Shirley Hall Asylum, or, The memoirs of a monomaniac / edited by the author of "Dives and Lazarus".... [i.e. William Gilbert].

  • William Gilbert
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Shirley Hall Asylum, or, The memoirs of a monomaniac / edited by the author of "Dives and Lazarus".... [i.e. William Gilbert]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    minds that they had reason on their side. I am bound, how- ever, to admit there was not one among them who was not most judiciously, either for his own interest or that of the community at large, deprived of a considerable portion of his personal liberty, so clearly established in my eyes was the fact of his partial insanity. Again, I cannot in conscience accuse those of my family who placed me under restraint with any intentional unkind- ness or injustice. Looking over my career in life, especially during the two years previous to their interference with my personal liberty, I am perfectly willing to admit that to those not well acquainted with my invention!, and the certainty of my being able to carry them out, if my pecuniary means had been equal to my ability, I might have presented a strong privia facie proof of incapacity in managing my own affairs, so much so, in fact, as perfectly to justify them in the eyes of the world. More than that, I am perfectly willing to acknow- ledge that before they took proceedings against me, three- fourths of the small fortune I once possessed had vanished : and to them my dear wife and child appeared on the verge of ruin. Probably they were so; for it is doubtful whether the remainder of my possessions would not have fallen short, and theil I should have been unable to carry out my designs to that point from which I could have obtained remunerative return. You will doubtless inquire, gentle reader, why I did not explain my invention to some friend capable of understanding it, and through his means obtain the amount necessary for its completion. I could easily have done so, had not my inven- tion opened the road to certain projects, which, in other hands, might have led to terrible consequences. Even in my own it frightened me, and after all, sometimes I am inclined to believe my confinement was the beneficent act of a Divine Providence to keep me from an ambition, which might, at last,
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