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Letter 1 Letter 2 Letter 3 Letter 4 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 | 290 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking. | 289 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourit... | 964 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated.... | 531 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, an... | 886 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluct... | 583 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly quickly over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach. The cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs—a dress which I have already adopted, for there is a grea... | 565 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three weeks; and my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of J... | 532 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow! Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors; those whom I have already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly possessed of dauntless courage. | 307 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to s... | 1,782 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet some feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in these rugged bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and enterprise; he is mad... | 741 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation. The winter has been dreadfully severe, but the s... | 595 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking. It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart. I am going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow,” but I shall kill no alb... | 1,060 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
But to return to dearer considerations. Shall I meet you again, after having traversed immense seas, and returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America? I dare not expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the picture. Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: I may r... | 493 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe—and well advanced on my voyage. This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on its homeward voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not see my native land, perhaps, for many years. I am, however, in good spirits: my men are bold and apparently fir... | 769 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a letter. One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage. | 276 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
But success _shall_ crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man? | 317 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which she floated. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we were compassed round by a very thick fog. We accordingly lay to, hoping that some change would take place in the... | 344 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
About two o’clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out in every direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to have no end. Some of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to grow watchful with anxious thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly attracted our attention and diverted our solic... | 715 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
This appearance excited our unqualified wonder. We were, as we believed, many hundred miles from any land; but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not, in reality, so distant as we had supposed. Shut in, however, by ice, it was impossible to follow his track, which we had observed with the greatest attention. | 319 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
About two hours after this occurrence we heard the ground sea, and before night the ice broke and freed our ship. We, however, lay to until the morning, fearing to encounter in the dark those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the ice. I profited of this time to rest for a few hours. | 311 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently talking to someone in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we had seen before, which had drifted towards us in the night on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog remained aliv... | 645 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford. I replied, however, that we were on a voyag... | 361 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board. Good God! Margaret, if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for his safety, your surprise would have been boundless. His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a c... | 776 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak, and I often feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding. When he had in some measure recovered, I removed him to my own cabin and attended on him as much as my duty would permit. I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally... | 744 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off the men, who wished to ask him a thousand questions; but I would not allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity, in a state of body and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose. Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had... | 370 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
This aroused the stranger’s attention, and he asked a multitude of questions concerning the route which the dæmon, as he called him, had pursued. Soon after, when he was alone with me, he said, “I have, doubtless, excited your curiosity, as well as that of these good people; but you are too considerate to make inquirie... | 323 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the ice had destroyed the other sledge. I replied that I could not answer with any degree of certainty, for the ice had not broken until near midnight, and the traveller might have arrived at a place of safety before that time; but of this I could not jud... | 323 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
From this time a new spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the stranger. He manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck to watch for the sledge which had before appeared; but I have persuaded him to remain in the cabin, for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the atmosphere. I have promised that ... | 418 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Such is my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the present day. The stranger has gradually improved in health but is very silent and appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin. Yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all interested in him, although they ha... | 590 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and when he speaks, although his words are culled ... | 398 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
He is now much recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck, apparently watching for the sledge that preceded his own. Yet, although unhappy, he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests himself deeply in the projects of others. He has frequently conversed with me on mine, which I ... | 1,497 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Having conquered the violence of his feelings, he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of passion; and quelling the dark tyranny of despair, he led me again to converse concerning myself personally. He asked me the history of my earlier years. The tale was quickly told, but it awakened various trains of refl... | 566 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
“I agree with you,” replied the stranger; “we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves—such a friend ought to be—do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge ... | 472 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery and be overwhelmed by disap... | 480 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine wanderer? You would not if you saw him. You have been tutored and refined by books and retirement from the world, and you are therefore somewhat fastidious; but this only renders you the more fit to appreciate the extraordinary merits of this wonderful m... | 742 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Yesterday the stranger said to me, “You may easily perceive, Captain Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ard... | 1,242 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered communication, yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by a recital of his misfortunes. I felt the greatest eagerness to hear the promised narrative, partly from curiosity and partly from a strong desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in m... | 369 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
“I thank you,” he replied, “for your sympathy, but it is useless; my fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall repose in peace. I understand your feeling,” continued he, perceiving that I wished to interrupt him; “but you are mistaken, my friend, if thus you will allow me to name you; nothing... | 421 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when I should be at leisure. This promise drew from me the warmest thanks. I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during the day. If I should b... | 929 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to pu... | 564 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition and could not be... | 1,000 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten months before my father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened to the house, which was situated in a mean street near the Reuss. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him. Beaufort had saved but a very smal... | 794 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that there was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured plain work; she ... | 420 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Several months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time was more entirely occupied in attending him; her means of subsistence decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan and a beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort’s coffin weeping bitterly,... | 611 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted affection. There was a sense of justice in my father’s upright mind which rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love strongly. Perhaps during former years he ha... | 1,493 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest child, was born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for several years their only child. Much as they were attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow the... | 1,112 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much desired to have a daughter, but I continued their single offspring. When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of Como. Their benevolent disposition often made them enter... | 1,614 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had been placed with these good people to nurse: th... | 934 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub—a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills. The apparition was soon explained. With his permission my mother prevaile... | 785 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight. On the evening previous to her being brought to my home, my mother had said playfully, “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” And when, o... | 795 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and m... | 1,200 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native country. We possessed a house in Geneva, and a _campagne_ on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city. We resided princi... | 1,201 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other f... | 442 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of v... | 671 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species.... | 1,105 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps,... | 643 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science. When I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a day ... | 834 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former w... | 805 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fe... | 808 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, anatomise, and give names; but, not to speak of ... | 572 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degr... | 872 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity... | 640 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching... | 832 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and ... | 1,216 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life—the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to aver... | 660 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made acquainted with other customs than those of my native co... | 507 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her. She had at first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of her favourite was menaced, she co... | 1,339 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
She died calmly, and her countenance expressed affection even in death. I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so long before the mind can persuade itself ... | 1,260 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined upon. I obtained from my father a respite of some weeks. It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to leave the repose, akin to death, of the house of mourning and to rush into the thick of life. I was new to sorrow, but it did not... | 479 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
She indeed veiled her grief and strove to act the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life and assumed its duties with courage and zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time, when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles ... | 411 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The day of my departure at length arrived. Clerval spent the last evening with us. He had endeavoured to persuade his father to permit him to accompany me and to become my fellow student, but in vain. His father was a narrow-minded trader and saw idleness and ruin in the aspirations and ambition of his son. Henry deepl... | 559 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
We sat late. We could not tear ourselves away from each other nor persuade ourselves to say the word “Farewell!” It was said, and we retired under the pretence of seeking repose, each fancying that the other was deceived; but when at morning’s dawn I descended to the carriage which was to convey me away, they were all ... | 523 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged in the most melancholy reflections. I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure—I was now alone. In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends and be my own ... | 1,006 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I had sufficient leisure for these and many other reflections during my journey to Ingolstadt, which was long and fatiguing. At length the high white steeple of the town met my eyes. I alighted and was conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased. | 271 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The next morning I delivered my letters of introduction and paid a visit to some of the principal professors. Chance—or rather the evil influence, the Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my father’s door—led me first to M. Krempe, professor of na... | 753 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I replied in the affirmative. “Every minute,” continued M. Krempe with warmth, “every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems and useless names. Good God! In what desert land have you lived, where no one was kind enough to inform you ... | 602 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
So saying, he stepped aside and wrote down a list of several books treating of natural philosophy which he desired me to procure, and dismissed me after mentioning that in the beginning of the following week he intended to commence a course of lectures upon natural philosophy in its general relations, and that M. Waldm... | 408 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape. M. Krempe was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, d... | 1,344 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Such were my reflections during the first two or three days of my residence at Ingolstadt, which were chiefly spent in becoming acquainted with the localities and the principal residents in my new abode. But as the ensuing week commenced, I thought of the information which M. Krempe had given me concerning the lectures... | 539 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness, I went into the lecturing room, which M. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor was very unlike his colleague. He appeared about fifty years of age, but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence; a few grey hairs covered his temples, but those at the ba... | 898 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
“The ancient teachers of this science,” said he, “promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over ... | 754 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Such were the professor’s words—rather let me say such the words of the fate—enounced to destroy me. As he went on I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with o... | 597 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I closed not my eyes that night. My internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil; I felt that order would thence arise, but I had no power to produce it. By degrees, after the morning’s dawn, sleep came. I awoke, and my yesternight’s thoughts were as a dream. There only remained a resolution to return to m... | 1,907 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
“I am happy,” said M. Waldman, “to have gained a disciple; and if your application equals your ability, I have no doubt of your success. Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been and may be made; it is on that account that I have made it my peculiar study; but at the sa... | 664 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
He then took me into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the science not to derange their mechanism. He also gave me the list of books which I had requested, and I ... | 334 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintanc... | 1,102 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my... | 1,524 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discover... | 437 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by w... | 917 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and... | 638 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work o... | 1,621 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and... | 685 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise. One ... | 1,693 | long | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes... | 778 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I knew well therefore what would be my father’s feelings, but I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up e... | 365 | short | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion o... | 1,017 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
My father made no reproach in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply w... | 1,185 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally... | 538 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; h... | 615 | medium | 001-Frankenstein-Or-The-Modern-Prometheus-by-Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley-4569-pg84.txt |
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