expected from the patriotic enthusiasm, and the expe"rience, civil and military, of his accomplished correfpon"dent." This letter is dated June, 1652. Milton had soon afterwards the gratification of a vifit from this liberal Athenian, who took so tender an interest in the blindness of his friend, that, on his return to Paris, he wrote to him on the subject. The following answer of Milton relates the particulars of his disorder, and fhews at the fame time with what cheerful magnanimity he fupported it. "*To Leonard Philaras. "As I have cherished from my childhood (if ever mortal did) a reverential fondness for the Grecian name, and Leonardo Philare Athenienfi. Cum fim a pueritia totius Græci nominis, tuarumque in primis Athenarum cultor, fi quis alius, tum una hoc femper mihi perfuafiffimum habebam, fore ut illa urbs præclaram aliquando redditura vicem effet benevolentiæ erga fe meæ. Neque defuit fane tuæ patriæ nobiliffimæ antiquus ille genius augurio meo; deditque te nobis et germanum Atticum et noftri amantiffimum ; qui me, fcriptis duntaxat notum, et locis ipfe disjunctus, humaniffime per literas compellens et Londinum poftea inopinatus adveniens, vifenfque non videntem, etiam in ea calamitate, propter quam confpectior nemini, defpectior multis fortaffis fim, cadem benevolentià profequaris. Cum itaque author mihi fis, ut vifus recuperandi fpem omnem ne abjiciam, habere te amicum ac neceffarium tuum Parifiis Tevcnotum medicum, in curandis præfertim oculis præftantiffimum, quem fis de meis luminibus con for fulturus, fi modo acceperis a me unde is caufas morbi et fymtomata poffit intelligere; faciam equidem quod hortaris, ne oblatam undecunque divinitus fortaffis opem repudiare videar. Decennium, opinor, plus minus eft, ex quo debilitari atque hebefcere vifum fenfi, eodemque tempore lumen, vifceraque omnia gravari, flatibufque vexari; et mane quidem, fi quid pro more legere cœpiffem, oculi ftatim penitus dolere, lectionemque refugere, poft mediocrem deinde corporis exercitationem recreari; quam afpexiffem lucernam, iris quædam vifa eft redimere: haud ita multo poft finiftrâ in parte oculi finiftri (is enim oculus aliquot annis prius altera nubilavit) caligo oborta, quæ ad latus illud fita erant, omnia eripicbat. Anteriora quoque, fi dexterum forte oculum claufiffem, minora vifa funt. Deficiente per hoc fere triennium fenfim atque paulatim altero quoque lumine, aliquot ante menfibus vifus omnis aboleretur, quæ im.motus Q2 quam for your native Athens in particular, fo have I continually persuaded myself, that at some period I should receive from that city a very signal return for my benevolent regard: nor has the ancient genius of your most noble country failed to realize my prefage; he has given me in you an Attic brother, and one most tenderly attached to me. Though I was known to you only by my writings, and though your refidence was far diftant from mine, you firft addreffed me in the most engaging terms by letter ; and afterwards coming unexpectedly to London, and visiting the ftranger, who had no eyes to see yoù, continued your kindness to me under that calamity, which can render me a more eligible friend immotus ipfe cernerem, vifa funt omnia nunc dextrorfum, nunc finiftrorfum natare; frontem totam atque tempora inveterati quidem vapores videntur infediffe; qui fomnolentâ quadam gravitate oculos, a cibo præfertim ufque ad vefper. m, plerumque urgent atque deprimunt; ut mihi haud raro veniat in mentem Salmydeffii vatis Phinei in Argonauticis : κάρος δέ μιν αμφεκάλυψεν Πορφύρεος. γαίαν δε πέριξ ἑδοκησε φερεσθαι Νειόθεν, ἀβληχρῶ δ ̓ ἐπι κώματι κέκλι ̓ ἄναυδος. Sed neque illud omiferim, dum adhuc vifûs. aliquantulum fuperrat, ut primum in lecto decubuiffem meque in alterutrum latus reclinaffem, confueviffe copiofum lumen claufis oculis. emicare; deinde, imminuto indies vifu, colores perinde obfcuriores cum impetu et fragore quodam intimo exilire; nunc autem, quafi extincto lucido, merus nigror, aut cineraceo diftinctus, et quafi intextus folet fe affundere: caligo tamen quæ perpetuo obfervatur, tam noctu, quam interdiu albenti femper quam nigricanti proprior videtur; et volvente fe oculo aliquantulum lucis quafi per rimulam Weftmonafterio, Septemb. 28, 1654. to to no one, and to many, perhaps, may make me an object of difregard. "Since, therefore, you request me not to reject all hope of recovering my fight, as you have an intimate friend at Paris, in Thevenöt the physician, who excels particularly in relieving ocular complaints, and whom you wish to confult concerning my eyes, after receiving from me fuch an account as may enable him to understand the fource and symptoms of my diforder, 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, fince I perceived my fight to grow weak and dim, finding at the same time my inteftines afflicted with flatulence and oppreffion. "Even in the morning, if I began as ufual to read, my eyes immediately fuffered pain, and feemed to fhrink from reading, but, after fome moderate bodily exercife, were refreshed; whenever I looked at a candle I faw a fort of iris around it. Not long afterwards, on the left fide of my left eye (which began to fail fome years before the other) a darkness arose, that hid from me all things on that fide; -if I chanced to clofe my right eye, whatever was before me. seemed diminished.-In the laft three years, as my remaining eye failed by degrees fome months before my fight was utterly gone, all things that I could difcern, though I` moved not myself, appeared to fluctate, now to the right, now to the left. Obftinate vapours feem to have settled all over my forehead and my temples, overwhelming my eyes with a fort of fleepy heavinefs, especially after food, till the evening; evening; fo that I frequently recollect the condition of the prophet Phineus in the Argonautics : Him vapours dark Envelop'd, and the earth appeared to roll Beneath him, finking in a lifeless trance. But I should not omit to fay, that while I had some little fight remaining, as foon as I went to bed, and reclined on either fide, a copious light used to dart from my closed. eyes; then, as my fight grew daily less, darker colours seemed to burst forth with vehemence, and a kind of internal noise; but now, as if every thing lucid were extinguished, blacknefs, either abfolute or chequered, and interwoven as it were with ash-colour, is accustomed to pour itself on my eyes; yet the darkness perpetually before them, as well during the night as in the day, feems always approaching rather to white than to black, admitting, as the eye rolls, a minute portion of light as through a crevice. "Though from your physician fuch a portion of hope alfo may arise, yet, as under an evil that admits no cure, I regulate and tranquilize my mind, often reflecting, that fince the days of darkness allotted to each, as the wise man reminds us, are many, hitherto my darkness, by the fingular mercy of God, with the aid of ftudy, leifure, and the kind converfation of my friends, is much less oppreflive than the deadly darkness to which he alludes. For if, as it is written, man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, why should not a man man acquiefce even in this? not thinking that he can derive light from his eyes alone, but esteeming himself sufficiently enlightened by the conduct or providence of God. "As long, therefore, as he looks forward, and provides for me as he does, and leads me backward and forward by the hand, as it were, through my whole life, fhall I not cheerfully bid my eyes keep holiday, since such appears to be his pleasure? But whatever may be the event of your kindness, my dear Philaras, with a mind not less resolute and firm than if I were Lynceus himself, I bid you farewell. "Westminster, Sept. 28, 1654." We have no reason to imagine that Milton received any kind of medical benefit from the friendly intention of this amiable foreigner. Strange as the idea may at first appear, perhaps it was better for him, as a man and as a poet, to remain without a cure; for his devout tenderness and energy of mind had fo far converted his calamity into a bleffing, that it seems rather to have promoted than obstructed both the happiness of his life and the perfection of his genius. We have seen, in the admirable fonnet on his blindness, how his reflections on the confcientious labour by which he lost his eyes gave a dignified fatisfaction to his spirit. In one of his profe works he expreffes a fentiment on the same subject, that shews, in the most striking point. of view, the meekness and sublimity of his devotion. He exults in his misfortune, and feels it endeared to him by the perfuafion, that to be blind is to be placed more imme diately. |