towards morning, they arrived at the conviction that the girl possessed the art of counterfeiting noises. Further examinations took place, and ultimately it was discovered that she was a finished impostor. They found that she had been in the habit of taking with her to bed a thin and sonorous piece of wood, on which she produced the noises that had deceived such crowds of credulous individuals. Parsons, who had been privy to the plot for injuring the reputation of Mr Kempe, with his daughter and several accomplices, were now taken into custody; and after a trial before Lord Mansfield, were condemned to various terms of imprisonment; Parsons being, in addition, ordered to stand in the pillory. Such was the termination of an affair which not only found partisans among the weak and credulous, but even staggered many men reputed for possessing sound understandings. A worthy clergyman, whose faith was stronger than his reason, and who had warmly interested himself in behalf of the reality of the spirit, was so overwhelmed with grief and chagrin, that he did not long survive the detection of the imposture.

CONCLUSION.

A word of advice may now be given in conclusion to those who are subject to illusions of a spectral kind. If hysteria, epilepsy, or any well-marked bodily affection be an accompaniment of these illusions, of course remedial measures should be used which have a reference to these maladies, and the physician is the party to be applied to. If, however, no well-defined bodily ailment exists, a word of counsel may be useful from ourselves. We believe that, in general, spectral illusions are caused by disorders originating in the alimentary system, and that the continued use of stimulating liquors is to be most commonly blamed for the visitation. If the patient is conscious that this is the case, his path to relief lies open before him. The removal of the cause will almost always remove the effect. At the same time, the process of cure may be slow. The imagination becomes morbidly active in such cases, and many maintain the illusions after the digestive system is restored to order. But this will not be the case long, for the morbidity of the imagination does not usually survive, for any length of time, the restoration of the sanity of the body. To effect a cure of the fundamental derangement of the alimentary system, aperient medicines may be used in the first instance, and afterwards tonics-nourishing food, in small quantities, at the outset—and gentle but frequent exercise in the open air. Last, but not least, for the cure of the sufferer from spectral illusions, the indulgence in cheerful society is to be recommended. Solitude infably nurses the morbidity of the imagination. The notion that the use of ardent spirits should only be dropped by degrees, is found to be a mistake. Even in instances of the most inveterate drunkards, no harm follows from instantaneous

abstinence. Therefore, as a little too often leads to much in the matter of drinking, those who would break off the practice should not be over-indulgent to themselves, through fear of the consequences of change. If opium have been the cause of the illusions, a gradual cessation from its use may be advisable.

Should the sufferer from spectral illusions be conscious of no error as regards the use of stimulants or narcotics, some affection of the brain may be suspected, and headaches will corroborate this suspicion. Local or general blood-letting will prove in most cases the best remedy. Leeches or cupping may be tried in the first place, and, if tried ineffectively, the lancet may then be employed.

With respect to the demonstrable truthfulness of stories of apparitions, we consider that the whole may be referred to natural causes. Let us think of the apparent reasons for the majority of spectral communications, supposing them to be supernatural. Can we deem it accordant with the dignity of that great Power which orders the universe, that a spirit should be sent to warn a libertine of his death? Or that a spiritual messenger should be commissioned to walk about an old manor-house, dressed in a white sheet, and dragging clanking chains, for no better purpose than to frighten old women and servant-girls, as said to be done in all hauntedchamber cases? Or that a supernatural being should be charged with the notable task of tapping on bed-heads, pulling down plates, and making a clatter among tea-cups, as in the case of the Stockwell ghost, and a thousand others? The supposition is monstrous. If to any one inhabitant of this earth-a petty atom, occupying a speck of a place on a ball which is itself an insignificant unit among millions of spheres-if to such a one a supernatural communication was deigned, certainly it would be for some purpose worthy of the all-wise Communicator, and fraught with importance to the recipient of the message, as well, perhaps, as to his whole race.

32

ND next in order sad, Old Age we found:
His beard all hoar, his eyes hollow and blind;
With drooping cheer still poring on the ground,
As on the place where nature him assigned
To rest, when that the Sisters had untwined
His vital thread, and ended with their knife
The fleeting course of fast-declining life :

There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint
Rue with himself his end approaching fast,
And all for nought his wretched mind torment
With sweet remembrance of his pleasures past,
And fresh delights of lusty youth forewaste;
Recounting which, how would he sob and shriek,
And to be young again of Jove beseek!

But, an the cruel fates so fixed be,
That time forepast cannot return again,
This one request of Jove yet prayed he-

That in such withered plight, and wretched pain,
As Eld, accompanied with her loathsome train,

Had brought on him, all were it woe and grief,
He might a while yet linger forth his life,

And not so soon descend into the pit ;

Where Death, when he the mortal corpse hath slain,
With reckless hand in grave doth cover it :
Thereafter never to enjoy again

The gladsome light, but, in the ground ylain,
In depth of darkness waste and wear to nought,
As he had ne'er into the world been brought:

But who had seen him sobbing how he stood
Unto himself, and how he would bemoan
His youth forepast-as though it wrought him good
To talk of youth, all were his youth foregone-
He would have mused, and marvelled much whereon
This wretched Age should life desire so fain,
Yet know full well life doth but lengthen pain.

-THOMAS SACKVILLE (1536-1608).

SLEEP.

COME, Sleep, O Sleep! the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
The indifferent judge between the high and low.
With shield of proof shield me from out the press
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw;
O make in me those civil wars to cease:
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed;
A chamber, deaf to noise, and blind to light;
A rosy garland, and a weary head.
And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me
Livelier than elsewhere Stella's image see.

-SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-1586).

HIGHER ASPIRATIONS.

LEAVE me, O Love! which reachest but to dust;
And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things,
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust:
Whatever fades but fading pleasure brings.

Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might
To that sweet yoke where lasting freedoms be;
Which breaks the clouds, and opens forth the light,
That doth both shine and give us sight to see.

Oh! take fast hold, let that light be thy guide
In this small course which birth draws out of death,
And think how ill becometh him to slide,

Who seeketh heaven, and comes of heavenly breath.
Then farewell, world, thine uttermost I see;
Eternal Love, maintain thy life in me.

-Ibid.

THE COUNTRY'S RECREATIONS.

HEART-TEARING cares and quivering fears,
Anxious sighs, untimely tears,

Fly, fly to courts,

Fly to fond worldlings' sports;

Where strained sardonic smiles are glozing still,
And Grief is forced to laugh against her will;
Where mirth's but mummery,

And sorrows only real be.

Fly from our country pastimes, fly;
Sad troop of human misery!

Come, serene looks,

Clear as the crystal brooks,

Or the pure azured heaven that smiles to see
The rich attendance of our poverty.

Peace and a secure mind,

Which all men seek, we only find.

Abused mortals, did you know

Where joy, heart's ease, and comforts grow,

You'd scorn proud towers,

And seek them in these bowers;

Where winds perhaps our woods may sometimes shake, But blustering care could never tempest make;

Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us,

Saving of fountains that glide by us.

Blest silent groves! Oh, may ye be

For ever mirth's best nursery!

May pure contents

For ever pitch their tents