of 'Second-Sight.' Much has been written on this subject; I shall therefore only mention two instances, which will prove that the spectral impressions certainly take place; of their prophetic nature, there may be different opinions.

A gentleman connected with my family, an officer in the army, and certainly addicted to no superstition, was quartered, early in life, in the middle of the last century, near the castle of a gentleman in the North of Scotland, who was supposed to possess the SecondSight. Strange rumours were afloat, respecting the old chieftain. He had spoken to an apparition, which ran along the battlements of the house, and had never been chearful afterwards. prophetic visions excited surprize, even in that region of credulity; and his retired habits favoured the popular opinion. My friend assured me, that one day, while he was reading a play to the

His

ladies of the family, the chief, who had been walking across the room, stopped suddenly, and assumed the look of a Seer. He rang the bell, and ordered the groom to saddle a horse; to proceed immediately to a seat in the neighbourhood, and to inquire after the health of Lady ; if the account was favour-` able, he then directed him to call at another castle, to ask after another lady whom he named,

The reader immediately closed his book, and declared that he would not proceed till these abrupt orders were explained, as he was confident that they were produced by the Second-Sight. The chief was very unwilling to explain himself; but at length he owned, that the door had appeared to open, and that a little woman, without a head, had entered the room; that the apparition indicated the sudden death of some person of his acquaintance; and the only

two persons who resembled the figure, were those ladies, after whose health he had sent to inquire.

A few hours afterwards, the servant returned, with an account that one of the ladies had died of an apoplectic fit, about the time when the vision appeared.

At another time, the chief was confined to his bed, by indisposition, and my friend was reading to him, in a stormy winter-night, while the fishingboat, belonging to the castle, was at sea. The old gentleman repeatedly expressed much anxiety respecting his people; and at last exclaimed, my boat is lost! The colonel replied, how do you know it, Sir?

He was answered; I see two of the boatmen bringing in the third drowned, all dripping wet, and laying him down close beside your chair. The chair was shifted, with great precipitation; in the course of the night, the fishermen re

turned, with the corpse of one of the 'boatmen.

MARTIN, who has given a very particular account of Seers, in the western Islands, mentions a young woman, who was troubled, during four or five years, with the constant appearance of her own image before her, the back being turned towards her. No event was connected with this spectral impression.

But one of the most remarkable Seers on record, was JOHN BEAUMONT, who published a treatise of spirits, apparitions, witchcrafts, and other magical practices,' in 1705. He appears to have been a man of a hypochondriacal disposition, with a considerable degree of reading, but with a strong bias to credulity. His collections of stories are entertaining; but my business is with his visions, which shew in a most astonishing manner, how far the mind may be

deceived, without the occurrence of actual derangement. They will be detailed in the next chapter. Had this man, instead of irritating his mental disease, by the study of the Platonic philosophers, placed himself under the care of an intelligent physician, he would have regained his tranquillity, and the world would have lost a most extraordinary set of confessions.