204

CASE VOUCHED FOR BY ABERCROMBIE

THE NEGRO SERVANT.

"A lady dreamed that an aged female relative had been murdered by a black servant; and the dream occurred more than once.* She was then so much impressed by it that she went to the house of the lady to whom it related, and prevailed upon a gentleman to watch in an adjoining room during the following night. About three o'clock in the morning, the gentleman, hearing footsteps on the stairs, left his place of concealment, and met the servant carrying up a quantity of coals. Being questioned as to where he was going, he replied, in a confused and hurried manner, that he was going to mend his mistress's fire; which, at three o'clock in the morning, in the middle of summer, was evidently impossible; and, on further investigation, a strong knife was found concealed beneath the coals."+

This narrative, remarkable as it is, is not given in sufficient detail. It does not intimate whether the lady who dreamed knew or not, at the time, that her aged relative had a negro servant. Nor does it say any thing of the subsequent conduct and fate of that servant. Nor does it furnish the names of the parties. I am, fortunately, enabled to supply these defi

ciencies.

While in Edinburgh, in October, 1858, I had occasion to submit this chapter to a lady,-the daughter of a distinguished statesman, and herself well known by

*It is worthy of attention that many of these remarkable dreams occur more than once, as if (one might suppose) to produce on the dreamer the deeper impression. In the preceding dream by Mr. Talbot, in that which disclosed the death of Percival, in Mrs. Griffith's warning dream, in Alderinan Clay's dream, and others, the vision was thrice repeated.

"Intellectual Powers," p. 214.

AND BY A CORRESPONDENT.

205

numerous and successful works,-who, in returning it to me, kindly appended to the above narrative the follow. ing note:

"This lady was Mrs. Rutherford, of Egerton, grandaunt of Sir Walter Scott; and I have myself heard the story from the family. The lady who dreamed was the daughter of Mr. Egerton, then absent from home. On her return, she was astonished, on entering her mother's house, to meet the very black servant whom she had seen in her dream, as he had been engaged during her absence. This man was, long afterward, hung for murder; and, before his execution, he confessed that he had intended to assassinate Mrs. Rutherford."

The story, with this attesting voucher,—giving the names of the persons referred to, and supplying particulars which greatly add to the value of the illustration,-is, I think, the very strongest example of prevision in dream I ever met with. Let us briefly

scrutinize it.

In the first place, the dream indicated two particulars: the one, that the dreamer's mother would be murdered; the other, that the murder would be committed by a negro. Had the daughter known that her mother had a black servant, it would not be proper to regard these as separate contingencies: indeed, something in the man's manner might be imagined to have created suspicion, and so given shape to the dream. But the daughter did not know, when she dreamed, that her mother had a negro servant. She was astonished to meet him, on her return home. This is one of the strongest points in the case; for it precludes all argument that the negro's concern in the matter was naturally suggested to the dreamer.

Here, then, is the indication in dream of two independent specifications, correctly to have determined

206

EXAMINATION OF THE

either of which would have been, if an accident, one of which the mathematical expectation is exceedingly small. In the quiet of domestic life, in a civilized country and a respectable rank, a deliberate murder does not occur to one out of millions of persons. There were millions to one, then, against the fortuitous predicting, in the case of a particular individual, of that single event. So, again, in regard to the other specification. Negroes are rare in Scotland. Had the dream merely been that a negro would commit a murder in Edinburgh, without designating the murdered person, how difficult to imagine, in case the event, occurring within a few days, had justified the prediction, that such fulfillment was purely accidental! But when there is question of the double event, the mathematical expectation diminishes till, in practice, it may be regarded as inappreciable. The chances against that double event, as a purely fortuitous occurrence, are such as we constantly act upon in daily life with the same assurance as upon certainty itself.

It is true that, with that inexplicable dimness of vision which seems so often to characterize similar phenomena, the coming event is indicated only, not distinctly foretold. The daughter's dream was that her mother had been murdered; and this had not taken place. The effect upon her mind, however, aided by the repetition of her dream, was such as to cause her to take precautions against such a contingency in the future; and it so happened that on the very night the precaution was taken the attempt was made. Here is a third coincidence.

Was this all accident? Was there no warning given? Was there no intention, by acting in dream on the daughter's mind, to save the mother's life? If we answer these questions in the negative, are we not discarding the clearest rules of evidence which, at the

RUTHERFORD CASE.

207

bidding of reason, we have adopted for the government of daily life?

But if, on the other hand, we admit that there was a warning, that there was an intention,-then, who gave that warning? And what intelligence was it that intended?

It may be regarded as a mere cutting of the Gordian knot to assume the theory of spiritual guardianship.* Yet, if that theory be rejected, have we any other with which to supply its place?

But, without touching further for the present on this latter hypothesis, let us here pause for a moment to reflect whither the actual evidence at which we have arrived-culled, surely, from no suspicious source-is leading us on? If we assent to it,-if, with Abercrombie and the indorser of his narrative touching Mrs. Rutherford's negro servant, we feel compelled to admit that narrative as a fact,-shall we ignore the legitimate, the unavoidable, consequences? Shall we continue, with Macnish, to declare that the belief in the occasional power of dreams to give us an insight into futurity is "an opinion so singularly unphilosophical" as to be unworthy of notice? Shall we put aside, unexamined, with contempt or derision, instead of scrutinizing with patient care, the pretensions of certain observers as to the higher phenomena said to characterize some states of somnambulism, as clearsight, farsight, and this very faculty of prevision? If we are to speak of the singularly unphilosophical, such a proceeding as this would surely supply a remarkable example of it.

And is there not abundant justification for the remark heretofore made, that it behooves us, if we would obtain a comprehensive view of this subject, to

*See, in this connection, the narratives entitled "The Rejected Suitor" and "How Senator Linn's Life was Saved:" both in Book V.

208

DREAMS RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE.

study all the various hypnotic states in their connec tion with each other? Before we undertake the wonders of mesmerism, let us dispose of the greater wonders of sleep.

Finally, that such inquiry should be slighted is the less defensible, seeing that it occurs in Christian countries, where the Bible is read and its teachings venerated. But if there be one doctrine there taught plainly, unequivocally, by direct allegation and by numerous examples, in the Old Testament as in the New, it is the same which has prevailed, as Cicero reminds us,* in every nation, whether polished and learned, or barbarous and unlettered; the doctrine, namely, that in the visions of the night men occasionally receive more than is taught them throughout all the waking vigilance of the day.

:

The illustrations of such a doctrine are scattered all over the Bible. The Old Testament especially is full of them witness the dreams of Abimelech, of Pharaoh, of Saul, of Solomon, of Nebuchadnezzar; and, again, of Jacob, of Laban, of Daniel. But, passing by the Old to the dreams of the New Testament, we find that upon certain of these repose, in a measure, some of the very articles of faith cardinal to the creed of the orthodox church, whether Protestant or Catholic. Such are the dreams of the Wise Men of the East, of Joseph, of the wife of Pilate.

It is very true, and should be here taken into account, that most writers who deny to dreams any extraordinary or prophetic character make exception, directly or by implication, of those recorded in Scripture. But Scripture itself nowhere authorizes any such distinction. Elihu announces a general truth in general terms:-"In slumberings upon the bed, God

"De Divinatione," lib. i. 22 1, 2, and 3.