me herself--a priceless gift.

During several hours I continued thus to meditate, till hunger and fatigue

brought me back to the passing hour, then marked by long shadows cast from

the descending sun. I had wandered towards Bracknel, far to the west of

Windsor. The feeling of perfect health which I enjoyed, assured me that I

was free from contagion. I remembered that Idris had been kept in ignorance

of my proceedings. She might have heard of my return from London, and my

visit to Bolter's Lock, which, connected with my continued absence, might

tend greatly to alarm her. I returned to Windsor by the Long Walk, and

passing through the town towards the Castle, I found it in a state of

agitation and disturbance.

"It is too late to be ambitious," says Sir Thomas Browne. "We cannot hope

to live so long in our names as some have done in their persons; one face

of Janus holds no proportion to the other." Upon this text many fanatics

arose, who prophesied that the end of time was come. The spirit of

superstition had birth, from the wreck of our hopes, and antics wild and

dangerous were played on the great theatre, while the remaining particle of

futurity dwindled into a point in the eyes of the prognosticators.

Weak-spirited women died of fear as they listened to their denunciations;

men of robust form and seeming strength fell into idiotcy and madness,

racked by the dread of coming eternity. A man of this kind was now pouring

forth his eloquent despair among the inhabitants of Windsor. The scene of

the morning, and my visit to the dead, which had been spread abroad, had

alarmed the country-people, so they had become fit instruments to be played

345

The Last Man