Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
- Walter Scott
- Date:
- 1831
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![1G4 that she was not dead, hut the unwilling- captive of the Good Neig;h])ours. Like Mr Kirke, too, she told him, that if all the lo^'e which he once had for her v/as not entirol) gone, an opportunity still remained of recovering- her, or ivinning her back, as it Avas Xisually termed, from the comfortless realms of Eldand. She charged him, on a certain day of the ensuing week, that he should convene the most respectable housekeepers in the toxvn, with the clergyman at their head, and should disinter tlie cofhn in which she was sup])osed to have been buried, “ The clergyman is to recite certain prayers, upon w-hich,” said the apparition, “ I Avill start from tlie co-din, and with great speed round the church, and you must have the fleetest runner of the parish” (naming a man famed for swiftness) “ to pursue me, and such a one, the smith, renowned for his strength, to hold me fast after I am overtaken ; and in tiiat case I shall, by the prayers of the church, and the efforts of my loving husband and neighbours, again recover my station in human society.” In the morning, the poor wddoAver xvas distressed -xvith the recollection of his dream, but, ashamed and puzzled, took no measures in consequence. A second night, as is not very surprising, the visitation xvas again repeated. On the third night she appeared with a sorrowful and displeased countenance, upbraided him with -HTmt of love and affection, and conjured him, for the last time, to attend to her instructions, which, if he now neglected, she would never hax^e power to visit earth or communicate with him again. In order to convince him there was no delusion, he “ saxv in his dream” that she took up the nm-sling at whose birth she had died, and gave it suck ; she](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22029667_0192.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
