services, and it yields me no small degree of pleasure to reflect, that I still enjoy the friendship of a man as eminently distinguished for his virtues as for his talents."

The foregoing extracts are well calculated to give an idea of the difficulties with which the majority of the blind have to contend, but our chief reason for inserting them in this place is the circumstance that James Wilson was the author of a work entitled 'The Biography of the Blind,' which has proved eminently useful in conveying an idea of the influence exerted on the world's affairs by persons without sight, and also in directing attention to the capabilities and requirements of the blind.

The first edition of the book was published in 1820, a second appeared in 1833, a third in 1835, and a fourth in 1838; about seven years after which, it is believed the author died at Birmingham, where he had for some time resided.

For many years prior to his death he maintained himself and a very large family, principally by the sale of his literary productions.

In the list of the eminent blind there are many illustrious and distinguished men, but few could be pointed out who have proved as useful to their suffering brethren as James Wilson.

Holman, the Traveller and Author.

He

James Holman was born at Exeter in 1786. early entered the navy, and at the age of twenty-five, being then a lieutenant, lost his sight on the west coast of Africa. For some time after this calamity, he was greatly agitated by the conflicting emotions of hope and fear, caused by the vacillating conduct of his medical advisers. At length he conjured them to be plain with him, saying that he would rather know the worst and bear it, than continue to be tortured by doubt and anxiety. Thus assailed, the ophthalmic

surgeons admitted that his sight was irrecoverably lost, and Holman, bracing himself to the exigencies of the position, determined to make the best of that which he had no power to remedy.

At first he formed the design, as it would appear, of devoting himself entirely to literature, as we find that he entered the University of Edinburgh, and gave himself up for some time exclusively to study. Perceiving, however, that his health gave way, and that the tone of his nervous system was becoming relaxed, he concluded that he was not adapted for sedentary pursuits; and having once become impressed with this idea, he was not long in deciding on his line of action. A love of adventure had always formed a marked trait of his character. While in the navy, he constantly evinced a strong desire to sail round the globe, and now, although bereft of sight and weak in health, he formed the plan of travelling on the Continent in such a way as would leave him the free use of his faculties. His friends strongly opposed the project, and urged him at least to take a servant with him, but Holman, feeling that to have any permanent attendant would simply be to place himself in a state of perpetual tutelage, resolved on travelling alone, and to trust to the soundness of his judgment, the powers of a moderately filled purse, and the probability of obtaining extraneous aid whenever it might be required. Behold, then, the sightless traveller, in the eighth year of his blindness, and the thirty-third of his age, on the 15th of October, 1819 (the anniversary of his birthday, and the same date of the year on which he entered the Edinburgh University), at Dover, on board the packet bound for Calais. In those days no steamboat crossed the channel, and railways were unknown. In proceeding through France by les diligences, Holman adopted a singular method to procure exercise, and relieve himself from ennui. Alighting from the coach, he took a piece of string from his

pocket, and tying one end to the back of the vehicle, and laying hold of the other, he ran after the diligence to the no small amusement of the children of the villages through which he passed. The greatest danger to which he ever seems to have been exposed, occurred in the following way: Holman, when he first went to France, could not speak a word of French, and arriving at Bordeaux, in the diligence, he found that all the passengers got out, and left him to shift for himself. It was raining in torrents. In vain he called for help. Presently the diligence was surrounded by a noisy crowd of people, talking vociferously, and soon after he was conscious of an extraordinary irregular motion, the people occasionally opening the doors, and turning him from side to side, as if they were shifting him for a balance. He imagined from this singular circumstance that they were taking off the wheels with the intention of putting the carriage under cover. This speculation was soon dissipated, however, by a loud splashing noise of water rising and falling and gurgling about him.

The motion and the noise continued to increase, until at the end of an hour, to his infinite satisfaction, the horses were again attached to the diligence, the passengers re-entered, and the party proceeded on their journey.

This mysterious incident was susceptible of a simple solution. It was necessary on reaching the river Dordogne, which flows into the Garonne, at Bordeaux, to transport the diligence on a raft down the stream, while the passengers, crossing the river in a ferry-boat, were taken to their destination on the other side in a carriage.

All the time that Holman believed he was sitting in the coach-office yard at Bordeaux, he was making a voyage of four miles on a raft, without having the least suspicion of being the hero of such an adventure. In 1821 Holman returned to England, and took up

his abode at Travers' College for naval knights at Windsor, which institution was established by the gentleman whose name it bears, for the reception of naval officers with small means. Our traveller in 1812 had been elected by the Crown as one of the poor knights; and although the condition of residents in the college was particularly distasteful to him, yet as the income connected with the appointment was not to be despised, he managed to keep his name on the books, and also to carry out his other plans by getting long periods of leave of absence, and at length he obtained such power at Court that he was enabled to procure a permit with a Royal signature, exempting him from attendance at prayers, though he might be at the time residing in the college.

In 1822 Holman turned author, and published his first volume of travels, entitled 'The Narrative of a Journey undertaken in the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, through France, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, parts of Germany bordering on the Rhine, Holland, and the Netherlands, comprising incidents which occurred to the author, who has long suffered from a total deprivation of sight, with various points of information collected in his Tour, by James Holman, R.N. and K.W.' This volume having passed through four editions, a fifth was issued in 1834, dedicated to the Princess Augusta, and from the title-page we gather that Holman was then a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1822 our traveller undertook a journey of the most extensive character. He proceeded to St. Petersburg, and from thence set out with the intention of traversing the whole extent of the Russian empire, and from its eastern extremity to return to England; and thus to accomplish the feat of travelling entirely round the world. This great idea, however, was not destined to be fulfilled, for when Holman had penetrated five thousand miles into the Russian dominions, being two thousand miles beyond Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia,

he was overtaken by a Russian officer with express orders from the Emperor to prevent his going any further, and to bring him back to the Austro-Russian frontiers. The only reason that can be assigned for this summary interference on the part of the St. Petersburg government, is the probability that they did not believe that Holman was blind, but thought that he assumed to be in that condition to cloak some secret design, in which supposition they would be greatly strengthened by the circumstance that Holman did not apply for a passport in the regular way, but kept getting new passports for short distances, instead of obtaining one for the whole journey. His motive for adopting this course was to prevent his friends from being alarmed at the dangers to which he intended exposing himself, but although we can understand his motive, we can also perceive the influence that such proceedings would have on the government of the Autocrat of all the Russias. Being brought back to the frontiers of Austrian Poland, Holman proceeded to Cracow, and from thence through Austria, Saxony, Prussia, and Hanover, where he embarked for Hull, which he reached June 24th, 1824, after an absence from England of two years and one day. The results of this second enterprise of our traveller were published in 1825 in two volumes, dedicated to King George IV., to which were prefixed the following words as a motto :—“ The man who is the lord of the land spake roughly to us and took us for spies of the country." The only contretemps that happened while Holman was in Siberia, except his being brought back, was rather of a ludicrous character. Dining with the governor of Tobolsk, and hearing a strange sound in the room, he asked what animal that was about as high as the table, which was making a snoring noise like a dog? This question was unfortunate, as the sound proceeded from one of the town councillors, who always made a snuffling with his