Addison," I am apt to join in opinion with those who believe that all the regions of nature swarm with spirits; and that we have multitudes of spectators in all our actions, when we think ourselves most alone. But, instead of terrifying myself with such a notion, I am wonderfully pleased to think that I am always engaged with such an innumerable society, in searching out the wonders of creation, and joining in the same concert of praise and adoration." Milton has finely described this mixed communion of men and spirits in Paradise; and had, doubtless, his eye upon a verse in old Hesiod, which is almost, word for word, the same with his third line in the following passage: "Nor think though men were none, That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise : All these with ceaseless praise his works behold, Now, if spirits of any kind be around us, as we have scriptural reason to believe that angels actually are, why should not those that have left human bodies be permitted to be present? Angels have been seen on the earth-we see them not now; spirits have been recalled from Paradise, and reunited to human bodies, though there be no necessity now of such miracle: the matter seems to narrow itself into the question, simply, whether the human eye is allowed at any time to behold a spirit? for we may acknowledge the possibility or probability of the presence of departed spirits, and yet deny the permission of seeing them. A writer of modern date (1814), who has collected a number of stories of ghosts and hobgoblins, &c., which he proves to be of human fabrication, and the intention. of whose book is to put weak and superstitious people on their guard, makes this serious statement in his Preface: Though I candidly acknowledge to have received great pleasure in forming the collection, I would by no means wish it to be imagined that I am sceptical in my opinions, or entirely disbelieve and set my face against all apparitional record. No; I do believe that, for certain purposes, and on certain and allwise occasions, such things are, and have been, permitted by the Almighty; but by no means do I believe they are suffered to appear half so frequently as our modern ghost-mongers manufacture them." These are the words of an unprejudiced mind in the cause; or if prejudice did exist, it would seem to have been such as militated against belief of this supernatural exhibition. He says again, in another part of his work: "There are some who are ghost-mad, and terrify themselves, because the Scripture has mentioned the appearance of ghosts. I shall not dispute, but, by the power of God, an incorporeal being may be visible to human eyes: but then, an all-wise Providence would not have recourse to a preternatural effect but on some important occasion." With the knowledge that persons may certainly be deceived by visions, there is a difficulty in a man's obtaining credit for having seen a ghost, let the evidence to himself be ever so irrefragable. For this, and other plain reasons, it must be very wicked to personate a U ghost. It is a solemn matter. Job saw a spirit; there is the account of the witch of Endor; and at our Lord's resurrection, the bodies of saints came out of the graves, and their spirits became reunited with them. This latter instance is recorded by one Evangelist only; but there is no evading it, for it is in all the ancient MSS. Whether they remained on earth, or ascended with our Lord, and are alluded to as "the just men made perfect," is quite immaterial. Whatever our own opinions may be, it is a " foolish notion," as Boswell says, to suppose that Johnson was weakly credulous on this subject of the appearance of departed spirits. Johnson was not superstitious. The article in the "Rambler" on Superstition and Religion (No. 44) proves this: for although it was not written by Johnson himself, but by Mrs. Carter, it met with his high approbation. Mrs. Piozzi says, "The papers contributed by Mrs. Carter had much of Johnson's esteem, though he always blamed me for preferring the letter signed Chariossa (No. 100), to the allegory (No. 44), where religion and superstition are indeed masterly delineated." Mrs. Carter was a woman of superior talent, of High Church principles, and the friend of Hannah More. The matter may be concluded with the observation, that although we may have no sufficient human testimony in the affirmative, yet that we have scriptural proof of the reappearance of departed spirits on the earth and no considerate man can say, that it may not please God, for some beneficent purpose, to exert this power on fitting occasions, again and again. : CHAPTER XX. EPITAPHS. THE writing of Epitaphs is an ancient and a good custom. It serves to perpetuate the memory of the departed, to instruct the living, and to fill us with a desire of posthumous fame, of at least a local character. Let us cordially agree in the sentiment of the Roman poet,― “Et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen." "It is hard to make an epitaph," writes Dr. Johnson to David Garrick: and when a man tells us of the difficulty in doing a thing, or taunts us with the easiness of finding fault, we like to see that man putting us in the right way. Now, this Dr. Johnson has done; for he has deliberately written an Essay on Epitaphs, wherein he finds fault with some of this kind of inscriptions, and gives praise to others. That the tomb of the good man should somewhat serve to supply the want of his presence is, in his view, the first intention of epitaphs: and those epitaphs are most perfect which set virtue in the strongest light. At the same time, it is the sort of mediocre class of men whose memories require the longest and most studied epitaphs, while the first-rate heroes, military, literary, * Dr. Watts commemorated Mather in an epitaph of not less than one hundred and eleven lines! even including "the tallness of his stature" amongst the good qualities of the deceased. Wesley's epitaph or scientific, need have but their names inscribed, and all that has made those names immortal is at once recognised. SHAKSPEARE, MILTON, SIR ISAAC NEWTON, MARLBOROUGH, demand no long tale to tell you who they were. This simplicity will not do for the tombs of men "raised to reputation by accident or caprice," or the inscription will soon require an interpreter, and, perhaps, as effectually as curiously, puzzle the prying ones of posterity. Next in dignity to the bare name, is a short character, simple and unadorned, such as ISAACUS NEWTONUS, Naturæ Legibus investigatis, hic quiescit.* is quite a vain work. Lord Lyttelton, who would have no epitaph on his own tombstone, wrote a long one for the monument of Sir James Macdonald; and in the 17th and 18th centuries, the epitaphs on divines (especially those by Dr. Friend) are noted for their diffusiveness. Burke was rather in favour of long epitaphs; for, he said, "everything short is apt to be general, and as well fitted for one great public man as another." Dr. Burney tells us, that Johnson said, "The writer of an epitaph should not be considered as saying nothing but what is strictly true. Allowance must be made for some degree of exaggerated praise." His idea of the duties of a biographer may illustrate what he means. "If a man," he said, "is to write a Panegyric, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes to write a Life, he must represent it really as it was." In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1756, p. 382, &c. there is an article on a new species of epitaphs: in which it is proposed that the ages of deceased persons should be reckoned according to the manner in which they have improved or abused the time allotted them in their lives. For instance," Here lies Isaac Da Costa, a convert from Judaism, aged sixty-four. He was born and christened in his sixty-first year, and died in the true faith in the third year of his age." * See Gentleman's Magazine, 1740, p. 594. The couplet on Sir Isaac Newton may be mentioned here, however well known : "Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night, God said, 'Let Newton be!'-and all was light!" In |