commit bb53c04117f0f2f5e7a512c0b49efa51e02989ff
parent 82d9e5ab82f87244422ddcea56518f57b17acdc2
Author: Erik Nordin <enordin@mozilla.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2025 18:16:17 +0000
Bug 1991761 - Add English Translations benchmark page r=translations-reviewers,gregtatum
This patch adds a new benchmark page using an excerpt
of public-domain English text.
Differential Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D266893
Diffstat:
5 files changed, 1095 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/browser/components/translations/tests/browser/head.js b/browser/components/translations/tests/browser/head.js
@@ -500,6 +500,11 @@ class TranslationsBencher {
* @type {Record<string, {pageLanguage: string, tokenCount: number, wordCount: number}>}
*/
static #PAGE_DATA = {
+ [ENGLISH_BENCHMARK_PAGE_URL]: {
+ pageLanguage: "en",
+ tokenCount: 12955,
+ wordCount: 9575,
+ },
[SPANISH_BENCHMARK_PAGE_URL]: {
pageLanguage: "es",
tokenCount: 10966,
@@ -810,12 +815,8 @@ class TranslationsBencher {
runInPage
);
- await FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.assertTranslationsButton(
- { button: true, circleArrows: false, locale: false, icon: true },
- "The button is available."
- );
-
await FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.openPanel({
+ openFromAppMenu: true,
onOpenPanel: FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.assertPanelViewIntro,
});
@@ -935,12 +936,8 @@ class TranslationsBencher {
runInPage
);
- await FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.assertTranslationsButton(
- { button: true, circleArrows: false, locale: false, icon: true },
- "The button is available."
- );
-
await FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.openPanel({
+ openFromAppMenu: true,
onOpenPanel: FullPageTranslationsTestUtils.assertPanelViewIntro,
});
diff --git a/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/browser.toml b/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/browser.toml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
support-files = [
"head.js",
"shared-head.js",
+ "translations-bencher-en.html",
"translations-bencher-es.html",
"translations-test.mjs",
"translations-tester-blank.html",
diff --git a/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/shared-head.js b/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/shared-head.js
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ const NO_LANGUAGE_URL = _url("translations-tester-no-tag.html");
const PDF_TEST_PAGE_URL = _url("translations-tester-pdf-file.pdf");
const SELECT_TEST_PAGE_URL = _url("translations-tester-select.html");
const TEXT_CLEANING_URL = _url("translations-text-cleaning.html");
+const ENGLISH_BENCHMARK_PAGE_URL = _url("translations-bencher-en.html");
const SPANISH_BENCHMARK_PAGE_URL = _url("translations-bencher-es.html");
const SPANISH_PAGE_URL_DOT_ORG =
diff --git a/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/translations-bencher-en.html b/toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/translations-bencher-en.html
@@ -0,0 +1,1084 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+ <meta charset="utf-8" />
+ <title translate="no" lang="en">Translations Benchmark</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+ <header translate="no" lang="en">The following is an excerpt from Frankenstein, which is in the public domain</header>
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="letter1"></a>Letter 1</h2>
+
+ <p class="letter2">
+ <i>To Mrs. Saville, England.</i>
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of
+ an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived
+ here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and
+ increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh,
+ I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and
+ fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has
+ travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste
+ of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become
+ more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat
+ of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the
+ region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible, its
+ broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour.
+ There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding
+ navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we
+ may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region
+ hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be
+ without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in
+ those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal
+ light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and
+ may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to
+ render their seeming eccentricities consistent for ever. I shall satiate my
+ ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited,
+ and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my
+ enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and
+ to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when
+ he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of
+ discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false,
+ you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind,
+ to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those
+ countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by
+ ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be
+ effected by an undertaking such as mine.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter,
+ and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for
+ nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose—a
+ point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been
+ the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of
+ the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the
+ North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember
+ that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the
+ whole of our good Uncle Thomas’ library. My education was neglected, yet I was
+ passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my
+ familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on
+ learning that my father’s dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me
+ to embark in a seafaring life.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets whose
+ effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also became a poet and
+ for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also
+ might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are
+ consecrated. You are well acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the
+ disappointment. But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and
+ my thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even
+ now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise.
+ I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I accompanied the whale-fishers on
+ several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine,
+ thirst, and want of sleep; I often worked harder than the common sailors during
+ the day and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of
+ medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer
+ might derive the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as
+ an under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I must
+ own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second dignity in the
+ vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest earnestness, so valuable
+ did he consider my services.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My
+ life might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every
+ enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would
+ answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes
+ fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long
+ and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I
+ am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain
+ my own, when theirs are failing.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly quickly
+ over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in my opinion, far
+ more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach. The cold is not excessive,
+ if you are wrapped in furs—a dress which I have already adopted, for there is a
+ great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for
+ hours, when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in your
+ veins. I have no ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St.
+ Petersburgh and Archangel.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three weeks; and my
+ intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be done by paying the
+ insurance for the owner, and to engage as many sailors as I think necessary
+ among those who are accustomed to the whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail
+ until the month of June; and when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I
+ answer this question? If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass
+ before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Farewell, my dear, excellent Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on you, and
+ save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for all your love and
+ kindness.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ Your affectionate brother,<br/>
+ R. Walton
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="letter2"></a>Letter 2</h2>
+
+ <p class="letter2">
+ <i>To Mrs. Saville, England.</i>
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ Archangel, 28th March, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow! Yet a
+ second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a vessel and am
+ occupied in collecting my sailors; those whom I have already engaged appear to
+ be men on whom I can depend and are certainly possessed of dauntless courage.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the
+ absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no
+ friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will
+ be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will
+ endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it
+ is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire
+ the company of a man who could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to
+ mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of
+ a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a
+ cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to
+ approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the faults of your
+ poor brother! I am too ardent in execution and too impatient of difficulties.
+ But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first
+ fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle
+ Thomas’ books of voyages. At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated
+ poets of our own country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power
+ to derive its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived
+ the necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native
+ country. Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many
+ schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have thought more and that my
+ daydreams are more extended and magnificent, but they want (as the painters
+ call it) <i>keeping;</i> and I greatly need a friend who would have sense
+ enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour
+ to regulate my mind.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the
+ wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet some
+ feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in these rugged
+ bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and
+ enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory, or rather, to word my phrase more
+ characteristically, of advancement in his profession. He is an Englishman, and
+ in the midst of national and professional prejudices, unsoftened by
+ cultivation, retains some of the noblest endowments of humanity. I first became
+ acquainted with him on board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in
+ this city, I easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The master is a person of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the
+ ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his discipline. This circumstance,
+ added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very desirous
+ to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your
+ gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character
+ that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on
+ board ship: I have never believed it to be necessary, and when I heard of a
+ mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience
+ paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to
+ secure his services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a
+ lady who owes to him the happiness of her life. This, briefly, is his story.
+ Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate fortune, and having
+ amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the girl consented to
+ the match. He saw his mistress once before the destined ceremony; but she was
+ bathed in tears, and throwing herself at his feet, entreated him to spare her,
+ confessing at the same time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and
+ that her father would never consent to the union. My generous friend reassured
+ the suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly
+ abandoned his pursuit. He had already bought a farm with his money, on which he
+ had designed to pass the remainder of his life; but he bestowed the whole on
+ his rival, together with the remains of his prize-money to purchase stock, and
+ then himself solicited the young woman’s father to consent to her marriage with
+ her lover. But the old man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honour
+ to my friend, who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country,
+ nor returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according to
+ her inclinations. “What a noble fellow!” you will exclaim. He is so; but then
+ he is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant
+ carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his conduct the more
+ astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which otherwise he would
+ command.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a
+ consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my
+ resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage is only now delayed
+ until the weather shall permit my embarkation. The winter has been dreadfully
+ severe, but the spring promises well, and it is considered as a remarkably
+ early season, so that perhaps I may sail sooner than I expected. I shall do
+ nothing rashly: you know me sufficiently to confide in my prudence and
+ considerateness whenever the safety of others is committed to my care.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking.
+ It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation,
+ half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart. I am
+ going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow,” but I shall kill
+ no albatross; therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come
+ back to you as worn and woeful as the “Ancient Mariner.” You will smile at my
+ allusion, but I will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment
+ to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that
+ production of the most imaginative of modern poets. There is something at work
+ in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically industrious—painstaking,
+ a workman to execute with perseverance and labour—but besides this there is a
+ love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my
+ projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild
+ sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ But to return to dearer considerations. Shall I meet you again, after having
+ traversed immense seas, and returned by the most southern cape of Africa or
+ America? I dare not expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the
+ reverse of the picture. Continue for the present to write to me by every
+ opportunity: I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most
+ to support my spirits. I love you very tenderly. Remember me with affection,
+ should you never hear from me again.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ Your affectionate brother,<br/>
+ Robert Walton
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="letter3"></a>Letter 3</h2>
+
+ <p class="letter2">
+ <i>To Mrs. Saville, England.</i>
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ July 7th, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ My dear Sister,
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe—and well advanced on my
+ voyage. This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on its homeward
+ voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not see my native land,
+ perhaps, for many years. I am, however, in good spirits: my men are bold and
+ apparently firm of purpose, nor do the floating sheets of ice that continually
+ pass us, indicating the dangers of the region towards which we are advancing,
+ appear to dismay them. We have already reached a very high latitude; but it is
+ the height of summer, and although not so warm as in England, the southern
+ gales, which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire
+ to attain, breathe a degree of renovating warmth which I had not expected.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a letter.
+ One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are accidents which
+ experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and I shall be well content
+ if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Adieu, my dear Margaret. Be assured that for my own sake, as well as yours, I
+ will not rashly encounter danger. I will be cool, persevering, and prudent.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ But success <i>shall</i> crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have
+ gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves
+ being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the
+ untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved
+ will of man?
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must finish.
+ Heaven bless my beloved sister!
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ R.W.
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="letter4"></a>Letter 4</h2>
+
+ <p class="letter2">
+ <i>To Mrs. Saville, England.</i>
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ August 5th, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ So strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear recording it,
+ although it is very probable that you will see me before these papers can come
+ into your possession.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the
+ ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which she floated. Our
+ situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we were compassed round by a
+ very thick fog. We accordingly lay to, hoping that some change would take place
+ in the atmosphere and weather.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ About two o’clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out in every
+ direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to have no end. Some
+ of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to grow watchful with anxious
+ thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly attracted our attention and diverted
+ our solicitude from our own situation. We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a
+ sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a
+ mile; a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature,
+ sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid progress of the
+ traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the distant inequalities
+ of the ice.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This appearance excited our unqualified wonder. We were, as we believed, many
+ hundred miles from any land; but this apparition seemed to denote that it was
+ not, in reality, so distant as we had supposed. Shut in, however, by ice, it
+ was impossible to follow his track, which we had observed with the greatest
+ attention.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ About two hours after this occurrence we heard the ground sea, and before night
+ the ice broke and freed our ship. We, however, lay to until the morning,
+ fearing to encounter in the dark those large loose masses which float about
+ after the breaking up of the ice. I profited of this time to rest for a few
+ hours.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and found
+ all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently talking to someone
+ in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we had seen before, which had
+ drifted towards us in the night on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog
+ remained alive; but there was a human being within it whom the sailors were
+ persuading to enter the vessel. He was not, as the other traveller seemed to
+ be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but a European. When I
+ appeared on deck the master said, “Here is our captain, and he will not allow
+ you to perish on the open sea.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with a foreign
+ accent. “Before I come on board your vessel,” said he, “will you have the
+ kindness to inform me whither you are bound?”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed to me
+ from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have supposed that
+ my vessel would have been a resource which he would not have exchanged for the
+ most precious wealth the earth can afford. I replied, however, that we were on
+ a voyage of discovery towards the northern pole.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board. Good
+ God! Margaret, if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for his safety,
+ your surprise would have been boundless. His limbs were nearly frozen, and his
+ body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so
+ wretched a condition. We attempted to carry him into the cabin, but as soon as
+ he had quitted the fresh air he fainted. We accordingly brought him back to the
+ deck and restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him
+ to swallow a small quantity. As soon as he showed signs of life we wrapped him
+ up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the kitchen stove. By slow
+ degrees he recovered and ate a little soup, which restored him wonderfully.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak, and I often feared
+ that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding. When he had in some
+ measure recovered, I removed him to my own cabin and attended on him as much as
+ my duty would permit. I never saw a more interesting creature: 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 that I never saw equalled. But he is
+ generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if
+ impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off the men,
+ who wished to ask him a thousand questions; but I would not allow him to be
+ tormented by their idle curiosity, in a state of body and mind whose
+ restoration evidently depended upon entire repose. Once, however, the
+ lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice in so strange a vehicle.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ His countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom, and he
+ replied, “To seek one who fled from me.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “And did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion?”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “Yes.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “Then I fancy we have seen him, for the day before we picked you up we saw some
+ dogs drawing a sledge, with a man in it, across the ice.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This aroused the stranger’s attention, and he asked a multitude of questions
+ concerning the route which the dæmon, as he called him, had pursued. Soon
+ after, when he was alone with me, he said, “I have, doubtless, excited your
+ curiosity, as well as that of these good people; but you are too considerate to
+ make inquiries.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “Certainly; it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman in me to trouble
+ you with any inquisitiveness of mine.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “And yet you rescued me from a strange and perilous situation; you have
+ benevolently restored me to life.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the ice had
+ destroyed the other sledge. I replied that I could not answer with any degree
+ of certainty, for the ice had not broken until near midnight, and the traveller
+ might have arrived at a place of safety before that time; but of this I could
+ not judge.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ From this time a new spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the
+ stranger. He manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck to watch for the
+ sledge which had before appeared; but I have persuaded him to remain in the
+ cabin, for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the atmosphere. I have
+ promised that someone should watch for him and give him instant notice if any
+ new object should appear in sight.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Such is my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the present
+ day. The stranger has gradually improved in health but is very silent and
+ appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin. Yet his manners are
+ so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all interested in him, although
+ they have had very little communication with him. For my own part, I begin to
+ love him as a brother, and his constant and deep grief fills me with sympathy
+ and compassion. He must have been a noble creature in his better days, being
+ even now in wreck so attractive and amiable.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I said in one of my letters, my dear Margaret, that I should find no friend on
+ the wide ocean; yet I have found a man who, before his spirit had been broken
+ by misery, I should have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my
+ heart.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I shall continue my journal concerning the stranger at intervals, should I have
+ any fresh incidents to record.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ August 13th, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ My affection for my guest increases every day. He excites at once my admiration
+ and my pity to an astonishing degree. How can I see so noble a creature
+ destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief? He is so gentle,
+ yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and when he speaks, although his words
+ are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled
+ eloquence.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ He is now much recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck,
+ apparently watching for the sledge that preceded his own. Yet, although
+ unhappy, he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests
+ himself deeply in the projects of others. He has frequently conversed with me
+ on mine, which I have communicated to him without disguise. He entered
+ attentively into all my arguments in favour of my eventual success and into
+ every minute detail of the measures I had taken to secure it. I was easily led
+ by the sympathy which he evinced to use the language of my heart, to give
+ utterance to the burning ardour of my soul and to say, with all the fervour
+ that warmed me, how gladly I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every
+ hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise. One man’s life or death were but a
+ small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the
+ dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race. As
+ I spoke, a dark gloom spread over my listener’s countenance. At first I
+ perceived that he tried to suppress his emotion; he placed his hands before his
+ eyes, and my voice quivered and failed me as I beheld tears trickle fast from
+ between his fingers; a groan burst from his heaving breast. I paused; at length
+ he spoke, in broken accents: “Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you
+ drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my tale, and you
+ will dash the cup from your lips!”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Such words, you may imagine, strongly excited my curiosity; but the paroxysm of
+ grief that had seized the stranger overcame his weakened powers, and many hours
+ of repose and tranquil conversation were necessary to restore his composure.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Having conquered the violence of his feelings, he appeared to despise himself
+ for being the slave of passion; and quelling the dark tyranny of despair, he
+ led me again to converse concerning myself personally. He asked me the history
+ of my earlier years. The tale was quickly told, but it awakened various trains
+ of reflection. I spoke of my desire of finding a friend, of my thirst for a
+ more intimate sympathy with a fellow mind than had ever fallen to my lot, and
+ expressed my conviction that a man could boast of little happiness who did not
+ enjoy this blessing.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “I agree with you,” replied the stranger; “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. I once
+ had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to
+ judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the world before you, and have
+ no cause for despair. But I—I have lost everything and cannot begin life anew.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ As he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm, settled grief that
+ touched me to the heart. But he was silent and presently retired to his cabin.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ 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 seem still to have the power of elevating his soul from
+ earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery and be
+ overwhelmed by disappointments, yet when he has retired into himself, he will
+ be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no
+ grief or folly ventures.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine wanderer? You
+ would not if you saw him. You have been tutored and refined by books and
+ retirement from the world, and you are therefore somewhat fastidious; but this
+ only renders you the more fit to appreciate the extraordinary merits of this
+ wonderful man. Sometimes I have endeavoured to discover what quality it is
+ which he possesses that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I
+ ever knew. I believe it to be an intuitive discernment, a quick but
+ never-failing power of judgment, a penetration into the causes of things,
+ unequalled for clearness and precision; add to this a facility of expression
+ and a voice whose varied intonations are soul-subduing music.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="right">
+ August 19th, 17—.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Yesterday the stranger said to me, “You may easily perceive, Captain Walton,
+ that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had determined at
+ one time that the memory of these evils should die with me, but you have won me
+ to alter my determination. You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did;
+ and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent
+ to sting you, as mine has been. I do not know that the relation of my disasters
+ will be useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same
+ course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am,
+ I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one that may direct
+ you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you in case of failure.
+ Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually deemed marvellous. Were we
+ among the tamer scenes of nature I might fear to encounter your unbelief,
+ perhaps your ridicule; but many things will appear possible in these wild and
+ mysterious regions which would provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with
+ the ever-varied powers of nature; nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in
+ its series internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is
+ composed.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered communication,
+ yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by a recital of his
+ misfortunes. 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. I expressed these feelings in my answer.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ “I thank you,” he replied, “for your sympathy, but it is useless; my fate is
+ nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall repose in peace. I
+ understand your feeling,” continued he, perceiving that I wished to interrupt
+ him; “but you are mistaken, my friend, if thus you will allow me to name you;
+ nothing can alter my destiny; listen to my history, and you will perceive how
+ irrevocably it is determined.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when I should
+ be at leisure. This promise drew from me the warmest thanks. I have resolved
+ every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to record, as
+ nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during the day. If I
+ should be engaged, I will at least make notes. This manuscript will doubtless
+ afford you the greatest pleasure; but to me, who know him, and who hear it from
+ his own lips—with what interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future
+ day! Even now, as I commence my task, his full-toned voice swells in my ears;
+ his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness; I see his
+ thin hand raised in animation, while the lineaments of his face are irradiated
+ by the soul within. Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the
+ storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it—thus!
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="chap01"></a>Chapter 1</h2>
+
+ <p>
+ I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of
+ that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics,
+ and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation.
+ He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable
+ attention to public business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied
+ by the affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his
+ marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a husband
+ and the father of a family.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot refrain
+ from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a
+ flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty. This man,
+ whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition and could not
+ bear to live in poverty and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly
+ been distinguished for his rank and magnificence. Having paid his debts,
+ therefore, in the most honourable manner, he retreated with his daughter to the
+ town of Lucerne, where he lived unknown and in wretchedness. My father loved
+ Beaufort with the truest friendship and was deeply grieved by his retreat in
+ these unfortunate circumstances. He bitterly deplored the false pride which led
+ his friend to a conduct so little worthy of the affection that united them. He
+ lost no time in endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading him
+ to begin the world again through his credit and assistance.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten months
+ before my father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened
+ to the house, which was situated in a mean street near the Reuss. But when he
+ entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him. Beaufort had saved but a very
+ small sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes, but it was sufficient to
+ provide him with sustenance for some months, and in the meantime he hoped to
+ procure some respectable employment in a merchant’s house. The interval was,
+ consequently, spent in inaction; his grief only became more deep and rankling
+ when he had leisure for reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his
+ mind that at the end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable of
+ any exertion.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw with
+ despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that there was no
+ other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an
+ uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She
+ procured plain work; she plaited straw and by various means contrived to earn a
+ pittance scarcely sufficient to support life.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Several months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time was more
+ entirely occupied in attending him; her means of subsistence decreased; and in
+ the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan and a
+ beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort’s coffin weeping
+ bitterly, when my father entered the chamber. He came like a protecting spirit
+ to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of
+ his friend he conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a
+ relation. Two years after this event Caroline became his wife.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this
+ circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted affection.
+ There was a sense of justice in my father’s upright mind which rendered it
+ necessary that he should approve highly to love strongly. Perhaps during former
+ years he had suffered from the late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and
+ so was disposed to set a greater value on tried worth. There was a show of
+ gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the
+ doting fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues and a
+ desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing her for the sorrows she
+ had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace to his behaviour to her.
+ Everything was made to yield to her wishes and her convenience. He strove to
+ shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher
+ wind and to surround her with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion
+ in her soft and benevolent mind. Her health, and even the tranquillity of her
+ hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During
+ the two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had
+ gradually relinquished all his public functions; and immediately after their
+ union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change of scene and
+ interest attendant on a tour through that land of wonders, as a restorative for
+ her weakened frame.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest child, was born at
+ Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for
+ several years their only child. Much as they were attached to each other, they
+ seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to
+ bestow them upon me. My mother’s tender caresses and my father’s smile of
+ benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their
+ plaything and their idol, and something better—their child, the innocent and
+ helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and
+ whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery,
+ according as they fulfilled their duties towards me. With this deep
+ consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life,
+ added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated both, it may be imagined
+ that while during every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience,
+ of charity, and of self-control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all
+ seemed but one train of enjoyment to me.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much desired to have a
+ daughter, but I continued their single offspring. When I was about five years
+ old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they passed a
+ week on the shores of the Lake of Como. Their benevolent disposition often made
+ them enter the cottages of the poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty;
+ it was a necessity, a passion—remembering what she had suffered, and how she
+ had been relieved—for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the
+ afflicted. During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a vale
+ attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate, while the number of
+ half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in its worst shape. One
+ day, when my father had gone by himself to Milan, my mother, accompanied by me,
+ visited this abode. She found a peasant and his wife, hard working, bent down
+ by care and labour, distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among
+ these there was one which attracted my mother far above all the rest. She
+ appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little
+ vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living
+ gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of
+ distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless,
+ and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and
+ sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct
+ species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her
+ features.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and
+ admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She was not
+ her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a German and
+ had died on giving her birth. The infant had been placed with these good people
+ to nurse: they were better off then. They had not been long married, and their
+ eldest child was but just born. The father of their charge was one of those
+ Italians nursed in the memory of the antique glory of Italy—one among the
+ <i>schiavi ognor frementi,</i> who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his
+ country. He became the victim of its weakness. Whether he had died or still
+ lingered in the dungeons of Austria was not known. His property was
+ confiscated; his child became an orphan and a beggar. She continued with her
+ foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than a garden rose among
+ dark-leaved brambles.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our
+ villa a child fairer than pictured cherub—a creature who seemed to shed
+ radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the
+ chamois of the hills. The apparition was soon explained. With his permission my
+ mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her. They
+ were fond of the sweet orphan. Her presence had seemed a blessing to them, but
+ it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want when Providence
+ afforded her such powerful protection. They consulted their village priest, and
+ the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house—my
+ more than sister—the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and
+ my pleasures.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate and almost reverential attachment with
+ which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight. On
+ the evening previous to her being brought to my home, my mother had said
+ playfully, “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.”
+ And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I,
+ with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon
+ Elizabeth as mine—mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on
+ her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other
+ familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body forth the
+ kind of relation in which she stood to me—my more than sister, since till death
+ she was to be mine only.
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+
+ <div class="chapter">
+
+ <h2><a name="chap02"></a>Chapter 2</h2>
+
+ <p>
+ 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. The world was to me a secret which I
+ desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of
+ nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the
+ earliest sensations I can remember.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up
+ entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native country. We
+ possessed a house in Geneva, and a <i>campagne</i> on Belrive, the eastern
+ shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city.
+ We resided principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed
+ in considerable seclusion. It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach
+ myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows
+ in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one
+ among them. Henry Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of
+ singular talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for
+ its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance. He composed
+ heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and knightly
+ adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into masquerades, in
+ which the characters were drawn from the heroes of Roncesvalles, of the Round
+ Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous train who shed their blood to redeem
+ the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents
+ were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they
+ were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents
+ and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with
+ other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and
+ gratitude assisted the development of filial love.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in
+ my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager
+ desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that
+ neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the
+ politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of
+ heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward
+ substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of
+ man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or
+ in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of
+ things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, and the actions of men
+ were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose
+ names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our
+ species. The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in
+ our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet
+ glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was
+ the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become sullen in
+ my study, rough through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to
+ subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And Clerval—could aught ill
+ entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet he might not have been so
+ perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his generosity, so full of kindness and
+ tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to
+ him the real loveliness of beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim
+ of his soaring ambition.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before
+ misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright visions of extensive
+ usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self. Besides, in drawing
+ the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by
+ insensible steps, to my after tale of misery, for when I would account to
+ myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find
+ it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources;
+ but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has
+ swept away all my hopes and joys.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire,
+ therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection
+ for that science. When I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of
+ pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency of the weather obliged us to
+ remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of
+ the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy; the theory which he
+ attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed
+ this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind, and
+ bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked
+ carelessly at the title page of my book and said, “Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My
+ dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash.”
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that
+ the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system
+ of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the
+ ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the
+ former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainly
+ have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was,
+ by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that
+ the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to
+ my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means
+ assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read
+ with the greatest avidity.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this
+ author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied
+ the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures
+ known to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been
+ imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature. In spite of
+ the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always
+ came from my studies discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to
+ have avowed that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and
+ unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of natural
+ philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy’s apprehensions
+ as tyros engaged in the same pursuit.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with
+ their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had
+ partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a
+ wonder and a mystery. He might dissect, anatomise, and give names; but, not to
+ speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were
+ utterly unknown to him. I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments
+ that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and
+ rashly and ignorantly I had repined.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more.
+ I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It
+ may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while
+ I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great
+ degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not
+ scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a
+ student’s thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I
+ entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone
+ and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention.
+ Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I
+ could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any
+ but a violent death!
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise
+ liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of which I most
+ eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed
+ the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill
+ or fidelity in my instructors. And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded
+ systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and
+ floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by
+ an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed
+ the current of my ideas.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive,
+ when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from
+ behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful
+ loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm
+ lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the
+ door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak
+ which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling
+ light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted
+ stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a
+ singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to
+ thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity.
+ On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and
+ excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he
+ had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new
+ and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius
+ Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by
+ some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed
+ studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that
+ had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those
+ caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at
+ once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its
+ progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest
+ disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold
+ of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and
+ the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure
+ foundations, and so worthy of my consideration.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we
+ bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost
+ miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the
+ guardian angel of my life—the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to
+ avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop
+ me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul
+ which followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies.
+ It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution,
+ happiness with their disregard.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. Destiny
+ was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible
+ destruction.
+ </p>
+
+ </div><!--end chapter-->
+</body>
diff --git a/toolkit/components/translations/tests/scripts/translations-perf-data.py b/toolkit/components/translations/tests/scripts/translations-perf-data.py
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ description:
example:
❯ python3 toolkit/components/translations/tests/scripts/translations-perf-data.py \\
- --page_path="toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/translations-bencher-es.html" \\
- --model_path="~/Downloads/cab5e093-7b55-47ea-a247-9747cc0109e3.spm"
+ --page_path="toolkit/components/translations/tests/browser/translations-bencher-en.html" \\
+ --model_path="~/Downloads/vocab.spm"
note:
The vocab model file can be downloaded from the following page:
