What the doctor thought / by Sir James Crichton-Browne.

  • Crichton-Browne, James, 1840-1938.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: What the doctor thought / by Sir James Crichton-Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/292 (page 18)
    January 15,1871.—Last Monday, Lord Hough¬ ton brought a party from Fryston to witness a theatrical performance by the patients and officers of the asylum, the pieces presented being the farce Who Speaks First ? and Planche’s burlesque, The Field of the Cloth of Gold. The following prologue was composed by a patient in the asylum, dis¬ traught and deluded and yet capable of collected thought, and recited by him before the curtain rose. The Franco-German War suggested his military phraseology and turgid metaphors. Aid to the sick and wounded—that’s our plea, The truest, boldest Red Cross Knights are we, Who, on this ambulance, approach the van Of fight as fierce as Forbach or Sedan. Amongst the fallen on the field of life, The waifs and strays that mark the course of strife, Midst those o’erthrown by enfilading fate, Or sorties from beleaguered passion’s gate, The shattered legions of these struggling days, We ply our calling and our standard raise. Ours ’tis with soothing bandages to bind The drooping heart, the bruised and broken mind, To calm the transports of the fevered brain, Make laughter sparkle through the tears of pain And waken slumb’ring Reason and her train, ’Twas Music’s first the gracious part to hold, She was the Nightingale of days of old. The cunning harper touched the twinkling string, And from the troubled spirit of the King Discord departed. Anthems throbbed and pealed, And many a time the sick in soul were healed. And here the Drama’s magic aid is sought, To smooth the wrinkles from the front of thought. “ Burlesque,” says Fielding in Joseph Andrews, “ contributes to exquisite mirth and laughter, and