In this horrid mansion I walked after my guide for some time, pondering on the strange tyranny and avarice of mankind, when I was accosted by a voice behind me, calling me by name, and inquiring after my health with the most cordial affection. I turned, and saw a creature all black and hideous, who approached me, and, with a piteous accent, said, "Ah! Everard, do you not know me?" What was my surprise when, through the veil of this wretchedness, I discovered the features of a dear old friend. I flew to him with affection, and, after a tear of condolence, asked him how he came there. To this he replied that, having fought a duel with an officer of the Austrian Infantry, against the Emperor's command, and having left him for dead, he was obliged to flee into the forests of Istria, where he was first taken, and afterwards sheltered by some banditti, who had long infested that quarter. With these he lived nine months, till, by a close investiture of the place in which they were concealed, and after a very obstinate resistance, in which the greater part of them were killed, he was taken, and carried to Vienna, in order to be broken alive upon the wheel. However, upon arriving at the capital, he was quickly known, and several of the associates of his accusation and danger witnessing his innocence, his punishment of the rack was changed into that of perpetual banishment and labour in the mines of Idria. As my old friend was giving me this account, a young woman came up to him who at once I perceived to be born for a better fortune. The dreadful situation of this place was not able to destroy her beauty; and, even in this scene of wretchedness, she seemed to have charms sufficient to grace the most brilliant assembly. This lady was, in fact, daughter to one of the first families in Germany; and having tried every means to procure her husband's pardon without effect, was at last resolved to share his miseries, as she could not relieve them. She accordingly descended with him into these mansions, whence few of the living return, despising the splendour of opulence, and contented with the consciousness of her own constancy.