When I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred.

At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless.

It was a place fitted for such a work, being hardly more than a rock whose high sides were continually beaten upon by the waves. The soil was barren, scarcely affording pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, which consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave tokens of their miserable fare.

I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw by the light of the moon the dæmon at the casement.

She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair.

I am surrounded by mountains of ice which admit of no escape and threaten every moment to crush my vessel.

The present season was indeed divine; the flowers of spring bloomed in the hedges, while those of summer were already in bud.

My own spirits were high, and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled joy and hilarity.