swiftness of the motion, and the thinness of the air, restored to me my
alacrity. I forgot the inconveniences under which I laboured, and my
mind became lively, spirited, and enthusiastic.

I had now reached the border of the heath, and entered upon what is
usually termed the forest. Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless
true, that, in this conjuncture, exhausted with hunger, destitute of all
provision for the future, and surrounded with the most alarming dangers,
my mind suddenly became glowing, animated, and cheerful. I thought that,
by this time, the most formidable difficulties of my undertaking were
surmounted; and I could not believe that, after having effected so much,
I should find any thing invincible in what remained to be done. I
recollected the confinement I had undergone, and the fate that had
impended over me, with horror. Never did man feel more vividly, than I
felt at that moment, the sweets of liberty. Never did man more
strenuously prefer poverty with independence, to the artificial
allurements of a life of slavery. I stretched forth my arms with
rapture; I clapped my hands one upon the other, and exclaimed, "Ah, this
is indeed to be a man! These wrists were lately galled with fetters; all
my motions, whether I rose up or sat down, were echoed to with the
clanking of chains; I was tied down like a wild beast, and could not
move but in a circle of a few feet in circumference. Now I can run fleet
as a greyhound, and leap like a young roe upon the mountains. Oh, God!
(if God there be that condescends to record the lonely beatings of an
anxious heart) thou only canst tell with what delight a prisoner, just
broke forth from his dungeon, hugs the blessings of new-found liberty!
Sacred and indescribable moment, when man regains his rights! But lately
I held my life in jeopardy, because one man was unprincipled enough to
assert what he knew to be false; I was destined to suffer an early and
inexorable death from the hands of others, because none of them had