Case LXXXIL

"A friend of mine," says Abercrombie, 'employed as cashier in one of the principal banking-houses in Glasgow, was at his desk, when an individual entered, requiring;he payment of six pounds sterling. Several persons were there awaiting their turn; but he was so impatient, so noisy, and, above all, stuttered so insupportably, that one of the clerks begged the cashier to pay him, in order to be rid of him. The cashier assented with an impatient gesture, and without entering the sum on the books. At the close of the year, in eight or nine months afterwards, the books would not balance; there was an error of six pounds. My friend passed several days and nights rainly endeavoring to find the deficit; overcome with fatigue, he returned home and went to bed, where he dreamed he was at his desk, that the stutterer came in, and presently all the details of the affair were correctly re-enacted. He awoke, his mind fully occupied by his dream, and with the hope that he was about to discover what he had vainly sought. On examining the books, he found that the sum had not been entered in the day-book, and;hat it corresponded exactly with the error."*

Case LXXXIII

M. R. de Bowland, land-owner in the Val-ey of Gala, was prosecuted for a considerable sum of money, being the accumulated arrears of a tithe, due, it was said, to a noble family. M. R. was entirely convinced that his father, according to a peculiar custom in Scottish law, had purchased;he tithes of the incumbent, and that consequently the demand was unjust. But after minute researches in the title-deeds in;he public acts, and very long inquiry of those who had had business transactions with his father, he failed in finding any proof in his favor. The fatal term was on the point of ex->iring, and he was preparing his departure for Edinburgh, in order to arrange the matter in the most advantageous manner possible. He went to bed in this state of mind; scarcely was he asleep when he had the following dream: His father, who tad been dead for many years, appeared, and inquired what it was that so troubled his mind. In dreams, apparitions do not excite any surprise. M. R. told him the cause, adding that the payment of so considerable a sum of money was the more disagreeable to him, inasmuch as he knew it was not due, although he could not bring anything to prove his assertion. "You are right, my son," replied the shadow; "I have paid these tithes for which you are prosecuted. The papers relating to these transactions are in the hands of M., attorney, who has retired from business ana lives at Inveresk, near Edinburgh; I applied to him in this case, although he never before transacted my business. It is possible that M. has forgotten this circumstance, which occurred so long ago; but you can recall it to him by saying that, when I went to settle his account, a difficulty arose about the value of a Portugal gold-piece, and that we agreed to drink out the difference at a tavern."

* Abercrombie, op. cti., p. 280.

M. R. awoke in the morning, his mind dwelling upon his dream. He thought it advisable to turn out of his road and go to Inveresk instead of direct on to Edinburgh. Having reached the place, he found the person of whom his father had spoken; he was a very aged man. Without saying a word of. his dream, M. R. inquired whether he recollected transacting any business for his late father. The old gentleman had no recollection of it, but the circumstance of the gold-piece brought it to his memory; he sought for, and found the papers; so that M. R. returned to Edinburgh with the necessary documents to defend his suit, which he was on the point of losing.*

Undoubtedly, M. R. had formerly heard the circumstance mentioned by his father, but it had long been effaced from his memory. It is remarkable that the fact should have recurred to his mind after so fatiguing a research. There are authentic dreams which communicate events passing at the moment, or shortly after. A Protestant minister having gone to Edinburgh from a neighboring village, stopped at an inn. He was scarcely asleep, when he dreamt that his house was on fire, and one of his children in the midst of the flames. - Awaking up instantly, he hastily quitted the inn to return home. Arriving in sight of his house, he found it in flames. He rushed in in time to save one of his children, who had been abandoned in the midst of the alarm and confusion consequent on such an event, †

This fact may be explained naturally, without having recourse to the marvellous. It is possible that the minister had a servant who was careless of fire; this was sufficient to inspire him with a fear of having his house burned. To this may be added the fact that his absence would increase the neglect of his servant, that there was to be a fete in the neighborhood, and that his servant would probably be intoxicated. These circumstances, strongly acting upon an excited imagination, would of themselves be sufficient to impress him with the idea that he beheld his house in flames, which a simple coincidence converted into a sad reality.

* Abercrombie, op. cit., p. 288. † Ibid., p. 291.