Aged thirty-one, admitted on the 17th January 1822. This man, whether
from the effects of his malady, or the cast of mind which nature
so strongly depicts on the countenance of some men, without art
enough to conceal their genuine propensities, had something in his
physiognomy extremely repulsive and suspicious; of an artful, gloomy,
and mischievous disposition, void of candour and kindness. He had been
a footman in the family of a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. V----, of Bushy;
and while at Brighton with his master, he dreamt that if he should
only murder his mistress, with a part or the whole of the family, he
would succeed to all their property and possessions. This visionary
idea was afterwards always uppermost in his thoughts. He was a firm
believer in the supernatural inspiration of dreams, and his ambition
to be a rich man combining with this prophetical hint, seemed to
suggest a means of accomplishing his wishes, which might, in such a
mind, have produced the most dreadful results. It had, however, much
influence on his cogitations; and he one day mentioned his dream to a
female fellow-servant, and wondered what it meant. But his confidant,
not naturally prone to secrecy, communicated the story to others of
her fellow-servants, with the miscellaneous news of the morning. The
story reached Mr. V----, who knew too well the liabilities of a low,
ignorant, and superstitious mind to the most desperate temptation from
such a combination of excitements as immediately occurred to him;
and, perceiving that the natural sullenness of Vale assumed apparent
symptoms of distraction and wildness, he took the precaution of having
his footman lodged in New Bethlem, as the safer place to get his dream
interpreted by the seers of this temple.
After his admission here he maintained for some time a sullen and
cautious silence: but as he had shrewdness enough to discover that
the chance of his liberation depended on his conduct, he changed it
for the better, assumed a more cheerful aspect, told his dream to
his fellow-patients with an air of jocular levity, declared he had
no intention whatever of destroying his master’s family, but had
merely told his dream to his fellow-servants, as any other person
might do. But dreamers of such dreams were not to be tolerated in a
prudent family, without apprehension and alarm; and though this man
was discharged quite well, on the 18th of April 1822, he was not again
received into the service of Mr. V----.