the advantages his rank made him rich to afford. When he found me a

vagabond shepherd of the hills, a poacher, an unlettered savage, still his

kindness did not fail. In addition to the opinion he entertained that his

father was to a degree culpable of neglect towards us, and that he was

bound to every possible reparation, he was pleased to say that under all my

ruggedness there glimmered forth an elevation of spirit, which could be

distinguished from mere animal courage, and that I inherited a similarity

of countenance to my father, which gave proof that all his virtues and

talents had not died with him. Whatever those might be which descended to

me, my noble young friend resolved should not be lost for want of culture.

Acting upon this plan in our subsequent intercourse, he led me to wish to

participate in that cultivation which graced his own intellect. My active

mind, when once it seized upon this new idea, fastened on it with extreme

avidity. At first it was the great object of my ambition to rival the

merits of my father, and render myself worthy of the friendship of Adrian.

But curiosity soon awoke, and an earnest love of knowledge, which caused me

to pass days and nights in reading and study. I was already well acquainted

with what I may term the panorama of nature, the change of seasons, and the

various appearances of heaven and earth. But I was at once startled and

enchanted by my sudden extension of vision, when the curtain, which had

been drawn before the intellectual world, was withdrawn, and I saw the

universe, not only as it presented itself to my outward senses, but as it

had appeared to the wisest among men. Poetry and its creations, philosophy

and its researches and classifications, alike awoke the sleeping ideas in

my mind, and gave me new ones.

The Last Man