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CHAPTER VIII.

KASPAR, who now may be classed amongst persons of polite manners, (57) would, without being known, and in any mixed society in which he might be seen, very soon excite, by his unusual appearance, universal attention. His countenance, in which the tender features of a child are blended with the mature forms of a man, and some lightly drawn furrows of premature age; in which a benignity that captivates all hearts is united to serious reflection, and a slight tinge of melancholy;* his natural

* The portrait prefixed to this work, and engraved after an original picture of Mr. Greil, is, indeed, a speaking likeness, but exhibits only the cheerful and kindly smiling Kaspar. Since the likeness was taken, he is sensibly altered. Cares, sorrows, and vexations, have almost entirely stripped him of the scanty blossoms which his fate had nipped, even in their buds. On his forehead, and near his eyes, appear furrows, his cheeks begin to hang, and his complexion assumes a sallow hue. He is a plant reared in the dark, and which, brought too late into the light of day, shews, for a short time, the bud of its flowers, and then fades. (58)

simplicity, his confiding sincerity, and often more than childish inexperience, conjoined with the discretion of age in a considerable degree, and a gravity quite unaffected, but resembling that of persons of distinction, in his discourse and demeanour; his language heavy, sometimes at a loss for words, and often possessing a harsh and foreign intonation; the stiffness of his attitudes, and of his movements; all these present to the eyes of every observer a mixture of childhood, youth, and manhood, that may at first render it difficult to determine what is really the period of life of this singular and prepossessing stranger.

His mind does not exhibit genius, nor does he possess any distinguished talent,* and all that he learns is the fruit of persevering, indefatigable industry. The ardent, fiery zeal, with which originally he seemed disposed to burst open the gates of knowledge, has long since cooled, and is now nearly extinguished. In all that he undertakes he becomes either

• Except in horsemanship, of which he is passionately fond, and in which he could compete with the ablest riding masters, in elegance, and in dexterity, as well as in mounting and dismounting. He is, in this respect, an object of astonishment to some of our most distinguished officers.

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stationary at the commencement, or does not advance beyond mediocrity. (59) Without a spark of imagination, incapable of wit, or even of comprehending a figurative expression, he possesses an unadorned, but most excellent, natural understanding; and in respect of every thing which immediately regards himself, or is comprised within the narrow limits of his knowledge and experience, he has such a correct judgment, such acuteness and penetration, that he can embarrass, or put to shame many a learned pedant.

In his understanding a man, in his acquirements a little boy, and sometimes even below a child, his conversation and conduct exhibit often a singular mixture of manhood contrasted with childhood. With a serious countenance, and in a tone of great earnestness, he frequently makes observations, which, from any other person of the same age, would appear stupid or silly, but which from him almost always excite a melancholy and compassionate smile. It is particularly amusing when he speaks of his future plans of life, of the manner in which he will regulate his establishment, when through his own exertions he shall have acquired any money; and of his conduct to his wife, whom he considers as a necessary article of household

furniture. Of a wife he cannot form any other idea than that she is a housekeeper or upper maid servant, who is retained as long as she performs her duty, and is discharged if she often spoils the dinners, neglects the mending of the linen, does not properly brush the clothes, &c.

Mild, gentle, without vicious propensities, without passions and desires, his mind remains uniformly the same; and tranquilly occupied with itself, presents the image of a smooth lake in the repose of a moonlight night. Incapable of hurting even one of the brute creation, humane even towards the worm on which he fears to tread, at the same time timid even to cowardice,* (60) he would, however, act according to his conviction, without deference or forbearance, whenever it was requisite to support and to execute the resolutions which he had once adopted from a thorough persuasion, and recognized to be right. If he should fall into a state of oppression, he would long endure it in silence, and endeavour to avoid its inconveniences, or to mitigate them by mild remonstrances; but when nothing else availed, he would, as soon as an opportunity arrived, remove quietly the bonds with which he had been confined, and

* Particularly since his attempted assassination.

would entertain no vindictive feelings against him by whom he had been injured. He is docile, willing, pliant; but no one who unjustly accuses him, or asserts that to be true which he knows to be false, is to expect that he will, from complaisance, or from any other motives, acquiesce in the injustice or in the untruth; he would, with moderation but with firmness, defend his right; and if the obstinacy of his antagonist compelled him to quit the field, would retire from it in silence.

In the maturity of youth, after having passed his childhood in a slumber of his faculties, too old to be a child, and having too much childish ignorance to be considered a young man, without cotemporaries, without a country, without parents, and without relations, he is, as it were, the only being of its kind; he is, at every moment, reminded that he is in solitude, amidst the bustle which surrounds him in the world; that he is weak, powerless, and unable to contend against those circumstances by which his destiny is ruled; and, above all, that he is dependant on the good or ill will of mankind. Thence arises that which is requisite for his own defence, his facility and dexterity in observing those who are around him, his extreme penetration in discovering rapidly their

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