126 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



the scenery, improvements, &c., such as he probably 

 would have done had he been present. On this occasion, 

 however, there was no visible apparition. 



7. On the 17th March, Mrs. A. was preparing for bed. 

 She had dismissed her maid, and was sitting with her 

 feet in hot water. Having an excellent memory, she had 

 been thinking upon and repeating to herself a striking 

 passage in the Edinburgh Eeview, when, on raising her 

 eyes, she saw seated in a large easy-chair before her the 

 figure of a deceased friend, the sister of Mr. A. The 

 figure was dressed, as had been usual with her, with great 

 neatness, but in a gown of a peculiar kind, such as Mrs. A. 

 had never seen her wear, but exactly such as had been 

 described to her by a common friend as having been worn 

 by Mr. A.'s sister during her last visit to England. 

 Mrs. A. paid particular attention to the dress, air, and 

 appearance of the figure, which sat in an easy attitude in 

 the chair, holding a handkerchief in one hand. Mrs. A- 

 tried to speak to it, but experienced a difficulty in doing 

 so, and in about three minutes the figure disappeared. 

 About a minute afterwards, Mr. A. came into the room, 

 and found Mrs. A. slightly nervous, but fully aware of 

 the delusive nature of the apparition. She described it 

 as having all the vivid colouring and apparent reality of 

 life; and for some hours preceding this and other visions, 

 she experienced a peculiar sensation in her eyes, which 

 seemed to be relieved when the vision had ceased. 



8. On the 5th October, between one and two o'clock in 

 the morning, Mr. A. was awoke by Mrs. A., who told him 

 that she had just seen the figure of his deceased mother 

 draw aside the bed- curtains and appear between them. 

 The dress and the look of the apparition were precisely 

 those in which Mr. A.'s mother had been last seen by 

 Mrs. A. at Paris in 1824. 



9. On the llth October, when sitting in the drawing 



