with bad health, was unable to render me any assistance, and to add to this, I was often employed in the country. Had I then turned my attention to these studies, my children might have starved; and I was therefore obliged to decline this friendly offer, of which I was desirous to avail myself, as it might have been of much future advantage to me. This was one of the greatest sacrifices I ever made. It is true, I had a few friends, who, had they been made acquainted with these circumstances, would have been sorry to let me lose such an opportunity. But I was too sensible of their kindness, and was therefore unwilling to make any farther claim upon their bounty.

The state of my affairs at this time wore rather an unfavourable appearance. The profits arising from my publications were very small;-they did little more than satisfy the demands of the printer and paper manufacturer. I wished above all things, to select a subject on which I could employ my mind more extensively than it had hitherto been engaged, and having devoted much of my time to the study of biography; I found, on acquaintance with this useful branch of history, that there were many in all ages, and in every country, who had laboured under the same calamity with myself, and who had eminently distinguished themselves by their attainments in literature and science. I thought, if these were collected together, and moulded into a new form, it might not only become an amusing, but an useful work, so far as it would show what perseverance and industry could do, in enabling us to overcome difficulties apparently insurmountable. It concerned not me at what time

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of life, or by what cause they lost their sight, provided that they distinguished themselves after they became blind. My chief object was to prove the energy of the human mind, under one of the greatest privations to which we are liable in this life. In contemplating the lives and characters of these illustrious individuals, who had devoted their time and applied their talents to promote the happiness of their fellow-creatures, we shall find, that they have been, considering their number, as usefully employed as any class of men, with whose works we are acquainted. Poets, the foremost in renown, have been incapable of the perception of external objects. The two finest poems in the world, the Iliad and Paradise Lost, are the immortal productions of the blind. The eyes of Homer and Milton rolled in vain, and found no dawn; yet in the forcible expression of the latter, were their minds "inly irradiated," and they have sung of things invisible to mortal sight. It has not been only in the different departments of literature that they have distinguished themselves, but also in the more extensive fields of science and of the arts, they have reaped honours which will transmit their names to the remotest posterity. It was partly with a view of rescuing my fellow-suffers from the neglect and obscurity in which many of them were enveloped, that I undertook the present work-an undertaking attended with immense labour and much research to one like me, which will readily be allowed, when it is considered I had often to depend on the good nature of strangers for such books as were necessary to my purpose, and even for readers and amanuenses. How

ever, after wading through innumerable difficulties, which nature and fortune threw in my way, the work made its appearance in 1820, in one volume 12mo. containing nearly 400 pages, closely printed. The reception it met with from the public was gratifying to my feelings, and far surpassed any thing I could have expected.

A history of the blind, by a blind man, excited a good deal of curiosity among the reading portion of the public, and called forth the sympathy of several benevolent individuals in favour of its afflicted author. I will conclude my narrative by inserting the two following letters, which I hope my friends will be pleased with.

Keswick, June 30, 1834.

I have read Mr. James Wilson's account of his own life with much interest; it is indeed a narrative which may very properly accompany the lives of those persons who, being blind, have nevertheless rendered themselves remarkable by their attainments, and thereby shown how much may be performed by patient and ingenious industry under the most unfavourable and discouraging circumstances.

This testimony is given in the hope that it may be useful to him in his travels.

I have read your "Life" with much interest,

and I may add instruction, for it is always instructive

to see that cheerfulness and contentment are the result of virtuous actions, and that generous and manly efforts in a good cause, though they may not always be crowned with what the world calls success, never fail, if duly persevered in, to secure that peace of mind which is, after all, the best kind of success, even in a worldly point of view. But in such a case as yours this perseverance requires no small faith in the principles upon which it rests.

I have not had time to read your larger work, which my children have carried off to the country, but I shall go through it with attention, and I have no doubt with advantage as well as amusement.

I return the copy of the "Life” which you were good enough to lend me, and remain,

With sincerest good wishes,

Your most obed. humble servant,

BASIL HALL.

Thus far I have endeavoured to give some account of myself, but have been obliged to omit several particulars which might be interesting to the Reader. I commit this narrative to the indulgent kindness of my friends, and shall be highly gratified to have the approbation of those to whose generosity and disinterestedness I owe the most sincere gratitude, and with these feelings, I take my leave of my friends and the public for the present.

JAMES WILSON.

Birmingham, September, 12, 1838.

AN

ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF

HOMER.

"High on the first, the mighty HOMER shone;
"Eternal adamant composed his throne;
"Father of verse, in holy fillets drest,

"His silvery beard waved gently o'er his breast:
"Tho blind,, a boldness in his looks appears;

"In years he seemed, but not impaired by years."

THE Man, an account of whose life and writings is given in these pages, was the most extraordinary genius that any age or country has ever yet produced. Whether we view him as a Poet, a Philosopher, or an Historian, he excites our astonishment, and he claims our admiration. Whoever has read his truly sublime compositions will join with me in regretting that so little is now known of his history; and we have to lament, that the few particulars of his life which have been handed down to us, are in such a mutilated and imperfect state, that they can afford but little pleasure to the admirers of ancient literature. As many of his early biographers have substituted fiction for facts, it is no easy task to unravel their irregular accounts, and form a connected story. I have consulted the best writers who mention him, and have endeavoured to select such parts as tend to illustrate both the man

B