A Madman's Manuscript

"Yes! -- a madman's! How that word would have struck to my heart, many years ago! How it would have roused the terror that used to come upon me sometimes; sending the blood hissing and tingling through my veins, till the cold dew of fear stood in large drops upon my skin, and my knees knocked together with fright! I like it now though. It's a fine name. Shew me the monarch whose angry frown was ever feared like the glare of a madman's eye -- whose cord and axe were ever half so sure as a madman's grip. Ho! ho! It's a grand thing to be mad! to be peeped at like a wild lion through the iron bars -- to gnash one's teeth and howl, through the long still night, to the merry ring of a heavy chain -- and to roll and twine among the straw, transported with such brave music. Hurrah for the madhouse! Oh, it's a rare place!