are always productive of vivid renewals of pleasure or pain, we express by the terms hope or fear.

very

These are the few remarks which I can stay to offer on that principle of our nature which is constantly more or less counteracting the tendency of sensations and ideas to become, on each occasion of their recurrence, fainter and fainter. But the power of this anticipating faculty to revive our feelings must be considered as limited in its operations, since the greatest proportion of our mental states is allowed to so decrease in vividness, as to cease in time being the object of consciousness.

After these observations, we shall be prepared to expect, that in all spectral impressions palpable evidence will be afforded of the share which Hope and Fear had in the illusion ;—that is, the illusion will be either increased or diminished in proportion to the form of the prospective affections of the mind which it excites. Of this fact a few examples may be given.

The first illustration which I shall offer is from the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. This surprising man, during his confinement in a vile loathsome dungeon, underwent a series of cruelties that had produced a morbid habit of body which stimulated, to the highest degree of excitement, feelings that were of themselves naturally vivid. He, therefore, continually fancied himself in the presence of an invisible guardian. Soon afterwards he was removed to the deepest subterranean cell of the castle in which he was immured, when the intense feeling of hope which he cherished of returning from darkness to the full brightness of day, not only dictated the subject of his spec

tral impressions, but greatly conspired to increase their vividness. Having prayed that he might once more behold the light of the sun, he suddenly fell into a sort of ecstacy, in which he fancied that he beheld the object of his fervent wish. But the exclamation which he uttered, and the glorious changes which this orb underwent, are best told in his own words:

"O wonderful power! O glorious influence divine! how much more bounteous art thou to me than I expected! The sun, divested of his rays, appeared a ball of purest melted gold. Whilst I gazed on this noble phenomenon, I saw the centre of the sun swell and bulge out, and, in a moment, there appeared a Christ upon the cross, formed of the self-same matter as the sun; and so gracious and pleasing was his aspect, that no human imagination could form so much as a faint idea of such beauty. As I was contemplating this glorious apparition I cried out aloud, A miracle! A miracle! O God! O clemency divine! O goodness infinite! what mercies dost thou lavish on me this morning! At the very time I thus meditated, and uttered these words, the figure of Christ began to move towards the side where the rays were concen, tered, and the middle of the sun swelled and bulged out as at first: the protuberance having increased considerably, was at last converted into a figure of the beautiful Virgin Mary, who appeared to sit with her son in her arms, in a graceful attitude, and even to smile; she stood between two angels of so divine a beauty, that imagination could not even form an idea of such perfection. I likewise saw in the same sun, a figure dressed in sacerdotal robes; this figure

turned its back to me, and looked towards the blessed Virgin, holding Christ in her arms. All these things I clearly and plainly saw, and, with a loud voice, continued to return thanks to the Almighty. This wonderful phenomenon having appeared before me about eight minutes, vanished from my sight, and I was instantly conveyed back to my couch."

Of the vivifying effect of fear in conspiring, along with morbific agents, to heighten the intensity of mental illusions, numerous examples might be cited. But I shall first remark, that false impressions of sound are calculated in a particular manner to create surprise and alarm :

"This is no mortal business, nor no sound

That the earth owes."

"The ear," says a writer on this subject, who himself experienced very strange illusions of sound, "is much more an instrument of terror than the eye. Diseased perceptions of sight are more common than those of hearing, and they are in general born with more tranquillity. A few simple sounds usually constitute the amount of what the ear unfaithfully presents; but when incessant half-articulated whispers, sudden calls, threats, obscure murmurs, and distant tollings, are heard, the mind is less disposed to patience and calm philosophy."*

A good example of the power of Fear to add to the vividness of apparitions, is afforded in the remarkable

* Nicholson's Journal, vol. xv. p. 296.

confession of John Beaumont, the Platonic philosopher. + "I would not," he says, "for the whole world, undergo what I have undergone, upon spirits coming twice to me; their first coming was most dreadful to me, the thing being then altogether new, and consequently more surprising, though at the first coming they did not appear to me, but only called to me at my chamber-windows, rung bells, sung to me, and played on music, &c.; but the last coming also carried terror enough; for when they came, being only five in number, the two women before mentioned, and three men, (though afterwards there came hundreds,) they told me they would kill me if I told any person in the house of their being there, which put me in some consternation; and I made a servant sit up with me four nights in my chamber, before a fire, it being in the Christmas holidays, telling no person of their being there. One of these spirits, in woman's dress, lay down upon the bed by me every night; and told me, if I slept, the spirits would kill me, which kept me waking for three nights. In the meantime, a near relation of mine went (though unknown to me) to a physician of my acquaintance, desiring him to prescribe me somewhat for sleeping, which he did, and a sleeping potion was brought me ; but I set it by, being very desirous and inclined to

+ "Had this man," says Dr Ferriar, "instead of irritating his mental disease by the study of Platonic philosophers, placed himself under the care of an intelligent physician, he would have regained his tranquillity, and the world would have lost a most extraordinary set of confessions."

sleep without it. The fourth night I could hardly forbear sleeping; but the spirit, lying on the bed by me, told me again, I should be killed if I slept; whereupon I rose and sat by the fireside, and in a while returned to my bed; and so I did a third time, but was still threatened as before; whereupon I grew impatient, and asked the spirits what they would have? Told them I had done the part of a Christian, in humbling myself to God, and feared them not; and rose from my bed, took a cane, and knocked at the ceiling of my chamber, a near relation of mine lying then over me, who presently rose and came down to me about two o'clock in the morning, to whom I said, 'You have seen me disturbed these four days past, and that I have not slept: the occasion of it was, that five spirits, which are now in the room with me, have threatened to kill me if I told any person of their being here, or if I slept ; but I am not able to forbear sleeping longer, and acquaint you with it, and now stand in defiance of them; and thus I exerted myself about them; and notwithstanding their continued threats, I slept very well the next night, and continued so to do, though they continued with me above three months, day and night."

Again, in the case of Nicolai,-it would appear, that, notwithstanding his boasted calmness, the spectres which he saw were not always without the power of creating in his mind a little uneasiness, as the effort which he evidently made in order to preserve his composure betrays what was the real state of the philosopher's feelings. "After I had recovered," he observes, "from the first impression of terror, I never