was the same; so I went a little farther, and settled myself by the
waves of the Adriatic, like the stag at bay, who betakes him to the
waters.

"If I may judge by the statements of the few friends who gathered
round me, the outcry of the period to which I allude was beyond all
precedent, all parallel, even in those cases where political
motives have sharpened slander and doubled enmity. I was advised
not to go to the theatres, lest I should be hissed, nor to my duty
in parliament, lest I should be insulted by the way; even on the
day of my departure, my most intimate friend told me afterwards
that he was under apprehensions of violence from the people who
might be assembled at the door of the carriage. However, I was not
deterred by these counsels from seeing Kean in his best characters,
nor from voting according to my principles; and, with regard to the
third and last apprehensions of my friends, I could not share in
them, not being made acquainted with their extent till some time
after I had crossed the Channel. Even if I had been so, I am not of
a nature to be much affected by men's anger, though I may feel hurt
by their aversion. Against all individual outrage, I could protect
or redress myself; and against that of a crowd, I should probably
have been enabled to defend myself, with the assistance of others,
as has been done on similar occasions.

"I retired from the country, perceiving that I was the object of
general obloquy; I did not indeed imagine, like Jean Jacques
Rousseau, that all mankind was in a conspiracy against me, though I
had perhaps as good grounds for such a chimera as ever he had; but
I perceived that I had to a great extent become personally
obnoxious in England, perhaps through my own fault, but the fact