654 SLEEP-WAKING. 



in this country, let us remember that Dr. Abercrombie re- 

 lates the history of a poor girl, who, when seven years of 

 age, looked after cattle at a farmer's, and slept next a room 

 often occupied by an itinerant fiddler of great skill and ad- 

 dicted to playing refined pieces at night ; but his perform- 

 ance was taken notice of by her as only a disagreeable 

 noise. She fell ill, and was removed to the house of a bene- 

 volent lady, whose servant she became. Some years after this 

 change, she had fits of sleep-waking, in which, after being two 

 hours in bed, she became restless and began to mutter ; and, 

 after uttering sounds precisely like the tuning of a violin, would 

 make a prelude, and then dash off into elaborate pieces of music, 

 most clearly and accurately, and with the most delicate modu- 

 lations. She sometimes stopped, made the sound of retuning 

 her instrument, and began exactly where she had left off. After 

 a year or two she imitated an old piano also, which she was 

 accustomed to hear in her present residence : and, in another 

 year, began to talk, descanting fluently, most acutely, and wit- 

 tily, and with astonishing mimickry and copious illustrations and 

 imagery, on political, religious, and other subjects. For several 

 years she was ignorant of all around her in the paroxysms ; but, 

 at about the age of sixteen, she began to observe those who 

 were in her apartment, and could tell their number accurately, 

 though the utmost care was taken to have the room darkened ; and, 

 when her eyelids were raised, and a candle was brought near 

 the eye, the pupil seemed insensible to light. She soon became 

 capable of answering questions, and of noticing remarks made 

 in her presence, and in both respects showed astonishing acute- 

 ness. " Her observations, indeed/' says Dr. Abercrombie, " were 

 often of such a nature, and corresponded so exactly with cha- 

 racters and events, that by the country people she was believed 

 to be endowed with supernatural power. 



" During the whole period of this remarkable affection, which 

 seems to have gone on for ten or eleven years, she was, when 

 awake, a dull awkward girl, very slow in receiving instruction, 

 though much care was bestowed upon her ; and, in point of 

 intellect, she was much inferior to the other servants of the 

 family. In particular, she shewed no kind of turn for music. " f 



f On the Intellectual Powers, 4th edit. p. 294. 



