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We were brought up together; there was not quite a year

difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to

any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our

companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in

our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer

and more concentrated disposition; but, with all my ardour, I was

capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten

with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following

the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and

wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home -the sublime

shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and

calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our

Alpine summers-she found ample scope for admiration and delight.

While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied

spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in

investigating their causes.