ight adorn a life of ease and luxury; but that
to a man who would be truly great there was but one subject of
inquiry,--the source of wealth, and the causes which make states
affluent. These, he said, were the legitimate subjects for high
intelligence to engage upon. "Master these," said he, "and monarchs are
your vassals." I was amazed to discover that amid the mass of prejudices
which encumbered his mind, it was stored with information the most
various and remarkable. It was evident, too, that he had lived much in
the great world, and was familiar with all its habits and opinions. As
time wore on, I learned from him that his present life, with all its
privations, was purely voluntary; that he possessed sufficient means to
support an existence of comfort and ease. "But," added he, "if you would
give the intelligence a supremacy, it must be done at the cost of animal
enjoyment. If the body is to be pampered, the brain will take its ease.
To this end came I here; to this end have I lived fourteen years of toil
and isolation. I have estranged myself from all that could distract me;
friendships, pleasures, the great events of the age,--I know none of
them! I am satisfied to toil and think now that, in after ages, men
should hold my name in reverence, and regard my memory with affection."

Although he constantly made allusions of this kind, he never proceeded
to give me any closer insight into his designs; and if at moments
the reasonableness of his manner and the strong force of his remarks
impressed me favorably with regard to his powers of mind, at others I
was induced to think that nothing short of erring faculties could have
condemned a man to a voluntary life of such abject want and of such
cruel privation as he endured.

It was still some weeks before I had strength to return home; but he
permitted me to write every second day to my mother and Raper, from
whom I heard in return. If at first my ardent longing to be once more
at home--to be with those who made up the whole world of my
existence--surpassed all other thoughts, I grew day by day to feel the
strange fascination of an unknown interest in the subject of his talk,
and to experience an intense anxiety to know his secret.

It was evident that he felt the influence he had obtained over me, and
was bent on extending and enlarging it; for constantly would he dwell
upon the themes which attracted me and fascinated my attention. Shall
I confess what these were? Th