A reoccurring theme present in the articles was grief. Some writers reflected upon their loss of a loved one, others reflected upon the loss of their previous life – such as a business or a property. At this time, a cause of mental disturbance at Royal Edinburgh Asylum could be ‘misfortune in business’ or ‘misfortune in love’, among other social causes. An author writing under the name ‘J.C’ wrote about his grief regularly and passionately. I did not find out any further information on ‘J.C’ as, although there were male patients with the initials J.C who stayed in the East House between 1844 and 1853, none of them reportedly wrote for the Mirror. The following quote from one of J.C’s most emotive articles – Farewell for a time, to E.M. – displays how grief affected the asylum patients:  

“Farewell for a time – a wanderer again, 
From the light of my life I must part, 
Where others are mirthful, to try, all in vain, 
To dissemble the woes of my heart; 
Yet, going I gain would take with me a smile, 
Like some beautiful star, with its ray, 
That in darkness and sorrow may help to beguile 
My lone bone bosom of grief by the way."[1]

Having written this ‘to E.M.’, J.C. is grieving the loss of their presence in the asylum or reflecting on their death. The poem is very romantic and demonstrates how grieving patients used the Mirror as a therapeutic tool to understand their grief and, also, to communicate their grief to a specific person, as the poem is addressed ‘to E.M’. The communicative nature of J.C’s poems are not unique; other patients wrote poems, or articles, addressed to specific people. For example, R.W’s ‘To I-F’^[2], which similarly comments on missing a loved one.

Moreover, another poem I found widely romantic was ‘I sought the spot where once she smil’d’, written by ‘L.D.’ The poem reads: 

“I sought the spot where once she smil’d,
That spot where first we met,
…But Lucy came no more. 
I gazed once more upon that spot,
A sadness o’er me crept,
It was the spot where once she smil’d,
I sat me down and wept;
I thought my heart would break – for all
I lov’d on earth had gone,
I felt the sorrow of a heart
That’s left to weep alone.”[3] 

This poem further demonstrates the role that grief played in the day to day imaginings of the asylum patients and their use of the Mirror as a therapeutic tool to write about their grief.

Short stories are another way that asylum patients spoke about grief in the Mirror. The story ‘Alexis and Silvia’, written by ‘Silvado’, comments on the loss of love after Alexis is committed to an asylum.^[4] The story is written from Alexis’ perspective and delineates that he is wrongfully committed to an asylum because of a failed character reference. Silvia believed the false reports over Alexis’ word and, consequently, withdraws her love and support for Alexis; Alexis is heartbroken by Silvia’s actions. This reflects the experiences of asylum patients who would have lost connections with friends and lovers on the outside, the author ‘Silvado’ potentially being one.  

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[1] J.C., ‘Farewell for a time, to E.M.’, Morningside Mirror, 5.3 (December 1849), p.148

[2] R.W., ‘To I-F-’, The Morningside Mirror, 3.5 (February 1848), pp.45-46. 

[3] L.D., ‘I sought the spot where once she smil’d’, The Morningside Mirror, 7.4 (January 1852), p.32. 

[4] Silvado, ‘Alexis and Silvia’, The Morningside Mirror, 3.9 (June 1848), pp.77-79.