Some Historical and Other Cases.
Of the premonitions of history there are many, too familiar to need more
than a passing allusion here. The leading case is, of course, the dream
of Pilate's wife, which, if it had been attended to, might have averted
the crucifixion. But there again foreknowledge was impotent against
fate. Calphurnia, Cæsar's wife, in like manner strove in vain to avert
the doom of her lord. There is no story more trite than that which tells
of the apparition which warned Brutus that Cæsar would make Philippi his
trysting-place. In these cases the dreams occurred to those closely
associated with the doomed. One of the best known of dream presentiments
in English history occurred to a person who had no connection with the
victim. The assassination of Mr. Perceval in the Lobby of the House of
Commons was foreseen in the minutest detail by John Williams, a Cornish
mine manager, eight or nine days before the assassination took place.
Three times over he dreamed that he saw a small man, dressed in a blue
coat and white waistcoat, enter the Lobby of the House of Commons, when
immediately another person, dressed in a snuff-coloured coat, took a
pistol from under his coat and shot the little man in his left breast.
On asking who the sufferer was he was informed that it was Mr. Perceval,
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was so much impressed by the dream that
he consulted his friends as to whether he should not go up to London and
warn Mr. Perceval. Unfortunately they dissuaded him, and on May 13th the
news arrived that Mr. Perceval had been killed on the 11th. Some time
afterwards, when he saw a picture of the scene of the assassination, it
reproduced all the details of the thrice-dreamed vision. There does not
seem to have been any connection between Mr. Williams and Mr. Perceval,
nor does there seem to have been any reason why it should have been
revealed to him rather than to any one else.
_The Inner Light of the Quakers._
The Quakers, whether it is because they allow their Unconscious
Personality to have more say in their lives than others who do not
practise quietism as a religion, or whether it be from any other cause,
it is difficult to say, seem to have more than their fair share of
premonitions. Every one remembers how George Fox saw a "waft" of death
go out against Oliver Cromwell when he met him riding at Hampton Court
the day before he was prostrated with his fatal illness. Fox was full of
visions. He foresaw the expulsion of the "Rump", the restoration of
Charles II., and the Fire of London. Stephen Grellet is another notable
Friend who was constantly foreseeing things. He not only foresaw things
himself, but his faculty seemed to bring him into contact with others
who foresaw things; and in his Life there is an excellent instance of a
premonitory dream, told by Countess Tontschkoff three months before
Napoleon's Invasion. The countess, whose husband was a general in the
Russian army, dreamed that her father came to the room, holding her only
son by the hand, and, in a tone of great sadness, said, "All thy
comforts are gone; thy husband has fallen at Borodino."
As her husband at that time was sleeping beside her she dismissed the
matter as a mere dream. But when it was repeated a second and a third
time, she awoke her husband and asked him where Borodino was. She told
him her dream, and they searched through the maps with the greatest
care, but could not discover any such place. Three months later Napoleon
entered Russia, and fought the bloody battle which opened the way to
Moscow near the river Borodino, from which an obscure village takes its
name. Her father holding her son by the hand, announced her husband's
death, in the exact terms that she had heard him use in her dream three
months before. She instantly recognised the inn in which she was then
staying as the place that she had seen in her dream.
_Goethe's Grandfather._
Goethe, in his Autobiography, records the fact that his maternal
grandfather had a premonition of his election to the aldermanic dignity,
not unlike that which I had about my premotion to the _Pall Mall_.
Goethe writes:--
"We knew well enough that he was often informed, in remarkable dreams,
of things which were to happen. For example, he assured his wife, at a
time when he was still one of the youngest magistrates, that at the very
next vacancy he should be appointed to a seat on the board of aldermen.
And when, very soon after, one of the aldermen was struck with a fatal
stroke of apoplexy, he ordered that on the day when the choice was to be
made by lot the house should be arranged and everything prepared to
receive the guests coming to congratulate him on his elevation; and,
sure enough, it was for him that the golden ball was drawn which decides
the choice of aldermen in Frankfort. The dream which foreshadowed to him
this event he confided to his wife as follows: He found himself in
session with his colleagues, and everything was going on as usual, when
an alderman, the same who afterwards died, descended from his seat, came
to my grandfather, politely begged him to take his place, and then left
the chamber. Something similar happened on the provost's death. It was
usual in such cases to make great haste to fill the vacancy, seeing that
there was always ground to fear that the Emperor, who used to nominate
the provost, would some day or other reassert his ancient privilege. On
this particular occasion the sheriff received orders at midnight to call
an extra session for the next morning. When in his rounds the officer
reached my grandfather's house, he begged for another bit of candle to
replace that which had just burned down in his lantern. 'Give him a
whole candle,' said my grandfather to the woman; 'it is for me he is
taking all this trouble.' The event justified his words. He was actually
chosen provost. And it is worthy of notice that the person who drew in
his stead, having the third and last chance, the two silver balls were
drawn first, and thus the golden one remained for him at the bottom of
the bag." (Quoted by Owen, in "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another
World.")
_Miss X.'s Dogcart._
Some people have this gift of seeing in advance very much developed.
There is, for instance, Miss X----, of the Psychical Research Society,
whose exploits in seeing a dogcart and its passengers half an hour
before they really arrived, has taken its place as the classical
illustration of this fantastic faculty of intermittent foresight. As the
story is so well authenticated, and has become a leading case in the
discussion, I reprint the passage in which it occurs from the
"Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society."
The narrative is by a friend of the recipient:--
"About eight years ago (April, 1882), X. and I were staying in a country
house, in a neighbourhood quite strange to us both. One morning, soon
after our arrival, we drove with a party of four or five others in a
waggonette to the neighbouring town, and, on our return, as we came in
sight of the house, X. remarked to our hostess, 'You have very early
visitors; who are your friends?'
"We all turned to find the cause of the question, but could see no one,
and as we were still in view of the front door on which Miss X.'s eyes
were fixed, we asked her what she could possibly be dreaming of. She
then described to us, the more minutely that we all joined in absolute
denial of the existence of anything at all, the appearance of a dog-cart
standing at the door of the house with a white horse and two men, one of
whom had got down and was talking to a terrier; she even commented upon
the dress of one of the gentlemen, who was wearing an ulster, she said,
a detail which we certainly should not have supposed it possible for her
to recognise at such a distance from the spot. As we drove up the drive
X. drew attention to the fresh wheel marks, but here also we were all
unable to see as she did, and when we arrived at the house and found no
sign of cart and visitors, and on inquiry learned that no one had been
near in our absence, we naturally treated the whole story as a mistake,
caused by X.'s somewhat short sight.
"Shortly after she and I were in an upstairs room in the front of the
house, when the sound of wheels was heard, and I went to the window to
see what it might be. 'There's your dog-cart, after all!' I exclaimed;
for there before the door was the identical dog-cart as X. had described
it, correct in every detail, one of the gentlemen--having got down to
ring the bell--being at the moment engaged in playing with a small
fox-terrier. The visitors were strangers to our friends--officers from
the barracks near, who had driven over with an invitation to a ball.
"C. having read over D.'s account, had added, 'This is substantially the
same account as I heard from one of the party in the carriage.' Mr.
Myers adds, 'I heard C., an old family servant, tell the story
independently with the same details.'
"Both D. and I were surprised at her accurate knowledge of the story,
which she had not learnt from us, but from another lady present on the
occasion." ("Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society," Vol. VI. p.
374.)