Page:The Poetical Works of William Motherwell, 1849.djvu/63

 body of sharp-witted men whose pleasure it not infrequently is to lay snares for an inexperienced witness: but besides this I am convinced that on this particular point Motherwell was at fault as to knowledge—that he had never seriously inquired of himself what Orangeism was, or what object was to be gained by its propagation—and that, consequently, he must have failed when rigorously interrogated by an intelligent and authoritative tribunal about these matters. Let me farther add, in explanation of this melancholy occurrence, that it has been long my fixed impression that he was labouring under the effects of the approaches of that insidious disease (softening of the brain), which destroyed him a few months afterwards: and those who remember the circumstances attendant upon his visit to the Metropolis, and the strange fancies which haunted him while there, will probably have little hesitation in accepting this apology for what we may now call an involuntary weakness. The indications of this mental debility did not escape the observation of the gentlemen composing the committee; and Mr Wallace, of Kelly, at that time Member for Greenock, with a kindness which was the more honourable to him that Motherwell had frequently spoken of him in his editorial capacity with considerable severity, paid him marked attention; and, perceiving how matters really stood, lost no time in getting his bewildered countryman shipped off to Scotland.

On his return he resumed his old habits of life, and was, to all outward appearance, in perfect health. On