196 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



Heaven itself seems to neglect him. Thus forsaken 

 and neglected, can we wonder that the weight of all 

 this wretchedness is more than he can bear; and 

 that he finally welcomes suicide, as the only possible 

 relief from an intolerable load of imaginary op- 

 pression ? This is, indeed, a dark picture : but if 

 you doubt its accuracy, I can hardly do better than 

 refer you to the Coroners' Reports. 



There are two other states of the mind, produced 

 by this unhappy condition of body, which are very 

 singular. The one is a sense of dread and terror, as 

 though the patient had committed some great crime : 

 the other is an unaccountable, and almost irresistible 

 desire to do something horrible and wicked. I 

 have seen numerous instances of these states of the 

 mind, manifestly depending solely upon the condi- 

 tion of the body I have just attempted to describe. 

 Of the latter an irresistible longing to do some- 

 thing wicked two cases occurred to me lately. A 

 tailor awoke his wife at midnight, in great terror, 

 and earnestly besought her to get up and put out 

 the night-light ; otherwise, he said, he felt that he 

 must set fire to the house. He had been lying 

 awake, he said, looking at it for the last two hours, 

 and had restrained himself with the utmost diffi- 

 culty from using it to tire the house : the feeling 



