On the contrary,
the imprisoned felons I had lately seen were shut up like wild beasts in
a cage, deprived of activity, and palsied with indolence. The occasional
demonstrations that still remained of their former enterprising life
were the starts and convulsions of disease, not the meditated and
consistent exertions of a mind in health. They had no more of hope, of
project, of golden and animated dreams, but were reserved to the most
dismal prospects, and forbidden to think upon any other topic. It is
true, that these two scenes were parts of one whole, the one the
consummation, the hourly to be expected successor of the other. But the
men I now saw were wholly inattentive to this, and in that respect
appeared to hold no commerce with reflection or reason.
I might in one view, as I have said, congratulate myself upon my present
residence; it answered completely the purposes of concealment. It was
the seat of merriment and hilarity; but the hilarity that characterised
it produced no correspondent feelings in my bosom.
Pages:
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517