by way of "mental
telegraphy". {39b}

DREAM OF MR. PERCEVAL'S MURDER

"SUNDHILL, December, 1832.

"[Some account of a dream which occurred to John Williams, Esq., of
Scorrier House, in the county of Cornwall, in the year 1812. Taken
from his own mouth, and narrated by him at various times to several of
his friends.]

"Being desired to write out the particulars of a remarkable dream
which I had in the year 1812, before I do so I think it may be proper
for me to say that at that time my attention was fully occupied with
affairs of my own--the superintendence of some very extensive mines in
Cornwall being entrusted to me. Thus I had no leisure to pay any
attention to political matters, and hardly knew at that time who
formed the administration of the country. It was, therefore, scarcely
possible that my own interest in the subject should have had any share
in suggesting the circumstances which presented themselves to my
imagination. It was, in truth, a subject which never occurred to my
waking thoughts.

"My dream was as follows:--

"About the second or third day of May, 1812, I dreamed that I was in
the lobby of the House of Commons (a place well known to me). A small
man, dressed in a blue coat and a white waistcoat, entered, and
immediately I saw a person whom I had observed on my first entrance,
dressed in a snuff-coloured coat with metal buttons, take a pistol
from under his coat and present it at the little man above-mentioned.
The pistol was discharged, and the ball entered under the left breast
of the person at whom it was directed. I saw the blood issue from the
place where the ball had struck him, his countenance instantly
altered, and he fell to the ground. Upon inquiry who the sufferer
might be, I was informed that he was the chancellor. I understood him
to be Mr. Perceval, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer. I further
saw the murderer laid hold of by several of the gentlemen in the room.
Upon waking I told the particulars above related to my wife; she
treated the matter lightly, and desired me to go to sleep, saying it
was only a dream. I soon fell asleep again, and again the dream
presented itself with precisely the same circumstances. After waking
a second time and stating the matter again to my wife, she only
repeated her request that I would compose myself and dismiss the
subject from my mind. Upon my falling asleep the third time, the same
dream without any alteration was repeated,