Tempo:
48 INTERIOR VISION.
spect ; the peculiar position of the hand was occasioned by an almost constant headache, and that of the foot or leg, by a stiff knee, caused by a fall from a horse in hunting. On another occasion, Shakespeare was described with the most minute exactness both as to person and dress; and I might add several other cases in which the same magician has excited astonishment in the sober minds of several Englishmen of my acquaintance.’ So far, Mr. Lane, whose account may be compared with that given by Mr. Kinglake, the author of ‘ Hothen.’
“Tt may be worth adding, that, in a recent case of hydromancy known to the writer, the boy could see better without the medium than with it; though he could also see reflected images in a vessel of water. This fact may be admitted to prove that such images are reflected to the eye of the seer from his own mind and brain. How the brain becomes thus enchanted, or the eye disposed for vision, is another question. Certainly it is no proof that the recollected image, in the mind of the inquirer, is transferred to the seer, as proofs can be shown to the contrary. When we look closely into it, Nature seems woven over, almost, with a magical web, and forms of the marvellous are rife.” . .
‘* Are there intelligent things, of which we know nothing, dealing with the world? Is alla wondrous mechanism, a perfect play of solids which proceeds unerringly, and of whose laws the scientific people are the only interpreters? Are there no such things as miracles? Is the progress of things never changed? And, once out of the world, do the departed never return?
“Ts all chance? Cannot the future ever be foreseen? Are all the strange matters told us mere fables or inventions? the forgery of the imaginative mind, or the self-belief of the deluded?
«Whence came that fear which has always pervaded the world? How comes it that, in all times, spirits have been believed? Cannot history, cannot science, cannot common sense conjure this phantom of spiritual fear, until it really resolve into the real? Cannot the apparition be laid? Cannot we eject this terror of invisible thinking things — spectators of us —out of the world? Nothing is really done until this be done, if it can ever be done. Manis absolutely not fairly in his world, until this other thing is out of it.
“Tt cannot be done. And why? Because this fear lies buried in the truth of things. Man’s interest lies quite the other way of believing it. This dread of the supernatural is the clog upon his boldness — the mistrust which spoils his plans— which interferes with his prosperity — which brings a cloud over the sunshine of his certainties. Man, then, is afflicted with this fearful mistrust, that, after all, perhaps, his life may be the ‘dream,’ and that unknown future (which is filled with those whom he knew) is the ‘ waking.’ Where have our friends gone? Where shall we go? Are there well-known faces about us, though we see them not? Are there silent feet amidst our loud feet? And is it possible to come
spect ; the peculiar position of the hand was occasioned by an almost constant headache, and that of the foot or leg, by a stiff knee, caused by a fall from a horse in hunting. On another occasion, Shakespeare was described with the most minute exactness both as to person and dress; and I might add several other cases in which the same magician has excited astonishment in the sober minds of several Englishmen of my acquaintance.’ So far, Mr. Lane, whose account may be compared with that given by Mr. Kinglake, the author of ‘ Hothen.’
“Tt may be worth adding, that, in a recent case of hydromancy known to the writer, the boy could see better without the medium than with it; though he could also see reflected images in a vessel of water. This fact may be admitted to prove that such images are reflected to the eye of the seer from his own mind and brain. How the brain becomes thus enchanted, or the eye disposed for vision, is another question. Certainly it is no proof that the recollected image, in the mind of the inquirer, is transferred to the seer, as proofs can be shown to the contrary. When we look closely into it, Nature seems woven over, almost, with a magical web, and forms of the marvellous are rife.” . .
‘* Are there intelligent things, of which we know nothing, dealing with the world? Is alla wondrous mechanism, a perfect play of solids which proceeds unerringly, and of whose laws the scientific people are the only interpreters? Are there no such things as miracles? Is the progress of things never changed? And, once out of the world, do the departed never return?
“Ts all chance? Cannot the future ever be foreseen? Are all the strange matters told us mere fables or inventions? the forgery of the imaginative mind, or the self-belief of the deluded?
«Whence came that fear which has always pervaded the world? How comes it that, in all times, spirits have been believed? Cannot history, cannot science, cannot common sense conjure this phantom of spiritual fear, until it really resolve into the real? Cannot the apparition be laid? Cannot we eject this terror of invisible thinking things — spectators of us —out of the world? Nothing is really done until this be done, if it can ever be done. Manis absolutely not fairly in his world, until this other thing is out of it.
“Tt cannot be done. And why? Because this fear lies buried in the truth of things. Man’s interest lies quite the other way of believing it. This dread of the supernatural is the clog upon his boldness — the mistrust which spoils his plans— which interferes with his prosperity — which brings a cloud over the sunshine of his certainties. Man, then, is afflicted with this fearful mistrust, that, after all, perhaps, his life may be the ‘dream,’ and that unknown future (which is filled with those whom he knew) is the ‘ waking.’ Where have our friends gone? Where shall we go? Are there well-known faces about us, though we see them not? Are there silent feet amidst our loud feet? And is it possible to come
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