DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0073
ACCOUNT or SAMUEL MATTHEWS
55
continually returned again as soon as he was set at liber-
ty, they at length suffered him to dig his cave and re-
main, as he chose, without any interruption.
The simplicity of his manners and appearance, and
the inoffensiveness of his behaviour, very soon con-
vinced the people about Dulwich, that they had nothing
to fear from him. He seldom entered into conversation
with any person unless first accosted by them ; but was
very often observed talking to himself, and in his lonely
walks, generally looking towards the ground.—When he
came to be more known by the people about Dulwich,
it was his common custom to salute them by the name
of neighbour, and after the first introduction to a dis-
course, repugnance felt on either side, insensibly wore
off, and in a very short time there were very few of his
visitors, but, generally speaking, found themselves as
easy as if they had been acquainted with this solitary
man, for a number of years.
Still, though dwelling in this lonely state, and in a part
of the neighbourhood, then less frequented than any
other, his residence, and the reports of those who visited
him, at length brought so many people to the place, es-
pecially on Sundays, that the way to his cave, though
at first in an obscure, or rather unfrequented spot, for
some years past, was nearly as well known, and as often
traversed as some turnpike roads.—In fact, enquiries
after the Wild Man of the, [Foods, as he was then called,
were so often repeated by strangers, that it at length be-
came necessary for the people that knew him, to point
out to such at a distance, a clump of birch trees, close
to his cave; and which being once known, served as a
kind of land-mark, naturally leading to the object of
enquiry.
But though Matthews’s Cave has been the subject of
go much curiosity and observation, he was literally an
i S inhabitant
55
continually returned again as soon as he was set at liber-
ty, they at length suffered him to dig his cave and re-
main, as he chose, without any interruption.
The simplicity of his manners and appearance, and
the inoffensiveness of his behaviour, very soon con-
vinced the people about Dulwich, that they had nothing
to fear from him. He seldom entered into conversation
with any person unless first accosted by them ; but was
very often observed talking to himself, and in his lonely
walks, generally looking towards the ground.—When he
came to be more known by the people about Dulwich,
it was his common custom to salute them by the name
of neighbour, and after the first introduction to a dis-
course, repugnance felt on either side, insensibly wore
off, and in a very short time there were very few of his
visitors, but, generally speaking, found themselves as
easy as if they had been acquainted with this solitary
man, for a number of years.
Still, though dwelling in this lonely state, and in a part
of the neighbourhood, then less frequented than any
other, his residence, and the reports of those who visited
him, at length brought so many people to the place, es-
pecially on Sundays, that the way to his cave, though
at first in an obscure, or rather unfrequented spot, for
some years past, was nearly as well known, and as often
traversed as some turnpike roads.—In fact, enquiries
after the Wild Man of the, [Foods, as he was then called,
were so often repeated by strangers, that it at length be-
came necessary for the people that knew him, to point
out to such at a distance, a clump of birch trees, close
to his cave; and which being once known, served as a
kind of land-mark, naturally leading to the object of
enquiry.
But though Matthews’s Cave has been the subject of
go much curiosity and observation, he was literally an
i S inhabitant