ELIZABETH GILBERT. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD. "Moving about in worlds not realised."-WORLDSWORTH. ELIZABETH MARGARETTA MARIA, born on the 7th of August, 1826, was the second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashhurst Turner Gilbert, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, and of Mary Ann his wife, only surviving child of the Rev. Robert Wintle, Vicar of Culham, near Abingdon. The little girl Bessie, as she was always called, was christened at St. Mary's Church, which is close to the old-fashioned house in High Street known as the Principal's Lodgings, in which Dr. Gilbert lived. "A fine, handsome child, with flashing black eyes," she is said to have been; and then for three years we hear nothing more. There was a nest of little children in the nursery, and in the spring of 1829 a fifth baby was to be added to them. In the diary of the grandfather, Mr. Wintle, we find the following entries: B 1829.-April 6. Little Elizabeth alarmingly ill with scarlet 18. Letter from Mary Ann [Mrs. Gilbert], stating that little Elizabeth had lost one eye. 21. Went to Oxford. Little girl blind. July 9. Dr. Farre and Mr. Alexander say there is no chance of little Bessie seeing. And so the "flashing black eyes," scarcely opened upon the world, were closed for ever, and all memory of sight was very speedily obliterated. Mrs. Gilbert had not been allowed to nurse or even to see her little girl, who had been removed from the nursery to a north wing stretching back and away from the house. It was the father who watched over and scarcely left her. Mrs. Gilbert believed that the child's recovery was owing to his unremitting care. Dr. Gilbert's common-sense seems to have been in advance of the medical treatment of that period; and he insisted on open windows, change of bedding and clothing to suit the exigencies of the case. When the child was thought to be sinking, he took upon himself the responsibility of administering port wine; this may or may not have saved her life-it is certain she struggled through, and survived a dangerous, almost fatal attack. But the handsome, healthy baby was sightless; one eye was entirely and the other partly destroyed, the throat ragged and certain to be always delicate, ears and nose also affected. A childhood of much suffering was inevitable-and then? It was the father who bore the first brunt of this sorrow. It was he who listened to the pathetic appeal of the little one, "Oh, nursie, light a candle"; to her entreaty to be taken "out of the dark room"; to the softly-whispered question, “If I am a very good 'ittle girl, may I see my dolly to-morrow?" He had been full of courage, hope, and resource at the most critical times, but he was broken-hearted now, and would rush weeping from the child's bedside. It was not until July-by that time a fifth baby was in the nursery-that the parents took their little Bessie to London, and there, as Mr. Wintle's diary tells, the case was pronounced to be hopeless. The renowned oculist of that day, Mr. Alexander, told them that there was no possibility of sight; the eyes were destroyed, the child was blind. Dr. Farre, whom they also consulted, showed much sympathy with the parents in their affliction, and they looked upon him as a friend raised up to advise and comfort them. Many years later they appealed to him on behalf of their blind child, and reminded him of the encouragement and help he had given them. It was, doubtless, he who suggested that blindness should be made as little as possible of a disability to the child— what other help could he give in such a case?—that she should be trained, educated, and treated like the other children; that she should share their pleasures and their experience; and should not be kept apart, from the mistaken notion of shielding her from injury. It was with these views that the parents returned to Oxford, and it was these that they consistently carried out henceforward. There was no invention, no educational help for the blind which they did not inquire into and procure; but these were only used in |