REMARKABLE PRESERVATION FROM DEATH. 345 



reality; but the conviction of my personal identity 

 soon gave way to those wilder fits, and I drifted 

 along through the moonless darkness of the roaring 

 night, with all the fierce exultation of a raving mad- 

 man. No wonder. The laudanum, the cold, the 

 wet, the dashing, the buffeting, the agony, were 

 enough to account for all this, and more than my 

 soul dare even now to shadow out to her shuddering 

 recollection. But as God pitied the miserable, so 

 also has he forgiven the wicked thoughts of that 

 unimaginable night. 



During one of these delirious fits whether it was 

 a dream or a reality I know not but methought I 

 heard the most angelical music that ever breathed 

 from heaven. It seemed to come on the winds to 

 rise up from the sea to melt down from the stormy 

 clouds. It was at last like a full band of instru- 

 mental music soft, deep, wild such as I have heard 

 playing on board a ship of war. I saw a white gleam 

 through the snow I heard a rushing noise with the 

 music and the glorious ghost of a ship went roaring 

 past me, all illuminated with lamps, her colours fly- 

 ing, every sail set, and her decks crowded with men. 

 Perhaps a real ship sailed by with festivity on board. 

 Or was it a vision 1 Whatever it was, I felt no re- 

 pining when it passed me by it seemed something 

 wholly alien to me : the delirium had swallowed up 

 all fear, all selfishness ; the past and future were alike 

 forgotten, and I kept floating along, self-questioned 



