Letter 4

• “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge”
• “there was a human being within it [...] He was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but a European”
• “‘Before I come on board your vessel,’ said he, ‘will you have the kindness to inform me of whither you are bound?”
• “Good God! (…) His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never
• “We restored him to animation”
• “his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness; but there are moments when, if anyone performs an act of kindness towards him, or does him any the most trifling service, his whole countenance is lighted up, as it were, with a beam of benevolence and sweetness”
• “a new spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the stranger.”
• “He must have been a noble creature in his better days, being even now in wreck so attractive and amiable.”
• “My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration and pity to an astonishing degree.”
• “How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery”
• “He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is cultivated; and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence.”
• “‘Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drank also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me – let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!’”
• “Such words, you may imagine, strongly excited my curiosity”
• “‘we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves – such a friend ought to be – do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures.’”
• “Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature.”
• “The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth.”
• “I felt the greatest eagerness to hear the promised narrative, partly from curiosity, and partly from a strong desire to ameliorate his fate, if it were in my power.”
• “nothing can alter my destiny: listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is determined.”
• “his full toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness”
• when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit, that has a halo around him