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V NEW LIGHTS 
 
 FROM THE WORLD OF DARKNESS; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 Midnight Messenger; 
 
 WITH 
 
 Solemn Signals from the World o? 
 SPIRITS. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 Wonderful Evidences of the Vifits of Ghofts, Appa- 
 ritions, &c. to many Perfons now living, and 
 Notices of Death in feveral creditable Families, 
 
 THE WHOLE FORMING A 
 
 Conftellation of Horror!!! 
 
 Dreams. Horrid Tales, and Spells of mighty Power; 
 Demons and Ghoits, that rove at Midnight Hour. 
 
 ilcmDon : 
 
 Printed by T. Maiden, Sber bourne-Lane, 
 
 FOR ANN LEMGINE, WHITE-ROSE-COURT, COLEMAN- 
 
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 [Price Six-Pcnct.~] 
 
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 6N 
 
WONDERFUL 
 HISTORY OF APPARITIONS, 
 
 Terrific Speclre in Switzerland. From a Topographical 
 Defcription of that Country. 
 
 npRAVERSING the Lake of Lucern (fays a traveller) 
 JL juft as a thunder ftorm had ceafed to redouble the tre- 
 mendous echoes from the fur rounding mountains, an ancient 
 Swifs, who had lately become a hermit, conducted me in his fkiff 
 to the largeft of two i (lands in the Muotta, where the remains of 
 the ancient and majeftic tower of Swanau (ftill beautiful in its- 
 ruins) is the firft object that ftrikes the eye of a Granger. At 
 prefent it is nearly covered with ivy, and is the principal refort 
 of the myftic ravens, and other melancholy birds of night. In 
 1308 it was the refidence of one of the petty tyrants under the 
 Counts of Hapfbourg, who from this recefs, defended by the 
 rocks and furrounding waters, opprefled the whole diftrict. with 
 impunity. The tyrant at length having carried ofF a young 
 woman, whom he intended as the viclim of his brutality, this 
 aft brought on the punifhment he had fo long merited. In 
 fine, her two brothers furprized the infamous ravifner, mur- 
 dered him, and threw his body into the lake; but ftill fearing the 
 vengeance of the other great lords, shcy fucceeded in raifing all 
 the diftritt in their defence, who befieged and deftroyed the whole 
 caftle, excepting the tower abovementioned, which thty fuf- 
 fered to remain as a monument to future ages of the crimes of 
 the owner, and the juft vengeance that followed them. It fhould 
 have been firft mentioned, that the apparition of the young 
 woman, who was alio murdered by her brutal ravifner, was 
 the firft caufe of the difcovery. Her brothers being hfher- 
 men, were employed upon the lake fome nights after (he had 
 been milling, when, after a fudden clap of thunder, the molt 
 horrid fhneks ifluing from the interior of the caftle, drew all 
 their attention that way, and they immediately perceived their 
 fifter in a long white robe, and a torch in one of her hands, pur- 
 fuing a figure drefted in complete armour, whom the brothers 
 well knowing, to be the Count, only waited till the return of da,y 
 
 A 2 
 
4 WOtfDERFtHL HISTORY 
 
 to afcertain the fatl, which led to the retaliation before-mentioned* 
 But, what is ftill moll remarkable, the fame apparitions, accord- 
 ing to the general tradition of the whole country, are feen on 
 the fame night every year ; the female with the burning torch, 
 and trie flying Count in complete armour, as before fpecified ; 
 a circumftance which, it is generally believed, has contributed 
 to deter the fucceeding nobility of that country 'from thus op- 
 preiiing their vaffals. 
 
 From a credible Witnefs at Ho x ton. 
 The wife of a very eminent bookfeller in the city, who died 
 foon after her hufband, in 1790, ufed frequently to appear to 
 a friend of her hufband's, near Charles's Square, entirely en- 
 circled in a thick biue vapour, and which, upon her difappear- 
 ing, always left a very ftrong fcent. 
 
 Singular Omen* 
 One Mr, Edward Cheadle, of Birmingham, now aged 
 feventy years, frequently relates to his friends, that his father 
 being in London when he was only five years of age, had the 
 misfortune one evening, being a little intoxicated, to mifs his 
 way out of a public-houfe where he was drinking, and fell into 
 the Thames, in which he was drowned. A waterman heard 
 him exclaim, " Oh, my child!" And it afterwards appeared, 
 that about the fame time Mr. Cheadle faw his father come to his 
 bed-fide, look at him, and vanifh ; when his nurfe hearing him 
 fcream, was told he had feen his father, who was actually then 
 at the dillance of one hundred and ten miles, and had juft de- 
 parted this life. 
 
 Of a Death Stroke given to a Perfon in Kent, 
 A larcte barn near Farningham, in that county? has long 
 been reputed as haunted, and therefore generally avoided by the 
 firollers and tramps even in the hopping feafon. However, a 
 perfon well known by the appellation of Devil-Dick, travelling 
 that way laR year, in the month of September, and being much 
 difguifed in liquor, could get no lodging, fo that, the night be- 
 ing rainy, he was obliged to have recourfe to this barn. Not 
 getting up in the morning at the time expecled, fome perfons, 
 drinking at the public-houfe he came from, knowing the cir- 
 cumftance, wereanxious to hear what became of him, and en- 
 tering the barn, found him extended, and fpeechlefs, with one 
 of his hands open, and the fingers as it were clenched to one of 
 
OF APPARITIONS. 5 
 
 his cheeks. As he (till breathed, they brought him to with 
 fbme trouble, when, to their great furprize, they found the 
 print of four fingers and a thumb as deeply imprelTed in his 
 fkin, as if made by a hot iron. The relation he gave was, that, 
 foon after his entering the barn, he faw fomething like a great 
 dog approach him, which in fenfibly' grew into a man, and (truck 
 him upon the face : after which he became infenfible, till the 
 time he was awakened out of his trance. Ke accordingly fore- 
 told his own death, which he faid he dreamed of; died in the 
 fame week; and was followed to the grave by a great number 
 of. people that knew him by travelling that road. 
 
 Antique SpeElre at Chelfea Botanic Garden, 
 Mr. Edward Noble, of the College, remarkable for his 
 early rifing, has frequently feen the apparition of an aged 
 \ woman, with a high crowned hat, {talking in folemn pace acrofs- 
 that garden, but always vanifhed if he prayed aloud. 
 
 Ominous Appearance during the hard' Weather in 
 February 1799. 
 The wife of an eminent Minifter of the Gofpel near Step- 
 ney, thus wrote to her hufband's brother on the 6th of that 
 month. " Though I am not alarmed at any of the Lord's dif- 
 penfations, I cannot fay but that a 1 manifestation has lately been 
 made me that has troubled me much. My dear yoke-fellow 
 being from home on Saturday night laft, I was fitting up, and 
 meditating upon a portion of fcripture, as is cuflomary with 
 me on a fabbath-day eve, when I heard an extraordinary ruftling 
 among the fnow in my garden, and looking out of the window, 
 faw it, as it were, forming itfelf into a coffin. That fome of 
 my family were or- would ihortly be called hence, I had no more 
 doubt than of my own being; and accordingly my dear filler 
 Deborah went to glory while (he was fitting at breakfaft this^ 
 morning. Surely the Lord's dealings are wonderful." 
 
 Wonderful Inftance of the Ejf eels of a troubled Confcience. 
 
 In the village of B , in Lancafhire, there has long been' 
 
 a popular ftory, of which we have lately gained the- following; 
 particulars. One James Dunftable, a poor labouring man, had,, 
 by great induftry, amafied a confiderable fum of money, which,, 
 as he had but a final 1 family, continually increafed ; fo that by 
 the death of an uncle of his wife, who was a confiderable farmer 
 in that part, his poffeflions made him he looked upon as one off 
 
 A3 
 
6 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 the mod able peafants in that county. He lived for fome time 
 in this ftate; and was much refpecled among his neighbours. It 
 happened that he was called off to a fair in one of the chief towns, 
 and was away two days. As the fair lafted in general no longer, 
 he was expe&ed on the third ; but not coming at the expected 
 time, and being a very fober and punctual man, there was fome 
 fufpicion that he had met with an accident. "On the fifth, not 
 arriving, his wife, and all the neighbourhood, were much 
 alarmed; and fearch was made round the country, but he could 
 not be heard of, nor was found at all that time : fo that it was 
 concluded, and not without reafon, that he had been mur- 
 dered, efpecially as he had been known to have fet out from the 
 inn after the fair was over. 
 
 Things continued in this fituation for feveral years, till the 
 wife was perfuaded to give her hand to a neighbour, who was - 
 thought to be very deferving. He made her a good hufband, 
 and for a little fpace of time they continued happy. But at lad 
 it appeared that all was not right with him. His wife was the 
 firft who perceived this change in his temper and carriage ; he 
 would frequently (tart, as if he beheld fomething fupernatural 
 of a fudden. He was troubled in his fleep, as if his dreams had 
 been difagreeahle. She would fometimes a(k him the reafon of 
 thefe emotions ; but he always excufed himfelf. His fears grew 
 upon him every day ; and his neighbours perceived that he was 
 aneuher fo bold nor fo Heady in his deportment as ufual. 
 
 One night, in a party at an alehoufe, where a pretty large 
 company were col letted, he got elated with drink, and recovered 
 his wonted fpirits, fo that he was as cheerful and merry as the 
 reft. In the midii of their feftivity, he was obferved to Hart 
 with great terror, and fix his eyes upon a particular place! The 
 whole company thought him mad or drunk, as they jokingly 
 faid. However, he could not be appeafed ; and at laft giving 
 a fhriek, he cried out loudly, " O, there he is ! Look, he fees 
 me. It was me !" — There now arofe great confirmation in the 
 houfe, and he was immediately feized, upon fufpicion of having 
 murdered D unliable. He was tried foon after, and confeffed 
 the affair; that he had murdered him, and thrown his body into 
 a deep pit, which had been partly filled up, and which had ef- 
 caped the vigilance of thofe who made fearch for him. The 
 body was found, as defcribed ; and the murderer received his 
 due reward. Whether in fuch a cafe the apparition of the de- 
 ceafed appeared to the murderer, or whether it might be the 
 effefts of his troubled imagination, is not eafy to fay ; but it is 
 2 
 
CF APPARITIONS. 7 
 
 fufficient to prove that fuch wicked and premeditated deeds wili- 
 one day or other be brought to light. 
 
 Fraud difcovered through a SpeElre. 
 In the fummer of 1798, a yourig woman, of the name of 
 Sarah Clark, went from Dudley to live as a fervant with a Mr, 
 Smugftone, a fmall diitance from Wolverhampton, in Stafford- 
 shire. Mr. S e, who had amaffed a confiderable fortune, 
 
 and retired from bufinefs, was fo infirm as not to be able to flir 
 out of his chair; audit was remarked by Sarah Clark, after 
 living there upwards of a month, that to one of the cellars {he 
 was never permitted to go, let the neceiTity be ever fo prelfmg, 
 this always being the bufinefs of an aged man-fervant, who ap- 
 peared to be alrnoft an idiot. However, as the latter had been 
 lent to Birmingham fair, and did not return for three nights, 
 Sarah Clark was at length entiulled by her mailer with the key 
 to draw fome old ale, with a particular charge to make haite out 
 of it, and take no notice of any thing but her bufinefs. The 
 confequence, however, was, that the girl left her place the 
 next morning, and gave fuch a defcription of what fhe had heard 
 and feen to the worthy Reclor of the parifh, that he immediately 
 paid Mr. Smugftone a vifit, who being clofely prefled upon 
 fome points of confcience, at length confelfed that he had 
 wronged the deceafed fifler of the faid Sarah Clark out of a 
 confiderable fum of money, being the principal executor, and 
 which, as he confented to make good to the family, the matter 
 was accordingly hulhed up. 
 
 The falfe Guardian. 
 About fifty years ago there arrived in Loudon an elderly 
 gentleman and his wife. They took a houfe formerly fituated 
 in Old-ftreet, (but fome years ago taken down and rebuilt,) and 
 there lived in a very reclufe and folitary manner ; keeping no 
 fervant, the wife doing all the bufinefs of the houfe herfelf. In 
 this manner they lived fome time, till one evening, as the gentle- 
 man was taking his ufual walk, he fuddenly (as it is fuppofed) 
 fell down and expired, when he was found by fome labourers 
 returning from work. In a few nights after his burial, the 
 wife complained to her neighbours of the houfe being haunted 
 by his apparition, which often appeared to her, recjueftmg ibme 
 of them to fit up with her a few nights. Accordingly fome of 
 . them offered themfelves, however totally difbelieving her flory. 
 When night came, the woman went to bed, and two or three 
 
S WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 men fat up in the kitchen. Bed part of the night pafGng with- 
 out any moleftation, they now thought themfelves perfectly fe- 
 cure from any ghoflly attacks. At length the tremendous hour 
 of twelve arrived, when, to their great terror and aftonifhment, 
 the large paflage door fuddenly unbolted, and in came the form 
 of a large bear ! It pafled through the kitchen, without taking 
 any notice of them, afcended the flairs, and entered the room 
 where the woman lay, (but, before it entered, alTumed a iefs 
 terrible appearance, viz. that of her hufband,) where its chief 
 aim feemed to be to draw her out of bed ; which, when it could 
 not erTeft:, it inftantly vanifhed. The fame apparition continued" 
 feverai nights, but in various fhapes, fttch as a bear, maftiff, 
 &c. &c. It at length gained its point fo far as to get the woman- 
 out of bed, and lead her into an adjoining apartment, where it 
 pointed to a certain cheft, and then vanifhed. She got the cheil 
 opened, and found in it the writings of an eftate belonging to' 
 two young ladies to whom he had been left guardian, and which' 
 he had defrauded them of. She immediately' fen t for them, and ; 
 reftored them their v/ritings. They took her with* them, and 
 with them (he ended her days, free from the burden of a troubled^ 
 conference. One of the perfons who fat up in the houfe is- 
 now alive, from whofe mouth we had the relation.. 
 
 Houfes frequently revifiitd by their Owners after Death. 
 
 A French gentleman lately at Corfu, in the Archipelago^ 
 thus writes to his friend at Leghorn. " Before I fet forward (cfi 
 Constantinople, I vifited Corfu, now in pofTeflion of the Re- 
 publicans, where perfons, apparently of credibility and good/ 
 fenfe, fpoke of the following as a faft well known both there 
 and at Cerigo." The dead there (fay they) frequently appear- 
 in the ftreets at noon- day, and repair to their former habitations,, 
 eaufing the greateft alarm among their relatives and fuccefTors. 
 When thefe appearances occur too frequently, the cuitom of the- 
 country is to go to the grave, and dig up the body, which they 
 then cut in a thoufand pieces in the prefence of the Magistrates, 
 and fometimes burn. At AngelOj the Venetian 'Governor of 
 Corfu, (fays- the Relator,) afTuredme of having been prefent at 
 feverai of thefe executions, and that he could produce upwards 
 of fifty credible witneSes as vouchers to the fatt.. 
 
 Appearance of a Lady to Mr. Tor?iky. 
 As a Mr. John Tornley was walking through Ring- ftreet r 
 ]Dublin 3 about ten o'clock on a Tuefday night, he met a lad/ 
 
OF APPARITIONS, 9 
 
 whom he perfectly knew, being his next door neighbour. He 
 accofted her with the ufuat compliments, and wasanfwered with 
 a fmile, as was common with her. They walked to the end 
 of the ftreet, converfing all the way. She then exprefled her- 
 felf very tired. Mr. Torn ley afked her if (he would ride ; and 
 before he gave her time to anfwer, called a coach, when fhe 
 got in, and he followed, and as foon as he gave orders to the 
 coachman, they began converfing on different fubjecls. She 
 faicl that the coach made her head ach, at which Mr* Tornley 
 put his head out of the coach, and told the man to ftop; but 
 great was his furprife, when recovering his feat, the lady was 
 gone ! He jumped out of the coach, looked round him, but 
 could fee no appearance of any lady ; and, what is ftill more 
 remarkable, the coachman had never feen any lady get into the 
 coach, and exprefied his wonder at hearing Mr. Tornley fay 
 that one had got in. He faid he had heard Mr. Tornley fpeak 
 feveral times, but fuppofed it was to himfelf. Mr. Tornley 
 than walked home ; and, to his great aitonifhment, was told that 
 his neighbour's wife, the lady he had feen, was dead but a few 
 minutes ; and that, before fhe died, fhe wifhed much to fee Mr, 
 Tornley. 
 
 Stones thrown by an invijiblc Hand, 
 A person of veracity near Hamburgh, who went to fee 
 fome murderers expo fed on a gibbet upon a wide heath near that 
 city, made oath upon his return, that he faw what he at fir ft 
 fuppofed to be larks dropping, as it were, perpendicularly from 
 the fky ; but, upon a nearer view, found that they were ftones 
 of an unufual fhape, fome of which were thrown towards the 
 gibbet in a horizontal direction ; notwithftandmg, as he fwore, 
 that the poll, being upon a fmall eminence, no other living per- 
 foa was at that time within fight. 
 
 Dreadful Spectre in Ireland, 
 A widow lady, who lived in Mecklenburgh-ftreet, Dub- 
 lin, after going to bed, was alarmed by a mournful cry of a 
 female at her chamber door, which in a few minutes after was 
 burft open. Her curtains were foon drawn, and to her tor- 
 tured fancy there appeared a tall, meagre female fpectre, drefted 
 in black, wringing her hands, and {baking her ghaftly head in 
 filent forrow. This vifit was thrice repeated during the courfe 
 of that night. The next night me was accompanied by fome 
 friends, who lay in the fame room with her ; but, notwithftand- 
 ing the ghoft was feen by the lady in all her former horror, (he 
 
10 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 was invifible to every other eye, and would have paffed unno- 
 ticed by them, had they not heard the rattling of the chairs. 
 On the third night, a neighbouring gentleman fat up for fome 
 time in the fame chamber, and received a found drubbing, which 
 he did not for fome days recover. 
 
 Horrid Spettre in Wales, related by the Rev. Mr. Gammon r 
 a Moravian Minijler. 
 
 Being at the houfe of a gentleman near Pembroke, in the 
 fummer of 1797, (fays the Reverend Relator,) the family, as 
 ufual, fervants and all, except one maid, that ft aid at home in 
 her turn, were gone to attend public worfhip. It was exceed- 
 ing fultry weather, and the fervant had retired to her chamber 
 to take a little repofe. She had not lain long, when, 'to her 
 unfpeakable furprize, the window opened without any vifible 
 caufe, and what fhe imagined to be a large bundle of rags rolled 
 under her bed. Her fears may be eaGly imagined ; but thefe 
 were trivial in comparifon with her fenfations when {he faw a 
 man approach her ; a tall, aged perfonage, apparently worn out 
 with grief; but of an afpect the moft malignant that could be 
 conceived, and which was foon evinced by his pinching the 
 young woman, till her cries alarming the neighbours, they raifed 
 a ladder, and thus coming to her amtlance, the fpeclre for that 
 time difappeared. 
 
 When Mr. Gammon and the family returned, they naturally 
 fuppofed that the fervant laboured under fome degree of infanity, 
 from the relation {he gave them of what had paffed. But, 
 ftrange to tell ! while they were frill Hftening with a degree of 
 awful filence to the repeated affeverations which fhe made of the 
 truth of what fhe had related, the very fame figure rofe up, as 
 it appeared, from under the table round which they were fitting. 
 The lady of the houfe immediately fainted; biU, upon Mr. 
 Gammon's exclaiming, " The Lord rebuke thee, Satan/ * with 
 a groan, that feemed to fliake the foundation of the houfe, the 
 fpeclre again vanifhed, leaving the w r hole company in a degree * 
 of conflernation that no words can decypher. Still this was 
 not all. Mr. Gammon reports, that, during the ' ^ whole of the 
 feafon that he (laid in Wales, this apparition was fo conftant a 
 vifitant, that Mr. Gammon himfelf at length experienced no 
 alarm on its approach. 
 
 The rumour of fueh an apparition naturally drawing num- 
 bers of people to the houfe, a fea captain once offered, as he 
 AM, to fight the fpirit, and for that purpofe went up into a 
 
OF APPARITIONS. 11 
 
 !©om -where the former was known to be ; however, he had not 
 been there a moment, before he was heard to fall with great 
 violence on the floor, and was nearly ftrangled before any per* 
 fon dared to go to his a [Tift an ce. 
 
 The fame fpe&re once dropped a walking-flick, as he was 
 going up flairs, which Mr. Gammon endeavoured to pick up, 
 but felt fuch a pain in his arm, that he was not able to recover 
 without medical afliflance. 
 
 He alfo relates, that once, as the fpeftre was going up flairs, 
 the houfe cat, that was fitting at the garden window, gave a 
 fudden fpring to the ground, and was never heard of after- 
 wards, notwithftanding the ftri&eft enquiry. A maftiff alfo, 
 remarkably fierce before that apparition vifited the houfe, be- 
 came as gentle as a lap-dog, and was always filent, fhewing the 
 moft evident marks of fear and apprehenfion. Thefe, and other 
 particulars lefs important, are copied from the Journal of the 
 above-mentioned Reverend Gentleman. 
 
 Treafure difcovered by Means of an Apparition at a Houfe in 
 Black Friars, 
 It is a tradition handed down fince the year 1741, by the 
 family that inhabited the above-mentioned houfe upwards of ha)f 
 a century, previous to their fettling near Merton, in Surry, that 
 a German taylor, who worked with one of their anceftors, of 
 the fame bufinef . was the making of the family. This poor 
 man, a native of Lubeck, in Germany, it feems, had frequent 
 revelations before his arrival in England, advifing him to under- 
 take the voyage, which he being loth to do, his father, then 
 dead feveral years, appeared, and, in fhort, gave him directions 
 to go to London, and even to the very houfe in Black Friars in 
 which he afterwards worked. In the cellar of the houfe, he 
 was fo well perfuaded that money was concealed, that, as foon 
 as he could fpeak a little broken Engliih, he did not fail to com- 
 municate his perfuafion to his matter, who only laughed at him 
 as a filly dreamer. However, wearied with his importunities 
 to permit him to fearch for the fuppofed hidden treafure, this 
 poor German was permitted to dig, which he chearfully under- 
 took, and, after three nights toil, moft agreeably furprized the 
 mafter and his family, while at fupper, by running up, and ex- 
 claiming, " Me did fee the coffin ! Me did fee the coffin V* 
 This coffin, it appeared, was nearly filled with gold and filver 
 pieces,, which had been buried with fome Ecclefiaftic ever fince 
 the reign of Edward III. Suffice it to fay, that the family 
 
12 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 immediately quitted bufinefs, and were remarkably charitable to 
 the poor during their refidence in the parifh, befides liberally 
 providing for the poor taylor, the happy inftrument of their 
 good fortune, who infilled upon going to enjoy it with his re- 
 lations in his own country. 
 
 Unufual Omen of a fhipzorecked Per/on. 
 Lady Matilda Eardley, of Erith, in Kent, frequently re- 
 lates, that, having placed her firft affeclions upon a young gentle- 
 man that went to the Eafl Indies, flie was one evening fitting 
 alone at work, and not thinking of the abfent perfbn, when {he 
 heard a voice diftinftly call her by the name of Matilda, and 
 on that day fix months had a letter, informing her that the young 
 gentleman was violently {truck by the trunk of an elephant upon 
 the temple, which killed him on the fpot; upon which me 
 formed an unchangeable refolution never to marry. 
 
 Warning of Death. 
 A Lady, who refided at Richmond in the year 1788, was 
 taken very ill ; and her phyficians had given her over. The nurfe 
 who attended her during her illnefs, had occafion to leave the room 
 for fomething fhe wanted. While {he was abfent, the fick lady 
 thought £he heard a voice call her by her name : fhe looked at the 
 fide of her bed, and faw a female ralation, who had been dead near 
 three years. The apparition faid to her, " My dear, you will 
 recover from this fit of ficknefs ; but you will molt certainly die 
 the day you are twenty-feven years old." (She was then about 
 twenty-three.) The fpeftre then fmiied, waved her hand, and 
 difappeared. The Lady, contrary to the expectation of her 
 friends and acquaintance, recovered. The day {he was feven- 
 and-twenty, her hufband invited fome friends to celebrate her 
 birth -day, and diffipate a gloom that hung upon her mind in 
 confluence of the prediction. One among the number who 
 was invited, was a banker in Lombard-ftreet, whom the author 
 of this account was perfeclly intimate with. The day paiTed 
 with the greateft, conviviality and joy, and the lady was per- 
 fuaded by her friends, {he muft have been in a delirium at the 
 time ftie fancied {he heard the voice ; and what tended wore to 
 eafe her mind, was the good health (he then enjoyed. The com- 
 pany parted all happy to find the lady fatisfied, and that the day 
 had palled fo pleafantly ; but, to their great furprize and forrow, 
 the next morning they were informed that {he was taken with a 
 fit foon after they were gone, and inflantly expired. 
 
OP APPARITIONS* $£ 
 
 Appearance of a Wife to a Hufband at the Time of her Death, 
 A Gentleman of the name of Handcock, who com- 
 manded the Norfolk Eail Indiaman fome years ago, dining at 
 the Cape of Good Hope with a number of fiiends, was ob- 
 ferved by them to rife from table, and look a confiderable time 
 out of the window. When he returned to his feat, they afked 
 him if there was any thing remarkable that made him rife fo fud- 
 denly, and attract, his notice. He replied, by afking them, if 
 they had not obferved a lady look into the room. They de- 
 clared they had not. " 1 can alfure you (faid the captain) there 
 was one, and it was my wife." They laughed heartily at him, 
 and told him he was dreaming. " It makes fo ftrong an im- 
 prefTion upon my mind, (faid he,) that I will immediately enter 
 the circumltance in my memorandum book ;" and added, " yon 
 will all much oblige me, if you would do the fame." They, 
 to humor him, did fo. On his return to England, an inti- 
 mate friend of his went into the Downs, where the Norfolk 
 then was, to communicate to him the melancholy news of his 
 wife's death. The inftant he faw his friend come en board, he 
 told him he knew the occafion. " My wife (faid the Captain) 
 is dead, and died fuch a day, and at inch a time," accounting 
 for the difference of longitude. His friend was aftoniihed, and 
 afked him by what means he got intelligence of her death. " I 
 will inform you direclly," faid the Captain, w r ho went to his 
 fcrutoire, and produced the memorandum he had made at the 
 Cape when he faw her apparition. There are many perfons 
 now living, who had this relation from Captain Hand cock's 
 own mouth. 
 
 A Warning of Death from a Mother to a Child. 
 A Gentleman of fortune, who lived at Maialrone, in 
 Kent, lately dead, had an appearance of his mother's apparition 
 at'the hour of her departure, when he was a child of only ten 
 years old. One night, when he was in bed, he heard the cur- 
 tains undraw, and faw his mother fiand by the bed-fide. She 
 put her hand upon his face, and faid, " Beal, (that was his 
 chriftian name,) be a good boy, and fear God." The child 
 was not the leaft frightened, having no fufpicion of a preter- 
 natural appearance, his mother being in perfect health at the time 
 he went to bed. Next morning he told a relation, his mother 
 came to his bed-fide, and patted his face, and told him to be a 
 good boy, and fear God. He was then informed of the lofs 
 of his parent, and that the hand of death was laid upon her a$ 
 
 B 
 
14 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 the time fhe paid him her laft earthly vifit. Nothing can he 
 more clear, from this account, that the child was not influenced 
 in his mind, and his mother had no previous illnefs, but was 
 feized with a fit of apoplexy, and expired in a moment. 
 
 Indication of Death. 
 A Gentleman going up flairs in the dark, having occa- 
 sion to fearch for fomething in an adjoining room, put his hand 
 upon a man '5 face, and felt his beard to be very rough. He 
 immediately gave the alarm to the family, and acquainted them 
 that a man had got into his room, and declared that he had 
 touched him. Upon which they, getting a light, made every 
 fearch after him, but in vain. Soon after, this gentleman heard 
 of his father's death, which happened at the time he was fo 
 much affrighted. 
 
 Strange Vifit of a Man's Sweetheart, 
 Asa captain of a veffel from Briftol was on a voyage to the 
 Weft Indies, he was mentioning to the mate, and fome of his 
 men, concerning his performances in magic. At length a ftout- 
 hearted fellow begged he would convince him of the reality of 
 apparitions, and that fuch things did exift. The captain then 
 told him he would fhew him his fweetheart, at which he was 
 -aftonifhed. He immediately began his incantations and cere- 
 monies, and, after calling upon her to appear, fhe immediately 
 appeared on the deck, walking along with a handkerchief in her 
 hand, and fmiled at him; at laft fhe feemed unwell, dropped it, 
 and then drfappeared. He took notice of the hour; and, on 
 his return home, acquainted her with what he had feen on his 
 voyage; and fhe aiTured him that it was as near that time as fhe 
 could recolleft, that fhe was mending her handkerchief, and, 
 fainting away, dropped it. 
 
 Singular Injlanee of Foreknowledge. 
 Mr; Belisarro, the celebrated Jew, fo well known for 
 bis great knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic, and other languages, 
 and formerly a Notary Public, died on the 14th of December, 
 1791, in the Both year Oi his age. A few moments prior to 
 his difTolution, he rung the bell at the head of his bed, and de- 
 fired that all his family might immediately attend him; for al- 
 though he was apparently in good health, yet he was certain he 
 mould not live an hour longer. He then lamented that he had 
 ^not been able to make the kali pioviGou for his children ; but 
 
OF APPARITIONS. J" 5 
 
 told them, that if they eould procure the money to purchafe a 
 ticket in the prefent Irifh lottery, the number which he men- 
 tioned, and ftated that he had either dreamed, or it was fo im- 
 preffed on his mind, that he was fatished it would afford them a 
 trilling fortune. His fons treated the matter lightly. He died 
 within the time ftated. Some of his friends afterwards pur- 
 chafed the ticket, and prefented it to his family, which was drawn 
 a prize ofYoool. 
 
 Remarkable Injlance of mental Communication* 
 Related by M\ P. Andrews, Efq. 
 Lord Lyttleton, who died at Pit-Place, near Epfom, 
 was intimate with Mr. Andrews, and, as a mark of his efteem, 
 left him 2000I. The dream that preceded, and, in fa£t, oc- 
 cafioned the death of his Lordfhip, is known to the public, and 
 was publimed at the time it happened in the London and other 
 Magazines; but the very extraordinary one which Mr. Andrews 
 had the night on which that nobleman and friend of his died, is, 
 perhaps, of authenticated circumftanc.es, the mod fingular, and 
 deferves* being related. At that time Mr. Andrews was at Dart- 
 ford, and did not know Lord Lyttleton was returned from Ireland, 
 where he had refided for fome time ; of courfe, he was entirely ig- 
 norant of his dream or his death. He had been in bed about 
 an hour, and had a light in his room. He dreamed that the 
 figure of his Lordihip appeared before him, dreffed in a damaik 
 night-gown, which he ufually wore in a morning, and faid, ;; An- 
 drews, it is all over with me!" The idea impreffed Mr. Andrews 
 fo ftrongly, that, knowing Lord Lyttleton was fond of frighten- 
 ing perfons in the dark, and often had done fo at his houfe at Hag- 
 ley, in Worceftermire. he concluded he had done fo now, and had 
 come to Dartford, and by fome means got into his room. He 
 called to him, therefore, by his name, and not finding him return* 
 an anfwer, he got up, and, to his great furprize, found the cham- 
 ber door locked. Still doubtful whether what he had heard and 
 feen was a dream, he looked at his watch, to fee how long he had 
 been in bed, and it wanted only a few T minutes to twelve o'clock* 
 Still retaining in his mind the image of what had appeared to him, 
 he mentioned to the family in the morning the extraordinary dream 
 he had had, and his fear that fomething bad had happened to Lord 
 Lyttleton. When he returned to town, he found a letter from 
 Lord Weftcote, acquainting him with Lord Lyttleton J s death* 
 The time of it exactly correfponding with that when Mr. An- 
 drews heard him fay, M It is all over with me /" 
 B 2 
 
(6 
 
 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 Dead Hand diflinHly felt in Bed. 
 One Mr. Whitehaven, of St. John's Square, Clerken- 
 \velj, agreat difbeliever in fpirits and exigence after death > 
 owned to the Rev. Mr. Wills, in a dilputation with him, 
 that his fcepticifm was once much fhaken by what he 
 callcl a litjus nature?, or a fport of nature. Having, as he 
 faid, flept weli one night, he awoke, and ftretching his 
 right arm towards the other fide of the bed, where his 
 deceafed wife ufed to lie, he felt fomething turn down the 
 cloaths, and, on further fearch, could plainly difHnguifh. 
 a hand, with the fingers and thumb, though cold as death. 
 This certain evidence, he faid, made him change his 
 opinion ; and from that period he profeffed a kind of fe- 
 cond fight, foreieeing the death of many of his relatives 
 and neighbours before they departed. 
 
 Biafphemoiis Wijh punified. From the New German Theatre 
 of God's Judgments, publijhed in 1797. 
 A farmer near Francfort upon the Oder, who for 
 many years ufed to back every falfe afTeveration that he 
 made when felling his goods, by wifhing the devil might 
 fly away with him if what he faid was not true, was not 
 long fince mod exemplarily puniihed in the face of the 
 day, and before a number of people. Having expreffed 
 this wifh, as ufual, to a known falfehood, he was fnatched 
 from the earth by fome invisible power, and carried over a 
 large mill going in full fail, upon which he was at length 
 dropped, and hurried round with fuch velocity, that he 
 foon became breathlefs, and v/as taken down a (hocking 
 example of the dangerous tendency of appealing to fu- 
 pernatural powers for the confirmation of a falfehood. 
 
 Fejlivity diflurbed by a Jupernatural Movement. 
 Mr.. J. Schnieder, an eminent furgeon, at Hall, in 
 Saxony, being a man of a licentious as well as fcientific 
 turn, ufed frequently to retire into the fkeleton room 
 ■when he had large parties, after dinner, where excefs was 
 often carried to the greateft extreme, fuch as a general 
 intoxication. The habit af feafting among thefe awful 
 relics of mortality at length became fo cuftomary, that 
 even females were introduced to thefe nocturnal orgies, 
 which, for fome time, they attended without fear, efpe- 
 cially as Mr. Schnieder had a happy facility in making 
 every appearance coincide with what he called the laws 
 
OF APPARITIONS, Xjr 
 
 of neture. But this boafted philofophy at length failed 
 him, the whole company one night being thrown into the 
 utmod confirmation. A fkeleton, which he ufed to call 
 the Giant by way of diftinclion, was feen to open its 
 ponderous jaws, and, as Milton would have expreffed it, 
 grinned horribly a ghaftly fmile upon the aftonifhed fpec- 
 tators. As the motion of the head and mouth continued, 
 
 the confuuon cannot be expreiled. Mr. S himfelf 
 
 confeffedj by his filence, that his philofophy was non- 
 pluffed. The women fainted ; and the company fepa- 
 rating with mutual fear and diftruft, the facrilegious 
 owner of the houfe was forbidden by the magiftrates to 
 hold any more fuch meetings, under pain of their mod 
 fovereign difpleafure. 
 
 Atoful Con /lift between two Spirits to obtain PoJfeJJion of a 
 departing Soul. From Religious Memoirs oj the Church 
 of Scotland* 
 
 These memoirs ftate, that one Mr. John Macknighty 
 who had been once a fair profeiTor, became in procels of 
 time, fo notorious abackfl der, that his name was in a man- 
 ner proverbial all through the neighbourhoodof Dundee,, 
 where he lived. When upon his death bed, in March, 
 1797, a number of ministers, and other pious perfons,. 
 were naturally drawn together to fee what end he would 
 make : as it might be expected, he moft fervently defired 
 their prayers; .though he owned he had moft probably 
 finned away his day of grace, by neglecting the offers of 
 the gofpel from time to time. However, while the whole 
 company were at prayers, and, the room being fmall, it 
 was agreed the windows fbould be opened to admit air, 
 wonderful to relate, a raven and a dove flew into the 
 room, perched upon the bed's head, and began a very 
 violent attack upon each other. The dying man, being 
 informed of it, defired the company to leave off prayers,, 
 as he had no doubt but that the raven and the dove would 
 decide the fate of his unhappy foul. The whole and 
 joint prayers of the room, however, continued to be, 
 " Lord, afliit. the dove. Lord confound the raven, &c." ; 
 till the latter, evidently wearied and overpowered, fled 
 out of the window,, clapped its wings, and croaked in 
 fuch a manner as would have appalled a heart unufed to 
 fear ; while t he dove feemed to dilTolve in the fun beams, 
 that now fhone with double luftre into the room, and the 
 dying man abfolutely departed without a figh, 
 
 a "a 
 
10 WONDERFUt HISTORY 
 
 Property recovered by the Appearance of an Apparition. 
 
 As two officers, belonging to the fame regiment, and 
 who were at St. Lucie during the late war, were one 
 evening difcourfing together, their converfation was in- 
 terrupted by the apparition of a brother officer, who had 
 fell in an engagement with the enemy a few days before. 
 Their aftoniffiment may be much better conceived than 
 defcribed. The apparition addreffed himfelf to them both, 
 defired they would not be alarmed, that he meant them 
 no harm, and that they would attentively liften to what 
 he was then going to fay. " You both well know (faid 
 he) I left in England an only fon, who is now at Weft- 
 minder-School, and who will be wronged out of an eftate, 
 if you do not, when you are ordered to England, call 
 upon fuch a perfon, (whom he then mentioned,) who lives 
 in Upper Brook-Street, Grofvenor-Square, and demand 
 of him the title-deedsbelonging to the eftate. " They pro- 
 jnifed they would comply with his requeft. Some little 
 time after, the regiment was ordered home. When they 
 came to London, according to their promife, they called 
 upon the gentleman who had the title-deeds in queftion* 
 Upon their mentioning the death of the officer, and afk- 
 ing him if he was not in poiTeflion of the deeds of the 
 «ftate, he declared he had them -not, but that he had re- 
 turned them to the officer. However, they perfiited he 
 had, and at the fame time informed him, legal methods 
 would be taken to make him produce the fame ; that they 
 would give him a week to look over his papers, and at the 
 expiration of that time they would call again. He was 
 afraid of a law-fuit, and faid he would look if he had any 
 writings belonging to the heir, and if he had, he would 
 refign them into the hands of the young man's guardian. 
 Accordingly, they called at the time appointed, when the 
 deeds were produced, and they were fafely lodged in the 
 guardian's hands. This wonderful ftory was told to an 
 officer of rank, who has at this prefent time a high com- 
 mand in London, and who had the relation from the 
 mouths of both the officers who faw the apparition at 
 St. Lucie. It is worthy notice, that here is an appa- 
 rition to two men of undoubted veracity, a circum- 
 ftance more to be infifted upon, as the general difbelief 
 of thefe ilories arife from the appearance to one pevloa 
 only* , 
 
OF APPARITIONS. i<J 
 
 The Wild Hurttfinan j or, the Remembrance of a dreadful 
 
 Judgment perpetrated by the Apparition of a German 
 
 Lord. 
 
 The German hiftorians relate, that a Baron of Franconia 
 was fo remarkably attached to the chafe in the middle ages, that, 
 paying no regard to the rights or complaints of the poor, he at 
 length fell a vittim to his ungovernable padicn ; the particulars 
 of which were thus related by a gentleman, tutor to a young 
 German Count, travelling from Switzerland to Germany. 
 
 " We had already nearly cleared the Black Forelt, when on 
 a fudden the fky became overcaft, the rain poured down in tor- 
 rents, and the livid flames of lightning burfting right over our 
 heads, fucceeded one another with fuch rapidity, that the thun- 
 der re-echoing from the woods, the rocks, and mountains, feemed 
 but one continual peal. To add our diftrefs, night now began 
 to approach : not fuch a night as tender lovers choofe to wander 
 by the moon's pale lamp, and breathe their amourous vows ; but 
 rather a night fuch as poets have conceived when Lapland witches 
 charm the labouring moon, and bring her down to earth, whilft 
 darknefs, with her raven-wings out-fpread, hovering beneath 
 the fair expanfe of heaven, forbids the {tarry hoft their mild ef- 
 fulgence to diffufe, and cheer the traveller with their filver light* 
 
 " We had not travelled many miles in this difmal condition, 
 before our poftillion had the misfortune to lofe his way ; and what 
 {till aggravated our calamity, he did not perceive his miftake till 
 it was already too late to rectify it. I {hall not attempt to de- 
 fcribe the gloomy apprehenfions which filled our minds on his 
 communicating to us this unwelcome intelligence. Our poftil- 
 lion was naturally a lad of humour, and, agreeable to the lau- 
 dable practice of his profeffion, had entertained us all the day 
 with a recital of the n umber lefs murders, robberies, rapes, Sec. 
 which had been perpetrated in this immenfe foreir. We had 
 iikewife in many infiances received ocular demonftrations of the 
 truth of his reports, from the numberlefs erodes which in this 
 country are erected on the {pot where any murder is committed,. 
 partly with a view to put travellers upon their guard, and partly 
 to entreat their prayers for the reft of the fcui of the defunft. 
 
 <4 As we willed for nothing more ardently than to extricate 
 ourfelves from this difmal iituation as foon aspoffibie, (bein <y not 
 iefs in purgatory ourfelves than the fouls of thofe for whom our 
 prayers were defired,) we ordered the poftillion to lofe no time 
 ip fraitlefs attempts to regain the right road to the town we had 
 
20 WONDERFUL HISTOHY 
 
 originally defigned to put up at, but rather to drive ftraight fbr^ 
 ward, with the utmoft expedition, till we mould have the good 
 fortune to light on Tome human habitation, where we- might pafs 
 the remainder -of the night in fafety,. With this requeft he com- 
 plied ; and, after exercifing his whip for a full hour, we found 
 ourfelves emerging from our worfe than Cimmerian foreft, upon 
 the entrance of a large plain or common. " Bleffed Virgin !"' 
 exclaimed the poftiilion, " we are at no great diftance from a 
 village." 
 
 " Great was our joy at. beholding once more the peaceful 
 abodes of man. The village we found to be of confiderable 
 extent ; but the inn, if- fuch it may be called, was one of the 
 moil execrable that ever I fet foot in in the whole courfe of my 
 life. " Benedicite !" exclaimed the landlord, all afloniflimeht 
 at feeing a poftchaife draw up before his door, a phenomenon 
 which caufed him to ftare as much as if the Grand Turk in per- 
 fon had come to pay him a vifiu It was no wonder, therefore, 
 if the bill of fare of the houfe contained nothing more than a 
 few fmoaked faufages, fome rufty bacon, and a ftale loaf of* 
 brown bread. Wine, or beer, he allured us, was not to be 
 had in the whole neighbourhood ; and fuch was the goodnefs of 
 his brandy, that even our poftiilion was glad to warn his moutii 
 after f wallowing a glafs of it. 
 
 " I enquired whether the lord of the manor refided on his 
 eftate, hoping to meet with better accommodation from the hof. 
 pitality of a ft ranger ; but received for anfwer, that the manor- 
 houfe was entirely wafte and uninhabited, nobody having been 
 able to live in it for this century paft, and upwards. I demanded 
 the reafon. 
 
 " Why, as to the matter of that, look ye gentlemen, (replied 
 the landlord,) it is an affair which nobody much dares to fpeak 
 about; neither dare I, on any account, give you any item of 
 the bufmefs tonight; but wait (he added) till to-morrow morn- 
 ing, and then, if you are not able to divine the caufe your- 
 feives, why, I will even let you into particulars." 
 
 " As little fatisfled with this reply as myfelf, the Count 
 preffed the landlord' to be more explicit, and even infilled on 
 having.a categorical anfwer to the queflion I had put ; but our 
 landlord was not to be prevailed on ; he continued fhaking his 
 head as fturdy as a mule ; and when he found that we would not 
 defift from our enquiries, left the room with evident figns of 
 difpleafure, grumbling about unlawful curiofity, and divine judg* 
 ments, with other obfcure hints, which to us were quite uniib* 
 teUigible. 
 
OF APPARITIONS, 21 
 
 u Vexed, as we were, at what we con fide red a mod un- 
 pardonable inftance of rudenefs, we were fain to make the bed 
 of our prefeni circumdances, and to diged our coarfe unfavory 
 fare as well as we could. After we had finiihed our homely re- 
 pair, and fomewhat appealed the cravings of nature, we laid 
 ourielves down upon fome clean frefh ftraw, which here fup- 
 plied the place of a bed to our weary limbs. The Count was 
 prefently buried in a profound deep ; whiid I kept turning from 
 fide to fide, and, harraffed by a thoufand unaccountable appre- 
 henfions, found it impoiTible to clofe my eyes. In this date of 
 uneafinefs I continued till the watchman, with hoarfe voice, an- 
 nounced the folemn hour of midnight. My ears were indan- 
 taneoufly alarmed with the didant found of horfes, beads, and 
 the echoing thunder of trumpets, horns^ and other wind in ft ru- 
 men ts. The noife drew near ; and prefently a whole troop of 
 horfe feemed to pafs in full gallop by the window : the air at the 
 fame time re founding with fuch a full band of mufic, that, had 
 it not been for the unfeafonabie hour, added to the difagreeable- 
 nefs of themight, I mould have imagined his Serene Highnefs, 
 the Eleclor, with all his whole court and retinue, had marched 
 through the place on a royal hunting party. The Count awoke 
 with the noife, and abruptly darting up — " What can be the 
 meaning of all this ?.V he demanded with a mixture of fear and 
 adoniihment. To this quedion I was as little able to give a 
 fatisfackuy anfwer as himfelf. I continued, therefore, to liden 
 with the greateft attention to what was tranfacling ; and per- 
 ceived, to my no fmall furprize, that thefe nocturnal Nimrods 
 had hardly paffed our inn, before the noife of their horfes and 
 indruments died away, and the whole place was as filent as be- 
 fore. This appeared to me exceeding Angular. I began afrefii 
 to give free fcope to the workings of a dillurbed imagination ; 
 and comparing in my mind the drange fcene I had juft witneffed, 
 with the unaccountable refer ve and dark inuendos of our land- 
 lord, I attempted to unravel the mydery that feemed to envelope 
 this adventure. As for the Count, he foon relapfed into a pro- 
 found dumber, and fnored away as heartily as ever. 
 
 " Setting afide the inclemency of the weather, it appeared to 
 me very improbable that any perfon* mould ride out on a hunting 
 party at midnight. This reflection induced me for fome time 
 to regard the noife I had heard as the confequence of my having 
 dreamed to that effecl: ; but when I took into ferious confederation 
 the behaviour of our landlord, and the fudden waking of the 
 Count, I found myfelf greatly daggered, and cannot deny but 
 a fecret horror invaded my whole frame. 
 
%2* WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 € f Loft and bewildered in a painful labyrinth of conjecture 
 and doubt, I infenfibly grew weary of the ftrife between con- 
 tending opinions. A gentle (lumber, the welcome forerunner 
 of the fomniferous deity, had already clofed my eye-lids, when 
 I was roufed from my lethargy by the hoarfe cry of the watch- 
 man, who, with the whole coile&ed force of his lungs, gave 
 notice that the clock had jufl gone one in the morning. His 
 voice, however, was foon drowned by the return of the fame 
 alarming noife I had before heard. I immediately arofe, and 
 kaftening to the the window, which (hook with the echoing thun- 
 der of horns, trumpets, &c. refolved to fatisfy my curiofity rela- 
 tive to this noclurnal troop of Nimrods by occular demon ft ration ; 
 but, before I had time to throw the window open, the whole 
 fquadron had paffed the houfe in full gallop, with a noife equal 
 to the loudeft whirlwind ; and a few minutes after the former 
 filence Tucceeded, and all was quiet as the grave. 
 
 "I was now fain to banifh all further thoughts of fleep, for 
 the prefent night at ieaft ; arid, not able to wait till breakfaft, at 
 which time the landlord had promifed to fatisfy our enquiries re- 
 lative to the uninhabited manfion, I ran to the window the mo- 
 ment I heard the watchman begin to cry two o'clock. 
 
 " Friend, (I accorded him,) what can be the meaning of the 
 noife and racket that alarmed our ears at the hours of twelve and 
 one?" 
 
 " Why, truly, (was his anfwer,) your honour muff cer- 
 tainly be a ftranger in this neighbourhood. There is not a child 
 in the village but knows all about it. We have this noife, as 
 you call it, every night for weeks together. After that, we 
 are quiet again for a feafon." 
 
 " Well, but (I replied) what whimfical gentleman is it that 
 hunts at midnight ?'* 
 
 " Nay, that indeed, I am not at liberty to tell you. En- 
 quire of your landlord, who can inform you of every particu- 
 lar. For my part, I am only doing my duty, and my truft i* 
 in God. But not a fy liable of what I fee and hear will I be. 
 tray to any living foul : nor {hould the king's ranfom tempt me 
 to it." And with that the watchman took himfelf off. 
 
 " I wrapped myfelf up in my great coat, and drawing a 
 chair to the window, awaited with anxious impatience the tardy 
 return of day. At length the morning began to dawn ; the 
 whole village re-echoed with the crowing of cocks, which, I 
 may truly fay, never founded more grateful in my ears. The 
 Count at the fame time awaking, and feeing me already dreffed, 
 
OF APPARITIONS. 23 
 
 — * u Why, you are up by times, to-day, Sir, (he began, rub- 
 ting his eyes.) Pray tell me what noife that was which dif- 
 turned us laft night. " 
 
 " Indeed, my Lord, (I replied,) my curiofity in this refpe£r. 
 is at lead equal to your own ; and hardly can I wait till we re- 
 ceive the promiied information from our landlord. And (added 
 I) if your Lord (hip had not flept fo found ly, you would have 
 heard the troop gallop pad at one in the morning with the fame 
 dreadful impetuofuy and noife as they did at twelve/' 
 
 " Hardly had I pronounced thefe words, when the landlord 
 made his appearance. " Well, gentlemen, (he began, after 
 previoufly bidding us good morrow,) have your honours heard 
 any thing extraordinary laft night ?'* 
 
 fii But too much! (was my reply.) However, pray inform 
 me who and what kind of hunters they are that feem fo fond of 
 exercifing their fport at midnight. 
 
 «, M Why yes, to be fure, (refumed the landlord,) thefe are 
 matters, as I faid before, which one don't much care to talk, 
 about. I was rather unwilling to fatisfy your enquiries yefter- 
 day, left your incj^dulous curiofity fhould precipitate you into 
 mifchief, which, God above knows, has been the cafe with many* 
 However, as I promifcd to give you a relation of the whole af- 
 fair this morning, you {hall find me as good as my word. 
 
 " Here, at the bottom of the village, ftands a large houfe, 
 which formerly was the refidence of the lord of the manor. 
 Now, you mud know, it fo happened, that a great many years 
 back, one of thefe lords was a terrible wicked man, who cared 
 neither for God nor devil, and treated his fubjeBs worfe than 
 his cattle. Nobody could do any thing to pieafe him. Even 
 his own children he would bang and kick about like dogs, and 
 for the leaft trifle order them to be thrown into a dark, filthy 
 hole, or dungeon, where they were at laft ftarved to death. . His 
 fubjecls he never called by any other name than his b:ajls, and 
 as fuch he treated them. In fhort, he was a true devil incar- 
 nate ! Now, this wicked man delighted in nothing fo much as 
 in hunting. In his woods he harboured all kinds of game, even 
 the moft lavage wild boars especially, which made terrible havock 
 and ruination in the fields ajid gardens of his peafants: and yet, 
 if any of the latter only offered to drive away one of thofe fu- 
 iious animals, that was, perhaps, treading down his corn, or 
 devouring his turnips, he was fure to be confined for weeks to- 
 gether upon bread and water. Whenever this nobleman thought 
 proper to go a hunting, the whole village was obliged to draw 
 1 
 
24 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 out and accompany him, and on thefe occafions he would make 
 them fupply the place of dogs, and fet them upon the game, 
 which, whenever they were not able to catch, he would horfe- 
 whip and worry them with his hounds till they fell down dead 
 at his feet. 
 
 " One time, as he was indulging himfelf in thefe cruel prac- 
 tices till late at night, he was thrown from his horfe, and broke 
 his neck upon the fpot. The clergy would not furTer him to 
 be interred in the church-yard like a Chriflian, for which reafon 
 he was buried in a corner of his park. But now the terrible 
 judgments of Divine vengeance became manifeft : for, to the 
 prefent day, his wf etched foul is not fufFered to reft. At cer- 
 tain dated times and feafons, the wrath of Almighty God obliges 
 him every night, the moment it ftrikes twelve, to ride through 
 the village, and, with Beelzebub and his helliili train, to drive 
 into the manor-houfe, where he is fain to flay till one o'clock in 
 the morning, which no fooner is heard to ftrike, than the whole 
 infernal troop of them are remanded back to the bottomlefs pit." 
 
 Ghojl in a Churchyard* 
 A Dissenting minifter, who lived at Ramfey, in the 
 county of Huntingdon, was difcourfing at his own houfe, one 
 evening, with an intimate friend, who was curate of the panib, 
 UDon the occafional appearances of departed fpirits, at the fame 
 time expreding his firm belief in apparitions. The clergyman 
 profefled himfelf of a contrary opinion to his friend, and endea- 
 voured to reafon with him upon the abfurdity of his creed. 
 About ten o'clock he took his leave, and in his way home, 
 which was through a church-yard, he obferved a man crofs out 
 of the regular path, among the tomb-llones, the moon mining 
 very bright, to meet him ; but being a man of uncommon 
 boldnefs and ftrength, he was no ways alarmed when the perfon 
 came near him. He aimoft put his head into his face. He 
 then recognized the features of an intimate friend and fellow- 
 collegian, who had been dead near five years- A few nights 
 after, he again fpent the evening with the diffenting miniiter, 
 and the whole topic came upon the carpet. He then related 
 what he had feen in his way home in the church-yard, adding, 
 that he was now as firm in his belief of the reality of the oc- 
 cafional appearance of departed fpirits, as he formerly was of a\ 
 different opinion ; and was fully fatisfied in his own mind, that 
 God had permitted this awful fight to convince him of, and to 
 d^away, his incredulity. 
 
OF APPARITIONS, 2g 
 
 Ominous Portents in Clerkenwdl Prifon, related by the 
 Rev. Marmaduke Richards, 
 
 It has frequently happened, that when the unfortunate per- 
 fons confined in this place for felonies, Sec. have been examined 
 by the minifter previous to their removal to Newgate for trial, 
 that they have confeiTed to a number of circumflances, fuch as 
 the opening and .{hutting of the inner doors of the prifon when 
 all were fail afleep, which, with the fuppofed tolling of a bell, 
 was always looked upon as a fure ugh that many of the wretched 
 inhabitants of that place would only leave it to meet tire more 
 awful 'fentence of death at the Old Bailey Seflions. 
 
 Dreadful Judgment at Manchejler, executed upon a Falfe~ 
 f wearer, and perpetuated in his Apparition. 
 A few years fmce, fome journeymen dyers, in Manchefter, 
 that ufed to be in the conltant habit of playing at cards on a 
 Saturday night, at a public houfe in that town, would fre- 
 quently flay playing after twelve at night, though much again ft 
 the will of the landlady, who one night pofitively infilling upon 
 their going away, one of them, the mod rcfolute, named Bur- 
 nett, fwore a bitter oath, taking the candle in one hand, and a 
 pack of cards in the other, that he would not go out of the 
 houfe till he had another pot of beer, and played another game 
 at cards, and wifhing, if he did. that he might be ftruck dead 
 upon the fpot, which happened accordingly, to the unfpeak- 
 able terror of all the beholders. But the matter did not end 
 here; the ghoft of this unhappy man has occafionally appeared 
 in the fame apartment ever iince, and especially if any of the 
 company have ventured to play after twelve o'clock on Saturday 
 night. His appearance is exactly in the form and attitude in 
 which he was (liuck dead, as can be witneiTed by a number of 
 pious perfons of that town and its neighbourhood. 
 
 A remarkable Narrative of the Apparition of a young Lady to 
 her Lover, taken down in Writing from his ozvn MQUth, by 
 the Editor, zvho, from his f-bcr Behaviour, believes the Ac*. 
 count to be true. — See the Plate. 
 
 This young lady lived at St. Ive's, in Cornwall, and died 
 of the fma!l-pox in September, 1794. Her fweetheart was 
 the fon of Mr. Haine, a very reputable butcher and grazier at 
 Scar, about twenty miles from Plymouth. The match was not 
 approved of by the young woman's friends] and during, her 
 
 c 
 
2/5 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 illnefs they would not fuffer the young man to come to fee her, 
 though (he greatly defired to fee him. About the time of her 
 illnefs, he alfo was taken fick of a fever, and coafmed to his 
 room ;- fo that it was above a month after her death before (he 
 made her .fir it appearance to him ; which was as follows. 
 
 " After I had recovered from my illnefs, (fays he.) I went 
 out one afternoon on my father's horfe for a little airing; and, 
 returning home juft at dunk, about a mile from my father's 
 houfe, I faw fomething, as on horfeback, pafs very fwifily by 
 me ; which fo affrighted my horfe, that he flew home with me 
 as faft as poffible, and I was alfo much affrighted. A mort 
 time after this (he appeared again to me, and then I knew her ; 
 and what is remarkable, when I was on horieback, {he appeared 
 on horieback ; and when I was on foot, (he appeared fo too ; 
 and her appearances to me were fo frequent, that (he became 
 quite familiar* and I had no fear at all on feeing her ; which ihe 
 never failed to do if I was abroad ; but {he never appeared to 
 me in my father's houfe. 
 
 u It was above a month before I had any power given me to 
 fpeak to her, although I thought to do it from time to time, but 
 could not fpeak ; though {he gave me all the opportunity fhe 
 •could, by walking often by my fide, or very near me. This 
 was a great trouble to me, as well as to her ; and it began to 
 bring a great weaknefs upon me. 
 
 " I related the affair to my father and mother, and fome 
 others; but they? not believing my relation, gave little heed to 
 what I faid, and thought it was only phrenzy ; till the follow- 
 ing circumfiance happened, which was about a week before God 
 *xave me power to fpeak to her. 
 
 u My father and mother ufed to go to a place of worfhip 
 belonging to Mr. Wefley, about a mile off; and one evening 
 about this time I went with them to light them home, as I often. 
 did, with a large lanthorn and candle ; and coming home along 
 the high road, (he appeared to me as ufual. I faid to my father, 
 €i Now don't you fee her! There, there me is!" And at the 
 very moment I fpoke, the lanthorn was twilled violently out of 
 my hand, and flung to a confiderable diftance from me, the ring 
 of it remaining in my hand. My father and mother were now 
 both fome what affrighted at this, but began to believe what I 
 had fo often related to them of trie apparition, that there was 
 fome truth in it. A doftor who attended me in my iilnefs, to 
 whom I had alfo related the fiery, urged me by all means to 
 fpeak to her, telling me what words to u'fe ; and faid it might 
 be of bad conference, if I neglected it longer, 
 
OF APPARITIONS, 2J 
 
 li A few nights after this, as I was fitting in my father's 
 houfe, it was ftrongly impreffed upon my mind, to go out that 
 night, and with God's leave to fpeak to her. Accordingly 
 about ten o'clock, I went out with alt the courage imaginable ; 
 and (he appeared to me as ufual ; and I faid to her, In the name 
 of the Lord Jefus, why do you thus trouble me ! and I was 
 going to lay hold of her arm. She ihrunk back, and faid, Do 
 not touch me; I am as cold as clay. She fpoke out, and blamed 
 me for noi (peaking to her fboner ; and laid, that this was the 
 very iaft night of her liberty to appear to me; And had you not 
 fpoken to me now, faid {lie, I ihould have had power to do 
 you (ome mifchief. Then (he related to me what Ihe had- to fay 
 about her family, who had cruelly hindered her from feeing 
 fome of her dear relations. After telling me her whole mind, 
 flie gave me plain directions concerning herfelf. We converfed 
 together near two hours, till twelve o'clock ; and I promifed, 
 if pollible, to fulfil all her initruciions. Accordingly I let out 
 early next morning, rode nearly fifty miles to different parts, 
 fulfilled all her commands, and got back fafe to my father's- 
 houfe. She appointed me to meet her that night, if I had done 
 my bufmefs before twelve, at the church door where Ihe was 
 buried ;. this was about two miles from my fathers houfe. She 
 met me at the church porch, exprtfled her entire approbation of 
 all that I had done, faying, {he mould now be at reft, and 
 would trouble me no more. 
 
 u After a {hort difcourfe, which (lie charged me never to 
 divulge, (he faid, My time is nearly expired, follow me into 
 the church. The door opening, (he entered the church, which 
 was illuminated with the moll glorious light; and my hearing 
 the mod foft and heavenly mufic betokened her happinefs. She 
 bid me take notice when the mulic began to ceafe, to go then 
 out of the church : which I did; and being very glad that all 
 my trouble in this affair was ended, I battened away, and faw 
 her no more. 
 
 Murder di fevered by Means of a Sptclre at Maid ft one. 
 
 From Notes taken by the Minijier of the Pari flu 
 About the latter end of 1761, a young woman, Irving 
 fervant at the Old King's Head in that town, was taken much 
 notice of by a butcher who ufed the houfe. This perfon being 
 at play with her one evening, when a number of people were 
 prefent, it was remarked, that (he was very uneafy at his taking 
 a handkerchief from her, for which {he had a particular fancy \ 
 
 C 2 
 
2& WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 and which, after much in treaty, and the interference of fome 
 perfons piefent, he returned to her again. The youug woman, 
 it feems, had not Been long in bed mat night, when fhe plainly 
 f&w (he curtains of her bed undrawn, and the ghpft of a mur- 
 dered man approach, who told her not to be frightened, as he 
 was not come to do her any harm. He then began relating the 
 clrcumiiance of the young man's taking the handkerchief from 
 her on the overnight, and added, that he (the ghoil) (hoidd take 
 the fame; pocket handkerchief with him to his grave. Tie then 
 charged the maid to make this affair as public as poffibie, as it 
 would lead to a difcovery of his murder, and bring down juflice 
 upon Ks murderers, and alfo gave her particular information 
 where they had laid his body. The young woman following his 
 directions the next morning, the body and the handkerchief were 
 found in the grave as the ghoft had defcribed ; and the young 
 m-\n who had tV;en the maid's handkerchief, as before-mentioned, 
 proving to be the identical murderer of the perfon deceafed, was 
 exccMiza for tfc fame : a lingular indication that murder cannot 
 be concealed from the icnuinizing eye of Divine Juflice. 
 
 Appearance to a Gentleman in his Study, 
 A G e n t l e ma N r , who refided at Bethnai-Green, near -Lon- 
 xlon. fame years ago, was one evening writing in his ftudy,. and, 
 that he might not be interrupted, had locked the door. While 
 he was writing, he fancied he heard fome perfon walking in the 
 room. Ke turned round, but faw nothing. In a few minutes, 
 he thought he felt himfelf ■pulled' by the flap of his coat. He 
 was now very much alarmed • but being a man of ftrong nerves 
 and refolution, he foon recovered. In a fliort time afterwards, 
 he had a fimiiar fenfation, that almofl dragged him off his chair. 
 Ke then was much frightened indeed, left the room, and went 
 into another, where he had fome relations. They obferved he 
 looked extremely pale, and afked him. if he was ill*- Ke then 
 informed them what had occurred to him in his ftudy. They 
 did all in their power to perfuade him he muft be mi [taken, and 
 Id nun the impoiiibility of what he imagined, as the door was 
 ; ;cd. HoweVer, he was next day feized with a fit, while 
 at the Royal Exchange, was conveyed home, went to bed, and . 
 died in the fpace of three days. 
 
 A Funeral Proccjfion. 
 The celebrated profeffor Baumgarten, who lived at Berlin* 
 one day fitting at his ftudy window, which looked into the gar- 
 den, was much "furprifed to fee a funeral proceffion come down 
 
OF APPARITIONS. Zg 
 
 the principal walk, attended by mourners, who were his moil 
 intimate friends. When the coffin came under the window, he 
 read, with aftoniihment, his own name and age on the plate* 
 But I fhould have mentioned, that his maid fervant, wanting 
 fomething out of the fummer-houfe, at the end of the garden, 
 was obferved by Mr. Baumgarten to go out of the walk upon 
 the grafs-plat. He called her into his room, and aiked her the 
 reafon me did not proceed down the walk. She faid, me could. 
 not, for fome unfeen hand took her by the arm, and forced her 
 on the grafs-plat. Mr. Baumgarten was then fully fatisfied it 
 was fomething more than imagination in what he had feen : he 
 directly made his will, and the fame evening was taken with a 
 fit of apoplexy, and immediately expired. This relation is 
 well known to many now reiident at Berlin. 
 
 Apparition at Birmingham. 
 An officer in the 104th regiment had, in 1783, a houfe at 
 
 Birmingham from Mr. A n, on condition of living in it.- 
 
 The report was, that fpetlres frequented it. For feveral months, 
 while he was there, ilrange noifes were often heard. A great 
 difturbance over head at lalt alarmed him. where lie and his fcr- 
 vants immediately went. There they found the appearance of 
 a lady. They bolted the door, and endeavoured to fecure her; 
 but without effect, for me immediately vaniflied. This the 
 officer made affidavit of before a Juftice, and fpoke of it as a 
 thing he had never before repeated. 
 
 The haunted Family. 
 — A Gentleman, 'about the year 1782, or 3, took a houfe 
 for his family, which con filled of himfelf, wife, and one fer- 
 vant maid. They had refided in it but a very Inert time, when 
 one evening the fervant, being at home by herfeif, in the- 
 kitchen, was. much terrified by a violent noile, as if a whole 
 flack of deals had fallen down the upper flairs into the ftreet 
 door paffage. As the mailer and miilrefs were in the country 
 for fome time after the houfe was firir. taken, they would not 
 give credit to the maid's ftory ; but foon after their return, 
 when the miftrefs had been fitting in the parlour by herfelf with* 
 a very good fire, going down into the kitchen for fomething, 
 flaying about five minutes at moll, upon her return, me found 
 the fire quite extinguished, and the poker, tongs, and .. move!,, 
 ail placed again!! the bars, and very much burnt. As the 
 houfe was contiguous to the gentleman's bufinefs, and mother 
 
 . c 3 
 
gO WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 refpecls very convenient, he did not like to quit it. His fa- 
 mily -in creating, obliged him to have a nurfery maid. One 
 afternoon, the lady and her maid, with the child, having re- 
 turned from a walk, and going into the parlour, defired the 
 houfe maid to go up (lairs to fetch a pillow to lay the child upon, 
 the miftrefs and nurfery maid remaining in the parlour, when 
 there was a noife exactly like the report of a pifloL as if it had 
 been fired off between their heads. At the fame minute all the 
 bells in the houfe were rung* and the fervant above anfwered, 
 fuppofing it was the nurfery maid, and battening down flairs, 
 upon one of the landing places, where there flood a clock, juft 
 as {he get to that part, a hand, very white, feemed to extend it- 
 1elf from behind the clock,, and was drawn over the girl's face* 
 The much -was very cold, and fo frightened her, that fhe fell 
 down the refl of the flairs; was taken up fenfelefs; and was 
 obliged to be fent. home to her friends, and dird not rightly re- 
 cover for above a week. One night, when they were all in 
 their rooms preparing to go to bed, they heard a noife like a 
 woman running up and down flairs (lip (hod ; and every time 
 flie feem.rd to flop at the matter's chamber door, and utter a deep 
 groan. This was repeated feveral times, until (hey were much 
 affrighted. The nurfery maid, in particular, was fo terrified^ 
 that (he was going to jump out of the window, when her mafter 
 called the watch; but as all were afraid to go down to open the 
 door, he w T as obliged to go to the back of the houfe, and got in 
 at a back window. They fearched the houfe all over, leaving 
 no hole or corner neglected . and, during this, there was no 
 noife heard, but what they made themfelves: but as foon as they 
 had returned to their apartments, the noife again commenced, 
 and continued great part of the night. 
 
 Another time the mafler, miflrefs, and nurfery maid, with 
 the child, were going into the country for a day or two ; and 
 the other fervant refufing to {\aj in the houfe by herfelf, they 
 got another young woman, who was out of place, to come and 
 fltep with her ; and they took the houfe dog up with them. They 
 did not get to bed till near twelve o'clock, (this was in the very 
 middle or furnmer,) and having had a hard day's work at wafh- 
 ing, were very fleepy and tired, hut could get very little reft on 
 account of the various noifes ; fuch as the doors of the other 
 rooms fceming to be opened and (hut with great violence, &c. 
 The dog feemed much intimidated, and flunk trembling under 
 the bed. About five in the morning, one of them propofed 
 getting up, as the fun flione bright ; but the other thought, as 
 
I 
 
 OF APPARITIONS. 34 
 
 the noife had ceafed, it was the bed time to take a little reft ; 
 but, while they were debating, the curtains were drawn back all 
 Tound the bed at the fame in dan t, and they both jumped out in 
 a fright. This is but a fmall part of the pranks of their in- 
 vifible difturber ; and the family was obliged to quit the houfe, 
 as there was no. reft to be got in it. 
 
 The fame gentleman and his family removed to another houfe, 
 very pleafantly fituated about four miles from town, near Black- 
 heath. Here he was not entirely free from difturbance : for 
 his wife going for her health to another part of the country, a 
 noife was heard like a woman in filks running from the kitchen 
 up flairs to the top of the houfe: and another time, in the night, 
 a noife exactly like three or four people coming down ftairs to- 
 gether, and flopping about the middle, feemed converfing to- 
 gether. This was heard by the gentkman, another man, and 
 two lads, relations, (behdes the nurfery maid and her grand- 
 mother, who lay in -the houfe,) the youngeft of whom was fo 
 frightened, that he got up, (when he thought the party were 
 got down ftairs.) and ran into another room, where fome others 
 flept. The gentleman, the eldeft of the two youths, and the 
 man, armed themfelves with piftols, and ether weapons, and 
 fearched the houfe all over ; but nobody but themfelves were to 
 be found. The doors and windows were all as they left them 
 when they went to bed. They had a large dog at the lack 
 door, and a watchman at the front. 
 
 The gentleman lived in this laft houfe feveral years, as he 
 was but feldom difturbed ; but the health of his wife declining 
 he quitted it, and retired fome miles further into Kent, where 
 he refided till his wife's death, which happened in the latter end 
 of the year 1796. Pie married! about a twelvemonth after, 
 and took a houfe near the Eftex road. They had not been there 
 above a week, when the family (confifting of his wife, the 
 houfe- keeper, another fervant, a lad of fourteen, a girl of 
 twelve, and two young children, the gentleman himfelf being 
 out) was terribly alarmed by a violent noife, as if a coffin, or 
 large heavy trunk or cheft. had fallen down the whole ftair- 
 cafe, fometimes as if it (lid, and then ftruck againft the fides, 
 until it had got to the ground floor. The family were at this 
 time all in the kitchen below. There is a broad and deep ditch 
 runs .oppofite the front of the houfe. As the lady one evening, , 
 about dufk, in the fummer of the year 1798, was ftanding at 
 the door, fomething, rcfemhling a large black bear, (with his 
 head and paws doubled,) brufhed by her, rolled down the fteps 
 
<J£ WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 acrofs the road, and into the ditch, where it. plunged with a 
 noife as if it had been a real fubftance. The fame fummer, on 
 another afternoon, as the gentleman was fitting fmoaking a 
 pipe in the garden, (as was cuftomary with him after dinner,) 
 his fpoufe went up flairs, (though (he had been often frighted,) 
 yet, as the windows were* open, and her hufband not more than 
 thirty yards from her, (lie thought herfelf fafe ; but (lie had not 
 been up above a minute, before the bedftead cracked as violently 
 as if a. very heavy perfon had got up and walked over it, and 
 feemed to flcp down, and then rulhed againft the wainfcot with 
 a moll inconceivable noife, like as if twenty or thirty people, 
 with long nails or claws, were endeavouring to tear it down. 
 The lady could not fpeak ; but beckoned* to her hufband : but 
 before he coukf come, the noife was repeated with redoubled 
 fury. The lady fcreamed, ran down flairs, and was unable to 
 fpeak for half an hour. Thofe perfons who were below heard 
 nothing of. it. Every day, and fometimes feveral times in a 
 day, was a noife exactly like the footfteps of a man coming 
 flowly down the flairs ; at other times the ruftling of filk, as if 
 a. woman in a drefs of that kind was hurrying from one room to 
 another, and opening and fhuttin? the doors with violence ; or 
 a noife exactly like the opening and fhutting of a Jarge trunk, 
 or cheft, the lid feeining to fall with violence. This noife has 
 been repeated and continued for an hour together, at fhort in- 
 tervals. But all this is but trifling to what we have to relate. 
 They burnt a candle in every bed chamber, though it was fum- 
 mer. Th«^ chambers were all on a floor ; and they were fo ter- 
 rified, that the gentleman had a part of the wainfcot partition 
 taken down, that they might be more within call of each other. 
 One night. a child, about five years old, (a relation of the lady's,) 
 that flept with them, awaked in a fright ; and they diftinFtly faw 
 (both of them*) an arm over the teafter, moving about from fide 
 to fide, and then feemed to go to the fides, and brufh down all 
 the curtains very roughly, as if with a hard deaths brufh. But 
 there was no other part of a human frame feen but the arms. 
 
 The mother of the lady was going out at the back door into 
 the garden- about dufV, and juft as fhe had opened the door, 
 fomething, about the fize of a man in black, prefented itfelf, 
 and feemed to approach towards her.. As fhe had often been 
 alarmed before, fhe was neaily finking down with terror ; but 
 inftinclively retired in, and with fome difficulty bolted the door. 
 We fay with difficulty, for there was a flrong preffure againft it. 
 As the father (a man void of fear and fuperftuion> who had very 
 
DP APPARITIONS. 33 
 
 frequently gone all over the houfe in the middle of the night? 
 when the noifes weremofi violent) was going into the garden about 
 evening, when there was light enough to fee any thing difh'ncl 
 at the diftance of ten or a dozen yards, he faw the figure of a 
 genteel tall man, in black r leaning on a pump that flood very 
 near the back door. He called a girl (his own daughter, .and 
 filler to the 'lady of the houfe,) about 12 years old to him, and 
 told her to look at that man. To ufe the child's own exprelhon, 
 his face (hone like a looking- glafs, and he looked on her with 
 a fmiling countenance, but at her father with a more grave af- 
 pecV After about half a minute he difappeared. The fame 
 girl, with her brother, a lad about fifteen, went into the gar- 
 den to get fome radifhes. They had fcarcely got out of the 
 door, when fomething (which they could deicribe only by the 
 fenfe of feeling) leapt between them of the fize of a bear, or 
 fome quadruped, and threw the lad forward on his knees, and 
 the girl backward ; who alfo felt a fenfation on her back, as if 
 it had been clawed by the talons of fome beau 1 ; and this lie felt 
 for feveral days, though there was not the leaft mark on her 
 (kin. It then vifibly fliot forward, and extended over the radiih 
 bed like a white linen fheet, then contracted, and difappeared at 
 the farther! corner of the garden. This expanfion, and the reft 
 that followed, was feen by the red of the family, who fat in the 
 back parlour. The figure of the man in black was leen one 
 evening by the father and mother of the lady when they were 
 at the front of the houfe on the outfide : it pafled by them, and 
 went in at a door that led to the kitchen. It feemed fometimes 
 to be whimfical ; for fome of the family, as they flood at the 
 door, have been pulhed out,' and the door Unit after them. 
 Others have had flaps on the back, and puflied as they have 
 ftood in, or was palling from one room to another, the diftincl 
 footfteps of a perion paiTing through a room adjoining, and 
 coming along the paffage as if juft entering the room where they 
 were. Some of them have had the courage (the lady's father 
 often) to open the room door immediately, and go all over the 
 houfe ; but nothing was to be feen or heard, except fometimes 
 the footfteps feemed to follow them on theii return. The noifes 
 have been lometimes fo violent above flairs, that any perfon be- 
 low would have thought that ail the fjrniture, the wainfept, and 
 the infide of the whole houfe, was beat and torn to matters ; 
 and the whole of the family has run out of doors. Thefe noifes 
 continuing, they were obliged to quit this houfe alfo, and feek 
 another habitation, where they might endeavour to get rid cf 
 
34f WOND-ERFUL HISTORY 
 
 thofe t/oublefome- companions. But Gill, at tomes, tkey hear 
 very ft range noifes, which f»>rely perplex them. 
 
 All this could (if there was a neceiiity) be tefiifted upon the 
 oaths of more that* a dozen credible witneffes. 
 
 A fir an re Fa&. 
 
 A man, of the name of Day 5 who lived at Limehonfe, 
 about the year 178^, had occafion to get oat of bed one night* 
 After he had got into bed again, (this was In the dark,) he and 
 his wife diftmrtly heard the chamber-pot drawn from under the 
 bed, and a noife as if a man was making water in it, and after- 
 wards replaced under thebed again. This was what the man 
 himfelfhad done but the minute before, and was now exactly 
 repeated. They ftruck a light, thinking fomebody had con*- 
 cealed themfelves in the chamber; but nothing was amifs. They 
 told this odd circumltance to their neighbours ; ibme were mucrt 
 furprized, and others laughed at them, Sec. However, the man 
 was taken ill in a few days afterwards, and was buried in lefs 
 than a fortnight from the time they had heard this unaccountable 
 noife. 
 
 Authenticated Apparition*. 
 
 A Lady having a daughter that went out to fpend the even- 
 ing in apparent good health, came home when the clock flruck 
 twelve quite indifpofed. She accompanied her to bed, where 
 (lie complained of being worfe. In a fhort time afterwards, her 
 mother haying occafion to go into the pantry, faw the appear- 
 ance of a woman Handing at the door. At firil flie thought it 
 was a mifl before eyes ^ but, on looking more ftedfaft at the 
 apparition, (which feemed to reprefent the appearance of her 
 beloved filler,) (Ire walked along with a coffin-board at her back, 
 and then difappeared. She went to bed very much alarmed, 
 and acquainted her hufband with what fhe had feen, telling him 
 flie was fearful of her death. When the folemn hour of two 
 arrived, a watchman knocked at the door, and informed her 
 that her fifter was dying, and wiflaed her to come with him. 
 She went, and' found her dead. On enquiry, her death hap- 
 pened at the precife time when me faw the apparition. 
 
 Apparition of a young Lady to her Lover, by zvhom Jhe had 
 
 been deferted. 
 
 It appears by the following relation, that the gentleman, 
 
 with a friend, were travelling, and making a flop at Oxford, 
 
 hk friend went to fee a relation, whilft he *ook a walk to view 
 
or apparitions. 35 
 
 the place. Thus he proceeds. " It was late when I returned 
 back to the inn. My friend was not arrived ; I therefore pro- 
 pofed to wait his return. For this purpofe, leaving the door a 
 jar, I feated myfelf on a fopha, and endeavoured to beguile 
 the tedious hotirs by reading the poem of O Than. Midnight 
 approached without any figns of my friend's return. I itilj 
 continued flretched upon the fopha. At length I grew drowfy ; 
 Offian dropped out of my hands ; my eye-lids clofed involun- 
 tarily ; and, overpowered by deep, I already nodded, when 
 I was fuddenly roufed by a noife at the aoor of my room. I 
 flarted up — all was filent. I opened the door — could hear 
 nothing — fee nothing. It certainly muft have been imagination — • 
 I muft h*ve fancied — have dreamt I heard a noife. Refuming, 
 therefore, my book, I rubbed my eyes, w r iped them with a wet 
 cloth, and, that 1 might be in lefs danger of giving way to 
 (lumber, began to read aloud. " Does the wind touch thee, O 
 harp, or is it fome palling ghoft?" — Hardly had I pronounced 
 the kit words, when the noife returned. I could plainly dif- 
 tinguifh the tread of human feet along the paffage ; and the 
 noife drew nearc; and nearer. Prefently 1 believed I heard a 
 trembling hand groping for the lock of the door, which open- 
 ing gradually, difcovered a female figure dreffed in white, with 
 a veil over her face, that reached half way down her fhoulders. 
 Slow and folemn, with her back turned to me, (he drew near 
 the table, took up my watch, examined it attentively, fighed 
 thrice and deeply, replaced my watch upon the table, and con- 
 tinued her walk in the oppofite corner of the room. In re- 
 pairing, (he reded her head upon her left hand, and drawing 
 her veil afide with her right hand, I beheld with horror and 
 aitonifhment the very features of Eliza; but her countenance 
 pale, her eyes funk and hollow, and her brow contracted with 
 indignation. After a (hort paufe. (he drew nearer, carl ari 
 angry look at me, held up her hand in a threatening attitude, 
 and thrice beating her breait, whilft heart piercing groans burft 
 from her bofom, regained the door, and drfappeared. On ic- 
 covering from my lui prize, I found myfelf ftilt feated upon the 
 fopha; and revolving in my mind every concomitant circum- 
 fiance of this extraordinary apparition, w r as firmly perfuaded 
 that the whole adventure could be nothing but a dream. I looked 
 at my watch — it was exactly one o'clock. Impatient at my 
 friend's delay, I threw myfelf, drefled as I was, on the bed, 
 and flept till late in the morning. My firft care, upon wak~ 
 ing, was to enquire, of ihe waiter, whether my friend had re- 
 
36 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 turned to the inn; and finding he had, I hurried down flairs* 
 and related to him the particulars of the above ftrange ftory. 
 
 N. B. The gentleman wrote to town that day, and was in- 
 formed that the lady had died of a broken heart at the very* 
 time at which {he appeared. 
 
 Authentic Story related by 'an Englijh Gentleman travelling 
 through America. 
 
 I have had dreams that have been mod minutely realized : 
 yet I am convinced that events of this defcription never hap- 
 pen, but- they may be accounted for, without the afiiftance of 
 fupernatural agency. Allow me to relate a (lory which I heard 
 from the parties when in America. 
 
 I ftopped one evening (when travelling through the provinces) 
 at an houfe fituated between Lancafter and Philadelphia. Moft 
 of the houfes in America, though not abfolutely inns, receive 
 pailengers : of this fort was the prefent houfe. I was furprized 
 to find the owner of it prefer this dwelling to one immediately 
 ^ppofite, which was well built with brick, but uninhabited. The 
 houfe he lived in, although commodious, was built with logs, i. e» 
 large bodies of trees, and the interfaces filled up with clay. The 
 reafon, he aiTured me, was,, that the other houfe had been haunted ; 
 ♦that he believed it was ftill haunted; but that no perfon mould 
 ever again try ; " for," added he, " a boy that rode poft from 
 Philadelohia to North Carolina once flopped here. The houfe 
 was full ; but being very much fatigued, he requeued to fleep in 
 the haunted houfe; (for fo it was then called: the frequent noifes 
 I had been difturbed with, having determined me to quit it;) at 
 the fame time ridiculing apparitions. I confented, and made him 
 a bed on the ground, where, after having drank his giafs of tod- 
 dy, he fell fad afleep. He had not been in bed any length of 
 time, before he was awoke by a very handfome young woman, 
 who, with much perfeverance, endeavoured to pull the (beets 
 from him. The poll-boy, concluding that fne had fome inten- 
 tions more amorous than ghoftly, defired fhe would defift, as he 
 was too fatigued to gratify them. At this remark (he feemed 
 irefully incenfed ; her eyes fparkled fire ; her features trembled ; 
 flie clenched her hand, and ftruck v hiin on the face. He re- 
 mained infenfibie for fome time, arid found, on the recovery 
 of his ienfes, that he had loft the ufe of his right fide, was deaf, 
 And almoft deprived of fight. . I law this myieif; to me he re- 
 Fated the ftory as I have related it to you." 
 
OF APPARITIONS. Qf 
 
 A fingular Dream* 
 A Lady of Briftol had the following lingular dream. A 
 Mr. W. when on a voyage to the coaft of Africa, appeared to 
 her at her bed-fide, drew the curtains, and looked fledfailly at 
 her. She knowing him, afked, with furprize, what bufinefs he 
 had there? He anfwered, w Don't be frightened, my dear; I 
 am only come to befpeak a fait of clothes for Captain S." and 
 then disappeared. The lady wrote down the time when fhe re- 
 ceived the information; and Mr. W. on his return home, ac> 
 quainted her, that it was then he was thrown overboard. 
 
 Haunted HguJ; in Rofemary- Lane. 
 
 The notion of returning fpirits is almoft univerfal. Rude 
 and unbiafFed by education or example, the firft difcoverers of 
 America found the natives convinced of the exigence of fpirits, 
 and that their friends or enemies had power to do them good or 
 evil, which did not belong to them while on earth. Gorton 
 Mather, in his Hiftory of England, is full of relations of this 
 fort. Several iflanders of the South Seas have been found by the 
 difcoverers to be tinctured with this opinion ; and^ in eed, the 
 manner in which they generally difpofe of their dead favours 
 the idea. 
 
 Dr. Falk, the great Jew phyfician, was generally reported 
 to be fupernaturally endowed, and to hold intercourfe with 
 fpirits. When the diflurbances at Hatton-houfe, in Clerken- 
 "well, became the topic of con ver fit ion, about ten or twelve' 
 years fince, he went there, and, after minutely examining the 
 houfe, declared that " thefe things would happen in the moil 
 •regular families." The caufe of alarm was knocking*, burning 
 open of doors, treading heavily on the floors, and, moil fur- 
 prifing of all, going up and down flairs with a nulling noife, 
 as if the company was all in filk. 
 
 Mr. William Taylor, late mailer of the Marlborough- Head 
 -public houfe, in Bifhopfgate ftreet, a very reputable and worthy 
 man, often related that, when he kept the Coach and Horfes in 
 the Minories, two neighbours, labouring men, whom he knew, 
 applied to him for two half gallons of beer to drink in the night, 
 in a houfe in a yard in Rofemary-iane, where the landlord of 
 the houfe had provided for their entertainment a good kv of 
 mutton, upon condition of their pafiing the night in his houfe, 
 which was faid to be haunted. At twelve, one of the men came 
 for the beer, leaving his companion behind him in the room; 
 
 D" 
 
38 WONDERFUL history 
 
 but, upon his return with it, he found him dead, and at the bot- 
 tom of the Hairs, as if he had been conveyed there, or had 
 fallen down in his precipitancy to efcape. Howbeit, the Jury- 
 brought in a verdict of Death by the Vifitation of God; and 
 it was the opinion of all the neighbours, that the poor man faw 
 fomething or other too terrible for mortal eye to look at. 
 
 The difturbances in Mrs. Golding's houfe, at Stockwell, in 
 Surry, are too true to be contradicted. The lofs that lady fuf- 
 tained amounted to forne hundreds ; and the caufe has never yet 
 been difcovered. As every one are in pofTeiFion of the ftory, 
 and it is altogether too long for our purpofe, we {hall omit it, 
 with this obfervadon 5 however, that itubborn facls cannot eailly 
 be got over. 
 
 Singular Dream. 
 
 Mr. Lofant, a Protefrant clergyman of Holland, dreamed, 
 about the beginning of the fummer in 1728, that he was ordered 
 to preach. He excufed hirnfeif, laying, that he was not pre- 
 pared, and knew not what fubjett to pitch upon. He was told 
 to preach upon thefe words in Ifaiah xxxviii. 1. Set thine houfe 
 in order j for thou jh alt die* He imparted his dream to fome 
 of his friends, but concealed it from his wife, for fear of mak* 
 ing her uneafy. *Tis not known whether this dream made any 
 impreffion upon his mind : he was neither credulous, nor fuper- 
 flitious ; but 'tis certain that from that time he made all poffible 
 haile to finifh 'his work. (The Council of Conftance, printed 
 In 4to.) He died on the feventh of Auguft, in the fame year, 
 1728, 
 
 Warning Voice* 
 
 A Gentleman now living, .who holds a high department 
 in the Bank of England, a man well known, and of the mod 
 unqueftionable veracity, one morning, fome years ago, as he was 
 dreiling hirnfeif to go to the office, heard a voice call him three 
 or four times by his ehriftia'n name. He thought it was the 
 niece of the lady at whofe houfe he lodged that called him to 
 breakfaft. and who imitated his mother's voice, who occafionally 
 came to fee him. When he came down flairs into the parlour, 
 he told the miftrefs of the houfe, that her niece imitated his 
 mother's voice very well. The lady was fnrprized at what he 
 faid, and a flu red him her niece went out of town the day be- 
 fore, and was not yet returned, adding, to her certain know- 
 ledge, no one had called him that morning. He would not 
 contradict her, but w r as neverthelefs fully perfuaded in his own 
 aiind he was called, while, as before oblerved, dreiling him- 
 
OF APPARITIONS, 3$ 
 
 felf. During bfeakfaft, he received news that his mother was 
 dead, and died fuddenly at the very time he heard himfelf called* 
 He went immediately to the houfe where his mother lived, to 
 give the neceffaiy orders for the funeral, and to take a lad view 
 of fo dear a relative ; and he declared, while be fainted his 
 parent, he favv her eyes open as if to take a lafl farewell of 
 bun. This (lory is known to many of the gentleman's friends^ 
 and the author of this account hud it from his own mouth. 
 
 Apparition of Mr, Tonkins to the Rev. Mr. Warren. 
 Mr. John Warren, minifler of Hatfield-Broad-Oak, in 
 Effex, a worthy and pious man, being one day in his garden, 
 reading Banyan's Publican and Pharifee, was accofted by a 
 neighbour, as he thought, who enteied into difcourfe with him 
 upon the words, i; Shall man he more righteous than his 
 Maker?" Mr. Warren's difcourfe in general ran upon the 
 promifes; while Mr. Tomkins, his neighbour, whom he ima- 
 gined he was difcourlmg• with, chiefly urged the threatenings 
 of God. For a while they difcourfed in this fort, till Mr, 
 Warren's fervant came, and informed him that dinner was 
 ready, and hermiiirefs waited for him. Common civility made 
 him afk his neighbour Tomkins to come in with him, and eat 
 fome dinner, which the latter, with tears now Handing in his eyes, 
 refufed, faying, " My time is come, and I mutt away." Mr» 
 Warren thought it very odd ; and was proceeding to expostu- 
 late with his friend Tomkins, when the fervant repeated the 
 meiTage, urging, that a neighbour had jgnt for him to go imme- 
 diately upon an occafion of life and death. Mr. Warren with- 
 drawing towards the houfe, Hill held on the difcourfe upon the 
 former fubjecl, comforting his friend till he arrived at the door, 
 when, entering fir ft, he left the door open, that Mr. Tomkins 
 might come in; but nobody coming in, he went direttly, and 
 fought him all over his garden, but found him not, which much 
 difturbed his mind, particularly when he found that his neigrw 
 bour and friend Tomkins was juft expired, and had not been 
 out of his houfe, according to every teflimony, that day. Mr. 
 Warren's fervant teflified feeing her mailer in converfation with 
 a perfon in the garden, and telling her miflrefs fo, fhe won- 
 dered (he had feen nobody* go through the houfe, as there was no 
 other way into the garden. Mr. Warren, a pious and fen fib le 
 divine, often relates this to Mr. Goodman, who recites it in his 
 winter evening conferences between neighbours, 
 
 D 2 
 
40 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 Appearance to a Gentleman at St. Domingo* 
 A Gentleman now living, of the name of Wilfe-n* 
 who refid.es at Liverpool, in Lancashire, walking with 
 fome friends near a place called St. Domingo, a little 
 diftance from that town, thought he faw a relation whom 
 he expected every day to arrive from Jamaica,, in a field,, 
 near where he then was. He dirett.lv went into the field, 
 and came fo near him. that he hailed him: but. to his 
 great furprize, he feemed to fink into the earth. When he 
 returned to his company, he appeared fo greatly agitated, 
 that they afked him- what was the matter, with him. He 
 then told them he had feen Will fames, whom they all 
 knew ; and he faid he was fure they would hear of his 
 death, and related to them what he grounded his belief 
 upon. They jeered him upon his fuperftition* However,, 
 the next day the vefiel came into the port of Liverpool, 
 and brought the fad news, that this man, who was chief 
 mate of a Guineaman, had, at the time Mr* Wilfon faw 
 the apparition, tumbled down the hold of the fliip, frac- 
 tured his fkull, and expired within ten minutes. This. 
 is known to hundreds now living at Liverpool. 
 
 Singular Dream. 
 A Ge ntleman of fortune, now living, was waked by 
 liis wife one night, who faid (Ire had had a mod unpleafant 
 dream. She dreamed, fhe faid, that a friend of theirs, who 
 was in the Eaft India Company's land fervke, had been 
 killed in a duel. She likewife defcnbed the fituation of 
 the place where the duel was fought, and where the dead 
 body had been laid, which was in a fhed near the place 
 -where he fell. The hufband, who did not place much 
 credit in dreams, endeavoured to pacify her, reprefent- 
 ing to her the apfurdity of thofe imaginations in the 
 fkep, and told her he hoped the next accounts from In- 
 dia would announce the health of their friend. A few 
 months after, he received the melancholy news from 
 lhat country, that his wife's dream was but too true. A 
 gentleman who came from India, informed him that the 
 n;ai3?ain had fought a duel, and was unhappily killed upon 
 the fpot; and as a token of his regard, had bequeathed 
 him the fum of five hundred pounds. What renders 
 this dream remarkable is, that the body of the gentleman 
 who fell, was carried to a fhed near the fpot, as the lady de- 
 fcribed in her dream, which particular circum (lance was 
 related by the gentleman who brought home the news. 
 
OF APPARITIONS. 4* 
 
 Singular Appearance and Dream: 
 APhysician, who lived near Roche fter, in the county 
 of Kent, whofe name was Harris, a man much efteemed 
 in his profeflion, but an unbeliever in regard to preter- 
 natural appearances, and continually laughing at thofe 
 who did, was at laffc convinced of their reality by the fol- 
 lowing extraordinary occurrence. One evening his coach- 
 man and footman went out to take the diverfion of rabbit 
 {hooting in a warren near his houfe, taking with them 
 two dogs. While they were purfuing their diverfion, 
 both the dogs came howling and crouching at their feet.- 
 The men were at a lofs to account for the behaviour of 
 the dogs ; but their attention was called off by the ap- 
 pearance of a coffin, borne upon the fhoulders of four 
 men, which paiTed elofe by them both ; and, to their no 
 fmall furprize and terror, vanifhed under ground. They 
 direcUy left their fport, and returned home, relating; 
 what they had feen. The doctor laughed at them for. 
 their eow r ardiee and credulity. 
 
 The fame night, however, the doctor dreamed he was- 
 dead, and laid in. his cofrin. In the morning, when he 
 came down to break-fa ft, he told his dream to his niece ? , 
 who reiided with him, faying, if he was a man of a fuper- 
 ftitious turn of mind, he fhould be greatly alarmed, not 
 only at his dream, but at the cofrin ieen by his fervants*. 
 He laughed, as ufual,. at dreams and apparitions* The 
 fame day, while he was at dinner, he was fuddenly 
 taken ill* conveyed to bed, and in lefs than eight-and- 
 forty hours was a corpfe. He retained his fenfes to the 
 laft; and confeffed, before his death, that he confidered 
 the appearance of the coffin to his men as. a warning, 
 of his approaching difTolution. 
 
 Dream of a Young Lady; 
 A young lady of the name of Lancaftery whofe father" 
 was one of the commiffioners of bankrupts, and who- 
 lived in Warwick-Court, Holborn, a few years ao-o 9 , 
 was fuddenly deprived of her fpeech.. She had, at the 
 time this happened, the beft medical advice the city of 
 London coulct afford, without the defired effect. One 
 night, about feven years ago, fhe dreamed (he faw the 
 figure of an angel, who told her, if fhe went to Bath^ 
 fhe would recover her fpeech. In the mornincr One 
 ©oramunicated. her dream to her father, who was theiv 
 
 B>3 
 
4& WONDERFUL HISTORT 
 
 living. He laughed at her dream : and being a man 
 who paid but little refpect to thefe no&urnal admoni- 
 tions, the journey to Bath was refufed. Upon the death 
 «bf her father, which happened a fhort time after, (he had 
 a dream of a limilar nature. Being then her own mif« 
 irefs, £he determined upon a vifit to that place. The 
 day (he arrived at Bath, while fhe was fitting at dinner 
 ^viih a female friend, who had accompanied her in her 
 journey, at the White-Hart Inn, kept by Pickworth, in 
 that city, fne fuddenly fcreamed out, and fell from her 
 chair in a fit, Medical afliftance was immediately pro* 
 cured. When fhe recovered, to the aftonifliment of her 
 friend, {he fpoke as well as ever : informing all prefent r 
 that, while fhe was at dinner, fhe faw before her the 
 fame figure of an angel that had admonifhed her to go to 
 Bath. The lady is now living, perfectly recovered in 
 jher fpeech, which can be teftified by many eminent 
 ^medical men whom fhe was under during the lofs of 
 it. This happened only five or fix years ago,, and is 
 known to more than a hundred perfons now living. 
 
 Singular Dream* 
 Among the officers who ferved in the armies of the 
 Parliament in the grand rebellion was General Grm{by„ 
 Oliver Cromwell knew his value; and, when he left 
 Ireland, appointed Ormfby Lord Prefident of the Pro- 
 vince of UKler. As he was one day riding in the coun- 
 try, he could not. help remarking the natural capability 
 ©fit towards improvement ; and reflecting on the un- 
 fortunate Earl of Strafford, whofe.death had left his great 
 fdefigns unfinifhed, and covered the face of the country 
 with ruins, added with a figh, in the gloomy fpirit of 
 the times, But who can promife himfelf an hour y s life 
 to finifh any thing? Juft as he uttered thefe words, his 
 herfe '{tumbled going down the hill of Lexlip, and 
 : pitched bim on His head with fuch violence, that he 
 never {poke another word, The apparent reference of 
 his iaft words to his inftani fate ftrucfr" all prefent; but 
 they were much more aftunifhed, when, upon {earching, 
 his pockets, they found a memorandum in his diary, of 
 a dream he had that morning, in which the place and 
 ©tlier circumftances of his death were foretold as par- 
 ticularly as they could have been related after it hap- 
 pened, without the addition of a angle fy liable ; but ? 
 Tby will be done, O Lord 1 
 
.0?. APPARITIONS*. 4^ 
 
 Of a Ship brought from Lifbon tv Portfmontk By infernal. 
 Spirits.. 
 Every one, coirverfar.it in Engliih fiiftory, well knows 
 that one of the Chefterfield family v. 7 as the founder of the Hell- 
 fire Club in the reign of George II. and. frenr tha'fc, and other 
 blafphemous proceedings, obtained the appellation of Hellfir'd' 
 Stanhope. In the early part of his life, he was captain of a; 
 final] (loop of war. Being at Lifbon, and under failing orders 
 for England, the anchots being weighed - ^ the failors in general 
 found themlelves fo remarkably heavy, that deep was inevitable. 
 But the fum of the relation is, that the veffel, failing at the 
 amazing rate of forty-eight knots an hour, arrived at Portfmouth 
 before any of the crew was thoroughly awake. Though, from 
 the oath they afterwards made before the Mayor of the town, 
 viz. that they Vent to fieep off the rock of Lifbon en the over 
 night, infernal agency was clearly proved. In fact, one of 
 the men made a folemn alfeveration-, that he either was, or fan- 
 cied he was, awake fome part of the night, and law the fhrouds* 
 of the veffel filled' with black men, apparently very finally 
 but acting with an agility that exceeded any human beings.. 
 
 Proofs of Spirits and Apparitions in the JJle of Man. 
 From Watdron'f Survey. 
 
 At my fir ft coming into the ifland, and hearing thefe fort of 
 Sories, I imputed the giving credit to them merely to the fim- 
 plicity of the poor creatures who related them ; but was ftrangely 
 furprized when I heard other narratives of this kind, and al- 
 together as abfurd, attefted by men who paffed for perfons of 
 found judgment. Among this- number was a gentleman, my 
 near neighbour, who affirmed with the mod ■ folemn a(feveraticn r 
 that being of my opinion, and entirely averfe to the belief that 
 any fuch beings were permitted to wander for the purpofes' re- 
 lated of them, he had been at lad convinced by the appearance 
 of feveral little figures playing and leaping over fome nones in 
 a. field, whom, a few yards diftance, he imagined were fchool- 
 boys, and intended, when he came neai enough, to reprimand, 
 for being abfent from their exercifes at that time of the day, it 
 being then, he faid, between three and four of the clock: but 
 when he approached, as near as he could guefs, within twenty 
 paces, they all immediately difappeared, though he had never 
 taken his eye off them ; nor was there any place where they 
 conjd fo fuddenly retreat, it being in an open field, without hedge 
 or bu(h ; and, as I faid before, broad day. 
 
44 WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 Another hiflance, which might ferve to ftrengthen the credit 
 ©f the former, was told me by a perfon who had the reputation 
 of the titmoft integrity. — This man being d-firous of difpofmg 
 of a horfe he had at that time no great occafion for, and riding 
 him to market for that purpofe, was accofied, in paffing over 
 the mountains, by a little man in a plain drefs, who afkedhirrv 
 if he would fell his horie. It is that defign I am going on,. 
 replied the perfon who told me the ftory. On which, the other 
 defired to know the price. — Eight pounds, faid he. No, re- 
 fumed the purchafer, I will give no more than feven ; which, if 
 you will take, here is your money. The owner thinking he 
 had Bid pretty fair, agreed with him, and the money being told' 
 ©ut, the one difmounted, and the other got on the back of the 
 horfe, which he had no fooner done, than both beail and rider 
 fimk into the earth immediately, leaving the perfon who had 
 made the bargain in the utmoft terror and condensation. As 
 ibon as he had a little recovered himfelf, he went directly to the 
 parfon of the parifh, and related what had palled, defiring he 
 would give tils opinion whether he ought to make ufe of the 
 money he had received, or not. To which he replied, that as 
 he had made a fair bargain, and no way circumvented, nor en- 
 deavoured to circumvent, the buyer, he faw no reafon to believe^ 
 in cafe.it was an evil fpirit, it could have any power over him 9 . 
 On this affurance, he went home well, fatisfled, and nothing af- 
 terward happened to give him any difquiet concerning this affair* 
 
 A fecond account of the fame nature I had from:' a clergy^ 
 man, and a perfon of more fanftity than the generality of his- 
 function in this iiland. It was his cuffom to pafs fome hours- 
 every evening in a field near his houfe, mdulging meditation, 
 and calling himfelf to an account for the tranfactions of the paft: 
 day; as he was in this place one night, more than ordinarily 
 wrapt in contemplation, he wandered, without thinking where 
 he was, a confiderable way farther than it. was ufual for him to 
 do ; and. as he told me, he knew not how far the deepmufing : 
 he was in, might have carried him, if it Kadi not been fuddenly. 
 interrupted by a noife, which, at fidl, he took to he the diflant; 
 bellowing ofa bull,, but, as he httenrd more needfully to it. found' 
 there was fqrrtething more terrible in the found than could pro- 
 ceed from that creature. He confeifed to me, that he was no lets 
 affrighted than furprized, efpecially when the noife coming ftilL- 
 nearer, he imagined } whatever it was that it proceeded from, it- 
 
f>F APPARITION 3* 4g 
 
 jnuft pafs him: he had, however, prefence enough ©f mind to 
 place himfelfwith his back to a hedge, where he fell on his 
 .knees, and beoran to pray to God with all the vehemence fa 
 dreadful an occafion. required. He had not been long in that 
 pofition. before he beheld fomething in the form of a bull, but 
 infinitely larger than ever he had feen in England, much lefs m 
 Man, where the cattle are very fmall in general. r J he eyes, 
 he faid, feemed to {hoot forth flames ; and the running of it 
 was with fuch force, that the ground (hook under it as in an 
 earthquake. It made directly toward a little cottage, and there, 
 after mod horribly roaring, difappeared. The moon being 
 then at the full, and finning in her utmoft fplendor, all thefe 
 paifages were perfectly vi fib le to our amazed divine, who hav- 
 ing finiihed his ejaculation, and given thanks to- God for his 
 prefervation, went to the cottage, the owner of which, they 
 told him, was that moment dead. The good old gentleman was 
 loth to pals a cenfure which might be judged an uncharitable 
 one ; but the deceafed having the character of a very ill liver, 
 moil people, who heard the ftory, were apt to imagine this ter~ 
 ribie apparition came to attend his laft moments. 
 
 A ftrange and wonderful (lory is told, and currently believed 
 here, of an apparition frequently feen at Caftle Rulfia, in the- 
 form of a woman, who was fome years fince executed for the 
 murder of her child. I have heard not only perfons,. who have 
 been confined there for debt* but alfo the foldiers of the gar* 
 rifon affirm, they have feen it various times ; but what I took 
 roofl notice of, was the report of a gentleman* of whofe good 
 underftanding, as well as veracity, 1 have a great opinion. He 
 told me, that happening to be abroad late one night, and catched 
 in an exceffive ftorm of wind and rain, he faw a woman Hand 
 before the caftle-gate, where being not the leaf! (belter, it fome- 
 what furpiifed him, that any body, much iefs one of that fex,.' 
 mould not rather run to fome little porch, or ihed, of which 
 there ate feveral in Cattle-Town, than chute to (land ftiii, ex- 
 pofed and alone, in fuch a dreadful tempeft. His curio fity ex- 
 citing him to draw nearer, that he might dlfcover who it was 
 that feemed fo little to regard the fury of the elements, he per- 
 ceived the retreated on his approach, and, at laft, he thought, 
 went into the caftle, though the gates were (hut: this obliging 
 him to think he had feen a fpirit, fent him home very much: 
 terrified ; but the next day, relating his adventure to fome 
 people who lived, in the callle, and defcribing^ as near as.hs: 
 
4$ WONDERFUL HISTORY 
 
 could, the garb and flature of the apparition, they told him i£ 
 was that of the women above mentioned, who had been fre- 
 quently feen, by the foidiers on guard, to pafs in and out of 
 tke gates, as well as to walk through the rooms, though there 
 was no vifible means to enter. 
 
 Though fo familiar to the eye, no perfon has yet, however, 
 had the courage to fpeak to it; and, as they fay, a fpirit has no 
 power to reveal its mind without being conjured to do fo in a 
 proper manner, the reafon of its being permitted to wander is 
 unknown. 
 
 Another ftory of the like nature, I have heard concerning 
 an apparition, which has frequently been feen on a wild com- 
 mon near Kirk Jarmyn Mountains, which, they fay. aiTume* 
 the fiiape of a wolf, and fills the air widrmoft terrible bowlings* 
 
 But having run on fo far in the account of fupernatnrai ap- 
 pearances, I cannot forget what was told me by an EnglinY 
 gentleman, my particular friend. He was about pa fling over 
 Douglas bridge before it was broken down, out the tide being 
 high, he was obliged to take the river, having an excellent horfer 
 under him, and one aecuftomed to fwiixr. As he was in the 
 middle of it, he hearcf, or imagined he heard, the fineft, fym- 
 phony— I will not fay in the world, for nothing human ever 
 came up to it. The horfe was no lefs fenfible of the harmony 
 than himfelf, and kept in an immoveable poilure all the time it 
 kfted ; which;, he faid y could not be lefs than than three quarters 
 of an hour, according to the moll exact, calculation he could' 
 make, when he arrived at the end of his little journey, and 
 ibund how long he had been comings 
 
 He who before laughed at all (lories of fpirits, now became 
 a cop.vert, or at leaft fufpended his incredulity, and allowed 
 i fchat there might be forne extraordinary valuations in the world 
 for providential purpofes. 
 
 As to uncommon knockings and noifes, F cannot deny, but 
 I have been a witnefs to many things of that kind, which the 
 profeflbrs of modern philofophy would enjoy themfelves much 
 in ridiculing me for ; yet, in fpite of their laughter, I mull de- 
 clare I once thought. I heard a whittle, as though in my ear* 
 when nobody that could make it was near me. 
 
 For my part, I {hall not pretend to determine if fuch ap- 
 pearances have any reality, or are only the efieel of the imagi- 
 
OF APPARITIONS. 4^ 
 
 nation*, but as I had much rather give credit to them< than be 
 convinced by ocular demonttration, I (hail leave the point to be 
 difcuffed by thofe who have made it more their ftudy ; and only 
 fay, that whatever belief we ought to give to fome accounts of 
 this kind, there are others, arid thofe much more numerous, 
 which merit only tube laughed at : it not being at all confonant 
 to reafon, or the idea religion gives us of the fallen angels, to 
 fuppofe fpirits fo eminent in wifdom and knowledge, as to be 
 exceeded by nothing but their Creator, fhouid vifit the earth for 
 fuch trifling purpofes as to throw bottles and glades about a 
 room, and a thoufand other as ridiculous gambols, mentioned in 
 thofe voluminous treatifes of apparitions. 
 
 It is alfo abfolutely a fatt, that, before any perfon die, the 
 proceffion of the funeral isfeen by feveral perfons in proceffion, 
 as it will go to the church-yard in reality, hy a fort of beings, 
 which for that end render themfelves vifible. I know feveral 
 chat have offered to make oath, that, as they have been palling 
 the road, one of thefe funerals has come behind them, and even 
 laid the bier on their moulders, as* though to afTifl the bearers. 
 One perfon, who affured me he had been ferved fo, told me, 
 that the flefh of his fhoulders had been very much bruifed, and 
 was black for many years after. There are few in the lfland, 
 feut, one time or other, have feen and heard thefe fupernatural 
 obfequies; for it muft not be omitted, that they fing plalms in the 
 fame manner as thofe do who accompany the eorple of a dead 
 friend, which fo little differ from real ones, that they are not 
 to be known till both coffin and mourners are ken to vanifh at 
 the church- doors. Thefe they take to be a fort of friendly de- 
 mons, and their bufinefs, they fay, is to warn people of what 
 is to befal them: accordingly they give notice of any firanger J s 
 approach, by the trampling of horfes at the gate of the hyuiQ 
 where they are to arrive. As difficult as I found it to bring 
 myfelf to give any faith to this, I have frequently been very 
 much furpnfed, when, on viSting^ a friend, I have found the 
 table ready fpread, and everv thing in order to receive me, and 
 been told by the perfon to whom 1 went, that he had knowledge 
 of my coming, or fome other gueft, by thefe good-natured in* 
 telligencers. Nay, when obliged to be abfent fome time from 
 home, my own fervants have affured me they were informed by 
 thefe means of my return, and expected me the very hour I came 
 though perhaps it was fome days before I hoped it' myfelf at my 
 going abroad. That this is fact, 1 am pofuively convinced by 
 3 
 
4U WONDERFUL HISTORY, &C. 
 
 *many proofs; but how or wherefore it mould be fo, has fr<^ 
 ^juently given me much matter of reflexion, yet left me in the 
 iame uncertainty as before. 
 
 Flying Dutchman at the Cape. 
 
 I have heard the oldeit feamen, as we!l as young ones, and 
 Tnen of credit too, relate the following circumftance for fa£L 
 Generally fpeaking, previous to a ftorm, a floop or fchooner- 
 rigged veffei, all white, is feen with unufual rapidity flying 
 palt, and fcarcely fkimming the furface of the water. This is 
 the moft fatal omen to mariners in this part of the world ; and 
 there are few who have been in the habit of vifiting the Cape, 
 but have feen or converted with fome who have feen this fur- 
 prifmg phenomena, which, although philofophy cannot account 
 lor, is as certain as the appearance of Caftor and Pollux among 
 the ancients. 
 
 Mine Knockers. 
 
 The hiftory -of mine- working is infeparable from the ob«T 
 fervation of the exigence of thefe vifible, though untangible, 
 beings. By every account they are in all the moft profitable 
 *nines; and when they forfake onej the ore is not any longer 
 worth feeking after. They are reprefented as fhort below, four 
 feet in height, and, without any noife, feern in the night to 
 purfue every occupation of the miners by day. They work, as 
 it were, with mattock and fpade, like diggers, and wheel the 
 ore, the miners fay, as they x\o in their labour. England is 
 not the only country were thefe officious and moffenfive beings 
 are feen ; for they are as common in Germany and Bohemia. 
 About two years ago, a long account of thefe furprifihg geniufes 
 -appeared in the papers ; and the furveyor of a confiderable coal 
 mine, in the vicinity of York, communicated a particular ac- 
 count of their proceedings to Silvanus Urban, editor of the 
 Gentleman's Magazine, The curious reader may fee an en. 
 gravirtg of their proceedings and appearances under the portrait 
 ^©f the" ever-memorable John Hales, ufually prefixed to his Re- 
 mains in ; 4to. To doubt their exigence, or deny their" appear- 
 ance, in Sunderland, Cumberland, or any of the coal coua- 
 toes, would b€ equal to heterodoxy in the church. 
 
 Glinted by T. Maiden, Sheibourfte-Lane, Lombard-Street: 
 

 
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