2-* S. YI. 132., July 10. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



27 



fact through the medium of the local pi-ess. Not 



beino; acquainted with the late Colonel , and 



never havins; even seen hira, the circumstances of 

 his sudden demise had long passed from my rhe- 

 mory, and were only revived by ray thus viewing 

 his tomb. I then passed on, and shortly after- 

 wards returned home. On my arrival my father 

 asked me in what direction I had been walking ? 



I replied, ' In churchyard, looking at the 



tombs ; and among others I have seen the tomb 



of Colonel , who died in the workhouse." 



"That," replied my father, "is impossible, as 



there is no tomb erected over Colonel 's 



grave." At this remark I laughed. " My dear 

 father," said I, " you want to persuade me that I 



cannot read. I was not aware that Colonel 



was buried in the churchyard, and was only in- 

 formed of the fact by reading the inscription on 

 the tomb." " Whatever you may say to the con- 

 trary," replied my father, "what I tell you is true; 

 there is no tomb over Colonel 's grave." As- 

 tounded by the reiteration of this statement, as 

 soon as I had dined I returned to the churchyard, 

 and again inspected all the tombs having railings 

 round them, and found that my father was right. 

 There was not only no tomb bearing the name of 

 Colonel , but there was no tomb at all corre- 

 sponding in appearance with the one which I had 

 seen. Unwilling to credit the evidence of my 

 own senses, I went to the cottage of an old ac- 

 quaintance of my boyhood, who lived outside of 

 the churchyard gate, and asked her to show me 



the place where Colonel lay buried. She 



took me to the spot, which was a green mound, 

 undistinguished in appearance from the surround- 

 ing graves. Nearly two years subsequent to this 

 occurrence, surviving relatives erected an altar- 

 tomb, with a railing round it, over the last resting- 



plat;e of Colonel , and it was, as nearly as I 



could remember, an exact reproduction of the 

 memorial of my day-dream. 



I do not attempt to account, on rational or phi- 

 losophical principles, for any of the occurrences 

 which I have narrated. I have merely made a 

 plain unvarnished statement of facts, leaving it to 

 others to draw their own deductions or inferences 

 therefrom. Of course the theory of coincidences 

 is an easy mode of severing any Gor^ian knot; 

 and the ad bono argument may serve as an ad- 

 junct to the former mode of settling a difficulty. 

 But at the same time the numberless anecdotes of 

 a class similar to those which I have imperfectly 

 endeavoured to relate, all resting upon unim- 

 peachable testimony, must make the thoughtful 

 pause, and ask themselves, in the language of our 

 raaster-poet, — 



" Can such things be, 



And overcome us like a summer cloud 



Without our special wonder ? " 



"Haverfordwest. 



John Pavin Philmps. 



ANDERSON PAPERS. — NO. II. 

 (1.) Patrick Ellis, Esq., to James Anderson, Esq. 



" Dear Brother, 

 " Yours lately, bej'ond the course of the post, brought 

 me the sad news of my dear sister's death, which is a 

 great loss to ua all, especiall}' to myself; but I believe our 

 loss is her gain, being intinitely more happy thp.u she 

 could have been with us. A good life must needs make 

 a good end, as she discover'd to the last. My wife was 

 much afTected by her death as well as myselfe : I pray 

 God give us the sanctify'd use of all his dispensations. I 

 should be glad to hear of 3'our wife's recovery and chil- 

 dren's health. My wife and children are all well, blest 

 be the Lord; so returning my hearty respects, I remain 

 " Yo' affectionate Brother and 

 " humble Servant, 



" Pa. Ellis." 

 " This letter is sent enclos'd to me from a 

 Prisoner in France not knowing how to 

 send it : gett the Postadge, and if he 

 pleases to remit me anj- money I will 

 forward it to his brother." 

 " London, 15 August, 1705. 



"To 

 Mr. James Anderson, 



Writer to her Maisties 

 Signet, at his house in Edinburgh.'' 



Mr. Ellis was a son of Mr. Ellis of Ellieston in 

 Scotland ; his sister was the wife of Anderson. 

 She was apparently a lady of a somewhat violent 

 temper, and the husband and wife lived for some 

 time separate. 



It is not improbable that the writer of the 

 letter may have been a progenitor of the family 

 of Ellis which in this century obtained the honour 

 of the peerage as Barons Seaford. 



(2.) Mr. Thomas Brand to James Anderson, Esq. 



Of Mr. Thomas Brand very little is known ex- 

 cepting what may be gathered from the few letters 

 preserved amongst the Anderson papers. He does 

 not appear to have been in very opulent circum- 

 stances, as in one of his epistles he alludes to the 

 circumstance of his keeping lodgers, amongst 

 whom he notices Sir David Dalrymple and his 

 wife, who remained a week with him ; and he men- 

 tions a " Sir William Gordon of Dalfolley, who 

 came and saw the lodgings, and said you [Ander- 

 son] told him he might have my dining-room floor 

 for fourteen shillings a week, and therefore bid 

 me no more but fifteen, and so we parted." 



In another letter he says that Mr. Holmes "tells 

 me there are severall things in the Tower, amongst 

 the records relating to the family of Athol, which 

 I design if possible to procure a transcript of, for 

 such documents will very much illustrate my 

 work." "Again (27 Nov. 1708), he is anxious 

 about the pedigree of Affleck of Woodcocdale in 

 Angus, he having taken " a premium" to procure 

 it, from " the grandchild to one Mr. Affleck who 

 was minister of Largo in Fife. That minister's 

 grandfather was one Sir John Affleck, a man 

 famous about the tiiwe of the Reformation." 



