nations an example which some of them may blush to reflect, that they have had neither the virtue to propose, nor to imitate. AUTHORITIES. EULER'S Life, prefixed to the first Volume of his Algebra, London, 1810-EULER'S Letters to a German Princess, 2 vols. -Philosophical Magazine-- AIKIN's General Biography. THE LIFE OF JOHN GOUGH. "On him fair science dawn'd in happier hours, Of all the surprising phenomena that have, in different ages, appeared among the human species, there is not one more difficult to be accounted for, than that of a blind man's excelling in the most difficult and sublime parts of the mathematics; it seems, indeed, almost impossible, had we not the illustrious example before us of Professor Saunderson. We might, perhaps, have looked upon the instances of this kind related by authors, as fiction, or, at least, as exaggerated representations of the truth. The most remarkable of these instances, mentioned by historians, is that of Didymus, of Alexandria. The case of this extraordinary person was similar to that of our author, who, when twelve months old, was deprived of his sight by the small pox, and retained no more idea of light and colours, than if he had been born blind. John Gough was born on the 17th of January, in the year 1757, and was the oldest child of Nathan H Gough, shearman-dyer, of Kendal, and Susannah his wife. His father was the only child, by a first marriage, of Thomas Gough,* skinner and glover, of Wyersdale, in Lancashire; his mother was the oldest daughter of Mr. John Wilson, a respectable yeoman, who had a good estate on the west bank of Windermere lake. Of the subject of this biographical sketch, much might be said, even respecting the actions and pastimes of infancy; but this would be stepping beyond the necessary limits of these annals, and an improper interference with a work which, it is hoped, will not long be withheld from the public.+ To all enquirers into the culture of enlargement of the human mind, such a work would be peculiarly acceptable, as unfolding the means by which he obtained a rich store of scientific knowledge, under difficulties and privations, apparently rendering such acquisitions nearly unattainable, if not impossible. At a very early age a misfortune befel him which, in his opinion, gave birth to the peculiarities of his character through life. Before the completion of his third year, he was *Thomas Gough was the son of James Gough, who was not a native of Wyersdale, but the son of William Gough, a general in the Parliamentary army, and one of King Charles's judges. At the time of the Restoration he escaped the halter and axe of the executioner, by an early flight; after which he remained concealed many years in New England, with his friends and his father-in-law, Colonel Whaley, who not only faithfully secreted, but kindly supported him in his turn of fortune. +The Prospectus of the Posthumous Works of John Gough was printed in 1826. attacked with the small pox; this happened in December, 1759, and the virulence of the malady, joined to the injudicious treatment then in fashion, deprived him of his sight before the commencement of the next year. The loss indeed was not so total as to render him incapable of distinguishing day from night; but the slender ray of light which fell on the verge of the retina, was insufficient to afford him the least idea of colours, or the visible images of external objects which properly speaking constitute vision. Thus was "wisdom at one entrance quite shut out;" this proved the cause of opening others which, under different circumstances, might never have been explored. Into a detail of the exertions and contrivances by which he surmounted this great obstacle to mental improvement, we are precluded from entering, for the reason stated above; it must suffice, therefore, to notice briefly the progress of his early education, and the evidences of that distinction, which he attained in maturer life, as a man of science.* At the age of six years he was placed under the care of Mr. Rebanks, at that time master of the school belonging to the society of Friends in Kendal. With this gentleman he began to study the princi * * Gough is the friend alluded to in the following extract from Thomas Wilkinson's "Tours to the British Mountains." "Ardent energies are not always crowned with wise achievements. I was once spending a few days at the foot of Blencathra. A party of six of us, on a midsummer morning, set off at four o'clock; to two of these individuals the ascent of such a high and rugged mountain might have seemed impracticable. The lame and the blind, without extraordi ples of the English language, prior to engaging with the Latin; but, as ought to have been expected at that early age, much time was consumed to little or no advantage. His subsequent attempts, however, to conquer the difficulties of the Latin grammar, were more successful; and under the tuition of Mr. George Bewly, who was appointed master of the school when Mr. Gough was about twelve years old, he made a rapid progress in the acquisition of that language. Mr. Bewly it appears was well prepared for his occupation, not only by his classical knowledge, but also by his attainments in the different branches of natural philosophy; and great were the advantages which Mr. Gough derived from the latter qualifications. From a very early period of infancy he had shewed a taste for zoology, and he now began to enlarge his knowledge of organic bodies, by extending his re To nary minds, would not have hazarded the attempt amid the rocky steeps of this mountain; but the company of genius and science was courted, and not withheld on the occasion, and the first that was seen standing on the summit of the mountain, was the lame leaning on his crutch and staff. the blind I attempted a description of the fearful precipices beneath us: but it was the first thing I repented of that day, -when I saw him fall on the ground with dizziness, and cling to the earth, and scream out, with the apprehension of tumbling down the rocks into the abyss below. Till then I thought that the idea of giddiness must be received at the eye; certainly it was as vivid in the mind of our learned and accomplished companion, from what he heard, as if he had seen the terrors around him. But we now moderated our descriptions, and only talked of extent, and the appearance of distant objects." |