such were the reflections that haunted the first days of my imprisonment, in consequence of which they were spent in perpetual anguish. but, after a time, nature, wearied with distress, would no longer stoop to the burthen; thought, which is incessantly varying, introduced a series of reflections totally different.
my fortitude revived. i had always been accustomed to cheerfulness, good humour, and serenity; and this habit now returned to visit me at the bottom of my dungeon. no sooner did my contemplations take this turn, than i saw the reasonableness and possibility of tranquillity and peace; and my mind whispered to me the propriety of showing, in this forlorn condition, that i was superior to all my persecutors. blessed state of innocence and self-approbation! the sunshine of conscious integrity pierced through all the barriers of my cell, and spoke ten thousand times more joy to my heart, than the accumulated splendours of nature and art can communicate to the slaves of vice.
i found out the secret of employing my mind. i said, “i am shut up for half the day in total darkness, without any external source of amusement; the other half i spend in the midst of noise, turbulence, and, confusion. what then? can i not draw amusement from the stores of my own mind? is it not freighted with various knowledge? have i not been employed from my infancy in gratifying an insatiable curiosity? when should i derive benefit from these superior advantages, if not at present?” accordingly i tasked the stores of my memory, and my powers of invention. i amused myself with recollecting the history of my life. by degrees i called to mind a number of minute circumstances, which, but for this exercise, would have been for ever forgotten. i repassed in my thoughts whole conversations, i recollected their subjects, their arrangement, their incidents, frequently their very words. i mused upon these ideas, till i was totally absorbed in thought. i repeated them, till my mind glowed with enthusiasm. i had my different employments, fitted for the solitude of the night, in which i could give full scope to the impulses of my mind; and for the uproar of the day, in which my chief object was, to be insensible to the disorder with which i was surrounded.
by degrees i quitted my own story, and employed myself in imaginary adventures. i figured to myself every situation in which i could be placed, and conceived the conduct to be observed in each. thus scenes of insult and danger, of tenderness and oppression, became familiar to me. in fancy i often passed the awful hour of dissolving nature. in some of my reveries i boiled with impetuous indignation, and in others patiently collected the whole force of my mind for some fearful encounter. i cultivated the powers of oratory suited to these different states, and improved more in eloquence in the solitude of my dungeon, than perhaps i should have done in the busiest and most crowded scenes.
at length i proceeded to as regular a disposition of my time, as the man in his study, who passes from mathematics to poetry, and from poetry to the law of nations, in the different parts of each single day; and i as seldom infringed upon my plan. nor were my subjects of disquisition less numerous than his. i went over, by the assistance of memory only, a considerable part of euclid during my confinement, and revived, day after day, the series of facts and incidents in some of the most celebrated historians. i became myself a poet; and, while i described the sentiments cherished by the view of natural objects, recorded the characters and passions of men, and partook with a burning zeal in the generosity of their determinations, i eluded the squalid solitude of my dungeon, and wandered in idea through all the varieties of human society. i easily found expedients, such as the mind seems always to require, and which books and pens supply to the man at large, to record from time to time the progress that had been made.
while i was thus employed, i reflected with exultation upon the degree in which man is independent of the smiles and frowns of fortune. i was beyond her reach, for i could fall no lower. to an ordinary eye i might seem destitute and miserable, but in reality i wanted for nothing. my fare was coarse; but i was in health. my dungeon was noisome; but i felt no inconvenience. i was shut up from the usual means of exercise and air; but i found the method of exercising myself even to perspiration in my dungeon. i had no power of withdrawing my person from a disgustful society, in the most cheerful and valuable part of the day; but i soon brought to perfection the art of withdrawing my thoughts, and saw and heard the people about me, for just as short a time, and as seldom, as i pleased.
such is man in himself considered; so simple his nature; so few his wants. how different from the man of artificial society! palaces are built for his reception, a thousand vehicles provided for his exercise, provinces are ransacked for the gratification of his appetite, and the whole world traversed to supply him with apparel and furniture. thus vast is his expenditure, and the purchase slavery. he is dependent on a thousand accidents for tranquillity and health, and his body and soul are at the devotion of whoever will satisfy his imperious cravings.
in addition to the disadvantages of my present situation, i was reserved for an ignominious death. what then? every man must die. no man knows how soon. it surely is not worse to encounter the king of terrors, in health, and with every advantage for the collection of fortitude, than to encounter him, already half subdued by sickness and suffering. i was resolved at least fully to possess the days i had to live; and this is peculiarly in the power of the man who preserves his health to the last moment of his existence. why should i suffer my mind to be invaded by unavailing regrets? every sentiment of vanity, or rather of independence and justice within me, instigated me to say to my persecutor, “you may cut off my existence, but you cannot disturb my serenity.”
