Two French gentlemen, refugees, who resided together in New York on
terms of great amity, freighted a ship for India. Everything was
prepared for their departure, and they waited only a favourable wind.
One of them, B----, of a calm and placid temperament, apparently excited
by the uncertainty and delay of the time of sailing, began to manifest a
degree of restlessness which surprised his companion. One day he entered
the apartment where his friend was engaged in writing letters for
Europe, and under the influence of an excitement so great that he had
difficulty to suppress it, he exclaimed: "Why lose time in writing
letters?--they will never go to their destination. Come with me and take
a turn on the Battery. The wind may become favourable; we are, perhaps,
nearer the point of departure than we suppose!" Acceding to the request,
his friend accompanied him, and as they proceeded, arm-in-arm, he was
astonished at the rapid and excited manner in which B---- walked. On
reaching the Battery, B---- precipitated his rate of walking still more,
until they approached the parapet. He spoke in a high and quick tone,
expressing in florid terms his admiration of the scenery. Suddenly he
arrested his incoherent discourse, and his friend separated from him. "I
regarded him fixedly," to continue the narrative in the words of the
narrator; "he turned away as if intimidated and cast-down. 'B----,' I
cried, 'you intend to kill me, you wish to throw me from this height
into the sea! Deny it, monster, if you dare!' The madman looked me in
the face with haggard eyes for a moment, but I was careful not to lose
his glance, and he lowered the head. He murmured some incoherent words,
and sought to pass by me. I barred the way, extending my arms. After
looking vaguely right and left, he threw himself on my neck, and melted
into tears. 'It is true, it is true, my friend! The thought has haunted
me night and day, as a torch of hell. It was for this end that I brought
you here; had you been but a foot from the border of the parapet, the
work had been done.' The demon had abandoned him, his eyes were without
expression, a foam covered his dried lips; the excitement was passed. I
reconducted him to the house. Some days of repose, together with
bleeding and low diet, re-established him completely; and what is still
more extraordinary, we never more spoke of this event."
Are we, with Boismont, to regard this as an example of "sudden and
mysterious inspiration?" Would it not have been still more mysterious if
a minute examination of the countenance of a madman, who was talking
incoherently near the verge of a precipitous descent, and big with
intent to murder, had not been sufficient to unravel his purpose? We
think it would, and that there is no evidence here of anything beyond
the pale of the laws of common observation.
It would be needless to multiply instances of presentiment which have
carried conviction to the minds of persons less accustomed to analyze
the operations of the senses and intellect than Boismont, and in whom
errors of observation are infinitely more likely to occur; nevertheless
there are instances on record which, if the authority upon which they
are stated be admitted, receive no explanation from natural laws so far
as we are yet acquainted with them.
One of the best and most striking examples of this kind is given on the
authority of Mrs. Crowe.