th.

"As we approached towards Paris, I noticed that my husband became more
quiet and reserved. I attributed it to the fatigue of travelling, to
which my own spirits began to succumb; and as the day was drawing to a
close, I proposed, at the next stage we reached, that we should rest
there, and resume our journey the next morning. But in an irritable and
impetuous manner, of which I had never seen the least symptom before,
he ordered fresh horses, and bade the postilion drive on with all the
speed he could. Still as we travelled he grew more sullen, became
restless, incommunicative, and muttered occasionally to himself. It was
now night. Leaning back in the carriage, and fixing my eye upon the full
moon that was shining brightly upon us, I tried to quiet my own spirit,
somewhat ruffled by this unexpected behaviour of my husband. I observed,
after a short time, that _his_ eye also had become riveted on the same
bright object; but not with any tranquillizing effect, for his
countenance grew every minute more and more sombre. On a sudden he
called aloud to the postilion to stop--threw open the carriage-door, and
walked in a rapid pace down towards a river that for some time had
accompanied our course. I sprang after him. I overtook, and grasped him
as he was in the very act of plunging into the river. O my God! how I
prayed, and wept, and struggled to prevent him from rushing into the
stream. At length he sat down upon the bank of the river; he turned to
me his wild and frenzied eye--he laughed--O Heaven! he was mad!

"They had married me to a madman. Cured, or presumed to be cured, of
his disorder, he had been permitted to return to society; and now his
malady had broken out again. He who was to be my guide and protector,
who was my only support, who took the place of parent, friend,
instructor--he was a lunatic!

"For three dreadful hours did I sit beside him on that bank--at
night--with none to help me--restraining him by all means I could devise
from renewed attempts to precipitate himself into the river. At last I
succeeded in bringing him back to the carriage. For the rest of the
journey he was quiet; but he was imbecile--his reason had deserted him.

"We arrived at his house in Paris. A domestic assisted me in conducting
him to his chamber; and from that time I, the young wife, who the other
morning had conceived herself the happiest of beings, was transformed
into the keeper of a maniac--of a helpless or a ravin