He  began  to  forget  familiar  faces,  and  at  last  forgot  that  he  had  ever  been  a
poet.  It  was  impossible,  however,  even  when  memory  had  at  length  deserted
the  poet  who  had  sung  her  charms,  to  look  upon  him  without  a  feeling  of
veneration.  Faces  of  other  times  seemed  to  crowd  over  him  as  lie  sat,  and
what  that  now  vacant  mind  had  once  known,  what  those  now  lifeless  eyes
had  once  seen,  and  what  that  now  faltering  tongue  could  once  relate  so  well,
were  the  thoughts  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all  who  saw  and  knew  him."
Another  authority  (Edinburgh  Bevieic,  1866,)  observes : —
"  Till  near  ninety,  Rogers  was  a  striking  exception  to  the  rule  '  of  the
decay  of  the  mind  before  that  of  the  body.'  He  then  gradually  dropped  into
that  state,  mental  and  bodily,  which  raises  a  reasonable  doubt  whether  pro-
longed life  be  a  blessing  or  a  curse —

'Omni

Membrorum  damno  major  dementia,  qune  nee
Nomina  servorum,  nee  vultum  agnoscit  amid,
Cum  quo  praterita  cucnavit  nocte,  nee  illos,
Quoe  genuit,  quos  eduxit." — Jurcn.  Sat.  x.
"  Although  his  impressions  of  long  past  events  were  as  fresh  as  ever,  be
forgot  the  names  of  his  relations  and  oldest  friends,  whilst  they  were  sitting
with  him,  and  told  the  same  stories  to  the  same  people,  two  or  three  times  over
in  the  same  interview.  Hut  there  were  frequent  glimpses  of  intellect  in  all
its  original  brightness,  of  tenderness,  of  refinement,  and  of  grace.  '  Once
driving  out  with  him,'  says  a  female  correspondent,  '  I  asked  him  after  a  lady


80S  ACUTE   DISORDERS   OF   THE    MEMORY.
