London was our present point of rest; we
determined to remain several months in this wonderful and celebrated
city. Clerval desired the intercourse of the men of genius and
talent who flourished at this time; but this was with me a secondary
object; I was principally occupied with the means of obtaining the
information necessary for the completion of my promise, and quickly
availed myself of the letters of introduction that I had brought
with me, addressed to the most distinguished natural philosophers.
If this journey had taken place during my days of study and
happiness, it would have afforded me inexpressible pleasure. But a
blight had come over my existence, and I only visited these people
for the sake of the information they might give me on the subject in
which my interest was so terribly profound. Company was irksome to
me; when alone, I could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and
earth; the voice of Henry soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself
into a transitory peace. But busy uninteresting joyous faces brought
back despair to my heart. I saw an insurmountable barrier placed
between me and my fellow-men; this barrier was sealed with the blood
of William and Justine; and to reflect on the events connected with
those names filled my soul with anguish.
But in Clerval I
saw the image of my former self; he was inquisitive, and anxious to
gain experience and instruction. The difference of manners which he
observed was to him an inexhaustible source of instruction and
amusement. He was also pursuing an object he had long had in view.
His design was to visit India, in the belief that he had in his
knowledge of its various languages, and in the views he had taken of
its society, the means of materially assisting the progress of
European colonisation and trade. In Britain only could he further
the execution of his plan. He was for ever busy; and the only check
to his enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mind. I tried to
conceal this as much as possible, that I might not debar him from
the pleasures natural to one who was entering on a new scene of
life, undisturbed by any care or bitter recollection. I often
refused to accompany him, alleging another engagement, that I might
remain alone. I now also began to collect the materials necessary
for my new creation, and this was to me like the torture of single
drops of water continually falling on the head. Every thought that
was devoted to it was an extreme anguish, and every word that I
spoke in allusion to it caused my lips to quiver, and my heart to
palpitate.
After passing some months in London, we received
a letter from a person in Scotland, who had formerly been our
visitor at Geneva. He mentioned the beauties of his native country,
and asked us if those were not sufficient allurements to induce us
to prolong our journey as far north as Perth, where he resided.
Clerval eagerly desired to accept this invitation; and I, although I
abhorred society, wished to view again mountains and streams, and
all the wondrous works with which Nature adorns her chosen
dwelling-places.
We had arrived in England at the beginning
of October, and it was now February. We accordingly determined to
commence our journey towards the north at the expiration of another
month. In this expedition we did not intend to follow the great road
to Edinburgh, but to visit Windsor, Oxford, Matlock, and the
Cumberland lakes, resolving to arrive at the completion of this tour
about the end of July. I packed up my chemical instruments, and the
materials I had collected, resolving to finish my labours in some
obscure nook in the northern highlands of Scotland.
We
quitted London on the 27th of March, and remained a few days at
Windsor, rambling in its beautiful forest. This was a new scene to
us mountaineers; the majestic oaks, the quantity of game, and the
herds of stately deer, were all novelties to us.
From thence
we proceeded to Oxford. As we entered this city, our minds were
filled with the remembrance of the events that had been transacted
there more than a century and a half before. It was here that
Charles I. had collected his forces. This city had remained faithful
to him, after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the
standard of parliament and liberty. The memory of that unfortunate
king, and his companions, the amiable Falkland, the insolent Goring,
his queen, and son, gave a peculiar interest to every part of the
city, which they might be supposed to have inhabited. The spirit of
elder days found a dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its
footsteps. If these feelings had not found an imaginary
gratification, the appearance of the city had yet in itself
sufficient beauty to obtain our admiration. The colleges are ancient
and picturesque; the streets are almost magnificent; and the lovely
Isis, which flows beside it through meadows of exquisite verdure, is
spread forth into a placid expanse of waters, which reflects its
majestic assemblage of towers, and spires, and domes, embosomed
among aged trees.
I enjoyed this scene; and yet my enjoyment
was embittered both by the memory of the past, and the anticipation
of the future. I was formed for peaceful happiness. During my
youthful days discontent never visited my mind; and if I was ever
overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful in nature, or the
study of what is excellent and sublime in the productions of man,
could always interest my heart, and communicate elasticity to my
spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and
I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon
cease to be--a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to
others, and intolerable to myself.
We passed a considerable
period at Oxford, rambling among its environs, and endeavouring to
identify every spot which might relate to the most animating epoch
of English history. Our little voyages of discovery were often
prolonged by the successive objects that presented themselves. We
visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden, and the field on which
that patriot fell. For a moment my soul was elevated from its
debasing and miserable fears, to contemplate the divine ideas of
liberty and self-sacrifice, of which these sights were the monuments
and the remembrancers. For an instant I dared to shake off my
chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit; but the
iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and
hopeless, into my miserable self.
We left Oxford with
regret, and proceeded to Matlock, which was our next place of rest.
The country in the neighbourhood of this village resembled, to a
greater degree, the scenery of Switzerland; but everything is on a
lower scale, and the green hills want the crown of distant white
Alps, which always attend on the piny mountains of my native
country. We visited the wondrous cave, and the little cabinets of
natural history, where the curiosities are disposed in the same
manner as in the collections at Servox and Chamounix. The latter
name made me tremble when pronounced by Henry; and I hastened to
quit Matlock, with which that terrible scene was thus associated.
From Derby, still journeying northward, we passed two months
in Cumberland and Westmoreland. I could now almost fancy myself
among the Swiss mountains. The little patches of snow which yet
lingered on the northern sides of the mountains, the lakes, and the
dashing of the rocky streams, were all familiar and dear sights to
me. Here also we made some acquaintances, who almost contrived to
cheat me into happiness. The delight of Clerval was proportionably
greater than mine; his mind expanded in the company of men of
talent, and he found in his own nature greater capacities and
resources than he could have imagined himself to have possessed
while he associated with his inferiors. "I could pass my life here,"
said he to me; "and among these mountains I should scarcely regret
Switzerland and the Rhine." But he found that a traveller's life is
one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are
for ever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he
finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for
something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he
forsakes for other novelties.
We had scarcely visited the
various lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and conceived an
affection for some of the inhabitants, when the period of our
appointment with our Scotch friend approached, and we left them to
travel on. For my own part I was not sorry. I had now neglected my
promise for some time, and I feared the effects of the daemon's
disappointment. He might remain in Switzerland, and wreak his
vengeance on my relatives. This idea pursued me, and tormented me at
every moment from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and
peace. I waited for my letters with feverish impatience: if they
were delayed, I was miserable, and overcome by a thousand fears; and
when they arrived, and I saw the superscription of Elizabeth or my
father, I hardly dared to read and ascertain my fate. Sometimes I
thought that the fiend followed me, and might expedite my remissness
by murdering my companion. When these thoughts possessed me, I would
not quit Henry for a moment, but followed him us his shadow, to
protect him from the fancied rage of his destroyer. I felt as if I
had committed some great crime, the consciousness of which haunted
me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn down a horrible curse
upon my head, as mortal as that of crime.
I visited
Edinburgh with languid eyes and mind; and yet that city might have
interested the most unfortunate being. Clerval did not like it so
well as Oxford: for the antiquity of the latter city was more
pleasing to him. But the beauty and regularity of the new town of
Edinburgh, its romantic castle, and its environs, the most
delightful in the world, Arthur's Seat, St. Bernard's Well, and the
Pentland Hills, conpensated him for the change, and filled him with
cheerfulness and admiration. But I was impatient to arrive at the
termination of my journey.
We left Edinburgh in a week,
passing through Coupar, St. Andrew's, and along the banks of the
Tay, to Perth, where our friend expected us. But I was in no mood to
laugh and talk with strangers, or enter into their feelings or plans
with the good humour expected from a guest; and accordingly I told
Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland alone. "Do you,"
said I, "enjoy yourself, and let this be our rendezvous. I may be
absent a month or two; but do not interfere with my motions, I
entreat you: leave me to peace and solitude for a short time; and
when I return, I hope it will be with a lighter heart, more
congenial to your own temper."
Henry wished to dissuade me;
but, seeing me bent on this plan, ceased to remonstrate. He
entreated me to write often. "I had rather be with you," he said,
"in your solitary rambles, than with these Scotch people, whom I do
not know: hasten then, my dear friend, to return, that I may again
feel myself somewhat at home, which I cannot do in your absence."
Having parted from my friend, I determined to visit some
remote spot of Scotland, and finish my work in solitude. I did not
doubt but that the monster followed me, and would discover himself
to me when I should have finished, that he might receive his
companion.
With this resolution I traversed the northern
highlands, and fixed on one of the remotest of the Orkneys as the
scene of my labours. 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. Vegetables and bread, when they indulged in
such luxuries, and even fresh water, was to be procured from the
main land, which was about five miles distant.
On the whole
island there were but three miserable huts, and one of these was
vacant when I arrived. This I hired. It contained but two rooms, and
these exhibited all the squalidness of the most miserable penury.
The thatch had fallen in, the walls were unplastered, and the door
was off its hinges. I ordered it to be repaired, bought some
furniture, and took possession; an incident which would, doubtless,
have occasioned some surprise, had not all the senses of the
cottagers been benumbed by want and squalid poverty. As it was, I
lived ungazed at and unmolested, hardly thanked for the pittance of
food and clothes which I gave; so much does suffering blunt even the
coarsest sensations of men.
In this retreat I devoted the
morning to labour; but in the evening, when the weather permitted, I
walked on the stony beach of the sea, to listen to the waves as they
roared and dashed at my feet. It was a monotonous yet ever-changing
scene. I thought of Switzerland; it was far different from this
desolate and appalling landscape. Its hills are covered with vines,
and its cottages are scattered thickly in the plains. Its fair lakes
reflect a blue and gentle sky; and, when troubled by the winds,
their tumult is but as the play of a lively infant, when compared to
the roarings of the giant ocean.
In this manner I
distributed my occupations when I first arrived; but, as I proceeded
in my labour, it became every day more horrible and irksome to me.
Sometimes I could not prevail on myself to enter my laboratory for
several days; and at other times I toiled day and night in order to
complete my work. It was, indeed, a filthy process in which I was
engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy
had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my mind was intently
fixed on the consummation of my labour, and my eyes were shut to the
horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in cold blood, and my
heart often sickened at the work of my hands.
Thus situated,
employed in the most detestable occupation, immersed in a solitude
where nothing could for an instant call my attention from the actual
scene in which I was engaged, my spirits became unequal; I grew
restless and nervous. Every moment I feared to meet my persecutor.
Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing to raise
them, lest they should encounter the object which I so much dreaded
to behold. I feared to wander from the sight of my fellow-creatures,
lest when alone he should come to claim his companion.
In
the meantime I worked on, and my labour was already considerably
advanced. I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager
hope, which I dared not trust myself to question, but which was
intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil, that made my heart
sicken in my bosom.
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