eyes over the page, until, very suddenly, I became totally blind.

This was a grievous blow to my tender parents: the eclipse was so
complete that I could not tell whether it was midnight or midnoon, so
far as perception of light was concerned, and the case seemed hopeless.
It was, however, among the "all things" that God causes to work together
for good, while Satan eagerly seeks to use them for evil. It checked my
inordinate desire for mere acquirements, which I believe to be a bad
tendency, particularly in a female, while it threw me more upon my own
resources, such as they were, and gave me a keen relish for the highly
intellectual conversation that always prevailed in our home. My father
delighted in the society of literary men; and he was himself of a turn
so argumentative, so overflowing with rich conversation, so decided in
his political views, so alive to passing events, so devotedly and so
proudly the Englishman, that with such associates as he gathered about
him at his own fireside, I don't see how the little blind girl, whose
face was ever turned up towards the unseen speaker, and whose mind
opened to every passing remark, could avoid becoming a thinker, a
reasoner, a tory, and a patriot. Sometimes a tough disputant crossed our
threshold; one of these was Dr. Parr, and brilliant were the flashes
resulting from such occasional collision with antagonists of that
calibre. I am often charged with the offence of being too political in
my writings: the fact is, I write as I think and feel; and what else can
you expect from a child reared in such a nursery?

But another consequence of this temporary visitation was an increased
passion for music. The severe remedies used for my blindness frequently
laid me on the sofa for days together, and then my fond father would
bring home with him, after the afternoon service of the cathedral, of
which he was also a canon, a party of the young choristers. My godfather