fully with natural difficulties, is to meet the ills of life with fortitude, and if obliged to yield a desired point, to rally all the energies in another quarter of the field. Nor is triumph over difficulty the only achievement; the true moral hero is able to endure as well as contend. Another encouraging example of the power of resolve over physical circumstances, is exhibited in the life of Dr. M. CLANCY, a dramatic poet, who flourished in the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was born in the county of Clare, Ireland, and was deprived of sight in 1737, by a severe cold, and was thus rendered incapable of following his profession as a physician. As the doctor in his earlier days had evinced a fondness for scribbling verse, he was advised by some friends to try his success as an author, and supposing the theater was open alike to all, his first attempt was in the dramatic line. His first piece was a comedy, called the "Sharper," which was acted five times at the theater in Smock-alley, Dublin, and obtained for him the notice of Dean Swift. The dean having critically read a copy of this play, which had been secretly placed upon his table, was so highly pleased with it that, on learning the circumstances of its author, he immediately dispatched the following: "To DR. CLANCY: "Sir,-Some friend of mine lent me a comedy, which, I was told, was written by you. I read it carefully and with much pleasure, on account both of the characters and the moral. I have no interest with the people of the play-house, else I would gladly recommend it to them. I send you a small present, in such gold as will not give you trouble to change, for I much pity your loss of sight, which, if it had pleased God to let you enjoy, your other talents might have been your honest support, and had eased you of your present confinement. “I am, sir, your well-wishing friend, "and humble servant, "JONATHAN SWIFT. "Deanery House, Christmasday, 1737." In the year 1746, he received a sum of money for performing the part of Tiresias, the blind prophet, in "Edipus," which was acted for his benefit at Drury Lane theater. He afterward settled at Kilkenny, where he was for some time connected with a Latin school. Clancy was the author of three dramatic pieces, and also of a Latin poem, called "Templum Veneris, sive Amorum Rhapsodiæ." From the following fragment, found among the papers of Mrs. Pilkington, we conclude the stream which most embittered our author's life did not spring from want of sight, but from the climax of domestic misery-a scolding wife. "Hapless Clancy! grieve no more, Socrates was plagued before; Though o'ercast, thy visual ray Meets no more the light of day, Yet even here is comfort had, Now thou canst no more behold The grim aspect of thy scold; Oh! what raptures wouldst thou find, A German, named JOHN PHEFFEL, a native of Colmar, who lost his sight in youth, wrote several volumes of poetry, consisting chiefly of fables, which were published in 1791. He also established in his native town a military school, to which youths of the best families in Germany were sent to be educated. He died in 1809, in the seventy-third year of his age.. Miss ANNA WILLIAMS, who came to London in 1730, with her father, a Welch surgeon, lost her sight from cataract, in the thirty-fourth year of her age. This disheartening calamity did not strip life of all its attractions, nor crush every hope of future usefulness, but seemed rather to give new zest to intellectual pursuits. Her world was now one of thought, and every bright creation of fancy seemed more glorious in contrast with the dark world without. In 1746, after six years of blindness, she published a translation from the French of Le Bleterie's "Life of the Emperor Julian," and twenty years after she appeared again as an authoress, of a volume entitled, "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse." Her fine literary attainments recommended her to the notice of Dr. Johnson, in whose house she lived for several years, and died in 1783, at the age of seventy-seven. We have also before us a miscellaneous collection of prose and verse, yet in manuscript, from the pen. of O. Hewitt, late deceased, who was an intimate friend and classmate of the present writers. "We thank thee, Lord, that in each stricken heart, Hewitt was born 1827, in Tioga county, New York, and lost his sight in infancy. He entered the Institution for the Blind at New York in 1839, and, after a term of six years, graduated with the highest honors of that institute. He died, from pulmonary consumption, June 10th, 1852, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. We cannot but feel a deep regret for his early death, in common with the numerous and admiring friends which his kindness, generosity, and promising genius had endeared to him. But from the deep rooted and unaffected piety that characterized his life, we are encouraged to hope that his immortal spirit has winged its flight to realms of unclouded day. "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." His manuscripts, from which we subjoin the following short poem, as a specimen of the author's style, have fallen into the hands of a relative, who appreciates their value, and they will, it is hoped, ere long find their way to the press. REFLECTIONS ON VISITING THE RESIDENCE OF A DECEASED FRIEND. I entered that lone dwelling, all was still; But each familiar thing, so dear to me To speak to me of the departed dead. But where is she, whose tones of gladness oft The hearts that sigh in vain for scenes long fled. Be, as she oft has been, the pride and joy "Tis strange, though true, those we have held most dear, Of death; and o'er their slow but sure decay But other forms and other scenes were there, |