with the rest. The changes in the figures were seen equally by all the spectators, and the view of them was not confined to the farm of Blakehills only, but they were seen by every person at every cottage within the distance of a mile, the number of persons who saw them amounting to about twenty-six. The attestation of these facts, signed by Lancaster and Stricket, bears the date of the 21st July, 1785. These extraordinary sights were received not only with distrust, but with absolute incredulity. They were not even honoured with a place in the records of natural phenomena, and the philosophers of the day were neither in possession of analogous facts, nor were they acquainted with those principles of atmospherical refraction upon which they depend. The strange phenomena, indeed, of the _Fata Morgana_, or the _Castles of the Fairy Morgana_, had been long before observed, and had been described by Kircher in the 17th century, but they presented nothing so mysterious as the aërial troopers of Souterfell; and the general characters of the two phenomena were so unlike, that even a philosopher might have been excused for ascribing them to different causes. This singular exhibition has been frequently seen in the straits of Messina, between Sicily and the coast of Italy, and whenever it takes place, the people, in a state of exultation, as if it were not only a pleasing but a lucky phenomenon, hurry down to the sea, exclaiming _Morgana, Morgana!_ When the rays of the rising sun form an angle of 45° on the sea of Reggio, and when the surface of the water is perfectly unruffled, either by the wind or the current, a spectator placed upon an eminence in the city, and having his back to the sun and his face to the sea, observes upon the surface of the water superb palaces, with their balconies and windows, lofty towers, herds and flocks grazing in wooded valleys and fertile plains; armies of men on horseback and on foot, with multiplied fragments of buildings, such as columns, pilasters, and arches. These objects pass rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea during the brief period of their appearance. The various objects thus enumerated are pictures of palaces and buildings actually existing on shore, and the living objects are of course only seen when they happen to form a part of the general landscape. If, at the time that these phenomena are visible, the atmosphere is charged with vapour or dense exhalations, the same objects which are depicted upon the sea will be seen also in the air, occupying a space which extends from the surface to the height of twenty-five feet. These images, however, are less distinctly delineated than the former. If the air is in such a state as to deposit dew, and is capable of forming the rainbow, the objects will be seen only on the surface of the sea; but they all appear fringed with red, yellow, and blue light, as if they were seen through a prism.