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of books, and a guinea, from LORD CREWE's Trustees, as a reward for well doing. There is an extensive Library, the books of which are lent out to any respectable person, without charge, within the distance of twenty miles. Other apartments are fitted up for shipwrecked sailors, and bedding is provided for thirty, in case such a number should be cast on shore at one time: they are maintained for a week, or longer, according to circumstances. There is a storehouse ready for the reception of every kind of wrecked goods; a book is kept for entering the description and marks of each article, with the date when they came on shore. When any vessel is observed in distress upon the Farn Islands, a nine-pounder is fired once,-twice if the vessel be to the north of the Castle,-and thrice if the vessel be to the south,-that the people may know in what direction to go, to afford assistance. In every

storm, two men are sent from the Castle to patrol along the coast from sun-set to sun-rise, that, in case of an accident, one may remain with the ship, and the other return to alarm the Castle, when a flag is hoisted to inform the sufferers that their case is known, and that help will be afforded them. In the Castle is kept an abundant supply of screws for raising ships that are stranded; timber, blocks, cables, chains, &c., which are lent gratis to any person having occasion for them, within forty or fifty miles along the coast. In this manner the princely charity of the late pious Prelate is widely and extensively distributed; and this ancient place, once the residence of Kings, and the scene of the most heroic acts of valour, has become as remarkable for its deeds of humanity and benevolence. JAMES HOLROYD.

Alnwick, April 23, 1822.

OBSERVATIONS OF A YOUTH WHO HAD JUST RECOVERED HIS SIGHT.

[THE following account of some observations made by a young gentleman who was born blind, or lost his sight so early that he had no remembrance of ever having seen, and who was couched between thirteen and fourteen years of age, was written in the year 1731, by MR. ROMLEY, master of the free-school of Haxey, in Lincolnshire. We have thought that some of our young readers would peruse this curious nar❤ rative with interest; and we hope that it may prove, not only entertaining, but useful also, by leading them to reflect with gratitude on their own obligations to Divine Providence for the uninterrupted enjoyment of the invaluable blessing of EYE-SIGHT. EDITOR.]

"Though we say of this gentleman that he was blind, as we do of all people who have ripe cataracts, yet they are never so blind from that cause but that they can discern day from night, and, for the most part, in a strong light, distinguish black, white, and scarlet; but they cannot perceive the shape of any thing; for, the light by which these perceptions are made being let in obliquely through the aqueous humour, or the anterior surface of the crystalline, (by which the rays cannot be brought into a focus upon the retina,) they can discern in no other manner than a sound eye can through a glass of broken jelly, where a great variety of surfaces so differently refract the light, that the several distinct pencils of rays cannot be collected by the eye into their proper foci; wherefore, the shape of an object in such a case cannot at all be discerned, though the colour may. And thus it was

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with this young gentleman, who, though he knew these colours asunder in a good light, yet, when he saw them after he was couched, the faint ideas he had of them before were not sufficient for him to know them by afterwards, and therefore he did not think them the same which he had before known by those He now thought scarlet the most beautiful of all colours, and of others, the most gay were the most pleasing; whereas, the first time he saw black it gave him great uneasiness; yet, after a little while, he was reconciled to it. When he first saw, he was so far from making any judgment about distance, that he thought all objects whatsoever touched his eyes, (as he expressed it,) as what he felt did his skin, and thought no objects so agreeable as those which were smooth or regular, though he could form no judgment of their shape, or guess what it was in any object that was pleasing to him. He knew not the shape of any thing, or any one thing from another, however different in shape or magnitude; but, upon being told what things were, whose form he before knew from feeling, he would carefully observe, that he might know them again: but having too many objects to learn at once, he forgot many of them; and (as he said) at first he learned to know, and again forgot, a thousand things in a day. One particular only (though it may appear trifling) I will relate: having often forgot which was the cat and which the dog, he was ashamed to ask, but catching the cat, (which he knew by feeling,) he was observed to look at her steadfastly, and then setting her down, said to puss,

I shall know you another time.' He was much surprised that those things which he had liked best did not appear most agreeable to his eyes, expecting those

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persons would appear most beautiful that he loved most, and such things to be most agreeable to his sight that were so to his taste. We thought he soon knew what pictures represented which were shown to him, but we found afterwards we were mistaken; for, about two months after he was couched, he discovered at once that they represented solid bodies, whereas till that time he had considered them as parti-coloured plains or surfaces, diversified with variety of paint; but even then he was no less surprised, expecting that the pictures would feel like the things they represented, and was amazed when he found that those parts, which by their light and shadow appeared now round and uneven, felt only flat like the rest, and asked which was the lying sense, feeling or seeing?

"Being shown his father's picture in a locket at his mother's watch, and told what it was, he acknowledged a likeness, but was vastly surprised; asking how it could be that a large face could be expressed in so little room, and saying, it should have seemed as impossible to him as to put a bushel of any thing into a pint. At first he could bear but very little light, and the things he saw he thought extremely large; but, upon seeing larger, those first seen he conceived less, never being able to imagine any lines beyond those he saw. The room he was in, he said, he knew to be but part of the house, yet he could not conceive that the whole house could look bigger. Before he was couched, he expected little advantage from seeing, worth undergoing an operation for, except reading and writing; for, he thought, he said, he could have no more pleasure in walking abroad than he had in the garden, which he could do safely and readily. And even blindness, he observed, had this

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advantage, that he could go any where in the dark much better than those that can see: and, after he had seen, he did not soon lose this quality, nor desire a light to go about the house in the night. He said, every new object was a new delight; and the pleasure was so great that he wanted ways to express it. But his gratitude to his operator he could not conceal, never seeing him for some time without tears of joy in his eyes, and other marks of affection; and, if he did not happen to come at any time when he was expected, he would be so grieved that he could not forbear crying at his disappointment.

"A year after first seeing, being carried upon Epsom Downs, and observing a large prospect, he was exceedingly delighted with it, and called it a new kind of seeing. And now, being lately couched of his other eye, he says that objects at first appeared large to this eye, but not so large as they did at first to the other; and looking upon the same object with both eyes, he thought it looked about twice as large as with the first-couched eye only, but not double, that we can any ways discover."

A SISTER'S TALES. No. XII.

CONCLUSION.

THE hours of social enjoyment that generally ac company the return of Christmas, were well known and appreciated by the family of L. Their pleasures were not indeed of that exciting character, which are called forth by intercourse with a large circle of relatives, friends, and acquaintances; they were of a calmer nature, yet more congenial to the emotions of chastened happiness which this season

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