Consumed by Ambition

If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with

the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Cæsar

would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the

empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed. But I forget that I am moralizing

in the most interesting part of my tale; and your looks remind me to proceed. My father made no

reproach in his letters; and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations

more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer,

passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights