LEAVES BRAZIL. 



121 



ture than he would under other circumstances 

 have been. I should, perhaps, shortly have 

 been totally unfit to become a member of any 

 other society ; my inclinations led me to like 

 the life which I was leading : I was young, 

 and was independent, and had power. Al- 

 though I am fully aware of the evils which at- 

 tend a feudal state of society, I liked to have de- 

 pendants. I might have become so arbitrary, 

 so much a lover of a half savage life ; I might 

 have contracted so great a relish for rambling, 

 have become so unsettled, as to have been dis- 

 satisfied with what is rational and to be desired in 

 this world. Until lately I cherished the hope of 

 being able to return to that country, with the 

 means of crossing the continent of South Ame- 

 rica ; but I have now given this up from un- 

 avoidable circumstances, and even my wishes 

 have taken another bias ; but God only knows 

 whether it may not yet be my fate to enter into 

 the scheme; accident, and inclinations over which 

 I have no control, may so direct. England is 

 my country, but my native soil is Portugal ; I 

 belong to both, and whether in the company of 

 Englishmen, of Portuguese, or of Brazilians, I 

 feel equally among my countrymen. My con- 

 stant and fervent prayers are offered up for their 

 prosperity, and for a continuance of that friend- 

 ship which has borne the test of so many years. 



