eminent symptom of my wisdom, and cried out in a kind of ecstasy, 'Well
said, boy! I warrant thou makest a great man.'

"At school I could never be persuaded to play with my mates; not that
I spent my hours in learning, to which I was not in the least addicted,
nor indeed had I any talents for it. However, the solemnity of my
carriage won so much on my master, who was a most sagacious person,
that I was his chief favorite, and my example on all occasions was
recommended to the other boys, which filled them with envy, and me with
pleasure; but, though they envied me, they all paid me that involuntary
respect which it is the curse attending this passion to bear towards its
object.

"I had now obtained universally the character of a very wise young man,
which I did not altogether purchase without pains; for the restraint I
laid on myself in abstaining from the several diversions adapted to my
years cost me many a yearning; but the pride which I inwardly enjoyed in
the fancied dignity of my character made me some amends.

"Thus I passed on, without anything very memorable happening to me,
till I arrived at the age of twenty-three, when unfortunately I fell
acquainted with a young Neapolitan lady whose name was Ariadne. Her
beauty was so exquisite that her first sight made a violent impression
on me; this was again improved by her behavior, which was most genteel,
easy, and affable: lastly, her conversation completed the conquest. In
this she discovered a strong and lively understanding, with the sweetest
and most benign temper. This lovely creature was about eighteen when I
first unhappily beheld her at Rome, on a visit to a relation with whom I
had great intimacy. As our interviews at first were extremely frequent,
my passions were captivated before I apprehended the least danger; and
the sooner probably, as the young lady herself, to whom I consulted
every method of recommendation, was not displeased with my being her
admirer.

"Ariadne, having spent three months at Rome, now returned to Naples,
bearing my heart with her: on the other hand, I had all the assurances
consistent with the constraint under which the most perfect modesty lays
a young woman, that her own heart was not entirely unaffected. I soon
found her absence gave me an uneasiness not easy to be borne or
to remove. I now first applied to diversions (of the graver sort,
particularly to music), but in vain; they rather raised my desires and
heightened my a