e fact that _Anger, grafted on
sorrow, almost invariably assumes the form of frenzy; that it is in
every sense of the word "Madness," when the mind is unhinged, and
reason, as it were, totters from the effects of grief_.

Cassius had but just mildly rebuked Brutus for making no better use of
his philosophy, and now--startled by the sudden sight of his bleeding,
mangled heart--"Portia is--Dead!" pays involuntary homage to the very
philosophy he had so rashly underrated by the exclamation--

"How 'scaped I _killing_ when I crossed you so!"

I wish, if possible, to support this view of the case by the following
passages:--

I. Romeo's address to Balthasar.
"But if thou ... roaring sea."

II. His address to Paris.
"I beseech thee youth ... away!"

_Romeo and Juliet_, Act v. Sc. 3.

III. "The poor father was ready to fall down dead; but he
grasped the broken oar which was before him, jumped up, and
called in a faltering voice,--'Arrigozzo! Arrigozzo!' This was
but for a moment. Receiving no answer, he ran to the top of the
rock; looked at all around, ran his eye over all who were safe,
one by one, but could not find his son among them. Then seeing
the count, who had so lately been finding fault {276} with his
son's name, he roared out,--'Dog, are you here?' And,
brandishing the broken oar, he rushed forward to strike him on
the head. Bice uttered a cry, Ottorino was quick in warding off
the blow; in a minute, Lupo, the falconer, and the boatmen,
disarmed the frantic man; who, striking his forehead with both
hands, gave a spring, and threw himself into the lake.

"He was seen fighting with the angry waves, overcoming them with
a strength and a courage which desperation alone can
give."--_Marco Viconti_, vol. i. chap. 5.

IV. A passage that has probably already occurred to the mind of the
reader, Mucklebackit mending the cable in which his son had been lost:

"'There is a curse either on me or on this auld black bitch of a
boat, that I have hauled up high and dry, and pitched and
clouted sae mony years, that she might drown my poor Steenie at
the end of them, an' be d----d to her!' And he flung his hammer
against the boat, as if she had been the intentional cause of
his misfortune"--_Antiquary_, vol. ii. chap. 13. Cadell, 1829.

V. "Giton praecipue, _ex dolore in rabiem efferatus_, tollit
clamorem