ANIMALS. 57 



separated from the branch. I was proud of being 

 able to grasp a substance without me ; I held 

 them up, and their weight appeared to me like 

 an animated power that endeavoured to draw 

 them to the earth. I found a pleasure in con- 

 quering their resistance. 



I held them near my eye ; I considered their 

 form and beauty ; their fragrance still more al- 

 lured me to bring them nearer ; I approached 

 them to my lips, and drank in their odours ; the 

 perfume invited my sense of tasting, and I soon 

 tried a new sense How new ! how exquisite ! 

 Hitherto I had tasted only of pleasure ; but now 

 it was luxury. The power of tasting gave me the 

 idea of possession. 



Flattered with this new acquisition, I continued 

 its exercise, till an agreeable languor stealing 

 upon my mind, I felt all my limbs become heavy, 

 and all my desires suspended. My sensations 

 were now no longer vivid and distinct, but seem- 

 ed to lose every object, and presented only feeble 

 images confusedly marked. At that instant I 

 sunk upon the flowery bank, and slumber seized 

 me. All now seemed once more lost to me. It 

 was then as if I was returning to my former no- 

 thing. How long my sleep continued, I cannot 

 tell, as I yet had no perception of time. My 

 awaking appeared like a second birth ; and I then 

 perceived that I had ceased for a time to exist. 

 This produced a new sensation of fear ; and from 

 this interruption in life, I began to conclude that 

 I was not formed to exist for ever. 



