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signal return for my benevolent regard: nor has the antient genius of your most noble country failed to realize my presage; he has

omnem ne abjiciam, habere, te amicum ac necessarium tuum Parisiis Tevenotum medicum, in curandis præsertim oculis præstantissimum, quem sis de meis luminibus consulturus, si modo acceperis a me unde is causas morbi et symtomata possit intelligere; faciam equidem quod hortaris, ne ablatam undecunque divinitus fortassis opem repudiare videar. Decennium, opinor, plus minus est, ex quo debilitari atque hebescere visum sensi, eodemque tempore lumen, visceraque omnia gravari, flatibusque vexari; et mane quidem, si quid pro more legere cœpissem, oculi statim penitus dolere, lectionemque refugere, post mediocrem deinde corporis exercitationem recreari; quam aspexissem lucernam, iris quædam visa est redimere: haud ita multo post sinistra in parte oculi sinistri (is enim oculus aliquot annos prius altera nubilavit) caligo oborta, quæ ad latus illud siti erant, omnia eripiebat. Anteriora quoque, si dexterum forte oculum clausissem, minora visa sunt. Deficiente per hoc fere trennium sensim atque paulatim altero quoque lumine, aliquot ante mensibus quam visus omnis aboleretur, quæ immotus ipse cernerem, visa sunt omnia nunc dextrorsum, nunc sinistrorsum natare; frontem totam atque tempora inveterati quidem vapores videntur insedisse ; qui somnolenta quadam gravitate oculos, a cibo præsertim usque ad vesperam, plerumque urgent atque depri

given me in you an Attic brother, and one most tenderly attached to me. Though I was known to you only by my writings,

munt; ut mihi haud raro veniat in mentem Salmydessii vatis Phinei in Argonauticis:

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Πορφύρεος. γαίαν δε πέριξ ἐδοκησε φερεσθαι
Νειόθεν, ἀβληχρῶ δ ̓ ἐπι κώματι κέκλι ̓ ἄναυδος.

Sed neque illud omisserim, dum adhuc visus aliquantulum supererat, ut primum in lecto decubuissem meque in alterutrum latus reclinassem, consuevisse copiosum lumen clausis oculis emicare; deinde, imminuto indies visu colores perinde obscuriores cum impetu et fragore quodam intimo exilire; nunc autem, quasi extincto lucido, merus nigror, aut cineraceo distinctus, et quasi intextus solet se affundere; caligo tamen quæ perpetuo observatur, tam noctu, quam interdiu albenti semper quam nigricanti propior videtur; et volvente se oculo aliquantulum lucis quasi per rimulam admittit. Ex quo tametsi medico tantundem quoque spei possit elucere, tamen ut in re plane insanabili ita me paro atque compono; illudque sæpe cogito, cum destinati cuique dies tenebrarum, quod. monet sapiens, multi sint, meas adhuc tenebras, singulari muminis benignitate, inter otium et studia, vocesque amicorum, et salutationes, illis lethalibus multo esse mitiores. Quod si, ut scriptum est, non solo pane vivit homo, sed omni verbo prodeunte per os Dei, quid est,

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and though your residence was far distant from mine, you first addressed me in the most engaging terms by letter; and afterwards coming unexpectedly to London, and visiting the stranger, who had no eyes to see you, continued your kindness to me under that calamity, which can render me a more eligible friend to no one, and to many, perhaps, may make me an object of disregard.

"Since, therefore, you request me not to reject all hope of recovering my sight, as you have an intimate friend at Paris, in Thevenot the physician, who excels, particularly in relieving ocular complaints, and whom you wish to consult concerning my

cur quis in hoc itidem non acquiescat, non solis se oculis sed Dei ductu an providentia satis oculatum esse. Sane dummodo ipse mihi prospicit, ipse mihi providet, quod facit, meque per omnem vitam quasi manu ducit atque deducit, ne ego meos oculos, quandoquidem ipsi sic visum est, libens feriari jussero. Teque, mi Philara, quocunque res cecidit, non minus forti et confirmato animo, quam si Lynceus essem, valere jubeo.

Westmonasterio, Septemb. 28, 1654.

Prose Works, Vol. II. p. 577.

eyes, after receiving from me such an account as may enable him to understand the source and symptoms of my disorder, I will certainly follow your kind suggestion, that

I

may not appear to reject assistance thus offered me, perhaps providentially.

"It is about ten years, I think, since I perceived my sight to grow weak and dim, finding at the same time my intestines afflicted with flatulence and oppression.

"Even in the morning, if I began as usual to read, my eyes immediately suffered pain, and seemed to shrink from reading, but, after some moderate bodily exercise, were refreshed; whenever I looked at a candle I saw a sort of iris around it. Not long afterwards, on the left side of my left eye (which began to fail some years before the other) a darkness arose, that hid from me all things on that side;-if I chanced to close my right eye, whatever was before me seemed diminished.-In the last three years, as my remaining eye failed by degrees some months before my sight was utterly gone, all things that I could

discern, though I moved not myself, appeared to fluctuate, now to the right, now to the left. Obstinate vapours seem to have settled all over my forehead and my temples, overwhelming my eyes with a sort of sleepy heaviness, especially after food, till the evening; so that I frequently recollect the condition of the prophet Phineus in the Argonautics:

Him vapours dark

Envelop'd, and the earth appear'd to roll
Beneath him, sinking in a lifeless trance.

But I should not omit to say, that while I had some little sight remaining, as soon as I went to bed, and reclined on either side, a copious light used to dart from my closed eyes; then, as my sight grew daily less, darker colors seemed to burst forth with vehemence, and a kind of internal noise; but now, as if every thing lucid were extinguished, blackness, either absolute or chequered, and interwoven as it were with ash-color, is accustomed to pour itself on my eyes; yet the darkness perpetually be

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