Legend
< Dreams (continued from page 10-42) >
of which time came an official communication to the chef of the mission, requesting him to inform the son that it behoved him to take some legal measures in regard to tho property of his father, who bad died at Trieste, after a brief illness, on the sixteenth of October”
Macnish, author of The Philosophy of Sleep, who did not believe that any knowledge was ever attained in dreams, tells the following of himself, and thus gives evidence against his own theory:—
“I was then in Caithness, when I dreamed that a near relation of my own, residing throe hundred miles off, had suddenly died, and immediately thereafter awoke in a state of inconceivable terror, similar to that produced by a paroxysm of nightmare. The same day, happening to be writing home, I mentioned the circumstance in a half-jesting, half-earnest way. To tell the truth, I was afraid to be serious, lest I should be laughed at for putting any faith in dreams. However, in the interval between writing and receiving an answer I remained in a state of most unpleasant suspense. I felt a presentiment that something dreadful had happened or would happen; and though I could not help blaming myself for a childish weakness in so feeling, I was unable to get rid of the painful idea that had taken such rooted possession of my mind. Three days after sending away the letter, what was my astonishment when I received one written the day subsequent to mine, and stating that the relative of whom I had dreamed had been struck with a fatal shock of palsy the day before, that is, on the very day on the morning of which I had beheld the appearance in my dream! I may state that my relative was in perfect health before the fatal event took place. It came upon him like a thunderbolt, at a period when no one could have the slightest anticipation of danger.
“In the next example we shall find a new element introduced. Mrs. S—related to me that, residing in Rome in June, 1850, she dreamed, on the 80th of that month, that her mother, who had been several years dead, appeared to her, gave her a lock of hair, and said, ‘Be especially careful of this lock of hair, my child, for it is your father’s; and the angels will call him away from you to-morrow.’ The effect of this dream on Airs. S—’s spirits was such that, when she awoke, she experienced the greatest alarm, and caused a telegraphic notice to be instantly despatched to England, where her father was, to inquire after bis health. No immediate reply was received; but, when it did come, it was to the effect that her father had died that morning at nine o’clock. She afterwards learned that, two days before his death, he had caused to be cut off a lock of his hair, and handed it to one of his daughters, who was attending on him, telling her it was for her sister in Rome. He had been ill of a chronic disease; but the last accounts she received of his health had been favourable, and had given reason to hope that he might yet survive for years.
“The peculiarity in this example is, that there is a double coincidence: first, as to the exact day of death; and secondly, as to the lock of hair. The chances against that double event are much greater than against a single occurrence only.”
The following is related by Mr. William Howitt, as an experience of his in 1852.
“Some weeks ago, while at sea, I had a dream of being at my brother’s at Melbourne, and found his house on a hill at the further end of the town, next to the open forest. His garden sloped a little way down the hill to some brick buildings below; and there were greenhouses on the right hand by the wall, as you looked down the hill from the house. As I looked out from the windows in my dream, I saw a wood of dusky-foliaged trees, having a somewhat segregated appearance in their heads; that is, their heads did not make that dense mass like our woods. ‘There,’ I said, addressing someone in my dream, ‘I see your native forest of Eucalyptus!’ This dream I told to my sons, and to two of my fellow passengers at the time; and, on landing, as we walked over the meadows, long before we reached the town, I saw this very wood. ‘There,’ I said, ‘is the very wood of my dream. We shall see my brother’s house there!’ And so we did. It stands exactly as I saw it, only looking newer; but there, over the wall of the garden, is the wood, precisely as I saw it, and now see it as I sit at the dining-room window writing. When I look on this scene, I seem to look into my dream.”
Here we have a remarkable case of seeing in dream, not a picture of revived memory, but that which had never been seen by Mr. Howitt in his wakeful hours, and never been described to him by any one.
The following is a still more remarkable case of clairvoyance, or mental vision when the senses were asleep.
“On the evening of February, 1840, Mr. Nevell Norway, a Cornish gentleman, was cruelly murdered by two brothers of the name of Lightfoot, on his way from Bodmin to Wadebridge, the place of his residence.
“At that time his brother, Mr. Edmund Norway, was in the command of a merchant vessel, the Orient, on her voyage from Manilla to Cadiz; and the following is his own account of a dream which he had on the night when his brother was murdered:—
“Ship Orient, from Manilla to Cadiz, February 8, 1840.
“‘About 7.30 p.m., the island of St. Helena, NNW., distant about seven miles; shortened sail and rounded to with the ship’s head to the eastward at eight, set the watch, and went below; wrote a letter to my brother, Nevell Norway. About twenty minutes or a quarter before ten o’clock went to bed; fell asleep, and dreamt I saw two men attack my brother and murder him. One caught the horse by the bridle, and snapped a pistol twice, but I heard no report; he then struck him a blow, and he fell off the horse. They struck him several blows, and dragged him by the shoulders across the road and left him. . .
“‘Edmund Norway, Chief Officer Ship Orient.’”
Now let us read the confession of one of the murderers, William Lightfoot, who, with his brother, was d executed at Bodmin, April 13, 1840, for the murder of Mr. Nevell Norway:—
“I went to Bodmin last Saturday week, the 8th instant (February 8, 1840), and in returning I met my brother James at the head of Dummeer Hill. It was dim like. We came on the turnpike-road all the way till we came to the house near the spot <... continues on page 10-44 >