Case XXIV

"In 1647," writes Bovet, "I was, together with several estimable persons, in the house of a gentleman in the west, which had formerly been a convent for females. The servants, and some of those who had visited it, spoke much of noises and apparitions that disturbed the peace of the house; but just now, in consequence of the great influx of company, fear had greatly ceased. At the hour of rest, the steward of the host, who was named C - , accompanied me into a handsome room, called the ladies' room; having passed some time in reading, we retired to bed, after putting out the light. The moon shone so brightly that the steward could see to read manuscript. We had just been noticing the circumstance when (my face being turned towards the door) I saw five very pretty women enter; their elegant forms were richly clothed, but entirely covered with light veils that reached down to their feet. They made the tour of the room in file, when the first came to my bedside, and gave me a slight blow with her hand; I do not recollect if it was warm or cold.

* Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, written by Himself, translated from the Italian by M. de St. Marcel, Paris, 1822, pp. 285, 290, et seq.

"I asked, in the name of the Holy Trinity, what they wanted; but they made no reply. I then addressed Mr. C.: 'Do you see the beautiful ladies,' said I, ' who have come to visit you V

"Instantly they disappeared.

"Mr. C. was in an agony of terror; I was obliged to press his breast strongly to make him speak; he said that he saw them, and heard me address them, but that he found it impossible to speak sooner, he had been so alarmed at the sight of a horrible monster, half lion, half bear, who was attempting to get up on the foot of the bed. He owned that, although for several years he had often heard noises in his room, and others had complained of it, he had never been so alarmed. The next day, at dinner, he showed me the mark I had made on his breast to oblige him to speak, very particularly related what had occurred, and declared he would not inhabit the room again. For my part, I resolved to sleep there again, in order to penetrate the mystery.

"The next night I took a Bible with me, intending to read and meditate. At one o'clock I lay down; I had scarcely done so, when I heard some one walking in the room; the noise was like the rustling of a silk dress on the floor, and it was distinct, but I saw nothing, although the moon was as bright as on the preceding night. The apparition passed at the foot of the bed, opened the curtains, then directed its steps towards an inner room, which it entered, although it was locked; it then appeared to sigh, pushed a chair with its foot, sat down, and turned the leaves of a large folio. This lasted till daybreak. Since that time I have frequently occupied the room, but heard no recurrence of the noise."*

The apparition thus seen by two witnesses is naturally explained by the fear which overpowered them, and the nightmare under which one of them labored.

In the two following instances, the apparitions may, to a certain extent, receive their explanation in the ties of sympathy that exist between members of a united family. It is a psychological trait, that has often struck us, that the features, especially of man and wife, appear to grow into harmony, and that their thoughts frequently coincide by a sort of divination, without any verbal communication.

* Ferriar, already quoted, p. 89. - Richard Bovet, Pandemonium, or the Devil's Cloyster, 1684, eighth edition, p. 202. - Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft, London, 1830.