LIFE OF MYTTON. 



resumed I ; " you must be stark mad to think 

 of going out in the state you are at present." He 

 gave me one of those looks which generally implied 

 mischief, and which were well understood by his 

 friends; but said nothing more at the moment. Just 

 after we were seated at our dinner, however, in 

 walked John Mytton ; but although he sat out the 

 meal and half an hour besides, he fainted twice, 

 and was glad to return to his bed. But even 

 this is a trifle to what he afterwards did. He 

 had been five weeks in his bed, when he declared he 

 would dine with me on New Year's Day. Nothing 

 but the strait waistcoat would have restrained him, 

 and he came ; and moreover, because there were not 

 four horses to the carriage to take him back to his 

 hotel — not three hundred yards — he would walk, with- 

 out even a great-coat, but supported by two persons ; 

 and although the air was cold and damp, he was not 

 a whit the worse for it. What would some people 

 give for such a constitution as his ! and how difificult 

 was it even for him to destroy it ! 



Of all the uncertainties of our present state, said 

 Dr. Johnson, the most dreadful and alarming is the 

 uncertain continuance of reason ; and although there 

 may be " a pleasure in madness madmen only know," 



