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458

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of highways in difficult and mountainous parts. With the assist-ance only of a long staff, I have several times met this man tra-versing the roads, ascending precipices, exploring valleys, andinvestigating their several extents, forms, and situations, so as toanswer his designs in the best manner. The plan-, which he de-signs, and the estimates he makes, are done in a manner peculiar tohimself; and which he cannot well convey the meaning of toothers. His abilities in this respect are nevertheless so great,•that he finds constant employment. Most of the roads over thePeak in Derbyshire , have been altered by his directions; parti-cularly those in the vicinity of Buxton : and he is at this timeconstructing a new one betwixt Wilmeslow and Congleton, with aview to open a communication to the great London road, withoutbeing obliged to pass over the mountains.” In the Annual Re-gister for 1762, the following narrative is inserted. “ A younggentlewoman of a good family in France , now in her 18th year,io-t her sight when only two years old, her mother having beenadvised to lay some pigeon’s blood on her eyes, to preserve themin the small-pox ; whereas, so far from answering the end, it eatinto them. Nature, however, may be said to have compensatedfor the unhappy mistake, by beauty of person, sweetness of tem-per, vivacity of genius, quickness of conception, and many talentswhich certainly much alleviate her misfortune. She plays atcards with the same readiness as others of the party. She firstprepares the packs allotted to her, by pricking them in severalparts ; yet so imperceptibly, that the closest inspection can scarcediscern her indexes. She sorts the suits, and arranges the cardsin their proper sequence, with the same precision, and nearly thesa.ne facility, as they who have their sight. All she requires ofthose who play with her, is to name every card as it is played ; andthese she retains so exactly, that she frequently performs some no-table strokes, such as shew a great combination and strong me-mory. The most wonderful circumstance is, that she should havelearned to read and write ; but even this is readily believed onknowing her method. In writing to her no ink is used, but theletters are pricked down on the paper; and by tiie delicacy ofher touch, feeling each letter, she follows them successively, andreads every word with her finger’s end. She herself in writingmakes use of a pencil, as she could not know when her pen wasdrv ; her guide on the paper is a small thin ruler, and of thebreadth of her writing. O 11 finishing a letter, she wets it, so as tofixthe traces other pencil, that they may not be obscured or effaced;then proceeds to fold and seal it, and write the direction : all by herown address, and without the assistance of any other person. Herwriting is very straight, well cut, and the spelling no less correct.To reach this singular mechanism, the indefatigable cares of heraffectionate mother were long employed, who accustomed herdaughter to feel letters cut in cards or paste-board, brought her todistinguish an A from a B, and thus the whole alphabet, and after-wards to spell words; then, by the remembrance of the shape ofthe letters, to delineate them on paper ; and, lastly, to arrangethem so as to form words and sentences. She has learned to play onthe guittar, and has even contrived a way of pricking down thetunes as an assistance to her memory. So delicate a-e her organs,that in singing a time, though new to her, she is able to name thenotes. In figured dances she acquits herself extremely well, andin a minuet with inimitable ease, and gracefulness. As for theworks of her sex, she has a masterly hand; she sews and hemserfeclly well-; and in all her works she threads the needles forerself, however small. By the watch her touch never fails tell-ing her exactly the hour and minute.” A great variety of similarinstances might be adduced, but these are quite sufficient to shewthat blind persons are capable of high attainments and advancesin learning, and that therefore their education should be carefqjlyattended to. When we ruminate on the numberless advantagesderived from the use of sight, and its immense importance in ex-tending the human capacity, and improving every faculty of themind, we might be tempted to doubt the reports concerning suchpersons as, without the assistance of light, have arrived at high de-grees of eminence even in those sciences which appear absolutelyunattainable but by the interposition of external mediums. It has,however, been demonstrated by the late ingenious Dr. Reid, thatblind men, by proper instruction, are susceptible of almost everyidea, and every truth which can be impressed on the mind by themediation of light and colours, except the sensations of light andcolours themselves. Yet there is one phenomenon of this kind

which seems to have escaped the attention of that philosopher, andfor which no author has offered any tolerable reason, though itcertainly merits the attention of a philosopher. For though weshould admit that the blind can understand with great perspicuityall the phenomena of light and colours; though it was allowed thaton these subjects they might extend their speculations beyondtheir instructions, and investigate the mechanical principles of op-tics by the mere force of genius and application, from the datawhich they have already obtained ; yet it will be difficult, if notimpossible, to assign any reason why these objects should be moreinteresting to a blind man than any other abstract truths whatever.

It is possible for the blind, by a retentive memory, to tell that thesky is an azure ; that the sun, moon, and stars, are bright; thatthe rose is red, the lily white or yellow, and the tulip variegated.By continually hearing these substantives, and adjectives joined,he may he mechanically taught to jo ; n them in the same manner ;but if he has never had any sensation of colour, however accu-rately he may speak of coloured objects, his language must be likethat of a parrot; without meaning, and without ideas. Ft isscarcely possible to lay down a plan, or enter into a detail of par-ticulars, with respect to the mode of education proper to be pur-sued for the blind. These must be determined by the genius, thecapacity, and the circumstances, of those to whom the general rulesshould he applied. Much therefore must depend on their for-tunes, temper, and genius ; for unless these particulars were known,every answer which could be given to questions of this kind mustbe extremely general, and of consequence extremely superficial.Besides, the (ask is so much more arduous, because whoever at-tempts it can expect to derive no assistance from those who havewritten on education before him : ami though the blind have ex-celled in more than one science, yet, except in the case of Dr.Saunderson, it does not appear that any of them have been con-ducted to that degree of eminence at which they arrived upon apremeditated plan. We should rather imagine, that they havebeen led through the general coarse and ordinary forms of disci-pline; and that, if any circumstances were favourable to theirgenius, they rather proceeded from accident than design. Thismelancholy truth reilects no honour on human nature. Whencontemplated by a man of benevolence, it is not easy to guesswhether his mortification or astonishment will be greatest. A heartthat glows with real philanthropy feels for the whole vital creation,and becomes in some measure the sensorium of every sufferinginsect or reptile. How must our sympathy increase then in ten-derness and force, when the distressed individuals of our ownspecies become its objects! Nor do the blind bear so small aproportion to the whole community as, even in a political view,to he neglected. But in this, as in every other political crime,the punishment returns upon the society in which it is committed.Those abandoned and unimproved beings, who, under properculture and discipline, might have successfully concurred inproducing and augmenting the general welfare, become the nui-sances and burdens of those very societies who have neglectedthem. The most important view which we can entertain in theeducation of a person deprived of sight, is to redress, as effectuallyas we possibly can, the natural disadvantages, with which he is en-cumbered ; or, in other words, to enlarge as far as possible thesphere of his knowledge and activity. '1 his can only be done bythe improvement of his intellectual, imaginative, or mechanical,powers; and which of these ought to be most assiduously culti-vated, the genius of every individual alone can determine. Weremen to judge of things by their intrinsic natures, less would be ex-pected from the blind than others. But, by some pernicious andunaccountable prejudice, people generally hope to find themeither possessed of preternatural talents, or more attentive to thosewhich thev have than from others. Hence it unluckily happens, thatblind men, who in common life are too often regarded as raree-shexys, when they do not gratify tiie extravagant expectations oftheir spectators, ’frequently sink’in the general opinion, and appearmuch less considerable anil meritorious than they really are. 'thisgeneral diffidence of their powers deprives them both of opportu-nity and spirit to exert themselves; and they descend, at last, tothat degree of insignificance in which the public estimate has fixedthem. From the original dawning, therefore, of reason and spirit,the parents and tutors of the blind ought to indicate this maximupon them ; that it is their indispensable duty to excel, and thatit is absolutely in their power to attain a high degree of eminence.

Not.