Mr. Frederick Wingfield, living at Belle-Isle en Terre (Côtes-du-Nord),
writes that on the 25th of March, 1880, having gone to bed rather late,
after reading a part of the evening, he dreamed that his brother, living
in the county of Essex, in England, was with him; but instead of
answering a question asked him, merely shook his head, rose from his
chair, and went away. The impression was so strong that the narrator
sprang from his bed half asleep, awaking as his foot touched the floor,
and called his brother. Three days later he received news that his
brother had been killed by a fall from his horse the same day, March
25th, 1880, in the evening, about half-past eight o'clock, a few hours
before the dream just reported.
An inquiry proved that the date of this death was exact, and that the
author of this narrative had written his dream in a diary at the very
date of the event, and not afterwards.
Still another case.
"Mr. S. and Mr. L., both employed in a Government office, had
been intimate friends for eight years. Monday, 19th March, 1883,
L. had an attack of indigestion at his office. He went to a
druggist's, where he was given some medicine, and was told that
his liver was affected. The following Thursday he was no better;
Saturday of that same week he was still absent from the office.
"On Saturday evening, March 24th, S. was at home with a
headache; he told his wife that he was too warm, which he had
not been before for two months; then, after making this remark,
he went to bed, and shortly after he saw his friend L. standing
before him, dressed as usual. S. noticed even this particular
about L.'s clothes, that he had a black band on his hat, and
that his coat was unbuttoned; he also had a cane in his hand. L.
looked directly at S. and passed on. S. then remembered the
sentence in the book of Job, 'A spirit passed before my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.'
"At that moment he felt a chill run all over his body, and felt
the hair rise on his head. Then he asked his wife,'What time is
it?' She replied,'Ten minutes of nine.' 'I asked you,' he said,
'because L. is dead; I have just seen him.' She tried to
persuade him that it was a pure illusion; but he insisted, in
the most solemn manner, that nothing could induce him to change
his opinion."
This is the story as told by Mr. S. He did not learn of his friend's
death until three o'clock on Sunday. L. had died on Saturday evening at
about ten minutes of nine.
[Illustration]
Agrippa d'Aubigné's historical account of an occurrence at the time of
the Cardinal of Lorraine's death is somewhat like this story:--