is madness, doctor?"--"O Lord, sir,--not absolute madness--no--not
madness--you have heard, no doubt, of what is called a weakness of the
nerves, sir,--though that is a very inaccurate expression; for this
phrase, denoting a morbid excess of sensation, seems to imply that
sensation itself is owing to the loose cohesion of those material
particles which constitute the nervous substance, inasmuch as the
quantity of every effect must be proportionable to its cause; now you'll
please to take notice, sir, if the case were really what these words seem
to import, all bodies, whose particles do not cohere with too great a
degree of proximity, would be nervous; that is, endued with sensation.
Sir, I shall order some cooling things to keep you in due temperature;
and you'll do very well--sir, your humble servant."

So saying, he retired, and our adventurer could not but think it was very
hard that one man should not dare to ask the most ordinary question
without being reputed mad, while another should talk nonsense by the
hour, and yet be esteemed as an oracle.

The master of the house finding Sir Launcelot so tame and tractable,
indulged him after dinner with a walk in a little private garden, under
the eye of a servant who followed him at a distance. Here he was saluted
by a brother-prisoner, a man seemingly turned of thirty, tall and thin,
with staring eyes, a hook-nose, and a face covered with pimples.

The usual compliments having passed, the stranger, without further
ceremony, asked him if he would oblige him with a chew of tobacco, or
could spare him a mouthful of any sort of cordial, declaring he had not
tasted brandy since he came to the house. The knight assured him it was
not in his power to comply with his request; and began to ask some
questions relating to the character of their landlord, which the stranger