20 
firous to pafs for women. It was inthe 
Hiftory of the Roman Emperors.* They 
committed many cther follies befides that 
of having dolls; the fcandal which they 
Secionca had very ferious effeéts on mo- 
rals. But they were on athrone, and 
not enly found flaves to humour their 
_ fcllies, but even the ma agittrates did not 
dare to cenfure them, It is a fat, that 
there are fueh exalted factions in fociety, 
that men, when advarced to them, may 
give up themielves to the grestelt folly 
without experiencing any contradiétion. 
Pofterity alone doth juftice, and places 
the Emperor, who chofe a hufband, and 
acecmpanied him to the altar in the drefs 
of a girl, much below the unhappy crea- 
ture who, in the apartments of a mad- 
houfe, amufes himfelf with his dolls. This 
faé& is terrible to every one who finds 
himfelf clothed with a power that im- 
poles filence on truth. 
A, third clafs of deranged perfons con- 
fifts of thofe whofe imagination is in the 
habit of ever prefenting to them pleafant 
and laughable ideas, and who feel-no care. 
Is it not, indeed, fingular, that care is ne- 
ceffary to rationalit; ? Thefe people do 
not give much uneafinefs, nor is it any 
trouble to watch them, It is not very 
necefiary tocure them. They would fay— 
Pol, me occidiftis, amici ! 
Non fervaftis—cui fic extorta voluptas, 
Et demtus per vim mentis gratiffimus error. 
Horatis Epift. 1. 2. Ep. 2. v. 133, 
My friends, *twere better you had ftopp’d my 
breath; ° 
Your love was rancour and your care was 
death, 
‘To rob me thus of pleafure fo refin’d, 
The dear delufion of a raptur’d mind, 
FRANCIS. 
The fight of the melancholy infane af- 
fe&ts the heart of fenfibility with the moft 
diltrefling emotions. They are the mof 
urhappy. 
not loft their reafon, but that they have 
preferved it to leave them expofed to the 
mott afflicting ideas. The Junaties of 
this clafs appear funk into an abyfs of 
wretchedrefs, fince the derangement of 
their imagination delivers them up to con- 
tinual terrors. The inttances of it are 
many. Their terrors arife from different 
caufes. They proceed fometimes from the 
* Tacitus’ Annal. 1. xv.c. 37. Suetonius 
in Nerone, c. 29. Aurel. Victor Epit. c. 5. 
et de Czfaribys, c. 3... Lamprid. in Helio- 
gab. c. Ic. 
An Account of the prefent State of Antwerp. 
We may fay that they have 
‘[Feb. 1, 
erroneous impreflions made x religious 
infruétors ; fometimes from a very difte- 
rent fource. Nothing is fo afflicting as 
one who thinks that punifhment coniinu- 
ally threatens him, and who is always im- 
ploring the pardon of crimes which he has 
not committed, With refpect both to our 
pains and pleafures, fear and hope excite- 
fenfations more acute and lively than pain 
itfelf inflicts or joy yields. As to thefe 
infane, the behsviour towards them muft 
be fiee and eafy, and accompanied with 
looks of complacency. _ Signs of compal- 
fion willconfirm them in their conception 
of their mifery ; and harfh words would 
inflict punifhment on the innocent. 
The outrageous neceflarily require pre- 
cautions to prevent the fatal coniequences 
of their derangement ; but thefe precau- 
tions fhould be fuch as will not affect 
their heart or heighten their affliction ; 
for a lunatic who has lucid intervals will 
difcern inthofe moments the marks of the 
madnefs which agitates him, fuch as the 
chains with which, like a wiid beaft, he 
finds himflf bound. 
Thefe obfervations give room for many 
important conclufions. The firft is, that 
the infane do not receive a treatment {uit- 
able totheir condition, unlefs they are fe- 
parated and clafled according to the nature 
of their lunacy. The fecond is, that it is 
neceflary to adapt the characters of the pet- 
fons employed in this fervice to the kind 
of lunatics entrufted to their care. The 
third is, that in the management of the 
infane we ought to avoid every thing that 
may heighten their afiliétion. 
In moft of the departments through 
which I have paffed, the praétice is very 
different from thefe conclufions. Even in 
that of the Seine, where the moft various 
and beft aids are adminiftered, they have 
not attained the end, but are beginning to 
know it. In many departments there is no 
particular eftablifhment for the reception 
of the infane. They lodge idiots with the 
fick, and confine the outrageous lunatics 
in pana with felons. 
Befides the hofpitals and the charitable 
workhoufe, there is at Antwerp an Office 
of Beneficence, which grants its fuccours 
at perfors’ dwellings. They.are confi- 
derable, as are the cails op it. The num- 
ber of the poor is calculated by the popu- 
lation. I was affured, on an eftimate, 
that 794. men, 1489 women, and 2092 
children, had been relieved from this of- 
fice. The furet fund for their diftribu. 
tions arifes from the liberality of the citi- 
zens. : calli ; i ie 
“THE 
