so were those friends who really visited her; for they never could find any one circumstance in her conduct and conversation, to lead them to suspect her in the smallest degree deranged, though unwell. This complaint was entirely removed by cataplasms to the feet, and gentle purgatives, and terminated a short time afterwards in a regular slight fit of the gout. She has remained ever since, now somewhat more than a year, in the perfect enjoyment of her health and faculties.” From these examples, and I could adduce others, we are led to inter that the production of special illusions is frequently connected with certain affections of the body, caused by some derangement of the nervous or circulating system. Of such affections Reginald Scot, the resolute opposer of witchcraft and demonology, has shrewdly remarked, that "Though they appear in the mind of man, yet they are in the bodie, and proceed from this humour, which is the very dregs of blood, nourishing aud feeding these places; from whence proceed fears, cogitations, superstitions, fastings, labours, and such like. This maketh sullerance of torments, and (as some saie,) foresight of things to come." Jerome Cardan, the most wholesale visionary, and one of the most extraordinary men, that ever existed, began early in life to see strange sights. Before he left his bed in the morning, he saw a succession of figures, composed of brazen rings, like links of mail (though he had never seen mail armour at the time) moving in a circular direction upwards, from the left to the right, till they disappeared. This was but the prelude to more magnificent and extensive visions: he frequently saw whole armies engaged in regular contests, and heard all the din and uproar of the battle; splendid processions of Asiatic princes, with all their proud and gorgeous accompaniments, were perfectly familiar to him; and, in short, he could at any time, and without difficulty, conjure up whatever vision he pleased. But the best of the joke is, that Cardan has gravely recorded these phantasies in the memoirs of his own life,— a book, characterized by a strange mixture of folly and philosophy, and abundantly corroborative of the axiom of Bonaparte-namely, "from the sublime to the ridiculous, there is but one step." Ben Jonson, too, possessed to a considerable extent this faculty of phantom-seeing: and a curious instance is given of it by his friend Drummond, of Hawthornden. Jonson was on a visit with Drummond, at a time, when some horrible disease was ravaging London, where Jonson's father and family resided; and he distinctly saw his father stricken by the distember, and dying. He communicated the circumstance to his friend, and the time of the vision was noted; and, strange as it may appear, it corresponded exactly with the actual date of his father's death, as conveyed to him soon after by intelligence from his family. But our poet was extremely excursive and somewhat extravagant in his visions, for he, on one occasion, “spent a whole night in looking to his great toe, about which he saw Tartars and Turks-Romans and Carthaginians, fighting most manfully." It would really be a most interesting pursuit to follow up this subject, and to show how that peculiar temperament, which constitutes the highest grade of sensibility and genius, contributes to render its possessors so susceptible of these curious impressions. It was this temperament, excited by an accidental circumstance, that produced the well-known vision of Dr. Donne, another member of the genus irritabile tribe; who, while he was residing at Paris, saw the figure of his wife, then in London, pass through the room, with her hair dishevelled, and carrying a dead child in her arms. The poem, which he wrote previously to their separation, will afford a sufficient clue for the appearance of such a vision. It is under circumstances similar to these, that the Scottish "Second Sight" is produced. Much has been written and recorded about this very extraordinary faculty; while many proofs of its effect have been adduced; indeed, the whole subject of “Deathtokens," including "Fatal Presentiment," is replete with mysterious interest; and, while, in many instances, they may be physically accounted for by the great and intense anxiety of the seers, directed, in most instances, towards the objects, whose dissolution is portended, yet, connected with this subject, I am persuaded, that "there are more things in Heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy." I was born and nurtured in a spot, replete with fantastic superstition, where every wood had its gnome-every dell its fairyevery glen its ghost: but none of these phantasies bore any comparison, as to their influence, to the certainty of death-tokens and fatal presentiments. I could relate many instances of the result of these supernatural influences; but I must content myself with only the following, leaving their application entirely to the consideration of the reader. A friend of mine, an officer in the army, and by no means addicted to superstition, was quartered early in life, near the castle of a gentleman in the north of Scotland, who was supposed to be gifted with the faculty of second sight. He became a great favorite with the old gentleman, and spent a large portion of his time at the castle. On one occasion, the chief was confined to his bed by indisposition, and my friend was reading to him on a stormy winter night, while the fishing boat, belonging to the castle was out at sea. The old gentlenian repeatedly expressed much anxiety respecting his people, and at last exclaimed-"My boat is lost!" My friend replied, "How do you know that, Sir?" He answered, "I see two of the boatmen bringing in the third, drowned, alĺ dripping wet, and laying him down close beside your chair." The chair was shifted with great precipitation. In the course of the night, the fishermen returned, with the corpse of one of the boatmen. 66 A gentleman, upon whose veracity I can perfectly depend, re lated to me the following anecdote:-When he was a little boy, his father was commanding a ship in the West Indies, while he and his mother resided in England. One night, after going to bed perfectly well, he awoke much frightened, and alarmed his mother by his crying. She came to him, and endeavoured to quiet him, but he still cried most bitterly, asserting, that his father was dead, as he saw him lying a corpse in the room. At this time, I must observe, there was no reason whatever to suppose even, that the father was in bad health; but they shortly received intelligence of his death, by a fall from his horse; and, by turning longitude into time, it was ascertained that he died at the very hour, when the child saw the apparition of his corpse. I have said, that my boyhood was passed in a spot, abounding in superstition. And a splendid spot it was! Without exception one of the most beautiful and magnificent spots in that beautiful country-North Wales. A fine and noble river,-in some parts two miles wide-and bounded on each side by high and wellwooded hills,—was one of the features of this fine landscape-and it was on the banks of this noble river that my kindred had their dwelling. One winter's night—and well do I remember it !—we received intelligence, that some curious lights were to be seen on the opposite side of the river. We immediately repaired to view them, and saw a number of lanthorn-like lamps, moving in one direction along the river-side. These were no ordinary lights, and, presently, the whole neighbourhood, to the extent of, at least, four miles, was assembled to behold them. They moved progressively and in perfect order towards one particular spot in the river, where two or three small craft were moored; and appeared, for all the world, just like so many men, bearing lanthorns, and walking rather swiftly along the river-side. When they reached the spot alluded to, they became suddenly extinguished,—all but one, which proceeded directly into the river, hovered for a moment, over one of the small vessels, and then disappeared. Two or three days afterwards, a man belonging to this same small vessel, over which the last light had lingered, was drowned, in attempting to reach the shore in a boat on a squally night. Again-two most intimate friends of mine were riding along the banks of the same river, when they observed a large and luminous light, near the ordinary ferry-house. They both noticed it--and as they were riding in that direction, they determined to ascertain the cause of such an unusual illumination. On reaching the ferryhouse, they made the necessary inquiries, when they learnt, to their astonishment, that no light had been made, or even seen in that direction. So satisfied, however, were they of the fact, that they pointed out the exact spot, where the fire was seen; and this exactly corresponded with the place, where one of the ferry-boats was moored. A day or two afterwards, the man belonging to the ferry, was drowned in the ferry-boat in question-and very near to the spot, where the light was seen. In neither of these cases was there any premeditated warning; and the individuals who witnessed both occurrences are now living, and, I hope, well enabled to bear testimony to the facts I have narrated. I myself was a witness to the first, but I did not see the second. Connected with this, is the superstition of the Canwyll y Cyrph, or "Corpse Candle." In South Wales, and especially in Pembrokeshire, it is frequently asserted, that either previous to, or nearly at the time of the decease of some persons, a light, like that of a candle, is seen in or about the house, going from thence to the church-yard, and foretelling the death and burial of some devoted victim. You cannot ridicule this notion, for it is too firmly rooted in the mind of the peasantry, to be dislodged by satire; and has grown up from generation to generation; a stedfast and an irradicable portion of the superstitious creed of the Cambrians. On some future occasion and, probably in your next Number, Mr. Editor, I shall offer a few observations on "Fatal Presentiments," accompanying them with some curious and well-authenticated examples. R. A SUMMER'S DREAM. I dream't that on a mountain's brow, Or like those thoughts that mem'ry mocks Hung on his staff of sturdy ash, And thus address'd the dark blue sea : "When thunder rolls, and lightning's flash, More calm art thou than wretched me! Thy wildness is not wholly wild Tho' fathomless, thy depths are known To myriad beings, undefiled By sinto treachery unknown. Thy breast, at eve, the couch becomes Of many a plumed child of air Which to its cradling billow, comes, And sleeps, where manhood might despair! Tho' equinoxial blasts assail, Is gilded by hope's precious glance, But thou art buoyant, and possest Thou charmest to repose, beneath Down went the mourner on the mount,- And where that man of sorrow wept, And where that man of sorrow died, TIMOTHY TIMS. E 66 My father was a barber. He had an extensive connexion, so that though he had a great many, he never had too many irons in the fire. He was certainly a philosopher, for he studied the qualities of [h]air, though at no time had he ascended in a balloon to the ethereal regions; and I, his son, Timothy Tims, was brought up to the same topping profession. But alas! for the waywardness of youth, and the fond anticipation of parents; so susceptible was my heart-so ever ready to receive the tender, yet powerful impressions of love, that I was obliged at length to "cut" the scizzars, and relinquishing at the same time the honey and the comb of my profession, steal off from my irons, and banish myself to this * In marine parlance, "a water spout" which, as seen by the Author, justifies the description he gives of it. |