Before I abandon myself to the fatality of my destiny, let me
contemplate for a moment the prospect that awaited me had I fallen
into the hands of a better master. Nothing could have been more
agreeable to my disposition, or more likely to confer happiness,
than the peaceful condition of a good artificer, in so respectable a
line as engravers are considered at Geneva. I could have obtained an
easy subsistence, if not a fortune; this would have bounded my
ambition; I should have had means to indulge in moderate pleasures,
and should have continued in my natural sphere, without meeting with
any temptation to go beyond it. Having an imagination sufficiently
fertile to embellish with its chimeras every situation, and powerful
enough to transport me from one to another, it was immaterial in which
I was fixed; that was best adapted to me, which, requiring the least
care or exertion, left the mind most at liberty; and this happiness
I should have enjoyed. In my native country, in the bosom of my
religion, family, and friends, I should have passed a calm and
peaceful life in the uniformity of a pleasing occupation, and among
connections dear to my heart. I should have been a good Christian, a
good citizen, a good friend, a good man. I should have relished my
condition, perhaps have been an honor to it, and after having passed a
life of happy obscurity, surrounded by my family, I should have died
at peace. Soon it may be forgotten, but while remembered it would have
been with tenderness and regret.
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