ribes his illness to
their charms, so that he wants nothing but an indulgent judge to awake
again the old ideas of sorcery.

LETTER X.

Other Mystic Arts independent of Witchcraft--Astrology--Its
Influence during the 16th and 17th Centuries--Base Ignorance of
those who practised it--Lilly's History of his Life and
Times--Astrologer's Society--Dr. Lamb--Dr. Forman--Establishment of
the Royal Society--Partridge--Connexion of Astrologers with
Elementary Spirits--Dr. Dun--Irish Superstition of the
Banshie--Similar Superstition in the
Highlands--Brownie--Ghosts--Belief of Ancient Philosophers on that
Subject--Inquiry into the respect due to such Tales in Modern
Times--Evidence of a Ghost against a Murderer--Ghost of Sir George
Villiers--Story of Earl St. Vincent--Of a British General
Officer--Of an Apparition in France--Of the Second Lord
Lyttelton--Of Bill Jones--Of Jarvis Matcham--Trial of two
Highlanders for the Murder of Sergeant Davis, discovered by a
Ghost--Disturbances at Woodstock, anno 1649--Imposture called the
Stockwell Ghost--Similar Case in Scotland--Ghost appearing to an
Exciseman--Story of a Disturbed House discovered by the firmness of
the Proprietor--Apparition at Plymouth--A Club of
Philosophers--Ghost Adventure of a Farmer--Trick upon a Veteran
Soldier--Ghost Stories recommended by the Skill of the Authors who
compose them--Mrs. Veal's Ghost--Dunton's Apparition
Evidence--Effect of Appropriate Scenery to Encourage a Tendency to
Superstition--Differs at distant Periods of Life--Night at Glammis
Castle about 1791--Visit to Dunvegan in 1814.

While the vulgar endeavoured to obtain a glance into the darkness of
futurity by consulting the witch or fortune-teller, the great were
supposed to have a royal path of their own, commanding a view from a
loftier quarter of the same _terra incognita_. This was represented as
accessible by several routes. Physiognomy, chiromancy, and other
fantastic arts of prediction afforded each its mystical assistance and
guidance. But the road most flattering to human vanity, while it was at
the same time most seductive to human credulity, was that of astrology,
the queen of mystic sciences, who flattered those who confided in her
that the planets and stars in their spheres figure forth and influence
the fate of the creatures of mortality, and that a sage acquainted with
her l