DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. 273 



upon the easy chair. Immediately I seemed to see a 

 head above it, corresponding to the mirror, and a 

 vague and confused image of a person seated there. 

 As I am accustomed to do in similar cases, I closed 

 my eyes for a little, and on reopening them I looked 

 at the appearance with attention and interest ; this 

 time the person or phantasm had a less confused out- 

 line, although I did -not see the form distinctly, nor 

 the features, nor its precise position. Yet in this 

 second observation, I obtained an idea of it as a 

 whole, and in details. 



On further examination the face and person stood 

 out more clearly, and the features became more dis- 

 tinct, the longer I looked. Each accidental fold or 

 shadow on the cap was transformed into bright eyes, 

 strongly marked eyebrows, into the nose, mouth, 

 hair, beard, and neck ; so that as I went on I had 

 before me a perfectly chiselled face corresponding 

 to the type which had first flashed across niy mind 

 as the confused impression of a face conveyed by 

 the cap and mirror. The same process of evolution 

 was pursued with respect to the limbs, the breast, 

 arms, legs, and feet ; parts of the body which at first 

 appeared to be vague and indeterminate gradually, 

 and as if by enchantment issued distinctly from 

 every fold of the shirt, from every shadow, angle, 

 and line, so as to compose what Dante would call 

 una persona certa. Finally I saw before me a man 

 dressed in white, of an athletic form, sitting 



