torious Monroes then hastened to the
castle of Moy, and put the whole of the inmates to the sword. Thus
perished a relentless tyrant, leaving no fond wife to mourn his fate,
nor any offspring to carry his name down to posterity. Thereby was
fulfilled the prediction of Lady Margaret, whose bones still rest at
the bottom of Loch Moy.

DREAMS AND VISIONS OF THE NIGHT.

CHAPTER LIV.

The Gift or Art of interpreting Dreams--Official
Interpreters of Dreams--Sleep, how portrayed--Goddess
of Dreams--Greeks soliciting the Inspiration of
Dreams--Xenophon on Sleep--Prophetic Power of the
Dying--AEsculapius's Discoveries in Dreams--Code of
Menu--The Soma-drink--Josephus as a Seer--Dreadful
Proposal by Josephus--His Fortunate Escape--An Eastern
Conjurer--Reading a Sealed Letter--A Sultan warned of
his Death in a Dream--Alexander's Death foretold in a
Dream--Records of Dreams in Westminster Abbey--Lord
Falkland's Dream--Rev. John Brown's Opinions--Early
Christian Faith in Visions and Dreams--Death of a
Friend foretold--The Devil's Sonata--Marriage of Queen
Mary--Fatality of the Stuart Family--Death of Henry
IV. of France.

The gift or art of interpreting dreams originated, at least so it is
said, among the Chaldeans and Egyptians. From them it spread to other
nations; and in course of time official or public interpreters of
dreams were appointed. The sacred pages supply instances of good and
bad men having glimpses of futurity through dreams; and profane
history makes us acquainted with innumerable cases of curious
revelations being made to men while they slept.

Among the ancients sleep was portrayed as a female with black unfolded
wings, having in her left hand a white child, the image of sleep, and
in her right hand a black child, the image of death. An author has
described sleep as the "rest of the spirits, dreaming their tremulous
motion;" another writer speaks of sleep as "the reality of another
existence;" while a third says, "all men, whilst awake, are in one
common world, but that each, when asleep, is in a world of his own."
It is of dreams, however, we are writing, and therefore cannot enter
into the deep philosophy of sleep.

The Romans worshipped Brizo, the goddess of dreams, and the Greeks
were accustomed, in cases of great emergency, to solicit the
inspiration of dreams, by performing religious rites, and lying