Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/176

 my brother, among whose faults vanity and self-love were not the smallest. Constantly habituated to her dangerous company, he became gloomy and melancholy whenever he was absent from her but for an hour, and his frantic passions would then break loose in such symptoms, as made both my mother and me tremble for our safety.

"It was plainly visible in his whole deportment, that his mind hung brooding over some dark purpose, to execute which his resolution seemed to stagger. He was vexed at being kept in bounds by the salutary measures of maternal prudence; and to have no other resource than her property to supply his imaginary wants, filled him with despair. His soul had gradually been betrayed from levities into crimes, and several hints, too, had actually been given him with proffered means of assistance, to enable him to get all our fortune into his own hands. His creditors teazed him night and day with their importunities and menaces; he knew of no medium; his pretended friends shammed pover-