forever to be blinded! In comparison with this rack, all the
torture-chambers of man are insignificant.

Thus rushed the wild chase of my thoughts farther and farther away until
at last all was silent. The confused sensations gradually collected and
settled. This repose and exhaustion they call meditation, but it is
rather an inspection--one allows time for the mixture of thoughts to
crystallize themselves according to eternal laws, and regards the process
like an observing chemist; and the elements having assumed a form, we
often wonder that they, as well as ourselves, are so entirely different
from what we expected.

When I awoke from my abstraction, my first words were, "I must away." I
immediately sat down and wrote the Hofrath that I should travel for
fourteen days and submit entirely to him. I easily made an excuse to my
parents, and at night I was on my way to the Tyrol.




SEVENTH MEMORY.

Wandering, arm in arm with a friend, through the valleys and over the
mountains of the Tyrol, one sips life's fresh air and enjoyment; but to
travel the same road solitary and alone with your thoughts is time and
trouble lost. Of what interest to me are the green mountains, the dark
ravines, the blue lake, and the mighty cataracts? Instead of
contemplating them they look at me and wonder among themselves at this
solitary being. It smote me to the heart that I had found no one in
all the world who loved me more than all others. With such thoughts I