was reputed one of the
handsomest men in Austria. He at once invited me to his table, and
having provided me with a delightful little chamber, from whence the
view extended for miles along the Inn, he sent me stores of books,
journals, and newspapers, French, English, and German, showing by the
very candour of their tidings a most flattering degree of confidence and
trust.

If imprisonment could ever be endurable with resignation, mine ought to
have been so. My mornings were passed in weeding or gardening a little
plot of ground outside my window, giving me ample occupation in that
way, and rendering carnations and roses dearer to me, through all my
after-life, than without such associations they would ever have been.
Then I used to sketch for hours, from the walls, bird's-eye views,
prisoner's glimpses, of the glorious Tyrol scenery below us. Early
in the afternoon came dinner; and then, with the general's pleasant
converse, a cigar, and a chess-board, the time wore smoothly on till
nightfall.

An occasional thunderstorm, grander and more sublime than anything I
have ever seen elsewhere, would now and then vary a life of calm but not
unpleasant monotony; and occasionally, too, some passing escort, on
the way to or from Vienna, would give tidings of the war; but except in
these, each day was precisely like the other, so that when the almanac
told me it was autumn, I could scarcely believe a single month had
glided over. I will not attempt to conceal the fact, that the inglorious
idleness of my life, this term of inactivity at an age when hope, and
vigour, and energy were highest within me, was a grievous privation;
but, except in these regrets, I could almost call this time a happy
one. The unfortunate position in which I started in life gave me little
opportunity, or even inclination for learning. Except the little Pere
Michel had taught me, I knew nothing. I need not say that this was but
a sorry stock of education, even at that period, when, I must say, the
sabre was more in vogue than the grammar.

I now set steadily about repairing this deficiency. General Urleben lent
me all his aid, directing my studies, supplying me with books, and
at times affording me the still greater assistance of his counsel and
advice. To history generally, but particularly that of France, he made
me pay the deepest attention, and seemed never to weary while impressing
upon me the grandeur of our former monarchies, and the happiness of