Take courage, then, good reader, and knock at the portal of my enchanted castle, which will be opened to you, not by a grinning demon, but by a very civil person, in a black velvet cap, with whom you may pass an hour not disagreeably.

Observe, however, that the following treatise is applicable, in its principles, to profane history, and to the delusions of individuals only. If anything contained in the ensuing pages could be construed into the most indirect reference to theological discussions, the manuscript would have been committed, without mercy, to the flames. .

What methods may have been employed by Providence, on extraordinary

AN

ESS A Y

TOWARDS

A THEORY

Of

APPARITIONS.

BY

JOHN FERRIAR, M. D.

A thousand fantasies
Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire,
And airy tongues, that syllable men's names
On sands, and shores, and desert Wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound,

Comus, l. 205.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR CADELL AND DAVIES;

BY

J. AND J. HADDOCK,

WARRINGTON.