CONCERNING THE SECOND-SIGHT.
Mr. Martin lately published a book, entituled, A Description of the
Western Isles of Scotland, called by the ancient geographers, Hebrides.
It contains many curious particulars relating to the natural and civil
history of those islands, with a map of them; and in his preface he
tells us that, perhaps, it is peculiar to those isles that they have
never been described, till now, by any man that was a native of the
country, or had travelled them, as himself has done; and in the
conclusion of the said preface he tells us, he has given here such an
account of the second-sight as the nature of the thing will bear, which
has always been reckoned sufficient among the unbiassed part of mankind;
but for those that will not be satisfied, they ought to oblige us with a
new scheme, by which we may judge of matters of fact. The chief
particulars he has given us concerning the second-sight, are here set
down by way of abstract or epitome, that they may not be too tedious to
the reader.
1. In the second-sight, the vision makes such a lively impression on the
seers, that they neither see nor think of anything else but the vision
as long as it continues, and then they appear pensive or jovial,
according to the object which was presented to them.
2. At the sight of a vision the eyelids of the person are erected, and
the eyes continue staring till the object vanish, as has often been
observed by the author and others present.
3. There is one in Skye, an acquaintance of whom observed, that when he
sees a vision, the inner part of his eyelids turns so far upwards, that,
after the object disappears, he must draw them down with his fingers,
and sometimes employs others to draw them down, which he finds to be
much the easier way.
4. The faculty of the second-sight does not lineally descend in a
family, as some imagine; for he knows several parents that are endowed
with it, but not their children, and so on the contrary; neither is it
acquired by any previous compact; and after a strict inquiry, he could
never learn from any among them that this faculty was communicable any
way whatsoever.
NOTE. That this account is differing from the account that is given by
Mr. Aubrey, a gentleman of the Royal Society; and I think Mr. Martin's
reason here against the descent of this faculty from parents to children
is not generally conclusive. For though he may know parents endowed with
it and not children, and so vice versa, yet there may be parents who
are endowed with it, being qualified, as Mr. Aubrey has said, viz., both
being second-sighted, or even one to an extraordinary degree, whose
children may have it by descent. And as to this faculty being any
otherwise communicable, since the accounts differ, I must leave it to a
farther examination.
5. The seer knows neither the object, time, nor place of a vision before
it appears; and the same object is often seen by different persons
living at a considerable distance from one another. The true way of
judging as to the time and circumstance of an object, is by observation;
for several persons of judgment, without this faculty, are more capable
to judge of the design of a vision, than a novice that is a seer. As an
object appears in the day or night, it will come to pass sooner or later
accordingly.
6. If an object be seen early in the morning, which is not frequent, it
will be accomplished in a few hours afterwards; if at noon, it will
commonly be accomplished that very day; if in the evening, perhaps that
night; if after candles be lighted, it will be accomplished that night;
it is later always in accomplishment by weeks, months, and sometimes
years, according to the time of the night the vision is seen.
7. When a shroud is perceived about one, it is a sure prognostic of
death; the time is judged according to the height of it about the
person; for if it be not seen above the middle, death is not to be
expected for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as
it is frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death is
concluded to be at hand in a few days, if not hours, as daily experience
confirms. Examples of this kind were shown the author, when the persons,
of whom the observations were made, enjoyed perfect health.
There was one instance lately of a prediction of this kind, by a seer
that was a novice, concerning the death of one of the author's
acquaintance; this was communicated to a few only, and with great
confidence; the author being one of the number, did not in the least
regard it, till the death of the person, about the time foretold,
confirmed to him the certainty of the prediction. The foresaid novice is
now a skilful seer, as appears from many late instances; he lives in the
parish of St. Mary's, the most northern in Skye.
8. If a woman be seen standing at a man's left hand, it is a presage
that she will be his wife, whether they are married to others, or
unmarried, at the time of the apparition. If two or three women are seen
at once standing near a man's left hand, she that is next him will
undoubtedly be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man,
be single or married at the time of the vision; of which there are
several late instances of the author's acquaintance. It is an ordinary
thing for them to see a man, that is to come to the house shortly after;
and though he be not of the seer's acquaintance yet he not only tells
his name, but gives such a lively description of his stature,
complexion, habit, &c, that upon his arrival he answers the character
given of him in all respects. If the person so appearing be one of the
seer's acquaintance, he can tell by his countenance whether he comes in
good or bad humour. The author has been seen thus, by seers of both
sexes, at some hundreds of miles' distance; some that saw him in this
manner had never seen him personally, and it happened according to their
visions, without any previous design of his to go to those places, his
coming there being purely accidental; and in the nineteenth page of his
book he tells us, that Mr. Daniel Morrison, a minister, told him, that
upon his landing in the island Rona, the natives received him very
affectionately, and addressed themselves to him with this salutation;
God save you, Pilgrim! you are heartily welcome here, for we have had
repeated apparitions of your person amongst us; viz., after the manner
of the second-sight.
9. It is ordinary with them to see houses, gardens, and trees, in places
void of all three, and this in process of time used to be accomplished;
of which he gives an instance in the island of Skye.
10. To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm, or breast, is a
forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons, of
which there are several fresh instances.
To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting in it, is a presage of
that person's death quickly after.
When a novice, or one that has lately obtained the second-sight, sees a
vision in the night-time without doors, and comes near a fire, he
presently falls into a swoon.
Some find themselves, as it were, in a crowd of people, having a corpse,
which they carry along with them; and after such visions the seers come
in sweating, and describe the people that appeared; if there are any of
their acquaintance among them, they give an account of their names, and
also of the bearers. But they know nothing concerning the corpse.
All those that have the second-sight, do not always see these visions at
once, though they are together at the time; but if one, who has this
faculty, designedly touch his fellow seer, at the instant of a vision's
appearing, then the second sees it as well as the first.
11. There is the way of foretelling death by a cry, that they call
_taisk_, which some call a _wraith_, in the lowland. They hear a loud
cry without doors, exactly resembling the voice of some particular
person, whose death is foretold by it, of which he gives a late
instance, which happened in the village Rigg, in Skye isle.
12. Things are also foretold by smelling, sometimes, as follows: Fish or
flesh is frequently smelt in the fire, when at the same time neither of
the two are in the house, or, in any probability, like to be had in it
for some weeks or months. This smell several persons have who are endued
with the second-sight, and it is always accomplished soon after.
13. Children, horses, and cows, have the second-sight, as well as men
and women advanced in years.
That children see it, it is plain, from their crying aloud at the very
instant that a corpse or any other vision appears to an ordinary seer;
of which he gives an instance in a child when himself was present.
That horses likewise see it is very plain, from their violent and sudden
starting, when the rider, or seer in company with them, sees a vision of
any kind by night or day. It is observable of a horse, that he will not
go forward that way, till he be led about at some distance from the
common road, and then he is in a sweat; he gives an instance of this in
a horse in the Isle of Skye.
That cows have the second-sight appears from this; that if a woman
milking a cow happens to see a vision by the second-sight, the cow runs
away in a great fright at the same time, and will not be pacified for
some time after.
In reference to this, Paracelsus, tom. ix. l. _de arte presaga_, writes
thus; "Horses also have their auguries, who perceive, by their sight and
smell, wandering spirits, witches, and spectres, and the like things;
and dogs both see and hear the same."
Here in the next place the author answers objections that have lately
been made against the reality of the second-sight.
First, it is objected, that these seers are visionary and melancholy
people, who fancy they see things that do not appear to them or anybody
else.
He answers, the people of these isles, and particularly the seers, are
very temperate, and their diet is simple and moderate in quantity and
quality; so that their brains are not, in all probability, disordered by
undigested fumes of meat or drink. Both sexes are free from hysteric
fits, convulsions, and several other distempers of that sort. There are
no madmen among them, nor any instance of self-murder. It is observed
among them, that a man drunk, never has a vision of the second-sight;
and he that is a visionary would discover himself in other things as
well as in that; nor are such as have the second-sight, judged to be
visionaries by any of their friends or acquaintance.
Secondly, it is objected, that there are none among the learned able to
oblige the world with a satisfactory account of these visions; therefore
they are not to be believed.
He answers, if everything of which the learned are not able to give a
satisfactory account, shall be condemned as false and impossible, we
shall find many other things, generally believed, which must be rejected
as such.
Thirdly, it is objected, that the seers are impostors, and the people
who believe them are credulous, and easy to be imposed upon.
He answers, the seers are generally illiterate, and well-meaning people,
and altogether void of design; nor could he ever learn that any of them
made the least gain of it; neither is it reputable among them to have
that faculty; beside, the people of the Isles are not so credulous as to
believe an impossibility, before the thing foretold be accomplished; but
when it actually comes to pass, afterwards it is not in their power to
deny it, without offering violence to their senses and reason; beside,
if the seers were deceivers, can it be reasonable to imagine that all
the islanders, who have not the second-sight, should combine together
and offer violence to their understandings and senses, to force
themselves to believe a lie from age to age? There are several persons
among them, whose birth and education raise them above the suspicion of
concurring with an imposture merely to gratify an illiterate and
contemptible sort of persons. Nor can a reasonable man believe, that
children, horses, and cows, could be engaged in a combination to
persuade the world of the reality of a second-sight.
Every vision that is seen comes exactly to pass according to the rules
of observation, though novices and heedless persons do not always judge
by those rules; concerning which he gives instances.
There are visions seen by several persons, in whose days they are not
accomplished; and this is one of the reasons why some things have been
seen, that are said never to have come to pass; and there are also
several visions seen, which are not understood till they are
accomplished.
The second-sight is not a late discovery, seen by one or two in a
corner, or a remote isle; but it is seen by many persons of both sexes,
in several isles, separated about forty or fifty leagues from one
another; the inhabitants of many of these isles never had the least
converse by word or writing; and this faculty of seeing visions having
continued, as we are informed by tradition, ever since the plantation of
these isles, without being disproved by the nicest sceptic after the
strictest inquiry, seems to be a clear proof of its reality.
It is observable, that it was much more common twenty or thirty years
ago than at present; for one in ten does not see it now, that saw it
then.
The second-sight is not confined to the Western Isles alone, the author
having an account that it is in several parts of Holland, but
particularly in Bommel, where a woman has it, for which she is courted
by some, and dreaded by others. She sees a smoke about one's face, which
is the forerunner of the death of a person so seen, and she actually
foretold the deaths of several that lived there. She was living in that
town a few winters ago.
The second-sight is likewise in the Isle of Man, as appears by this
instance: Captain Leathes, the chief commander of Belfast, in his voyage
1690, lost thirteen men by a violent storm; and upon his landing in the
Isle of Man, an ancient man, clerk to a parish there, told him
immediately that he had lost thirteen men there; the captain inquired
how he came to the knowledge of that; he answered that it was by
thirteen lights, which he had seen come into the churchyard; as Mr.
Sacheverel tells us in his late description of the Isle of Man. Note,
that this is like the sight of the corpse-candles in Wales, which is
also well attested.
Here the author adds many other instances concerning the second-sight,
of which I shall set down only a few.
A man in Knockow, in the parish of St. Mary's, the northernmost part of
Skye, being in perfect health, and sitting with his fellow-servants at
night, was on a sudden taken ill, dropped from his seat backward, and
then fell a vomiting; at which the family was much concerned, he having
never been subject to the like before; but he came to himself soon
after, and had no sort of pain about him. One of the family, who was
accustomed to see the second-sight, told them that the man's illness
proceeded from a very strange cause, which was thus: An ill-natured
woman, whom he named, who lives in the next adjacent village of
Bornskittag, came before him in a very angry and furious manner, her
countenance full of passion, and her mouth full of reproaches, and
threatened him with her head and hands, till he fell over, as you have
seen him. This woman had a fancy for the man, but was like to be
disappointed as to her marrying of him. This instance was told the
author by the master of the family, and others who were present when it
happened.
Sir Norman Macleod and some others, playing at tables, at a game called
in Irish, Falmermore, wherein there are three of a side, and each of
them throw the dice by turns, there happened to be one difficult point
in the disposing of one of the tablemen; this obliged the gamester to
deliberate before he was to change his man, since upon the disposing of
it, the winning or losing of the game depended; at length the butler,
who stood behind, advised the player where to place the man, with which
he complied, and won the game. This being thought extraordinary, and Sir
Norman hearing one whisper him in the ear, asked who advised him so
skilfully? He answered it was the butler; but this seemed more strange,
for it was generally thought he could not play at tables. Upon this Sir
Norman asked him how long it was since he had learned to play? and the
fellow owned that he had never played in his life, but that he saw the
spirit Brownie, a spirit usually seen in that country, reaching his arm
over the player's head, and touching the part with his finger where the
tableman was to be placed. This was told the author by Sir Norman, and
others who happened to be present at the time.
Daniel Bow, _alias_ Black, an inhabitant of Bornskittag, who is one of
the precisest seers in the Isles, foretold the death of a young woman in
Minginis, within less than twenty-four hours before the time, and
accordingly she died suddenly in the fields, though at the time of the
prediction she was in perfect health; but the shroud appearing close
about her head, was the ground of his confidence that her death was at
hand.
The same person foretold the death of a child in his master's arms, by
seeing a spark of fire fall on his left arm; and this was likewise
accomplished soon after the prediction.
Some of the inhabitants of Harris, sailing round the Isle of Skye, with
a design to go to the opposite mainland, were strangely surprised with
an apparition of two men hanging down by the ropes that secured the
mast, but could not conjecture what it meant; they pursued their voyage,
but the wind turning contrary, they were forced into Broad-ford, in the
Isle of Skye, where they found Sir Donald Macdonald keeping a sheriff's
court, and two criminals receiving sentence of death there. The ropes
and mast of that very boat were made use of to hang those criminals.
This was told the author by several, who had this instance related to
them by the boat's crew.
Several persons, living in a certain family, told the author that they
had frequently seen two men standing at a gentle-woman's left hand, who
was their master's daughter; they told the men's names, and being her
equals, it was not doubted but she would be married to one of them; and
perhaps to the other after the death of the first. Some time after a
third man appeared, who seemed always to stand nearest to her of the
three, but the seers did not know him, though they could describe him
exactly; and within some months after, this man who was seen last,
actually came to the house, and fully answered the description given of
him by those who never saw him but in a vision; and he married the woman
shortly after. They live in the Isle of Skye, and both themselves and
others confirmed the truth of this instance when the author saw them.
Archibald Macdonald, of the parish of St. Mary's, in the Isle of Skye,
being reputed famous in his skill of foretelling things to come, by the
second-sight, happening to be in the village Knockow one night, and
before supper, told the family that he had just then seen the strangest
thing he ever saw in his life, viz., a man with an ugly long cap, always
shaking his head; but that the strangest of all was a little kind of a
harp which he had, with four strings only, and that it had two hart's
horns fixed in the front of it. All that heard this odd vision fell a
laughing at Archibald, telling him that he was dreaming, or had not his
wits about him, since he pretended to see a thing which had no being,
and was not so much as heard of in any part of the world. All this could
not alter Archibald's opinion, who told them that they must excuse him
if he laughed at them after the accomplishment of the vision. Archibald
returned to his own house, and within three or four days after, a man
with a cap, harp, &c., came to the house, and the harp, strings, horns,
and cap, answered the description of them at first view, and he shook
his head when he played; for he had two bells fixed to his cap. This
harper was a poor man, who made himself a buffoon for his bread, and was
never seen before in those parts, and at the time of the prediction he
was in the Isle of Barray, which is about twenty leagues distant from
that part of Skye. This relation is vouched by Mr. Daniel Martin, and
all his family, and such as were then present; and they live in the
village where this happened.
One Daniel Nicholson, minister of St. Mary's, in Skye, the parish in
which Mr. Archibald Macdonald lived, told the author, that one Sunday,
after sermon, at the chapel Uge, he took an occasion to inquire of
Archibald, if he still retained that unhappy faculty of seeing the
second-sight, and wished him to get rid of it, if possible; for, said
he, it is no true character of a good man. Archibald was highly
displeased, and answered, that he hoped he was no more unhappy than his
neighbours, for seeing what they could not perceive. I had, said he, as
serious thoughts as my neighbours in time of hearing a sermon to-day,
and even then I saw a corpse laid on the ground, close to the pulpit;
and I assure you it will be accomplished shortly, for it was in the
day-time. There were none in the parish then sick, and few are buried
at that little chapel, nay, sometimes, not one in a year. Yet when Mr.
Nicholson returned to preach in the said chapel, a fortnight or three
weeks after, he found one buried in the very spot named by Archibald.
This story is vouched by Mr. Nicholson the minister, and several of the
parishioners still living.
Note, that it is counted by many an argument of somewhat evil attending
upon this faculty of the second-sight, because there are instances given
of some persons who have been freed of it upon using some Christian
practices; but I shall hereafter show that this opinion cannot be
entirely true.
Sir Norman Macleod, who has his residence in the Isle of Bernera, which
lies between the isles of North Uist and Harris, went to the Isle of
Skye about business, without appointing any time for his return; his
servants, in his absence, being altogether in the large hall at night;
one of them, who had the second-sight, told the rest they must remove,
for there would be abundance of other company in the hall that night.
One of his fellow-servants answered that there was very little
likelihood of that, because of the darkness of the night, and the danger
of coming through the rocks that lie round the isle; but within an hour
after, one of Sir Norman's men came to the house, bidding them provide
lights, &c., for his master had newly landed.
Sir Norman being told of this, called for the seer and examined him
about it. He answered, that he had seen the spirit Brownie, in human
shape, come several times and make a show of carrying an old woman, that
sat by the fire, to the door, and at last seemed to carry her out by
neck and heels, which made him laugh heartily, and gave occasion to the
rest to conclude him mad, to laugh so much without any reason. This
instance was told the author by Sir Norman himself.
Four men from the Isle of Skye and Harris went to Barbadoes, and stayed
there some years; who though they had wont to see the second-sight in
their native country, never saw it in Barbadoes; but upon their return
to England, the first night after their landing, they saw the
second-sight; as the author was told by several of their acquaintance.
John Morrison, who lives in Bernera, of Harris, wears the plant called
_fuga daemonum_ sewed in the neck of his coat, to prevent his seeing of
visions, and says, he never saw any since he first carried that plant
about him.
A spirit, by the country people called Brownie, was frequently seen in
all the most considerable families in the isles, and north of Scotland,
in the shape of a tall man, having very long brown hair; but within
these twenty years past he has been seen but rarely.
There were spirits also that appeared in the shape of women, horses,
swine, cats, and some like fiery bulls, which would follow men in the
fields; but there have been but few instances of these for upwards of
forty years past.
These spirits used also to form sounds in the air, resembling those of a
harp, pipes, crowing of a cock, and of the grinding of hand-mills; and
sometimes voices have been heard in the air at night, singing Irish
songs; the words of which songs some of the author's acquaintances still
retain; one of them resembled the voice of a woman who died some time
before, and the song related to her state in the other world. All these
accounts, the author says, he had from persons of as great integrity as
any are in the world. So far Mr. Martin, whose account is so long, that
I have given the reader only a short abridgment thereof; and shall
therefore satisfy myself, without relating any further passages, by
directing the reader to others also, learned men, who have written on
the same subject. Laurentius Ananias printed a volume in Latin, at
Venice, anno 1581, about the nature of demons; where, in the third book,
he writes concerning the second-sight. The learned Camerarius does the
like, and names a person of his own acquaintance whom he testifies to
have had that gift. St. Austin himself testifies something (not very
different from what we now call the gift of the second-sight) of one
Curina, who lived in the country of Hippo, in Africa. Bonaysteau tells
us something like it in his _Disc. de Excell. et Dig. Hominis_,
concerning the spirit of Hermotimus. So do likewise Herodotus and
Maximus Tyrius, about the spirit of Aristaeus. Cardan does the same in
his _De Rerum Variet._ 1. 8. c. 84, of his kinsman Baptista Cardan, a
student at Pavia. Baptista Fulgosus tells us of what we call the
second-sight, in other words, in his _Fact. et Dict. Memorab._ 1. i. c.
6. Among our own countrymen, the Lord Henry Howard, in the book he writ
against supposed prophecies, in his seventeenth chapter, tells us a
wonderful story of this kind of sight; and sure that noble lord may be
looked upon as an unexceptionable testimony, in a story he relates of
his own knowledge, he having otherwise little faith in things of this
kind. Mr. Cotton Mather, a minister of New England, in his relation of
the wonders of the invisible world, inserted in his Ecclesiastical
History of that country, printed in London, anno 1702, in folio, has
given us several instances of this kind, as also of many other
diabolical operations. Mr. Baxter's book concerning The Certainty of the
World of Spirits, has the like proofs in it. Mr. Aubrey, Fellow of the
Royal Society, has written largely concerning second-sighted persons; so
has Mr. Beaumont, in his book of Genii and Familiar Spirits, who has
collected almost all the other accounts together; and many others, whose
very names it would be tedious to recite. However, as there are a few
more passages, very curious in themselves, I will venture so far upon
the reader's patience, as not only to recite the names of the authors,
but the accounts themselves, in as succinct and brief a manner as it is
possible for any one to do.
Mr. Th. May, in his History, lib. viii. writes, that an old man, like a
hermit, second-sighted, took his leave of king James I. when he came
into England; he took little notice of Prince Henry, but addressing
himself to the Duke of York, since King Charles I., fell a weeping to
think what misfortunes he should undergo; and that he should be one of
the most miserable and most unhappy princes that ever was.
A Scotch nobleman sent for one of these second-sighted men out of the
Highlands, to give his judgment of the then great George Villiers, Duke
of Buckingham. As soon as ever he saw him; Pish, said he, he will come
to nothing, I see a dagger in his breast; and he was stabbed in the
breast by Captain Felton, as has been at large recounted in some of the
foregoing pages.
Sir James Melvin hath several the like passages in his history.
A certain old man in South Wales, told a great man there of the fortune
of his family, and that there should not be a third male generation. It
has fallen out accordingly.
Sir William Dugdale with his own mouth informed several gentlemen, that
Major-General Middleton (since lord) went into the Highlands of Scotland
to endeavour to make a party for King Charles I. An old gentleman, that
was second-sighted, came and told him that his endeavour was good, but
he would be unsuccessful; and, moreover, that they would put the king to
death; and that several other attempts would be made, but all in vain;
but that his son would come in, but not reign in a long time; but would
at last be restored. This Lord Middleton had a great friendship with the
laird Bocconi, and they made an agreement, that the first of them that
died should appear to the other in extremity. The Lord Middleton was
taken prisoner at Worcester fight, and was prisoner in the Tower of
London, under three locks. Lying in his bed, pensive, Bocconi appeared
to him; my Lord Middleton asked him if he were dead or alive? He said,
Dead; and that he was a ghost; and told him that within three days he
should escape, and he did so, in his wife's clothes; when he had done
his message, he gave a frisk, and said--
Givanni, Givanni, 'tis very strange,
In the world to see so sudden a change;
and then gathered up and vanished. This account Sir William Dugdale had
from the Bishop of Edinburgh; and this account he hath writ in a book of
Miscellanies, which is now reposited, with other books of his, in the
Museum at Oxford.
Thus the reader sees what great authorities may be produced to prove
that wonderful and true predictions have been delivered by many persons
gifted with the second-sight. The most learned men in almost all
nations, who are not in all likelihood deceived themselves; the most
celebrated and authentic historians, and some divines in England, who,
it is not to be thought, have combined together and made it their
business to obtrude upon us falsehoods; persons of all ranks, from the
highest to the lowest, in Scotland, who, it would be even madness to
think would join in a confederacy to impose tricks upon us, and to
persuade us to the greatest of impostures as solemn truths delivered
from their own mouths; all these, I say, have unanimously, and, as it
were, with one voice, asserted, repeated, and confirmed to us, that
there have been at all times, and in many different nations, and that
still there are persons, who, possessed with the gift of a second sight,
predict things that wonderfully come to pass; and seem to merit very
little less than the name of prophets for their miraculous discoveries.
Now, if any man should come, and without giving the least manner of
reason for it (for there is no reason to be given against such
assertions), declare his disbelief of all these authentic, though
strange accounts, can he with reason imagine that his incredulity shall
pass for a token of wisdom? Shall his obstinacy confute the learned?
Shall his want of faith be thought justly to give the lie to so many
persons of the highest honour and quality, and of the most undoubted
integrity? In fine, shall his infidelity, by a reverse kind of power to
that which is attributed to the philosopher's stone, be able to change
the nature of things, turn and transmute truth into falsehood, and make
a downright plain matter of fact to be no more than a chimera, or an
_ens rationis_? And shall a manifest experience be so easily exploded?
Taking it, therefore, for granted, that no modest man whatsoever, though
never so hard of belief, which is certainly as great a weakness as that
of too much credulity, will make bold openly to declare his disbelief of
things so well attested; and taking it much more for granted still, that
it is impossible for any man of common sense to have the front of
declaring his disbelief of them in such a manner as to urge it for an
argument and a reason why others should disbelieve them too; taking
this, I say, as I think I very well may, for granted, I think there
remains nothing farther for me to offer, before I conclude this chapter,
except a few remarks as to the similitude there is between those actions
which I have related above to have been performed by Mr. Campbell, and
these actions which so many learned, ingenious, and noble authors, as I
have just now quoted, have asserted to have been performed by persons
whom they knew to be gifted with the second-sight.
As to what is said several pages above, concerning Duncan Campbell when
a boy at Edinburgh, that he even told his little companions who would
have success at their little matches when they played at marbles, and
that he informed a great gamester there, whose name I have disguised
under that of Count Cog, what times he should choose to play if he would
win, as ludicrous as it may have appeared to be, and as much as it may
have seemed to my readers to carry with it nothing better than the face
of invention and the air of fiction, yet if they will be at the pains
of comparing that passage of Duncan Campbell's with the account given in
this chapter from the mouth of Sir Norman Macleod, concerning a man,
who, though he never played at tables in his life, instructed a skilful
gamester, when he was at a stand, to place one of his men right, upon
which the whole game depended, which the ignorant fellow, when asked how
he came to do it, said he was directed to by the spirit Brownie;
whoever, I say, will be at the pains of comparing these passages
together, will find they bear a very near resemblance, and that the way
we may most reasonably account for Duncan Campbell's prediction when he
was a boy, must be, that he was at that time directed by his little
genius or familiar spirit, which I described in the precedent pages, as
this fellow was by the spirit Brownie, according to Sir Norman Macleod's
assertion; which spirit Brownie, as Mr. Martin, a very good and credited
writer, assures us, in his History of the Western Islands, dedicated to
the late Prince George of Denmark, is a spirit usually seen all over
that country.
If the reader recollects, he will remember likewise, that in the little
discourse which I mentioned to have been held between me and this Duncan
Campbell, when a boy, concerning his little genius, I there say, the boy
signified to me that he smelt venison, and was sure that some one would
come to his mother's house shortly after; accordingly I came thither
that morning from the death of a deer, and ordered a part of it to be
brought after me to her house. Now Mr. Martin's twelfth observation
about the second-sight, in this chapter, clears it plainly up that this
knowledge in the boy proceeded from the gift of second-sight. Not to
give the reader too often the trouble of looking back in order to judge
of the truth of what I say, I will here repeat that observation, which
is as follows: Things are also foretold by smelling sometimes: for
example, fish or flesh is frequently smelt in the fire, when, at the
same time, neither of the two are in the house, or, in any probability,
like to be had in it for some weeks or months. This smell several
persons have, who are, endued with the second-sight, and it is always
accomplished soon after.
But I will here omit any farther remarks by way of accounting how he
compassed his predictions when a boy, either by the intervention of his
genius, or the gift of a second-sight; and examine how nearly those
things, which I have related to have been done by him in his more
advanced years, when he took up the profession of a predictor, in
London, correspond with the accounts given us in this chapter about a
second-sight, and how near a resemblance the things done by him bear to
those things that are so well attested to have been performed by others,
through the efficacious power of this wonderful faculty.
First, then, if we have a mind to make a tolerable guess which way Mr.
Campbell came acquainted that the death of the beautiful young lady,
Miss W--lw--d was so near at hand, and that, though she was so
universally admired she would die unmarried, the accounts given of other
second-sighted persons in the like cases, will put us in the most
probable way of guessing right. This is explained by the seventh
observation in this chapter, where it is said from Mr. Martin, that when
a shroud is perceived about one, it is a sure prognostic of death; the
time is judged according to the height of it, about the person; for if
it be not seen above the middle, death is not to be expected for the
space of a year or longer, but as it comes nearer to the head it is
expected sooner; if to the very head, it is concluded to be at hand
within a few days, if not hours. Of this we have an example, of which
Mr. Martin was an eye-witness, concerning the death of his own
acquaintance; but he did not in the least regard it, till the death of
the person, about the time foretold, confirmed to him the certainty of
the prediction.
Secondly, as to the ignominious death that Irwin came to, and which he
predicted to his mother so long before, when she was in flourishing
circumstances, and when there was no appearance that any of her children
should be brought to a beggarly condition, and learn among base gangs of
company to thieve, and be carried to the gallows; the story told in this
chapter of some of the inhabitants of Harris, sailing round the Isle of
Skye, and seeing the apparition of two men hanging by the ropes on the
mast of their vessel, and when they came to the opposite mainland,
finding two criminals just sentenced to death by Sir Donald Macdonald,
and seeing their own very mast and ropes made choice of for their
execution, clears up the manner how Mr. Campbell might predict this of
Irwin likewise, by the force of the second-sight.
Thirdly, as to Mr. Campbell's telling Christallina the belle and chief
toast of the court, and Urbana the reigning beauty of the city, that
they should shortly be married, and who were to be their husbands, it is
a thing he has done almost every day in his life to one woman or other,
that comes to consult him about the man she is to be married to; the
manner he probably takes in doing this may be likewise explained by the
foregoing story in this chapter about the servants, who said they saw
three men standing by the left hand of their master's daughter; and that
he that was nearest would marry her first, whom they plainly and exactly
described, though they had never seen him but in their vision, as
appeared afterwards. For within some months after, the very man
described did come to the house, and did marry her. Vide the eighth
observation of the second-sight.
Fourthly, as to the predictions delivered by Mr. Campbell to the
merchant, which are set down at length in the foregoing chapter, I know
no better way at guessing the manner how the second-sight operated in
him at that time, than by comparing them to these two instances, which I
briefly repeat because they are set down at length before, in this
chapter. And first it may be asked, how did the second-sight operate in
Mr. Campbell, when it gave him to know that the merchant's ships, which
repeated intelligences had in appearance confirmed to be lost, were at
that time safe, and would return securely home into the harbour
designed? The best way of accounting for it, that I know, is by the
story that Sir Norman Macleod is above affirmed to have told with his
own mouth, concerning a servant of his, who rightly foretold his
returning home and landing on the Isle of Bernera one night, where his
residence is, when there was very little or no likelihood of it, because
of the darkness of the night, and the danger of coming through the rocks
that lie round the isle. When Sir Norman examined him about it, he
answered that he knew it by a vision of the spirit Brownie; and hence it
may be the most probably conjectured that Mr. Campbell's knowledge of
the merchant's ships being safe came from a vision of his particular
genius, or familiar spirit, which we spoke of before. What I have
already instanced in, is, I think, sufficient with regard to the
wonderful things which Mr. Campbell has performed, either by the
intervention of a genius, or the power of a second-sight. But as he has
frequently done a great many amazing performances, which seem to be of
such a nature that they can't be well and clearly explained to have been
done either by the intervention of his familiar spirit and genius, or by
the power of the second-sighted faculty, we must have recourse to the
third means by which only such predictions and practises can be
compassed, before we expound these new mysteries, which appear like
incredible riddles, and enigmas at the first; and this third means which
we must have recourse to for expounding these strange acts of his, is a
due consideration of the force and power of natural magic, which,
together with a narrative of the acts, which he seems magically to bring
about, will be the subject of the following chapter.