SECOND-SIGHT. 
689 
many dreadful images it obtrudes upon the fancy. It is said that in 
some of the alpine regions also, the inhabitants lay claim to a sort of 
seeond-sighto Nor is it wonderful that persons of a lively imagina- 
tion, immured in deep solitude, and surrounded with the stupendous 
scenery of clouds, precipices, and torrents, should dream, even when 
they think themselves awake, of those few striking ideas with which 
their lonely lives are diversified — of corpses, funeral processions, and 
other subjects of terror ; or of marriages, or the arrival of strangers, 
and such like matters of more agreeable curiosity. Let it be observed, 
also, that the ancient islanders of Scotland had hardly any other way 
of supporting themselves than by hunting, fishing, or war, professions 
that are continually exposed to fatal accidents. And hence, no doubt, 
additional horrors would often haunt their solitude, and a deeper 
gloom overshadow the imagination even of the hardiest among the 
natives. 
** A sufficient evidence can hardly be found for the reality of the 
second-sight, or, at least, of what is commonly understood by that 
term. A treatise on the subject was published in the year 1762, in 
which many tales were told, of persons whom the author believed to 
have been favoured or haunted with these illuminations ; but most of 
the tales were trifling and ridiculous, and the whole work betrayed, 
on the part of the compiler, such extreme credulity, as could not fail 
to prejudice many readers against his system. That any of these 
visionaries are apt to be swayed in their declarations by sinister 
views, we will not say ; but this may be said with confidence, that 
none but ignorant people pretend to be gifted in this way. And in 
them it may be nothing more, perhaps, than short hits of sudden 
sleep or drowsiness, attended with lively dreams, and arising from 
some bodily disorder, the effect of idleness, low spirits, or a gloomy 
imagination. For it is admitted, even by the most credulous 
Highlanders, that as knowledge and industry are propagated in their 
country, the second-sight disappears in proportion ; and nobody 
ever laid claim to the faculty, who was much employed in the inter- 
course of social life, 
“Nor is it at all extraordinary that one should have the appearance 
of being awake, and should even think one’s self so, during those 
fits of dozing ; that they should come on suddenly, and while one is 
engaged in some business. The same thing happens to persons much 
fatigued, and long kept awake, who frequently fall asleep, for a 
moment or for a long space, while they are standing, or walking, or 
riding on horseback. Add but a lively dream to this slumber, and, 
which is the frequent effect of disease, taking away the conscious- 
ness of having been asleep, and a supertitious man may easily mistake 
his dream for a waking vision ; which, however, is soon forgotten, 
when no subsequent occurrence recals it to his memory, but which, if 
it shall be thought to resemble any future event, exalts the poor 
dreamer into a Highland prophet. This conceit makes him more 
recluse and more melancholy than ever, and so feeds his disease 
and multiplies his visions ; which, if they are not dissipated by busi- 
ness or society, may continue to haunt him as long as he lives ; and 
/which, in their progress through the neighbourhood, receive some 
4 s 
