miserable Mathilda but a youthful Hermitess dedicated to seclusion and whose bosom she must strive to keep free from all tumult and unholy despair—­The fanciful nunlike dress that I had adopted;[49] the knowledge that my very existence was a secret known only to myself; the solitude to which I was for ever hereafter destined nursed gentle thoughts in my wounded heart.  The breeze that played in my hair revived me, and I watched with quiet eyes the sunbeams that glittered on the waves, and the birds that coursed each other over the waters just brushing them with their plumes.  I slept too undisturbed by dreams; and awoke refreshed to again enjoy my tranquil freedom.

In four days we arrived at the harbour to which we were bound.  I would not remain on the sea coast, but proceeded immediately inland.  I had already planned the situation where I would live.  It should be a solitary house on a wide plain near no other habitation:  where I could behold the whole horizon, and wander far without molestation from the sight of my fellow creatures.  I was not mysanthropic, but I felt that the gentle current of my feelings depended upon my being alone.  I fixed myself on a wide solitude.  On a dreary heath bestrewen with stones, among which short grass grew; and here and there a few rushes beside a little pool.  Not far from my cottage was a small cluster of pines the only trees to be seen for many miles:  I had a path cut through the furze from my door to this little wood, from whose topmost branches the birds saluted the rising sun and awoke me to my daily meditation.  My view was bounded only by the horizon except on one side where a distant wood made a black spot on the heath, that every where else stretched out its faint hues as far as the eye could reach, wide and very desolate.  Here I could mark the net work of the clouds as they wove themselves into thick masses:  I could watch the slow rise of the heavy thunder clouds and could see the rack as it was driven across the heavens, or under the pine trees I could enjoy the stillness of the azure sky.

My life was very peaceful.  I had one female servant who spent the greater part of the day at a village two miles off.  My amusements were simple and very innocent; I fed the birds who built on the pines or among the ivy that covered the wall of my little garden, and they soon knew me:  the bolder ones pecked the crumbs from my hands and perched on my fingers to sing their thankfulness.  When I had lived here some time other animals visited me and a fox came every day for a portion of food appropriated for him & would suffer me to pat his head.  I had besides many books and a harp with which when despairing I could soothe my spirits, and raise myself to sympathy and love.