Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/187

Rh wretched prison, he was attacked by terrible fits of epilepsy. Being separated from him only by a wall, at a time when I least expected, I heard him all at once uttering dreadful cries, rolling on the floor, and struggling with his illness, without being able to assist him. It was the most cruel sensation I ever felt. Kapostas’ health was soon so much shaken by those fits, that the physician, at last fearing for his life, remonstrated with Samoilow; but all he could obtain for the prisoner was permission to walk upon the draw-bridge for half an hour every day during fine weather, accompanied by his guard. This relief, however insignificant it appeared, did him a great deal of good, and his fits became less frequent. Man, abandoned to solitary life, and having for his companion his imagination alone, has more than one danger to fear; for this