I may say, that the portion of my life which I passed in
this retirement, though in continual ill-health, was that in which I
was least idle and least wearied. Two or three months were thus
employed in discovering the bent of my genius; meantime, I enjoyed, in
the finest season of the year, and in a spot it rendered delightful,
the charms of a life whose worth I was so highly sensible of, in
such a society, as. free as it was charming; if a union so perfect,
and the extensive knowledge I purposed to acquire, can be called
society. It seemed to me as if I already possessed the improvements
I was only in pursuit of: or rather better, since the pleasure of
learning constituted a great part of my happiness.
I must pass over these particulars, which were to me the height of
enjoyment, but are too trivial to bear repeating: indeed, true
happiness is indescribable, it is only to be felt, and this
consciousness of felicity is proportionably more, the less able we are
to describe it; because it does not absolutely result from a
concurse of favorable incidents, but is an affection of the mind
itself. I am frequently guilty of repetitions, but should be
infinitely more so, did I repeat the same thing as often as it
recurs with pleasure to my mind. When, at length, my variable mode
of life was reduced to a more uniform course, the, following was
nearly the distribution of time which I adopted: I rose every
morning before the sun, and passed through a neighboring orchard
into a pleasant path, which, running by a vineyard, led towards
Chambery.
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