These we whose shrewd conjectures can foreshew,

In various shades, oar happiness or woe.

Bat dreams avaunt, precarious visions fly

To polar regions and a changing sly;

Where restless storms th' unsteady clouds constrain

To forms fantastic, transitory, vain. Auson.

Sunt et qui fletus, etc.

From the nature of dreams, as they have been described in the foregoing chapters, it abundantly appears, that they have no claim to be regarded as having any necessary connexion with future events. In their images they are often confined, and in their issue precarious. Inasmuch as they are representations of life: the "resemblances of one thing to another* :" they exhibit scenes, from the contemplation of which instruction may be derived; but they cannot be considered as more than casually predictive, or be understood to be subservient to divination. They may enable us to judge of the predominant features and undisguised propensities of the mind, but ought not to excite superstitious fears and conceits. The futility of dreams, with reference to futurity, is evident from the uncertainty of their import, and the variety of construction of which they have been judged capable. The great Bacon justly observes, that the interpretation of natural dreams does not stand upon a good foundation; and nothing can be more capricious and vain, than

* Drea,m Droom, Dutch. The word is derived by Ca-saubon, with more ingenuity than truth, from

The drama of life. Junius has dwelt on the conceit, qupting the Greek epigrametc.

" Life is a scene, a sport, depose your care,

Or careless laugh, and learn your griefs to bear." that the principles upon which the notable diviners of modern, as well as of ancient times, have practised their vagabond art; foretelling often, like the prophecy of Nostradamus, mentioned in Quevedo's Visions,

"When the married shall marry, Then the jealous shall be sorry; And though fools will be talking, To keep their tongues walking, No man runs well, I find, But with his elbows behind."

Herodotus informs us, that the Egyptians were accustomed to note any prodigy, and to observe the events which ensued, and when any similar circumstance occurred, to expect a similar result*.

From the general character of the dreams indeed, which have been produced in the foregoing chapters, it is evident, as Solomon re-marked," that in the multitude of dreams there are divers vanities." If some occasional coincidences have appeared to prevail between, some of those which have been reported and historical events, it is conceived, that they may in general be accounted for on the grounds, which have been mentioned; or that they may be referred to the casual concurrences that might naturally happen between the fictions of the imagination and the incidents of many-coloured life. Men, as Lord Bacon has observed, mark when they hit, and not when they miss*. Whatever the ancients have related, says Fontenelle †, whether good or bad, was liable to be repeated; and what they themselves could not prove by sufficient reason, are at pre-sent received on their authority. Even among the ancients, however, we find the most philosophical and reflecting minds rejecting dreams as fallacious, and deriding the arte of interpretation as arbitrary impositions,

* Lib. ii. C 82.

* Si saepe jactaveris quandoque Venerem jacies - If the dice be often thrown, they must sometimes produce doublets.

† Histoire des Oracles.

"Laughing at those who to their ears iustill'd Vain promises, while they their pockets fill'd*."

The want, indeed, of atiy accredited interpreters, or sure principles for the explication of dreams, are considerations which justly incline us to reject the idea of their being designed to furnish any knowledge of futurity. If we except the patriarchs and prophets, employed under God's acknowledged dispensation, who had understanding in visions and dreams, "imparted by God for great purposes," there is no sufficient proof that any person was ever endowed with the gift of in-tepreting dreams with any assurance. The Magi, indeed, were consulted by the Persians†; but their skill, we know, was little to be depended upon, and the Greek and Roman soothsayers were deceitful to a proverb.

* Nil credo Augnrihus.

† Dan.ii. Ch. 2. Herod. Polyhym. 19. Ch. 107,108.110.

Alexander ab Alexandro mentions one Ju-nianus Majus, who, by an unequivocal interpretation, explained dreams, and enabled, as he states, many persons to escape death or trouble *: and others have been represented to have had the same science; but we cannot pay much attention to such accounts, collected by compilers of marvellous tales, who produce no authority in support of their assertions.

Favorinus has justly observed of fortune-tellers in general, that it is absurd to attend to them, since, as he states the consideration, either they predict propitious or unfavourable circumstances: if they foretel the former, and are deceived, we incur the vexation of disappointment; if they predict calamities which do not happen, we suffer from unfounded apprehension. If, on the other hand, when their predictions are well founded, they foreshew adversity, they only lead us to anticipate misery; and where they promise prosperous events, we gain but little in the view of objects of precarious attainment, and in gathering pre-, maturely the fruits of future joy.

*Lib. i. C. 11. G 6.

Cicero observes, that it is not even useful to know what is about to happen, for that it is only misery to be rendered solicitous, when we cannot do any thing that may avail us *. Let us be satisfied with enjoying and profiting by the present, which is the only means by which we can influence our future destinies.