hello and welcome to the essential reads podcast a collection of classic english audiobooks brought to you by me isaac let's get started frankenstein by mary shelley chapter one i am by birth genovese 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 stations with honor 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 girly nor was it until the early decline of his life that he became a husband and a father of a family 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 formally been distinguished for his rank and magnificence having paid his debts therefore in the most honorable 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 bitly 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 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 rose 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 enough 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 wrangling when he had leisure for reflection and at length it took so fast the hold of his mind that at the end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness incapable of any exertion his daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness but she saw with despair on it their little fund was rapidly decreasing and there was no prospect of support but caroline beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mold and her courage rose to support her in adversity she procured plain work she pledged straw and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life several months passed in this manner her father grew worse and her time was more entirely occupied in attending him her means of substance 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 both fought coffin weeping bitterly when my father entered the chamber he came like a prospecting spirit to the poor girl who committed herself to his care and after the internment 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 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 and there was a sense of justice in my father's upright mind which rendered it's necessary that he should prove 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 birth there was a show of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother differing wholly from the doubting fondness of age for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues and the desire to be the means of in some degree recompensing her for the sorrow she had endured but which gave inexpressible grace to his behavior 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 rough of end and to surround her with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent mind her health and even the tranquility of her his a tool consistent spirit had been shaken by what she had gone through during the two years that the lapse 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 the lands of wonder and a restorative for her vegan frame from isely they visited germany and france i their eldest was born in naples and as an infant i 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 mothers tend to caress and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections i was their placing 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 silkened cord that all seemed of one train of enjoyment for me for a long time i was their only care my mother had much desire 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 lake como their benevolent disposition often made the mental cottages of the poor this to my mother was more than a duty it was a necessity a passion remember what she had suffered and how she had been relieved for her to act in turn the guardian angel to the afflicted during one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a veil attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate by the number of half-closed children gathered about it spoke of penary in his first shape one day when my father had gone by himself to milan my mother accompanied me visited this abode she found a peasant and his wife hardworking bent down by care and labor 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 molding 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 the peasant woman perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and admiration on this little girl eagerly communicated her history she was not her child but the daughter of a milanese nobleman her mother was 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 church was one of those italians nursed in the memory of the antique glory of italy one among the shiavi ognor who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country he became the victim of his 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 leaf brambles then 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 hills the apparition was soon explained with his permission my mother prevailed on her rustic guardian 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 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 mother sister the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures everyone loved elizabeth the passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became while i shared it my pride and 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 then on the morrow she presented elizabeth to me as her promised gift i without childish seriousness interpreted her words literally and looked upon elizabeth as mine mine to protect love and cherish all praises bestowed upon her i received as made to her possession of my own we called each other familiarly by the name of cousin no word no expression could body force the kind of relation in which she stood to me my more than sister since till death she was to be mine only thank you so very much for listening if you enjoyed please leave a review if you're on youtube subscribe comment like all the youtubey things and if you really want to support me go to my patreon the link is in the description box once again thank you very very much for listening and until next time bye