an investigation of the public records, and a careful
inquiry among all persons who had transacted law business
for his father, no evidence could be recovered to support
his defence. The period was now near at hand
when he conceived the loss of his lawsuit to be inevitable,
and he had formed his determination to ride to Edinburgh
next day, and make the best bargain he could in the
way of compromise. He went to bed with this resolution,
and with all the circumstances of the case floating
upon his mind, had a dream to the following purpose.
His father, who had been many years dead, appeared
to him, he thought, and asked him why he was disturbed
in his mind. In dreams men are not surprised
at such apparitions. Mr. R——d
thought that he had informed his father of the cause
of his distress, adding that the payment of a considerable
sum of money was the more unpleasant to him, because
he had a strong consciousness that it was not due,
though he was unable to recover any evidence in support
of his belief. “You are right, my son,”
replied the paternal shade; “I did acquire right
to these teinds, for payment of which you are now
prosecuted. The papers relating to the transaction
are in the hands of Mr. ——, a writer
(or attorney,) who is now retired from professional
business, and resides at Inveresk, near Edinburgh.
He was a person whom I employed on that occasion for
a particular reason, but who never on any other occasion
transacted business on my account. It is very
possible,” pursued the vision, “that Mr.
—— may have forgotten a matter which
is now of a very old date; but you may call it to
his recollection by this token, that when I came to
pay his account, there was difficulty in getting change
for a Portugal piece of gold, and that we were forced
to drink out the balance at a tavern.”
Mr. R——d awaked in the morning with
all the words of the vision imprinted on his mind,
and thought it worth while to ride across the country
to Inveresk, instead of going straight to Edinburgh.
When he came there, he waited on the gentleman mentioned
in the dream, a very old man; without saying any thing
of the vision, he inquired whether he remembered having
conducted such a matter for his deceased father.
The old gentleman could not at first bring the circumstance
to his recollection, but on mention of the Portugal
piece of gold, the whole returned upon his memory;
he made an immediate search for the papers, and recovered
them; so that Mr. R——d carried to
Edinburgh the documents necessary to gain the cause
which he was on the verge of losing. The author
has often heard this story told by persons who had
the best access to know the facts, who were not likely
themselves to be deceived, and were certainly incapable
of deception. He cannot therefore refuse to give
it credit, however extraordinary the circumstances
may appear. The circumstantial character of the
information given in the dream, takes it out of the
general class of impressions of the kind which are