The history of the life and adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell : $b a gentleman, who, tho' deaf and dumb, writes down any stranger's name at first sight, with their future contingencies of fortune
General
The history of the life and adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell : $b a gentleman, who, tho' deaf and dumb, writes down any stranger's name at first sight, with their future contingencies of fortune
Campbell, Duncan, 1680?-1730; Deaf people -- Great Britain -- Biography; Occultism -- Early works to 1900; Prophets -- Great Britain -- Biography
_Duncan Campbell._ Oh! though they are like other boys and other lambs
which you see, they are a thousand times prettier and finer? you never
saw such a boy nor such a lamb in your lifetime.
_My question._ How big is he? As big as you are? And what sort of a boy
is he?
_Duncan Campbell._ He is a little little pretty boy, about as tall as my
knee, his face is as white as snow, and so are his little hands; his
cheeks are as red as a cherry, and so are his lips; and when he
breathes, it makes the air more perfumed than my mother's sweet bags
that she puts among the linen; he has got a crown of roses, cowslips,
and other flowers upon his head, such as the maids gather in May; his
hair is like fine silver threads, and shine like the beams of the sun;
he wears a loose veil down to his feet, that is as blue as the sky in a
clear day, and embroidered with spangles, that look like the brightest
stars in the night; he carries a silver bell in one hand, and a book and
pencil in the other, and he and the little lamb will dance and leap
about me in a ring as high as my head; the lamb has got a little silver
collar with nine little bells upon it; and every little piece of wool
upon its back, that is as white as milk, is tied up all round it in
puffs, like a little miss's hair, with ribbons of all colours; and round
its head, too, are little roses and violets stuck very thick into the
wool that grows upon its forehead, and behind and between its ears, in
the shape of a diadem. They first meet me dancing thus; and after they
have danced some time, the little boy writes down wonderful things in
his book, which I write down in mine; then they dance again, till he
rings his bell, and then they are gone all of a sudden, I know not
where; but I feel the tinkling in the inside of my head caused by the
bell less and less, till I don't feel it at all, and then I go home,
read over my lesson in my book, and when I have it by heart, I burn the
written leaves, according as the little boy bids me, or he would let me
have no more. But I hear the little bell again, the little boy is angry
with me, he pulled me twice by the ear, and I would not displease him
for anything, so I must get up and go immediately to the joy and delight
of my life.
I told him he might, if he would promise me to tell me farther another
time; he said he would, if I would keep it secret. I told him I would,
and so we parted; though just before he went, he said he smelt some
venison, and he was sure they would shortly have some for dinner; and
nothing was so sure as that, my man had my orders to bring a side of
venison to me the next day to Mrs. Campbell's, for I had been hunting,
and came thither from the death of a deer that morning; and intended, as
usual, to make a stay there for two or three days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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