SECTION I.

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THE

HISTORY

OF THE

LIFE

AND

ADVENTURES

OF

MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL,

A Gentleman, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, writes down any Stranger's

name at first Sight; with their future Contingencies of Fortune.

Now Living

In _Exeter_ Court over-against the _Savoy_ in the

_Strand_.

_Gentem quidem nullam video neque tam humanam atque doctam;

nequtam immanem tamque barbaram, quae non significari futura et a

quie busdam intelligi praedicique posse censeat._

Cicero de Divinatione, lib. x.

_LONDON_:

Printed for E. CURLL: And sold by W. MEARS and T. JAUNCY, without

_Temple Bar_, W. MEADOWS in _Cornhill_, A. BETTESWORTH in

_Pater-Noster-Row_. W. LEWIS in _Covent Garden and_ W. GRAVES in

St. _James's_ Street. M.DCC.XX. (Price 5_s._)

TO THE

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

I am not unacquainted, that, ever since this book was first promised by

way of advertisement to the world, it was greedily coveted by a great

many persons of airy tempers, for the same reason that it has been

condemned by those of a more formal class, who thought it was calculated

partly to introduce a great many new and diverting curiosities in the

way of superstition, and partly to divulge the secret intrigues and

amours of one part of the sex, to give the other part room to make

favourite scandal the subject of their discourse; and so to make one

half of the fair species very merry, over the blushes and the

mortifications of the other half. But when they come to read the

following sheets, they will find their expectations disappointed, but I

hope I may say too, very agreeably disappointed. They will find a much

more elegant entertainment than they expected. Instead of making them a

bill of fare out of patchwork romances of polluting scandal, the good

old gentleman who wrote the Adventures of my Life, has made it his

business to treat them with a great variety of entertaining passages,

which always terminate in morals that tend to the edification of all

readers, of whatsoever sex, age, or profession. Instead of seducing

young, innocent, unwary minds into the vicious delight which is too

often taken in reading the gay and bewitching chimeras of the cabalists,

and in perusing the enticing fables of new-invented tricks of

superstition, my ancient friend, the writer, strikes at the very root of

these superstitions, and shows them how they may be satisfied in their

several curiosities, by having recourse to me, who by the talent of the

second-sight, which he so beautifully represents, how nature is so kind

frequently to implant in the minds of men born in the same climate with

myself, can tell you those things naturally, which when you try to learn

yourselves, you either run the hazard of being imposed upon in your

pockets by cheats, gipsies, and common fortune-tellers, or else of being

imposed upon in a still worse way, in your most lasting welfare, by

having recourse to conjurors or enchanters that deal in black arts, and

involve all their consulters in one general partnership of their

execrable guilt; or, lastly, of imposing worst of all upon your own

selves, by getting into an itch of practising and trying the little

tricks of female superstition, which are often more officiously handed

down by the tradition of credulous nurses and old women, from one

generation to another, than the first principles of Christian doctrine,

which it is their duty to instil early into little children. But I hope

when this book comes to be pretty generally read among you ladies, as by

your generous and numerous subscriptions I have good reason to expect,

that it will afford a perfect remedy and a thorough cure to that

distemper, which first took its rise from too great a growth of

curiosity, and too large a stock of credulity nursed prejudicially up

with you in your more tender and infant years.

Whatever young maid hereafter has an innocent but longing desire to know

who shall be her husband, and what time she shall be married, will, I

hope, when she has read the following sheets of a man that can set her

right in the knowledge of those points, purely by possessing the gift of

the second sight, sooner have recourse innocently to such a man than use

unlawful means to acquire it, such as running to conjurors to have his

figure shown in their enchanted glasses, or using any of those

traditional superstitions, by which they may dream of their husbands, or

cause visionary shapes of them to appear on such and such festival

nights of the year; all which practices are not ordinarily wicked and

impious, but downright diabolical. I hope that the next 29th of June,

which is St. John Baptist's day, I shall not see the several pasture

fields adjacent to this metropolis, especially that behind Montague

House, thronged, as they were the last year, with well dressed young

ladies crawling busily up and down upon their knees, as if they were a

parcel of weeders, when all the business is to hunt superstitiously

after a coal under the root of a plantain, to put under their heads that

night, that they may dream who should be their husbands. In order to

shame them out of this silly but guilty practice, I do intend to have

some spies out on that day, that shall discover who they are, and what

they have been about; and I here give notice to the public, that this

ill-acted comedy, if it be acted at all this year, must begin according

to the rule of their superstition, on that day precisely at the hour of

twelve. And so much for the pretty weeders. But as you, ladies, have had

several magical traditions delivered to you, which, if you put in

exercise and practice, will be greatly prejudicial to your honour and

your virtue, let me interpose my counsels, which will conduct you

innocuously to the same end, which some ladies have laboured to arrive

at by these impieties. Give me leave first to tell you, that though what

you aim at may be arrived to by these means, yet these means make that a

miserable fortune which would have been a good one; because, in order

to know human things beforehand, you use preternatural mediums, which

destroy the goodness of the courses, which nature herself was taking for

you, and annexes to them diabolical influences, which commonly carry

along with them fatalities in this world as well as the next. You will,

therefore, give me your pardon likewise, ladies, if I relate some other

of these practices, which bare relation of itself, after what I have

said before, seems to me sufficient to explode them.

Another of the nurse's prescriptions is this: upon a St. Agnes's night,

the 21st day of January, take a row of pins and pull out every one, one

after another, saying a _Pater Noster_, or Our Father, sticking a pin in

your sleeve, and you will dream of her you shall marry. Ben Johnson, in

one of his masks, makes some mention of this:

And on Sweet Agnes' night

Please you with the promis'd sight,

Some of husbands, some of lovers,

Which an empty dream discovers.

Now what can be more infinitely profane than to use the prayer our Lord

instituted in such a way?

There is another prescription, which is as follows: You must lie in

another county, and knit the left garter about the right-legged

stocking, let the other garter and stocking alone, and as you rehearse

these following verses, at every comma, knit a knot:--

This knot I knit,

To know the thing I know not yet,

That I may see

The man that shall my husband be;

How he goes, and what he wears,

And what he does all days and years.

Accordingly in your dream you will see him: if a musician, with a lute

or other instrument; if a scholar, with a book, &c. Now I appeal to you,

ladies, what a ridiculous prescription is this? But yet as slight a

thing as it is, it may be of great importance if it be brought about,

because then it must be construed to be done by preternatural means, and

then those words are nothing less than an application to the devil.

Mr. Aubrey, of the Royal Society, says, a gentlewoman, that he knew,

confessed in his hearing that she used this method, and dreamt of her

husband whom she had never seen. About two or three years after, as she

was one Sunday at church, up pops a young Oxonian in the pulpit; she

cries out presently to her sister, this is the very face of the man I

saw in my dream. Sir William Somes's lady did the like.

Another way is to charm the moon thus, as the old nurses give out, at

the first appearance of the moon, after New-year's-day, some say any

other new moon is as good, go out in the evening, and stand over the

spars of a gate or stile, looking on the moon (here remark that in

Yorkshire they kneel on a ground-fast stone) and say,

All hail to the moon, all hail to thee,

I prithee, good moon, reveal to me

This night who my husband shall be.

You must presently after go to bed. The aforesaid Mr. Aubrey knew two

gentlewomen that did thus when they were young maids, and they had

dreams of those that married them.

But a great many of the wittiest part of your sex laugh at these common

superstitions; but then they are apt to run into worse: they give

themselves up to the reading of the cabalistical systems of sylphs, and

gnomes, and mandrakes, which are very wicked and delusive imaginations.

I would not have you imagine, ladies, that I impute these things as

infirmities and frailties peculiar to your sex. No; men, and great men

too, and scholars, and even statesmen, and princes themselves, have been

tainted with superstitions, and where they infect the minds of such

great personages, they make the deeper impression, according to the

stronger and more manly ideas they have of them. Their greater degree of

strength in the intellect only subjects them to greater weaknesses; such

was even the great Paracelsus, the wonder and miracle of learning in the

age wherein he lived, and such were all his followers, scholars,

statesmen, divines, and princes, that are talismanists.

These talismans that Paracelsus pretends to owe to the excogitation and

invention of honest art, seem to me to be of a very diabolical nature,

and to owe their rise to being dedicated by the author to the heathen

gods. Thus the cabalists pretending to a vast penetration into arts and

sciences, though all their thoughts are chimeras and extravagancies,

unless they be helped by preternatural means, say they have found out

the several methods appropriated to the several planets. They have

appropriated gold to the sun on the Sunday, silver to the moon on the

Monday, iron to Mars on the Tuesday, quicksilver to Mercury on the

Wednesday, tin to Jupiter on the Thursday, copper or brass to Venus on

the Friday, and lead to Saturn on the Saturday. The methods they take in

forming these talismans are too long to dwell upon here. But the

properties which they pretend belong to them are, that the first

talisman or seal of the sun will make a man beloved by all princes and

potentates, and cause him to abound with all the riches his heart can

wish. The second preserves travellers from danger, and is favourable to

merchants, tradesmen, and workmen. The third carries destruction to any

place where it is put: and it is said that a certain great minister of

state ordered one of these to be carried into England in the times of

the revolution of government caused by Oliver Cromwell. The fourth they

pretend cures fevers and other diseases; and if it be put under the

bolster, it makes the proprietor have true dreams, in which he sees all

he desires to know. The fifth, according to them, renders a man lucky

and fortunate in all his businesses and undertakings. It dissipates

melancholy, drives away all importunate cares, and banishes panic fears

from the mind. The sixth, by being put into the liquor which any one

drinks, reconciles mortal enemies, makes them intimate friends: it gains

the love of all women, and renders the proprietor very dexterous in the

art of music. The seventh makes women be easily brought to bed without

pain; and if a horseman carries it in his left boot, himself and his

horse become invulnerable.

This, Paracelsus and his learned followers say, is owing to the

influence of the stars; but I cannot help arguing these acts of

diabolical impiety. But as these arts are rarely known among the

middling part of mankind, I shall neither open their mysteries, nor

inveigh against them any farther.

The persons who are most to be avoided are your ordinary fortune-telling

women and men about this town, whose houses ought to be avoided as a

plague or a pestilence, either because they are cheats and impostors, or

because they deal with black arts, none of them that I know having any

pretensions to the gift of a second-sight. Among many, a few of the most

notorious that I can call to mind now, are as follow. The first and

chiefest of these mischievous fortune-tellers is a woman that does not

live far from the Old Bailey. And truly the justice hall in that place

is the properest place for her to appear at, where, if she was tried for

pretending to give charms written upon paper with odd scrawls, which she

calls figures, she would be probably convicted, and very justly

condemned, and doomed to have her last journey from the Old Bailey to

Newgate, and from Newgate to Tyburn. The other is a fellow that lives in

Moorfields, in which place those who go to consult him ought to live all

their lifetimes, at the famous palaces of the senseless men: he is the

successor of the famous Dr. Trotter, whose widow he married; and from

being a tailor and patching men's garments, he now cuts flourishes with

his shears upon parchment, considers the heavens as a garment, and from

the spangles thereupon he calculates nativities, and sets up for a very

profound astrologer. The third is an ignorant fellow that caws out

strange predictions in Crow-alley, of whose croaking noise I shall here

take no notice, he having been sufficiently mauled in the most ingenious

Spectators. These and such counterfeits as these, I would desire all

gentlemen and ladies to avoid. The only two really learned men that I

ever knew in the art of astrology, were my good friends Dr. Williams and

Mr. Gadbury; and I thought it necessary to pay this esteem to their

names, let the world judge of them what it will. I will here say no

more, nor hinder you any longer, gentlemen and ladies, from the

diversion which my good old friend, who is now departed this life, has

prepared for you in his book, which a young gentleman of my acquaintance

revised, and only subscribe myself,

Yours, &c.,

DUNCAN CAMPBELL.

THE

HISTORY OF THE LIFE

AND SURPRISING ADVENTURES

OF

MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL.

THE INTRODUCTION.

Of all the writings delivered in an historical manner to the world, none

certainly were ever held in greater esteem than those which give us the

lives of distinguished private men at full length; and, as I may say, to

the life. Such curious fragments of biography are the rarities which

great men seek after with eager industry, and when found, prize them as

the chief jewels and ornaments that enrich their libraries, and

deservedly; for they are the beauties of the greatest men's lives handed

down by way of example or instruction to posterity, and commonly handed

down likewise by the greatest men. Since, therefore, persons

distinguished for merit in one kind or other are the constant subjects

of such discourses, and the most elegant writers of each age have been

usually the only authors who choose upon such subjects to employ their

pens, and since persons of the highest rank and dignity, and genii of

the most refined and delicate relish, are frequently curious enough to

be the readers of them, and to esteem them the most valuable pieces in a

whole collection of learned works; it is a wonder to me that when any

man's life has something in it peculiarly great and remarkable in its

kind, it should not move some more skilful writer than myself to give

the public a taste of it, because it must be at least vastly

entertaining, if it be not, which is next to impossible, immensely

instructive and profitable withal.

If ever the life of any man under the sun was remarkable, this Mr.

Duncan Campbell's, which I am going to treat upon, is so to a very

eminent degree.

It affords such variety of incidents, and is accompanied with such

diversity of circumstances, that it includes within it what must yield

entire satisfaction to the most learned, and admiration to persons of a

moderate understanding. The prince and the peasant will have their

several ends of worthy delight in reading it; and Mr. Campbell's life is

of that extent, that it concerns and collects, as I may say, within

itself, every station of life in the universe. Besides, there is a

demand in almost every page that relates any new act of his, for the

finest and closest disquisitions that learning can make upon human

nature, to account how those acts could be done by him. For he daily

practised, and still practises, those things naturally, which puts art

to the rack to find out how nature can so operate in him; and his

fleshly body, by these operations, is a living practical system, or body

of new philosophy, which exceeds even all those that have hitherto been

compounded by the labour and art of many ages.

If one that had speculated deep into abstruse matters, and made it his

study not only to know how to assign natural reasons for some strange

new acts that looked like miracles by being peculiar to the individual

genius of some particular admired man, but carrying his inquiry to a

much greater height, had speculated likewise what might possibly be

achieved by human genius in the full perfection of nature, and had laid

it down as a thesis by strong arguments, that such things might be

compassed by a human genius, if in its true degree of perfection, as are

the hourly operations of the person's life I am writing, he would have

been counted a wild romantic enthusiast, instead of a natural

philosopher. Some of the wisest would be infidels to so new and so

refined a scheme of thinking, and demand experiment, or cry it was all

against reason, and would not allow the least tittle to be true without

it. Yet the man that had found out so great a mystery as to tell us what

might be done by human genius, as it is here actually done, would have

been a great man within himself; but wanting further experimental

proof, could lay no claim to the belief of others, or consequently to

their esteem. But how great, then, is the man who makes it constantly

his practice actually to do what would not otherwise have been thought

to be of such a nature as might ever be acquired by mortal capacity,

though in its full complement of all possible perfection? He is not only

great within himself, he is great to the world: his experiments force

our belief, and the amazing singularity of those experiments provokes

both our wonder and esteem.

If any learned man should have advanced this proposition, that mere

human art could give to the deaf man what should be equal to his

hearing, and to the dumb man an equivalent for his want of speech, so

that he could converse as freely almost as other hearing or talking

persons; that he might, though born deaf, be by art taught how to read,

write, and understand any language, as well as students that have their

hearing, would not the world, and many even of the learned part of it,

say that nothing could be more extravagantly wild, more mad and frantic?

The learned Dr. Wallis, geometry professor of Oxford, did first of all

lay down this proposition, and was counted by many to have overshot the

point of learning, and to have been the author of a whimsical thesis.

And I should not have wondered if, after a man's having asserted this

might be done, before it was actually done, some blind devout people in

those days, had accused him of heresy, and of attributing to men a power

of working miracles. The notion of the antipodes was by the most learned

men of the age in which St. Augustin lived, and by the great St. Austin

himself, treated in no milder a manner: yet if the ability of teaching

the deaf and the dumb a language proved a truth in experience

afterwards, ought not those to turn their contempt into admiration,

ought not those very people to vote him into the Royal Society for

laying down the proposition, who, before it proved true, in fact, would

have been very forward to have sent him to Bedlam? The first instance of

this accomplishment in a dumb person was proved before King Charles II.

by this same Dr. Wallis, who was a fellow of the Royal Society, and one

of the most ingenious of that society.

But, notwithstanding this, should I come afterwards and say, that there

is now living a deaf and dumb man, and born so, who could by dint of his

own genius teach all others deaf and dumb to read, write, and converse

with the talking and hearing part of mankind, some would, I warrant,

very religiously conclude, that I was about to introduce some strange

new miracle-monger and impostor into the world, with a design of setting

up some new sect of anti-christianism, as formidable as that of

Brachmans. Should I proceed still further, and say, that this same

person, so deaf and dumb, might be able also to show a presaging power,

or kind of prophetical genius, (if I may be allowed to use the

expression,) by telling any strange persons he never saw before in his

life, their names in writing, and by telling them the past actions of

their lives, and predicting to them determined truths of future

contingencies, notwithstanding what divines say, that "in futuris

contingeatibus non datur determinata veritas," would not they conclude

that I was going to usher in a new Mahomet? Since, therefore, there does

exist such a man in London, who actually is deaf and dumb, and was born

so, who does write and read, and converse as well as anybody, who

teaches others deaf and dumb to write, and read and converse with

anybody, who likewise can, by a presaging gift, set down in writing the

name of any stranger at first sight, tell him his past actions, and

predict his future occurrences in fortune, and since he has practised

this talent as a profession with great success for a long series of

years upon innumerable persons in every state and vocation in life, from

the peeress to the waiting-woman, and from the lady mayoress to the

milliner and sempstress, will it not be wonderfully entertaining to give

the world a perfect history of this so singular a man's life? And while

we are relating the pleasant adventures with such prodigious variety,

can anything be more agreeably instructive in a new way than to

intersperse the reasons, and account for the manner how nature, having a

mind to be remarkable, performs by him acts so mysterious.

I have premised this introduction, compounded of the merry and the

serious, with the hopes of engaging many curious people of all sorts to

be my readers, even from the airy nice peruser of novels and romances,

neatly bound and finely gilt, to the grave philosopher, that is daily

thumbing over the musty and tattered pieces of more solid antiquity. I

have all the wonders to tell that such a merry kind of a prophet has

told, to entertain the fancies of the first gay tribe, by which means I

may entice them into some solid knowledge and judgment of human nature;

and I have several solid disquisitions of learning to make, accounting

for the manner of these mysterious operations, never touched upon before

in due form and order by the hands of the ancient or modern sages, that

I may bribe the judgment of this last grave class, so far as to endure

the intermixing entertainment with their severer studies.

CHAPTER I.

MR. CAMPBELL'S DESCENT, FAMILY, BIRTH, ETC.

Of the goodness and antiquity of the name and family of this gentleman,

nobody can ever make any question. He is a Campbell, lineally descended

from the house of Argyll, and bears a distant relation to the present

duke of that name in Scotland, and who is now constituted a duke of

England, by the style and title of Duke of Greenwich.

It happens frequently that the birth of extraordinary persons is so long

disputed by different people, each claiming him for their own, that the

real place where he first took breath grows at last dubious. And thus it

fares with the person who is the subject of the following sheets; as,

therefore, it is my proposal to have a strict regard to historical

faith, so I am obliged to tell the reader that I can with no certainty

give an account of him till after he was three years old; from which age

I knew him, even to this day; I will answer for the truths which I

impart to the public during that time, and as for his birth and the

circumstances of it, and how the first three years of his life passed, I

can only deliver them the same account I have received from others, and

leave them to their own judgments whether it ought to be deemed real or

fabulous.

The father of our Mr. Duncan Campbell, as these relate the story, was

from his infancy of a very curious, inquisitive nature, and of an

enterprising genius, and if he heard of anything surprising to be seen,

the difficulty in practice was enough to recommend to him the attempting

to get a sight of it at any rate or any hazard. It is certain, that

during some civil broils and troubles in Scotland, the grandfather of

our Mr. Campbell was driven with his wife and family, by the fate of

war, into the isle of Shetland, where he lived many years; and during

his residence there, Mr. Archibald Campbell, the father of our Duncan

Campbell, was born.

Shetland lies north-east from Orkney, between sixty and sixty-one

degrees of latitude. The largest isle of Shetland, by the natives called

the Mainland, is sixty miles in length from south-west to the

north-east, and from sixteen, to one mile, in breadth.

The people who live in the smaller isles have abundance of eggs and

fowl, which contributes to maintain their families during the summer.

The ordinary folks are mostly very nimble and active in climbing the

rocks in quest of those eggs and fowl. This exercise is far more

diverting than hunting and hawking among us, and would certainly for the

pleasure of it, be followed by people of greater distinction, was it not

attended with very great dangers, sufficient to turn sport into sorrow,

and which have often proved fatal to those who too eagerly pursue their

game. Mr. Archibald Campbell, however, delighted extremely in this way

of fowling, and used to condescend to mix with the common people for

company, because none of the youths of his rank and condition were

venturesome enough to go along with him.

The most remarkable experiment of this sort, is at the isle called the

Noss of Brassah: the Noss standing at sixteen fathoms distance from the

side of the opposite main: the higher and lower rocks have two stakes

fastened in each of them, and to these there are ropes tied; upon the

ropes there is an engine hung which they call a cradle, and in this a

man makes his way over from the greater to the smaller rocks, where he

makes a considerable purchase of eggs and fowl; but his return being by

an ascent, makes it the more dangerous, though those on the great rock

have a rope tied to the cradle, by which they draw it and the man safe

over for the most part. Over this rock Mr. Archibald Campbell and five

others were in that manner let down by cradles and ropes; but before

they could be all drawn back again, it grew dark, and their associates

not daring to be benighted, were forced to withdraw, and Mr. Campbell

was the unfortunate person left behind, having wandered too far, and not

minded how the day declined, being intent on his game. He passed that

night, you may easily guess, without much sleep, and with great anxiety

of heart. The night, too, as he lay in the open air, was, to add to his

misfortunes, as boisterous and tempestuous as his own mind; but in the

end the tempest proved very happy for him. The reader is to understand

that the Hamburghers, Bremeners, and Hollanders, carry on a great fish

trade there. Accordingly, a Holland vessel, that was just coming in the

sound of Brassah, was by this tempest driven into a creek of the rock,

which nature had made into a harbour, and they were providentially

saved from the bottom of the sea by a rock, from which, humanly

speaking, they could expect nothing but destruction, and being sent to

the bottom of that sea. As never could a man be taken hold of with so

sudden and surprising a disaster, so nobody could meet with a more

sudden and surprising relief than Mr. Campbell found when he saw a ship

so near. He made to the vessel, and begged the Hollanders to take him

in; they asked him what he would give them, or, said the barbarous

sailors, we will even leave you where you are; he told them his

disaster, but they asked money, and nothing else would move them: as he

knew them a self-interested people, he bethought himself, that if he

should tell them of the plenty of fowls and eggs they would get there,

he might not only be taken in a passenger, but made a partner in the

money arising from the stock; it succeeded accordingly: when he proposed

it, the whole crew were all at work, and, in four hours, pretty well

stored the vessel, and then, returning on board, set sail for Holland.

They offered Mr. Campbell to put him in at his own island; but having a

mind to see Holland, and being a partner, to learn their way of

merchandize, which he thought he might turn to his countrymen's

advantage, he told them he would go the voyage out with them, and see

the country of those who were his deliverers; a necessary way of speech,

when one has a design to sooth barbarians, who, but for interest, would

have left him unredeemed, and, for aught they knew, a perpetual sole

inhabitant of a dreadful rock, encompassed round with precipices, some

three hundred fathoms high. Not so the islanders, who are wrongly called

a savage set of mortals; no, they came in quest of him after so bitter a

night, not doubting to find him, but fearing to find him in a lamentable

condition; they hunted and ransacked every little hole and corner in the

rock, but all in vain. In one place they saw a great slaughter of fowls,

enough to serve forty families for a week; and then they guessed, though

they had not the ill fortune to meet the eagles frequently noted to

hover about those isles, that they might have devoured part of him on

some precipice of the rock, and dropped the remnant into the sea. Night

came upon them, and they were afraid of falling into the same disaster

they went to relieve Mr. Campbell from. They returned each to their

proper basket, and were drawn up safe by their respective friends, who

were amazed that one basket was drawn up empty which was let down for

Mr. Campbell, and that there was not the least intelligence to be had

concerning him, but the suppositious story of his having been devoured

by eagles. The story was told at home; and with the lamentation of the

whole family, and all his friends, he was looked upon to be murdered or

dead.

Return we now to Mr. Archibald Campbell, still alive, and on board the

Holland vessel; secure, as he thought within himself that, from the

delivery he lately had by the gift of Providence, he was not intended to

be liable to any more misfortunes and dangers of life, in the compass of

so small a voyage. But his lot was placed otherwise in the book of fate,

than he too fondly imagined: his time of happiness was dated some pages

lower down, and more rubs and difficulties were to be encountered with,

before his stars intended to lead him to the port of felicity. Just as

he arrived within sight of Amsterdam, a terrible storm arose, and, in

danger of their lives, for many hours, they weathered out the tempest;

and a calm promising fair afresh, they made to the coast of Zealand; but

a new hurricane prevented the ship from coming there also; and after

having lost their masts and rigging, they were driven into Lapland.

There they went ashore in order to careen and repair their ship, and

take in provisions; while the ship was repairing by the Dutch, our

islander made merry with the inhabitants, being the most inclined to

their superstitious customs; he there became acquainted with a very

beautiful woman, who fell in love with him, and after a very short space

of time he married her. About the time when the ship departed, his wife,

who was very rich, was big with child of a son, namely, Mr. Duncan

Campbell. He wrote a letter by the master of the vessel to his parents

in Shetland, concerning the various adventures he had met with, which

was delivered the June following, about the time of fishing, to his

parents, and several persons had copies thereof, and, for aught I know,

some retain them to this very day; sure I am that many remember the

particulars of this, surprising affair, who are now living in that

island.

The letter being very remarkable and singular in all its circumstances,

I shall present it to the reader word for word, as it was given into my

hands, together with some others which he wrote afterwards, in all

which I am assured by very credible persons, and undoubted authorities,

there are not the least alterations, but what the version of it from the

then Scotch manner of expression into a more modern English dress, made

absolutely necessary.

MY DEAREST FATHER,

The same odd variety of accident, which put it out of my power to

be personally present with you for so long a time, put it

likewise out of my power to write to you. At last fortune has so

ordered it, that I can send a letter to you before I can come

myself, and it is written expressly to tell you the adventures I

have met with, which have detained me this tedious space of time

from my dear father, and because the same captain of a ship that

brings you this, might as easily have brought your son to speak

for himself. I shall in the next place lay before you the

necessity there is for my stay a little longer among the strange

natives of the country where I now inhabit, and where I am, in a

manner, become naturalized.

You have, no doubt of it, been informed by my companions, some of

whom I hope got safe back again, if not all, that I was lost,

where many a brave man has perished before me, by going over the

high precipices of the mountain Brassah, in a basket, sliding

down by a rope. I must suppose I have given you the anguish of a

father for a son, who you thought had lost his life by such a

foolhardy attempt, and I implore your pardon with all the power

of filial contrition, penitence, and duty. You have always showed

me such singular marks of paternal affection, that I know your

receipt of this letter will fill your heart with joy, and cause

you to sign me an absolution and free pardon for all the errors I

have committed, and think the sufferings I have undergone for my

rashness and indiscretion, a sufficient atonement for my crime of

making you by my undutifulness, a partner of my sorrows. To free

you the more from this uneasiness, I know I need only tell you,

that every grief of mine is gone excepting one, which is, that I

must still lose the pleasure of seeing you a little longer. There

was never surely a more bitter night than that which must by me

be for ever remembered, when I was lost in the mountain of

Brassah, where I must, for aught I know, have lived for ever a

wild single inhabitant, but that the storm which made the night

so uneasy to me, rendered the first approach of daylight, beyond

measure delightful. The first providential glimpse of the morning

gave me a view of a ship driven by the tempest into a creek of

the rock, that was by nature formed like a harbour; a miraculous

security of deliverance, as I thought, both for the ship's crew

and myself. I made all the haste I could, you may be sure, to

them, and I found them to be Dutchmen that were come for fish;

but in lieu of fish I instructed them to load it with eggs and

fowl, which we compassed very happily in a short space of time,

and I was to be a sharer with the captain in the lading, and

bargained to go for Holland, to see the sale, and nature of the

traffic; but when we were at sea, after much bad weather, we made

towards Zealand, but we were driven upon the coast of Finland by

a new storm, and thence into Lapland, where I now am, and from

whence I send you this letter.

I could not come into a place so properly named for my reception;

as I had been undutiful to you, and fortune seemed to make me an

exile, or a banished man, by way of punishment for the vices of

my youth; so Lapland (which is a word originally derived from the

Finland word _lappi_, that is, exiles, and from the Sweden word

_lap_, signifying banished, from which two kingdoms most of our

inhabitants were banished hither, for not embracing the Christian

religion), was certainly the properest country in the world to

receive me.

When first I entered this country, I thought I was got into quite

another world; the men are all of them pigmies to our tall,

brawny Highlanders; they are, generally speaking, not above three

cubits high, insomuch that though the whole country of Lapland is

immensely large, and I have heard it reckoned by the inhabitants

to be above a hundred German leagues in length, and fourscore and

ten in breadth, yet I was the tallest man there, and looked upon

as a giant. The district in which I live now, is called Uma

Lapmark. You must understand, sir, that when I landed at North

Cape, in Kimi Lapmark, another district of Lapland, there was at

that time a most beautiful lady come to see a sick relation of

her father's, who was prefect, or governor of Uma Lapmark, which

is a post of great distinction. This lady, by being frequently in

the company of French merchants, who traffic now and then in that

province of Uma Lapmark, understood French, and having heard of a

man six foot and a half high, desired to see me, and when I

came, she happened mightily to like my person; and she talked

French, which when I answered, she made great signs of joy, that

she could communicate her sentiments to me, and she told me who

she was, how rich, and that not one in the company besides could

understand a syllable we said, and so I might speak my mind

freely to her; she told me the customs of the country, that it

was divided into cantons, like our shires, and those cantons into

rekars, or certain grounds allotted to families, that are just

like our clans. As she was beyond measure beautiful, she was

extremely good humoured, a thing rarely to be met among Lapland

women, of a better stature than her country women, and very rich,

and of good birth: I thought it would be a prodigious turn of

fortune, for a man in my circumstances, if I could make any

progress in her heart, which she seemed a little to open to me,

in such a manner, for the beginning, as if such a successful

event, if managed with prudence, might not be despaired off.

Souls that are generous are apt to love, and compassion is the

best introducer of love into a generous bosom, and that was the

best stock I had to go upon in my courtship! I told her of all my

calamities, my dangers, and my escapes; the goodness of my birth,

as being allied to one of the greatest nobles in our island; and

still she would ask me to tell it her over again, though every

time I told it, just at such and such passages, she was forced to

drop the tears from her eyes. In fine, I grew more in love with

her, more out of a sense of gratitude now, than by the power of

her charms before; the matter in a few days went so far, that she

owned to me I had her heart. As to marriage, I did not then know

the custom of the nation; I thought that if it proved only

dangerous to me, I loved her so well that I intended to marry

her, though the law was to pronounce me dead for it; but I did

not know whether it might not be perilous for her too, to engage

in such a state with me, and I resolved in that case, rather to

be singly unhappy, than to involve her in distress, and make her

the fair companion of my woes. I would not tell her so, for fear

she should out of love hide from me those dangers, and therefore

using a kind sort of dissimulation, I conjured her to tell me the

laws and customs of marriages in that country to a tittle, and

that nothing should hinder us from happiness. She told me

exactly, as I find since. Our marriage, said she, will be very

hard to compass; provided we follow the strict rule of the

country. For our women here, are bound not to see the man who

makes their addresses to them, in some time. His way of courtship

is to come to the parents, and his nearest friends and relations

must make her father presents, and supplicate him like a king, to

grant him his daughter. The courtship often lasts two or three

years, and sometimes has not its effect at last; but if it has,

the woman is dragged by her father and brother to church, as

unwilling to go to be married, which is looked upon as a greater

part of modesty in her, according to the greater disinclination

she shows. My father and brother, said she, will both be against

it; you have no relations in this country to move your suit, I

cannot be so hypocritical as to be dragged unwillingly to him I

own I desire for my lawful husband, and therefore, as I have an

inclination to you, and I dare own I have, I will not follow

those methods which I disapprove. I have talked with several

Swedes, and several polite Frenchmen, about their manner of

espousals, and I am told, that when souls are naturally united by

affection, the couple so mutually and reciprocally loving, though

they had rather have their parents' leave if likely to be got,

yet, unwilling to be disappointed, only go to the next minister's

and marry for better for worse. This way I approve of, for where

two persons naturally love each other, the rest is nothing but a

modest restraint to their wishes, and since it is only custom, my

own reason teaches me there is no error committed, nor any harm

done in breaking through it upon so commendable an occasion. I

have, added she, a thousand rein-deer belonging to me, beyond my

father's power of taking away, and a third share in a rekar or

clan, that is ten leagues in compass, in the byar or canton of

Uma Lapmark. This is at my own disposal, and it is all your own,

if you please to accept of it with me. Our women are very coy,

when they are courted, though they have never so much an

inclination to their suitor; but good reason and the commerce I

have had with persons of politer nations than ours is, teach me

that this proceeds entirely from vanity and affectation, and the

greatest proof of a woman's modesty, chastity, and sincerity,

certainly consists, contrary to the general corrupted opinion, in

yielding up herself into the arms of the man she loves. For she

that can dally with a heart she prizes, can give away her heart,

when she is once balked, to any man, even though she dislikes

him. You must judge, my dear father, I must be touched with a

woman that was exceeding beautiful, beyond any of her nation, and

who had thoughts as beautiful as her person. I therefore was all

in rapture, and longed for the matrimony, but still loved her

enough to propose the question, I resolved, to her, viz., if it

would not be in her nation accounted a clandestine marriage, and

prove of great damage to her.

To this she answered with all the wisdom which could be expected

from a woman who had given such eminent tokens of her judgment on

other points, amidst a nation so barbarous in its manners, and so

corrupt in its principles, as Lapland is. I am, said she,

answerable to my father, for nothing by our laws, having no

portion of him, but only what was presented me by my relations at

my birth, according to custom, in lands and rein-deer. My father

is but deputy governor; it is a Swede who is the governor of Uma;

and if I pay to him at every mart and fair the due tribute, which

must either consist of fifty rein-deer or one hundred and fifty

rixdollars, he will have the priest that marries us present at

the court of justice, according to our custom, and keep us in

possession of our rights, that we may be enabled to pay tribute

to the crown of Sweden. Indeed, before the abolition of the

Birkarti, which were our native judges, we could not have married

thus without danger to us both; but now there is none at all.

My dear father, you must easily imagine that I could not help

embracing with all tenderness so dear and so lovely a woman. In

fine, I am married to her, I have lived very happy hitherto, and

am now grown more happy, for she is big with child; and likely,

before my letter comes to your hands, to make you a grandfather

of a pretty boy. You will perhaps wonder that I name the sex of

the child before it comes into the world, but we have a way in

Lapland of finding that out, which though some judicious people

call superstitious, I am really persuaded of by experience, and

therefore I indulged my dear wife's curiosity, when she signified

to me she had a mind to make the usual trial, whether the child

she was going to be delivered of would be a boy or a girl.

You must understand, my dear father, the people here judge of

the sex of the child by the moon, unto which they compare a

big-bellied woman. If they see a star appear just above the moon,

it is a sign it will be a boy, but, if the star be just below the

moon, they conjecture her to be big with a girl. This observation

and remark of Laplanders has, I know, been accounted by some, and

those wise and judicious men too, to be ridiculously

superstitious; but I have been led into an easy belief of this

mystery, by a mistress that is superior to wisdom itself,

constant, and therefore probably infallible, experience. I

therefore indulged my wife in this her request, and went with her

to the ceremony; the star appeared above the moon, which

prognosticates a boy, which I wish may, and I scarce doubt will,

prove true, and when she is brought to bed I will send you word

of it. It is remarkable, likewise, that a star was seen just

before the moon, which we also count a very good omen. For it is

a custom likewise here in Lapland, to consult the moon, as an

oracle about the health and vigour of the child. If a star be

seen just before the moon, we count it a sign of a lusty and well

grown child, without blemish; if a star comes just after, we

reckon it a token that the child will have some defect or

deformity, or die soon after it is born.

Having thus told you the manners of the country I live in at

present, as much at large as the nature of a letter will permit,

and related to you my own happy circumstances, and the kindly

promises of the heavens that are ushering in the birth of my

child, I would not have you think that I addict myself to the

superstitions of the country, which are very many and groundless,

and arising partly from the remainder of Pagan worship, which is

still cultivated among some of the more obstinate inhabitants. I

have, on the contrary, since I married her, endeavoured to repay

my wife's temporal blessings to me with those that are endless,

instructed her in all the points of religion, and made her

perfectly a Christian; and she, by her devotion and prayers for

me, makes me such amends for it that I hope in us two St. Paul's

saying will be verified, viz., "That the woman shall be

sanctified in her husband, and the husband shall be sanctified in

his wife."

However, I must take notice in this place, with all due deference

to Christianity, that though I am obliged to applaud the prudence

and piety of Charles the Ninth of Sweden, who, constituting

Swedish governors over this country, abrogated their practice of

superstitions and art magic upon pain of death, yet that king

carried the point too far, and intermingled with these arts the

pretensions to the gift of a second-sight, which you know how

frequent it is with us in Scotland, and which, I assure you, my

wife (though she durst not publicly own it for fear of incurring

the penalty of those Swedish laws) does, as it were, inherit (for

all her ancestors before her have had it from time immemorial) to

a greater degree than ever I knew any of our countrywomen or

countrymen.

One day last week she distracted me between the extremes of joy

and sorrow. She told me I should see you shortly, and that my

coming son would grow to be one of the most remarkable men in

England and Scotland, for his power of foresight; but that I

should speedily lose her, and meet with difficulties in my own

country, in the same manner as my father, meaning you, sir, had

done before me, and on the same account, viz., of civil broils,

and intestine wars in Scotland.

These unfortunate parts of her relation I would not conceal from

you, because the veracity of her notions should appear, if they

are true, though you may be sure I much wish they all may prove

false to the very last; excepting that wherein she tells me, my

son will be greatly remarkable, and that I shall shortly see my

dear father, which I daily long for, and will endeavour to do as

soon as possible. Pray remember me to all friends; being,

Honoured sir,

Your most dutiful and loving son,

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.

* * * * *

THE SECOND LETTER.

I am now the happiest man alive; the prosperous part of my wife's

predictions, which I mentioned to you in my last, is come in some

measure to pass. The child she has brought me proves a boy, and

as fine a one as I ever beheld, (if fondness for my own makes me

not blind); and sure it cannot be fondness, because other plain

circumstances joined at his birth to prove it a more than

ordinary remarkable one. He was born with a caul upon his head,

which we count one of the luckiest signs that can be in nature;

he had likewise three teeth ready cut through the gums, and we

reckon that an undeniable testimony and promise given to the

world by nature, that she intends such a person for her

extraordinary favourite, and that he is born for great things,

which I daily beg of heaven may come to pass.

Since I have known for some months what it is to be a father, it

adds a considerable weight to those affections which I had for my

wife. I thought that my tenderness for her was at the height of

perfection before; which shows how little we know of those parts

of nature that we have yet never tried, and of which we have not

yet been allotted our share to act upon the stage of life. I find

that I did love her then as well as a husband could love a wife,

that is, a wife without a child; but the love to a wife that has

a child, is a feeling wonderful and inexpressibly different. A

child is the seal and the pledge of love. Meditating upon this,

has likewise doubled my affection to you. I loved you before, as

a son, and because as such, I felt your tenderness; but my love

is much increased now, because I know the tenderness which you

felt for me as a father. With these pleasing images of thought, I

often keep you nearer company at this vast distance, than when I

lived irregularly under your eye. These reflections render a

solitary life dear to me. And though I have no manner of

acquaintance with her relations, who hate me, as I am told, nor

indeed with almost any of the inhabitants, but my own domestics,

and those I am forced to deal with, yet I have as much, methinks,

as I wish for, unless I could come over to Shetland and live with

you, which I the more ardently desire, because I think I and my

wife could be true comforts to you, in your advanced years; now I

know what living truly is. I am daily persuading my wife to go

with me; but she denies me with kind expressions, and says, she

owes too much to the place, however less pleasant in itself than

other climates, where she had the happiness of first joining

hands with me in wedlock, ever to part from it. But I must

explain how I ask, and how she refuses. I resolved never directly

and downrightly to ask her, because I know she can refuse me

nothing; and that would be bearing hard upon the goodness of her

will. But my way of persuading her consists in endeavouring to

make her in love with the place, by agreeable descriptions of

it, and likewise of the humane temper of the people; so that I

shortly shall induce her to signify to me that it is her own will

to come with me, and then I shall seem rather to consent to her

will, than to have moved it over to my own. These hopes I have of

seeing my dear father very shortly, and I know such news would

make this letter, which I therefore send, more acceptable to him,

to whom I will be,

A most dutiful and

affectionate son, till death,

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.

P.S. If I cannot bring my wife to change this country for

another, I have brought her to that pitch of devotion, that

whenever Providence, which, notwithstanding her predictions, I

hope will be long yet, shall call her to change this world for

another, it will be happy with her there; she joins with me in

begging your blessing to me, herself, and our little Duncan, whom

we christened so, out of respect to the name you bear.

* * * * *

THE THIRD LETTER.

MY DEAR FATHER,

I am lost in grief; I had just brought my wife (her that was my

wife, for I have none now, I have lost all joy), in the mind of

coming over to be a comfort to you. But now grief will let me say

no more than that I am coming to beg comfort from you, and by

this I prepare you to receive, when he comes, a son in tears and

mourning.

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.

P.S. I have a babe, not much above two years old, must bear the

hardships of travelling over the ice, and all through Muscovy,

for no ships can stir here for many months; and I cannot bear to

live in this inhospitable place, where she died, that only could

make it easy to me, one moment beyond the first opportunity I

have of leaving it. She is in heaven; that should make me easy,

but I cannot; I am not so good a Christian as she was--I am lost

and ruined.

CHAPTER II.

AFTER THE DEATH OF MR. DUNCAN CAMPBELL'S MOTHER IN LAPLAND, HIS

FATHER, ARCHIBALD, RETURNED WITH HIS SON TO SCOTLAND. HIS SECOND

MARRIAGE, AND HOW HIS SON WAS TAUGHT TO WRITE AND READ.

Mr. Archibald Campbell, having buried his Lapland lady, returned to

Scotland, and brought over with him his son, Mr. Duncan Campbell. By

that time he had been a year in his own country, he married a second

wife; a lady whom I had known very well for some years, and then I first

saw the boy; but, as they went into the western islands, I saw them not

again in three years. She being, quite contrary to the cruel way much in

use among stepmothers, very fond of the boy, was accustomed to say, she

did, and would always think him her own son. The child came to be about

four years of age, as she has related to me the story since, and not

able to speak one word, nor to hear any noise; the father of him used to

be mightily oppressed with grief, and complain heavily to his new wife,

who was no less perplexed, that a boy so pretty, the son of so

particular a woman, which he had made his wife, by strange accidents and

adventures, and a child coming into the world with so many amazing

circumstances attending his birth, should lose those precious senses by

which alone the social commerce of mankind is upheld and maintained, and

that he should be deprived of all advantages of education, which could

raise him to the character of being the great man that so many

concurring incidents at his nativity promised and betokened he would be.

One day, a learned divine, who was of the university of Glasgow, but had

visited Oxford, and been acquainted with the chief men of science there,

happening to be in conversation with the mother-in-law of this child,

she related to him her son's misfortunes, with so many marks of sorrow,

that she moved the good old gentleman's compassion, and excited in him a

desire to give her what relief and consolation he could in this unhappy

case. His particular inclination to do her good offices, made him

recollect, that, at the time he was at Oxford, he had been in company

with one Doctor Wallis, a man famous for learning, who had told him that

he had taught a born deaf and dumb man to write, and to read, and even

to utter some sounds articulately with his mouth; and that he told him

he was then going to commit to print the method he made use of in so

instructing that person, that others, in the like unfortunate condition

might receive the same benefits and advantages from other masters, which

his deaf and dumb pupil had received from him. A dumb man recovering his

speech, or a blind man gaining his sight, or a deaf one getting his

hearing, could not be more overjoyed than Mrs. Campbell was at these

unexpected tidings, and she wept for gladness when he told it. The good

gentleman animated and encouraged her with the kindest promises, and to

keep alive her hopes, assured her he would send to one of the chief

booksellers in London to inquire after the book, who would certainly

procure it him if it was to be got, and that afterwards he would peruse

it diligently, make himself master of Doctor Wallis's method, and though

he had many great works upon his hands at that time, he would steal from

his other studies leisure enough to complete so charitable an office, as

teaching the dumb and deaf to read and to write, and give her son, who

was by nature deprived of them, the advantages of speech, as far as art

would permit that natural defect to be supplied by her powerful

interposition.

When the mother came home, the child, who could hear no knocking, and

therefore it must be by a strange and inexplicable instinct in nature,

was the first that ran to the door, and falling in a great fit of

laughter, a thing it was not much used to before, having on the contrary

rather a melancholy cast of complexion, it clung round its mother's

knees, incessantly embracing and kissing them, as if just at that time

it had an insight into what the mother had been doing for it, and into

its own approaching relief from its misery.

When the mother came with the child in her hand to the father, to tell

him the welcome news, the child burst afresh into a great fit of

laughter, which continued for an unusual space of time; and the scene of

such reciprocal affection and joy between a wife and her own husband, on

so signal an occasion, is a thing easier to be felt by parents of a good

disposition, imagining themselves under the same circumstances, with

regard to a child they loved with fondness, than to be expressed or

described by the pen of any writer. But it is certain, whenever they

spoke of this affair, as anybody, who knows the impatience of parents

for the welfare of an only child, may guess, they must be often

discoursing it over, and wishing the time was come; the boy, who used

seldom so much as to smile at other times, and who could never hear the

greatest noise that could be made, would constantly look wishfully in

their faces and laugh immoderately, which is a plain indication that

there was then a wonderful instinct in nature, as I said before, which

made him foretaste his good fortune, and, if I may be allowed the

expression, the dawnings as it were of the second-sight, were then

pregnant within him.

To confirm this, the happy hour of his deliverance being come, and the

doctor having procured Mr. Wallis's book, came with great joy, and

desired to see his pupil; scarce were the words out of his mouth when

the child happened to come into the room, and running towards the

doctor, fell on his knees, kissed his hand eagerly, and laughed as

before, which to me is a demonstration that he had an insight into the

good which the doctor intended him.

It is certain, that several learned men, who have written concerning the

second-sight, have demonstrated by incontestable proofs, and undeniable

arguments, that children, nay, even horses and cows, see the

second-sight, as well as men and women advanced in years. But of this I

shall discourse at large in its proper place, having allotted a whole

future chapter for that same subject of second-sightedness.

In about half a year, the doctor taught his little dumb pupil first to

know his letters, then to name anything whatsoever, to leave off some

savage motions which he had taken of his own accord before, to signify

his mind by, and to impart his thoughts by his fingers and his pen, in a

manner as intelligible, and almost as swift through the eyes, as that is

of conveying our ideas to one another, by our voices, through the

conduits and portholes of the ears. But in little more than two years he

could write and read as well as anybody. Because a great many people

cannot conceive this, and others pretend it is not to be done in nature,

I will a little discourse upon Doctor Wallis's foundation, and show in a

manner obvious to the most ignorant, how this hitherto mysterious help

may be easily administered to the deaf and the dumb, which shall be the

subject of the ensuing chapter.

But I cannot conclude this without telling the handsome saying with

which this child, when not quite six years old, as soon as he thought he

could express himself well, paid his first acknowledgment to his master,

and which promised how great his future genius was to be, when so witty

a child ripened into man. The words he wrote to him were these, only

altered into English from the Scotch.

SIR,

It is no little work you have accomplished. My thanks are too

poor amends; the world, sir, shall give you thanks; for as I

could not have expressed myself without your teaching me, so

those that can talk, though they have eyes, cannot see the things

which I can see, and shall tell them; so that in doing me this,

you have done a general service to mankind.

CHAPTER III.

THE METHOD OF TEACHING DEAF AND DUMB PERSONS TO WRITE, READ, AND

UNDERSTAND A LANGUAGE.

It is, I must confess, in some measure, amazing to me that men, of any

moderate share of learning, should not naturally conceive of themselves

a plain reason for this art, and know how to account for the

practicability of it, the moment they hear the proposition advanced; the

reasons for it are so obvious to the very first consideration we can

make about it. It will be likewise as amazing to me that the most

ignorant should not conceive it, after so plain a reason is given them

for it, as I am now going to set down.

To begin: how are children at first taught a language that can hear? are

they not taught by sounds? and what are those sounds, but tokens and

signs to the ear, importing and signifying such and such a thing? If,

then, there can be signs made to the eye, agreed by the party teaching

the child, that they signify such and such a thing, will not the eye of

the child convey them to the mind, as well as the ear? They are indeed

different marks to different senses, but both the one and the other do

equally signify the same things or notions, according to the will of the

teacher, and consequently must have an equal effect with the person who

is to be instructed, for though the manners signifying are different,

the things signified are the same.

For example; if, after having invented an alphabet upon the fingers, a

master always keeps company with a deaf child, and teaches it to call

for whatsoever it wants by such motions of the fingers which, if put

down by letters, according to each invented motion of each finger, would

form in writing a word of a thing which it wanted; might not he by these

regular motions teach its eye the same notions of things, as sounds do

to the ears of children that hear? The manner of teaching the alphabet

by fingers, is plainly set down in the following table.

When the deaf child has learned by these motions a good stock of words,

as children that hear first learn by sounds, we may, methinks, call not

improperly, the fingers of such a dumb infant, its mouth, and the eye of

such a deaf child, its ear. When he has learnt thus far, he must be

taught to write the alphabet, according as it was adapted to the motions

of his fingers; as for instance, the five vowels, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_,

_u_, by pointing to the top of the five fingers, and the other letters,

_b_, _c_, _d_, &c., by such other place or posture of a finger, as in

the above-mentioned table is set forth, or otherwise, it shall be agreed

upon. When this is done, the marks B, R, E, A, D, and so of all other

words, corresponding with such fingers, conveys through his eyes, unto

his head, the same notion, viz., the thing signified, as the sound we

give to those same letters, making the word 'bread,' do into our head,

through the ears.

This once done, he may be easily taught to understand the parts of

speech, as the verb, the noun, pronoun, &c., and so, by rules of grammar

and syntax, to compound ideas, and connect his words into a language.

The method of which, since it is plainly set forth in Doctor Wallis's

letter to Mr. Beverly, I shall set it down by way of extract; that

people in the same circumstances with the person we treat of, and of the

like genius, may not have their talents lost for want of the like

assistance.

When once a deaf person has learned so far as to understand the common

discourse of others, and to express his mind tolerably well in writing,

I see no room to doubt but that, provided nature has endowed him with a

proper strength of genius, as other men that hear, he may become

capable, upon farther improvement, of such farther knowledge as is

attainable by reading. For I must here join with the learned Doctor

Wallis in asserting, as to the present case before us, that no reason

can be assigned why such a deaf person may not attain the understanding

of a language as perfectly as those that hear; and with the same learned

author I take upon me to lay down this proposition as certain, that

allowing the deaf person the like time and exercise, as to other men is

requisite in order to attain the perfection of a language, and the

elegance of it, he may understand as well, and write as good language,

as other men; and abating only what doth depend upon sound, as tones,

cadences, and such punctilios, no whit inferior to what he might attain

to, if he had his hearing as others have?

* * * * *

_An Extract from Dr. Wallis, concerning the method of teaching the Deaf

and Dumb to Read._

It is most natural, (as children learn the names of things), to furnish

him by degrees with a nomenclator, containing a competent number of

names of things common and obvious to the eye, that you may show the

thing answering to such a name, and these digested under convenient

titles, and placed under them in such convenient order, in several

columns, or other orderly situation in the paper, as by their position

best to express to the eye their relation or respect to one another. As

contraries or correlatives one against the other, subordinates or

appurtenances under their principle, which may serve as a kind of local

memory.

Thus, in one paper, under the title mankind, may be placed, not

confusedly, but in decent order, man, woman, child (boy, girl).

In another paper, under the title body, may be written, in like

convenient order, head (hair, skin, ear), face, forehead, eye (eyelid,

eyebrow), cheek, nose (nostril), mouth (lip, chin), neck, throat, back,

breast, side (right side, left side), belly, shoulders, arm (elbow,

wrist, hand,--back, palm), finger (thumb, buckle, nail), thigh, knee,

leg (shin, calf, ancle), foot (heel, sole), toe.

And when he hath learned the import of words in each paper, let him

write them in like manner, in distinct leaves or pages of a book,

prepared for that purpose, to confirm his memory, and to have recourse

to it upon occasion.

In a third paper, you may give him the inward parts; as skull (brain),

throat (windpipe, gullet), stomach, guts, heart, lungs, liver, spleen,

kidney, bladder (urine), vein (blood), bone (marrow), flesh, fat, &c.

In another paper, under the title beast, may be placed horse

(stonehorse, gelding), mare (colt), bull (ox), cow, calf. Sheep, ram

(wether), ewe (lamb), hog, boar, sow, pig, dog, (mastiff, hound,

greyhound, spaniel), bitch (whelp, puppy), hare, rabbit, cat, mouse,

rat, &c.

Under the title bird, or fowl, put cock, capon, hen, chick, goose

(gander), gosling, duck (drake), swan, crow, kite, lark, &c.

Under the title fish, put pike, eel, place, salmon, lobster, crawfish,

&c.

You may then put plants or vegetables under several heads or

subdivisions of the same head; as tree (root, body, bark, bough, leaf,

fruit), oak, ash, apple-tree, pear-tree, vine, &c. Fruit: apple, pear,

plum, cherry, grape, nut, orange, lemon. Flower; rose, tulip,

gilliflower herb, (weed), grass, corn, wheat, barley, rye, pea, bean.

And the like of inanimates; as heaven, sun, moon, star, element, earth,

water, air, fire; and under the title earth,--clay, sand, gravel, stone.

Metal; gold, silver, brass, copper, iron (steel), lead, tin (pewter),

glass. Under the title water, put sea, pond, river, stream; under that

of air, put light, dark, mist, fog, cloud, wind, rain, hail, snow,

thunder, lightning, rainbow. Under that of fire; coal, flame, smoke,

soot, ashes.

Under the title clothes, put woollen (cloth, stuff), linen (holland,

lawn, lockarum), silk, (satin, velvet), hat, cap, band, doublet,

breeches, coat, cloak, stocking, shoe, boot, shirt, petticoat, gown, &c.

Under the title house, put wall, roof, door, window, casement, room.

Under room, put shop, hall, parlour, dining-room, chamber, study,

closet, kitchen, cellar, stable, &c.

And under each of these, as distinct heads, the furniture or utensils

belonging thereunto; with divisions and subdivisions, as there is

occasion, which I forbear to mention, that I be not too prolix.

And in like manner, from time to time, may be added more collections, or

classes of names or words, conveniently digested, under distinct heads,

and suitable distributions, to be written in distinct leaves or pages of

his book in such order as may seem convenient.

When he is furnished with a competent number of names, though not so

many as I have mentioned, it will be seasonable to teach him under the

titles singular and plural, the formation of plurals from singulars, by

adding _s_, or _es_; as hand, hands; face, faces; fish, fishes, &c.,

with some few irregulars, as man, men; woman, women; foot, feet; tooth,

teeth; mouse, mice; louse, lice; ox, oxen, &c.

Which, except the irregulars, will serve for possessives, to be after

taught him, which are formed by their primitives by like addition of _s_

or _es_, except some few irregulars, as my, mine; thy, thine; our, ours;

your, yours; his, her, hers; their, theirs, &c.

And in all those and other like cases, it will be proper first to show

him the particulars, and then the general title.

Then teach him in another page or paper, the particles, a, an, the,

this, that, these, those.

And the pronouns, I, me, my, mine, thou, thee, thy, thine, we, us, our,

ours, ye, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they,

them, their, shoes, heirs, who, whom, whose.

Then under the titles substantive, adjective, teach him to connect

these, as my hand, your head, his foot, his feet, her arm, her arms, our

hats, their John's coat, William's band, &c.

And in order to furnish him with more adjectives, under the title

colours, you may place black, white, gray, green, blue, yellow, red,

&c., and having showed the particulars, let him know that these are

called colours. The like for taste and smell; as sweet, bitter, sour,

stink.

And for hearing, sound, noise, word.

Then for touch or feeling, hot, warm, cold, cool, wet, moist, dry, hard,

soft, tough, brittle, heavy, light, &c.

From whence you may furnish him with more examples of adjectives with

substantives; as white bread, brown bread, green grass, soft cheese,

hard cheese, black hat, my black hat, &c.

And then inverting the order, substantive, adjective, with the verb

copulative between; as silver is white, gold is yellow, lead is heavy,

wood is light, snow is white, ink is black, flesh is soft, bone is hard,

I am sick, I am not well, &c., which will begin to give him some notion

of syntax.

In like manner when substantive and substantive are so connected; as

gold is a metal, a rose is a flower, they are men, they are women,

horses are beasts, geese are fowls, larks are birds, &c.

Then as those before relate to quality, you may give him some other

words relating to quantity. As long, short, broad, narrow; thick, thin;

high, tall, low; deep, shallow, great, big, small (little), much,

little; many, few, full, empty; whole, part, piece; all, some, none,

strong, weak, quick, slow, equal, unequal, bigger, less.

Then words of figure; as straight, crooked, plain, bowed, concave,

hollow, convex; round, square, three-square, sphere, globe, bowl, cube,

die, upright, sloping, leaning forward, leaning backward, like, unlike.

Of gesture; as stand, lie, sit, kneel, sleep.

Of motion; as move, stir, rest, walk, go, come, run, leap, ride, fall,

rise, swim, sink, drawn, slide, creep, crawl, fly, pull, draw, thrust,

throw, bring, fetch, carry.

Then words relating to time; place, number, weight, measure, money, &c.,

are, in convenient time, to be showed him distinctly; for which the

teacher, according to his discretion, may take a convenient season.

As likewise the time of the day; the days of the week, the days of the

month, the months of the year, and other things relating to the

almanack, which he will quickly be capable to understand, if once

methodically shown him.

As likewise the names and situation of places and countries, which are

convenient for him to know; which may be orderly written in his book,

and showed him in the map of London, England, Europe, the world, &c.

But these may be done at leisure, as likewise the practice of

arithmetic, and other like pieces of learning.

In the mean time, after the concord of substantive and adjective, he is

to be showed by convenient examples, that of the nominative and verb;

as, for instance, I go, you see, he sits, they stand, the fire burns,

the sun shines, the wind blows, the rain falls, the water runs, and the

like, with the titles in the top nominative verb.

After this, under the titles nominative verb, accusative, give him

examples of verbs transitive; as I see you, you see me, the fire burns

the wood, the boy makes the fire, the cook roasts the meat, the butler

lays the cloth, we eat our dinner.

Or even with a double accusative; as, you teach me writing or to write,

John teacheth me to dance, Thomas, tell me a tale, &c.

After this you may teach him the flexion or conjugation of the verb, or

what is equivalent thereunto; for in our English tongue each verb hath

but two tenses, the present and the preter; two participles, the active

and the passive; all the rest is performed by auxiliaries, which

auxiliaries have no more tenses than the other verbs.

Those auxiliaries are, do, did, will, would, shall, should, may, might,

can, could, must, ought, to, have, had, am, be, was. And if by examples

you can insinuate the signification of these few words, you have taught

him the whole flexion of the verb.

And here it will be convenient, once for all, to write him out a full

paradigm of some one verb, suppose 'to see,' through all those

auxiliaries.

The verb itself hath but these four words to be learned, see, saw,

seeing, seen, save that after thou, in the second person singular, in

both tenses, we add est, and in the third person singular, in the

present tense, eth or es, or instead thereof, st, th, s, and so in all

verbs.

Then to the auxiliaries, do, did, will, would, shall, should, may,

might, can, could, must, ought, to, we join the indefinite see. And

after have, had, am, be, was, the passive particle seen, and so for all

other verbs.

But the auxiliary, 'am,' or 'be,' is somewhat irregular in a double

form.

Am, art, is; plural are; was, wast, was; plural were.

Be, beest, be; plural be; were, wert, were; plural were.

Be, am, was, being, been.

Which, attended with the other auxiliaries, make us the whole passive

voice.

All verbs, without exceptions, in the active participle, are formed by

adding ing, as see, seeing; teach, teaching, &c.

The preter tense and the participle are formed regularly, by adding ed,

but are often subject to contractions and other irregularities,

sometimes the same in both, sometimes different, and therefore it is

convenient here to give a table of verbs, especially the most usual, for

those three cases, which may at once teach their signification and

formation; as boil, boiled; roast, roasted, roasted; bake, baked, baked,

&c.; teach, taught, taught; bring, brought, brought; buy, bought,

bought, &c.; see, saw, seen; give, gave, given; take, took, taken;

forsake, forsook, forsaken; write, wrote, written, &c.; with many more

fit to be learned.

The verbs being thus dispatched, he is then to learn the prepositions,

wherein lies the whole regimen of the noun. For diversity of cases we

have none, the force of which is to be insinuated by convenient

examples, suited to their different significations; as for instance,

_of_ a piece _of_ bread, a pint _of_ wine, the colour _of_ a pot, the

colour _of_ gold, a ring _of_ gold, a cup _of_ silver, the mayor _of_

London, the longest _of_ all, &c.

And in like manner, for, off, on, upon, to, unto, till, until, from, at,

in, within, out, without, into, out of; about, over, under; above,

below; between, among; before, behind, after; for, by, with, through,

against, concerning; and by this time he will be pretty well enabled to

understand a single sentence.

In the last place, he is in like manner to be taught conjunctions, which

serve to connect not words only, but sentences; as and, also; likewise,

either or whether; neither, nor, if, then, why, wherefore, because,

therefore, but, though, yet, &c.; and these illustrated by convenient

examples in each case, as, _Because_ I am cold, _therefore_ I go to the

fire, _that_ I may be warm, _for_ it is cold weather.

_If_ it were fair, _then_ it would be good walking, but however,

_though_ it rain, _yet_ I must go, _because_ I promised; with other like

instances.

And by this time his book, if well furnished with plenty of words, and

those well digested under several heads, and in good order, and well

recruited from time to time as new words occur, will serve him in the

nature of a dictionary and grammar.

And in case the deaf person be otherwise of a good natural capacity, and

the teacher of a good sagacity, by this method, proceeding gradually

step by step, you may, with diligence and due application of teacher and

learner, in a year's time, or thereabouts, perceive a greater progress

than you would expect, and a good foundation laid for farther

instruction in matters of religion and other knowledge which may be

taught by books.

It will be convenient all along to have pen, ink, and paper, ready at

hand, to write down in a word what you signify to him by signs, and

cause him to write, or show how to write what he signifies by signs,

which way of signifying their mind by signs deaf persons are often very

good at; and we must endeavour to learn their language, if I may so call

it, in order to teach them ours, by showing what words answer to their

signs.

It will be convenient, also, as you go along, after some convenient

progress made, to express, in as plain language as may be, the import of

some of the tables; as for instance:--

The head is the highest part of the body, the feet the lowest part; the

face is the fore part of the head, the forehead is over the eyes, the

cheeks are under the eyes, the nose is between the cheeks, the mouth is

under the nose and above the chin, &c.

And such plain discourse put into writing, and particularly explained,

will teach him by degrees to understand plain sentences; and like

advantages a sagacious teacher may take, as occasion offers itself from

time to time.

This extract is mostly taken out of the ingenious Dr. Wallis, and lying

hid in that little book, which is but rarely inquired after and too

scarcely known, died in a manner with that great man. And as he designed

it for the general use of mankind that laboured under the misfortune of

losing those two valuable talents of hearing and speaking, I thought it

might not be amiss (in the life of so particular a dumb person as I am

writing) to give them this small but particular fragment of grammar and

syntax.

It is exactly adjusted to the English tongue; because such are the

persons with whom the Doctor had to deal, and such the persons whose

benefit alone I consult in this treatise.

One of the chief persons who was taught by Dr. Wallis was Mr. Alexander

Popham, brother-in-law (if I am not mistaken) to the present Earl of

Oxford; and he was a very great proficient in this way; and though he

was born deaf and dumb, understood the language so well as to give under

his hand, many rare indications of a masterly genius.

The uncle of his present Sardinian Majesty, as I have been credibly

informed, had the want of the same organs, and yet was a perfect

statesman, and wrote in five or six different languages elegantly well.

Bishop Burnet, in his book of travels, tells us a wonderful story,

almost incredible; but tells it as a passage that deserves our belief.

It is concerning a young lady at Genoa, who was not only deaf and dumb,

but blind, too, it seems, into the bargain; and this lady, he assures us

as a truth, could, by putting her hand on her sister's mouth, know

everything she said.

But to return back to England. We have many rare instances of our own

countrymen, the principal of whom I shall mention, as their names occur

to my memory. Sir John Gawdy, Sir Thomas Knotcliff, Sir ---- Gostwick,

Sir Henry Lydall, and Mr. Richard Lyns of Oxford, were all of this

number, and yet men eminent in their several capacities, for

understanding many authors, and expressing themselves in writing with

wonderful facility.

In Hatton garden, there now lives a miracle of wit and good nature, I

mean the daughter of Mr. Loggin, who, though born deaf and dumb, (and

she has a brother who has the same impediments), yet writes her mind

down upon any subject with such acuteness as would amaze learned men

themselves and put many students that have passed for wits, to the

blush, to see themselves so far surpassed by a woman amidst that

deficiency of the common organs. If anybody speaks a word distinctly,

this lady will, by observing narrowly the motion of the speaker's lips

pronounce the word afterwards very intelligibly.

As there are a great many families in England and Ireland that have

several, and some even have five or six dumb persons belonging to them;

and as a great many more believe it impossible for persons born deaf and

dumb to write and read, and have thence taken occasion to say and assert

that Mr. Campbell could certainly speak, I could never think it a

digression in the history of this man's life to set down the grammar by

which he himself was taught, and which he has taught others (two of

which scholars of his are boys in this town), partly to confute the

slander made against him, and partly for the help of others dumb and

deaf, whose parents may by these examples be encouraged to get them

taught.

CHAPTER IV.

YOUNG DUNCAN CAMPBELL RETURNS WITH HIS MOTHER TO EDINBURGH. THE

EARL OF ARGYLE'S OVERTHROW. THE RUIN OF MR. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL AND

HIS DEATH. YOUNG DUNCAN'S PRACTICE IN PREDICTION AT EDINBURGH

WHILE YET A BOY.

Our young boy, now between six and seven years of age, half a Highlander

and half a Laplander, delighted in wearing a little bonnet and plaid,

thinking it looked very manly in his countrymen, and his father, as soon

as he was out of his hanging sleeves, and left off his boy's vest,

indulged him with that kind of dress, which is truly antique and heroic.

In this early part of his nonage he was brought to Edinburgh by his

mother-in-law, where I myself grew afresh acquainted with her, his

father being then but lately dead, just after the civil commotion, and

off and on, I have known him ever since, and conversed with him very

frequently during that space of time, which is now about three or four

and thirty years, so that whatever I say concerning him in the future

pages I shall relate to the reader from my own certain knowledge, which,

as I resolved to continue anonymous, may, perhaps, not have so much

weight and authority as if I had prefixed my name to the account. Be

that as it will, there are hundreds of living witnesses that will

justify each action I relate, and his own future actions while he lives

will procure belief and credit to the precedent ones, which I am going

to record; so that if many do remain infidels to my relations, and will

not allow them exact (the fate of many as credible and more important

historians than myself), I can however venture to flatter myself that

greater will be the number of those who will have a faith in my writings

than of those who will reject my accounts as incredible.

Having just spoke of the decease of Mr. Archibald Campbell, the father

of our young Duncan Campbell, it will not be amiss here to observe how

true the predictions of his Lapland mother were, which arose from

second-sight, according to the notices given by the child's father, to

his grandfather, in his letter from Lapland, even before it was born,

which shows that the infant held this second-sighted power, or occult

faculty of divination, even by inheritance.

In the year 1685, the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle sailed out

of the ports of Holland without any obstruction, the Earl of Argyle in

May; with three ships for Scotland, and Monmouth in June, with the same

number for England.

The Earl setting out first, was also the first at landing. Argyle having

attempted to land in the north of Scotland, and being disappointed by

the vigilance of the Bishop of the Orcades, landed in the west, and

encamped at Dunstaffnage Castle, in the province of Lorn, which had

belonged to him. He omitted nothing that might draw over to him all the

malcontents in the kingdom, whom he thought more numerous than they

afterwards appeared to be. He dispersed about his declarations, wherein,

after protesting that he had taken up arms only in defence of religion

and the laws, against an unjust usurper (so he styled James the Second),

he invited all good Protestants, and such Scotch as would assert their

liberty, to join him against a prince, he said, who was got into the

throne to ruin the Reformation, and to bring in Popery and arbitrary

power. Next he sent letters to those he thought his friends, among whom

was Mr. Archibald Campbell, who, according to the vast deference payed

by the Scots to their chief, joined him, though in his heart of quite a

different principle, to call them to his assistance. He detached two of

his sons to make inroads in the neighbourhood, and compel some by

threats, others by mighty promises, to join him. All his contrivances

could not raise him above three thousand men, with whom he encamped in

the Isle of Bute, where he was soon, in a manner besieged by the Earl of

Dumbarton, with the king's forces, and several other bodies, commanded

by the Duke of Gordon, the Marquis of Athol, the Earl of Arran, and

other great men, who came from all parts to quench the fire before it

grew to a head.

The Earl of Argyle being obliged to quit a post he could not make good,

went over into a part of the country of his own name, where, having

hastily fortified a castle called Ellingrey, he put into it the arms and

ammunition taken out of his ships, which lay at anchor under the cannon

of a fort he erected near that place. There his rout began; for going

out from the castle with his forces to make an incursion, one of his

parties was defeated by the Marquis of Athol, who slew four hundred of

his men; and Captain Hamilton, who attacked his ships with some of the

king's, and took them without any resistance.

The Earl of Dumbarton advancing towards him, at the same time, by long

marches, while he endeavoured to secure himself by rivers, surprised him

passing the Clyde in the village of Killern, as he was marching towards

Lenox. Dumbarton coming upon them at night, would have stayed till the

next day to attack the rebels, but they gave him not so much time, for

they passed the river in the night, in such confusion, that being

overcome by fear, they dispersed as soon as over. Argyle could scarce

rally so many as would make him a small guard, which was soon scattered

again; Dumbarton having passed the river, and divided his forces to

pursue those that fled. Argyle had taken guides to conduct him to

Galloway; but they mistaking the way, and leading him into a bog, most

of those that still followed him quitted their horses, every man

shifting for himself.

Argyle himself was making back alone towards the Clyde, when two

resolute servants, belonging to an officer in the king's army meeting

him, though they knew him not, bid him surrender. He fired at and missed

them; but they took better aim, and wounded him with a pistol ball. Then

the earl drawing his two pistols out of the holsters, quitted his horse,

that was quite tired, and took the river. A country fellow, who came

with those two, that had first assaulted him, pursued him with a pistol

in his hand; the earl would have fired one of his, but the flint failing

he was dangerously wounded in the head by the peasant. He discovered

himself as he fell senseless, crying out. Unfortunate Argyle. This

nobleman, how far soever he may be thought misled in principle, was

certainly in his person a very brave and a very gallant hero. They made

haste to draw him out and bring him to himself; after which, being

delivered up to the officers, the erring, unfortunate great man, was

conducted to Edinburgh and there beheaded.

Many gentlemen that followed the fortunes of this great man, though not

in his death, they shared in all the other calamities attending his

overthrow. They most of them fled into the remotest isles and the

obscurest corners of all Scotland; contented with the saving of their

lives; they grew exiles and banished men of their own making, and

abdicated their estates before they were known to be forfeited, because,

for fear of being informed against by the common fellows they commanded,

they durst not appear to lay their claims. Of this number was Mr.

Archibald Campbell, and this new disaster wounded him deep into the very

heart, after so many late misadventures, and sent him untimely to the

grave. He perfectly pined away and wasted; he was six months dying inch

by inch, and the difference between his last breath and his way of

breathing during all that time, was only, that he expired with a greater

sigh than he ordinarily fetched every time when he drew his breath.

Everything the Lapland lady had predicted so long before, being thus

come to pass, we may the less admire at the wonders performed by her

son, when we consider this faculty of divination to be so derived to him

from her, and grown as it were hereditary.

Our young prophet, who had taught most of his little companions to

converse with him by finger, was the head at every little pastime and

game they played at. Marbles, which he used to call children's playing

at bowls, yielded him mighty diversion; and he was so dexterous an

artist at shooting that little alabaster globe from between the end of

his forefinger and the knuckle of his thumb, that he seldom missed

hitting plum, as the boys call it, the marble he aimed at, though at the

distance of two or three yards. The boys always when they played coveted

to have him on their side, and by hearing that he foretold other things,

used to consult him, when they made their little matches, which were

things of great importance in their thoughts, who should get the

victory. He used commonly to leave these trifles undecided, but if ever

he gave his opinion in these trivial affairs, the persons fared well by

their consultation, for his judgment about them was like a petty oracle,

and the end always answered his prediction. But I would have my reader

imagine, that though our Duncan Campbell was himself but a boy, he was

not consulted only by boys; his penetration and insight into things of a

high nature, got air, and being attested by credible witnesses won him

the esteem of persons of mature years and discretion.

If a beautiful young virgin languished for a husband, or a widow's mind

was in labour to have a second venture of infants by another spouse; if

a housekeeper had lost anything belonging to her master, still little

Duncan Campbell was at hand; he was the oracle to be applied to, and the

little chalked circle, where he was diverting himself with his

play-fellows near the cross at Edinburgh, was frequented with as much

solicitation, and as much credit, as the tripos of Apollo was at Delphos

in ancient times.

It was highly entertaining to see a young blooming beauty come and slily

pick up the boy from his company, carry him home with as much eagerness

as she would her gallant, because she knew she should get the name of

her gallant out of him before he went, and bribe him with a sugarplum to

write down the name of a young Scotch peer in a green ribbon that her

mouth watered after.

How often after he has been wallowing in the dust, have I myself seen

nice squeamish widows help him up in their gilded chariots, and give him

a pleasant ride with them, that he might tell them they should not long

lie alone; little Duncan Campbell had as much business upon his hands as

the parsons of all the parishes in Edinburgh. He commonly was consulted,

and named the couples before the minister joined them; thus he grew a

rare customer to the toyshop, from whence he most usually received fees

and rewards for his advice. If Lady Betty Such a one was foretold that

she should certainly have Beau Such a one in marriage, then little

Duncan was sure to have a hobby-horse from the toyshop, as a reward for

the promised fop. If such a widow, that was ugly, but very rich, was to

be pushed hard for as she pretended, though in reality easily won,

little Duncan, upon insuring her such a captain, or such a

lieutenant-colonel, was sure to be presented from the same child's

warehouse, with a very handsome drum, and a silvered trumpet.

If a sempstress had an itching desire for a parson, she would, upon the

first assurance of him, give the little Apollo a pasteboard temple, or

church, finely painted, and a ring of bells into the bargain, from the

same toy-office.

If a housekeeper lost any plate, the thief was certain to be catched,

provided she took little master into the store room, and asked him the

question, after she had given him his bellyful of sweetmeats.

Neither were the women only his consulters; the grave merchants, who

were anxious for many ventures at sea, applied to the boy for his

opinion of their security, and they looked upon his opinion to be as

safe as the insurance office for ships. If he but told them, though the

ship was just set sail, and a tempest rose just after on the ocean, that

it would have a successful voyage, gain the port designed, and return

home safe laden with the exchange of traffic and merchandize, they

dismissed all their fears, banished all their cares, set their hearts at

ease, and, safe in his opinion, enjoyed a calm of mind amidst a storm of

weather.

I myself knew one Count Cog, an eminent gamester, who was a person so

far from being of a credulous disposition, that he was an unbeliever in

several points of religion, and the next door to an infidel; yet, as

much as he was a stranger to faith, he was mastered and overpowered so

far in his incredulity by the strange events which he had seen come

frequently to pass from the predictions of this child, that he had

commonly daily access to this boy to learn his more adverse and more

prosperous hours of gaming. At first indeed he would try, when the child

foretold him his ill fortune, whether it would prove true, and relying

upon the mere hazard and turn of the die, he had always, as he observed,

a run of ill luck on those forbidden days, as he never failed of good if

he chose the fortunate hours directed by the boy. One time above all the

rest, just before he was departing from Edinburgh, and when the season

of gaming was almost over--most persons of wealth and distinction

withdrawing for pleasure to their seats in the country--he came to young

Duncan Campbell to consult, and was extremely solicitous to know how

happily or unluckily he should end that term, as we may call it, of the

gamester's weighty business, viz., play, there being a long vacation

likely to ensue, when the gaming table would be empty, and the box and

dice lie idle and cease to rattle. The boy encouraged him so well with

his predictions on this occasion, that Count Cog went to the toyshop,

brought him from thence a very fine ivory T totum, as children call it,

a pretty set of painted and gilded little ninepins and a bowl, and a

large bag of marbles and alloys; and what do you think the gamester got

by this little present and the prediction of the boy? why, without

telling the least tittle of falsehood, within the space of the last

week's play, the gains of Count Cog really amounted to no less than

20,000_l_. sterling neat money.

Having mentioned these persons of so many different professions by

borrowed names, and perhaps in a manner seemingly ludicrous, I would not

have my reader from hence take occasion of looking on my account as

fabulous. If I was not to make use of borrowed names, but to tell the

real characters and names of the persons, I should do injury to those

old friends of his who first gave credit to our young seer, while I am

endeavouring to gain him the credit and esteem of new ones, in whose way

it has not yet happened to consult him. For many persons are very

willing to ask such questions as the foregoing ones; but few or none

willing to have the public told they asked them; though they succeeded

in their wish, and were amply satisfied in their curiosity. I have

represented them perhaps in a ludicrous manner, because though they are

mysterious actions they are still the actions of a boy, and as the

rewards he received for his advices did really and truly consist of such

toys as I mentioned, so could they not be treated of in a more serious

manner, without the author's incurring a magisterial air of pedantry,

and showing a mind, as it were, of being mighty grave and sententious

about trifles. There are, however, some things of greater weight and

importance done by him in a more advanced stage of life, which will be

delivered to the public with that exactitude and gravity which becomes

them; and in some of those relations the names of some persons that are

concerned shall be printed, because it will not at all be injurious to

them, or because I have their leave, and they are still living to

testify what I shall relate.

In the mean time, as the greatest part of his nonage was spent in

predicting almost innumerable things, which are all, however, reducible

to the general heads above mentioned, I will not tire the reader with

any particulars; but instead of doing that, before I come to show his

power of divination, in the more active parts of his life, and when

after removing from Edinburgh to London, he at last made it his public

profession; I shall account how such divinations may be made, and divert

the reader with many rare examples, taken from several faithful and

undoubted historians, of persons who have done the like before him, some

in one way, and some in another; though in this he seems to be peculiar,

and to be, if I may be allowed the expression, a species by himself,

alone in the talent of prediction; that he has collected within his own

individual capacity all the methods which others severally used, and

with which they were differently and singly gifted in their several ways

of foreseeing and foretelling.

This art of prediction is not attainable any otherwise, than by these

three ways; first, it is done by the company of familiar spirits and

genii, which are of two sorts; some good and some bad; who tell the

gifted person the things of which he informs other people. Secondly, it

is performed by the second-sight, which is very various, and differs in

most of the possessors, it being but a very little in some, very

extensive and constant in others; beginning with some in their infancy,

and leaving them before they come to years; happening to others in a

middle age, to others again in an old age, that never had it before, and

lasting only for a term of years, and now and then for a very short

period of time; and in some, intermitting, like fits as it were, of

vision, that leave them for a time, and then return to be as strong in

them as ever, and it being in a manner hereditary to some families,

whose children have it from their infancy, without intermission, to a

great old age, and even to the time of their death, which they often

foretell before it comes to pass, to a day, nay, even to an hour.

Thirdly, it is attained by the diligent study of the lawful part of the

art of magic.

Before I give the reader an account, as I shall do in three distinct

discourses, first, concerning the intercourse which familiar spirits,

viz., the good and bad genii, have had and continue to have to a great

degree with some select parts of mankind; secondly, concerning the

wonderful and almost miraculous power of a second-sight, with which

many, beyond all controversy, have been extraordinarily but visibly

gifted; and, thirdly, concerning the pitch of perfection to which the

magic science has been carried and promoted by some adepts in that

mysterious art; I will premise a few particulars about the genii which

attended our little Duncan Campbell, and about the second-sight which he

had when yet a child, and when we may much more easily believe that the

wonders he performed and wrote of, must have been rather brought about

by the intervention of such genii and the mediation of such a sight,

than that he could have invented such fables concerning them, and

compassed such predictions as seem to want their assistance, by the mere

dint of a child's capacity.

One day, I remember, when he was about nine years of age, going early to

the house where he and his mother lived, and it being before his mother

was stirring, I went into little Duncan Campbell's room to divert myself

with him, I found him sitting up in his bed with his eyes broad open,

but as motionless as if he had been asleep, or even, if it had not been

for a lively beautiful colour which the little pretty fair silver-haired

boy always had in his cheeks, as if he had been quite dead; he did not

seem so much as to breathe; the eyelids of him were so fixed and

immoveable, that the eyelashes did not so much as once shake, which the

least motion imaginable must agitate; not to say that he was like a

person in an ecstacy, he was at least in what we commonly call a brown

study, to the highest degree, and for the largest space of time I ever

knew. I, who had been frequently informed by people who have been

present at the operations of second-sighted persons, that at the sight

of a vision the eyelids of the person are erected, and the eyes continue

staring till the object vanishes; I, I say, sat myself softly down on

his bed-side, and with a quiet amazement observed him, avoiding

diligently any motion that might give him the least disturbance, or

cause in him any avocation or distraction of mind from the business he

was so intent upon. I remarked that he held his head sideways, with his

mouth wide open, and in a listening posture, and that after so lively a

manner, as, at first general thought, made me forget his deafness, and

plainly imagine he heard something, till the second thought of

reflection brought into my mind the misfortune that shut up all passage

for any sound through his ears. After a steadfast gaze, which lasted

about seven minutes, he smiled, and stretched his arms as one recovering

from a fit of indolence, and rubbed his eyes; then turning towards me,

he made the sign of a salute, and hinted to me, upon his fingers, his

desire for pen, ink, and paper, which I reached him from a little desk

that stood at his bed's feet.

Placing the paper upon his knees, he wrote me the following lines, which

together with my answers I preserve by me, for their rarity, to this

very day, and which I have transcribed word for word, as they form a

little series of dialogue.

_Duncan Campbell._ I am sorry I cannot stay with you; but I shall see my

pretty youth and my lamb by and by, in the fields, near a little coppice

or grove, where I go often to play with them, and I would not lose

their company for the whole world; for they and I are mighty familiar

together, and the boy tells me everything that gets me my reputation

among the ladies and nobility, and you must keep it secret.

_My question._ I will be sure to keep it secret; but how do you know you

are to meet them there to-day? Did the little boy appoint you?

_Duncan Campbell._ Yes, he did, and signified that he had several things

to predict to me concerning people, that he foreknew would come to me

the week following to ask me questions.

_My question._ But what was you staring at when I came in?

_Duncan Campbell._ Why, at that little boy that goes along with the lamb

I speak of, and it was then he made me the appointment.

_My question._ How does he do it? Does he write?

_Duncan Campbell._ No, he writes sometimes, but oftener he speaks with

his fingers, and mighty swift; no man can do it so quick, or write half

so soon; he has a little bell in his hand, like that which my mother

makes me a sign to shake when she wants the servants: with that he

tickles my brain strangely, and gives me an incredible delight of

feeling in the inside of my head; he usually wakes me with it in the

morning when he comes to make me an appointment. I fancy it is what you

call hearing, which makes me mighty desirous I could hear in your way;

it is sweeter to the feeling, methinks, than anything is to the taste;

it is just as if my head was tickled to death, as my nurse used to

tickle my sides; but it is a different feeling, for it makes things like

little strings tremble in my temples and behind my ears. Now I remember,

I will tell you what it is like, that makes me believe it is like your

hearing, and that strange thing which you that can speak, call sound or

noise: because, when I was at church with my mother, who told me the

bells could be heard ringing a mile off, as I was kneeling on the bench,

and leaning over the top of the pew and gnawing the board, every time

the man pulled the rope, I thought all my head beat as if it would come

to pieces, but yet it pleased me methought, rather than pained me, and I

would be always gnawing the board when the man pulled the rope, and I

told my mother the reason: the feeling of that was something like the

little bell, but only that made my head throb, as if it would break, and

this tickles me, and makes, as it were, little strings on the back of my

ears dance and tremble like anything; is not that like your way of

hearing? If it be, it is a sweet thing to hear; it is more pleasant than

to see the finest colours in the world; it is something like being

tickled in the nose with a feather till one sneezes, or like the feeling

after one strikes the leg when it has been numb, or asleep, only with

this difference, that those two ways give a pain, and the other a

pleasure. I remember, too, when I had a great cold, for about two

months, I had a feeling something like it, but that was blunt, dull,

confused, and troublesome. Is not this like what you call hearing?

_My question._--It is the finest kind of hearing, my dear: it is what we

call music. But what sort of a boy is that that meets you? and what sort

of a lamb?

_Duncan Campbell._ Oh! though they are like other boys and other lambs

which you see, they are a thousand times prettier and finer? you never

saw such a boy nor such a lamb in your lifetime.

_My question._ How big is he? As big as you are? And what sort of a boy

is he?

_Duncan Campbell._ He is a little little pretty boy, about as tall as my

knee, his face is as white as snow, and so are his little hands; his

cheeks are as red as a cherry, and so are his lips; and when he

breathes, it makes the air more perfumed than my mother's sweet bags

that she puts among the linen; he has got a crown of roses, cowslips,

and other flowers upon his head, such as the maids gather in May; his

hair is like fine silver threads, and shine like the beams of the sun;

he wears a loose veil down to his feet, that is as blue as the sky in a

clear day, and embroidered with spangles, that look like the brightest

stars in the night; he carries a silver bell in one hand, and a book and

pencil in the other, and he and the little lamb will dance and leap

about me in a ring as high as my head; the lamb has got a little silver

collar with nine little bells upon it; and every little piece of wool

upon its back, that is as white as milk, is tied up all round it in

puffs, like a little miss's hair, with ribbons of all colours; and round

its head, too, are little roses and violets stuck very thick into the

wool that grows upon its forehead, and behind and between its ears, in

the shape of a diadem. They first meet me dancing thus; and after they

have danced some time, the little boy writes down wonderful things in

his book, which I write down in mine; then they dance again, till he

rings his bell, and then they are gone all of a sudden, I know not

where; but I feel the tinkling in the inside of my head caused by the

bell less and less, till I don't feel it at all, and then I go home,

read over my lesson in my book, and when I have it by heart, I burn the

written leaves, according as the little boy bids me, or he would let me

have no more. But I hear the little bell again, the little boy is angry

with me, he pulled me twice by the ear, and I would not displease him

for anything, so I must get up and go immediately to the joy and delight

of my life.

I told him he might, if he would promise me to tell me farther another

time; he said he would, if I would keep it secret. I told him I would,

and so we parted; though just before he went, he said he smelt some

venison, and he was sure they would shortly have some for dinner; and

nothing was so sure as that, my man had my orders to bring a side of

venison to me the next day to Mrs. Campbell's, for I had been hunting,

and came thither from the death of a deer that morning; and intended, as

usual, to make a stay there for two or three days.

There are, I know, many men of severe principles, and who are more

strict, grave, and formal in their manner of thinking, than they are

wise, who will be apt to judge of these relations as things merely

fabulous and chimerical, and not contented with being disbelievers by

themselves, will labour to insinuate into others this pernicious notion,

that it is a sign of infirmity and weakness in the head to yield them

credit. But though I could easily argue these Sir Gravities down, though

a sentence or two would do their business, put them beyond the power of

replying, and strike them dumb, yet do I think it not worth my while;

their greatest and most wonted objection against these Eudemons and

Kakodemons, being, that it arises all from the work of fancy, in persons

of a melancholic blood. If we consider the nature of this child's

dialogue with me, will it not be more whimsically strange and

miraculous, to say that a child of nine years' old had only a fancy of

such things as these, of which it had never heard anybody give an

account, and that it could, by the mere strength of imagination, predict

such things as really after came to pass, than it is, when it does so

strangely predict things, to believe the child does it in the manner

itself owns it does, which is by the intervention of a good demon, or a

happy genius. Departing, therefore, from these singular and wise men's

opinions, who will believe nothing excellent can happen to others, which

it has not been their lot to enjoy a share of, I shall take my farewell

hastily of them, without losing my own time or theirs, in the words of

the ingenious Monsieur le Clerc: _Acerbos homines non moror, indignos

quippe, qui haec studia tractent, aut quorum, judicii ulla ratio

habeatur._

I shall rather see how far these things have lain open to the eyes of,

and been explained by the ancient sages; I will relate who among them

were happy in their genii, and who among the moderns, whose examples may

be authorities for our belief; I will set down as clearly as I can what

perception men have had of genii or spirits by the sense of seeing; what

by the sense of hearing; what by the sense of feeling, touching, or

tasting; and in fine, what perception others have had of these genii by

all the senses, what by dreams, and what by magic, a thing rarely to be

met with at once in any single man, and which seems particular to the

child, who was the subject of our last little historical account. When I

have brought examples and the opinions of wise philosophers, and the

evidence of undeniable witnesses, which one would think sufficient to

evince persons of the commerce men have with spirits, if they were not

past all sense of conviction; I shall, not so much to corroborate what I

say, as to shame some wiseacres, who would by their frail reason scan

all things, and pretend to solve the mysteries ascribed to spirits, as

facts merely natural, and who would banish from the thoughts of men all

belief of spirits whatsoever, I shall, I say, in order to put to shame

these wiseacres, if they have any shame left, produce the opinions of

the Fathers as divines, show the doctrines of spirits in general to be

consistent with Christianity, that they are delivered in the Scripture

and by Christian tradition, in which, if they will not acquiesce, I

shall leave them to the labyrinth of their own wild opinions, which in

the end will so perplex their judgments of things, that they will be

never able to extricate themselves; and these different heads will be

the subject of the chapter ensuing; and will, or I am greatly mistaken,

form both an instructive, edifying, and entertaining discourse, for a

reader really and truly intelligent, and that has a good taste and

relish for sublime things.

CHAPTER V.

AN ARGUMENT PROVING THE PERCEPTION WHICH MEN HAVE, AND HAVE HAD,

BY ALL THE SENSES, AS SEEING, HEARING, ETC., OF DEMONS, GENII, OR

FAMILIAR SPIRITS.

It is said in the ninth book of the Morals of Aristotle, It is better to

come at the probable knowledge of some things above us in the heavens,

than to be capable of giving many demonstrations relating to things here

below. This is no doubt an admirable proposition, and speaks the lofty

aims of that sublime mind from whence it proceeded. Among all the

disquisitions in this kind, none seem to me more excellent than those

which treat concerning the genii that attend upon men, and guide them in

the actions of life. A genius, or demon, of the good kind, is a sort of

mediate being, between human and divine, which gives the mind of man a

pleasant conjunction with angelic and celestial faculties, and brings

down to earth a faint participation of the joys of heaven. That there

have been such fortunate attendants upon wise men, we have many rare

instances. They have been ascribed to Socrates, Aristotle, Plotinus,

Porphyrius, Iamblicus, Chicus, Scaliger, and Cardan. The most celebrated

of all these ancients, was Socrates; and as for his having a genius, or

demon, we have the testimonies of Plato, Xenophon, and Antisthenes, his

contemporaries, confirmed by Laertius, Plutarch, Maximus Tyrius, Dion

Chrysostomus, Cicero, Apuleius, Ficinus, and others; many of the

moderns, besides Tertullian, Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, Austin, and

others; and Socrates himself, in Plato's Theage, says, By some divine

lot I have a certain demon which has followed me from my childhood as an

oracle; and in the same place intimates that the way he gained his

instruction, was by hearing the demon's voice. Nothing is certainly so

easy as for men to be able to contradict things, though never so well

attested, with such an air of truth as to make the truth of the history

doubted by others as well as themselves, where no demonstrative proof

can be brought to convince them. This has been the easy task of those

who object against the demon of Socrates; but when no demonstrative

proof is to be had on either side, does not wisdom incline us to lean to

the most probable? Let us then consider whether the evidences are not

more credible, and witnesses of such a thing are not persons of more

authority than these men are, who vouchsafe to give no reason but their

own incredulity, for maintaining the contrary, and whether those,

therefore, by the right rule of judging, ought not much sooner than

these, to gain over our assent to their assertions?

We will, however, laying aside the histories of those ancient times, the

sense whereof, by various readings and interpretations being put upon

the words, is rendered obscure and almost unintelligible, descend to

more modern relations, the facts whereof shall be placed beyond doubt,

by reason of the evidences we will bring to attest them, and shall

consequently prove the perception men have of spirits, or genii, by

every sense.

SECTION I.

We will first begin as to the perception of spirits by the sight.

Mr. Glanvil, in his Collections of Relations, for proving Apparitions,

Spirits, &c., tells us of an Irishman that had like to have been carried

away by spirits, and of the ghost of a man, who had been seven years

dead, that brought a medicine to his bed-side.

The relation is thus:--

A gentleman in Ireland, near to the Earl of Orrery's, sending his butler

one afternoon to buy cards, as he passed a field, to his wonder, he

espied a company of people sitting round a table, with a deal of good

cheer before them, in the midst of the field; and he, going up towards

them, they all arose and saluted him, and desired him to sit down with

them; but one of them whispered these words in his ear: Do nothing this

company invites you to. Hereupon he refused to sit down at the table,

and immediately table and all that belonged to it were gone, and the

company are now dancing and playing upon musical instruments. And the

butler being desired to join himself with them, but he refusing this

also, they all fall to work, and he not being to be prevailed with to

accompany them in working, any more than in feasting or dancing, they

all disappeared, and the butler is now alone; but instead of going

forwards, home he returns, as fast as he could drive, in a great

consternation; and was no sooner entered his master's door, but he fell

down and lay some time senseless, but coming again to himself, he

related to his master what had passed.

The night following, there comes one of his company to his bed-side, and

tells him, that if he offered to stir out of the doors the next day, he

would be carried away. Hereupon he kept within; but towards the evening,

having need to make water, he adventured to put one foot over the

threshold (several standing by), which he had no sooner done but they

espied a rope cast about his middle; and the poor man was hurried away

with great swiftness, they following him as fast as they could, but

could not overtake him; at length they espied an horseman coming towards

him, and made signs to him to stop the man whom he saw coming near him,

and both ends of the rope, but nobody drawing; when they met he laid

hold of one end of the rope, and immediately had a smart blow given him

over his arm with the other end; but by this means the man was stopped,

and the horseman brought him back with him.

The Earl of Orrery hearing of these strange passages, sent to the master

to desire him to send this man to his house, which he accordingly did;

and the morning following, or quickly after, he told the earl that his

spectre had been with him again, and assured him that that day he should

most certainly be carried away, and that no endeavours should avail to

the saving of him; upon this he was kept in a large room with a

considerable number of persons to guard him, among whom was the famous

stroaker, Mr. Greatrix, who was a neighbour. There were, besides other

persons of quality, two bishops in the house at the same time, who were

consulted concerning the making use of a medicine, the spectre or ghost

prescribed, of which mention will be made anon, but they determined on

the negative.

Till part of the afternoon was spent, all was quiet; but at length he

was perceived to rise from the ground, whereupon Mr. Greatrix and

another lusty man clapped their arms over his shoulders, one of them

before him, and the other behind, and weighed him down with all their

strength; but he was forcibly taken up from them, and they were too weak

to keep their hold, and for a considerable time he was carried into the

air, to and fro over their heads, several of the company still running

under him to prevent his receiving hurt if he should fall; at length he

fell, and was caught before he came to the ground, and had by that means

no hurt.

All being quiet till bed-time, my lord ordered two of his servants to

lie with him, and the next morning he told his lordship, that his

spectre was again with him, and brought a wooden dish with grey liquor

in it, and bid him drink it off; at the first sight of the spectre he

said he endeavoured to awake his bed-fellows; but it told him, that that

endeavour should be in vain; and that he had no cause to fear him, he

being his friend, and he that at first gave him the good advice in the

field, which had he not followed, he had been before now perfectly in

the power of the company he saw there; he added, that he concluded it

was impossible but that he should have been carried away the day before,

there being so strong a combination against him; but now he could assure

him there would be no more attempts of that nature, but he being

troubled with two sorts of sad fits, he had brought that liquor to cure

him of them, and bid him drink it; he peremptorily refusing, the spectre

was angry, and upbraided him with great disingenuity, but told him,

however, he had a kindness for him, and that if he would take plantain

juice he should be well of one sort of fits, but he should carry the

other to his grave; the poor man having by this somewhat recovered

himself, asked the spectre whether by the juice of plantain he meant

that of the leaves or roots? It replied, The roots.

Then it asked him whether he did not know him? He answered, No; it

replied, I am such a one; the man answered he had been long dead; I have

been dead, said the spectre or ghost, seven years, and you know that I

lived a loose life, and ever since, I have been hurried up and down in a

restless condition with the company you saw, and shall be to the day of

judgment; then he proceeded to tell him, that had he acknowledged God in

his ways, he had not suffered such severe things by their means; and

farther said, you never prayed to God before that day you met with this

company in the fields.

This relation was sent to Dr. Henry More by Mr. E. Fowler, who said, Mr.

Greatrix told it several persons; the Lord Orrery also owned the truth

of it; and Mr. Greatrix told it to Dr. Henry More himself, who

particularly inquired of Mr. Greatrix about the man's being carried up

into the air, above men's heads, in the room, and he did expressly

affirm that he was an eye-witness thereof.

A vision which happened to the ingenious and learned Dr. Donne, may not

improperly be here inserted. Mr. Isaac Walton, writing the life of the

said doctor, tells us, that the doctor and his wife, living with Sir

Robert Drury, who gave them a free entertainment at his house in

Drury-lane, it happened that the Lord Haye was by King James sent in an

embassy to the French King, Henry IV., whom Sir Robert resolved to

accompany, and engaged Dr. Donne to go with them, whose wife was then

with child, at Sir Robert's house. Two days after their arrival at

Paris, Dr. Donne was left alone in that room in which Sir Robert and he

and some other friends had dined together. To this place Sir Robert

returned within half an hour; and as he left so he found Dr. Donne

alone, but in such an ecstacy, and so altered in his looks, as amazed

Sir Robert to behold him, insomuch that he earnestly desired Dr. Donne

to declare what had befallen him in the short time of his absence. To

which Dr. Donne was not able to make a present answer; but after a long

and perplexed pause, did at last say, I have seen a dreadful vision,

since I saw you; I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me, through this

room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child in her

arms; this I have seen since I saw you. To which Sir Robert replied,

Sure, sir, you have slept since I saw you, and this is the result of

some melancholy dream, which I desire you to forget, for you are now

awake. To which Dr. Donne's reply was, I cannot be surer that I now live

than that I have not slept since I saw you, and am as sure at her second

appearing she stopped and looked me in the face and vanished. Rest and

sleep had not altered Dr. Donne's opinion the next day; for he then

affirmed this vision with a more deliberate and so confirmed a

confidence, that he inclined Sir Robert to a faint belief that the

vision was true, who immediately sent a servant to Drury house, with a

charge to hasten back and bring him word whether Mrs. Donne were alive;

and if alive, what condition she was in as to her health. The twelfth

day the messenger returned with this account; that he found and left

Mrs. Donne very sad and sick in bed, and that after a long and

dangerous labour she had been delivered of a dead child, and upon

examination the abortion proved to be the same day, and about the very

hour that Dr. Donne affirmed he saw her pass by in his chamber. Mr.

Walton adds this, as a relation which will beget some wonder, and well

it may, for most of our world are at present possessed with an opinion

that visions and miracles are ceased, and though it is most certain that

two lutes both being strung and tuned to an equal pitch, and then one

played upon, the other, that is not touched, being laid upon the table

at a fit distance, will, like an echo to a trumpet, warble a faint,

audible harmony in answer to the same tune, yet many will not believe

that there is any such thing as a sympathy with souls, &c.