348 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. murder him; and the dream made such an impression upon his nerves, that he could not bear the sight of the boy, but dismissed him without any explanation. Finding he could not go on without an attendant, he had returned home to procure one; but, as he had no reason whatever to suspect the boy of any ill intention, he felt very angry with himself for minding a dream. Dear Mrs. H-n was much struck with this story; but she used to say, unless it were proved that the boy really had the intention of murdering his master, the dreams went for nothing." 'In this instance a murder may have been prevented; and without an object, the wonder of coincidences is great indeed, for it is not one dream but three, and of three persons. ‘There are in everybody's mouth so many instances of the discovery of a murder by dreams, that it is difficult to know where to choose; and some are so authenticated, that it seems to me but a presumptuous boldness altogether to set them aside. There are, however, two instances of such extraordinary dreams having occurred within these few years. It was stated at the time, and, if I mistake not, in this magazine, that Corder's murder of his wife was found out by a dream, in which . the very place where the body was deposited was seen. The other is the most extraordinary, because the object of GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW. 349 it does not appear. You must recollect the whole vision, in a dream, of the murder of Mr. Percival, at a distance of more than a hundred and fifty miles from the scene, and a week or more before it was perpetrated, in which the faces of Bellingham and his victim were distinctly portrayed. I remember a somewhat detailed account was given of this in Maga, a year or two ago, if I mistake not, in one of those able papers, "The World we live in." Who will say that Homer was not justified when he said that "Dreams are from Jove," Ovap εk ALOG? There are many curious examples in the tale of the "Cock and the Fox." I suppose they are Chaucer'sI only remember them through a Dryden. They are probably from a common stock, and well known and well believed at the time. I will tell you of a discovery, though not of a murder, that was told me by the dreamer, a very intelligent person, and upon whose veracity I had great reliance. He has been dead many It occurred to him when a young man. years. He was engaged in a china manufactory at Swansea. He dreamed that he saw a man drowning in one of their pools; he dreamed the same a second time and a third time, and then could not resist making an effort to rise and satisfy himself that it was not so. He did rise, went to the spot, and found the man drowned. But have we not authority for dreams that we cannot question? There is the significant dream of Jacob; there is Joseph 350 ARGUMENTATIVE VALUE OF GENERAL BELIEF. the pious, the favoured dreamer, and the interpreter of dreams; there is Pharaoh's dream of the fat and lean kine; the dream of Pilate's wife, and consequent admonition—“Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." And if it be said that dreams which have no consequent action are not likely to be divinely significant, we may point to this dream of Pilate's wife. It did not save. What shall we say of the precautionary dream of Cæsar's wife? And of the dream-like vision-Cæsar appearing to Brutus, and the famous "Meet me at Philippi?" Then comes the question are appearances dreams, imaginary visions, or are they, however inexplicable the mode, the actual spiritual presence of the persons whose images they bear? "It is wonderful," said Dr. Johnson, "that five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether there has ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it, but all belief is for it." Is not all belief, at least, one argument? I cannot but think it less a matter of astonishment that the spirits of those who have existed should assume form and appearance, than that, as in dreams and the like, "coming events cast their shadows before."-A Few Passages concerning Omens, Dreams, &c. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. xlviii. 1840. |