There is another Circumstance, which methinks gives us a very high Idea of the Nature of the Soul, in regard to what passes in Dreams, I mean that innumerable Multitude and Variety of Ideas which then arise in her.  Were that active watchful Being only conscious of her own Existence at such a time, what a painful Solitude would her Hours of Sleep be?  Were the Soul sensible of her being alone in her sleeping Moments, after the same manner that she is sensible of it while awake, the time would hang very heavy on her, as it often actually does when she Dreams that she is in such a Solitude?

  ’—­Semperque relinqui
  Sola sili, semper longam incomitata videtur
  Ire viam—­’

  Virg.

But this Observation I only make by the way.  What I would here remark, is that wonderful Power in the Soul, of producing her own Company on these Occasions.  She converses with numberless Beings of her own Creation, and is transported into ten thousand Scenes of her own raising.  She is herself the Theatre, the Actors, and the Beholder.  This puts me in mind of a Saying which I am infinitely pleased with, and which Plutarch ascribes to Heraclitus, That all Men whilst they are awake are in one common World; but that each of them, when he is asleep, is in a World of his own. [2] The waking Man is conversant in the World of Nature, when he sleeps he retires to a private World that is particular to himself.  There seems something in this Consideration that intimates to us a natural Grandeur and Perfection in the Soul, which is rather to be admired than explained.

I must not omit that Argument for the Excellency of the Soul, which I have seen quoted out of Tertullian, [3] namely, its Power of divining in Dreams.  That several such Divinations have been made, none can question, who believes the Holy Writings, or who has but the least degree of a common Historical Faith; there being innumerable Instances of this nature in several Authors, both Antient and Modern, Sacred and Profane.  Whether such dark Presages, such Visions of the Night proceed from any latent Power in the Soul, during this her state of Abstraction, or from any Communication with the Supreme Being, or from any operation of Subordinate Spirits, has been a great Dispute among the Learned; the matter of Fact is, I think, incontestable, and has been looked upon as such by the greatest Writers, who have been never suspected either of Superstition or Enthusiasm.

I do not suppose, that the Soul in these Instances is entirely loose and unfettered from the Body:  It is sufficient, if she is not so far sunk, and immersed in Matter, nor intangled and perplexed in her Operations, with such Motions of Blood and Spirits, as when she actuates the Machine in its waking Hours.  The Corporeal Union is slackned enough to give the Mind more Play.  The Soul seems gathered within herself, and recovers that Spring which is broke and weakned, when she operates more in concert with the Body.