Lord Byron tells the following story of Captain Kidd. He was lying one
night in his cabin asleep, when he suddenly felt oppressed by a heavy
weight apparently resting on him; he opened his eyes, and by the feeble
light of a small lamp he fancied he saw his brother, dressed in full
uniform, and leaning across the bed. Under the impression that the whole
is a mere idle delusion of his senses, he turns over and falls asleep
once more. But the sense of oppression returns, and upon opening his
eyes he sees the same image as before. Now he tries to seize it, and to
his amazement touches something wet. This terrifies him, and he calls a
brother officer, but when the latter enters, nothing is to be seen.
After the lapse of several months Captain Kidd received information that
in that same night his brother had been drowned in the Indian Sea. He
himself told the story to Lord Byron, and the latter endorsed its
accuracy (_Monthly Rev._, 1830, p. 229).
One of the most remarkable interviews of this kind, which continued for
some time, and led to a prolonged and interesting conversation during
which the three senses of sight, hearing, and touch, were alike
engaged, is that which a Mrs. Bargrave had on the 8th of September,
1805. According to an account given by Jarvis ("Accred. Ghost Stories,"
Lond., 1823), she was sitting in her house in Canterbury, in a state of
great despondency, when a friend of hers, Miss Veal, who lived at Dover,
and whom she had not seen for two years and a half, entered the room.
The two ladies had formerly been very intimate, and found equal comfort,
during a period of great sorrow, in reading together works treating of
future life and similar subjects. Her friend wore a traveling suit, and
the clocks were striking noon as she entered; Mrs. Bargrave wished to
embrace her, but Miss Veal held a hand before her eyes, stating that she
was unwell and drew back. She then added that she was on the point of
making a long journey, and feeling an irresistible desire to see her
friend once more, she had come to Canterbury. She sat down in an
armchair and began a lengthened conversation, during which she begged
her friend's pardon for having so long neglected her, and gradually
turned to the subject which had been uppermost in Mrs. Bargrave's mind,
the views entertained by various authors of the life after death. She
attempted to console the latter, assuring her that "a moment of future
bliss was ample compensation for all earthly sufferings," and that "if
the eyes of our mind were as open as those of the body, we should see a
number of higher beings ready for our protection." She declined,
however, reading certain verses aloud at her friend's request, "because
holding her head low gave her the headache." She frequently passed her
hand over her face, but at last begged Mrs. Bargrave to write a letter
to her brother, which surprised her friend very much, for in the letter
she wished her brother to distribute certain rings and sums of money
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