These prophetic words, as they afterwards proved to be--"you must call a meeting-call a meeting," uttered at a time, when I so little expected any thing of the kind, followed me in my waking moments.—It was to them I alluded, in the above extract from my M.S. and they still ring too audibly in my ears, to be easily forgotten.

Thus, I have put the public in possession of the facts relating to that most extraordinary dream, happening as it did at that precise time,-now let my readers mark the event.

The DREAM, let it be kept in view-took place in the night betwixt the 14th and 15th,-the manner in which I treated it on the 15th, is related as above.-Mr- issued his circular calling a meeting of his creditors, on the 16th,—but as an evidence that I had heard nothing of it until the 17th, I have, to this moment, an unfinished letter in my possession, ordering the very article, I was in want of being sent, at that time, and which, I had been writing previously to Mr, calling in the afternoon of the 17th, and conveying to me, the dreadful-and had it not been, that, in this instance," night visions," indeed, "had befriended me," and, the intensity of the shock, had been somewhat broken, or lightened by the dream, (which, at that instant shot across my mind, little as I thought of it at the time,)—might have turned out fatal,-intelligence; for, I do not see how, from the deplorable and protracted bad effects it has had upon me, AS IT WAS, how I could, without some such preparation, as I had undergone, have stood it.

And do you really suppose, may some of those presuming wise ones, who would remain incredulous to every thing that they cannot fully comprehend by their limited faculties, that the Great Being, who has created so many august bodies, and regulates with unerring skill, the great and mighty concerns of the universe, could have stooped to any thing like a providential, as you may call it, but miraculous, as in this case, we are bound to call it, interference, in the concerns of a solitary individual,—an atom in an atom world,-who must lay his account to be governed by general rules, and the ordinary methods of HIS Operations, in the affairs of men?—

Why, I have mentioned the facts exactly as they oc

curred, and let these facts speak for themselves, but for my part, I can see nothing, more inconsistent, in the supposition that, the great Governor and Almighty Ruler of the Universe, should busy himself with the concerns of a solitary individual,—or, with one of us puny mortals, as these sage persons in their wisdom, may style MAN, the noblest creature in the material creation, uniting as he does in his own person, amaterial structure with the order of intelligences,—than that, -in HIS capacity of creator, HE should have taken no less pains with the various springs of action in the construction of a fly,-or a mite,-than with those, necessary, for the movements of, the stupendous elephant.

It is quite a mistake in comparing great things with small, to attempt by that means, to set limits to the power of the ALMIGHTY,

"Who sees, with equal eye, as God of all,
A HERO perish,- or a SPARROW fall."-

WHO, can feel it no more a disparagement to his character, as LORD OF ALL, to give, on one occasion, General Junot, some foretaste, of what he was to experience at the battle of Lonato, through the medium of a "night vision," than to give on another, the far famed Brutus, an intimation through the medium of his "evil genius," of what he was to meet with at Philippi.*-WHO can think, it no more degrading,

The story of Brutus and his evil genius, is familiar to every school boy, who has read Plutarch.-But that related by the Duchess of Abrantes, in her memoirs lately published, in respect to the dream of her husband, on the evening previous to the above battle, can, as yet, be only known to a few, I will here, therefore, give it in her own words :

"The evening before the battle of Lonato; Junot having been on horseback all the day, and rode above 20 leagues, in carrying the orders of the General-inChief, lay down overwhelmed with fatigue, without undressing, and ready to start up, at the smallest signal. Hardly was he asleep, when he dreamed he was on a field of battle, surrounded by the dead and the dying. Before him was a horseman clad in armour, with whom he was engaged. That cavalier, instead of a lance, was armed with a scythe, with which he struck Junot several blows, particularly one on the left temple. The combat was long, and at length they seized each other by the middle. In the struggle, the vizor, the casque of the horseman, fell off, and Junot perceived that he was fighting with a skeleton ;soon the armour fell off, and death stood before him, armed with his scythe. "I have not been able to take you," said he, "but I will seize one of your best friends. Beware of me!"

"Junot awoke bathed with sweat. The morning was he could not sleep from the impression he had received. one of his brother aid-de-camps, Muiron and Marmont,

beginning to dawn, and He felt convinced that would be slain in the

with the equal eye in which he beholds all his creatures, to give the writer of this, call him if you will, one of the lowest, of the lowest order of intelligences, some little foresight into futurity, by means of a dream, the better to prepare him for what was to happen,-than to instruct, that most noble and exalted character, Socrates, by the same means, on the night previous to Plato's, being put under his care for tuition, of the nature of his young charge, and the splendid fame he was destined to arrive at.*

I do not mention these things as implying my unqualified assent to their veracity.-They may be true, or they may be not, but I distinctly believe, that the power of the Almighty is unbounded, and unconfined, in these respects, and that He can vary his modes, and means, of conveying and communicat→ ing impressions to the mind, as well as on the senses, at his pleasure.—In fact, to apply the sage remark of Goldsmith, in reference to the creation of the monsters of the deep,-to these, out of the ordinary course of things, methods of communication,-" to believe all that has been said of such things," would be too credulous, and, to reject the possibility of their existence, would be a presumption unbecoming mankind !+

approaching fight. In effect it was so: Junot received two wounds,—one in the left temple, which he bore to his grave; and the other on the breast; but Muiron was shot through the heart." (See Memoirs of the Duchess of Abrantes.)

The story of the dream of Socrates, on the night previous to his future disciple, Plato, being presented to him by his father, is related under the head of Plato, in Fenelon's Lives of Ancient Philosophers.

There is a circumstance recorded in my Retrospections which, although it happened too far back to be detailed among the events of this, what I may well call, THE FOURTH BOOK OF MY LIFE ;-yet, as the probability is great, that I may never have an opportunity of bringing it before the public, afterwards, and as a brief recital of it, will no doubt astonish some of my readers as much as the subject of my dream, I shall here introduce it, as illustrating my argument, that impressions may be conveyed to the mind for the most benevolent of purposes, &c. and consistent with what are called natural causes too,-although they may appear to be somewhat out of the usual way.

I recollect perfectly well, that at the time I was so bad of the dangerous fever, with which I was afflicted near the end of 1803, and, the effects of which, as must appear in my last chapter, I have not yet got quite the better of, I was lying one night broad awake, at the moment that a female relative,-my wife's mother, was in the act of going out of the chamber door, having just been relieved by her daughter, who had taken her place at my bed-side. She had, as I well remember, just got the length of the door,-I was lying, at the time I think, in a pretty easy and composed state, and, so far as I recollect had eyed her with calmness, as she receded from the bed-side:—when all on a sudden, my wife (who,

But, to return from this digression,-with whatever composure I was at first enabled to bear up, under the afflicting intelligence, for which, I must always insist, I was in a great

blessed be God, is still alive to testify to the truth of what I am recording) was no doubt startled by my exclaiming in a rather loud and vehement manner “Guard!” The old woman to whom the word was no doubt addressed, as might have naturally been expected, rushed back into the chamber -My wife looked with astonishment;-but as soon as I had time to recover myself a little, I assumed the most placid appearance I possibly could, and said, with a smile, or rather a kind of half-suppressed laugh, “I thought your Mother was the Guard of the Mail Coach

The fact is, that at the moment, the old lady had reached the chainber door, she all on a sudden underwent (according to the then state of my powers of vision,) a most complete transformation,—and instead of now appearing in the grave and sober habiliments of a grey mantle, &c. in which she had just left the bed-side, and in fact, in which I traced her distinctly in her progress towards the door,—she stood befor me, in all the dazzling splendour of a rosy looking guard of his Majesty's Royal Mail, not, let it be observed, in one of his almost worn out suits, or about to be, cast off garments, but as if, he had been just decked out in his best attire of glittering gold, on shining red, in honour of his master,—the king's-birth day.

The moment, however, that Mrs, came within a certain point of distance, from my optic nerves, she resumed her wonted form, and former habiliments, and it was, in consequence, of this double transformation having been so suddenly effected, in my presence, without my being conscious how it took place, that my risible faculties were somewhat excited, at the time 1 gave the little explanation,-all I could give,—to my wife.

There can be no better evidence that I was quite sensible at the time, both be fore and after this happened, than the proper and natural appearance the old woman assumed for the second time! while I eyed her with attention, as she again progressed towards the door-through which, however, (now that I was prepared for the event) I was obliged to allow her to pass in silence, in the exact garb and appearance she had before assumed, at the same point of distance, viz. the rosy cheeked and splendid attired Guard of the Mail Coach!

But all this, I will be told, was the consequence of delirium,-I know it was, and from what I experienced on that occasion myself, I shall ever look upon the illusions, consequent to delirium, in those cases of acute bodily suffering, where only indeed they will be found to be generally prevalent, as among the most merciful, among the merciful ordinations of Providence.

And shall I deny to the Author of these merciful ordinations, created as they may appear to be, by the illusions of a diseased brain, that praise and gratitude due, for what I myself have experienced from them, merely because, I cannot tell by my limited faculties, and the confined powers of my optical vision, even in its most healthy state,-how such things are brought about,-or the manner in which they are occasioned,-amidst the varied and wonderful workings of Omnipotence!

No we must, in these instances of benevolent interference, by whatever natural means, they are effected, (for it is only by such means, in such cases, the God of nature works) adore, and adoring own, with gratitude, the kind provisions of that providence, which, by means of such illusions, carries off, and diverts, our attention in the moment of extreme suffering, to those unsubstantial creatures of our distempered (though it be) fancy,-which amuse us at the time they relieve us from anguish ;—and causes, even "Night Visions" to befriend us, on particular occasions, or on some pressing or trying exigencies,—by whatever means, or in whatever manner-such things are occasioned. That I might have been led, or predisposed to dream about Mr

at

degree prepared by that memorable dream,-yet, when I had had, a little time to recover myself, and think over a matter, which I soon saw, left me only one alternative, I could not help feeling sore, very sore, at the peculiarly calamitous state, to which I had been so suddenly, and at a time, so utterly unexpected, reduced;—and that I did feel sore, to an alarming extent, the situation to which the state of my health was soon brought, gave too evident demonstration.

Indeed, I have often said, when reflecting on the sudden and rapid effect these sad reverses, appeared to have taken, both on my health and spirits, and the great efforts Mr and other kind friends had to make, in order to induce me to endeavour to take sustenance and to bear up with more composure on this trying occasion,—that, I never thought any thing earthly could have affected me so much,—and if this should be urged against me as affording no great evidence of my strength of mind and disposition to overcome, I must just plead as an apology for the excess of my grief,that it was for the sufferings of others, more than my own, I felt most acutely,-aggravated by the forlorn consideration, that I had now arrived at a time of life, more calculated for a state of repose than that of increased TOIL.

So far, however, from wishing to die, and so get quit at once of my toils and my burdens, I often repeated, that I was never more desirous in my life to live,-and well might I,

that precise time, in consequence of my having been so recently thinking of writing to him, is very possible; and that I should see him on that occasion, in the Mail Coach, a situation in which I had often seen him before, is also far from being improbable;—and so far my dream may be accounted for, on com. mon, or what are usually designated natural principles;—in the same manner as the bustling warrior, after a bustling day of preparation, may be much pre. disposed to dream of being engaged in the fight-on the night before the battle. But, who, in either case, can advance one step farther in clearing up the mystery, by the strongest reasoning powers of the most acute reasoner-for what connexion had the preparations of Junot, with the ominous pageant that was made to pass before him in his dream ;-allowing that the relation of the story afterwards to his duchess was exactly as it happened :-And what connexion could my previous intention of writing Mr or my having seen him

oftner than once in the Mail Coach, allowing these circumstances to have led me so far into the matter of my dream-what connexion, I say, could these have with the mysterious development, and no less mysterious warning, given me by my visionary monitor,-whose misfortune, at the time of my dream, had not been whispered-and whose circular, in fact, was not issued, until the day after I had recorded it!