Charles Dickens.]

A LUNATIC ASYLUM IN PALERMO.

153

managed raving madmen ? " None whatever,"
I replied, " unless you guarantee my personal
safety! " He assured me there was nothing
to fear, and, taking a key from the hand of one
of the keepers, he led the way into a padded
chamber. In one corner of the room was a bed,
and stretched upon it lay a man, wearing a
strait-waistcoat, which confined his arms to his
sides, and fastened him by the middle of his
body to the bed. I was informed that a
quarter of an hour previously, this man had
been seized with such a frightful fit of raving
mania that the keepers were obliged to have
recourse to restraint, very rarely resorted to
in that establishment. He appeared to be
about thirty years of age, was exceedingly
handsome; he had fine dark eyes, and features
of the antique mould, with the figure of a Her-
cules. On hearing the door open, he roared out
in a voice of thunder, uttering threats and im-
precations; but, on looking round, his eyes
met those of the Count, and his anger softened
down into expressions of grief and lamenta-
tion. Count Pisani approached the bed, and,
in a mild tone of voice, asked the patient
what he had been doing to render it neces-
sary to place him under such restraint.
"They have taken away my Angelica," re-
plied the maniac; " they have torn her from
me, and I am resolved to be avenged on
Medora! " The unfortunate man imagined
himself to be Orlando Furioso, and, as may
readily be supposed, his madness was of the
wildest and most extravagant character.

Count Pisani endeavoured to soothe his
violence by assuring him that Angelica had
been carried off by force, and that she would
doubtless seize the first opportunity of
escaping from the hands of her captors and
rejoining her lover. This assurance, repeated
earnestly but gently, speedily had the effect
of calming the fury of the maniac, who, after
a little time, requested that the Count would
unfasten his strait-waistcoat. This Count
Pisani agreed to do, on condition of the patient
pledging his word of honour that he would
not profit by his liberty to make any attempt
to pursue Angelica. This sympathy for
imaginary misfortune had a good effect. The
patient did not attempt to quit his bed, but
merely raised himself up. He had been a year
in the establishment, and, notwithstanding the
deep grief into which his fancied misfortunes
plunged him, he had never been known to
shed tears. Count Pisani had several times
endeavoured to make him weep, but without
success. He proposed soon to try the experi-
ment of announcing to him the death of
Angelica. He intended to dress up a figure
in funeral garments and to prevail on the
heart-broken Orlando to be present at the
interment. This scene, it was expected, would
have the effect of drawing tears from the eyes
of the sufferer; and if so, Count Pisani de-
clared he should not despair of his recovery.

In an apartment facing that of Orlando
Furioso, there was another man raving mad.

When we entered his room he was swinging
in a hammock, in which he was fastened
down, for biting his keeper. Through the
gratings of his window he could perceive his
comrades strolling about and amusing them-
selves in the garden. He wished to be among
them, but was not allowed to go, because, on
a recent occasion, he had made a very violent
attack on a poor harmless creature, suffering
from melancholy madness. The offender was in
consequence condemned to be tied down in his
hammock, which is the secondary punishment
resorted to in the establishment. The first
and most severe penalty being imprisonment;
and the third the strait-waistcoat.—"What
is the matter?" said Count Pisani. "What
have you been doing to-day? " The lunatic
looked at the Count, and then began whining
like a peevish child. " They will not let me
go out to play," said he, looking out of the
window where several of his companions were
enjoying the air in the garden. " I am tired
of lying here; " and he began rocking him-
self impatiently in his hammock.—"Well, I
doubt not it is wearisome," said the Count,
"suppose I release you; " and, with those
words, he unfastened the ligatures.

The lunatic joyfully leapt out of his ham-
mock, exclaiming, "Now I may go into the
garden! "—" Stay," said the Count; " suppose
before you go you dance the Tarantella."—
" Oh, yes! " exclaimed the lunatic, in a tone
which showed that he received the proposal
as the greatest possible indulgence; " I shall
be delighted to dance the Tarantella." " Go
and fetch Teresa and Gaetano," said the
Count to one of the keepers; then turning
to me, he said; " Teresa is also one of our
violent patients, and she sometimes gives us a
great deal of trouble. Gaetano was a teacher
of the guitar, and some time ago he became
deranged. He is the minstrel of our establish-
ment." In a few minutes, Teresa, a pretty-
looking young woman about twenty years of
age, was conducted into the room by two men,
who held her by the arms, whilst she struggled
to escape, and endeavoured to strike them.
Gaetano, with his guitar slung round his neck,
followed gravely, but without being held,
for his madness was of a perfectly harmless
kind.

No sooner did Teresa perceive Count Pisani,
than, by a violent effort disengaging herself
from the keepers, she flew to him, and draw-
ing him aside into a corner of the room, she
began to tell him a long story about some ill-
treatment to which she alleged she had been
subjected. " I know it. I have heard of it,"
said the Count; " and, therefore, I think it
just to make you some amends. For this
reason I have sent for you, that you may
dance the Tarantella." Teresa was delighted
at hearing this, and immediately took her
place in front of her intended partner. " Now
Gaetano, presto! presto! " said the Count,
and the musician struck up the air of the
Tarantella in very spirited style.