The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-09-09

deficiency of eyesgbt on my part. But
though in this way ] could examine VA
rious authorities. il was not easy TO arr
range in my mind the results OF my read
ing drawn from different and often con.
tradictcry accounts To DO this dicta
ted copious notes as | went along md
when had rend enough fora chapter -
from thirty to forty and sometimes fifty
pages in length--I had q mass of mem
olanda in my own language, which would
ecsily bring before me rt ono view the
fruits of my researches These notNs
were carefully read IN me and while my
recent studies were fresh in my rec ,lcc
tion ! ran over tho whole of my intend
ed chapter in my mind. This process |
repeated at loast balf dozen times-so
thas when finally uu, my pen to paper
il ran IF pretty glibly, fr it was an f
fort Of memory rather than creation.
This meth had the tvantar Of saving
me from the per2lexiiy Of frequently no.
ferring to the scattered passages in the
originals. and it enabled ire to make the
corrections in my own miud which arc
usually made iu the mauu-crpt. aud
which. with my mode Of writn,.-n |
shall explain would have much embar
rassed me. YET must aimit this meth
Cd of O, c,mposit"ii whom the chapter was
very lcng, was somewhat too heavy
strain on the memory to be'altogethor
r commended.
WRITING presented me difficulty
,I
famous blind historian of the Norman
Conquest, advised ma to cultivate dicta
ton; but I have usually preferred a sub
stitute that | found in a writing case
made for the blind, which I procured iD
London forty years since 1t is simple
apparatus. often described by me for TIE
bereGt Of person whose visions is i'm
perfect. 1t consists of frame OF the
size of sheet OF paper. traversel by
brass wires az many as lines are wanted
Oh the page, aud w'fh a sheet of carbon
ated paper, such a. is used for getting
duplicates. passed on the revcrs, side
With M ivory or agate stylus he writer
traces his characters between the wires
on the carbona'cd sheet, making iudeli.
bic marks. which he cannot sec. on the
white page below Thi- rreadmil opq.
ration has It's defect aud have repeat.
edly supposed ! had accomplished "a
good page, and was proceeding in all he
glow of composl.,Dn tn go ahead. when
| found had forgotten to insert
sheet of my writing paper below. that
my labor had al been thrown away, aud
that the leaf looked as blank as myself
Notwithstanding these and other whm.
sical dstresses Of The kind, have four d
my writing ca my bos friend in my lone.
" hours. and with il ave written yearly
all that | have sent into the world the
last forty years
The manuscript thus written. and de.
ciphered-for it was in the nature Of
hieroglyphics-- -by my secretary was then
road to me for corrections. and copied
off in fair hand for the printer All
this. 1t may be thought, was rather
slow process, requiring the virtue of pa
thence III all the PARTIES concerned. But
in time my eyes imDrovcd again. Bo
fore had finished Ferdinand and Isa
bella | could usu them some hours every
day. Aud thus they have continued till
within few years, though subj ct to
occasional Interruptions, sometimes of
weeks, and some lines of months, when
| could not look at book. And this
circumstance. as well as hqbit-second
nature-hss led me to adhere still to nv
early method Of composition. OF late
years | have suffered, not So much from
inability Of the eye. as dimness Of the
vision. and the warning comes that the
time is not far distant when | must relv
exclusively on the eyes Of another for
the prosecution Of my studies. Perha ps
it should be received as warniug that it
is time to close them together"
But his lette-. instructive and com.
munica,ve as it is, does pot tel half
the tale of the labor and zeal and devo
ton spent upon works whose elaborate
pages the reader peruses with such facl.
ity.-MaSsachusettS Teacher.