Letter 1_To Mrs. Saville, England._St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17-.You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied thecommencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evilforebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assuremy dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the successof my undertaking.I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets ofPetersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, whichbraces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand thisfeeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towardswhich I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes.Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more ferventand vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat offrost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as theregion of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for evervisible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing aperpetual splendour. There-for with your leave, my sister, I will putsome trust in preceding navigators-there snow and frost are banished;and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing inwonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitableglobe. Its productions and features may be without example, as thephenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscoveredsolitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? Imay there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and mayregulate a thousand celestial observations that require only thisvoyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent for ever. Ishall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the worldnever before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted bythe foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient toconquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence thislaborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a littleboat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up hisnative river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, youcannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on allmankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the poleto those countries, to reach which at present so many months arerequisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if atall possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began myletter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates meto heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind asa steady purpose-a point on which the soul may fix its intellectualeye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. Ihave read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which havebeen made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Oceanthrough the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that ahistory of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed thewhole of our good Uncle Thomas' library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my studyday and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret whichI had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunctionhad forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.