" and that I have not slept; the occasion "of it was, that five spirits, which are "now in the room with me, have "threatened to kill me if I told any

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person of their being here, or if I "slept, but I am not able to forbear "sleeping longer, and acquaint you "with it, and now stand in defiance of "them; and thus I exerted myself about "them; and notwithstanding their con"tinued threats, I slept very well the "next night, and continued so to do, though they continued with me above "three months, day and night."*

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He

The celebrated visions of Tasso appear to have been of the same nature, fancied that he beheld a celestial being, with whom he held converse, in the presence of spectators, who perceived no apparition, and who heard no voice but that of the poet. Would that we could

* Beaumont's Treatise, p. 91, 4.

have exchanged the narratives of Beaumont's reveries, for those of Tasso!

To this class of morbid perceptions, belong also the visions of Christopher Kotter, and Drabicius, which made a considerable noise in the seventeenth century. They were published by Comenius, aided by very ghostly engravings, under the title of Lux é Tenebris.' I must refer to Bayle, for many curious observations respecting the tendency of these prophetic rhapsodies: my business is only with the faculty of spectral representation.

For this reason, I shall not notice Drabicius. As a man of superior information, he might be suspected of politic views, in his pretended visions: but there can be no doubt that Kotter was sincere in his enthusiasm, and was as much a Seer as any second-sighted prophet of the Hebrides.

Kotter's first vision was detailed by him, on oath, before the magistrates of Sprottaw, in 1619. While he was travelling on foot, in open day-light, in June 1616, a man appeared to him, who ordered him to inform the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, that great evils were impending over Germany, for the punishment of the sins of the people; after which he vanished. The same apparition met him at different times, and compelled him at length, by threats, to make this public declaration,

After this, his visions assumed a more imposing appearance: on one occasion, the angel (for such he was now confessed to be) shewed him three suns, filling one half of the heavens; and nine moons, with their horns turned towards the east, filling the other half. At the same time, a superb fountain of pure water spouted from the arid soil, under his feet.

At another time, he beheld a mighty lion, treading on the moon, and seven other lions around him, in the clouds.

Sometimes he beheld the encounter of hostile armies, splendidly accoutred; sometimes he wandered through palaces, whose only inhabitants were devouring monsters; or beheld dragons of enormous size, in various scenes of action.

He was at length attended by two angels, in his ecstasy; one of his visions at this time was of the

and impressive kind.*

most formidable

"On the 13th

* Die 13 Septembris amb. illi Juvenes ad me redierunt, dicentes: Ne metue, sed rei quæ Tibi exhibebitur, attende! 2. Et conspexi ante me subito circulum quandam, magni solis instar, rubrum, ac velut sanguineum: in quo lineæ fuerunt, seu maculæ, albæ & nigræ, tanta mixtura se invicem variantes, ut jam nigrarum, jam albarum major cerneretur numerus duravitque spectaculum istud per justum spatium. 3. Et cum ad me dixissent Aspice! Attende! nihil metue nihil tibi accidet mali! 4. Ecce fulmen tribus

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day of September, says he, both the "youths returned to me, saying, be not "afraid, but observe the thing which will "be shewn to thee. And I suddenly be"held a circle, like the sun, red, and as it were, bloody: in which were black and “white lines, or spots, so intermingled, "that sometimes there appeared a greater "number of blacks, sometimes of white; "and this sight continued for some space

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cerem.

vicibus exigui temporis intervallis sibi succedentibus intonuit, tam horrendé et terribilé, ut totus obriges5. Circulus autem ille stabat porro coram me, maculæque albæ á nigris disjungebant sese: et circulus accessit tám propé mihi, ut manu tangere potuissem. 6. Fuit autem tam speciosus, ut toto vitæ tempore amænioris rei speciem nullam viderim : et maculæ albæ adeò candidæ ác jucundæ, ut admirationis modum nón invenerim. 7. Sed aliæ illæ maculæ à nube quadam horribilitér caliginosâ ablatæ sunt: in quâ nube tristem audivi ejulatum, etsi viderem neminem, 8. Verba tamén ejulatûs et lamentorum fuerant, bené perceptibilia, hæc; væ nobis qui nos caliginosæ nubi permisimus abstrahi à rotundo Divinæ gratiæ sanguine rubente circulo, quô nos Dei gratia in Christo dilectissimo filio suo comprehensos concluserat.

Lux é Tenebris, p. 116.