fetime to do so. A lady correspondent sends
me the following narrative, which she declares she had from the sister
of a student at the Royal Academy who was personally known to her. He
told the story first to his mother, who is dead, so that all chance of
verifying the story is impossible. It may be quoted, however, as a
pendant to Lord Brougham's vision, and is much more remarkable than his,
inasmuch as the phantom was seen by several persons at the same time:--

"I think it was about the year 1856 as nearly as I can remember, that a
party of young men, students of the Royal Academy, and some of them
members also, used to meet in a certain room in London, so many evenings
in the week, to smoke and chat. One of them--the son of a colonel in the
army, long since dead--this only son kept yet a remnant, if no more, of
the faith of his childhood, cherished in him by his widowed mother with
jealous care, as he detailed to her from time to time fragments of the
nightly discussions against the immortality of the soul.

"On one particular evening the conversation drifted into theological
matters--this young Academician taking up the positive side, and
asserting his belief in a hereafter of weal or woe for all _human_
life.

"Two or three of the others endeavoured to put him down, but he,
maintaining his position quietly, provoked a suggestion, half in earnest
and half in jest, from one of their number, that the first among them
who should die, should appear to the rest of their assembly afterwards
in that room at the usual hour of meeting. The suggestion was received
with jests and laughter by some, and with graver faces by others--but at
last each man solemnly entered into a pledge that if he were the first
to die amongst them, he would, if permitted, return for a few brief
seconds to this earth and appear to the rest to certify to the truth.

"Before very long one young man's place was empty. No mention being made
of the vow that they had taken, probably time enough had elapsed for it
to have been more or less, for the present, forgotten.

"The meetings continued. One evening when they were sitting smoking
round the fire, one of the party uttered an exclamation, causing the
rest to look up. Following the direction of his gaze, each man saw
distinctly for himself a _shadowy_ figure, in the likeness of the
only absent one of their number, distinctly facing them on the other
side of the room. The eyes looked earnestly, with