Add files from ibiblio as of 2025-03-07 17:52:56HEADmain

1 files changed, 6608 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/43346-0.txt b/43346-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..565699e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/43346-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6608 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43346 ***
+
+GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
+
+
+
+
+  The Other World;
+
+  OR, GLIMPSES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
+
+  BEING FACTS, RECORDS, AND TRADITIONS
+
+  RELATING TO DREAMS, OMENS, MIRACULOUS OCCURRENCES,
+  APPARITIONS, WRAITHS, WARNINGS, SECOND-SIGHT,
+  WITCHCRAFT, NECROMANCY, ETC.
+
+
+  EDITED BY
+  THE REV. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE, D.C.L.
+  _Vicar of All Saints', Lambeth._
+
+
+  IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
+
+
+  HENRY S. KING AND CO., LONDON.
+  1875.
+
+
+
+
+(_All rights reserved._)
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
+
+
+                                                Page
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Spectral Appearances of Persons at the
+    Point of Death and Perturbed Spirits           1
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+    Haunted Houses and Localities                 79
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    Modern Spiritualism                          133
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+    Modern Spiritualism (_continued_)            167
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+    Summary and Conclusion                       205
+
+  GENERAL INDEX                                  243
+
+
+
+
+SPECTRAL APPEARANCES.
+
+
+"Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little
+thereof.
+
+In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
+
+Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
+
+Then a Spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
+
+It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an Image was
+before mine eyes."--_Job iv. 12-16._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+SPECTRAL APPEARANCES.
+
+
+Examples of Spectral Appearances are so numerous, and the Editor has
+collected so many, both ancient and modern, that considerable difficulty
+has been occasioned in determining which shall here be set forth. The
+following, chosen from examples, some well known and well authenticated,
+and others now first published, but equally interesting and important, and
+coming to the Editor upon very high authority, deserve the best
+consideration of the reader.
+
+The following record describes what is known as the "Chester-le-Street"
+Apparition:--
+
+"About the year of Our Lord 1632 (as near as I can remember, having lost
+my notes and the copy of the letter to Serjeant Hutton, but I am sure that
+I do most perfectly remember the substance of the story), near unto
+Chester-in-the-Street, there lived one Walker, a yeoman of good estate,
+and a widower, who had a young woman to his kinswoman, that kept his
+house, who was by the neighbours suspected to be with child, and was,
+towards the dark of the evening one night, sent away with one Mark Sharp,
+who was a collier, one who digged coals under ground, and one that had
+been born at Blackburn hundred in Lancashire; and so she was not heard of
+a long time, and no noise, or little, was made about it. In the winter
+time after, one James Graham, or Grime, for so in that country they call
+them, being a miller, and living about two miles from the place where
+Walker lived, was one night alone very late in the mill grinding corn; and
+about twelve or one of the clock at night, he came down the stairs from
+having been putting corn in the hopper; the mill doors being shut, there
+stood a woman upon the midst of the floor, with her hair about her head,
+hanging down and all bloody, with five large wounds on her head. He being
+much affrighted and amazed began to bless himself;[1] and at last asked
+her who she was, and what she wanted. To which she said, 'I am the spirit
+of such a woman who lived with Walker, and being got with child by him,
+he promised to send me to a private place, where I should be well-looked
+to, till I was brought to bed, and well again; and then I should come
+again and keep his house. And, accordingly,' said the apparition, 'I was
+one night sent away with one Mark Sharp, who, upon a moor (naming a place
+that the miller knew) slew me with a pick, such as men dig coals withal
+and gave me these five wounds, and after threw my body into a coal-pit
+hard by, and hid the pick under a bank; and his shoes and stockings being
+bloody, he endeavoured to wash them; but seeing the blood would not forth,
+he hid them there.' And the apparition further told the miller that he
+must be the man to reveal it, or else that she must still appear and haunt
+him. The miller returned home very sad and heavy, but spoke not one word
+of what he had seen, but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the mill
+within night without company, thinking thereby to escape the seeing again
+of that frightful apparition. But notwithstanding, one night when it began
+to be dark, the apparition met him again and seemed very fierce and cruel,
+and threatened him that if he did not reveal the murder she would
+continually pursue and haunt him; yet, for all this, he still concealed it
+until S. Thomas' Eve before Christmas; when being soon after sunset
+walking in his garden, she appeared again, and then so threatened him, and
+affrighted him, that he promised faithfully to reveal it next morning. In
+the morning he went to a magistrate, and made the whole matter known with
+all the circumstances; and diligent search being made, the body was found
+in a coal-pit, with five wounds in the head, and the pick and shoes and
+stockings yet bloody; in every circumstance as the apparition had related
+unto the miller; whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehended,
+but would confess nothing. At the assizes following, I think it was at
+Durham, they were arraigned, found guilty, condemned and executed; but I
+could never hear they confessed the fact. There were some that reported
+the apparition did appear unto the judge, or the foreman of the jury, who
+was alive in Chester-in-the-Street about ten years ago, as I have been
+credibly informed, but of that I know no certainty. There are many persons
+yet alive that can remember this strange murder, and the discovery of it;
+for it was, and sometimes yet is, as much discoursed of in the north
+country, as anything that almost hath ever been heard of, and the relation
+printed, though now not to be gotten. I relate this with the greater
+confidence (though I may fail in some of the circumstances) because I saw
+and read the letter that was sent to Serjeant Hutton, who then lived at
+Goldsburgh in Yorkshire, from the judge before whom Walker and Mark Sharp
+were tried, and by whom they were condemned, and had a copy of it until
+about the year 1658, when I had it and many other books and papers taken
+from me; and this I confess to be one of the most convincing stories,
+being of undoubted verity, that ever I read, heard, or knew of, and
+carrieth with it the most evident force to make the most incredulous
+spirit to be satisfied that there are really, sometimes, such things as
+apparitions.--William Lumley."[2]
+
+The above account, in which the object of the Spectral Appearance is
+obvious enough, is taken from the well-known "History of Durham," by that
+celebrated antiquarian the late Mr. Robert Surtees. It needs no comment,
+telling as it does so well, in quaint but plain language, its own
+remarkable story.
+
+The next example to be recorded, the Apparition of the Rev. Mr. Naylor,
+may be found in Mr. John Nichols' "Literary Illustrations,"[3] and, though
+less startling than that already given, is certainly not without its own
+inherent interest:--
+
+    "Part of a Letter from Mr. Edward Walter, Fellow of S. John's College,
+    Cambridge, to his friend in the country, dated 'Dec. 6, 1706.'
+
+    "'I should scarce have mentioned anything of the matter you write
+    about of my own accord; but, since you have given yourself the trouble
+    of an inquiry, I am, I think, obliged in friendship to relate all that
+    I know of the matter; and that I do the more willingly, because I can
+    so soon produce my authority.
+
+    "'Mr. Shaw, to whom the apparition appeared, was Rector of Soldern, or
+    Souldern, in Oxfordshire, late of S. John's College aforesaid; on whom
+    Mr. Grove, his old Fellow Collegiate, called July last in his journey
+    to the West, where he stayed a day or two, and promised to see him
+    again on his return, which he did, and stayed three days with him; in
+    that time one night after supper, Mr. Shaw told him that there
+    happened a passage which he could not conceal from him, as being an
+    intimate friend, and one to whom this transaction might have something
+    more relation than another man. He proceeded therefore, and told him
+    that about a week before that time, viz. July the 28th, 1706, as he
+    was smoking and reading in his study about eleven or twelve at night,
+    there came to him the apparition of Mr. Naylor, formerly Fellow of the
+    said College, and dead some years ago, a friend of Mr. Shaw's, in the
+    same garb he used to be in, with his hands clasped before him. Mr.
+    Shaw, not being much surprised, asked him how he did and desired him
+    to sit down, which Mr. Naylor did. They both sat there a considerable
+    time and entertained one another with various discourses. Mr. Shaw
+    then asked him after what manner they lived in the separate state; he
+    answered, Far different from what they do here, but that he was very
+    well. He inquired further, whether there was any of their old
+    acquaintance in that place where he was? he answered, 'No, not one;'
+    and then proceeded and told him that one of their old friends, naming
+    Mr. Orchard, should die quickly, and he himself should not be long
+    after. There was mention of several people's names; but who they were,
+    or upon what occasion, Mr. Grove cannot or will not tell. Mr. Shaw
+    then asked him whether he would not visit him again before that time;
+    he answered, No, he could not; he had but three days allowed him, and
+    farther he could not go. Mr. Shaw said, "_Fiat voluntas Domini_;" and
+    the apparition left him. This is word for word as Mr. Shaw told Mr.
+    Grove, and Mr. Grove told me.
+
+    "'_Note._--What surprised Mr. Grove was, that as he had in his journey
+    homewards occasion to ride through Clopton, or Claxton, he called upon
+    one Mr. Clark, Fellow of our College aforesaid and curate there, when
+    inquiring after College news, Mr. Clark told him Arthur Orchard[4]
+    died that week, Aug. 7, 1706, which very much shocked Mr. Grove, and
+    brought to his mind the story of Mr. Shaw afresh. About three weeks
+    ago Mr. Shaw died of apoplexy in the desk, [_i. e._ when ministering
+    in church,] of the same distemper poor Arthur Orchard died of.
+
+    "'_Note._--Since this strange completion of matters, Mr. Grove has
+    told this relation, and stands to the truth of it; and that which
+    confirms the narrative is, that he told the same to Dr. Baldiston, the
+    present Vice-Chancellor and Master of Emanuel College, above a week
+    before Mr. Shaw's death; and when he came to the College he was no way
+    surprised as others were.
+
+    "'What farthers my belief of its being a true vision and not a dream,
+    is Mr. Grove's incredulity of stories of this nature. Considering them
+    both as men of learning and integrity, the one would not first have
+    declared, nor the other have spread the same, were not the matter
+    serious and real.
+
+        "'Edward Walter.'"
+
+The following example of an Apparition in Scotland, unlike those already
+recorded, carries with it evidences of truth:--
+
+"A gentleman of rank and property in Scotland served in his youth in the
+army of the Duke of York in Flanders. He occupied the same tent with two
+other officers, one of whom was sent on some service. One night during his
+absence, this gentleman while in bed saw the figure of his absent friend
+sitting on the vacant bed. He called to his companion, who also saw the
+figure, which spoke to them, and said he had just been killed at a certain
+place, pointing to his wound. He then requested them on returning to
+England, to call at a certain agent's house in a certain street, and to
+procure from him a document of great importance for the family of the
+deceased. If the agent, as was probable, should deny the possession of
+it, it would be found in a certain drawer of a cabinet in his room. Next
+day it appeared that the officer had been shot as he had told them, in the
+manner and at the time and place indicated. After the return of the troops
+to England, the two friends walking together one day, found themselves in
+the street where the agent lived, and the request of their friend recurred
+to both, they having hitherto forgotten it. They called on the agent, who
+denied having the paper in question; when they compelled him in their
+presence to open the drawer of the cabinet, where it was found and
+restored to the widow."[5]
+
+An authentic record of the "Tyrone," or "Beresford Apparition," will now
+be given. It created a very great sensation at the time of its occurrence;
+and the narrative which follows has been pronounced traditionally "true
+and accurate" by a member of the family:--
+
+"Lord Tyrone and Miss ---- were born in Ireland, and were left orphans in
+their infancy to the care of the same person, by whom they were both
+educated in the principles of deism. Their guardian dying when they were
+each of them about fourteen years of age, they fell into very different
+hands.
+
+"The persons on whom the care of them now devolved, used every means to
+eradicate the erroneous principles they had imbibed, and to persuade them
+to embrace revealed religion, but in vain. Their arguments were strong
+enough to stagger their former faith. Though separated from each other,
+their friendship was unalterable, and they continued to regard each other
+with a sincere and fraternal affection.
+
+"After some years were elapsed, and both were grown up, they made a solemn
+promise to each other that whichever should die first, would, if
+permitted, appear to the other, to declare what religion was most approved
+by the Supreme Being.
+
+"Miss ---- was shortly after addressed by Sir Martin Beresford, to whom
+she was after a few years married, but a change of condition had no power
+to alter their friendship. The families visited each other, and often
+spent some weeks together. A short time after one of these visits, Sir
+Martin remarked, that when his lady came down to breakfast, her
+countenance was disturbed, and inquired after her health. She assured him
+she was quite well. He then asked her if she had hurt her wrist: 'Have you
+sprained it?' said he, observing a black ribbon round it. She answered in
+the negative, and added, 'Let me conjure you, Sir Martin, never to inquire
+the cause of my wearing this ribbon; you will never see me without it. If
+it concerned you as a husband to know, I would not for a moment conceal
+it: I never in my life denied you a request, but of this I entreat you to
+forgive me the refusal, and never to urge me further on the subject.'
+'Very well,' said he, smiling; 'since you beg me so earnestly, I will
+inquire no more.'
+
+"The conversation here ended; but breakfast was scarcely over when Lady
+Beresford eagerly inquired if the post was come in; she was told it was
+not. In a few minutes she rang again and repeated the inquiry. She was
+again answered as at first. 'Do you expect letters?' said Sir Martin,
+'that you are so anxious for the arrival of the post?' 'I do,' she
+answered, 'I expect to hear that Lord Tyrone is dead; he died last Tuesday
+at four o'clock.' 'I never in my life,' said Sir Martin, 'believed you
+superstitious; some idle dream has surely thus alarmed you.' At that
+instant the servant entered and delivered to them a letter sealed with
+black. 'It is as I expected,' exclaimed Lady Beresford, 'Lord Tyrone is
+dead.' Sir Martin opened the letter; it came from Lord Tyrone's steward,
+and contained the melancholy intelligence of his master's death, and on
+the very day and hour Lady Beresford had before specified. Sir Martin
+begged Lady Beresford to compose herself, and she assured him she felt
+much easier than she had done for a long time; and added, 'I can
+communicate intelligence to you which I know will prove welcome; I can
+assure you, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that I shall in some months
+present you with a son.' Sir Martin received this news with the greatest
+joy.
+
+"After some months Lady Beresford was delivered of a son (she had before
+been the mother of only two daughters). Sir Martin survived the birth of
+his son little more than four years.
+
+"After his decease his widow seldom left home; she visited no family but
+that of a clergyman who resided in the same village; with them she
+frequently passed a few hours; the rest of her time was spent in solitude,
+and she appeared determined for ever to banish all other society. The
+clergyman's family consisted of himself, his wife, and one son, who at the
+time of Sir Martin's death was quite a youth; to this son, however, she
+was after a few years married, notwithstanding the disparity of years and
+the manifest imprudence of a connexion so unequal in every point of view.
+
+"Lady Beresford was treated by her young husband with contempt and
+cruelty, while at the same time his conduct evinced him the most abandoned
+libertine, utterly destitute of every principle of virtue and humanity. By
+this, her second husband, she had two daughters; after which such was the
+baseness of his conduct that she insisted on a separation. They parted for
+a few years, when so great was the contrition he expressed for his former
+conduct, that, won over by his supplications, promises, and entreaties,
+she was induced to pardon, and once more to reside with him, and was in
+time the mother of a son.
+
+"The day on which she had lain-in a month being the anniversary of her
+birthday, she sent for Lady Betty Cobb (of whose friendship she had long
+been possessed), and a few other friends, to request them to spend the day
+with her. About seven, the clergyman by whom she had been christened, and
+with whom she had all her life been intimate, came into the room to
+inquire after her health. She told him she was perfectly well, and
+requested him to spend the day with them; for, said she, 'This is my
+birthday. I am forty-eight to-day.' 'No, madam,' answered the clergyman,
+'you are mistaken; your mother and myself have had many disputes
+concerning your age, and I have at last discovered that I was right. I
+happened to go last week into the parish where you were born; I was
+resolved to put an end to the dispute; I searched the register, and find
+that you are forty-seven this day.' 'You have signed my death warrant,'
+she exclaimed; 'I have then but a few hours to live. I must therefore
+entreat you to leave me immediately, as I have something of importance to
+settle before I die.'
+
+"When the clergyman had left her, Lady Beresford sent to forbid the
+company coming, and at the same time to request Lady Betty Cobb and her
+son (of whom Sir Martin was the father, and who was then about twenty-two
+years of age), to come to her apartment immediately. Upon their arrival,
+having ordered the attendants to quit the room, 'I have something,' she
+said, 'of the greatest importance to communicate to you both before I die,
+a period which is not far distant. You, Lady Betty, are no stranger to
+the friendship which subsisted between Lord Tyrone and myself: we were
+educated under the same roof and in the same principles of deism. When the
+friends, into whose hands we afterwards fell, endeavoured to persuade us
+to embrace Revealed Religion, their arguments, though insufficient to
+convince, were powerful to stagger our former feelings, and to leave us
+wavering between the two opinions: in this perplexing state of doubt and
+uncertainty, we made a solemn promise to each other that whichever died
+first should (if permitted) appear to the other, and declare what religion
+was most acceptable to God; accordingly, one night, while Sir Martin and
+myself were in bed, I suddenly awoke and discovered Lord Tyrone sitting by
+my bedside. I screamed out and endeavoured to awake Sir Martin. "For
+Heaven's sake," I exclaimed, "Lord Tyrone, by what means or for what
+reason came you hither at this time of night?" "Have you then forgotten
+our promise?" said he; "I died last Tuesday at four o'clock, and have been
+permitted by the Supreme Being to appear to you to assure you that the
+Revealed Religion is true, and the only religion by which we can be saved.
+I am further suffered to inform you that you will soon produce a son, who
+it is decreed will marry my daughter; not many years after his birth Sir
+Martin will die, and you will marry again, and to a man by whose
+ill-treatment you will be rendered miserable: you will have two daughters
+and afterwards a son, in childbirth of whom you will die in the
+forty-seventh year of your age." "Just Heavens!" I exclaimed, "and cannot
+I prevent this?" "Undoubtedly," returned the spectre; "you are a free
+agent, and may prevent it all by resisting every temptation to a second
+marriage; but your passions are strong, you know not their power; hitherto
+you have had no trials. More I am not permitted to reveal, but if after
+this warning you persist in your infidelity, your lot in another world
+will be miserable indeed." "May I not ask," said I, "if you are happy?"
+"Had I been otherwise," he replied, "I should not have been permitted to
+appear to you." "I may, then, infer that you are happy?" He smiled. "But
+how," said I, "when morning comes, shall I know that your appearance to me
+has been real, and not the mere representation of my own imagination?"
+"Will not the news of my death be sufficient to convince you?" "No," I
+returned, "I might have had such a dream, and that dream accidentally come
+to pass. I will have some stronger proofs of its reality." "You shall,"
+said he, and waving his hand, the bed curtains, which were crimson velvet,
+were instantly drawn through a large iron hoop by which the tester of the
+bed was suspended. "In that," said he, "you cannot be mistaken; no mortal
+arm could have performed this." "True," said I, "but sleeping we are often
+possessed of far more strength than when awake; though waking I could not
+have done it, asleep I might; and I shall still doubt." "Here is a
+pocket-book; in this," said he, "I will write my name; you know my
+handwriting." I replied, "Yes." He wrote with a pencil on one side of the
+leaves. "Still," said I, "in the morning I may doubt; though waking I
+could not imitate your hand, asleep I might." "You are hard of belief,"
+said he. "Touch would injure you irreparably; it is not for spirits to
+touch mortal flesh." "I do not," said I, "regard a slight blemish." "You
+are a woman of courage," said he, "hold out your hand." _I did; he struck
+my wrist: his hand was cold as marble; in a moment the sinews shrunk up,
+every nerve withered._ "Now," said he, "while you live let no mortal eye
+behold that wrist: to see it is sacrilege." He stopped; I turned to him
+again; he was gone.
+
+"'During the time I had conversed with him my thoughts were perfectly calm
+and collected; but the moment he was gone I felt chilled with horror, the
+very bed moved under me. I endeavoured, but in vain, to awake Sir Martin;
+all my attempts were ineffectual, and in this state of agitation and
+terror I lay for some time, when a shower of tears came to my relief and I
+fell asleep.
+
+"'In the morning Sir Martin arose and dressed himself as usual, without
+perceiving the state the curtains remained in. When I awoke I found Sir
+Martin gone down; I arose, and having put on my clothes, went to the
+gallery adjoining the apartment and took from thence a long broom (such as
+cornices are swept with); by the help of this I took down with some
+difficulty the curtains, as I imagined their extraordinary position might
+excite suspicion in the family. I then went to the bureau, took up my
+pocket-book, and bound a piece of black ribbon round my wrist. When I came
+down, the agitation of my mind had left an impression on my countenance
+too visible to pass unobserved by my husband. He instantly remarked it,
+and asked the cause; I informed him Lord Tyrone was no more, that he died
+at the hour of four on the preceding Tuesday, and desired him never to
+question me more respecting the black ribbon, which he kindly desisted
+from after. You, my son, as had been foretold, I afterwards brought into
+the world, and in little more than four years after your birth your
+lamented father expired in my arms. After this melancholy event I
+determined, as the only probable chance to avoid the sequel of the
+prediction, for ever to abandon all society, to give up every pleasure
+resulting from it, and to pass the rest of my days in solitude and
+retirement. But few can long endure to exist in a state of perfect
+sequestration: I began an intimacy with a family, and one alone; nor could
+I foresee the fatal consequences which afterwards resulted from it. Little
+did I think their son, their only son, then a mere youth, would form the
+person destined by fate to prove my destruction. In a very few years I
+ceased to regard him with indifference; I endeavoured by every possible
+way to conquer a passion, the fatal effects of which I too well knew. I
+had fondly imagined I had overcome its influence, when the evening of one
+fatal day terminated my fortitude and plunged me in a moment down that
+abyss I had so long been meditating how to shun. He had often solicited
+his parents for leave to go into the army, and at last obtained
+permission, and came to bid me adieu before his departure. The instant he
+entered the room he fell upon his knees at my feet, told me he was
+miserable, and that I alone was the cause. At that moment my fortitude
+forsook me, I gave myself up as lost, and regarding my fate as inevitable,
+without further hesitation consented to a union, the immediate result of
+which I knew to be misery, and its end death. The conduct of my husband
+after a few years amply justified a separation, and I hoped by these means
+to avoid the fatal sequel of the prophecy: but won over by his reiterated
+entreaties, I was prevailed upon to pardon and once more reside with him,
+though not till after I had, as I thought, passed my forty-seventh year.
+
+"'But alas! I have this day heard from indisputable authority that I have
+hitherto lain under a mistake with regard to my age, and that I am but
+forty-seven to-day. Of the near approach of my death then I entertain not
+the slightest doubt; but I do not dread its arrival; armed with the sacred
+precepts of Christianity I can meet the King of Terrors without dismay,
+and without fear bid adieu to mortality for ever.
+
+"'When I am dead, as the necessity for concealment closes with my life, I
+could wish that you, Lady Betty, would unbind my wrist, take from thence
+the black ribbon, and let my son with yourself behold it.' Lady Beresford
+here paused for some time, but resuming the conversation she entreated her
+son would behave himself so as to merit the high honour he would in future
+receive from a union with the daughter of Lord Tyrone.
+
+"Lady B. then expressed a wish to lay down on the bed and endeavour to
+compose herself to sleep. Lady Betty Cobb and her son immediately called
+her domestics and quitted the room, having first desired them to watch
+their mistress attentively, and if they observed the smallest change in
+her, to call instantly.
+
+"An hour passed and all was quiet in the room. They listened at the door
+and everything remained still, but in half an hour more a bell rang
+violently; they flew to her apartment, but before they reached the door,
+they heard the servants exclaim, 'Oh, she is dead!' Lady Betty then bade
+the servants for a few minutes to quit the room, and herself with Lady
+Beresford's son approached the bed of his mother; they knelt down by the
+side of it; Lady Betty lifted up her hand and untied the ribbon,--_the
+wrist was found exactly as Lady Beresford had described it, every sinew
+shrunk, every nerve withered_.
+
+"Lady Beresford's son, as had been predicted, is since married to Lord
+Tyrone's daughter. The black ribbon and pocket-book were formerly in the
+possession of Lady Betty Cobb, Marlborough Buildings, Bath, who, during
+her long life, was ever ready to attest the truth of this narration, as
+are, to the present hour, the whole of the Tyrone and Beresford
+families."[6]
+
+Three remarkable examples of Spectral Appearances must now be given,
+because of their inherent interest and corresponding likeness. The first
+is recorded by Glanville, a learned and pious author already referred to;
+the second is the case of Dr. Ferrar, and the third that of the "Wynyard
+Ghost Story."
+
+(I.) Glanville tells a story regarding the appearance of a spirit in
+fulfilment of a promise made during lifetime, which is full of point and
+purpose. It runs thus. The substance, not the exact words, of the
+narrative are here given:--In the seventeenth century there lived two
+friends, Major George Sydenham of Dulverton in the county of Somerset, and
+Captain William Dyke of the same county. They were both reputed to be
+unbelievers in the Christian religion, if not avowed atheists. During the
+civil wars they had each served under the Parliamentary generals, and took
+an active part on the side of the rebels.
+
+Having held many discussions both on the subject of religion and
+irreligion, they eventually argued out the fact of the immortality of the
+soul, which each felt disposed to deny: and finally they agreed between
+themselves that whichever of them died first, should (if such a
+possibility existed,) appear on the third day after death to the survivor
+in Major Sydenham's summer-house at Dulverton, and enlighten him as to the
+existence of a future state of rewards and punishments.
+
+In due course Major Sydenham died; and Captain Dyke, in company with a
+cousin of his own, a celebrated physician, who was attending a sick child
+at Major Sydenham's house, but who knew nothing of the matter in hand,
+arrived there. Captain Dyke and his relative Dr. Dyke, the physician,
+occupied the same bedroom. The latter was surprised to hear the captain
+ask of the servant for two of the largest candles that could be obtained,
+and sought an explanation. The captain then informed him of his promise to
+Major Sydenham, and of his own determined resolution to fulfil it. Dr.
+Dyke urged with considerable force that as there was no warrant for making
+such engagements, they were to be regarded as unquestionably wrong; and
+pointed out, firstly, that evil spirits might take advantage of the
+situation, and secondly, that such a tempting of the Almighty was
+altogether wrong.
+
+"This may be all very true," responded Captain Dyke, "but as I faithfully
+promised to go, go I will. If you will come and sit up with me, well and
+good: and I shall be grateful. But if not, I shall certainly go alone."
+
+Then, placing his watch on the table, he waited until half-past eleven;
+when taking up the candles, he walked up and down in close proximity to
+the entrance of the summer-house, until two o'clock, without either seeing
+or hearing anything extraordinary.
+
+Upon this he formed two conclusions; either that the soul perished with
+the body, or that the laws of the spiritual world forbade his friend Major
+Sydenham abiding by his pledge.
+
+Six weeks afterwards, however, Captain Dyke and his relation the physician
+had occasion to go to Eton, where one of the sons of the former was to be
+placed at the college. They lodged at the S. Christopher's Inn, occupying
+different sleeping-rooms. On the last morning of their stay, Captain Dyke
+was unusually late, and when he entered the doctor's room was like a man
+struck with madness, his eyes staring, his knees refusing to support him,
+and his whole appearance altered.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Dr. Dyke.
+
+"I have seen the major," replied the captain; "for if ever I saw him in my
+life, I certainly saw him just now."
+
+Upon the doctor pressing for details, Captain Dyke gave the following
+account:--"After it was first light this morning, someone pulled back the
+curtains of my bed suddenly, and I saw the major exactly as I had seen him
+in life. 'I could not,' he said, 'come at the time appointed, but I am
+here now to tell you that there is a God, a very just and terrible God,
+and that if you do not turn over a new leaf you will find it so.' He then
+disappeared."
+
+It is said, finally, that Captain Dyke's truthfulness was so notorious, as
+to preclude the possibility of doubting his relation of the occurrence.
+Furthermore, the apparition and warnings of his departed friend exercised
+a visible effect on his character and life, which latter was prolonged for
+two years; during which period he is said to have had the words then
+spoken to him always sounding in his ears.
+
+(II.) The celebrated Nicholas Ferrar, of Little Gidding, (who, in the
+seventeenth century, lived a most retired, religious, and pious life,) had
+a brother, a physician in London. This physician made a compact with his
+eldest and favourite daughter that whichever of them died first should, if
+happy, appear to the other. This compact is said to have proved the
+subject of many conversations and religious discussions between father and
+child. The latter is reported to have been very averse to making any such
+agreement; but being overcome by arguments as to the reasonableness of
+such a course (if permitted by a gracious and merciful God) at last
+consented. After this she married and settled with her husband at
+Gillingham Lodge, in the county of Wiltshire. Here she was prematurely
+confined; and during her illness, one night by mistake took poison, and
+died quite suddenly. That very night her spirit appeared to her father in
+London, the curtains of whose bed she drew back, and with a sweet but
+mournful expression looked upon him, and then gradually faded away. In
+fact, and as a test of the objective reality of his daughter's apparition,
+Dr. Ferrar, deeply impressed by the occurrence, announced the death of his
+daughter to his family two days before he received intelligence of it by
+the then tardy post.
+
+(III.) John Cope Sherbroke and George Wynyard appear in the "Army List" of
+1785, the one as a captain and the other lieutenant in the 33rd
+Regiment,--a corps which some years after had the honour to be commanded
+by the Hon. Arthur Wellesley, subsequently Duke of Wellington. The
+regiment was then on service in Canada, and Sherbroke and Wynyard, being
+of congenial tastes, had become great friends. It was their custom to
+spend in study much of the time which their brother officers devoted to
+idle pleasures. According to a narration[7] resting on the best authority
+now attainable, they were one afternoon sitting in Wynyard's apartment.
+It was perfectly light, the hour was about four o'clock: they had dined,
+but neither of them had drunk wine, and they had retired from their mess
+to continue together the occupations of the morning. It ought to have been
+said that the apartment in which they were had two doors in it, the one
+opening into a passage and the other leading into Wynyard's bedroom. There
+was no other means of entering the sitting-room, so that any person
+passing into the bedroom must have remained there unless he returned by
+the way he entered. This point is of consequence to the story.
+
+"As these two young officers were pursuing their studies, Sherbroke, whose
+eyes happened accidentally to glance from the book before him towards the
+door which opened to the passage, all at once observed a tall youth of
+about twenty years of age whose appearance was that of extreme emaciation.
+Struck with the presence of a perfect stranger, he immediately turned to
+his friend, who was sitting near him, and directed his attention to the
+guest who had thus strangely broken in upon their studies. As soon as
+Wynyard's eyes were turned towards the mysterious visitor his countenance
+became suddenly agitated. 'I have heard,' says Sir John Sherbroke, 'of a
+man's being as pale as death, but I never saw a living face assume the
+appearance of a corpse except Wynyard's at that moment.' As they looked
+silently at the form before them--for Wynyard, who seemed to apprehend
+the import of the appearance, was deprived of the faculty of speech, and
+Sherbroke, perceiving the agitation of his friend, felt no inclination to
+address it--as they looked silently upon the figure it proceeded slowly
+into the adjoining apartment, and in the act of passing them cast its eyes
+with an expression of somewhat melancholy affection on young Wynyard. The
+oppression of this extraordinary presence was no sooner removed than
+Wynyard, seizing his friend by the arm, and drawing a deep breath as if
+recovering from the suffocation of intense astonishment and emotion,
+muttered in a low and almost inaudible tone of voice, 'Great God, my
+brother!' 'Your brother!' repeated Sherbroke, 'what can you mean? Wynyard,
+there must be some deception; follow me;' and immediately taking his
+friend by the arm, he preceded him into the bedroom, which, as before
+stated, was connected with the sitting-room, and into which the strange
+visitor had evidently entered. It has already been said that from this
+chamber there was no possibility of withdrawing but by the way of the
+apartment, through which the figure had certainly never returned. Imagine
+then the astonishment of the young officers when, on finding themselves in
+the chamber, they perceived that the room was perfectly untenanted.
+Wynyard's mind had received an impression at the first moment of his
+observing him, that the figure whom he had seen was the spirit of his
+brother. Sherbroke still persevered in strenuously believing that some
+delusion had been practised. They took note of the day and hour in which
+the event had happened, but they resolved not to mention the occurrence in
+the regiment, and gradually they persuaded each other that they had been
+imposed upon by some artifice of their fellow-officers, though they could
+neither account for the means of its execution. They were content to
+imagine anything possible rather than admit the possibility of a
+supernatural appearance. But though they had attempted these stratagems of
+self-delusion, Wynyard could not help expressing his solicitude with
+respect to the safety of the brother whose apparition he had either seen
+or imagined himself to have seen; and the anxiety which he exhibited for
+letters from England, and his frequent mention of his brother's health, at
+length awakened the curiosity of his comrades, and eventually betrayed him
+into a declaration of the circumstances which he had in vain determined to
+conceal. The story of the silent and unbidden visitor was no sooner
+bruited abroad than the arrival of Wynyard's letters from England were
+welcomed with more than usual eagerness, for they promised to afford the
+clue to the mystery which had happened among themselves.
+
+"By the first ships no intelligence relating to the story could have been
+received, for they had all departed from England previously to the
+appearance of the spirit. At length, the long wished-for vessel arrived;
+all the officers had letters except Wynyard. They examined the several
+newspapers, but they contained no mention of any death or of any other
+circumstance connected with his family that could account for the
+preternatural event. There was a solitary letter for Sherbroke still
+unopened. The officers had received their letters in the mess-room at the
+hour of supper. After Sherbroke had broken the seal of his last packet,
+and cast a glance on its contents, he beckoned his friend away from the
+company, and departed from the room. All were silent. The suspense of the
+interest was now at its climax; the impatience for the return of Sherbroke
+was inexpressible. They doubted not but that letter had contained the
+long-expected intelligence.
+
+"After the interval of an hour, Sherbroke joined them. No one dared
+inquire the nature of his correspondence; but they waited in mute
+attention, expecting that he would himself touch upon the subject. His
+mind was manifestly full of thoughts that pained, bewildered, and
+oppressed him. He drew near to the fire-place, and leaning his head on the
+mantlepiece, after a pause of some moments, said in a low voice to the
+person who was nearest him, Wynyard's brother was dead. 'Dear John, break
+to your friend Wynyard the death of his favourite brother.' _He had died
+on the day and at the very hour on which the friends had seen his spirit
+pass so mysteriously through the apartment._
+
+"It might have been imagined that these events would have been sufficient
+to have impressed the mind of Sherbroke with the conviction of their
+truth, but so strong was his prepossession against the existence or even
+the possibility of any preternatural intercourse with the spirits of the
+departed, that he still entertained a doubt of the report of his senses,
+supported as their testimony was by the coincidence of sight and event.
+Some years after, on his return to England, he was with two gentlemen in
+Piccadilly, when on the opposite side of the street he saw a person
+bearing the most striking resemblance to the figure which had been
+disclosed to Wynyard and himself. His companions were acquainted with the
+story, and he instantly directed their attention to the gentleman
+opposite, as the individual who had contrived to enter and depart from
+Wynyard's apartment without their being conscious of the means.
+
+"Full of this impression, he immediately went over and addressed the
+gentleman. He now fully expected to elucidate the mystery. He apologized
+for the interruption, but excused it by relating the occurrence which had
+induced him to the commission of this solecism in manners. The gentleman
+received him as a friend. He had never been out of the country, but he was
+the twin brother of the youth whose spirit had been seen.
+
+"From the interesting character of this narration--the facts of the vision
+occurring in daylight, and to two persons; and of the subsequent
+verification of likeness by the party not previously acquainted with the
+subject of the vision, it is much to be regretted that no direct report of
+particulars had come to us. There is all other desirable authentication
+for the story, and sufficient evidence to prove that the two gentlemen
+believed and often told nearly what is here reported.
+
+"Dr. Mayo makes the following statement on the subject: 'I have had
+opportunities of inquiring of two near relations of this General Wynyard,
+upon what evidence the above story rests. They told me that they had each
+heard it from his own mouth. More recently a gentleman, whose accuracy of
+recollection exceeds that of most people, had told me that he had heard
+the late Sir John Sherbroke, the other party in the ghost story, tell it
+in much the same way at the dinner-table. A writer in 'Notes and Queries'
+for July 3, 1858, states that the brother, not twin-brother, whose spirit
+appeared to Wynyard and his friend, was John Otway Wynyard, Lieutenant in
+the 3rd Regiment of Foot-guards, who died on the 15th of October, 1785. As
+this gentleman writes with a minute knowledge of the family history, this
+date may be considered as that of the alleged spiritual incident.
+
+"In 'Notes and Queries' for July 2nd, 1859, appeared a correspondence,
+giving the strongest testimony then attainable to the truth of the
+Wynyard ghost story. A series of queries on the subject being drawn up at
+Quebec, by Sir John Harvey, Adjutant-General of the forces in Canada, was
+sent to Colonel Gore of the same garrison, who was understood to be a
+survivor of the officers who were with Sherbroke and Wynyard at the time
+of the occurrence, and Colonel Gore explicitly replied to the following
+effect: He was present at Sydney, in the island of Cape Breton, in the
+autumn of 1785 or 1786, when the incident happened. It was in the then new
+barrack, and the place was blocked up by ice so as to have no
+communication with any part of the world. He was one of the first persons
+who entered the room after the apparition was seen. The ghost passed them
+as they were sitting at coffee, between eight and nine in the evening, and
+went into G. Wynyard's bed closet, the window of which was putt[i]ed down.
+He next day suggested to Sherbroke the propriety of making a memorandum of
+the incident, which was done. 'I remember the date, and on the 6th of June
+our first letters from England brought the news of John Wynyard's death,
+[which had happened] on the very night they saw his apparition.' Colonel
+Gore was under the impression that the person afterwards seen in one of
+the streets of London, by Sherbroke and William Wynyard, was not a brother
+of the latter family, but a gentleman named (he thought) Hayman, noted for
+being like the deceased John Wynyard, and who affected to dress like
+him."
+
+So much for these records and testimonies. The following, now to be
+narrated, not altogether unlike them, and producing a good result on the
+person who witnessed the apparition, is of almost equal interest:--
+
+"Lord Chedworth[8] had living with him the orphan daughter of a sister of
+his, a Miss Wright, who often related this circumstance: Lord Chedworth
+was a good man, and seemed anxious to do his duty, but, unfortunately, he
+had considerable intellectual doubts as to the existence of the soul in
+another world. He had a great friendship for a gentleman, whom he had
+known from his boyhood, and who was, like himself, one of those
+unbelieving mortals that must have ocular demonstration for everything.
+They often met, and often, too, renewed the subject so interesting to
+both; but neither could help the other to that happy conviction which was
+honestly wished for by each.
+
+"One morning Miss Wright observed on her uncle joining her at breakfast, a
+considerable gloom of thought and trouble displayed on his countenance.
+He ate little, and was unusually silent. At last, he said, 'Molly' (for
+thus he familiarly called her), 'I had a strange visitor last night. My
+old friend B---- came to me.'
+
+"'How?' said Miss Wright, 'did he come after I went to bed?'
+
+"'His spirit did,' said Lord Chedworth, solemnly.
+
+"'Oh! my dear uncle, how could the spirit of a living man appear?' said
+she, smiling.
+
+"'He is dead, beyond doubt,' replied his lordship; 'listen, and then laugh
+as much as you please. I had not entered my bedroom many minutes when he
+stood before me. Like you, I could not but think that I was looking on the
+living man, and so accosted him; but he answered, "Chedworth, I died this
+night at eight o'clock; I come to tell you, that there is another world
+beyond the grave; and that there is a righteous God Who judgeth all."'
+
+"'Depend upon it, uncle, it was only a dream!' But while Miss Wright was
+thus speaking a groom on horseback rode up the avenue, and immediately
+after delivered a letter to Lord Chedworth, announcing the sudden death of
+his friend. Whatever construction the reader may be disposed to put upon
+this narrative, it is not unimportant to add that the effect upon the mind
+of Lord Chedworth was as happy as it was permanent. All his doubts were at
+once removed, and for ever."
+
+The well-known Lyttelton Ghost Story may now be fitly recorded. It created
+a great and widespread interest at the time of its occurrence, and was
+criticised and commented upon by many. Several versions of it have already
+appeared in print, and they seem to vary in certain unimportant details.
+The Editor, instead of writing out what has already appeared, prefers to
+set forth at length various documents containing independent evidence of
+the truth of the several apparitions, which by the courtesy and kindness
+of the present accomplished bearer of the title, he is enabled to embody
+_verbatim_ in this volume, having been permitted to transcribe them from
+the originals in Lord Lyttelton's possession.
+
+The subject of this narrative was the son of George, Lord Lyttelton, who
+was alike distinguished for the raciness of his wit and the profligacy of
+his manners. The latter trait of his character has induced many persons to
+suppose the apparition which he asserted he had seen, to have been the
+effect of a conscience quickened with remorse and misgivings, on account
+of many vices. The probability of the narrative[9] has, consequently, been
+much questioned; but two gentlemen, one of whom was at Pitt Place, the
+seat of Lord Lyttelton, and the other in the immediate neighbourhood, at
+the time of his lordship's death, bore ample testimony to the veracity of
+the whole affair. The several narratives of the singular occurrence
+correspond in material points; and the following are the circumstantial
+particulars written by the gentleman who was at the time on a visit to his
+lordship:--
+
+"I was at Pitt Place, Epsom, when Lord Lyttelton died; Lord Fortescue,
+Mrs. Flood, and the two Miss Amphletts were also present. Lord Lyttelton
+had not long been returned from Ireland, and frequently had been seized
+with suffocating fits; he was attacked several times by them in the course
+of the preceding month, while he was at his house in Hill Street, Berkeley
+Square. It happened that he dreamt, three days before his death, that he
+saw a fluttering bird, and afterwards a woman appeared to him in white
+apparel and said to him, 'Prepare to die, you will not exist three days!'
+His lordship was much alarmed, and called to a servant from a closet
+adjoining, who found him much agitated and in a profuse perspiration; the
+circumstance had a considerable effect all the next day on his lordship's
+spirits. On the third day, while his lordship was at breakfast with the
+above personages, he said, 'If I live over to-night I shall have jockied
+the ghost, for this is the third day.' The whole party presently set off
+for Pitt Place, where they had not long arrived before his lordship was
+visited by one of his accustomed fits. After a short interval he
+recovered. He dined at five o'clock that day, and went to bed at eleven,
+when his servant was about to give him rhubarb and mint-water, but his
+lordship perceiving him stir it with a toothpick, called him a slovenly
+dog, and bade him go and fetch a teaspoon; but on the man's return he
+found his Master in a fit, and the pillow being placed high, his chin
+bore hard upon his neck, when the servant, instead of relieving his master
+on the instant from his perilous situation, ran in his fright and called
+out for help, but on his return he found his lordship dead.
+
+"In explanation of this strange tale it is said that Lord Lyttelton
+acknowledged, previously to his death, that the woman he had seen in his
+dream was the 'mother' of the two Misses Amphletts mentioned above, whom,
+together with a third sister then in Ireland, his lordship had seduced and
+prevailed on to leave their parent, who resided near his country residence
+in Shropshire. It is further stated that Mrs. Amphlett died of grief
+through the desertion of her children at the precise time when the female
+vision appeared to his lordship. The most surprising part of the story,
+because the most difficult of explanation, yet remains to be related. On
+the second day Miles Peter Andrews, one of Lord Lyttelton's most intimate
+friends, left the dinner-party at an early hour, being called away upon
+business to Dartford, where he was the owner of certain powder-mills. He
+had all along professed himself one of the most determined sceptics as to
+the vision, and therefore ceased to think of it. On the third night,
+however, when he had been in bed about half an hour, and still remained,
+as he imagined, wide awake, his curtains were suddenly pulled aside, and
+Lord Lyttelton appeared before him in his robe-de-chambre and night-cap.
+Mr. Andrews gazed at his visitor for some time in silent wonder, and then
+began to reproach him for so odd a freak in coming down to Dartford Mills
+without any previous notice, as he hardly knew how on the emergency to
+find his lordship the requisite accommodation. 'Nevertheless,' said
+Andrews, 'I will get up and see what can be done for you.' With this view
+he turned aside to ring the bell; but on looking round again he could see
+no signs of his strange visitor. Soon afterwards the bell was rung for his
+servant, and upon his asking what had become of Lord Lyttelton, the man,
+evidently much surprised at the question, replied that he had seen nothing
+of him since they had left Pitt Place. 'Psha, you fool,' exclaimed Mr.
+Andrews, 'he was here this moment at my bedside.' The servant, more
+astonished than ever, declared that he did not well understand how that
+could be, since he must have seen him enter; whereupon Mr. Andrews rose,
+and having dressed himself, searched the house and grounds, but Lord
+Lyttelton was nowhere to be found. Still, he could not help believing that
+his friend, who was fond of practical jokes, had played him this trick for
+his previously expressed scepticism in the matter of the dream. But he
+soon viewed the whole affair in a different light. About four o'clock on
+the same day an express arrived from a friend with the news of Lord
+Lyttelton's death, and the whole manner of it, as related by the valet to
+those who were in the house at the time. In Mr. Andrews's subsequent
+visits to Pitt Place, no solicitations could ever induce him to sleep
+there; he would invariably return, however late, to the Spread Eagle Inn,
+at Epsom, for the night."
+
+    REMARKABLE DREAM OF THOMAS, LORD LYTTELTON.[10]
+
+    "On Thursday, the 25th of November, 1779, Thomas, Lord Lyttelton,
+    when he came to breakfast, declared to Mrs. Flood, wife of Frederick
+    Flood, Esq., of the kingdom of Ireland, and to the three Miss
+    Amphletts, who were lodged in his house in Hill Street, London (where
+    he then also was), that he had had an extraordinary dream the night
+    before. He said he thought he was in a room which a bird flew into,
+    which appearance was suddenly changed into that of a woman dressed in
+    white, who bade him prepare to die. To which he answered, 'I hope not
+    soon, not in two months.' She replied, 'Yes, in three days.' He said
+    he did not much regard it, because he could in some measure account
+    for it; for that a few days before he had been with Mrs. Dawson when a
+    robin-redbreast flew into her room.
+
+    "When he had dressed himself that day to go to the House of Lords, he
+    said he thought he did not look as if he was likely to die. In the
+    evening of the following day, being Friday, he told the eldest Miss
+    Amphlett that she looked melancholy; but, said he, 'You are foolish
+    and fearful. I have lived two days, and, God willing, I will live out
+    the third.'
+
+    "On the morning of Saturday he told the same ladies that he was very
+    well, and believed he should bilk the ghost. Some hours afterwards he
+    went with them, Mr. Fortescue, and Captain Wolseley, to Pitt Place, at
+    Epsom; withdrew to his bed-chamber soon after eleven o'clock at night,
+    talked cheerfully to his servant, and particularly inquired of him
+    what care had been taken to provide good rolls for his breakfast the
+    next morning, stepped into his bed with his waistcoat on, and as his
+    servant was pulling it off, put his hand to his side, sunk back and
+    immediately expired without a groan. He ate a good dinner after his
+    arrival at Pitt Place, took an egg for his supper, and did not seem to
+    be at all out of order, except that while he was eating his soup at
+    dinner he had a rising in his throat, a thing which had often happened
+    to him before, and which obliged him to spit some of it out. His
+    physician, Dr. Fothergill, told me Lord Lyttelton had in the summer
+    preceding a bad pain in his side, and he judged that some gut vessel
+    in the part where he felt the pain gave way, and to that he
+    conjectured his death was owing. His declaration of his dream and his
+    expressions above mentioned, consequential thereon, were upon a close
+    inquiry asserted to me to have been so, by Mrs. Flood, the eldest Miss
+    Amphlett, Captain Wolseley, and his valet-de-chambre Faulkner,[11] who
+    dressed him on the Thursday; and the manner of his death was related
+    to me by William Stuckey, in the presence of Mr. Fortescue and Captain
+    Wolseley, Stuckey being the servant who attended him in his
+    bed-chamber, and in whose arms he died.
+
+        "Westcote.[12]
+
+    "February the 13th, 1780."
+
+Lord Lyttelton is also asserted to have appeared to Mr. Andrews, his
+friend and boon companion, at the time of his lordship's sudden and
+mysterious death. Of this fact testimony is furnished by Mr. Plumer Ward,
+M.P., in his "Illustrations of Human Life," from which (vol. i. p. 165)
+the following narrative is taken:--
+
+"I had often heard much and read much of Lord Lyttelton's seeing a ghost
+before his death, and of himself as a ghost appearing to Mr. Andrews; and
+one evening, sitting near that gentleman, during a pause in the debates in
+the House of Commons, I ventured to ask him whether there was any and what
+truth in the detailed story so confidently related. Mr. Andrews, as
+perhaps I ought to have expected, did not much like the conversation. He
+looked grave and uneasy, and I asked pardon for my impertinent curiosity.
+Upon this he good-naturedly said, 'It is not a subject I am fond of, and
+least of all in such a place as this; but if you will come and dine with
+me, I will tell you what is true and what is false.' I gladly accepted the
+proposal, and I think my recollection is perfect as to the following
+narrative:--'Mr. Andrews in his youth was the boon-companion, not to say
+fellow-rake, of Lord Lyttelton, who, as is well known, was a man
+distinguished for abilities, but also for a profligacy of morals which few
+could equal. With all this he was remarkable for what may be called
+unnatural cowardice in one so determinedly wicked. He never repented, yet
+could never stifle his conscience. He never could allow, yet never could
+deny, a world to come, and he contemplated with unceasing terror what
+would probably be his own state in such a world if there was one. He was
+always melancholy with fear, or mad in defiance; and probably his
+principal misery here was, that with all his endeavours, he never could
+extinguish the dread of an hereafter.... Andrews was at his house at
+Dartford when Lord Lyttelton died at Pitt Place, Epsom, thirty miles off.
+Andrews' house was full of company, and he expected Lord Lyttelton, whom
+he had left in his usual state of health, to join them the next day, which
+was Sunday. Andrews himself feeling much indisposed on the Saturday
+evening, retired early to bed, and requested Mrs. Pigou, one of his
+guests, to do the honours of the supper-table. He admitted that, when in
+bed, he fell into a feverish sleep, but was waked between eleven and
+twelve by somebody opening his curtains. It was Lord Lyttelton in a
+night-gown and cap, which Andrews recognized. He also plainly spoke to
+him, saying he was come to tell him all was over. The world said he
+informed him there was another state, and bade him repent, &c. That was
+not so. And I confine myself to the exact words of this relation.
+
+"'Now it seems that Lord Lyttelton was fond of horse-play, or what we
+should call _mauvaise plaisanterie_; and, having often made Andrews the
+subject of it, the latter had threatened him with manual chastisement
+next time it occurred. On the present occasion, thinking this annoyance
+renewed, he threw the first thing he could find, which were his slippers,
+at Lord Lyttelton's head. The figure retreated towards a dressing-room
+which had no ingress or egress except through the bed-chamber, and
+Andrews, very angry, leapt out of bed, to follow it into the
+dressing-room. It was not there. Surprised, he returned to the bedroom,
+which he strictly searched. The door was locked on the inside, yet no Lord
+Lyttelton was to be found. He was astonished, but not alarmed, so
+convinced was he that it was some trick of Lord Lyttelton, who, he
+supposed, had arrived, according to his engagement, but after he, Andrews,
+had retired. He therefore rang for his servant, and asked if Lord
+Lyttelton was not come. The man said, "No." "You may depend upon it,"
+replied he, out of humour, "he is somewhere in the house, for he was here
+just now, and is playing some trick." But how he could have got into the
+bedroom with the door locked puzzled both master and man. Convinced,
+however, that he was somewhere in the house, Andrews, in his anger,
+ordered that no bed should be given him, saying he might go to an inn, or
+sleep in the stables. Be that as it may, he never appeared again, and
+Andrews went to sleep.
+
+"'It happened that Mrs. Pigou was to go to town early the next morning.
+What was her astonishment, having heard the disturbance of the night
+before, to hear on her arrival about nine o'clock that Lord Lyttelton had
+died the very night he was supposed to have been seen. She immediately
+sent an express to Dartford with the news; upon the receipt of which,
+Andrews, (quite well, and remembering accurately all that had passed,)
+swooned away. He could not understand it, but it had a most serious effect
+upon him, so that--to use his own expression--he "was not his own man
+again for three years."'
+
+"Such is the celebrated story; stript of its ornamentations and
+exaggerations; and for one, I own, if not convinced that this was a real
+message from Heaven, which certainly I am not, I at least think the hand
+of Providence was seen in it; working upon the imagination, if you please,
+and therefore suspending no law of Nature (though that after all is an
+ambiguous term), but still Providence, in a character not to be mistaken."
+
+The following remarkable occurrence of the Spectral Appearances of two
+persons, one recently dead and the other a canonized saint of the Roman
+Catholic Church, which occurred about thirty years ago, is now published
+for the first time. It is known as "The Weld Ghost Story:"--
+
+"Philip Weld was a younger son of Mr. James Weld of Archer's Lodge, near
+Southampton, and a nephew of the late Cardinal Weld, the head of that
+ancient family, whose chief seat is Lulworth Castle in Dorsetshire.[13] He
+was sent by his father in 1844 to S. Edmund's college, near Ware in
+Hertfordshire, for his education. He was a boy of great piety and virtue,
+and gave not only satisfaction to the masters of studies, but edification
+to all his fellow-students. It happened that on April 16, 1846, a play-day
+or whole holiday, the President of the college gave the boys leave to boat
+upon the river at Ware.
+
+"In the morning of that day Philip Weld had been to the Holy Communion at
+the early celebration of Mass, having just finished his retreat. In the
+afternoon of the same day he went with his companions and some of the
+masters to boat on the river as arranged. This sport he enjoyed very much.
+When one of the masters remarked that it was time to return to the
+college, Philip asked whether they might not have one more row. The master
+consented, and they rowed to the accustomed turning-point. On arriving
+there, and in turning the boat, Philip accidentally fell out into a very
+deep part of the river; and, notwithstanding that every effort was made to
+save him, was drowned.
+
+"His dead body was brought back to the college, and the Very Rev. Dr.
+Cox, the President, was immensely shocked and grieved. He was very fond of
+Philip; but what was most dreadful to him was to have to break this sad
+news to the boy's parents. He scarcely knew what to do, whether to write
+by post, or to send a messenger. At last he determined to go himself to
+Mr. Weld at Southampton. So he set off the same evening, and, passing
+through London, reached Southampton the next day, and drove from thence to
+Archer's Lodge, Mr. Weld's residence.
+
+"On arriving there and being shown into his private study, Dr. Cox found
+Mr. Weld in tears. The latter, rising from his seat and taking the doctor
+by the hand, said, 'My dear sir, you need not tell me what you are come
+for. I know it already. Philip is dead. Yesterday I was walking with my
+daughter Katharine on the turnpike road, in broad daylight, and Philip
+appeared to us both. He was standing on the causeway with another young
+man in a black robe by his side. My daughter was the first to perceive
+him. She said to me, "Look there, papa: there is Philip." I looked and saw
+him. I said to my daughter, "It is Philip, indeed; but he has the look of
+an angel." Not suspecting that he was dead, though greatly wondering that
+he was there, I went towards him with my daughter to embrace him; but a
+few yards being between us, while I was going up to him a labouring man,
+who was walking on the same causeway, passed between the apparition and
+the hedge, and as he went on I saw him pass through their apparent bodies,
+as if they were transparent. On perceiving this I at once felt sure that
+they were spirits, and going forward with my daughter to touch them,
+Philip sweetly smiled on us, and then both he and his companion vanished
+away.'"
+
+"The reader may imagine how deeply affected Dr. Cox was on hearing this
+remarkable statement. He of course corroborated it by relating to the
+afflicted father the circumstances attendant on his son's death, which had
+taken place at the very hour in which he appeared to his father and
+sister. They all concluded that he had died in the grace of God, and that
+he was in happiness, because of the placid smile on his face.[14]
+
+"Dr. Cox asked Mr. Weld who the young man was in the black robe who had
+accompanied his son, and who appeared to have a most beautiful and angelic
+countenance, but he said that he had not the slightest idea.
+
+"A few weeks afterwards, however, Mr. Weld was on a visit to the
+neighbourhood of Stonyhurst in Lancashire. After hearing Mass one morning
+in the chapel, he, while waiting for his carriage, was shown into the
+guest-room, where, walking up to the fireplace, he saw a picture above the
+chimney-piece, which, as it pleased God, represented a young man in a
+black robe with the very face, form, and attitude of the companion of
+Philip as he saw him in the vision, and beneath the picture was inscribed
+'S. Stanislaus Kostka,'[15] one of the greatest saints of the Jesuit
+order, and the one whom Philip had chosen for his patron saint at his
+Confirmation. His father, overpowered with emotion, fell on his knees,
+shedding many tears, and thanking God for this fresh proof of his son's
+blessedness. For in what better company could he be than in that of his
+patron saint, leading him, as it were, into the presence of his Creator
+and his Saviour, from the dangers and temptations of this state of exile
+to a condition of endless blessedness and happiness?"[16]
+
+This is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable and best-authenticated recent
+cases of Spectral Appearances which has ever been narrated. The various
+independent testimonies dove-tailing together so perfectly, centre in the
+leading supernatural fact--the actual apparition in the daytime of a
+person just departed this life by sudden death, seen not by one only, but
+by two people, simultaneously; and seen in company with the spirit of a
+very holy and renowned saint, the chosen patron of the youth who had just
+been drowned. A more clear and conclusive example of the Supernatural it
+would be impossible to obtain.
+
+The following case in certain particulars is not unlike that just
+recorded; for two persons, at a distance of many hundred miles apart, saw
+the Apparition of their departed relative who had just died in
+Australia:--
+
+"Circumstances, in the year 1848," writes a correspondent of the Editor,
+"induced me to allow my youngest daughter to leave England, in order to
+join a son of mine in Australia, who had left home about five years
+previously, to seek his fortune in that country. In England, at home, he
+had every opportunity of making his way in life, and settling
+advantageously, but had availed himself of none that had offered. After
+leaving school, he was placed under a private tutor's care, and duly
+entered at Oxford. There he did nothing, or next to nothing, and left
+without taking any degree. Soon after this, at his own suggestion, in
+company with a friend, whose acquaintance he had made at the university,
+an acquaintance which eventually ripened into a warm friendship, he went
+to Australia; and he did not go empty-handed. A sum of money was placed to
+his credit with a colonial bank in the city of London having agencies in
+that colony, and nothing was left undone to secure for him a good start in
+his self-chosen and new life. I ought to add here that my own wish always
+had been that he should remain at home, and, after receiving orders,
+become vicar of a parish, the patronage of which was in the gift of a
+relation. Man proposes, but God disposes.
+
+"In Australia, as was not otherwise than I myself had anticipated, the
+manner of life was utterly unlike that to which he had been accustomed.
+Ill-luck and want of success met him at every turn, as we afterwards found
+out; and not only did want of success meet him, but he had to undergo
+privations and hardships, which eventually weakened a constitution never
+too strong.
+
+"At the time that I consented to my daughter going out, much of the above
+was unknown to us. He had written complaining of ill-health and weakness,
+and she, with great self-denial and sisterly devotion, resolved to go. She
+went with the understanding that she was soon to return. Just before she
+started, the mail brought us unexceptionally bad news of her brother's
+weak state of health, written by his college friend.
+
+"About six weeks after her departure, I was sitting musing in my
+arm-chair, on a summer afternoon, close to the window of my library, which
+looked out upon a lawn, to the left of which were three large and
+overspreading cedar-trees. All of a sudden I saw the life-like apparition
+of my son standing below the cedar-trees. He looked very pale, thin, and
+careworn, much altered, but my very son. He gazed at me intently, and with
+a mournful gaze, for about the space of two minutes. I could not speak--I
+could not move--I could not take my eyes off him. I seemed riveted to the
+spot; and, of course, I was at once convinced of the fact that he had
+died. Then he seemed gradually to fade away. It was weeks before I could
+get the thoughts of his appearance out of my mind; and nothing that the
+members of my family could say served to remove the impression so
+indelibly stamped upon it of our loss.
+
+"Some months afterwards, we received letters from my daughter (just
+landed) and his other friends in Australia announcing his decease. He had
+died somewhat suddenly, having expressed the most anxious desire to see me
+before his death--a desire repeated again and again, and regarding which
+he seemed to be unquiet.
+
+"The most remarkable feature yet to be told in the circumstance was
+this,--that my daughter, who was reposing in the ladies' cabin of the
+ship, on her way to Australia, saw the apparition of her brother come into
+the cabin, move round it by a strange motion, and then, after looking at
+herself with a strained and mournful look, glide out again.
+
+"Events afterwards showed that these appearances, both on shipboard and at
+my own home, occurred at or about the very time of my dear boy's death.
+And nothing will convince me that the record here set down is not one of
+the most remarkable and undoubted examples of supernatural apparitions.
+May God Almighty join us all together again, after these earthly
+separations, in His heavenly kingdom!"
+
+The following example, which has already appeared in print, is
+authenticated by a personal acquaintance of the Editor, who has kindly
+written him a Letter on the subject. It was first given to Dr. William
+Gregory,[17] who published it about twenty-three years ago. It is said to
+have occurred in 1849:[18]--
+
+"An officer occupied the same room with another officer in the West
+Indies. One night he awoke his companion, and asked him if he saw anything
+in the room, when the latter answered that he saw an old man in the corner
+whom he did not know. 'That,' said the other, 'is my father, and I am sure
+he is dead.' In due time news arrived of his death in England at that very
+time. Long afterwards the officer took his friend who had seen the vision
+to visit the widow, when, on entering the room, he started, and said,
+'_That is the portrait of the old man I saw_.' It was, in fact, the
+portrait of the father, whom the friend had never seen except in the
+vision."
+
+"This story," writes Dr. Gregory, "I have on the best authority; and
+everyone knows that such stories are not uncommon. It is very easy, but
+not satisfactory, to laugh at them as incredible ghost stories; but there
+is a natural truth in them, whatever they may be."
+
+Examples of Apparitions at the time of Death to friends and relations are,
+however, so numerous that a considerable number might readily be printed.
+Here are two, well and duly authenticated.
+
+The following statement is vouched for by the person signing the same:--
+
+    "In the summer of 1816, my father and mother having retired to bed
+    about nine o'clock, the latter was about to draw down the blind, when
+    she observed the figure of a female approaching their house by a
+    footpath which communicated with the village. Thinking the
+    circumstance unusual, she waited till the figure approached
+    sufficiently near to discern its features, when she exclaimed to my
+    father, 'Why, here is my sister B----; what can have induced her to
+    come here at this time of the evening?' She was about to prepare to go
+    downstairs to inquire the cause of such a visit at that late time of
+    night, when my mother observed the figure retracing its steps in the
+    same direction by which it had come. The following morning, early,
+    intelligence was brought to my mother that her sister B---- died at
+    the same hour at which her apparition appeared to my mother. This is a
+    simple statement of facts.
+
+    "Signed by the son of the person to whom the apparition appeared.
+
+        "C. J. Hanmer.
+
+    "33, Henley Street, Camp Hill, Birmingham."
+
+The following is another statement of facts vouched for by those who
+formally testify to its truth:--
+
+    "One evening in the autumn of the year 1868, my wife retired to bed
+    early. On my entering the bedroom about midnight, I found her wide
+    awake, and in a very excited state. On inquiring the cause, she stated
+    that she believed most firmly she had seen our old friend Mrs. G----,
+    then residing at a distance, whom we believed to be in perfect health.
+    My wife gave a minute description of her dress, which I had remembered
+    to have seen her wear, and at the same time stated that when the
+    apparition appeared to her, every object in the bedroom was strangely
+    but distinctly visible. Of course I tried to allay my wife's
+    excitement by assuring her that she was suffering from the effects of
+    an unpleasant dream, but I failed to shake her conviction that she had
+    seen the spirit of our friend.
+
+    "Nothing occurred during the next day, but on the following we
+    received a letter from a relative, stating that Mrs. G---- had died
+    the night before about twelve o'clock.
+
+    "It appears that Mrs. G----, while in her garden, was observed to fall
+    upon one of the flower beds. Having been taken to her room, medical
+    aid was promptly procured, but without avail: she remained unconscious
+    from that time until the moment of her death, which occurred about
+    twelve o'clock the same evening.
+
+
+        "(Signed) C. L. Hanmer,
+                  Catherine Hanmer
+                  (Wife of the above).
+
+    "Branch Dispensary, Camp Hill, Birmingham,
+     Oct. 18, 1872."
+
+The following Account of the Apparition of a murdered man, near the place
+of his death, is very remarkable. It has been published, though in another
+form, in Australia, and is there generally accepted as true. The version
+given below is from those who are thoroughly competent to furnish a true
+and faithful account of a very impressive narrative:--
+
+"In Australia, about twenty-five years ago, two graziers, who had
+emigrated from England, and entered into partnership, became, as was
+generally believed, possessed of considerable property, by an unlooked-for
+success in their precarious but not unprofitable occupation. One of them
+all of a sudden was missed, and could nowhere be found. Search was made
+for him in every quarter, likely and unlikely, yet no tidings of him or
+his whereabouts could be heard.
+
+"One evening, about three weeks afterwards, his partner and companion was
+returning to his hut along a bye-path which skirted a deep and broad sheet
+of water. The shadows of twilight were deepening, and the setting sun was
+almost shut out by the tall shrubs, brushwood, and rank grass which grew
+so thick and wild. In a moment he saw the crouching figure of his
+companion, apparently as real and life-like as could be, sitting on the
+ground by the very margin of the deep pond, with his left arm bent,
+resting on his left knee. He was about to rush forward and speak, when the
+figure seemed to grow less distinct, and the ashen-coloured face wore an
+unusually sad and melancholy aspect; so he paused. On this the figure,
+becoming again more palpable, raised its right arm, and, holding down the
+index finger of the right hand, pointed to a dark and deep hole, where the
+water was still and black, immediately beside an overhanging tree. This
+action was deliberately done, and then twice repeated, after which the
+figure, growing more and more indistinct, seemed to fade away.
+
+"The grazier was mortally terrified and alarmed. For a while he stood
+riveted to the spot, fearing either to go forward or backward; while the
+silence of evening and the strange solitude, now for the first time in
+his Australian life thoroughly experienced, overawed him completely.
+Afterwards he turned and went home. Night, which came on soon, brought him
+no sleep. He was restless, agitated, and disquieted.
+
+"The next morning, in company with others, the pool was dragged, and the
+body of his partner discovered, in the very spot towards which the figure
+of the phantom had twice pointed. It had been weighted and weighed down by
+a large stone attached to the body; while from the same spot was recovered
+a kind of axe or hatchet, with which the murder had evidently been
+committed. This was identified as having belonged to a certain adventurer,
+who, on being taxed and formally charged with the murder, and found to be
+possessed of certain valuable documents belonging to the murdered man,
+eventually confessed his crime, and was executed.
+
+"This incident, and its supernatural occurrences, made a deep impression;
+and, having been abundantly testified to, in a court of justice, as well
+as in common and general conversation, is not likely to be soon forgotten
+in the neighbourhood of Ballarat, in Australia, where it occurred."
+
+Here, of course, the purpose of the Apparition was obvious enough; and the
+end attained was as just and proper as it was true and righteous; for
+"whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
+
+The following example of the appearance of the spirit of a dying woman to
+her children, who were at a distance of some hundreds of miles from her,
+is a plain unvarnished narrative of facts. It is now published for the
+first time.
+
+"A lady and her husband (who held a position of some distinction in India)
+were returning home (A.D. 1854) after an absence of four years, to join a
+family of young children, when the former was seized in Egypt with an
+illness of a most alarming character; and, though carefully tended by an
+English physician and nursed with the greatest care, grew so weak that
+little or no hope of her recovery existed. With that true kindness which
+is sometimes withheld by those about a dying bed, she was properly and
+plainly informed of her dangerous state, and bidden to prepare for the
+worst. Of a devout, pious, and reverential mind, she is reported to have
+made a careful preparation for her latter end, though no clergyman was at
+hand to minister the last sacrament, or to afford spiritual consolation.
+The only point which seemed to disturb her mind, after the delirium of
+fever had passed away, was a deep-seated desire to see her absent children
+once again, which she frequently expressed to those who attended upon her.
+Day after day, for more than a week, she gave utterance to her longings
+and prayers, remarking that she would die happily if only this one wish
+could be gratified.
+
+"On the morning of the day of her departure hence, she fell into a long
+and heavy sleep, from which her attendants found it difficult to arouse
+her. During the whole period of it she lay perfectly tranquil. Soon after
+noon, however, she suddenly awoke, exclaiming, 'I have seen them all: I
+have seen them. God be praised for Jesus Christ's sake!' and then slept
+again. Towards evening, in perfect peace and with many devout
+exclamations, she calmly yielded up her spirit to God Who gave it. Her
+body was brought to England, and interred in the family burying-place.
+
+"The most remarkable part of this incident remains to be told. The
+children of the dying lady were being educated at Torquay under the
+supervision of a friend of the family. At the very time that their mother
+thus slept, they were confined to the house where they lived, by a severe
+storm of thunder and lightning. Two apartments on one floor, perfectly
+distinct, were then occupied by them as play and recreation rooms. All
+were there gathered together. No one of the children was absent. They were
+amusing themselves with games of chance, books, and toys, in company of a
+nursemaid who had never seen their parents. All of a sudden their mother,
+as she usually appeared, entered the larger room of the two, pausing,
+looked for some moments at each and smiled, passed into the next room, and
+then vanished away. Three of the elder children recognized her at once,
+but were greatly disturbed and impressed at her appearance, silence, and
+manner. The younger and the nursemaid each and all saw a lady in white
+come into the smaller room, and then slowly glide by and fade away."
+
+The date of this occurrence, September 10, 1854, was carefully noted, and
+it was afterwards found that the two events above recorded happened almost
+contemporaneously. A record of the event was committed to paper, and
+transcribed on a fly-leaf of the family Bible, from which the above
+account was taken and given to the Editor of this book in the autumn of
+the year 1871, by a relation of the lady in question, who is well
+acquainted with the fact of her spectral appearance at Torquay, and has
+vouched for the truth of it in the most distinct and formal manner. The
+husband, who was reported to have been of a somewhat sceptical habit of
+mind, was deeply impressed by the occurrence. And though it is seldom
+referred to now, it is known to have had a very deep and lasting religious
+effect on more than one person who was permitted directly to witness
+it.[19]
+
+A personal acquaintance of the Editor, whom he has had the pleasure of
+knowing for twenty years, most kindly furnishes the following example:--
+
+"In the winter of 1872-3 I was afflicted with a long and severe illness,
+so severe indeed, that for six weeks I was hovering between life and
+death. A nurse of great knowledge and intelligence was in attendance on
+me; she had been brought up as a Socinian, and was entirely careless as to
+religious belief. At the same time she was wholly devoted to her duties,
+and most attentive and assiduous in the same. Two days after her arrival
+she was sitting up in the adjoining room, the folding-doors between which
+and the room where I was lying being open, and lights were burning in each
+apartment. It had struck two o'clock a.m., and from my critical position
+she was unwilling either to sleep or to secure temporary rest. On looking
+up at that moment she perceived a form bending over me. The figure was
+that of an aged person with attenuated features, straggling grey hair, and
+thin clasped hands, which were placed in the attitude of prayer. For a
+while she thought it was someone who had entered the room; but, after
+gazing at it intently, she was smitten with a strange awe, and stood
+watching it attentively for at least five minutes, when it gradually faded
+away and disappeared.
+
+"On the first opportunity she mentioned this strange occurrence to the
+people of the house, when she heard for the first time that my father had
+been lying dangerously ill at his own residence, more than a hundred
+miles away. At the time of my own and my father's sickness, my dangerous
+state, for medical and prudential reasons, was not communicated to him,
+and my illness was made light of, fearing the bad effect upon himself.
+That it was his Spirit which then appeared seems undoubted: for at two
+o'clock p.m. a relation came to see me from the City where my father had
+lived, to break to me the sad news of his decease. He had departed this
+life exactly at the period when his apparition in the attitude of prayer
+had been seen by my attendant. These facts were not made known to me until
+some time afterwards."[20]
+
+The following story, no less interesting and impressive, appears in "The
+Life and Times of Lord Brougham, written by Himself," published a few
+years ago by Messrs. Blackwood and Co.:--
+
+"'A most remarkable thing happened to me--so remarkable that I must tell
+the story from the beginning. After I left the High School [in Edinburgh],
+I went with G----, my most intimate friend, to attend the classes in the
+University. There was no divinity class, but we frequently in our walks
+discussed and speculated upon many grave subjects--among others, on the
+immortality of the soul, and on a future state. This question and the
+possibility, I will not say of ghosts walking, but of the dead appearing
+to the living, were subjects of much speculation; and we actually
+committed the folly of drawing up an agreement, written with our blood, to
+the effect that whichever of us died first should appear to the other, and
+thus solve any doubts we had entertained of the "life after death." After
+we had finished our classes at the College, G---- went to India, having
+got an appointment there in the Civil Service. He seldom wrote to me, and
+after the lapse of a few years I had almost forgotten him; moreover, his
+family having little connection with Edinburgh, I seldom saw or heard
+anything of them, or of him through them, so that all the old schoolboy
+intimacy had died out and I had nearly forgotten his existence. I had
+taken, as I have said, a warm bath; and while in it and enjoying the
+comfort of the heat after the late freezing I had undergone, I turned my
+head round towards the chair on which I had deposited my clothes, as I was
+about to get out of the bath. On the chair sat G----, looking calmly at
+me. How I got out of the bath I know not, but on recovering my senses I
+found myself sprawling on the floor. The apparition, or whatever it was
+that had taken the likeness of G----, had disappeared. The vision produced
+such a shock that I had no inclination to talk about it, or to speak about
+it even to Stuart; but the impression it made upon me was too vivid to be
+easily forgotten; and so strongly was I affected by it, that I have here
+written down the whole history with the date, 19th December, and all the
+particulars as they are now fresh before me. No doubt I had fallen asleep;
+and that the appearance presented so distinctly to my eyes was a dream, I
+cannot for a moment doubt, yet for years I had had no communication with
+G----, nor had there been anything to recall him to my recollection;
+nothing had taken place during our Swedish travels either connected with
+G---- or with India, or with anything relating to him or to any member of
+his family. I recollected quickly enough our old discussion, and the
+bargain we had made. I could not discharge from my mind the impression
+that G---- must have died, and that his appearance to me was to be
+received by me as a proof of a future state.' This was on December 19,
+1799. In October, 1862, Lord Brougham added as a postscript:--'I have just
+been copying out from my journal the account of this strange dream:
+certissima mortis imago! And now to finish the story, begun about sixty
+years since. Soon after my return to Edinburgh there arrived a letter from
+India announcing G----'s death! and stating that he had died on the 19th
+of December.'"
+
+The following example of the apparition of a departed friend is, for
+reasons which will be apparent from the narrative, not unlike the three
+curious, but independent cases already recorded in the early part of the
+present chapter, and not altogether unlike that told by the late Lord
+Brougham. It comes directly to the Editor from the pen of the person who
+saw the spectral appearance:--
+
+"I was sitting in my library one evening, towards the close of summer,
+somewhat late. The shadow of evening had been deepening for some time, for
+the sun had long gone down; and the expansive valley beyond and below my
+sloping garden was white with mist. Within, beyond the heavy folds of the
+curtains which hung beside a single and rather small and open window,
+there was a grey darkness which almost enshrouded the corners of the room
+on either side. I had been musing and meditating on a variety of subjects,
+theological, metaphysical, and moral, for more than an hour; while I
+reposed in a low arm-chair on one side of the fire-place.
+
+"All of a sudden I saw what seemed to be an elongated perpendicular cloud
+of foggy-looking grey smoke, collected in the right-hand corner of the
+room. I could not comprehend what it was. While looking steadily at it,
+and rubbing my eyes (doubting for a moment whether I was awake or asleep),
+it seemed to form itself, by a kind of circular rolling motion of the
+smoke or luminous mist, into a human shape. There, before me, came out
+slowly, as it were, face, head, body, arms, hands and feet--at first a
+little indistinct in detail, but eventually so self-evident and clear
+that it was impossible to doubt the fact--of a figure, which a moment or
+two afterwards was developed into the exact and unmistakeable form of an
+old fellow-student at Oxford, who had died soon after we left that
+university, and of whom I had heard nothing whatever since the day of his
+death about seven years previously,[21] to that moment. Appearing just as
+he had lived, though death-like and ashen, he looked at me with a fixed
+and strangely-vacant stare, which appeared to grow alternately vivid and
+piercing, and dull and nebulous. I seemed to feel the air all at once
+chill and unearthly; and an indescribable sensation came over me which I
+had never experienced either before or afterwards. I felt almost
+paralyzed, and yet not altogether terrified. The form of my old college
+companion (who had been a very upright, devout and religious man) in a
+moment smiled at me, and raising his hand, pointed for a few seconds
+upwards. At this action a very bright mist, not exactly a light, but a
+luminous mist, seemed to hover over him. I tried to speak, but could not.
+My tongue clave to the roof of my mouth. Then, protecting myself with the
+sign of the Cross, and a mental invocation of the Blessed Trinity, I
+sheltered my eyes with my right hand for a few seconds, and then looking
+up again saw the apparition become more and more indistinct and soon
+altogether fade away.
+
+"This is my ghost story, and I have always connected the appearance with
+arguments and conversations which, against aggressive objectors, used to
+be held at Oxford in defence of the Christian doctrines of the
+Resurrection of the Body and the Immortality of the Soul, in which my dead
+friend took so intelligent and earnest a part."
+
+Not less interesting is the following account of a Spectral Appearance
+which occurred in the latter part of the afternoon of a bright autumnal
+day, well authenticated, and here set forth for the first time:--
+
+"The widow of a well-known Bristol merchant was, in 1856, acting as lady
+housekeeper to a Berkshire clergyman. One of her sons was an officer in
+the Indian army, and serving in the Madras Presidency. It was his custom
+to write to his mother by every fortnightly mail. He had not missed doing
+so with punctual regularity.
+
+"One evening, however, between six and seven, in the month of October of
+the above year, the lady in question was walking on the lawn before the
+house, in company with the curate of the parish, a well-known Oxford man,
+when all of a sudden both of them saw what appeared to be a dog-cart
+containing three men drive along the lane which skirted the lawn and
+flower-garden, and which was separated from it by a closely-cut
+box-hedge, so low as to admit of those who were walking in the garden
+seeing with ease and distinctness any person approaching the house in a
+vehicle. It was driven in the direction of the carriage entrance, and,
+from the sound, appeared to have entered the court-yard of the house. One
+of the persons in it, he who sat behind, half rose, and looking towards
+his mother and the clergyman, smiled, and waved his right hand as a
+greeting. He looked very pale and ashy; otherwise there was nothing
+remarkable in his appearance. Both most distinctly observed the action
+just mentioned. Immediately on seeing it, the lady exclaimed with marked
+feeling and excitement, 'Good heavens! why, there's Robert.' She at once
+rushed through a passage of the house, which led directly to the
+court-yard, only to find to her amazement and perplexity that no carriage
+nor dog-cart had arrived, and that the large gates of the house were, as
+usual, locked and fastened, and moreover had not been opened.
+
+"The impression this remarkable incident made was deep and great. No doubt
+whatever existed in the minds of those who had seen and heard the passing
+vehicle, that the form on the seat behind was the son of the lady in
+question. She consequently felt confident that some harm had happened to
+him, became miserable, and was inconsolable. No remarks or reasoning to
+the contrary, several of which were attempted, produced the slightest
+effect. A deep gloom settled over her. The sequel can soon be narrated. In
+the course of a few weeks the mail _viâ_ Southampton, most anxiously
+looked for, brought two letters to the lady in question, one intimating
+that her son had been suddenly struck with a most severe fever, was
+delirious and in great danger; the other intimating his death. This latter
+occurred on the very day at which the appearance in question was seen, but
+at a slightly different time."
+
+With the following example, as strange in itself as it is painfully
+interesting, this part of the subject will be brought to a close. It is
+only right to add that a version of the incident which now follows has
+already appeared in one of Mr. Henry Spicer's interesting volumes:--
+
+"A young German lady of rank, still alive to tell the story, arriving with
+her friends at one of the most noted hotels in Paris, an apartment of
+unusual magnificence on the first floor was apportioned to her use. After
+retiring to rest, she lay awake a long while contemplating, by the dim
+light of a night lamp, the costly ornaments in the room, when suddenly the
+folding doors opposite the bed, which she had locked, were thrown open,
+and amid a flood of unearthly light there entered a young man in the dress
+of the French navy, having his hair dressed in the peculiar mode _à la
+Titus_. Taking a chair, and placing it in the middle of the room, he sat
+down, and took from his pocket a pistol of an uncommon make, which he
+deliberately put to his forehead, fired, and fell back dead. At the moment
+of the explosion, the room became dark and still, and a low voice said
+softly, 'Say an _Ave Maria_ for his soul.'
+
+"The young lady fell back, not insensible, but paralyzed with horror, and
+remained in a kind of cataleptic trance, fully conscious, but unable to
+move or speak, until at nine o'clock, no answer having been given to
+repeated calls of her maid, the doors were forced open. At the same
+moment, the powers of speech returned, and the poor young lady shrieked
+out to her attendants that a man had shot himself in the night, and was
+lying dead on the floor. Nothing, however, was to be seen, and they
+concluded that she was suffering from the effects of a dream.
+
+"A short time afterwards, however, the proprietor of the hotel informed a
+gentleman of the party that the terrible scene witnessed by the young lady
+had in reality been enacted only three nights previously in that very
+room, when a young French officer put an end to his life with a pistol of
+a peculiar description, which, together with the body, was then lying at
+the Morgue, awaiting identification. The gentleman examined them both, and
+found them exactly correspond with the description of the man and the
+pistol seen in the apparition. The Archbishop of Paris, Monseigneur
+Sibour, being exceedingly impressed by the story, called upon the young
+lady; and, directing her attention to the words spoken by the mysterious
+voice, urged her to embrace the Roman Catholic faith, to whose teaching,
+as His Grace asserted, it pointed so clearly."
+
+The various examples of Spectral Appearances now given (and they might
+have been largely augmented) may certainly serve to provide cases, so
+inherently striking and conclusive in themselves, as to leave little or no
+doubt of their intrinsic truth. Making every allowance for unintentional
+misconceptions and exaggeration in the record of them, putting aside mere
+rhetorical ornaments and literary additions, it seems quite impossible,
+being guided by the ordinary rules of evidence, not to admit the force and
+value of such striking facts as the above. In the cases already set forth,
+it is quite irrational to maintain that the disturbed imagination or wild
+fancy of the persons who are said to have seen the Apparitions were the
+sole foundations of the things seen; more especially as in some instances
+the Appearances were beheld by two or more persons at the same time, and
+often the same form presented itself to different people upon different
+occasions. It may be that some own a power of seeing disembodied spirits,
+which is not possessed by others, and it is tolerably certain that the
+large majority of people have never beheld anything of the sort. But this,
+after all, is but negative testimony. That which is positive, covering, it
+may be, a small area, is of considerable value and importance in aiding
+those who are open to conviction in coming to a reasonable conclusion. For
+existing positive evidence cannot be rudely and arrogantly set aside, when
+found to be, as in the case under consideration, so completely in harmony
+with many of the plain and specific statements of Holy Scripture, with the
+express testimony of the Fathers of the Christian Church, and the almost
+universal tradition of mankind in every age.
+
+
+
+
+HAUNTED HOUSES AND LOCALITIES.
+
+
+"Nations civilized as well as uncivilized: barbarians of the rudest type,
+and Christians of the highest and deepest spirituality, have always
+believed that certain localities were the haunts of unquiet
+spirits."-_-Richard H. Froude._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HAUNTED HOUSES AND LOCALITIES.
+
+
+Many who are unaffected by the demoralizing and degrading materialistic
+theories of life, which are now enunciated by some who name themselves,
+and whom their flattering admirers style "philosophers," will not be
+unwilling to allow that a considerable amount of evidence[22] is in
+existence, indicating that certain localities are troubled by the presence
+of evil spirits, who from time to time manifest their powers, or sometimes
+appear to mankind in forms which give a shock to those who are enabled or
+permitted to perceive them.
+
+If Christian tradition be accepted, a belief in the official ministry of
+unfallen spirits,--"the armies of the Living God,"--will be held,
+firmly[23] and intelligibly, as a most reasonable and beautiful part of
+Almighty God's revelation, Who "has ordained and constituted the services
+of angels and men in a wonderful order." So, by consequence, the existence
+and action of fallen angels, the Legions of Satan, and of spirits,[24]
+who, at the particular judgment following immediately upon death, have
+merited the swift and righteous condemnation of an all-just Judge, will be
+fully admitted.
+
+The power, activity, and malice of Satan is apparent from numerous
+statements in Holy Scripture; and most Christian writers who have dealt
+with the subject of evil spirits have maintained that their power and
+influence are unquestionably greater in some localities than others. It is
+commonly held, that in lonely deserts, on lofty mountains, where the feet
+of men seldom tread, as well as in the mines of the earth,[25] and in vast
+forests where desolation reigns, the powers of the Devil and his angels,
+being unchecked and uncurbed by the positive energizing activity of
+Christianity, are vast. So, likewise, the universal instinct of mankind
+has maintained that there are certain places in which the appearances of
+unquiet or lost souls might be reasonably looked for, rather than in
+others. Deserted houses and lonely roads, where crimes of violence and
+special wickedness have been perpetrated; deep mines,[26] localities,
+unblessed by Holy Church, where the bodies of Christians have been placed
+to moulder away, instead of in God's holy acre, the consecrated
+churchyard; battlefields, where it may be that so many have been cut off
+in deadly sin--
+
+  "Unhouseled, disappointed, unanealed,"
+
+have each and all been regarded as the fitting haunts of disquieted and
+wandering spirits.
+
+On this point Southey, in "The Doctor," with much force thus writes:--"The
+popular belief that _places_ are haunted where money has been concealed
+(as if, where the treasure was and the heart had been, there would the
+miserable soul be also), or where some great and undiscovered crime has
+been committed, shows how consistent this is with our natural sense of
+fitness."
+
+On a collateral detail of this subject (the constant and malignant
+activity of evil spirits), Mr. John Wesley, a thorough believer in the
+Supernatural, put forth his faith and convictions with singular force and
+lucidity, plainly maintaining the reality and importance of all those
+explicit statements of Holy Scripture which so directly and practically
+bear on the point under treatment.
+
+"Let us consider," wrote Wesley, "what may be the employment of unholy
+spirits from death to the resurrection. We cannot doubt but the moment
+they leave the body, they find themselves surrounded by spirits of their
+own kind, probably human as well as diabolical. What power God may permit
+these to exercise over them we do not distinctly know. But it is not
+improbable [that] He may suffer Satan to employ them as he does his own
+angels, in inflicting death or evils of various kinds on the men that know
+not God. For this end they may raise storms by sea or by land; they may
+shoot meteors through the air; they may occasion earthquakes; and in
+numberless ways afflict those whom they are not suffered to destroy. Where
+they are not permitted to take away life, they may inflict various
+diseases; and many of these, which we may judge to be natural, are
+undoubtedly diabolical. I believe this is frequently the case with
+lunatics. It is observable that many of these, mentioned in the Scripture,
+who are called 'lunatics' by one of the Evangelists, are termed
+'demoniacs' by another. One of the most eminent physicians I ever knew,
+particularly in cases of insanity, the late Dr. Deacon, was clearly of
+opinion that this was the case with many, if not with most lunatics. And
+it is no valid objection to this, that these diseases are so often cured
+by natural means; for a wound inflicted by an evil spirit might be cured
+as any other, unless that spirit were permitted to repeat the blow. May
+not some of these evil spirits be likewise employed, in conjunction with
+evil angels, in tempting wicked men to sin, and in procuring occasions for
+them? Yea, and in tempting good men to sin, even after they have escaped
+the corruption that is in the World. Herein, doubtless, they put forth all
+their strength, and greatly glory if they conquer."[27]
+
+Although some may maintain that this passage is perhaps wanting in
+theological exactness, there can be little doubt that, with much force, it
+truly and eloquently embodies the belief of all Christian people, and
+gives a simple and forcible explanation of Scripture statements regarding
+the active and untiring energy of the legions of Hell.
+
+Again, the Marquis de Marsay, a pious French Protestant writer of the last
+century, whose collected works were issued about the year 1735, sets forth
+from his own point of view a theory regarding the nature and character of
+spirits, which because it bears directly on the subject of Haunted
+Localities, and in some respects follows the teaching of the schoolmen, it
+may be well to quote here:--
+
+"I believe," he writes, "that there are three kind of spirits, which
+return to this World, after the death of their bodies. The spirits of such
+as are in a state of condemnation, and which are in a very miserable
+condition, hover about, and _haunt the places where they have committed
+their evil deeds and iniquities_. They remain at these places by divine
+permission, and do all the evil they can; whilst, at the same time, they
+suffer intolerable torments and are malignant. Some of this kind of
+spirits occasionally make themselves visible.... The second kind of
+spirits are those which roam about, because they seek to free themselves
+from their state of purification[28] by other means than by resignation
+to Divine Justice; hence they seek help from those that fear God, and in
+so doing, withdraw themselves from the Divine Order.... These are not evil
+spirits, but such as are still in their self-will, and therefore refuse to
+yield to the Divine Order, by voluntarily submitting themselves to the
+punishment imposed upon them.... _The third kind of spirits, or rather
+souls that reappear, are those, whose punishment is to be at some certain
+place in this world, because they have satisfied their passions in that
+place, and lived according to their lusts in an idolatrous manner_; for
+that which now causes a man lust and pleasure, must hereafter serve as his
+pain and punishment. Of this we have several instances; amongst others,
+that of a pious man, who after his death appeared to his daughter, who was
+likewise a pious person, and after conversing with her some time on his
+state, began to turn pale, to tremble, and be much distressed; and said to
+his daughter that the time was now arrived when he must go and remain for
+a time in his grave, with his putrefying and corrupting corpse; and that
+this happened to him every day, because in his life-time he had had too
+much affection and tenderness for his body."
+
+The dissertations of the schoolmen, and of certain English writers of the
+seventeenth century, are not unlike the above.[29] So, too, are several
+of their most reasonable deductions and conclusions. In fact, Dr. Joseph
+Hall, sometime Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1627-1641, and afterwards of
+Norwich, from 1641 until 1656), maintained that many souls, guilty both of
+deadly sin (duly repented of during life), and of venial sin, in which not
+improbably they died, might have to suffer, by lingering, unsatisfied,
+because away from their Creator, and about the places where they sinned
+in their lifetime, until their temporal punishment was complete; a theory
+which though from the pen of one suspected of favouring Puritanism, is
+very like that embodied in the faith and practice of the Universal Church.
+
+However this may be, at all events there is scarcely a locality in which
+some old tradition as regards Haunted Houses and Places does not exist;
+and which is not more or less accepted and believed in even now. A general
+rejection of the Supernatural may be the case with many, and a shallow
+desire not to be thought superstitious or over-credulous by more, are
+obvious reasons why some traditions have become weakened and others
+obscure. But putting aside all such, half-lost, forgotten, or fading away,
+and making every allowance for exaggeration and hyperbole, the facts which
+can still be testified to by credible witnesses, the evidence which is
+even now on record, coupled with that innate sentiment of awe, so common
+to many, and often strengthened by a sound religious belief, which gives
+point to old traditions, are sufficient to induce the calm and the
+unprejudiced not too hastily to disavow the existence of a principle of
+almost universal acceptance with mankind, and which neither the lame and
+limping logic of the sceptic, nor the imperfectly marshalled facts and
+random conclusions of the materialist can, in the long run, either weaken
+or destroy.
+
+The following curious record, a fair example of numerous others, may now
+be suitably set forth:--
+
+"Elizabeth, the third daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke (preceptor to Edward
+VI.) married Sir Thomas Hobby, of Bisham Abbey in Berkshire, and
+accompanied him to France, when as ambassador to Queen Elizabeth he went
+thither. On his death abroad in 1566 Lady Hobby brought his corpse home to
+Bisham, where he was buried in a mortuary chapel. She afterwards married
+John, Lord Russell. By her first husband she had a son, who when quite
+young is said to have entertained the greatest dislike and antipathy to
+every kind of learning; and such was his resolute repugnance to acquiring
+the art of writing that in a fit of obstinacy he would wilfully and
+deliberately blot his writing-books in the most slovenly manner. Such
+conduct so vexed and angered his mother, who was eminently intellectual,
+and like her three sisters, Lady Burleigh, Lady Bacon, and Lady Killigrew,
+an excellent classical scholar, that she beat him again and again on the
+shoulders and head, and at last so severely and unmercifully that he died.
+
+"It is commonly reported that, as a punishment for her unnatural cruelty,
+her spirit is doomed to haunt the house where this cruel act of
+manslaughter was perpetrated. Several persons have seen the apparition,
+the likeness of which, both as regards feature and dress, to a pale
+portrait of her ladyship in antique widow's weeds still remaining at
+Bisham, is said to be exact and lifelike. She is reported to glide through
+a certain chamber, in the act of washing blood stains from her hands. And
+on some occasions the apparition is said to have been seen in the grounds
+of the old mansion.
+
+"A very remarkable occurrence in connection with this narrative, took
+place about thirty years ago. In taking down an old oak window-shutter of
+the latter part of the sixteenth century, _a packet of antique copy-books
+of that period were discovered pushed into the wall between the joists of
+the skirting, and several of these books on which young Hobby's name was
+written, were covered with blots, thus supporting the ordinary
+tradition_."[30]
+
+Creslow in Buckinghamshire,[31] like so many old manor-houses, has its
+ghost story. It is said to be the disturbed and restless spirit of a lady,
+which haunts a certain sleeping chamber in the oldest portion of the
+house. She has been seldom seen but often heard only too plainly by those
+who have ventured to sleep in this room, or to enter it after midnight.
+She appears to come up from the old groined crypt, and always enters by
+the door at the top of the nearest staircase. After entering she is heard
+to walk about, sometimes in a gentle, stately manner, apparently with a
+long silk train sweeping the floor. Sometimes her motion is quick and
+hurried, her silk dress rustling violently as if she were engaged in a
+desperate struggle.
+
+This chamber, though furnished as a bedroom, is seldom used, and is said
+to be never entered without trepidation and awe. Occasionally, however,
+some persons have been found bold enough to dare the harmless noises of
+the mysterious intruder; and many are the stories current in
+Buckinghamshire respecting such adventures. The following will suffice as
+a specimen, and may be depended on as authentic:--
+
+"About the year 1850, a gentleman, not many years ago High Sheriff of the
+county, who resides some few miles' distance from Creslow, rode over to a
+dinner-party; and, as the night became exceedingly dark and rainy, he was
+urged to stay over the night if he had no objection to sleep in the
+haunted chamber. The offer of a bed in such a room, so far from deterring
+him, induced him at once to accept the invitation. He was a strong-minded
+man of a powerful frame and undaunted courage, and like so many others,
+entertained a sovereign contempt for all haunted chambers, ghosts, and
+apparitions. The room was prepared for him. He would neither have a fire
+nor a night-light, but was provided with a box of lucifers that he might
+light a candle if he wished. Arming himself in jest with a cutlass and a
+brace of pistols, he took a serio-comic farewell of the family and entered
+his formidable dormitory.
+
+"In due course, morning dawned; the sun rose, and a most beautiful day
+succeeded a very wet and dismal night. The family and their guests
+assembled in the breakfast-room, and every countenance seemed cheered and
+brightened by the loveliness of the morning. They drew round the table,
+when the host remarked that Mr. S--, the tenant of the haunted chamber,
+was absent. A servant was sent to summon him to breakfast, but he soon
+returned, saying he had knocked loudly at his door, but received no
+answer, and that a jug of hot water left there was still standing unused.
+On hearing this, two or three gentlemen ran up to the room, and, after
+knocking and receiving no answer, opened it and entered. It was empty.
+Inquiry was made of the servants; they had neither seen nor heard anything
+of him. As he was a county magistrate, some supposed that he had gone to
+attend the Board which met that morning at an early hour. But his horse
+was still in the stable; so that could not be. While they were at
+breakfast, however, he came in, and gave the following account of his last
+night's experiences:--'Having entered my room,' said he, 'I locked and
+bolted both the doors, carefully examined the whole room, and satisfied
+myself that there was no living creature in it but myself, nor any
+entrance but those which I had secured. I got into bed, and, with the
+conviction that I should sleep soundly as usual till six in the morning,
+was soon lost in a comfortable slumber. Suddenly I was awakened, and, on
+raising my head to listen, I certainly heard a sound resembling the light
+soft tread of a lady's footstep, accompanied with the rustling as of a
+silk gown. I sprang out of bed, and having lighted a candle, found that
+there was nothing either to be seen or heard. I carefully examined the
+whole room. I looked under the bed, into the fire-place, up the chimney,
+and at both the doors, which were fastened just as I had left them. I then
+looked at my watch, and found it was a few minutes past twelve. As all was
+now perfectly quiet again, I put out the candle, got into bed, and soon
+fell asleep. I was again aroused. The noise was now louder than before. It
+appeared like the violent rustling of a stiff silk dress. A second time I
+sprang out of bed, darted to the spot where the noise was, and tried to
+grasp the intruder in my arms. My arms met together, but enclosed nothing.
+The noise passed to another part of the room, and I followed it, groping
+near the floor to prevent anything passing under my arms. It was in vain,
+I could feel nothing. The sound died at the doorway to the crypt, and all
+again was still. I now left the candle burning, though I never sleep
+comfortably with a light in my room, and went to bed again, but certainly
+felt not a little perplexed at being unable to detect the cause of the
+noise, nor to account for its cessation when the candle was lighted.'"
+
+So that this gentleman's experience (and as to ghosts, he was a sceptic)
+only served to strengthen the old and unbroken tradition. Of its
+foundation nothing very certain is known. The general facts, however, are
+commonly received.
+
+Another example, unusually curious, relating to the Castle at York, is
+taken from the "Memoirs of Sir John Reresby:"--
+
+"One of my soldiers being on guard about eleven in the night at the gate
+of Clifford Tower, the very night after the witch was arraigned, he heard
+a great noise at the Castle; and, going to the porch, he saw there a
+scroll of paper creep from under the door, which, as he imagined by
+moonshine, turned first into the shape of a monkey, and thence assumed the
+form of a turkey-cock, which passed to and fro by him. Surprised at this,
+he went to the prison, and called the under-keeper, who came and saw the
+scroll dance up and down, and creep under the door, where there was scarce
+an opening of the thickness of half-a-crown. This extraordinary story I
+had from the mouth both of one and the other."[32]
+
+An account of the haunting of Spedlin's Tower was furnished to me by a
+Scotch friend, who asserts and vouches for the authenticity of the
+tradition:--
+
+"Spedlin's Tower, the scene of one of the best accredited and most curious
+ghost stories perhaps ever printed, stands on the south-west bank of the
+Annan, in Dumfriesshire. The ghost story is simply this:--Sir Alexander
+Jardine, of Applegarth, in the time of Charles II., had confined in the
+dungeon of his tower of Spedlin's, a miller named Porteous, suspected of
+having wilfully set fire to his own premises. Sir Alexander being soon
+after suddenly called away to Edinburgh, carried the key of the vault with
+him, and did not recollect or consider his prisoner's case till he was
+passing through the West Port, where, perhaps, the sight of the warder's
+keys brought the matter to his mind. He immediately sent back a courier to
+liberate the man, but Porteous had, in the meantime, died of hunger.
+
+"No sooner was he dead, than his ghost began to torment the household, and
+no rest was to be had within Spedlin's Tower by day or by night. In this
+dilemma, Sir Alexander, according to old use and wont, summoned a whole
+legion of ministers to his aid; and by their strenuous efforts, Porteous
+was at length confined to the scene of his mortal agonies, where, however,
+he continued to scream occasionally at night, 'Let me out, let me out,
+for I'm deein' o' hunger!' He also used to flutter against the door of the
+vault, and was always sure to remove the bark from any twig that was
+sportively thrust through the key-hole. The spell which thus compelled the
+spirit to remain in bondage was attached to a large black-lettered Bible,
+used by the exorcists, and afterwards deposited in a stone niche, which
+still remains in the wall of the staircase; and it is certain that, after
+the lapse of many years, when the family repaired to a newer mansion
+(Jardine Hall), built on the other side of the river, the Bible was left
+behind, to keep the restless spirit in order. On one occasion, indeed, the
+volume requiring to be rebound, was sent to Edinburgh; but the ghost,
+getting out of the dungeon, and crossing the river, made such a
+disturbance in the new house, hauling the baronet and his lady out of bed,
+&c., that the Bible was recalled before it reached Edinburgh, and placed
+in its former situation. The good woman who told Grose this story in 1788,
+declared that should the Bible again be taken off the premises, no
+consideration whatever should induce her to remain there a single night.
+But the charm seems to be now broken, or the ghost must have become either
+quiet or disregarded, for the Bible is at present kept at Jardine Hall."
+
+Another example from Scotland now follows, all the more remarkable,
+because it is still asserted that in a certain part of the mansion unusual
+voices, and supernatural footsteps are said to be still heard, a fact to
+which the late Mr. Hope Scott often testified:--Sir Walter Scott relates a
+striking occurrence which happened to him at the time Abbotsford was in
+the course of erection. Mr. Bullock was then employed by him to fit the
+castle up with proper appurtenances, when during that person's absence in
+London the following extraordinary circumstance took place:--In a letter
+to Mr. Terry in the year 1818 Scott wrote:--"The night before last we were
+awakened by a violent noise like drawing heavy boards along the new part
+of the House. I fancied something had fallen and thought no more about it.
+This was about two in the morning. Last night at the same witching hour
+the same noise recurred. Mrs. S., as you know, is rather timbersome; so up
+I got with Beardy's broadsword under my arm,
+
+  'Sat bolt upright
+   And ready to fight.'
+
+But nothing was out of order; neither could I discover what occasioned the
+disturbance." Now, strangely enough on the morning that Mr. Terry received
+this letter he was breakfasting with Mr. Erskine (afterwards Lord
+Kinneder) and the chief subject of their conversation was the sudden death
+of Mr. Bullock, which on comparing dates must have happened on the same
+night and as near as could possibly be ascertained at the same hour, these
+disturbances occurred at Abbotsford. One might be induced to maintain that
+some drunken workmen or disorderly persons were on the premises, but this
+method for accounting for the coincidence will at once be exploded on
+reading the following passage from Scott to the same gentleman:--"Were you
+not struck with the fantastical coincidence of our nocturnal disturbance
+at Abbotsford with the melancholy event that followed? I protest to you
+that the noise resembled half-a-dozen men hard at work pulling up boards
+and furniture, _and nothing could be more certain than that there was
+nobody on the premises at the time_."
+
+The following account of a haunted locality is from the pen of a scholarly
+and accomplished clergyman[33] in the diocese of Ripon:--"Some years ago I
+was residing in a village about eleven miles from York, and one mile and a
+half from another village, in which was the Post Office for the
+surrounding district. Whenever I had reason to suppose a letter was lying
+there for me, I used to anticipate the delivery of it on the following
+morning, by calling for it myself in the evening before. One night, in the
+latter end of November, I was going, for this purpose, along the path
+through the fields, and when I was midway between the two villages, I
+passed through a little hand-gate, and after going about twenty yards from
+it, I was startled and alarmed by a succession of the most horrible
+shrieks that can possibly be conceived. They seemed scarcely human, though
+I felt at the time that they were certainly uttered by some man or woman,
+imitating the piercing scream of a hog when the fatal knife is being
+plunged into its throat. The panic that seized me vanished in a moment, as
+the thought instantaneously flashed across my mind that I was being made
+the victim of some ploughman's joke. Being armed, as I then invariably
+was, with a particularly tough and stout cudgel, I ran back to the little
+hand-gate on tip-toe, intending to take condign vengeance on some rustic,
+whom I felt sure I should find crouching down behind the low hedge. Just
+as I reached the hand-gate, the sounds suddenly ceased, and to my utmost
+astonishment I could see no one, although it was quite impossible for any
+person within the distance of two or three hundred yards to have escaped
+my observation. The full moon was shining brightly, with the very thinnest
+of fleecy clouds before her face, which did not obscure her light, but
+only made the whole country distinctly visible in every direction, from
+the absence of all strongly-defined shadow. Then, again, I must confess,
+an unaccountably superstitious awe crept over me, and, instead of pursuing
+my intended route, I returned to my own home.
+
+"On the following morning, when reflecting on what had happened, I began
+to take a philosophical and reasonable view of the singular occurrence.
+In passing through the little gate I might, as I thought, have left it
+ajar, and that soon after it lost its nice equilibrium, and swung back to
+its accustomed resting-place. The hinges might have given a creaking
+sound, which the lonely solitude of the night had intensely magnified in
+my imagination. So much for the philosophical view. I then determined that
+I would put this view to the proof, and see if I could by any means get
+the gate to produce any noise similar to what I fancied I had heard. This
+was the reasonable view. I took care, however, to put my determination
+into practice at the earliest period of the evening, just, in fact, as the
+daylight had departed. Accordingly I was at the little gate between five
+and six o'clock, but in spite of all kinds of efforts it would make no
+sign, but swung backwards and forwards on its hinges with noiseless
+smoothness. In the midst of my experiments a very intelligent man, a
+Gardener by calling, came up. He was a resident of my own village, but had
+been working in the other village, and was then returning home from his
+day's labour. He expressed some surprise at seeing me there at that time
+of the evening, and I gave him a brief account of the reason. 'Well, sir,'
+said he; 'if you will walk back with me, I will tell you something more
+about that little hand-gate.' I consented immediately, and he said to me
+as follows: 'Some years ago, when we were all children at home, my mother
+had been to the other village, where she remained till night; on her
+return homewards, just as she passed through the little gate, she saw some
+kind of figure lying close by it, huddled together in a strange,
+mysterious manner. She was horror-stricken, and fled from the spot as fast
+as possible. On reaching her own cottage, she flung open the door, and
+fell fainting on the ground before her astonished and frightened children.
+When she came to herself, and was asked what had caused her evident
+terror, she told what she had seen, and where she had seen it. She could,
+however, give no definite description of the figure she had seen. She
+could only say, "It was something hideous." But never could she be induced
+to pass that place again after night-fall, as long as she lived.' 'Well,'
+said I, 'this is a very remarkable coincidence.' 'Yes,' said he, 'but I
+will tell you something more remarkable still. About forty years ago the
+land between the two villages was unenclosed. It was nothing more than a
+wild, uncultivated common. One night, about that period, as the villagers
+were going to bed, loud and piercing shrieks were heard coming from the
+common. Some of the men dressed themselves hastily, with the intention of
+going and seeing what was taking place. Some woman, as it seemed to them,
+was evidently being ill-treated. They set off on their kindly-intentioned
+errand, but as the sounds completely ceased, and the night was very dark,
+they thought it impossible to reach the exact spot where their services
+might be required. They went to bed, and slept soundly. On the following
+morning one of them was going to work at the other village, and as he
+passed over the common he was almost distilled to a jelly with the effect
+of fright at the appalling sight that suddenly met his gaze. A woman was
+lying before him, huddled up on the ground, quite dead, with her throat
+cut from ear to ear. She had evidently been murdered, on the preceding
+night. Who she was, whence she came, why or by whom she had been murdered,
+was never known, and probably never will be in this world. When, a short
+time after this dreadful event, the common was enclosed, it so happened
+that the little hand-gate was put up close to the spot where the woman's
+lifeless body was found.'
+
+"He finished his narrative. I thanked him for it, and internally resolved
+never, if I could help it, to pass through those fields alone in the gloom
+of night, on any account whatever. I scrupulously kept my resolve."
+
+The celebrated case of the Haunted Room in the Jewel House of the Tower of
+London created great interest, about fifty-five years ago. Additional
+interest and importance have been given to it by the publication of the
+following authentic account of Mr. E. Lenthal Swifte,[34] which in simple
+but forcible language tells its own story:--
+
+"I have often purposed to leave behind me a faithful record of all that I
+know personally of this strange story.... Forty-three years have passed,
+and its impression is as vividly before me as on the moment of its
+occurrence.... In 1814 I was appointed keeper of the Crown Jewels in the
+Tower, where I resided with my family until my retirement in 1852. One
+Saturday night in October, 1817, about 'the witching hour,' I was at
+supper with my then wife, our little boy, and her sister, in the sitting
+room of the Jewel House, which--then comparatively modernized--is said to
+have been 'the doleful prison' of Anne Boleyn, and of the ten bishops whom
+Oliver Cromwell piously accommodated therein.... The room was, as it still
+is, irregularly shaped, having three doors and two windows, which last are
+cut nearly nine feet deep into the outer wall; between these is a
+chimney-piece projecting far into the room, and (then) surmounted with a
+large oil picture. On the night in question the doors were all closed;
+heavy and dark cloth curtains were let down over the windows, and the only
+light in the room was that of two candles on the table.... I sate at the
+foot of the table, my son on my right hand, his mother fronting the
+chimney-piece, and her sister on the opposite side. I had offered a glass
+of wine and water to my wife, when, on putting it to her lips, she paused
+and exclaimed, 'Good God, what is that?' I looked up, and saw a
+cylindrical figure like a glass tube, seemingly about the thickness of my
+arm, and hovering between the ceiling and the table. Its contents appeared
+to be a dense fluid, white and pale azure, like to the gathering of a
+summer cloud, and incessantly rolling and mingling within the cylinder.
+This lasted about two minutes, when it began slowly to move _before_ my
+sister-in-law, then following the oblong shape of the table, before my son
+and myself; passing _behind_ my wife it paused for a moment over her right
+shoulder (observe, there was no mirror opposite to her in which she could
+then behold it). Instantly she crouched down, and, with both hands
+covering her shoulder, she shrieked out, 'Oh, Christ! it has seized me.'
+Even now, while writing, I feel the fresh horror of that moment. I caught
+up my chair, struck at the wainscot behind her, rushed upstairs to the
+other children's room, and told the terrified nurse what I had seen....
+Neither my sister-in-law nor my son beheld this 'appearance.'... I am
+bound to add that shortly before this strange event some young lady
+residents in the Tower had been, I know not wherefore, suspected of making
+phantasmagorical experiments at their windows, which, be it observed, had
+no command whatever on any windows in my dwelling. An additional sentry
+was accordingly posted so as to overlook any such attempt. Happening,
+however, as it might, following hard at heel the visitation of my
+household, one of the night sentries at the Jewel Office was, as he said,
+alarmed by a figure like a huge bear issuing from underneath the door. He
+thrust at it with his bayonet, which stuck in the door, even as my chair
+dinted the wainscot. He dropped in a fit, and was carried senseless to the
+guard-room. His fellow-sentry declared that the man was neither asleep nor
+drunk, he himself having seen him the moment before awake and sober. Of
+all this I avouch nothing more than that I saw the poor man in the
+guard-house prostrated with terror, and that in two or three days the
+fatal result, be it of fact or fancy, was that he died. Let it be
+understood that to _all_ which I have herein set forth _as seen by
+myself_, I absolutely pledge my faith and my honour.--Edmund Lenthal
+Swifte."
+
+Another statement, regarding another apparition in the same part of the
+Tower, stated by Mr. Offor to have been produced by some instrument, but
+which latter assertion is pronounced impossible by Mr. Lenthal Swifte,
+also sufficiently illustrates the facts embodied in it:--
+
+    "Before the burning of the armouries there was a paved yard in front
+    of the Jewel House, from which a gloomy and ghost-like doorway led
+    down a flight of steps to the Mint. Some strange noises were heard in
+    this gloomy corner; and on a dark night at twelve the sentry saw a
+    figure like a bear cross the pavement and disappear down the steps.
+    This so terrified him that he fell, and in a few hours after, having
+    recovered sufficiently to tell the tale, he died. It was fully
+    believed to have arisen from phantasmagoria.... The soldier bore a
+    high character for bravery and good conduct. I was then in my
+    thirtieth year, and was present when his body was buried with military
+    honours in the Flemish burial ground, St. Catherine's.
+
+        "George Offor."
+
+On this, however, Mr. Swifte thus writes:--
+
+    "When on the morrow I saw the unfortunate soldier in the main
+    guard-room, his fellow sentinel was also there, and testified to
+    having seen him on his post just before the alarm, awake and alert,
+    and even spoken to him. Moreover, as I then heard the poor man tell
+    his own story, the figure did not cross the pavement and disappear
+    down the steps of the sally-port; but issued from underneath the Jewel
+    Room door--as ghostly a door, indeed, as ever was opened to or closed
+    on a doomed man; placed, too, beneath a stone archway as utterly out
+    of the reach of my young friends' apparatus (if any such they had) as
+    were my windows. I saw him once again on the following day, but
+    changed beyond my recognition; in another day or two--_not_ 'in a few
+    hours'--the brave and steady soldier, who would have mounted a breach
+    or led a forlorn hope with unshaken nerves, died at the presence of a
+    shadow, as the weakest woman might have died.
+
+        "Edmund Lenthal Swifte."
+
+The case of a Haunted House in Northamptonshire may now follow:--
+
+"A house at Barby,[35] a small village about eight miles from Rugby, was
+reputed to be haunted, and this under the following circumstances:--An old
+woman of the name of Webb, a native of the place, and above the usual
+height, died on March 3, 1851, at two A.M. aged sixty-seven. Late in life
+she had married a man of some means, who having predeceased her, left her
+his property, so that she was in good circumstances. Her chief and
+notorious characteristic, however, was excessive penuriousness, being
+remarkably miserly in her habits; and it is believed by many in the
+village that she thus shortened her days. Two of her neighbours, women of
+the names of Griffin and Holding, nursed her during her last illness, and
+her nephew, Mr. Hart, a farmer in the village, supplied her temporal
+needs; in whose favour she had made a will, by which she bequeathed to him
+all her possessions.
+
+"About a month after the funeral Mrs. Holding, who, with her uncle, lived
+next door to the house of the deceased (which had been entirely shut up
+since the funeral), was alarmed and astonished at hearing loud and heavy
+thumps against the partition wall, and especially against the door of a
+cupboard in the room wall, while other strange noises, like the dragging
+of furniture about the rooms (though all the furniture had been removed),
+and the house was empty. These were chiefly heard about two o'clock in the
+morning.
+
+"Early in the month of April a family of the name of Accleton, much
+needing a residence, took the deceased woman's house, the only one in the
+village vacant, and bringing their goods and chattels, proceeded to
+inhabit it. The husband was often absent, but he and his wife occupied the
+room in which Mrs. Webb had died, while their daughter, a girl about ten
+years of age, slept in a small bed in the corner. Violent noises in the
+night were heard about two o'clock, thumps, tramps, and tremendous
+crashes, as if all the furniture had been collected together, and then
+violently banged on to the floor. One night at two A.M. the parents were
+suddenly awakened by the violent screams of the child, 'Mother, mother,
+there's a tall woman standing by my bed, a-shaking her head at me!' The
+parents could see nothing, so did their best to quiet and compose the
+child. At four o'clock they were again awakened by the child's screams,
+for she had seen the woman again; in fact she appeared to her no less than
+seven times, on seven subsequent nights.
+
+"Mrs. Accleton, during her husband's absence, having engaged her mother to
+sleep with her one night, was suddenly aroused at the same hour of two by
+a strange and unusual light in her room. Looking up she saw quite plainly
+the spirit of Mrs. Webb, which moved towards her with a gentle appealing
+manner, as though it would have said, 'Speak, speak!'
+
+"This spectre appeared likewise to a Mrs. Radbourne, a Mrs. Griffiths, and
+a Mrs. Holding. They assert that luminous balls of light hovered about the
+room during the presence of the spirit, and that streams of light seemed
+to go up towards a trap-door in the ceiling, which led to the roof of the
+cottage. Each person who saw it testified likewise to hearing a low,
+unearthly, moaning noise,--'strange and unnatural-like,' but somewhat
+similar in character to the moans of the woman in her death-agony.
+
+"The subject was, of course, discussed; and Mrs. Accleton suggested that
+its appearance might not impossibly be connected with the existence of
+money hoarded up in the roof, an idea which may have arisen from the
+miserly habits of the dead woman. This hint having been given to and taken
+by her nephew, Mr. Hart, the farmer, he proceeded to the house, and with
+Mrs. Accleton's personal help made a search. The loft above was totally
+dark, but by the aid of a candle there was discovered, firstly, a bundle
+of writings, old deeds, as they turned out to be, and afterwards a large
+bag of gold and bank-notes, out of which the nephew took a handful of
+sovereigns, and exhibited them to Mrs. Accleton. But the knockings,
+moanings, strange noises, and other disturbances did not cease upon this
+discovery. They did cease, however, when Mr. Hart, having found that
+certain debts were owing by her, carefully and scrupulously paid them. So
+much for the account of the Haunted House at Barby. The circumstances were
+most carefully investigated by Sir Charles Isham, Bart., and others, the
+upshot of which was that the above facts were, to the complete
+satisfaction of numerous enquirers, completely verified."
+
+The following comes to the Editor from Scotland:--
+
+"There is, without a doubt, a 'Haunted Room' in Glamis Castle. Access to
+it now is cut off by a stone wall, and none are supposed to know where it
+is, except Lord Strathmore, his eldest son, and the Factor on the estate.
+This wall was built some years ago by the present proprietor. Strange,
+weird, and unearthly noises have been heard from time to time by numbers,
+and these by many persons wholly unprepared for the same. The following
+statement is from the lips of a lady who was sleeping in the castle one
+night, and who knew nothing of the reputation of the house:--She was
+undressing to retire for the night, when all of a sudden she was alarmed
+by a most violent noise, which made her fancy that one of the walls of the
+house had fallen. She rushed out into the passage, but no one but herself
+had been aroused by it. So she went back, and slept until morning. She
+mentioned the circumstance at breakfast, but the subject was evidently an
+unpleasant one. The conversation was at once changed, and she received a
+hint to take no further notice of it. Some members of the family cannot
+bear the subject to be alluded to, and repel all inquiries."
+
+"There is no doubt," writes another correspondent, "about the reality of
+the noises at Glamis Castle. On one occasion, some years ago, the head of
+the family with several companions was determined to investigate the cause
+one night, when the disturbance was greater and more violent and alarming
+than usual. His lordship went to the Haunted Room (before it was walled
+up), opened the door with the key, and dropped back in a dead swoon into
+the arms of his companions; nor could he be ever induced to open his lips
+on the subject afterwards.
+
+"On another occasion a lady and her child were staying for a few days at
+the castle. The child was asleep in an adjoining dressing-room, and the
+lady, having gone to bed, lay awake for a while. Suddenly a cold blast
+stole into the room, extinguishing the night-light by her bedside, but not
+affecting the one in the dressing-room beyond, in which her child had its
+cot. By that light she saw a tall mailed figure pass into the
+dressing-room from that in which she was lying. Immediately thereafter
+there was a shriek from the child. Her maternal instinct was aroused. She
+rushed into the dressing-room, and found the child in an agony of fear.
+It described what it had seen as a giant, who came and leant over its
+face.
+
+"An accomplished antiquarian, who has investigated this subject, writes as
+follows:--There is a tradition that in olden times, during one of the
+frequent feuds between the Lindsays and the Ogilvies, a large number of
+the latter, in flying from their enemies, came to Glamis, and claimed
+hospitality. The master of the castle did not like to deny them the
+protection of his castle walls. He therefore admitted them; and on plea of
+hiding them, is reported to have put them into this out-of-the-way
+chamber. There he let them starve, and it is said that their bones lie
+there unto this day, the bodies never having been buried. This may have
+been the sight which startled the late Lord Strathmore on entering the
+haunted room--a large number of skeletons lying in the various parts of
+the place was a sight calculated to startle any man. And these are
+declared to be peculiarly revolting. Some had apparently died in the act
+of gnawing the flesh off their own arms."
+
+The Editor is indebted to Henry Cope Caulfeild, Esq., of Clone House, St.
+Leonard's, for the following:--
+
+"The account here set forth was recently told to me by a Captain
+S----living near Cardiff, South Wales.
+
+"A few miles from Cardiff, on the Monmouth road, there is a narrow spot
+held in awe by the peasantry; for a murder was committed there years ago,
+and it is said to be haunted by unquiet spirits.
+
+"The brother of my friend, an officer in the army, who has seen active
+service in India, was returning with his wife in a dog-cart, some few
+months ago, from a dinner with some friends in the country a few miles
+from Cardiff. It was late in the night; and as they entered the narrow
+part of the road just mentioned, they heard the sound of wheels behind
+them. They looked back, and saw the lights of a carriage, and to avoid
+being overtaken and passed in such a narrow road, Captain S---- whipped
+his horse, and tried to keep well in front. Presently the sounds of wheels
+ceased; and to their great surprise, indeed consternation, they all of a
+sudden saw the lights and heard the wheels of a carriage some distance on
+in front of them. It was evidently the same; and yet it had never passed
+them! It seemed to stop at the side of the road, and Captain S---- drove
+his dog-cart past the strange carriage. He and his wife saw in it a dim
+light; there were people in it, and they seemed to be without heads! Mrs.
+S---- was paralysed with terror; her husband told his brother that he
+would rather face a battery of artillery than go through the horror of
+that moment; and the horse evidently was in sympathy with them, for he
+went like one mad.
+
+"It appears that the very same spectral figures had been seen by a
+country surgeon when passing the same place; and that the land-owners in
+those parts had cut down trees, and clipped and altered the appearance of
+the hedges on each side of the road, in order to get rid, if possible, of
+the ghastly horror, and of the hold which it has upon the popular mind.
+The _appearance_ of the carriage and its occupants, in a dim, hazy light,
+was to the last degree unearthly and spectral."
+
+A correspondent of the Editor furnishes him with the following:--
+
+"A brother of mine, a man who is the last person in the world to believe
+over much, or to be in the least degree superstitious, wishing to be near
+a particular town, and yet within easy reach of the permanent country
+residence of his greatest friend, was induced (A.D. 1862) to take over the
+remainder of the lease of an old-fashioned furnished mansion in Cheshire,
+where he, with his wife, children, and servants, in due course, went to
+reside. He was advised to take the place as well because of the
+reasonableness of the rent--for it was spacious and comfortably
+furnished--as by the recommendation of the London house-agents, a
+well-known firm in the West End, with whom the letting of it rested.
+
+"Soon after the arrival of the family and servants, the latter protested
+again and again that they were disturbed almost every night by a continual
+'tramp, tramp, tramp' of heavy footsteps up the stairs, and along the
+narrow passage, out of which were the doors which led to their bedrooms.
+They would have it that the house was haunted. The sounds were sometimes
+so loud and alarming that, as one of the servants remarked, 'It seemed
+like a regiment of foot soldiers marching over creaking boards.'
+Complaints were made to my brother, who merely said that the noises must
+be the result of wind under the joists, or of rats, and he laughed at the
+whole affair. Some of the servants gave warning, and left. Still the
+sounds went on: not always, and every night, but, with certain cessations,
+from time to time.
+
+"In the autumn of the year 1863, a lady, her daughter of fourteen, and a
+maid, came to stay in the House; and as the former was somewhat of an
+invalid, a suite of rooms in the west wing, each communicating with the
+other, was apportioned to them. The second night after their arrival, the
+lady in question, suddenly awaking, saw in her bedroom a luminous cloud,
+which gradually appeared to be formed into the shape of an old man, with a
+most painfully depressing countenance, full of the deepest sorrow, and
+wearing a large full-bottomed wig. She tried to raise herself in bed, to
+see if it were not the effect of her half-waking fancy, or the result of a
+disturbed dream, but could not. The room, in which there was no natural
+light, seemed to be partially but quite sufficiently illuminated; and she
+felt confident that a spectre was before her. She gazed at it for some
+minutes, three at least, hearing the ticking of her watch, and counting
+the seconds. There the apparition stood, and seemed to be making an effort
+to speak, while a strange, dull, inarticulate groan seemed to come up as
+from the floor. Upon this, seeing the bell-rope hanging within the folds
+of the curtains at her right hand, she braced herself up to seize it and
+give it a most violent pull. Immediately she did this, the face of the
+figure bore an expression of anger, and by degrees it faded away. The
+bell, which hung some distance away, was heard by no one, and she was
+compelled to lie alone, for she feared to rise (though the apparition did
+not reappear) until the church clock near struck four, when, the morning
+having broken, she rose, and dressed herself.
+
+"In the morning, before she had said a word, her daughter, on meeting her,
+said, 'Oh, mamma, an old man in a great wig tramped through my room twice
+in the night. Who could it have been?'
+
+"The lady being so impressed by these occurrences, which her host and
+hostess would persist in saying were only the result of her own fancy,
+determined on leaving in the course of a few days (as she afterwards
+stated). On the following night, she slept with a night-light, and the
+door into her maid's room open. But the noise of tramping, which had been
+hitherto heard only in the servants' wing of the house, which was
+opposite, was now heard in the east side of it. 'Tramp, tramp, tramp!' the
+sounds were heard constantly, without cessation; so much so that the
+master of the house, my brother, rose suddenly that very night, thinking
+that thieves had broken in, and rushed out to the east passage. But all in
+a moment, they stopped; nothing was to be heard, nothing seen; all was
+still. This occurred again and again.
+
+"The lady left as arranged. The noises ceased for a while, and then began
+once more. It was with difficulty that any of the servants could be
+induced to remain, believing that the house was haunted.
+
+"About ten months afterwards, my brother having forgotten all about the
+supposed spectre and the noises, had been out for the day, and returned
+home in a dog-cart, some time after midnight, in company with his groom.
+Only the housekeeper had remained out of bed, as his return was quite
+uncertain. The horse and trap were put up, both the servants had gone to
+their rooms, and my brother was taking some refreshment in the
+housekeeper's apartment, by the light of the fire, when all of a sudden, a
+loud and decisive rap was heard at the door. Thinking, of course, that it
+was one of the servants, he replied, 'Come in.' Before the words were out
+of his mouth, the door opened, and the apparition of the old man in a
+large wig stood before him. My brother was paralysed with terror for a
+while. He could not speak; he tried hard, as he says, but his mouth was
+dry and his tongue motionless. 'Good God!' he exclaimed at length, 'am I
+awake or asleep, in my senses or gone mad?' The motionless figure, whose
+face was intensely sad, looked at him beseechingly. 'In God's Name, what
+do you want, or what can I do for you?' 'Too late! nothing,' was the
+mournful, but somewhat inarticulate response. And with that the spectre
+suddenly vanished away. At this moment a strong, loud, piercing, bitter
+wail, as of the voice of a woman, broke the awful silence. It seemed to
+come from the courtyard outside, and was repeated again and again round
+the upper part of the house. The scream was said to be like nothing human.
+The servants heard it, my sister-in-law was awoke by it, and the groom and
+housekeeper, with the others, as a consequence, came rushing downstairs.
+My brother, who is as brave and bold as he is remarkable for common sense,
+does not now dispute the reality of haunted houses.
+
+"A few months afterwards, he and his left. And after he had given up
+possession, he was informed, on good and credible authority, that
+tradition confidently asserted the mansion to have been the residence of a
+disreputable Dutch hanger-on of William of Orange, who is represented to
+have violently made away with one of his mistresses in that very house, in
+a room which overlooked the park, now a disused lumber-room, at the east
+end of the old mansion."[36]
+
+An American clergyman, of what is commonly termed "the Protestant
+Episcopal Church," sent the following, which, as he writes, "went the
+round of the newspapers," and for the truth of which he himself vouches:--
+
+"Few positions in life can be imagined more disagreeable than that of
+being imprisoned in a haunted cell in a police station. 'The New Orleans
+Times' tells a most unpleasant story of a ghost-infested cell in the
+Fourth Precinct police station in that city. It appears that several years
+ago 'a little old woman,' named Ann Murphy, committed suicide by hanging
+herself in this cell; and since that event no fewer than thirteen persons
+have attempted to destroy themselves in a similar manner; four of these
+attempts being attended with fatal results. One of those lately cut down
+before life was extinct was a girl named Mary Taylor, who, on recovering
+consciousness, declared that while lying on the floor of the cell she was
+aroused by a little old white woman in a faded calico dress, with no
+stockings and down-trodden slippers, with a faded handkerchief tied round
+her head. Her faded dress was bound with a sort of reddish-brown tape, and
+her hand was long, faded, and wrinkled, while on the fourth finger of her
+left hand was a plain, thin gold ring. 'This little woman,' said the girl,
+'beckoned me to get up, and impelled me by some mysterious power to tear
+my dress in strips, place one of the strips round my neck, and tie the
+other to the bars. I lifted my feet from the floor, and fell. I thought I
+was choking, a thousand lights seemed to flash before my eyes, and I
+forgot all until I found myself in the room with the doctors and police
+bending over me. It was not until then that I really comprehended what I
+had done, and was, I believe, under a kind of trance or influence at the
+time, over which I had no control.' Mary Taylor had never heard of the
+suicide of Ann Murphy, whose appearance, according to the police, tallied
+exactly with the description given by the girl. Others having complained
+in a like manner of the ghostly occupant of the cell, the police, to test
+the real facts of the case, placed a night lodger who had just arrived in
+the city in this cheerful apartment. Being thoroughly tired and worn out,
+he fell asleep immediately, but shortly afterwards rushed into the office
+in a state of terrible alarm. He, too, had been visited by the little old
+woman, and wisely declined to sleep another hour in the station."
+
+The following case, as may be seen from an attestation at its conclusion,
+is likewise well authenticated:--
+
+"An English clergyman, who was seeking a residence in a northern Scottish
+city about ten years ago, had his attention accidentally called to an
+old-fashioned, pleasant-looking detached house, of some size and
+convenience, which had been for some time vacant, about a mile and a-half
+from the city. It had considerable grounds round it well timbered, a
+high-walled garden, and was in many respects both commodious and
+comfortable. One attraction, likewise, was the extremely moderate rent
+which was asked for it. So he secured a lease of it for a short term of
+years. He and his family and servants came up from England in due course,
+and took up their abode in it. They were not there long before it soon
+became evident, to some of them at least, that the house was haunted.
+Noises of the most extraordinary character were heard in various parts.
+Sometimes there came the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. At others
+there were knocks, both violent and gentle, at the doors, none of which
+could be accounted for. At midnight, on several occasions, there was a
+constant, uninterrupted sound in one room, as if a large sledgehammer
+(having been wrapped in a blanket folded several times), was steadily and
+regularly struck against the wall, at the head of the bed in the room, by
+some particularly powerful arms. 'Thump, thump, thump,' it sounded, as
+though lifted and directed with tremendous force; and this noise often
+lasted, with only slight intermission, for two or three hours. On other
+occasions persons on the stairs or in the passages felt the air move, and
+heard the creaking of the floor close to them, as if someone invisible
+were passing quickly by. One night, between twelve and two, the master and
+mistress of the family were awakened by a loud and startling noise, as if
+all the shutters of the windows of the house had been suddenly and
+simultaneously burst open with the greatest violence. The crash was
+literally tremendous; and each believed that thieves were breaking in. So
+the clergyman, seizing a large presentation sword which hung on the wall
+of the landing, unsheathed it, and went downstairs with a light, expecting
+to face the intruders. He first examined the dining-room (from whence the
+noise seemed chiefly to come), but everything was just as usual. No
+shutter was open; no cupboards forced. So, too, in hall and library.
+Nothing was moved. Then he descended into the large cellars; but there,
+likewise, everything was untouched, and nothing unusual was seen. A large
+retriever dog, which lay at the foot of the front stairs, however, was
+greatly agitated, trembled and howled. But still nothing was to be seen.
+Perfect silence reigned. So the clergyman and his wife returned to their
+sleeping-room, only to hear, all of a sudden, precisely the same strange
+noise repeated about ten minutes after their return, with, if anything,
+even greater violence.
+
+It was currently reported, and commonly believed by several residents
+thereabouts, that many years previously, the cast-off mistress of a Scotch
+nobleman, having been handed over to a physician and university professor
+for marriage, and the latter having received from the nobleman in
+consideration of the marriage the gift of the house and lands in question,
+subsequently murdered the woman, for whom he had conceived a special
+dislike, and buried her body on the premises. This story, with slight but
+unimportant variations, was told by several; and it is quite certain that
+a young female Scotch servant, who once lived in the house, following the
+sound of heavy footsteps up to an attic in the front portion of the house,
+which she had pledged herself to do when next she heard them, fell down in
+a swoon or fit at the top of the stairs; from that moment lost her reason,
+and is now in a lunatic asylum, near the City in question. These are facts
+testified to by those who know the circumstances.[37] As to the general
+accuracy of the foregoing, the Editor is enabled, on the testimony of
+several, to pledge his word thereto.
+
+I am indebted for the following narrative to a friend,[38] who in her own
+words has given all the details of another remarkable example of a Haunted
+House:--
+
+"Monsieur de Goumoëns, a magistrate, or a gentleman holding a high
+judicial position at Berne in Switzerland, a man of undoubted and
+well-established character for personal courage, as well as for moral
+rectitude, related to my father, Mr. Caulfeild of Bath, with whom he was
+on the most intimate terms of personal friendship, the following
+circumstance, at once so extraordinary and so painful, which had come
+within the precincts of his own house, as to drive him from his place of
+residence. The account was given to my father in the year 1829, when he
+was residing with his family at Berne. Noises and disturbances had been
+frequently heard in M. de Goumoëns' bedroom, as of footsteps, the opening
+and shutting of drawers, and of an escritoire when papers were shuffled
+about. The heavy curtains of the large old four-posted bed were drawn and
+undrawn by no human hand, and were sometimes suddenly flung up on to the
+top of the bed; while the sound of the flapping of the wings of some very
+large bird was often heard. All these and other sounds so disturbed M. de
+Goumoëns and his wife, that the health of the latter began perceptibly and
+seriously to fail. Examinations of the house made by himself, in
+conjunction with the police, and special investigations of the bedroom and
+other adjoining apartments, afforded no solution whatsoever of the
+mystery. At length Madame de Goumoëns' maid gave warning to leave her
+service, complaining that her sleep and peace were completely broken by
+these supernatural occurrences. While consulting together as to what could
+be done, and hesitating as to whether they might not be compelled to leave
+the place, the strange sounds became louder than ever. One night they were
+suddenly aroused by hearing sharp cries of distress from one of their
+children, a little boy, who slept in their room, and who in great terror
+called out fretfully again and again, 'Let me alone; let me alone; don't
+you hurt me!' as he pointed into vacancy. This particular event was the
+last straw which broke the camel's back, and led the child's parents to
+determine on leaving the house immediately.
+
+"I may add that on a subsequent and more searching examination of the
+house, one room was found to be both locked and fastened up; regarding the
+character of which the owner was somewhat reticent. However, the boarding
+before the door, which had been papered over, was removed, the keys were
+forthcoming, and the room was carefully examined. On the shutters being
+opened, it was found just as it had been left since its occupation by a
+previous tenant, who had gone by the sobriquet of 'the Black Styger.' He
+was a nobleman of bad reputation, and had committed suicide in that very
+apartment by blowing out his brains; the traces of which with blood were
+found scattered both on wall and floor. It was generally believed that his
+disturbed spirit haunted the place."
+
+One of the most singular recent examples, testified to by two independent
+eye-witnesses, now deserves to be reproduced. The appearance of a large
+spectral bird is thus recorded by Mr. Henry Spicer in one of his curious
+and thoughtfully written volumes entitled "Strange Things amongst Us:"--
+
+"Captain Morgan, a gentleman of the highest honour and veracity, and who
+certainly was not over-gifted with ideality, arrived in London one evening
+in 18--, in company with a friend, and took up his lodgings in a large
+old-fashioned house of the last century, to which chance had directed
+them. Captain Morgan was shown into a large bed-chamber, with a huge
+four-posted bed, heavy hangings, and altogether that substantial
+appearance of good, solid respectability and comfort which associated
+itself with our ideas of the wealthy burghers and merchants of the time of
+Queen Anne and the first George, when so many strange crimes of romantic
+daring or of deep treachery stained the annals of the day, and the
+accursed thirst for gold, the bane of every age, appeared to exercise its
+most terrific influence.
+
+"Captain Morgan retired to bed, and slept, but was very soon awaked by a
+great flapping of wings close beside him, and a cold, weird-like sensation
+such as he had never before experienced spread through his frame. He
+started, and sat upright in bed; when an extraordinary appearance declared
+itself in the shape of an immense black bird, with outstretched wings, and
+red eyes flashing as it were with fire.
+
+"It was right before him and pecked furiously at his face and eyes so
+incessantly, that it seemed to him a wonder that he was enabled, with his
+arms and the pillow, to ward off the creature's determined assaults.
+During the battle it occurred to him that some large pet bird belonging to
+the family had effected its escape, and been accidentally shut up in the
+apartment.
+
+"Again and again the creature made at him with a malignant ferocity
+perfectly indescribable; but though he invariably managed to baffle the
+attack, he noticed that he never once succeeded in _touching_ his
+assailant. This strange combat having lasted several minutes, the gallant
+officer, little accustomed to stand so long simply on the defensive, grew
+irritated, and leaping out of bed, dashed at his enemy. The bird
+retreated before him. The captain followed in close pursuit, driving his
+sable foe, fluttering and fighting, towards a sofa which stood in the
+corner of the room. The moonlight shone full into the chamber, and Morgan
+distinctly saw the creature settle down, as if in terror, upon the
+embroidered seat of the sofa.
+
+"Feeling now certain of his prey he paused for a second or two, then flung
+himself suddenly upon the black object, from which he had never removed
+his gaze. To his utter amazement it seemed to fade and dissolve under his
+very fingers. He was clutching the air; and in vain he searched, with
+lighted lamp, every nook and corner of the apartment, unwilling to believe
+that his senses could be the victims of so gross a delusion--no bird was
+to be found. After a long scrutiny the baffled officer once more retired
+to rest, and met with no further disturbance.
+
+"While dressing in the morning, he resolved to make no allusion to what he
+had seen, but to induce his friend, on some pretext, to change rooms with
+him. That unsuspecting individual readily complied, and the next day
+reported, with much disgust, that he had had to contend for possession of
+the chamber with the most extraordinary and perplexing object[39] he had
+ever encountered, to all appearance a huge black bird, which constantly
+eluded his grasp, and ultimately disappeared, leaving no clue to its mode
+of exit."[40]
+
+And with this, the present chapter is closed. Numerous other cases of
+Haunted Localities might have been provided; some which have long been in
+print, others which have been heard from the lips of those whose
+experience and good faith testify to the truth of their narratives. In so
+many examples collected, almost every one owns certain features in common:
+and all in some measure are alike. Repetition, by consequence, becomes
+wearisome. The cases here put on record, therefore, while sufficiently
+diversified, serve abundantly to set forth the reality of those facts, to
+a brief record of which this chapter has been devoted.
+
+
+
+
+MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
+
+
+"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter times, some shall
+depart from the Faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
+devils."--_1 Tim. iv. 1._
+
+"Many believe that the final assault upon Christianity will be made by the
+enemies of God, bonded and compacted together into an universal kingdom.
+It may be, as some have held, that another Incarnation shall take place;
+and that the Enemy of souls will be permitted to assume man's nature.
+Anyhow, we are told that Antichrist shall _reign_. Thousands, deluded by
+false miracles and lying wonders, will become his subjects, his willing
+votaries; and own him as their king. His worship will be an adroit
+counterfeit of the worship of the True God--his kingdom a parody of the
+Catholic Church; while its doctrines will be at once so attractive and
+delusive to fallen man as that the predicted Apostasy will be great and
+widespread."--_Sermons on Antichrist._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
+
+
+When, in a country where for at least twelve centuries the Christian
+Religion has been accepted, and by which that country has received unknown
+blessings both temporal and spiritual, schools of thought arise, in which
+Historical Christianity is not simply patronized, but put out of court,
+the phenomenon is both portentous and noteworthy. That this is so at the
+present time in England with many, need scarcely be pointed out. The
+scepticism which has deluged the Continent, coming upon a people whose
+religious convictions had been so seriously disturbed by the Reformation,
+and whose conceptions of objective political truth had been so ruthlessly
+disorganized by the events of the Commonwealth and the Revolution of 1688,
+has found the ground well prepared for a scattering of the seeds of doubt.
+Abroad they were sown some generations ago, and brought forth deadly
+fruit. The French Revolution and its horrors followed as a matter of
+course. Events before our eyes tell in very plain language that our own
+turn has at last come.[41] The day of trial is now upon us. True, the
+vulgarity of the eighteenth-century unbelievers is not at present so
+manifestly apparent; though it exists amongst certain active leaders of
+the lower classes with whom scepticism is popular. But the tone and temper
+of public opinion, the bold utterances of serials and newspapers, the
+public political policy now in vogue and popular, the too general
+understanding that Christianity is to be as far as possible ignored in
+legislation--all indicate the steady and rapid progress of sceptical
+liberalism.
+
+The Broad Church party in the established communion has done much, and
+will no doubt do much more, to eliminate the Supernatural from the minds
+of its admirers and of the people of England. Disliking dogma, its
+teaching, when the fog which surrounds it allows that teaching to be
+partly comprehended, is of the earth earthy. It dovetails in with the low
+material views and carnal desires of the money-grubbing many. Its ideal of
+bliss, not always wrapped up in philosophical jargon (and therefore
+sometimes intelligible), is simply commercial prosperity and temporal
+wealth; eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, comfort,
+material pleasure and ease; the conquest of Nature by scientific research
+and progress; an enjoyment of the present and only the present; and a
+complete banishment of the old-world theology--useful, it may have been,
+in times gone by, when the World was being educated; but now to be thrown
+aside as lumber, worn out and valueless. In place of that Historical
+Christianity accepted since the days of S. Augustine of Canterbury, we are
+promised doubt, disbelief, a refined as well as an unrefined intellectual
+Paganism; and in the end--though such an end may not now be contemplated
+by all members of that ecclesiastical school--a positive rejection of the
+distinct nature of God.
+
+At present, of course, the figure is decently draped. Its ugly proportions
+and hateful outline are not apparent. Its admirers have to accommodate
+themselves with some skill to the strong prejudices of the age; to
+tolerate systems which they contemn, to carry out the silent but certain
+operation of destruction, under the hypocritical desire of assisting
+mankind to complete the work of temporal progress.
+
+All this is before us and around us, if we would but note it. And this
+being so, the state of thought and of society, as few can fail to observe,
+is eminently calculated to afford those who disbelieve in the
+Supernatural, good opportunities of advance in the direction of negations.
+On the other hand, the presence amongst us of a sect of persons who call
+themselves "Spiritualists," and whose notorious words and works may be
+noted and criticized, is full of moment and importance. Spiritualism, when
+first it appeared and took shape, was treated with contempt. The facts
+urged by its supporters were denied; the manifestations almost universally
+disbelieved in. It was declared to be the work of acute knaves, or the
+offspring of idle and imaginative dreamers. Public writers treated it with
+scornful contempt. Reports of its strange proceedings and extraordinary
+developments were knowingly and deliberately suppressed. It was hastily
+hustled off the public stage, refused a hearing, and denied a defence.
+This policy, however convenient to its promoters, has failed. Sneers have
+not killed it. Its ideas and theories have been recently reduced to a
+formal system, while its votaries have increased to an extent scarcely
+credited. Christians and non-Christians, Roman Catholics,
+Church-of-England people and Protestants, have ranged themselves under
+its banner, and accept and propagate its views. To some the existence of
+spurious coin proves the value of the true; and the portents of these
+latter times are surely full of warning and value.
+
+At all periods, it should be observed, certain classes of leaders of men's
+thoughts have succeeded in banishing the Supernatural from the field of
+human action. For example, Thucydides, representing the World exclusively
+in its natural aspect, did this. He had neither ear nor eye for the
+marvellous. In recent times, from the period of Locke to the beginning of
+the present century, a similar course was adopted by a very influential
+school of writers, remarkable for their careful dismissal of the
+miraculous, both from ken and consideration. To such, the World was a
+machine, wound up once for all by its Author, and needing no further
+application of that power which appeared to have spent itself, so to
+speak, in the act of creation. Like S. Peter's "scoffers," "walking after
+their own lusts," they practically declared, "since the fathers fell
+asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
+creation."[42]
+
+But, of course, such a state of thought could only be transitory. The
+universal convictions of man's conscience, and the most earnest desires of
+his heart, produced a reversion of opinion. The very dogmatic
+philosophers soon found themselves at sea. Reason and Imagination were
+starved, while the Understanding was profoundly flattered. This has so
+turned out, not once, nor twice, but continually. Scepticism has followed
+Superstition, and Superstition Scepticism. Wherever the Catholic Religion,
+having once been had, has been deliberately cast out and denied, there, as
+in Scotland at the present day, Superstition is more than ordinarily
+widespread and rampant. The Gnosticism and Manichæism of the early
+Christian era have reproduced themselves in later times; while Materialism
+has lived side by side with that Superstition which, on the surface, it
+seemed so necessary for the same Materialism to deny.
+
+The following faithful account of the rise of the modern system of
+Spiritualism is borrowed from a contemporary record:--
+
+"In December, 1847, a respectable farmer and his family, named Fox,
+settled in a house at Hydesville, a hamlet near Newark, in the State of
+New York. They were troubled from the first with noises, which in January,
+1848, assumed the definite character of knockings, like that of a hammer.
+Two children, since so famous as the Misses Fox, felt something heavy,
+like a dog, lie on their feet when in bed, and one of them felt as if a
+cold hand were passed over her face. The knockings went on increasing in
+violence, and at length it was observed, on some occasion when Farmer Fox
+tried the windows to see if they could be caused by the wind, that the
+knockings exactly answered the rattle accidentally made by the moving
+sash. This suggested the idea of inviting the noises, or rather the beings
+who caused them, to reply by rapping, on repetition of the letters of the
+alphabet, to questions put to them. This was first tried at a place called
+Rochester, with which the family were connected, whence the term
+'Rochester knockings' came into use. The experiment succeeded perfectly,
+and this was the origin of 'spirit-rapping,' which has since grown into a
+regular system. The neighbours being called in, the affair soon thickened
+and developed into a 'movement.' The rappings revealed a murder which had
+taken place in the house when in other hands. Public meetings were called,
+committees of ladies formed to examine the children, and prevent the
+possibility of deception. Similar phenomena began to show themselves in
+various parts of the country, and under yet more extraordinary conditions.
+Raps were heard on all sorts of objects--ceilings, tables, chairs, &c.,
+and it was discovered that certain persons were better fitted than others
+to communicate with the spirits, to whom these noises were now attributed.
+Such persons were called _mediums_, a name with which the World is now
+sufficiently familiar, and when they were present, tables and chairs would
+move about and rise from the ground. Many other astonishing things became
+common, as drawing and music, executed under this strange influence, by
+persons who knew nothing of these arts."
+
+As to its principles and policy, no better nor fairer exposition of them
+can be had than from the various publications which are so largely and
+generally circulated. From a pamphlet written with some system[43] by Mr.
+T. Grant of Maidstone, the following extracts, explanatory of the now
+formulated principles of Modern Spiritualism, are made:--
+
+"TABLE OF MEDIA.
+
+  _Outward._
+
+  1. Vibratory Medium.
+  2. Motive Medium.
+  3. Gesticulating Medium.
+  4. Tipping Medium.
+  5. Pantomimic Medium.
+  6. Impersonating Medium.
+
+  _Inward._
+
+  7. Pulsatory Medium.
+  8. Manipulating Medium.
+  9. Neurological Medium.
+  10. Sympathetic Medium.
+  11. Clairlative Medium.
+  12. Homo-motor Medium.
+
+  _Onward._
+
+  13. Symbolic Medium.
+  14. Psychologic Medium.
+  15. Psychometric Medium.
+  16. Pictorial Medium.
+  17. Duodynamic Medium.
+  18. Developing Medium.
+
+  _Upward._
+
+  19. Therapeutic Medium.
+  20. Missionary Medium.
+  21. Telegraphic Medium.
+  22. Speaking Medium.
+  23. Clairvoyant Medium.
+  24. Impressional Medium.
+
+"The _Outward_ stratum includes all kinds of mediumship in which spirits
+act only on the physical organism, first using simply the electrical or
+magnetic emanations from the medium and others in the room to produce
+movements of objects, or concussions called rappings, and to control
+matter in various ways; and secondly, using portions or the whole of the
+medium's body by direct action of spirits upon the bodily organs, the
+medium's spirit being more or less passive, and not taking part in the
+performance....
+
+"_Vibratory Mediumship._ I have often met with instances in my experience,
+and multitudes of persons are sometimes attacked together, with variations
+in accordance with individual character. The physical excitement and
+convulsive phenomena often witnessed at revival meetings are chiefly of
+this kind....
+
+"The _Motive Medium_ comes next in order; he furnishes the magnetic power
+by which spirits are enabled to move tables and other material objects....
+
+"The third class is _Gesticulating Mediumship_, which appears to be a
+development of the vibratory. It is exhibited by the sect of 'Shakers' of
+the present day in the initiatory stage of their development, and was a
+form of mediumship common amongst the prophets of the Cevennes, the
+votaries of S. Vitus, and in most religious excitements.
+
+"_Tipping Mediumship_ follows next, and this again is a step in advance
+from the _Motive_ mediumship, the movements of tables and other objects
+being so regulated by the intelligence of spirits as to produce
+telegraphic communications....
+
+"_Pantomimic media_ belong to the fifth class; they are made, by the
+controlling or guardian spirit, to put themselves in various postures, so
+as to represent any peculiarity belonging to spirit-friends who are
+standing by, wishing to make their presence known and to communicate.
+Lecturers on electro-biology produce, to some extent, the same effects.
+
+"The last in this stratum is the _Impersonating Mediumship_, which is a
+development from the Pantomimic. In this case the communicating spirit
+enters and takes full possession of the medium's body, whilst his own
+spirit stands aside."
+
+The writer then passes on to consider what he terms the "Inward stratum,"
+thus:--
+
+"First we have _Pulsatory Mediumship_, in which the medium receives
+communications from spirits and answers to mental questions by means of
+pulsations, like tiny raps, on different parts of the body, or by sounds
+heard only by himself. These manifestations, although very convincing to
+the medium himself, afford but little satisfaction to anybody else.
+
+"_Manipulating Mediumship_, which follows, is in fact Curative Mesmerism,
+in which, however, the will of the mesmeriser is strengthened and guided
+by spirits. Dr. Newton, of America, who visited Maidstone in 1870 and made
+several interesting and permanent cures, is a most remarkable and
+successful medium of this class, many of his cures having, indeed, all the
+appearance of miracles.
+
+"In the next form of mediumship, the _Neurological_, the spirit impresses
+thoughts upon the brain, and the medium puts them into words; thus the
+communications partake of the peculiarities of the medium, and if the
+medium is impressed to write, he does so in his own handwriting and mode
+of diction and spelling.
+
+"Next comes _Sympathetic Mediumship_, which is an extension of the
+Neurologic, but in which the spirits enter more intimately into sympathy
+with the medium. Both of these last are transitional forms of mediumship,
+and not very reliable until carefully developed.
+
+"In _Clairlative Mediumship_, which succeeds in order, scenes of the past
+are clearly reproduced, or original scenes pictured to the mind, as in
+dreams and visions.[44]
+
+"The last of this Inward group is called the _Homo-motor_ medium, one who
+is in perfect sympathy and under the complete control of one individual
+spirit only, who, in fact, appears to live a second life on earth in union
+with him."
+
+And then he defines and discusses the "Onward stratum":--
+
+"We begin with _Symbolic Mediumship_, in which the interior vision is
+opened by spiritual aid, and the medium sees in a vision the almost exact
+pre-figurations of things which will occur at some future time, or which
+do in reality now exist, either in germ or in full or partial development.
+
+"The second in this group, _Psychologic Mediumship_, is a very important
+form. A medium of this class is one who is in a condition to be impressed
+by a sympathetic spirit with any set of ideas which he desires to
+represent. It is sometimes done in a pictorial form, when the medium
+clearly sees and describes scenes which appear to the vision, such as the
+appearance and movements of an army, a landscape, a congregation in a
+cathedral, and so forth....
+
+"The _Psychometric Medium_ has the power of feeling and correctly
+describing the characteristics of persons with whose spheres he or she is
+brought into sympathy or contact. The power is generally exercised by
+placing to the forehead, the perceptive region of the brain, anything
+which has been intimately connected with the person, as a piece of his
+hair, his handwriting, or a well-worn article of dress. Some will thus
+read a sealed letter or the mottoes enclosed in nuts....
+
+"_Pictorial Mediumship_ differs from the Symbolic chiefly in the
+circumstance that the things seen and described by the medium do not in
+reality exist as material facts, but are only representations, prefiguring
+or bodying-forth a spiritual or psychical truth....
+
+"The next is the _Duodynamic Medium_, a word signifying two powers, he
+being capable of exhibiting two or more forms of mediumship at the same
+time. These compound media, maturely developed, are said to be
+comparatively rare.
+
+"The last in this Onward stratum is the _Developing Medium_, through whom
+spirits can very usefully assist in developing the mediumistic faculty in
+others. They have the power of harmonising the influences which affect
+them, and of rendering media passive to the action of the spirits who are
+seeking the control of their organisms."
+
+As regards the "Upward stratum," the following definitions are given:--
+
+"The _Therapeutic Medium_ is one who effects the cure of many diseases
+through the sympathetic power of seeing and describing minutely the
+disorganized parts of the body, and directing the necessary treatment;
+sometimes the manipulating mediumship is added, when the medium not only
+sees the source of mischief, but also makes curative mesmeric passes at
+the same time.
+
+"Next, we have the _Missionary Medium_, who is irresistibly compelled to
+go, without knowing why or whither, wherever the spirit guides him. Under
+this controlling influence, media have been made to travel nearly all over
+the civilized world, generally without purse or scrip, or any personal
+knowledge of the places; the spirits raising up friends and helpers at
+every step as they are required." Writing of a Missionary Medium known to
+himself, Mr. Grant adds the following:--"I am acquainted with a medium of
+this class in Maidstone, who is too weak in body to walk far in his
+ordinary state, yet, under this influence, he is often made to walk long
+distances without feeling fatigue, at the most unreasonable hours of day
+or night, and he has several times been instantaneously transported from
+one place to another, miles apart."
+
+"Speaking mediumship," writes the author quoted, "is a most useful and
+instructive faculty.... In most cases speakers have to be entranced, that
+is, their spirits have to be removed from the body for a time, in order to
+give the acting spirit full control; but when this has to be done the
+medium is but little advanced from the personating mediumship, which is
+one of the successive stages which a fully-developed speaking medium
+generally passes through. Many of our most celebrated and effective
+preachers and speakers have been, or are, really speaking media, under the
+guidance of spirits, without its being suspected or understood even by
+themselves. This is, indeed, 'inspiration.'
+
+"The _Clairvoyant Medium_ follows next in order, and is in advance of the
+telegraphic, because he is able to see the scenes that are actually
+transpiring at the time in another place, no matter how far distant.
+
+"The _Impressional Medium_ is generally one who has advanced through the
+neurologic, sympathetic, clairlative, and psychologic phases, and thus
+become so easily and thoroughly impressible by his guardian spirit that
+the medium appears to live a double life, the conditions and circumstances
+of both states of existence finding a ready expression through his
+organism at all times without his being entranced, the spiritual
+existence becoming as much as the physical his normal state." pp. 7-18.
+
+The acts and deeds of Mr. Daniel Home, a Scotchman, and of the Davenport
+brothers, Americans, who figure very prominently as mediums in the
+authentic records of the spiritualists, are tolerably well known by report
+to many. From America, where the signs were first noticed, they came
+eastwards to England and the European continent, in which places the
+spiritual manifestations were even more remarkable than those which had
+occurred and been testified to in the West. Under the direction of a
+medium, people sat round a table, and by a silent invocation of spirits,
+by "willing"[45] that they should come, they came, and produced the
+following amongst other equally strange phenomena.[46] Large tables rose
+to the ceiling, floating in the atmosphere with a sort of undulating
+motion, and coming down again to the floor without noise; sprigs of
+flowers were torn off and presented to people by the spirit; accordions
+and other musical instruments were played without any visible hand holding
+or moving them; luminous stars and streaks of light appeared in various
+places, while "spirit hands" were seen and felt as palpably as mortal
+flesh and blood could be; answers to questions made, were given by a
+system of raps or by spelling out words on a child's alphabet placed on
+the floor. Thus conversations, sometimes sensible, but frequently trivial
+and absurd,[47] were held with the spirits summoned. Spirit hands, using
+material pens, ink and paper, wrote answers to queries; quoted verses
+from known authors, or put down original poems. In some cases the
+narratives published were anonymous, and only authenticated by witnesses
+who privately testified to the newspaper-editors their accuracy. But in
+some instances persons of repute and ability came forward in support of
+their correctness.[48] Dr. Gully of Malvern, for example, publicly
+testified that he had seen Mr. Home float about a room for several
+minutes, and guaranteed the accuracy of the facts set forth in a most
+remarkable fashion in an early number of the "Cornhill Magazine." A
+well-known clergyman of the High Church party in the Church of England,
+gives his testimony to the truth and strangeness of certain appearances
+and manifestations, in the following communication to the Editor of this
+volume:--
+
+"I was staying in the north of England with the Rev. ----, in 1850. During
+my visit a well-known medium (at that period a clergyman of the diocese of
+London) spent the evening with us. Eight or ten other people were there at
+the same time. 'Table-turning' was the subject of a long and animated
+discussion, in which those who accepted the facts and those who rejected
+them were about equally divided. There was nothing to be done, therefore,
+but to test the question. This was determined on. A circular table about
+four feet in diameter, of considerable size and weight, was used. Seven
+people sat round it, joining their hands on the table, and after
+conjointly _willing_ that it should turn itself in one direction or be
+turned, for about twelve minutes, it began to vibrate strangely and then
+slowly to move. At first its motion was in circles, then it moved from
+side to side of the room with dash and rapidity. Afterwards it was
+strangely tilted on the other side. On one occasion later on, it rose
+several inches from the ground, and remained suspended in the air for
+nearly two minutes. As to the facts, no one could dispute them. Afterwards
+a variety of questions were put, to which the table replied by knocking on
+the floor. It was agreed beforehand that one knock should stand for 'No',
+two for 'Yes.' An alphabet was produced, and words in response were
+spelled out. Some of the queries were trivial, some arithmetical, some
+momentous. The answers were usually accurate, sensible, and intelligible,
+but not always so. After questions had been put concerning the future
+state, heaven, hell, purgatory, the happiness of the good and the
+punishment of the wicked, a question was asked, 'Where did the spirit now
+answering dwell when on earth?' The name of a place in Devonshire was
+spelled out. This reply greatly interested a clergyman present, who some
+fifteen years previously had been curate in that county. It was followed
+by another:--'What was the name of the person whose spirit is here?' Then
+the table spelt out, by means of the alphabet, the name of a yeoman who
+had died impenitent and blaspheming at the period before referred to. This
+was sufficient for me," writes the above correspondent; "what I had heard
+and seen convinced me that necromancy was practised. I left the house,
+protecting myself by the sacred sign, convinced of the sin of the
+practice. And though I had been a spectator and not an actor, I made a
+resolution, which I have scrupulously kept, never to see nor sanction such
+proceedings again."
+
+Another somewhat similar example is here recorded. A clergyman of the
+Church of England, intimately known to the Editor of this volume, supplies
+the following remarkable narrative regarding the action and authors of
+Spiritualistic manifestations:--"Being a perfect and total sceptic as to
+the supernatural character of so-called 'Spiritualism,' and believing that
+the results asserted to be produced by its votaries were brought about by
+pre-arranged trickery and the deception of confederates, I for a long time
+declined to be present at, or to take part in, a _séance_, though
+earnestly pressed to do so. However, circumstances led me to attend one in
+the year 1862, at a house in Notting Hill Square, London, in the month of
+October. Prior to the operations, which were managed and conducted by a
+'medium,' I was invited to examine both the room where the _séance_ was to
+be held, and the table by which the operations were to be conducted.
+Conversations, held by a well-known spiritualist, were to be carried on,
+(by means of an alphabet, raps and knockings,) with the spirits who were
+presumed to be present, and who were declared to have miraculously moved
+the table round which, for some time, seven persons, including myself, had
+been sitting. The room was about ten feet in height, and in the centre was
+a gas chandelier of three lights, all of which were burning. During the
+sitting, after the table had made several most remarkable gyrations,
+tilting one side of itself upwards and downwards at an angle of at least
+forty-five degrees, at the command of the chief operator it slowly
+ascended from the floor to the height of at least seven feet, viz. the
+bottom of the pendent gaselier. Its plane having caused the lamp glasses
+to rattle by contact, the table then with a strange throbbing and
+vibration and slow movement began to descend. We had all removed our
+chairs, to give room for its ascent, and standing close to the walls
+around, saw it slowly come down to its place. I was so shocked and
+horrified at what I beheld, and now so firmly convinced that the
+remarkable actions we had witnessed were the result of the invocation and
+intervention of evil spirits, that I declined, in language most positive
+and unmistakable, to have any further part in such unlawful performances.
+When further attempts were made to obtain fresh manifestations, taking
+from my neck a small silver crucifix, which had been blessed by a high
+ecclesiastical dignitary, I made a mental act of faith in the Blessed
+Trinity, and holding the small crucifix in my closed hand, placed my hand
+clasping it on the table, saying mentally, 'If this be the work of evil
+spirits, may God Almighty, for Christ's sake, stop it!' The moment I did
+this, the table, which had been moving about strangely in several
+directions, and by varied singular motions, became suddenly and at once
+motionless. Nor could it be made to stir afterwards. Being perfectly
+convinced that such operations were of the nature of Necromancy, forbidden
+by the Church, as Scripture plainly testifies, I made an earnest
+exhortation to those in the room, after the last manifestation, not to
+cooperate in such deeds any further. Some maintained by rather blasphemous
+arguments that Spiritualism was destined to, and would soon, take the
+place of Christianity; and were kind enough to pity my ignorance,
+narrowness, prejudice, and sectarianism, to which I made no reply. I then
+left."
+
+From another source (a well-known country gentleman in one of the midland
+counties) has been obtained a series of questions and answers which were
+put, given, and taken down in the year 1856, at a gathering at which the
+practice of table-turning and spirit invocation was tested by those whose
+conviction, in the main, regarding them, as the Editor is informed, agrees
+with that of the correspondents already quoted. Similar strange phenomena
+occurred on this occasion likewise:--
+
+    "Are you a Spirit who inhabited this earth? Yes.
+
+    How long have you been dead? No reply.
+
+    Have you been dead years? No.
+
+    Months? No.
+
+    Weeks? No.
+
+    Days? Yes.
+
+    How many? Five days.
+
+    Do you mean five days? Yes.
+
+    Did you live in this neighbourhood? Yes.
+
+    Did you know any at this table? Yes.
+
+    Will you point them out? Yes. (It then crossed the room three times
+    violently and stopped before three persons.)
+
+    Will you spell your name? Yes. R---- J----[49] (the way he always
+    spelt it).
+
+    Are you happy? No answer.
+
+    Can we do you any good? No.
+
+    Was the Baptist religion true? No.
+
+    Will you spell the true religion? Yes--Saients.
+
+    Is there a middle state of souls? Yes.
+
+    Will the end of the World be soon? Yes.
+
+    Will it be the end of the World or the end of wickedness? The end of
+    wickedness? Yes.
+
+    Will the World be destroyed by water? No.
+
+    By fire? No.
+
+    Will it be partly destroyed by fire? Yes.
+
+    Shall any of us see the Last Day? Yes.
+
+    In how many years? Twenty-five years.
+
+    Will the Last Judgment be then? No.
+
+    Will that be the Millennium? Yes.
+
+    Will Enoch and Elijah come again? Yes.
+
+    Will the Jews be restored? Yes.
+
+    Will Russia conquer England? Yes.
+
+    Will it be in the reign of Queen Victoria? No.
+
+    In the reign of her successor? Yes."
+
+The testimony of Mr. Crookes, the discoverer of a new metal, and a Fellow
+of the Royal Society, may here be suitably recorded. Unlike some other
+so-called "scientific investigators," he is reported to have resolved upon
+a careful and thorough examination of the spiritualistic phenomena. He is
+said to have maintained originally that, even if the alleged facts were
+true, he might be able to explain them by some natural law. Accordingly he
+thoughtfully pursued his inquiries and investigations over a series of
+years, taking unusual care to render deception out of the question and
+impossible. The result has been given to the public in the "Quarterly
+Journal of Science" for January, 1874,[50] from which the following
+quotations are made:--
+
+"The phenomena I am prepared to attest are so extraordinary and so
+directly oppose the most firmly-rooted articles of scientific
+belief--amongst others, the ubiquity and invariable action of the law of
+gravitation--that, even now, on recalling the details of what I witnessed,
+there is an antagonism in my mind between _reason_, which pronounces it to
+be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that my senses, both
+of touch and sight--and these corroborated, as they were, by the senses of
+all who were present--are not lying witnesses when they testify against my
+preconceptions. But the supposition that there is a sort of mania or
+delusion which suddenly attacks a whole roomful of intelligent persons who
+are quite sane elsewhere, and that they all concur to the minutest
+particulars in the details of the occurrences of which they suppose
+themselves to be witnesses, seems to my mind more incredible than even the
+facts they attest" (pp. 77-78).
+
+Under the heading of "The Phenomena of Percussive and other Allied
+Sounds," he makes reference to the raps and knocks of various kinds made
+and heard in different places, "in a living tree, on a sheet of glass, on
+a stretched iron wire, on a stretched membrane, a tambourine, on the roof
+of a cab, and on the floor of a theatre," and where no known law, and no
+contrivance or trickery, could afford any clue to their cause. He then
+inquires whether the sounds thus heard are the result of some blind,
+irrational, hidden material force obeying the Laws of Nature. His
+conclusion, however, was that the varied phenomena being evidently
+governed by intelligence, a thinking being must have been concerned in
+their origination. "The intelligence," he maintains, "is sometimes of such
+a character as to lead to the belief that it does not emanate from any
+person present." The movement of heavy substances at a distance from the
+medium is then discussed, and Mr. Crookes thus writes:--
+
+"On three successive evenings a small table moved slowly across the room,
+under conditions which I had specially pre-arranged, so as to answer any
+objections which might be raised to the evidence" (p. 84).
+
+Again:--"On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a
+few inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special
+circumstances which rendered trickery impossible. On another occasion a
+heavy table rose from the floor in full light, while I was holding the
+medium's hands and feet. On another occasion the table rose from the
+floor, not only when no person was touching it, but under conditions that
+I had pre-arranged, so as to assure unquestionable proof of the fact" (p.
+85).
+
+Once more:--
+
+"On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise
+several inches from the ground. On another occasion, to avoid the
+suspicion of this being in some way performed by herself, the lady knelt
+on the chair in such manner that its four feet were visible to us. It then
+rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and
+then slowly descended. At another time two children, on separate
+occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full daylight, under
+(to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling and keeping close
+watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that no one might touch
+them" (p. 85).
+
+Respecting another class of phenomena, said to be common enough with
+Modern Spiritualists, which appeal to the sense of sight, under the head
+of "Luminous Appearances," Mr. Crookes thus writes:--
+
+"Under the strictest test conditions I have seen a solid self-luminous
+body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly
+about the room, at one time higher than anyone present could reach
+standing on tip-toe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible
+for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table
+three times, with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. During this
+time the medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair.
+
+"I have seen luminous points of light darting about and settling on the
+heads of different persons; I have had questions answered by the flashing
+of a bright light a desired number of times in front of my face. I have
+seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and again
+falling upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. I have had an
+alphabetical communication given by luminous flashes occurring before me
+in the air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. I have seen a
+luminous cloud floating upwards to a picture. Under the strictest test
+conditions, I have more than once had a solid, self-luminous crystalline
+body placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the
+room. In the light, I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope
+on a side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on
+some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to
+the form of a hand, and carry small objects about" (p. 87).
+
+Two pages later on the following occurs:--
+
+"I was sitting next to the medium, Miss Fox, the only other persons
+present being my wife and a lady relative, and I was holding the medium's
+two hands in one of mine, whilst her feet were resting on my feet. Paper
+was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was holding a pencil.
+A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and after
+hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, rapidly
+wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over
+our heads, gradually fading into darkness" (p. 89).
+
+And then Mr. Crookes testifies that not only spirit-hands, but spectres or
+spirit-persons in their entirety, were seen:--
+
+"In the dusk of the evening, during a _séance_ with Mr. Home at my house,
+the curtains of a window about eight feet from Mr. Home were seen to move.
+A dark, shadowy, semi-transparent form like that of a man was then seen by
+all present standing near the window, waving the curtain with his hand. As
+we looked, the form faded away and the curtain ceased to move. The
+following is a still more striking instance. As in the former case, Mr.
+Home was the medium. A phantom form came from a corner of the room, took
+an accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room playing the
+instrument. The form was visible to all present for many minutes, Mr. Home
+also being seen at the same time. Coming rather close to a lady who was
+sitting apart from the rest of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon
+which it vanished" (p. 90).
+
+In conclusion Mr. Crookes sets forth five current theories with regard to
+these and similar phenomena; one of which theories is clearly expressed
+in the following sentence. These supernatural manifestations, he asserts,
+some maintain to be "the actions of Evil Spirits or Devils, personifying
+who or what they please, in order to undermine Christianity and to ruin
+men's souls" (p. 96). Such a definition, it may be added, is in perfect
+accordance with ordinary experience, the testimony of Scripture, the
+action and teaching of the living Church, as well as a fulfilment of
+express and definite prophecies regarding "the latter days."
+
+
+
+
+MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
+
+CONTINUED.
+
+
+"Superstition, in its grossest form, is the worship of Evil
+Spirits."--_John Henry Newman._
+
+"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
+there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son
+of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
+God, or that is worshipped.... Whose coming is after the working of Satan,
+with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
+unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of
+the Truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them
+a strong delusion that they should believe a lie."--_2 Thess. ii. 3-11._
+
+"The greatest intellectual triumph that can be achieved by the Devil is
+gained when men are prepared to believe that he is not."--_Sermons_, _Rev.
+T. T. Lee_ (A.D. 1796).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
+
+(CONTINUED.)
+
+
+More recently the manifestations have been still further developed. From
+the "Spiritual Magazine" the following is quoted:--
+
+"The _séance_ was held by appointment. Our object being that of
+investigation, we limited the number to three, and, I must add, used every
+precaution we could think of to preclude the possibility of
+self-deception; we likewise guarded against any possible preparatory
+arrangement. Accordingly, we changed from the library to the dining-room.
+We were soon seated at a heavy square table. Twenty minutes passed without
+any manifestation; then came gentle raps, followed by the table being
+lifted, tilted, and gently vibrated. Then raps were heard simultaneously
+in different and opposite parts of the room. At my suggestion, the lamp
+was partly turned down, when a cold current of air was felt to pass over
+our hands and faces. A pause ensued. The dining-room table leaf standing
+in the corner of the room then commenced to vibrate, and one of the leaves
+being taken from the stand, was passed between Mr. Home and the table at
+which we were seated. It was then raised straight up, and passing
+vertically over my friend, gently touched him; in passing over me, it
+struck me on the crown of the head, but so gently, that I could hardly
+realize it to be the heavy leaf of the dining-room table; the touch
+nevertheless caused the leaf to vibrate all but sonorously. I name this to
+prove how delicately balanced and suspended in the air the leaf of the
+table must have been to have produced the vibration. It then passed over
+to the right, touching my shoulders, and finally was placed upon the table
+at which we were seated. The distance the leaf was carried I compute at
+nearly twelve yards (allowing for the circuit made), and at an elevation
+of six feet. A small round table was then moved from the corner of the
+room, and placed next to my friend; and in reply to his question '_who it
+was_,' he received the answer, audible to us all, '_Pa, Pa,--dear--darling
+Pa_.' An arm-chair behind my friend, and at a distance of three yards, was
+raised up straight into the air, carried over our heads, and placed upon
+the dining-room table to my left, a voice clearly and loudly repeating the
+words, 'Papa's chair.' We then observed the wooden box of the accordion
+being carried from the extreme corner of the room up to my friend. In
+passing my right hand, I passed my hand under and over the box, as it
+travelled suspended in the air to my front. I did this to make sure of the
+fact of its being moved by an invisible agency, and not by means of
+mechanical aid.... The accordion was then taken from Mr. Home, carried
+about in the room, and played. Voices were distinctly heard; a low
+whispering, and voices imitating the break of a wave on the shore.
+Finally, the accordion placed itself upon the table we were seated at, and
+two luminous hands were distinctly seen resting on the keys of the
+instrument. They remained luminously visible for from twenty to thirty
+seconds, and then melted away. I had, in the meantime, and at the request
+of my friend, taken hold of the accordion; whilst so held by me, an
+invisible hand laid hold of the instrument, and played for two or three
+minutes what appeared to me to be sacred music. Voices were then heard, a
+kind of murmuring or low whistling and breathing; at times in imitation of
+the murmur of the waves of the sea, at other times more plaintively
+melodious. The accordion was then a second time taken by an invisible
+power, carried over our heads, and a small piece of sacred music
+played,--then a hymn, voices in deep sonorous notes singing the
+hallelujah. I thought I could make out three voices, but my friend said he
+could speak to four. A jet of light then crossed the room, after which a
+star or brilliantly illuminated disk, followed by the appearance of a
+softly luminous column of light, which moved up between me and my friend.
+I cannot say that I could discern any distinct outline. The luminous
+column appeared to me to be about five to six feet high, the subdued soft
+light mounting from it half illumining the room. The column or luminous
+appearance then passed to my right, and a chair was moved and placed next
+to me. I distinctly heard the rustling as of a silk dress. Instinctively I
+put my hand forward to ascertain the presence of the guest, when a soft
+hand seized my hand and wrist. I then felt that the skirt of a dress had
+covered my knees. I grasped it; it felt like thick silk, and melted away
+as I firmly clenched my hand on it. By this time I admit I shuddered. A
+heavy footstep then passed to my right, the floor vibrating to the
+footfall; the spirit-form now walked up to the fire-place, clapping its
+hands as it passed me. I then felt something press against the back of my
+chair; the weight was so great, that as the form leaned on my shoulder, I
+had to bend forward under the pressure. Two hands gently pressed my
+forehead; I noticed a luminous appearance at my right; I was kissed, and
+what to me at the time made my very frame thrill again, spoken to in a
+sweet, low, melodious voice. The words uttered by the spirit were
+distinctly heard by all present. As the spirit-form passed away, it
+repeated the words, 'I kissed you, I kissed you,' and I felt three taps
+on each shoulder, audible to all present, as if in parting to reimpress me
+with the reality of its presence. I shuddered again, and, in spite of all
+my heroism, felt very 'uncanny.' My friend now called our attention to his
+being patted by a soft hand on his head. I heard a kiss, and then the
+words, 'Papa, dear papa.' He said his left hand was being kissed, and that
+a soft, child-like hand was caressing him. A cloud of light appeared to be
+standing at his left."
+
+Another example, from the same publication, deserves to be put on
+record:--
+
+"The first group of the manifestations (I use the term 'group' to mark the
+characteristic difference of the phenomena on each occasion,) occurred at
+a friend's house at Great Malvern. Those present had only incidentally
+met; and, owing to a prohibition being laid upon Mr. Home by his medical
+man against trying his strength, no _séance_ was attempted. I name this as
+characteristic. Raps in different parts of the room, and the movement of
+furniture, however, soon told the presence of the invisibles. The library
+in which the party had met communicated with the hall; and the door having
+been left half open, a broad stream of light from the burners of the
+gas-lamp lit up the room. At the suggestion of one of the party, the
+candles were removed. The rapping, which had till then been heard in
+different parts of the room, suddenly made a pause, and then the unusual
+phenomena of the appearance of spirit-forms manifested itself. The opening
+of the half-closed door was suddenly darkened by an invisible agency, the
+room becoming pitch dark. Then the wall opposite became illumined, the
+library now being lit up by a luminous element, for it cannot be described
+otherwise. Between those present and the opposite and now illumined wall
+two spirit-forms were seen, their shadowy outline on the wall well
+defined. The forms moved to and fro. They made an effort to speak; the
+articulation, however, was too imperfect to permit of the meaning of the
+words to be understood. The darkening which had obscured the half-closed
+door was then removed, and the broad light from the hall lamp reappeared,
+looking quite dim in comparison with the luminous brilliancy of the light
+that had passed away. Again the room became darkened, then illumined, and
+a colossal head and shoulders appeared to rise from the floor, visible
+only by the shadow it cast upon the illumined wall. What added to the
+interest was the apparent darkening and lighting up of the room at will,
+and that repeatedly, the library door remaining half open all the while.
+The time occupied by these phenomena was perhaps five to ten minutes, the
+manifestations terminating quite abruptly."
+
+A correspondent of the same serial gives the following facts:--
+
+"On the 1st October, 1865, I attended a _séance_ at 13, Victoria Place,
+Clifton, where the younger Mrs. Marshall, the well-known medium from
+London, was staying.
+
+"I had previously prepared, as a test, a series of written questions
+inserted in a book and numbered consecutively; my wife, who was present,
+was by the usual method put in communication with the spirit of her
+mother, and the following are a few of the results. It is important to
+observe that no clue was given to the medium, or to the others present, as
+to the nature of the answer required, the questions being put in the
+following form:--'Will you answer the question No. 33?' &c., and as the
+answers were occasionally given in a different form from what was
+anticipated, though still quite correctly, these two facts taken together
+conclusively prove, as it appears to me, that the answers were neither the
+result of any knowledge on the part of the medium, nor any 'reflex action'
+from the mind of the interrogator.
+
+"The spirit having been requested to answer the question numbered 33,
+viz.:--'Will you spell the name of the place where we lived when you left
+this state?' The reply, spelt through the alphabet, was 'Aust.'
+
+"Question No. 34 having been put in the same manner, viz.:--'Where was
+your body buried?' The reply was, 'Saint George's.'
+
+"No. 35.--'While your body was lying in the coffin, was anything put in
+the hand?'[51] Reply, 'Yes.'
+
+"No. 36.--'What was it?' Reply, 'A sprig of myrtle.'
+
+"No. 37.--'By whom was it put there?' Reply, 'Thomas Bowman.'
+
+"No. 38.--'Who else were present at the time?' Reply, 'Ann, Tommy and Mary
+Bowman Bryant.'
+
+"Many other replies were given of an equally satisfactory character, but I
+must not further trespass on your space. I would merely remark that the
+answers in each case were quite correct, and that the events referred to
+occurred upwards of forty years since."
+
+Again, Mr. James Howell, of 7, Guildford Road, Brighton, writes as follows
+in the "Spiritual Magazine" for November, 1867:--
+
+"When I was at the Marshalls' last summer, a circumstance, unknown to
+anyone present save myself, was made known to me by unaccountable means.
+The name of a young lady who suffered and died from spinal complaint in
+the year 1843 was correctly spelled out, and the date of her death given.
+I was most intimately acquainted with her. She was good, pious, and highly
+intellectual. To her I owe my knowledge of the French language, and my
+love of its literature. I was not thinking of her at the time; in fact,
+she was furthest from my thoughts; yet her name--a very uncommon one, you
+will admit--was given correctly, 'Aletta V----.' Now I am honest enough to
+confess that a million guesses would not have guessed that name. I was
+astounded and affected; for it brought back to my mind a rush of thoughts,
+happy and sad, of those evenings when I sat by her bedside listening to
+her sweet voice, and imbibing the original thoughts which sprang, not only
+from a well-stored mind, but one instinct with genius. Twenty-three years
+had elapsed from the time of her death; she had often promised to
+communicate with me from the spirit-world, if it was possible, and now
+that promise was fulfilled, even in the presence of others."
+
+And once more, the same writer gives the following record of facts:--
+
+"I paid a visit on Monday, July 2nd, to Mrs. Parks, of Cornwall Terrace,
+Regent's Park, then staying at 7, Bedford Square. Miss Purcell, the
+medium, went with me; and we three had some strong and wonderful
+manifestations. The table was turned about merrily, and once whirled round
+in mid-air. It became as animated as a living being; it even ran about
+when not a single being touched it. Knockings were heard all over the
+room; in chairs, in tables, under the floor, and along the wainscot. We
+had great trouble to keep the tables from being smashed.
+
+"During the evening, the 'Blue Bells of Scotland' and '_Marlbrook s'en
+va-t-en guerre_' were knocked out on the table in a beautiful and correct
+manner, the table beating and dancing admirable time to each tune. At a
+previous _séance_ a well-known tune was knocked out, and my wife was
+requested to dance, the spirits stating that the table should accompany
+her; but as we could not induce her to do so, we lost the promised _pas de
+deux_ between a human being and a table. At my request the table also gave
+a series of knocks, viz. the footman's, the postman's, the tax-gatherer's,
+and the countryman's, which were perfect, and caused us much amusement. In
+one part of the room there appeared a silvery, bluish star, shining
+brilliantly. Mrs. Parks, strange to say, could not see it, but to the
+medium and myself it was clearly visible, at the same time too; and a
+brilliant member of the stellar creation it was, coming and going like
+those of the sky, when for a moment a veil of clouds passes over them."
+
+The conviction that such acts and deeds are the work of evil spirits is
+put on record in the same serial, a formal organ of the Spiritualists, in
+the following narrative:--
+
+"Mr. and Mrs. C---- attend a _séance_ at which the spirit of 'a darling
+child' is manifestly present. They attend a second _séance_, and through
+the same medium they are confirmed in the conviction of the real presence
+of their child. Mr. C---- then finds that he is himself a medium, and
+forthwith he purchases a small table for the exercise of his power.
+
+"His first experiment proves to him beyond a doubt that an intelligent
+being, though invisible, is with him; but he speedily begins to suspect
+that whatever the character may have been of the spirit which first
+manifested to him through another medium, this, which is now communicating
+through himself, is an evil spirit. On his 'wishing it to walk to the
+dining-room, it started at once.' He was struck by its heavy tread, 'so
+very unlike the footfalls of a young child,' and he exclaimed, 'This is
+_not_ the spirit of my child, if so, I want no other manifestation.'
+Becoming more and more suspicious of the character of this particular
+visitant, he said, 'If thou art not the spirit of my child, march out of
+the house.' 'The table did, indeed, march, making a noise like the loud
+and well-measured footfalls of a heavy dragoon--literally shaking
+everything in the room.'
+
+"This gentleman then adjured the spirit in a variety of forms, and asked
+if it was not a bad spirit? and it said, 'Yes!' Then he said, 'Accursed
+devil! by the living God I adjure thee to speak the truth! Has the spirit
+of my child _ever_ been put in communication with myself or her mother
+through this or any other table?' The 'accursed devil' said, 'No, never!'
+Then, after similar assurances, Mr. C---- made up his mind to believe the
+devil; and he closed his experiments with an auto-da-fé, by breaking up
+and burning the table!"
+
+Mr. Chevalier, who was the first witness called before the committee
+appointed by the Dialectical Society, gives the following personal version
+of this experiment, 20th July, 1869. He stated that he had had seventeen
+years' experience of Spiritualism, but it was not till 1866 that he
+commenced experimenting on tables. He obtained the usual phenomena, such
+as raps and tiltings and answers to questions. On one occasion, the answer
+which was given being obviously untrue, the witness peremptorily inquired
+why a correct answer had not been given, and the spirit in reply said,
+"Because I am Beelzebub." Mr. Chevalier, in continuation, said, "I
+continued my experiments until I heard of the 'Spiritual Athenæum.' About
+that time I lost a child, and heard my wife say she had been in
+communication with its spirit. I cautioned her, and yet was anxious to
+communicate also. I placed one finger on the table; it moved, and the name
+of the child was given. It was a French name. I told a friend of mine what
+had happened, but was laughed at by him; he however came, sceptic as he
+was. I placed one hand on the table asking mental questions, which were
+all answered. He then asked where my child went to school, not knowing
+himself, and the answer 'Fenton' was given; this also was correct.
+Frequently after this, I obtained manifestations in French and English,
+and messages as a child could send to a parent. At my meals I constantly
+rested my hand on a small table, and it seemed to join in the
+conversation. One day the table turned at right angles, and went into the
+corner of the room. I asked, 'Are you my child?' but obtained no answer. I
+then said, 'Are you from God?' but the table was still silent. I then
+said, 'In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I command you to
+answer--are you from God?' One loud rap, a negative, was then given. 'Do
+you believe,' said I, 'that Christ died to save us from sin?' The answer
+was 'No!' 'Accursed spirit,' said I, 'leave the room.' The table then
+walked across the room, entered the adjoining one and quickened its steps.
+It was a small tripod table. It walked with a sidelong walk. It went to
+the door, shook the handle, and I opened it. The table then walked into
+the passage, and I repeated the adjuration, receiving the same answer.
+Fully convinced that I was dealing with an accursed spirit, I opened the
+street door, and the table was immediately silent; no movement or rap was
+heard. I returned alone to the drawing-room, and asked if there were any
+spirits present. Immediately I heard steps like those of a little child
+outside the door. I opened it, and the small table went into the corner as
+before, just as my child did when I reproved it for a fault. These
+manifestations continued until I used the adjuration, and I always found
+that they changed or ceased when the Name of God was mentioned. One night,
+when sitting alone in my drawing-room, I heard a noise at the top of the
+house; a servant who had heard it came into the room frightened. I went to
+the nursery and found that the sounds came from a spot near the bed. I
+pronounced the adjuration and they instantly ceased. The same sounds were
+afterwards heard in the kitchen, and I succeeded in restoring quiet as
+before.
+
+"Reflecting on these singular facts, I determined to inquire further and
+really satisfy myself that the manifestations were what I suspected them
+to be. I went to Mrs. Marshall, and took with me three clever men, who
+were not at all likely to be deceived. I was quite unknown; we sat at a
+table, and had a _séance_: Mrs. Marshall told me the name of my child. I
+asked the spirit some questions, and then pronounced the adjuration. We
+all heard steps, which sounded as if someone was mounting the wall; in a
+few seconds the sounds ceased, and although Mrs. Marshall challenged again
+and again, the spirits did not answer, and she said she could not account
+for the phenomenon. In this case, I pronounced the adjuration mentally; no
+person knew what I had done. At a _séance_, held at the house of a friend
+of mine, at which I was present, manifestations were obtained, and, as I
+was known to be hostile, I was entreated not to interfere. I sat for two
+hours a passive spectator. I then asked the name of the spirit, and it
+gave the name of my child. 'In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy
+Ghost,' said I, 'are you the spirit of my child?' It answered, 'No!' and
+the word 'Devil' was spelled out."
+
+Dr. Edmunds: "How were the names spelled out?"
+
+Mr. Chevalier: "The legs rapped when the alphabet was called over. Mrs.
+Marshall used the alphabet herself, and the table rapped when her pencil
+came to the letters. My opinion of the phenomena is that the intelligence
+which is put in communication with us is a fallen one. It is the Devil,
+the Prince of the Powers of the air. I believe we commit the crime of
+Necromancy when we take part in these spiritual _séances_."
+
+We obtain from these extracts, which might be multiplied thirty-fold from
+the authorized publications of the Spiritualists, some idea of the nature
+of their _séances_ and proceedings. Our own statement at the outset has
+been more than justified as regards its moderation and accuracy from the
+examples provided in the extracts in question. "Necromancy" has been well
+defined to be "The art of communicating with devils and of doing
+surprising things by means of their aid; particularly that of calling up
+the dead and extorting answers from them." Now this, it seems clear, in
+one form or another, is precisely that which is carried on by a
+considerable and increasing section[52] of people in America, in England,
+on the Continent, and elsewhere. It is practised mainly by persons who
+were such extreme Protestants in previous times that, having almost
+altogether denied the Supernatural, they have been reluctantly won over to
+a belief in it by communion with evil spirits. Father Perrone, the
+distinguished Jesuit, has calculated that upwards of two thousand
+treatises have been published in defence of the system of these
+manifestations during the past fifteen years. It has been pointedly
+remarked by an English clergyman, of those people who once, like the
+ancient Sadducees, rejected the idea of the existence of spirits, but who
+now have accepted the Spiritualistic theory, that "they have given up
+believing in nothing, and have taken to believe in the Devil."[53] And
+this epigrammatic saying is hardly too pointed. According to Perrone, the
+modern professors of divination frankly allow that the phenomena have
+passed through three phases. First, that of Mesmerism; secondly,
+artificial Somnambulism and Clairvoyance; and thirdly, Spiritualism,
+properly so called. He gives five reasons for maintaining his theory of
+diabolical agency with regard to the same. 1. From the nature of the
+phenomena. 2. From its effects. 3. From the manner in which Mesmerism
+operates. 4. From the malice and wickedness of the agent, who frequently
+utters anti-Christian and blasphemous doctrines; and lastly, 5. from the
+frank and candid admission of the mediums or operators themselves.
+
+In most cases it may be safely assumed that evil spirits personify the
+souls of the departed. That such spirits are the deadly foes of man so
+long as he is in his period of probation, may, for all Catholic
+Christians, be also assumed. That such spirits, moreover, constantly
+represent the departed as continually desiring the hand of Death to fall
+upon their earthly friends, in order, as is implied or stated, that a
+future of unclouded light and everlasting happiness may speedily link them
+together, can be seen from a careful study of the records of Spiritualism.
+Some of the facts already set forth teach this. The principle that men,
+whether good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, will all be certainly
+saved, and be for ever hereafter in bliss, is the practical heresy[54]
+that Spiritualism in its theological aspect has most openly taught, and
+still continues to teach. "Spiritualism," writes Mr. William Howitt, a
+convert to it from Quakerism, "rejects the doctrine of eternal damnation
+as alike injurious to God and man. Injurious to God's noblest attributes,
+repugnant to the principles of justice, and unavailing in men as a motive
+to repentance.... Spiritualism knows that there are isolated passages in
+the Gospels and in the words of our Saviour capable of being made to bear
+an appearance favouring the doctrine of eternal punishment, but it knows
+that the original terms bear no such latitude, and when Christ says there
+is a state 'where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,' it
+admits the state, but denies that any of God's creatures will continue in
+that state a minute longer than is necessary to purge the foulness of sin
+and the love of sin out of their spiritual constitutions. Were the
+solution of this supposed difficulty much harder than it is, Spiritualism
+would place the love of God and the love of Christ, and all the great and
+gracious attributes of God and His Saviour--justice and truth and wisdom,
+and a charity more immeasurable than God Himself recommends to mankind,
+confidently and courageously against so horrible and senseless a
+doctrine."
+
+Now, though Spiritualism be ignored by the press, Universalism, its own
+offspring, is constantly and persistently maintained. Spiritualism also
+flatly denies the great Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of the
+body:--
+
+"Spiritualism teaches, on the authority of Scripture and of all
+spirit-life, that there is no such thing as death: it is but a name given
+to the issue of the soul from the body. To those in bodies who witness
+this change, the spirit is invisible, and they only see a body which
+ceases all its living functions, has lost that intelligence which during
+so-called 'life' emanated from it, and lies stiff and cold, and to all
+appearance dead. But even the body is not dead. There is a law of life
+even in what is called dead matter, which is perpetually changing its
+particles and converting them into mere black earth and water, and hence
+into all the articles necessary for the physical life--corn, meat, wine,
+all foods, all fruits. The same law immediately begins to operate in the
+dead body, and, if unobstructed, speedily resolves it back into earth, and
+then forms this again into food and clothing and fresh enveloping forms
+for fresh human beings. The whole of the universe is in perpetual action,
+and the ever-revolving wheel of physical is subserving the perpetual
+evolution of spiritual life."[55]
+
+And again:--
+
+"The Church of England and Spiritualism accord, but not in the doctrine of
+the resurrection of the body. The spirits all assert with S. Paul, that
+the body which rises from the death-bed is the spiritual body, and that
+the soul needs no other, much less an earthly body, in its
+spirit-home--that, in fact, nothing of the earth can ever enter heaven.
+That if the spirits of just men are _made perfect_, they can be nothing
+more, and no addition of anything belonging to this earth can add to their
+happiness, freedom, power, and perfection, but on the contrary. That so
+far from receiving at some indefinite and, probably, very distant period,
+their earthly bodies back again, they are continually, as they advance,
+casting off the subtler particles of matter that have interpenetrated
+their spiritual bodies."[56]
+
+With regard to the influence of the Protestant Reformation on that temper
+of mind and habit of thought which have led sceptics and those whose faith
+has been overturned by the blasphemies of Calvin or the immoral principle
+of the Lutheran systems and their offshoots, to become votaries of
+Spiritualism, we cannot do better than put on record Mr. Howitt's
+deliberate judgment, expressed in language which, however painful to read
+in some parts, is at once forcible and pertinent:--
+
+"By the denial of the intermediate states, the Protestant Reformers
+perpetrated a more monstrous outrage on the Divine justice, and more
+frightfully libelled the Divine mercy, than by the broadest stretch of
+imagination one would have thought it possible. By this arbitrary
+extinction of some of the loveliest regions of creation, by this wiping
+out of vast kingdoms of God's tolerance and goodness by the sponge of
+Protestant reaction, God's whole being was blackened, and every one of His
+eternal attributes dislocated and driven pell-mell into the limbo of
+Atheism. I say Atheism, for such a God could not possibly exist as this
+Protestant theory would have made Him--a God with less justice than the
+most stupid country squire ever established in the chair of magistracy;
+with less mercy than an inquisitor or a torturer with his red-hot pincers
+and iron boots. These atrocities were but the work of moments, but this
+system made the God of love and the Father of Jesus Christ sitting in
+endless bliss amid a favoured few, whilst below were incalculable
+populations suffering the tortures of fires which no period even of
+millions of years should extinguish, and that without any proportion
+whatever to the offences of the sufferers! All who were not 'spirits of
+just men made perfect' were, according to this doctrine, only admissible
+to this common hell, this common receptacle of the middling, bad, and the
+most bedevilled of devils! Never could any such monstrous, foul, and
+detestable doctrine issue from any source but that of the hearts of
+fiends themselves. None but devils could breed up so black a fog of
+blasphemy to blot out the image of a loving and paternal God from the view
+of His creatures. And yet the mocking devil induced the zealous Protestant
+fathers to accept this most truly 'doctrine of devils,' as an antidote to
+Popish error. As some glimmering of the direst consequences of this
+shutting-up of the middle states of the invisible world began to dawn on
+the Protestant mind, it set about to invent remedies and apply
+palliatives, and by a sort of spiritual hocus-pocus, it taught that if the
+greatest sinners did but call on Christ at the last gasp, they were
+converted into saints, and found themselves in heaven itself with God and
+the Lamb. This was only making the matter worse, and holding out a premium
+for the continuance in every sin and selfishness to the last moment. It
+was an awful temptation to self-deception presented to human selfishness.
+Millions, no doubt, have trusted to this wretched Protestant reed.... Yet
+common sense in others rejected and rejects the cruel deceit. A country
+poet, writing the epitaph of the blacksmith in my native village,
+expressed the truth on the Protestant theory of no middle regions:--
+
+  'Too bad for heaven, too good for hell,
+   So where he's gone we cannot tell.'"
+
+And now to conclude this portion of our subject, regarding which not a
+tenth part of the examples of "Spiritual" manifestations gathered has been
+given. To have discussed the facts and theories provided on previous
+pages, would have occupied several chapters. Sufficient, however, is
+recorded to show that Spiritualism is directly antagonistic to the
+Christian Religion,[57] to point out the true character of many of the
+signs and wonders which exist in this nineteenth century, and which
+testify and witness to old and unchangeable truths. The ministry of "men
+and of angels in a wonderful order,"[58] the practice of exorcism, the
+facts of diabolical agency, possession by evil spirits, the sins of
+Witchcraft and Necromancy, are all more or less intertwined with the
+Divine Revelation which God has been pleased to give to man. But the
+Materialism of these latter days is blinding men's eyes, that they cannot
+see, and successfully destroying their faith in all that is beyond their
+cramped and narrow temporal range. Intellectual Paganism, and a positive
+disbelief in the distinct Nature of God, if not openly professed, is
+indirectly acknowledged; while the Faith of Pentecost, which for
+generations has regenerated the World, is cast aside as worn out, effete,
+and valueless. The possibility of miracle is derided; Providence is
+scouted as the fond dream of an exaggerated human self-love; belief in the
+power of prayer is asserted to be only a superstition, illustrative of
+man's ignorance of the scientific conception of law; the hypothesis of
+absolute invariable law, and the cognate conception of Nature as a
+self-evolved system of self-existent forces and self-existent matter, are
+ideas advancing with giant strides. Side by side with all this, however,
+stand the portentous phenomena referred to here. Let the existence of one
+course of such facts as those related be granted, and far more follows
+than the pure Materialist or the Positivist would for a moment allow. Yet
+none can deny the presence amongst us of such, evil in their essence and
+mischievous in their operations. The whole cycle represents the works of
+the Devil and his angels--works opposed at every step in theory by the
+Truths of Christianity, and in fact by the sacraments of the Church
+Universal. Man's highest and chiefest duty is to do the Will of the Most
+High: the practice of the Spiritualists, on the other hand (and let men
+lay the warning to heart), appears to be an intentional and systematic
+giving up of their wills to the evil one; an invocation of evil spirits
+for unlawful purposes, a "willing" for supernatural intervention in things
+which are not lawful, and a deliberate turning away from Him to Whom all
+power is given in Heaven and in Earth.
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IX.
+
+SPIRITUALISM AND SCIENCE.
+
+The following Letter appeared in "The Times" newspaper a few years ago:--
+
+"SIR,--Having been named by several of your correspondents as one of the
+scientific men who believe in Spiritualism, you will perhaps allow me to
+state briefly what amount of evidence has forced the belief upon me. I
+began the investigation about eight years ago, and I esteem it a fortunate
+thing that at that time the more marvellous phenomena were far less
+common and less accessible than they are now, because I was led to
+experiment largely at my own house, and among friends whom I could trust,
+and was able to establish to my own satisfaction, by means of a great
+variety of tests, the occurrence of sounds and movements not traceable to
+any known or conceivable physical cause. Having thus become thoroughly
+familiar with these undoubtedly genuine phenomena, I was able to compare
+them with the more powerful manifestations of several public mediums, and
+to recognize an identity of cause in both by means of a number of minute
+but highly characteristic resemblances. I was also able, by patient
+observation, to obtain tests of the reality of some of the more curious
+phenomena which appeared at the time, and still appear to me, to be
+conclusive. To go into details as to those experiences would require a
+volume, but I may, perhaps, be permitted briefly to describe one, from
+notes kept at the time, because it serves as an example of the complete
+security against deception which often occurs to the patient observer
+without seeking for it.
+
+"A lady who had seen nothing of the phenomena asked me and my sister to
+accompany her to a well-known public medium. We went, and had a sitting
+alone in the bright light of a summer's day. After a number of the usual
+raps and movements, our lady friend asked if the name of the deceased
+person she was desirous of communicating with, could be spelt out. On
+receiving an answer in the affirmative, the lady pointed successively to
+the letters of a printed alphabet while I wrote down those at which three
+affirmative raps occurred. Neither I nor my sister knew the name the lady
+wished for, nor even the names of any of her deceased relatives; her own
+name had not been mentioned, and she had never been near the medium
+before. The following is exactly what happened, except that I alter the
+surname, which was a very unusual one, having no authority to publish it.
+The letters I wrote down were of the following kind:--yrnehnospmoht. After
+the first three--yrn--had been taken down, my friend said, "This is
+nonsense, we had better begin again." Just then her pencil was at e, and
+raps came, when a thought struck me (having read of, but never witnessed,
+a similar occurrence), and I said, 'Please go on, I think I see what is
+meant.' When the spelling was finished I handed the paper to her, but she
+could see no meaning in it till I divided it at the first h, and asked her
+to read each portion backwards, when to her intense astonishment the name
+'Henry Thompson' came out, that of a deceased son of whom she had wished
+to hear, correct in every letter. Just about that time I had been hearing
+_ad nauseam_ of the superhuman acuteness of mediums who detect the letters
+of the name the deluded visitors expect, notwithstanding all their care to
+pass the pencil over the letters with perfect regularity. This experience,
+however (for the substantial accuracy of which as above narrated I vouch),
+was and is, to my mind, a complete disproof of every explanation yet given
+of the means by which the names of deceased persons are rapped out. Of
+course I do not expect any sceptic, whether scientific or unscientific, to
+accept such facts, of which I could give many, on my testimony; but
+neither must they expect me, nor the thousands of intelligent men to whom
+equally conclusive tests have occurred, to accept their short and easy
+methods of explaining them.
+
+"If I am not occupying too much of your valuable space I should like to
+make a few remarks on the misconceptions of many scientific men as to the
+nature of this inquiry, taking the Letters of your correspondent Mr. Dirks
+as an example. In the first place, he seems to think that it is an
+argument against the facts being genuine that they cannot all be produced
+and exhibited at will; and another argument against them, that they cannot
+be explained by any known laws. But neither can catalepsy, the fall of
+meteoric stones, nor hydrophobia be produced at will; yet these are all
+facts, and none the less so that the first is sometimes imitated, the
+second was once denied, and the symptoms of the third are often greatly
+exaggerated, while none of them is yet brought under the domain of strict
+science; yet no one would make this an argument for refusing to
+investigate these subjects. Again, I should not have expected a scientific
+man to state, as a reason for not examining it, that Spiritualism 'is
+opposed to every known natural law, especially the law of gravity,' and
+that it 'sets chymistry, human physiology, and mechanics at open
+defiance;' when the facts simply are that the phenomena, if true, depend
+upon a cause or causes which can overcome or counteract the action of
+these several forces, just as some of these forces often counteract or
+overcome others; and this should surely be a strong inducement to a man of
+science to investigate the subject.
+
+"While not laying any claim myself to the title of 'a really scientific
+man,' there are some who deserve that epithet who have not yet been
+mentioned by your correspondents as at the same time spiritualists. Such I
+consider the late Dr. Robert Chambers, as well as Dr. Elliotson, Professor
+William Gregory, of Edinburgh; and Professor Hare, of Philadelphia--all
+unfortunately deceased; while Dr. Gully, of Malvern, as a scientific
+physician, and Judge Edmonds, one of the best American lawyers, have had
+the most ample means of investigation; yet all these not only were
+convinced of the reality of the most marvellous facts, but also accepted
+the theory of Modern Spiritualism as the only one which would embrace and
+account for the facts. I am also acquainted with a living physiologist, of
+high rank as an original investigator, who is an equally firm believer.
+
+"In conclusion I may say that, although I have heard a great many
+accusations of imposture, I have never detected it myself; and, although a
+large proportion of the more extraordinary phenomena are such that, if
+impostures, they could only be performed by means of ingenious apparatus
+or machinery, none has ever been discovered. I consider it no exaggeration
+to say that the main facts are now as well established and as easily
+verifiable as any of the more exceptional phenomena of nature which are
+not yet reduced to law. They have a most important bearing on the
+interpretation of History, which is full of narratives of similar facts,
+and on the nature of life and intellect, on which physical science throws
+a very feeble and uncertain light; and it is my firm and deliberate belief
+that every branch of philosophy must suffer till they are honestly and
+seriously investigated, and dealt with as constituting an essential
+portion of the phenomena of human nature.
+
+  "I am, Sir, yours obediently,
+  "ALFRED R. WALLACE."
+
+The following Review, taken from the "Weekly Register" of August 1, 1874,
+will be read with interest:--
+
+"The May and June numbers of the 'Fortnightly Review' for 1874, contain
+two remarkable articles by Mr. Wallace, the eminent naturalist. They are
+entitled--'A Defence of Modern Spiritualism.' His aim in these is to prove
+the objective reality of its phenomena in the first instance, and then to
+show that the theory which explains them can be accepted by those who,
+like himself, entirely disbelieve in a Supernatural order. He points out
+that Modern Spiritualism is not in any way a survival or revival of old
+superstitions, but a completely new science. The facts upon which it rests
+have been known and noted from the earliest beginnings of history, but,
+owing to the influence of Superstition, were almost universally
+misinterpreted. Now, at last, these mists are clearing away. We have
+abundant materials upon which to work, and he looks forward with
+confidence to the establishment of a satisfactory scientific theory of a
+future life. Such a theory will be a truly regenerating influence,
+resting, not on arbitrary beliefs, but on established facts, and will, for
+the first time, make a true religion possible and a pure morality.
+
+"At the close of the second essay, there is a sketch of the outline of the
+theory up to the point which it has reached as yet. Of course there is
+still much which requires to be explained and developed. The science is
+only in its infancy; but still its principles can be understood and
+appreciated. It is taken for granted that there are no spirits but human
+ones, these being the only spirits of which we can have any scientific
+knowledge. This being assumed, Mr. Wallace proceeds to give a short
+analysis of human nature, drawn from generalizations from the 'phenomena
+in their entirety,' and the communications of the spirits themselves. This
+is contained in four propositions:--
+
+"1. Man is a duality, consisting of an organized spiritual form evolved
+coincidently with and permeating the physical body, and having
+corresponding organs and development.
+
+"2. Death is the separation of this duality, and effects no change in the
+spirit, morally or intellectually.
+
+"3. Progressive evolution of the intellectual and moral nature is the
+destiny of individuals; the knowledge, attainments, and experience of
+earth-life forming the basis of spirit-life.
+
+"4. Spirits can communicate through properly-endowed mediums. They are
+attracted to those they love or sympathise with.... But, as follows from
+Clause 2, their communications will be fallible, and must be judged and
+tested just as we do those of our fellow-men.
+
+"From the acceptance of these propositions will result a far purer
+morality than any which either Religious systems or Philosophy have yet
+put forth, and with sanctions far more powerful and effective--'For the
+essential teaching of Spiritualism is that we are all, in every act and
+thought, helping to build up a "mental fabric" which will be and
+constitute ourselves more completely after the death of the body than it
+does now. Just as this fabric is well or ill built will our progress and
+happiness be aided or retarded. There will be no imposed rewards and
+punishments; but everyone will suffer the inevitable consequences of a
+well or ill spent life. The well-spent life is that in which those
+faculties which concern our personal physical well-being are subordinated
+to those which regard our social and intellectual well-being and the
+well-being of others; and that inherent feeling, which is so universal and
+so difficult to account for, that those latter constitute our higher
+nature, seems also to point to the conclusion that we are intended for a
+condition in which the former will be almost wholly unnecessary, and will
+gradually become rudimentary through disuse, while the latter will receive
+a corresponding development. This teaching will make a man dread to give
+way to passion, or falsehood, or a selfish and luxurious life--knowing
+that the inevitable consequences of such habits are future misery and a
+long and arduous struggle, in order to develop anew the faculties which
+had been crippled by long disuse. He will be deterred from crime, knowing
+that its unforeseen consequences may cause him ages of remorse, and his
+bad passions perpetual torment, in a state of being in which mental
+emotions cannot be drowned in the fierce struggles and sensual pleasures
+of a physical existence. And these beliefs (unlike those of theology) will
+have a living efficacy, because depending on facts occurring again and
+again within the family circle, and so bringing home the realities of the
+future life to the minds of even the most obtuse.' He asks us to 'contrast
+this system of natural and inevitable reward and retribution, dependent
+wholly on the proportionate development of our higher mental and moral
+nature, with the arbitrary system of rewards and punishments dependent on
+stated acts and beliefs only, as set forth by all dogmatic religions; and
+who can fail to see that the former is in harmony with the whole order of
+Nature--the latter opposed to it?' We cannot enter on the religious and
+moral questions which this brief survey of Mr. Wallace's theory suggests,
+but we wish to make some remarks on the 'facts' on which it is founded,
+and his treatment of them. The point that strikes one most in these
+articles is their evident sincerity. Mr. Wallace has become a believer in
+Spiritualism in spite of deeply-rooted prejudices against it, and he is
+anxious to deal thoroughly and impartially with all the facts connected
+with it as far as he can, without contradicting the first principles of
+his scientific creed. We can understand this limitation, for we, too, have
+first principles--first principles of which we are so certain that no
+seeming contradiction of them by facts could shake our belief. But the
+difference between our position and his is that our first principles are
+founded, not on facts of experience, but on a _belief_ that God has spoken
+to us, and is speaking every day in the Church. Therefore, whatever God
+has revealed becomes to us as a first principle, which, _à priori_, cannot
+contradict facts, and which, as our knowledge increases, we more and more
+find experimentally to harmonize with them and explain them. But the whole
+of Mr. Wallace's theory is founded on the assumption that God does not
+speak--that He, and all that concerns Him, is unknown and unknowable to
+us; and this assumption rests, he would tell us, on facts--_i. e._ on his
+view of the order of Nature. Now, what we wish to point out is, that
+nothing which thus rests only on experience can, in any true sense, be
+called a first principle. It is merely a wide generalization, which may,
+any moment, be displaced by a still wider one. Mr. Lecky, in his 'History
+of Rationalism,' asserts that the evidence in favour of the reality of
+witchcraft would be irresistible, were we not convinced, on _à priori_
+grounds, that witchcraft is a delusion. Once Mr. Wallace fully shared this
+conviction, and found himself compelled, in his own words, to 'reject or
+ignore' all this evidence. Now, Modern Spiritualism has enabled him to
+accept all these, and other facts of a similar nature; and he expatiates
+on the relief he feels in being able to open his eyes to a whole host of
+things which he had hitherto been obliged painfully and laboriously to
+overlook. There is quite a string of them. Socrates' Demon, the ancient
+Oracles, all Miracles--those of the Bible, the lives of the Saints, and in
+the present day, answers to prayer, all the phenomena of Second Sight,
+Ghosts, and occult disturbances of all sorts. We cannot refer our readers
+to the articles themselves for the explanations, some of them very
+curious, of all these things. But we should like to ask whether it may not
+be possible that there may be some theory yet to be found still more
+comprehensive than Spiritualism, and which may yield a still deeper joy
+and relief? The one before us seems to us still to require a considerable
+amount of reserve, to say no more, in dealing with some of the facts.
+Professor Huxley objects to the amount of twaddle that is talked by the
+spirits; but to this Mr. Wallace replies, very justly, we think, that it
+is no more than we must expect, considering the mental and moral calibre
+of the majority of mankind; and, consequently, of spirits, who are not
+much improved by the mere fact of dying, not to mention that of the
+spiritualists themselves; and we know that the proverb, 'Like attracts
+like,' is especially applicable to mediums. But we confess that we are
+surprised when we are told that 'sectarian' spirits continue to maintain
+special dogmas and doctrines, while yet quite unable to describe
+themselves as being in any situation which at all corresponds to the
+orthodox teaching about a future life. We cannot understand what doctrines
+or dogmas could survive such a _désillusionnement_, whether agreeable or
+the reverse, as Mr. Wallace's future life would be to a spirit whose
+conceptions on the subject had been moulded on any form of Christianity.
+Nor can we conceive of any motive, except a diabolical maliciousness,
+which could prompt spirits to wish to keep up such delusions among their
+surviving friends. And yet Mr. Wallace explains the apparitions of Our
+Lady, &c., in modern times, as being produced by spirits with strong
+Catholic predilections, knowing that they would be very efficacious in
+stimulating the cultus which they prefer. And this is said without any
+moral comment whatever. Also allowing, as he does, the reality of the
+apparitions, though only of human origin, in the Bible and lives of the
+saints, we are at a loss to see how he can say that orthodox notions of
+heaven are never confirmed by spirits. We should have said that it was
+precisely by them that most of these had been originated, not to say
+confirmed. If his spirits are spirits, so are ours, and quite as worthy of
+credit. These are only a few of the difficulties on the surface of
+Sceptical Spiritualism. But we have already exceeded our limits. We will
+only add that we cannot but hope that, Spiritualism being so far an
+approach to truth that it admits an important class of facts which had
+lately been very much denied and ignored, may, by the difficulties which
+they raise, lead some minds to reconsider the position they have taken up
+with regard to the Supernatural. There is no bridge across the chasm which
+divides Faith from Unbelief, and yet in this World the edges are so close
+that it is but a step, and we pass from darkness into light."
+
+
+
+
+SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
+
+
+"The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear Him, and
+delivereth them."--_Psalm xxxiv. 7._
+
+"God sees at one view the whole thread of my existence, not only that part
+of it which I have already passed through, but that which runs forward
+into all the depths of Eternity. When I lay me down to sleep I recommend
+myself to His care; when I awake I give myself up to His direction. Amidst
+all the evils that threaten me, I look up to Him for help, and question
+not that He will either avert them, or turn them to my advantage. Though I
+know neither the time nor the manner of the death I am to die, I am not at
+all solicitous about it: because I am sure that He knows them both, and
+that He will not fail to comfort and support me under them."--_Addison._
+
+"Reverence the angels; shun the demons."--_Thomas Scott._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Before a brief summary is made of the contents and purport of this book,
+an account of a most remarkable event which occurred at Oxford about
+forty-five years ago may be fitly chronicled. It will be known, in its
+general outline, by many Oxford men; and was given to the Editor in the
+month of June, 1854, by a member of Brasenose College, where it had
+occurred.
+
+In the year 1829, a club, known as the "Hell-Fire Club," consisting of
+members of the university _in statu pupillari_,--formed in some respects
+on the model of that existing in the last century, which met at Medmenham
+Abbey,--was accustomed to meet twice a week at Brasenose College, in
+Oxford. Unbelief at that time is said to have taken coarser forms there
+than is the case now. Then it was less dangerous, because more gross and
+revolting. The members of the Club, however, were not unsuccessful in
+their imitation of the blasphemy, drunkenness and other sins which had so
+notoriously characterized the older society. They met twice a week, and
+each is reported to have endeavoured to outdo his fellow-member in rampant
+blasphemy and sceptical daring. The meetings were kept so private, and
+such judicious care was taken to preserve unity of thought and secrecy
+amongst the various members, that the College authorities, though
+partially aware of its existence, were said to be unable to interfere.
+
+On the north side of the College runs a narrow lane, connecting the square
+in which Brasenose College faces that of All Souls, with Turl Street.
+Going towards the latter, on the left-hand side stands Brasenose, until it
+is joined by the north portion of Lincoln College. On the other side is
+the high garden wall of Exeter College. It is a dreary and dismal-looking
+thoroughfare at best; and especially so at night. The windows of Brasenose
+College are of a narrow Jacobean type, protected both by horizontal as
+well as perpendicular stanchions. The lower windows, being almost level
+with the street, were further secured by a coarse wire netting.
+
+Towards midnight on a day in December in the year above-named, one of the
+Fellows of Brasenose College was returning home, when as he approached he
+saw a tall man apparently draped in a long cloak, and, as he imagined,
+helping to assist some one to get out of the window. The window belonged
+to the rooms of one who was reported to be a leading member of the
+Hell-Fire Club. Being one of the authorities of the College, he
+instinctively rushed forward to detect what he imagined to be the
+perpetration of a distinct breach of the rules, when (as he himself
+afterwards declared) a thrill of horror seized him in a moment, and he
+felt all at once convinced that it was no human being at whom, appalled
+and fear-stricken, he looked. As he rushed past he saw the owner of the
+rooms, as he conceived, being forcibly and strugglingly dragged between
+the iron stanchions. The form, the features,[59] horribly distorted and
+stamped with a look of indescribable agony, were vividly before him; and
+the tall figure seemed to hold the frantic struggler in a strong grasp.
+
+He rushed past, round to the chief entrance, knocked at the gate, and then
+fell to the ground in a swoon. Just as the Porter opened it, there rose a
+cry from a crowd of men trooping out from a set of rooms immediately to
+the right of the Porter's lodge. They were members of the notorious
+Hell-Fire Club. In the middle of a violent speech, as profane as it is
+said to have been blasphemous, and with a frightful imprecation upon his
+lips, a chief speaker (the owner of the rooms) had suddenly broken a
+blood vessel, and was then lying dead on the floor.
+
+The club in question, it is reported, never met again.[60]
+
+So much on this point. A few words are perhaps needed upon another. It may
+be held by some that what has already been written on Witchcraft and
+Necromancy is a melancholy instance of grovelling superstition on the part
+of its Author.[61] Be it so. He is quite ready to avow his entire belief
+in the express statements of Holy Scripture, and in the general Christian
+tradition and teaching on the subject itself and all that is necessarily
+involved in it. Those who believe in the existence of angels, "the
+glorious battalions of the living God," and who frankly accept as truth
+the various records of Holy Scripture, in which their ministry to mankind
+is set forth, will likewise believe that S. Peter's exhortation to the
+Early Christians did not simply embody a sentiment but declared a fact,
+when he wrote: "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil,
+as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."[62]
+
+That the pagan nations owning and serving the Prince of this World, and
+being supernaturally served by him in return, actively practised magic at
+the time of our Blessed Saviour's first coming, is generally allowed. And
+that the Christian writers of early times, more particularly S. Gregory
+Thaumaturgus, admitted the reality and force of the sorcerers'
+incantations and powers, is abundantly evident from their words and
+reasoning. The case of the damsel of Thyatira, "possessed with a spirit of
+divination," who "brought her masters much gain by soothsaying," clearly
+establishes this point; and so does the apostle's authoritative
+action:--"Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command
+thee in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the
+same hour."[63]
+
+When, three centuries after the Day of Pentecost, the Church of God
+commenced numbering up her earliest triumphs, the soothsayers, the
+diviners, and the dealers with evil spirits began to experience her
+righteous and beneficent power. Constantine, urged to action by those who
+sat in the seats of the apostles, formally sanctioned the condemnation of
+magicians; but of course under Julian the Apostate, magic rites were not
+only still commonly in vogue, but were publicly patronized. Later on,
+Valentinian re-enacted the laws of Constantine; and under Theodosius the
+severest penalties were likewise enforced against the practice of magic;
+and, in truth, against every phase of pagan worship. But a general belief
+in sorcery and divination remained powerful and active long after the
+supreme and glorious victory of Christianity in the sixth century; and the
+manner in which the authorities of the Christian Church met the belief,
+and, by Sacraments and Sacramentals, aided the faithful to withstand the
+legions of the Devil and his human allies, is perfectly familiar to the
+student of history.
+
+The well-known conviction that demons had appeared to mankind under the
+names of sylvans, gnomes, and fauns was common enough amongst the Romans
+prior to the revelation of Christianity; while the conviction that these
+demons had sometimes made women the object of their passion was arrived at
+by many. Justin Martyr and S. Augustine of Hippo[64] seem to imply
+something of the sort; and marriage or commerce with demons was a charge
+frequently made against witches, even from the earliest times.[65] It was
+said that these demons owned a remarkable attachment to women with
+beautiful hair,--a belief possibly founded on the passage in S. Paul's
+First Epistle to the Corinthians,[66] in which he exhorts women to cover
+their heads "because of the angels." In the middle ages the intercourse
+of philosophers belonging to certain secret societies with sylphs and
+salamanders was also believed by many:[67] and, later on, the study of
+astrology, with its fatalistic theories, and the restoration of the
+heresies of the Manichees, served to aid in more systematically
+formulating that belief in witchcraft and the supernatural which was for
+centuries so universal, and which never could have become so without a
+sure and solid substratum of fact and truth.
+
+Again, it is impossible to believe that the sorcerers of the Oriental
+nations have been and are impostors. As regards those of modern Egypt, Mr.
+Lane, in his interesting volume upon that country,[68] appears to have
+settled the question by expressing his conviction of the truth and reality
+of their supernatural performances. And similar conclusions have
+reluctantly but most certainly been arrived at by those who, with some
+knowledge and reasonable powers of observation, have witnessed the acts
+and deeds of the Eastern dealers with evil spirits.
+
+With reference to Egypt, Mr. Lane's statement on the subject stands
+thus:--
+
+"A few days after my arrival in this country my curiosity was excited on
+the subject of magic by a circumstance related to me by Mr. Salt, our
+consul-general. Having had reason to believe that one of his servants was
+a thief, from the fact of several articles of property having been stolen
+from his house, he sent for a celebrated Maghrabee magician, with a view
+of intimidating them, and causing the guilty one, (if any of them were
+guilty,) to confess his crime. The magician came, and said that he would
+cause the exact image of the person who had committed the thefts to appear
+to any youth not arrived at the age of puberty; and desired the master of
+the house to call in any boy whom he might choose. As several boys were
+then employed in a garden adjacent to the house, one of them was called
+for this purpose. In the palm of this boy's right hand, the magician drew
+with a pen a certain diagram, in the centre of which he poured a little
+ink. Into this ink he desired the boy steadfastly to look. He then burned
+some incense, and several bits of paper inscribed with charms; and at the
+same time called for various objects to appear in the ink. The boy
+declared that he saw all these objects, and, last of all, the image of the
+guilty person; he described his stature, countenance, and dress; said that
+he knew him; and directly ran down into the garden, and apprehended one of
+the labourers, who, when brought before the master, immediately confessed
+that he was the thief."--P. 267.[69]
+
+The performers themselves maintain, that they have been instructed in the
+art by those who have traditionally received the knowledge step by step,
+and period by period, from the old "magicians of Egypt;" and some frankly
+allow, that they themselves are constantly attended and waited on by a
+familiar spirit, demon, or genius, who actively aids them in their
+performances, and who is, under certain circumstances, always prepared to
+do their bidding.
+
+These genii, or "Ginn" as they are called in Egypt, "are said to be of
+pre-Adamite origin, and in their general properties," remarks Mr. Lane,
+"are an intermediate class of beings between angels and men, but inferior
+in dignity to both, created of fire, and capable of assuming the forms and
+material fabric of men, brutes, and monsters; and of becoming invisible at
+pleasure. They eat and drink, propagate their species (like or in
+conjunction with human beings,) and are subject to death."... "The Ginn,"
+continues Mr. Lane, "are supposed to pervade the solid matter of the
+earth, as well as the firmament, where, approaching the confines of the
+lowest heaven, they often listen to the conversation of the angels
+respecting future things, thus enabling themselves to assist diviners and
+magicians."--P. 222.
+
+In the twentieth chapter of his interesting and attractive volume, he
+writes:--"I have met with many persons among the more intelligent of the
+Egyptians who condemn these modern Psylli as impostors, but none who has
+been able to offer a satisfactory explanation of the most common and most
+interesting of their performances."--P. 383.
+
+In another part of the book Mr. Lane concludes his chapter on "Magic"
+thus:--"Neither I nor others have been able to discover any clue by which
+to penetrate the mystery."[70]
+
+So likewise as regards India,[71] it is impossible to set aside the facts,
+which are testified to not by one but by hundreds, as to the supernatural
+powers of the jugglers there. Identical in kind with the performances of
+the magicians of Egypt before Pharaoh and in the presence of Moses and
+Aaron, recorded in the Book of Exodus, the secret of the following
+"tricks" (familiar to any one who has been in India) has been handed down
+from father to son from the most remote ages; and we have no reason to
+doubt that the source of the power by which these acts are done is one and
+the same.
+
+For instance:--The juggler, giving one of the spectators a coin to hold as
+securely as possible within his hands, after pronouncing incantations in a
+monotonous voice for some minutes, suddenly stops, still keeping his seat,
+makes a rapid motion with his right hand, as if in the act of throwing
+something at the person holding the coin, at the same time breathing with
+his mouth upon him. Instantaneously the hands of the person taking part in
+the performance are suddenly distended, while a horrible sensation of
+holding something cold and disagreeable and nasty, is immediately felt,
+forcing him to cast away the contents of his palms, which, to the horror
+and disgust of uninitiated persons, turns out to be, not the coin which
+before was there, but a live snake coiled up! The juggler then rises, and
+catching the snake, which is now crawling and wriggling on the ground,
+takes it by the tail, opens his mouth wide, and allows the snake to drop
+into it. With deliberation he appears by degrees to swallow it, until the
+whole, tail and all, completely disappears. He opens his mouth for the
+spectators to investigate; but nothing is to be seen, neither does the
+snake appear again.
+
+Here is another instance:--A juggler will be brought to act before,
+perhaps, many hundreds of people, of all ages, degrees, and religions,
+including the soldiery of a garrison, in the public yard of a barrack. A
+guard of soldiers will be placed around him, to prevent either trickery or
+deception on his part, or interruption from the spectators. A little girl,
+about eight or nine years old, accompanies the man, who is also provided
+with a tall, narrow basket, three or four feet high, little more than a
+foot in width, and open all the way up. The juggler, after some
+altercation with the child, pretends to get angry, and lashing himself
+into a fury, seizes hold of the child, and inverts the basket completely
+over her. Thus placed completely at his mercy, and in spite of her screams
+and entreaties, he draws his sword, and fiercely plunges it down into the
+basket, and brings it out dripping with blood--or what apparently is such.
+The child's screams become fainter and fainter, as again and again the
+sword is thrust through the basket; and at length they gradually cease,
+and everything is still. Then follows a critical moment for the supposed
+murderer: and the exertions of the guard scarcely serve to save him from
+the excited soldiery. When order is at length obtained, however, the man,
+raising his bloody sword for an instant, strikes the basket with it, which
+falls, and reveals--not a murdered child weltering in blood, but an empty
+space, with no vestige left of the supposed victim. In a few moments the
+identical little girl comes rushing--from whence no one can tell--to the
+feet of the performer, with every sign of affection, and perfectly unhurt.
+Be it observed that these performances commonly take place in India in
+places where it is impossible for any contrivances or trap-doors to exist,
+in the centre of court-yards at the various military stations, and before
+innumerable witnesses.
+
+Again: in Corea and China the practice of Necromancy is said to be almost
+universal. An intelligent modern writer upon China gives an account, in
+the following passage, of one mode in which questions are put, and answers
+obtained, by a kind of divination:--Written communications from spirits
+are not unfrequently sought for in the following manner: after the
+presence and desired offices of some spirit are invoked, "two or more
+persons support with their hands some object to which a pencil is attached
+in a vertical position, and extending to a table below covered with sand.
+It is said that the movements of the pencil, involuntary as far as the
+persons holding it are concerned, but governed by the influences of
+spirits, describe certain characters which are easily deciphered, and
+which often bring to light remarkable disclosures and revelations. Many
+who regard themselves as persons of superior intelligence are firm
+believers in this mode of consulting spirits."[72]
+
+Here, as illustrating the common principles and course of action which are
+adopted and followed in all parts of the World by those who seek
+information by forbidden means, the following may be set forth:--
+
+There is a dreary-looking House in one of the London Squares which is
+reported to be haunted. And certainly this opinion, as the Editor can
+testify from a careful personal enquiry, is tolerably current in the
+neighbourhood. A Lady, curious about the fact, was present on an occasion
+when certain inquiries were made regarding this House by means of
+"Planchette,"--the instrument just referred to as so commonly used in
+China. It is a small board, in shape like a heart, which is made to run
+on two wheels or castors, and a hole is provided for a pencil so to be
+placed with its point downward as that, when put upon a sheet of white
+paper the point may just touch the surface. After the usual invocation or
+incantation (or whatever it be), the persons who practise modern
+divination place their hands on the board. Questions are put, and answers
+given. No one touches the pencil, but the board is so guided, as the
+Necromancers and Spiritualists assert, that the pencil is made to write
+intelligible answers to expressed (and sometimes to mere mental) queries.
+The following, printed _verbatim et literatim_, are in the handwriting of
+the lady who witnessed them put and responded to, and are given as a fair
+specimen of this mode of divination, now so generally practised in
+England:--
+
+    Is any house haunted in B---- Square? Yes.
+
+    What killed the two people in the haunted room? Fright.
+
+    What frightened them? Spirits.
+
+    What kind of spirits? Yourself.
+
+    How could any one be afraid of me? Without your body.
+
+    Did they see them? Spirits not visible.
+
+    How did they know they were there? Thought they saw them.
+
+    Did they make them feel them? No.
+
+    Then how did the spirits make themselves known--by what means?
+    Mesmeric.
+
+    Were you ever there? No.
+
+    Why do those spirits haunt that house? Murder was committed there.
+
+    Who was murdered, a man or a woman? A woman.
+
+    What was the name of the woman? (Writing not intelligible.)
+
+    Who murdered her? (Writing not intelligible.)
+
+    Is he alive or dead? Dead.
+
+    Is it the woman's spirit, or the man's, who haunts the house? Both.
+
+    Was the man hung? No.
+
+    Was the murder found out while he lived? No.
+
+    Are you a bad spirit? Bad.
+
+    Is it what the Bible calls "divination" to consult you in this way?
+    Yes.
+
+    Is it displeasing to God? Perhaps.
+
+    Is it wrong? You know.
+
+It is only right to add that those who made and obtained the foregoing
+intelligible responses to intelligible questions, for good and sufficient
+reasons came to hold such practices to be unlawful and wicked, and threw
+the instrument by which they had been given into the Thames.
+
+On this subject, and all its details, no words of warning could be more
+forcible than the following, which are quoted, in the hope that some who
+may have been thoughtlessly induced to adopt the practices of Modern
+Spiritualism, may be led at once to desist from the same:--
+
+"Although good and evil spirits possess a powerful influence in the
+government of the World, yet it is strictly forbidden, in the divine laws
+of the Old and New Testament, to seek any acquaintance with them, or to
+place ourselves in connection with and relation to them; and it is just as
+little permitted for citizens of the world of spirits visibly to manifest
+themselves to those who are still in the present state of existence,
+without the express command or permission of the Lord. He, therefore, that
+seeks intercourse with the invisible world sins deeply, and will soon
+repent of it; whilst he that becomes acquainted with it, without his own
+seeking and by Divine guidance, ought to beg and pray for wisdom, courage,
+and strength, for he has need of all these; and let him that is introduced
+into such a connection, by means of illness, or the aberration of his
+physical nature, seek by proper means to regain his health, and detach
+himself from intercourse with spirits."[73]
+
+Yet, with many, and an increasing number, it is to be feared such advice
+is wholly unheeded. For more than five-and-twenty years the subject of
+Modern Spiritualism has been under discussion in England, and the facts on
+which it has been founded have been before the World; but "having eyes men
+see not, and having ears they hear not." Or, guided by the superficial
+opinions of those whose one-eyed Materialism tinges so many of their
+hap-hazard theories, they put aside a consideration of the astonishing
+phenomena of the system of Spiritualism, and absolutely deny their
+existence.[74] The age is shallow in its very incredulity. The wisdom of
+the World is foolishness indeed.
+
+When it is too late, when thousands upon thousands have become the active
+votaries of Spiritualism, perhaps the bishops and clergy of the Church of
+England may wake up to some realization of the enormous influence for
+evil,[75] both dogmatic and moral, which this diabolical system cannot do
+other than secure, and lift their testimony against it. Mahometanism is
+not more directly anti-christian. Yet the numbers of those who believe in
+Spiritualism are daily increasing, and the purblind policy of ignoring its
+principles and action must very soon come to an end. Of course
+Materialists and sceptics reasonably doubt; for otherwise their own
+infallibility would ignominiously collapse. But for Christians, who
+possess a copy of the "Holy Bible," and are able to read it, doubt seems
+to me (I write with all due humility) simply inconsequent and irrational.
+
+Here, let us turn from shadow to sunshine, from that which is evil to that
+which is good; from the "lying wonders" of designing evil spirits, to the
+glorious manifestations of God Almighty's power in the Christian
+Church--for the one kind are but reasonable correlatives of the other.
+
+And, for myself, I am free to confess that the evidence in favour of
+certain of the recent miracles said to have been wrought in the Roman
+Catholic portion of the One Family of God is not only convincing, but
+conclusive. Having long given up attributing any value to the slanders and
+misstatements of Protestant and infidel writers, I have attempted for
+myself to investigate the principle of action, in the reception of
+evidence and the decision of authority, which is taken at Rome, with
+regard to such events and occurrences; and briefly give it as follows:--
+
+The Congregation of Rites, which enquires into all miracles which demand
+sanction, is presided over by the cardinal-vicar. It consists of
+twenty-one cardinals of various nations, nine official prelates, nine
+consulting prelates of various nations, all the fourteen Papal Masters of
+Ceremonies, fourteen ordinary members, one secretary, one
+deputy-secretary, and one notary and keeper of the archives--in all
+seventy people. Four miracles are required to be distinctly proved for
+Beatification; and two more for Canonization. All these must be proved by
+eye, and not by ear-witnesses. In miracles where diseases have been cured,
+it is required, 1st, That the disease must have been of an aggravated
+nature, and difficult or impossible to be cured; 2ndly, that it was not on
+the turn; 3rdly, that no medicine had been used, or if it had that it had
+done no good; 4thly, the cure must be sudden; 5thly, it must be complete
+and perfect; and 6thly, there must have been no crisis. In the process of
+examination and enquiry, no step is taken, no doubt propounded, no fact
+allowed, without many of the members of the Congregation being present:
+and a printed Report is sent to all who may have been absent. Besides the
+ordinary cross-examinations, which are always of a most scrutinizing
+character, it is the sole duty of one of the leading members of the
+Congregation, the _Promotor Fidei_, as he is termed, to raise objections,
+and if possible to disprove every reported miracle. The members of this
+Congregation are as keen, penetrating and business-like, and have as
+complete a knowledge of the unconscious delusions of the human heart, as
+any body of English jurymen. As ecclesiastical scholars they may be truly
+said to be equal to the same number of English barristers; and the head of
+the Congregation, for shrewdness, acuteness of intellect, and judicial
+ability, is equal to any judge in England, who by his interpretation of
+the law, and his particular sentence in a special case, wills away the
+life or property of any Englishman. The subject has been treated at length
+in the great work of Pope Benedict XIV. (A.D. 1740-1758) "On
+Beatification," &c., as well as in the Decrees of Pope Urban VIII. and
+Pope Clement XI.; and so sifting and careful has always been the
+investigation, that Alban Butler asserts, on the authority of Daubenton,
+that an English gentleman (not a Roman Catholic) being present and seeing
+the process of several miracles, maintained them to have been completely
+proved and perfectly incontestable, but was astonished beyond measure at
+the scrupulosity of the scrutiny when authoritatively informed that _not
+one of those which he had heard discussed_ had been allowed by the
+Congregation to have been sufficiently proved.
+
+Father Perrone, the distinguished living theologian, also asserts that
+having shown the formal process for certain miracles to a lawyer of some
+eminence (not a Roman Catholic) who after examination was perfectly
+satisfied with both the testimony and the reasoning, the latter declared
+that they would certainly stand before a British jury; but was mightily
+astonished on hearing that the Congregation did not consider that evidence
+to be sufficiently convincing and conclusive.
+
+Similar investigations have been made in England, since the Reformation,
+and this by ecclesiastical authority. For example: in the year before his
+translation to the see of Norwich (_i. e._ in 1640), Dr. Joseph Hall, then
+Bishop of Exeter, made a strict and judicial inquiry into all the
+circumstances of the sudden and miraculous cure of a cripple at S.
+Madron's Well, in Cornwall, and the following is the recorded conviction
+of this pious prelate:--"The commerce which we have with the good spirits
+is not now discerned by the eye, but is, like themselves, spiritual. Yet
+not so, but that even in bodily occasions we have many times insensible
+helps from them; in such a manner as that by the effects we can boldly
+say, 'Here hath been an angel, though we see him not.' Of this kind was
+that (no less than miraculous) cure which at S. Madron's, in Cornwall, was
+wrought upon a poor cripple, John Trelille, where (besides the attestation
+of many hundreds of neighbours), I took a strict and personal examination
+in that last Visitation which I ever did or ever shall hold. This man,
+that for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands, by reason
+of the close contraction of the sinews of his legs, (upon three
+admonitions in a dream to wash in that well) was suddenly so restored to
+his limbs, that I saw him able to walk and get his own maintenance. I
+found here was neither art nor collusion: the thing done, the author
+invisible."[76]
+
+Now, whatever may be thought of the principles enunciated in Mr.
+Lecky's[77] volumes on "The Rise and Influence of Rationalism," none can
+deny either the marvellous faculty exhibited for gathering and marshalling
+facts; while some portions of his thoughtful reflections do but put into
+luminous language thoughts and convictions which find a cordial response
+from many.
+
+The following remarkable passage is singularly true and accurate in its
+estimate of an unmistakeable historical fact, viz., that the Oxford
+movement to a great extent left out of consideration[78] the continued
+existence of modern miracles in the Christian Church. Mr. Lecky writes
+thus:--"At Oxford these narratives (_i. e._ the record of patristic and
+mediæval miracles) hardly exercised a serious attention. What little
+influence they had was chiefly an influence of repression; what little was
+written in their favour was written for the most part in the tone of an
+apology, as if to attenuate a difficulty rather than to establish a creed.
+This was surely a very remarkable characteristic of the Tractarian
+movement, when we remember the circumstances and attainments of its
+leaders, and the great prominence which miraculous evidence had long
+occupied in England. It was especially remarkable when we reflect that one
+of the great complaints which the Tractarian party were making against
+modern theology was, that the conception of the Supernatural had become
+faint and dim, and that its manifestations were either explained away or
+confined to a distant past. It would seem as if those who were most
+conscious of the character of their age were unable, in the very midst of
+their opposition, to free themselves from its tendencies."--Vol. i. pp.
+165-166.
+
+It must be allowed that there is some amount of truth in this
+temperately-made charge. Whatever else may have been pressed forward, and
+with success, it is obvious that the active energy of the Supernatural has
+been kept somewhat in the background. At all events it has not been made
+too prominent. Even in books of devotion, adapted from Roman Catholic
+sources, examples of miracles have been omitted; and so the golden threads
+which were so rudely broken three centuries and a half ago, are still in
+the mire; for few have cared to gather them up once more and weave them
+into a perfect whole. That work has still to be done. Not until there be
+what a modern writer terms "daring faith"--faith which can move
+mountains--should the work be attempted.
+
+And now, fully alive to its imperfections, I bring my book to its close.
+
+It has been briefly shown herein what a great influence the materialistic
+speculations of a few bold and over-confident writers have recently
+exercised on current thought. At the same time the presence of the
+Supernatural in Church History has been made perfectly manifest, and
+abundant sources pointed out from which additional examples may readily be
+gathered for consideration by those who may desire to gather them. Side by
+side, however, with that which in the Supernatural order is good and
+beneficial to man, energizes that which is evil. There are angels and
+there are demons. There is light and there is darkness. Numberless armies
+of glorious spirits, as the Divine Revelation tells us,[79] stand, rank by
+rank and order by order, as the bright ornaments of the City of God. Their
+subtlety, their quickness of penetration, their extensive knowledge of
+natural things, are undoubtedly perfect in proportion to the excellency of
+their being, inasmuch as they are pure intelligences, perfect from the
+Hand of their Maker. They know the concerns of mortal men.[80] They are
+our protectors, our patrons, our guides. For us they lift up their prayers
+to God, and they are near us in our trials and temptations. Their motion
+is swift as thought, their activity inconceivable. As they are the friends
+of mankind by God's decree, so specially do they become the guardians of
+the regenerate and the particular protectors of the innocent and young.
+And their beneficent actions are not altogether unknown. The old records
+tell of their charity; man's experience testifies to their presence. And,
+furthermore, for man's behoof in his time of trial, and for his eternal
+advantage hereafter, were given those powers and properties which belong
+to the Church by the grace and efficacy of the Sacraments.
+
+Yet, on the other hand, until the number of the Elect is accomplished, the
+Enemy of Souls, the Prince of the Powers of the Air, is permitted to wield
+an alarming influence; while too often the natural man, with his will
+free, wills to remain his servant. Yea; and even the baptized, too. For by
+Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Necromancy Satan still works, men being his
+direct agents and slaves. Sometimes in one form, sometimes in another, he
+dupes those who seek him; while his legions suggest to men's minds evil
+thoughts, paint dangerous objects to the imagination, frequently direct
+the active current of the human heart to sin, and finally turn round and
+accuse their captives at the tribunal of God the Judge of all. So must it
+be to the end, for this life is man's time of probation.
+
+Of Dreams and Warnings, Omens and Presentiments, much has been written.
+Each example must be considered on its own merits; for perhaps no coherent
+theory will sufficiently cover and explain all the instances here already
+adduced.
+
+So, too, with Spectral Appearances and Haunted Localities. While
+experience testifies to the facts recorded, such Glimpses of the
+Supernatural may be well left to tell their own story, to leave their own
+impression, and set forth their own teaching. To those who possess the
+grace and habit of faith they will not seem over-strange, for as Hamlet
+remarked to his friend--
+
+  "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio,
+   Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."
+
+As I prepare to lay down my pen, I cannot but notice and put on record
+what amid "the triumphs of Science," so frequently start up to confront
+us, viz. the sad records of calamity brought to notice, and the gloomy
+scenes of deepest misery which are yet so frequently depicted. "Woe is
+me!" is man's wail still. But with many the Supernatural, as we too well
+know, is bidden to stand aside. The Catholic Religion is written of as
+antiquated, out of date, and effete. The truth of the Christian Revelation
+is openly denied. Yet may not the terrible disasters of which we hear, and
+the miserable calamities which so constantly occur along the path of
+"human progress" and "scientific triumph," be permitted by God Almighty as
+an intelligible and richly deserved rebuke to lofty looks and the impious
+and blasphemous thoughts of the proud?[81]
+
+Man's life in this country is certainly not longer than it was eight or
+ten centuries ago. He dies as he died. Nor is the race of Englishmen
+sturdier, finer, or better grown than of old. The tombs of the Crusaders
+tell us this. Look at the stately figures of the Fitzalans in Bedale
+Church, or at those of the Marmions in that of Tanfield, and it may be
+that in this practical particular deterioration instead of progress should
+be more fittingly and faithfully recorded. As is obvious enough, Science,
+with all the boasting of its adherents, can, after all, effect but little.
+True it is that wonderful discoveries are made in the Realms of Nature.
+Operations untraced before, are now accurately apprehended; and secrets,
+long hidden, are triumphantly brought to light. One might imagine from the
+random confidence of some (as guides more shallow than safe), that Science
+had discovered an appliance for every human weakness, an antidote to every
+physical evil or disease, an unfailing specific against every want and
+woe. Yet, after all its researches and with all its supposed discoveries
+(for many may have been known and lost), never were failures so great or
+misfortunes so heavy. The ugly iron ship of the present day, hideous in
+form and appearance, yet constructed with all the obtainable skill of
+modern science, at an enormous sacrifice of expense, fitted with
+life-boats and patent scientific life-preservers, divided into
+compartments, after due calculations (on a scientific method), suddenly
+goes down, where a fisherman of six centuries ago, in his wooden skiff,
+would have ridden a storm securely, and becomes an iron coffin for five or
+six hundred corpses, rotting where the seaweed grows. Again, War, with
+scientific appliances--in the invention and preparation of which the great
+nations are active rivals--marches over a great country, defended by the
+highest military art and strength, and in a few short months reduces its
+people to spoliation, tribute, and shame. Less than a century ago, nearly
+a twenty years' struggle would have been made, ere such a sudden and
+sweeping contest could have been so securely sealed.
+
+Human Art may do something, and Science may effect more: but how
+frequently some little flaw or casualty defeats all! The boastings of
+Science, consequently, become vain and vapid: its works lie in the dust.
+Past ages have had their pride humbled; as Tyre and Alexandria and Babylon
+too eloquently tell. When God, by the insolence of intellect, is thrust
+aside, He sometimes, nevertheless, mercifully but efficiently reminds men
+that He is. When the Supernatural is deliberately denied and scornfully
+rejected, suffering may serve to open the eyes of the blind and make the
+dumb to speak. The general tendency in these days is to worship Mind,
+Intelligence, and Power, for Might, with too many, is Right. Literary
+jargon setting forth this duty may be constantly read. The wisest action
+for the truly wise is to turn away from such; for the noblest and proudest
+ambition of a Christian's life should consist in being humble worshippers
+of Him the One Author of the Supernatural and the Natural, Whose only
+power is infinite, Whose knowledge and wisdom are boundless, and Whose
+abiding love and mercy are over all His works.
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER X.
+
+THE CLAIMS OF SCIENCE AND FAITH.
+
+By my friend Mr. Hawker's obliging kindness I am enabled to publish the
+following remarkable Letter:--
+
+"To Mr. S. J----, Merchant, Plymouth.
+
+"MY DEAR NEPHEW,--You ask me 'to put into one of my nutshells' the pith
+and marrow of the controversy which at this time pervades the English mind
+as to the claims of Science and Faith. Let me try: The material
+universe--so the sages allege--is a vast assemblage of atoms or
+molecules--'motes in the sunbeam' of Science, which has existed for
+myriads of ages under a perpetual system of evolution, restructure, and
+change. This mighty mass is traversed by the forces electrical, or
+magnetic, or with other kindred names; and these by their incessant and
+indomitable action are adequate to account for all the phenomena of the
+world of matter, and of man. The upheaval of a continent; the drainage of
+a sea; the creation of a metal; nay, the origin of life, and the
+development of a species in plant, or animal, or man; these are the
+achievements of fixed and natural laws among the atomic materials, under
+the vibration of the forces alone. Thus far the vaunted discoveries of
+Science are said to have arrived. Let us indulge them with the theory that
+these results, for they are nothing more, are accurate and real. But
+still, a thoughtful mind will venture to demand whence did these atoms
+derive their existence? and from what, and from whom, do they inherit the
+propensities wherewithal they are imbued? And tell me, most potent
+seigniors, what is the origin of these forces? And with whom resides the
+impulse of their action and the guidance of their control? 'Nothing so
+difficult as a beginning.' Your philosopher is mute! he has reached the
+horizon of his domain, and to him all beyond is doubt, and uncertainty,
+and guess. We must lift the veil. We must pass into the border-land
+between two Worlds, and there inquire at the Oracles of Revelation
+touching the Unseen and Spiritual powers which thrill through the mighty
+sacrament of the visible Creation. We perceive, being inspired, the realms
+of surrounding space peopled by immortal creatures of air--
+
+  'Myriads of spiritual things that walk unseen,
+   Both when we wake and when we sleep.'
+
+These are the existences, in aspect as 'young men in white garments,' who
+inhabit the void place between the Worlds and their Maker, and their God.
+Behold the battalions of the Lord of Hosts! the Workers of the sky! the
+faithful and intelligent Vassals of God the Trinity! We have named them in
+our own poor and meagre language 'the Angels,' but this title merely
+denotes one of their subordinate offices--messengers from on high. The
+Gentiles called them 'Gods,' but we ought to honour them by a name that
+should embrace and interpret their lofty dignity as an intermediate army
+between the kingdom and the throne; the Centurions of the stars, and of
+men; the Commanders of the forces and their Guides. These are they that,
+each with a delegated office, fulfil what their 'King invisible' decrees;
+not with the dull, inert mechanism of fixed and natural law, but with the
+unslumbering energy and the rational obedience of spiritual life. They
+mould the atom; they wield the force; and, as Newton rightly guessed, they
+rule the World of matter beneath the silent Omnipotence of God.
+
+"'And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of
+it reached to Heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and
+descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it.'--Genesis xxviii.
+12. _Tolle, Lege_, my dear nephew.
+
+  "Your affectionate uncle,
+  "R. S. HAWKER.
+
+"Morwenstow Vicarage, Cornwall."
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL INDEX.
+
+
+  A Discerner of spirits, i. 81
+
+  Abimelech's dream, i. 210
+
+  Aerolites, i. 24
+
+  After-vision of a suicide, ii. 75
+
+  Alexander Macdonald's dream, i. 285
+
+  Amulet of the Grahams, i. 277
+
+  ---- of the Macdonald Lockharts, i. 278
+
+  Ann Thorne bewitched, i. 194
+
+  Apparition at Ballarat, ii. 61
+
+  ---- at time of death, ii. 59
+
+  ---- in the Jewel House, ii. 105
+
+  ---- near Cardiff, ii. 114
+
+  ---- of a college friend, ii. 71
+
+  ---- of a crow, ii. 131
+
+  ---- of a dying father, ii. 58
+
+  ---- of a dying lady to her children, ii. 64
+
+  ---- of a father to his son, ii. 58
+
+  ---- of a friend, ii. 60
+
+  ---- of a sister, ii. 59
+
+  ---- of a son to his mother and another, ii. 73
+
+  ---- of an officer, ii. 10
+
+  ---- of Dr. Ferrar's daughter, ii. 25
+
+  ---- of Philip Weld, ii. 51
+
+  ---- of Rev. W. Naylor, ii. 7
+
+  ---- of S. Stanislaus, ii. 51
+
+  ---- seven years after death, ii. 71
+
+  ---- to a gentleman, ii. 119
+
+  ---- to a lady and her child, ii. 113
+
+  ---- to a lady and her child, ii. 117
+
+  ---- to a sentry, and his death thereupon, ii. 108
+
+  ---- to Lord Brougham, ii. 68
+
+  ---- to Lord Chedworth, ii. 35
+
+  ---- to Mr. Andrews, ii. 41
+
+  Apparitions at Oxford, ii. 209
+
+  Arrowsmith, Trial of Rev. E., i. 91
+
+  Arrowsmith's Hand preserved, i. 95
+
+  Authentication of Lamb's cure, i. 96
+
+
+  Barony of Chedworth, ii. 34
+
+  Belief in God universal, i. 5
+
+  Benediction, The principle of, i. 90
+
+  Beresford apparition, The, ii. 11
+
+  Bird, The Spectral, ii. 128
+
+  Bisham Abbey, Ghost at, ii. 91
+
+  Bishop Joseph Hall on temporal punishment, ii. 89
+
+  Bishop Ken's hymn, ii. 82
+
+  Blessing and cursing, Power of, i. 90.
+
+  Bosworth's testimony, Mr. T., ii. 146
+
+  Bridget Bishop accused of witchcraft, i. 198
+
+  Bull of Pope Innocent VIII. against witchcraft, i. 162
+
+
+  Captain William Dyke, ii. 22
+
+  Cardan, Jerome, i. 282
+
+  Case of Annie Milner, i. 169
+
+  ---- of Martha Brossier, i. 165
+
+  Catharine Campbell accused of witchcraft, i. 197
+
+  Catholic claim to exclusive use of exorcism, i. 163
+
+  Causation, The law of, i. 3
+
+  Chamber, John, on "Judiciall Astrologie," i. 200
+
+  Charles I., Omens concerning, i. 267, 271
+
+  Charles Ireland bewitched, i. 186
+
+  Chevalier's testimony concerning Spiritualism, Mr., ii. 180
+
+  "Christ is coming" quoted, ii. 136.
+
+  Christian Shaw bewitched, i. 197
+
+  Christian writers on the Supernatural, i. 31
+
+  Christianity, Morse on the decline of, ii. 137
+
+  Citation, Remarkable case of, i. 90
+
+  Club, The Hell-Fire, ii. 207
+
+  Colgarth, The Philipsons of, i. 90
+
+  Collins's Sermon, Rev. H., i. 135
+
+  Cometism, The Trinity of, i. 19
+
+  Constantine victorious, i. 38
+
+  Creslow, Haunted chamber at, ii. 92
+
+  Criticism upon Mr. Congreve, i. 20
+
+  Crookes, Mr. W., on Spiritualism, ii. 159, 162, 164
+
+  Cross of Constantine, The, i. 35
+
+  ---- fire seen in France in 1826, A, i. 16
+
+  Cure, Miraculous, i. 95
+
+  ---- Miraculous, by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 121, 125
+
+
+  Daimonomagia, i. 174
+
+  Dale-Owen, Mr., quoted, ii. 183, 185
+
+  Death of Captain Speer, i. 253
+
+  ---- of Rev. S. B. Drury, i. 251
+
+  De Lisle's, Miss, death, Supernatural music at, i. 135
+
+  De Lisle, Mr., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54
+
+  ---- Mr. Edwin, on Strauss, i. 2
+
+  Demons, Belief in, ii. 212
+
+  Denial of the Supernatural, i. 1
+
+  Details of the Supernatural, i. 8
+
+  Discovery of a lost will, i. 204
+
+  Disease of witchcraft, i. 174
+
+  Double apparition at time of death, ii. 55
+
+  ---- in the West Indies, ii. 58
+
+  Dr. Lamb, the sorcerer, i. 202
+
+  Dr. Newman on ecclesiastical miracles, i. 36
+
+  Dr. Samuel Johnson on the Lyttelton story, ii. 45
+
+  Dr. William Harvey's escape from death, i. 284
+
+  Dream of a child, Warning given in the, i. 260
+
+  ---- of a dignitary realized, i. 257
+
+  ---- of a housekeeper realized, i. 240
+
+  ---- of a widow lady, i. 258
+
+  ---- of Adam Rogers, i. 219
+
+  ---- of Andrew Scott, i. 261
+
+  ---- of Mr. Matthew Talbot, i. 225
+
+  ---- of Mr. Williams of Scorrier, i. 226
+
+  ---- of the Princess Natgotsky, i. 255
+
+  ---- of the Swaffham tinker, i. 215
+
+  ---- Prognostication of death in a, i. 250
+
+  ---- Remarkable, of a clergyman, i. 247
+
+  ---- Warning given in a, i. 254
+
+  ---- Warning neglected, i. 244
+
+  Dreams and visions, i. 211
+
+  Dreams, Nature of, i. 210
+
+  ---- of James Jessop, i. 244, 245
+
+  ---- recorded in Scripture, i. 211
+
+  ---- reproduction of thoughts in, i. 215
+
+  ---- supernatural, i. 210
+
+  Dunbar's testimony, Rev. Dr., ii. 218
+
+  Dungeon at Glamis Castle, The, ii. 114
+
+
+  Early Popes martyrs, The, i. 31
+
+  Eastern form of exorcism, i. 162
+
+  Ecclesiastical miracles, i. 32
+
+  Effect of the Supernatural, i. 7
+
+  Elimination of God, The, i. 19
+
+  Elizabeth Gorham bewitched, i. 187
+
+  ---- Style accused of witchcraft, i. 177
+
+  ---- Tibbots bewitched, i. 178
+
+  ---- Treslar hung for witchcraft, i. 181
+
+  Ellinor Shaw and Mary Philips, i. 182
+
+  Emperor Julian thwarted, The, i. 42
+
+  English canon concerning exorcism, i. 164
+
+  ---- statutes against witchcraft, i. 163
+
+  "Eternal," The term, i. 5
+
+  Execution of Frederick Caulfield, i. 223
+
+  ---- of Lamb's servant, i. 203
+
+  Exhumation of James Quin, i. 236
+
+  Exorcism, Power of, i. 57, 69, 82
+
+  ---- Latin form of, i. 138
+
+  ---- Oriental form of, i. 162
+
+
+  Facts of witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164
+
+  Faculty of Jerome Cardan, i. 283
+
+  Fall of aerolites, i. 25
+
+  False reasoning, i. 26
+
+  Ferrers family, Omen concerning, i. 272
+
+  Florence Newton accused of witchcraft, i. 180
+
+  Friday an unlucky day, i. 282
+
+
+  Ghost of Bisham Abbey, ii. 91
+
+  God and His creatures, i. 4
+
+  ---- The elimination of, i. 19
+
+  Guesses of Science, The, i. 14
+
+
+  Hand of Arrowsmith preserved, i. 95
+
+  Hanmer, Mr. C. L., on an apparition, ii. 60
+
+  Hannah Green's testimony, i. 242
+
+  Haunted houses and localities, ii. 82
+
+  ---- chamber at Creslow, ii. 92
+
+  ---- Glamis Castle, ii. 114
+
+  ---- house at Barby, ii. 109
+
+  ---- house at Berne, ii. 126
+
+  ---- house in Cheshire, ii. 116
+
+  ---- house in Scotland, ii. 123
+
+  ---- place at York Castle, ii. 96
+
+  ---- places, ii. 84
+
+  ---- police cell, ii. 121
+
+  ---- road near Cardiff, ii. 114
+
+  ---- room at Glamis Castle, ii. 112
+
+  ---- room in the Tower, ii. 104
+
+  ---- spot in Yorkshire, ii. 100
+
+  Hell-Fire Club, The, ii. 207
+
+  Henry Spicer's testimony, Mr., ii. 75
+
+  ---- IV. of France, Omen of death to, i. 267
+
+  Herder on Witchcraft, ii. 210
+
+  Heresies of the modern Spiritualists, ii. 185, 191
+
+  Home, Mr. Daniel, ii. 151, 153
+
+  Hospitals, Christian in their origin, i. 10
+
+  Howell, Mr. J., on Spiritualism, ii. 176, 177
+
+  Howitt, Mr. W., on eternal punishment, ii. 186, 188
+
+  Hume on miracles, i. 23
+
+
+  Increase Mather on the tests of demoniacal possession, i. 173
+
+  ---- Mather's "Cases of Conscience," i. 195
+
+  Inquiries regarding Wynyard, ii. 33
+
+
+  Jane Brookes accused of witchcraft, i. 175
+
+  ---- Wenham accused of witchcraft, i. 192
+
+  Johnson, Dr. Samuel, on the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 45
+
+
+  Kostka's, S. Stanislaus, apparition, ii. 53
+
+  ---- picture at Stonyhurst, ii. 53
+
+
+  Labarum, The, i. 37
+
+  Lactantius on dreams, i. 213
+
+  Lady Betty Cobb, ii. 15
+
+  Lancashire demoniacs, The, i. 171
+
+  Lane, Mr., on Modern Necromancy, ii. 215, 217
+
+  Laud, Omens concerning Archbishop, i. 271
+
+  Law of causation, The, i. 3
+
+  Lecky, Mr. W. H. E., on the Oxford Movement, ii. 232
+
+  Legion, The Thundering, i. 34
+
+  Longdon, Mary, bewitched, i. 194
+
+  Lord Falkland, Omen concerning, i. 270
+
+  Lord Litchfield's note of a presentiment, i. 281
+
+  ---- testimony, i. 281
+
+  Lord Westcote's testimony, ii. 42
+
+  Lyttelton Ghost story, ii. 36, 42, 46
+
+
+  Macdonald's, A., case of second sight, i. 285
+
+  Macknish on dreams, i. 215
+
+  Major George Sydenham, ii. 22
+
+  Marquis de Marsay on Spirits, ii. 86
+
+  Mary of Medicis, Omen of death to, i. 267
+
+  Media, Table of Spiritual, ii. 143
+
+  Mines, Haunted, ii. 84
+
+  Ministry of Angels, ii. 82
+
+  Miracles at Rome in 1792, i. 17
+
+  ---- Bishop Hall on, ii. 230
+
+  ---- examination of at Rome, ii. 227
+
+  ---- of our Lord, i. 30
+
+  ---- of Prince Hohenlohe, i. 17
+
+  ---- wrought by the Blessed Sacrament, i. 123, 126
+
+  Miracle at Garswood, i. 96
+
+  ---- at Metz, i. 128
+
+  ---- at Typasa, i. 42
+
+  ---- under Marcus Aurelius, i. 33
+
+  Miraculous cure at Pontoise, i. 83
+
+  ---- facts, Tradition of, i. 32
+
+  ---- of Joseph Lamb, i. 95
+
+  ---- of Mary Wood, i. 114
+
+  ---- of Winifred White, i. 116
+
+  Mediumship, ii. 143
+
+  ---- Clairlative, ii. 146
+
+  ---- Clairvoyant, ii. 150
+
+  ---- Developing, ii. 148
+
+  ---- Duodynamic, ii. 148
+
+  ---- Gesticulating, ii. 144
+
+  ---- Homo-motor, ii. 147
+
+  ---- Impersonating, ii. 145
+
+  ---- Impressional, ii. 150
+
+  ---- Manipulating, ii. 145
+
+  ---- Missionary, ii. 149
+
+  ---- Motive, ii. 144
+
+  ---- Neurological, ii. 146
+
+  ---- Pantomimic, ii. 145
+
+  ---- Pictorial, ii. 148
+
+  ---- Psychologic, ii. 147
+
+  ---- Psychometric, ii. 148
+
+  ---- Pulsatory, ii. 145
+
+  ---- Speaking, ii. 150
+
+  ---- Symbolic, ii. 147
+
+  ---- Sympathetic, ii. 146
+
+  ---- Therapeutic, ii. 149
+
+  ---- Tipping, ii. 144
+
+  ---- Vibratory, ii. 144
+
+  Miss Weld's testimony, ii. 54
+
+  Modern scientific methods, i. 10
+
+  Monsignor Patterson's testimony, ii. 52
+
+  More's "Antidote against Atheism," i. 173
+
+  Mr. De Lisle on Miracles, i. 15
+
+  Mr. De Lisle's testimony, ii. 54
+
+  Mr. Edwin De Lisle in reply to Strauss, i. 4
+
+  Mr. E. Lenthal Swifte's testimony, ii. 104
+
+  Mr. George Fortescue's declaration, ii. 43
+
+  Mr. Henry Cope Caulfeild's testimony, ii. 115
+
+  Mr. Herbert Spencer answered, i. 11
+
+  Mr. J. G. Godwin's declaration, ii. 68
+
+  Mr. Laxon's wife tormented, i. 189
+
+  Mr. M. P. Andrews' declaration, ii. 43
+
+  Mr. Ralph Davis on the Northampton witches, i. 182
+
+  Mr. Rutherford's declaration, i. 263
+
+  Mr. William Talbot's testimony, i. 226
+
+  Mrs. Baillie-Hamilton's testimony, ii. 66
+
+  Mrs. George Lee's testimony, i. 230
+
+  Mrs. Kempson's testimony, i. 254
+
+  Murder discovered by a dream, i. 221
+
+  ---- of Maria Martin discovered, i. 231
+
+  ---- of the crippled and imbecile, i. 9
+
+
+  Naturalistic materialism, i. 10
+
+  Nature of God, i. 6
+
+  ---- dreams, i. 210
+
+  Necromancy recognized by the fathers, i. 161
+
+  ---- in China, ii. 220
+
+  Northamptonshire witches, The, i. 182
+
+  Notions, reintroduction of Pagan, i. 13
+
+
+  Old traditions generally accepted, ii. 90
+
+  Omen concerning Archbishop Laud, i. 271
+
+  ---- concerning King Charles I., i. 268, 269, 270
+
+  ---- concerning Lord Falkland, i. 270
+
+  Omens and prognostications, i. 263
+
+  ---- The subject of, i. 263
+
+  Opinions of Strauss, i. 3
+
+  Oracles, The cessation of, i. 282
+
+  Ostrehan's, Captain, testimony, ii. 218
+
+  Oxenham omen, The, i. 273
+
+
+  Pagan notions, Reintroduction of, i. 13
+
+  Patterson's, Monsignor, information, ii. 52
+
+  Perrone, Father, on Spiritualism, ii. 184
+
+  Philipsons of Colgarth, The, i. 90
+
+  Planchette, Use of, ii. 220, 222
+
+  Plumer Ward's, Mr., account of the Lyttelton ghost, ii. 46
+
+  Plutarch on the "Cessation of Oracles," i. 282
+
+  Popes martyrs, The early, i. 31
+
+  Portrait of S. Stanislaus, ii. 53
+
+  Power and malice of Satan, ii. 83
+
+  ---- of blessing and cursing, i. 90
+
+  ---- of exorcism claimed exclusively, i. 163
+
+  Presentiment of Lieutenant R----, i. 250
+
+  ---- of death, i. 262
+
+  ---- to Lady Warre's chaplain, i. 281
+
+  Principle of benediction, The, i. 88
+
+  Principles of the Broad Church party, ii. 137
+
+  Prognostication of death in a dream, i. 250
+
+  ---- of death to Captain Speer, i. 252
+
+  Prognostications and omens, i. 263
+
+  Propriety of a revelation, i. 5
+
+  Purbrick, Rev. E. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54
+
+  Purport of dreams, i. 212
+
+
+  Rebuilding of the Temple, i. 42
+
+  "Report on Spiritualism" quoted, ii. 153
+
+  Rev. Dr. Cox's testimony, ii. 54
+
+  Rev. Dr. J. M. Neale's testimony i. 243
+
+  Rev. Edward Price on the World of Spirits, ii. 82
+
+  Rev. G. R. Winter on the Swaffham tinker, i. 215
+
+  Rev. H. N. Oxenham's testimony, i. 277
+
+  Rev. J. Richardson's testimony, i. 253
+
+  Rev. John Wesley on evil spirits, ii. 85
+
+  Rev. Joseph Jefferson's testimony, ii. 100
+
+  Rev. Mr. Perring's dream realized, i. 234
+
+  Rev. T. J. Morris's testimony, i. 240
+
+  "Rules for the Spirit Circle" quoted, ii. 151
+
+
+  S. Augustine on miracles, i. 30
+
+  S. Bernard on dreams, i. 214
+
+  S. Cyprian on dreams, i. 214
+
+  S. Cyril on dreams, i. 214
+
+  S. Irenæus on miracles, i. 41
+
+  S. John's College, Oxford, Founding of, i. 267
+
+  S. Pacian on miracles, i. 41
+
+  S. Thomas Aquinas on dreams, i. 214
+
+  Sacrilege discovered by a dream, i. 232
+
+  "Sadducismus Triumphatus" referred to, i. 199
+
+  Satan, power and malice of, ii. 83
+
+  Science and faith, Rev. R. S. Hawker on, ii. 239
+
+  Science of the Pagan oracles, i. 161
+
+  "Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism" quoted, ii. 143
+
+  Scott, Dream of Andrew, i. 261
+
+  Scripture on witchcraft and necromancy, i. 164
+
+  Séance at the Marshalls', i. 203
+
+  ---- record of, from "Spiritual Magazine," ii. 169
+
+  Second sight, Treatise on, i. 285
+
+  ---- at Cardiff, i. 286
+
+  ---- at Ramsbury, i. 288
+
+  ---- Jerome Cardan's gift of, i. 283
+
+  Sexton, Dr. G., on spiritualism, ii. 225
+
+  Shakespeare's conception of the supernatural, ii. 89
+
+  Singular prognostication, i. 250
+
+  Sir Christopher Heydon on astrology, i. 200
+
+  Sir George Caulfeild, i. 223
+
+  Sir Henry Chauncy trying witches, i. 193
+
+  Sir Henry Yelverton and his death, i. 95
+
+  Sir Martin Beresford, ii. 13
+
+  Sir Matthew Hale's evidence as to witchcraft, i. 163
+
+  Sir Thomas Brown's evidence against witchcraft, i. 163
+
+  Slade's, Sir Alfred, testimony, ii. 218
+
+  Somerset omen, The, i. 266
+
+  Sorcery of Dr. Lamb, i. 202
+
+  _Sortes Virgilianæ_, The, i. 269, 270
+
+  Sound of a drum, The, i. 278
+
+  Southey on haunted localities, ii. 84
+
+  Spectral dog, The, i. 280
+
+  Spectre of Lady Hobby, The, ii. 91
+
+  Spedlin's Tower haunted, ii. 97
+
+  Spirits, perturbed, ii. 87
+
+  ---- World of, ii. 82
+
+  Spiritualism despised, ii. 139
+
+  ---- modern, ii. 135, 169
+
+  ---- Mr. W. Crookes on the phenomena of, ii. 159
+
+  ---- Origin of, ii. 141
+
+  Spiritualistic manifestations, i. 205;
+    ii. 151, 153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 169, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178,
+        180
+
+  Statement of Lord Lyttelton's valet, ii. 45
+
+  Stigmatization, i. 98, 100, 101, 102, 105, 109
+
+  Strauss, Opinions of, i. 2
+
+  Successful exorcism by an English clergyman, i. 80
+
+  Sudden death of Ruth Pierce, i. 289
+
+  Supernatural banished, The, ii. 140
+
+  ---- basis of life, i. 12
+
+  ---- its work, i. 2
+
+  ---- noises at Abbotsford, ii. 99
+
+  ---- religion, i. 18
+
+  Surey demoniac, The, i. 177
+
+
+  Tertullian on dreams, i. 213
+
+  Testimony to the fulfilment of a solemn Curse, i. 117
+
+  The Chester-le-Street apparition, ii. 3
+
+  The Christian system, i. 26
+
+  The Lyttelton ghost story, ii. 35
+
+  The Misses Amphlett, ii. 39
+
+  The Oxenham omen, i. 274
+
+  The result of a solemn Curse, i. 117
+
+  The sound of a drum, i. 278
+
+  The spectral dog, i. 280
+
+  ---- bird, ii. 128
+
+  The use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4
+
+  The white bird of the Oxenhams, i. 274
+
+  Theories concerning dreams, i. 210
+
+  Thirteen to Dinner, i. 281
+
+  Thomas Aquinas on miracles, S., i. 28
+
+  Three men rescued by a dream, i. 231
+
+  Tichborne dole, The, i. 264
+
+  ---- Curse and Prophecy, The, i. 265
+
+  ---- Mabella, Lady, i. 264
+
+  ---- Sir Henry, i. 265
+
+  ---- Sir Roger, i. 264
+
+  Tinley, Dream of Samuel, i. 262
+
+  Tradition of miraculous powers, i. 32
+
+  Treatise on second sight, i. 285
+
+  Trial of Rev. E. Arrowsmith, i. 91
+
+  Trinity of Comteism, The, i. 19
+
+  Twice-repeated dream of a sailor, i. 231
+
+  Tyrone apparition, The, ii. 11
+
+
+  Unalterable experience, i. 24
+
+  Use of the Sign of the Cross, ii. 4
+
+
+  Wallace, Mr. A., on spiritualism and science, ii. 193
+
+  Wandering souls, ii. 87
+
+  Ward's account of the Lyttelton ghost, Mr., ii. 46
+
+  Warning given in a dream, i. 238, 254
+
+  ---- given to a lady by a dream, i. 242
+
+  ---- to a lady, i. 258
+
+  ---- to a little child, i. 260
+
+  ---- to two persons in dreams, i. 258
+
+  "Weekly Register," The, on Mr. Wallace's theories, ii. 197
+
+  Weld ghost story, The, ii. 49
+
+  ---- Philip, drowned, ii. 50
+
+  ---- Very Rev. Alfred, S. J., on the Weld ghost story, ii. 54
+
+  Weld's, Philip, apparition, ii. 53
+
+  Westcote, Lord, on the Lyttelton ghost, i. 33
+
+  White's Dream, Sir Thomas, i. 266
+
+  Witchcraft and necromancy, i. 152
+
+  ---- and sorcery, Canon Melville on, i. 156
+
+  ---- common in non-Catholic countries, i. 201
+
+  ---- condemned in Scripture, i. 152, 155
+
+  ---- Definition of, i. 174
+
+  ---- Examples of, i. 176-201
+
+  ---- George More on, i. 171
+
+  ---- Herder on, ii. 210
+
+  ---- Jane Wenham accused of, i. 192
+
+  ---- Joseph Glanville on, i. 175
+
+  ---- recognized by the Fathers, i. 161
+
+  ---- Rev. John Wesley on, i. 160
+
+  Witches, The Northamptonshire, i. 182
+
+  "Wonders of the Invisible World," i. 198
+
+  World of spirits, The, ii. 82
+
+  Wynyard ghost story, The, ii. 26
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+  CHISWICK PRESS:--PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,
+  TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Here in Mr. Surtees' record is a remarkable example of the pious and
+devout use of the sacred Sign of the Cross, which, having been universal
+amongst all classes before the Reformation, was continued by many for long
+generations afterwards, and the use of which since the Catholic Revival in
+the English Church has become common.
+
+[2] "History of Durham," by Robert Surtees, Esq.: under
+"Chester-le-Street." Vol. ii. pp. 147-148.
+
+[3] "Nichols' Literary Illustrations." Vol. iv. p. 119, _et seq._ London,
+1822.
+
+[4] Arthur Orchard, of S. John's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1662; M.A. 1666;
+B.D. 1673.
+
+[5] "Letters on Animal Magnetism," by Dr. W. Gregory, p. 487. London,
+1851.
+
+[6] A member of the noble family of Beresford thus wrote (A.D. 1873) to a
+friend of the Editor, with reference to the above narrative:--"The
+tradition in our family is entirely in favour of the truth of the Spectral
+Appearance, and the account which I have read, and return, is in my
+opinion a true and faithful narration of it."
+
+[7] The record of this came to the Editor, through a friend, from the late
+Rev. W. Hastings Kelke, M.A., sometime Rector of Drayton Beauchamp, in the
+county of Bucks.
+
+[8] The barony of Chedworth was conferred upon John Howe, Esq., of
+Chedworth, co. Gloucester, on May 12, 1741. He had two sons, John Thynne,
+the nobleman referred to in the above account, and Henry Frederick, who in
+turn succeeded him in the title. His daughter Mary married Alexander
+Wright, Esq., whose daughter Mary Wright is the lady mentioned in the
+above narrative. Miss Wright's cousin John inherited as fourth baron, but
+died unmarried, Oct. 29, 1804, when the peerage became extinct.
+
+[9] Another narrative of this remarkable event, which substantially
+corresponds with those given in the text above is provided here. In
+certain respects there are discrepancies, and just those kinds of
+discrepancies which might reasonably have been looked for in accounts
+drawn up by different hands; but in the main facts, regarding which there
+can be no reasonable doubt, there is a remarkable and notable identity in
+all the leading features: "Two nights before, on Lord Lyttelton retiring
+to bed, after his servant was dismissed and his light extinguished, he had
+heard a noise resembling the fluttering of a dove at his chamber window.
+This attracted his attention to the spot; when, looking in the direction
+of the sound, he saw the figure of an unhappy female whom he had seduced,
+and who, when deserted, had put a violent end to her own existence,
+standing in the aperture of the window from which the fluttering sound had
+proceeded. The form approached the foot of the bed, the room was
+preternaturally light, the objects of the chamber were distinctly visible.
+Raising her hand and pointing to a dial which stood on the mantlepiece of
+the chimney, the figure, with a severe solemnity of voice and manner,
+answered to the appalled and conscience-stricken man that at that very
+hour, on the third day after the visitation, his life and his sins would
+be concluded, and nothing but their punishment remain, if he availed
+himself not of the warning to repentance which he had thus received. The
+eye of Lord Lyttelton glanced upon the dial; the hand was on the stroke of
+twelve: again the apartment was involved in total darkness--the warning
+spirit disappeared, and bore away at her departure all the lightness of
+heart and buoyancy of spirit, ready flow of wit, and vivacity of manner,
+which had formerly been the pride and ornament of the unhappy being to
+whom she had delivered her tremendous summons. Such was the tale that Lord
+Lyttelton delivered to his companions. They laughed at his superstition,
+and endeavoured to convince him that his mind must have been impressed
+with this idea by some dream of a more consistent nature than dreams
+generally are, and that he had mistaken the visions of his sleep for the
+visitation of a spirit. He was consoled, but not convinced; he felt
+relieved by their distrust, and on the second night after the appearance
+of the spectre, he retreated to his apartment with his faith in the
+reality of the transaction somewhat shaken; and his spirits, though not
+revived, certainly lightened of somewhat of their oppression. On the
+succeeding day the guests of Lord Lyttelton, with the connivance of his
+attendant, had provided that the clocks throughout the house should be
+advanced an hour; by occupying the host's attention during the whole day
+with different and successive objects of amusement, they contributed to
+prevent his discovering the imposture. Ten o'clock struck: the nobleman
+was silent and depressed. Eleven struck, the depression deepened, and now
+not even a smile, or the slightest movement of his eye indicated him to be
+conscious of the efforts of his associates, as they attempted to dispel
+his gloom. Twelve struck. 'Thank God! I am safe,' exclaimed Lord
+Lyttelton, 'the ghost was a liar after all. Some wine, there. Congratulate
+me, my friends; congratulate me on my reprieve. Why, what a fool I was to
+be cast down by so idle and absurd a circumstance! But, however, it is
+time for bed. We'll be up early and out with the hounds to-morrow. By my
+faith, it's half-past twelve, so good night!' and he returned to his
+chamber convinced of his security, and believing that the threatened hour
+of peril was now past. His guests remained together to await the
+completion of the time so ominously designated by the vision. A quarter of
+an hour had elapsed: they heard the valet descend from his master's room.
+It was just twelve. Lord Lyttelton's bell rang violently. The company ran
+in a body to his apartment. The clock struck one at their entrance, the
+unhappy nobleman lay extended on the bed before them, pale and lifeless,
+and his countenance terribly convulsed."
+
+In his "Memoirs," Sir Nathaniel Wraxall has the following relating to this
+occurrence:--
+
+"Dining at Pitt Place, about four years after the death of Lord Lyttelton,
+in the year 1783, I had the curiosity to visit the bed-chamber, where the
+casement window, at which Lord Lyttelton asserted the dove appeared to
+flutter, was pointed out to me; and at his stepmother's, the Dowager Lady
+Lyttelton's in Portugal Street, Grosvenor Square, who being a woman of
+very lively imagination, lent an implicit faith to all the supernatural
+facts which were supposed to have accompanied or produced Lord Lyttelton's
+end. I have frequently seen a painting which she herself executed in 1780,
+especially to commemorate the event: it hung in a conspicuous part of her
+drawing-room. There the dove appears at the window, while a female figure,
+habited in white, stands at the foot of the bed, announcing to Lord
+Lyttelton his dissolution. Every part of the picture was faithfully
+designed after the description given to her by the valet-de-chambre who
+attended him, to whom his master related all the circumstances."
+
+[10] Copied from a paper in the autograph of Lord Westcote, entitled
+"Remarkable Circumstances attending the Death of Thomas, Lord Lyttelton,"
+which the present Lord Lyttelton most courteously entrusted to the Editor
+of this volume, together with several other original documents relating to
+the same, as follows:--1. Extract from Mr. Plumer Ward's "Illustrations of
+Human Life," vol. i. p. 165. 2. Written account given by Sir Digby Neave,
+bart., to Lord Lyttelton in 1860. 3. MS. containing Mr. George Fortescue's
+testimony, signed S. L. 4. The following declaration:--"Chiswick, May 6th,
+1867. Miles Peter Andrews told me the story of Lord Lyttelton's appearance
+to him, driving with me at Wingerworth, many years ago.--Anna Hunloke."
+
+[11] Lord Lyttelton's valet made the following statement:--"That Lord
+Lyttelton made his usual preparations for bed; that he kept every now and
+then looking for his watch; that when he got into bed, he ordered his
+curtains to be closed at the foot. It was now within a minute or two of
+twelve by his watch; he asked to look at mine, and seemed pleased to find
+it nearly keep time with his own. His lordship then put them both to his
+ear, to satisfy himself if they went. When it was more than a quarter
+after twelve by our watches, he said, 'This mysterious lady is not a true
+prophetess, I find.' When it was near the real hour of twelve, he said,
+'Come, I'll wait no longer; get me my medicine, I'll take it, and try to
+sleep.' I just stepped into the dressing-room to prepare the physic, and
+had mixed it, when I thought I heard my lord breathing very hard. I ran to
+him, and found him in the agonies of death."--"Gentleman's Magazine," vol.
+lxxxv. part i. p. 598, A.D. 1815.
+
+[12] In Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" (vol. iv. p. 313) the Doctor is
+recorded to have said, "It is the most extraordinary occurrence in my
+days. I heard it from Lord Westcote, his uncle. I am so glad to have
+evidence of the spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it."
+
+[13] "James Weld, Esq., seventh son of Thomas Weld, Esq., of Lulworth
+Castle, was born April 30, 1785, married July 15, 1812, the Hon. Juliana
+Anne, daughter of Robert Edward, tenth Lord Petre, and has had issue, 1.
+Henry, 2. Francis, a priest, 3. _Philip_, died 1846; 1. Anna Maria, 2.
+Katharine, 3. Agnes, a nun, 4. Charlotte."--See Burke's "Landed Gentry,"
+vol. ii. art. "Weld of Lulworth Castle."
+
+[14] The Right Rev. Monsignor Patterson, the present President of S.
+Edmund's college (A.D. 1872), kindly informs me that there is a memorial
+brass in front of the sanctuary of the chapel of that society, on which is
+figured a floriated cross, rising out of waves, with a label appended to
+it,--"Lord save me."
+
+[15] S. Stanislaus Kostka was born on Oct. 28, 1550, his parents being
+John and Margaret Kostka, Polish nobles of wealth and repute. Miraculous
+signs foreshadowed his birth; and the holiness and purity of his early
+years betokened in a marked manner the favour of God towards this child.
+In his fourteenth year he went to Vienna to finish his studies at the
+Jesuit college. Here, his saintliness was so manifested forth by his
+conduct, that the Fathers said, "We have in our seminary an angel under
+the form of Stanislaus." Many miraculous favours are said to have been
+bestowed upon him by the hands of saints and angels, too numerous and
+lengthy to be recorded. He commenced his noviciate in the Jesuit college
+at Rome; where, after a short but edifying sojourn, he joyfully departed
+this life, aged 18 years, on the morning of August 15, 1568.
+
+[16] Mr. de Lisle, of Garendon Park, Leicestershire, in communicating to
+me the above narrative, writes as follows:--"I send you my account of the
+apparition of Philip Weld, according to my promise. I received it back
+this morning (July 17, 1872) from the Benedictine Convent at Athenstone,
+in Warwickshire, where my daughter Gwendoline is a nun, and where one of
+the Miss Welds, a cousin of Philip, is also a nun. She approves the
+accuracy of my account, and has added a paper with a few notes, which I
+inclose along with my own article, and from which you can correct mine so
+far as needed. I add here my affirmation that the above recorded narrative
+is a true and faithful account of what the Very Rev. Dr. Cox, then
+President of S. Edmund's College, related to me and to Mrs. de Lisle in
+February, 1847." The Editor is also greatly indebted to the Very Rev.
+Alfred Weld, S.J., for his courteous Letters upon the subject of the above
+narrative, as likewise to the Rev. E. J. Purbrick, S.J.
+
+[17] "Letters on Animal Magnetism," by Dr. W. Gregory, pp. 448-489.
+London, 1851.
+
+[18] "The Apparition or Spectral Appearance of my friend's father to him
+in the West Indies--the old gentleman having died in England, and the fact
+of two officers having seen it simultaneously, shows that it could not
+have been the result of their imagination, but that it was an objective
+appearance; in fact, the dead man's immortal spirit, indicating to one
+once bound by Nature's ties to the living witness of it, that the
+separation of soul and body had taken place. It is firmly believed by the
+family, who, however, all shrink from making their names public. So, my
+dear doctor, you must be content with this."--E. M. C., Cambridge, July
+15, 1873.
+
+[19] "The narrative of the spectral appearance of a lady at Torquay,
+forwarded to Dr. F. G. Lee at his special request, is copied from, and
+compared with that in, the family Bible of H. A. T. Baillie-Hamilton by
+the undersigned,
+
+  "C. Margaret Balfour,
+   Mary Baillie-Hamilton.
+   Witness, J. R. Grant.
+
+  "Princes Street, Edinburgh,
+   October 7, 1871."
+
+[20] "The above is a correct and truthful statement.
+
+  "Witness my hand and seal.
+   John Gill Godwin.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  "76, Warwick Street,
+   South Belgravia, Nov. 6, 1874."
+
+[21] Special enquiry, made since the above was penned, shows conclusively
+that this appearance was seen exactly seven years after the date of
+death.--Editor.
+
+[22] The Editor is in no degree concerned with Paganism or Pagan
+superstitions, nor has he gathered præ-Christian examples. Yet such will
+have been numerous to the ordinary student of classical history. The
+Haunted House of Damon, mentioned by Plutarch, will be familiar to many.
+
+[23] The following is the original of a most beautiful verse in Bishop
+Ken's well-known "Evening Hymn," either mutilated in the worst of taste in
+most hymn-books, or else altogether eliminated and suppressed:--
+
+  "You, my best guardian, while I sleep
+   Close to my bed your vigils keep;
+   Your love angelical instil,
+   Stop all the avenues of ill."
+
+[24] "What do we know of the World of Spirits? Little or nothing, beyond
+what Faith and Revelation afford. Still we know that they surround us;
+that they hover over us; that they accompany us whithersoever we go; and
+that even in the innermost tabernacle of the soul they penetrate and have
+their being. Good spirits and bad are around us; good spirits to aid us,
+to waft our lame and imperfect prayers to heaven, and to protect us in the
+hour of temptation or peril. 'He shall give His angels charge over thee,
+lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' Bad angels, too, are around us
+and against us, percolating through every avenue of the soul, inflaming
+the imagination, warping the judgment, tainting the will, and too often,
+alas! perverting it to perdition. Bad angels are around us, even within
+the protecting sanctuary of God's Church, when summoned, permitted there
+by the subdued and corrupted will of man. Bad angels are around us in
+every walk and rank and condition and event of life: we see them not, but
+they hover over us and around us, and they penetrate within the mysterious
+precincts of the soul, by many a foul and unholy thought, by many an evil
+suggestion to sin. And they triumph, and they gibber in their unholy glee
+whenever they tempt and prevail. They triumph, and they laugh the
+insulting laugh whenever they steep to the lips in sin an unhappy mortal,
+and fasten upon him the mocking thought and determination of a deathbed
+repentance. That is their battle ground, the battle ground of victory. The
+standard of deceit is then triumphant: the captive is delivered bound into
+their hands to do with as they list, to be tormented according to the
+refinement of their infernal pleasure. 'He shall be delivered unto the
+tormentors.'"--Rev. Edward Price.
+
+[25] This belief prevails extensively in Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland.
+
+[26] The souls of the dead, or spirits of some sort, are constantly heard
+and not unfrequently seen in mines. A Shropshire miner informed the Editor
+that, of his own knowledge, he had heard supernatural sounds of moanings
+and mutterings underground, and had seemed to _feel_ the passing spirits
+as they swept by. On one occasion, after the violent and sudden death of a
+comrade, the noises were unusually loud; while the horses employed
+underground would stand trembling and covered with perspiration whenever
+the spirits were heard.
+
+[27] "The Life of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., by Robert Southey, Esq.,"
+vol. ii. p. 370. London: 1858.
+
+[28] In many places on the continent, especially in France and Spain, it
+was the custom to pray for departed souls, suffering (as their needful
+purification was incompleted) _in any particular locality_. Dr. Neale
+gives an example of this, occurring in a prayer which he saw printed and
+hung up in a church at Braganza in Spain, which ran thus:--"We pray,
+likewise, for the souls which are suffering in any place by the particular
+chastisement of God." And the following is translated from a French
+Prayer-Book of the last century:--"Have mercy, O Lord God, good and
+pitiful, on the souls of those who are being chastised for their
+transgressions in the flesh, in those places where Thou willest them to
+suffer;" an evident reference in both cases to troubled spirits which
+haunt definite spots.
+
+[29] When the tone of thought in Shakspeare's day is compared with that in
+our own, the contrast between the accurate and explicit religious
+statements regarding the Supernatural, with the shallow and cynical
+scepticism of modern writers, can hardly be put down to the credit of the
+Modern. At all events those who claim to range themselves on the side of
+the Ancient and the True may be permitted to do so. Nothing could more
+forcibly set forth the current belief of the sixteenth century than the
+following well-known utterance of the Ghost in "Hamlet":--
+
+                  "I am thy Father's spirit;
+  Doom'd for a certain time to walk the night,
+  And for the day confined to fast in fires,
+  Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
+  Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
+  To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
+  I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
+  Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
+  Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
+  Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
+  And each particular hair to stand on end,
+  Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
+  But this eternal blazon must not be
+  To ears of flesh and blood."
+                          "Hamlet," pp. 22-23. Oxford: 1873.
+
+[30] The Editor is indebted to the late Revs. W. Hastings Kelke and H.
+Roundell of Buckingham, for the above curious example. It was intended to
+have been published some years ago in "The Records of Bucks."
+
+[31] For an accurate account by the late Rev. W. Hastings Kelke of this
+curious and interesting old mansion, the property of Lord Clifford of
+Chudleigh, see "The Records of Bucks," vol. i. pp. 255-267. Aylesbury,
+1858.
+
+[32] "Memoirs of Sir John Reresby," p. 238.
+
+[33] The Rev. Joseph Jefferson, M.A., Vicar of North Stainley, near Ripon,
+who sent me the above--unaltered, and printed just as it was written--on
+the 2nd of June, 1873.
+
+[34] "Notes and Queries," vol. x. second series, Sept. 8, 1860, pp.
+192-193, and Sept. 22, 1860, p. 236.
+
+[35] Barby is a parish in the Hundred of Fawsley, in the county of
+Northampton, a little more than five miles from Daventry. It contains
+between six and seven hundred inhabitants.
+
+[36] "Your account, as about to be printed, is _true and exact_, as to all
+the facts of the haunted house at ----, which came within my own personal
+knowledge. Don't mention names, or we shall perhaps be damaging the
+property, and lay ourselves open to an action at law. I may add that the
+late Bishop of Chester [Dr. Graham] is said to have furnished a mutual
+friend, the late Master of Trinity, with similar accounts, which had taken
+place before I knew the place, verifying to an A B C the old and, no
+doubt, perfectly true tradition. It is strange enough I know, _but it is
+true_.--Yours, &c., H. S. B., November, 1874."
+
+[37] The wife of the clergyman above alluded to, wrote to the Editor as
+follows:--"Having read the account which you contemplate publishing, I can
+testify of my own personal knowledge that it is _neither understated nor
+exaggerated, but is in all its details strictly true and accurate_.--June,
+1874."
+
+[38] Miss S. F. Caulfeild, author of "Avenele," "Desmond," &c.
+
+[39] It seems that other places are reported to be haunted by appearances
+of Birds. A correspondent informs the Editor that this is the case with an
+old House in Dorsetshire, not far from Poole, where a wingless bird is
+sometimes seen. The same is said of a mansion in Essex, as another
+correspondent declares. In one room in an old house in Dean Street, Soho,
+likewise, several persons have seen a large raven, three times the size of
+an ordinary raven, perched on the tester of the old-fashioned bed. The
+inmates of the house, in 1854, whose family had had the lease for eighty
+years, are said to have been so accustomed to seeing it (though they knew
+it to be spectral) that they were undisturbed by its frequent appearance.
+Dr. Neale's story as follows (not unlike the examples already given), is
+very singular. Regarding it he wrote:--"_It comes to me with a weight of
+evidence, which, strange as is the tale, I cannot disbelieve_. Three
+friends, not very much distinguished by piety, had been dining together at
+the residence of one of them in Norfolk. After dinner they went out and
+strolled through the churchyard. 'Well,' said a clergyman, one of the
+three, 'I wonder, after all, if there is any future state or not?' They
+agreed that whichever died first should appear to the others and inform
+them. 'In what shape shall it be?' asked one of the friends. At that
+moment a flight of crows arose from a neighbouring field. 'A crow is as
+good a shape as any other,' said the clergyman; 'if I should be the first
+to die, I will appear in that.' He _did_ die first; and some time after
+his death, the other two had been dining together, and were walking in the
+garden afterwards. A crow settled on the head of one of them, stuck there
+pertinaciously, and could only be torn off by main force. And when this
+gentleman's carriage came to take him home, the crow perched on it, and
+accompanied him back."
+
+[40] "Strange Things Amongst Us." By Henry Spicer. 2nd ed., pp. 100-102.
+London: Chapman & Hall, 1864.
+
+[41] The following is taken from a small volume which has been
+gratuitously circulated very widely amongst the clergy and laity. It bears
+a Christian title, but is altogether anti-Christian from end to end:--
+
+"The unwise, idolatrous, early Christian priests, in their admiration of
+Christ, exalted him in their imagination to be God Himself, forgetting the
+Creator God, and exalting in their foolish imagination his Blessed Mother
+as the Mother of God--folly that has been widely perpetuated down to these
+days. Oh, foolish churches, how great has been your folly, how widely you
+have departed from the truth; therefore how little you have been able to
+cope with the wicked heart of man!
+
+"In like manner as the Israelites, from the crucifixion down to these
+days, have erred in disbelieving the Messiah-ship of Christ, so the
+spurious churches have, during many ages, exalted Christ in their
+imagination to be God. The Israelites and the spurious churches being
+equal in their great error--the one refusing to acknowledge him as the
+long-promised Messiah, the other exalting him in their imagination as
+being the Messiah, the Holy Ghost, and God the Creator also; the
+Israelites refusing to give any glory to Christ, the spurious churches
+madly rushing, in their ancient antagonism towards the Jews, to the
+opposite extreme, by robbing, in their imagination, God the Creator of His
+Glory, and giving all glory to the Messiah, to the great grief of the
+Messiah.
+
+"Now clearly understand, oh ye nations of the whole world! it was not God
+who was born out of the Virgin Mary, and who was crucified, but the before
+holy angel Christ--understand this, and the Holy Scriptures will be plain
+to your comprehension--Christians have erred greatly during so many
+generations, in like manner as the followers of Mahomet and of Buddah have
+erred--errors that were carelessly accepted by powerful rulers, evil and
+ignorant, and forced upon the priests and the people, generation after
+generation. The time is at hand, even knocking at the door, when your
+understanding shall be made clear, and neither the professing followers of
+Christ, nor of Buddah, nor of Mahomet, nor the unwise of other sects, will
+continue in their many errors."--"Christ is Coming," pp. 135-6.
+
+"Yet to-day, if one dare question the value of Christianity, what a howl
+is raised from one end of Christendom to the other! We say so advisedly,
+for it is the howl of fear.... Though Christianity to-day declines and is
+losing power and vigour, yet in its day it hath done great and glorious
+good in the work of human redemption. It was an advance upon the religions
+which preceded it."--"What of the Dead? An Address by Mr. J. J. Morse, in
+the Trance State," p. 5. London: J. Burns. 1873.
+
+[42] 2 St. Peter iii. 3, 4.
+
+[43] "A Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism: a Paper read by Mr. T.
+Grant to the Maidstone and Mid-Kent Natural History and Philosophical
+Society on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1872." London: J. Burns.
+
+[44] A remarkable example of this has been courteously given to me by Mr.
+Thomas Bosworth, of 198, High Holborn, as follows:--"Some seven or eight
+years ago there appeared in one of the newspapers a story to the following
+effect:--A commercial firm at Bolton, in Lancashire, had found that a
+considerable sum of money which had been sent to their bank by a
+confidential clerk, had not been placed to their credit. The clerk
+remembered the fact of taking the money, though not the particulars, but
+at the bank nothing was known of it. The clerk, feeling that he was liable
+to suspicion in the matter, and anxious to elucidate it, sought the help
+of spirit medium. The medium promised to do her best. Having heard the
+story, she presently passed into a kind of trance. Shortly after she said,
+'I see you on your way to the bank--I see you go into the bank--I see you
+go to such and such part of the bank--I see you hand some papers to a
+clerk--I see him put them in such and such a place under some other
+papers--and I see them there now.' The clerk went to the bank, directed
+the cashier where to look for the money, and it was found; the cashier
+afterwards remembering that in the hurry of business he had there
+deposited it. A relation of mine saw this story in a newspaper at the
+time, and wrote to the firm in question, the name of which was given,
+asking whether the facts were as stated. He was told in reply that they
+were. That gentleman who was applied to, having corrected one or two
+unimportant details in the above narration, wrote on November 9,
+1874:--'Your account is a correct one. I have the answer of the firm to my
+enquiry at home now.'"
+
+[45] The term "willer" and "necromancer" are used as identical by Easterns
+as well as by the aborigines of New Zealand.
+
+[46] There have been published "Rules to be Observed for the Spirit
+Circle," "framed under the Direction and Impression of Spirits," by Emma
+Hardinge, from which the following points are gathered. Firstly, there is
+a definition, and it is stated that "the Spirit Circle is the assembling
+together of a given number of persons for the purpose of seeking communion
+with the spirits who have passed away from Earth into the higher world of
+souls." A leading direction enjoins the inquiring votaries to "_Avoid
+strong_ light, which by producing excessive motion in the atmosphere,
+disturbs the manifestations. A very subdued light is the most favourable
+for any manifestations of a magnetic character, especially for spiritual
+magnetism." "Strongly positive persons of any kind" and "the dogmatical"
+should not be admitted. Furthermore, these "Rules" contain the
+following:--
+
+"Spirit control is often deficient, and at first almost always imperfect.
+_By often yielding to it, your organism becomes more flexible and the
+spirit more experienced_; and practice in control is absolutely necessary
+for spirits as well as mortals. _If dark and evil-disposed spirits
+manifest to you, never drive them away_, but always strive to elevate them
+and treat them as you would mortals under similar circumstances. Do not
+always attribute falsehoods to 'lying spirits,' or deceiving mediums. Many
+mistakes occur in the communion of which you cannot always be aware.
+_Strive for Truth_, but rebuke Error gently, and do not always attribute
+it to design, but rather to mistake, in so difficult and experimental a
+stage of the communion as mortals at present enjoy with spirits."
+
+[47] The kind of communication made to those who first consult the
+spirits, is just of that nature calculated to allure the superficial, the
+frivolous, the uninformed, triflers, and seekers after novelties; and to
+lead them on to a more frequent intercourse and a deeper kind of
+communion.
+
+[48] Dr. J. G. Davey, M.D., of Northwoods, Bristol, writes as follows:--"I
+have satisfied myself not only of the mere abstract truth of Spiritualism,
+but of its great and marvellous power for good, both on moral and
+religious grounds. The direct and positive communications vouchsafed to me
+from very many near and dear relatives and friends, said to be dead, have
+been of the most pleasing yet startling character."--_Report on
+Spiritualism_, p. 232. London: Longmans, 1871.
+
+[49] This person, whose name was most accurately given, had died five days
+previously. He was a servant on the estate, and had belonged to the sect
+of the Anabaptists.
+
+[50] "Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called Spiritualism, during
+the years 1870-73." By William Crookes, F.R.S.
+
+[51] "The reader who has not been in the habit of attending _séances_
+should be informed that the peculiar phraseology of some of the questions
+is rendered necessary by the fact that if you ask the spirits, 'Where did
+_you_ die?' or 'Where were _you_ buried?' they will sometimes tell you
+that it was not _they_ who died and were buried, but merely the external
+shell or material covering of the real man."--Note by the Editor of the
+"Spiritual Magazine."
+
+[52] "There is scarcely a city or a considerable town in Continental
+Europe, at the present moment, where Spiritualists are not reckoned by
+hundreds if not by thousands; where regularly established communities do
+not habitually meet for spiritual purposes: and they reckon among them
+individuals of every class and avocation."--"Scepticism and Spiritualism."
+In a letter to the "Spiritual Magazine," dated May 4th, 1867, Judge
+Edmunds, of America, estimated the number of Spiritualists in the United
+States at ten millions. "In London, ten years ago," writes Mr. R. Dale
+Owen, "there was but a single Spiritual paper; to-day there are
+five."--"The Debatable Land," p. 175. London: Trübner, 1871.
+
+[53] The Rev. John Edwards, jun., M.A., Vicar of Prestbury, near
+Cheltenham.
+
+[54] "We do not, either by faith or works, _earn_ Heaven, nor are we
+sentenced, on any Day of Wrath, to Hell. In the next world we simply
+gravitate to the position for which, by life on earth, we have fitted
+ourselves; and we occupy that position _because_ we are fitted for
+it."--"The Debatable Land," by R. Dale Owen, p. 125. London, 1871.
+
+[55] Howitt's "What Spiritualism has Taught," p. 8.
+
+[56] Howitt's "What Spiritualism has Taught," p. 10.
+
+[57] "Spiritualism is avowedly opposed to the Christian Religion. 'The
+Creed of the spirits' is published in the shape of a little tract, one of
+those called 'Seed Corn,' which active agents love to distribute
+gratuitously wherever readers can be found, and these are its clauses: 'I
+believe in God'--'I believe in the immortality of the human soul'--'I
+believe in right and wrong'--'I believe in the communion of spirits as
+ministering angels.' Nothing more. Those well-intending persons,
+therefore--and we believe that among Protestants there are many--who go to
+_séances_ out of curiosity, and who are sometimes heard to say that if
+Spiritualism be true it must therefore be right, should be warned that
+they are lending countenance to persons in whose writings the doctrines of
+the Trinity and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ are emphatically
+denied--the Holy Ghost scoffed at in words too blasphemous for repetition,
+our Blessed Lady insulted, and the whole fabric of Religion attacked and
+undermined; and whether this is done by spirits who actually manifest
+themselves for the purpose of leading people astray, or by impostors who
+work upon the credulity of their audience, the thing can have but one
+origin, and that is the same as that of any other work by which the
+Arch-enemy seeks to close the heart of man against the True Faith. It is
+time therefore to use other weapons than that of ridicule against the
+baneful and, we fear, widely increasing delusion."--"Tablet," September 6,
+1873.
+
+[58] Collect for the Feast of S. Michael and All Angels, "Book of Common
+Prayer."
+
+[59] "The soul has a kind of body of a quality of its own."--Tertull.
+cont. Marc. lib. v. cap. xv.
+
+[60] This account is current, with slender and unimportant variations, at
+Oxford; or at all events _was_ current in my days there (A.D. 1850-1854),
+and on what could not be regarded as other than good authority. One
+version is already in print--that given by Mr. William Maskell, at pp.
+108-112 of his curious and interesting book, "Odds and Ends," London,
+1872. He seems to imply that it was the late Archdeacon of Cleveland, the
+Ven. Edward Churton, who saw the spectral apparitions in Brasenose Lane;
+but the Archdeacon belonged to Christ Church, and, as his son, the Rev. W.
+R. Churton, of Cambridge, informs me, was not resident at Oxford at the
+time of the occurrence. More probably it was the Archdeacon's brother, the
+Rev. T. T. Churton, sometime Fellow of Brasenose.
+
+[61] As to the universality of the belief in Witchcraft, the reader may
+consult Herder's "Philosophy of History," bk. viii. ch. 2. And as regards
+the convictions of some of the leading minds of Europe in times past on
+the subject, Mr. Leckey in his "History of Rationalism" (vol. i. p. 66),
+makes the following candid admission: "It is, I think, impossible to deny
+that the books in defence of the belief are not only far more numerous
+than the later works against it, but that they also represent far more
+learning, dialectic skill, and even general ability. For many centuries
+the ablest men were not merely unwilling to repudiate the superstition;
+they often pressed forward earnestly and with the most intense conviction
+to defend it. Indeed, during the period when Witchcraft was most prevalent
+there were few writers of real eminence who did not, on some occasion,
+take especial pains to throw the weight of their authority into the scale.
+Thomas Aquinas was probably the ablest writer of the thirteenth century,
+and he assures us that diseases and tempests are often the direct acts of
+the devil; that the devil can transport men at his pleasure through the
+air; and that he can transform them into any shape. Gerson, the Chancellor
+of the University of Paris, and, as many think, the author of 'The
+Imitation,' is justly regarded as one of the master intellects of his age;
+and he, too, wrote in defence of the belief. Bodin was unquestionably the
+most original political philosopher who had arisen since Machiavelli, and
+he devoted all his learning and acuteness to crushing the rising
+scepticism 'on the subject of witches.'"
+
+[62] 1 S. Peter v. 8.
+
+[63] Acts xvi. 16-18.
+
+[64] Apologia, cap. v. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv. cap. xxiii.
+
+[65] 1 Cor. xi. 10.
+
+[66] Ibid. xi. 15.
+
+[67] Luther, following the current tradition of his day, believed that the
+Devil could beget children on the bodies of women; and declared that he
+himself had personally come across, and was well acquainted with, one of
+the Devil's offspring. So too did Erasmus believe the fact of such
+generation. It is a tradition in the Catholic Church, that the last and
+great Antichrist--the final Antichrist--may be born of such an alliance.
+Of course Mahomet was _a_ great Antichrist; for though he borrowed certain
+Christian features and adopted many Jewish notions and Rabbinical
+traditions in his system, yet he plainly and undoubtedly fulfilled the
+prophetic statement of S. John the Divine--"_He is Antichrist, who denieth
+the Father and the Son_." (1 S. John ii. 22.) Mahomet's great and leading
+heresy is expressed in the following dogmatic assertion of the Koran:
+"_God neither begetteth nor is begotten_." Now no system has more
+pertinaciously, successfully, and for so long a time opposed Christianity
+than Mahometanism--not even Arianism. But modern "Liberalism," so called,
+as still developing amongst ancient Christian nations, promises even to
+outstrip the system of Mahomet, and to be as blighting and baneful in its
+results.
+
+[68] "An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians." By
+E. W. Lane. 5th edition. London: 1860.
+
+[69] See the whole of this chapter, which is full of information and
+interest. It gives a record of several other similar examples.
+
+[70] In No. 117 of the "Quarterly Review," there is a criticism on Mr.
+Lane's account of these necromancers; but the facts recorded by him are
+neither satisfactorily accounted for nor successfully explained away.
+
+[71] My brother-in-law, Captain Ostrehan, of the Bombay Staff Corps, Sir
+Alfred Slade, Bart., and the Rev. Dr. Dunbar, chaplain to Bishop
+Claughton, have furnished me with remarkable examples of the power of
+Oriental necromancers.
+
+[72] Nevins' "China and the Chinese," p. 167. New York, 1868.
+
+[73] "Theory of Pneumatology," by J. H. Jung-Stilling, pp. 136-137.
+London: Longmans, 1834.
+
+[74] Dr. Sexton in his "Defence of Modern Spiritualism" (London: J.
+Burns), a tractate written with ability and frankness, remarks that "it is
+too late in the day to sneer at this matter with a sort of
+self-complacency, which seems to say, 'You are a poor deluded creature:
+behold my superior wisdom; I don't believe in such nonsense.' Here are the
+facts, and we demand in the true spirit of Science to know what is to be
+done with them. If you have any theory by which they can be explained, let
+us hear it, in order that we may judge of its merits; if you have not, we
+are all the more justified in clinging to our own." And, again, referring
+to the inquiries of a certain Dr. Hare in America, he writes:--"The
+question with Dr. Hare was--Did the phenomena occur, and, if so, were they
+produced by the direct action of those persons in whose presence they took
+place? The nonsensical notions mooted by unscientific opponents, and which
+are still urged with as much gravity as though they had been made the
+subject of mathematical demonstration, that electricity, magnetism, odic,
+or psychic forces are the agents by which the manifestations are produced,
+he knew well enough could not bear a moment's investigation. Electricity
+cannot move tables, nor in fact act at all without cumbrous apparatus.
+Magnetism cannot give intelligent responses to questions, and odic force
+and its twin brother psychic are probably as imaginary as the
+philosopher's stone; and even if their existence could be proved beyond
+the shadow of a doubt, they could not in the slightest degree help us to
+the solution of the great problem of the cause of the phenomena designated
+Spiritual."
+
+[75] A thoughtful writer, and one who is evidently far-seeing and awake to
+the danger, recently made the following pertinent remarks in the _Church
+Review_:--
+
+"The presence of Superstition is always the sign of a wandering from the
+true path; the _excess_ of Superstition almost invariably the precursor of
+great intellectual and religious changes, if not absolute convulsions.
+Before the great crash of Paganism the necromancers and practisers of
+curious arts were carrying on an unusually brisk trade among the Romans.
+We all know how prevalent was the belief in witches, wizards, and
+astrology at the time immediately preceding the (so-called) Reformation.
+Before the French Revolution the sect founded by Cagliostro and Lorenza
+Feliciani, which professed a knowledge of the ancient arts of the
+Egyptians, found great numbers of followers. And have we not a sign of a
+national mental crisis in our own day in the prevalence of 'Spiritualism,'
+which is the form which necromancy at present takes? There may be many
+people who are utterly unaware how large a number of their
+fellow-countrymen, and especially of their countrywomen, believe in
+Spiritualism, and attend _séances_. Those who do so are not usually very
+fond of parading their belief, because they have a lurking suspicion that
+they may get laughed at; but this very reserve makes the bond between the
+votaries of Spiritualism so much the stronger. It is no exaggeration to
+say that the practice of dealing with familiar spirits is on the increase
+in Great Britain at the present moment." (A.D. 1873.)
+
+[76] "On the Invisible World," by Joseph Hall, D.D., &c., book i. sec. 8.
+Father Christopher Davenport, better known as "Sancta Clara," in one of
+his most remarkable treatises, "Paralipomena Philosophica de Mundo
+Peripatetico," chap. iv. p. 68 (A.D. 1652), confirms the account in the
+text of the above-named Bishop of Exeter, giving all the details of this
+particular miraculous cure. It seems that both the Well and Chapel of S.
+Madron were constantly visited by the faithful during the first part of
+the seventeenth century, especially in the month of May and on the feast
+of Corpus Christi.
+
+[77] "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in
+Europe," by W. E. H. Lecky, M.A. Fourth edition in two volumes. London,
+1870.
+
+[78] Dr. Newman will, of course, be excepted; for his remarkable
+Dissertation prefixed to the translation of Fleury's "History" is known to
+many, more especially in its new form,--a volume already referred to at
+length in chap. ii. pp. 35-36. It is certainly quite unjust to include the
+Tractarian school amongst those who are referred to by Mr. Lecky in the
+following passage:--"At present nearly all educated men receive an account
+of a miracle taking place in their own day, with an absolute and even
+derisive incredulity which dispenses with all examination of the
+evidence."--Vol. i. p. 1. Though many are reticent, and many more shrink
+from publicity and rude criticism, it is known that the direct influence
+of the Miraculous and Supernatural is by no means unknown in the Church of
+England.
+
+[79] Job xxv. 5.
+
+[80] See a most remarkable Letter from the pen of my friend the Rev. R. S.
+Hawker, of Morwenstow, on "The Claims of Science and Faith," standing as
+an Appendix to this Chapter, in which the office of the angels is referred
+to.
+
+[81] Mr. Mill, who is now dead, wrote that "this World was a bungled
+business in which no clear-sighted man [meaning himself apparently, and
+modestly] could see any signs either of wisdom or of God." Mr. Matthew
+Arnold, son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, has written that "the existence of God
+is an unverifiable hypothesis." A third writer maintains that the "great
+duty" of the philosophers "should be to eliminate the idea of God from the
+minds of men," a sentiment not unlike that of Mr. Congreve, already quoted
+on p. 19 of vol. i.; while a popular publication, circulated by thousands
+amongst the lower classes, declares that the mission of its Editors is "to
+teach men to live without the fear of God; to die without the fear of the
+Devil; and to attain salvation without the Blood of the Lamb."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Other World; or, Glimpses of the
+Supernatural (Vol. II of II), by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43346 ***