“The Air Loom, if Matthews revealed its existence under questioning, would now be recognised immediately as a classic paranoid delusion. But in 1797 it was something that had never been encountered before, and would emerge as the baffling leitmotif of… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“The Air Loom, for all its florid craziness, can be seen to have a function and a rationale: as a miraculous, if temporary, fix… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“At Bow Street Magistrates' Court the essential facts were established. The man's name was James Tilly Matthews. He was a pauper of the south… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“It was Matthews, of course, for whom the verdict was the greatest disaster. Not only had he failed to escape from Bedlam, but the… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“If history is written by the victors, conspiracy theory is typically written by the losers, and there were few greater losers in the revolution… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“Matthews' shout of treason in the House was no random outburst of lunacy, but the last act in an astonishing adventure: one that might… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“Up to this point, it was rare for the mad to be distinguished from the poor, the homeless, the indigent, beggars, vagabonds, petty criminals… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“We think of 1789 as the date of the French Revolution, and the storming of the Bastille as its defining event. Yet as late… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“Many had suspected that the political disasters of the past few years had a hidden cause. The bloodiness of the French mob rule was… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“To look back before 1800 is to enter another world, one where the number of institutions for the mad was a tiny fraction of… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“Come the revolution, however, mesmerism was reconceived once more. From its beginnings many had seen it as an aristocratic fad: Mesmer (by this stage… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“But, mad or sane, Matthews was a man of no ordinary persistence. He was not prepared to renounce the peace plan, any more than… — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
“Haslam leaves us in no doubt what we are supposed to make of Matthews' mental world: this is gibberish and nothing more.” — Mike Jay Copy Share Image
