after sunset, it met me again at the same place, and after a few words on each side it quietly vanished, and neither doth appear now, nor hath appeared since, nor ever will more to any man's disturbance. The discourse in the morning lasted about a quarter of an hour.

"These things are true, and I know them to be so, with as much certainty as my eyes and senses can give me; and until I be persuaded that my senses all deceive me about their proper objects, and by that persuasion deprive myself of the strongest inducement to believe the Christian religion, I must and will assert that the things contained in this paper are true. As for the manner of my proceeding, I have no cause to be ashamed of it. I can justify it to men of good principles, discretion, and recondite learning, though in this case I choose to content myself with the assurance of the thing, rather than be at the unprofitable trouble to persuade others to believe it; for I know well with what difficulty relations of so uncommon a nature and practice obtain belief.

"Through the ignorance of men in this peculiar and mysterious part of philosophy and religion, namely, the communication between spirits and men, not one scholar in ten thousand, though otherwise of excellent learning, knows any thing about it. This ignorance breeds fear and abhorrence of that which otherwise might be of incomparable benefit to mankind.' On this strange re

lation," concludes the county historian, "the editor forbears to make any comment."

PISTUS. I think that is one of the most remarkable stories which you have related; and the very thing which spoils its interest makes one the more undoubtedly receive its truth.

EUSEBIA. You refer to Mr. Ruddle's silence as to the mission of the spirit.

PISTUS. Yes it has the very impress of truth. The whole tale is most naturally related. You see the priest of the seventeenth century, rather disposed to believe in apparitions, but, with sturdy good sense, requiring some more proof of the fact than a boy's word. His minute description of the manner in which the ghost appeared is very interesting; and the fact of its visibility to the dog that was with them, very curious, and not to be overlooked in a discussion of this kind.

SOPHRON. To my mind the most remarkable part is his assurance that the spirit would appear no more. And one longs to know what business it was that could not be despatched in the morning, and yet was so easily accomplished in the evening. One can think of nothing but some inquiry on the part of the spirit which Mr. Ruddle could not answer without further time. And yet how contrary to all our ideas of an apparition, that it should come to a man for information!

THEODORA. You might say, perhaps, that in the morning conversation the spirit requested Mr. Ruddle to execute some commission; of the ac

complishment of which it received assurance in the evening.

SOPHRON. That comes to much the same difficulty; for how strange that it could not have satisfied itself!

PISTUS. And then its confinement to that field is singular. Mr. Ruddle seems to have felt satisfied that it could not cross the stile when he retired into the adjoining field to prepare himself for his interview with it.

EUSEBIA. It affords another instance of an apparition presenting itself to the most unlikely person at first. The spirit wanted nothing with young Bligh, and only appears to have used him as an instrument for getting at Mr. Ruddle. And yet how remarkable its unwillingness to appear when he first went into the field by himself!

PISTUS. And not less so the length of time which elapsed between Dorothy Durant's death and her appearance. Well, it is one of the most striking stories I ever heard.

THEO. The evening has seemed to close quite speedily. We must reserve any thing else we may have to say on the subject till to-morrow.

NIGHT VII

OF THE CREDIBILITY OF APPARITIONS.

THEO. Just look out into the solemn loveliness of this evening. One cannot wonder that men's minds should be disposed to receive any intelligence from the world of spirits, at a time when their own world looks so spiritual itself.

SOPHRON. It is odd that with so much less light the contrast between moonlight and moon-shade should be so much more striking than the similar contrast by day. Such a violent opposition of tints would in broad daylight be monstrous.

PISTUS. I never saw a more striking contrast than once in crossing the mountains by moonlight. We were winding up a pass, one side of the ravine being in the deepest shade. Foremost of our party rode a lady, in a white habit, mounted on a white horse. When she reached the top of the zigzag which we were ascending, she came out into the full moonshine, and the effect of that single horse and rider glaring with a snow-white

brightness against the black sky, and amidst the wild mountain scenery, was indescribable.

SOPHRON. The shadows of the contorted arms of trees in winter are most curious, and, I doubt not, have given rise to many and many a tale of haunted lanes; the very spots where such apparitions seem most useless.

EUSEBIA. Have we sufficiently considered that argument of uselessness? for, it does seem to me that unbelievers have a right to rely on it, and to argue that, if GOD ever does break through the established laws of nature, it might reasonably be expected that it would be to some good end.

PISTUS. You have first to prove that a seemingly useless apparition may not be sent for a very good end, although we may not be able to know it. I might urge that any thing which tends to convince us of the nearness of our connexion with the invisible world has a manifestly good end, only you would reply that such stories are seldom believed, and therefore cannot produce such conviction. Yet they may do so in the persons immediately concerned; and that is something. On the whole, I would rather say that we know far too little to decide whether any given supernatural appearance is useless or not; and there are cases where some that have seemed useless and indeed absurd, have afterwards been proved very much the contrary. I will read you one of these from a lately published book. “A