Very occasionally I hear music in a dream.  I well remember hearing four musicians with little instruments like silver flutes play a quartet of infinite sweetness; but most of my adventures take place either among fine landscapes or in familiar conversation.

At one time, as a child, I had an often repeated dream.  We were then living in an old house at Lincoln, called the Chancery.  It was a large rambling place, with some interesting medieval features, such as a stone winding staircase, a wooden Tudor screen, built into a wall, and formerly belonging to the chapel of the house, There were, moreover, certain quite unaccountable spaces, where the external measurements of passages did not correspond with the measurement of rooms within.  This fact excited our childish imagination, and probably was the origin of the dream.

It always began in the same way.  I would appear to be descending a staircase which led up into a lobby, and would find that a certain step rattled as I trod upon it.  Upon examination the step proved to be hinged, and on opening it, the head of a staircase appeared, leading downwards.  Though, as I say, the dream was often repeated, it was always with the same shock of surprise that I made the discovery.  I used to squeeze in through the opening, close the step behind me, and go down the stairs; the place was dimly lighted with some artificial light, the source of which I could never discover.  At the bottom a large vaulted room was visible, of great extent, fitted with iron-barred stalls as in a stable.  These stalls were tenanted by animals; there were dogs, tigers, and lions.  They were all very tame, and delighted to see me.  I used to go into the stalls one by one, feed and play with the animals, and enjoy myself very much.  There was never any custodian to be seen, and it never occurred to me to wonder how the animals had got there, nor to whom they belonged.  After spending a long time with my menagerie, I used to return; and the only thing that seemed of importance to me was that I should not be seen leaving the place.  I used to raise the step cautiously and listen, so as to be sure that there was no one about; generally in the dream some one came down the stairs over my head; and I then waited, crouched below, with a sense of delightful adventure, until the person had passed by, when I cautiously extricated myself.  This dream became quite familiar to me, so that I used to hope in my mind, on going to bed, that I might be about to see the animals. but I was often disappointed, and dreamed of other things.  This dream visited me at irregular intervals for I should say about two or three years, and then I had it no more; but the singular fact about it was that it always came with the same sense of wonder and delight, and while actually dreaming it, I never realised that I had seen it before.