This autobiography of José María Blanco White features all stages of his adult life. He was a masterful, canonical voice in Cadiz and Seville as well as a member of la Academia de Letras Humanas. After a spiritual crisis he moved to Madrid, where he worked in la Comisión de Literatos del Instituto Pestalozziano and fought against the French during the occupation. His liberal ideology led him to disagree with the Central Board. He left Spain for England in 1810, where he resumed his studies of English, his second language, and Greek.