A FREE COLONY OF LUNATICS. 67 



watched, domineered over, persecuted, and shut up, and asked me for 

 a consultation respecting a host of imaginary ills with which he be- 

 lieved he was afflicted, and which the medical inspector could not cure. 

 When we asked him how he passed his time, he showed us a portfolio 

 of exceedingly well-executed water-color views of landscapes of the 

 region, of wonderful perspective and remarkably good shading, and 

 which he held at a very high price. He would often go many leagues 

 to find a new view or to draw one, in odd contradiction to the com- 

 plaints he made about restrictions to w^hich he was subjected. He 

 was also writing a great book, " a work of real genius " he called it, 

 against monarchical government and in favor of the republic. A lady 

 from Antwerp, deranged in consequence of some domestic troubles, 

 who was domiciled in a commodious, cheerful, and well-kept house, 

 talked on the afflictions of women, the thousand ways men had of 

 tormenting them, the troubles of life, and the blessing of death, and 

 repeated continually, " We must be resigned, we must live in hope." 

 She nevertheless had a cheerful air and a pleasant and smiling face. 

 Most of our second day at the colony was spent at Oosterloo, one of 

 the most distant of the villages at which patients are taken. Our first 

 call was upon a former " utility-man " of some theatre. We found 

 him alone, in one of the back rooms, churning. He stopped when he 

 saw us, greeted us, and performed the honors of the house. He had a 

 plainly accentuated fancy that he was an object of persecution, and 

 was under restraint. Yet nothing was easier than for him to go out 

 and try to escape. There was nobody else in the house, and no one 

 in the country would be surprised to see him walking around Gheel. 

 His talk turned on the wonderful successes he had enjoyed in the 

 theatre, and the malicious rivalries of his comrades who had put him 

 down. At other houses we found a young man whose disease took 

 the form of frequent explosions of laughter ; one who was expecting 

 to rejoin his sweetheart who had jilted him ; old men in the kitchen 

 sorting potatoes ; and an old man who had a stock of wonderful 

 stories, and boasted much of the marvelous cures he had performed 

 of various diseases. 



Our last call was at Gheel again, on a captain of artillery, who in 

 answer to our greeting replied : "I am not here — only my body is on 

 the earth ; my soul has been in heaven, in the company of the blessed, 

 for twenty-nine months and three days." Then, turning to ray wife, 

 " You appear, madam, in the likeness of the corpse of an aunt whom 

 I lost a long time ago, but whose soul I meet in heaven ; her earthly 

 body was like yours." We remained for some time with this man, 

 who spoke on other subjects with a fluency that reminded us of a well- 

 oiled steam-engine going under high pressure. He had curious theo- 

 ries about death, prayer, and many analogous subjects. He declared 

 that the Protestants and the Jews were sure of eternal flames, and con- 

 demned to the same punishment numerous other persons, beginning 



