1. First partMy present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was
swallowed up and lost. I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone
endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and
allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise
delirium or death would have been my portion.
My first resolution was to quit Geneva forever; my country,
which, when I was happy and beloved, was dear to me, now, in my
adversity, became hateful. I provided myself with a sum of money,
together with a few jewels which had belonged to my mother, and
departed. And now my wanderings began which are to cease but with
life. I have traversed a vast portion of the earth and have endured
all the hardships which travellers in deserts and barbarous
countries are wont to
