CHAPTER II.
We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference inour ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species ofdisunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and thediversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearertogether. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition;but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application,and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge. She busiedherself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in themajestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home--thesublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of the seasons; tempest andcalm; the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpinesummers,--she found ample scope for admiration and delight. While mycompanion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit themagnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating theircauses. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladnessakin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliestsensations I can remember.
On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gaveup entirely their wandering life, and fixed themselves in their nativecountry. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a _campagne_ on Belrive,the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than aleague from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and thelives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion. It was mytemper to avoid a crowd, and to attach myself fervently to a few. I wasindifferent, therefore, to my schoolfellows in general; but I unitedmyself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. HenryClerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singulartalent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger, forits own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. Hecomposed heroic songs, and began to write many a tale of enchantment andknightly adventure. He tried to make us act plays, and to enter intomasquerades, in which the characters were drawn from the heroes ofRoncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalroustrain who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the handsof the infidels.
No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. Myparents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. Wefelt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to theircaprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which weenjoyed. When I mingled with other families, I distinctly discerned howpeculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the developementof filial love.
My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by somelaw in my temperature they were turned, not towards childish pursuits,but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all thingsindiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, northe code of governments, nor the politics of various states, possessedattractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that Idesired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things, orthe inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupiedme, still my enquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or, in itshighest sense, the physical secrets of the world.
Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moralrelations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, andthe actions of men, were his theme; and his hope and his dream was tobecome one among those whose names are recorded in story, as thegallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul ofElizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Hersympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of hercelestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was theliving spirit of love to soften and attract: I might have become sullenin my study, rough through the ardour of my nature, but that she wasthere to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. AndClerval--could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval?--yethe might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in hisgenerosity--so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion foradventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness ofbeneficence, and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaringambition.
I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood,before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions ofextensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self.Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record thoseevents which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery: forwhen I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, whichafterwards ruled my destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river,from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as itproceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept awayall my hopes and joys.
Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire,therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to mypredilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age, we allwent on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon: the inclemency ofthe weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In thishouse I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. Iopened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate, andthe wonderful facts which he relates, soon changed this feeling intoenthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind; and, bounding withjoy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father lookedcarelessly at the titlepage of my book, and said, "Ah! CorneliusAgrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sadtrash."
If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain tome, that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded, and thata modern system of science had been introduced, which possessed muchgreater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter werechimerical, while those of the former were real and practical; undersuch circumstances, I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside, andhave contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning withgreater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible, that the trainof my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to myruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by nomeans assured me that he was acquainted with its contents; and Icontinued to read with the greatest avidity.
When I returned home, my first care was to procure the whole works ofthis author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I readand studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; theyappeared to me treasures known to few beside myself. I have describedmyself as always having been embued with a fervent longing to penetratethe secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderfuldiscoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studiesdiscontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowedthat he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great andunexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch ofnatural philosophy with whom I was acquainted, appeared even to my boy'sapprehensions, as tyros engaged in the same pursuit.
The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him, and was acquaintedwith their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew littlemore. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortallineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect,anatomise, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes intheir secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him. I hadgazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep humanbeings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly Ihad repined.
But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper andknew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I becametheir disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in theeighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in theschools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self taught with regard tomy favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left tostruggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst forknowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors, I entered with t
hegreatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and theelixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention.Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend thediscovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and renderman invulnerable to any but a violent death!
Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was apromise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment ofwhich I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were alwaysunsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience andmistake, than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And thusfor a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like anunadept, a thousand contradictory theories, and floundering desperatelyin a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardentimagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed thecurrent of my ideas.
When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house nearBelrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunder-storm. Itadvanced from behind the mountains of Jura; and the thunder burst atonce with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. Iremained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosityand delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream offire issue from an old and beautiful oak, which stood about twenty yardsfrom our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak haddisappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visitedit the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner.It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribandsof wood. I never beheld any thing so utterly destroyed.
Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws ofelectricity. On this occasion a man of great research in naturalphilosophy was with us, and, excited by this catastrophe, he entered onthe explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject ofelectricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me.All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa,Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but bysome fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue myaccustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever beknown. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grewdespicable. By one of those caprices of the mind, which we are perhapsmost subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations;set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortivecreation; and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science,which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. Inthis mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics, and the branchesof study appertaining to that science, as being built upon securefoundations, and so worthy of my consideration.
Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligamentsare we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me asif this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was theimmediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life--the last effortmade by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even thenhanging in the stars, and ready to envelope me. Her victory wasannounced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul, whichfollowed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormentingstudies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil withtheir prosecution, happiness with their disregard.
It was a strong effort of the spirit of good; but it was ineffectual.Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter andterrible destruction.