; and
when I did get off at last, my thoughts shaped themselves into a singular
dream, which, though only a dream, is not, I think, without instruction.
I shall entitle it

THE BLANK BIBLE.

Etlen gegonein vuktiphoit' oneirata.
AEschyl. Prom. Vinct. 657.

[I take courage to proclaim night-roaming dreams]

I thought I was at home, and that on taking up my Greek Testament one
morning to read (as is my wont) a chapter, I found, to my surprise,
that what seemed to be the old, familiar book was a total blank; not
a character was inscribed in it or upon it. I supposed that some book
like it had, by some accident, got into its place; and, without
stopping to hunt for it, took down a large quarto volume which contained
both the Old and New Testaments. To my surprise, however, this also
was a blank from beginning to end. With that facility of accommodation
to any absurdities which is proper to dreams, I did not think very much
of the coincidence of two blank volumes having been substituted for two
copies of the Scriptures in two different places, and therefore quietly
reached down a copy of the Hebrew Bible, in which I could just manage to
make out a chapter. To my increased surprise, and even something like
terror, I found that this also was a perfect blank. While I was musing
on this unaccountable phenomenon, my servant entered the room, and said
that thieves had been in the house during the night, for that her large
Bible, which she had left on the kitchen table, had been removed, and
another volume left by mistake in its place, of just the same size, but
made of nothing but white paper. She added, with a laugh, that it must
have been a very queer kind of thief to steal a Bible at all; and that he
should have left another book instead, made it the more odd. I asked her
if any thing else had been missed, and if there were any signs of people
having entered the house. She answered in the negative to both these
questions; and I began to be strangely perplexed.

On going out into the street, I met a friend, who, almost before we had
exchanged greetings, told me that a most unaccountable robbery had been
committed at his house during the night, for that every copy of the
Bible had been removed, and a volume of exactly the same size, but of
pure white paper, left in its stead. Upon telling him that the same
accident had happened to myself, we began to think that there was more
in it than we had at first surmise