The Other World; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural (Vol. 1 of 2): Being Facts, Records, and Traditions Relating to Dreams, Omens, Miraculous Occurrences, Apparitions, Wraiths, Warnings, Second-sight, Witchcraft, Necromancy, etc.
Religion
The Other World; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural (Vol. 1 of 2): Being Facts, Records, and Traditions Relating to Dreams, Omens, Miraculous Occurrences, Apparitions, Wraiths, Warnings, Second-sight, Witchcraft, Necromancy, etc.
Spiritualism; Supernatural
“He had long intended, at the advice of the Rector of the village in which
he dwelt, and with whom alone he was on terms of intimacy, to make certain
provisions by will on behalf of the relations in question, who had lost
much by his successful lawsuit. However, this (as was believed by his
family lawyer, residing in an adjacent country town, who proceeded to
settle his affairs) had not been done; and the whole of his property
consequently seemed likely to go to his heir-at-law, a man of property,
almost unknown to him.
“Five months after his death, however, the Rector of the parish in which
he had lived, had what he termed ‘a waking dream,’ in which he imagined
that the deceased gentleman came to him in sorrow, and solemnly conjured
him to obtain possession of a Will, which had been duly made by him in
London a few months before his decease, and which was in the custody of a
firm of attorneys there, which Will was so drawn as that the relations in
question should greatly benefit by the just and righteous disposition
therein of his property. Imagining the dream to be only a dream and
nothing more, he took no notice of it, and regarded it as the mere result
of his own imagination.
“In about a fortnight, however, the identical dream occurred again--with
the simple difference that the deceased gentleman bore an expression of
deeper grief, and appeared to urge him, in still stronger terms, to obtain
the Will. The Rector was much impressed by this; but on careful reflection
upon the following day, appeared indisposed, on such testimony, to
interfere with arrangements which were then being made for the settlement
of the deceased person’s affairs, on the supposition that he had left no
Will. And consequently he did nothing.
“A third time, however, about eight days afterwards, he had the same
dream, with certain additional details of import and moment. The deceased
person, as the Rector imagined, appearing once again, urged him most
vehemently and solemnly to do as he wished, and to go and obtain the Will.
A conversation took place as it were in the dream, and the clergyman set
forth many cogent arguments why he should not be called upon to undertake
a work, which might not only be misunderstood, but might render him liable
to misrepresentations, if not to trouble and annoyance.
“However, at last he consented, and, in his dream, accompanied the
deceased person to a certain lawyer’s office at a certain number, on a
certain floor in Staple Inn, on the south side of Holborn, where the
drawer in a writing-table was opened, and he saw the packet containing the
Will sealed in three places, with the deceased person’s armorial bearings.
The whole room was before him vividly. It was panelled in oak, picked out
with white and pale green, and over the mantel-piece hung an engraving of
Lord Eldon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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