What these kinds of spectral horses are no one can say.  At the most—­despite what theosophists and occultists may declare to the contrary—­one can only theorize—­and the speculations of one person, be he who he may, seem to me to be of no more consequence than those of another.

For my own part I am inclined to think that whereas, in some cases, the ghostly coach horses are the phantoms of horses that were killed on the highways, in others they are either Vice-Elementals, or Elementals whose particular function it is to prognosticate death,—­either the death of those who see them, or the death of someone connected with those who see them.

A Phantom Horse and Policeman

According to one of my correspondents, Mr. T——­ P——­, a comparatively modern phantom rider has been seen in Canada.  Writing to me from C——­, where he lives, he says:  “It is stated that this town is periodically haunted by the phantom of a tall, fair policeman mounted on a white horse and clothed in the uniform of the ’forties—­namely, tail coat, tight trousers, and tall hat.  His ‘phantom’ beat extends from a gateway at the commencement of Cod Hill, along the Park side of Pablo Street to Sutton Street, and Adam Street, down Dane Street, and back, through Pablo Street, to the gateway on Cod Hill.”

A gentleman well known in the art world, who, in order to avoid publicity, wishes to be designated Mr. Bates, gave me his experience of the phenomena as follows:—­

“Yes, I have seen the ghostly policeman and his milk-white horse.  I was walking along Pablo Street on the Park side, one grey afternoon in November, with the express intention of meeting a friend at my Club in Royal Street, when to my surprise, just as I was about a hundred yards from the gateway on Cod Hill, I was overtaken by a tall, fair-haired man, riding a white horse.  He was so dressed that I stared in astonishment.  He was wearing the costume of seventy or eighty years ago, and reminded me of the policemen in Cruikshank’s illustrations of Dickens.  I was not frightened, because I thought he must be someone masquerading; and, in my curiosity to see his face, I hastened my steps to overtake him.  I failed; for although he appeared to be riding slowly, hardly moving at all, I could not draw an inch nearer to him.  This made me think, and I examined him more critically.  Then I noticed several things about him, that, at first, had escaped my notice.  They were these:  (one) that although he was mounted he was wearing walking clothes—­he had on long trousers and thick, clumsy boots; (two) that his ears and neck were perfectly colourless, of an unnatural and startling white; (three) that despite the incongruity of his attire, no one but myself seemed to see him.  On he rode, neither looking to the left nor to the right, until he came to Sutton Street, when, without paying the slightest attention to the traffic, he began to cross over.  There were crowds of vehicles