Who wrote this excerpt?
and how does the poem begin?
Poor Matthew! Once of genius bright,
46 A fortune-favored child --
47Now locked for aye, in mental night,
48 A haggard mad-man wild.
49Poor Matthew! I have ne'er forgot
50 When first, with maddened will,
51Yourself you maimed, your father fought,
52 And mother strove to kill;
53When terror spread, and neighbours ran,
54 Your dang'rous strength to bind;
55And soon, a howling crazy man
56 Your limbs were fast confined.
57How then you strove and shrieked aloud,
58 Your bones and sinnews bared;
59And fiendish on the gazing crowd,
60 With burning eye-balls glared --
61And begged, and swore, and wept and prayed
62 With maniac laughter joined --
63How fearful were those signs displayed
64 By pangs that killed thy mind!
65And when at length, tho' drear and long,
66 Time soothed thy fiercer woes,
67How plaintively thy mournful song,
68 Upon the still night rose.
from max, surprised...
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