At the urgent insistence of my friend, I consulted an eminent oculist about my eyes. He appeared to entertain the same opinion as most of my medical attendants in England: a cataract existed but not sufficiently matured to be operated upon with advantage, for the present.
My friend, however, was not satisfied with this opinion and insisted on taking me to the wife of an umbrella maker, famous in Bordeaux for her skill in restoring sight. She recommended a long course of herb medicines and other nostrums, but I lacked faith in her power to serve me and, moreover, was satisfied with the opinions in which my medical friends had concurred, as well as reconciled to my deprivation and resigned to the will of Providence.
extract from The Narrative of a Journey through France, &c. (London, 1822) by James Holman FRS, pp.21-22, edited and read by Joe Rizzo Naudi.