90 66 THE ROYAL BOOK OF DREAMS." table and infallible than the truth of the divine oracles. Nor is this much unlike to what Homer and Virgil wrote of these two gates of sleep, to which you have been pleased to recommend the management of what you have in hand. The one is ivory, which letteth in confused, doubtful, and uncertain dreams; for through ivory, how small and slender soever it be, we can see nothing, the density, opacity, and close compactedness of its material parts hindering the penetration of the visual rays, and the reception of the species of such things as are visible. The other is of horn, at which an entry is made into sure and certain dreams, even as through horn, by reason of the diaphanous splendour and bright transparency thereof, the species of all objects of the sight distinctly pass, and so without confusion appear that they are clearly seen.' "Your meaning is, and you would thereby infer," quoth Friar John, "that the dreams of all horned cuckolds, of which number, Panurge, by the help of God and his future wife, is without controversy to be one, are always true and infallible."* Panurge has a dream, but, as was to be surmised, it is such a one as admits, according to oneirocritical principles, of two or three equally reasonable interpretations. Raphael, not the archangel of that name, but the "astrologer of the nineteenth century," published in 1830, “The Royal Book of Dreams," "from an ancient and curious manuscript, which was buried in the earth for several centuries, containing one thousand and twenty-four oracles or answers to dreams; by a curious yet perfectly facile and easy method, void of all abstruse or difficult calculations whereby any person of ordinary capacity may discover these secrets of fate, which the universal fiat of all nations, in every age and clime, has acknowledged to be portended by dreams and nocturnal visions." The fatal objection to the reception of the narrative of the finding of the volume in a broken-down Somersetshire court-house, in the summer of 182-, is that of the modesty of the preceding title-page. Truth would have * Rabelais, "Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel." 66 91 been bolder, more pushing,-possibly, in a whisper we may say it, even more impudent. "When the dreamer," says the "Royal Book," "would know the interpretation of his vision, which troubles his thoughts, disquiets his soul, let him in the first place mark down, with any convenient instrument, as pen, pencil, or anything capable of making the marks distinct, TEN LINES OF CIPHERS, as shown hereafter, without counting them, so that the number may be (as far as the diviner knows) left to chance, albeit chance herein has but little to do; but the number of his ciphers must not be arithmetically counted or known at the time the diviner is making them, but set down, as it were, at random, no matter how roughly they are made; for therein lies the little secret of this book-that the occult principle of the soul shall so guide or counsel the dreamer (or diviner) and control his hand, that he shall mark down those signs alone which will convey a true answer in the matter of his cogitations. All men have knowledge what wonderful power these ciphers have alloted them, in increasing and diminishing certain numbers in the art decimal and the art arithmetic; and be assured they have equal power when used as vehicles of presaging in dreams and visions,—from whence this art has been, by those of old, termed the art of Sephromancy. Pursue, therefore, in full faith and credence, these aforesaid rules, and the foreknowledge of the dream shall be made known to thee." The ciphers in each line are afterwards to be counted, and indicated according to the oddness or evenness of their number, a single cipher (−) standing for the result when the number is odd, and two (O) when the number is even. Here follows an example of the whole process : And the second five lines of ciphers make the second sign. The two signs are now to be drawn up together side by side, as may be illustrated by transcribing the page of "The Royal Book of Dreams" at which occurs the solution of the two signs of whose manufacture we have given a rough analysis. It is, in fact, the first dream-solution of the page and of the volume. It will be seen from this specimen-page that the book has an astrological as well as an oneirocritical complexion; but with this we have nothing to do. THE FIRST ROLL OF ORACLES. Hieroglyphical Emblems. Signs. 1. 2. ARIES. The interpretation of thy dream is this, that thy fate 8888 is about to undergo a powerful change, and friends, as well as a better fortune, await thee. A full, merry, and right joyful dream; it tells of banquets and feasting. A dream of disappointments. Thy dream presages a saturnine enemy. A dream of voyages, waters, and flitting from place to place. Signs. 1. 2. EXAMPLES OF SOLUTIONS. 93 00000 00000 This vision has little or no meaning. A sign of anger, angry words, and contention. Be careful to eschew strife. This is a dream connected with a multitude of business 88 88 and great deeds. Lest the reader should be deceived by the affectionate and didactic appearance of the penultimate explanation, it may be as well to say that "The Royal Book of Dreams" was not published by the Religious Tract Society, but by Mr. Effingham Wilson. The principle of ascertaining the signification of a dream by means of ciphers, had been explained-although its application was not identical with that we have just seen-in a book published at Troyes in 1654, and entitled "Le Palais des Curieux, où l'algèbre et le sort donnent la décision des questions les plus douteuses, et où les songes et les visions nocturnes sont expliquez selon la doctrine des anciens." Troyes, and its worthy publisher, M. Nicolas Oudot, "Rue Nostre-Dame, au Chappon d'or couronné," seem to have been pretty famous in their day for dream literature. We do not pretend to exhaust their glories in this kind; we will only take the liberty to mention that M. Oudot published, in 1669 an "Explication des Songes, avec le moyen pour connoistre la bonne ou mauvaise fortune d'un chacun. A Troyes." We extract from the folk-lore that has floated down from pre-Reformation centuries, one or two specimens of a very sentimental and piquant character. The first-ungallant precedence-concerns the gentlemen; the second-a philosopher always reserves the best things till last-is of delicate concern for the ladies. A new edition has evidently 94 DREAMS AND LOVERS. been made necessary since the adaptation of clasps to elastic bandages. "Upon a St. Agnes's night, the 21st of January, take a row of pins and pull out every one, one after another, saying a Paternoster, or Our Father, sticking a pin on your sleeve, and you will dream of her you shall marry." Ben Jonson, in one of his masques, makes an allusion to this practice. And on sweet St. Agnes' night Please you with the promised sight, : "You There is another prescription, which is as follows:must lie in another county, and knit the left garter about the right-legged stocking (let the other garter and stocking alone,) and as you rehearse these following verses, at every comma knit a knot: This knot I knit To know the thing I know not yet, The man that shall my husband be, How he goes, and what he wears, And what he does all days and years. "Accordingly," writes an indignant moralist of the eighteenth century, probably in the pay of Mr. Duncan Campbell," accordingly in your dream you will see him; if a musician, with a lute or other instrument; if a scholar, with a book,etc. Now I appeal to you, ladies—what a ridiculous prescription is this? But yet so slight a thing as it is, it may be of great importance if it be brought about, because then it must be construed to be done by preternatural means, and then these words are nothing less than an application to the devil. "Mr. Aubrey, of the Royal Society, says a gentlewoman that he knew confessed, in his hearing, that she used this method, and dreamt of her husband, whom she had never seen. About two or three years after, as she was one Sunday |