osty air would brace my nerves. I crossed a small
foot bridge, and kept walking backwards and forwards, when I observed,
with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid,
which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards
before me.'

"'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.'

"'No; I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity
in daring to dog me. I called to him, but received no answer. I felt
an anxious troubling at my heart, and to ascertain what I dreaded, I
stood still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the
four points of the compass. By heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the
figure was instantly before my eyes at precisely the same distance. I
was then convinced it was the Bodach Glass. My hair bristled, and my
knees shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my
quarters. My ghastly visitor glided before me until he reached the
footbridge, there he stopped, and turned full round. I must either
wade the river or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate
courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve
to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew
my sword, and uttered, 'In the name of God, evil spirit, give place!'

"'Vich Ian Vohr,' it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle;
'beware of to-morrow.'

"'It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but
the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared
further to obstruct my passage.'"

An ancestor of the family of McClean, of Lochburg, was commonly
reported, before the death of any of his race, to gallop along the
sea-beach, announcing the event by dismal cries, and lamentations, and
Sir Walter Scott, in his "Peveril of the Peak," tells us that the
Stanley family are forewarned of the approach of death by a female
spirit, "weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person
of distinction belonging to the family."

These family death-omens are of a most varied description, having
assumed particular forms in different localities. Corby Castle,
Cumberland, was famed for its "Radiant Boy," a luminous apparition
which occasionally made its appearance, the tradition in the family
being that the person who happened to see it would rise to the summit
of power, and after reaching that position would die a violent death.
As an instance of this strange be