~ 102 
fill amufe himfelf in retirement, by liften- 
ing ‘to the reading of another; though 
this is too frequently found (I fear) to 
be an irkfome ftate of dependance: and 
fhould previous habits have formed his 
tafte for exercifes of the body rather than 
the mind, he will feel his lofs the greater 
from the want of fuch a fubfticution. 
The company of others now remains almoft 
his only refource: here we fliall find him 
cheerful and animated ; but then ’tis only 
here, for the time he-fpends alone hangs 
dull and heavy on his hands. Upon ob- 
ferving to an active young foldier, who 
loft his fight a few years fince in the fer- 
vice of his. country, how furprized F was 
at his /i/l retaining all his natural viva- 
city, he replied, ‘*I do enjoy myfelf in 
company, and fo I ought, for yow can 
have no idea how many miferable hours 
I {pend alone.”?. Even thofe who have 
_ fhone molt confpicuoufly in the ranks of 
genius, feem to lament their misfortune 
with feelings peculiarly keen; our great 
epic poet, for inftance, had a mind amply 
furnifhed with every refource the brighteft 
imagination and profoundeft learning 
could afford, and with fingular propriety 
might the following lines have been ap- 
plied to him :— 
‘¢ He that has treafures of his own 
May leave the cottage or the throne, 
May quit the world and dwell alone 
Within his {pacious mind.” Hor. Lyrica. 
Yet we find 42m not lefs affeéted by his 
fofs than others, who poffefs not’ one 
tenth of his advantages, as the following 
elegant and pathetic apoftrophe clearly 
fhews, which no one furely ever read un- 
moved :— 
‘¢ Thus with the year 
Seafons return; but not to me returns 
Day, or the fweet approach of ev’n or morn, 
Or fight of vernal bloom, or fummer’s rofe, 
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine ; 
But cloud inftead, and ever-during dark 
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men 
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair. 
Prefented with a univerfal blank 
Of Nature’s works, to me expung’d and ras’d, 
And wifdom at one entrance quite fhut out.” 
Parad. Loft, b. iit. 
Should .a. deaf perfon have no tafte for 
literature, 4e cannot, like a blind one, 
fupply the deficiency, by reforting to the 
amufements of fociety. Society, when 
it ceafed to give him pleafuse, began to 
give him pain. 
———_—_———* Migravit ab aure voluptas 
Omnis, ad incertos oculos.” : 
Hor Ep. +t. de 29. Vs 187 
Gomparifon between Biindne/s and Deafnefs. _{ Sept. 1, 
After all then, it is mach to be doubted 
whether this almoft neceflary exclufion - 
from ‘the cheerful haunts of men,”” does. 
not fully counterbalance the evils fo finely 
pictured by Milton and others. Man is 
naturally a focial being—rob him of the 
pleafures fociety affords, and you take _ 
from him zearly all for which he would 
wifh to live. When alone no amufement 
awaits him; and the world, when he 
mixes in it, is little better to Jim than 
one vaft monaftery of the order of La 
Trappe.* Mournful indeed muft be that 
man’s lot, who finds no refource in foli- 
tude, no charm in fociety. Not much 
ftrefs can be laid on the deaf being able 
to converfe by figns; for, though neceffity 
may have foon made them expert, “tis a 
language moftly unknewn to others :— 
that knowledge, which is feldom found 
neceflary or ufeful, we have but little in- 
ducement to acquire. They become, 
from neceffity, felfifh beings, their enjoy- 
ments ceafe to be in common with thofle 
around them, and theintercourle that im- 
parts pleafure to others, is to them a 
fource of difappointment and chagrin. 
Their infirmity alfo creates in them a. 
fufpicious temper; confcious of their in- 
ability to deteé, they are too apt to 
imagine, an infult, and thus excite un- 
pleafant feelings in others as well as in 
themfelves. 
The lofs of fight or of hearing are 
doubtlefs. very heavy afflictions, but na- 
ture makes up the deficiency, in either — 
cafe, more than ‘thofe can well imagine, 
who are ftill in poffeffion of both. The 
deprivation of one fenfe quickens the 
acutenefs of the reft; and although their 
number is diminifhed, their powers of | 
perception are improved. - 
We are all apt to think our own mis- 
fortunes the heavieft, but by contemplating 
the fate of others, we fhall find lefs reafon 
to comylain. | 
‘¢ Neque enim fortuna querenda 
Sola tua eft: fimiles aliorum refpice cafus- - 
Mitius ifta feres. a 
tah - Ovid’s Metamorph, 1. xv. 
This difpofition not unfrequently arifes 
alfo from making a falfe eftimate of the 
happinefs of others, and is neatly ex- 
preffed ky a French writer whofe name I 
do. not recolleé&t.—** Ce qui fait qu’on 
~ 
n’eft. pas content de fa condition, c’eft . 
za, 
PRY 
* From the perpetual filence that reigns.in 
the gloomy manfions of that inftitution. .-.. 
Videé 
