200 THE MONOMANIAC. 



former strength and importance. Its history is identified with that 

 of the province, from having been the property of one of the most il- 

 lustrious houses in Brittany, and from the sieges which it has with- 

 stood. There is, moreover, a melancholy interest attached to it, from 

 a well in the middle of the court being the grave of no less than three 

 hundred victims of the Revolution, who having concealed themselves 

 in the adjoining recesses, were torn from them and cruelly murdered. 

 A single cypress rises in funereal grandeur from their remains, and 

 forms a simple and affecting memorial of their fate. 



THE MONOMANIAC. 



" Canst thou administer to a mind diseased?" SHAKSPEARE. 



GOD knows, there are enough of stimulants to the heart-ache every 

 where, but if there be one incentive to melancholy stronger than 

 another, it is the view of a being whose mind is ruined and whose 

 reason is shattered : for in that we see the wreck of a thing which 

 man's hands made not the ruin of our Creator's works, before which 

 palaces and towers crumble into insignificance. The contemplation, 

 also, is equally exciting to the commiseration of all classes ; for, as the 

 maniac can have no influential opinions upon either religion or poli- 

 tics, party interest will possess no voice in witholding the tribute of 

 pity for his condition. In many cases, too, youth, innocence and 

 beauty are the victims of insanity ; and a rosy cheek, a bright eye, 

 often blooms and glitters over the grave of reason, like wild-flowers 

 and dew-drops on the osier-bound turf of some loved being who has 

 sunk into the eternal slumber. Neither does the cause of lunacy affect 

 our sorrow, as the sight is equally painful, whether produced by 

 passion or prejudice ; joy or sorrow ; a crushed spirit or an over-heated 

 imagination : the effect is still the same ; we see sense and instinct 

 placed in juxta-position only to destroy each other, and we deplore 

 the event. 



I have had considerable intercourse with the mad ; and, for a 

 long period, dwelt in a country town, where was situated a receptacle 

 for the bereaved of intellect, to which I had easy access. By that 

 means I gleaned numberless particulars possessing both interest and 

 singularity ; and in the unaffected hope that the relation of a few 

 prominent cases may soften, at least, one heart which selfishness may 

 have steeled against the misfortunes of others will trace the details 

 for those eyes to whom the incidents may prove new. 



I have seen all kinds of madness, from the harmless petitioner for 

 snuff to the naked maniac, that rose at my approach like a beast in 

 his den, and, for music to his ravings, had the clank of heavy 

 chains ; but I never witnessed a case which struck me more than that 

 of one who, with every sense sanely developed, believed himself to 

 be mad who, while the fruitage was sound, deemed the sap dis- 

 tempered. He was formerly a wealthy merchant, much esteemed 



