The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-27

meagre. mean.visaged, muddy
And moreover, within the last two years there
had been five attempts to assassinate William
OF Orange. = All these facts combined give us
the result OF natural fear on the subject OF as
sassination, and nat0ral Tepugnance at the sight
of the assassin, What we want to establish
IpIesentiment Is something preternatural an in
voluntary and unaccounta0le feeling
I A good instance OF this was communicated to
me by near relation: - A young lawyer, who
had chambers in the Temple, had noddlng
acquaintance with an old gentleman living on
the same staircase. The old man was wealthy
old bachelor, and had place in the country, 20
which he went Tor week every Easter. His
servants had charge of the place while he was
away-an old married couple who had lived
with HIM for twen sy-seven years, and we're types
of the fine old English domestic. One Easter
Tuesday the young lawyer was aston shed to find
the old gentleman on his Temple staircase, and
made some remark aDout It. The old man asked
him into his room, aud SAID he had received a
fearful shock. He had gone down as usual to
his country. place, had been received with In,
tense cordlahty, had found his dinner cooked
to;periection, and everything as 1t had been from
the beginning. When the cloth was removed
his faithful butler put his bottle of port on the
table, and made the customary inquiries about
masters health hoped master was not fatigued
by the journey, had enjoyed his outlet ana so
on. The old gentleman was left alone, his
hand was on the neck OF the bottle of port
when it suddenly flashed across his mind-
l"HeIe am, lonely old man; no one cares
Tor me; there Is no ole near to help me If
anything should happen TO me. What III my
old servant and his wife have been cheating
and robblng me all this time? What if they
want to get rid of me- and have poisoned this
bottle of wine :" The idea took hold OF him so
strongly that he could not touch his port When
the man came in again he SAID he did not lee
well, would have cup Of tea; no, he would
have glass OF water and go 10 bed. In the
morning he rang his bell, and no one answered
lie got up, found his way downstairs; the
house was empty, his two faithful old servants
had vanished. And when he came to look
further he found that his cellar, which ought
to have contained two or three thousand pounds
worth OF WINE, was empty, and the bottle they
had brought hum last night IUdS poisoned
have told the story at length because IL has
not appeared in print before, and because il
seems to answer all our requirements. The
only place In which you can find flaw is one
winch, after all, does not affect the whole 1t
is this;-Did the butler, in putting the wine on
the table, betray the slightest discomposure If
ne dld, there might be good cause for the sus-
plclons OF master being aroused. But ii master
suspected a servant of twenty-seven years.
standing, is it not likely that he would have
remarked IT openly? A look, a tone, a sign of
trepldatlon or uneasiness, would hardly have sug-
gested such train oi reflections. There is also a
remarkable accuracy about the train of reflec-
lions which leads one to preternatural cause
granting that suspicion was aroused, the solu-
ton arrived at was neither the easiest nor the
most likely. The singular thing is that the
master should have yielded so readily to the
impression, and that it should afterwards have
proved accurate In the most minute details.
Another point IN this story is remarkable. 1t so
seldom happens that presentlmeuts of any kind
are acted upon, that Wallcnstein may well deny
them the name of warnings. Yet when, as in
this case, they have been acted upon, il is
shown % that they do not merely predict the in
evltable. In the case of Wallenstein indeed
we see no possibility of escape But was there
none in that OF Henry IV. Sometimes pre-.
sentiment seems! to warn man of an impend-
ing tate, IN order to lead him to a better course
OF lie. the death tu
pht IL LEADS him to life and fortune. Or when
something strange or unlikely il about to
happen, the man is enabled to avoid it by q
warning which points to something probable.
in the life OF William Wilberforce. To take the
latter hrst, be relates that he was once reading
whispered to him that he might be
overcome by drowsiness while reading. might
fall of the camp-stool, and tumble into The
he 1osfyng Re waHng H be dnrca moved
sat on it five minutes longer when it
broke suddenly, and he fell fiat on the grass
as i he had been shot, II this had happened
by the river side he must have been drowned.
But if anything had whispered to him that the
camp-stool might break, it is q question il he
would have needed the suggestion. Again, we
lind him writing in his diary Tor lsl7:-"Let me
put down that have had of late greater de-
gree OF religious feeling than usual, Is it an
omen, as has once or twice shot across my
IMAGINATION, hint that my time for being
called away draws nigh ?" 1t was not; bis life
had sixteen years longer to run. But was it
not gam TO man OF ardent religious feeling
to have it in a greater degree than usual,
even though it foreboded nothing? Some men
SHRINK from an access OF such feeling, be-
cause they think it forebodes death. Others
again refuse to talk OF their childhood. because
1T is 'unlucky." But II such feelings forebode
death, ii is hopeless to escape death by sitting
them. II presentiment warns you of any-
thing, you do not escape it by refusing to listen
to the presentiment; on the contrary YOU make
it inevitable.
This, tlink, is the moral OF the PRESENT.
ments given us by Shakespeare. In ali that he
gives us, the warning rs neglected and the fate
comes. The simplest of them all is "Hamlet'sn
and 1t is the strongest proof OF Shakespeare's
belief in them:-
hamlet. Thou would'st not think how Ill ALPS
here about my heart; but it as matter.
fHoIaho. Nay, good my lord
"Hamlet. 1t Is but Oolery but Ii Is kind of gain
giving as would perhaps trouble O woman.
horatiO II your mind dislike anything, obey it;
viii ioresall their repair nlther and say you are
"Hamlet. Not a whit, we defy augury: there is a
spec al providence in the fall of sDarr W. III 1t be
now ms not TO come # It be not to como it will be
now IL 1t be not now yet it will come the readiness
is ALL"
At first we might think 'Hamlet's" feeling was
natural. He had detected the kings villany and
he knew his own counterplot would not long be
secret, But it is plain that he suspected no
He never once examined the toils, or measured
them but picked up the first hat came to hand,
and took the length on trust. Just before,
when "Horatio" warned him, he had said, "rhe
interim is mine,' and he clearly looked forward
10 having things his own way till the next news
from England "Desdemonas" presentiment
does not bear the same tests. She had no
reason to apprehend violent death, but she
had enough 10 apprehend from "0thello'sn
anger. He had struck her, and called her the
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