Memoirs Of Joseph Grimaldi

320 MEMOIBS 01? JOSEPH GffilMALDI.

attached to his son, who was his only child, for whom he had
always entertained the most anxious solicitude, whom he had
educated at a great expense, and upon whom a considerable
portion of the earnings of his best days had been most liberally
bestowed. Up to this time he had well repaid all the care and
solicitude of his parents : he had risen gradually in the esti-
mation of the public, had increased every year in prosperity,
and still remained at home his father's friend and companion.
It is matter of pretty general notoriety that the young man ran
a reckless and vicious course, and in time so shocked and dis-
gusted even those who were merely brought into contact with.
him at the theatre for a few hours in a night, that it was found
impossible to continue his engagements.

The first notification his father received of his folly and ex-
travagance was during their stay at Cheltenham, when one
morning, shortly after he had risen from his sick-bed, he was
•waited upon by one of the town authorities, who informed him
that his son was then locked up for some drunken freaks com-
mitted overnight. He instantly paid everything that was
demanded, and procured his release; but in some skirmish
with the constables he had received a severe blow on the head
from a staff, which, crushing his hat, alighted on the skull
and inflicted a desperate wound. It is supposed that this
unfortunate event disordered his intellects, as from that time,
instead of the kind and affectionate son he had previously been,
he became a wild and furious savage; he was frequently
attacked with dreadful fits of epilepsy, and continually com-
mitted actions which nothing but madness could prompt. In
1828, he had a decided attack of insanity, and was confined in a
strait-waistcoat in. his father's house for some time. As no dis-
order of mind had appeared in him before, and as his miserable
career may be dated from this time, it is not unreasonable to
suppose that the wound he received at Cheltenham was among
the chief causes of his short-lived delirium.e "Disputes in China." The bilk announced his re-a,ppeaxaaee « "posi-