1832.] [ 577 ] 



A CONVERSATION WITH THE DOUBLE-SIGHTED YOUTH OF 

 EGYPTIAN-HALL. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



MY DEAR SIR, 



I HAVE been laid up during the last two months with rheumatic fever, 

 to which I have been subject ever since my unfortunate attempt, in com- 

 pany with Captain Parry, to discover the North Pole. I have often 

 related to you the miseries of that expedition, and I only refer to my 

 illness as an apology for my long silence. I enclose you a transcript, I 

 believe almost verbatim, of a conversation between myself and the Double- 

 sighted Youth of the Egyptian-hall, which took place at my rooms in the 

 last week. Little Gordon is a clever lad, and after the proofs of second- 

 sight manifested in the following pages, I think no person will question 

 the genuineness of his extraordinary powers. You will be particularly 

 surprised at the peculiar knowledge he appears to possess both of our 

 present and future literature. Not the least valuable part of his commu- 

 nications is that in which he describes with such lucid minuteness the 

 works upon which some of our most popular writers are at the present 

 time engaged. Much of our conversation was held over a bowl of 

 whiskey toddy (you would be astonished to see how Gordon enjoys the 

 real Glenlivet), and the Temple clock was striking two, p. M., as his feet 

 echoed along the court on his way home. He told me, as we parted, that 

 he should be ill the next day, but I do not instance this as an evidence of 

 his double-sight, since a slight indisposition would be the natural conse- 

 quence of six large breakers of strong toddy. 



Believe me to be, in haste, yours very sincerely, 



MARK O'GORMAN MORGAN. 



Pump-Court, Temple, April 16, 1832. 



(It will not be unnecessary to sketch the scene of our conversation. 

 Imagine us seated opposite to each other at a small round table, well 

 provided with cigars, whiskey, &c. Time, 8, p. M. ; a Monthly, an 

 Examiner, and an uncut Quarterly lie by the bottle). 



O 'Gorman Morgan. So you pass for a Highlander. Pray what plaid may 

 that be ? 



Double Sighted Youth The Gordon. 



O'G. M. I could have wagered a trifle you was a Lowlander; but that mat- 

 ters not. How long is it since you first discovered that you possessed this strange 

 faculty of Double Sight. 



D. S. Y. I remember the day perfectly ; it is now nearly two years agone ; 

 I had been quarrelling with the village school-master, (for I have been at no time 

 very partial to governments of any description,) and in a moment of anger I deter- 

 mined to give him no more of my company on that day. I soon put my plan in 

 execution and set out upon a wandering excursion with only a few halfpence in 

 my pocket. But in the pastoral country, where I was, money is of little service. 

 If you have ever been in the Highlands, Sir, you must have remarked the romantic 

 situations in which the school-houses (if you can give them the name) are generally 

 built. Moss-side (the name by which Michael Glenfillan's cottage was known) 

 has been already described by that magnificent patron and friend of mine, Pro- 

 fessor Wilson, in his Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life. Well, Sir, I wandered 

 on and on, it was July, until weary and half sorrowful, and threw myself down 

 upon the grass: the sun was gradually setting, and the rich golden shadows 

 floated all about. Oh ! how beautiful it is to lie down thus among the warm 



