nature and to life the charm which converts everything it touches into gold? Is it not imagination? Nature draws the outline and arranges the groups, but it is the imagination which gives a richness of polish to their surfaces, and tints them with those colours which administer in so delightful a manner to our perception: nature, always conceiving and producing, furnishes the instruments, but it is the imagination which touches the chords and produces the melody. Nature showers down objects for our selection, and reason combines them, but it is the imagination which is, as it has been truly styled, "the synonym of inspiration." Hence the im

portance of admitting nature in all its pleasing phases to administer to the happiness of the insane. Who shall tell the amount of delight, and consequent benefit, that is conveyed to the mind of the poor lunatic by hearing the gladsome carol of the lark, or the warbling of other of the feathered songsters of our isle; the rapture which throbs in his breast from the contemplation of delightful scenery, which, from its grandeur, magnificence, or beauty, is so well adapted to soothe and enchant the soul?

"Oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms which Nature to her votary yields?
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields,
All that the genial ray of morning gilds,
And all that echoes to the song of even,
All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields,
And all the dread magnificence of heaven ?"

The advantage of bringing the beauties and harmonies of creation to shed their benign influence upon the gloomy and cheerless condition of these unfortunate creatures, has been dwelt upon with all the eloquence and pathos that language could express, and with all the energy and ardour that deep seated conviction alone could prompt. Nevertheless, so far is the public mind from fully appreciating the importance of this, that we find existing and allowed, even at the present time, the defective arrangements" before alluded to. Truth, however, remains the same, and in the end will vindicate and assert its rights; and a future generation will do justice to the views of those whose opportunities and education have enabled them to regard insanity in its true colours, apart from the ignorance and prejudices of the age.

66

Knowing the amount of public ignorance respecting insanity, it is not matter of surprise to the reflecting observer to find the state of the law bearing upon it to be defective in detail, uncertain in application, and harsh in operation. The attention of the community, it is true, has of late years been directed more forcibly to the subject; cases of startling interest and thrilling narrative have, for a time, aroused it from its apparent lethargy; on one side has been seen ranged the opinions of men eminent in the profession, unanimous in the belief of the prisoner's insanity; the evidence has constrained the sympathy of the spectator in the jus

tice of these opinions; but, alas! on the other side have been arrayed the dogmas of an inexorable and unjust law, conceived in real ignorance of insanity, and carried out in the same spirit, rendering alike these sympathies, wishes, and opinions powerless to rescue from the unavoidably adverse decision. We know it is often required that the "vis a tergo" of public opinion should be exerted to procure reform; and this is so, because frequently, although justly required, sufficient importance has not been assumed to bring the matter before the notice of the legislature; but a wise legislature, like a good parent, looks around to assist and succour its helpless children, who, it knows, are unable to protect themselves, and waits not for the clamorous outcry of public indignation to redress grievances which it acknowledges, when it knows how to rectify them. The unhappy lunatic is unable to thrust forward and unbare his wrongs before the public gaze; he cannot put a "tongue in every wound" to enlist the sympathies of his friends, nor make his every word a dagger to strike to the hearts of his oppressors; it is only the occasional case which speaks volumes, that makes the looker-on put it home to himself, to shudder and confess that some means is indeed wanted of establishing a better distinction between the effects of vice and disease. But the legislature is not unaware of the need of reform, thanks to the labours, exertions, and representations of the physicians to our lunatic asylums,

commissioners of the insane, and other philanthropic individuals, who have felt the anomalies or witnessed the unjust operation of the present system; though it may be unprepared with any efficient remedy. The intention has been, throughout this essay, to bring into view freely and dispassionately all the material difficulties of the subject; the few suggestions that have been thrown out, more as leading features than matters of detail, are sanctioned by some consideration and thought on the subject, as the legitimate deductions from the various positions that have been assumed. The essay is committed to the judgment of others with a measure of fear and hope; with fear, lest the abilities which have been brought to the undertaking shall have been inadequate to do justice to the importance of the subject; and with hope, that through its humble instrumentality such interest may be kindled, as shall lead to the introduction of measures to ensure to crime its more certain punishment, to the helpless madman more certain protection, and the preservation of the honour and peace of those families who have the great misfortune to enrol amongst their members that human being infinitely to be pitied-the criminal lunatic.

THE END.

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