a fairy, who remained the good genius of the family, and long since had
predicted that one of that blood would mount a throne. The Bernadotte
who became a king never forgot the prophecy, and was largely influenced
by it, when the Swedish nobles offered him the throne. It is well known
that Napoleon himself either believed, or affected to believe, in a good
genius, who guided his steps and protected him from danger. He appeared,
according to his own statements, sometimes in the shape of a ball of
fire, which he called his "star," or as a man dressed in red, who paid
him occasional visits. General Rapp relates that, in the year 1806, he
once found the Emperor in his room, apparently absorbed in such deep
meditation that he did not notice his entrance, but that, when fairly
aroused, he seized Rapp by the arm and asked him if saw that star? When
the latter replied that he saw nothing, Napoleon continued: "It is my
star; it is standing just above you. It has never forsaken me; I see it
on all important occasions; it orders me to go on, and has always been
a token of success." The story, coming from General Rapp himself, is
quoted here as endorsed by the great historian, Amedee Thierry.
Des Mousseaux reports the following facts upon the evidence of
trustworthy personal friends. (_La Magie_, etc., p. 366.) A Mme. N., the
daughter of a general, was constantly visited by her mother, who had
died long ago, and received from her frequent information of secret
things, which procured for herself the reputation of being a prophetess.
At one time her mother's spirit warned her to try and prevent her
husband, who would die by suicide, from carrying out his purpose. Every
precaution was taken, and even the knives and forks were removed after
meals; but it so happened that a soldier of the National Guard came into
the house and left his loaded gun in an anteroom. The lady's husband
unfortunately chanced to see it, took it and blew his brains out on the
spot.
A peculiarly interesting class of visions are those to which great
artists have, at times, owed their greatest triumphs. Here, also, the
line between mere delusion and real magic phenomena is often so faint as
to escape attention. For artists must needs cultivate their imagination
at the expense of other faculties, and naturally live more in an ideal
world than in a real world. Preoccupied as they are, by the nature of
their pursuits, with images of more than earthly beauty, they come
easily to form ideals in their minds, which they endeavor to fix first
upon their memory, and then upon canvas or in marble, on paper or in
rapturous words. Raphael Sanzio had long in vain tried to portray the
Holy Virgin according to a vague ideal in his mind; at last he awoke one
night and saw in the place where his sketch was hanging a bright light,
and in the radiance the Mother of Christ in matchless beauty, and with
supernatural holiness in her features. The vision remained deeply
impressed upon his mind, and was ever after the original of which even
his best Madonnas could only be imperfect copies. Benvenuto Cellini,
when sick unto death, repeatedly saw an old man trying to pull him down
into his boat, but as soon as his faithful servant came and touched him,
the hideous vision disappeared. The artist had evidently a picture of
Charon and his Acherontic boat in his mind, which was thus reproduced in
his feverish dreams. On another occasion, when he had long been in
prison, and in despair contemplated suicide, an "unknown being" suddenly
seized him and hurled him back to a distance of four yards, where he
remained lying for hours half dead. In the following night a "fair
youth" appeared to him and made him bitter reproaches on account of his
sinful purpose. The same youthful genius appeared to him repeatedly when
a great crisis approached in his marvelously adventurous life, and more
than once revealed to him the mysteries of the future. (Goethe's "Benv.
Cell." i. p. 375.) Poor Tasso had fearful hallucinations during the time
when his mind was disordered, but above them all hovered, as it were,
the vision of a glorious Virgin surrounded by a bright light, which
always comforted and probably alone saved him from self-destruction.
Like Raphael, Dannecker also had long tried in vain to find perfect
expression for his ideal of a Christ on the Cross; one night, however,
he also saw the Saviour in a dream, and at once proceeded to form his
model, from which was afterwards copied the well-known statue of
transcendent beauty and power.
Paganini used to tell with an amusing air of assumed awe and reverence,
that his mother had seen, a few days before his birth, an angel with two
wings and of such dazzling splendor that she could not bear to look at
the apparition. The heavenly messenger invited her to express a wish,
and promised that it should be fulfilled. Thereupon she begged him on
her knees to make her Nicolo a great violinist, and was told that it
should be so. The vision--perhaps nothing more than a vivid form of
earnest desire and fervent prayer--had, no doubt, a serious influence on
the great artist, who was himself strangely susceptible to such
impressions. (_Moniteur_, Sept. 30, 1860.)
Nothing can here be said, according to the purpose of these sketches, of
the long series of visions vouchsafed to martyrs and saints; their
history belongs to theology. But holy men have, independent of their
religious convictions, often been as famous for their visions as for the
piety of their hearts, and their achievements in the world. Loyola, for
instance, with his faculties perpetually strained to the utmost, and
with his thoughts bent forever upon a grand and holy aim, could not well
fail to rise to a state of psychic excitement which naturally produced
impressive visions. Hence he continually saw strange sights and heard
mysterious voices, the effect now of extreme despondency and now of
restored confidence in God and in himself as the agent of the Most High.
And yet these visions never interfered with the clearness of his
judgment nor with his promptness and energy in acting. Luther, also, one
of the most practical men ever called upon to act and to lead in a great
crisis, had visions; he saw the Devil and held loud discussions with
him; he suffered by his persecutions, and made great efforts to rid
himself of his unwelcome guest, while engaged in his great work, the
translation of the Bible. For he was, after all--and for very great and
good purposes--only a man of his age, imbued with the universal belief
in the personal existence and constant presence of Satan, and felt, at
the same time, that he was engaged in a warfare upon the results of
which depended not only the earthly welfare, but the eternal salvation
of millions.
It is difficult to say whether Mohammed, who had undoubtedly visions
innumerable, received any aid from his hallucinations in devising his
new faith. Men of science tell us that he suffered of _Hysteria
muscularis_, a disease not uncommon in men as well as in women, which
produces periodical paroxysms and is characterized by an alternate
contraction and expansion of the muscles. When the attack came the
prophet's lips and tongue would begin to vibrate, his eyes turned up,
and the head moved automatically. If the paroxysms were very violent he
fell to the ground, his face turned purple, and he breathed with
difficulty. As he frequently retained his consciousness he pretended
that these symptoms were caused by angels' visits, and each attack was
followed by a new revelation. The disease was the result of his early
lawless life and of the freedom which he claimed, even in later
years--pleading a special dispensation from on high as a divinely
inspired prophet. It is not to be wondered at that the new religion,
springing from such a source, and proclaimed amid the mountains and
steppes of Arabia, which, according to popular belief, are all alive
with djinns and demons, should be largely based upon visions and
hallucinations.
The important part which visions hold in the history of the various
religions of the earth lies beyond our present purpose; we know,
however, that the records of ancient temples, of prophets, saints, and
martyrs, and of later convents and churches, abound with instances of
such so-called revelations from on high. They have more than once served
at critical times to excite individuals and whole nations to make
sublime efforts. One of the best known cases of the former class is that
of Constantine the Great, who told Eusebius of Caesarea, affirming his
statement with a solemn oath, that he saw in 312, shortly before the
decisive battle at Rome against his formidable adversary Magentius, a
bright cross in the heavens, surrounded by the words: _In hoc signo
vinces_. But this vision stood by no means alone. He himself beheld,
besides, in a dream during the following night, the Saviour, who ordered
him to use in battle henceforth a banner like that which he had seen in
his vision. Nazarius, a pagan, also speaks of a number of marvelous
signs in the heavens seen in Gaul immediately before the emperor's great
victory. Nor can it be doubted that this vision not only inspired
Constantine with new hopes and new courage, enabling him to secure his
triumph, but also induced him, after his success, to avow himself openly
a convert to the faith of Christ.
The visions of that eminent man Swedenborg are too well known to require
here more than a mere allusion. Beginning his intercourse with the
supernatural world at the ripe age of forty-five, he soon gave himself
up to it systematically, and felt compelled to make his daily
conversations, as well as the revelations he received from time to time,
duly known to the public. Thus he wrote with an evident air of firm
conviction: "I had recently a conference with the Apostle Paul;" and at
another time he assured a Wuertemberg prelate, "I have conferred with St.
Paul for a whole year, especially about the words in Romans iii. 28.
Three times I have conversed with St. John, once with Moses, and a
hundred times with Luther, when the latter confessed that he had taught
_fidem solam_ contrary to the warning of an angel, and that he had
stood alone when renouncing the pope. With angels, finally, I have held
constant intercourse for the last twenty years, and still hold daily
conversations."
Classic as well as Christian art, is indebted to visions for more than
one signal success. On the other hand, they have as frequently been made
to serve vile purposes, mainly by feeding superstition and supporting
religious tyranny. We need only recall the terrible calamity caused by a
wretched shepherd boy in France, who, in 1213, saw, or pretended to see,
heavenly visions, ordering him to enlist his comrades, and with their
aid, to rescue the Holy Land from the possession of infidels. Thousands
of little children were seized by the contagious excitement, and leaving
their home and their kindred, followed their youthful leader, unchecked
by the authorities, because of the interpretation applied to the words
of Jesus: "Suffer little children to come unto Me!" Not one of them ever
reached Palestine, as all perished long before they had reached even
Southern France.
It is not exactly a magic phenomenon, but certainly a most startling
feature in visions, that the minds of many men should be able, by their
own volition, to create images and forms so perfectly like those
existing in the world around us, that the same minds are incapable of
distinguishing where hallucination and reality touch each other. This
faculty varies, of course, as much as other endowments: sometimes it
produces nothing but vague, shapeless lights or sounds; in other
persons it is capable of calling up well-defined forms, and of causing
even words to be heard and pain to be inflicted. During severe suffering
in body or soul, it may become a comforter, and in the moment of passing
through the valley of the shadow of death, it is apt to soothe the
anguish, by visions of heavenly bliss, but to an evil conscience it may
also appear as an avenger, by prefiguring impending judgment and
condemnation. It is this influence on the lives of men, and their great
moral importance, which lends to visions--and in a certain degree even
to hallucinations--additional interest, and makes it our duty not to set
them aside as mere idle phantoms, but to try to ascertain their true
nature and final purpose. This is all the more necessary, as in our day
visions are considered purely the offspring of the seer's own mental
activity, a truth abundantly proven by the simple fact that blind or
deaf people are quite as capable of having visions and hallucinations,
as those who have the use of all their senses.
Thus these magic phenomena have, in an unbroken chain, accompanied
almost all the great men who are known to history, from the earliest
time to our own day. In modern times they have often been successfully
traced to bodily and mental disorders; but this fact diminishes in no
way the interest which they have for the student of magic. The great
Pascal, who was once threatened with instant death by the upsetting of
his carriage, henceforth saw perpetually an abyss by his side, from
which fiery flames issued forth; he could conceal it by simply placing a
chair or a table between it and his eyes. In the case of the English
painter Blake, who had visions of historic personages which appeared to
him in idealized outlines, his periodical aberrations of mind were
accepted as sufficient explanation. The bookseller Nicolai, of Berlin,
on the contrary, who, like Beaumont, saw hundreds of men, women, and
children accompanying him in his walks or visiting him in his chamber,
found his ghostly company dependent on the state of his health. When he
was bled or when leeches were applied, the images grew pale, and
disappeared in part or dissolved entirely. A peculiarity of his case
was, that he never saw visions in the dark, but all his phantasms
appeared in broad daylight, or at night when candles had been brought in
or a large fire was burning in the fireplace. Captain Henry Bell had
been repeatedly urged by a German friend of his, Caspar von Sparr, to
translate the Table-talk of Martin Luther, which, having been suppressed
by an edict of the Emperor Rudolphus, had become very rare, and of which
Sparr had sent him a copy, discovered by himself in a cellar where it
had lain buried for fifty-two years. Captain Bell commenced the work;
but abandoned it after a little while. A few weeks later a white-haired
old man appeared to him at night, pulling his ear and saying: "What!
will you not take time to translate the book? I will give you soon a
place for it and the necessary leisure." Bell was much startled; but
nevertheless neglected the work. A fortnight after the vision he was
arrested and lodged in the gate-house of Westminster, where he remained
for ten years, of which he spent five in the translation of the work.
(Beaumont, "Tractat.," p. 72.) Even religious visions have by no means
ceased in modern times, and more than one remarkable conversion is
ascribed to such agency. We do not speak of so-called miracles like that
of the children of Salette in the department of the Isere, in 1849, or
the recent revelations at Lourdes, and in Southern Alsace, which were
publicly endorsed by leading men of the church, and have furnished rich
material even for political demonstrations. The vision of Major
Gardiner, also, who, just before committing a sinful action, beheld the
Saviour and became a changed man, has been so often published and so
thoroughly discussed that it need not be repeated here. The conversion
of young Ratisbone, in 1843, created at the time an immense sensation.
He was born of Jewish parents, but, like only too many of his race, grew
up to become a freethinker and a scoffer, rejecting all faiths as idle
superstitions. One day he strolled into the church Delle Fratte in Rome,
and while sunk in deep meditation, suddenly beheld a vision of the
Virgin Mary, which made so deep an impression upon him that it changed
the whole tenor of his life. He gave up the great wealth to which he had
fallen heir, he renounced a lovely betrothed, and resolutely turning his
back upon the world, he entered, as a novice, into a Jesuit convent;
thus literally forsaking all in order to follow Christ.
The magic phenomena accompanying visions, have, among nations of the
Sclavic race, not unfrequently a specially formidable and repellent
character, corresponding, no doubt, with the temperament and turn of
imagination peculiar to that race. The Sclaves are apt to be ridden by
invisible men, till they drop down in a swoon; they are driven by wild
beasts to the graves of criminals, where they behold fearful sights, or
they are forced to mingle with troops of evil spirits roving over the
wide, waste steppes, and they invariably suffer from the sad effects of
such visions, till a premature death relieves them after a few months.
In Wallachia a special vision of the so-called Pickolitch is quite
common, and has, in one case at least, been officially recorded by
military authorities. A poor private soldier, who had already more than
once suffered from visions, was ordered to stand guard in a lonely
mountain pass, and forced by the rules of the service to take his place
there, although he begged hard to be allowed to exchange with a brother
soldier, as he knew he would come to grief. The officer in command,
struck by the earnestness of his prayer, promised to lend him all
possible assistance, and placed a second sentinel for his support close
behind him. At half past ten o'clock the officer and a high civil
functionary saw a dark figure rush by the house in which they were; they
hastened at once to the post, where two shots had fallen in rapid
succession, and found the inner sentinel, the still smoking rifle in
hand, staring fixedly at the place where his comrade had stood, and
utterly unconscious of the approach of his superior. When they reached
the outer post they found the rifle on the ground, shattered to pieces,
and the heavy barrel bent in the shape of a scythe, while the man
himself lay at a considerable distance, groaning with pain, for his
whole body was so severely burnt that he died on the following day. The
survivor stated that a black figure had fallen, as if from heaven, upon
his comrade and torn him to pieces in spite of the two shots he had
fired at it from a short distance, then it had vanished again in an
instant. The matter was duly reported to headquarters, and when an
investigation was ordered, the fact was discovered that a number of
precisely similar occurrences had already been officially recorded. The
vision is, of course, nothing more than a product of the excited
imagination of the mountaineers, who lend the favorite shape of a
"Pickolitch" to the frequent, bizarre-looking masses of fog and mist
which rise in their dark valleys, hover over gullies and abysses, and
driven by a sudden current of wind, fly upward with amazing rapidity,
and thus seem to disappear in an instant. The apprehension of the poor
sentinel, on the other hand, was a kind of clairvoyance produced by the
combined influence of local tradition, the nightly hour and the dark
pass, upon a previously-excited mind, while the vision of the two
officers was a similar magic phenomena, the result of the impressions
made upon them by the instant prayer of the victim, and a hot discussion
about the reality of the "Prikolitch." The sentinel probably saw a weird
shape and fired; the gun burst and killed him outright, setting fire to
his clothes, a supposition strengthened by the statement that the poor
fellow, anticipating a meeting with the spectre, had put a double charge
into his rifle. The accident teaches once more that a mere denial of
facts and a haughty smile at the idea of visions profit us nothing,
while a calm and careful examination of all the circumstances may throw
much light upon their nature, and help, in the course of time, to
extirpate fatal superstitions, like those of the "Prikolitch."
It is interesting to see how harmless and even pleasant are, in
comparison, the visions of men with well-trained minds and kindly
dispositions. The bookseller Nicolai entertained his phantom-guests, and
was much amused, at times, by their conversation. Macnish ("Sleep," p.
194) tells us the same of Dr. Bostock, who had frequent visions, and of
an elderly lady whom Dr. Alderson treated for gout, and who received
friendly visits from kinsmen and acquaintances with whom she conversed,
but who disappeared instantly when she rang for her maid. Another
patient of Dr. Alderson's, who saw himself in the same manner surrounded
by numbers of persons, even felt the blows which a phantom-carter gave
him with his whip. Although in all these cases the visions disappeared
after energetic bleeding and purging, the phenomena were nevertheless
real as far as they affected the patient, and have in every instance
been fully authenticated and scientifically investigated. The well-known
author, Macnish, himself was frequently a victim of this kind of
self-delusion; he saw during an attack of fever fearful hellish shapes,
forming and dissolving at pleasure, and during one night he beheld a
whole theatre filled with people, among whom he recognized many friends
and acquaintances, while on the stage he saw the famous Ducrow with his
horses. As soon as he opened his eyes the scene disappeared, but the
music continued, for the orchestra played a magnificent march from
Aladdin, and did not cease its magic performance for five hours. The
vision of the eye seems thus to have been under the influence of his
will, but his hearing was beyond his control.