rdingly happened. And att ye instant ye Duke was killed (as she
vnderstood by ye relation afterwards) Mr. Towse was sitting in his
chayre, out of which he suddenly started vp and sayd, 'Wyfe, ye Duke
of Buckingham is slayne!'

"Mr. Towse lived not long after that himselfe, but tolde his wife ye
tyme of his Death before itt happened. I never saw him after I had
seen some effects of his discourse, which before I valued not, and
therefore was not curious to enquire after more than he voluntaryly
tolde me, which I then entertayned not wth. these serious thoughts
which I have synce reflected on in his discourse. This is as much as
I can remember on this business which, according to youre desire, is
written by

"Sr. Yor., &c.,

"EDMUND WINDHAM.

"BOULOGNE, 5th August, 1652."

* * * * *

This version has, over all others, the merit of being written by an
acquaintance of the seer, who was with him while the appearances were
going on. The narrator was also present at an interview between the
seer and Buckingham. His mention of Sir Ralph Freeman tallies with
Clarendon's, who had the story from Freeman. The ghost predicts the
Restoration, and this is recorded before that happy event. Of course
Mr. Towse may have been interested in Buckingham's career and may have
invented the ghost (after discovering the secret token) {127} as an
excuse for warning him.

The reader can now take his choice among versions of Sir George
Villiers' ghost. He must remember that, in 1642, Sir Henry Wotton
"spent some inquiry whether the duke had any ominous presagement
before his end," but found no evidence. Sir Henry told Izaak Walton a
story of a dream of an ancestor of his own, whereby some robbers of
the University chest at Oxford were brought to justice. Anthony Wood
consulted the records of the year mentioned, and found no trace of any
such robbery. We now approach a yet more famous ghost than Sir
George's. This is Lord Lyttelton's. The ghost had a purpose, to warn
that bad man of his death, but nobody knows whose ghost she was!

LORD LYTTELTON'S GHOST

"Sir," said Dr. Johnson, "it is the most extraordinary thing that has
happened in my day." The doctor's day included the rising of 1745 and
of the Wesleyans, the seizure of Canada, the Seven Years' War, the
American Rebellion, the Cock Lane ghost, and other singular
occurrences, but "the most extraordinary thing" was--Lord Lyttelton's
ghost! Famous as is that spectre, nob