torical examples of these appearances of the
living. Goethe declares that he once met himself at a certain place
in a certain dress, and several years later found himself there in
that costume. Shelley was seen by his friends at Lerici to pass along
a balcony whence there was no exit. However, he could not be found
there. The story of the wraith of Catherine the Great is variously
narrated. We give it as told by an eye-witness, the Comte de
Ribaupierre, about 1862 to Lady Napier and Ettrick. The Count, in
1862, was a very old man, and more than thirty years have passed since
he gave the tale to Lady Napier, whose memory retains it in the
following form:--

THE WRAITH OF THE CZARINA

"In the exercise of his duties as one of the pages-in-waiting,
Ribaupierre followed one day his august mistress into the throne-room
of the palace. When the Empress, accompanied by the high officers of
her court and the ladies of her household, came in sight of the chair
of state which she was about to occupy, she suddenly stopped, and to
the horror and astonished awe of her courtiers, she pointed to a
visionary being seated on the imperial throne. The occupant of the
chair was an exact counterpart of herself. All saw it and trembled,
but none dared to move towards the mysterious presentment of their
sovereign.

"After a moment of dead silence the great Catherine raised her voice
and ordered her guard to advance and fire on the apparition. The
order was obeyed, a mirror beside the throne was shattered, the vision
had disappeared, and the Empress, with no sign of emotion, took the
chair from which her semblance had passed away." It is a striking
barbaric scene!

"Spirits of the living" of this kind are common enough. In the
Highlands "second sight" generally means a view of an event or
accident some time before its occurrence. Thus an old man was sitting
with a little boy on a felled tree beside a steep track in a quarry at
Ballachulish. Suddenly he jerked the boy to one side, and threw
himself down on the further side of the tree. While the boy stared,
the old man slowly rose, saying, "The spirits of the living are strong
to-day!" He had seen a mass of rock dashing along, killing some
quarrymen and tearing down the path. The accident occurred next day.
It is needless to dwell on second sight, which is not peculiar to
Celts, though the Highlanders talk more about it than other people.

These appearances of the living b