A " PHANTOM OF FLIGHT." 59 



tained something that awakened many a long train of 

 recollected thought, and subjected the soul to the tem- 

 porary dominion of superstitious awe. I had already 

 walked several cheerless miles, with my imagination full 

 of those images which solitude and fancy suggest, and was 

 now resting on an old mouldering ruin, which, whether 

 druidical or not, had doubtless one day witnessed many a 

 fearful siffht. Not a soul was near — the Ehine was heard 

 wailing in the distance, the night-wind moaned through 

 the chinks of the wall, and the moon, almost hid in clouds, 

 gave a wild and uncertain light. What rendered my 

 thoughts more solemn, was my ignorance of the part of 

 the country I was in ; for I had left the main road, and 

 wandered over heaths and commons for some time. A 

 peculiar creaking noise attracted my attention, and my 

 astonishment and horror may be more easily imagined 

 than described, when on looking up I beheld within a few 

 yards the ghastly spectre of a human body. My fancied 

 Druids vanished into thin air, and I sat for some moments 

 rooted to the spot. Ere long, however, my resolution re- 

 turned, and on investigating this horrible phantom, I dis- 

 covered it to be no ' unreal mockery,' but the skeleton of 

 a man in chains. I returned to the village with some 

 difficulty, and got to bed about daylight." 



