. Soon after this, Mr. Cranstoun came to Henley, as has been
already observed, and was put into a room, called the hall-chamber,
over the great parlour; which was reckoned the best in the house. Here
he was shut out from the rest of the family. Till October 1750, above
a year after my mother's death, no noise at all was heard, excepting
that at Mr. Blandy's chamber-door above mentioned. But one morning in
the beginning of that month, Mr. Cranstoun being in the parlour, I
asked him, "What made him look so pale, and to seem so uneasy?" "I
have met," said he, "with the oddest accident this night that ever
befel me: the moment I got into bed, I heard the finest music that can
possibly be imagined. I sat up in my bed upon this, to hear from
whence it came; and it seemed to me to come from the middle of the
stairs. It continued, as I believe, at least above two hours." At this
I laughed, and said, "O Cranstoun, how can you be so whimsical?" "Tis
no whim," replied he, "for I really heard it; nor had I been asleep;
for it began soon after I got into bed." I then said, "Don't make
yourself uneasy, if it was so; since nothing ill, sure, can be
presaged by music." When my father came into the parlour, this topic
of conversation was instantly dropped. The next night, I, who lay
quite at the other end of the house, being awake, heard music, that
seemed to me to be in the yard, exceeding plainly. Upon this, I got up
and looked out of the window that faced the yard, but saw nothing. The
music, however, continued till near morning, when I fell asleep, and
heard no more of it. My mother's maid coming into my chamber, as
usual, to call me, I told her what I heard. This drew from her the
following saucy answer: "You see and hear, Madam, with Mr. Cranstoun's
eyes and ears." To which I made no other reply than, "Go, and send me
my own maid". As soon as I was dressed, I went into Mr. Cranstoun's
room, whom I found sitting therein by the fire. I asked him, at first
coming into the room, "How he had spent the night, and whether he had
heard the music?" To which he replied, "Yes, all night long; I could
not sleep a wink for it; nay, I got out of my bed, and followed it
into the great parlour, where it left me. I then returned into my own
room, and heard such odd noises in the parlour under me, as greatly
discomposed me." "I wish," added he, "you would send me up a bason of
tea." To which I replied, "Pray come down, as you are now up; for you
kno