s of his Equals, and despised all merit but his own: He was
implacable when offended, and cruel in his revenge. Still in spite of
the pains taken to pervert them, his natural good qualities would
occasionally break through the gloom cast over them so carefully:

At such times the contest for superiority between his real and acquired
character was striking and unaccountable to those unacquainted with his
original disposition. He pronounced the most severe sentences upon
Offenders, which, the moment after, Compassion induced him to mitigate:
He undertook the most daring enterprizes, which the fear of their
consequences soon obliged him to abandon: His inborn genius darted a
brilliant light upon subjects the most obscure; and almost
instantaneously his Superstition replunged them in darkness more
profound than that from which they had just been rescued. His Brother
Monks, regarding him as a Superior Being, remarked not this
contradiction in their Idol's conduct. They were persuaded that what
He did must be right, and supposed him to have good reasons for
changing his resolutions. The fact was, that the different sentiments
with which Education and Nature had inspired him were combating in his
bosom: It remained for his passions, which as yet no opportunity had
called into play, to decide the victory. Unfortunately his passions
were the very worst Judges, to whom He could possibly have applied.
His monastic seclusion had till now been in his favour, since it gave
him no room for discovering his bad qualities. The superiority of his
talents raised him too far above his Companions to permit his being
jealous of them: His exemplary piety, persuasive eloquence, and
pleasing manners had secured him universal Esteem, and consequently He
had no injuries to revenge: His Ambition was justified by his
acknowledged merit, and his pride considered as no more than proper
confidence. He never saw, much less conversed with, the other sex: He
was ignorant of the pleasures in Woman's power to bestow, and if He
read in the course of his studies

'That Men were fond, He smiled, and wondered how!'

For a time, spare diet, frequent watching, and severe penance cooled
and represt the natural warmth of his constitution: But no sooner did
opportunity present itself, no sooner did He catch a glimpse of joys to
which He was still a Stranger, than Religion's barriers were too feeble
to resist the overwhelming torrent of his desires