Page:Father's memoirs of his child.djvu/210

 the past. But however innocence and unconsciousness might detract from what we may call the moral fortitude of the present case, the breaking up of nature subjected the patient to many a languid and painful hour. When these were heaviest upon him, the assiduities of his attendants must have been unavailing, had he not known how to convert his former acquisitions to their solace. During the whole course of his disorder, his spirits were cheerful, and his understanding vigorous. He for the most part beguiled his own sense of weariness by the recollection of what he had formerly seen, done, or read. Little points of interest or information, which might be supposed to have impressed his mind with a transient sentiment, or to have struck accidentally in unison with the innate pleasure of knowledge, were equally present to his reflective powers, as when they first attracted his notice.

He frequently complained of pain, particularly during the dressing of his blister,