It is painful to have to record that further correspondence inclines me to suppose that the aggravated form of this dream, in which we appear in public in perfect nudity, is less rare than I had thought One correspondent, it will be seen, apologises for the aggravated form in which she envisages herself in this dream by saying that she is accustomed to draw from the nude.

That is better, no doubt, than no apology at all If we can regard ourselves thus, from the point of view of the artist, we are justified, while in the studio, in feeling no shame, but still, the model of Queen Guinevere does not go forth in Piccadilly as she sat for the equestrian picture. For such doings as these we have to go to "The Night Side of Nature," or to the dreamland with which it is about equally real No doubt we are reconciled to the parlous state the more easily because it seems to give no offence. This, I think, is always the case. I have collected no instance of the spectators rebuking the inadequately clothed for their nudity. "When going only half - dressed," writes one (a clergyman), "into a room full of people, in my dreams, and dreadfully conscious" (dreadfully conscious expresses the typical feeling well, there is no overwhelming sense of shame though there is some slight distress) "of the lapse from decency and good manners, nobody notices it in the least." So tactful of them! It is the attitude that the spectator always adopts towards the poor hero of this dream.

A peculiarly painful form of the dream of inadequate clothing, as attacking the clergy, is related by another correspondent. "A clergyman once told me," he writes, "that he used to dream that he was late for church, undressed, and unable to get on the gown to cover his naked limbs." In this case the dream of inadequate clothing seems to have been supplemented and aggravated by some of the vexations belonging properly to another class, the dream of trivial inconveniences. The being late does not enter into the typical idea of the dream of lack of dress. It is an outside, extra aggravation. But otherwise the dream was typical enough; and after this, who can doubt that the devil busies himself with sending dreams now, even as he did in the Middle Ages?

An ingenious suggestion of the cause producing this dream of inadequate clothing is given by a correspondent whom I am on the point of quoting. It is a suggested cause that perhaps may carry the more weight because of the different degrees of inadequacy in the dream toilet, which we have seen to prevail, the delusion of complete nudity being quite exceptional My correspondent writes: "With regard to the dream of inadequate clothing, I have long had the idea (very open to question, I know) that it is caused by the last impression we receive of our own appearance before going to bed. Most people, I think, have a stage in their going - to - bed operations at which they take things rather easily, brush their hair, read a little, or think over the events of the day. It seems to me that this appearance of oneself in a state of semi - undress (impressed more strongly by the reflexion of the bedroom mirror as we move about) is about the last picture presented to the eye - the picture which consequently tends to reappear in sleep. The only proof I can offer in support of the theory is, that in my own dreams of this class I always find myself at the same stage of undressing, and that the one at which I habitually pause.

I believe that this might be found to be the same with other people who suffer from the dream."

Now this is a very ingenious theory, but it does not quite seem to work out right. In the first place not many men, I think, ever contemplate themselves with the Narcissus - like satisfaction here suggested, on their way to bed. As a rule, one is too sleepy or too cold, or too something. Also, one is perhaps not worth looking at But those who do contemplate themselves on the way to bed, at a certain stage - the hair - brushing stage - are women. They sit long before a glass, while a maid or their own hands brush their hair, but though I have inquired, so closely as one may inquire into a matter so delicate, I have not been able to learn that this particular stage, rather than any other, is the one at which one appears in dreams to be going into the best society, nor is there any special suggestion of the flowing locks which ought to accompany the appearance if the fancy were so strictly connected with the hair - brushing and mirror - gazing moment. And at the same time we find that this dream is quite common among men, who I do not think have a habit of contemplating their reflection in a state of semi - toilette.

There is also this to be said, which is pointed out at more length in another chapter, that the thoughts that occupy the mind just before the moment of sleep are by no means those which are likely to occupy the dream thought. To this argument, answer may be made, that this is not an affair of the occupation of the mind with a subject, but of the scarcely conscious notice taken by the eye of a familiar object, and maybe, this is a good answer. But there is a certain objection to the theory advanced, to which I do not perceive any adequate answer; and that is that the real essence of this dream, that which is its distinguishing feature, is not simple nudity or semi - nudity, but semi - nudity (let us take the typical form of it) at the wrong time - without a sufficient regard to those relatives on which so much stress is laid by Aristotle, the when, the where and in what manner. It is not simply that we dream we are naked, or in a semi - dress, as in the neglige appropriate to the hair - brushing - stage for which a woman has no reason to blush in her maid's presence, but it is semi - nudity in the presence of conventional, frock - coated society, it is semi - nudity not at the right time, even though it be the time shortly before the hour for sleep.

One of my correspondents - a lady, I think - who suffers from the dream of inadequate clothing in its extreme form of absolute nudity, records that she takes to herself comfort of a philosophical kind by the following quite logical reasoning: "I usually console myself by thinking that people shouldn't be there when they are not wanted, and that since they don't mind, I needn't". This is philosophy at the heroic height

The most apparent theory on which to explain this dream of inadequate clothing is, no doubt, that one is actually inadequately clothed with bedclothes insufficient for their purpose, or at all events for going ones walks abroad. To this effect one of my correspondents says: "The dream of inadequate clothing I must think arises from the fact that one is inadequately clothed for appearing in public. I have never had any one come into my room unexpectedly while I was dressing." This last remark is evidently an answer to a suggestion that the dream was inspired by an inopportune opening of the door when the toilet was not complete. "I must confess," this writer goes on shamelessly, " that it does not trouble me in the least, but I am personally concerned about my bare feet, and have shuffled them under the sand when bathing on the sea - shore, so that they might not be seen. Sometimes I am only afraid of their being hurt"

The trouble about accepting the theory advanced here is that it does not jump with the facts. So far as I can make out we do not dream the nude dream, so to call it with brutal brevity, when we are under warm bedclothes, nor does the general type of this dream seem to be appearance in one's nightgown or pyjamas, but appearance in a state of semi - day - toilette. But there is some fuller discussion of this delicate subject elsewhere. With regard to the dream of inadequate clothing, as experienced by this writer who shuffles bare feet under the sand, it all looks as if it might be called more rightly a dream of bathing, a reminiscence of preparation for sea - bathing, than a dream of insufficient clothing. Light clothing and insufficient clothing are not the same thing. The clothing that is perfectly adequate for bathing is light; but it is not adequate for going to church or to court. Similarly on a hot night in summer the bedclothes will be light, but may be quite adequate; and the class of dream we have been talking about is typically one in which the clothing is not adequate.