improved more in eloquence in the solitude of my dungeon, than perhaps I
should have done in the busiest and most crowded scenes.

At length I proceeded to as regular a disposition of my time, as the man
in his study, who passes from mathematics to poetry, and from poetry to
the law of nations, in the different parts of each single day; and I as
seldom infringed upon my plan. Nor were my subjects of disquisition less
numerous than his. I went over, by the assistance of memory only, a
considerable part of Euclid during my confinement, and revived, day
after day, the series of facts and incidents in some of the most
celebrated historians. I became myself a poet; and, while I described
the sentiments cherished by the view of natural objects, recorded the
characters and passions of men, and partook with a burning zeal in the
generosity of their determinations, I eluded the squalid solitude of my
dungeon, and wandered in idea through all the varieties of human
society. I easily found expedients, such as the mind seems always to
require, and which books and pens supply to the man at large, to record
from time to time the progress that had been made.

While I was thus employed, I reflected with exultation upon the degree
in which man is independent of the smiles and frowns of fortune. I was
beyond her reach, for I could fall no lower. To an ordinary eye I might
seem destitute and miserable, but in reality I wanted for nothing. My
fare was coarse; but I was in health. My dungeon was noisome; but I felt
no inconvenience. I was shut up from the usual means of exercise and
air; but I found the method of exercising myself even to perspiration in
my dungeon. I had no power of withdrawing my person from a disgustful
society, in the most cheerful and valuable part of the day; but I soon
brought to perfection the art of withdrawing my thoughts, and saw and
heard the people about me, for just as short a time, and as seldom, as I