what is told us of a young French lady, who lost her sight in her second year, and of whose marvellous accomplishments we have an account in the Annual Register for 1762. This lady is said, notwithstanding her blindness, to have been an excellent player at cards, a ready and elegant writer, and even to have been able to read written characters. On sitting down to play at cards, she first went over the pack, marking every one of the fifty-two cards by so slight an indentation, as scarcely to be perceptible to any one else on the closest inspection, but which, nevertheless, she herself, by the delicacy of her touch, instantly recognised. She then proceeded without difficulty, only requiring, of course, that every card should be named as it was played. In writing she used a sharp and hard-pointed pencil, which marked the paper so as to enable her to read what she had written with her finger-ends. All this, it must be confessed, seems very like a fiction; but it is, perhaps, scarcely so wonderful as what is told of an English lady, who was examined by several eminent physicians, and among others by Sir Hans Sloane. She had been deprived by disease, not only of her sight but of her powers of speech and hearing, so that there remained only the organs of touch, taste, and smell, by which she could hold communication with others. Deaf, dumb, and blind as she was, however, she yet in course of time learned to converse with her friends by means of an alphabet made by their hands or fingers pressed in different ways upon her's. She very soon also acquired the power of writing with great neatness and exactness, and used to sit up in bed, we are told, at any hour of the night, either to write or to work, when she felt herself indisposed to sleep. We shall feel what an invaluable possession the knowledge of writing must have been to this individual, when we reflect,

that on first being reduced to the state of deplorable helplessness which she afterwards found admitted of so many alleviations, nothing but the power she still retained of scrawling a few words, which yet she could not discern, could have enabled her at all to communicate her wishes or feelings to those around her But for this power it would seem that she must have been for ever shut out from even the most imperfect intercourse with her species; for it was through it alone that she could intimate to them the meaning she wished to be assigned to each of the different palpable signs which constituted her alphabet. With this instrument of communication, the arrangement would be easily effected; it would otherwise have been impracticable. We have abundant reason to set a high value on the art of writing, but to this person it was invaluable. To us it is the most useful of all the arts; to her it was the means of restoration to life from a state of exclusion, almost as complete as that of the grave.

But perhaps the most singular instance on record of a blind person triumphing over those difficulties of his situation, which are apparently most insuperable, is afforded in JOHN METCALF, or, as he was commonly called, Blind Jack, a well-known character, who died only a few years ago. This person was a native of Manchester or the neighbourhood, and Mr. Bew has given an account of him in the paper we have already quoted. After telling us that he became blind at a very early age, so as to be entirely ignorant of light and its various effects, the narrative proceeds as follows::- "This man passed the younger part of his life as a waggoner, and occasionally as a guide in intricate roads during the night, or when the tracks were covered with snow. Strange as this may appear to those who can see, the employment he has since undertaken is

still more extraordinary; it is one of the last to which we could suppose a blind man would ever turn his attention. His present occupation is that of projector and surveyor of highways in difficult and mountainous parts. With the assistance only of a long staff, I have several times met this man traversing the roads, ascending precipices, exploring valleys, and investigating their several extents, forms, and situations, so as to answer his designs in the best manner. The plans which he designs, and the estimates he makes, are done in a method peculiar to himself, and which he cannot well convey the meaning of to others. His abilities in this respect are nevertheless so great, that he finds constant employment. Most of the roads over the Peak in Derbyshire have been altered by his directions, particularly those in the vicinity of Buxton; and he is at this time constructing a new one betwixt Wilmslow and Congleton, with a view to open a communication to the great London road, without being obliged to pass over the mountains." Mr. Bew adds in a note, "Since this paper was written, and had the honour of being delivered to the Society, I have met this blind projector of the roads, who was alone as usual, and amongst other conversation, I made some enquiries concerning this new road. It was really astonishing to hear with what accuracy he described the courses and the nature of the different soils through which it was conducted. Having mentioned to him a boggy piece of ground it passed through, he observed, that that was the only place he had doubts concerning; and that he was apprehensive they had, contrary to his directions, been too sparing of their materials.'"*

We will mention, in conclusion, only a very few others of the blind who have distinguished them* Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. i.

selves in literature. The Scotch poet, commonly known by the name of HENRY the Minstrel, better known as "Blind Harry," who has left a poem in the dialect of his country on the achievements of Sir William Wallace, was born blind. In addition to his poetical powers, which are considerable, he seems to have possessed a knowledge of Latin and French, as well as of the principal sciences cultivated in his time. His work shews him to have had some acquaintance in particular both with divinity and astronomy. He flourished about the middle of the fifteenth century; and John Major, the historian, in whose youth he was still alive, tells us, that he was wont to recite his verses at the feasts of the nobility, "obtaining in that manner," he adds, "his food and raiment, of which he was well worthy." Henry's work long continued a popular favourite in Scotland, and is still very generally read in a modernised form.-The Italian poet SCAPINELLI, who was born at Modena in 1585, was also blind from his birth. He held a professor's chair successively at Bologna, Modena, and Pisa; and having then been recalled to occupy the place of Chief Professor of Eloquence, on which he had long set his heart, in the first of these Universities, died there in the forty-ninth year of his age. Scapinelli, beside several prose compositions, wrote verses both in Italian and Latin; and all his works are distinguished, not only by their learning, but by a purity and elegance of diction, rare at the time when he flourished. He was accounted, indeed, one of the most finished scholars of his day.

Nor must we forget here the well-known name of the Rev. Dr. BLACKLOCK. He was born at the town of Annan, in Dumfries-shire, in 1721. When no more than six months old he was reduced to a

state of complete blindness by small pox. To one in his circumstances this was a peculiarly heavy

calamity; for his father was only a poor working mason, with several other children to provide for, and but little in a condition, therefore, to sustain the burden of a son, not only left more than usually dependent upon him during childhood, but seemingly unfitted for ever taking care of himself. But never were the duties of a father more admirably fulfilled than by this excellent man in his humble estate. His poor blind boy was the object of an unceasing tenderness and care, which, not satisfied with providing for the supply of his bodily wants, left nothing undone that could contribute either to improve or amuse his mind, and so make up to him, as far as possible, for his melancholy deprivation. He delighted especially to spend his leisure hours in reading to him; and finding him fond of poetry, he procured as many of the works of our English poets as he could, and thus nourished in him a passion which afterwards became one of the chief consolations of his life. In this way young Blacklock became a versifier himself at a very early age, some of his poems, which were afterwards published, being dated in his twelfth year. He had before this, however, been sent to school, where, in the course of time, he became a tolerable proficient in the common branches of education, and even made considerable progress in the knowledge of the Latin language. He was very much indebted, in making these attainments, to the assistance of his schoolfellows, to all of whom his gentle and yet lively and playful disposition, as well as his helplessness, greatly endeared him. At last, however, in his nineteenth year, he lost his inestimable father. Helpless as he was, and rendered more so than he would otherwise have been from the very excess of care he had heretofore experienced, he was now left apparently without a friend on earth from whom he could expect a