164 



A TOUE BOUND MT GARDEN. 



has been much enlarged since the place ceased to be a prison. 

 There I saw iron rings attached to the pillars; and, horrible 

 to contemplate! deeply imprinted in the rock the steps of 

 a prisoner who passed many years in the dungeon. I touched 

 one of the rings, and as it fell back from my hand against 

 the stone pillar it returned a sound so melancholy that it 

 resounded in my heart. I could hear the lake growling over 

 my head ; I could scarcely breathe, and I hastened to re- 

 ascend in order to gain a little fresh air, and remove some 

 of the fearfully oppressive weight from my mindj but all 

 the rest of the day I was a prey to a sort of delirium — I ex- 

 perienced all the sensations of despair and rage. It appeared 

 as if my being was severed in two, and that half of it re- 

 mained in that awful dungeon. 



" I regretted bitterly the childishness which led me to 

 write my name with the point of a knife upon one of the 

 pillars, amidst a hundred other names, in order that the 

 painters who had induced me to visit Switzerland might find 

 a trace of my passage, and a proof that I had been there. 

 I experienced a pain from the recollection "that my name was 

 in this horrible place; a false shame restrained me, or else I 

 should have returned and have eflfaced it. Even now, when 

 this impression has lost much of its strength, I should feel 

 much better satisfied if my name were not there. 



" I remained a few days at Lausanne, when, one morning, 

 perceiving that I was at the end of my time, and likewise 

 of my money, I returned home." 



