This, in the effects
which immediately flowed from it, I count among the most
extraordinary incidents of my life. This face, seen for a moment,
continued for hours to occupy my fancy, to the exclusion of almost
every other image. I had proposed to spend the evening with my
brother; but I could not resist the inclination of forming a sketch
upon paper of this memorable visage. Whether my hand was aided by
any peculiar inspiration, or I was deceived by my own fond
conceptions, this portrait, though hastily executed, appeared
unexceptionable to my own taste.
I placed it at all distances and in all lights; my eyes were
riveted upon it. Half the night passed away in wakefulness and in
contemplation of this picture. So flexible, and yet so stubborn,
is the human mind! So obedient to impulses the most transient and
brief, and yet so unalterably observant of the direction which is
given to it! How little did I then foresee the termination of that
chain of which this may be regarded as the first link!
Next day arose in darkness and storm. Torrents of rain fell during
the whole day, attended with incessant thunder, which reverberated
in stunning echoes from the opposite declivity.
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