le fortune and ancient family; advantages which an
extensive capacity prevented him alike from undervaluing or
overrating. Some peculiar circumstances in his private history had
rendered him to me an object of attention, of interest, and even of
regard, which neither the reserve of his manners, nor occasional
indications of an inquietude at times nearly approaching to
alienation of mind, could extinguish.

I was yet young in life, which I had begun early; but my intimacy
with him was of a recent date: we had been educated at the same
schools and university; but his progress through these had preceded
mine, and he had been deeply initiated, into what is called the
world, while I was yet in my noviciate. While thus engaged, I heard
much both of his past and present life; and, although in these
accounts there were many and irreconcileable contradictions, I could
still gather from the whole that he was a being of no common order,
and one who, whatever pains he might take to avoid remark, would
still be remarkable. I had cultivated his acquaintance subsequently,
and endeavoured to obtain his friendship, but this last appeared to
be unattainable; whatever affections he might have possessed, seemed
now, some to have been extinguished, and others to be concentred:
that his feelings were acute, I had sufficient opportunities of
observing; for, although he could control, he could not altogether
disguise them: still he had a power of giving to one passion the
appearance of another, in such a manner that it was difficult to
define the nature of what was working within him; and the expressions
of his features would vary so rapidly, though slightly, that it was
useless to trace them to their sources. It was evident that he was a
prey to some cureless disquiet; but whether it arose from ambition,
love, remorse, grief, from one or all of these, or merely from a
morbid temperament akin to disease, I could not discover: there were
circumstances alleged, which might have justified the application to
each of these causes; but, as I have before said, these were so
contradictory and contradicted, that none could be fixed upon with
accuracy. Where there is mystery, it is generally supposed that there
must also be evil: I know not how this may be, but in him there
certainly was the one, though I could not ascertain the extent of the
other--and felt loth, as far as regarded himself, to believe in its
existence. My advances were received with s