The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-07-09 00:00:00, page 3

f’tyok thesalVers and decanters from him,
incl a little while after returned them.
Ou this he went to the kitchen, wiped
^ome plates with a cloth, held them to
the fire as if he had wanted to dry them,
and in like manner cleaned the other
plates. 1 hese preparations completed,
he returned to the beaufet, put the cloth
and napkins into a small basket, and
went, loaded with all things, directly to
a table where there used to be a lighted
candle. Having by the light of this can
dle seemed to search for a knife and
fol k, he carried back the basket and shut
the beaufet; and having afterwards car
ried into the antichamber every thing he
had taken out of the beaufet and placed
it upon a chair, he took a round table, at
w Inch the marchioness, his lady, used
^0 eat, and covered it with great neat
ness. Beside it was another table, of the
same form : this he sometimes touched
by mistake ; butalwavs returned to that
he wanted to cover. Nov, that his bu
siness was finished, he walked about,
bio wed his nose, and took out his tobac
'O-box again ; but withdrew his fingers
from it without offering to take any to
bacco, as if lie recollected, at the distance
of at least two hours, that there was
none in it: yet, though lie could not pro
eui e a quid, lie found a few grains to
throw upon his hand. Here concluded
the first scene. The people about him
threw some water upon his face and he
awoke. i
I he next day* while NVgretti was
yet awake, the marquis received com
jjuny in his chamber : a circumstance
which rarely happened. As the visitors
*ncieased, so increased the demand for
chairs. Ncgretti, having in the interim
fallen asleep, rose up, after a short nap,
and, alter blowing his nose, paid his re
spects to the tobacco-box, and hurried
away in search of chairs. What is the
most remarkable is, that while he held
one chair with both hands, he came to
the dooi, which was shut; when, instead
of knocking at it, he let go one hand
from the chair, opened the door, took
up the chair as before, and carried it to
the very place it ought to have been in.
This done, he went to the beaufet,
searched for the key of it, and seemed
to be vexed that he could not find it.
lie took u candle, and examined everv
corner of tlu apartment, and every st'p
ol the stair-case, walking about with
great quickness, and groping \ -tii his
haiius, in the- hopes ot fi id ng the lost ,
*■'•>’; lhe Vfdet-de-cluunbre §ii<l it, into j
his pocket, nnd Negretti soon after put
ting his hand there by accident, found
the key. Enraged at his folly, he then
opened the beaufet, when, alter taking
out a napkin, a plate and two rolls, he
shut it again, and went to the kitchen;
there he dressed a sallad, producing
from a closet every thing necessary for
that purpose ; and when he had done, he
sat himself down in order to cat it. This
dish they presently took from him, and,
in place ot it, gave him one of cabbage,
highly seasoned., lie continued to eat,
and for cabbage they substituted a cake,
which he swallowed in the same manner,
without seeming to know any difference:
a circumstance which proves that he had
not relished the sallad bv the organs of
taste, but that the soul alone enjoved
this sensation, without the intervention
of the body. \V bile he ate, he now and
then listened, thinking he was called ;
and once he persuaded himself that he
actually was so : accordingly he went
down in great haste to the hall, and,
finding he was not wanted, he stepped
into the antichamber and asked the ser
vants if he had not been wanted. Ra
ther peevish at being disturbed, he re
turned to his supper in the kitchen; and
after having finished, he said, in a half
whisper, that he should he glad to go to
the next public house, in order to have
a draught, if he had any money: he cx
amineu ins pockets, to no purpose. At
length he rose from his seat, saving he
would go, however; that he would pay
the next day, and they would not scru
ple to trust him. With great alacrity
he ran to the public house* which was at
the distance of two gun-shots from the
house : he knocked at the door, without
trying whether it was open, as if he had
known that, at so late an hour, it must
necessarily be shut ; and, on gaining ad
mission, he called for half a pint of wine,
instead of which the landlord gave him
the same quantity of water: this he
drank up, insensible ol the difference,
and at his departure said he would pav
lor it on the morrow. With all haste
he returned homeward, and on his en
tering the antichamber asked the ser
vant il his master had not wanted him.
He then appeared in high spirits, and
said he had been out to drink, and was
the better lor it. On this they opened
his eyes with their lingers and he a
woke.
“ I’hc third scene.—One Friday e
veni lie recollected, in his sleep, that
the family tuior had said to him, if he
was sei/.ed with his somnambulancy
that night, and would bring him a bason
ol soop, he would give him some drink*
money. On this lie rose, while fast a*
sleep, and said aloud, that he would plan
a trick lor the tutor, fie accordingly
went down to the kitchen, and repairing
thence to the tutor’s chamber, as direct
ed, he reminded him of his promise.
I he tutor gave lum a small piece of mo
ney; on which Negretti, taking the va
let-de-chambre by the arm, carried hint
along with him to the public house, and
as he drank, related to him, in a very
circumstantial manner, how lie had du
ped the tutor, whose money he imagined
he had received while awake. He
laughed heartily, drank repeatedly to
the tutor’s health, and returned, all life
and spirits, to the house.
Unce, while ^egrctti was in this
state of somnambulancy, a person took
it into his head to hit him on the leg
with a stick ; imagining it to be a dog,
he grumbled ; and as the person conti
nued to strike him, he went in search of
a switch, and pursued the supposed dog,
brandishing it about him with all hio
might: at length he fell into a rage, and,
in despair of finding him, poured forth
a load ol abuse upon the cur: he produ
ced a morsel of bread from his pocket,
called the dog by his name, and kept a
switch concealed : they threw a muff to
him, which he took for the dog, and up
on it he discharged his fury.
“ M. Pagatti, in the course of his re
peated observ itions upon Negretti, re
marked, that every night he did some
thing new. If;- likewise observed, that
while his fit lasted, he enjoyed neither
the sense of seeing, nor of hearing, nor
of smelling, nor of tasting. fFe have
seen that he would eat victuals of dif
ferent sorts, without perceiving the
change: he heard no noise, however
great : he perceived no candle, though
it was held near enough to scorch his
eye-lids: he felt not a feather, though
they violently tickled his nose v\ itii it:
as for the touch, he sometimes had it
tolerably acute, and sometimes exceed
ly blunt.”
Extract.
Through private life pursue thy course,
Trace every action to its s»ourse%
And means and motives ivctgh ,*
Put tempers, passions, in the scale,
Mark what degrees in each prevail,
AndJix the doubtful sway.