FLORENTINE SCHOOLS OF ENGRAVING. 369 



have no doubt that the immediate cause of the illness was 

 simply, eating when I was not hungry ; so that modern science 

 would acknowledge nothing in the whole business but an ex- 

 treme and very dangerous form of indigestion ; and entirely 

 deny any interference of the Cumaean Sibyl in the matter. 



I once heard a sermon by Dr. Guthrie, in Edinburgh, upon 

 the wickedness of fasting. It was very eloquent and in- 

 genious, and finely explained the superiority of the Scotch 

 Free Church to the benighted Catholic Church, in that the 

 Free Church saw no merit in fasting. And there was no 

 mention, from beginning to end of the sermon, of even the 

 existence of such texts as Daniel i. 12, or Matthew vi. 16. 



Without the smallest merit, I admit, in fasting, I was never- 

 theless, reduced at Matlock to a state very near starvation ; 

 and could not rise from my pillow, without being lifted, for 

 some days. And in the first clearly pronounced stage of re- 

 covery, when the perfect powers of spirit had returned, while 

 the body was still as weak as it well could be, I had three 

 dreams, which made a great impression on me ; for in ordi- 

 nary health my dreams are supremely 'ridiculous, if not un- 

 pleasant ; and in ordinary conditions of illness, very ugly, and 

 always without the slightest meaning. But these dreams were 

 all distinct and impressive, and had much meaning, if I chose 

 to take it. 



33. The first * was of a Venetian fisherman, who wanted me 

 to follow him down into some water which I thought was too 

 deep ; but he called me on, saying he had something to show 

 me ; so I followed him ; and presently, through an opening, 

 as if in the arsenal wall, he showed me the bronze horses of 

 St. Mark's, and said, 'See, the horses are putting on their 

 harness.' 



The second was of a preparation at Home, in St. Peter's, (or 

 a vast hall as large as St. Peter's, ) for the exhibition of a relig- 

 ious drama. Part of the play was to be a scene in which 

 demons were to appear in the sky ; and the stage servants 

 were arranging grey fictitious clouds, and painted fiends, for 

 it, under the direction of the priests. There was a woman 

 * I am not certain of their order at this distance of time. 



