struck me, occurred to my mind. "I exult," said I, "and reasonably, over
the impotence of my persecutor. Is not that impotence greater than I
have yet imagined? I say, he may cut off my existence, but cannot
disturb my serenity. It is true: my mind, the clearness of my spirit,
the firmness of my temper, are beyond his reach; is not my life equally
so, if I please? What are the material obstacles, that man never
subdued? What is the undertaking so arduous, that by some has not been
accomplished? And if by others, why not by me? Had they stronger motives
than I? Was existence more variously endeared to them? or had they more
numerous methods by which to animate and adorn it? Many of those who
have exerted most perseverance and intrepidity, were obviously my
inferiors in that respect. Why should not I be as daring as they?
Adamant and steel have a ductility like water, to a mind sufficiently
bold and contemplative. The mind is master of itself; and is endowed
with powers that might enable it to laugh at the tyrant's vigilance." I
passed and repassed these ideas in my mind; and, heated with the
contemplation, I said, "No, I will not die!"

My reading, in early youth, had been extremely miscellaneous. I had read
of housebreakers, to whom locks and bolts were a jest, and who, vain of
their art, exhibited the experiment of entering a house the most
strongly barricaded, with as little noise, and almost as little trouble,
as other men would lift up a latch. There is nothing so interesting to
the juvenile mind, as the wonderful; there is no power that it so
eagerly covets, as that of astonishing spectators by its miraculous
exertions. Mind appeared, to my untutored reflections, vague, airy, and
unfettered, the susceptible perceiver of reasons, but never intended by
nature to be the slave of force. Why should it be in the power of man to
overtake and hold me by violence? Why, when I choose to withdraw myself,
should I not be capable of eluding the most vigilant search? These