392 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1869. greater to be handy at it. Oh dear ! I longed to get among the 

 Fellows ; but when I did, I was utterly disgusted at the rubbish- 

 ing conversation that prevailed, and I then longed to get away. ' 

 You see I linger over Cambridge recollections ; but no par- 

 ticular time has been the happiest of my life, certainly not school. 

 Best regards to Mrs. De Morgan and your family. 



Sincerely yours, 



FREDERICK POLLOCK. 



To the Rev. W. Mason. 1 



Adelaide Road, August 13, 1869. 



DEAR MASON, As touching myself I get stronger gradually. 

 I am slowly getting my books into order, which is a long job. I 

 have no more information of any very decided character than is 

 to be found in my wife's book, From Matter to Spirit. I retain 

 my suspense as to what the phenomena mean, but I am as fully 

 persuaded as ever of their reality. 



The presence of the dead is a thing widely felt, but by cer- 

 tain temperaments. Bishop Jebb is an instance of no very 

 forcible kind, because the two worlds had been in constant con- 

 nection in his mind. I will give you a more curious one. 



An actuary, a man of science and a keen searcher after old 

 printing, married a second cousin of mine. He was a cheerful 

 and kind-hearted man, but to all appearance as thoroughly un- 

 spiritual as a man could be. I never heard a word drop from 

 him which made it appear that another life was his familiar 

 thought. He was, though moderate in drinking, rather fond of 

 eating, and skilled in it. The ladies of his acquaintance who 

 had dinners to give would consult him on all details. His wife, 

 to whom he was devoted, died, and he himself fell into a weakly 

 state. I used to sit with him by the hour. A few weeks before his 

 death I found him debilitated by a long conference he had had 

 with a lady about a dinner she had to give : this merely to show 

 that his mind was not turned to the subject of death by anything 



1 This was in answer to a letter in which Mr. Mason asks him, if 

 able, to give him ' some information on the interesting subject to which 

 you alluded in your last.' 'I have long thought/ Mr. Mason says, 

 ' that departed spirits are often with those they left at death. When 

 Bishop Jebb had been for some time under a paralytic seizure, he said, 

 on his recovery, that in the prospect of death he had felt that he should 

 be as truly with his friends after death as he was then when speaking 

 to them.' S. E. DE M. 



