1805.] 
bed. The prefe& fees all thefe faults of 
the management, and is employing means 
to. put an end to them. 
Another alms-houfe for poor girls, 
which raifes lefs afflitting ideas, is called 
the Ternick, from the nae of the foun- 
der. He was a pious canon of Antwerp, 
who had the fatisfa&ion of governing 
himfelf his foundation for thirty-eight 
years; and, in his daily vifits, he fuc- 
ceffively difcovered what improvements 
and refcrmation it required. Among 
other regulations there is one which, at 
the fir view, appears very fingular, but 
which is not on that account Je{s reafona- 
ble. He thought that children employed 
all the day in fedentary work, would need 
fome exercile before they went to bed. He 
therefore dire&ted, that after fupper they 
fhould dance for half an hour; and, as 
he wiihed to prevent all appearance of a 
ball, he prefcribed that they fhouid not 
dance to the found of a violin, or any mu- 
fical inftrument of that kind, but to that 
of a flute of many barrels, commonly call- 
ed a copper whittle. The rule is obferv- 
ed to this day ; nor is lefs regard paid to 
it than to any. other. The miltreflzs, 
who themfelves have been educated in the 
houfe, and are wel] acquainted with its 
cuftoms, either play the flute or dance 
with the young girls: the houfe is well 
directed, and contentment and health reign 
through it. : 
The infane are either confined in a pub- 
lic butiding in the town, or, being brought | 
together from different points of the de- 
partment, live in a commune Called 
Gheet. The inhabitants of this com- 
mune have from time immemorial been in 
the habit of colleéting together thefe un- 
happy perfons. They permit all the in. 
fane who are not outrageous to walk abcut 
freely. As you app:oeach the town, you 
fee none but fools and idiots, fome merry 
and fome melancholy. 
The houfe of confinement for the in- 
fane in the town, is one of the beft-difpof- 
ed and beft managed that we have ever 
feen. Among the perfons confined in it, 
there was a man, the fore-part of who'e 
body was covere1 with fears. It is the 
coniequence of the wounds which he gives 
himfelf, whenever he can lay hold of a 
tharp infrument. A fublime motive in- 
fpires him. ‘* He -wifnes (thefe are his 
-words) to fpill his blood for mankind, as 
the pelican pours cut hers for her young ; 
and to offer to God the firongett proof of 
“his love, by fhedding his blood for thofe 
who bear his image.” We is unhappy, 
An Account of the prefent State of Antwerp. 
19 
becaufe he is conftrained to referve fome 
drops to preferve his own exiftence. This 
man, we fhould fay at Paris, is a bedlam- 
ite. Certainly we fhould not rank bim 
with the holy Flagellants, whofe Hiftory 
Boiieau has written. So great is the dif- 
ference whether we live in one age or an- 
other! He who in one age is reprefented 
with a glory around his head, to the vene- 
ration of the people, is at another time 
fhut up in the hofpital for idiots. 
The houfe for the reception of the in- 
fane at Antwerp being the laft that I 
have been able tovifit in-Flanders, and to 
obtain particular information concerning 
its arrangements, I fhall offer fome gene- 
ral obfervations on the houfes in which 
thefe unhappy perfons are kept. df I 
were to fpeak of the treatment of indivi- 
duals, whether phyfical or moral, I would 
refer to the theory of Dr. Pinel.* 
It is exceedingly dificult to unite with 
the precautions which the condition of 
the infane requir:s, the cares and kind ate 
tention which humanity demands. 
We fhould diftinguihh, firft, between 
the different cafes cf thofe who are de- 
ranged. Seme appear totally devoid of 
all fentiment and affection. If they be 
provided with food and a truckle bed, all 
their defires are anfwered: thefe it is eafy 
to fatisfy. Care thould be taken that 
their food be wholefome, and their lodging 
clean and airy : thereis no need nor rea- 
fon to vex them. 
A little above this cla‘s are the lunatics, 
whofe willis net conformable to reafon : 
their imeginations “hurt nobody 3; but if 
they be contradiGed in their fanciful no- 
tions, they become unhappy. .A very 
common fpecies of this kind of lunacy is 
the defire that a man has to pafs for a wo- 
man. ‘The inftances of this are by na 
means rare: whereas I do not. reccllest 
to have met with any women who withed 
to be taken for men. ‘The lunatics of 
whom I fpeak are contented with few 
things; only they will not bear contradic- 
tion. A man whohas beenalong time in 
the houfe of confinement, is fatished with 
women’s cloaths and a doll. He leaps 
with joy at being cailed Madam, but to 
be addreffed with the title af Sir makes 
him either fad or furious. It would be 
inhumane to grate his ears with a found 
that offends him. The fight of fuch a hu- 
natic brings to my recollection a ftory I 
have ellewhere read of men who were de- 
* Medico-Philcfophical Treatife on Men- 
tal Alienation, or Madnefs,’2 vols. 8vo, _ 
C2 hrous 
