read once again all my favourite authors; and I became acquainted
with new ones. All my former taste for study was revived. You will
see of what use this was to me in the sequel. The light I had already
derived from love, enabled me to comprehend many passages in Horace and
Virgil which had before appeared obscure. I wrote an amatory
commentary upon the fourth book of the AEneid. I intend one day to
publish it, and I flatter myself it will be popular.

"'Alas!' I used to exclaim, 'whilst employed on that work, it was for a
heart like mine the faithful Dido sighed, and sighed in vain!'

IV

Now, by the strange enchantment that surrounds thee,
There's nothing--nothing thou shalt ask in vain.
ESSEX.

"While in my confinement Tiberge came one day to see me. I was
surprised at the affectionate joy with which he saluted me. I had
never, hitherto, observed any peculiar warmth in his friendship that
could lead me to look upon it as anything more than the partiality
common among boys of the same age. He was so altered, and had grown so
manly during the five or six months since I had last seen him, that his
expressive features and his manner of addressing me inspired me with a
feeling of respect. He spoke more in the character of a mentor than a
schoolfellow, lamented the delusion into which I had fallen,
congratulated me on my reformation, which he believed was now sincere,
and ended by exhorting me to profit by my youthful error, and open my
eyes to the vanity of worldly pleasures. I looked at him with some
astonishment, which he at once perceived.

"'My dear chevalier,' said he to me, 'you shall hear nothing but the
strict truth, of which I have assured myself by the most serious
examination. I had, perhaps, as strong an inclination for pleasure as
you, but Heaven had at the same time, in its mercy, blessed me with a
taste for virtue. I exercised my reason in comparing the consequences
of the one with those of the other, and the divine aid was graciously
vouchsafed to my reflections. I conceived for the world a contempt
which nothing can equal. Can you guess what it is retains me in it
now,' he added, 'and that prevents me from embracing a life of
solitude? Simply the sincere friendship I bear towards you. I know
the excellent qualities of both your heart and head. There is no good
of which you may not render yourself capable. The blandishments of
pleasure have momentarily drawn you asi