whose splendour shines in the universe, is not in possession of more genuine enjoyments than the peasant he cost his mother the same throes to give him to the light as are shared by the humblest of her sex.

Shall we now be allowed as an interlude, to digress to another branch of no mean importance in our enquiries, regarding the natural penalties imposed on mankind, and then resume their artificial prospects?

1

But are the dispensations of nature actually ever unequal? Does she niggardly close her hand to one, while lavishing her bounties to another?-On beholding a miserable, defective, distorted being, we are ready to exclaim, "better it were that the wretch had never been born!" But we are too presumptuously deciding on the works of Providence: rashly assuming that each vice and virtue is alike unreservedly revealed, and that no secret qualities remain for disclosure. Here the universal equilibrium would seem to be disturbed. If all the contrivances regarding animated existence, however, be favourable, in so far as can be ascertained, something is now disguised, and may be laid open by research, as we are bound to put a good construction on what we cannot find. It is the soul, and not the body, which is best in man. Certainly there is a consent between the body and the mind; where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other."* Felicity can come only of the soul.

* Bacon, Essays, § 44.

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How can we believe their personal imperfections to be productive of hopeless misery, when witnessing so great a portion of tranquillity enjoyed by those deprived of the most precious organs! In truth, there seems an universal order of compensation, whereby gentle compassion benevolently allows a substitute for what is absent or taken away. Passing over the prodigies of nature, this should be held the strongest of all evidence of the existence of a Power supremely just.

The body is but an external covering, susceptible of every varied modification in defect or redundance of which its limits permit. The soul is unbounded by confines: swelling into invisible, immaterial, immeasurable immensity, it cannot be restrained. It is uncontrollable. It is the author of tranquillity, peace, and comfort. Rising in dignified sublimity, its energies contemplate heaven, hold fortune in contempt, and the body in subordination. Thus it becomes the source and the abode of a refined principle of felicity, far different from that which springs of sensual enjoyments.

Strength and beauty, qualities to the owner indeed, but more fugitive than mental excellence, are denied to the person. The weak and the defective are exposed to inconveniences: their health may be impaired, and they must continue to wait for what others can easily get, whereby they would seem to suffer. But commonly they have substitutes for their imperfections at command; and if

VOL. II.

the asperities of their condition appear unconquerable, they are never seen deficient in fortitude, which, by softening their evils, compels us to admire its exhaustless stores. The higher we climb the mountain, we gain the purer sky: as labour refines the intellect, so does personal sufferance contribute to polish the mind: And at length it is discovered, "that existence is not the gift superlative unless when accompanied by qualities." Those to whom uninterrupted health and fancied prosperity have been allotted, perhaps may find it difficult to reconcile these principles with the feelings and sentiments wherein they have hitherto indulged; because they have gratuitously allied imperfections with misery. Let them investigate the real circumstances of human life, they may be assured that ready conviction of the reverse will follow. What other created beings are furnished with identically the same external organs as man? There are none: yet they originate, they grow, they flourish, and they perform all the functions which are essential to their welfare. If certain genera have become extinct, it is not because their own structure was gradually tending to their extirpation. One who is suddenly deprived of the use of an important organ, who is maimed or accidentally disfigured for life, at first bemoans his loss as irreparable. It is reasonable that he should regret what has proved useful. But in the

* Plato de Legibus, lib. v.

new train of sentiment following every incident, he enquires whether his case can be alleviated: he ruminates on the means: he finds it attainable,—or he becomes reconciled to it if otherwise: Yet, without much consideration, he cannot fail to discover, that there is no definite proportion between the body and the soul; that the former is under the guidance of the latter, and if parts have been taken away, he asks how those remaining shall be directed. All the benefits of life are not derived from personal dexterity, but infinite profits are consequent on the cultivation of the mind. The senses are turned to new account, functions are performed without important organs that never were thought of with them; and, which is still more consolatory, the defect, instead of impairing, seems to be the medium of promoting felicity. Remarkable examples could be given. The author has seen delicate accomplishments in the arts executed to perfection, by persons who never had arms whereby to imitate others.*

When told of a blind statuary excelling in sculpture, or listening to the knowledge dealt out by philosophers labouring under a similar privation, and beholding the ingenious inventions of the deaf, we cannot but wonder at the resolute conversion of their talents to use. Their concern has been far

The author has had an opportunity of seeing two females, the one named Beffin, the other Bagshaw, both most accomplished in the arts, though labouring under incredible imperfections.

less about their misfortunes, than how they could be remedied. Charges of no small importance have rewarded the merits of individuals wanting some of the most precious senses. Sometimes they have con

The former wanted arms and legs from her birth; only a very short stump issued from each shoulder, by means of which, combined with the aid of her mouth and tongue, she could perform all the usual feminine occupations; and, besides, was a painter of beautiful miniatures.-The latter was a native of America, and of a more sprightly temper. She was born without arms, yet executed the finest embroidery, and every kind of knitting or needle-work, by means of her toes and her mouth. Like the other, she wrote a very current hand, and could also draw. The frequency of similar imperfections is remarkable.-Ancient history speaks of an expert archer named Herman, who wanted his arms by the shoulders: Strabo, lib. xv. tom. ii. p. 1048: Dio, lib. liv. § 9.-L'Etoile saw a native of Nantes in the year 1586, who wrote very well without arms, and exhibited various feats of dexterity: Journal, tom. i p. 116. Scaliger speaks of a Dutch woman labouring under a similar defect; and of two men, whose dexterity, by means of their feet, rivalled that of others with their hands: Comment. in lib. v. Manilii. One of the latter is described by Philip Camerarius; and another, a Swede, as writing in different characters with the feet, as well as practising several adroit performances: Opera Subseciva, cap. 37. An English traveller details the various feats of a German female wanting hands, which he witnessed at Parma in 1665. She knit a stocking with her feet, strung beads, and worked them into a purse: she turned a small wheel with one foot, and spun with the other: she could write well, and played on several instruments: Skippon, Journey through the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France. Casaubon says, he saw a man wanting arms, "who wrote not amiss with his feet;" and the author has seen the finest specimens of chirography in the