The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-21 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

(Cross-examination of Dr. Blundell, continued from our
Paper of Saturday.)

Some questions were hero put to the witness,
which rendered it nece=ssary to clear the room of
ladies—of course we must omit any report of them.
The ladies showed some reluctance to leave their
places ; and with a view of recovering them, when
this part of the cross-examination had terminated,
left their muffs in their room.

Re-examined—l cannot say that if Mr.. Davies
had married he had not bodily vigour enough to per-
form the duties of a married man ; on the contrary,
I recommended him •to marry, as the best curative
of his complaint.
W. ADOLPHUS—You did not sign the certificate
to admit him into a mad-house because he did not.
marry. Witness—Certainly not.
By the COMMISSIONERS—I inferred that he still
continued of unsound mind when I last saw him,
from his violent conduct, from the incoherence of
his conversation, and from a combination of other
circumstances. At one time he spoke as if he would
be a methodist parson ; at another, he would give
me a specimen of hia oratory; and at last be ex-
hibited -all the manoeuvres of a ...mountebank. I
never saw him in such a state before. He was then
very insolent and jeering to me: he called me se-
veral unpleasant names. He drew his chair before
me, and in a grinning attitude said, that when he got
his liberty he would prosecute me and extinguish me
as an.M.D., and that he would pursue his prosecu-
tion of me till he had stripped me of every thing
which I possessed. His look and manner were fe-
rocious : and with a sarcastic leer he made some
observations respecting applying the fire-poker to
my cranium. I told him that if that would be any
gratification or benefit to him in the least, he was
at liberty to do so.—(Laughter.) He said, " I see
that you are in fear, your voice falters. I said,
" No, Davies, I am not in fear of you, for I think
that lam more than a match for you." In order to
divert his his mind, I said, "If it will gratify you, I
ought to measure fire-pokers with you. He said,
"Dare you meet me ?" I said, "Yes; but as you
have recently taken to learning the foils, we had
better go to work like gentlemen, sword in baud."
He then said, '4— it, Doctor, you are a better
fellow than I thought you." This calmed him.
I wished then to depart. He would not let me.
I then told hint that I wished to have some serious
conversation with hint. I then pointed out the un-
kind treatment which I had received at his bands;
pointed out to him the danger of his violence, and
told him that I should never visit him again unless
he would conduct himself towards me as one gentle-
man ought to conduct himself towards another. He
apologised to me, and asked me if the loan of 5001.
would be a compensation or accommodation to me.
I said " No; an acknowledgment on your part will
beamore satisfactory compensation from one gentle-
man to another." This seemed to hurt his pride.
I told him never to offer me money as a bribe again ;
and I told him that he had cancelled all obligations
by his unmanly conduct and general violence
towards me. After this he bounced off into his ge-
neral strain of delusion and violence. He was accus-
tomed at all times while I knew him to look care-
fully after the door. When lie went into his bed-
room alone, he was accustomed to lock it, and to
put something into the key-hole. He imagined, in
June last, that he possessed vast mental powers,
and was in general ridiculously vain of his acquire-
ments. He thought the tea-trade infinitely below
his consideration. I saw him occasionally behind
the counter, but not very often.
_ _ _

By a Juror—My impression on the first and se-
cond interview was, that by proper care and treat-
ment, by suitable restraint, he might in 12 months
be probably restored. I have some doubts upon
that point-now. I should not be justified in giving
an opinion upon that point, as I have not seen him
since September last.
Dr. Burro,, s, examined by Sir C. WETIIERELL
—I visited Mr. Davies first on the 7th of July, at
Philpot-lane. I received a note requesting me to
do so from Mr. Lawrence. I had no instructions
from, or knowledge of, his mother before this. I
went to Philpot-laue as Mr. Lawrence's friend. I
did not announce my name. Mr. Davies's personal
appearance indicated that he was not in good bodily
health. The first thing we talked of was his throat,
which, lie said, had a lump in it. I examined his
throat, and could discover no appearance of disease.
He did not speak any more on the subject after we
gave our opinion. 11e then complained of pain in
his head—of confusion of ideas—of dryness in his
mouth, and want of sleep. His appearance was that
of a person ill. His pulse was very thick. lie then
entered into a long detail of the jealousies which had
been excited against him in the tea-trade,
in consequence of his having bid for some
teas which were " presents" to the Directors,
and which it was not usual in the trade to
bid upon. He said the Government was defrauded
by the mode in which those teas were usually sold.
(Dr. Burrows here entered into a long account of
the conversation which took place at this interview
and at that on the 9th of July, which, in nearly '
every point, corresponded with that given by Mr.
Lawrence, which . has already appeared.) In the
second visit he spoke of the defects of his early
education, and talked much of the pleasure he felt
in reading the Morning Herald, the articles in
which were very much to his taste. After. the in-
terview on the 9tlr, I recommended that he should
he kept quiet, and without any excitement, as I
thought that when the state of his bodily health was
improved, his mental disorder would probably give
way. In the meeting on the 11th, his manner was
somewhat more calm, but it still bore the character
of insanity as before. At the meeting with him on
the 11th, he produced a written paper, saying—
" There, gentlemen, I have taken great pains with
this, in order to give you a specimen of my compo-
sition." I took the paper home with me, and read
it. The result of this meeting confirmed me mere
in the opinion that he was insane. (The witness
was next asked (to save time) whether he had
heard Mr. Lawrence's evidence, and his opinions,
and
.he concurred in the correctness of both, as far
as they went, as to the state of Mr. Davies's mind.)
On the meeting of the 13th, as I got to his door,
he met me and took me by the arm, and 'with some
force walked down the lane. I asked him why he
did not go up stairs ? He said—" Dr. Mackinnon,
who is my relation, is there, and I would not wish
for the world that he should see you here." We
walked down the lane, and he turned into some
court near. W hen there he produced a small mi •
niature painting, a small china slipper, a necklace,
some beads, and a whole parcel o trumpery.
He asked me did I know whom that picture
represented; he said it was the picture of
a lady to wham ha was very much attached,
and said this slipper is an emblem of her
foot. I remarked that she must have a very small
one then, for the slipper was one of those ohina toys
with which la-lies fold down lette'is. It was not
longer than the joint of my Lore-Linger. I looked at
the picture, which was somewhat decayed: I re-
marked it was singular that he should know the
lady. It was the picture of a naked woman, repre-
senting the story of the Golden Shower—of Jupite,
and Danae. This information seemed very much to
disconcert him, and lie put the things into his
pocket.—[The circumstance of the pistol and tie
other matters which OCCUITed 0/1 this and other visits