whom I +gave existence; then my lot on earth will be fulfilled and I may die." +
+ +
+September 2nd
+
+My beloved Sister,
+
+I write to you, encompassed by peril and ignorant whether I am ever +doomed to see again dear England and the dearer friends that inhabit +it. I am surrounded by mountains of ice which admit of no escape and +threaten every moment to crush my vessel. The brave fellows whom I +have persuaded to be my companions look towards me for aid, but I have +none to bestow. There is something terribly appalling in our +situation, yet my courage and hopes do not desert me. Yet it is +terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered +through me. If we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause. +
+ ++And what, Margaret, will be the state of your mind? You will not hear +of my destruction, and you will anxiously await my return. Years will +pass, and you will have visitings of despair and yet be tortured by +hope. Oh! My beloved sister, the sickening failing of your heart-felt +expectations is, in prospect, more terrible to me than my own death. +
+ ++But you have a husband and lovely children; you may be happy. Heaven +bless you and make you so! +
+ ++My unfortunate guest regards me with the tenderest compassion. He +endeavours to fill me with hope and talks as if life were a possession +which he valued. He reminds me how often the same accidents have +happened to other navigators who have attempted this sea, and in spite +of myself, he fills me with cheerful auguries. Even the sailors feel +the power of his eloquence; when he speaks, they no longer despair; he +rouses their energies, and while they hear his voice they believe these +vast mountains of ice are mole-hills which will vanish before the +resolutions of man. These feelings are transitory; each day of +expectation delayed fills them with fear, and I almost dread a mutiny +caused by this despair. +
+ ++September 5th +
+ ++A scene has just passed of such uncommon interest that, although it is +highly probable that these papers may never reach you, yet I cannot +forbear recording it. +
+ ++We are still surrounded by mountains of ice, still in imminent danger +of being crushed in their conflict. The cold is excessive, and many of +my unfortunate comrades have already found a grave amidst this scene of +desolation. Frankenstein has daily declined in health; a feverish fire +still glimmers in his eyes, but he is exhausted, and when suddenly +roused to any exertion, he speedily sinks again into apparent +lifelessness. +
+ ++I mentioned in my last letter the fears I entertained of a mutiny. +This morning, as I sat watching the wan countenance of my friend—his +eyes half closed and his limbs hanging listlessly—I was roused by half +a dozen of the sailors, who demanded admission into the cabin. They +entered, and their leader addressed me. He told me that he and his +companions had been chosen by the other sailors to come in deputation +to me to make me a requisition which, in justice, I could not refuse. +We were immured in ice and should probably never escape, but they +feared that if, as was possible, the ice should dissipate and a free +passage be opened, I should be rash enough to continue my voyage and +lead them into fresh dangers, after they might happily have surmounted +this. They insisted, therefore, that I should engage with a solemn +promise that if the vessel should be freed I would instantly direct my +course southwards. +
+ ++This speech troubled me. I had not despaired, nor had I yet conceived +the idea of returning if set free. Yet could I, in justice, or even in +possibility, refuse this demand? I hesitated before I answered, when +Frankenstein, who had at first been silent, and indeed appeared hardly +to have force enough to attend, now roused himself; his eyes sparkled, +and his cheeks flushed with momentary vigour. Turning towards the men, +he said, "What do you mean? What do you demand of your captain? Are +you, then, so easily turned from your design? Did you not call this a +glorious expedition? +
+ ++"And wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way was smooth and +placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and +terror, because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called +forth and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded +it, and these you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a +glorious, for this was it an honourable undertaking. You were +hereafter to be hailed as the benefactors of your species, your names +adored as belonging to brave men who encountered death for honour and +the benefit of mankind. And now, behold, with the first imagination of +danger, or, if you will, the first mighty and terrific trial of your +courage, you shrink away and are content to be handed down as men who +had not strength enough to endure cold and peril; and so, poor souls, +they were chilly and returned to their warm firesides. Why, that +requires not this preparation; ye need not have come thus far and +dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove +yourselves cowards. Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to +your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as +your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say +that it shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of +disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and +conquered and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe." +He spoke this with a voice so modulated to the different feelings +expressed in his speech, with an eye so full of lofty design and +heroism, that can you wonder that these men were moved? They looked at +one another and were unable to reply. I spoke; I told them to retire +and consider of what had been said, that I would not lead them farther +north if they strenuously desired the contrary, but that I hoped that, +with reflection, their courage would return. They retired and I turned +towards my friend, but he was sunk in languor and almost deprived of +life. +
+ ++How all this will terminate, I know not, but I had rather die than +return shamefully, my purpose unfulfilled. Yet I fear such will be my +fate; the men, unsupported by ideas of glory and honour, can never +willingly continue to endure their present hardships. +
+ ++September 7th +
+ ++The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed. +Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; I come back +ignorant and disappointed. It requires more philosophy than I possess +to bear this injustice with patience. +
+ ++September 12th +
+ ++It is past; I am returning to England. I have lost my hopes of utility +and glory; I have lost my friend. But I will endeavour to detail these +bitter circumstances to you, my dear sister; and while I am wafted +towards England and towards you, I will not despond. +
+ ++September 9th, the ice began to move, and roarings like thunder were +heard at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every +direction. We were in the most imminent peril, but as we could only +remain passive, my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest +whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined +to his bed. The ice cracked behind us and was driven with force +towards the north; a breeze sprang from the west, and on the 11th the +passage towards the south became perfectly free. When the sailors saw +this and that their return to their native country was apparently +assured, a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them, loud and +long-continued. Frankenstein, who was dozing, awoke and asked the +cause of the tumult. "They shout," I said, "because they will soon +return to England." +
+ ++"Do you, then, really return?" +
+ ++"Alas! Yes; I cannot withstand their demands. I cannot lead them +unwillingly to danger, and I must return." +
+ ++"Do so, if you will; but I will not. You may give up your purpose, but +mine is assigned to me by heaven, and I dare not. I am weak, but +surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with +sufficient strength." Saying this, he endeavoured to spring from the +bed, but the exertion was too great for him; he fell back and fainted. +
+ ++It was long before he was restored, and I often thought that life was +entirely extinct. At length he opened his eyes; he breathed with +difficulty and was unable to speak. The surgeon gave him a composing +draught and ordered us to leave him undisturbed. In the meantime he +told me that my friend had certainly not many hours to live. +
+ ++His sentence was pronounced, and I could only grieve and be patient. I +sat by his bed, watching him; his eyes were closed, and I thought he +slept; but presently he called to me in a feeble voice, and bidding me +come near, said, "Alas! The strength I relied on is gone; I feel that +I shall soon die, and he, my enemy and persecutor, may still be in +being. Think not, Walton, that in the last moments of my existence I +feel that burning hatred and ardent desire of revenge I once expressed; +but I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary. +During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past +conduct; nor do I find it blamable. In a fit of enthusiastic madness I +created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far +as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. +
+ ++"This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to that. My +duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my +attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or +misery. Urged by this view, I refused, and I did right in refusing, to +create a companion for the first creature. He showed unparalleled +malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted +to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, +and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end. +Miserable himself that he may render no other wretched, he ought to +die. The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed. When +actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I asked you to undertake my +unfinished work, and I renew this request now, when I am only induced +by reason and virtue. +
+ ++"Yet I cannot ask you to renounce your country and friends to fulfil +this task; and now that you are returning to England, you will have +little chance of meeting with him. But the consideration of these +points, and the well balancing of what you may esteem your duties, I +leave to you; my judgment and ideas are already disturbed by the near +approach of death. I dare not ask you to do what I think right, for I +may still be misled by passion. +
+ ++"That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in +other respects, this hour, when I momentarily expect my release, is the +only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of +the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, +Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it +be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in +science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been +blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." +
+ ++His voice became fainter as he spoke, and at length, exhausted by his +effort, he sank into silence. About half an hour afterwards he +attempted again to speak but was unable; he pressed my hand feebly, and +his eyes closed forever, while the irradiation of a gentle smile passed +away from his lips. +
+ ++Margaret, what comment can I make on the untimely extinction of this +glorious spirit? What can I say that will enable you to understand the +depth of my sorrow? All that I should express would be inadequate and +feeble. My tears flow; my mind is overshadowed by a cloud of +disappointment. But I journey towards England, and I may there find +consolation. +
+ ++I am interrupted. What do these sounds portend? It is midnight; the +breeze blows fairly, and the watch on deck scarcely stir. Again there +is a sound as of a human voice, but hoarser; it comes from the cabin +where the remains of Frankenstein still lie. I must arise and examine. +Good night, my sister. +
+ ++Great God! what a scene has just taken place! I am yet dizzy with the +remembrance of it. I hardly know whether I shall have the power to +detail it; yet the tale which I have recorded would be incomplete +without this final and wonderful catastrophe. I entered the cabin where +lay the remains of my ill-fated and admirable friend. Over him hung a +form which I cannot find words to describe—gigantic in stature, yet +uncouth and distorted in its proportions. As he hung over the coffin, +his face was concealed by long locks of ragged hair; but one vast hand +was extended, in colour and apparent texture like that of a mummy. When +he heard the sound of my approach, he ceased to utter exclamations of +grief and horror and sprung towards the window. Never did I behold a +vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome yet appalling +hideousness. I shut my eyes involuntarily and endeavoured to recollect +what were my duties with regard to this destroyer. I called on him to +stay. +
+ ++He paused, looking on me with wonder, and again turning towards the +lifeless form of his creator, he seemed to forget my presence, and +every feature and gesture seemed instigated by the wildest rage of some +uncontrollable passion. +
+ ++"That is also my victim!" he exclaimed. "In his murder my crimes are +consummated; the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! +Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail +that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee +by destroying all thou lovedst. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer +me." His voice seemed suffocated, and my first impulses, which had +suggested to me the duty of obeying the dying request of my friend in +destroying his enemy, were now suspended by a mixture of curiosity and +compassion. I approached this tremendous being; I dared not again +raise my eyes to his face, there was something so scaring and unearthly +in his ugliness. I attempted to speak, but the words died away on my +lips. The monster continued to utter wild and incoherent +self-reproaches. At length I gathered resolution to address him in a +pause of the tempest of his passion. +
+ ++"Your repentance," I said, "is now superfluous. If you had listened to +the voice of conscience and heeded the stings of remorse before you had +urged your diabolical vengeance to this extremity, Frankenstein would +yet have lived." +
+ ++"And do you dream?" said the daemon. "Do you think that I was then +dead to agony and remorse? He," he continued, pointing to the corpse, +"he suffered not in the consummation of the deed. Oh! Not the +ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the +lingering detail of its execution. A frightful selfishness hurried me +on, while my heart was poisoned with remorse. Think you that the +groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be +susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice +and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without +torture such as you cannot even imagine. +
+ ++"After the murder of Clerval I returned to Switzerland, heart-broken +and overcome. I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror; I +abhorred myself. But when I discovered that he, the author at once of +my existence and of its unspeakable torments, dared to hope for +happiness, that while he accumulated wretchedness and despair upon me +he sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the +indulgence of which I was forever barred, then impotent envy and bitter +indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. I +recollected my threat and resolved that it should be accomplished. I +knew that I was preparing for myself a deadly torture, but I was the +slave, not the master, of an impulse which I detested yet could not +disobey. Yet when she died! Nay, then I was not miserable. I had +cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my +despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no +choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly +chosen. The completion of my demoniacal design became an insatiable +passion. And now it is ended; there is my last victim!" +
+ ++I was at first touched by the expressions of his misery; yet, when I +called to mind what Frankenstein had said of his powers of eloquence +and persuasion, and when I again cast my eyes on the lifeless form of +my friend, indignation was rekindled within me. "Wretch!" I said. "It +is well that you come here to whine over the desolation that you have +made. You throw a torch into a pile of buildings, and when they are +consumed, you sit among the ruins and lament the fall. Hypocritical +fiend! If he whom you mourn still lived, still would he be the object, +again would he become the prey, of your accursed vengeance. It is not +pity that you feel; you lament only because the victim of your +malignity is withdrawn from your power." +
+ ++"Oh, it is not thus—not thus," interrupted the being. "Yet such must +be the impression conveyed to you by what appears to be the purport of +my actions. Yet I seek not a fellow feeling in my misery. No sympathy +may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, +the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being +overflowed, that I wished to be participated. But now that virtue has +become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into +bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy? I am +content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure; when I die, I +am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory. +Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of +enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my +outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was +capable of unfolding. I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and +devotion. But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No +guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to +mine. When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot +believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled +with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of +goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant +devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates +in his desolation; I am alone. +
+ ++"You, who call Frankenstein your friend, seem to have a knowledge of my +crimes and his misfortunes. But in the detail which he gave you of them +he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured +wasting in impotent passions. For while I destroyed his hopes, I did +not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still +I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no +injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all +humankind sinned against me? Why do you not hate Felix, who drove his +friend from his door with contumely? Why do you not execrate the rustic +who sought to destroy the saviour of his child? Nay, these are virtuous +and immaculate beings! I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an +abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my +blood boils at the recollection of this injustice. +
+ ++"But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the +helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to +death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. I +have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of +love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to +that irremediable ruin. +
+ ++"There he lies, white and cold in death. You hate me, but your +abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the +hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the +imagination of it was conceived and long for the moment when these +hands will meet my eyes, when that imagination will haunt my thoughts +no more. +
+ ++"Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief. My work +is nearly complete. Neither yours nor any man's death is needed to +consummate the series of my being and accomplish that which must be +done, but it requires my own. Do not think that I shall be slow to +perform this sacrifice. I shall quit your vessel on the ice raft which +brought me thither and shall seek the most northern extremity of the +globe; I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this +miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious +and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been. I +shall die. I shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me or +be the prey of feelings unsatisfied, yet unquenched. He is dead who +called me into being; and when I shall be no more, the very remembrance +of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or +stars or feel the winds play on my cheeks. +
+ ++"Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I +find my happiness. Some years ago, when the images which this world +affords first opened upon me, when I felt the cheering warmth of summer +and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and +these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only +consolation. Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, +where can I find rest but in death? +
+ ++"Farewell! I leave you, and in you the last of humankind whom these +eyes will ever behold. Farewell, Frankenstein! If thou wert yet alive +and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better +satiated in my life than in my destruction. But it was not so; thou +didst seek my extinction, that I might not cause greater wretchedness; +and if yet, in some mode unknown to me, thou hadst not ceased to think +and feel, thou wouldst not desire against me a vengeance greater than +that which I feel. Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to +thine, for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my +wounds until death shall close them forever. +
+ ++"But soon," he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, "I shall die, and +what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be +extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the +agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will +fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit +will sleep in peace, or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. +Farewell." +
+ ++He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft +which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by the waves and +lost in darkness and distance. +
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
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+Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
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