202 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



attestations of two of the persons by whom the pheno- 

 mena were first seen. On a summer's evening in the 

 year 1743, when Daniel Stricket, servant to John Wren 

 of Wilton Hall, was sitting at the door along with his 

 master, they saw the figure of a man with a dog pursuing 

 some horses along Souterfell side, a place so extremely 

 steep that a horse could scarcely travel upon it at all. 

 The figures appeared to run at an amazing pace, till they 

 got out of sight at the lower end of the Fell. On the 

 following morning Stricket and his master ascended the 

 steep side of the mountain, in the full expectation of 

 finding the man dead, and of picking up some of the shoes 

 of the horses, which they thought must have been cast 

 while galloping at such a furious rate. Their expecta- 

 tions, however, were disappointed. No traces either of 

 man or horse could be found, and they could not even 

 discover upon the turf the single mark of a horse's hoof. 

 These strange appearances, seen at the same time by two 

 different persons in perfect health, could not fail to make 

 a deep impression on their minds. They at first con- 

 cealed what they had seen, but they at length disclosed it, 

 and were laughed at for their credulity. 



In the following year, on the 23rd June, 1744, Daniel 

 Stricket, who was then servant to Mr. Lancaster of Blake- 

 hills (a place near Wilton Hall, and both of which places 

 are only about half a mile from Souterfell), was walking, 

 about seven o'clock in the evening, a little above the 

 house, when he saw a troop of horsemen riding on 

 Souterfell side in pretty close ranks, and at a brisk pace. 

 Recollecting the ridicule that had been cast upon him the 

 preceding year, he continued to observe the ngures for 

 some time in silence ; but being at last convinced that 

 there could be no deception in the matter, he went to the 

 house and informed his master that he had something 

 curious to show him. They accordingly went out to- 



