| Citation |
NM.763.004
21 Mar 1763:22, 23 (237)
London, November 13. Letter from Mr. de la Sauvagere, chief
engineer of the Isle of Rhe, to M. Freron, concerning a
blind young lady.
Mademoiselle de Salignac, now in her 18th year, lost her
sight when only two years old, her mother having been
advised to lay some pigeon's blood on her eyes, to preserve
them in the small-pox, whereas so far from answering the
end, it ate into them; nature however, may have compensated
for that unhappy mistake by . . . many talents, which
certainly must soften her misfortune. . . .
She has learnt, and almost by herself, to play on the
guittar sufficient for her little companions to dance by,
and had even contrived a way of pricking down her tunes, as
an adjustment to her memory; but at present, being in Paris
with her father and mother, a musick master teaches her in
the common method, observing the way used in writing to the
young lady by pricking; and to distinguish the whites, they
are made larger. She learnt to sing, and I have heard her
sing in concert.
In figured dances she acquits herself extremely well, in a
minuet with inimitable ease and gracefulness. . . .
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