Star.
London, England, 1830-09-28 00:00:00

SPECTRES.

( rum Sir Waller Stotts Leiter; on Demonology and Wilelierqfl,
forming No. 16, of the Family Library.)

A patient of Dr. Gregory, a person, it is understood, of some rank,
having requested the Doctor's advice, made the following extraordinary
statement of his complaint :—" I am in the habit," he said, " of dining
at five, and exactly as the hour of six arrives, I am subjected to the fol-
lowing painful visitation t—the!door of the room, even when I have been
weak enough to bolt it. which 1 have sometimes done, flies wide open;
an old hag, like one of thaw who haunted the heath of Forres, enters
with a frowning and incensed countenance, comes straight up to me with
every demonstration of spite and indignation which could characterise
her who haunted the merchant of Abudah, in the oriental tale; she
rushes upon me ; says something, but so hastily, that I cannot discover
the purport, and then strikes me a severe blow with her staff: I fall
from my chair in a swoon, which is of longer, or shorter endurance. To
the recurrence of this apparition I am daily subjected. And
such is my new and singular complaint." The Dodos imme.
diately asked whether his patient had invited any one to sit with him
when :he expected such a visitation ? He was answered in the nega-
tive. The nature of the complaint, he said, was so singular, it was so
likely to be imputed to fancy, or even to mental derangement, that he
had shrank from communicating the circumstance to any one. "Then,"
said the Doctor, "with your permission, I will dine with you to-day,
lets a tele, and we will sec if your malignant old woman will venture to
join our company." The patient accepted the proposal with gratitude,
for he had expected ridicule rather than sympathy. They met at dinner,
and Dr. Gregory, who suspected some nervous disorder, exerted his
powers of conversation, well known to be of the most varied and bril-
liant character, to keep the attention of his host engaged, and prevent
him from thinking on the approach of the fatal hour, to which he was
accustomed to look forward with so much terror. kle succeeded in his
purpose better than he had hoped. The hour of six came almost un-
noted, and it was hoped might pails away without any evil consequence;
but it was scarce a moment struck when the owner of the house ex.
daimcd, in an alarmed voice, "The hag comes again !" and dropped
:e.s..k in his chair in a swoon, in the way he had himself described. The
rhy:dclan caused him to be let blood, and satisfied himself that the pe-
t shocks of which his patient complained, arose from a tendency
apoplexy.
VisION OF • CAT, AN USHER, AND • SYELETON..—" My
visions," he said, "commenced two or three years,since, when I found
,ayself embarrassed by the presence of a large cat, which came and dis.
eppeared I could not exactly tell how, till the truth was dually forced
~pnn me, and I was compelled to regard it as no domestic household
eat. but as a bublcz of the elements, which had no existence, save in my
,:eranged visual organs, or depraved imagination. Still I had not that
positive objection to the animal entertained by a late gallant Highland
t in:Stain, who had been seen to change to all the colours of his own
plaid, if a cat by accident happened to be in the room with him, even
though he did not see it. On the contrary, lam rather a friend to cats,
oil endured with so much equanimity the presence of my imaginary
e, tends= that it had become almost indifferent to me ; when within the
eeentse of a few months it gave plate to, or was succeeded by, a spectre
of a more important sort, which at least had amore imposing appear.
..rce. This was teo other than the apparition of a gentleman usher,
dressed as if to wait upon a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or a Lord
high Commissioner of the Kirk, or any other who bears on his brow
the rank and stamp oldelegated sovereignty.
This personage, arrayed in a court dress, with bag and sword, tam.
Enured waistcoat, and chapeau.brax, glided beside me like the ghost of
Beau Nash; and whether in my own house or in another, ascended the
stairs befure me, as if to announce me in the drawing-room, and at
.oene times appeared to mingle with the company, though it was suffi-
:lndy evident that they were not aware of his presence, and that I
Ilene was sensible of the visionary honours which this Imaginary being
seemed desirous to render me. This freak of the fancy did not produce
.s.ach impression upon me, though it led me to entertain doubts en
the nature of any disorder, and alarm for the effects it might produce
pan my intellects. But that modification of my disease also had its
appointed duration. After a few months, the phantom of the gentle-
a...a-usher was seen no more, but was succeeded by one horrible to the
sight, and distressing to the imagination, being no other than the image
..f death Itself—the apparition of a skeleton. Alone or in company,'
said the unfortunate the presence of this last phantom never
fiee:ls me. 1 in vain tell myself a hundred times over that it is no
reality, but merely an image summoned up by the morbid acuteness of
toy own excited imagination, and deranged organs of sight, but what
,veil such reflections, while the emblem at once and presage of mor-
tality is before my eyes, and while I feel myself, though in fancy only,
the companion of a phantom representing a ghastly inhabitant of
the: grave, even while I yet breathe on the earth? Science,
fit:, even religion, has no cure for such a disorder; and I eel too'
surely that I shall die the victim to so melancholy a disease, although
I have no belief whatever in the reality of the phantom which it places
before me."

The physician ;was distressed to perceive from these details how
strongly this visionary apparition was fixed in the imagination of his
patient. He ingeniously urged the sick man, who was then in bed,
with questions concerning the circumstances of the phantom's appear-
ance, trusting he might lead him, as a sensible man, into such contra-
dictions and inconsistencies as might bring his bring his common sense,
which seemed to be unimpaired, so strongly into the field, as might
combat successfully the fantastic disorder which produced such fatal
effects. " This skeleton then," said the Doctor, " [teems topyou to be
always present to your eyes ?" " It is my fate, unhappily,' answered
the invalid, " always to see it" i* Then, I understand,' continued the
physician, " it is now present to your imagination ?" " To my ima-
gination it certainly is so," replied the sick man. " And in what put
of the chamber do you now conceive the apparition to appear ?" the
physician inquired. " Immediately at the foot of my when the
curtains are left a little open," answered the invalid, " the skeleton, to
in,: thinking, is placed between them, and fills the vacant space."—
" You say you are sensible of the delusion ?" said his friend. • Have
you firmness to convince yourself of the truth of this ? Can you
take courage enough to rise and place yourself in the spot so seeming to
be occupied, and convince yourself of the illusion ?" The poor man
signed, and shook his head negatively. " Well," said the Doctor, " we
will try the experiment otherwise." Accordingly, he rose from his chair
by the bedside, and placing himself between the two half-drawn curtains
the foot of the bed indicated as the place occupied by the apparition,
asked, if the spectre was still visible " Not entirely so," replied the,
patient, * because your person is betwixt him and me ; but I observe
his skull peeping above your shoulder."
I is alleged the man of science started on the instant, despite philo-
sophy, on receiving an answer ascertaining, with such minuteness, that
the ideal spectre was close to his own person. He resorted to other
swans of investigation and cure, but with equally indifferent success.
The patient sunk into deeper anideeper dejection, and died in the same
d of mind in which he had spent the latter months of his life ; and
his ..;.se remains a melancholy instance of the power of imagination to
lt; the ta.dy, even when its fantastic terrors cannot overcome the Intel-
-1 -t ci the unfortunate persons wbo suffer under them. The patient,
tha present case, sunk under his malady ; and the circumstances of
his singular disorder remaining concealed, he did not, by his death and
last illness, lose any of the well-merited reputation for prudence and sa
gacity which had attended him during the whole course of his life.
SIR WALTER SCOTT'S OWN VISION Or LORD BTSON.---Ano-
thee illusion of the same nature we have the best reason for vouchsafing
as a fact, though for certain reasons, we do not give the names of the
ponies. Not long after the death of a late illustrious poet, who had
titled, while living, a great station in the eye of the public, a li-
terary friend, to whom the deceased bas been well known, was en-
gaged, during the darkening twilight of an autumn evening, I.
perusing one of the publications which professed to detail the
habits and opinions of the distinguished individual who was now
no mote. As the reader had enjoyed the intimacy of the de-
ceased to a considerable degree, he was deeply interested in the pub-
lication, which contained some particulars relating to himself and other
friends. A visitor was sitting in the apartment who was also engaged
in reading. Their sitting-room opened into an entrance-hall, rather
fantastically fitted up with articles of armour, skins of wild animals, and
me like. It was when laying down his book, and passing into this
hail, through which the moon was beginning to shine, that the indi-
vidual of whom I speak saw, right before him, and in a standing pos-
ture, the exact representation of his departed friend, whose rceollecdon

had been so strongly brought to his imagination. He stopped foe a
single moment, so as to notice the wonderful accuracy with which fancy
had impressed upon the bodily the
lejeedie peculiarities of dress and posture
illustrious the ustrious poet. Sensible, however, of the delusion, be felt no
sentiment save that of wonder at extraordinary accuracy of the re-
semblance. and stepped onwards towards the figure, which resolved itself,
as be approached, into the various materials of which it was composed.
These were merely a screen, occupied by great-coats, shawls, plaids, and
such other articles as usually are found in a country enuanoe-hall The
spectator returned to the spot from which he had seen the illusion, and
endeavoured, with all his power, to recall the image which had been so
singularly vivid. But this was beyond his capacity; and the person
who had witnessed the apparition, or, more properly, whose excited state
had been the means of raisi it, had only to return into the apartment,
and tell his young friend u.w. what a striking hallucination be had foe
a moment labosred.--p. 3849.