the mind most at liberty; and this happiness I should have enjoyed.  In my native country, in the bosom of my religion, family and friends, I should have passed a calm and peaceful life, in the uniformity of a pleasing occupation, and among connections dear to my heart.  I should have been a good Christian, a good citizen, a good friend, a good man.  I should have relished my condition, perhaps have been an honor to it, and after having passed a life of happy obscurity, surrounded by my family, I should have died at peace.  Soon it may be forgotten, but while remembered it would have been with tenderness and regret.

Instead of this—­what a picture am I about to draw!—­Alas! why should I anticipate the miseries I have endured?  The reader will have but too much of the melancholy subject.