considerable loss of strength and flesh. I spoke sometimes so sharply to those around me, as to startle them, and make them fear me. About this time (the beginning of the attack), I felt great anxiety for the eternal salvation of my employer. His brother was lying ill, and I begged that I might visit him, but my offer was refused. I therefore prayed earnestly for his recovery, and had the satisfaction of hearing next day that he was better. Strong hope, mingled with fear, now took possession of me. When at prayer, something would pull at my back, blow in my face, as if in derision, and, hovering round my mouth, try to snatch the words from my lips. At night, when in bed, I felt something press upon my chest, and awoke in great trepidation in the middle of the night, when I sometimes heard music at a distance. These impressions terrified me so much, that I dreaded to lie down. Then again, I was afraid of forfeiting God's confidence by committing some undefined sin that I could not resist. Therefore, I felt a strong inclination to leave the house of my benefactor, which desire was increased by my imagining that the persons in it would fall into apostasy. Hence I had recourse to prayer with all my heart, and all my power; and while praying, I nearly fainted. It next occurred to me, that my employer had become rich by unjust gains, and that he and his wife would be trodden down in the streets, and trampled to death. One evening, while at prayer, I saw a circle descend slowly on my head, and afterwards told my wife that I was the anointed of the Lord, but she did not appear to understand my meaning. Felt that I was very ignorant of the Scriptures, but expected every day that the power of God would instruct me, and that I should be commanded to leave the house on a sudden: so I put all things in order for my departure. On the 9th of March I left; but I was greatly agitated, and wept fre

quently, being unable to restrain my feelings. About this period, I began to see objects, like gnats, floating before my eyes, and thought they were wicked spirits watching me; however, I felt satisfied that I was anointed in a very high degree, and that my mission from the Holy Spirit was to walk incessantly about, and convert the people I met with. As I passed near to them, I believed the Holy Spirit transferred itself from me to them; so I selected the most crowded thoroughfares in the metropolis for the work of conversion, and extended my walks daily, sometimes even into the adjoining counties; and I thought the people often turned round, and looked at me as I passed, with great satisfaction, as if conscious of the blessing I had conferred on them. To see the crowds I had converted, greatly encouraged me in my labours; and now, delighted with my office, I had special revelations. One night, while in bed, I saw the glory of the moon. It was like a horizontal pillar across the moon, which increased in size and radiance as it approached my bedroom window. I now believed that I was to be a prince, and the high-prince, of our Saviour. Upon the approach of the morning, I felt a burning flame around me, and conceived that it was the glory of God sanctifying me for the work I had to perform. My sensations frequently alarmed me. More than once I was afraid I should go mad, and then I alternately laughed and wept. One day I heard my feet speaking to me, telling me that I should be a king, and reign at Jerusalem; and I also heard other voices, telling me that I was Dan, the son of Jacob, and should have large possessions at Jerusalem. Thus, having left my home, I wandered over miles of ground, imagining that I was forbidden to sit down or stand still; and, after having walked the whole night, one morning I arrived in Sionlane, and was, by one of the cottagers, conducted to the

The pro

house, where I expected to find food and rest. The prietor, I supposed, was a high churchman; and I expected all the inhabitants would come while I was asleep, and look at me, in order that they might be converted. During the first few weeks of my residence there, many strange fancies came across my brain; with my new companions, and the medical gentlemen, I conversed freely, and gradually became quite conscious that I had been under delusions, which have happily passed away, and my mental health is now, I am grateful to believe, quite restored."

CHAPTER V.

State of the Mind when recovering from an Attack of Insanity.

How deeply interesting are the descriptions sometimes given by the insane of their state of mind when passing out of a deranged into a sane condition of intellect. In some cases, the reason is restored suddenly to its sovereignty; in many cases, however, the mind appears gradually and almost imperceptibly to awaken, as it were out of a fantastic and fairy-like dream, into a healthy state of consciousness. In one case, the patient described his mental condition during the period when it was considered to be in transitu, as follows:-"I felt as I was recovering, the delusions gradually losing their hold upon my fancy. I then began to entertain doubts as to their reality. I felt disposed to listen patiently to the judicious advice of my physician. I was no longer irritated at being told that my perceptions were false, and began to appreciate the absurdities of other patients. One fellow-sufferer, who firmly believed that he was endowed with supernatural power, and divine authority, and whom I had always considered as sane, and improperly confined, and had invariably treated with great awe and deep reverence, I now thought, must be mad!" The dark clouds that had so long obscured, enshrouded, and embittered this patient's mind were gradually dissipated, and the bright sun of reason shed its joyous and effulgent light upon his hitherto darkened and bewildered understanding. As he progressed towards recovery, his mental

perceptions became daily more clear and intelligible. Whilst in this intermediate phase of morbid thought he was forcibly reminded of Milton's majestically poetical, and profoundly philosophical passage, in which he makes Adam relate to the angel what passed in his mind immediately after awakening into life :—

"Whilst thus I call'd and stray'd I knew not whither,

From where I first drew air and first beheld

This happy light, when answer none return'd,
On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,
Pensive I sat me down; there gentle sleep
First found me, and with soft oppression seiz'd
My droused sense; untroubled, though I thought
I then was passing to my former state
Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve. . . .

"Paradise Lost," b. 8. 1. 283.

Another patient described his state of mind when recovering, as follows: "During the whole of my illness, which lasted for eighteen months, I always fancied myself surrounded by a dark cloud. I never, could appreciate that there was any difference between day and night. Even when the sun shone most brightly, it produced no alteration in my feelings. I fancied that I was doomed to live for the rest of my days in a state of perpetual gloom, and never-ending darkness, as a punishment for sins I had committed in early youth. bright object, alas! looked so to my mind. I found that I could gaze, without the least inconvenience, at the sun, even when at its height. It did not, in the slightest degree, dazzle me.

No

"I date the commencement of my recovery from the time when this mysterious darkness began gradually to fade away." "When I was getting well," the patient continues, "I fancied I saw objects more clearly and less through a haze. My mind appeared during this distressing illness, as if it were covered, if I may so speak, by a dark veil. This is the only comparison that occurs