It appears
that the owner of the cottage was a half-pay lieutenant in the army, who
had sold-out on account of his wounds. I was humanely taken into his
house, laid on a bed, and a surgeon requested to come to me immediately.
I had now lost all recollection, and who I was they could not ascertain.
My pockets were empty, and it was only by the mark on my linen that they
found that my name was Simple. For three weeks I remained in a state of
alternate stupor and delirium. When the latter came on, I raved of Lord
Privilege, O'Brien, and Celeste. Mr Selwin, the officer who had so
kindly assisted me, knew that Simple was the patronymic name of Lord
Privilege, and he immediately wrote to his lordship, stating that a
young man of the name of Simple, who, in his delirium called upon him
and Captain O'Brien, was lying in a most dangerous state in his house,
and, that as he presumed I was a relative of his lordship's he had
deemed it right to apprise him of the fact.
My uncle, who knew that it must be me, thought this too favourable an
opportunity, provided I should live, not to have me in his power. He
wrote to say that he would be there in a day or two; at the same time
thanking Mr Selwin for his kind attention to his poor nephew, and
requesting that no expense might be spared. When my uncle arrived, which
he did in his own chariot, the crisis of the fever was over, but I was
still in a state of stupor, arising from extreme debility. He thanked Mr
Selwin for his attention, which he said he was afraid was of little
avail, as I was every year becoming more deranged; and he expressed his
fears that it would terminate in chronic lunacy.
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