would
bring with it; he who was dependent upon others that looked down upon
him as a lazy dreamer, who had never a guilder to spare in his pouch,
who had nothing indeed but more debts than he cared to remember. But it
never occurred to him to set to work and grow rich like his neighbours
by honest toil and commerce. No, that was the task of slaves, like these
low Hollander fellows among whom his lot was cast.

Such were the main characteristics of Adrian, surnamed van Goorl; Adrian
the superstitious but unspiritual dreamer, the vain Sybarite, the dull
poet, the chopper of false logic, the weak and passionate self-seeker,
whose best and deepest cravings, such as his love for his mother and
another love that shall be told of, were really little more than a
reflection of his own pride and lusts, or at least could be subordinated
to their fulfilment. Not that he was altogether bad; somewhere in him
there was a better part. Thus: he was capable of good purposes and of
bitter remorse; under certain circumstances even he might become capable
also of a certain spurious spiritual exaltation. But if this was to
bloom in his heart, it must be in a prison strong enough to protect from
the blows of temptation. Adrian tempted would always be Adrian overcome.
He was fashioned by nature to be the tool of others or of his own
desires.

It may be asked what part had his mother in him; where in his weak
ignoble nature was the trace of her pure and noble character? It seems
hard to find. Was this want to be accounted for by the circumstances
connected with his birth, in which she had been so unwilling an agent?
Had she given him something of her body but naught of that which was
within her own control--her spirit? Who can say? This at least is true,
that from his mother's stock he had derived nothing beyond a certain
Dutch doggedness of purpose which, when added to his other qualities,
might in some events make him formidable--a thing to fear and flee from.

Adrian reached the Witte Poort, and paused on this side of the moat to
reflect about things in general. Like most young men of his time and
blood, as has been said, he had military leanings, and was convinced
that, given the opportunity, he might become one of the foremost
generals of his age. Now he was engaged in imagining himself besieging
Leyden at the head of a great army, and in fancy disposing his forces
after such fashion as would bring about its fall in the shortest
po