153 



A HISTORY OF 



dent, who being enjoined a severe exercise 

 by his tutor, went to bed, despairing of accom- 

 plishing it. The next morning awaking, to 

 his great surprise, he found the task fairly 

 written out, and finished in his own hand- 

 writing. 



He was at first, as the account has it, in- 

 duced to ascribe this strange production to 

 the operations of an infernal agent ; but his 

 tutor, willing to examine the affair to the bot- 

 tom, set him another exercise, still more 

 severe than the former, and took precautions 

 to observe his conduct the whole night. The 

 young gentleman, upon being so severely 

 tasked, felt the same inquietude that he had 

 done on the former occasion ; went to bed 

 gloomy and pensive, pondering on the next 

 day's duty, and, after some time, fell asleep. 

 But shortly after, his tutor, who continued to 

 observe him from a place that was concealed, 

 was surprised to see him get up, and very de- 

 liberately go to the table ; where he took out 

 pen, ink, and paper, drew himself a chair, 

 and sat very methodically to thinking: it 

 seems, that his being asleep, only served to 

 strengthen the powers of his imagination ; for 

 he very quickly and easily went through the 

 task assigned him ; put his chair aside, and 

 then returned to bed to take out the rest of 

 his nap. What credit we are to give to this 

 account, I will not pretend to determine ; but 

 this may be said, that the book from whence 

 it was taken, has some good marks of vera- 

 city; for it is very learned, and very dull; 

 and is written in a country noted, if not for 

 truth, at least for want of invention. 



The ridiculous story of Arlotto is well 

 known, who has had a volume written, con- 

 taining a narrative of the actions of his life, 

 not one of which was performed while he was 

 awake. He was an Italian Franciscan friar, 

 extremely rigid in his manners, and remarka- 

 bly devout and learned in his daily conver- 

 sation. By night, however, and during his 

 sleep, he played a very different character 

 from what he did by day, and was often de- 

 tected in very atrocious crimes. He was at 

 one time detected in actually attempting a 

 rape, and did not awake till the next morning, 

 when he was surprised to find himself in the 

 hands of justice. His brothers of the convent 

 often watched him while he went very deli- 



berately into the chapel, and there attempted 

 to commit sacrilege. They sometimes permit- 

 ted him to carry the chalice and the vest- 

 ments away into his own chamber, and the 

 next morning amused themselves at the poor 

 man's consternation for what he had done. 

 But of all his sleeping transgressions, thai 

 was the most ridiculous, in which he was 

 called to pray for the soul of a person de- 

 parted. Arlotto, after having devoutly per- 

 formed his duty, retired to a chamber which 

 was shown him, to rest; but there he had no 

 sooner fallen asleep, than he began to reflect 

 that the dead body had got a ring upon one 

 of the fingers, which might be useful to him : 

 accordingly, with a pious resolution of steal- 

 ing it, he went down, undressed as he was, 

 into a room full of women, and, with great 

 composure, endeavoured to seize the ring. 

 The consequence was, that he was taken be- 

 fore the inquisition for witchcraft; and the 

 poor creature had like to have been con- 

 demned, till his peculiar character acciden- 

 tally came to be known : however, he was 

 ordered to remain for the rest of life in his 

 own convent, and upon no account whatso- 

 ever to stir abroad. 



What are we to say to such actions as 

 these ? or how account for this operation of 

 the mind in dreaming ? It should seem, that 

 the imagination, by day, as well as by night, 

 is always employed ; and that often, against 

 our wills, it intrudes, where it is least com- 

 manded or desired. While awake, and in 

 health, this busy principle cannot much de- 

 lude us : it may build castles in the air, and 

 raise a thousand phantoms before us ; but we 

 have every one of the senses alive to bear 

 testimony to its falsehood. Our eyes show 

 us that the prospect is not present ; our hear- 

 ing and our touch depose against its reality ; 

 and our taste and smelling are equally vigi- 

 lent in detecting the imposture. Reason, 

 therefore, at once gives judgment upon the 

 cause, and the vagrant intruder, Imagination, 

 is imprisoned, or banished from the mind. 

 But in sleep it is otherwise ; having, as much 

 as possible, put our senses from their duty, 

 having closed the eyes from seeing, and the 

 ears, taste, and smelling, from their peculiar 

 functions, and having diminished even the 

 touch itself, by all the arts of softness, the 



