Year: 1874

Early IN the present century Wilt


shire farmer had a dream soon aftel


midnight, thrice repeated, to the effec


that there was something wrong going


on in certain field of his; and aftel


dreaming this the third time. so strong


was his impression of its being a realit,


that he arose, and taking his gun Sc


out for the spot. It was Summer time


and sn hour or two before dawn. Or


reaching the field, he saw, in a remot.


part of it, faint glimmering light


toward which he directed his steps. Or


approaching he found a man in the ac


OF digging what appeared to be intended


for grave, the light being at the bot


tom. "What are you doing here 2
demanded the farmer. But without
/ replying the fellow bounded off at the
top of his speed, leaving behind hin


his jacket, IN a pocket of which wa.
/ found a murderous weapon in the shape


of knife. The farmer did not pursue
but retraced his steps and on ap


preaching his house met one of his


servant girls carrying a bundle. He


inquired whittier she was going at that


unreasonable hour. But having formed


her plan she seemed bent on carrying il


out, and showed a disposition to avoid


him. This, however, he would not per


init, and insisted upon an explanation


1t appeared that the wretched man who


had just been surprised in the act Of
preparing for his wicked design had


promised to marry the girl and the ar.
rangement was that she should clandes-


timely leave her place and meet him at a
! specified hour and spot in the field III


question, bringing with her the money
she had saved while in service. 1t need


hardly be said that, after being apprised
by her master of what he had Just wit


messed, the poor girl was only too glad


and thankful to return with him, thus


doubtless escaping, through the inter
| position of a meTciful Providence, an


untimely and violent death.


In June, 1852, Mr.. Robert Aikenhead,
! farmer in Denstrath of Arnhall, in the
I Mearns, about five miles north OF


Brechin and seven from MontrOse, went
to a market called Tarrenty Fair, where
he had a large sum of money to receive
His eldest son, Robert, boy between


7 and s years old, was sent to take care


of the cattle, and happened to lie down


upon a grassy bank, and before sunset


was fast asleep.


Although the boy had never been far
from home. he was Immediately lrried
in his imagination TO Tarreuty market,
where he dreamed that his father, after
receiving the money, set ont on his re-
turn home, and was followed all the
hr- I'll 1aAl-1nr, Fafln---z hN


when he had got to the western dykes
of Inglismanldy (the seat of the then
Lord of Halkerton, now Earl of Kin
tOre), and little more than a mile from
home, attacked aud attempted to rob
him whereupon the boy thought he
ran to his assistance, aud when he came
within gunshOt of the place called out
to some people who were Just going TO
bed, who put the robbers to flight. He
Immediately awoke in a fright, AID
without waiting to consider whether it
was vision or reality, ran as fast as
he could to the place he had dreamed
of, and no sooner reached 1t than he
saw his father in the very spot and stu
alton he had seen in his dream, defend
ing himself with a stick against the
doSslsstHS llt tltIClpEt
realized his own part of the visionary
scene. by roaring ont Murder !" at the
top of his voice, which soon brought
out the people, who, running up to Mr..
Aikenhead's assistance, found him vie
tor over one of the villains whom he
had previously knocked down with
stone after they had pulled him off his
horse, but almost oveTpowered by the
other, who repeatedly attempted to
stab him with a sword, against which
he had no other defense than lis stick
and his hands, which were considerably
mangled by grasping the blade. Upon
sight of the country people, the villain
who had the sword ran off, but the
other, not being able, was apprehended
and lodged in Jail. Meantime there
was hue and cry after young Robert,
whose mother missing him, and finding
the cattle among the corn, was in the
utmost anxiety, concluding he had fallen
into some water or peat moss. But her
Joy and surprise were equally great
when her husband returned with the
boy and told her how wonderfully both
his money and his life had been saved
by his sons dream


In the Life and Letters of the Rev.
r. II. Barham," author of the 'In-
goldsby Legends" the following nara
tive occurs, as related to Mr.. Barham
by a friend who was told 1t by the
dreamer himself: a Mr.. Phillips, sec
retary to Mr.. Abbot, Speaker of the
House of Commons, stated to my friend
Mr.. Wood, that about the year 1905, he
woke one night in some perturbation,
having dreamed that he had been SEN
fenced to be hanged, when the agony of
his situation reused him at the very
moment they were in the act of pinion-
ing his arms in the press yard.


Heartily pleased at finding it but
dream, he turned and fell asleep again,
when precisely the same scene was re-
peated, with the addition that he now
reached the foot of the gallows, and was
to mount before he awoke.
The crowd, the fatal tree, the hangman,
the cord, all were represented to him
with a frightful distinctness, and the
was so vivid that he got out
of bed and walked about the room for
some minutes before he could reconcile
himself to the idea of seeking rest on
his pillow again. He was long while
before he could close his eyes, but to-
ward morning he fell into a pertur5ed
in which precisely the same
tragedy was acted over again; he was
led up to the scaffold, placed upon the
top, the rope was fitted to his neck by
the executioner, whose features he dis
tinctly recognized as those of the man
he had seen in his former vision the