Pagina 343 di 483

The prospect did not move me to fear; yet when I thought of my

beloved Elizabeth, of her tears and endless sorrow, when she

should find her lover so barbarously snatched from her, tears,

the first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes, and

I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.

The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean; my

feelings became calmer, if it may be called calmness when the

violence of rage sinks into the depths of despair. I left the

house, the horrid scene of the last night's contention, and

walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost regarded as an

insuperable barrier between me and my fellow creatures; nay, a

wish that such should prove the fact stole across me. I desired

that I might pass my life on that barren rock, wearily, it is

true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery. If I

returned, it was to be sacrificed or to see those whom I most

loved die under the grasp of a daemon whom I had myself created.