had a refined mind; he had no desire to be idle, and was well pleased to become his father’s partner, but he believed that a man might be a very good trader, and yet possess a cultivated understanding.loved poetry and his mind was filled with the imagery and sublime sentiments of the masters of that art. A poet himself, he turned with y disgust from the details of ordinary life. His own soul mind was all the possession that he prized, beautiful & majestic thoughts the only wealth he coveted—daring as the eagle and as free, common laws could not be applied to him; and while you gazed on him you felt his soul’s spark was more divine—more truly stolen from Apollo’s sacred fire, than the glimmering ember that animates other men.
This lengthy revision in the Thomas Copy removes the original description of Clerval as a relatively ordinary tradesman with an interest in poetry and the arts, and transforms him instead into a figure of tremendous romantic flair and verve.
Where before he was described as "a good trader" with a "refined mind," Victor's recollection of him is now charged with profuse admiration, casting Clerval as "daring as the eagle and as free," "his soul's spark was more divine--more truly stolen from Apollo's sacred fire". He is a poet by nature, not a trader, and we now see him resisting his father's attempt to channel his abilities into narrow pursuits of profit. In the 1831 this revision is enlarged to put Clerval's passionate interests even more decisively in opposition to his father's wishes.


