tical, because man draws entirely from himself, and is in
no degree inspired by external objects.

Since I have been so cruelly persecuted by the Emperor, I have lost
all kind of confidence in destiny; I have however a stronger belief
in the protection of providence, but it is not in the form of
happiness on this earth. The result is, that all resolutions terrify
me, and yet exile obliges me frequently to adopt some. I dreaded the
sea, although every one said, all the world makes this passage, and
no harm happens to any one. Such is the language which encourages
almost all travellers: but the imagination does not allow itself to
be chained by this kind of consolation, and that abyss, from which
so slight an obstacle separates you, is always tormenting to the
mind. Mr. Schlegel saw the terror I felt about the frail vessel
which was to carry us to Stockholm. He showed me, near Abo, the
prison in which one of the most unfortunate kings of Sweden, Eric
XIV. had been confined some time before he died in another prison
near Gripsholm. "If you were confined there," he said to me, "how
much would you envy the passage of this sea, which at present so
terrifies you." This just reflection speedily gave another turn to
my ideas, and the first days of our voyage were sufficiently
pleasant. We passed between the islands, and although there was more
danger close to the land than in the open sea, one never feels the
same terror which the sight of the waves appearing to touch the sky
makes one experience. I made them show me the land in the horizon,
as far as I could perceive it; infinity is as fearful to the sight
as it is pleasant to the soul. We passed by the isle of Aland, where
the plenipotentiaries of Peter I. and Charles XII. negociated a
peace, and endeavored to fix boundaries to their ambition in this
frozen part of the world, which the blood of their subjects alone
had been able to thaw for a moment. We hoped to reach Stockholm the
following day, but a decidedly contrary wind obliged us to cast
anchor by the side of an island entirely covered with rocks
interspersed with trees, which hardly grew higher than the stones
which surrounded them. We hastened, however, to take a walk on this
island, in order to feel the earth under our feet.

I have always been very subject to ennui, and far from knowing how
to occupy myself at those moments of entire leisure which seem
destined for study.

Here the manuscript breaks off.

Aft