Introduction xxvii 



over engaged affections when we betake ourselves to rest." . . . 

 Yet " Almighty God (though the causes of dreams be often un- 

 known) hath even in these latter times also, by a certain illu- 

 mination of the soul in sleep, discovered many things that human 

 wisdom could not foresee ". 



Walton is often charged with superstition, and 

 the enlightened editor of the eighteenth century ex- 

 cised all the scene of Mrs. Donne's wraith as too 

 absurd. But Walton is a very fair witness. Donne, 

 a man of imagination, was, he tells us, in a perturbed 

 anxiety about Mrs. Donne. The event was after 

 dinner. The story is, by Walton's admission, at 

 second hand. Thus, in the language of the learned 

 in such matters, the tale is " not evidential ". Walton 

 explains it, if true, as a result of " sympathy of souls " 

 what is now called telepathy. But he is content 

 that every man should have his own opinion. In 

 the same way he writes of the seers in the Wotton 

 family : " God did seem to speak to many of this 

 family" (the Wottons) "in dreams," and Thomas 

 Wotton's dreams " did usually prove true, both in 

 foretelling things to come, and discovering things 

 past". Thus he dreamed that five townsmen and 

 poor scholars were robbing the University chest at 

 Oxford. He mentioned this in a letter to his son at 

 Oxford, and the letter, arriving just after the robbery, 

 led to the discovery of the culprits. Yet Walton 

 states the causes and nature of dreams in general 

 with perfect sobriety and clearness. His tales of this 

 sort were much to Johnson's mind, as to Southey's. 

 But Walton cannot fairly be called "superstitious," 

 granting the age in which he lived. Visions like 

 Dr. Donne's still excite curious comment. 



To that cruel superstition of his age, witchcraft, I 

 think there is no allusion in Walton. Almost as 

 uncanny, however, is his account of Donne's pre- 

 paration for death : 



