Life and Writings of Francis Huber. 119 
rural concerns. This regimen was completely successful, and Hu- 
ber retained, from this country residence, not only confirmed health, 
but a tender recollection and a decided taste for a rural life, He 
loved to narrate the hospitality of these good peasants, their mother 
wit, their kindness towards him, and the tears which flowed on hig 
taking leave of them, not only from his own eyes, but from those of 
his male, and also, as it is said, his female acquaintance among she 
villagers. 
The oculist Venzel considered the state of his eyes as incurable, 
and he did not think it justifiable to hazard an operation for cataract, 
then less understood than at present, and announced to young Huber 
the probability of an approaching and entire blindness. 
. His eyes, however, notwithstanding their weakness, had, before 
_ his departure and after his return, met those of Maria-Aimée Lullin, - 
a daughter of one of the syndics of the Swiss Republic. They had 
been companions at the lessons of the dancing master, and such a 
mutual love was cherished as the age of seventeen is apt to 
It had become almost a part of their existence, and neither of ened 2 
thought it possible that any thing could separate them. The con- 
stantly increasing probability, however, of the blindness of Huber, 
decided M. Lullin to refuse his consent to the union; bui as the 
misfortune of her friend and chosen companion became more cer- 
tain, ihe more did Maria regard herself as pledged never to abandon 
him. She had become attached to him at first through love, then 
through generosity and a sort of heroism, and she resolved to wait 
until she had attained the lawful age to decide for herself, (the age 
of twenty five,) and then to unite herself with Huber. The latter 
perceiving the risk which his infirmity would probably occasion to 
his hopes, endeavored to dissimulate. As long as he could discern ; 
some light, he acted and spoke as if he could see, and often beguil- 
ed his own misfortune by such a confidence. ‘The seven years thus 
spent made such an impression on bim that during the rest of his 
life, even when his blindness had been overcome with such surprising 
ability as to furnish one of his claims to celebrity, be was still fond 
of dissembling ; he would boast of the beauty of a landscape, which 
he knew of only by hearsay, or by simple recollection—the elegance 
of a dress—or the fair complexion of a female whose voice slécesdh 
him; and in his conversation, in his letters, and even in his books, 
he would say, Ihave scen, I have seen with my own eyes. These” 
expressions, which deceived ucither himself nor any one else, were 
