BIOGRAPHY. 



385 



came into the world with an irreparable obstacle in the or- 

 gans of vision, or was deprived of his sight in his infancy, so 

 as to have been prevented from receiving the instrudlions 

 which are bestowed on children from the earliest dawn of rea- 

 son, and are continued, with a constant application, during 

 their literary progress, at a time when the external means of 

 colle6ling information preserve all their vigour. In despight 

 of these invincible impediments, by which the channels of wis- 

 dom were choked, he was a prodigy of intelligence and com-^ 

 prehension. It was sufficient for him to hear a theme, how- 

 ever lofty, to be enabled to descant on it, and to bestow on it 

 every illustration of which it was susceptible. He was de- 

 lighted when the theologians expounded to him the most ab- 

 struse points of their profession ; and repeated, without study 

 or hesitation, what he had acquired without difficulty. When, 

 at his request, the students conferred together on the subjedls 

 of their tasks, he instantly became more efFe6lually master of 

 them than were thoSe by whom they had been communi- 

 cated. 



But what rendered his talent most conspicuous was versifi- 

 cation. Without any other knowledge of the poetic art than 

 that which he derived from Nature, he expressed himself in verse 

 at once fluent, natural, beautiful, and copious. He proposed 

 to himself subje6ls, and gave them extemporaneously in har- 

 monious poetry. Without stop or interruption, he varied the 

 kinds of metre at his own pleasure, or at the request of those 

 who were present; The sublime theological, philosophical, 

 philological, and historical points which he learned in con- 

 versation, flowed from his mouth, without quitting the com- 

 pany, in the richest vein of composition. Alone, he framed 



3D a comedy. 



