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When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that

I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had

hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it

necessary for the completion of my education that I should be

made acquainted with other customs than those of my native

country. My departure was therefore fixed at an early date, but

before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune

of my life occurred-an omen, as it were, of my future misery.