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"I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers-their grace,

beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I

viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back,

unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the

mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality

the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations

of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely

know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.

"As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer, the snow

vanished, and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth. From

this time Felix was more employed, and the heart-moving

indications of impending famine disappeared. Their food, as I

afterwards found, was coarse, but it was wholesome; and they

procured a sufficiency of it. Several new kinds of plants sprang

up in the garden, which they dressed; and these signs of comfort

increased daily as the season advanced.