74 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2nd s. vi. 134., j*ly 24. '58. 



quest Lady and her son, of whom Sir M. Beresford 



was father, and \vho was then about twelve j'ears of age, 

 to come to her apartment. Immediately upon their ar- 

 rival, having ordered her attendants to quit the room : 

 ' 1 have something to communicate to you both before I 

 die, a period which is not far distant. You, Ladj', are no 

 stranger to the friendship that always subsisted between 

 Lord Tyrone and mj-self; we were educated under the 

 same roof, in the same principles — those of Deism. When 

 the friends into whose hands we afterwards fell endea- 

 voured to persuade us to embrace the lievealed Religion, 

 their arguments, though insufficient to convince us, were 

 powerful enough to stagger our former faith, and to leave 

 us wavering between two opinions. In this perplexing 

 state of doubt and imcertainty, we made a solemn promise 

 to each other, that whichever should happen to die first 

 would, if permitted by the Almighty, appear to the otiier, 

 to declare what religion was most acceptable to Him. 

 Accordingly, one night, when Sir M. and myself were in 

 bed, I awakened, and discovered Lord Tyrone sitting by 

 my bed-side. I screamed out, and endeavoured, but in 

 vain, to awake Sir M. " For Ileaven's sake, Lord Tyrone," 

 said I, " by what means or for what purpose came j'ou 

 here at this time of night ? " " Have j'ou then forgot our 

 promise," said he ; "I died last Tuesday at four o'clock, 

 and have been permitted by the Supreme Being to appear 

 to you, to assure you that the Revealed Religion is the 

 true and onlj' religion by which we can be saved. I am 

 further suffered to inform you, that you are now with 

 child of a son, which is decreed shall marry my daughter ; 

 not many years after his birth, Sir M. will die, and you 

 will marry again, and to a man whose ill treatment you 

 will be rendered miserable by ; j'ou will bring him two 

 daughters, and afterwards a son, in child-bed of whom 

 you will die, in the fortj-- seventh year of j'our age." 



" ' "Just Heaven," exclaimed I, " and cannot I prevent 

 this ? " " Undoubtedly you may," returned he, " you have 

 a free assent, and may prevent it all by resisting everj' 

 temptation to a second marriage ; but your passions are 

 strong, you know not their power ; hitherto j'ou have 

 had no trial, nor am I permitted to tell you ; hut, if after 

 this warning you persist in your infidelity, j'our lot in 

 another world will be miserable indeed." " May I ask," 

 said I, " if you are happy ? " " Had I been otherwise," 

 said he, " I should not have been thus permitted to ap- 

 pear to you." " I may thence infer you are happy;" he 

 smiled; "but how," said I, "when morning comes, shall 

 I be convinced that your appearance thus to me has been 

 real, and not the mere phantom of my own imagination ?" 

 " Will not the news of my death," said he, " be sufficient 

 to convince you?" "No," returned I, "I might have 

 had such a dream, and that dream might accidentally 

 come to pass ; I wish to have some stronger proof of its 

 reality." " You shall," said he ; then, waving his hand, 

 the bed-curtains, which were of crimson velvet, were in- 

 stantly drawn through a large iron hoop, by which the 

 tester of the bed, which was of an oval form, was sus- 

 pended : " In that," said he, " you cannot be mistaken ; 

 no mortal could have performed this." " True," said I, 

 " but sleeping we are often possessed of far greater strength 

 than awake ; though awake I could not have done it, 

 asleep I might — I shall still doubt." He then said, 

 " You have a pocket-book, in the leaves of which I will 

 write; you know my handwriting." I replied, "Ye\" 

 He wrote with a pencil on one side of the leaves. " Stiil," 

 said I, "in the morning, I doubt, though awake, I may 

 not imitate j-our hand, asleep I might." " You are hard 

 of belief," said he, " I must not touch you, it would injure 

 you irreparably ; it is not for spirits to touch mortal 

 flesh." " I do not regard a small blemish," said I. " You 

 are a woman of courage," said he, " hold out your hand." 

 J did ; he touched my wrist ; his hand was cold as marble ; 



in a moment the sinews shrunk up, every nerve withered. 

 " Now," said he, "while you live, let no mortal eye be- 

 hold that wrist ; to see it would be sacrilege." He stopped 

 — I turned to him again — he was gone. During the 

 time in which I had conversed with him, my thoughts 

 were perfectly calm and collected; but the moment he 

 was gone, I felt chilled with horror, and a cold sweat 

 came over me, every limb and joint shook under me. I 

 endeavoured to awake Sir M., but in vain, all my eftbrts 

 were ineffectual. In this state of agitation I lay some 

 time, when a shower of tears came to m)' relief. I dropped 

 asleep. In the morning Sir Marcus arose and dressed 

 himself as usual, without perceiving the state in which 

 the curtains remained. When I awoke, I found Sir Mar- 

 cus was gone down. I arose, and having put on my 

 clothes, went into the gallery adjoining our apartment 

 and took from thence a long broom, such a one as in a 

 large house is frequently used to sweep the corners, with 

 the help of which, though not without difficult}', I took 

 down the curtains, as I imagined their extraordinary 

 position would excite wonder among the servants, and 

 occasion inquiries I wished to avoid. I then went to my 

 bureau, locked up the pocket-hook, and took out a piece 

 of black ribband, which I bound round my wrist. When 

 I came down, the agitation of my mind on my counten- 

 ance was too visible to pass long unobserved by Sir M. ; 

 he instantly remarked my confusion, and inquired the 

 cause. I assured him I was well, perfcctlj' well ; but in- 

 formed him Lord Tyrone was no more ; that he died on 

 the preceding Tuesdaj', at the hour of four, and at the 

 same time entreated him to drop all inquiries ciraceming 

 the black ribband he noticed on my wrist. He kindly 

 desisted from further importunity, nor did he ever after 

 imagine the cause. You, my son, as had been foretold, 

 I brought into the world ; and in little more than four 

 years after your birth, your father died in my arms. 

 After this melanchoh' event, I determined, as the only 

 probable means by which to avoid the dreadful sequel of 

 the prediction, to give up every pleasure, and to pass the 

 remainder of my daj's in solitude : but few can endure to 

 remain in a state of sequestration. I commenced an in- 

 tercourse with one family, and only one ; nor could I then 

 see the fatal consequences which afterwards resulted from 

 it. Little did I imagine that their son, their only son, 

 then a mere youth, would prove the person destined by 

 fate to prove my undoing. In a few years I ceased to re- 

 gard with indifference; I endeavoured by every possible 

 means to conquer a passion, the fatal consequences of 

 which (if I should ever be weak enough to j'ield to its 

 impulse) I too well knew, and fondly imagined I should 

 overcome its influence ; when the evening of one fatal 

 day terminated my fortitude, and plunged me in a mo- 

 ment down that abyss I had been so long meditating how 

 to shun. He had frequenth' been soliciting his parents 

 to go into the army, and at length obtained their per- 

 mission, and came to bid me farewell before his departure. 

 " ' The moment he entered the room, he fell down on 

 his knees at my feet, and told me he was miserable — 

 that I alone was the cause of it. That instant mj' forti- 

 tude forsook me, I gave mj'self up for lost ; and consider- 

 ing my fate as inevitable, without further hesitation 

 consented to an union, the immediate result of which 

 I knew to be misery, and its end death. The conduct of 

 my husband, after a few years were passed, amply war- 

 ranted my demand for a separation ; I hoped by this 

 means to avoid the fatal sequel of the prophecy ; hut, 

 won over by his repeated entreaties, I was prevailed on to 

 pardon, and once more to reside with him, though not 

 imtil after I had, as I supposed, passed m)' 47th 3-ear; 

 but, alas ! I have heard this day from indisputable au- 

 thority, that I have hitherto laid under a mistake with 

 regard to my age, that I am but 47 this day. Of the 



