there must be a finding that he is of _unsound_ mind, and unable to manage his affairs:--incapacity to manage his affairs being considered as evidence of unsound mind:--yet there may be, (and that every man's mind will suggest) instances of incapacity to manage a man's affairs, and yet _no_ unsoundness of mind." That many persons are extremely misled with respect to a commission of lunacy, and too frequently concerning all other subjects, is fully admitted: and it is equally clear that the great mass of affidavits produced in 1814, in favor of Lord Portsmouth's soundness of intellect (for I have attentively perused the whole catalogue) did not go into the investigation of the supposed difference between this hypothetical unsoundness and lunacy; but attested, as far as his Lordship's conversation and conduct had been the subject of their observation and judgment, that he was not a man labouring under any infirmity, or morbid state of mind, that ought, by any legal restraint, to disqualify him from the management of himself and his affairs. With such opinions I have no concern; they can only be regarded as negative evidence, and cannot operate against manifold overt acts of insanity. In the progress of this respectful address, after numerous but unsuccessful endeavours to grapple with this _sort_ of unsoundness, suspicions have arisen that I have been pursuing a phantom;--at times I have fondly imagined it within my immediate grasp, but it has always evaded my seizure with unaccountable dexterity:--it even now appears that I could "clutch" it, as your Lordship distinctly asserts that, "lunacy _properly understood_ is a _very different thing_ from that _sort_ of _unsoundness_ which renders a man incapable of managing his affairs or his person." This is at once coming manfully to the point; for the disclosure (whenever it may take place) of the circumstances that constitute lunacy properly understood, which means as it _ought_ to be understood, a very different thing from this sort of unsoundness, will be the solution of this desideratum,--and this development will impose a considerable weight of obligation on the medical profession. It now only remains to consider the last material sentence, delivered by your Lordship at this conference, and which to my limited comprehension, appears, in the same breath, to affirm and deny the same position. "The finding of him incapable of managing his own affairs, is not sufficient to authorize further proceedings, but there must be a finding that he is of _unsound_ mind, and unable to manage his affairs:--incapacity to manage his affairs, being considered as EVIDENCE of unsound mind."