DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

was to raise his hat to the crowd, saying, ‘Good night, gentlemen; I thank you.’ But though his bodily health long continued good, his mind gradually became a blank. Happily, religion afforded him con- solation, and the hopes of a bright eternity illumi- nated the darkness of his life. Unconscious of his disorder, he believed himself to be constantly conversing with angels; and still being able to indulge in his favourite occupation, music, he occasionally performed on the flute or the violin, both of which he played with surprising skill from memory. On some few occasions he became alive to the nature of the affliction that had befallen him. One @, when all was sunshine and cheerful- bright mornin ness around, the Prince of Wales visited his father, and found him bitterly lamenting his blindness. Pausing to catch the King’s words, he heard him repeat with pathetic solemnity Milton’s mournful lines :— ©O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day! O first created beam, and thou great Word, Let there be light, and light was over all ; Why am I thus bereay’d Thy prime decree ? To me the sun is dark And silent as the moon.’ The Prince was so affected that he hurried from the apartment in a paroxysm of tears. Shortly after-