The violence of their own passionate natures, the headlong
impulses by which they suffered themselves to be swayed, left them no
power of judgment regarding those whose views were more moderate and
temperate. They could understand the high Tory landlord, whom they
invested with every attribute of tyranny, as their open, candid
opponent; they could see a warm friend in the violent mob-orator of the
day; but they recognized no trait of kindness in him who would rather
see them fed than flattered, and behold them in the enjoyment of comfort
sooner than in the ecstasy of triumph.

From "Darby the Blast"--for he was now a member of my household--I
learned the light in which I was regarded by the people, and heard the
dissatisfaction they expressed that one who "sarved Boney" should not
be ready to head a rising, if need be. Thus was I in a false position
on every side. Mistrusted by all, because I would neither enter into the
exaggerations of party, nor become blind to the truth my senses revealed
before me, my sphere of utility was narrowed to the discharge of the
mere duties of common charity and benevolence, and my presence among my
tenantry no more productive of benefit than if I had left my purse as my
representative.

Years rolled on, and in the noiseless track of time I forgot its flight.
I now had grown so wedded to the habits of my solitary life, that its
very monotony was a source of pleasure. I had intrenched myself within a
little circle of enjoyments, and among my books and in my walks my days
went pleasantly over.

For a long time, I did not dare to read the daily papers, nor learn the
great events which agitated Europe. I tried to think that an interval of
repose would leave me indifferent to their mention; and so rigidly did I
abstain from indulging my curiosity, that the burning of Moscow, and the
commencement of the dreadful retreat which followed, was the first fact
I read of.

From the moment I gave way, the passion for intelligence from France
became a perfect mania. Where were the different corps of the "Grand
Army"? where the Emperor himself? by what great stroke of genius would
he emerge from the difficulties around him, and deal one of his fatal
blows on the enemy?--were the questions which met me as I awoke, and
tortured me during the day.

Each movement of that terrible retreat I followed in the gazettes with
an anxiety verging on insanity. I tracked the long journey on the map,
and as I coun