My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time, And I the matter will re-word, which madness THE following case, which occurred to me in practice, in the month of January, 1829, may serve to prove the correctness of Shakspeare's test of madness, as above given. A gentleman of considerable fortune in Oxfordshire, about thirty-five years of age, sent for his solicitor to make his will. He was in habits of strict friendship with him, and stated that he wished to add five hundred pounds a year to his mother's jointure, if she got well, she being then (to the knowledge of the solicitor and himself only) confined as a lunatic; to make a provision for two natural children; to leave a few trifling legacies; and then, if he died childless, to make him, the solicitor, his heir. His friend expressed his gratitude, but added that he could not accept such a mark of his good opinion, until he was convinced that it was his deliberate judgment so to dispose of his property, and that decision communicated to him six months afterwards. In about six weeks time the gentleman became deranged, and continued in such a state of excitement for a whole month, (during which he was visited constantly by Sir George Tuthill and myself,) as to require coercion every day. At the expiration of that time he was composed and comfortable. But his languor and weakness bore a proportion to his late excitement, and it was very doubtful whether he would live. On entering his room one day, to my question how he found himself, he answered,-' Very ill, Sir; about to die; and only anxious to make my will first.' This could hardly be listened to under his circumstances, and he was persuaded to forego that wish for the present. The next day he made the same answer to the same question, but in such a tone and manner, as to extort from common humanity, even at the probable expense of future litigation, an acquiescence in his wish to disburthen his mind. The solicitor was sent for, and, having been with him the preceding evening, met us, at our consultation in the morning, with a will prepared according to the instructions he had received before the attack of disease, as well as to those given the last night. He proposed to read this to the gentleman in our presence, and that we should witness the signature of it, if we E were satisfied that it expressed clearly his intentions. It was read, and he answered, "yes, yes, yes,' distinctly to every item, as it was deliberately proposed to him. On going down stairs with Sir George Tuthill and the solicitor, to consider what was to be done, I expressed some regret that we, the physicians, had been involved in an affair which could hardly be expected to terminate without an inquiry in a court of law, in which we must necessarily be called upon to justify ourselves for permitting this good gentleman, under such questionable circumstances, to make a will. It occurred to me then, to propose to my colleague to go up again into the sick room, to see whether our patient could re-word the matter, as a test, on Shakspeare's authority, of his soundness of mind. He repeated the clauses which contained the addition to his mother's jointure, and which made provision for the |