A DREAM OP LIFE. 135 



So he came before the porch of a sordid peasant's hut, 

 thatched over with straw, and reeds, and rushes. There 

 came out of the porch a boy, as of about twelve or four- 

 teen years old, with pale features, and wearing an ashen- 

 coloured cloak ; he, taking him by the right hand, led 

 him in, and as they passed into the hut the dream 

 was broken. 



Thousands of men have such dreams, and think no 

 more of them. " I understood from this dream," says 

 Cardan, "that I was destined to strive after immortality." 

 He felt that he had a work to do in the world, that he 

 was sent to do it by the Deity, whose hand so often had 

 been visibly stretched out for his protection. All men, 

 said the dream to him, run to death and to oblivion. The 

 mountain was the Mount of Virtue, full of life, but with- 

 out pleasures, as was signified by its being planted thickly 

 with vines, but without fruit. The ascent of that mount 

 is at first laborious, but afterwards becomes comparatively 

 easy. The vines blossoming behind him what could they 

 signify ? Certainly glory after death. The way over the 

 wintry heaths might signify an easy close to life. What 

 the boy might portend, however, Jerome could not then 

 tell. Years afterwards, he believed that he had found 

 him in a pupil, by whose face he was reminded of the 

 dream. 



Not long after this vision of the mountain, Jerome 



