B. S. a man, generally noticed by those who have visited Bethlem hospital
a few years ago. It was said, that an attachment to a young woman, who
slighted his addresses, was the cause of his becoming insane. He was
considered a very dangerous lunatic, and for many years was confined to
his cell. In this situation he employed himself in the manufacture of
straw baskets and table mats. The desire of money was the leading feature
of his mind, and the whole of his energies were devoted to its
acquisition; nor was he at all scrupulous as to the means, by which he
attained his object. Although repeatedly assured that he would never be
liberated, he disbelieved such information, and was persuaded, when he had
acquired a sum sufficient to purchase a horse and cart, filled with
higler's ware, that he should be released. The idea of becoming a trader,
on so large a scale, stimulated him to constant occupation. He employed
several lunatic journeymen to plat the straw for him, but they were poorly
rewarded. He generally chose for his workmen such as were chained, and
could not come personally to insist on the reward of their labour. He
commonly pretended that the platting was badly performed, and
consequently unsaleable; sometimes he would protest that he had settled
with them, but that they were too mad to recollect it; and if at any time
he did pay them, it was in bad coin. For many years he was unrivalled in
this trade, and, by every species of fraud, had amassed nearly sufficient
to set his plans afloat: when an unfortunate event took place, which
considerably reduced his capital. He had always a propensity to game,
which, from his skill and dexterity in cheating, was generally attended
with success; but in this science he was once over-matched. An insane
soldier, an ingenious man, became his intimate friend, and finding him
possessed of some money proposed a game at cards. The result was deeply
disastrous to the artificer in straw, who endeavoured to evade the
payment; but his friend stated it to be a debt of honor; and besides he
was a very powerful man, of a stern aspect, and not to be trifled with;
he was therefore compelled to tell down at once the slow accumulation of
several years. It was intended to make the soldier restore the property,
but he, conceiving that he had already derived sufficient benefit from the
hospital, went away in the night, without the formalities of a regular
discharge.
To fill up the measure of his misfortunes, when Hatfield, the maniac who
shot at his Majesty in the theatre, was brought to Bethlem, he, in
conjunction with a contriving cobbler, established a rival manufactory,
which shortly eclipsed the fabric of the old school, and by superior taste
rendered his further exertions unnecessary.
It is natural to suppose, that no great cordiality could exist between
persons, where the prosperity of one had been established on the ruin of
the other. Frequent altercations arose, and much offensive language was
exchanged. At length the patience of the original dealer was exhausted,
and, in collecting his force to give his opponent a blow, he fell down and
instantly expired.--He was about fifty-eight years of age.
Some of his habits and opinions were extremely singular; he believed that
all occurrences were regulated by witches: prosperity was to be attributed
to the good witches having obtained the mastery; and when bad witches
gained the ascendancy, misfortunes arose. When the latter were at work he
supposed himself in possession of a power to frighten and disperse them,
and this was effected by a peculiar noise he made. It is probable he might
have laboured under indigestion, for immediately after he had eaten his
dinner, he sent forth a dreadful howl, which he continued for about ten
minutes: but his great terror was a thunder storm; when this occurred, he
took a very active part, and brought the whole force of his lungs to bear
upon the enemy. A cat was supposed to have a natural antipathy to bad
witches, she could smell them at a distance; for which reason he always
domesticated an animal of that kind to sleep in his cell.
When his head was opened, the dura mater was very easily separable from
the scull; upon puncturing this membrane a considerable quantity of blood
flowed from the opening; and there was a copious extravasation of this
fluid between the membranes of the brain: but the most remarkable
circumstance was, that the tunica arachnoidea was so thickened, that it
exceeded the dura mater on an accurate comparison. The pia mater was
loaded with blood, and its vessels were enlarged. The brain and its
cavities were sound and natural.