a family, as some imagine, for I know several parents who are endowed with it, but their children not, and vice versa; neither is it acquired by any previous compact. And, after a strict enquiry, I could never learn that this faculty was communicable any way whatsoever. "The seer knows neither the object, time, nor place of a vision, before it appears; and the same object is often seen by different persons, living at a considerable distance from one another. The true way of judging as to the time and circumstance of an object, is by observation; for several persons of judgment, without this faculty, are more capable to judge of the design of a vision, than a novice that is a seer. If an object appear in the day or night, it will come to pass sooner or later accordingly, "If an object is scen early in the morning, (which is not frequent,) it will be accomplished in a few hours afterwards. If at noon, it will commonly be accomplished that very day. If in the evening, perhaps that night; if after candles be lighted, it will be accomplished that night: the later always in accomplishment, by weeks, months, and sometimes years, according to the time of night the vision is seen. "When a shroud is perceived about one, it is a sure prognostic of death; the time is judged according to the height of it about the person; for if it is seen above the middle, death is not to be expected for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as it is frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death is concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not hours, as daily experience confirms. Examples of this kind were shown me, when the persons of whom the observations were then made, enjoyed perfect health. "One instance was lately foretold by a seer, that was a novice, concerning the death of one of my acquaintance; this was communicated to a few only, and with great confidence: 1 being one of the number, did not in the least regard it, until the death of the person, about the time foretold, did confirm me of the certainty of the prediction. The novice mentioned above, is now a skilful seer, as appears from many late instances; he lives in the parish of St. Mary's, the most northern in Skie. "If a woman is seen standing at a man's left hand, it is a presage that she will be his wife, whether they be married to others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition. "If two or three women are seen at once near a man's left hand, she that is next him will undoubtedly be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man, be single or married at the time of the vision or not; of which there are several late instances among those of my acquaintance. It is an ordinary thing for them to see a man that is to come to the house shortly after: and if he is not of the seer's acquaintance, yet he gives such a lively description of his stature, complexion, habit, etc. that upon his arrival he answers the character given him in all respects. "If the person so appearing be one of the seer's acquaintance, he will tell his name, as well as other particulars; and he can tell by his countenance whether he comes in a good or bad humour. "I have been seen thus myself by seers of both sexes, at some hundred miles' distance; some that saw me in this manner had never seen me personally, and it happened according to their vision, without any previous design of mine to go to those places, my coming there being purely accidental. "It is ordinary with them to see houses, gardens, and trees, in places void of all three; and this in progress of time uses to be accomplished: as at Mogshot, in the Isle of Skie, where there were but a few sorry cowhouses, thatched with straw, yet in a very few years after, the vision, which appeared often, was accomplished, by the building of several good houses on the very spot represented by the seers, and by the planting of orchards there. "To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or breast, is a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons; of which there are several fresh instances. "To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting in it, is a presage of that person's death soon after. "When a novice, or one that has lately obtained the secondsight, sees a vision in the night-time without doors, and he be near a fire, he presently falls into a swoon. "Some find themselves as it were in a crowd of people, having a corpse which they carry along with them; and after such visions the seers come in sweating, and describe the people that appeared: if there be any of their acquaintance among em, they give an account of their names, as also of the bearers, but they know nothing concerning the corpse. "All those who have the second-sight do not always see these visions at once, thongh they be together at the time. But if one who has this faculty, designedly touch his fellow-seer at the instant of a vision's appearing, then the second sees it as well as the first and this is sometimes discerned by those that are near them on such occasions."-MARTIN's Description of the Western Islands, 1716, 8vo, p. 500, et seq. To these particulars innumerable examples might be added, all attested by grave' and credible authors. But, in despite of evidence, which neither Bacon, Boyle, nor Johnson, were able to resist, the Taisch, with all its visionary properties, seems to be now universally abandoned to the use of poetry. The exquisitely heautiful poem of Lochiel will at once occur to the recollection of every reader. NOTE B. My sire's tall form might grace the part These two sons of Anak flourished in romantic fable. The first is well known to the admirers of Ariosto, by the name of Ferrau. He was an antagonist of Orlando, and was at length slain by him in single combat. There is a romance in the Auchinleck MS., in which Ferragus is thus described : "On a day come tiding Unto Charls the King, Al of a doughti knight With King Charls to fight. That no dint of brond No greued him, aplight. Thilke painim bede, And four feet in the face, And fifteen in brede. 4 He that it seighe it sede. He loked lotheliche. And was swart 6 as any piche, Of him men might adrede." Romance of Charlemagne, 1. 461-484. Auchinleck MS., fol. 265. Ascapart, or Ascabart, makes a very material figure in the History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was conquered. His elfigies may be seen guarding one side of a gate at Southampton, while the other is occupied by Sir Bevis himself. The dimensions of Ascabart were little inferior to those of Ferragus, if the following description be correct : Found, proved.-2 Had.-3 Measured.-4 Breadth.-5 Were.-6 Black. - Fully.-8 Rough.-9 His. To Give. The stem of a little oak-tree.-2 He hight, was called. toun For to bring this quene ayen, I wax mor to ich understonde, Sir Bevis of Hampton, 1. 2512. Auchinleck MS. fol. 189 NOTE C. In Holy-Rood a Knight he slew.-P. 73. This was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the Court of Scotland; nay, the presence of the sovereign himself scarcely restrained the ferocious and inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source of bloodshed among the Scottish nobility. The following instance of the murder of Sir William Stuart of Orchiltree, called The Bloody, by the celebrated Francis, Earl of Bothwell, may be produced among many; but, as the offence given in the royal court will hardly bear a vernacular translation, I shall leave the story in Johnstone's Latin, referring for farther particulars to the naked simplicity of Birrell's Diary, 30th July, 1588. "Mors improbi hominis non tam ipsa immerita, quam pessimo exemplo in publicum, fœdè perpetrata. Gulielmus Stuartus Alkiltrius, Arani frater, naturâ ac moribus, cujus sæpius me 66 1 If.—2 Great.—3 He said.-4 Slay.-5 His.-6 My.- Little.-8 Lean.-9 Dwarf.-10 Greater, taller. Ten. |