cumstance in no slight degree curious; and the manner in which he handles his subject is still more so. We have printed his communication without any alteration of our own.] GHOST STORIES.-No. 1. "THAT the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, "I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages and of all nations. There is no people rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth. Those that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale, which nothing but experience can make credible; that it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the general evidence; and some who deny it with their tongues, confess it by their fears*." These are the sentiments uttered by the enlightened and the eloquent companion of the Prince of Abyssinia. The character of Imlac has always been considered as the self-drawn portrait of the author of Rasselas. His words are therefore to be received with deference, as conveying the opinions of Johnson; and they allude to a subject, which is perhaps unrivalled in the universal and the almost painful nature of the interest which it inspires. No man has ever been present at the recital of a story connected with circumstances of a preternatural description, without witnessing the eager, the breathless, the motionless expectation, which is immediately excited in the audience. Whatever may have been the preceding gaiety of the party, the laugh is silenced; the song is Rasselas, chapter 31. broken off; the jest is interrupted on the lips of the speaker : Such stories ever change the cheerful spirits To the wan colour of the shrouded corse*. Whatever may have been the preceding lassitude, it is immediately dispersed by the mention of any event remotely connected with the appearance of a departed spirit. "Carelessness instantly grows convert to attention." The various occupations of the hour are neglected; every individual is attracted to a common centre, and becomes alike partaker of a common interest. The book of the most persevering student is disregarded ; the needle involuntarily omits its incessant and indefatigable labours; the pen is arrested in its progress; the voice of the politician is subdued; there is a truce to the contests of the chess-board; while the old listen to the wondrous narrative with looks of assumed wisdom, and a smile of condescending incredulity; and the young throng together about the speaker, with their eyes rivetted upon his countenance: and as "the icy scalp of fear" grows colder upon their heads, they gather towards each other closely and more closely, as if, by the contact of the living, they would secure themselves from the intrusion of the dead. That the accounts, by which these powerful emotions are awakened and continued, contain nothing but the errors of the imagination, or the false visions that float before the eye of the diseased, is more than any man, who has seriously reflected on the mysterious conditions of human existence, can possibly have the temerity to advance. That such tales are true may reasonably be * Miss Baillie's Tragedy of Orra. doubted; but that they are false cannot with any degree of confidence be affirmed. If there be a spiritual world,and unless there is, the being of the material world is perfectly inexplicable,-who shall prescribe the laws, by which the disembodied soul shall be constrained?-who shall analyze its powers?-who shall appoint the limits of its action?-In the state of uncertainty and doubt, which, from the commencement of the world to the present hour, has been maintained by the public mind upon the subject of spectral visitations, it may perhaps be difficult to decide, whether the testimony is more in favour of their truth or of their falsehood. The argument of Dr. Johnson is one which, in any case of a less miraculous nature, would immediately be admitted as conclusive. All the nations of the world have agreed in a tale, which nothing but experience can make credible." But this agreement is not simply confined to a belief that the spirits of the dead have the power of sensibly presenting themselves to the eyes of the living, and that such events have occasionally taken place. The universal consent of the nations to such an opinion would alone carry with it a persuasion, which very few would dare to contradict, on the mere negative evidence of their never having witnessed such an occurrence.But this agreement extends still farther.-Nearly all the tales of ghosts and apparitions, which are familiar in France, in Spain, in Germany, in Italy, and in England, are so nearly accompanied with the same circumstances, that they might almost be regarded as different accounts of the same event. Nearly all of them are supposed to have taken place at the moment of the soul's separation from the body. The spirit seems to have followed the direction of its dying thoughts, and to have stood before the presence of the being who was dearest to its affections, before it was removed for ever from the interests of the earth, to share the retributions of its immortality. Narrations of this kind are so common in every country, in every neighbourhood, I had almost said, in every family, that there is scarcely a single individual who is not acquainted with some instance of this peculiar kind of preternatural event, which has fallen under his more immediate knowledge; which has happened to persons of credit and veracity; and which, however he may assert his incredulity,-will involuntarily impair the force and the conviction of his philosophical unbelief. It is extraordinary that mankind should so generally agree in imagining the reappearance of the departed spirit to be possible and frequent; it is extraordinary that they should prescribe the same particular moment for its appearance; it is extraordinary that they should fix upon a moment when the dreams of the fancy could have no basis to work upon; it is extraordinary that they should not await the authentication of the death, before they held imaginary communication with the spirit. It is still more extraordinary that these anticipations should so often have been corroborated by the event, and confirmed by their exact coincidence with the truth. Before I proceed to unfold my store of accredited ghost stories, I must first notice some of the objections which are generally advanced to invalidate the influence, to controvert the truth, and to silence the narrator of these superstitious legends. It is by some thought irreligious to believe them; they say that since the death of the Saviour miracles have ceased. As a layman I have nothing to do with the theological part of this argument. It appears to me perfectly unfounded. But what is a miracle?-A miracle consists in the violation of the ordinary laws of nature; but how do we know that the spectral intercourse of the dead and living is to be classed among the violations of those laws? An event may be rare in its occurrence, and extraordinary in its character; but these circumstances alone do not render it miraculous. It is asked, whether it is consistent with the benevolence of the Deity to permit the dead to interpose for the disturbance of the living? If they came to disturb the living, I should say, certainly not: but I never heard of any one who was injured by the real or the imaginary presence of the departed.-If spirits have indeed been visible to the corporeal eye, they have been innocent either of designing or of effecting any evil. It has indeed been said by Johanna Baillie,—and she is a person of almost omnipotent authority in all cases respecting the properties of the human heart and the extent of its passions and emotions,—that "could we suppose a person, with a mind so constituted as to hold intercourse with such beings entirely devoid of fear, we should turn from him with repugnance as something unnatural—as an instance of mental monstrosity*." To this sentiment I, for my part, feel, it perfectly impossible to assent. Ido not perceive why the soul of any man should be distressed by the vicinity of a being who was dear to him, whether the form approached him in the body or out of the body. So far from finding any occasion of anxiety in this mysterious moment of silent and visionary farewell; unless his heart was conscious of ingratitude; unless he had cause to doubt the import of the spiritual converse; unless he believed that the unearthly presence was designed as a reproach to his past unkindness, he would * Johanna Baillie's Preface to the third Volume of Plays on the Passions. |