The Gift or Art of interpreting Dreams--Official
Interpreters of Dreams--Sleep, how portrayed--Goddess
of Dreams--Greeks soliciting the Inspiration of
Dreams--Xenophon on Sleep--Prophetic Power of the
Dying--AEsculapius's Discoveries in Dreams--Code of
Menu--The Soma-drink--Josephus as a Seer--Dreadful
Proposal by Josephus--His Fortunate Escape--An Eastern
Conjurer--Reading a Sealed Letter--A Sultan warned of
his Death in a Dream--Alexander's Death foretold in a
Dream--Records of Dreams in Westminster Abbey--Lord
Falkland's Dream--Rev. John Brown's Opinions--Early
Christian Faith in Visions and Dreams--Death of a
Friend foretold--The Devil's Sonata--Marriage of Queen
Mary--Fatality of the Stuart Family--Death of Henry
IV. of France.
The gift or art of interpreting dreams originated, at least so it is
said, among the Chaldeans and Egyptians. From them it spread to other
nations; and in course of time official or public interpreters of
dreams were appointed. The sacred pages supply instances of good and
bad men having glimpses of futurity through dreams; and profane
history makes us acquainted with innumerable cases of curious
revelations being made to men while they slept.
Among the ancients sleep was portrayed as a female with black unfolded
wings, having in her left hand a white child, the image of sleep, and
in her right hand a black child, the image of death. An author has
described sleep as the "rest of the spirits, dreaming their tremulous
motion;" another writer speaks of sleep as "the reality of another
existence;" while a third says, "all men, whilst awake, are in one
common world, but that each, when asleep, is in a world of his own."
It is of dreams, however, we are writing, and therefore cannot enter
into the deep philosophy of sleep.
The Romans worshipped Brizo, the goddess of dreams, and the Greeks
were accustomed, in cases of great emergency, to solicit the
inspiration of dreams, by performing religious rites, and lying on the
reeking skins of oxen or goats offered in sacrifice. Pliny and others
attached great importance to dreams. Xenophon remarks that in sleep
the souls of men appear to be more unfettered and divine than when the
eyes are not closed in slumber, and are enabled to look into futurity.
Another writer observes that in sleep the soul holds converse with the
Deity, and perceives future events. Socrates, Cicero, and Arian
express belief in the prophetic powers occasionally manifested by the
dying. Posidonius relates the story of a dying Rhodian predicting
which out of six persons would die first, second, etc.; and the
prophecy was verified. Hippocrates and Galen put faith in the
prophetic character of dreams. Origen tells us that AEsculapius
discovered means of cure through dreams, probably brought about by
artificial means.
In the code of Menu there are passages showing various modes of
producing the ecstatic states, such as through the influence of the
sun and moon, by sacrifice, music, liquids, and solid ingredients. The
Soma-drink was taken as a sacrament. In connection with human
sacrifices, this beverage was sometimes prepared with magical
ceremonies and incantations. It was supposed to be capable of
producing visions in sleep, when revelations were made of what was
passing in the inferior and superior worlds.
Josephus, like many other eminent men, possessed the faculty of
predicting future events. Josephus, having fought with great courage
against the Romans, refused to surrender to them until after the
capture of Jatapat, when he began to reflect on the dreams he had had.
In these, both the misfortunes of the Jews and the triumph of the
Romans were revealed. When the determination of Josephus to yield
became known, his companions in misfortune declared they would rather
die than surrender. So exasperated were they, that they proposed to
immolate him, and then destroy themselves. Their swords were drawn to
kill their leader, when he suggested that they should terminate their
lives by a reciprocal death--that the lot should determine
successively who should give and who should receive death, until all
were slain, and thus avoid the reproach of having laid violent hands
on themselves. This suggestion was agreed to. The lots were drawn, and
all perished except Josephus and one of his companions. Josephus
predicted the good fortune of Vespasian and Titus, and the short life
of their predecessors.
In an Eastern tale we are informed of a conjurer who had the
reputation of possessing the faculty of reading the contents of sealed
letters. Being called into the presence of his prince, he was asked
whether he would undertake to inform him of the contents of a despatch
he had received by a courier. "Yes," replied the conjuror, "to-morrow
morning." The despatch remained sealed in the prince's possession
until the following morning, when the conjuror gave the correct
contents of the despatch. In explanation, the cunning man said, on
going to bed, he excited in himself a strong desire to read the
letter, that he then fell asleep, and in a dream he became acquainted
with the whole document.
We are told of an old Sultan who was warned of his death in a dream.
He thought he saw the great prophet Mohammed snatching the Alcoran out
of his hand and taking his coat-of-arms from him by force, and
striking him down with so great violence that he could not rise. The
astrologers also foretold him that he would never see the feast of
Ramazan, because the star that presided at his birth was much obscured
in its conjunction with the planet that was then predominant. They
affirmed that he would die soon. His dream, and the astrologers'
predictions, were not long of being verified. The Sultan's death was
accompanied with great ignominy.
From Aristotle we learn that the death of Alexander was foretold in a
dream; and so was that of Caesar. In Westminster Abbey are singular
records of the dreams of Edward the Confessor, and of instances of
faith in visions.
Lord Falkland's dream, the night before the battle of Newbury, in
which he was slain, in the year 1643, has often been referred to by
persons who believe in dreams. James Montgomery, the poet, has in
touching lines assisted to keep the dream from being forgotten.
In more modern times, good men, whom we might suppose to be free from
the trammels of superstition, have to some extent directed their
course in life according to the interpretation of their dreams. The
Rev. John Brown, author of the _Dictionary of the Holy Bible_, writing
of dreams, says: "It is like they often begin from some outward
sensation of the body, in which spirits, good and bad, have no
inconsiderable influence."
In visions and dreams the persecution of the early Christians was made
known to many believers. Other important events were also predicted,
and preceded by strange phenomena. But for dreams, not a few
celebrated men who played important parts in national affairs would
have been entrapped, and turned aside from their purposes.
A gentleman holding a good position in society was awakened by his
wife one night, who told him she had had a most unpleasant dream. She
thought that a friend, who was in the East India Company's service,
had been killed in a duel. She described the place where the duel was
fought, and where the dead body lay. Her husband endeavoured to quiet
her fears, and characterised the dream as an absurdity, produced by a
disturbed imagination. A few months after, the melancholy news reached
this country that the Indian friend had fought a duel, been killed on
the spot, and his body carried to a shed such as the lady had seen in
her dream.
Fastini, a celebrated musician, dreamed one night that he had made a
compact with the devil, who promised to be at his service on all
occasions. He imagined that he presented the devil with his violin, in
order to discover what kind of a musician he was. To Fastini's great
astonishment, Satan, as he thought, played a solo of singular beauty,
which he executed with such superior taste and precision, that it
surpassed all the music he had ever heard or conceived. Fastini awoke
greatly excited, and, taking his violin, composed a piece that
excelled all his other works. He called it the "Devil's Sonata."
Before the marriage of the young Queen of Scotland with the Dauphin of
France, many had strange dreams and visions. Prodigious signs were
also observed in her native country. A comet shone for three months;
rivers dried up in winter, and in summer swelled so high that cattle
were carried away, and villages suddenly destroyed. Whales of enormous
size were cast ashore in the Firth of Forth; hailstones as large as
pigeons' eggs fell in various parts, destroying the crops; and, still
more strange and alarming, a fiery dragon was seen flying low over the
earth, vomiting forth fire, which endangered houses and farmyards.
The dire fatality that attended the Royal Stuarts did not surprise
those who attended to warnings through dreams, signs, and omens. Few
royal families were more unhappy than the Stuarts. James I., after
having been eighteen years a prisoner in England, was, together with
his queen, assassinated by his subjects; James II. was, in the
twenty-ninth year of his age, killed while fighting against England;
James III. was imprisoned by his subjects, and afterwards killed in
battle by rebels; James IV. perished in a battle which was lost; Mary
Stuart was driven from her throne, became a fugitive in Scotland,
and, after languishing for years in prison, was condemned by English
judges and beheaded; James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, her son,
died at his palace at Theobalds, not without strong suspicion of being
poisoned; Charles I. was betrayed by his own subjects, and, in terms
of a sentence by English judges, lost his life on the scaffold; James
VII. of Scotland and II. of England was driven from his kingdoms, and,
to fill the cup of bitterness to the brim, the birth of his son, as
legitimate heir, was disputed. The misfortunes of Prince Charles are
too well known to require us to do anything more than refer to them.
In his attempt to regain the throne of his ancestors, he was driven to
such a strait that he was compelled, after many of his supporters had
been put to death, to escape for his life under the guidance of a
woman--Flora Macdonald, renowned in history.
A few days before the death of Henry IV. of France, his queen had two
strange dreams. She thought all the jewels in her crown were changed
into pearls--a dream that much disturbed her, as pearls were
understood to signify tears. On the following night she had another
dream which caused her greater uneasiness--that the king was stabbed
in one of his sides. The king, as well as the queen, had presentiments
that a sad calamity was about to happen them. On the day before his
Majesty was killed he was very uneasy, and said something sat heavy on
his heart. Before entering the coach in which he was assassinated, he
took a tender farewell of the queen, kissing her thrice, and pressing
her close to his breast. For a time he hesitated whether he would go
out or not; but all at once he resumed his wonted courage, forbade the
guards to follow him out of the Louvre, and drove away in an open
carriage. The fates were against his Majesty: the fiat had gone forth,
and that day the hand of a regicide plunged a knife into the
sovereign's body, exactly as the queen had seen in her midnight
vision.