The Portland daily press., 1874-06-13
Strange but True.
BY WILLIAM GILBERT.

l.
the unhappy victim of this vice is very fire.
queptly under-that he is haunted by phan-
tom. whose mission it is to prevent his return
to the paths of sobriety. And this omission
on the part of the temperance advocates is
the more remarkable as the delusion is very
common among habtual drunkards. In fact
there is SCARCELY physician of unatic asy.
linn in England who has not had one or
more cases of the kind under his notice.
This delusion has also feature. of interest
about it distinct from IFS psychological phe
nomena. 1t frequently so much resembles
the medieval tales of individuals who had
sold themselves to the fend, and afterwards,
repenting of their bargain, had endeavored
Intellectually to break it, that one is almost
tempted to believe that dipsomana, imagined
by our forefathers to be demOnacal posses
sion, was very common mistake in the Mid
die ages.
Admitting this to be the case, it would be
a singular study to trace out how many poor
wretches have suffered at the stake for imag-
mary crimes connected with sorcery, which,
after all, were merely the effects of habtual
drunkenness bringing on this peculiar phase
of insanity.
The particular phenomenon l allude to as
common in the Middle Ages, as well as in the
present day, is that the victim Of drunken
ness imagines that phantom appears to him
whenever he attempts to recede from his bar
gain with the evil one, or, according to our
modern ideas. to return to the paths of sobri-
ETY., and, pertinaciousy following him, drives
the unhappy wretch to continue his habit till
it forces him into the grave. So close did the
affinity between the med;@val tales and the
present drunkard's phantom appear to me,
that determined to make a collection of the
latter cases, in order, at some convenient sea-
son, to bring them under the notice of the
public, so as to add one more effort-and,
perhaps as fruitless as the many that have al
ready been made-to stem the increasing mis-
cry occasloned by the vice of drunkenness.
Circumstances, however, occurred which
obliged me to delay the publication of the
whole collection. One among the number,
which may be taken as a sample of the rest,
now bring under the notice of the reader.
Some thirty years since, there resided at
X-,a fourishing city in the north of Italy,
an English gentleman, whom l will designate
by the name of Smith, admitting that, for OBJ
vious reasons, it is an assumed one. At the
time of my making his acquaintance he was
between twenty-five and thirty years of age,
of middle height, and, although not decided
ly handsome, had a very intelligent cast of
countenance. He was well educated, had
mutually courteous manner, and was gener-
GUS and charitable With all Smiths good
qualities he had one besetting fault, which
went far TO neutralze his many virtues; or, to
tell the strict truth, he was a confirmed
drunkard. He had acquired the habit in
England, and in Italy, where he was under
supJec'ioli W his ialnly, IL increased IN
n.ensi's.
one OF the results OF this failing was, that
1t shut him out from the better class of Italian
society, by whom intemperance is justly con-
sdered as filthy and degrading vice; while
many OF the worst portion of the Italian
young men in the city collected round him,
tempted by his great liberality and unbound
cd hospitality to ignore his faults, or rather,
they encouraged him in them, they profting
to great extent by his failing. 1t is only
justice to Smith, however, to state that his
senses were not entirety aruuencu 10 rne uc-
sTaulns course vi Ile me ne was ieauiIS.
Haturany sshtlemanly anu nigh Splliteu, ne
leiI heehY sne tacl! refusal VI ene peIler class
Vi IIa,lans W associate Will MN: 90 keeniy,
lnaeeu, uia ne ieel TINS aversion, inaI ne
nldae several attemptS 10 Dreak himseii OF ms
haplt, anu at last SO lar succeeded tnat ne
Moulo frequently keep SOBER ior fortnight or
three weeks togetner. ana then again would
he Old bahit and i, - b ,, " ~
nearly tha 500 snana - - t;, 49, ho h5
nd - .uo '"no spaoo VI 'iiiie ne nao rennaih-
he possessed another noteworthy feature
frequently 10 DC detected IN these occasional
orunkaras' Ihat Wnen SOBER more amlable
vi senIieniany man IL would nave Deen diI-
piachSuafa Wnen III drunken III. HIS Vlo-
renee would lhen, however, be restrained by
his parasitical.friends, so that he was seldom
allowed to make himself publicly obnoxious,
or at any rate not to greater extent than to
can down on MN the courteous remon-
strances OF the police.
Although the city OF y was my head
4uar'eIs III ltaly, was frequently ophged 10
!eave u on matters OF business Tor three weeks
70 Inohtn at a tllne. On my return after
one OF these absences, Smith paid me a visit.
usual and in GOOD SHIRTS Moroowar tharn
was remarka6Ie cbanaa i, bs droSS v Iroio
altbonab If could har3, hnn 1 ~ Ioo, Will IIa
sloveniy had generaIiv in If an sfetad o;r 20
caraIesSness % If he ,,ora +a+aii a., VI
what others thonobt Of his o' am5aaa ~
was now on tba nontrarn ropeo,,'a1,,. III n
dressed n nxcaont la wen
was easv to nercive I'D been noade hU n', . ~
nert tailor ffer convarSing tonotbor 1 nr AZ
ferent subjects far soma iitio 49, 10 On o,
to me '''0 ''''' N0 says
ct :,
Law az iast uetell hiheo 10 break myseii
VI n y uu,oLtunate naDlt, ana nave no doubt
puG onao snaii sueceeu.
am gag 10 near tnat you nave come to
,nas.. . ,.D 81 Iepheu. lou may de'
Pomu upon ~ ~ wa! coHIrlpule greatly 10
III napplno5e ueI IL 10 no use having come
w :ue o3nelusion IL you 40 not resolutely abide
~ ~ o,.o n3u niuso teuieliper now olteh you
sh;ont a',a ,,ex u .lie same ueeslon on the
- anu ne'ei h'o Tue constancy TO keep
..Mv door fa,low % o s.;a u,,,o ..
case y DIFF d;s ,e1"' Nc har saiu, Inc present
Isl, .n11nu La5 ,of n@Se Tow sllhulus
n which - never naa eeiore. 10 make long
STORY snort, nave fallen desperately in love,
a '.;u an goinS W oG married. am sure you
WIN aunt Inat, whatever my faillngs may
nave oeeh curing my bachelorhood, things
WIN ee very oinerent with me as married
nan'
II congratulate you on your determination,
ana sincerely hope you will keep it, said.
ana now tell me who is the young ladyT'
smith tod me she was OF highly respecta-
PIE family tne daughter OF widow, and that
i Sne was very pretty ana amiable gull. very
nnoa1s anu 'W9ulu no DOUBT make him an
eacenent wlle. Ihey had applied tor a dis
pensation from the Pope for Catholic to
mary Protestant, and hoped it would soon
arrive, and Immediately afterwards they were
TO be united. In fact, he hoped in the course
OF fortnight all would be over, and that he
would be married man.
Iha NEXT daV Smith mfr 70 ic