hate."

Then he wrote to his family.
"MANNHEIM

"17th of the month of spring, 1820

"DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS,--You should have received my last
letters through the grand-duke's commission; in them I answered yours,
and tried to console you for my position by describing the state of my
soul as it is, the contempt to which I have attained for everything
fragile and earthly, and by which one must necessarily be overcome when
such matters are weighed against the fulfilment of an idea, or that
intellectual liberty which alone can nourish the soul; in a word, I tried
to console you by the assurance that the feelings, principles, and
convictions of which I formerly spoke are faithfully preserved in me and
have remained exactly the same; but I am sure all this was an unnecessary
precaution on my part, for there was never a time when you asked anything
else of me than to have God before my eyes and in my heart; and you have
seen how, under your guidance, this precept so passed into my soul that
it became my sole object of happiness for this world and the next; no
doubt, as He was in and near me, God will be in and near you at the
moment when this letter brings you the news of my sentence. I die
willingly, and the Lord will give me strength to die as one ought to die.

"I write to you perfectly quiet and calm about all things, and I hope
that your lives too will pass calmly and tranquilly until the moment when
our souls meet again full of fresh force to love one another and to share
eternal happiness together.

"As for me, such as I have lived as long as I have known myself--that is
to say, in a serenity full of celestial desires and a courageous and
indefatigable love of liberty, such I am about to die.

"May God be with you and with me!--Your son, brother, and friend,
"KARL-LUDWIG SAND."

From that moment his serenity remained un troubled; during the whole day
he talked more gaily than usual, slept well, did not awake until
half-past seven, said that he felt stronger, and thanked God for visiting
him thus.

The nature of the verdict had been known since the day before, and it had
been learned that the execution was fixed for the 20th of May--that is
to say, three full days after the sentence had been read to the accused.

Henceforward, with Sand's permission, persons who wished to speak to him
and whom he was not reluctant to see, were admitted: three among these
paid him long and noteworthy visits.

O